”Don’t be hard on yourself, that’s my job” Tarja stated firmly as they rounded the corner and began to pick up speed again ”…you got around the corner without falling on your face that is solid improvement, the next corner you will get around without having to steady yourself…and the next you will do without even having to think about it” she continued, speaking in a tone of voice that made it difficult to decide whether this was meant to be encouragement or an order ”stop feeling sorry for yourself and focus! You are a gods be damn armoured infantryman and we’re the most dangerous unit in the fleet!…and if you mess up the next corner I will have Conrad chase you!” she said with the hint of a smile on her face and in her voice. With it once again being difficult to tell whether or not she was joking.

Justin strolled onto the tunnel and started warming up. After five minutes he adjusted his equipment then started his familiar run.it

  Ellen  grunted  and  frustration as she  pushed the   armor and herself .  She   slowed   only a little   as she  ran to the next corner  at the Starboard bow , and made the turn then  exploded inti a  sprint to make up for the lost 'time"

  Justin saw the three  AI  round the  corner  on the starboard side

Hearing the heavy Thud of metal on metal Justin looked about, spotting three approaching AI Marines. Moving to Port he made way for the runners to jog past.

”That’s it!  Now let’s get moving we have two more corners to take!” Tarja called down her comms in approval as she watched Ellen take the corner and then speed up, closing the gap between them and Conrad.

Thundering down the tunnel Tarja would spot a figure standing at the side, with her quickly warning Ellen of their presence so she could give the new arrival a wide berth.

Upon reaching the figure Tarja would recognise Justin and raise a hand in a silent thank you as they passed him and approached the second to last corner.

Justin returned Tarja's wave, as he jogged in place, when the AI team had passed he continued his run.

After one circuit of the Tunnels Justin slowed his pace for a short breather.

Justin continued his run chewing up the miles with each stride. Pounding away with routine familiarity, he passes the different known checkpoints along the tunnel.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:17, Thu 21 Mar.

With Ellen's familiarity with the armour continuing to grow it wouldn't take them long to catch up with Conrad and keep pace with him, with Tarja curbing Ellen's enthusiasm anytime it looked like he speed was beginning to creep a little too high. The next corner would arrive and just as Tarja had predicted Ellen would go around it without any difficulty "ok when we get around this next corner we'll come to a stop and I'll talk you through the weapons systems" Tarja said deciding that not only had Ellen earned herself a bit of a break but that she needed to learn how the weapons worked even if she didn't get to fire them just yet.

Making his way around the top Justin spotted the AI team ahead. They had stopped and were clustered together listening to Corporal Tarja. Crossing to the outer wall Justin jogged past the team and continued his training.

  Ellen Followed the orders  and stopped    near the 'starting point' of  Tunnel runs.  She  was still a bit miffed  at her  actions, she was feeling better in the armor, but still a bit  frustrated watching Conrad scamper around, he had less time on this boat then her!

After coming to a gradual stop, Tarja would give Ellen a few moments to catch her breath and compose herself a little before beginning to instruct her on the weapon systems, starting with where the triggers were located within the gauntlets and how to turn off the safeties ”…ok, now extend right arm, you should see a box with the crosshair inside, appearing on inside of faceplate, yes? Now slowly move arm and see how box moves…this is linked with your main weapon, if you raise left arm another slightly smaller box will appear for backup, with me so far?” Tarja explained, giving Ellen a few moments to try this out before continuing ”… now if you was to point arm at either myself or Conrad, box would turn blue for ESN or friendly, if you point it at demon it will turn red for enemy, if target is unrecognised it will turn Amber, understand?” she said, waiting to see if she had any questions before they moved on whilst also keeping half an eye on where Justin currently was.

   yeah? yeah......how many rounds    do we have.. do we  have belts  or mags.. ?

  what hapens  if  we  fall in water, or   really soft Mud  and such..

Hearing Tarja giving a rundown of the AI functions Justin slowed down and turned around jogging in place he watched the training session. Noticing Tarja looking around he gave her a wave. Hope you don't mind me learning your Intro?

”the gatling guns are belt fed, with each drum containing five thousand rounds of 5mm armour piercing rounds and armour piercing incendiary rounds” Tarja responded in a practiced voice, betraying the fact that she’d had to deliver this spiel a few times before ”…the vast majority of the moving parts are encased and sealed greatly reducing the chance of jamming or misfires caused by the weapon being submerged” she continued before offering her the hint to of a smile and asking ”care to fire few rounds down range?” gesturing down the empty tunnel with a flourish.

It was as she had been answering Ellen’s questions that Justin would join them ”not at all…though I imagine it makes little sense to someone not wearing armour” she replied, her hand moving to indicate the shrug her shoulders couldn’t convey before adding ”oh as the heads up we’re going to be firing few rounds down range”

Listening to Tarja's instruction Justin picks uo on the rounds the AI use. Is there AP retardant surfaces to be fired into?

”We have suitable targets with us” Tarja confirmed, not that they were in any risk of piercing the tunnel walls ”Conrad! Set some targets up for us please…not too far out though” Tarja said, with Conrad then heading out in order to distribute several of the targets upon the floor, walls and ceiling, with them being designed in such a way that they would pop out at random ”ok Ellen when you are ready, you will commence firing upon the targets” Tarja would say once Conrad was safely out of the line of fire.

Justin watches the process assessing the AI frame. This gets him thinking about its design and capabilities.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:21, Thu 28 Mar.

Sounding like someone undoing a giant zip Ellen’s gatling gun would come to life as she fired upon the targets that were springing up at random before dropping back down a few seconds later like a fair ground attraction with every hit Ellen scored resulting in a metallic clanging noise and the flash of a green LED ”don’t panic, keep calm and let the targetting system do its job” Tarja advised ”or you can spray and pray and hope to hit something” Conrad added a cheeky voice with Tarja slowly turning to look at him ”I think I’m starting to see why you prefer the napalm thrower…”
This message was last edited by the player at 17:37, Sun 31 Mar.

Good way to run through ammo thought Justin, about Conrad's suggestion. He wasn't about to say anything, especially since AI had their ways of doing things. Justin was content to watch and learn.

  shooting...now..this was  something Ellern was good at, once she  got the correlation of the  sites  and the recoil and all that, there was  little waste in  the  rounds going down rage.. Center Mass had  nice  grouping, and   a few head shots showed nicks  from her  weapon.

 Now  we're Talking!

Tarja would watch as Ellen worked her way through the targets firing controlled bursts that would hit the target more often than not. Once the allotted time had gone Tarja would hold up her fist as she called ”Cease Fire! Well… there’s certainly no faulting your marksmanship, you did very well there” Tarja said, impressed by how quickly she had picked up the weapons systems ”well we can go again if you like or you can call it a day, I think they’re doing dress fittings or something for ball now”

  Yes..Cora  and  Scarlett  are waiting for me to COM them..you  should  come as well. I Know  Belle and  alot of the SEC
 will be there  as well...

”yes…I suppose I should show my face at a ball at least once” Tarja replied with a nervous edge entering her voice as Conrad left to gather up the targets ”I think I’ll give Meari a call and see what she’s doing…anyway let’s get back to the compound and get the suits stored away” she said waving her towards the hatch out of the tunnels and back towards the hangar dec.

——> Hangar Dec

Justin fhankedcthe AI team for the demonstration, after Watching them leave he returned to his run.  Completing another circuit of the tunnel before heading back to his cabin.