Chapter 5: Early signs of stress

My embarrassment and self-disgust at punching my friend in the mouth cured me of all of my runaway thoughts and emotions. Settling down in Physics, I actually comprehended more than usual in Captain Phant’s class.

On the way to math, we were both in the lower ends of the cadets in the hard sciences, Josh spoke of the punch for the first time, “Something happened, Leon?” he asked in a concerned manner, totally unlike his usually playful self.

I shrugged. “I guess I’m having problems acclimating.”

“Yeah? Need an ear?” he offered.

“I think I need more time away from everyone than I’m getting,” I confessed.

“Makes sense. You grew up alone in the wilderness. Put a req in for leave,” he suggested.

“I’ll think about it.”

...

Josh had his bruise treated by the nurse so there was no evidence of it when the eight of us met up for our battle.

Amy was smirking while bordered by the four Ches. Josh and Marshal accompanied me to meet our adversaries in the main room. The plan was for us to meet up, then enter the separate simulator rooms to receive the battle requirements. We would then choose our Mechs and enter when the timer began.

Each team would have fifteen minutes to plan and choose their strategy for the upcoming challenge.

‘Capture the Flag’ had a great deal of variety in the maps and scenarios. It wasn’t as straightforward as I thought, according to the rules I had read.

“Good luck, boys,” Amy waved to us, me, before leading her team to their room.

“Luck, girls,” Josh called back. Lorraine gave him a hard stare, which washed over the grinning Pentecost.

“Leon, all settled?” Marshal asked once inside. Josh had told him that I was ‘off my rocker’ when we met up for lunch today.

“I’m better. Thanks.

“Good. Keep your head up, this won’t be easy. We are outnumbered 5-3,” he unnecessarily reminded me of my gaff.

...

Mech limit: 51t or less. Registered personal Mechs or Class III from the Library.

Time Limit: 40 minutes.

Scenario: Two opposing shuttles crash landed on an active volcanic plain thirty kilometers apart.

Objective: Destroy the communications antenna of the opposition and return to your landing area to await rescue.

Win conditions: Destroy the communications antenna attached to the shuttle or all of the opposing side’s Mechs, while maintaining one of your side’s Mechs mobile and the Communication antenna intact, in the time allowed.

If both sides lose their antennas then Minor-Draw conditions are brought into play. The side with the higher percentage of mobile Mechs that returned to their landing area at the end of the thirty minutes will be declared a Minor-Draw winner.

All other scenarios end up in a Double-Loss.

“What the hell is this?” I asked.

“If none of the antennas or Mechs are destroyed or all of them, and no one gets to their landing area when time expires, then we both fail,” Marshal clarified. “Or if both sides have the same percentage of Mechs return to the start area and no antenna are left intact, we both loose. This is a kill map.”

“It’s so no one sits on their asses,” Josh added. “The shuttles are the real target. The antennas are on the top of the shuttles and are hard as hell to target unless you climb on them. Just shoot the engine compartment a couple times and the shuttle blows up.”

“Oh.” That made a little more sense. “I haven’t played much on a lava world. How bad is it?”

“We’ll need Jump Packs and extra heatsinks,” Marshal informed me.

Well, hell. Heat sinks I was good on. My Mech had ports to add extra easily. External Jump Packs I wasn’t all that familiar with.

“Same configuration?” I asked.

“Yes. You are the attacker and Josh and I will defend.”

“We will have to play for a draw. Leon, even if you sacrifice yourself, make sure you kill that shuttle,” Marshal reminded me. I didn’t like it, but it was my fault that we were severely outnumbered in a scenario and setting that I was unfamiliar with while I’ve never before heard of these objectives.

Limited use external Jump Packs were 5t which meant that I could only add 1t worth of heatsinks.

Marshal chose his personal Sniper Mech and Josh a stealthed 41t skirmisher with an extra sensor pack. Both chose extra sensor equipment over heatsinks or mobility packs. They needed to ward off stealth or long-range snipers acting against them.

The half-hour time limit was going to be a chore. Taking out the shuttle, I could do. Escaping from the counter attacks from their defenders was going to be precarious.

“Are you sure, Adams?”

“Positive. They won’t suicide against our shuttle. Josh will head out alone and those two will defend. Marshal alone will not be enough to stop two of us from destroying theirs. Josh will either take a skirmisher with a stealth and sensor pack or a swordsman with stealth.

“The stealth modules are too cumbersome for a good swordsman Mech, and Josh won’t take a lesser one. I’m betting on him taking a skirmisher,” she explained to her associates.

“Leon will be forced to take an external Jump package. He admitted to me that he isn’t allowed to use a different Mech all year. But remember, that Mech of his is a Class I. It won’t go down easy so avoid it at all costs.

“As for our configuration, Lorna and Lea — snipers, Luke — tower Mech with fireworks, and Lorraine a skirmisher. Remember, only load your Mech with 48t of gear. Just drop the extra ammo on the ground after we enter, I imagine I can find something to do with it,” she grinned angelically.

A smile that scared all four of her allies.

The external, Class III, 5t Jump Pack was too light to give me any real lift, but it was enough to clear narrow lava flows. Hopefully.

After entry into the ash filled world, I checked the exterior thermometer. 140°C. Looking at the map once again, I noted the approximate coordinates of Amy’s shuttle and headed off at a medium paced run. I wouldn’t start on an alternate course until half way.

Until then I wasn’t worried about an ambush. Only a light skirmisher could keep up with this pace and these small Mechs wouldn’t be equipped with a weapon that could seriously damage me.

Ten minutes and numerous jumps with the external pack later, I made it half way. The lava rivers were much more numerous than I had expected, which slowed my progress.

I veered to the south and kept running towards the denser part of the lava rivers and the falling ash. The density of the ash should help mask me from Amy’s team’s sensors.

At fifteen minutes, I stood behind a glowing boulder and viewed the shuttle wreckage. Even with the enhanced optics of the Mech, I saw no defenders. When I went to break radio silence to warn Josh and Marshal, all I got was static and I didn’t think it was from the falling ash either.

They had a powerful jammer in one of the Mechs they brought.

I had no choice but to destroy the shuttle and return.

Even if it was a trap.

I approached the downed shuttle and circled it so I faced the rear, where it was most vulnerable. Killing the engines would cause it to explode or at least lose power, according to Marshal.

A warning went off as I stepped on a mine.

Fuck!

A cascade of mines went off all around me, taking the shuttle with it in a massive explosion that knocked me on my ass and sent my systems in a frenzy.

They destroyed their own shuttle? That didn’t make any sense.

Still, my objective was complete, even if I was damaged. I backed off and retraced the route that I came from. Still, I had not been able to communicate with my teammates since I neared Amy’s landing area.

Expecting the worst, I wasn’t disappointed. By the time I returned, our shuttle and both Josh and Marshal’s Mechs had been destroyed. Something that I didn’t expect was that beside the two downed attacking Mechs was a Mech that looked like a relay tower, sparking and firmly planted into the ground with pylons. It no longer had any active weaponry, but its ECM jammer was still functional.

Knowing we had lost, I entered the landing area. After spitefully destroying what was remaining of the Jammer Mech, of course.

I wasn’t pouting. Really.

...

♪ Ding.

“Minor-Draw winners. Team Adams, with 40% of Mechs remaining after the loss of their shuttle.” The AI read off.

“Minor-Draw losers. Team Boys,” I blinked at our designation, I knew it had to have been Amy that input our team names, “with 33.33% of Mechs remaining after the loss of their shuttle.” The AI delivered our results.

They had 2/5s return, we had 1/3 and both sides lost their shuttles.

I exited the simulator and stretched. Both Josh and Marshal looked disgruntled.

“What happened?”

“Luke brought a Jammer Mech. He jammed our communications and prevented Josh from entering stealth,” Marshal began his report.

Marshal went on to describe the two sniper Mechs which hid inside of the jammer’s particle field. That field was explicitly designed to distort any locking by the opponent’s Sniper Mechs in return. Josh was forced to engage out in the open. Lorraine met him half way in her own Skirmisher and slowed him down while the two Sniper Mechs finished off both Marshal and the shuttle before turning their attention to Josh.

Josh made it to one of the Sniper Mechs dispatching their Skirmisher protector, but the other one shot off his left leg, from there he was quickly killed off.

The Sniper fled, leaving the Jammer Mech behind as it was no longer able to perform any action other than render any transmissions null.

Both Lorna and Amy made it back to their start area in time. Of Amy there was no sighting during the fight.

But I knew. It was she who laced the whole area in heavy anti-Mech mines. Including both inside and outside of the shuttle. She was hoping that when the shuttle went it would take at least a part of me with it. A leg preferably.

“She had to have taken a minelayer Mech,” Marshal decided.

Well, no shit. I had already figured that out.

“Hi, boys,” Amy grinned after we gathered up our courage to meet them in the lobby.

“You scratched my Mech!” I fumed. But not seriously. She had seriously outplayed us.

“Aww, poor Leon, your toy got blown up by my mines. I thought you would like to see what happens when mines you so like were used against you.” Her grinning never stopped.

As required by the Academy, we sat down and filled out our after-battle report, which took an hour.

It required that we discuss in a group what we did correctly, incorrectly, how our judgment could have been better, what we felt we excelled in and what we lacked in.

On our side, all three of us felt like we couldn’t have done worse.

Amy had completely out-thought and out-played us. Before, during, and after the battle.

“I’m hungry, let’s get some dessert,” Amy announced. Marshal and the older Ches weren’t all that interested, but she dragged all of us along regardless of their wishes.

...

On the way back to our dorms after snacks, Marshal spoke up, “Leon, are you familiar with the White Army?”

“Amy told me about them last night. I spent some time looking them up on the Infonet today,”

“The Infonet doesn’t say anything real when it comes to Clans or the elders. Joline White is by far the least trustworthy head of any Noble Clan and also the most powerful. I’m only telling you this because if she decides against you dating her daughter, you will die,” Marshal stated as if reading it from a book of facts.

“Oh,” I replied flatly. That didn’t sound ... good...

“Every Clan has a dark battalion or two. Noble Clans have dark divisions. As the largest Clan, the White Army has multiple corps of dark assets. Their information teams are known galaxy wide for their long-term sleepers.”

“Leon,” Josh stepped in, “in the White Army’s case, white light blinds others to the dangers they hide, not to illuminate their true selves.”

“Josh, that sounded like you read that somewhere,” I complained. Mostly to take my mind off of Amy’s mother.

“I admit it, I was told that too often. But that doesn’t make it wrong.”

“I don’t know.” I didn’t. There were a lot of things that I had been learning lately that were outside of my experience. Amy centered on most of them.

“Leon, you would never be allowed to marry any of my cousins and definitely not Marshal’s sisters,” Josh stated with finality. “Ever.”

“Then why would, I don’t know, Amy pursue me?”

The three of us stopped walking.

“Leon, we said our peace. Neither of us will come between you and Amy Adams,” Marshal said. “Come on, Josh. We have studying to do.”

I watched them and others walk into our dorm. Minutes later, I too entered. He was right, we had studying to do.

“What are your opinions?” General White asked the officers present.

“Leon Young treated the battle simulation as a game. He took no precautions when approaching what he obviously felt was a trap, yet stepped into that trap without reservations regardless of the consequences,” Major Deering, the officer in charge of that year’s cadets, stated. He wasn’t at all impressed with the ‘boys’ team.

“The team of Young, Pentecost, and Pentecost entered the battle pinning all of their hopes on Leon. They expected to lose from the beginning,” Captain Du said in disgust.

“And you, Lieutenant Jefferson, since you watched the whole battle, what are your thoughts?” General White asked his ever-present aide.

“I believe that cadet Adams set her opponents up with a trap outside of the simulation. Cadet Young is obviously inexperienced in dealing with any sort of teammate, sir. The unbalanced teams suggest that cadet Adams set the encounter to dominate using as little force as possible. That all four of her teammates were Ches suggest that she probably used wording, such as claiming that the Ches would assist her and the Pentecosts assist cadet Young.

“Cadet Young probably never thought that she would have more than the Che sisters in his year to join Cadet Adams team. That would explain the two-man advantage. I would also note that Cadet Adams did not play for a win. A Minor-Draw was her goal, and probably the one she sought after from her initial challenge.”

“Continue, Lieutenant,” the General asked.

“I believe that cadet Adams was teaching cadet Young a lesson.”

“Which was?” His three senior officers had their own ideas, but this was too good of a learning opportunity for the junior officer to pass up on.

“That just because cadet Young had superior equipment did not guarantee his side the win. She also knew that he would fall into her trap. That was probably part of her lesson too.” He paused and straighten up, “Sirs, if I may.”

“Speak your mind, Lieutenant,” General White gave his permission. He too agreed with what his aide was about to speculate.

“I believe that cadet Adams is working to bring cadet Young into her Clan by proving her worth to him. And at the same time reducing the standing of the Pentecosts, the only friends he may have made in his short time here.”

“You may leave, Lieutenant.”

The General waited for the door to close behind his aide before speaking.

“Does anyone have an alternative point of view regarding Cadet Adams and Young’s performance this evening?”

“I worry on how easily that cadet White sacrificed her teammates,” Major Deering frowned.

“All of the cadets did eject at the proper time, Francis,” Captain Du countered Major Deering’s worry. “I still believe that we need to train the cadets better on the proper time to eject from their Mechs, General. It would save a great deal more lives when the time comes to fight on the front lines.”

“I’ll speak with the board again. Major Deering, see if you can address cadet Young’s viewpoint. The battle simulator is not meant to be taken as a game.”