Mar 09 16:18:33 109 PA - Learning the Basics of Heavy Weapons

From Chronicles

Mar 09 16:18:33 109 PA.

FIRING RANGE

Bartholemew booked a spot at the Heavy Range and is already looking over some weapons that are on the back of a truck, another man standing up on the bed of the truck, the two appear to be talking. It's a clear day, just after Noon, but the chill is still in the air. To someone that might know the soldier, there is something a bit different about him, which becomes more evident as one gets closer.

Pavel walks into the range with a large Northern Gun version rail gun over his shoulder as easy as if he were carrying a broom. A big ammunition drum is carried beneath his left arm. After looking around blankly for a little while, someone is kind enough to point him to the range office, where he apparently gets directions. Some slow but interested steps take him in what will inevitably be Bartholemew's direction. Slowing down as he actually gets good eyes on the man. "Ah... ees Bahrt seek? Need fohr shohts, mehdehceen? Pavel cahn cohm bahk fohr teech vyehn feel byettehr."

Bartholemew notices Pavel coming before he gets there to say anything, shooting the big man a wave. When Pavel gets up to the duo at the truck he replies to the smith, "Never felt better, why? Do I look bad? Nothing hurts anymore, I mean nothing."

The other man up on the truck smiles down at Pavel, "Hello, you must be the one looking for the heavy guns," stepping over the lined up weapons on the back of the truck, hopping down to offer the big man a handshake. "I'm Howard, Sales Rep for The Gunnery."

Pavel looks between the two men with a dubious expression, setting his gun on the ground, quickly explaining, "Coostehmohr traheed taheem fohr shoot fohr vhaht Pavel mehke." He looks to Howard then, dipping his head and smiling. "Ees good meet, Hovahrd. I Pavel. Mahny sohrry fohr my tahlk. Oohndohrstahnd good, boot hav deefeecahlty seh vohrds cohrehctly," he says as he shakes the man's hand. "Hav been tohld go to Goonehry, noht hahd taheem - ohr knov vhaht to look fohr. Boot, meenoht, pleese, Hovahrd." He turns to Bartholemew and his odd setup, though politely not commenting on it. Still, he has to ask, "So Pavel cahn poonch een chehst, Bahrt noht hoort?"

Bartholemew tilts his head slightly at the big man and gives a shrug, like maybe he thinks it's actually possible for Pavel to hurt him bare handed. "Ehhhh, that depends, can you punch your way through a tank? You're the only man I know that can use these big guns without Power armor. It'll prolly break something, but I know I won't feel it. You'll get to see what I can do here in a bit. I'm gonna give you a chance to try and hit me with these cannons. I hooked us up with some practice rounds, so you prolly won't kill me if you hit me, my coat should be enough protection. Sound like fun?"

The soldier somehow taking the spotlight from the salesman, having the expression that Bart is just completely insane with the idea. "Um, are you sure you want to do that sir? Even with practice rounds, it's not advisable."

Pavel's attention remains on the salesman, largely. It didn't sound sane to him, and if it doesn't sound sane to the man who knows about the guns, that probably means it isn't sane. He does offer quickly though somewhat cryptically, "Tehnk? Pavel ees strohng, da. Vhy ees yoos Bahrt fohr tahrget? Noht knov how to aim!"

Bartholemew chuckles at both of em, "Don't worry guys, he'll never hit me. I figure this, you're like a robot power armor all in itself, lets let you get the feel for the gun the way you should. This way, you get a feel for which one you actually like. An I get a feel for my new found speed. I need to practice too. Now, I know everyone out here is using practice rounds, there are no real armaments allowed on this range. Too much damage."

Howard shrugs, still thinking it's crazy, "He's right. Crazy. But right," he admits to Pavel. "I see you brought your own weapon. How is that working? Have you had a chance to fire it at all?"

Pavel is silent for a long while again, but then addresses the sales rep. "Brought, da. Hav nyevehr yoosed. Pavel afrehd to hoort by doeeng sohmszeeng wrhohng. Do noht evehn nov hov to lohd." To demonstrate his complete lack of knowledge, he holds out the weapon and the ammunition canister. They're separate, completely unattached, and the bolt is open with an empty firing chamber. "Need to lehrn to shoot. Peek veetch vhehpon behst vhaheel lohn. Ahlszoh? Pavel see peectyohrs, see NTI beeg goon mehke look beegehst povehr, da?"

Bartholemew smiles looking at the state of the weapon Pavel carries. "Well then, let's start with the basics then, loading that baby up. Looks like its partially started for you already. Bring that drum over here. That is practice rounds, right? I don't wanna get kicked outta here."

Howard nods in agreement with Bart, "I'll let him get you loaded up and I'll set up these others. The NG is a decent weapon, but it still is light on the firepower when it comes to rail guns. It is a reliable heavy weapon. I have to admit, I've not seen many who can lift one without mechanical help either. A couple of these are much heavier than the NG models."

Looking around, Pavel holds out the magazine for inspection. Not practice rounds, but live rounds on loan apparently from one of Pavel's customers in trade for merchandise. "Gohs heer, da?" A thick finger pokes at the open chamber. "Mehbe Bahrt steh bahck?" The separate gun is also handed to the salesman, without comment on his ease of carrying it. That's all he knows, is lifting heavy things. "Cahn shov pleese vhaht to mehke shoot, hov to hohld, beefohr trahee shoot Bahrt?"

Bartholemew chuckles, "Yeah, set that drum over there. That's expensive stuff right there, you don't wanna use that for target practice." Moving over to the side of the truck where another drum is sitting, lifting it, not as easily as Pavel, but he carries it over for him. "Use this drum. Alright, bein as you got the slide open already, step one is done. Now pull out the tab on that drum and hook it over to where it slides into position there," showing him the place it should slide into.

Howard is doing the same with the other weapons on the truck, his work is much slower as he cannot carry the drums so easily, by the looks of it, he prolly should have a partner helping him, but he is managing, part of the job, and he's not the typical unfit salesman selling vacuum cleaners either, he sells weapons so he better know how to handle em.

The mechanics of the thing may be new, but they are easy enough, particularly for a smith who at times might even design simple contraptions like this. The large drum of supposedly practice rounds is eventually attached. Not neatly, quickly or cleanly, but with the skill of a novice with good hands. Of course, Pavel starts waving it around as he turns to inspect the rail gun, and who knows if the safety is on or not. Still, the smith seems to be trying to get a feel for how it moves. He and Bartholemew are in the Heavy Range, accompanied by someone who is obviously a salesman. It's midday, a good time to be out fumbling with large and destructive weapons. "Da, heer? Poynt?"

Bartholemew catches the business end of the weapon as Pavel starts to wave it around, making sure it doesn't point in any threatening position, "Hold on there cowpoke. We ain't done yet." Giving a chuckle at the enthusiasm, "Now that the drum is attached, feed the starter round through the feed tray groove right there. Then close the cover making sure the round don't slip outta place."

Howard is still working at attaching the drum to the weapon, not light work for a mere human man.

Another possible firer arrives from the active landing field, though she carries no readily obvious firearms. Aya has her simple, metal stave secured for travel at her back and another, longer and broader staff-like metal object in hand in place of the other. The latter still appears to function well as a walking aid.

"Oh?" Pavel looks down at the device he's holding. It takes him a moment to figure out how to fumble his way through feeding the first round into the 'tray' as he now learns it's called. The cover is eventually closed. This takes quite a while, however, as he does know his strength is unusual, and of necessity has learned to be delicate with things beyond even what normal people might do. But, in this case, it's eventually the heavy hand that slaps things home. "Da. First booleht?" He turns his eyes to Bartholemew, then to the salesman, watching to see what he's doing to deal with alternative weapons. The newcomer gets a glimmer of obvious recognition in Pavel's eyes, but he's too busy fussing over the rail gun to shout pleasantries at the moment.

Bartholemew catches the glance as he point to the lever that he was going to tell him to pull back on, but doesn't in order to wave at the coming Aya, but gets back to it waggling his finger at the lever, "Pull that lever back and let go, you'll be ready to go. Simple. And point that way only." Actually putting the business end in the proper direction manually, before he swings it around again.

Howard is too busy to notice Aya quite yet, it will take him quite a bit longer to load the weapon as it's strength based rather than finesse to load em up.

Pavel listens intently. He might not know how to use the thing, but he does know that it's dangerous. Almost as dangerous as a blow from his hammer. Making sure that the muzzle is now pointed safely away from anyone - having caught onto that - he yanks back on the lever with the force that he's learned is necessary, if still very weak for him. His face falls slightly at the anticlimactic and nearly silent, 'CHK' as the round is seated and the belt is ready. "Da. Rhehdy?"

Aya approaches the two familiar men at the firing line. "You learned to use the weapon, Pavel?" He is wielding it, and she does not know whether this is the first lesson or the tenth.

Bartholemew gives Aya a smile, there is something a bit different from the last time he was met, and he seems a bit antsy, "Hey there Aya. Glad you showed up to see all this. Ever fire one of these babies?" Giving one last look over of the weapon, he nods to Pavel in approval, "Good job. Now let's see if you can fire it and hit something. See that scrap a tank way out there? Take a few shots at that to get warmed up and then we'll see if you can hit a moving target and get the feel for the handling of the weapon."

Howard finally gets the first drum on and ready, giving a wave to Aya as he moves on to the next. "Are you here for a firing demonstration too? If you can lift it, this one is ready. This one here is the Bandit 5000 BigBore Rail Gun, not particularly powerful rail gun wise, but popular and reasonably priced. It also is one of the few a human like me can use without too much difficulty, only weighing 25 pounds with up to another 22 pounds if the ammo backpack is used." Here, try it out." offering Aya the opportunity.

Pavel is a little surprised by Aya's quesiton, but in a good way. "Ah? No, no. Pavel hahs noht evehn shoot vahnce yeht, Aya. Ees good see!" Then he focuses his attention on the rail gun that he's holding. Of course, he doesn't know this, but it's a model meant to be either mounted on a pintle or carried by heavy troops. 'Heavy troop' in this case meaning him. The two paddle triggers that would be used on a mounting go either unnoticed, or unexplained, but the common trigger mechanism that he's known his whole life seems self-explanatory. Without looking up from what he's doing, he pulls back on the trigger. Fortunately, Bartholemew had had the foresight to point it somewhere safe, as the enormous boom startles the blacksmith enough that he jumps, looks up and accidentally triggers another shot. None of this is enough to knock him off his feet, but certainly strange enough for the startle reflex. Who knows where those rounds actually went.

"No." Aya shakes her head. "I have never seen that weapon before. What did you want me to see?" When the weapon fires, she reflexively tenses. By the second report, most of the tension is only in her face. Possibly only from the noise.

Bartholemew was already expecting what happens and gets a laugh out of it, "Strong yes, still hell of a kick eh?" A smile of amusement remaining as he looks to Aya, "You wanna give it a try? This one don't have as bad a kick as the one Pavel has." Moving over to where the Bandito Arms weapon is loaded already to bring it over, giving another offer to Aya to try it, maybe if it's being handed to her she'll take it.

Howard now hops down from the truck pulling out a tripod and begins setting it up to where it can be used.

Now that he's heard what it does, Pavel smirks at Bartholemew's comment. He does his best to point it somewhere safe, and then pulls the trigger rapid-fire. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM one after another. The shots would never hit anything, but now that he's not surprised by the noise, neither is his body swaying an inch. The slightly changed man receives a toothy smile. "Strohng, da. Loud, da. Keek? Noht soh bahd." Thank goodness he didn't pull the trigger for a burst. He looks around, then reaches to hand his current Northern Gun weapon to Aya. "Cahn trahee, eef vhahnt."

Bartholemew smiles looking down the range as Pavel lights it up and doesn't hit a thing. "So how's it feel? That one is much heavier than this one here. You're probably holding roughly 200 pounds right now. Now check out this one here, it has a laser targeting feature." Pointing it out on the weapon, "Is a simple electronic thing, switch right here. An most that have this feature are about the same, slightly different if at all."

Howard agrees adding as he quickly sets up the tripod for the next weapon, "Yea, the range is a bit shorter as well, but the weapon is a lot lighter than the NG-101 you have there. So between the weight, laser sight, and price, it is the most popular civilian wise. The other short coming of the Big Bear, is the ammo capacity, again, civilian aimed."

The blacksmith looks around, not entirely sure what he's doing. After all, he's never gone shopping for rail guns before. Eventually, he just allows the weapon he's holding to follow a controlled drop onto the floor. The smaller tripod-mounted weapon gets an odd glance, as if he doesn’t really believe it's the same thing. In fact, "Szees do sehm? Look lahkee behbee goon, nehxt to szees." A hand is held to the discarded NG-101, but he dutifully moves over to the Big Bear, awaiting proper instruction.

Aya considers the other weapon a moment. "I already have a weapon," she raises her staff-like possession, "But I could attempt to use that." It is set to lean against a convenient prop nearby.

Bartholemew hands the lighter weapon, and it is a feather in comparison, to Pavel, the tripod not quite in use yet. "See what I mean? Here, let Aya try the Big Bear, and you come over here and try this one out. You can handle a heavy one, could use the practice loading too."

Howard comes back over to the truck and pulls out a Triax Rail gun, "This one here is the TX-500, Big Borg gun. You might like this one, has about the same power as that one there, but loads lighter, probably half the weight. Still no laser sight though. If your interested in that, it can be added. The Big Bear is the only model I have that comes with it."

Pavel is a bit mesmerized by what to him is a flurry of arms sales. The weapon gets handed off without looking, so it's anyone's guess as to where it ends up. He then reaches out for the TX-500. Perhaps a large weapon indeed, but he seems to carry it well. It is immediately pointed downrange, and an exciting CLICK CLICK CLICK follows as he forgets to chamber a round prior to trying the trigger. It is turned around then so that he can try to look down the barrel - or better yet reach in - to figure out what the problem is. "Vhaht ees lehsahr saheet? Hyehlp shoot byettehr?" Hmm. Gotta be something down the barrel.

Aya takes the weapon handed her and shifts her hands to heft the weight to judge it and balance. "You will lose your hand and arm if you are not careful, Pavel." She continues to face her weapon as she notes this.

Bartholemew again takes hold of the barrel to point it in a safe direction while smacking his hand that is toying with the business end of the weapon, probably the same way a drill instructor might before getting angry about it. Bart is surprisingly quick in his actions, giving no time to react. "Stop doing that. Never point a weapon at anything you don't intend to shoot. I'm sure even you can't take a rail gun shot at point blank range, in the head." Then pointing over to another drum of ammo, "Grab that and load it. To open the slide, pull back on that lever and lift there." showing him the step missed with the last loading.

Howard moves on to bring out another gun and mounting it onto the tripod. It's the Coalition SAMAS rail gun, or rather a knockoff.

Pavel works the action on the Big Bear as shown, though he does it slowly and deliberately - and taking the advice of others who seem to be in the know, keeping his body parts away from the front of the weapon. He might have even blushed a little at the necessary rebuking. CLICK-CHUNK "Oh. I feel eet... ah... ees een. Shoot nov?" He pats the large drum - perhaps not knowing why, simply by observing what Howard has been doing - but with the effect of firmly seating the enormous magazine. "Ah, szehr. Nov shoot? Aya cahn shoot? Pavel has hehrd need be vyehry strohng, so eef Aya shooh, Aya moost be vyehry strohng, da?" A little trigger pull is made. BOOM He looks at the weapon, a look of less-than-impressed on his face. "Noht so loud, no?"

"It it too bulky. too clumsy," Aya remarks, though he handles the weight without trouble. "Unless the noise will frighten away enemies, I do not understand it. All will know where the firer is." She sets the railgun down in favor of the weapon she brought with her.

Bartholemew watches Pavel closely in his loading, only having to add at the end, "Remember to lock and load. The lever," to clarify the slang that may be misunderstood. Getting a chuckle at the unimpressed expression. "Yeah, I thought so. It's a civilian weapon."

Howard steps in with Aya's comment, "Of course the enemy will hear where you are. But when you can fire from a position 4000 feet from your target and shred them, it makes the noise an insignificant feature. The weapon is primarily for anti-vehicle, anti-supernatural. Not quite something you use on infantry so much, unless heavily armored."

Pavel explains his reasoning to Aya. "Pavel faheet clohs, veesz hahmmehrs, knaheefs, cloobs. Vyehry qvieht, da. Boot has ahlsoh lehrned szhant vyehry hehvy, veesz vyehry good rhehnge ess nehcessehry. So lehrn beeg goons." He then points the new weapon and yanks back on the lever, chambering another round. "Hovahrd has vyehry beeg? Ahnd... vhaht ees lehsahr do?"

Aya is not so impressed and gestures with her weapon. "This can reach nearly three kilometers, but reach is only part. If on the ground, battles are not fought so far distant. Warriors cannot see to attack."

Bartholemew smiles, thinkin he'll like the TX-500 a bit more, "The laser helps in targeting, making it easier to hit your target. Were ever that little red dot is, that’s where the round hits."

Howard explains once he loads up the SAMAS gun, "This one here is about the same weight as the TX-500, but it has a little more power. The Coalition knows how to make a weapon. Very reliable in combat."

Pavel kneels down at the tripod and the Coalition weapon. As he can't find an obvious trigger, he only finds two little thumb paddles. One is pressed. Nothing. The other, with a similar effect. In the end, he ends up pressing them simultaneously more out of chance than anything else. The loud, long burst is... fun! The blacksmith wears a big grin as he burns through ammunition and the barrel begins to get hot. "GOOD!"

Aya makes no further comments and merely observes as Pavel chatters out bursts from the rail gun.

Bartholemew stops Howard from loading up the rest of the weapons so Pavel can learn with each weapon available. Practice, practice, practice. Besides the SAMAS Rail Gun, Howard brought three other Triax weapons, the TX-500, 250 and the WR200, the latter being the more powerful weapon of the bunch. Unfortunately, none of the weapons were anymore powerful than the SAMAS weapon and the WR200 from Triax. Howard explains, that there are two other Rail guns that are made, much more powerful than what he has available, a Russian model, and a Japanese model, though both are quite rare and says if you find either, please bring them by so he can check them out. He has not seen them yet. Bart never ends up playing target for Pavel, but maybe next time.

Pavel is happy to keep practicing with the weapons, though it's slow going, as he does his best to carefully do things as simple as chambering the first round of a belt magazine, or seating the magazine completely. Using the paddles to fire tripod weapons. Having to have other people point out that barrels get hot after excessive use. Eventually, he turns to ask Aya - as a barrel smokes and cools - "Eef Aya noht fohr shoot, vhy heer? Ohnly fohr see rhehnge? Szees good, only cyooreeos. Pavel laheek qviet vhehpohn, da. Boot vhehn cohm to Keengsdehle, vahs haheehred to hyehlp hoot daheenohsahr. Hahmmehr noht so good veesz mahny, vyehry lahrge daheenohsahr."

"I came to practice," Aya answers, "but I will not ignore the chance to study other weapons. Others may use them against me in the future." She gestures to his heated weapon. "How long must it cool? How long does it take to reload? Your enemy will not wait."

The big smith shrugs in amusement, perhaps simply enjoying the sights and sounds of learning. "Do noht knov. Heer to lehrn frohm Bahrt. Nehvehr yoosed ahnyszeeng laheek eet. My raheefohl vyehry deefehrehnt. Boot Pavel ahgree veesz Aya. Close, qviet, vyehry good. Ahlsoh Pavel ahlsoh seh byehst ees noht need faheet to stahrt veesz, da?" He touches the red hot barrel to see if it's ready to fire yet. Grabs it sharply and starts to look inside - then remembers, bad idea. The trigger CLICK CLICKs, but only because he's managed to blow through an entire magazine without knowing it.

Aya shakes her head. "You should not use it more until you know how to properly. Otherwise, you could die before you do." She turns from him, then, to take up a firing stance with her lance pointed downrange. A moment to aim passes before an energy bolt looses from the tip.

Pavel watches Aya, then comments, "Oh! Da, Pavel cahn mehke szos. Mehke to stahf mehbe sohmdeh, eef need, ahn Pavel knov Aya byettehr." Then he goes back to his studies of learning by doing. The only advice about danger given to him was don't point it at something you don't want to kill, and keep your hands, arms and face out of the muzzle. As he's doing none of that, he simply lifts another one of the rail guns, this time the giant Triax model, and starts doing his best to seat a new belt.

A second and third blast are fired, in rapid succession, before Aya straightens upright. "Another staff? The one you made is enough. I do not need another."

"Noht vhaht Pavel seh," he says, pausing his firing, dropping the muzzle of his current weapon to the ground and leaning on it like a crutch. "Seh cahn mehke stahf szaht do vaht Aya stahf do. Or oszehr vehpohn. Noht fohr seh mehke Aya nev stahf, vhehn noht need." He then wanders over to the truck, looking to see if there are any remaining magazines, for any of the other rail guns that still have ammunition.

"Good," Aya calls over towards him, while moving away from the firing line. She seems to be finished with her brief marksmanship. "If they are skilled and wise, others will put your weapons to good use."

Pavel nods to Aya, then goes about attaching the sole remaining magazine. Nothing happens for a while, until he figures out that the safety is still engaged. Then, a few bursts later, there's simply nothing more to do, and all of the weapons are handed back to Howard, the representative from the Gunnery.