Located on the 14th floor of the prominent Kronos Building near the heart of Paratel.  The company also owns the buildings basement for its activities.  The floor they are on is tastefully decorated to appeal to the aesthetics of their clients which are normally rich individuals.  On the outside this is a perfectly legitimate business - on this inside ... well not so much.
This message was last updated by the GM at 17:35, Wed 14 June 2006.

The sound of heels clicking on marble floors filled the room.

Click, click, click ...

The woman moved steadily.  Her steps calculated and smooth.  There was no sense of urgency or fear.  Just a woman who knew exactly what she wanted.  The man behind the desk looked up, peering at her from behind a few stacks of paper which he quickly pushed out of his way.  A small smile curled the edges of his lips.

"You're prettier then I expected." he commented.

"And that has absolutely nothing to do with why I'm here, so why don't we just cut to the chase, shall we?" the woman responded, her voice was deep and seemed to caress each word as she uttered them.

The mans smile broadened but he looked down at his papers, a British accent came out as he spoke, "Ah, yes, I suppose we can skip the pleasantries."

"I wish we would."

"Fiesty." he said, and then his demeanor seemed to change completely.  His face grew cold, business-like.  "We have a job for you."

"So I've heard.  Mind enlightening me one exactly what this job is?"

The man rested his elbows on his desk, his fingertips coming, "I want you to steal a stamp."

"A stamp?" the woman asked in disbelief, there was a hint of bemusement and laughter in her voice, "Like a postal stamp?"

"Exactly like a postal stamp." the woman let out a short laugh, "Don't scoff - its worth a fortune.  I have a client who is highly interested in getting his hands on it."

The woman shook her head slightly and looked back up, "How much?  You realize I will be expecting my cut and my services aren't cheap."

"Of course, I didn't think they would be.  You're the best.  That's why we've requested your services ... and I really don't think payment is going to be a problem." he slid a slip of paper across the desk which the woman picked up.  She looked at it a moment and then smiled and began sitting down in the chair opposite him.

"I think we can do bueiness."

He smiled as he listened to the reports.  The girl may have been detected, but they hadn't caught her yet.

He looked at the clock on his wall and nodded.  She sould be there any minute
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 01:10, Tue 05 Sept 2006.

[From Athens: The Gallery D'Arte]

Sophia's boots clicked on the marble floors once more as she stepped into Williams office, the stamp sitting snuggly in the inside pocket of her short jacket.  It hadn't escaped her notice that there seemed to be more of his goons around this time - she wrote it off as them being protective of the stamp which was to be delivered, but part of her was on high guard because of it.

Just go in, get the creds, and get out. The money was more then worth the trouble of having to wrestle some ship Captain for it and soon the money was going to be hers.

David smiled and stood up, gesturing towards a chair in front of his desk.  "Ah, again we meet." he smiled graciously.

"You have the stamp?" he asked holding out his hand for it.

Sophia didn't sit down, she didn't even finish walking across the entire room towards his desk but rather stopped halfway between the door and it.  "Of course I do - do you have my money?" she asked with an arched brow.  Curious that he thought she was just going to hand it over without seeing the creds first.

David Williams smiled and nodded.  "Right here... he said twirling a cred stic in front of him then tilted his head. "No.. I'm guessing you're a traditionalist."

He stopped twirling the stick and reached into his drawer and pulled out a pouch of credits and jingled it.

"Well?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:08, Tue 05 Sept 2006.

Sophia frowned slightly as he pulled out the cred stic, she's been expecting cold hard cash.  Nothing traceable.  So when he pulled out the bag she felt more comfortable, "Excellent." she said, reaching out for it, "It was a pleasure doing business with you.  Now if you don't mind I'll take that now and give you the stamp once I'm at the front door of your establishment - you can escort me out if you want." she was playing this as cautiously as she could ... something still didn't feel quite right.

David shook his head and waved his right index finger back and forth.  "Ah-ah... Something about giving a theif an inch?"

"No, when I give you the money... you will give me the stamp."

Sophia narrowed her eyes, "Well, then you'll just have to follow me to the front door now won't you?" she wasn't budging.  She was not about to hand over the stamp when she had four floors to go down to get out of here in the event that he wasn't as ... reputable as she'd been led to believe.

David smiled at her and then looked at his men.  "Fields, Sevren..."

He was done 'reasoning' with her.  It was time for the more direct approach.

As his men stood and moved in he smiled.  "No.. I think I'll have the stamp now...

"Chu fei wo si le*" Sophia said with a sneer.  Man, she hated it when she was right.  Her leg shot out and kicked the man Williams had called Fields in the face as her fist shot out taking down Sevren, she looked back up at Williams, "You know it doesn't have to be like this.  You just give me my pay and I'll hand the stamp over - we both get what we want."

_{*over my dead body}

William smiled and laughed.  "But this way.. I get everything I want.  The stamp and my money..."

Sophia sighed, nothing was ever easy, "Fine.  Have it your way." she said.  Her fist shot back as Sevren tried to sneak up on her again.  She did a back flip that landed her right by the door, spinning around hse took out her gun and shot hte man by the door in the knees.  "Pleasure doing businness." she said to Williams and raced down the halls.

She had barely made it to the stairwell before his guys were appearing everywhere.  Great ... just great .... she thought.  They were all climbing up the stairs.  Sophia pulled from her waist as grappling hook, shooting it up to the story above her.  He gave  it a tug, sent up a quick prayer and jumped over the balcony.  SHe controlled her fall to the bottom floor as he was met with gunfire.  Once down hse found herself in a hallway.  IF she could just get out into the lobby she had a feeling they wouldn't follow her there.  Too many 'customers'. Her heart was pounding as sshe ran for everything she was worth.  He could hear the sound of footsteps behind her but they had stopped shooting.

Finally she came to the door, pushing it open.  SHe dashed into the hallway.  Some people looked at her with surprise and shock but she took no notice as she dashed out onto the streets where she slipped into an alley - dissappearing into the crowd.

A million cures were running through her head, some at Williams - but mostly at herself.  HOw could she have let this happen?  IT didn't matter, there was no use in beating herself up.  What mattered now was that she still had hte stamp.  Now to get paid.  Her thought went immediately to the man and his crew form the museum.  THey'd wanted the stamp and odds were they had someone lined up to sell it to.  Destiny ... the ship had been called Destiny.  Sophia smiled, it was time to get paid.

[To Destiny: Cargo Bay]

William looked at his men as they stood there stunned by what had happened.  He shook his head.  "Well... GO after her...