***[MEANWHILE, IN THE SKIES ABOVE THE FRONT LINES]***

It was such a lovely day to fly in the skies. Her wings basked in the cold and brisk touch of the air out here. The Andromeda Terracolony, while it was a self contained mega terrarium, it had such a unique kind of air here.

Was it how the air was recycled and repurified? Or was it that this was what Earth was like before the Starfall Calamity War? Either way, she thought she was in her element here, and would have almost dozed off as she glided. Well. She didn’t almost doze off, she wanted to.

But now wasn’t the time for that. The whirring of jet engines was behind her and that meant one thing, that today would be like any other day of Practical Training Class. The CDU and CAU trainees who were joining her through her stint in the sky were more concerned and tense with what was on their tail.

Coming in hot behind them, a swarm of aquatic themed robots seemed ready to make a meal out of them. With how many of them were based on the carnivorous sharks around the world, they could all tell that they weren’t friendly, not even the sardine-like fish, their mouth gaping as if breathing in air.

To Mana, they looked like the real deal, but if not for how they flitted around like bees who were on the hunt, they’d be kinda cool. Though, it was better if they didn’t explode when they got near her.

[Command, Mana here, My group is taking heavy fire from multiple drone class enemies. Requesting fire support!]

[Roger Mana. Fire support is on the way, ETA is 1 minute. Move your team’s heading to north west, distance, 0.2 clicks.] A point lit up in the cloudy distance and Mana went for it.

[Copy, moving in. I hope I can make it!]

Soaring, she and her flock changed their heading and flew to the marked destination on their HUDs. The trainees were having the roughest at the moment, anyone would be worried, they were freshly meat.

None of them seemed to have had extensive aerial combat training, complex maneuvers were hard to pull off though they flew straight. But that was the point, the challenge these young men and women, this war game exercise would mold them.

Mana could relate. It was her 2nd year here and she was still surprised by how different each Practical Training Class was from the last.

They put a lot of effort into these classes. The number of constructs used on today’s field of battle was probably only a fraction of what Andromeda had at its disposal. Mind you, that this was only a singular part of the northern sector.

There were hundred if not thousands of other trainees and students all fighting across the expanse of land below. The mere thought of how many constructs were down there outnumbering the student and trainees, made Mana feel anxious. It was a good thing that she at least enjoyed flying doing what she loved most, if not, she’d probably break down into exhaustive tears.

Jeez, this is taking too long. She thought. A minute was a long time especially when on the run. She and the trainees couldn’t help to look behind to see if they were keeping a good distance from the enemy. She hoped they’d changed course away from her allies, or that she got out of their designated area of operation.

Damn, still chasing us. What a persistent bunch, bet they were programmed that way.

The fur on Mana’s ears couldn’t help to stand on end. The sight of a mass of blue coming at her was terrifying, like an angry cloud was about to swallow them up, only in this case, they’d be electrocuted or get the stuffing beaten out of them.

“Such irritating contraptions, that Professor sure likes to tinker.”

Annoyed, she still enjoyed one thing. They made a satisfying crunch when she pulverized them. If only these weren’t so many of the small ones, then maybe she could have fought back and got the larger variants. If only a solution would show itself sooner, and it did.

[Come in! Hello! Come in! Do you read me!]

[Yes, hello!] Mana was grateful to finally hear back. [Mana from Aerial Group Beta, identify yourself!]

[This is the leader of Group Gamma, Callsign Alpha 1. We’re responding to your air support request! What do you need!]

[Good, you have great timing!] Mana flapped her wings and a hint of excitement crossed her eyes. Now she could fight, she could let loose.

[I see you, keep your heading. I’ve got over a hundred of them on my team! Do a fly by and keep their attention! I’ll deploy my team to help you as well. Move in to grab their attention, I’ll break their ranks and go for the big fellas.]

[Copy Ma’am. G1 to G10, lay down grenade fire from a distance. Bravo 1! I’ll follow you in, take point, I’m giving you command. It's time for me to get some close quarters experience.]

[Hah, what an honor.] A girl’s voice cut in, Mana guessed it was this Bravo 1 person and listened in as the girl continued. [Let’s see if you can keep up! If you slow me down, I’m leaving you behind.]

[I wouldn’t have it any other way, try me.] With a cheeky reply, Mana could envision the guy grinning. She too grinned, she really liked the cut of their jib, not to mention the banter they were having. The CDU and CAU trainees were truly trained well and had such a strong connection with each other.

Under all this stressful combat, they could joke and chat, all the while a literal firefight was waged around them.

Maybe she’d get a drink with them some time, they sounded old enough, and if they were kids, she’d treat them to a soda or two.

In any case, Mana and her group flew past them.

[To all units in Group Beta, turned to provide firing support!] She commanded. [Don’t get swarmed and keep your distance.]

[We understand ma’am, happy hunting.]

[Heh, I’ll be sure to leave some for you all.]

[Much obliged, give’em hell.]

Mana flipped mid air, making her way around to strike from the side. As she did, her group of trainees scattered, taking up firing positions from the rear of the new encounter.

Equipped with M99-C12 Anti Tactical Class Heavy Rifles, they were adequately armed and positioned in their most advantageous usage. Unlike Group Gamma, Mana had been settled with Aerial Group Beta, who were equipped for heavy air support against large targets.

The golems were their main enemy prior to these events, and it showed how effective they were. So dangerous that they were chased off so Mana’s group had retreated since the drone class robots sent after them were a bad match up.

With how cumbersome their gun was, and how it was a single shot that needed time to cool its barrel down between subsequent firing, the trainees were seldom in having no other choice, but understood the necessity of their retreat.

Mana would have been able to handle the intercepting enemy, only if there weren’t so many and if they were of an easier size to handle.

Group Gamma on the other hand, were equipped with core rifles from Mana’s observations. A nice piece of military hardware she had the opportunity to shoot and be shot at with. She shivered, a recent experience making her regret crossing that “person”. The air ahead lit up with the flash of grenades.

Group Gamma’s trainees flew in on wings of fire, cutting a swath through the ranks of hundreds of robots. They weren’t breaking any sound barriers, but Mana could tell they knew what to do, she getting lucky to have such a component group of trainees aid her.

Not falling behind in the fight, she sped herself up and broke the sound barrier. Eyeing a large robotic figure in the dispersing swarms of smaller robots, she pounced. Its aqua blue fins oscillated, it had sensed her, and was getting ready to meet her face to face.

It charged from the swarm, like a whale jumping from the sea of robotic drones, the fins came in close and sliced at her. She spun, her back falling with gravity as a skim of hair left her cheek.

Toes pointed, a kick sent the shark size robot tumbling in the air. Swerving and flapping for balance, Mana went heel down, delivering a diving kick for good measure. Her armored boot squashed the finer bits inside, perhaps physically crunching some numbers in its processing units.

A direct hit in this flank, the damage was severe and flopped, going limb like a wet noodle. As it did, it fell from the sky. She watched it crash, hoping that it didn’t have a secondary generator or a kind of gimmick built in like the self imploding sardine-like robots.

All of them seemed to have one, a trick up their metal sleeves. Especially the smaller ones. The sound of metallic swoosh caught her attention and another robot, similar in shape but larger than the last, had its mouth and jaws opened and ready to swallow her.

Coming out of nowhere, it bore down like a whale scooping up a krill, only in this case it wasn’t krill but Mana herself.

Mana was too slow to counter or fly away in time. The thing was likely stealthed in the clouds and she grimaced yet again at who made these things. She could see the net deep in the mouth of the robotic creature, her perception of time slowing as fear made her hairs stand on end.

“Oof! ouch!”

A thud sent her back, a trainee had tackled her to safety.

[G11? Huh?] After a bout of confusion passed, she saw the identifier in her HUD.

Ha! These names are quite unoriginal. Eh, whatever.

[That was close.] She said. [Thanks for the assist.]

[My pleasure ma’am.] The trainee responded and let her go. He then flew beside her,coming around to meet the enemy again. Getting another shot at it, his bullets pinged off the whale like robot’s hull.

[Talk about thick.] Mana said emphatically. [You got anything with more kick kid?]

[I got grenades, but I’ll need to get in close.]

[Fat chance of that. It's got point defenses all over it. It's more like a ship than a simple robot.]

As she orbited around the enormous frame of the enemy, Mana could see turrets coming out of its armored scales. She and the trainee changed course and flew between some gray clouds. Cracks of gun fire flew close, yet hit nothing but air and clouds.

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

[Then what do we do!] The trainee asked while he ducked reflexively.

[I don’t know!] Mana really had no real counter to this opponent. It was more like a higher rung tactical class creature. She could punch and kick at it, but by the feel of the last few robots she crushed, this would take some giving.

Ripping apart the last one was easy enough since it wasn’t as big. This! This one was about 10 times bigger than the previous shark.

[Well how about.. Huh?] The trainee seemed to pause, as if hearing another person talk to him, Mana guessed it was his squad. [Eh! Sir! Are you sure that's.. Oh, no I meant no offense but.. Umm..]

Mana got the feeling that G11 just heard a dubious plan. Before she could chip in, a figure quickly flew past them.

Equipped with 2 core rifles, he launched two grenades, arching as he flew closer into the engagement. The point defense turrets on the enormous whale of a robot, swerved and fired volleys of stun rounds.

That didn’t deter the unknown figure and Mana watched as they came around.

[Ma’am he says he’ll get its attention and he’ll open up a chance. Get ready.]

[Sure, we’ll flank left. Trying to take out some of those turrets.]

[Already on it ma’am!]

Finding his mark, G11 focused fire on the enemies peripheral point defenses. Bursting, the turrets’ barrels bent at odd angles before exploding, creating a dotted patch of hole in the upper armor.

The figure, the maniac Mana thought he was, increased his speed, she could hear his propulsion unit whirring so loud that maybe it would burn out. Surprisingly, it didn’t, the guy jetted off at speeds faster than she herself usually never reached.

She cringed at the thought of what his insides felt like. Whoever he was, he was going at a speed that seemed too dangerous and violent to turn at those sharp angles.

He was zigzagging past the robots inner point defense turrets, almost skimming the hull so that his approach was harder for the robots to fire at him. His propellant smoke marked his path, the figure’s eyes narrowed in his helmet and saw what he was looking for.

Toward the middle of the robot's body, a protruding fin was ahead. Focusing fire with his pair of rifles, he was met with some remaining resistance as more point defense turrets rose and fired back.

Luckily, some of Group Beta and Group Gamma moved to provide support. They noticed the sudden appearance of the enormous robot in their vicinity and knew for a fact that it was trouble.

The additional covering fire made many of the robot’s sensors become too occupied. Just as it was about to get its bearing and sights on the nearest attacker, it was obscured by smoke. The earlier grenades the attacker had launched bursted right on time.

Veiled in a thick haze of white and gray metal chaff, the remaining turrets were useless and he slipped past.

Reloading, the figure pressed both his primary and secondary triggers. A full storm of lead chitin and a pair of high explosive grenades crashed into the targeted fin. It was a mechanical sensory organ, these robots were designed after creatures from the deep and so were the underlying principle behind their parts' functions.

Snapping, the fin fell away, sliding down the robot’s rounded armored sides. Focusing his fire for good measure as he disengaged, he pulled up with his propulsion unit’s controls and signaled.

[Aim there!] A voice came over the comms, and Mana stiffened up. Recognizing who it was, she felt herself clench herself for dear life.

[Y-yes, YES sir!]

Hopping to, like a scared rabbit, she flew around as G11 laid down covering fire for her, getting the things attention as he and the rest of Group Gamma and group Beta moved to its left while she moved to its right.

Its attention off of her, its sensory abilities lowered, and many of its point defenses down, Mana sped closer in and concentrated core energy into her fist. Usually, a normal punch from her could split metal, so when enhanced by core energy, she could do a lot more damage.

Coupled with her high speed approach, she came crashing through in the robot’s underbelly. It howled just as it turned its head up to chase after its previous attacker.

The last thing it saw was Mana soared straight out of its head, with G11 and the others fired a series of grenades and concentrated grouping of rounds into the still roaring robot’s opened hole.

The speakers on those things were very much realistic, so the horrific scream they heard seemed like what a mysterious creature of the deep would sound like. It was a baritone that Mana knew would haunt her dreams.

Still, the sight of it going down was pretty. A direct shot into the hole Mana had made added to sight. The robotic insides flared with fire and metal twisted as its actuators lost their mechanical support. Finally, it stopped moving when it toppled. Wordlessly, G11 moved away to rejoin their squad.

Mana watched, awestruck at the majestic sight. She tensed when she noticed the figure turned to her. By her assumptions, It was Itsuki under that helmet.

[You’re getting distracted.] He said flatly, like she knew he would. So serious and so on point, Mana had found Itsuki a pain during her first year here.

It didn’t help how the rumors made him out to be such a no fun kind of loving guy. His eyes didn’t show much emotion and his demeanor was so mature in comparison to his teenage stature.

The first time she met him was when she was shot out of the sky by him when she snuck out of her dorm to go for a night flight, which is restricted due to the dorm’s curfew and air space policy. You need a license, and being a first year, Mana neither had known or been able to earn a flight permit.

The bruises he left on her still ached, but Mana didn’t hold it against him. He was just doing his job, a dorm supervisor had to follow the rules and it was his whole character in her opinion.

[Hey, are you listening?] His voice made her snap back to reality, she nodded.

[Y-Yeah, Thanks.]

[No problem, keep your guard up, this class isn’t close to being finished yet.]

[No kidding.] Mana groaned. [I am really coming to understand why you’re so up tight and regiment Itsuki. Is this normal for all explorer’s, you know, to be the best?]

[No, I’m just like this for my own reasons. Most of the explorer’s who graduate are actually more upbeat or eccentric. Weirdos if you ask me.]

[So, you’re the odd ball huh.] Mana’s joke seemed to get Itsuki to flinch. The slight nudge of his helmet as they flew along was noticeable. She laughed, finding his reaction to his oddity to be so novel and surreal.

He wasn’t usually so self conscious, it was rare, and seeing it was a treat from the always stoic and threatening demeanor he gave off.

Before Itsuki could fire back or shoot her with a rubber bullet, the sound of something approaching caught their attention. It sounded like engines, but bigger than any of the trainees' propulsion units.

Alpha 1 came calling on the comms, and Mana picked up.

[Ma’am, we have incoming!]

[Enemies? Are they from the new wave of constructs?]

[No, Ma’am, this is different?}

[Is it? Today is full of surprises like usual, like earlier, something seems off with how many constructs suddenly appeared.]

Mana was referring to how minutes ago, a new force of constructs had struck out on their left flank. Guessing, Mana deduced that this was to simulate the sporadic and ever changing nature of a battlefield since the war.

The creatures of the war roamed around and sensing them was a challenge due to a number of factors. Terrain, core density, and overall interference that came with long range scanning, so missing a large focus could be par for the course. There was a lot of crap that could go wrong when you wanted to search for something hundreds of miles away.

Even still, they had personnel who were monitoring situation awareness, they had a command structure set up. Had something gone wrong? Mana thought about the ongoing fight on the ground. She thought of Dahlia.

Gosh, I hope she’s alright. The last time I checked in, someone told me she was tearing up. I bet Chisuke is to blame.

[Ma’am? Is something wrong?]

[No.] Mana replied to the trainee. [Nothing wrong Alpha 1. Tell me what your long range is picking up on in point 890. The new force of enemies was last spotted there.]

[I’ve checked ma’am, they’re still held up on the left flank. Armored Division 190 and 234 have delayed them. Our main force is making headway with the help of students like yourself.]

[Then where is that noise coming from?] Mana looked around and found nothing else. No flying robots or additional enemies were nearby, so just what was it.

[Up.] Itsuki said, pointing a finger as he tilted his head in that direction.

[Up? What do you-]

[HEY HEY HEY, Hope you don’t mind me, just dropping in.]

A new voice joined the comms and the HUD’s map filled with 4 green dots. By the position and displayed information, who was “dropping in” was coming from above.

Pushing through the higher cloud cover, the mechanical and bipedal figures of mechs came into view.

[So that’s what was making all that noise. But why are you here?] Asked Mana. [Shouldn’t the TACs be handling their own battle?]

[We were.] Said the pilot, who was definitely a girl. Her voice was a pitch higher than Mana’s and seemed cutesy, quite an out of place demeanor for someone in a literal battle mech. If it was a boy, they’d be squealing, Mana bet.

[We battled in high orbit for a while.] The pilot said. [But we got new orders?]

[New orders?] Itsuki said, cutting in.

[Yup, new orders. They’re a pain but I’m glad I got them. Now we can join the fun down there. And just in time, seems like the situation down here isn’t going as well as up there. Strange, that doesn’t usually happen.]

[Yeah, strange.] Itsuki wanted to put a finger to his chin, but the helmet got in the way. He was thinking that this training exercise was going off schedule. From his experience and the briefing he was given in preparation for today’s class, explorers like himself were to assist the battle in three parts and two phases.

The three parts were in orbit, in the air, or on the ground, where students and trainees would fight together. The two phases were the sections of time in the initial gathering at the training grounds and then the subsequent fight to a target location.

He had been told that the air and ground battles were the only ones that would interfere with each other, but the ones in orbit would never interfere.

Taking his deduction further, he looked at the map and went through all the received data from the other CDU trainees, CAU trainees, and Andromeda students. He did this in a flash of a few seconds as Mana and the rest conversed.

His HUD flickered as he multiple screens were pulled up. His eyes darting around, he did the math and the number of constructs used for this training exercise had exceeded the number he knew.

Why? Why make things more difficult? To foster more growth, a harder challenge, or was there another purpose? Would it get in the way of Operation Hidden Assassin? No, even if it did, I would proceed as planned.

Itsuki tapped the toolbelt at his waist. Today seemed to be quite an exotic day. He had been thinking and reflecting so much that he thought it might be one of those interesting days that came once every few full moons.

Wait! Interesting? Yes, this is getting interesting. If it is, and if whoever is in charge wanted it this way, then it must mean..

[Let’s move!] Alpha 1’s voice cut Itsuki’s line of thinking. Mana joined Alpha 1 and they led the way as a squadron of 4 TACs followed close behind.

[We got air support requests to finish up!] Alpha 1 ordered. [With the TACcs on our side, we’ll move in and then go for the goal. Am I understood!]

[Heh, clear as crystal.] Bravo 1 replied.

[No problems here.] Mana said.

The trainees shook their heads, meanwhile the TAC pilots yawned.

[If we finish this, I’m going to need a nap.]

[You said it, these seats we have in here aren't that comfortable.]

[That’s because you’re a growing girl, but are you sure you're not getting fat? Yesterday, you said the seats were fine. What’s up with that?]

[That was yesterday! Today is different!]

[Yeah right, I bet it's true, you know, your hips and stuff. I’ve been hearing rumors.]

[Ew! You’re disgusting.] Another female TAC pilot chimed in, showing her aversion to her squad mate.

[Remind me to punch you after this.]

[What? It was a valid-] The guy's comms was immediately blocked as his excuse of an apology patterned out. The pilot’s oddly refreshing banter helped the younger trainees perk up.

While they would argue that the TAC pilots were being too lax, they did have thousands of pounds of steel and metal to protect them in this training exercise, but, it was more that they understood that these TAC pilots were elites.

Becoming one of them wasn’t simple. Grunt class explorers were the main personnel who flew them, and only the best of the best got to use them. Why? Because they were expensive hardware that only geniuses could operate.

The trainees looked in awe at their more senior and possibly highly decorated counterparts. Mana as well looked fondly at them, only for a little, since she much preferred the sight of the blue sky and white clouds.

The only one, besides Mana, who had their attention focused fixedly ahead, was Itsuki.

What is going on today? He internally asked.

The more he analyzed the data in his HUD, the more issue he had in trying to figure out why today’s training had changed. Letting the TACs join the battle below would make things easier, so why?

The number of new enemies were great in number, yes, but adding TACs to this fight would be like pouring water on the fire they had created. Unless..

A curved ball, maybe? Maybe a misdirection.

Itsuki sighed, he was getting nowhere with this.