Chemical Warfare

Artemis wasn't sure what the future had in store if the Mars mission didn't occur. The pulse drive was the pre-cursor to modern impulse and FTL engines, if it disappeared from the timeline than humanity's journey into the stars would be halted. Eventually a new type of engine would be created, but that would be later on down the line. Artemis was worried about how the Guild of Science (which would come about in five years regardless of the pulse drive or not) and how it would reach the far edges of the system. How would the Charon facility where Artemis got his start get built if they don't have able ships to carry construction drones out there. How would they keep the facility supplied and shuttle the experiments to their clients? Thn it occurred to Artemis: what about Blue Dwarf? If it was never built or at least built with inferior engines, than how would the Dwarfers get to the distant future? Artemis hated paradoxes, he wished Jay the former STCP agent or Cass the recently disavowed STCP agent were around to help him reverse this. But alas, Artemis was on his own.

Grandpa Artie was sitting on the edge of his bed. He ways making a call home, informing everyone that he had failed. Artemis himself was sifting through his bags (how had they gotten in his hotel room? Did they follow him through the vortex?) looking for a solution. He overheard Grandpa's conversation with his Grandmother. "We lost it to the casino, it's owned by the Yakuza....they're....they're not willing to negotiate. We're coming home...." Artemis found his wallet, he opened the accordion pocket where he kept his various photos, cards, and wallet sized PhD's (always the great conversation starter at a party). He found his PhDs in chemistry and astrology. He didn't know why he had the astrology degree, but chemistry inspired him. He thought about the possibilities, and then It hit him: chemical warfare. Artemis rushed to his grandfather. "Enough of that Artemis!" Artemis yelled at his grandfather, tapping the receiver and cutting the call short. "We're not letting those bastards keep us from Mars! We're going to fight!" "What? Wow, this is sudden...what do we do Greg?" "Follow my lead...."

Following a similar method that was utilized to kill the nodes, Artemis shorted out the power lock on the Dow Chemical warehouse. Artemis and his grandfather, clad in black clothing, slipped inside the warehouse and searched up and down the aisles for the right chemicals. Glycerol and White Fuming Nitric Acid, the chief ingredients in Nitroglycerin. Malononitrile, to be combined with 2-chlorobenzaldehyde (stolen from a research lab) to make 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile gas, or CS (tear) gas. Once the car was loaded the men sped off into the night, with the only evidence of their wrongdoing being a blur video from a broken camera.

After a long night of mixing chemicals and preparing improvised weaponry Artemis aka Greg and Grandpa Artie had a full arsenal of IED's, tear gas, and poison darts (catrantula venom). The yakuza was well prepared, having heavy weaponry and plenty of ammo. But with choking gas filling their warehouse and bombs going off all around, they wouldn't stand a chance. At least that's what Artemis hoped when he climbed into the car with his grandfather and headed for Old Vegas.

TBC