trans_9 | Sometimes Knowledge Is The Most Dangerous Thing [Closed]

Entry tags:

Sometimes Knowledge Is The Most Dangerous Thing [Closed]

Leon had been busy since the mission. He had dozens of questions, so, when he wasn't patrolling the City or doing a few exercises with his team, he was trying to get answers.

There were two main places that he searched. The first was the Media Library, though his diving through the archives didn't yield much. The other place was in the depths of Weapons & Possessions.

Weapons & Possessions was as big and expansive as the City itself, if not larger. It took him days to search and map the place, though he would swear the halls shifted around on him every once in a while. But it was there that he made a huge discovery, one that had the potential to shake up the balance of power on the ship in all kinds of ways.

His discovery?

A weapons cache.

Or more precisely, the weapons cache. Not only did he find the weapons that Stacy carried as standard issue for her crew, he found the weapons, mechs, and armor that was stolen when she brought the various members of the crew on the ship. It was all there, buried in the heart of Weapons & Possessions, locked up behind several layers of security, not the least of which was the ever changing maze one would have to navigate just to find it. Fortunately, going on key hunts and fetch quests was something he was used to, and managed to complete over a few more days.

But the good news was that, for now, the weapons were his. The bad news was now he had to figure out what to do with them.

Giving them all to the crew was just going to be a recipe for disaster, at least while the only thing they had to shoot at was each other. Even trusting the command staff with this was out of the question for the moment. But on the other hand, the weaponry they had now, while decent, could stand to be upgraded.

For the time being, he internally settled on a compromise and split up the cache. He left all of the heavy artillery and the power armor where it was, and took the smaller and mid-powered hand held weapons with him. Anything that he didn't recognize also stayed in with the heavy weapons, he didn't want any accidents to happen.

But first he would need a place to move them to. Stacy locking them up again was a possibility, so he would need to move them into the City. Fortunately, he knew a good place.

During his patrols, he had been in and out of a number of abandoned buildings. One of them he recognized as some kind alien law enforcement office. The layout was easily enough to identify, with holding cells, interrogation rooms, and an additional secure area that could be used as a weapons locker.

It would make a good headquarters for security operations in the city. It was near the center, so it was roughly an equal time to get from there to any point at the edge of the city, which was an added bonus.

Of course, he realized that the moment he did move the weapons there, he'd be doing something that couldn't be undone, and something that had the potential to be a huge disaster. He'd also have to inform the command staff about what he had done. After he secured the weapons in the City.

It was still after the fact when he called them, but he did finally call the Master Chief and Cybil and asked them to meet him in the City. He was brief in his message, but he made it clear he had something important to discuss with them.

And outside the building he had dubbed "The Precinct", he was waiting for them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"What do you have to report, Leon?" asks Cybil, as she and Chief arrive. She seems interested that it's here at this location--she's been wanting to bring it up as a potential location for a brig, herself, but there's been so much piled on their heads, that needed to be taken care of first.

"Same question," says the Chief. He's been inside this building, poked around it a little in his patrols and been satisfied nothing hungry and vicious lives in it. He's been a bit busy lately though, especially since the last mission.

He notes privately that whatever this is, Leon didn't call Kirk or Picard here as well. He wonders why that is, but doesn't comment.

"A couple of things, actually." He wasn't really sure how to even begin addressing this.

"We should talk inside. Have either of you really taken a look inside this building?"

Cybil nods, as they follow. "Police precinct. Maybe alien in nature, but sure as hell recognizable as one. I was thinking it'd be a good location for a brig if we ever need one."

Bingo.

"My thoughts exactly," he said as he led them in.

"The holding cells would need a little more work, just something to reinforce them to hold some of the more powerful crew members if they cause too much of a problem."

Strangely, or perhaps not, this tour wasn't heading towards the holding cells, but towards another area of the Precinct.

"But there's more. As it turns out this place is also good for holding something else..."

The Chief's eyes narrow slightly in suspicion at that. It's nothing against Leon, he just smells trouble. Or potential trouble. And it's an instinct that has always served him well.

"What have you found, Kennedy?" he asks. He doesn't have any idea, but whatever this is it has to be important. Otherwise, why the secrecy?

Cybil perks up similarly, her instincts telling her the same thing. This is either a good surprise, a bad one, or something that's a little of both.

There was a part of him screaming that he could call this off right now. That he could tell them nothing, or make up some excuse, or... anything really. But the truth was bound to come out sooner or later, especially if this place was going to be used as a Precinct.

So, he decided to answer their question (he had called them there anyway), though not verbally. Though he imagine his silence spoke volumes on the issue. Instead, he led them to the one of the rooms that had multiple locks, that was away from the holding cells.

When he opened the door, he didn't have to say anything. The sheer volume of weapons and their obviously high caliber spoke for him. It was all loosely organized, but clearly laid out. Rifles, pulse rifles, a few automatic weapons, higher caliber handguns, hand-held energy weapons, among other things...

The Chief pauses for a moment. Then he moves forward slowly, there are things he recognizes here, and things he doesn't that are clearly dangerous.

"W&P doesn't stock Covenant fuel rod guns," he says, tapping a finger on the large, faintly iridsescent orange weapon. One of these things could take out a tank, roughly the Covvie answer to a rocket launcher.

Chief's not beating around any bushes today.

"You found the heavy weapons?"

If that's the case, the Chief's glad to be one of the people to know. He's also glad Leon didn't run off and tell everybody. This could be messy.

Oh hell yes. She picks up and takes a look at a long-range, Prozian hand-held sniper blaster, testing out the digital scope.

...Wait, how the fuck did she know what it was?

"No offense Chief, but I think that's something of a given. I think the better question is 'where?' And even better than that is: can anyone just walk in and grab what they want?"

And this was the tricky part. How can he avoid lying to them, while still keeping the heavier stuff a secret?

"I found these in W&P, actually, held under lock and key. It took me days of searching to find this batch, and considering that the halls deep inside W&P move around regularly, it was dumb luck that I managed to find these to begin with. It took me another few days just to find the keys to get them.

"What was there got moved here."

Well, what he could move safely and inconspicuously, got moved there. And, frankly, there were enough weapons moved to the Precinct to arm the all of the current crew two to three times over. And it wouldn't take much of a leap for anyone to figure out that was the tip of the iceberg. Considering how many pods there were in the caverns, he guessed Stacy had a large enough arsenal to arm every last one of them. Considering how some of the gun racks in the main armory stretched on for well over three miles, it wouldn't be a far off guess.

"If I had to hazard a guess, this--" he gestured towards the stockpile, "--was Stacy throwing us a bone."

Not entirely a lie. He was fairly certain that if Stacy didn't want him to locate the armory, he wouldn't have been able to.

This is why the Chief asked. To be sure. Now he isn't, but there's something... about this.

"They were grouped apart from the others. How?"

It sounds like these things were difficult to find, but relocating the place might be possible. Probably too tedious a task to worry about now with the formidable arms they've just gained, but it's something to keep in mind.

"And have you told anyone else?"

The Chief understands, Leon. Boy does he.

Leon decided to focus on the more important of the two questions.

"So far, you're the only ones I've told."

"And why they were grouped separately?" Cybil asks, not letting him wiggle out of that one.

She and Chief have gotten kinda good at teaming up to not let people wriggle and get away with something.

"'Information classified'," he deadpanned, imitating Stacy's answer for every question he had asked ~~her~~ it regarding the weapons.

"The more pressing matter is what to do with these. We could use some heavier artillery, but this crew is a fairly volatile bunch. They're just as liable to use them on each other as they are anything that attacks us."

That was his opinion, and may also be his round about way of explaining why he was stonewalling them, without actually admitting that he was.

And that's why the Chief's glad Leon had sense enough not to spread the word. This speaks well of him.

"The first thing I'd say," he says, "is not to give them the opportunity. Arm up once we're ready to roll out. Snag is then no one's familiar with the new weapons, and afterward you still got problems."

"Only giving them to people you trust will get everyone to yell favoritism and there's nothing surer to tear this crew apart. So far we haven't had anyone shot, not since the Yeerks, but Stacy can't stop bullets when she's slamming you for violations. Anyone gets off a shot with something like this (he taps the rod gun) and whoever they're aiming at isn't coming back."

The problem's abundantly clear to John. He doesn't intend to let up on Leon about the location of this "batch", but the more important issue right now really is this. If they can come up with a viable solution with as few minds involved as possible they can lessen any potential damage.

"Also, I'd like to know why you chose to tell us rather than the captain." This last? It's not unfriendly, though the Chief doesn't necessarily approve. He's genuinely curious.

Yeah, the Chief definitely understood.

"I called you two first because..." He looked over at Cybil, "About two days after I first woke up here, you relinquished your position of Captain. You didn't want to the power, and you don't want to play politics. All that seemed to interest you was the general well being of the crew, which is why they granted you that authority to begin with.

"And as for you," his gaze shifted over to the Chief, "it's like I told you before, you're a good soldier and an honorable man, but a terrible politician.

"Neither one of you have an agenda, nor do I." So, no, this isn't some setup about forming an alliance, or setting up for some kind of coup d'etat. "For as far as I've advanced in my career, I'm still just a cop. I took an oath to protect and serve the public trust, to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and all it stands for. This kind of situation is above my pay grade."

He look around at the weapons, and picked up a Throzean assault rifle, taking a moment to check out the slide action.

"Under different circumstances, I'd be thrilled to have access to an arsenal this size. But right now, I don't know if I found something that can help save all our lives, or something that will tear this crew apart.

"What I do know is that you both know the measure of this crew, and I trust you both enough to know you'll play it straight with me."

In short, he knows the stakes are high and he wants to do the right thing. He just doesn't know what that is. Help plz?

Edited 2009-06-28 06:34 (UTC)

Cybil thinks about this for a moment. Eventually she shakes her head.

"Anyone that's capable and willing to carry, that doesn't have the ability to fire lasers out their ass, needs to carry. For some things that've happened on this ship, like the bugs--we were pinned down. There's no way we could've made a weapons run without getting destroyed."

A deep breath.

"But we can't just hand guns out to anybody. I think we need to create a formal training program. Not just aim and safe weapon-handling--the discipline, too. Most of the crew is reasonable enough that they'd understand the need to train with these weapons first, especially since they're alien in nature. I also think for the younger ones, the teens, we either have a set minimum age or gauge by maturity and see if we can have the engineers cripple some of these into stun weapons for anyone that could learn how to handle them but is too immature or too young to be trusted to handle them safely at full power. I'd trust Robin with a gun for instance--not that I think he'd even take one, but I'd trust him to be responsible with one. He could cripple people in the crew with what's in his belt alone already. But a kid like Paco is...iffy. He's a good kid, but I'd have to see how is with training to gauge."

On the other hand...

"If it turned out Paco wasn't responsible enough for any heavier weaponry, he needs something more than a stick if he's backed into a corner, so a stun weapon seems a good alternative. Generally, though, at most, people should only be able to carry the smallest weapons on-hand anyway."

She sums up by saying, "We need weapons in as many capable hands as possible, but they need to be earned. With responsibility. And we need non-fatal weapons alternatives. Some of these people absolutely refuse to kill, or they're old enough to fight, but too young or immature to carry firearms, and if their options are fatal weaponry or nothing, we need something better than nothing for them."

The Chief's satisfied with Leon's explanation. At this point, he'd have to say he likes the guy.

"The lowest tier of these, the handguns, is probably not so bad. One way to think about it is that if stuff of this level is straight across the board with most of the crew, except for the notably bad candidates, they'll be able to keep each other in check if it comes to that. Keep them out of reach of the kids if they prove irresponsible, and anyone else that might cause problems. A couple people are coming to mind, notably Sawyer and Sam Winchester. Sam's been a bit... out of it since the Yeerk infestation, and Sawyer's always been difficult to work with. This is the part of the plan people aren't going to like, and whoever gets vetoed is probably going to be angry and we'll have to find very good, clear, indisputable reasons."

Moving along a little, he indicates the fuel rod gun again. "Anything bigger, like this? I'd say case by case basis for if we need it or not. If someone's capable and we trust them, get them up to speed with it. Have a couple heavy weapons people on each team. They're not always practical in most situations where something smaller would work better without risking blowing yourself and half your own squad up."

There are many ways you can kill yourself with a big weapon, and none of them are pretty.

"Sam will be fine." Yes, Leon had to stick up for his teammate. But to the Chief's credit, that was about the only thing he said so far that Leon disagreed with. "Treat him like an adult, and he'll respond as one.

"Everything else, though, sounds reasonable." It was definitely a familiar system he could work with. He made the right call, bringing this to them.

"The energy weapons would be the easiest to gimp down seeing as how bullets can't exactly be set on 'stun'."

"Sam...I want to see if he'd be willing to talk to one of the doctors. Some of 'em are trained as shrinks. He wants to be regarded as a soldier, or a peace officer on this ship, then we ask him to consider critical incident counseling."

A pause.

"Hell, before we hand any of 'em anything, we ought to do that for all of 'em. And ask at that. Not force them. Explain we just want to see if they're processing everything that happened okay. He wants to be treated like a responsible adult with a gun, then we give him the option of doing what either of us would do as cops. I think it's reasonable to ask them to take care of themselves before handing over weapons after a traumatic incident."

She looks over some of the heavier artillery.

"There's a reason I stepped down as captain--because I knew it was unreasonable after a certain point to expect consistent solid mental health from myself in such a high-pressure position. We give the crew the power to blow each other to hell, that much responsibility, and I expect no less self-examination from them. For the most part, knowing this crew, most will go for eval, and those that don't will take it as a sign to make sure they work through it on their own."

"He'll be alright, but he isn't right now. In his current state, with the Yeerk situation still unresolved, I do not trust him with higher arms."

The Chief knows that Sam is trying, but that he's still very strained.

"I'm fairly confident in most of the crew's ability to responsibly handle this situation. My concern is that there are a small number of people, ones I may not even suspect perhaps, that would potentially use this to their advantage and perhaps attempt a coup or some other desperate action."

"The most unifying thing we have is a common enemy. Part of the strain on the group is that we are alone in the dark, and they feel pretty damn helpless. We do not know exactly what is happening, and we're shooting at shadows. I don't know where this will lead us, I won't pretend to, but the way I see it it's essential that we break our way to the bridge and deal with whatever it is that's controlling the ship. We need answers. Whatever we do, if we're setting dangerous material in the crew's hands we need to have a purpose for it. Moving forward. And that's why Stacy let you find this in the first place."

There were a few moments where he considered their opinions.

"Alright."

He held out the keys for this armory for them to take. He was still going to hold on to the ones for the big one. Not that he didn't trust them, but for the moment, he was going to see how this played out before trotting out the ridiculously heavy artillery.

"I'll assume you'll want to discuss this with the Captain and other command staff before moving forward with anything."

Cybil nods, as she takes the key.

"Although, I think you should come with us to do it."

Like Chief, she's impressed with him, too. Leon seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and he's obviously concerned for the well-being of the crew.

"I think they should hear all our concerns across the board for this."

"Agreed."

He was the one who found the guns to begin with, so he was certain the Captain would have more than a few questions for him.

The Chief takes the key, examining it briefly before closing it in one hand.

"Then we'll go, unless anyone has a reason to wait." The Chief doesn't, this is serious business and as far as he's concerned it needs to be settled as soon as possible.

"And Leon, how's a spot in ship security sound? You've already been doing work in that capacity anyway, and I'd be glad to have you."

The Chief approves. The security team is kind of disorganized and scattered, though the Chief really would like to fix that. He's just been all over the place lately.

Everyone has been all over the place. Leon simply happened to find something useful while out and about.

"I can't stop being a cop anymore than you can stop being a Marine, Chief. I'm in." Hopefully Leon's willingness to ~~be bossy as all fuck~~ take the initiative in some matters won't be an issue.

"And before I forget--" he held out a smaller key for one of them to take. "Two floors down, second door on the right is a storage area. Evidence lock-up, if I had to hazard a guess. Ammunition, fuel cells, fuel rods, and the necessary chargers are all stored there."

Hey, he needed an ace in the hole in the event things went sideways, for whatever reason. After all, these guns would be little more than ill-designed hammers without any ammo.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sometimes Knowledge Is The Most Dangerous Thing [Closed]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject