Gifted Youngster

Yasamin watched her for a moment with a bit of an amused grin to her lips, she seemed to keep releasing the magazine by mistake but once she got the hang of holding it she’d be fine. The Israeli watched her take a proper stance and nodded after making sure everything was ok, now that she was holding it properly she wasn’t dropping the mag every two seconds. “Yes, like that.”

Yaz quickly turned her own gun over to point to the sights that rest atop the handgun, now that Cammie had the stance down it was time to move onto the proper way to aim her handgun “Your handgun has a front sight and a rear sight notch. Aim at your target and align the top of the front sight so that it lines up with the top of the rear sight. There should also be equal amounts of empty space on both sides of the front sight. “

Yaz waited for her to take aim and then continued. “Next you need to set your sight picture; The sight picture is the pattern of your gun’s sights in relation to your target. When you’re aiming a gun, you’re looking at three objects: the front sight, the rear sight, and your target. However, it’s not possible to focus simultaneously on all three objects. One of the objects will inevitably be blurry when you’re aiming. When you have a correct sight picture, your front and rear sight appear sharp and clear and your target appears to be a bit blurry.”

Cammie had some initial issues with actually handling the gun. It felt heavy in her hands and she had to repeatedly re-grip it as it moved. A few seconds in, however, the suit just kicked in, picking up a large part of the load, making it visibly easier on her to hold the gun. 

Listening to the Israelis explanation, she slowly nodded along, listening, trying her best to find her target past her sights. 

Yaz was about to tell her to keep the finger away from the trigger but quickly noticed that Cammie seemed to have somewhat decent trigger discipline which was good, she’d rather not have Cammie accidentally shoot someone and have to explain it to the Colonel.

A soft chuckle left her lips as she watched Cammie fumble with the weapon, in time, she’d get used to the weapon and operating it smoothly would be completely second nature to her; all it took was a little practice.

Yaz waited for the girl to get the weapon under control before she grabbed another sidearm and cleared her throat, she supposed she’d need to start with a basic shooting stance and then move onto how to properly hold the weapon. “First, make sure your feet are positioned just a little bit wider than shoulder width apart and then put your dominant foot back at about a forty-five degree angle with a slight bend to your knees.” She quickly took the stance and glanced to Cammie before continuing. “Extend your arms out fully and stick your butt out just a little bit.”

That was known as the Weaver stance and it was one of the two most basic stances you could use when firing a handgun like Yasamin’s. “Make sure your dominant hand is holding it high on the backstrap as this will help you with controlling the recoil and place your other hand firmly against the exposed portion of the grip not covered by your dominant hand. All four fingers of your support hand should be under the trigger guard with the index finger pressed hard underneath it.” She explained whilst showing an example for her.  “Like you did with your gun hand, you should place your support hand as high as possible on the grip with the thumb pointing forward, roughly below where the slide meets the frame. Look at the back of your hands. There should be a distinct fit, like the fit of a puzzle, with your gun and support hand”

Assuming the position that was described, Cammie watched Yaz, trying to emulate it from seeing her. It took her a moment and she changed her stance back and forth a few times, trying to put a different foot forward or standing slightly different, until she found the right way for her. After all, she never had considered which foot would be her ‘dominant foot’.

Adjusting her grip around the firearm a few times, she dropped the Magazine out of it, followed by some muttered cursing, before she shoved it back up the mag well, seating it back into the gun.

“You’d really think that a thing with th’ only purpose o’ bein’ a reaction chamber and to direct a projectile propelled by an explosive wid hae less darn buttons oan it.”

Still, she managed to get at least 90% of the way there, without accidentally disassembling the entire things along the way, though she did take her time to find the proper way to grip it. To her it felt heavy and clumsy and like holding a cinderblock of metal and polymer. Really, it was surprising how heavy it really was, considering its size.

“You do not know the things I’ve done… and I pray you never do…” Yaz muttered that last part mostly to herself as she pulled her handgun from its holster and held it out for the other woman. Yasamin brought up a holo screen and quickly set up the range for basic target practice before slipping her ear defenders on and gesturing for the other to take a position at the booth.

Her time in the Union was something she wanted to forget, badly, she’d done terrible things to innocent people all under the delusion that it was for the best. Once she realised this was all horribly wrong she turned herself into the nearest prison to atone for her crimes when the good Doctor stepped in and gave her a chance to make up for her mistakes.

“Ok, first off, turn the safety off.” Yaz said whilst pointing to the little toggle on the side of her handgun.

Holding the gun, she was visibly surprised by the weight of it. But she got used to it relatively easily, just moving it about in her grip, trying to find a way that was comfortable to grip it. Even without extra lessons she was savvy enough to leave her fingers off the trigger, but still she initially almost dropped the magazine out of the gun, barely catching it and reinserting it into the gun, giving it a light tap to seat it properly. 

After being guided to the safety, she switched the gun over, still pointing it somewhat down, pointed to the ground in the range. It still felt heavy and clumsy to her hands, more so then she had expected. But as she had said before, worst case it was a good story to tell later in life.

She wasn’t going to let that go, was she?

“Usually, I end up playing charades or something with one of the guys. I dunno–it’s a military base, for crying out loud.” Miranda only offers a shrug, as if asking what it was that Cammie expected so much. Of course they were told to pack light, last time Miranda checked the most that the Strider crews got was– 

“A footlocker’s usually all we end up getting. What do you consider light?” 

“One Duffelbag-light. If we had a proper suitcase I’d nae complain, but pretty sure all o’ us juist brought a few changes of clothes ‘n maybe a few things lik’ pictures and stuff. Ah hardly managed tae squeeze any of my tools in. How is a lassie meant tae get anything done wi’oot proper equipment.”

Oddly enough, her complaint wasn’t about the girly things one might expect from here but mostly her engineering things. Plus she had a lot of things she’d have liked to bring along, but that had to stay behind as it just wouldn’t fit into the bag.

Yasamin expected that sort of answer and she could see why the girl would be pissed off about the whole situation, it was just a miracle that the double hadn’t decided to kill off the other three pilots when he had the perfect chance to do so and instead went straight for a Holon to get their tech into Union hands. 

Cammies next question brought a quick frown to Yasamins face as she stepped into the firing ranger and pulled two sets of ear guards off the rack and held one out for the Scot, her eyes averted to the side of the room as she tried to think of the best way to answer the question. “I opened my eyes and realised the cause I was fighting for wasn’t the one I signed up to fight… the Union had changed for the worse and I wanted out… so… I turned myself in and then I met the Doctor who bailed me out…” It was clear Yaz did not like speaking about her past.

“Guess it’s the same shite a’ th’ time. Someone has a smart idea aboot something and someone else turns it fae something noble into somethin’ weird ‘n twisted.”

Taking the ear protection from the womans hands, she just held on to it for a moment. No need to put them on immediately as it did not seem like anyone else was using the Range at the moment.

Yasamin nodded and gestured for the other to follow after her and made sure to switch the lights to the gym off as she exited, glancing over her shoulder to make suer Cammie had exited the room before striding off down the hallway to the firing range. “The doctor is talking to the colonel following yesterdays incident and then he’ll more than likely ask for us in his lab.”

Yaz hadn’t expected the Union to make their move so damn quickly and was just glad “Sinclair” wasn’t gen:LOCK compatible otherwise they would have a very big issue on their hands should the Union get their hands on a Holon and a pilot. The double just had to get the Holon to wherever the pickup point was and then he would more than likely become expendable due to being so vulnerable in the synch pod.

“How are you holding up? That was a lot to go through on your first day.” The Israeli asked as she rounded a corner and made her way to the doors labelled “Firing range.”

“Honest answer? ‘twas a shit show. They ship us all around th’ damn planet, half th’ time o’ this journey locked in a ship wi’ a Union Spy carrying a weapon that could have turned all o’ us into dust in a manner of seconds and then just go ‘Don’t worry, by the way, yer nae allowed to leave, fuck you’. I’m pretty pissed off to be ferr ‘onest. Yeah sure, security and all ‘at, but I still wantae kick someone in the neck fer being a wee shite.”

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she grumbled slightly to herself. Still she followed the other woman to the marked doors, ranting on as she walked.

Miranda couldn’t help the smirk tugging at her lips, even despite the fact that she was trying to remain composed. Ahhh, the redhead folded her arms–now it made more sense. She was lost. 

“I know my way around the place. Where are you looking to get to, exactly?” Miranda’s head tilted–if Cammie was even half as clever as she seemed, then this would be a lot of fun.

     “I think everywhere I’d want to go to you’d consider trouble. I am horrendously bored and there is only so many vending machines a girl can hack to give out free snacks. Not that I’d ever do that. But we were told to pack light so I have like .. none of my things beyond some changes of clothes.”

     Really, she was just bored, roaming the halls without a specific goal. It was second nature to her to get herself into places she shouldn’t be. Mostly because those had proven to be much more interesting.