Mark’s next mission came from his data pad, which contained two encrypted messages from Goro’s business associates. The first task given is a basic pirate run. Mark’s crew needed to stop two incoming transport ships and hijack their cargo. This would make Goro the main supplier for the region, and allow him to hike up his rates. The dealers knew that this would happen, so it’d be a variant of the same scam they ran before the Void Terror crew interrupted their run. They could then sell those goods off at a profit at their next stop.
The second mission was a smuggler run. They’d be given some cargo, hand it off at a certain drop exchange coordinate, and then be on their merry way. This one felt wrong to Mark, so he made a mental note to follow up on it.
The next week consisted of ship repairs, installing new hardware like automated shifter floor and wall panels in the training room that could simulate going up and down stairs, cover, and other obstacles. Each team spent one hour a day doing physical training and one hour a day doing squad training for six days, then spent one hour a day for two days doing cross training with other groups. The goal was to make sure if the absolute worst occurred and most of the crew was massacred again, the remaining crew would be able to at least partially fill the roles left by their dead squad mates.
The squads spent their time in simulate live scenarios from assaulting a ship to assaulting buildings, to repairing equipment malfunctions, evacuating the ship, wiping the ship’s logs, and every other sort of drill that crew could remember from their training. Luciana granted leave tokens to high performers in the squad or to the entire squad at the end of the week. No one wanted to use them on the lackluster Scillies 6a planet, but they made valuable currency for when they made it to a bigger, more luxurious planet.
Mark and Luciana spent their time going over the personnel files, Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery tests, prior service records, and other details to try to match people up with cross-training regimens that would match their aptitudes. They downloaded the official field manuals from the armed services to each crew members data tablets, and made sure that anyone who still had all of their original notes and lectures duplicated them and shared them throughout the ship. Additional surveillance equipment was added to both ships, so EVE could watch the crew and record what they were doing, and record any suspicious activity. Mark didn’t think his current crew would be a problem, but he really wasn’t sure about whoever they were going to pick up next. Additionally, if the worst came to it, EVE could at least advise whatever crew member’s were remaining about their job.
Which lead to Mark’s final backup plan. In the case of the worst of the worst, all of the information on the crew’s job and training were being fed back to the Oracle. He was stuck inside the wall of Mark’s captain chambers and fed information from EVE. But with a steady stream of military field manuals, live video feeds, and information from the simulated drills; he and EVE could control the entire ship if it came down to it. Mark needed to buy lots of androids to start patrolling the ship, and set them up with a network for EVE to access, but those sorts of high-end goods wouldn’t be available on a jumper planet.
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He also took part in the cross training exercises, but his combat training was one-on-one with Captain Smith. She came from the school of thought that one perfect move was better than a hundred sloppy ones, so he spent his time learning the same hip escapes, reversals, foot sweeps, hip throws, and other close-quarter combat tactics over and over. His perfect memory allowed him to instantly grasp the technique at an intellectual level, but fighting was about instinct, not intellect.
A week into this regimen, the final repairs were completed. Mark accepted both missions and Goro’s men loaded up the containers. After they left, Mark studied the containers diligently.
They were about the size of a king size bed, but made from metal. They clearly contained a battery unit of some sort, but the only external interface was a small computer screen that gave a tracking id for each unit. Mark started hacking away at the terminal, but realized there wasn’t any more information than the tracking id in the computer. The containers were single entry containers, meaning that once you opened them, they couldn’t be resealed. This meant there was no way to tamper with the container without alerting the next person that you’d been tampering with the goods.
Mark thought about the problem, and then decided the best way to go about this problem was to setup a snitch program inside each of the computer terminals. The program would work on any internet connected device, and when an outgoing communication was sent, it would piggyback its own encrypted message along with it. The message had to be small, otherwise it would attract attention. The only thing that it sent out was the current geo-coordinates that it was currently located at if that was part of the message. Otherwise, it would just send out a ping that said, “I’m here.”
He had to fight the urge to open the containers on what he was certain were illegal goods, but that would blow his cover. Deciding that he’d done all that he could, he sent gathered his crew together to make their raids against incoming cargo vessels.
Everyone dressed up and went into full combat alert, but the entire ordeal was uneventful. The crews on the ship had resigned looks that said this was a regular occurrence, and they handed over the cargo without any fuss.
From there, they made their drop off of the illegal cargo. Again, everyone dressed up and tensed for a fight, but nothing happened. They reached their coordinates, dropped the cargo, sent out the message that the run was complete, and left. A milk run.
“Alright everyone,” Mark said over the ship’s comms. “We’ve had it easy thus far, but maintain operation readiness during all missions. We’re heading to Gebo now, so security is paramount.” They left from the drop point and made their way to Gebo, a mere three-day flight with all of the systems operational.