Free Troy Rising 1 - Live Free or Die by John Ringo

and all his bank accounts,
     even the ones he thought nobody knew about, were levied and emptied. Any money going in
     those was down a black hole never to return. So anything that required a hyperpay was out.
    That meant walking. Fortunately they didn't charge for air for five days or the security
     bots would see if he could breathe vacuum.
    It took him about thirty minutes to reach Kolu's. When the door dilated he took a deep
     whiff. What a fine perfume. And all the usual suspects were lined up at the bar.
    “Wathaet!” they chorused. “Where's my money!” “You owe me a round, you welshing bastard!”
     “That corbot you sold me was defective!”
    “Glad to see you guys, as well!” Wathaet said. “Be with you in a minute!”
    “You have a hell of a lot of nerve showing your face in here!” Kolu bellowed from behind
     the bar. “Where's my fifty credits?!”
    “I have something better,” Wathaet said cheerfully.
    “This had
    
    
     better
    
    
     be good,” Kolu said, suspiciously. “Let's just say that the Gordont fire gems didn't
     exactly take off. Especially since they all
    
    
     went out
    
    
     the day after you shipped out!”
    “This is good,” Wathaet said, sitting down and setting a bulb on the bar. “Put some in
     some water. Just a bit. I
    
    
     should
    
    
     let you try it straight.”
    “Be a fine day when something can get
    
    
     me
    
    
     drunk,” Kolu said, pouring a bit of the syrup into a cup and sniffing.
    “What
    
    
     is
    
    
     this stuff?” he commed a moment later. He couldn't talk because his snout was stuck in
     the cup.
    “Dragon's Tears,” Wathaet said. “It's a rare and precious viand from a previously
     undiscovered planet.”
    “Like you'd take the chance on going through an unchecked gate,” Kolu said, shaking his
     head. “Damn, it's got a
    
    
     kick
    
    
     , don't it?”
    He pulled out a bunch of shot glasses, put a drop of syrup in the bottom of each then
     filled with water.
    “Here,” Kolu said, sliding the shots down the bar. “Try this stuff and see what you think.”
    “What is it?” Ingr asked, suspiciously.
    “Dragon's Tears,” Wathaet said. “Try it. It'll put hair on your back. Sorry, Gurcaur.”
    “Screw you, Wathaet,” the mangy Glatun said, taking a sip. “Holy Hell!” he added, dropping
     the shot. “Another if you please, bartender. That is
    
    
     fine
    
    
     stuff.”
    “Money on the bar,” Kolu said. “Five credits a shot.”
    “Five credits?” Ingr said. “You haven't even bought it from Wathaet. Hey, Wathaet. You owe
     me, like, fifteen credits. Seventeen with interest.”
    “Give Ingr four for free, please, my host. And we need to talk trade.”
    “Shmirg,” Kolu said to the Rangora. “You've got the bar. Set 'em up. Drop of this...
     Dragon's Tears in each shot.”
    “Got it,” the saurian said. “Don't know what you guys are getting so excited about. Try
     some sulfur petals!”
    ***
    “I am
    
    
     not
    
    
     paying seven hundred credits for a barrel of this stuff,” Kolu said. “No way, no how.”
    Everyone knew that Kolu owned about a hundred businesses on the station and the planet
     below. But he ran them all out of the dodgy little room behind the bar. And if he slept
     anywhere else nobody had found out about it. It was rumored that he had a pile of osmium
     under his bunk big enough to drive a battle cruiser.
    “Hey, you saw how they took it,” Wathaet said, topping up his glass.
    “And I'm not going to get so hammered I say yes. Four hundred credits for the barrel.”
    “Isn't going to happen. I need a hell of a lot more than that to get my ship out of hock.
     Look, I'll give you this. Six hundred. Give me half now. I need to go get the barrel and I
     need enough money to get it from the ship to here. You can have the jug I brought for
     free. You're going to make more than six hundred off that jug alone. I'll give you one
     barrel at six hundred. And