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The sun was already low and hardly gave any light to the deep hole in the quarry. Twilight had long since swallowed the shadows. A group in a party mood had gathered at the Rabbit Hole. They were drinking and laughing. They could not see me. The containers in which I had hidden the captured armor stood between us.

“Well, let’s go,” I said to myself. Then I stepped into the field of vision of the group.

“Hey look a Nine Tail”, Root called out.

Everyone laughed. Someone pointed a flashlight at me. Somehow I felt silly while the group examined my red and green pirate outfit.

“And does anyone want to buy,” I asked, somewhat unmotivated.

The reactions were not encouraging.

“Ok, then I’ll get the next outfit. Wait in the cargo hold off the ship, we’ll have more light there.” Oh boy, this was off to a good start. While the group was laughing and going into my Cutlass, I got a light armor of Crusader Security out of the container and put it on.

Somehow I had doubts if my plan would work. Risking my life, I had captured various armors in the bunkers. Not a single one of them could be bought on the open market. Now I wanted to sell them at a small black market bazaar in the Rabbit Hole. The parts were ideal for infiltrations. However, I wondered if anyone was interested and if I could make money with them.

When I walked into the Cutlass with the yellow armor from Hurston Security there was a brief astonished “Boah”.

“I don’t want to know where you got that now”, Root joked.

“It sure looks real, though”, Brubacker marveled.

“Ok guys. Minimum bid for the complete outfit 5000 credits.” Was that too little? I had no idea, but somehow things had to get rolling.

There was discussion about whether I had others and whether it would get past customs without a problem.

“I’ll bid 4,000”, Gate shouted, completely out of the blue. Had I misheard? My minimum bid was 5000, after all. The group continued to discuss.

“Three thousand,” Gate shouted. What was going on? Gate completely threw me for a loop. An auction was different. Shouldn’t he bid more? Confused, I went to the containers and put on a Crusader Security armor.

As soon as I was back in the Cutlass, Root called out. “Now things are getting interesting. I like that. How much?”

Suddenly the auction was on. The group started bidding and outbidding each other. The other stuff I had was doing well, too. Some parts changed hands for 15,000 credits.

Especially Root seemed to be satisfied. To the Crusader armor he had bought a matching heavy helmet. The combination looked really good. For a short moment I wondered if I should have kept the outfit.

Then Gate came on the scene. First he offered me a price for several suits of armor which confused me again. Was that the amount I originally wanted? Or was he just ripping me off? This guy was a sly old dog.
Then he himself started to offer different things for sale. First a packet of drugs, then stones, a circuit board and some trophy which he advertised as an alien artifact. Within a short time there was a lot of junk on the floor of my Cutlass.

The bazaar was well received. But Gate wanted to make it much bigger in the future. With models aboard the 890 Jump from Friedrich Winters. He seemed to be a savvy businessman.

I, on the other hand, realized that I was not a businessman. Not only that I had lost track of what I had sold for how much to whom. No, I was also much too trusting. Without checking whether the agreed sum was actually transferred to me, I handed over the sold things. Well, after the bazaar there was more money in my account than before. So I did not go out empty.

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