Chapter 14: A day of Training

The bad thing about flying with only the initial propelled force at the beginning, is that you do not have any way to change direction. This is going to hurt... ' Thought the newly enhanced Joesph, as his short flight though the air came to an abrupt halt, due to the steel wall of the Pit.

"Medic, got another one for Med. Bay over here!" yelled Sarge not even looking at Joseph as the two Fergus in front of him charged swinging their 3-foot swords. They had hoped to catch the Combat AI by surprise as he looked over where Joesph had landed.

They were sadly mistaken as Sarge in his Sabori shape blocked both of the attacks with his shields on each center tentacle. The seven-foot Sabori warrior used his upper tentacles to rip their swords from their hands as his lower tentacles wrapped around their ankles.

Sarge lifted the two green men upside down and slung them through the air. Their shouts lasted only 3 seconds before they joined the human Joesph against the wall 40 feet away.

"Medic! Bring two more stretchers when you come!" Commander Stone yelled as his body started to liquefy and shrink slightly.

The center and lower tentacles slowly absorbed back into his narrow waist, while his upper tentacles gradually decreased in length and grew thicker on the ends until hands appeared. The change from a Sabori warrior to his original form took the commander a little over 6 seconds to complete.

Commander Stone walked over to the three newest graduates of the Pit. They had all managed to sit up against the wall, although one of the green officers was holding his right arm moaning under his breath. The cause was the compound fracture below his right elbow, he was moaning a little under his breath.

"Well done gentlemen, well done," Sarge said, smiling as the medics arrived and started loading the three onto the stretchers.

Joesph smiled weakly as his head began to clear.

"Did we pass, Commander?" he asked.

"Yes, Councilman, you all three passed. When you get out of Med. Bay, your ribbons will be waiting at your next training station," Sarge said smiling.

Joseph looked up from the stretcher as he still could not believe the being before him was not human but rather a synthetic lifeform.

Sarge had shown him time and time again through his actions as a trainer that the AI had every emotion attributed to humans, and more compassion and patience than most humans Joesph knew.

'I am proud to call him my friend, ' he thought as he fought to stay conscious. 'That damn wall is just too damned unforgiving!' he thought as the darkness closed over him.

Buck spun under the massive hairy arm that tried to take his head off and sent a half force left jab into the solar plexus of the Air Walker in front of him.

He got the desired result as the big guy let out a huge whoosh and doubled over. Taking advantage of his speed Buck swept the legs of his last attacker, the second the giant hit the floor Buck was on top with his sword across the Air Walker's throat.

"How ya feeling, bud?" he asked the gasping giant.

Fadish waved his hand in submission as he desperately sucked in as much air as fast as he could.

When he could finally get enough breath to talk, he gasped, "Well at least I didn't have to meet the wall this time, my friend."

Buck smiled as he said, "Well, we can go for round two if you'd like, and see it the other option is still available."

Taking the hand Buck offered the big Air Walker managed to get his enormous feet under him and stood up. "I think that I'll wait for tomorrow if that is all right with you, Sir."

Buck smiled looking over into the other Pit.

"Yeah, no problem, Commander Fadish. I think between the last three groups of Fergus and councilmen, Shera and Sasha are pretty full anyway."

Commander Fadish managed to straighten to his full height even though his back and stomach felt like hell.

"I guess I should feel privileged that you took the time to train me personally Buck. But damn! I hurt all over!" he said smiling down at the smaller man.

Buck laughed slapping the big Air Walker on the back, which made the hairy giant wince in pain.

"Hell, son, nothing but the best for my Pop's Number One, gotta have you protecting my old man ya know."

Fadish gritted his teeth as the painful slap ebbed through his sore back.

"True my friend, but that only works if I live through this bloody combat training that you seem to enjoy so much," Fadish managed to gasp out.

Buck looked at his large hairy friend.

"Your holding something back, Fadish? Are you injured more than I think?" he asked watching the big giant flinch when Buck started to slap him on the back again.

"DAMMIT! What the hell are you trying to prove, you idiot!" he yelled in concern at his new friend. "You've been skipping the Med Bay, haven't you?" he asked Fadish quietly.

Buck almost laughed. If he hadn't been so pissed off at his friend's obvious pain, he would have. The big hairy giant looked like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Let me guess, you didn't want to miss any training sessions that would keep you from getting done with the other officers right?" he asked the embarrassed giant.

Fadish nodded and said, "I know it was a mistake, but I need to get back on the bridge as soon as possible." He shook his massive head sadly. "I thought I could manage the pain until we graduated then do a little time in Med Bay over the next few days, until I was completely healed."

Buck nodded. He understood his friend's devotion to Buck's father.

"Well it's a good thing you graduate today then, now get your hairy busted up ass to Med. Bay Commander Fadish," Buck said, smiling.

Fadish grinned since it was the only part of him that didn't hurt too badly.

"Yes, Sir, on my way now."

"Oh and Commander ... I'll be checking with Commander Shera. I'd better not find you gone until she releases you with clearance for all duties. Do I make myself understood?" Buck asked.

Fadish sighed. 'So much for my plans to get a light duty clearance. Shera will keep me locked up for at least an entire day, now, ' He thought to himself. "Yes, Sir, I'll stay until she give me a full duty clearance."

Buck admired the Commander's resolve, and felt a little bad for him.

"I'll tell you what Fadish, I'll have Sasha set up a direct com link from the Dragnot to the Med. bay so you can have access to everyone on the bridge all right?" Buck asked.

The big giants face lit up at that and he smiled at Buck.

"That would greatly appreciated, Sir. I just don't want to get too far behind in all my other duties. You understand?"

Buck acted like he was going to slap the big man on the back again, causing Fadish to step back out of reach.

"Just don't forget our deal, friend. Get your ass to Shera's place, right now. OK?"

Fadish nodded and limped off down the hallway, and out of Buck's sight. Buck sent a thought out to Shera informing him of his agreement with the big Air Walker.

'Just make sure he does not leave until he is able to fully defend himself in combat. Also look up some of the other martial arts from the entire database and add them into his sleep training. Last but not least, I want you to add at least double his muscle speed and coordination, he's just a little too slow on too many of the moves needed for combat.'

'Will do, Buck, do you want me to add these same skills to the other Air Walkers as well?' she sent back to Buck.

'I think that would be a great asset to all of them. It's not that they are slow or anything. But they are so massive that they look slow. The nanites can increase their muscle reaction time at least by double.

'So, yes, do it to all of them. They will appreciate not getting beat up so bad, out here in the Pit. Buck thought smiling.

Watching Sarge walking towards him, Buck thought to himself, It might be fun seeing the look on the Sarge's face when the newly enhanced Air Walkers started their training tomorrow. Old Sarge would be in for a surprise if one of them managed to put the AI on his ass for once.

Then he realized that no one had done it yet, including himself, so the chances were slim that the slower Air Walkers would be able to pull it off.

'Oh, well. There's always hope for someday, ' he thought taking the Combat AI's hand.

"Well done, Sarge. That was the last of the council members and the Fergus right?" Buck asked shaking the man's hand.

"Yes Sir, now all we have left are 470 of your people in the sanctuary, and 10,587 Air Walkers aboard the Dragnot. But they will go a lot faster with the trained Fergus helping out now, too," Sarge answered.

Buck sighed. He just couldn't carry out his plan to shock his friend and risked hurting his feelings.

"Well, I've come up with an idea to help you in training the Air Walkers. They all will be going through some enhancements before hand, including every martial art we have in the combined database. Their speed will be increased at least double of what they are capable of now, so watch your back carefully from now on, Sarge," Buck said smiling at the shocked look on the AI's face.

"I'd better make sure there are some construct drones nearby in case I need some repair parts for myself then huh?" Sarge asked with a slight stutter in his voice.

Buck was shocked that the big AI seemed actually frightened. "If you think it's gonna be a problem, Sarge..."

Sarge's face changed to a huge grin as he cut Buck off.

"Fooled ya, huh? Hell, boss I'm not bragging but if your team can't take me down then those big hairys don't stand a chance."

Buck slapped the Sarge on the arm and said, "You sorry dog, I thought you ere serious for a minute. You had me ready to cry for you. Let's get some mess, you old war horse," Buck said shaking head.

The two men walked out to the empty Pit and down the hall side by side.

"So I really had you worried for me huh? Now ain't that special, you love this old AI, you cute little fart you," Sarge said dodging a right hook from a laughing Buck.

"Maybe, but I'll never confess it to anyone else, even under torture you damn hunk of nuts and bolts," Buck said as they entered the mess hall.

"Watch your six, Dragon 1, there's two Sabors on your ass over?"

Radon said into the mic.

"Thanks for the heads up Dragon 2, Let's see how they feel about a steamy hot enema," Jet said.

Looking into his rear view screen he saw the two Sabori fighters closing behind him. His HUD display read his thought on the next maneuver and turned sideways. At the same time, Jet hit the forward thrusters and slammed to half speed. The very surprised Sabors shot by on either side of his sleek fighter, another thought from Jet sent two LERG beams into the engines and ripped out the front of each fighter.

A perfect 2-foot diameter hole showed all the way through the fighter including the slimy Saborian bodies. A second later, secondary explosions erupted from the fighters and then their small reactors exploded leaving nothing but dust particles in space.

"I don't remember teaching that in our flight training Dragon 1, but it's a hell of a maneuver, for sure," said Commander Radon.

He was the squadron Commander for the Balask and had been assigned to train the fighter pilots that were coming out of the Dragnot training.

"Well, Dragon 2, I saw that in an old John Wayne movie that Joesph has. You might want to look at all the old war movies, and see if anything else can be adapted for our new fighters, too. Over?" Jet said.

"That is one hell of an idea. I've studied the old earth fighter pilots but have never seen good footage of an air battle. You might just have saved quite a few lives if they have anymore of your little enema type maneuvers to show us. Over?" Radon said smiling as he turned off his simulator and climbed out.

He watched as Jet and three other fighters climbed out of their simulators and smiled.

'These humans learn so fast, and they have the capacity to adapt and excel far past what they were taught, ' he thought to himself.

The four pilots were joking about a new name for the maneuver Jet had used.

"If you do, I'll personally kick each of your asses all over the deck, boys," said a smiling but deadly Jet.

The flight Commander came to the others defense being ranked higher than Jet at the time had it privileges.

"Flight AI, Please note that from this day forward the maneuver that Dragon 1 flew will be called the Jet Enema, please confirm," he said grinning as he looked at the wide eyed Jet.

"Confirmed Commander Radon, maneuver now listed in all databases as the Jet Enema. Will that be all, Sir?" it asked.

The Commander couldn't answer, as he was too busy roaring with laughter along with the other three pilots.

Jet took his medicine, and finally grinned back.