Got A Gun, But Can't Pull The Trigger

[Darben Skirae]

Despite never actually finding a use for it, he had a blaster pistol in his bedroom. He would wake up every day to see it. And yet, he never really understood why he had it. He had never been attacked by bandits. But, what Kay said about those who would seek to dethrone her. He remembered her words, and they worried him. What if those who sought that came for her allies? Honestly, he was being a worry-wart, and he knew that. Yet still, he couldn't get his head past that. So he decided to reach out to [member="Darlyn Excron"], Head of Security. Perhaps he knew a thing or two on using a weapon in self defense.

He headed to the palace, suspecting that somewhere in there he would begin his training, if Darlyn came through for him. There he stood on the steps, his weapon in hand by his side. He brought his CDEF pistol with him, a weapon from his home planet. Although holding it in his hand, it had felt like forever since he had and he couldn't shake the feeling that he was holding a weapon that was made to kill. But he was sure he was holding it properly.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Naturally, one of the guardsmen came to greet [member="Darben Skirae"], motioning for the Minister to follow behind him as he lead the man to the training hall. Darlyn had been setting up a small shooting range to help the man come to understand his blaster better and not become a liability if his safety became an issue. AS the one in charge of security in general, he had a duty to make sure the man could defend himself so he could focus on the Queen.

The redheaded man looked up with his characteristic smile and wide open arms in welcome. "Our dear Minister of Finances comes to grace the training halls! I hope you're prepared to learn, I will be drilling you like a guardsman recruit today after you get the basics down. So I can't promise your ears won't ring long after we're done."

 

[Darben Skirae]

A guardsmen arrived, and for a moment he thought it was [member="Darlyn Excron"] in uniform. It was not, but he did get him to follow. So that he did, holstering his weapon. He was led to the training hall, or what he assumed it to be. And there was another man, he assumed was Darlyn. He never met the guy in person, only knew him by name from the roster of Ministers and other high-up staff. He was one of them. He wasn't sure how to respond right away, though Darben soon produced his hand in greeting, as if waiting for a hand shake.

"Uh...all right then." He expected only learning how to aim and shoot. Of course, it wasn't just simple 'aim and shoot'. There were other things he had not learnt as of yet. He unholstered his weapon, not even knowing if he was supposed to yet or not. "So, basics? What comes first?"

 

[Darlyn Excron]

Darlyn chuckled at how off balance [member="Darben Skirae"] was by his behavior. It was refreshing to see someone unaccustomed to his, unique way of running things. The robed man grabbed the Minister's and shook it firmly, before motioning him over ot the table with an assortment of different blaster pistols resting on top of it. "Of course! Before you can properly fire a blaster you need to understand your specific blaster's various elements. I'm sure you're aware of the safety or stun settings on various blaster pistols, but I'm guessing your unaware of how its recoil hits, or its spread pattern. But even before that, you need to know how to hold it properly."

He pulled out his own personal weapon, a DL-18, common among smugglers or mercenaries. Wild spread, heavy kick back, but a powerful weapon. Not as bad as its beefy cousin, the DL-44, but still a beast of a weapon without a little practice. He showed that the safety was on , before pointing it down the little makeshift fireing range. "Rule one, don't aim your weapon at anything you don't fully intend to shoot. Rule two, safety off when you are ready to shoot. Your weapon should be in both hands whenever possible, especially if you have a heavy pistol. Sights on the blaster should line up if it has them, and when you're ready you fire." He showed a proper stance, with his legs about shoulder with, one in front and the other behind, weapon in both hands safely away from the head, with his arms only slightly bent.

"Keep the safety on and show me your fireing stance."

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben followed after [member="Darlyn Excron"] after the hand shake and he almost went wide-eyed at all the weapons. The idea that he was using all of these came through his mind. He had to admit not even he knew what 'elements' his own weapon had. It had only been bought for self defense, that was it. Each weapon on the table was different in it's own unique way. He did not however understand terms like 'heavy' or 'revolver' just yet, but there were no doubt some of them. Darben just wouldn't be able to point them out. He did not have time to look over every one of them closely, as Darlyn began the lesson. Or had it already begun? Darben had no way of really knowing.

Darlyn pulled out his own weapon. He didn't know the name, but had seen it on some person's he had traded with back on Corellia. Darben with weapon in hand tried to follow along. He kept his eyes on Darlyn's weapon the whole time, trusting his hands to do the work without him watching. No doubt a mistake on his behalf. He noted the rules in his head, over and over. It was the first time he heard the term 'heavy pistol'.

When asked, he held his stance. His legs were apart, and both hands on the weapon. Although the weapon was not held straight exactly, a little angled down. He had his arms bent, though straighter then how Darlyn had been holding his arms at. "This good?"

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"You'd probably shoot them in the foot at least, I've seen worse. Probably would break your arms too, or one at least. Don't fully extend your arms, you need them to be able to bend somewhat with each pull of the trigger. Fully extended you risk your arms getting injured, and with something like the DL-44 here on the table you'd almost certainly break one. You should also hold the blaster straight... the sights should line up perfectly, like this." Ignoring any idea of personal space, Darlyn took a step in and slightly bent [member="Darben Skirae"]'s arms, and helped him straighten the blaster out. Nothing helped more than being able to see exactly how the blaster looked lined up.

"Much better now, you'd actually hit something important. Just never put your weapon up anywhere you're not looking at again alright? I'm being pretty lenient since there are just us and targets in the room, but if you're not looking at where the weapon is, well you can't be certain you're going to shoot it can you?" He chuckled a bit, before picking up a DH-17, wiping it off, checking the safety, and offering the handle to the Minister.

"This is a DH-17 blaster pistol. Semi automatic, meaning it fires once when you pull the trigger and only once, with high spread of blasts and low recoil. Recoil is that kick the weapon will have that pushes back against your hand, as the superheated plasma is sent out to kill whatever you're aiming at. Think you can manage a relic like this?" Honestly Darlyn held the belief that nothing taught you faster than being forced to learn in the moment. How better to train him to shoot than giving him a blaster, showing him how to hold it, and telling him where to aim? A low recoil weapon meant even if he was off in his stance still he wouldn't shoot someone by accident.

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben grimaced at the idea of breaking an arm at just firing one of these. It made him flinch, pulling his arms back as if it was live and could fire at any moment. [member="Darlyn Excron"] helped in straightening them, and Darben gave a thankful light nod, then aimed down the sight quickly to see how straight it was. It was indeed straight, though his arm shook a little. A fault of his anxious ways. But he would soon holster the weapon and trade it for another.

"I'd much rather not to shoot everything and just the...target, so I'll keep that in mind." He lowered his weapon, and his eyes went to the table as Darlyn produced another pistol.

Darben reached out for it, though his hand stopped hesitantly just before it. 'Kill', such a strong word. It made him hesitant of even doing all this. He took it anyway, knowing that it may save his life one day, and he would have Darlyn to thank. "I..I think. I can try, I mean." It definitely felt different than the other one he had before.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Good, now just aim down at the target, turn off the safety, and pull the trigger." He smiled lightly, waiting for [member="Darben Skirae"] to make his first shot. He knew he'd have to teach him better how to properly defend himself, but for now the man needed to learn to actually fire the weapon, and how that felt. He wasn't aware of Darben's personal weapon, at least in terms of how it would fire, so he had to use what he knew wouldn't be too harsh. Of course, he did intend to show Darben just how bad the recoil could be, with the larger weapon he had on the table.

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben was surprised, already he was about to shoot a weapon. And that surprise turned up on his face. He was still for a moment before actually doing anything. He was sort of afraid in truth, Slowly, as if by a mind of it's own one of his fingers moved to the safety and flicked it off. He couldn't help but envision the target as a person. It made him hold his breath as the finger on the trigger slowly pulled. He glanced to [member="Darlyn Excron"] quickly, unsure. Then back down the sights...And then the trigger pulled and the blaster made a little buck back. A little shout made it out past his lips as the buck surprised him, and the blast went off course from where he had been aiming, hitting the edge of the target. The recoil had been low, but the sudden movement was what caught him off guard. "Uh...how did I do?"

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Assuming that was the guy's shoulder, you probably made him angry. But you hit him, honestly more than I expected." Darlyn chuckled at [member="Darben Skirae"] and his rather poor marksmanship. "Still, you should try to remain calm. This thing is nothing compared to some heavier blasters. Even my own has more kick than that does, so long as you stay calm and focus a little you should be able to hit the marked parts of the target. Try it again, and this time actually hit it somewhat meaningfully. If you can't handle this little thing you might as well turn it around and do the job for them." Well, that was harsher than he'd intended. Ah well, it made his point none the less.

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben looked down at the gun, then back at the target. At least he hit it. And for some reason, knowing that the gun wasn't too bad to handle, it felt a little lighter. Just a little bit. But still, the weight of it's potential was still there. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and waited for [member="Darlyn Excron"] to tell him to try again. And he did so. Though halfway through Darben pulling it up, Darlyn said something that made Skirae's jaw almost drop open. He got the meaning, he just never expected it to be that harsh. He shot him a look that indicated how harsh it was in Darben's head, then looked back down the sights, now determined to show off a bit. And he fired again after taking a deep, slow breath.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Left pectoral, injured but probably alive, likely dead in several minutes if his lung is ruptured." He didn't particularly care if [member="Darben Skirae"] thought he was harsh or not. He was effective, that was what mattered right? He spun his weapon around, and held it out with one hand at the target. Of course it was poor discipline, as he'd taught Darben, but he was skilled enough to fire the weapon with reasonable accuracy. "If they're still awake they're going to shoot back. You want to aim for areas that will debilitate them. Your shot is fine enough, most people won't be getting back up regardless of where they get shot in the chest. But anywhere that's not vital will leave them time to fire back. Hell, even a shot through the heart won't stop that. Best place to aim is right there..."

Each sentence or two he fired off a shot, punctuating his words audibly with the loud blaster and clearly more powerful shots than the DH had. And on his last sentence, he fired two rapid shots, nailing the target in the designated 'head'. He calmly put the weapon away, and turned back to Darben with a smile. "The head and neck are the only spots that will immediately cease any reflex. Anywhere else and they'll tense, pulling the trigger even as they fall. A well placed shot to the head or neck can sever the brain stem's systems and end the link to the rest of the body. Not a guarantee something won't make the weapon go off but, far better odds. Now then, again, and don't stop until you can consistantly hit the target's vitals, those nifty little red marks."

Of course, he'd be making Darben look rather silly in a few mere moments, he had confidence the Minister would be able to handle the practice weapon he'd been given.

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben found himself quite glad that he hit someone else better on the target. At least, that was until he turned to [member="Darlyn Excron"] with a rather smug grin, only for it to disappear as Darlyn spun his gun in his hand. His eyes grew wider at seeing such show of skill, and grew more with each shot as his teacher spoke to him. The fact that a shot the chest would keep a target down was good enough. He flinched seeing the two last shots hit the head of the target. "Wow...That was good." And there was no doubt about that.

However, he never wanted to kill anyone. Only disarm them, or stun them. And he voiced that immediately after he lifted his blaster again, then sighed. "I don't want to kill, just disarm. Or make sure I can stun them long enough for help to arrive." He didn't want to come off as a scaredy loth cat. It was never his intention.

 

[Darlyn Excron]

"Not everyone gets the choice Minister. There are people in this galaxy that don't allow us the luxury to make a choice. When it comes down to it, there are just people out looking for someone to die. More often than not, the kind of people you'll have to defend yourself from on the streets aren't these kinds of people. But you're a government official, you can't expect to have the choice when they aren't common thugs and thieves." Darlyn understood Minister [member="Darben Skirae"]'s desires. But it wasn't realistic to expect anything like that, not for the reason he was learning to use his blaster, most likely.

"That said, your best bets for disabling shots will be joints or their pectorals. Unless they're armored they're not going to last more than one or two shots to the chest without either dying or having to give up. A good shot to their knees will stop them from running if you can get to safety before they get payback."

 

[Darben Skirae]

Darben thought over his teacher's words. He hated the thought of having to kill someone. And he even doubted he could, if the time came. Now it scared him even more. Could he kill someone if they threatened his own life? He made no comment to what [member="Darlyn Excron"] said, and remained silent. He was oblivious to the world of assassins, bounty hunters and criminals and focused on his own little life and what was going on there.

Until Darlyn put down some tips on how to disarm or at least slow them down. "Pectorals, joints. All right." If he was going to train where to shoot, he would aim there. "That works out for me." He glanced at the blasters, eyeing them all. Then to his holstered blaster pistol. He didn't know much about his own gun to be honest. "What can you tell me about this gun" he said, pointing with his eyes to the CDEF blaster pistol in the holster.