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The Westport Rice Ship
| (a clarifier West Port is essentially like a military base. That acts as a trade hub. Crimes committed here will result in being shot.)
| >>588263 (Oops... I thought it was just a regular port area... this should still work, hopefully...)
| > They were crowded near the stern of the aforementioned red and white ship, an ancient-looking vessel that bore the markings of the United States Coast Guard. A mix of people looking to profit off the rice debacle and people who simply refused to change their diet, they looked very out of place as they waited for the ship to finish docking. GC's Fishermen would likely prevent anything stupid from happening, but in any case there were several people with assault rifles on board.
| >A speedboat roars down the port with seemingly no regard for the noise its making as it speeds toward the ancient vessel. Within are a group of people dressed in ratty combat fatigues.
| >>588265
(civilians can be there as its also open like that for housing, food etc. But yeah its like a military base as there is cerfew in some areas and its basically always watched, also fishermen run the trade protection.)
| > The gangway lowered, and two of the armed sailors stood by it on the ship. A lot of the rice was already unloaded on the ship's deck.
Someone, perhaps the captain or a representative of whatever farms the rice had come from, spoke through a loudspeaker.
"Let the rice sale begin! 50 currency per pound of rice, limit of 20 pounds per person. Stay orderly, now. If our crew can't take care of you, the local authorities will, or vice versa..."
| >>588269 > Three sailors on the rear of the ship kept an eye on it, but didn't raise their weapons. Not yet.
>>588270 (Oh... I hope I haven't messed things up too badly... should I retcon the presence of guards on board, or will making sure they don't set foot on land be enough? In any case they'll definitely cooperate with the fishermen if they're ordered to stand down.)
| > Separate from the main crowd, a young man in a driving cap stood near the front of the ship. He seemed to be signing some paperwork with a port official of some sort as a large hatch on the ship's front deck opened and a dock crane moved over it.
(For reference, here's the ship: https://www.museumships.us/images/headers/comanche.jpg
It's out of service irl, so it's really ancient by the 2070s. Also there's a total of 12 armed guards. The ship's mounted weapons are long gone, tho)
| >>588273 >>588282
>The speedboat locks to the side of the ship- two of the strangers fire grappling hooks onto the rim of the vessel and begin to hoist themselves upward, while another begins climbing using some kind of adhesive pads on their hands. The few that remain train their firearms on the guards above (or anyone else who might be watching this spectacle) while another seems to be screwing something onto their rifle.
| (The 'guards' are just crew members, though, so despite their numbers they might not be a huge threat.)
| >>588285 > A fourth guard is coming up the stern stairs when he notices his three comrades standing frozen, staring over the side.
"Would you three stooges stop looking for mermaids and - "
> Then he sees the rifles pointed from below, and freezes as well.
> However, two of the guards in the middle of the ship notice this. One sneaks over with his rifle raised, making some kind of hand signal to his friend. The first swings his rifle over the side, quickly attempting to aim at the
| >threat but stopping short. He stomps his foot. Apparently this was a signal, because the second guard throws several heavy bags of rice over the edge, right on the attacker's heads. The frozen guards then attempt to raise their rifles.
> It seems the one that gave the signals is their leader, or at least the only one so far who knows what he's doing.
| >>588292 >>588293
>The men in fatigues on the boat, caught completely off guard by the falling rice (those things hurt like hell when they reach terminal velocity) yell and scream as the makeshift projectiles smash through the glass windshield of the vehicle and clobber one literally off the boat. One of them recovers and shoots a burst of fire in the general direction of the sailors, while the two rappelers, hearing the shouts, start hurrying upward.
| >The unfortunate man still stuck to the side of the ship with his magnetic hands tries to hurry as well, but accidentally loses his grip and hangs from the side.
| > One of the sailors gets 2 bullets to the chest; they seem to have hit his lungs. The guard next to him immediately cries for help and runs for a first aid kit.
> Their leader gets his shoulder grazed. He attempts to pick off the rappelers, while the three others aim at the people on the speedboat. The three attempt to wound them nonfatally, but given that they aren't experts that might not mean much.
| > Meanwhile, the 6 other guards on the ship have heard the gunfire, as have the people on the shore and the man managing the sales. A guard calls out for the Fishermen, not wanting his side to be mistaken for the criminals.
> Sales have stopped for the time being, and the crowd is beginning to panic. At the bow of the ship the hatted man has just finished the paperwork he had, and the crane is lifting something large out of the hatch. The crane operator moves a bit faster.
| >>588310 >>588312
>The two rappelers are sitting ducks and easily eat several of the leader's bullets. The magnetized mook continues undeterred, perhaps emboldened by how close he is to the top of the ship proper.
>From the speedboat itself, one of the soldiers raises up their rifle- which had been newly fitted with an RPG!
| >>588320 With the rappelers taken care of, the lead guard attempts to fire at the one with the magnets.
Meanwhile, the other three guards focus fire on the RPG-weilding goon. Hopefully they aren't too late...
Two soldiers from the middle of the ship are running toward the stern, but when they see the RPG they run back where they came.
At the front of the ship, what the crane is lifting is revealed. Rather than a large order of rice, it's a car! The crane begins to swing it over.
| >>588329
>The bullets sink into not just the RPG wielding mook but into everyone around him, AND the speedboat, which starts to take on water. With a final effort, he attempts to fire the RPG anyway....
>Rolled a 2
>...which quickly spirals away from the ship and crowd, and instead crashes into another docked vessel nearby.
>The man curses his luck as he expires.
| > By this point the Fishermen are probably converging on the scene. Most everyone who actually managed to buy rice has fled or is fleeing; the same goes for those who didn't get a chance. The injured guard has mostly been stabilized.
> The car, old but definitely not as old as the ship, is lowered perhaps a bit too fast onto the dock. The hatted man quickly passes the paperwork to the official, gets in the car, and drives off, not wanting anything to do with this.
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| > It had been a rainy sort of morning, with lightly-colored overcast skies and a persistent but pleasant shower. As noon approached the sky cleared somewhat, sunlight reflecting from the water-soaked streets and buildings of Westport. In the sky over a red and white ship to the south a rainbow was visible. It was a pleasant, reassuring day in GC's bustling harbor district.
Or it would be if a crowd of people from the city proper hadn't gathered at one of the main docking areas.