Active scavengers looked for dead ships or bought them on the cheap and sold the pieces to Disguised Serenity. While Jedriek didn't know for certain, he imagined that not all were acquired through legal means. There were enough walks of life on Disguised Serenity, and all sorts of humanoids came there. Many lived. Many only worked and came in from some nearby solar systems because the station was close to one of the wormhole ports.
Jedriek liked the station.
There was always something to see or do there.
Different than being on Sol with all the other cyborgs.
Jedriek craved something. Not the Craving so many of his fellow cyborgs experienced. He had felt that before and had been able to utilize it, but it was more than that. It was a deeper sensation. A feeling.
And he was a cyborg.
He shouldn't have feelings.
Not like this.
The only space he found release was in the next battle.
The next place he could be powerful.
Though right here...
"I do not believe that is the negotiated price," Harbin said to the buyer, a very tricky humanoid called a Lovian from a nearby system. Distinguishable because of the spots on his brow and the ridges on his nose.
The Lovian, shorter than Harbin by a full head, raised his furry eyebrow. "This is what I can do. I cannot give you more for this. It's ruined blue grass," he said, the last part he whispered.
Jedriek leaned down. "If it was ruined, why are you not screaming that to all the other buyers here?"
The Lovian pulled back like he was shocked and offended.
"I merely chose to save you any embarrassment," he snarled.
"We are cyborgs," Harbin said. "We do not embarrass. Nor do we allow lies about our product quality. Our product is fine. It is you who is attempting to manipulate the price of the blue grass."
"How dare you!" This time, the Lovian got very loud. Others in market shops nearby started paying attention to Harbin and Jedriek. Jedriek could pick them out of the crowds. In fact, he already had. Some security for the Lovian slowly moved closer to them.
"I do not think we are wanted here," Jedriek said.
Harbin agreed. "We shall sell our blue grass somewhere else."
"You cannot! We have a contract!" the Lovian snarled.
Harbin blinked. "We do. And we cannot come to an agreement on payment. Therefore the contract is void."
"No, that is not what it says," the Lovian replied.
Harbin tapped his gauntlet and displayed the contract in the air between them, highlighting the words. "Since we are unable to reach a payment agreement, we are no longer bound to sell to you only here on Disguised Serenity." He picked up the case of blue grass and set it back on the repulsor cart with the other food stock. On its own, blue grass tasted terrible--do not ask Jedriek why he knows that--but it mixes with almost every kind of food out there, as a base component. Want to get some bread? It has blue grass in it. A pastry? Blue grass. Rations? Blue grass. It was in much of any humanoid's diet. One of the few natural components nearly every humanoid could ingest without issue. It was also hard to cultivate and could only grow on certain worlds.
Sol-5 had all the necessary components to make it a primary and most profitable export for the Rhimodians to fund their fight against the Terran Empire.
They kept up regular crops of blue grass to sell. One of the only benefits of the war with the Terran Empire, they had to put a shield in place that had to be opened for other ships to enter it. It kept out anyone who wanted to take their crops and sell them as their own. One of the concerns Master System had initially before the shield was created.
As such, they kept control of their crops as best as possible.
But the Rhimodians had also made deals with vendors over time to get lucrative deals for their wares. Not all the vendors they had worked with were of good quality. Unfortunately, it seemed this Lovian was not one of good quality.
The approaching humanoids, with angry expressions, wore uniforms indicating they were security. Very similar to the space station's security, but not quite right. Just enough to cause confusion between them and the local guard. They were there to protect the Lovian, but these humanoids were not there to protect anyone else. Likely the Lovian had already lined their pockets with plenty of credits.
"We shall move on," Harbin said.
