Free Talosian Chronicles 5: Raptor Squadron by Ben Winston Page B

conditions," Jenny replied. "They don’t want another failure."
    Ian looked thoughtful. "I can understand that. Our designers take a lot of pride in their work, and a set-back like this had to have really bothered them. We don’t really have a place we can test them, do we?"
    Jenny nodded her head. "Yeah, the heavy weapons training area should be good. From what I understand of the design and researchers notes, the hover tank training facility should be a good test area for them. However, with Alan's unit fully involved with the defense plans for Earth, we'll need a new unit to test them."
    Ian frowned. "I don't like the idea of changing test pilots in the middle of the game. I'll call Alan and see if he has any suggestions."
    Jenny nodded and made a note on her tablet.
    "Raptor Damocles has been returned to service. Cindy has been released to full active duty by the doctors, as well as Ty. They will be returning to the ship tomorrow, mid-morning from Hades Base," Jenny said after reading the next item on her tablet.
    Ian nodded. "I knew she had been released, but not when they would get here. I'll brief her and Corvis tomorrow night on the Hyperion mission."
    Through all of this, Alex had been standing quietly off to one side, taking notes on the items and issues she would need to set-up or remind her Admiral about. Ian glanced at her. "Set that up for the evening meal, here in my office please."
    Alex nodded but did not reply.
    "As you know, Prometheus will also be getting her Raptor teams tomorrow. I've spoken to Serena and John, and except for the return of the Raptor teams, we are ready for deployment. Our Marines for this mission are still down at the base, but have begun loading their gear and preparing for departure. Our Marines have been training with them for the last month and will be returning to the ship as soon as the assault carriers are loaded. Eight days of that training were spent in boarding exercises with the 'target' ships being a Croanian cruiser and battleship."
    Ian grinned. "How'd our folks do?"
    Jenny chuckled. "We took the cruiser in twenty minutes, but the battleship held us off until it was declared a stalemate. The Croanian force commander, a senior captain, was impressed with us and invited both boarding party leaders to dinner. Major Getty would like to invite the Croanian Marines a return try at our ship."
    Ian looked thoughtful. "That might not be a bad idea. With all the new tech we are putting into our ships, the Empire will want to capture as many of our ships as they can. If time permits, I'll look into it."
    As Alex made note of it, Jenny cocked her head to one side. "The XO had an idea about that; with the addition of the military college here, he came up with an idea for an orbiting facility that can be modified to mimic most known ship types to be used as a boarding/anti-boarding training simulator. He had no idea how to design it, but I thought it was a pretty good idea. He said he got the idea from the aircraft mock-ups the special operations folks on Earth use for that kind of training."
    Ian nodded. "It does sound like a good idea. Tell him to run with it. I would suggest he get advice from Ty Anders as well as some of our allied Marines that have actual experience with boarding hostile vessels. I would prefer to see it added to our basic Marine training regimen instead of part of the academy though. I'd like to see everyone have that training. It would be good training on many levels," Ian said thinking more about the idea. "We could bring in crews from the academy as the 'flight crew', or even rotate existing crews through it." He nodded more as he thought about it. "Yeah, this is a really good idea I think we need to make a reality. Hell, even the Raptor teams could use it!"
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Palace of Imperial Enlightenment
    Onalau City
    Planet Proferus Three
    Orgatan System, Gar Sector
     
     
    "Glamia, what news of the search for the new humans?" Shalo asked.
    "As