Chapter 25 – Preparing for training
Dutybound-1
"Ah shit!" Lamar shouted. "The hydraulics for the cargo ramp are busted!"
"Well, there goes the air drop…" Shawn mumbled and looked at the pilot. "So?"
"We're landing; the door can be opened manually on the ground with some "persuasion." Start calling them already."
"Sure thing, boss! 777th, we have problems with hydraulics and we request a landing permission."
"Request granted," a female voice responded almost immediately. "Coffee, tea?"
"Um… Three teas, if it's not a bother, ma'am."
"Roger that," the voice responded with a hint of sarcasm.
"Now this will be fun..." Barnes said.
Gym
"Elwyn, could you be so nice as to make some tea for three of your compatriots? That's an order by the way," Ellie's voice reached the training girls.
"Guess we have to stop training anyway," Sieglinde said. "Nobody goes bathing yet, I suppose we'll have to unload the transport."
A collective moan sounded around the gym.
"Guess I'll be going already…" Elwyn grumbled and trotted out of the gym.
Once she got into the kitchen, she put a kettle on the stove, and then she rummaged the cupboards, finding a big vacuum flask.
"Can I have a tea too?" Ellie said while leaning over the kitchen counter.
"Ugh, whatever…" Elwyn mumbled and looked for a cup.
"What, discontent about my order?"
"Kind of… The training was nice to be honest…"
"Ah, sorry for interrupting then. But look at it the other way: you'll get to talk to your compatriots."
"I don't know if I should be so optimistic like you, ma'am. I don't feel like talking to men I don't know…"
"I heard you had some… bad experience in the past."
"Words fly fast in this unit it seems…" Elwyn sighed. "Yeah, I had, so now I'm a bit cold-shoulderish towards guys."
"I see…"
"But don't worry, ma'am, an order is an order," Elwyn said, and at the same time, the kettle started whistling.
Quickly, Elwyn poured the boiling water both into the cup and into the flask.
"Last thing I want is being punished for insubordination. I wonder how Liz is doing…"
"Worried about your friend?"
"Yeah…"
"Then go and take a look if you want, the tea needs time."
"Nah, the rest are probably already there as we speak. And the tea can mature in the flask, so if you'll excuse me, ma'am…"
"Ah, yes, go, the plane should land any second now."
Elwyn sealed the flask and took three cups, three spoons and a tin with sugar with herself.
Outside Dutybound-1
The girls were now escorting the C-130, flying on both its side and over it.
"I think I'll take a look at the pilots," Shinobu said with a wry smile to Aya.
"Eheheh, just don't overdo it."
Shinobu zipped forward and looked back into the cockpit. The three crewmen started waving towards her. The Fusojins eyes went wide and she fell back to Aya.
"Ni…Ni…Ni… Black guys!"
"Oh? First time seeing black people?" Aya wondered.
"Yeah. There go my dreams of square jawed hunks with blonde hair…" she sighed.
"You can't have everything," Aya giggled and patted the sulking Shinobu on the back. "Oh, look, we're back at the base already."
"They'll sure have a rough landing on that snow…" Katie noticed. "Shame they didn't state that they'll be landing sooner, we could've cleared the runway."
"Who would?" Aya asked.
"Your dear Kola, who else? Plow down and thrust forward!" Aya blushed slightly hearing that, to which Katie smirked. "Say, Aya, thinking about going down with Kola?"
Aya's eyes widened considerably and her mouth was making movements like a fish pulled out of water.
"Don't tease her, ma'am…" Shinobu sighed. "I already noticed she's dead afraid of the notion of having sex…"
"Really now? Oh, sorry, Aya…"
"N-No, I didn't tell you…"
"But you did make out with him, right?"
"Y-Yeah… B-But that was d-different!"
"Guess going all out is something every girl has some qualms to do… Shinobu, would you give yourself entirely to the man you love?"
"Uh… Well… I don't know to be honest…" Shinobu pondered with red cheeks. "B-But how about you, ma'am?!"
"Me? I had my share of men," Katie smiled mysteriously. "But that wasn't love… That was just… Coitus. I just wanted to get it out of my system," she shrugged.
"I see…" both Aya and Shinobu murmured.
"It's rare to see girls so… decent in these times. I like that about you two," Katie grinned.
"Thanks…" the two mumbled again.
Suddenly, it struck Aya, "Katie, let's boom j-just above the runway!"
"Huh? Why?"
"I-if the five of us f-fly at supersonic s-speed over the snow…"
"Ooooooh… Intriguing concept… Okay, let's do it, the plane will land in thirty seconds! Elsa, Nami, did you hear us?"
The two gave a thumb up back to Katie.
"Good! Wedge formation and let's go! Starting from the very beginning of the runway!"
The girls formed a wedge and descended sharply towards the ground, stopping their descent only two meters above the snow cover. The white tuft started swirling all around them, and after they've ascended, they saw that snow height below the place they've flown over has been considerably reduced, with the runway peeking through at some points.
"Brilliant idea, Aya!" Katie slammed her on the back cheerfully.
"Ugh… Heh… Thanks…"
"Now, let's land ourselves and then, Aya, Elsa and Nami will help unloading."
"Roger!" the four beside Katie answered and they zipped to the hangar.
Outside the main building
"Woah, that was intense!" Elwyn cheered to herself. "Wonder if I can take one of the cars…"
"Of course you can," Kola's voice rang behind her back.
"Wah, you scared me!"
"Whatever. Here, I'll drop you off at the plane."
"And you're doing this because?"
"Because Ellie told me to help move stuff if needed."
"Ah, good… Then I'll bite."
"Hop into the truck then. Unless… You want to…"
"Do I ever!" Elwyn ran quickly towards the ZiL and jumped into the cabin in one fluent move.
"What enthusiasm… Certified petrol head ahoy!"
When he boarded the truck, Elwyn suddenly asked, "So, any plans regarding Aya?"
"What plans, comrade?" Kola smirked.
"Oh shut up! It's enough that one commie is doing the comrade shtick!"
"So you think I'm a commie? How dead wrong could you be…" he sighed.
"Then what are you?"
"Let's say that the current political system in Orussia is far from my expectations…"
"Ah, okay… Sorry for calling you a commie…"
"No problem, Elwyn. And I think I have an idea what you meant with "plans." I can assure you that until Aya lets me, I won't do anything myself."
"Won't you now? Well aren't you a damn gentleman…" she shot him a look of distrust.
"I see what I have to deal with, that's all. I can't play the role of the average man around Aya, can I?"
"That would be a bit… over the top in Aya's case, at least according to my observations…"
"Those glasses probably help, huh?"
"Oh shush, that's only for my nearsightedness!"
"Heh… Anyway, run the damn engine already, the plane has landed," Kola pointed at the big bird on the runway.
"Oh, crap!" she shouted and turned the ignition key.
When the plane finally positioned itself and turned off the engines, Elwyn drove up beside the cockpit, and after climbing on the roof of the truck, she started waving. After a few seconds, an Afro-Liberian man looked at her from the cockpit and waved back.
"Black guy, huh? Surprising. I wonder why they're not opening the cargo ramp though?"
Elwyn tried to show a cargo ramp opening to the man, but he signaled her that there's a malfunction and to wait five minutes. Elwyn shrugged and returned inside the truck.
"Glorious Liberian technology malfunctioning?" Kola asked sarcastically.
"Oh shut it… Everything will break down eventually, and from what I see, this plane is older than me."
After a minute, Elwyn heard a knock on the door. She opened it and saw Elsa, Nami, and Aya.
"Oh, what's up you three stooges?"
"You know why the plane is doing nothing?" Nami asked.
"Some kind of malfunction with the cargo ramp."
"Oh…"
"Want to come in?"
"Sure!" Nami cheered and squirmed inside, seating herself between Elwyn and Kola shamelessly.
"Emmm…" Elsa pondered. "Yeah, this will do!" she jumped in and sat on Nami's lap.
"Hoho, you sure like it comfortable, huh?" Nami asked.
"Heheh… Aya, come on, you can sit on Kola's lap!"
"O-O-Okay!" Aya jumped inside, squirmed amongst the seated and carefully sat on Kola's lap. "I-I hope I'm n-not disturbing…"
"No, you're not, Sweetie," Kola said softly
Aya blushed and tucked the left side of her face into his chest with a glad face.
"Daaaaawwww!" Elsa and Nami mused.
"Guess no love for me…" Elwyn sighed, but then Nami raked her in with her left hand.
"Hey, no moping! Nobody's excluded from the warm and fuzzy stuff when I'm around!"
"Damn… You're too good for me…" Elwyn muttered. "Let's wait for that damn cargo ramp to open…"
They waited only a minute, and then Kola saw that the cargo ramp was opening.
"Girls, it seems they mended that ramp."
"Ah, kay, I'm doing it." Elwyn snapped out of her blissful state and fired up the emgone.
She drove to the back of the plane, and then she backed up so that the truck would be as close as possible to the end of the ramp. When the ramp finally lowered itself in full, Elwyn said, "Okay everyone, let's jump out, and do our job."
"Come on, Aya, let's go," Kola said, obviously waking up the Karlslander from a short nap.
"Oh? Okay…" she yawned and opened the door.
Once everyone jumped out, Elwyn ran forward into the plane interior.
"Woaaaah, nice bit of cargo…" she said to herself as she approached the cockpit door.
She knocked on it, and received and "Come in!" as an answer. After opening the door, she saw three crew men, all dark skinned.
Elwyn cleared her throat and said, "Guys, let's keep this short. I have tea, and I was kinda forced to bring it to you," she said while shaking the bag with the items for the crew.
"And we didn't exactly want the tea, because your commander, or whoever it was, basically forced it on us," the man in the first pilots seat said.
"Hah, rich! Okay, let's get this over with."
Elwyn pulled out the cups, and poured the tea. She then pulled out the spoons and the sugar tin, and placed it near the cups.
"Have at it, gentlemen," she said with a crooked smile.
"Somebodies a tad grumpy it seems," the second pilot said as she stood up.
"I call it dark humor," she added with a grin.
"Ha! Never saw a white girl so feisty!" the third one shouted cheerfully. "What's your name, sistah?"
"Elwyn. My grandma was famous I guess."
"Oh do tell?"
"Shirley Yeager. That tell you anything, brah?"
"Daaaaayum! Now that's what I call ancestors!"
"Heh… Okay, chug down that tea already!" Elwyn shouted and looked back into the cargo hold.
Kola was carrying one crate himself, but the three girls were hauling so much that Kola would have to be three meters tall and a hundred percent muscle to do so. It was enough to load the truck in one go, but there was still more cargo to move.
"Well, looks like I'm needed…" Elwyn said. "I'll be back for the stuff, so don't you dare to fly off with it!"
"Yeah, yeah…" the second pilot waved her off.
Elwyn exited the cockpit and ran to the truck.
"Ah, Elwyn, I was about to holler," Kola said.
"You probably wanted to drive off and leave me with those guys alone, huh?"
"The thought hasn't crossed my mind," he said with a straight face.
"And pigs fly," Elwyn jumped into the cabin, and after seeing the rest of the girls jump onto the back, she started the engine and drove off the hangar.
"Drop off everything for now, I guess?" she asked the three jumping out of the back.
"Sure thing, we'll move everything later!" Nami responded.
Elwyn moved her gaze towards Kola and asked, "And what are you waiting for? A written invitation, RSVP?"
"You saw how the girls made short notice of the cargo, why should I even bother…"
"What kind of man are you…?" she sighed. "But… Heh, I guess Aya alone would be enough to move all that stuff."
"You know what? I remembered that I have something important to do. I'll be going now."
"I hope it's not a lame excuse, or I'll tell Aya on you."
"Oh don't worry, you'll be speechless by the time I finish…" Kola winked and jumped out of the cabin.
"Speechless, eh? I wonder…"
"K-Kola, where…" Aya's shy question rang in the cold air of the hangar.
"I have something else to do, sorry!"
"Ah, okay… Have f-fun!"
After slightly over a minute, Elwyn already was behind the C-130 again. While the girls ran to the cargo pallets, she went to the cockpit.
"Nice tea, thanks," the first pilot said.
"As I said…"
"Yeah, yeah, blah blah," the third guy interrupted her. "If you ain't cool with us niggaz, just tell us."
Elwyn furled her eyebrows as she silently packed everything to the bag.
"Believe me, where I come from, black people treat me like their own, so it's not about that," Elwyn responded a bit irritated.
"Gentlemen, stop nagging our dear compatriot," the first pilot said. "That's an order," the two other crew men immediately went silent. "Have a nice day," he continued. "And here's the shipping manifest."
"You too," Elwyn said with a small smile cracking on her face and took the manifest.
She looked out into the back and saw that nothing was present, except the girls waiting outside of the plane.
"The cargo bay is clear. Just give me ten seconds and you can all return home or wherever you're flying back."
"Roger Wilco."
Elwyn ran out of the plane, and just as her mental countdown finished, the ramp started going up.
"Come on, or we'll get a face load of snow once those engines start!" Elwyn hurried the rest to get onto the back of the truck.
They managed to escape the enormous blizzard cause by the propellers just in time. Upon arrival, the three beside Elwyn unloaded the crates.
"So, what do we got there?" Elsa asked.
The Liberian looked at the manifest and grinned like a lunatic.
"Ladies, we got so much stuff… Wow…"
"Then let's unload it!" Nami cheered. "Where to?"
"Near the Launch Units! Go go go!" Elwyn tried to motivate them, but totally unnecessary, as they were moving the crates as fast as possible.
Once all of them were in place, Elwyn asked, "Aya, why don't you do the honors?"
"O-Okay, will do!" she responded briskly and opened one of the crates.
She pulled out an M87, an AKS-74, and AKS-74UB, all painted neon orange with the exception of the iridescent red barrels.
"Paintball guns?"
"That's only part of the shipment," Elwyn said while correcting her glasses. "Get the crate next to it."
"S-Sure!"
Aya opened the chosen crate and she pulled out one of six identical boxes as well as a thin manual.
"MILES… Oh, is this…"
"Yup. That one box contains all the stuff that a trainee wears on him or herself. I'll go through the rest of the manifest quickly. We got paintball versions of all of our guns, and a week supply of ammo. We all got one full MILES set, with adapters for all our rifles and matching blank ammo. We also got a crapton of live ammo, and some provisions. Lastly, we's got an… ahem… electrical, generator powered…"
"…Gatling gun drum ammunition loader!" Elsa squealed from joy.
"Complete with two cans of juice…" Elwyn mumbled. "Okay, let's report back, I wonder what our dear commander will set up for us."
This time, Elsa was sitting on the far right, and Aya was on Nami's lap.
"You sure like your lap sitting…" Elwyn sighed and drove them off back to the main building.
The first thing that Elwyn noticed was that Kola was doing something on the roof. She looked at him, but at the same time, he looked at her, and he shouted, "Nothing to see here, carry on!"
"What in tarnation are you doing up there?!"
"Enjoying the damn view! Now shoo!"
"Hey, Elwyn, come on!" Elsa waved her in.
"Yeah, whatever…" she muttered and ran after the Karlslander.
When they entered the building, Nami asked, "Who's going to the commander?"
"I c-can go…" Aya said.
"Ah, go then, Ayaya!"
"Heehee… I'm going then."
"Here," Elwyn said and gave her the manifest.
"T-Thanks."
Aya trotted to the door leading to the commander's office, and after knocking on it, she heard, "Whoever is outside, get in."
She opened the door, and peeked inside while covering her face with the MILES manual and the shipping manifest.
"Oh, a mysterious visitor! Come closer, traveler!"
Aya giggled and walked up to the desk, still concealed.
"My oh my, who could that be? Reveal yourself, dear anonymous traveler!"
Aya burst out into laughter and presented the papers she held forward to Ellie.
"Nothing like a good laugh… Okay, Aya, what do we have here? A manifest and… Oh, a manual for the MILES system? You take care of it; I heard you're a geek."
"Um… I'm n-not a geek, ma'am…"
"Okay, electronics enthusiast. Better?"
Aya nodded with a cutesy smile glued to her face.
"You have thirty minutes to read this, and then we'll finally have some training with our Strikers. Off you go, Sweetie."
"B-But…"
"Oh, what's the matter? Tell me."
"W-We need a bath…"
"Ah, yes, you were in the middle of training… Okay, one hour it is."
"Of c-course, ma'am," Aya turned around and exited the room.
"It seems that feigning ignorance and covering up the truth are so rooted into me that it's natural… Eh… We're screwed so deeply… I wish there was at least a glimmer of hope!"
Suddenly, the phone rang. With trembling hands, she picked up the receiver and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Horbaczewski…"
Bedroom
Aya closed the door behind her, and she ran up to her bed, gathering all the needed bathing supplies and clothes she needed for changing.
"We're officially taking a bath?" Sieglinde asked.
"Yes, we're training in an hour."
"Good… The laundry will be done by the time we finish…"
"How pragmatic," Elwyn said. "Say, Aya, why do you have the manual with you?"
"Oh, I'm s-supposed to figure this out…"
"Well, if the commander picked you, then it's you. Ah, right, bath time. Whew, I feel sticky!"
"And I bet you smell accordingly," Sieglinde grinned wryly.
"Ohoho, a comedian we have here!" Elwyn waved her hands, and then she looked towards Tatiana. "Hey, commie, can you watch over Liz here?"
"I don't have anything better to do anyway, comrade."
"And that's the spirit!" Elwyn shouted and started rummaging through her belongings.
Twenty minutes later, Aya lied down on her bed, and she started analyzing the manual she was entrusted with a speed that intrigued the bystanders.
"Say, is Aya always reading so fast?" Giulietta asked Elsa quietly.
"Yeah, she's so fast that I wouldn't even remember a single sentence from every page…"
"Would'ya look at that…"
After only two minutes, Aya dropped the slightly over thirty-page manual on the bed beside her.
"Now I know everything, but that was a special general purpose manual…" she reported to Angela. "We have to figure out how to install the adapters ourselves… Bother…"
"Then you, Elsa, and Sieglinde will have a field day it seems," Angela smirked.
"I guess so… Ehhh… Maybe we should go already, since it could take some time?"
"Good idea. Let's get dressed and move out. Who's coming with us? We have one seat free."
"I can go," Aina said. "I know a thing or two about weapon maintenance."
"Fine by me. Just don't drop dead all of a sudden."
"I'll try," she smiled and started putting on her winter coat.
In five minutes, the Karlslanders plus Aina found themselves in the hangar. Aya and Elsa opened the crates with the adapters and the mounting started. All flash hiders, silencers or anything related to the barrel had to go. No particular weapon posed a problem for the combined forces of the five, and they finished just before the rest, including Ellie, arrived.
"Now, now, great work, girls. Aya, care to explain how all of this works?"
"Um… Okay… So… T-There are receivers on these v-vests and when you get hit by a l-laser, they b-beep…" Aya said while pointing at a vest spiked with rectangular receivers in her hand.
"Pretty simple I think. Katie, I guess you'll have to be the judge, since there are no visual indicators that anyone got hit."
"Yeah, leave it to me and my inherent magic, heheh…"
"Oh, and we probably impose some special rules…" Ellie pondered. "I know! You can shoot only from fifty meters, and after one hit its curtains. Aya, prepare the vests with Elwyn, and the rest prepare blank ammunition for your weapons. Be ABSOLUTELY sure that you have loaded blanks. If there is an accident involving live ammo during training, I will expel you from the unit, understood?"
"Yes ma'am!" everyone responded.
Elwyn approached Aya and asked, "So, Aya? What should I do?"
"Hook up the b-batteries and that's it…"
"Pretty easy. Come on, we both have belt fed weapons, so it will be a bother if we have to load them with blanks manually."
"Right, r-right!"
Aya started unpacking the crates one by one, while Elwyn at the same time hooked up the batteries to the vests. Then, they quickly ran over to their respective Launch Units. Elwyn took her M60E2 and she unloaded the belt she had in it and pulled the charging handle so the chambered round would fall out. After that she went to the big crate with dummy rounds and picked out an 7.62 NATO belt. She looked at the rest while loading it, and saw that everyone was finishing, so she hurried up.
"Okay, I see that you're all ready!" Ellie said loudly. "Okay, the training will go as follows. You will form a circle of a two-kilometer radius. Each of you will be on the edge of said circle, and when I give a sign, you will start the engagement. Rules stated previously apply. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"So mount your Strikers, and let's go!"
Everyone, including Katie and Ellie mounted their Strikers.
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