Bounty# 2071

[Gene Inari]

Keaton's tail curled idly behind her as several different ships all started to arrive. Damn. Talk about good timing... However, as each ship came through into view, Keaton's heart sank, bit by bit. The first ship looked nothing special and didn't even seem armed. Next that came through looked like it was held together with duct tape. A Gen-I Arwing, a craft so junky and outdated it belonged more in military surplus and junkyards than actually flying. Next was a rather small cargo ship. Keaton was about to cry at the lackluster show of ships until the last one came through. A shining and sleek black craft with a prominent cockpit. She watched as one by one, hatches hissed and opened, letting out their pilots.

Keaton pressed on a small comm device in her ear, "Hey Gene, get your tail down here and help me with the welcome party will ya?"

Keaton took a quick survey of the mercs that were making their way over. Hmm... One human, two wolves, aaannd two foxes... Quite the crew... Keaton's eyes rolled inside her head. "Alright everyone." The coywolf started, "Welcome to The Zodiac. I'm Keaton Thorn, one of the two who you will be working for. The other is the one who offered the contract, his name is Gene Inari. Also here are two AIs, Castor and Pollux." And Gene better get his ass down here quick. I'm no good at this meet'n'greet stuff....

And as if to save her, Gene made his way over to Keaton. "These them?" Gene asked aside to Keaton. She nodded and Gene turned, sizing up the five that stood before him with his green and gold eyes. Gene recognized the human from the large ship. "Hello everyone." Gene started, "I'm Gene Inari. Owner of The Zodiac and the one who offered the contract you all are standing here for now. I am your boss." Gene put on a rather sarcastic grin, "Let's start with some names shall we?"

One by one, Gene walked up to them and asked for their name, his light smile never fading. Kage, Rynia, Zeke, Armen, Garran. Gene gave each of them a firm handshake. "All of you will be working together with myself, Keaton, and each other. So I suggest you all play nice and everybody learns everybody's names." Gene turned and stepped a few paces before stopping, "Everyone, come with me. I want to see what you all can do and start with some... team building exercises." The odd-eyed redfox motioned for everyone to follow him. Two AI drones tagged along as well, no doubt Gemini wanted in on the spectacle that was soon to go down.

Gene lead everyone through the fresh, yet barren halls of the Zodiac. Heading up a level and turning down another bland corridor brought them to a firing range. Along the wall closest to them was a wide variety of weapons, from pistols, machine guns, rifles, ballistic or energy. It was there. "I will provide the tools. I want to see you uses those tools. I want to see some marksmanship. I want to know who is good with what." Beyond a long row of firing positions was a large open space, specially made to simulate various firing conditions. "So who's ready to shoot some guns and have some fun?" Gene smirked.

[Arashikage]

Kage smiled, THIS was where he belonged more than most other places, he knew his way around a gun. He took off his black and red helmet, placing it on a table nearby and made his way to the rack, picking up a thermal shotgun and machine pistol, a typical engineer loadout. Why didn't he take an assault rifle? He didn't have his TAR 21 with him, and that was the only assault rifle he could be bothered to use. "Let's wreck some targets" He said as he fired bursts from the machine pistol, switching from that to the shotgun not too long afterward and literally blasting the thin target into hundreds of fragments. "Hell yeah!" He shouted, fistpumping slightly as he stood back, allowing the others to get their weapons before firing any more shots.

[Guest Mr. Nintendo]

Armen decided to claim the pistol and went to a rack that was probably about 3 racks away from Kage. The target was hanged and was awaiting for it to be literally shooted down. Using both of his hands, Armen aimmed at the tiny bulleyes carefully. If ever he shook his gun, even by the slightst twitch, he would miss the bullseye and prove he probably he isn't good at pistols.

3 seconds of pausing and Armen began to fire a few rounds of his weapon at the target. The little bullets zipped through the target and piece by piece, the bullet and some parts of the target fell. The target had a bullet that went through half-bullseye, a bullet that went to another half-bullseye and the last bullet which went through...near half-bullseye. Although Armen was good with weapons, he could seek some bit of improvement in his aimming and etc.

[CrypticQuery]

"This is an offer I simply can't refuse," Zeke joked as he walked over to the various weapon racks. If he didn't know any better, he'd definitely come to the conclusion that Gene had enough armament to supply a full-blown military operation. Putting that fact aside, he began on deciding what to choose; there really was quite a staggering amount of weapons to decide upon. In the end, however, he decided upon an M14 with a wooden stock. After finding a suitable scope to go with the rifle and an M1911 for a sidearm, he sauntered over toward the range, lying prone and steadying the rifle with an attached bipod. His concentration was fully on the minuscule target farthest from his position, and he prepared for a shot, holding his breath to keep the aim steady and making sure his ear-protection was properly situated. Thankfully, the sight had previously been calibrated for this practice, and with a squeeze of the trigger, the bullet hit its mark. The hole was evident in the chin/neck area of the target. Unsatisfied with this result, he aimed *slightly* higher and pulled the trigger once more, this time coming out with a serviceable headshot. After taking and landing several more shots at various targets, both stationary and moving, he gingerly placed the rifle on its side and made sure that safety was on. He then jumped back into a standing position, drew his pistol, and fired three shots into the closest target. All three shots struck center-mass with a relatively small cluster. Finally, he scooped up the rifle and re-holstered the sidearm, awaiting further instruction and/or judging.

[Fluxy]

Ryn looked confused mainly at all these weapons. She wasn't even well versed in how all these weapons worked! The poor vixen was only ever used to working with pistols and then having her fun. And thankfully, the word 'Fun' was one of the things Gene made sure to mention.

"Well... Okay." Rynia said, not too sure how fond of this she really was. Sure, a standing target was simple, but the moving targets were always her specialization, as her hand would always shake if she stood still and shot. Not to mention that she did better with pistols in both hands, rather than one in her main; It was an issue of inner balance for her.

Looking to the long rack of guns, making sure not to grab one of the larger two-handed guns like Zeke or the human, she picked up to "Ether Plasma Pistols", as she actually knew what they were. They were a type of gun that the specific bullets were actually laced with a bit of a chemical the gun could produce from time to time, that if it hit the target, within a minute, they would start getting truly physically ill; Not because of stress, but because of the chemical.

Not to mention that the pistols were not even an ounce away in comparison to her "Xeno Saga" editions; and for personal reasons, she chose to abstain from using her own pistols here.

Taking her steps away from the rack, she took a look all throughout the open field like area that she was allowed to shoot on. The vixen made sure to get a little away from all the others, as she didn't want to ruin their shooting. Now, taking up her arms to prepare for the shooting, she closed her eyes, sighed to clear her mind, and reopened, and started jogging lightly to the left.

Her goal was to hit the moving targets, and more importantly, hit them where it hurt each time. A group of what seemed to be four moving targets were moving about. Shooting the pistol in her left with the barrel upright, she head shot the first with ease. Taking the kickback of the gun to help pivot her left foot even farther, she shot the pistol in her right hand, getting a shot in anouther target's seemed to be chest area; slightly to the left.

It wasn't until then when she realized there were three more targets moving at higher speeds than the two she still had to take care of. Dropping the gun in her right hand for swiftness-sake, she reached deep into her jacket within a second, and pulled out a grenade, not even thinking of asking whether or not she was allowed to use them in here. This particular one had blue strict veins all along it, which was symbolizing for her that it was a cryogenic hand explosive.

But she had to wait for the right time to let it go. Waiting for a mere second, Rynia threw off her grenade deep into the field right when the faster three coincided with the slower two targets. And pressing her secret switch in her wristband with even more elegant ease, the grenade went off, freezing the four targets there.

The targets were soon blasted by bullets, one for each of them, except one of the five took two shots for a realistic kill; She got a little too excited for the last shot.

After she was finished, it came to her mind that gene might not be okay with the fact she used a grenade that wasn't under his tools. Seeing that the fox she came with was already back in line, she quickly went over and stood next to him, a tad worried she might get yelled at.

[GW0LF]

Garran stood back and watched everyone for a moment before walking over to the rack as he looked at all the weapons. Sheez.. he thought, I am not bad at shooting a gun, but I am nothing like these guys! A couple of them could probably knock off a hair from the back of a fly. He tried not to show it, as he grabbed a random assault rifle which looked like a SCAR-H by his guess, as he casually walked over to a open booth and thought back to what he was shown in a training video. Fire in burst and aim for center mass... don't try no fancy shot.

He breathed out lightly as he pulled the stock into his shoulder and looked down the iron sights, he carefully wrapped his finger around the trigger before letting out three different three round burst from the gun. 1,2,3 in the first target, 1,2.. Damn... the third missed. Ok make up for it on the last- 1,2.. 3? He scanned over the last target trying to figure out where the last bullet went, then he smiled sheepishly, I hit the bulls-eye! He lost his composure as he smiled with his tail wagging as he did a little dance.

He placed the safety on the gun and walked over feeling a little too happy about getting a single bulls-eye, but Garran was too pleased as he did a little moon walk to where he stood by everyone. Oh yeah! Thats right, Garran Wolf, number one marksman in the Lylat! Booyah! He continued to imagine away in his noggin, waiting for what ever was to come next.

[Gene Inari]

Gene stood back from everyone, leaning up against the wall, watching as they took their pick of weapons. He noticed a strong preference for ballistic weapons. To find Kage skilled with such weapons was no surprise to the redfox. Humans pioneered and eventually hit the technological peak of said weapons, many of the designs were actually very old, touched up with only minor fixes as technology advanced. Gene felt he would make a good point man in the work ahead.

Further down was Armen, who plodded along with a single pistol, Gene observed. While it was true that Armen was applying the fundamentals and putting rounds on target. Gene could sense the nervousness while he was lining up a shot. Added to the fact that combat was a high-pressure environment. Gene noted to himself to add some of that pressure in their next few tests.

Zeke received Gene's attention next. Gene watched as he got down to a prone position, with a notably aged weapon, even by human standards. After a moment of preparation he saw that Zeke was firing at the farthest targets, definitely showing himself as a sniper or designated marksmen. He would be right in his element for Gene's next idea.

Garran also showed some talent behind a rifle, but Gene could see he wasn't the coolest head in the game. Still, spontaneity could be good, or could get you killed. Gene hoped Garran was lucky enough to be the good kind.

Rynia was the odd one of the bunch, the only one who chose a weapon that didn't fire bullets. Gene almost had a difficult time watching her, as she took the farthest range with the most dynamic targets. It was meant for whole quads but Gene noticed Rynia was hitting everything that was in front of her with just a pair of pistols. Gene was intrigued, intrigued enough to move off his post from the wall and make his way over. However, just as Gene showed up by Rynia's range, an explosion rocked the range and set off a low level warning alarm for a few seconds before shutting itself off. When the smoked cleared, there were several of Gemini's drones observing several frozen range targets. The brief alarm took everyone's attention and Gene found Rynia half hiding behind Zeke with a rather sheepish look on her face.

Gene stepped over to the two of them, not bothering to hide his confusion or curiosity, "W-What was that explosion?"

Gene was about to ask again when one of the drones flew in and started chattering on, "Ohhhh~ A Bose-Einstein Condensate! An explosive with a coded radio signal trigger! How did you do that!?" It was Castor, who was now rudely pulling out one of Rynia's grenades from her jacket. "I wanna see, I wanna see~"

And it was Keaton who came to Rynia's rescue, snatching the floating drone right out of the air. She stepped off to the side with the drone to scold the AI while she left Gene with the rest of them.

Without missing too much of the beat, Gene looked at Rynia, "So... You're an explosives expert..."

[Fluxy]

The vixen yipped a little as the drone started just about to touch her jacket, looking ready to take a bite out of the machine and show it who's boss, but thankfully the hybrid stepped in when she did, saving the embarrassment of going beastial in front of her mission manager. First impressions usually weren't Ryn's strong point, so any chance she got to make herself look good, she took; Zeke, of course, always saw her as beautiful, so he didn't count so much.

Looking up finally back to gene, the seemingly harmless threat out of the way, she softly smiled, returning in line, rather than behind her fiancee, and stood straight and responded to him.

"Yes." Ryn was a little worried, but was still able to start out formally. It was a massive help that Gene was a fox as well, as the psychological idea of being the same species helped calm her. Not to mention he didn't bark out at her yet. "I craft a multitude of types using random and well, odd, substances." She stated, her hands holding onto the ends of her jacket for a tiny bit more of a secure feeling. Looking to Zeke, and then back to Gene, she nodded.

"If you wish, sir," Rynia started, knowing offering an option first would make her seem not only mature, but a willing and good soldier, "I will hand them over to you for confiscation till the mission is over. Just so long as I have every single one back and untouched." Was her offer.

It could be the fact she was ADD, or that the vixen had a curiosity herself, that her eyes kept shifting over to the female that helped her out. The hybrid's species usually did make her uncomfortable, as traumatic issues took place in her past with coyotes, but she was seeing if it truly did scare her. Rynia had always felt safe with wolves, hell, her father was one, but she still had mix feelings about Keaton around her; She was the last one to be discriminatory, so this was hard for her to go through.

"I'm sorry, Gene?" She spoke up, probably almost interrupting his next comment, but she had to ask. "May I ask who this is?" The vixen said, looking to the hybrid. Did the hybrid introduce herself before? Maybe, probably even, but a slight amount of stress was getting to her.

[Gene Inari]

Keaton took the opportunity to vent at the drone and the AI, Castor. The coywolf reveled in the good kick she gave the tincan they called a drone. Yeesh... I swear. Who's idea was it to give an AI such an annoying personality? Little bugger... To think the thing controls half the damn ship... She scratched the back of her head when she heard Gene call out for her. Keaton turned tail and stepped over to the fox, "What's up?"

Gene unabashedly pulled Keaton a step closer, "Someone would like a more through introduction." He gestured toward Rynia, giving Keaton an 'encouraging' shove in her direction.

Keaton stumbled a step, not expecting a push from Gene, at least not a push as forceful as it felt coming from someone so small. Recovering, Keaton looked down at Ryn. "Yeah... I'm Keaton Thorn." The coywolf held out her hand for Ryn, "I don't bite too hard." Yeah.... I'm sooo going to deck Gene for that push...

[Guest Mr. Nintendo]

Finishing up a few more rounds of his pistol, Armen decided to put the gun down on the desk and decided to act patient so that Gene would be able to announce the new task that everybody would have to do...or maybe just for Armen himself. He seemed a bit annoyed with the drones Gene had but Armen had nothing against him unless however, the contract that he and everyone else agreed on was merely a trick to just sacrifice themselves for something like a ritual.

Armen leaned on the desk with his left arm and streched his arms out. He then said "Danke for this training, Gene." and proceeded to nod his head slowly.

[CrypticQuery]

Zeke was most definitely annoyed by the presence of the A.I. droid, with its seemingly "outstanding" personality. He couldn't avoid letting out a defensive growl, though he smiled inwardly while watching the coywolf deal it justice. Upon realizing that Ryn had been standing near him for a moment with an embarrassed expression, he attributed the behavior to the recent explosion that he was all too familiar with. Quickly after, he noted the presence of Gene and intently listened in on their conversation, pausing to nod in confirmation when Ryn's obscure explosive-crafting was brought up. Though he was not willing to directly say, he'd also enjoy getting a more formal introduction with Keaton; she certainly dealt the droid a nice waxing, and had helped in a moment of need. As the conversation continued, he nodded politely to Keaton as she, possibly involuntarily, introduced herself.

[Fluxy]

Rynia, completely standing next to, yet not behind, Zeke, she looked up at the hybrid with a faked smile as she shook her hand. "And I am Rynia Thompson." the vixen claimed, not able to hold off the quick glance to Zeke as she said 'Thompson'. They had not been married yet, as they were still engaged, but she considered themselves already married, and chose to always use that last name. Either way, she liked it much more than her Maiden name.

"It's... A pleasure to meet you, Keaton," She started, doing her best not to feel some sort of fear from her. "May I ask what you do well in, as you have seen us all here, but we haven't seen you in action, so to speak.".

This was more abnormal for Rynia to talk this way. She wanted to sound higher than she even felt herself to be, as to not be reminded of the fact that she had some innate fear of one of her, now, team members.

Still looking to the hybrid, the vixen put her tail slowly around Zeke, as to try and keep him close for some comfort, without seeming -too- unprofessional.

[Gene Inari]

Keaton could sense the slight apprehension in Rynia's voice, but couldn't figure out why, not that it bothered her. "I do a little of everything, like Gene." She started, "I can fix, fly, and maintain a fighter craft. Hack into a computer. Fight. Shoot. Extract information from others." Keaton listed off a few other things, "But what I do best is climb, spot, and act as recon. I'm best watching everything from above and beyond. I'm the girl who watches your tail to make sure no one sneaks up on it." The coywolf put on a confidant smile.

"Speaking of which..." Gene interjected, tossing something Keaton's way.

"A spotter's scope?" Keaton looked at Gene. What does he have in that head of his now?

"Correct." Gene was hefting a large, black gun. Placing it aiming downrange with a heavy, metallic clunk. Gene motioned everyone to give him their attention. "I want to see everyone's sharpshooting skills and ability to communicate effectively with each other, with that scope and this gun." The gun in question was an anti-material rifle. Another ballistic weapon, the Barret .50 Cal. "Talk to each other through the shots. Work as a pair to make your mark." The sniper-spotter relationship is an intimate one, having these guys pick up said relationship on the spot with only a few shots would be an excellent test of their ability to work as a team and form a working bond quickly. "Gemini." Gene called out to the AI, which acknowledged with a beep, "Set the range. Simulate the target distance at a thousand yards with a variable wind speed perpendicular to the line of fire. Give these guys something to talk about while they shoot."

Gene smirked, "Since you two seem eager." He said, "Rynia, you're behind the gun. Keaton, you spot and talk her through to hitting the target. Take as many shots as you two like to hit the target, then switch. Then I'll call another pair."

Keaton was mildly surprised she was told to spot, but took it in stride. Spotting was what she did best. "Let's do it." She said encouragingly to Rynia as she set up the somewhat bulky scope next to the gun and got a nice view of the target.

[Fluxy]

Seeing all the parts to this gun, Rynia already started to get a little flustered. In her days as a soldier, for lack of a more precise term, she and her team only ever had one sniper, Len. And he was always so calm and focused; The vixen knew it was going to be difficult to be able to do anything like this at all. Even when Zeke did it, he was still able to be more calm than herself. There was no doubt this was going to be tough.

Going down onto her knee, letting one stand upright, she started to assemble this to as she thought. Not only was it taking Rynia quite a bit of time to put together correctly, but she also had her hands shaking a little bit. The vixen's tail even curled a little as she turned her head with a sheepish smile and stood looking to Keaton.

"Heh, Keaton, maybe you wanna go first, eh? I'm not very good with stand still weaponry." Rynia started, smiling as she looked to her. "I normally do best when I'm moving and adrenalin rushing at the same time." She continued, and this was more or less true. She had her moments, like everyone else could, but staying still and firing was not her deal. The ability to fully concentrate was not her strong suit.

A great way of describing Rynia in most cases would be to call her a auto-spelling-corrector. She gets all the big stuff, and takes care of them one way or anouther, but all the very small grammar errors and very small punctuations would be missed. Hopefully she would not have to be stuck with job, seeing as she knew her special foxy was the best grammar editor, or sniper in this case, here.

[Gene Inari]

Keaton just smiled, "Alright. That works for me." The two exchanged a nod and switched places on the range. Before getting down to firing position Keaton checked over the rather large rifle. She flipped the safety, seated the magazine, and chambered a round. Laying down to a prone position, the coywolf made a few fine adjustments to the scope of the rifle. Lining up the target, Keaton slowly exhaled and squeezed off a round. Pulling back the trigger, the gun fired, the stock giving her a good knock in the shoulder.

Before Keaton could figure out how far off her own shot was, Rynia called it out. Giving her not only where it went, but how much to correct her shot by. Listing the distance off and even the simulated wind-age. It was all quick and technical, if Keaton herself wasn't a decent spotter, she would of been lost in the flurry of information. Keaton didn't hold in her surprise as she nudged herself to the right, taking into account all the changes Rynia mentioned. Breathing out again, she fired off another round, and after a breif pause, Rynia called another miss, but it was real close. Keaton tried again, same shot, not hearing any adjustment advice from her spotter. Another breath, another squeeze, but this time she made purchase. The range dinged with a successful target hit.

Three shots... That was easier than I thought... Keaton picked herself up. Mildly surprised with herself for making the shot in only three attempts. "That was... easy." Keaton then looked back down at the gun and made sure it was still ready to fire before the two of them switched again, "It's all yours, just get into position and tell me when you're ready, Rynia."

[Fluxy]

Rynia made sure to pay attention to where the shots were, as well as the aim and position, more or less, of the gun. Looking from Keaton now, to the gun on the ground, she got into position, rolling her tail to her side as to not off balance her legs, and off set any of the shots. The tail could easily help balance, and off balance at times for any of the anthro's there. Except for the human, as that was one of the benefits to having no tail.

Taking a moment to breath in, focusing her muscles to relax as to stop her hands from trembling with the lack of movement, then releasing the breath, as to start getting into the firing position, the vixen was ready and determined now.

The muscles along her arms were working very dexterously right now; only moving small centimeters and distances for the alignment of the shot. She -wanted- to get it on the first go, but this was not so much the case.

The sound of air wishing past was sounded, yet no easily seen direct connection. Calling out softly, Rynia asked Keaton if there was any impact. The Coywolf shook her head as she looked out to the field, making sure to analyze her thoughts before giving advice on the shot.

"More so to the left," Keaton started, then looking to the vixen. "And if you can, a bit more downward; You'll get a better chance at hitting it more towards the center than the top."

Nodding in understanding, but keeping her face to the gun, Rynia easily took the advice from her partner, loading up the next shot to make sure everything was ready, and taking her time. As she came ready for the next shot, the same sound was heard, and still, no close impact.

"Too far to the right this time, but you are fine with the lateral adjustments. You got it this time." Was the response from the friendly hybrid next to her.

Rynia was ready now, knowing she got this. Going to the move the gun properly, she yet again got into proper decision, and breathed in and out. But the knowledge of that she now was going to get the shot, got to her head. Pulling the trigger, her hand trembled, offsetting the shot yet again.

The vixen though, angered now in her own failings, let out a small growl before Keaton could say how to improve on it. Moving and adjusting things rather quickly this time, emotion driving her fast actions, she let off the quickest shot she did so far, hitting the target dead on without a problem.

Sighing, and throwing on a happy smile, she got up from her position and stretched her back as she looked to the hybrid next to her. "Yeah... I don't want to be responsible with one of those. That's more of Zeke's talent." The vixen replied, looking back to Zeke now, watching him get ready for his own shot, and having no doubt he would hit it within the first two tries without any spotting help needed.

[Gene Inari]

Gene liked what he saw, "Not bad you two..." Gene glanced over to his side, "Armen. You're up behind the rifle next. Zeke, you spot for him." Gene ordered.

[Gene Inari]

Alright. Screw the RP. Tired of breathing down people's necks to get anywhere and I'm not much for larger RPs anyways. Too much work, since I'm the only one that seemingly wants this to work.

Close this, delete it, lock it. Whatever. This one's done.

[Fira-Astrali]

locked.