[b][i]Natasha Zhang[/i][/b]

The comms were still open and Natasha heard about the 'Child Marines' upcoming problems with money, causing her to type in, [i]Yeah... About that, our 'employers' are willing to give us a regular salary, with additional 'raises' for each job well done. We also do legit trading and delivery, smuggling, and each crewmember is permitted to do their own jobs on the side as long as it doesn't hurt the crew as a whole. Oh, and we also gamble, although I don't recommend that as a reliable way to make money. And finally, merc work - We do merc work too when it doesn't hurt us too much.[/i]

A brief sigh, these kids are going to be part of the crew now, right? So Natasha continued, [I]By the way, my name is Natasha Zhang - [b]Captain[/b] Natasha Zhang. And I have to ask, what are your specific skills, fighting-wise?[/i]

[b][i]Ashton and Flame[/i][/b]

Flame typed back, sending pictures of the group with captions to Natasha's Omni-Tool, [i]Ashton and Nero are close-combat speed and stealth specialists, I'm a marksman and sniper, Iris can deconstruct matter and heal people, Samuel deals heavy damage, Avelyn is stealth and espionage-based, and Tarak is a jack-of-all-trades and master of keeping us all safe. He's our leader.[/i]

Ashton, meanwhile, said to Finbarr and Nero, "You're both right - It isn't a problem right now, but a healthy body is a body in fighting shape. Not just that, but if we need money, this is still the Galactic Bazaar, where credits can be made by making the right choices. Watch closely..."

The latter was said for Nero's benefit more than Finbarr's, as Ashton touched several holographic buttons on his Omni-tool's display screen, which caused the tool to project a series of larger screens which projected a series of names and numbers in English (translated from Galactic Basic). The young man then continued, "This is the Bazaar Stock Market, which is like a casino, only we're betting not just money, but ownership of shops and businesses and those super-big corporations which keep giving loud and bright advertisements."

Ashton chose this explanation of what the Stock Market was in order for Nero, who though [i]smart[/i], was poorly-educated, to understand. He wanted to teach the other kid about the wide, wide world of knowledge that he should have been given a long time ago, but knew that it would take a lot of time and effort to do so. So he'd have to content himself with this.

"Tarak," he continued, "You're very lucky, right? My skills in this have atrophied since my... Involuntary service, so I might need you with me to help with some of this stuff." Then back to Nero, "Basically, we're using our trip here to take bets in what companies here rise, fall, get back up, or are ruined forever."

And before anyone can stop him, the young man used his remaining 4950 Credits to buy shares in another shuttle on the far side of the Galactic Bazaar, which paid off several times over when the current sales and transactions of said shuttle turned a massive profit. Then those shares were sold off for additional cash, which was used to invest in a larger business which turned a profit with its next few transactions as well, then a company, then another set of companies, and so on, all hopefully guided by Tarak's luck and insight, as well as any skills his other genius friends can bring to the table. He then showed the assembled group a holographic screen saying that 1,960,300 Galactic Credits were now in his credit stick in electronic form.

"Now," he continued, "This is only a small amount of what we can get from playing the stock market. So the question is, when is the right time to stop and keep the money, or bet more on a business' success?"

Flame interrupted, "Ashton. that's a trick question - You can't draw on Tarak's luck and insight forever, even if he's willing to. Like it or not, you can't just use him like this."

[b][i]Natasha Zhang[/i][/b]

[i]Oi, I saw that,[/i] Natasha typed over Flame and Tarak's omni-tools. [i]Nice work for someone so young and untrained - You really are geniuses. But I am a [b]master[/b] of trading and know a few tricks myself. Now, brown-haired kid - Ashton, right? Let's link Omni-Tools - Let me show you a few things you don't know yet...[/i]

After Ashton linked his Omni-Tool with hers', Natsha began using her own expertise with trade to scout out businesses which seemed unlikely to make a profit, yet somehow did, and companies which seemed to be doing well, but were about to crash. With her experience, Ashton's raw genius, and Tarak's luck, they were soon making 100,000,000 Galactic Credits.

[i]Make sure to split this into multiple accounts,[/i] Natasha typed, [i]There's not much regulation here, but accounts with too much money and too little security might get hacked by, well, hackers.[/i]

[@Letter Bee][@Th3King0fChaos][@The Man Emperor][@Landaus Five-One][@FalloutJack][@Conscripts][@dragonpiece][@Starlance][@supertinyking]