Graduation (part 2)
Posted on Wed Jul 8th, 2015 @ 2:17pm by 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Captain Cameron Bourne
Edited on on Wed Jul 8th, 2015 @ 2:20pm
956 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission: Deadly Diplomacy
[CONTINUED]
[OLD]
"Okay, how about dinner. Steak. NOT replicated."
"Wait, you want a real steak? Out here? That's going to use up a lot of favours" Cam said, thinking it through, "alright, done, but if you loose, I want a bottle of scotch, the proper stuff, Irish, 2100's"
Kara was pretty sure Apu could get one, but she had no idea what the cost would be. "Done." She gave him a quick kiss to seal the deal. "Okay, to the armory and then we'll see how good you really are."
[NEW]
"Oh you are so on"
[Armoury]
Entering the armoury, Cam looked around at all of these modern weapons, so perfectly crafted and replicated. Turning to Kara, Cam smiled, "so, which one?"
Kara went to the back and pulled her rifle off a lower compartment. Unlike some of the other weapons her looked used but well-cared-for. She checked it over and nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."
Putting his rifle case up onto the weapon bench, Cam opened it and pulled out his TR-116, "here's my baby, it's getting hard to find the old ammunition for this"
"Ask Apu, the ship's Quartermaster," Kara said. "He can find almost anything, for a price." She quickly readied her rifle and grabbed extra ammo. "I'm ready."
"Alright, let's go. So, longest shot wins?" Cam said with a playful smile
"Longest? Not fair. You do better at long ranges than I do," Kara teased. "How 'bout longest shot, best grouping on the three distances, and most shots in the center of the target? Best three out of five wins."
"Let's simplify things, three targets at three distances. 200m, 500m, 1km. Best overall score wins"
Kara nodded. "Simple it is." The two made their way to the holodeck and Kara entered the program for the shooting range.
Waiting for the program to finish rendering, Cam looked around for wind indicators, "this'll be fun. Let's see how rusty I am"
"You? I doubt it." Kara wasn't so sure she could actually beat him, but she was definitely going to enjoy trying. She checked the position of the targets, the windsock, the lighting. "Do you want to go first?" she asked.
"I'll give that honour to you Lieutenant" Cam said, running a last minute check on his rifle before loading it
Kara nodded. She checked the wind again and adjusted her scope accordingly, then aimed at the 200 meter target, carefully squeezing off five shots. The five shots made a nice little cluster in the center of the target.
Next came the 500 meter. Again, all five were in the bullseye, though not as tightly grouped as she would have liked.
At the 1 km target she had four in the black and one just outside.
"Okay, your turn," she said, stepping back to let Cam take his turn.
Stepping up in line with Kara, Cam placed his rifle but against his shoulder, took a couple of slow deep breaths and than began replicating Kara's shots on the first two targets. However, when he got to the 1km target, his shots were all over the place with two missing the target completely and three in a cluster towards the top of the target.
"Oh bugger, and I was going so well too" he said, trying his best to hide the fact that he'd deliberately fudged the last target
It was so unlike Cam to miss that badly that Kara stared at him for a long moment. "How about two out of three?" she asked. It was partly because she knew he was better than that and partly because she enjoyed shooting.
"You sure? You've won, we go for two out of three your risking your steak"
"What do they say, no guts, no glory?" she said, grinning. "Sure. I'm up for it. This time, you go first."
Cam smiled, Trying to play off my ego huh, low blow He thought to himself, before reloading his rifle.
This time, after replicating his shots on the first two targets, Cam stopped and sighed, "are you sure about this? I don't want to embarrass you"
"Of course I'm sure. I want to see how good you are," she assured him.
Giving another sigh, Cam nodded before turning back towards the target. Leveling his rifle, he took two slow breaths and after the exhale of his second breath, he gently squeezed the trigger, firing a round dead centre of the target.
He did this for the next two rounds as well, two breaths than fire, two breaths than fire. In the end, all three were in the middle of the bullseye in a tight grouping.
"Very nice," she said, impressed. It was a tough act to follow, but she was going to try. She lined up her first shot and took a slow, deep breath as she squeezed the trigger. She matched Cam with tight clusters in the center of the bullseye for her first two targets. The 1 km was her toughest challenge. This time, she managed to get all her shots in the bullseye, but the grouping wasn't as tight as Cam's.
"You won that round," she said, enjoying the competition more than where she placed. "Last round. How do you want to do this one?"
"How about we call it a draw?" Cam said, staring to feel uncomfortable as bad memories started to surface, "I'll get you that stake, you get me the alcohol and we have a nice dinner"
It wasn't hard to read his mood and she quickly nodded. "Deal," she said, sealing it with a kiss. "I think a trip to the Quartermaster can get us what we both need."
____
OFF
Captain Cameron Bourne
Marine CO
2nd Lieutenant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader
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