The Smuggler

The Convor touched down on the planet Kaddak and settled down amongst the crystalline formations that raised their jagged tips into the clouds above. The spaceport was quiet, eerily quiet. Smuggler Ingo Tadhane had hoped that his contact would have been here by now. The landing ramp descended down. There was a loud clunk as it hit the surface and Ingo descended down the ramp. “Zidanta? You here?” Tadhane called out.

The smuggler’s eyes bounced from left to right as he searched the spaceport for this Zidanta fellow. He grew cautious, he pulled his blaster from his holster and raised it beside his head. “Zidanta?” he called again.

“Looking for me?” a whispery voice asked.

“Zidanta? That better be you,” Ingo roared. Suddenly a figure emerged through a cloud of smoke, it was Zidanta, the Mon Calamari spice baron dressed in lavish clothing and smoking on a long silver pipe. “It is you – what’s with all the theatrics?”

“I had to be sure you weren’t compromised.”

“Compromised? What are you talking about?” Tadhane asked confused. “Why didn’t you just send me a message that you weren’t planning to meet me properly?”

Zidanta shook his head: “It’s the Republic, they’ve been snooping around. They’re trying to dismantle the spice trade. Put us, honest people, out of business.” He paused to inhale his silver pipe. “They landed here, yesterday it was. Fortunately, I stayed well away.”

“They are always trying to get their own way.”

“You’d think this war would distract them. Leave us normal folk alone for once, but they can’t resist judging everyone. Thinking they are better than us,” Zidanta laughed. He slipped his pipe into a pocket and started to haul out crates of spice. “Here’s the shipment.”

“Where’s it going Zidanta?”

“Mos Eisley, you familiar with it?” Zidanta asked, grunting as he pushed the crate into the Convor’s loading bay.

“That place on Tattooine right?”

“That’s the one.”

Ingo nodded to Zidanta. “Alright, I can do that,” he went up to the crates and helped the Mon Calamari push them onboard. “What’s the pay like?”

“Don’t worry, it’ll be good. Just don’t mess up. I’ll have the details of the client sent to your ship, it’ll be encrypted and will take a few hours for it to decrypt.”

“What’s with all the security? You’re not usually this cautious?”

“I’ve already told you!” Zidanta shouted. “You can’t be too careful with all this Republic activity, if the client gets exposed then I’ll be a dead man.”

“Alright,” Ingo Tadhane said. He finished loading the crates of spice and waved goodbye. “I’ll be back once I am done.”

TBC