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While the Admiral carefully brought the Colony Ship into docking position so that the Station could access their cargo bay door, Max got everyone else into positions. Nico would be their front person, while Max stood beside her as their leader and gave any necessary permissions if the deal needed to be altered on the fly.

That did happen on occasion, either due to off-quality items, shortages, or a simple conversational mention that they had something else interesting available.

Max was hoping that none of that applied today, since it was their very first trade deal, but you could never know when a deal too good to pass up would become available, and they were trading with rare and valuable metals, so the Station might logically want to try to barter for more with the other items that they produced on the planet.

[Docking Successful. Seal integrity one hundred percent. Balancing Atmosphere.] The Admiral’s notification marked the successful mating of the alien ship to the Station as smoothly as if they had done this a thousand times before.

If anyone had heard from the Pirates that they let go, they would assume that the ship was a trap all along and that the hapless group had simply been ambushed and robbed blind by the occupants of the Terminus.

That wasn’t far from the truth, but they would be hard-pressed to make anyone believe it if the question was raised.

“Welcome to the Terminus ladies and gentlemen. You may call me Rage, and I will be your customer service liaison today. Beside me is Commander Keres, who has the authority of the group to finalize adjustments to the deal, should they prove necessary.” Nico greeted them.

“Greetings I am Zorbo, the Foreign Business advisor of the Gado Station. I see you have the materials prepared, might we take a moment to verify quality before we proceed?” An amply-built older man with shockingly gold eyes responded politely.

Nico gestured grandly at the bin of materials and nodded, making the pudgy man smile and adjust his silk vest before motioning for the workers to go test the goods.

They had a scanner with them, and the whole process only took a few seconds while Max waited in silence for their verdict.

“The scanner says 178 kilos light on the pure ore, 20 kilos over on the total weight. Military-grade refinement, no fillers, defective product, or other issues noted.” The technician reported, making Nico smile.

“A trade station with a perfectly calibrated scale. I am starting to like you more and more.” Nico told the Gado Station representative.

“With Military Grade reactor materials, you must have an easy time making friends. Could there be anything else that you require today? I am certain that the extra twenty kilograms could get your crew something nice.” Zorbo suggested, and Nico turned to Max for an answer.

“If you have it, we could use a bit of Lithium and a generous supply of good quality Rum,” Max responded, then had to turn down his comms so that the cheering o the crew wasn’t screaming in his ear.

The lithium could be made into the crystals they needed by the Materials Printer, and then Nico’s repair type System Function could adjust those crystals into the functional matrix for their engines instead of having to search the Galaxy for a compatible set or having the engineering staff learn a whole new Faster than light engine design theory to make the artificial ones work.

“We have both. How much of the Lithium did you need?” Zorbo asked politely.

The crystals weighed under a kilogram in total, but Max decided to err on the side of caution.

“Ten Kilos of Lithium and the rest in Rum should keep the crew happy for an evening.” He answered with a smile, making the Gado Station crew laugh.

An entire barrel of good Rum went for less than what a hundred grams of Reactor Metals did. What Max had asked for was over a hundred and fifty barrels of rum, in addition to the Lithium that hadn’t been on their list.

“We can have that here in a few minutes, both are in the storage on the station, since they are so commonly requested.” Zorbo agreed.

“Then please, sit and rest your legs. We are out of the good stuff, but not all out of Rum.” Nico told him, removing a flask and two shot glasses from her jacket pocket.

Zorbo smiled and pulled out his own flask and shot glass before sitting, and Max moved to watch the materials being loaded into their cargo bay as the reactor metals were taken out.

They had ordered a huge amount of food and other perishable goods, but it seemed that the Station crew had no problem moving the crates into the cold storage section of the bay for them without further instructions, just guided by the signs on the walls.

Max did appreciate a true professional, and they were making his life very easy today.

Nico and Zorbo poured each other a drink, a sign of trust between Reavers and Independent Merchants as Max understood from their thoughts, and downed them as the last of the supplies arrived.

If the Station Commander had been here, it would have been Max that was obligated to drink, but since it was the trade representative, the duties fell to Nico. It felt oddly familiar to Max, almost like the Military structure where similar levels of Command interacted with each other, but without all the regulations, and instead relying on ritual and tradition.

Unlike Comor Station, Gado Station was entirely a cargo facility. There were civilian stations in orbit around the planet, and Max had seen a few leisure shuttles headed to them as they approached, but a ship the size of the Terminus had no business docking at a station smaller than it was. Even the attempt would be enough to unbalance a small resort station, so today their crew would have to remain aboard.

They had more than enough to keep themselves busy now anyhow.

[There is an orbital freighter waiting off our stern. I believe that they delayed his arrival window for us to make this trade in person.] Admiral Drake informed Max over the radio.

“I do hope we don’t seem rude, but our customer is in a hurry for some of these materials, so I do hope you will forgive us for leaving as soon as the cargo is verified,” Nico informed Zorbo, who stretched out his arm for a handshake.

“Prompt, efficient, and considerate of others’ time. Please, take this data chip, it has our direct contact information should you have more to trade in the future.” Zorbo informed her with his best professional smile.

“I appreciate the offer. Our contact information is here, should you need to get ahold of us in a secure manner. I look forward to doing business with you again.” Nico replied, handing him back another business card sized data chip.

With that, the Station staff retreated from the Terminus, and the airlock was purged of atmosphere before the magnetic docking clamps were released, letting the Admiral maneuver the enormous bulk of the Colony ship away from the station and into open space to make their translation back to faster than light travel.