Tuvok shows him the "off" switch.

"Does it fire when wet?"

"Yes."

Laurence thinks for a minute.

"Are there additional conditions for its operation? Might it explode if ill handled?"

"A phaser can be deliberately overloaded, causing a large explosion. However, I know of no cases where a phaser exploded accidentally."

Laurence nods.

"No further questions, I thank you."

"Very well."

He nods to Laurence, and walks out.

This is work of a sort, and he sets to it.

He adjusts his grip and shoots over and over to figure out how to place his hands best. It's very different from the pistols he's used before, but in most ways easier. He marvels at how quickly and easily he can fire, with almost no time between shots. It makes practice much faster.

After the first hour, he feels he could use it in combat reasonably well. He keeps going for a second hour to build muscle memory and speed.

Then: "Computer, please tell Lieutenant Tuvok that I have finished with the exercise he set me."

"Very well. I am currently occupied: meet me at the holodeck at 1900 hours."

Ah, it's time for dinner, isn't it.

Laurence will return to his quarters for replicated food (he asks for Yorkshire pudding this time) and then come back to the holodeck. Easier not to deal with the social minefield of the mess right now.

At 1900 hours on the dot, Tuvok returns. 

"I intend to start with simpler and easier scenarios and work up from there."

He has the computer create a phaser and hands in to Laurence."

"Computer, level 1.”

A Klingon with a bat'leth appears at the far end of the holodeck. He pauses for a second then runs at Laurence.

Laurence leaps to one side and shoots the Klingon straight in the chest. He doesn't have much time to process the man's grotesque appearance.

"What weapon is that?" he shouts at Tuvok. It's not a phaser as you led me to expect, he does not say but heavily implies with meaningful eye movements.

The meaningful eye movements are entirely lost on Tuvok.

"That is a bat'leth, a Klingon melee weapon."

"Admittedly, you are unlikely to face a bat'leth, even in the alpha quadrant. Klingons do primarily use disruptors, which are similar to phasers. That they use bat'leth at all in actual combat is... illogical."

"Shall we continue?"

Laurence WANTS a SWORD. The HOLOGRAM got a sword.

"Are there more such weapons in your training exercises?"

"That is not a question I will answer, Mr. Laurence.In my experience, one is not always informed as to how exactly the enemy will be equipped."

"I can assure you that there are no weapons in these exercises that are entirely unfamiliar to you. A bat'leth is not very different from a sword, if you are armed with a phaser."

Laurence straightens his jacket. "Sir. I believe I am more effective in combat when wielding blade and pistol both, miraculous as these phasers of yours may be."

This had been going so well until now.

Tuvok considers his options. Ultimately, he's unwilling to have a member of the security team carrying around a sword. There are several reasons. First, he's extremely skeptical that Mr. Laurence is correct that a sword could be more useful than a phaser in any combat scenario. Second, a sword is fundamentally a lethal weapon. A phaser makes incapacitation just as easy as killing, which hugely reduces unwanted enemy fatalities. Third, Starfleet doctrine is not designed to accommodate a sword-user, and re-training the rest of the security team doesn't merit consideration.

He has a brief impulse to dismiss Mr. Laurence on the spot. Upon reflection, however, he decides that that would be unwise. A preference to use the methods one has trained extensively with, that one knows one can rely upon, may be logical. Tuvok does not, really, think it is logical in this case. But a fundamental requirement of working with humans is accepting that they are not always logical. There would be no Federation if Vulcans couldn't learn that tolerance.

(This last part is an automatic mental motion that requires barely any time for Tuvok: he's been working with humans for a long time.)

"That may be, Mr. Laurence, although I am skeptical. But regardless, to function as part of the security team, you must use the same equipment that they do. They must be able to rely on you having known capabilities, which they would not be able to if you went into combat with a sword. And if this exercise is to have value, then it must reflect the conditions under which you would operate as a member of the security team."

A sense of shame comes over Laurence for his absurd request. Of course he cannot have different weaponry than all the rest of the security team uses; it's offensive to all sense of military discipline. It would be the height of arrogance for him to demand to use something different and special, simply because it's what he is used to.

"Of course, sir. I understand."

"Let us continue then."

"Computer, level 4."

Voyager's cargo bay (not that Laurence would recognize it) shimmers into existence. Laurence winds up behind a pile of cargo. Two Romulans shimmer into existence as well. They are armed with disruptors, but they're distracted: they're searching the cargo for something.

Laurence's first thought is discomfort with this scenario: the enemy hasn't attacked yet, is he to shoot them in the back?

But, he realizes, of course the premise is that they've already taken action that warrants attack, perhaps by searching in a cargo hold for something that doesn't belong to them. And they are, after all, holograms and not real (Laurence quashes his niggling doubts on this count; he certainly has no way to gainsay it).

Laurence stays hidden, finds an opening, and drops the first Romulan; then it takes him just a second longer to remember that he doesn't have to reload and drop the second one.

Are they dead or stunned?

Laurence had his phaser set to 'stun.'