Ubel arrived at dock 131, where their fleet was placed, and was welcomed by a sight of the entire crew of the former Demonic Monkeys working together with the droids in disembarking the cargo to the docks from the capture freighters.

He went towards the command droid which was also sending out intricate orders to the crew, helping with the task and instructing the carriers of the cargo on where and which place they would put the containers for easy inspection later.

“Sitrep,” he demanded which the command droid turned towards him, inorganically.

“Currently, we have finished unloading 92% of the cargo, commander.”

“Good. Buyers will be arriving shortly. Confirm their IDs before entry. Name is Lucy Wu and confirm her crew.” Ubel ordered.

“Aye commander.” the droid saluted.

As he turned to check the other parts of the unloading area, he was immediately notified of the arrival of their buyer, Lucy, and her crew. They brought ten Overload Trucks with a large number of droids of their own. Ubel sent more of his flying drones to assist in the inspection of the cargo.

Then the woman, Lucy jumped out of the truck that was passing by Ubel and greeted her again.

“Impressive Lucy, that's a lot of trucks. I didn’t know you had such heavy equipment ready.” Ubel was fascinated at their capability and readiness to haul large numbers of cargo. He made another bullet on his mental list for large cargo trucks.

“Well, we need those to quickly fill our freighter because we just received several orders from other stations who are very interested in but them from us,” Lucy said. Then his two companions who accompanied him earlier in the bar appeared.

“You haven’t got the goods yet, but you’re already selling them.” Ubel was more fascinated by the reputation and the trust they had from their clients to be confident that Lucy would deliver their orders.

“Well, such a privilege wasn’t easy to get.” Lucy grinned after being flattered. “We spent years planting our mark on every station. So it's one of our greatest assets that we harvested from our hard work. As all traders and smugglers know, trust is a priceless thing in this universe. And with the trust that I gained from my clients, I can sell them anything because they are confident I shall deliver what I sold to them.”

He nodded in agreement with Lucy’s words. It was also how he started his shipping empire. Then he noticed the droids from both sides started communicating with one another mentally to sync each other’s operation of unloading the goods to hauling the cargo onto the truck.

He gazed around and found that the main hub of connection that was coming from their droids was all linked to the dwarf. But Ubel couldn’t get any idea what was the role of the woman named, Ela on her crew. Ubel kept looking at her companions curiously which Lucy noticed.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot to introduce my main crew. But first, let me introduce my full name.” Lucy offered her hand again which Ubel shook. “I am Lucy Wu, captain of the ship, Surnexus.”

Lucy then gestured towards the woman in the jumpsuit who was still wearing her giant helmet that almost as big as her upper body. She had a black tight suit which made her well blessed and sculpted feminine body. more seductive and alluring to those who will see her. Ubel remembered the badass female anime characters usually in tight black body suits or action and superhero movies.

A Femme Fatale.

“This is Ela Corcosant.” the woman just nodded her helmet silently. “She is our Breaker.”

“First time to see one,” Ubel spoke out loud, intentionally trying to get the attention of the silent woman.

“Because most breakers don’t like walking outside our cells. We only walk in the Digital World. I would rather be at the ship if not for our captain to be as stupid as a brick in handling consoles and so I have to prove field digital security.” Ela responded while Ubel just nodded and grinned. Through his glowing golden eyes, he could feel the intensity of Ela’s digital prowess, a fellow Neuromancer in the open. He could vouch for Ela’s words of their rarity to walk in the open as their true strength lies behind the lines of codes and matrices.

Then he turned to the dwarf man.

“This is Alvin of Clan Mu,” then Lucy laughed lightheartedly. “Don’t get deceived by his small size, he’s in charge of our ‘physical’ security and the command of the droids.”

She intended that as a joke because only stupid people would want to trigger the anger of a dwarf. Alvin was more like a stunted Viking berserker with the size and sheer strength of a gorilla. His height was at the level of Ela’s shoulder but Ubel could safely assume that Alvin had more muscle mass than two of his companions combined. His cybernetic upgrades were more obvious than Ela who hid her entire body in a suit and helmet or Lucy who had her entire body hidden, except for the head, under her thick jacket and clothes. Alvin had electronics and glowing wires protruding all over his skin which makes him more like a biomechanical soldier.

Ubel then remembered that the dwarf clans were usually raiders in the Sovereign Systems.

“I know that look. And yeah I am a member of Clan Mu, a known clan of pirates between Eldeste and Balutani System.” The dwarf seems to have noticed his curious gaze but mistakenly took it as hostile. “If you got a problem or have a history with my clan’s raids, then I don’t fucking care. It's our way of life, if you lost your mommy during one of our raids, then blame yourself for being weak.”

“Ah, no that’s not actually why I became interested when I heard your clan.” Ubel shook his head. “I was wondering, are there clans also here on Sol System?”

The appearance of a dwarf in a non-sovereign system mostly meant that they made a ‘temporary’ visit which could last for several decades at most. They were very hard to find as outlaws due to their very adept use of the asteroids as their hideouts.

“Not that I know of,” Alvin said. “I’m not even from here.”

“Now now,” Lucy clapped her hands to break the very cold atmosphere and then commanded Alvin. “Alvin, could you send some droids to create some perimeter while some are inspecting the goods? I don’t want someone ambushing us later on our way back to the ship.”

“Fine.”

As the dwarf disappeared from their sight, Lucy lightly said.

“Please forgive Alvin, kid. He was just used to… or let's just say becomes very cautious when people notice his clan’s name.”

“No, don’t worry. I was just truly curious about the existence of dwarf clans.” Ubel waved his hand.

“Yeah. But as for your question earlier, I heard there are some dwarf clans sometimes that would pass Sol System from time to time but you know them, they don’t stick for long after a raid. So that's probably the reason why there's a rare sight of their clans on one specific system for a long time outside of their home territories.”

“True. What a fascinating culture and tradition. Please don’t think of it too much.” Ubel let out his honest feelings of wanderlust and adventure. “I am just mesmerized and in awe in seeing other cultures that are so different from mine.”

Lucy noticed that and took it as a change in topic which also gave her the time to know more about Ubel.

“Speaking of which, where did you hail from kid?” she asked.

Ubel mulled for a moment before replying.

“I don’t even know. I was just born in a freighter and lived on it until I was put into service on a construction ship across various sectors. So I don’t have any home system or even birthplace to know about.”

“That's quite an interesting rise to power huh? An orphan rising to become the leader of a pirate fleet, and at such a young age also!” Lucy then stopped as he also realized something. “By the way, how old are you?”

“I’m 28 according to Sol System,” Ubel replied. If he used his age when he was still Kiryu, he was already 38 years old. Meanwhile, if he used his in-game character’s age, he would be 31 but due to the nanotech upgrades on his body, he appeared like a teenager at the age of 18-19 years old.

“So young! Wait, are you using some kind of gold medication?” Lucy asked which made Ubel remember such expensive medicines that only the corpo families, politicians, and powerful cartel leaders possessed or had access to such godly nectar. This medicine stops aging and according to those who used it and as was seen from those who consumed it, it provides eternal youth.

That’s why it's the most precious and most expensive thing in their known universe.

The Ambrosia, food for the gods.

“If I had, I would probably own a corporation instead.” Ubel laughed.

“True true… Hahahahaha!” Lucy laughed also with him.

The recipe for making Ambrosia was kept hidden and protected by the Commune Liber Split, an organization that consisted of scientists and academics on the planet Venus. And the only neutral party in the cluster.

But one of the confirmed ingredients of the Ambrosia was GOLD. Almost every corp and sovereign state tried to unlock the secrets behind Ambrosia with his clue but so far, none was able to crack the private details in making the key to immortality. As such, it was also referred to as gold medications.

Ubel’s mind went back to the inspection of his goods and viewed the perspective of a drone in the unloading area. Watching through his drone, he saw Alvin wasting no time in examining the merchandise, the dwarf’s experienced eyes scanning and turning over each crate with a practiced eye and handling. After a thorough inspection, he turned on his holo and sent a communique to his captain. Then they were interrupted by Alvin’s Holo that appeared on Lucy’s wristwatch.

"Captain. The inspection is complete. All of the listed cargo are present. It all looks good," Alvin said, nodding approvingly. "Should I authorize the loading?."

“Good, start the loading then,” Lucy said.

Alvin nodded and disappeared with his holo.

“So, I’ll be transferring the money now.” Lucy’s eyes glowed in purple light and Ubel suddenly received a credit transfer notice on his account. The numbers on his financial assets started rising again. A final notification that he received a full 500 million credits popped up, confirming the success of the credit transfer.

“I didn’t expect you to have such money, I was thinking that you may even request to pay me in installments,” Ubel said.

“Heeeh… installments?” Lucy started laughing. “You’re asking to get scammed if you accepted such a deal.”

Ubel started laughing also, but he endured a slight embarrassment within himself as he remembered that he wasn’t in the Federation that he knew.

Then a drone notified him of a man asking for access to enter the premises of their docking bay. The man introduced himself in the Holo of the drone as Argle Blunt. He didn’t know any Argle Blunt so he assumed that this man was probably connected to Lucy.

“I was notified of a person asking to enter. His name is Argle Blunt.” Ubel told Lucy, who immediately made a facepalm, and sighed deeply, confirming Ubel’s assumptions.

“He’s… he’s with me. Damn, why can’t he wait?” Lucy replied. “Sorry but can you let him inside? I will guarantee that he intends no harm… well probably except me.”

Ubel nodded and gave permission through the drones and had him escorted to them directly, leading him towards the docking bay where her crew was now helping load the cargo to the trucks. The mannerisms and the way Argyle walked, however, made Ubel remember a certain group of people and asked Lucy.

“Did you take a loan or something?” he smelled the reason to be money.

“Yeah…” Lucy admitted. “He’s the one I called earlier. He’s probably here to watch over the assets they have ‘invested’ in me.”

“Which is?”

“The 500 million credits. I only had 472 million cred when we made a deal and even after liquidizing all of my assets, it isn’t enough to pay you. And even if I did, I don’t want to travel to the station of my clients without a clearance of 450 million credits on my balance sheet. And that’s where I remembered the Acapulco Banking Group. So I accepted the offer that they always stuck to my ship every time I landed on every station.” Lucy said in frustration.

“Every station… Are they big?” Ubel asked as he saw through the guiding drones, a man that was making their way through their bustling corner of the spaceport.

“Big? They are the only banking entity that helps the outlaws breathe in space, unlike other corporations and banking institutions who rarely make a deal with unregistered personnel, people on the outlaw stations, or criminals.” Lucy stretched her face in annoyance. “Damn, no wonder they are called the space sharks. Once they smell credit, they swoop in, bite their victim and never let go.”

“I will take that as a compliment, Madam Lucy.” a voice rang which caused them to turn.

It was a stout man in a black business suit with a prim haircut and shrewd glint in his eyes. And a very ominous flying bird above his head. It looked like it was flying but as Ubel scanned, the movement of the wings didn’t sync with how it should be physically flying. Especially when there are no feathers or even flesh on its body but it's a bird made of metal sticks.

As he scanned for more detail, a FOG defense system appeared, blocking his attempt. He wanted to take another hacking challenge but was interrupted from starting his game.

“Kid, this is Blunt Argyle. Blunt Argyle, this is Ubel.” Lucy introduced them both each other.

"Pleasure to meet you," he nodded curtly at Ubel with his voice gruff but businesslike. "Lucy here has been singing your praises. Says you've got quite the haul to offer."

Ubel returned the nod, sizing up Blunt with a keen eye. But he felt something off from him as such, his plan to dig further was canceled. He decided to let the river flow this time around and see what would happen in anticipation.

"That's right," he replied, his tone confident. "We've got some top-quality merchandise up for grabs."

Blunt glanced over at Lucy, a silent question in his gaze. Lucy nodded, confirming Ubel’s words.

"Indeed," Lucy said, a hint of pride in his voice. "Ubel here has some of the best loot I've seen in a while."

Blunt's expression remained impassive, but Ubel could see a glimmer of interest in his eyes.

"Well, let's not waste any time then," the loan agent said briskly. "I'll need to inspect the cargo to confirm the safety of our assets."

“Our assets? Argyle, I already had Alvin inspect the goods. You can ask for a copy from him later.” Lucy frowned at his statements and stopped the loan agent. Argyle nodded upon hearing her words.

“Then we will wait for the loading to finish then.” the agent replied.

It took them two hours to load the entire cargo that was sold to Lucy. The trucks started leaving one by one. Then the last truck that was driven by Ela and guarded by Alvin on the roof, stopped in front of them.

“Well, Mr. Arygle are you coming with us or what?” Lucy asked.

“I apologize but it seems another agent will be waiting for you in your ship’s docking bay. She will replace me as the representative of the bank.” Argyle said.

"Well… I don’t know if that’s good or not but... I best be off then," Lucy said, giving Ubel a parting nod and offering a handshake. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you. I hope this will be the start of a profitable future for both of us."

Ubel returned the handshake firmly, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Likewise," he replied, his tone confident. "I'm sure we'll have more opportunities to work together in the future."

"Until next time."

With the transaction complete, Lucy signaled for a cargo truck to move. Ubel watched as Lucy climbed into the truck and drove off into the bustling roads of the spaceport, leaving the premises of their docking bay. With their plunder finally disposed of, he turned his attention back to Blunt, who had another business with Ubel.

“Why are you here, Mr. Argyle?” Ubel asked.

The agent bowed and took a card from his breast pocket.

“Let me introduce myself formally. My name is Argyle Blunt, representative of the Acapulco Banking Group. The committee had been very interested in your latest achievement and would want to invest in your… business venture.”

“How did I pass very strict eyes to become worthy of your investments?” Ubel asked sarcastically.

“Every pirate in this system is a candidate for our offer. But they have to break the price ceiling that our group had established before they could be considered eligible for our investment.” Argyle then opened his palm which then showed a floating list of his cargo. “You didn’t just break the requirement but even exceeded what other pirates in this system had done in just one raid. And with three freighters captured even. That is something worthy of our attention.”

Argyle shut down the image and straightened his tie before continuing.

“Our group offers to take up the entire cost of upgrading your three freighters into combat-capable ships for your fleet.”

Ubel expected such an offer but he couldn’t make up a certain demand from Argyle in exchange for such a generous deal.

“What's the catch?” Ubel asked, knowing that there’s always some payment, one way or another.

“We want to be the sole buyer of your… plunder,” Argyle replied, with determined eyes. “We will pay 8% off from the market value of your entire plunder.”

That was a good proposition rather than restrictive, this way Ubel could easily dispose of their plunder every time they dock. Making the time to find good smuggler or trade for their goods to be unnecessary. And on their next docking, Ubel wouldn’t need to ask for another overhaul repair and maintenance because he will be finishing everything this time around. Especially when he was planning to save for a mothership or a destroyer.

“And if we dock on a station where you don’t have any trader or shop?” Ubel asked.

“Then you are free to sell it to others… but that is very unlikely. For we are always present on every outlaw system.” Argyle smiled, with words proving what was mentioned by Lucy about the influence and extended reach of his company.

“I see. Then I want top-grade upgrades for the three freighters. They must be built with the focus on their hull and firepower, as well as its range and the cargo space.”

Argyle smiled as he nodded, glad that he closed the deal with Ubel. Then he opened up his holo and asked Ubel.

“Should I send mechanics and the materials to your docks?”

Ubel was surprised that Argyle was already prepared to start the modifications of his freighters. Then he replied with a wide grin.

“Yeah, I’ll notify my men to allow entry of your people.”

“Then the modifications shall be done immediately according to what you require,” Argyle said, then communicated to his men about the specifications, passed on Ubel’s demands, and approved the start of the modifications. Then he cut off his holo and turned back to Ubel.

"So, what's next?" Ubel asked, eager to capitalize on their newfound connections.

“That’s my question to you, Mr. Ubel,” Argyle said. Already surmised what Ubel was planning to do with his untouched credits. And Ubel confirmed it with his request.

“Then could you redirect me to an arms dealer? Someone who sells quality arms.”

“Ship armaments?” Argyle smiled.

“No, for my crew. I need equipment and small arms for Ground Assaults.” Ubel elaborated.

“I see, then I recommend you to Bolt’s Quarters. He is one of our affiliated arms dealers. I can vouch for the quality and seeing your budget, I can also assure you that you would find even better than what you are planning to acquire.”

Ubel realized that Argyle had probably dug about Ubel’s current finances. A typical trait of a loan shark as he had thought.

“Then I’ll check it out now,” Ubel said as he opened his holo for automated direction before he left. But was stopped by the agent before he could.

“Please use our company’s ferry. It’s only right to provide quality service after a successful deal.” Argyle said as a floating vehicle arrived at the scene. It was a shiny black sphere that could be considered a carriage than a personal car. “I already set the coordinates to Bolt’s Quarters.”

“Then I shall.” Ubel accepted the offer. The boy then rode off to the vehicle that was provided by Argyle while also notifying his crew about his absence as he would be buying something for their next trip.

Argyle could only smile as he saw the vehicle disappear from his sight.