The Range

Posted on 05 May 2016 @ 4:02pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday & Ambassador Caymen Greener

861 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo, Deck 5, Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD7, 0700 hours

[ON]

Personal combat was never a good pairing with Caymen Greener. He was a decent Hapkido - ancient Earth martial art - practitioner, alongside Tai Chi for meditation. He also was fairly decent, although far from soldier-material, at ranged phaser fire. But, being back in the swing of things, perhaps a bit more practice would be a good thing.

The diplomat made his way down to the holodecks where he had seen that a non-private rifle range had been running. He did not bother to see who was in there, but instead went on in. He was wearing a workout jump suit as opposed to his ambassadorial robes. The older man entered and saw a face he'd not seen yet.

"Sorry to intrude," said Caymen eventually, in between runs. "Mind if I take a few?"

Holliday was far too focused on hitting his targets to be acknowledging of an extra body in the holodeck. So far his accuracy was about three percentile points lower than perhaps he would have liked - far too many holographic targets had sailed past him without feeling the wrath of his phaser.

"Computer freeze program!" He announced, waiting for the cursory bleep from the holodeck to confirm his command. Lowering his phaser and engaging the safety, he turned to see who exactly it was who had entered the room.

"Don't you know it's rude to intrude upon a holodeck in session Mr....?"

Greener froze and looked over. "Uh..." Catching the diplomat for a loss of words was a worthy feat. "It was not marked private and I thought a shooting range was conducive to multiple participants." There were the words.

"Oh, and Ambassador Caymen Greener, sir." He recognized the man, and respected the rank, on duty or not.

"Ambassador?" Holliday asked, part with a questioning tone, and part with a simple acknowledgement. He was aware that they were taking on new diplomatic staff, but in his experience most diplomats were happier with a PADD than a phaser.

"I didn't know Ambassadors were fond of weaponry, doesn't it make the whole galactic peace thing a little more complicated?"

"Words can only go so far, captain. We both know that." Caymen hefted a phaser rifle and took a spot on the firing platform. He fired a few shots, none of which hit close to the target.

Greener looked over with a half-goofy smile. "Been a while." He took aim again, focusing a bit, and fired another shot, hitting the target straight on.

"Besides, even if diplomacy does win out, it doesn't mean we aren't in constant danger where ever we go." Caymen was not a rifle fan in all honesty, but he remained as keen as he could just in case.

Jonathan nodded in approval at the final comment from the Ambassador, it was somewhat calming for him to know that even a man of peace understood when the sword was mightier, or indeed necessary, compared to the pen.

"You're dropping your shoulder before you fire Ambassador...the compression rifles have a habit of falling off target if they get loose." He replied, picking up his own weapon before continuing to take aim at the targets as the program reactivated around them.

"That said, I spent years trying to teach cadets that very same lesson, some of them just never learned...."

Caymen chortled. "Indeed." He fired at some of the targets again - he was glad this was a basic program, meaning they weren't in a full-on hunt or something similar. "Perhaps I should have taken your course."

The diplomat hit maybe 20% this time around, which was decent. "These pack a punch. Is this what first officers carry on away missions now?" Caymen was half-joking.

"I only wish it were." Holliday replied, not particularly happy to be once again reminded of his effective demotion from Commanding Officer back to Executive Officer. Not that the Ambassador would have been aware of such changes, given his limited amount of time spent serving aboard the ship.

"The last few missions this crew has been sent on...to put it mildly I've found myself reaching for the weapons locker far too often."

Caymen missed the tone in the captain's words as per the demotion. But he did pick up on the weapons comment. "That's a shame. Perhaps Celes and this A.I. doctor will be different, no?"

"Perhaps. I like to hope that with all those eggheads milling around...there won't be any time for me to need something like this." He referred to the phaser rifle in his hands with a sideways glance of his eyes, before safetying the holographic weapon and laying it back down on the table.

"I am due on duty in a few hours...if you will excuse me Ambassador? I can leave the range running if you would so prefer?"

Greener grinned and bowed his head slightly. "That would be most kind, captain." Greener watched as the man would leave, and then turn his gaze back to the targets, preparing for another volley and hoping for better percentages.


[OFF]

Ambassador Caymen Greener
Diplomat
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

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