Well, you get off planet without a hitch, buuuut...

You leave the Junk Moon without a problem as there is little in the way of customs regulations on what is basically a haven for smugglers and criminals of all sorts. Your ship, a speedy freighter you've modified for a balance between speed and power (along with a few hidden armaments to boot), breaks the artificially created atmosphere and smog and dust clouds streak away to give way to the blackness of space and endless twinkling of stars in your front view-screen. You plug in a course into your ship's computer using the coordinates digitally sent to you along with the first half of your payment when you accepted the job and, soon, the auto-pilot has you cruising comfortably towards your destination...wherever that may be.

With that done, you decide to take the time to eat, bathe and sleep, in that order. You know you have a long trip ahead of you, after all, even if it is a trip within the same galaxy you're in. Better to take care of basic needs while you have the chance. You consider taking care of another "basic need" while in the small shower stall you have in your quarters as your decision not to try and pick up somebody at a bar or buy some physical relief at the brothel is catching up with you, but, in the end, you decide to forgo that activity. You can jerk off to some holo-porn later. For now, your bed was calling you and, after you dry off from your shower, you fall, naked, into bed and drift off soon enough.

You are awakened not very long afterwards, however, by an odd sound that seems to echo through the ship. It is faint and could have gone unnoticed except for the fact that it sounds both like a vocal sound and distinctly feminine. Both of those things catch your attention (both because you're supposed to be by yourself on the ship and because you were never one to miss a feminine voice) and rouse you from your slumber quickly.

You take a moment to slip on some boxers haphazardly and to pick up your pistol, a ballistic weapon that shoots actual bullets which some think old fashioned but that you still have a liking for. Armed and somewhat less naked, you leave your cabin and head out towards the origin of the sound. Which, to perhaps little or no surprise, leads you to the cargo hold and the crate that you're supposed to be delivering.

The sound is still indistinct, but louder as you come up to the crate. It's a bit like plaintive speaking, but you can't make out the words, if there are truly any being said. The tone and lilt of the vocalization, however, is clearly more feminine than anything and that makes that barely there conscience of yours twinge. Sure, you've probably delivered **** sentient females to people for the Big Man before, but they were always **** and stayed that way for the duration of the trip so you could claim ignorance. This time, though, there was clear evidence of something or somebody in that crate that was definitely not an animal...probably.

So, what to do? Should you open the crate? It's bad business and there was the whole threat to life and limb thing. You like your life and limbs so you wouldn't want to do anything to threaten them. Still, you might be a criminal and a cheat and a thief, but you've never knowingly done anything irredeemably wrong (in your opinion). This might cross that line, though. Are you ready to cross that line? Should you?