A young woman studied the desolate tundra surrounding her using a pair of binoculars. The nearest city was a few dozen kilometers away, and the nearest spaceport was even further. Even so, she had concealed herself halfway up a towering rock formation.
Most of her face was obscured by an odd combination of a helmet and a breathing mask, but her short hair was left free to flutter in the fierce wind.
For the next half hour, she remained perfectly still, only moving her fingers to adjust her binoculars occasionally. That is until a distinctive metallic glint could be seen on the horizon.
"I see him, Kliniok. Make sure that dumbass wasn't followed."
Focusing her binoculars revealed a rectangular barge that was several times wider than it was tall. A wheeled vehicle or even a standard hovercraft would have a difficult time moving across the tundra without leaving a telltale dust storm, but this one was different. It moved with silent purpose as it glid across the dusty terrain.
If the specialty equipment wasn't enough to give away the purpose of a vehicle like that one, its direction provided another hint. It was traveling towards, rather than away from the nearby city of Law̃tkrãmi.
"The perimeter is clear, Shane. He's alone." A metallic voice crinkled out of an old handset the young woman had on her belt. "I'll notify Plu'a to begin satellite interference."
"In that case, it looks like we'll be able to get that discount we were hoping for." Shane grinned. She collapsed her binoculars before stowing them in a pocket on her jacket. Then, she jumped.
Or rather, she fell. Had she actually jumped, the fall would have doubled in height thanks to the planet's low gravity. With the help of some aerial adjustment gear, she landed safely on the ground.
Soon after, the rectangular hovercraft from earlier drove in between a pair of rock formations before activating an optical camouflage module. It had seemed large from a distance, but up close, it was a behemoth.
The vehicle was over six meters tall and spanned a width of dozens more. It took after its planets inhabitants, impossibly large and, on a planet with higher gravity, impractical.
"Come on out, you oaf. You know my team secured the area already, so let's make this quick." Shane called out.
In response, the side of the vehicle slid open with an audible hiss.
"You can never be too careful in our line of work. Especially on Sêchyo. After the old chancellor was caught taking bribes, they've executed at least a few thousand Skãyễy. Even offworlders aren't safe at a time like this, so forgive me for being a little cautious." From inside the oversized machine, stepped an equally oversized creature.
It was vaguely humanoid in that it had two arms and two legs, but that's where the similarities ended. Its arms were longer than they had any right to be, stretching all the way down from the creature's malformed shoulders down to its thick ankles, which ended in stump-like feet. Its head was mashed in between its shoulders with two bulbous eyes covered in a thin film.
The most unnatural part of the creature was the area between its shoulders. There you could find multiple fleshy sacks which, when the light hit them right, you could see others of its kind growing.
It wore clothes but not in a way any human would. Large sheets of cloth were pinned across its body in a haphazard asymmetrical manner using loose skin as a canvas. Luckily, despite exposing quite a bit of its grey and dehydrated skin, it didn't have any genitals to speak of.
"Where are your friends?" The creature asked, "I prefer not to do dealings with an unaccompanied human."
"Relax, Moñawt," Shane said, unphased by the appearance of the monstrous being. "They wanted to stay a few kilometers away until they knew the coast was clear. They'll be here in a few minutes."
The few minutes until the arrival of a much smaller hovercraft passed in tense silence.
Once it reached a crisp stop, its faded metal doors opened, and a pair of creatures joined Shane.
The first, Shane's friend Kutukuwa, looked nearly identical to a python, except that he had six minute arms with six stubby fingers each. His eyes sat elegantly in their sockets, and his silver scales gave him a sense of regalness that seemed unbefitting its obscene smile.
"Moñawt, my good friend. Its as nice to see you as always." Kutukuwa rasped, its lack of lips giving it a distinct accent. "When I thought about the goods we needed to retrieve, I immediately thought of you, my most trustworthy supplier."
"If only you were as trustworthy a buyer, maybe I'd actually enjoy seeing you." The giant grunted. "If you weren't a Chamichie yourself, I wouldn't dare sell these eggs to someone like you."
"Please, we both know you're more interested in the price we're willing to pay." Næbstæ, the other creature to exit the hovercraft, had words that were as slow and methodical as her gait.
Its kind was broad and squat with an appearance similar to a furry, fleshy, fatty hippo. The main difference was a large bone outcropping on its lower jaw that ended in spade-like carved tusks.
"Now that I've got company, bring out the goods Moñawt. We're short on time, and our client wants these as soon as possible." Underneath her mask, a greedy smile filled Shane's face.
"Not so fast, you called me out of the blue with a mysterious client that needs Class 3 Illicit goods within two weeks. Anyone like that has the money to back it up. So, offer me a higher cut, or I'll wait for a better offer to come my way."
"Our client is as loaded as they get, we're going to make several million off of this job. Enough for someone like you to retire in comfort far from the grasp of the Sokaw̃me Republic. It's reasonable to expect a bit above market price since it was a rush job. You could also try and argue for some danger pay, but I'm afraid we won't be able to raise the price. In fact, we'd like to lower it."
"Out of the question." Moñawt growled, "So I hope you have a back-up retirement fund since I'm leaving unless we can-"
"Do you know the difference between Human and Uk economics?" Shane interrupted Moñawt. "The Uk, like my friend Næbstæ, are honest about their greed. Stealing and extortion are seen as not only morally just but the basic principles of the art of making money. Us humans, however, are far too dishonest. We liked to make up abstraction to disguise that we did the same thing."
"Where are you going with this?" Moñawt became visibly tenser.
"Once humanity was introduced to Uk economics, we were set free from our ignorance. Do you know the other significant difference between humans and the Uk? Humans are vicious and have thumbs." Shane asked, sneering at Moñawt. "We combined the two and created something monstrous. We took the abstract principles of our own economics but removed the moral restraints."
"Enough of this, enjoy disappointing your client." Moñawt roared, "I'll find another buyer soon enough."
"I'm afraid that it just won't happen. You see, I created an artificial shortage of demand." Shane said. "Before my associates joined us, they released all of your information to the new chancellor in exchange for free passage off this rock. If you're not willing to sell to us, I'm afraid you'll never get the chance to sell those eggs at all."
Moñawt pulled an oversized plasma rifle off of his waist only for someone else shot to shatter it before he had a chance to use it.
"See, isn't this just unfair? We ruin your life, and you can't even retaliate. Let me warn you, our sniper is a jailbroken Stryth survey drone, so I wouldn't try anything like that again."
In response, Moñawt threw his useless rifle into the tundra in anger. "I'll do everything I can to make sure you never get another client in your life!"
"That's cute, now here's the deal. Twenty percent off the base price, and we'll neglect to let the chancellor know you're here. If you up to it to thirty percent, we'll give you a ride to the nearest station outside republic control." Shane smiled, like a snake about to swallow its prey. "So, what'll it be?"
-------------------------------------------
"I'm never looked up to a human before, but if I ever did, it would be you." Back inside their vehicle, Næbstæ was praising Shane. "You handled that situation far better than most Uk every could."
"Of course, you know I'd never give up a chance to earn-"
"I have some bad news to report, Shane." Before she could finish talking, the same rasping voice from before rang through the cockpit of the hovercraft. "Plu'a tells me that his interference was discovered. She estimates we only have twenty minutes before Sokaw̃me Republic secret police arrest you."