Learning the Ropes

Posted on Sat Jun 2nd, 2018 @ 7:45am by Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4
Location: Holodeck Target Range
Timeline: Current

ON:

Christine was walking down the corridor on her way to the target range to get some practice. She wondered if she would ever be a Raider, and dismissed the thought quickly. She was determined to make the grade and that brought her to improving her shooting abilities. Oh she was good nut it always left room for improvement. Not looking, her mind deep in thought, trying to sift through the memories, crashed right into Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori. "Jumping gee whiz...oh...I am so sorry!", she said, picking up not only herself but helping the Sergeant up as well.

"Jumping gee whiz..." Ami repeated softly, then shook her head. Never had she heard that, most of the time it was swearing that might make a blue-water sailor blush. She accepted the hand up, then brushed the front of her shirt down, "That'll teach me to try to figure out how to beat Valentine in a knife fight while walking, won't it, ma'am?" She chuckled, "Damn that girl is good."

"Agreed. She is just that damn good. Care to join me in a little target practice?", she said, dusting herself off as well. "I figured that a little time spent on practicing couldn't hurt and besides I need to learn the ropes as it were", she added.

Ami shrugged, "Sure, why not, never hurts to get a few more repetitions in, not like we'll ever be as good as Nyx or the Old Lady, Well, Nyx at least, Hailey is only human and she makes mistakes like anyone else." The NCO grinned, "If you ever want to beat Hailey at something, knife fighting and long distance shooting are good to work with. She's hell with pistols, gives Nyx a real good matchup, I think she even beat her once. One point over a thousand point match, nine-ninety-nine to nine-ninety-eight."

"Oh really", Christine said, as a small smile began to form. "Well I guess I will have to practice my long distance shooting and my sniping practice up to par"", she said chuckling. "Pistols was not really my forte but sniping and long distance were my thing. Used to go duck hunting with dad. Was a crack shot at 2000 yards", she said, as she waited for the doors to open to the practice range.

"Again, I wouldn't go up against Nyx, even at that range!" Ami laughed, "I saw her make a perfect shot at five thousand yards, random wind, at elevation using a ballistic round. Took her a couple minutes, but at that range? I tried a few times, I'm not bad at range, but I never even hit the target. As Hailey said, ma'am, I'm hand to hand as a specialty." The door slid open and Ami preceded the Lieutenant and went over to the holographic range attendant, then glanced back at Christine, "Phaser or slug-thrower?"

"Slug-thrower?", she said, looking surprised. "Is that what you call the bullet throwers?", she asked.

"Slug-thrower, bullet-thrower, projectile weapon, automatic pistol, yadda-yadda." Ami waved a hand generally, "Easier to distinguish one of those from a phaser version than just be confused by saying 'pistol' or 'rifle'. Or you could be like Hailey and have a custom-built rifle, both phaser and projectile capabilities, grenade launcher, really a work of art that she worked with an old unit armorer to make. Versatility."

"Oh...that kind of weapon. I have a slug-thrower in my quarters that dad gave me when I made the 2000 mark. I was going to try to improve on it once I knew where I was going. But for now, I will choose a phase rifle, and maybe at the same time I can improve on the model to extend its accuracy to...oh say maybe 5000 yards?", she said grinning as she walked over to the holo-guy and took a phaser rifle and a phaser. Turning to face Ami, "Shall we?", she said.

"I would definitely recommend having a real armorer work on the rifle, maybe talk to someone down in engineering... That girl Renee, I think it is? She's a Lieutenant and seems to be pretty good around things, creative too. Maybe look her up and see what she can do?" Ami selected the paired phaser rifle and pistols as well, "Good thing about phasers, they really can reach out to five thousand. Basically speed of light and all, it's just a matter of keeping the damned things on target. I forget what a tenth of a degree of aim does at that range, but the slightest tremor or twitch, even that from a cup of coffee's caffeine, can really ruin a shot." She grabbed an extra power pack for each of of the weapons, slotting them onto her belt in the appropriate places.

"I think you are right on that", she said, feeling the weight of the phaser and then the rifle. "Let's have at it. I could use the practice", she added, and walked to the area and waited.

Ami checked the power level on the rifle, set it to pulse mode and ensured the safety was on before tapping a few buttons on the side of the wall, "Hundred feet sound good?" She got a nod and finalized the setting, then stepped to the third lane in, waiting until Christine set herself into a lane of her own, then brought the rifle up and triggered a three round burst, then another and another, each set of rounds, none of them straying more than a half-centimeter from the dead center of the target. "These are almost too easy, but practice makes perfect." Nine more rounds went downrange from her in a span of heartbeats with the same results.

Christine checked the rifle, put it on pulse and brought it up and without much effort triggered a three round burst quickly, then the second and third. Each time the target was hit in the same place. "Agreed", and sent nine more rounds downrange in a half breath. "Shall we use the phasers now?", she said, smiling..

"That's what these are, ma'am!" Ami laughed, "I don't find the stream phaser setting to be of any particular usefulness in a combat setting, hence setting it to pulse. A hundred feet is really a pittance for these." She slung the rifle over her left shoulder and drew the pistol, holding it in the classic two-handed stance known as the Weaver Stance on Earth, then began to fire the pulse-phaser pistol using rapid fire rules, one shot per second. Metronome-precise, one every second screamed downrange one hundred feet, only continuing the demolition of the center of the holographic target.

Christine followed suit, only using one hand and, used the single shot method and followed each target as it screamed downrange, demolishing each one just as quickly as one was destroyed. "Even at one hundred, it doesn't take much, however...", she chuckled, " practice does make perfect", she added.

Ami nodded, "Which is why I fire about a hundred-fifty rounds a day of combined ammo. We never know what our weapons constraints may be, so it's good to keep in practice on both phaser and projectile weaponry. Hell, not like Nyx, she includes bows, throwing projectiles of all kinds. Perfectionist. So, ma'am, tell me something about yourself?"

Christine panicked! How...what...where would she begin. Six different hosts, and she knew that she couldn't discuss them so where should she start. "Ami...I don't exactly where to start. I am still new to this host thing and...", shaking her head. "It is so confusing!", she said, looking away to hide the forming tears.

"It's all right," Ami could help but laugh, not to embarrass Christine, but because she genuinely thought it funny in a morbid way, "And I don't necessarily mean tell me about Zen. It could be something about Christine, ma'am. I mean me, Ami, I was one of those brats who just couldn't stay still, always moving and just... Doing. Good with my hands and started off with the Scouts when I was eight years old, learned about the outdoors, even started with the martial arts when I was nine just to give myself something else to do in my spare time." She gestured towards Christine.

"Well I always wondered what it would be like to be joined. As I grew up I would watch those that had been joined and my parents had been pleased that I expressed the desire. So they sent me to the schools that prepared you for the joining. However I had a second passion. I loved to blow things up. I would play games where I would pretend that I was a demolitions expert and shape charges and blow up holes in the sides of hills thus allowing those trapped inside to escape", she said.

Ami chuckled, "Me? I never thought about it, my parents actually took me to be tested for compatability for Joining when all I really wanted to do was go play in a soccer game that afternoon, figured I was going to become a security officer for Starfleet, so why should I get tested?" She shook her head, "Unbeknownst to me, I'd been getting the education needed for the damned thing and my extra-curriculars counted for it as well. Don't know what I would have been like without it though."

I went through the Academy wanting to be a Marine and all I heard from my parents was that I would be joined soon. Well all this talk has spoiled the moment for me. I don't really feel like practicing. It still is a touchy area for me", she said sitting down, putting her face in her hands.

With a mental note, Ami nodded, "I'm sorry, ma'am, I really didn't mean to bring up any sore subjects."

"No, its ok Ami, I just had other ideas of what I wanted to become. Sure I wanted to be joined, but after I became the Marine I wanted to be. I dreamed of being a demolitons expert and then a crack sniper and to eventually become a Raider and Black Ops. However, when I was chosen to be joined...it basically went out the door", she said, putting her head in her hands trying to hide the tears of hurt. She was glad it was Ami and not the Major. To show weakness in front of a superior was bad juju.

"Nothing's impossible unless you make it so." Ami remarked, almost off-handedly, "But putting your own dreams on hold is one of the sacrifices we must make to be Joined. And don't get me wrong, the symbiont always chooses the host, not the Guardians, and each symbiont searches for something in particular. Rori is a military person, there's only been one stint after his second host where he wasn't in the military one way or another, so whenever his host dies, he seeks out someone who has the physical training and the desire and intent to either enlist or gain a commission in the TDF or Starfleet, whether shipboard or army or marine. He's been elite special forces for most of the last century, even served on the Presidential Guard a couple times. But basically, ma'am, they have a reason for choosing someone, a reason they sometimes don't even choose to tell us, their hosts."

"Maybe you are right but I can't imagine why Zen picked me of all hosts. While it is true I love animals, I never pursued the interest. I know that one of Zen"s hosts was a Marine, and maybe that is the reason he chose me because of my desire to be a Marine and pursue that interest. It is all so crazy and unbelievable, but here I am ready to serve", she said, looking at Ami.

"And you are here and ready to serve." Ami agreed, "And don't be discouraged if you don't improve extremely rapidly, ma'am, getting spun completely up takes time and actually can be harder for officers than NCOs. Don't take the Major as the 'officer example', because she started off as a PFC herself, straight from boot camp. Admittedly, she was good, really damned good, enough so to qualify or the Raiders when she was a wee sprite of nineteen years old, but she was also a medic which worked in her favor, and she really did have a head start. Her father was the CO of a training facility for the Marines and so she spent a good couple years working herself up to the standards to get in." Ami knew far more than that about Hailey, in fact, she was one of the very few who knew basically the whole story, but the Lieutenant didn't NEED to know the details. "But an officer is there to officer, which in these sorts of units means to work with your NCOs to plan and execute the mission, utilizing the best asset for the details of the job. So yes, it's very important to be a good shot, a great shot, to be able to hold your own in hand to hand and close combat techniques, but, ma'am, your job is to get to know the people who work for you." Ami almost smirked, "And to choose your level of dealing with them. Here's a hint: As you settle in, Hailey'll get less formal with you, especially as you start to prove yourself capable. Once that happens, she'll probably only use your rank if you're in trouble or if you're in front of Fleeties."

"You think so Ami? I hope so. I don't want to screw it up", she said getting up. Oh shoot, I am due for duty in half hour. Damn...", she said as she ran straight for the doors. "Ami thanks and we can continue this another time, yes?", she said and disappeared.

"Of... Course." Ami said to the now-vanished officer, then shook her head slowly as she raised her weapon and continued her target practice. The kid, and that was precisely what Ami thought of the Lieutenant, would learn soon enough. 'On duty' in this unit meant 'on call', which was basically the default status for each and every troop of the team. It was why the team was as good as they were, all the time to train in individual skills and team drills. Well, okay, sentry duties were there, but those were always held by the enlisted and NCOs It was one of the reasons Hailey had kept some 'potentials' that were more long shots than most. But aside from Yellow or Red Alerts, or one of the scheduled exercises, this unit was really rather freeform.

"Oh well." She murmured to herself, squeezing off another series of rounds, "She'll learn soon enough."

OFF:

1st Lieutenant Christine Zen
Marine Executive Officer
USS Wellington

Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori
Senior Marine NCO
USS Wellington