Go to the pub

You sigh. Saying no to your inner demon. And you decide to go to the pub as your next destination.

As you enter the building you can see various sorts of folks. Some of them are just there for the ****. Others are having a good time, cheering with their friends. There are also a couple people who arrived with their slaves, forcing them to dance naked, suck their cocks or have sex with strangers. You could feel your stomach turn from the sight of such things. But zetans are zetans, and they have their ways.

Your eyes suddenly jump, as your superior brain locates the target. What you see is a short man, skinny-fat, unkempt hair, a large leather bag placed next to him. He is not an exact match to the picture you were provided with. But it's obvious that one might change up his looks every now and then if followed. You think that you should grab him, and drag him onboard the Galilei. But if he was able to evade the pirates this far, there has to be sufficient security personnel on the lookout.

On the other hand, you can see that the man is here for business. Now that might just give you an excellent opportunity to get close to him. And who knows? Perhaps the job would make for an interesting one.

"Nel A'enTva," you extend a hand to the man as you sit down in front of him.

"You can call me Fiz, my lady," he answers. "What may I thank for your presence?"

"You seem like someone who knows what's going on about here. As a passer by who just landed, I might benefit from knowing a thing or two."

"Ah, the adenians. You think you can outcompete everyone, don't you?" Fiz asks.

"Might have happened on a few occasions," you shrug.

"Very well. Why not?" the man nods. "There is a merchant ship that crashed a couple miles from here. The wreck is located on the top of a hill, and for this reason, it is difficult to reach it. But that shouldn't be a problem for your kind. Once onboard, you can find a set of experimental sensor nodes that the crew stole from a corporate outpost. I need to get my hands on them. As many as possible. Do this and you will receive a substantial reward from me. A very substantial one."

"What about my competition?" you frown. Even if the ship is on the top of a hill, some folks might still feel like the job is worth the effort.

"I have to admit, there is already someone after the nodes. But this doesn't have to end in a folly. If you can agree to split the parts between yourselves, the both of you can walk out of here with your financials all but solved for the foreseeable future. If you want, I can even get you a frequency so you could start your cooperation right away."

"That won't be necessary," you answer. Bah! Cooperate. The moment the two of you cross paths there can be only one of you who leaves with the prize. Any other possibility is an utter and complete delusion.

"Good luck, Nel," the man nods.

"Thank you," you also nod, and you proceed to leave the pub.

Once outside, you already start to think about the possibilities. On one hand, you could merely pretend that you take this quest seriously. But the fact to the matter is that those sensor nodes could be one hell of a bargaining chip. If you can get all of them (including the ones your competition has), Fiz will have no other choice but to meet you in a secluded location, where you could capture him, and take him back to the pirates.

You could also look around on the ship, see if you could find something Fiz might be worried about. That way you could still get to him, even if it turns out your competition is more resourceful than expected. Now this still leaves the issue of the tracker. But you will cross that bridge when you get there!