Chapter 6

At 06:15, Major Flowers drove ahead of me in her transport showing me the way to Field Delta for an exercise that I hadn’t expected. The Mechanics Major informed me of the nature of the exercise while I was in the calibrating unit, even before mounting and readying my Mech, Tisi, for the battle ahead.

“Are you sure about this configuration, Leon?” She asked. Ever since the duel with Tolmey she had begun calling me by my first name. It was as if I had passed her first hurdle of acceptance, and I was glad of it. I had few friends here, three, and her thawing definitely helped my state of mind.

A state which was still messed up by Amy.

Captain Barthlowmew’s field exercise came at the right time.

“Yes, sir. I’m positive. I need to work out some of my aggression.”

“I’ll expect a full report, and remember, not a scratch, or you will be removing the hydraulic fluid from areas best left unsaid.”

“Understood, Major Flowers.”

Attached to my back was a Gray Clan Shield with their markings removed. If the lasers came at me too heavily for me to effectively dodge, I could swap out my left dagger in exchange for the shield. I didn’t plan on it, but it was an option if pressed.

Also, secured to the center of the back of my Mech, the shield acted as another layer of protection. The added 6t of weight wasn’t a restriction, the size of it was moderate and something I had promised myself that I would get used to.

I also informed the Major that I might use my Enlightenment if pressed. “I don’t want hydraulic fluid in my ass, now do I, Major?”

“See to it that you don’t have to, cadet, “ she threatened, but I knew she wasn’t serious.

I listened to Major Ingersol’s mission and promised to do my best. I had a half hour to enter Delta and then wait for instructions. I understood from his brief briefing that I would be pursued by human Mechs and I wasn’t supposed to let them beat me. The rest he would tell me once the exercise was about to begin.

I had a satellite map of the forest. A very good, interactive one. During my half hour jog to Delta’s interior, I studied it as well as I could before locking it in place at my upper left of the HUD.

“Cadet Young,” Major Ingersol’s voice rang out over the interior speakers, “Human scum are swarming over your territory seeking a good fight. While their numbers are a concern, they are only human. Teach them the folly of their ways and depart on the next shuttle in four hours. The location and the countdown to the extraction zone is marked on your map.

“Happy hunting,” he signed off with an evil laugh.

I instantly liked the Major in charge of the Junior class. From his wording and tone, I also knew that he had fought with Grays before. Probably for years at a time. He was also known to be one of the teachers in the school and had more kills than me.

I briefly wondered if I could get transferred to his class, then dismissed it. I was far enough behind everyone else in their studies as it was.

I reduced the power output of the main engine to the minimum and slowly began moving south. My ultimate direction was southwest, but I had time.

Finding a good solid block of trees, I killed the power to everything other than the passive scanners. And waited.

I didn’t have to wait long. Fifteen minutes later two medium skirmishers, with scouting configurations, I guessed, passed me to the south, too fast to do any real scouting. They were sent as forward observers to get ahead of me.

There were probably a number of teams sent out as bait or scouts. Since we were just past the start time, the main body couldn’t be far away. I either had to attack now or move to a further location.

Resetting my start position wasn’t even an option. I chased after the pair, slowly at first while charging my beam, and then sprinted the last hundred meters. I wasn’t subtle, but I wasn’t trying to be.

At fifty meters, they reacted. Both Mechs accelerated and headed in different directions. But they never learned how to not run in straight lines before. The one to my left received a beam to the back of the head; a red-colored signal smoke arose, declaring that that particular Mech was dead and off limits. The rear armor of the head of most humanoid Mechs was the most vulnerable of the whole Mech. Most humans had problems piloting their Mechs from the chest region for some reason that I didn’t understand. To me it made the chest made the most sense as it was the safest part of the Mech.

The earlier and less expensive Mechs all had their cockpits located in the head. It also made for more assured ejections. The upper chest areas of most Mechs took the brunt of the opponents’ attacks, since it was the largest target and easiest to hit from a distance.

The newer cockpits had been adapted from the Gray’s more advanced ones. Theirs and mine had ejection ports accessible from the front or rear. While it wasn’t foolproof, I still believed that it was safer than the head, for most head and necks of Mechs were there for vanity reasons and pilot comfort only.

The Academy set limits on how much damage a specific area could take before declared out of commission. I didn’t have to kill Mechs, just damage a certain area enough for them to be declared so. The heads made perfect targets, but not ones I was planning to exploit for this exercise.

I had a different goal in mind for today. One that would let me stretch and vent my frustrations.

I caught up to the Mech who started to flee back to his fellow cadets and stabbed his right shoulder from behind, stopped and altered course, while the Mech staggered through a tree and kept on running. The pilot didn’t even try to engage.

Grin.

“How many cadets are engaged in this exercise, Major Ingersol?” Major Flowers asked.

“Fifty,” he grinned. “This will be so much fun to watch,” he emoted.

“Don’t you think that fifty against one is a little excessive?” Major Flowers asked icily.

“Yes, but for which side?” Reacting to the bank of monitors, he smiled, “First kill.”

...

“Major, can you explain to me what he is doing?” Major Flowers wasn’t a Mech Pilot, she was a Mechanic Officer. Her career was focused on keeping the Mechs in her care healthy and in the field. Not their suicidal tactics.

“Cadet Young is targeting all of the marksmen Mechs. If you notice, he is focusing all of his attacks on the oppositions’ right arms. He’s disguising his intent so that the melee Mechs think they are also part of his plan.”

“Melee Mechs have too strong of an arm armor for the most part. Especially swordsmen and skirmishers who need the extra strength for him to disable easily,” she calculated.

“The knights are a waste of his time, they are too slow to catch him and have no effective distance weapons. The best they can do are nets, and cadet Young is bright enough to keep a decent distance from those without shields,” Major Flowers observed.

“Ah, it looks like cadet Roy’s encirclement is about to close. How will cadet Young deal with this?” Major Ingersol asked aloud. Mostly to himself.

Shocked, Major Ingersol turned and looked hard at Major Flowers, “I thought he was not allowed access to any of his modules as of yet, Major Flowers?”

“None are unlocked, Major. I am the only one planetside with the passcodes for them and, believe me, I have not received orders to unlock or activate any of the Fury’s modules. Nor has cadet Young been given permission to use them,” she retorted with that same frosted tone as earlier.

“Did you equip him an ECM pack? And not report it?”

“No, just a Clan Shield.” She too was surprised, but figured out the reason behind Leon Young’s disappearance since she kept his earlier warning in mind.

Ace Leon Young had a Stealth-type Enlightenment!

Major Ingersol looked back at the bank of monitors, each of them showed the battle from a different PoV and yet still no cadet Young. There could only be one conclusion. “A stealth Ace. Well, I’ll be ... I apologize Major. This was not one of my expectations.”

“Understandable. However, I do not like to be falsely accused,” she stated.

“Sir! Cadet Lieutenant Roy just went dark,” one of the computer operators shouted.

“There he is!” another operator called out.

In plain view, Cadet Young’s Mech sprinted through a clearing, leaving the downed Mech behind him. Cadet Lieutenant Roy was the human side battle leader. With her out of commission, there would be chaos until the new hierarchy was reformed.

Major Ingersol laughed aloud as he witnessed cadet Young chop off the lower arm of a marksman, steal its fixed weapon, and run away at a full sprint with over a dozen Mechs in hot pursuit.

Until he disappeared again.

Fifteen minutes later he was spotted outside of the Cadet’s headquarters. Rifle and arm in hand, he lobbed the 10t mass of weaponry at the gates, banged his right hand against his chest, turned and ran away.

Major Flowers audibly groaned loud enough for the whole command center to hear. She privately vowed to drown that kid in flaming oil when she caught up with him.

Major Ingersol made a note in his persecomp. +1 Merits to freshman cadet Leon Young for ingenuity.

The mass of students heard the report of the taunt from their fellow cadets behind the permasteel walls and sprinted in his direction. A few weren’t that far away.

Over the first three and one-half hours, only four Mechs were rendered out of commission. Thirty-five Mechs suffered catastrophic damage to their primary weapons, and all but four of those were ranged types.

None of the two Knight Mechs were even attacked once.

With twenty minutes to go, cadet Young vanished from the main area under contention. He wasn’t spotted until the shuttle to the south entered into Delta and his Mech was seen standing and saluting the Mechs below him while hanging on the north-facing side of the shuttle.

The shuttle dropped him and his Mech off at the hangar he was assigned before departing.

Since Major Flowers had not made her way back from the Delta area command yet, Sergeant Kettering escorted cadet Young into the evaluation chamber, locking him in until she returned.

“Major Flowers, or should I say, Major White,” Major Ingersol stated, already knowing the answer, “Do you still believe that it was unfair for me to pit an Ace pilot, regardless of his age, against a full platoon of cadets?”

“No, you were right,” she admitted.

“Your charge’s Mech did sustain minor damage, but that was by my orders. I wanted my cadets to understand what fighting against a real pilot would mean for them. As third year trainees, they are starting to feel invincible. If cadet Young was not around, then one of the teachers would have taken over the role as aggressor in this scenario.

“While I admit that the contest was not fair due to experience, Type of Mech, Supernatural abilities, and terrain familiarity, I would not hesitate to reenact this exercise each week until my cadets understand that their present hubris is unjustified.

“Confidence is necessary in a pilot. Arrogance is a death sentence.

“Do you have any other complaints, Major Flowers?” Major Ingersol ended his speech.

“No, I don’t. Thank you for explaining it to me. I have a Mech to fix and a cadet to supervise.”

“Major, please take care of that youngster well. I don’t care which Clan he ends up in, as long as it benefits Humanity.”

“Those are my orders and my intentions, Major Ingersol.”

“While you are on Ares,” the planet, “let me know if you need assistance with Cadet Young. I’ll do my best to assist both you and that young man.”

“Thanks.” Major Flowers exited the command center without looking back or revealing what was on her mind.

I tried to relax and unwind with my eyes closed, reviewing the battle today. I didn’t know what possessed me to be so reckless. Usually, I calculated everything before acting. Even an hour later, when Major Flowers returned, I still had not figured out why I taunted the whole junior class.

But I did.

And now I had to live with the consequences. It wasn’t like any of them were going to stop being nobles and like me anyway.

“I thought you weren’t going to damage my Mech, cadet Leon Young!” Major Flowers demanded an explanation from me.

To her, any Mech under her care was hers. We Pilots might have owned the Mech, but that didn’t matter to most, if not all, Chief Mechanics.

“No excuses, sir,” I replied tiredly. Four hours of being constantly aware was tiring. Using my stealth ability was even more so. I did stretch my usage time to over twenty minutes for the first time ever, so that was a plus.

“How are you feeling, Leon?” she asked in an easier tone.

“Tired, sir, but otherwise fine. That was the longest running battle I ever had while using my ability in a Mech.”

Curiosity aroused, she asked the expected follow up question, “What was your previous longest?”

“An hour, sir. And most of that was me getting in position to run away.”

“That sounds much wiser than your actions today. What possessed you to taunt the whole junior class at their own headquarters of all things?”

“It felt like a good idea at the time. Besides, Major Ingersol told me to pretend to be a Gray Leader. They would do something like that.”

“What makes you believe that a single Gray would walk up to the headquarters of the enemy and taunt them like that?”

She really asked such a dumb question?

“Sir, all Grays believe that they are better than Humans. To them, fighting us is a sport,” I wasn’t sure quite how to translate my experience and all of the studies that I have read about Grays to a non-combatant.

“Maybe they do, but it was still foolish on your part,” she chastised. “All your bravado will do is make more enemies.”

“I doubt that, sir.” Tiredly, I responded honestly. No longer hiding my feelings about ever integrating into the student body.

“So the whole world is out to get poor Leon?” she mocked.

“Nah, they would have to acknowledge my existence first,” I replied.

“Then your stunt today was to let them know you exist?” she pressed.

“Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe it was just me blowing off steam.” That was what I believed the main motivation behind my showing off was. I hadn’t met most of the students here and probably never would. I didn’t really feel anything towards them.

She sighed, “Leon, you didn’t do yourself any favors with that act today.”

“Maybe. But I.” I stopped there. I didn’t feel like continuing this conversation.

She probably sensed something, for her demeanor lightened, “I’m proscribing you the rest of the day off from classes and duties. Go eat and walk around campus or take a nap. But take the rest of the day for yourself. Understood?”