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'First of all,' he said once he'd shown Aki how to strap the pistol holster around her thigh and moved past her complaints about how uncomfortable it was, 'your first line of defense is always your rifle, so try not to lose it. But if the worst happens, then you go to your pistol, here.'

He took it out of her holster and held it up for her to see, making sure the safety was on before letting her take it.

'It's different from your rifle not just in size, but also because this works with gunpowder and regular bullets, not plasma,' he annotated as she examined it, her eyes jumping between him and the handgun.

He slid the magazine out and popped out a copper shell. 'It shoots these. See the little bit at the end, there? That's the bullet. The rest of this casing is filled with a little powder, and when you pull the trigger, it explodes and shoots out the bullet wherever you're aiming.'

'Cool,' she said vaguely, picking up the shell and examining it closely. 'But it's so puny. How can that hurt anyone?'

'It does when it's flying fast enough to blow a hole through your brains,' Sean pointed out dryly, taking the bullet back. 'You take it and you slide it into this thing, called the magazine, like this. Then you take your magazine and you slide it up into the grip of the pistol, like this - make sure it's facing the right way - and give it a good little slap to make sure it's in nice and tight.'

Aki repeated his move, pressing her palm against the butt of the gun, then she gripped it, holding it awkwardly. 'It feels so different, too.'

'I know. Like this ...' He moved closer and wrapped his arms around her own, grabbing her hands gently to guide her into a proper shooting position. Her ear twitched at his cheek, which suddenly felt oddly sensitive.

'Ready to shoot, then?' she asked softly.

'Just turn the safety off, right above your index finger. Press on it and slide it back until it clicks.'

He watched as her slender digit flexed and moved the little knob.

'Now ... it doesn't shoot like the rifle, either. When it fires, it kicks back in your hand, hard. You need to hold it real tight, and let your elbows take the force of the shot so you don't lose your aim. Understand?'

Aki nodded, tightening her grip around the handgun.

'Now, align your sights so that you're staring right down the middle of the slide, the top of the gun. Aim it right at the rock ... and squeeze the trigger.'

BANG

She yelped, having apparently triggered it faster than she had expected to; the gun bucked hard enough that it partially dislodged from her hand, forcing her to grapple with it clumsily to avoid dropping it. She swore loudly.

'That's hard! And it's so loud!'

'Right, sorry, I should've warned you,' said Sean, his own ears still ringing. 'I told you it kicked like a mule, though. I mean - no offense to mules. Uh ...'

Aki giggled. 'I can barely see where it hit, though,' she said, squinting at the same boulder they'd shot at the previous day.

'You're lucky; I can't see it at all from here.' Sean repositioned himself behind Aki, taking hold of her hands. 'Again?"

They took several more shots, Sean giving her a few pointers in between each, before he decided to stop for now, worried about their ammunition supply (which was limited to the three magazines and three spares, the rest of which were still in the pod) and about their ear safety. He made sure Aki switched the safety back on and clipped the pistol in its holster properly before they went over to their target, examining the loose grouping of smaller pockmarks that differentiated where the pistol rounds hit amidst the laser burns.

'I'm a lot better with the rifle,' Aki said disappointedly.

'Well, of course, the telescopic sight makes aiming easier,' Sean noted with a reassuring smile. 'But you're still beyond awesome for a beginner. I wish I could've shot that well when I first started.'

'Well, I've got an awesome teacher,' she said in her sultry voice, giving him a flattering grin. 'Didn't you?'

'I suppose,' he said, trying not to think of Luis as they went back to the other end of the range. 'He taught me lots, though I still sucked. Then again, I was just six ...'

Aki stared at him. 'Six?'

Sean shrugged. 'I started young.'

---

Obligatory stats (whole book):

Current word count (final estimate): 175,581 (~ 200,000) Current page count (final estimate): 481 (~ 520) Passive sentences: 5% Flesch Reading Ease: 70.4/100 Flesch-Kincaid grade level: 7.4