Dope on a Rope

(100/1105, Aki/Glisten)

Back in Andromeda, Lasnus and Dliiavrnt were getting really into the idea of confusing and distracting the assorted groups of people in the bar. First Lasnus told the police team that one of the ISS men was a Psionic - claiming to have seen his picture on a "Wanted" poster on another system. Then Dliiavrnt told the cops who the Red Action group were, and - arranging to meet them as they left - told the Red Action men that the cops were following them (which wasn't true of these cops of course). Finally, Dliiavrnt told the police that the team was a Special Branch undercover unit.

Confident they had completely confused everybody, the three left the bar. As they emerged from the stairs, they were hailed from behind, and the two policemen accosted them. Matters became heated, and the leading policeman went from demanding ID and proof of identity to arrest and "come with me downtown". Irritated, Stpierb' unhooked his fusion gun and turned it on.

Panicked, the policeman drew his firearm and radio simultaneously. Waving the pistol around rather unsteadily in an attempt to cover Dliiavrnt and Stpierb', he started babbling into the radio. Taking precipitate action, Dliiavrnt lashed out, punching the man in the face. Aware of the uselessness of a battlefield energy weapon in a club doorway, Stpierb' joined in with a hefty kick in the knee which toppled the man over and backwards down the stairs.

Belatedly, his partner reacted, and drew his own weapon. Lasnus, who'd been standing quietly by and hadn't appeared as a threat before, was perfectly placed to act. Smoothly, he brought up his energy blade and ignited it in one sweep, vaporizing the pistol as it went, and sending the policeman staggering back against the wall clutching his burned hand. Lasnus leaned in to bring the humming blade close enough to pin him to the wall.

As the first copper came back up the stairs, he found himself face on to Stpierb's muzzle. He froze, and, seeing his partner wounded, lowered his pistol and waved them off. "Go away," he said, "but remember, we don't tolerate vigilantes on this world." He seemed unimpressed by Dliiavrnt's assurances that they weren't vigilantes, but made no attempt to stop them as they left. They repaired to a different bar to wait for midnight.

Back at the factory, Nose was wakened from his light doze by stealthy sounds of movement from the roof above. Curious, he tracked the sound across the discoloured glass roof. At the opposite side of the factory floor, a skylight was pried carefully open and a knotted rope lowered. Then a man, dressed in close-fitting black camos, climbed down and set himself up on the catwalk, exactly as Nose had done earlier. The other side had evidently fielded a sniper too. Shortly after that, ten men armed with assault rifles arrived at the building and dispersed through the factory floor, taking up positions hidden behind the rusting hulks of the machinery. Nose grinned. He could see them all quite well. Quietly, from within his helmet, Nose radioed the others and warned them. Leaving the bar, they made their way to the factory. Circling the outside of the building, they discovered a similar knotted rope hanging down, where the sniper had obviously climbed up. Dliiavrnt grinned, unclipped a frag grenade, and attached the ring to the rope, poising it so that the movement of the rope being climbed would pull the pin. Then Dliiavrnt, Lasnus and Stpierb' entered the building; but instead of entering the factory part, they lurked in the main corridor. Lasnus covered the door into the factory, and the others the main entrance.

They hadn't long to wait. Footsteps sounded on the stairs, and then Joe and another man appeared at the door. Both appeared very surprised to see the team waiting for them, but, overcoming their surprise, they opened negotiations.

Dliiavrnt handed the second man - addressed as "Nate" by Joe - one of the two rifles they'd brought along. Nate examined it, appearing quite impressed, but as he worked the action, the fore stock dropped off. "What's this junk you're pushing on us?" he demanded. Stpierb', feigning exasperation with such a clumsy customer, took the weapon and, reassembling it, started to run through the same strip-and-clear sequence Nate had. Embarrassingly, the butt and action dropped out this time, hitting the floor with a loud crash.

A confused and angry argument ensued, ending in Joe and Nate going for their guns. Nose, kept up to date by an open radio channel, decided it was time to open the festivities, and plugged the Red Action sniper cleanly through the face with one shot. As the body toppled from the catwalk to the factory floor sixty feet below, all hell broke loose. A blaze of gunfire lit up the factory area; the Red Action men were firing almost indiscriminately with no idea of a target. Coolly, Nose leveled his weapon at the largest group of terrorists and released a RAM grenade. It rocketed across the factory on a trail of flame and smoke to explode in the confined space behind a power press where four men were taking cover. The explosion was savage in the restricted space, and the blast brought down the catwalk and glass roof from over the top, showering the area with shrapnel and huge shards of glass. Nothing was left of the four men but mincemeat and bone meal.

Meanwhile, back in the corridor, Joe had cleared leather with a handgun. Dliiavrnt was quicker, however, and a sizzling bolt from his new laser pistol punched through Joe's right eye and out through the back of his skull, dropping the weasel instantly; his weapons clattered across the floor.

Nate bunched himself to spring backwards through the open door behind him. Stpierb' reached for his weapon, then stopped; his fusion gun would kill everyone in the room if he fired it. Instead, as Nate leaped, he flung himself after the man. Grappling and punching, the two rolled out of the door onto the wooden landing atop the outside stairs.

Lasnus, leaning into the factory, tried a snapshot at one of the terrorists there, but his bolt bounced off the machinery the man was hiding from Nose's onslaught behind. Simultaneously, Nose raked the nearest group to him with automatic gauss rifle fire, dropping half of them on the spot. His second burst mopped up the survivors.

On the stairs, Stpierb' pushed himself free of Nate's grasp, and launched a powerful head butt. Unfortunately, the strap on his helmet came free, and the helmet bounced away down the stairs. Stpierb' reeled as, distracted, he received a heavy punch in the face. Then Dliiavrnt leaned over from behind and pressed the hot muzzle of his pistol to Nate's temple. "We can do this two ways," he suggested, "either you stop moving, or you... stop moving." Nate relaxed and spread his arms in surrender.

Lasnus got a better view and fired again; spouting a shower of blood, his target reeled away, dropping his weapon. The man next to him disappeared, tunneling under the machinery like a rabbit. Nose attempted to finish matters with another RAM grenade, but the munition struck a stanchion close to the target and brought most of the remaining catwalks down on top of him instead. Silence fell in the factory.

Dragging Nate to his feet, they searched him, finding money and suspiciously innocuous ID. Then - much to his surprise - they not only didn't kill him, but pointed out that, now he knew what would happen if he messed with the Boys, was he going to deal properly?

Recovering himself, he quickly agreed to start again; he'd buy the one remaining unbroken example rifle for the full asking price as a goodwill gesture, and suggested the team set up the next meeting on their terms, obviously trying to regain their confidence. They agreed, and, after extracting Cr15,000 from his wallet, returned it to him and released both him and the one surviving thug, extracted from under his pile of rubble.

Once he was gone, Stpierb' searched Joe's body, discovering to his surprise a well-cared for gausspistol and a top-notch TL 14 thieves' toolkit, both obviously imported. He kept the gun; Lasnus quickly appropriated the tools. They collected all the ID they could find from the dead men in the factory. Then, spurred by the sound of approaching sirens, they faded into the night.