Chapter 4 - Of Phasers and Sisters

Sarah yawned as she slipped into the shower a little after 10. All her life, she had to wake up early if she had to be somewhere. It gave her time to ease out of her grumpy state she would wake up in. Since she figured out how to sync her computer to the room's com (which still amazed her that each room had its own little network that connected to the ship's), the brunette decided to play her 'morning songs' which consisted of fast beat, mostly pop or techno, songs that made her want to move around. The current song, and actually one of her favorites, was "Beam Me Up", by cazzett.

Setting it on a loop, Sarah went about her way, finishing her shower and changing into her hoodie shirt and worn blue jeans. Her hair, since cut, was a bit more manageable, allowing her to pull it over her shoulder to braid it. Sarah checked herself over in the mirror, nit-picking at her attire and hair. A blush spread across her face when she realized this. "Pull yourself together, Sarah. /Nothing/ is going to be like /that/ so stop thinking that it will. He just wants to test your abilities. Quit getting your hopes up, it never works out." she grumbled to herself, jumping slightly when there was a knock on her door. "Oh...Kirk must have told Bria." she shrugged, figuring that her sis was feeling antsy or something to come over early.

Jim was actually the one to greet her with a grin, his hair still damp as hers was from showering, "Hey, Sarah! I came to pick you up. I know you could just tell the turbo-lift where to go, but I wanted to escort you there. You ready? We'll grab Bria on the way to the turbo."

Sarah's eyes widened at the sight of the captain, her hand slipping and accidentally pushing the close button and shutting the door on him. Gasping, Sarah quickly reopened the door, her cheeks flushed, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that, I-my hand slipped. I swear I didn't do that on purpose." She cleared her throat and hand up her hand in a 'one moment' gesture, "I just, uh, need to get something real quick and I'll be ready." The brunette walked over to her nightstand and slipped her blue crystal necklace over her head before rejoining Kirk.

Jim laughed, "That wasn't the first time I've had the door shut in my face and I'm sure it won't be the last." He motioned for her to follow, "How are you this morning?" They got to Bria's door and he knocked, but there was no answer after a moment, "Computer, is Brianna Church in her room?"

"Negative. Crewman Brianna Church is at the Range."

"Well, I guess that makes things easier. I didn't tell her, so I guess the only other person who would've was Spock. Come on," he reached over and urged Sarah forward with his hand on her back. I've got some apples down there for us to snack on since I'm sure none of you have had breakfast."

"You and those apples of yours." Sarah smiled, fidgeting with her hands. She couldn't deny that she enjoyed the feeling of his hand on her back, even if it came with a spike of unease at a strange touch. Still, she needed to...grow up and stop acting so scared all the time. This wasn't like before when Bria and her had to avoid people, especially those that were as...charming as Kirk. Those that only wanted to screw them over with bad trades or baiting them into traps. The Captain was nothing like them; he seemed to genuinely cared about their well being. "You know I was joking last night. You didn't need to come down here to get me, er, Bria and me, I mean."

"I know you were, and I liked that you joked with me, but I wanted to take you up on it anyway," Jim chuckled and they stepped inside the turbo, "Joking is a nice change from the first day. Anyway...To the Shooting Range!" he told the turbo-lift and the doors closed, allowing them to zoom off, "By the way...you don't have to monitor yourself or hold back when talking to me. I'm not going to make fun of you."

"I guess old habits are hard to die," bowing her head slightly, Sarah blushed and smiled a bit, "Or maybe I'm easily read. I...just act cautious because I've always been made fun of...being a nerd usually means that. I've just...learned to hold back what I want to say so that I could be accepted, even if for a little bit. Bria was the only one to not mind my, heh, nerdiness. I just don't want to, you know, make you think I'm weird." It was hard enough to get a guy to talk with her in the other dimension, she didn't want to scare off the one that came to her first. "And, by the way, I'm sorry again about how I acted when we met. I could give you excuses, but that doesn't justify anything."

"It's alright, I was...quite stressed, too," he shifted, "As Captain, every life on this ship is in my hands. I don't think you understand how truly grateful I am you helped even though we both got off on the wrong foot." He gave her a rather shy, nervous smile. No one except Spock realized how taxing and sometimes daunting his job was, which was why he was glad Spock was taking care of things today. Captains don't get a day off. The turbo opened and they stepped out, "I'd never make fun of you, and if anybody does, tell me," he assured, "Come on, let's find you a phaser. We have different sizes to fit...many different kinds of hands." There were whispers and he looked down to see Bria already had one and was firing at one of the paper targets, a half eaten apple on the table.

The blue-green eyed woman noted the look by the flutter of her heart as she followed behind him. Upon seeing Bria, Sarah smiled proudly, "That's my sis for ya. Three steps ahead." It amazed her how accurate the brunette was firing. Before, either of them were lucky to toss a piece of trash in a trash can a foot away from them. Now all the marks were hitting dead center, the special paper sending signals to a score board over Bria's head. 7/10 shots. Sarah guessed that the first three were from trying to get used to the weaponry. "She's brilliant!"

Bria looked up and when she saw them she waved, then returned her attention to the phaser, "This is feels unsatisfying...Captain, by any chance do you have something like...a sniper rifle?" she looked at the dummies on the other side of the room for more experienced people, "I want to shoot them."

Kirk tilted his head at her and then shrugged, "Yeah, we have something like that. They're in the cabinet over here," walking over, he allowed Sarah to pick out the phaser she was more comfortable with and he put in the code to open the cabinet, "Take your pick. I'm not going to hold you back if you can do something better. I want you guys to be able to protect yourselves."

"Protect ourselves?" Sarah frowned a bit, looking down at the phaser in her hands. Then this...was the first weapon she's held that wasn't a knife. She understood the necessity, especially after the past five years, but she still was a timid person. Fighting wasn't her thing. Sure she could kick ass in violent video games, but that wasn't real. People were. "Are you sure about this? I mean, I get that we need to protect ourselves, but I'm not exactly a fighter."

"Even so, knowing how to aim and fire a phaser will be a good idea, and you can't deny that," Kirk told her gently, "There are different settings, kill, high stun which knocks them out, and low stun so they are basically just paralyzed. Does that make you feel better? Even the lowest setting could save a life, Sarah."

Bria looked at her sister and shook her head, "Just go over to a target and shoot the damn thing. Everyone's required to have one, so might as well practice. Freezing up won't to anybody good."

Mr. Sulu, who Sarah had met on the bridge already, was there as well, "By any chance are you more of a blade person?"

Sarah gave a half shrug, feeling like a child for her feelings. "I...I guess I would feel more control. Phasers...are a lot like guns from Bria and mine time...those things really terrified me. I mean...I knew how to fire one, and was decent at aiming...but my mind is set in a way that I think of every possible bad outcome. 'what if I miss and seriously hurt someone?' 'What if one of my younger family members run out in front of me as I pull the trigger?'" She mumbled, staring down at the phaser, "There were...too many variables that could ruin someone's life forever that...I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Possible outcomes, variables...you sound like Spock," Jim muttered and he looked at Bria, hoping Mr. Sulu could handle this, "Let me lead you to the Sniper's Nest. Hundred thousand some odd people on this ship and not many use it," he motioned to her to follow, "I'll set up different scenarios on the halo and we'll see what you can do."

Mr. Sulu chuckled and he joined Sarah's side, "We never properly met. I am Sulu Hikaru, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he bowed to her just slightly.

Sarah watched as the two walked off and sighed, but quickly straightened up to bow in return to the pilot. "Hawthorne, Sarah, and the pleasure it mine." Saying her name like that was a bit odd on her tongue, but that was due to her Westernize name saying ways. "I'm sorry to bug you. I must sound like the biggest idiot. I just...hate having something dangerous in my hands that I can't control. Like...and this will sound dumb too, but spinning blades, like the ones used to cut wood in my time, I never liked messing with because I wasn't the one making it turn. I had to trust it, and I've found that there are many things in the world that you cannot trust."

"Tell you what, since it is regulation and you don't exactly have a choice otherwise...give me five out of ten on that target, and I will teach you how to use that hunter knife you have in your pocket to be just as deadly or crippling as a phaser," Hikaru tried to compromise, "Because, what are you going to use if we're on a primitive planet and they take away your phaser? A stick? I'd rather you jack one of their daggers and use that."

Sarah smiled and blushed a bit as she nodded, "Alright, that's fair enough. Sorry again for taking up your time. I'm sure you have better things to do than deal with a coward like me." Looking over to where Bria was set up, she watched her sister take aim at the targets. "Bria is stronger than me. She can adapt better. Me? You throw me off my routine and I feel like a lost little kid. I want to be strong like her."

"I don't believe you're a coward. I don't believe either the Captain or Bria think that, either," Hikaru soothed, "You /are/ strong, just not in the same areas. As I observe you, you two are more...yin and yang," he smiled, "She is the brawn while you are the brain. Your performance on the bridge was truly amazing, and then when Uhura arrived unconscious, I knew it was neither Ayano's or Spock's doing, and Bones is not a fighter, either. That leaves Bria." He stood beside her to watch how she aimed at the target, "Don't sell yourself short just because you cannot fight."

Feeling a spark of pride at the words, Sarah focused on her target as she took in steadying breath. Firing a couple rounds resulted in two completely off misses. "I...guess it's been a really long time since I had a target." As she was sizing up the distances and such a second time, her right eye stung again, like before, and those numbers started appearing. Immediately she was able to calculate the angle at which to hold the phaser in order to hit dead center. Would this be cheating...? She guessed not since it's all in her head, so Sarah fired off a couple of rounds. Each hit the dead center. "...uh...can I just say that was cool? Because I've never been able to hit the center let alone twice."

"That was really good!" Hikaru grinned, "Now, let's take you over to the dummies. We're going to start off simple and easy - learning how to throw the knife, at different distances, and then we'll do moving targets. Then you can try all of that with different sized ones, and learn to find the counterweight for any sized blade in order to throw accurately. You and Bria seem to learn quickly, but this will be a long process. Once I'm comfortable you know how to do what I've talked about...perhaps I can teach you how to use the sword."

X

"Alright, I'm going to start you off easy so you can adjust to the difference of the rifle," Kirk stated as he typed up a basic scenario into the Halo database control panel while the brunette set herself up. "Nothing difficult, just taking out a target." Finishing the coding, Kirk looked up at Bria, "Alright, your mission is to take out the target at 400 meters when the change of guard occurs without alerting the others. I've marked your target with a blue outlining and red for the other simulators or this one. Begin when you're ready."

Launching, the scenario, the scenery changed to a rocky environment with a base about '400 meters away'. Several of the 'people' were walking around to create distractions, even blocking shots occasionally. However since this was in fact a basic on, such inferences were kept a minimum. This was just a trail period to give Bira a moment to adjust to the weapon.

After the two of them got to the Sniper's Nest, Bria was content with the simplicity of the little area. There was a perfect little window staring at the halo simulator for practice scenarios, and she sat down, readying her weapon while Kirk set up the practice test. It felt really too simple for her, and her chest didn't even react like it had been when in combat situations. Shrugging, she got in position, and she looked down the scope, "I used to be really, really good at sniping games, like Fallout: New Vegas, or I did best as an Archer in Skyrim: Elder Scrolls...you probably have no idea what I'm talking about..." she found her opening without a problem and fired. Right in the forehead, "But anyway, that was nothing. Come on, give me something harder."

"No idea," Kirk chuckled as he reprogrammed the scenario, "Alright, so you want something harder, well here you go. You mission is stun, not eliminate your target as he is fleeing into a stampeding crowd. Hit a civilian, and you fail the mission. Allow the target to get more than six hundred meters away, and you fail. Good luck."

Starting up the sim, the view changed to a chaos filled city block with humans and aliens alike running in terrifying patterns. A massive blur to most, unless they had that certain skill needed to weave through the chaos to find the calm. Every few on the ship had actually tried, and passed, this scenario as it was one of the most difficult. Hey, she said give her a challenge, so he did.

"Well damn, okay," Bria chuckled and she turned the dial to knock out stun, looked through her scope, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Shoot where it's going to be, not where it was...one shot...no civilians. The running target had a pattern. A jumpy pattern, but a pattern...five seconds ahead, used to waiting ten /minutes/ just to snipe a freaking enemy. "I have the CDs if you'd like them, Captain," she pulled the trigger, going between two pedestrian's shoulders and hitting the target out square in the back.

There were whistles and activity stopped down in the main room as the scenario cleared. Vaguely she heard her sister shouting, something like 'that was awesome' or whatever, and Bria smirked, "Wish Spock could've seen that..." she muttered softly.

Kirk grinned as he walked over to pat her shoulder and giving her a wink, "Well, if you really want me to, I can send your video feed to him now. I'm sure Pointy would be impressed since you beat his score by a whole two points for quicker take down. In fact, I do believe that you two are the only ones to have ever beat this part. So even if you don't want me to send the fed,he'll know by the end of the day."

"I..." Bria blushed and she smiled, "I did? Oh wow...that's awesome! Would he have time to look at it? Being on the bridge and all..." She rubbed her arm shyly, "By the way, Captain, I am sorry about attacking Uhura. We kind of provoked each other and one thing led to another. Spock was still weak and hurt and she wouldn't leave to let him rest."

"Listen, I would have done the same thing...well maybe not /knock her out/, but I would have had her detained until Spock recovered. With Uhura, sometimes extreme measures have to be taken. Although I am going to issue an order to keep any and all physical fighting to the training rooms or on an actual battle field." He had nearly gotten his ear chewed off by Bones about how his medical bay was for healing and not causing more injuries. Nothing Kirk hadn't heard before. "Anyway, yeah Spock'll have time to watch it, especially since it involves his 'superior' scoring. And they say that Vulcan's don't feel pride."

"I have noticed he's a rather stoic person. Is that all Vulcans? Is there a place I could go or material I could download on my PADD for research? There are a /ton/ of different aliens I've run into and I'm sure more on the ship, and I'd like to read about them, see what I'm dealing with," Bria asked, and she stood up, joining him by the halo consol. In the database there were a bunch of scenarios, and they had until four, "I'd like to do some more, but I can figure this out if you'd like to go see how my stubborn sis is doing."

Kirk chuckled, his cheeks tinting pink, and he nodded, "Yeah, there's a search engine on the PADDs we issued you two, so you can look up whatever you want. Also, yes, that tends to be all Vulcans, but Spock's only half and he tends to contradict himself," he rolled his eyes, "I'll come up and get you about ten minutes to four, so I can send you down to Bones." At Bria's nod, he stepped onto the stairs that led down to the floor of the Range, pulling out his PADD, setting up the video feed to send to Spock's, and giving him the code in case the Vulcan wanted to observe her.

X

Spock raised a brow when his PADD alerted him to a message from the Captain. Upon opening it, the Vulcan was stunned to see the message was in fact a recording of a simulation run at the Range. The footage was dated to just a few moments ago which he noticed revealed Bria taking aim at a target. From the look of the scenario, Spock concluded that she was trying one of the most difficult simulations the holo deck offered. This made his brows furrow slightly. Had the captain sent this to him as a joke? To tease the one who had saved Spock's life by sending out her failed attempts...or at least they should have been failed. However, Spock watched as Bria fired the phaser rifle a single time, taking out the target.

To say he was baffled was an understatement as the score tallied over her head. She...she had beaten /his score/. It may have been by two points, but that didn't matter. She still had, on one try (as he had), taken out the target seconds /faster/ than him. It...seemed so illogical that a human woman could actually accomplish such a task. Spock felt….a strong feeling at this knowledge. He supposed humans called it 'pride', but as Vulcans do not feel pride, he could only go by the pride that his...his mother always told him she had for him. Nodding to himself, Spock decided that he needed to understand more of this odd woman...