War Path

The riot is in full swing.

"Well, what the hell, let's take over the ship. Mark, you're on point. Thunderhorse, you are behind him. Steve grab our stuff and stay behind me. Follow the crowd, but hang back a bit."

Doc distributes the weapons as he gives the orders.

"Yee-haw!" shouts Mark. "Good thing we got in some practice with these things in the arcade!"

"Yes," says Thunderhorse as he properly primes the firing pack and releases the safety. "Murderspree 2222 was a fun game."

"Let's be careful gentlemen," Doc warns them. "We don't want to screw this up and get killed, and I only got one pair of underwear on so don't scare me. Take out obstacles one at a time and work together. Steve, call Veronica and see if she can be of some help on her end. She wanted to help these people. Everybody ready and clear on the plan? Good! Let's go."

Doc gets on the bullhorn. "Ladies and Gentleman, grab the cards/badges off the crew! You will need them!"

The few remaining members of the crowd acknowledge the message. They strip the porter clean before stampeding out of the docking bay.

The party follows them.

Veronica's face suddenly appears, getting into his. "You did what?!" she shouts at him.

"We're taking over the ship," Doc tells her. "Are you going to help these people or what?"

"You said we were leaving!"

"It occurred to me that we can't fix a future that's broken in the present."

"But a riot? Thousands will die!"

"We have to stop Spaaz before he ruins the future. You were willing to sacrifice yourself and everyone on board to do that, weren't you? A lot less will die this way. Now what can you do to help?"

"FUCK! You men. I just- ugh!" Her face disappears as she goes offline.

Her voice comes back a moment later. "Security is alerted to the situation but there's no responders yet. They don't care if anyone throws themselves out an airlock, saves them trouble later. But if your crowd starts into the ship, you bet your ass you're gonna see armed guards, and they're not going to have any problem shooting you or anyone else. So you better get as big a crowd together as you can. Make your way towards the engineering decks. Don't use the elevators, they can eject you into space. There are emergency ramps between every deck. Look for the fire escape doors. Make your way to central engineering. Bring as big a crowd as possible as fast as possible. I will meet you there. Watch out for Security rovers."

"Security rovers? "

"Armored vehicles. They have machine guns and mortars. They'll be patrolling the transport corridors once the alert is up. I'll see what I can do from here. I'll keep you updated." She ends the transmission.

Doc gets back on the megaphone as the crowd pushes through the tight residential halls. People are knocking on doors and sometimes forcing them open, shouting about pirates and exciting more rioters. Doc shouts through the megaphone. "This ship is run by pirates! We're taking over before we're all robbed and killed! To arms! To arm!"

People standing in doorways are wide eyed and stunned at first, but are swept up in the fervor of the crowd. Very few become frightened and run away to hide. In short order, the crowd has doubled in size. Some are carrying weapons, pipes, bars, bottles, anything they can find or tear off a wall. Some of the stewards and stewardesses join in as well, at least those who are not first pummeled for being in a uniform.

The crowd leaves behind a wake of plastic flower petals as Hawaii Day is forever ruined for many a cruise director.

"Alert is up," Veronica's voice comes into his ear. "Blue signal. Riot control is on it's way. Watch your flanks."

Sure enough there's flashing blue lights on a hover cart approaching quickly from behind. Doc's infrared sensors identify four security guards with stun guns and batons.