Death by Glamour

[Damian Starchaser]

Damian couldn't help but smile as the woman strutted about and began talking at him. Everything about her changed, well everything save how good she looked. "No," Damian replied to [member="Ash Whynn"]. "Chuck isn't real name. And no, I don't think I'll tell you who I really am." Pausing he cocked his head a little to the side and widened his smile. "Yet. Can I admit something to you? Your con was working pretty well, but I much prefer this version of you. The real you I presume Miss Whynn?"

"I think you have a wrong impression of me though. I am not here to hinder you." Damian peeked further into the vault. "I just want to watch you work. You see I don't care if this scumbag gets robbed. But you. Well color me interested in you."

 

[Ash Whynn]

[member="Damian Starchaser"] [member="Henry Chinko"]

If had intended to flatter her or to inspire some sort of reaction besides skeptical caution, he was failing. "That's how it is, then?" She asked rhetorically, now with her back to the inner vault door, still facing Chuck. "Men like you, I don't manage to shake free unless they're unconscious or... violently discouraged. I've met your like before. Sweet on the surface, but you don't know how rejection works." As she spoke, glanced over her shoulder at the laser security system, sizing up the stationary, interspersed detection, then turned her attention back to Chuck. Time for some unconventional intimidation - after all, these lasers weren't even moving. The ones in the inner vault, if there were lasers in there, absolutely would be moving. This was child's play, a warmup.

She stepped smoothly over one laser, then slid her head to the side to avoid hitting another. This was no flashy array of needless somersaults or flips, this was careful and casual avoidance of stationary non-threats without breaking her focus away from the bad penny. "Get gone, Chuck-Chuck. You're out of your depth." Ash advised, as she took a half-step to one side to move around a beam. A small duck forward allowed her to move under one of the last beams, and the last? Her heels were tall enough to step right over. "And if you're here when I come out of this vault, I'll assume you're a threat to my cover and deal with you accordingly." The thief promised, before turning her attention to the much more fortified inner vault door.

Ash dropped to one knee, draped Damian's coat around her shoulders, and popped a fresh piece of gum in her mouth to aid her focus. Then, she set to work, pulling the cover off of the retinal scanning security system and fiddling around with the wires. She didn't have the technical skills to slice the device, but sometimes you didn't have to - a little know-how and a short in the right place was enough. It'd take her some time, though.

 

[Damian Starchaser]

Damian watched as she moved about the room and dodged the various trip lasers. As she reached the end and began to work on the vault Damian stared at his chronometer. “Well,” Damian said. “I’d hate to have to have to fight you.” It was an honest enough reaction, “I tell you what,” Damian put a little device from his pocket up to his eye and examined the security system that [member="Ash Whynn"] was starting to crack. “that is a Detext J-580.” Expensive. A hundred years ago it was probably the best and greatest security system ever built, but with all things time had revealed several design flaws. Damian was no safe crack. Although he had some skill in it he was hardly a professional. "I've cracked one of these in about six minutes." That was perhaps a generous assessment. "I suspect you can do it in four." Another generous assessment. The fastest he'd heard of anyone being able to crack this system was three and a half minutes. A friend of Damians grandfather had boasted about it and then later demonstrated his skill. Old Zuck died not long after while trying to take a holocron vault belonging to some Sith. That was generally poor business. "That gives me a few minutes before You require me to leave."

Then he cocked his head at the next move. "Going in through the retinal scanner is a good move. They were notorious for how simple they were to short out. Can you tell from looking which upgrades have been performed on the device? You know in 67 they had a massive recall and sent agents out to replace parts of the circuitry. There was a tumbler embedded which detected if the wires moved too quickly and set of an alarm. To stop people like me and you from exploiting that precise oversight."

"Oh that's very good. A nice steady hand." He said as he watched her. "Moving slow enough to stop anything from tripping. A real smooth hand." A smile crept over his face. "Do you mind if I ask you a question? Why during a party? I saw you climb the wall I'm fairly certain you could have done this as a second story job." He honestly wondered if she was going to answer. He hoped she did, after all it would be a poor job interview if she didn't. "I tell you what, if you answer my questions I'll answer one of yours."

 

[Ash Whynn]

[member="Damian Starchaser"] [member="Henry Chinko"]

Oh, for the love of-

People were trying to work!

Ash knew what she was doing, and did her damndest to tune out the incessant chatter from her unwanted shadow as she did her job. A wire here, a pull here, a little cut there and a re-route there. Retinal scanners were pretty sophisticated pieces of equipment, and working on it without the benifit of a full suite of tools was taking Ash's full measure of concentration. Something that wasn't helped at all by Damian rambling away behind her - and since he was on the other side of the security lasers, he was essentially talking across the room at her like they weren't in the middle of committing a felony heist. The difference is, without much of a law presence on this planet, they wouldn't be arrested. Chances are, Korl would just have them taken out back and shot so he wouldn't have to hear about it from his father. Or, more realistically, so his father wouldn't have to hear that somebody had used his damned party to steal the Jewel of Yavin.

Finally, she reached a threshold in more than a couple ways. Ash shoved a wire into place and stuck it there with her gum, whirling towards Chuck-chuck. "Would you shut up already!?" She demanded in a loud, heated whisper as she shoved the wire into place. There was a small spark, and then a beeping sound of approval. The large inner vault door - now convinced that the system fault meant that somebody was locked inside - clicked loudly as it came unlocked, and slowly swung open. "I'm in the middle of something." If he planned on trying to kill her after she stole the gem, he could at least do her the courtesy of waiting quietly.

Though...

Ash turned and pulled the inner vault door open, faced with exactly what she'd been expecting - a laser security grid much more robust than the one she'd literally walked through, and in constant motion. Boxes and drawers along the walls that looked not unlike the safe deposit boxes in a bank. And in the middle of it all, a very expensive display - an air-sealed box atop a weighted pressure pad, guarded by positional lasers and a lethal security droid. Only, the droid was deactivated and the box was empty... the Jewel of Yavin wasn't there. It clearly had been at some point, likely some recent point, but it wasn't now. All that effort, for nothing. Ash gaped at the empty place where her big score should have been, then stamped her foot in frustration. This job. What a circus.

 

[Damian Starchaser]

Damian had to admit he liked watching [member="Ash Whynn"] work. Without any of the fancy tools that many were accustomed to working with she was able to bypass security of the vault. Good. Not a lot of thieves were truly good at what they did, but instead relied upon gadgets or perfect planning in order complete tasks. You could always tell a real pro from everyone else based on how they worked under pressure in less than ideal situations.

Just under four minutes and the young woman had beaten the safe and considering the distraction he was causing that was impressive. Then came the big reveal. The door open and the box revealed and... nothing. Damian suddenly felt like Heraldo Givera when he opened Jabba the Hutt's vault. Then again he was too young to remember that and only saw it via viral videos. True to his word Damian disappeared and left the main vault as quickly as he'd arrived.

In his mind he was going over the events, and the things he knew about Korl and his father. It wouldn't be beyond them to steal their own gemstone for the insurance payoff while selling it on the black market. Double the profits, and if the stone changed hands a few times and was later recovered, all the better for them. Now where to? Damian was already past security on the top floor and didn't really feel like shimmying down a wall to get back, besides there was things to explore here. Down the hall from the vault and the little treasure room was an office. Damian sauntered over in that direction and walked over to the desk.

The place didn't feel like an arms dealers office, then again that was rather the point. You had to diversify and use front and shell companies to hide what you were doing. Either that or live on a backwater where people don't care, but honestly if you have the money Damian found most people want to be in a place where they can use it. What is the point otherwise?

Hands felt across walls and knocked lightly on panels as Damian investigated the room. There was a book case with several rare and rather fantastical volumes including artifacts from dead cultures and worlds. A hollow sound rand out and Damian smiled moving a panel to the side and revealing a monster of a safe. It wasn't the size that made it a monster, but rather the sophistication. "Leverage," he said with a bit of smile. This would take awhile to crack, too long for him. Luckily he knew someone that could help.

Walking to the office door he hoped she was still around and waited for Ash to leave the vault. Upon seeing her his plan was simply to beckon her over with a wave of the hands hoping that curiosity was enough to get her to come.

 

[Ash Whynn]

[member="Damian Starchaser"]

What neither thief had the knowledge of was that they could search every nook and cranny of this estate without finding the Jewel of Yavin - well, every cranny and nook besides the ones in the desk that Korl Bleflesog was currently sitting at, chatting up his favorite author. He'd removed it from the vault with the intention of showing the priceless gem to [member="Henry Chinko"], which made a perverse sort of sense when your main skill to brag over was your disgusting wealth.

Torn between growing contempt, frustration, and curiosity, Ash opted to follow the latter and see just what the heck Chuck-Chuck wanted this time. She was tempted to tell him to shove off, but if he'd found the Jewel, it was much easier to just let him lead her to it and then take him out when he invariably demanded a bigger cut of the spoils than she was willing to give him. A cut that included his health and not much else. Once she'd retrieved her gum from the more or less ruined retinal scanner - no DNA evidence here - Ash made her way neatly across the wire grid and heels clicking quietly after Finley with a look that said that this had best be worth her time.

Fortunately, it was. A safe! Those were always fun! Even though she doubted the Jewel of Yavin was in there - reasoning much like Damian had that it'd either changed hands or otherwise been gotten rid of - there was likely something in there that'd make all this nonsense worthwhile.

"Watch the door. Quietly." Ash instructed pointedly, padding across the carpet to what she hoped was a worthy treasure chest. "This is a Coruscanti Sec-Supreme model, I'm gonna need near-silence to hear what I'm doing withou-"

Suddenly, a soft explosion shook the floor beneath them, followed by blaster fire and screaming. The vengeful insurgents who'd replaced The Help had finally made their move and begun shooting up the party with the intention of killing Hurkl Bleflesog's son, security, and anyone who might be in their support network. The Bleflesog security team was no joke, however, and a ruthless gunfight had erupted on the floors below. Alarms began blaring through the compound, lights flashing obnoxiously to warn people that there was something horrible going on and that they should be appropriately alarmed.

Ash's groan of disdain was almost audible over the din as she collapsed despondently against the safe.

 

[Damian Starchaser]

[member="Ash Whynn"] came over. Good, she was playing well with others. It didn't matter to him, at this moment, that it was enlightened self interest that governed her action over any bond of camaraderie. It was a start. Damian already had his eye on her and was more than willing to accept this as a start. The truth was the gem she was looking for was not in the safe, nor would it be in this safe. What would be there, Damian had no doubt, was documents. Those could be almost as good as currency and shiny stones. Better even for Damian's purposes.

When Ash demanded he watch the door, dutifully he did so standing and guarding the entrance. He did so wordlessly and without hesitation. He had a part to play and was used to working with a partner. Although normally his partner had been a Jedi or a smuggler this was really no different in his mind.

Silence to let the woman work. Silence broken by the sound of a firefight below. “Damn,” Damian said aloud looking back at Ash. Quickly Damian dropped to the ground and opened up the heel of his shoe pulling out a little bit of putty like substance. “Can you work under these conditions or do we need to blow it?”Damian kneaded the material in his hands prepared to use it on… well what or whoever really. Instinctively preparing for battle he reached for his lightsaber or blaster, not there. Damn. That left him with two small charges. “Do me a favor, and keep my jacket on.” Sure she could handle herself but extra help didn’t hurt.

[member="Henry Chinko"]