Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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Straken
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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Emeryk sat contently in his portion of the tank as activity went on around him. He let a fleeting smirk cross his face momentarily before Commander Curtiss spoke again, this time ordering the small hatches to be opened. As he swung the moderately sized port open he peered outside, noting that it wasn’t much of an opening but it would likely come in handy none the less. His attention was snapped back from the view by the sudden activity higher up in the tank.

”Well, she needs to get used to her controls as well,” Emeryk thought as he passed the event off casually as he listened to the Commander talk to Zali. ”That is a good point, in combat we won’t have time to have every little action explained to us, so improvisation will be important. Let’s hope I am able to control the tank well enough.”

“Moving the tank west,” he said, confirming the new order. With little else to say he quieted down again and looked at the controls again to get a good path set that would take them West. Once he got a heading set he decided to try and challenge himself a little by using the view port for a lot of his navigation. Satisfied with the course he had picked Emeryk put pressure on the yoke as he pushed the tank into a brisk jaunt, moving steadily across the tarmac.
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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As the tank moved out, the rear hatch opened up.

"Ah! Good, clean air!" Dita exclaimed with relief as she popped out of it like a gopher. "Not that we've been cooped up in the tank for hours on end and sweating." the pigtailed redhead added. Her sister merely reached up and pulled her back down into the tank.

"The loader seat is for you." Dyta pointed out with a finger; a single seat set off to the side of the turret sat in between the ammunition and the gun's breech as though patiently waiting for Dita. The loader quickly scrambled into her seat in a way that said 'Mine!' as quickly as she could and buckled in. Unless they were in active combat, she wouldn't be using them so she could get up to load as quickly as possible. Dita's hands went 'Pata-pat-pat-Pata-pat-pat' against the reinforced sides as she smiled.

In contrast, Dyta then turned to the commander without enthusiasm. "Any messages to trumpet sir?" she asked him.
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Kai
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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"Just let the base know that we're moving out for training, Dyta." Curtiss answered the small redhead, chuckling at her twin's antics.
"Hey, Emeryk, Try increasing the stride by raising the obstacle clearance- we won't be as stable but the pace should be greater." he then suggested down to his pilot as the tank left the tarmac and made its way onto softer unpaved ground.
"Once we're two clicks out, there's a training course with targets for us, we need to be sure you guys can work together."
"Yes sir." Zali answered, getting herself familiar with the gunner's viewport and the aiming devices- She found it to be a bit more difficult to aim as the tank rocked up and down, back and forth with the motion of the legs, so she took time aiming at boulders to try and steady her eye.
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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"Mm." Dyta softly replied. The faint hum of agreement was swept away by the loud whining and pumping noise of the hydraulics. Loud clanking from the legs, not as loud as other contemporary models, further turned the inside of the vehicle into a noisy little armored box, but this was made even worse by the constant revving of the engine as the walking tank plodded along. But none of this mattered; she had nodded as well, and not only that, but she opened up her trumpeter's hatch and let the brassy notes of her golden instrument peal through the air.

Dita however, went about her business quite differently. "Ammo, ammo, ammmmoooo~" went her tuneless slong. The loader happily took inventory of their munitions stocks, glancing over the paints that the numerous different shells sported inside their racks despite the jostling of the tank as it moved. Dita's eyes moved quickly over the rounds, taking in the details. They were all the same number of centimeters away from being a full meter in length, and each weighed in at around 14 kilograms. Or for the folks running of the Imperial systems, roughly three feet from bottom to nose while weighing around 30 pounds each. Dita herself was around 5 feet in height and was somewhere around 100 lbs. This usually shocked people when she told them excitedly, and well...most people didn't comprehend just how large or heavy tank rounds were.

But she did.

The pigtailed girl turned in her chair and reported to the commander. "I've taken stock; we got a big grand total of 16 training rounds!" she smiled at him with glee. "Half of the rounds are armor piercing capped explosive, with the other half being high explosive. Kaboom goes the bunker! OH Yeah!~" Dita cheered, pumping a fist. She then brought it up to her mouth and coughed once politely as though to clear her throat for something important. "We also got four live ones; two actual armor piercing and two actual high explosive." Her eyes started to go wide and get a little watery as she looked up at Curtiss. "Can we shoot them too? Please, please, please?" Dita pleaded the tank commander.

Now, what man could refuse a cute little redhead with puppy-dog eyes?
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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“Yes Sir,” Emeryk upon receiving his new orders. Looking down at his controls and slid the knob to increase the obstacle height to just over two meters. A new whirring of gears began as the tank lifted its body higher, and as Curtiss had mentioned the pilot quickly felt the tank sway more than before.

As the introverted Emeryk sat contented in his seat at the front, he listened to the others within the tank to get an idea of their characters. “Curtiss seems like a nice enough guy, Dita is energetic which can be either good or bad depending on the situation, Dyta seems more temperate than he sister, then Zali,” Emeryk thought to himself before absentmindedly finishing the rest out loud, “Zali I am not really sure of yet.”
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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"If you guys can complete the training course, then we'll fire the live ones. Deal?" Curtiss bargained with Dita as she excitedly jabbered about what was on board before the commander even asked for it. He smiled at her enthusiasm, but when he looked back up out of the tank his expression looked strained for a moment as he recalled his days on the battlefield. Would that enthusiasm last? Curtiss shook his head and grinned again as a motorcycle passed them up.
"Ah, good job, Dyta, looks like the squadron commander's out here to help us with training."

Sure enough, a man with messy gray-brown hair, a tank commander's uniform, and a pair of motorcycle goggles could be seen briefly by Emeryk, and the man stopped his bike suddenly, hopping off of it and pulling up a large board with a target painted on it. The motorcycle then rumbled back to life and came back to the tank, stopping again as the man signaled for Rekina 4 to make its stop.

"Alright, Emeryk, stop us here, this should be good, let me talk to our squadron commander for a moment." With that, Curtiss left his seat, and made his way down the side of the tank, flipping the ladder down and dropping to the ground. After a few brief minutes, the ladder was mounted again, flipped up with a clang on the hull of the tank, and Curtiss dropped back into his seat.

"Okay, recruits. here's the deal. Commander Edmont is going to set us up 8 different targets, each harder than the last. We have to get direct hits on all of them with the correct ammunition type in order to pass the exercise. This first one is a stationary tank! Alright, what do we need? get it ready and set 'er up to fire."

Zali thought for a moment before looking at Dita. "We need an Armor Piercing round, I think. Could you load one for me?" she asked, while beginning to try and aim the tank's turret.
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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"We need an Armor Piercing - " The words rang in Dita's hyperactive ears; a leaver opening the breech of their gun was thrown down to reveal the bore of the cannon as soon as the magic words were uttered. " - round I think. Could you -" A shell just two feet short of being as tall as the redhead herself was hefted off the rack, one hand towards the front, the other cradling the rear end protectively. " - load one for me?" Zali finished. The massive piece of ammunition was slammed into the breech with a 'clank!' as Dita's cradling hand at the rear end became a fist to ram it home; the breech block automatically closed up, lifting her arm away as she retreated. A single swish of her hand, and the gun's arming leaver that also served to lower the block was activated. "UP!" she cried out, standing clear of the gun.

"Aw dangit! I didn't finish loading before she could finish talking!" Dita cried out in anguish. She hung her head for a moment before quickly recollecting herself. "O.K! I'll just ram it in there harder next time! I can do it!" the loader pep talked herself, both hands balled into fists at chest level.

"Four point six seconds. The record is three point nine." Dyta pointed out 'softly' within the noisy interior of the tank as she tossed her ponytail back.

"But I wanna be the best! The best there ever was!" the pigtailed girl cried out.
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Straken
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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Once he heard the loading process begin Emeryk went about his job of making sure Zali had the best chance possible to hit the target. “I’m dropping us down for added stability,” Emeryk called up to Zali as a suggestion to hold off on firing for another moment. The young lad’s hands quickly made their way around the console as he lowered the tank’s obstacle height back to .5 meters and bracing the hind legs of the tank for added stability.
“Ready on this end!” Emeryk called back once he was finished.
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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Curtiss smiled- it was immediately apparent why his crew had gotten through training early- they all clearly knew their stuff. "Alright Zali, Find your mark, and Fire when ready" Curtiss ordered his gunner. No sooner had he stopped talking than she had pulled the trigger, and the entire tank shuddered, jolting back an inch or two with the force of the main cannon. The target that had been set up just a few minutes before was blasted over with a puff of yellow, signifying that they had indeed hit it, and the yellow paint indicating they had used an 'armor piercing' round quite effectively.

"Alright Emeryk, take us to the next target, about fifty yards to the right, over that little rise, I need you to put us on top of it!" the commander ordered, grinning.
Silently, Zali congratulated herself, smiling quite happily, knowing that the efforts of the crew had allowed her to make the shot well.
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Re: Part 1: Training. Episode 1: The Recruits.

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“Right away, Sir,” Emeryk responded, still smiling after their initial success. From there he began moving all over the place, one hand pushing forward on the yoke while the other brushed over the controls to increase obstacle height to one meter, and his feet dancing on the pedal to spring the tank into action. The tank strode forward confidently at it pilot’s command, darting up the incline on its way to the apex.

At the top Emeryk looked around through his porthole as he tried to locate the next target. Once he figured its location he once again dropped the tank down and braced it for firing. ”Hopefully we can keep this pace and make a good impression,” the farm boy thought as he went over in his mind the most efficient manner to go between obstacle height and bracing while maintaining speed. All the while a little voice in the back of his mind kept warning him about messing up his role.
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