ALTARcation

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The memory of before he met Artemis was a bit muddied. It was clear that he had met his other self but beyond their brief encounter, in which a few bullets were exchanged, nothing else was clear. Maybe something about dimensions? Hmm, whatever it was it was unlikely to be good. That seemed to be the way recently. But then Plisken noticed something - a tiny glint in the distance

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Plisken's concentration on the glint was broken by Artemis-2 shuffling up next to him, loading up a tobacco pipe. "You smoke?" Plisken asked. "The stress got to me in the days following the crash. A homeless man offered me a drag when I walked into town the first time, I've been smoking since. Before the fight with the Roo I never would have considered it" Artemis-2 took a drag off the pipe and exhaled a deep red plume of smoke. "This planet's in a rift, you know?" Artemis-2 said, staring into the horizon. "I heard" Plisken replied. Artemis-2 took another drag and recalled his discovery. "I salvaged some tech from the wreck a while back and ran some research on the planet. There's portals surrounding the planet that reach out into the other quantum realities around us, including yours" "Really?"
"Yep. There's a wrecked Space Corps frigate from the GELF uprisings. It was toting a full Brooklyn class loadout" "Q-Bombs?" "I see you're familiar with the Space Corps WMD arsenal" "You could say I've been around them" "Nasty weapons, but I don't regret being their creator. The GELFs needed to be put down. Anyway, it's toting a full compliment of Q-Bombs. I had to disarm them to ensure that the soldiers and scavengers never has a chance to use them. One quantum war was enough, two would have probably shredded the fabric of space. Imagine that Mr. Plisken, an infinite number of Q-Bombs going off in an infinite number of realities, each destroying the fabric of space to the point of total multiversal apocalypse. Each with a unique Blue Dwarf and an infinite amount of Dwarfers being bombed out of existence" Plisken pondered Artemis-2's words. He wondered how many Dwarfers of alternate realities had been killed, or how many Blue Dwarfs never fell victim to the JMC and simply pulled into port several months later to offload ore and weary crew. He pictured everyone returning to their lives while the ship was refitted for another mission. Alex, Jade, Cass, Jacky, Jaxx, Jamie, Jay, Seymour, Katrina, Artemis, and many of the others that departed along Blue Dwarf's path through the galaxy, returning to their loved ones and their regular lives, never to experience what the Dwarfers of the prime reality had experienced. Then he remembered that those Dwarfers were lost in the desert! "Have you heard anything about the other Dwarfers from my reality?" Plisken asked. "Rumors mostly, but a few reliable sources have pinpointed a few of your friends. A local merchant spotted Jamie during a trip, and a courier believes he found Jade. I'll load a handheld with their locations and give you some supplies" "Thank you Artemis. I'll go find my Artemis and we'll head out"

Artemis-1 and Plisken donned the robes that Artemis-2 had given them. The dark brown robes were replicas of Artemis-2's alchemist robes, sans the sash, they had also been given shrouds to cover their faces to avoid being identified by locals. Plisken and Artemis-1 were lead out to the two Sand Dragons tied out behind Artemis-2's home. The dragon that Artemis had punched glared at him, the second dragon investigated Plisken, whom it had never seen before. "You each of enough food and water for one week, plus two extra canteens of water to trade. There's also a satchel with tools, and some tech I salvaged from Blue Dwarf that you might find useful" Artemis-2 untied the Sand Dragons and checked their saddles. Artemis-1 and Plisken mounted their dragons and prepared to move out. "Wait, one last thing" Artemis-2 handed each man a rifle and a bag of ammunition. "They're put together using parts from old World War II era M1's and Mosin Nagants that came through a portal. They're heavily modified, they fire a 856x50 plasma coated round that heats up so hot it can burn through diamond. 8 round mags and you've got over 1000 rounds between the two of you. One last thing, don't let any holy warriors catch you. They're not found of me for defying their gods and they'll haul you off to Ra if they catch you" "Thank you, we'll send word when we can" Artemis-1 said as he lead his mount into the desert. Plisken followed closely.

"Agent Omicron 57, change of mission directive. JMCSDF command wants the interlopers dead. ALTAR-5 will intercept them and eliminate them. Continue to observe until ALTAR-5 completes it's mission" "Yes ma'm"

Artemis and Plisken crossed a large dune and stopped at the edge to check the handheld. "It says that the courier spotted Jade in the desert near here. She's likely gone by now" Artemis commented. "We'll find her, and the others. We've been through worse" Plisken said. Artemis was really beginning to admire Plisken's grandfatherly attitude towards the others, including himself, whom Plisken had only just met (though Artemis was sure he had spoken to Plisken in passing and eaten with him in the cafeteria back before the accident). "Mr. Plisken, why do you care so much for the others?" "Well..." A large black robot leaped from the sand and knocked Plisken off his mount, the dragon took off into the desert in fear. Artemis' own dragon reared up and threw him off, and charged off as well. The robot pinned Plisken to the ground and prepared to execute him. Artemis fired a round into the robot's chest, cutting a large hole through it and knocking it clear of Plisken. The robot started firing at Artemis, who rolled away and barely missed a round in the throat. Plisken tried wrestling the gun from the robot. It threw him off, but it made the mistake of throwing him close to Artemis, who tossed him the second rifle. Plisken shot the robot's gun toting arm off. The robot looked down at the dismbered arm, then back to the two men, who lined up their shots and emptied their clips into the robot, cutting it to pieces. Plisken examined the wreckage while Artemis fetched the Sand Dragons. "I think I've seen this thing before" Plisken commented. Artemis tool one looks at the robot and shook his head. "Well, whoever sent it is going to be quite irate once that discover it's fate. Let's get out of here" Artemis handed the reigns to Plisken and the two re-mounted their dragons. "We handled that pretty well" Plisken commented. "Mr. Plisken, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" Artemis said happily. "Now Mr Plisken, you never did tell me why you care so much for the others"

"ALTAR-5 has been destroyed" "Command won't be happy. Continue following them while I decide our next course of action"

<tag/Plisken>

<OOC-Sorry about the delay, no Internet in my hotel>