Chapter 86: Training Begins
If the three new officers thought that they would have it easier serving under similarly youthful Commanders, they were sorely mistaken. Both are students of the General Tennant training methods, which are far more intense than anything they had faced before.
Their day is split into four sections, theory, training, lunch, and repeat. That way they can practice two very different, but related skills every day.
Today was their third morning of training and after spending the last two days going over assault techniques that Max and Nico had come up with, they were looking forward to seeing what lay in store for them today.
"How much experience do you have in mobile suits?" Nico asked over breakfast, referring to the roughly human-sized tactical insertion suits.
They were a step up from pressure suits and bodyguard armor, but still worn around the body. They were often issued equipped with thrusters and wings for flying or aquatic missions and had top-of-the-line robotics that could challenge Line Mecha for strength.
Forget about using them, nobody in the cafeteria where they were eating breakfast had even seen one in person in years, since the few that were with the original Special Tactics teams were lost.
"Will we seriously be using something like that?" Vincente asked around a mouthful of pancake.
"They are in the approved requisition list," Max confirmed with a smile, looking forward to trying them out in the simulators.
There wasn't a dedicated simulator for them, instead they use the pressure suit trainer and the modifications are added inside the simulation. The basic controls are the same, it's just that one has many more combat options.
Today's mission is to para drop in from a fast-moving and low-flying transport. Really, they only need to step out the back and hover, then assault the target, an enemy politician hiding inside their fortified home. Stealth has been ruled out because of the security, so brute force assassination is their order for this simulation.
Max picked the scenario for mobile suit training, which is usually similar to special forces infantry training with better gear, in order to see how everyone's combat skills are. Nico looks a bit too happy about his decision though.
Wondering what she's thinking, Max looks in on her thoughts, finding her mind lost in memories of a massacre. The enemy they were facing had a weapon that disabled Mecha, but in her past life, the army she served in were all genetically engineered superhuman warriors. Even in an infantry battle, the enemy was mercilessly butchered. Hopefully, this training scenario doesn't end quite that brutally.
That memory actually gives Max a good idea for this afternoon's battle simulation. Learning all the techniques needed for close combat will take up most of their journey anyhow, but with Nico's memories, he might be able to speed that up. His own memories of his former life don't involve much outside of his Mecha, so they will only be relevant during certain parts of the training plan that he has built up for his team.
"Nico, take the lead. You're the best in close combat." Max instructs laying out the infiltration plan to the safe room the politician is almost guaranteed to retreat to.
"Isn't Mecha combat still much different than infantry fights, even in a suit as light as these?" Vincente asks, voicing all of the new officers' concerns.
"Trust me, I've seen Nico do martial arts in a Corvette Class Mecha better than most can do them on foot. This afternoon we will be reviewing battle footage and physically training the areas we are lacking." Max announces, ending the hesitation.
The team sets their equipment and the scenery shifts to the inside of the cargo plane.
"We will drop right over the target, drop straight vertical, and flare out before impact," Max instructs before the red light comes on to signal that the rear cargo bay doors are opening.
[Begin Drop] The intercom informs them and Nico leads the team out, charging out the doors and racing towards the ground at full thrust with a blade in either hand.
The plane isn't quiet, so the guards are already alert, searching the sky for threats. The suits are painted black to help them blend in with the night sky, but at least a few of the guards on patrol should have some form of advanced optics.
Everyone but Nico fires their rifles as they chase the blade-wielding mobile suit to the ground, reducing the number of guards on patrol. Nico crashes blades first into the two soldiers at the doors, smoothly puncturing their armor and letting momentum carry them all through the sturdy metal structure with a resounding crash that echoes through the yard and the house alike.
[Max has taken up the rear guard position. Close up the formation.] He informs the others, as they reach the ground two seconds behind Nico. The sounds of carnage have brought soldiers out of the side rooms, who are efficiently dispatched by the incoming mobile suits.
Their operation of the graceful units is still a little clumsy from lack of practice, but they are adapting fast. Paul seems adept at knife fighting, dealing with close combat easily, but the others are struggling against the simulated Royal Guard, knowing only the most basic of hand-to-hand arts that are taught to Pilots.
Nico stops for an instant, putting Ion pistol rounds into four targets inside while Max finishes with the targets outside the door, freeing the team from combat.
The lights have switched to emergency red now, and the sirens are blaring. Nico could likely disable them in a second, but that would defeat the purpose of the training mission, and she has used the time she would have been hacking the security to happily dismember the group of guards who had just come out of an elevator.
She reached inside the waiting elevator and hit a button, sending it away just as the rest of the squad arrived at her position.
"Halls clear," Ari calls, just as Paul and Vincente report the side rooms clear.
"Drop at half-second intervals." Max reminds everyone of the plan before Nico kicks in the elevator doors and drops down the empty shaft. A swipe of her blade breaks the lock on the basement doors and she shoulder checks them open just as Ari lands behind her, rifle pointed over Nico's shoulder.
A flurry of shooting as Paul and Vincente land is followed by screaming and crashing before Max drops down, firing a round into the hoist mechanism of the armored elevator above them, bringing it sliding down the shaft to prevent them from being followed.
The basement is coated in blood and a dozen guards lie dead while the team searches the side rooms.
Only the door to the safe room remains unchecked when Nico calls the all-clear, which is Ari's cue to place the charges that will breach the vault.
The moment the charges detonate Paul and Vincente charge in, shooting anything that moves, and a lot of things that didn't. If Max didn't know better, he would think that they had fully emptied their energy storage into the hapless politician. Perhaps the mission triggered a bit of pent-up frustration with their situation in life?
[Target eliminated.] Max confirms after DNA-checking the politician to be sure it wasn't a body double.
They are still under two minutes since landing, leaving them three more to escape before reinforcements are expected. A shaped charge opens a hole in the elevator shaft above the disabled elevator and they head for the roof, where they will be able to signal their victory to the waiting satellites before flying away.
Again when they reach the heavily guarded roof, Max notices the lack of actual fighting ability, moving melee combat training to the top of his to do list. Most things can wait, but better combat skills will have to be taught to every member of their team, Pilots included.