The girl shook her head "I'm not talking about the fact that they shouldn't be engaged in this activity, but that they are not engaged in self-development at all. Even in my country there are miners, but they still learn from their mistakes, learn something new, strive for knowledge and something new "
Gordon smiled tightly "I don't think this is true, if it were, your race would be the strongest in the universe, but I have not even heard of your race"
The girl sighed, "Shame. It's a shame you're right, but I hope every Dayton is committed to this. "
Gordon sighed. "Well, this is a long discussion topic, but this way we will not come to anything good. My name is Gordon Stanfield, I am an orphan man born and raised on the planet Krul 2 in the Republic of Hens. Now it's your turn"
The girl nodded "My name is Sianna T'Namar, I am Daytonk was born on the planet Omin 3, in a state called United Dayton."
The bartender walked over to Sienna and Gordon with their drinks. After drinking a little, Gordon asked, "Judging by the fact that I have never heard of such a country, I can assume that it is very far from the Republic."
Sienna nodded, "Indeed, my country is quite far from here, but that's not the only reason you haven't heard of our race."
Taking her reddish drink, Sienna took a small sip, and then her face shriveled up "Ugh, pfu, how do you drink this filth. Bartender, give me some juice ""
Handing her glass to the bartender, she looked at Gordon. "Sadly to admit, our race is very young compared to humans and is not at all familiar with space. Only 20 years ago we left the barriers of our home planet, and only after 15 years of traveling through the unknown endless, we met people "
"Thanks to our well-developed genetics, we were able to find common ground with humans, after which a fruitful exchange of technology began. We shared knowledge about life, they shared engineering knowledge as well as energy technology "
Gordon listened to Sienna and nodded in understanding, "I see. And I am an ordinary mercenary who travels through various systems. To be honest, space fascinates me, if space were a woman, I would definitely marry her, ahahaha "
Sienna with a stone face looked at the laughing Gordon and after a few seconds also laughed "Ha ha ha, that was really funny."
Gordon raised his eyebrow. "You don't get the humor, do you?"
Sienna nodded. Stanfield sighed "Well, anyway, it was nice to talk to you, but I think the port has already checked my cargo and I should look for a new assignment. See you"
Gordon took another sip of his cocktail, then got up from his chair and headed for the exit. But then Sianna said "Wait, Gordon"
He stopped and looked inquiringly at the blue girl, she asked "You have a ship and at the moment you have no assignment, right?"
Without hiding it, Gordon just nodded, the girl asked, "Could you then take me to the Mara System? It's 27 jumps from here. Of course I will pay for this trouble "
Gordon thought a little "27 jumps at a time, it's certainly far, but it all depends on how much you pay."
The girl thought, "I think 170 thousand credits will be enough"
Gordon rubbed his chin and then replied, "Let's do it like this, you will officially issue this mission in the space port with a 170,000 credits after paying a commission. That 10 percent commission will keep you and me safe. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you will definitely rob me, but still I must have 100 percent confidence in my passenger. "
The girl, without thinking twice, agreed. She did not have much time to find a ship that would go to the system she needed, and if you use constant transfers, it will cost more than 180 thousand.
Having agreed to fly out the next day, Gordon decided to study the market on this planet, as well as the market in the system where they are going.
Now Gordon has about 230 thousand credits on his account. After spending a month as a mercenary, Gordon already understood how cosmic relationships work and, in general, how this structure works, so he would be a complete fool if he did not decide to increase his capital.
After checking the current market, Gordon came to the decision to buy various alcohol, which was relatively cheap here, but there is a shortage of alcohol in the Mara system, so he hopes to make money on it.
The next day, Gordon and Sianna went to [Eclipse] together. Gordon started showing everything to this blue girl. "The room from which we entered is the warehouse and engineering area, here is the common room, as well as the kitchen. The stove is completely at your disposal "
"There are two cabins on the left, my cabin on the left, yours on the right. The shower is shared, so please don't take too long in the mornings and evenings. If you go straight, then you will find yourself in the cockpit, in principle, when I am there, you can also go there. On the right is the room with the core of the ship, so access to it is strictly closed for you. All in all, sit back and enjoy the ride. "
Having shown everything to Sianna, Stanfield started the ship's engine and successfully left the planet, following the space map to the hyper corridor he needed.
After about half a month of travel, Gordon and Sianna got used to each other. Gordon sat in his pilot's seat, while Sianna sat in the assistant's seat and watched him closely. Reading the book, he saw out of the corner of his eye that she was looking at him "Is there something wrong?"
Sianna shook her head. "You are really very different from all the people I have seen. For all the time that we traveled together, you have never looked up from books "
Gordon smiled. "Well, I think you have to constantly invest in yourself to get anywhere. A few useful knowledge will not be superfluous "
Sianna got up from her seat and walked to a shelf on which lay many books and magazines, she began to sort them "Dna: The Ultimate Data Storage Solution, Features of Tendon Tissue Regeneration in Animals, Fundamentals of Cellular Immunity. And that's just about biology. I'm sure if I try, I'll find you a book on how to build a hyperdrive. "
Gordon smiled tightly, he really has such a book, but he just doesn't understand it yet "Every man should have a hobby, my is to collect knowledge, in addition it can be useful"
Sianna replied with a serious face, "Well, since you have such a hobby, then I will help you, I have several scientific articles, but only they are all in our language, I will also leave you a dictionary."
Gordon replied "Thank you."
Suddenly, a loud humming sound sounded throughout the ship, and all the lights in all the cabins became flashing and red.
Sienna frowned. "What is this siren?" she asked Gordon, who had already thrown away all the books and in all seriousness presses several buttons and looks at the monitor "This sound means that there are other ships at the other end of the corridor."
Sienna asked in surprise, "But isn't that okay?"
Gordon simply replied, "It would be okay if they didn't have combat modes turned on and their guns weren't ready to fire at us."
Meanwhile, at the other end of the corridor, 3 small spaceships were floating in space, which look like these ships should be decommissioned long ago. Rusty metal, gunfire marks and protruding pieces of iron, but this ship is still capable of combat and that's all the pirates need.
In one of these ships, a voice sounded over the voice communication "Boss, the radar shows that in half a minute we will have guests"
The pilot, a 40-year-old man with a long, unkempt beard and black teeth, asked in his smoky hoarse voice, "Hmm, what does the radar show?"
The assistant's voice sounded "The radar does not show what kind of ship it is, apparently it has a very good disguise, but this is not surprising, there is only one small ship, most likely it is some kind of corvette of the latest model"
The leader of the gang scratched his beard "It's good, for such a ship, even if it is all perforated, we can make good money. It is a pity, of course, that this is not a cargo shuttle "
The assistant said again "Boss, he's on way."
Smiling, showing all his black teeth with holes in some places, "Okay, boys, stuff this ship with lead like a turkey."
Waiting for a few seconds stretched out like an eternity for them, all the pirates gripped their steering wheels as tightly as possible, and sweat slowly trickled down their dirty cheeks, sometimes getting into their eyes, but they were so tense that they did not notice it at all.
Suddenly, a gray spaceship jumped out of the endless void in front of them at maximum speed, leaving behind only a blue plume of plasma remnants.
The leader of the gang reacted very first "Damn, he's too fast, don't let him go, open fire"
The 3 pirate ships turned around and began to chase [Eclipse] along the way, firing their automatic cannons that fire AP rounds.
Of course, Gordon will not just substitute his back, at the moment he uses all the knowledge of his predecessor and practical skills that he managed to get in 2 months.
Focusing on maneuvering, Gordon shouted, "Sianna, here is the blaster control console, start shooting pirates.
Sianna nodded, grabbed the remote control firmly, and jerked her hand, aiming at the pirate ship.
At first, the pirates did not notice that under the wings of [Eclipse] two twin-blaster towers turned right on them. But only bright green flashes that flew right into them showed that this lamb has teeth of its own.
The pirates also began to maneuver, but the very first ship simply did not have time to do anything and a plasma charge burned a hole in the skin, producing a chain reaction and blowing up the ship.
The pirates screamed "DAMN, JIMMY, THESE BASTARDS KILLED JIMMY"
When one of the ships exploded, a faint smile appeared on Sianna's face. But other ships began to dodge, so all the shells fly by.
Gordon noticed this, so he said, "Don't shoot directly at the ships, try to calculate the approximate behavior of their ships and shoot ahead of the curve."
Sianna, with aggression in her voice, said "Don't think of me as an idiot, that's what I do, it's just a little complicated."
Still intently watching the turret control monitor, Sianna asked, "Wait. Why am I involved in shooting pirates? Shouldn't I be relaxing in my room while you're busy destroying their ships? "
Gordon, maneuvering from a lot of bullets, replied "I thought that if you help me, then we can quickly get rid of the annoying leeches that clung to our tail."
Sianna took a break from the console, thought a little, and then said "I think I could agree to this, if, of course, you return 20% of your reward."
At the moment, Gordon already has high adrenaline due to the fight, but after Sianna's words, his adrenaline level broke the limit of "NO! In no case. Dear passenger, go to your cabin and enjoy your time, I will take care of everything myself "
Sianna shrugged her shoulders and headed for the exit from the pilot's compartment, leaving she stopped, looked at Gordon and said, "Please, Captain Stanfield, don't let the pirates destroy us, I wouldn't want to waste so many resources."
Sianna left, and the compartment door closed behind her. Gordon breathed a sigh of relief from the realization that he would not have to lose money, then he looked with anger at the radar "Damn pirates, not only have I already lost 300 thousand because of you, and to these 300 thousand, I could have lost 34 thousands. Bastards! "