Exploring issues of Trust though the scope of a high power rifle

The arrival of my new Ritter&Lau 599 brought with it a basket of mixed emotions. While the weapon itself was a work of art, at least to the eyes of someone who appreciated the delicate, lethal, precision of an R&L sniper rifle, it was still a device with one, very specific, purpose: to take a life. Though, in this specific instance, my target wasn't technically alive. Also, some would argue, the 599 was more of an anti-material weapon than an anti-personnel one.

Not that it would be any consolation to whatever I hit with it. With the amount of raw kinetic energy the slug would carry, concentrated into the slim point of the depleted Uranium core, the round would punch through my target's armor and into the electronic brain within. Shortly after I pulled the trigger, the war machine known as Ravish would end its span.

That was, if all went according to plan.

On some levels, it probably seemed odd that I was reluctant to put Raids at risk in order to terminate Ravish. Some thought I was Baka for accepting her into the colony's citizenry in the first place. I'd even had suggestions of turning her over to Ravish, or just ending her ourselves.

None of those ideas would fly, of course. Most of the folk here, after a little suspicion, accepted my judgement and treated her as one of us. Even now, the majority of the townsfolk were behind her. Though, some of them were suggesting that mayhap, our resident warbot should be the one going toe to to with the invading warbot. Seeing as how they were evenly matched and all, and would have the Militia on her side.

I'd already hit on that idea and Raids herself volunteered to go toe to toe with her sister as soon as I even mentioned her being in harm's way. And that's where the trust came in.

I'd had a fair idea of how her class of warbot went together from the research we'd done on her when Nack still kept her as a trophy in Firefly's. I'd done my calculations on the shot based on the known target size and armor thickness, figuring the strongest materials Ravish was likely to have been built with. What I hadn't known was that her series had, effectively, a backup brain box. That she told me about it showed a level of trust that was, ultimately, gratifying.

By telling me about the backup, she was trusting me with a weakness. Also trusting that I'd be able to make the shot when she got her sister out in the open. She'd take one in close combat, I'd take the other with the R&L. In return, I promised her salvage on the fallen twin.

There was still a chance the Militia or one of the more combat worthy locals would take Ravish down permanently before we could, but I didn't care so much. I'd already gotten word to the Militia leaders to not even touch the chassis until I'd cleared it and, under no circumstances, to turn it over to an Alliance patrol. Not that we'd be able to stop an Alliance patrol on the ground from pulling rank, but that'd just mean I had to keep my promise through a back channel.

And if that didn't pan out?

Well, that'd lead to an entirely new pursuit.

OOC Side note: This is the 200th entry in the Lonesome Ninja Mayor's blog.

A labor of love

Chronicle of a long arc

Two hundred entries