Star Trek: Starbase 777 - commercial-promenade

Not bothering to get properly dressed in the sorta-dark and opting instead to tie their hair up and put on an actual pair of shoes, Maggie wandered off among the bubbling chaos. Verelan-- they were worried about Verelan. Hopefully she was still fast asleep. They hadn't seen her come out of her quarters, but even so, if anything was going on with her shop, they wanted to be there to help put a stop to it. Maggie took a long moment to catch their breath, hands on their knees. "Why doesn't this Starbase have any stairs?" Gods, their arms felt like jelly.

"Fucking shit," were the first words uttered out by Jin as soon as the series of unfortunate events decided to unravel themselves. The choked off claxon call, the sudden stillness of the station, and then the subsequent return of the light, only for the Romulan to discover that his right eye did not regain it's vision, left the man just slightly disgruntled. His bar suddenly became quite the literate haven. Thankfully, those who were impacted by the blackout the most, didn't seem to be in imminent danger - something of a lucky moment in this storm. As most of the Starfleet officers left to try and reach their stations, the civilians sought out a place to stay and comfort in this uncertainty. While his workers took care in making sure that the movement was kept under control, Rojin had to take scope of his bar's damages. "If the Bolian cider is going to go bad, I am chasing down whatever caused all of this and murdering it," he threatened to no one in particular, earning a nervous chuckle from one of the waiters. Wait, did something pink just zip by? He had to turn his head fully (annoying), to notice a somewhat familiar figure.

By the looks of it, Authentic Romulan Affairs was doing just fine. Good, but they'd keep an eye out. Maggie followed the flow of the crowd. They'd been to Hlleistau with Verelan once or twice-- the latter loved her own ale, but going out was fun sometimes, and the nightclub got too loud for Maggie-- but they looked busy! "Mr. Rojin!" Maggie waved enthusiastically from the doorway, trotting over to the bar. Thankfully, they were much more awake now than they had been bumbling through the tubes. "Hey, do you guys need help with anything?" they offered with a grin. "I'm not exactly trained for this stuff, but I --" they adjusted a bag on their shoulder-- "brought my magic stuff, so maybe a little show to keep everybody calmed down.... Or I can just be a waitress, whatever helps!!'

Ah, ok. At least his memory was as sharp as ever. "Little show... perhaps would be useful to calm down the handful of kids we have down by that table over there," he responded after a greeting nod, brows furrowed and the artificial eye closed. "Other than that... our fridges died? Which I doubt is something that falls under your specialty? What even happened?"

"I'm not sure, but there's a big storm outside. Maybe that has something to do with it.." Maggie exhaled a sigh. "But electricity is down everywhere. I had to pry my door open. So I bet communications are offline, and that's why we don't know anything... Um!" They perked up, putting their show face on! "I'll get right to it! Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

Big storm? If that's the culprit, they might be here for a while, then. It was a phenomena that Jin had encountered before, but unlike a Warbird, the station had no possible way to run away and avoid it... "Sure. If anything happens, feel free to call me," he replied, head turning to look at the entrance again. He could hope that this will soon pass, but Rojin knew better. Instead he went to work.

"You've got it!" The magician gave a silly smile and a salute before heading off to entertain the little ones with card tricks and whatever else they'd cooked up.

From outside of Hlleistau Bar the sudden, abrupt sound of glass smashing could be heard. Across the way, inside a restaurant, a few greedy people had decided to start looting, stealing any genuine alcohol they could get their grubby little mitts on. One of the three, a Human, had accidentally knocked a bottle of a shelf, shattering it on the marble floor behind the bar. A muffled 'Look what you're doing, idiot!' was shouted by another, a Ferengi. It seemed when the opportunity had arisen the more amoral visitors of 777 had took it upon themselves to carpe diem, or in this case, carpe vinum.

Their head snapped up at the sound. Shattered glass? Across the way, but.. Their attention darted to Rojin, but they stayed put, distracting the kids with a quick sleight of hand, pulling a flower from the end of their wand. Just keep everyone calm...

Popping out of the tubes was a very disgruntled Vovvi, who....immediately heard the sounds of something breaking and chaos starting to stir. She swore under her breath and sped off towards it. "[That's enough!]" Oh Elements, she hoped they spoke Rihannsu, "[Drop the merchandise!]"

The sharp sound of shattering glass prompted Rojin to straighten out and turn his attention towards the exit once again. His eyes narrowed as he spotted the commotion, gaze flittering around in an attempt to spot at least a single security guard - only for a very familiar Intel officer to pop up. He watched Vovvi storm off towards the commotion-- "Nope, won't do..." he murmured, following suit, not to keen on having a single person try and stand up to a whole group. He made his voice loud and clear as he walked closer, hands in his pockets, accented Standard rolling off of his tongue past an unfriendly, toothy grin: "What'cha got there, buddy?.."

"Alright, everybody stay put!" Maggie tried among the rising chaos, waving their hands in the air. Out of the corner of their eye, they watched Rojin dart off, and made their move to the center of the bar, standing up on a chair. "You're all getting a super exclusive magic show..!"

Hearing nothing but a foreign language, the initial three looters in the restaurant didn't even realise they were being spoken to by Vovvi, people having been communicating on the promenade throughout the chaos at various volumes in various languages. It was only as Rojin spoke in Standard that the three looters, a Human, a Ferengi, and a Risian, froze in place, cartoonishly turning to face the incoming people like a deer caught in shuttle lights. The Ferengi immediately tried to hide all evidence, holding a very expensive bottle behind her back. The Human tried to kick away some broken glass as if nothing happened, and the Risian? Well, he picked up a piece of broken glass to use as a weapon. "Please don't shoot me I have so much Profit I'm yet to make!" The Ferengi exclaimed, only to be shushed by the Risian. "This ain't your fight, Starfleet." The Risian said to Vovvi, standing at a rather impressive six foot three and built like a tank, before looking over at Rojin. "Stay out of it, civvie, or it'll be your bar next."

Vovvi, taller than the Risian, scowled at the realization that no one could understand her. "I said," she emphasized, Standard this time-- she knew a few words, not much, and most of them related to Security-- "drop it. You are under arrest. [I don't want to have to use force.]" Her eyes darted to Rojin, picking up on the familiar accent. Oh thank the Elements, did he speak Rihannsu? "[Mr. Lareth, I--]" She really needed the help, but.. "[This is a Security issue, I advise you return to Hlleistau before you or someone else gets hurt.]"

Oh-h-h, scary are we? He looked at the Risian, both eyes flitting up and down despite the lack of function in the right one, mismatched glare unblinking: "Very cute. You are committing a robbery on a Starfleet station. Last time I checked, such instances are their fight." Hearing Vovvi speak to him, Rojin switched to Rihannsu as well to reply: "[With all due respect, miss Rei'nak, but I am not leaving you standing against a trio of buffoons, with one of them wielding sharp glass. I am a simple, humble bartender - dealing with rowdy people is part of my job. I also don't see any other Starfleet officer in our vicinity that is not swarmed or busy.]"

"[... Fine.]" A little exasperated, but overall appreciated. Vovvi was just tired and wanted all of this over with. "[This is your final warning,]" she emphasized -- useless, given that they couldn't fucking understand her. This was so frustrating..

"Lieutenant Commander here wants you three to know that this is your last warning," he translated helpfully, using his most polite service worker voice which didn't pair all too well with his appearance.

The three looters, one terrified, one uncaring, and the other quite pissed off, were all significantly younger than both Rojin and Vovvi, but the Ferengi was puny, the Human was average, and it was really only the Risian that looked like they posed much of a risk right now. "Oooh look at you both, so intimidating with your purple uniform and barkeep charisma. News flash, sweeties, we're armed, and you're not." The Risian stated, still holding a substantially large piece of Cardassian wine-coated glass. The Ferengi, looking at the Risian spoke. "Wait we are? I mean, yes, we are armed and dangerous!" She said, clearly having not received any form of memo.

"[There's no need to escalate this any further. Drop the glass and step away from the bar. The lights'll be on any minute now, and then what? You'll be swarmed with security officers faster than you can blink. Or, you can cooperate, and we can make this easy.]" Either way, they'd be tossed in the brig with, at the very least, intent for robbery... "[Threatening a civilian and an officer is the least of your charges, but robbery doesn't have to be one of them.]" (edited)

As the officer finished speaking, Jin was quick to translate Vovvi's explanation into Standard. Meanwhile, he took a good look at the trio again, concluding that the Ferengi and the Human didn't seem to be posing too much of a threat. And Rei'nak was a Starfleet officer - of course she would be trying the peaceful solution first. Rojin was not quick to relax and let his guard down, especially around that seemingly volatile Risian... "Your actions will incriminate all three of you," he added. "Perhaps you should save your buddies from having that mark on their resumes?"

Listening to what the officer and the bartender said, the Ferengi was in far more of an agreement than the other two, wanting to get out of this situation as soon as possible. "Hey man, I just saw these bottles, a-and I just wanted to make some Profit. That's all, I swear!" She said, only to be shushed by the Risian. Clearly he was the one in charge, or at least the one dominating over the others. "You and I both know the lights aren't coming back on any time soon, so here's how this is gonna work..." He said, before immediately grabbing the Ferengi and holding the shard of glass so it was pointed at her. The Ferengi, out of fear, dropped the bottle of Andorian Ale she was holding, the bottle smashing to the ground as she let out an 'eep' sound. Being a hostage was not what she signed up for. "You're gonna let us walk, or the Ferengi gets it." The Human looked over at what the Risian was doing with a combination of shock and disgust, but didn't do or say anything. Clearly this was more than they had bargained for, too.

"[Take it easy!]" Vovvi took two steps forward. She was NOT trained in hostage negotiation. Fuck. "[Ma'am, try to stay calm for me. The last thing we want is for anyone to get hurt, you're going to be fine,]" she tried to tell the terrified Ferengi, soothing as she could be. "[It doesn't have to be this way. Where would you even go? No ship is coming in or out, they can't. You'll just end up in a corner waiting for your arrest. And when that happens, do you really want a murder charge on top of everything!? Be reasonable!]"

He couldn't help the curl of his lips as soon as the Ferengi was taken hostage - the feeling of disgust becoming too strong to hide; for someone from a resistance movement, such actions were just... unthinkable. He briefly glanced over Vovvi, who was clearly Not Having It. Right, she was an Intel officer. He was an undercover terrorist. Couldn't it be anymore obvious that hostage negotiations were not their forte?.. "...Frankly, I don't believe you," he added after one more translation session. "I don't believe that you are not going to hurt the Ferengi, even if we walk out and let you continue taking whatever you want and run. Hell, maybe you will be inclined to hurt that human as well. Let me be very clear with you - even if you cut her throat and bleed her out, it won't stop me from getting you. It won't stop the Security from getting you. And boy, when they do, you are not walking out of that brig anytime soon - 'fleet takes their crimes rather seriously. And, just as miss Rei'nak said, you have nowhere to go - you are stuck on this station until the storm passes." He gestured with his tattooed hand, mimicking two sides: "You can choose. Spill innocent blood, get neutralized, and live the rest of your life in the jail, or be reasonable, talk with Security, and receive much lighter charges. So, what will it be?"

Despite Vovvi's best efforts to keep the Ferengi calm, the woman instead opted to start sobbing, saying something about being too young and greedy to die. She was probably only in her thirties. The Human took a slight side step away from the Risian, clearly wanting to distance themself from the potential bloodshed, and the Risian? Well, he hadn't exactly thought this plan through, frankly. There was nowhere for him to go, they were right. He was screwed either way, so why make it worse for himself. After a moment of silence he spoke once more. "I can't go back, okay? I just can't! I've spent too long locked up in one place or another. I'm just trying to make some money so I can live the life I want! Is that too much to ask?"

"[This is hardly the way to do that. If you hurt that woman, you're being shipped straight off to the brig for quite possibly a lifetime sentence. There are better and more honest ways to do what you'd like, a life of crime is hardly the way to progress.]" Vovvi took another two steps forward, holding her hand out for the Ferengi's. Her expression was steady, her voice firm but gentle, Rojin's carrying alongside it making her feel a little bit stronger. "[Let her go. You've backed yourself into a corner. There's no going back now, no matter how you put it, and I'm sorry for that. But the last thing you want is blood on your hands. That's the sort of thing that never washes out, not on your record, not on your conscience. You had your chance to do the right thing, but you have another chance now. Don't you dare let that slip through your fingers.]" (edited)

Things seemed to be underway in Science and Engineering to get things fixed. That meant that it was the perfect time for other things to un fix, right? Without warning, a sudden feeling of weightlessness swept over everyone here. Objects began floating. People began floating. It would appear that the gravity had turned off: a sign that the life support system was losing more power.

Well. This wasn't good at all. Maggie watched drinks and chairs and people begin to float up into the air, and thought for a moment of something to do. They didn't take improv classes for nothing, right!? Uhh-- "Behold!" They held their arms out, doing a little flip in midair, smiling so much their face started to hurt. "The amazing power of Maggie the Magnificent! Now everybody hold onto something attached to the ground, okay!?"

He might've had something more to add after once again translating the Intel officer's words, but the words died on his lips upon Rojin noticing glass starting to float; whatever the man had to say, it was replaced with an exasperated, sincere, whisper of, "What the hell?..". The answer came as soon as the rest of the ruined bar, including him and four other souls present in it, joined the float. "Commander!" he barked out a late warning, extending his arm towards Vovvi for her to try and grab onto, "Shield your faces!" He looked around, trying to spot something that was not currently going up in the air or looked soft enough to grab for a landing, hoping to push and herd people that way...

"Fvadt--!!" Vovvi moved quickly as she could, grabbing hold of Rojin's arm and drawing close to stabilize herself. Her eyes darted around before she grabbed a floating tablecloth from one of the long tables, the ones meant for bigger parties. One swift movement, and she'd tied a secure knot around the leg of one. "[This way- get away from the windows, and away from the bar. Keep your heads down, hide your faces.]" The other arm that wasn't holding onto Rojin's held the makeshift rope out for the trio, so they could get and stay closer to the ground. "[The last thing we want is any of you getting hurt!]" (edited)

As the gravity un-gravitied and things started floating, including the remaining very heavy glass bottles on the shelves behind the bar the looters were stood behind, the younger people Maggie was busy entertaining in Hlleistau were only very briefly concerned, as the magician's acting skills soon made them believe it was all entirely them and their amazing magic show causing the floating. As instructed, the small audience held onto something stable. Meanwhile in the restaurant the three musketeers were thoroughly shocked by the gravity suddenly failing. The Ferengi was now even more scared, the Risian was angered, and the Human almost instantly grabbed onto the bar for stability. "Please let me go! I'll give you twenty percent of my cut of the profit!" The Ferengi begged, still firmly in the grasp of the glass-wielding hostage taker. Despite having previously been hesitant, when Vovvi offered the makeshift rope the Human immediately launched for it, grabbing ahold of it to move themself away from the imminent danger. The Risian, however, was still firmly stubborn, at least to start with. Looking behind him at the floating bottles, down at the floating glass, and then hearing Vovvi say she didn't want anyone to get hurt, he sighed, knowing he didn't have many options left anyway, and let the Ferengi go. She was very quick to scurry/swim over to the rope as best as possible, clambering over the bar and almost crashing into the Intelligence officer in the process, having gone ever so slightly too fast, all while still crying. The Risian carefully let go of the glass he was holding and took ahold of the makeshift rope as well, pulling himself away from the bar. "You can arrest me once the gravity turns back on. If it turns back on." (edited)

"[That's good. Hold tight to that.] Do not let go." Vovvi glanced around for another tablecloth, before grabbing for the remaining bottles floating about, tying them in a makeshift sack. Hopefully Rojin didn't mind her using him as a living anchor... She tied the sack down to another table, tying each end like a hammock so when the gravity came back on they wouldn't shatter. At least, she hoped they wouldn't. "[That should do it,]" she said, rejoining the group completely. They were close enough to the ground that nobody would really get hurt, besides maybe a sore ankle. Vovvi was up a bit higher than the rest of them, but she'd be alright. (edited)

Out of nowhere the entire station went dark. There was no more emergency lighting, an absent void inside; nothing but the view from the windows displaying the swirl of the combined ion storm and inversion field outside. It was almost peaceful - until suddenly, everything lit up. Any external windows were suddenly illuminated in hues of greens, blues, and purples as the station's shields onlined, inverted, and interacted with the storm. Up and down the station a mini-aurora had formed, giving everyone the view of a truly awe-inspiring, once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. The aurora was also accompanied by another source of light. A familiar hum suddenly kicked to life; the usual background noise of the station's engines powering on once more. Consoles lit up with a blue 'backup LCARS' screen, monitors began to chime, and both objects and people fell down to the ground as the gravity came back online again. If anyone's cybernetics had been made non-functional they now powered back on - as did any Androids who had been completely oblivious of the situation! For Liberated Borg officers, it was like a surge of energy as nanoprobes started to work at their usual rate and implants worked once more. It would appear that whatever had happened, the station was now shielded from the storm. Somewhere on 777, some rather brilliant minds had fixed things.

Jenaha was practically a charging bull at this point, just bolting her way in whatever means was available, with her cybernetic eye giving her the route she needed, and hopefully access to security camera's if they are working to get a good view if anything had happened. She was armed with a phaser on hand and an unfathomable amount of Betazoid disappointment if there were anyone who dared take the opportunity to do crimes on HER station of all places. She may be gone for a while, but now she's back. "Station Security!" The ACOS declared when she arrived with phaser raised as she scanned the scene, glaring at the looters in particular with her red cybernetic eye.

The Romulan couldn't bite back the sharp inhale as suddenly, his right eye regained it's vision; he could clearly imagine the way his pupil shrunk and then expanded, calibrating after being turned off for so long. Somewhat distantly he hoped that no one else had the time to see and notice that. He was also painfully aware that they were about to fall. Landing on your own two feet was one of the many skills that were carefully embedded into his brain decades ago - and now it felt as natural as breathing, yet at the same time, feeling that dull hum in his dense bones after so long was just a bit alien. Rojin didn't have time to dwell on that, though - because his head snapped up, his hands formed a cradle, and he may need to apologize later for the absolutely unceremonious grab Vovvi had to endure from him for the duration of whole few seconds as she fell down.

Vovvi, expecting the hard reality check the floor would give her, landed instead in Rojin's arms, one arm slung against the back of his shoulder and her hair a trainwreck once more. It was far better than an injury, though, so she let out a breath of relief, pushing the messy and loose strands out of her face. The lights were back on. She blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted, glancing over to the bartender with an air of quiet disbelief before coming to her senses. "Thanks for the save, Rojin.." She patted his shoulder twice before hopping down to meet the Security officer. "Right, you three. You're under arrest for attempted theft. You follow the ACOS here, and I'll be right behind." Just like that, she'd snapped back into professionalism, her voice firm as ever. She paused, though, glancing back. "I'll be back as soon as I can. ...To help with cleanup and all."

"Alright. Come along gents." Jena gave Vovvi a nod as she took over the arrest of the 3 looters and gestured them to follow her to the brig. "While we're on the way, a couple of things: You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, and I'm not exactly in the mood to hear it from any of you 3 right now. You have the right to an attorney, one will be provided to you by the Station's JAG Corps if necessary. I hope you understand the rights I have just listed to you, assuming we have UT online again." Jena said firmly as they went along to the turbolift. There was a Odo-esque tone in her voice as she said this. "Commander, I'm guessing we'll be having a bit of a debriefing later to discuss what happened here?" (edited)

"Yes sir," Vovvi confirmed with a nod. "As the security footage was down, you have eyewitness in myself and Mr. Lareth, who assisted me by translating when no other security officers were available. I imagine they won't protest much, maybe even a confession." She straightened, following behind the train of criminals and officers alike.

Maggie tumbled a little bit when they hit the ground, but ultimately swept back up to their feet in a deep bow. "Thank you for being a wonderful audience!" Holy FUCK, they couldn't wait to tell Verelan about this.

"Good. Depending on the charges, the law would be pressed so hard their gang would be called 'Scum-Pressed Latinum' " Jena said as she led the way as she cracked her knuckles to the amount of work on her plate for later. "Apologies that I wasn't here sooner by the way, I was at sickbay."

Once the gravity returned, two of the three looters had landed on their feet, with the Ferengi instead landing on her face. It was as Security approached, though, that all three of them let out a sigh, the Ferengi immediately putting her hands up but the others a bit more reserved to do so. The Risian, though, was the only one to speak. "Can I be put through some sort of rehabilitation program or something? I don't want to live like this anymore."

"We'll see what we can do." Vovvi confirmed with a gentler voice than her usual professional one. Therapy was always an option, especially for those eagerly willing to change. "I hope you're feeling better now, sir."

"Nothing a painkiller and some rest couldn't fix, Commander" Jena said to Vovvi with a smile before turning to the Risian with a gentler expression, sensing that sentiment to be the truth. "Yeah. We'll work on it later."

"Sure," he replied nonchalantly and with a smile, hoping that the Intel officer, after everything was said and done, wouldn't be dwelling on everything that had just transpired. The innocent humble bartender act could only go for so long - it and his sometimes rather obvious army-like instincts, were a Venn diagram, not a perfect circle. As Vovvi stood up and the Security officer approached her, Rojin stood up, brushing his clothes off with his sleeves (just in case some of the glass landed on him), watching carefully as the three were being apprehended. If the Risian glanced at him while passing, he would've received a small nod from the Romulan, as if the scarred man was respecting the choice - a correct one, this time. "Is everything okay?" he asked upon re-entering Hlleistau, soon beelining it towards Maggie, "I hope no one here gave you trouble?"

"Not at all!" The Magician confirmed with a dazzling grin, though was clearly thoroughly exhausted, slinging their bag over their shoulder. "I tried my best to keep everybody calm, and I think it worked, for the most part... At least, it seemed to stop a riot from breaking out." They rubbed the back of their neck, expression faltering. "My limbs feel like jelly, and I'm ready to go back to bed. Or maybe into a small coma. Is there anything I can do to help, though?"

"You have my thanks," he bowed his head, "for keeping the people here calm. Feel free to take a moment to rest here or in the staff room. Given the state of the station right now, one that I would say is a wrecked mess, and you looking like you will topple over faster than I could react - no offense - I wouldn't mind. It's not like I can continue business until we clean all of this up."

Maggie sighed in something like relief and nodded, padding back off to the staff room. Probably to fall asleep in the corner for a few hours. Holy shit, they were beat.