Snippet #2293164

The turian was a lot more pleasant to be around the Jacob had initially expected, and considering he was an ex-pirate, it was somewhat of miracle that Jacob could even stand the sight of him. However, there was something about Azuric that Jacob couldn’t help but like about the man. Maybe it was because they both had similar experiences with the slimy black undergrowth of the universe that most people are ignorant too or just pretend that they don’t see it. As Jacob had learned from Azuric, the turian had spent years as a Pirate after leaving the turian military and he had even been to many of the same places as Jacob and around the same time even. The two had sat for quite some time just sharing stories of their exploits with one another. It wasn’t long until two hours had gone by and Jacob had no idea until he got a call from Jackson.

“Hello?” Jacob said as he answered the communications hail his omni tool

“LT, you feel like coming down to the range and putting some holes in targets?” Sarah Jackson’s voice asked through the speakers of the tool

“Aren’t you supposed to be on duty Jackson?” Jacob inquired to the woman

“Um, no I was off duty an hour ago. Did you lose track of time old man?” Jackson teased her CO who she knew was not even in his forties. Jacob was baffled, had he talked to the alien that long? He thought it had been a half hour at most; apparently this was the best conversation he had, had in a long time because he never talked to anyone for two hours.

“Who you calling, old man? I ought to come down there a whoop your ass Jackson.”

“Then come get me Lieutenant.” Jackson said before hanging up the line. Jacob grinned, he had forgotten about his wanting to drink, for the time being at least. He looked at the turian with friendly eyes “How ‘bout it partner? You want to come down and smoke some targets?”

“No, I can’t. Not right now at least, but maybe another time.” The turian said apologetically. Jacob shrugged; he understood that the alien must have had other things to do, so he would not insist

“Suit yourself.” Jacob replied as he reached his hand out for the turian to shake “It was nice talking with you.” The turian reached his hand out and wrapped his talons around Jacob’s hand in a strong and firm grip

“The feeling is mutual Lieutenant.” Azuric said

With that Jacob left the company of the alien and headed in the direction of training room. The walk through the halls was as irritating to Jacob as ever, the dim lighting sabotaging his sight and nagging his mind with the fact that he couldn’t do a damn thing to fix it. He wasn’t a young man anymore and he just knew that the lighting on this ship was going to be a constant headache for him.

As Jacob approached the metallic door of the training area, the two halves of the door slid apart to reveal a man with graying blonde hair watching as a brunette woman starred down the scope of a long rifle. Neither of the two looked over as Jacob strode into the room, observing as the woman slowly breathed in and out. The blonde haired man was directly behind her, taking a long drag on his cigarette. His hair, though still noticeably blonde, was getting very light and had hints of gray brushed across it. His face did little to show his age aside from a few wrinkles and some crow’s feet.

The blonde blew a fog of smoke from his mouth before speaking to the woman in a Russian accented voice “Come on, I have seen hanar who can aim faster than you.” The man said in a voice that one might take seriously if they did not know him.

“Fuck you, Petr.” The woman said, not taking her eyes from the scope “at least I can walk faster than a drunken elcor.” She teased back

“Let us hope your target moves that slow, holy shit.” Petr replied with a grin of victory curled across his face

“I see you two are having fun.” Jacob observed as he walked over to Petr and starred down the range at the woman’s target

“Always.” Petr remarked as he continued to peer down at the snipers target. At the end of the long range he could make out the silhouette of a target hanging from a rafter. From the looks of it, it was in the shape of a human and displayed everything from the waist up.

“How long you been aiming, Jackson?” Jacob asked the woman as he stood over her, his long shadow cast over most of her body

“I just reloaded for this shot a few seconds before you walked in.” Jackson said in mock, angry tone.

“See, too fucking slow I told you.” Petr said without as much as a chuckle, but Jackson knew he was kidding. Petr then let some ash from his cigarette drop onto the sleek metal floor of the training room. Jacob looked at the ash, then back up to Petr with a disapproving glare “Somebody will pick it up I’m sure.” Jacob shrugged and looked back down range just as Jackson pulled the trigger of her rifle and put a metal slug right into the chest of the silhouette.

Before the roar of the first shot had even dissipated another round was unleashed, the metal projectile tearing down range before slamming violently into the target. The two holes were less than inches apart; each one was right on target where a human’s sternum would be. If the target were real, the rounds would have torn his chest apart and sent fragments of bone tearing into vital organs. If the shockwave from the impact didn’t kill them, the internal damage would unless they got to a good surgeon right away.

“Still haven’t lost my touch!” Jackson exclaimed as she picked her rifle up and shot up onto her feet. She spun around, and looked at her two comrades with a grin sparking from her plump lips.

“Luck and skill, are two different things, my dear.” Petr teased as if he were not impressed. He received nothing but a middle finger in his face from the woman.

“Now, now kids try to play nice.”

“Kids? I am older than you.” Petr remarked coldly as he flicked his cigarette into a far corner of the room

“He doesn’t look like it though. If I didn’t know him I’d guess he was old enough to have fought in world war two.” Jackson remarked, her oddly colored eyes watching Jacob with a soft and friendly stare. The woman’s eyes could only be described as stunning, small dark blue dots floating in a light blue sea where you could slightly make out the signs of cybernetic implants.

“Why do I come to hang out with you two?” Jacob said mockingly

“Because no one else can stand you.” Petr made a reply to which Jacob just rolled his eyes too

“What are you talking about?” Jackson giggled “No one can stand you either, that’s why you got stuck at a desk job.”

There was a silent pause before Petr said anything “I got stuck at a desk job, because I am good at what I do.” Petr rebutted, his grey, stormy eyes watching Jackson like humorless pits of bottled up emotion. The man was not above joking, but his utter inability to display any emotion even remotely resembling joy tended to take the fun out of situations to people who didn’t know him. Hell, when Jacob first met him he thought the man was just a plain out asshole because of how coldly he spoke to everyone. However, he soon came to realize the man was just an oddball when it came to displaying emotions.

“Uh huh. I think you like just staying there because you can’t shoot for shit.” Jackson said with eyes that longed for a challenge

“I could out shoot either of ya.” Jacob interrupted

“Well then, put your money where your mouth is LT!” Jackson flaunted “Let’s say…a hundred credits?” she smiled mischievously at the two men, one hand on her hip, the other on the rifle sling which hung over her standard military fatigues. Jacob stroked metallic fingers through his beard as he contemplated Jackson’s bet
“I’ll see your one hundred and raise ya another one.” Jacob said with a poker face as if he were in a game of Texas hold e’m.

“I’ll take that action.” Jackson accepted with a thick layer of excitement in her voice “How about you Orlav? You gonna walk the walk?”

Petr shook his head he lightly brushed passed his two comrades “As much as I want to play silly games with you two.” Petr said in that emotionless voice of his “I have real work to do.” Another joke said in a tone serious enough to sound insubordinate

“Don’t be a pussy!” Jackson called out to Petr as he shoved his hands in his slacks and continued to stride out of the room without so much as a flinch.

“I have to be prepared to run some security protocols, on the man Titus is bringing back to the ship.” Petr said sternly as the metal doors opened before him. Jackson tried to shout one last teasing remark at the man, but the doors slid shut before she could get it out.

A few moments of thick silence ensued, as Jacob and Jackson starred at the door for a moment. “That guy.” Jackson muttered, shaking her head in wandering thoughts “I will never understand him.”

“Don’t freight over it.” Jacob said as he turned to Jackson, his voice a little more country sounding in correspondence to his unusual level of happiness “Sometimes I reckon Petr doesn’t understand Petr.” He grinned wickedly at the woman “now, what about this bet of ours?”

Jackson licked her lips with anticipation, her cybernetic eyes starring right into his “Let’s say six shots, to hit six moving targets at six hundred meters?” she patted her custom built rifle “we can use this.” Jackson loved her snipers, when she first came aboard the Marathon she was in the finishing stages of creating the rifle she now uses. It resembles something of a cross between a Black Widow anti-material rifle and a Mantis sniper rifle. While it still has the overall bulk that a Black Widow possesses, Jackson was able to slim the rifle down and give it more of a Mantis shape. She claims that it is less heavy than a Black Widow rifle, but it still maintains the three shot capabilities of the rifle while having a kick almost equivalent to a Mantis and the destructive power of the BW.

“Sounds like a bet to me. But I go first.” Jacob said as he walked over and put a hand on the sling of Jackson’s rifle

She grinned as she slid the sling off her shoulder “As you wish lieutenant, it won’t make a difference I’m still going to get that four hundred credits.” She said slightly as she flowed around him to a slightly elevated platform not too far from where they stood.
“You’re going to be sorry Jackson!” Jacob called as he walked up onto the platform and began to set up shop. Jacob laid on the metal plate form, his jawbone pressed against the butt of the rifle and looking down the scope at the range, ready to fire.

"You ready?" Jackson said as she looked at Jacob who was just wrapping his right hand around the grip of the weapon while the metallic fingers of his left hand graced the stock of the rifle

"Start them up." Jacob called out. Jackson hit a button on a nearby control panel and six human shaped targets began to dance around down range. Jackson didn't require binoculars, her implants allowed her to zoom in slightly if she strained them enough. The zoom wasn't a hell of a lot but it was enough to see if Jacob was hitting or not.

Jacob took his time firing...his breath steady and calm as he squeezed his first round out. It slammed into the first target, hitting i near the stomach, he took aim at his second target and slowly stalked it's movements through the scope. He squeezed the trigger again and the round tore down range, but again it hit in the stomach. The rest of the rounds were no different, each was fired off only after a few long breaths, but always hit a little lower than what Jacob wanted.

Jackson smiled as Jacob stood from his prone position and allowed his comrade to take up her place behind the rifle. She smiled up at her CO and with unwavering confidence remarked "You ready to lose LT?"

"If you ever shut up and shoot." Jacob chuckled with a smile.

"Can't shoot until you press the button old man " she teased him a lot about his age, although he was not much older than she was, but he defiantly didn't look that young.

Jacob hit the button just as Jackson had for her and then he took out a pair of small binoculars from a small metal tray attached to the platform. He watched as Jackson took one short breath and fired a round straight into the heart of the first target. She readjusted, took a short breath and fired her second round into the next target. By the time she reached her first reload Jacob knew he had lost, the woman had fired off three rounds in a matter of about ten seconds and hit each target square in the chest. It took Jacob ten seconds to get off one round, let alone three.

As Jackson finished unloading her final round into the chest of the helpless target at the end of the range, she stood up with a modest look of victory spread across her lips "Looks like you lost LT." she grinned at him cynically as she held her hand out gently "Pay up."

Jacob screwed up his face. There was no way he could argue she had won, the woman had kicked his ass and there was no way around that "I let you win, you know." Jacob said as he walked past Jackson with a fake sternness across his face.

"Yeah, i'm sure." Jackson said as she followed close behind her CO "And I suppose that means I won't be getting my money?"

Jacob smiled "No, no you will. Just, you will have to wait until I get around to it. I said two hundred credits, I never said when I'd give it to ya."

Jackson smiled and rolled her eyes as she followed Jacob out of the range "Don't worry about it, I'll just steal the money from Petr when he is not at his desk." she joked as the doors shut behind them