Hot Shots- Mandalore Clans (PM for Invite)

[Phislo Bress]

The rifle in Phislo's hands roared to life once again in her hands and sent out a bolt of crimson red energy to the holo-target. The blue visage of a Rodian flashed violently as the target registered the shot and quickly fed back data into her heads up display inside her helmet listing the intimate details of her shot and a few small lines on how to improve for the next one. Phislo looked at the data and the recommendations carefully and readied herself for the next. As she breathed deep to calm herself down she reflected a bit on what brought her to this point.

Leaving Concord Dawn, the only life she had ever known, for a life on Mandalore was one of the worst experiences she ever had to face. Leaving her Buir, friends, and home behind for a world she didn't know with nobody to call on. It... just... It made her anxious. She was a hunter and needed to work out the jitters. Where better than here? At the rifle range?

She got back into prone shooting position and slowly squeezed the trigger.

 

[Alleycat]

Keldabe, Mandalore
Firing Range outside city

Gods it felt good to be back in the saddle again so to speak. Mesh'la Dral had returned to Mandalore after being away for a while with her husband and infant son, though that hadn't worked out too well for the young couple. Trying to raise a baby on a freighter galavanting around the galaxy hitting ports of call that weren't the best influence on the crew nor her beloved mate made for poor choices of those involved. So here Mesh was now getting back into a normal way of Mando life and enjoy her family once again.

Dressed in her red with black trim beskar'gam, which was [member="Briika Tor"]'s before the seasoned baar'ur got a new suit of armor, the Keldabe-born rode her speeder bike out to the firing range she had been to a hundred times before having grown up on Manda'yaim. Mesh'la was very excited as the young sharpshooter hadn't done this in a while being stuck on a ship.

Mesh'la grabbed her rifle from the long leather sheath on the side of her speeder bike, then made her way to the firing range where another Mando'ad was practicing. She would wait until the vod's shot was finished to set up for her own.

[member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She was nervous

She was heading to a firing range to maybe...hopefully socially without a problen and get practice in

It had been only a few days after the trial...where clan raxis was told to come back to mandalore to relearn the way of the Mandalorians again, she still wasn't really to sound still. .what she had witnessed had recalled so many memories she had buried down and away...hellshe hadn't even been sleeping good waking up in the middle of the night screaming panting and just trying to calm herself

But that didn't matter she had to push forward past it all...

And so she arrived on her speeder and slowly got off, she spotted to others and got set up as she waited for the other two...why couldn't she say hello...was she that scared?
[member="Mesh'la Dral"][member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray needed to get himself retrained in shooting with his right hand since he had lost his real one and now needed a cybernetic one. He had a temporary one that was meant to get him by until a more permanent replacement could be produced. The one he had right now was shotty and fragile too. It would zap him whenever he made more than a slower, simple motion with it. It kept zapping him every time he typed and he once even banged his hand against a wall with only a little force and one of the fingers messed up. It was frustrating how bad it was and it needed to be replaced as soon as possible.

Gray walked up to the range and noticed a few people there. One of them was a red head shooting and another a blonde who seemed to be waiting for the red head to stop. He was not sure why the blonde was waiting to shoot when part of the reason troops shot together was to get use to the chaotic sound of guns being fired in a disorderly pattern on the battle. It didn't matter though, but it was odd that his wife [member="Stardust Raxis"] whom he had come here with was being so awkward right now. He just smiled at her and patted her shoulder with his left hand as he past by her. He went over to the spot next to the red head and then set down his bryar pistol and two spare power cells for it onto the counter.

Gray inspected his weapon with his left hand and found it was still in prime condition. He smiled and reached to pick it up. He had moved his right hand too quickly though and was met with a zap. He yelped at the suddenness of the shocked and shook his metal hand out of habit. He then slowly reached down and picked the gun up. He held it out in front of himself and began to take shots slowly at the black center. He shot about twenty times and was zapped about five, but didn't yell or drop the gun this time around. He had managed to hit the center circle with every shot but the ones he was zapped on. Those were wildly off target, and got a frown out of him. He would really need to do something about this hand soon or missing a shot like that could get the wrong person killed.

[member="Mesh'la Dral"] [member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Phislo Bress]

Phislo checked again down the sights and backed off the trigger a bit to breathe. "I want this", she whispered to herself. She didn't quite believe it.

BEWWW the rifle sounded off as it unleashed a red bolt toward the target. The bolt spun wide and clipped the target's shoulder. The unfortunate Rodian criminal's shoulder crackled and fizzled in the blue light before reforming and feeding the data to her helmet about the shot. She felt unfocused and her heart was beating faster than normal. The excuses started flowing into her head one after another. What if I had a lighter rifle? Maybe the visor is obstructing my vision? My medicine is affecting my heart rate? I'm anxious.

Maybe I'm just not ready for this yet?

Phislo pulled herself from the ground, engaged the manual safety on the rifle, and powered down her target on the range. She couldn't shoot like this. It didn't feel like the hunting trips she had gone on with her buir back on Concord Dawn. She looked at her hands and sighed "Maybe I should go back home.", she said aloud to nobody in particular.

She suddenly got shocked to her senses by the sound of gunfire next to her where originally there was silence. She turned to find Gray Raxis on her flank firing with a pistol in his newly minted robotic arm. He took about 20 shots with his blaster pistol before stopping. "Oh, Su cuy'gar Alor Raxis!", she said regaining a small bit of her spirit seeing the man who gave her her beskar'gam.

It was strange seeing the extent of the damage to his arm that was once flesh. The news had hit about the Raxis Clan's actions on Kashyyyk, that Gray had been punished for his ineffective leadership, and how his cousin was now dar'manda for his betrayal, but they never went into the specifics. She didn't feel like talking about that now, however. Too much is swirling in her mind already.

[member="Mesh'la Dral"] [member="Gray Raxis"]

 

[Alleycat]

The young baar'ur was just about to line up a shot mid distance when her comm indicator flashed on her HUD. It was from her babysitter so of course she put the rifle down to take the call. Really?! Mesh had only been gone twenty minutes and already she had to go back to the Tor Homestead where her infant son had just thrown up and spiked a temp.

Mesh'la slung her rifle upon her armored shoulder with a bit of frustration noted in the movement, then gave a respectful head nod of her helmeted head to Alor Raxis, his riduur, and the other young vod as she passed them on her way back to her speeder bike. Oh the wonderful days of motherhood.

Spoiler

I'm out. I'll let you guys have the thread.

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She had been staring into space....that and observing the red heads shooting....there was some stuff that she wasn't doing right, the shots were close as she could see but just no solid hit...

She gasped as she felt a pat on her shoulder and looked over to her husband, [member="Gray Raxis"] and suddenly she felt confidence return as she nodded to him with a smile and took a place on his right setting her westars few power cells...she then looked to her right arm, which was a nyax hand cannon and started to transform it, in about five seconds she was taking shots with the hand cannon, she was good with it but only in burst or auto...firing a single shot usually yielded nothing or a near hit

She stopped as she looked over to [member="Phislo Bress"] who seemed to stop shooting and listned as she spoke aloud, she turned to her as she said hello to her husband and gave a kind smile"su cuy'gar vod, you probably don't know me but I'm alor raxis'swife a pleasure to meet you"she said and bowed before giving a respectful nod to [member="Mesh'la Dral"] who seemed frustrated" hey uh listen I couldn't help but notice you shooting, mind if I give you a mini lesson? Give you a few pointers and tricks"she said

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray's attention was grabbed by the sudden sound of someone speaking to him. He had been lost in thought contemplating how he could compensate for the shocking when it had happened. He turned his attention to the speaker and found it to be the red headed woman. He smiled to her and said in reply, " Well hello there! Pleasure to meet you. Seems you know me but I'm not sure I know you....." He had extended his right hand out to her out of habit, but withdrew it back as it zapped him for the sudden movement. He then extended his left hand out to her while he kept on smiling. She seemed nice enough, but he couldn't place her currently.

Gray didn't have long to ponder on it though when his wife suddenly greeted the woman and offered some help to her. Was his wife getting a little jealous of the woman? Unlikely. Unlikely to the point of impossible more than not. She wasn't really the jealous type, even if she was possessive, and the younger woman wasn't attempting to seduce him. More than likely just her being friendly and helpful as usual for her. Course he couldn't tell with his wife lately. She was being extremely clingy since his hand had been removed by their Mand'alor at the trial. He just said, " Star here can be a good teacher. Not sure how she is with ranged weapons though since she tends to go for close combat. If you need any help with it further though just hit me up. I'll be right here trying to get use to this karking hand." He held his metal right hand up for her to see. He was really hating the thing right now.

[member="Stardust Raxis"] [member="Mesh'la Dral"] [member="Phislo Bress"]

OOC: Mesh you dont have to go! We can chat while the other two train.

 

[Phislo Bress]

Why not? Phislo had been to Mandalore only a short while and to see one of the Alors and his wife. It got her a bit excited even if she didn't show it on the surface. These are the people her Buir had spoken of, the leaders, the Alor, those who have led clans into combat and sometimes death. Teach her? She would kiss the ground they walked on if they asked. Maybe it was the romance of the stories she was told but something about them just echoed something she wanted. To be powerful and respected as a warrior and leader.

"Oh, I guess I never really met you two properly. Phislo Bress. WESTAR provided my armor and weapons which, I understand, you own. So indirectly I guess I should thank you." She presented herself with a slight bow, "And yes, I think I would like a lesson! I just arrived from Concord Dawn and I'm not really sure what to do with myself right now. Restless, I guess."

She didn't want to appear weak in front of them so she shoved the real reason down inside of her so it wouldn't show.

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

OOC: [member="Mesh'la Dral"] Please?! I wanted you included. I initially made this thread for us right?

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She gave a kind smile, she looked pretty fierce but in all honesty she was the kindest soul you could meet

She studied the woman...call it a habit one that came from being in so many battles and such....she seemed to have a heavy load on her shoulder metaphorically speaking that is...star couldn't quite put it and instead gave a chuckle and moved over to her as she studied the rifle she had brought"hmmmm let's see now...role looks a bit heavy for you"she said as she held a finger up"given me a minute I have something that'll help stay here

She walked over to her speeder and to a pouch as she dug around before pulling a relic of the past out, a dc-17c commando blaster...with the sniper attachment"now then this is a little lighter clone commandos used these things so long ago should fit you perfect"she said as she attached the attachment and loaded it before handing it out"now go ahead and get in position let's see how you do with a lighter gun vod

[member="Phislo Bress"][member="Gray Raxis"][member="Mesh'la Dral"]

Ooc- hey the more vod the better!

 

[Phislo Bress]

Phislo put her WESTAR aside and took the dc-17c in her arms. Already it was an improvement over the WESTAR's impressive weight.

"Clone Commandos? Are you saying this rifle is from all the way back in the clone wars? That makes this thing... Ancient!"

She paused for a second considering her words. "Uh," she chuckled slightly, "Not that I'm complaining or anything! I'm sure it's still a fine weapon."

Phislo shouldered the weapon and went back to the firing line where she crouched down and then lay prone bringing the weapon forward. She linked the weapon to the practice visor and brought up its feedback data in the corner of the view. Activating the targets once again she selected a gruff looking human hologram with a blaster pistol and focused on it intently blocking out everything else. The weapon wouldn't have as much stability since it was lighter but she didn't have to constantly hold the end up while aiming which was a great help. Her mind focused and blocked out all other thoughts except her breathing and pulse. It wasn't the same as hunting Concord Dawn's wild game but that didn't matter.

Slow squeeze....

The rifle sounded a large BOOM, different from the light sound of a blaster, and kicked against her shoulder. The target flashed and rippled from center mass and crackled as it reformed. She repeated the process four more times getting used to to the kick and achieved a tighter grouping around the torso. A chuckle of satisfaction reached her lips. This was much more like the hunting rifles she was used to back home.

"Okay, what do you think of that?", she said turning back to Stardust with a slight grin on her face.

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She watched her and crossed her arms as she chuckled nodded"I have two and they cost a lot to buy but they make good weapons for multirole situation I could best through some tough armor with it"she said and gave a kind smile"don't worry it is old when I got it wasn't in to good of a condition so I fixed it

She stepped back to watch her, yes the gun would be little less stabile but the overall accuracy and fire power made up for it.

She stepped closer as she nodded"beautiful job id say, see there is a gun for every person some can use a certain weapon while another can't, see your westar rifle I could use with ease, that is because when you use a heavy end rifle gotta extend your arm put so you Balance the weapons weight overall"she said as she smiled"
[member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Phislo Bress]

Phislo watched as Stardust demonstrated the grip on the rifle. She sees then where she went wrong as noted the placement of her hands closer to the muzzle of the weapon than Phislo had dared to go. Keeping her hand to the center of the weapon was more okay for shorter carbines type weapons, the one she was more accustomed to using for hunting, that needed tight control with the light weight. However the Westar was heavier at the ends throwing her aim off. Maybe adjusting her grip would allow her to steady the barrel better? It was worth a try.

She also got to feel the difference between slug throwers and laser rifles. Slug had more of a kick back because of their reliance on kinetic projectiles as opposed to lasers, which was just compressed plasma gasses in an electromagnetic tunnel.

"So what about firing mode? That rifle has single, three round burst, and automatic. Which one is better in your opinion?"

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She let that sink in for a moment as she smiked, been awhile since she taught someone how to control a gun it was refreshing took her mind off of things and brought her true side out

Then another question came

Hmmmm"•she said as she thoughr for a moment then gave a answer"that depends on your situation, see single shot is good for those carefully placed shots generally at a distance is what you'll be using single for, burst is meant like this...aim at the belt and the recoil will make your other two shot travel up goes like this, first round belt second midsection third chest or sometimes head"

Now auto is used when the enemy is choked or grouped up allows the spread to do its work and take out more then one

[member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Phislo Bress]

She never really played with the options on the rifle before but that would have to change soon. Phislo set the rifle on its safety and took off the sniper attachment to try in a different mode and set it off to the side. Looking back down at the rifle Phislo thumbed the selector switch off of "SAFE" and onto "SA" for a three round burst.

"Aim at the belt and the recoil will make your other two shot travel up goes like this, first round belt second midsection third chest or sometimes head", she said. It seems simple enough but she could miss it. Maybe holding the rifle firmly instead of loosely could mitigate some of the travel on it.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM* the rifle sounded off as the blue energy slug shots made a wide arc towards their target upwards. One hit the high face, one the edge of the top, and the other flew wide over and struck the sand wall behind the target. Phislo grunted and reset for the shot. This time much lower. *BOOM BOOM BOOM* the rifle once again roared into the silence. The target feedback shows hip, stomach, and lower chest. Better, but a tighter grouping would be needed. She repeated the drill with the three shot semi-auto until the charge ran dry, each time adjusting her grip, breathing, and re-sighting the target reticule until she could comfortably get a tight grouping. "HA!", Phislo cried out in triumphant when the targeting data showed clean hits on the neck and chest in a much smaller traveling pattern. The light blue target of the human mercenary shimmered and reformed after suffering her latest barrage.

Now it was time to test the final part of the weapon. Phislo turned to Stardust once again. "I believe that I have it down now. What do I need to know for full-auto?"

[member="Gray Raxis"] [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

Stardust stood out...this reminded her of the old days...before becoming a Mandalorian....before gray...yea those days where she led men and women into battle against many different foes...the sound of battle she could practically hear it...the sound of guns goimg off explosions distant and close transports screaming over ahead shells raining.....

She snapped out of it when she was spoke to again and blinked as her mind took a minute before she looked at the target"for full auto you want to pull the gun down after each kick of the gun if you don't you'll be shooting at the sky

She said as she gave a smile and patted her shoulder"your doikg perfect by the way you'll make a good warrior in the clans"she said"next if your up for it we'll try target calling

[member="Gray Raxis"]
[member="Phislo Bress"]

 

[Gray Raxis]

Gray had just pretended to be adjusting his hand, something he didn't know how to do yet, while the two talked over weapons. Something was being missed during this concerning the WESTAR m5 that he had personally given input into the adjustments of to modify it. He thought his wife might say something about it, but she hadn't yet and was moving along like it was a regular rifle. Seemed he was going to need to step in after all and give his input on the red headed young woman, [member="Phislo Bress"] , lesson.

Gray stopped pretending to mess with his hand and walked over to the slot next to his. He said with a smile, " One moment ladies before you continue." He stepped over to Phislo and then held out his hand. He said as he shifted his smile into a smirk, " Rifle, butt first please and thank you." He waited for her to respond as he stood there. He knew something that would dramatically help her out with her aim and performance with the weapon in general.

[member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Phislo Bress]

(Is my tagging working guys? are you getting notifications?)

 

[Phislo Bress]

"Sure...", Phislo says engages the safety on her rifle and picks herself up from the ground. She takes a short walk to where she left the Westar rifle and, making sure it was on safety, handed it to [member="Gray Raxis"] with the buttstock towards him. "Okay", she said handing it to him with a smile. [member="Stardust Raxis"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She gave a smile as she moved out of the way, she had never used this rifle before so what ever gray was about to do was gonna surprise her as well

Huh gun must have a surprise on it hahahah he thinks of things I don't even get to see yet"she said and smiled"alright gray let's see what this has

[member="Phislo Bress"] [member="Gray Raxis"]