“That’s right; 2 billion last month.” she said to me via vidcom. 

She chuckled at me when I told her about my datacore production. To her, it was a pointeless endeavour compared to free ISK, free ships, and free parts.

I had picked up the datacores earlier in the day, and returned to my ship. I was free to leave, but honestly I had nowhere to go. I was fixated, unable to get my mind away from other things, so had decided to call my stockbroker. She took care of all my investments, and though young and traditionally unskilled, she had proven herself very adept at making profit.

“That’s fantastic to hear, Minara.” I replied. “I don’t know how you do it, but I’m really not complaining.” She was a curiousity to me. Given my military connections, she was easy to track, as she operated out of Rens, but the results of her movements weren’t very revealing. As I said, I had no idea how she was so successful at the market, but who was I to complain with 2 billion isk on average coming in per month?

She was a Caldari, but sympathetic to the Minmatar cause. It wasn’t uncommon to find immigrants from other regions coming to stand alongside the Republic in our struggle against the tyrannical oppression of the Empire. 

Besides, profit was good.

—

She sent a passive signal across time and space, waiting for the almost undetectable pingback in return. It was an innovative piggyback system, her signal discreetly attaching itself to secured military transmissions. It was so low bandwidth, emitting almost no trace, that you would really have to be purposefully scanning for it to even know it existed.

Her comm blipped. The receiving party was available.

“Does he suspect?” a soft male voice inquired.

“Not a thing.” Minara replied.

Profit was good.