Phaser Certification

Posted on 19 May 2017 @ 3:03am by Lieutenant JG Felix Langston & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant Richard Metsker

2,106 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: Phaser Range, USS Black Hawk
Timeline: MD2 || 1345 Hours

Rich stood on the Phaser Range and wasn’t very happy. While his score was above average and he would have passed the certification, it was below his last score and his best score. Rich stripped down his phaser, cleaned it, and reassembled it. He also checked the targeting system before activating the safety and holstering it.

Langston and Djinx should be arriving soon for their certification and Rich wanted to have the range set and ready when they arrived so they weren’t wasting their time, he knew they had duties to get back to too.

Arjin had received a message from a Lieutenant Metsker for a phasor certification appointment. He did not know who this Lieutenant Metsker was and why he thought Arjin needed phasor Practice. He decided to either ignore the man or tell him what he thought about his message. Instead he decided to look up who the officer was first.

It seemed he was the new assistant Chief Security Officer. Since Arjin did not know him nor his boss the new CSO, he decided to head over to the Phasor range instead.

As the doors opened he saw a Human male wearing a yellow uniform. The face matched the one he had seen when accessing the Lieutenant's file earlier. Arjin entered the room and turned to the man. "Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx. You needed me?"

Rich looked up from a PADD he was holding and with his typical smile replied, "Lieutenant Commander Dijinx?" I'm Lieutenant Metsker, the new Assistant Chief Security Officer, at the Captain's request Lieutenant Moreau has has asked me to certify you here on the phaser range."

Arjin arched an eyebrow. "He did? I mean,this comes from the captain? Do you have a written order stating that?"

Rich turned the PADD to face the Commander, "Here's the order from Lieutenant Moreau, below that is the Captain's written order." He turned the PADD back to face him, "Ready to proceed?"

Arjin took the PADd from the Lietenant's hands and skimmed it. "Hmm, I see. He really wants us prepared for every event then.", he muttered. "Very well then. Lets get this over with."

Felix walked into the phaser range holding a PADD with his orders to be phaser certified on it. He saw the gold-shirted men talking to one another and decided to make his presence known. He walked up and extended a hand.

"Lieutenant Langston reporting for phaser certification," he said to the man he was positively sure was Lt. Metsker. "Looks like y'all are about to get started."

Rich flashed that smirk of his, "Lieutenant Langston welcome." He walked over to the range's control panel, "If you both would be so kind as to step forward, take a phaser from the locker, and load the power cells, we can get started."

Felix nodded and headed over to the locker. The door opened with a hiss, revealing the phasers and their power cells on separate shelves. Felix mechanically reached in and grabbed a power cell from the upper shelf and a phaser, loading the weapon in one smooth motion. He took his place back where the other two men stood.

Arjin sighed and walked over to the locker, picking up a phasor and activating it by putting in the power cell. It wasn't because he did not like violence or that he wore a blue uniform that he sucked at the exercise. He wasn't a Security sharpshooter, but his grades on the exercise had always been well above average.

"Ready when you are.", was all he said.

Rich watched the Lieutenant Commander seemingly nonchalant as he picked up and load a phaser after sighing. "Is there a problem Commander?"

"I hope not if I'm to shoot with one of these.", he stated rather sarcastically.

Rich smirked, "So do I, the way you were handling the weapons you're just as likely to shoot off your own foot as you are to hit the target." His reply was equally sarcastic. "Now please, take your place at the firing line and we can both get this over with." He continued to smirk as he prepared the first targets.

Arjin could not help but smile at the reply of the Lieutenant. It was not his fault Arjin did not like phasors.
"We would not like that to happen.", he replied. "Sorry for the bad mood."

He took his place at the end of the line and aimed. Ready to start.

"No apology needed, as long as no feet go missing, I'm rather attached to mine." Rich replied with a smile, then his tone turned more serious. "The first few with be static targets, we're looking at accuracy here more than speed." He tapped a button on the control panel and several bright targets appeared down range. "Fire when ready."

Felix immediately opened fire on the targets, taking careful aim at each one. His pilot's eye helped him zero in on each target, exhaling as he fired. The targets popped up and went down in a rhythmic fashion. Felix hadn't used a phaser in a long time, but his training had served him well.

Arjin Focussed at the targets. His Starfleet training kicking in. Together with the steadiness of hand needed for science experiments and vivid reflexes from his second host's memories, he was able to hit all of the targets.

Rich tapped in a few comments and recorded the scores. “These next targets will be at different distances. Same as before, accuracy over speed.” He tapped in a few commands and the new targets appeared.

Felix's blue targets popped up at a further distance this time. He readied his stance, raised his phaser and fired at the first target. Hit! Another one popped up to his left. Accuracy over speed, he thought. He took a breath and exhaled as he fired. Another hit, dead center. With each target, he took a breath before firing, doing his best to keep cool.

Placing the targets at disequal distances did not much to put Arjin off. Being a Stellar Cartographer major, he was used to 3D thinking. Staying focussed was the only thing that was needed. Using the techniques Ieuan thought him, he did just that. Focussing on accuracy he hit the targets with the phasor beam.

Once that set of targets were complete, Rich smirked as he typed in a few notes on his PADD. "Alright, this next test will incorporate accuracy with speed and trigger discipline. The next set of targets will be at varying distances like before, however yellow targets indicate 'friendlies' while red or blue are 'hostile'. You each have done well on accuracy, so let's see how you do under a little more pressure. You'll have sixty seconds. Ready," he paused for a second, "begin."

Okay, yellow is friendly, blue and red are hostiles, Felix thought as he readied his phaser to begin the next round. Two blue targets popped up, Felix dispatched them both. A second later, a blue popped up next to a red one, Felix fired at both, taking them both down expediently. Then, Felix saw a yellow and blue appear, he took a second and focused. Blue is hostile, he thought while he squeezed the fire button on the phaser. The orange beam connected with the blue target while the yellow faded away. Three reds then surrounded a yellow. Felix took careful aim and fired three measured shots, taking a breath between each one.

Felix then saw a plethora of targets before him. Blues, reds, and yellows were all mixed in together. He didn't to make a complete rest assessment. He simply started firing from left to right, taking a pause between each shot to make sure it was the right kind of target. Blue. Move right. Red. Move right. Yellow. Don't fire. Yellow don't fire. Red. Red. Fire away. Yellow. Don't fire. Felix kept going until all that remained were yellow targets. He took a deep, satisfied breath.

"How's that?" he asked Lt. Metsker. "Eagle Eye, right?"

Rich smirked, “Very good.” He typed in a few comments then turned his attention to Arjin and waited for him to complete the stage.

"Of course yellows are friendly.", Arjin thought. "Blasted thing was programmed for the security department.

This excersice was trickier for him. But he would approuch it as he always had done before. Focussing on the yellow and disregard the rest except for shooting it. It had served him well before. All that was needed was concentration and keeping a broad view on the space before him.

He saw the first target appear to his left. It was blue. Zap and it was down. Next came a red and yellow. Keeping his eye on the yellow, he hit the red target and once again it dissapeared. Controlling his breath was key to controlling his shooting hand. Though be was sure he had not killed a yellow target, he hoped he did not miss any of the others.

Again, Rich smirked, “Okay, good.” He typed in a more few comments then looked back up at Langston and Djinx.

"All right, we have one more stage. This one will cover everything we've done before but also add in varying elevations and targets will also be in a wider lateral range too." Rich motioned toward a slightly raised platform over to the side. "You'll go one at a time. Targets can be up to ninety-degrees to your right or left and up to forty-five degrees above to ten degrees below your position." Rich had already decided against pressing Langston and Djinx into the more Security designed test where they would have to walk though a laid out course and having to fire on the move. Both had done well so far and this final test, if they passed, would indeed certify them.

"Whoever wants to go first, just step up, and we'll begin." Rich said with a smile, ready to start the final stage.

Arjin stepped forward again. Blowing over the top of his phasor like he had seen in old earth movies. I think they called them Westerns. "I will go first if that is ok with you, Sherrif", he joked.

Rich smirked.

Putting one feet slightly before the other, he put most of his weight on his right leg and lowered his gravety point a bit. It might not look the part, but it gave him a better angle at the higher and wider targets.

The first target to appear was a yellow target in the top left of the room. Arjin swung around with his arm and aimed but did not press. Next two were red targets. Two swift hits and they were down. He had to keep in motion to keep track of all what was trown at him. But he was unde the impression his score would not be too bad.

Felix stepped up next and raised his phaser. Almost immediately, he saw a cluster of blue and yellow targets appear to his right. He breathed and squeezed off four shots, all nailing the blue targets. Two red targets popped up in his peripheral right. Two more shots eliminated the targets. A blue and yellow appears near the ceiling. He paused and raised his phaser. Hit blue.

Three red targets popped up near his feet. He knelt down and took three shots, hitting the. Dead center on every one. Five more targets replaced them, this time spread throughout the room. Felix whipped his his head. Red target. Fire. Blue. Fire. Yellow. Hold. Red. Fire. Yellow. Hold.

The lights came back on as Felix holstered his phaser. "How'd I do, sir?" he asked the assistant chief. "Eagle Eye again?"

Rich looked over the scores for both Officers. He tapped in a few comments, then saved everything and sent them to Lieutenant Moreau for final review and to sign off. "You both did well and scored passing grades."

Rich motioned toward the weapons locker, "If you'll both unload your weapons and store them please, then you're free to go. Good work." He let his nearly ever present smirky smile show again as he deactivated the range and waited for both Arjin and Langston to depart.

"Free to go. Sounds about good to me.", Arjin replied making sure the weapon was secured and stored properly.

"Thank you, sir," Felix said as he nodded and walked towards the weapons locker. He placed the phaser and power cell in their respective places and smiled as he walked out, confident that he had done well on his exam.

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