Alpha Centari was an old system. Like Trantor, it had been one of the first human colonies, reached in the ancient past by slow boat generation ship. Unfortunately old didn't mean important. FTL travel had been invented just a few years after the colonists arrived, and they had no doubt been shocked when ships from Earth appeared above them, having taken only a month to cover the distance that had taken generations. With unfettered access to the stars, humans had moved on to brighter prospects, leaving Alpha Centari as a backwater. AC did have one advantage however, and that was the generational wealth that the colonists had brought with them. After nearly five hundred years of star travel, every colonist that arrived on AC was a billionaire due to the miracles of compounding interest and the fact that Earth hadn't collapsed during their long voyage through the dark. With that huge wealth AC had become the banking capital of human universe, investing their new found wealth far and wide. Even after the collapse AC had remained safe and secure, a place of banks, counting houses, and above all casinos.

The Dragonfly shuddered out of subspace some distance from the primary. Even so it was only a moment or two before guardships hailed them. The guardships were sleek destroyers, painted in the colors of the banking clans which paid their upkeep. They were fancier than any frontline Hegemony warship, but there was no doubt they were as deadly as anything aloft. 

"Can confirm, I am an armed yacht seeking repairs," Jocasta said into her comm unit. The past few days had been tense but Neil hadn't yet tried to jump her. He sat in one of the bridge consoles, fiddling with the comm system. Behind him Cygi stood with a comically large hammer, arching an eyebrow at Jocasta. Neil turned and the AI vanished before he could catch sight of her. When he turned back she reappeared this time dressed as a pirate with a long and evil looking knife with which she pantomimed cutting his throat. Cygi, it seemed, had opinions about collecting that bounty. Jocasta wrinkled her nose, the smell of cooked human still hanging in the ventilation system.

"Yes I have docking fees," Jocasta responded. There was a burble in her ear.

"Sorry I said I have docking fees, not that I wanted to buy the dock," she responded. Another burble. Evidently they had heard that one before. She transmitted her credits and a green navigation beacon lit up, aimed at one of the palatial orbital stations.

"Well we can land, but we are going to need to find some cash and fast," she said.