With a grunt, Cally heaves the final crate onto the grav-sled, the heavy thud of metal against metal echoing in the cargo hold of the Stellar Horizon. Beside her, Alina moves with practiced grace as she secures the load with flicks of her wrists, the straps snapping into place with satisfying clicks.

"Did you know that a quantum field can taste like raspberries?" Buzz's voice crackles, his luminescent form hovering near the ceiling.

"What are you talking about now, Buzz?" Alina chuckles, wiping a sweat matted lock of hair from her forehead.

"It's a serious question!" The pink cloud zapps a little brighter, arcs of electricity dancing within its boundaries. "I read it in an old human manual about sensory hallucinations during hyper jumps."

"Stick to navigating astral storms, not discussing flavor profiles," Cally grunts as she checks the antigrav settings on the sled.

"Oh fine, but don't come crying to me when you start tasting fruit in the vacuum of space!" Buzz makes a noise that could only be described as a huffy buzz as he floats away towards the cockpit.

"To change the subject from fruity-flavored space events," Cally begins, "How did we end up transporting this cargo to a farm on the other side of the planet?"

"I was asked to find affordable long-term storage for this kyber," Alina replies.

Cally smirks before responding, "I understand that part, but surely there are plenty of civilized planets- and maybe even uncivilized ones- that offer warehouse storage at reasonable rates."

"Ah, but we haven't made any coin on this trip yet and that's not how we do things on this vessel," Alina says with a mischievous smile. "I used one of the Captain's contacts on Halo Station to see if there was anywhere they wanted us to store this cargo."

"What does Halo have to do with this? They’re sectors away from here." Cally asks, looking slightly puzzled.

"It's possible that someone at Halo has something they want us to pick up and they can't advertise it openly," Alina explains.

Cally nods, satisfied with the answer. "Alright, let's move this before Buzz decides to quiz us on the mating habits of nebula squids or something," Alina states, and together they guide the grav-sled out of the bay, the gentle hum of its repulsars filling the silence of the cargo hold.

———

The afternoon sun of Agros casts long shadows over the wheat fields, painting the automated farm drones in a golden hue. John watches as the mechanical laborers, their joints whirring softly, maneuver around the grav-sled with an almost balletic precision. One by one, they lift the crates, their antigrav clamps humming as they defy the pull of gravity.

John Smith watches this process with visible concern etched on his face.

"Relax, Smith," the farmer replies, leaning against the barn's weathered wall, a smirk playing on his lips. "My drones are probably better at handling cargo than most of your crew."

Stolen story; please report.

John can't help but chuckle, despite himself. "No argument there." He watches as a drone floats a crate towards the silo. As it enters, its sensors scan the floor of the grain silo. After a series of clicks and whirs, a section of the floor slides away, revealing a hidden compartment beneath. The drones carefully descend into the darkness with the crates.

"Never thought I'd be storing perfectly legal goods under my grain silo," the farmer muses, while scratching the stubble on his chin.

"Desperate times call for creative measures," Vance replies, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "Besides, knowing some of the people we’ve both done work with means this can’t be the most unusual request you’ve received."

"Speaking of which, how's that other cargo coming along?" John asks, changing the subject with a glance at Vance.

"Let's just say it was better hidden than a black hole in a dark matter storm," the farmer drawls with a sly grin. “I have some of my drones retrieving it now. It’s scanner proof, so you might want to find someplace out of sight to hide it on your ship.”

“I’m pretty sure we can manage that,” Vance responded dryly.

“Just remember which flow shoal to exit the astral from as you approach Leoria and you should be fine,” the farmer reassures them while handing some hard coin credits over to Vance. “That’s the half up front. You'll get the other half at the drop.”

———

With strained breaths, Vance and John maneuvered the heavy plate back into place, effectively concealing the hidden compartment on the Stellar Horizon. Cally's voice broke the tense silence.

“What exactly are we shipping across the Astral in that crate?” Cally inquired.

"It's scanner-proof," John responded. "And we were told it's a no-questions-asked drop."

Alina interjects, her voice filled with unease. “No questions asked usually means it’s bad news. I don’t like this. We should check it out to see what we’re getting ourselves into.”

Vance let out a sigh, “What part of a no questions asked scanner proof crate makes you think that we should take a peek inside? Besides, it’s got a bio-metric lock on it.”

Cally speaks up, “I think Alina is worried that it’s either drugs or a bomb, but really, for all we know it could be a cookie recipe.”

“For the record, I’m mostly worried it could be a bomb,” Alina retorts. “In fact, I’ll go so far as to state that I don’t think it’s a cookie recipe.”

“As it currently stands, unless we open it and look inside, it has the potential to be absolutely anything. That gives me the piece of mind of not actually knowing what it is. I find myself incredibly OK with that scenario,” John rationalizes.

Vance interrupts, “It still has a bio-metric lock. We can’t get into it anyway.”

“I’m pretty sure I could get around that,” John declares.

Vance scowls at John, “Not helping.”

“I could get around it, but I’m not going to and I don’t think anyone else here knows how to circumvent a bio-metric lock. Unless, that was some kind of special military skill that Cally had to learn,” John states.

“Nope, I was a soldier, not a spook. That wasn’t part of my training,” Cally casually replies.

“Apparently, only one of us knows how to circumvent the lock and he’s not inclined to do so. I know none of us really want to hang out on this planet any longer than we have to and Buzz is already up in the cockpit prepping systems for take off and plotting an exit vector. Now would be a good time to make sure everything on-board is secured,” states Vance.

———

A short while later, the whine of the thrusters can be heard as the ship slowly lifts off from the open space near the grain silo. As the Stellar Horizon gains altitude the ship slowly rotates for its intended exit vector from the nearly translucent shield that surrounds Agros. Once sufficient height is achieved, it shoots off into the cerulean sky.