ID: TRP/PTE Lunac'her'inar/Vindictive/Vendetta/4/LCF Excelsior =S= =SN1=
Target: Machacca
Time: 01:00 hours Standard Time
Liandri Lunac'her'inar hugged her Korikar Dh-112 to her chest, as she sat in the shuttle, being taken to the planet Janus IV. She was proud of herself for managing to become an Assistant Sniper... and now she was going to put those freshly learnt skills to the test... She thought back to the briefing. Her target was a male wookie, who went by the name of Machacca. He was an influential officer in the New Republic forces. His shuttle had been forced down, and New Republic troops would arrive within 24 hours to collect him. She had to eliminate Machacca prior to the arrival of the troops. From her deploy site, it was a four klick trek through thick jungle to reach the downed shuttle. There was a river north east of the deploy site, which would slow her progress if she took that route, and two klicks to the west-north-west there was a ravine which would be difficult to cross, and very time consuming too. About a klick south of the downed shuttle, there was a high ridge overlooking the target area. Cherin dozed off again, deciding that sleep would be very useful indeed, as tired muscles tended to twitch when you don't want them to.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Time: 09:00 hours Standard Time
Cherin awoke as the shuttle touched down gently. She unfastened her crash harness, and carefully stood up, making sure she didn't hit her sniper rifle against anything, having taken so long to zero it in. She took her time to secure her sniper rifle to her back, before she carefully made her way down the shuttle ramp. The instant she was off the shuttle ramp, she got down into prone, getting used to the surroundings, listening out for the sounds of the area. Moving around without getting accustomed to the sounds meant you made a lot of noise, because you weren't moving when normal noise could cover any noise you might make whilst moving. The shuttle left, and Cherin remained where she was, waiting for the noises of the jungle to return to normal. Her Korikar Dh-112 Sniper Rifle was firmly strapped to her back as she got up onto her feet. She kept low, not standing fully upright. All around her, were big, thick-leaved trees, and large, green shrubs... Creatures squawked, whistled and trilled in the canopy of the jungle, and the falling rain pelted down, muting all the colours around her, and making the air smell damp, and steamy. It was surprisingly warm, and the humidity made the air heavy to breathe... Cherin ventured forwards, rolling her feet, heel to toe as she walked. In her mind, she had a jumble of thoughts 'Will I manage this? Was my qualification a fluke? Am I going to hesitate at pulling the trigger? Am I going to run into trouble?' She wanted to be here, wanted to prove that she could apply her new skills... but the weather was dragging her mood down, making her feel slow, sluggish and pessimistic... As she walked onwards through the hot, humid, green leaved jungle, Cherin's mood gradually improved, and she began to enjoy herself.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Time: 10:30 hours Standard Time
Cherin stopped, and sprawled herself out on the ground when she neared the overhang that overlooked the downed shuttle. Silently, she unstrapped her rifle from her back, and laid it in front of her. She then folded her arms in front of her chest, elbows digging into the soft, slushy leaf mulch. As she'd walked, her uniform had become mud splattered. Laying down in prone on the ground had also left great muddy patches on her uniform, aiding her ability to blend into the surroundings. She put her Korikar Dh-112 on her arms, and then kitten crawled forwards until she was near enough to the ledge for the muzzle of the Dh-112 to be at the edge of the overhang. Pulling the butt of the rifle up into her shoulder, and supporting the barrel with her left hand, she looked through her scope, down at the area surrounding the shuttle, searching for signs that her target was still there. Holding the rifle butt in her shoulder, she felt surprisingly at ease, considering how rarely she'd used the Korikar Dh-112...
Through her scopes, she surveyed the scene... from her perch, she couldn't see any obvious signs of anyone still being at the site... there were no fires set up, and no obvious harbour areas. There was also a distinct lack of useful field equipment... she relaxed slightly, realising that there was probably no-one there, but she was slightly annoyed that she would have to slog onwards searching for her target...
After intently studying the area for half an hour, she decided her best bet would be to venture down to the downed shuttle, and search for clues as to where her target had gone, and how long he intended to be gone...
Looking around briefly before she moved back away from the edge, she recalled the route she'd chosen to take to get from here to the downed shuttle. It was an extra two kilometer walk, but it was one that would be considered an unlikely route to take. It involved trekking half a kilometer through dense, steamy jungle, and going down a steep hill, before heading along level ground once more, for a further one and a half kilometers until she reached the shuttle. It was a long, and laborious trek, but she was unlikely to be spotted by her target, unless he'd headed in that direction.
Standing up quickly and quietly, she headed swiftly, and quietly, along the bearing she'd planned when looking at the map before being deployed. She wasn't sure whether Machacca had already started making his way to where he hoped to be collected, or whether he had merely gone in search of food and better shelter. Cherin's breathing was becoming short and ragged, as the combination of humidity, heat, and effort was taking its toll on her. Breathing was like she imagined breathing in soup would be. Another thing that was bothering her was the quantity of swarming insects, that somehow managed to bite, even through the body sock. The bites were itchy, and made her terribly uncomfortable.
Slithering to a halt in the leaf mulch and mud at the bottom of a small bank, Cherin came face to face with a small tuft of wookie fur hanging from the spines of a rather prickly looking bush. Cherin looked around, searching for more indicators of the direction her target had headed, and how recently. To her left, further down the game path, a tiny twig of a small branch was snapped, with water trickling along it, and splashing onto the ground below. She looked for more clues... and immediately below the broken twig, was a footprint, squelched into the soft, decaying leaf matter. She crawled towards it, remaining under the cover of the bushes and shrubs at the feet of the trees. Upon further inspection, Cherin was relieved to find that it was indeed a wookie footprint, and that the print still looked fresh, each of the pads stil clearly visible, indicating that the wookie had walked through this area very recently, maybe even within the last hour. She grinned within her helmet 'What incredibly good luck... If I'd have taken a different route, I would have had to search for this...' she thought to herself. She walked further down the trail, rolling her feet as she stepped, avoiding treading on twigs, keeping an eye out for more clues to the targets whereabouts. After travelling no more than 200 metres, Cherin came across the tiniest shred of ration pack... The footprints were gradually becoming clearer in the leaf mulch, which was promising news indeed. Cherin quickened her pace, knowing that wookies could walk a whole lot faster than she could. As Cherin continued onwards, she could hear the shrill warning cries of the creatures of the jungle ahead of her. Something was upsetting the animals... 'Could be my target up ahead...' she told herself. Encouraged by this, she surged silently onwards along the edge of the jungle path, her Korikar Dh-112 held tightly in her right hand. The trail was getting easier and easier to follow, with footprints becoming more and more prominent, and looking more fresh as she went along. Even more encouragingly, there were tufts of wookie fur hanging from soft branches, where Machacca had obviously pushed the branch back to get past.
After trekking through the thick undergrowth of the jungle for several hours, Cherin decided it was finally time she stopped and took a breather. It was unlikely her target wouldn't stop for a while at some point, as the climate was difficult, and the terrain awkward. She forced herself to take deep breaths of the still, muggy air. A loud snap made her leap up, and turn to face the direction the sound came from. 'Calm down...' she told herself 'It was just a stick'. From what she could tell, the noise had come from between bearings 340 and 350. She brung her Korikar up, planting the butt in her shoulder, and looking down the scope, looking for her target amongst the many trees and shrubs. She panned her rifle around, looking for a tell-tale sign of her target. She thought she caught a glimpse of brown fur, but as soon as she had seen it, she'd lost it again. She sidestepped gracefully to her left, towards a downed log.
She took her eye away from the scope, and looked with her bare, red eyes, where she expected to see another glimpse of whatever it was that was ahead of her. A flicker of movement attracted her attention, and she brought her rifle round to point towards it, as she laid down next to the log. She looked down her scope, hoping the magnification would aid her recognition of the target. And sure enough, the flicker of brown fur proved to be her target. Her target was taking a breather. She silently slotted a Super Sonic round into the chamber of her Korikar Dh-112 Sniper Rifle. She concentrated on calming her breathing, and briefly closed her eyes to help her to relax. She was still a little nervous of the Dh-112, as, during training, she'd managed to really hurt her shoulder with the recoil of the rifle.
Deep breath, release... relax 'the rifle isn't going to hurt you', deep breath in, release 'forget about feeling in your legs', deep breath in, release... 'remember the marksmanship principles'. 'Take a look down the scope briefly, check the target hasn't moved' she thought, guiding herself through the process as she did each stage. 'close your eyes. Deep breath in, deep breath out, deep breath in, deep breath out. Enter a state where you ignore everything but your breathing, your heartbeat, the rifle, and your target. Relax, keep breathing steadily. Look down the scope, look away, look down your scope, are the sights still pointed at your target?' As she breathed, the rifle muzzle rose and fell evenly with each breath, always hovering over her target. 'Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, take first pressure on the trigger' she lightly tightened her finger on the trigger, taking up first position. 'Breathe in, breathe out... hold it for 1...2...3... squeeze the trigger slowly...' Delicately, she applied more pressure to the trigger, taking her time... 'Hear the bang, feel the strong recoil' The rifle muzzle flashed briefly as the round flew out of the muzzle, and the muzzle kicked upwards, the shock travelling through the rifle, through the armour, and into Cherin's shoulder. 'Keep holding your breath, let the muzzle settle once more.' The muzzle fell back to it's normal level. 'Breathe in, breathe out, release the trigger slowly...' Cherin gradually released all pressure on the trigger. 'Look down the scope, is the target dead or dying?' Cherin relaxed, looking down the scope, at the crimson blood spilling from the back of Machacca's head. "Target eliminated" she said softly and calmly into her comm.
Target: Machacca
Time: 01:00 hours Standard Time
Liandri Lunac'her'inar hugged her Korikar Dh-112 to her chest, as she sat in the shuttle, being taken to the planet Janus IV. She was proud of herself for managing to become an Assistant Sniper... and now she was going to put those freshly learnt skills to the test... She thought back to the briefing. Her target was a male wookie, who went by the name of Machacca. He was an influential officer in the New Republic forces. His shuttle had been forced down, and New Republic troops would arrive within 24 hours to collect him. She had to eliminate Machacca prior to the arrival of the troops. From her deploy site, it was a four klick trek through thick jungle to reach the downed shuttle. There was a river north east of the deploy site, which would slow her progress if she took that route, and two klicks to the west-north-west there was a ravine which would be difficult to cross, and very time consuming too. About a klick south of the downed shuttle, there was a high ridge overlooking the target area. Cherin dozed off again, deciding that sleep would be very useful indeed, as tired muscles tended to twitch when you don't want them to.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Time: 09:00 hours Standard Time
Cherin awoke as the shuttle touched down gently. She unfastened her crash harness, and carefully stood up, making sure she didn't hit her sniper rifle against anything, having taken so long to zero it in. She took her time to secure her sniper rifle to her back, before she carefully made her way down the shuttle ramp. The instant she was off the shuttle ramp, she got down into prone, getting used to the surroundings, listening out for the sounds of the area. Moving around without getting accustomed to the sounds meant you made a lot of noise, because you weren't moving when normal noise could cover any noise you might make whilst moving. The shuttle left, and Cherin remained where she was, waiting for the noises of the jungle to return to normal. Her Korikar Dh-112 Sniper Rifle was firmly strapped to her back as she got up onto her feet. She kept low, not standing fully upright. All around her, were big, thick-leaved trees, and large, green shrubs... Creatures squawked, whistled and trilled in the canopy of the jungle, and the falling rain pelted down, muting all the colours around her, and making the air smell damp, and steamy. It was surprisingly warm, and the humidity made the air heavy to breathe... Cherin ventured forwards, rolling her feet, heel to toe as she walked. In her mind, she had a jumble of thoughts 'Will I manage this? Was my qualification a fluke? Am I going to hesitate at pulling the trigger? Am I going to run into trouble?' She wanted to be here, wanted to prove that she could apply her new skills... but the weather was dragging her mood down, making her feel slow, sluggish and pessimistic... As she walked onwards through the hot, humid, green leaved jungle, Cherin's mood gradually improved, and she began to enjoy herself.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Time: 10:30 hours Standard Time
Cherin stopped, and sprawled herself out on the ground when she neared the overhang that overlooked the downed shuttle. Silently, she unstrapped her rifle from her back, and laid it in front of her. She then folded her arms in front of her chest, elbows digging into the soft, slushy leaf mulch. As she'd walked, her uniform had become mud splattered. Laying down in prone on the ground had also left great muddy patches on her uniform, aiding her ability to blend into the surroundings. She put her Korikar Dh-112 on her arms, and then kitten crawled forwards until she was near enough to the ledge for the muzzle of the Dh-112 to be at the edge of the overhang. Pulling the butt of the rifle up into her shoulder, and supporting the barrel with her left hand, she looked through her scope, down at the area surrounding the shuttle, searching for signs that her target was still there. Holding the rifle butt in her shoulder, she felt surprisingly at ease, considering how rarely she'd used the Korikar Dh-112...
Through her scopes, she surveyed the scene... from her perch, she couldn't see any obvious signs of anyone still being at the site... there were no fires set up, and no obvious harbour areas. There was also a distinct lack of useful field equipment... she relaxed slightly, realising that there was probably no-one there, but she was slightly annoyed that she would have to slog onwards searching for her target...
After intently studying the area for half an hour, she decided her best bet would be to venture down to the downed shuttle, and search for clues as to where her target had gone, and how long he intended to be gone...
Looking around briefly before she moved back away from the edge, she recalled the route she'd chosen to take to get from here to the downed shuttle. It was an extra two kilometer walk, but it was one that would be considered an unlikely route to take. It involved trekking half a kilometer through dense, steamy jungle, and going down a steep hill, before heading along level ground once more, for a further one and a half kilometers until she reached the shuttle. It was a long, and laborious trek, but she was unlikely to be spotted by her target, unless he'd headed in that direction.
Standing up quickly and quietly, she headed swiftly, and quietly, along the bearing she'd planned when looking at the map before being deployed. She wasn't sure whether Machacca had already started making his way to where he hoped to be collected, or whether he had merely gone in search of food and better shelter. Cherin's breathing was becoming short and ragged, as the combination of humidity, heat, and effort was taking its toll on her. Breathing was like she imagined breathing in soup would be. Another thing that was bothering her was the quantity of swarming insects, that somehow managed to bite, even through the body sock. The bites were itchy, and made her terribly uncomfortable.
Slithering to a halt in the leaf mulch and mud at the bottom of a small bank, Cherin came face to face with a small tuft of wookie fur hanging from the spines of a rather prickly looking bush. Cherin looked around, searching for more indicators of the direction her target had headed, and how recently. To her left, further down the game path, a tiny twig of a small branch was snapped, with water trickling along it, and splashing onto the ground below. She looked for more clues... and immediately below the broken twig, was a footprint, squelched into the soft, decaying leaf matter. She crawled towards it, remaining under the cover of the bushes and shrubs at the feet of the trees. Upon further inspection, Cherin was relieved to find that it was indeed a wookie footprint, and that the print still looked fresh, each of the pads stil clearly visible, indicating that the wookie had walked through this area very recently, maybe even within the last hour. She grinned within her helmet 'What incredibly good luck... If I'd have taken a different route, I would have had to search for this...' she thought to herself. She walked further down the trail, rolling her feet as she stepped, avoiding treading on twigs, keeping an eye out for more clues to the targets whereabouts. After travelling no more than 200 metres, Cherin came across the tiniest shred of ration pack... The footprints were gradually becoming clearer in the leaf mulch, which was promising news indeed. Cherin quickened her pace, knowing that wookies could walk a whole lot faster than she could. As Cherin continued onwards, she could hear the shrill warning cries of the creatures of the jungle ahead of her. Something was upsetting the animals... 'Could be my target up ahead...' she told herself. Encouraged by this, she surged silently onwards along the edge of the jungle path, her Korikar Dh-112 held tightly in her right hand. The trail was getting easier and easier to follow, with footprints becoming more and more prominent, and looking more fresh as she went along. Even more encouragingly, there were tufts of wookie fur hanging from soft branches, where Machacca had obviously pushed the branch back to get past.
After trekking through the thick undergrowth of the jungle for several hours, Cherin decided it was finally time she stopped and took a breather. It was unlikely her target wouldn't stop for a while at some point, as the climate was difficult, and the terrain awkward. She forced herself to take deep breaths of the still, muggy air. A loud snap made her leap up, and turn to face the direction the sound came from. 'Calm down...' she told herself 'It was just a stick'. From what she could tell, the noise had come from between bearings 340 and 350. She brung her Korikar up, planting the butt in her shoulder, and looking down the scope, looking for her target amongst the many trees and shrubs. She panned her rifle around, looking for a tell-tale sign of her target. She thought she caught a glimpse of brown fur, but as soon as she had seen it, she'd lost it again. She sidestepped gracefully to her left, towards a downed log.
She took her eye away from the scope, and looked with her bare, red eyes, where she expected to see another glimpse of whatever it was that was ahead of her. A flicker of movement attracted her attention, and she brought her rifle round to point towards it, as she laid down next to the log. She looked down her scope, hoping the magnification would aid her recognition of the target. And sure enough, the flicker of brown fur proved to be her target. Her target was taking a breather. She silently slotted a Super Sonic round into the chamber of her Korikar Dh-112 Sniper Rifle. She concentrated on calming her breathing, and briefly closed her eyes to help her to relax. She was still a little nervous of the Dh-112, as, during training, she'd managed to really hurt her shoulder with the recoil of the rifle.
Deep breath, release... relax 'the rifle isn't going to hurt you', deep breath in, release 'forget about feeling in your legs', deep breath in, release... 'remember the marksmanship principles'. 'Take a look down the scope briefly, check the target hasn't moved' she thought, guiding herself through the process as she did each stage. 'close your eyes. Deep breath in, deep breath out, deep breath in, deep breath out. Enter a state where you ignore everything but your breathing, your heartbeat, the rifle, and your target. Relax, keep breathing steadily. Look down the scope, look away, look down your scope, are the sights still pointed at your target?' As she breathed, the rifle muzzle rose and fell evenly with each breath, always hovering over her target. 'Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out, take first pressure on the trigger' she lightly tightened her finger on the trigger, taking up first position. 'Breathe in, breathe out... hold it for 1...2...3... squeeze the trigger slowly...' Delicately, she applied more pressure to the trigger, taking her time... 'Hear the bang, feel the strong recoil' The rifle muzzle flashed briefly as the round flew out of the muzzle, and the muzzle kicked upwards, the shock travelling through the rifle, through the armour, and into Cherin's shoulder. 'Keep holding your breath, let the muzzle settle once more.' The muzzle fell back to it's normal level. 'Breathe in, breathe out, release the trigger slowly...' Cherin gradually released all pressure on the trigger. 'Look down the scope, is the target dead or dying?' Cherin relaxed, looking down the scope, at the crimson blood spilling from the back of Machacca's head. "Target eliminated" she said softly and calmly into her comm.