Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

Vol 2: National Development – Chapter 15: The Shooting Range (Last part)

In a VIP quarter of Berlin's biggest hospital, Yuki and her bodyguards are paying a visit to a Doctor that contributed quite a lot in the field of runic science and runic manufacturing. The same Doctor that, according to his words, had made a mistake in the spur of the moment, telling his automated machine to carve a combustion rune formation. The formation is a very complex one, used in the upcoming jet engines, and though the machine carved it perfectly, it also activated due to the abundance of mana and caused an explosion. Fortunately for the Doctor, he escaped with only minor burns and a light concussion. Goes to say that even though he is a genius in his own right, a genius can also make a mistake.

Regardless, things have settled down and Yuki is knocking on the door to the Doctor's quarter. Hearing the acknowledgment from the person inside, Yuki slides open the door, stepping in with a bouquet of flowers and some gifts. The gifts are carried by Erika and Lola so she has them placed on a nearby table, half-occupied with other sorts of knick-knacks and get-well letters.

"I hope I'm not intruding, Doctor Martin Johnsen." With her familiar eyepatch and attire, one must be blind not to recognize Yuki. The Doctor, ignoring his injuries, was about to stand up to greet the unexpected VIP but Yuki put stop to it. "Please, just keep laying down. A concussion, albeit light, can still have unforeseen consequences. We don't want Belka to lose a remarkable scientist due to unneeded pleasantries now, are we?"

The Doctor, Martin, chuckles with a hand now moving up to scratch his bandaged head. "You flatter me, Marshal, it's my mistake that has troubled you to come here."

Yuki though just waves it off. "No trouble at all! In fact, I've come here to give you my thanks as a representative of Belka." Yuki then pulls out a small maroon-colored box, opening it up, she presents a War Merit Medal to Doctor Martin. "I know that for people like you, stuff like this isn't that important..."

Yuki suddenly smiles before closing the box with the medal and putting it to the side. "I think you would rather keep that majestic beard of yours than some flimsy metallic piece."

Hearing that, the middle-aged man snickers. "You don't say, Marshal!" He pointed to his head. "I would rather lose all my hair than have to lose this sage beard of mine. It's tough to grow it this long and it gives me an air of wisdom. Thankfully, I managed to duck and protect this beard of mine just in time."

Yuki chuckles. "Glad that you got your priorities straight then."

"Now, the medal is one thing but I've come to tell you that I've perused your notes. To be honest, I didn't think that someone will make an automated machine using a computer this soon. The computer is still a hunk of machinery on its own, after all. Yet, color me surprised when you managed to pull it off and coded it successfully to produce such a... explosive result." Yuki and Martin both laugh at that. "Anyway, thanks to your effort, we have managed to boost the runic field by decades at least. Hence, I've gathered a team for you, good men and women that will help you to further your work in runic science once you're out of this bed. Believe me when I say that with your work, giving you more than just a passage in history is a bit lacking."

Listening up to now, Doctor Martin is a bit teary-eyed. For a human approaching his mid-fifties like him, he never thought that he will make such a great contribution to the Reich, even if he was a genius. Now though, his sleepless nights working on the machine have paid off in the greatest dividend he used to dream of. Making a name of his own in the world of knowledge.

"...Thank you, Marshal, for giving me this chance." Martin bows, saying. "I will not mince my words so I will say this straight. I will not let you be disappointed with the results, Belka will one day be able to stand on top of the world with our sheer industrial power!"

Hearing such a fierce declaration from the man, Yuki claps her hands with a small smile. "Great! Now rest up, will you? On the table are some snacks that I know you will love to have. Trust me, hospital food isn't the greatest, take it from the person that used to be in your position right now."

Nodding to her words, Martin eeks out a complaint. "Gosh, your gifts are a godsend. I can't stand the jellies here anymore."

They both share a laugh with each other before proceeding to talk a bit more pleasantries before Yuki has to go. She still has to visit the range to take a look at the ongoing trials.

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*BANG* *BANG* BANG*

Firing the last of her magazine in a G1 rifle, Yuki pulls the charging handle back before unloading the expended mag, putting it in her ammo vest before pulling out a fresh one. Loading the 20-round magazine into the mag-well, Yuki slaps the charging handle, sending it down out of the grove before the internal spring pushes it forward, pulling an 8mm bullet into the chamber in the process. With the gun alive and deadly, Yuki takes aim using the iron sight at a target 200 meters away, slowly, she pulls the trigger.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Sending a three-round burst down range, hitting the target and over-penetrating to hit the dirt mound behind it, Yuki nods, pleased with the performance of the G1. She then proceeds to use up her last mag before unloading it and putting the rifle on safe.

Laying it down on the wooden table in front of her, stacked with different magazines and ammo boxes, Yuki removes her ears protection before turning over to Einstein.

"Phew~ That was fun!" Yuki giggled with a face like a kid in a candy store, causing Einstein to smile wryly. "Your rifle was comfortable to shoot for a weapon that is firing 8mm Mauser and pretty accurate too for a rifle that's not a marksman rifle. Though firing in full-auto is best used in short-burst to maintain a decent accuracy. With the synthetic furniture, the rifle is comfortable to use, especially with the adjustable stock."

Patting the G1 on the table, Yuki says with a smile. "With the G1 and the other weapons passing the torture tests we have been doing 24/7 in all sorts of conditions, I believe that Belka will soon be the first modern superpower." Yuki then steps forward to pull Einstein into a hug, the latter blushes but return it also. "Thank you, Einstein, you have no idea how much you and everyone else have been helping me in making my vision a reality."

"It has been our pleasure, Yuki. Belka has been great to us in every single aspect, we're only repaying some of it back." Einstein responded, patting Yuki's head.

Relishing in the warm, Yuki chuckles. "You and your humbleness, try and boast a bit, won't you?"

Rolling her eyes, Einstein jests. "And be like Mobius? No way!"

We both laugh, at Mobius expense, no doubt the green hair Doctor must be sneezing right now.

"Anyway, let's move along and watch the men and women using the toys for one last time. It will be quite a while till we return here, only that time we will be bringing along our newer vehicles."

"Sure, lead the way, Yuki." Stepping aside with her hands outstretched, Einstein lets me walk first.

We move from one end of the shooting range to the other, watching as the 404th performs an accuracy test on the weapons. When we reach the group using the G2, otherwise knowns as the MP-9, we stop to comment on the SMG.

"You know, I do not regret removing the 3-round burst from the weapon series." I offhandedly commented as I watch the Grenadiers firing short bursts of 9x25mm. "It takes minimal training for a soldier to fire a short-burst when on full-auto. In a CQC situation, having your gun on full auto is usually the recommended tactic. A 3-round burst may not be enough to clear a room as you may not have time to just pull the trigger in quick succession. That and removing the 3-round burst also simplified the internal of the weapon."

Einstein nods when she sees a Grenadier running a shoothouse, clearing it with a perfect score, all the while maintaining proper trigger discipline to conserve ammo but still retain the deadly fire rate of the MP-9. "I  thought that the 3-round burst mode is a helpful mechanism with proper field usage. You know, for training and conserving and the like... Now though, I can see that it's just over-engineering an already complicated weapon."

"That's right." Yuki agreed. "Let's move to the next group, I can hear the sound of mag-dumping all the way over here."

They then resume their trek and true to their expectation, the next group is using a bunch of G3s with 100-round drum magazines or the MG-35s with 120-round belts to cut some grass. They watch as the G3s use up drum after drum of ammo without any malfunction whatsoever. The only times they have to stop are when they have to reload or quickly change the barrel.

Einstein comments as she watches another empty drum discarded by a soldier.

"As expected, though a bit finicky at first, the drum magazines are now much more reliable and very easy to use after many revisions to the design."

"Yes, for a weapon using magazines, especially if it's full-auto capable, the magazine is usually the most important part of the weapon. If the magazine fails to feed a round, then that gun is as good as useless. Hence I have always told you guys about improving the magazine reliability for the weapons." 

"True, you did say that a lot these days. I can't imagine what a soldier would feel when he is behind enemy line, only for his rifle to fail to function."

Yuki winces, having had her troops experience it firsthand. "Yeah... it wasn't fun is all that I can say."

Continuing with the walk, they then come across soldiers using the S-12G shotgun. The chonky bang of the S-12G whenever it's fired is pleasant to the ears, especially so when they slam-fire the shotgun. Once expended, they fast reload the S-12G by pulling four shells from their ammo belt before quickly loading them two at a time into the ammo tube. They perform the action once more before pumping the shotgun and firing away at the target 100 meters away.

Seeing the carnage the shotgun pellets did to the man-sized target, Einstein can't help but comment. 

"Seriously though, do we need that much devastation? It seems unnecessarily cruel to the person on the receiving end." 

Yuki turns to Einstein and raises an eyebrow. "Seriously? Do I have to remind you that they used chemicals back in the Great War to devastating effect, more so than our dinky shotgun here?"

"Point taken."

They then move up to a gathering of precision rifle enthusiasts, there, a small competition is taking place.

"Ok, boys and girls! Targets are placed at 300, 500, 700, and lastly, 1000 meters. Whoever can knock the hats off all targets without a miss will win the match, and no, you can't use the explosive mass from the HE-filling to cheat. Only direct hits will count, keep that in mind." A Captain announced to the shooters that are lying prone with their rifles deployed on bipods.

The shooters are using a plethora of weapons ranging from the Kar98k, the G4, the MSG-8, the MSG-14.5, and lastly, the hefty MSG-20. With each shooter stationed five meters away from each other, each with a set of targets, the Captain gives the signal to start the competition after a count of three.

*BANG* *BOOM*

Different sets of gunfire echo across the shooting range with the loudest being the MSG-20 with its 20mm payload. Since these sniper rifles are all equipped with scopes, the 300 and 500 meters targets are taken down in less than a minute. The 700m and above targets take a fair bit of effort to engage and with the premise that all shots must be a hit, half of the shooters are disqualified when they didn't hit the helmets. Finally, the competition settle down with the last set of targets at 1000 meters being knocked out by an MSG-14.5 surprisingly.

"The 14.5mm is classified as an anti-material caliber, right?" Einstein turned to ask, confused by the accuracy the big round has at a long distance.

Yuki explained with a small smile. "That's right, however, unlike the bigger 20mm, the 14.5mm has a ridiculous velocity albeit carrying a lighter payload. This velocity, reaching 1000m/s, makes engaging a target at extreme range very easy for you don't have to account much for bullet drop and environmental effect. When coupled with the MSG chassis, we have a damn powerful sniper rifle for a multitude of tasks, especially for the first strike in ambush or assassination. Of course, you can't exactly hide an MSG-14.5 like the G4 or the MSG-8, hence it's best using it at extreme range and in the hands of an expert marksman."

"I see, another downsize is that the MSG-14.5 and MSG-20 are heavy. Unless you are an Oni or well, any race physically stronger than a human, you can't exactly operate it alone." Einstein noted.

"Yup."

Their last stop before calling it a day is the tank buster group. There, they can see a fortified testing range, located further away from the rest because of safety reasons. 

"Speaking of which, I think this is the first time you will be watching a live fire of the Panzerfaust, right?" Yuki questioned Einstein as she lead her inside an observation bunker.

"Yes, I've only read the report on the new anti-tank weapon. I can't really imagine how a portable weapon like the Panzerfaust can pack such a punch, even if I know the theory behind it." Einstein answered, her eyes glue on the black stick a soldier is holding.

"Then it's a good time as any to see one in action. Just keep this in mind, never stand behind a Panzerfaust..." Yuki warned.

Einstein finished up the words for her. "Or you risk getting caught in the backblast and remove yourself from the gene pool, becoming a recipient of the Darwin award in the process."

"Good girl." Yuki chuckled, making Einstein roll her eyes.

They don't have to wait for long when the soldier holding the Panzerfaust shouts. "Clear backblast!"

The others around him stand clear, once they're at a safe distance, one of them gives the go-ahead. "Backblast clear! Fire when ready!"

The soldier nods, taking a deep breath before exhaling, five seconds later, he sends the explosive ordnance down the range in a blast of white smoke. Three seconds later, the rocket hits a stationary Ustian AMD 400 meters away. The projectile creates a big explosion as the poor vehicle exploded internally, effectively making the thing scrap metals.

Einstein whistles, impressed by the explosive display. "And you said that we can easily equip a squad with two or three of this?"

"That's right, manufacturing the Panzerfaust is quick and easy, effectively making it a disposable anti-tank weapon, one that can punch through 700mm of armor. However, it's recommended to retain the aiming device as they're a bit too useful to discard. And, for dedicated AT-crew, the Panzerfaust is also reloadable."

"I see, I pity any tank crew that rolls up in front of these things. They will never see them coming until it's too late."

Yuki snickers. "That's the whole point, imagine setting up an ambush on unsuspecting enemy convoys with these. The damage will be catastrophic, to say the least."

"You don't say."