Elanna Torres's Story

Elanna nodded slightly as she tapped her communication node.

"Change of plans." She said aloud, as a coded bitstream message played through AI translation into her ears.

"Commander, Fleet is recalling you back to Tal'dor, The Nightraven is needed on another more urgent assignment. The Imperial Intelligence Agency is being tasked with observing the target world for consideration. But Minister Chaska just brought the proposal before the Quorum, and they're not happy."

Torres frowned for a moment, before she looked up to Cynthiana.

"We need to depart, I apologize, but I will be unable to assist you." Torres said, regretfully as she turned, nodding to the Marine Sergeant standing beside her.

"Recall your men, we're getting out of here." She said as she turned to the docking hatch, wrapping her slender fingers around the rappelling rope that would pull her up into the Reverence S Above.

---

If permitted, the Marines would retreat to the room where they initially boarded, from there they would all return to the hatch from where they came, to board their ship for departure.

Cynthiana merely bowed her head at the aplogy, "For what aid you were able to give us, you managed to cease our constant spin, and for this we thank you. Safe travels to you and yours." She said simply, a hint of strong Coreward accent to her tone. "Snowball, they're leaving, you can release the Mandos you got in the ray shields now."

"Doing so as we speak Cynthi, caught one outside the medbay, that door is open. Kinara's up though, best you check on her, we stopped spinning like you said, but we're still dead in space and cant move. At least we got reactor power, and the galaxy map is loaded"

"Good for me I will see to Kinara, you try and keep us.... sane. But keep your guard up Snow, we might have company. Something does not feel right" Cynthiana replied as the men who had begun searching the Fury came back to the observation room and airlock station. "For what aid you were able to give us, you have our thanks." Cynthioana said to Elanna with another slight bow as the airlock shifted closed and the light went red as the solders left.

That's that. now to see to Kinara Cynthiana thought, turning on her heel she darted to the turbolift and went down two decks to the medical bay. Stepping into view from the turbolift Cynthiana saw Kinara looking rather distressed. But of why she did not know. "Oh thank the Force you're awake! You had us worried the last two days!" Cynthiana said seeing her friend up and about, searching frantically for something. "Is something wrong ?"

The door suddenly chimed, indicating that someone was coming into the storefront. This someone was a rather unassuming woman, with olive skin and dark hair. To the layman she appeared to be someone who probably wouldn't know firearms at all, but her attire indicated otherwise. The woman was adorned with a rather easily recognizable dark grey single breasted jacket that was trimmed with dark blue on the lapel, and shoulders. The collar insignia was worn on the upper lapels, the diamond shaped insignia indicating a rank of some kind.

She stopped a moment, smoothing the creases in her uniforms pants before she took in the firearms around her. Her own weapon was holstered inside a polished leather holster, which was worn with a duty belt that housed a few other odds and ends.

She slowly picked up an old bolt action rifle, examining it with a keen eye for a moment, before placing it back on the rack. This was the only gun store within miles, and she hoped in the back of her mind they could help with what she needed.

Leaning back in the chair for a moment Isaac caught sight of the women who entered his establishment.
His artificial eyes took an appraisal of her, her posture and sidearm spoke nearly as much of her rank as the insignia on her lapels.
What rank it was he had no way to be sure, but it was probably safe to say it wasn't a grunt. The holster said she probably wasn't exactly use to combat, it was too 'new' for that, but one never really got far making assumptions about military folk.



He wiping his hands on a rag he stood greeting her as he strode through the doorway. " Hello, names Isaac," He glanced at the bolt action rifle she set aside " Anything in particular you're looking for, Ma'am" he said in the typical store keep tone that held a decent amount of charisma in it.

He probably didn't look like much. He was wearing a faded khaki t-shirt tucked into dark tan pair of cargo pants bloused into a rough pair of hiking boots. The only weapon he carried on him was his sidearm, which rode on the small of his back tucked into a IWB holster.

The woman nodded slightly, before turning to face Isaac. "Pleasure." She said, as she approached the counter. "I'm out on shore leave and won't be due back for awhile, but I've been having some difficulty with my sidearm, and I was hoping maybe you could take a look at it." She said, placing her slender hands on the counter as she looked at the various handguns seated on the displays.

"You look like you'd know how to service your weapons." She said, resting her hand on her sidearm. "I'd much rather get it repaired here than enter my weapon in for service. I'm quite fond of it, as it belonged to my father." She said, undoing the weapon from it's holster with a snap, and pulling back the power cover, exposing a cylindrical yellow and black fusion cell the size of a D battery. The weapon could be recognized as a Type 23 Disruptor pistol, a staple for those in service to the mighty Aschen Empire.

Ejecting the cell, she checked the weapon once more, before placing it on the counter. The weapon itself had ivory grip panels, and gold etching along the slide that read 'Winona'

"I think the Thermopole energizer is fried, but I'm not a gun expert." She said, shrugging.

He nodded along with the conversation but when she drew her sidearm his eyebrow arched.
"Honestly ma'am , I wouldn't feel comfortable repairing this weapon for two reasons. One, it's extremely personal, I would hate to damage it anyway what so ever, if I had an intimate understanding of how this weapon works, I wouldn't mind taking a look at it, but that leads me into my second reason, I have very little idea of what this is, I see that its' a particle weapon, probably using a magnetic fields to hold the projectile together, but other than that I'm in the dark. " Sympathy lanced his expression as he stared down at the weapon. It wasn't often he got a customer, let alone with something personal, and when it finally came he couldn't help the woman at all. That seemed to be his luck.


Drumming his fingers on the glass table he tried to puzzle out someway to help , or even point her in the right direction, but he hadn't the foggiest.

She nodded slightly. "Yeah, it's a particle weapon, it's alright though. I didn't think so; there's not a lot of people here who are familiar with these weapons. I may take it to someone I know back home, or enter it for repair." She picked up the pistol and loaded the fusion cell, when the slide snapped closed, the weapon whined in protest, as she slid it into her holster.

"But it's not all lost, I'm curious as to what kind of weapons you sell here." She said, snapping the retention loop over the blackstrap of her pistol.

"I would like to see this one, but I'd like a memento to take back home with me, and I'll need something until I can get my disruptor pistol fixed." She said, pointing to a chrome revolver in the display case. If he would hand her the weapon, she would hold it awkwardly, which could be seen as strange for someone with her rank and posture. The basic manners were there, not having her finger on the trigger, not pointing it at someone; but she still held it awkwardly.

"How do you activate it?" She asked.

Still frowning he shook his head as the pistol whined in protest. If he had to guess the issue was with how the weapon changed the particle into a projectile, which required a good amount of energy, however he filed that though away when she asked about.
" Ah the old GP-100 M , and oldie to be sure, " He said removing the revolver from the case. He checked the weapon by gently releasing the cylinder lock and then re-sealed it after seeing it was in fact empty.

He watched how she handled the weapon for a moment. " Will it's a tad bit more primitive than your sidearm, I'd wager most of what I have here will be. That weapon is unloaded, and uses cartridges that are held in the cylinder." He indicated with his hand while she held it.

" To operate the weapon you must release the cylinder, by pressing that button on the left side, just behind the cylinder there.
Now it's probably laughable but that weapon holds seven rounds which are manual inserted into each hole. After loading the weapon one simply aims the weapon with the notch and post on the top of the weapon being aliened, then squeezing the trigger. The hammer, that bit there, is pulled back and released striking the cartridges primer. Here go a head, aim it at that target" He indicated to a bull's eye on the other end of the counter " and give it a try, again it's not armed so nothing besides the mechanical action will happen." He watched her as he would anyone who had never handled a firearm before.

"Personally I'd say it'd be a fine memento, but as for a suitable sidearm, that might be a bit more complex to find. Most of the weaponry here are Physical kinetic energy and penetration based in damage, and by in large defeated by personal energy shielding. The largest advantage these weapons have is versatility as the ammunition can drastically impact how the weapon functions. "


" If you'd care to actually fire the weapon I'd be more than happy to assist you. "

"So it uses a chemical propellant to fire a projectile; crude yet effective." She said, turning the chrome plated revolver over in her hand. "I've heard of these weapons, but I've never actually had the pleasure of actually holding one." She said, releasing the cylinder and inspecting where the cartridges were to be inserted.

"Only seven?" She asked. "Winona here holds at least fifty discharges per cell, depending on the power setting." She said, pointing the weapon at a target. "No holographic sighting, no prefire indicator. You just point and shoot."

She pulled the trigger, and the firearm clicked as the hammer struck into position. "There's a lot of trigger pull, this is a lot different than what I'm used too, it's heavy, cumbersome.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to see how it holds up to Winona here." She said, patting her sidearm. "The weapon functions, but it overheats much quicker and it's accuracy is much to be desired." She turned to a box of ammunition on the shelf, before she reached into her pocket and produced some local banknotes.

"Do you have a weapon capable of loading a new cartridge automatically after discharge? For example if I discharge my weapon, it is ready to fire again, and again until the fusion cell is depleted. Do you carry a weapon of similar performance?"

" Very much so. They can be rather amusing to use."

" First box is on me," he said in response to the pre-offered money, and sat the box of .357 in front of her. It was low recoil training ammunition , it wasn't meant to be an offense , simply how Isaac trained people.

" Such as when your side arm runs out you can simply replace the cell and continue firing? Yes, we call that a magazine fed design. Capacity wise, most side arms , can range from Seven" He gestured to the revolver she held. " anything up to about 20 with out becoming cumbersome. Unless you want to start getting into Personal Defense weapons or such. Personal defense weapons are a tad larger to compensate for the increased capacity."

He indicated some of the relics than hung on his wall, including an MP7, Steyr TMP, and assorted other small arms of that nature. He went ahead and pulled one from the wall, the Steyr TMP, which really was a relic now a days and was easily out classed but was a good example. For the most part it looked like any other automatic pistol, that was until he released the wire-butt-stock and locked it into it's extended position and setting it on the table.

" As for sights, the grove and post, or Iron sights to add a bit of jargon, are just basic, there are many optical, digital, and virtual sights available for most sidearms now a days, including targeting assisted weapons. Most weapons post 1980 EY are fairly modular when it comes to targeting devises."

" If you wanna try it, we can head out back, but I'll advise hearing protection, the sound levels produced by these can be harmful, even in the short term." He took a pair of the orange ear plugs that seemed to plague every single firearms store.

He felt rather odd explaining the nuts and bolts of how things worked to someone clearly in the military of sorts, but considering how her sidearm worked he didn't guess there was much recoil, muzzle flash or anything else he'd normal associate with projectile weapons... tho her comment on overheating and poor accuracy hinted at server limitations. He'd probably attempt to take another peek at that sidearm before the day was out. But that was for later he was in full instructor mode now.

"That's correct." Torres replied as she took the cartridge of .357 rounds, picking a single round from the box and inspecting it. "It's not very efficient." She said, turning over the brass cartridge in her hands. "A Single fusion cell will often equate to fifty of these cartridges, while still providing enough power for standby functions."

Putting the .357 Shell back into the box, she moved to pick up the TMP, turning it over in her hands she inspected the weapon closely. However she still seemed to hold it awkwardly in her hand.

"Hearing protection... that is probably a good idea, I'm ready to proceed into the back when you are." She said, taking out her weapon and pulling back a small switch on the side, the weapon this time let out a high pitched whine, a small blue holographic dot flickering online, providing a small crosshair where the front post would be.

An Anquietas number, and green power indicator flashed on the side, followed by a brief flash of red, as a holographic display flickered on the back. Checking her weapon once more, she deactivated it, and holstered it before picking up the box of .357 ammunition.

"This will certainly be an experience, lead the way."

True Holographic sights, ammunition counter, safety and error readouts. That thing was pretty high speed, wonder how it handles... Clearing malfunctions would probably be a nightmare... if it malfunctioned anyways.

"So do those weapons produce a felt recoil on the users end or any sort of negative discharge?" He asked placing the TMP back up on its rack then picking up two different boxes of ammunition for his own side arm, and a second box of 357 training ammo and slid them into his cargo pocket before leading her to the back door, as they talked, if she followed.

A sign reading "FIRING RANGE" Hung above the door, next to it was a Red flag on a key chain sitting on a peg marked "COLD". Isaac moved the flag to the peg marked " HOT".

The doorway lead out to a covered awning that stretched the enter length of the store. Facing an open expanse were lanes set up ,
Each lane had a concrete table with a stool placed under each one of them. All the lanes seemed to be pretty much the same save for the first 10 nearest the door. There the awning stretched out another 10 yards. Down range there were 10 steel ,Human shaped , slabs of steel approximately 3 inches thick. The center of each was a hole 5 inches in diameter. Each of the target was on a rail of some sorts that lead almost all the way to the shooter.

Isaac placed the boxes of ammunition on the table.

As Torres checked her holster, she sent a brief text message to a staffer waiting outside in the car. She had planned to be awhile and she alerted the staffer to bring in some functional weapons that she and Isaac could test alongside some of the Terran variety weapons.

As the pair moved towards the firing range, a staffer greeted them with a Type 53 disruptor rifle, and a type 03 PDW, in addition to a small box of fusion cells. The box itself was marked with the emblem of the Imperial Navy, and he followed them out to the range itself.

"There's not much in the way of physical recoil, except for the brief shock of rapidly expanding air which can be felt through the weapon; We're not going to mess with Winona today, though. I decided to have a couple other, known functioning weapons brought in." She explained, as the staffer placed the disruptor rifle, the PDW, and the box of fusion cells on the table.

Torres first took the rifle, handling it like a trained professional; her thumb moved on a small switch, and the power cell door slid open with a clack, Torres then loaded the fusion cell and the door snapped shut, immediately after the weapon whined, the attached holographic scope and charge indicator came to life, followed by the power levels. Flipping another switch, Elanna armed the weapon, and then she presented it to Isaac. "Do not look directly at the muzzle when you fire; look past it at your target, there is a small sensor by your trigger finger; use that to zoom in on your target.

Should Isaac take the Type 53, Elanna would pick up the revolver, awkwardly opening the cylinder and loading the cartridges in one by one.

"The weapon is armed, you need only pull the trigger to discharge it." She explained.

Firing an Aschen disruptor rifle was a unique experience not many Terrans got to enjoy. The ergonomics certainly gave the weapon an odd feel, perhaps like one needed to hold it gingerly. It was light, maybe no more than five to eight pounds. Feeling more like a toy than an actual firearm. The holographic projection was crisp, and would zoom up to 5x by sliding the index finger along a small track near the trigger guard.

When it came time to fire, there was hardly any requirement for trigger pressure. There was a brilliant green muzzle flash, as excess energies escaped the magnetic envelope, a dazzling streak of green shot down range impacting the target in a plume of smoke. The paper target itself would likely be vaporized in a plume of smoke and flame. The metal target itself would have melted slightly around the hole where the bolt passed through, and it would impact the back stop with another plume of smoke, and flame, depending on what the backstop was made from. The weapon had a barely noticeable recoil, but the heat from the muzzle flash could easily be felt. The sound was like that of a close thunderclap, a deafening, deep 'crack' followed by a 'pop' as the round impacted the backstop. There was a thick, overpowering smell of ozone.

Elanna herself wasn't bothered by the discharge, and still awkwardly tried to load the rounds into the cylinder of the revolver. Even so far as putting one in backwards. Or attempting too anyway.

Issac watched the order of arms for the rifle, It functioned pretty much like any other weapon of similar build, hell it even had the same grip angle the old m16 did from back in the day. Funny how even worlds apart weapons seemed to meld similar qualities.

He accepted the rifle, it was surprisingly light, about six pounds loaded was hard to beat... He mimicking how she held the rifle for the most part save for keeping his index finger as far away from the trigger as possible and keeping the muzzle pointed at the sky, well ceiling in this case.

He moved over a rifle lane, and gazed out over the landsacpe.

Standard infantry rifle by the looks of it. Issac squared his feet with his body facing 1 o'clock from down range rather than head on. Shouldered the rifle resting his left arms elbow just above his left hip bone and then simply rested the rifle in an upright palm. An Olympic off hand stance, it probably looked odd to most people, but it provided a lot of stability, however with this weapon being so light it wouldn't have helped much. Thankfully Issac's cybernetic body didn't sway at all save for the artificial breathing, even then he could turn that off if he wanted to.

He took aim at another human shaped target with a 400 yard mark placed next to it, he slid the magnification slide forward as he had been suggested to. Crisp and clear, no shadows. Not bad, not bad at all.

He exhaled a fake breath, more habit than anything. " Does this have a zero, I mean , Where is the point of impact for the projectile or is it negligible ?" He asked resting the point of aim square on the steel target's chest. Not moving in the slightest after than breath.

"The sights adjust to range." She replied, flipping the cartridge over and sliding it into the cylinder. She placed the revolver down on the table, the staffer would keep their eye on the table as she picked up the Type 03 PDW.

"The weapon will put a round through the center of the holographic crosshair; regardless of range. The sights will compensate for you so it eliminates the need to zero the weapon in.

On the holographic sights themselves were a small number, displaying the range of the target, whatever the center of the crosshairs were on in meters, or rather Metrons, being the Aschen equivalent of meters.

"This weapon is designed with the lowest common denominator in mind, someone who has never fired a weapon like this would only need to learn how to activate it, it's fairly intuitive. It's been awhile since I've handled something like this, but it comes back to me." She replied.

"Take your shot, you'll be surprised." She said with a soft smile. She knew what was about to come next.

He nodded, and switched his OS from standard to combat, , pain-reduction , Hearing protection, artificial fatigue other functions were adjusted or activated. He fired, and was indeed surprised. A heat wave rolled over him where recoil should have been. His hearing muted out the sound of the weapon. All and all the weapon was extremely user friendly.
the Projectile was fast but Issac watched it race down to meet the target, and punch right on through it, setting the dirt behind it on fire.

Standard infantry rifle... What sort of artillery do they have...

He grinned. " Pretty nice, tho I find it lacking that satisfactory kick, I won't argue it's effectiveness tho."

He relaxed, keeping the weapons muzzle to the sky he offered it back to the staffer, since he had no idea how to put it on safe and he'd not leave a hot weapon on his range. " Mind putting this on safe for me?" He probably could have figured it out but didn't want to mess with something by accident, on regular firearms it was bad enough to N.D. ;but N.D.ing that.... well he might as well burn down the store.

" Well enough fun for me now, you are a customer after all looking for a suitable replacement. Why not try this out." He said slowly moving for his sidearm, clearly indicating he had no intention of using it, and placed it on the table.
" That is a reactive target and it will charge you if you strike it anywhere, shooting through the hole and into the backstop registers a kill , or point depending on how you want to look at it. "

The side arm was similar in length to her side arm, yet most of the mass was forward of the grip and trigger.

The mk32 DCP was A semi automatic, roller delayed blow back action weapon. It held 16 .40 H&R ( .40x25 mm) rounds per magazine. The slide was anodized black , and it had a full steel frame with a grip made of some rubber that seemed to stick to the users hand, but then formed neatly against the users hand after a firm squeeze. It was heavy, weighing in at 3 pounds 1 oz.

The sights were actually duel-action. If the user looked down the iron sights they would see the standard 3 dot system, but if they moved their eye out of alignment a red dot would appear above the front and rear post. These were a one way hologram and could only be seen from the shooters line of sight.

There was no safety on this model as it was a modified double single action. The first round fired from de-cocked would be around 8 pounds of force to pull while every following shot was a scant 2 lbs with only 2.5mm of travel for the trigger reset.
Isaac had actually made this one himself..


Should she chose to fire it, the weapon wouldn't kick much , probably not much more than the rifle she had let him fire due to the weight.

If she fired the weapon at the steel target and struck it a decent sized dent would appear just before the target would be sent speeding up range at her, only to stop about 3 ft in front of her.

The staffer took the disruptor rifle in hand, cradling it before they disarmed the weapon, flipping a switch and watching as the weapon powered down. They then placed the rifle down on a table, and picked up the Type 03 PDW to hand it to Elanna once she was finished with the Mk 23 DCP.

She frowned at the weight of the weapon, but held it out in a shooters stance. She fired it once, and the recoil caught her by suprise, the first round was high and to the right. As the target rushed towards her she put several more rounds out towards it, the fact she was not used to recoil at all was obvious, with the movement of her arms in response to the weapon's recoil. She even flinched slightly.

Once the target reached the pair, it was obvious the groupings were terrible, she seemed to be unable to hit the target barely at all, with several glancing hits.

"I don't like it." She confessed, as she handed the weapon back to Isaac. Once the target was reset she took another try, this time with the Type 03.

Once the target was reset, she opened fire. The first burst sent down five bolts of disruptor energy in rapid succession, the second burst sent ten. There was a rapid 'pbbbt' as the weapon fired, the scatter was rather terrible, but Elanna managed to keep the weapon on target.

The target raced towards her and she loosed another rapid-fire sequence of bolts. Several passed through the steel plate, leaving molten welts in their wake.

"Oops.. maybe these are a bit much." Elanna admitted, handing the PDW to Isaac, and picking up the TMP Machine pistol. "Hmm.. similar concepts.. but that recoil.. my wrists still hurt."

"The Type Three is a rapid-capacitor weapon. It's not very accurate, but is excellent for close quarters combat."

Stance is fine save for recoil management, as to be expected...
" Honestly for the first time shooting something like this you did rather well. " He said, dropping the magazine, set the weapon on safe, and then set the pistol down to start to reloading the magazine from the box of ammo that had been sitting on the table.

" Recoil is ammunition dependent, as well as form. Aside from the recoil how did the weapon feel, to heavy, to large grip wise, sights alright?" He prodded. His mind started scratching off suggestions based on how she shot, but it was good to figure out what might work in a pinch. Tho the way she handled that the Type 03 she'd probably go with a PWD of sorts.

" Don't worry about it, I'll probably drag that out to the 1500 yard line after we're done. Gives me something to test my new pet on." He said dismissively. In all actuality she did just ruin a 600 dollar target...but there were bigger fish to fry here.

" You can fire that like you did the Mk 32, or you can extend the stock and fire it more closely like the Type 03. The safety is the push button by your shooting hand's thumb, to charge the weapon, insert the magazine and pull the charging handle on the rear all the way back and let it go. Short burst of 3 or 5 will keep you on target. It will kick but not as bad as the mk 32, that stock should help. You could also add a single point sling and fore grip to help reduce it even further, or a muzzle break. Sights are basic but can be modified fairly easily. " He explained watching her with the weapon.

Hopefully he could at least make a connection with this officer and get a rifle or two out of her in exchange for some interesting pieces... Tho with that sort of firepower he wondered where the limits of their weapons were.


" Mind if I ask the average effective range of your weapons?"

Elanna gave Isaac a blank look, but the Staffer, who happened to be a former Master-at-arms for the Athena Class Missile cruiser Pyxis looked to Elanna, as if asking permission, and when the woman nodded, the staffer spoke.

"Standard disruptor weapons have a maximum effective range of eight hundred metrons, I believe that equates to eight hundred and seventy four of your yards." The staffer explained, looking to the assortment of weapons on the table. "Beyond those ranges, the plasma envelope reaches entropy and destabilizes, and the entire projectile begins to lose coherency. The Disruptor weapon, is capable of penetrating roughly six inches of steel, and two feet of concrete at roughly two hundred metrons." The Staffer explained.

Elanna offered a slight nod, before she looked out to the target, and frowned. But she took the weapon and began to manipulate it, charging the weapon and taking aim, frowning she unfolded the stock and held it like a PDW, before firing in short bursts. Trigger discipline afforded her better groupings, but it was still high and to the right.

"I can't get over this recoil." Elanna commented, before the Staffer spoke.

"Save for the weapons of the Taiyou Empire, many of those who serve within the Empire's Militaries have very little experience with projectile based weaponry, the Empire as a whole regards them as crude; and primitive. As you have seen via a demonstration of our weapons, they are vastly superior to your own." The Staffer explained. "No offense intended."

"However, our weaponry is not without it's drawbacks. The precision parts that go into their manufacture means they cannot be serviced in the field, they do not tolerate adverse conditions very well, and in the case of rapid-capacitor weapons, have a tendency to overheat. Regardless of these drawbacks, the Disruptor based weaponry fielded by the Military of the United Aschen Empire has yet to fail us." The Staffer added, and Elanna nodded.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." She said, before she turned to face Isaac. "I'll try to compensate you for destroying your target."

Effective range of about eight hundred meters.


Isaac nodded along to the conversation as he watched the woman fire the weapon.
" Take your left foot back a bit, make sure the weapon is firmly pressed against your shoulder pocket and learn into it. Your shooting hand should be relaxed while your off hand applies a bit of downward force, Think of the grip as a fulcrum, the less movement you allow it, the less the visual recoil will be."

He turned back to the Staffer. " Non-taken. We ran into issues of our own when we started adding cybernetics to our military. Bullets that had done the job suddenly were worthless. Most of what we're firing do fine against flesh and blood, but the moment you add armor, or cybernetics, it starts getting dicey. Delayed warheads, air burst weapons and kinetic penetrators took over. Our military doctrine switched quickly from suppressing fire to precision fire as the prevalence of proxy wars and cybernetics rose. Tho lets face it, in war; air and orbit superiority wins battles, not small arms.

Though it causes a lot smaller stink heading some Dictator in the head from 2 miles out with a single round than dropping a bomb on his city.

I should have guessed it would have happened, so It's my fault no worries. I've done similar things to targets when testing some heavy mass rounds, granted a much longer range but the effect is about the same." He said looking at the target, and its new bolt holes.

" The things purpose was to be shot anyhow," He laughed a bit.

The Staffer offered a slight frown at the mention of cybernetics in the military, before he nodded slightly. "These weapons are effective against cybernetically enhanced, armored, and unarmored targets."

"Much of what you know is still applied to one planet, warfare among nations." Elanna said as she fired several shots, letting the weapon kick into her shoulder.

Placing the weapon down, she turned to her staffer. But her words were directed to Isaac.

"Fear of force rather than force itself." She said, taking the disruptor rifle, and checking the fusion cell. "When you face a force equipped with weapons such as those I demonstrated to you, you tend to dismiss the notion of resistance as suicidal, rather than approach the problem practically." She said, nodding to the Staffer.

"The Empire rules through fear of force, rather than through force itself." She said, inspecting the rifle for the moment.

"We do not eliminate the dictator from two miles away, we tell him that if he does not comply with our demands, that we will initiate a pogrom of his population, many times threatening to destroy the entire planet gets the point across." She said, a brief flash of darkness crept into her gaze.

"You find that when you are one dictator faced with a fleet of thousands, who have the firepower to make good on those threats, you fall in line quickly."

He nodded. Suitable Philosophy for most.
" Fear of force does work in most cases." He trailed off for a moment." I guess the need for handling things quietly isn't there as it use to be." He switched topics with out missing a beat. " How did that weapon feel? Recoil aside, you seemed to be able to place rounds on target. Loading it with mirco-air-bursting munitions would give you suitable force for most in-country encounters. Ship to ship you may way to use Delayed micro semtex. Tho that would require slight modification of the weapon..." He seemed to trail off for a moment as if in thought.
" I could add a heavier barrel and add more weight to the lower receiver to reduce recoil at the cost of maybe 3/4 a pound.
Otherwise we can head back in and try and find something else."

"A heaver; recoil compensating apparatus would probably work well for me, but I still am partial to energy weapons." Elanna said before a second staffer came through the door out into the range.

"Commander! Commander! You're needed in orbit, we have unidentified contacts." He said, coming up to her and hastily whispering into her ear. At that moment she turned to Isaac and frowned.

"Apologies, but I must get going." She said, as she pulled out a small device that resembled a key fob for an automobile.

She turned to her staffer briefly. "Make sure this gentleman is compensated for his target." She said, and the first staffer nodded, as Elanna pointed the remote to the sky, and then she depressed the button.

"I'd suggest you stand back. I also appreciate the time you've taken to show me your weapons, I will return to make my purchase but for now I must depart."

Above them the clouds began to swirl, there was a crack of thunder, and a shaft of multicolored light enveloped by a vortex of temporal energies shot down from the heavens, enveloping Elanna and her two staffers.

There was a sonic boom, a thunderclap, and as quickly as everything came it disappeared, leaving scorched ground where Elanna once stood.

The man just took all that in for a moment, these folks were strange to be sure... He looked at the steel target, now riddled with holes, with a stony expression, calculating. Tho this could have just been his normal face for anyone knew.

" Welp, Anything you might be interested in? " He turned asking the staffer with a smile. " Primitive as most of my wares might be, there is surely something I can interest you in. Or maybe some armor or other such devices I provide...?" He said with a sidelong glance as he gathered up his weaponry and moved to head back inside.

Either way the staffer replied or didn't the cyborg would move inside to place the used weapons behind the counter to be cleaned later, or sold as the case may be.

Deep in the velvety blackness of the Blackrock system, the Aschen Watchtower stood vigilant over everything that was going on within the star system.

All eyes were on blackrock as events once again began to unfold on the small barren moon.

Admiral Elanna Torres was temporarily stationed here, overseeing the staffing and reorganization of the Aschen Third Fleet of Glorious Consequence, which dotted the system with concentrations mostly about the Watchtower.

For now the Aschen chose to not take action, electing to observe from a great distance as the events began to unfold.