Oliver inspected the crates, checked the inventory on his tablet, and then moved to the next pallet. Typically this type of thing would be done to ensure no agency had shortchanged the expedition on their supplies, but in this context, it was to make sure none of the illegally obtained resources were misplaced. He checked off the last of it, then moved to the region of the warehouse with the heavy equipment, these things would have to be either sold off world, or striped for parts and melted down for raw materials. Oliver checked the numbers on the heavy tractor, the hover cranes, and the tunneling drill.
“Is everything here?” Oliver rolled his eyes at the sound of Xiao Ling’s voice. “Because it would be terrible if the government tried to cheat us out of our rightfully acquired colony aide.” He laughed at his own joke as he made his way between the large machinery.
“It’s all in order, I don’t have any connections to get this stuff laundered or whatever the term is, so that’s on you guys, now for the part of the plan where I finish school and lay low for-“
“About that…” Xiao had a playful grin and adjusted to his authoritative mannerism. “It’s been decided that with how much heat will be on over this, it’s best if you take your laying low off planet.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal, I don’t have anywhere to go-“
“Oh don’t worry Oli, we have it all worked out for you.” Xiao addressed him like a younger sibling worried about how he would eat since mom wasn’t cooking dinner. “We have a place for you to stay, even a job to keep you busy.” Oliver squinted at Xiao, he knew the Triad would try something to sweeten the deal for themselves.
“I made this deal because I needed protection but there’s only so far I’m willing to go-“
“Oli Oli Oli, you act like I just asked you to kill somebody, I would never do that.” Xiao put his hands on the sides of Oliver’s shoulders, and then lowered his voice slightly. “You can obviously take care of that kind of stuff on your own.” Xiao laughed again at his own humor while Oliver brushed off his grip. “C’mon this works out for anyone, you get some time away, and no one can accidently see you walking the streets of Chinatown, you know how that place is, and those tattoos can only protect you so far.”
Oliver scratched at the brand on his arm, it had already healed, but for some reason that was the place that would itch sometimes. He obviously wasn’t getting out of this. He wanted to convince himself that this really would be a vacation, that they’d have him running part of some illegal casino on Venus or something. Oliver had made some mistakes, but he was smarter than that.
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