“And no one noticed?” Vujcec asked. Everyone knew how closely Shui monitored the financial systems of Kirs.
“They were always in small amounts to not draw attention and through fictional touring expenses. The news streams always report how lavish and extravagant my lifestyle is.” She saw understanding cross Vujcec’s face. “So those expenditures were never questioned.”
“You’re saying you can access enough credits right now to pay for the weapons and power crystals we need for the shields,andwe could acquire additional fuel rods if we want?” Ranvir asked carefully.
“Yes.” A sick feeling began to grow in her stomach at their disbelieving looks. Had she miscalculated? “How many credits are you talking about?”
“Between the weapons and crystals,” Pike quickly calculated, “five million credits. If we pick up extra fuel rods, add another million.”
“Really?!” she asked, relief rushing through her.
“Taly…” Ranvir began to tell her supplies in space were expensive, especially weapons.
“I thought it would be an unreasonable amount,” she talked over Ranvir.
“Five million credits is reasonable to you?” Vujcec squeaked.
“Well, it might be a little high, but I figured there’d be some mark up this far from Kirs.” The silence in the room started to get to her, so she demanded, “What now?”
“Taly.” Ranvir carefully gripped her shoulders, turning her, so she faced him. “Are you telling me you have five million credits on board the Troubadour?”
“No.” She immediately replied and saw his shoulders sag. “I’m telling you that amount won’t even put a dent in what I have on the Troubadour.”
“That’s not possible.”
Ranvir tried to step in front of Taly as Ganesha moved toward her, but Taly had already stepped around him and crossed the room. She didn’t stop until she stood toe-to-toe with the deadly cyborg.
“Do you know how many credits I made for winning Worlds?” she demanded angrily but didn’t let him answer. “Ten million, and that was ten years ago. Do you know how many I clear as pure profit from just one of my concerts? Between 1 to 5 million, depending on the size of the crowd. Do you know how many of those concerts I put on a year? Seventy-five to one hundred. Now multiple that by the ten years I’ve been touring. I’m sure even your cybernetic brain can calculate how much that would be, and that’s without any royalties from my albums.”
Vujcec moved to a chair and sank into it. “Gods, Taly. I knew you pulled in the credits but not at that level. I can’t believe the news feeds and social media platforms never got a hold of that.”
She turned away from Ganesha, who’d lost his aggressive attitude, to Vujcec. “They couldn’t because Nas showed me how to hide the funds in multiple accounts. The official one for ‘Talyani’ only received ten percent of my earnings after the first few years.”
“Nas has been watching over you for a long time.” Ranvir wasn’t sure how he felt about that, especially since Nas had never once mentioned it to him, and he considered the other male the closest thing to family he’d ever had.
“He has,” she agreed, then looked to Pike. “So, how do you need the credits? On a credit strip that can be verified or as a direct transfer?”
“A credit strip for each. That way, it’s not traceable back to us.”
“Just let me know the amounts, and I’ll get them to you. So it’s agreed,” her gaze traveled around the bridge, “nothing is getting stripped off my ship.”
“Agreed,” everyone said at once.
“Good. Is there anything else I need to know about?” When everyone responded in the negative, she nodded. “Then I’m going to my suite.”