It's The Little Things...

Posted on Sun Mar 6th, 2016 @ 10:10pm by Staff Sergeant Sam Hopper

304 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Episode 90 - The Great Relink
Location: Hopper's Quarters
Timeline: MD3, 0900 hrs.

One of the benefits of being a Platoon Sergeant is that they get to live in Senior NCO quarters. That means space to set up a "hobby area", and to adequately sound proof the area for this hobby.

Sam Hopper was on comp time, due to pulling Battalion CQ the previous day. So he took advantage of this extra off duty time to finish a personal project. He had been working on this knife for months now, from making the tritanium infused damascus steel, hammering the 8 inch blade into shape, giving it a saber grind, heat treating, fitting the nickel steel guard and green micarta handle over the full tang, polishing the blade so the different steals in the material can stand out with beautiful lines, to his present act of sharpening the edge to a 21 degree angle on both sides, and polishing the edge into what his friends in Texas would refer as stupid sharp.

Looking at the edge, he could see a mirrored reflection of his face. He smiled as he marveled at his work. He has been making knives by hand since even before he enlisted into the Federation Marines, this art handed down to him by his Father. Knowing that some technology would not hurt the spirit of his art, he set the knife down onto a soft cloth on the workbench, and did a final scan with a tricorder, checking for any signs of metal fatigue and any other imperfections. There were none. This knife would punch through a ship's bulkhead. Sliding the blade into a black targ leather sheath he made for the knife, he was happy with the project. He attached the sheath to his load bearing gear before cleaning himself up. He said to himself, "What's the point of making it if I don't use it?"

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