The Arcana Group: Discard and Draw

[Thexare]

The Oasis-class had four security armories in its stock configuration. One adjacent to main engineering, to defend against the most likely target of saboteurs. One adjacent to the docking bay, to defend the primary ingress and egress. One at the command deck, to defend the captain and navigation crew. And one just before main habitation, to guard the passengers. There were a few more rooms that could be repurposed for more armories, and often were on Oasis liners used as prison vessels, but Rotella di Fortuna had barely even used two.

At least, as armories.

The one by the considerably-reduced main habitation module was repurposed for Corwin's personal projects. The former Order agents aboard weren't entirely sure what that meant, but appreciated the couple inches of reinforced metal isolating those "projects" from the outside world. The one by engineering had sat unused; who would target a Zoner transport for terrorism? The Xenos often relied on Zoner stations for supplies, and ever since Gran Canaria was settled, the Landwirtrechbewegung appreciated a reliable source of real food.

Now, though, it housed the ship's special armory.

The personal weapons could be thought to say a lot about their owners, as well. Jacob favored a concealable Detroit Diplomat pistol and electroknife, suited to his former Order role as infiltrator. While his training in The Order covered close-quarters combat adequately, certain situations necessitated more force - people driven berserk by drugs, controlled by Nomads, or even non-human hostiles. Masayuki was a highly-trained martial artist and as a result didn't need the help for hand-to-hand combat, though he carried a jitte as a memento of his late sensei. But fitting his more direct approach, he owned two identical WAR-330/Mu Garuda assault rifles - one was kept in this armory as a fallback option, and one was kept with him whenever feasible.

Quiet, gentle Melissa ensured a steady stock of pulse grenades and replacement batteries for her Sanford & Wahlberg Model 9 electrolaser... but that didn't stop her from carrying a Sanford 91 selective-fire pistol if she expected a fight. The Model 9 was effective, but sometimes required a sustained shot to properly kick in. Lauren was a properly-trained professional, using a reliable IMG-built assault rifle with an underbarrel 40mm grenade launcher, which she kept stocked with flashbang grenades. This was an uncommon choice, which made resupply somewhat awkward; gas and smoke were the conventional non-lethal options. The former raider Alicia used an Ageira-produced shotgun with a shortened barrel; she always favored a quick response - ready, fire. Aim wasn't completely irrelevant with what Alicia called the Debugger, but precision was less important than stopping whatever immediate threat she faced.

And Mia?

Mia was the proud owner of the only two submachine guns on the ship, a pair of early-production Brujas that she had put through a trial run during her time with Mirage. Capable of firing a genuinely alarming 1250 rounds per minute, the early Bruja didn't get wide adoption due to considerable recoil control issues; later models corrected this in part by slowing the rate of fire. Being someone who was sent when collateral damage was either not a problem or a bonus, Mia used two. She also personally owned literally half the grenade launchers in the armory.

"That's still entirely too many explosives," Jacob said as the former Order agents took stock of their equipment. "You need a new hobby."

"Excuse me?" Mia asked, mock-hurt by the statement. "This isn't a hobby. I am an artist. Enemy buildings are my canvas."

"I'm not one to criticize art, but we're going to need you to have something more precise. And seriously, can you hit one target with those guns?"

"Jake, I can hit all of the targets."

"That's not what I asked. Can you hit one?"

"Well, you know... eventually. I get the point."

"Our weapons and armor are still in shape and accounted for," Masayuki interrupted, trying to focus on the business at hand. "Which is good, because we have some other equipment we need to replace."

Jacob sighed, knowing exactly what he meant. A lot of specialized equipment had broken down without maintenance and been destroyed for security reasons. A significant complication now. "We can't properly source it from the Order anymore, either." he said, hoping someone had an idea.

"I thought I heard some grumbling out here," Corwin said, walking into the room. "You need Ingenuus. They've been helpful with my work, and I bet they can make alien scanners just as good as The Order's. And whatever other equipment you need." He paused and looked over the equipment in the armory. "Bloody hell that's a lot of grenades."

"Trust me, we've been over it," Jacob replied, shaking his head. "What exactly is your 'work', anyway?"

"Experimental pharmacology. I've been trying to put together a new anti-radiation drug for Freeport 5, something more effective than what Cryer's pushing. It's not gone that well so far, sadly. Hopefully IRG's had better luck."

"Freeport 5? That's neutron radiation. Physical shielding is probably a better option than radioprotective drugs."

"That may be, but that's not my field."