<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/57/StarWarsSmuggler1.jpg)</div><br/>As the vehicle's doors closed and took off from the street level and began its flight path upwards through traffic, the small, spherical drone sank back into the shadows of the alleyway.  Once it had retreated far enough back, it transmitted an encrypted message to a holopad located fifty levels below:<br/><br/><strong><tt class="bbc_tt">::::::::Target identification confirmed at 91.2356%::::::::::<br/>::::::::Object not detected to be in target's possession::::::::::<br/>:::::::::Target appears to be accompanied with another::::::::<br/>::::::::Accompanied individual appears to be human::::::::<br/>:::::::::Target had entered vehicle with unknown individual::::::::<br/>:::::::Target appears to be en route to ship docking bays::::::</tt></strong><br/><br/>The glow from the receiving holopad illuminated a smile before it was shut off and the tall, feminine figure stood, gesturing to the larger figure partially hidden in the shadows to her left to follow her outside...<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Similar to Tara's seemingly sixth sense, Sethcor's hair stood up on his neck.  Years of dodging blockages, cargo inspections, and simply avoiding bad deals with possibly unsavory sorts had given him the instinct to escape by just a hair from numerous bad situations.  Just before the door closed to the transport vehicle, he did a brief glance around the street, but didn't see anything in particular.  Sethcor shook his head, dismissing the thought.  They weren't in the most secure level of the mega-planet after all, being on the very edge of the almost lawless lower levels and the more secure upper levels.<br/><br/>As the vehicle doors closed, he took note of the woman taking what looked like an earpiece and began murmuring something into it.  Unfortunately, as interested in what she might have been saying, the bio-ear implant he had didn't have such a feature to magnify sounds.  Such an addition had been out of his budget after he was injured.  Still, he wasn't about to pry.  This was the person paying him so much for such a simple job.<br/><br/>Sethcor brought his hand to his ear to connect back to Hector when the vehicle swerved to avoid another vehicle, one of those new Speeder Cycles, causing Tara to slide over the seat before she moved back with an apology.  He gave her a small, sideways smile, "Nothing to apologize over.  Those daredevils are always skirting the the laws."<br/><br/>After about five more minutes of swerving in and out of traffic, the automated transport began its ascent up through the levels.  As they rose, the slight buzz in his ear came back, indicating that Hector was trying to contact him.  He brought his fingers to his ear and pressed gently, "Hector?  We're about five minutes from reaching the outermost checkpoint to the docking platforms.  The cargo loading done?"<br/><br/>"The cargo has been loaded, Mister Sethcor.  However, there is an individual in Republic military garb, a female Twi'lek, who is in possession of a container.  She has stated that she is under orders to only give it to the captain of the vessel.  Should I send her away and demand she leave the container here?"<br/><br/>"No, no.  I will be there shortly and deal with her.   Thank you for informing me."<br/><br/>"It was what I was programmed for, Mister Sethcor.  I await your arrival."<br/><br/>Sethcor cut the connection and looked over to Tara, "We're getting close to Platform eight sixty-three.  As you are surely aware, platforms eight fifty through nine thirty-four are designated for non-military ships with weapons systems.  My ship has a nose gun, mainly for point defense if she ever gets under attack.  However, she can pack a punch if needed to.  It doesn't quite compare to the standard armament of a Republic vessel, but it does its job."<br/><br/>He purposefully failed to mention the hidden weapon systems, such as the hidden missile pod or the fact that the nose gun was much stronger than it appeared.  That wasn't even mentioning the hidden systems that technically weren't legal in most systems.  In addition, there were some hidden compartments that held weapons and the fact that Hector wasn't quite the cobble together hunk of junk he appeared to be.<br/><br/>Within five minutes, nothing was noted to have followed the automated transport as it let the two of them a few streets away from the landing platforms.