Von told Emilia about himself, mixing in a few careful lies. He had concocted the "accident" backstory while talking to the Port Authority worker. It wasn't airtight, but it was tough to prove wrong.
"So your memories are unclear?" Emilia asked. "I hope you understand that you're under suspicion of being a spy from the Barbelon Federation."
"That doesn't really add up. If I was part of this...Barbelly Federation?"
"Barbelon."
"Yeah, that. If I was a spy from the Barbelon Federation, would I brazenly carry around unsourced Rare Metal, pilot an unidentified craft, and try to park right at the front door of this colony? And claim I was an unidentified, self-styled mercenary on top of all that? I stand out pretty badly here. If I was in charge of a spy like that, I'd clock him as soon as he proposed such a 'brilliant' plan."
"Well, what a coincidence. I would do the same." The military woman giggled.
She was adorable when she laughed like that, though her scary first impression still had Von keeping his distance.
"Very well. I will notify the police station about you. Be sure to pick up your bounty and hand over the data caches, okay?"
"You have my thanks," Von said, earnestly bowing his head in gratitude. Emilia smiled, satisfied, and turned to leave...except before doing so, she faced him again.
"You're an interesting one. We will formulate a battle plan based on your data. I trust you'll join us?" She didn't wait for an answer before smiling and leaving. It might not have been as terrifying a smile as before, but it still reeked of danger.
Exterminating space pirates should be a cushy job, but Von couldn't quite relax knowing she'd be around.
Eventually, the Port Authority worker returned and released Von from the questioning room. His stomach growled almost immediately.
"Now, in exchange for your Rare Metal, we will pay you 2,600,000 Vetra," the Port Authority worker said. "Is that acceptable?"
"Sure," Von replied.
He opened a small terminal, something like a smartphone, and found 2,600,000 Vetra deposited into his account. Von had discovered this terminal in the living space storage area behind the Warhawk's cockpit and recognized it instantly. It was one of the most common tools in the galaxy. With one of these devices, a person could handle communications, navigation, funds, and other tasks right in the palm of their hand.
Von had found other helpful items in the living space storage area, but for now, he only carried his terminal and a laser gun for self-defense. Naturally, the authorities had confiscated the laser gun when they dragged him in for questioning, but he fully intended to take it back when he left.
"Need anything else? If not, I'm off to the police HQ so I can get this bounty and take a nice nap. Cool?" Von said.
"No, that is all. Thank you for your time," the Port Authority worker replied.
"Right. Well, later."
There wasn't much use in getting mad about the whole debacle at this point. Von left the Port Authority behind and headed straight for the police station. Lieutenant Emilia had already informed them about him, so he got through his business there quickly and painlessly. Along with the 18,000 Vetra he'd harvested from the space pirates, he received a prompt payment of 140,000 Vetra for the information about their whereabouts. His total funds now amounted to 2,758,000 Vetra.
Nice!
Von took the opportunity to ask the police about commodity prices around the colony. Basic meals were about three to five Vetra, going up to ten to fifteen if you wanted something fancy. A liter of clean drinking water would cost two Vetra, and anchorage fees for spaceships were 170 Vetra for twenty-four hours. He guessed that one Vetra was roughly equivalent to one hundred yen or so, which made water quite pricey.
Same with the anchorage fees—17,000 yen a day was rough. But such were the costs of being in a colony. Air was included in those prices. Both the air and the water were valuable around here. Really, when Von thought about it, it was a pretty honest price given how precious resources like those were for a colony.
Hmm. Assuming he slept in his ship, a day's stay at this colony would mean three meals for fifteen Vetra, four liters of water for twelve Vetra, and anchoring for 170 Vetra, for a total of 197 Vetra.
"Nice!" Von thought. He could stay there for forty years, though he imagined he'd run into more problems if he stayed that long. Maybe he should find a more permanent place to live. Regardless, as long as he didn't blow all his money on dumb stuff, he had enough to live on without too much stress for a while. Even faced with a huge, unknown universe, knowing he had enough cash to get by was a huge relief.
He'd slipped past pirates and government officials alike and made a good chunk of change in the process. Von returned to his ship with light steps and high spirits.
He spent the next few days gathering information by connecting to the trading colony's network. Of course, he didn't do anything illegal—all of his intelligence-gathering was above board. He simply requested access to the Port Authority's network in order to view their information databases, and their network administrator granted him access rights.
Von started by compiling information on neighboring star systems and the space empires that controlled them. It would help him understand the bigger picture of where he found himself.
Here is the passage revised to third-person perspective with the name changes and corrections:
It turned out Von was in the Nexus System, made up of four planets that revolved around a B-type star called Nexus. Nexus I sat close to the star, making it extremely hot and mostly useless.
The next closest was Nexus II, a gas planet made up of deuterium and helium-3, both of which were being mined as energy sources.
An asteroid belt surrounded these first two planets. The asteroids within were being mined for their ample supplies of Rare Metal and other valuable ores.
Two other planets existed outside of the asteroid cluster, aptly named Nexus III and Nexus IV—not much creativity going on there.
Nexus III's poisonous air and acid rain made the whole planet toxic. Yet both the air and acid rain were valuable substances in their own right, and even the surface and underground contained useful metals. Prison-slash-mining stations, where criminals did hard labor, hovered in the planet's orbit.
Like Nexus II, Nexus IV was a gas planet, but this one was a long, long way from the trading colony, which meant it was largely ignored. Nexus II was closer to the asteroid belt, so mining there was more convenient.
This whole star system was brimming with resources. Merchants and mining ships of all sizes flew in to get a piece of the action, leaving space pirates with plenty of juicy marks. And that meant mercenaries had just as many opportunities.
There was one more thing that made working as a mercenary such a lucrative prospect here, but first, Von needed to learn more about the space empire running the place: the Duskthorn Empire controlled the Nexus System.