“And how much have we raised?”
“Eight thousand, Captain. The going
is quite slow because we are operating without a proper license and are subject
to high taxes.”
Ann swore under her breath, for
which Flynn was grateful.
“And our supplies?”
“On that front, we are on better
standing. Consumer goods aren’t as heavily taxed, and food not at all. Also,
Hank has been able to make thorough headway on our repairs.”
For better or worse, Hank hadn’t had
the time or resources for his tinkering projects. Calypso had been too
heavily damaged in the fight at Vitaly, so all his efforts were in getting
those systems back up and running.
“That’s some good news, at least.”
“Good news!?” Ann whirled back at
him. “We’ve been trapped in this Celestials-forsaken system for weeks. Let’s
get out of here, put wind back in our sails. Even being hunted by the Alliance
or Constantine is better than this.”
Unfortunately, Flynn agreed with
her, at least in part.
We’re too vulnerable here. We’ve got
next to no combat capability, and the longer we’re here, the more worried I
become. The Consortium is not the merchant paradise it’s touted to be.
In the time they had been in Exolym,
they had witnessed a dozen different skirmishes between ships, four planetary
raids, and three coups on two different moons. At any given time, a
confrontation was possible because the Consortium believed that possession was
the law. Those who don’t have the strength to hold onto wealth or power don’t
deserve to keep it.
So even if we get Reese’s account
back into shape, we can’t go trading until we outfit the ship with some decent
weapons again. For the same reason we can’t go back to the Reach. Fortunately,
in the Consortium, everything is for sale.
“Reese, pull up the latest weapon
prices from Witwick’s market. We need to outfit the ship and get out of this
system. We might find better opportunities elsewhere.”
“Finally,” Ann said.
“Aye, Captain,” Reese said simply,
checking his console.
We also can’t stay here forever
because sooner or later someone’s going to figure out there’s a sizable bounty
for me from Constantine.