Target Practice

Posted on Wed Aug 10th, 2022 @ 1:47pm by Captain Samuel Woolheater

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: DECK 31 - HOLODECK 10
1446 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

USS ELYSIUM - DECK THIRTY-ONE - HOLODECK TEN - 00:30 hours

Already on the holodeck, Sam was dressed in camo gear with his TR-116 rifle. He was there with the the 4th Platoon CO for some target practice. Sam made small talk while they waited for their spotters. Sam had brought about one hundred tritanium bullet rounds and his rifle. The others had done the same. Woolheater was checking the rifle over when two spotters came through the holodeck doors. "Well, well, well..." Sam teased a little. "I hope this isn't too early for you?"

Marines Hoyt and Lee were ready. They had their field glasses and their rifles. They would take turns spotting and then target practice. When their weapons had been checked and they had gone over some of what they were going to be doing today, Sam started the program.

"Computer? Run Woolheater program seventeen" he asked the holodeck computer. The surroundings changed as the program started.

They were on the high seas. On a guided missile destroyer before Starfleet Engineers got a hold of them and made them "better". It was a gorgeous spring day. The ocean was relatively calm and there was a light breeze. The sun was high in the sky. Sam addresses the group, "We never know just what situations we'll face. And as we all know, the bad guys rarely stay and in plain sight. This is an Arleigh Burke class destroyer. Follow me."

They walked a midship to the deck area that was between the AEGIS deck guns on the starboard side of the ship. Sam continued. He had to speak up and over the ambient noise, "Five hundred meters (547 yards) off our starboard side, you can see a remote controlled drone boat. You can also see that's where our targets are. These are reactive paper targets and they will get scanned into your performance file. There is a bullet stop behind the targets. Try not to shoot up the boat. This is our task for the next two hours. We can change roles as to who will be spotters and who will snipe. I want everybody to get some time in as both. OK. Hoyt? Lee? You're spotters. Let's go."

Sam laid sprawled on the deck plating. Over the loudspeaker, simulated COMM traffic could be heard. There were a dozen or so sandbags that he shared so that they could rest the rifle on it as they took aim at the remote drone boat 500 meters away. Sam lay on his stomach, as flat as he could get. His legs were spead out wide to help balance him as he aimed. The wind, the roll of the ship, the bobbing of the remote drone boat. And on it were four targets. Sam adjusted the gunsight, he took his time lining up the shot. What counted here was accuracy. Next to him, was a stool for the spotter. In this case, Sam had Winston Lee as his spotter. Winston held the field glasses and made some small commentary from time to time. The other 4th platoon CO was also doing the same with Hoyt.

Sam held the rifle steady. He lined up the shot, tried to stay loose so that muscle tension didn't create a hard surface against the butt of the weapon. It took skill to get this right. The wind kicked up and sent a cool chill over the deck, not to mention a wave of sea spray cooled things off. The spray went over them and Winston's field glasses got showered with mist. That's when Sam slowly squeezed a round off. "POP!!" the rifle went. The recoil sent a kickback shockwave through Sam's body.

Lee quickly wiped the glasses and looked over at the boat. Sam said, "Shit!" Lee found Woolheaters target and he had hit it. It was in the twenty range on the target. "Mark twenty el tee" Lee said. Sam didn't need the spotter to tell him that as he could see it. "Yeah...I see it..." Sam said.

The 4th platoon CO fired and Sam heard Hoyt say to him, "Magpie" to which the reply was, "Yeah." Sam knew that that meant he had hit the outermost ring on the target.

It was quiet except for the noise of the ship and the waves. Sam focused, aimed and took his shot. "POP!" Lee said, "Fuck yeah! Bullseye!" Sam cycled the chamber and the spent round fell out. He put a new round in, "Yeah. That should have been the first shot." Lee looked at him, "It's five hundred meters away LT." Sam went back to aiming with just, "MMmm-hmmm."

It was going on fifteen minutes now and Woolheater hadn't fired a shot. He had repositioned himself on the deck and moved a sandbag a little. Lee kept his eyes locked on the target and then, "POP!" the rifle went off again and Sam had another bullseye! "Two for two LT." Sam cycled the round and than rolled on his back and sat up. His upper arm muscles were tired/sore from keeping the wepaon steady against the gentle rocking of the ship. His deltoids and traps were not happy and he cracked his neck. He didn't say anything other than. "You're up Lee."

Standing to his feet along with the 4th platoon CO, Sam handed the rifle over to Winston and took the field glasses. Winston's target was in the aft section of the drone boat. "Adjust the sandbags? There you go bud. There you go. Spread those legs. Wider. Spread 'em nice and wide. Sam nudged the heels to widen Winston's spread. "Get 'em as wide as you can. It'll help stabalize you. You'll see in a minute what I'm talkiing about."

Sam got a water bottle and sat down on the stool behind and to the side of Winston. The other guys did the same for their sharpshooter. Winston groaned a bit and Sam said, "Yuh huh...errrr!" to say that, "Yeah, it's harder than it looks" The first hour went by quickly, now that they were in the second hour and Winston had a few shots, most of them pretty good, they switched targets and then just tried a rapid fire excercise. "POP-POP-POP-POP-POP!" went the rifles as the marines fired off a volley of rounds. Sam said, "Two for five Mister Lee. You did take the steering column though. So...if they were trying to get away at least they couldn't steer." Winston growled back. Sam said, "Don't get mad; focus. Try again. Five shots all on your target and we'll call it good."

This time Winston did wait. The sea calmed a bit and the boat dipped, "POP-POP-POP-POP-POP!" Sam looked in the field glasses, "Fuck yeah! You got it. No magpies. Awesome. Switch it out brother man; let's go." They traded places. Winston had a smile on his face and Sam helped him feel good about it. Shucking out the spent rounds and reloading, Woolheater laid on the deck, spread his legs out wide and rested the rifle on the sandbags. The 4th platoon CO started firing and Sam waited. Apparently he had donew pretty well as there was a hootin' and a hollerin'. He grinned and waitied until he was focused again. Find his target took time. It was far away and hard to hit.

Winston was watching the whole time and said, "Wind's dies down a bit. And the drone boat is evening out..." Then, Sam squeezed the trigger and the rifle responded, "POP-POP- - -POP - - - POP--POP!" As Sam fired in rapid succession. Winston didn't say anything, he could see that Sam had hit the target, five times, all in the 10 aiming lines. But no bullseyes

Sam sighed, "Well. There it is. I guess I know what I'm doing in my downtime?" He turned his head to look up at Winston. Not a great day on the range for me."

"It was a difficult run. I only got a few." Lee said. Getting to his feet, they watch the 4th platton CO do about the same, one bullseye. "Computer? Send these target sheets to my terminal please?"

The machine beeped in compliance. "End program" Sam said as the prohram faded and replaced with the grid-like network of an empty holodeck. They all sat down and took their rilfes apart and cleaned them right there. Going over what was good about the simulation and what they could do better for next target practice.

[OFF:]


1st Lieutenant Samuel Woolheater
“Saepius Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Frater Infinitas”
Division VI, MARDET 62nd Company "Spartans", 1st Platoon CO
=/\= USS ELYSIUM - NCC-89000 =/\=