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Characters: Moonracer, Perceptor Location: Autobot base roof, back end Content Warnings: N/A Plot Summary: After arriving to Earth and settling into her new home, Moonracer decides to get in some much needed practice but finds herself in the company of a fellow Wrecker, who also happens to be a crack shot himself.
Moonracer carefully placed her cleaning supplies for her firearms back into their case before placing it back in a subspace. It had been a little while since she had given her weapons a proper cleaning and being able to actually be on a planet and around others gave her the opportunity to get acclimated to Earth after finally making land fall. Once she had made sure every inch of her weapons were in working order and ready to go, she finally put them back together, each part giving a soft click as a sign they were secure and double checking confirmed her weapons were once more ready to go.
“Now I can have some real practice.” The young Wrecker muttered, a grin quickly forming on her face plates as she stood and came to the edge of the room, peering to the back end of the base where she had found a fair bit of space for target practice. The training room inside just wasn’t doing it for her. So, from another subspace she pulled out four flat discs; mobile holographic projectors programmed to create holographic targets for when she didn’t have the proper training field she was looking for. Wreckers just had to be prepared for anything after all, right?
“Lets see, start out medium range...then progress back...” The racer muttered, Moonracer putting in the settings of varying yards, going roughly up to four-hundred and fifty yards at the very least. Once the settings were in she pressed the button to activate the hologram projectors, opening her hand to allow them to take flight and waiting a few moments for them the scatter at various distances and heights. Once satisfied everything was in place Moonracer reached back to draw her Phtoton Burst Rifle, setting it up the butt of the rifle against the small area of her shoulder and neck and lining up her shot before firing three shots in quick succession towards one target straight ahead before raising the barrel to fire at a target at a higher angle from her position off towards her right.
The targets briefly pixelated before reforming again followed by changing positions yet again. A repeat cycle to give anyone ample practice. Not that Moonracer was aware she wasn’t alone as she varied her position and stance to reach each target.
Perceptor stepped onto the roof to clear his head. He had submitted his analysis of the gravitational wave and spectroscopic data to the Laser Interferometry Gravitational-wave Observatory collaboration, indicating a 10-σ confidence level of a binary neutron star merger. The other problem he was working on was a headache. The astronomical data he collected didn't make any sense. Quasars were appearing in nearby galaxies, 13.8 billion years after the Big Bang, when they were understood to be a phenomenon native to the early universe. Black dwarfs were spotted 12 billion light years away, when the light reaching Earth from that distance should be from the early universe. He could accept that white dwarfs existed back then. He had cataloged a few himself. But black dwarfs? White dwarfs still had to cool down for another quadrillion years before they became black dwarfs, and they were looking at things that existed 1.8 billion years after cosmological inflation ended.
Much as Perceptor loved a good scientific mystery, these observations broke so many laws of physics that it was ridiculous. He was hoping it was an observational error—
The sound of shots being fired snapped Perceptor out of his thoughts. Good. A distraction. He looked up and saw some holographic targets. Target practice is therapeutic, and it would be more productive than poring over the mystery quasars and black dwarfs anyway.
Perceptor pulled out his energon blasters and fired at two of the holograms, hitting them right through their centers of mass simultaneously. Or centers of energy, which he thought would be the more appropriate term, considering light is massless. And simultaneously for him, who was moving at a few meters per second relative to the holographic projectors.
Perceptor couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. 400 meters was nothing. He didn't even need his eyepiece, not to mention his telescope.
Just as Moonracer was fixing to fire a few more shots, another pair of rounds not coming from her own weapon caught her attention. Well, that was something rather unexpected, causing the racer to lower her weapon, turning back curiously. There she found she wasn’t as alone as she thought. Another had seemingly joined her, but then again Moonracer would have to get use to seeing others popping up now and again without so much of a sound. Then again, Moonracer has been somewhat distracted to have heard Perceptor come onto the roof.
But it wasn’t him suddenly appearing that caught her attention. “I haven’t seen someone look that disappointed with target practice since training on Velocitron.” Moonracer chuckled, resting her weapon against her shoulder in one hand and her smile quickly returning. “But then again, neither did I expect company way up here.” Briefly she glanced towards the targets, not hovering in place awaiting to be struck to move but she quickly could gather why her fellow sniper would be disappointed. So, perhaps she could remedy that long face, motioning with her free hand for the discs to return to her.
“I’m Moonracer by the way, Wrecker and ambassador.” She introduced herself as she placed her Photon Burst rifle upon her back again while she began adjusting the distances on the discs once more. “And judging by your disappointment, guessing you’re a sniper as well?” She inquired.
Perceptor noticed the other Autobot once he finished firing his shots. A spark frequency scan indicated a high energy consumption rate. The other Autobot's sleek frame indicated she was built for speed. The wheels gave away her Velocitronian origin. He caught a glimpse of her nucleon charge rifle before she turned around, which was the standard rifle for a sniper.
Her following speech confirmed Perceptor's suspicions. She was of a Velocitronian origin. He was surprised that she was a Wrecker though. He thought he knew all of them.
"I have apparently missed a lot while on the Ark," said Perceptor while he holstered his blasters. "My name is Perceptor. I am a scientist, Wrecker, and sniper, the last of which you have correctly inferred. I was also part of first contact with Velocitron."
Perceptor took another look at the mobile target disks. "The targets do not have a maximum range, do they?" he asked.
Moonracer paused with her task the moment he mentioned being a Wrecker. Well, wasn't that just luck for both of them, and both being snipers no less. "The Wreckers must have really found themselves lucky to have two of us then. You bring more brains to the operation and I bring some speed." Moonracer said with a broad grin, a little giddy at the thought of working with a fellow sniper. It had been sometime since she really had encountered another honestly.
But, she did give another pause, leaning in a little closer to peer at Perceptor a bit more closely. She had recalled the first contact between the Autobots and the Velocitronians, having witnessed it herself. But with all the faces there she had never learned all their names, much less matching faces to names. "Hmmm..." She observed him closely for a few moments before nodding to herself. "You do look vaguely familiar. I was there when the Autobots first landed on my home, but I didn't partake in the exchange directly myself." She explained, trying to recall other faces from that meeting.
"As far as I know, they don't. Not that I've discovered anyway." Moonracer shrugged, never having fully tested the distance the target disks could go. "Then again, I've rarely found time to test their maximum distance." Her gaze shifted back to Perceptor once more, "But by all means, I'm willing to test that now."
"You could call it luck," said Perceptor. "But I assume the Wreckers needed another sniper when I left with the Ark. The only unexpected factor was that there were no Cybertronian snipers willing to join the Wreckers. Either that, or Cybertron had no good snipers left. We do break the Wrecker stereotype of large bots who shoot first and ask questions never. And I am aware of the irony of my entrance."
Perceptor's brows came together as Moonracer examined him, and he examined her in return. "Unfortunately, I do not seem to have spotted you on Velocitron," he replied as he went through his memory of his time on Velocitron. As he thought about it, he wondered what else he missed without a comprehensive view of the situation. He should probably create some drones to remedy that. "I did have a different chassis back then. One that was more... robust."
"The Wreckers can't have chosen a bad sniper as my replacement," Perceptor said at last, holstering his blasters. "But I do look forward to seeing just how good you are."
"I'm one of the best snipers Velocitron has to offer, if not the best in our little part of the galaxy." Moonracer assured him, taking great pride in her skills, especially since it had caught the attention of even the Wreckers. But to think she was the replacement for the very mech in front of her...now that was an honor itself. "But, if they saw me fit enough to replace you, a veteran, I call myself quite honored by their request." Moonracer couldn't feel more excited she was meeting the Autobot she was called in to replace.
"I'm not too surprised, I don't exactly stand out in a crowd much." Moonracer could only shrug. There had been a lot going on that day, so to be missed among the crowd wasn't exactly shocking. But she did pause, looking at Perceptor for another long moment before nodding, "Yes, I suppose you were back then. Might be the reason I didn't recognize you right away. I'm usually good with faces." Moonracer responded, finishing with the adjustments, this time in the thousands but making the disks more free roaming to vary the distance.
She released them to allow them to take their positions, giving Perceptor another grin, "We're about to find out soon." She smirked, drawing her Nucleon Charge Rifle this time.
Perceptor still didn't feel comfortable that he missed something. The ones who don't stand out much are exactly the ones who could get away with something without others noticing. Primus he was starting to sound like the unholy offspring of Prowl and Red Alert. Then he remembered Prowl wasn't a control freak and Red Alert wasn't a paranoid security chief. What was happening to his memory?
Perceptor put the discomforting thoughts aside, immersing himself in what he was familiar with. He accessed his logs for the recoil of his weapons since their last maintenence, plotting the trend in their recoil and calculating the speed at which their projectiles would leave the barrel. All this took a split second before he reached for his sniper rifle.
Looking down at the valley below, Perceptor took note of the way the dust was being tossed around. Sadly the chaotic conditions of turbulent air flow prevented him from extrapolating to the wind patterns above. This is where drones would come in handy, he chided himself. Oh well, he would have to make do.
"Ladies first," Perceptor said. Not that he particularly cared about courtesy. He just wanted to see how good Moonracer was before his turn. And the trajectory of her nucleon burst would inform him of the wind conditions.
Giving a nod to the veteran Wrecker, Moonracer turned her attention to the hovering disks for a moment before glancing down at the valley. She eyed the turbulent wind conditions, somewhat reminding her of home. And some other worlds she had come across during her travels, making her think for a bit how to best line her shot. 'Just going to have to be watchful of those winds.' She thought to herself, finally shifting her rifle to a readied position.
Her optics shifted to focus on the target farthest away from the two, moving her rifle slightly upwards for a head shot and taking fire before shifting to the next target that was a bit closer, going for a shot at the abdomen. Moonracer could feel the wind blowing harshly from the right of them, the air flow blowing downwards and kicking up the desert sands on occasion. She adjusted her shot accordingly, but her shots were slightly off than what she wanted, causing her optic ridges to furrow for a moment. Hm, seems she was a little out of practice for being in a ship most of the time. But, the shots at least still struck in the same area, shots that could be lethal if they were real opponents.
But, the final target didn't escape her notice as she eyed the trajectory her previous shots had taken. She could see it moving from the corner of her optics, drawing her standard blaster holstered at one side and firing at the final target, giving it a good shoulder shot.
"Okay, so I'm a little rusty at the moment." Moonracer admitted, lowering her weapons before stepping aside, "All yours." She welcomed him to take his attempts now, the disks having taken shape once more and shifting their positions yet again.
Perceptor analyzed how Moonracer's shots flew. It was a very informative observation. The four shots, fired at different times and along different trajectories allowed him to approximate the change in wind direction. The fact that the wind was blowing uniformly to the right, at least to a good approximation, made his shots a lot easier. His targeting eyepiece deployed from underneath his helm, as his telescope extended, pointing towards the furthest target. He aimed it at each of the other targets in turn, committing their positions to memory. Initiating aiming procedure.
Fixed: initial and final positions. Projectile travel speeds: non-relativistic. Gravitational field: approximately uniform, corrections negligible. Wind velocity field: can be approximated as a uniform conservative field. Air resistance: additional perturbations required. Recommended method: principle of least action with perturbatory corrections... Path calculated. Error acceptable. Minimizing time required in rest frame.
Perceptor aimed for the furthest one, the stock of his rifle resting on his shoulder. He started a timer and pulled the trigger simultaneously. A panel popped out, revealing a compartment in his left leg. Grabbing the energon blaster within with his left servo, he fired a quick blast at the nearest target as he readjusted his rifle. He slipped the blaster back in, the compartment closing after it. He steadied his rifle with his left servo and fired at the second furthest target, letting go of the trigger immediately after, as a similar compartment opened up on his other leg. Storing away his rifle, he fired his energon blaster at the final target.
All four targets were hit near their centers, enough to deal fatal damage if they were living Cybertronians. It took 2 seconds. "Same here," said Perceptor. "My ship doesn't have enough room for target practice."
A targeting eye piece, nice. Moonracer could see getting something to help with targeting wasn't unusual thank Primus. But, she had taken a much different route than Perceptor, having her optics upgraded with a similar feature but with additional features in times when darkness or obstructions made it unlikely for her to hit a target in normal circumstances. With all things considered, no one on Velocitron couldn't say she had gotten at least one upgrade. Albeit, this was for combat purposes more so than racing purposes.
"Nice shooting." Moonracer said with awe, noting at the back of her processor to definitely do more shooting matches with the likes of Perceptor. "I would say you can definitely teach me a thing or two Perceptor." She said with an excited grin. The two shooting separately were more than commendable for their skills, but she could only imagine what damage they could do if they were ever remotely required to work together on a mission or two. Combined they could cover more ground, giving their fellow Bots some real cover they needed from a distance.
"Heh, I'd be lucky to even be able to shoot an invader in my ship. Its one of the smaller, two passenger ships a lot of the Wreckers use." Moonracer chuckled, trying to imagine actually trying to shoot in one of those. It would have to be up close and personal if she had an unwanted passenger aboard. Or, if things got a little hairy that would require her to use autopilot and go about using her own weapons to handle an enemy. Luckily, she hadn't had to resort to such measures. Not yet. And if Override knew half of what she had done since joining the Wreckers she could only imagine what her Amica would think, probably call her crazy honestly.
"But, I think its safe to say, you definitely still outmatch me." Moonracer admitted, reaching back to place her rifle away, but drew her standard blaster once more as she watched the disks moving about now. With a few quick shots, she aimed this time for all head shots, the wind still throwing off the shots somewhat but all of them making a fatal head wound nevertheless.
"Teach you?" asked Perceptor. "I'm quite sure anyone who has survived their first day, let alone someone who qualifies for their own Wrecker ship, must have their own method of success. That said, if you want to know what I think are advantageous upgrades, I do have a few suggestions." Perceptor looked at Moonracer's optics. "Find some way of seeing in the infrared. Being able to spot a glowing target is invaluable. Most snipers seem to prefer separate infrared goggles but I find them inconvenient for my purposes."
Perceptor decided to take this round easy. He reached for his rifle once again as he took a glimpse of the As he calculated the trajectory, he gave his second piece of advice. "Stabilize your arms. Your arms are quite stable if you haven't done anything to them, but there is still room for improvement. Something simple like a gyroscope would do." Perceptor's arms opened up to show spinning gyroscopes. "You can even detect the angle of your arms if you add some detectors. I'd say you're doing well if the greatest uncertainty in trajectory comes from thermal fluctuations or the flow of whatever fluid you are in, like wind." He fired a shot, hitting the hologram in the center, and several parts in his arm rearranged themselves. "Force detectors," he said. "Tells you the recoil so you can adjust your aim. I recommend keeping a record so you can plot a trend from the data to compensate for the recoil of the next shot and when you'd need repairs."
Perceptor lined up his next shot as the panels closed back over his internals. "Also familiarize yourself with various ways to calculate the trajectory, or read off a datapad. The former works better for me since I'm already well-acquainted with large-scale, low-energy physics. And number-crunching is quite relaxing." He fired another shot, grazing the edge of the hologram.
Perceptor lined up his next shot with his telescope while looking at Moonracer. "You should practice close-quarters marksmanship as well. You'll never know when someone invisible in both visible and infrared wavelengths sneaks up on you, or if a Skywarp-type teleports to you." He pulled the trigger without looking. Another bullseye. "There are some preventative measures that can be taken for those utilizing optical metamaterials with negative refractive indices to render themselves invisible. Such metamaterials often function by coupling to the oscillating magnetic field of an electromagnetic wave, thereby changing the polarization, which may be detected with the appropriate use of polarizing filters." Perceptor lined up his last shot and fired. The projectile passed through halfway between the edge and the center. "You could practice for the unlikely situation of someone boarding your ship, but if you haven't repelled them with your ship's weaponry then the situation would not be too optimistic. Then again, Wreckers' situations are rarely optimistic."
Moonracer listened closely to what Perceptor had to tell her, taking in every word he offered to improving her own skills. Sure, she had proven her skill enough to join the Wreckers but even she knew her skills could use that extra help or that extra bit of adjustment, calculation, whatever the situation might entail. So, she made sure to mentally note what the scientist told her; gyroscopes, force detectors, yea she was definitely keeping those in mind.
"I got some of that covered already." Moonracer pointed to her optics, "My optics were modified to work in a very similar manner to your eyepiece you have. They act like an extra scope for more accurate targeting and measuring distance. But, I also had being able to see in the infrared spectrum and night vision added, for obvious reasons." Moonracer informed him. If anything, she had made certain her optics had been given some capability to be of use in the field on top of her tendency to calculate things in her mind as it was. "Not that I forgo actually using a scope on my rifles of course.
"Trust me, I definitely haven't slacked on being versatile. But getting up close and personal hasn't happened often lately, emphasis on the lately." Moonracer admitted. She always tried to be careful when it came to sniping, or marksmanship in general. It had been her calling but it had taken quite some time to get her skills to where they were, much less learning to be more versatile with her ranged weaponry. "But, I will definitely keep everything in mind Perceptor, like you said, there is always room for improvement." There was certainly no arguing with that.
Once Perceptor had taken his shots, she drew her Nucleon Charge Rifle once more, resting the rifle against her shoulder and focusing ont he targets, "Though, I can't say I agree about crunching numbers being relaxing. I'd much rather tear up the roads, giving this planet a real taste of what a racer is like." Moonracer focused her shots before she began firing at each one, hitting a bullseye each time before lowering her rifle. "Although, this has become equally relaxing."
"Ah, right," said Perceptor. "Do not get between Velocitronians and their speed. For the record, my eyepiece isn't modified. My optics are. The eyepiece just relays images from my scope here." Perceptor's signature shoulder scope extended, and he fired at another target with his rifle.
"I should probably modify the scope of my rifle to do something else," he said. "Or simply dismantle it, but I'll probably need to practice with it before I'm used to it." He returned it to his back. His leg panels popped out and he pulled out his blasters. He should try them on long range targets. The greater inaccuracies brought about by the shorter barrel should make things slightly more complicated. But only slightly. He raised his arm, aiming it so that it would hit the target.
Perceptor sped up his own neural circuits. His perception followed suit, slowing down the world around him. He pulled the trigger, making tiny, unobservable adjustments in response to the energon plasma's nearly imperceptible push against the magnetic field that guides it along the barrel. He slowed his circuits back down and watched as the energon blast hit somewhere near the center of the target. Close, but not good enough.
Perceptor tried again. The next hit bullseye, but the one after that deviated again. Either it was the innate fluctuations in his blaster, or even smaller corrections were required. "What other modifications do you have?" he asked Moonracer.