Private A Simple Cargo Transfer

[Nalah Tezan]

Location: Golden Sands Hotel, Tyrena, Corellia
Time: 20:41 local​

Tyrena, one of Corellia's premier luxury resort experiences, brimming with lavish hotels, pristine natural views, and plenty of upscale, family owned agricultural farms scattered across the lush countryside. All fairly standard stuff for a high-end adult playground, although Nalah hardly saw what was appealing about getting sunburned on the beach or trudging through the swamp with a pack of yapping slice-hounds, but that was a matter of personal taste. She refused to shame any enterprise that parted rich suckers from their credits.

What they did not advertise on the brochures, however, was the overzealous CorSec customs agents who liked to ruthlessly crackdown on outgoing transport ships, particularly when they were being flown by Zygerrians with spotty personal information. And because of these uppity local goons, her Ardent Angel was currently sitting in the lavish Tyrena spaceport, all but impounded by CorSec Supervisory Customs Officer Molrun Thrask, a man cursed with an overabundance of chins and an underabundance of charm. When he informed her that she'd be enjoying an extended stay in Tyrena as part of an ongoing smuggling investigation, she'd been damn-near tempted to part his overly gelled hair with her blaster, but that wouldn't have gotten her out of this bind any faster.

So, while cooling her heels at the local hotel bar, admittedly not an awful place to be cooped up, she placed a few encrypted calls through her ship to some of her contacts for an assist on this job. As much as she hated having to call in a favor, the fact of the matter was she and her ship were under too much investigation to move what needed to be moved, so she put the word out for partner on this caper. A friend of a friend of a loose acquaintance eventually got back to her that a smuggler named Gatz Derrevar was open for work, and she'd vaguely remembered him from an...interesting night on the town back on Nar Shadda. So she requested his aid, and to meet her at the hotel bar of the Golden Sands.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

The trick to smuggling, Gatz had found, wasn't to go unnoticed while you were carrying illicit cargo. It was to be noticed, but for an altogether different reason. Freighters carried goods and much needed resources. A good smuggler knew that the best way to transport illegal goods was to hide it amongst the legal variety. When you brought rations to a starving port, they were usually far too busy being grateful for the food to consider that you might have snuck a crate or two of spice onboard as well.

And that was the trick that made Gatz so good at what he did.

He was a pilot of incredible skill, who could fly a freighter like it was a starfighter. His ship was a cluster of aftermarket modifications that were made for scoundrels. His engines could propel the ship faster, with greater acceleration. His hyperdrive was up there with the fastest in the galaxy. He could scramble his own IFF, and jam outgoing transmissions from other ships. The Red Night had shields that could withstand repeated hits from starfighter weaponry, and she had weapons that could blow an X-Wing out of the sky.

But these things were all secondary; all part of the back-up plan. All tricks and tools to get him out of a rough scrape. But they weren't what made him such a good smuggler.

Gatz was good because he understood the game. He was good because he understood people.

Corellia's main industry was the construction of space fairing vessels. Half the ships in the galaxy were probably built in the shipyards. So what Corellia needed more than anything was raw resources that were neccessary in the construction of new ships. And so that was exactly what Gatz Derrevar had loaded his VCX-100 to the brim with: durasteel plating. When he'd approached the starport, and radioed the docking officials to let them know what he was hauling, they hadn't spared him a second thought.

They'd just directed him to a hangar bay and sent some dockworkers to help him unload.

With that done, he was out of sight and out of mind. Just another freight hauler bringing in a very normal shipment for the industry. And now that the job was done, it was only natural that he'd head out and get a drink, right? Just like any other freighter pilot would do. So when he sauntered into the hotel bar for a drink, nobody paid him any attention. The most he got was a "what can I get you?" from the bartender, as he plopped himself down beside the Zygerrian woman who was the real reason he'd come to this planet: to haul something illegal off of it.

"They didn't mention you were beautiful," Gatz teased his sort-of-employer, "can I buy you a drink?"

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

Nalah chuckled, warmly and genuinely, Gatz sat down next to her at the bar, dropping a sweet little flirtatious line before offering to buy her a drink. Being pretty in her line of work meant that every stick-jockey from here to Sullust tried their hand at taking her wheel, proverbially speaking, so it was nice to have someone with a less creepy aura hanging around. Plus, he was kind of cute.

"Yes, you may." She said, before leaning in a bit closer to whisper. "Because maybe my CorSec babysitter will back off if he thinks you're just looking to flirt with me."

She nodded over to the barely-concealed, uniformed human figure in the far corner of the bar, who occasionally poked his head up over the top of his datapad to glower at Nalah before quickly ducking down again. For all their persistence, these Customs agents had the subtlety of a Rodian opera. She tried not to look directly at the man to arouse suspicion, but she needed Gatz to know they needed to keep things subtle, at least in the hotel lobby.

"These CorSec echutas have been stalking me like a nexu for two days, and as you might imagine that's made my stay here very, very unpleasant." She grumbled. "I'm hoping you can help show them that I'm...not who they think I am."

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

"Oh I am looking to flirt with you."

As Nalah gestured her head slightly at her Corsec stalker, Gatz made a point to not look in their direction. The more glances they took over their shoulders, the more suspicious they might look. Corsec already thought Nalah was up to no good. They couldn't afford to reinforce that idea, not unless they wanted to get his ship impounded too.

He wasn't particularly fond of that idea.

As he leaned back in his seat, and ordered a drink for himself and the Zygerrian woman beside him, Gatz started running through their problem in his head. Corsec already had Nalah pegged as a smuggler, but they clearly hadn't found proof of that yet. If they'd had, she wouldn't have had the liberty to sit here in this bar. But they had her ship locked down, which meant that they were looking for the contraband she'd brought. They must not have found it yet, or Nalah must have quickly removed it from her ship, otherwise they wouldn't be having this conversation.

They needed to ditch Nalah's tail, but in a way that wasn't suspicious. Then they had to secure the cargo, discreetly transport it to his VCX-100, and take off without drawing any more suspicion. It was a bit of a tall ask, considering that they were already on the suspect list. But Gatz thought he had an idea.

"Here's what we'll do," Gatz spoke lowly, after the bartender had moved farther down the bar, "have a few drinks, get a little affectionate, and then rent a room together. Your Corsec agent won't follow us into a hotel room. We'll leave a few hours before dawn, grab your cargo, and secure it on my ship. Then we'll wait for the early morning rush, when our fellow haulers are departing the planet and bogging down the space lanes, and slip out with them. Corsec won't be any wiser."

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

"My, aren't you the bold one?" She placed a hand on his chest briefly, partially to sell the act, and partially to tease Gatz back for his comment. Just because she was starring down 5 years in prison and her captain's license being revoked didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun.

"But remember, business before pleasure, I don't think they offer conjugals at Coronet Women's Correctional." She whispered as she sat and waited for the bartender to move fully out of earshot. Once he did, however, Nalah was genuinely surprised and delighted to find that Gatz' initial plan lined up, almost to the letter, with what she had planned for their caper: pretend to hook up, sneak out before first light, secure the cargo, then get the Hell out of Tyrena.

"Great minds think alike, Mr. Derrevar, that was my plan as well." She replied quietly, keeping an eye on the bartender's position over Gatz shoulder. "The cargo is still at the deaddrop point in a warehouse near the spaceport, we should be able to move it no problem. I'll give you the full details and delivery site once we're alone."

As much as she loved whispering secretively at the bar, she preferred to discuss important details in a less public venue. Even if the CorSec officer was well out of earshot, any wandering do-gooder could overhear them discussing this very illegal transaction and have their delicate moral sensibilities injured.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Well at least someone appreciated his flirting.

Sure, she was mostly flirting back to sell the act, but Gatz wasn't going to complain. The galaxy could be a lonely place, especially when you flew the hyperlanes on your own. So, though he would never willingly admit it, it was nice to have a little attention. Plus, it didn't hurt that Nalah was easy on the eyes. Gatz didn't have much experience with the Zygerrian people, but it Nalah served as a benchmark, then their women must have been gorgeous.

But the down on her luck scoundrel was right: business had to come first. But, in this particular instance, wooing was business. Or, well, at least pretending wooing was.

"I'll be as bold as you like," Gatz winked as he took a sip of his drink, "now, why don't you tell me what brings someone as remarkable as you to Corellia."

A redundant question, if he'd been looking for the honest answer. But what Gatz was really trying to do was assess what her cover story for Corsec was, under the guise of having a normal conversation with a stranger. Hopefully it would help them sell this act of theirs as well.

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

Nalah had to admit, it was nice having a business partner who seemed to be on the same wavelength as her, and being handsome didn't make things worse either. Too often it felt like working in the galactic underworld felt like wrangling circus animals, the kind that stank and would eat your face off if you flinched in their presence. This sort of easy camaraderie was hard to come by, so she was glad for a bit of assistance, as long as that assistance remembered to handle business before they got too chummy.

"Then by all means, be bold." She purred and winked right back.

"But, as for your question, a bit of this and a bit of that. I sometimes run local pleasure cruises for hotel clients, but I'm primarily a luxury goods importer for the local hotels. High end fabrics, Zeltron liquors, those sorts of things. Its not as exciting as it sounds, but its good money." She took of sip of her own drink before leaning in a bit closer to Gatz.

"What about you? You look like you know a thing or two about the galaxy, what brings you to Tyrena?" She hadn't gotten his cover story from her contacts before setting this meeting up, and she wanted to confirm what exactly he was doing here as well in case they needed to get an alibi together later.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

All in all, Gatz thought Nalah's facade was credible. Importing luxury goods for places like this hotel was a common enough line of work. Clearly Corsec had run into trouble poking holes in Nalah's cover story, otherwise she'd already be in binders. But that didn't mean they wouldn't succeed in doing so, if the two of them didn't get off world soon.

"It's Corellia," Gatz shrugged as he began to spin his own cover story, "and no one constructs ships at the rate Corellia does. Which means that no one needs durasteel plating more than Corellia. It's kind of like your route: it isn't exactly exciting, but it pays well enough."

That wasn't entirely a falsehood: he had made decent money from his delivery. Not as much as he liked, nor nearly as much as he usually made running spice, but it would have been a livable paycheck for a normal twenty-something bachelor. Unfortunately for Gatz, he was far from normal. He had too many bills to pay, both back home on Naboo, and in Hutt territory. His ship's aftermarket modifications weren't cheap, after all. He had a number of outstanding credit lines to pay off.

"So, what do you fly? You mentioned running cruises. I can't imagine you do that in a normal freighter."

Gatz couldn't imagine trying to load people into The Red Night for something like touring. VCX-100s were too utilitarian, and didn't have nearly enough windows, to be a high-class transport.

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

Starship material delivery, that was a brilliant coverstory to get past a wary CorSec department that was on high alert, as most Corellians treated their starships better than their children, so a shipment of construction-grade durasteel was basically a diplomatic passport. But there was something in the way Gatz said that the money paid well that intrigued her, because he didn't mean it, being in the lying game professional had its advantages. Nalah couldn't quite tell if he was just looking for more lucrative work, or he actually needed credits for something, but she was starting to see why he'd come flying to the aid of a desperate smuggler in exchange for a cut of the action.

"Me? I fly a SoroSuub 3000, Luxury Yacht, but before you get intimidated, its honestly more of a fancy freighter than it sounds." A SoroSuub 3000 was the perfect ship for many of Nalah's needs, spacious cargo hold for anything she needed, luxurious enough to pique the interest of rich suckers, and just common enough not to draw too much suspicion.

"What about you? You look like a man who knows a quality starship when you see one." She went in for another sip of her drink before waving the bartender down to top them off. Sure, they were both only about half done, but getting plenty of refills was one of the many ways to make it seem like you were getting drunk quickly.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

"A luxury vessel? I suppose that makes sense," Gatz finished off his drink before the bartender could come along to top them off, "never flown one of those myself. Not even sure if I've been on one."

Nalah asked after his own vessel, and Gatz paused for a moment. Her Corsec agent was probably still giving them the stink eye from wherever they were currently sitting. The young smuggler doubted that they could overhear his conversation with Nalah, but even so, he wanted to play it safe. The last thing he wanted to do was tell the authorities which ship they ought to track down. They probably had that information already, and likely could find it easily if they cross-referenced his name with recent docking requests, but he was going to lie all the same.

"I fly a YT-2400. She ain't pretty, but she's tough. Can get things from place to place quick enough."

Gatz offered Nalah a small wink: less of a flirtatious action, and more clueing her into the fact that he was lying through his teeth. She'd see his ship soon enough. It wasn't a ship of the YT series, but it was Corellian made all the same. Plus, the cockpit was actually placed down the centerline of the ship, and not off on the right-hand side. He preferred it that way, even if he understood why the YT series had those wonky cockpits.

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

"Stick around then, and I'll give you the grand tour." That was a lie, both the literal statement and the innuendo, but she winked just the same. Gatz couldn't be seen on her ship just yet, and her cargo was the only hidden thing of hers he'd be laying hands on today.

However, when a YT freighter came up in the conversation, Nalah was almost tempted to wrinkle her nose, until Gatz shot her a knowing look and a wink to show he was just playing a bit. She had nothing against Corellian engineering personally, but in her experience anyone who flew with a side-mounted cockpit had to be at least slightly crazy. Why Corellians designed their ships that way was beyond her, but knowing what Corellians were like she would have guessed some ancient pioneer of ship design and a drunken bet.

"Tough, but not pretty? Interesting," She purred as the drink were topped off. "You have a peculiar taste in ships, but how do you handle her?"

She paused, just for effect.

"Your ship, I mean."

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Gatz was beginning to realize how out of his league he was.

Yeah, he liked to flirt. A lot. But the kind of women who usually caught his eye were bartenders and waitresses, girls who couldn't match his charm and often fell for it. But Nalah was something else. Every line she uttered in this grand play of theirs was an innuendo in of itself, and Gatz was grasping at straws trying to keep up. Even now his brain was firing on all pistons, trying to come up with something clever.

He'd approached trying to pick her up. It turned out that she was picking him up.

"Delicately," he mentally applauded himself for managing to get that out, even as he winked at Nalah, "but with finesse. It takes a special kind of pilot to fly a freighter, and not have it maneuver like a brick. You could scour the system, and still not find a man that could handle her the way I can."

He might have been overselling his abilities, but Gatz had never been very humble. At the very least, he was the best pilot in this bar. Flying was, of course, he true calling. It just turned out that flying and smuggling went hand in hand with one another, hence his less than legal occupation.

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

Nalah was, in many respects, a professional flirt. Being pretty had advantages and drawbacks in equal measure, so learning when and how to flirt was an almost essential skill growing up on Nar Shadda. And of course, those skills also helped with clients at bars, sore losers at the sabacc table, and customs agents at spaceports. Or at least, they usually helped, the local CorSec garrison seemed to be immune to her charms but it was comforting to see Gatz pause ever so slightly before coming up with a retort. That usually meant she was winning, and she liked winning

"You must be very good with your hands, being able to work the controls like that. I'd love to see you in action sometime." She said, statement so loaded with innuendo it could qualify as a bulk freighter. "As for my ship, The Angel might be a leisure cruiser, if you know how to handle her, she can almost dance for you."

Joking aside, Nalah wasn't a shabby pilot, perhaps not at Gatz level, but she could put the Ardent Angel through her paces with one arm tied behind her back. She was a talker, first and foremost, but you didn't get far in this galaxy in, well, any line of work without knowing how to handle a set of starship controls.

"Maybe we could order a bottle and find someplace to discuss the finer points of piloting?" Just to drive home the ruse for the CorSec officer, Nalah purred the words out and gently traced her hand down Gatz arm with a smirk.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

"Stick around, and you just might get your wish."

Gatz finished yet another drink, setting the empty glass down on the bar. That made... three? Four? He wasn't certain, but he knew he should abstain from any more. As it was, they'd probably spent an acceptable amount of time at the bar, and could make their escape. As it turned out, Nalah had the same idea, considering what she proposed. Adding the wine bottle was a nice touch too. It would really sell the idea of them having a drunken rendezvous.

"I like the way you think," Gatz beckoned the bartender down to their end of the bar, "I need a bottle of whatever the lady would like."

Gatz pulled credits from his jacket and set them on the bar. It was, of course, a gentleman's prerogative to pay. Wine could be expensive, to be sure, but the young smuggler was being paid very well for this particular job. He didn't mind spending a little money if it meant making a whole lot more. He'd have to pay for the room as well, of course, but that still wouldn't set him back all that much.

He'd be a pretty poor smuggler if he didn't have a few creds to spare.

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

"Savareen brandy, to go." The bartender, quietly rolling his eyes at the two after listening to their incessant flirting, was glad to take the credits offered in exchange for a bottle of alcohol to get the two apparent lovebirds away from his bar.

Nalah was also glad to be away from the bar, as it meant they could finally get down to brass tacks about what she needed from Gatz, specifically. Sure, they had a plan to shake her CorSec tail, but they needed to go over the details of where the shipment was and how to get it off world. And speaking of her new shadow, Nalah did notice out of the corner of her eye that the CorSec officer was muttering into his comlink, but didn't stand to follow them when she took the bottle, got up, and threw an arm around Gatz shoulder.

She headed for the front desk, dragging Gatz ever so slightly along with her, all while keeping up the act of a slightly inebriated pilot looking to hook up. She covered the cost of a room, mostly because she wanted to make sure they got a suite low to the ground but facing away from the port, so that no one would be able to spy on them, or notice them slipping out in the early morning hours.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

With an arm around his shoulder, Gatz was led out of the bar and to the front desk. He wanted to offer to pay for the room, but Nalah beat him to the punch, spending her own credits. He supposed that was fair: he'd paid for the brandy after all. Besides, this wasn't actually a hook up. Just a clever disguise. So, chivalry be damned. He was a scoudrel, not a knight of old.

They shambled to the room like a pair of drunken paramours, and for but a moment, Gatz allowed himself to take comfort in the arm hung around him. Being a spacer, and flying a ship solo like he did... it got lonely sometimes. A lot of times, really. But not tonight. If nothing else, tonight he'd get to make a smuggling run with a companion. It didn't matter that it was all business, that this whole affair was a sham.

For one night, he wasn't alone.

When they fake stumbled into the room, Gatz gently extracted himself from Nalah's hold, and closed the door. With his moment of solace over, it was time to finally sit down and talk about the job. He sat himself down on the edge of the queen mattress, and looked up at the Zygerrian outlaw.

"Alright," he said quietly, just in case someone was listening, "give me the details."

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

As Gatz was the first to enter the room, Nalah took one last look over her shoulder to make sure no one was following them, and was delighted to see that their plan had, apparently worked. No CorSec officers lurking around the corners, not even a housekeeper to snoop on them as they finally pretended to stumble into the room. The plan had gone off so far without a hitch, and if this kept up Nalah would be halfway to Denon by this time tomorrow, free as a bird.

When her partner in potential crimes sat down on the bed and started to ask about the job, Nalah darted across the room to put a finger over his lips, just because they were alone didn't mean they were safe. Nalah had been in enough of these hotels to know the rooms weren't always as private as they seemed.

"Wait a minute." She began to sweep around the room, checking for bugs, cameras, any reflective surfaces that looked two-way, and thank fully she came up nothing. "Okay, now we're safe."

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

Gatz sat quietly, as Nalah inspected the room for bugs. He doubted that Corsec would go to the trouble of planting bugs in a room, tipping off the worker at the front desk, and then having that worker give them this specific room: not for a pair of lowly smugglers. But Nalah was smart to check anyways. The second you let your guard down was when the enemy was most likely to strike. If he didn't keep that in mind, then one day it would be him with a Corsec noose around his neck, not Nalah.

"So, where's the shipment at?"

That was really the only question that mattered. They could figure out when and how to pick it up once Nalah had shared the location with him. He didn't even particularly care what she was hauling. In fact, he almost preferred not to know. At least that way, if they were caught, he could honestly deny knowing what he was delivering. It was easy to poke holes in a lie. Much harder to do so for the truth, though.

Besides, it was really the Zygerrian's business to know what she was hauling, not his. Technically, he was just the middleman, here to make a few extra creds.

---

Nalah Tezan

 

[Nalah Tezan]

Nalah knew CorSec couldn't have bugged a room she chose semi-randomly, but she knew hotels like this sometimes gathered dirt on clients for their own benefit, or for the benefit of certain, unscrupulous employees working off the books. The only thing more expensive than discretion was deception.

"The shipment is stored in a secret sub-level at warehouse 254-54 near the spaceport. Its fairly close by, and Corsec already swept the place so there shouldn't be anyone snooping around."

Unfortunately, that also meant that CorSec had moved on to the surrounding warehouses to check for any signs of hidden cargo or contraband, which could make sneaking into or out of the warehouse trickier. Nalah could handle tricky, and she figured Gatz could to, but ducking street patrols with a hover-palet of illegal goods was enough to raise her hackles.

"I just wanna say, before we start, the shipment isn't alive and it won't explode." Nalah didn't intend to give Gatz any more information than he asked for, but she knew smugglers could get antsy about unknown cargo and she wanted to put any fears he might have at ease.

Gatz Derrevar

 

[Gatz Derrevar]

A warehouse with a secret basement, huh? Gatz smiled. He'd seen many of those in his line of work. Smugglers really were a crafty sort, when they had to be. Getting into that warehouse probably wouldn't be a problem, he thought. Getting out, though, with a hover pallet of nondescript, but certainly illicit, good might turn out to be problematic. Gatz could be sneaky when he had to be, but he couldn't hide himself and an entire shipment of cargo. Not on foot, at least.

"How many crates are we talking?"

Maybe if it was just a few, it wouldn't be so bad.

Nalah was kind enough to reassure him that he was neither smuggling people, nor bombs. That was a relief. He might have been scum who delivered snuck spice onto civilized worlds, but even he was appalled by the idea of slavery. He also wasn't very fond of the idea of his ship blowing up spontaneously, though he had delivered his fair share of explosives before.

"Thanks for letting me know. I do make a point to draw the line at the sale of people. And also at detonating my own ship."

Back on the topic at hand though, Gatz waited patiently for Nalah to tell him the quantity of goods they were moving.

---

Nalah Tezan