At Home On the Range
Posted on Tue Sep 3rd, 2019 @ 4:54pm by Major Cornelius Tremble
Edited on on Tue Sep 3rd, 2019 @ 10:10pm
3,893 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
Episode 8 - The Silence
Location: Marine's Dedicated Range - Deck 13 - USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 1530 hrs
He hadn’t been there long, but the range was pretty much always set up. Neil made some smaller adjustments to the targeting sequences, run diagnostics and rack a selection of weapons.
The marine wasn’t sure if this was going to be Tallida’s type of thing, but she was due for quals and what was the point of being Second Officer if you couldn’t pull rank to spend time with someone?
He heard the hatch cycle and his eyes flickered to the a corner seeing it was Tallida as she walked into the Marines Dedicated Range.
Seeing Neil always seem to make her a little more excited, but she was dreading qualifications. She always did. Only once had she managed to get out of it all, but that wasn't going to work this time. She smirked as she entered the Marine range and walked over to him. "This is just like the one on the holodeck." She teased.
Neil smiled and turned his head, "It should. They modeled it after ours." He then turned the rest of the way and asked, "Excited? You look a bit breathless."
As they spoke, he handed her a set of protective glasses and a standard phaser holster.
Tallida stuck her tongue out at him in a very juvenile fashion as she took the glasses and began attempting to fasten the holster. Great, this wasn't even part of the training and she couldn't get the belt fastened. She looked up at Neil with a smirk. "Shut up." She said as she finally got it on.
He chuckled and nodded. "So the first part of all this is, based upon previous scores, is to go through the basics." He reached over, picked up a type II phaser and held it up. "This," he said, tapping the emitter end, "Is where the pretty lights come out. Next he tapped the butt. "This is the boom sticks handle."
He saw her face and bit off a grin as he continued, "You know about the settings...the right buttons to push to get the desired results. I have witnessed that personally so we don't necessarily need to go over it here..."
"Pointy end goes in the other man," Tallida said sarcastically with a shake of her head as she watched him walk her through the basic. She could only hope this would be more fun than it typically with was with a surly security officer.
"Excellent. From now on, we'll go through things from here as required." Neil handed her the phaser and watched her holster it and said, "Good. You've got that down too. Next, step up to the line and we'll try basic marksmanship."
Tallida turned obediently stepping up to the line. She looked down at her feet walking herself through the motions of what she had been taught about foot placement. All of her movements were very methodical and stiff. She finally looked down the range, pulled her phaser and fired.
His contact registered a hit, but on the edge."Ok. Freeze," he told her. When she paused, he moved up and stood behind her. "Right. You hate this and it shows in your shooting." He ran a hand from her tricep to her wrist, straightening it and said, "Your stance is too rigid, but your elbows not locked."
He gently straightened her arm until the elbow locked and breathed in her ear, "Relax. Look at the target, but don't focus on it. Focus instead on the weapon's sites. Then gently touch that trigger."
"I don't hate it," She replied her breath catching in her throat slightly. "I just am not good at it," She turned to look at him for a moment watching his hand travel down her arm to her hand. She cleared her throat trying to focus on what he was telling her and not his proximity. Her eyes closed slightly at the breath against her ear, but she recovered quickly enough and pulled the trigger hitting the target.
He grinned as her target flashed a center hit. "Much better, but you have to be relaxed and keep a steady stance too. Stepping back slightly, Neil slid his hands down first arranging her hips, then bent and slid her left foot forward, his hand firm on the back of her calf.
Straightening again, he slipped in closer behind her and wrapped his right forearm around her waist, sliding his other hand along her arm once more, extending it.
"Lead foot forward, turned slightly. Keep your core solid, but muscles loose as you aim, arm fully extended." Then he smiled into her ear, his breath switching to a whisper. "Take in a breath, release half then touch the stud."
Tallida smirked at his game, but she was enjoying target practice for the first time ever. She couldn't resist and leaned back into him as she followed his instructions. A thought occurred to her. "So, are you this hands on with all your students, Captain?" She teased before taking a breath and firing down range.
"Not many," he admitted. "Sergeant Flarn at times, but usually he's got this wired." He let her lean against him as his arms tightened about her, then he leaned into her, pushing her body straighter. "On the balls of your feet, Tallida. You need to be ready to move."
He got her realigned toward the targets and grinned, "Focus on the center mass, align your sights, then aim in. Breath and squeeze."
Tallida couldn't help the little grin that crossed her face. "Just business, got it." She teased as she took the position. She tried to relax, which wasn't the easiest with Neil in such close proximity. She let out a breath and squeezed the trigger doing her best not to jerk her hand around.
A tone sounded as she fired and he smiled. "Near bullseye. Good. Now practice that same firing sequence for the next while till I tell you to stop," he instructed. He backed away, watching her form as she fired. After three minutes of steady firing, he called a halt and grinned. "That's better. You're staying relaxed and doing some good shooting with that broom handle."
It was often the angosian was thankful for the amount of physical training she had until she was standing with her arm extended for a length of time. She didn't say anything, only gave him a smirk.
Next he led her over to a small training room which had a table, chairs and a replicator. He offered her a chair and asked "Time for break. Do you want anything to eat or drink?"
Tallida plopped down in the chair easily as she looked up at him, "Oh, uh, how about a tea." She was sick of the beverage as soon as the word slipped her lips. "Nevermind, just a water." She corrected, her dislike of a previously enjoyable beverage noticable on her lips. "Do you like teaching people?"
He eyed her for a moment, then said. "Computer. Two ice-teas, use mom's recipe." Once the beverages materialized on the replicator plate in the center of the table, he pulled a musette bag from beneath the table and pulled out a OD flask with a red cross on it. Neil winked at her as he poured a measure into each of the glasses, stirred it and then replaced the flask and slid her over the iced tea. "Medicinal use only, but there's some fair bourbon in there. Ask me later where it came from," he chuckled.
"What's wrong with tea, or was that look due to something else? Teaching is good training. All Marines learn to teach and I don't get to play with weapons too much anymore unless we're in the field or prepping for missions. So, I get a few hours in teaching when I can. Especially when an extraordinarily beautiful woman who likes to get naked with me needs to qualify."
She let out a laugh and her cheeks flushed at his compliment, like usual. "You remember how you asked me if inviting the crew into my office to make themselves as home was normal?" She started as she took a sip of the iced tea. It was cold and refreshing and made all the better for the bourbon. "Well, everyone, and I do mean everyone that has come into my office has wanted tea." She let out a sigh. "I miss medicine." She half smiled at him taking another sip. "I find people facinating, but everyone is like you, and convinced I can't do my job."
He gestured behind him with his thumb at the range then twisted his wrist to point at her. "Maybe because you're heart isn't in it? You want to help, but in our session you were so distracted by my rugged good looks that you seemed to just be parroting the book and going through motions. Then, when I displayed some of my more endearing qualities it set you off. Hard to counsel someone you want to stab with pointy things."
"Kinda like starting on the range today," he continued, "You were just trying to get through it. That's why I tried alter your mood and make it entertaining for you. That'll make qualifying easier in the future."
She rolled her eyes at him. "Good thing I don't have to counsel you anymore." She stuck her tongue out at him and she gave him a laugh with a shake of her head. "Stabbing patients isn't a good thing." She pausing taking another sip and arranging her thoughts. "I love psychology, but more as it applies to the study of why people work the way they do." She shook her head. "It isn't like I had a lot of options. Most COs don't want me on their ship, and I don't want to be anywhere near Earth right now." She looked over at him. "Thank you, by the way. I typically pass my qualifications just not with high marks."
He nodded, meeting her eyes. "Sure, I'm just saying. You might not have a choice, but you could get better at it. That's another reason I keep teaching. It makes me better." He made an adjustment to the replicator and a steaming bowl of goop appeared. Neil sniffed at it, grunted something about "Meatloaf" and took a bite.
He took another and told her, "Hey. It's crunchy today." Then he took a sip from his drink and said, "Maybe you didn't have a lot of choice but you're part of the Pioneer family now. Talk to your boss and Malbrooke if you'd like a change." Then he said, randomly "By the way. I've heard some people call you Talli. I call you Tallida, and someone mentioned you being referred to as Lolly .... do you have a preference in there?"
"Don't," She said with an almost immediate change in demeanor. "Call me Lolly." She forced herself to look away from him and take a sip of her tea as she tried to hide embarrassment from her overreaction to the nickname. "I normally prefer Talli." she started finally look back at him with a smile. "But.." She rose from her chair, moving to sit on his lap. Her eyes roamed over his face, taking him all in. "There is something about how you say my name, that I love." She smiled before kissing him.
He smiled and kissed her back, setting down the Marine Supplement and held her. Minutes later, he said "I did kind of wonder about that. I wasn't necessarily going to stop calling you Tallida, but...these things are important to know."
"And, for the record, I like how you say my name too." He told her. Then smiled, "How you say it. How you murmur it at opportune times....which gets louder...travels through several octaves and stretches out..."
Talli rolled her eyes at him. "Are you always so full of yourself?" she asked, "Wait, don't answer that. I know the answer." She grinned. "So, on the topic of names, Neil? Cornelius? Cory?" she used the last name as a tease.
He peered at her and said,. "It doesn't matter. It all sounds good when you murmur it...then it gets louder...ranges over the octaves and stretches out as it gets lower again...."
She leveled her eyes at him, wrapping her arms over his shoulders as she toyed with the short hair on the back of his neck. "So, are we going to get back to range practice? Or..." She asked with a bemused smile. "I can't think of other fun stuff we can do." Her smile turned devious as she gave him a kiss.
He returned her kiss, then slapped her rump and shook his head. "No, you've got a few more routines to go through. But, if you'd like to have supper with me tonight, we can discuss this fun stuff."
He took a couple of more bites from the bowl, then led her out into the range again and stopped near the middle. "This is a modified Marine course that will satisfy the rest of your qualifications this quarter. A little something we call Grinder 1. Normal ten inch target orbs will pop at what appear to be ranges between one and 20 meters. They'll pulse for between 3 to 5 seconds before disappearing and you will be presented with multiple targets."
Neil gestured around, "Since this is a semi-combat course, targets will be all around. You select the ones to fire at. You'll mainly get blue orbs. Some orbs will be blushing red. Those indicate a greater threat and are worth more, but they are eight inch orbs and only last up to 2 seconds. They're teamed with amber orbs of the same size and duration which are 'innocents'. Shooting them mean that you just burned down a friendly."
The range lights came up and a green box appeared in the floor, approximately 2 meters long and half a meter wide
Neil gestured toward the box and grinned at Talli as he knelt down to observe and be out of her way.
"Ready? Any questions?"
Tallida watched him while he spoke. Her mind did drift a bit, choosing to thinking about the dinner she had agreed too rather than this. She realized that he was asking her a question and she smiled at him. "Since you seem hell bent on this," she gave him a wink as she took her position at the firing line easily mimicking the stance he had her in prior to their break.
It was easy enough when the orbs first appeared. She hit a few and missed others giving Neil a shrug which caused an orb or two to hit the ground and disappear. What got harder as the orbs pace quickened was to keep up the rouse that firing a phaser was a challenge. Her heightened reflexes and hand eye coordination took over resulting in very few orbs managing to reach the bottom of the range before she hit them solid mass. Even her attempts to hit the amber orb to manage expectations failed as her instincts took over.
Neil watched.
Well, he and the computer. Using the contact to map the visual did make things easier and as Tallida worked through the program, it detected a pattern. At first, she'd started to buy in...to not over think, but to just react. Then, according to the computer, her reflexes actually slowed about half way through, indicating she was taking overly measured shots. Then the tempo increased as she fell back onto reflexes.
Neil let the program play out and as the final burst of bubbles layered the deck up to their knees, commented "Very nice. I'm not sure what you were doing in the middle there though. Trying to tank your score, Tallida?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Tallida replied with a smirk. "Told you I wasn't good at this." She put the phaser in the holster happy to have it out of her hand. She looked at the mess in front of them. She would tell him later that it was actually pretty fun.
He walked over to her as the holographic bubbles disappeared and asked her, "Scores enough to pass and about a 22% improvement over last quarter. Want another go?"
I have an idea..." She started stepping up to him and giving him a sweet, short kiss. "Show me?"
Neil returned her kiss. At the suggested he take a turn, he raised an eyebrow at her then shrugged. “Alright, I suppose.”
He cleared his throat and said, “Computer, reset range. Activate module Grinder VI. Include Lieutenant Ovaa in the simulation.” A green circle appeared on the floor and the lights dimmed as the Computer acknowledged, “Ready. Target orbs reset to 50 meter hand phaser course, Grinder VI.”
Neil grinned at the blonde, “Don’t move, Tallida." Then he kissed her and took the phaser from her holster before walking over to the green circle. He took a stance and rolled his shoulders, then said. “Computer, activate Grinder VI.”
Immediately, target bubbles began falling from the ceiling and welling from the darkness. Neil began firing as he caught site of the first 2” orbs, fire streaming from the hand phaser as he indexed and fired rapidly. Red flashing orbs popped into existence rather than falling, sometimes in groups of ambers and other times in small groups of their own.
He moved his focus on those and the phaser’s beams reached out, bursting red orb after red orb. Thirty seconds in, red orbs began flickering around Tallida and he concentrated his fire on those. Fire lanced out around her, clearing those targets before turning and engaging other red orbs that had sprung up behind him.
Now he was swiveling his head constantly, catching the targets in his peripheral and turning at the waist to engage them as quickly as he could.
After 90 seconds, the orbs began shrinking in size and his firing slowed as he had to concentrate more and the red orbs converged on him and Ovaa.
After two minutes, Tallida was coated with floating, slightly warm buzzing orbs and a horn sounded. The orbs all popped with flashes of glitter then and showered her with sparkling lights before the sim faded.
Neil straightened, sweat beading his face and he grinned at Tallida, “We died.” Then he walked over and re-holstered the phaser, smiling down into her face. “I suck.”
"You do a little," She nodded in teasing agreement. "I might have to trade you in for a better marine." She couldn't help the smile on her face as she extended up and gave him a kiss. "That was actually, pretty impressive." She looked over his face for a moment before looking around the room at all the orbs around them. "Want me to try again?" she offered. "If you make the score unofficial, I won't hold back this time." She spoke softly, practically a whisper.
"Deal. And that goes for everything with me, Tallida. No holding back," Neil said, chucking her under the chin and kissing her."
He reset the range for Grinder I and gave her a nod. "Ready, steady. Set, Go!"
****
The bubbles ceased falling and the lights came back up throughout the range area and he grinned and walked over to Tallida. "Very nice shooting, I'm proud of you."
She blushed, deeply. She holstered her weapon, coming up when any reason not to look up at him. "Thanks," she said softly. She finally looked up at him tipping her toe against the line she was standing. "I don't..," she started. "I tend to hold back with everyone." She gave him a shrug. "My attempts of appearing normal." she laughed at the ridiculousness of the statement. "Anyways,"
He rested his hands on her shoulders and said, "Tallida, I know it's been hard. But you're on the Pioneer now and at home. Be genuine with people...be yourself. Don't hide. You can be yourself."
Then he kissed her and grin quirked his lips. "Wait...holding back. Don't tell me you were holding back the other night...the furniture..."
The Angosian flushed, there was something about being behind closed doors that gave her more confidence than standing in the middle of the Marine's range. She smiled up at him. "Maybe a little." She grinned. "You know, Malbrooke told me the same thing." She continued. "That I am home now."
"There you go," he nodded to her. "If you're not yourself, you'll continue along the lines you have...and it seems you want to break from your shell. So, you're home. I've dedicated my life and will lay it down to make sure you and all citizens of the Federation are free to do the same thing."
He grinned then, "And if you were holding back, I might just not make it after all...but it would be a good way to go."
Tallida instantly apologized looking down at her shoe. She of course took the comment to mean that she was doing something wrong, which was a default setting. She looked up at him, his grin telling her something other than that she was wrong. "I didn't mean to scare you." A faint smile made itself known on her lips. "Sorry, I keep apologizing." she added ironically.
"I wasn't scared Talida," he chuckled. "A bit of an ass hat again, I think, since I gave you a speech, when I should have given you this..." He stepped to her, wrapped his arms around her and then straightened, lifting her from her feet. "I'm sorry. You don't need me to feed you speeches..." He gave her a slow kiss.
Her hands had rested on her arms and were now moving up to cup his face. She loved kissing him. She was breathless when the kiss ended. She looked up at him with a smile. "I like you speeches," She started. "Granted, I like your kisses more." She leaned up kissing him again. "So, what time should I come over for dinner?"
"I don't know," he told her, setting her onto her feet. "Come over at six. We can eat at seven thirty or so." His eyes were twinkling as he innocently straightened her uniform.
"Mmmm," She hummed at him as she set to smoothing her hands along his uniform to ensure that he looked like the prim marine he was. "I will make sure I have a snack before I get there." She looked down at her watch she let out a sigh. "I have to get going." She said with disappointment before stretching up and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "See you tonight."
"Another date? He asked, as she turned and headed for the hatch.
"Yep, I am teaching the Security Chief how to paint, and I am already late." She said before stopping and giving him a wink over her shoulder before heading out the door. "Love you," she called without realizing she had said it as she disappeared into the corridor.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Tallida Ovaa
Chief Counselor, USS Pioneer
Captain Cornelius Tremble
Marine Commanding Officer/Second Officer, USS Pioneer
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