Phoenix Rising, part four.
Sandhurst military academy, British Isles, Terra.
Aidan followed Adapt Clearwater through the massive Mech hangers near the academy proving grounds. Almost every BattleMech ever built was represented in the cavernous building, from an original run Mackie to a state-of-the- art Clan Warhawk OmniMech, Aidan had never seen some many Mech's in one place.
Clearwater stopped in front of a bay containing a star of Clan OmniMech's. There was a Mad Dog, a Hellbringer, a Sommoner, a Timber Wolf and a Gargoyle. Clearwater turned to his charge "These are the Mech's from which you can choose. They are the only fully functional Clan Mech's we have that are un-assigned. You can take your pick of Inner Sphere models, but I thought you would want a Clan Mech."
Aidan walked backwards and forth along the line, finely stopping in front the Hellbringer "I will take this one. What weapons configuration is it set to?" Clearwater tapped some commands into his note-puter "According to our records, it is currently in the primary configuration. We can have it changed to any you like, or, if you wish, you can customise it." Aidan shook his head "Neg, the primary configuration is fine by me. When can I take it out for a test run?"
Clearwater shrugged "Now if you wish sir. I will inform the range-master and get into my Cataphract and join you." The Adapt walked towards a small office at the end of the building and retuned with a pair of neural-helmets "We never leave neural-helmets in a Mech. We have had occasions where drunk of depressed cadets have tried to steal a Mech and go for a trip into town. We lost a Star League ere-Atlas to that a few years back. We had to destroy it before it did too much damage. In the end we had to send an entire assault-company after it."
Clearwater despaired off into the maze of Mech's. Aidan climbed up into the cockpit of his new Mech and started it up. The security system had been disabled, but without a neural-helmet, it would be impossible to get the Mech to do anything but fall over. He felt the same thrill when the Mech's fusion reactor started up as he did the first time he sat in a Mech, decades ago on Ironhold.
A Tech with a pair of eliminated wands directed him to the exit to the proving grounds. Clearwater was already there in his CTF-3D Cataphract. His ever-calm voice came over the radio "Ok, there are a series of targets, some show up in only inferred, some only on your Mech's sensors. The idea is to get cadets used to using more than just their eyes to aim with. The range-master has set it to the highest level of difficulty. We will be going through a holographic re-creation of the attack on Unity City by the Star League under General Kerensky. I often wonder where the range-master gets such a strange séance of humour. Ok, let us begin."
Two hours later, and Aidan was mentally and physically exhorted. The simulation had been the closet he had ever been to real combat without the danger of being killed. He sat on his Hellbringers foot and let the sweat poor off. Clearwater walked over with two bottles of electrolyte-rich sports drink, on of which he handed to the former Clan warrior "They taste like warm-piss, but they help." Aidan took a sip, and agreed that the taste did leave a lot to be desired.
Clearwater sat down next to him "So, Demi-Precentor Pryde sir, what are you going to teach our young cadets?" Aidan had to think for a minuet "I will have to start with simple Clan tactics, then move on to Clan Trials and rituals, give them a well rounded understanding of the Clans."
Clearwater looked round to make sure that none was listening "Be careful around the more religious types. Some things have changed in ComStar, but some of the people have not. Their are groups that do not like the fact that ComStar failed to take over the Inner Sphere. They can be dangerous." With that, the Adapt walked off to the showers, leaving Aidan with his thoughts.
Sandhurst military academy, British Isles, Terra.
Aidan followed Adapt Clearwater through the massive Mech hangers near the academy proving grounds. Almost every BattleMech ever built was represented in the cavernous building, from an original run Mackie to a state-of-the- art Clan Warhawk OmniMech, Aidan had never seen some many Mech's in one place.
Clearwater stopped in front of a bay containing a star of Clan OmniMech's. There was a Mad Dog, a Hellbringer, a Sommoner, a Timber Wolf and a Gargoyle. Clearwater turned to his charge "These are the Mech's from which you can choose. They are the only fully functional Clan Mech's we have that are un-assigned. You can take your pick of Inner Sphere models, but I thought you would want a Clan Mech."
Aidan walked backwards and forth along the line, finely stopping in front the Hellbringer "I will take this one. What weapons configuration is it set to?" Clearwater tapped some commands into his note-puter "According to our records, it is currently in the primary configuration. We can have it changed to any you like, or, if you wish, you can customise it." Aidan shook his head "Neg, the primary configuration is fine by me. When can I take it out for a test run?"
Clearwater shrugged "Now if you wish sir. I will inform the range-master and get into my Cataphract and join you." The Adapt walked towards a small office at the end of the building and retuned with a pair of neural-helmets "We never leave neural-helmets in a Mech. We have had occasions where drunk of depressed cadets have tried to steal a Mech and go for a trip into town. We lost a Star League ere-Atlas to that a few years back. We had to destroy it before it did too much damage. In the end we had to send an entire assault-company after it."
Clearwater despaired off into the maze of Mech's. Aidan climbed up into the cockpit of his new Mech and started it up. The security system had been disabled, but without a neural-helmet, it would be impossible to get the Mech to do anything but fall over. He felt the same thrill when the Mech's fusion reactor started up as he did the first time he sat in a Mech, decades ago on Ironhold.
A Tech with a pair of eliminated wands directed him to the exit to the proving grounds. Clearwater was already there in his CTF-3D Cataphract. His ever-calm voice came over the radio "Ok, there are a series of targets, some show up in only inferred, some only on your Mech's sensors. The idea is to get cadets used to using more than just their eyes to aim with. The range-master has set it to the highest level of difficulty. We will be going through a holographic re-creation of the attack on Unity City by the Star League under General Kerensky. I often wonder where the range-master gets such a strange séance of humour. Ok, let us begin."
Two hours later, and Aidan was mentally and physically exhorted. The simulation had been the closet he had ever been to real combat without the danger of being killed. He sat on his Hellbringers foot and let the sweat poor off. Clearwater walked over with two bottles of electrolyte-rich sports drink, on of which he handed to the former Clan warrior "They taste like warm-piss, but they help." Aidan took a sip, and agreed that the taste did leave a lot to be desired.
Clearwater sat down next to him "So, Demi-Precentor Pryde sir, what are you going to teach our young cadets?" Aidan had to think for a minuet "I will have to start with simple Clan tactics, then move on to Clan Trials and rituals, give them a well rounded understanding of the Clans."
Clearwater looked round to make sure that none was listening "Be careful around the more religious types. Some things have changed in ComStar, but some of the people have not. Their are groups that do not like the fact that ComStar failed to take over the Inner Sphere. They can be dangerous." With that, the Adapt walked off to the showers, leaving Aidan with his thoughts.