"Sir, we will have to ask you to come peacefully to the station with us. We will use force if necessary." The officer demanded again.
Max slowly got to his feet and nodded to Marcus.
"Enjoy your purchase, sir. It seems that there has been some misunderstanding about the nature of my business on this planet. I will accompany these fine gentlemen and get it cleared right up."
They hadn't mentioned Nico at all, so they likely had no idea who he was, only that he had entered the tunnel that they knew was used to get to the Black Market. From the lack of information, they had likely only discovered that fact after the raid, or they would have named more people, like Nico and Nala.
Nico remained seated, looking like the picture of innocence in her cute dress, and Nala was still in the back room where the boss had sent her as Max accompanied the police out of the room.
"Hey, look at this, boys. I heard the policeman say that the muscled alien banged a government agent pretending to be a hooker so hard it killed her." Someone in the street was shouting as he was escorted out, and Max did his best not to laugh.
He couldn't have asked for a better setup in a scripted comedy show, and the police were making bigger and bigger fools of themselves by the second. It would only get worse when they had to release him and Max went to a very public party at the resort on the surface.
In fact, he was considering inviting the coffee shop owner and some of the patrons to the party, so they could spread the good word that he was released and play up the situation for the local news.
They had just reached the District 14009 Police Station when the guards escorting him suddenly stopped and turned their weapons on him. They were all stun weapons, not a threat to the portable force field that he was wearing, but they were still in public, with a crowd gathered.
"Sir, it has just come to our attention that Reavers are known to travel armed as a matter of Religious Symbolism. Are you carrying a weapon on you right now?" The officer demanded.
"Of course. Would you like for me to turn it over?" Max replied.
He had two storage devices on him. One built into the dog tags on his neck, and one in his wrist device. Both contained weapons, but his body armour was in the dog tags.
"Please do. We will issue you with a receipt for them and hold the weapons until you are released."
Max nodded and took the biodegradable laser rifle out of his wrist device and handed it to the officer. Then he followed with a Plasma Pistol, and a combat knife, then an Ion Rifle, and finally the Plasma Cannon.
The look on the officer's face was every bit as amusing as Max had hoped that it would be, and the crowd was staring at them all in shock as the officer held an armload of military ordinance.
"That should about cover it." Max informed him.
"You take this much firepower with you on vacation?" The officer asked, as he mentally questioned their policy of letting VIP vessels in without a prior scan.
"I take this much firepower into the bath with me. The storage device is waterproof." Max replied.
The officer sighed and gestured for Max to hand it over.
"How about we just put everything away and stop making a spectacle? It is a secure device, by Alliance regulations, so I am quite sure that my belongings will be safe inside. It's also tracked, so it won't go missing." Max suggested.
"You should have told me that from the start." The officer snarled at him.
"You didn't ask. And in case you forgot, you've been sent to arrest me on blatantly false charges, so my need to amuse myself outweighs everything else until someone in charge arrives."
The officer sighed, and didn't resist as Max loaded the weapons back into storage and then turned over his wrist device to the lead officer.
"There you go, safe and sound. Very few hackers in the Alliance would be able to get into that device when I'm not wearing it." He announced, loud enough that those around wouldn't get any ideas about rushing the small group of officers to take it.
The group marched into the station and past the check-in counter to the interview rooms, a series of plain concrete cubicles with a metal table and two chairs, all bolted to the ground, set in them, and a one-way mirror on one wall.
"Please wait here, someone will be with you shortly."
Max sat quietly and listened to the thoughts of everyone in the building, but didn't find anything nearby. The orders must have come from somewhere else on the planet, and there were too many people for Max to sort through in time to find the answers he needed.
He could tell that the district supervisor was already here, and not happy that they had allowed the arrest to turn into a public spectacle. The supervisor had just learned about Max's status, and that his species wasn't part of the Alliance, so arresting one of them on a major charge was a very delicate matter that really shouldn't have been done so blatantly.
If they had waited until he was back at the resort, they could have done it quietly and not made a fuss at all.
But worse, there was supposed to be solid evidence, but the supervisor hadn't found anything at all.
There had indeed been an intense gang war in the Black Market, and quite a few of his officers had been killed, but there was absolutely nothing linking the humans to the incident, other than the fact that they had entered a tunnel that could lead to a spot near the local Black Market leader's shop.
He checked the order, and it had come from a government official, but the timing of it looked suspicious. It took time to get those orders through, and this one had been approved over an hour ago, less than ten minutes after the first casualties had been suffered in the fighting.
If he had to guess, the official was corrupt, and this human was being framed. That likely meant that the humans were working with the Black Market and the losing side wanted revenge, but there was no evidence for him to use against the official themselves.
The Supervisor, whose natural form was that of a Metalloid, a liquid metal species much like the slimes, sighed and turned to go interrogate their prisoner, in case he gave up something that would help in the case.
He opened the door and Max perked up at the familiar sight.
"Oh, I know you. No, you're not them, you just look like it. My mistake, your appearance caught me off guard." Max greeted the supervisor.
"Understandable. We're not the best at humanoid forms, and we generally use a standard set of features when assuming a humanoid form, so many of us look alike." The supervisor replied.
"No need to stress yourself on my account. You can shift back if you prefer. But if you have a bit of spare credit, look up the assisted living bodysuits that are being marketed by the Innu under a limited use patent. They were developed in conjunction with my species, and they will allow you to keep a humanoid form without any stress, as they look like standard clothing but are actually a stiff mobility suit with electric actuators." Max suggested.
"Oh, that does sound good, but you won't get me sidetracked so easily. Now, what can you tell me about the incident in the Black Market district?" The supervisor asked.
"The stop where I spent about an hour after heading below the surface? I swear nobody was dead when I left, in fact, any of the three lovely ladies who accompanied me for coffee can vouch for the fact that I did no harm while I was there. It was all strictly consensual." Max replied with a smirk.
It took the supervisor a moment to realize what Max was talking about, then his features blurred as his annoyance at the situation distracted him too much to hold his form. If he seriously had to question a human about their sexual exploits, he was going to ask for a raise before the end of the day.
"Not that. The raid on the Black Market that led to the death of a number of planetary security officers." The supervisor replied in the most stern voice he could.
"Sorry, I wasn't here for that. I just landed this morning." Max replied.
This was clearly getting him nowhere, the supervisor decided, switching tactics.
"Do you know this woman?" He asked, bringing up an image of Nala.
"Yes, quite well by now, I would say." Max agreed.
"So, you know that she is one of the best known guides for tours of the seedier side of the underground, and that she specializes in the Black Market shopping needs of wealthy customers."
Max shook his head. "I know that she has a smiley face tattoo on each of her inner thighs."
The supervisor completely lost his form for a second before recovering.
"Why do I get the feeling that we're not on the same topic?" He asked.
"Probably because we aren't. But since I wasn't there, and I have no idea what you're talking about, I'm just doing the best I can to provide additional information for your records."
