Weapons practice

Posted on 30 Apr 2015 @ 8:45pm by

1,358 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo, Deck.. phaser range
Timeline: MD-1, 1600 hours

He'd been at it for about an hour now, and Wintrow was still not getting the hang of it. Holding a phaser, any phaser, was uncomfortable and it just didn't feel right. The teenager examined the weapon in his hands, growling in frustration as he fought with it, trying to release the energy cell to inspect it. "Argh!" he cried out in frustration, all but ready to throw the weapon away.

Abbey wearing a tight dark green and black tactical gym piece and her hair pulled up into a high pony tail inspected her phaser as she walked through the weapon range's door. Instantly hearing the tell tale signs of frustration "Wow now" She said holding her hands up mockingly. "You look like you're going to kill somebody" she teased.

Startled, Wintrow yelped and dropped the phaser. "M-me?" he stammered, "n-no ma'am." He straightened, making no move to pick up the dropped phaser even though it'd fallen right on his foot. The same foot he'd hurt not two days ago. "I just can't get that thing to work..."

Abbey couldnt help herself but giggle as she closed the space across the room and picked up his phaser "Have you considered it's not you but phaser? Perhaps its broken" she said simply.

Wintrow shook his head; no that was definitely not something he had considered. "I don't know how to fire a phaser," he confessed.

Puzzeled Abbey looked from the phaser to the young cadet extending her hand with the phaser in her grasp. "Come on I'll show you, my dad taught me a few things" She offered smiling.

"I haven't had any weapons training yet," Wintrow replied shyly, while keeping his eyes on the weapon, not on the young woman. "Not beyond how to fire weapons on the fighter I used to fly, or the shuttle... I've never even held a phaser before."

"Its really not that difficult and if you can fire a ships weapon system then this is a piece of sweet apple pie!" She said the end of her scentence running into a giddy laugh. "Lets starts with just turning the phaser on and its settings" Abbey pointed to the button which activated the weapon "Press that button there then the one adjacent to it to switch to stun."

Feeling awkward, Wintrow pressed the buttons indicated with his left hand, then switched the weapon over to that same hand. It felt weird, and cumbersome.

Watching Abbey approached and went to his left side "Like this" She said posing for him and then proceeded to take the stance that her father taught her. Despite the phaser not having any recoil you still needed to be reasonably good at aiming."

The teenager froze at her close proximity, stiffening visibly before giving her a small nod. He tried to copy her stance, turning his head to watch her. "Why is there no recoil?" he asked, feeling utterly stupid for not knowing this.

Abbey thought for a moment "I have no Idea actually I've never asked." She smiled "Now just aim down the sight following your arm as a good pre cursor and shoot"

Following her instructions, Wintrow gazed down the length of his left arm and pressed the trigger. His shot went far and wide because he lacked experience. "It doesn't feel right," he said again, "what am I doing wrong?"

"Give it time and relax" She said taking his elbow and straining it "And try to keep your arm straight." Abbey then stepped back and gave a nod "Try again this time breath in and hold before shooting.

This time, he actually flinched. "Please don't touch me," he pleaded, his arm shaking as he held his breath. His second shot came closer to the target, but still missed. "Why keep my arm straight?"

"Sorry" She said retreating quickly "I was just trying to help you get your posture right it's easier if I were to 'mold' you" Abbey said quoting something her father used to say.

"Mold?" Wintrow lowered the weapon and turned to face her. "Mold, how? Is my arm the only part you need to touch?" Obviously, the teenager was very particular about who touched him, and where.

"Well its how you aim, you need to lock your elbow out and keep it straight and true its all muscle memory and not everyone knows how to do it straight away" She defended herself only merely trying to help.

After a moment of consideration, the boy nodded. "Warn me when you need to touch...I don't respond well to it." He turned back and stretched his left arm out again, supporting his left hand with his right, and took careful aim, before firing.

"Clearly" Abbey muttered under her breath before turning to watch the fall of shot. Admittedly the beam passed through the furthest right hand corner of the target and for someone who claimed not to have ever used a phaser before he could at least hit the target. "Not bad" Abbey finally offered.

Wintrow blushed, clearly not used to compliments either. "Thank you, but it's still off...." He stared at the target, a look of determination on his face. "How do I hit the target? I think...I prefer to fire two-handed, feels steadier..."

"But they're also heavier and clumsy, smaller weapons can be hidden as well" She countered. "Relax whilst you're firing and try to steady your breathing further"

"I meant using a phaser with two hands ma'am, not use a bigger weapon." He drew in a deep breath as he focused on the target, holding his phaser with two hands, one hand supporting the other as he peered over the barrel of the weapon. His next shot was closer to the target, hitting just the edge of it.

"Awesome! You're already improving, better than when I first stated at least!" She smiled proudly though it was down to his own doing she still couldn't help but recongise how good he could become with a it of practice.

"I barely hit the target," the teenager protested feebly, "I'm not made for this....using weapons. Handweapons, I mean....it's useless."

Abbie scoffed "No one is made to use weapons they're wrong and the very thought of them mean to harm life but it's something with pratice you can be really good at"

"But what if I don't want to be good at it? What if I only want to know enough to be able to defend myself, or those I care about?" The answer came out fiercer than the youth intended, his dark eyes sparkling with an emotion that was not hard to identify.

"Sometimes the only way to defend yourself and others is to be good at it even if you dont want to be" She replied calmly.

"And how do I do that? Because I'm at home with a ship's gun's, or a fighter's...but these things..." Wintrow was ready to literally toss the hand weapon into the nearest wall. "I can't work with these, they're too unsteady."

She sighed "We'll they're not completely accurate they don't have a ship's auto targeting system and its pretty hard when the thing shooting back isn't through miles of space, shield and hull to protect you but you just need to have confidence all it takes is once shot to hit them anywhere on the body and the phaser will do the rest."

"I suppose that's true," the youth conceded, "set to stun and hit anywhere?"

She nodded as she crossed her arms "See you're getting it!" Abbey gave a smiled but backed of from her usual hug. "It'll take a bit of time ofcourse but you'll get better". She added.

"In time," Wintrow agreed, smiling back at her. "Thank you ma'am, I'll try to remember this."

She blushed "Oh please it's just Abbey I am no officer" he teased befre waving and making her way towards the door "It was nice to meet you!" She shouted as she left.

[OFF]

Crewman Abbey Wyatt
Scientist Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC Luke]

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC T'Vanna]

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