It would be sometime around 5 in the afternoon when the two ships come into view of David's estate. As the ships make their approach, David touches his comms interface again, *BUZZ*"Hey Jaden, do you want to have that pistol bet we keep putting off?"*BUZZ*
*BUZZ*"... eh? The pistol bet...?"*BUZZ*
*BUZZ*"Oooohhhh... si, heheh... we keep forgetting about that. So yeah... where is the range anyway?"*BUZZ*
*BUZZ*"It's not far, down that path that trails off from the main house. Actually, we can walk there from the Estate."*BUZZ*
Slowly, the ships touch down on the platform, and eventually the two pilots are out on the hangar bay floor, "Well! I could always go right now... but I think I'll need to prepare myself a bit before we go there. I'll meet you at the start of the path in a moment, alright?"
"I'll be waiting for you beside the door, alright?"
"si..." And she walks off...
... a few minutes later...
Going though door beside the minibar would lead to another hallway that was lined with lots of other doors which led to other areas of the Estate; the 3rd door straight ahead to the right, which was another shell-lined door, just before a bend to the left in the corridor, led directly to the outside and directly in front of the path towards the ranges...
David, who was leaning on the door-sill, is waiting patiently for Jaden to arrive. After a few minutes pass, the door opens and she walks outside; it didn't seem she had changed from her flight-suit, but instead her pistol's now at the right side of her hip, "Hola... Didn't take too long. Let's go then."
"Yep." And they start walking down the path.
... A few minutes passed before David decides to break the ice, "... Now Jaden, why is it you get so tense in the bomber? I think that's where a lot of your problems are coming from, you're not relaxed and flowing as you normally are in the Tiger."
Jaden was reluctant to reply back, "... I..." She pauses a bit and looks away for several moments, unwilling to look at him directly; but her eyes slowly go back, and she continues in a hurt voice, "... Well... I guess you should know... after all, you're the one teaching me..."
She starts off with a large breath, "... Remember the time when I said I wasn't used to the bomber? Well... It was because of... lack of training..."
She then looks up to the slightly-clouding-sky, "... It was many years ago, not that long after I had completed my initiation rites by getting an Artifact from the Malvada Cloud...
"... My papito had already fashioned a brand-new ship for me to use as I began my new life as an adult: a Praetorian... a two-seater-bomber... He was so proud of me for having completed my rituals into adulthood... So was I...
"... Then all of a sudden, my papito was called to serve the Empire: a large task-force of Outcasts had just managed to pass through the Omicron Eta Minefield, and were currently engaged in a large battle... But from the expression on my papito when he received the call, it sounded like the Outcasts were winning..."
The Corsair takes another pause, "... And the unthinkable happened... Out of pride, he told me... I should come along with him... to 'baptize me in the fires of battle', as he mentioned... And, as the greatest honor he could ever bestow on me, I... was to use my own newfound-bomber, and he'd be my co-pilot to handle the Nova Torpedoes... My papito kept assuring me that it'd be fine, what with a well-decorated veteran being my guide...
"... He... expected so much of me... I also had such expectations on myself..." Tears start dropping down her eye, "... He shouldn't have... I shouldn't have...
"I remember that battle very well... I and my papito were had just de-warped from the Omicron Theta-Eta Jump Hole, and it was an incredible sight: an initial invading Outcast force of 4 Sabres and 2 Tridentes, and all around them were a cloud of remains of my fallen compadres...
"My heart was racing... I didn't feel ready for battle just yet, knowing that I hadn't even got any practice with my bomber, but... I was in the presence of my papito, so I dared not show any fear... We were a flotilla of 15 Titans, and, including myself, 5 bombers-strong...
"I and my ship were to be 'made' as the head of the bomber-attack force, the arrow-point, the ship to initiate the battle... but those infidels..." Her cyborg hand tightens its grip in anger, "They had used the debris to their advantage, and we didn't anticipate that 5 more Sabres and 4 more Tridentes were lying in wait for an ambush from the two sides... My squadron was caught in a pincer-maneuver..." She tries to wipe away some of her continuing tears.
"... And they hit my ship first... My shields went down... and a gunboat missile impacted on my cockpit a second later. My bomber didn't take that much of a beating, but... out of all the things that could've happened, my papito just had to be knocked unconscious from the missile hit...
"We could've won the battle... at least barely... but... my papito had been crippled, and so no one was there to man the torpedoes... I had been reduced to a sluggish Titan, which meant our force had only 4 working bombers against 6 Tridentes... the odds were stacked against us...
"Though we managed to defeat a couple of the infidel Tridente's due to our superior skill, sometimes no amount of skill could ever match against being heavily-outnumbered and overpowered... One by one our bombers fell... Until I was the last remaining 'bomber' left.
"My squadron demanded I try to use my wits to control the torpedoes myself, but... I never had any training on firing Nova's... never... I was called on to serve too early... and my papito wasn't there to guide me...
"... And soon, my own compadres fell before the concentrated fire of the remaining Tridentes... and...
"... in panic, I ran... I ran away from the battle... ran away from the horror of of it all... and from that day on, I... was to be called a coward..." She covers her face in shame.
"I couldn't aim the torpedo... I just couldn't... I only knew how to fly, and that's it... why..." Jaden sobs heavily as they continued walking...
David only watches in silence, not sure of what to say or respond...
... Eventually, after several minutes more of following down the dirt path, they can finally see the range in the distance, "... is... is that it over there?" Jaden pointed out at the large clearing and the small building to the side.
"Yep. That little building is the armoury. I got some fun toys in there."
The Estate Targetting Range measured 200 meters long by 20 meters wide, entirely-enclosed with 2-meter-high wooden fencing; targets were placed at varying distances that could flip up when activated, all lined up at one side; on the other was the entrance into the range, and there connecting the clearing to the entrance was this tall, three-storey concrete building that had full-length windows that were adjacent to the clearing, possibly serving as the firing positions for any test-fires.
A minute more of walking and they are only a small distance from the entrance, "... S... so... can you... help me...? In aiming the SNAC, I mean..." Jaden squeaks hurtfully at David.
"Well... Even I don't bother with nova torpedos, I blew up 4 training craft trying to master them..." He scratches his head, beaming a very sheepish smile to himself.
"Si, I suppose... but times have changed, no? The interfaces should be a lot more user-friendly, and..."
"And I'm never going to touch them again!" He remarks with relief and points out, "I'll tell ya, the debriefing after the 1st one was bad enough, but by the 4th... uh, screw up, it was decided I wouldn't be using them."
"But the SNAC should be better than the Nova, si?" Jaden worriedly-asks.
"Hell yea! You have half the chance of blowing yourself up with it." He chuckles with a sure grin.
There was something in David's confident grin that made Jaden feel she'd make it out alright after all; she looks at his sheepish expression, and then smiles back with an inner warmth in her heart, "... I... guess you're right..."
Soon, they reach the front door towards the range. David approaches the door and palms it open.
They walk into the building, and inside, lining around the walls, are a varying number of weapons that ranged from the common laser-pistol, to huge, shoulder-mounted missile launchers; this alone was the first floor of the armoury, and there might possibly be a greater selection of sidearms should one decide to go up higher.
Jaden raises an impressed eyebrow, "My, oh my... What a list..."
David smiled at her remark, "Hehe... Take your pick."
She wanders her eyes around a bit until something large catches her gaze: she quickly approaches what looks like this very large minigun that was equipped with a back-pack magazine, where a belt of rounds ran towards the gun; she picks up the large cannon with little difficulty, and grins excitedly as she grips the handles, "... Oooohhh... haven't seen one of these things since 3 years ago."
"I've had some fun with it... But it ain't cheap to run."
"You don't say... These things usually consume, what, 1000 rounds a minute? 2?
"Pfff... who cares?" She rolls her eyes and then gleefully exclaims, "So where can I shoot this little baby?"
"Out the front here. Didn't you see the range?" He points towards one of the windows that have already been left open.
Jaden takes her place, and was about to aim the gun at one of the farther targets when a rabbit-like animal suddenly skampers around the grass, "OH LOOK! FRESH MEAT!!!" She quickly aims the minigun at the poor, hapless creature and fires whilst laughing maniacally, "MWAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
But the creature manages to evade the shots, which then escapes into a hole somewhere hidden from view; Jaden couldn't help but sob a bit in shame at not being able to hit her target.
Then David taps her on the shoulder, the hand holding what looked like a plasma grenade, "His hole is over by that tree on the edge of the range." He motions his other hand towards that lone tree.
She widens her eyes cheerfully, "Ooo, a grenade! You're such a sweetie, David!" She swipes the grenade off of his hands, and, after priming it, throws it long and high; the cylinder lands on the very base of the tree, and it quickly explodes in a spectacular green mist, "Ahhhh..."
"I myself would have shoved it down the hole... but that wasn't bad either." He smiles at the hole where the tree was supposed to be.
"Would've been too easy if I did that." Jaden shrugs her shoulders, then she suddenly remembers something, "... Oh right, I almost forgot why we're really here!" She takes out her Neutron pistol from its holster and sets it, which soon starts to hum in a high-pitch.
"Oh, alright..." David takes out his three-barreled laser pistol which had a knife fastened on the bottom, and sets it on standard fire, "Ok... How bout 20 targets, starting at 10 feet increasing in range by 5 for every interval, 30-second-time-limit and 25 shots? After that will be stage-2, which'll be 30 targets, starting at 20 feet increasing by 10, 30 seconds and 40 shots."
"That'd work... BUT! We'll have to divide the bet into two parts, if you will... The first one will just be ordinary, while the second... well... you'll see..." She offers her hand to seal the bet, grinning slyfully at him.
"Deal." He formally replies the gesture back.
"You first, as courtesy of being the home-player, heheh."
"Alright." David goes over to the front of the window and sets up the rounds via a terminal adjacent to the firing window, "You pistol will only be able to fire 25 time before the system lock it, so you can't over step the shot restriction. There'll be a horn to signal the round, and when the horn sounds again it means the time's ended." He steps up to the line and waits for the horn to sound.
As soon as the horn sounds David gets shooting. His laser pistol seems decently-accurate and damaging enough, but it also runs with a defaulted-high refire-rate which makes him miss more. He hits 17 targets in 19 seconds, and fired 25 shots, "Not bad... now your turn." He steps away from the line as Jaden makes her approach.
"Nice..." When the horn sounds, she shoots and hits all 20 targets, and as each bolt makes it's mark straight and true the damage imparted on the targets instantly irradiates and ionizes the material like a white-hot knife evaporating the butter it passes through; but unlike David she seems to take her time and almost uses up the entire 30-second time limit, "... Hmmm..." She scratches her chin with her human hand, her ocular implant inspecting the shots critically.
"Just got in on time... Now to stage-2: 30 targets, starting at 20 feet increasing by 10, 30 seconds and 40 shots."
Jaden unloads her pistol and places in a new clip; then she gives a thumbs-up, "... Ready when you're done."
"Alright." He presses the start button and soon the horn sounds. David leaves some of the closer targets for later, focusing on furthers away ones.
After 24 seconds pass he had hit all but 1, yet he already used up all 40 shots. In one quick move, David detaches the blade that was stuck in front of his pistol, and throws it at the last target, which was 20 feet away: the pistol stabs into the target with only 1 second to spare, "Woo! That was a close one!" He shakes his fist in the air in triumph.
Jaden laughs hard in disbelief at the unexpected way David dispatches his target, "Hey! That wasn't with your pistol! That shouldn't count!"
He chuckles, "It was a hit, and I didn't exceed the shot limit, why do you think I had it designed into it anyway?" He jumps through the window, and after walking towards the target and taking his knife back he goes back in the building.
"Pfff..." She continues to chuckle for a bit, but she soon gets her composure back, "Alright... My turn, then."
When the starting horn sounds, she takes in a quick breath, then exhales continuously as she fires at the farthest-targets first; her aim still dead-on, she manages to hit 28 targets with exactly 28 shots, but her time limit exceeds with the blasting of the horn, "... Frak."
"Bad luck...
"Now, shall we swap pistols?"
Jaden raises her eyebrow in surprise, "Swap pistols...? Well, uh... sure, why not?" She hands over her pistol to David, and the latter gives his pistol to her.
"The barrels fire from left to right. With it, you'll have a wicked rate-of-fire, but it can be hard to aim at long range." He explains
The Corsair appraises David's pistol: it was a silverish-grey thing that looked more exotic than an ordinary laser pistol, sporting a fixed-triangle triple-barrel with the apex pointed upwards; the apex-barrel had U-notch and Post open sights, along with the words 'G's Force' embezzled deeply into the cylinder; there was a medium-sized cell built into the butt of the gun, but there was no apparent way to know how much shots the cartridge still had.
"Hmmm... rate of fire... Heh, quite the opposite for MY pistol then: it isn't recommended you fire fast, but you'll be darned-straight it can hit your target exactly where you point it at if your hands don't shake...
"... Well, you 'could' fire faster, but... it'll reheat real bad... so if you don't want your hand to suddenly meld into the gun, I'd advise you fire at 1 shot a second."
"I'll see what happens... you first eh?"
"Mmmm... a pleasure..." Jaden steps up the line, and when the horn sounds she pulls the trigger; the sensitive trigger and the quick refire-rate catches her off-guard, and she only hits 10 targets using all 40 shots in a short 11 seconds, "The hell? This is like a minigun for lasers!"
David laughs to himself, "That's why it's got a 253 round battery. I'll have to recharge it soon, though..."
She grins smugly at his remark, "Well, let's see you do some shooting with my pistol this time."
"Alright, lets do this." David looks closely at her pistol in his hands: it was a small, copper-red gun with an oval cross-sectioned body; the body was smooth and simple, and since there didn't seem to be any apparent barrel, there was instead a gunhole on one side, the top featuring ghost-ring aperture sights; the clip was a D-shaped cartridge at the very back of the gun that blended well with the body; he raises a curious eyebrow at the pistol before trying to feel the gun's handle: it didn't fit well with his hand, but then it wasn't his pistol anyway.
The horn sounds and David opens fire like he usually does, yet despite the high rate of fire, each shot is dead-on; however, after hitting 28 targets in 10 seconds David suddenly throws the gun down in exclamation, even with 20 seconds to spare; the air around the pistol was vibrating from the heat generated, "Holy crap that's hot!"
After waiting for several more seconds he picks it up again and takes down 2 more targets before the horns sound, which prompts him to throw the red-hot pistol on the table, "Accurate yes, hot hellYES!"
Jaden laughs hard at David's exclamation, "As someone once said to me, 'it'll do that to ya', hahah!"
"I see you've picked up on my catch phrase." He grins at her remark.
She shrugs her shoulders, "Well, it seemed appropriate to use it, si? Heheheheh...
"So... 30 feet, 10-interval this time?"
"You want another try with mine?" He asks.
"Well, we now both know the guns a bit, so yeah... Why not?"
"Alright." After setting up the computer he calls out to her, "Get ready!" Jaden gets into position just before the horn sounds.
She inhales and holds her breath, then shoots on the first-15 closer targets; then she exhales slowly as she continues shooting, managing to nab a total of 26 hits out of 30 targets in the 40-second time limit.
"Not bad." He raises in impressed eyebrow.
She scratches her head and grins sheepishly, "Yeah... honestly, I'm even surprised myself!
"So then... who wins this first part?"
"Well... Your pistol's much more accurate, but becomes a reactor at a high rate of fire while mine can spit rounds that are only slightly less accurate.
"So uh... I'd say mine...?" He beams a wide grin.
The Corsair shrugs her shoulders, "Heh... Time's against me, I guess... oh well...
"... but now... is the second and last part of the bet." She starts to smile.
"Right... Lets hear it."
"Oh no... You don't have to 'hear' it... You'll just have to see it..." And the smile becomes a lustful grin.
All of a sudden, she places her fingers to grip her flight-suit zipper, and then slowly brings it down, unzipping herself; she takes off the bulky wear and lets it drop down to her feet, leaving only white underwear covering her; apart from her boots which she decides to keep wearing, she was now half-naked right before David's eyes.
She rubs her skin softly and sensually, sighing very relaxedly to herself, "Mmmm... Clothes usually restrict me, so I'm at my best the lesser the amount of clothes I wear, heheh..."
Next, from the pockets of her dropped-off flight suit, she takes out a large spraying can and a thick, blue glove, which she promptly wears on her gun-hand, "... Want to now compete against me at 90% of my best?"
Though he never expected her to suddenly take her clothes off, he didn't look too surprised at it, "I'm still completely confused, but ok."
"I'll go first then..." She positions herself on the firing place, awaiting the horn to sound.
She slowly does a few deep, comforting breaths as the wind starts caressing her skin, and somehow it gives her near-unparalleled comfort that would allow her to focus better on the stage-1's 20-targets; when the horn sounds, she wastes no time hitting the marks at a faster rate of fire of more or less 2-3 shots a second, hitting all of the targets in only 14 seconds at STILL the same exact accuracy she had before; to further add, all of the shots were either aimed right between the eyes, or at the what-would've-been-sensitive groin area, all of them near-perfectly-alike in their respective hit placements.
But as the gun begins to overheat, she aims the spraying can towards the gun. She squeezes the nozzle, and a very cold mist blasts directly onto the gun, the extremely-cold temperature counteracting the heat generated from the gun, whilst the glove she wore on her other hand protected it from the flash-freezing temperature; the gun quickly loses its heat, and when it was finally at the default temperature she reloads in another clip and twirls the gun in triumph, "... Now top THAT, David." And she grins at him eagerly.
David laughs pleasantly in reply, "Alright..." He moves up to the mark, then turns on some settings on his pistol before giving a thumbs up, "... Ready."
When the horn sounds, David begins to fire these very powerful single beams of light, each shot so thick it takes out 2-3 targets in one blow, but giving enough kick to throw his aiming off a bit; nevertheless, he takes out all 20 targets in only 10 shots and 13.9 seconds.
Jaden raises her eyebrow in disbelief, "... Whoa... like... whoa... That's an impressive feature, David!"
He gives a large grin, "That is the combined power of the 3 barrels."
"Hah! Tis' not over yet, David! There's still the 30-feet, 10-interval!" She smugly berates.
David laughs confidently to himself, "Good luck."
Stepping up to the mark, as Jaden waits for the horn she heaves in another breath. As the cold wind slowly and softly caresses her skin, her senses sharpen significantly, allowing her to calm down and concentrate deeply on the targets.
The horn sounds, and she fires even faster than before whilst continuously-spraying more mist on the pistol; in one, non-stop barrage of bolts, she manages to down all 30 targets in only 10 seconds, each shot equally-consistent and equally-precise to within a millimeter.
"Well damn..." David scratches his chin with amazement, "Those 30 targets just got their arse kicked... Be hard to top that."
Jaden gives a smirk as she exits the firing line, "... But I suppose you've got a trick up your sleeve?"
"You know em all now... Going to have to focus on this one." He steps up to the line, then the horn sounds and David fires as quickly as he can pull the trigger. Because the shots usually take out 3 targets, missing was not a problem.
After taking out 27 of the 30 marks in 9.3 seconds, David lines up the last shot and pulls the trigger, which could've let out a shot that would've set his time at 9.9 seconds...
... But as he does so, nothing happens, "FRAK! Dead battery! Where's the spare?!" He quickly tries to reload the pistol in time but just as he inserts the new battery the horn sounds...
Jaden went somewhat breathless as David had almost beaten her: one could've sworn she almost fainted in relief when she saw David had unluckily ran out of ammo; as David walked back she twitches her eye in undeniable shock, "... I... I won...?"
He lets out a heavy sigh, "... Yes..."
".............. CHIIIDOOOOOOOO!!!" All of a sudden she starts dancing around and shakes her hips slowly from side-to-side as her arms and hands were raised up in the air in triumphant cheering; David was initially surprised as she began to move, but he soon was staring at her with a glint in his eyes as she went on, "He ganado! Una fantástica, cerca del partido victo---"
But then she quickly calms down and starts to contemplate, "... Oh wait a sec... but the first part's still on your side... so...
"... does that mean we're even?"
"I guess so..." Then he looks away and whispered to himself, "... Though I'd be willing to lose any day to see that again---"
"What? See what again?" Jaden's senses were still sharp enough to have heard his murmer's clearly, replying almost immediately after he spoke.
Quickly realising she must have heard him he tries to faint a cough, "Uhh... That grenade going off again, those things are always good."
For a moment she narrows her eyes in suspicion...
But she soon shrugs her shoulders and smiles smugly to herself, "... Well, this could STILL be my day! Out of all the major bets we've done, like shooting down that sassy-mouth's ship, this time... I at LEAST get it even! Fantástico! That sure does still deserve some praise." and she continues on with her victory dance.
As she carried on with her dancing, David continues to watch her with a sly grin to himself, "... Yes... yes it does..."
... When Jaden was done, she grabs her flight suit and puts the uncomfortable garments back on, "Ugh... back into the grim-filled wear... I can't wait to get another dip into the pool now...
"Let's head off home, si?" She walks over back to the entrance.
"Sure..." Then he remembers something and exclaims, "... Oh wait! I finally got a second round for that launcher, and I've always wanted to see what it was like firing it. Want to watch?"
She suddenly stops in her tracks and turns her head back, her face once again excited, "... Really? I get to see a rocket launcher fire its rocket?! Awesome!!!"
"Hehe." He goes up the stairs for a minute, and returns with the launcher on one hand being carried on his shoulder, and a very fat rocket on the other hand, "Damn this thing is heavy... But then again, it can take down a grizzly freighter."
"... Is there any way I could help along in using it?" She grins devilishly.
"Nah... It's designed for only one person... And you'd probably be in the way of the jet. Don't want to get fried after you win big, do you?"
"ehm... Alright then..." She walks over to David's side and waits anxiously for the shot to be fired.
He kneels down and aims at a target right at the end of the range, "Alright... Safety off... Target lock on...
"... Ready?"
Her ocular implant whizzes with its' optical-zoom at the ready, "As prepared as I could ever want!"
"Ok... 3... 2.... 1... fire!" He presses the trigger and the rocket shoots off: designed to hit armored space craft in low orbit, the rocket travels the 200-meters in less than half a second and squarely-hits the target; when the rocket's antimatter payload spreads outwards and meets matter the reaction releases tremendous amounts of explosive force around a large radius, creating a blast of air that could be felt by the two who were already a distance away; the explosion bursts into a dazzling array of blue and yellow light, with sparks flying off like welding particles in all directions; then it further explodes again, sky-blue gas electrifying around the air for a split second. The force creates a dust-cloud several dozens of meters high up in the air.
Jaden looks on in awe, "... Wooowwww..." She unconsciously-leans on David's shoulder as she remarks, "... That explosion looks like a fireworks display on New Year's Eve... so... beautiful..."
"Or like a SNAC hitting a fighter, phew...! It's so cool when you get that hit..."
It's only as the dust settles she now notices herself leaning on David; she quickly stops and scratches her head embarrassedly, "... ehm... Sorry for that."
He replies absent-mindedly, "Hmmm, what?"
"... uh... Yeah... Nothing happened..." She grins sheepishly for a moment, "Got anymore?" And she clasps her hands in hopes of a positive answer.
"One more shot... But I want to keep that in case a not-so-friendly ship comes around here."
"huh... How much does each shot cost anyway?"
"Well, the average SNAC shot cost 7k in power consumption and antimatter. That missile, which is a tad more powerful, cost me 10k. And the launcher alone? 5 million. And you try getting the ammo through without detection!
"But by god it was worth it!"
"Yup! Praise be to awesome weapons technology!" And she laughs out admirably.
"And this thing isn't the biggest on the market."
"Like hell? You say there are BIGGER heavy-arms out there?"
"Well, this," he points at his current rocket launcher, "was the VR960FX. I think the VT series is a bit bigger. We can check when we get back." He brings the launcher back up to the upper floor and then comes back after a few moments, "... Shall we?"
"Get back? With pleasure..." And the two head off back towards the estate. It was already near sunset by the time they exit the range...
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