Samantha was sitting across from Jessie and Creesh in the Shining Knight's mess hall. The round table, capable of seating eight people, was rather destitute with only the three of them, as was the rest of the large room. Samantha was impressed, when she had asked to look at Jessie's gun to see how it worked, she hadn't expected the engineering masterpiece that she was now inspecting however. Jessie had said it was a Model IV Thundereagle, a revolver chambered in the ancient, yet perfectly deadly caliber .50 BMG. Though classified as a pistol, the massive revolver was closer to a small cannon than any pistol that she had ever seen. It had a three round internal rotating cylinder that was loaded via a hole on the lower left of the protective housing, that way the structural integrity of the cylinder was uninhibited by the act of loading or unloading casings. The pistol itself had a ten inch barrel allowing for respectable muzzle velocities and was capable of firing a wide variety of ammunition types. From FMJ to explosive armour piercing rounds and many in between, it was a monstrosity that only the crazed mind of a Human could have dreamed up.
Samantha turned the marvel over in her hands and asked "How do you manage the recoil?"
Jessie smiled and flexed his cybernetic hands saying "I don't have to worry too much about the recoil with these, but it does have a small stabilizer built into the handgrip that allows for the partial absorption of the recoil, making it manageable for regular people, and much easier to handle for me."
Creesh was sitting next to Jessie and leaned forwards to get a better look at the massive hand cannon. "I'm glad it works for you, if I tried to shoot that it would break every bone in my wing." Samantha smiled at her friend and handed the revolver back to Jessie.
He took it and placed it back into his shoulder holster with mechanical precision. Samantha asked "I am intrigued by its design, it was a model IV you said?" Jessie nodded and she asked "What was wrong with the earlier models?"
Jessie smirked and said "Nothing major, the mark I would just blow your fingers to paste if you held it wrong because the chamber was uninsulated and blew gas out the sides. The mark II was way too unbalanced so they lengthened the barrel to give it better handleability. The mark III was not bad, but it's recoil was quite savage and it had a problem with some types of ammunition not wanting to discharge properly from the cylinder after they were fired. The mark IV added a stabilizer and fixed some ergonomic issues, sure it's not perfect, but it has the power of a sniper in a very compact package. I could conceivably sneak this into a venue and destroy a lightly armoured vehicle if I wanted to." He finished with a laugh. "Plus, it's one hell of a conversation starter as you have no doubt seen. You whip one of these bad boys out and every single person within visual range is going to become your new best friend." He laughed again and Samantha saw Creesh watching his face intently.
Samantha had noticed that Creesh had been spending more and more time around Jessie over the last few days. They had been back on New Dundas for almost a week and while the down time was nice, Samantha had to admit that she was getting a bit bored.
Thinking about a way to pass the time she asked "Hey Jessie, could we go to the gun range over at the precinct and give it a test run, I would love a shot at it, I'll let you fire my gauss gun as a trade."
Jessie gave her an appreciative look and said "You have a gauss gun? Damn Samantha, you've been holding out on me this whole time huh. You know the best way to befriend a Human is to let them handle your guns right." He laughed again at her expression and Creesh scowled slightly.
"I can't fire either of your guns, but I can bring my new pulse gun to the range. Have you ever fired a sonic sniper before Jessie?" Creesh asked sweetly.
Jessie smiled at her and said "I have not, I would love the chance to give it a try though. Is it true that they are more dangerous to armoured targets, and the heavier the armour of your target the more force the pulse impacts them with?"
Now it was Creesh's turn to look appreciative of his knowledge of Swanith weaponry "Yes it is, the vibration rebounds off the inside surface of the armour and causes a cascade of self amplifying sonic waves, the thicker the armor the more of the pulse rebounds which in turn strengthens the overall force of the strike. It has the benefit of working underwater as well with no loss of power or range." She lectured excitedly.
Jessie nodded understandingly as she extolled the virtues of sonic weaponry. Samantha was a bit out of her depth, her expertise was machinery not weapons. She felt a bit left behind as the two continued to speak animatedly about the strengths and weaknesses of various ammunition types and their effects on various types of materials. She was beginning to see what was happening here and part of her was jealous that Jessie was occupying so much of Creesh's attention. But that was the selfish side of her, she would never stoop so low as to try and push herself between them.
Pushing herself between them she said "Hey we should head off to the range, we could stop by that food cart you like on the way Creesh, I'll buy you some Lovebugs."
Creesh raised her mane in excitement saying "Oh that would be delightful, I'm not sure if you would like them, but you could try them too Jessie."
Jessie smiled at Creesh and said "I'm sure they are fine, I've eaten worse things than bugs before. Seriously, you should have seen some of the stuff they called food back where I grew up." He added.
Samantha stood and moved towards the wide doorway to go grab her gear, turning to look at the two of them she saw that Creesh was again talking animatedly to Jessie as he listened to her intently. The two of them seemed to have been made for each other, if not for their complete difference in biologies to the point of Creesh's blood being toxic to him, and Jessie outmassing her by a factor of three.
Samantha thought about her relationship with Creesh as she stalked down the wide corridor towards the armoury, they were the best of friends and spent much of their time together. What would Jessie end up doing to that treasured dynamic she worried. Would they remain as close as before, or would he force a divide between them that would split them asunder. Samantha wished again that Seth was here, she knew that he would have had a good answer for the situation she was experiencing. He seemed so wise even though he was only three years older than her.
Entering the armory and grabbing her gun and chest rig from her locker, she walked out into the hall to the sound of laughter. Creesh and Jessie were walking together towards the armory to grab her gun it would seem. She stepped to the side and waited for them to return before speaking "Alright, shall we head out?"
"Yeah, let's do it." Jessie exclaimed excitedly. "I haven't actually gotten much practice with this thing yet, so it will be good to put a few volleys downrange."
Creesh, who had slung her pulse gun across her chest in a harness, asked "Where do you get ammunition for that kind of gun?"
As they walked towards the cargo bay he responded "Usually at any military supply depot or store. Sometimes you can get it specially delivered if there are no Humans on deployment in the area. It uses regular sniper caliber bullets though, so as long as there is a supply chain for large caliber kinetic guns then it's usually not an issue to get ammunition." Creesh nodded her head in understanding as they walked through the empty cargo bay.
Starting down the lowered cargo ramp Jessie asked "So, do you know where we are headed next?" Jessie said to no one in particular.
Samantha answered "We were going to head back to pick up Seth and Tahj in a few days. Then Neirdith said we were probably going to go to Highland Station."
Jessie looked excitedly at her as they walked "Highland Station? I have always wanted to visit a mega-station, they are like floating cities in space. You can get anything there, and meet almost any species in the SCU. I wonder how many people live there, it's got to be a lot."
Creesh piped up saying "Highland Station has a permanent population of over nine million, but it's true population fluctuates wildly as non residents come and go. It can probably swing as high as fifteen million when it gets really busy." Jessie's eyes boggled at the mention of so many people. Having come from a small colony herself and spent a lot of time secluded, the thought made her head spin as well.
What would that look like to have so many different people from different backgrounds all confined into one area, it must be chaotic.
Samantha led them to a food cart occupied by a smiling Gre'vahn female, purchasing two packets of the promised Lovebugs, she gave them to Creesh and Jessie. She watched interestedly as Jessie took one of the crispy critters and popped it into his mouth without hesitation.
Crunching loudly he remarked "Hmm, It has got a nice crunch, that's for sure. And the chocolate dip is a nice touch. These are actually pretty good." Creesh raised her feathered mane in a smile and gazed at him with her golden eyes. Samantha turned from her companions as they crunched on the strange insect treats and began walking towards the security zone.
As they continued through the covered streets towards the precinct Samantha noticed how close Creesh was walking to Jessie. Samantha again pushed down her inner thoughts and did her best to remain neutral.
They entered the secure zone and were checked out by a pair of guards stationed in a small roadside office, the guards scanned their assistants to verify their identities and to make sure that their guns were registered. After checking the system for a minute they were waved past and entered the precinct itself. Walking down a wide alley they entered into a large open building filled with the sound of weapons fire.
There was a Nerivith male sitting behind the main counter, Samantha looked at him interestedly. He was tall and thin like Neirdith but he had wider shoulders and narrower hips with a pair of short pointed horns that did not sweep back like Neirdith's did. Instead they jutted up straight just above his long hair, his face was similar to Neirdith's as most Nerivith were similar in appearance, but his eyes were a light lavender in colouration instead.
Looking at them he asked in a fair tenor voice "Hello there, are you here to practice with personal weapons or would you like to check something out?"
Samantha replied "We brought our own equipment, do you have a long range spot open?"
The man turned and typed into his small holoscreen before looking back to her and saying "There is a spot open in range C. Please remember to wear the proper hearing and vision protection while on the range. This premises is also under constant surveillance so please be respectful and careful. With that said, please have an enjoyable experience." Smiling, the Nerivith waved them on and turned back to his screen.
They walked over to the range that they had been directed to and picked a spot near the far wall. Samamtha unstrapped her gun from her back and hefted it onto the table in front of her, she made sure to check it over for any damage or missing components quickly before stepping back.
Jessie had pulled out his pistol and Creesh had set her sniper down next to Samantha's gun. "Alright, I'm going to load and fire it first to show you how it's done, then I'll let you give it a try." Jessie said to her.
Samantha nodded at him, she watched as he opened the small breach on the lower part of the external casing covering the cylinder. Pulling a few rather intimidatingly large brass cartridges from a pouch on the bag he had been carrying, he slowly loaded it, then pulled a small lever to rotate the internal cylinder before repeating the process two more times.
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When the revolver was loaded he checked the breach and cocked the hammer. Making sure the range was indeed clear and that Creesh and her were wearing hearing and eye protection, he sighted on one of the far off targets.
A titanic thunderclap of sound erupted from the piston as he fired, the recoil rocked his cybernetics and arm back into his shoulder as a huge fireball sprang from the end of the barrel. Samantha was so entranced by the display that she was taken off guard by him firing a second time. The compression wave from the gun caused her breath to mist in front of her face momentarily as she felt the rounds detonation deep in her chest.
Watching the target for his final shot she heard the gun and saw the target shudder violently from the energy of the impacting bullet. She could easily imagine what kind of damage it would have done to a target of flesh and bone.
Jessie lowered his arms, rolling his shoulders a few times before opening the breach and extracting the spent casings one by one. "And that's about the long and short of it. The biggest thing to look out for is the recoil, even with the dampener it's still a beast. Did you see those fireballs?" He asked with a huge grin.
Creesh looked mortified as she exclaimed "Why the Drit would you need that kind of firepower in a pistol? Why not just use a full sized rifle?"
Jessie gave her a look as if to say 'you sweet young child' before simply saying "Cause it's cool." Creesh threw her wings up in exasperation as Samantha bounced on her toes in anticipation.
"I agree, that was awesome. Can I try it now? Pleeease?" She begged him with a small whine.
Jessie laughed at her enthusiasm and said "Yeah, but make sure to be extra careful, this thing will mess you up if you let it." Listening with half an ear she gingerly grabbed the proffered gun from his hands and held it with a newfound respect.
Keeping the barrel facing a safe direction she turned it over in her hands and admired its clunky, yet efficient design. It had a distinctly Human look to it. While other races tried to make their weapons flashy or pleasing, Humans spent all their effort making their weapons as effective as possible, with little thought or care given to aesthetics. Their ships were generally the same way, but she had to admit, it worked.
Human battleships were known for having the most powerful guns ever designed by, well anyone she knew of. They were massive floating hulks covered in layered armour with weapons capable of destroying entire flotillas in a single shot. These massive guns, called Macro Cannons, would electromagnetically accelerate a projectile the size of a small building to about half a kilometer per second, it would then be further accelerated by fusion engines on the projectile itself till it had reached speeds in excess of ten kilometers per second. Once within a set distance of the enemy the shell would detonate into an expanding cloud of long tungsten rods that would spread out while still retaining that incredible velocity and could wipe out entire fleets of small and medium craft with one shot.
It seems that the Humans' love of overpowered guns extended all the way from fleet destroying mega-guns to hand held firearms.
While she was a fan of her own race's predisposition to ambush and rush down tactics, there was something to be said for Humanity's affinity for overwhelming force. It was easy to defeat an enemy when they were too afraid to even fight you.
Jessie handed her three of the massive cartridges that the gun used, the bullets were bigger than her claws and the casings were as long as her smallest finger. "You open the breach like this." He said demonstrating before closing it again. She opened the breach and loaded one of the rounds before pushing the lever to turn the cylinder. It turned with a click and the cartridge was moved out of sight, replaced by an empty chamber. She repeated the process twice more thinking that this was the price one paid for overwhelming firepower.
Jessie watched to make sure she closed the breach correctly before letting her cock the hammer back. She was hyper focused as she raised her arms and sighted down the barrel, the revolver felt heavy in her hands and she breathed out as she pulled the trigger. She yelped in surprise as the recoil nearly brought the gun flying into her face, just barely managing to force the firearm under some semblance of control before impact. Lowering the gun she turned to look at Jessie with wide eyes.
"I did warn you that the recoil would try to get you. Try it again, but focus on keeping your wrists and elbows in place, then absorb the force with your shoulders." Jessie adjusted her posture slightly and she allowed him to move her arms into a slightly different angle. "Okay, now keep your joints tight, try it now."
Samantha focused on keeping her wrists locked and sighted the target once again, this time she was able to manage the recoil much more effectively, the massive handgun still leapt up into the air but nowhere near as far as the first shot. She bared her sharp teeth in a savage grin and looked at Creesh.
Creesh gave her an exaggerated eye roll and said "At least that time you didn't almost give yourself a haircut." Samantha scowled at her in a good natured way before looking at Jessie and nodding.
"That felt a lot more in control, but you still made it look easy." He just nodded and gestured once more at the target. Focusing herself once more she decided to keep her eye on the target this time, she wanted to see the impact. Losing a breath she narrowed her eyes under her goggles and squeezed the trigger. The tremendous force of the shot slammed through her chest in a pressure wave that she could feel in her very bones, but the feeling wasn't unpleasant, rather it gave her a strange sense of power. The fireball that erupted from the barrel obscured the target for a fraction of a second, and as it cleared she saw the splash of the bullet impacting the upper left of the target. The heavy target rocked back under the force of the blow and she heard the metallic ring as it resonated with the energy of the impact. She once again felt that same sense of awe as she looked at her hands, wrapped around this instrument of pure deadly chaos.
Turning to Jessie she asked "Where can I get one?" In a completely serious tone of voice.
Laughing he answered "Not anywhere around here unfortunately. But If I ever hear about one I will be sure to let you know first thing." He held his hand out and she placed the gun in his cybernetic fingers almost sadly. "I believe it's your turn to show me your gauss rifle now." He said cheerfully.
Turning to the table she began to check the gun's systems in a practiced manner, finding no issues she retrieved a magazine from her chest rig and slotted it onto the proper place at the upper rear of the gun. The magazine was interesting in that it held the slugs perpendicular to the barrel until they were rotated ninety degrees as they were fed into the acceleration chamber.
The slugs themselves were solid tungsten and shaped like slightly pointed cylinders, they would be fed into the gun and accelerated to several thousand meters per second in a few milliseconds. The result was a devastating weapon capable of firing in almost any environment, except underwater, gauss weapons were inferior to railguns in that respect, though they generally made up for it in a vastly superior rate of rife.
Hefting the bulky weapon she turned the power level way down to a more appropriate level before aiming it at the same target. She fired off three rounds in quick succession, the slugs exploding into shards in a spray of brilliant white sparks upon impacting the hardened titansteel target.
Turning towards Jessie she said "It's as easy as that."
"That wasn't as impressive as I had hoped. Did you turn the power down?" He asked in a disappointed way.
Samantha shrugged and answered "I turned it down to training levels, I'm not trying to kill the target you know." Creesh made an amused noise at her comment.
Jessie said "Samantha, this is a shooting range, that's a target designed to be shot, I'm sure it can handle a fully charged shot. This facility is built into the side of a hill so even on the off chance that a shot misses the target it wont do too much damage.
Samantha was skeptical. A fully charged gauss gun was not something to be trifled with, especially in an enclosed space like the shooting range. "I'm not sure about this, it feels like a bad idea Jessie."
Creesh argued "Oh c'mon Samantha. He is right, I'm sure the people who made this range took these kinds of weapons into account, I mean look at the target, it's got to be two or more inches of hardened titansteel."
Samamtha was not sure what to do. On one hand she agreed with them wholly, her situation was not helped by the fact that she had never fired her gun at full power before however. She had done some reading about the relative powers at play, but it was one thing to read about it, and quite another to actually pull the trigger herself.
Sighing she reached back and adjusted the power setting to max, as she did a small warning icon appeared and she ignored it. It was just a reminder that the weapon could be dangerous at this power setting. Like it wasn't plenty dangerous at just a fraction of max power. Settling into a comfortable firing stance she took aim at the target and squeezed the trigger.
The instant she pulled the trigger she knew something was terribly wrong as the terrific recoil of the accelerating projectile slammed the gun into her shoulder with brutal force. The power of the blow knocked her flat on her back and she wheezed as the air was smashed from her lungs, she just managed to keep herself from dropping the gun as she hit the floor.
Jessie let out a shout of alarm as she flew past him and Creesh screeched at the hypersonic crack of the slug as it ionized the air in its path leaving a shimmering trail of fizzing electrical wisps. As Samantha wheezed and got to her feet her jaw dropped in shock at the devastation she had caused. The heavy target had been smashed from its reinforced housing and was hanging at an angle from a single corner, the most shocking thing however was the nearly ten centimeter hole punched clean through it that was still glowing orange with residual heat.
Turning towards Jessie with her mouth still open she saw him start to laugh and couldn't help but join in. Pretty soon all three of them were laughing hysterically even as a group of people including other shooters and a few security staff came running over to see what in the name of Frine had happened.
**********
Neirdith was enjoying the relative quiet aboard the ship while all the others were gone. Skorr was still there of course, but they were quiet and so fit into the relaxed atmosphere quite well.
Without warning her assistant began to buzz and she sighed, if there was one thing that was sure to spoil her mood it would be an unneeded call. Joining the link, she was mildly surprised to see Briyn's impassive insectoid face appear.
"Isss now a good time? I have sssomething I need to discussss with you." He asked her.
Shrugging internally she replied "Now's as good a time as any. What is it I can do for you?"
Briyn looked slightly hesitant, his long antenna quivering and his face plates shifting into an unreadable expression "I have heard through variousss channelss that you may be preparing to depart on a journey to Highland Ssstation. Would I be correct in asssuming that?"
Neirdith shrugged visibly this time as she answered "It's the current plan yeah, we need to go pick up Seth first, but then we will be heading that way. Why do you ask?" She asked, suddenly suspicious.
"It'ss nothing like the first time I assked for a myssteriousss favor, I jusst have a passsenger commission for you, perssonal bussinessss. I have ssomeone who needsss transssportation to Highland and iss willing to work asss a cook to help cover their travel expenssesss."
"Okay, now you have me intrigued. Who is this mysterious chef?" Neirdith asked him while leading back into her padded command chair.
Briyn seemed to crack a smile, well as much as he could with chitinous faceplates over a lipless mouth "Ah, yess. The identity of the passsenger is part of the reasson for my call. The man in quesstion iss another Vinarfel and in actuality my older brother. He came over for a visssit and wass left ssstranded asss the original sship left for a nearby ssystem but never returned. I'm not exactly ssure what happened, but at the end of the day he needss a new transsport. Would you be able to help me?" The security commander asked her in a sincere way.
Nodding to herself a little, she turned her attention back to Briyn as she asked "I'm sure it won't be an issue Briyn. Just out of curiosity, how good of a cook is your brother?"
In response to this Briyn just cracked an even wider smile, waving his antenne he let loose a wheezing laugh and said "Good enough to have been brooded at leassst nine times. Make of that what you will." Neirdith raised an eyebrow. Nine times? Given that Vinarfel could have broods of five to twelve offspring every five years, that meant that his brother potentially had over one hundred children.
"I see your point, well I for one would love to have such a valuable passenger on board. We will get him there Briyn, never fear." She said dramatically.
Briyn responded "After the feats I have seen your team accomplissh, I have sssupreme confidence in your ability. He will meet you sssometime tomorrow. Thanksss again captain Neirdith, and pleassse accept my ssinceressst wisshesss for Sseth'ss wellbeing." Neirdith acknowledged the wish before bidding him farewell and severing the link.
This brother of his sounded interesting. She wondered what their story was, and how they had gotten to be such a remarkable cook. Standing from her seat she stood and was about to walk to her room for a quick rest when her assistant beeped again.
Raising it and answering the link she saw Samantha's face appear, before Neirdith could ask her what she needed, the view was directed towards a rather upset looking Nerivith male. "Are you captain Neirdith?" He asked heatedly.
"Yes I am, what is it you need?" She asked curiously, a little apprehensive of his tone. As he quickly explained the issue her face went from disbelief to anger and finally to amusement. It seems as though her crew had been making a splash without her. Chuckling to herself she apologized to the furious man and promised to come down to see the damage in person. Severing the link she shook her head and let out a full bellied laugh.
Still laughing, she called to Skorr to follow her and started towards what was sure to be an entertaining spectacle for sure.