The shooting range was always very quiet first thing in the morning. Most marines who got there early were either looking to get their qualification in a specific weapon system or simply had the time off duty and wanted to get some range time in. However when Drake arrived the place was empty. Better for it he thought. His first plan of action was to get Tz'eal fully trained in the use of the most basic of UNSC weaponry. Every marine of the UNSC understands how to operate and maintain an MA37 and M6G, so Drake wanted Tz'eal to start there, the basics.
If Tz'eal was able to grasp those two quickly Drake would move him onto the M7 SMG and the BR55. After that, if he was cleared to continue onto more specialized weaponry, such as the SRS or the Jackhammer, he would bring Tz'eal to the exterior ranges in order to show him those two. But until then he knew what he needed to do.
He spent the first hour of the morning gathering the weapons and ammo, locking down a single lane of the range for their use while other Marines began filing into the range. He would look to them, smile and wave, not expecting anything in response. If anything he was expecting glares and dirty looks. Which he got. It seemed that most of the Marines knew exactly what he was being told to do and they held resentment towards him and Tz'eal. But who wouldn't?
Tz'eal was coming from an enemy force, a force they had been fighting for decades. It was going to be difficult for anyone to trust him. Until he proved himself.
Glancing around there was still no sign of Tz'eal. Drake was unsure as to what might be happening. Perhaps he was lost? He had shown Tz'eal around but maybe he should have waited for him in the morning in order to lead him here. To make sure he stayed out of trouble. But what if he had gotten into trouble. Cornered by some Marines who wanted to say or do something to him. He was confident Tz'eal wouldn't cause any issues but his fellow Humans on the other hand. Them he wasn't sure about. Pushing those thoughts out of his head he chose to work on his own aim and brought up some targets down range. Keeping himself sharp while keeping an eye out for his alien friend.
He wasn't shooting long before there was a tap to his side. He lowered his BR55 and smiled turning to look expecting Tz'eal but found Jay grinning at him.
"What are you doing here?" Drake asked, sounding annoyed as he rolled his eyes and looked back down the range.
"Looking to see how our newest member is faring. Doesn't look like he's here though. Gives me a chance to pry." Jay replied with a chuckle as he stepped fully into the lane. Drake shook his head slightly and sighed as he placed the rifle down.
"Why? Why do you always need to pry?" He asked as he finally broke into a smile and looked over.
"Because you know me. I like to keep my eyes and ears open for anything interesting." Jay replied with a shrug.
"You love gossip. That's all." Drake retorted as he glanced over Jay's shoulder, still looking for Tz'eal.
"Of course. So explain. Why didn't you tell me about him when you first got him here. The 'radioactive' material or whatever bullshit you tried to feed me, that was you covering for him wasn't it?" Jay asked as he nudged Drake in the side with his elbow.
"Of course it was. But I can't exactly walk around with a giant sign over my head with 'Dangerous Elite here!' pointing at Tz'eal now could I?" Drake asked, sounding sarcastic.
"Well no. 'Course not. But you could have said something. I would have understood, you know me." Jay said, sounding a little quieter as he looked away.
"I told you why I didn't say shit. I'd rather not risk us getting into shit with ONI just to keep you in the loop." Drake replied with another eye roll and shake of his head.
"Well that being aside the matter, when do I get to meet him?" Jay asked, his attitude changing instantly, like a child just being told they were getting a puppy.
"If he ever shows up. I don't know if he's gotten into trouble or if he's just lost." Drake explained as he continued to glance over to the entrance to the range. More and more Marines were entering and leaving with no sign of Tz'eal.
"He'll get here. Everyone's been talking about him. Saying what they'd do if they got him alone but let's be honest here. No one in their right mind would do anything to him. He'd probably kill them." Jay replied with a chuckle as he stepped over to the table and picked up the M6G. He ejected the magazine, making sure it was loaded before slamming it back into the mag-well. He quickly racked the slide and aimed down the range.
"Remember what I told you. Breathe. Take your time with your shots. You can fire as quickly as you want but there's no point in spitting rounds down range if you're not going to hit shit." Drake reminded Jay as he stepped back and crossed his arms, watching Jay prepare to engage the targets.
"Don't worry. I got this." Jay said confidently as the first set of holographic Grunts appeared down the lane. And as Drake expected Jay began sending round after round down range without slowing down, the first shot was on target however the rest were scattered all over the place.
"And that is why you'd never make it as an ODST. You've got no patience." Drake said with a chuckle as he shook his head.
"Once I get my certification I won't need to have patience with a gun. I have no intention of using one after that." Jay retorted as he reloaded the Magnum and began firing again.
"You have to keep in mind: If you get shot down you're going to need to know how to defend yourself." Drake replied, his tone sharpening as he got a little more serious. Jay was going for his pilot certification. Drake had known of Pilots within Valkyrie who went out of their way to never train with their service weapons. Thinking they would never be taken down. Only for that to happen and the pilot being unable to defend themselves properly. If Jay wanted to go down the path of Pilot then Drake wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting in to.
"Look Jay. I'm only trying to keep you safe. Should something happen farther down the line then…" Drake began as Jay stopped firing and turned around.
"I know you're only looking out for me. But you don't need to worry about me anymore. You've got someone more important to keep an eye on." Jay said as he glanced back down the range and brought the Magnum up to begin firing again.
"He doesn't need me keeping an eye on him. He knows what he's doing. You don't." Drake retorted. Jay smiled back at him which slowly faded as a look of confusion crossed his face. Drake watched the confusion cross his face before he realised what was confusing Jay. The ambiance of the range had died. No one was speaking, no one was shooting. That told him one thing.
"You'd think they'd never seen an Elite before." Drake commented as he turned around and looked over to the entrance of the range. There Tz'eal was standing in the doorway looking around. Drake smiled as he spotted the Olive colour of his combat harness. He walked out of his lane and waved at Tz'eal who finally spotted him.
He could feel all the eyes of the Marines on him. Slowly he walked over joining Drake and his companion, the one that had spoken to him when he escorted Tz'eal into the base.
"Tz'eal, this is Jay, one of my close friends and fellow Marine. Jay, Tz'eal." Drake said, introducing the two of them to each other.
"It is an honour." Tz'eal said as he extended his hand out to the Marine. Jay looked up at Tz'eal, an expression of fear all over his face.
"You have not been so close to one of my kind without him looking to kill you. Have you?" Tz'eal asked as he looked down upon Jay. Jay simply shook his head without looking away.
"Well there's a first for everything. Now Jay, piss off. We've got work to do." Drake said as he slapped Jay on the shoulder and gently pushed him out of the lane. Jay slowly walked out, unable to take his eyes off of Tz'eal as he turned around and slowly began walking backwards.
"When you find your voice come back. I'm sure he would love to have a conversation with you at some point." Drake said with a smile as he turned around, leaving Jay alone outside of the lane to walk away.
"I am sorry I am so late. I knew where to go but the thought of travelling alone around so many Humans who might want to hurt me caused hesitation." Tz'eal explained as he reached down to the weapons on the table, his fingers crossing the cold steel.
"Don't worry about it so much. It'll take time for everyone to understand you're here to help. Just remember you've got your active camo. Use it if you need to walk around without everyone glaring at you." Drake reminded him as he leaned out of the lane, looking around at all the Marines who were staring back or even getting close to listen in on their conversation.
"I will try." Tz'eal replied as Drake nodded to his fellow Marines before stepping back into the lane, moving closer to the desk and picked up the Magnum, the first weapon he was going to explain and teach Tz'eal to use.
"The M6G. Standard issue sidearm of the UNSC. It's a semi-auto, recoil operated, magazine fed handgun, firing .50 caliber rounds. Once you're set and comfortable with each of these weapons this is one that you will be issued without question. Everyone gets this." Drake explained as he picked up the weapon, ejected the magazine and opened the slide while looking into the chamber, checking it was clear before sliding the magazine back into the breach and placing the weapon down again on the table.
"As was our Plasma Pistol. Should you be issued something stronger such as our Plasma Repeater a Minor would be issued a Rifle and Pistol as standard." Tz'eal said, recalling his experience within The Covenant.
"Exactly. Sometimes you'll be given something else if you're qualified to use it. Otherwise this is probably going to be your second best friend. Get used to it." Drake said with a nod as he slid the sidearm over to Tz'eal. SLowly Tz'eal picked the weapon up. It was much smaller than he expected it to be in his own hand, his fingers barely able to wrap around the grip.
"Once you're comfortable I'll show you how to operate the weapon properly." Drake said as he drew his personal sidearm and watched Tz'eal who continued to try and figure out the weapon. He wrapped Two of his fingers around the back of the weapon, one around the front and placed his final digit on the trigger. Glancing over to Drake and seeing how he was holding the weapon he tried mimicking his grip, taking his off hand and gripping the bottom of the weapon, his fingers wrapping around his main hand, the feeling of cold steel gracing the tips.
Once he was sure he was comfortable he nodded once letting Drake know he was ready.
"Alright. As you probably know the trigger your finger is on is the firing mechanism. Ensure the weapon is pointed in a safe direction and fire when ready." Drake explained as he watched on. Tz'eal nodded slowly as he aimed the weapon down the range. There were no targets shown so he picked something that caught his attention, a small black box which he could easily hit.
Slowly he pressed the trigger firing a single round towards the box. He was unsure if the round connected as a sharp pain shot through his finger. He cried out in pain as he tried to drop the weapon but it clung to his off hand finger.
"Hold onto it. Don't let it drop." Drake said with a hint of shock to his voice as he reached over and gently took hold of the weapon. Looking over it was clear what had happened. Tz'eals fingers had wrapped around to the other side of the weapon and, once it discharged the recoil kicked the slide back to eject the spent shell as it should have, but the slide then clamped down on Tz'eals finger, jamming his finger into the weapon.
"Fair warning, this is going to hurt even more." Drake warned as Tz'eal gripped the weapon once again, purple blood flowing down his hand and dropping onto the table. Drake wrenched the slide back violently enough to release Tz'eals finger causing him to growl in pain as he placed the weapon down and grabbed his finger.
"It would seem I can not hold the weapon as you do." Tz'eal commented with a growl as he squeezed his finger to stop the bleeding.
"Yeah. You could try using just one hand. We need to compensate for the recoil by using two hands. You might be tough enough to fire one handed." Drake suggested as he took Tz'eals hand and inspected the damage. The skin on his finger had been torn but had healed quite quickly.
"Perhaps." Tz'eal agreed quietly as he slowly, reluctantly picked the weapon up a second time, gripping it as he had done before but only held it with his main hand. Aiming at the same small black box he fired the weapon quickly, wanting to deal with any pain he experiences quickly. Pain which did not come. The sidearm kicked in his hand violently but he was able to keep it steady as he saw a large hole punch through the box.
"Very nice. I guess you won't need to worry about using the Magnum too much. It's very simple." Drake said, sounding happy as he gave Tz'eal a pat on the shoulder.
"Other than just firing there's a few other things you need to know about our weaponry which is slightly different from what you're used to." Drake began as he turned the weapon on its side and began showing Tz'eal the small details.
"Mag release. Slide release. You'll need to know these two to keep going with the weapon." Drake explained as he showed Tz'eal how to reload the Magnum. Pressing the magazine release to drop the old mag out before slamming the new one home.
"That's not it all however. Our weapons have two different ways of operation when you're reloading it depending on if the weapon is empty or not." Drake began explaining as he ejected the magazine once again, removing all but one round from it before placing it back in the weapon.
"Your weapons required you to go through a full process regardless of how much ammo or charge the weapon had left right?" Drake asked as he raised the Magnum and aimed down range.
"Correct." Tz'eal replied with a nod as he watched intently.
"Our weapons don't suffer from such things. Watch closely." Drake said as he fired two rounds down range. The slide of the Magnum locking back. He dropped the empty magazine before grabbing his second one, slamming it into the breach before hitting the slide release, quickly firing another round.
Tz'eal tilted his head in confusion. Drake had fully reloaded the weapon as he had seen other Marines do in combat before. Drake smiled once again. He slowly ejected the magazine once again and showed the round loaded into it to Tz'eal. Picking up his final magazine he slowly loaded it into the weapon before firing again. Tz'eal recoiled back slightly in confusion as he watched Drake fire the weapon again without cycling it as he had before.
"You only ever need to cycle the weapon to load a new round into the chamber if you're completely empty. If you're reloading a partial magazine, there's still a round loaded and ready to fire. So simply load the new magazine and continue firing." Drake concluded as he began loading rounds into several magazines.
Tz'eal recalled the information several times trying to memorize it as he watched. Once Drake had finished loading rounds into the magazines he slid them over the Tz'eal.
"Go ahead. Show me what I've taught you." He said confidently as he stepped back and crossed his arms, watching Tz'eal hoping that he would be able to grasp how Human weaponry operated quickly.
Moving almost on instinct Tz'eal completely reloaded the Magnum, raised the weapon with one hand and fired, sending the entire magazine down the range at nothing. With a metallic clack the slide locked back. He ejected the empty magazine as he had been shown, loaded a fresh one and hit the slide release, quickly raising the weapon and firing again.
From behind he heard Drake clapping slowly as he stepped back up to the table. He reached over his shoulder and pulled out the larger steel weapon Tz'eal had seen the Marines using in combat.
"The second weapon you'll be issued once we're finished up here." Drake began as he lowered the weapon onto the table.
"The MA37 ICWS. Individual Combat Weapon System. This is a magazine fed, gas operated, fully automatic assault rifle chambered in 7.62mm. Just like the M6G, this is standard issue among the UNSC at the moment therefore once you're set up and good to go with this you'll be issued your own." Drake continued to explain as Tz'eal reached over and picked the weapon up. He had seen marines use this weapon more than others.
Gripping the weapon he shouldered it as he had seen Marines do and aimed it down the range, giving the trigger a squeeze and releasing a burst of rounds down the range. Drake smiled and nodded as he watched.
"Glad to see you've been paying attention to us. Even if it was during a time you wanted to kill us." Drake commented as he reached down and picked up the second MA37.
"Mag release, just like the M6G and most of our weapons you'll find something like this on the weapon to release the mag unless it's manually loaded. And this here is the charging handle." Drake explained as he pointed from each mechanism to the next.
"The charging handle works differently from the slide release on the M6G however." Drake continued as he reached over and pointed at the ammo counter on the display of Tz'eals weapon. "This shows you how much ammo you have left in your magazine. It updates in real time as you fire and when you reload so you can keep an eye on how much ammo you've got available to you."
"When the display flashes red and the counter reads zero then, clearly, you're out of ammo. Eject the magazine and load the new one in." Drake continued as he watched Tz'eal follow his instructions as he gave them. "Now the chamber of the rifle is empty. You're going to need to rack the charging handle in order to load one manually." He concluded as he reached over and pulled the charging handle back for Tz'eal, listening to the metallic ping as a new round was loaded into the weapon.
"This system is almost universal when it comes to the shorter barrel rifles in our arsenal. So the DMR and BR55 will work the exact same way. The MA5 series of assault rifles too if you ever use one of them." Drake explained. Slowly Tz'eal nodded and began cycling through the weapon. Loading fresh magazines and firing rounds down range to get used to handling an alien weapon.
"Alright. With that you're basically good to go." Drake said happily as he stepped back and continued to watch Tz'eal work.
"And what of the weapon you use?" Tz'eal asked without looking around, letting another burst of rounds down range.
"The BR55? You'd prefer to use that over the MA37?" Drake asked as he considered how alike the MA37 and The Covenants Plasma Repeater were.
"One accurate strike causes more fear than a barrage of inaccurate rounds." Tz'eal explained as he lowered the rifle and slowly turned to face Drake.
"Alright. I'm sure I can work something to get you a BR55 issued. But with that you're essentially qualified to use our standard issue weaponry. If we couldn't before we can now officially call you a Marine of the UNSC." Drake said with a smile.
"What now?" Tz'eal asked.
"Now you get some practice in, where you can. I'll be speaking to Shaprio to let him know you're ready and we'll see what he has in store for both of us." Drake explained as he turned on the spot and walked to the edge of the lane, looking out at the group of Marines who had been standing nearby listening to their conversation.
"Am I free to return here whenever I want to train?" Tz'eal asked as he glanced over to Drake who simply nodded in response.
"You might have some bother with the people who try and claim the range for themselves at night but otherwise feel free. Don't be afraid to do whatever you need to to improve. You're one of us, whether they lie it or not." Drake said, getting louder near the end of his sentence so the nearby Marines could hear him clearly before walking away from the lane, leaving the range and Tz'eal behind who looked out to the group.
Feeling more confident with himself Tz'eal walked out of the lane, following behind Drake with the intention of returning to his abode. He shrugged off the glares from the Marines in the room as he left them behind, his new life as an ally of Humanity finally beginning.