The shooting range on Starbase Bravo was in no way intimidating. It was a functional, easy to access space that served as a training ground for security personnel and a testing area for those pesky standard recertifications. Its position near the armory was, again, purely functional.

Unless, of course, you were a young, cavalier neurosurgeon with an overactive imagination. Which is exactly what Doctor Theran Jos was. He took each step forward towards the range as if the walls were going to reach out and grab him or the floor would rip open a toothy maw and bite him. Theran would dearly love to turn around, walk away and spend the rest of the afternoon at Brew reading the latest advances in cryogenic surgical techniques. But he had casually put off his basic beam weapons recertification, and now he was seventeen months overdue.

As a surgeon maybe nobody would have noticed… until the Vaadwaur invasion. And then things like basic beam weapons and self defense capabilities came back into the conversation. When the Chief Surgeon noticed Theran’s tardy credentials he gave the young Andorian seven days to rectify that.

Well, six days of procrastination later…

Raas had pulled the short straw this morning, and was assigned to recertifications. Well, that wasn’t precisely correct. He’d originally assigned Coxon, but one look at her face this morning told him he didn’t want her anywhere near either weaponry, or anyone twitchy about them… so he’d reassigned her to desk duty in the brig and now was headed down the lanes on the range looking for his first recert.

He scanned the lanes on the main range as he walked down behind them, padd in one hand and weapons case in the other. Most of the lanes were booked, but there, hidden almost at the back by lane twenty-one was an andorian. Raas smiled to himself. The guy couldn’t have looked more nervous if he’d tried. It had definitely been the right call to reassign Coxon this morning, she’d have eaten this guy for breakfast.

“Hey there,” he said as he approached. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Tarras, the armory lead. Can I help you?”

“Hello.” Theran started in a conversational tone to the man with a security uniform and a lot more rank than he had. “I am a wayward doctor seeking recertification for basic beam weapons proficiency.”

“Excellent.” Raas smiled. “That would make you Lieutenant Jos? Follow me, we’re on twenty -seven.”

He carried on walking, trusting that the Andorian would follow him, asking over his shoulder, “Your certification is a long time overdue. How confident are you with phasers?”

Then Andorian considered this, his antennae flexing upwards and then back down in thought. “I would say that I am confident that I could aim a phaser in a way that I wouldn’t shoot myself… but I would be lying.”

Well, at least he was honest about his skill.

Raas nodded as they reached the lane and he put the big case down on the counter by the divider. Pressing his thumb to the lock, he opened it up to reveal both a hand phaser and a rifle. Leaving it, he turned back to Jos, watching the Andorian’s body language.

“Okay, basic safety while on the range. Phasers stay in the case until you’re ready to use them. Otherwise, point them down the range at all times. If you don’t and I see it, then I’ll be loud,” he grinned and winked. “And believe me, you don’t want me to be loud.” Because he was softly spoken most of the time a lot of people didn’t believe he could actually be loud. They soon discovered their mistake.

Considering that the surgeon tilted both antennae forward in a gesture of agreement. He spoke in a socially casual tone, one that said he would be great with this situation if there wasn’t a beam weapons test involved. “Right. Loud is only good during raucous parties and bedtime escapades, not in the line of duty. Got it.”

The corner of Raas’s lips quirked at the quip but he managed to keep his grin to himself. Just. “Exactly. Okay, are you good to go?”

The lieutenant had taken phaser training and certification before, but just to be safe, Raas double checked that the Mark II was on the range setting. That way, even if the lieutenant did somehow manage to shoot himself, or worse, Raas himself, they’d only end up with a bit of a belt from it.

“I mean… now or never. And trust me, I will be the laughingstock of the entire medical department if I manage to hurt myself doing this, so safety is foremost on my mind.” Theran was earnest about that – on all accounts. It was hard to tell if he would be more bothered by the medical repercussions or the social repercussions of an accident on the phaser range.

“Let’s do our best to avoid that, shall we?” Raas smiled, and offered the hand phaser. “Locked to level 1. Step up to the firing mark please and wait for me to set the targets.”

“Right then.” And despite his cavalier attitude the doctor took the phaser with respect for the weapon. He held it carefully, as if it was radioactive. And he moved following any and every safety measure he could remember.

So far so good.

As Jos took the phaser, Raas stepped back to the lane control panel and started the first sequence they used for the certification testing. “Okay, lane going live. Five targets will present with a delay between. Fire as you see them.”

Theran took the position and stance the test suggested with a surgical precision to his movements. Safety measures checked?  Checked. Pointing down range?  Check. Following all directions? Check. No funny business? Certainly not while on duty – there was plenty of time for funny business on shore leave.  Check.

The first target appeared.

Aim. Fire.

Well, on the bright side, he didn’t hurt anyone. And he had it pointed downrange at all times. On the down side his aim was… awful. Abysmal would be a good rating. Zero out of five, even with the easiest of targets. It made one wonder how he could do surgery with aim that bad.

Raas blinked in surprise. O…kay, he’d never seen anyone miss quite so completely with the auto-targeting systems active.

“That was a little off.”

Nodding both head and antennae in unison the doctor pursued his lips for a moment, processing his words before speaking. “Yes I know I’m supposed to hit four out of five. If I could figure out how to hit one … I mean… I should be able to hit them.” He just trailed off, locking the phaser into a safety mode before lowering his arm.

Raas shook his head. “It’s not a problem. Some people take a little time to get used to it. Especially with officers in the medical areas.” Some of the time anyway, other times the most deadly shots he knew were doctors or nurses. There was probably something there for the counsellors to unpack, but that was way beyond him.

“Okay, try it again. Keep your arm relaxed and breathe out, hold your breath as you pull the trigger.”

Theran’s antennae tipped forward while his head stayed still, and he relaxed. He seemed to be inwardly telling himself the phaser wouldn’t bite him. “Breathe, relax. Breathe, relax.”

Aim. Focus. Breathe. Relax.

It sounded like life advice, not just weapons advice.

And for a moment, when Theran wasn’t thinking about it, he pulled the trigger and… hit the target dead on. Excellent!  He didn’t celebrate. He tried to focus. But the problem was now he engaged his brain again and was focused on the phaser. The second?

Complete miss.

The third?  Also miss.

And that’s when the pattern became clear. If you watched him closely, he flinched just before pulling the trigger – closing his eyes, just a for a second. No sight?  No aim. No aim? No hit. It really was that simple.

And yet completely not simple since the doctor didn’t seem to notice he was doing it.

One out of five. Better than zero out of five. Theran took in a slow breath. “I think I’m in my own head too much.” he offered apologetically.

Raas folded his arms, watching intently. “Hmmm no, I think you’re operating with equipment you’re not used to,” he said in a low voice. “You should see me try and give an injection, I couldn’t even manage to hit the side of a barn. Right at the moment, you’re scared of it and a large part of that is because you’re not used to it,” he explained.

“You are one hundred percent correct – I should not have put this off.” the Andorian offered, dropping the ego and his shoulders at the same time. “I just … you know how it goes, you always have something better to do until you’re up against a wall.”

Or maybe the Lt. Commander did not know how it went because he was a more put together man that Theran Jos was. Theran would accept that – mostly because he was still young and just at the age where he was realizing that he could be very stupid at times, and accepting that fact.

“Oh yeah, I know,” Raas offered a smile. “In fact, my annual medical is due. I need to get on booking an appointment for that, but for now, I think I’m going to recommend you come back for some extra training. Get you so used to these things that you’re actually bored firing them. How does that sound?” he asked, already pulling his padd from his thigh pocket to make the recommendation. “It will mean your recertification is held off for now, pending the extra training.”

For a moment Theran considered it and then he breathed a sigh of relief. Extra training wasn’t on his list of ‘things I am super excited to do’ – but he would be a stupid fool if he didn’t also recognize that this was a good deal for him. And as he was learning, when you start to grow up you need to stop being a stupid fool. “That sounds good.  I mean I don’t love extra training but I also recognize I need it and I want to ace this exam and set myself up for future success.”

“Excellent,” Raas smiled. It was far easier when people realised he was talking sense. “That’s a very good mindset to have.”

Opening the case, he angled it toward Theran so he could replace the hand phaser.

The Andorian placed the phaser back and looked towards Raas. “Also – thank you.  I mean it.”

“You are very welcome,” Raas inclined his head as he clipped the case shut again. “Let’s head back to the desk and get you booked in then.”

“Let’s do it!” Well, a date with phaser training wasn’t the best date in the galaxy.

But it also surely wasn’t the worst. Time to practice and hopefully make some new connections while doing it.