Just for reference sake.
These stories was written, posted and passed back when I was Hellra.
Riqimo said it was okay to pick things up again as Aeos.


Combat Engineer



EDIT: Holy ####, looking back at these, what I n0000b I was^^
Btw, pretend I made use of bold and italics HTML, I was too lazy to insert them in these posts. I'll fix it prolly later.

OOC:

Aeos
Combat Engineer
Level 1: Electrical Systems
Story 2: Electrical Systems

Hellra grunted as her alarm went off.
Her hand shot expertly out and grabbed the alarm. A few seconds later a loud crash could be heard as the alarm made contact with the wall opposite of her bed. Hellra smirked in satisfaction. She continued her sleep.

Hellra jolted awake at the sound of a door closing. She glanced around the room. Looks like her two roommates just left. A small yet high pitched sound emitted from Hellra's mouth as she yawned. She swung her legs from the bed to the ground. She gazed around looking for her DC-15 blaster pistol.
Hellra panicked for a second when she couldn't find it. She lifted her covers; she looked in her bedside cabinet. She sprung from her bed to the floor. She crouched on all fours looking under her bed. She stood up and winced as her legs protested of all the sudden movements. She bent over bed and grabbed her pillow, not that she used it actually. Most times she would sleep on the ground, if she could sleep.

Hellra sighed in relief when she saw her blaster pistol. Although it was pitch black in the room, she had no problem seeing. Hellra quickly showered and dressed for the day. She quickly slid her glasses over eyes before opening door. Hellra searched for her droid as she headed over to her designated destination. Rooms for acquiring basic skills. Most called it RABS.

"Morning. Hellra"
"Morning G7, what is the time and plans for today?" asked Hellra, when she fixed G7 she grew quite attached to him. She talked with her roommates and they agreed on letting her request G7 as the room's assisting droid. Each room had a droid that helped its occupants with their time table of the day or reminding them.

"It. Is. Now. Thirty. Minutes. Past. Eight. Your. Schedule. For. The. Day. Is. breakfast. At eight  forty. five. Your. Are. Writing. Theoretical. Test. About. Electrical. Systems. Two. O. clock. Your. Last. Preparation. Before. your. practical. Examination."  Answered the bot.

Hellra paled...

"I am writing an exam today..." Holy shi" Hellra got interrupted
"Good day Hellra, don't let me interrupt your sentence"
Hellra spun around.
"Holy ships, yeah alota ships coming in today Sir" said Hellra nervously

The officer stared at her not sure if he should believe her or what to say&
"Sir may I be excused?" asked Hellra.
The officer nodded&
Hellra quickly rushed away,
"Okay let’s see, do I have my books...Crud"
Hellra stormed back to her room, G7 trying to follow her.
She flipped her book open and began reading.
"Many third world planets still uses gas, or oil powered ships and machines" Mumbled Hellra as her eyes darted across the pages.
"You. Missed breakfast." Interrupted G7 her.
"G7, thanks for reminding me, but firstly, yes I skipped breakfast, so what. There is always lunch and secondly I am late for my test...ciao!" Hellra sped away.

"You idiot, you should have studied!" scolded Hellra herself as she skidded in front of her class.
She rubbed her head out of nervousness, and opened the door.

Hellra stared in disbelief at the screen in front of her.
This was it?
Hellra glanced at the questions.

Which planet makes the best use of hydro electricity?
Who is the only planet in the northern quadrant to use the wind as part of their daily life basis.
Hellra smirked, this test was a breeze, well it did help that she had a photographic mind.
Although Hellra was used to writing on paper, she had to do her exams on the computer in front of her.
After she filled in the answers, Hellra faced death match. The computer would shot any question out to her randomly. She had to give her answer within the time limit.

She was just good at memorizing things. Hellra quickly filled in most of her answers. She knew she will get an average score at least and she wasn't worried that. She glared at the drawings in front of her. She hated when they gave diagrams.
"Okay, so if the blue port is connected to wire C that would mean the hydro pipe's wire, wire D should be connected to the white port" mumbled Hellra, she looked up to see the overseer clearing his.
"Sorry" Hellra apologized. 
A few minutes later Hellra stood up, this was her first test she has ever written at the VE and she didn't know how the systems worked.
The overseer who knew she was new quickly showed her what to do.
Hellra left the room with guilt at the pit of her stomach, she always finished before other people did.

Hellra met up with G7 outside the RABS.
"What is the time?" asked Hellra
"Lunch." Replied the bot.
"Lunch can wait, and mind leaving me alone?" said Hellra walking back to her room.
She opened her door and stepped inside. Hellra let out a sigh of content as she took her glasses of. The room's lights were off, some machines and alarms beeped with little lights showing their activity, casting small green or red shadows on the floor.

Hellra bent on the ground, she picked up what used to be her alarm. She quickly found all the broken bits and pieces and dumped it in the room's instant disposal bin.
She plopped herself on her bed and took her book out about electrical systems.
A silence followed only to be interrupted by the flipping pages of a book.
Another few minute past. Hellra sighed as she threw her book down. She knew the material.
Hellra checked her watch. She had one hour free, might as well do something worthwhile.
She quickly ran out of her room to the training centers.
She peered through the doors to see what rooms were occupied. She wanted to train alone.
She grumbled, the usual hand to hand combat rooms were all occupied. She will have to do with a gravity simulator.
She pushed the door open and locked it when she was inside.
"What is designated level?" asked the computer operator.
"Medium" answered Hellra, immediately she felt the gravity pull at her.
It took her half her strength to just lift her legs. Hellra walked or rather stumbled around as she got used to the gravity. When she felt more used to the gravity Hellra began performing a simple kata.
She frowned when she looked at her feet. Her right foot was a few centimeters in front of her left.

"Looks like I will have to start again all over" mumbled Hellra lost in thought/
She continued for another thirty minutes before her timer went off.  She glanced at her watch.
"Bugger"

Hellra loved doing these kinds of tests. They had given her a really easy task. All she had to do was connect the right wires to its matching port. She pushed her buzz button indicating she was finished.
The examiner walked over.
"Good job PFC, you finished in three minutes well follow me to your next level" exclaimed the examiner.
"There is another level?" asked Hellra confused.
"Of course, when you finish your level in a certain time, you go to the next level each time you have to work faster” answered the examiner.
"My life is over before it even began" Hellra as she was led to the next level.

Hellra sat in the waiting room. Most of her fellow troopers received their results from their bots. But her examiner wanted to see her personally.
"Ah yes, PFC Hellra, please come in" said the examiner.
"Thank you Mister?"
"Smooth" answered the man, he held his three fingered hand to shake. Hellra shook it nervously.
"You wanted to see me?" asked Hellra curiously.
"Yes, your results it’s average, I didn't expect that from you"
Hellra's face flamed up, as she blushed embarrassed.
She opened her mouth but quickly shut it as the man held up his hand.
"I expect more from you, you are sharp and skilful, but if you want to excel you will have to work more. You passed this exam with your common knowledge and a bit of studying. Do try harder and...you are excused"

Hellra quickly rushed out.
"Okay, next time I will, next time I will" grumbled Hellra to herself as she walked to her room.

Comments: All right, decent job. This story was VERY hard to follow for me, but from what I can make of it: you seem to have the theory down. This isn't all that easy a course, it’s not really doing anything: it understands the theory behind what you're doing. Good work for a course not all that great, but watch your Grammar, or next time I won't be so generous...

OOC:

Aeos
Combat Engineer
Level 2: Fortifications and Defense
Story 2: Explosives deployment.

Hellra stared lazily at the building in front of her. It seemed old and ancient littered with the years, and of previous generation's training.
"We are supposed to bring that down?" she looked at her instructor curiously.
"Well, this is not your real test yet" he replied. A few seconds passed in which Hellra stole to study the lands around them.
Barely reaching twenty meters, the building seemed small compared to the city; the area around it was battered and bruised. The sunbeams that slipped through the clutches of the tightly knitted clouds seemed to lighten it designated spots. Hellra's hair stirred as a breeze picked up. It was a dry wind filled with nothing but empty promises of rain and a bitter cold.

"Den you go first" Den looked up nervously. He grinned slightly and stepped forward.
"You are going to plant one explosive and then return, mind where you plant it, if it is planted in the wrong place, the training fails for everyone, also you have five minutes" said the training instructor.
Den's smile faltered. He took the explosives from its small pile, heaped on the ground.

Hellra inspected her view further. Things really looked different without her glasses.
It was peaceful even if the wind was yapping at her face, and rushing all creatures into hiding. It was nature. How long she stood there she didn't know, but someone tapped her on her shoulder. She spun around her fist ready.
"Whoa, chill man" said Den.
Den's comment seemed to draw the instructor's curiosity.

"Hellra, since I can obviously see you were much more inspired by this beautiful surrounding rather than my lecture, I will explain especially for you since I now have your undivided attention" said the instructor sarcastic with good humor.

Hellra blushed, her ears turned red, it didn't do much for her face, as her face was already a rosy color of the cold. She mumbled something shifting her feet nervously at being in the spot light. 
"You fellow class mates planted explosives inside the building at certain points, you have to choose the best spot to plant one, and hope it succeeds in bringing down the building, you have to make sure you connected it correctly, now off you go"

Hellra trudged over the rocky and bare landscape with a rhythmic pace. She jumped ever so often over gaps that opened in the ground. She grasped her explosives tightly in her hands as she studied the building; it was resting on four pillars that stretched over a meter. The front of the building was resting a once magnificent white-now grey staircase.
Hellra ducked under the stairs. She crouched to have a look around. She smiled relieved to see no explosives were planted here yet. She taped the explosive in the centre of the stair attaching it firmly to the bottom of it. She checked the timing as she connected the wiring. She frowned, and seemed to be thinking of something, she quickly stole a glance to the timer on her wrist. One minute thirty seconds left.
With the wires connected, Hellra started fiddling with the controls, and settings of the explosive. Without even making sure it was correct she darted away from the building as fast she could go.

She gasped for breath and water. Her instructor looked at her, his eyebrows lifted.  She grabbed the water bottle from her backpack and gulped it as fast as she could down. The instructor looked at her disapprovingly. He shook his head.

"Hellra, you took ten seconds past the limit. You lose thirty percent as penalty"
Hellra merely nodded.
"Now, time to see what you guys did, when I press the activation button on this detonator, the explosives you planted will go off in ten seconds" continued the instructor with a stern expression.
The students waited tensely as he pressed the detonator. Hellra could hear the seconds tick by in her head. When it hit eight seconds the first explosive went off&

followed by four other explosions two seconds later.
Silence stretched as the dust settled. Hellra fumbled her fingers nervously.

"Who configured their settings?" asked the instructor with a silent yet deafening tone.
"Hellra still fumbling stepped forward from where she stood at her dust covered backpack.
"Why?" he demanded.
"I wanted to test something Sir," she answered.
"Enlighten us," he demanded again.
"I thought that if the stairs was destroyed before the building was destroyed it would tip the building, and not have it merely give way. I just wanted to test my theory as I saw that the building relies very heavily on the stairs. It has a weak point there actually, with the triangular bulks tha---" Hellra was cut short, she silenced immediately as he held up his hand.

"No bad Hellra, didn't expect that sharpness from you," commented the instructor suddenly impressed although he putted and emphasis on 'that'.
  He turned towards the rest of the class.
"Sometimes we want to tip the building to a particular side instead of just destroying it, by removing one of it supportive points, it immediately weakens the stability of the building in that point" said the instructor, he dusted his uniform.

"You guys should get to the exams tomorrow, and by the way, this was your exam" he turned around to pack up his things when Hellra confronted him.
"You told us it was training!"
"Hellra, exams is also training, and what difference would there have been except that you would all be a nervous jumble?" he asked.
Hellra bit her tongue to refrain from making a smart-ass comment. He was right though, she shook her head, and gazed a last time at the nature in front of her. It lost its beauty as the building collapse disturbed it unnaturally.

"So, what happened after you left home?" asked Emi excited.
Hellra groaned, she tried to escape from Emi's clutches, but Emi knew her well enough to keep her from doing so.
"Oh, no Hell, you stay in this room till we are finished," ordered Emi, Hellra meekly obeyed, she knew how persuasive Emi could be sometimes and how angry she could get.
"Well, I ran away from home as you noticed" started Hellra.
"No duh" answered Emi sarcastic.
Hellra scowled as she continued.
"I became a racer for three years, in that three years I learned to street race and fight, then I joined VE after an accident" Emi stared Hellra suspicious.
"You are hiding something Hell, what is it?" her voice was dangerously low
Hellra glanced at anything that could save her; the time on her digital clock caught her eyes,
"Merde!" she cursed.
"Emi, I have to go, exams in a few minutes!" exclaimed Hellra out relieved, she got away with a decent excuse.
"Fine, good luck, I was thinking of starting a medic by the way" Hellra's eyes widened in surprise.
"Medic...whoa, most people don't choose medic, good luck with that too" Emi nodded, she gave Hellra another death hug. Hellra rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Hellra laughed at the questions that they were asked, she knew them without even studding, and maybe it was her small time in Lancer Squad that taught her so much. 
They asking question about different grenades and what their uses were, and why it couldn't be used on buildings, bridges and etc. She struggled a bit with her exam when they started asking question about the different bridges you get, since the style varies from rope bridges to the historical bridges, the frames and stone used to build one, what stone should be used to build, and how can it be destroyed in three different methods of planting explosives.

"Did you know the answer to question three? Point. Five?" asked some student her friend as they passed. Hellra blocked these sounds as she walked back to her room. She will receive her results in an hour, so no stress.
With a soft hiss the door opened, her soft footsteps filled the room, but ended shortly as she threw herself on her bunk. She lay there for a while just staring to the ceiling when a knock interrupted her thoughts.

"My results?" she asked jumping from her bead excited.
The man nodded, he handed her the paper with the results, while Hellra read it excited, and he studied her.
After a while she noticed him still standing there.
"What?" she asked rudely and annoyed.
"You seem familiar" he commented.
"I do, well that's nice, but would you kindly leave me alone?"

The man nodded his head, and swiftly walked from the room.
A few minutes later the door opened again, followed with Emi's laughter. Since their one roommate moved to another room, Emi was sharing rooms with her.
"So it went Hell?" she asked.
"Passed, seventy percent," muttered Hellra an answer.



Interesting take on things. Nice to see you added a bit of a side story in. You pass.

OOC:

Aeos
Combat Engineer
Level 3: Construction
Story 2: construction skills

Hellra's face was frowned as an officer walked past her. Her whole posture was bought in a crisp salute. She waited impatiently for the officer to pass before she relaxed to her usual stance. She scowled at the itch that irritated her between her shoulder blades beneath her stormtrooper armor as she started walking in her designated direction.

She walked pass her old office where she spent her days as Platoon adjutant. Hell she was barely a few weeks PA, and she didn't do much work even. But with her new platoon commander, TJ, she is relieved of her PA position. She didn't know if she should be relieved, or embarrassed, embarrassed for thinking she could do it, when she didn't even have the necessary skills or qualifications for it.

Hellra tried to push these thoughts aside, the itch on her back forgotten as well.
She looked up alarmed as a loud thunder vibrated through the area even penetrating the sound proof windows. She crossed the wide hall to the window. Blustery winds were picking up, and those few troopers who were outside quickly scrambled back inside the building.

She sighed warily, this was her most favorite type of weather, and she wasn't even feeling happy with it.
"Hi, Hell, class is about to start you know" interrupted a voice her distracted mind. She looked up to the smiling Den. His perfect set of teeth broadened in a smile.
"Yeah, guess so" she muttered and joined him on their way.
"So, what is your full name?" she asked trying to make a conversation as they walked to the class.
"Dennis Vayien, and yours?"
"Hellen Le Clerique...how old are you?"
"Hmm, about twenty or nineteen, I guess" answered Den truthfully. He laughed at Hellra's confused face.
"My earliest memory is joining the army, I don't know anything about my past, except my name, and the only way I knew my name was because it was engraved on a name plate, pinned on my clothes"
"Why don't you try to find out who you are?" asked Hellra.
"Why, maybe I am better off not knowing" answered Den, they halted in front of a door.
"Okay, well good luck with your class," said Hellra, as her hand grazed over the activation pad.
"Same, to you Hell" he said, disappearing through the narrow doorway. She followed him shortly.

She took her usual seat at the back of the classroom in the left corner. Students were murmuring quietly among each other waiting for their lecturer who hasn't arrived yet. Hellra scoffed at the windowless room. She liked to look through windows, maybe that is why the room didn't have any, to keep the students focused on their work.

"Welcome to level three, repairing defaces construction skills" stated a loud booming voice. A large man stepped through the doorway, he had trimmed moustache, and his neck as thick as Hellra's head. He slammed his bag on the desk, creating a small crater in the cheap wood.
The students who sat in front carefully tried to move their seats backwards unnoticed obviously scared of this lecturer.
"I am Sergeant Carl, your new lecturer" he said through clenched teeth as if he was forced against his will here. He started walking fast and quickly through the many rows of seats, with each step he took he spoke a word.

"I do not tolerate fools, and I do not tolerate average students, trooper what did I just SAY!" he slammed both his hands on the desk of a student, creating once again some damage, making the student look up in fright. He smirked at the evident fear on the student's face and walked back to his slightly damaged desk.

"I want each and every one of you to write an essay of what you think you will learn in level three, and what there is to learn" ordered Giant as Hellra nicknamed him to the class.

*Much Later*

"So, how was class today?"
Hellra looked at her best friend's usually chirpy face.
"It was okay I guess, we only did an essay"
Emi snorted, and snickered.
"Aw, you had to write an essay just like you did back when you were ten years old" she taunted Hellra.
"Yeah, I guess, pretty useless though"
Hellra shook her head at Emi's antics, since Emi joined the VEA things have been much more interesting then it was. She and Emi were practically sisters.
"Hmm, when is the last time you had something to eat?" asked Emi thoughtfully.
"Why?" asked Hellra confused at Emi's question of her eating habits.
"Come on, I have known you since diapers, you have a knack for skipping meals too caught up in your own little word to remember that you need food" said Emi, as she grabbed Hellra's hand and dragged her towards the café.

*Next day*

"Could the following people please report to my desk now?" thundered Giant's voice through the silent classroom.
"Dennis Vayien, Hellen Le clerique, Evan Wak" Giant droned another few names out before he stopped and looked at the people who haven't been called.
"The rest are all dismissed"
Steel scraped against the tiled floor and feet shuffled on the floor as the students left. Giant stared at the handful of students in front of him.
"You passed the essays, I will read you essays out loud for you" he said pleasantly startling Hellra.
"What is with his new attitude?" she wondered to herself.
"We will start with Hellra's essay&" he paused for a second to search her face before he continued reading her essay out loud.

"Level three is about repairing defenses such as field fortifications that failed to with held the attack, failed to withstand the weather, or that wasn't build strong enough in general. The repairs can be applied naturally, or artificial. Natural resources include woods, boulders and ETC Usually these repairs can only hold temporarily since a fortification had to have a strong structure from the beginning. Artificial repairs can be the following: durasteel, enforced plastic, ropes, and beams. Natural repairs are usually the best to use since they provide a much more natural look, adding more camouflage as well, while artificial repairs is much more stronger"

Hellra looked up to see what Giant would say, but he didn't say anything as he instead started reading the next essays as well.

*Twenty minutes later*

"The objective of this simulator, works together in a group, and survives...good luck, you have one hour to survive before the sim ends. You have to find a way to repair the fort that will serve as your base," said Giant, as he adjusted a buttons and switched on the computer.
Hellra opened her mouth to ask a question, but quickly shut it as the scenery around them changed. The polished floor became rough sand, and the walls turned in a battle scene. Hellra coughed at the strong smell of blood that suddenly penetrated her senses.

They didn't do anything for a few minutes except observe. To their left stood the fort they had to repair if damaged.
"Come on guys, we will only get killed here" said Hellra starting to sprint through the mass of troopers that were fighting each other. Before they even reached their fort, a massive blast missed them heading direct for the fort.
"shi-"
They were thrown backwards as the shock waves of the blast bounced back as it hit and ripped a part of the wall from the fort apart.
Hellra was lying on her back, a dull pain aching in her shoulder. She propped her self up on her elbows.
"Merde!" she cursed.
"Come on Hell, enough lounging around," said Den extending his hand towards her to help up.

"Okay, so what is the damage?" she asked as they stepped through the hole that was just created.
"A lot" snorted Den as he tried calculating what exactly they had to do.
"Hmm, the whole is simply too big to repair" muttered Hellra. She took her helmet off to breathe properly. The other's followed her example.
"Lets just start and see what there is to work with" suggested Den.
Nobody said anything and spread out through the building to find materials that were left lying around that could help them.
They met each other back at the open gap.
"Okay, we have some explosives, ropes and? nothing else" counted Hellra.

"We need to get rid of the gap with these materials?" asked Evan in disbelief.
"Yes, and I have an idea that just might work" said Hellra happily. She looked at their faces, most were already smudged with sweat and dirt, and Hellra had the feeling she didn't look any better.
"We blow the roof up, the debris and rubble of ceiling, will fill this gap, and yes I know it will leave a gap in the roof, but it better than having a gap this size in the side" she suggested.
"But that will make the fort smaller." protested Evan.
"Any other idea?" Hellra raised her eyebrows in his direction.
"Well, why don't we just fill it with rubble that's lying around in the battle field?" suggested Evan.
"Hello...there is troopers dying, well virtual troopers dying at the moment, it will take too much time, and we have to fill a gap, one meter wide, and on and a half meter long, and do you know how heavy the stuff is we will carry?" argued Hellra.
"I vote for Hellra's idea," said Den.
"Same here" murmured the others. Seeing as the majority voted for Hellra's suggestion Evan nodded in agreement.
"Well, let get working then!" shouted Hellra.
"Evan, set this pair of explosives about one meter inwards, try to find some crack, a spot that is already weakened by the blasts" ordered Hellra as she stuffed explosives in Evan's hands. She turned towards Den.
"Den, you will have to go a floor up and set the explosives there, the ceiling will need pressure from both sides" Den just grabbed the explosives and sprinted up the stairs that were at the back of the damaged room.
She pointed to the remaining two guys&
"Boys, let’s move the rubble here to the whole and start filling it, the roof might not be enough" they all quickly started moving boulders and rubble to the gap. Evan joined them after he set his own explosives.

"Okay guys, get up the stairs, this might get ugly!" called Den from above. The small group rushed up the stairs. Hellra stopped at Den's side that was standing as far as possible from the planted explosives. The wind rushed in her face mixed with the sound of screams and machines that were fighting not far away.
"We should get somewhere safe where we wouldn't be also included in this explosion" shouted Den over the blasts that have neared the fort.
"Evan, you still have that ropes?" asked Hellra to Evan, he held his hand up, strangled with the ropes.
"Good, guys helmets on, we going to get to the ground, then Den can activate the detonator," ordered Hellra, she quickly pushed her helmet over her head, and grabbed the rope from Evan.
"Den, help me tighten this" asked Hellra for help. Den quickly helped her tighten the ropes and then they both rushed the rest to the ground.

Den landed with a thump at her side, his army boots sinking in the soft sands, leaving a clear imprint on the ground.
"Ready guys? Asked Den, his hands ready to push the button.
"Yup" replied Hellra happily that the mission was almost on it end, they still had another five minutes left of the sim anyway.
Den pressed the activation button with a click that was soon followed by a loud explosion.

Hellra's eyes were squeezed tight, with her fingers in her ears.
Some poked her on her shoulder, dazed she looked up, and they were back with Sergeant Giant. He was making notes on a reply he recorded from the sim.
Shortly afterward, he turned to them clearing his throat.
"Well done people, seems you have brain after all, you didn't repair it as I would have liked you to do, but it was creative thinking you did there Hellra" Hellra nodded. 

"So, do we pass?" asked Hellra impatiently. Her fingers tapping one the helmet she held in her right hand.
"You will receive your results later" barked the sergeant back to his old self.
-------------------------------------------
Comments: Congratulations! You passed! While there are still grammatical errors, and the word to comnet error still shows: it does show that you put time and effort into this story. It also seems apparent that you know what you're talking about. Good work. Oh, please keep your ID Line in the post in the future. Thanks!

OOC:

Aeos
Combat Engineer
Level 4: Material Manipulation
Story 2: Metal Fabrication

Course Description: Troopers are expected to demonstrate what they learned it their Materials Science course by taking a welding torch and manipulating various metallic materials. Troopers will also learn how to apply this skill to the skills they have already learned. For example, they will now be able to create metallic structures such as walls, bridges, and so on.

“And so on?”
“Yup, that’s about it,”
Aeos stared Raki dumbfounded.  She dropped the datapad to her bed. They were currently in Raki’s cramped living quarters, sharing some breakfast and news gossip with each other.
“Me? And a welding Torch? Helloooo!” Aeos flailed her arms in akimbo frantically before pointing at herself.
“City girl alert, lady in training here,”
Raki stifled a snicker while trying to calm her classmate down to a level of sanity.
“As far as I know, you’ve been a farm girl your whole life, and you’re a killing machine in the making, not some damn lady,”
Aeos sighed before a wide grin broke across her face.
“Oh stuff the damn specs, wanna grab a drink before class?”
“Uh…sure, let’s stay sober this time, okay?”
“Of course, how you know me?”
“Exactly,” Raki muttered as Aeos yanked her by the arm through the door of the room.

Aeos dropped herself from the Heavy Weapon specialist classes, stubbornly upright refusing to follow in her brother’s oh-so-noble footsteps. Despite that, she enlisted herself to Combat Engineering, and it’s been a few weeks since she started it, and already she was flying through the classes.
***
“Sit down people!”
Aeos along with the rest of the class sat down, wide-eyed at the velocity in the man’s voice.
I am Giant, I’m the Level Four lecturer for your Cee-Ee specialty, excuse me for not attending your last class, had the flu,” the man coughed. Whether he was embarrassed about the flu or simply trying to emphasize the truth, Aeos couldn’t figure it out.
“Right, I’m sure most of you don ‘t have the brain the size of a pencil cap and would’ve read the briefings about this class. I’m only going to explain a few pointers about the welder; the welding torch is a simple little mechanism, you make use of a slide plate which will activate it, with that same plate you will adjust the strength of the torch,”
Yay, Aeos thought dryly while nodding off to other thoughts spinning around in her head. She snapped out from it as the scraping of chairs on a cold cement floor bought her back to this world. She was the last to get up and naturally she was the last to leave the class among Giant, their lecturer.

Their eyes met briefly. She continued to glaze past him, but he on the other gasped as he clamped a large calloused hand down on her shoulder.  She paused in her footsteps.
“Sergeant Hellra?”
Not again…
“No, I’m not her,  and I know. We look alike,  but no, now. If you’ll excuse me,”
She brushed passed him making use of the personal vibe that suddenly existed between them.

***On the Field***
“Right, so. Take your torch, the datapad and begin. You have nine hours to complete this,” Giant was back to his old self, though Aeos caught him glancing at her ever so often.

Her hand grazed across the black plastic cover of her datapad. On his sign her fingers curled around the edge and Aeos flipped it around. Her eyes darting across the keywords of the briefing.
Several minutes passed when she finished reading the sky-blue hued datapad’s surface. She heaved the welder from the small wooden desk in front of her and swung it through the air onto her shoulder along with a small pouch of different welding tips and spare valves.
“Right, let’s get to the location,” she muttered to herself.  She glanced at her briefing again. She was assigned to point A, her station which she needed to complete in order to pass this class.
“Ah, Welcome Sergeant, this is point A, “ muttered a young hot-shot male attendant as he flippantly saluted.
“Yeah, yeah, what’s the objective specifically?”
“We need you to enforce a wall for the barricade, finish it,” he replied pointing to half-completed petite barricade not too far from them.
“Right” muttered Aeos, her eyes already catching sight of several smallish slightly-longer-than-a-meter durasteel beams which lied about, four in total, obviously at her disposal along with a big turning mechanism filled with wet fluid cement. 
“Where’s the form?”
“Form?” he blinked at her, a blank expression surfacing in his deep emerald eyes.
“Nevermind!,” she barked as she dropped her pouch along with the welder.  Aeos marched across the shrubbery terrain to where  the durasteel beams were located. Slightly peeking out from underneath one of those beams, was a thin plate of durasteel three meter square.  The small junk yard was finally rounded off with mesh wires and plates of steel lying about as well.
“Guess, I’m thinking right here,” she muttered to herself while grabbing the plate from underneath the beams. After tugging a good while, she finally managed to yank it out from underneath the heavy weight of the beams.  Aeos dragged the plate away and after creating a fire-free zone in the field, she placed the plating there.

She squatted down to the ground, and with a gloved hand, dug her fingers through the ground.
“Soft enough I guess,”
Aeos quickly bolted back for her welder. She set the flame type to a neutral based flame and activated it. A sharp blue cone formed at the mouth of the fire spewing barrel which in ended in a soft feathery form.  She darted back to the open space of durasteel and quickly cut a thirty centimeter square  form from the plate at the one corner after nearly burning her hand in the process.

Next to follow was a half-a-meter square of plating being severed off from the rest of the plating.
“Careful now,” Aeos muttered to herself as she took the piece she just managed to cut off and tipped it to the ground. Keeping it upright with the balancing act of her left hand. Instead of thrusting the flame into the plate, she instead held it at bay. Just grazing it. Not melting it. Simply softening the durasteel.
Aeos thanked the Sith for her gloves as she felt the heat penetrate the thick fabric. At least these new models of welders were a lot more sensitive than it used to be. The welder she was used to, was a simple mixture of fuel and oxygen. Or was it?  The current welder she held had an automatic identification system to the alloy and thus setting itself to new levels of pressure to use.

Finally the durasteel plate was starting to give way if she pressed it from above on the edge downward. Not wasting time, Aeos quickly deactivated the welder and laid the soft smaller plate of durasteel flat. Carefully she started rolling it like a rug or a piece of paper.
“There, done,” she grinned to herself happily as she kept her hand curled around the rolled up plate and allowed it to cool and harden.  It was sad, they couldn’t provide five poles. Saved her a lot of her time.
“Right, let’s see,”
“You always talk to yourself?”
“Yup, now shut-up, “
“Friendly gal you are,”
“Shhh!”
She grabbed the thirty centimeter square plate of durasteel and lied it down on top of the newly and roughly formed pole she just formed. Swiftly she activated her welder again, and in no time she welded the two pieces together.
I’m a genius in the making! she beamed to herself as she hugged her newly formed spade. She was lucky she welded it in the manner  that she did with the plating on top of the pole and not the other way around. Digging up that ground would need some support.
Aeos spun around, spade in her hand. Her eyes ready as it targeted itself a digging spot on the ground. Slowly she started walking while dropping the spade to the ground causing it to drag lines as she walked. Four hours have already passed. After finally marking of her square, Aeos grabbed the spade firmly and started digging the square meter marked ground.

It took another hour of digging till she found herself knee deep in a perfectly man made hole.  Clapping to herself in a child-like manner of guileless excitement, Aeos returned to her leftover scrap of durasteel plate and carefully measured out four strips each one meter in length, a size that would match the seize of the wall of her pit.
When she finally managed to cut and measure out four perfect strips, she placed them on top of each other. Grouping them to the sides like a stack of papers in her skilled hands.
She grabbed her welder again, smiling softly, welcoming a soft breeze playing again her sweaty forehead.  She picked her target near the end of the plate in the middle and Aeos set the strength of the welder to maximum, placing the barrel of the torch at the plating leaving only a centimeter of space between the mechanism and the alloy in order to avoid pressure building up.
After burning a hole clear through the strips, she repeated the process again at the other end of the plates. With two holes torched right through, which took quite a while as well, Aeos picked the plating from the ground, staggering under the surprising weight and took them to the hole.

She meshed them carefully into walls of the hole and secured the plates with each other by means of welding together the corners where the durasteel plates met up.
“At last…”
Time for them damn poles,
She strode over to the beams which remained untouched until now. Grabbing one by the end, Aeos managed in a miraculous manner to drag it over to hole.
Confidently, she plugged the one end into the hole of the durasteel wall in her pit. With a lot of wiggling she finally managed to penetrate the ground deep enough to place the remaining end of the beam into the opposing hole of the durasteel wall.
She repeated this process several times with the rest of beams till, finally it form a cross hatch form. 
Now to weld them together
Aeos quickly set to work on welding the beams where they crossed each other in mind-air.

Heaving from all the activity she ventured to the attendant who studied her, amused.
“Tell me, is that quick dry cement?”
“Yep,”
“Good, good,” muttered Aeos dragging herself to where the turning mechanism was toiling cement about. Preparing herself again for another session of hard labor, Aeos started tugging at the cement container, and slowly managed to drag it over to her durasteel pit jailed in a cross-hatch.
“Easy, does it,”
Neatly yet with difficulty she managed to tilt the container and empty the cement into the pit. Aeos sighed loudly, as she dropped herself back onto her rear in the ground. The attendant neared her.
“Wow,” he muttered, not shamed of showing his surprise.
“Yes, girls do know how to work, hot-shot,”
“I didn’t say so,” he smirked in odd manner of being coy.
Cute
“But I know you thought so,” Now it was her turn to be coy.

***1 Hour later***

The cement has settled. What now lied in that pit was a piece of wall. Ready to be use for war.
“Oh shit, “
“What?” asked Chawl curiously while wiping an onyx bang of hair away from his face.
“I can’t move this wall,”
“I’m sorry Sergeant, I’m not allowed to help you with this, “ Chawl replied curtly suddenly turning blank again, returning to his role as the station attendant.
Aeos eyed his collar which was wrinkled and unbuttoned. Slight stiff with hot anger, she straightened out her own uniform. Smiling innocently she tip-toed across the small distance separating them. Smirking slightly she dragged a finger lazily across his torso.
“You do know…who my brothers are?”
“No….”
“Oh, just want you to meet them sometime, Platoon Sergeant Racus, and Radge from the Navy…”
“R-R-Ra-Racus?”
The two brothers were quite notorious, constantly and fiercely protecting their baby sister from the sins of the world.
“He’ll throw me in the brig!”
“Help me move the wall, and he won’t know,” muttered Aeos while smiling impishly.

When they finally managed to move the wall into position, Aeos glanced about.
Something’s still amiss, she thought to herself as she allowed her eyes to travel across the area. Scanning for imperfections.
“Of course!”
Chawl stifled a comment into his fist. Rather not talk.

Aeos bolted from her seated position next to him and grabbed her welder.  She quickly neared her left-over junk and randomly grabbed the wires. She tried bending them.
“Damn, stiff as a twig,” she murmured activating her welder again. She repeated the same process to the long piece of wire, the same as when she started forming a grip for her space. Softening the metal instead of melting it.

When it was soft enough Aeos started twisting the wire while dragging it out in length around an invisible form. Pretty soon she had a one meter spill of twirling wire thinned out from being so soft.  Finally it hardened again after Aeos allowed it to set.
She grabbed left over pieces of steel plating and quickly set to softening it as well. When it was soft enough, Aeos cast her welder aside, dropped to the ground, and with difficulty started tearing at the plate in her gloved hands.

With small two-inch long strips of  the copper-steel plates, Aeos managed to collect as she kept welding and tearing, she finally started bending and tying it around the wire she fashioned into a twirling twister of art display. The jagged edges that formed along the wire cut into her face as she got entangled into her creation, but finally it was ready.
“Barbed wired?” Chawl asked quirking his eyebrow in slight surprise.
“Yep,” replied Aeos who was now in the care process of dragging the wire over to the wall and placing it around the barricade.

***Thirty minutes later***

Giant eyed the barricade which was now completed.  Without warning however, he suddenly pulled out a blaster pistol and aimed it at the wall. Aeos and Chawl kept their distance far out of the way of the lecturer’s way.
Giant released the trigger, and without waiting for the smoke and debris to clear, he continued firing. Only when his energy meter ran empty did Giant stop. His eyes caught the cross of the beams between the chipped, cracked and broken cement of her wall.  He walked over to the barbed wire mesh, pulled his one glove off and flicked his index finger across the jagged tear of plating that protruded stubbornly from the wire. Blood oozed slowly from the broken skin.
“Very impressive Sergeant, though…I’d assume you made some good use of your connections in and off the field to move the wall?”  his eyes traveled from the pit, back to the barricade and finally landing on Chawl’s nervous face as he executed a crisp salute.
“More or less,” smirked Aeos

OOC:

Passed.  Well done, although my eyes may beg to differ.  Perhaps you could space it out a little more in the future? Just an extra return after some of the paragraphs will help a lot.  Doesn't hurt your quality there though. Looking forward to the next one.

Course: Mine and Countermine
Course Type: Lecture / Practical Exam
Course Description: Troopers will need to go through a short lecture on the procedure of mining and countermining. The lecture will most likely consist of the proper techniques of mine laying, recognizing where a mine is placed, and how to disarm a mine if need be. After the lecture, troopers will be expected to go through a practical exam to demonstrate their proficiency in mining and countermining.

***

Yukkuria
“Strange assignment,” she muttered to herself out loud in her room while dragging her datapad closer into across the table. She quickly punched the coordinates of the name into the small screen, and split-seconds later a map popper up on her screen of Tadath before zooming to the designated location.
IMG

“What are the stats on this little island?” she wondered out loud again though when
The information loaded and suddenly Aeos found reason to sit upright.  She bit her lip. This assignment went even above her usual missions.

Her fingers subconsciously fingered around with the small new badges attached to her grey uniform.

City: Yukkuria
Level:  3
Population: forty thousand
Her eyes skimmed across the briefing as well as the history rounding this small city.
Until recently, it was in a state of emergency due to several attacks of a terrorist group who have rendered most of the farmable lands into a field of explosions by means of mines.  They’ve been captured, but the city was losing resources and economical stability fast due to the farmers’ inability to continue breeding some of the commercial products.
Her assignment was to go to one of the local school there, and talk to one of the schools about “mine awareness” and then of course set of to the local farm community of that part in the city in order to the clear the field.

“Guess, I better gets going…” she mumbled.

***A few hours later***

She sat on the shuttle bench lining the inner skeleton of the vehicle, scratching the animal behind its ear, her hand firmly clutched around the leash for the animal.  It was a fierce looking animal with strangely form facial features which much to Aeos’ happiness seemed create open space around her.

“That’s a good boy, my little Seth,” she murmured fondly at the tiger-like creature.  Most of his species gone extinct, or rather declared extinct, Aeos was extremely fortunate to be in possession of this animal, especially with his fur which was snowy velvet of soft curls.

In most cases, she would make use of electronically devices to detect the mines, but if this mines were laid by an amateur then his human smell could linger faintly enough to picked up by one of the galaxy’s most skilled natural hunters.
Plus, she would rock the kids with this snuffer.

***Much later in Yukkuria***
She coughed.
“Um hi…”
A deep blush spread across her face as two-thousand pairs of eyes remained fixated at her.
She coughed as her voice cracked again. A small nine-year old in the front giggled nervously at the silly female with her dog on the stage.
“Right, so…who have you have seen a mine before?”
Two thousand hands flew into the air,
“And I guess they all looked square, roughly made with limited electronics, right?”
A few in the front “aahhed” and “yeahed”
She took a deep breath, her hand resting on Seth’s long nose. 
“Well, I’m here today to tell you more about…-“

-mines can be found in various shapes and sizes,”
“Duh!” one trooper shouted out. The lecturer rolled his eyes at the trooper, who was still fresh judging by his Corporal status.
Aeos merely grumbled as she lifted her head lazily from her arms.
“There are two types of mine clearances, which is important to know and more important to distinguish, namely; military clearances, and humanitarian clearances,  now who wants to have a go at explaining military clearances….no one? -Aeos?”

Aeos glanced up slightly caught off guard.
“Um yeah,” she grinned while stealing a glance at her notes.
“Military clearances would prioritize on creating a simple path for a patrol or group to bridge across, it focuses on nothing else except creating a clear path,”
The lecturer nodded while pulling at the tuffs of his moustache.
“And humanitarian?”
“Clearing fields for social upheaval and public relief purposes, “
“Correct,” he continued. She slumped back down on her arms again.
The session continued for hours on end, covering the types of detectors, finding the right chemical substance to combust with the substances that leaked from certain types of mines, this effectively making it easier to detonate the mine.

Though the lecturer warned them several times to listen as this would get practical.

“You lot, there are fields-“

“Filled entirely with mines?”
She was talking to the community leader from the area. The city’s workers worked on several community farms, thus half of the city was currently stagnating.

Right now, they were standing at the side of the large field, shrubbery have already overtaken the large field due to the lack of maintenance because of the mines threatening the ground and the farmers’ lives.

Aeos stared around for a while, her hand resting through the curly black fur of her large pet. Surrounded by locals who were all staring at her with dumb hopeful eyes.
“You lot have a plow?”
Somebody coughed.
“Um…we don’t use plows anymore Sergeant,”
“Get me a plow,” she muttered ignoring the speaker’s mumbling.

It was another hour later. She ordered her pet to stay while  Aeos hopped onto LAAT, skiing into the pilot’s seat. She glanced backwards. Through the wide open doors of the vehicle, waiting for signal.

Currently they were still located next to the field, but this time occupying a large space of field with the LAATi vehicle and a plow which was attached to the vehicle through means of a strong durasteel cable. She was taking shortcuts with this.

“Ready?”
“Yes!” one of the men cried out to her,
“Good, clear out, the whole lot of you!” Aeos relied back while her hand flipped across the ignition plate.  She grinned as she carefully brought the vehicle into the air.
“Easy does it,” she mumbled to herself, her body searching for that twang sensitivity that would hit the vehicle as soon as the cable was straining between her and the plow.

From afar, trembles starting rumbling through the ground as Aeos pulled the plow through the fields setting off numerous mines in the process. It took her an hour of zig-zagging in rows up and down before she was one-hundred percent sure about whether she had clear the field or not.  Every piece of rock was overturned with small crates that dipped several meters into the loose ground.
She pulled her lips together and whistled sharply for Seth. The dog perked its ears excitedly as it set off towards the field she just plowed. She remained hovering in the air as the dog made a sniffing sweep about the overturned ground.  He barked at her with flashing fangs and a big red tongue limply hanging from his mouth comically. The field was clear.

“Right, this field is cleared sir,” she muttered when she finally stepped off from the LAATi.
“Thank you! Thank you, my dear lady,” one farmer stuttered, his rugged beard scraping across her exposed hand as he dropped into a low bow while grabbing her hand. Aeos pulled it back swiftly, cradling it away with she remained glancing at the poor bloke with suspicious eyes.

“No need for that, thank you” she muttered, slightly awkward while stepping back ever so slightly till she bumped her head at the back against the hull of the LAATi. 
“Seth!” she whistled sharply, the small crowd around her cleared pretty quickly as the large dog-like, tiger-sized creature came bouncing through the air at her.
“Good, boy,” she mumbled into his thick fur, burying her face in his neck.  Hiding the mischievously impish grin.
It was almost thirty minutes later, and Aeos was finally alone. She sat her speeder, wrong way around, resting her head on the steering mechanism, her back comfortably molding along with seat’s awkward curves. She readjusted her dark sunglasses while staring up ahead at the clear yet chilly sky of Zukkuria.  It was a bit less tropical here then back at HQ. Seth remained at her side on the ground, his nose tipping against his tail, while his emerald eyes rested on her attentively.

She closed her eyes again; her body absolutely reveling in the warm sunlight it was absorbing till….
- Something tugged at her side, slipping its finger through her utility belt and tugging, wanting attention. Curious, yet strangely unalarmed, Aeos merely brought one hand to tip her glasses down in order t look at the disturber properly.

The eleven year old boy grinned excitedly at her. His one hand was curling around a plastic toy LAATi.
“Miss, you mentioned the word area denial weapons earlier, what it is?” he smiled naively while he dropped his rear unceremoniously to the heap of dirt behind him.  One dirty little hand roughly disposed of an onyx fringe but it only fell back across his eyes.
Aeos smiled softly and brought herself upright from the speeder seat. She hopped off the vehicle and took a seat next him.
“Well, to be very simple about it, it’s when you cover the ground in obstacles like huge stakes of wood or types of cements that slows the enemy down,  you even get it up in space. Can you guess what type-“
“Like asteroid fields?” he quipped with glistening eyes.
“Smart little kid,” Aeos reached over to ruffle his hair.

”Most mines these days are made with formulated artificial elements in order to outdate detectors which wouldn’t recognize it. We do get detectors which pick it up, but it’s a mighty sum of money however, no, anyone here can tell me how to lay an mine?”

“Hide it good; even if it’s tedious for terrorist means, air drop for speedy completion or implant with special vehicle, can I go?” Aeos quipped from her back seat. She ignored the powerful glances sent her way. So the kid in the back of the row actually talked.

It was a few hours later when Aeos was finally left alone. Her maundering thoughts received a cold dash of icy water when the Com-Link activated a call.
“Sergeant? How is it going over there?”
Her lecturer was actually throwing a vocal peek on her through Com-Link.
“All goes good, will be finished in the next few days, Sir,”
“Good, I’ve been hearing that you’re doing a clean job so far, keep up the work, “
“Right on, Sir,” Aeos replied before clicking the link dead. She dropped her head back onto Seth’s stomach. The animal vibrated against her back in pleasure at the attention her left hand was giving to his throat. All was good.

OOC:

I really need to keep up to date on this board.  Passed.  Good work.  Just PM me the next time you have one up, it'll let me know to grade it rather than my random stumbles into this board.

Doc.Course: Battlefield Recon
Course Type: Practical
Course Description: Trooper will be taught how to do some basic reconnaissance based on terrain. Trooper will also be expected to be able to make battle plans based on terrain and enemy location.

Reconnaissance is about studying enemy data on various areas by means of direct observation. It’s the practical side-arm of gathering ground INTEL on enemy.

Recon is the need of knowledge about enemy disposition

“Thanks….this…nice,” her lips puckered slightly and left a small gap of breath to be exhaled.

The steam of her liwi soup waffled away, and she risked a small sip. Her bright blue eyes casually met with his chocolate brown eyes settled under heavy brows currently pulled in a light frown. Racus only nodded as he intertwined his fingers into one another, and rested his elbows on the snow-white fabric which served as table cloth for the cepany coffee table.  It’s been months since they saw one another. In fact…the last time he saw her was when he waved her off to the Naval Academy.


“Are you happy with me?” she asked her brother. The hero decorated officer sighed at her question.

“You’re so…unpredictable, everyone, including Radge has been hoping that you would head back home,”

The sister refrained from snorting into a soup and busies herself as she pressed cold lips against the warm porcelain of her cup.

“Well, you don’t have reason to be embarrassed any more, do you brother?”

Racus sighed as he raked a hand through his short military cropped hair.

“Exactly, so shuttup and tell me the reason why you invited me for lunch,” Aeos stiffly muttered, aware of the fact that she was completely estranged from her oldest brother.

“No reason in particular, though I’ll warn you that you’re next specialty class, Battlefield Recon will be conducted by me,”  he softly muttered.

For a moment the siblings said nothing as the waiter bought in their main course. Racus grimaced at Aeos. He preferred to be vegetarian if the occasion allowed it, and Aeos simply shrugged off the mild sensitivity by ordering a dish of spicy chocobos. It was a special yet sadistic request that brought a smirk of mirth to Aeos’ face at the disgust both her brother and the waiter shared.

“Don’t forget the saffron peppermint spice!” Aeos called out loudly grinning from ear to ear.

This lunch was probably half her pay-check, but then again, despite her disorganized state of mind, Aeos was able to keep a check on her financial situation.


***The following day***
Hide me, hide me, hide me
She was cowering underneath her desk, way at the back of the class, the only shred of light flickering from her datapad. She might have been warned about her brother being her teacher in this level but it still did not mean that she could prepare herself mentally for it, hence the reason why Aeos was currently hiding. The rowdiness of the class settled into silence which clearly indicated that her brother just made his entrance.

“Platoon Sergeant Tadres, get your rear on the chair, or I’ll write to Ansion, for you mo-“

“Right! I’m up, I’m up!” Aeos shouted bolting back into her seat.

Her brother smirked from across the room as he activated his own datapad. Aeos had to give it to him, he’s a lot less uptight then he used to be.
“Right, I’m Sergeant Major Tadres, and I will be conducting and overseeing today’s lesson, and no, I’m not related to the shrimp Sergeant at the back of the class, common name on home planet, now to proceed…”

The rest all went in through the one ear, out of the other as Aeos only slumped back into a state of pretend-to-listen.  A good hour had passed and then another. Here and there Aeos caught whiff of one word or two but in general forty winks had passed and suddenly the class was staring at her. Grinning sheepishly Aeos realized there was a question aimed at her. His stern gaze made her squirm in her seat, and it forced her into standing up. She coughed.

“What was the question, Sir?” she asked timidly.

“There was no question, I was taking registry before we head out,” he replied icily.

She coughed again, though this time it more of an excuse to hide behind her hand.

***
You barely listened to anything I said, how you can expect to pass-“

“Shutup brother, I do know how to read, and unlike these morons of corporals, I do have some experience here, now back-off” Aeos snapped.

Racus frowned at her as he tried to match her quicker yet shorter strides. They were on their way to one of the many fields the Academy had, where a practical test awaited Aeos and her class.

“Objective is: take what you’ve learned in the class, and apply it now. The class will act as group; you will you little base camp about two kilometers, north from here if you drive straight. Goodluck,”

Racus had left the talking to the shorter man beside him while he glared daggers into Aeos’ back which was currently in the actions of stretching and warming up. The class was soon dismissed to be off doing their objective. Aeos kicked hard into the sides of her speeder five minutes later, and with a whine emitting from the powerful technology all the speeders sped off.  They had decided before hand who were to observe enemy location and who would analyze the data collected. Naturally Aeos chose to be one of the observers.

***A while later***
“Hi, Ret, that’s five tanks…”

It was the dead of the night, icy cold and dirty, Aeos felt a thrill shiver through her spine. She was in her element. They currently hiding in the underbushes on the edge of a rather large clearance where a base designated as enemy territory were situated. The spray light which rotated from certain height, position at the top of the fences sprayed its beams across the ground, and Aeos ducked, pressing her face against the cold grovel of the ground.  Her eyes locked onto her wrist.  Finally the beams left their little piece of ground.

“Ret, that every two minutes, are recording?”

“Yes, Ae…got it on my voicebox,” Ret replied while he spoke into his small wrist recorder.

“I wonder if the fences are electrical…” she softly asked, not directing the question to anyone in particular.

She made a move to get up from her commando-crawled positioned, only to squirm back into the ground.
Ret threw her a confused glance through his mucky brown fringe.  The sound of barking answered his questioning thoughts however.  Fear at being discovered, Ret and Aeos kept as still as they could.
The large kay-nine threw his large fury body against the fence surrounding the camp. In response the fence rattled, answering Aeos question; the fence was indeed not electronically charged.  The guard leading the dog stared out through the fence suspiciously until a small fruit bat swept low past his head.

“Stupid dog, it’s a damn bat,” he muttered shaking his head and towing the dog away.

“Let’s recount that, five tanks, three speeders, two guard shifts…with spray-lights…any squad artillery?” Ret whispered hoarsely. His nerves shot on end.

“No, not from what I gather,”

A few hours later, and Aeos along with her squad reported back to Racus. He glanced over their reports.

“I see you understand now how to jot down basic recon and whatnot, now the next exercise will be to make basic battle plans based on recon, your physical advantage against enemy position, report to the simulators. This will be done separately. Aeos you may follow me first,”

Grinning, the mud-covered sister followed her sibling to the simulators, where he strapped her in for her next practical test.
“Don’t fail-“
“Shut up and go,” she replied smiling as she rested her head back and closed her eyes.

***
***
Why was it so cold?
Her sky-blue slowly opened, or rather attempted to open.
Aeos pried the snow-crystals that glued her eyelashes together, and slowly her eyes cracked open.

“What…?”
It was white and electric blue everywhere. The wind nipped at her face relentlessly and only now did Aeos notice the protective goggles hanging down from her neck.  She clamped them over her eyes tightly, welcoming the protection it offered.

“Ah, you’re awake,” someone muttered.
She glanced at the sort. Some type of snowball was talking to her.  With a shock she realized that the snowball was a trooper, completely covered in layers of clothes.

“Where’s your armour?” she asked stupidly, noticing she was at least wearing some.

“Back at the base, follow me,” he answered pulling her to her feet.

Scowling, Aeos set off after him in the arctic world.  They were jogging down from a small hill, which gave off a spectacular view of the rest of the icy world.A few minutes later and she found herself hovering over maps and area schematics. A big x marked where the enemy troopers were currently located. The digital x were slowly moving pixel by pixel however on the screen as they progressed. Aeos’ eyes narrowed while she scanned an analyzed the map.

“Why are they moving so slow, what is the numbers?”

“We’ve got about a platoon of troopers there, they are fully armed and armored. We have not yet been detected however, for the moment they think they are alone which is…”

“Why they are taken shortcut across the frozen lake,” Aeos finished while her fingers trace the contour lines on the map.

“How thick is layer of ice?”

“I…erm,”

“Find it out!”  she barked.

Almost an hour had passed before she received news.
“One meter thick,” the trooper reported with wheezing breaths.
Aeos narrowed her eyes.

“Thick, but thin enough, get me a a squad of demolition engineers, have them geared up and set here,” she ordered.
It was another few minutes later when all the demolition experts turned up, dumbfounded a bit. Aeos had meanwhile managed to copy a projected image of the arctic map onto the wall.

“Troopers, our enemy is currently that ex, and I what I need is for you lot to do is, set up a radius as close to the enemy without being spotted. Proceed to plant’s explosive all around in that radius, hopefully with your tactics, we can make their little island cave into the water as well, with no support on the island borders, their weight will crush the ice layer on the inside,”

All the while she was talking she kept pointing and gesturing to the map to explain her plan. Several nods of understanding rippled through the room before Aeos dismissed.

She stood on the small outcrop of a cliff that viewed far above the lake on which the enemy target was spotted hours before. Through her microbinoculars, Aeos was following the movements of her demolition experts with eagle eyes. So far so good. No has been spotted yet and they were almost done inserting the long tubed bombs through small drill holes in the layer surrounding the moving target. The danger of this plan was time. They planted the device at the back first, then at the front while keeping an permanent eye on the enemy who was ever moving.

“Explosives planted, no detection, we sent some jamming signals on their radars to be sure,” a voice crackled in her ear.
“Right, detonation is on your call,” she replied back into the radio.
Whoever speaking to her didn’t miss a second of her order, and immediately activated the explosives.

Aeos closed her eyes, while the sounds boomed through the air. They were lucky that they were in the middle of a four-kilometer long snow plain free of hills and mountains, otherwise they might have had a problem with avalanches.

She opened her eyes again, and poked a peek through the microbinoculars. As she suspected, the explosives cracked the enemy target’s vicinity into a small island while the sheer force of the explosives were spreading cracks through the island.  Aeos made sure that two circles of explosion were place with the outer rim exploding first. The second inner rim would take care of splintering the ice. Soon the enemy platoon was caving into the water, the desperate troopers struggling to survive. Those that made an attempt to reach the sturdy land, received a mercy shot through the forehead while their comrades had to face death in the icy darkness of the lake.

Aeos woke abruptly from her trance. Racus was already nearing her with long strides. When he reached her, he started entrapping her. His face was silent, and stern.

“Did I pass?” she asked nimbly, and slightly paralyzed, her mind trying to adapt to the warmed temperature and surrounding.

“With flying colours,” he said before his face broke into a grin.

Her didn’t tell her about the small jolt of shock he experienced at her display. What she just pulled off was far above what he expected from her.

“Good, you can buy me a drink,” she muttered grinning back.

OOC:

Passy Passy, good to see we got the thing from the last one into there.  Next one will be, as you said, a 'blast' so let's see where that goes.  Look forward to it.

When Aeos had finished her Improved Munitions course, she finally concluded the worst part was over, for now. She had one final qualification lesson to survive before starting with her final exams.
Today would be the practical run for her course.  The lecture was a few days ago, through which Aeos, as usually doodled or slept much to the agitations of her both her classmates and the lecturer. 

”Tactical analysis is about prioritizing your targets, which target’s death would be most beneficial? Cut the heads of a small organization and you have successfully created chaos. Removing the elements of control and the rank is broken…”
And so it continued for hours and hours on end in the lecture which Aeos could already start guessing halfway through. Actual field-experience more or less forced her to learn this a long time ago.
Currently, she was suiting up for her next practical run, which mean a simple uniform sufficed seeing as how she would spend her practical run another dreaded simulator. Rumor had it however that the actual qualification exams were real missions.

Sighing, she sat on the edge of her bed in the small villa she bought a few weeks ago. Ever since she had to step up into Riqimo’s position with his sudden and unfortunate departure, she had to suddenly live as the walking example of how a superior were supposed to conduct itself. This meant, her boots needed a polish. Of course, classes have been awkward as well. When the class started out together, Aeos was at the rock bottom of ranks and positions. And while they remained more or less in their status, she kept pushing up.

Shrugging her thoughts clean, Aeos hastily pulled the rest of attire on. She was going to be late.  Whipping out the stubborn strand of gold hair that escaped her merciless hair-combing process earlier, Aeos brusquely slammed her front door on the way out. The sound was sweet and caring and so different from the usual sliding doors she had grown accustomed to.

*1 hour later*

“Ready Sergeant?”

Aeos refrained from chewing her lips as she gave an affirmative yet hesitant nod towards the terminal operator of this simulator.  She ignored the familiar currents of whizzing mechanics while the room began spinning and melting into a new dimension. She saw none of this however being suspended in a forced blink.

It was a while later, and Aeos found herself in the middle of nowhere enjoying an afternoon nap on the grass while baking in the sun’s full glare.

She sprung to her feet, whipped a few cursory glances around her before pulling out a small device from the backpack that had materialized with her in this digital dimension.

She had opted at the beginning to proceed with the exam going solo without a team. As veteran soldier, she already knew how the scenario would play out, and having two attached greenies would only limit the speed and swiftness with which this could be done.
On the GPS azure hued screen she could see a target blinking. A small outpost a few hundred meters south of her current location.
Aeos ignored the simulated breeze that tracked through her hair, grabbed the sniper rifle from its propped up position on the grass, slung it over her shoulder and started to proceed for a trek through the savanna.

It was about twenty minutes later, and Aeos was spying through a pair of micro-binoculars at her supposed enemies.
Through the high fences of barbed wire, Aeos picked off a variety of targets. Inside the vicinity of the enemy territory there stood three At-ATs.  Two of them in various stages of repair.
Aeos glanced down at her GPS Unit, taking note of the small letting that depicted her briefing. It was fairly easy, she need to halt the repairs of the AT-ATs which mean disposing not of the sentry guards or the radio technician but the Heavy Weapon Specialists. There were in total about five of the specialists and that could be identified by the murky green of the overalls they’re wearing.

“Rightio,” she muttered gazing through the lenses again. Two of these specialists were having a lunch break, while two other busies themselves at the one AT-AT, probably discussing some kind of repair process while the last one was out of sight for the moment.

All well,  he was bound to show-up in a few minutes. Aeos hauled the Sniper rifle to her shoulder, adjusted the settings as it was affected by the distance between the barrel end and the target’s hair.

Grinning as the smell of the freshly cleaned weapon wafted up into her nose, Aeos set her eye to the scope and started to pick for her first target. She was a risky fifty meters away, not far yet not too close either.

Five shots.
Bang!
The poor simulated collection of pixels and mathematical formulas slumped over into his lunch. His partner only had the chance to look up alarmed from his morning coffee-
Bang!
By now she had attracted the attention of the other occupants of the outpost. Number three just stood up next to the open wire box of the one AT-AT, he looked around bewildered trying to sense her location but-
Bang!
Number four had the sense now to make attempt for cover,
Bang!
Aeos scoffed as bullet grazed past the target into the stone wall behind him. She made a quick job of aiming again and bang!

Only number five was left. By now, all the guards were on full alert; some jostled from their nap rudely. She heard the far-off sound of barking and winced. She was not interested in being shredded.

“Come on you little tick,” she whispered, her eye trained through the scope which kept wary of the windows and exits she could see.  Ah! She could see a green cap, sticking through the window. Hopefully-
Bang!
Yes! Aeos smirked and quietly dislodged the sniper rifle from her stiff fingers.

That will put a halt to the AT-AT repairs most definitely.
She glanced down at her GPS device, and bought it up to her mouth.

“Mission completed. Terminate Simulator.”

“Are you sure Ma’am?”

“Yes,” she answered confidently, she would know the results of her simulation in a bit. With content sigh Aeos closed her eyes, anticipating the temporary moment of dematerialization her thought always experienced in these damned rooms. She would know her results in a bit.

EDIT:
*Notes*
Angel's Pick: # Demolitions & Explosives Science
Kami's Pick: # Architecture and Structural Engineering
Aeos' Pick #    * Sabotage Operations

OOC:

Sentence structure is a lot better in this post. I always figured that 'Target Analysis' meant deciding which aspects of an enemy camp should be targeted first so as to improve the odds of the overall mission being successful. There's no real analysis of targets in this post as you have them provided for you. I'll pass you on the basis that you give the course name greater thought next time around. Apart from that, a good read

“What do we have today Sarge?” Aeos asked as she entered his small and cramped office. She brushed a stray bang out of her face and plopped herself down onto swivel chair and faced her instructor and mentor. His friendly brown and aged eyes twinkled at her merrily and he stooped down to one of the drawers to collect her file. Rowler suppressed a yawn as he tossed the file at her.

“You’re next qualification exam. Report to the room B-7T4. I believe you’ve been planning on specializing. So…what are you thinking Ae?”

She opened the file through it and flipped through it.”
“No specializing just yet Rowler. Gonna try and focus on getting this thing for first.” She answered with a small grin.

***
She was home. Well. It wasn’t the barracks or anything but one of the flats she kept around and close to the STC Academy. That way she wouldn’t waste three hours of her day traveling.
Aeos sat back on her chair and propped her legs up on her desk. She was back at her semi-desolate apartment going through a mental checklist and preparation of for tomorrow’s test.

Architecture was simple enough. The design and building of physical structures. Structural Engineering went beyond architecture. It was a study of the design and math that went into the structure versus the math surrounding the structure or the non-building structure such as bridges and irrigation systems and etc.  It was her job to ensure all safety aspects of the structure. That the correct materials had been used. That they had been used in the correct amount relating to the mass and energy required from the structure.  To calculate whether location such as the geography could be used as an enhancement towards the structure or would serve as only hazard. If it was indeed the latter, then she had to apply the correct methods to the surrounding geography to fit it for such structure.

Structural engineering entailed understanding the mathematical analyses of loading to which the structure was subjected to. Whether it was live or dynamic loading, she would have adjusted the formulas and design as to such. Loads were the forces applying to a structure whether it is wind, snow, rain and etc. If the study of the geology and geographic was not concluded properly and the wrong science was applied to the structure based on those studies, loads could stress and deform displacements into the structure.
She stretched and yawned back into her seat. She pulled her face through her hands and snuck a glance at the clock above her bed.

“Time for bed I guess.” She muttered to herself and started making her way to the refreshed to get cleaned up for the night.  Tomorrow was the start of her qualification exams which could last several hours or several days depending on her own performance and the nature of the exams itself.

***

She tugged at her stiff collar nervously and glanced down the brightly-lit hall waiting for her exam to be started with. Today would be a written exam. Her instructor was right now just preparing the room in which she would be writing several off her essays.

“1st Lieutenant Aeos?”  A soft female voice called out.

She glanced at the female First Sergeant holding a small data-pad waiting for at the one end of the hall. The female gestured Aeos to follow her into the class room.

“Rowler will be right back.” She muttered and gestured for Aeos to take a seat at the lone desk inside the room. 

She silently left the room and Aeos alone with her thoughts.  The Lieutenant sat waiting for a few minutes alone trying to compose herself and her nervous into something calmer and more prepared for the test ahead.

“Ready Aeos?” Rowler asked as he stepped into the room. He dropped a small stack of papers onto her desk.
“Written Exam dearie. You have seven hours with breaks included.” 

Aeos groaned and pulled the papers across and started reading through them.

65. Discuss the various structural elements in existence and name at least five structures which exist on the STC grounds in which all elements are used. Please provide and a detailed description on the structures and whether you think the elements were used decoratively or practically.

Aeos groaned softly as she jotted down a quick note in the margin next to the question.
Columns, beams, plates, arches, shells, catenaries…etc. Mannford Drill Hall. Salamse block and…

She continued scribbling another few names and the traits down and moved on the next question.
This was an old trick of her. She would read her whole paper over before starting to fill it out and as she read over it she would make small mental notes at each question and jot some of the notes down as well in the process.

She continued scribbling through the rest of the questions. Dead loads. Live loads. Environmental loads. Thermal expansions, ice movements. Aeos suppressed the urge to yawn and leaned back over her work.  She stole a quick glance at her watch. She had about six hours left. Better make the most of it.

It was a few hours later that she walked with bleary eyes and equally bleary mind filled with the blue-print sketches of beams, columns and floors plans. She tried to shake the cobwebs of pencil sketches from her mind and decided to head for the cantina for a drink. She wouldn’t know the results of any off her qualification exams until she completed them all. Luckily Rowler had decided that he would set her only a written exam. Aeos yawned again and increased her pace to reach the cantina. Maybe Snipes would be there.

OOC:

This was seriously not the easiest topic to write about.

Rizzit wrote:Well, this definitely was not the easiest story to write I will give you that. If its of any comfort, it wasn't easy to read either. However, more or less this is what we are asking for: a hard to read entry that is extremely detailed. Undoubtedly, you did that. Good work!