The Fire Beneath Us

Part 3

Pryo
March 23, 2022 8:51 AM
Praslin, Africa

Pyro: "Open fire!"

The squadrons shoot lead into the field, at targets set up. It's loud, but that's part of my job. Clouds of smoke fly with the wind.

Pyro: "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" I yell while waving my hand down.

They all stop and the smoke slowly starts to clear. I look at the targets from a distance. All of them have been hit multiple times in the torso area. It hard to tell how many didn't hit their target.

Pyro: "Go down there and check your targets. Report to me how many were hit and where you hit the most."

Squadrons: "Yes sir."

They all get up off the ground and walk down to the field. Just based off a quick look, I'd say that they did pretty good. They have accuracy, but precision is what needs to be worked on with weapons like these.

Hök: "Maksim!"

I turn around and see Svein walking towards me.

Hök: "Still agreed to train them I see."

Pyro: "да, why what's wrong?"

Hök: "Nothing, just thought you would be getting some rest like everyone else."

Pyro: "Could say the same for you. What brings you out here?"

Hök: "I just finished cleaning my rifle and was putting it up when I heard the fifties being fired."

Pryo: "Williams asked if I wanted to train the squads. I had already got some sleep so I agreed."

Hök: "Speaking of Williams, I thinks he's still speaking to that woman back at intelligence."

Pyro: "Ae-Ri? She is an interesting character."

Squadrons: "Sir, there is about sixty percent hit rate, nearly all in the torso and upper body region."

Pyro: "There's still room for improvement, but still good. You are dismissed captain."

They give a salute then jog to their next task. Their superior will handle that. I tilt my head towards the trial as a signal to Svein. We start to walk down the gravel trail far behind the squads.

Hök: "Back to the topic, I was thinking that she's is probably one of our supporters."

Pyro: "You think she's one of the people who funds our organization? I don't think so."

Hök: "That's the only thing I could think of. It's not like we got much about her."

Pyro: "True. I'm not to interested about her however. In my eyes she is someone who works with Williams."

Hök: "Fair enough. What do you plan to do now that your training is done?"

Pyro: "There's some new tech that came in for testing yesterday. I never got to take a look at it because of the operation. Do you want to take a look with me?"

Hök: "Ja. What kind of tech?"

Pyro: "Not sure, didn't get much info about it. All I know is that it's a weapon."

Hök: "Your specialty."

We walk into the workshop and see many working on older tech. All of them wearing safety equipment and lab coats. We walk past a testing for some improved bullets. If they get it right, the rounds will be able to penetrate certain metallic and nonmetallic surfaces.

We continue our way to our part of the shop. We stop infront of a large black metal crate with a latch on it. I flick open the latch and open the crate. Looks like a mortar, only smaller.

Hök: "Why would we need another mortar? We have plenty in the weapons cache."

Pyro: "Because something tells me that this might replace all the ones we have stored."

I take in out and careful carry it to a workbench. It definitely has some weight to it, but it's manageable. I'm assuming that it was designed that way.

Hök: "I'm assuming that you know exactly what the point of this is."

Pyro: "This my friend, is supposed to me a mobile mortar."

Hök: "Yet it has the design of a rocket launcher."

Pyro: "Because it's purpose is to act as both."

Hök: "I'm a little confused. What do you mean act as both?"

Pyro: "Just based off a quick inspection of it, depending on how you hold and fix this, it can be used for different purposes."

I take a quick look at one end of it and see that it opens like a small hatch. I assume it's for back blast. It also has bar handles on it. The handles are placed on it so it can be aimed straight ahead of you or right above.

Pyro: "This right here is for back blast. When you flip it open you have it set to fire rockets. When it's closed it's used the back blast to propel mortar shells."

Hök: "Ok but there's a reason that mortar shells and and rockets are used of different weapons. They aren't compatible with one another."

Pyro: "Svein can you go look to see if there is another crate like the one this one came in. There should be a special kind of ammunition for this."

He gives a nod then walk to go look for it. I continue to inspect it and find some interesting things about it. It looks like something can attach to the side of the launcher. Something scope like. This is however not a completed design so there are some things to work on.

On the side it has an abbreviation; M.M.R.L. Not sure what it stands for, but I might nickname when I get the chance.At that moment Svein come walking around the corner with another crate. He sets it down gently and opens it up.

The explosives look like thicker mortar shells with a black paint coating. I take one out and give it look. I measure it up to the launcher and can tell just by a quick look that it is designed specifically for the weapon. I put the explosion back in the case ad close it up.

Hök: "I also found this thing. Looks like a gigantic sniper scope."

Pyro: "It attaches to the side of it. It looks electronic as well."

Hök: "Ja. I took a quick look through it. It has a HUD. It displays the range on where the reticle is positioned."

Pyro: "Alright, take the scope and the explosives to the open field range. There's no way we will be able to test it here."

Me and Svein pack up everything and take it outside and load it into a truck. Svein takes the wheel and I get in the passenger seat. He starts up the truck and we drive to the explosives testing field.

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