Greyman made his way down the corridor. While Countryman was dealing with the diplomacy, he found himself with other business related to the ship. In this case, General Forest had called him down for some kind of demonstration from what he could gather. Reaching the door he was looking for, he read the sign to be sure; Tactical Briefing 218.
Entering the room he found the General in question along with General Kirk and two others waiting for him. One thing he couldn’t help noticing was how obviously pregnant Kirk was getting these days. He’d noticed it a couple of times in meetings but no one had really commented on it. Greyman had heard that she’d hooked up with Forest but not much beyond that. He’d been too busy to keep up with her interpersonal relationships. “So I hear you have some kind of demonstration for me?”
Kirk chuckled, “I wouldn’t go that far, it's more of a draft. We figured in a few years we might have room to do some recruiting and that got us thinking. Outside of the war games we conduct several times a year to keep our skills sharp, we don’t really have any training programs. The various units started proposing different training regimens and we think we have a rough draft for one ready for review.”
“I see, what do you have?” he replied. It wasn’t a bad thought, all things considered.
“After referencing marine training programs over the last few centuries, we have put together a boot camp.” Kirk replied while leaning over the table, her swollen belly pressing just a bit against the edge, as she brought up a series of files. “We will need to familiarize prospective recruits with our equipment, procedures, and tactics; while also instilling discipline and camaraderie, to that end we will need to break them down. I doubt I will need to explain how we will do that, so I’ll just jump to the equipment courses.”
She brought up some files on that, and Greyman nodded along. He didn’t need an explanation on how they’d break the recruits. He’d been through it himself. Boot camp was hell. Anyone who told you otherwise was either crazy or a masochist.
“I figured we would start with introducing them to our standard service rifle; the XR-471. Fitting them for combat armor, or anything else will come later. We don’t want them to rely on the enhancing effects of the armor either. The current idea is that before they are allowed to touch a power assault suit of any category, they’ll need to test out as an expert on our service rifle.”
“Ah, going with the old, every marine is a rifleman first approach, are we?”
“Yes, sir. That was the idea,” replied Kirk.
Greyman looked to Forrest, “What’s your thought on the approach?”
“I’m all for it. We are never going to have the numbers our foes will have. Not for the foreseeable future. That means every soldier counts for me. We need a robust training program that turns out super soldiers. Thankfully between our combat suits, and medical intervention, we can solve the physical side of that equation easily. Therefore we just need to focus on instilling the skills and the mindset required. Personally, I want them trained on every weapon we have.”
Kirk commented, “Basic proficiency at least. We can do more focused training later.”
Forrest responded, “Well naturally, any military will need its specialists. I figured we’d enroll any one that shows high talent with a particular weapon in a specialist program.”
Greyman, looking the files over, asked “That’s all nice to hear, but how are you going to adapt these training programs for an on-ship environment?”
Kirk and Forrest presented him another set of files before Kirk explained, “Short story is we will be using many of the same spaces we use for our wargames. There is no other way around it, those same facilities are exactly the ones we will need to train new recruits; but sadly, there will be some shortcomings.”
“Such as?”
Kirk gave him a look, “The simulator is no substitute for live fire exercises and training, but sadly we just can’t provide a proper substitute for terrestrial environments.”
“Really? The pilots have been raving about how much they like...”
“It’s great for them, but we are marines. The simulator is fine to a degree but we need to train muscle memory and maintain peak physical form. Meanwhile the simulator? It’s basically a very realistic video game.”
“Hmm, I see, and you want better facilities for your war games. That’s going to be....” he trailed off as a thought occurred to him. “Have you considered opening the war games to viewing by the public?”
Kirk and Forest both blinked, “What!?”
Countryman settled heavily on his couch and leaned back. It was late, by this hour he’d usually be in bed. Rika had already been put to bed and Rose had gone to her bed in the office to recharge. His multipurpose room felt rather quiet now. Lit only by the faint light strips in the corner, more than enough light to see by. Countryman realized that nine years in space had skewed his lighting expectations. It felt rather normal now for a room to be dimly lit. The quiet however was what he was looking for, he needed a moment to process the evening.
He sighed, Ruri certainly had a way of getting what she wanted. He couldn’t say the evening hadn’t been enjoyable regardless but now he was thinking about repercussions. Another thought hit his mind, Rika couldn’t keep sleeping in their room forever. Did he put her in the office with Rose? Maybe he should have the room fully converted into a second bedroom? It did leave him with a question of where he would move his home office. Another breath left him as only one option came to mind, he could stick it in his bedroom.
The room was decently sized, if he did the arrangement right it would work. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d lived with an office in his bedroom. Just not something he’d bothered to put up with since he was a young man, that had been a different time entirely. It was nothing more than a distant memory for him now, but the thought of that time made him think of faces he’d not thought of in years. All of them long dead now, he’d outlived his siblings by decades. Not only that but he’d outlived many of their children and grandchildren as well. Something he tried not to think about, but those branches of the family hadn’t entirely been cut when the Cathamari destroyed the planet, leaving only a wasteland shrouded in radioactive plasma clouds behind. If anyone had survived that Countryman couldn’t say, despite his efforts they’d been unable to make that determination. Maybe there was a chance another branch of the family survived in that wasteland, but on the ship there were a few people he was related to. Most notably, a pair of young women descended from his favorite sister.
They didn’t share his name naturally enough. The young women in question were both Cutters not Countrymans. Maybe he should rekindle those family connections? It might be time, the falling out between his family and theirs had been over ninety years ago. The only one here who even remembered what happened was him, and they did share the same ship.
Footsteps drew his attention to the hall as Vera, wearing only a blouse walked in. She paused, “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Not particularly,” he replied as he looked her over, “But how are we doing? Considering?”
She yawned, “Alright I think, but maybe I just haven’t wrapped my head around what happened. Still not sure what to think about it.”
Countryman chuckled, “Yes, well Ruri does have a way of getting what she wants. Rika for example was her idea, not mine.”
Vera giggled, “Yes, I’ve heard the story.” Then she frowned, “Never thought I’d experience it myself.”
“Sorry about that,” he scratched behind his ear. “She’d said something about inviting you along back in August.”
Vera blinked, “That long ago? It’s been, what, eight months?”
Countryman nodded, “Sounds about right, but we ended up being rather busy soon after. Ruri didn’t seem to be pursuing that thought, so I kinda forgot about it.”
Vera joined him on the sofa. “Guess I can’t blame you, but now that I think about it. She’s been talking about children a lot lately. She brought the subject up with me several times.”
“Yes, well she’s been wanting a second kid for some time now.” He gestured at the table, “That’s why I planned a nice dinner. I always do something like that before taking her to bed.”
“Well I’ll give you points for the dinner. It was nice.” Vera looked up, “Just wish Ruri had given me more warning about the invite.”
“Don’t we all?”
Vera shifted to the side and turned the monitor on. “Ruri aside, I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the recent computer research programs. I think those next gen computers will be useful in quite a few different fields, and since we are here. Maybe I could get your thoughts on a few projects I am working on.”
Pulling the remote out of its holder, she accessed some files and put them on the screen.
“Right, I’d heard you were looking into improving our reactor containment shielding.”
“Reactor shield and reactive surface armor are my main projects at the moment and both of them would benefit from the computers being prototyped now. Speaking of, I saw your name on the list of engineers that designed the main antimatter reaction chamber.”
“Yes I was involved, we based the original design off the work Kentoth did into antimatter containment and power generation. Of course, there were some shortcomings we had to correct. But there was one issue we never solved.”
“I’m aware the original tests revealed a problem with reactor breaches when exceeding 40% capacity, which is why the reactor was hardcapped to use only 40% of its maximum fuel capacity.” She tapped the controls, “Since Richards brought the problem to me I’ve been working on improving that. I’ve found limited benefit from computer use but the improved computers are better able to regulate the fuel injectors. My latest tests have been playing around with new injector protocols to optimize reaction efficiency.”
“Hmm, I see some new hardware on the diagram,” commented Countryman.
“Yes triphasic force shield emitters, which is where the new computers might benefit me the most. I’ve been trying to find the best configuration to maximize fuel load. So far my last tests were stable at 48% in simulation, but personally I’m trying to get at least 70...”
Countryman nodded, he knew full well about the design. The chamber itself was capable of handling more raw fuel than it does, at least in theory. “That would be pretty impressive,” he sighed. “I’d pay attention to the fuel injector ports, my previous tests revealed that chamber failure usually occurred due to high stress around those components. Now my best track record was a prolonged test at half output which lasted sixteen hours before the injector ports failed, core breach happened moments after the injectors failed.”
“I found that and have to concur, the reactor chamber itself should be highly stable, it’s all the fuel running through the injectors, particularly the anti-matter counterparts. My simulations show that at very high loads...”
“I’m aware of the problem. I helped design the system. We must have redesigned those injectors a dozen or so times.”
“Right, well, I am working on a redesign of those ports, I think the originals were limited by the tech of the day. Afraid my work isn’t that far along yet, but what I have does show promise for a better injector port. Combined with triphasic force fields protecting the main reaction chamber, we should be able to get the full theoretical capacity, if not exceed it.”
“That would be interesting, and you wanted my thoughts?”
She brought up the injectors on the screen, “Yes particularly your insight on these. I know you weren’t the chief designer on the injectors but...”
“I do have some insights,” Countryman began before walking her through the key details of the component. There was a lot to unpack and soon they were discussing possible design changes. Along with debating how her latest force field designs might benefit component integrity.