Practical Marksmanship | Session 2 | Period 4 | 7/16/10

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

Again, the class met in the Danger Shop. This time, when the students stepped in they found themselves on the desolate floor of a long deserted building, several stories up. At one end, there is a large open window and a Barrett M82 sniper rifle with gillie netting around it. The only other furniture in the room are another set of padded benches, and a single table. Price and Ashley stand behind that table.

"Today's class activity is two-fold. First, a brief discussion about assassination. Not being a killer for hire, that is not what we're on about. I personally am a soldier, and it seems many of you are as well. The exercise today, which is entirely optional if you wish to morally object, is based off a real event. A shot I myself took."

He held up a picture of a man, wrinkle-faced and bearded. "This is Imran Zakhaev. In 1996, he is an arms dealer, selling Uranium on the black market. Nuclear material, weapons-grade. A leftenant Price and a Captain Macmillan are given the first assassination order issued by the SAS since the end of World War II. Nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists and mercenaries cannot be allowed. Or... so the government thought."

"What about you, students? Do you think a government has a right to execute a man based solely on what he's about to do?"

After the discussion, Price lifted a picture of a mushroom cloud. "This doesn't discount any of your moral arguments, but I want to show you what happens when Zakhaev survives this assassination attempt. This is what happens in 2011. 30,000 American soldiers dead in the blink of an eye."

He sets the picture down. "But now you're asking yourselves, did your teacher refuse to take the shot?" Price shook his head. "I took it. Took his arm clean off. But the stubborn bastard survived and Macmillan and I had to bug out the instant after I took the one shot. We hoped the blood loss would get him, but we weren't so lucky. Now none of you will have to do the daring escape from the various armed bastards in the area that Macmillan and I had to deal with. This is a one-shot, one-hopeful-kill situation. Everybody gets one shot from the sniper rifle. And you'll see that it's not as easy as it seems in the movies. There's a few little things, like wind speed and the Coriolis effect to take into account. If you don't know that is, well, Google it after class. You'll learn something else. If you don't want to take the shot, all you have to do is say why, and you can sit back down."

He then pointed to a student at random.

"You, you get to start."

[ooc: OCD coming up. OCD up, class open!]

Comments

Re: Discussion: Assassination

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley cleared his throat. "There are, ah, certain cases in which a carefully-planned assassination attempt can spare hundreds or thousands of lives. As desirable as it may be to try to force rehabilitation, that can be - more dangerous. And a shoddy assassination attempt can be vastly more dangerous than not having made the attempt. Meaning no disrespect to you, of course, Professor," he added quickly. "I meant my comment in regard to - er - someone else."

Re: Discussion: Assassination

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"Captain," he said. "Not professor. And I'm actually rather intrigued that you think along those lines. What was it again you said you'd been through all that training for?"

Re: Discussion: Assassination

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"I was training to be a - a mentor, of sorts, to what one might call an assassin of vampires and demons and such," Wes explained. "My official title was to be a Watcher of a girl known as the Slayer, chosen by birthright to kill monsters with the help of supernatural physical advantages. The trouble with training teenage assassins appointed to their tasks by birthright is that they're rather unstable, and with supernatural abilities they are even more so. Typical - er, yrials - would not be at all effective on a superpowered killer who decides to work for the other side."

Something he had kind of had to learn the hard way.

Re: Discussion: Assassination

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

[ooc: er, that "yrials" would be trials. Fail.]

Re: Discussion: Assassination

[stayingfrosty.livejournal.com]

"...you have that problem often, Wesley?" Price said, sort of amazed and baffled at the words the boy had said.

Re: Discussion: Assassination

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley blushed, hard. "Er, no, sir," he mumbled.