Intergalactic Summit

I find that my social grace keeps me from needing a side arm.

If nothing else, as I mentioned in the other thread, there are other benefits besides personal protection. There's something meditative about cleaning your gun, and something therapeutic about range time.

Not that I've put a lot of time into either activity recently.

What a weird concept. Carrying and displaying a personal firearm is the best way to increase dramatically the chances of escalation and ensuing soft cloning by a good margin...

I dislike those things.

From my perspective, miss Farel has roughly the right of it.

The best weapon for when one baselines, in my experience, is not a heavy pistol or rifle, or even a considerable security force, as these only serve to invite trouble to your doorstep. The only cases where their deployment is productive are, indeed, circumstances when one has blundered to begin with, and trouble has found you already. It also shouldn't be necessary to dwell only in hyper-secure environments - Most people do fine without them, after all.

Rather, ones greatest defense is merely the common sense to conduct oneself quietly and discreetly, and not make a fuss that might seperate you from the average person. It might be tempting to possess a firearm recreationally due to the feelings of personal empowerment it offers, but in the end, this will only cause problems for the bearer.

I still keep my old Home Guard sidearm, a Kaalakiota Stahl-15 service pistol, mostly for sentimental reasons.

There's a Lai Dai subsidiary that sells a rather attractive integrated wetware suite with modular personal defence options hard-linked into a Direct Neural Interface movement-by-wire system that probably makes it redundant while not offending polite company over drinks.

No need to abandon style and class when considering the means to defend yourself against a wide spectrum of threats to your personal safety, I'd say.

Snub nosed 25mm semi auto Perkone railgun with a folding stock and dual ammo selector. Yes its more bulky than a pistol, and harder to conceal. Yes it has less penetration than an assault rifle of a similar size. But you just cannot beat the versatility of the damn thing. The 8 round, twin clips, combined with the ammo selector allows for the flexibility of a shotgun for close ranges, with the accuracy of a carbine for mid to long range when loaded with fletching and slug. I've only had to use her a handful of times, but each one it was in a warehouse with a sour deal or double cross. That combination range and stopping power is invaluable in that sort of scenario, plus just showing up to a party with Perkone snub nose is a good way to let people know you're serious.


Other than that I am a big fan of the hidden/boot knife as a last resort. I've even taken the time to make my own, just a small blade, created to fit in between a fist. I found that to be a very relaxing, almost spiritual, experience. Just the act of taking a piece of steel and honing it, shaping it into a weapon, even a small one.

I'm quite sure that anybody competent who was fixing to kill me would spot that big iron I'm carrying anyway, regardless of whether or not I discuss its existence on Galnet. It's not exactly a subtle piece of hardware.

I have one of those, it's an even older model, though.

http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/b/bf/Pistol_11.jpg/400px-Pistol_11.jpg

Lot of fun to shoot, too, if we are ever in the same area of space we'll have to meet up and compare them.



Most of the time I carry a VSF mk2 Viper flechette pistol as my sidearm, magnetically propels clusters of flechettes. Short range, but does a good job chewing up body armor, and its effects on flesh are more than effective.

By habit I never stopped carrying my combat knife I was issued as a marine, tantalum-carbide alloy blade, extremely tough, and extremely sharp on the cutting edge. the metal is hard enough that it has to be rehoned with a laser honing tool made for the job.

All of this is accurate, bar one thing: Even the very best make mistakes.

If I were in that situation, if I had been hunted by somebody that skilled, if my soft clones were all offline and my bodyguards were down, then I'd still rather have a gun than no gun. It may not work, but I'd say that the slim chance that it might is better than the certainty of having nothing to do except die.

I intend never to find myself in that scenario. I have arranged things such that it is all but impossible that I ever shall be. But a slim chance at even having the opportuniy for one last desperation move is better than no chance at all.

Besides, if my end comes at anything other than a time and place of my choosing, I'd at least prefer to die armed, purely out of principle and pride.

It's all down to your choice of sidearm and the kind of ammo you load it with. I'll say no more.