777: Additional RP Server - dego︱gilded-gala

The gala was in full swing; drinking, dancing, and laughing, shady business deals being conducted in just about every corner, waiters whisking around with small treats and flutes of champagne and other things. Normal gala activities. The Intelligence officer had been let in without a hitch, thanks to a forged ticket. There were two security guards posted to every entrance and every closed door, some places more populated than others. Vara was sent off on this assignment with only one clue— a desert rose. (edited)

Vara hummed as she stepped around the hustle and bustle of the gala, and she was dressed to impress. She wore a white and gold suit jacket with coattails that reached down to around her knees, with cufflinks the colour of gold along the sleeves, and a masquerade mask in her pocket for go time. “A drink? Why yes I will!” She said as she grabbed a glass from a passing waiter, not to drink mins you, but just to seem as if she was in the full thick of the party. “Now then, desert rose, desert rose.” She muttered.

Indeed— it was difficult to spot flowers with the mingling of the partygoers. Perhaps getting closer might help? There was the matter of the password to get into the sale, too... How would one go about getting that?

Vara hummed as she moved through the crowds with skill and grace, trying to survey various groups of people who were talking, checking for desert roses or people who seemed….important. Those with guards or with sycophants. “Eyes off the pockets Vara, federation law.” She mumbled to herself in a terrible Vovvi impression.

Desert roses, important people.. A dull monotony of business chatted, broken rather suddenly than a tall, lanky man crossing the room like he was in a hurry.

Red hair, paired with a dark blue suit and a desert rose pinned to his breast. He whispered something to three security guards in front of a door and was permitted access, the door sliding shut behind him.

Vara hummed as she looked to the man entering into the door, ah, there was her mark. “Gotcha.” She quickly checked for any vents that could lead into the auction area, but also she hummed as she moved to stand near any of the business people. “Mhm, auction should be good.” She said, trying to draw a reply.

No signs of any vents, by the looks of it. Only one way in, through the door... "Auction?" One of the people tilted their head. "Whatever are you on about.*

Vara hummed as she looked at the parole. “Oh, I don’t know. I heard it’s for a very expensive treasure though. If you work out the password and speak it to me, I’ll let you know more!” She said with a charming look and smile, and an almost sultry tone. Getting these rich assholes to do the work for her would be good.

The passerby exchanged odd looks and snickered amongst themselves. Looks like she'll have to do the work herself.

Eh, worth a try. Vara moved away from the crowd and towards the edges of the party, away from the large groups and simply…listened. If anyone was to be speaking about the auction in the party, it would be peeps along the outskirts. “Mhm, good party though.”

Inching towards the corner proved fruitful, as a few people were talking. "Do you have your— what do you mean you forgot it!? You're not getting into the auction without it. Idiot. It's not that hard to keep a fuckin' card in your pocket, Vaes—" A card, huh?... The group quickly left their companion behind in favor of beginning the trek towards the heavily guarded door.

Vara smirked as she walked away from the man, before approaching a staff member. “Pardon me, has anyone reported a missing card? I lost mine, or alternatively is there a lost and found I could check?”

The staff member looked quite like a deer in headlights, glancing down and away. "If- if you've lost your card, ma'am, you won't be granted access to the auction. I'm sorry... Have you checked to see if someone else has it...?"

Vara hummed, pickpocket time it seems. “I’ll check, and keep up the good work, you’re doing fine.” She said, before turning to leave the area and try to track the group that had left their companion in the dust.

They were still making their way across the room to the locked doors. None the wiser, it seems..

Vara hummed as she moved on an intercept course, getting ahead of them and leaning on a table, scoping out their leaders pockets and laying in wait for them to pass by and then, boom, she made a swift and skillful grab for the card, taking a sip of her drink with her other hand, looking cool.

Smooth as butter. Look at that, the password was even written on the back of the card so the guy wouldn't forget it. What an idiot!

Vara hummed as she pumped her fist lightly and quickly read the password over. “Let’s see here.”

Today's password is "chekhov's gun". Whoever made it must be a real nerd.

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Vara hummed as she moved into the crowd and headed for the door with a small smile on her face as she flashed the card to the guard (hey that rhymes). “Have a nice rest of your evening.” She said before moving inside to the auction house.

The auction house was less of a house than a busy room. A few Ferengi were at the billiards table, a tall Andorian man looming over the group with a sly smile on his face. A stubborn smell of smoke & the sound of idle chatter hung in the air, folks selling off smuggled goods with quiet whispers. Best to follow the lead she already had?

The thief turned out to look towards the crowd as she tried to follow the crowd to blend in nicely, she was looking for the desert rose, probably easier then looking for the shard itself. “Hey, nice joint.” (edited)

The desert rose was still pinned to the breast of the red-haired man's suit. He was talking quietly to two other people, keeping one hand on the satchel on his side. Vara's approaching made him raise his head, a practiced, polite smile on his face. "Isn't it? One hell of a party." (edited)

Vara hummed as she looked to Sawyer. “Oh sure, it is quite nice. I heard there’s some great things for sale, like a ah, data shard from a certain government that always gets in the way of the fun?” (edited)

Sawyer chuckled, adjusting his glasses. "Who says I've got something like that? Maybe you've got the wrong guy."

Vara hummed as she made a show of looking at his rose. “Oh no, I think I have the right fella.”

"Uh huh. And what, pray tell, would you do with this purely hypothetical data shard, miss?" Tucking his thumbs in his pockets, he leant forward, head cocked to the side. "And what would you be willing to give for it?"

She smiled as she gave a look, leaning against the nearby wall. “Pay, and with quite a lot.” She said plainly. “Of course, I’ll want proof you actually have the damn thing, nothing more than an eye-sight.”

"Give me a good reason to trust you, and I'll consider it," he answered. "I can't go flashing my wares to any folk who could whip a badge out at me, of course."

She shrugged with a nod. “Can’t fault that logic. What would you want me to do to prove myself to you, oh great and powerful sir?”

"That's up to you. I'm not the one desperate to buy," he answered, waving an idle hand. "Impress me."

She hummed. “Fine, fine. If you really must know, I’m a career criminal, Ace of Phantoms, pulled off nearly 200 successful jobs in my life. Let’s just say I ain’t about to whip out a badge at you when they’d rather have me in a cell.”

Sawyer's expression remained neutral — not impressed, not disappointed. A quick flash of his palm revealed the data shard. Perfectly intact. "I'll take.. oh, seven bars for it. For my trouble, of course."

Her eyes almost flashed gold with dollar signs at the sight of the item, 7 bars??? She could almost cry, that was exactly what she would have charged for it. “Mhm, good thing I brought enough. Would you rather make the sale here, or somewhere else?”

"Strength in numbers. I'd rather not be found bleeding out in a supply closet." Sawyer held out his hand for the payment. "Go on."

Vara smiled as she looked at him, pulling out a small case. “Sure, right in here.” She said before opening the case, revealing a simple box that fired out a stream of water straight towards his eyes. She quickly threw on her masquerade mask before going to grab his arm and try and force open his palm. “Thanks for the shard man.”

The thief shifted; oozed under the stream, two steps back before he shook his head. "Nah," he said, gradually melting to a puddle on the ground, "I think I'm gonna find another buyer." With that, he took off, going into the crowd and disappearing in a puddle under the door. (edited)

“Oh a fucking changeling? Huh, good! A challenge!” She said before racing after him, flipping over tables and past others in the party before seeing the puddle break under the door, she sighed, jumped and kicked through it back into the main party. Man, thank god she hadn’t gone in uniform to this.

The party was still in full swing. He could be anywhere now...

Vara sighed, shit nuggets. She swiftly moved from the door and back into the hustle and bustle of the party, she didn’t want guards to swarm her. She let herself get into the pack and simply….watched and waited, someone would slip up and try to set up a deal, and she would watch. However, she also had a backup plan, and looked for anyone with a lighter on them to pickpocket.

The lighter was easily lifted, but it seemed like the thief was laying low for the time being. There was no sign of him anywhere. At least...not as he was.

Vara hummed as she continued her survey work, she acted as she was just enjoying her drink as she stepped around everyone, acting as a social chameleon as she watched for anything….odd or of note.

"I said I don't want your damn shard! Like hell I'm grabbing it if there might be a Fed around!" Trouble in paradise? That sounded like a little scuffle on the dance floor.

Vara smirked as she moved slowly to the dance floor, looking for the source of the fight. Ah, sweet, sweet desperation.

Too slow— seems the thief must have slipped back into the crowd. What now?

Vara swore to herself as she swiftly moved towards the person they were arguing with. “Oi, which way did they go?”

The woman scoffed, crossing her arms. "He went back towards the doors. Think he's making his way out."

Vara nodded as she moved to race towards the doors, hopefully no one else was trying to make their way out. Vara practically Naruto ran over to the doors. “Come on, come on.”

There was a smaller, black-haired man moving quickly through the crowd, pushing towards the exit when— CRASH. A chandelier toppled just behind Vara. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to be hurt, but chaos was starting to unfold!

“Eyes on the prize.” She said softly as she started sprinting towards the black haired man, weaving in between the chaos as she jumped off of a table to get closer to the exit. “Oi, stop it! Let’s talk!”

"I've got nothing left to say to you." He backed up, eyes darting around as he looked for a way out of this. Fuck. Fuck. He never should've grabbed that shard.

Vara approached with her hands clasped behind her back. “Hey. The shit I told you about me being a thief is true, I’m only working for them because I would go to prison otherwise. You’re a changeling right? Why are you away from the uh, great link or whatever?”

"I'm not telling you my tragic backstory! Fuck off, I'm not doing this sappy bullshit!" Sawyer pointed a phaser to Vara, his eyes narrowed. "Let me go with the shard. I swear to God, I'll shoot."

Vara blinked slightly. “Well shit pal, I was about to let you leave without the shard! But pointing a phaser at me doesn’ttttt make me feel in that mood.” She opened up her jacket to reveal her own phaser strapped to her ribs, not grabbing it yet. “Do you really want this to turn into a shootout?”

His eyes darted around the room before he shot somewhere behind her— a smaller chandelier toppled. He took the opportunity to slide under the door in one swift, fluid motion, to the dark, rainy streets of Ferenginar.

Vara didn’t even flinch, she raced after him towards the streets, whipping out her phaser and sending two low powered blasts at his form. “They will send someone worse than me if you leave this planet with the shard. Give it to me, and I can make up a story. You get to leave free of charge.”

"I don't think your Fed friends would like that very much," Sawyer spat, firing blindly behind him while he dipped into an alley. "You're an idiot if you think I believe you for a split second!"

Vara dodged the blasts as she swung into the alley after him. “Call it a professional favour. I ain’t about to throw you in a cell when that’s the one thing I fear more than anything.” She said, blasting at the other end of the alley to slow him down. “I also don’t super care what my Fed friends say, my job is to retrieve the shard, not throw you in a cell.”

Sawyer stumbled and looked around for somewhere to go. Dead end. "You can either be a Fed, or a criminal. You can't be both. I don't want your goddamn pity." He held his phaser up, pointing straight for her head. "I'd rather go in a fucking cell than live a life on the run. At least that makes me better than you."

Vara did the same, making a show of setting it to the max stun setting. “Take the deal, I don’t want to shoot.” She knew she was being monitored, she knew she wouldn’t be able to honour it, But oh how she wished. “Please.” Her finger glazed over the trigger.

"Then you're even more of a coward than I thought." Crowds of footsteps, rapidly approaching. Best to shoot and make it quick.

Vara sighed, before looking up with a smile. Best to be the devil then the regretful angel. BRR A max stun phaser shot to the chest. “I’m sorry.”

A flurry of movement— Intelligence officers, retrieving the shard, arresting the thief, moving to the Gala to help with any damages.

"Good work, Zh'rahlor," the Commander said, their tone flat but no less appreciative. "Let's get this wrapped up, people. We've got some security to tighten up.."

Vara hummed as she listened to the Cdr. “Right, yeah. Want me to help out, or can I head back to the shuttle?”

"You're dismissed, Lieutenant. Rest up," he responded, waving his hand to gesture for someone to escort her, so she could maybe get some rest on the way home.

Vara nodded. “Of course, sir.” She said as she slowly walked off with her escort, wrapping her fashionable jacket around herself as she took off her masquerade mask. She didn’t want the changeling to suffer that fate, she truly didn’t, but then again. It was him, or her, and she always bet on herself.

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