23 Target Practice
The next morning, Captain Anzyl, well-rested and dressed in his workout attire, stands on a brightly lit circular platform within a vast black room. His disarmed and deactivated nouliths are not in his hands, but instead, the four slim and slender beam rifles rest on his back, arranged vertically like a set of mechanical wings at rest.
He finds himself in the Phaser Range program on one of the holodecks, situated on a single illuminated circle platform in an expansive room enveloped in pitch-black darkness.
"Ok, Captain," Kayuli's voice comes over the intercom. The four are in the "bunker," a secure location for observers like teachers and commanding officers. "Feel the nouliths on your back, reach out to them, and get into an offensive stance."
Anzyl senses the four pieces of metal on his back and focuses on activating them, desiring them to be active and armed. As he thinks this, the four nouliths turn on, float off his back, and swiftly form a quadrilateral pattern around him—two on his right, two on his left, two at his chest, and two above his head. He assumes his starting San Ti Shi stance from his Xing Yi Quan style.
"Nicely done, Captain," Kayuli said over the intercom. "I'm going to start the program, Beginner Level 1."
In the pitch-black darkness, Anzyl stood, his floating nouliths hovering around him. Then, a blipping dot, flashing red, yellow, and blue, appeared in front of him. Anzyl extended his hands and yelled, "Fire!" All four nouliths discharged different beams—a red phaser, a green disruptor, a teal plasma, and a blue tetryon. Unfortunately, all four missed the target completely.
The flash timed out, and another began blipping and flashing to his left. Anzyl turned and yelled, "Fire!" This time, the nouliths fired in the same direction, remaining stationary when Anzyl spotted the new target.
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As the tenth target timed out, Kayuli came over the intercom, "I feel like you are trying too hard to command them, sir." Tey'un agreed and chimed in, "Don't think about it too hard, just feel it and do it."
"You also don't have to say 'Fire' every time," Stitch added, "It was funny the first time, but the 15th is pretty annoying…"
"Starting the program over," Kayuli stated."
Anzyl took his offensive stance, and the nouliths hovered around him.
The first target lit up, and without saying anything, Anzyl felt like he was firing. All four nouliths shot simultaneously, hitting the target spot on.
"Yes!" Anzyl pumped his fist as cheers came over the intercom.
Over the next several minutes, as the nouliths flew around and fired, the captain practiced his new art. Initially struggling, much like with all martial and gun styles, he was quite unskilled at first. However, with persistent practice, he gradually improved and got the hang of his new weapon.
The door to the phaser range opened, and Veirik and Zide'Mok in workout gear entered, bantering between each other.
"Oh, sorry, Captain," Veirik apologized for walking in on the captain's training session.
"This is our regularly scheduled training time," Zide'mok stated plainly.
"It's okay, gents," Anzyl said, sweeping his arms up and over his head and back down to his side, deactivating his nouliths as they returned to their parallel positions on his back.
"Those are cool," Veirik was impressed by the captain's new toys.
"Ya think so?" asked the captain, showing off his back with the four nouliths. "Tey'un, Kayuli, Stitch, and Nolan made them with me!"
"They work?" Veirik asked, pulling out his phaser pistol like a scene from a sheriff on a dusty old Western street duel.
Anzyl grinned ear to ear, sweeping his hands up to his stance; the nouliths hummed and hovered in place. "You're on!" then looking up to talk to the computer. "Computer, versus mode, 3 players."
The white platform flashed and was now a circle divided into three even sections: blue, red, and yellow.
"Three players versus activated. You may only hit targets of your corresponding color," the computer instructed.
"Now go easy on me guys, I just got these last night, I still haven't mastered them yet," Anzyl said, taking the blue position.
"No promises," Veirik smirked in the red spot, looking up and around with his phaser drawn.
"Victory is life," Zide'Mok started in the yellow position, ready to go.
"Computer, begin round one, difficulty…" Veirik devilishly grinned, "Hard."
Anzyl took a deep breath and prepared himself.
"Three-player hard mode. Twenty targets, three colors; each player may only strike their corresponding color." Soon, flashing dots of the three colors began to zip around the range.
All three fired their beams at the targets, with Veirik and Zide'Mok hitting a majority of them. Anzyl was too slow in his reaction times.
The buzzer sounded, and the computer announced, "Game over. Final Score: Blue: 5, Red: 50, Yellow: 45. Red player wins."
"Again," Tey'un demanded over the intercom. Kayuli added, "Nicely done Veirik, but Captain, don't think about aiming! Feel the bond, see your targets, and just fire!" Kayuli cheered on.
The captain took a deep breath and calmed down. He felt the hum of the nouliths, sensed his presence through them, and felt the presence of Veirik and Zid'Mok around him.
"Computer, start another round, same rules and difficulty," Anzyl instructed.
"3, 2, 1, round start," the computer announced.
Calm and collected, Anzyl began firing faster and faster, moving and twisting as all four beams aimed at targets and shot them as they whizzed by.
The buzzer went off, "Game over," the computer announced, "Final Score: Blue: 25, red: 35, yellow: 40. Yellow player wins."
"Much better, Captain!" The team under cheered.
"But he lost… again," Zide'Mok stated bluntly.
"They are cheering his growth and improvement, lizard brain," Veirik sarcastically explained, then grinned devilishly, "Computer, increase difficulty to Expert, Free-for-all mode."
The computer beeped with acknowledgment. "Expert free-for-all mode. Infinite targets, any player may hit any target, each worth 1 point. First to 100 points wins."
The three marksmen took their positions as the timer counted down, "3, 2, 1, round start."
Flashes of white light buzzed and flew by like a swarm of bees.
Beams of energy from the players' weapons pewed and fired. Anzyl finally understood how his weapon now functions and works, not even thinking. Just simply seeing a target and wanting it gone prompted one of the nouliths to fire. Seeing four separate targets prompted all four beams to fire separately. Faster and faster, Anzyl's score rose and rose, his quartet of nouliths spinning, twisting, turning, and firing their beam energy payloads, until suddenly.
"Bzzzzz," the buzzer went off. "Game over," the computer announced. "Final Score: Blue - 100, Red - 5, Yellow - 8. Blue Player Wins." Then, a celebratory chime went off. "New Ship Record!" An even louder celebration by an orchestra resonated through the range. "New Starfleet Record!"
Cheers in the bunker rang out, and sounds of jumping feet could be heard through the walls.
Zide'Mok turned to the Captain and bowed. "You are worthy of being called 'My Founder,' Captain. Well fought."
An unhappy smirk on Veirik's face gave away his true feelings. "Good game, Captain," he shook the captain's hand. "Next time you want to try with actual phasers, give me a call," and turning around, he quickly left the range, reeking of disappointment.
Smiling ear to ear, the Captain gave a big two thumbs up to the team in the booth. "Well done, team! These are for sure my new sidearms of choice!" when he heard a loud bang in the hallway.
Walking out, looking for the source of the sound, he only saw a flash of white at the end of the hall. Not far from the Captain's position, in the metal wall paneling, was a 6-inch deep hole, imprinted by a fist. The hole was punched by hand.
