While Max and Nico sleep off their most recent changes General Tennant comes back with food and a change of clothes for them. Fortunately for him, the Academy had all the necessary pins and badges in stock, so the new coveralls are ready to go with their new Line Mecha Certification badge and Special Forces Cadet designations attached as well as the name tags. The commissary got him a full set of new uniforms; dress, casual and coveralls for his students, plus base layers and under shirts, all before dinner was ready.

Waking up to food and properly fitting clothes put them both in a great mood, the fact that they started their break in the morning was even better. The only question was if they were actually going to be able to leave the academy at all this break, having gotten a special early leave for the last one, and having started training under the intense General Tennant now.

General Tennant could easily guess at the questions that they had, and their concerns were well founded. Special Forces Cadets weren’t allowed to leave the academy except between years, for fear of data leaks or kidnappings happening if enemy forces should find out that they were unprotected.

Instead he had come up with a fun little field trip for them. An escorted mission to the forests along with the senior students who had also qualified on the Line Mecha already. There was very little danger to a patrol on Kepler Terminus, being so far out from the front lines of the war, or even from the majority of the inhabited planets of the Empire._.

The mission doesn’t leave until the next morning though, so they’ve got time to familiarize themselves with the actual mecha that the Academy has on hand for students. For the mission, they will be carrying light weapons only, as the Cadets aren’t cleared to carry heavy armaments in public spaces until they’ve graduated and officially entered the Military.

That’s hardly a loss to Max though, as simply getting to pilot an actual mecha, outside of School grounds is more than enough for him.

The Shining Darkness won’t be coming along, nor will General Tennant, citing the need to prepare for the upcoming Semester’s training while the students are out on their overnight field trip. One day out, overnight watches, then back to the academy.

Colonel Black will be leading the Special Units Mission Training as it’s officially called, along with two government observers in Crusader Class Mecha. In total there are fifty qualified students going along on the trip, a number few Primary Academies in the Empire could boast, but fairly standard for a combat patrol.

The mecha that Max and Nico have been assigned are the leftovers that nobody else on the mission wanted, the older and more beat up units from the Academy inventory, but according to Colonel Black and the Senior Year advanced mechanics class, they check out as fully combat capable. They just need a little refresh and some exterior paint to be good as new.

Everything that they should need for the mission has already been loaded inside by the logistics class and double checked, but General Tennant has them go over everything again, and double check all systems, then their ammunition levels, despite only being issued a single power cell for the Ion Rifles.

They can be recharged off the Mecha’s power core if they’re depleted, but without a spare cell or a hardwired connection like the heavier Ion Cannons, that leaves them without any form of weapon for hours at a time, should they actually need to use the rifle.

They don’t expect to, but General Tennant is a pessimist to the core, and highly suspicious of the motivations of the Government observers. There have been whispers that the bureaucrats might be intending to stage a soft takeover of the government, getting all senior military elements and Pilots of Phalanx Class Mecha on their side to take practical control of the government despite the Imperial family having technical authority.

The Shining Darkness has been with his family since before the Empire existed, and the Phalanx Class Pilots swear loyalty directly to the Emperor, not to the bureaucracy that runs things on the day to day. Right now, that serves as a balance against corruption, but if the bureaucrats controlled the Phalanx Class Mecha, there really wouldn’t be anyone to stop them from taking over.

The Military views the Phalanx Class units as their natural leaders, if they turned against the Empire, the entire Military would most likely follow. Just short of three centuries ago, when the Kepler Empire was founded from a collection of independent systems, it was the Titan Class Glory of Sol and an assembled force of Phalanx Class Mecha that upheld their declaration of unity. The military has not forgotten their heroes.

Keeping the safety of his potential successors in mind, the General also equips the Line Mecha assigned to Max and Nico with a sword each, since Academy regulations don’t allow him to requisition more ammunition for them.

That should at least give them a fighting chance if something does go wrong and the patrol is ambushed. It should also be a surprise to anyone who goes against them, as they haven’t openly used close combat weapons while under observation.

Everything checks out for the trip, so he escorts them to the back of the pack, where the Colonel welcomes the two young prodigies to the patrol, then sends them the radio channels and encryption codes for the mission.

If anyone in the government knew of the General’s suspicions they would call him a conspiracy theorist, and possibly question his suitability to continue as the Pilot of the Shining Darkness at all, which ironically would prove him right. But he keeps his thoughts strictly to himself, using an ability gained from his system to hide the wayward suspicions from even Cadet Max and his mind reading.

The presence of the two additional Cadets doesn’t attract much attention from the others, as everyone is known only by Mecha number during the patrol for ease of Communication. Max has Mecha A16 and Nico picked unit A86, declaring that the seat was the most comfortable. They are technically identical, but in an older unit, they can be worn out in different ways, and Nico is just barely within height parameters for the pilot’s compartment.

“Mission, fall in. We leave in 3 minutes.” Colonel Black declares and all the friendly banter over the radio ceases, the Cadets getting mentally prepared for what will be the first real patrol for all of them.

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