Star Trek: Starbase 777

Perched ever so daintily on one of the benches, fan in hand, was Maggie; nothing was laid out to eat, and honestly they didn't want to eat any glitchy holodeck food. What if an NPC took the place of an entity and made, like, holo-cannibalism? No thanks. They fanned their face, glancing out the window. "At least the background is still working," they said in their usual monotone, a sheepish smile on their face.

Despite being trapped in the holodeck, Ngozi was still enjoying herself and the company of those surrounding her. She felt very beautiful in the pink frilly clothes the holodeck had put her in, despite them not being her usual style. She didn’t love holodecks, she found being unable to feel the emotions of the holograms somewhat unsettling, but being surrounded by real people helped with that. “Yes, it’s very beautiful.” She replied, looking out the window into the unfamiliar atmosphere of the old earth west.

Verelan wasn't a smoker usually, way too attached to her health. But getting stuck in a holodeck program was getting her close. It just felt a little bit like a transgression against her extremely free-spirited nature. "I feel like that's half the problem though, love," she pointed out, leaning on a table in her black-and-silver getup, cowboy hat hanging down her back. Can't have your hat on while eating, after all.

"What, the background still running?" Maggie tilted their head, anxiously twirling their hair around their finger. "Fuck, right, so we can't see the doors. Yeah. Makes sense.."

"The one time I try a program and i get stuck!" Sak exclaimed in anger. It was his first time being in the holodeck after he was recommended by someone. He tapped his feet in a slow rhythm and paced around impatiently. "Atleast the clothes are comfortable."

“It’s hardly the worst thing to happen in a holodeck. Somebody will come fix it, or get us out of here.” She shrugged, she liked the train and a few glitches (and being stuck) was hardly something to get Ngozi concerned. “Let’s just keep enjoying it while we here!” She smiled, looking around the train car.

Shane had been looking forward to this programme for weeks! He'd booked the day off and traded shifts with a few people to make sure he'd have the whole day. A chance to experience the old west? Hell yeah! Shane had gone all out and was dressed in period appropriate attire of an important Lawman. He had a holographic revolver in his holster and a black cowboy hat on his head. He was fully in character as Marshall Lawson on his way to pick up a prisoner wanted for murder from the sheriff in some noname town. He was sat at one of the booths in the dining car with a glass of whiskey in front of him and a Cuban cigar chomped between his teeth. This was the life and some holodeck funkiness wasn't going to ruin it for him!

Delevhas sat in front of a table that was taken up almost entirely by plates of food. He wore a brand-new shiny Sheriff's uniform, complete with those classic star-shaped badges... Quite a lot of them. So many, in fact, that they took up the entire right side of his torso. The sheer amount of them was almost silly.

Eiheu sat in front of the same table that Delevhas sat at, and ate from one of the many plates. She wore a long, black lacy dress, which matched perfectly with her long black hair. The dress was topped off with a long black coat which had a tall collar and tattered edges, presumably from being dragged on the floor, since the coat was longer than Eiheu was tall.

When Mephistopheles had proposed doing this holodeck scenario, it seemed pretty fun to him - if not to just see how joyful the other was exploring the train. Though, right now they were just sitting casually on a bench in the dining car, arms around each other, cowboy hats sliiightly touching as a result. Allan had really gotten into the outfit customization. He was wearing a black cowboy hat with embroidered roses and birds underneath the brim, a red satin button-up shirt with some cacti and scorpions and a western landscape (and a horse, of course) embroidered across the front and back. And naturally, he couldn't be in a western outfit without wearing some assless chaps, which were a deep black with red accents and more flowers, over some classic jeans, and paired all off with some nice black boots. And now... the program was being a little funky, but well, that was just a little whimsical, right? He took a sip of whatever replicated drink he had in front of him (likely a whiskey Shane may have convinced him to try), and then looked at Mephistopheles with a slight head tilt, holding the little glass he had up to the man. "You wanna try some? Pretty good, honestly."

He was a little less flashy: all-black cowboy clothes and hat, so monochrome he looked like a priest in plainclothes. The most eye-catching parts were his shiny black shoes and a few red accents on his lapel and shirt cuffs - little roses, to match Allan. "Sure, I'll try some." He took a sip from Allan without bothering to take the glass. Hooo! That was a kick. He took a sharp breath, toughing it out. "Shane's got good stuff. Is it replicated, d'you know?" It seemed like the kind of thing you'd get imported from some barley field brewery and brag about.

“Sup crew, what’s cooking.” Vara said as she came in wearing the outfit described in #caboose and took a seat at one of the dining tables, putting her feet up and taking her hat off. “Programs on the fritz huh?” She said looking around. “Meh, I’m sure it’s fine.”

"It's my birthday! Come, there's loads of birthday food here!" Eiheu called out to Vara, inviting her to the pseudo-party that seemed to be going on over at Eiheu's table. "... Wait did you just say the program's broken-"

She shrugged as she walked over. “Can just tell.” She said leaning back. “Done enough gigs dealing with breaking these things.”

"Mm, no. He brought the real stuff in here with him." He chuckled, and then took another sip of it as well. It was strong, sure, but the flavor was really good! "Not -" oh, it was that officer Vara'l had told him overreacted about the turbolift slightly malfunctioning... "not broken, just a bit off. If it was broken completely, we'd just be in an empty holodeck, really, because it'd just be shut off."

Who was Allan talking to? He looked at her. Oh, hey, it was turbolift girl. "Nothing our engineers can't fix sooner or later, I'm sure." (edited)

1

"Just a bit off by how much?" Eiheu suddenly turned to stare at Allan with her large and different-coloured eyes. "Is it like, the environment is a bit inaccurate, or is it like, we can all noclip out of this train and die-?"

“Naw,” An accented voiced piped up from the corner. A very tall android, currently clad in a pair of overalls and a straw cowboy hat, stood leaning against the wall, his arms folded. He didn’t look in Eiheu’s direction, staring out of the window of the train, “Ain’t never happened.”

1

Ngozi turned to the Romulan woman and did a “settle down” hand motion. “We’re going to be fine dear. Just a few glitches, nothing that can’t be fixed.” (edited)

"See? Listen to the officers, everything's fine!" Delevhas reassured Eiheu. "This holodeck is perfectly functional! Those engineers are probably just fussing over some little details." Delevhas waved his hand lightheartedly, and passed a cup over to Eiheu to drink. "Now drink your prune juice."

Allan blinked a few times, as he looked at the exchange officer he'd perhaps heard a bit too much about. "Yeah, what Kix said. I mean... it's very, very unlikely. I wouldn't worry, really, and - I know a lot about programs, okay? And yeah, I gotta agree, our engineers are very good.Trust me on that." He was biased for sure, but he hoped that was maybe reassuring.

Kix gave a little nod of acknowledgement as he continued staring out the window.

Howdy y'all, look who it is, it's everybody's favourite gay doctor (the original one, so she's #1) and she's ready for a grand old adventure on the holodeck with everybody. Vialara wore a rather fetching looking cowboy outfit that Verelan helped her pick out, looking stunning as she usually did, but looking rather distressed at the fact she was trapped on the holodeck. At least she had pleasant company.

Sianu was pretty disoriented on the train, staring out a window and resting her head against it, watching the skyline move along as her body hopped to the train's movements. No matter what, she was always surprised by the realism of these damned things. "I double checked the... uh holodeck earlier. It seemed okay?" Sinau had been eavesdropping, using the temple of her head to push off the window and look at everyone. "It should be alright." Her voice wavered a little, and she looked pale.... it was the motion sickness. She could never get used to it.

Vara yawned as she leaned back. “I mean, I don’t really know what you guys are worried about. This is the kinda thing drunk Ferengi gossip about alllll the time. You Starfleet folk have a real rep for Holodecks breaking or coming to life. Oooo, maybe one of the holodeck guys is coming to life!” She said, clearly not concerned in the least.

Verelan leaned over to Maggie, muttering something about moving, before wandering up to Via, grabbing her wrist gently. "I'm going to get some air, my dear," she whispered, glancing around at the mass of people and needing an out.

“Ain’t you Starfleet?” The cadet asked Vara with a quizzical look. (edited)

1

Maggie nodded wordlessly, gathering their skirts and wiggling out of the bench to follow Verelan. Too noisy..

She pointed and clicked her tongue at the cadet. “In current occupation yes, in spirit I’m a free bird junior.” She said as she played with her hat. “Though you guys ain’t that bad, don’t mind it as much as I used to.”

“Hrmph,” Whatever. Kix turned his gaze back to the window, though he did watch at two folks got up and left. He wondered if he should be wandering himself, since they were fixing to be rescued and all.

She nodded and grabbed hold of Verelan's arm as she walked, tucking in beside her and pulling the Romulan close to her. "Not without me you're not, you're not leaving me amongst all the chaos." She said with a light chuckle.

Oh, lots of people on his dining car. Maybe too many people. It wasn’t an empathy problem, she could deal with a full stadium of people experiencing every emotion under the sun, but it was getting a little cramped and it was hard to pick out conversations. She stood up, picked up her skirts and left the car.

“Don’t hrmph me! I’m a valuable and much loved officer on this station, you could learn a lot from little old me.” She said, teasing more so then trying to be a dick.

4

“Right,” Kix was glad he wasn’t an Intel agent.

5

"Aren't you an ensign?" Sinau worried it came off as meaner than she intended. "I mean no offense; you seem to be a, um, hard worker." She sounded nervous, which was a bit strange for someone of her rank; perhaps she was worried about her memory?

2

William figured the holodeck event might be his opportunity to engrain with the Starbase's crew a little bit more. Having been busy with the process of moving in and his actual assigned duties, Will didn't feel like he had the time or motivation to socialize. The holodeck offered just enough of an excuse to get out and do something for once. Of course things just had to go awry the moment he decides to do so. A bit uncertain of everything that was going on, he entered the dining car, where everyone seemed to be conglomerating. Not very peckish, he didn't grab any food, but scanned the crowd a little bit to see what everyone's attitudes were. It didn't help that he hadn't really met anyone here in an official capacity yet. He then saw a lone Cardassian, not too far off, pacing around impatiently. Figuring the Cardassian knew what was going on - otherwise he wouldn't be pacing around so frantically - while also believing he had a better chance of getting along with him than anyone else at the moment. As such, he approached Ensign Sak Dergin. "Hey." Will spoke, tapping Sak on the shoulder to get his attention. "What's all this about? Something wrong?"

Sak stops pacing around and looks at Will. "Well don't you know yet? The holodeck malfunctioned or something, the doors won't open and we're stuck here!" He sighed as he spoke. "I suggest you sit down for a while, its gonna be while i suppose."

She did laugh as she heard the retort from Sinau. “Eh yeah, I do deserve that.” She said with a chuckle. “I am a decently hard worker.”

Eiheu turned her attention to Kix, as he was gazing through the window. "Hey. You can't aura farm effectively when you're hungry." She passed a plate of cake over to him, clearly not realising that he was an android.

He was still pondering what is was that drunk Ferengi were supposed to be gossiping about. "Hmmm. D'you think any of them recognise me in this outfit?" He asked Allan.

2

Sinau smiled shyly. She seemed a bit assured at Vara laughing. "Let's hope we get things figured out... Does anyone remember if there is a failsafe in here by the way? Like... inside the holodeck?" Sinau should have looked closer. This did happen a lot, but not frequently enough to where she needed to read every individual line of code to ensure shit like this didn't happen. Even if she had to, there was no way the Romulan would be flipping through the millions of lines just to find one line that fucks EVERYTHING up. "It seems stable enough?" She reached for a cookied and ate it sadly like that one rodent in the gif.

Will felt a pit in his stomach for a moment, but it only lasted a few seconds as he realized his overreaction. Instead, he let out a deep sigh; he couldn't recall the last time - if ever - he had gotten stuck in a holodeck. He imagined it doesn't happen very often, but you never know. Now Will just hoped that the safety mechanisms remained intact, even if the train might not have been in any particular danger. "Well, damn. It's the first time I've come out to an event like this, and then the holodeck breaks?" He smiled. "Just my luck, I guess. Any idea when everything will come back online?"

"The station's name is 777, and yet we all seem to have the worst luck this side of the universe." Sinau laughed a bit to herself in response to McIntyre's comment.

2

He looked Mephistopheles over, whether as a way to evaluate how recognizable he looked in the outfit, or to simply look his boyfriend over because he would always take that opportunity. "Maybe...? I mean, I feel like you've got some pretty recognizable features still visible, but - I could probably recognize you from a mile away, so I might not be the best person to answer that question."

"Well when the people outside realise we're missing, they're going to panic first, then they're gonna search every nook and cranny, and then they'll try the holodeck and it'll take a while." Sak grinned "Well it's better to just enjoy this eh? We came here to have fun, right?" He took a piece of the food on a table and put it in his mouth, only to spit out after a second. "Agh, i forget this isn't real food."

"True. It's not like I can meet everyone on the station, so chances are they won't ever have seen me before anyway. Reckon if I take charge 'n say I'm the captain right now, they'll even believe me?" It's not like he could do a magical girl transformation into his Starfleet uniform right now.

5

4

2

Will chuckled a bit hearing Sinau's comment. "God, you think so?" He said, half-jokingly, to Sinau. "I just got here about a week ago, does stuff like this happen often?" He then turned towards Sak, watching him take a bit of the food. Will nodded along, picking up a piece for himself and plopping it into his mouth. He smiled at seeing Sak spit it out soon afterwards. "Not used to it, eh? Is this your first posting?" He said towards Sak while chewing.

Without a word, Kix took a step out of the dining car. For all intents and purposes, he just disappeared.

Sak wiped his hands and said. "Yeah, not a big fan of artificial food, tastes like metal to me. How'd you know it's my first?"

"Probably," he laughed, "because, I mean - okay, when I first got here, I didn't even read my briefings, but I did look at the little page of senior staff with everyone's pictures on it. So I would hope most people did the same..? It helps that you have like, that bright red hair. Like me. Unlike, you know, Tarsek, but - everyone somehow recognizes him, too." Though, as he well knew by now, some officers paid more attention to detail than others.

Sinau rocked her head left and right, looking at the command officer. "Eh?" Translation: semi-frequently... maybe more. Sinau had been part of a few career-defining moments on the base, and she was barely out of her 50s and had only been here for a year or two. "Holodeck malfunctions like this are a first.... I think." Sinau took a bite out of the cookie, itching her chin... "Wait, am I gonna get reprimanded?" Sinau shot up suddenly, she was partially responsible for the function of the deck.

Allan, notably someone who had control of an engineer getting reprimanded or not, turned his attention to Sinau. "N-no...? I - why - no, the answer is no." He laughed a little, just because it seemed a little ridiculous.

"A bit of a lucky guess." Will said. He plopped another piece of the food into his mouth, speaking to Sak while chewing, although covering his mouth to try to maintain some decorum. "I thought you looked young enough for it, and judging by your reaction to the food, I figured you weren't used to replicated food." He finished chewing by the end of this sentence. "It was either that, or maybe you just didn't like human food." Upon hearing Sinau's response and saying this didn't happen often, Will let out another sigh. But after hearing her express concern for being reprimanded, his eyes shot up in a suddenly-worried expression. "Reprimanded? Oh no, no no no. Sorry, I uh..." He thought of how to word things. "I was just wondering. I mean, I was just trying to... figure out what to expect. I've had a couple of postings that had uh... exciting things happen, I guess." (edited)

Sak looked at William "Human food? No way! I love it, especially the waffles, but there aren't a lot of genuine restaurants in this Starbase, so I guess I have to settle for replicated food." He yawned and blinked his eyes. "I'm going to sleep now, bye now!" He exited the crowded car and headed for the sleeper car.

"No reprimands from either of us," he said, "As long as you all behave." He winked.

4

Will nodded to Sak, smiling. "Ah fair. I've been meaning to check out the restaurants myself." Upon seeing Sak leave for the sleeper cars, however, he nodded along and gave him a quick little wave as the young Cardassian left. Hearing the voice of Captain Mo, however, made Will jump. He turned around to see Mesphistopheles and, recomposing himself, added onto the captain's statement "Yeah, yeah. No kidding. Hell, I don't know the first thing about holodecks. You've got nothing to worry about from me."

Delevhas reached over to tap Eiheu on the shoulder and catch her attention. "There's a lot of people here! Why don't you tell me who everybody is? Perhaps somebody important came along on our little adventure!"

Eiheu looked up at her dad and straightened herself up to take a good look at her fellow commuters. "Uhhhhh... Don't know, don't know, don't know..." She said, pointing at those who she hadn't met yet. "... Oh wait. That ginger guy over there is the Captain." She said, pointing to Mo.

"The Captain?!" Delevhas suddenly stood up to attention. "Why didn't you say so earlier?! This is a perfect opportunity to get to know your most senior officer! Didn't I tell you that the best way to advance your career is to make friends with the big shots?" With that said, Delevhas walked over to... Allan. Whose proximity was so close to Mo, that Eiheu's finger wasn't accurate enough to differentiate which of the ginger guys was THE ginger guy. Delevhas plastered on his most polite smile, and, clasping his hands together, spoke with his gentlest and most friendly tone. "Good day to you, kind sir. You're looking absolutely marvelous today! I was wondering if you would like to join me and my daughter over there for a little celebration. It's her birthday, you see, and I would like for her to be in the best of company on this fine day..."

1

Yeah, okay, Allan was the captain now. "Oh, he'd be delighted. Wouldn't you, Captain Allen?" He grinned mischievously. "Wouldn't want to disappoint a girl on her birthday, would you?"

2

1

He watched as the civilian who had loudly proclaimed 'the captain!?' and he didn't recognize walked up to him, and smiled back, just as politely as he spoke. He was used to getting compliments, sure, but - the invitation was interesting, and he wasn't quite sure what he was getting at, until Mephistopheles spoke, too. Oh. Oh, he - he tried really hard not to laugh, and just gave his best grin to the other man. "Oh - yeaaah, yeah, I - I mean, she's welcome to join us over here, if she wants. There's cake, I think, somewhere too..?"

Vesta entered the dining car, which was easy thankfully, no glitches pertaining to entering the individual train cars it seemed. “Is everyone alright in here?” She signed, making sure the spoken translation was loud enough for everyone in the car to hear her. “Nobody injured right?”

"Wait, why would anybody be injured-?" Eiheu spoke up. "Is it because the-" She was about to ask a question, but then got cut off by Delevhas.

"Come on, the Captain invited you over!" Delevhas cut Eiheu off, and motioned for her to stand up, then pushed a plate of cake into her hands. "Give this to the Captain, everyone likes people who offer them food-!"

1

Ah, blatant ass-kissing. Thank god he didn't have to be the target of this kind of nonsense this time. Allan would have to suffer all of it instead! "No, nobody injured in here," Meph replied to the entering woman. "Are you part of the rescue team?"

2

1

"Wait, why is there a rescue team-?!" Eiheu spoke up again, with heightened anxiety in her voice.

"Well, that clearly must be some kind of technical engineering term that us laymen have no business getting into-!" Delevhas reassured Eiheu again, gesturing at her to sit down at Allan's table, before going up to Vesta himself. "Seriously, why is there a rescue team-?" He asked her in a hushed tone.

1

“Yes sir.” Vesta signed towards Mo, recognizing him as the Captain and not yet realizing the switcharoo that had occurred. She turned to Delevhas and hesitantly signed. “Because you’re stuck in the holodeck?” There was confusion written on her face.

William watched the little conversation unfold from the side, choosing now to chime in. "Yeah, that's what I gathered. I think the safety protocols are still engaged, right?" (edited)

" 'Coz there be somethin' not right 'bout dis 'ere train progrem, partner." Popped in Maya to answer Eiheu from ber seat accompanied by the metallic ring of her boot spurs in each step forward. She had a classic sherrif's outfit on, holsters, badge, cowboyhat, tan leather vest and all. All in her best shot at a "Texan" accent. "Greetings everyone. Cap'ns. Boss man." Maya greeted everyone then Shane, Mo, and Allan respectively. "Nothin to worry about for now. Everythin' that should be on prolly is." "Oh sweet, we both went with the Sherriff's get up. Looking good." Maya said normally to Shane, though she looked a bit more like Woody.

He got up from his seat to talk to the others here, leaving Allan at the mercy of the beast (Eiheu and her dad). He gave him a cheek kiss before, though. Mwah. "Did you guys see anything interesting from the outside? Maybe unusual power readings coming from this room, or sealed ventilation?" He'd like to know if this room had enough air for them all while they were stuck in here for an indeterminate length of time. Since it was a space station, most rooms could be sealed off in case they became damaged in an attack and started leaking air outside, but if that function glitched, it would be like covering all the vents in a room. There were emergency countermeasures, of course, but they could all be overridden for practical or nefarious purposes.

1

"We're stuck? Really-?" Delevhas's eyes widened slightly in response to Vesta. "My apologies. We weren't aware of this information, because we weren't exactly planning on leaving anytime soon... But it'll all be fixed promptly, I trust?" Delevhas smiled at her.

"Whoa, another sheriff-? How many of them do we need-?!" Eiheu smiled a little as she turned to where Maya was. "Could this sheriff be bribe-able, by any chance?" Eiheu grinned wider as she offered a plate of cookies to her.

The train horn blared outside, going silent, then playing again. And again. And again.

Well, it actually seemed like Delevhas and Eiheu had abandoned the idea of hanging out with him, so he was actually just by himself right now, it seemed - though he did, of course, sneak a kiss back to Mephistopheles before he got up. And then he listened as Eiheu was... trying to bribe Maya with cookies...? Something like that, before the train horn went off. "Is - you think some kid's really excited about getting the conductor to blow the horn, or something?" Because that was a thing that happened! He knew it was much more likely to be a glitch, though.

"Aside from--" she stopped as the horn blared "--minor bugs in the program--" interrupted again by the train horn "--the holodeck itself's resisting manual override and leeching power." Aside from a soft smile at that little moment, Maya pulled out her tricorder from her holster and looked through it and tried to check if any readings had changed since showing up here from any readings before and after she stepped in. "Why that is, not so sure." For the mean time, she looked over to Eiheu with a grin. "Never know what kind of danger stalks these parts of the wild west. Bandits, train robbers, and people who never paid fer their tickets." Maya answered Eiheu as she looked over the plate of cookies. Damn she would love a sweet right now. "Not sure what you want in exchange for these cute sweets ma'am, but as a woman of the law, ah sadly gotta decline... fer now" To resist temptation of the cookies, she looked over to Allan. "Probably, or maybe a glitch. Was about to go head there myself in a bit. Would make sense if the holodeck's controls were there too."

He winced a little at the sudden noise of the horn, but at the same time thoroughly enjoyed the noise of it. The roar of a powerful beast... "I s'pose it would. You reckon we should head there, then?" He asked Allan, seeing as he was now being ignored. Wow, those guys were terrible at mooching.

"Yeah? Yeah, let's-" he agreed with Maya and Mephistopheles, the two M's here, about that, because yeah, it seemed like the other two had gotten distracted, and he might as well get up to some work on his day off. Because he did like solving a little mystery, and he did actually like engineering and programming despite it being his job! So, he followed the real Captain off to the conductor car.

"Well that's gosh darn peculiar." Shane said, the cigar still smoldering with an amber tip as he held it in place with his teeth. He was definitely putting on a western accent in stark contrast to his usual pattern of speech. "Blarin' the horn out here in the middle of gosh darn nowhere! I'll go see what's up." Shane began to follow the crowd toward the conductors car.

Vara was still here just hanging, through she heard some of the commotion outside. She would probably need to get up and do something soon. “Ughhh.”

Eiheu jumped slightly as the train horn blared. "Oh shit-! What's that-?!" She looked around quickly, but settled down after she realised that the sudden sound was just a train horn. "Damn, that thing is loud... Hey, do you think they'll let me have a go at it too...?"

Vesta was slightly frustrated that most of the people in the car had decided to leave. Sticking together was to her, the obvious thing to do in what constituted in an emergency. But then again, she hadn’t said anything about sticking together. She sighed. She wasn’t bothered by the train horn, unable to hear it. To her she just read on her visior that the horn was going off.

Delevhas noticed that Vesta seemed less than pleased, and his immediate response was to attempt at cheering her up, in order to preserve the lighthearted atmosphere in the dining car. "Well, there's no need to be so glum. So we're stuck in the holodeck, so what? All it means is that we get to spend more time having fun here, right? So what's the rush to leave? Just relax, everything will sort itself out!"

“The safeties may be off.” Vesta signed, her face grim. “And I’m here because things were not sorting themselves out. We’ve got people working on it, but for now let’s just stay together, and stay put.” She couldn’t tell due to the holodeck clothing, but she assumed that this man was a civilian.

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.

Previously he had been in the conductor's coach which had been in the process of being burgled. Now suddenly he was here. He blinked and looked around, confused. "Uhm... Did anyone else get moved?"

Paco spawned back in the same way he blipped out, laying down flat on the floor and shot his wallet up the moment he heard a voice. "PLEASE DON'T HURT--" Paco yelled out before he looked up around him "Me? This isn't the coach car... what happened?" Paco asked Giles as he got up and glanced out the window. Any sign of the Bandidos?

Hey look, a fellow Victorian-dressed person. He wasn't alone in being the posh bastard out of the cowboys. "I'm not sure," he replied, looking to Paco. "I was with conductor and we were being robbed, I presume. I suppose the glitches became so extreme that the holodeck had to restart. I didn't know this programme would have bandits in it. I was just here for the train."

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Vesta was by some stroke of luck put back in the dining car. She quickly looked around at the people still with her, taking note of the screaming Paco. “Is everyone alright?” She signed quickly, able to stay calm in the situation. She turned to face Giles as she read what he had to say. “Bandits?”

"I was in the coach car. we were being robbed, and they had one of us at gun point. I guess that's when the program reset...." Paco explained as he checked the window again. "I wanna guess there's a point when the program overloads and forces itself to reset and scrables our locations."

"We're alright," he replied to Vesta before continuing, "Mhm, we had similar. The conductor was being held at gunpoint as well." He genuinely was miffed about these bandits. If Sykes had managed to sort out the problems then maybe he would have been able to drive the train afterall. "Do you see anyone else out there?"

2

"Checking, but from what I can tell... I guess we have some time to prepare." Paco said as he checked himself for if he had any weapons as well. He never liked the idea of being armed in general, but safety's always good. If he was, he also checked what kind of ammo he was working with since he didn't know if they were real arms or not the first time.

"What do you reckon we should do?" Was the next question from Giles as he joined Paco at the window. It would have been nice to sit here and enjoy the view with a cup of tea in any other circumstance. If only they weren't on bandit-watch instead. "I had another Intelligence officer with me who was trying to gain access to some sort of holodeck override. Should we try that again, or should we focus on the bandits? There have been stories of people being trapped in the holodeck before and to get out they needed to complete the programme, I think."

"We're entering bandit country," a miscellaneous NPC flickering in and out of existence reported. "Please do your best to keep th— the conductor and the freight car safe!"

Vesta joined them by the window. “I’m inclined to believe this is one of those situations.” Vesta signed, referring to a “complete the game, get to escape” situation. This was made further clear by the npc announcement. “See?” She added, taking note of the gun she had received.

"If we were scrambled out of place, everyone else probably is too. If this were a video game, some of the others may have been randomly placed in the bandit's side." Paco theorized, that is how most games like that work afterall. "I say we do what that guy says and warn the conductor bandits may be coming. They'd probably let us in" He suggested, gesturing to the flickering npc (edited)

After his brief foray into the coach carriage Shane respawned in the dining car. That was fine with him, he could use another drink. Upon spawning he hopped up and over the bar and began pouring a glass of whiskey from a bottle he had stashed earlier. He also took this moment to light himself a fresh cigar. With a match lit from hit boot cowboy style he began to puff on the lengthy Cuban as he played barman. "Step right up! Step right up! Get your gosh darn booze here! It's all gotta go!" Shane was still hell bent on not ruining his day off by continuing to larp.

"It would appear they already know," he clarified to Paco, having turned to watch the NPC who then promptly flickered out of existence. "No offence, but I hope both of you are wrong. I'd rather not fight bandits - especially if they're our colleagues and fellow starbase denizens." While speaking he watched Shane, noting the red sheriff badge but how he was acting like a character. How odd.

Paco's personal stance on smoking was probably very obvious as he stared blankly at the cigar and his hand slightly reached to his holster before he decided against it. "May I have a whisky on the rocks please?" Paco asked. He was glad Shane was having fun though. "We don't have to fight em, sir. We can always try to negotiate and use dialogue, especially if any of our people somehow ended up playing the bandits. Maya tried, didn't go too well. But it's still worth a shot." Paco suggested to Giles, this is still a holodeck program afterall, and still hopefully smart enough to allow different solutions for problems. "Either dumb decisions makes it overload and forces it to reset, or we always loop after we're held at gunpoint. Either way, there ought to be a no violence route we can take."

"On that I hope you're right." He sniffed the air and grimaced, trying not to cough at the scent of cigar smoke. Was that thing real? "I was with a Caitian in the conductor's car. He had found a glitch that was duplicating the money he had. I had hoped that we could pay the bandits with it and they would leave, but then everything reset."

1

Shane liked Paco so he got the real stuff. A nice pour of whiskey over ice. The glass, made of crystal with a gold rim was slid toward Paco in one smooth motion from Shane as he continued to smoke the cigar. The whiskey would be surprisingly smooth, an Irish triple distilled blend rather than scotch, which Shane hated. There would be notes of vanilla and cherry wood at the end of a sip lingering on the pallet. The cigar was in fact, holographic, it was all part of the bit. Even if it were real, cancer had been cured for generations. "We've got guns, they've got guns..." Puff, puff. "Shoot first and ask questions later I say." Shane was still staying in character especially keeping up the horrible accent. (edited)

"Smoking kills, Dirty Dan, and this here is a no smoking area. Best you put that there cuban out its misery for now or do it in an open air area between the cars." Paco warned in his best Arthur Morgan impression, which was pretty terrible and made him sound like a Filipino Bob from Bob's Burgers. Since he was a lawman, might as well try to use the opportunity for good. He heard the dirty dan bit from Spongebob. "Cheers." Paco said with thanks as he got his drink and raised a glass... to freedom... before he took a sip. He wasn't expecting it to be the real stuff so was a bit surprised at the burn at first, but was glad for it. "You're lucky I like to tip my bartenders for a good drink." He said with a smile. "Here's one. Smoking's a bad habit and puts people in bucket's, like my uncle." Paco said as he slid two cents, pun intended. "Best we start doing something quickly, who know's when the bandits will be getting here." Paco said to Giles whilst he nursed his whisky.

2

There was no heed paid to the very bad accents. He had heard a multitude of voices from people all over - for all he knew, this was just a legitimate Earth accent. "What exactly do we start doing?" Ironic that an Intelligence officer was asking this to a scientist. He wasn't one of those James Bond-type officers, okay? The last sort of combat he had 'seen' was years ago, and he hadn't even been there in person!

1

"Throw smokers off the train." Paco impulsively said before he shook is head and realized that's not what that question meant. "Rush over to the conductors car again before the bandits get there first."

3

Shane continued to smoke undeterred. He was six foot five and two hundred and fifty pounds what was Paco gonna do? "It's 1830 something sonny, what kinda yeller bellied nincompoop doesn't enjoy the occasional cigar? Keeps the lungs on their toes and the TB away!" Shane puffed away like the chimney he was as the thuds began on the roof. In a single gulp he polished off his glass of whiskey and produced his revolver. A custom double action revolver coated in dark blue steel with silver engravings of birds (and a tiny starship Eventide). "We start shooting and we keep on shootin till the gosh darn banditoes leave us the hell alone!" Puff puff. "That's what we do for damn sure uh huh." (edited)

At the sound of the thuds on the roof of the train he flinched. Oh, good god. Were they under attack? This wasn't good. He was just here for trains! "By all means, Mr. Command-or-Tactical," he wasn't entirely sure from the badge, "lead on."

"The kind with principles and healthy teeth and gums, that what." Paco retorted to that as he tried very hard to resist shooting Shane, even with the knowledge the bullet's were colorful pellets. Shane may be bigger than him, but he had a gun and its the 1830s."Anyways. Hows about you keep watch and light up the cigars of the banditoes and kill them with long term addiction case they outnumber us?" Paco suggested before he gulped down the rest of his whisky and turned over to Giles. "Two of us can head over to the conductors" (edited)

Maggie was having a little too much fun playing with their unloaded revolver. Gun safety isn't a joke, Maggie. "Whatcha guys doin'?"

1

Kix appeared beside Maggie, a 6’8” frame of pure android muscle and a very flat face. There was a sheriff badge on his lapel. He did not look happy. “Any bandits in here yet?”

"They're on the roof. We have to act quickly. You guys also armed?" *Paco asked as he heard the thuds of footsteps on the roof * "We need to plan this out... aside from the conductors car, most likely the bandits might want access to the freight car as well."

“So we block off the freight car with… what? Do we guard it?” He questioned, tilting his head.

“…right, right…” Kix hummed and hawed for a bit before he moved over to a table and kicked it over, shifting it so that it was partially blocking the entrance to the sleeper car, “We set up shop,” He called out, “Tables’ll provide cover.”

While earlier on he hadn't been concerned about holodeck glitches, he was now significantly more concerned (even with the knowledge that the guns held paintballs.) When was the last time he had aimed a weapon? When he had first joined Intelligence? He was going to get hit by one thousand paintballs. He just wanted to enjoy a train!

5

Evoras entered the dining car from who knows where, her relief that encountering a larger group of people only slightly diminished by the heavy smell of smoke on the air. The train floor was much less stable under her feet than she normally preferred for shooting. "If at all possible we should stop them from getting far enough that them entering the freight car even becomes a possibility, but a failsafe wouldn't hurt regardless."

"Divide and conquer?" they posed lightly. "The more people we have, the better chance nobody gets jumped."

“Might as well send people up to the conductor…” He muttered as he kicked over another table. Breaking things seemed to be the only time Kix was having fun this whole simulation.

"I'll go up to the coach!" BYE!!

"Block access to the sleeper and dining cars I guess. Use anything you have. Just make sure they don't get back there." Paco answered Ed before he turned over to Giles. "You ready to head to the conductors car?"

Was going to defend the conductor better than being stuck in a giant paintball defence situation? Quite possibly. "Oh, go on then," he replied to Paco - although did not look convinced.

"Okie doke. You don't have to if you don't wanna" Paco said with a shrug before he armed himself and made his way to the conductors car... he also wanted to see what the train cab looked like since he was also just here for the trains.

Gingerly he held the paintball revolver in both hands as if it might suddenly explode, and followed behind Paco.

This seemed like it would be fun at least, Vesta smiled and held her gun, ready to shoot at any intruders.

As Giles and Paco left the dining car through one end, Verelan hustled through the door on the other end. "Alright, alright, everyone put your hands where I can see them," she ordered, waving her revolver around.

Sidak wasn’t far behind Verelan, also waving his revolver. In his opinion, Verelan seemed to know what she was doing more than he did, so it seemed like a logical choice to copy her,

Firefighters didn't really shoot phasers, let alone ancient guns, but somebody had to hold it down in the dining car. She took aim and shot at Sidak.

Tying to make use of whatever distraction the first gunshot falling might bring, Evoras took a shot at Verelan. There wasn't exactly much time to think and she had been the first bandit to enter the car.

Ouch! A hit! Well, to be fair, he was a big target. Kinda hard not to get hit. Hoping for the best, he fired at Vesta.

He poked his head in through the door that connected the train cars and shot at the person who'd shot his ally, Vesta!

Coming in hot right after Verelan, Garcia had her gun ready and a wicked smile. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, my friends!” As shots were fired, she laughed. “Hard way it is!” She aimed at Evoras, who had been the last one to shoot.

"Mah gawd darn BAUR!" Shane yelled as people began shooting, incensed that the bandits and defenders started shooting. He ducked behind the bar for cover before popping up to take a shot at Garcia who had just began shooting at Evoras!

"Hey!" Verelan shot back at Evoras to get her back for the hit.

Damn, she had been shot twice. That wasn't very good at all. She attempted to return the fire back at Mephistopheles.

Similar to Vesta Evoras had also been hit twice, though had they been using real ammunition the first one would surely have taken her out of the fight entirely. Trying to take some cover behind one of the pushed over tables she took aim and shot at Verelan again.

”Argh!” She couldn’t even properly enjoy her very amazingly successful first shot, as she felt the paint cover her. The culprit? Shane! The guy that made her once hit her head on a shuttle! “How dare you?!” The phrasing might have been one of anger, but Garcia was clearly having a lot of fun. She took better cover and prepared herself to choose another target.

Was Sidak sure on who to hit? No. But it seemed logical to fire at the person who hit him, so he shot at Vesta again.

Having hit Evoras and not having been hit back, Verelan set her sights on Vesta instead.

Shane took a shot at S'Khor after he shot at Vesta, vesta kept getting hit so he should take some of the heat off them!

Vesta panted, feeling the thump of blood rushing through her head. It was exilerating. She took another shot, this time at Garcia.

Well, the paint from her own revolver all over her hands wasn't what she had intended at all. She wiped them clean on her shirt spreading yellow smears all over it, before deciding to change up her target and trying to shoot at Mo instead.

Just as he poked his head back in - ow! Paint bullets did hurt a little bit, especially on his tissue paper skin. His hair was splattered with [insert colour here]. He didn't want his hair dyed! He focused his sights on Evoras and pulled the trigger. A hit!

”Ouch!” Alright enough was enough. Garcia picked her target: Shane! Trying to take advantage of him shooting at the new guy she didn’t know yet, she pulled her trigger.

Verelan was doing well! This holoprogram had to have aim assist or something, because she was definitely not this good at shooting in real life. She went to shoot Evoras again.

“Good shootin’ everyone,” Kix flatly said from behind a table. He’s such a good sheriff, so inspiring.

1

For lack of anyone else he thought of to shoot, he shot at Evoras. He hadn’t met her yet, he didn’t know she was his CSO. Sorry.

Shane shot once again at S'Khor hoping they could focus fire on one person to take them out of the fight quickly! "Shoot that one!" Shane yelled as he loosed his shot toward S'Khor!

She had not expected to still be standing, well if ducking behind a table counted as such, but only one of the three shots at her had hit its mark. Following Shane she also shot at Sidak.

Wow, this was not optimal at all. He was probably going to lose this, but it did not matter because he didn’t even want to play anyway. He missed his horse already. So, he just shot at Shane again.

Sidak managed to hit Shane directly in the cigar! Sending it flying out of an open window mortally wounding his pride! The shot forced him to duck back behind the bar, face full of paint. While below the bar he lit another, obviously! A moment later he popped back up returning fire at his nemesis Sidak!

Maneuvering between cars, Edgar popped up at the door, seeing the same splatters of paint as the last one. The others had truced, and he just really wanted to shoot someone.

As soon as Edgar's head popped up on the other side of the car, Garcia smilled deviously. Finally, a worthy oponnent! She loaded her revolver, aimed, and took the chance.

“Just missed me!” He grinned deviously, sweeping his bags out of his face, stepping forwards and grabbing his own revolver, firing right back in retaliation.

"Argh!!!" The paint splashed right at her middle, droplets getting all over her dress and face. "Ha ha ha, you little pest!" She moved to take cover and get a proper look at her ammo. Only 3 bullets left, beter make those count!

To punish Shane for his terrible accent, Meph took a shot at him... And missed. The accent won.

4

To punish Shane for. idk being on the wrong team I guess, Verelan also took a shot at him.

The cigar aura was clearly too strong with it's smoky haze making Shane difficult to hit. "Gosh darn banditoes! My bar is an innocent party here!" The poor glasses, they were so clean a few moments ago now they were covered in paint! Despite being shot by two new people Shane, still incensed at getting his cigar shot a few minutes ago once again took aim for Sidak trying to finish them off!

Taking one last attempt at Ed before changing tactics, she prayed to God to allow her at least one successful shot at him. Engie on engie violence, at least allow her to get her retribution for the last one! Bang!

Aw, critical hit! “Ouch! Rude!” Ed cried out, dramatically, “You wound me, Garcia, truly!”

1

Three bullets left, five lives. Right. Time to go after the weakest target. Lives-wise. He had no strong opinions about the physical prowess of Ed, who he was about to shoot.

Surprise! Maggie with the steel chair (bullet)! She did want to see Verelan covered in pink paint, so here's hoping their gun cooperates. "This is my last one so everyone be nice to me!!!!!" Very persuasive.

"Sucks to suck, darling!" Verelan yelled as she shot right back at Maggie.

"Fuck!!" They were laughing, though, so no hard feelings.

Surprise! A new challenger approaches! Vialara stepped into the dining car with a cheeky grin. She had no real idea what was going on here, but everyone was running around shooting eachother, so she felt she needed to join in. She moved in behind Maggie, watching as Verelan took a shot at them. "Sorry darling, but it seems like you picked the wrong side of this fight." She said, as she pulled out her gun from her holster and shot back at Verelan.

Coming right after Maggie, Tarsek entered the dinner car and immediately sought shelter, trying to make sense of who he ought to shoot. It seemed things had gotten very heated up on this car. On ther other end, he saw Garcia, already covered in paint and sporting a wide grin. Certainly, she was "having the time of her life", as humans would say.

As soon as Delevhas entered the car, he fired off a quick shot at the first person he saw, which happened to be Garcia. The best defense is a quick offense, right?

Seeing a new person enter, and not knowing what else to do, he shot at Tarsek.

"Neither of you are very good shots, my love," Verelan told Vialara, before taking a shot at her.

"Says you," they retorted, sticking out their tongue. "Loser!"

There was absolutely no doubt in her mind as soon as the Vulcan entered her sight. "HEY TARSEK! NICE HAT!" Bang!

Another bullet hit Ed in the sleeveless shirt. This was his favourite one, damn it! “Even the captain?!” He laughed, preparing to retaliate.

Woah— "The train?" Maggie looked up, clutching their hat. "We stopped!"

“Oh, shit!” He chuckled, “Good on them. So… paintball fight concluded?”

"Nope." He shot Ed again.

5

Apparently his attempt to seek shelter had been unsuccessful as two pellets collided against him. One covered his left shoulder in a completely new color, the other managed to knock his hat off, the droplets splashing on his face. He still had 2 bullets, he aimed at the one closer to him, the young Vulcan, and took his shot.

More people entered the car, but she had no idea what team they were on, but she lurched violently at the train coming to a stop. “What’s going on?” Vesta signed, completely giving up on the game. She was never to invested in it anyway.

"You heard the Captain." Evoras changed target yet again and shot at Mo for the second time.

2

“What the fuck?!” He snickered, “I— okay, man. Sure.” He fired again at Mo, for the sake of it.

One final bullet! He didn’t even care anymore if he lost. So, he just shot at Tarsek again.

Allan had also moved from the coach to the dining car now, with five whole bullets left and was about to choose a target and - then the train lurched to a halt and he grabbed the nearest seat for leverage, or tried. But after that, he went and shot at Garcia, of course, considering everyone else was deciding to shoot at Mo.

2

Kix has remained in the same spot he’s been in. He bobbed slightly in his crouched position when the train stopped, and hummed. “Train stopped,” He said with a raised voice. Thank you, Sheriff Kix.

4

No more bullets, so he just threw his gun away and went to go stand in the corner with his hands up. He was tired and covered in sticky paint, he was done with all this.

2

He was busy blowing (nonexistent) smoke off the barrel of his (paint) gun when he got blasted on the shirt. Okay, this random ensign was his sworn rival now. He shot at Ed, grinning like he was having the time of his life, which he was.

3

Ed looked down at his paint-splattered shirt, ruined, and glanced back up at the captain. “This isn’t over, captain.” He said, before poofing into an orange paint smear. To train hell he goes.

3

Well it seemed neither Tarsek or the young and, very suspiciously tall, Vulcan where having much luck with their guns. "Watch out buddy!" She fired again at the XO. Feeling the droplets of paint from a missing shot right next to her and seeing a well known fiery head once she turned to the direction it had come from. "Allan how DARE you!"

3

"I see you could still do well with more shooting lessons, Garcia." Was Tarsek really BAITING the engineer? Guess anything could happen in the wild west! BANG!

3

"'How dare' I- listen, I'm not the one who got randomly generated into the team trying to rob the train, okay? You ever- you ever think about dying your hair? Because you could try red." And he made another shot!

4

"Wow, you're all intense. And loud. Mags, you're out!" There was literally only one way she was getting Maggie out right now and that was with a crit, but a girl can dream. Let her dream.

"Well I guess I'll see you there with me! GET GOT!" It was her last shot, would the universe allow for a success? She fired and immediately got hit, red splashing all over her dark curls. She pulled her trigger in retaliation, but nothing came out. "Heyyy, I'm out of bullets! Noooo!"

2

"Where were you when I was being brutally attacked?" they hissed playfully to Kix in the instant before the gun went off, proving their point. The paint splattered harmlessly behind their head. "HA! That's what you get!"

"So am I." What was he to do now? Little time to think as he saw Garcia sprint in his direction. "Wha-"

2

Actually standing up straight from behind the table that she had been using (to various success) as cover, Evoras aimed the last shot she had at the Captain yet again.

"Out of bullets... BUT I CAN STILL GET SOME COLOR ON YOU!" The little human jumped on him, hugging him tight and making a complete mess of the paint that was already on both of them. "Ha ha ha, this is GREAT!"

5

4

Kix raised his brow at Maggie from the slouched position he was in behind a table. He kinda looked like he was just…relaxing? Despite it all? “I was here,” No shit, Kix.

"Well, aren't you gonna..?" They gestured vaguely, making finger guns.

Kix peeked over the top of the table he was hidden behind and then shrugged, “Guess so.” He wasn’t getting any younger! And he was the sheriff! But ouh, he was so comfy… Whatever. He immediately pointed his gun at Mo.

19:09

Kix glanced at Maggie, “I missed.”

"That's okay. I missed most of my shots. You're still a good sheriff." Pat pat.

The advantage of being five foot two was that you were a small target. Also, he was matrix-ing all these bullets. "Hey, Allan," he said, doing a cool spin with his revolver and winking, "Wanna join the dark side?"

“Heh.” Kix let out a very small, tiny laugh at Maggie’s statement, though his face was still flat. God bless. “…guess I do it again,” He said with a shrug. From his cover behind the table, he took aim at Verelan. (edited)

"WHAT!" Verelan yelled, undiginified as paint splattered obviously on her dark getup. She took cover behind Mephis, who at least still had a bullet in his gun, even if it wasn't much of a cover because of their deeply similar heights and builds. "No fair, shooting a bullet-less damsel! Get someone else!"

Kix blankly stared in Verelan’s direction as he raised his pistol slightly. “…I’m the law in these parts,” He said flatly, which was almost intimidating, “Should’ve thought of that ‘fore you ran outta bullets.”

Verelan was not intimidated.

"It's not too late to surrender," they mused in a sing song voice. "I'll choose a nice comfy cell for you in the slammer!"

“And we’ll get outta here faster,” He added with little to no inflection.

"Okay, you had me at surrender, and then you lost me again at 'cell' and 'slammer'," Verelan moaned dejectedly. "Via baby, can I surrender myself to you instead?"

"You don't get luxury! You're a criminal!" they retorted in a huff.

"No luck, I didn't come to play fight, but since we're playing, I'm gonna play to win." She raised her gun up at Verelan with a little smile. "Have fun in jail, darlin'." She said with a grin as she tipped her hat, and fired at Verelan once more.

Kix ducked back down behind the table with little urgency, taking a seat yet again, “They ain’t surrenderin’,” He said to Maggie.

"Wow. Looks like you guys hate me. See if I massage either of your legs again after a long day of standing ever again!" Dramatic, much?

"Nope. And I'm empty," they showed him the gun as if to prove it, flipping it back shut. Verelan would come around. "Shoot the other guys?.." they waved vaguely in Garcia's direction.

Kix furrowed his brow in curiosity at the leg massage comment, “You know ‘em?” He popped his gun open and tried to remove two pellets to give to Maggie. If this got them out of here faster, then he supposed he’ll play sharpshooter.

They snapped back into the gun. Sad!

"Uh." They averted their eyes, cheeks coloring green. "Yeah. Friends of mine, fine with being fake shot, probably."

Live Kix Reaction. Kix’s flat expression didn’t change much at what Maggie had to say. He didn’t care who was being gay with who, though he did scowl a little at the gun when it didn’t cooperate with him. “Mm,” He hummed, “Alrighty.”

"Hey, I didn't pick the teams, I'm just following the assignments. It ain't personal, darling." She slid further down the car, trying to get a better shot on Verelan. "After this is all over, I can still take you for dinner. Assuming they let you out of jail." She said with a little chuckle.

William now enters the dining car, coming in from the coach car as the head of a larger group. His hands are raised above his head, although one of them holds a revolver. "Everyone - don't shoot!" He shouts, not entirely sure about the situation inside the car. "We've got a truce here - bandits and train security! I've got a group behind me with the key to the freight train, and we've agreed we're going to go see what's inside." William licked his lips, a bit anxious about the whole situation. "Don't shoot at us, and we won't shoot at you. If you're wondering what's in there like the rest of us, feel free to tag along. Just don't... please don't shoot us, yeah? That'd be nice?" With that, William slowly lowered his hands.

Stepping into the next car, Suun had her gun pointed high above her head and her jaw set tensely. “Weapons down, we mean you no harm.” She exclaimed, voice as stern and sharp as she could make herself sound.

"Traitors!" they shouted over the noise. "Kix, get 'em!!!"

3

“Y’all can’t shoot me anyway, everybody’s missed,” Sykes added on.

1

“Okay,” Kix immediately shot at William.

6

“What did we just say?” She scoffed, aiming for Maggie.

He turned to Maggie again, “I missed.”

They grinned at Suun, paint coating their hat. "Sorry. Worth it, though."

"What? C'mon, red paint's not even that dark," he'd said to Mo, but then he looked at Sykes and laughed. "Wait- really? Everybody? Hold on, Suun, I swear I'm like, down for it and whatever, just let me, like, try this-" and he shot at Sykes, just to try!

WHAT!!! “ALLAN I SWEAR TO GOD-”

3

She laughed, nodding. “Sorry for the gunshot, then, Maggie. Let’s make sure we all have it out of our systems?”

"Damn, you're right! Okay, okay. Just wanted to give it a shot." And he grinned, pun intended.

Yet more paint splattering around her. Will she ever be shot again? Will Starfleet Intel put her into the field because of her uncanny ability to not be shot? “I told you!”

2

"Hey look, new challengers." She looked down the carriage towards Sykes, flashing her a little grin. "Oh, Hey darlin'. Looks like I'm getting to shoot at everyone fun today." She said, as she took a quick shot at Sykes.

Vovvi poked her head into the Splatoon 2 battlefield. "What in the hells did you all do here?"

2

“Wh- NO!” Damn you, Vialara!

19:47

Another miss! “HAH!”

Ev'kor had followed behind Vovvi, making his way into the dining car after her. "Okay, we've converted one of the bandits, who are we shooting now?" he asked, using his revolver to scratch at his head.

19:47

He has trigger discipline it's ok.

3

William instinctively ducks for the shot Cadet Kix took, although the duck did little as the shot still missed. William's lowered hands now aimed right for Kix, but then shifted towards Maggie as he recognized who held some sway over him. Seeing as the situation slowly became defused, however, he started lowering his gun instead. "Well... now that we got that out of our system, are we all good now?" William said. "Look, all we need is safe passage through to the sleeper car and then we're in the freight car, right? We can stop shooting for at least that long?"

Vovvi held up her hands in surrender. "Converted," she confirmed.

He entered the room like a pizza man entered a room on fire. "Did we win?"

3

“What he said. A ceasefire until we can complete the simulation is all we need.” She confirmed.

"Is this thing broken or am I just that rusty with a gun?" She said, as she slid it back into her holster again, looking rather defeated at the lack of successfully shooting her girlfriends.

“I’m just too damn good,” Sykes said with a smirk at Vialara before gesturing to William, “Yeah, y’all wanna get the hell outta here, don’t ya?”

“Yup,” He’s easily swayed.

"Aw, boo." Lame as hell, if you asked him. He'd love to continue shooting until one side really lost. It was all in good fun now, anyway, since the train was stopped.

They hesitated, thinking... "Maybe we can do this again when the holodeck and program are fixed?.."

"Don't be doing that," gruffed a voice right behind Ev'kor, as mismatched eyes peeked over his shoulder to see the sorry state of the dining car. "Looks like an accident at a paints factory."

“I second that. This has been quite fun.” She nodded towards Maggie.

“I will personally fix this program for that as long as y’all let us get out of here,” She offered her bargaining chip to Maggie.

1

"Be doing what?" Ev'kor asked Rojin innocently. He wasn't doing anything!

"How do we know the program won't just end if we kill all the bandits?" She said with a chuckle. "But I would really like to get out of here."

Hmm. "I accept this. Kix, don't shoot anybody 'less they shoot you first." Pat pat. He was already convinced, but for good measure.

"Oooh, I like that idea. Can I like, put the rest of my bullets out on Sykes first, though? Just to like, see? I've only got two, and I assume she has all her lives left..?" Listen, he was starting to get suspicious that Sykes had actually done the coding, here. It'd make sense if she coded herself to be invincible!

"It was quite fun! But perhaps we could wear colour-coded outfits? I heard some people got quite confused about what side people were on." He wouldn't know them personally, of course.

William nodded along, and then started signaling to the rest of the conductor car group to start coming through the dining car. "Thanks, everyone. Look, maybe once we figure out what's in the freight car, we'll figure something out, right?" He then eyed the entire state of the dining car, which was an absolute MESS. The carnage and paint everywhere was insane, and William could only imagine how many had been "killed" here. William then started making his way to the end of the dining car, next to the sleeper car, although he did not enter yet. He motioned for the rest of the group to follow suit, if they hadn't already. "Let me know when y'all are ready, and we can start entering the sleeper car, yeah?"

“One’s easier,” Kix offered to Vialara as Maggie patted him. He bobbed slightly with the Vulcazoid’s pats. (edited)

“You shoot me again and I will make sure you’re a bullet magnet,” She said with a teasing tone to Allan.

3

God, he was easily baited. He stayed looking at Rojin, and while Sykes was turned to Allan, shot her once. Just to see!

4

"Alright, alright, I get it, not everyone wants to make their perfect stats even better," he laughed, and held his hands to the side. "But doesn't it seem nice?"

"Scratching your head with a loaded g--" he was honest to god left stunned at what followed.

“I’m ready whenever.” She told William, whilst reaching for a full wine bottle on a nearby table that was half-covered in a rainbow of paint pellets, “And I’m taking this for later.”

2

Paint splattered against Sykes and sent her tumbling into one of the booths of the dining car. Two lives, gone… “WHAT IN THE GODDAMN HELL ON EARTH I SWEAR TO GOD AND ALLLL HIS ANGELS-” She kept ranting as she got up. (edited)

4

"Hmm?" The picture of innocence, this guy, as violet paint splattered against the side of Sykes' head.

"Fucker," he whispered with feeling, unable to resist a little tug at the taller man's ear.

1

“Son of a BITCH,” Sykes threw her paint-coated hat aside and huffed, “Alright!! Can we PLEASE get outta here?!”

Damn. That guy really did have good trigger discipline. "Might as well truce. I've only got one bullet left anyway. What's the plan?" He'd been in a shootout this whole time. He was outta the loop.

”They seem very agitated huh?” The shorter engineer watched all of this chaos while still clinging to the Vulcan with a small smile. She only had one life left after all, one shot would be all it took!

She took in a breath to ground herself, “Plan is to use the conductor’s key ‘n open the freight car. It’s the second win condition in the program, so that’ll complete everythin’ and then get us outta here.”

”Completely.” It seemed a truce was being offered. Might be a good idea after all, as the present crew seemed to have had their fun. Maybe they were all ready to complete this and leave the program. He would not complain about being clean and in his usual clothes again.

William let out an anxious sigh, kind of hoping the entire situation didn't explode in the dining car as it apparently had so many times before, based on the sheer amount of paint everywhere. But upon no more bullets being fired, he nodded along as if everything had been going perfectly fine. He motioned towards the entire group as Carissa mentioned they get out of the car. "All right, all right. Yeah, let's get out of here. Next up - the sleeper car. Same plan. Everyone who just joined us, join up at the rear." William then smiled and motioned towards Carissa. "If you want to you can move to the front just to hopefully make sure you don't get shot again from the back again, your choice though." He said, somewhat jokingly. William looked towards the captain and, in a few moments, got extremely anxious at having to tell the CAPTAIN what the plan was. He motioned towards the sleeper car with his head, trying to keep his composure. "We're got a truce so we can get to the freight car, Captain. We want to see what we're all fighting about, y'know?" With that, though, William entered into the sleeper car from the dining car.

"Oh, no fair! That means we lose," Maggie sulked, crossing their arms. They'd follow along all the same. What could they do? They were out of bullets. (edited)

“Oh no,” Kix flatly added to Maggie’s sulking.

Sykes teasingly sneered at William’s comment about getting shot in the back.

"Who has the conductor key?" Rojin asked, his offending hand now resting on Ev'kor's nape. Okay Then. "Is the NPC still present?"

3

“Uh-” She pointed toward Giles, “Him. Conductor blipped outta existence, now Giles is in charge.”

”Indeed. The truce would mean letting the ones in the roles of bandits win.” He was not particularly troubled by the notion, they did need to end the simulation. “However…” His voice was loud so that the other “civilians” heard. “This is a faulty program and the Lieutenant’s proposal is sound. Ending it is in the best interest of all. After the programming is fixed, those who enjoyed this game are free to have another turn. I say, we end the current program by opening the freight-car, as it is logical.”

“Thank you, Commander,” Sykes beamed.

"Okay, but I wanna win, though...." They were just doing it to be annoying at this point. They shuffled their way over to Verelan, offering a hand up. "Good game?.."

2

1

"Makes sense. If it helps anyone, we'll still win - just against the simulation itself. The prize? Gettin' outta here." He'd briefly considered shooting Garcia at one point, though. Just to use that last bullet.

3

Sykes quickly caught up with William and Suun.

Kix followed behind Maggie, standing very tall behind them as the two looked down at Verelan. He gave a little thumbs up.

Verelan chanced a look at Maggie's hand, but decided to make the most of it before Maggie could think better of it. She grabbed their hand, pulling the both of them over to Vialara. "Good game, good game! I really need to work on my marksmanship," she said, not really planning on doing that at all.

He started following everyone else, though as he did, he said, "Howdy, Maggie! Howdy, Allan!" And greeted anyone else he knows that I forgot.

”Ugh, you party-enders!” Garcia was also not particularly interested in winning, the shooting part had been the funniest and most exciting! Perhaps she would take on Tarsek’s idea of coming back. “To make up for it, you’re coming with me next time, bestie.” She made her best puppy eyes face at him.

Kix watched as Verelan dragged Maggie over to Vialara. “Oh,” He said with a little hum, “Polycule,” Makes sense.

5

2

”We both have no pellets left. It would be this or dying.” He moved, taking the engineer with him after the others. It was not hard, she came after still attached to him. “Must you keep like that?”

"How many goddamn polycules are on this train?" Saying that, he went into the next carriage.

5

4

”Yes, human– no wait… Vulcan shield!” She giggled following after.

With a lack of anything else to do, he followed behind Garcia. She seemed nice enough.

With another sigh, this time a smaller and less weary one, Rojin began to make his way towards Vovvi, steering Ev'kor with his hand as he did that.

3

4

Well, she was a terrible sheriff, but at least had fun. She moved and slid up against Verelan with a chuckle. "Good game, darling. I think I best visit the shooting range and work on my marksmanship, I don't think I'll be doing a good job if 777 gets boarded any time soon."

Verelan pressed herself up against Vialara, stepping onto her tippy toes to steal a kiss. "It's okay, you're still very sexy even if you can't aim worth a dime," she said fondly.

He knew it.

3

"You picked the outfit, so technically it's all you I have to thank for my rather fetching getup." She said with a smile, as she slid a hand under Verelan's chin and tilted her head up to kiss her back. "Thanks for the fun, Vere. Next time I won't be taking prisoners."

"Aw, not? I was especially looking forward to that bit, though." Shut up your fuck, Verelan.

Kix plucked the sheriff badge from his overalls and set it down on one of the tables that was still standing. Paint stained? Yes, but still standing! He looked at the absolute Splatoon-style carnage around him and let out a little huff. “Ain’t my problem no more,” Sheriff Kix had retired.

Maggie lingered awkwardly for only a moment (feeling warm, fuzzy, safe), giving Verelan's hand a small squeeze before pulling themself politely away. They were smiling, though.. "Aww. What'll you do now?" they asked their ex-sheriff, wiping some paint off their hat to playfully poke his shoulder.

“Damn, smells like gay in here.” She said as she marched towards the bar section with a hum, “It’s gonna be synth but it’ll still be good.” She said with a little hum.

1

Kix glanced down at the little fingerprint of paint now on his shirt. He’d managed to keep himself pretty clean during this…ordeal, meaning Maggie was the only one to put paint on him. Lucky them! He shrugged, looking back at his former deputy, “Maybe I’ll pick up paintin’,” He said flatly, though there was a small smirk on his face. VERY small smirk. (edited)

Awww! They beamed, elbowing him in the side. "I paint too! You'll have to show me!"

He bobbed with Maggie’s elbow, “Alrighty,” He said with a nod, “Ain’t never done it before, but after this…” He waved his hand around at the Jackson Pollack painting surrounding them, “‘Spose it’s on the mind.”

"What, taking you prisoner? I don't think the simulation was built with that in mind. Anyway, I don't think I could trust you with that." She said with a chuckle. "Anyway, how often do you get a chance to shoot at your friends? You can't pass up that opportunity."