Weapons Training Request

Posted on Tue Apr 21st, 2020 @ 7:26am by Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Lieutenant Carter Smith

Mission: INTERMISSION: Rebuild, Reuse, Recycle
Location: Naxea's Office
2580 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Carter walked down the corridor towards the Marines area. He approached the Major's door and pressed the chime and waited.

Hearing the chime, Naxea looked up from the PaDD in her hand of the after action report on her rescue and the battle with the Orions. It hadn't been an easy past few days for her, however she was thankful for the hardships she endured under the Occupation as it allowed her to deal with her issues better now. "Enter," she called, remaining at her desk.

The door opened and Carter walked into the room. "Major, Lieutenant Carter Smith, we met briefly."

Naxea grinned and stood. "Yes, I remember. What brings you by my office?"

He hesitated, but finally summoned up the courage. "I would like permission to do weapons training with your people, major."

Naxea nodded and gestured to the chair in front of her desk. "Have a seat." She sat down in her chair and leaned forward on the desk. "So what brought this on?"

Carter sat on the chair she motioned to. "My poor performance during the reality we were sent to, the one that had the Jem Hadir boarding the ship." He looked down at the floor. "My behavior and job performance was terrible." He looked back up. "I need to improve with a weapon...I need to prove to myself I am worthy of being here on the ship."

"Look, first off, you are worthy of being on this ship. You're the Assistant Chief Engineer on a Elysium Class vessel," Naxea said. "Ships need good engineers to keep them operational and from what I've seen and heard, you're a great engineer. Now, I don't mind giving you some training but you need to find the confidence that I know is within you."

"Major," Smith responded, "I think with some weapons training, I believe that my confidence will come back. I need to prove to others, and myself, that I am not a coward, and that if the need arises, I can help defend this ship."

Naxea nodded, understanding Carter's position. "Very well, we'll start off with marksmanship training and then run a few scenarios on the holodeck to see how you perform." Though in her mind, there was an old, yet tried and true method of seeing how Carter would really react in a hostile situation that she would keep secret from him. "When would you like to start the training?"

"I've been relieved of duty for the time being, so I'm ready right now, major." Smith responded.

"Good, let's head to the holodeck then," she said, standing from behind her desk.

Smith stood up when she did. Then he waited for her to proceed, so he could follow her.

Naxea made her way to the holodeck with Carter in tow. After a few minutes, the two arrived outside the large door leading to the holodeck. "Computer, setup a standard marksmanship range with Type 2 and Type 4 phasers."

After a few chirps, the computer replied. "Program is now operational. Enter when ready."

Naxea stepped through the doors to reveal a indoor range with titanium bulkheads. Two Type 2 and two Type 4 phasers laid on a bench as a target drone hovered just beyond the benches.

Carter looked around the range, saw the drones hovering past the benches, and the modified phasers on the bench.

"Alright," Naxea said as she approached the bench. "Pick up the Type 2 phaser and take aim at the drone. We're starting with Level One just so I and judge where you're at in terms of marksmanship."

Smith walked over to the bench and picked up a Type 2 phaser, and examined it to make sure it was a training weapon. When he was satisfied, he raised the weapon, aimed at the drone, and fired.

Naxea watched as the beam struck the drone, causing the drone to disappear. "Good," she commented. "Computer, activate a Level Two drone." At Level Two, it would be a bit harder as the drone would move about. "Fire when ready."

Smith aimed the phaser and fired, but the drone moved suddenly, causing him to miss. "Damn."

"It's alright," Naxea said. "You have to aim where the drone will likely move. It detects where you are pointing and then moves. So just before you fire, change your aim and you will fool the drone."

"Yes major." Smith again watched the drone, then aimed, and at just before he pressed the trigger, he aimed higher and when the drone moved that way, he hit it center.

"Good job," she complimented. "Alright, now let's move on to the Type 4 Rifle," she gestured to the phaser rifle on the bench.

Carter picked up the rifle, examined it, then held it in his hands.

After seeing that Carter was doing good with the rifle. "Alright, let's try a scenario if you're ready."

"I'm ready, major. What is the scenario?"

"Standard firefight against Romulan hostiles. Computer, load Combat Scenario Program Three Alpha." The surrounding scenery switched to a corridor aboard the Elysium. Suddenly a disruptor beam fired through the air.

Carter dived around a corner, then slowly peaked out to see where the shot was coming from. He searched his memory...this was deck 9, at the junction of corridors 9 and 10.

As the program was designed not to register Naxea, she stood off to the opposite corner out of the way as she observed Carter as the holographic romulan moved to try to get a better angle on Carter.

Smith took a quick glance around the corner to get an idea of where the blasts were coming from. He saw a group of boxes down the corridor. Best guess that's where they are. Options: 1: charge them. Probably get killed. 2: Get behind them, outflank them. Smith knew that there was an access tube to the next section, one that would place him behind the enemy. So he ran down to the corridor, found the access tube, opened it, crawled the length of the tube, and when he reached the end, he quietly opened the hatch, took a peek, and saw 2 Romulans behind the boxes, watching the corridor in front of them. He stepped out from the tube, aimed, and shot the closest one, then aimed and shot the other one.

Naxea grinned and nodded her approval. "Good job. See you have what it takes to defend the ship."

Smith looked at the Major. "I recognized this area, so I knew I could get behind them. So I guess I had what they used to call "Home field advantage", Major.

"That's always the good thing about fighting on your own ship, you nearly always have the advantage of terrain knowledge," she stated. "Now, let's--"

The ship shook violently as the holodeck went out, with the console exploding near Naxea, sending shrapnel into her chest and neck. The lights switched to auxiliary mode and Red Alet Klaxons blared.

Smith almost lost his footing, but managed to stay standing. "Major!" He ran over to her, and searched for a pulse. He tapped his commbadge. "Medical emergency. Beam Major Naxea to sickbay!!"

There was only static in response as the sounds of a battle began to sound outside of the door.

Smith dragged the major to a corner of the room, to keep her out of danger. Then he tried to attend to her wounds, using a tablecloth as a bandage to stop the blood flow. In a hushed tone, "Major, I need to get you help. I'm going to try to get to sickbay and see if I can get someone to come here and treat you, but first I have to find an armory, cause this training phaser can't help me now. I'll try to get back as soon as possible." He moved a couch in front of her in case someone entered the room.
Smith walked to the door, listened and cracked the doors open so he could see if there was any danger nearby.
When he saw that there was no one around, he opened the doors, shut them behind him, and locked them. Then he slowly headed to the nearest armory on his deck.

Down the corridor from Carter, a battle raged between security officers and Romulan troops.

Smith ducked back behind the wall. He had no weapons...so he wouldn't be any good in a firefight. Plus now that battle blocked him from getting to the armory. He started to retrace his steps, hoping to get either around the fighting, or find another armory. He stopped when he heard someone approaching.

PFC Durak came around the corner with his pulse rifle at the ready position, headed for the firefight up ahead. Seeing Smith out of the corner of his eye,startled Durak, causing him to jump. "Shit! What are you doing here, lieutenant?"

"I was doing some weapons training with Major Naxea." Smith looked at him. "The major was injured...she needs a medic. I tried contacting sickbay but I got no answer. What's the status of the ship?"

"The Romulans ambushed us. Hit the ship hard and then a Romulan boarding party managed to beam over before the captain could get the shields back online, Sir," Durak responded. He unholstered his Type 2 phaser and handed it to Carter. "Here, Sir. You'll need this."

Smith took the phaser and inspected it. "The major still needs a medic. Can you help me get her help or get her to sickbay?"

"Show me where she is, Sir," Durak replied.

"Follow me." He took Durak by the arm and led him to where the major was, hopefully she was still there.

Durak knelt down next to the Naxea's body, activating his bio scanner. "Damn..." he said after a moment. "I'm sorry, Sir. She's gone."

Smith looked at him. "No..you're wrong...she was fine a minute ago...damn, I never should have left her. It's my fault."

"The bio scanners are never wrong. It's combat, Sir. There are no rules or guidelines on what is supposed to happen. Right now we need to focus on fighting, Sir," Durak said, standing, taking one last look at the Major before turning to Carter.

Carter regained his composure. Then he checked the phaser that Durak gave him. "Let's go get those Romulan bastards!." He stood up, looked at the body of the major, and saluted.

"I'll help you get to Engineering, Sir," Durak said as they moved down the corridor. The sounds of the firefight was still going on.

Smith followed the PFC as they headed down the hall. He kept looking behind them, in case some Romulans came their way.

As they rounded a corner to bypass the fire fight, Durak spotted two Romulans moving down the corridor just a second before a disruptor blast hit him dead in the chest, knocking him to the deck. He managed to fire off one shot that sent the Romulans moving for what little cover there was.

Smith fired off a couple of shots at the Romulans, then pulled the PFC away from the line of fire. He searched for a pulse on his neck.

There was only a weak pulse from Durak.

Smith dragged Durak and tried to hide him. Then he picked up his rifle, took a position behind a corner, and laid in wait for the 2 Romulans to appear.
When they turned the corner, Smith fired his rifle, hitting each of them in the chest. After they fell, he went over to the bodies to be sure they were dead, then he searched the bodies and took from each, the daggers that each had on his belt. Then he found what appeared to be a medical kit from one of them. He returned to Durak and gave him an injection, hoping it wasn't poison.

Having seen all that she needed, The form of Naxea shimmered into existence, having been concealed by the holograms of the environment. "Computer, end program," she said with a grin, looking at Carter. The chaos in the Elysium's corridor was replaced with the black/yellow grid deck and bulkheads.

He saw Naxea appear and the ship dissolve into a holodeck. It took him a couple of seconds to get his bearings. "This was all an exercise?" He was torn between being mad and being relived. But since she was a superior officer, he couldn't be mad. He stood up and faced her.

"Yes, and you passed. It was designed to make you believe it was real so I could see how you would react. You showed a lot of courage in your actions," Naxea stated as she approached Carter.

Smith stood straight and looked at her. "Would I have what it takes to be one of your marines?"

Naxea was a bit taken back by his question. "There's more to being a Marine than just courage. Why do you ask?"

"Maybe I'm in the wrong place in my life. Maybe a switch could be good for me." He looked at her. "You think I could make it as a marine, major?"

"I don't know. Only you can answer that question, but what I've seen, you have potential but you seem like a great engineer. What made you think of changing career fields?"

"I feel, like I could do more. I'm feeling limited right now in engineering. Things that excited me now don't excite me. Does that make sense?" Smith looked at her.

"I see...well, if you did transfer to the Marines, you would likely be assigned a platoon leader position but only after you underwent all the required training and coursework," Naxea informed him. "And it won't be easy. It's mentally and physically demanding. Also, in doing so, you would be taking a demotion of sorts as you would no longer be the Assistant Chief Engineering Officer aboard the ship...unless you joined the Reserve Corps. Then it would be up to the Captain most likely."

" 'Mentally and physically demanding'??" He thought about that. "What's required for the Reserve Corps?"

"The training is the same as the regular Corps only you're not active until an emergency comes up where we need you," Naxea explained.

"And that can be done here, or do I have to return to Earth?" He looked at her. "I guess what bothers me is...that I'm alone here...I have no one who cares about me. So maybe a fresh start might not be so bad, right?"

"It can be done here. But you're not alone. You just need to be more open to others," she recalled the time he fixed her replicator and turned down an offer to eat with her. "You need to believe in yourself. You're an intelligent and capable officer and if nobody truly didn't care about you, I wouldn't have taken the time to help you with all of this," she gestured to the holodeck around them.

"Then I guess I should say...thank you for saying that." He started giving what she said some thought. "I think I would like to try being a reserve officer."

"If you insist," Naxea said, hoping that is what Carter truly wanted. "I'll have to clear it with the Captain and Lieutenant Hoffman but that shouldn't be an issue. I'll let you know in a few days, and I don't know about you, but I'm going to get something to eat. Being dead can give you an apatite," she joked.

"Can I join you, major?" He asked.

Naxea grinned. "Sure."