Time to close out the training part of the story and reunite some young ladies.
Miss Dennis led the assembly on the bridge, the orientation took about two hours, and we were shown all the duty stations that were on the bridge or more importantly the visual navigation bridge. The difference between the VNB and the other bridge called the Battle Direction Center (BDC) is that the VNB is used for non-combat operations, while the BDC is where the ship or vessel is fought. Docking procedures are conducted on the VNB. On all Imperial ships the VNB is at the top of the superstructure.
The VNB has stations for helm, communications, sensors and navigation. On the Montessori each station had three seats so the trainees can work on the same problem at the same time. We watched Miss Dennis and Chief Hanson (from 4th Watch) go through the motions. Hollister was asked to simulate leaving our mooring and plot a course for the other side of the station. She performed admirably, while she was going through the exercise I noticed that Ichrone was looking over her shoulder with much interest. Miss Dennis noticed as well. She went to skipper’s chair and picked up the intercom and talked briefly with someone soon after we heard a voice.
“BDC control to VNB plot solution and make ship ready for short term transit.”
Miss Dennis replied “Aye Ma’am plot solution and make ship ready for short term transit. Chief Hanson on the ISC please announces make ship ready for transit, permanent crew to stations.”
“Aye Ma’am on ISC, make ship ready for transit, permanent crew to stations. NOW HEAR THIS, NOW HEAR THIS, MAKE SHIP READY CONDITION ANGEL, PERMANENT CREW TO STATIONS.”
With that a single bell rang and Miss Dennis sat at the skipper’s station. Chief Hanson took a seat at the helm control station. Soon afterward Ms. Jenkins and Chief Mirkio (a small reddish rodent alien called a Tikus, from 2nd watch) came up. Chief Mirkio took a station at the sensors, while Ms. Jenkins just found an extra seat as an observer; she hastily waved off the call to attention.
“Miss Dennis you have the con, however put three of your trainees in position.”
“Aye Ma’am, Miss Parker, come up here and observe, Junior Mate Hollister take primary helm next to Chief Hanson, Trainee Ichrone take the secondary helm, on second thought, Ichrone Primary helm, Hollister, primary sensors. Miss Parker, who are your next two best bridge people?” Miss Dennis asked me (no first names when on duty)
“Ma’am those would be Trainees Vort and Waters.” “Right Trainee Vort, you are on primary communications, Trainee Waters primary navigation.” “Junior Mate Andrews, I know you are a boiler monkey but take lead over navigation. Right that leaves you four, Ling, secondary helm, Foxy Girl, secondary sensors, Dambroux secondary navigation, and Gierson secondary communication.”
“Er Ma’am I request a different assignment…” The bigoted trainee said stated taking on airs not really appropriate for a Trainee fresh from primary.
“What Gierson?” Miss Dennis asked a bit taken aback at the request.
“Ma’am I request that I not be placed by that thing….”
“Oh you do, do you? Request denied, and for your lack of respect to a fellow crewmate you have KP this entire week for all meals, all watches, and you can’t be late for any assigned classes, now get your chauvinistic ass over there before I drop kick it in the nearest airlock!”
“Miss Parker!” She nearly screamed at me
“Yes Ma’am?”
“Were you aware of this trainee’s views regarding our AAF trainees and crew?”
“Yes Ma’am but I didn’t know how serious they were Junior Mate Hollister did inform me of the potential problem.”
“Right very good, I can’t wait until she meets Chief Killer with Large Guns.”
“Ok Miss Parker upon receipt of navigational data from the BDC, I want you to take us out at ½ MMH (Megameters per Hour or 1000 KPH), then make a loop of the station, I will bring her back into the dock.”
“Aye Ma’am, Waters confirm data with BDC and transmit to con.” I said taking control of the ship,
“Aye Ma’am, BDC confirms course 279 bearing 12, level bubble, speed ½ MMH.”
“Roger that, Hollister any traffic in pattern?”
“No Ma’am scope is clear.”
“Right, Miss Dennis, Ma’am, our pattern is clear, and course locked in for departure of dock, permission to engage at ½ MMH?”
Miss Dennis said “Wait one, Chief Hanson do you concur that course is locked in as stated?”
“Aye Ma’am, I concur that course is locked in as stated by Miss Parker.”
“Very good, Chief Mirkio do you concur that scope is clear?”
“Aye, scope is clear honorable Mademoiselle Lewtenettte, we are clear for departure.”
“Roger that, BDC this is VNB we have course lock and scope is clear for first leg… Aye BDC, proceed with evolution, VNB out.” Miss Dennis then turned toward me and smiled as she said “Miss Parker take us out if you please.”
At this point I was really nervous and was starting to perspire. “Any time unless you think we should all suit up in case you drive this tub into the dock.” Kim said with smirk.
“Ichrone set speed to ½ MMS and course 279 bearing 12, level bubble.”
“Aye Ma’am course and speed set to 279 bearing 12, level bubble ½ MMH.”
“Take us out Ichrone.” I told the also nervous Trainee
“Miss Parker, permission to undo mooring clamps?” asked Chief Hanson
“Er, right, yes Chief, go ahead remove clamps.”
“Aye Aye Ma’am, Clamps removed, ok now Ichrone you may take us out.” We felt the ship shudder briefly as the clamps were released and then ever so slowly the ship moved away from the dock accelerating until we reached the speed of one half a megameter per hour or about 500 kph.
Miss Dennis then turned in the command chair and looked at me and the rest of the group “Very good Miss Parker, in fact very good Starboard 2-5. Ok now, secondary chairs take over and Miss Parker I want our second leg, course and heading.”
“Aye Ma’am Second chairs take over, Dambroux get data from BDC for second leg, Foxy let us know if something is out there we might want to avoid, and Ling the controls are all yours.”
“Ma’am BDC has transmitted the second leg, Course 090 bearing 68, up 12 degrees, speed 3 MMH.”
“Roger that, Helm plot course 090 bearing 68, up 12 degrees, speed 3 MMH”
“Sensors any contacts on new course and bearing?”
“Noosss Misssss Par ger, sscope isss clear.” Foxy said in a heavily accented voice
“Right Ok Ling lock course and speed and head us over to new bearing.” Ling just sat there staring at the controls, until Chief Hanson showed her what to do, once she punched in the data on elevation and speed the ship lurched a bit as went from the near idle speed of ½ MMH to a safe port speed of 3 MMH (3000 kph or 1000 Imperial miles Per hour).
Miss Dennis then directed the next leg “Very good, get next leg data, and time to execute, to do this Leads take over, as imputing data prior to execution is tricky.”
We watched how the lead at each station gathered the information needed, at the helm Chief Hanson plotted the new course and speed (100, bearing 180, minus 16 degrees, present speed) but did not execute until we were at the designated point. Chief Mirkio stated that there was some traffic to the starboard but the were well clear of our new heading and course. At about this time FTC control signaled us.
AISA MONTESSORI BE ADVISED AISS DAGGER IS ON PRIORTY DISPATCH
“ Roger that FTC Control, Montessori confirms, we have Dagger on scope.”
ROGER MONTESSORI FTC OUT
“Ok girls, look out to starboard and well will pass within about 13 klicks from the AISS Dagger, she is battle cruiser and nearly five times the size of us.”
We looked out and saw a large ship coming almost at a right angle to us, and even at this distance I could tell she was big, I heard about battle cruisers and dreadnoughts but never imagined seeing one so soon. Looking across the vastness of space, and seeing that beautiful ship, I knew I would command something like that, I just knew it, however I also knew I was missing something important at the moment as well.
“Miss Parker!”
“Er yes Ma’am…” I said with a start.
“If you are quite through daydreaming let’s get back to the task at hand, the 3rd and 4th legs are for your girls, I want the primary team to handle leg 3 and the secondary team leg 4. “
“Aye Ma’am, right primary chairs get ready to plot our third leg, secondary prepare for leg 4, ok let’s move people.”
Leg’s 3 and 4, were uneventful and through this little exercise It became quite obvious which of the Rookies were bridge staff material and which were not. Miss Dennis and Ms. Jenkins debriefed me, saying that I did a wonderful job for a first time out. And although I still had to go through the rest of the stations, both of them were fairly certain which department I was destined. After that first day the rest of Elementary Fleet training was a piece of cake. Even my problem children managed to pass without any recycle. Wendy found herself a nice home in the weapons division, and we both hated SS&M or Ship’s Services and Maintenance.
At the end of the 6th cycle everyone was certified in their primary department.
Junior Mate Hollister was just too good a sensor tech to transfer to gunnery and so she was certified a Sensor Mate. Junior Mate Andrews did well at navigation but as we found out during our cycle in engineering that was where she excelled and easily got her certification as an Engineering Mate. As for the rookies, well four were no longer rookies by the end of the rotation. Troopie Ichrone became a certified helmsgal, Troopie Waters turned out to be really good at gunnery and navigation, but since good navigators are harder to find, she was rated as navigation tech.
Troopie Vort did not get communications but rather found a new love, environmental and life support, so she went into SS&M as certified Environmental tech, (both Wendy and I thought that AIDOF was missing out keeping even our female aliens from the officette ranks, as Uvoki would make a fine environmental engineer, as was proved when she received a direct commission upon integration in 2655.) And the last Troopie was the surprise of the entire rotation Quihn Mai Ling. It turned out she totally stank on the bridge but wow what a skilled artisan, she was rated both in electronics and damage control. She ended up with the dual rating so she could be posted in either the DC teams or SS&M.
Dambroux did not get SS&M she ended up with a rating in shuttle operations, as a landing control tech. Foxy and Gierson were both busted for fighting amongst themselves, with Gierson needing a eight day stay in the infirmary, this is the reason Foxy was denied promotion to Troopie. However as was hinted on that first day she did extremely well in gunnery, and got three ratings, as a missile tech, gunnery tech and torpedo tech. Any gunnery division will be quite happy with her on the team, if she can learn to control her temper. Gierson turned out to not be boast when she said she could fix things, and like Ling she got two ratings one in DC and the other in maintenance. At the request of the Chief Boson she was given maintenance as her primary. This left little shy mousy Rookie Hunt. We never did get her to speak much, and her stint in communications was a total washout, but once she got near the big machines in engineering she proved her worth. By far one of the smartest of the trainees, she almost seemed to become one with anything mechanical. She received ratings in normal engineering; reactor control and FTL drive systems. Ms. Nelson wanted to promote her but her interpersonal skills were so substandard, that she would just have to wait until the full year rather than get a midyear promotion. (Even to this day Master Engineering Chief Amy Hunt still is as shy as one can be, and be a Kommand Sarjent aboard a Rhondra class super dreadnought).
After we received our ratings or certifications we were given our posting. As was suggested back on day one, all of 2nd Section was posted on the same ship, the AISS Golgotha, a Neptune class medium cruiser for the shakedown cruise. She was due to dock at Avonia in three days to pick up replacement personnel (us).
3rd Interlude: While waiting for the arrival of the Golgotha, Wendy and I got billeted in the transient officette quarters. Although still Kaydettes, we had bright silver fleet insignia and for me the sextant of command, and Wendy the crossed missiles of weapons.
We also talked with some of the other Kaydettes from 5th Watch, two were going to be stationed on the Illustrious a huge carrier that just got back from the fighting around Zeta, it turned out to be another defeat, for the girls in pink, but the sacrifice the ground forces gave halted any further expansion. The worst news was that Lady Nicole Volkberg was among the casualties, and was not known if she would survive.
Wendy and I were in the mess at Avonia Naval base when we heard a group of girls laughing, and bragging about their latest exercise. They had to be Aerobabes, talking about loops and getting on the bogy’s six. Wendy wanted to ignore them but I thought I heard a familiar voice. Looking up from my ice tea, I saw Barbara, she was with three other Aerobabes, and the bright gold wings of fighter command were quite noticeable. I motioned to Wendy to take a look. She did and let out a gasp.
“Oh my it’s Barbara Foster and Rianne and Melissa, hey, Sally Ride! Over here!”
“Looking around to see who was shouting Rianne L’Tour noticed Wendy first.
“Oh my word, hey girls its Wendy and Cynthia, let’s go meet them.”
“Sure, how about it Terry, over there are two of our Salon buddies, granted they were not as fortunate to wear purple, but they are good people.”
“I’d say, Barbie, you and Cynthia were very close right?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say were, if you she wants to keep things going…”
“You go girl, mustn’t keep the love birds separated” They walked over, and we were introduced to Terry Bernard, She and Melissa had slightly different wings. Turned out they were not pilots but Weapon systems operators, Terry was with Barbara and Rianne and Melissa formed another team. Barbara came over and kissed me fully on the lips, and then we embraced holding each other closely. Wendy and Terry had slightly jealous looks.
“Um Barb, it’s nice to see you; and you too Rianne, Melissa, what brings you here?”
“Oh we are waiting transport to the Illustrious; we are assigned to its Sheena-Cat group. It sounds like her aerospace wing took a pounding, so she is being outfitted exclusively with Sheena-cats and Warriors, no more Amazons and Sheenas, how about you?”
“Oh we are both billeted on the Golgotha I believe we are your main escort. Although from what I have heard she carries some Amazons as well.”
“Well, Cyn if you ask me, or any of us, the Amazon is old news, now with the Sheena-cat we have firepower and speed, we saw the prototype of the new Tempest attack fighter, I think our squadron is slated for those at the end of the next cruise. So what do those pretty badges mean anyway?”
“Oh we both have our fleet certification badge, and then I am in the command division while Wendy is in the weapons division.”
“Er command, so you are like the boss or something?”
“Oh heaven’s no, I am on the bridge or BDC er Battle Direction Center watch staff, my department flies the ship, kinda like you, while Wendy fights the ship kinda like Terry.”
“Ah right so perfect, so what is good to eat here, besides my favorite Parker house roll?” She said with a wink.
Miss Dennis led the assembly on the bridge, the orientation took about two hours, and we were shown all the duty stations that were on the bridge or more importantly the visual navigation bridge. The difference between the VNB and the other bridge called the Battle Direction Center (BDC) is that the VNB is used for non-combat operations, while the BDC is where the ship or vessel is fought. Docking procedures are conducted on the VNB. On all Imperial ships the VNB is at the top of the superstructure.
The VNB has stations for helm, communications, sensors and navigation. On the Montessori each station had three seats so the trainees can work on the same problem at the same time. We watched Miss Dennis and Chief Hanson (from 4th Watch) go through the motions. Hollister was asked to simulate leaving our mooring and plot a course for the other side of the station. She performed admirably, while she was going through the exercise I noticed that Ichrone was looking over her shoulder with much interest. Miss Dennis noticed as well. She went to skipper’s chair and picked up the intercom and talked briefly with someone soon after we heard a voice.
“BDC control to VNB plot solution and make ship ready for short term transit.”
Miss Dennis replied “Aye Ma’am plot solution and make ship ready for short term transit. Chief Hanson on the ISC please announces make ship ready for transit, permanent crew to stations.”
“Aye Ma’am on ISC, make ship ready for transit, permanent crew to stations. NOW HEAR THIS, NOW HEAR THIS, MAKE SHIP READY CONDITION ANGEL, PERMANENT CREW TO STATIONS.”
With that a single bell rang and Miss Dennis sat at the skipper’s station. Chief Hanson took a seat at the helm control station. Soon afterward Ms. Jenkins and Chief Mirkio (a small reddish rodent alien called a Tikus, from 2nd watch) came up. Chief Mirkio took a station at the sensors, while Ms. Jenkins just found an extra seat as an observer; she hastily waved off the call to attention.
“Miss Dennis you have the con, however put three of your trainees in position.”
“Aye Ma’am, Miss Parker, come up here and observe, Junior Mate Hollister take primary helm next to Chief Hanson, Trainee Ichrone take the secondary helm, on second thought, Ichrone Primary helm, Hollister, primary sensors. Miss Parker, who are your next two best bridge people?” Miss Dennis asked me (no first names when on duty)
“Ma’am those would be Trainees Vort and Waters.” “Right Trainee Vort, you are on primary communications, Trainee Waters primary navigation.” “Junior Mate Andrews, I know you are a boiler monkey but take lead over navigation. Right that leaves you four, Ling, secondary helm, Foxy Girl, secondary sensors, Dambroux secondary navigation, and Gierson secondary communication.”
“Er Ma’am I request a different assignment…” The bigoted trainee said stated taking on airs not really appropriate for a Trainee fresh from primary.
“What Gierson?” Miss Dennis asked a bit taken aback at the request.
“Ma’am I request that I not be placed by that thing….”
“Oh you do, do you? Request denied, and for your lack of respect to a fellow crewmate you have KP this entire week for all meals, all watches, and you can’t be late for any assigned classes, now get your chauvinistic ass over there before I drop kick it in the nearest airlock!”
“Miss Parker!” She nearly screamed at me
“Yes Ma’am?”
“Were you aware of this trainee’s views regarding our AAF trainees and crew?”
“Yes Ma’am but I didn’t know how serious they were Junior Mate Hollister did inform me of the potential problem.”
“Right very good, I can’t wait until she meets Chief Killer with Large Guns.”
“Ok Miss Parker upon receipt of navigational data from the BDC, I want you to take us out at ½ MMH (Megameters per Hour or 1000 KPH), then make a loop of the station, I will bring her back into the dock.”
“Aye Ma’am, Waters confirm data with BDC and transmit to con.” I said taking control of the ship,
“Aye Ma’am, BDC confirms course 279 bearing 12, level bubble, speed ½ MMH.”
“Roger that, Hollister any traffic in pattern?”
“No Ma’am scope is clear.”
“Right, Miss Dennis, Ma’am, our pattern is clear, and course locked in for departure of dock, permission to engage at ½ MMH?”
Miss Dennis said “Wait one, Chief Hanson do you concur that course is locked in as stated?”
“Aye Ma’am, I concur that course is locked in as stated by Miss Parker.”
“Very good, Chief Mirkio do you concur that scope is clear?”
“Aye, scope is clear honorable Mademoiselle Lewtenettte, we are clear for departure.”
“Roger that, BDC this is VNB we have course lock and scope is clear for first leg… Aye BDC, proceed with evolution, VNB out.” Miss Dennis then turned toward me and smiled as she said “Miss Parker take us out if you please.”
At this point I was really nervous and was starting to perspire. “Any time unless you think we should all suit up in case you drive this tub into the dock.” Kim said with smirk.
“Ichrone set speed to ½ MMS and course 279 bearing 12, level bubble.”
“Aye Ma’am course and speed set to 279 bearing 12, level bubble ½ MMH.”
“Take us out Ichrone.” I told the also nervous Trainee
“Miss Parker, permission to undo mooring clamps?” asked Chief Hanson
“Er, right, yes Chief, go ahead remove clamps.”
“Aye Aye Ma’am, Clamps removed, ok now Ichrone you may take us out.” We felt the ship shudder briefly as the clamps were released and then ever so slowly the ship moved away from the dock accelerating until we reached the speed of one half a megameter per hour or about 500 kph.
Miss Dennis then turned in the command chair and looked at me and the rest of the group “Very good Miss Parker, in fact very good Starboard 2-5. Ok now, secondary chairs take over and Miss Parker I want our second leg, course and heading.”
“Aye Ma’am Second chairs take over, Dambroux get data from BDC for second leg, Foxy let us know if something is out there we might want to avoid, and Ling the controls are all yours.”
“Ma’am BDC has transmitted the second leg, Course 090 bearing 68, up 12 degrees, speed 3 MMH.”
“Roger that, Helm plot course 090 bearing 68, up 12 degrees, speed 3 MMH”
“Sensors any contacts on new course and bearing?”
“Noosss Misssss Par ger, sscope isss clear.” Foxy said in a heavily accented voice
“Right Ok Ling lock course and speed and head us over to new bearing.” Ling just sat there staring at the controls, until Chief Hanson showed her what to do, once she punched in the data on elevation and speed the ship lurched a bit as went from the near idle speed of ½ MMH to a safe port speed of 3 MMH (3000 kph or 1000 Imperial miles Per hour).
Miss Dennis then directed the next leg “Very good, get next leg data, and time to execute, to do this Leads take over, as imputing data prior to execution is tricky.”
We watched how the lead at each station gathered the information needed, at the helm Chief Hanson plotted the new course and speed (100, bearing 180, minus 16 degrees, present speed) but did not execute until we were at the designated point. Chief Mirkio stated that there was some traffic to the starboard but the were well clear of our new heading and course. At about this time FTC control signaled us.
AISA MONTESSORI BE ADVISED AISS DAGGER IS ON PRIORTY DISPATCH
“ Roger that FTC Control, Montessori confirms, we have Dagger on scope.”
ROGER MONTESSORI FTC OUT
“Ok girls, look out to starboard and well will pass within about 13 klicks from the AISS Dagger, she is battle cruiser and nearly five times the size of us.”
We looked out and saw a large ship coming almost at a right angle to us, and even at this distance I could tell she was big, I heard about battle cruisers and dreadnoughts but never imagined seeing one so soon. Looking across the vastness of space, and seeing that beautiful ship, I knew I would command something like that, I just knew it, however I also knew I was missing something important at the moment as well.
“Miss Parker!”
“Er yes Ma’am…” I said with a start.
“If you are quite through daydreaming let’s get back to the task at hand, the 3rd and 4th legs are for your girls, I want the primary team to handle leg 3 and the secondary team leg 4. “
“Aye Ma’am, right primary chairs get ready to plot our third leg, secondary prepare for leg 4, ok let’s move people.”
Leg’s 3 and 4, were uneventful and through this little exercise It became quite obvious which of the Rookies were bridge staff material and which were not. Miss Dennis and Ms. Jenkins debriefed me, saying that I did a wonderful job for a first time out. And although I still had to go through the rest of the stations, both of them were fairly certain which department I was destined. After that first day the rest of Elementary Fleet training was a piece of cake. Even my problem children managed to pass without any recycle. Wendy found herself a nice home in the weapons division, and we both hated SS&M or Ship’s Services and Maintenance.
At the end of the 6th cycle everyone was certified in their primary department.
Junior Mate Hollister was just too good a sensor tech to transfer to gunnery and so she was certified a Sensor Mate. Junior Mate Andrews did well at navigation but as we found out during our cycle in engineering that was where she excelled and easily got her certification as an Engineering Mate. As for the rookies, well four were no longer rookies by the end of the rotation. Troopie Ichrone became a certified helmsgal, Troopie Waters turned out to be really good at gunnery and navigation, but since good navigators are harder to find, she was rated as navigation tech.
Troopie Vort did not get communications but rather found a new love, environmental and life support, so she went into SS&M as certified Environmental tech, (both Wendy and I thought that AIDOF was missing out keeping even our female aliens from the officette ranks, as Uvoki would make a fine environmental engineer, as was proved when she received a direct commission upon integration in 2655.) And the last Troopie was the surprise of the entire rotation Quihn Mai Ling. It turned out she totally stank on the bridge but wow what a skilled artisan, she was rated both in electronics and damage control. She ended up with the dual rating so she could be posted in either the DC teams or SS&M.
Dambroux did not get SS&M she ended up with a rating in shuttle operations, as a landing control tech. Foxy and Gierson were both busted for fighting amongst themselves, with Gierson needing a eight day stay in the infirmary, this is the reason Foxy was denied promotion to Troopie. However as was hinted on that first day she did extremely well in gunnery, and got three ratings, as a missile tech, gunnery tech and torpedo tech. Any gunnery division will be quite happy with her on the team, if she can learn to control her temper. Gierson turned out to not be boast when she said she could fix things, and like Ling she got two ratings one in DC and the other in maintenance. At the request of the Chief Boson she was given maintenance as her primary. This left little shy mousy Rookie Hunt. We never did get her to speak much, and her stint in communications was a total washout, but once she got near the big machines in engineering she proved her worth. By far one of the smartest of the trainees, she almost seemed to become one with anything mechanical. She received ratings in normal engineering; reactor control and FTL drive systems. Ms. Nelson wanted to promote her but her interpersonal skills were so substandard, that she would just have to wait until the full year rather than get a midyear promotion. (Even to this day Master Engineering Chief Amy Hunt still is as shy as one can be, and be a Kommand Sarjent aboard a Rhondra class super dreadnought).
After we received our ratings or certifications we were given our posting. As was suggested back on day one, all of 2nd Section was posted on the same ship, the AISS Golgotha, a Neptune class medium cruiser for the shakedown cruise. She was due to dock at Avonia in three days to pick up replacement personnel (us).
3rd Interlude: While waiting for the arrival of the Golgotha, Wendy and I got billeted in the transient officette quarters. Although still Kaydettes, we had bright silver fleet insignia and for me the sextant of command, and Wendy the crossed missiles of weapons.
We also talked with some of the other Kaydettes from 5th Watch, two were going to be stationed on the Illustrious a huge carrier that just got back from the fighting around Zeta, it turned out to be another defeat, for the girls in pink, but the sacrifice the ground forces gave halted any further expansion. The worst news was that Lady Nicole Volkberg was among the casualties, and was not known if she would survive.
Wendy and I were in the mess at Avonia Naval base when we heard a group of girls laughing, and bragging about their latest exercise. They had to be Aerobabes, talking about loops and getting on the bogy’s six. Wendy wanted to ignore them but I thought I heard a familiar voice. Looking up from my ice tea, I saw Barbara, she was with three other Aerobabes, and the bright gold wings of fighter command were quite noticeable. I motioned to Wendy to take a look. She did and let out a gasp.
“Oh my it’s Barbara Foster and Rianne and Melissa, hey, Sally Ride! Over here!”
“Looking around to see who was shouting Rianne L’Tour noticed Wendy first.
“Oh my word, hey girls its Wendy and Cynthia, let’s go meet them.”
“Sure, how about it Terry, over there are two of our Salon buddies, granted they were not as fortunate to wear purple, but they are good people.”
“I’d say, Barbie, you and Cynthia were very close right?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say were, if you she wants to keep things going…”
“You go girl, mustn’t keep the love birds separated” They walked over, and we were introduced to Terry Bernard, She and Melissa had slightly different wings. Turned out they were not pilots but Weapon systems operators, Terry was with Barbara and Rianne and Melissa formed another team. Barbara came over and kissed me fully on the lips, and then we embraced holding each other closely. Wendy and Terry had slightly jealous looks.
“Um Barb, it’s nice to see you; and you too Rianne, Melissa, what brings you here?”
“Oh we are waiting transport to the Illustrious; we are assigned to its Sheena-Cat group. It sounds like her aerospace wing took a pounding, so she is being outfitted exclusively with Sheena-cats and Warriors, no more Amazons and Sheenas, how about you?”
“Oh we are both billeted on the Golgotha I believe we are your main escort. Although from what I have heard she carries some Amazons as well.”
“Well, Cyn if you ask me, or any of us, the Amazon is old news, now with the Sheena-cat we have firepower and speed, we saw the prototype of the new Tempest attack fighter, I think our squadron is slated for those at the end of the next cruise. So what do those pretty badges mean anyway?”
“Oh we both have our fleet certification badge, and then I am in the command division while Wendy is in the weapons division.”
“Er command, so you are like the boss or something?”
“Oh heaven’s no, I am on the bridge or BDC er Battle Direction Center watch staff, my department flies the ship, kinda like you, while Wendy fights the ship kinda like Terry.”
“Ah right so perfect, so what is good to eat here, besides my favorite Parker house roll?” She said with a wink.