"Dude, what era is this truck from? The Clone Wars? This thing bumps higher than it moves forward..." moaned Ben.

"Hey now," interrupted Brad, "It runs. Do you have a running Speeder?

"No.."

"There you go, it's better than nothing," claimed the acquisition's specialist.

"Should have ridden with Rhys; her speeder looks pretty nice compared to this thing."

"The Courier? You'd prefer to ride in a mini-van? Are you serious?"

"Yes. I'd like to switch when we start our return journey."

"Fine, fine, we're almost there..."

The truck slid through the gate and into the docking bay, followed closely by the family-sized landspeeder. Each speeder hugged the rim of the dockbay, leaving plenty of clearance between their speeders and the Galaxy. As the speeders grinded to a halt, Ben pulled out a blaster carbine. Brad frowned.

"What's that for?"

"Security, you never know what could happen..."

Brad shook his head. "If anyone sees that, we'll have security all right; space port security. Look, just stay in the truck and don't show yourself unless we get trouble. Showing off the sole blaster we have isn't worth losing an entire shipment of blasters for the cells. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure," mumbled Ben.

"Good, I'll be right back, I think."

Brad swung the door open and jumped onto the duracrete pavement. He glanced up and immediately winced. Rhys stood before him, a broad grin across her tanned face. She nodded towards his pants.

"Ahem...anything you want to zip before we go in, like say...on your pants?"

With a sheepish grin plastered on his face, Brad zipped his fly shut.

"Ah, yeah...done. Shall we go inquire about the shipment now?"

"Yeah, and before you make an idiot of yourself," replied the woman, "I'll do the talking...we just walk up to the freighter and knock on the ramp or something?"

"Um...I imagine so."

"Well, let's do that then..."

With that, the two people strolled over to the freighter, rather unsure about trader/smuggler etiquette...

While re-calibrating a few systems in her computer, Jesra caught movement in her exterior camera placed near the entry ramp which caused her heart to jump and mental alarms start up. She tapped a few commands to zoom in on the individuals, a man and a woman. Everyone thinks all freighters take on passengers. Not this ship.

With her blaster fully charged and held in her hand at her side, Jesra walked down the corridor towards the main hatch, then activated the comm system and a camera monitor with a slap. Her eyes were glued on the pair.

"I don't take passengers. Might want to try the Baracuda two down from me. Last I knew the pilot does human cargo."

That was a harsh phrase, but commonly used by pilots. She waited for a response

Human cargo? Slaves? Well, we don't quite look like slaves...

"We're not interested in hitching a ride off this place," replied Rhys coolly, "but you do have something that belongs to us. What's his name Brad?"

That was a mistake...Never send a amateur to do a professional's work...

"Brad? I think you're mixing me up with someone else; I'm Aner," replied Brad, "but the cargo on your ship is from the Inferno group right? Blasters and what not...we're your contacts. And we have your payment, assuming that you have the cargo..."

Jesra hesitated a moment before lowering the ramp. Then figuring they were telling the truth, the *whoosh* of the hatch realeasing the pressure was followed by the ramp opening the ship to them. Jesra stood at the top, weapon holstered but ready to be drawn if need be.

"It might be a good idea to have someone stand outside as a lookout." She suggested politely, though there was firmness in her tone indicating that only one of them was coming aboard.

She then went to a panel on the wall which when activated caused a human width panel on the bulkhead to rise to reveal a hidden ladder to the 'special' cargo area. Her head turned to watch which one would be coming aboard, hoped they complied to her wishes. Jesra made it a point to never trust a deal to go down smoothly. That way, if they didn't you weren't disappointed.

"Your crates are down here. I can open another access-way in the decking to get it out."

Brad nodded. "Thank you very much Captain. Sara, would go stand watch?"

Rhys shrugged. "It's better than lifting that all up..."

The resistance leader turned back to Jesra. "I would appreciate the offer to open up the other hatch. I think it'll be easier for me to load it up onto the repulsorlift sled I brought."

And for the most vulnerable part of the operation at all...unloading the cargo. It's rather hard to hide in the open. The ship is vulnerable because it can't really leave with all of its hatches and ramps open...on the brightside, we won't have a shortage of weapons if anyone gets nosey.

"Not a problem." Jesra did just that with a few taps on the wall panel which drew huge portions of deck plating in opposite directions to reveal a lower cargo section filled with their cargo. "There you go." She motioned to the woman with a smile. "Oh, and I've got a little surprise for anyone that tries for you outside and of course my take-off. I just had the Inferno install what they call a 'Ground Buzzer'." She grinned. " A nice little repeating blaster that I can drop from under the ship and rake them with. It'll at least stop them in their tracks hopefully long enough for you to get away and me in the air."

She tapped another set of keys which was followed by the sound of hydraulics and an elevator from below rising the cargo up to the main deck. When it stopped, Jesra walked over to her. "Hope it does you some good. I'll go to the front and get my little toy ready. Give me a few minutes.

A few minutes later, Jesra gave the ok. The small but effective drop-down blaster ready for its first victim.