ON
Yukari blinked at Masako. "A present? For me?" The Shosa frowned a little, her lower lip almost pouting. "Juni, you did not have to do such a thing."
Masako smiled weakly and scratched the tip of her ear lightly. "I may not have had to, but I wanted to give you something," she replied. "After all, I've never purchased anything for someone's birthday until then and it was quite....an experience," she stated as she couldn't help but remember the shopping trip she had endured to get it. "Besides...I have so much money I don't know where to spend it all," the raven-haired warrant officer explained as she stood up. "I had it stored in the Port-side Armory, since I wouldn't want to store a firearm in my room," Masako explained with a chuckle.
The Shosa's eyes widened as she left the couch. Her speech became hushed, and her eyes darted to the side. "A firearm, Juni? You purchased a weapon for my birthday?" The sense of barely subdued joy permeated Yukari's tone.
"Ah...yes, I did," Masako replied as she smiled awkwardly at Yukari's enthusiasm for weaponry. While Masako may not share such enthusiasm, she was greatly pleased that she had picked out a proper gift for the older Neko. "A rare one too," she explained as if to entice Yukari further. "There were only 2000 created before the manufacturer became defunct."
The glow of Yukari's eyes became otherworldly. "Liar," she snapped under her breath. "I cannot believe such a thing. I am not deserving of such a gift, Kurohoshi-Juni!" Yukari's hands were clasped together as if praying for something in particular.
"Oh it is very much a truth," Masako replied with a Cheshire cat grin as she crossed her arms under her ample breasts. "But...I won't tell you what it is," she said confidently now that she had seen Yukari's desire for the present. "I will show you though," she stated with a small shrug. "If you are willing to go to the Armory with me."
Yukari forgot to breathe as her brain filed through the possibilities. She finally let out a long, huffing sigh, and then nodded. "Let us go then. This kindness is highly inappropriate, Juni." Yukari's words were mealy mouthed proprieties, devoid of sting.
"Highly inappropriate," Masako replied in agreement and began to walk towards the main passageway as she paused mid-sentence. "but highly deserving as well, Shosa." the smaller Neko finished with a soft smile.
"That is yet to be determined," Yukari huffed. Her cheeks remained red and her hands coiled in and out of fists at her sides. "I will not let this go without some reply, Juni."
"By all means," Masako replied with a chuckle. "Reply in whatever manner you wish." It would take the two Neko a few minutes to travel down the Main Passageway and into the Hoshi, passing three doors before cutting port to the Armory. "I had it placed in a Titanium case with padded and ordered 2 cases of 12.7mm rounds as well," the small Warrant Officer hinted as she entered the Armory and paused to look around. "Now where exactly did I put it," she said teasingly.
Yukari nearly drooled. She instead swallowed hard. 12.7 mm rounds were enormous! She had never used a rifle with such large bullets before. "I-If it was lost in the damage to the ship somehow, I will replace the cost to you."
"Respectfully Shosa....no you won't," Masako replied much like a mother would a child, which was quite ironic given the disparity of their ages. Chuckling, the Warrant Officer walked over towards a shelving unit and pulled out a rather enormous titanium case. Grunting with a bit of effort, she placed the case upon a work table before unlocking the case to Yukari's new Heavy Rifle. Stepping aside, Masako gestured to the case. "For you, Shosa."
Another huff came from Yukari, as if trying to deflect Masako's tone. But when she saw the large case, her eyes fixed on the shiny, checkered titanium case. Yukari floated to the case and lifted the lid. Inside was ... was heaven. She gently removed the surprisingly compact rifle for its caliber size, hefting its blackness up into her hands with her mouth hanging open. "Kurohoshi-Juni, what is this ... ?"
"That, Suzuka-Shosa, is an MB-901s "Silencer" by Mizuhara Ballistics," Masako explained with a smile. She liked it! Yukari really liked it! So this was why purchasing presents for someone was so popular. "It's one of their only designs before the demand for them dropped...though it was a very capable firearm from what I've researched," the young Warrant Officer stated as she pointed an index finger to the ceiling to illustrate a rarely stated point. "It has a Maximum Range of 1.2 Kilometers and an effective range of 700 meters when braced. Muzzle velocity is approximately 975 meters per second and its muzzle blast has the capability to shatter nearby glass from what I've read." she explained as if she were a spokesperson. "I also made sure the weapons store owner included the manual for it in case you had any questions I couldn't answer."
"Liar," Yukari repeated, cradling the firearm in her arms as if it were a child. She hugged it to herself, feeling its cold metal against her uniform, its rounded frame melding into her curves. The perfect balance of beauty and ugly exuding from it made her sigh happily. Then, she quickly hauled it up to her shoulder and braced it. She was surprised to say the least. The weapon was balanced well — the weight was put mostly toward the front-center, to dampen the upward recoil, with the rounded stock and adjustable cheek-piece weighted just enough to feel solid against her. It was not too heavy for this reason. "This rifle ... feels superb!"
Masako grinned as she watched Yukari hold the rifle and test its weight against her shoulder. "I'm glad you like it," the Warrant Officer surprised. "I was quite worried what you would think of it, but Mr. Smith, the owner of the store, was quite helpful. His store, Smith's Armory and Shop in Kyoto, was pretty well stocked and probably has plenty of ammunition there if you ever wish to purchase more," she explained as she held up one of the two 60-round boxes from the shelf she had pulled the case from.
Yukari brought the rifle to bear around and toward the other side of the bay. Her hand clutched the bolt's handle — it was ovoid instead of round, with checkered hemispheres — and flicked her wrist up. Smoothly, the bolt unlocked from the breech. She pulled the bolt back; it slid as if it were on oiled glass. The push forward was the same, and locking it down came with a very satisfying *chclick*. Her eyes went along the simple iron sights — she would need a scope — to the front post, then the trigger pull. A clean, perfect snap at no more than 2 kg. She felt her blood race. "S-shimatta."
Masako observed her Shosa a bit more as the taller Neko tested the weapon in a dry fire. Smiling, Masako placed the ammunition box upon the ground before grabbing the second one and setting it beside the first. "I guess that means you approve," the Warrant Officer stated with a chuckle.
The gloved hand worked the bolt again, faster this time. "It is a magnificent weapon," Yukari breathlessly said. "It is a travesty, that the company is dead."
"Yes it does," Masako replied with a frown. "I haven't even been able to find a reason for its destruction other than a lack of demand. That and only creating one weapon for customers."
Yukari went down to a prone position, shifting a bit to make sure her skirt stayed where it belonged. The folding bipod on the weapon was quite good at bracing the weapon, and was adjustable for height. "The weapon's only power source is the laser finder. If it were removed, the weapon could not be traced by opposing forces, yet would do significant damage."
Kneeling down beside the brunette, Masako sat upon her heels as she examined the weapon a bit more. "What do you mean by significant damage?" the young Neko asked curiously.
"The cartridges this weapon uses." Yukari opened the bolt again and brought it back. "The dimensions of the chamber suggest there is a large amount of gunpowder contained in the case. The bullet must be propelled at high speeds, and is likely heavy." Yukari was clearly excited. "It is my estimate that the cartridge is therefore capable of great damage to personnel targets, and even power armor-clad targets, if used within a fair range."
"Interesting," Masako replied as she pouted in thought. Now Masako felt like showing off her purchase from a while ago to get the Shosa's opinion. Maybe it wasn't proper, but sometimes advice was a good thing. "Um...Shosa....how much do you know about Magnetic-propelled Projectile weapons? Ah...I guess I mean Railguns."
Yukari did not look away from the weapon, but answered politely, "Some. The principles of how they damage a target are the same as cartridge-based weaponry." She brought her eye down so she could look into the chamber.
"Ah...well I also purchased a weapon for myself when I bought your present," Masako began calmly. "It was more of a spur of the moment thing and my first firearm purchase so I may have actually bought something that is...well, flawed." she said as she stood up and looked around the Armory a bit more until she found a much larger crate latched to the bottom of the shelving unit. Stooping down, she unlatched the crate and lowered a set of four, built-in wheels so she could roll the crate out a bit into the open before retracting the wheels back into the crate. "It's a Godwin Armories R30 Modular Weapon System...basically it's a "Puzzle for a gun" as the store owner called it." the small Neko explained.
Yukari got up from her rifle and opened up the crate. She picked up the gun, with its short visible barrel, and hefted it in her hands. "It is very light for all of its bulk. Extensive use of alloys and plastics ... this feels similar to a LASR. Good ergonomics." She yanked back the bolt catch and checked inside the weapon to see if it was loaded. When she determined it was not, she pulled the trigger; a clean enough break was the result. "It feels like a good weapon. Many rail or coil weapons fire rounds at higher speeds with less recoil than cartridge weapons." She brought the weapon down from her shoulder. "No backup sights ... " Yukari flipped the weapon and gazed down the barrel. "An 11 millimeter bore ... Have you ammunition for it?"
"Ah, yes. I have a case of 11x55mm sabot rounds," she said as she patted a case that has been beside the crate on the shelving unit. "From what I've heard, there had been a problem developing the ammunition and the current ammunition is a four-element, cylindrical sabot with an occasional problem of spot welding," Masako explained as she opened the case and pulled out one of the rounds as a sample. "There are also four forms of this weapon to set up. One, the one you are holding, is a Carbine with an effective range of 600 meters. There is also the standard service rifle version with a 900 meter effective range, a Marksman Version with a 1.4 kilometer range, and a SAW version with the same range."
Yukari frowned as she opened the case and plucked one of the rounds from it. She carefully scrutinized it. "This is the difficulty with sabots, and is likely why the LASR does not utilize them. With the sabot, the caliber of the round appears to be about eight millimeters, which is superior to that of the LASR, but the sabot must be pushed harder to achieve good speeds with the round. Coating the rounds would likely help, perhaps with non-stick plastoid material."
"That could work, I guess," Masako replied as she scratched her ear quietly for a moment. "The muzzle velocity is apparently 1300 meters per second, which is about 200 meters per second less than the LSAR," she stated as she recalled the information from memory. "Over all, its main good point is flexibility. Other than that..." Masako faded off with a shrug.
Yukari moved the gun around from her shoulder, kneeling with it, swinging it about without pointing it at Masako. "I have not read of this weapon before, so I cannot comment on it past what I see and experience. It feels like a fine weapon, but it is inferior to our LASRs based on ammunition capacity."
"Quite so," Masako said as she chuckled. "But I've been thinking for a while now," the Warrant Officer began before pausing long enough to slide the sabot round back into the case. "While it is quite a puzzle to set-up, it is also quite easy to modify compared to most weapons," she added. "With the entire weapon in parts, all I really need to do is tinker with it until I improve upon the design," she explained as her expression suddenly tightened in concentration. "Hmmm...that might not be a bad idea."
Yukari smiled at this. "That is so. Using the fabrication room and Miharu's help, the weapon would take very little work to recalibrate."
"Right...plus, have you noticed the lack of SAW-type weapons in our inventory?" Masako asked. "While our LSARs and Plasma Rifles can be fully automatic, they can't throw the ammunition that a Squad Assist Weapon could. In other words, if I can find a way to modify the R30 to be more effective, we could have a potential SAW that we could fabricate."
Yukari rested her head in her palm, cheek braced by her fingers. "That is so. If modified to accept the LASR caliber, it would potentially fill that role. But the modifications would be quite heavy to it, especially to make it accept LASR magazines."
"That is true," Masako replied with a frown. "Plus I also have to study a bit more on the technical aspects of the R30," she mumbled as she smiled at Yukari once more. "It seems like I going to be learning a lot of things in between missions," she chuckled lightly.
"Souuu," Yukari said with a smile. "I will study with you. A SAW-like weapon could be of assistance to us when we take the fight to Eve."
"Ah," the Warrant Officer began as if to protest, but then closed her mouth. After all, it wouldn't hurt to have help. "Thank you, I'd appreciate the help."
Yukari bowed her head some. "It is an honor. I shall try not to interfere too much."
END
