The Imperial Car Destroyer's First Mission

Just a heads up, this post is not about fixing up the old beast, but instead, about using it.  If you are only here for the restoration aspects of things, get out now.  You have been warned.  Because now, the Imperial Car Destroyer is taking on it's first mission, and crew compliment!

Leftenant Ember and Ensign Indigo reporting in Sir!

My youngest daughter Indigo (you remember her from earlier posts, the one who brought the princesses to help with the floor and the electrical installation) is a member of that elite cadre of the woman's Advanced Recon Unit, the Grrl Scouts.  Every year they do a relief mission to the beleaguered, cookieless planets of the Empire, and this year was no different.  Except for one thing.  This time, they would be delivering them in The Imperial Car Destroyer! Our local bridge crew for the Car Destroyer reported in early that Saturday morning, and we were ready to go.  Our designated pick up LZ was just down the street, so we didn't have to go far.  Leftenant Ember reported in as well, and Ensign Indigo and Cookie Coordinator Cricket completed the crew compliment for our initial fitting out.  At the designated time we fired up the Car Destroyer, let the hefty rumble of the engine fill the neighborhood, and moved out.

The Relief Goods

We arrived at the Cookie LZ (which I suppose stands for Loading Zone in this context)  without incident, although a few neighbors did stare in blank confusion as the sun was momentarily blotted out as the Car Destroyer passed by.  Massive mounds of fresh cookie supplies lay in carefully staged piles in front of the Middle School, each carefully accounted for.  As the Car Destroyer approached, the lesser vehicles scurried away from its presence, and it was able to park four abreast in front of the cookie depot.  Such is the might of the Car Destroyer.  We deployed and I opened the rear doors and lowered the ladder to enable the taking on of the Relief Goods (IE - cookies).  I was amazed at the ease of which we were able to start simply loading giant crates of cookies onto our vehicle.  Maybe I missed the part where they checked ID, but it seemed an awful lot like someone showing up in a big enough truck with at least one girl wearing a uniform could potentially walk away with thousands upon thousands of cookies.  I will make a detailed report of this security loophole in my report to Imperial Command, you can be sure!

Forming the traditional Bucket Brigade formation, we then proceeded to load the vehicle to the brim with said Relief Goods.  Leftenant Ember and Ensign Indigo were in the vehicle proper sorting the Goods into their appropriate stacks when additional reinforcements arrived.  The rest of the Advanced Recon Unit (AKA - Girl Scouts) showed up and we made quick work of the epic pile of cookies, er Goods.  We had over 1,100+ cartons of cookies, each holding a dozen boxes of cookies, each of which held close to twenty cookies each.  This means the following formula applies:

1100 x 12 x 20 = Bajillions of Cookies!

Once the Goods were properly loaded and sorted into stacks, the Advanced Recon Unit redeployed to our secondary staging area (my driveway down the street) and I loaded Cookie Coordinator Cricket (Also known as "Triple C" to her team mates) and the ladder back into the Car Destroyer and we departed.  The short trip back was uneventful - for me, the driver.  Apparently it was quite lively in the back, as we had somehow managed to overlook the fact that our wonderful ladder was not in any way secured, and at the first speed bump (there's a lot of them around a school zone by the way) it went careening off into a nicely stacked pile of relief goods and sent them sprawling.  When I opened the back at our Secondary Staging Area, it was a very frazzled Triple C that greeted me.  Still, no Relief Goods were harmed during this process (or our dear Cookie Coordinator!) so we noted the error on our part and moved forward at a brisk pace.

At this point we had the entire strength of the Troop behind us, and things started moving.  We were on a strict schedule and timeline, and were on track to meet our self imposed deadlines.  The various parents of the  Advanced Recon Unit were doled out their Relief Goods for their individual distribution points, and soon the various Lesser Vehicles that lay behind the Imperial Car Destroyer were filled to the gills with Relief Goods, like so many mechanical suckling piglets come to mama.  This process took a little over and hour, closer to two, but we got it done in good time.  Spirits were flying high, and indeed morale was up across the board.  You could practical feel the espirit de corps as the Troop broke into some of their favorite work songs.  Indeed, it was a good day to be a member of such an important Relief Effort.

 Members of the Advanced Recon Unit on their Relief Mission to the Planet of Santa Cruz

As the unit dispersed towards their individual distribution nodes, the remaining core Bridge Crew for the Car Destroyer geared up for the next part of their operation - an in person delivery to the great center of learning on this planet, the Forested Library Moon of UCSC.  Now, it should be noted that the Import Export regulations on the Forest Moon of UCSC are very strict, and they do not allow any nuclear weapons or devices of any kind.  We double checked our Relief Goods manifest, and were relieved to see that none of our imports contained such banned ingredients.  Other than being "criminally tasty", they should pass inspection.  We loaded the Leftenant and Ensign in the back with Midship Woman Veronica (whom had arrived at the Staging Area earlier) and Triple C joined me in the Command Cabin.  We then moved out, plotting a course towards the Forest Moon.

We parted the seas of traffic before us, and began the long ascent up the steep hill towards where the main campus lay.  Slow though we may be, nothing would stop the Car Destroyer.  Heads swiveled and eyes bulged as the Car Destroyer gracefully (read - loud and mighty) moved through campus.  Startled herds of Freshmen scattered as we arrived, and soon we found our berth behind the mighty grey edifice of Engineering 2.  As Captain, I stayed with the vehicle as the rest of the Bridge Crew unloaded the Relief Goods.  As the sun set through the boughs of the redwoods, the dappled light casting both shadow and light over the bulk of the Car Destroyer, I knew it was a good day to be part of such a glorious effort.  My chest swelled with pride at the honest, hard working task accomplished that day.  Indeed, the might and wisdom of the Imperial Car Destroyer is second to none.

The Imperial Car Destroyer delivering Relief Goods to the Forested Library Moon of UCSC