“Took you long enough.”

Di’Lotta’s scoff joins the sim’s start-up as the first noises that I hear as I log in.

“For our unit’s first training, we are going to practice doing a site assault mission,” Auclair-Stolz says, pressing past the comment. “In the coming days, it will be important for the war effort that you follow my lead and direction. So equip yourselves with missile pods in addition to your regular armaments.”

Hearing the order, I scan the armaments section, making my way to the bottom to find the disposable missile pods. Glancing between the two options, I select the M1-MP, the weaker of the two but one with plenty of missiles to fire off.

“I am good to go,” I say quickly, assigning the pod to my right arm.

‘There were only two options. How did it take you so long to pick one?” Di’Lotta mocks.

“Focus up,” Acluair-Stolz’s voice cuts through on the coms, cutting off Di’Lotta. “The mission we will be trying out is simple: site destruction. Our target is a generator complex. To get to it, we will have to deal with two ground defense sites, a missile site, and a flak gun. In addition, a single Martian flight will serve as air defense. While I deal with the flight, I expect the two of you to deal with the ground sites. Di’Lotta, you are to eliminate the flak gun and then aid Kizashi if he is unable to eliminate the missile site before you complete your mission. Once you are done, move in to eliminate the site unless I give further orders.”

“Understood,” I reply quickly.

“I’ll make sure to finish quickly so I can bail Kizashi out,” Di’Lotta says, his voice oozing with smug confidence.

With no chance for any rebuttal, the sim shifts from set up to our false battle. Most of the screen is taken up by a simulated void once more. However, this time, joining me in the void are the AGs of Auclair-Stolz and Di’Lotta, as well as rough, misshapen stone. We fly in a small v formation, Auclair-Stolz in the lead and me on the left. Behind Auclair-stolz, I am able to see that the head of his AG is slightly different, having an additional horn that rises from its forehead.

However, I only have a few brief moments to observe the AG before our opponents appear on my sensors. Rising from the stone below them is a hail of bullets and a swarm of missiles.

“Break.”

At the order, the three of us separate, and I dive down to the rocky surface below as I push my thrusters to the limit, the simulated cockpit shaking as I fly. Joining the chaos is a cacophony of beeps as my sensors try to warn me of incoming missiles. My hands fly over the controls as I slam my AG to the side. While it doesn’t free me from the missiles, it allows me a chance to switch over to my Arashi as the missiles wheel around to chase after me.

Wheeling around, I spray a desperate barrage of bullets at the missile swarm. One of my wild shots manages to clip the lead missile, taking it out, but the rest of the swarm keeps on coming, flying right at me. As they come in again, I dodge and weave as best as I can, but I still manage to get clipped by one of the missiles. Fortunately, the layered armor of the left arm is enough to protect the vulnerable servo beneath. I quickly right my AG, pushing my thrusters to recover from the force of the blast, only to watch with annoyance as I see more missiles coming my way.

Moving quickly, I slam the thrusters and charge forward with my shield raised. Training my gun on the swarm, I unload the magazine. Fortune rewards my strategy as my wild shots hit most of the missiles, the few that manage to get through slamming into my shield.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I cast my shield aside and swap over to the Tempete. The hum of the targeting system alerts me to the fact that I have entered into combat range on the missile site. However, the growl of the lock-on is joined by the worrying alarms of enemy lock-ons. Seeing the missiles streaming toward me, I quickly fire my rocket over at the site before shooting upward.

By the barest of centimeters, the missiles stream past me, warning sirens screaming the entire time. As my display lights up in warnings, however, there is a spot of relief as the missile site explodes on my view screen. Target eliminated, I whip around, straining against the simulated pressure of the cockpit, to face off against the missile once more.

Facing down the missiles, I ready my Arashi, jetting up at the last second once again to allow the missiles to pass under me. As they do, I flip around in the air, firing at the missiles as they try to turn. Once again, my shots land true, taking out the missiles and freeing me from my pursuers.

With my target dealt with, I glance over the radar to see that while Di’Lotta looks to have cleared his target, Auclair–Stolz is still dealing with two of the Cockatrices. I take flight, rocketing over to his side as I ready my missile pod. As I charge over to him, I take the time to observe him and his fight. Auclair-Stolz wields the M1 combined weapon, one of the later weapons added to our training.

As implied by the name, the M1 combined weapon was a combination of two armaments: the M2 Autocannon, an improved version of one of the first weapons that was developed for the Ashigaru, the M1 Autocannon, and a variant of the M1 Rocket launcher designed to be an attachment weapon. While I had the chance to test it out in the academy, the fact that the weapon was so cumbersome made me dread using it.

However, Auclair-Stolz has no such qualms. As I charge into range, I watch as he quickly lines up a shot and fires a rocket straight into the body of one of the Cockatrices, taking out the fighter with the shot before turning his gun on the survivor. The two of them trade fire as they circle each other and dance in the sky. However, neither of them manages to land a finishing hit.

Grrrrrrr. The sound of a confirming lock on pulls me out of the battle and back behind my controls. With the lock confirmed and only one enemy remaining, I decide to make sure that I can sink it in one shot if I hit. Flipping through auxiliary controls, I release a salvo of eight, more than enough to sink the fighter if they all find their mark. And with the Cockatrice focused on Auclair-Stolz, they do. The AI pilot doesn’t even have time to dodge as missiles fly in from behind and erase the Cockatrice.

“Decent, but unneeded” Auclair-Stolz. “Your attack was woefully inefficient, and your time would have been better spent targeting the generator as Di’Lotta did.”

As he says that, I see the signature of the generator go dead as a simulated explosion erupts in the distance. The void starts to melt away as the simulation fades out with the mission’s completion.

“Prepare yourself for another round,” Auclair-Stloz commands.

As Auclair-Stolz takes a few seconds to reset the sim, I try to catch my breath. As the sounds of the cockpit die down, I am finally able to hear the sound of my own breathing and heartbeat. However, I’m not left to the silence for long as the sim stirs to life without warning, and I hear Auclair-Stolz’s voice come through once more.

“Same as last time. We will run this till we are perfect.”

The next hour is spent in the sims, running the variations of the same mission over and over. The first couple of times, the mission is the exact same, to the point that I start to memorize my part of the attack. After the sixth time of running the mission, things change slightly, such as both sites becoming missile sites or flak sites or having an additional site.

While the sites being the same isn’t much of a change, though I find the flak much easier to deal with compared to the missiles, the addition of a third site makes things much more difficult. With two sites, we were always able to divide the roles perfectly. When the ground sites were dealt with, we had a moment of rest. However, the third site erases that brief moment, creating a continued moment of stress as I am made to deal with it as Di’lotta takes out the generator.

We continue running the mission, adding additional sites until the sim is an inescapable hell of shells and missiles. We spend hours running that same tortuous route, and by the time we are free, my body is soaked from the heat of the enclosed pod and the stress of the sim.

“We have launch drills around 1400,” Auclair-Stolz announces as we finish up another round. “Make sure you are ready for that. We will meet up in Mech Bay 2 at 1345. Until then, you are free. Clean the sims up before you leave.”

With that, I hear a ping of him breaking the connection between the pods and a faint hiss from outside the sim. Not seeing a reason to rush to clean, I take a moment to breathe and recover, resting in the dim glow of the sim.