Private Bless You

[Mercy]

A snort.

"Yeah, I figured. The anti-materiel rifles look karkin' sweet, but pretty sure I'd break mah shoulder rather than hit anything."

Which wasn't a big issue usually.

She could re-set her shoulder and have it be healed by the end of... the day? Something like that. These days though... the mood on the Pomojema was a bit more precarious. Everyone was looking over their shoulder. Everyone wondering if anyone else would make a move on the 'throne', so to speak. Mercy thought it likely the ship would descend into a civil war soon.

If Ashin wasn't pulled back out of Jedi Jail.

She looked over Moran's shoulder at the archive. Brows quirked up as she saw those weird arse critters. "Huh, what about... that one..." As Mercy reached out and picked a specific entry.

Abherin. Where Mercy fought for her life... and apparently Ashin had been there too.

"I was there that day." Thoughtful as she pondered on that. "Some sniper shot rescued mah life pretty sure. Didn't realize that was Ashin."

Mercy didn't like that.

It meant she owed her life to the mother hen. That... that complicated things for her.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"That's the Captain for you," said Moran with a chuckle. "I wouldn't call her anything like altruistic, but she does enjoy being the one to save the day. Let's see, she was using this one...a 'Revenant Industries Modular Blaster Mark One.' Invisible blaster shot, no muzzle flash, Nightshadow coating, decent range. Very nice."

He squinted at one of the display panels and opened a shelf on the central console. It held four anticoncussion shoulder pads.

"Would you look at this. The authentic Bard Independent rigs. Miniaturized inertial compensators and anticoncussion fields, to reduce recoil so she can fire the big guns without ripping her arm off. Go on, give one a try. I'll be browsing."

 

[Mercy]

Ashin Cardé Varanin

A snort.

"She does at that. I have read dozens of stories about her- lady always managed to get herself in the spotlight, one way or the other." She smiled as she took up one of the shoulder pads, looking at it from one direction and the next. "Fancy as feth. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of this 'crisis' she will somehow have freed herself and rescued the Pomojema from some hidden threat we dun' even know about yet."

Her eyes briefly went back to the Revenant Industries blaster. She'd definitely have to try that one out, but first...

The big karking rifles large enough to shatter your shoulder.

There were a bunch o' them, but she was drawn to....

The Mun'Beviin Anti-Materiel Rifle.

"Feth me. Mandal Hypernautics did it again..." She breathed as she quickly ran through the specs. "Back in da day ya couldn't go without a day that crazy owner of theirs didn't come up with some new fancy feth device. Cracked gorram Aeten II with one of them too."

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"The Mun'Beviin, I see, I see."

Up it came on the monitor.

"A ripper — blaster energy envelope around a solid fifty-two-caliber slug. Two-kilometer accurate range, ten-slug magazine. It looks like she obtained this one from a jailbreak on Myrkr in the Vagrant Fleet days, and she'd owned one before. Those scars on the stock are from Myrkr's Vong wildlife. Go on, give it a try with the shoulder pad. I'd like to see a ripper sniper rifle in operation."

Moran crouched and flipped through the ammunition lockers in the central console. He emerged with a clip in the appropriate caliber and handed it over.

"There's plenty of ammunition here. I've got the keys, you're her apprentice — I'm not worried."

 

[Mercy]

Mercy whistled.

"Vagrant Fleet... that was after she exited the Sith Empire, but before she forged a new nation in the Unknown Regions with a whole gaggle of Dark Jedi an' other folks, right?"

It felt different to hear it from someone... well, Moran hadn't been there for it (as far as Mercy knew), but still someone who knew Ashin in a closer proximity. She wouldn't ever have shown this kind of curiosity to Ashin personally. Telling on herself to her objective of idolism? Yeah, that was a no-go for sure.

She nodded quickly as the smith reminded her of the shoulder pad. "Yeah, gotcha, will probably need it." Couldn't help but snort, because even in her arms the rifle was slightly oversized and definitely still heavy.

With some doing Mercy maneuvered it on the barrier that split the range from the ammunition lockers and weapon displays.

"Thanks," Accepting the ammo and loading it into the rifle. Thankfully this time Mercy did consider basic safety. "You see the ear protectors anywhere? I doubt ya gon' wan' be deaf for the next month or so."

Once basic safety was satisfied? Mercy looked through the scope. Her hands curling around the rifle. It felt awkward against her even with the Bard's contraption protecting her shoulder. That was to be expected though. This was the first time Mercy shot a rifle like this. The days she hunted back on the Tionese estate of her parents?

Didn't compare at all.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[The Pomojema]

"Around then. I couldn't tell you — I had other things on my mind in those days. I was just starting to learn serious alchemy. Hadn't even fallen in with Rave Merrill yet, done the Akure thing."

All appropriate senses duly insulated, Moran left Mercy to try out the Mandalorian anti-materiel rifle. He lingered on a different gun: a slim, unprepossessing tranquilizer rifle.

When Mercy had emptied the clip, Moran took off his headgear again.

"This one, this is special. It's an original Valicore Chiru. Warren Valik made this gun. Monomolecular injection tip, knockout right through just about any armor you can imagine. Varanin's notes say she's used it quite a few times in the last...feth, almost forty years. Now that's a special weapon."

 

[Mercy]

"Oh, yeah?" Filed that away. Not that Mercy thought it would be very useful, but who knew? It could be good to have a better picture of the dynamics on the ship itself. Who was who, who had been where, things like that. "Did anything ya particularly proud of, m'Lord? Forged any cool stuff?" Must have, because an amateur didn't try and come up with an alchemized sniper rifle get-up.

The first shot...

Yeah.

She almost flew back into the wall and only just about managed to keep herself on her feet. "Gorram, feth." At least her shoulder wasn't broken. Instead it just lost all its feeling for a few minutes.

Once that was rectified? She resettled her stance. Focused. Shot again. This time Mercy stayed put.... and still missed by a wide margin. The next few shots weren't any better. By the time the clip was empty Mercy was a bit frustrated, annoyed and only marginally managed to improve on her accuracy, which seemed impossible.

She still put away the rifle carefully. If Varanin came to haunt her, she at least couldn't give her chit about the state her guns were in.

"Oh, yeah, I heard about Valik. Crazy good alchemist, seemed to have fallen off the side of the Galaxy at some point." A shrug there. Most Sith Lords either burned out or disappeared, way before they could make their mark. Valik, Rave, those people made their mark dozens of times over.

The rifle didn't LOOK like anything special.

But she knew better than to not take The Pomojema 's word for it at this point. "Let's hope I suck less at shooting this one then..."

 

[The Pomojema]

"That one's not for target practice — the ammunition is rare. Those monomolecular injection darts," Moran explained. "But if you're still wanting to shoot, let's see."

The Mun'Beviin had been a true slugthrower, and a propellant stink lingered in the vault. Moran found the controls to circulate and filter the air. A nice cool breeze swirled around.

"I see a couple of big-brand manufacturers here, and I'd like to see how they measure up to each other. Do me a favor: run these two through a clip each and see which is better."

Along with appropriate ammunition, Moran provided Mercy with a Locke and Key Jackal and a Lucerne LPD-25. Both were mass-produced sniper slugthrowers, battlefield range.

"Also, the shoulder rig — how is it?"

 

[Mercy]

The Pomojema

She gave the rifle back once Moran said that.

Probably for the best. It felt kind of awkward in her hands, but it could be the alchemy simply bounced back against her. It knew that there wasn't a stealthy bone in Mercy's body.

"Figure I can at least try a few more. Maybe there is one that fits better with me..." Mercy looked up at the ventilation. "Jesu, she really decked this place out with every little thing ya might need, didn't she." Bemused, but that was Ashin for ya. Every little eventuality was thought of and if money could fix it, money would fix it.

"Sure, I can do that."

Putting the snipers in position wasn't the hard part. It was actually managing to hit a target with them, Mercy assumed.

"The rig? Pretty good." She rubbed her shoulder where it had been locked into place. "Dun' feel a thing. Tho, I think if it was someone less uh... well, you know." Indicating herself. "It would'a still be a schutta to ya bones. Jus' fine for folk like us tho."

She tried the LPD-25 first.

Five shots.

Out of the 5 shots, two hit in the center square (if not quite the bullseye), another one hit the middle range and two more went wide.

"Well, that is not TOO bad...."

Way better than the anti-materiel rifle anyway.

Next up she attempted the Jackal.

"Holy... CHIT." How the hell did she manage to hit four targets in the bulls-eye in a ROW?? "Did you... see that?" It made zero sense. Except... in the moment... something came over here. A certain sense of calm and steadiness that Mercy hadn't ever felt before in her life. "I uh... dun' think that had anything to do with the quality of the rifle though."

 

[The Pomojema]

Moran put the Chiru's scope to his eye and took a look at the target, a quarter of a mile away at the end of the narrow shaft.

"That's good shooting. No wonder she likes her long guns. She's like us — her Force use is up close and personal. The kind of life you two live, I can appreciate wanting distance options."

The big alchemist chuckled and bit off a further comment.

"Here's one you might enjoy, and I'd like to see it in action."

He slapped a unique canister into a Scar's Brands PBA-01 Pressure Hyper Cannon and handed it over.

"This one could bite into the walls. Aim well."

 

[Mercy]

The Pomojema

"Yeah..." It felt strangely good to put a target down at that range. Would it be satisfying with a real sentient on the other end of the barrel? Mercy wasn't sure. But like Moran said 'options' were always good to have. Especially when it was your own hide on the line. "Um." She stared kinda wide-eyed and entirely enamored at the hyper cannon.

"Oh... sweet Force, that is gorgeous."

She accepted it greedily and held it in her arms as if it was a newly-born babe.

At least until reality sunk in. "Um. You sure about this?" Mercy looked at Moran who seemed VERY sure about it. "Well, okay then... guess the worst Varanin can do is sicc another Gorog on me, if I wreck the walls."

Stepping up to the plate she felt the weight of the cannon in her arms. Heavy for sure, but easier to handle than the rifle. More comfortable placement of the handles and such. She resettled her footing. Something told her that if she didn't? This one would most definitely smash her into the wall behind them and cause some internal damage.

Jaw set.

She squeezed the trigger and hoped for the best.

Mercy cursed as she struggled to keep the barrel of the cannon in the center of her view. Her muscles strained against the machine, which was doing its best to spray ALL over the place. "Kriff... KRIFF." As her bones groaned and whined at the intensity of the cannon. It was firing at maximum speed at the edge of the target and was already beginning to spray over to the walls.

Right before it would start eating holes INTO the wall?

She managed to deactivate the cannon.

"Oy vey... that was... wow." Mercy licked her lips. "That was kinda amazing."

 

[The Pomojema]

As the situation unfolded, Moran had a sinking feeling. But oh well. After all—

"I wasn't going to tell you this," he said to Mercy , "but they're just hullmetal panels and I have pull with our procurement and maintenance people. They're used to bulkheads getting torn up on this ship. This'll all be good as new before Varanin gets back. And in the meantime..."

He put the pressure cannon away and came back with something equally ludicrous.

"This is a TriTech PX-36 "Annihilator" Handheld Energy Torpedo Launcher. Enjoy."

 

[Mercy]

A blink there.

"Oh... you." Bemused at that as she traded the machine gun for the karking rocket launcher. "I was sweating with every shot that hit the wall..." Then again, if she had known there was no real danger, she might have not been as careful.

"This thing..."

She eyed it and then started laughing. "I remember the karking commercial for it." Humming the jingle of the ad. A crazy gun for craaaazy people. Sung along as she looked through the scope of the launcher. "Good thing you have those connections, because with my track record... we might blow up half this place."

Then a pause.

"At least it won't be difficult to hit the target at the same time..."

Taking aim, setting her heels into the floor, Mercy breathed in. Breathed out. Breathed in again. Even with the knowledge that it would be fixed before Ashin came back, well... still terrifying somewhat. Especially because the corridor was so narrow.

More able for sniper fire than karkin' explosions.

Before Mercy could reconsider this entire thing? Her finger squeezed down the trigger and WHOOOOMP went the projectile. It blasted out to the left of the target, consuming several of them and a section of the wall as well.

"Holy feth. Did you see that??" Of course Moran did, but Mercy didn't care- she was positively bouncing.

The Pomojema

 

[The Pomojema]

You don't get to be a Sith Lord by saying things like 'I've made a terrible mistake,' but Azel Moran was certainly thinking it. A burst of baking heat washed out of the narrow range. Between the energy torpedo launcher and the pressure cannon, Mercy had wrecked maybe half a dozen bulkhead panels. Moran got the feeling he wasn't just going to spend some political capital with Ops, he was going to owe them one.

Assuming they could fix all this before Varanin came back.

"I think we've peaked," he said at last. "Nowhere to go but down." The collection had a few curios left, including a sniper rifle that fired hard-light pacification bursts, but none of them were likely to hold Mercy's attention.

 

[Mercy]

Mercy grinned and nodded. "Yeah, unless she got a mobile nuke launcher somewhere here I dun' think there is much more we can test out here."

In terms of exciting things anyway. She was still a bit curious when it came to the stealth sniper Ashin used to save her life back on that horror moon.

But maybe another time for that one.

"Thanks, m'Lord. This was awesome." A thought entered her mind and didn't wanna wiggle out no matter how much she metaphorically shook at it. "Uhh, so... Do ya think ya can gimme a spare key? I'd like to keep practicing with da snipers."

She glanced back over to the wrecked scene.

"I could help the folk in Ops with repairing this stuff. Or haul heavy chit for them anyway. Might spare ya some capital if ya give up a Knight to help 'em out?"

Surprisingly astute for a bruiser brick like Mercy.

Few people suspected her former history in the noble courts of Tion.

The Pomojema

 

[The Pomojema]

Moran eyed her, then shrugged. "That all sounds acceptable. Consider the key granted once you've pitched in with the repairs and finished grinding the edge on that chopper. One of my people can put a basic imbuement on it and firm up the alchemy. Between the blade and these guns, you'll have the tools to shoot for whatever you're trying to become."

 

[Mercy]

She tried on her most diplomatic grin as Moran eyed her. It seemed enough. "Thankya, Lord Moran. Appreciate it. Both the help an' the access. I will keep ya in mind when I reach mah heights."

Going back to the smiths Mercy did her best to sharpen the chopper's edge as well as possible. Tough chit. Not as tough as helping Ops repair the feth out of the sniper range however. They worked her hard. She didn't blame 'em this once. After all, they wouldn't be having to work here at all if not for her experiments.

Didn't lessen her grin as the range was put back in good shape.

Only a week ago if someone told her she might never be able to return to The Pomojema Mercy would have laughed it off. Now though? She was actually getting invested.

Good feel too.