located at the starboard,stern corner is the  door to the  Range...a crewman is always assigned  and logs folks  in and out.

  There  are 16   stalls.. with a ledge.. there are indents  on the ledge  to hold the barrels of longarms.

  There are three types of targets... Paper, Soft composite  Dummy flesh... and  Metal.

  At the far end ( all the way to the Hull ) is a storage area.. the shoters  will call down to the storage, and crewman ( and some civies who pick up extra creds) with hang the target.... once they have secured the plating..a green  light will go on..allowing the shooter to move the target it closer   to the distance that they wish.. the  range is roughly 1/4 the width of the ship.

  There are  different taregts..90%  of those in stock are Empire targets...demond, Largrans, Creshians of various  types, Avains.... they have some Hillites  and roussians , but they are  just making them...there are , of course, Humans, as well as the smaller Qarl. The other 10 % are   beasts from other  worlds like the Centaur like  creature from  the Green Moon, and the Black sludge creatures... as well as the Prylocs , the  'dragons'.

  Use of  MGs  and Heavy pulse guns  are restricted to certain days of the week. since there is  greater  danger  of   stray rounds.

    Garrat enters in combat gear.  his heavy rifle on his back.  He looks around to see if Ma-Te has showed up and sets up at a station

 Mi-Ta arrives a minute of so Behind  GArrat, she has a case for her  rifle and wears  two side arms.

 Her  Helmet is in her other hand, and she is  wearing the  foram huuging  Angel elite dark suit.

    Garrat was in the process of examining his practice munitions to make sure they were all safety rounds so his high caliber weapon wouldn't punch a hole in a bulkhead.  He looked up and seemed a little distracted for a moment [the shell he had in his hand and hit the floor]

    The tall Angel had a body bordering on perfection by human standards with her chestnut red hair cascading across the Ebony armor.  There was an unconscious grace to her movement that went beyond most of her species.  This being had been raised to be a warrior with a seasoned commander as a father and a black ops assassin as a mother.  She had the swap of a predator that knew what it was capable of, and the form fitting armor only served to accent it.  For the first time in his life Garrat understood why the humans of mid guard called them angels.

    "Nice,"  He laughed, half sardonically, half in the true admiration he couldn't keep from his voice. "And how do you expect me to concentrate on my shooting with you looking like that?"

 She smiles  slightly there was a bit a shift in her  eyes  as she looked at him, then  down range.

 ..consider  it a training aid? Our armor does not  leave anything , that could get caught on obstructions , to chance...

 Lifting her helmet, she points to  the slot next to Garrat,..I will take this  slot... How do we set out  targets?

   "My weapon is more powerful than most so getting fancy might not be a good Idea.  Right now I need to focus more on technic rather than actual targeting.  A man forgets much when he tries to knock Astra out of orbit with his own rusty hide."

   He shifts the rifle up to his shoulder.  "I modified this baby to shoot fully automatic but the gas bleed that recocks the gun affects the spin on the bullet giving it a greater drop of when not on single fire so for now I'll practice one shot at a time."

   "I'll use a paper target a yard in front of steel plate, at maximum distance.  I'm not here to learn how to draw from the hip.  The paper target will show the accuracy down to the millimeter and the safety rounds will not pierce the steel."

    While she listens to Garrat. she begins to build her rifle..... If i understand  rightly. There is the  wall that the  target people work behind.. and then the  Hull of the ship?

  .. I will use  the flesh targets?.. i like to see the  'blood' through the scope. to make sure if it was a kill or no...

   "It does leave one with a certain satisfaction doesn't it."
Garrat sets up and takes his first volley of shoots using all the tricks he knows.

    There is  a sniff as she says,..flesh targets ..have the  fluid, it is  thicker then blood.. so?.. you  are able to watch the  'blood' well up from your wound.. if you hit the  target in the kill spots.. the blood  will gush.. .. so if you  are off by a tiny bit.. you just get the wound , rather then the kill.

 ..one does notm always get to see you or target fall.. so knowing your spots is  key.

    "That could be helpful but there is a small problem with it in my case."  Garrat signals for one such flesh target to be set up for him...With the lack of space on board a ship, the range can't be incredibly deep.  In this calm environment he should be able to land a shot fairly center on the chest of a Demon target.

    The safety rounds are designed to kill a target without punching through walls beyond them and injuring collateral targets.  This means that when hitting a target they spread out greatly using an interior of soft lead and scored tips causing it to split open in a cross pattern, ripping a wider wound.  A 55cal sniper round is a lot of lead to spread out in an enemy body with an entrance wound the size of a golf ball and an exit wound the size of a basketball.  At mach 1.5 these bullets make the unarmored flesh target literally explode, spraying goo in all directions.  Hopefully the man setting these things up saw this coming and was able to be out of line of site of the targets.

    "I just don't get a sense of how accurate I am with these targets."

  ..yes.. this is  so... but that same  round hitting a demon in battle armor might not get the effect. unless you hit , just so?

  ..most troopers    are trained to hit  center mass..... Angel elites  are trained to lit arteries .. neck. Groin..right below below the belly and  the ehart..needless to say, the ehad is  the best target.. but a sniper can't awlays  get a good shot  if they are  moving or  running.

Garrat shrugs. "Fifty, fifty chance on that.  I only use these rounds in here so they don't cut through the bulkhead.  A standard round will punch through the armor and the force of it passing into the abdominal cavity would still liquefy the organs.  I Cut a Black Quarl in two on the Largaran moon."

   He signals to go back to the original target, "I'll just have to examine the target to see where I'm hitting.  But the holes should be visable through the scope."


    He looks back at her,  "Again, it's my firing technic I need to work on first.  Once I rebuild good habits then I can worry about the rest."

    she loads  a long, capsulized,pulse round.. the tips is hard metal....she speaks  softly as she looks through the sight of  an Anglesteel Star 100...  she kneels holding the  big weapon in her  hands.

  ..if you have a round, that can pierce the Hull of  a cap ship.. then we need to scrap this  can..... she sighted in on the Greenish  Largrans target, showing from the waist up.

 the Crosshairs settled  , Just bellow the throat.. her pull of the tripper made a sound of someone sucking in a breath..almost at the same instant, there was a flashed where the chest bone met the  Neck, the of the  Neck and  shoulder   blow out, severing the spinal cord..'blood' spurted like a fountain.

  she made a crooked smile,..my training CAptain, called that a Morale Kill.... you find one of the Biggest.. or   an officer and get a kill like that?... the troops lose heart.

 she shrugs,Only works  at the beginning of a fight.. or if there is a charge... perhaps if you can  find the COmmand Post and take  out a few officers..doesn't help much if the battle is already joined...

In reply to Garrat (msg # 13):

“Nope, just enough to punch through a couple of bulkheads but there might be people we like on the other side of the wall.”

That’s a good tactic,  there are some fun tricks we used to use to demoralize some enemies “

  MI-Ta ..she  smiles grimly we have  Angel Steel weapons  that are given to the best... but  we never use   angel steele on throw away weapons... we use   ordinary steel for  most  bullet tips.. except for  when we  fight Demons.. we use the  rusty..old  steel or even lead.. it is amazing, how fast  the poison creeps into thier  system.

     Garrat nods as he sights.  "Rust affects the flight in the smaller caliber."  He breaths and takes a shot. "There is a trick to shooting between heart beats that I've never been successful with.  Any tips?"

  She slowly slips the next round in, as if she was in the  field.... she adjusts her scope...ever so slightly.

  Then pulls the trigger..again , the weapons  sounded  more like an inhale and the Battered Target jerked on the  chains as the weapon entered  , just under where a Largran's heart would be, then blew out the  back...

 she studied the carnage with a frown...

 "...Ma'am... would you like  a New  Target?.."

 .. no... there is enough there  for another  shot.. Thank you...

 She  looked at Garrat.....that was a good  half  inch..overlap..it would have destroyed many organs...but i hate being off my mark..

 ..as  for your heart beat? you must train yourself to control you breathing... to slow everyhting  down..anger...worry..love..hate... humours..sad.... it all has to go away as you look through the scope...then... you must time breath..with the pull of the triigger, as it slows  you heart....meditive breathing..in your quarters.. by a lake..anywhere like that.. we aid you in this.

    Garrat nods silently and makes a click of acknowledgement in his throat, then realizing she can't see him or hear his click through a whisper mike, says "Thank you, I would appreciate that."  His head was far into the field mentality. "Part of the problem is even with all the sound muffling enhancements, a bullet traveling at that speed still makes a sonic boom.  It's hard to be as focused with the noise."

    She  giggles  softly as  she slips the Third  round into the chamber,..by the  time you hear the boom?.. the target should be dead.....

  when you spoke of the  rust and damaged bullets ?.. one only has to wound a demon with them.. let them suffer from the after effects?... we even give Creshians  a cleaner death.

    Grrat continues to practice, if available he asks for silhuetes of enemy armor equipment such as mechs, tanks, and transports.  He Targets Pilot compartments, engines, and propulsion servos, even shoots the battery compartments.  He practices nailing the central nervous system on the UEs.

   He slowly empties two of the massive B-clips in prone and hunkered positions and straightens up stretching his back. An audible popping can be heard.

   With a few exceptions Garrat has always been pretty cool in battle for a human.  However he thinks about the angel's tendency for complacency might hide a strength in planning and executing projects related to patience. "I'm up for a break.  How about you."

   As he contemplates the targets, Garrat thinks a bit.  Maybe sniping should be an option on a bigger scale.  He checks the directories and calls a forge ship, "This is Sergeant Garrat on the Hermes.  Were there any Largan Mechs on the captured Largan fleet ships?"

  Mi-Ta   calls back and  tells the  crew to remove target and that she was done, for now.

  ..I can take a break. Snipers  do not always get  a rest, but? i was here to shoot, not practice  stealth...


............

 The Forge ship  answers,  Sgt?.. we have no idea the Bigger  scrap is being taken to the Matterhorn... we know there are some LArgrans ships that are goign to be taken into the  Delta fleet.. yo might  want to ask them once they finished  refits and such.

In reply to Garrat (msg # 21):

Garrat apologises to Ma-Ti for the interuption and toggles through the digital directory and makes some calls to contact anyone manning the captured ships and ask the same questions before the mechs get marched into the smelter.

 all calls   are answered with "... the   CO  will be notified ...and will contact the Hermes at thier  next convenience .."

  Garrat closses off the cpm and looks at MA-Ti "Would you like to go watch football practice with me while I reload my clips?"