Targets in the Grass (Part 2)

Posted on 04 Dec 2012 @ 8:16pm by Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant Scott Parker & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Chief Warrant Officer 4 Cyrus Kiwosk & Crewman Athlen & Warrant Officer Evan Kell & Vincent Kramer Ph.D. & Trisant Myrddin & Petty Officer 3rd Class

4,002 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: Vega Colony, Galileo Crash Site
Timeline: MD 06 1802

[Continued]

Due to the silence and now other people telling her what to do, Kiri felt rather frozen out. She didn't know where the other Science personnel here, it was an optional event and she had been here before everyone else. Asking the Security officers to help take the lead was her intention all along, if they were able to attend. Her confidence was already suffering and the words from the crewman didn't help much. Now more of it was demolished and she didn't even know what to say to make it seem like she wasn't stupid. She had tried to plan this and now everyone was pulling it out from under her, it wasn't fair.

Cyrus glanced over noticing the young lady's reaction and realized she was the one in charge of organizing. She seemed very quiet, too quiet. He suddenly realized she must have been nervous or angry. "I think that we should let the Lieutenant say her piece." Kiwosk replied before turning to face Kiri. "Lieutenant Cho..." He began, sensing her hesitancy. "Chief Warrant Officer Kiwosk. If I may ma'am, I think this was a great idea to organize, considering what had happened." He paused and folded his massive arms. "Did you have anything specific in mind for today or was this going to be simple firearms training?" He asked only realized that the only one that hadn't said anything was the one that had organized the event.

It took a deep breath before Kiri was able to find a balance in herself, it wasn't a very happy balance at that. Her voice was quiet, certainly she was unsure of herself, even her officer persona didn't really cover this situation. It was the best she had though, even if it didn't suit her current appearance one bit, "I thought, that a small amount of ranged practice would be useful, more so with your help." The Warrant Officer had biceps almost as big as her neck, he could break her in half if he wanted, scary. That made the second prospect something that was even more unpleasant sounding to her, "Then if people wanted to talk about team tactics or unarmed combat with examples, we could do so." Her form shook a little bit as she finished that sentence, "What do you think," Biting her lip for a second, "Mr Kiwosk?"

Cyrus rubbed the stubble on his chin and nodded. He frowned sympathetically as she shook softly, so he gave her a wink. "It all sounds good to me ma'am, everyone should have a refresher a time or two. "Sounds all good to me Miss Cho. I think that a lot of people would feel more comfortable with doing everything. What do you think sir?" He asked Parker. "Is there anything we can't do with them?"

"I think," Scott began with a smile. "You guys can handle this one." This was Scott's way out; he found this whole training exercise to be rather unnecessary, anyway, and they didn't need more security than participants. He patted the burly CWO Kiwosk on the side of his arm. "Let me know how it goes." With that, he looked to the science chief and her assistant and nodded. "Ma'am," Scott then beamed back to the ship, leaving the security team to run the exercise.

Cyrus blinked...twice as he watched his boss beam back to Galileo . He was stunned, and mainly disappointed. "Shows his true colours at last." He whispered to himself, in disgust.

Kiri had to classify his words as contempt, towards a superior officer. While she wasn't in a position to do anything about it she didn't approve, not that she could really look stern. Taking a breath she remained still, making a mental note.

Maenad looked confused, but didn't protest. It didn't matter to her who ran the thing because she was only there to observe, but the idea of Kiwosk running things made her want to throw up. When she saw a younger man, also a security officer, approaching in the grass she felt significantly relieved.

Lt. Rhodes quietly approached the group. He also wore the grey training uniform. He stopped just to the side of the group and said nothing not wanting to interfere with the current process. With the sleeves only covering part of his arm, he crossed his arms across his chest to somewhat conceal the Basque tattoo on his left inner forearm. He watched quietly with pursed lips.

Out of the corner of his eye, Theron could see Chief of Security on the far side of the group. He really wanted things to go well, but for some reason they had clashed.

Cyrus gave him a quick nod and a half-hearted salute. "Heya boss man. You get asked to help out too?"

Theron gave a little shrug, adding "I will more likely end up as the throw pillow. Giving a punch or a throw to the mat is one thing. Taking one with a smile is another." giving a wink for him to get the gist.

Athlen gave a wave toward the newcomer. "Hello there," he called out mildly. Kell was now sitting on the ground, legs crossed haphazardly as he leaned on his elbows contemplatively, and looked up to nod at Rhodes, tipping his chin up slightly. Liyar had long since fell silent, preferring to continue examining his weapon at more length than perhaps was necessary, but it was a useful distraction from the growing crowd.

After talking with Theron, Cyrus had gone over to one of the weapon racks where he was expecting the hand and rifle phasers that were to be distributed to the crew. They were type 3 A's and B's mostly, weapons he was quite familiar with. He picked one up a type 3a and quickly ran over it's modulation. The rifles had yet to be calibrated. He looked around seeing everyone else being busy talking amongst themselves and began sorting out the rifles. The process wasn't long, but tedious all the same. It would take several minutes for each one to check the modulation, check the setting, set the required setting and rinse repeat.

Other than Aria, Theron was the only member of the security department she actually knew. It was with some relief that she caught sight of him, he wasn't aggressive or as scary. A panicky smile passed her lips for a moment before her eyes went back to the two department heads.

Also clad in the fitted training uniform, Trisant Myrddin walked slowly through the grass towards where the other science personnel were congregating. He made no effort to announce himself or to greet anyone, but the Bajoran's heavy footfalls through the grass left little impression of stealth. Optional combat training held little interest for Trisant. He understood the importance of the mandatory training, and he would sink his ever effort into it, but he had little interest in spending his shore leave with a phaser in-hand. Despite that, Trisant suspected there would be few opportunities for the entire science department to interact. He reckoned he shouldn't miss this opportunity.

Dr. Kramer approached the group quickly and sat down on the sand like the others kicking up sand by accident. He cringed slightly saying softly, "Sorry, sorry."

Kiwosk found his way back to Aria and Theron and sighed. As he rolled his shoulder he noticed that it didn't hurt much any more, not even the constant throb that he had had for months. He looked around at the green crew members and sighed. "I guess we should get going on this shouldn't we..." He asked Theron. "Everyone else seems to preoccupied, I get the feeling we're the ones that should be doing the setting up."

"Chief," Theron began, "This needs to be your event. I'll back you in any way you need.

Kiwosk blinked. "M...My event?" He stammered slightly, which was very unlikely the normally confident marine. "Are you sure about this boss? I mean you all have just as much experience as I do..." Cyrus wondered how he would tackle was Kiri wasted done. Basic Firearms practice was fairly easy to do, and the hand to hand was more or less his specialty. He could probably get what details he needed from Miss Cho as required, but the people had been waiting long enough for things to get started. "You got it lieutenant." He said finally, his face split in a huge grin. "I'll make sure these people know the barrel from the trigger." He paused. "No guarantees on people shot though." He chuckled jokingly.

Theron smiled, "You will do fine. Just set the agenda with them. When it comes to specific training points call me or Lt. Rice up to lead that section."

Cyrus gave a quick salute before making his way back to Kiri.

Nexia showed up late and dripping wet. "Hello everyone." said the Seklie to all within earshot. "Can I come and play with you?"

Athlen nodded eagerly at the Pacifican as she strode up beside him. He remembered her from their meeting. "Nexia Alona, right? As far as I know, anybody's welcome," he said warmly.

Nexia smiled shyly at the Rigelian. "Thank-you. And yes, you have my name right. So, the last time I fired a weapon was back in basic training. I may need a refresher course."

"You and me both," Athlen said, reminded of only moments before of his poor handling of any phased weapon. "Hopefully my aim is not as bad as my grip." He grinned.

Nexia gave a playful wink, "You have big hands, your grip should be fine."

The sociologist threw his head back and let out a short burst of unembarrassed laughter, and pointed his finger in her direction. "I like you," he announced, grin undiminished. "Let's go see what everybody else is up to." He gestured in the direction of the security gathering, and held out the crook of his elbow for her to hold onto in a purely Rigelian overture. They moseyed their way over.

Kell blinked up at them both as they arrived in his own form of understated greeting.

"Okay, Miss Cho," Maenad whispered quietly, putting her hand against the small of Kiri's back as she leaned toward her ear. "I think this is going well, now. You can handle this," she said encouragingly.

Kiri jumped slightly at the movement, being touched by people was still outside of her comfort level, she just wasn't use to it. In silence she listen to words spoken closely, breath warming her ear in a way that wasn't unpleasant but very strange to her. Channeling her officer persona Kiri the girl remained a moment, her whisper silent, "Thank you."

Taking a step towards the middle she placed her hands together in a quiet clap, fingers towards the sky, "Everyone, if you please," She waited for quiet but not silence, "If you don't have a side arm please present yourself to Mr Chief Warrant Officer Kiwosk, or if you would like to practise with a Type 3 Rifle, please make sure all are set to training mode only," Slightly concerned she looked around at all of them, that would be a bad mistake. "Then take up a position in front of a target, when you are ready," That was it. Taking a breath she tried another smile, "Does anyone have any questions or need any help?"

Both Liyar and Athlen decided to keep their weapons, Athlen because he figured he was hopeless enough as it was with a hand phaser and Liyar because he'd just finish deconstructing his phaser and he didn't prefer to go another round. With that, the two of them walked over to a barely passable line of people in front of targets. Liyar took a stance recognizable as military, while Athlen stood awkwardly. Kell on the other hand walked over to Kiwosk and tilted his head, hovering a hand over a mark III phase rifle. "This one?" the man asked evenly.

Cyrus nodded slowly and picked up a rifle for himself "That's right." With practiced ease, turning the barrel away from everyone and tucking the butt of the rifle comfortably into his armpit. He turned it to the side to check the modulation and adjusted it to a softer setting and set the safety before looking at the man.

"Before you start grabbing these, understand three things. If the safety is off, you're going to kill someone, if the modulation is not set correctly, you're going to kill someone..." He left his voice hang. "Probably yourself." He added at the end, looking at Kell. "Now before I start this, I'm going to talk to Lieutenant on what exactly she wants done. Pick up your rifle." He ordered.

Kell did so, balancing it in his hands easily. He stared down at it with more interest than he did the rest of the gathering.

"Turn the rifle on the side and check the safety, it's the small red button on the left." He pointed it out on his own rifle before nestling it into his arm, barrel down. "Once you do that, check your modulation, these are compression rifles, they fire in bursts and not a steady stream. They were designed to kill Borg and slice through Borg shields like nothing. It should flash a nice clean green, which will tell you "non-lethal"." He finished. "Once you have all done that I'll come back and show you some stances and firing tips.

Nexia approached and pointed to a rifle. "May I please use one of the rifles, please?" Once being granted one she started to participate in the instruction.

Kramer picked up one of the phaser rifles. This was old hat for him, but there was nothing wrong with a refresher course. 4 years as a Starfleet officer had taught him many things. Using a phaser had not been a necessary practice during the earlier part of his carrier.

Kell inclined his head. "Yeah," he acknowledged rather plainly. He turned the rifle over and hit the safety button, and then moved it to the other side to slide the modulation bar over to green.

Cyrus chuckled. "Don't worry about it, the type 3 handles a little rougher than a type 2, but it gives more punch." He gestured with his rifle down range so everyone could see. "I'm going to let you shoot, I'll adjust your stances as required and give you all individual pointers. There is no 100% accurate stance, so there is no 100% accurate person." He walked down the line. "side arms are just as useful as a rifle, sometimes even more so in close quarters, don't be afraid to fire anything we have available.

"I'm not expecting you all to be marine grade snipers, don't be upset if you hit air, it happens, we all do it. The rifles have a bit of kick, if you're not used to it..." He chuckled. "Well, you will be."

"Any questions?" he asked.

Shaking his head, Trisant Myrddin stepped up to the weapons rack. He clutched a phaser rifle awkwardly between both hands. Tristant toggled the safety and pressed the controls to adjust the modulation as instructed. Once the rifle's settings were adjusted, he moved his hands to the rifle's grip, and that's when it started to feel comfortable, even a little bit familiar from past tours of duty. Trisant hadn't always been a scientist. He felt the weight of the rifle between his hands and shifted the grip until it felt right.

Maenad took a few steps back, separating herself from the group. With Parker gone, she realised that she was he senior-most officer present and thought idly about that. She thought that he would want to stay for something like this. Regardless, she made her way toward the chair she had unfolded and stood next to it, not quite ready to sit down and start reading. With Kiwosk in charge of the exercise, she doubted that he would leave her alone.

Cyrus looked over to Panne and an evil thought crept into his mind. "Lieutenant, would you mind firing off a couple lances with us as well? I could teach you some of the basics."

She already had the basics, thought Maenad. And it wasn't a matter of whether or not she could shoot or disarm someone, because she could if she had to, she just had no interest in participating. An awkward toothy smile spread across her face. "Maybe in a bit," she called back to him. It would be funny to see his face, she thought, seeing that she could hit a target.

Kiwosk grinned. "Your loss Lieutenant-Professor."

"That was easy," Maenad muttered quietly as she sat down in the chair, crossing her long legs. She lifted up her book and held it in her lap, but still watched for the moment.

Kiri watched them all move, not doing anything herself yet, there wasn't exactly a rush to get started. The shooting range at least was something she moderately capable of teaching. She was quite accurate with a hand phaser, the Type 2 most of all. The principles of aiming, power management and stance were all mathematical, something she could visualise as part of a machine. The moment she tried to hold a Type 3 in both hands though it seemed to fall apart, it just didn't feel right, she couldn't focus properly, it felt like a weapon. Turning her attention to the range, the more dangerous part of the enterprise she waited for them to start, maybe she could offer advice.

Liyar's target came up once it registered his presence and he shot at it, the flash of red energy trilling loudly against the center of its chest, and then again at its head in quick succession. It went down and up again, moving now, and Liyar caught it once more. He held the phaser a little awkwardly, not really used to the structure of it in his hands compared to a disruptor, but his aim was on target. He shot the next one in the side and then again at the head, the Vulcan equivalent of a kill shot.

Meanwhile, Athlen shot air. Repeatedly. He did catch one in the shoulder though, and fist pumped. "Yes! I got it!" he called victoriously. "Wow, I hope I was not this bad at the Academy!" he said to himself over the loud phaser fire as he aimed another shot at its head and it sailed right over to burn the edges of the grass.

Cyrus chuckled as he approached him and set his satisfied rifle on the ground. "Athlen, you're about as accurate as...I don't even think I have a word." He laughed loudly. "Lancing like that is all well and good, but if that was one person and he needed a bead on you..." He tapped the Rigelian's chest. "You would have been done at the third shot." He hefted his own rifle.

"That is so not inspiring," Athlen said, drawing his ears back, but smiling.

"Your centre of balance seems off, your hand fires before you've steadied your aim."

"I think my instructor put it more or less, you could not hit the broad side of a barn if you were standing a foot in front of it." Athlen looked just a little put out, but he watched dutifully as Cyrus moved into position.

"Put your front leg forward and brace yourself with it, both hands on the phaser grip, or even..." Cyrus drew his side arm and placed it carefully on a horizontally bent forearm as a brace. "Either way works." He continued as he holstered the weapon. "the biggest thing when it comes to firing a weapon his dexterity. Make your hand move where your eyes want to go." He picked his rifle up once more. "Give it a try. I'll fire with you."

Athlen was listening intently and he moved to mimic Cyrus's stance. This part came well to him and he fell almost naturally into it before balancing the side arm on his arm as Cyrus showed him. "Alright, I think I've got it," he said determinedly. With that, he held up his arm and aimed the phaser once more, firing and... landing a shot on the target's elbow. "...I don't think that was supposed to happen," the Rigelian said, lips quirking downward.

Cyrus grinned. "Considering you shot almost 8 times before getting him in the shoulder I'd say that's a vast improvement." He raised his own rifle and breathed out, scoring four hits in half the time it had taken Athlen to score one. "It takes practice. Remember, eyes to where you want to go."

Meanwhile, Liyar laid waste to several holographic heads. Some were misses, but he clearly knew what he was doing. He began adjusting his hand position naturally as he became more familiar with the weapon and the gaps between acquired targets grew less and less. After his targets paused to regroup, he looked over to Athlen and Cyrus. "It is like t'an krila." He made a movement with his hand upright and straight. "Think of the weapon as an extension of yourself. When you want to hit an opponent, you do. Correct?"

"Yes," Athlen confirmed.

"It is the same way, only farther away."

With that, Liyar turned away and focused on the incoming targets at hand.

Athlen dropped his forearm and looked at the hand phaser. "T'an krila, okay. I can do that. I can do this. No problem. No problem, right?" he said to Cyrus with arched eyebrows, clearly not that confident in himself. He gestured the phaser forward with his hand and nodded again, more resolute. His eyes tracked correctly when he thought about it a different way. He then jabbed it forward cleanly while hitting the button, using his opposite hand as a reference and pulling it forward at the same time. "Tri'van!"

The energy blast hit it in the broad area of its torso, a little too-off to the side to be a kill shot. But hey, it hit the thing. Athlen beamed. "Wicked."

Nexia looked up at the Rigelian, "I think an elbow shot would be worth extra. Not only can they no longer use that arm...for anything, imagine how bad that must hurt compared to just bumping your funny bone."

Cyrus couldn't deny that Liyar had a knack for shooting heads. He popped a couple more solid hits and looked over. "Depending on the situation you would rather wound an opponent than kill him out right." He held up a single finger. "You kill one person, one person is dead." He stuck up a second finger. "You incapacitate one person, you hinder two: the one you shot and the one that is dragging him back out of the line of fire." He looked back to Athlen.

"You're getting better, like I said: there is no sure fire way to shoot."

Athlen puzzled over that. "That makes sense, actually," he said thoughtfully. Well, at least he had the point on incapacitating, he thought to himself as he fired off another shot that landed on its finger. "I should totally get points for that," Athlen said with a small laugh.

[TBC]
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Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

LT Scott Parker
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

CWO Kiwosk
Security/ Tactical
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 1st Class Trisant Myrddin
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Nexia Alona
Oceanography Specialist
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Theron Rhodes
Asst. Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, VDF/SDD
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Evan Kell
Intelligence Officer, SFI
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SCC
USS Galileo

Vincent Kramer
Planetologist
USS Galileo

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