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3.3 - Progress
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Five days does not sound like a long time. Indeed, at barely half a standard week in the UnderCurrent solar system, one does not imagine achieving much in such a short period; then again, the now twelve days Una had spent aboard the good ship Am-Fluchtig surely felt more like months. With each day, she found herself finally settling into Scarlet's harsh training regime, a little anyway. The woman would find some new exercise to focus on daily, uses for the flak pods she had never imagined or practising seemingly basic movements that became more tricky when used in the zero-G of space.
The harsh criticisms and long anecdotes hardly let up either for that matter, but despite it all, Una felt happier that her days were now packed to the brim with training rather than the awkward solitude of her arrival.
Something she was rather proud to have improved at was her ability to pick up on the internal language of the vessel she called home. At first, all Una ever heard were those talking about the new 'Rookie' and discussing the escort firgate's demise and how ‘foolish’ its captain had been. In later days, some had attempted to label her 'Scarlet's Prodigy', but that had been mysteriously quietened just as abruptly as it had begun.
But underneath the rambling talk could be found the murmurs and whispered rumours that really reflected the general crew's feelings. One topic, foremost of all, was a destination. A permanent fixture on the minds of all those aboard the ship, the various staff departments seemed restless at the continued lack of word on where precisely the Fluchtig was going. What was their new mission and their goal?
As Una understood it, up until a month ago, the Fluchtig had flown almost exclusively as an escort to its sister ship, the Tradech - That was until its retinue of remaining pilots and battered Vijaik mechs were transferred off, and in their place, the new current group brought in, along with extensive retrofitting of the main hanger to allow for the Neo-C customisation programme. This led the general census to the idea that the ship would now form the head of a new battle group. Combined with the somewhat less well-founded rumours that suggested the IAFS-Home-Defence-Fleet was drawing to completion, had all condoned to a palpable sense of expectations.
If the home fleet was finished and the Tradech, alongside the Fluchtig, were both leading independent gorilla groups, then logic dictated that an actual war - With no more hiding in shadows and with countries publicly declaring their support for IAFS - Was surely right around the corner.
All this had centred on a single integral point that had come to light in the last couple of days - They would be arriving at their destination in just five more sleeps.
For this reason, five days after the rumour began circulating, Una found herself, a full day of failed attempts behind her, making one last gambit to triumph against the custom simulation Scarlet had set up. All in the full awareness there might be no further attempts after today and that tomorrow could very well bring whole new circumstances:
The blocky grey head of a basic Vijaik cautiously moved its way around a winding corridor, peering outwards in search of its query - However, before it could even succeed in this endeavour, a blinding flash came before it, destroying its oval-shaped visage in an instant.
As the stricken mech stumbled backwards from the force, desperately trying to swap its vision to a different camera, a green patterned unit of similar humanoid portions sprinted rapidly down the corridor. No one actually sprints in zero-G; rather, it is more of a complicated dash making use of minor thrusters throughout a complex mechanism like a Vijaik.
Half a week ago, just five days prior, Una couldn't have imagined moving so fast without the aid of boosters or launch ramps, but now she found herself rattling down the short alleyway, catching the grey enemy before it could so much as raise its own rifle. She positioned her weapon now,(not entirely against the surface of the unit to protect the end of her own weapon's nozzle) but close enough to ensure a single-shot victory.
"One."
Una passed the faintest of looks to her tutor, only to find the woman's poker face looking back at her. She pushed down an urge to be disappointed, instead readying herself for the next step.
'I will pass it this time. It has to be this time!'
Generally speaking, simulations were randomised as, in theory, a pilot could simply learn the layout of any given generated space if that wasn't the case. However, Miss Scarlet, proving surprisingly tech-savvy, had programmed in her own details. The enemies were always the same, although two had the autonomy to move about at their own discretion.
In a sense, this gave Una an advantage; she had by now learned roughly where all her opponents would be, but accordingly, this seemed to matter little to Scarlet;
"We focus on your instincts. You beat this course without thinking by just feeling what you need to do, and then we can worry about translating that skill to regular combat."
As in all attempts prior, she turned the corner into the largest room of the testing ground, the one with the wall-spanning window outlooking the bleakness of open space.
Immediately, she raised her rifle and shot, deliberately this time, for the small passenger shuttle. Her goal differed now, as rather than using the explosion to destroy the second unit, she got a different result. It had been only the most minor of movements, but spooked by the exploding transport shuttle, the second enemy who had been hiding behind some discarded storage containers, had given away its hiding place.
Una wasted no time; kicking off from her position, she brought herself out into view of the unsuspecting enemy and fired another flurry of blinding orange lights.
"Two"
Again, Scarlet’s face seemed to betray none of what she was thinking, but Una remained unperturbed. She had fired a slew of shots at that second enemy as well as used energy on her Vijaik's boosters to get within range of the targets. With this in mind, Una now used the bare minimum to turn her mech towards the windowed wall, deciding not to waste time or resources getting herself back vertical. As such, when the next shot predictably came in from enemy number three, Una's mech found itself in the air parallel to the ground, floating almost serenely with a steady spin.
Before this attack had even finished its course (landing with a heavy impact on her Vijaik's left shoulder), Una had released a flak pod forward at the enemy from her left leg-mounted launcher.
Flak pods were something equipped to most mechs as a method of scattering particles of metal shrapnel to either disperse those brazen enough to attack a Vijaik from below, with rocket launchers and the like, as well as to put heat tracking missiles off course during space combat. Their appearance being that of a small grey cylinder. To use them against another Vijaik was pretty unheard of, and yet Scarlet had emphasised the lesson;
"Fire one of those with any accuracy at a computer opponent, and you'll completely bugger their sensors. Buy's ya a couple seconds if you pull it off right."
Una (at the time partially worried this was some elaborate test on Scarlet's part) had questioned the validity of using such a tactic. After all, it would have little effect in an actual Vijaik dual against real pilots. But the older woman had refused to relent.
Una had yet to reach enough self-awareness to understand Scarlet intentions in showing her how to make use of any and all opportunities, no matter how underhanded a tactic may seem - Yet in spite of this gap in understanding, Una had persevered through the rigorous re-tutoring.
Because really, they had been through how to use the flak launchers back in the academy along with most of Scarlet’s other tips; but months of little to no practise had dulled her skill, as was the case with much of her piloting techniques. It burned Una to know these were simple lessons that Hikari or Shasha would never of needed reminding - But alas, lamenting that wouldn’t help her learn any faster.
With determination written across Una's face, Scarlet, from her perch, observed as the Rookie's flak pod hit home with excellent accuracy. Just as predicted, the enemy, who had been moments from loosing a second rifle volley - Seemed to stall, its aim wavering, and its head was glancing side to side as though blinded by some terrible flash - Despite the type of flak being little more than a fine misted spray compared to the size of the enemy.
Una didn't complain; instead, she took aim and finished the third opponent with a small barrage from her rifle. A part of her wanted to celebrate, another to check her machine's read-outs, but she knew to do either would be deadly. She had reached this point in the simulation a couple times before throughout her training, and while the test stated the course to be only three enemies long, a fourth secret enemy of Scarlet's own devising always appeared, right in her blind spot no matter how she handled the third enemy.
"Three"
Right on cue and almost in sync with Scarlet's short statement of fact, a siren shrilled behind Una's head, indicating the incoming attack. There'd be no time to check the sensors to get a specific bearing on the assailant, nor time to visually confirm anything. Instead, her plan had to be instantons. 'I will pass this time!'
Leaning all her weight into her side, Una threw the Vijaik's controls into what would have been a leftward dash. Owing to her current horizontality, it caused her Vijaik to spin rapidly in mid-air. Outside, she could hear the simulator unit doing its best to imitate the sensation of your whole machine spinning rapidly around. Una had learned that its apparent inability to have the cockpit spin was another of the practice machine's shortcomings.
When she'd first learned this, she had been careless enough to give a devious smile; Scarlet, seeing this, had proceeded to march Una out onto the deck of the Fluchtig, still in her mech, and spin it in the complete lack of gravity just off the ship's port bow. That spinning had made anything the simulator could do to you seem petty in comparison and made the current sensation little more than a nuisance.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Almost to her disbelief, the plan worked; unable to see her front face, 'Unit four' let free two shots aimed squarely at Una's back. Unbeknownst to it, she pulled forward the shield gauntlet on her right arm, grabbing it tightly as her short revolution ended.
The enemy blasts smacked against the still-moving Neo, smashing into the now front side shield that covered her vitals and drawing two blazing lines across the face of the shield. Just barely failing to penetrate the thick armour plating.
Una wasted no time escaping from a potential third shot. She quickly changed the thruster direction and set it all to an upward course. Ordinarily, that would have meant an untimely meeting with the ceiling, but on this occasion, it rocketed her machine across the large room and back to the safety of cover.
Firmly out of harm's way, Una finally allowed herself a moment's breath. This was the furthest she had made it, but a quick glance at her instrumentation revealed not all was well. The trick with reading instruments, as Scarlet taught it, was to discern the useful from the 'noise'.
Of all the lessons, this one still proved somewhat illusive to Una; the words seemed to dance from place to place if she didn't take due care to heed them, and even after Scarlet moved around the placement of the various monitor screens to optimise the more image-based data from the worded, Una still found it difficult to wholly grasp the essential facts in a timely manner - That's why she'd needed cover.
Finding said cover was only the first step, even if it gave her a moment to take everything in. The enemy, who she had at last caught a proper glimpse of, was visually as drab as its compatriots, bar a shining telescope-like lens over its visor face, in line with a long, sleek rifle. Said rifle had now been identified by her own machine's computers:
A high precision weapon, not in any way as powerful as Miss Hoki's experimental type, but still emitting that faint blue shine with each shot, as though signalling the destructive power within.
During her first encounter, she hadn't even spotted this enemy, with it managing to destroy her machine in just a single shot. Still, powerful weapon or not, the enemy was camped on the far side of the room in a prone position, no more than fifty metres away. No another issue had arisen. Put simply, Vijaik combat came down to three primary factors: Pilot skill, machine quality and, of course, 'Power'.
Scarlet had deliberately set the energy level of Una's virtual Vijaik to a minimum to prevent her from abusing the boosters to cover large areas or trying to fire broad barrages of regular fire. As it stood Una found herself now with enough left for one or two more rifle rounds at the most and a short hop of the thrusters.
Neither of which would give her the desired victory.
There was also her arc staff, but getting close enough to the enemy would become the issue, even if that had the highest chance of landing a decisive blow.
Una paused for another few moments, considering all her options while remaining tensely aware that the enemy could at any time, reposition and take her out while she stood simply contemplating.
Checking her equipment with one last cursory glance, Una readied herself for her resolution. Grabbing hold of the wall that had provided her with a short-lived sanctuary, she walked herself around into the open. Half floating, half sprinting, she began her charge forward.
The first step was to release her heavily battered shield. Taking it in one hand, she flung the much-abused object forward with as much accuracy as she could muster.
Finally, she could have sworn a half-smile crossed Scarlet's lips.
The shield did as planned, colliding with an incoming line of cyan, the energy bursting through a burning hole and then out the other side to where Una's Vijaik had stood just moments prior.
A second shot followed quickly, but again Una had prepped herself. The blue-bottle lightning bolt glided straight for the cabin bulkhead only to be intersected by Una's rifle, and after that, her left hand held aloft in front of her torso area.
The bolt quickly dispatched the relatively thin rifle, which burst into a colourful cloud of pulsing light - In turn, the Vijaik soon pounced through the dust cloud with a flourish.
The left arm was next, the continued assault of energy blasts cutting through it like a knife through cardboard.
Finally, the arm relented and fell limp to the Neo-C's side, a tangled mess of exposed cables and leaking hydraulic fluid visible for the world to see.
'Better no arm than dead, right teacher?!'
All that remanded now was her left hand, again crossed against her chest, arc staff still retracted for concealment purposes, held tightly in its large palm. If she lost the arm now, then even if she could cover the distance, the distance that now seemed so excruciatingly little, she'd have no means of attack left to hit with.
Una held her breath but not out of fear this time; instead, a wave of excitement seemed to wash over her, anticipation even. Every second felt long but in an exhilarating fashion, waiting each moment to see how many more steps she could take before the enemy could fire again.
And of course, it did fire again.
The arc made its way across at the usual blistering pace, but before it could burn through her remaining arm, Una made one more split-second decision; she lowered the arm.
A genuine grin now covered Scarlet's face and while she couldn't know it, so too did one cross Una's own.
'This time, for sure!'
More than just sirens abounded through the cockpit. A large diagram appeared on the second biggest monitor - Displaying a 3D chicken-wire diagram of the cabin bulkhead, of the faint cyan line slowly burning its way through, of the single word written in the space behind the large bulkhead - 'Pilot'.
They had learned it all before, Una knew deep down most of this training was just to relearn what three months confined to a barracks and a lack of practical experience out in the field of battle had robbed from her. To refine what eight months of training, where she had never quite been able to reach her full potential, should have taught her - She knew really it was just a simulator, that real combat would be so much more brutal and far more dangerous - And yet the adrenaline flowed.
Stopping bare inches from the crew cabin (if the diagram was to be believed), the blue projectile came to a halt, its power spent.
The sniper, now only metres away, began to move, but it was far too late. The AI opponent must have calculated its chances of destroying Una to be better by firing until the very end in its current position rather than trying to move while she had been mid-charge.
That decision would cost it the battle.
Flooring whatever spare power still remained into the surviving arm's hydraulics and the downwards thrusters, Una's machine finally made it past the face-down enemy, skidding to a halt against the metal ground beneath as sparks flew - Her arc-staff unfurling elegantly and igniting into a colourful red glow of its own. She planted one foot firmly on the waist swivel of the enemy, who desperately tried to move out of reach.
Now effectively pinned to the floor, Una, with just one weapon and one arm left, rammed the blazing quarter-staff down with an almighty force straight through the back of the enemy cabin. The grey mecha writhed violently for a passing moment, its hands clawed for leverage, reaching out for the staff piercing it - The head jittering grossly, all as though trying to climb up the length of the energy conduit cleaving it in two - Before finally, the fourth enemy succumbed to its impaling and slid limply to the ground as the life left its mechanical body.
The battle was won.
Simulation Over Party A - (Rookie / 1st Crewman O' Conchabhair) - Successful
Una felt her whole body go light as she collapsed back into her chair, a feeling of relief and exhaustion lapping over her in tidal waves. She looked up with an air of hope at her ever-watchful observer. There she stood, a week or even fourteen days isn't that long a time, not really, and yet there stood The Scarlet Scourge.
Not the overly menacing pirate or the brash and ill-mannered woman, but now, somehow, her ad-hoc tutor. There she was, a reassuring presence despite all the extensive out-of-hours training - All with a massive, wolfish grin plastered on her face - And for the first time, Una knew that grin was not for Scarlet herself but instead meant as unequivocal praise for Una's first big achievement.
"Not bad girly, although I don't remember teaching you to throw your weapons around like that. Still, not bad."
As she spoke, Scarlet nodded her grinning head at the monitor once more;
Pilot Rank Statistics, Call-sign Displayed; - 'Rookie' +250, Rank Increase From 'D-' to 'D'
Una could only smile in relief and just a tiny bit of pride - From ear to ear.
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