::0kn.26/41/T - Kirin

It was the umpteenth time that Kirin felt shafted. If only Millx didn’t have a near monopoly on the caliber of bullets he needed for the cobbled-together rifle he dearly held on to if he were to continue to be of any value to the Ark, long ranged weapons being utterly critical for survival out in the Zone. Without it he would be as useless as some of the others confined to the ship, too mutated to be of any value, kept alive only because the Elder forbade self-ending. In their absence, Kirin could tell that things were rapidly spiraling out of control; he had to do something.

Kirin heads to Millix's "shop," tired of her BS. He has one bullet left, and is going to use it.

"Millix!" he shouts, his voice a touch raspy and muffled under the mask. "More duds! More duds than live rounds!" He brings his weapon up and holds up his last round before loading it while she watches. He shoulders his rifle, and points it directly at her.

"Willing to bet your life on my last bullet, Millix?"

Unlike the other fixers, Millx situated herself openly in a formerly plushly decorated room with overturned tables of shredded green baize printed with strange symbols. The room was used by a number of traders, people who made things like clothes and tools, or farmed what passed for produce that could be grown onboard the ship, a market of sorts. Millx occupied a comfortable corner up a short staircase on the right. Unlike the others, she displayed no wares; all who came to her came to 'talk'.

Ordinarily there would be two or three others on the mezzazine split level with her, especially the the steel-headed enforcer they called the Knob. But as Kirin cut through the lower level vendors and made his way to the staircase he found no one there but the electrostatically-charged redhead of Millx sitting on a cracked armchair.

"And if you waste that last bullet on me you're a bigger fool that I thought," came the reply as Millx stared back at Kirin. If he wanted to blow her brains out he would have to do it quickly before others returned. "You hardly brought back anything worth anything the last time you went out. Make those duds count. Otherwise the good bullets are going to some other better stalker than you." She sized him up, "Here's a freebie to make up for the duds. If you want in on the next foray, best get your ass to boss Marlotte. The lines say she's putting together the next expedition, against the Elder's last orders."

"Duds are worthless. Selling duds for perfectly good grub is stealing. Replace the three duds with three good bullets, or we find out how good your products actually are." Kirin thumbs the safety on his cobbled together rifle to accentuate his point. Millix can't see his eyes behind the mask, but she can feel them boring a hole straight through her.

Millx made a nonchalant wave away action at Kirin's gun barrel pointing at her. "Look, you know as well as I do good ones are in short supply. Some of these are so old I wouldn't be surprised to find maggots inside. Remember for that funny-sized gauge of yours I had to get some gearhead to crack a bunch open for their powder, recast the casings, and then refill them." The fixer evidently knew someone who knew how to make bullets, but that was her schtick.

She stuck her hand below one of the tables next to her, and for a moment Kirin had to decide whether Millx was going to pull a gun on him as well. But her fingers came back out with a small box, whose top she flipped open. Inside was one cartridge left, the correct gauge for Kirin's rebuilt rifle. "That one in your chamber, fifty-fifty right whether it's a dud? Here, that's the last one. Add that fifty to yours, that'll make your next shot a hundred percent." She wasn't lying, there was nothing else in the box.

And that was the problem with bullets in the Ark, they were used as currency, handled and manhandled, scavenged just like everything else, degrading over time. The people who really needed them were the stalkers, for their sorties, but there was never enough to go around. Supply was short, and they were fortunate that they hadn't had to repel any threats recently, they probably didn't have the ammunition to hold them off. Kirin was pretty sure the bosses hoarded ammo like they did other resources. That was the benefit of giving allegiance to one, unlike Kirin who stood by himself and had no one to depend on to call in favours and have his back. It explained why Millx spoke so confidently even under Kirin's bluster; she enjoyed the protection of boss Marlotte and the comforts of being higher in the pecking order.

Perhaps the person to see was Marlotte herself, or maybe one of the other bosses. In the absence of the Elder, it wouldn't be suprising that plans were afoot. Would Kirin need to be part of them?

Kirin doesn't move for a long moment. After the wait reaches a point where it's been uncomfortable long enough to feel awkward, he thumbs the safety back into place and lowers the muzzle, snatching the other bullet. He turns to leave, and pauses. "No more duds." With that he heads out.

May as well go see why other people are leaving the ark.

Millx had dropped a hint, inadvertently under duress or otherwise, seeing as she had had to stare down the barrel of Kirin's gun. It seemed as if she had heard talk of an expedition, by boss Marlotte, and that the tricky thing was that no one could do such a thing without the express approval of the Elder. Now Kirin knew, as much as everyone did, that no one had seen the Elder for weeks. It was assumed that the enlightened one had retreated to their private sanctuary, as they did more and more frequently, to meditate and seek wisdom to lead their Ark. They would then appear with their proclamations, following which the People would bustle into a flurry of activity in order to carry out various tasks and projects to make things happen.

Kirin could try to find out more about the Elder's absence, or he could ferret out who was helping Marlotte put together the team that was going out. Kirin stood alone, but he also understood how important it might be to find out who might oppose Marlotte's plan, so that he wouldn't be caught in the middle of the inter-boss conflicts that he tried to stay clear of.

Kirin will look into Marlotte's plan, and if he can get himself included. The ark needed help, and Kirin was of the belief that help wasn't within the walls of their sanctuary. He knew the Elder didn't want people leaving, but he'd snuck out before... and he firmly believed the benefits of a real, formal, planned excursion outside the ark would silence the opposition.

With that, he was off to find Marlotte.

Marlotte had sequestered the ship's bridge as her own den, befitting her influence and ego. The bosses were bosses because they possessed the ability to influence others and also had the leadership and charisma necessary to rally the People to more productive pursuits. If only they saw eye to eye, their Ark would be in a much more functional state than it was now. But with constantly limited resources and the ever-present dangers in the Zone threatening to encroach in, the bosses had taken to protecting their own turf and hoarding their own stash of resources and supplies. This also meant rallying others to their side, those loyal to them.

This was something Kirin would have to bear in mind if he wanted to approach one of the bosses.