AWD #010: Visiting the Elephant
Visiting the Elephant
Summary: The DCAG and Auxiliary Marine XO discuss tactics while shooting things.
Date: 15/01/2013 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: None
Beckett Zachary 
Firing Range - Deck 3 - Battlestar Orion
With ten different bays, the firing range can accommodate quite a few shooters with about two dozen spectators or trainees behind them. At 25 yards, the targets can be brought forward or pushed back up to the stops before the inclined plating designed to deflect rounds up. The lighting can be dimmed down to nothing for use with night vision or flashlights, also. A large sign overhead denotes the requirement of both eye and ear protection, as well as the prohibition of all ammunition except rubber or frangible. However, there are no firearms stored here. All firearms and ammunition must be checked out from the Marine Armory in the Security Hub.
15 January 2013

Shots in groups. That's a skillset marines pound into themselves time and time again. Daily even. The simmunation is easier to feel good about wasting, as opposed to the rounds that can kill a bullethead. Right now, it's a slow day in the lanes. Most of the enlisted have cycled through, leaving the higher ups their times to come through unhindered. As it is, the adjutant to the Marine Xo, has a lane all nice and comfy to himself. With the protective eyewear on, and the ear guards, Beckett has assumed an offensive stance. With his Picon Five-seveN raised, the Major sights along the barrel, before squeezing the trigger in a three shot rapid succession.

"Move her further back!" he hollers, before he is taking aim again.

Firearms training. Every pilot has to do it sometimes. And in light of what happened at Avery Hall and on Picon, Zachary decided to use the chance for a little extra training to get to the firing range. Coming into the firing range after checking out a weapon, the DCAG waits until the current rounds stop popping before calling out, "Range Master, is there an open slot?!" And he waits to be allowed in.

The Sergeant on duty, does glance up before he's checking a dry erase board off in the corner. "Lane Five." he states before he is motioning the Major to grab up ear protection and the standard eye glasses. "You'll be next to Major Beckett, Sir." And with that he goes to the monitor, and watches while the Major is finishing out his clip. as a shot print out is made ready. A rip of paper and he's passing it to the Major. "You're clear to go in sir. Hand this to him if you will?" And soon enough the dummy in Zach's new lane will be brought into standard length and set up to give a good read out.

As for Beckett himself, he's stepped back and flicked the safety on his piece, before he is unloading the clip, setting the gun down and turning-likely waiting for his read out.

As he finishes gearing up, Zachary keeps his weapon holstered as he passes by Beckett. "Good morning." the DCAG offers in a smile to the Marine Aux before he goes to set up. "Or afternoon as the case may be." He settles into lane five and unholsters his weapon to load and check.

"It's all the ame out here son." Beckett replies cheerily enough, in that slow Aerilon drawl. "But we'll settle on afternoon." There's a glance given towards Zachary's neck and the pins kept there. "Major." A dip of his head before he is loading his gun back up. "Don't see many pilots out here.." he adds before he is keeping the gun down, waiting for the green light to go. Once that's clicked on, the safety is clicked off and the pistol raised. Two shots fire off, before he is nodding. "Target practice?"

"Roger that, Major. Even us ambulance drivers need to know how to shoot in this new age." Zachary says with just a hint of mirth. "Which is part of the reason why I'm crashing your party. I'm the new DCAG for the Airwing, Zachary Sheperd." As the light turns green, he raises his weapon and fires off his own two shots in rapid succession. He hits the vital areas on the target, but not enough to actually kill a Cylon.

As he praepares to fire again, Zachary considers. "I've been reviewing the recon footage from a few of the Raptors and I have a couple of ideas I want to see how you feel about."

"Ah yeah." The Major says before he's taking another round of shots. "I would aruge even before, the Ambulance driver better know what the hell they are doing. That goes along with shootin.." And a few pops leave the firearm in his hands before he is looking back towards Zachary. "Cyrus Beckett." he says after a moment. "I think if I recall you all helped shuttle us down onto Caprica-or at least you did. I think one of my ensigns was in your bus." Which means that even the Marine Aux was down on the ground that day. "Well shoot." and he does raising his gun to fire off two more. "What's on your mind, Shepherd?"

"Yes sir, they pressed us jumpers from the Tophatters into service. I didn't mind though. Been doing SAR drops for years out of Leonis." Zachary comments as he squeezes off another round from his pistol. "Your teams did a hell of a job, Cyrus. I was proud to be the taxi." A small smile at that as he checks his targetting. "Damn. I need to get better at this."

"Anyway. I guess I'll start at the top of 'What do I want for Saturnalia' list." he comments as he aims and fires that second round. "Do you have anyone that you can spare to start running my Viper and Raptor teams through a possible downed on planet scenario. Maybe use the wilds of Piraeus for a survival course?" he asks. "I want to make sure if I have to leave someone behind, they'll be okay until I can get back to them."

Beckett turns his his head, breifly, showing that he is listening to Shepherd, even if his focus is on the target infront of him. "I am sure we all do, Major." And there he is firing off another round. "Or else we're all SOL, if it comes to using our sidearms on the frakkers." Tongue rakes over a tooth, before he fires once more. "Crap.." muttered before he is looking back towards the other Major. His gun lowered and placed on the table in front of him. "That I find, works the best in these situations." And there Zach is rewarded with a genuine grin. "I have a couple of sergeants I would put in charge of that. Some staff too. If you want I could run your kids through with my marines, in case of a marooning, or we have to scuttle the ship somewhere." You know WORST CASE scenarios. "I am looking to have our boys and girls running through the kill house down on Piraeus to get them ready for house to house combat-should we be down on a planet for extended periods of time." And now he reaches up to scratch the side of his nose. "I also want to start running our boys through Hot jumps. Avery hall went well, but I have a feeling that is going to become the status from here on out. I want them all ready for it."

"If I'm down to this?" Zachary says as he squeezes off another shot, "I'll make sure that my clip's empty before going down." A small smirk at that, and he gives a nod. "It sounds good. I'll start with my squadron leads so that I can let them help working through those in their command on the course. So, that's probably the easiest thing. We can practice the hot drops as well, since that brings up my second request." he comments as he pops off another shot and checks the magazine.

"On my recon, we found the Naval Fuel Station at Pesphorne to be abandoned and on automated defense." he comments. "I'm trying to put together a proposition to search out a tanker to drop in, use an assault team to shut down the defenses, and gas and go. Interested?" he asks as he aims for the second shot and fires, before stopping for the moment as he sets the pistol down to take his notepad out.

Beckett snorts, "If I am down to this, I am firing everything I have before I chunk the damned thing at it, myself." he adds with a grin He turns carefully and pulls the gun back up to go through three more rounds before he is looking back towards Zachary. "That'd be good. I am sure I don't need to stress that your officers, unless specifically trained should be listening to my Enlisted." Which means maybe taking an order-though it wouldn't be phrased as such. "As for coming up with a survival course. I know what they will be facing, or at least can get them ready to survive in a hostile enviroment."

The second bit of the conversation does bring a pause from Beckett before he squeezes off another shot. "And I take it the turrets are shooting at everything?" A nod there. "Petra told me that last night." he adds, before he is lowering his gun again. "Very." Interested. "And with that the Safety is clicked on, before he is stepping back from his little shelf in the lane and leaning around to look back towards Zachary. "We've got a few Assault Engineers on board-a frakton on P. I am sure if the Xo wanted we could get a couple to aid in any cutting and blasting that would need to be done." hell he would trust them to make an incision for the securing team to break through, over say a rifleman with G4. "Do we know if there are friendlies on the station-or if it's overrun?"

"If any of my team doesn't listen to your trainers, pass it up to me, and I'll make sure that they're scrubbing down the wing with their own toothbrushes." Zachary says simply. "But I trust that your Sergeants will not be quite so gentle?" he leaves that suggestion in the air as he considers the info shared with Petra.

"According to the JTAC we snagged from Picon, the Cylons are holding it. They could have captives there so we don't go in their guns blazing to blow up the port and deny it to them, but it's going to make our job that much harder. "My ECO picked up heat, so I'm assuming they're friendly. At least until we know otherwise." he comments as he considers the target again and makes a few notes on his pad.

"Which brings up the next idea. I've made a promise I'd take our JTAC home. She wants to return to her unit. I'm assuming this is five by five for you, since she's already said she won't do much else for us. And she told me she could show me where she knew where command was last on the planet. I thought you might be interested in taking a look at the furball yourself."

A grin right there, before he's letting off his own jettison of chuckles. "Naw." That thick Aerilon showing easily. Take the boy from the mountains and dress him like an officer, but that don't change where he's from. "Naw, my boys won't be genteel flowers an wipe their asses when they fall down." A grin there. "They weren't when I came in, and I won't let em be for your lot." So there's no reason to worry about that.

"Good. I'd rather us not shoot up a pack of hostages. And it will let me know how to be all careful when it comes to rolling through there. No just blastin' doors." See these are the things he needs to know so he can plan and plot how the 'ground' team will react. "Just gotta get past the doors. We can find it out.." As far as if there are un readable hostiles on board.

"Shoot." Cyrus says before he's shifting his weight right there. "Ah, so you're thinking about going down to see the Elephant." And likely the sit there. The Major is quiet for a moment, before one hand smooths over the back of his neck. A quick nod there. "Yeah, I'd like to head down there myself. Specially if we're thinking about aiding them in throwin' off th metal SOBS."

"I saw the elephant already. She's big and white and damned if she wouldn't be uglier if she tried. She wants you to roll her in the flour and look for the wet spot." Zachary comments mildly. Apparently his CSARing has taken him along with the Marines more than once. "I plucked her from Picon so I'm taking her back to let her take her chances once medical clears her. But I figured you might have a better chance of telling Petra what the sit is better than this glorified ambulance driver." It's an honest assessment, he's not the trained combat officer.

"So. After that, there's only two other things on my short list of party requests." He pops off a couple of more shots and goes back to change out the magazine. "This one is more of a long term project. I'm waiting for confirmation, but my first look at the guncam footage from Leonis showed that the tincans are using it for a POW camp." he lets that settle in for a moment. "They've taken civilian liners and using them as escorted transports. If we can find out where they're coming from and intercept them before they have a chance to jump into Leonis airspace…" he trails off, seeing if his idea sticks to the wall.

Beckett snorts, and does that same almost backwoods laugh as before. "Holy shit.." he mutters before rubbing his jaw. "Hell son, I didn't think you all had that sayin..on where you from?" Yes some improper Colonial there, but the gist is easy to pluck out. "I saw her back when Tauron raised her flag in defiance." he adds, as if looking back somewhere in his mind's eye for the memory. But, he shakes his head and give's a nod. "I'll be sure to come on by and talk with her. If anything might do her good to have a Marine officer come on by." A glance and he's reaching down to let his fingers pluck at a button on his fatigues.

"So." he replies before Cyrus is looking back up. There's a raise of brows before he is nodding. "Then we can likely save some lives, before who knows what happens-or.." And there's a glance "We could use it as a means to come inside.." Like a Torjan horse, if the meaning is clear. "It'd be a way to sneak in, but then I doubt they are expecting folks to break into prison.." Who knows. "Likely there is some info on there that'll give us a leg up as well."

"I flew CSARs. I didn't have the most polite Marines." Zachary chuckles lowly as he looks back at the targets. "Not to mention I saw the baby elephant at Avery Hall. She was just a tease." A smirk as he considers the next statement and a slow smile spreads across his features.

"I hadn't thought of the decoy idea. That might be a damned good plan, Beckett." he comments, clearly impressed and excited at the idea. "Can we use the Jolie Point to practice close quarter boarding and zero-G drops and pickups until we have a clear target?"

"I suspect, brother-that we ain't seen anything yet. Just the opening act." But that is Beckett's opinion there. There's a brief glance back to his gun and the target, but he's shrugging. "I've ridden a CSAR once in my life. I don't think I was a polite passenger. Hell, I know I haven't gotten better at all." A good natured grin is tossed out before he is nodding. "We got a hell of a thing before us." And he leaves it at that.

The other gets a blink and then his grin spreading like match on a candle. "Well, I tend to think what's gonna hit em where it hurts. Blame combat theatre for it.." A flash of teeth as he chuckles again. "I think we should be able to. I know we've got land for bombing, and some other we've got set for some other practices. I'll be sure to clear it-but it should be fine." A nod there. "I think I am going to like working with you Major. Not all you air types, mesh well. But you've got a good head."

"This isn't even foreplay, I imagine." Zachary comments as he finishes off his last clip into the target. "Damns, I need to learn to shoot straighter." he mutters in mild frustration as he checks and announces, "Lane five, clear!" And prepares for his read out and to start to police up his gear.

"I look forward to the victory cigar at the end of all of this, Beckett." A smile as he starts to take off the glasses. "And I need to keep my head straight, I have never seen a mixed bag like the one I've been handed here." There's a slow, bemused shake of his head. "Let me know when I can start sending my teams to you, and we'll slap the elephant on the thigh and see if she ripples." And with that, he steps back from his lane. "It was good to meet you, Major. I've got to prepare the Raptor briefing, but I'll see you around."

Beckett raises a brow. "What's got your head lookin' tilted?" the marine asks as he keeps that aloof lean up against the lane's tiny partition. "See, if I can't help you shake some sense." No harm in at least giving advice right? "Right now, I have a bunch of pissed marines, I have to keep busy. You let em get lax now with their worlds either ended or else-and we're likely to see fights and all other crap, because of a lack of motion." Which is just the sad state of things. As for a time table, the Major nods. "I am sure I can get something kicking for next week- and have everyone prepped if we need to go quicker by Friday." Which means he is making this a priority. "Good to meet you, Major." he replies with a grin. "I've got my own asses to kick into gear." A wave is given, before he is turning back to his gun and of course, the target.

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