The firing range was a big open air facility, with quite a few sections that were separated based on what was expected from the practitioner. There was a simple target practice area, where the lower and middle groups were brought to, there was a section on the far end built like a maze, likely where we could ourselves enter and move around in, and there was an area that on paper looked like the target practice area, but instead of round targets all placed an equal distance from the shooters position and separated into 10 target ranges, it had dummies that looked like humans, placed at different distances and over a much wider range. Only 3 separations were present, which likely entailed that we'd just be divided in 3 subgroups (or most realistically, by our 3 groups) and would have to wait longer between turns.
The 30 of us lined up in front of the Corporal in 2 rows of 15 people based on height. I was neither tall nor particularly short, sitting at around 164cm, which for people in the outer systems was closer to the norm. Whether it was because we ate less, or because the environments of the planets required such, there tended to be such a trend in these far away star systems. I still stepped into the front row, though I sat on the edges of the grouping. Mayla, who had been silent throughout most of the day, gave me a smile and stood behind me.
“I never realised you were so short”
A part of me wishes she had remained silent now, but she was taller than me and I knew very well I'd do the same in her place.
“I'm average, look around us.”
I responded swiftly to try and calm her teasing tone down, but she simply smirked, and exaggerated her head movements when she turned to look at the others. She had an even wider smirk when she looked back at me.
“Is ‘I'm average’ what you tell yourself to feel better? I count maybe 3 girls and 1 guy shorter than you.”
Okay maybe yes she is right. 164 wasn't all that average in height, still pointing it out wasn't necessary on her part. I tried to look for an excuse to change the subject and crossed eye contact with Corporal Leya, who looked like she was about to begin, perfect.
“You should probably check your eyes, you might not see straight, anyways the corporal looks like she wants to talk so zip it.”
Luckily for me, it was true that Leya wanted to talk. She coughed in a clearly intentionate and audible manner, quickly silencing the room and began.
“Hello slightly useful newcomers. Today we'll give you an idea of how quickly you can fall from grace. As you may have noticed already your group gives you different advantages such as a better dinner or better training. If you thought though that your position would only occasionally be challenged, you are wrong. This can change very day, and today you'll see this. You'll have a group challenge, the winner becomes group 1, second place group 2 and the loser gets relegated to group 5. Meaning that two of those groups will step ahead of you. Oh yeah it'll mean you'll have to move room, so from now on keep your stuff packed every day you leave.”
She was pointing at the middle groups as she was continuing her explanation. Quite a few of us were taken aback by her statement. We did expect our positions to be challenged, but not so soon. While our expressions were that of slight concern, those of the middle groups were that of excitement. They had likely just learned the same news and were clearly looking forward to it.
“In the future, individuals might be moved by groups, but today it's the whole group that moves. So you might have people to blame after today, who knows. Don't slack off.”
Leya finished that part of her explanation, paused a bit and looked around. None of us dared to ask questions and simply followed her gaze around. Eventually, she turned towards the stations and continued her explanation.
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“Today will be very simple. Each station will have 3 ARs, so that you can alternate them. All are filled with dummy bullets, the real ones are saved for war, we do need them after all. You will have 10 minutes on your assigned stations to try between all of you some shooting, afterwards the competition will start. One by one, the members of your group will step up and face an adversary for each of the other groups. A target in your block will light up and you'll have to shoot it, points are given based on speed and precision, the target is considered dead when the light on them turns red. Headshots and shots to the heart are worth more, shots below the waste and on the arms are worth less. The person with the most points brings home 2 points for their group, second place brings home 1 point and last place 0. The final point score of your group determines your classification.”
She continued giving some small information on technicalities, but overall the idea was clear. There would be some reaction time involved, but as well proper measurement will be key. The dummies which served as targets were spread around the range at different distances, overall she also said that the individual challenges will last around 1 minute per person. She finished by saying that our 10 minutes of practice started 5 seconds ago, which was definitely an annoying way to say she wasted our time.
We all moved towards our assigned stations, and almost as soon as we started moving, not wanting to waste time, Stefan spoke up.
“Each of you will get 60 seconds, Mayla you first pick up the AR and start now, get ready for the kickback, these weapons fight against you. Shoot in quick bursts, be accurate. I'll go last since I already have some experience with it and can simply use whatever time we have left.”
He didn't leave us much room for countering his proposal since time was limited, and most of us definitely needed to get some experience with such a weapon. The most I had personally fired was a pistol stolen from some gang member in the outskirts so this would definitely be new. As Mayla picked up the gun and fired, the kickback almost made her fall. Luckily she had followed Stefan's advice and had only shot a quick burst which limited the effect of the recoil on her. As she continued trying to take shots at the different targets we all silently lined up behind her, though we weren't perfectly aligned as to see what was happening. I had placed myself dead in the middle, I wasn't super confident, but I honestly believed I could aim it well enough. Stefan was the only one not lined up. He was standing next to Mayla giving advice, and helping her reload the gun when it was close to the end of her turn. We likely had to do it ourselves so I was grateful he was explaining the process. Mayla had started with 9 minutes and 50 seconds left, now we were at 8 minutes and 55 left when Stefan told the second in line, Ralf, to step up.
I hadn't focused much on how well Mayla did, as I was focusing more on understanding everything going on, but Stefan had seemed satisfied when she left. Ralf, he was a very good shot from the looks of things, and Stefan hadn't even bothered to explain to him much about the gun, he seemed to know most of it except for reloading which indicated no prior experience with the gun, making his ease of understanding even more impressive. Around 5 seconds before his minute ending, Zoraya, the next in line, was called up, her shot was slightly more off, and she took a bit longer to understand, but recoil affected her less so that was good. Cerny and Minnie followed, they were a bit worse off, but we couldn't really blame them, while physically good enough to be in group 3 according to the assessors, they were 16 and came from a mining facility on a moon. This all had an effect on their lack of handling of the weapon. Stefan was a lot more hands on with them, making sure they were stable with better footing. By the end, both looked slightly better. Then came my turn. I was questionable at best. My aim was pretty good, and I was happy to see that it translated well to the AR, but at the same time I struggled with the timing of the bursts, sometimes shooting for longer than necessary and other times having to restart shooting. I settled for slightly undershooting as I figured that I'd likely lose less points for the second of loss than for the extra bullets. The recoil was fine, it hurt like hell, but it didn't really throw me off my aim. I finished my minute, and walked to the side, gently brushing my shoulder as it was still hurting.
Everyone followed after me with varying degrees of success. We finished the queue with Stefan himself. He had put himself last to give everyone more time, but I also quickly understood the double meaning behind that decision. He didn't miss a bullet, and looked extremely confident with each shot. He never had to restart shooting after his burst, the target always turning red. He had understood the timing required as well. There was a clear sense of confidence that rose up from seeing him shoot within the whole group. Eventually, the time was up and Corporal Leya shouted for all to stop. With not a bullet in our section ringing about anymore, she continued talking.
“You will now get 3 minutes to choose your order, I’ll ask all of you to stand in a line based on it. I'll announce when the 1v1v1s start and when they end, as well as the final classification. I have some Privates helping me out, currently scattered around the area. As per intake, do not pay attention to them and only listen to my words. Everything I say is final, if you question anything I will take the liberty to penalize your team as I see fit. Your time starts now.”
With that, a large display above the 3 stations, the same that showed the 10 minutes countdown, displayed a 3 minutes one. We quickly formed a circle, and just like earlier Stefan took the lead. As the points were given based on individual matchups not overall team score. It'd be important to place the people well, though none of us actually knew the levels of our adversaries. The visual on them during the 10 minutes was limited, and few actually attempted to look at the other stations and were more focused on our own. For me the main objective would be for our group not to fall to Group 5 status. Even after 1 day the disadvantages were clear and I wish to avoid them, so second and above seemed fine, though I was sure some in our group were thinking about that first place.
