Randolph Lalonde - Triton – 01

“You're telling me,” Stephanie agreed.

The lone entrant came through the smaller emergency airlock and was visible only for a moment before he slid down the yellow tube, causing it to flex and warp. Liz stepped out of the way and the much taller, broad shouldered fellow arrived at the bottom, stopped by a thick pad on the deck. He rolled to his feet slowly and stood up in front of Liz, who looked absolutely tiny compared to the large human. “Thank you very much. I'm Liam,” he shook the young woman's hand.

“I'm Liz. I think you're wanted on the bridge if I heard the chatter right.”

“Aye, thank you for the safe landing.”

“Do you want me to walk him there Stephanie?” Liz asked.

“Don't worry, I can find my way,” Liam interjected calmly.

“You've been aboard a Sol System Carrier before?” Stephanie inquired.

“No, but if my guess is right this is like any other Earth ship and it'll show me the way.” He looked at the floor. “ Triton, show me the quickest way to the bridge,” he requested.

An arrow lit up on the deck to his right. “Yup, just like any Earth ship. I'll get out of your hair and let you help these people. Thank you Liz.” He said with a short bow before jogging off towards the freight express car.

“You're welcome,” she waved after him before looking back down at the controls to the emergency airlock. “Now how do I get the tube and everything back in?” She asked herself. A few moments later she tapped another button with her foot twice and the whole yellow tube and its stopping pad retracted along with the wire frame.

Stephanie watched as the doors leading into the starliner parted and the first of the passengers appeared. “Hold there. If you have any weapons leave them aboard or check them at the bottom. We'll be taking all your ammunition so no firing will take place aboard. I'll direct you down the ramp in groups of four. Go slowly, carefully and present your identification to the officers at the bottom. We have basic accommodations for you until the TRF Peter, a rescue ship, arrives and you will be led to them as soon as possible,” she said through her amplification unit. The ones at the front found the announcement loud, and a few cringed, but she had to make sure she didn't repeat herself too much. She didn't want to lose her voice like she had the last time they performed a rescue operation.

The first groups went by without incident, a few of them taking a second or two to thank her or ask simple questions. After the first nine hundred, which was the longest stream of people she'd ever seen, a gentleman stopped and showed her a pair of pistols. “Lady, I heard your announcement, and I think we have a problem.”

“Yes?” She replied with a smile.

“I take these with me everywhere, and I don't go without ammo either.”

“You'll have to make an exception here.”

“No, you'll have to make an exception, missy.”

Stephanie simply nodded and pointed to the right of the large mooring doors. “If you'll stand right there while I let other people through so we can discuss this in a minute,” she said firmly.

He gave her a surprised look then followed directions, holstering his pistols and crossing his arms.

She let the rest of the passengers through without incident, and the fellow tried to squeeze in with the last of them. Stephanie stopped him, gently touching his shoulder. “Now let's finish our discussion.”

“You're gonna let me through with my ammo miss.”

“No, I'm not. Ship policy states that only registered crew can go armed,” there had been no such policy established, but she decided now was a good time to use her rank and make one. The guard she had brought up with her rested his hands on his rifle, slung across his stomach and chest.

“I don't know what you're trying to prove lady, but-”

“If I had anything to prove, you'd have been on your face ten minutes ago with a hole in your chest.” Stephanie stated plainly, her hand on her sidearm. The safety on her own rifle had been turned on and locked, it was slung across her back.

He stared at her for a moment, fuming, before trying to step forward again.

She put her arm out straight and stopped him with her palm. “Your ammo stays here or my scanning team won't let you through.”

“My ass they won't let me through,” he pressed again.

Stephanie jerked her pulse pistol from it's holster, aimed and fired in one smooth motion. The bolt of energy scattered across his entire body, setting his nervous system on fire momentarily, causing him to twitch violently and fall to the ramp.

In the space of three seconds she had both his weapons out of their holsters and tossed them into the cabin of the spaceliner behind him.

“I was gettin' my identification, I'm with Enreega Fed Law,” he said through clenched teeth. The pain of a mid powered stun weapon was unbelievable, and he'd be disabled for at least ten minutes longer.

“I couldn't care less, you attempted to intimidate the First Officer of this vessel, violated our code of conduct and didn't properly announce yourself. You're not welcome aboard.” She said as she rolled him back into the space liner.

“You bitch!” He managed to curse through an involuntary twitch.

“You don't know the half of it,” Stephanie laughed as she walked out of the airlock and punched the button to seal it behind her. “Frost, you're clear to release the starliner. It's empty except for one giant prick.”

“The giant prick didn't fit aboard?” Frost retorted quietly.

Stephanie's irritation evaporated and she chuckled. “He wouldn't relinquish his ammo.”

“Ah, all right, releasing the locks on the star liner. How are you for space down there?”

“We've counted eleven hundred twenty nine so far,” reported Liz from the bottom of the ramp.

There were a hand full of people left, waiting to present their identification and be scanned and Stephanie quickly counted them. “I'd say we just picked up eleven hundred forty three. That upper berthing is probably getting pretty full.”

“All right, we have one more military vessel to dock with.” Frost said. “They're coming across in emergency shuttles on our port side, and hard locking with us below. Ramirez will be escorting them in. Captain needs you on the bridge,” Frost reported.

“Has Ramirez been taking ammo?”

“Let me check for you,” Frost said.

“No, he didn't think of it,” interjected Captain Valance. “We should have.”

“Well, at least eleven hundred of them aren't-” She stopped on the ramp as she saw a two by two meter storage compartment filled with ammunition and several disposable firearms. It was like looking at a munitions pit.

“Something wrong?”

“Oh, nothing Captain, just looking at enough ammunition to fuel a small civil war. Leaves me wondering if it would have been simpler to make sure everyone was armed instead of collecting ammo. Probably would have been faster.”

“Well, hopefully the military personnel can help keep the peace for two days. From what we've heard the berths down there are pretty cramped. Twenty eight and fifty six bunks to a compartment and we haven't figured out the sound dampeners or soft isolation systems yet. It's going to be loud and cramped.”

“Well, I'll be on the bridge in a moment. I'm taking a team with me so we have security there, the rest I'll assign to keep the peace in the berth we just filled up.”

“I'll take my team back down to medical. It's a miracle there are no wounded.” Grace said as she turned to leave the gunnery deck. “Computer, show me the quickest route to the main infirmary.” She commanded. Arrows appeared to her left on the deck, just in front of her feet and she raised an eyebrow. “What do you know, learn something new every day.”