Topic: Field and Forge: Training New Blood

Viola Draygon · Date: 2009-03-05 17:19 EST

"The courage of the soldier is heightened by the knowledge of his
profession"
-Flavius Vegetius Renatus

Iron Dragons Orbital Platform, third maintenance bay.

"Ok Draygon, here's the deal, You and Fritz here are going to have a race. We'll give you both five simple problems to solve and whoever finishes first takes the new recruits out this month."

Vi should really have known better than to make wagers with the boys from engineering and maintenance while she had been drinking. The five "simple" problems hadn't been that simple. Still she felt she could be proud, she'd finished just seconds after Fritz even after seven Almiation Ale's to Fritz's one. Almiation Ale was an imported beer that Vi had picked up on shore leave somewhere several years back. It went down like buttered bread, and had a burn like the breath of a dozen hell hounds.

"You'll be taking ten 'suits, and however many recruits have come in in the last few weeks while you were off playing hero at Lacerta. You'll be testing some modifications we've made to the suits in battle conditions."

"Why Greenies? Why not regulars who know what they are doing?" Vi was curious as to the logic behind the choice.

"We've been working on making basic upkeep so simple that anyone can manage it. We want to try it out on the recruits because if they can do it anyone can."

"That makes a strange sort of sense. Has Boss cleared this?"

Fritz just kind of rolled his eyes and passed off the data kit on the strike suits and recruits she'd be taking out. "Um.. Sort of?"

"Oh Bloody Lovely. Fine, Fine.. I'll take care of it if there is a problem later."

Viola Draygon · Date: 2009-03-05 17:53 EST

Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.
- Sun Tzu

Proving Grounds National Park, Rhydin.

Day 1.

They had been at it since sunrise, and it had been nothing but one crisis after another. The ten strike suits provided by Fritz were stripped almost to bare wires. They were all older models that had since been retired from actual combat, but were still suitable for training. The first task the ten greenies had been given was to install the new lighter power supplies that they would be testing during the field trials.

Martins blew it his out by crossing the wires while Vi was still explaining the procedure. She sent him off to the tent where the single medic they had brought along was waiting to get the burns on his hands tended. They weren't serious, he'd be back to duty the next day and Vi was pretty sure he'd never make that mistake again.

The drills themselves progressed well, just basic march and maneuver drills. Three more of the power units had suffered critical failures before the noon break, each one requiring the whole group to stop and wait while the suit's pilot was extracted and the suit removed from the field. The suitless trainees were set to organizing the supplies shipped in for the camp.

Afternoon drills included light weapons drills. They went well enough, no injuries or equipment failures.

When it was time to call it a day they returned to camp and started to unsuit.

Timmins, one of the recruits brought an unfamiliar piece of equipment towards where Vi was just about to remove her helmet. As he lifted the shock charge to ask what it was and where to store it he pressed the button to arm and detonate it twice... causing a shock wave equal to a sonic boom or a small cyclone to rip through the campsite.

Anything that wasn't tied down was whipped about bits and pieces striking personnel. Vi took a lantern to the knee, the glass shattering and puncturing her favorite violet fight suit, the one that perfectly matched her com helmet and battle armor. All the recruits who had their helmets off were holding their heads. Shock charges were designed to disrupt and disorient, not to cause major damage. Perfect for situations where the objective was to capture not kill, or for training missions like this one.

By the time Vi had sent them off to the infirmary and seen that they were properly treated she was in desperate need of a drink. She left to find one before even getting her own injuries treated.

Laitnum · Date: 2009-03-05 18:18 EST

Laitnum had just arrived in the city of Rhy'Din, and was already displeased by its sights and sounds. Grumbling profusely, he headed off toward the famed Red Dragon Inn, after getting some directions from one of the locals. In a not so fine mood, Laitnum entered the inn, finding it to be no less disappointing than the rest of the city.

Hours passed on, he peered almost angrily at the crowd that came and went, and finally set his eyes on the pair sitting at a table. A woman, and a machine. "Interesting," he thought to himself, smirking as he sipped his drink, a bit more time passed, nothing happened.

Finally, after curiosity had gotten the better of him, the grumbling man dressed in so much white went to talk to the pair. He talked to them for a while, got their names, Hex, and Viola Draygon, she was apparently an Elite, feisty one too it brought a smirk to his face with the thought. How fun. There was a short interview, a few questions asked on both sides, then Laitnum signed up, of course, him being a new recruit meant he had to go through the training with the rest, that wasn't anything unusual, thus, he didn't complain or argue about it.

After a final exchange of words, Lait left the inn, tossing a smirk and a wink at Viola along the way. Then the next morning, he headed off for the beginning of his training, as promised.

Viola Draygon · Date: 2009-03-06 13:11 EST

"Paper-work will ruin any military force"
- Lieutenant-General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller

Iron Dragons Orbital Platform, Central Supply.

"Mei'liss! I've got another request for you. Its from that crazy Draygon woman. She wants a full set of kit in white by sunrise!"

Mei'liss Morrigan just about dropped her coffee cup in her lap. As it was she took a generous splash of hot brown sludge in the chest. "Say that again? White? She lose another bet or something?"

The aide snickered then shook her head. "Nope these are men's sizes she's listed, and the order had the Commissar's seal. Looks like there's something to this new guy if he's getting priority treatment like this."

"Wonder if Draygon thinks he's cute or something. You know I've never seen her with a man aside from Jaxion."

"Who knows with her? I'd be scared to ask."

Viola Draygon · Date: 2009-03-06 13:30 EST

"To lead uninstructed people to war is to throw them away."
- Confucius

Proving Grounds, Rhydin

Sunrise, Day 2

Vi would never let on to the fact that she had barely slept when the recruits returned at sunrise. She'd managed to salvage three of the four blown power supplies using the diagrams Fritz had included with them and a generous application of duct tape. She was pretty convinced duct tape was the only thing of value ever to come off that little blue planet, other than maybe tequila.

The strike suits were shined and polished, lined up in a neat row as opposed to the jumble that the recruits had left them in last night. She'd do this once, to demonstrate how the camp should be left. After that if the recruits failed to return things to their pristine state each night, she'd take proper steps to discipline them.

They tumbled into camp in a haphazard manner, in ones and twos, most half asleep and slovenly. Vi groaned silently and shook her head.

"Suit up, we have drills starting in ten minutes." She was already dressed and ready, in a white flight suit because Mei'liss wouldn't have the violet one to replace the one torn yesterday ready for another three days.

She'd managed the full kit for the greenie though. It was laid out with the suit Timmins had used the day before, waiting.

One last recruit to arrive, the new guy Laitnum. She wasn't too surprised by that. Proving Grounds was a big place and well out of the way of the city proper. She'd allowed for him to be a few minutes later than the rest just because it was his first day. Not that he was late. Yet.

Laitnum · Date: 2009-03-06 17:19 EST

While most wandered into the camp half asleep or in a daze, Laitnum walked in, wide awake, alert, and ready to get it all over with as soon as possible. He sneered at the other recruits, the one's moving sluggishly, reluctantly, and rolled his eyes. "Don't they get it? The quicker they get their asses moving, the faster we get this over and done with," he thought to himself while a resigned sigh issued from his lips.

There he was, not late, not dazed, but fully awake, and soon preparing for the drills, still wearing his usual attire still, all white with the random streaks of blue. He smirked about and rolled his eyes at the other recruits, twirling his staff about idly for a moment or so, before tapping a finger to the large blue stone set in the head. The staff curled up on itself, and turned into a silver ring with a sapphire set in the middle. He slipped it on his right hand, and continued on his way.

"Hmm..." he peered about as he moved through the area, then went to suit up and prepare for the upcoming drills. "How dull," he he thought to himself as he stood there, ready and waiting for what was to come.