Jiran Galak was debating on taking his chances with New Republic prison. There was no way they were as bad as the rumors said they were. Hopefully. Even on the off chance that they were, almost anything was preferable to whatever the Hutts had planned for him if anyone managed to cash in on his bounty. If only he had saved up more of his credits. Jiran grit his teeth. This was no time for wishful thinking. He needed to take on the next job he got, no matter how disagreeable it was. If he felt his conscience gnawing at him for taking on this particular job, he could take comfort in the fact that it was just business. Besides, listening to his conscience never helped him pay for fuel. As a matter of fact, a conscience is a liability for smugglers, especially when you're delivering for the kind of people who wish the Empire never fell.
First Order smuggling contracts were well paying, but fairly rare. The First Order preferred to get their work done in-house. The amount of credits he stood to make did nothing to wash out the bad taste in Jiran's mouth. Something about delivering for Stormtroopers and neo-Imperials just felt wrong. Not wrong enough to stop working for them altogether, mind you. Their credits were good, and unlike a lot of other groups that employed smugglers, they didn't try to screw you after you finished the job. They were about as good as bosses get. As long as you weren't smuggling for the worlds they were subjugating they didn't care. The Hutts and the Niktos, along with the various syndicates on the other hand, were known for having long memories and an even longer reach.
Jiran shivered as he remembered having a knife pressed against his throat on some podunk planet in the Outer Rim. Luckily, his co-pilot Calla had his back.
Calla Lumina had joined Jiran's crew because he was one of the few people who didn't try to add numerous conditions onto their partnership or have her pay for the opportunity. She was suspicious of how fast he accepted her request to be his co-pilot until she realized how desperate he was. It didn't take long for her to see that he needed a partner who wasn't afraid to make waves until they got what they were owed. And one that knew a bad plan when she saw one.
No, Calla's plans would never find them in a First Order outpost, negotiating a contract in a dark room with only one visible exit. Too bad their current financial situation left them with no choice. Sometimes she wished she hadn't burned all those bridges at the Academy.
"To clarify, you understand how important it is to avoid unwanted attention for this particular delivery and exchange, correct?" The stern-faced Officer asked.
Jiran grinned. "Discretion is the most valuable tool in our trade. We'll avoid any unwanted attention in space or on Coruscant."
"That said, discretion does not come easily. Or cheaply." Calla added. "Especially if we are going to deliver to the Core."
The Officer ignored her. "I'm sure 20,000 credits is more than enough."
"Maybe for a less experienced crew. You're paying for quality. 30,000." Jiran replied.
The Officer frowned. "Your reputation hardly merits more compensation."
"Famous smugglers would not make very good smugglers, would they?" Calla asked with a smirk.
The Officer sneered, but thought for a moment before replying. "Very well. We'll let your intended recipient know he's to pay you another installment. Keep in mind that your advance will remain at 10,000." The Officer brought out a case from under the table. He slid it to Jiran, who opened it and was pleased with the amount of ingots inside. "You will receive your cargo along with instructions and coordinates from Lieutenant Taisho outside." The Officer motioned to the door and a trooper beckoned them to follow.
"So, are you Lieutenant Taisho?" Jiran asked the trooper as they walked towards the hangars.
The Trooper gave no reply.
"I doubt he's in the mood to chit chat." Calla responded.
Jiran looked the trooper over. "I wouldn't be either if I had to wear what he's wearing. You know, I've heard that Clone Troopers were actually pretty fond of their armor. It was supposed to be super comfortable. I mean, once they had people familiar with human anatomy design it at least."
"I'm sure Clones liked the armor because all of them had the exact same measurements. It'd be nice to have uniforms that feel custom-made." Calla retorted.
"I guess that would probably help." Jiran conceded.
The smugglers were finally led to the hangar holding their ship, the Knight Errant. In front of it stood a woman with a large crate by her side. She looked at the duo without even an attempt to hide her disgust.
"Lieutenant." The Trooper greeted with a salute.
"Dismissed, trooper." Lt. Taisho ordered.
"So you're Lieutenant Taisho. What've you got for us?" Jiran asked, walking up to Taisho and the crate.
"Nothing you need to concern yourself with, smuggler." Taisho stated, looking up at Jiran. "I've given the coordinates to your droid, your destination is the Imperial Center. I would also like to remind you and your," She glanced at Calla, "Twi'lek companion that the rest of your payment will be given once the delivery is complete."
Jiran nodded, ignoring Taisho's bait. "Of course." He looked over the crate. "It's not volatile, is it? We want to make sure we're taking all the necessary precautions. We'd hate to miss a delivery on account of being blown up."
"I'm sure you would. Try not to damage the cargo or it'll be worthless. And under no circumstances should you allow anyone to discover this cargo. My comrades in the Core Worlds included. That is all you need to know. Goodbye." With that, Lieutenant Taisho turned and left the smugglers to load up their ship.
Calla shot Jiran a death glare before entering the ship. He sighed while he pushed the crate up the ramp.
As the Knight Errant travelled through hyperspace, Jiran decided it was as good a time as any to address the tension between himself and Calla.
"So that went well. We kept our cool and no one got hurt." Jiran stated while pretending to look at their course.
Calla didn't respond. She continued working on the Knight's weapons system.
"I mean, we've had worse negotiations. Remember when we did that job for that Nikto crime boss and he decided he would sell us as slaves instead of paying us the rest of our creds?"
Calla's grip on her tools tightened. She remembered that they barely made it out alive, and that she was the one they planned to keep.
"The pay is pretty good this time, too. We need this job." Jiran said. Calla thought he sounded more like he was trying to convince himself.
Calla set down her tools. She may as well set him straight. "No, you need this job. I am not the one in debt to a crime lord! I could leave you to do this job by yourself without affecting my finances. But do you know why I stay?"
"You...don't have a ship?" Jiran guessed.
Calla sighed. "Because knowing you puts a target on my head by association. Honestly, once we complete this job I think we should dissolve our partnership."
"What? But we make a great team. And where else are you going to find a ship like this? Or a captain as charming as me?" Jiran pleaded.
"I said I was thinking about leaving and here you are, begging me to stay. As for the ship," Calla knocked on a panel, "I'm sure I can find one as great as this old YT-1930."
"I get it. Thanks for letting me know now and not jumping ship as soon as we reach the next planet." Jiran grumbled.
"Of course, Captain." Calla decided to change the subject. It wouldn't be good arguing with each other in front of a new client. "So, any thoughts as to what we are supposed to deliver?" She asked, putting away her tools.
Jiran would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about their mystery cargo. "I'm not sure. Probably art or something else fragile. I doubt they'd have us move weapons to Coruscant, especially since it's just one crate. If anything, I think we're moving data."
"It's the First Order. Whatever it is, it's certain to ruin a lot of lives. I know we are far from innocent ourselves, but the First Order is something else entirely. Can you believe Lieutenant Taisho referred to Coruscant as the Imperial Center? After all these years?" Calla said.
"I know. It's not ideal but it's the best I could do. I mean, I'd prefer going back to running spice instead of this." Jiran said.
The smugglers fell silent for a moment, realizing how badly this job could go if spice running was a preferable alternative.
Calla broke the silence. "I have an idea: we should inspect our cargo."
Jiran raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, and add the First Order to the ever increasing list of groups that want me dead? Why do you want to open the cargo up so badly, anyway? How many times have we done a 'no questions asked' job where you were perfectly happy to leave our cargo alone?"
"I recall being the one telling you to leave well enough alone." Calla replied.
"We're not talking about me right now." Jiran said with a frown.
Calla huffed. "Fine. I find it strange, that's all. This is First Order cargo. They hate working with smugglers. It's really quite mysterious. Especially when you take into account that the First Order is supposed to be in control of the planet. Why would they need to smuggle something onto a world they control? And Lieutenant Taisho instructed us to not even let other First Order members discover our cargo."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to live with this mystery unsolved." Jiran stated.
Calla thought for a moment before her face lit up. "They never said not to open it."
"It was implied." Jiran pointed at Calla. "They hinted at it."
Calla smirked at how Jiran didn't seem to mind how weak that justification was. "I'm surprised you picked up on that. Of course I am still in favor of opening up that crate."
Jiran sighed and followed Calla to the cargo hold. "You know, Rocky should probably be the one to open it."
The crate sat in the cargo hold. If there was a booby trap, at least they could seal it in.
"Are you ready?" Calla asked.
"Yeah." Jiran turned to R0-K13, his customized R-series astromech droid. "Are you ready Rocky?"
Rocky beeped affirmatively as he rolled up to the crate. The droid extended a scomp link and began interfacing with the crate. After a few moments, nothing happened. Rocky removed his scomp. Seeing that still nothing happened, he booped angrily and struck the crate with his body.
"Easy. We're trying to do this without leaving any evidence." Jiran chastised the droid.
Rocky rolled away while beeping angrily.
"Care to let me try now?" Calla asked, holding up her slicer keys.
Jiran started to say something, when the crate suddenly opened to reveal several smaller containers. Jiran put on a pair of gloves and pulled one out.
"Wait, are those camtonos?" Calla asked.
"Yeah. Doesn't look like they're smuggling weapons, but there might be some data drives in here. Or maybe some ingots of precious metals. The weight of this camtono is real weird, though." Jiran popped open the top.
Calla gasped. Inside of the camtono were several glass tubes holding beautiful crystals. Jiran and Calla looked at each other before they quickly pulled out the other camtonos and discovered more crystals within. They both began laughing uncontrollably as they admired the crystals. Their laughter caused R0-K13 to poke his head in to check on them before deciding that it'd be best if he went back to navigating.
"Kyber crystals. Do you know what this means?" Jiran said.
Calla held up a crystal in its tube. "We should have negotiated for a larger reward?"
Jiran smiled even wider. "Exactly. How much do you think we can get out of them?" Jiran asked, already running his own numbers.
"Hold on, I think we may be getting ahead of ourselves. This is the First Order. They will absolutely kill us if they think we are trying to extort them." Calla warned.
"You're only saying that because you're not the one with a bounty on their head. What happened to all your curiosity about the cargo?" Jiran demanded.
"I said I was curious, not that I wanted to rob the First Order! Besides, we know nothing about who we're delivering this to. I wonder if they stole these from their weapon developers?" Calla responded.
"What do you mean? Think they're trying to make their own lightsabers?." Jiran asked.
"No, heavy naval cannons. I heard some rumors about the firepower on their ships back when I was in the Academy." Calla moved the kyber in her hand towards the light. "Hard to believe these little crystals can do so much damage."
"You'd be surprised. I guess we better put these back before we get stopped for an inspection. We should be out of the Unknown Regions by now." Jiran said.
"I would be more concerned about pirates this far out in the galaxy." Calla said.
"Eh, pirates, Republic Customs Officers, you lose your cargo either way. Only difference is how many holes your ship ends up with." Jiran said as he walked back to the cockpit.
This was a straightforward delivery contract. Easier than most in fact, since the smugglers only had one crate to worry about. The mystery of why the kyber crystals needed to go to Coruscant added no difficulty. The questions raised by this delivery had more digestible answers than when Jiran and Calla would deliver spice. Or weapons. They took solace in never having delivered sentients. Trafficking terrified and powerless people was something they had quietly agreed on avoiding. Jiran was already paying the price for listening to his conscience.