Target Practice

Posted on Thu Jan 7, 2021 @ 8:25pm by Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Lieutenant JG Sydney Friedman Jr & Petty Officer 1st Class Lydia Chepurina

4,883 words; about a 24 minute read

Mission: Archangel
Location: Cargo Bay Three
Timeline: Six Hours Following "Welcome Home"

ON:

AJ stood in the slightly chilly cargo bay clad in the mottled brown and gray digital camouflage fatigues with his jet black Starfleet turtleneck and spit shined tactical boots. The bay, which had been cleared of most of the cylindrical containers and crates that filled their counterparts had been converted into a training area. However, he had made some modifications to the standard layout by installing large launchers on various vantage points of the railings above and throughout the main floor. They also had installed several extra holo-emitters for some additional surprises. To his left, there were 15 Type III Tactical Phaser Rifles sitting on a rack that had been brought over from the SRU's bay.

Satisfied with his handiwork, he leaned against the bulkhead and waited for the group he had summoned to the bay.

In the hour leading up to the scheduled practice session, Lydia had been lifting weights in the gym with a mixed group of SRU and Marines. Both teams had been giving her a good natured ribbing for almost blinding and deafening her superior officer with a flashbang in a Jefferies Tube, a mask over their respect for the creativity of the move which saved his life and possibly the mission.

Dressed in her fatigues, and still sweaty from the workout, the tiny blonde woman entered the cargo bay and stood at attention before her superior officer.

AJ snapped off a sharp salute. "Stand easy, Petty Officer" he said quickly. "Like what I've done with the place?" he asked playfully. He wasn't going to play games of rank with this one- she had proven herself more than once when it counted and deserved his unwavering respect.

She relaxed, smiled at his tone, and looked around at the training course he had set up. “Yes, sir. Reminds me of some of the assault courses on Io, or Vega Colony. Are those—?”

AJ pointed at the mounted launches before he was interrupted by, “Oh good, I’m not late!”

Camille was next to enter, and she had been concerned she would be tardy...again. Very often she got lost in her studies, but Nicole had helped her develop an alarm with a pitch that could break her from her reveries. “Good afternoon, AJ.”

AJ nodded. "Doctor Levesque, good to see you here." he said, nodding slightly. "How are your marksmanship scores?" he inquired, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Camille took off her lab coat and found a spot on the wall for it. She smirked at AJ and pushed her glasses up her nose. “Not bad. Certainly not as bad as you’d think for someone who wears blue and has terrible astigmatism.” She nodded to the shorter enlisted woman. “Salut. I’m Camille Lévesque. Chief Science Officer.”

Lydia returned the nod. “Zdravstvujtye. Petty Officer Lydia Artemievna Chepurina. I work for him.” She gestured to AJ, but then kept looking around at the cargo bay layout.

The doors opened again and Penny walked in, gripping another woman by the arm. "C'mon, I'm telling you, this is going to be easy peasy lemon squeezy," she said. "AJ is awesome and he's going to make this fun. Or at least interesting. But it won't be too bad, unless it is, in which case you'll be fine just duck and dodge until you get past everything he throws at you and--"

"Beep beep, Penelope," Camille said, grinning. "Bonjour Sydney."

Sydney nodded to the others in the room. "Hello," she said, smiling. "I've met some of you already." She nodded at AJ and Camille. "I don't think I've met you?" She looked towards Lydia.

"I've not felt compelled to come to your office, Counselor," Lydia replied. "Petty Officer Chepurina. SRU. Sir, when do we begin?" She looked back to AJ, eager to begin.

AJ thought for a brief moment. "Take it easy for now and mingle with the crew- we'll get started in 5 minutes."

The doors opened again and Maggie walked in, looking a bit sheepish. "Afternoon," she said. "Doctor Anderson said I had to 'learn to shoot something' for her."

AJ allowed a slight smirk to cross his face. Nicole's signature cheek was on display here and it warmed his heart slightly that she was sending her people to him to learn his craft. "Well you came to the right place- stand by and we'll get started shortly." he said quickly.

King came in last. He had to secure his lab. The hirsute semi quadruped came in on all fours. He had an arms case on his back. He remained on all fours on a regular basis. In his culture, standing up on two legs was a sign of aggression. His kind fought on two legs. He didn't view it as aggression seeing other species for them walking on two legs, he did it because of his culture. His culture had evolved from something genetically similar to an Earth bear. He brought the case over to AJ for inspection. The trigger was different, designed to last longer against King's claws.

Giving Ardal a respectful nod, AJ examined the case as he hefted the rifle, noticing it was heavier than the standard Type III Phaser Rifle and examined the trigger well. Placing the rifle gingerly back into the case, he addressed Ardal, placing his hands palms out in a traditional greeting. "You can stand on two legs here, Mister King. Trust me when I say that no one here is planning on tangling with you on a good day. Also, let me say that you did a good job modifying that rifle- is that reinforced tritanium on the barrel and trigger assemblies?"

Responding simply, "I wasn't the only one working on the design. A few armory officers helped. They got tired of repairing rifles when a claw slipped. You know they get a little anal about a scratch." He pushed off with his hands and had to reorient him, years of training and experience it didn't take much. He was suddenly taller than everyone else and seemed bigger. "Thank you for understanding the culture I grew up in." Many, especially the arkoudophobes just thought it was weird he was on all fours.

"Are you following any of this?" Maggie whispered to Sydney.

"A bit," Sydney said. "It's all about context clues."

Stepping away from the massive form of Lieutenant King, AJ took a small rubbery orb that was filled with some sort of cobalt tinged viscous liquid and stood front and center inside of a blue diamond painted on the deck, his arms clasped behind his back. He motioned to Chepurina to stand in the other empty outline and handed her a small tricorder reconfigured as a launcher controller.

Lydia took the tricorder and configured the system as she had been previously instructed.

"Alright, everyone take a rifle and safety glasses stand on the red line!"

After a brief moment, AJ spoke up again. "Welcome to Marksmanship Qualification either at my invitation or by that of your department heads in light of recent events. We have determined that in the event of a tactical incident, all personnel need to be ready and able to defend themselves against a threat at an intermediate to long range. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time so we're going to move fast and we'll take as long as we need to until everyone in this room passes with a score of 'Excellent'. Do I make myself clear?" He asked.

"Aye, Sir," Maggie said, straightening a bit.

"Aye, sir," Camille said as well, adjusting her over-sized safety glasses over her regular ones.

Continuing, he motioned with his free hand to the launches mounted on the railings. "You'll notice that there are launchers above you- throughout the exercise, they will be firing-" AJ held the outstretched orb in his hand. "-these. The balloon I hold in my hand contains the venom of a Retepsian Pit Viper. For those of you unaware, that venom stings like hell before it numbs your extremities. On top of that, it's a pain in the ass to get out of fabric, so I strongly suggest you don't get hit!"

"The feck?!?" Maggie said, shocked. "Poison bombs? Are you fecking serious?"

King answered, "And they suck." He hated them.

"Ooh!" Camille had never studied Retepsian Pit Vipers, or their venom, up close. She didn't even know that the SRU had a stockpile of the chemical in their manifest. What other toys are you hiding? she wondered.

Nodding to another SRU crewman with a phaser pistol in hand, AJ tossed the balloon into the air as the crewman brought his weapon up and fired a single phaser burst, causing the balloon to explode less than a second later in a spectacular flash of blue light and fog.

Maggie gulped and stepped back.

AJ pointed at Ensign Cromwell, noticing that she had recoiled. "You're first. Step up to the circle and bring that rifle up!" he ordered. Nodding to Chepurina, he waited for the first orbs to fly. He had, of course, neglected to tell the group that only some of the balloons were filled with the venom he had described. The others were simply filled with a particularly gummy blue dye that stuck to everything it touched.

At Lydia's command, indicator lights on the launchers began to flash. The first launch would be imminent. She kept her eyes on the tricorder and on the shooter; she had manual control after all and could make things...unexpected.

Maggie stepped into the circle and gripped her rifle. Academy training wasn't that long ago, but she wasn't exactly a sharpshooter. She brought her rifle up and set it on her shoulder, looking through the sight. "Okay..." she said, trying to sound confident. “Ready."

The first orb sailed at her. She tracked it and fired, sending the orb into a blue fog of oblivion. "I got it!" she said, amazed, then screamed as one flew straight at her. She tried to dodge but it hit her shoulder, turning her left side into modern art. She was hit a second time as she recovered from the shock of the first one, and finally got her rifle back up and fired twice more, missing one target and hitting another.

When AJ finally called a stop to it, Maggie's golden curls were now blue, her face was blue, her uniform was completely blue, and all-in-all she looked like a short, angry, green-eyed, Irish smurf.

"Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn, " Maggie muttered as she walked back to the red line.

Penny snickered and would've high-fived Maggie, but didn't want the blue goo on her as well.

Smirking all the while. AJ stepped to Maggie's right side and giving her foot a slight nudge with his own in order to force her to widen her stance. "Ensign, a Tactical Officer you are not but we'll get you there. You're letting your guard down too easily and it's causing you to bring that rifle down. Remember- 'the coast is never clear until we say it is.' Now bring your left foot back and bend your knees, it'll help your accuracy. Watch."

AJ took a rifle from table and brought it up. "Two rounds. Pull!" hearing the slight thump of the launchers, he brought his foot back into a firing stance and brought his rifle up, firing two carefully placed shots into the balloons as they sailed through the air, catching one at the height of its arc and the other almost as it hit him. Looking back to the Ensign, he straightened up. "I didn't give you permission to stop participating in this training evolution, Ensign."

Maggie straightened as well and walked back to the circle. She moved her feet like he said, and stiffened her lip and raised her rifle. "Ready."

"You can do it, Maggie!" Penny shouted for support.

Maggie hit the first shot again, and the second, missed the third but hit the fourth, then swung around and almost hit the fifth. She was still the bluebird of happiness, but she was more focused. Until the itching started, then the pin pricks in her neck. "Aw, feck," she said, rubbing at her skin.

AJ waited a moment as he saw the pain become more intense. "Corpsman!" he yelled out. A uniformed SRU Team member with a small red cross on his sleeve ran over with a medical kit and pulled out a hypospray, inserting a small vial of purple liquid and pressing it to Maggie's neck.

Continuing to wait, he watched Maggie feel the antidote pulsing through her veins, with Crewman Bell keeping a watchful eye on her, medical tricorder in hand and active.

Maggie slowly relaxed as the pain stopped and looked at AJ, wanting to bolt. "I'm done," she said.

AJ stood firm. "You don't have the luxury of quitting. Doctor Anderson sent you here and you will carry out this evolution to completion." He said, the authority present in his voice. "If you choose to quit after a little bit of pain, I hate to tell you but combat isn't much different." AJ was unfazed at this point- there was always one quitter in the group.

"No, I said I'm done," Maggie said. "I'll go back to Sickbay. At least in Sickbay we're only abused verbally," she groused, trying to wipe the goo off of her.

"Ensign, let's not be hasty," Sydney said, stepping forward and holding up a hand. "You did great back there. Take a breath and appreciate that." She looked at AJ. "Lieutenant, perhaps Ensign Cromwell needs a moment to reassess and digest her previous attempts. Maybe someone," and I'm already regretting saying this, her mind filled in, "could step in next and take a turn?"

Looking at Maggie, Ardal said, "If it will make you feel better, I will ride something called a tricycle." It always seemed to make humans laugh. He was trying to make Maggie feel better.

Maggie wasn't in a mood, or rather, was in a mood, and didn't smile. It was all she could do to keep her lower lip from quivering. "No thank you," she said.

Camille felt bad for Maggie's situation. Dirty and in agony, she could feel for the poor soul who, on another starship, might not need this. But the Victory was different, and the chances of a deadly boarding party barging into sickbay, or the chances of being on a planet defending a position where there were wounded, were higher than normal. She didn't like seeing her friend in pain, but better that than dead because she didn't know how to defend herself.

Conversely, Lydia didn't feel the least bit bad about it, and readied the launchers for their next target.

AJ took Maggie's rifle from her and powered it down, slinging it over his shoulder. "Friedman, right?" he said, looking Sydney over for a moment. "You're up," he said curtly.

Thankful to be out of the spotlight, Maggie gave Sydney a grateful glance, her eyes tearing up and walked back to the line, trying to sob silently, her face red as a tomato.

Sydney swallowed her trepidation and stepped into the circle. She moved her feet apart a bit, lifted her rifle and looked at AJ. "Is this the right stance?" she said.

"Spread your feet by another two or three inches." he said, repeating the procedure of tapping Friedman's boot to force her to reposition her feed. "Much better." he nodded at the Lydia again and stepped back.

Sydney nodded and looked around at Chepurina, watching her carefully.

The petite SRU member was surprised by how much she was enjoying this training exercise. How often does one get to shoot blue dye and poison at colleagues? She grinned, then focused on her tricorder as she activated the program, causing the first orb to be launched.

Answering the question, "I was blue for Halloween. That dye was incredibly difficult to get out of my fur." King had been Grumpy bear for Halloween.

Sydney raised her rifle and fired, only taking glances, then looking back at Chepurina each time. She hit the first three, reading Chepurina's body language and anticipating the throw, but the other woman must have picked up on the trick and faked her out on the fourth throw, and Sydney missed, getting a friendly shot of blue across her bow.

"That is....very unpleasant," she said, looking down at herself.

"You won't always be able to see the person firing at you, Lieutenant," Lydia said smugly, her eyes still on the launcher controls. "And looking away from your targets is inadvisable. “She quickly entered a command to launch three more in rapid succession.

Sydney quickly pulled her rifle up and shot three times. Two hit, one missed and she dove to the floor, rolling out of the way, a blue trail behind her.

AJ nodded approvingly. Sydney obviously had some combat training or at the least, had the good sense to duck out of the way. Even though it was outside of the parameters of the exercise, we was impressed. Making a mental note to read Dr. Friedman's personnel file when he had a moment, he motioned for Chepurina to halt. "Very good. That might be one of the better performances today." he said, turning to the other assembled personnel. "Any other takers?" he asked. "It looks like the good Counselor is the one to beat today!"

Penny raised and waved her hand.

AJ motioned for her to step into the circle. "Step up, Lieutenant. I take it you know how to use one of these?" he asked.

Penny looked her rifle over, carefully inspecting it. "Pointy end faces away from me," she concluded. She stepped up to the circle and put her feet apart just as Doctor Friedman had. She looked at Cheuprina and nodded ready, then looked up along her rifle.

Lydia didn't have much experience with the helmswoman, but she had heard that she was more skilled than her demeanor led on. Part of her was tempted to be extra tough on this one, but her orders weren't to calibrate based on previously-established skill. These tests should be about as difficult for everyone.

Two shots came out fast and Penny did the calculations, firing where they'd travel, not where they were, and both exploded in the air. Two more came and she took them out as well, then three more. She turned and grinned and jumped a bit. "I got 'em!" then stumbled as one landed square on the back of her head. "Oops...."

Grinning, his teeth showing King said, "Good job, Barbie." He didn't know the Earth history of that phrase, just had heard it used before. He clapped his hands.

Penny tilted her head, checking the reference, then said, "Thanks, Tenderheart," and turned back to AJ. "How'd I do?"

AJ nodded slightly, cocking his head to the side. "Not bad, Lieutenant Naroot. Not bad at all- just remember not to celebrate too early- that's how you got tagged in the head." he said.

He looked at his fur, "I studied this for giggles at the Academy." King spoke, "I'm a little darker, but I'm good with it."

Camille bit her lip to keep herself from laughing, though the corners of her lips betrayed her. She understood the seriousness of course. Had that been a real firefight, Penny -- despite her resilience -- would be quite dead. But it looked like she proved she was good with the weapon.

"I'd like to be next, please," she asked, lifting her hand.

AJ motioned. "Proceed, Lieutenant."

The science officer adjusted both her prescription glasses and the safety glasses before stepping into the circle. She examined her rifle, found the trigger, sight lines, power settings, and...

She stepped out of the circle and showed the rifle to AJ. "Pardon, but these new rifles have different power configurations than on the ones I learned on. I want to make sure I understand it before I take any shots." This rifle was more complicated than anything she'd seen before.

Laughing, "The target is up there. The fur on my le cul just grew back after the last Mission." King wasn't happy about getting shot in the ass on the last Mission, but he would make jokes after the fact. His boss spoke enough French in the lab, he was picking it up. He saw the look and pointed to his but, "le cul." He pointed to his chest, "l' âne." He was talking shit, but this was a proud moment of cultural exchange.

Camille stuck her tongue out at her colleague. "You just wait until I learn to swear in al'Hmatti, Ardal." She grinned and turned back to AJ. "I'm more concerned about stun versus kill. Something Ardal should want me to get right as well."

AJ stepped to Camille's side and grasped the rifle, ensuring that it was pointed towards the deck. "Alright, what we want to do is press this button on the left to set the weapon to stun." With his free hand, he pressed a small button just below the scope and watched as the light above it pulsed blue. Pressing the one slightly to the left, he watched it pulse red then back to blue. "If you press the button on the right, it will set the weapon to a higher setting. Now, because these rifles are in training mode, the most you'll get is the wind knocked out of you. As a rule of thumb, just remember 'Blue is Well to Do' and 'Red means you’re Dead' “he said, reciting the mnemonic from Recruit Training.

Maggie's arms were folded, shoulders hunched, and despite the hypo, feeling her skin crawl. She didn't know how much longer this was going to take, but she was beginning to resent everyone else's coaching. She resented going first, and she resented the jerk in charge. He hadn't made much of an impression on her when they met, and he definitely wasn't helping things now. Still, she kept her feet rooted to the ground. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of stepping out until the others did.

AJ noticed Maggie out of the corner of his eye, the paint still staining her skin and her eyes narrowed but paid her no heed. It had been her decision to quit and he wasn't going to gratify her behavior with recognition, not when there were others willing to do what was needed to further their own training.

Camille quickly checked the settings for herself, switching between blue and red, and the different levels on both. Satisfied that she understood the device, she got herself into a ready pose and nodded.

Lydia activated the launchers. She had to admit her respect for the scientist had gone up at least a little bit. If you don't understand your kit, you could make fatal mistakes. Still, respect just meant she would be tougher.

The first two balloons fired out in quick succession. Camille hit one, but had to dodge the other. It smeared harmlessly on the deck beside her. The next one came alone, but was followed by two fired almost simultaneously. She got the first and the second, but she couldn't get out of the way of the third quickly enough. It clipped her hand and forearm, dosing her with the venom. "Tabernack! " she yelled, dropping the rifle. She crouched behind a crate to avoid another volley. The pain caused her grit her teeth. A strange growl sound came out as she tried to force the pain to the back of her mind.

King looked over hearing the growling grunt of a noise and it sounded very similar to a phrase his people used.

AJ whistled at this. This was the first time he had seen someone move fast enough for one of the balloons to miss. He'd have to reconfigure them for a faster target tracking time after the session today. Motioning to Corpsman Bell, he watched the man run over and offer his hypospray to Camille. As the Corpsman moved Camille out of the circle, he pointed to Ardal and motioned him forward.

"Merci, " Camille said through gritted teeth as the pain subsided. At the beginning of this, she had been curious about what the venom felt like. That sensation now known and scientific curiosity sated, she was ready for it to end.

"Your turn before we take a break, Mr. King!" AJ said, anxious to see how Ardal did, especially with his modified rifle.

The case was unlocked and he was checking the rifle. He was the one who put it away, but he still checked it. He got into position. The rifle was heavier than the Starfleet issue, but it supported things that reduced his claws from tearing it up. Stepping forward, "Play time, Sir." He had a grin on his face.

AJ simply nodded. It was always the cocky ones that had something happen to them after they either didn't pay attention or let their guard down. He gave Lydia a simple nod and watched as the balloons went flying.

As soon as the targets were released, he was moving. He was doing math in his head, identifying the movement patterns of each one. He was moving himself to put himself in position. First target hit. This was a math puzzle for him. He went up onto a crate to get the second target and took two shots, but it went down. He was using all the available time allotted. He was never a do it quick and redo it, he was a get it done cleanly. He jumped off the crate at the venom balloon, and ate it. He shot the last target. His stomach made a weird noise. It didn't like what it ingested.

Giving a small sigh, AJ pointed at both Corpsmen and motioned them over. "You know, that's the first time I've ever seen someone eat the targets, which is totally outside of the parameters I set for this evolution. I'll have the Corpsmen get you to Sickbay- you're going to need that stuff removed from your stomach since I'm not sure what it does when you ingest it. I'll also see you back here later this week for our next run-through." Turning to the others, he spoke up. "Alright, everyone. That's it for today! Not a bad job considering only one of you actually passed. Friedman-" he said, pointing to the Counselor. "You're free to go." Looking back to the rest of the group. "The rest of you, grab a mop. We're not leaving until this cargo bay is spotless!"

Sydney lit up but tried to reign it in, not wanting the others to feel worse. "Thank you, Lieutenant!" she said, the brightness in her voice betraying her happiness to the others. She walked out quickly to go get a shower, elated to have done well.

King belched and the echo was epic in this round. What was worse was he could taste it and smell it. "I think I'm better." He got a look on his face, "Eww. I can taste it again."

"I think I might be sick," Maggie said as she grabbed a mop, her skin starting to match her eyes.

Camille stifled a laugh at Ardal's reaction. She had done pretty well for herself, but she needed more work and that was okay. The consequences were okay too. "Follow Lieutenant Taggart's orders, Mr. King. If you're fully better, Dr. Anderson will let you come back." She picked up some cleaning supplies and set out to work on a patch of blue dye.

"Penny, there's an empty sample vial in my lab coat," she continued, pointing at the blue coat on the wall. "Do you mind collecting me some of that venom while you're cleaning? Please?"

"Roger that," Penny said, skipping over to the coat, fetching the vial and taking a moment to scrape some off of Maggie's cheek. "Got it," she said, sealing the vial and putting it back in the lab coat before grabbing some scrub brushes and hitting the walls.

Nodding, King answered, "Yes, Ma'am. Yes, Sir." He started walking towards the doors, "Levesque, please be careful with the barking noises when you hurt yourself. It sounded like a newborn cub barking very, very adult ideas. I thank you for the invitation, but I will decline. I'm going to Sickbay." He left it at that and went to Sickbay.

The science chief froze in place and her skin blanched at the thought of what she might've accidentally said in Ardal's language. Once he left though, a smile grew on her face and she began to laugh. "Oops."

AJ stood at the periphery with a mop in hand as he swabbed a portion of the deck. Oddly enough, this hadn't been as bad of a day as he had predicted. Almost everyone had outperformed his standard and with a few more practice sessions, he was confident that everyone would become an expert shooter.

: OFF

 

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