What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?-Chapter 790: To The Inner Colonies

We reached the Warp Gate that would send us towards the Inner Colonies and all of us were gathered on the bridge as we prepared for the jump.

Amongst my crew, the only people who had been to the Inner Colonies were Amber, Yumiko and Mara so it was a new experience for everyone else. That’s why we were gathered here for this ’historic’ event.

Normally, Warp Gates would have automated defense platforms surrounding it to protect them but aside from that, everyone was pretty much free to use them to come and go.

But aside from having even more defense platforms surrounding the Warp Gate we were currently in front of, it seems like they even set up a sort of security checkpoint as well.

There were various patrol and defense ships that were hovering around the Warp Gate and every ship that was trying to use the Warp Gate had to go through an inspection first.

We joined the queue at the back as the line of ships ambled forward at a constant pace.

Can’t believe we would be stuck in traffic while in space of all things...

Thankfully, the process was relatively fast as the security checkpoint seemed to only check if the people entering the Warp Gate had a pass to allow them to enter the Inner Colonies and nothing else.

As we reached the Warp Gate, our ship was hailed by one of the defense ships and I answered the call quickly.

A gruff man wearing military uniform appeared on the screen.

"Name?" He asked, not even looking at me as he was typing away on his holographic keyboard.

"Tera of the Teran Mercenary Company."

He grunted in acknowledgement before he stared at something off screen for a moment.

"Hmm... Tera... You have a temporary permit and you’re allowed to access the Common area as well as the systems that are under the ownership of Crusaders Inc., entry is accepted."

He shut off the call without waiting for an answer and we were given the green light to move.

We still had to wait for Theresa’s ship to be cleared so I turned to my girls and asked, "Common area?"

Mara nodded, "Even within the Inner Colonies, the space is divided into several ’districts’ you could say. The outer rim that is closest to the Outer Colonies is known as the Common area. Usually, you would find farms, heavy industries and resorts around this place."

"Huh... Then what about the other districts?"

"The one after that is known as the Middle area and that’s mostly where the residential stations and planets are situated. That’s the place with the highest population density within the Inner Colonies and if you are neither rich or influential within the Inner Colonies, you would most likely be living there."

"I’m guessing the nobles would not be there?"

She shook her head, "No. They would usually be in the next part known as the Inner area. That place is for the rich, the influential, the really lucky and also the really unlucky people. It’s where all the wealth is concentrated and also the most developed part of UTG space."

I raised an eyebrow, "I can understand the first three but why unlucky as well?"

Yumiko was the one who answered instead, "To live there... You would have to be either really, really rich or really, really influential to obtain living space there, assuming if you weren’t lucky enough to be born into a family that is already living there that has both of those things. The really unlucky ones would be born there in a family who has neither of those things and were only brought there to serve the people who have both."

I pursed my lips, "So... Like slaves then?" 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Pretty much."

Right... That explains it...

Oh, seems like Theresa’s done with their inspection too.

Theresa’s ship started to move and we were pulled alongside hers, reaching the jump range of the Warp Gate.

I braced myself as the Warp Gate charged our ship and we were sling shotted across space, flying off towards our destination.

As soon as we emerged back into normal space, I looked out towards my first view of what was the Inner Colonies.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect here and I guess even without any expectations, I was still surprised.

It almost felt like I had arrived at an alternate universe as the first thing that I saw in front of my ship was a large holographic banner being displayed where a woman was advertising some kind of energy drink.

I looked around and I realised this wasn’t just a single thing as the space around us was filled with what looked like space buoys that were projecting those holographic advertisements all around us.

Some were advertising products like the energy drink earlier, others were advertising services and entertainment like a certain Mercenary Company who had plastered their name and the face of their leader on the advert. Then others were just straight up advertising sex.

Like damn... There’s one hologram where it was literally a video of some girl getting railed by a guy and it’s an advert for a brothel within this system.

It seems like I wasn’t the only one that was surprised as the others were also staring out at the holograms with mixed emotions.

My confusion must have shown on my face because both Mara and Yumiko let out a chuckle.

"Not expecting something like this, right? Fufufu~ Those are HoloBuoys and you can already guess what they are for," Mara chuckled.

Yumiko also laughed lightly, "Hehe~ Most people who enter the Inner Colonies for the first time also have the same reaction. Honestly, if you ask me, I prefer the Outer Colonies since the space there isn’t filled with corporate crap like this."

I frowned and turned to them, "This is... Common here?"

Mara nodded, "The more developed the system is... The more advertisers there are, Captain. After all, that’s where all the money is so if you want to earn Credits, that’s the way to go."

Yumiko sighed, "They usually cluster around Warp Gates, inhabited planets and systems, and around Space Highways."

I don’t know about you but that sounds really sad if you ask me...

Looking out into space in front of me, almost everywhere I looked was filled with those HoloBuoys, a vastly different sight compared to what I was used to seeing in the Outer Colonies.

"Does no one complain about this? Isn’t this all just a nuisance?" I asked.

Mara shook her head, "The people here are already used to it and to the majority of the people living here... This is actually seen as an indication that they are more developed than the Outer Colonies."

Amber rolled her eyes, "It’s their badge of honour so to speak. Like ’hey! Look at us! We have all the Credits that we want to do this and you guys in the Outer Colonies are too poor to do this!’"

Geez... Ok... I guess this is just culture shock for me and everyone else coming here for the first time...

Our ship glided through the space between the holographic advertisements, one of them even belonging to Crusaders Inc. and advertising the new generation of Exo-Knights.

We flew towards the entrance of a Space Highway and our ship joined the others that were also heading towards the ’gates’ of the highway.

Just as Yumiko had said, the entire area around the Space Highway was littered with HoloBuoys and it looked like the main menu of a cheap game that was blasting adverts in your face to get you to buy something.

As I was feeling a little complicated from the culture shock of the HoloBuoys, I suddenly saw something that made me lean forward.

"Wait!! Newest kitchen equipment?! Where can I buy it?!" I cried out, spotting one particular hologram that was advertising kitchen equipment for sale.

Amber giggled, "Ehehehe~ You can just scan the hologram with your personal terminal, Tera~ It will bring you to their GalaNet site where you can check out what is being advertised~"

Wait, really?

I brought out my Codex and did as she said, scanning the hologram with it which automatically opened a window that appeared in front of me.

I was immediately shown an entire list of kitchen equipment that was for sale from pressure cookers of different sizes to industrial kitchen stoves and automated cookers.

They had a purchase option where they would drop off my purchase at a station or planet of my choice where they would then install it on my ship free of charge if I purchase above a certain price.

Damn... This is so convenient... This is basically just scan and purchase isn’t it? The consumerism for the Inner Colonies is even worse than the Outer Colonies...

Even if you were flying out in the void of space, you’re not even spared from spending your Credits I see...

Yeah... I think this place is scary in a different sense...