trans_9 | Proving Ground [ Open To All ]

The sensoriums made for a convenient training ground for all the right reasons, but most of all because they allowed Motoko to cheat. It hardly seemed fair for the world around to be controlled by whatever constituted the strongest mind, or the most established, but on these proving grounds, as ever, fairness was not part of the equation.

The world was a sleepy summer day, warm with cicada song and dry, ragged grass, knee-high in places, scorched to the earth in others. An abandoned, decrepit skeleton of a Soviet military base dominated the landscape, dotted here and there with holes like dark hollow eyes among the crumbling walls and roofless, exposed innards. Once, this place had been alive, and now it was as bleached as bones in the grass, as nature retook what man had conquered.

Here and there the rusted-out remains of tanks slumped where they had been abandoned. Red paint, incongruously fresh, marked a series of them as targets at the far end of a carefully 'makeshift' firing range, though most sat aimlessly, unmarked and unattended. The place nearest the door was dominated by one such tank, perhaps in slightly better repair than the others, and perched upon it was the reason for all the fuss and trials. Major Kusanagi folded her arms and leaned her back against the treads, casting a sidelong look at what was left of Section Nine.

It was going to be a long day.

[ OOC: ~~Wait for Subthreads, please.~~ OKAY, GO GO GO GO! ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sounds good. Just point me toward the targets. Any particular drill we'll be doing today?" John was looking forward to this. He'd brought his SCAR Mk 16 today, and it would be good to get some more practice with it. He didn't have near the trigger time with it that he had on M4s, but the manual of arms was similar enough to not give him any real trouble. Plus the bit of weight savings between them when loaded up for the fight was nice.

"Yeah I'm from Earth." Post apocalyptic Earth admittedly, but then weren't they all like that now.

Saito's Earth was in the midst of more of a slow-motion apocalypse, where pieces of society were falling off one by one and shattering to bits. The Major had picked a Soviet base, but it could have been one from any number of countries and it would have felt just as familiar to him.

"Field strip and reassemble first, then we'll run you through a standard qual'ing pattern for sidearm and rifle." How they were going to do that with Xs spray-painted on tanks spoke more to Stacy's capabilities than to the practicality of the "range" Kusanagi had set up.

John had seen worse ranges in his time in the Resistance. In way it was comfortably familiar. Sure the place was a little more intact than it would be on his world, but the emptiness of it was just the same.

Quickly, and easily John field stripped, and reassembled the carbine. He even added a bit of lube just to make sure he'd have enough on the components. After all a well lubricated weapon would almost always function regardless of how dirty it was. After he finished doing the same for his Mk 23 pistol John stood up, and walked over to the firing line. "Am I cleared to fire?"

Saito's entire attention was on John's hands as he worked, but he said nothing.

"Go ahead." Again, Saito was looking not at the downrange, but at John--the other man's stance, from his feet to the set of his shoulder to the curve of his trigger finger. The sensoriums would feed the range data to his cyberbrain's Hawkeye software without him having to watch.

John's stance, and handling of his weapons was exactly what one would expect of an individual highly trained in firearms. His accuracy was good for an unenhanced human. If there was anything wrong it was minor things that could attributed to adjusting to the new weapon's peculiar recoil, and response. Overall John gave an excellent showing. His mother would be proud.

Saito's cyberbrain chewed over the data and returned a verdict. "Expert. But you already knew that," he said with a slight smile that had too much of an edge to it to be friendly. "New weapon? You looked like you were having trouble with the recoil."

John was smirking on the inside a bit as he nodded in affirmation of Saito's question. After all Sarah Connor would never except anything less of her son. "Yeah it is. It's not so much trouble as it's just different from the M4. It's a lot more gentle really, but it's almost like it had two stages. I'll put in some more time on it. Only way to adjust."

"No point in working on it yet unless you want to." Saito shrugged. "Don't know what the Major's going to have us carrying, but I assume it'll be something we can all share ammo on, at least for the standard-issue rifle and sidearm."

"Sensible plan, and I don't mind working on it. Practice is practice. Never hurts to have more." It wasn't like he was going to run out of ammo anytime soon. He'd made sure of that. At least his little escapade with the armory hadn't been a total waste. "What's the standard issue, or has she not decided yet?"

"She likes Seburo, but it depends on what's in the armory and what the final makeup of the squad looks like." Saito himself didn't really care. He could shoot anything, and preferred to spend his time on a rooftop half a kilometer away the fight with a gun that could stop a tank, anyway.

"I'm sure we'll find something we can all settle on. Never heard of Seburo, but I tend toward American myself." Sure the AK could go on for almost forever, but he had the ability to keep up with the maintenance so why not enjoy the improved accuracy, and optics. Besides the issues with the M-16's basic method of operation was overblown.

"Maybe they don't exist where you're from. Doesn't much matter," he said, and shrugged again. It was about the most body language he had. "One SMG is basically the same as another once you get off the range...or she may switch us to full rifles if she doesn't think we're going to be mostly urban."

"I'd think short barreled rifles would be a good compromise for general purpose use. More punch, and only marginally larger. I'd prefer to have an armory we could select from depending on mission, but if I have to stick to just one primary arm that's the best roue in my opinion." It would have the added benefit of him not having to give up the SCAR. Being able to switch out it's barrels was a real benefit in that situation.

"She's going to want us operational sooner rather than later, which means training everyone on one one or two weapons to start with." It wasn't likely that anyone with the skill to make it past the Major's testing process wouldn't be able to pick up any given gun and use it, but using it to her impossible standards was another question entirely. Saito didn't think for a second that Kusanagi wasn't going to compensate for months of frustration and inaction by turning into even more of a perfectionist than usual, and he was resigned.

"Makes sense." None of that surprised John. It was the smart thing to do. Get everyone using the same primary weapon, and the same ammo. Simplified logistics, and unified initial training. "Think everyone can get up to speed quickly enough."

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