Where There Is Smoke...

[Exile_Jeane]

Still high from her, at least until she had a good long self-critique, successful performance, Amari considered the TavaPol agent with more of her sets of eyes than usual, suspicion dancing in the main set on her red pupils. She'd only just had to run from one set of state-sanctioned agents at great cost and here was *another* like the ghost of Christmas far-too-recent-for-her-tastes. It made her prickle inside and her lips set stubbornly. 

 

"I will answer no questions without the counsel of a lawyer, Sir," the Promethan stated flatly with the ease of long hours of drilling by her family, giving Tarko her best hard stare before looking down and letting her thumbs play over her comms device looking up precisely those kinds of professionals.  

[Asarasa]

Ivy's hand tightened on the half empty bottle of whiskey, the other slipping beneath the table to surreptitiously finger the hilt of her saber as the TavaPol officer to a seat at their table. The instinctive distrust of the authorities of an Atlas Rat had never deserted her, and suspicion had spiked with finding out about shapeshifters being out there, and seemingly gunning for them. Her dark grey eyes narrowed on the officer, as though trying to discern if something else dwelled beneath Tarko's skin.

Her lips curled into a smirk when Amari spoke. In her experience, lawyers were greater criminals than any she was acquainted with. She'd rather deal with a cop than a lawyer. You could make a deal with a cop, a lawyer will fuck everyone over. She took a sip of the Dendus Whiskey, and sighed at the cold burn spreading down her throat.

"Ain't admitting to anything," Ivy drawled, "but if TavaPol wants to send some cubils my way for a job, I'll listen."

Killer shapeshifters about and finding herself amidst a group of those touched by the Crucibles was making Ivy uneasy. For a moment, she felt the Black writhing within. It was past time she went back on the move.

[SalmonMax]

Emi laughed.

 

"Gang? Buddy, as of right now I've talked to you almost as much as I've talked to them. As a general rule, I don't do gangs."

 

She gestured at a seat and added, "That said, if you're talking money, sure thing...make a pitch. I wouldn't mind a little jingle in mah jeans."

[Nina]

Tarko studied the young woman with the snakes for hair, mesmerized. He shook himself, looked at the rest of them  "No I'm not here to bust your chops, I am with the gang task force. I got called out to the Kismet dock. The initial report was about gang violence. But we all know it wasn't that and to be honest I don't care about whatever happened there.

 

Whichever one of you fuddled the customs bot did top rate work.  We didn't have a clue about what went down in that dock. But one of the Outside Hall cams picked up your little gang high tailing it away from that area and I recognized her." Tarko points finger at Ivy.  "TavaPol been keeping an eye on her since she arrived on station under... circumstances. Anyway I knew where she hung out so I thought this might be the break I been waiting for."

 

A waitress brings Tarko a steaming mug. “I’m in the middle of an ongoing investigation which spans several systems. I have information I need to get to my off world contact. But I can’t approach them. There is a gang here on Pel Taveria called Omega Fist they are in this hip deep. They know where my contact is but not who. So I can’t approach my contact without blowing their cover.

 

I want you guys to deliver the data to my contact. I’ll pay you 2000cu up front all you need to do is deliver it an walk away.

 

What do you say?”

 

 

 

[Asarasa]

It wouldn't be that easy. It never was that easy. But it was money and it would get her off Pel Tavaria. Ivy could feel her skin itching, The Black spreading from her tattoos like linear stains to form a constellation beneath her clothes. She finished her whiskey, then took some steadying breaths, ignoring any looks her way as her vision cleared, the shadow of The Black receded from her thoughts.

"Where to and are you covering travel costs or arrangements?" Ivy drawled as she ran a hand through her short hair and looked up to meet Tarko's gaze with glittering, dark grey eyes. "Otherwise, you're gonna have to raise our fee. Don't know 'bout these others, but I ain't got access to a ship."

[Nina]

Tarko chuckled, "No travel hun, delivery is right here on the station. I just cant allow my contact to discovered, and I'm not using anyone in the department or known to the department, because I have reason to believe that the gang has a mole inside."

 

He take a swig from his mug. "So you guys in, or do I need to look elsewhere?"

[Exile_Jeane]

Amari looked up her typing, joining the gaze of her human eyes to the tiny ones on her tendrils that had never left Tarko's face. This sat wrong to her, and it showed on her face. But the others could use the credits, especially with the threat of slighted xenos shapeshifters lurking about. 

 

"I have an honest gig this evening, but if any of you want to take him up on the offer, I'll be around to stitch you up after if things go wrong for you," the mutated promethan performer stated softly, "Or bail you out if this is a little thing called 'entrapment'. Fascinating trick cops play to get people they don't like to commit crimes and punish them for it." 

[Shameless]

Seiya chuckled at that, and nodded.   "Indeed, it is so."  He looked to Tarko and Ivy, and smiled.  "I'm in too."  He'd sent several messages, all of which were received, but there'd been no response at all.  That was odd in and of itself, and left him with time on his hands, and potentially lacking in a place to stay.  So earning money, doing a job for a local cop, well, it wasn't his favorite idea, but the money was good, even if it was to be split.

"A question, won't a group of unknown outsiders attract just as much attention, going where we're going?"

[Asarasa]

Ivy gave the singer an askance look, wondering what the world she was from was like. Entrapment? That seemed like too many steps in Ivy's mind, when the authorities could just blame or blackmail someone for a crime. She was getting antsy now and was getting eager to get off the station, but if the job was here on Pel Tavaria, it meant they could get it over and done with all the quicker.

 

Then the Valna chimed in with a question that begged an answer.

 

"Well, if it were just you unknown outsiders, yes." Tarko nodded then grinned, "But, seventy percent of the stations population at any given time is made up of outsiders who are unknown. And where the meet will take place almost all of those outsiders end up anyway."

 

Ivy perked up, there was only one place where everyone went. If they could afford it.

"In," Ivy like the Valna, agreed, interrupting Tarko's explanation, "And when things do go wrong," she added wryly with a glance towards the Promethean before turning back to Tarko, "How quiet do we have to be 'bout it? Ain't expecting any cover on your end, considering your concerns."

[Nina]

Seiya looked back and forth between Ivy and the cop. “And just exactly where are we meeting this contact?” 

 

Tarko smiled and gestured with his hands as if bestowing gifts.

 

“The Eclipse.”

 

The Eclipse. Everyone who comes to Pel Tavaria has heard of the preeminent club, not only on the station but in the whole system, perhaps in whole quadrant.

 

The Eclipse. The entertainment centerpiece of Pel Tavaria, a station built to entertain and accommodate. The Eclipse hosts state-of-the-art technologies, top line celebrity entertainers giving their once in a lifetime performance. Exotic food and beverages. Nothing is unavailable at The Eclipse.

 

As that sinks in everyone realizes that they won’t even be noticed in such a place.

 

Tarko pulls a data tab from his coat pocket. It is metallic blue, a little larger than a thumb but about twice as thick, one end is rounded, and the other is a standard computer jack. “This contains the data I need to get to my superiors. We can’t transmit it even encoded, to much risk of interception.”

 

He holds it up waiting for one of them to take it. With his other hand he sets down two credit tabs. “That’s the two thousand for the job.” He slides one of the tabs to the center of the table. “And that’s a bonus, a little spending money for the club.” He slides the other tab up beside the first.

 

Saiya takes the offered tab containing the data to be delivered.

 

“Your contact is an Eldori woman named Rhona. Once you’re in the club just ask any Eclipse employee for her. You’ll know it’s her because her dna is the only set that will unlock your pay tab. This little one is already unlocked so you get something even if you decide not to go through with the deal.

 

Oh, one more thing, don’t try to fuddle the data tab it has some very aggressive security locks.”

 

With that Tarko pushes back from the table and wishes you all good luck.

 

A short time later making their way through the station the former passengers of the Kismet find themselves in the entertainment district of the massive space station.

 

Streams of bright lights, holographic ads, and flashing signs decorate this entire area. The streets are filled with people making their way in between the rows of hover vehicles moving about the busy streets. The buildings vary between small fast-food restaurants to mini-malls and full-service recreational facilities, offering anything and everything that isn’t illegal.

[Shameless]

Seiya, with his heightened senses, let out a low grunt and growl at the sensory assault of the Entertainment district.   It wasn't the first time he'd been to such a place, but this was far larger than any he'd been to, and it took him a little while to get used to it.

He looked to the others, and nodded.  "Let's get this over with."   He took note of people all around, even though they weren't at their destination yet.   

He was clearly not in his element,  but the thought of not doing what he'd agreed to do never actually crossed his mind.  Getting on the wrong side of local cops was generally a bad idea, and the simple delivery of a datastick wasn't the worst thing one could be paid to do.

[Asarasa]

Ivy's eyes roved ceaselessly over the eclectic crowd despite the sensory cacophony, alert for the sort of people and their hands such districts attracted. And now, trying discern if any of them contained a different creature beneath their skins. But it was a instinctive, a habitual, suspicion. She breathed in, taking in the smell of exotic body ordour, various substances being smoked, and subtle scents injected into the air to gently nudge certain predispositions. She was comfortable in places like this, and to be fair, she was looking forward to frequenting The Eclipse again, even if it was on the job. She'd only been once before, and this time, it wouldn't even be on her own cubils.

They made a strange company, but here, they hardly stood out, even armed. She smirked over and up at the tense Valna. "Relax, catman. We ain't on a clock. And if there's xenos looking for you lot, they'll have a harder time finding you in the middle of all this."

 

With a certain looseness to the swing of her slim hips, the white-haired woman swaggered up the line to The Eclipse, snapping her hand behind her to Seiya. After a moment, Seiya realized what she wanted and he handed Ivy the second credit tab. When they made it the doorman, a massive Matokai with dark blue scales and an expensive suit, Ivy blithely handed him the tab, and made a swirling gesture with her other hand, indicating those with her. The Matokai eyed them for a moment, then nodded, slotting the tab into a wrist mounted reader and deducting the entrance feet.

 

"Don't cause trouble you can't afford," the Matokai doorman warned in a deep, sibilant rumble.

"No promises," Ivy replied with a wide grin. The doorman snorted, his attention going back to the line.

The group entered a grand vestibule that shut out most of the cacophony from outside. "Don't think we were followed, but don't go straight for the contact, anyway," Ivy murmured, barely audible to her companions. "Would be suspicious. Circulate, get a drink, play a game or two, then one of us will ask. Depending on where we're to meet the contact, the others will keep watch scattered about the club. Let's go."

Ivy led them through a second pair of grand doors that slid open at their approach, and a new cacophony washed over them, the music a more directed, thumping affair over the susurrus of many voices and the chirp and whir of various games, the strobing lights making the press of bodies seem to move in stop-motion.

Ivy strutted in, The Black driven away by the bright lights and loud music.

[Nina]

An array of colorful lights, wisps of smoke, and perfumed smells fill your senses upon entering the Eclipse’s main room. A number of tables are positioned along the side walls, with the front of the area being used as a dance floor. A huge, U-shaped bar made of blackened metal and stone takes up much of the central floor. The rest of the floor is packed with partygoers and guests, an amalgam of species running the galactic gamut, all flaunting an array of high-fashion. A live band complete with horns and backup singers plays from an elevated stage that extends from the back wall fifteen feet above the main floor. The music is a mixture of classics and originals with a few current popular songs thrown in. The area where the tables are located has sound baffles so that the music can be heard but talking is not difficult.

 

On either side of the main entrance are a stairs which lead up to an upper floor which is a mirror of the first but with the dance floor being the main rooms ceiling, being semi-transparent. This second floor also has a stage but there is no band playing, instead there is recorded music in the modern style which is played in many of the clubs across the galaxy. Sound baffles keep the music from both floors from mixing.

 

Even though it is only mid-morning by station time, the place is crowded. Uniformed wait-staff weave in and out of the tables bearing trays of drinks, appetizers, and even full course meals. All of the staff appear to be organic, in fact there do not seem to be any robotic presence at all, which is unusual.

 

The party members with tactical observation skill can identify the club security/bouncers who are uniformed like the wait-staff.

 

While the doorman didn’t say anything about any obvious arms the party were wearing, observation of the crowd show that none of the party goers appear armed and neither  do the security.

[Exile_Jeane]

Much as she'd rather be prepping and reprepping for her set this evening, Seiya was the point man on this errand, so she'd play scout for the errand. She gravitated towards the stage with the live music, the eclectic selection of tunes giving the kaleidoscopic flurry of visual input a reassuring beat she could sort through. Serpents shifting around her head like an organic halo, she all but floated towards an empty table, issuing quick apologies both verbally and in dendus tentacle sign when she nearly ran into one of the other club goers. Soon as she reached the sanctuary of said table, she settled, head bobbing to the beat of the music, fingers playing over her comm unit and looking as oblivious any young person spending other people's money could.

 

It wasn't a point a pride that she had been just that kind of spend thrift scionette when allowed by her family before her transformation and the behavior fit like a glove you realized was tacky long after wearing it to the gala. 

 

The sooner the others concluded this drop, the sooner she could go and do the thing she felt much better doing. Hopefully without bloodshed.

[Shameless]

Seiya sighed inwardly.  This wasn't his sort of club at all.   Easily the most openly prepared for battle at any time, he elected to simply do as he'd been told.   He made his way to the bar, and smiled when the bartender, a terran by the look of her, smiled at him  "Good evening sir, what can I make for you?"   "Sarian Sable, If you have it."  He named a popular mixed drink made with both Terran and  Valna Whiskey, It had a smooth taste, one he'd enjoyed before his life had gone to hell.   Most other races that drank it did so with ice, but no self-respecting Valna did so.   

She nodded, and stepped away.  It wasn't all that exotic, and given the clientele, he was sure that they'd have it, as it was well thought of even in polite society.    He paid for his drink when she returned, and took it from her.   He nodded, and inhaled the aroma, the  scent reminding him of better times.   He took that first sip and savored the smoky flavor on his tongue, even as he swallowed, and the fleeting aftertaste.   "My thanks.  Someone taught you well."   It wasn't a patronizing tone at all, but one of respect.  The drink was easy enough to make, but the perfect mixture was fairly precise.  On the first try she'd made it as close to perfect as he'd had since his mentor died.

[Asarasa]

Ivy had drunken enough today already and decided to skip the line at the bar. Instead, she deftly plucked a pair of drinks from the tray of a passing server, their colour constantly shifting as bubbles rose to the surface. She sauntered back to the burly pilot, handing her one of the drinks and linking an arm through one of hers.

"C'mon," Ivy said, leading the reticent Sori towards the dance floor and downing her drink in one go. She didn't know what it was, but there was an explosion of flavour. Very little alcohol. "Loosen up, Terran."

On the dance floor, the sleek, silver-haired woman to gyrate and undulate with a great deal of grace and exuberance and little practiced skill, her back pressed up against Sori's front. The pilot had rarely seen someone appear so relaxed, yet alert at the same time. There was a tautness to her shimmying shoulders, and her dark grey eyes darted from person to person behind their heavy lids.

 

Another dance and another drink, and one more dance, and then Ivy began to weave her way to one of the passing servers once more. Sori squeezed the more slender woman's wrist warningly. Ivy flashed her a smirk over a shoulder.

"Rhona?" Ivy asked the smartly dressed server with a questioning tilt of her chin, her low voice pitched to carry to the server's ears through the music of the club.

[Nina]

The server looked Ivy over, glanced at Sori and nodded, "Just a minute." The turned away and continued on her rounds.

 

Ivy followed the server with her eyes and frowned, then noticed a huge Matokai wearing club colors, shouldering it's way to ward her. It stopped in front of Ivy looked her over and looked Sori over. It lowered its face to within inches of Ivy and sniffed. 

 

"Alright," it said it voice a deep rumble which sounded odd coming from a lizard, "What do you want with Rhona?"

[Asarasa]

Ivy twitched, but restrained herself from reaching for her saber or darting away into the press of bodies. The Matokai was even bigger than the doorman, standing at least half again as tall as her, and had to be at least three times her mass. Her dark grey eyes flitted around the club, trying to catch the attention of her companions.

"Wrong way 'round," Ivy said tersely through gritted teeth and twisted lips. "It's what Rhone wants with us. Have something. She wants it."

The Matokai made a sound somewhere between a rumble and a hiss then held out a clawed hand that could have palmed Ivy's head. "Give it to me, then. I'll give it Rhona."

Ivy shook her head, silvery-white hair picking up highlights of the prismatic lights of the club. "Not so easy. Info. Direct delivery only. We give to you, who knows if she gets it, or if we get paid." She straightened up to her full, modest height, squared her shoulders, and met the Matokai's golden eyes directly with ones of dark silver. "You know how it is. We can walk away, but trust me, she won't like it."

[Nina]

The Matokai appraisees Ivy again.

 

"Alright, follow me. Bring your friends, all of them. And if anyone touches a weapon, all of you burn." Without waiting for a reply the Matokai turns and walks toward the back of the club the crowd parting to let him through.

 

Ivy and Sori quickly follow urgently waving the rest of the group to join them.

 

The Matokai waits for all of you to gather at the back by the bar then opens a hidden door and passes in. the party follows and find themsleve in a secret stair whci leads them to a second floor suite.

 

The suite is two lavish rooms separated by a security veil. the first romm is a meeting area/ lounge with a half dozen club workers (bouncers, security and the like) sitting around relaxing. they all tense then relax when the Matokai brings you in. The Matokai goes to the veil and speaks someone replies from inside and the veil opens and ahe motions the party through.

 

The other side of the veil is a room with Multiple screen displays decorating the walls. Two guards stand on either side of a large steel and glass desk. Seated at the desk is a dark-haired eldori intently studying a holo-display. Upon your entry, she looks up from her work, studies each of you appraisingly. “I've seen you before," she says looking at Ivy, "you're the space pilot with all the baggage. The rest of you I do not know.”  The Eldori stands and steps around the desk, "I am Rhona, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

[Exile_Jeane]

Serpentine Forge continuing to strip mine the sample of shapeshifting Xenos for all the practical information she could apply to her nanites and through them her own biology. If half of the implications she was processing off of this dead thing were a quarter true, fixing what had done to her by the Chrysalis Engine was just the start, and if she could apply the techniques to someone without their own well of Crucible energy... She needed more samples, and Seiya was the key to that. That was it. Bottom line. Amari considered the room in its entirety, world a vortex of sensory input.

 

"Amari Asmodesai, Ma'am. He has a delivery for you," the Promethan exile offered with a respectful nod of her head and an indicative wave at their leonine companion, "I am here to help make sure he walks away from this delivery in whatever small way I can help him to."  

Edited April 9 by Exile_Jeane
Missed a Thing.

[Shameless]

"We have a mutual acquaintance, who regrets they cannot simply come down here right now.   We were sent in their stead, to make a delivery."   To his credit, he didn't hold up either the payment card, or the one with the information, allowing their contact to make their own assumptions.  he'd thought they were going to play abit first, but it seemed it was straight to buisness.

[Nina]

Rhona eyeballs each of the newcomers. "A mutual acquaintance? Well ok, i'll bite. Who is it and what's the delivery?"  Rhona crosses her arms under her breasts and leans back against her desk a slight smile touching her glossy lips.

 

The two guards seem to relax at their bosses demeanor with the unknown guests.

 

Behind Rhona and unnoticed by her and her guards and most of the group, but caught by Amari, Ivy, and Seiya out of the corners of their eyes, there is a flicker on the wall mounted screens.

 

 

[Asarasa]

My baggage all fits on a carryon, bitch, Ivy thought, eyes narrowing as she caught the flicker of the wall monitors. Power fluctuation? Not likely at an establishment as upscale as this. Something activated on Rhona's part - Bitch seems more than satisfied - or a third party? Observation only or potential threat? Dark grey eyes flicked around the room, assessing potential cover and exits.

Thumbs hitched into her belt, she glanced up at Seiya and with a shake of her head, pointed her chin towards the Eldori. "Hand it over, big guy." Ivy returned Rhona's slight smile with a tight, flat grin. "I'm sure you'll figure who and what without us having to explain."

[Shameless]

Seiya looked to Ivy, and nodded.  He withdrew both the data tab and the payment tab.    Still, if she was looking closely, it was easy to see Seiya wasn't actually looking at her.   Something behind her had caught his attention, and his "smile" seemed to become much less one, than it had been.  Then his blue eyes narrowed, and he looked at Ivy, who by her body language had seen it too.   He turned his attention to Rhona, and held up the two tabs.  "Now this tab contains our payment. If you'd be so kind as to unlock it, this other tab contains what we were told you were expecting.  We can complete this deal, and part ways amicably."

[Exile_Jeane]

The faintest souring of her expression was the first and most lasting of her outward reaction to the unwelcome twist in the scene around her. Either their hostess had triggered something or a third party was now sitting in on their conversation. Both were harmful to her goals right now and the longer they sat in the wolves' mouth, the greater the chance it would snap shut on them. The most-immediate key to getting out this maw was the woman in front of them. Any other possibility involved too much guesswork and chance of being wrong. So she needed to take a risk and expedite that withdrawal.

 

"Precisely, Ma'am. We've no interest in this beyond the credits, and soonest done is soonest clear for us both," Amari offered with a slight bow of respect, having left all weapons and gear but her Forge and armored jacket in a cubby back in the bar in which she was to perform. Said Forge coiled itself further up her arm, near invisible vents releasing a burst of nanites that infused themselves into her body, steadying the bow and adding confidence to her voice.

 

Spoiler

Amplify Ability to add 1d4 to a Persuasion roll...

Exile_Jeane Request: [1d20+1d4+2] Roll: [12][3] Result: 17

Whew, 17.