Chapter 135. Transporter reselling, the problem begins to become clear
When Razor returned only a short time later, his face paler than before, the Terran turned and sat on the bar, blocking the pirate's path. "Hey, Earthling," he said to him.
Razor looked down at the Terrans. The race was not particularly beautiful when it was created, but this Terran was particularly ugly, Razer thought. If being drunk makes you beautiful, then he needs to continue drinking a lot. "What do you want to do?" Lei Ze roared. The Terrans were cunning merchants, often selling things they had previously stolen, but Raze was unwilling to deal with the race much. Who knows what tricks they are playing behind the scenes.
"You're too noisy," the man said. "You must have good reason to celebrate, right?"
"Yes," Razer replied shortly. Did the Terrans want to extract information from his conversation and sell the Negro to the Great Powers? Maybe he could get a hefty bounty, since their bounty keeps growing from heist to heist. But he didn't stand a chance. Lei Ze already wanted to turn around and leave.
"Enjoy it, it won't last much longer," the Terran said vaguely.
Lei Ze's alert heart began to beat. Suddenly, he woke up, and the cunning cheetah lurking inside him woke up. Are the Terrans threatening him? Or does he know something? He slowly bent over, looking rather threatening. "What do you mean?" he growled.
"You know better," the Terran's small eyes flickered uneasily. He seemed to drink more than he could bear. Razor wasn't sure if the guy would be able to survive this drunken state tonight. Maybe this person no longer knows what he is talking about. Dealing with him is a waste of time.
"If tensions between the Sindi and the Federation turn into open war, it will be difficult for pirates like you," the Terran continued, chuckling as he spoke. Clearly a rival or a shady businessman, he's also been plagued by pirate robberies and is happy that he'll soon have a few less rivals.
Lei Ze's eyes widened. He had heard before about the potential conflict between the Federation and the Sindi. About three weeks ago, there was an attack that resulted in the loss of many Sindi and Federation lives. But no one knows who did it. Even among the dregs here, no one knows anything. It was almost as if no one had anything to do with it, further fueling suspicion between the Sindi and the Federation that the other was responsible. If this proves to be the case, it could trigger a serious conflict or even an open war. This is by no means good news for Razer. The number of warships in the area will increase significantly, although during the war they may have the opportunity to do some looting. If pirates mistakenly attack a ship, such as a cargo ship carrying supplies for frontline troops, they can quickly become hunted. Because for a country at war, there is nothing worse than having its frontline supply lines cut off. In this way they will soon become the number one enemy of the hostile country. Lei Ze didn't want to attract so much attention. But there's no sign yet that things will get that bad. At least he didn't know.
"I'm not worried about that," Razer replied haughtily. He hoped to inspire the Terrans to continue speaking.
"But you should be worried," the Terran replied smugly.
Lei Ze smiled. "Nothing worries me."
"We'll see when the war starts," the ugly man said with a smile.
Lei Ze suddenly became angry. He grabbed the Terran by the throat and lifted him up. The Terran struggled to breathe. "What do you want to tell me?" Razor growled.
The people around them only glanced briefly, and then realized the difference in strength between the two opponents, and they knew there would be no fight. Then they turned and left again. Quarrels and quarrels are the order of the day here. If it wasn't a good fight, no one would care.
"When war breaks out, your powers will be of no use to you," the Terran said with difficulty but humor.
"The Confederacy will never go to war," Reiser was convinced.
"But the Sindi do," the Terran insisted.
"There is absolutely no way the feds would be involved in an attack like this," Reiser said.
"But a Sindi would believe such a thing," said the Terran.
"What do you know?" Razor pulled the Terran closer enough to smell his foul breath. The creature smelled so bad, but Razer had to talk to him. There is no other way.
"I sold six of the Federation's antimatter shipping containers to Creeping Cindy. Just two weeks ago," the man boasted proudly of his actions. He seemed very proud of it. "My guess is they're going to use it to falsify some evidence. Otherwise, their intense interest and the price they're willing to pay is unexplainable."
Razer felt a little scared when he heard these words. He knew that Creeping Cindy had always considered the Federation, and Earth in particular, to be a threat to Cindy. If they were to exploit this tragedy now, by fabricating evidence to convince other Sindi species that the Federation was indeed dangerous, it could spark the war that Terran was talking about. But for the Black Devil, the golden age has passed.
"I should break your neck," Razer growled before throwing him onto a nearby table. He made a dull sound but seemed uninjured. However, Lei Ze stopped even paying attention to him. He turned and quickly walked towards his crew.
"Captain, how long do you have to pee?" they greeted him with sarcastic laughter.
Someone immediately offered him a glass of wine, but Lei Ze declined with a serious expression. His mind was still a little foggy, but he had to ignore that. "Let's go. Set out at once," he shouted to his people.
They answered him with puzzled and confused looks. They're just here to celebrate. It was still far from dawn and they could not leave yet. This must be a joke. But the captain's expression didn't look funny.
"Right now," Razer insisted sternly, picking up his jacket. "If he's not on board within five minutes, he'll be fired and I'll forfeit his share." He turned and left. He wasn't far away, and the Klingon's Falcon-class battleship Negro, their ship, was parked on the city's airport, which was just an unadorned concrete surface. After a brief hesitation, the crew looked at each other, then stood up at the same time and hurriedly followed the captain. No one wants to give up their share, even if it means ending a party night early before having a chance to romp with any women.
Back on the ship, Razer was somewhat surprised to see the ship's technician, Alma, waiting for him. She remained on the ship with the only other woman on board. Irma doesn't mind celebrating a successful heist with wine. She was more concerned with technical matters and the proper functioning of the ship. Nothing else seemed to matter to her. Not even men can interest her. At least Razer has never seen anything like this. Although someone on the crew does have an interest in her. Even among his own crew. Because Irma looks pretty good, and she also looks petite, it arouses a protective streak in some of the crew, even the usually rude ones. But Irma is not as petite as she looks. She knows how to protect herself. Most likely she has experience in this tough world. Because when Dewen accidentally touched her while trying to seduce her, she simply broke his wrist. Devin screamed like a little kid. Although the wound eventually healed without any sequelae, since then, Dewen has never dared to flirt with a girl in front of Irma.
Lei Ze walked past her with a gloomy expression on his face. Others followed him, keeping a few meters away from him. They looked much more relaxed than the captain, but also confused. There were also many people who were very drunk. Not everyone can walk on their own. Thalberg, an Andorian man, doesn't just look blue because of his skin color. He drank so much that he had to lean on Devin's shoulders, and Devin himself almost fell to his knees unable to bear Thalberg's weight. Only the Spinner Turtle looks the same. For Klingons, heavy alcohol intake has much less of an impact on them. Although he was drunk, he was far from untenable. Irma also had no doubt that he still had fighting ability.
She asked the group, "What happened?" The party ended early, which was unusual. This happened only once, when they were involved in a fierce gunfight and were forced to run away or else all of them would be killed. The captain at the time did not survive. Irma still doesn't know what happened, but it was apparently because the drunk men had said something indecent to the bar owner's wife, and the bar owner wouldn't let it go.
"I don't know," the drunk man replied vaguely. "The captain suddenly became very strange and made the whole party not fun. Hope this is something important, otherwise..." The rest of the words were muffled by slurred language.
Alma became even more curious, pushing her way past the drunken men and quickly following the captain. He was walking towards the bridge just as she caught up with him. "What happened?" she asked again firmly.
"We must leave at once," he said, without answering her question. He was drunk too, just more disciplined and able to hide it better than the others. However, the way he walked and talked suggested he was drunk.
"Why?" Emma asked. "Are we in danger?" She looked at him. "Didn't you offend someone again and cause someone to die?"
"It's much more serious than that," he said, suddenly appearing very drunk. But then he quickly steadied himself and moved on.
"Who's going to start the ship then?" she asked sarcastically as they entered the bridge. Everyone but her had too much to drink to safely steer the ship to its destination.
"Me," he answered.
"In this case, I will be the chief doctor on the ship." Irma joked.
He looked down at her, for he was much taller than her. "This situation is not funny at all." His voice sounded heavy and no amount of discipline could stop it.
"It's really not funny if you really want to take control of the ship in this state," she replied seriously.
He looked at her hesitantly. In his mind, a faint voice seemed to agree with her words, because he fell silent and began to think. Though not thinking that fast in his state. "Right," then he said. "You drive." Then he sat in the command chair.
"Only after you tell me what happened." Although she was sitting on the bridge, she deliberately crossed her arms and looked at him defiantly.
Realizing that he had few options, Razer told her about his conversation with the Terrans. He then added his own inference that, in the scenario described, the future was not so rosy. "So we have to act. Act now. We have to do something about this."
She raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?"
He frowned at her. He bit his lip and scrunched up his face. "I'm not sure yet," he finally admitted. "But we must go. Before the Terrans draw our attention to the Cindy, the Federation, or anyone else."
This sounded reasonable to Alma. Tomorrow at the latest, when the Terran came to his senses and could recall their conversation, he would try to profit from it. If he reveals to Cindy that the Captain of the Negro knows about the stolen Federation shipping containers, Cindy will do everything in her power to eliminate the person who knows the information. Therefore, they must leave early.
She activated the ship's thrusters and provided energy to all systems needed to activate. After several switches, she increased the thrusters to maximum power, and the spacecraft system screamed as it slowly left the ground. As they get further away from the planet's surface, the influence of gravity becomes smaller and smaller. She gradually reduced the energy supply until it returned to normal levels, and the ship slowly moved away from the planet.
"What course should I set?" she asked, turning to the captain. Then she saw that the captain had slumped down on the command chair and was fast asleep. Only a slight purr came from his open mouth. His drunkenness eventually knocked him unconscious.
She shook her head and looked at the meter again. She may have to take over the night watch and decide her own course. Actually, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is that they are far enough away from the planet that they will not be discovered for a while. She activated the ship's cloaking device and entered hyperspace.
Daisy rushed onto the bridge excitedly. Her cheeks were slightly red from excitement and her breathing was a little rapid. It was almost as if she had run all the way from the engine room to the bridge, although given the structure of the ship, that was impossible.
"Captain, communications are back up," she reported happily. That's not surprising at all, considering how many hours she put into solving the problem. She barely got any rest, not even sleep. Plenty of coffee kept her awake, as Dr. Celia also refused to give her any stimulants. But now, she succeeded.
Carol was also affected by her good news. “The good news is finally here,” she expressed appreciation.
"Yes, but the functionality is still limited," Daisy said, slightly tempering her overly high expectations. Because she was only partially successful. "We can only partially overcome Cindy's jamming field. That means only short-range communications are effective. We can't get in touch with the Federation." She shrugged awkwardly. She was dissatisfied with herself for this incomplete achievement.
"This is at least a start." Carol tried to hide her sudden disappointment. She had been so excited that now this partial success felt like a failure. There was no way she could admit this to Daisy because she was doing such a great job. Overcoming interference fields is no small task and is rarely successful. In this context, her achievements are much appreciated, even if they did not help them go further. Because now although they can contact Cindy, it doesn't mean much until they get word from Starfleet. Cindy can only be approached once they are sure Starfleet is not missing antimatter, and ideally can provide proof of its inventory.
Jeffrey seems to be thinking about something similar, as he feels a responsibility to warn them of possible dangers. "Captain. There is no point in talking to Cindy with our current level of knowledge. Instead, we will just remind Cindy that we overcame their communication shield. Most likely, they will do whatever they can to restore the shield. We will lose our advantage."
Carol nodded to him to show she understood. But she had come to the same conclusion. Of course, Jeffrey was right, they couldn't risk losing their advantage rashly. But currently they cannot take advantage of this. There was no one around to talk to. This means waiting again. Waiting to see if a better opportunity presents itself. However, her patience was running out.
"Thank you, Ms. Daisy," she nodded kindly to the chief engineer. "However, I must ask you to continue to pay attention to this issue. We must restore long-distance communications to normal." She looked at Daisy, and then added some gentle words: "But not until you have a short rest."
"No problem," Daisy waved her hand nonchalantly. Although it was a bit disappointing that her work wasn't received with such enthusiasm. Of course, she knew that only complete communications would really help. But her tired brain still expected more. No matter what, she had to keep trying. it is necessary.
"No, that's not okay," Carol said firmly, although she continued to be friendly. "You will rest for at least eight hours. You must go and rest. That is an order."
Daisy nodded helplessly. She was in a dilemma. On the one hand, she was looking forward to finding at least a little rest. On the other hand, she felt deep down that she had a responsibility to keep trying to solve this dilemma.
"Let's go," Carol said, a smile on her face. "Otherwise I will order someone to take you to a safe area and order Dr. Celia to give you sleeping pills."
Daisy nodded slowly. Of course, Carol was right. She was so exhausted that she could no longer achieve anything. She turned and left the bridge, preparing to rest. But whether it can truly take a break remains to be seen.
Carol watched her until the elevator doors closed behind her. Then she stood up and walked towards Jeffrey and came to the science station. "Can we use short-range communications in some way?" She just couldn't accept that they now had something and didn't know what to do with it.
Jeffrey looked up at her and thought for a moment. "Right now, I don't see a use for it if we don't want to draw Cindy's attention."
She took a deep breath. She knew that, of course, but she just wished the logical Vulcan could see more than she could. But that doesn't seem to be the case. This is really disappointing.
