For the first simulation run, she’d selected two squads of five rebels. One was composed of her, Hind, Jock, Dakota and Biyu, the other was composed of new recruits. It was going to be hard on the new recruits, and she planned on doing this with all of the knights.

People tended to view mecha as god-like machines which would save them from all but the heaviest of attacks and she needed to disavow them of that as soon as possible. It was completely understandable. A feeling of power like nothing before always overcame her as she strode forward in her suit.

“Okay, listen up. Simple run and gun mission. We have one Ranger, one Destroyer and three Nightmares on both teams. The simulation will give both sides a platoon of infantry. It will feature three squads of ten multi-function infantry and one squad of mecha killers.

“Both teams will start facing each other across a valley. At the start of the simulation, battle will commence. The battle ends with the destruction or incapacitation of all mecha on one side. Are we clear on the terms?”

There was a chorus of ‘roger that’ over the comm. Satisfied that they were ready, and still wondering if she’d pushed the recruits through the mecha familiarisation process a little bit too hastily at Dakota’s request, she started the time.

Watching it count down from ten to one, she used the time to highlight the priority targets for her people. Dakota, in the Destroyer, was to take out the recon immediately, whereas Biyu in the Ranger unit would target the enemy Destroyer. Herself, Hind and Jock would concentrate on the enemy infantry, and their infantry would concentrate on hammering the lead enemy Nightmare. As soon as either the Destroyer or Ranger were destroyed, Biyu and Dakota would turn their fire upon the survivor. Only when those two were definitely out of the fight would they then add their fire to that of the infantry and try to kill the Nightmares. By which point Mai and her trio of Nightmares should have been in position to assist with that as well.

As the counter reached one the eager recruits charged forward, the mecha outstripping the supporting infantry. Dakota opened fire with her powerful lasers, the large beams sending a shower of molten metal from the enemy Ranger mecha, one arm nearly completely sheared off. Its health bar rapidly filled with black.

Biyu fired, her railgun sending a solid slug slamming into the chest of the enemy Destroyer at a speed of just over Mach One. There was a secondary explosion as one of the chest panels exploded, the guided missiles detonating in the intense heat generated by the slug. Tiny figures, infantry too close to the mecha, cartwheeled dozens of paces through the air.

Mai tuned out the triumphant cheers of the other two as she and her squad mates set off at an angle, trying to work their way around the enemy Nightmares. Already the enemy mecha were hundreds of paces away from their infantry, and therefore devoid of any support they might have offered.

Using a rear view camera, Mai watched as her own infantry started to engage the Nightmares at extreme range, their anti-mecha weapons starting to take a light, but telling toll. Bit-by-bit their health bars started to fill with black.

The angle at which Mai and her people were approaching the enemy infantry also meant that the enemy Nightmares were having to present a flank to her infantry. Mecha were always most heavily armoured on the front. The sides were thinner, with the rear being the thinnest by a quarter.

Probably to encourage mecha pilots to face their enemy and not run away, Mai thought as her unit continued to close.

What this meant for the Nightmares was that the hits from Mai’s infantry were starting to take a heavier toll, whilst at the same time they were preventing their own infantry from being able to safely engage Mai and her squad.

“Ranger down!” Dakota screamed in excitement, making Mai practically jump out of her harness. Bullets hammered off the front of her own Nightmare as the enemy Nightmares started firing at her squad.

“Good job Dakota. Nightmares, ignore the incoming mecha fire, concentrate on the infantry. She laid the sights of her weapons on the nearest infantry as they charged forward to stay with the enemy mecha. The recruits had completely neglected to give them any proper orders, and so they were exposed, firing on the run.

Mai’s infantry on the other hand, was well-positioned and continued to pour fire down onto the enemy nightmares.

“Use your loudspeakers! PANIC the enemy!” Despite the basic training they’d done with the mecha before starting the simulation, Mai hadn’t actually tried using the speakers. The effect was stunning. They belched a subsonic wave of sound which couldn’t even be heard, merely felt.

PANIC glyphs appeared above the enemy infantry, and they scattered in all directions. Mai opened fire with her shoulder-mounted tri-barrels, the hot beams slicing and dicing every enemy soldier they hit.

As she was in a simulation she didn’t receive any notifications, just a quick flash of the reticle to indicate a hit, and a brief flash of red to indicate a kill. Within seconds she’d cut down an entire squad of ten enemy infantry.

“Engaging Nightmares now!” Checking her cameras Mai watched as Dakota ripple-fired her guided-missiles, sending four to each of the enemy nightmares, scanning further she saw Biyu take the killing shot on the enemy destroyer, the railgun blasting through the already damaged chest armour and causing catastrophic damage.

Skidding to a halt, Mai dropped to a knee and raked the enemy nightmares with every weapon she had. Yet more incoming fire slammed into them from her infantry platoon. Jock and Hind joined her and once Biyu turned her railgun onto them it was all over in seconds.

“Okay people. Round one to the instructors. Let’s make it the best of three shall we?”

They managed to cycle through three training cadres before Mai called it a day. Each round had seen the recruits swap mechas to see which one their combat style suited the most. After nine battles, Mai was pleasantly pleased with their progress. Training cadre one had recovered from being so badly spanked the first time, and actually fought Mai and her people to a close loss in the third round.

Cadre two had obviously discussed things with cadre one before entering the simulation and had put up an excellent fight, bringing the battle to a close quarters slugging match between the two Destroyers.

Only cadre three had forced a draw when they withdrew their mecha behind their infantry and poured a hail of fire at the instructors. Dakota, being bored with the stalemate had advanced, and so the instructors had been forced to advance as well.

A well-timed ripple from both destroyers, the last mecha on either side still standing, had blown both of them to smithereens within milliseconds of each other. Dakota was still loudly proclaiming that she got the kill first, but Mai was happy to have the cadre claim the draw.

“They did well. We’re going to have one full platoon up and ready to run in no time!”

Mai had decided that each squad of mech would consist of five units, specialities to be decided according to mission requirements. A platoon would consist of three squads, and a command squad, totalling twenty mecha in all.

Which matched the number of mecha the garage could hold at any one time. She didn’t plan on stopping there however, and already had another twenty trainees lined up. Determined to build in redundancy, Mai didn’t want to be caught short if they started to take losses.

“You did well today, Biyu,” she said, tipping a glass at the rebel.

“I’ve not felt so in tune with a mecha before. The stealth capabilities on it are astounding and once I got my ECM into the air, it was all the enemy destroyers could do to hit with a pace.”

“Armour’s a bit light,” remarked Mai.

“And that’s fine. I’ll happily trade it for speed and counter-measures. If it gets to a proper stand up fight, I’ve failed in my task. I’d like to train up my own recon squad. Separate from the rest.”

“A commando?” Mai liked the idea of that.

“Precisely. Backed up by five squads of five recon specialist infantry. One squad to each mecha,” Biyu said, clasping her hands before her.

“Put together a training plan. We’ll review it tomorrow. Right now, I’m bushed.”