Chapter 51: Little Green Men
I think that everything could be solved just by having a good shower. The right temperature and the right pressure did wonders for my mood. With a smile on my face, I got dressed in a simple outfit of jeans and a sweater (because when you controlled the temperature, every day was sweater weather). I left my hair down, not caring about how I looked, and walked towards the command bridge.
"Have you two reached an agreement?" I asked as soon as the hydraulic doors slid open with their customary hiss.
"Of course we have, Sweetie," hummed Sha Shou. I didn’t understand how something that was called Swift Killer could be so perky all of the time. I guess it was one of those mysteries of the universe.
"Jun Li?" I asked, not hearing his input.
"We have come to an agreement," said Jun Li sullenly.
"Good," I said with a nod. "Now, let’s discuss how this weapons deal is going to go."
----
We had reached what Jun Li had called the ’outskirts’ of the planet Thuzirus, just on the other side of their defense satellites when there was a comm coming in. I was dressed in my badass weapons dealer uniform, my face completely covered so I decided to answer it.
"All ships from any part of the Alliance must leave now!" hissed what I could only describe as a little green man. He even had three fingers on each hand, an enlarged oval head, and a stick-thin body.
I had to blink a few times. I thought the little green aliens didn’t exist. I mean, I just learned that aliens were real, but the face looking at me on the other side of the comms was what sold numerous merchandise in Area 51. In fact, I think its face was on my pajamas.
"Good policy," I said from where I was sitting on the captain’s chair. With my whole body covered, so there was no way for them to know what type of species I was. If I could recognize one of them from Earth, it wouldn’t surprise me if they could recognize me as human.
There was a short pause as the alien, the Thuzirusian, studied me.
"I am unfamiliar with your species," it said. And just like that I realized that the little green man didn’t have a mouth. So how the hell was it able to speak to me?
"That’s fine," I said with a shrug, not really caring. After all, that was what I was going for with this look.
"It’s not if I decide to blast you out of space for intruding on Thuzirus’ territory," hissed the alien.
I would smile, but it was not like he could see it, instead I merely pointed out a few things. "First, I don’t think that you can," I started, crossing my legs in front of me. "I am here for a transaction, and by your own rules, limited as those might be, I am allowed planet side."
The alien narrowed its large, black, almond-shaped eyes at me as if it was trying to see what I looked like under my veil.
"Who are you meeting?" it hissed at me again.
"None of your damn business," I hissed back. "All transactions are to remain anonymous. By your very own rules. Why else would anyone come here?"
"I know that ship," said the little green man. "It stole from us."
"And? I fail to see how what the previous owners did is any of my concern."
"Previous owners?" asked the alien, not quite believing me. But that was one of the benefits of dealing with a black market planet, they might hold grudges, but they held grudges against the individuals that broke their rules and that was not me. Besides, when dealing with thieves and pirates, it was not unheard of to steal ships.
I hummed. "Yes, the Sisalik," I said, shrugging my shoulders as if it wasn’t that big of a deal.
"I don’t believe you," said the alien.
"And I care why?"
"Because if I don’t believe you, I will blast you out of the sky and watch as your ship descends into the atmosphere in a blaze of meteors."
"Bloodthirsty little thing, aren’t you?" I said as I leaned back into my oversized chair. I rested both of my arms on the armrests and lightly tapped my glove-covered fingers on the fabric. "I can only assume that you have the ability to scan the ship?"
There was a slight pause as the alien looked at me intently. I smiled under my veil, more for myself than for him. Thanks to certain... tendencies... I did really well at poker. This game was a bit bigger than just for money, but the theory was the same. Lie through your teeth, don’t show your tells, and at the end of the day, you will walk away with the prize.
"I can scan your ship," admitted the alien.
"Have you?" I asked. I didn’t know if Jun Li would be able to detect a scan and warn me ahead of time or if the little green man hadn’t done it yet.
"Not yet," admitted the Thuzirusian. I would have to get used to not calling them little green men. But I would also have to throw out a few pairs of pajamas that I originally thought would be cute, but not anymore.
"Then do it," I said with a shrug. It’s no skin off my neck for them to scan the ship. After all, I wasn’t lying about the previous owners not being around anymore.
There was a long moment as I watched the... I had no idea what to call it... in front of my typing on something just out of view of the video feed. Then it looked up at me, its face expressionless.
"There is only one being on board," the little green man said finally.
"Yup," I agreed. There damn well better be only one being on board. Jun Li’s body, as much as it looked alive, was still only an android at its heart. Which meant that if there was more than one life form, I needed to go on a rat hunt immediately. With all my luck, my neighbor would have stowed away or something.
"I also detect a lot of Saalistaja technology on your ship," said the Thuzirusian looking at me. I was beginning to think that maybe it was only capable of making that one expression.
"Yup," I agreed with a nod.
"You really aren’t Alliance," it confirmed.
"Nope."
"You can proceed with your transaction," said the little green man as it went back to typing just off-screen.
