Pull !!

Posted on Thu Oct 12th, 2023 @ 8:27pm by Cadet Senior Grade Naltar Jerane & Cadet Freshman Grade Milashynn "Mila"

1,896 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: 1 - Cruising through the galaxy
Location: Holodeck 2, Deck 6, USS Stardancer
Timeline: MD04 - 2205 Hrs

While they day had been long and a number of relays had been replaced, Naltar found himself needing to relax and as such had scheduled himself for some holodeck time. He had a program he'd brought along from home, for shooting sporting clays, as it was called hundreds of years ago, that he decided an hours of would help him to relax and go to sleep before another long day tomorrow. He'd already showered and changed, wearing a simple sort of track suit, dark grey pants and jacket. Upon reaching the door he entered his access code and a response came back on the screen Holodeck in Use. He was a confused considering he was a few minutes late and it hadn't been cleared yet. Pressing the button to open the doors he took a step inside taking note that a program was indeed still running.

Naltar walked into the dark scene of an older style cargo cruiser. A figure jumped off of a high ledge wielding a sword, surprising two Orion pirates. It was Mila, in a tight black t-shirt and fitted black BDU's and combat boots, her black hair pulled back into a tight braid. She had more than one knife and various other weapons strapped to holsters on her thighs and waist. She push kicked the larger male near his pelvis, knocking him backward, and using her momentum, and spun around driving her blade into the female's side.

It was then that she noticed Naltar standing in the arch. "Computer end program," she said quickly. The sword remained in her hand, and she holstered it in a sheath she wore on her waistband. "Sorry about that," she said brushing a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Am I over? I'll get out of your way." She walked toward the arch where Naltar was standing so that she could exit the holodeck.

He realized that he wasn't the only one needing to blow off some steam and held up a hand. "It looks like you have been working on your close quarters combat, an interesting choice for a program. Perhaps you would consider some ranged engagement and target tracking?" He walked over to the selected the program he'd loaded previously. A moment later everything changed around them to that of a marked firing line, some chairs, a grassy field beyond, and clay pigeon launchers in various locations around. To the side of the line was a rack of phaser shotguns to the side with a variety of styles. "Care to do some shooting?"

Naltar walked over and selected a style many considered to be obsolete long ago due to modern technology, a style double barrel over\under style shotgun.

"Um sure," she said following him to the old style phasers. She recognized the firearms, but not the program at all. "What kind of shooting exercise is this?" she asked.

"Sporting clays" he replied. "One of the launchers at random throws out a disc. You work to lead ahead of it and shoot accordingly to destroy it, and you score a point. Highest points wins. There are several styles there, some people prefer phasers that have to be recharged every shot, some want to have a preset amount of charges loaded, some want different phase levels of energy selected. For example on my upper barrel I prefer a more widespread choke with smaller energy shot, to give me more beads to potentially hit the pigeon. Where as my lower barrel is set to have a tighter pattern choke and larger beads, giving me less overall that are shot when fired." He picked up a couple of power packs and then cracked open his weapon to make sure it was clear. "Do you have any preference for style or comfort?"

"Since I have never done this before, I'm going to have to say, no," Mila responded, listening to his explanation carefully and looking at the shotgun selection. "I suppose I just pick one and go for it?"

Naltar took a look at what else was on the rack and eyed the one he felt would be the easiest for her to begin with "How about something simple, you charge it once, it has 2 shots and all you have to do is pull the trigger for each shot." Picking up the dark pearl shotgun he then checked to make sure it was discharged and on safe before handing it over to the Orion.

"Ok, nice," Mila rid herself of some of the extra weapons' holsters she was wearing, and then took a hold of the phaser rifle and examined it, feeling the weight of it, and appreciating the finish. "Interesting look they gave these old phasers," she commented. "How did you get into this hobby? These are old Earth weapons, right?" she asked.

He gave a nod "They are. Growing up on earth in Washington state there was a lot to do outdoors and not many other people around. Some old traditions are still quite prevalent, such as shooting for sport. These discs we are shooting at are supposed to simulate fowl, however I never was really a hunter myself. I more enjoyed the practice and challenges such as we have here. Instead of a single beam or energy blast, the shotgun here shoots a series of tinier energy balls to create a sort of spread which you can control to be tighter or wider, which also does effect the range of it. The goal is to lead your target and shoot to time the hits."

Walking up to the line, Naltar then pulled a power cell from his belt and loaded a charge into his gun. He place the stock to his shoulder and scanned out before beginning to raise up the barrel before calling out "Pull !!"

A moment later one of the pigeons came in flying from overhead. While the Cardassian had been scanning out more in a horizonal fashion, the one from above didn't catch him of guard and he easily tracked in front and fired, turning the disc into dust. As soon as he fired however, the second disc was released, quickly zipping across from his left to the right. He quickly attempted to track ahead of it before it got too far out and fired, but this time shot just behind the disc and it floated away untouched.

Bringing the shotgun from his shoulder he placed it back onto safe. "That is what sporting clays are" he said. "The computer will randomly decide which position to throw the disc from so we have to scan all around ahead of us."

"Ok, cool," Mila said lifting up the phaser shotgun and looking through the sites. "So what difficulty level is this program set to?" she asked.

"I believe it's set to 3 at the moment, if you like we can drop it down to 1 and give you an opportunity to get a feel for it." Walking over to a small console, he changed up the level and set a pair to drift out from either side as a first set when she was ready to make her call out.

"What was that you said?" Mila asked, laughing nervously, as she aimed her phaser shotgun. "Pull?"

The clay disks drifted out from the machine, and Mila turned and hit one cleanly turning watching the satisfying dust explosion for a little too long before she turned to the next one. It was drifting slowly though, so she took her second shot. It looked like she got close, the disk bobbled a little, but remained intact. Mila giggled. "I feel like I should be better at this."

"Well you hit the first one" he replied. "Better than I did my first time. This requires one to combine both speed and tracking, so if we let one of the discs float a bit too far away, it can then become out of range. It's part of the reason I use two different chokes."

Naltar called out "Pull !" and a moment later turned both discs into fine powder. "So there are a few more nuances to this sport than one would initially think, but since you ran the set once before, why don't you go a 2nd time? I'll bet you take the next pair no problem." One thing he knew as well was that a little encouragement also went a long way.

Mila took a deep breath, and positioned her feet. She narrowed her eyes ready to focus on the floating disks. "I won't let them get away, Captain! Pull!" Mila didn't hesitate this time, she shot as soon as she caught sight of the first disk, and moved quickly to the second, hitting them both this time.

She let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "Okay, so I can imagine what the harder levels must feel like. I can't believe my heart rate shot up like that over little pieces of clay." She smiled at Naltar. "Don't hold back on my account."

"Well done!" He then decided to randomize the next two sets she would call out but kept it at level 1. He was confident she could track the additional angles and would enjoy it even more. "It is quite a thrill to track and hit your targets especially when they move quite like that. Call when ready."

"Isn't it your turn now?" Mila asked. "I'm kinda crashing your program. You should go," she said, her face flushing slightly.

"I'll tell you what. Take a couple more rounds and then if you like we can alternate or if you have other business to take care of you are of course free to head out at your leisure. This can be a rather addicting past time." He grinned, appreciating her consideration but also at seeing her enjoyment in sharing the experience.

"Okay, if you're sure." Mila turned around to face the range, then took a look back at Naltar again before facing forward, taking her stance and calling out, "Pull!"

This time the first clay disc came from the opposite side as the others, Mila wanted to laugh at not being prepared, but she held it together and fired the first shot, hitting the pigeon. The second one went up more vertical than the others, an easier shot. She took it out quickly. Again she realized she had been holding her breath the entire time.

"Huh, that wasn't so bad," she commented. "Of course we are still on level one, so I'm not going to go brag or anything."

"Baby steps" he replied. "I started at the beginning too. After this next set if you feel you need a bit more of a challenge, I'm sure I can make sure we're both accommodated with trickier shots. We could even cover different zones and shoot together once you get warmed up. And next time don't hold your breath, just relax. It'll come easier as time goes on." Naltar quickly scrolled through a few different program sets to check for something that would work for both of them. "When you're ready."

"Yeah, sure. Let's do it," Mila said. "You call the shots."

Naltar joined her on the field, and she listened for him to call the magic word that would send the clay disks flying into the air, watching for her targets.

 

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