The Frieden Chronicles: Reckoning

Chapter 5: Cat & Mouse

Mason Lopez

"Fire!" I yelled before charlie squad opened fire with rifles at the targets down the range.

It has been three weeks since Keiko's little accident and if there is one thing that I learned from my unit, it was that most of them were first timers. Surprisingly there were hardly any complaints that I had to personally solve. By the time I usually arrived to deal with the situation, it tended to be resolved by the sergeants.

It has been hard work but by the time of this writing, the company was averaging around seventy percent of the shots at a range of one hundred meters. The only reason it was not higher was due to some that couldn't hit the broadside of a barn if their life depended on it. But no matter, they came here to learn and it was clear they needed much more practice than the others.

 "Magazines empty sir!" Sergeant Scott said after they all emptied their magazines.

"Private Harrison, you're not holding the gun properly that thing will go flying off, Sergeant Scott you're getting better but the gun is now too loose and the same will happen if you don't tighten your grip, Private Freeman you're too stiff... ease up a bit and you can be more stable with the recoil. Try to imagine that your whole body is a shock absorber." I said looking at them as I walked back and forth behind them while I inspected their stances, they nodded and prepared for another go.

It was the tenth time and they began to shoot more accurately, although there was still much left to be desired. They were mostly reservists that had at most shot a peashooter, some of their egos were all but destroyed when they saw what bravo squad could do.

"Alright guys that's not bad but it could be better, take a break and let that shoulder rest for a minute, be back in 10 mikes..."

 "Yes sir!" They all said in unison after making sure their rifles were unloaded and had their safeties on.

The weeks leading up to this were crazy, the red tape was rather absurd with what we could get so we could at least be able to call ourselves a proper fighting force with no heavy weapons. This only delayed further our training as one of the requirements for our units was to at least to have mortars and scouts. Fortunately, I was able to find a loophole and cherry pick the best shots of the company for our 'scout' sniper teams.

As I sat down on a bench, I could see down the hall of the newly built range Uma and three others learning how to operate the rifle. Rachel on the other hand, she could be seen walking up towards me as she held her service weapon with a long range scope attached to it.

 "Hey Captain!" She said saluting confidently unlike her usual shy self. I was quick to notice how vastly different she behaved when holding a firearm, it reminded me when I was a recruit hopping in a trainer aircraft. You feel as if you completely change or at least it gives you the confidence to take on the world itself.

"Oh, hey Rachel! Where's your bow?" I asked out of curiosity as I saluted back.

 "I-i um left it back in the barracks..." she said shrugging sheepishly.

"Well I guess it would be pretty useless around here, I take it that you're ready for your tryout?" I asked before she nodded with excitement.

"Alright then showstopper, show me what you got..." I said as I noticed her human ears and cheeks turned red.

She didn't like her nickname that her squad gave her, but she eventually got used to it. I was going to show her how to set her gun down, but before I could even open my mouth again she had already positioned herself with the rifle ready to fire.