"If I may Sir, Epps and Sergeant Aaron were behind a tree out of Corporal Raydal's line of sight, though an improvement in his scope would be welcome, it is my sense that it may be unneeded. He is a fair shot with just a regular scope. I have to ask Epps though, if the smoke bomb and flash bang trap was expected, or at least seen before the skirmish actually started."

I look at Aria, unsuspecting of that answer. Epps nods and looks at Aria.

"I figured that if you had Sergeant Aaron on your team, we'd be expecting something alike that. It was still a good trick, blinding us. Though, I should advise some triple shots. If you do three round bursts, you will conserve ammo, have a bit of a better accuracy, and won't shoot your allies during that. I have to agree with Warrant Officer Contrera on Corporal Raydal's shooting. You took one of my members out from a good 20 klicks away. Without hitting a tree. That's a definitely good shot. That'll be all. Just keep up on your own practice and we'll see how you grow as a team over time. Dismissed!"

I walk over to Aria.

"Ma'am, how did you know I was a good shot? 20 klicks, that's an easy ranged shot."

"That may be an easy ranged shot in an open field or across a city. In there we were in the middle of a forest with brush, vines, and plenty of trees, even with a scope its a wonder you could see at all through the leaves..." I say matter of factly," The fact that you did it without a tripod is something to say as well. Plus the fact that you didn't hesitate at all before you shot...it was like you didn't even have to aim properly."

I offer a smile,"Good work, both of you." Before entering a long hallway, and making her way to the mess for lunch.

I shrug at that.

"I'm sure that I'm not that good. My shot's are normal. I'm just a decent snipe shot."

I follow Aria to the mess hall, getting some food and sitting at a table. I start to dig in, looking down at the table. Deep in thought, I don't notice if anyone talks to me, I just stare at the table.

I sigh as I follow the others to the mess hall, still feeling like I did earlier, lousy, I get some food and some water to drink, I eat it quickly without a word, either not noticing the others or choosing not to respond, before getting up and leaving, on the way out I pick up my shotgun with a few different types of shells, Magnum shot, incendiary shots, and slugs. I head to the firing range, I load the slugs first, taking aim and I fire, about a medium range between himself and the target, about 3 klicks away, he fires, his bullet coming in about two rings from the edge, he curses lightly, hoping that it would of gotten closer.

I take a couple bites of my lunch and observe the two men," One practice run and the both of you are all depressed, there's several months before we truly go out on the field, plenty of time to perfect yourselves..." I grumble something about teenagers and take another bite. Stomping lightly on Jayden's shoe I ask," How's your hand?" before shovelling another mouthful of rice in.

I chuckle and look at Aria.

"She's right. We just started. We are only just starting."

I shrug and clench my hand.

"It's fine. As for the being able to snipe without looking. That's hard to do. You need the ultimate patience to make a completely accurate shot. I'll work on my shots a bit more. And I'll get an infrared scope. If we're going to fight the Decepticons, we might fight in the night, so I might need the infrared sight."

" You do what you feel you need to, whatever gets the job done." I finish off my food and stow the tray," See you later."

Leaving the mess hall and Jayden to his own devices I head back to the hangar to talk with Optimus about Atlantis and show him where the excavation site was.

I walk to the shooting range, pulling out my magnum and aiming down to the target. As I take my shots, I count off, slowly reloading. I spend a few more hours shooting before heading back to my apartment, pulling out some blank paper and starting to work on making up a new infrared scope.

Optimus wasn't there when I entered the hanger so I went to where the lockers were and set the pictures out on the table, including a blown up google map of Montana, setting some random objects as paper weights I lay out the map. Looking back and forth between between the pictures and the map, recalling the story my mother had told me over and over. "Mustang grace...amarillo sight. Apple of my eye...what is this...a treasure hunt? Mama...painted face..." I sigh, sinking onto the chair behind me then do what I should have thought of in the first place, I head out to my car and grab my laptop and charger. Setting up and let the army scanner complete the check on the security and access the internet, searching for Montana's land marks, and snag the painted face, a cliff face dusted with the different colors of dirt and clay," This is a bloody treasure hunt..." I sigh typing in 'Mustang Preserves' and seeking one that had been around for more than 80 years.

Prime drives into the Hangar and sees Aria over at the table. He heads over to her, trying to see what she's doing.

"Warrant Officer Contrera, what are you doing here?"

~~~

I sigh and crack my neck, rubbing the back of it gently. I check my phone in case there are any messages. Seeing none, I sigh and head into my kitchen, turning on the stove to boil up some water for tea.

"I'm glad I have a few months to go before I have to finish this design. It'll take longer than today to finish it. Hell, the wiring alone for just a human sized scope could take months."

With a reserved sigh, I pour a mug of tea, sitting back down at the table to start working on the design some more.

I had just found a mustang preserve named Graced as Optimus drove in," I'm looking for the exact coordinates based on this map of Montana, landmarks and the the story my mother passed to me as her father had passed to her. It almost seems like a search and find..."I point to a red marker on the map," In the story my mother mentions a painted face, this here is a cliff face that looks like its been painted." I pull up google maps on my laptop and place a yellow marker on a larger flat piece of land," And this is Graced...its a Mustang preserve for horses that has been around since 1872, its also mentioned in the story." I go back to my laptop and go back to the Montana page," There's so many landmarks and other things its a little difficult to search through them all..."

I continue at the shooting range for hours, practicing his range on the target, 6 bulls-eye, 8 1 ring out, 7 2 rings out and 11 3 rings out, the other shots I didn't keep track of, and that was only with the slugs. I looks up at the sun, realizing it was going to be getting dark soon, I walk out to the target, replacing it with another one under my arm, this one more like that of a human dummy rather than a normal bulls-eye target, the target being made of cheap plastic, the only stand out thing on it is that it is wearing a shirt, I return to where my gun and ammo box is at, I glance at the target with a sigh.

"Meh I will probably get in trouble, but I hate to end a day without a boom."

I look around before reaching into my ammo box and pulling out an odd looking grenade, the outside casing on it was covered in small hooks that seem to be slightly random, but upon closer inspection they are placed to be able to catch onto something no matter what direction, I grip it gingerly with my fingers in very specific spots, but I knew where to hold it so I was able to pick it up easily, I take one last look again before pulling the pin and releasing the lever as I chucked it at the target, I throw the grenade more like a someone would a baseball rather than a normal grenade. (more straight than up) It flies at the target catching on its shirt perfectly so that it did not tear the thin shirt, but with enough force to cause multiple hooks to catch into the shirt and skin, making it impossible to take out in time. within a single second of it catching it explodes, I just stands there grinning at the sight.

"Still as good a shot with those as ever."

Prime nodded as he listened to Aria explain what was going on.

"Smart move, Contrera. However, should we go and see it now when your Mechs aren't ready? Or should we wait until after your Mechs are ready? I think we should wait. We'll get a better chance to examine the landscape and not be abused by it. It could also be an ambush sight, if I'm not mistaken. I think we should scope it out on the map some before we go charging in. What are your thoughts on it?"

~~~

I blink my eyes, groaning as I lift my head from the desk. I feel the paper sticking to my face and groan.

"Ah, damn. I fell asleep."

I get up, pouring my cold tea down the sink and pour a new mug of tea. I put the scope design away, pulling out my sniper. I pull it apart, cleaning it and inspecting each part. When I'm satisfied with it's outcome, I slowly put it back together, checking it's scope and reload speed. Satisfied, I put it away, doing the same with my magnum.

"Thats probably the best idea. We need to understand the layout in case they somehow manage to get there before us. If Major Lennox had a larger screen we could pull in here we could do it now...but it might be better if everyone were here for this." I look at him suddenly wondering what my mech was going to be like, what form it would take, then suddenly realized I was spacing at brought myself back to earth." If we could also get a 3D rendering of this map we could plan scout points and see where the Decepticons could be placing themselves for their own scouting."

Prime nods to her, noting her case of spacing, but leaving it be. If she was busy thinking, she could be left to think.

"We'll see about Lennox having a screen, but if you want everyone here, it might be better to wait until tomorrow. Why don't you go and get some rest, Aria? Lord knows we'll all need it."

~~~

I sit down and turn on my music, sitting back and starting to work on a Sudoku puzzle. I crack a small grin. Artemis would scold me if she knew I was sitting here doing Sudoku instead of doing something "productive." I let the smile fall from my face, shrugging it off and focusing on the puzzle in front of me.

I shrug looking at Optimus," Rest was never one of my strong points. Tomorrow before practice maybe we can go over this with the rest of the squad and your team. I'll give this resting thing a try..." I close down the laptop and shut it, collecting the notes I'd made and bid Optimus farewell.

Deciding on something I hadn't done in awhile I go home and pick up a book and the first thing in my fridge that caught my eye, a pizza lunchable and the blanket off my couch and walked the half mile to the nearest park setting under a tree to eat my child's lunch, something I'd eaten for a long time and my novel. After half an hour later and I was dreaming about hobbit eating trees and a ranger leading a pack of children to elven lands against a pack of robots.