007 Training Arc 7: Free Recovery 2 Encounter 1

Eighth of ten chapters posted.

Yesterday’s earnings? Only 2,000 G. Five tons of special alloy brought in 5,000 G—but then the guild took 3,000 G, including the bounty rights.

Honestly, cleaning the route quest would’ve been more efficient. Learn from yesterday’s failure. Be careful. Prepare properly this time.

Today, I’m boarding rental ship number ten.

A holographic screen pops up in front of me. First, I mark the sectors where combat occurred more than ten days ago.

To eliminate areas with bounty rights attached.

The ship’s neural interface connects to the station’s database and starts siphoning data.

Too much. The screen floods with blinking points. I filter it down—only the last thirty combat events prior to ten days ago.

Then I access control data to check how often ships have been active in those sectors.

Then I noticed one of the thirty sectors was unusually unpopular.

"Something's up here."

I decided to investigate further, heading toward that unpopulated sector.

The distance was too great—time was wasted.

As usual, the ship’s brain handled communications with the control room and the route, granting clearance to launch.

"Launch! Engaging autopilot."

As I approached the sector, I found the following:

An interception claim had been filed, yet the recovery log showed zero items retrieved.

This suggests either a mistaken or false report of interception.

Even worse, the ship that supposedly shot it down didn’t recover anything.

But the administration and the guild aren’t fools. They’d have solid proof—evidence pulled straight from the ship’s brain.

"So no recovery at all… that’s got the smell of treasure."

Some people even tried searching for it, but gave up.

That was the target sector.

"Arrived at designated sector."

The ship's brain reports.

I halt the vessel and sweep the area with radar and sensors.

With numerous asteroids around, I scan the entire volume—front, back, left, right, up, down.

This sector’s off the main route, so no debris-clearing quests. Worthless debris just sits there, untouched.

I compile the findings and display them in 3D on the virtual screen.

"Nothing of value...?"

Then I reconsider. Value’s just what the Guild defines as valuable.

Maybe something the Guild dismissed as worthless could have worth from another angle.

Like diamonds to me.

I instruct the brain to list every piece of supposedly worthless debris.

I go through the list, removing the "worthless" tags from things that don’t actually seem useless.

And then... something remained.

"Silicon compound? So it's just a chunk of glass?"

I couldn't help but get curious. I guided the ship closer to the debris.

It wasn't debris at all—just a probe tethered to a small asteroid, wired up like a damn old-school sensor array.

Inside the glass, a single light flickered to life, turning toward us.

"Shit— it's alive!"

I yanked the ship into emergency evasive maneuvers, zigzagging hard.

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