“I definitely need some more weapons practice!"

“You were great your first time in combat. With a bit more training, you will be an expert marksman in no time!" John said encouragingly.

Alyssa mulled it over and realised this was actually a great opportunity. She could learn to better protect herself and her man and she was suddenly eager to get started.

“I'm done here if you'd like to go have a look now?" Alyssa asked, excited at the planned excursion.

“Sure, let's go!" John replied, eager to look around himself.

They left their room and strolled to the elevator. John hit the button for the level above the cargo bay, which should house the armoury and firing range if his memory served him right. The elevator hummed happily to itself as it dropped to the desired level.

The door opened into a branching network of corridors. They had a Look at the other rooms on this level, using John's memory as a guide. The first room they went into was a large, high tech medical bay, with dozens of empty beds.

“An assault cruiser is basically a well armed and armoured troop carrier. You need a large medical bay just in case a mission goes badly" John said soberly.

Alyssa nodded, realising he spoke from experience. They left the sterile medical bay behind, not wanting to linger there longer than they had to. They skipped over the ships Pharmacy, only checking to see that it was fully stocked.

Next John led them to the armoury. This room had the capacity to store gear for 300 marines, but it was no longer sensible to carry that much equipment with the barracks gone. When John had last been in here, the walls had been stacked floor to ceiling with a huge assortment of body armour and weaponry. Now the weapon and armour racks were standing forlorn and empty. The marine munitions team had not bothered to remove the ammunition however, so they found thousands of boxes full of most varieties of caseless ammo.

Finally they entered the firing range. There were half a dozen Lanes, with plenty of room to test fire weapons from standing, kneeling or prone. John led Alyssa to the back wall of the firing range and pressed his thumb against the Lock on the weapons Locker there. The door rolled back to reveal a dozen standard issue assault rifles, several SMGs and around 20 pistols of a variety of calibres. There was enough ammo stored here for weeks of sustained practice.

"Excellent" John said, rubbing his hands together happily. "Ready to get started?" he asked Alyssa.

"Definitely!" Alyssa agreed, excitedly.

John went through safety drills again, going through the lessons he had given her two weeks before. Alyssa began to quote the Lessons back at him half way through, repeating his training verbatim with a grin on her face. John listened to her amazed.

“Your memory is incredible! Ok then Miss smarty pants, time for the advanced lessons!" he said, throwing down the gauntlet.

Alyssa was an attentive student, hanging on his every word. They sat together and he went through everything he could think of, from standard and then advanced infantry tactics, to the use of hand signals to allow for silent communication. Several hours flew by as the young woman absorbed as much as she could from his many years of combat experience.

John eventually grew hungry again, so they took a break for lunch, heading back to the officer's mess. John enjoyed a tasty sandwich which he held with one hand, while the other stroked the beautiful blondes head as she bobbed away eagerly between his spread legs. They both felt pleasantly full as they headed back to the firing range.

He decided that Alyssa had studied enough theory for one day and he wanted to build up her practical shooting experience. He handed her one of the standard Assault rifles, explaining the normal operation of the weapon. He began with her firing off single rounds first, getting her used to the kick of the weapon and so that he could adjust the weapon scope accordingly. She proved to be a decent shot, holding her breath and steadying herself before firing and was grouping her hits together nicely.

They fired off a few three round bursts so that Alyssa could get familiar with the extra recoil and improve her accuracy. Finally he had her unload a full clip at a target, letting her experience the barrel climb as she blew through the magazine.

“You did brilliantly today honey” John said to her as they cleaned the rifle before putting it away.

“Feel free to come down here and practice whenever you want, you don't need me to supervise you any more".

“Thanks for spending today training me" Alyssa said earnestly.