Chương 60: Chapter 61: Off the books job

"How is that even possible? And can something so foolproof actually exist?" Lizzie asked in wonder.

"I won't go into exactly how it works, as it's very complicated and involves many algorithms and data analysis; however, I will admit that it is not completely foolproof. I can't, for example, stop someone overhearing another person's conversation about my stream while they're out buying milk." Adam replied with the air of a teacher instructing their class when, in fact, he was completely bullshitting them.

Adam had no idea how it worked; he just knew Spector used data analysis to determine who could and could not watch the stream at any given moment.

"Riggghhht," Andrew replied as he tried to decide whether to believe Adam or not.

"I've never heard of anyone successfully streaming space missions, though many have tried in the past, but they all gave up after a short time," Lizzie explained.

"When people think of space missions, they think of exciting ship combat, and that's what they want to see on streams. The problem is that many space missions are mundane, deliver this or scan those missions and do not involve much or any space combat, and that leads to the viewers leaving the channel when they find it boring."

"Also, pretty much all streamers are not willing to put their lives on the line for a few extra credits."

"I can't deny this; many of my viewers were complaining about it being boring when I was just roaming the asteroid field and scanning the asteroids. They only really got excited when I encountered the pirates." Adam replied.

"Then why do you do it? You know that in the future, your viewers are only going to pressure you more and more into combat situations, or they will leave." Lizzie asked.

"I have my reasons, and I'm not too fussed if viewers leave. People who watch streams will only care about three things: what the top streamers are currently making popular, life and death situations and naked women in hot tubs."

"Naked women I get, but what's a hot tub?" Andrew asked before noticing the look in Lizzie's eye after he spoke.

"Never mind that." Lizzie said darkly before continuing, "Let's get back on topic, shall we?"

"Of course, so you're willing to take the job?" Andrew asked quickly, changing the subject.

"Sure, but not because you tried to guilt me into it." Adam replied before asking, "But what reward do I get from you for doing this? Will there be a job that goes up for it?"

"We can't risk putting a job up on the mercenary terminal since we know someone is monitoring it. This will have to be strictly off the books until we find out who the insider is. For now, the best reward I can offer you is a direct promotion to E rank and a guarantee that you will be in the middle of the action when we attack the pirate base so you can make as many credits as possible." Andrew replied.

Adam thought for a few moments before nodding and getting up as he said, "I guess that's the best I can expect for now. I will go pay the pirates a visit then."

"Adam, wait." Lizzie suddenly stopped him before she asked, "Am I right in thinking you plan to stream the infiltration of the pirate base?"

"Most likely," Adam replied.

"Is that really a good idea?" Andrew asked.

"If what Adam said is true, then it should be fine." Lizzie replied before asking, "Is it possible for you to allow us to view your stream?" Instead of replying to them straight away, Adam asked, "Spector?" [Data analysis shows that the individuals Andrew Anderson and Lizzie Anderson have no connection with the pirates. However, there are some mercenaries in the mercenary hall who do have connections.]"That should be fine; however, it will be streamed to your console here in your office.

Data analysis shows that some of the mercenaries have connections with the pirates." Adam informed the pair, causing them to frown again.

"Are you able to give me the information and proof on who these mercs are?" Andrew asked darkly.

"If you make it worth my while," Adam said as he left the room, and the door closed behind him. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! There was silence in the room for a few minutes before Andrew asked, "So what do you think?"

"I think we can trust him on this. I believe most of what he said was the truth." Lizzie replied before she sat on Andrew's lap.

"You and your instincts," Andrew muttered.

"They have never failed me so far, and they brought us together," Lizzie replied as she ran a finger over his chest with a flirtatious look.

"That they did," Andrew replied as he looked at Lizzie with a predatory gaze. Lizzie returned the gaze as Andrew leaned in for a kiss before it suddenly changed as she stood up and began walking out of the room with a purposeful sway in her hips while saying, "You're still sleeping on the sofa tonight, though." Andrew stared after her as the door to his office closed before he said, "Damn it."

💫💫💫 After boarding Spector, Adam got clearance to launch and left Palaxia before once again setting course for the asteroid field and the pirates' base. [Launching stream.] [[Stream description below:]] [[Stream Title: Pirate base infiltration]] [[Mission Parameters: The mercenary hall can't risk handing over the information about the pirates' base to the Palaxia authorities without knowing who the informant is. Because of this, they have given you an off-the-books job to infiltrate the pirates' base and discover their identity.]] [[Missions Goal: Infiltrate the pirate base and complete the following objectives.]] [[Objective 1: Discover the identity of the pirates informer or informers.]] [[Objective 2: Discover how many captives the pirates have and where they are being held.]] [[Objective 3: Discover the number of pirates and pirate ships that use the base.]] [[Objective 4: Gather evidence on who hired the pirates to attack Diva Lorelie.]] 💫💫💫 As Adam's stream went live, a sudden notification appeared on Andrew's console. [Streamer Spector has gone live. Click the link below to watch. Link Attached.]"What, Spector?" Andrew wondered aloud before he decided to click the link. Unless a user specified what pop-up notifications were allowed in their console, this sort of notification was impossible on the universal subspace network.

Andrew had never authorised any sort of streaming notifications, so it got him curious as he also remembered how Lizzie had asked Adam if they could watch his stream of him infiltrating the pirate base. Remembering that he decided to click the link. As the stream opened on his console's holographic display, he saw a sleek-looking ship flying towards the asteroid field near Palaxia.

"That's a nice ship," Andrew muttered before he sent Lizzie a message. 💫💫💫 [Forever1stCommenter (Earth): First.] [Devil_Prince_Asura (Deverinian 9): Damn, the streamer is actually going to infiltrate the pirate base?] [Superhearofangirl (Earth): That's crazy streamer, don't do it.] [AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): She's right. How do you plan to get your ship close enough to board the base and go undetected while you're there?] [Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): Actually, I don't think he will have much to worry about when it comes to being noticed while on the base.] [StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Explain.] [Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): Well, pirates are not exactly known for wearing uniforms; they generally just wear whatever takes their fancy and only have an insignia of some sort to show which crew they're from. As long as the streamer doesn't attract attention and acts normally, he should be ok to wander the base.] [AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): Ok, but what does he plan to do about the ship? I mean, he can't just leave it to be discovered, and he doesn't have any crew that we know of.] [Prestigious3horns (Vinox 2): That I'm not sure about, but I guess we will find out soon enough, so let's wait and see.] As Spector entered the asteroid field, Adam piloted it towards the predicted location of the pirates' base according to the asteroid's flight path.

He had Spector enter convert mode again, and as it switched to condition brown, the comms picked up the pirates' chatter.

"I still can't believe they failed to capture Diva Lorelie."

"I know, right, and to think they were defeated by one ship."

"You don't actually believe that, do you? The news feed said Diva Lorelie was saved by a single guy; there is no way a single one-man ship could beat all three of them."

"Then what do you think happened?"

"I think that it was the Imperial Down that managed to reach her ship in time and save her by destroying Team Seven."

"Why would they say someone else saved her then? It would benefit the TISF to claim responsibility for the rescue of such a famous individual."

"There must be some sort of cover-up going on, maybe they used a prototype ship or weapon to beat team seven and want to keep it secret for now, at least that's what the boss thinks." [StealthAssassin9 (Earth): These pirates are idiots.] [Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Not really, what they say makes some sense. It's normally very difficult for a single one-man ship to be able to beat three of them.] [Superior4horns (Vinox 3): That's true, and the news feeds didn't go into details about the streamer's ship, only that one man saved Diva Lorelie. It makes sense that they would jump to conclusions.]