-Voorkar-
Voorkar growled softly in resigned frustration and pawed at his ear as he watched yet another rookie attempted to pull of what had become dubbed “The Human Hold” and fail miserably as they lost their balance and stumbled.
At least this one managed to keep hold of the weapon and keep it pointed downrange.
It wasn’t that he was against attempting new things. It was a sign of an adaptive and open mind, and one that would take to instruction well.
Rather, he was frustrated that they all seemed to want to prove that they could be the ones to pull it off. Even in spite of both the Instructors and Conrad himself explaining that the reason he could do it was his vastly different body mechanics from the rest of the crew.
His frustrations with the quirks of combat instruction aside, the last few days had been blessed by the winds. They’d had no injuries to speak of, and all of the rookies had shown either satisfactory or exceptional competence with the weaponry and tactics taught.
Nor was he particularly upset with Conrad. He knew that there was going to be some growing pains as the Human acclimated to the Ruulothi ship life and found his stride. He just didn’t think that was going to be a literal definition of what would happen.
He watched the display in front of him and resigned himself to the course of action that he knew needed to be done.
If he was going to be completely honest with himself, he should have done it long ago. He was hoping that it wouldn’t be necessary, but he knew that if he tried to smother it, he would just cause discord and kill morale.
He allowed himself a quiet sigh before stepping forward and signaling the other trainers to stop their efforts. He had already discussed the possible need for this with them, so there was no hesitation amongst them and their instruction was brought to an immediate halt. They knew what was coming next.
“Seeing that the lot of you continue to attempt exploring new boundaries, we are going to change the intended lesson plan. It is good that you seek to optimize your performance in a controlled setting, so we are going to allow you to learn from example and experience. So, for this next block of instruction, you are all going to step up to the line, one at a time, and make your best attempt at the Human Hold. Afterwards, we are going to conduct an After Action Review, something else that you are going to need to get used to after every single combat action.
“It is important for you to understand that this is not an attempt to make any of you feel foolish. But rather an attempt to show you that everything needs to be gone over and addressed in a controlled fashion. In this case, it is to allow you to physically realize that this isn’t something that those of our body types can accomplish without extreme amounts of practice.”
Voorkar waved to the first instructor, “Haaslan, you may begin.”
_____________________________________
The class went about as he expected that it would. None of the new recruits were able to consistently demonstrate an ability to control the weapon as the Human had. One by one they had grown silent as they realized their hopes for a magical advantage crumbled in their own hands.
The AAR went better. Despite their disappointment in themselves, they were active participants and asked the right questions. At one point, Voorkar had asked Conrad to come to the front of the class and demonstrate why their differences in their physiologies made it so much easier for him to perform the particular hold that he had adopted.
In short, it was a result of their knees, ankles and overall mechanical body posture being different. Ruulothi and the other Hunt Brother species that had been appointed to the crew were of a similar body type, that being forward leaning with digitigrade legs. While that body style made them faster on flat ground and quicker to react overall, because they were never truly flatfooted, it also compromised their balance when it came to changes on their flanks and lateral control. It limited their mobility and flexibility in the ways that were required to adopt the Human hold.
Voorkar had hoped that this would end the issues, but when Conrad approached him with Ruufarrl in the Officer’s rec room after, those hopes were dashed. Though his frustrations were quickly replaced with a different kind of hope.
“Sir, I know you wanted to quelch this, but I wanted to let you know that there might actually be a way for you all to improve overall accuracy and speed on target. If you are interested in attempting something new, that is.”
Voorkar gave him a sidelong scowl, then raised his eyebrow at Ruufarrl, “I assume that this has something to do with what you mentioned the other day?”
“In part, yes. First Officer.”
Ruufarrl nodded as he spoke. He seemed completely at peace with his support of the effort, which forced Voorkar to reconsider his initial irritation at the proposition. If this veteran believed that it could make a difference, then perhaps…
He shook his head and let out a deep sigh, “I will take it under consideration. But it will likely not be during our current deployment. Such things are best left for experimentation between missions, and in a safe place.
“I am going to want to know exactly what it is that is being proposed before anything is attempted, and final approval will need to come from the Captain first. This is his ship, and he has final say in anything. That part, however, you can leave to me. I will bring the proposal to his attention once an acceptable idea has been bound together. He does not need to be constantly pestered while running the ship with half-baked thoughts and ideas. Understood?”
Both of his companions nodded respectfully, “Yes, sir”
“One more thing… Ruufarrl, I assume that you are here backing this because you have the source material saved on your Wrist Terminal?”
“That is certainly a significant part of it. I believe you are aware that I am also one to attempt to gain any advantage possible, from any source. If this is something that works, the improvements made can then be spread through all of our ranks, improving our people’s effectiveness across the board. A consideration not to be ignored.”
Voorkar slumped, his head hanging with ears back as he growled softly, “Ever the Clan Head. Of course you are already thinking of wider effects and plans.”
He sat in silence for a few more moments as he contemplated the opportunity before him. Finally, he shook himself and sat up again.
“Fine. I will meet with you both each day for half an hour before the final bell. Make sure that you have your thoughts organized by then. I don’t want to be wasting time. Dismissed.”
They both stood straight and saluted, Ruufarrl with the traditional claws crossed over his chest and throat exposed, and the human with a silly seeming little finger touch to the forehead that must have been a drilled motion before realizing where he was and correcting himself to a Ruulothi Salute.
Voorkar simply shook his head in amusement and waved them out.
After they were gone Voorkar heard a door open behind him and footsteps approach before a familiar voice addressed him.
“It isn’t often that I see you entertain such notions. What makes this one different from the countless others you have discarded?”
“Those two seem to be catalysts of change, and they were working in tandem. If it had just been Conrad making the suggestion, I may have simply discarded it. I believe that Ruufarrl knew this, and that is why he showed his support of the idea. We cannot forget that he has been dealing with intrigue for most of his life. Nor that he is the closest thing to an expert on Humans that we have.
“As for the human…” He shook his head and turned to look Lorthaal in the eyes, “We simply don’t know enough about him or his people. While with us, and before, he has certainly demonstrated himself to be both a team player and resourceful in surprising ways, especially when confronted with unplanned complications. What then might we see if he actually has the time to sit down and prepare something purpose built? Something that is designed to improve the abilities of those around him?”
To his surprise, the normally stoic Lorthaal smiled at him, something that he had only rarely ever seen.
“Good. It would be a greater shame to have a mind like that go to waste. You made the right decision. Let me know if they come up with something that looks viable. No need to wait. This may well be the most lucrative and promising trip we have ever had.”
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-Conrad-
Voorkar was true to his word. For the remainder of their time on planet he had brought them in to work over the concepts that he and Ruufarrl proposed from the wealth of engineering options provided by Humanity’s long history of warfare and weapon’s upgrades.
They settled on a concept that provided the most benefit for the least modifications to existing items. This way they could both avoid some of the restrictions that GalCom had on private entities creating weapons of war and minimize the overall cost and material requirements of the effort to something well within their reach.
The modification that they finally agreed upon was a custom folding stock that took into account the difficulties presented by their shoulders. It would be slightly offset with a “dog leg” when fully deployed and incorporated a half-ring shoulder piece that could wrap around the gun when collapsed, and snug into their shoulders when deployed.
The design took full advantage of the EBR’s lack of an ejection port to fold the stock around to the right of the weapon instead of over the top, underneath, or to the left as was standard in human weaponry. In fact, it was this feature that ultimately made the design possible, allowing them to add the half ring shoulder brace to the design.
As a benefit to both simplicity and cost, the only real modification necessary to the original weapon system was to find a way to attach the hinged baseplate of the stock to the back of the gun. From there it was really just a curiously bent metal bar. Nothing else about the weapon needed to be moved or changed in anyway.
Ultimately, Voorkar was quite happy with the intended design and passed on that it had been approved by the Captain. Manufacturing and testing would begin when they returned to Ruuloth, as would sharing the design… provided it worked of course.
There was going to need to be some retraining necessary, but it shouldn’t be a difficult transition for a skilled or experienced warrior or soldier to pick one up and figure out how it worked.
Conrad couldn’t be happier after leaving the last meeting. He was elated to be able to provide for his crewmates in some small way, even if it was going to take some time to implement. He was both excited and curious as to how well the Ruulothi, Sadiil and other species would take to the modifications. But he was going to have to wait to see the fruits of his labor.
He also idly wondered whether or not he even should be making such modifications. In the end, if it came down to war in spite of their best efforts, wouldn’t it be better to not be giving his potential enemies a way to make their soldiers more efficient?
He sighed to himself as he once again began doubting his efforts. “I am so not cut out for this political intrigue crap. I see problems and fix them. I neither care enough nor am I trained enough to even think about how it might alter the Galactic political landscape until well after the fact. Intergalactic Man of Mystery I am most definitely not. Welp, what’s done is done now. The idea is out there, can’t take it back unless I want to murder everyone on this ship, and TRULY make Humanity an enemy of the Ruulothi and Galactics as a whole. Wouldn’t THAT be nice?”
He pulled himself into his bunk and got comfortable while he mentally stewed. Finally, he tried a few meditative exercises to attempt to clear his mind of distractions and get to sleep quicker. They had a final day of practice and cleanup to get through, and he was going to need to be rested to meet it head on.
_____________________________________
The last day of training went smoothly, at least as far as Conrad could tell. None of the other recruits attempted to mimic him, and they threw themselves into their training with a renewed focus. It seemed that Voorkar’s message had sunk in.
At the very end, the Instructors and Veterans put on a skills display, showing the newbies what the benefits of experience, control and proper teamwork offered.
After the demonstration they had a final open-air meal before packing up all their equipment. With Voorkar and Loadmaster Nooraal directing them, and the veterans pitching in, the job went far smoother than he had expected it to. They were packed up within fifteen minutes, leaving the final job of loading the crates to Conrad and Vistiin. Ten minutes later they performed a final headcount and dusted off.
They stopped at the space station to make sure they were stocked on supplies, then were expected to head off on the next delivery.
This open schedule left the crew with more dead time than usual. Conrad learned during his continued meetings with Voorkar that this was intentionally done so as to allow the lessons of the last week to sink in without undue distractions and allow them to get used to their duty schedule again.
Voorkar proved himself to be just as avid a learner as he demanded of his crew. They continued their talks about optimizing their gear and finding ways to potentially cut costs without compromising safety at the same time. But since they had already accomplished their goal with the weaponry, all of that took a backseat to learning about each other’s cultures and history.
Ruufarrl had laid the groundwork back when he first selected Conrad as an aspirant, and his experiences both on the ships and on Ruuloth had taught him a lot, but Voorkar refined that knowledge into something that was capable of being used for far more than just being polite.
As the First Officer of the ship, the crew’s wellbeing and conduct was Voorkar’s field of responsibility. It was his duty to ensure that those he held authority over didn’t embarrass or harm the ship, crew or Captain. Now that there was no concern of his efforts being wasted with a recruit that was going to wash out, Voorkar was stepping into his teaching duties. Since Conrad was the only new recruit that wasn’t already familiar with local cultures, he got extra lessons.
These proved to be quite extensive and broad lessons. He had never been given a real in-depth training on Galactic policies and procedures as he had just been a loader on his last ship. He had no real interactions that mattered in the long run on the Dark Meridian, and if he messed up badly, he would have been quite easily replaced.
This wasn’t the case on the Wind Runner. Here the crew and ship were both small enough, and the responsibilities shared enough, that he was more than likely going to wind up representing them in some way.
His time with Ruufarrl gave him a solid starting point, so Voorkar leaned into that and expanded on his knowledge of Ruulothi culture, then tied it into the current Galactic Culture. He also gave him a crash course in Mercantile patterns and efforts, as at some point it was going to be likely that he would need to assist with a mission to purchase supplies and equipment. If that happened, he would be assigned as a part of a small team that would work together to find the best prices and quality of product and bring it back to the ship.
The theory for that kind of operation was that more eyes and more minds would increase the chances of catching something, be it a better option, or noticing a scam.
In return, Conrad taught Voorkar what he could of Human culture and policies, so that he could stand on better ground if and when he ever found himself dealing with Humanity. He couldn’t provide as much as Voorkar could, but they both knew that anything was far better than nothing.
_______________________________
Their lessons made the nearly two week long voyage to their next system delivery go by quickly.
Conrad found himself finishing up a shift of cleaning, inventory and equipment maintenance in the Cargo Bay as they de-transitioned from Jump Space. He shook his head as his senses returned to normal and detached himself from the emergency harness. He only had a few tasks left to complete before the end of his shift and was hoping to get them done fast enough to rack out a little early.
His remaining tasks took him roughly an hour to verify and clear. He was just returning the logging pad when Nooraal walked through the crew hatch with Vistiin and waved him over.
“Do you have those inventories done yet?”
“Yes, sir. You actually have excellent timing, just finished.”
Nooraal flicked one ear and grunted as he took the pad and looked at it, seeming grumpier than usual. Vistiin looked on from behind, his face drawn tight.
“I hope you hold on to that humor. Sadly, our work isn’t done yet. New orders. Apparently, there was a message waiting for us on the local net. We are to unload all current inventory and pick up a special load for immediate emergency transport.”
Conrad blinked in surprise, “Emergency transport? Was there a disaster or an attack?”
Nooraal snorted, “Both, more than likely. Or at least it will be soon. Food and medical supplies it says. Location… Dunno just yet. Captain is verifying all information as we speak. So, our job has turned from inventory management to delivery control. We need to take this list and identify which cargo is going where, and where a ship is likely to go after considering the major shipping routes. I believe you have been learning about those from Voorkar?”
“I… Yes. Can’t say I really expected to need it so soon, though.” He looked around him at the various cargo containers and mentally ran over the new info and the information he had just logged.
“I take it we are making an unloading plan that places cargo together in groups to facilitate someone else shipping them?”
“Heh, not bad. That is right. Now, you two come on over here to my office, let us go over these logs and the shipping star charts and see what we can manage. Any extra effort we put in here will be greatly appreciated by our customers on the other end.
“They know we can be commandeered for these things at the drop of a hat, but it is still a disruption of services. Local shipping will take care of assigning delivery ships. We just need to make their job easier and put everything in one place.
“So, Mr. Mclaughlin. Where do we start?”
_________________________________________
-Lorthaal-
He growled in frustration once more as he looked at the offending message on his terminal. It’s gratingly respectful language camouflaging the raging boil of the intent beneath.
That knowledge did him no good. The information had been verified by a trusted confidant, making the demand a legitimate and legal one. There was nothing he could truly do about it. His ears flicked rapidly in irritation as he thought about his crew and how this would affect them; and thought in particular about the two that he thought this latest contrived action was most likely tied to.
“A contested fringe world with a newly lowered threat limit, increasing trade options. But still enough of an emergency to warrant fresh supplies? Winds cursed politicians. They can’t possibly be thinking they are fooling anyone with this… But I can’t blame anyone but myself for this, I knew what I was getting into when I brought them on. Ehh. I don’t have any real proof of that either, but it doesn’t take a genius to follow the paths here.”
He looked at the missive again and sighed, attempting to redirect himself. He had a few options to increase their chances of this just being an interesting sidenote instead of an actual problem.
“Hmmph, too bad we haven’t had time to test those new add-ons the human came up with. That personal armor he mentioned would certainly have helped too… If I could get my crew to wear it, that is.”
He shook himself finally and stood up, walking from his personal room and to the Command Room.
Taking his seat, he turned to address his navigator and systems specialists.
“Woorsiin, when we arrive at our destination, I am going to have a list of needs for you to track down. Immediate need, at any cost.”
“Rinvoor, continue to the local Station as planned, but we won’t be following our original path from there. Draw up a new route, fastest possible to the destination.
“We are going to Fildecl.”