The group was faced with a very common problem, they just didn't have enough money. They needed Zallium. It was the core ingredient for any of their plans. Null and Infinity could make it if they must but that would ruin the deniability plan. They also need larger pieces of Zallium the larger the crystal the more runes it could fit.
Chris wanted the group to build their own jump gate so they didn't need to use the dwarves or council ones. They wanted their coming and going to be untrackable and to not have to pay for the privilege of using their gate.
The party only source of Zallium was to do missions. They didn't know anything about how the mission system was set up. All they knew is that Bolat would come to them and say they had been assigned a mission. All the missions so far had consisted of using the dwarf jump gate to jump to system scan and area and send data back. After completing the mission of they would gain access to a small amount of Zallium.
Lisa knew that the dwarves were likely taking a high percentage tax out of the earning, but she also didn't understand why people would pay for missions they should have been able to do themselves. She was just happy that the missions weren't dangerous and that Null and Infy were able to produce results from using the small amount of crystals they did receive.
Most races tried to allocate missions internally but some missions would require unique specialists. To prevent disputes from erupting and causing diplomatic incidents the council had set up the mission board. The mission board was part of the enforcement department so had sufficient power backing them up that no one would ever attempt to go against any formal agreements.
The board would allocate the lucrative opportunities to the mercenary group that had a solid reputation and had been successful in the past. All new groups trying out for mission would have to complete an introductory set of missions to see how capable they were and if they could be trusted.
The Scanning missions were the first set of introductory missions. It tests to see if a group can handle the logistics of missions. Can they get to locations and send in the report etcetera. The next set of missions are the exploration missions and finally, they will assign low-level combat missions. Once those missions are completed the mercenary group will be able to register its name and bid to on real missions from the mission board.
Bolat Niddad the leader of the mercenary group AX12W321 had just submitted scans from their final introductory scanning mission. Bolat knew that the next set of missions would be an exploratory mission but he wasn't too worried. The mission board would always have more experience teams sweep a place and check for any hidden dangers before the place could be allocated to a new group to explore.
Their new mission seemed easy enough, they were to explore the ruins of an old race of potential world that fell victim to an extinction level meteorite impact 100's of years ago. The race might not have survived but the planet still did. It was up to the mercenary group to explore the planet the see if there was anything cultural or technology unique that could be saved. They were also to investigate if any other intelligent life was developing on the planet.
This was going to be the group first planetside mission. It was also going to be Bolat first planetside mission. He was excited to show the humans how effective dwarves were at carrying out missions. He had packed his best rune armour and ready his arsenal of drones.
Bolat centred his combat around remotely controlling drones using a mental link and AI programming. For this mission, he packed his aerial survey drones and one light combat drone that was armed with a flame thrower weapon.
Vark would be staying on board and looking after the chariot but he had spent some time making sure Bolat was prepared for this mission. He wasn't worried as he knew that the council had already scanned and logged the planet and this was really a training exercise for new mercenary groups.
Once he was ready. He collected the humans and headed towards the hanger. Null had already fabricated new suits for them. They were all excited this was going to be their first alien planet.
"Hurry up, let us get going already" Null was being his impatient self but his excitement was also leaking over the Infy via the soul link. "I can't wait to see what city ruins look like up close" Infy was looking forward to the new experience.
Chris and Jania were a little bit more apprehensive. "Are we sure it safe? There is only 5 well 6 if you include Infy of us for a WHOLE planet" asked Chris.
"It should be as safe as it can be, but we won't know until we get there. We won't be scanning the whole planet we have been assigned just one city to explore" replied Bolat as he packed the last of his gear aboard the shuttle. They didn't have the resources to explore a whole planet and even one city was going to stretch their resources.
"Wait, Bolat do you have any trump card machines you wish you could bring but you can't?" Lisa just had an idea that should at least help with their safety.
"I do have a heavy combat drone and also a heavy shield drone but both of them are too heavy to carry.
"why don't you get the boys to mark them for their return spell. That way they can be summoned if we need a trump card" Lisa knew she was being overly cautious but it is better to be over prepared and not need it than be unprepared and need it.
The return spell required an Instance communication device to be attached to the item and this would delay the start of their mission but a minor delay for the extra safety would be worthwhile.
Infy and Null required Bolat to supply the Zallium to create him some portable return spells. One for each drone he wished to mark. It took them another hour to create the device that would allow Bolat to bring his best items to the field but also return them to their docks. Bolat had to give up 6 crystals to make this happen as he required one in the dock, one on the item and one in the return device.
This made it an expensive device for Bolat but if it saved his life it would be worth it. It should also serve him for a long time meaning he would get a good return on investment.
With all the prep work completed, they were finally ready to embark on their first planetside mission.