Sorry about posting this in a new reply I ment to hit Edit.My bad.
 
-----------------------
*DarkDragoons*
TRP/PFC Shakey/2SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA [LoR]

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Navigation
 
  It had been two days since Kairo's last lesson. Even though he had tried to keep Valtrina out of his mind, he found his mind wandering whenever he tried to concentrate on his regular tasks. As he walked to his next class with the eccentric Clevick Talbon, Kairo found himself once again letting his mind wander. Damn, this is getting ridiculous. I can't seem to do anything without thinking about that stupid woman. I mean, what is it about her? The fact that she is really supposed to be here to take me back into enslavement, or the fact that she has tied with me in every type of task we have been given. This is infuriating. Get a grip Kairo. "It's just a girl!" Without realizing it he had let the last part burst out of his mouth. A few of the people in the hall turned to stare in his direction with looks that said 'weirdo.' Ducking his head, Kairo walked a little faster around the next corner. Great, now people think I'm crazy. Turning the last corner that would lead to his classroom, Kairo ran into a dead end. "Great, I took a wrong turn. What time is the class?" Kairo pulled out the datapad that contained his next class' topic and time.

  Noon. Let's see. Kairo checked his chronometer. Eleven fifty-five. Hmh. ELEVEN FIFTY-FIVE! Kairo took of at a run for where he hoped was his real classrooms area. Talk about irony. This stupid class is over navigation and I get lost on the way there. It took him an extra ten minutes to get to his real classroom. He had stopped to check a map and found out he had taken a left instead of a right at one of his many turns, which had taken to the opposite side of the training center. When he finally reached the room, he burst in with a rush and sprinted across the room into the adjoining hanger bay, narrowly missing a desk and hurdling another. The remaining nine students were about to leave the hanger bay on a transport when he burst through the door. They all paused a second to look in Kairo's direction as he ran over at full sprint. As he arrived Talbon stepped out of the transport to greet him.

  "Good to see you made it. I was worried there a minute. Get inside. We're about to take off for today's lesson." Clevick informed as Kairo caught his breath. Once they were both inside, the transport took off and Kairo slumped into an empty seat.

  "So what happened? Did you get lost or something?" Bale Sander asked from his position across the transport, followed by a few snickers.

  "Something like that. Good to see you made it through the cut." Turning his attention back to Talbon, he asked, "So where are we going lieutenant?" He then took a quick glance out of the corner of his eye at Valtrina. Get a hold of yourself man.

  "Ah yes. As I have already told the rest of the class, we will be going over navigation today. I chose us to do this in the middle of the day, so you won't be able to use the sun as a guide since it will be almost straight up in the sky. I also chose us to do this in the day so you can't use the stars to position yourself either. It should take us about thirty minutes to get where we are going, so I will take this time to explain some very important tools of navigation. The most basic and oldest method of determining direction is to find a tree that moss is growing on. We all know how that works so I won't go into further detail. Since we aren't barbarians, we have technology to aid us when we get lost. Most vehicles have a built in guidance system. The bigger and more advanced machine is the better this system may be. When you go on a mission, it may even be programmed with a topical map of the area you will encounter. They can have a radar, a directional display, or any other type of navigational devise you could need. Allow me to go into more detail on the many different types of displays that each vehicle you are likely to use may have. On most types of speeders, you will probably find......

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 27 minutes later .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

  "Well that should be all that you need to know." Clevick finished his rant. By this time the transport was flying over what looked to be a dense jungle with many rivers crisscrossing the jungle. "I will be back in a moment." Talbon said, entering into the cockpit of the transport.

  "So what do you think we will have to do this time?" another student the Kairo didn't know asked.

  "Oh I don't know." Valtrina stated. "It will probably something exceedingly dangerous and life threatening."

  "Yeah, he'll probably be having us hovering over those rivers in speeder bikes while trying to navigate out way upstream." Kairo added.

  "The hard part will be dodging all the dangling vines, rock outcroppings, and any dangerous wildlife." Bale finished. The rest of the class seemed to miss the joke, because they all seemed to get a worried expression on their faces. A few seconds later, the class felt the transport begin to descend. After that Talbon re-entered the part of the transport the students were held in.

  "We will be landing shortly. You are most likely wondering what we will be doing today. I trust most of you know how to read a navigation display by now, since it isn't that hard a piece of equipment. For that reason, and since you are the best of your class, I do not feel like I need to make this a priority. This lesson will not be a high amount of your grade. We will be landing in a clearing in the jungle below next to the river system. You will have to follow the river system downstream until you reach the mountains in the distance. You won't be able to see the mountains since the jungle foliage is quite thick. Your navigation display will also be limited to one hundred meters from your speeder and it will not show the terrain, so you will have to rely on your instincts and sense of direction. Don't worry though. All the rivers lead to the same place. Some are just much longer than others. The hardest part will be finding your way, dodging outcropping of rocks, and keeping a look out for dangerous animals. Plus whatever else may happen." A few giggles could be heard around the room. "Is something funny?"

  "No sir." Kairo replied for the class.

  "Well then." Talbon said. The transport came to a halt and few seconds later a small tremor went through the ship. "It appears we have landed. Everyone out." The class filed through the door and started to take a look around. They were in the middle of a small clearing with a rushing river on one side and forest surrounding the rest. "Your attention please." Talbon called from the back of the transport. They all moved over to him. "I know we have been using speeder bikes a lot recently, but I felt it was best for this lesson. You will find that the bikes display has been modified. It is now a very good representation of what you would find in most walkers. Since this is going to be a long day, let us get on with it. Everyone, choose a bike." As he finished speaking, the back of the transport opened up to reveal ten bikes, perfectly placed inside it's hold. After another few minutes, everyone was on their bike and ready to go. "Since this isn't a race against each other, I will be sending you off in five minute increments. You are going to be graded on how fast you get there and what paths you choose. Good luck. I have randomly selected the order, and Bale, you are lucky number one. Are you ready?"

  Bale nodded. "Then go." Bale's speeder bike rushed off into the river and was soon out of sight. After five minutes, Talbon sent off another student. After about twenty minutes, Kairo was beginning to get impatient. What am I? Last? That thought would haunt him until everyone had gone. "Looks like your lucky number ten. Sorry your last, but someone has to be. Ready?"

  "Been ready." Kairo exclaimed pushing the throttle forward and entering the raging river at 450 km/h, making sure his speeder's height was well above the waters surface. After a few minutes, he saw a three-way fork in the river. Which way? Which way? Deciding that he the river hadn't made any turns yet, he chose the center path. After going this way for about a minute, he heard a loud rushing noise over the hum of his speeder. Great, looks like I get the rapids. Even though Kairo was on a speeder, the river had large rocks protruding out of its depths, causing him to slow his speed so he could maneuver quicker. After clearing the dangerous obstacle, he again increases his speed and followed the river as it made a sharp left turn, a right turn which he guessed turned him all the way around, and another left turn. Believing he was going in roughly the same direction as the beginning, Kairo followed the center path again at the next fork.

  This is getting boring. Ooooo Ahhh, I get to follow a river. What was Talbon thinking? There must be something else he didn't tell us about. After about fifteen minutes of the same monotonous roving and dodging of rocks and hanging vines, Kairo began to hear a new noise. What is that sound? Looking at his radar, Kairo saw a giant, solid mass approaching his position from behind. Taking a quick look, his eyes widened in shock. Seventy five meters upstream, Kairo was being followed by a wall of water. "I don't even want to know how he did that.  I guess he probably opened some sluice gate somewhere. I bet he gets some sick enjoyment out of putting our lives in some form of danger each lesson." While he was fuming, Kairo had increased his speed to as fast as it could go. The jungle flew by around him and he only had spare seconds to dodge whatever was coming in his direction. Looking behind him, he saw that the giant wave was slowly approaching him. Bring his view back in the direction he was going, Kairo saw that the jungle abruptly ended ahead of him. "Good, must be almost finished with thiiaaaaaah." His last few words ended with a load yell as his speeder flew into space and the ground dropped out from under him. He could see the mountains still a few minutes off before his speeder plunged down into the canyon the raging river had created over its lifetime. Wrestling with the altitude controls, Kairo silently prayed that he wouldn't die. With some luck, his bike only grazed the surface of the water, but that still sent him into a slight spin, soaked him wet, and forced him to decelerate.

  Once he was properly aligned again, he pushed the throttle back to the max and looked behind him, just in time to see the torrent of water rush over the edge of the water fall and fill the canyon behind him with its raging wrath. "Now I only have fifty meters between me and a trip to the med lab. That is if I'm not smashed against some rock and if they even find my crumpled body." Speeding down the canyon, Kairo followed what he guessed was the best route when he was forced to choose. He narrowly missed a collision with a hidden out cropping and almost ran into the wall on one of the sharper turns, all the while trying not to let the wave catch up to him any more. After three minutes, his limbs were starting to ache and he was beginning to lose his focus. This has got to end soon. I keep going up hill, but I haven't reached any opparent area that would signify the end of this screwed up track. Spotting what he hoped was the last fork, he saw he had three choices: a tiny crack that looked like his speeder wouldn't even fit through, a wide area with rocks erupting from the canyon's walls, and a path that led to some sort of cave. Taking one last look behind him, he judged that he only had fifteen meters left. Following his gut instincts, he flew into the small crevice. His altitude sensor screamed at him, making him pull back on the bike. Kairo was launched upward at a steap climb. Once at the top, he entered a wide platue that had Talbon and the rest of the class waiting for him.

  Slowing down, Kairo pulled up next to the transport they had used earlier. "That was pretty good Kairo." Talbon said. "Excellent choice of paths and navigation through the jungle and canyon. And you didn't even have a map."

  "So what would have happened if I had taken the other paths at the end?" Kairo asked while dismounting the speeder.
 
  "Well the one with all the jutting rocks would have taken you on another winding route. The river would have gone underground and you would have followed a dirt path up here. The cave route would have sent you underground for a brief moment and then plunge you back up into daylight. With out you knowing it, the river would have followed another route off to the side in the cave and you would have arrived up here by another dirt path. Good job though. Get inside, everyone else has arrived already." Clevick informed and stepped back inside the transport.

  Once he had entered the transport, Kairo sat down at his original place. "Are you wet?" Bale asked.

  "Yeah. Weren't you sent over a water fall and forced to smack the water a little?" Kairo retorted.

  "No, even though that sounds like a lot of fun." Bale laughed.

  "Stow it." Kairo responded as the transport took off. Once they were back at the training center, they all parted ways and headed for their rooms. What another wonderful lesson. I wonder how Valtrina did? Aahh, stop it. Even after all that, my mind wanders in her general direction. Maybe a nice step in the refresher will get her out of my mind.

Comments: Good work, nice to see that your concept of terrain is clear to you. It's also good to see that you put a lot of detail into your work. You pass.
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR]

Vehicle Crewman:
Laser/Blaster Gunnery

The instructor took a stand at the small podium in front of the class and motioned for silence. The room complied and turned their eyes attentively as everyone waited for him to speak.

"When you had your defensive operation lesson, I told you, that eventually there is a lesson which is goes more deeply into gunning. That is what we are going to be doing today." The instructor began. "The simulators are all set up with a program specifically for this lesson which we will get to shortly. However, in order to be an efficient gunner, there are a handful of things you need to know. Having good accuracy is not the only thing that makes a good vehicle gunner. There are other things you need to know, such as when to use certain weapons, how much power to give to your blasters, or where to aim ..."

The instructor went on describing how different weapons are effective in different scenarios. Throughout the instructors speech, Zafo made a new topic in his datapad under the old "Novice Gunning" which was called "Advanced Gunning". In it, he put all the key things the instructor was saying. Not only would this be good reference if he ever needed, but it helped him remember better if he actually took it down.

"Now is the time to put all your new information to the test." The instructor said, raising his voice. The class snapped to attention, realizing the lecture part of the lesson was nearly over "In the simulation, you will find your self in a cockpit of a vehicle that does not actually exist. It resembles much the cockpit of an AT-AT, only the weapon configuration is nowhere near the same. You will have access to nearly all the different weapons and settings I talked to you about. The vehicle has a plotted course, which it will follow automatically. While it moves from point to point, various obstacles and enemies will appear in your path and you will have to use the most effective way to take them out. Any questions? No? Good! Now get to work."

Zafo slowly got up from his seat and walked towards the simulator in the farthest corner of the class. He stepped in a loaded up the program. Within seconds the world around him had vanished and faded into a cockpit having only the things required to operate the vehicle's weapons. Outside, the landscape much resembled that of Hoth. He was in a seat which was slightly outcropped from the vehicle, so that he could swing around and hit anything in a hundred degree radius.

Slowly, the computer generated world outside the cockpit began to move. Shortly ahead, Zafo noticed a swarm of moving black dots. He dropped down the electrobinoculars to get a better look at them.

"Probe droids"Zafo thought to himself "Their armor is weak, I should be able to take them out with a normal blaster cannon set on relatively low power"

Zafo flicked a couple of switches in front of him and waited for the probe droids to draw near. When they where within range, Zafo began picking them off one by one. They where easy targets, they didn't move to fast, although they were rather small. Zafo got rid of them without any difficulty.

A couple of seconds after the last probe droid was destroyed, red bursts of intensified light shot by Zafo's window. Dropping down the binoculars again, Zafo saw that there were 2 turrets ahead in a small trench right beside each other. They were much to small for him to see, but they were able to see him. Zafo switched over to concussion missiles.

"These should do the trick. This way, If I hit one, I take out the other"

The first missile went stray, and the second one got hit by incoming fire and exploded before even getting halfway to the target. For the third shot, Zafo dropped down the targeting computer. Using the computer for guidance, Zafo fired the third missile, which nailed the left turret. As he hoped, the explosion destroyed the second turret.

Even after the turrets were destroyed, the fire refused to cease. This time, however, Zafo saw the source. Two snowspeeders were firing away, doing complicated flight patterns which would make them hard to hit. They passed behind Zafo, then looped around a flew straight at him again. All his shots were dodged. Zafo switched over to heavy blaster cannons, but set the power down low so he could have more rapid fire. This time when the speeders crossed in front of him, he left out a horizontal stream of fire. The attempts of both snowspeeders were unsuccessful. They both crashed into the ground in a mix of metal and fire.

Various other enemies and obstacles came after that. Zafo was able to meet the challenge each one put forward.

Finally, up ahead, Zafo saw the shield generator, which he assumed was his last target. He switched over to heavy blaster cannons and switched over to maximum power. He started off by releasing a concussion missile. As soon as the missile hit, Zafo unleashed a hail of firepower. A ball of flame shot up into the sky as debris from the generator rained down on the battlefield.

As Zafo guessed, with that the battlefield began to fade away, bringing him back to the security of the classroom. Zafo was asked to have a seat with the other people who finished and  wait for the people who were not yet done. Within ten minutes, all simulators were empty, and the class was staring at the instructor, once again.

"You did incredibly well" The instructor began "Except for you" He said, pointing at a very arrogant looking man. He flushed a bright red before telling everyone looking his way to shut up and pay attention to the instructor.

"Anyways" he continued "the next handful of lessons is learning and understanding the circuitry and mechanics of vehicles so that you can repair them. I will give you all a disk as you leave which will be your bible. You must read through each section before coming to your classes. I will only be here to ask questions. You will be given whatever it is that needs to be fixed, and you will fix it. You fix it under the allocated time, you pass. It will be that simple. Well, that's all for today, see you all next class"

Comments: Good work. Intresting way of conveying the lesson. On a side note, try and watch the microsoft word conversions to comnet

 
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~ZaFo
*DarkDragoons
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
TRP/CPL ZaFo/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
~Keep on Rocking in the Free World

Vehicle Crewman:
Computer/Automation System Repair

"Damn, these next handful of lessons are going to be long and difficulty. All revolve around repair and maintenance, not the kind of things I exactly enjoy doing. Oh well, I'll survive"

These were Zafo's thoughts as he entered the class, seeing a whole bunch of circuit boards and cockpit replicas all over the room. He glanced at his schedual and  read "Computer/Automation System Repair; Table 3". Only two other people had decided to start off at the same place as Zafo. The instructor had allowed everyone to do the bunch of next lessons in whatever order they wanted. He had set up different tables/areas for each one and would be roaming around if anyone had any specific questions. It seemed like the majority of people had decided to start off with "Armament Repair" because they thought it would be the most interesting. It probably was, but Zafo decided he would save it for towards the end when repairing other things would get incredibly unexciting.

"Once you start, I'll be setting off a timer" The instructor said as he saw Zafo pick up a component to look at it.

"How long do I have?" Zafo inquired

"For this particular long subdivision, I'm going to give you two hours and fifteen minutes. Starting Now."

On the table before him lay several things; a targeting computer, an auto-pilot system, communications system and many other small components, which when all added together formed an big part of what is needed to pilot a vehicle.

Zafo decided started off with the targeting computer. Before him lay the actual device and slightly off to the side, the whole circuit board and other components required for it to work.  He glanced through the eyepieces to try and figure out what the problem was, instead of randomly taking it apart and making sure every little thing was working correctly, like the private beside him was doing. Many of the things that should have been there were, only a couple of things seemed to be wrong. Zafo dug into his memory of what he had been reading about targeting computers and tried to pin component locations related to the problems. After a couple of minutes of pondering, Zafo concluded that the problems were not related to the main circuit board, but to the actual binoculars themselves.

He popped open the metallic cover plate revealing the inside working of the device so often used be pilots on the battlefield. Personally, Zafo avoided using most of the features of it when he could avoid doing so. He felt it showed a weakness a dependence to technology. If it were to fail, what then?

"Guess that's why I'm learning how to fix these things" Zafo chuckled to himself.

After screwing around with the insides of it for about half and hour, soddering some wires, doing some minor re-wiring and lots of software reconfiguration, Zafo had succeeded in bringing the targeting computer to perfect working condition.

The other components spread across the table were much easier to fix than the computer. They were much simpler to begin with and they had fewer problems. Zafo worked away, not paying attention to time or others until the last non-functioning component was completely operational.

When he was done Zafo raised his hand to call over the instructor. He finished answering a question for the student he was dealing with and walked over to Zafo.

"Yes Zafo, what do you need help with?" The instructor inquired as he stared at the devices on the table.

"I believe I am complete, sir" Zafo answered

"Oh? Already?" The instructor hit a couple of buttons on his datapad "Ok, you were able to finish in just under two hours. The important part, however, is that all the components work correctly."

The instructor called a technician over to the table. One by one, the technician opened up the device (if necessary) and checked to make sure they were properly repaired. One by one, the technician gave the thumbs up as he examined the devices. When he got to the targeting computer, it took him decently longer than for the other instruments.

"Most interesting..." the technician finally murmured after examining it for several minutes.

"Hows that?" the instructor demanded

"Well, you see, what I had done to make the targeting computer not work correctly was screw around with a few things on the circuit board. Your student here, completely ignored what I had done to the circuit board, but managed to fix inside the binocular piece. It is quite possible that it is even more accurate than before. I'm going to take this and run some tests on it."

Zafo smiled. "Hehe, I was almost sure that the problem had nothing to do with the circuit board whatsoever" he though, but said nothing other than smiled.

"Zafo, you never cease to impress me. Good job, and I'll see you in a couple of days" The instructor congratulated as he handed Zafo a score sheet which the technician had been filling out. As he look at it, he skipped all the marks and comments down to the part that read "Passed: 94%" in big green letters

Comments: Impressive! This isn't the easiest topic to write about, and yet you've pulled off quite an intresting story. I gotta say: good work. To quote your professor: "You never cease to impress me."

 
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~ZaFo
*DarkDragoons
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
TRP/CPL ZaFo/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
~Keep on Rocking in the Free World

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Computer/Automation System Repair

Well, it is time for my next training session. Who did Talbon say my new teacher would be? Oh yeah. Faultus Irogus. Interesting name. I hope he's good. Kairo had been given directions to a new section of the training facility. He had left early, to give himself a buffer time if he got lost again. Fortunately, he had arrived right on time. As he entered the new room, Kairo took a look around. It had only one large table in the middle of the room covered with many pieces of machinery and computer boards, a computer terminal on one side, a simulator, and a door on the opposite side of the room that probably led to a hanger of some sort. Standing next to the table was a younger man than Talbon. He had the rank of a major and wore a pleasant smile on his face.

"Hello, Kairo?" the man asked. Kairo nodded. "Great. Well, Talbon probably already gave you my name, but I still feel like I should introduce myself. My name is Faultus Irogus, and yours, apparently is Kairo. Interesting name. Mind me asking what it means?"

"I don't mind, but I'm still not going to tell you. Sorry." Kairo answered and thought to himself, I don't even know, but why tell him that. "So what am I going to be learning today?"

"Right into the lesson. I like that. Ok, well. Over the next few lessons I will be going over how to fix your vehicle. This is to aid you when you are on a long mission and a piece of machinery breaks down. You will have to fix it yourself, since you can't take a technician and mechanic with you on all your mission. Today, we will be going over computer and automation system repair. As you can see, the table next to me has a lot of machinery and computer boards on it. I will be showing many things that can go wrong with them and how to fix those problems. One of the many problems that may plage a software system in your navigation display, is error 10001011011101100000100110 repeated. I know that is a long code, but it is one of the most common. If this code appears, your entire navigation display will turn into a black screen with that error code scrolling across the screen. To fix this you will have to slide yourself under your control board and open up the navigation display's compartment. It will look like this on the inside," he motioned toward one of the many parts on the table. "You will then connect your datapad to this wire," Faultus held up a wire connecting to the display. "If you did this correctly, the error code should appear on your datapads screen. You will then enter this code...

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . One Hour Later .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Can't...Hold....Anymore...info. Kairo thought to himself. Faultus had gone over many different things that could happen to the computer systems in almost every vehicle Kairo had ever operated in his opinion. Faultus had also had Kairo program his datapad with solution sets to the errors. Ah, he's done.

"Well that should cover everything in that area. Now, allow me to go onto the hardware systems of your vehicle and what goes wrong with them. Of course, the most prevalent thing to happen is that circuitry has a build up of grime that needs to be cleaned off. Other things include faulty wires, wires that need to be replaced, loose wires, bent circuit boards, broken pathways, and many other things. Allow me to show you how to fix these errors." Faultus went on to show Kairo how to fix all of the things that he had just described.

It took Faultus thirty minutes to show Kairo these things. During that time, Kairo kept thinking I know how to fix that., but he didn't interrupt the instructor. Once he had finally finished, Faultus turned to Kairo and said, "Well, that's all for today. All you need to do now is prove that you learned these things. I am just going to give you three different things that have some sort of problem with it. You will have two hours to finish the tasks." He then cleared the table of all the things, and placed three new pieces of circuitry on top. "As you can see, you will be dealing with a navigation display, a regular circuit board you could find in almost every type of walker, and the computer that controls the movement systems of a walker, basically the wires that connect the controls you use to the machinery that moves the legs. You may begin at anytime."

Kairo nodded and said, "Well, better now then later."

"Then begin."

Kairo did, he set to work on the circuit board first. As soon as Kairo opened the front cover, he immediately saw that it needed to be cleaned and that many wires were either broken or worn out. He set to work cleaning out the many circuit pathways, replacing broken wires, stripping the cover of other wires and reconnecting them to their proper mate then covering them once again, and many other tasks. It took him thirty minutes to finally complete the task. When he looked down at his finished product, Kairo was happy to see that it look almost new.

He then moved onto the movement controls. He recognized that the wires had been shorted out that connected to the controls and that they needed to be replaced. It took him fifteen minutes to replace them all and make sure they were properly connected. He then tried the controls out to see if the machinery the wires connected to would move. They didn't respond. Must be something else also. Kairo then looked at where the wires connected to the machinery. They connection seemed to be fine. Kairo then decided that the controls were faulty. He pulled out a vibroblade and pealed off the controls cover. He looked at the base of them and saw that there was a large buildup of grime. He quickly cleaned it off and tried the controls once more. This time the machinery responded. One to go. Kairo thought and looked at the time remaining. One hour remaining. Good.

Kairo pushed his two completed projects out of the way and set to work on the navigation display. He started by seeing if it would even turn on. It didn't. Kairo flipped it over and opened the hatch. Once again there were many faulty wires, transistors, circuitry pathways, and the like. He moved as quickly as he could to clean them and fix them. Thirty more minutes passed before Kairo finished. He then turned it right side up, and turned it on. The screen started to light up, making Kairo grin, then the screen turned into one of the many error codes Faultus had given Kairo. Great. Kairo flipped it over once more and found the proper wire. He stripped it, pulled out his datapad, and connected the two. The error code appeared on his datapad, and Kairo tried to remember which one it was. Finally, Kairo's mind clicked, and the numbers became a recognizable code. Yes. Kairo then loaded the proper correction and saw the error code disappear on his datapad. Kairo covered the open wire, turned the display over, and saw that it now showed a blank screen, which was to be expected since it didn't connect to anything.

"Very well done." Faulus said. He had been watching the Kairo the whole time from a seat next to the table. "I almost couldn't have done better. That was a superb job. I'll have to check to make sure it is all properly done, but from what I could see, you did great. You are free to go. I'll give you your grade at our next lesson. See you then." Faultus then set to work checking Kairo's work.

That wasn't as bad and boring as I thought it would be. Kairo thought, as he exited the room.

Comments: Good work! I see you have a vast knowledge of Electronics work that you seem to be doing...very intresting. Nice to see that you implemented into your story.

Vast Knowledge....um....yeah sure....I'm not doing the repair ones by the seat of my pants...I know a ton about this stuff...
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR]

(First Specialty. Your criticism is welcome)

Basic Electronics/Wiring
Combat Engineer Training.

Buzzz!

Giovanni tumbled over in his bed and gave a loud groan. He had totally forgotten his scheduled training session and wasn't thrilled about having to cut his rest by half. He sat up in bed, half asleep, and smelling like prespiration and alcohol. He stretched and walked over to the refresher unit.

-10 minutes Later-

Giovanni, now fully awake, grabbed the Holopad off his bed and followed the directions to the place where his training would take place. Today he would do nothing but sit at a desk and listen to some retired soldier go on and on about how "The Skills you'll learn today could save you and your squadmates lives..." and so on. Giovanni wasnt too interested. If it came down to it, hed throw away his Electronics Kit and start shooting if it meant the safety if his friends.

Giovanni walked in and greeted the instructor. He was a middle aged man a bit shorter than he was, with teeth yellow from the consumption of caffeine.

Giovanni looked down at his holopad.

"Say, when does class start? I dont see anyone around... Am i early?" asked Giovanni.

"This is it," said the instructor. "If you'll take your seat we can begin..."

Giovanni took a seat and set down his Holopad.

"Now, im not sure how much you know about electronics systems, but we're gonna start with basic stuff. Repair, Running Diagnostics. After that im gonna teach you some actual things that you'll be able to apply while in battle. For instance, If you listen up and stop staring at the walls..."

Giovanni sat straight up and looked forward.

"That's better. As i was saying, you'll learn to repair and override a door panel, How to improvise and create useful tools out of common materials and just exactly what that lonely red wire will do if you cut it."

The instructor flashed a smile. Giovanni nodded back.

"Well lets get started. If you'll be so kind, please approach the mock control panel to your left.

Giovanni looked over. It looked exactly like a computer terminal, but it was connected to the instructors computer. It was probably designed to simulate any kind of control panel a Stormtrooper would encounter.

"Now, I want you to link up to it with your holopad and give me an analysis... You do know how to link up dont you?"

Giovanni scoffed. He slowly walked over to the control panel, rubbing his hands together, and brought his holopad up to the terminal.

"Analysis? The power is down." replied Giovanni, a bit confused.

"Better get it up and running then, dont you think? No need to pry into it, it opens up nicely. Look in there and try to tell me what you think is wrong."

"Seems to me like all the wires are connected... But i dont see a power supply anywhere." said Giovanni.

"Let's see if you can figure out what to do next."

Giovanni sighed. His patience was wearing thin.

He grabbed a power supply from the desk behind him and unplugged some of the wires. None of this made sense. Maybe if the instructor had taught him something...

"This is a learning experience. Tinker around, youll get it eventually."

Well, the wires form a current with the power supply, so lets see if there are two wires of the same color i can connect to this here battery...

He found two red wires that were slightly thicker than any of the other wires there. He took one and cut the rubber coating to reveal two inner wires.

Bingo, he thought.

He stripped the other wire and connected both. He plugged everything else into its respective slot and the panel came to life.

"Easy enough..." He said. He didn't mean it, but he thought it might annoy his instructor.

"In that case, see you in a couple of days. You'll be ready for your examination."

-Two days later-

Giovanni once again followed the instructions on his holopad to a simulator room. He recognized the gray face of his instructor and approached the man with his nervers on edge.

"Well, i hope you havent forgotten what i taught you earlier this week, or youll be knee-deep in ... well, you get the idea."

"If you taught me something I failed to catch it. I thought it was just me and the panel." responded Gio.

The instructor welcoming smile quickly turned into a stern expression.

"You will have 10 minutes to make your way through an abandoned outpost. You will use what you learned in training and find the exit. If you can get through without blowing yourself up, you pass."

Giovanni gathered his thoughts and tried to remember everything he had learned. No use. He reluctantly stepped into the Simulator.

From the sky a network of corridors and locked doors came down in him. Next thing he knew he was in a dimly lit hallway, like something right out of a terror book, with a bag of equipment at his feet. Whoever designed this program must not have had a happy childhood...

He grabbed the bag by the strap and ran up to the control panel down the Hallway. He tried to remember what to do, and opened his bag.

Wires, Wires, More Wires, Vibroblade...

He sliced into the panel with his blade and tried to make sense of the array of wires within it. This wasnt exactly like the panel he had worked with in class, but it was similar. This time however, most of the wires were fried. Most wouldnt even reach to their counterparts. He looked for the generic red wires once again. No luck. All the wires had the same color. He felt around for thicker wires and found them. After he stripped them he connected them to a slightly larger battery. Slowly the door began to open.

"Huh... That was easier than I expected." he muttered to himself.

-8 minutes, 37 seconds later-

The fourth and last door slid open, and the hallways, doors, and the stale smell all dissapeared before him. The exam seemed easy, but maybe it just had to do with the fact that this was basic electronics. The simulation was over.

"Good job Giovanni. Not a record time, but you certainly came through with flying colors. Congratulations." said the instructor.

Giovanni nodded and exited the room. He made his way to the bar for a stiff drink.

Comments: I'm going to let this one slide. Basic Electronics Wiring is a topic that normally gets waived for most people. You attempted the story and came out with a decent story on top of it. The only problem I have with it that it's too short, and I really don't get to see too much of what you actually did to pass. However, like I said; this is normally waived and you still did a good job. Just try and make your future ones longer.

 
-----------------------
*DarkDragoons*

*Corporal Giovanni A. Bryden*

TRP/CPL Giovanni Bryden/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoR]

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Mechanical Maintenance

This should be interesting. Kairo thought as he entered his classroom. He noticed that Faultus was not in the room, so he decided to check the hanger. As Kairo entered the hanger, he saw Faultus standing next to and At-St.

"Hello Kairo. Nice to see you once again. I hope your ready. Today is going to be a good lesson." Kairo prepared himself, feeling like Faultus was about to go into one of his long winded speeches again. "We have dealt mostly with electrical circuitry and the like up until now. Today, we get to go into the mechanical functions of vehicles and how to do a through maintenance check on a vehicle. I particularly like this area of training, because we get to deal with something much more substantial than wires and circuitry. Shall we begin?"

Kairo nodded and sat down, knowing he was about to receive the longest speech yet. "Then allow me to begin. Since walkers are really the only vehicle with large mechanical parts, that is all we will be going over. Allow me to explain. Although tanks and speeders may have some mechanical functions, walkers are the only ones that have actual moving 'limbs.' These limbs are made from gears, servo motors, shafts, metal support beams, and the such. Tanks, repulsor vehicles, and the like do not have anything like that. That is why when we deal with mechanical functions and repair, walkers will be our primary subject.

"Oh, it appears I went off on a tangent. Sorry, please excuse me. Now, onto the real lesson. As I said before, walkers' 'limbs' are made up of the most mechanical parts than any other vehicle. Because of this, they have to constantly be maintained and checked. When I say 'limbs', I am talking about the legs and head of the walker. The head is mounted on the legs. This allows it to turn its weapons and view in any direction while its legs keep moving in the direction it wants to go. The mount that connects the head to the leg, is most susceptible to jamming. It should be checked frequently. The legs are controlled from the head. So through the connection of the head run cables and wires that send the intention of the pilot to the mechanisms that run move the legs. Now, gears, pistons, and hydraulics are what mainly move a walker's legs. These should be checked, cleaned, and repaired every so often. Allow me to show and explain to you the proper way to clean and replace these things. If you do it improperly, you will most likely have irreversibly damaged a ninty-five thousand credit piece of equipment. Unless you want that coming out of your pocket, I would advise you pay close attention. Now, when we clean the gears inside the....

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  . Two and a Half Hours Later .  .  .  .  .  .    .  .  .

"Well, that sums it all up. As you can see, even for an expert like me, replacing these things takes a very long time to do. Time for you to take a swing at it." Faultus had replaced almost every mechanical piece of machinery in the At-St's legs.

"Are you sure I can do this?" Kairo asked as he look up at the daunting figure of the mechanical beast he had grown to cherish on the battle field.

"I believe so. You have been one of my best students. Not 'THE' best, but very good for just being a pilot and not a complete mechanic. Do you have any doubts?" Faultus asked.

"No. I'm sure I can handle this."

"Because if you do, we can go over anything your not sure about. I wouldn't want you to feel pressured into doing this. Like I said, these things cost a lot. So, are you sure?" Faultus asked one last time.

Kairo hesitated. Then he calmed himself and thought deeply. I can. "I am one hundred percent confident that I can."

"That's the spirit. Well, since we had to take so much time showing you how to do this, you only have to check the walker for any problems. Then just fix them. There won't be that many. I will be right over here. Ready?"

"Let's go." Kairo grinned.

"Then you may begin. Everything you need is right here." Faultus indicated a pile of machinery then walked over to a computer terminal with a chair. He sat down and watched Kairo get to work.

Kairo didn't waste anytime. He decided to work from the top down, checking for any visible mechanical errors. Once he had reached the bottom, he had found three gears that needed to be replaced, a broken servo motor, and a few areas that needed to be cleaned. Picking up a gear from the ground, Kairo climbed to the first area that needed to be replaced. After ten minutes of disconnecting, sliding, and oiling, Kairo had finally dislodged the stubborn gear. It took him another fifteen minutes to slide the replacement gear into place and check to make sure it was secure. He then climbed back down from the At-St, put the broken gear on the ground, picked up another replacement gear, and repeated the process from before.

Once all of the gears had been replaced, Kairo climbed to the broken servo motor and started to fix it. It had some minor fractures in some places. Just a mild repair job. Kairo quickly fixed it up and proceeded to the areas that needed to be cleaned. Thirty minutes later, Kairo stepped away from an almost sparkling walker. Time to check and see if everything is all right. Kairo scaled the At-St one last time and entered the cockpit. After turning it on, he moved it forward, backward, and side to side. He then rotated the cockpit in every direction. There were no problems. Kairo shut the vehicle down and climbed down for the last time. Stepping away. Kairo felt quite pleased with himself.

"Excellent job Kairo. I must say. You still amaze me on how you deal with situations that most people would not even dare try if they don't know how. But you, you tried anyways and conquered your fear. Well done. Everything seems to be in order. Your free to go."

"Thank you sir. See you next lesson." Kairo nodded and exited the hanger. That wasn't too bad, if I do say so myself.

Not all that amazing, but still passed. You demonstrated your knowledge of the subject, and i have no difficulty allowing you to pass. Good Work.

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Power Generation Systems Repair

Kairo had woken up that morning in a happy mood. He was actually looking forward to the days lesson, because he actually didn't know a thing about it. It will be interesting to learn something that I don't really have any prior knowledge of yet.  Kairo walked into the now completely familiar room. Looking around, Kairo found his instructor hovering over a large piece of machinery on the table.

Faultus looked up when he heard Kairo enter and said, "Ah, I'm glad you could make it. We are going to have a lot of fun today."

Kairo walked over and asked, "So what is this thing?"

"This here," Faultus replied and gestured toward the piece of machinery on the table, "Is the power generator for an At-St. Remarkable isn't it. I am going to teach you how to check for damage, how to replace its high-intensity power cells, how to fix delicate parts if they are broken, how to handle fractured power cells, how to fix fuel and energy lines, and how to handle yourself incase there is a breach in the power core. I know that last thing sounds dangerous, and you would be right. That is one of the worst things that can happen to you. Any questions so far, or can I begin?"

"No and yes. Let's get right to it. I'm actually kind of eager about this." Kairo answered.

"Great. I agree. This lesson is one that I do like to teach more than others. We get to work with something more substantial that tiny wires and it also has a sense of danger that surrounds it. Well, enough banter, I'll start. Now, the first thing you are going to need to know is that not all vehicles are powered by the same thing. I would like to teach you some things that they do have in common, but since your profile says you are going to be studying walkers, I felt that we should go over one of the most common vehicles that you will probably be using.

"Now, the first thing that most vehicle have in common are the lines that transfer the raw power to the main power converter. These will wear down with age and should be checked periodically. Here is an example of one. Allow me to show you the proper way to search for fractures, miniscule scratches, and other damage. All of those can hamper a vehicle greatly. Power may fluctuate, along with many other things. Now, even the tiniest of scratches can cause trouble for you, so you must thoroughly check every part of the line. So," Faultus pushed the line so Kairo could see him work, "This is how you should properly do it." Faultus then pulled out a piece of equipment that had a microlense on it so he could see even the smallest of scratches if he wanted to. He then started to comb the surface, keeping careful track of where he was so he didn't have to cross over a patch twice. He continued in this way until he was halfway along the line. Fifteen minutes had passed. "That should give you and example of how that is to be done. I know want you take a crack at it and tell me if you find anything on your side of the line." Faultus handed Kairo the tool and watched as Kairo set to work.

Kairo moved slower than Faultus had, But as he moved along, his pace quickened as he became more familiar with how he was to work. Twenty-five minutes later, he was finished. Moving back from the line, Kairo blinked a couple of times to help his eyes adjust from the close work.

"So, did you find anything?"

"I think so. Right here, I believe is a small fracture, and at the end here, is a much larger gouge." Kairo identified.

"Very good. Yes. That is exactly right. Now, allow me to show you how to fix those. The first thing you would do before you started work on it at all and before you even checked the line, would be to turn off the power of the vehicle and disable the flow of the energy to the power converter. Even if the power is off, energy can still be cycling through the lines. After that is finished and you have checked the line, this is how you would repair it. You would take this piece of special adhesive cement and place it over the spot. You would only use as much as is necessary to fix the problem. Too much and it could leak into the line and cause a blockage when the power comes back on, causing your vehicle to go explode. Too little, and the fracture wouldn't be closed at all. So, I will do the little scratch and you will do the bigger cut. Watch closely."

Kairo's instructor proceeded to show Kairo the proper way to place the adhesive cement and make sure that there wasn't too much or too little on the area. After he was finished, Faultus gave Kairo the adhesive and asked him to fix his cut. Kairo grabbed the adhesive and set to work, moving carefully so he wouldn't get any of the bond on himself or place the wrong amount on the cut. Five minutes later, he had finished.

"Good job. Excellent, that is all you really need to know about that. Let's move on to something else." Faultus picked the line up off of the table and placed it on a shelf. He then turned Kairo's attention to the main power core. He then dislodged a piece from it and placed it on the table. "This would be the main power converter. It changes the raw power from-in this case-the high-intensity power cells to energy that can be used by your weapons, electrical systems, displays, and everything else that uses power inside your vehicle. Now, this piece of machinery is very delicate and should be handled carefully. Because it is so delicate, a falling piece of machinery from the inside of your walker or a small explosion on the outside of the vehicle can cause great damage to it. Its metal can be warped, bent, broken, or completely destroyed. The plus side of fixing it is that it is larger than other pieces of machinery. So if it is broken, you should be readily able to see the problem. As you can see, this side of it has been broken and damaged. Let's fix it." Faultus started to show Kairo the proper way to replace the parts on the converter and how to make sure it was working properly afterwards. It was then Kairo's turn to fix it. He took a lot longer than Faultus had, but in the end he had done a nice job. I wonder if this whole class is going to be me just learning these things one at a time and doing them right after. Maybe I won't have a large test at the end for once.

"Very good. Now we just place back into place, and...done. That was a good job. You're probably wondering when your test is going to begin, well today, since there is so much to learn, we are going to continue on like so. No really large test at the end. Your getting your practice as we go along anyways."

"You must have read my mind," Kairo said.

"Yes well. I just guessed," Faultus stated. "Moving on, you should now learn how to handle energy cells. We are now moving into more detailed instruction on the At-St power systems. Now, energy cells hold a tremendous amount of power within them. If they are dropped or get punctured, you are likely to have one hell of an explosion. They are to be handled very delicately and examined with care. Here is an empty power cell." Faultus placed a large, cylindrical container on the table.

"So that's what it looks like. Interesting," Kairo commented.

"Yes, it is, isn't it? As I said before, this one is empty, so we won't have to worry about blowing ourselves up today. It has been rigged though to make a loud sound if it does get mishandled or punctured. This will tell me if you would have died if we were using a real one. Now, this is how we look for potential fractures, broken outlets that connect to the lines we were working on earlier, and other things." Faultus proceeded to show Kairo the many things that can cause damage to the power cells, going into great detail on what to do in those situations. After he was finished, it was Kairo's turn to practice. At one point the siren erupted and Faultus showed him what he had done wrong. After that incident, nothing else eventful happened.

"Well then, that is all for that. We only have one last thing to do before you can go. Wow, look at the time. We've been here for about two and a half ours. I guess we shouldn't dilly dally." Faultus placed the power cell back under the table and motioned toward the original piece that still rested on the far side of the table. "As I said before, this is the main power core. It looks like this in most vehicles, so you should familiarize yourself with it greatly. This is where is all happens. The raw energy from the power cells is shunted here through those lines we talked about. Then the power converter, here, changes that energy into an easier form of use. The power core then stores and directs that energy to all the areas of the vehicle, recycling energy that comes back and resending it once it has been recycled. This is the most important piece of equipment in the power generation system of any vehicle. They vary in size depending on the size of the vehicle, but for all medium sized vehicles, this is what it most likely look like. As I said before, the worst thing that can happen to you is to have a power core breach. Some sort of alarm will go off in your vehicle. There are only two things you can do if this happens. Shut down the vehicle and close all lines of energy that are attached to the power core. Unfortunately, that only works if there is only a small amount of energy when the breach occurs. If it worked, the siren should turn off and your equipment display should show the power core diminishing in power. If it didn't work, then the only other thing you can do, is to run for your life. Get out of the vehicle and get as far away as you can, because once that thing goes, your going to have one large explosion. That is all I can really teach on this. There may be a few things that can happen other than what I taught you today, but you can quickly fix those problems with the tools I showed you today. Any questions?'

"No sir, I think I got it all. Am I free to go?" Kairo asked as he pushed away from the table and started to move toward the door.

"Yes, yes. We're all done here. See you next lesson." Faultus said. He quickly disappeared from view as Kairo entered the hallway and headed back to his room. Well that was all interesting to know. I guess I could always make one hell of an explosion now if I ever needed to get into somewhere heavily fortified and I was going to lose the vehicle anyways.

Comments: Don't even THINK about exploding your way into my office! I'll have you demoted before you can say "Wildcaard". Good work, I liked your whole doing one thing at a time thing. Grammar has improved greatly since your last story.
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR]

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Armament Repair

  All was dark, then a shrill alarm went off in the room. A hand shot out from under layers of covers, grabbed the alarm, and threw it across the room. The hand then retreated back to the warm folds of the sheets. A couple of minutes passed, and then a different alarm went off on the opposite side of the room on top of a desk. This time, the hand reached under one of the pillows on the bed and grabbed a blaster. Aiming into the darkness without even looking, the man fired his weapon and destroyed the alarm. Another couple of minutes went by, then a third alarm sounded. This one originated from within the rooms refresher unit. I know myself too well. The sheets flew into the air and off the side of the bed. Then a figure walked across the dark room, entered the refresher unit, and turned off the third alarm. After exiting, the figure stretched an yawned. What's today...oh shit. I have weapons repair. The man sprang into action, grabbing a pair of clothes and hastily putting them over his undergarments that he wore to bed. How could you forget the class you've been looking forward to, stupid Kairo. Grabbing his training datapad, Kairo left his room and ran down the hall.

  What time is the class? Looking down at his datapad, Kairo saw that his class was scheduled for eight in the morning. Glancing at his chronometer, Kairo increased his pace. Five minutes. Time to make a new record. Kairo broke into a mad sprint, dodging people in the halls as he wound his way through the barracks. After leaving the premises, he ran as fast as he could across the army bases lawn. Looking to the side as he ran, Kairo saw a new batch of trainees being marched across the fields. Gotta love drill. Bringing his attention back in the direction, Kairo saw he was about to run into a pair of troopers who had been talking an early morning walk. Why not, Kairo thought pushing another amount of his strength into his gait. Right before he hit the two people, Kairo pushed into the ground and flipped over their heads. "Did you see that?"  Kairo heard one of them say. Grinning, Kairo nearly flew into the training center.

  Skidding across the smooth floor, Kairo made his ussual sharp right turn. 
"Excuse me...pardon me....sorry about that....that one wasn't my fault," Kairo kept saying as he dodged in between the crowds of people. A minute and a half left... Knowing he was only a few halls away, Kairo pushed his last vestiges of strength into his legs. Moving like a blur past the many doors, Kairo overshot his classroom and tried to stop. Slipping, he skidded into a wall. Graceful. Turning back around, Kairo straightened his clothes, wiped the sweat off of his brow, straightened his normally messy hair as best as he could, and stepped through the door.

  "Ah, good morning Kairo. You're....Wow! you really are right on time." Faultus grinned.

  "Yeah, my alarm was having trouble this morning." Kairo said.

  "I see. Well, I didn't think you would want to miss this lesson, as I'm sure you know we will be working with weapons." Kairo nodded. "Let's not waste any time. This is going to be fun. Sine you use weapons all the time when you are missions, knowing how to fix them should they get damaged or disabled. It is especially helpful when you go on long missions and have to keep your equipment intact and usable. We will be going over many weapons today, along with what usually happens to them. Everything is already prepared outside. You will find every regular weapon laid out in the hanger and an At-St." Kairo tried to remain calm and not run into the hanger. As he walked through the door, he couldn't help but smile. Laid on the floor stretched a line of weapons that were normally attached to hovertanks, walkers, and speeders. They ranged from twin light blaster cannons to missile launchers.

  "Yes, it is quite the show of force. These are all the weapon systems you would most likely find on any vehicle. We will be going through them all." Faultus walked over to the first weapon in the long line of armaments. "This here is a twin light blaster. You are quite familiar with this weapon, since it is the most widely used weapon on an At-St. It is a wonderful weapon, and it too isn't prone to breaking down. You'll most commonly have to replace it, since it usually gets destroyed more often then it breaks. You should look over the weapon's components once and awhile to check to make sure wires are connected properly, there isn't any grime buildup, and other things that you learned about in your maintenance lesson." Faultus moved down the line, "This is the twin blaster cannon, the grown up version of the twin light blaster. It follows the same principals as its counterpart. You would check it the same as you check the lighter version. Now, as we move down the line, you will notice that we now have a concussion grenade launcher. If you look at these three weapons, you will see that they all belong on an At-St. I have grouped the weapons by their most common chassis. Anyways, this weapon does break down. Two things can actually happen. The first is that the force that the weapon creates when it launches a projectile of some sort causes things to get jostled out of place and the whole weapon to sometimes get misaligned with the head of the walker. To fix this, you would have to realign it and reconnect the broken wires and components inside the weapon itself. The other thing that can happen is a lot more dangerous. When the launcher is reloading, it sometimes gets jammed. A sensor will go off and a flashing red icon will appear on your weapons display inside the walker. It is advised that you check the sensor often, because if you use the weapon again without fixing the jam, the grenade might still accidentally fire and explode inside the launcher. This explosion can be large enough to make your entire cockpit become a blazing pyre, which isn't too healthy for its occupant." Faultus joked. Kairo gave him a smile that showed he was patronizing him.

  "Ok, so it wasn't that funny, but it was true. So, once you get back to your base or a safe area where you can make a few repairs, you would clip yourself to the side of the walker with a harness and move down to the launcher. You would then open it up, like so, and manually push the grenade into place. You would then clean the area and remove whatever it was that caused the jam in the first place. If you are at a base and there is extra ammo nearby, you can even reload the launcher for when you go out next time.

  "The next two weapons would be the ones that you would find on a TX-1305 Assault Repulsortank. They are the medium blaster cannon and the concussion missile launcher. They are basically the same as the weapons we have already gone over. A minor difference lies in the missile launcher. Since it uses missiles and not grenades, it is more prone to heat damage and jamming, because the missiles are self propelled and launch from the weapon. If the weapon over heats, you should...

                              *Two Hours Later*

  "I see you are beginning to get tired. Well, your in luck." Faultus said. Kairo's attention was almost none existent by this time. "That was the last weapon." Faultus smiled.

  "Really?" Kairo looked back down the long line of weapons. "Wow. It seemed like we started yesterday." Kairo teased.

  "Yes, well, if you were paying attention, you shouldn't have any troubles from now on with your weapon systems. Since we have spent a very long time on all of these weapons, you only have to do a short test. All you have to do, is go down this second line of armaments, pick out which ones are damaged and which ones are not, then fix those that would cause a problem. Hmm, I guess that isn't that short. Anyways, you'll find the second row right behind this one."

  Kairo looked over the top of the weapons in front of him and saw another row of armaments. It only contained five weapons. "That doesn't look too bad. I'm going to start now, so I can get back to my room. I didn't get enough sleep last night."

  "I see. Then you may proceed." Faultus said. "I'll be right behind you. If you think the weapons is fine, tell me, and if you think it needs to be repaired, then go ahead and fix it. Oh, here is your tool kit."

  Kairo nodded and set to work. The first weapon was some sort of blaster cannon. He gave it a quick check and found nothing very wrong with it. He did find a few loose wires and a broken powerconvertor. After fixing those minor things, he moved onto the next weapon. It was a missile launcher. Moving close, he saw that it was badly damaged on the side. It apparently had been hit by a stray lazer. It had left a gouge in along the side and had burnt a few components. Pulling out from his tools a hydro spanner, Kairo set to work. First he removed the completely destroyed parts. He found a few extra components near by on a hover pad. Once they were all properly replaced and tightened, Kairo grabbed a sheet of metal and proceeded to weld it over the gouge. Stepping back a few minutes later, Kairo examined his work. Not too bad. It'll do. Placing the welder back on the hover pad, Kairo moved to the next weapon.

  It was another blaster cannon. This one was much larger than the first. After circling it, Kairo determined that there was nothing wrong with it. Going with his gut instinct, he moved onto the next armament. It was an ion cannon. Looking at the large armament, he knew this one was going to take awhile to just decide of something was wrong with it. After combing through every repair hatch and component of the cannon, Kairo found out that there was nothing wrong with it either. "I just wasted a ton of time."

  "That is fine," Faulus stated. "Sometimes you won't be able to tell if a weapon is damaged from the outside. In those cases, such as this, you are forced to do a complete check. You did a very thorough search though. Finish up with the last one and you're done."

  Stepping in front of the remaining armament, Kairo decided that it was the largest blaster cannon he had ever seen. "What did this thing come off of?"

  Faultus smiled. "That is from a HAVW A6 Juggernaught and is a heavy laser cannon."

  "Aha. Ok then." Kairo moved close to the laser cannon and followed the same process that he had performed on the ion cannon. He found many broken components on the inside of it. He also found a few broken power converters, energy amplifiers, transistors, and a few other important parts. After twenty minutes, Kairo looked over at Faultus and said, "I think that's all of it. I can't find anything else wrong with it."

  "That's becuase there isn't. Good job. You're free to go." Faultus said.

  "Great. I'll see you tomorrow then, right?" Kairo asked as he placed the tools on the hover pad and started to walk backwards toward the door.

  "Yes you will. Get some rest, you're going to need it," Faultus stated with an all knowing smile.

  That's not a good sign. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. Kairo exited the hanger and headed for his room.

It's decently sized this time. This one took a long time for me to figure out how I was going to do it. Anyways, I hope it's good.
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

Vehicle Crewman:
Armament Repair

Zafo awoke to the annoying beep of his alarm. He climbed out of bed, got dressed and headed for breakfast. While eating his bowl of cereal, he glanced at the list of options he had for his next vehicle crewman class. After spending the past couple of classes repairing and maintaining various electrical and mechanical systems, one option stuck out above the rest; "Armament Repair"

--------------------One Hour Later--------------------

Zafo sat waiting at the table labled "armament repair". To his surprise it was empty and even worse, there was nobody there. After sitting waiting for twenty minutes, a nervous looking woman came to the table. Zafo looked at her, then at his watch and back again.

"Yes, I know. I'm sorry" She piped "I couldn't find this place"

Zafo threw her an inquisitive look

"I Just got transferred from another imperial faction" She continued "I wanted to study to become a vehicle crewman, or crewwoman should I say and was sent here."

Zafo's inquisitive look remained unchanged "If you are here to study, may I ask why you are the instructor?"

"Oh That. I am a heavy weapons specialist, so they asked me to fill in as the instructor for this particular lesson today. The usual instructor couldn't make it. By the way, what is your name?"

"Zafo, Yours?"

"Sarah. Pleasure to meet you. Anyways, onto the lesson. I'm going to explain to you the structures of various weapons systems. How they are put together and work so if something goes wrong, you'll be able to fix them. Then to test you on what you know, you are going to have to repair two main types of vehicle weapons. The most common vehicle weapon is the laser cannon. The concept is rather simple, but can become more complicated for more powerful vehicles such as the AT-AT..."

--------------------Two Hours Later--------------------

"Now if you could step outside so we can proceed to the testing portion of the class" Sarah finished as she got up and walked towards the door.

The sun was shinning outside, although the temperature was a bit low. Off to the left there where two tables. On one of them, there was a double-barreled laser cannon, found on most walker vehicles. On the second was a concussion missile launcher, another weapon common to most more heavily armed imperial vehicles. Off in the distance was something resembling a podium and farther off an odd looking metallic wall. To the right of the wall was a rather large boulder.

"For your exam" Sarah began "You need to repair those two weapons. With the concussion missile launcher, you need to destroy that boulder. With the laser cannon, you need to fire at that wall. What it does is measure how much energy is in each shot. That's a problem with laser weapons, they can be repaired easily, but keeping the power is the hard part. Anyways, a light will flash with every hit. If the light is green means the shots have ninety percent or higher of the original energy. Yellow; from seventy-five to eighty-nine percent. Orange; from sixty to seventy-five percent and red is anything below sixty. Get as high as you can. I have a grid to give you points based on color and speed. There is no official time limit, but if you take too long, you will loose many points. Enough talk...GO"

Zafo started by running towards the table holding the laser cannons. He popped the case open and took a look inside. It was a mess. Wires were loose, components unattached or broken. There were even parts that belonged to the missile launcher in there. Wondering if their were laser cannon components in the missile launcher, he hopped over to the other table and popped open the launcher. As he suspected there were a few pieces which he clearly remembered being part of a laser weapon's system. After switching the false components around, he got to work on the laser cannon.

The most noticeable problem was the laser tube was shattered. He took out a new one from the box of spare pieced underneath the table and replaced it with the broken one. Even after he replaced it, there was still problems with it. The pieces which injected energy into the tube were old and not put together properly. Dismantling the small components, Zafo put them back together properly then snapped the tube in place.

Another problem Zafo noticed right from the start was the power cell energy converters were in need of repair. Some parts needed to be replaced while some needed to be moved. Once Zafo took care of the two major problems, he scanned the cannon for other problems. When he thought he was done with it he took it over to the podium like thing, which happened to be a power generator and hooked it up. He fired a shot at the wall. He noticed that only one of the two barrels fired. The red light illuminated, informing him that his repair job was not yet done. He brought the laser back to the table and popped it back open a second time. He found and fixed the problem with the initial energy distributor that split the unamplified laser power to both barrels. He also noticed that the final amplifiers for both barrels were not operating to their full capacity so he cleaned and fixed them up. Once again he brought the laser cannon to the podium and attached it to the power supply. He fired again. This time a two green bolts were fired, instead of one red. This time the power reading light flashed green letting Zafo know he succeeded.

He jogged to the other table and immediately began work on the missile launcher. There was much less to go wrong with it seeing as all it had to do was launch the missile, not produce the weapon itself. Zafo noticed the missile propeller was but it backwards and needed some minor maintenance. After fixing it up, Zafo adjusted a couple of wires and devices that got the firing information from the vehicle. When he felt he was done, Zafo connected the missile launcher to a targeting device found in vehicles with concussion missile launchers. He took aim and fired. The missile flew from the shaft within the launcher and impacted directly in the middle of the boulder. The boulder exploded sending dust and pieces of rock everywhere.

Zafo walked up to Sarah, who had taken a seat in a nearby tree. "Done"

"Excellent Job" She said enthusiastically "I enjoyed watching it. You pass and now I can begin my vehicle crewman training"

"Are you just starting?" Zafo inquired

"Yup, Vehicle Operator course starts in one hour" Sarah answered "Myself and the others coming from our faction are speeding through the courses to catch up with the rest of the group"

"Ah, so I may see you around sometime then" Zafo stated "Oh and a little piece of advice. The race you are going to do as the vehicle operator test, make sure your speeder has fuel in it, because it won't."

"Oh, Thanks. See you around, I guess" Sarah said

With that Zafo left the Vehicle Crewman training area. He was getting closer and closer to completing the entire course. Before he knew it, he would become a fully qualified vehicle crewman. Zafo pondered what specialties he might chose to follow later on.

"Got to get through with this one first though" Zafo thought. He enjoyed these classes and was looking forward to completing the entire course and carrying his full qualified vehicle crewman card.

Comments: Intresting course idea. Adequate time and writing was used I believe for both conversation, the lecture, and the actual training. Good job.
 
-----------------------
~ZaFo
*DarkDragoons
+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +
ASL/SGT ZaFo/2SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
~Keep on Rocking in the Free World

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Track/Wheeled Vehicle Repair

  Kairo had woken up early that day, so he could make his rounds on the Army base before his class. When he woke up, he checked his datapad to see when his class would be. Noon? Wow, that gives a few more hours than normal. At least I won't have to rush my tasks this morning.  After getting dressed, Kairo grabbed his datapad and left his room. Moving down the DarkDragoon's section of the army barracks, Kairo saw a few sleepy heads beginning to walk around. He was surprised to find a few of the members returning from things they had already done that morning. Early birds.

  Kairo moved through the complex until he reached his office. Stepping inside, he moved over his desk and began to work at it's built in terminal. He had to check up on all of his trooper's training and see if they had been given any orders to ship out yet. An hour later, Kairo was finished examining everyone's training sessions and was happy to see that they were all going smoothly. He then opened his mail and a found a few random letters. Platoon relaxation session tonight, join in the fun. Hmm, that sounds interesting. Hosted by& Angel& maybe not. Oh, this is my reminder. Squad meeting tomorrow, I can't forget about that. I better resend it and delay it for tomorrow.

  Moving through his letters, Kairo was happy to see that the squad didn't have any orders yet. Shutting down the terminal, Kairo pushed his chair back from his desk, left the room, and locked the door. After a couple of minutes, Kairo was back in the barracks. The rooms were all deserted by this time. Everyone was eating, training, or doing some other, everyday task. Entering his room, Kairo changed from his clothes and got into a jumpsuit. Today's lesson is going to get messy. Fixing an entire vehicle isn't going to be easy. Checking his chronometer, he saw that it was still only eleven in the morning. He decided to get something quick to eat.

  After he left the barracks, Kairo wound his way through the Army grounds, passing familiar and unfamiliar faces. The Army had had a jump in recruits recently, causing the buildings and walkways to always be filled with people. Once he had arrived at the cafeteria, Kairo grabbed a plate of prepared food and glass of some juice that he couldn't describe. Looking around the cafeteria, Kairo found Gio and Squall sitting in one section eating their lunch. Kairo joined them and started to talk.

  Forty-five minutes later, Kairo left the cafeteria and was on his way to his training session. Once he arrived at the training area, Kairo walked through the halls until he arrived at his room. Taking a deep breath, Kairo entered and found Faultus leaning over a terminal. "Hello sir." Kairo said.

  "Good morning Kairo, or is it afternoon?" Faultus asked.

  "It's still technically morning. Do I really have to repair an entire vehicle today?" Kairo enquired as he walked across the room.

  Faultus smiled, "Yes, you do, a track/wheeled vehicle actually. It will be quite a challenge." Faultus moved away from the terminal as he spoke, motioning for them to enter the large hanger that adjoined to the room.

  Kairo walked through the door and found himself looking at the imposing figure of a HAVw A5 Juggernaught. "Are you sure we are in the right hanger?"

  Faultus laughed. "Yes, I'm quite sure. Now, most teachers wouldn't make a student repair quite a large vehicle. I've learned something interesting after all of my years of teaching. If I push I push my students to their limits, they will find that they didn't know where their true limits lay. But if you feel like this is too much for you, we can always go back to an easier course and come back to this. Though I know two fiends of yours from your first lessons have already done this without a second thought."

  "I wasn't saying that I wouldn't. That is cheap trick though, if I wasn't going to do it." Kairo said.

  "I know. I came up with it a while ago. Anyways, you already know everything that you need to know to fix this monolith. To pass today's test, you just need to get every system on it in working order. Depending on how good a job you do is how you will be graded. You only have three last lessons with me, including this one. I've taught you all I know about repairing systems. If you remember it all and know how to apply it, then you could pass for a fully qualified technician. That is what these three test lessons are going to see.

  "Now, before you begin, I want to take a quick look over all of the systems of the A5 Juggernaught class vehicle. Its weapon systems are three Heavy laser cannons, one Medium blaster cannon, and two Concussion grenade launchers. It can go two hundred kilometers per hour and has a crew of eight people. Due to its immense size, it is usually maintained by about ten people, and they are normally finished in an hour. Since you are only one person, this task will take much longer. But, only a few of the systems are in bad repair. If you had to fix the whole thing by yourself, it would take you two days to do it properly. Now, as I said before, you know everything that there is to fixing all types of vehicles. These last lessons are just to make sure you can do it. You may begin whenever you are ready. Everything you need is right over here." Faultus motioned to a large storage unit. "Wires, tools, wheels, lines, pipes, gears, energy canisters, circuit boards, and other spare parts are all inside. I will be watching from over here. You have as long as you need." With that, Faultus walked over to a computer station with many viewing screens and sat down in the provided chair.

  Kairo sighed. This is going to take a long time. Moving over to the storage unit, Kairo opened one of the many compartments labeled tools. Pulling out a tool belt, he strapped it around his waist. It held all of the tools that he would use and was able to be fitted to any size. Looking down at the belt, he saw that there was an attachment that would hold many wires. There was another attachment that would hold other things if he needed them. Walking over to the large vehicle, Kairo climbed the ladder and stepped inside. Moving through the large vehicle's hallways, Kairo eventually entered the cockpit. Stepping next to one of the control units, he turned the vehicle to standby so he could run a systems check.

  After a few seconds, a long list of red lines appeared on the screen. Here we go. Instead of going directly down the list, Kairo grouped the tasks, so he would be able to do multiple things at once. He also put them in order of greatest importance. He wasn't going to follow the order directly, but thought it might be helpful for later. Now that he knew what it was he had to do, Kairo left the vehicle and made his way to the fuel units near the back. Opening up the rear end, he stepped inside and moved to the main fuel units. The whole thing wasn't going to start without them getting fixed. Kairo first checked to see if there was anything wrong with the main fuel containers. Two of them were empty while the other two were still full. Checking inside the two empty ones, Kairo found a build up of composite near the injectors. After removing the hardened material, he checked to make sure that there weren't any fractures in the walls of the compartments. Closing them, he also checked the surrounding lines for fractures and scratches. He had to repair three lines by placing rubber cement bond on the broken parts. He then checked the full containers for by looking on the outside of them and the areas that led from the containers. Once all of the tasks were finished, he walked over to the supplies and saw that there was a large segment on the far side. Opening the door, he found a refueling line inside. Pulling the large hose back to the fuel containers, he attached it to the first one. Running back to the refueling unit, he started it and waited for the tank to fill.

  A few minutes later, Kairo turned the line off and repeated the entire process with the second container. Later, he was finished and had closed the back hatch. Returning the refueling line, he re-entered the vehicle and made his way to the cockpit. Checking the display, he saw that the fuel lines were now showing green. Next.

  Kairo left the cockpit and moved to a removable panel that would allow him to enter the core of the vehicle, where the power lines and electrical units lay. Crouching down, he crawled through the opening and made his way to the main power unit. Now that it was receiving fuel, he would be able to fix the power core. Entering the large power chamber, Kairo could almost stand but was still forced to stoop. Looking around the compartment, he saw that there were two main trouble areas. Where the fuel entered the power converter and the main power core, where the energy was stored and re-circulated. He decided to fix the converter first. The connecting fuel lines need to be adjusted and reset. Then he had to check to make sure that the energy leaving wouldn't be too much and send a discharge through out the vehicle, frying all the circuits. Once that task was accomplished, Kairo turned his attention to the main power core. Recalling his past lessons, Kairo knew he had to be careful when working with it. Delicately removing the access plate, he reached inside and examined all of the wires. He had to replace many wires and transistors, which cause him to have to make a visit to the storage unit. Once he was finished, Kairo sealed everything up and entered the cockpit a few moments later. Everything was showing green that he had worked on. Examining the remaining tasks, he decided to fix the broken things inside the cockpit.

  Kairo moved under the main control unit and opened the access hatch. Moving to the navigation circuitry, Kairo immediately saw that it needed to be cleaned and rewired. Disconnecting it, Kairo pulled it from its resting spot and placed it on the floor in front of him. Pulling out a few of the wires and the proper tools, he set to work. After cleaning the build up of dust and grime from the faceplate, Kairo removed the broken wires and replaced them. He then reconnected loose wires, fixed broken circuit paths, and checked to see if there was anything else broken or fractured. After a few minutes, he pushed the circuit board back into its proper place. Kairo walked over to his check list and saw that it was still showing red. Letting out a deep breath, he walked over and started the navigation display. As it turned on, an error code appeared across the screen. Moving back beneath the panel, Kairo hooked up a datapad that was connected to his tool belt and put in the proper code. Crawling out, he stood and saw that it was now working properly.

  Once it was shut down, Kairo moved to the next broken component in the cockpit. After forty minutes, he was finished with fixing everything in the entire room. Since there were eight control panels, he had had to check each and everyone one of them. Wiping a drop of sweat from his brow, Kairo moved over to the check list. They were showing green now. Looking at the chronometer, he saw that he had been at it for two and a half hours. Two things left. I'm really flying. Of course, it isn't like I have to repair everything wrong with each of these systems. If I had to do that, I would be here for days like Faultus said. Resting for a minute, Kairo prepared himself for the next task. It was going to require a lot of time and strength. Time to fix the gears and wheels of this thing. Leaving the vehicle, Kairo moved down the ladder and stepped next to one of the wheels. They were larger than him. Moving around the vehicle, Kairo saw that two of them were worn. He decided that he had to replace one of them and repair the other one.

  Moving back to the storage unit, Kairo opened an even larger compartment then before and found a replacement wheel inside. How am I going to do this? Moving over to Faultus, he asked, "How am I going to replace that wheel?"

  "I'm glad you asked and didn't just try to do it. That task requires a special maintenance vehicle and a team of three people. You don't need to replace it. All you needed to do was tell me that it needed to be done. That other wheel though does need to be fixed. I'm sure you can do it." Faultus explained.

  "Ah ha. Thanks." Kairo moved back to the storage unit and grabbed a few pieces of rubber replacement and a new tube of adhesive. Once he was back at the wheel, Kairo set to work. He placed the rubber over the torn pieces of the wheel and bonded them on. He also placed the bonding on scratches and tears. After ten minutes, he was done. Kairo then squeezed between two of the wheels to examine the gears and motors on the undercarriage. He noticed that the main turning pole was broken in one place and would need to be reconnected. There were also a couple of build ups of dirt and grime which would jam the motors and gears from turning. Last, he would have to replace a few of the gears. Sighing again, Kairo went to the storage unit and grabbed a few replacement gears, a tube of plain cement adhesive, a bonding torch, and a faceplate. Once he was back beneath the vehicle, Kairo put the faceplate on and started to weld the main turning pole back together. Sparks flew as Kairo worked. After a long while, Kairo put the torch down and grabbed the adhesive. He placed it all around where he had rejoined the pole to itself, so he would be sure that it would stay together. He then started working on the broken gears. Once they were all replaced, he had to clean everything. After an hour from when he first started working on the movements systems, he was finished. Wiping grime from his clothes, Kairo put the broken gears next to the storage unit and the faceplate and welding torch back inside the storage unit.

  Climbing back inside the vehicle, Kairo reset his check list and saw that there were now only two things left to be accomplished. Two weapon systems. Of course, they would have to be a concussion launcher and the heavy laser. I've only been at this for, what now, four hours. Leaving the cockpit and vehicle, Kairo moved to the storage unit. He grabbed the proper tools for the job and a harness. He then climbed to the top of the juggernaught and attached himself with his harness. He then lowered himself to the level of the broken heavy laser. At first, he couldn't tell what needed to be fixed. After ten minutes of checking everything, Kairo finally opened the energy converter at the back of the laser. These things always break. I guess since they are changing energy from its raw from to its powerful laser from, they tend to get overloaded. Once it was replaced, Kairo pulled himself back to the top of the vehicle and moved to the opposite side. Repeating the process, Kairo reached the launcher unit.

  As he opened the unit, Kairo's eyes widened. Damn it. The concussion grenade had gotten stuck in the launcher. Kairo would have to manually pulled it out and reset the remaining grenades still inside. Steadying his hands, Kairo reached into and began to slowly and carefully maneuver the grenade out from the launcher. After ten minutes of pushing and pulling, Kairo finally removed the grenade. Kairo lowered himself to the ground and placed the grenade on the cement floor. Pulling himself back to his position next to the launcher, he set to work on the second part of his task. After fifteen minutes of cleaning and repositioning, he was finally finished. Five minutes later, Kairo was entering the cockpit. After all of his work, Kairo was pleased to find that the task manager was completely blank. Done. Before he left the vehicle though, Kairo checked the cargo hold to see if there was anything wrong.

  It was empty. Moving to the back, Kairo pressed the button for the doors to open and the ramp to lower. It paused a second, and Kairo held his breath. It then began to ponderously open. Stepping outside, Kairo made his way over to Faultus. He was wearing a large smile across his face. "Very, very good job, Kairo. I am quite pleased. You have learned everything and remember it all. Now you just need to fix a repulsor vehicle and a walker. Great job today. I would advise that you get some rest for tomorrow though. It shouldn't be quite as hard as this was, but if you're tired, you will probably mess up."

  "Right." Kairo said. "Time to go wash off again."

  Faultus nodded. "Vehicle repair can be quite messy. See you tomorrow."

Kairo waved as he left the hanger. Entering the hallways, he made his way back to his room. Hmm, maybe some a relaxation tonight isn't such a bad idea.


Mwahahahaha. It's the longest one yet Rizzit. Have fun.

Comments: Oh, I had fun allright....Good work though. By far, one of your better stories. You do need to watch the Grammar though, you let a few mistakes slip by. No bigge though: you still passed. Very in-depth details on everything. You, like Zafo need to contact me soon about certification stories.
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

Heavy Weapon Specialist:
Fire Support Tactics

    Dinin was surprised to see the Heavy Weapon class schedule in his room so soon after he had sent the application.  Ripping open the envelope, he emptied the contents onto his hand and read thus:


    Dinin,
        Your application has been accepted.  You are hereby admitted into the Heavy Weapons class today at 1500 hours.  We wish you luck in your endeavors.

There was no signature, and Dinin gave it not a second thought.  Quickly, he glanced at his watch and saw that he had 30 minute to get to the classroom.  Putting on his usual black clothing and trenchcoat, he sidled out of his room to his class.  He had 5 minutes to spare when he arrived, and all eyes in the room turned towards him when he walked in.  With but a glance around the room, he could tell that he was the youngest one there.  He would be left alone, exactly how he liked it.

    "You're late Private!" shouted the Seargent who was teaching the class.  The Sergents name tag sai Johnson.  Dinin was mildly surprised by this outburst and began to check his watch when Johnson shouted, "I don't go by your watch Private!!  The last one through the door is late by my books.  Minus ten points from your score!  This is not a good way to start a class.  Now, take your seat."  Dinin's tatto near his right ear began to turn from blue to a deep orange, but no one noticed.  No, they were too busy snickering at his misfortune as he took the last seat in the room, at the very front of the class.  Oh yes, this was shaping up to be a wonderful day.  "Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," began Seargent Johnson.  "What you will learn in this class is the way of the Heavy Weapon.  What you learn will help the Empire against the enemies.  It will save your squads lives, and maybe your own.  So listen carefully, and arrive on time," he accented the last few words staring directly into Dinin's eyes.  Dinin stared back, daring the man to do anything else with his mind.  Fortunately, the man wasn't telekenetic, and he began to teach the class.  Unfortuneatly, the boy behind Dinin wasn't listening to Johnson, but was instead poking the back of Dinin's neck.

    "You think you're some kinda tough guy?  Eh, boyoh?"  The boy jabbed his finger into Dinin's neck again.  "Walking in here late, acting soo cool, with your against regulation dress?"  He jabbed harder, and Dinin's hands clenched under the desk, the tattoo on his arms turning a rich indigo color, but more red then blue.  Dinin was begining to get frustrated.  "Then there's this tattoo, what are you coming acroos as boyoh?  Some kinda buff man?"  He dug his fingers into the pressure point on Dinin's neck.  The other trainees were snickering.  Johnson was pretending not to notice.  The color of his tattoo on his hands was turning a dull red.  "Oooh, is the little boyoh getting upset?  Is he going to cry to his mommy?"  The hissed into Dinin's ear, mockingly sympathetic.  Dinin felt the pressure on his neck relax, but knew that another blow was coming.  He snapped his arm behind his head, grabbing the boy's hand.  He squezzed until he felt the bones snap, the boy screamed in pain, and then Johnson decided to notice.

    "What's going on here?" he shouted at Dinin.
   
    "I just tapped him to ask a question and he broke my hand," sobbed the boy to Johnson.
   
    "Is that so?  Well, Private Dinin, you seem to like getting into trouble, don't you.  Minus 30 points from your overall score.  At this rate, you'll be lucky to get a D in my class.  There had better not be anymore interuptions from you.  James, you go on to the Medical wings, get that hand fixed up."  Johnson gave Dinin one last stern look before turning back to the board, where diagrams of supprot fire were in view.

-------  3 hours later  -------

    The teaching portion of the class had gone by fairly smoothly, with Johnson and the rest of the class leaving Dinin alone.  But now came the second part of the class.  Field Training.  Despite the lowsy first portion, Dinin was actually excited.  When they had gone outside, they had a 5 minute break to get their bearrings.  Everyone was instantly in a group, talking about this or that, of course none of them included Dinin, which sooted him just fine.  He resigned himself to the edge of the entire class, when his thinking was cut short by a red headed girl bounced up to him.

    "Oh, man, I'm so sorry about what happened in clas.  I totally know that it wasn't your fault.  I think that Johnson doesn't like you...  Ooh!  How silly of me!  I forgot to introduce myself."  She held out her hand, "Vivian Gortez, but you can call me V!"  She plastered the biggest smile on her face that was humanly possible.  This girl was way to cheerful for Dinin's taste, and he regarded her hand rather coldly, as if he would rather cut his own wrist then shake her hand.  Noticing this, V withdrew her hand slowly, looking slightly hurt.  "You still mad about what happened back in class?  Again, I'm sorry and I hate that James kid's guts.  So I'm on your side!  Besides, I seem to be an outcast to.  I'm 18 and most of them are in their 20's, so they think they are better then me."  She seemed to regain her composure rather quickly.  Dinin was rather releived when Seargent Johnson walked up to the class, and ordered them to attention.

    "Now, we will go over what you learned in class, on the field.  Over here, you will find a simulator.  In it, you will be equipped with a standard E-Web Repeating Blaster and a squad team behind you.  Your mission is to provide cover fire to your team as they advancet to a better position."  He paused for dramatic effect.  "Now, I already had the computer randomly generate a list of trainees for the order in which we will proceed."  Johnson produced a datapad from his pocket.  "Private Dinin!  Front and Center!"  Dinin walked to the front of the group standing in front of Johnson and his simulator.  He locked eyes with Seargent Johnson for but a moment before entering the simulator.  The computer auto matically started running through formulas and battle strategies as Dinin sat in the chair.  Dinin took the 30 seconds the machine used to meditate.  He emptied himself of all emotions, allowing for only cool, logical thinking.  The walls around him disolved, and he found himself in full armor, in a raging battle.  His team was crouched behind him, and there was an E-Web standing in front.  He calmly motioned his team forward as he got his bearings down on the Blaster.  His team began to inch forward and were met with full resistance, but Dinin had expected this and had trained his sights on the most promanent vantage points.  5 enemy troops reached jumped up and opened fire on his team, but only one of them got even close to hitting them.  Dinin mowed them down with a solid stream of blaster fire before they could react.  His advancing team was smart, in that they took cover on one side, so that he could cover the other.  But as they reached the mission point, the enemy began to get smarter.  They changed postions and started shooting at Dinin to.  Before Dinin had to duck, he counted maybe 15 more enemy units were left.  His 4 man team was laying against a dune, completely covered for the moment.  And a team of enemy units was circling to take that adavantage from them to.  Dinin thought for maybe a second, before throwing caution to the wind and turned on the circling team.  He opened fire, nailing 3 in the upper chest, and the other 2 were so wounded that they were not going to be doing much.  That left 10 more enemies, but in his darring move, Dinin had left himself open, and had a shot to the leg.  He was now immobile, with the enemy closing on his position.  But then he noticed something out of the ordinary.  They were under a precarious rock face.  He carefully swivled the blaster towards the bigger rocks at the top and opened fire.  The rocks fought for but a second, before tumbling down on the unsuspecting troopers.  In the confusion, his team advance till they met more fire ten feet from the end point, but there were only three enemies left.  Taking his shots carefully, he mowed down the foliage so that it fall on the troops, allowing his team to get to the end point and set up a second E-Web.  Upon the errection of the E-web, the simulator shut itself off, and Dinin walked outside.  As he came into the sun, he saw a screen on the side flicker off.  So they had been watching, good, now they'll know not to mess with me.  Johnson stalked over with the simulator's scores. 

    "It was nothing special Private, you just barely passed."  Dinin glanced at the paper.  He had received full marks in everything.  His entire team had made it alive, and he had even done it while there were still enemy troopers left.  The machine gave him an A.  He smirked, and stalked back to his room to reflect on what he had learned.

Comments: I'm going to say the same thing: you just barely passed. You did however do a good job writing this with all the elements being brought into the story, but that last paragraph should be broken up into 3 of them. Also, please show more emphasis on what you actually do in the class. All the other things were good, don't take them out: but more or less add onto the hands-on part of the course. That, and a few minor grammar/spelling mistakes along the way. Good work otherwise.

Weapons Proficiency: Sniper Rifle
Sharpshooter Training

"All right guys, gather up and lets get started.  I am Tarvis Gholdun and I have been designated to teach you the proper marksmanship and survival skills needed to perform your best in future missions. You will have a couple other teachers coming in to teach you some other necessary skills for the most part it will just be me."

TJ glanced around; surrounding him were several others dressed in the same stormtrooper armour, some choosing to don their helmets while others let the slight wind move through their hair.  In the midst of the grassland where they were gathered stood what looked like a rifle range of sorts with targets scattered about.  A rack of sniper rifles also sat nearby in preparation for the day's lesson.  With his back to the range, Tarvis stood at an average height, dressed head to toe in camo gear and continued his introduction as the group stood patiently.

"From what I understand you have all had your share of experience with guns as far as how to use them and such.  That is definitely a plus and will help us with what we will be doing the next few days.  Those rifles over there", Tarvis said as he gestured to the rack of guns, "will be the first gun-class that we will be learning to use and operate safely and efficiently.  Follow me and let's get introduced."  With that the group moved over towards the rifles and one by one picked one up and began to get a feel for it.

"Ok, now that you've gotten the hang of how they feel let's move over to the range and really get going."  As the group lined up along the range, Tarvis continued the lesson gesturing as he went, "ok, grip the rifle firmly here...and here and hold it like this. Now line the scope up with your eye and if needed adjust it such that you can see those green targets out there."

"I can't see any targets," one of the others said, "its all white."

"Ah, the scope is too close," Tarvis stated upon examining the rifle, "you want to have a clear view of your target.  Adjust it such that it seems as if you are only a couple metres away from the goal.  This will allow you to clearly see your target as well as its surroundings which in turn should make tracking it easier if it moves.  Ok, everything seems fine...let's test out our accuracy.  Fire away."  With that, TJ pulled the trigger bracing himself slightly as the rifle tried to pop out.  It was not a perfect shot, but it caught the outer rings of the circular target.  Others had similar success at finding the target, even a bull's-eye or two while a couple also missed the targets completely.  One of the other classmates let out a yelp as he fired, and glancing over TJ saw him with his gun pointed up above the targets.  Tarvis was quick to act and instruct on what he was doing wrong.

"That ladies and gentlemen is why we hold our rifles firmly in place.  In firing these guns, there is a recoil energy that comes off and if you aren't careful you can hurt yourself and if you don't then you will at least miss your target completely.  Here, just brace yourself more and you'll do fine.  That looked good guys, let's try again."  Following this, the class continued to practice firing the rifles and with each passing round they each found more and more success.  Perfect shots were still quite rare, but every so often someone would hit the mark squarely.  As TJ fired another shot, he was slightly startled to see the target move slowly to the right.  In doing so, TJ watched as shot slipped wide of the disc.  The others were apparently just as confused as they began to look around.

It was at this point that they heard a chuckle and noticed Tarvis over by a control panel, "Hehehe, I felt you guys were ready for the next step so let's take some shots at the moving targets for a bit and then we'll call it a day."  Once the class had come to expect the targets to move, it got a lot easier and everyone was making good shots with the occasional miss.  As TJ tracked the speed of the targets and fired a direct shot into its centre, Tarvis called them all over.

"Great job today guys, I was very impressed with how well you handle the rifles and am looking forward to the future lessons.  That is all for today, next time we meet we will be using projectile weapons."
 
-----------------------
Colonel TJ
Dark Dragoons Squad
TRP/COL TJ/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE
{CDSx2}{ES}{CM GW}{LoCx7}{MSM}[IOC]
Sith Guardian TJ

"Conquer fear, and you will conquer death."
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it."
*Joined December, 1999*

Vehicle Crewman Training:
Repulsorlift Vehicle Repair

  Kairo was pacing his room the morning of his next exam. He had an odd feeling at the back of his mind. It had awakened him early that morning from a fitful sleep. Tossing and turning all night, his body felt like it was made of iron, but Kairo barely noticed. He was too busy trying to pinpoint his troubles, but always came up empty handed. Looking at his chronometer, Kairo saw that it was almost time for his next vehicle repair test. I wish I didn't have to do this while I'm distracted.

  Leaving his room, Kairo walked through the halls like a hollow shell, devoid of its occupant. Every time he seemed to find an answer, it escaped his mental probes. He was becoming frustrated and snapped at someone, who had bumped into him as they passed. Troubled by his unusual outburst, he continued on his way, devoting as much attention as he could to find the source of his anxiety. Exiting the army barracks, he swept across the lawn.

  It was a rainy day on Tadath, which quickened Kairo's pace. It wasn't as bad as some of the storms he had lived through. Pushing onward, he arrived at the training facility a few minutes later completely drenched, but barely noticing as he squeaked down the polished floors. A moment's thought of the poor person who would have to clean up his trail of water made Kairo stop and prepare to go back and dry off for a second. As he turned around, Kairo saw Valtrina Demorvitano entering through the door. His mind exploded with the answer. I've been worried about her! But, why?

  Running over to her, Kairo skidded to a halt and said, "Hey Val. How are you?"

  "I'm not too great. I'm having trouble with these stupid repair things. What do I care how to fix these things. I just want to drive them. I mean. I know the stuff, but it just escapes my mind as I take the tests. I was doing great until yesterday's. I had to fix a Juggernaught. Can you believe that?" Valtrina was looking directly into Kairo's eyes. The rich hazelnut color caused him to pause a second.

  Get a grip. "Actually, I can. I had to do the same thing. Is your instructor Faultus?"

  "Yeah. Do you know how you did yet?" she asked. "I think I failed miserably."

  They started to walk toward the hanger bay that Kairo had had his previous lessons at, shoulder to shoulder and hands brushing each other once and awhile. "I think I did... decent." Kairo lied. "What did you do wrong?"

  "Well. I didn't do anything wrong. I just... oh I don't know. It's this damn weather. It makes me feel like something bad is going to happen. I guess it's from my youth. Dathomir's lightning storms were always horrible. I always got scared and something always bad happened when a really bad one rolled overhead. Oh, why did I tell you that? Never mind. Forget it." She started to walk away, but Kairo grabbed her hand and stopped her. "What are you doing?"

  "Uhhhhh.... I don't know." Kairo let go of her and went a deep shade of red. Turning his head away, he asked, "Do you have a lesson now?"

  "Umm.. uh.. yes, actually. Repulsor vehicle repair. You?" They started to walk down the halls again, this time a good few paces away from each other.

  "Yep." They walked the rest of the way in silence. Once they entered the lesson room, they saw that Faultus wasn't around. "Hanger bay," they said in unison.

  She nodded, and they walked across the room. Opening the door, Kairo let Valtrina go first. As he shut the door, Kairo saw that Faultus was examining three speeders in the middle of the hanger. Walking over, Valtrina asked, "So, are we both supposed to be here?"

  Faultus looked up and smiled, "Yes you are. It's a dual lesson today, meaning the two of you will be working together to fix these babies. Team work is a great tool when you are repairing vehicles."

  "Why couldn't we have had team work yesterday," Kairo whispered to Valtrina.

  She giggled then quickly composed herself as Faultus turned his head to look at her. "Is something funny?" Faultus questioned.

  "Ah, no. Sorry." Valtrina said. As Faultus turned to walk over to his examiner's booth, she looked at Kairo with a look that said, It's your fault. Don't get me in trouble.

  Shrugging, Kairo followed Faultus. Once they had all arrived, he asked, "So, is this the same as yesterday? Do you need to teach us anything extra in order for us to be able to pass?"

  Faultus paused a moment, then answered, "No. I would advise that you remember everything" Faultus stretched out the last word.

  That's helpful. Turning to Valtrina, he asked, "You ready?" She stood there a couple of seconds. Waiting, Kairo leaned in front of her.

  Jerking back, she said, "Sorry. I was just thinking about something. What did you say?"

  "Are you sure you're ok? You are not acting like yourself."

  "Yeah." She mumbled. Then she leaned forward and quickly jerked her head backwards, causing her hair to fly behind her and lay behind her back. Then she said in her usual taunting voice she reserved for Kairo, "Yes."

  That's the Valtrina that I know. Faultus interrupted Kairo's thoughts by asking, "Are you two finished? You're wasting time."

  "Oh yeah. Um, sorry about that." Valtrina answered. Smiling like she used to in their previous lessons, she stated, "Kairo was just being weird like he normally is." Leaning forward she added, "I think he has a bit of dementia."

  Faultus smiled, realizing what was going on between the two people. Then he saw that they didn't realize it themselves. Almost laughing, he started his usual lecture. "Now, like I said, you know everything that you're going to need to know to complete this test. You know how to fix everything inside and outside speeders, but you haven't had a time limit in doing so. Plus, you have never had anything extremely dangerous happen. Thus said, I gave away part of your test. You will only have two hours to fix those speeders. Only on of them is in bad condition. The reason being, if you were out on a mission, you wouldn't have all the time in the world. Most of the time you would have to do quick repairs and jury-rig it to get you where you need to before it explodes from beneath you.

  "In today's lesson, we are going to pretend that you are at your field base and are preparing for some sort of assault. You only have two and a half hours before the attack beings. So you really only have two hours before you need to prepare yourself for the mission. Once you start, there will be no breaks. I'm not going to help you in any form today. I know you two can do this. The clock will start once you touch the first vehicle. I'll be right here. I'll give you some sign for when the test is over. You may begin whenever you wish." Finishing, Faultus entered his examiner's booth. After turning around, the two troopers walked over to the vehicles.

  After sliding their hands into protective gloves, placing goggles over their eyes, and waiting for Valtrina to tie her hair back, Kairo moved to the side of one vehicle, while Valtrina stepped next to another. "You ready?" Kairo asked Valtrina.

  "Are you?" She smiled. Kairo grinned. Is she prettier than she was before? Kairo saw her reach forward to start examining her vehicle. Damn it. I'm thinking of her again, but is that really wrong? Kairo was now completely confused. He felt like he was being drawn in two by the competing parts of his heart. In his daze, he looked over at Valtrina and saw that she was completely enthralled with her task. Think later; work now.

  Pushing aside the distracting feelings and thoughts, Kairo brought as much attention as he could muster to bear on the vehicle. Let's see. We have a 74-Z speeder. Speeders are normally reliable vehicles, and don't break down quickly. They are built to last, but they normally are destroyed by careless operators on a battle field or are crashed into something on purpose or by accident. Kairo was surprised to find himself recalling things he had learned and heard from previous lessons. He was even more startled to find himself monologging them, but continued on anyways. While he recited in his mind the various things, he started to examine the outer casing of the vehicle and opened the many access hatches. Due to those facts, when repairing a speeder, have a large amount of time, and are doing a maintenance check, you should first check for any outer damage. Then move onto the control unit. After that, check the wirings, fuel, propulsion systems, power systems, and clean everything. If you are limited in time or are out on a mission, you should check the systems in as quick a manner as you can. If there is something wrong, you will normally be able to see it in most systems. The two systems that you should try to thoroughly check are the power and fuel systems. Wow, I actually remembered all of that. No time for self congratulations.

  By this time, Kairo had finished examining the entire outer chassis of the vehicle. Nothing... That's either a good sign or a really bad one. He moved to the control unit's access panel beneath the front part of the vehicle. Since he had already opened it earlier, he immediately went to work. Since the speeder didn't have a display unit that he could use to show him the troubled areas or see if he even needed to try to fix the controls, he pulled out a datapad and linked it into the control systems. After a few seconds of finding the right wires and breaking through the flow of outer binary language, the datapad lit up with a display that Kairo could use to find the areas that needed fixing, but it only allowed him to check the systems that were connected to the control unit in the front of the vehicle. Even with that fact, Kairo was quickly rewarded by finding that the controls of the vehicle were in perfect condition. That saves that time. Looking through the things that did show damage on the datapad, Kairo saw that the laser in the front of the vehicle would need fixing along with the wires that connected it to the handle bar's firing button.

    Sliding underneath the front of the speeder, Kairo pulled out his hydro spanner with a few other tools and set to work repairing the laser cannon. After removing the side plating, Kairo repaired loose wires, reattached loose power couplings and chargers, cleaned out the guidance tube, realigned the barrel, and then followed the wires through the front of the vehicle as far as he could reach. He didn't find a problem with them, which forced him to totally removed the frontal side panel of the vehicle and expose the inside mechanics. He quickly found the break in the lines and repaired it. He then cleaned any apparent things that he could find and finished with a quick check on all of the gears, wires, cables, and couplings. Placing the side panels back into place, Kairo removed the datapad and closed the access hatch. That only took twenty minutes. He then moved to the back of the vehicle and opened the rear panel.

  Reaching inside, Kairo looked at the fuel lines first. Ten minutes later, Kairo pulled his hands out of the fuel section. Just a minor tightening and cleaning, but nothing serious. Kairo then moved onto the propulsion systems, following his mental checklist. After a few seconds, he grimaced. One of the propulsion units had to be completely replaced. Cracking his neck and hands, Kairo pulled out the proper tools and began the delicate task of removing the component. Fifteen minutes later, Kairo had finished removing the piece. He quickly went and found a replacement and started to reattach it. This process went by quicker, and he finished ten minutes later. Cleaning out the rest of the components and attaching loose wires, Kairo turned his attention to the power unit. Last thing to do. He spent the next twenty minutes cranking, wiring, and cleaning the power core of the vehicle. Kairo shook his head and thought a few curses at whoever had neglected to clean the vehicle. It looks like it hasn't been touched in a few years. Once he was finished, he slammed the access panel shut and heard a similar thump a few feet away. Valtrina had finished with her vehicle also. She smiled.

  Swinging his leg over his speeder, Kairo said, "I'll check and see if they run properly, while you start on the last one to save time."

  "Sure, give me the harder task." Valtrina taunted and gave a fake sigh.

    Shaking his head, Kairo started his speeder and was happy to hear a perfectly normal hum from underneath him. "We have an hour and fifteen minutes left. Half the time, yet we're two thirds done."

  "That doesn't bode well on how damaged this one is going to be." Valtrina said as she walked over to the third speeder. By the looks of it, Kairo thought it looked to be in the best of condition, but looks could be deceiving. Kairo pushed the throttle forward and felt the speeder begin to move forward. Turning his attention away from what she was doing and to what he was doing, Kairo pushed the throttle farther and farther forward. He did one slow lap and then a very quick lap without and difficulty. As he came around, Kairo noticed a metal plate sticking out of the ground. Probably to test the lasers and their accuracy, as well as mine. Kairo flew toward then pressed the firing button. Bright red lasers flew from the front of the speeder and hit the metal plate square in the middle. Aiming back toward where Valtrina was at work, Kairo rode over. Shutting the vehicle down on its pedestal again, Kairo moved over to Valtrina's and repeated the process. He found nothing wrong with it and found that it was even moving a little faster than his own. Oh well, so she can fix them better. At least I can still beat her in a race.

  Once he had parked the speeder in its place, Kairo walked over to where Valtrina was at work and quickly picked up a few curse words emanating from her vicinity. "Having trouble?"

    Rearing on him with a deadly look in her eyes, she said, "What's it look like. Just look at this," She brought her hands out of the vehicle and motioned at the speeder, "Piece of& of&.something," she ended as she slammed her hands down on the vehicle. Kairo got off the speeders saddle and walked over to Valtrina and the last vehicle. Looking at her first, Kairo then leaned forward and looked inside. His mouth fell open a moment later. "See."

  The inside of the vehicle was a complete mess. Wires, components, fuel linings, gears, fragments of metal, and pieces of systems were in a mess along with a nasty whitish liquid that lay in the bottom of the vehicle. "What do you think that is?"

  "It looks like some very thick water." Reaching down inside, Kairo scooped up some of the liquid with his gloved hand. When he brought it into the light within his cupped hands, he saw what he guessed to be sand mixed with fuel. "This vehicle must have been on a desert planet and gotten into a sand storm of sorts."

    Valtrina looked from him to his hands then the vehicle. "And how are we supposed to clean it, much less fix it?"

    "I guess we see if some sort of hose is in that pile of equipment and suck that gunk out. While I do that, you can fix the front of the vehicle. I doubt that much sand would be able to get inside the front, and if it did, it won't be mixed with fuel." Kairo left Valtrina to her part of the task. You really do have a evil mind Faultus.

  Looking through the pieces of equipment, Kairo found what hose that connected to a tank in one of the compartments. This will do. Dragging it back to the vehicle, Kairo found Valtrina pulling out pieces of equipment at the front of the vehicle and shaking out sand. Sticking the end of the hose through the junk in the back of the speeder, Kairo pushed it until it was resting inside the liquid. He then set the hose to suck at a very slow rate. If he made it go too fast, the fuel might ignite and severely burn Kairo and Valtrina. After ten minutes, the bottom of the speeder was free from any sludge and Valtrina had removed all the sand that she could find in the front of the vehicle. Sucking up her pile of sand, Kairo dragged the tank back to the storage area and ran back to help Valtrina repair the vehicle. "Well that was fun."

  She shot him a dark look then continued to replace and clean the front components of the vehicle. Kairo rolled his eyes and turned to his task. He began by taking any of the removable pieces out of the tangled mess and placing them in different areas by what their purpose was. Sometimes he had to consult Valtrina, before he placed a component in a pile. After five minutes, the inside of the back of the speeder was a skeleton of the actual thing. All the remained inside were the power core, the main propulsion units, the fuel lines, and the wires that connect them to the front of the vehicle. Kairo then began the tedious task of placing the good components back into their proper place and finding new pieces for the broken ones. After twenty minutes, Kairo had finished with the propulsion systems and the fuel lines. Valtrina had also finished with her task.

  "Need some help?" She asked, even though she knew the answer.

    Kairo nodded, but didn't spare time for words. She sidled close to him and reached inside. Cleaning and checking the pieces he had already gone over. After another twenty minutes, Kairo had placed all the parts inside the vehicle. Wiping sweat from his brow, he grunted, "I never thought I would have to totally reassemble one of these." Valtrina laughed, but kept on working. She still had to finish checking the power generator's parts. Kairo sighed and slumped to the ground next to the speeder.

  Valtrina kicked him a moment later. "You're not done. Incase you didn't notice, the outside is now covered in sludge and the handle bars need to be realigned." Shaking his head, Kairo got off the ground and walked over to the equipment. Grabbing a towel and bucket of water, Kairo returned and started to clean the vehicle. Another ten minutes later, he was finished. Stepping back, he was happy to see that it was spotless. Putting the bucket and towel aside, he quickly aligned the handle bars correctly. Valtrina pulled back at the vehicle the same time he did, two minutes later. "Looks good." She stated. She then threw her leg over the speeder and started it. Nothing happened for a minute, but a moment later it started and lifted off the pedestal. "Yes." She exclaimed. Then, Kairo heard a faint rattling and whine, but saw that Valtrina didn't. She started to move the vehicle forward, but Kairo grabbed her and lifted her off the vehicle. "What are you doing?" She asked, half startled and half angry.

  Pushing her to the side, Kairo leapt onto the speeder and pushed it forward as fast as he could. He was flying across the hanger at the blink of the eye. A moment later, he felt the speeder begin to rattle and shake violently. He knew there was no way to stop when he first heard the rattling. As he reached the hanger doors, Kairo didn't know if he would be able to get off in time. Releasing the handle bars, Kairo lounged off and rolled to the side as the speeder shot through the doors of the hanger. A bright explosion lit the evening. The heat wave rushed over Kairo followed by a shockwave that lifted him off the ground and threw him three meters backwards. He blacked out.

  When he opened his eyes again, he was staring into Valtrina's rich hazelnut eyes. She was straddling him with her legs at his sides and her hands at his shoulders, while Faultus was standing over them. As soon as she saw his eyes flutter open, she leaned back and slapped him. "You idiot." A moment later, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. Kairo was too dazed to speak. It even hurt to think. He couldn't tell if she was happy, angry, or sad. After what seemed to be one of the most painful yet happiest eternities, she lifted herself off of him and helped him to his feet.

  Turning to Faultus, he asked, "I take it we failed?"

  Faultus grinned. "Not entirely. That speeder had a ninety percent chance of exploding. I would have been surprised if it didn't, but the problem is, I wasn't expecting you two to be able to repair it enough to actually start it. That is my fault."

  "That's one big fault I'd say." Kairo retorted.

  "Yes, well, my name has always suited me. You both passed. Are you sure you are ok?" Faultus asked.

  Kairo nodded. "I think Val here hurt me more than the explosion did."

  Faultus laughed, but Valtrina looked at him with an arched eyebrow. "I can hurt you more."

  "I think I would prefer to go to the medical lab first, just incase." Kairo quickly said.

  "I can take you," Faultus offered.

    Valtrina quickly interjected, "I can do it. We'll see you at our next lessons." She then quickly ushered Kairo from the hanger bay, before Faultus could object. Once they were well on their way to the medical area, she said, "That was brave. What you did."

  Kairo shook his head. "No. It was stupid, like you said."

  She stopped him and stated, "I might not have known what was happening if I was the one on the speeder. You could have saved my life back there. It was brave to me." They looked at each other for a couple of seconds then Kairo leaned forward. In one of the deserted halls of the training facility, below a blinking light that was about to short out, while covered in sand and fuel, they kissed.


Yes. This is one of my best in my opinion. Eight pages in word, which I'm sure you will enjoy Rizzit.
 
-----------------------
Senior Sergeant Kairo
Squad Leader
*DarkDragoons*

SL/SR.SGT Kairo/2SQD/1PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [CDS][BoA][CoR]

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

Field Fortifications
Combat Engineer Training

  "As you know, to fortify a position before an incoming attack is the difference between life or death. Without the proper defenses, your opponents will tear through your walls and barricades with ease. During our time together I shall teach you of a few simple techniques that will assist you in the field, if the need arises."

  The man giving the lecture seemed to be in his fifties. He had a long drawn out mustache, and a nose that looked like it had been broken and re-broken time and time again. His highly polished boots took the focus away from his abnormally short legs. To Giovanni he looked like nothing more than a man's torso on a child's legs, but he sure as hell seemed like he knew his stuff. As for everyone else seated around him, they seemed like the typical stormtroopers. Hair slicked back, busily taking notes even though the lecture hadn't even started. Giovanni scoffed at them. It was obvious that they hadn't seen battle, or they wouldn't be taking these lectures to heart. Giovanni was well acquainted with the chaos and mass confusion that comes with being shot at by dozens of armed rebel forces. He was rambling again. He shook it off and once again paid attention to the instructor.

  "Before I start, why don't I take some time and introduce myself. My name is Ardell Payge, and I too was once an aspiring Combat Engineer trainee like yourselves&" The old man went on.

  Giovanni sighed. Can we just get to the lesson?

  "&And so after the accident I decided to dedicate myself to teaching the next generation of Combat Engineers and share my knowledge on the field. As you already know, today I will be teaching you how to apply the basics of field fortification to a real combat situation in order to improve your chances of survival during a head on attack." The man began to walk around the front of the class, with his head tilted back as if looking to the ceiling for inspiration. "A wise man once said&" he said in a louder voice. "&That those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it. So lets turn to page 87 of your handbooks and we'll talk about some ancient techniques, their strong and weak points, and how you can apply them in a real combat situation&" The man lectured on.

  "In ancient times, field fortifications were anything so simple as a piece of canvas made into a tent, or a small rickety shack, or even a trench in the ground to more elaborate pieces of architecture, such as forts, castles, or barracks. But throughout time one element has staid the same. These fortifications were all built to house and conceal your troops from the elements, or your enemy&" Giovanni looked through images of tents, foxholes, huts, and all other kinds of makeshift cover. But one of them stuck out in his mind.

  "But enough about the past. The materials we have nowadays allow us to do more with what we have in the time allotted. We can build stronger, more practical defenses in much less time& For example."

  -1 hour and 30 minutes later-

  "So. I've taught you the basics. Now it's your turn to apply your newfound knowledge. First Scenario. You have captured a hilltop bunker but the enemy has been alerted and is aware of your presence. A squadron armed with blaster pistols and one flechette launcher is making their way up to eliminate you. You have a limited amount of time, so you must make a hasty barricade to hold off the attack until you call for reinforcements. At your disposal is a pile of metal tubing, and a few sheets of durasteel light armor plating. What do you do?"

  The class went quiet as everyone thought up the possibilities.

  "Write a detailed explanation down and hand it to me when you are done. I will evaluate your paper and decide if you are fit to go on to the next part of training. You may begin."

  Giovanni was already mapping out the scenario in his head. They would try to force their way into the bunker through the front door, so the front door and windows would be the first spot he'd reinforce. He would jam the door and cut sections of pipe to wedge and weld in the space between the doorframe to prevent them from trying to ram through the door. A few more sections of tubing to reinforce the windows and the front entrance would withstand the barrage of fire. He felt relatively confident of his work, so he got up and handed the paper to the old man, alongside a couple other students.

  "Hmm&nice&" the man mumbled as he skimmed through Giovanni's paper. "But you're missing the big picture." Once the man had everybody's papers he stood up to talk some more.

  "I see the vast majority of you have your heads in the right place. You reinforced the entry points to buy yourselves a little time. Some of you even welded pieces of metal to vulnerable points in the structure. Good work. You guys are catching on to this stuff faster than I expected. Let's break for lunch. I expect you all back here in&" the instructor reached down to his watch and set a time. "&90 minutes should be enough to get a bite to eat and change into your armor. See you all soon."

  With that, the class piled out. Giovanni was the last to exit, as he was seated towards the front of the class. That and he wasn't too excited about getting into stormtrooper armor on his off day. No matter, if it meant being one step closer to being a certified Combat Engineer&

  Giovanni sighed and took his next left towards the cafeteria. There he saw a few familiar faces. Half of Lancer Squad seemed to be dining together, and Zafo and Kairo were having a chat over a cup of coffee. He picked up something light, a drink, and went back to his room. Once he finished his midday meal, he brought out and polished every piece of his stormtrooper armor. He still had 45 minutes, so he decided to listen to some music to help lighten the mood. The instructions for the next part of training were on his holopad, but he didn't want to worry about that now. It was just he, his music, and his newly acquired string instrument. The man who sold it to him called it a "guitar". Giovanni called her Betty.

  -40 minutes later-

Following the red blip on his holodisplay, Giovanni reached the instructor. Already he had forgotten the man's name, so all he did was wave hello and line up with the rest of the men in armor. They were fresh out of the academy, but that damn Stormtrooper armor could make anyone look like a soldier.

  "Alright, why don't we go in Alphabetical order&Bryden, Giovanni. You're up!"

  Giovanni stepped forward and looked around trying to figure out what he was about to do when his eyes caught a bundle of sticks off in the horizon. Immediately he remembered what he saw in the handbook. He remembered reading about fascine batteries, where one could build a basic fortification using a bundle of brush or tightly bound sticks set horizontally in a wall of dirt. He only hoped he could incorporate this in the exam.

  "Corporal, you have 30 minutes to create a hasty barricade using one of the techniques I discussed earlier today. Scattered all over this terrain are the materials necessary to build a decent defense. Take a shovel and this knife and go to work. Erect a correct fortification, and you will pass. Go over your time limit, or fail to build one and you will have to repeat the course. Ready?"

  Giovanni nodded. The old man raised his hand and brought it downward. Giovanni ran as fast as he could to gather the materials. First he sprinted towards the bundle of long branches and skinny logs. Luckily for him, they were all around 6 to 7 feet in length, making them ideal for the job. He looked around with his binoculars and found exactly what he needed just a short run away.  He began a dead sprint towards pile of rope and ran back and began to work on the fascines. He kept the bundles of sticks together with his legs as he wrapped the rope around each end tightening as hard as he could. He began to make bundles 1 foot in diameter until he had 4 or 5 fascines.

  He stuck the two strongest branches into the ground, 5 feet apart, and then stuck two more in about a foot behind those to hold the fascines in place. He scrambled to pick up the bundles of sticks and stuffed them in between the branches. He piled one fascine on top of another until all 5 were in place. Then Giovanni took the remaining part of the rope and tied up the 4 protruding branches tightly, making his battery much sturdier than before.

  Now he had to dig a shallow trench right behind the fascines. Lucky for him, the makeshift wall already stuck out a good 4 and a half feet, so he only had to dig a foot to make an effective barrier. The fact that the fascine battery he put up was on the top of a small hill made it not only much more effective, but also a lot easier to build. He picked up his shovel and began to break the dirt around the structure. He dug up some dirt and deposited it all around the wall to stabilize it further, and then piled the rest of it on the defending side of the battery, giving the defender cover and the appropriate clearance needed to fire back with his or her own weapon. As a last touch he pounded the wooden stakes further into the ground with the side of his shovel.

  "Damn that's a good looking battery," he said to himself jokingly.

  With 37 seconds left on the clock, Giovanni ran past the finish line. He took off his helmet and rested his hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath.

  Someone handed him a canteen of water and he emptied it all over his head.

  "You passed," said the instructor. "A fascine barrier wouldn't hold up against blaster fire, but you did happen to catch it as we were skimming through the handbook. You're probably the first one to even attempt it. Congratulations Corporal, go and get some rest. You deserve it."

Giovanni stood and saluted the man, and was soon on his way.

Another day, another victory...


Comments: Much Better! Start your next story.

Voila. Version 2.




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*DarkDragoons*

*Corporal Giovanni A. Bryden*

FTL/CPL Giovanni Bryden/2SQD/2PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE/[LoR]

Whenever death may surprise us, let it be welcome if our battle cry has reached even one receptive ear and another hand reaches out to take up our arms.