| Peanut Gallery |
| Summary: | Shooting lessons in the small arms range! |
| Date: | PHD 234 (2009-12-08) |
| Related Logs: | None |
| Players: |
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Small Arms Range - Kharon
The sharp report of a sidearm being discharged can be heard from the range. The sound is rhythmic: one, two, three, four, five, six, pause. Reload. Booth three is occupied by a solitary dark-haired officer dressed in olive drab fatigues, and sporting a pair of orange goggles and fitted ear protection. He squares his hips and shoulders, sights downrange, and fires again.
The hatch opens, and a certain petite petty officer enters the range, quickly grabbing ear protection so her ears don't start ringing from the weapons fire. Selene then grabs a set of eye protection and makes her way over to the range ammo box, having already checked out a sidearm. Somehow, she managed to get one of the elusive lefty holsters as well, which is strapped to her thigh with the pistol in it.
Kai continues pouring rounds into his target like it's free-for-all pinata night. Most of the rubber rounds strike in the region of the head, though a few deflect off to either side, hit the back wall, and roll to the floor. He safeties his weapon again, lowers the barrel, and ejects the clip into his hand. A brief look askance finds Selene crossing just outside his peripheral vision. He studies her for a moment, then resumes loading his next clip.
One of the perks of working desk duty in the Sec Hub is that when you're off-duty, you can hit the range right after. Of course, tonight it's pretty damn packed. Cinder steps in, snatching up her goggles and ear protection, and dragging her duty rifle at her side. Her blacks are on, but most of the patrol gear is already stowed. Just her rifle and the under parts of her ship blacks. "Holy frak, hope I get a place to shoot!" she exclaims, taking out a magazine of real rounds and snatching up a mag of range rounds to fire.
Selene steps up to the firing bench and draws the pistol from the thigh holster, snapping a magazine in with her right hand. She then lines up the pistol and executes a decent 2+1 against the target downrange.
The hatch opens, and in comes the S2, sidearm in its usual place in her thigh holster. She's not on the duty roster at the moment, but she's wearing her usual Sec Hub ensemble. You'd be hard pressed to find her out of it these days, considering the death of Major Cass has her pulling doubles regularly. Maybe she's just pretending to be on duty all the time when she's not asleep or in the gym. She glances around the range, and studies the non-marines the longest. She looks a little… something. Tense? Hm.
The range is fairly hopping tonight. Non marines outnumber marines two to one, which the S2's presence evens out to a fair two apiece. The lone pilot in the mix is having decent luck with his target tonight, though it could be better. If, you know, they could use real rounds instead of the rubber crap. He racks the slide on his weapon, swings the barrel around in a loose circle as he warms up his wrist a little, then takes steady aim at the head of his target once again. Bang, bang. A double-tap this time, both shots right on the money.
Selene pushes the button to move the target further down range, then raises her pistol and fires another 2+1 at her target. This one is a little offcenter, but still quite acceptable.
The mag in place, goggles on, ear protection on, Cinder steps up to a target alley and brings her rifle up to her shoulder. Action back, switch to burst, flip the safety to disengage, then….BAMBAMBAM. Three loud, rapid-fire rifle rounds explode out of the gun, louder than either sidearm the other two use. The hits are all a little scattered in the gun, but Cinder's just warming up!
"Not bad for a squid." Salazar passes Selene's lane first, her eyes passing over the target. She steps around Cinder, "Private, breathe then squeeze." And then continues on down past the CAG in lane 3. "If you shaved your sight, you wouldn't have to compensate," Salazar observes, as she passes behind the CAG's lane. She calls it loudly enough to be heard through ear protection. She reaches up to tuck custom fitted earplugs into her ears, leaving the heavier noise suppression to hang around her neck. She does slide on a pair of clear plastic glasses.
Kai finishes off his clip with a few more resounding reports of the Picon Five-seveN, then thumbs the safety on again as he ejects the clip into his hand. He answers Salazar without so much as turning around to face her, "I never compensate, Nikos." He reloads, snaps the magazine into place firmly, and hoists his weapon up to aim again. Just before he pulls the trigger, he adjusts by a couple of centimetres. The first shot is right between the eyes, and the second pings off uselessly as the rubber hits a snag while leaving the chamber.
Selene arcs a brow a little at the backhanded compliment, then moves the target further down range and snaps off another three rounds. Mostly, she's just ignoring everyone else for now, focusing on the shooting practice.
The next time the three-round rifle burst erupts from the barrel of the rifle, it hits the target outline right about where the jaw and mouth would be. Not great, but not terrible, either. "Hmmmm…" Cinder sighs out, letting her lower jaw protrude a bit under the upper jaw and running the teeth on the upper lip. Little bit of caveman style there for the marine…pretty fitting, it seems!
Salazar steps closer to the lane 3 booth as Marek's shot pops the target in the 'brain pan'. "I saw that." She shakes her head, steps back, and watches the others shoot. There is no forward motion to lane 4. She smiles as she notes Cinder's posture, then hops up to take a seat on the loading table for larger weapons. There's a glance around, again, as if she expects something to leap out at any moment. Which is odd, considering the ship is at Condition 3.
"Sure as frak hope so," Marek mutters before safetying his weapon and bellying up to the loading table to dismantle the sidearm's firing chamber. "Being that you're the ship's security officer and all that." He talks around the dividing wall to Salazar while his hands work to isolate the jam.
Selene continues pushing the target back and practicing shots until the slide locks back on the Five-seveN. She then drops the magazine and lays the gun down, pressing the button to bring the target forward for her to inspect.
"If you need some help with that, airy, I can fix it for you." The dry response is pretty much marine speak for 'gimme that before you break it'. Salazar watches Selen's target zoom up lane 1, eyes passing over it briefly. She leans back against the bulkhead, remaining perched on the larger loading table in the back. A bucket of pre-loaded magazines sits at her feet.
"I think I'll manage, Nikos." That's pretty much pilot speak for 'keep your grubby paws away from my weapon'. Karim sends a brief glance over his shoulder to Salazar, then resumes dismantling the gun. The firing pin is pulled out last, and he peers into the chamber assembly for a few moments before digging a rag and a slender rod out of a back pocket of his fatigues. Looks like it just needs a cleaning; there's some gunk inside it. "Got your note," he adds, casually.
Selene peers at the target, then gives a satisfied glance and replaces it, pushing it back down the range before reloading her weapon.
Dell enters into the firing range and judging by the sign in logs this is his favorite place to be on the Kharon. He is off duty at the moment and being off duty is no excuse for slackening up. Eye flicker for an open range and after spotting one the dark headed marine moves into position as he makes himself busy with preperations for practice.
The S2 sits forward on the table a bit, her hands on the edge. She watches the CAG play with his weapon for a moment, then glances toward the hatch as it opens. As Dell takes up lane 4, Salazar notes the marine-in-training's stance. "Good. There was some concern it might go awry, and end up in the shrink's in box. If you change your mind, let me know. I am still officially an arms dealer."
After firing off the whole clip in her rifle, Cinder hits the button to bring the target back. There's a burst in the midsection, the first one she squeezed off. The rest, however, are pretty much spattered in the general 'head' region, meaning, the head, neck, and the paper above and around the head. "Frak…" she says quietly, safetying her rifle, popping the mag out and dropping it on the front shelf of the booth, and tearing the target off the hooks. "Pretty shitty…"
Selene giggles softly at cinder's results, then begins firing off three round bursts from her pistol at the target, advancing it further down the range with each shot.
The young man's arrival is also observed briefly by the CAG, before his gaze drops back to the weapon he's cleaning. He doesn't seem to mind that his hands are getting smeared with grease; simple, mindless tasks are sometimes the best ones. "Could be worse," he tells Cinder, overhearing her commentary on her shooting. "Two weeks into basic-" However many years ago that was for the surly old man. "-I nearly shot my drill Sergeant in the foot." And then to Salazar, over his shoulder, "I was about to finish up, actually, Nikos. Walk with me to the chapel." It's hard to tell, with his gruff way of speaking, whether he's asking or telling.
Dell's stance is pretty good, clearly the marine has been putting in time getting used to the military grade weapons and clearly he respects the weapon in his hands and he wordlessly lifts his rifle and he shoots three shots, each of them hitting close to the heart. He gives a slight grunt as if to say he is pleased with his shot. Though he looks over at Cinder and he nods his head. Then as the CAG calls on the S2 there is a shrug from the marine as he goes back to setting up his next line of shots.
Peeling out of her booth, Cinder swaps mags for a full one of range ammo. For a few moments, she hangs near the back of the range, letting her rifle hang by the strap, almost on the floor. She watches the others in the booths, turning the magazine over in her hands. First she watches how Dell fires, then she looks down at Selene and checks on how she's doing. "Well, can't say I was ever that bad. I mean, I'm not the best shot in the world, but I never shot at my drill sergeant," she replies to the CAG, after picking up her new magazine and all. "Besides, if I had, you think she'd have let me stay in the service?" Cinder says, jerking her thumb over her shoulder to the S2, while giving the CAG a little wink.
Salazar regards Karim for a moment as he makes his request/order. She is silent for a few beats before she nods. "Yep." There's a look down the line, observing the shooters. All seems to be in order. The S2/Marine CO slides off of the table. Her boots hit the deck softly. "If you'd shot Peri in the foot, I wouldn't have needed to make the call, Brand." There's a hint of amusement in her tone, though her expression doesn't betray further thoughts on that.
Selene just listens as she pops a few more rounds in her target, advancing it down the range until the slide locks back once more. She pulls the target back and takes a look at the groups. It looks like she shot a bit tighter this time.
Dell doesn't even bother listening to what is going on around him as he is focused on shooting and his eyes remain firmly on his target. Shots are fired again this time four shots are fired with a half second wait between each shot. The bullets hit the target though this time they hit the chest of the target and each shot is solid but a bit wide. Dell grimaces and mutters softly, "Son of a bitch."
Kai finishes cleaning and reassembling his pistol, lips skewing slightly to one side in a not-quite-smile as Cinder answers him. No explanation's offered in his defense, as to why he nearly popped his drill Sergeant in the foot. He certainly seems to know his way around firearms well enough. "No," he replies, evenly, "I don't. Nikos knows her shit." The Five-seveN is slapped into the holster at his thigh, and he pulls out of the booth to head for the hatch. "Have a good evening, Private." Dell and Selene's shooting each get a parting glance before he strips off his goggles and ear protection, and pitches them into their designated bins.
Sal drops her ear protection as she passes the bin, but keeps the clear glasses, which are from her own desk. She slides them off, then reaches up to pull out her earplugs, and tucks those into a pocket. As she steps out behind the CAG, between bouts of firing, one might hear her note to Marek, "… It didn't catch fire before you read it, right?"
"You too, Captain," Cinder nods to the CAG as he heads on out toward the hatch. Slapping the magazine into her rifle, snatching a new target paper from the table, Cinder spins back around to the booth she was using before. With the rifle hanging by the strap around her shoulder, she hangs up the target, and sends it down range. Going single shot this time, she works on firing in a controlled manner, attemping to put all the bullets in as tight a grouping as she can, aiming for the center of the target.
Dell looks over at the CAG and the S2 and he nods his head to them both, "Captain, Ensign." He has managed to remember rank now and then he looks over at Cinder's shots. "Nice shot." He offers to the MP before raises his rifle to fire again this time it is one shot and it is aimed quickly and cleanly as a bullet goes straight into the head of the target. Some people might smile at a shot like that but Dell just makes a light growling noise before as he sets up his next shot.
Selene drops her mag out of the pistol and takes the target down, stretching a little as she brings the target and the empty mag back over to the table.
In her booth, Cinder slowly and carefully works her way through the clip, one shot at a time. First bullet makes a hole, then she tries to put the next one in the same spot, making the hole a little bigger; wash, rinse repeat. By the time she's done this clip, the hole is maybe 2 inches in diameter, with one or two random, stray holes on the rest of the target. Letting her rifle fall to her side, she pulls the target back, pulls it off the hooks and looks at the hole. Holding the thing up to her face, she looks through the hole with one eye at Selene, and smirks behind the paper. "That's a little better, huh?"
Selene arcs a brow and smirks a little as she tucks the pistol back into the holster on her left thigh. "Yeah, it looks better," she replies, grinning. "You missed a couple, though."
Dell looks over at Cinder and he says, "Make sure you are exhailing when you fire. It should help." He then looks over at Selene and he says, "Nice shooting." He then looks over at his target and he fires twice this time there is barely a moment between them and both shots hit the target each hitting the chest and each a solid hit. He then drops the clip and sets his rifle down.
"Oh yeah? You think you can do better, Miss Librarian?" Cinder huffs at Selene, lowering the target paper to show the smirk on her lips. By calling her Miss Librarian she is, of course, referencing the first time they met, down in the ship's library. "Come on over here and prove it!" To show she means it, she slides her rifle off, sets it on the shelf of the booth, and steps out, motioning with her hands for Selene to step in, like a product presenter model on a game show.
Selene blinks a moment, then grabs a new target and makes her way over to the booth, hanging it up and sending it downrange. She then hefts the rifle, and it's instantly clear that she hasn't shot one since basic, and isn't used to the weight.
Dell looks over at Cinder and then to Selene and his right eyebrow raises slightly. "The hell? You are calling out a PO?" He then shrugs, "Nevermind, none of my business." He then picks up another magazine and he places it into his rifle. Though he waits to see if Selene is going to shoot.
"Not calling her out..persay. Challenging her to prove she deserves the rank, maybe. It's all very technical, you see…" Cinder replies to Dell, close enough to his booth that she can pat him on the shoulder heartily. "A little friendly rivalry…and as I recall, she started it, right?" she winks at Selene. "You know where the safety and burst selector and all are, right…Sir?" Cinder says a little begrudingly, but through a smile, as she turns back to Selene.
Selene arcs a brow, then sets the rifle to single shot and fires. She's not expecting the recoil to differ from the Five Seven, and when it does, it makes the shot go quite high.
Dell looks at Selene as she fires and then he picks up his rifle and he holds it in the correct posture for Selene to follow along with him. Air comes into his lungs and he over does the breathing for effect and as he is letting air out and he has his target in place he fires one shot which goes to the chest, "Like that, PO. Aim for the biggest target."
"Yeah…gotta hold onto the thing. Hold it tight, nice and tight up against your shoulder. It's not going to break." Cinder chuckles as she stands sort of off to the side and behind Selene in her booth, watching. "And yeah, fire as you exhale."
Selene glares over at Dell, then braces herself and fires again, winging the shoulder this time. IT's better, but still not good. Clearly, she's not used to the weight of the rifle.
Dell doesn't bat an eye at the glare and if he cared it doesn't show. He does however put the safety on his rifle and he sets his rifle down to watch the show and as the shot is fired he offers no comentary.
"Hmmmm…." Cinder thinks out loud. "Let me ask you…is that thing heavy? Let's try something." Without really thinking about it, just being the boarish marine that she is, Cinder pushes herself into the booth. Figuring more about helping her learn to shoot the rifle than anything else, she slides in behind Selene, and wraps her own arms around the woman, simulating the firing position as best she can from behind Selene. Cinder doesn't try to sight it for her, just help to take some of the weight. Of course, her chin is over Selene's left shoulder, and her chest presses to Selene's back.
Selene blinks a little in surprise as she's pressed into the booth by the other woman, supporting the rifle for her. She pauses, then guides it into position and fires off a couple of shots, striking the center of the target. It's not her aiming that was flawed, it was that she was trying to support the rifle with her muscles.
Guns and two women holding each other, Dell is normally gruff but this is like combining two things that he loves and his normally angry looking features are replaced by an almost normal expression, it could almost be called pleasent except for the fact that he isn't smiling. Still though he is watching.
"See! Lookit that!" Cinder calls out excitedly. "That's a heck of a lot better!" When Selene hits the target, Cinder pulls away from her, grinning, and putting her hands on her hips.
Selene nods a little, though the rifle droops a bit when Cinder pulls back. Selene responds by safing it and laying it on the bench, smirking as she quips. "You jarheads and your rifles. You can't manuver that between consoles."
And as soon as the awesome appeared it vanished and so did the almost pleasent look on Dell's face as it twists into its normal angry mode. "We could, though, I don't know how to make those consoles work. I'm good for shooting things and taking bullets and that is it." He looks over at Cinder and his head nods at her shooting lesson for Selene.
"Yeah, that sounds about right!" Cinder replies to Dell, grinning at him first, than back at Selene. "We let you brains handle the consoles…we deal with a strictly point and click interface," she jokes…old and terrible as that particular joke may be. "Want to try again, see if you can try for the head?" Cinder asks Selene.
Selene ponders for a moment, then nods and picks the rifle back up, rolling her eyes a little at what she's sure Dell's reaction will be. Typical man.
Dell is a typical man because as he looks over at Cinder he says, "Ooh-rah." This isn't shouted as much as it is his way of saying marines rule. He then watches Selene to see if she can hit the targets head because shooting is something that brings him joy and watching others shoot is another way of expreincing joy, still though there isn't even a hint of a smile on his face and his eyebrows are furrowed.
One more time, Cinder slides up behind Selene at the booth. Once more, her arms go around the woman and she presses her body up close behind Selene. "Ok, just take your time. Aim right for the center of the head. Breathe…slow and relaxed," Cinder says to Selene, like she's never been through basic herself. "Fire as you exhale, and squeeze the trigger, don't pull it or yank it. Just squeeze it and let the bullet fly out."
Selene lifts the rifle, taking a moment to line it up, then squeezes off three shots in a rising line from the mouth to the forehead. There's a bit of a triumphant grin on her lips when she sees where they landed.
Dell looks at the line and where the shots hit and he grunts, "Nice going PO. The private might make a combat soldier out of you yet." His tones are gruff but not unappreciative. He looks over at Cinder and he gives a thumbs up as he studies the shots and where they hit.
"Well, I'll be damned. Keep going like that and pretty soon you're going to make me look like Dell over there!" Cinder smirks at Dell. It's no secret she's not the greatest with a gun, but it's pretty much a requirement of the Marines that she rips on him like that; they rip on her all the time! Instead of pulling away from Selene to admire the shots this time, Cinder stays there, holding the rifle up to see if she wants to keep firing.
Selene remains pressed back into Cinder a little, firing off another set of shots at the target. The recoil makes her move a little, but with someone bracing her, it isn't much trouble for the petite woman to manage.
Dell looks over at Cinder, "Well, if you start shooting like I do than this war will end a helluva lot quicker. So, lets hope you do." The private is good with a gun and when he came onto the Kharon he had a large deer hunting rifle and a huge hand cannon of a pistol and it is no secret also that he used to go turkey hunting and he would aim for the head first. Some people are trained to be Marines and others find themselves becoming one of the Marines because they have useful skills; either way Dell is the one with the gun.
When the recoil of the rifle pushes Selene back into her, Cinder grunts a little, but doesn't allow the more slender woman to recoil too much. That, of course, presses her back closer to Cinder. "So, uh…some more shooting like that and I guess we'll have to get a room, huh?" It's totally lame, of course, but this isn't exactly dinner and dessert like she's used to…this is the CMC.
Selene eeps softly and scoots a little forward, safing the rifle and laying it down. Her cheeks are a little red as she says, "Erm…. thank you for the shooting lesson, Private Brand." Turning around is not an option, considering how much shorter she is.
Dell watches as the two women come into contact and the awesome begins again and the same thing happens again as his face looks almost pleasent but he still isn't smiling and he still isn't talking since it might make the awesome go away.
"Uh…well, you're welcome. I'd be happy to do it again, if you like?" Seeing that Selene is attempting to turn around, Cinder backs off a bit, stepping back out of the range booth, so Selene can scoot out. Looks like she's about done shooting for now, what with that blush and all. Cinder herself isn't exactly blushing, just smiling, but she knows what's up.
Selene frowns a little more, then scurries out of the room to go check in her sidearm.
Dell looks over at Cinder and then at Selene and he says, "Well, that was fun." His tones don't really sound much like he enjoyed it though. Still though he isn't leavng the firing range since he came here to shoot.
"Sure it was," Cinder smirks at Dell. Taking the range mag from her rifle, and grabbing the previous empties she had, she makes for the hatch herself, chucking goggles, ear protection, and empties into the bins. "After that, I think I'll need a shower," she says, winking at Dell, before sliding through the hatch.
