Having done nothing to do but refill her flask, Shard is ready soon enough.  She notes Rhijans' pessimism with a twisted smile, nodding her head.  Take whatever gifts the universe offers on an open palm, kiddo...best be sure you'll get the back of its hand sooner or later.  She shrugs her way through the conversation about the rodian; as she does with most things, Shard will take it as it comes.

Most things.  There are still a couple of groups who automatically earn her emnity.  Imperials being one of them, she considers, flipping up her cloak hood and peering out from within its shadows.

"Pretty sneaky," she agrees with the assessment of the droid's espionage skills.  "C'mon.  Let's move.  We have a lot of ground to cover, and until that imperial leaves, this isn't going to be the safest place for us."  Her mouth twitches into a grimace.  "Mind, I'm interested in the why of the visit myself, now."

Stupid.  Don't get sidetracked, Shard.  But she can't help the curiousity.

"Another droid?" Mark repeated. "Does it know what kinda of droid? Another R2 unit, protocol droid? Heck it might even be a taxi droid for all we know."

Mark Jacobs shook his head slowly. "Well we won't get anything with me complaining here. Let's go find that Rodian and get us some transportation. We may need two vehicles unless they have one large enough to carry all of us, including the droid."

Rhijans shrugged.  "I was planning to inquire about a cargo-hauler, myself.  We ARE supposed to be coming back with a load of power converters, after all.  Something that large should have room for a load of people."  He paused for a moment, then continued, "I don't know about room to ride in comfort...but there should be room."

"Right a cargo hauler. But we might need one or two swoops to screen the bigger slower hauler."

Mark looked over the group silently counting. "There's seven of us. That could give us three in the cargo hauler, and two pairs to ride in swoops for support."

"Uh huh, never judge someone on race alone, assumptions like that can really lead you down the wrong bantha trail."

"As for me on a swoop, noohoo thank you. Might as well ask me to run head-first into a solid wall."

She looks down at her little mouse droid.

"And never underestimate a droid. Right, Wheely?"

Wheely breeps and blurps in return.

Rhijans gave Neary a humorless grin.  "I try to avoid taking anyone at face value.  The fact that this Rodian has a legitimate business, that's apparently socially accepted here, already says he's not typical.  Doesn't mean he doesn't still have typical Rodian tendencies, but at the very least, he shows an ability to be circumspect about them in a way most Rodians can't...or won't...manage.  That makes him very unusual."

Again, he paused, looking down and then looking back up again, an inscrutable expression on his features.  "And possibly very dangerous...just, hopefully, to someone other than us."

"Pass on the swoop," Shard laconically declares.  She lets the others talk as they walk, keeping an eye out for anyone shadowing them.  If someone is, hopefully they're not very good...her eyes aren't quite as sharp as they used to be.

"You're right about the droid," she finally states, breaking back to an earlier point in the conversation.  "Could be anything.  Gotta have a talk with the people who set this up when we get back...there's a limit to this cloak and viblade stuff, where it starts to get a little bit too clunky." 

A need for secrecy, she understands.  But if the Imperials catch them, the position of a droid who knows the location of a cache of power converters is probably a lot less important than something the group already knows - the position of their own rebel cell and its command.

The walk across the port passes without incident and, after a brief detour, caused by a wrong turn, the group find themselves standing in front of an open area, filled with a wide variety of vehicles, ranging from low end swoops, through landspeeders in several price categories, cargo skiffs, ground vehicles of various sizes and designs, up to a couple of hovervans.

As they step closer, they spot a rodian standing in the middle of the lot, talking to a human female.  The woman suddenly starts laughing, and slaps the rodian on the back before turning to walk away, calling back over her shoulder, "Thanks Jektoo.  See you next week."

She walks past the group of rebels, grinning and shaking her head.

Moments later, the rodian spots them and hurries over to greet them.  He hesitates, briefly, at the edge of the lot as he catches sight of R2-O0, and then continues forward as he starts to speak in heavily accented Basic.

"Good day, my frients.  Welcome to Zaerd Tranzpoart.  How can I help hyou this vine day?"

Rhijans stepped forward, figuring since he was the one who got the name, he should take the role of point-man for the group at this point.  "A colleague of mine said we might be able to rent some vehicles from you?  Got some time-sensitive business in Ker Aldas, and since we can't fly in there, I'm looking for alternatives."  It was more information than he really wanted to give, but he also figured that, with a group this size, he needed to provide some kind of explanation for wanting, potentially, multiple vehicles.

Interesting.  Shard keeps well back, allowing Rihjans to talk with the rodian while she observes.  The small hesitation - why would he pause at the sight of such a common droid?  Unless he knows, she considers.  Is it paranoia to suspect?

No.  There's no room for dismissing concerns on a mission.  There is a reason the man hesitated, and she can't simply assume it has nothing to do with the imperials, the rebellion, and their droid.

Shard takes a deep breath, slowly releasing it.  Her headache distant, her weariness gone, she opens her eyes on a clearer vision of the world about her, seeking anomalies, discrepancies.  Anything that might be a warning of a trap.

Shisskurr too fell into the back ranks of the group, and he noticed that Shard did the same. It was a first-response thing with him. Keep back. Observe the exchange unless otherwise required. He had begun to notice that he and the woman shared a few things in common when it came to typical interaction.

The Rodian approached, paused, approached again. A curious thing, that. Perhaps the Rodian was afraid of droids? Shiss struck that idea instantly. He wouldn't have been able to operate a dealership like this without their usage. So: the Rodian may have recognized their R2 unit.

Beside and a bit ahead of him, Shard sighs. Shisskurr blinked. How many of the rest of their group had noticed the Rodian's pause? Probably the lot of them, he figured.

It was only one Rodian... but Shiss would have had a much shorter career if he'd thrown out his universal suspicions before now. He crossed his arms before his chest and awaited the inevitable exchange.

Jihon grins and waves one of hands as the Rodian approaches. If he caught the other's hesitation, he didn't show any sign of it outwardly. He lets Rhijans do the speaking, since that one took the initiative. He hooks one pair of thumbs in his belt. The other pair, he folds across his chest casually. He listens to the conversation while he looks over the delightful collection of vehicles.

"Yes.  Hyou come to right plates.  All here are for for rents or for sales.  Hyou no get beddar deal in all Ker Zaineer."  He looks at R2-O0 again, "Bud I mest tell hyou, I nod trade for droids.  If hyou want to deal, hyou mest bring credits.  Hyou are still interesded?"

A glance back towards the lot, "Ass-hyu-ming hyou has credits, which of they are hyou wanting?"

Rhijans quirked an eyebrow at the mention of trading the droid.  "No worries, we're dealing strictly credits.  The droid serves an important function in our operation, I'm not ready to part company with him just now."  As Zaerd seemed to assume he was the one in charge, he slipped into the role, hoping that Jalt wouldn't take exception to any talk of Rhijans even considering trading his droid.

"I'm not sure quite how large the cargo we're supposed to be hauling is actually going to end up being, but if you've got one available, a medium-sized cargo hauler."  He paused, and then recalled Jacobs' suggestion.

"And a pair of two-seater swoops.  Some of us don't travel well in confined quarters."  He rolled his eyes in feigned frustration with the idea, but made no indication as to which individuals might prefer the swoops to the cargo hauler.  It was a slim chance, but he didn't want to risk the Rodian deciding to bump his rental prices based on who might be piloting and how he might feel about them.  If he didn't know who was driving, they'd get a relatively honest mid-range quote...and might be able to negotiate down from there.

Silently Mark watched Rhijans. Things were progressing nicely. They would secure transport. Pick up the four containers.

Mark scanned the lot and the surrounding area. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, but he tried to see if anyone was paying particular attention to the group.

rolled 7 using 2 dice with the WEG Classic system with rolls of {Wild}3,4. Perception

Jektoo Zaerd raises one hand and waggles a finger from side to side in front of Rhijan's face, "Can nod let hyou take swoops, except if I make hyou special warn-ing.  Air outside cities is nod good.  Tiny seeds.  Hyou breathe, and hyou die.  Nod good for hyou, nod good for I, nod good for business."

"Can only has swoops if hyou say that oper-at-ors will wear breathmasks whole time, and sign legal waifer."

He turns and gestures towards the two largest vehicles on the lot, "I has two very good cargo trans-ports.  One is Trast A-A5.  Very good.  Maked by Ubrikkian.  Other is AEA-500, maked by Tagge.  Is mining vehicle, but can to carry cargo in ore bay.  A-A5 is faster, and bigger.  Carry twice much cargo of other.  AEA-500 has mining laser, which is also weapon, and has armour.  Both sealed."

"Both costs 300 credits each day.  Both can make go to Ker Aldas and comes back tonight.  Swoops, if hyou wants, costs 50 credits each day."

Rhijans carefully kept his expression schooled.  He knew which transport he would choose, left to his own devices, but he didn't feel it was his place to dictate terms to the rest of the group.  To cover for the pause, he turned to Mark.

"You still want the swoops?  You heard him..."  As he thought about it, the larger transport would probably have plenty of room for everyone.  Of course, that put them all together in one conveniently-sized bundle if anything went wrong.

He looked at the rest of the group.  "Your choice, people.  You can risk the claustrophobia in the transport or getting poisoned flying the swoop.  I was always planning on the transport, myself."  He paused, waiting for a response.  Zaerd's price was well within his own credit supply, so he was satisfied with the option.  "You take a swoop, you pay for it on your own, though.  I'm not risking the balance sheet because you're not comfortable sharing close quarters with everyone."

Not that there was any balance sheet to worry about...presumably, the Alliance would be reimbursing them for anything they spent on official business.  But if he was using 'business' as a cover for this, he reasoned that he'd best sound at least remotely business-like.

"As I said, no swoop for me, not even on a soft surface paradise world, thank you very much."

Three hundred.  At least she doesn't have to pay it alone, which is a very good thing.  She walks over to the Trast A-A5 and starts to look it over.  Not that she is an expert but it felt good nevertheless.  Out of habit she notes any suitable spots to place explosives even though that is not exactly on the agenda.

While the transport is sealed she takes comfort in the fact that she has go her mask along, just in case.

Wheely comes up behind her and bleeps and things like a mouse droid do, triggering a chortle from Neary.

"I don't think so, Wheely.  Beside, you'll be fine inside."

Mark shook his head. "I'll pass on the swoop. Didn't know the air was that bad.

"I'll go in the transport." Shard's driving is iffy at the best of times, and she knows cursed well that at some point during the trip there's going to be alcohol.  Not to mention the whole idea of that wonderful air makes me want to throw up.  At least it's not a hell-world.  She hates those.

She eyes the interesting pendant Zaerd wears.  Curious - not the sort of thing one sees every day, certainly not on a used vehicle salesman.  Coughing once to modulate her voice into something a trifle less scratchy, she steps forward and makes a show of peering at the shiny bauble.  "I've never seen a pendant like this before," the older woman murmurs.  "Does it signify anything?"

Jihon raises a hand. "I swoop," he says with a happy grin. "If swoop can carry me, yes?"

He wasn't sure if it would, but anything these fine rebels wanted to avoid sounded like a lot of fun to him.

Jektoo bobs his head cheerfully, "So it comes to a choize for hyou.  One trans-port, or two, and how manys of swoops?"

He pulls a datapad from inside his jacket and starts keying in information.

The rodian stops as Shard questions him, looking puzzled for a moment, until he realises what she's asking.  He holds the medallion up for her to see the design, a planet with two crescent moons positioned so that their horns point towards each other.  "It is symbol of Sect of Greeth.  They teach peace and enlight-tenment to all.  Not manys follow though, or Galaxy would to be beddar plates."

Rhijans quirked an eyebrow in surprise.  A pacifist Rodian? he mused to himself, and then shrugged internally.  The galaxy was a big place, there was room for all sorts of beings.

"I think the Trast should do nicely.  Some of us will probably have to ride in the cargo area, but it's large enough--that shouldn't be a problem.  And one swoop."  He shot an appraising glance over at Jalt.

"That is, assuming you don't want to fly a swoop across the planet too, of course."

He shrugged, and hoped that the cargo wouldn't be too large to haul in the single vehicle.  He wasn't a starship repair specialist, and had no real idea what size power converters would be--or how many of them they were supposed to be picking up.  Rather than worrying himself about it, he reminded himself that Ker Aldas would also have places where one could rent (or beg, borrow, or steal) similar transports...their Alliance contact might even have one already.  He could only do so much with incomplete intel.

Reldan Jalt shrugs as Rhijans does the talking.  Given that they don't know how many power converters they need to bring back, or how they're packed, it makes sense to go for the bigger vehicle.  Even if he would have felt safer in something that could be better defended.

"I might take a swoop, but it depends." he looks at the Rodian, "Do you have any armed swoops?"  It's a long shot, of course, but if there are any dangerous animals on the planet, they might have armed swoops.

"Juzt one swoop with weapon." Jekloo Zaerd confirms, "For that one cost is 70 credits.  Uukablis light swoop.  Fast.  Has two lacer cannons, fire as one.  Hyou want take that?"

"Not many animals on Dateen.  Plant seeds poison them.  Few live though, and can to be dan-ger-ous."

The rodian businessman makes some more entries on his datapad, "Hyou want Trast A-A5, Uukablis swoop, and for he... " he indicates Jihon Mogg, "... best would be Mobquest Zephyr G model.  Can carry slight little more."

"I make special deal for hyou... is just 400 credits all three.  Saves 20 credits.  Hyou will take?"