Training pt.2
As the day went on, the crew of Cannon 13 went about their new duties. Some of them started to tire out and were replaced by one of the now four individuals lined up against the wall. One of the five was used to fill the empty spot on the chain shortly after they started. Eventually, those against the wall had to go back to work in order to replace another crewmember who was worn out. It was obvious that their breaks were only as short as they were as they were now missing two of the twenty they started with. One was taken off by the security officers; another was chained to the wall by them. Liam talking about every misbehavior making life harder for all of them was starting to make a lot of sense.
Their goal for the training was to get the shells from the ammo room to the cannon within one minute. After the initial shell, each group had to start moving the shells successively. At any point there was three shells in the process of being brought to the cannon. Each of the crewmembers were sweating as they attempted to do their part to move their shell along its process. They were able to get the shells from the ammo room and fired from the cannon within a minute and thirty seconds, but getting down to that minute seemed impossible for them.
As it seemed as if the whole of them were about to give out in their duties, the petty officer yelled out. "Time for a thirty minute break."
Right when he said these words most of the crew dropped to the ground and laid completely still. Micca was included in this. While he used to kept physically active in his life, that was mostly before his gang grew to its large size.
Micca looked around the room at those of his crew, paying special attention to Verona and Vog. Verona looked even more tired than him and laid there with her eyes closed. Vog seemed to be feeling better and had the advantage of being active in his gang's physically demanding activities, so he wasn't as worn out as Micca. He recovered quickly from that shell hitting him as well, but he hasn't acted aggressively to Micca. That was a relief.
Just as Micca was considering it might be time to talk to some other crew members and expand his influence, Petty Officer Liam called out for them to start back at their task at hand.
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As the crew of Cannon 13's day was seemingly never going to end, Liam announced that they managed to hit a minute and ten seconds on a shell. This excited the crew, so they tried their best the next time. It still wasn't enough to get under that minute mark according to Liam's expression, but as the crewmembers were starting to lose hope the petty officer traded out three of the people who were resting and added the other to the ammo room. He excited shouted, "GO!"
The now five crew in the ammo room opened the holder for the shell with ease as two of them started pulling the shell out. Two more joined in as the shell had spots to hold. Then as it slid out the fifth joined and grabbed hold of the back of the shell. Just as the fifth grabbed hold, they started moving as a group towards the chain with clear and practiced movements. They were even able to walk at a regular pace with the shell from their practice. When they got to the chain the shell was lowered at a quick but steady pace.
As soon as the shell touched the holders on the chain the crew on the chain pulled as quickly as they could. They heaved as much as they could as the shell glided towards the cannon at a quick pace. Micca was the furthest one on the chain and as soon as he ran out of room to pull, he threw aside his strap and ran to the shell and then pushed on the back holder connecting the shell to the chain. Soon after he was joined by the next person who did the same and pushed on the front holder. Another joined on the opposite side of Micca. Then the last on the other side of the front. Shortly after the shell arrived at the cannon and the chain pullers moved to the side and collapsed from the amount of effort they put into pushing the shell.
The crew of the cannon quickly picked up the shell and set it into the cavity of the cannon. Three went to the knob on the back of the cannon, which was the firing pin, and the other to the cover. The pin was spun around until it clicked into position and the cover locked shut. The closest crewmember pulled the lever down and fired the cannon.
Petty Officer Liam clicked his stopwatch and looked at the time. "58 seconds. Good job. Training will start back up at midday tomorrow. Go get some dinner." He left out the door and the security officers escorted the crewmen to the cafeteria.