The Lucky Penny

[Zapp]

Sydney was a regular fast-talker, used to conning more than a few people to pay lots of money for salvaged equipment that was next to worthless, or getting free landing space, discounts on fuel, etc. The main man she dealt with in her goods knew this, so he kept his cards close to his chest and his credits closer. So when she was disconcerted and stammered as she tried to sell him the gear in the one box she had opened, he looked on dubiously. What was she trying to pull? Finally, the deal was struck and the credits exchanged while a forklift on grav-lifts moved to pick up the crate and move it into storage.

She went back into her ship and opened the next two crates in much the same way, but they weren't full of anything nearly as weird. The first yielded optical chips, circuit boards, fiber cords, and portable memory units. Parts of computers. The second was full of heavy weaponry, the kind used to level small cities and/or outfit an upstart dictator's army. She sold both crates, coming off the deal with half a million credits overall.

The entire time, she was watching to make sure no one went on her ship, and when she was done with the transactions and resupplying (as well as getting a repair team to fix the fuel line), she reboarded her ship and sealed the doors. Time to check on her passenger.