"I'm just going to say this first… No killing them alright?" I warned.

"Really? Even if they start attacking us?" Amber protested.

"Only if that happens. This is a stealth mission and we're doing a pacifist run, alright?"

"I don't know what that means but ok?"

Since this was still a public place, we didn't need to be sneaky now so we joined the crowd and walked towards them as casually as possible.

I was expecting them to load the box up into the ship but surprisingly, they merely took it out of the van to set it near the loading ramp of the ship and waited there.

Odd… Are they not using that ship to fly it out of the station?

That was when another man descended from the ship's ramp with several bots floating behind him carrying three large boxes.

He set the boxes down in front of the soldiers and opened up one of them specifically to start taking out bags of what looked like white powder from inside said box.

After clearing up a space, the soldiers then moved their own crate into the larger box before they covered it up with the bags to hide it.

Once they replaced the cover back on the box, one of the soldiers took out some kind of floating trolley from the back of the van and they loaded up all three boxes on top of it.

And instead of bringing it into the ship, they left the area and headed towards one of the station's elevators instead, leaving the van behind. The pilot of the ship also turned back and boarded his own ship as well, disappearing inside it.

Interesting…

"The elevator goes to the docking bay for larger sized ships," Amber remarked while checking her personal terminal. "They must be using a ship there to transport it instead."

Since we already know the destination, we went to take another elevator that was heading to the same place as well.

It was a short ride up before we reached our stop, the both of us stepping out to the docking bay for C Class ships that also doubled as a maintenance area.

Just up ahead was the group we were following, the three of them pushing the cart along and mixing together with the crowd.

I looked at Amber and she was giving me a concerned look so I nodded at her reassuringly.

We stalked after them and followed them at a distance.

Amber was staring at them quite seriously which made it look quite suspicious so I reached out and entwined my fingers with hers.

She looked quite surprised by my action so I smiled at her, "Thanks for bringing me out on a date to look at ships, darling. I can decide what ship to buy next if I want to upgrade mine~"

Her lips quickly changed into a smile and she giggled, "Ehehe~ Leave it to me, my dear! I'll be sure to show you the right ship for you~"

We then continued following after the soldiers while acting like we were a couple out on a date.

She did point out some ships to me to add on to the ruse but none of the ships stood out to me.

About a minute of walking later, they turned and headed to a rather familiar docked ship and approached the loading ramp.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

I thought it was just a ship that was the same model as another one I had seen before but that thought was thrown out the window when I saw who came down the ramp.

"Reese…" Amber muttered.

The Trader we were escorting… Was she in on this as well?

We got a little closer just as the soldiers unloaded the boxes from the trolley to put them in front of her, close enough to hear them.

"So… Three boxes of drugs bound for Denibi system right? And some guy will certainly find me for them and give me the other half of the payment? Man, you smugglers sure are complicated…"

One of the soldiers nodded at her, "We're just runners, missus. And you did take the job."

"Yeah, yeah. You guys are just lucky I had to stay here to get my ship fixed. Otherwise I would have been out of here three days ago and good luck finding another freighter going there from here. Anyway, can I check the contents of the box? Wouldn't want to be transporting some dead guy inside them."

The soldiers opened up the box to reveal the bags of what I now know were drugs in them.

But really? Transporting dead bodies is a no go but drugs are fine? What's with this standard?

Reese picked up one of the bags and I noticed a soldier reaching behind his back before slowly returning his hand to his side.

The freighter captain did not notice and merely whistled, "Oh, this is some high quality stuff. Now I know why you guys are paying so much. Alright. I'll load them up and make sure it gets there safely."

The soldier nodded at her before they covered the boxes and packed up their trolley.

Reese then tapped on her personal terminal and several bots flew out of her ship to pick up the boxes to transport into her ship.

So from what I could hear… Reese has no idea that there's something extra in one of the boxes and by a stroke of luck, the box is bound for the Denibi system as well.

I turned to Amber and she pulled me into a kiss again, moving both of us to the side and hugging me tightly against her.

I realised she was doing this to hide us from the soldiers who were returning to the lift so I kissed her back as well.

Hey, I wasn't going to complain about kissing my lover.

We continued making out for a good minute or two before we had to separate for air.

"Are they gone?" I gasped.

"Mnnn~ What? Who?" She asked, blinking at me in confusion before letting out a gasp. "Oh! Oh right! Ummm… Yeah, they're gone."

She forgot about them after starting to kiss me I see…

To be honest… I might have as well if the kiss continued for a few more minutes…

Ahem…

Anyway, I guess since Reese is the one that's transporting it, it makes things much easier than if some random person was doing it instead.

We went up to the freighter captain and she noticed us almost immediately and waved at us.

"Hey~ You're Amber and Tera right?"

I nodded at her, "Yeah. How's the ship?"

She gave me a thumbs up, "Ahahaha! Don't worry, we'll be setting off on schedule! Just need to get some supplies today and we'll be off tomorrow morning!"

Amber tugged at my sleeve and I gave her a subtle nod before turning back to the trader.

"I'm a little curious actually… What are you transporting to Denibi Trade Station?"

"Curious aren't we? I don't mind showing you, just help me move this box here to the cargo hold."

She pointed at one of the leftover boxes on the ground and Amber and I were obviously happy to help her with that.

We carried the box up the ramp before the bots returned to take over from there.

She then led us to the storage of her ship and the room looked like a warehouse with all the containers and boxes piled neatly on shelves or on top of each other.

"Here we are. I've got some interesting stuff from some clients who want me to transport stuff there but most of the things you see here are mine that I'm bringing there to sell. I've got the boring stuff like the synthfood and medicine and the really cool ones like this railgun that I got off the black market here!"

My eyes drifted off to the railgun in question and I realised it wasn't a handheld railgun but a ship mounted railgun turret that was half covered by a tarp thrown over it.

Ok, that's pretty cool, but I already have one on my ship.

Besides… I'm here for one thing only…

"Reese, is it alright for you to be smuggling drugs there?"

I thought that she might start panicking or even deny it but she just turned to me with a neutral face, "Hmm… I wouldn't even call that smuggling since there's literally no law over there that forbids it. More like just transporting it there?"

Huh… No wonder she was so nonchalant about it.

Amber must have grown impatient because she stepped forward and gave her a serious look, "Reese. I won't beat around the bush… The three crates that you accepted from those deliverymen… One of them has a box of dangerous material that I need to destroy before it gets to its destination. They are using the drugs to cover it and it's below the bags. You can open it up and see that I'm telling the truth."

Right, I guess it's better to just say it directly huh? Well, I suppose we should just search for the box that contains the--

Reese stepped in front of the boxes to block our way, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that."

…

Eh?