Heavy Weapons Specialist Qualification Exam, Heavy Squad Support Weapons Certification

Trooper's Choice: SA-40 Particle Beam Cannon
Commanding Officer's Choice: V-Web Portable Artillery Piece
Specialty Coordinator's Choice: PLX-4 Portable Missile Launcher

Alater marched towards the field to the sound of heavy fire. Explosions, rocket take offs and massive kabooms of all sort went on around him. The green grass under his feet seemed to end suddenly when the noises began to get louder. All around it him it seemed that he had entered a seperate world that you were not really supposed to be and it was dangerous to tread here. His exam was scheduled for 16:00 and it was currently 15:45 as Alater walked closer and closer to center of the giant wasteland that had once probably been a great green field like the area around it and had been blown into the ground.

A large man was waiting as he had expected at the middle with one or two other troopers. The man looked to be about 6'5", huge by human standards, and he was almost as big around as Alater was without his scales. Large chunks of flesh were missing in various parts his body, obviously from explosions. He whistled to Alater to gather him around as he sat down on a large box marked explosives. He gave them all a big grin before he began.

"Alright, now you're all here, and I'm not suprised at how few of you there are. Those last three exams were the main weeder outs, but these next two will take a vast amount of skill with weapons not normally used in day to day squad life. Today we're going to be using the V-Web Portable Blaster Artillery Piece, the PLX-4 Portable Missile Launcher, and my personal favorite the SA-40 Particle Beam Cannon. Each course will be different and I'll guide you through them myself. I'll start with a description of each of the weapons." The instructor said, looking at the trio before he continued.

"The first I'll go over is the SA-40 Particle Beam Cannon. This little baby brings the shear power of artillery peices and shipboard cannons straight to the front lines. It fires a highly concentrated heavy beam of energy that is capable of punching through a few inches of armor. This little peice of work can and will make your opponent shit themselves mearly upon being aimed at, this is no weapon to be trifled with. It's a little heavy for a hand-held weapon but like I've stated earlier, it's a great little bugger. If you fire this at a group of troops it will incapacitate if not obliterate any unprotected and most protected personels. Needless to say the course for this is going to be very interesting."

"The next weapon on our list is the V-Web Portable Blaster Artillery Piece. Evolved from your standard E-Web this Artillery Piece is unique in a few ways. Like the majority of the newer E-Web models it no longer requires a second person to man though it is difficult for one person to carry by himself unless you're like Alater over here. The weapon is built by BlasTech and comes standard with both a shield generator and a power generator that gives a continous rate of fire. The weapon is easily capable of downing small to medium sized tanks with enough exposure or good firing. It can also bring down fighters of almost any kind. Though it can be manned by one person I would suggest two just to make sure that it does not over heat and you end up blowing yourself to kingdom come."

"The third and final weapon in our selection today is the PLX-4 Portable Missile Launcher. This shoulder mounted rocket system fires four of just about anything you can fit into it. Despite its small magazine it can be a very crucial piece of equipment for your squad when you anticipate targetting large vehicles or fast moving ones. It can easily use heat seeking missiles, high explosive heads, and just about anything else you can think of. It weighs a lot but comes with an advanced targetting system that has a nice Heads Up Display(HUD)." The big burly man finished, and began to stand up from his box. He stretched a bit and headed off towards one of the target fields.

When they got there Alater saw that it was indeed a field. There were broken down tanks and other vehicles along with buildings and what looked to be part of a ship's hull. Strewn about the vehicles and parts were poorly drawn targets that seemed to have been spray-painted on in a very quick manner. As a matter of fact, the entire course seemed to have been slapped together in a matter of hours. Holes from what seemed to be a sort of high powered beam weapon had been slung everywhere, as if a gunship had suddenly gotten bored and decided to attack at random. The instructor stopped and reached into a weapons case to pull out a SA-40 Particle Beam Cannon.

"This, is what I've been talking about gentleman. This is possibly the most powerful man portable weapon you will over hold in your little hands. Capable of ripping through just about anything it's hard to fail to understand this weapon. The biggest problem is missing. Once fired the beam can be shut off but the damage is generally already done. If you have friendlies in the are I highly suggest you do not use this weapon without a good amount of forethought. That all said and done I would like you to take a look out here at the course. It's rather simple really, you are to pick a target, tell me what you're after and fire away. I want to see a good strong beam aimed well on target to go along with some good old fashioned destruction. Alright, Alater, you're up first." The instructor said, handing the weapon to Alater. He had fired one once or twice before but never with such random abandon.

Shouldering the weapon firmly for he knew how hard it could kick when the beam began to fire, he pulled down the secondary trigger, letting the beam charge, and listened for that distinct hum. It was like no other sound really you would ever hear, like a thousand flying insects swarming in an angry mass, ready to get out. When he released the secondary trigger and depressed the primary trigger the beam fired out at the designated tank he had picked out. The bright arc of light headed straight for the target and he could feel the beam tearing at the metal and heard the small explosion as it impacted. When he released the stream and looked out at his target he found himself staring at a whole straight through the hole of the hull.

"Very good. When these two are done we'll move on."  The instructor said to Alater as he handed the weapon over to the next in line and waited for others to finish. As they walked away from the debris field Alater almost wished he could go back. Though in some way dishonorable it was by far the most exilerating feeling he had ever gotten from firing anything but a sniper. Something with this much power would give one a very distinct advantage in battle.

"Well, this range if you haven't determined already is for the V-Web Portable Blaster Artillery Piece." The instructor said as they approached something of a small crater in the ground with a turret mounted securily to a sheet of durasteel.

"The V-Web was ment to be used by a one or two man team to take down large, low flying airships, starfighters, or large amounts of enemy troops. Using this for any other purpose is simply overkill as the pure output of the V-Web is almost pointless in a turret. Equiped with its shield and power generators as it is, it proves possibly the most formidable of two manned weapons available to the Empire. In this exercise you will be firing down three or four fake starships. Really they are just small engines with a little bit of explosives strapped to them. The shield generator will protect you if you miss one, but it will rock your world like no other and you will fail this exam. Let's beging." The instructor finished, handing the controls over to Alater as he stepped inside.

He powered up the generators and watched as the bubble floated over himself and the one other that was supposed to simulate somebody monitoring the power generator, which was almost completely unnecessary. The V-Web roared to life as the first of the low flying planes zoomed towards him, three of them in a V flight pattern. Alater listened to the loud hum the beast of a weapon emmitted as he pulled down on the triggers and the huge blaster bolts leashed from the barrels. The first and second simulated planes stood no chance and exploded rather quickly, but the third swirved around in a corckscrew and dove straight for Alater. Alater swiveled in the turret around and fired again, catching a wing. With a smile he deactivated the machine.

"Very well, next!" The instructor called out for the other two to take their turns. When they were done the V-Web was shut down and the three headed for third and final firing range, for once something normal.

"This is where we'll be unloading a little stress along with some firepower. The PLX-4 Portable Missile Launcher requires just a little bit of skill to operate and I'm going to presume you all have that. As you can see down range there are two hoops with a rather hole filled hill behind them. The object is the hoops, not the hill though the latter is achieved through the former. The Heads Up Display (HUD) on the missile launcher should prove this to be a very easy test, just don't blow yourselves up. You've got three tries to put your rockets through those loops, and then we're all done here. If all goes well you three have done very well and I feel confident about passing you." The instructor said before handing the rocket launcher off to one of the other two troopers.

Alater watched as they fired off their rockets, having minor difficulty with the weight of the missile launcher but using the Heads Up Display (HUD) to their full advantage. Both troopers took only two shots to their rockets spiralling through the hoops. When it came to Alater's turn he looked through the HUD and watched as the amazing machine calculated everything infront of him before claiming it had a lock and was weapons free. Alater depressed the strange trigger and watched through a very strange view as the rocket spiraled through the hoop into the hill. Repeating the process, Alater sighed with relief as he finished his third exam, handing the rocket launcher back to the instructor.

Once again, Pass.  Doing good, you know the drill, blah blah this just makes the critique look longer and more professional since I am getting tired.  Almost there to the end.

OOC:

I hereby vow to never take that long to do a spec ever again. I hereby vow to never finish half a spec in two days. I hereby vow that I am DONE WITH HEAVY WEAPONS SPECIALIZATION!

Alater took his seat just before the meeting began. The gathering of the Exam Board was for those who were on their last leg of their qualification exam and always give a little insight into their final examination. In past years the final exam had followed typical protocol and was on the genre of grenade launchers, but not this year. This year they had had something special planned.

"Good afternoon gentleman." Said the head of the board. He was dressed in his Army officer's uniform, colors spewing from one corner to another with awards for just about every reason imaginable. "My name is Captain Yruf and I am the head of the Exam Board. You are all gathered here because you have passed all your previous examinations and wish to partake in your final exam. To start with we congratulate you on your valiant efforts so far in. There is but one step that must be completed before you can claim to be a full Heavy Weapons Specialist." Captain Yruf stopped, and looked at his other board members before continuing.

"In past years this has always been an...explosive test to say the least and we have tried to concentrate on the usage of grenade launchers, but this time around we have shifted policy to meet the needs of the Army. According to our test findings a large majority of our troopers either are not properly trained in the usage of hand grenades or just do not care for them. We believe that these weapons are vital tools in the efforts of the Empire, and it is our goal to turn those statistics around. That is why for this graduation unit we assigned a special, extra part to your final examination. We charged each of you with assembling your own small stock of grenades and contributing them for examination, and if deemed worthy, returned upon to you for usage in the latter part of your exam." The head finished, and looked about the room as the troopers rustled around, collecting their finished works.

"If you would please bring forward your finished projects we can all move on towards the latter part of this examination." The Head of the Exam Board said as he motioned for the troopers to place their cases on the far end of the desk under the care of two Weapon Bots. The bots stacked each crate very carefully before removing them from the room. Despite the amount of work and trust that had gone into those works, they were still grenades and needed to be stored properly and with the correct amount of care. Alater nodded in approval to his own mental assessment.

As the crates left the room, the board members began to file out as well. They had their orders to meet on the grenade firing and testing field at approximately 06:00 tomorrow morning. Alater stretched a bit and headed back towards the barracks in his own slow lazy gate. Tonight he would sleep like a king for in the morning he would have to face his final examination and whatever shenanigans his squad mates chose to pull on him for the victory he would have achieved for himself and his entire squad. Despite the personal benefits of completing his qualification exam, the fact remained that Alater was a key factor for Eclipse as was every other member and that whatever he did had benefit for the betterment of the squad as a whole.

Alater jogged up the stairs to his barracks and crashed down on his mattress. The buzzing of his datapad awoke him the next morning and Alater rolled out of bed. Grabbing a fresh robe and a medical kit just in case, Alater headed towards the door. He passed Wicket on the way out and offered him a wave as he drudged towards the grenade firing and testing field. The field was really just an expanse of holes in the ground and a constant barrage of explosions as mortars and grenade launchers where set off. Alater headed towards the command bunker to meet with the rest of his class. He found them mostly there, along with the members of the Exam Board. Their crates were also stacked in a corner, each obviously have been gone through. Captain Yruf turned around to face the now assembled group.

"Good morning troopers, and welcome to the last day of your Qualification Exam. Today we're going to take it nice and easy, nothing too difficult. The bulk of your grade for this exam came from your work on the grenades you all constructed. There will still be three parts to today’s examination followed by a reception for those of you that have put forth the effort to pass, which I hope to be all of you. You will begin today’s examination with a little grenade lobbing." Captain Yruf turned back to the front of the bunker and the troopers filed out.

Outside they were met by a sergeant with a grenade launcher. He was an elderly man, resting against the weapon like it was a cane, he had that spark of life though, that look of somebody with something on their mind they fully intend to do. None of this really got noticed by anybody, even Alater. The entire group was in a half-trance, floating through this last day after weeks upon weeks of training and then examinations. Alater looked up as the sergeant began to speak.

"Alright men, let me start by introducing you to my friend here. This is the J-4 Rocket Launcher produced by Jer'N Weapon Systems. Any soldier carrying what is essentially a portable artillery system has a leg up on his adversaries. The J-4 Rocket System provides that option. Firing six rockets containing high explosive, anti-personnel, incendiary, or light anti-armor warheads, and the J-4 beefs up a standard squad's weapons load considerably. This weapon is what we will be using to day to launch the grenades you have all prepared. I am assuming that you all know how to use this device already, and so I won't go into much detail. Like all grenade launching weaponry it is a matter of projection and angle. You can cause devastating effects with a well place grenade or a blow yourself just as easy with a poorly placed grenade. If you are to pass my little test this afternoon, you are all going to have to prove to me that you can use this weapon properly and without fail." The elderly sergeant said, with a sort of skip in his voice. He smiled as he led the troops over to the range and they all prepared themselves with their own grenades.

"What you're going to do is look down the course here, and you'll see several vehicles, cut outs, and buildings. Though one of you should not be able to level the full extent of this field, I do expect the group of you to do so. Part of the point of this exercise is to teach you how to work together as a group of artillery men. You're all qualified and experts with artillery under your own direction but team work is what we're after today. Just to remind you, in order to pass this I will need to see every one of you working together. You may begin when ready." The sergeant said, backing away from the line as the group all began to load their grenades.

There was a sort of strange stillness before the first explosives were loosed. All of a sudden there was a barrage of grenades being lobbed down the range and the targets began to fall. Members within the group called out to each other and painted their targets before they fired so nobody fired at the same target. Alater's grenades worked perfectly with the J-4 Rocket System grenade launcher and the vehicles he had picked out flipped over and give a nice, pretty explosion to compliment the work of the rest of the group. When the devastation ended, what had once been down range was simply a large collection of holes and smoking craters. One cut out hung defiantly by its middle section, blowing in the wind as the smoke drifted across what looked like a barren battlefield. The sergeant surveyed their work and that strange smile on his face as he did so.

"Very good gentleman. You have succeeded in passing half of my test. All that remains is for you to return back to the main bunker for your final examination part." The sergeant said, his smile turning to a sneer, if only for an instant.

The group headed back towards the bunker, only to be met by the Exam Board outside. In each of their hands was what at first appeared to be a grenade, and when they looped them some of the group dove for cover, but they were then drenched in the truth; The Board was throwing water balloons. Alater watched with almost pure shock as grown men and women, officers all, proceeded to belt his fellow Heavy Weapon Specialists with water balloons, all the while laughing and having a good time about it. In the aftermath that followed both sides of the 'grenade' war became thoroughly wet and was forced to return to their barracks to change. Alater returned later that evening to attend the reception and his certification. Alater was never one for big celebrations and so he left soon after, full of himself as he entered the Eclipse barracks, completely forgetting about his squad mates. It was Wicket that caught his attention before they accosted him at the door with congratulations, handshakes, and plenty of brutal, yet heart felt, beatings.

Looks like you had some fun with this one, creativity is easily shown, and you fixed the spelling as my request.  Excellent work, you have now completed the Heavy Weapons Specialization Course.  I hereby award you the ribbon for completion:

OOC: wow, this is way longer than I thought, sorry about that. I assume next time I won't need half as much CD so that will help. I'll give you (Doc) five packs of cigars if you get the movie reference at the end.

Heavy Weapons
Level 1: Cover Tactics
Story 1: Fire Support Tactics

The time had come for the new trooper to decide the path he would walk in the Vast Empire. He wanted to remain the sort of soldier for the empire that he had been for himself. Gimp wanted to creep into the enemy lair, do the Emperor's bidding and vanish unseen into the ether. It seemed to him that this meant he should be a Scout, but, one needed to serve much time and undergo much training to even be considered for Scout training. His options for reaching his goal were few, none of them exactly fitting his tastes.

One option was to become a Vehicle Crewman specialist. Still feeling the joy of owning his own new repulsorlift Swift, he liked the idea of tooling around in high powered Imperial vehicles. He would impale rebel scum on the front of his bike speeder, mow down enemy infantry from the cockpit of a TIE Mauler, or smash the Emperor's hapless foes underfoot of a menacing AT-AT. He would laugh maniacally as he left a trail of screaming, sobbing victims in his wake. He tempered his enthusiasm with the knowledge that the majority of his time in this specialty would be spent in a hanger somewhere, toiling away at repairs and modifications of heartless machines. Not a man with a thirst for mechanical labor, or any manual labor, he had spent his life as a thief. If he ever had something that stopped working, he stole a new one.

His next choice was Combat Engineer. He liked that this option would provide him with a deep knowledge of explosives and demolition. On his home world of Balmorra, Gimp was able to dispatch a handful of rebel dissidents through the use of some rather creative bombs. The thought of being able to level entire New Republic Barracks made him smile. Another major component of this specialization, however, was fortification construction and defense. About the last thing Gimp could see himself doing in battle was making something to hide behind. The cowardice of the thought made his scalp itch.

His final option to reach his goal was to specialize in Heavy Weapons. This spec would see him proficient in the use of virtually all guns, grenades, and rocket launchers. The problem was that he never did like to use guns. The way he saw it, guns were far to impersonal. You may as well fly around in a TIE Fighter to get your kills. As far as Gimp was concerned, you should look a man in his eyes when you took his life. Have a hand on his body so you can feel him take his last breath. There were some intriguing possibilities that the spec presented. Despite the lack of intimacy involved, he liked the idea of using a sniper rifle to eliminate high priority targets from a distance, the shock of seeing an officer's head explode sending his men into a panic. He also thought it would be quite fun to bring a heavy blaster into close quarters combat. Oh, the humanity.

All of the choices feeling deficient in some way or another, he had to make up his mind. He didn't want to just pick at random so he had a conversation with himself to clear things up.

You already know how to wire a bomb, so don't pick that.

Plus all that making hiding places stuff? Save that for the women and children.

Driving all the big vehicles would be fun.

Hella fun but you know you don't like to get your hands dirty fixing things.

I got my hands dirty in your woman!

Whatever, she was your woman too. Focus, dummy. Have you ever heard of a Stormtrooper that wasn't a good shot?

Us.

Exactly. We should do something about that.

You're right. Some of those soulless weapons should be useful to us, too.

OK then. Heavy weapons it is.



He never got a good night's sleep when he knew something important was happening the next day. The entire night spent tossing and turning, he now waited with his eyes open for his alarm to tell him to get up. His door swung slowly open as his BD-3000 walked gracefully into the room. She leaned over him and gently placed her mechanical hand on his chest.

"Time to get up, Daddy." The droid cooed. "You have a big day ahead of you, didn't you get enough sleep?"

"No, not really Love. Just tossed and turned all night."

"Well you go and hop in the refresher booth and by the time you get out, I'll have your breakfast all ready." She turned and went back to the kitchen as Gimp rose for the day. The smell of bacon tickling his nose he reflected on his life as a consumer. Having bought very few things in his twenty-seven years, he knew Love was the best purchase he ever made. After completing his morning routine he put on his most crispy uniform hoping to impress whoever his instructor was. He fastened his fake leg extra tight and went to go get his grub.

He was just about done eating when Love walked up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders.

"What are the three things you need to remember today, Daddy?" She asked sweetly.

"Relax, squeeze the trigger don't pull it, and... um..." a light smack bounced sharply off the Trooper's cheek. "... Focus! I remember, focus." He spit out in shock as he looked up at her and smiled.

"You're gonna do great today, I know it." She stated warmly as he finished off the last few bites.

He rose from the table, turned to his droid and kissed her on the cheek. "You're too good to me Love." The droid gave a light giggle and a slight shrug of her shoulders. She reminded him to get his jacket and, after retrieving it from his room, he was off. He glanced back into the apartment as he was shutting the door and saw that Love already had her Annihilator pistol out, ready to attack any invaders to their home.



He left his jacket in the Swift and walked up to the building marked Heavy Weapons Training Center. Looking to his left, he saw Saphira Striker going about her business with a look of utter contempt on her face.So what's new? He opened the door and walked into the training center and approached what appeared to be a visitor's desk. A beautiful young woman with long dark hair, full lips and round cheeks smiled up at him.

"How may I help you, Private?" She asked cheerily.

"PFC Gimp, reporting for training, ma'am." He tried to reply with professionalism but his eyes smiled at administrative Trooper anyway.

"OK Private Gimp, have a seat right there and your training officer will collect you shortly." She stated still smiling.

"Thank you very much ma'am." Gimp said, wondering if it was warm in the building. He took a seat and began his wait. He looked down the bright white halls to his left and right. There was another hall identical to them just to the left of the information desk. He looked back at the woman behind the desk and thought he noticed her look away quickly.

That probably wasn't anything.

Yeah right. We're making her horny baby, YEAH!

His mind elsewhere, a smile came over his face while he stared at the woman. He snapped back to attention just as she looked at him. He dropped his head and examined his shoe tops and felt his face heating up. I wonder how long she knew we were looking at her. The noise of footsteps started to echo down the hall behind the desk, and Gimp pretended to pay attention to that. A burly man who tested the strength of the stitches on his uniform came out of the hall and looked down at the receptionist.

"Thank you, Corporal Gray." He said before addressing Gimp "You Private Gimp? Let's move out." He barked while turning to walk back down the hall he had come from.

Corporal Gray.

They walked for a long way down the hall passing door after door. The hall seemed to have no end, just miles of doors. He thought they would never stop when the large man did just that. "My name is SGT. Pepper. From now on when you need training you will come here, to room 2707, and let yourself in. Understood?" The man barked while opening the door for Gimp, motioning him in.

"Yes sir, thank you sir." was Gimp's sharp reply as he entered the room. The class was small, surprisingly so in fact, with another door on the far wall. The sergeant noticed Gimp's question about the room's dimensions by the look on his face.

"The class doesn't need to be big because we don't do much talking here. Most of what you do will take place next door in the sim room." He spoke in a more natural way now, still keeping a little boom from years of harassing new recruits though.

"I see, sir." Gimp replied as he started to sit down.

"No need to sit soldier, your instructions for this task are brief." The sergeant said as he picked up a weapon.

"Sorry sir."

"Don't be. This is a training version of your standard E-11 blaster. It has the same weight and balance point as the real thing. The only difference is that this one shoots a message to the sim computer to let it know where your shots are landing. Your training for today will be on fire support tactics under the general concept of covering fire. You will be charged with showing that you have learned basic attack routines to offer support to your squad mates. You are not General Grievous, Private, I do not, repeat do not want to see you running all over the battlefield killing enemies. Prove to me that you can help the team by allowing your squad mates to flourish, and you will pass. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Gimp barked, taking the training weapon.

"Good. Enter the sim through that door when you're ready."

He walked up to the door and grabbed the handle before he stopped to collect his thoughts.Relax, squeeze the trigger don't pull it, and focus. He took a deep breath and burst through the door.

He found himself in the middle of a firefight, red and green bolts flying all around him. He saw a four foot high boulder in front of him and ran to it to get his bearings. He was in some sort of very strange desert environment, with thick, short trees surrounding his position. Enemy troops were firing in his general direction, but from what he could tell, only from the northwest and northeast. About twenty feet to his east, the rest of his squad was pinned down by the fire.

"Gimp! Gimp God damn it! Pay attention!"

"Sir!" Gimp replied.

"We need to get to that enemy bunker, Gimp." The white clad Stormtrooper pointed due north of Gimp. "Private Davis will engage the northeast while you take the northwest."

"Yes sir!"

"Fire!" The ranking trooper yelled as the infiltration group took off. Gimp and Davis both stood and sprayed at their respective targets. The tree line was about two hundred meters away, enemies darting in and out to shoot at the mobile aggressors. Relax. Gimp's next shot seemed to move in slow motion and hit his target, to Gimp's astonishment, in the eye.Thank you, Love. Shots stopped coming from his sector momentarily, so he rattled off a few shots at the northeastern foes, hitting one squarely in the chest and grazing another's shoulder. He brought his focus back to his own sector just in time to see an enemy head pop out to aim at his team. He could almost hear Love repeating the principles of marksmanship as he loosed a shot downrange. Another head shot, causing him to smile broadly. He noticed that the last of the infiltration team had entered the bunker when the scene started to flash and skip. He stood as the environment around him began to flicker and fade.

He suddenly found himself at the end of a narrow hallway by the handle of a closed door. Private Davis was facing him by the door hinges, four other Stormtroopers lined up in front of the door prepared to burst through. The one in front of the line kicked the door open before all four ducked to enter the room. Gimp stuck his head and blaster into the room and saw a large group of enemies across the room hiding behind large overturned tables. Not far past the door he was looking through were four sporadically placed plant pots, each one about three foot square and filled with dirt. To the far left of the room a half covered stairwell climbed the left wall. He noticed these features in under a second and before he yelled "Covering fire!" he was already letting loose at the enemy. Private Davis was quick to follow his lead as the rest of the squad slunk in and took positions behind the pots. Gimp leaned back out of the room and spoke to Davis.

"Alright, Davis, you get in there. Go! Go! Go!" He yelled as he shot over Davis's head. Next he waited for a lull in enemy fire. He heard one and yelled "Cover me!" as he ran to the opening of the stairwell. Even though his head was down he could see blaster bolts hitting the wall next to to him. He dove from about eight meters away and slid into the wall, out of the line of fire. Quickly regaining his bearing, he aimed up the stairs at an enemy that wasn't there. Lucky for him. He crawled up the stairs to the highest point he could reach and still engage the enemy below. His E-11 went over the edge of the guardrail and he rained shots at the opposition. He saw that he only hit one New Republic Guard, but while they had turned their attention to him, his squad ran through the rest of them like water. The room started flashing again and he wondered what would happen next.

The first thing he noticed about this scene was that he and his squad were not in Stormtrooper uniforms, but Imperial Army Trooper uniforms. His back was to a large grey wall, the corner of the wall at his left shoulder. He was facing a fortified beach and he could tell he was part of a large scale force sent to take it. The rest of his squad was to his right, they were looking at him as if the expected him to tell the what to do.If I get a promotion in training, do I get a raise? He stuck his head around the corner and saw a bunker high up a very steep hill. On top of the bunker sat a rather large machine gun. So large in fact, that it only could have been placed there by vehicle, assuming it wasn't assembled there. The gun's operator seemed to have been waiting for someone to look around that corner because as soon as Gimp did, he tried to shoot his face off.

"Shit!" Gimp yelled as he backed away from the shots. What could he do? He looked around and spotted a chunk of a mirror on the ground in front of him. He picked it up and glanced over at his men, one of whom was chewing some gum. Without asking or thinking Gimp reached into the man's mouth and extracted the candy, sticking it to the back of the mirror. Next he pulled out his trusty D'skar dagger and bonded the blade to the mirror, thanks to the gum. He used his new apparatus to safely survey the scene.

"Sniper?!" he yelled without looking away from the mirror. The call was repeated down the line until a sniper came to him.

"Corporal Davis, sir. Sniper."

"You see that impact crater?" Gimp asked as he moved the mirror for the sniper to see.

"Yes sir."

"I want you to run as fast as you can into that crater. That machine gun can't aim that low and I think you'll have enough cover from the men in the bunker."

"OK sir." Davis said confidently.

"Ready. GO!" Gimp yelled as he jumped into the big gun's line of sight. He hopped back behind the wall with high caliber slugs flying around him, two new holes punched into the armpit of his shirt. Meanwhile, Davis had ducked low and sprinted to the crater, bullets striking the ground around just behind him with every step he took. He dove and rolled to safety, allowing Gimp to breathe again. He stuck his gun out around the corner and shot blindly at the bunker. He seemed to shoot better blind than he could aiming on some days. Every one of his shots hit some part of the bunker causing the men inside wait out the danger. When he finally had to reload, Davis was already waiting for the machine gun operator to reappear, sending a bolt through his head as soon as he touched the weapon. As soon as this happened the scene began to flicker and vibrate.

Now the scene was totally black. He looked around for enemies, or his squad. He noticed some light coming from a barely opened door. He moved toward it slowly and quietly, not wanting to alert anyone inside. He peeked into the small room and saw Sgt. Pepper looking at some papers. He walked in like nothing had happened.

"Next time the lights go out like that Private, you can go ahead and come out. Other than that, I must say you did a good job. You made it possible for your squad mates to do their jobs. See you next time soldier, you pass."

"Thank you Sgt. Pepper sir." He said with a smile. He put the training blaster back with the rest and headed down the hall. He slowed when he got to the help desk and smiled at the receptionist. "See you soon Corporal Gray." He said, walking again toward the door.

"I hope so PFC Gimp." She called after him.

Nicely done, and don't be afraid to put some CD in at all, it's a nice addition to read from the same things over and over.  Passed with flying colors, showed the concept/theory/whatever excellently.  As for a reference, all I see is one to the Beatles.

Heavy Weapons
Level Two: Precision Marksmanship
Story One: Precision Range Shooting

The night just wore on and on. Gimp had no idea how many rounds he had fired tonight. The indoor public shooting range was nearly empty as being open all day didn't mean people would want to practice shooting all night. Gimp was only here because he needed to be. His precision range shooting test was scheduled for tomorrow and his marksmanship was not up to par.

BLAM

Another round burst forth from the LJ-90 sniper blaster rifle that the range had loaned him for the evening. His hands had long since stopped tingling and were now numb blocks at the ends of his arms. His shoulder had a dull pain from the repeated beating the rifle dealt him.

"Nice shot Daddy." His droid, Love, informed him. "You've been getting a lot better at this over the past week." She referred to the astonishing amount of hours he had logged on the public range. Although he was not a fan of using guns, he was quick to appreciate the value of being able to put rounds on a target. He released another bolt towards its destiny. "O.K. Daddy, ten more shots. If you can keep them all tight, you'll have ninety percent within four inches tonight."

He grunted in acknowledgement and tore into his final ten rounds at a much quicker pace, anxious for his reprieve. Every shot sent a quick shock down his arm and back. He barely winced and continued on, indifferent to any principles of aim, focusing only on the finish. When the last shot finally rang out he looked back at Love expectantly.

"Almost Daddy. I'm sure you'll do better when you're not so tired." He thought he heard disappointment in her voice.

"I wouldn't have gotten this good without you Love. I'll do alright tomorrow, thanks to you." He told the droid sincerely as he handed her the rifle.

"You better Daddy. I didn't spend all this time teaching you to shoot for my health." She said playfully.

"Hahaha, go pay the man Love. I'll be in the car." Gimp said as he left the building. When the droid exited the building she found Gimp in the passenger seat.

"What? So I gotta drive you around too?"

"You know it baby. Get us home quick Love, I definitely need some sleep."

By the time they were out of the parking lot and down the street, Gimp had dozed off. Love darted in and out of the minimal traffic and through narrow back alleys in an effort to get home as fast as possible for her master. As they neared their destination she began to calculate whether or not she should attempt to carry him into the apartment. The computation was based on many factors including ease of carry (very easy), likelihood of Daddy waking up (moderate), and how embarrassed he may be if he awoke (very embarrassed). Computations, calculations, and estimations raced across her circuitry in a fervent effort to best serve her master. It all turned into a moot point as they pulled into their covered parking lot and Gimp began to stir. Love quickly swung her hand out, delivering a light backhand slap to Gimp's mouth. He awoke rubbing his mouth and looking around.

"Wha.. what the hell?"

"Come on, Daddy. You're supposed to sleep inside, not outside." Love chided as she walked to the door. He walked into the apartment thinking about how good he was going to sleep. He dove at the bed and was asleep before he hit it, only to be awaken by the impact. He was back asleep before he could complain.



He woke up in the morning after a damn good sleep. He skipped the refresher booth because he felt so damn fresh. He smacked Love on her metallic rump and scarfed down his breakfast because it was so damn good. He bound out the door and into Swifty and turned his music up too damn loud. He pressed the repulsorlift overload buttons on the dash making Swifty do the damn thang.

Hot DAMN!

Can't stop the Gimpin' baby!



He hopped out of his ride and strode into the HWTC intent on sharp pimpin' and sharper shooting. He entered the complex and got his first, and hopefully only, disappointment of the day. The beautiful young corporal was not behind the desk today. In her place sat a rather rotund private who didn't look any happier to see Gimp than Gimp was to see him. The two men glared at each other in a somewhat disgusted fashion as Gimp made his way wordlessly down the hall to room 2707. He walked in the class to find Sgt. Pepper reading.

"Ah, Private Gimp. You're early. I know Corporal Gray's absence must have been a disappointment. Sit down for a minute."

"Yes sir." Gimp responded to all he said and had a seat. The sergeant shuffled around through some papers for a few moments before finding the one he needed.

"Ah, yes. You're up to precision marksmanship. Precision range shooting to be specific. O.K., for this test you may select three firearms of you choice." He waited expectantly after he finished his statement.

"Oh. Yes sir. Sorry sir. I choose the DoomBringer pistol, E-11 blaster, and the LJ-90 sniper blaster rifle sir."

"O.K., why do you choose those Private?"

"Well sir, the DoomBringer has been my only firearm of choice for some time now. The E-11 is a weapon I will likely have to rely on in many circumstances, and the LJ-90 is the only long range weapon I have any familiarity with. Sir."

The sergeant nodded approvingly. "Alright Private. Get in there and show me what you got."

"Yes sir." Gimp said calmly as he rose and went to the door. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening the door and walking into a wide open outdoor shooting range. On the left side of the range was a grenade tossing range with a pistol shooting range to the right of it. The center of the range had targets at a similar distance to indoor ranges. The far right of the range had targets that looked to be at least a couple thousand yards away. The spitting image of Sgt. Pepper was standing at the short range area, staring at Gimp. Gimp quickly made his way there and noticed a DoomBringer and a large stack of magazines sitting on a table at the edge of the range.

"What sort of gun is that there, Private?" The illusory sergeant bellowed.

"Sir! That is a DoomBringer high capacity scatter pistol, sir!" Gimp yelled back.

"How many shots in that magazine, Private?" The sergeant was still yelling.

"Sir! Eight, sir!"

"What is the effective range of that weapon, Private?"

"Thirty five meters, Sir!"

"Exactly, Private. Now. You will pick up that weapon and fire at the targets that pop up down range. You will reload as needed and hit ALL the targets. If you let one of those targets fall without taking any damage from that cheating little gun you chose I swear to the Force I will kick your sorry little ass right out of the Imperial Army! Do I make myself clear, Private?"

"Sir! Yes sir!"

"Hop to it soldier!" With that, Gimp heard the sound of targets popping up downrange. He snatched up the DoomBringer and aimed at them, only to note that the gun was not loaded when he squeezed the trigger. Fear swept through him as he grabbed a magazine and slapped it into the gun and made sure the safety was off. He hit the first two targets just as they were going back down. Targets jumped up immediately after others fell, usually in groups of two or three. The wide spray of the pistol made hitting multiple targets at once a rather easy affair and Gimp was starting to feel like an accomplished shooter. Just then, a horn sounded and the targets stopped popping up. He placed the gun down on the table with a smile and looked at the sergeant.

"What is that?" The sergeant screamed."What the fuck is that!?! Do you think you did something, Private Gimp? Was that an accomplishment? A Force forsaken Stand-Back could hit those targets with that gun, and you wanna smile about it?! Get over to the next station and give me fifty. And you better not make me wait."

"Sir! Yes sir!" Gimp screamed as he ran to the next table. He dropped in front of it and started banging out push ups as fast as he could. He watched the sergeant approach out of the corner of his eye and moved faster.

"I aint got a damned day soldier." The sergeant yelled as he came near.

Just as Sgt. Pepper got next to him he finished his push ups and rose, dusting himself off.

"Oh my Lord Private, why did you do that?"

"Sir! You ordered me to do fif..."

"Not that you moronic bastard! Why did you dust yourself off?" The sergeant asked in a berating manner.

"Sir, I wanted to be clean, sir!" Gimp responded in a slightly confused way.

"Do you know that you can be court martialed for lying to a superior officer, Private? Of course you do! So why did you lie?" Gimp started to reply but was cut off before he could breathe. "Don't you tell me another lie, Priv..." A smile came across Sgt. Pepper's face as his sentence trailed off. He started again in a more normal tone. "Ooooh, I know why you dusted yourself off. You wanted to make yourself pretty for me, didn't you?"

"Sir! No sir!"

"Yeah you did Private. You want to give me a kiss don't you? Probably thinking about bending me over this table right now, aren't you Private?"

"Sir! No sir!"

"Oh you already messed up now Private, I know it's true." His voice rose back to it's angrier level. "If you want to make yourself pretty for me you get a new name. Nancy. Your new name is Nancy. Understood?"

"Sir! Yes sir!"

"Good, Nancy. What gun is that there, Nancy?"

"Sir! That is an E-11 blaster rifle, sir. It is the standard issue weapon for the Imperial armed forces, sir. It has a one hundred round magazine and an effective range of under two hundred fifty yards, sir."

"Well look at the big brain on Nancy. Here's the drill, Nancy. Fifty targets will pop up and move around downrange. All you have to do is drop forty of them without reloading and you get to stay in my Army. No bonus for head shots. You ready Nancy?"

Before Gimp could answer he heard targets moving. He snatched up the gun, this one with it's magazine already in place. He checked the safety in the same motion and dropped the first three targets before he even thought about it. The next target came up right under his sights and he pictured the blaster bolt going straight through Sgt. Pepper's nose. The target dropped quickly with a hole in the center of it's head. Targets rose and fell quickly across the center of the range. He started to get sad because Love was not here to see him make such short work of the drill. That stopped as soon as he heard her in his head telling him "focus Daddy". He dropped targets until they no longer appeared and set his gun down. He did not try to hide the irritation as he looked back to the sergeant, who once again spoke in a normal tone.

"Looked like you lost focus for a moment there, Nancy. But, forty seven out of fifty is good enough. Keep this up and I may let you have your name back. Meet me at the next station, Nancy."

"Sir yes sir!" He yelled as he got on his way. The next gun was not on a table, rather, a blanket. Being as it was a sniper rifle he assumed this was so he could fire from the prone position. He stood at attention and waited for the sergeant to arrive. It seemed like he was walking much slower than he had to the last station. Eventually, Sgt. Pepper sauntered up.

"O.K. Nancy. Tell me about this weapon."

"Sir! This is a LJ-90 sniper blaster rifle. It has a fifteen round magazine and is effective to a range of two and a half kilometers."

"Only for a very good shot Nancy. You will not be tested at that range yet. This test will be somewhat different that the others as you will accumulate points for hitting targets. You need fifteen points to pass. Ten targets, some moving, will appear down range one at a time. You will get one point for a hit, two for a head shot. Get down and get ready. You let me know when to start 'er up."

"Yes sir!" Gimp said as he got on the ground. He checked out the rifle and it's scope, making sure all was ready. When he was satisfied he said "ready" without taking his eyes away from the range. The first target to appear was moving right to left. He had never fired at a target this far away, much less a moving one. His mind was jumpy as he took his shot, missing the target. A few seconds later the target went back down, replaced by a stationary target. The math was already don in his head and he knew he needed head shots on the still targets. He did not disappoint himself on any of them, each receiving a hole in the head quickly after they rose. Three moving targets also took hits bringing him to his last target.

This one moved from left to right, as well as away from him. He put the target in his sights and breathed deeply. He could hear Love whispering in his ear."Relax, Daddy. Squeeze the trigger don't pull it... Focus, Daddy. You can do it." The recoil jammed into his shoulder as his shot whizzed toward the target. He got his eye back to the scope in time to see the bolt slam right through the center of the head of the target. By far the best shot of his life.

"Fifteen on the nose, Private. You made the big shot when you needed to, not a bad job at all." Said the digitized Sgt. Pepper as the room faded to black. Gimp got up off his belly and walked out of the dark room. He went to the real sergeant and stood in front of him.

The sergeant eventually looked up at him and gave a very slight, sort of bored smile. "I'm sure you know you passed, Private Gimp. I would tell you to get out of here and go talk to the corporal, but she isn't in. Good job, see you next time."

"Sir, yes sir." Gimp said flatly as he left the room. It was a good thing he had so much energy when he came because he was almost drained now. He left the HWTC trying to think of something nice he could do for Love. She had, after all, been instrumental in his passing.

OOC:

Passed, I love how you show more than one side to Gimp in these, how he is alone and how he acts around military authority, quite an extreme in my opinion and gives him an excellent dimension.  And wonderful approach on the spec, passed.  Excellent work.  Be sure to post your specs in your own topic from now on.  Good Luck.