Hybridization

Chapter 191 – Hard Impacts

“It’s not just a sword; it’s a magic sword.” – Kristi explaining the switch blade to James

The days after Val had grown a new tail were both peaceful and stressful. It was peaceful for Kurt who was able to continue the work on the magical guns with very few distractions, even completing the ones for the support team he would be taking. It was stressful for Rindi and Kristi who had to keep Val entertained after the first day of her bed rest.

After Val was able to get up and move about on her own, proving she didn’t need to be babied, they had come back to the Order training area. They were meeting several people there at various times, turning it into a full day event. While the girls were off to one side of the open space, Kurt and James were over on the range portion.

“How is the throw so short and light on the triggers?” Kurt asked, marveling at the ease of double action pull. “I have shot a few custom revolvers with triggers three times heavier and those were the best they could make.”

James looked up from where he was fiddling with the moon clips they had made. “Simple, we don’t have to worry about half the things that a regular gun does.”

“Ok?” Kurt wasn’t sure about that.

“Look, a regular revolver has to move a lot of cylinder weight around, which we don’t since the projectiles are so short and there isn’t any pressure to contain. It also normally has to have enough spring tension to drive the hammer hard enough to hit the transfer plate with enough force to detonate a primer.

“Since we don’t have primers, regardless of how soft, we don’t need the force. That let me use titanium for all the parts to reduce weight and drag. It also means that the hammer doesn’t need to travel as far or as fast. With eight shot cylinders, a short hammer travel, and light springs, the result is a super light and short trigger.”

Kurt listened intently as the vampire finished his explanation turned rant. He was surprised that the man hadn’t broken out the whiteboard and drawn a diagram to illustrate the parts in question. “Got it, less distance, light parts and super light springs.”

“To dumb it down, yes.” James immediately returned to loading moon clips, clearly happy with how they turned out.

Looking back to the revolver in his hand, Kurt marveled at it. The 2-part, formerly short, 4-inch barrel was now closer to six, having been pushed back into the frame since the cylinder didn’t need to be as long with the shorter projectiles. It also stuck out the front a little, the sleeve that held the sights didn’t make it all the way to the end and left a half inch sticking out.

The frame itself was also modified slightly with altered grips, a section of mounting rail under the barrel and completely reworked sights. With the color of the frame being black, the inner parts being a dull-grey inlaid with silver metal, and all of it slightly shimmering, the revolver had a certain sci-fi appeal.

“Catch.” James said, tossing a tan cylinder to Kurt.

He caught the object, noticing that it was an ammunition pouch made from heat-molded plastic with a slightly fuzzy interior. It had an open slit in the front, about finger wide, and three of the moon clips stacked within, fully loaded. The back side had a bit of spring steel that bowed into the compartment opposite from the slit in the front. The spring looked to be for retention and to keep the clips from rattling around.

Seeing there was a clip on the back, Kurt fitted it over his belt, tucking in his uniform top in that spot so it wouldn’t get in the way. After adjusting it, he looked up to the target they had set up at 10 yards. The torso sized silhouette was painted the most menacing color of white they could find and stared impassively back at him.

Kurt hit the cylinder release, snagged the first clip, noting it came out with only a slight tug, and dropped it into the back of the cylinder. The bullets found their way into the chambers easily and the whole clip snapped into place with a magnetic click. He swung the cylinder shut and raised the revolver to eye level, pointing at the target.

Snap-Ping. Snap-Ping.

Firing two rounds, Kurt only heard the click of the hammer followed by the snap of the 38 caliber slug breaking the sound barrier before it rang the steel target. While he wouldn’t call it hearing safe, it wasn’t the worst thing he had ever touched off without ear protection on.

“Alright. That fucks.” Kurt smiled as he looked down at the revolver then back to the two grey starburst on the steel target. “I’m just gonna run these last six hard and fast.”

“No balls!” James said in a joking tone from behind his folding table.

Smirking, Kurt returned to the target and ripped out the remaining 6 rounds as fast as he could. His technique wasn’t up to his standards, but he assumed that it would get better as he familiarized himself with the gun.

Grabbing another clip of bullets, Kurt replaced the first. He was happy to see the first clip eject itself as he opened the cylinder. He dropped in the new one and went back to shooting, noting the 125 grain bullets were grouping nicely, despite the double action only trigger and unfamiliar gun.

“Shit, Jerry ain’t got nothing on you.” James said, walking up with a couple extra pouches, each one full but made from a different color plastic.

“Not going to lie, when I found out it was revolvers, I spent a lot of time watching his videos and ones from a couple other people on how to run the wheel-gun.” Kurt admitted. “What’s with the colors there?”

James handed over the pouches which Kurt put on his belt next to his first one. “Different weights. The darker the color, the heavier the bullet weight. The light grey one is ninety-grain, the tan is the one-twenty-fives, green is one-fifty-eights, and the black is some one hundred-eighty.”

He then summoned a shooting table with a device known as a ransom-rest. “Let’s see how they group at fifty yards. I set up some paper down there.”

Kurt helped set up the table and they got the gun mounted into the rest. After that it was a simple matter to align the sights and fire a few groups. They had also brought out a chronograph to get some additional velocity data while they worked. They used all eight rounds in each group they shot, partly for better data and partly just because they could.

“Looks like it wants those one-twenty-five’s” Kurt said as they measured the groups.

James was looking at the other targets, holding a clear plastic protractor type measuring device over the holes. “Yeah, but even the worst group from the heaviest bullets is only an inch bigger at fifty yards.”

“Can we do another test?” Kurt asked. “I have some of the specialty ammo from Sam that I brought for this.”

Giving him a curious look, James raised an eyebrow. “Specialty ammo?”

Putting up a new piece of paper target, Kurt began heading back to the testing bench with James following. “Some alchemically reactive stuff.”

“Chemically reactive?”

“AL-chemically.” Kurt annunciated. “Something we cooked up a while back and found promising.”

The gunsmith gave him a flat look. “Kurt, I have known you for a couple years but even I know that when you say ‘promising’ in this context it means horrifically devastating.”

Summoning a small box that ammunition reloaders used, Kurt handed it to James. “It’s not a war crime the first time.” He quoted as the vampire looked at the neat rows of bullets. “We got some of those gimmick solid copper bullets, the ones with the huge internal cavity. We packed that with some alchemical compounds to see how useful it would be.”

“And how useful is it?”

“Very.” Kurt said, taking the box back and loading some of the ‘heat’ rounds onto a clip.

He had weighed the rounds ahead of time and they came out to anywhere from 125 grains to 135 grains, depending on which of the special fillings he had put in the hollow point cavity. When the unaltered projectile came in 50 grains, it was a decent amount of payload that each carried.

As he placed the bullets in the cylinder and reset the gun to aim at the new target, he only hoped that the heat compound would be balanced enough for decent accuracy… and that he could get a group on the paper without it catching fire.

“Here we go.” Kurt pulled the lever, firing the gun.

From his sidelong vantage point, Kurt could see that the target hadn’t caught fire. He could also see what looked like someone flinging a cup of lit thermite in a line across the range floor behind it. He reset the rest and pulled the lever again, sending another round down range with the same effect. After he emptied out the cylinder and popped it open, him and James went down to the target to get a look.

“That is…” Kurt frowned as he stared at the target.

“Sub optimal?” James offered, putting away his clear measuring device and pulling out a tape measurer.

Kurt nodded. “Sure, let’s go with that.”

“At least it isn’t complete shit.” James was holding out the tape measurer to various holes, swiveling it around each to get the numbers he was looking for. “A six-inch group at fifty yards isn’t terrible.”

“Worse than the two-inch ones we were getting.” He grumbled back.

James put away the tape measurer. “Look, here’s the way I see it. Those are kinda a last resort thing, right? So, you will probably be using them on something big, scarry or up close. Probably all three knowing you.”

Shrugging, Kurt returned to the bench. “Yeah, I guess. Come to think of it, we didn’t really test these for much accuracy before, just effect on target.”

“There you go.” The gunsmith slapped him on the back. “Not all bad and better than a lot of guns out there. Now let’s go test everything else.” He then ran ahead, like a child running to a pile of presents on Christmas morning.

They proceeded to test the finished versions of several guns along with function testing every other one to ensure the parts worked. It was a long process since they had to test all the various guns they had made for not only Kurt’s team but also for Ra’s who would be supporting them. They didn’t repeat much of the experimental testing other than some accuracy since all the parts and enchantments were identical.

The shotgun was a difficult one since it fired not only a solid slug, like what Kurt’s fellow agent Tig liked, but also a host of multi projectile options. James had found a wadding that would allow it to be used without needing the shotgun hull to hold it all together, instead using a rubber band around the shot cup. The feeding of the rounds had been a problem that was solved through using a pump action designed for mini-shells then modified for rimless ammunition.

Lever action rifles chambered in the same round that the revolvers used proved to be impressively accurate out to 200 yards but dropped off at longer ranges. Their capacity had gone from 9 rounds in the tube to 20 due to the lack of cases. The throw of their levers also was significantly reduced as James had modified them for the ammunition. These factors combined to allow Kurt to achieve some impressive split times between shots.

Lastly there were a couple rifles that James had taken the initiative to make. Kurt had enchanted the parts but hadn’t seen them assembled until that point. He looked on in interest as the smith put one up on the bench for testing.

“So, what are these based on?” Kurt asked, looking at the long-barreled guns. They were identical in make and features, but he couldn’t remember the model.

James set it on the rest they had used for the other long guns. “Based on Ruger number one’s.”

“And why?” Kurt pushed.

“The action is one of the faster ones to open and the receiver allowed us to use a pretty big projectile.” James said. “These barrels are thirty inches long and were originally made for the five-hundred Smith and Wesson but are just blanks so I could cut and taper them myself.”

Kurt studied the rifles with their long, beautiful wood stocks that ran almost to the end of the barrel. All the metal, receiver and barrel alike were a dark, matte finish that barely reflected any light. The modern scope set on top was a compact 3-18 which looked ridiculous on the classic lines of the rifle.

“Sweet, I guess. But why this when we already have rifles?” Kurt watched as James pulled out a box.

“Because of this.” The vampire smiled and opened the lid.

Inside the box was a selection of big, fat bullets. Kurt would guess they landed in the 400+ grain weight just based on the amount of lead. Also inside that box was a series of what looked like thin versions of the shot cups they had used in the shotguns.

Kurt picked up one of the strange projectiles and immediately recognized it as a sabot. Inside the plastic was a very long and only slightly less fat bullet. “The fuck is this?”

“That black one would be a three-seventy-five Cheytac. The smoky white ones are the four-oh-eight version.” James said as Kurt held up the incredibly long sabots. “Since the five-hundred bullet weight goes up past seven-hundred grains, these will do nicely as a high velocity substitute.”

James finished putting the rifle in the rest and aimed through the scope at the target. He then reached over and pulled one of the lighter sabot rounds out of the box and slid it into the action, giving it a little push to get all the way in. He snapped the lever up, shutting the receiver with the steel block sliding up. After doing a little wiggle to settle into the gun, he breathed out and pulled the trigger.

CRACK. The gun fired with only the sound of the bullet breaking the sound barrier. James didn’t even seem to have any recoil from the gun due to the enchantments and how they worked. He lifted his head and looked at the chronograph.

“Twenty-eight hundred.” James said with a smile. “Only a little slower than the powder burning version.”

“Fuck me.” Kurt muttered and looked from the rifle to the chronograph. “How’s its group?”

They spent the next several minutes zeroing the rifle and testing a variety of ammunition types. Overall, when testing at the 100-yard mark, they were unsurprisingly getting the best groups from the precision rifle rounds. While the heavy weight 50 caliber bullets were no slouch, they didn’t fly as well and couldn’t replicate the sub-1-inch groups of the long and skinny sabot loaded projectiles.

“And that is that.” James said, dusting off his hands. He had handed over everything he could to Kurt but said that he was still making more at the shop. He was working on speed loaders and putting together more of the special sabot ammunition.

“What do I owe you?” Kurt asked.

James waved his hand. “Ah, Jay is already paying me, and you gave me this sweet ring.” He held up his hand with the storage ring. “I saw we are even. I’ll be by next week with more bullets, clips and shot cups. Probably have those speed loaders worked up too. I got an idea from watching some of the competition guys.”

Kurt cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure I don’t owe you something?”

“Nah, but it looks like your next appointment is here.” He pointed at the two templars standing a polite distance away, watching him with an intense curiosity.

“Shit. I guess it’s time to get my ass kicked.”

*****

When Kurt had been training with the two templars, over the past several months, he had been using as little of his mixed heritage abilities as possible. While he was allowed to, both the trainers had said that building good skills would be hurt if he relied too heavily on his increased perception and strength. Much to his surprise, they had decided that things would be different this time.

“Well, the ole training wheels are comin off.” Donnovan said with a smile as he stood next to Kurt at the edge of the training ring. They were in full armor and just waiting on his scribe to get there before they began with, what appeared to be, their final sword spars.

Gladys, her face impassive, grunted in agreement. “Mm. Training is over, now is practice.” Her heavily accented voice was thick with disuse.

Kurt looked at the short human woman with some concern. “Gladys, are you feeling ok?” When she looked at him with a questioning expression, he elaborated. “I think that was the most sounds and words I have ever heard you speak.”

Donnovan laughed and motioned for Kurt to join him in the ring as his scribe, Timothy, joined them. “She might just kick your ass for that. Either way, Kurt this is my scribe, Timothy, I know you met before, but I couldn’t remember if you were introduced.”

Reaching out a hand, Kurt offered it to the scribe. “We did but only briefly.”

“Good-good.” Donnovan said and began prepping his blade. “He is here to do what he normally does and put some enhancements on me.”

“Performance enhancing spells can get you disqualified in professional sports.” Kurt laughed while summoning his switchblade and transforming it into a sword. “That’s not a knife.” He muttered as his short blade was now a couple feet longer. He cast the spell Donnovan had showed him to blunt the edge as he got into the mindset of a full power fight.

“Yes, well, this isn’t HEMA and these swords aren’t exactly feders.” Donnovan said and shoved his helmet over his head. “Anyway, feel free to use all that speed and strength you have been holding back. Lord knows I will.”

Kurt moved over to his section of the sparing circle, getting some words of encouragement from Rindi and Kristi who were on the sidelines. Val was also there but rather than thumbs up or expressions of confidence, he got a lewd gesture involving a hand motion and her poking her cheek with her tongue.

Rolling his eyes, Kurt stepped onto his line painted on the rubberized floor. He looked at Donnovan across from him and noticed Tim was chanting a spell and making a series of gestures. When he finished, the knight smacked his gauntlets together in a crash as he began to approach and they circled.

The armor that Donnovan wore was similar to what Kurt had made for the Order and Jays teams. It was a modern expression of plate armor with the addition of leg and arm protection. The templar had better coverage and also included a visor for his face, but Kurt wasn’t worried about that.

When Donnovan struck out, his hand-and-a-half sword seeking Kurt’s exposed wrist, it felt like the world slowed around him. Kurt allowed his mind to ease into that heightened state of awareness that he normally reached when in a high stress environment. That isn’t to say the blow coming for his wrist was slow, but he saw it very clearly.

Kurt stepped in, pushing the weak part of the templar blade away with the strong part of his, glancing the edge off his guard. He then continued the push with some extra strength to clear it away before flicking the false edge of his half-back sword toward Donnovan’s neck.

The retaliatory strike Kurt had expected never came. Donnovan’s blade had been pushed too far away, and the momentum had spun him into Kurt’s strike. The form that he had taught Kurt, to keep his arms in to his body, had worked against him in this case.

TACK. The tip of Kurt’s blade smacked into the gorget around Donnovan’s neck with a dull sound that spoke less of deflection and more of absorption. When they both disengaged, Kurt was able to see that there was a slight dent in the fabric over the metal plate.

“Heavens above.” Donnovan cursed, or what amounted to cursing for the very devout man. His voice slightly distorted through his visor. “That was… not expected.” He reached a hand up, the leather glove under the gauntlet fingers finding the dent.

“Don, are you alright?” Asked Tim as he rushed in.

Waving him off, Donnovan called out. “Fine, fine. Are you boosting me?”

“Yes, the standard amount.” Tim said, looking worried. “Do you need a bigger boost?”

Giving Kurt what was probably a warry look under his visor, Donnovan nodded. “Yeah. I think this is going to be a real struggle now.”