The overseer silently ends the call with his superiors, hearing the instructors come back from the observation room. The Cadets just have finished their run. He briefly wonders how they did, but pushes the thought from his mind. One more week and they can send an Inquisitor that they’ve turned to their cause.

The Royal auditors known as Inquisitors are a hard bunch, but they do have weaknesses. Someone has found this one’s and recruited them to help eliminate the General through forced retirement, giving the Aristocracy control of his Mecha.

As the overseer ends his call, General Tennant begins one of his own.

“Move up the schedule, use my Command Codes if necessary. We’re leaving today.”

Cadets Nico and Max were doing the final checks before returning their borrowed Corvette Class Mecha to the Academy Armory. Both were in high spirits, laughing with each other while they ran the diagnostic scans, finding nothing wrong but a bit of depleted fuel and some added dirt.

“Hey Nico, what do you think this field trip will be like? Will we just be observing? Do you think they’ll let us do live training with the crew?” Max asked, excitedly going through the notification of a 6 month off world field trip with General Tennant that he had just received._.

“I’m sure there will be Training. Can you imagine General Tennant letting a Cadet slack for an entire 6 month tour? That’s just crazy talk. I’ll bet if there’s a patrol in a safe environment he might even let us off the ship.”

For Special Forces Cadets in their final year of basic training, as the seventh year classes were, that was how these rare practical experience fields trips usually went, according to the Academy’s publicly available information. Training on board, then patrols on an uninhabited moon somewhere before returning to brag of their experience and begin their final semesters.

Not every graduating class even got to do one though, their planet was too low priority to get approval for annual excursions using a ship of the fleet.

The scheduled trip was to take them plus the graduating Special Forces Class to a feral world, on a mission to clear a location for a settlement. Heavy lifting inside their Mecha all day long, with a chance to get the top performing Cadets inside modified Crusader Class chassis designed for heavy lifting and military infrastructure under the Engineering Department. They were fitted with two hands instead of solid mounted weapons, making them perfect for heavy infrastructure projects.

Though the Cadets didn’t yet know it, that plan was now scrapped. General Tennant’s worries about a coup pushed him to move forward his departure, putting them all off world should things turn violent as suddenly as he predicted.

Just before sunset, General Tennant got the news he had been waiting for. The 42nd armored Mecha battalion is passing by their star system and will be headed out tonight on an emergency deployment to cover for a patrol ship damaged in a border skirmish so the other vessel can be put in dry dock.

The sound of the giant landing craft awakens every student in the Academy. All eager to see what it might be bringing. Are they bringing a group of retired veterans home? Is the Academy getting another dignitary with his own Mecha like General Tennant?

Nico and Max have just reached the window closest to the lander when the door to the training area opens from outside.

“You’ve got 5 minutes to pack and meet at the lander. Our patrol has been moved up.” The General informs them. Fortunately, as Cadets, everything they own still fits in the issued rucksack.

They dump the contents of their lockers into the bags and run out the door and across the Academy lawn towards the landing craft, where Shining Darkness now stands awaiting the loading crane and the Special Forces Cadets are running from their barracks.

The loading process is simpler than any of the Cadets had expected. The huge Phalanx Class Mecha is too large to just walk up the loading ramp into the lander, so instead cables are attached to mounts on its shoulders by flying drones.

The General parked the Mecha crouched down, like he was going to sit in the grass and the crane on the lander, more often used to retrieve disabled Mecha, simply picked the Shining Darkness up and placed it inside. Once there, the cables detached and the mecha was moved to a more stable stance in its berth near the center of the lander.

Flight crew explained the protocols and procedures for takeoff while they were showing them where to stow their gear in the Mecha pilots area.

“Top qualification?” The crewman working the storage area asks when the Cadets arrive.

“Both of us are qualified on the Corvette Class Mecha, Sargeant.” Max answers.

The Sargeant smiles and leads them to a pair of lockers, full height and double width. Every Cadet knew, in theory, that advanced pilots got preferential treatment within the military, but even getting more storage space when they’re picked up for transport? That’s just pure luxury.

“Permission to ask questions Sargeant?” Cadet Max asks.

“Certainly Pilot Max. Ask away, I’ll answer what I can. No need to stand on formality.”

“If Cadets with pilot ratings are treated this well, Just how good does the general have it?”

The Sargeant laughs, the corners of his eyes crinkled in mirth. “Ranking officers like him get their own sitting room. It’s got chests twice the size of your locker, but nobody’s stopping them from using more than one if they desire.”

Both Max and Nico chuckle at the animated way the man talks, clearly not used to interacting with Cadets, and torn between treating them by their military rank or their official status as technically still being civilians until their swearing in ceremony.

“Thank You Sargeant.” The man who brought them here nods. “Now, if you will, Cadets, it’s time to buckle in for departure.”

Cadet Nico takes the opportunity to discretely scan the tablet in the crewman’s hands. Nothing fun or important in it, just a protocol tablet with the guest list. She already knew there were 15 of them boarding, but she did learn that Mecha pilots actually had a specified and regulated set of privileges that weren’t just hero worship.

Cadet Nico retracted her Innate Talent as they reached their seats and buckled in for launch. 6 months until they come back, if everything goes to schedule. Hopefully there’s communication allowed on board the patrol ship, so she can talk to her parents before they return.

The moment he straps himself into the safety harness, Max is filled with excitement he can’t explain, the simple act of leaving the planet brings him joy.

The Special Forces Cadets are no less excited, they never expected that they’d get to go on a full tour field trip, the General didn’t tell anyone until the notifications were sent to dorm rooms and training Mecha just this afternoon.