He examined his wrists, the surgical scars healing before his eyes, still red and puckered from the sutures. He alternated flexing his hands, not noticing any implantation, but the strength in his grip was different. Tighter. Vise-like.
“Alright, son, you’re done. Off you go.” He looked up at the older man behind the surgical face shield and hopped off the table without a word.
He grabbed his uniform top and headed out of the surgical suite, the doors retracted with a smooth hiss. He made for the confirmation test lab, his path a beeline from a familiarity with the bio-combat enhancement wing of the massive medical complex.
He arrived at the doors marked “BCE Confirmation and Testing Laboratory- Authorized Personnel Only”, and put his eyes to the dual peepholesfor the retinal scan. The door chimed and a lock clacked from the other side of the door. He pulled the door open, the blast-proof door swinging open without hesitation.
“Come in, Corporal, have a seat. How’s the wrists feeling?” offered a bespectacled, thin gentleman with a chin beard and fully tattooed arms, some ink peeking over the collar of his shirt. He sat at a table, a large rifle on its surface, the grip plate open, exposing the inner mechanisms.
“Fine, Jerry, in fact, it’s nearly healed over. No soreness, no pain. Feels strong.”
“Good, good. Well, I’m pretty much finished here.” He refitted the plate to the grip and fastened the two screws to seal the grip. “She’s ready for you to test”.
“You sure now?” the corporal chuckled. “I don’t need another broken nose like before”.
“Please, like that beak of yours doesn’t look better for it. Yeah, I’m sure. Modified recognition grip pattern, updated front stock grip. Optical sighting modified for 6000 meter engagement, just need to tune it to you. New barrel, chrome-moly, cut rifled. Oh, and I spiked the ammo up a bit. She’ll punch the dog snot out of someone”.
The corporal walked over and hefted the rifle in his hands. The rifle felt comfortable, balanced and right. “Feels good, Jerry, nice balance. And I’m not looking to punch the snot out of any dogs with this.”
“Well, bring it over here and we’ll get you tuned in.” Jerry added nervously. He headed to an alcove in the stark office that gave way to a long tunnel.
The corporal sat down, Jerry placed the rifle, bipod legs extended and resting on a counter, the barrel facing down the tunnel. He pulled the rifle to his shoulder in a familiar way and placed his cheek on the stock. A small reticle slid out from the left of the scope mounted on the rifle.
“Now, leave both eyes open, but with your dominant eye, stare at the reticle and follow the red dot as I get you zeroed.”
Jerry stepped away and grabbed a small remote device. Inside the reticle, the red dot began to move. The corporal followed it without deviation.
“Okay, great, we’re done there. Now with your other eye, look into that reticle and follow the blue dot.” The blue dot moved in the same pattern.
“Now with both eyes, find each individual dot and follow them. It’ll feel a bit strange at first, but just bear with it.”
The corporal followed both the dots, feeling like he was going cross eyed and getting slight vertigo. “Stay with it, just a bit longer, and… there.” The two dots snapped together into a single glowing purple dot. The corporal sat back a bit, “What was that?”
“Well, you’re now a binocular shooter. The additional reticle ties into the first and now, whenever you look down the sight, you’ll see a single picture, no fuzz from the outside non-dominant side. Now, for the fun part. Go ahead, retake your sight and repeat after me. The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.”
The corporal followed directions, speaking his part, and noticed two small icons appeared in the reticle, one a small lock, the other a small speaker. “What’s with the icons?”
“Now, your scope is tuned to you. You tell it the distance, out to 6000 meters, and she’ll zoom to the distance. Granted, you’ll want to laze the target to confirm before you go hot and she’ll auto-focus to the distance down to the centimeter. Then you tell her the precise magnification you want, depending on the number of targets. Based on your round choice, she’ll automatically configure for single or multiple targets.”
“Dang, Jerry, you went out of your way on this one. All this built-in, I’m almost not necessary. What’s her name?”
“Well, here’s the thing though. She’s got her built-ins, but they only work with your built-ins. The grip enhancements you had done this morning, your corneal implants as well as the shoulder modifications you’ve got, they all combine to make you the perfect couple. Oh, and I called her Hellfire, after the old fighter helo from back in the day. She was primitive but had the basics down right- multiple quick target engagements based on optical movement. Now, you’ve got it too. Oh and she doesn’t have legs, so she does need a mule. Hope you’ve been working out.”
The corporal chuffed. “Well, the new knees should help with that too. Let me give her the confirmation shot and I’ll be on my way.”
Jerry brought over a box filled with rounds with different colored casings and primers. “We’ve got the gamut- beehive, fleschette, armor-penetrating, high explosive, flare and TN. But for now, let’s just stick with good old fashioned hardened jacket lead. I’ve got distances of 1000 to 6000 meters dialed up on the target sims. We’ll work with different winds and such, we need to get you final right now. Here’s the mags, 18 ready for you,” handing the corporal three magazines.
“Why the rush, Jerry? Why can’t I just take her out for a live shoot later today?”
“Well, your profile got moved up. Once we’re done here, you’re out the door. All the arrangements are made, you’re packed and ready. You’ll get the brief when you touch down.”
“Target package the same?”
“Yep, no change to target, just location and time. The Prime Minister’s itinerary changed and there’s a window.”
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
“Yeah, I know it doesn’t, but for many of us, we’re ready for this country to get back on the right track and getting that bastard out of the way is the first step to getting there.”
