[center][h1][color=00aeef]Ren[/color][/h1][/center]
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[center]A short time after the stop at Phoebe Station.[/center]
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Inside the cargo hold, the Machine stirred. Its sensors indicated that the ship had quickly docked to a station and departed just as quickly - last minute provisions, no doubt. That would have been the last time the ship stopped at a station before departing for wherever its destination was. The docking logs at Chronos Station hadn't mention its existence at all, and yet there it had been, which meant one of two things: either a it was black-ops, or it was a pirate vessel. Either way suited the Machine just fine, as it meant a quick escape from Alliance territory and less trouble than dealing with a military ship.

The Machine, a black sphere measuring one foot in diameter, popped into the air out of the back of the stack of crates. The relevant iris doors on its front end slid open to reveal two somewhat short mechanical "tentacles", each tipped with a manipulator, and the Machine began zipping about within the cargo hold, silently scanning each crate. It performed a celebratory flip in midair upon finding the crate it was searching for, entered in the relevant password on the crate's keypad, and hovered silently as the crate hissed and popped open. A university-age humanoid woman pulled herself out of the crate.

The woman, standing at 5'5", gave the Sphere a quick shove into her own box and went about her business inside the cargo hold. It didn't occur to her or the Sphere to bother locking the cargo bay doors.

Elsewhere in the ship, sounds of crates moving and a series of loud 'cracks' could be heard from the direction of the cargo and shuttle hold for only a very short time before silence came once more. Despite the noise, though, no signs of life could be detected inside.