[snip]

Nessa looked quizzically at Rick’s words directed to her, evidently they weren’t something she outright recognized and seemed to expect a clarification or another command.

“Smart girl,” Rick said in reply.

“Sir,” he said to Sasha. “Pass me that tablet. I think I saw that she was going to Mars to finish her training. Might be worth seeing where she was at for her training and what commands she knows so we can use them.” He waited for Sasha to pass it over, then, as he was looking, he said, “Would be just my luck that Nessa would know more commands than me.” He glanced back to Sasha. “Uh, don’t tell my girlfriend that. I don’t need the competition.”

Rick and Sasha

When Rachel began her scan, the dog laid down and then onto her back, as if the sound of the scanner was a trained thing for her to do to allow a better reading or scan for problems. Or maybe it was to instill a sign of trust and service to those ‘caring’ for her/Nessa. In either case the scans showed the dog was in physically in overall good health, probably in better physical health the most usual dogs of her breeding stock. Her mental acuity scans also showed in a high average compared to an average breed of hers. Otherwise the dog showed fading residuals signs of a sleeping agent used by Earth for animals like this for transport. It basically put them into a sort of sleep hibernation to reduce their need for biological needs/food/water etc. The dog would probably desire a good meal/drink though soon, and shortly after a spot to do her business in the next hour or so at most.

“Show off,” Rick murmured.

When Sasha passed the tablet to Rick he would see a profile with the following:

The first couple of lines were your usual, MACO service tags, name, current rank, current assignment (originally for the 6th Alpha S/R Training squad on Mars colony), current handler (formerly listed as to be a Corporal Samantha Haynes of said squad), as well as her MACO service tag number and DNA listings related to her breeding/parents/litter mates. After that was a list of her current health status before being shipped off from Earth, it showed she was up to date as of four days ago on all shots, vitamin aides, and enhancements given to such animals and that such would not be needed again for another 3 years or situations changed to warrant an update. The last section showed her current finished training lists and those which still needed to be finished.

The finished list of trainings first were for parade/march/off duty commands, ‘Sit’, ‘Heel/Stay’, ‘Rest/Sleep Time’, ‘Go Eat/Play’, ‘Attention!’ (said with a sharper command tone), ‘At Ease!’ (same command sharp tone), ‘Fall In!’ (again same as before), ‘Parade Rest!’ (same as before), ‘Salute!’ (same as before), ‘Handler’ (which seemed to be a command where one pointed to who was in charge of the dog for a ‘mission’, and finally ‘Release’ which was to indicate to the dog the current handler was no longer such. Beyond these there was also those related to completed training for morale/phycological care of squad mates like, ‘Observe’ (which seemed related to watching a designated person for signs of stress or the like), ‘Report’ (which was usually combined with other commands like Observe for the dog to do so for a trained period of time then report back with either one bark for ‘no’ and two barks for ‘yes’ signaling same person had a problem), ‘Physical Care’ which seemed to be for the dog to attempt to get a target doing something physical to distract them from a perceived issue, and ‘Mental Care’ which seemed to be for the dog to attempt to lure the target to someone else for mental well being care, last in this list was ‘Help’ where the dog would either help the designated person to something they pointed at in some way say by helping to drag a bag or something, or attempt to locate help for a person who called for such if say they had fallen or were injured etc. The last bit of completed training commands it seems were related to simple ‘find, locate, and/or retrieve’ commands where she could be given various scented things, simple pictures of an item or person, and then attempt to locate them within a certain range of the handler usually about 50 yards or so if the dog found what was indicated, or failed after this range/time it returned to the handler and gave one bark for ‘no’ and two barks for ‘yes’. No meaning it couldn’t find what was sought, or yes meaning it found such but could not reach it/return with it. The last bit also showed she was conditioned for light combat engagement at the squad level so in theory should not cower or run off unless directed if fighting started, though in such cases the dog was trained to stay close to its handler and take cover until ordered otherwise.

The list of training for on Mars for the dog to complete was related to things like search/rescue of a person or target, alerting patrolling forces of threats, drug/contraband search, bomb location, and the like, as well as commands related to restraining/attacking/etc of an enemy target. None of this had been done to completion however.

GM CockRoach

While the examination was taking place, Rick looked through the list of commands, occasionally glancing toward Nessa. “Let’s not show this to Lt Green,” he murmured toward Sasha. “He might want to use that on us.”

Setting the tablet down next to the box he carried, the Petty Officer rifled through the box of food. How much was there? He wondered and how long would that last for? Chef might be able to be convinced to make something up special for her, but then again. He didn’t know the chef and hoped he might be able to convince him to do that? Glancing at Nessa he noted that he didn’t see a ‘beg’ command. Hopefully that was intrinsic to all dogs, but she was a cutie and rather not threatening in her look, unlike some military dogs. He was bunked with Mark Sayers, a nervous, nerdy science geek of similar rank. They didn’t have much room in their cabin, but Rick snapped the bottom bunk, having gotten on board before him. Hmmm, let’s see. Food yes, but about toys? Unlikely to need a leash with all those commands he knows, Rick thought.

Looking through the box there seemed to be about two months worth of food for the dog to have two scheduled meals a day plus a smaller packet as a ‘snack’. There was also a box (still in the cargo bay) that was to be used for training purposes as rewards for things, with that alone it was enough for roughly two or so weeks of food.

“Rick,” Sasha said quietly. He sounded a bit nervous. “Should we not continue our checks?”

Rick glanced toward the taller Ensign. “Sir, we’re golden here.” Sasha looked confused by that expression. “Captain said to take the good sergeant here. It would be lax of us to just leave her here.” He looked at the attention the pup was getting and felt a twinge of jealousy. She might overdose on attention, he thought to himself. “Besides, I have a feeling we may need to introduce her to the arboretum.” About to ask about that, Rick noted that Sasha suddenly came to understanding there. The man knew his engineering things but seemed useless about other stuff, apart from highlighting the glories of his country in a highly exaggerated fashion.

Rick and Sasha

GM CockRoach