Did you catch Monday's blog post featuring JamesSavik's story, In the Shadow of the Dragon, for this month's Signature Feature? You definitely don't want to miss this longer novel-length story if you're looking for a great technical action story with a lot of human interactions that will hit you in the feels. See what I mean below!

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That afternoon Tom decided that it was time to have a little fun, so he set up some tin cans for targets. He got out one of the Mini-14s, some hearing protection muffs and set up them up on the sun deck.

He then called the boys up to the sun deck and gave them a gun safety lecture and familiarized them with the Mini-14.

When he was satisfied that no one would shoot him he handed the Mini-14 to Brian and had everyone put on their hearing protection earmuffs. He gave the OK and Brian took some shots at the targets that he had put out. He wasn’t a bad shot. Out of 10 rounds, Brian hit seven targets.

Jimmy scored about the same.

When Bobby’s turn came his hands shook, and he was obviously nervous. Tom talked to him and said, “Relax. Think of it as just another tool. Find a target, line it up down the iron sights and squeeze the trigger.”

Bobby took careful aim at one of the cans Tom had put out and took a shot but missed high. He took another shot and hit dead on.

Tom said, “That’s it. You’re getting there.”

When Bobby had fired his 10 rounds, he had five hits. Tom said, “Not bad for a beginner.”

Ronny was another story. He was so unnerved by handling the gun that he couldn’t hold it still. He said that it would be best if he tried another time and Tom decided it was best not to push him.

Tom thought about that some exercises to help the twins get over their gun-phobia, but that could wait.

They all had some fun, had gone over the basics of gun safety and given Tom some idea where their skills were. He considered the exercise a success.

*     *     *

 

Over the course of the day Gaddis’s men deployed all 24 of their AQM systems.

At the end of the day, he called General Braddock and said, “General, we’ve got all the AQMs deployed.”

Braddock said, “Outstanding! How did you pull that off?”

“I took my tech guys up to Eagle Rock, and we got one of the best technical presentations that I’ve ever seen from the 16-year-old son of Dr. Ross.”

The General said, “Who is at Eagle Rock anyway?”

“When things hit the fan, Dr. Ross got tied up back East. He sent his sons and some of their friends up to the mountains to get their equipment up and running. Tom is the oldest at 16. The rest are 14.”

Braddock said, “That’s outstanding Henry. Do you know how many lives those kids may have just saved?”

Gaddis said, “I’m amazed too. Those kids are sharp as tacks. I looked at their files. Tom made Eagle Scout at 15, and he’s in all advanced classes. The younger brother is equally impressive. The Farmer Twins are geniuses- they are 14 and taking junior level advanced courses and the Lee kid is no slouch either.”

Braddock said, “You know what that sounds like to me Henry?

“What is that General?”

“An asset. Keep an eye on those kids. We may need their help again before this is all said and done.”

 

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