Claes was walking the grounds near the indoor shooting range in the late afternoon when she saw Kara and Michele crossing the parking area. Kara carried a rifle case in one hand and a small duffel bag in the other while Michele carried a smaller pistol case.
Kara saw her and waved. Claes changed course and went towards them.
"Need to get in some practice for the mission," Kara noted, hefting the rifle case.
"Can I watch?" Claes asked, suddenly, her words surprising herself as much as they did Michele and Kara.
"Jean didn't put you up to this, did he?" Michele growled.
"No he didn't!" Claes exclaimed. "Gods, Michele! He's not the devil," she stated. "And stop being so damn sympathetic all the time," she added, hotly.
"I'd appreciate you spotting for me," Kara said. "Michele is too critical of my shooting at times and I would prefer a fresh opinion."
Claes moved on towards the entrance, Kara falling in behind her. She turned and mouthed the Japanese word for "idiot" at him. Michele sighed and followed along.
Michele checked in all three and they took the elevator down to the actual range area. They checked in downstairs with the range master, who assigned them stand 12 on the shooting line as that position had a range of up to 750 meters to accommodate assault rifles firing 5.56x45mm NATO, 7.62x51mm NATO, the Russian 7.62x39mm and 5.45x39mm, .30-06 Springfield and .308 Winchester along with other longer-ranged rounds.
Michele pulled two sets of heavy ear protector muffs, one of which he gave to Kara and one to Claes. For himself, he removed a set of heavy-duty ear plugs. They were not as effective at baffling the noise, but with Claes acting as the spotter he would be in the seats against the far wall and that would help a bit to help attenuate the noise. He also removed three sets of eye protection.
"How long has it been since you've been on the range?" Michele asked.
"I don't recall," she replied, truthfully.
"Very well. Once Kara is ready, you are not to cross the white line into the stand for any reason, period. If you see a problem or Kara looks to need help, you wave your right arm high in the air in a circular motion, like this." He proceeded to demonstrate. "Do not approach her or attempt to touch her. Do you understand?"
"I understand, sir," she said. Michele nodded to both Claes and Kara to proceed.
Kara took the large case and placed it on the ledge in front of the stand. She lifted the lid and encased in heavy-duty Polyurethane flexible foam was what appeared to be various pieces of an assault rifle.
"This is the Heckler & Koch XM8 rifle," Kara explained. "It fires the 5.56x45mm NATO round from either a 30-round box or 100-round drum magazine. It is planned to become the new infantry rifle for the United States armed forces.
"As you can see from all these parts, it has multiple versions, all built around a common receiver." She pointed to a piece with a trigger and grip. "Depending on what role, I can use either the 318mm carbine barrel, a 229mm compact carbine barrel or a 508mm rifle barrel. Normally I operate it as a compact carbine, but today I want to use the sharpshooter variant, so I will use the 508mm barrel."
She removed the common receiver and the proper barrel, which she then attached to the front of the receiver. Next, she took the removable carry handle and attached it to the top. "Now I will connect the adjustable butt stock to the back of the receiver. This stock is used with all modes but the compact carbine. In that case, there is a short butt cap that goes on the end. I now slip the normal handguard over the barrel and attach it to the front of the receiver. There is also this shorter compact carbine handguard." She pointed out the various pieces.
"And lastly, the advanced multi-function optical site." She attached this to the top and removed two 30-round magazines, which she placed with the rifle to the side. She then closed the case and placed it down on the floor, against the side of the stand well away from her feet.
"Okay, I'm ready to fire," she reported to Michele. Claes promptly stepped just behind the white line and put on her ear protectors. She then put on her safety glasses over her normal glasses.
"Position 12, ready to fire!" Michele barked, even though they were the only people on the range.
"Position 12, cleared to fire!" Michele ordered. Kara nodded and took one of the magazines. She gently tapped it on the stand to settle the rounds inside and then slapped it into the receiver. She then cocked and closed the action and set the selector to the three-round burst mode, meaning three rounds would fire for every squeeze of the trigger.
She took aim at the target 300m downrange and squeezed off ten three-round bursts in quick succession. She raised her weapon and opened the action before removing the magazine and placing the rifle on the counter. She pushed a button and the target silhouette came forward. The head and torso area were both well-shredded, showing that most, if not all, of the rounds had impacted in that area. She replaced the silhouette and sent it back down, this time to the 400m mark. She then inserted the second magazine, engaged the action, received permission to fire, and started shooting. On the sixth pull, her weapon jammed on the second round. She called out the jam and Michele responded with "SPORTS".
Claes looked side-to-side and then stepped back to where Michele was standing. "What's SPORTS?" she asked. Michele indicated for her to watch Kara.
"It's a mnemonic to help remember how to clear a jam," he said. "She'll first Slap the magazine, then Pull back the hammer to clear the jam. She will Observe that the chamber is clear and Release the breech. Finally she Taps the chamber and then Shoots the weapon to verify operation." As Michele explained it, Kara performed the steps and completed the firing exercise. Once done, she again opened the action and removed the magazine before recalling the target. As with the first one, it appeared that all the rounds had landed either in the head or upper torso.
"Well done, Kara," Michele said approvingly, earning a smile from Kara. She leaned down and grabbed the round that had jammed, looking for any marks that could explain how it jammed and finding one. She handed it to Michele, who nodded his recognition of the problem.
"Okay, set it to full auto and run two more magazines through it, just to be sure the mechanism is fine," he ordered. Kara nodded and retrieved two magazines from the duffel bag. With a firing rate of over 10 rounds a second, it took only three seconds to empty each magazine and none jammed. Kara placed the weapon on a set of brackets on the right side of the stand to allow the barrel to cool. She then reached into the duffle bag and removed a small broom and dustpan. On her knees she quickly swept up the 119 spent shell casings from the floor and dumped them into the provided metal bucket.
"Always be sure to police your brass when you are done shooting, Claes," Michele said. "It shows respect for your fellow shooters." Kara opened the rifle case and broke down the XM8, putting each piece in it's respective cut-out in the foam. She handed the rifle case back to Michele, who passed forward the pistol case. Kara opened it and removed one of two Heckler & Koch P2000 SK "sub-compact" pistols along with two 10-round magazines loaded with .40 S&W rounds. She loaded the first target and sent it on it's way. Once again, she received permission to fire and sent 10 rounds 20m down range. She then swapped magazines and sent 10 more rounds after it. She recalled the target and there were 10 holes each in the head and upper torso area.
"Fantastic," Michele said as he gripped her shoulder, causing Kara to beam with pride. "Go ahead and do two more magazines." Kara nodded and prepared herself while Michele went back and sat down on one of the chairs along the back wall. Claes came over and sat next to him.
"She basks in your praise."
"I admittedly do not drill her as regularly as some of the other handlers, so her name seldom appears at the top of the list." Michele indicated a board that had a list of all the active cyborgs. Triela's name was at the top, followed by Rico's. Kara's was in the middle. "However, she is still sufficiently accurate at the ranges she will likely engage a target at and her performance makes me very proud of her and I want her to know that. Now, if you will excuse me, it is time for me to get in some practice, as well."
Michele stood and went over to the stand, removing a leather pistol case out of the duffel bag before walking down to position 10. He unzipped the leather case and pulled out a plastic holster and gun wrapped in a clean lint-free rag along with a magazine loaded with 9x19mm rounds.
"That's a VP, isn't it?" Claes noted.
"The Heckler & Koch VP70-M pistol," Michele confirmed with a nod of his head as he removed the weapon from the holster. "The M stands for Military which means it can fire the 9x19mm round. They also made a civilian model called the –Z, but in Italy it fires the 9x21mm Israeli-round. Do you know why?"
"In Italy, only the military may use 9x19mm Parabellum rounds," Claes replied and Michele again nodded in confirmation.
"This is my personal weapon," he said. "My father gave it to me when I was a boy and I took it with me when I joined the Aeronautica Militare. I don't carry it on missions, but every now and then I like to take it out and use it."
"The holster also acts as a butt-stock. The military version can fire single-shot or three-rounds per trigger pull," Claes noted.
"Yes it does," Michele said, impressed with her knowledge of the weapon. He attached the stock and set the selective-fire switch to three-round burst. He then took a firing position and fired off six three-round bursts.
The smell of gunpowder was very strong in Claes' nose and the tinkling sound of the brass seemed loud in her ears, even though it was far softer then the bark of the rounds as they cracked through the sound barrier on their way to the target. It all triggered strong memories in her, though she could not place when and where they came from.
When Michele turned around, he saw Claes standing before him with an expression of extreme seriousness on her face.
"May I hold it?" she asked. Michele nodded and handed it to her. The weapon just seemed to feel…right…in her hands as she held it. He watched her check the action, remove and reinsert the magazine, cock the weapon, and take a shooting stance.
"Have you fired this configuration before?" Michele asked.
"I don't think so," Claes said. "Is something wrong with how I am holding it?"
"On the contrary, your stance is perfect for target shooting with it."
"It seemed the proper way," Claes replied. She handed it back to Michele who placed it back in the holder and then re-wrapped it. Kara came up and the three made their way back outside.
"We can give you a lift back to the dorms," Kara informed Claes, pointing to the GEM (Global Electric Motorcars) e4 NEV electric cart they had driven over from the dorm with.
"Thank you," Claes said.
"Have you eaten?" Michele asked. Claes shook her head.
"Michele and I were going to visit a Trattoria in town that Giuseppe clued us in on," Kara stated. "Would you like to come with us?"
"Yes. Yes I would," Claes replied.