"So, I'm guessing you're not from around here."
Having headed back to her featureless room after a while, Tia sat down on the bed she had woken up and spoke out to the empty room.
Of course, speaking to nobody in particular got her no response.
"... Mac?"
[Yeah, what's up?]
Instantly, the strange voice that seemed to come from all around her and inside her head at the same time.
"I asked you a question."
[Yeah, I'm not currently onboard Protective 14, so you need to call out my name for the craft to relay your message to me.]
While the disembodied voice which called itself Mac did make a point, she still found it vexing like she could hear his smug smile.
"Okay then… Mac. You're not exactly from around here, are you?"
[Not exactly, no. I traveled across a sea of stars to get here, using Protective 14 and a few other ships.]
Getting a relatively straight answer out of Mac, Tia figured she could stretch her luck.
"And why would you do that?"
[Because I could.]
Getting anything but a serious answer, Tia nevertheless persisted.
"... Then, why did you save my life?"
[Because I could.]
"... I see."
Getting nothing out of the conversation, Tia stopped trying.
"Nevermind then."
Still, staring out onto the sea of fire, with pillars reaching into the sky, somehow got old quickly to Tia.
"Then, Mac… Why did you figure you could save my life?"
Figuring that Tia wanted more information and to actually talk, Mac decided to actually put in some effort and put aside what he was currently doing.
[One of my surveillance units caught sight of you running away from those 'monsters'. It got flagged and I saw an opportunity to make peaceful first contact.]
Explaining the circumstances around Tia's rescue in broad and general terms he was pretty sure she could understand Mac made an effort, a really bad effort, but an effort nonetheless.
"That still doesn't explain what you've gained from helping me."
Even a fledgling merchant like herself could see there was something Mac wasn't telling her, so Tia started digging into that in hopes of gaining at least some useful information.
(Of course she doesn't trust me… Cool. coolcoolcool… fuck.)
Mac was currently in the early stages of making first contact, he understood the languages, had a decent grasp on the population centres, but still had no understanding of the political or cultural structures.
Of course, Mac could obtain all of this information from Tia almost instantly with the right mix of artificial stimulants, psychological torture and mental reprograminging, but he would like to refrain from acting like his dad, so he went with the much less reprehensible option of just asking for information and mixing in a few lies on his own side to make everything a little more believable.
"I've been tasked to go to this world, introduce myself and aid one or more countries of my choosing."
Leaving out a few choice details, Mac extended an olive branch and explained more about himself.
"... Okay, my name is Tia, I'm a peddler in training and a descendant of the rabbitman tribe."
Explaining what a peddler was and how she earned money, Tia was about to explain what her heritage meant in broad strokes when Mac interrupted.
[So you can sell goods and estimate the cost of them?]
"... Yeah? Somewhat at least."
[Then how would you like a job where payment will be beyond your wildest dreams?]
Hit with a sudden job offer from a person of highly questionable morals and intentions that she hardly knew, Tia wanted to immediately deny the offer, but the mention of 'payment beyond her wildest dreams' made the merchant inside her act up.
"... What kind of salary are you talking about?"
Swallowing hard as she collected herself, Tia waited to be disappointed by Mac's offer and was already thinking about how to politely turn it down when she was hit by a metaphorical dump truck coming from out of right field without warning.
[How about your own weight in a precious metal of your choice every half day of work, and a 75% commission on all sales you make… Plus the occasional bonus?]
"Deal!"
Agreeing far louder than she intended to, Tia felt the word immediately leave her mouth before she knew what was going on. Slightly embarrassed at how quickly she folded, Tia still realised that if this offer was real, she could pay for her dad's retirement with just a single day's work. In the middle of such an emotional turmoil, Tia's ears switched between timidly folding down and shooting up in excitement before finally setting on excitement as she quietly inquired about the details of the job.
"…When do I start? And what's the job?"
[You just did… And I'll explain that when you've had a chance to calm down.]
Hearing Tia's alarmingly high heart rate, Mac considered dispersing a bit of calming gases into Protective 15's bridge compartment, but Tia showed a remarkable control of her mind as she got control of her breathing and heart rate, calming down fast.
It seemed the reality of the situation had finally caught up with Tia, it seemed she finally realised the insane amount of payment would most likely demand an insane workload.
"So what's the job?"
[I can manufacture pretty much everything at a scale that would dwarf any country you know of, the problem is that I don't know what price to sell those goods at, or even where to off-load them.]
This somewhat made sense to Tia, someone capable of crossing 'a sea of stars' would have capabilities so far above anything she could imagine, of course the reason why he would bother was another question.
"But why wouldn't you just print money?"
[As a merchant yourself, you should understand that trade isn't always about monetary compensation.]
While monetary compensation was great and all, what Mac was after were favours, connections and other base components of corruption that would create his basis of soft power.
"... I guess that makes sense. So could you give me some examples of what we could be selling?"
[That's what I have you for, but for reference I need at least enough to buy an extensive amount of property or land in a few month's time.]
"Hmm."
Setting aside the question of how Mac would gain landowner rights for the moment, Tia got an idea about the amount she would need to raise.
"The main issue will be finding trading partners… I guess I could talk to my dad?"
[Your father? Is he also a trader?]
In response to Mac's sincere question, Tia snorted. Imagining her dad of all people having the patience to negotiate prices with a huffy customer was too funny not to laugh about.
"Nah, he's a cranky old man and an almost retired blacksmith."
[A blacksmith?]
While the translation algorithms Mac had created to speak with Tia were almost perfect it still took him a few seconds to figure out what she meant as she had named an all but extinct occupation Mac had only learned about in the history books doing his days in school.
[So you want to sell metals and ore?]
"No, those are controlled goods, and no one sane is going to touch a new metal supply without a royal seal or ledger of origin."
Of course, Mac could easily start counterfeiting those seals and sell these restricted goods in bulk to make a shitton of money before anyone could figure out what was going on, but as he actually wanted to set up a permanent trade entity starting off with fraud and counterfeiting wasn't ideal.
[Noted. Then what are you suggesting?]
"My dad always needs more coal."
Coal, coke or even the rare crow coal (anthracite) was always in short supply, and given that an enterprising merchant could set up a charcoal operation there was little regulation in the market. Needless to say, such little regulation meant trust between vendors and customers was vital, so it was one of the tougher markets to break into, but Tia hoped her dad could help with an introduction.
[Coal? Yeah, I could create something like that… Something like pellets of anthracite with a hollow crystalline structure to create improved airflow and raise combustion temperature. Of course it would need some kind of moisture barrier, which could also help to lower the ignition temperature.]
If Mac was going out of his way to fabricate something as basic as coal, he figured he might as well make the best kind of coal there was, a fuel source that burned hotter, purer and longer than any of the competition for half the price. Of course, flooding the market with such a product would ruffle a fair number of people, but that was part of the plan.
"I see you've got a product in mind, not that I understood even half of what you just said."
Explaining the details of the product and hearing Tia's opinion on how well it would sell took a bit of time, but finally Mac was confident that he had gotten Tia to thrust him, at least somewhat.
[… I'll be in contact again in a few hours, I got stuff to do. Oh, and by the way; this was your first half day of work, figure out what kind of precious metal you want your payment in the form of.]
Returning his focus onto himself, Mac found himself standing in front of the remains of a wagon.
(So after leaving Tia for dead, they torched her ride to get rid of the evidence… The question is what they did with her personal belongings.)
Glancing at the sky, Mac connected to assets in high atmosphere and quickly ordered a high resolution scan of the immediate area. Lidar didn't reveal much more than he already knew, but ground penetrating radar found a lump half a metre underground right next to his feet.
(This must be Tia's belongings…)
Having the lump, a leather knapsack, excavated, Mac examined the contents but didn't find what he was looking for.
(Where the hell is the mirror?)
Although he would never admit it, Mac had taken a peak at some of Tia's memories, or rather dreams. In there he had seen a mirror Tia had clearly cared for; hence he figured he would retrieve it for her.
(Activity tracking is a nightmare without all the surveillance constellations online, but still somewhat possible.)
Accessing his surrounding high altitude assets again, Mac went through the partially incomplete surveillance archives and started tracking his prey.
"Hmm."
(2-4 possible targets but no precise location… Still, lowlives are people of habit so I can extrapolate where they'll be.)
Glancing at the setting sun, Mac got a cold smile on his face as the drone next to him handed him his SOD-09, an integrally suppressed short rifle.
Infiltrating a medieval town wasn't really that difficult for Mac, the problem was he couldn't exactly bring backup with him as autonomous combat drones didn't mesh well with knights and leather armour; so they had to standby in the dropships Mac had brought with him down to the surface his little excursion. Hiding his rifle below a faux leather coat, Mac hit the streets for the first time.
(Urg… The fuck is that smell?)
Having landed inside the town walls right next to a public outhouse, Mac regretted having a nose as he examined the surroundings, taking in the strange and primitive town before he headed in the vague direction of the nightlife.
(Let's see…)
Having reviewed archived and live footage, Mac knew where to go and soon found himself in front of a filthy-looking water hole and went over his contingency plans as the gunships circling above closed their orbits for a fast response time.
Walking through the door like he owned the place, Mac caught a few eyes, but that was nothing compared to when he stepped up onto the bar counter and started looking for his targets.
"Hey! What the fuck man?"
While the entire bar was already quite filthy, the bartender didn't appreciate Mac putting his shoes up on his counter, so he made his displeasure known and this finally drew the entire bar's attention.
"I'm here for 4 people who tried to kill their client and cover it up!"
Although the memories Mac pulled from Tia's mind were slightly chaotic and therefore unreliable, Mac was still pretty sure who he was looking for, and their sudden panic only confirmed things. As the group bolted, Mac just watched in silence as the entire bar fell silent.
"Hey…"
The bar remained silent for about 10 seconds until the barkeep remembered that Mac was still standing on his counter and reminded him.
"Oh, yeah, sorry about that."
"No. More importantly, aren't they getting away?"
At this point the bartender wasn't even mad that Mac had stood on his counter, he just felt sorry for him that his bounty was getting away.
"What, you think I would ever lose that gaggle of knobheads?"
With Mac's voice turning cold he gave the bartender a chilling smile before starting to leisurely walk out of the bar.
"They're just going to die tired now, that's no skin off my back."
Mac had multiple surveillance assets trained on his own location, so when the adventurers fled he only had to make sure a few of the mechanical eyes were trained on them as they tired themselves out running into the secluded part of town.
Following form just outside their detection range, Mac decided to finally make his presence known when his prey had isolated themselves to a satisfactory level.
"Where's the mirror? I assume one of you took it."
Instead of answering his question directly, the four adventurers looked at Mac, then at each other and incorrectly assumed they had the advantage because the stranger in front of them appeared unarmed.
That would be the last mistake they ever made.