CH 7
The trip to Mars base 1 was quick. Get into high Earth orbit, fold to high Mars orbit, descend and land. Suzanne was hoping for another mission right away. It wasn't to be.
The 32nd was to have every ship go into refit to repair damage while they waited for replacements for Stinger. The most damage any of them had was on Porcupine with the top laser being destroyed. Since Porcupine had been given over to the mechanics, Suzanne Diane and Eddie had a boring 'day job' of inventory and systems verification after work had been completed. The bunk rooms at the Martian colony were separated male and female – no exceptions- which also didn't make them happy. Thankfully, work on Porcupine was completed in a couple weeks. Each ship also got a fresh protective paint job, which meant they had to repaint the cartoon porcupine up over the hatch.
Finally having their ship back, the Warrens moved back in the moment they were allowed to. Their first night 'back home', none of them got much sleep.
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Being briefed on the Endeavor disaster and the almost total losses the 116th Raptor squadron suffered, President Adama frowned heavily.
"The Earth Space command has take steps to ensure such an incompetent officer will never again take command of a research ship," his top Admiral told him. "What truly has my full attention are those small recon craft Earth uses. Ugly things they are, but shots that obliterated Raptors hardly scratched the paint of those ships they call Space Tanks. As for maneuverability and handling, our Vipers are fine ships, but they too are thin skinned and cannot take much damage. We need a class of ship similar to those Space Tanks they have to survive a slugging match."
"So, they are truly fighters and not recon ships?" Lee Adama asked.
"They are hard to classify," the Admiral admitted. "They can fight well, obviously. They also can do research, rescue, hades, just about any job that comes up, just like a Raptor. They are also nearly indestructible. They can also jump incredible distances just like Earth's big ships, and the rail gun, they call it, does tremendous damage to it's target. Mr. President, instead of another squadron of Vipers or Raptors, I highly suggest we build or buy a squadron of these Space Tanks for the Colonial fleet."
"Can we build something like that?" Lee Adama asked.
"Maybe not as good, but a whole lot better than what we have now," the Admiral said firmly.
"It makes sense to upgrade our defenses," Lee agreed. "Admiral, begin researching making our own. Also, see if you can get a price on buying a squadron of those Space Tanks if Earth will allow us to. At the next Quorum meeting, I will ask for funds to support the most efficient way to obtain type type of craft."
"I will get to work on it right away, Mr. President."
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After two weeks of space trials to verify all functions on every ship operated as expected, the 32nd was recommissioned for duty. Major Keaton got a new sensor operator for her ship, and Command had let her retain command of their squadron. Other shifts happened also. Suzanne moved up to second in command, and 'A' wing Commander after Captain Lansky had a great (and drunk) time with a married martian woman. Her husband found them and complained. Captain Keaton went to bat for her, and although Command did demand some punishment, she was able to keep her rank and ship. Major Keaton also ripped her up one side and down the other for doing something so stupid.
After space trials were over, they got to spend a few days on the ground in Puerto Rico (Except Lansky, who was confined to the base) before their next assignment. Suzanne, Diane and Eddie played on the beach and caught a televised Sensha-do match between the Ukraine and Italy. The bar they caught it at was filled with enthusiasts. Cheers and jeers sounded loudly as the Ukraine slowly took apart the Italian team.
Towards the end of the match, one of the other patrons recognized who was sitting across the bar. The man stood up and yelled, "Hey! The Terror Twins, that's them right there!"
The woman sitting beside Suzanne looked at them again. "It is them! I want to get a picture."
For the rest of the night, the Warrens didn't have to buy anything and had more than plenty to drink. A few cries "Panzer Vor!" sounded out from the open air bar. Some of the patrons even helped pour them into the cab at the end of the night.
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In the morning, Suzanne wanted to smash that alarm clock. Her head throbbed and she felt sick. "Ughhh," she groaned. She couldn't even muster the concentration to reach out with a mind hand and smash that stupid alarm to bits.
Thankfully, Eddie manged to crawl over and silence it, then flopped back down. "Someone, just shoot me," he said with a groan.
"Me first," Diane croaked. "I think we drank too much."
"Way too much," Suzanne agreed.
"Tell me today is Sunday," Diane begged.
"Monday, and it's gonna suck," Eddie grumbled. Forcing himself up he said, "I'll get the coffee started."
"Aspirin too," Suzanne groaned.
"Three for me," Diane groaned.
Dragging their hungover selves up, they had coffee and aspirin for breakfast, swearing they would never get drunk like that ever again. Feeling like wet, wrung out dishrags, the trio got themselves ready and marched their swollen heads out to report for morning quarters.
.
Thankfully, they were having a briefing, so they were in the a briefing room that even had fairly comfortable chairs. Looking around Suzanne noted others were slouched down, holding their heads or swearing off liqueur for the rest of their lives.
"ATTENTION ON DECK!" Major Keaton bellowed.
"Not so loud," Diane begged with a while as the got themselves to their feet.
"Fine shape my prize squadron is in!" Admiral Scot announced as he came in and eyed them.
"Admiral, I apologize for the condition of my squadron," Major Keaton offered as she glared at them.
"No need, no one was expecting to be put back on duty today," Admiral Scot said, then added, "But, everyone will be required to perform their duties. Be seated."
Thankful for not having to stand any longer, they all sagged down in their seats.
"I will make this brief," Admiral Scot said. "In a spirit of cooperation exercise, Queen Lucy has agreed to train a group of Colonial pilots in operating our recon ships. You will be returning to the planet we're now calling 'Hot Sands', the place where you picked up those Katan scientists. The 24th recon will also be joining you. The home ship you will report to is the Colonial Battle Cruiser Orion. While the Orion and it's crew are studying Hot Sands, You will be providing in-system support and training colonial pilots assigned to you. Katan translators will be provided to the Orion, so if they are encountered, we will not have any misfortune incidents. Major Keaton, you have two days to gather whatever you need and meet the Orion in Mars Orbit. Do you have any questions?"
Suzanne raised her hand. "Two, Sir. Will we be bunking Colonials on board, and will there be any Crazy Androids … I mean, Cylons there?"
"Crazy Androids?" Lt. Strong asked her in a whisper.
"You will have to speak with the Colonial Commander about that, Captain," Admiral Scot said, not sounding pleased. "Major, good luck."
They traded salutes and the Admiral walked out.
The moment, Admiral Scot left, Major Keaton said, "All Captains, get a list of what you need to the base supply office by noon. Captain Warren, I will see you alone."
"We'll start inventory," Eddie told Suzanne.
Suzanne nodded. She really hoped Major Keaton wasn't in a yelling mood.
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Counting their supplies was boring, but suitable for people who didn't want to move around too much. Eddie was taking inventory of medical supplies. Diane sat in front of their bed, inventorying their food.
Eddie looked around him for the ipod that had their supply order on. Diane had it, punching in the food they'd need for a full 60 day load out. "Diane, add a roll of gauze bandage and three boxes of birth control pills to the list."
"Got it. Hopefully, we'll need them."
"The bandages?"
"The birth control, dummy."
Eddie cracked a grin and asked, "Why would we need a birth control dummy?" Something smacked him in the head.
"What?" he asked.
"That was fun," Suzanne said as she entered the ship. "Now I know all about how to be politically correct."
"Suz, your ears OK?" Eddie asked.
"A little warm but yeah. What can I help with?"
"We haven't done the spare energy packs or counted the rail gun slugs yet," Diane said.
"On it. I'll do the slugs first, " Suzanne said and went to the electronics console.
"Didn't we get a full load at Mars?" Diane asked.
"We did, but we're suppose to inventory everything," Suzanne told her. "Tomorrow afternoon, we launch."
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In his ready room on board the Battle Cruiser Orion, Commander Edmonson met with some of the pilots who had been with Earth's 32nd Recon squadron. Across the table from him Lt. Agathon, Lt. Adama and Captain Thanos sat.
Looking at the raptor pilots, Commander Edmonson said, "Tomorrow two squadrons of Earth recon ships will be arriving. What I want to know, is what can we expect from them? Captain?"
Captain Thanos said, "Those are good, really tough ships, sir. They aren't afraid to mix it up in a fight, either. The crews were instrumental in getting any of our Raptors home. If we are returning to that area of space, I'm very glad they are coming with us."
"Lt. Agathon?"
"Sir, the crews I met are skilled, and they are not afraid to act. They are, however, not exactly by the book. Captain Warren seems like she makes things up as she goes along. What she makes up though, is usually very good. She is an outstanding tactician, and has a high situational awareness. Twice she beat us hands down. Once in a training exercise, and the second time in a tactical game where the odds were even. They killed all our units, and we didn't even get a look at them," Hera said.
"Lt. Adama?"
Tom coughed and said, "Sir, like the Captain and Lt. Agathon said, they are very good. They also do not seem to care much for regulation. Well, our regulations. I was told to the point, 'my ship, my rules' by Captain Warren. Later on, that was reenforced to me. The do things that, well sir, are potentially dangerous and outside our normal operating procedures."
"I do believe their view of regulation applies to their own ships, Sir," Captain Thanos said. "When Major Ford was trying to get Captain Styles to see reason, the Warrens did support us one hundred percent."
Commander Edmonson nodded slowly and itched his chin. "Well, how they run their ships is their business. As long as they do their job and do not upset my ships functions, I don't have a problem with it. I understand their recon ships have their own bunk rooms. Is there anything else I should know?"
"Sir, I don't know if this is pertinent, but the Warrens, Suzanne and Diane, are princesses, granddaughters of Queen Lucy," Captain Thanos told him.
"Do they require special treatment, Captain?"
"Not that I saw, no, Sir."
"Then that is a non-issue," Commander Edmonson stated. "You three volunteers know the most about these ships you will be training in. Share your knowledge with the other trainees. Let them know what they are in for. High command is very interested in these recon ships, you must learn everything you can about them. After the Earth ship's arrival, there will be a meeting in the hangar for all concerned personnel. Dismissed."
The three saluted their Commander and filed out.
.
Late in the day, Major Keaton passed out training manuals for the Colonial pilots and an information packets on the Battle Cruiser they were to meet. Having a rough first part of the day, right after dinner, Eddie was in bed with Suzanne on one side and Diane on the other as they looked through the pamphlets.
Looking at the training manual, Suzanne said, "According to this, we have to teach them pretty much everything. Piloting, gunnery, navigation, prospecting and sample taking, and rescue operations."
"So, they want fully qualified flight crews of their own, I take it," Eddie said
"Depends how long we're out. Maybe they just want fully indoctrinated pilots. I bet they are going to replace their raptors with Space Tanks."
"That would be a smart move." Eddie agreed.
"Look at this," Diane said as she held open the Orion book to an external view of the ship. "It looks pretty much like Galactica, but a whole lot smaller. It's only 2000 feet long. Two main pulse cannons, 50 flak guns, four six tube anti-ship missile launchers. Normal compliment is two 12 Viper wings and one 10 raptor wing. It does jump up to 5000 light years per jump. At least that's better than a raptor."
"Still a lot of jumps to Hot Sands," Suzanne grumbled.
"I take it there will be a lot of training time," Eddie noted.
"Maybe enough time so we can get them to call each ship by it's name," Diane said with a smirk. She raised up to put the booklet on the shelf, dangling a large breast right in front of Eddie's face. He obliged and gave her nipple a quick suckle.
Diane giggled. "Can't keep your lips off me, huh?" she teased.
"Nope. It was right there," Eddie said with a grin.
Suzanne made it a point to rise up and put the training manual on the shelf, sticking her chest in Eddie's face. Again, he sucked on the nipple at close range.
"Yummy Suz," Eddie said, making her laugh.
"So, you can tell the difference, can you?" Suzanne challenged.
"Of course," Eddie said confidently.
"Ohhh, we have to test you on that," Diane said with a wide grin. She turned all the lights off.
Softly, Suzanne whispered, "If you're right, you get your way. If not, we get our way."
Eddie's grin grew. A win-win situation. This was going to be a fun night.
.
After an all night sex party that Eddie learned he couldn't tell who's tongue it was licking him, again they were wrecked in the morning. This time Suzanne forced herself up and got the coffee started.
Since today was takeoff, only Suzanne had to go to the morning meeting. That gave Eddie and Diane a few extra minutes to wake up and get the ship ready.
The few supplies they needed came and were packed away by the time Suzanne came back. They had three hours before launch. They got set, then took a much needed two hour nap before takeoff.
The Orion could only take in two ships at a time, one from each squadron. The 32nd landed in the starboard side pod, the 24th in the Port side pod. Suzanne hoped this would not be a hindrance later on.
As it turned out, the Colonials had developed air curtains. Once inside the pod, the air thickened to atmospheric pressure from a vacuum in 100 feet. That meant there was no lost time in pressurizing or pumping the air out for launches and recoveries.
The second ship in, Suzanne noticed much of the crew were on the catwalks above the hanger bay, watching them land. The bay was tight for even their ten ships. Raptors were parked side by side in the inboard side, they were packed in side by side on the outboard side, facing the raptors. Suzanne only saw six Vipers in their individual bays in front of large triangular hatches. There was barely enough room to open their hatches and extend the boarding ramps. Eddie had to 'walk' Porcupine in place by moving the landing gear. In between the two rows of ships, Eddie guess there was a clear 30 meters. Enough room for one ship to safely pass between the rows.
"Launch bays," Diane said, pointing to a Viper. "The Vipers are shot out from launch tubes to give them speed on exit."
Looking up at the catwalks above filled with people, Eddie said, "Looks like we're drawing a crowd."
"Diane, you're the tour guide," Suzanne said.
"Why me?"
"Why not?"
"Fine."
Over the radio, Major Keaton announced, "All ships down and parked. Exit your ships and we'll head up to the briefing room."
.
On their way to the briefing room, it seemed like much more of the Orion crew has to be someplace using the same corridors as they did. Mostly their interactions were friendly waves and greetings. One man pointed to Diane and excitedly asked, "Are you guys the Terror Twins, from the Earth tankery matches?"
"That's us." Diane told him.
The man clenched a fist and yelled, "Panzer Vor!"
"Panzer Vor!" Diane, Suzanne, Eddie, Nova and Alex replied with their own clenched fists.
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A marine corporal asked the man next to him, "What's Panzer Vor mean?"
"No idea," the man replied. "It's an Earth thing."
Not long after the Earth crews passed by, rumors began to circulate through the Orion crew on what panzer vor could possibly mean. Most guessed it was a victory cry. The engineer who was an avid fan of Earth Sensha-do happened to have a couple videos subtitled in Colonial Standard that he thought were great matches. One of those was the last Japan's Nationals match that Miho was the commander of Ooari, and Suzanne's first Nationals match against Black Forest. The 'extra' to that video was the video dance the Ooari girls version of 'You Can't Touch This'.
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In the briefing room, Captain Thanos was there with the other trainees to greet the Space tank squadrons. After shaking hands with Major Keaton and all the others as they came in, he had everyone sit and read the assignment list. He was on Stinger with Major Keaton, Hera was assigned to Porcupine, Ton Adama was assigned to Phoenix. The list went on, one Colonial for each ship. Once everyone knew where they were assigned, he went and got his Major.
The Major came in with another man and a woman. Attention on deck was called, and the older man stepped up to the speaking platform.
"At ease, be seated," he said. "I am Commander Edmonson, commanding officer of the Orion. On communications, I am Orion Actual." Motioning to the woman with the close cropped light brown hair he said, "This is my Exec, Lt. Commander Karla Canatto," and to the shorter man that had a Mediterranean skin tone, "My Flight Officer, Major Alato Cohones."
Many Earth crews smirked, Diane forced down a laugh that erupted as a snort. Commander Edmonson paused briefly, then continued on. "Major Cohones will be your direct superior and is in charge of all flight operations. He will work closely with Major Keaton to ensure the goals for this mission are met. We have two missions to complete. One is to attempt to contact the race called Katan and form a peace treaty, find the cause behind the Katan/ bug war and see if there is anything that can be done to stop it. The other is to train the selected Colonial pilots on Earth's recon ships so they may be instructors for other Colonial pilots. Both are very important so we must all do our best to fulfill all out mission goals."
He paused briefly, then asked,"May I ask what was so funny?"
Suzanne raised her hand. "Commander, sir. It is just a coincidence, but in certain Earth languages, 'Major Alato Cohones' could be translated as 'very large … male genitalia'." she said, trying to keep a straight face.
Major Cohones shrugged and replied, "That is better than very small genitalia."
The room erupted in laughter. Even the Commander chuckled as he looked at his Major. "Carry on!" he announced and walked out with the XO as Major Keaton called, "Attention!"
The rest of the meeting was announcing training times and Major Keaton stressing the need for study and practice. Each trainee got a book on controls and operation, and one on layout and components. The trainees were to spend the rest of the day familiarizing themselves with the ships and crews were to assist them.
.
Walking back to Porcupine with the crew, Hera said, "I can't believe you laughed in front of the Commander."
"It was funny." Diane told her. "At least his name is more promising than 'Pinya Colada'."
"Really. That was not a good time," Eddie agreed.
"It could have been worse," Suzanne said. "If I hadn't gotten that last wizard before I passed out, it may have been a disaster."
"I never saw Chika get pissed before, she's almost as bad as Gramma Lucy." Diane said. "Miss Fruity drink was terrified."
"She should have been," Suzanne stated.
"Look who's training Chika," Eddie told Suzanne. "Gramma Lucy is not someone to screw with if you value your life."
"True," Suzanne agreed.
"Who's gramma Lucy?" Hera asked.
"Earth's Queen," Diane told her.
"oh." Hera said, then thought 'damn near Queen of the galaxy.' There was no one who spoke about Queen Lucy with anything but respect, no matter where you went.
.
Hera had done minor piloting in a Space Tank before so she was already partially familiar with the control panel. Suzanne took her for a walk round the outside of the ship, showing her details, where sensors were located, the lasers, the clam shell the grippers were stored behind, the joints in the landing gear and where the gear was stored. She even 'flew' Hera up to stand on top of the ship to show Hera every detail as Hera found it in her book.
Hera had thought the familiarization was going to be quick. She learned there was much more to these ships that she had guessed. Two things she was very happy about was the thick armor protection and the power of the rail gun that ran underneath the deck.
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Major Cohones sat in his office looking through the books on these recon vehicles. His top Viper pilot sat across the desk, looking through the other book.
"Can I trade my Viper in for one of these?" Lt. Palmur asked. "I'll give them my first born," she added.
"These things are miniature flying fortresses," Major Cohones said in wonder. "I doubt an Archer missile would take one out. They have better armor than our cruiser."
"Might get their attention," Palmur said in a musing tone. "That is, if they didn't look at it and shoot it down with a laser while another crewman obliterated whoever shot it with that rail gun. And that's just their combat capabilities. This jump they call a fold is fast, and can be repeated time and time again in short order. Get me one, and I'll be your sex slave for life, Mr. Big Genitalia," she said with a grin.
Major Cohones let out a snort. "I want one first. How did they come up with this thing?"
"I don't know, but I really want one."
.
In the crew's mess, crewmen sat on the edge of their seats as the last of the Sensha-do match was being played. Porcupine was up against the side of the Maus. Shells were raining down from Phoenix.
"She's not even taking cover!"
"Good Gods! That Suzanne has nerves of steel!"
"She's frakin nuts!"
"How in the hades did she live through that? Those are real explosions!"
"For fracks sake, GET DOWN!"
"Frack me, they killed that beast."
Watching glued to the screen as the last Black Forest tank came down to try and reset the cap, people held their breath, waiting to see what was going to happen. Upon Ooari winning, everyone got up and cheered. On the screen in large letters, "Panzer Vor!" was displayed as Suzanne yelled it.
The entire mess yelled out, "Panzer Vor!"
They were also delighted with the teams' rendition of 'You Can't Touch This'.
.
Eddie knelt down pointing to the gripper controls under his console. "Down here is where you operate the grippers from," he explained. Forming his fingers into Vulcan 'live long and prosper' signs with his thumbs out, he said "Hold your fingers like this, they go into those two lower horizontal controls on each side. Your thumbs to up into the vertical ones right above them, see?"
Hera nodded. She mimicked the way he was holding his hands.
"Good, now get in the seat and reach under and put your fingers into the controls," Eddie coaxed.
Hera did. It felt a little strange. She looked at Eddie who was now kneeling by her, holding his hands in the folded 'stored' position. "Twitch your right thumb, it opens the clam shell," he said and twitched his thumb. "You left thumb closes it, but only if the grippers are stored."
Hera did. On the screen in front of her, her view was briefly blocked by the steel plates coming open.
"Good, now slowly move your hands," Eddie coached as he moved his to stick straight out. "The grippers will copy every move you make. Move them around and get used to the feel."
Moving the grippers, Hera was surprised at how light the controls were. The large steel grippers on thick metal arms copied her every move.
"Great! Now, when you feel confident, pick up that box on the floor."
Hera slowly moved the controls to aim a gripper at the box. She opened her fingers, and the grippers opened. Carefully, she lined the open gripper on the box. When they contacted the metal box, she felt a resistive feedback. She also crushed the box.
"That's OK, they take some practice to get it right," Eddie told her. "Pick it up and put it down to get the feel, then try the second box."
Hera toyed with the crushed box until she had a feel for when contact was made. She put the ruined box down and reached for the other one. Her first try was a little too light and she dropped it. She got it on the second try. "These are awesome," she said with a smile.
"Strong too, you have to find the balance between finesse and strength. We'll practice until you can play checkers with another ship."
"Checkers?"
"It's a simple game," Eddie assured her. Grinning, he added, "The trick will be moving the pieces."
.
Major Cohones followed behind Captain Keaton and Suzanne as they looked for a place to play checkers. "So what is this game of checkers?" he asked.
"It's not hard to play," Captain Keaton told him. "The board is tiled squares, usually red and white. The pieces stay on the red squares, and move diagonally. An opponent piece its taken when it is jumped over. The object is to get to the other side of the board so pieces can be 'kinged', and able to move in any direction, not just forward. You win by taking all the opposing pieces off the board."
"Sounds simple enough," he agreed. "How does this help train your crews?"
Captain Keaton grinned and said, "You have to use the ship to move the pieces. If you break one, it's lost. Drop the top piece off a 'king', and it goes back to being a regular piece. It's practice in dexterity using the ships grippers and walking the ship. That's part of ship handling."
"That's why we're looking for an open space, the ships needs room to move," Suzanne told him.
Captain Keaton looked around and said, "We're going to have to launch some ships to make room."
Suzanne studied the line of Space Tanks. "If we pack everyone together a bit, then the last two ships in line will have the room to move carefully. It will also give the trainees walking practice."
"Good idea, let's try it."
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The deck hands had orange squares they used for marking off reserved bays. Major Cohones got the squares, and 32 emergency sealing disks (though the XO wasn't happy about using them for a game). Suzanne had 16 painted red, the other 16 painted black on the non rubber side. The disks were about basketball sized and fit on the squares.
Major Cohones watched Suzanne and a few crewmen lay out the board while Captain Keaton moved two of the recon ships out of line and backed them down the middle of the bay, out of the way of the board.
While he watched the ships move adjusting their landing gear, he noted these ships just didn't look like crabs, the also functioned as giant crabs with six movable legs, and the pair of pincers in front. Once they were ready, the trainees of the two ships walked them up to each side of the board, and the game began.
The first pieces lost were 'pinched' and shot off the board to make some people laugh, and others duck for cover. The deck crews learned not to be too close to the board.
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Hera was sweating with concentration. She had two regular pieces and a 'king' left. Beside the concentration of picking up the round pieces without making them shoot out of the grippers, she found the game although simple in rules, was much more complex in strategy. Her opponent, who she forgot who it was, had two kings left. She managed to get another king, and saw her opponent move. The king stayed intact. She also noticed a double jump opportunity. Now, just to not screw it up.
Beside her, Eddie and Diane watched intently as she moved to pick her king up. Kings were harder to pickup then single pieces. Carefully, she moved the gripper over and pointed it straight down and closed in on her king. A light, but firm grip and she lifted and slowly moved it over the first piece, touched the square beyond, then over the second piece.
"Yay, you did it!" Eddie and Diane cheered and clapped.
Making careful moves, Hera removed the pieces she'd jumped. She won the game.
Now, they had to set the board back up for the next set of players.
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Satisfied Suzanne was getting the training done in this pod, Captain Keaton went over to the port pod to see how the 24th was coming along. After the training day, Suzanne went over how well each ship was doing with their Colonial. LT. Billy Madler was upset he pinched a piece that shot over and took out the windshield of raptor. Other than that, there were no other damages or injuries.
Suzanne had tests made for the trainees. One was pictures of a Space Tank exterior view, all sides. Nothing was labeled. The test was to correctly identify each item. Another test was the three control panels, blank to be filled in by the trainee. For practical tests, there was going to be a flight test, and if they came across something to study, a sample taking test, then formation flying, Expanding the soft pods, coordinated actions, and finally a gunnery test.
.
When not involved in training, the Colonial trainees tended to stick with their assigned Space Tank crews. Every time a ship went out to do a flight qual certification, the Colonial for that ship went with them. On Porcupine, Suzanne cycled Hera between stations to be sure she got as much practical experience as possible.
By this time, the Orion crew were familiar with 'panzer vor', and saw the 'Terror Twins' as not young pilots, but seasoned warriors. The flight pod deck crew got used to seeing Earth people by their ships in pajamas or nightgowns during the 'off hours'. When Major Cohones found a pair of large fake testicles attached to the outside of his office door, he smirked and left them.
Two months out, the Orion found a system worth sending the trainees out for their practicals. Four ships went out at a time, Carrying Captain Keaton, Suzanne, or the 24th CO or second as monitors. The trainees flew the ships, did planetary surveys, took samples from moons and asteroids, then performed mock 'rescue' missions and and attack runs.
Major Cohones (By Major Keaton's request), gathered the trainees together to congratulate them and handed out 'Recon qualified' certifications.
Their next stop was the Hot Sands system.
Note : Yes folks, things will be 'heating up' in the next chapters
