With that, he was welcomed again by the sight of outlaws raising their glasses in a silent toast on their tables. Traders laughed in joy as their spirits buoyed by the prospects and profits they had gained. Bounty hunters were discussing their next prey and smugglers were also busy arguing with clients for their price. He turned to his right, and he could see a new group of armed personnel, escorting a very obese woman, sitting on a floating saucer. He scanned her and found that she was one of the known crime lords in the area. He grinned and hoped that something interesting would happen.

The sounds of chatter and commerce filled the air around him as he continued walking. He heard more about trade deals and even the discussion about the Alliance Stock Market, the downturn in the UGTR currency, and new investments being offered. He also heard another one who couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement at the prospect of re-establishing himself in the underworld once again.

Ubel breathed deeply, making him feel that he was at home again after completing his trade with Gold. His past connections may have been lost, but he was determined to forge new ones and make a name for himself once again.

“Commander.”

A holo appeared in his view that came from one of his crew.

“Yes?” he asked, curious on the matter that they had to contact him. He scanned the man and found his name on the list to be Turic, a crew of the ship Zertum.

“Are you still trying to find a trader?” his crew asked.

“Well… yeah why?”

“We met two traders earlier, asking if we have goods to sell them,” Turic explained.

“Oh? Did they offer something that would make them stand out from others?” now he was even more curious.

“Uhhhh… yeah. They mentioned that they are willing to buy our entire plunder for 88% of the market price.”

Not much but what he was expecting from traders that were willing to trade with them.

“Hmmm. That’s good. Keep an eye out for others who will come to you. Make sure you report to me for every offer.” he ordered.

“Yes, commander!” Turic cut off his line right after.

He appreciated that his crew was slowly becoming independent on their own, something that he observed to have been forbidden upon them by their former commander, Munda.

Ubel searched around again to find the previous smugglers he had spotted and he found only the woman named Lucy. The other two candidates in his eyes, seemed to have left the establishment.

She was now at another table, eating a meal. Still with no client to keep her busy. He made his way through the bustling crowd of outlaws and traders. Then the smuggler was joined by two people, a woman in a jumpsuit with a heavy Orcanus Helmet and a dwarf man with a large rifle on his back.

Fortunately, they were on the list of registered crew of a ship-size Freighter, called Surnexus, an Alliance Origin ship. Lucy Wu was the ship captain. Then the woman in a tight jumpsuit was Ela Corcosant, and the male dwarf was Alvin Mu.

They were all members of the same trade group led by Lucy.

The two sat with the smuggler and started talking in whispers with each other, not noticing Ubel who was slowly walking towards them. He then increased his hearing senses to eavesdrop on their whispers as he got closer.

“Yo… I heard that a pirate group had recently docked in the station.” the dwarf was heard saying.

“I heard about them. What of it?” Lucy asked, taking a bite from her meal.

“I also heard from one of their crews that visited the nearby arms dealer but their commander seemed to have gone to find a buyer for their goods,” Alvin replied. “I gave them our contact just in case they were interested.”

“So they still haven't found one?” Lucy asked again.

“None. Other than those that are desperately waiting on the docking bay or us. So only a few have attempted to make contact to buy their plunder.” Ela in a seemingly robotic tone, said. Ubel could only assume that she probably lost her voice and was using a cheap voice box.

“Strange. There are a lot of fencers around here that would drool on buying pirate plunders… so why?” Lucy looked around her, pointing out other traders who were also waiting for a customer at their empty tables.

“Because it seemed the traders are being cautious to buy from an unknown pirate group that has a massive vessel in their arsenal,” Alvin said.

“What ship?” Lucy got curious, putting her fork on the table, and leaned closer.

“Most of the talks around were that they were rumored to have commandeered an experimental or prototype supercapital ship. Either from UGTR, Alliance, or a very powerful Corp. And these traders don’t want a large target on their back for trading with a very hot outlaw group.”

“Even the local crimelords and the families were steering clear of the matter and just allowed them to dock. Probably to investigate their identities and let them off right after.” Ela added to Alvin’s statement. “It’s always better to know your future enemies, as they had always practiced. Especially when the subject had brought a super capital.”

“Is this why, everyone seems so jumpy here?” She looked around and noticed that the noise she would always hear seemed to be much louder than she had on other days.

“Probably,” Ela answered. “And they also brought three commandeered UGTR freighters.”

“And they captured UGTR freighters huh… And? How did your deal become?” Lucy turned to Alvin again. “How much did you offer them?”

“Eighty-eight percent,” Alvin replied.

“Should’ve made it sixty or seventy instead. But no matter, it's still a good deal.” Lucy went back to her meal and started eating.

“Yeah, especially when I heard that the freighters were also carrying arms and cargo meant for certain corporations.” Ela also revealed.

“...nice.” Lucy pointed her fork to Ela and then to Alvin. “This would be a very good exchange if it comes through, I have a client in mind that would buy those from us at a high price.”

“What is it this time? Rebels?” Alvin dipped into the topic, asking about the identity of their client.

“More like a stupid daughter of a family that owned several systems under its company.”

“Oh? You heard about them, Ela?”

“Youngest daughter reached the rebellious age, parents rarely see her, felt unimportant even if she's living the rich life, she sees the social media, gets brainwashed by virtue signaling influencers, her young mind gets brain rot on supports outlaws and terrorists, joins protests for the rights of these outlaws for several years, realizes that she can use her family’s fortune to fund their protests so she asks arms and weapons to be smuggled into their system, all of these to point a flaw that “the UGTR military should be focusing on smuggling traders rather than attacking helpless outlaws!” that kinda thing. ” Ela rolled her eyes as she said this with sarcasm.

“You’ve done your research, well.” Lucy laughed. “This client of ours wanted to make a very large wildfire for the UGTR council to see and notice that they couldn’t ignore. The pay was triple from I would offer on this type of run. Espe-”

Lucy stopped eating and turned her head to the approaching person. Alvin and Ela also noticed and then cautiously made some preparations under the table with their guns at the ready. As he approached a group of traders, they eyed him warily at first. Then they sized him up as he arrived at their table.

“Who are you, kid?” Lucy asked with an obvious tone of hostility. Ubel smiled as he gazed from Lucy to Ela then to Alvin he went back to Lucy.

“I heard that you offered my men a very good deal.” Ubel forces the dwarf to scoot over and move to the side as he sits in front of the man who is eating. “Lucy is it?”

The three immediately got confused and became more suspicious about hearing a kid say such things. They looked at his back and scanned around to see if they were under surveillance and found nothing worth noticing.

“Your men?” Lucy got confused at his words and then scanned Ubel as she continued to eat. Upon finding out his real identity, Lucy choked at her food which Ela her a drink indifferently.

“AH…” Lucy breathed deeply after gulping the entire cup. “You’re Ubel?”

“Nice for the system to update my status quickly. And yeah, My name is Ubel.” he offered his hand for a handshake which Lucy hesitantly took. He also offered his hand to the woman and dwarf but the two ignored his hand and instead just looked at him with caution.

“Pardon my companions, it's just that they don’t involve themselves in a discussion with a client.” Lucy leaned closer, pointing out her companions with her fork. “If you’re a client that is.”

Ela stood and sad beside Lucy while Alvin scooted over, providing a space for Ubel to sit.

“No offense taken. So…” Ubel tapped the table lightly, took the seat, and sighed. “I have goods in my ships right now. And I need to quickly dispose of them if possible as we still need to go to other… systems for more business ventures. If you know what I mean.”

“Storage already full?” Lucy finished her food by finally taking the last spoonful of food and then wiping her mouth with a tablecloth.

“No, but I prefer if we start our raiding parties with empty stomachs,” Ubel replied. “Such practice and habit breeds more profit.”

“Then, what are you selling?” Lucy asked, still in doubt whether the boy in front of them was even the real leader of the pirate group they were talking about earlier.

“Here.” Ubel tossed a marker which as Lucy opened, displayed a holographic display of all goods and each of their details. Then Lucy stopped her fingers from scrolling when she spotted a very distinct name on the list of goods.

“Gaia…”

“Yes… the same plates used for building capital ships and high-quality golems.” Ubel leaned back to his seat. Eagerly waiting for what will be Lucy’s offer.

“Wher-ah, welp never mind. No questions asked. It's always our code in buying and transporting goods.” Lucy then went back to scrolling through the lists but failed to hide his shaking hands and tapping foot which Ubel could see her restrained excitement. After minutes of checking the manifest, Lucy closed the marker and sighed.

Ubel raised an eyebrow, curious to see what Lucy had in mind.

"Well, Ubel, I must say, that I didn’t expect you to have such plunder under your belt," Lucy said, her eyes gleaming with excitement. Her mind already racing with possibilities. "Aside from the Gaia plates... four hundred and sixty-seven crates are quite the haul. I usually deal with a hundred at most pirates and raiders. And I have a few contacts who might be interested in buying such cargo."

"Good to hear," Ubel nodded, pleased with Lucy's response. "I'm looking to offload this cargo as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence with us pirates. But first, let's talk about payment. So what offer did you have in mind?"

Lucy leaned in closer, his voice low.

"Scratch the eighty-eight percent that my companions had offered. Instead, I can offer you 415 million credits for all of them" he said. "It's a fair deal, considering the risk involved."

Ubel wanted to consider the offer for a moment. It was certainly a cut enough to give them profit to buy fuel and repair the damages on their ship during the raid, but it wasn’t enough for what he wanted to purchase later, even if he already had the money.

He also had to send an impression with the first smugglers that he would be trading with.

"500 million" he demanded immediately, his tone firm. He wanted to ask for 600 but he feels that he shouldn’t risk sacrificing his image in creating connections, as he already has the money from Gold. So he decided on a value that could establish his reputation while maintaining the air of being reasonable.

Lucy hesitated, clearly weighing her options.

“How about we make it 438 million then? The current market has unpredictable spikes and dips, but it's especially worse on Gaia Plates due to low demands. No one is at war anymore making the sale of battleships from UGTR to their allies and client systems to be minimal.”

“No, five hundred…” Ubel stuck firmly to the price he already had in mind for the sale of the cargo from the captured freighters. “I know the value of these plates. Especially when corporations have found a way through a legal loophole to sell capital ships on the black market. Adding also the increasing tension between UGTR and the Alliance. Neutral Sovereigns were also starting to build their navies through buying in the black market after learning what happened to those systems that didn’t have any defense fleet in the previous war.”

“What? Are you serious kid? Even if you have Gaia plates here. It's still-”

“Five hundred.” Ubel didn’t back down. Lucy tried to argue the value but was immediately cut off. Lucy’s tapping foot increased with intensity, obviously showing her impatience.

“Four hundred fifty.” she tried to bargain. “We will also provide you the-”

“No. Five hundred.” Ubel just kept smiling but maintained his price.

“Four hundred and seventy-five.” Lucy firmly stated with a loud and deeper voice this time as she leaned closer, to intimidate the boy in front of her.

“Five... hun...dred.” Ubel opened his mouth slowly, not even throwing a single digit away.

Lucy pondered for a moment as she leaned back. Seeing that she couldn’t make a good haggle from Ubel, she sighed deeply. But Ubel saw that as a chance to push her into a corner.

“It seems you cannot cater to our price, so please forgive me for disturbi-” Ubel then suddenly stood from his seat and started to walk away from the table. But was quickly called by Lucy.

“No no! Wait wait!” Lucy stood in panic as she tried to stop Ubel from leaving. “Let me call someone first.”

Ubel looked at her with confusion and nodded.

“Fine. But please do hurry. You’re not the only smuggler I had in mind for our plunder.”

Lucy immediately stood after seeing Ubel sit back in his seat. Then she went to a far corner where no people were present and opened a holo, calling someone which even the heightened sense of Ubel couldn’t intercept due to the loud noises in the background. Ubel leaned back in his chair, watching Lucy intently as the woman made her call. After a few minutes of hushed conversation, Lucy hung up from her Holo and turned back to Ubel with a grin.

“I suppose we could make it work with your required price Ubel. We’ll take it at 500 million," she said finally, a hint of reluctance in her voice. "But you drive a hard bargain, Ubel."

Ubel grinned, satisfied with the outcome.

"In the past, I learned from the best," he said cryptically, as he remembered his past stingy reputation as a shipping magnate.

With the deal struck, Ubel and Lucy shook hands, sealing their agreement. Ubel grinned, shaking Lucy’s hand firmly.

"I guess it's a pleasure doing business with you, Ubel," she said with a forced smile. "I'll have my crew come by to collect the cargo and transfer the funds to your account after the complete transfer of the goods."

"I understand completely," he said. "I'll make some calls on my side to prepare my droids and arrange the transfer at the docks. We will be waiting at dock 131.”

"Excellent," Lucy then clapped her hands to get the attention of her two companions. Both quickly moved towards the exit of the establishment. "I'll be there with my crew for the transfer within an hour."

With that, Lucy excused herself and made her way out of the bar. She quickly followed her companions and disappeared to the main exit. Ubel sighed in relief as he had managed to secure a lucrative deal for his loot, and he was eager to see the fruits of their labor. Then he turned his holo and told them to prepare to drop off their cargo on the docking bay. He made several meticulous commands before cutting off his holo.

“That’s the second off from my list.” He made a mental cross from the notes he made inside his mind. There’s only one last thing that was left to do. He patted his legs and then stood. He sent his payment and tip to the bartender who saluted him jokingly. He laughed as he went towards the exit with light toes. “Well, let's go back to the docks and help others.”