Both Cooper and Simmons were in the officer's lounge looking at their portables.

"So, it has three gauss cannons, two in front and one in the rear. It also has a single, forward-facing electromagnetic rail gun.," Cooper announced. "It should pack quite a punch since it runs the entire length of the ship."

"Personally, I'm more interested in the crew complement," Simmons admitted. "Since they need a crew of fifty for basic operations, I wonder how many people they can cram into such a small space."

"They would have to share the crew quarters. Just as one person on shift A awakens another crew member on shift B will be waiting to use their shared cubby.," Cooper acknowledged. 

"And I complained about having to share a room with someone aboard the Sendai," Simmons said with a grin.

"Yeah, we didn't know how lucky we were back then," Cooper retorted.

"I wonder if the officers on the Lexington get to shower daily like on the Sendai."

"We will be lucky to get daily sani-wipes much less a daily shower."

"A man can dream, can't he?" Simmons retorted.

"Imagine how bad the smell of unwashed bodies will be after a few weeks."

"Ugh, I don't want to think about it."

---

A few days later, the candidates found out that the skiff to the Lexington would be leaving the following day. 'Thanks for the advanced warning,' Cooper thought as she packed up her duffle. 'It's a good thing that I travel light.'

Of course, all military assigned to a ship had to travel light. After all, each member of the crew had a weight allowance. Even for officers, anything beyond five kilograms had to be placed into storage. Since storage wasn't free even here on Phobos, spacers quickly learned how to go without physical objects. Instead, they bought things like data to be viewed on their portables. 

Cooper had a virtual library of books stored in her portable's memory. After all, the voyage to meet up with the Lexington would take weeks even if they emptied the skiff's reaction mass to meet up with the Explorer class ship. This way, Cooper will have plenty of books to read to help stave off boredom.

That's not to say that she would not take part whenever they did a group activity. There were always movies and card games on such voyages. Plus, there would be some socializing during chow times and while playing other types of games. 

'Hopefully, this will also enable the candidates to get to know one another better,' she thought as she shoved another pair of underwear in her bag. 

'I just hope that the other candidates are more talkative than they were during the skiff ride to Phobos,' Copper thought. 'Even during chow there was little more interaction than "please pass the salt" and "thank you."'

'I understand they do not want to get too close to the other Empires' candidates, but that was taking things a bit too far,' Cooper thought as she stuffed an additional shirt into her bag. 'This time I plan on getting to know everyone.'

With that final thought, Cooper put three additional pairs of sox in the now full bag.

---

Once aboard the skiff, she looked out a Mars pointing window. The red planet was just a limb, a sliver of bright red. 'I'm going to miss this view,' Cooper thought as she moved to the back of the runabout. Then she strapped both her luggage and herself in to the first available seat.

As she scanned the cabin, she could not help but think, 'This is a much nicer ship than the Sendai's skiff.' While still a military vessel, the interior of this ship was luxurious in comparison. Even the upholstered chairs had more stuffing in them and they could completely fold down into a bunk. 'This is luxury.'

The pilot's voice came over the intercom, "We will depart Phobos base in ten minutes. Please be advised that we will undergo a hard burn as soon as we clear the base. For your own safety, I ask that you strap yourselves in now."

'At least he gave us plenty of time to get situated,' Cooper thought as she double checked the fact that her luggage was secure. Then she looked out the window at the splendid view it provided.

After what only seemed a minute or two, the take hold siren sounded. Cooper double checked all of her seat belts to make sure that they were properly secured. Less than a minute had passed before the ship's pilot made an announcement over coms. "We will undock in ten seconds, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, undock."

Cooper could hear the station's massive docking clamps release their hold on the ship. Then she experienced a moment of vertigo as the ship flipped itself end over end so that it was facing away from Mars' largest moon. Then the ship's main thrusters slowly pushed them away from Phobos. 'Goodbye Phobos base,' she thought as the skiff slowly increased speed and the potato shaped object slowly shrank to their rear. 'I doubt I will ever be back to visit.'

---

Cooper was very pleased by the accommodations on the skiff. Since they would spend a little over a month on the ship, all the candidates would spend quite a bit of time squished together aboard it. 

After talking to the skiff's small crew, Cooper learned the reason for the ship's luxury. They had designed the ship to carry members of the top brass to and from Ceres base in the main belt. Therefore, the ship had been designed to be both fast and luxurious at the same time. That was a big difference from the Sendai's skiff, which acted as a long-range life boat while stuffed with as many people as possible.

The first-class accommodations even included three square meals a day. Compared to the two dehydrated ration packs a day they had eaten on the trip back to Phobos this was like heaven. There was even a wide range of meals to choose from. This was a big change from the five choices that the ration packs came in.

There was even a modicum of privacy in the form of a closet sized bathroom. This cubicle also served as a changing room and as the place for using sani-wipes. After all, there wasn't a shower aboard such a small craft. The skiff simply didn't have the recycling capability to purify such a large amount of water.

"Don't get too used to it," Simmons reminded her. "The Lexington's officer's quarters aren't nearly as nice as this."

"A month is a paradise as opposed to at least six months in hell," Cooper joked.

"I doubt it will be that bad."

"You never know," she responded.

---