I pulled the platoon datapad out and set it on the table.
"Alright. Schedule first."
I tapped the screen. The week's allocation appeared — a calendar grid with the taken slots in dark blue and the open slots in pale grey. There were still mandatory slots on the calendar: morning drill at 0600, simulation slot with Okafor at 0800, and academics at 1300 with Kael. Meaning that we had around three slots to work as a platoon. One after the morning simulation and before lunch, then two slots after academics.
"Huh."
Miller leaned over to look. "What?"
"There's more open time than I thought there'd be."
Osei pulled his own datapad up. "Correct, there are no longer dedicated slots towards combat and cultivation. This is to allow platoon leaders to instil their own philosophy and doctrine for their platoon."
"But slots in dedicated spaces such as the simulation rooms are first come, first serve," I said.
"Correct again. Forty platoons are booking the same daily slots. The morning and late-evening slots fill up first. Mid-day stays open longer. If you want a specific time, book it now."
I scrolled through the week.
All of today's dedicated simulation slots were already gone, booked by other platoons. Monday and Tuesday slots were filling up as we spoke, while Wednesday was still mostly open.
I tapped on my datapad several times, filling up our schedule with mostly training yard times and a handful of simulation sessions. The slots turned dark blue on my screen.
"That's us booked for the week, tomorrow we have an extra simulation slot in the morning and training yard F for the whole afternoon and evening."
"What will we be using them for?" Osei asked.
"Tomorrow morning's simulation will be standard drills under Okafor, then after we're done there, we will be practising what we learned further. The afternoon slot will be to teach some of the platoon Ether Strike, combat drills and cultivation."
"Ether Strike?" Miller asked.
"Yeah, it's a strike that's infused with Ether. Allows you to deal damage more than your Strength stat would suggest."
"Yes, we know what it is, but that's a system skill," Osei said. "You can't teach a system skill."
"You can learn a technique outside the system, I mean, you can control Ether naturally, right? I managed to learn it entirely outside the system. Surely you should be able to as well. But don't worry, learning it is not mandatory, it'll be an option for people to learn as well as train normally."
Osei frowned, deep in thought.
"So, we're going to try and learn an entirely new skill just after we gained our frameworks and subsequent skills?" Miller pinched the bridge of his nose. "How many do you think can learn it in time?"
"Realistically? Three, maybe four. Though if we get Ren to help, it might speed it up."
"Huh? Why me?" Ren asked.
"You have the highest Perception and Ether Sensitivity, not to mention your deviation. You can see and understand the flow of the technique better than anyone. I'll be counting on you."
"Oh… Ok."
"Is it even going to be worth all the effort to just teach a couple of people Ether Strike? Wouldn't it be better to focus on skill XP?" Miller asked.
I turned to Tomás, and his eyes turned almost glossy.
"Cost to benefit seemingly favours benefit," Tomás said, giving me a thumbs up.
"There you have it. But if it does become unviable or Tomás says it won't work, we will stop training it and focus on other matters."
Miller narrowed his eyes at me as he drummed his fingers across the table.
"Just beca—" He paused, composing himself. "Sure, fine, whatever. Let's give it a go, Rabbit."
I nodded and turned towards Osei.
"If you think it's best," he responded.
"Alright then, approved. Let's run the session tomorrow afternoon," I said as I stood from the table. "Alright, that's the first meeting done. I expect to see everyone cultivating in the bunks tonight. Dismissed."
The next morning came at us hard and fast. The entire platoon had cultivated in a joint session overnight, and we were running a little low on sleep, but our higher Vitality stats kept us going without interference.
We finished up our morning drill and exercises quickly. The time we had at breakfast was short, and we shovelled down our paste to start cultivating as soon as possible.
After breakfast was the first simulation slot of the day. Okafor led us as we loaded into the pods.
The simulated terrain was a mid-elevation valley, with a dense tree line on the western ridge and an objective marker at the valley's far end.
"Anvil formation. Positions." Okafor called.
We moved, and I immediately felt a presence push against the inside of my skull.
Is that Osei?
I felt a positive confirmation pass through the new link and immediately had a mental picture of where I should be in the formation. I moved to it quickly.
"That's a neat trick there, Osei. No wonder you kicked everyone's ass in phase one of the exhibition," I said over the commlink.
"Clear comms," Okafor ordered.
Vanguard took the front under Miller with Briggs at his right shoulder. The rest of his squad, which was comprised of six of his old clique plus four of Osei's network, and Hsu slotted into the line behind him. Flanking spread to the right wing under me. Jin took point, with Andrew anchoring the rear flank. Sato and Ripley took positions at the centre, with two more pilots filling the squad. Support held the rear under Osei, with Tomás and Ren, and one other from Osei's old squad.
A marker appeared in front of us.
"Engagement begins, run the formation," Okafor ordered over the comms.
"Sensor sweep, Ren," I ordered.
"Scanning."
"Hostile force at the centre of that marker, nothing else in the surrounding area. We're clear for engagement."
"Tomás?"
"Good to go." He replied.
"Osei?"
"Shift Vanguard right on my mark."
Four seconds passed in silence.
The link command went out, reaching our minds before it came through the commlink.
"Mark."
The Vanguard squad shifted right, while the flanking element received movement orders to slide right and follow the main force.
We pushed up as a unit until the Vanguard hit their main position. I took the flanking unit around and hit the marker at the back, completing the typical hammer and anvil.
"Repeat," Okafor called.
We pulled back and regrouped at the start position.
"Xander, Jane. Your relays are running out of sync. Sync to mine, not to each other."
"Copy." Two people called out over the link.
"Let's run it again, same as last time. Let's get this down to a science."
We ran it again, and this time it was a bit better. We moved quickly and smoothly across the ground, reaching our target quickly and enveloping them once again.
"Reset."
We came back to the start and re-ran it again and again. After the time slot was up, Vera's voice came through the commlink.
"Engagement complete. Best time to objective: fifty-three seconds."
"Where are we ranked on that today?" I asked
"Bottom third for timing. Top quartile for coordination." Vera called.
"Not good enough, we run it again," Miller said.
And so we did, we ran it till we got sick of it, then ran it some more. It took almost the entire second slot before we were comfortable with the result, and we used the rest of the time to practice some basic sparring.
The lunch crowd was quite large; the full barracks, platoon, and a couple of others were all present.
The platoon ate in three loose clusters that overlapped at the edges. Vanguard had taken over the long table at the back. Support was at a circular table near the centre. Flanking had spread across two adjacent tables and a few stragglers. The boundaries weren't clean, and people moved between groups, comparing notes from the morning session, arguing about which formation runs had been good and which had been sloppy.
Sato was holding court at the Flanking table, I moved over to it and sat down with my paste.
"—I'm telling you, Miller's third-rank pilot. What's his name, Yulin? — he ate that hit. He just ate it. Vitality stat must be sitting at like forty-five or something crazy," Sato said, waving his fork in the air.
"Forty-three," Tomás said from the next table without looking up from his notepad.
Sato pointed his fork at Tomás. "Forty-three. Forty-damn-three. That's a damn brick wall. We need to put him on point next time."
"He's already on point," Hsu said.
"Then he needs to be more on point."
Hsu sighed. "I will hit you."
Jin sat down across from me, and Ripley followed, sitting next to her.
"Commander." Ripley nodded once.
"Ripley, welcome to the platoon. It's a pleasure to have you."
"Glad to be here." She said noncommittally and started on her paste.
Ripley had spent six months under Osei, and now she was in my squad. The question of where her loyalty actually sat was a real one, and Jin seemed to echo my sentiment, sending glances my way.
I'll worry about it later. The platoon needs to learn how to function before I can worry about fringe elements.
"Afternoon's the Ether Strike session," I said. "Ready yourselves, it can be a brutal technique to learn."
"Wait, you can use Ether strike?" Sato asked, his eyes glinting.
"You weren't listening to the platoon leaders' meeting?" I asked.
"I kind of zoned out after the speech."
"I landed one yesterday. It was only once, and badly. But yes." I sighed.
Sato's eyes lit up. "I want in."
"Okay."
"Like, immediately in. First in line."
"Okay, Sato."
"Who else is in?" Sato asked.
"Not sure on the specific people yet, but everyone will get a chance to learn it if they want. It's more for those who have some points in Ether Control and are melee focused."
Hsu shrugged. "I'll watch. Probably won't try this week."
"There's no pressure, but after you see it in action, you might change your mind," I said with a wink.