"Welcome aboard the Barrok. As you lot likely know, she is a Paris class Heavy Frigate. Today, you have been granted a live tour of her facility's." The executive officer stated.

  Today was inspection day. It had been in our itinerary for a week. They had told us we would be permitted aboard a ship, and that we would get to see it, and the lives and expectations of its sailors.

  As we began, I looked around. The metal bulkheads split each section of the ship it parts, to help against depressureization. The walls had colored signs denoting which deck and section you were in. There were also signs to point the way to where you needed to go.

  We moved through the sections, then changed decks. While we were on the flight deck, and it's associated hanger bays, we were slowly moving to the ship's auxiliary weapons.

  He pointed suddenly at a wall. "Through there, that's where some archer pods are located. And if you move forward to about here..." He moved us forward along the deck, then gestured again. "Here is where a Shiva nuclear missile is located." He said.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  "Uh, sir, what happens if the archer missles go off before they get a chance to launch?" A cadet asks.

  "While they need to be armed before detonation, I get what your asking. If they detonate in their pod before being launched, the walls behind the pods are all reinforced. Also, in combat, each section is sealed and depressurized, to lessen the effects of multiple things, chief being battle damage." He says.

  We move on, eventually arriving at the ammunition stowage for one of the ship's turrets. "This is one of our M870 point defense guns ammunition stowage. The gun doubles as a close range weapon of last resort. It fires rapidly to clear out hostile fighters and bombers. There are 12 aboard, giving us relatively good coverage." He said.

  He then led us up some ladders, back again, up once more, then forward. He opened a door, showing us some panels.

  "These here monitor our Mac gun's coils. Remember this. You will all likely be serving aboard Mac capable vessels. If your coils are damaged, even slightly, your computer won't permit you to fire. You can over ride it, but don't. It will, at best, destroy the gun. At worst, it will rip the ship apart starting from the coils. Always make sure your gun is in perfect order. Or don't, at your peril." He said.

  He then took us to the bridge. Not in it, mind, but he did show us the stations. Sensors, weapons, engineering, and so on. He then took us to engineering.

  There, he showed us the ship's reactor, and took us to view the ship's slip space drive. These two things were the core of any ship, he said. Without the slip drive, you couldn't travel unless you did it the hard way. Without the reactor, the ship would die.

  Place after place, from thr cryo bay, to the mess, to some bunks. We were shown what it was like aboard a ship of the UNSC. Some cadets flinched. I, however, thought it was nice that we git food on schedules and a bed.

  Differences in perspective, I suppose.