Chapter 11 011: Sidetracked

Cole really did not want to get waylaid from his very important mission, but he would be a fool if he said no to the bloody opportunity that had just presented itself in the form of this two quests.

And it was especially so for the real world consequences, as completing both quest would do more than just square him for life, he would be returning home without being empty handed, and should going home not work out, all he had to do was get his passport renewed and travel, this time not to another country but off world, far away from earth and all of the heart break it had dished out to him.

But therein lies the problem, how the fuck will he ditch this girl?

"Well then since you have such great information gathering skills and are a broker, I need two things from you… or sorry I need three pieces of information from you. So what's you standard price?"

Cole asked as he held her gaze, not at all missing the excited glint in them when he asked her about money.

"Well that depends on the kind of information you're looking for. My most basic rate is a silver Titon, but most info I can currently offer should be roughly around a 100 to 500 bronze Tibons. Nevertheless what do you want to find out about?"

Cole raised an eyebrow and kept silent looking at the girl and her very obvious attempt at extortion. She held his gaze for a while, before turning to the side and giving a small cough before saying.

"But they're are all open to negotiation of course…..provided the offered price is reasonable." Cole rolled his eyes at her antics before shrugging his shoulder.

"First I need a terminal, or better yet I need a map of the surrounding star system and a map of the space station.

Secondly I need to know if there is a way off the base at the moment, which are inclusive of commercial or military transport or if there are smugglers abound or anyone looking to sell a ship.

And the third thing would like to find out is the specifics of the quests being offered for the shares and for the [Mona Lisa], so how much would they cost and what do you know."

Tiana put a finger under her chin, if Cole didn't know better he would think she was attempting to look cute and trying to figure out a price tag for the information he just asked her about… or perhaps she was just thinking to see if or not she had access to the information.

But then again given how annoying she has proven herself to be in the last few minutes, perhaps it's a bit too farfetched to think the best out of her. Either way a few seconds of nodding into space she gave him a big smile.

"It would cost you no more than 500 Tibons for the information you seek, but as a special discount for being my first customer I will knock off let's say 5 Tibons off the initial price."

Cole didn't even spend another second listening to her, he swiftly turned around about to go look for the information he sought himself. But far be it for a miscreant like Tiana to let him go so easily.

"No! Wait wait! 400… no 250! I'll sell the information to you for 250 Tibons."

"At 100, no more no less. And perhaps once I've confirmed the validity of your information I can think about throwing in a bonus. So you either answer me or I go down there and start asking questions."

Tiana looked like she had something she wanted to say, but the kid visibly deflated before taking a deep breath and looking up at Cole with a sharp look in her eyes.

"There are no smugglers on board the space station, at least none that I know of.

At the moment evacuation is pretty much impossible as one of the quest being offered won there is a recruitment quest, the local millitary are trying to put together a raid group that would break past the siege the Nijat Aliens are currently implementing.

They have taken over the route that leads to the docking bays and hangars. If anybody wants to get off this station they would have to go through that, hence the need for the raid group.

If you ask me this is somewhat insane, this early into the game and we're having a massive battle right off the onset, it's crazy.

There's a station terminal right at the entrance over there, if you're not worried about getting your head blown off by an alien then you're invited to go try your luck.

However if you do need to see a map of the current star system then you could just take a look at that big fat hologram on the roof of the Cradle Facility… yeah that one right above your head."

Cole raised his head up and let out an annoyed huff, the start chat he has been looking for was right above his head, nevertheless he turned back to her to listen to what else she had to say.

"As for the quest for the shares, it actually goes hand in hand with the quest for the Mona Lisa.

However while you can complete the quest for the Mona Lisa on this floor, and can subsequently take it with you to higher floors and will get it out in the real world, the quest for the shares is a chain quest that will probably take you to different parts of the station or based on current speculation the next floor or the even the floors above.

But at the moment has been stupid enough to take those quests, because even those who already tried, are probably down to their sixth or even fifth life, and it has not even been up to an hour since this event started."

She paused, then held out a hand to Cole, he looked down at it watching with equal parts amusement and mirth as she rubbed her fingers together.

Obviously she wouldn't give the rest of the information unless he paid her. It didn't matter to Cole though, the money she was asking for wasn't even a fraction of what he currently owned.

So far the event has been generous with its monetary rewards, the entire assets in money Cole currently had was worth thousands of dollars at the moment, as the exchange rate between in game cash and real world money was 3 Tibons to a Dollar.

Of course things in the real world were a whole lot more expensive than they had any right to be, but then again he still had a lot of money. Tiana smiled after Cole initiated a transfer, then she cleared her throat.

"For both quests it's as hardcore as it gets. You will have to make your way back to the coliseum and retrieve a briefcase containing the blueprints for the Mona Lisa as the creator has left it behind in the ensuing chaos yada yada.

For the shares quest thought you're not just retrieving an object but rather a person or two persons, I'm not sure how many.

A head researcher for the space station is stuck somewhere in the coliseum with his family, retrieve them and bring them safely, and I'm using the word safely loosely, I'm thinking they just need to be alive.

None the less you have to deliver them to docking bay 88 where a ship is waiting to evacuate them.

Now you see why both quests are fucked up, what's even worse is the fact that there's a timer on both quests, I think they would expire and be unacceptable in three hours, so frankly speaking there's no use."

Cole nodded his head and fell into silent contemplation, but he didn't ponder on his decision for too long as he had already made it halfway through her explanation.

Sure it was dangerous, and it would be putting everything he has gained so far on the line and taking him out of the running to be the first person off this floor, but in the end Cole was in this game to change his life, to be successful as that is usually what everybody else chases.

Sometimes the way forwards is not always the way to your destination, sometimes you have to go back to move forward."

"See you around kid." Cole said as he moved down the escalator heading towards the quest givers.

"Where are you going?" Tiana called after him. But Cole didn't answer, she could see exactly in which direction he was heading.

"You're crazy!" but Cole disagreed, he wasn't crazy. Even if it might seem like so to anyone watching him right now. What he was, with the current state of his life was Desperate…so fucking desperate!