Weapons for science

Posted on Mon Sep 15th, 2014 @ 1:56am by Walter Jones & Jan Valentine & Langar Tarn & Charlotte Ashcroft & Bruce Air (PNPC)

3,214 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Session 7: Changes
Location: Tansport dock Gamma Delta
Timeline: Station Day 2

[Station Cargo Bay 14 Level 3]

Walt stood in an empty cargo bay, back against the wall, pistols exposed, staring at a large airlock. According to his new contact, this is where they would be meeting for the pickup. His contact was pretty coy about what it was they were shipping, but he had an idea. Any time mystery was needed, it was usually weapons.

He had let the crew know to meet him here, armed, and prepared for anything.

In a far corner of the empty space was a local vagrant, seemingly asleep in pile of discarded packing cases and a nasty old blanket. Loud snores and the occasional grunt emanated from the mingled heap of lifeform and trash.

A number of empty bottles and food containers lay scattered around the vagrant's makeshift campsite. If one had looked closely it would be noted that one of the bottles had a black label, with an exploding star and a blue sticker.

Air arrived with a nod to Walt and moved over to where he could keep one eye on the vagrant and one on the air lock, while maintaining a crossfire with the Captain. Although he was ostensibly here to help shift any heavy crates, Air was a Starfleet Security graduate and knew his stuff.

Morgan had patched him up expertly, and apart from a stiff shoulder there was no sign of the brawl earlier that day. The Doctor had declined the summons, feeling that his specialized form of issue resolution was probably a little ham-fisted for what the were choosing to do.

"I will wait here to repair whatever manages to make it back to the ship," he had told Walt over the comms.

"Charming place," Lottie arrived next and peered around. "I see it even comes with a resident," she nodded to the sleeping bum. "As long as he's not coming that's fine by me," she added standing casually beside Jones. "You expect trouble?" she asked him softly.

"I always expect trouble, we are pilgrims in an unholy land love." He pulled next to Lottie. "I don't think too much, just the normal amount of trouble really."

"Good then Pass didn't come with us then," Lottie lent back against the wall. "But just in case I seen you've been shopping." She nodded to his new pistols.

"Yeah, I took down to the range and fired them a few times. Got a little punch to them. Figure anything that I can do to bring a little more punch to the party would be greatly appreciated." He leaned against the wall next to Lottie. "Just glad I got you guys to back me up a too."

Jan walked in, carrying a battle scarred cardassian disruptor rifle slung over his shoulder and a data padd in his hand.

"Ship's ready to go, Langar and I finished patching up the grav plating a while ago. Got a remote link to the Warden's transporter set up, just in case things go sideways." Jan said.

"Great, as soon as we get this stuff we are out of here." Jones looked at Jan just as the large cargo door cracked and started opening. The Klaxon of a loading signal blared into existence as the pressure of the two compartments equalized.

Dark at first, what appeared to be another cargo hold slowly appeared along with several armed and heavily armored aliens that looked like Rhinos.

"You Jones?" Came a gruff yell from the other side.

"Aye, and my crew" Walt smiled as the Soldiers moved into the cargo bay, as a few smaller creatures pushed crates forward.

Over in the corner the vagrant continued to snore loudly, seemingly oblivious to the presence of anyone else.

Standing straight Lottie eyed the armed escort wearily, she'd let Jones handle this but secretly she was relieved Jan had the foresight to rig up the transporter.

"Good! Well we have a deal to complete right?" The lead Rhino looking creature lowered his visor. A small horn protruded from his snout. "Five crates, all going to Peralon, half payment now, half payment wired when you deliver the goods."

Two Jackal like creatures grunted forward, both wearing combat suits, carrying a box that they laid halfway into the middle of the room. One of them flipped it open, revealing several bars of latinum, gleaming in the dim light of the cargo bay.

Suddenly, the door on the other side compartment slid open. A man entered that looked strangely familiar to Jones, followed by a woman, and three other men, one of which looked like an angry Andorian that he knew.

"Gentleman!" His face coming into more focus. "I'm here to collect.." He paused and looked at Jones, Lottie, Jan and Bruce.

"What the hell is this!" Jones pulled out his pistols, and pointed them directly at a mirror copy of himself and crew standing on the other side of the cargo bay. Causing his doppelganger to do the same, and the Rhino's to draw their weapons and point them at everyone.

The lead Rhino began to get very nervous "What is going on?!" he demanded "If your'e trying to cross us, you won't get off this station alive!"

He grunted some commands in his own language, the group began to fall back around the shipment of weapons and looked ready for a fight.

"If I don't get an answer, right now, we're leaving!" The Rhino said "Any of you move to stop us, we'll fire!"

Bruce had ducked down behind cover the instant the other group had appeared. Images flashed in front of his mind of the cell on the USS Liaison, the prisoner shape shifter, the plan to impersonate his father the Admiral. He had shot and killed a prisoner on the spot, and lost his commission. Now he was faced with changers again, and thoughts of weapon shipments vanished from his mind.

Trouble was, he didn't know which Jones, Lottie or Jan were the real ones. For all he knew he had turned up and was hanging with the wrong team. The only one he knew for sure was fake was the other Bruce. He drew a bead and fired at his doppler.

However, his double had been thinking similar things and had leapt for cover a moment before Bruce fired and his shot missed the mark.

The ringing sound of gun fire acted like a sobering affect to Lottie who'd been openly staring at the clones of themselves feeling utterly confused. Snapping out of her retrieve she ducked for cover.

Langar lay wrapped in the grubby blanket and wondered for the umpteenth time what exactly the smell was. He'd found it in a dock yard dumpster along with the other trash and debris he'd scattered around his "vagrant's bedroom" position.

The bottle was all his own though, along with the stinking hangover headache that had come free with the contents. Next time he was trying another colored sticker!

He gave out another snore and twitched a bit just to keep up the act. Cradled alongside him, concealed in the folds of the blanket, was a Federation issue phaser-rifle.

He'd found the weapon in the Warden's surprisingly well equipped armory. It had been customized with an extra heavy duty power pack, up rated tele-sights and somebody had painted it a rather nifty grey and black urban camo pattern.

He'd finished the job with a three point combat sling that would enable him to drop the rifle, switch to his pistol and back again without getting tangled up in a lot of straps. 

He heard the big heavy door opening and the arrival of the party with the weapons delivery. He peered out from under the blanket and watched as Jones spoke with the leader. A few moments later he was surprised to hear another door opening, he couldn't see that. part of the space without risking his cover. 

He saw Jones and the others turn in surprise, some shouts from the weapons party, then, with mounting alarm, Langar watched as Air went for his weapon and began firing.

The crew went for cover and a battle commenced. Langar flicked on the phaser rifle, feeling the soft hum through his hands as it charged but he remained where he was and hunkered down. Whoever the late arrivals were, they didn't know he was here and so he still had the element of surprise. He stayed put and muttered a quiet prayer to the Prophets, hoping not to get clipped by a stray energy bolt.

"Knew this was way too simple..." Lottie cursed crouching behind a cargo crate as the two 'teams' from the Warden started to fire. "But this has got to be the weirdest shit ever."

Air was not going for his usual suppressing fire. He was out to terminate his duplicate, without being hit himself. Unfortunately so was the other Bruce, and they were equally skilled.

"I hope those copies of us aren't entirely perfect, or it's gonna be a long night." Jan said.

He tossed a grenade over his crate at the Walter-ganger, who managed to spot it at the last second and hit it with phaser fire, causing it to harmlessly detonate in the air.

"Oh God Dammit!" Jan shouted, frustrated.

A Bruce stepped in front of Langar, his back to the faux-drunk. The opportunity to take a shot was perfect. Trouble was, Langar didn't know which was the real Bruce any more.

Walt for his part of all of this was swearing non stop at the man across from him, while trying to take shots at some of the other crew. One thing that he noticed was that the copied crew, at least his copy seemed younger, albeit not that younger but younger enough.

And unfortunately for the real Walt, a bit faster. It only took a moment of an exposed shoulder to send a phaser round knocking him down to the ground.

"Son of a-!" He landed with a thud as he returned a round from his own weapon at the doppelganger.

The Rhino's were firing at everything as the slowly backed up into their own ship, with the trade goods and the bars of Latinum. Both Walt's yelled at them to bring back their money.

Langar watched incredulously as two sets of the Warden's crew got into a fire fight. Jones being one of the first casualties and Langar saw him fall behind a crate.

"Ah dammit!" Langar flicked a switch on his rifle and and took aim at the back of one of the Air's who had stopped in front of him. The shot took the figure right between the shoulder blades!

Bruce never even saw it coming. He had fallen completely for the ruse of the old Hobo, so focused had he been on the alternate form of himself. He managed a grunt as the beam hit him and he fell forward against the barricade he was using.

Langar had changed the rifle to the lowest stun setting. If he couldn't tell which crew member was which, they were all going down!

The stun setting should put them out for at least five minutes, which should give him time to disarm them before they came round again.

He swung the rifle left and fired again. This time hitting a Lottie in the side

Busy seeking for ways to catch out the other members of the Wardens 'real' crew the duplicate of Lottie Ashcroft was on the prowl. Never did she expect the bundled sleep bum to start shooting at everyone.

Another shot caught the second Lottie as she stood up from behind a crate

Surprised by the addition an unfamiliar weapon fire and the started cry of her ganger falling the 'real' Lottie popped up from her hiding place to take aim at the imposters when she too took an unexpected hit sending her tumbling.

Throwing off the blanket Langar went to a kneeling position and drew a bead on one of the Jans. Fired and missed!

Then another Jan charged at him, he swung to meet the threat, went for center mass and dropped that one mid step.

"Fucking hell, better him than me." Jan said, ducking behind another crate.

Langar had been noticed now, the second Jan and the Jones, who had not been wounded, turned in his direction, weapons coming up.

He got the Jones before the man could bring his weapon around, hitting him in the chest.

"We need to get that crate of Latinum! I'm not taking a phaser burn for anything less than that crate." Walt looked up at Langar. "What do you think?"


When Langar looked back, the other Jan had taken cover behind a pile of cargo containers. Then he caught sight of the second Air, who was lining up on the Jan as well.

Bruce had kept one eye on the 'Hobo' since they came in, so he had been careful not to expose a flank. Then it had shot at his alternate self. Now it seemed to be shooting at everyone. Air's mind raced. Whoever was left standing at the end of this would be the ones who got to decide the fate of the others. If his crew went down the Doppelgangers would be unopposed, but if his side won, then they would have time to decide what to do with their opponents.

Trouble was, he still didn't know who was a 'Ganger and who was 'real'.

So the trick now, was self preservation. He had a clear shot at one of the Jan's, but was to exposed to the 'Hobo'. so opted to take cover again. He would keep his head down and pick his target very carefully.

Jan's eyepiece gave him a tactical overview of the cargo bay, and the rough position of several of the people in the room. At least 20 meters away was one of the Bruce's, trying to line up a shot with his head!

"SHIT!" Jan shouted, and ducked as a beam whizzed past his head, singeing some hair.

"Hey, Jan," Bruce called, ducking behind cover again, "you dead yet?"

"Surprisingly, I'm not." Jan shouted.

Walt muddled to himself before trying something. "Alright, everyone shut up and stop firing for a second!" Jones yelled out to the combined crews of the two Wardens, the Rhinos and anyone else who may be within earshot of it all. "I'm going to stop firing if ya'll start firing we can figure this out?"

"Well, I now know you are the real Jones," Bruce quipped form his barricade. "That's the worst plan I have heard in ages and bound to get someone shot; just like you."

"Only the real Walt would propose something that insanely dumb. I'll agree." Jan said, slowly standing up from his cover, rifle gripped loosely.

Never one to miss an opportunity Langar flicked his rifle left and fired at the rising Jan, taking him in the side.

"Oh you cheating.....bitch....." Jan shouted, collapsing on the ground.

Langar swung the weapon back on to Air"s hiding spot and kept it trained there as he got quickly to his feet.

"You move out of cover and ill take you out!" He called to Air and advanced on the position keeping the weapon on target as he moved.

"Thanks for the warning," Air called back.

*Capt l know thats you," Langar. shouted to Jones "the other one dosnt have your new pistols! Ill cover Bruce if you disarm the others before they wake up"

Langar continued to close on Air's hiding place, when he got within six yards he stopped and keeping the rifle aimed called out "Bruce, without trying anything dumb, can you hit the door control from there?

Hit the control and that will stop the door from closing. That will stop our clients from leaving!"

The Rhinos were halfway through the first cargo bay door.

"Sure," Bruce countered, "Because there is absolutely no chance you are a fake Langar who will shoot me as soon as I move."

"Then put your weapon on the crate and stand up with your hands on your head. Can you do that?"

"How about I stand up with the crate..."

Suddenly the crate which Air was covering behind was in motion, moving at speed towards Langar. Instinctively Langar fired but the Crate just shrugged off the stun bolt. It collided with Langar at speed and with the full force of Bruce's charge. Knocking the man back under the heavy weight. Bruce followed this up grabbing the man's gun as he struggled under the weight. A quick blow to his bruised ribs and the man released the gun.

"...and put it on your head?"

He fired a stun bolt from Langar's gun into the prone figure then turned to see he was right in the sights of Jones.

"Oh, spit!"


While Air was tackling the Bajoran, the Rhinos had retreated back through the cargo door unimpeded. The heavy door swung shut with a deep metallic clang. The aliens, the cargo and the down-payment vanished behind the heavy durasteel door. There was an electric whine as the door clamps locked.

A few moments later a warning klaxon started blaring and the atmospheric pumps began to empty the air out of the bay!

Jan staggered back to his feet, the energy weapon absorption layer of his coat had done a fair job of protecting him, but he still felt like he had a killer hangover.

"Bruce, Jones! Let's get the hell out of here." Jan shouted, stumbling over to them. He gave Langar a half hearted kick in the side. "Oh, didn't see ya there..."

Bruce spun on his heels to look at Jan, "Transporter."

If this was the Jan he had spoken to before, there would be a transporter link to get them all back to the Warden, and that word should be enough to jog his memory. If this was a different Jan then Bruce still held both his and Langar's weapons.

"Still got a link to the Warden, what about our duplicates? Take the Walterganger and let the rest asphyxiate?" Jan said, keying in his remote transporter link.

Bruce ground his teeth. It went against every instinct, but...

"Bring them. I came here on my own, so for all I know I arrived with the Gangers and that is the real Lottie. Can your transporter tell the difference? I am pretty sure Dr Mass-death will find a way. Genetics is kind of his thing, isn't it?"

"Bring them all back" Walt grabbed his shoulder. "This is going to be one hell of a mess to sort out." The Klaxon and his of air escaping grew quieter and quieter as the air thinned out. "Better do it now sooner than later."

Bruce hoisted an unconscious Lottie onto each shoulder and grinned at the other two, "I had a dream about this once. It didn't end well."

"Yeah, you better leave that out. Jan, get us out of here."

"I wish the transporter had a better bio analyzing system, it would tell us who's who in a snap." Jan said, entering an encryption sequence into his data padd. "Energizing."



Langar Tarn
Cargo Master

Bruce Air
Helm

 

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