Calico stood up straight, throat tightening in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, sir. I, I can’t help myself when…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Nathen said, holding a hand out to stop her. “We all have our weak points. Without weakness, who’s to say we can have strength? We’ll figure it out.”
Nathen raised his hand toward the Hybrid.
“Besides, the Hybrids are practically revolutionary as far as vacuum/atmospheric flight goes. Who knows? They might just mellow your fear a little.”
Calico took a deep breath and let it out, nodding her head. “Maybe. I hope so.”
Nathen smiled and turned to Phillip and Nikolai.
“Alright boys, I’ll let you get back to work. You’ve been the first to meet Team Alpha’s eighth member, but the rest of the crew hasn’t. And she’s still only seen the hangar.”
Nikolai held up a hand. “Say no more, Commander. We return to our duties.”
“Maybe I’ll put a helmet on first,” remarked Phillip, still rubbing the part of his head where he’d been catapulted against the cabin. Nathen chuckled a little and reached into the cabin to grab Calico’s duffel bag.
“Alright, have fun boys. Be ready to help offload our gear from customs when it arrives.”
“Da, will do.”
“Gotcha.”
Nathen nodded to Calico. “Alright, you’ve seen the hangar. Now let’s move on to the next most important room on the ship.”
Calico followed Nathen away from the Hybrid. “What’s that?”
Nathen eyed the hatch leading to the rest of the ship.
“The weapons room.”
Chapter 9
“Here we are,” said Nathen, walking through the opened door. “Take a look around. Get familiarized.”
Calico slowly moved closer to the center of the room, taking in her surroundings with a sort of silent awe. Nathen paid close attention to how she examined everything, trying to gauge her powers of observation.
The weapons room was one of the larger rooms on the mobile headquarters, and connected directly to the hangar to cut down on response time in an emergency situation. The room harbored every kind of small arms weapon Nathen could think of: Assault rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, grenade launchers, rocket launchers, mortars, every weapon available to Humanity’s armed forces. And then there were a few that were… highly unconventional, but too valuable to do without. Needless to say, the selection was very broad.
All the weapons were hanging on pegs behind double-paned sheets of impact-resistant glass. The only transparent surface more durable was what shielded the bridge. The weapons Nathen could see through the glass weren’t the full extent of an ESC arsenal, though. There were deadlier weapons of war that needed a higher level of security clearance, and were hidden in storage rooms out of sight and out of the way. Often times the weapons there were non-standards, prototypes, or flat-out illegal. Nathen gave Calico a moment to look at the extensive array of weaponry behind the glass walls before continuing.
“Through there,” he said, pointing across the room at an open archway, “is the gear chamber, where we store radios, scanners, explosives, anything we may need on our missions.”
Calico looked in the direction of the gear chamber but didn’t go to fully investigate, holding back her curiosity.
“Okay.” Calico looked about and frowned at the weapons lockers covering the walls. “Why are all the weapons behind glass? Doesn’t that slow things down?”
Nathen walked over to one transparent locker and rapped the glass with a knuckle. “It’s double heavy duty safety glass, in case anything gets loose and knocks around. We gain access to them using this keypad,” he said, pointing to a numbered keypad off to the side, “And individual key cards.”
Calico walked up to the glass and placed a hand on it, staring at the vast array of weaponry now at her disposal.
“Key cards? Like my ID?” she inquired. Nathen nodded and reached into his chest pocket, pulling out a swipe card for her to see.
“Personal identification cards. It’s the first part of a two-part security system we use here in Haven Alpha. You swipe the card…”
Nathen reached over and ran his identification card through the reader, which blipped.
“…And punch in an access code. In the case of weaponry access, you punch in the number of the weapon or appliance you want.”
Nathen put his card back in his chest pocket and simultaneously reached into his opposite shoulder pocket, pulling out another card and handing it to Calico.
“I’ve already got this one registered to you.”
Calico reached out and took it, then looked back to the weapons.
“Okay, let me see if I've got this straight. If I want a weapon, I can just swipe my card and punch in a number, and it will serve up the weapon I choose?”
Nathen nodded. “That’s correct.”
Her hand still on the glass, Calico turned with a smile, green eyes brightening. “That’s awesome! It’s like a vending machine for guns!”
Nathen chuckled, seeing the child-like excitement in the girl. “It’s certainly a step up from your typical gun rack, that’s for sure. Saves time on locating and collecting your weaponry. All you have to do is take it from the tray.”
Calico leaned in close to the glass. “Are the weapons already loaded?”
Nathen shook his head. “No. Even though the glass is bullet proof, and resistant to most other types of weaponry, we still don’t want to chance misfires in the lockers.”
Calico looked up at Nathen, quickly catching on.
“Then I get ammo the same way as weapons.”
Nathen looked for a weapon to use as an example, then took a step to his right and pointed out a Casper sub-machine gun.
“That’s right. The ammo for a specific weapon is located next to it in most cases. The magazines or ammo containers also have designated numbers, so you retrieve them the same way you would a weapon.”
Nathen pressed a finger against the glass and pointed at the submachine gun. “For example. The number for this one, the Casper SMG, would be SMG#3. It fires forty-five caliber bullets, conventionally from a twenty-round throw-away typewriter clip. The number for that clip, displayed next to the weapon, would be SMG#3-1.”
Nathen held a finger up.
“But, let’s say you want to have a little more fun. Suppose, rather than your standard solid shot forty-fives, you want a full clip of boat-tailed, jacketed rounds with hollow points cast to fit a forty-five’s barrel. That would be SMG#3-6. Or maybe you want all that with a fifty-round ring clip. Then you’d punch in SMG#3-6-1.”
Calico gawked. “I can get all that?”
Nathen nodded and removed his finger from the glass. “Like I said. Anything we need, we have.”
Calico looked back to the glass cases. “And I get to choose whatever I want?”
Nathen frowned and made a face. “Well, that’s negotiable. You’re new, so I want to test your abilities before I let you handle some of this stuff. I mean, I’m not going to let you drag around a garrison gun.”
Calico looked back at Nathen. “You don’t think I’m that irresponsible, do you?”
Nathen shrugged. “No, but let’s be honest; I don’t really know you yet. Some over-eager recruits out there want to grab the biggest gun they can get their hands on, treating it like a toy, and end up blowing their own heads off somehow. I don’t want that to happen, especially when it can be prevented.”
Calico took one more look at the arsenal, nodded, and stood back from the glass.
“That’s fair, sir. So what do we start with?”
Nathen reached inside his jacket. “How ‘bout a pistol?”
Calico, unable to help herself, raised a disgusted eyebrow. “A pistol? Isn’t that for officers who don’t know how to shoot?”
Nathen shot Calico a warning glance, and the girl cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Uh, present company excluded, sir.”
Nath
en pulled his pistol out of his holster and turned it in his hand so it was sitting flat in his palm, pointed away from both of them. He displayed more care in handling his sidearm than someone would in displaying the crown jewels of the Serim royal family on a satin pillow.
“This,” he said, lifting the pistol up to eye level. “Is the heart of small arms weaponry.”
Calico looked at the weapon in Nathen’s hand, then sighed, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry. I don’t see it.”
“That’s because all you see is a pistol,” Nathen said, hefting the weapon until its grip was settled into his palm. “What I see is two and a half pounds of fine-crafted steel with a flawless semi-automatic function, a perfectly-balanced center mass, eight forty-five caliber bullets with perfect accuracy up to thirty yards, and recoil that is just strong enough to counter the muscle twitch that comes with the trigger pull.”
“What I see is an extension of my hand that can kill almost the instant I decide what’s going to die. I can tell, by the weight alone, exactly how many shots I have left, and if something’s damaged or about to jamb. I can bring it to bear on any direction from a neutral standing position in a heartbeat, fire off the entire eight shot clip in five seconds, and reload before the last shell casing settles on the ground. But I won’t need to, because every target will already be dead. Depleted of ammo, this extension becomes a melee device that can channel a man’s hand strike into the focal point of the gun muzzle. And, when flipped to be held by the barrel, the grip can be used to strike, hook, re-direct, snag, or otherwise engage in devastating hand-to-hand combat.”
Nathen turned the gun around in his hand and seized it by the barrel, holding it out to Calico. Calico stared at the pistol with a new respect, before hesitantly reaching out for it. Her fingers slid around the grip and tightened. Nathen released his weapon, handing it off fully to Calico. She held it up, turning it side to side, imagining all the things Nathen said the gun could do, or could be used to do. Calico straightened her arm and aimed it at the floor, but her finger stayed off the trigger, maintaining proper trigger control, despite the fact that the safety was engaged. Finally, she looked up and smiled, turning the gun over in her hands and offering it back, handle first.
“It’s a little heavy,” she said, timidly. “But I like it.”
Nathen took his pistol back, double-checked the safety, and slid it back into his shoulder holster inside his jacket.
“A lot of people argue that pistols aren’t an effective weapon in extraterrestrial engagements.” Nathen fastened the holster and brought his hand out. “But I’ve found that there’s not a hostile alien disagreement out there that can’t be resolved with a solid slug from a forty-five.”
Calico grinned, amused. “Alright. Maybe pistols aren’t so bad.”
“Glad you’ve warmed up to them, because as an ESC, you can’t afford to go anywhere unarmed. Go ahead and pick one out.”
Calico walked over and found the section of the cases where the pistols were housed. She took several minutes to examine the weapons through the glass, then frowned and turned to Nathen.
“Is this a test, or can I handle them before I make the decision?”
Nathen walked over and looked over her shoulder. “Which one were you looking at?”
Calico pointed. “That one looks a little closer to my hand size, but I’m not sure.”
Nathen made a pondering expression. “Sachlar, nine-millimeter. Fifteen shot capacity. This is competing for standard issue in the Infantry.”
Nathen pulled his card out and swiped it through the reader, then punched in the number for the pistol. From the top of the inside of the case, a robotic limb snapped down until it was level with the weapon, then slid sideways so it was directly in front of it. On the end of the robotic limb, a grappling claw snapped open and its rubber tips grasped the pistol by the barrel. The locks holding the gun in place released, then the arm lifted the weapon from the rack. Swiftly, the machine lowered the weapon to the bottom of the case and into a padded tray. Then the robotic gun taker returned back into the ceiling from whence it had come. As it did, the rack holding the Sachlars moved forward, replacing the missing gun slot with the next weapon in line. Finally, the tray holding the Sachlar slid out at about hip level, presenting the gun to Nathen.
Nathen retrieved the pistol with the same care he’d displayed with his own personal sidearm, even though the gun wasn’t loaded.
“Weight’s a little off without the clip,” he said, handing it to Calico. “But you should be able to get a feel for it none-the-less.”
Calico took it in her hand and instantly a cloud of uncertainty crossed her face. “Hmm.”
Nathen watched her wave the gun in her hand a little, testing the weight. Then she straightened her wrist and mock aimed in the direction of the gear chamber. She squinted down the sights with one eye, opened it, then uncertainly switched the weapon to her left hand and tried the same thing. After a second, she sighed, turning back to Nathen.
“No good, huh?” Nathen asked, though he could already guess the answer by her reaction. Calico exhaled in a huff and handed the gun back to Nathen.
“I think I like the Denchura better,” she said, shrugging. “But it still might be a little too heavy.”
Nathen arched an eyebrow, placing the Sachlar into the gun tray. The tray automatically sensed its load and retracted, and the robotic arm reappeared to perform its task in reverse. After thinking for a second, Nathen lifted a finger thoughtfully.
“There may be an answer to that. One second.”
Nathen swiped his card again and started punching in numbers before the robotic gun taker had even disappeared into its berthing. He punched in the Denchura’s number, and then some more. The gun taker dropped out of its holdings and whirled over to the Denchuras. Several racks exclusively of Denchuras sat stacked over one another. The robotic limb stopped over the topmost pistol rack, then jumped down, passing over the Mark II variant that Nathen carried. It skipped down to the fourth rack and mechanically plucked a gun from the selection. As the rack cycled forward, the gun taker lowered the prize onto the padded tray and rapidly retracted into the ceiling again. The tray ejected and Nathen retrieved the pistol.
“Try this on for size.”
Nathen handed the Denchura to Calico, who took it, uncertain of what was going to be different. She turned the gun over in her hand, examining it. Nathen saw the doubt in her eyes turn into curiosity, then interest. There were several obvious differences. Nathen’s Denchura maintained its drab steel-gray finish everywhere but the rubber grip. The one in Calico’s hand had two different finishes. The lower half of the gun, grip excluded, had a lighter, more fluid finished look to it, and the slide was a sort of dulled chrome finish. The solid rubber grip was replaced with finger-length spaced rubber bars on the sides, giving it a striped appearance. Calico wrapped it in her palm and blinked, surprised.
“It… it’s so much lighter. But it feels almost the same.”
“Surprised?” smiled Nathen, shutting the open tray. “That’s the Denchura Mark IV, newest edition. The Mark II’s made of solid steel. As an experiment, they built the Mark IV with lighter metals. The frame components are mainly titanium, and they took some liberties with the action. Omnium.”
Calico looked up. “Omnium? But isn’t that…”
“I know. It's an elemental alloy that has never been reproduced by any other race. It's one of the Yew Alliances most closely-guarded secrets.”
Calico looked down at the pistol. “...How did we get a hold of it?”
Nathen smirked, knowingly. “That's one of our most closely guarded secrets.”
Calico held the gun out straight and test aimed into the gear chamber. At last, she smiled.
“I like it,” she said. “I think I really like it.”
Nathen punched up the number for a loaded magazine and waited for it to be deposited in the tray. He pulled the mag out and closed the tray.
&n
bsp; “Here,” he said. “Gun’s often work better with bullets.”
Calico eagerly accepted the ammo, then showing the same care displayed by Nathen, slid it into the Denchura. It locked into place, and Calico tested the slightly-altered weight in her hand.
“You say guns work better with bullets,” she said, working the slide just enough to see the top bullet in the clip, not enough to chamber the round. “You don’t expect me to shoot someone, do you?”
“No,” said Nathen, calmly punching in a command code into the wall terminal. “Not yet, anyway. However…” Nathen hit the execute command on the terminal. “It won’t hurt anyone to test fire the thing.”
Several loud clicks emitted from the floor, grabbing the young speaker’s attention. Calico turned just in time to see several of the weapon room’s floor panels pop free and lift into the air with a hiss of pistons. The panels lifted in unison, creating two elevated rows that stretched almost back to the hatch leading to the hangar. Nathen gently ushered Calico toward the gear chamber, but they didn’t leave the weapons room. Once the floor panels had risen to about shoulder height, they stopped, and started rotating their surfaces toward one another. By the time the wide floor panels had ceased pivoting on the tips of their pistons, they had created a walled corridor that stretched almost to the end of the room, about thirty feet. At the far end, a final floor panel had lifted on double pistons and rotated, turning the underside toward them. On the bottom of the final panel was an impact sponge pad, angled toward the two ESCs. Once all the floor panels had finished arranging, Nathen gestured at the now fully-functional shooting range.
“Want to try a little target practice?”
Calico had to try several times to find the right words. “Is that really wise? I mean, we’re on a starship…”
“…in a weapon’s chamber, utilizing a firing range, with bullet-proof barriers, with the permission and supervision of your commander,” rattled off Nathen, matter-of-factly. “The whole purpose of this is for you to get familiarized with the weapons you will be using. I’ve seen new blood rush out onto the field in training exercises, then pause for five minutes while they try to figure out which switch on their rifle is the safety and which sets it to semi-auto fire.”
Prime Alpha (Planetary Powers Book 1) Page 10