Jace arrived in a circular space floating between blue clouds. Around the edge of the disk like space stood more that twenty doors.
He stood up and started moving around,mostly to avoid boredom.
His virtual body,faithfully reproduced by the scanners inside the VR capsule, was just as responsive as his real one. The suit he was wearing was intercepting the messages sent from his brain synapses and redirecting them to the computer which decoded them and then moved this body accordingly.
Even with all the advances in VR tech in the last couple centuries though the human brain could always tell that something wasn't completl right in the virtual world.A muscle not being quite the same,a small delay in the movements of the body, something that didn't feel quite right...the list was endless and even though every new model of every company insisted on telling how perfect their machines were, time and again they all failed to meet expectations.
Suddenly a message popped up in front of him.The invitation that the cap- no dammit Andrex! He told you to call him Andrex here.
He accepted the invitation and stayed still. From his perspective the cloudy world around him disintegrated and as he blinked he stood in a big hangar like space devoid of anything. Around him stood Andrex and the rest of the team.
“Here you are! Welcome to the first phase of our training Jace”, Andrex said. “Since you are qualified with both pistols and rifles we will train here with both before passing into advance training.But before that..”
Andrex manipulated a menu and a podium like the ones you see speakers use in ceremonies appeared. He stepped behind it.
Jace looked at him confused while the rest of the team seemed amused by the action.
“We don't have a lot of time”,Andrex started looking solemn and managing to ignore the giggles coming from a certain redhead, “so i will be brief."
"First rule you need to remember is that we are security not police.Our job is to break up fights. Break them up with no loss of life or property if possible, but break them up nevertheless no matter what. If you let a brawl get out of control in an enclosed space well you will not like the results believe me.”
“ And with the combination of miners,sailors and alcohol we will have in the expedition there will be a lots of brawls” ,Mac said from the side while shaking his head.
“When we patrol the ship”, Andrex continued holding himself high and speaking solemnly while the giggles rose in volume, “we always go in teams of two one senior and one junior member of the team.Every junior member will be equipped with a batton, a dart taser and the protection gear you used while sparring. Every senior member will be equipped will all that plus the firearm of his or her choice."
A “Booo” came from David surprising Jace who had pegged him as a quiet guy.
“That is because”, the speech continued, “the senior members are trusted to keep their cool and not draw their guns unnecessarily. But they are also trusted to draw them when necessary.”
“Of course junior or senior you are still security officers”,Andrex continued in a darker tone. “In case of an emergency you will be issued firearms so you must know how to use them as well. Now”,he finished while Calana had dissolved into hoots, “let's do some shooting warm up in the range”
He walked down and used the menu. Suddenly in front of them a series of shooting booths appeared and on the other side of those a few automatic disk throwers.
Everyone came over and choose a booth.Following Andrex instructions they all picked up the dart taser from the booth weapon menu and choose their preferred attachments.
“All right Jace you go first. Show us what you can do.” Andrex said standing behind him.
Jace took a deep breath and pushed the button on the booth to start. A floating number counting downwards from 10 appeared in front of him.
He raised his weapon and took aim downrange.When the counting number reached 0 a red disk flew out of the thrower into the air.
He tracked it for half a second and then pulled the trigger. With a low "blep" a slim dart with a rounding middle was magnetically pushed forwards and met the disk at the crest of its trajectory,turning it into a shower of shards.
Jace had no time to celebrate thought cause apparently Andrex has set up the training program so that the disks would be shot with barely one second delay between them.As the first red disk shattered another one had already left the machine.
Jace forgot everything around him paying all attention to the disks that came thick and heavy. He didn't have time pay attention if his shoots missed the target. All he could do was track,aim,shoot using his visor speed and turn indications as an assistance and then immediately move his attention to the next one.
He was losing ground thought every disk he shoot was ever closer the blue,curtain like, range bounds.After the first dozen he had to give up on some disks so he could save time to hit others.
To make matters worse the disks did not come in fixed intervals instead varying from one every second to two at once after 3.
After what seemed like 10 minutes to him a beeping sound was heard and the word FINISH floated in front of him.
Jace unclenched his hands from the darts taser and looked at his score: 41 out of 65.
He clenched his teeth.True the shooting program was difficult but for someone like him who was used to a score of 90% or better when he was able to use his visor guidance it was a disappointing result.
“Hey not bad rookie”, said the deep low voice of Mac on his left ,“that’s the best first time result i have seen in awhile.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Jace turned to look at Mac at his left “Still not great thought.”
“Yeah and i bet i know why.” Andrex put in from behind him, “You used the dart taser data already saved in your visor computer didn't you?”
Jace looked at him questioningly “I mean..yeah i did. I have been trained in using a taser so there was no reason for the delay of getting the data from the gun datachip.”
Shaking his head Andrex put his hand on Jace’s shoulder “Never ,ever try to cut corners with your equipment when you have time to do everything right. The reason many of your shots missed is because SB tasers are using darts with double the electric charge so the capacitor is bigger as well. Which means...”
“Which means they go slower and fall off quicker.” Jace completed his sentence dejected.
“Right you got it. There are times when we must cut corners to save time. But the preparation for a routine mission is not one of those times. Unless you are trying to make it a not-so-routine one. Now fix you data and”,turning his head to the other members of the team, ”the rest of you start training as well.I will put the disks in instanced mode so only you will be seeing you own.”
Everyone pressed the start button and after downloading the new velocity data from the gun datachip Jace followed suit.
His next two rounds had more successful result with his score rising all the way to 56 out of 60 in his third one.
After the third round Andrex called them back together and put their results in a ranking. To Jace’s delight he was ranked fourth only behind the senior members and even better only 2% behind Mac.
The big man shrugged and smiled at him looking at the results. “Tasers where never weapons i was comfortable with”
“Mac that’s because you are never comfortable with anything smaller than a god damn rocket launcher!”,Calana chipped in causing everyone to smile and laugh, “Nice work there Jace you definitely know your way around weapons.” Turning to the captain she asked “can we have a go with actual guns now Andrex?”
“Sure ,three rounds with firearms of your choice it is. Pick the gun you prefer from the menu. First rounds is disks for a warmup. Second and third are gonna be special rounds thought”,Andrex warned them with a grin stretching his scar and making him look terrifying.
Everyone hurried to enter their booths. Jace opened the menu and typed the gun he wanted in the search engine.
The familiar shape of a Corona 220N appeared on the bench.
“Oh a Corona huh” said David from behind him.
Jace grabbed the gun and turned to look at David who was giving him an embarrassed smile.
“Sorry i was curious to know what you prefer. But that doesn't look like their standart magpistol model.” he continued looking at the weapon in Jace’s hands critically. “The barrel is longer,a bit thicker and if i am not mistaken so is the magazine”
“Yeah you are right”, said Jace passing David the pistol and allowing him to study it closely, “It's a 220N model.It was designed for the navy personnel of the Altian Federati-”
“To deal with drone attacks on their ships and lightly armored opponents in law enforcement operations” David interrupted him, his brown eyes shining with excitement, “i have read all about it! It was the first magpistol with sensor impact rounds wasn't it?”
“Um yes it was” said Jace ta bit taken aback.
David passed the gun back while still talking “The tungsten round is tipped with a sensor that makes it explode inside the first target it hits to prevent overpenetration against unarmored targets.The sensor could be deactiv-”
“Yeah yeah David that's enough.You sound like a god damn manual again!”,Calana’s voice interrupted them from two booths over, “Jace is here to shoot not listen to your version of gunporn!”
David’s face made and interesting attempt of imitating a tomato as he walked over to his own booth.
Smiling Jace pressed the start button.
The disks came fast and his proficiency with the weapon quickly showed as he was able to successfully hit ten of the eleven initial targets with quick snapshots ,often being able to use the above average recoil of his weapon to move the muzzle where he wanted it.
Unfortunately the major drawback of his weapon quickly became evident as well.Having focused on stopping power and avoiding overpenetration the designers at Corona had to sacrifice something and it was magazine capacity. The 220N was only able to hold eleven rounds unlike the sixty five dart capacity the drum magazine of the taser had.
The reload took him only a bit more than two second but that was enough for him to completely miss one more disk.
He continued like this finishing the round with a score of 51 out of 60.
“Good warm up everyone”. Andrex shouted from the edge of the range. “Now ladies and gents round two!”
In front off Jace all the disk throwers suddenly disappeared. In their place dozens of white stick figures writing “CIVILIAN” started moving randomly across the range.
“There will be ten targets. And no dead civies please! Now.. Go!”
And with those words from Andrex,without any countdown or other warning black stick figures with targets on the head and chest appeared, one from each side.
Jace quickly took aim and shoot the figure coming from the left but ,in his haste ,his shot only hit the shoulder.He re aimed and shot again eliminating the target with a torso shot. He waited for a clear shot, as all the white figures were messing up his aim and then managed to get a headshot on the other one.
From his left Mac’s rifle barked again an again hitting targets only he could see. And from further in the left a never ending string of profanities punctuated with gunshots marked the place Calana was apparently having the time of her life.
Jace tried to cut off all sounds focusing on finding the slim second openings in the white figures that would allow him a hit. Despite his efforts thought he once again needed two shots to finish of his sixth target.
As the ninth and tenth target were making their way through the range he realized he had a problem.There was no way he would be able to reload in time and he only had one bullet left.
Making a decision he pressed a button placed awkwardly on the top of the gun,so it could not be pressed by accident.And then he waited hoping the thrice damn civilians would cooperate.
Tracking both target in the edges of his vision he took a deep breath steading himself.And then at the right moment he fired.
The round passed straight through the torso of the first target and hit the edge of the target zone on the torso of the second.
Both targets disappeared in a flash and then the white figures also faded from his vision.
Sighing with pent up tension he lowered his weapon and ejected the now empty magazine.With practised movements he grabbed a new one from the bench in front of him and slotted it in.
Then he waited to see if Andrex had any more “special” things for them.
The captain started clapping from his spot in the start of the range
“Very good,Very good all of you! You all got nine or ten of the targets and no civilians dead today.”
He paused as if to give them time to realize how good they did but then his voice continued mercilessly.
“Now do it again!”
In Jace’s vision the white figures appeared again,moving even more frantically this time and the black targets were already moving in as well!
He could sympathise with the storm of curses that came from Calana and David.If Jace wasn't trying so desperately to make a good impression he would have joined them.
Well one thing had become quickly apparent ,there was no way he would be bored during this training!