After the previous job, X lets Varan and Chance know that one of the barrels we recovered was full of a rare and expensive ore known as Tyrite. However, he thinks that it would be suspicious if we offloaded it right after the job. Varan says that we should hide it, and X agrees.

We land at a the Bezmer Space Docks, a small outpost on Earth in what used to be South America, and the three of them go to a nearby supply area and buy sturdy sewage waste containers — a larger one for the waste and a second one to put the actual ore in.

Varan disguises himself because this is work that no Vanguard would be doing. X helps him cover his face  and dirty up, and Varan feels for a moment like X has done something to him. He looks but doesn’t see anything. He tells X to keep his hands to himself.

We load up the ore, Varan and Chance doing most of the work because X’s wounds are still healing. It is a tough job and Varan is sweating, not used to manual labor. After a while all of the ore is loaded up and surrounded by sewage in the larger container.

We will need to take the container to the storage area ourselves. We find a place nearby which seems pretty slummy but should work. The woman behind the counter is old and ugly, with a face tattoo and a vape stick. She says “15 credits a day and you can’t sleep in them, 33 a month and you CAN’T sleep in them and 500 for a year AND YOU CAN’T SLEEP IN THEM.” Without doing the math, Varan slides her 500 credits with a disgusted look on his face. She walks away and leaves a cloud of vapor. X nudges Varan and says that he overpaid — the monthly price is better. When she comes back, X asks for 6 months at the monthly rate and she refunds part of the money. She gives us a strange looking security key and leaves again.

We push the ore through a set of doors and to our small storage locker, while we are recorded by several security drones. Chance lifts the crate into the unit and is sure to slop some sewage over the side so no one gets curious. He has feces all over his gloves.

We leave, and as we do Varan notices that the security key has a recording device and GPS on it. X thinks that we should go back and get our stuff, but Varan blurts out “I could probably re-route the signal so it can’t track us, but will need some help with the hacking.” X covers his mouth so he doesn’t say more. He finds some oil and grease and covers the key so we aren’t recorded. He also takes a small audio player and turns it on so the key is recording just the music.

Varan washes up in a local restroom, getting the grime off of himself, then contacts a hacker and has the GPS signal and recordings from the key re-routed to a random server. It costs 5 credits a day to keep it from recording us.

We go back to the ship. Chance uses a blowtorch to clean off his suit and gloves of all the sewage, but the whole ship smells like burnt feces now.

X takes some painkillers to deal with his still un-healed wounds. He downs them with a beer which makes him a bit woozy. Varan notices this.

Before we go, X asks Varan to help him fix a laser rifle. Varan takes a look at it and is able to fix it as it had solid internals, however it fires blue whereas most fire red or orange. X likes the color.

Varan, disgusted with this place, says that they should leave. X suggests that we go to meet a friend of his where we can find parts for the robot and also some “companionship”. Varan asks him to lay in the location and the robot is hooked up to help with navigation, though it doesn’t have any arms or legs.

Varan asks Chance to pilot, but X asks if he’s ever piloted and he says “Once in boot camp.” Varan looks alarmed and says that he will pilot. X assures him that he can fly better than either of them even in his slightly addled state, but Varan says absolutely not and takes the helm. X, resigned, drops into the co-pilot seat. The robot also asks if he should take over since Varan seems less than skilled. Annoyed, Varan says that he will do it.

The robot gets the coordinates set. The team gets permission from ground control to leave, and Varan activates the thrusters. The robot reminds him to turn on the shielding and deactivate the docking plates, which Varan does with a loud curse. However he has bumped the stick and they are off course. X takes over piloting and rights the course. Varan relents and lets him fly.

The robot philosophically says “Remember, he may know how to fly, but he does not own his own ship. Each needs one another.” Varan loudly tells him to shut up. In response, the whole ship turns off. Varan panics but the robot says that we should remember that he is part of the ship now. Varan is spooked and says that maybe we should have left the robot on the ship we found it on. X says that he  is on the robot’s side.

The ship turns back on and we resume traveling to our destination. X has been calling the robot “B” but asks  it what its name is. It says “Norro”. X agrees to call it either that or “B”.

Within minutes we arrive at Sarris Warehouse, a massive warehouse that has been added on for over 200 years to be one of the biggest indoor markets. X says that we should not take any valuables with us when we go into the market.