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in the valley of darkness in the shadows of the night rising from the ashes of humanity he lives for honor THE REALM OF THE ROGUE MARINE |
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Alternate Entry 8
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The indoor firing ranges were essentially large, isolated, soudproof chambers. Oversight's compound had three such chambers, one for pistol practice, one for assault rifles, and one for sniper rifles. The booth's brown color was the only stationary object offering a different flavor than the white lights and grey walls. The door leading into each range was almost directly behind the booth on one end, and it just happened to be at the booth occupied by Rogue. The pistol range was about 25 yards deep and since it was indoors, ear protection was required. The grey headphones encompassed all of Rogue's ears, but were actually combination ear-protection and radio, which any observer could have guessed by the microphone sticking out of the right side of the set.
There were ten such booths, and each were spaced about five feet apart to allow the shooters some breathing room, and to accomodate some of the more grilling drills. The booth's table was just above waist high on Rogue, and held extra pasteboard targets, as well as five boxes of .45cal ACP ammunition for his pistol. Rogue was dressed in his traditional dark olive-green uniform, and that, combined with the headset and wild head of brown hair, actually somehow made him look like just another soldier at the range. He stood there with his gun, unsilenced, pointed downrange.
On the side of the booth was a set of controls that would bring in a shot-up target to the shooter and allow him/her to replace it without having to have the shooter go down range to do so. It also had settings to hold the target to the side and, at set or random intervals, swing the target around to test the shooter's alerness. It even had multiple clips to place multiple targets downrange to offer a greater challenge. Rogue currently had his settings at 20 yards downrange, and on a random setting with six possible targets.
'What the hell happened last night?! We were careful not to be observed, but yet we were still jumped anyways!' his mind screamed. He was still fuming about what happened at Carnegie Hall when the first target appeared on the right. The LAM (Laser Aiming Module) on the bottom of the barrel on Rogue's pistol put a bright red dot on the target's chest area just before two hollow-point slugs tore it to pieces. The brass casings flew from the gun's action, and bounced from the bench and onto the floor, making a small tink-tink sound that was barely audible. They were followed by two more as another target appeared from the left. This one, had it been a live target, would have been decapitated from the loss of it's neck and the big gap where it's right eye would have been.
Rogue cleared his mind as two more appeared simultaneously on either side towards the middle. Four more pieces of lead flew, and each target clearly took a mortal wounding. The last two targets turned simultaneously in the middle, and two holes punctuated the "center mass", or the heart area on a real person. The slide on his pistol locked open, and Rogue ejected the empty magazine. Grabbing a spare magazine in his ammo holster, he rammed it home in the pistol, and hit the slide release, making his pistol load a round from the fresh source of ammo.
Rogue lowered his weapon as he slid the safety lever into the "safe" position, which brought the hammer back up and dropped the firing pin into the slide. He placed the pistol in its holster on his right hip, and hit the "recall" button that brought all six shot up targets back to him. He pulled them off one by one, and dropped them into an ever-growing pile at his right foot. He knew that a lot of his friends in Oversight liked to tape over the holes in the targets so that they could be used again, but Rogue preferred fresh targets.
Sighing, he picked up a fresh paper target, clipped it, and sent it alone downrange after telling the computer to hold it sideways until it reached 25 yards, and then turn and remain that way. 'Speed-firing isn't going to help, might as well see if I can focus on this,' he thought. He drew his weapon, released the safetly, pulled back the hammer, and aimed at the target in one swift motion as Target reached it's destination. He drew the red "bead" onto the target's head, and let the pistol bark twice. 'First off, there were no chase vehicles as we moved in--' BLAM-BLAM! '--, and from what we could tell, no one was paying any close attention to us--' BLAM-BLAM! '-- I think. Then again, the theater was crowded--' BLAM-BLAM! '--so it's possible someone would recognize us.'
Rogue shifted the bead down to the target's center mass, and started to tighten the trigger. Suddenly, his headset crackled and said "I figured I'd find you here." The sudden knowledge that he was no longer alone startled him, and in reflex fired one shot that missed the center mass, but ironically wound up in the 'subject's groin area. Rogue lowered his weapon and turned halfway around, careful to keep the barrel of the pistol pointed at least on the bench. He turned to see Ferret smiling, and similarly dressed, down to the raido headgear. Ferret walked up to the booth, and looked downrange. His right hand was holding onto a sling, and just by seeing the stoudt barrel sticking over his shoulder, Rogue could tell that Ferret was carrying the AK-47 he made off with last night. The breast pockets of his jacket also betrayed his weapon, as the banana clips didn't quite fit all the way.
"I know you like to say that only stupid people breed, but you don't see me trying to change the course of Nature."
Felt like adding a follow-up to yesterday's alt entry. I know I promised a recap, but that'll come later. Good things come to those who wait, eh?
Time is short and talk is cheap. We shall speak again.
Personal Log, 25 Apr 2004 - 2004-04-25
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