Skyhook-27

[MikDaTv]

To Shadow Sworn jumped out of hyperspace over Cardia. Gene took the controls and turned the ship around to head away from the planet and into a high orbit. Gene wasn't headed to the planet this trip. Blacksun had a shipment of old firearms from an old imperial cache that they wanted to move off world. Blacksun had smuggled the crates of weapons up to SkyHook 27. Gene had been hired to grab the goods and ship them out of the corporate sector.

This job was risky for him. No bonds had popped up on his radar and he needed cash to fuel the ship but if he got caught smuggling, he'd lose his bail bondsman medallion at the least. Not to mention loose his ship and go to jail.

"To Shadow Sworn, This is SH27 ATC, we have you on our scopes. State your intentions over."

Gene put his headset on and keyed the com. "SkyHook 27, this is Shadow Sworn, requesting docking permission. I'm scheduled to pick up some cargo this afternoon. I'm a little early."

"Roger that Shadow. You're cleared to land in docking bay 15. Ground crew is standing by. The Dock Master will be in his office until 1630 local time."

"Docking bay 15, roger. Thanks SH27."

Gene brought up the info on SH27, selected docking bay 15 and input into his nava computer. "Hey PP!" he shouted while looking back, out of the cockpit.

The droid strolled into the cockpit carrying a tray on his arm. "Hello Captain, I finished cleaning up the passenger compartment and i made you some lunch."

Gene glanced back from the viewport to look at the droid and saw the tray. "Uh, hey thanks PP, but I really needed you to take the wheel and land us. Coords are already in the nava computer and the autopilot is engaged. Just need you to mind the helm. Thanks for the lunch though, I guess. You don't have to keep cooking for me though."

"Nonsense Captain. As I am the only one, that makes me the lead flight attendant. It is my duty to make sure this ships crew and passengers are comfortable."

Gene looked down at the tray and grabbed the sandwich that lay there. "Thanks PP. just dock us and lock us down. i need to call my blacksun contact to see about hauling those crates aboard."

PP-R31 sat down in the copilot chair and placed the tray down on top of the console. "Of course Captain. I will let you know when the ship is secure."

Gene got up, strapped his gun belt on and left the cockpit.

[MikDaTv]

“Ten Crates.” The man with no name said. “Rifles and small arms, no explosives. We kept those. All are unloaded but power cells are included in the crates.”

Gene took a sip of his Lominale, letting the ice clink around in the glass a bit before putting it down. “So for ten crates you’ll pay me twenty grand.”

The man with no name nodded. He opened his mouth to speak but the waitress came over to check on them and interrupted him. When she departed he leaned closer. “Ten now, ten upon delivery. thats two per crate.”

Gene thought about it. Was a bit light in the payment department, but was simple enough and the cargo would fit fine in the cargo compartment. “How hot is the stuff?”

The man with no name took a sip of his own drink and composed himself before answering. “Where it’s being delivered? Not very. Firearms regulations in the corporate sector are fairly lax and vary from planet to planet. Where you’re making the delivery, the goods are completely legal, however the people you’re delivering too are rebels and activists and legally do not have the write to possess firearms. So if you’re caught with the goods there, legally you should be fine. If you get caught making the delivery, you’re in a heap of trouble.”

He took another sip and gestured to the bar around them. “Here in the New Republic it’s significantly more dangerous. This is ex imperial stuff so it’s already got a stigma on it. It’s illegal for civilians to own and illegal to transport it across interplanetary boarders without a novel’s worth of government permits, thats why we’re hiring you in the first place.”

Gene took a deep breath. “where exactly am i taking this stuff to?”

The man with no name folded his arms. “Not here. Once you take off with the goods, we’ll comlink you the system, planet and coordinates to make the drop off. That way if you do get nabbed exiting the station, you can’t rat out our clients… no offense.”

Gene made a face and folded his own arms. “Not that I would do that. I know better than to rat out Blacksun.” He downed the rest of his drink and slowly put his drink back down on the bar while he thought about the job. If he got caught, he’d lose his badge, probably go to jail and definitely lose his ship. On the other hand, he didn’t know of any open warrants or bonds and he hadn’t had any jobs in the past two weeks. If he didn’t get some cash flow he wouldn’t be able to gas the ship and he’d be grounded.

“Alright, you got a deal. Have your guys deliver the crates to docking bay 15 and load em up.” Gene finally agreed.

The man with no name smiled and finished his own drink. “Very well. Blacksun appreciates your services. I know the payment on this one is a little low but if anything juicer comes along in the future i’ll keep you in mind.”

Gene ignored him, payed for his drink with a few credit chits and walked out. Station security had taken his blaster but his hand rested on his empty holster out of habit as he walked down the corridors of the space station.

He pulled out his comlink and called up PP-R31. “PP buddy, some folks are coming to load cargo into the ship. Keep your eye on them but don’t touch the cargo and don’t let them mess with the ship. they’re only there to load cargo.”

the comlink crackled to life with PP-R31’s response. “Understood Captain Lorran. The ship is safe with me.”

Gene shut the comlink off and put it back in his pocket. PP’s overpowering optimism was remarkably annoying sometimes.

[MikDaTv]

Gene stopped by the stations security office to grab his piece. He produced the ticket for his blaster to the security officer who took it and went back into the armory. Gene leaned against the counter and started to plan out what he was going to do. Getting caught in the New Republic with the weapons was absolutely out of the question.

First things first, he’d inspect the crates. The contact had told him that it was weapons but Blacksun’s reputation was not that of an honest and open organization. He’d confirm the cargo, then he’d depart the station.

Step two was avoiding scans. Cardia used to be a seat of Imperial power. There’s tons of traffic and a lot of orbital facilities, that meant there was a lot of security and a lot of security meant scans. At any point security could order a ship to depart the traffic pattern and submit to a cargo scan. As soon as his ship left, he’d power down as many systems as he felt was safe to reduce his sensor signature. That would cut down on the chance that he’d show up on security ship scopes.

Once he was in hyperspace he’d be relatively safe. No ship could touch him there. Without a nava computer he didn’t know how many jumps it would take but he’d plot for the edge of New Republic space first, and then continue on to the Corporate Sector.

The security officer returned with his blaster pistol which Gene double checked. The safety was on and the power cell had been removed. Gene holstered it and thanked the security officer. He walked down the corridor to the docking bay and counted them down till he got to 15. He used the temporary pass he’d gotten from the dock master and let himself in.

“BB, i’m back!” He shouted as he approached the ship. “How did the cargo loading go?”

BB-R31 shuffled down the ships boarding ramp with a towel around one arm and tray in the other. “Greetings Captain Lorran. I am pleased to report that the cargo loading you informed me about is completed. The gentlemen seemed to be very happy with the snacks I provided.”

Gene did a double take. “A crew from a well known criminal organization came to load illegal firearms into the cargo space of my ship and you… offered them snacks?”

“Of course.” The droid responded. “Not doing so would mean being a poor host. Although I did not know they were loading illegal cargo. I warned them to strap it in tight to prevent it from shifting during flight.”

Gene chuckled. “How many crates did they load?”

“10 sir.”

“Great. i’m going to inspect the cargo before take off. Can you go plot us a course to take us out of republic space. We’re headed to the Corporate Sector”

PP bowed his head. “Of course Captain. Consider it done.”

[MikDaTv]

Gene buckled the 4 point harness on the pilots chair around himself and began spinning the engines up. As they started the heat up sequence he turned on the com and contacted S-47 ATC. “S-47 ATC this is To Shadow Sworn. I’m prepping for takeoff currently. Requesting permission to disembark.”

“Shadow, this is Control, you’re clear to depart. Opening docking bay doors. Pattern is clear for the next 30 minutes.”

“Roger ATC. Will be leaving momentarily.”

Gene saw all four engine status lights turn green and he flipped the overhead switches to release the docking clamps. “PP, we’re getting ready to depart!” Gene called back into the ship.

“Oh yes Captain. PP responded from the stewards workspace. “I’ll have sandwiches ready momentarily.”

Gene chuckled. He never imagined he’d end up with a co-pilot quite like PP.

The ship lifted off the docking bay deck and Gene throttled it up and out of the docking bay. In minutes he was in the traffic pattern. He set a course out of the planets gravity well, did one big thrust from the engines then shut them off along with everything else except life support, coms and secondary systems.

with the ship thusly configured, he waited it out. Without primary engines getting away from the planet would take longer but he’d be practically invisible to passive sensors. Plus it’d save him some gas as well.

He looked at the Nava Computer to check on the course PP had set up while he’d inspected the cargo. Simple enough course. Would take them 6 jumps to get to the corporate sector. He was just starting to day dream when the com beeped. He pressed the button and put the headset on.

“Go for To Shadow Sworn”

the com crackled and a voice came through “Captain Lorran, this is your contact from Blacksun. This com line is tight beam and directional so no one is listening in.”

Gene was about to key the com and reply when he realized what that meant. He was running silent, his sensors hadn’t picked up any active sensor sweeps so how did Blacksun know where to aim their tight beam transmission. He got very angry very quickly. “You ass holes put a tracker on my ship!”

The voice over the com chuckled slightly. “Its in one of the crates. we needed to in order to contact you. Listen, theres been a change in plans.”

“Change in plans?” Gene asked incredulously. “I’ve been on the job for less than an hour and your already calling and audible?”

“That was always the plan.” The voice came back. “We needed someone to take the job but we weren’t sure of you, so we gave you a bogus destination in case you immediately went to the cops with it. New destination is Vjun. There’s a new crime boss there, one of ours, who’s starting up and needs the hardware.”

Gene cursed silently and looked at the nava computer again. “Vjun isn’t anywhere near the corporate sector. And it’s technically still inside New Republic space which makes the delivery job that much more difficult. You guys really made a real dick move doing this to me.”

“Ehh, business is business. And you better hold up your part of the bargain. You accepted the first half in advance. Blacksun does not take kindly to people who back out on contracts.”

Gene gulped. He knew Blacksun’s reputation. They were bad dudes to be sure. Dumping the cargo was out of the question, at least until he was sure the tracker was taken care of.

“Fine, Vjun it is, but you guys can expect a bad yelp review from me.” He said and then hung up on the voice. A few seconds later another transmission came in on the same frequency, this time just data. It was the coordinates and contact information for the delivery. Blacksun had him over a barrel on this one. He’d have to make this delivery and avoid them if at all possible in the future.

His instruments told him he was clear of the planets gravity well so he lined up on his exit vector and prepared for the jump. First jump was to some point in empty space. no chance of him being jumped there so he’d make the first jump and then plot a new course from there. He made sure the ship was lined up with the course locked in and then pushed the throttle all the way forward. The hyperdrive engaged, the stars streaked towards them and in moments he and the ship were in a Hyperspace tunnel.