Justifiable Targets

Posted on 06 Mar 2014 @ 9:25am by Commander Andreus Kohl

1,574 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Earth - Coyote Valley Sporting Clays
Timeline: MD 09 - 1300 hours

[ON]

At first glance, Coyote Valley was was wide open and sparse. There wasn't much to it. It was a depression in the land. The hills were largely dried out and tanned, while the depths of the valley were generously dabbled with lush greenery. The transporter pad near the administrative building looked out of place, siting beneath an anachronistic wooden archway. Looking equally out of place was Andreus Kohl when he materialized upon the transporter pad. He was wearing a crimson shirt that was the wrap-around style in fashion on Argelius these days, and khaki trousers that seemed sewn with a slightly metallic thread.

Turning his head from side to side, Kohl looked for his companion. He stepped down from the pad and a glance at the controls rewarded him with a view of the chronometer. Kohl was early. She wasn't here yet, he supposed. It hadn't been intentional, but he was sure going to take advantage of this opportunity to get himself oriented in some relatively-privacy. Kohl took halting, clomping steps away from the transporter pad, in the direction of the administrative building. He assumed that was where they kept the firearms.

Abbey was dressed in an unusual attire at least to people that didn't know her but for Abbey she was wearing her normal shooting clothes, a funny looking cap which seemed flattened with a recognisable peak and grey in colour. She had also donned a long green coat, brown tight trousers and leather boots Abbey was also carrying a silver weapon with a wood finish. She had decided to take the time between leaving Galileo for shore leave and her trip to Australia.

Making her way across the court yard she could see several other people also shooting and similarly dressed but more in the modern 24th century clothing unlike hers. She was just taking a moment when the ground around her feet exploded sending grass and mud flying into the air. Abbey screamed, doing so she raised her gun, though unloaded to see who had just taken a shot at her.

Her aim was too high. Andreus Kohl was splay down on the ground, on his side, with his shotgun cradled awkwardly in his underarm. He braced his hands against the earthen ground, and pushed himself up into a kneeling position. "No, no, are you?-- Where does it hurt?" he shouted out desperately. "I'm a nurse!" But one of his knees gave out, and he toppled down again. That didn't stop him. He moved to crawl in Abbey's direction.

Abbey sighed, rolling her eyes and breaking a small smile "There no damage done here" He she put out her hand "Now get up or I will have to shoot you" She joked.

Kohl accepted her extended hand. Holding onto her with one hand, and pushing off the ground with another, Kohl stumbled his way into an upright position. He didn't offer a response to her joke, didn't react much at all, except for a wan smile. He did turn his face to make sure she saw it. Within moments, Kohl looked down at the motor assist band wrapped around his right thigh. He squinted his eyes at it, and he tapped it with one finger. The stupid thing wasn't blinking. With a grumble, Kohl pulled it off his leg, and he said, "I'm starting to rely on these too much..."

Smiling and shrugging slightly "Well they always say we rely far to much on technology maybe you just need to do without for a while?" She suggested. Abbey was no doctor but she saw everything through a scientist eye. "You shoot to?" She asked pointing out his rifle.

At Abbey's suggestion that he do without the motor-assist bands, Kohl murmured an unconvinced, "Maybe..." He shifted his weight between his legs and secured his grip on the rifle. "I look for excuses to work on my target practice," Kohl said, in response to Abbey's question about shooting. "I can't say I use anything but directed energy weapons, but you made this kind of shooting sound mighty fun when we had that drink."

"Ah how are you finding it so far?" She asked jostling her firearm so it was sat in the grove between her arm and elbow.

Kohl held the rifle out, almost as if he were proffering it to Abbey, but really so he could take a good look at it. His sapphire eyes dragged their gaze along the length of it. Then he looked up at Abbey. "Visceral," he said.

"Weeeeeell maybe I can join you? It's always double the fun with a bit of competition, besides you might learn something!" She said with a teasing wink "or are you scared of a little girl like me"

"Of course I'm scared of you," said Kohl. And he said it as if only an idiot would think otherwise. Despite that, he walked in-step with Abbey in the direction of the shooting area; although he did struggle to match her pace. "You're carrying a firearm. What does your gender or your size have to do with anything?"

Abbey slowed her pace she didn't take in account of his motor-assist when she set of at a faster pace than usual. "I was teasing you, like you making you want to challenge me some would say flirting but I think we can stick with teasing for now" She glanced her head up from the floor and to his face smiling.

Offering a wicked smile back at Abbey, Kohl remarked, "Oh, flirting would be a dangerous thing. Command has made me your colleague now, transferred to the Science department for the foreseeable future. You, ostensibly, report to me since I'm an officer. Flirting in that case can be a bit... squicky."

"Squicky?" Abbey let out a giggle before cupping her mouth with her free hand "I have never heard of anyone use the word Squiky before, care to elaborate?"

"I wish I could help you out there, but my tongue slipped into Argelian for a colloquialism," Kohl replied apologetically. He shrugged slightly, and he said, "That must have been the nearest word in Federation Standard the Universal Translator could find."

"Well I like it!" She smiled as they continued to walk for a further few minutes before engineering one of the shooting ranges "So ready to get your behind whooped?" She teased.

Cradling his rifle, Kohl shuffled in the same spot for a little while, as he experimented with different shooting postures and footings. As he did so, he said, "I am, literally, always prepared for a spanking."

Abbey smiled "Good at least I don't have to feel bad when I beat you" She continued to boast knowing she wasn't the most amazing shot in the world but she at least had the thought that she could beat Kohl. "Any Rules you want to lay down?" She asked.

Looking up at the sky, Kohl rubbed his lower lip and muttered a prolonged, "Uhm..." Then he cleared his throat, and he said, "Rule number one: Don't. shoot. Abbey." He grinned as he looked her right in the eye. "I dunno. We don't really have guns on Argelius. Certainly not for gaming. I'm relying on your expertise here."

"My expertise?" She asked with a chuckle "Its simple as firing a phaser you point adjust for wind, speed and the environment and shoot" Abbey thought for a moment "You go first and show me what you got!"

Kohl swiped his hand over the free-standing computer console protruding from the grass. The scheduling system confirmed his shooting from that position would not endanger any of the other attendees, and once it was ready, the system began launching clay pigeons into the sky. Kohl raised his weapon with the same basic grip he used on a phaser rifle. He aimed the rife, adjusted his aim, and aimed it again. Then he pulled the trigger twice and the reports from the rifle echoed around the valley. And then nothing. The clay pigeon survived it's trek across the sky.

"You're not bad, just a little slow" She admitted without sounding to harsh "Try to imagine the clay's path and shoot before it reaches it and dont stand so tense allow the kick back to flow from you arm and down you body releasing the force through the ground, try again" She smiled.

Nodding at each of Abbey's recommendations, Kohl adjusted his posturing accordingly. "It doesn't respond like a phaser, not at all," Kohl said, and he eyed the rifle with some suspicion. After he swiped across the console again, a collection of clay pigeons were launched across the sky. Kohl fired the rifle, and this time at least one of the pigeons exploded.

"Of course not, A phaser doesn't actually shot anything solid out and these use a chemical reaction to dispel the projectiles inside the chamber" "You just need to account for it thats all"

"That's all, huh?" Kohl echoed her sentiment, but he didn't sound terribly convinced. "I'm going to need quite a lot of practice to build up enough muscle memory. And I just hope this doesn't change how I shoot a phaser rifle!" He nodded at Abbey with a sly grin. "Why don't you show me how it's done?"

Abbey smiled "Sure, lets get started..."


[OFF]

CA Abbey Wyatt
Scientist mate
USS Galileo

&

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Science Officer
USS Galileo

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