Star Trek: Starbase 777 - conductor-car

Tex approached the car, stopping in front of the door to knock.

There was a moment without reply before a curse was uttered behind the door, and the conductor poked their head out— short, stocky, curly hair poofing out in every direction around their ponytail. They glared at Tex behind their half-moon glasses. "What?"

Oh! Tex cleared his throat, adjusting his posture. He adjusted the brim of his ha, giving the other a small wave. "Howdy," He greeted. "I hope you don't mind the intrusion, I was just hoping I could take a gander at the specs on this gorgeous train. Y'see, my daughter's always wanted to ride on one, n'I was hoping I could look around and take some notes for her," he explained with a charming grin.

Having shown up to take part in this holodeck programme specifically for the train, Giles's approach was the same as P'lerratex. Who needed to be immersed in a story when you could investigate a very impressive re-imagining of a classic steam engine instead? "I second having a look, please," he said as he poked a head around Tex's side, having snuck up behind. He twiddled a bowler hat in his hands. Apparently the holodeck had translated his posh-ass-attitude into dressing him as a Victorian-era immigrant businessman with a waistcoat and all rather than the American cowboy. "For myself, though. No daughters here."

6

The conductor's mouth twisted indignantly around an unlit cigarette, dark eyes bouncing between the pair. They held out their palm. "Let's call it a tour guide's fee, then."

2

Right, okay. They wanted money. Tex patted his pockets, hoping his costume had spawned in with a bit of cash. Feeling a wallet, he pulled it out, pleased to find a crisp $10 bill within. Given the time period and how monetary inflation worked, hopefully that was a pretty good sum. He handed it to the conductor.

"That's likely the equivalent of a full bar of gold pressed latinum in our day and age," he whispered to Tex, albeit thankful for the Caitian handling the situation. He wouldn't have known what was being asked for. On the topic of knowing or not knowing things, had he known the exchange and inflation rates, he would have actually worked out the equivalent. Because that's the sort of nerd he was.

2

The money phased through the wallet, collisions interacting awkwardly until there was a small pile of $10 bills scattered around the floor. The conductor took no notice, eyes practically bugging out of their head before they all but snatched the bill out of his hand and stuffed it into their shirt. "No refunds," they said, opening the door, "and no funny business." (edited)

9

P'lerratex's eyes widened as Giles whispered a clarification of the value to him. Noticing the bills on the floor, Tex quickly scooped them off the floor as soon as the conductor turned their back before stepping into the room, thinking perhaps they could be useful later down the line.

An eyebrow was raised at the money glitching out. He had been too engrossed in exploring different carriages and hadn't noticed any other faults since then. The holodeck's processing power was going towards keeping such a magnificent train running compared to keeping the little details going, clearly. He followed behind Tex while looking around. "I wonder the maximum psi of steam pressure that this can maintain..." Again: nerd.

5

They arched an eyebrow at Giles' musing. "P-S-I?" they echoed, flicking a match. "Hell is that?"

1

"Pounds per square inch," Giles explained while taking in the controls. When was PSI first used on Earth? He didn't know. His memories of industrialisation were only from on Trill. Would he break the programme if he didn't play the part right..? "Used to measure safety and power of steam engines. We use it often in the, uhm," he glanced down at his outfit and winced, having at least a vague understanding of British and American history. "The. You know. Empire."

3

"Well, shit." The conductor sighed out smoke, propping up against the wall to keep a wary eye on the pair. "You wanna run this train?" they joked.

There is a sudden Sykes appearance. Sykes marked down two crew members on her PADD, an Ops officer she didn’t recognize and a member of Intel. Holding the PADD beneath her arm (which looked like an old clipboard in the holodeck), the cowgirl-clad hacker wandered over to the two of them. “Y’all two doin’ alright?” She asked Giles, before glancing at the conductor. She gave Giles a teasing look, “What, you lookin’ for a new job already?” (edited)

"Yes," was the immediate reply from the Trill before a newcomer joined. One of his colleagues from Intelligence, he recognised. He hadn't been back aboard 777 for long and had spent most of that time settling in rather than starting work again just yet, so he was yet to properly get to know his fellow Intelligence officers. "Please don't squander my opportunity to drive the train," he said, not joking like the conductor had been. He looked inquisitively at the clipboard, presuming that Sykes was playing the part of a member of train staff for some reason. "Are you looking for a new job?"

2

Oh he was serious he wants to drive this train so bad. Sykes understood the train autism, she wasn’t gonna stop Giles from his pursuit. “I’m keepin’ a head count of everyone in here,” She held up the clipboard, showing the PADD screen. Above her headcount list are various notes, titled with the words ‘Rescue Stuff.’ Oh boy, Sykes was here to help! …oh boy, Sykes was here to help. (edited)

1

"Rescue stuff?" Giles asked, completely unaware that they were even in need of rescuing. Sure there had been a little glitch to do with money, but that was it, right? "Who needs rescuing? Oh - is this a Murder on the Orient Express sort of thing? I always did like that one."

She blinked in surprise, before she sorta gestured away from the NPC with her head, “Well- Why don’t we go talk ‘bout the uh…the ‘murder’ sorta stuff on over here, huh?” She paused and then looked at the NPC, “There’s no murder. No one’s- Ain’t no one’s dead, swear,” She didn’t want the program freaking out more than it already was.

The conductor gave a sharp bark of a laugh, shaking their head as they moved. Their legs stopped moving, and they glided across the ground, connecting with the wall again and again and again. "For that sorta price, mister, I'll let you press whatever buttons you want 's long as it don't send us off the track." The murder stuff went right over their head.

3

Sykes' blink of surprise was mimicked a moment later when Giles watched the conductor ghost across the cabin's floor and then start repeatedly hitting the wall. And they kept talking while doing it. That was somewhat freaky. He stepped away, both at Skyes' instruction and because he wanted to get away from that character. "Can we hold off on whatever typical holodeck disaster is happening for long enough for me to drive the train..?"

4

2

Sykes just…watched the conductor slide around like their shoes were made of soap before she snapped back to reality and walked with Giles, “Well, we ain’t too sure what the hell’s goin’ on besides…y’know, general inconvenience, but it’s not ideal, now is it?” She gestured toward the NPC as it continued to bounce against the wall, “Tell you what, you lend a hand with fixin’ it, and I will make damn sure you drive this train. Vovvi’s lookin’ for the panel right now, but I haven’t even been able to get into the local network.”

That was good enough for him! Cysec folks loved a good panel, local access into hacking something instead of doing it remotely and all. He wouldn't be surprised if they were still invested in LAN parties. "Excuse me, my good sir," he spoke as he turned back to the conductor, trying to sound as proper and important as possible. "Might I have a look at the controls just now? For the, uhm, purpose of checking the PSI, of course."

The pathfinding adjusted, and the conductor just waved. "Do what you want. Any funny business and I'll blow your head clean off," and there was a subtle shift of their weight, just enough to flash the holster strapped to their side.

Sykes tagged along with Giles, almost immediately forgetting her headcount mission as she got ready to do some old fashioned hacking. She did pause, however, upon the conductor showing a holster, and gave Giles a look. Damn! All she wanted to do was funny business! “You got it, boss,” She gave a nod, before lowering her voice to talk to Giles, “We don’t want this program meltin’ into violence. Stuff’s already volatile, and I ain’t too keen on gettin’ into a gun fight. Don’t imagine you are, neither.” (edited)

1

Yet another surprised blink was given, this time at the conductor's show of a holster. Delightful. Glitching holodeck programmes just loved to turn the safeties off. There was a chance that firearm could legitimately do some damage. Just like Sykes had, he nodded in agreement to do no 'funny business' and set about looking for anything that would undisguise itself and reveal holodeck technology inside rather than the inner workings of a steam engine. "Do we have any idea if the holodeck safeties are still working?" He asked to Sykes, voice quiet as well.

“Well- Engineerin’ is having a problem with power fluctuations, and they can’t quite fix that until the program’s shut down from the inside and we evacuate, so that safety is still in play,” The agent replied quietly, playing lookout while Giles looked around. She was making damn sure that the conductor wasn’t going for their gun, “Basically, nothin’ is cooperating with us.” She gestured toward the coal furnace, “Power for the train, maybe that’s where the panel is?”

"Smart thinking." He very tentatively opened the furnace's door a smidge, wary of the safeties having a hissy fit and belching fire everywhere in the event that this wasn't access to a panel.

Panel access granted! What now?

“There an off button?” Sykes asked very genuinely. She didn’t know the mechanical inner workings of a holodeck very well. (edited)

"I... Highly doubt it," was the reply as he investigated the interior of the furnace which, thankfully, had not immediately gone up in flames. To him, everything inside looked like the average Starfleet mess of isolinear rods and other miscellaneous components. "Well, maybe? Surely there has to be some sort of emergency override. I just don't know how to spot it." Curse him not being an engineer. Hadn't he spotted Allan in one of the other carriages? Perhaps they should go and get him... Or go straight for the local access hacking approach, if necessary.

Sykes was also weighing options, knowing that there were engineers stuck in here and that came with her in the rescue team. She did, however, lean toward local access hacking often. She hummed, before patting Giles on the shoulder, “Swap with me,” She lifted a small screwdriver from her bandolier (holstered in the same spot a bullet would be!) and knelt down in front of the panel, “I cracked open a PADD and connected it to a virtual machine when there was that fake ensign murder mystery thing…stands to reason I could do somethin’ similar here, yeah?”

'Fake ensign murder mystery thing'? There was an infinite number of things that had happened aboard in his absence. It felt like he'd be catching up with the stories for the next ten years. "I have absolutely no idea, I'm afraid," he said while he stepped aside. He cast a wary eye at the conductor as he did so, still rather concerned by the presence of a firearm. Although - he wasn't as concerned as he probably should be, both about that and about a broken holodeck situation in general. It was more interesting than anything. "I defer to your superior systems knowledge."

“Well…sit tight, then, cuz I’m afraid to report that this is a whole lotta funny business I’m about to pull,” She said with a little chuckle, before leaning into the panel and tracing one of the wires toward a redundancy circuit. With her screwdriver, she loosened that circuitboard and slowly pulled it out, popping part of the processor free and turning to her PADD. “Allllright…” She muttered, putting her screwdriver in her teeth after popping the back of her PADD open, “Let’s get knitting,” Time to attach a bunch of wires to one another! (edited)

4

Connection successful. What now, Sykes?..

Now, she started searching through the program for an emergency override. She did her best to keep the PADD and her wires hidden with both her crouched position and Giles’ blocking the sight of the conductor. She was humming quietly as she worked, sifting through various glitches on her virtual machine.

It was at that moment that P’lerratex entered the car to rejoin his previous companion, having seemingly not realized Giles had been joined by another intelligence officer. You see, he had been completely distracted by the glitch with the $10 bills— every time he picked one up, another one was waiting underneath it. Holding an armful of cash with even more sticking out of his pockets, Tex looked like he was just begging to be robbed. Noticing a flash of wire through Giles’ cover, the Caitian suddenly remembered what he’d been doing previously. “Oh, duh. Need any help, miss?”

1

The agent’s eyes slid over to Tex for a second before returning to her PADD as she scrolled through miles and miles of code. She paused, plucked the screwdriver from her mouth, and nodded to the Ops officer as she set it aside and got back to work, “You wanna tell me what all’s been happening in here so far? Program’s been staying relatively smooth besides the glitching, yeah?”

The door slid open behind them.

Tex dumped his stash of green in a corner near the door before kneeling to join Sykes at the panel. “Uh, yeah, mostly pretty normal, just a couple things here and there that made me wanna check things out. And, uh, I couldn’t call an arch,”

“Well, that’s good, ‘least there’s nothing threatening just yet…” Door opening, you say? “Evenin’ there officer, we ain’t up to anythin’!” She quickly and loudly said as she covered up her PADD, giving Tex a look that said ‘Make a distraction!’

Tex jumped up to greet whoever was at the door, using his tail to add some extra cover to the panel.

"Officer?.." the low drawl of a voice hissed from behind the cover of a bandana. Shockingly calm for someone holding a gun to the head of the conductor. "That's a new one."

8

"So here's how it's gonna go..." The faint click of the revolver sounded, and her eyes moved from person to person. Her voice was steady, calm, and expression much the same. "All of you, on your knees, faces to the wall. Any funny business and we'll see how the train drives by itself, hm?.."

1

Giles had been strategically trying to block the conductor's view of whatever Sykes was up to. By 'strategic' this meant shuffling back and forth every time they moved, mumbling something about shifting weight affecting the psi measurements that he was most definitely taking. As such he saw when they were joined by a new person in more a more grungy getup, and he soon realised that they were a character rather than a player when they put the gun to the conductor's head. Oh dear. "Come now, madam," he said while holding up both hands in a placating gesture. He was still concerned about the safeties. The conductor might have been a character, but should this burglar or whomever they were turn their firearm on one of the actual officers here, it could result in more trouble. He eyed Tex who had returned with masses of old currency. "Perhaps we can settle this diplomatically..?" And if not, he hoped that Tex and Sykes were more combat-trained and capable than he was, because he'd be completely useless in a fight.

"Face the wall, blondie," the bandit echoed, eyes narrowed into dark slits under the shadow of her hat. "The only diplomacy I'm interested in is what I can get for all the pretty little things you've got in the freight car."

4

"Eat shit," they spat, straight and still as a wooden board.

They arched an eyebrow, evidently amused, and said nothing.

Well, that escalated quickly. It took P’lerratex a moment to register what was happening. He blinked a couple of times, then glanced down at the pile of cash still in the corner. Had the bandit seriously not noticed? “Woah, hey, let’s not be too hasty. Would it be possible to… pay you to leave us be?” He suggested, covering the cash with his tail as best he could to keep the negotiating power of an unknown sum of money.

1

None of these people want funny business. This is the worst day of Sykes’ life. In what you may call a desperate attempt at keeping at her work, Sykes shifted and slid into one of the corners beside the furnace, squirreling away from Giles, Tex, and the bandit, and frantically tapped at her PADD to find the emergency override!

2

"Hey, watch it—!" The gun moved, the shot deafening in the tense air, and —

Everything stopped. Textures unloaded rapidly, flickering, before an ERROR message flashed across the holodeck, allowing everyone a glimpse of their fellow holo-goers, before everything reloaded. Reset.

3

And here Paco was by the conductors car. Feels just like how the old western films depicted it to be, though in all honesty, he would've been happier just chilling in the train, eating baked beans, and snapping a photo or two... at least he was no longer in the smoker car.

Back again, although this time it was because of a bandit invasion and not him wandering around. Would the train conductor remember him from the last time? "My fine sir, we're here to defend you from a bandit attack," he declared, remembering that being out of character might damage the programme more. "With the, uhm," a glance between himself and Paco and their outfits... He was about to play this card again, wasn't he? "Might of the British Empire, of course."

3

"... Si." Paco responded in Spanish, just confused on what the bit about the British Empire was.

2

"Thank fuck! I lost my gun, I was worried you'd leave me high and dry," Francis sighed, running their fingers through their hair. "I feel like I'm gonna explode..."

That didn't sound medically advisable. "Please don't do that."

1

"... Si." Paco added, very British Empire indeed it was. "You no need to worry. We help you get train to safety and shoot the bandits" increasingly broken english right after doing a whole really terrible Arthur Morgan.

1

Well. The door is hanging off of one hinge now.

3

There had been a significant amount of concerning noises from the other side of the carriage door, which eventually resulted in said door swinging off its hinges, barely upright. Oh. That was concerning. "Kindly do not," Giles stated to whoever was on the other side, raising a paintball revolver that he didn't want to shoot given his aim would probably be god awful. "Kindly do not."

3

They ducked behind the tall(er than them) man with the gun, peeking cautiously over his shoulder. "Fuck's sake!"

"No." No in Spanish, as he raised his pistol towards the door. "No." in English, cos empire

2

"Well, I'm out of bullets I fear." Ngzoi said, she had gotten the door open but she had a feeling they were about to lose anyway. Almost everybody was out of bullets.

"Oh. Uhm..." There was a sideways glance to Paco as he tried to look at his fellow defender while still keeping an eye on the bandit who had just arrived. "Do we still have to shoot you..?"

4

"Si." No hesitation. Paco pulled the trigger against the first person he saw.

1

"I don't know." Ngozi said, actively being shot.* "Ow." She said, but didn't raise her own gun, seeing as that would be pointless. (edited)

"Don't do that," he chastised Paco, although secretly did find it a bit funny that he had immediately went for it. He looked back to Ngozi. How many people on the bandit team were out there, he wondered? "Do you want to, uhm... Surrender? Maybe?"

1

"No." "Rule, Britannia! Britannia rule the waves: Britons never never never shall be slaves." * "...so... you.... how many?" *Paco asked Ngozi, also not knowing what to do now other than fire again and wait for the next person. (edited)

“I still want to win but,” She looked behind herself, one of her bandit friends had already died, and the remaining ones were no match for 2 people with full lives. “Maybe?” She said, with a small shrug.

The conductor was still hiding behind Giles, eyeing Ngozi with suspicion. "I don't believe that!" they hissed. "They're just waiting to ambush us."

It did sound as though there was still more of a commotion going on. "This firearm only has a small magazine. I'm not wasting it on shooting you with paint if there are other people who still want to break in. Would you like to make yourself useful and put that door back on its hinges, maybe..?"

Paco hummed a tune to himself as this was going on, then a curiosity popped into mind. "Hm. What do we do now?" *Paco asked before he turned over to the conductor, gun still pointed at Ngozi. *"Hey, where does this train stop at anyway?"

They just stared blankly. "Stop?"

2

"Stop??" You know those memes of evil Elmo? A bit of fire from that can be seen in his eyes as he slowly turned his body, and thus the gun, towards the conductor. "What do you mean 'Stop?' ? Does this train not do that?"

"N— No? The whole point of the trip is the journey, not the destination!" They ducked behind Giles again, clearly frazzled. "Don't shoot the messenger!"

Thump. Sykes appeared in the broken doorway with some semblance of grace, which was a miracle given how she’d entered the train previously. “ALRIGHT,” She stepped into the car, “We best be stoppin’ NOW, cuz otherwise we’re going off a cliff! Emergency override or emergency brake, you pick!” She pointed at the NPC as they cowered behind Giles.

Tavek was very close behind, also pointing at the NPC. “You best listen, or you’ll be a paint smear real quick.”

“We’re going to WHAT?” Ngozi said, all relief that her fellow bandits had arrived thoroughly GONE. Game time over what did they MEAN they were going off of a CLIFF? She just wanted to win the game!

"Can we all stop playing cops and robbers or whatever this is and communicate properly?" He called, trying to put together the information of a cliff and no stop as the conductor had said. He hadn't even raised the paintball revolver. "If we're going to go off of a literal cliff then doesn't it make more sense to work together here?"

"Just get out of the damn way!" Ellie shouted as loud as she could. Waving her gun around at everyone inside. "So help me God or I'll turn all of you into the primary colors!"

"Hold on." He answered Giles as he shot Ellie without looking with the same amount of hesitation, for which there was none. "Si." he answered Giles' question on working together.

4

5

William dropped down a few moments later, coming in from the train roof. He positioned himself to watch for anyone coming from one of the adjacent cars, rather than the little firefight occuring between those already in the conductor car. "Whatever y'all decide, better do it fast." He cocked the revolver's handle back, keeping it aimed towards the coach car behind them. "If someone doesn't get that key or whatever from the conductor, I'll just go do it."

What conductor? There's nobody there!

3

“Oh you’re here, oh that’s beautiful,” Sykes said, putting back together who Giles was. A fellow Intelligence officer! “You wanted to drive the train, yeah?” She closed the distance between the two of them, putting her hand on his shoulder, smudging the dandy clothes Giles was wearing as the conductor glitched out of existence. “BEST GET TO IT.”

"Oh no, the conductor person is gone! If only one of us knew how a 1830s steam-powered locomotive engine works!" Paco said, gun still pointed at Ellie and waiting for the opportunity to start shooting like Meccha Cameleon

Suun stood in the back, watching everything as she joined the group. It seemed that enough was happening that she could just supervise. From afar. In the back.

“Oh Jesus,” Ngozi exclaimed, feeling very much like one of her aunties when they heard she was going to play professional gridiron. “Do we know if the safeties are on?” She really didn’t want to be crushed to death by a holographic train that fell off a cliff.

Ellie noticed that Paco had tried to take a shot at her; despite whizzing past her body and missing, she still felt the need to actually aim the revolver with intention. "Really?" She seemed to calm down a bit; the shouting earlier was mostly for aesthetic effect. She gingerly pulled the trigger while keeping the gun near her hip.

God, it was getting crowded in here. There was too much going on, and now the conductor had vanished. Sykes was telling him to do something. He was just here for the train and now he was getting pissed off. He raised his voice to call above the din. "Right, everyone move." Pushing through the mass of people who were trying to force their way into a very small space for god knows what reason, he grasped the iron handle that marked the main brake control and pushed it up to the final notch. There was a pneumatic hiss as the air pressure in the break lines was pushed out, break blocks engaging against the wheels. Then he shoved the throttle shut to cut off the pistons and put the reverser lever in place. He had watched enough train videos to know how.

9

The train screeched horribly along the tracks, sparks flying dramatically. So they couldn't make their map work, but they could afford particle effects? Ok. Anyway. The train has stopped moving. Hooray!

5

Sak, who had jumped down a few minutes ago, watched in astonishment as Giles put his train magic to work and stopped the train. He lowered his gun below his shoulders. "Woah, where did you learn that?"

As the train screeched to a halt, William found himself struggling to hold onto anything nearby - bars, chairs, anything - to not go flying forward into the front of the car. Managing to grab a hold onto something as the train stopped, he stood more firmly on the ground and let out a relieved sigh. Turning around, still coming down from the anxiety, he spoke with exhausted breath. "God damn, man. Where'd you learn how to do that?" William questioned Giles, half rhetorically.

Sykes took in a breath and shouted a little, “Told ya you’d drive!” as she turned and moved, beginning to inspect the car for the key. There was still a win condition to achieve! Wait… “Ey- Captain! Conductor!” She shouted again, “Giles!! You got a key in your pocket?”

"A lot of documentaries and practical experience from the equivalent on Trill. That was more to do with airships, though..." And not even really him anymore either, but he wasn't about to get into the details of him and Ruhko right now. "Could everyone kindly, you know," after turning he ushered everyone back with both hands to indicate that they should all stop playing sardines. "Make some space? Why do you need a key?"

“There’s two win conditions to this program,” She held up two fingers, “One,” She dropped a finger, “You, the conductor, get protected and we, the bandits…uh…get defeated somehow. One of the engies suggested we run outta bullets, or we all get shot.” “Or TWO,” She put up her other finger, “The bandits get into the freight car with the conductor’s key. Either way, I think that’ll end the program.”

"Think about it this way..." William started to speak. He gestured towards the cars behind the conductor car. "You don't know what's in the freight car, do you? What if, y'know, we all collaborated and figured out what's inside? Nothing's wrong with that, eh?"

2

3

"No." Paco aimed and fired at Sykes the moment she asked. The logic made sense and voluntarily loosing seemed to be the fastest way, Paco just wanted to keep shooting.

3

Paint splattered just above Sykes’ head, and her nostrils flared, “Hell you mean no?!”

2

"Would you cut that out?!" Giles yelled to Paco who had once again decided that violence was the answer, although failed miserably. "Can't you see that we're significantly outnumbered?" Watch it, Paco: he'll start counting how many paintballs everyone has left and calculate the odds if you don't stop.

5

2

"Its Spanish. "Paco started* "It means No in English..." Paco added before he glanced to Giles. "Because.... british empire?" Paco got most of the paint-lust out of his system now

4

“Look- One’s easy, one’s annoyin’,” She said with a huff, before gesturing to William, “And if you wanna keep playin’ along, he’s got a point.”

"I'm willing to bet some people on this train will fight tooth and nail to keep us away from the freight car. They may not listen to reason."

William raised his revolver briefly towards Paco after seeing Paco fire at Carissa but, upon seeing Paco cease, lowered the gun immediately. "Look..." William started. "We still have to travel through the cars and get to the freight car. It'll be a lot easier if the lot of us - train security and bandits - call up a truce so we could get down there in once piece. Then we'll have a way easier time getting to the freight car." William looked back towards the coach car, hearing the shots from some of the other cars. "We could try to pull security for you, impromptu train driver." He said, referring to Giles. "In case anyone gets an idea of shooting at us along the way. If you all think that's a good idea."

Paco was one of those people as Dergin mentioned. Especially if smoking was involved.

Not to be egotistical, but he did enjoy the thought of him being provided with numerous bodyguards so he could avoid all this paintballing. He still hadn't even aimed his weapon, never mind fired it. Besides... What was in the freight car? The Trill (Golem, Trolem? No. Definitely not that) couldn't resist a mystery. "Come now. Let's form a truce and explain as such on the way. People might join us. But, only if you keep us-" him and his Spanish friend, that was, "alive so we can see what's there as well. Deal?"

William looked towards the rest of those in the car. "What say you lot? Protect the driver here as he brings us down to the freight car, trying to call for a uh... cease-fire along the way?"

“I mean- Sounds real sound to me. Deal,” Sykes gave a nod, despite the fact that Paco for sure intended on hitting her with that paint pellet. She can forgive and forget…for now. “Hey, push comes to shove, we fake takin’ you hostage,” She laid her hand on Giles’ shoulder again with a little teasing grin, before chuckling.

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Suun said from the corner, cornerly. (edited)

4

"Does this mean we get to shoot the Captain, 'cause that would be pretty funny." Paco hadn't exactly put down his gun, but rather kept good trigger discipline

"Good god man, what is it with you and shooting?" He said to Paco and shook his head.

3

Sak sighed and spoke. "A cease-fire is a drag, but i promise to try anyways. But if anyone tries to point a gun in my direction, i'm shooting on sight." Sak looked at Paco.

"Si." Paco answered Giles in Canadian English.

6

William smiled a little bit, though it was to hide his concern that the situation could go horribly wrong if only one person "misbehaved" and took a shot. "Only if the captain shoots at us first." William replied to Paco. William then started walking towards the end of the conductor car, towards the coach car, though didn't enter yet. He looked back towards the others. "Make sure you've got everything. And don't shoot anyone who doesn't fire at us first. We'll try shouting for a truce for each car we enter and explain what we're trying to do." William looked briefly towards the coach car, then back into the conductor car. "We all ready?"

2

3

Suun removed her revolver from its holster, nodding at the others. “Let’s go.”

Sak raised his hand up "I have a question, who's going to be at the back and who's at the front?"

Sykes plucked her revolver from her holster and spun it, before pausing at Sak’s question, “Hrm…well, keep Giles and Paco in the back. As for the front…how many bullets y’all got? I have all of ‘em still.”

"I've got all of mine - them, and my lives." William flicked the revolver cylinder out, double-checking that he had not fired anything, and then flicked it back in. "I guess I'll also head in first." William then made a general question to everyone in the car. "Who here has the highest rank? I'm a lieutenant, but maybe it'll be better to have someone with a high rank to call for the ceasefire. Or someone recognizable, maybe."

“Four bullets. And I’ve been hit thrice.” She replied, “And I’m a lieutenant commander. ACOO, if it works.”

"I've got all my pellets and i have all my lives." (edited)

"No." Paco answered William in Welsh English, but still complied anyway. "Tres balas... yyy cinco vidas." He answered Carissa in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory so this still counts as English, as he inspected his weapon before holstering it.

5

3

“Four bullets, three lives over here. I can go up towards the front if y’all want.” He said, a hand on his hip.

Sak thought long and hard for a few seconds become he spoke again. "I propose people with all of their bullets and lives should be at the front, low lives but high bullets at the back, and everyone else on the sides. That good?"

“I like that plan,” She nodded toward Sak.

"No," said Giles, who had all six of his lives and six paintballs but did not wish to use or lose either.

“Well- Wait, how come? By default, you’re stayin’ in the back,” She offered to Giles.

"As long as we're sticking by that, then fine," he replied, albeit sceptical. It was why he hadn't said his numbers out loud. He did not want to be shoved to the front and ended up pelted by paintballs if someone decided the truce was off, thank you very much.

William smiled. "Ah, sorry if it sounds like I'm barking orders, lieutenant commander." William said to Suun, half-jokingly, but also half-concerned that he had been getting a little too ahead of himself with instructing others on a course of action. "Probably a good idea to have you in the front, then, if you are okay with that." William rose the revolver into the air, readying it before they enter the car. "Alright, first group to enter the coach car will be me, the lieutenant commander, and the ensign here." William said, referring to Lt. Cdr. Suun Zalan and Ensign Sak Dergin. They either had the highest lives, or were a commanding presence. "Lieutenant... ah shoot, I should really get y'all's names." William motioned towards Lt. Carissa Sykes. "Can you bring up the rear, with Giles and Paco then? Just need to make sure no one sneaks into our back." Hearing Lt. JG. Travel tr'Lliehn speak, William motioned for them to follow with the rear group covering Jericho and Paco. "I don't want to take too many chances. You might be needed in the rear covering the driver, is that alright?" And then William made one final overarching statement. "Anyone else unassigned can also stay in the back, in case I forgot about you. How's that sound to everyone?"

“I’m perfectly fine with that plan.” She nodded, chuckling, “No objections.”

“That’ll work out on my end,” Sykes gave a nod. She mostly just wanted to get a move on, “Guess you’re stuck with me, Giles,” She shone a smirk in his direction.

He was a little bummed to be stuck in the back, but he nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” He said, giving Sykes a respectful little nod as he headed in her direction towards the back.

He nodded slightly at William on hearing his plan. "Good, that. Remember, we have six lives; don't be afraid to shed atleast one. Even if you're at the back." Sak shrugged. Sak raised his revolver upto his shoulders and looked at William. "Shall we?"

Paco had a chocolate bar he stole from the diner car. He just pointed that at Carissa instead like a gun instead as he stood by Giles "Pew"

"Perfect." William said. His revolver still raised towards the sky, he gave off a little shrug. "I feel like this is the moment to give some kind of speech, but uh- nothing's coming to mind." William smiled and cocked the handle of the revolver back. "Let's do this, people!" With that said, William stepped out of the conductor car and into the coach car.

“Aye, aye.” She nodded, holding her own revolver and moving right behind him, angling her hat up slightly.

“I ain’t ever gettin’ in a holodeck again after this,” Sykes muttered as she fidgeted with her gun, following the group with Conductor Giles and Paco the Gun Fiend.

Sak followed the lieutenant into the coach car.

He came from the roof down to the conductor car. Hey, where did everyone go? Shrugging, he made his way toward the coach.