Private In the Eye of the Beholder

[Shoan Dystra]

Location: Chandrilia

Fancy suit

Shoan took a deep breath as he drove the speeder towards the location of the party. His heart was beating at a fast rate and his palms were starting to sweat. Truth be told, Shoan hadn't done a heist in a long time much less a large one such as this. He was too busy running the bar and being Rory's errand boy thanks to the high debts he racked up from gambling. The truth was that Shoan was not only an information broker but a small-time thief and he had a steady career thanks to Brinna Dara his girlfriend bailing him out. Yet ever since Shoan got himself and Brinna into Rory's clutches, he lost almost his all of his connections as an information broker. Now Shoan is starting from scratch and what better way to let the underworld know that Shoan had returned than to steal an artwork: The Twin Suns said to be worth 12 million credits.

"I'm glad you're here," Shoan said to Brinna while keeping his eyes on the building ahead. "I almost felt tempted to drag you out of that ship. I thought you would never leave the crew. But now that I have you all to myself, it's time that you and I get back into the thieving game. We had a good thing going Brinna stealing from assholes and selling on the black market before Rory messed that up."

He pressed a few buttons on the control panel as information appeared. "I want to start thinking big Brinna," Shoan said. "We'll be stealing the Twin Suns art, a simple but at the same time esoteric. Painted by a Rodian: W.Wald around 4 ABY, it's currently under the possession of one named: Solomon Geta. A guy who runs some of the top casinos on Courscant but he also runs a major Spice operation on Kessel."

Shoan shrugged. "Okay one of the major spice operations but he's definitely in the top ten. He's been accused of underpaying and abusing his employees, manipulating numbers at the casino to work in his favor. It's nothing new for casinos but Solomon is more blatant than others, and he's rumored of using slave girls as "entertainers" in his Casinos."

Shoan shuddered. "He's hosting party in celebration of his Birthday. I've had to pull a lot of strings to get us in this position." Shoan said. "We go in, mingle with the guests, find where the art piece is located, steal it, replace it with a fake, and we're outta here."

 

[Brinna Dara]

Location: Chandrila
Outfit: Purple Dress
Tags: Shoan Dystra

Brinna gave a huff when Shoan suggested that she was spending too much time with Sorr and the rest of the Tiaza’s Purr’s crew. It was how she collected credits, how she got her name out there and how she was able to collect the small amount of information she had been able to collect about her father. “If you could hold your gambling impulses to a limit I would never have met Sorr Kortu , and I would hardly ever leave Nar Shaddaa. Just sit in my workshop sifting through information hoping for a golden nugget to drop into my lap. While we have considerable amounts of fun together,” the spunky young woman quipped back.

Brinna listened to the rundown of the heist. This really wasn’t her style. She was more aggressive and in your face. Sneaking around to deliver goods was one thing, especially when the goods were being delivered to oppressed beings, which is what Brinna liked to do most. Shoan thinking big was a bit concerning to Brinna. That usually meant high risk to go along with the perceived high rewards. And Shoan had a propensity towards bad luck when the stakes were at their highest. Still, Brinna always heard him out. A spice kingpin and casino runner didn’t stack up as the wisest person to target for a theft, but maybe the painting wasn’t something that would be missed.

Brinna frowned as Shoan continued. He really knew how to get to Brinna through her heart strings. When he explained how their target mistreated his people and cheated. Of course Brinna now wanted to hurt him. Which meant she would be more open to Shoan’s risks. “Alright. I’ll follow your lead,” Brinna wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Mostly she expected trouble, but was going to try to have a good time til trouble came to find them.

 

[Shoan Dystra]

Shaon's gambling habits had led them to worse things like being at the mercy of Rory. The man was a snake who clearly lusted after Brinna, whenever Rory came to Shoan's bar, he would often brag about how he and Brinna were getting close and that she was thinking of breaking up with him. Shoan knew that Rory was lying, but he suspected that he was doing something horrible to Brinna. Shoan felt helpless to protect Brinna considering that she often protected him from loan sharks and debt collectors. Yet Shoan couldn't save Brinna when she needed him the most.

The young man guided the speeder into the parking lot outside of the building while taking a deep breath. "Our host," Shoan said. "Loves gifts, lavish ones. So pulling a few strings and twisting a few arms metaphorically of course, I'm bringing a lovely statue of Grand Master: Luke Skywalker rendered with loving detail and filled to the brim with Jedi Robes and a Lightsaber."

Shoan never cared for Luke Skywalker, but Solomon did to the point where he started a major Luke Skywalker fanclub on the Holonet under a different alias. Shoan's sources have been keeping tabs on Solomon's activity on the site and he had the statue made according to the physical features that Solomon liked about Luke Skywalker. "It's also filled to the brim with our regular clothing and weapons." Shoan said. "In your case Brinna: leather clothes which by the way I've made some upgrades to them. They're made out of beskar which can absorb blaster fire while still being light. After what happened to you and the crew on Oovo IV, I'd figured I'd fix you up something since you're stubborn to bring a Blaster Pistol."

He gave Brinna a wink. "Once inside we make our way to Solomon's vault." Shoan continued. "It's located somewhere in the back of the ballroom and then we start scouting things out check for any weaknesses in security."

Shoan took off his seat belt and continued to stare at Brinna. "Any questions?" He asked.

Brinna Dara

 

[Brinna Dara]

Location: Chandrila
Outfit: Purple Dress
Tags: Shoan Dystra

As usual Shoan had a plan. As usual he spoke about it with confidence and charm. As usual it would be much harder than he made it sound. Brinna wondered for a moment if she got a different Shoan than what sat down at gaming tables. If he put off this much confidence and charm in a game of cards he wouldn’t lose as often as he did and they would be in a much better position than they were. Of course there was the possibility that he was just unlucky in everything other than love. Or maybe he just loved the thrill of his games and didn’t really understand sound strategy. Whatever it was Brinna was always happy with the version of Shoan that she got in their relationship.

“Who doesn’t love gifts?” Brinna responded with a giggle. It was not a hint that she should receive more gifts. She was quite happy as they were and had much better things to spend credits on than fancy gifts. “By pulling strings and bending arms you mean finding someone to authenticized the pile of junk that vaguely resembles Luke Skywalker is actually worth much more than it is…” It was a playful accusation met with an equally playful smile. “You could have just asked me, you know. All that is done digitally now. You’d still have to put some work into earning it, but it would be much more enjoyable work than pulling strings and bending arms.” She gave him a knowing wink.

Brinna rolled her eyes at the mention of weapons. She always carried all the weapons that she needed with her. And no one would even suspect anything unless they’d seen her fight. Most people were distracted by her physical attributes and didn’t think she was a walking talking organic weapon. “So you are worried about me and found some way to keep me protected without giving up my tight form flattering fashion that you love? You’re a smart guy, Shoan Dystra. Except for the fact that you can’t seem to realize that I’m a much bigger threat without a blaster than with one. You have seen me shoot right?”

The rest of the plan was where Brinna came to realize there might be a problem. Adlibbing without an exact location in the most important part of the plan. This is probably what happened in gambling. His plan is good until it comes to making that last bet. “I got the plan, don’t worry. Let’s just hope that security gives us an opening to jump through.” Brinna undid her seat belt and pushed down the desire to jump out the speeder. This was a fancy party. The girl’s are probably escorted from their rides by their dates. She gave Shoan a nodded and waited for the next step.

 

[Shoan Dystra]

Shoan laughed when he exited the speeder. "I didn't know you were a sculptor," he replied to her playful remarks. "You realize that's marble stone, it's hard to find guys who can create a statue with a hammer and chisel. If you see a statue now and days, it's created through laser tech. If there's one thing that Solomon respects is art that's created through an artist's own two hands..... or multiple hands you know what I mean."

He shook his head offering his arm for Brinna to loop around. They didn't have time to themselves as often as they could, even though it was a heist of sorts, it was nice to have a date with Brinna. Especially in a fancy environment..... filled with conmen, killers, and other sort of scum. As they approached the entrance, Shoan saw the employees transporting the statue of Luke Skywalker via repulsorlift hovers towards the stairs.

"Right on cue," Shoan whispered to Brinna seeing one of the guards scan the statue for any dangerous materials. "Don't worry," Shoan whispered. "I've managed to implement some systems to prevent scans from detecting our weapons."

He smiled as he took a deep breath. "You ready Brinna?" Shoan whispered. "If you want, we can have a fancy dinner before searching for the entrance to the vault. With you running around with the crew, we hadn't had a chance at a proper date for a long time."

Brinna Dara

 

[Brinna Dara]

Location: Chandrila
Outfit: Purple Dress
Tags: Shoan Dystra

“I meant that I could falsify authentication,” Brinna stated with a grin as she exited the speeder and took Shoan’s arm. It was fun to pretend at being high society instead of the usual dates of eating bar food while Shoan handled business, or a quick meal in Brinna’s workshop. “Though I guarantee you that if you gave me and M.O.M. enough time we could work something out to generate a statue that looked hand made.” The task wouldn’t be as easy as Brinna made it sound, but she was always confident in what she could do.

They walked slowly towards the party as the gift in question was pushed by. Brinna looked over the statue. She gave a bit of a whistle. It would have taken a LONG time for her to manufacture something of that quality. She had to hand it to Shoan. But there was a bit of a question on her mind still. “So. What exactly did that thing cost us?” There was an emphasis on us as if to make sure Shoan knew that they were in these things together as in all things. So whatever he risked, she was a part of that.

“Who's worried?” Brinna scoffed. Some would call it bravado, but Brinna truly was one of complete confidence in herself and things bending her way. “I’m more worried we’ll be able to find them later than some dumbass guard detecting them.”

Brinna grinned as she tightened her hold on Shoan’s arm as he offered to enjoy the dinner and party a bit before moving on to the job at hand. “Dinner and maybe a dance? You know that my moves aren’t reserved for fisticuffs. I enjoy the opportunity to prove it from time to time.”