<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/57/StarWarsSmuggler1.jpg)</div><br/>Sethcor gave Tara a few minutes to think it over.  He was dancing along a fine line, but all negotiations were like that.  It was simply a matter of balancing the needs of the opposing party and his own.  Tip the scale the wrong way and the other side just might get up and walk away.  Tipping the scale just enough to make them seem like they're getting a fair deal and they'll eat right out of one's hand.<br/><br/>In the end, he was pleased when Tara accepted the offer.  In but a few moments, her datapad was out and sliding across to him.  He entered the code to complete the transfer of credits.  The quick follow-up check did reveal that she wasn't a scammer or the like.  That, at the very least, was another plus for her.  There had been a couple of scammers who tried to wrangle him into their schemes, but he'd luckily been able to get out of it before the trap closed.<br/><br/>When it was all done and her datapad was back in her possession, Sethcor gave her the first full grin he'd shown, "Guess that's that, eh?  How about we head on up to the ship?"  The young man then brought a finger to his left ear and pressed gently, "You get that, Hector?  Go ahead and clear out that extra room.  We've got a guest on this trip."  Without even waiting for a response, he removed his finger and moved to stand.<br/><br/>Sethcor had experienced a few injuries over the ten years that he'd been a smuggler.  The ear implant that he used to keep in communication with Hector and his ship was but one of a few alterations to his body that he'd taken.  Some days, he could remember the searing burn where he'd lost most of his left ear to a stray blaster shot.  The life of a smuggler could be harsh at times, but also quite rewarding.  It was the harsh parts that had forced himself to use the rewards to pay for bionic and cybernetic implants.<br/><br/>The ear was but the first serious injury he'd suffered.  There were two more major injuries he'd taken.  The second was being too close to a flashbang that left him partially blinded.  He'd had surgery to replace the outer lens of his eyes with a synthetic polarized lens that automatically adjusted to filter lights and reduce glares.  He could even look at a star directly and suffer no damage.  The third injury he'd taken was the worse and forced him to have a synthetic lung made using his own DNA made to replace his own.  It came with a micro-oxygen storage cell that could, with about four hours of steady breathing, fill with about two hours of emergency air.  In truth, that little storage cell even saved his life once, automatically kicking in when he'd been caught in a room with rapidly depleting air.  Took him about an hour to get out.<br/><br/>All-in-all, Sethcor considered himself rather lucky.  There were some who weren't so lucky and often had all four limbs replaced or worse.<br/><br/>In any event, with the drinks paid, Sethcor motion to Tara to follow where he hailed an automated transport vehicle, "Shouldn't be more than twenty minutes to weave in and out of the traffic and make it up to the shipping levels.  I assume you have all you need?  Once we leave this planet, we're not landing again until I've dropped off those supplies."<br/><br/>As they got into the floating vehicle and set off, they failed to notice a small drone that hovered in the shadows, observing.....