Chương 55: Chapter 56: Palaxia

As Adam entered the large building, he discovered it to be a kind of warehouse with lots of different-sized containers, including some that had noises coming from within them. Many individuals who looked like dockworkers back on Earth hurried around moving, receiving and dispatching different containers. Adam only gave them a brief glance before he made his way towards another exit on the far side of the warehouse. As he stepped through, he found himself on the kind of platform you would see at railway stations.

However, the vehicle before him wasn't a train that pulled many carriages; instead, it was a single carriage that seemed to levitate above the tracks beneath it. Adam admired the levitating carriage, or what he liked to call the 'hover train', for a moment before he boarded it, and after a few minutes, the doors closed and it set off. The hover train flew along the tracks at a much faster speed than any train was capable of back on Earth, causing the scenery outside the window to whizz past.

Adam tried to make it out at first, but after a while of seeing nothing but an empty brown landscape, he lost interest and just closed his eyes and relaxed. Sure, he was excited to be on another planet for the first time in his life, but at the end of the day, brown earth was still brown earth. After a while, Adam felt the hover train slowing, and as he opened his eyes to look out the window, he saw that they were about to enter a large city with towering buildings.

Many of the towering buildings had neon signs that displayed adverts or commercials, with the occasional one showing a news broadcast. The hover train continued to slow, and as it did so, Adam noticed that more of the tracks the hover trains used seemed to be congregating together, leading him to think he was coming upon a main station. Eventually, the hover train came to a stop and the doors opened, allowing the passengers to exit onto the platform.

Adam looked around before following the other people who had disembarked towards an exit gate. As he passed through the exit gate, he appeared in a large open area that had many individuals hurrying about as they tried to catch their hover trains before they departed without them. Adam looked around before seeing a sign that read 'Information Terminal' in an alien language and headed towards it.

During his time playing the Space Rogue campaign, Adam had noticed he could read and understand different languages that appeared in the game, even without the game translating. When he asked Spector about this, the AI informed him that it wasn't just all languages on Earth that it had downloaded to him back then, but all known languages in the universe. Adam accessed the terminal before doing a search for the Mercenary Hall and Bounty Hunter Guild.

After finding out their locations and getting directions, he set off towards a different platform to catch another hover train. 💫💫💫 The Palaxia Mercenary Hall was as loud and boisterous as ever as different groups sat around and talked about their recent jobs or what work they anticipated becoming available soon while eating and drinking.

Other mercenaries checked the mercenary consoles to see what work was available while the staff worked the counters, accepting new jobs from clients, registering existing jobs mercenaries had accepted or marking off jobs that had been completed or failed.

A large holographic screen on one wall showed a Terran female doing a news broadcast, and as a new story came up, it caught the eyes of one of the mercenaries, who shouted towards one of the staff members who worked the bar, saying, "Greg, turn the volume up, man." Greg nodded before using his uniband to increase the holographic screen's volume for them all to hear. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"We have just received a report stating that Diva Lorelie's ship was attacked by three pirate ships as it entered the Sandanar Galaxy."

"While we are still trying to gather all the details, it seems a lone ship appeared and defeated the pirates, thus keeping Diva Lorelie safe until a TISF cruiser arrived and began transporting her to Terrana 5""As I'm sure most of our viewers know, Diva Lorelie is scheduled to perform at the special event hosted by the imperial family in a few days time."

"If Diva had been captured or killed by pirates in Terran space, then it would have further damaged our race's already bad reputation in the universe." There was a low whistle from one of the viewers before he loudly asked, "Alright, own up, who saved Diva Lorelie because the next rounds are on you."

The rest of the mercenaries laughed, but after seeing no one own up, they continued their own conversations for several minutes before the Mercenary Hall's door opened and a young man wearing anti-gravity armour stepped in. A few of the mercenaries shot him curious looks as they noticed how young his face was since he didn't have his helmet up before they ignored him. One mercenary from a bunch that was drinking suddenly shouted, "Hey, kid, aren't you supposed to be in school?" making his friends laugh.

Adam shot the loud mercenary a quick glance before ignoring him and heading for one of the empty counters occupied by an attractive female worker.

"How can I help you, sir?" The worker asked politely.

"I'm here to register as a mercenary," Adam replied, causing the worker to raise an eyebrow as she inspected him more seriously.

"HAHAHAHA You're too young for this work, kid, go back home and suck on your mamma's tit." The loud mercenary said after hearing Adam's repose. The female worker ignored the loud mercenary as if she was used to it and spoke to Adam, "That won't be a problem as long as you're of age and can pass the trial test. Please present your personal information along with your ship's registration if you have one."

Adam nodded before accessing the information on his uniband and sending it to the worker's console, where it appeared on screen. [[Name: Adam Spencer]] [[Age: 21 (Earth Calendar)]] [[Age: 19 (Universal Calendar)]] [[YOB: 2007 (Earth Calendar)]] [[YOB: 3228 (Universal Calendar)]] [[Race: Earthling.]] [[Species: Humanoid]] [[Ship Registration: EDF001-Spector]] As the worker looked over the information Adam sent, she showed slight surprise at his race, which said Earthling instead of the expected Terran and figured that was why he looked so plain compared to normal Terran's so she chose not to comment on it. As she was about to speak, a red exclamation mark appeared beside the ship registration, causing her eyebrow to raise before she selected it and read the new data.

[[Message to all Terran run Mercenary Halls]] [[Ship registration EDF001-Spector has been identified by TISF vessel Imperial Down as being the one who rescued Diva Lorelie from the pirate attack.]] [[Should the owner of this ship wish to join the Mercenary Hall he is to be immediately accepted without the need for the trial test and promoted from rank G to rank F.]] The attractive worker read the notification with surprise before studying Adam even closer than before.

"It seems you qualify and have been excused from the need to take the trial test and will be starting from rank F." Before Adam could question why this was, the loud mercenary from before spoke up, "Hey, what's going on here, Lizzie? Why does this youngster get to skip the trial test along with a direct promotion to F rank when everyone starts at G?" The worker named Lizzie shot the mercenary a withering look before replying, "If you must know, Frank, this is the guy who saved Diva Lorelie from the pirate attack."

As she finished speaking, the whole mercenary guild, which had been boisterous before, turned to look at Adam while inspecting him closely.

"Him?" Frank asked in shock.

"Him," Lizzie replied smugly before turning back to Adam.

"Please wait a moment while I get you registered as a mercenary."

"BWHAHAHAHA." A loud laugh suddenly sounded next to Adam before a large arm wrapped around his shoulders.

"Not bad, rookie, let me apologise for my earlier comment and be the first to congratulate you on saving Diva Lorelie," Frank said happily.

"Of course, that means you have to buy a round for the entire mercenary hall, hahaha." Frank proclaimed before he laughed again while the other mercenaries cheered at the thought of free booze.

"Isn't it normally supposed to be you buying me a drink for a job well done?" Adam replied with slight confusion.

"Hahaha, such a rookie." Frank said while slapping Adam on the back before he explained, "Why would we buy you drinks when you're the one who made the money from the job?"

"I get paid for saving Diva Lorelie?" Adam asked Lizzie.

"No," Lizzie replied flatly.

"Since there was no official job, there was no reward; hence, you don't get paid."

"BWHAHAHA Tough luck, kid, but this round's still on you," Frank said before turning to the barkeep and saying, "Hey, Greg drinks all around the rookies paying." After which, he went to get his own drink.