Distractions

<snip>
"Okay 'Carbon', Sound off when you're ready." Jamie said. "Pull!" Jamie fired another plate, Artemis shot the bottom off, sending it flailing away. Jamie and Plisken laughed heartily, Artemis joined them when he realised how bad of a shot it was. Artemis passed the shotgun to Jamie, who stepped up to take his next turn.
</snip>

They continued firing at flying plates for a few hours more. Jamie had been slowly increasing the air pressure to make it harder, until none of them were particularly accurate. It seemed that Artemis was the worse shot of the three, as he'd been a scientist, a non-combat role.

Jamie had been given training as part of the Space Corps, as he had required Combat Engineer training before he was allowed into SCED, and Plisken... Well, he had obviously had some kind of firearms training...

As they continued, Artemis spoke.

"Jamie... I couldn't help but notice you never used a power tool on the work in my lab so far." He said, a quizical look on his face. "Wouldn't it make things easier if you had cut the cables out with a plasma cutter, rather than a blade?"

Jamie shook his head. "I never got on with them." He replied, and pulled back his sleeve, to reveal what looked like hundreds of tiny scars littering his forearms. "If I'd been using a plasma cutter all these years, I wouldn't have hands left."

"I would've expected you to mention Fernandos, what with the EM field." Plisken said, joining in the conversation as he destroyed another plate, and ejected the shotgun cartridge to the ground.

"I would never have survived on Fernandos if I had relied on powertools my entire life." Jamie admitted. "I had my old school tools with me."

"On the other hand," Artemis said. "If it weren't for my high tech equipment, I would be dead now." He said, referencing the ice hazard he had experienced with the laser cooling system.

"Hey, you mentioned some," Jamie began.

"Pull!" Plisken interrupted, and Jamie pulled the lever to launch another.

"some projects to improve the ship. *BLAM* I'll give you a hand with getting some of those up and running, if we have the materials for it." Jamie continued, ignoring the shotgun blast as he spoke.

"Out of plates." Artemis said, looking at the launcher. They retired the equipment to a storage locker for later use, when they had more ammunition of both kinds. A skutter rolled out to collect up the spent cartridges.

"You got a skutter to clean up after you?" Plisken said, noting the skill with which the skutter cleaned.

"I might have modified the AI on one or two of them..." Artemis said. "Made them less independent."

"I need to stop by and see Jade. I'll come back to your lab to finish off afterwards." Jamie said, steering away from them as they walked, leaving Artemis and Plisken together.

------------------

"Hey Doc. As promised, time for that medical." He said, stepping in to let the door close behind him.

<tag all. no need to actually write the medical, I have no plans for anything being wrong... and a post for calling an all clear would be boring.>