Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Side sim: Extra Training

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kenzo Kurata (Amory Chief) in Side sim: Extra Training

Posted by Captain Marceau Renault (Commanding Officer) in Side sim: Extra Training
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
In a quiet moment during the voyage to Wolf 359, Marceau headed down to the Armory. In a bout of new captain worry, he stressed about his… Barely passable skills with weapons and fighting. Helena would be willing to teach him, she always passed this stuff with flying colours, but she was busy checking the shuttles.

So, instead, he decided to head down to the Armory and meet the Armory’s chief. Letting the door open, he paused briefly as if checking if Lieutenant Kurata was busy with something else, then headed in. “Lieutenant Kurata?” Asked the Captain, his voice soft and thick with a French accent.

~ Capt Renault

There was a sound of shuffling and soft muttered Japanese before there was a loud smacking sound and accompanying thud as Kenzo was under his desk looking for the 15th lost pen today when the Captain walked in, and he seemed to have forgotten there was a desk above him.

“What?!” He snapped, as he extracted himself from under the desk holding his head, and his eyes widened slightly when he saw it was the captain. “I-I-I-I mean, what can I do for you, sir?” He used his free hand to wipe the dust off his uniform to the best of his ability.

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

Marceau blinked, as if slightly shocked, but said nothing regarding Kenzo’s attitude with his first comment. “Euhm… I wanted a little extra plasma pistol practice, if you aren’t busy. We all have had a lot to do with the new ship.” He said. It was well known by the crew this was his first Captain post, and his somewhat meek personality was certainly making its way around the crew as well.

He wouldn’t have the position though if he couldn’t pull out a more serious demeanor when he needed it, and his service record more than proved he was capable of the position. He just had to convince himself of that.

~ Capt Renault

“That sounds simple enough.” Kenzo said, slowly removing his hand from his head. He briefly walked over to his desk, rooting around in a drawer and grabbing his keys and a pen from within. “I’m down to my last pen. Great.” He muttered to himself. Turning to Marceau, he waved him along behind him, “follow me.”

After a short walk over to the weapons lockers Kenzo opened one up, and signed out two pistols, he tried to slip the pen into his pocket, but, naturally, it completely missed and rolled around on the floor until it went under the locker. Handing Marceau one of the pistols, he sighed. “Ok, I’ve lost 16 pens. That’s a new record.” He muttered to himself, securing the locker and heading up to the open unassigned area in Deck C, where he’d set up a small shooting range, mostly for himself and the MACOs, but it was useful for this too.

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

Marceau considered telling the Lieutenant something along the lines of ‘be more careful’ but decided it would be pointless to do so and decided not to. He followed Kenzo to the makeshift shooting range, carefully holding the pistol as if making sure not to aim it at anything too important.

~ Capt Renault

“I tell this to everyone, but it’s a good bit of advice to hold onto. Don’t point your gun at anything you don’t intend to shoot at. I know that sounds counter-intuitive when moving with it, but in that case you intend to shoot the ground. Don’t point the gun at your face or other vital areas, you know what, don’t point the gun at yourself at all.” Kenzo’s voice sounded tired, like too many people had done that, “Remember that plasma is hot, so once you’ve been shooting, don’t try to touch the barrel. You shouldn’t be able to, but don’t try anyway. No, the plasma canisters are not drinks, I do not recommend trying.” Again, he sounded tired, “I also do not want to see them being thrown.”

Kenzo looked at Marceau, “now that standard gun safety you’d think I never have to remind people of twice but still end up with some sort of accident or injury almost every time, is out of the way, we can get down to business.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

“I’m… Not a beginner, you know.” Marceau commented. “You have to pass basic plasma gun tests to pass the command track. That and… and piloting courses.” Those had both been a nightmare. Marceau wouldn’t have passed the piloting courses without a lot of help from Helena. “What do you want me to do first?”

~ Capt Renault

“I understand, Captain. Regulations simply state I have to do a gun safety briefing before any range fire is conducted.” Kenzo said, calmly, before gesturing to the range. “Show me how you can do first, that way I know where you need to adjust.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

“Of course.” Marceau raised the pistol and, carefully aiming as if conducting a surgery, began shooting at one of the targets. Half the shots hit the target, none were “bulls eyes”, and the rest hit the wall around the target. Marceau sheepishly rubbed his hair. “Must be an off day.”

~ Capt Renault

Kenzo smiled, “Not at all, Captain, I’ve seen some flag officers with worse aim. You’re doing fine.” Kenzo took the lane next to Marceau, aiming his own pistol, and began shooting. He had a tight grouping around one point, but was still skewed to the left of center regardless.

“I think one of the best tips I was given, that may assist you, is to, at least on the range, take it slow. There’s a degree of recoil to the weapon as it shoots that you need to compensate for.” Kenzo demonstrated the motion of the recoil. “So, at least at first, shooting slower can allow you a moment to recover from the recoil and line up your next shot better.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

“I know about that, I’m just… not very good at it.” Marceau chuckled a little and sighed, “It’s like the feedback is different every time.” His nerves would be affecting his shooting as well. He was hoping their first mission would go well and it would be easier after that.

~ Capt Renault

Kenzo nodded. “I feel the same way, and this is what I do everyday, almost. Try to focus on the feedback itself as the gun recoils. And adjust actively as it’s recoiling. Take it slow, we’re not in a race or a competition. This range is set up semi-permanently until you yell at me to remove it, so we’re not on a time limit either.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

“If Logan can sneak a boombox on board, I think you can keep your shooting range.” Marceau said. He aimed the pistol again, and shot a new round of ten. His shots were better grouped, but still not very accurate. “Maybe I will come by more often for practice.”

~ Capt Renault

“Feel free, Captain. Range is always open.” Kenzo said, “and I’m sure there’s some policy loophole to allow you to check out a pistol whenever. Probably rank has something to do with it.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

Marceau smiled. “I will ask you first anyway. Better that our armory officer knows where his pistols are.” He set the pistol down like it still made him a little nervous. “What else do you suggest?”

~ Capt Renault

“Yeah, probably a good idea to ask, so I can make sure I know where they all are.” Kenzo smiled. “Some people would say it’s a waste of cases, but I don’t care, we’ve got plenty. Try getting a feel for the gun without the Plasma canister attached. That’s actually how they taught me at the Academy. I had horrible aim at first, and to keep me from hurting anyone too severely, I was taught without the Plasma at first. It’s kinda archaic, but it works.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

Marceau nodded and started removing the canister. In the process, the gun slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor, discharging a shot at the wall. Marceau held his tongue, trying not to curse, and instead sighed. He wasn’t this clumsy unless he was nervous, and he was making himself look like an idiot.

~ Capt Renault

Kenzo smiled, walking over and picking up the gun, handing it back to Marceau. “Look at me.” He paused, waiting for the Captain to look at him.

“No one is judging you, sir. I’ve seen flag officers with worse skills, I’ve seen Armory Chiefs who were liable to kill someone their aim was so bad. I’ve seen it all, between what time I’ve had on a Delta and the Academy. You just need time. It’s not something that just comes to you. If it was, I think you’d be MACO, not Starfleet.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer

“I know, I know.” Marceau shook his head, carefully picking the pistol up. “My nerves are getting to me, that’s all. I promise I’m not usually this bad. Otherwise, I would not be here.”

~ Capt Renault

Kenzo chuckled, nodding, “just relax. Certs aren’t for another…while.” Kenzo couldn’t remember when certs were do, but besides himself and the MACOs everyone was only a once-a-year certification. “So it’s not like this is going to count against you.”

LtJg Kenzo Kurata, Chief Armory Officer