Orbital by bill zhao copyright 2017 Bill Zhao Table of Contents act one (earth)

Derek heard a click as a small paper target popped down from the
ceiling at the far end of the range. Derek felt somewhat confident due to
his lengthy experience with Clip-Raid. All nine of them. And the
several spin-offs. Derek aimed his ‘Falk’ down the range. Forgetting
the correct stance, equipment and basic precautions of using a firearm.
He pulled the trigger. The handgun uttered an empty click. “Hey, err…
I think my guns broken”
“
The safe es on, ya dipshit! And put on the damn ear protectors!”
“
Oh.”
Derek clicked the safety off and looked around for the headgear. They
were sitting in a large wooden crate. It seemed that they had a surplus
of those. Derek took a random pair and put them on, still wondering
why he needed them due to the fact that it was a handgun – not a multi
barrelled Gatling rocket launcher.
Derek slinked back into his former position only to change it to the
correct stance at the last minute. The paper target remained at the end
of the range mocking him. Derek wasn’t going to take any of that. He
pulled the trigger. ‘Click’. “Dude! I thought you knew guns! The slide!”
“
Yeah, what about it?”

---

Marcus was so close to a faceplam that the only thing stopping him
from doing so was that it would probably shatter what little remains of
Derek’s tiny, tiny self-confidence. “Pull it back to load the first round
into the chamber, dude”
“
Oh.”
Derek pulled back the slide which finally readied the gun to be fired.
The still mocking paper target stared at him, and he stared right back.
Remembering all the skills, techniques and precautions learnt in the
past few minutes, he pulled the trigger in a futile attempt to silence the