[b][i]Flame[/i][/b]

"Ki'tlex is right," Flame said as he walked towards where the rest of the party were, "Those Pirates will take a shuttle or small ship like what we have, unless they're weirdos."

He then spoke, "By the way, I need to properly apologize for the 'RealAscendancyStockBets' thing. I got a lot of people in trouble, not just you guys, and I'm really sorry about that. I'm also sorry for having said that I and Ashton were 'geniuses' when in fact..." Flame visibly grimaced, "It's up in the air whether we are or not."

Mildly changing the subject, Flame continued, "Now, to find the pirates... I have a plan but its pretty basic - The Korta are free from the Ascendancy Yoke now, and can thus hire anyone they want, including renegade 'Star Marines'. Why would they be hiring us? Because if the Pirates are here, it's obviously for the purpose of [i]stealing something[/i]. So I say we pose as mercenaries, which we technically are, and offer our services to the Korta so that they'd give us access to the most likely target for the theft."

He then gestured to the space stations the Korta were showing off around 'Mother's' orbit, "And the Pirates, if I were them, would target the Korta's technological goodies, including the ones they were rumored to have hidden from the Ascendancy; computer super-viruses that can affect Sapient AI, quantum supercomputing, miniaturized antimatter bombs, stuff like that - Note that those are all rumors, though; those might not exist."

Turning to Ki'tlex, Flame said, "Can you pose as someone who 'rescued' a trio of Star Marines from bondage and are now hiring yourself and them out to earn good cash? Or is there a better plan?"

[@Smike][@jdh97][@The Jest]