Chapter Eight: Navy Nuances
Harry's POV
He groaned softly as he floated through the air. "Come on Recruit's get it together, in the event of Artificial Gravity failure it's imperative that you all adjust yourselves to be at the proper orientation for the halls to ensure a safe transition should the system come back online suddenly." A Navy instructor called just before it did so and he impacted with the floor on his side. He breathed out slowly before whimpering slightly. "Was that really necessary?" He asked out loud getting a snort from Martin as the guy stood up quickly. "You know it is, ever since they rushed you out from Army graduation and tossed you in here you've had nothing but shit from the instructors." Martin said sarcastically making him stand slowly and glare at the man in slight annoyance. "Not my fault they want to toss me and subsequently you all through the ringer, that's just coincidence." He said getting a snort in response.
"Right! Like how grilled cheese is served on Sunday, simply a coincidence." Martin said making his glare deepen. "This portion of training is important for what you all will be doing in a few hours, learning the proper procedure and strategy for repelling a boarding party." The instructor said deactivating the gravity again. He closed his eyes and focused slightly moving slowly to a nearby wall and pulling himself around to place himself in a way that had his feet inches above the ground. He glanced around seeing everyone else doing the same and felt gravity take hold again. He grinned as his legs hit the ground and glanced over the few who still hadn't managed it. He felt his knee give out and hissed as he hit the ground. "Be careful to pay attention to leg placement, locking your legs when you're going to be using them to support yourselves can lead to a situation similar to the one some of you are facing right now." The instructor said with a minor smirk on his face as the man's eyes glanced over him.
He quietly vowed revenge ignoring the fact that such an action would be extremely petty of him. It wasn't an easy lesson by any stretch, and while he could probably have pressed himself to the back of the group, it was proven over time than trying to hide only got you singled out much more often. The training quickly ended and everyone formed back up into the even lines and stared towards the instructor. "Beyond Zero Gravity training, you will be utilizing this in combat scenarios. We will be having each of you separately go onto the firing range in Zero Gravity to learn how to account for recoil and learn the proper way to stabilize your aim. once you are all competent enough in that, we will be having more of you in the room at a time." The instructor informed them making everyone look at each other a little unsure of the last comment. "Mind you, when others are around, you will not be using live ammunition, training ammunition will be provided so on the off chance someone is hit, it will only sting them." The Instructor said calming a few of the more nervous ones down quickly.
"All of you with me, I'll be explaining a few more key things you will need to know." The instructor said pulling an about-face quickly and start marching down the hall. "It will be obvious to many of you that we are on board a ship, this is a Frigate class Vessel, one of the smallest ships in the navy. This ship, in particular, is fairly lightly armed hold half as many armaments as per the norm. We have designed this ship to be the beginners learning vessel as well as the location where you all will be learning EVA suit training, as well as low to no gravity training, on top of basic ship functions and control." The Instructor explained the bulkhead to the bridge snapping open quickly. "Captain." The instructor called making the man turn to look back only to spin in place and snap to attention. "Officer on deck." A sergeant by the door called. The hush of silence that fell over the room was overshadowed by the shuffle of quick movement the moment before. He saw the single salute and hesitantly raised one himself feeling a little embarrassed of the situation.
"Captain, you don't exactly have to do that while I'm still in training." He said getting a small smile from the man. "Thank you for the leave, sir, however, we have an image to uphold and a certain standard to adhere to, while you may be in training, you are still first and foremost my commanding officer." The Captain said making him nod slowly. He felt someone nudge him from the side and glanced over, seeing the small teasing grin from Chuck. He rolled his eyes at the guy and watched as the captain turned to look at the instructor. "Alright, we will be going over certain maneuvers and controls in the bridge, after which several officers will come by to take certain recruit's to the location their MOS is, you will be getting very basic training in your field before your instruction at A school." The Instructor explained letting everyone shift together near a large display on the right wall of the bridge. "This display show's readouts for both incoming and outgoing transmission's, as well as sensor and radar data." A crewman explained slowly moving along each display. "Wouldn't radar be useless in space?" Georgio asked making the crewman smirk and nod.
"Mind you sensor data is based on laser modules and a secondary readout system using radiation scanning. However, in the atmosphere, these readouts can be muddled or outright blocked by weather conditions, the radiation scanner is only useful so far as what we are trying to scan emits any form of radiation. Radar solves the issue of seeing something when weather conditions in Atmo, are causing problems or if the vehicle itself is shielded." The Crewman explained getting a slow nod. "Over here we have multiple screens showing several thermal imaging camera's we use this for intelligence gathering as well as tactical data uplinks to troops on the ground, it's useful for fire support as well as enemy force response data." The second crewman explained. "What about stuff that's blocked from thermal cover." He asked getting a small smirk. "A few other cyclable functions include night vision, and conventional imaging should the need arise, sir." The Crewman said making him sigh again.
"Next we have Fire control, on the other side of the bridge." The Instructor explained leading them over. 'Why is it I feel like a little kid getting a big inside look of the cool military ship.' He thought to himself dryly. "This control system has primary controls over the warheads on several of the missile system's as well as point defense system's." The one crewman answered cycling through the available point defense camera's. "With so many guns how do you control them all?" He asked getting a small blink of surprise. "We do have a few more monitor's and a second control point for another operator but most point defense systems are automated and target based on priority setting's." The Crewman explained leaning back in his chair as the monitor kept cycling through the guns. "Next is the stations for navigation and flight control." The instructor explained making the two crewmen who luckily had a good view out of the bridge windows to turn around.
"So, yeah, I have control over navigation, I'm stuck plotting route's and keeping an eye on sensor data for nearby system's. This ship, in particular, has a decent set of sensor's and we can easily get some reliable sensor data for a system about twelve light years away. larger ships have more reliable systems with longer ranges. If we were inside the Sol Systems we could easily have reliable sensor data on both Alpha Centauri and Bernards Star System." The first one said leaning back in their chair and spinning around slowly. "Yeah, at least my station gets a little more action." The second said sarcastically before leaning against the console in boredom. "I have control over the flight of the ship, technically I'm a helmsman, but since my position can be taken complete control over by the captain in case of emergency I'm generally just here to keep us on a course and for fine maneuvers when the captain is unable to do so." The second explained pressing the joystick to the right slightly making the ship almost seem to tilt slightly as it was guided back into position.
"Depending on the orbit we are holding will depend on how often I need to adjust but it's mostly just sitting around until the system warns me." She said slumping back into the seat. "I thought due to the ability to uplink with any system a need for an actual mechanical control system would be moot." Martin said getting a small snort. "Sure, but having a complete uplink with the ship can cause issues where you are bleeding over into other system's. unless you plan on controlling all aspects of the ship that the bridge has control over it's considered a conflict of system control. In emergencies, its needed so it can be done but very rarely does anyone need to have a direct link." She explained getting a snort from the other. "Unless you like annoying the other system controllers." The first explained before grinning in amusement. "Yeah, that's fun sometimes." She said before the sound of the door's opening caught everyone's attention. "Alright break up into groups based on MOS." The instructor said making everyone split apart. He stood awkwardly on his own as groups left leaving him standing in the bridge with the crew and the original instructor.
"So no bridge crew in the group?" He asked getting a small smile from the captain. "None in your cycle, but even if there were they would be separated to other area's where we keep backup systems for those on the bridge. The practical ship training you are going to get will be specialized and we will need everyone here to give you their sole attention to succeed." The Captain explained making him nod slowly. "I apologize for not introducing myself sooner, but my name is Captain Carson Curtis. I'm going to be your instructor in Ship Command, Admiral's Anastasia Pushkov, and Angela Blake, since you will be in control of the Home fleet they will lead your instruction in fleet movements and larger fleet command. Shipboard Marine Commander Timothy Owens will be your shipboard combat instructor, his job is to teach you anti-boarding and boarding assault, as well as emergency force response." Captain Curtis explained waving him over to the captain's chair. "Most people don't pay to much attention to this chair." Captain Curtis explained a small amused smile on his face.
"This chair is one of the most powerful on the ship, it has a neural uplink direct connection built in as well as having the capability to slave and controls from any of the several systems to its direct input." Captain Curtis said pulling the network cord from the chair and letting it stretch a bit. "Mind you while it's generally suggested you don't just walk off while jacked in they cords are built to be an easy release if tension is detected on the cord. Keeps a few people from damaging the uplink port on the back of their heads and possibly shorting their brain out." Captain Curtis explained before offering the cord to him. The silence that hung over the room was very noticeable and he glanced around quickly seeing everyone watching him out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, er, I'm gonna decline for the moment." He said feeling a little uneasy about the possibility of shorting his brain out.
The loud laugh was a surprise but he waited for the man to calm down. "No need to worry, sir, the bit about shorting out the brain is a joke, the neural uplink has a specialized breaker inside that block electrical bursts, but either way I don't think you're ready to link in just yet. I want to have you mentally prepared for the flow of information." Curtis explained making him blink in surprise. "I've been linked into the network though." He said getting a shake of the head. "The network doesn't send all information directly to you based on the protocol and coding for it, the ship will send all data to the link in person since military protocol has a direct access like that be an active access rather than reactive." Curtis explained slowly letting the cord wind back in. He rubbed his hand against his forehead feeling the slight headache forming before it faded away quickly.
"Right I don't understand a lot of that but I'm going to just assume it's for my benefit." He said sarcastically getting a small frown and nod in response. "When you link in for the first time a burst of information and knowledge from ship systems will invade your mind, it will be surprising, and it may overwhelm you for a moment, you need to simply focus on holding still for a few moments until the link adjusts to the information and your mind follows." Curtis explained seriously before slowly pulling the cord back out again. "What exactly happens if I don't hold still?" He asked feeling the cords connection press against his skin for a moment as the captain tried to link him in blindly. "Generally the regular response is several systems activating in response to a heightened level of stress, several times weapons systems have fired suddenly and even an unauthorized inter system jump was made." The captain said making his eyes widen in surprise before feeling the cord link in and his mind was assaulted by information and images he would have never been able to see with his human eyes. His body tensed at the overload and he could hear a small alarm activate in the background as the ship lurched in place. "Whoa!" A voice cried before he blinked his eyes feeling the information subside and the sight of a swirling mass of energy took up space outside the forward windows.
"Well damn that's the first time the systems activated an emergency jump, you certainly don't do things by half sir." Captian Curtis exclaimed laughing lightly making him look over wide-eyed. "How is this funny?" He asked getting a small laugh after a few minutes of constant laughter. "A response of some sort is expected, it happens with every authorized captain or higher who is assigned this class of connection to their ship." Captain Curtis explained making him calm down a small bit at the information but frowned. "Isn't it a problem if this is the case anytime someone jacks in?" He asked getting an amused grin and shake of the head. "This first connection with any ship will be like this but after this time your mind will have adjusted enough not to trigger anything upon the next link, now moving to a significantly larger ship will have this happen again. After all, more information is processed, but it works the same way." Captain Curtis explained making him nod slowly.
"So where are we going and can we stop?" He asked getting a small grimace. "Well closest emergency warp cords put us just outside our space, and we can't really cut out an emergency jump the systems internally safety measures make sure it forces the completion of the jump, and odds are once we drop we will need to do an emergency systems check and inspection of the jump drive. Emergency jumps like this are ill-advised since it can possibly lead to damage to the jump drive." Captain Curtis explained making him blink in surprise. "What? How?" He asked in surprise getting a small sigh from up front. "The Jump Drive is supposed to be charged over time, the longer the jump, the longer the charge, a jump from a system to a neighboring one isn't too bad maybe a few minutes to a few hours based on distances of systems, But jumps skipping several systems between the start and end point take longer, anywhere from days to weeks at most." The Navigator explained looking over the power levels and readings for the active Jump Drive.
"So how long until we reach the system then?" He asked getting a small cough from the Navigator. "Well little under an hour and a half. Once we're done I'll signal the engineering crew to shut down the Jump Drive and perform a disconnect before running the inspection." The Navigator explained making him sigh and relax in the chair. "Well, now that you're linked in, even if we are in jump, I will take the time we are moving to go over the systems and intimate link you will have to the ship's systems, it's a fairly lengthy explanation, so be ready." Captain Curtis explained immediately moving on to the technical aspect of the link and what it could and could not do. He paid attention as best he could, getting lost every now and then, while his understanding for the technology grew massively over his stint in army basic and his past few weeks in navy, he still couldn't easily understand everything. "We're coming out of jump." The Navigator explained as the shifting lights slowly squeezed back into pinpricks of light and he could see the new constellation charts. "Engineering has pulled the jump drive's connection and is running a full diagnostic and inspection." The Navigator said making him relax slightly. "I've got a contact, EWAR is picking up a ship at the Barren World Itelo, seems to be in low orbit, if they had been in orbit the magnetic field could have assisted in blocking their signal." The Sensor station reported.
"Ship class?" Captain Curtis asked getting a small grimace. "Signature is coming back as an R99 Raider Frigate, but with the minor interference I can't be certain." The Sensor station reported getting a small grimace from Captain Curtis. "Just what we need, alright sound General Quarters and prepare for combat." Captain Curtis ordered making him move to stand. He felt a hand on his chest holding him in the chair. "This will go against regulations, but I'm going to leave you in command of the ship." Captain Curtis said halting all activity in the ship. "What?" he asked surprised everyone staring at them. "Normally in your situation, we enlist the help of another ship and fight mock battles, but actual combat is the true teacher, you're going to need to use all teaching's you've had and some instinct to fight them off." Captain Curtis explained making him gape at the man. "I'm barely even trained, we went over all this for like an hour!" He said getting a small chuckle. "Most of this learning, what you would be doing for this position is done in simulated and mock battles, what I told you is literally all the technical knowledge you will actually need to know." Captain Curtis said making him swallow at the thought.
"Listen these are pirate's, they aren't much of a threat unless its a civilian ship, we are a military vessel our shields will hold fine and our armor is some of the best developed. you're going to need to use what weapons we have to combat them, our current information shows they have two point defense stations, one kinetic railgun station and several nuclear silo's." Captain Curtis explained making him cough and sit back. "Nukes? Arent those really powerful?" He asked getting a small amused smile. "against most ship shields is not too great but enough of them can hurt, they are only major threats to unshielded vessels since all they have is armor and most armor can't really hold back damage that nukes can give." Captain Curtis explained making him nod slowly. "Sir, the ship is breaking out of orbit and is on direct battle course with us, they will be in weapons range within ten minute's." The Sensor station reported making him slump in his seat. "Can't change your mind huh?" He asked getting a small smile. "You could always order it, but this would be a good learning experience for you, besides I need to trust the commander to be able to make decisions and know what to do, we all do." Captain Curtis explained making him sigh and nod. "You have virtually full control of the ship just do what feels natural." Captain Curtis said waving towards the ship that was approaching outside the bridge.
He let his head rest back for a moment and tentatively link in with the weapons systems. The enemy ship was nearing weapons range for the forward guns and missle tubes. as well as the forward mac cannon, even though it didn't have any ammunition on board. He watched the lead lines flash from red to green for the cannons and watched as he vaguely thought of firing and the weapons fired at a rate he was nearly unprepared for. The lines of rounds streaking across the enemy hull made for a strange sight. He could see some damage was taking but it wasn't enough to stop the ship. The sight of a port opening made him tense as a single missile fired out and he pushed the thrusters into action diving right as the guns trained on the single missle. It took a bit of careful concentration before the guns managed to hit and reduce the missile to debris. He sighed as he unlocked the missle ports focusing fire on the thruster systems of the enemy ship. the sight of bright explosions lit the bridge up with light and he looked seeing several of the thrusters ceased to exist. 'This is incredibly easy.' He thought slowly feeling a little underwhelmed.
He blinked in surprise as the guns on the enemy ship targetted them and the shields flared as the rounds impacted. He could see the shield level barely being affected but knew enough sustained fire might actually do something. He looked for the section the power reactor was located in and found a location it might be placed in. He released several Archer missiles towards it and watched in satisfaction as the armor was removed and the ship seemed to shut down. "Alright get a boarding team Isuppose." he said looking at Captain Curtis before bright flash cut off everything and he looked seeing the ship was reduced to a field of debris. "What?" He asked surprised. "Looks like the ship's reactor was damaged, must have gone critical." Captain Curtis said making him nod in surprise.
Miyumi's POV
She sighed softly as she leaned forwards towards her desk typing away fairly quickly. The sound of shoes running against the tile floor outside her office made her pause for a moment in surprise. It wasn't often someone needed to run in the tower, especially since it was only done in an emergency, and when the use of the Network would be too dangerous. She jumped slightly and looked over at her door slide open quickly and someone stepped in quickly. "Ma'am, A short burst transmission came through the Military Channels." The man said making her stare and nod waving her hand to make him go on not really caring all that much. "It has to do with the Commander." The man said. She straightened and looked over intently. "What?" She asked getting a nervous look to break out. "The Naval ship they began training on went dark a short while before the transmission the assumption was made that the Commander linked into the ship's systems and activated the emergency jump." The man explained making her glare lightly.
"Get to the point." She said slowly making the man take a step back slightly. "The transmission explained they were attacked by a Pirate vessel upon arrival to the nearest system." The man explained slowly. The silence for the moment was tense and she leaped for the emergency all call button only to be grabbed by the man. "What the hell are you doing, this is a situation in which full military response may be necessary to keep our only hope alive!" She hissed making the man let go quickly but block the button. "They are fine ma'am, With control over the ship, the Commander destroyed the other vessel after damaging their power core, it went critical shortly after." The man explained making her calm down slightly and relax nodding slowly. "The Commander is fine then?" She asked getting a slight grimace. "Physically? Yes. Mentally? We aren't too sure." The man explained making her narrow her eyes slightly.
"Ma'am he just destroyed, on his own, a pirate vessel. With what we can assume are the nearest living species on board, sentient life." The man explained making her lean back in surprise her eyes widening in realization. "How are his vitals and brain waves?" She asked getting a small sigh. "Normal for the time being, his implants haven't registered an increase in production of chemicals necessary to stave off negative thoughts or PTSD." The man explained making her nod slowly and turn back to the holoscreen. "But it's possible that's all based on the fact that it's so soon after the fact, his adrenaline is still high and he hasn't assimilated the knowledge of what just did yet. Keep an eye on the implant's and his brainwaves, The training he received should help him cope somewhat but most soldiers still don't adjust enough fast enough to ignore their actions, then again we wouldn't want them too." She mentioned getting a short nod before the door once again hissed closed.
'Hmmm. I may need to create some things to keep his mind busy, I wasn't expecting this possibility so soon, while they make you come face to face and understand that being a soldier means you may have to kill, and that's something they realise, it's just pretty words until you actually do so.' She thought to herself wanting to slam her head against the table. She didn't just almost jump the gun but she almost made a fool of herself when reaching for the all call. It was made for that type of danger but she really should have waited for all the information. She leaned back slightly and glanced through the network for any idea on what to use to occupy Harry, something that could hopefully use up so much attention he would be able to smoothly adjust to the actions taken once his Naval training was complete. The only real option was letting him explore his old world for answers, but it was possible that could lead to more issues than helping.
Harry's POV
He slumped into the chair relaxing as the radiation outburst from the pirate ship faded quickly. "Alright well, we are safe enough, for now, however, we need to give a small overview of the next course of actions for you to take sir." Captain Curtis said looking at him seriously. "First course of action, full stop." Captain Curtis said with slight amusement making him look at the man in confusion until he realized the speed output was still at maximum. He flushed light before dropping the ships speed to null. "Good, the second course of action is a small after action report, I've already taken the liberty of creating it and sending it along." Captain Curtis explained making him nod slowly. "Third is getting a general report from all sector's. We need to be aware of any inflicted damage and the necessary repairs to be done, on top of suggested course of action based off of engineering's view." Captain Curtis explained letting a large Holoscreen open up in front of him showing the ships outline and separate sector's.
"This is a sector map, we have specialized maps for power conduits, coolant pipes, and rooms. Those aren't necessary since the sensors detect no damage to any sector's and the incoming reports are the same. These actions are all things you will be expected to do as a ship's commander and even more if its fleet operations." Captain Curtis said seriously letting everything hang in the air for a moment so he could catch up. "These will all be things we will go over for the rest of your time in Naval training. It isn't anything difficult to learn so you should easily progress." Captain Curtis explained slowly removing the uplink and letting the bridge crew resume operations. "Is a connection like that so... overwhelming?" He asked getting a short laugh. "Sir, I'd be surprised if it wasn't, your mind is not only using its own receptors and such to detect feeling and other things but by being linked into the ship you have so many new ways to 'sense' things, it can be a bit overwhelming until you adjust. Larger ships can be the same and take a slightly longer time to adjust due to their size and upscaled amount of equipment." Captain Curtis explained making him nod as he stepped out of the chair to stretch.
"Let us head to the mess so you can eat, I can explain some more things there." Captain Curtis suggested as the doors opened to show two of the onboard Marine's. "Right." He said following behind the man. "One of the things to keep in mind is that while being linked to the ship makes you feel as though you have an unlimited amount of firepower, the actual ammunition is still finite. you can run out of weapons, it's easy to forget that fact when you are so deeply linked. It's important to keep presence of mind in place so you have an accurate idea of where your weapons are in terms of supplies." Captain Curtis said coughing slightly near the end. "You have a story there huh?" He asked getting the man to scratch the back of his head for a moment before nodding. "It was a small little encounter with pirates like this one we ran out of weapons halfway through and resorted to using the front of the ship as a battering ram and split the last ship in half, engineering and the shipyards still give me hell to this day for the damage done to the ship." Captain Curtis explained making him chuckle lightly.
"Another thing to keep in mind is that pirates can either be few and far in-between or a large enough fleet to be a nuisance. They can't really keep up with our technology but they can still prove to be an annoyance that slows down civilian trade, especially between empire's." Captain Curtis moved onto as another set of doors opened showing the large eating room with a few people inside actually eating. He sat at a table with a tray of food in front of him and chuckled lightly at the food that seemed a little between an MRE and actually cooked food. That was something he had grown used too, the food was healthy and tasted good but it's presentation left a lot to be desired. He ate slowly and stopped for a moment catching the attention of Curtis. "Why don't all the Empire's simply to a mass crush of the Pirate's, remove the idea from general masses and remove the threat?" He asked getting a small laugh.
"While a federation is currently attempting to be made, too little people are a part of it, the few other Fallen Empire's around would never ally in a federation with lower technology beings, and with our borders closed as they are we have little threat from them. Mostly it's because no one can agree to anything and some are just lazy and wouldn't bother because they consider it a waste of resources." Captain Curtis explained making him nod slowly as he took all the information in. "So why don't we join this budding Federation?" He asked making the entire mess hall shush. "We are one of the Fallen Empire's in the galaxy, if we made a move like that it would be incredibly aggressive and could backfire in a way that turn's most of the known empire on us, it's an incredibly risky move and it was better left alone. We can live as we are safe and without to much risk, that's what we will be counting on you to do. Make decisions for the betterment of our people and to make choices that you feel will keep everyone safe." Captain Curtis said slowly smiling slightly at the end and making him sigh.
"Heh, like I said the last time I was told something that big. No pressure huh?" He asked getting a loud laugh in return. "I know it's a lot but you have a lot of people at your back, and a lot to protect now, it shouldn't be too hard to find the strength to do so." Captain Curtis said making him nod slowly. He shook it off as everyone went back to their own business. "So then what is expected of me after this meal?" He asked getting a small grin from the man across from him. "A little more training in the chair, but I have a good feeling whatever you do once link up is going to prove incredibly entertaining or interesting to see for me." Captain Curtis said glancing at him amused. "That doesn't fill me with a whole lot of confidence." He commented blandly. "It wasn't supposed too!" Captain Curtis said laughing loudly while he grumbled slightly under his breath about more stress on his shoulders.
A/N: 5,807 words, and this chapter was a pain in my ass i found myself floundering slightly as I wrote it to many idea's on what to put hitting at once and most of them overwrote others making it impossible to choose until something was wrote down. I am happy it's done I would have prefered it slightly longer, I am shooting for 10k words sometime with a chapter but that might be a bit later. I hope this helps with the wait, it's been hell I know. I have an issue with thinking of ideas for new stories while working on ones and feel the need to write them down to get at least the basic idea down so i dont forget them but i end up neglecting these. I am happy with this little bit, and a little battle scene for all of you who really do deserve it, as far as a full scall war or constant battle that might not be done just yet, I have a basic idea on how to line all that up but it depends on how the chapter feels as i am writing it.