Side Story 1: Lessons Learned

A military test between two wildly different machines.

An alarm blared as a large lift carted up an incredibly bulky and blocky looking machine. Multiple leg and arm panels were made up of rectangular armored plates. Large rectangular armored sections hugged the side of its brick like head, leading to a back section which housed multiple thrusters giving it a backpack-like assembly. It's upside down and blocky trapezoidal core stood out proudly. Two large boxes attached themselves to the top of the rear end assembly. Coming in at around 5 meters the machine towered over its maintenance staff who were preparing it for today's test.

"So what'd GA and Cascadia have to say about those results? Gotta be something good since I'm being dragged out against my will again." Came from a brunette French senior commander, her voice groggy as she tiredly sipped away at her first early morning coffee.

"Get good was all they had to say, though that was to be expected. They just resold the brochure to those up top again, how the Solarwind is world renown and all."

"Yeah maybe in their world…"

"It's probably better over there in reality. Solaris is just the Earth knockoff, heard engineering raise hell about the power plant on the way in." Observed a blonde woman in her full dress uniform, sticking out like a sore thumb from the rest of the base who wore their green camo fatigues.

Her head even sported the traditional side cap as a ponytail sprung out from behind. It was an odd sight to the rest of the women who, like the most senior woman in the room, were wearing their normal fatigues.

"Of course they are…No matter how many times we tell them that Cascadia and GA won't sell us the good stuff...sigh...It's like talking to a wall."

Being the sole controller of the hurricane-like vortex that connected Terra and Earth, GA and Cascadia had heavily limited the types of weapons and equipment they sold on Earth. The Solaris, a modified version of GA's wildly popular Solarwind, was purposely designed to be weaker than the machine it was based on. Everything from its powerplant, to weapons and sensors were lower in quality and grade than the actual Solarwind.

Cascadia's precarious presence on Terra as an emerging nation and potential superpower, one that was climbing itself out of the post apocalypse, had meant that they refused to allow significantly advanced technology onto Earth. Having already had enough troubles on Terra, the last thing they needed was a conventional Earth force that could challenge them by using the very same weapons they sold them. A two front war was the last thing GA or Cascadia desired. Most of the technology that was sold was often inferior to the design it was based off of, Terran corporations were more than happy to oblige with Cascadia's request given that they now had an entire new production line that essentially sold modified and worse versions of existing technologies. With two planetary markets, and only a slight production difference in manufacturing, most companies were more than content to keep shut and not anger the sole controller of the vortex that led to Earth.

Slowly the large machine began to walk across the massive hangar bay as the opened doors revealed an even bigger testing/proving ground. A large green field with some forest clusters dotted itself across the huge area, multiple rivers and land formations were sprawled about giving a diverse area to test France's latest weapons. An early morning sun peeked through the slowly parting thick white clouds.

"Not having access to a proper powerplant and normal equipment is a serious limitation. I get it though, most nations would be wary of selling their shiny new toys to potential enemies." The uniformed blonde added back in support.

"You can blame Japan for that, not like the rest of the world was sitting down and actively stealing Cascadian tech. Ruined it for the rest of us."

"Well...They were the only ones to get caught. I'd say the IS more than made up for it though."

Turning her head to face her sharply and blue dressed junior, the senior officer in fatigues just squinted slightly in disapproval while finishing her styrofoam cup of coffee.

"That only made them more distrustful, and increased the quality gap between what they sell us and what they actually have. Plus that dumb Alaska Treaty ruins everything, if there's ever a war we'll be stuck fielding the damn knockoffs." The senior brunette complained, her legs cursing her for making her move so much in the early morning.

"That treaty applies to everyone, so we're all in the same boat."

"Everyone but the damn Cascadians, if anything that treaty puts us in a worse situation than if they weren't part of it or if that useless paper never existed in the first place."

"They get the top tier equipment while we get the knockoff scraps, and we can't even field our only trump card if there's war. Talk about a self-inflicted handicap."

"The Cassie's nuclear hellfire speech seemed to scare the rest of the world into letting them in. Not like it matters, they had their hands on cores before joining anyways."

"Well, it's not as if the treaty matters when the war goes hot."

Interrupting the two officers, another woman in fatigues approached and gently stood at attention. Directing her attention to the younger woman, the most senior officer in the room extended her hand and traded her empty coffee cup for the clipboard in her junior's hand.

"Get me another please." She gently commanded as the woman before her scampered off for the first of many refills.

"What forsaken post did they pull this poor soul from…Truly out here wasting my time out here with this Louise." The brunette continued as she scanned the clipboard in her hand.

Angling the clipboard, she shot the cursory information about their newest test pilot to the overdressed officer next to her.

"Uh...That is certainly a bold choice. At least this'll be quicker than last time." Came from the blonde of Louise as she scanned the pilot's information before settling on a picture.

"Hey if you squint hard enough, he's just your type Marianne. It's about time you get back in the field, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to wine and dine." She lightly jested, her comment drawing hidden smiles from the other women pouring through the computers in the control room.

"Oh yes, I can't wait to get cheated on again." The brunette career officer sarcastically dropped, choosing to keep up the light hearted atmosphere of the room despite the sore topic.

Recovery on standby.

A voice beamed through the intercom.

Attention all personnel, combat testing will commence shortly. All non participating personnel on the field please return to your designated posts.

The voice repeated the warning a few more times as more alarms began to sound throughout the base and proving grounds.

Flipping through the clipboard Louise found the rest of the Normal pilots, as well as their opponent for the day's test match. Her face frowned slightly when she saw the team composition for today's events.

"He's the only man on the entire battlefield… Everyone on BluFor can use the AFS except for their squadron leader. This is going to be a slaughter."

"FORAD's stacked with top Dunois suits and pilots. This entire thing is a sham and a waste of money." Marianne remarked idly as she looked around the room for the woman who had yet to return with her next coffee.

"Dunois and GA are covering the costs for today's exercise, it says here they hand picked him, wanted someone who couldn't be influenced by the AFS." Louise remarked dryly as she pulled up and projected blueprints up on the glass screen in front of her.

The wait for both the squad of Normals and IS pilots to get into positions for the combat exercise greatly bored her.

"Wow they really butchered the cockpit, I can't imagine having to read and manually process all that data in such a tight space...Not going to be fun when he's getting rained on." Marianne squinted as she observed the cockpit that once housed an AFS suite, now clumsily replaced with it's full manual equivalent.

"Should have had a woman lead, but you know how Terran's are when it comes to the AFS."

Given that Terrans had no compatibility with the AFS, all major Terran corporations refused to build products that integrated the AFS system natively. For them it would have been an unnecessary step in their production line. Adding to the complexity was the fact that most new AFS military hardware was highly classified. The burden of marrying the AFS with whatever Terran tech they had just bought was left up to the buyer, often resulting in complicated solutions that were nearly impossible to reverse.

"FORAD ready." Came from a woman with a heavy southern French accent over a radio, the message relayed into the intercom of the Operations Room.

FORAD's IS suits were the Dunois Mirage Revive Basic Block 1s. Dunois Systems exploded onto the international stage ever since the introduction of the IS, dethroning Dassault Aviation of its spot as France's number one aviation and military hardware company. The Revive Block 1's served as the first production version of France's IS defensive forces, as well as the testbed for their Block 2 Revive that would be used at the first upcoming Mondo Grosso.

Compared to whatever the rest of the world was doing, in terms of mass armament and readiness, France was at the forefront of military IS armament. If France went to an IS war immediately, they were nearly guaranteed victory given the sheer flexibility and amount of Revives they could field. Even Japan, home of the IS, couldn't compete on the same scale as France.

Rapid typing filled the air as rows of women hastened their pace. Moments later the distinct sound of a young Frenchman's voice came over the intercom confirming that his squad was ready, his northern accent didn't pronounce the words as harshly as his southern IS counterpart.

There were quite a lot of differences on the testing grounds today, from the pilots themselves to doctrine. Almost everything was in stark contrast to each other, even the teams themselves couldn't call themselves uniform or as one, especially the Normals who were led by a man today.

Check lights lit up on a computer indicating that the cameras and drones sent to observe the exercise reported that their diagnostic tests were all in the green. Multiple windows popped up on a large screen, at the center was a large aerial view of the testing field. Surrounding the aerial shots were multiple live feeds of different terrain and spots for the tests.

One shot displayed a squadron of five full grey Revive Block 1's, all but one was armed with a submachine gun and a grenade launcher. The odd one out had a heavy machine gun, along with a heavy shoulder slung cannon for fire support. Despite the aerial capabilities of the IS, France's IS fireteams still mimicked their infantry squad counterparts which usually centered around a machine gun. A fully codified and unified doctrine had yet to arise for IS military forces globally, every country and think tank had their own views on how the IS should be fielded for military use.

Contrasting the video feed, another shot displayed a squad of five large French Solaris Normals, a derivative of GA's Solarwind series. Draped in a yellowish tan with black highlights, they largely still resembled their out of the box configuration. Like their IS counterparts they too were designed around a central support element, while the rest were standardized. While they may have been armed differently, all five machines were the exact same as the beast that had lumbered out of the hangar earlier. Four of them were armed with large back mounted missile pods, one on the right and left of the large machine's back. The rectangular launch system was parallel to the machine's back.

"Vertical launch missiles, didn't know we were able to finally make simunitions for those." The senior officer noted as she looked at the dual missile launchers that protruded out from the back of the Normals.

"Spread types if I'm not mistaken, and they're all armed with bazookas as well. That's a lot of explosive firepower." Louise added as she squinted to get a better look at the cylindrical bazooka-like launcher that all four had in their right arm.

The Solaris' fingers wrapped tightly around a trigger assembly that extended from the bottom of a long tube; a top mounted boxy magazine housed multiple rounds. The large caliber bazooka closely resembled its GA counterpart that one would normally find on a Solarwind. Unlike their Earth counterparts, Terran heavy bazookas affixed to a Normal were held like standard firearms in the hands instead of slung over a machine's shoulder.

On the left arm was an arm mounted automatic cannon assembly that was essentially bolted and strapped to the arm of the Solaris itself. It's trigger assembly jutted from the side of the gun, looping awkwardly over the mech's back hand so that the only thing in its palms was a trigger. The entire rear assembly looked like a rectangular box, a single ejection port and a belt fed assembly were the only things besmirching the smooth and flat backside.

Compared to the other four members, the squad leader's machine was unique in many aspects. Mounted onto the right back slot was a large search radar, its rectangular and concave wire frame made it look extremely fragile as if it belonged to an airport or the top of a ship. The left back slot housed a larger rectangular missile pod, raised tall above the Solaris' head in its vertical launch configuration the assembly easily rivaled the size of larger IS units themselves.

The lead element of BluFor sported the same machine gun in both arms instead of a bazooka and auto cannon. The gun closely resembled a heavily modified and upscaled Famas, the large magazine was placed directly in front of the trigger guard. The open air gap between the rail and body of the gun was solid, the distinct charging handle gap on a Famas was nowhere present on the gun. The buttstock was severely shortened, practically ending just before the rear of the trigger guard.

"I take it our man here is the squad's SAW? Looks like an old Famas, but those were never a fireteam's machine gun or center." Louise commented, subtly trying to give out a history lesson to her superior and the rest of the room.

"Falcatas…They're the Earth export version of the Vanda, of course they're just about worse in every way compared to the original, but still very nasty guns." Marianne lazily called out from memory, not even needing to look at the weapons information sheet that her junior was currently pouring and confusing herself over.

Minutes later an abrasive klaxon rang out multiple times in succession, the hanger doors clamped shut as the remaining red lights and symbols on monitors turned green. Seconds later a loud siren boomed across the green landscape.

For a split second the acres of land, the large lake and forest patch that separated the Normals and IS units remained perfectly and tranquilly still. In just a fraction of a second the calm early morning air changed from a still gentle whispering breeze into the sounds of whirling engines and thrusters.

The squad of five IS units shot up hard into the air, their thrusters screaming like birds of prey as they ascended. An orange and yellow glow frothed at the ends of their thruster bells as they rocketed over the green landscape towards the Normals, keeping in line with the current theoretical IS battle doctrine of closing into mid or close combat range.

Peeling off the center element, the squad gunner increased her altitude to get a better overhead angle of the entire battlefield. Meanwhile the other four units maintained their course and passed over a large lake.

"He's moving his squad up the hill? A retreat already?" Louise questioned with a tone of incredulity as she watched the Normals of BluFor move from their staging area on the outskirts of a forest.

When the siren sounded, the Normals immediately turned around and began to make their way towards a ridge situated behind them. Turning their backs to the starting position, and their enemies, to the observers of the Operations Room it looked like they were in a full retreat as if they had just been routed.

Igniting its large thrusters, the Normals raced towards the ridge moving at the fastest possible speed they could. Despite the frothing and sparking that came from the thruster nozzles, the machines only moved marginally faster than their top running speed. Moments later the formation started to fan out, two Normals split up and headed towards a flanking position that overlooked the exits of the forest and their original starting point. Meanwhile the two other identical Normals situated themselves at the base of the ridge.

Igniting it's own heavy jump pack, the lumbering squad lead slowly and awkwardly flew up ever so slowly and situated himself atop the ridge overlooking the rest of his squad.

"A Vee formation...interesting. Normals closed into the forest last time." Marianne noted, her interest slowly peaking as the mock battle began to kick off.

Waiting idly for further commands, the squad of Normals arranged themselves into a V shape or reverse wedge formation.

The search radar that had been previously spinning vigorously now twitched in the general direction of the forest. After a slow mechanical turn with their legs, all five mechs had their guns trained towards the forest, with the squad lead training both his guns dead center.

"Last time they tried to use the forest to clutter up the IS team's maneuver and breathing room, which actually kinda worked...What the hell is he doing? He's not even got guns trained on the flank?" Louise harshly critiqued.

"I don't know. Guess they're hoping the IS pilots hit the forest like last time. Only reason I'd train so many guns at the forest. They did get encircled pretty fast last time in the forest though, could be a reactionary decision by their new leader." A semi befuddled Marianne sounded out as her eyes were glued to the tactical map.

While the IS units streaked across the sky with great speed, the Normals comparatively stood still in a battle that often favored the more maneuverable.

"That's a really risky gamble." The tall senior officer added as she saw FORAD's IS suits cross the final stretch of the large artificial lake.

Visions of a blurry dark grey lake turned into a green blur as the IS pilots passed overhead with incredible speed. The IS formation of four split into two groups of two as both headed for the flanks of the forests, completely ignoring the forest itself. Only the squad's gunner approached the forest, ahead of the four others in her squad. Their commanding officer had effectively placed them in a large wedge pattern, the opposite of the Normal's formation.

"That gamble-" The Normals interrupted Louise's observations when they let loose with a salvo of missiles.

Multiple vertical launch missiles sprouted from the four identical Solaris Normals who still stood patiently on the plain below the ridge. The large missiles streaked across the sky before its cylindrical panels burst out and fell to the ground. Attached to the spine of the large missiles were multiple smaller missiles that separated and began to detonate in a line. Like a creeping barrage, they detonated across the flanks of the forest forming a mass wall of thick black smoke. Two giant parallel walls of smoke traced itself from the Normals all the way to the original rally position of the IS units.

"That's sensory blinding smoke isn't it…He just blocked off their flanks. The entire battlefield-"

"It's one giant rectangle now, the smoke acts like a wall. He just made the entire field a fatal funnel." Marianne analyzed, cutting off her overdressed junior. The bold plan greatly amusing her.

Seconds later another giant explosion rocked the sky as more black smoke bellowed out in the air above and behind the IS units. There was no going back now.

Unlike a regular smoke grenade, the thick black smoke that persisted over the battlefield was designed to purposely interfere with optical and heat sensors. A devious concoction of multiple chemicals, metals, and elements; the smoke was anything but a standard smoke screen. Originally developed as a countermeasure for more advanced optical and heat seeking missiles who could get past normal chaff and flare, these heavily modified missiles worked against IS units and persisted on the battlefield for a while.

A second loud explosion registered itself over the forest as more thick smoke blanketed the sky, holding a strong and unmoving vigil over the airspace.

Catching a burst of smoke FORAD's forward most element immediately lost multiple Hyper Sensor systems as it fell prey to the smoke's interference.

Her view immediately became a blurry black and grey as the Hyper Sensor accentuated the effects of the smoke inadvertently. Like a camera unable to focus on an object in front of it, the Hyper Sensor simply returned a messy soup of information back as it tried to focus on too much up close at once.

One of the inadvertent flaws of the Hyper Sensor was its propensity to highlight negative aspects of senses. Things like flashbangs or smokes when not properly filtered out would have their effects elevated by the system. Due to the system working in near real time, there was little filtering by default. Additional filters added a slight delay between what was actually happening versus what the pilot was seeing and processing, a drawback that was universally admonished. Most IS pilots much rathered the few moments or instances of sensory blinding, than a constant delay in video and sensory feed.

Using her artificial horizon she dived for the deck and smashed into multiple tree branches as she crashed into the forest floor.

An IS pilot on the flank peeled off and tried to punch her way through the smoke wall using raw speed. Momentarily she lost multiple Hyper Sensor systems, but within seconds she punched out of the smoky column.

"Well that plan failed." Louise smirked, slightly proud that the IS units were still able to make headway.

Her joy, however, soon turned to dismay as multiple missiles streaked towards the lone IS pilot who punched through the smoke. Using a combination of optical AI aided sensors and heat seeking, the missiles tracked for the lone IS. Dumping chaff and flares did nothing as the onboard algorithms reduced the effectiveness of the shiny metal shards and orangish yellow glows.

Unlike the missiles that were mounted on normal aircraft, the ones launched from a Normal were more than capable of doing heavy damage given their naturally larger explosive package and caliber.

With no other options, the pilot turned back towards the smoke screen and punched through it. Joining the side of her allies once more, diving for the forest, multiple missiles lost their guidance in the thick interfering smoke.

Two however still tracked onto her, their filtering systems and positioning edged out over the smoke screen. Gliding towards her with great speed, their engines having long run out of power, they homed in like a deadly dart constantly gaining speed and outpacing the slower IS unit.

Streaking diagonally across the missile, her wingman dropped countermeasures hoping that the combination of chaff, flares, tress and ground clutter would overwhelm the advanced missile's optical system. To both pilots' satisfaction their plan had worked as the missiles glided harmlessly into the forest and detonated with far less explosive power. The simunition's powder, paint, and reduced explosive force simply painted a patch of the ground and trees a bright red.

Both pilots dived into the cover of the forest, hoping to evade the ire of any missiles loitering in the air seeking their next target.

Louise squinted at the gun camera footage of the IS units, a slight tick appeared on her face as she just witnessed three IS units forced into the thick cover of a forest. Walking over to an operator, Marianne tapped the woman's shoulder and ordered her to bring up the communications channel of the IS team. Leaning against the desk next to her new companion she simply listened as the audio was piped into the room's speaker system.

"Enemy missiles defeated. We should dig into the forest, the two of us are already on the deck."

"What? That's the exact opposite of the plan, we have to close in."

"Open skies haven't exactly been kind to us just now. Center's already here with us anyways."

"Cap, what's the plan, are we digging in or not?" One of the two pilots who was still airborne asked.

"Those on the deck will help Center dig in, and be ready to use the Foch at moments notice. Standby for machine gun directions. Hold your fire for now."

'Standby to standby...Thanks cap.' FORAD's heavy machine gunner bitterly thought.

Switching her communications channel, the squadron leader directed her attention to the only other airborne member with her.

"We need eyes on their positions. Hug the smoke walls for cover and try to get any information."

"Roger." Came a studious response.

The plan had been to use the smoke screen walls as cover, using it as backscatter to confuse enemy missiles that rode their way to the two airborne units. That plan had soon delved into absolute chaos as the Solaris's bazookas unloaded on them.

"Damnit, how many smokes do they have!" The squad leader's wingman yelled as she laid prone in a defilade, sheltering from the smoke rounds constantly hurling her way. The cover that had protected her soon turned out to be her undoing as the smoke blocked her way out, it was as if someone had placed a tarp over her foxhole.

Any attempt that she made to fly out of the ditch resulted in a large volley of smoke rounds detonating overhead, effectively pinning the young woman down.

'FORAD's down a woman...unbelievable…' Marianne mentally whispered as she watched the bazooka rounds streak over the two flanking IS pilots and detonate into large plumes of black smoke.

"How much of BluFor's kit is centered around sensory smokes." Marianne asked the operator to her left.

Switching tabs, the young woman pulled up a spreadsheet and scrolled through it.

"Everything but the high explosive missiles, and cannons are smoke based warheads. All the bazooka warheads are chambered with smoke screening warheads." The short haired blonde lectured back, before switching back to her original window.

"Ma'am, neither side has yet to expend a single bullet from their firearms, so far only missiles and unguided rockets have been fired." The same woman added once more before returning to her normal silent routine.

'Interesting.' Was the only thought going through Marianne's mind as she sipped away at her second coffee.

Having had enough, FORAD's lead element decided on a risky course of action, relaying her plan to her pinned friend and the rest of the team. Blasting from her relatively less shelled piece of cover she flew across her pinned down ally.

Pulling out her grenade launcher she chambered in her own smoke rounds and cut loose. A large white smoke screen burst onto the battlefield, the revolver style grenade launcher sang out with a cacophony of thunks. The bazooka rounds ceased their endless assault, giving the stuck pilot the desperate breathing room she needed to escape the hell hole.

Seconds later, seven separate streams of overlapping fire slammed into the squadron leader as her IS became the target of the five Normals. The four Solaris models at the base of the ridge responded to the counter smoke battery by unleashing a torrent of cannon fire all aimed for her. The only male pilot on the entire battlefield trained both his machine guns and let loose a hail of lead, the dual Falcatas rang out an unending stream of screeching sounds as there was no down time between each shot.

"Geez...it's like a Shilka or CWIS." Louise complained as seven streams of red tracers flashed violently across the sky, each slashing directly into their target like a saber. The projector had a field day with the constant shimmering lights and tracer fire, flashing with a frequency that could trigger an epileptic.

A single heavy machine gun fired from the forest, spitting a hot yellow stream into the direction of the Normals at the bottom of the ridge. The solo machine gun did little to help her squad leader who was stuck at the center of multiple crossfires.

Marianne tapped the woman's shoulder to her right, asking her to once again open a communications channel, this time for BluFor's team of Normals.

"FORAD 1-1 be advised you are taking excessive simulation damage, any further and you will hit the designated safety disengage limit." A woman's voice barked into a headset to the front left of Louise.

'We'll have to get more shielding on the next suits and a tougher frame. That and a better pilot.' Louise mentally grumbled, dissatisfied with the pilot currently streaking horizontally across the sky who continually took damage.

"Leave the fast mover to me, pin that machine gun down. That unit has a heavy cannon." A loud voice boomed over the intercom.

"I see our man has decided to speak finally." Marianne called out, hearing his voice for the first time since she had his channel opened.

Redirecting their fire, the four identical Normals peppered the forest. Their simunitions cut away at tree branches and leaves. BluFor's squad automatic weapon/SAW kept his constant volley on the IS that was darting back and forth across the sky. Using her superior mobility to snake around his stream of tracers, her job became significantly easier since she wasn't stuck in a crossfire.

"Please tell me you're getting this data!" The sole flying IS' voice called out over the intercom as she yelled at her teammates.

"We only have one axis on the HUD, you need to give us more lines of reference." The support gunner yelled back frantically.

The world around her exploded as shards of branches and green leaves fell around her as if she were being shelled by heavy artillery. The heavy machine gun that she had since long unlocked and given to another pilot rang out in controlled bursts to her left. The large casings continually bounced off her suit as she stood under the gun helping her teammate with recoil mitigation.

'They're using the IS's datalink and information sharing system… Smart, the sacrificial lamb is trying to get a fix on who though?' Marianne wondered to herself, before taking action to confirm.

"Display FORAD 1's HUD and gun camera on the second screen. Have it take up the entirety of the screen." She ordered.

Complying with the order, a second screen suddenly came to life and displayed two camera views. One was the grenade launcher that was currently firing at the ridge, the pilot using only a single arm to aim and shoot. The smoke detonated haphazardly all over the place, some in places that made sense and gave adequate concealment.

Her HUD however was zoomed in and laser focused on the giant search radar of BluFor's squad automatic gunner. Her machine constantly recorded information about the twitching dishes range, elevation, azimuth, bearing and telemetry from multiple different positions. The Hyper Sensor's visual system was zoomed in heavily, any movement that the pilot made threw the HUD's picture all over the place. It was as if someone had turned the zoom on a camera to the max and rode a roller coaster while looking through said camera.

The fact that she was still flying, dodging shots, and returning fire was a testament to her skill as a pilot. Her total situational awareness was unrivaled on the battlefield in that moment, in near full control she gracefully ducked and weaved through red lines of tracer fire like a calm butterfly in a violent storm.

'Multiple points to get a proper fix on that dish...do you know what's coming your way mister.' Marianne idly thought with the slightest hint of concern for the squad of Normals.

"One more line of reference, one more!" The IS with the heavy cannon yelled out.

"Argh come on!"

"I'm setting up the Foch right now, I'll be ready as soon as I get that last ref!" The young pilot yelled back in frustration to her irate captain.

Flying deep off into the forest, she came to a clearing and prepared to set up her main gun. Spacing and bracing her legs she waited patiently as multiple stabilizer legs shot from behind her and dug into the ground under her. The large flip cannon unfolded and assembled itself like an origami piece, the sounds of screws and pistons filled the air as distant gunfire rattled off. A few stray shots landed near her every so often.

"How much ammo do those things have?" She mused out loud to herself, alone in the clearing.

Finally the enormous gun rested on her shoulder, many times greater in length than the size of her IS alone. A large magazine rested atop the gun, slightly behind her left shoulder. Her HUD soon lit up with a new reticle and information. A semi transparent chart came to life off to her left as various curves exponentially increased then sharply tapered off. Another window popped up to her right allowing her to calibrate the shock absorbers currently dug into the ground. Fiddling with the settings, she essentially turned the entire IS into a support platform for the monstrous gun. Using the IS computer adjustment settings, she contorted her legs forward while the rear stabilizer stopped her from falling backwards, in effect creating four stabilizing legs for the behemoth gun that was ready to fire.

"Foch ready!" The voice beamed over the Operations Room intercom system as it piped her voice boldly.

"An infantry support gun, those Normals are going to be in trouble. Smoke's starting to clear out as well." Louise observed as she made her way next to her senior who had earlier left her side.

"Perhaps...But that means that FORAD came into the battle expecting to use the ground given those stabilizers." Marianne added as she motioned over to the hidden camera trained on the IS with the large shoulder cannon.

"Doesn't that go against your girls' IS doctrine?" She continued.

"What doctrine...we're still figuring this stuff out. There isn't a set doctrine or manual yet, some days it fly like a jet, other days it dig in like infantry." Louise countered.

"Hmm...so you're stuck in the same boat as us."

"You've had Normals for decades at this point, the IS just came out."

"Those were Muscle Tracers, we just recently got Normals."

"Is there any difference, both can walk and can't really fly. And both mount heavy weapons."

"You'd be surprised, we have some basic instructions and theory from the Germans. But that's all."

Cutting their conversation short, the voice of BluFor's team lead echoed over the intercom.

"Smoke's starting to clear out, shift bazooka fire to the forest flanks. Only one of them is airborne."

Like a well oiled machine, the four other Normals opened up and blanketed the sides of the forest with thick black smoke rounds while continuing their suppressive torrent of cannon fire on the tree line. Their black puffs, not as large as the one's released from the missiles earlier.

"That fly is a pain to swat eh cap?" A woman's voice which belonged to BluFor's second element beamed.

"They move so erratically, a pain in my ass."

"Should we switch targets?"

"No. I just have to suppress her, that's all. Plus I'm whittling her down in the meantime."

"Mhm...I don't like our situation. They're like rats, and we're wasting ammo."

"Just how they fight, Two dump your remaining bazooka rounds over here. Three stagger your fire, same with Four and Five. If they're going to hide forever then we'll draw them out." He called out as he marked new coordinates on a touchpad.

A tick formed on Louise's head upon hearing the disparaging comments aimed towards the IS pilot from the Normals.

'Making moves huh? Now the fight starts.' Marianne silently thought as she took a seat on a rolling chair and carted herself to get a better view of the screens. Her tired legs greatly thanked her.

Firing in predetermined locations BluFor's second element exhausted the last of her bazooka rounds. Large patches of black smoke burst into the sky as if it were flak from an old artillery gun.

Ducking to avoid the fire, FORAD's lead element dropped her altitude to avoid the net of sensory blinding smoke that was cast around her. Her thrusters whined with full power as she dived for a spot of cover as bursts of black smoke slowly trailed her.

Her full attention was still on the accursed dish that had been painting her whole team throughout the entire mock battle. Peeling left to avoid another burst of smoke, she collided with a stream of hot red tracer rounds that burst onto her IS' shields as blue paint stung her watery eyes.

A message came up on her HUD indicating that she had less than ten percent of her simulated shields left, just as she smashed into the ground. Pulling up her datalink she noted that all but one of her squad mates had taken noteworthy shield damage. Only the heavy cannon equipped IS remained relatively unscathed shield-wise.

Peering up from the crater her hard impact had just made, her ears caught the sound of an Earth shattering crack. A blur of yellow streaked by like a flash of light, whizzing right over her head towards the lone Solaris atop the ridge. Her eyes opened wide at the scene.

"You fucking missed?" Her voice boomed with incredulity.

"Gah. I know! I know!"

"Oh come on!" Louise's voice reverberated across the walls. Uncomfortably piercing the ear drums of everyone in the control room.

"They just exposed their ace in the hole." Marianne remarked out loud, talking to no one in particular. 'Your radar plan isn't going to work in a few seconds, you gotta have a plan to deal with that right?' She mentally pleaded to the squad of Normals.

Voices from the Normal squad flooded the room's speakers as they all searched for ways to deal with the new threat.

"Drop the smoke into the forest, burn em out." A woman's voice from BluFor's team yelled as she unloaded the remainder of her bazooka rounds into the forest.

Large black clouds erupted like fireworks at the base and deep in the forest. Despite that, accurate fire still hailed from the forest.

A second Earth shattering clanging sound ripped across the sky before driving home towards its target. The high velocity round detonated into a ball of paint just before it smashed into the rectangular search radar of Solaris' team lead, the onboard battle simulation computer deactivated the radar simulating its destruction.

Multiple voices of concern piped up and yelled over each other as the four Normals at the base of the ridge started to complain that they just lost a decent chunk of AFS information. Their team leader was no longer able to provide them with raw data for them to synthesize, they were now in a bind.

'Now you're in trouble.' Marianne thought as she watched the rate of AFS readouts and information dip sharply now that the radar was out of commission.

"Switch to manual track, forget about it. We've got a bigger problem." BluFor's team lead roared.

Multiple rounds began to slap against the Normals when their guns stopped tracking their targets automatically. Despite the black smoke screen, effective firepower was painting the Normals, turning their default tannish yellow into an obscure blue.

The heavy IS support cannon rang round after round, each devastating the forward most elements of BluFor's Normal force, FORAD's pilots fully used the window of opportunity they were given when their enemies' guns fell silent to the full extent.

"How can they still see us?"

"Someone's hiding and feeding information and coordinates. I don't see anything on scopes."

"Look alive, we've got movement on the tree line!" Another young woman yelled over the radio.

The cacophony of heavy machine gun and submachine gun fire had ceased. Only the heavy cannon continued to fire, too deep in the woods to get an accurate fix on.

"Fives push forward, the rest of you engage anything that hits her."

Slowly the farthest mech on the right side of the Vee formation began to move towards the tree line. Firing her own guns all the while to give her some semblance of suppressive fire while those behind her held their fire with bated breath. The smoke that had plunged deep into the forest blew with the gentle breeze, rising and streaking across the sky as if an oil well had been lit on fire.

Marianne looked at a large tactical map displayed on a screen. She wanted to see what BluFor's lead element was going to do, unlike the exercise a while ago, it seemed like the conventional force had a good chance at beating the IS this time around.

As the sole blue arrow of BluFor's fifth element strayed farther and farther from the formation, she observed three IS units hovering just under the forest canopy.

'Captain's out of the fight basically, and that heavy gun can't move… Leaves you three to do the heavy fighting, Normals still have five guns to your three even if you ignore the one walking towards you.' Mariane philosophized deep in her mind, completely oblivious to the probing questions from the overdressed woman next to her.

Tapping Marianne on the shoulder, Louise drew the older woman out of her stupor.

"Hey, have you been listening to anything I've been saying?"

Looking up at the shorter woman, Marianne simply shook her head with semi-dead eyes from her rolling chair.

"I've been asking what you think of the match so far." Louise smirked.

"Boring and only marginally more interesting than last time. Nothing really noteworthy has happened." Marianne lied back in response as she threw her gaze back to the screen and adopted a lazy posture. 'Stealing the initiative from the IS? That's certainly a bold plan.'

The two watched as three red arrows on the tactical map depicted the IS units getting ready.

As soon as the lumbering mech got within a few hundred meters of the tree line, the three arrows shot across the screen and lunged for the BluFor's number five.

Two Revives started running circles around the mech, one barley hovering off the ground as if they were an ice skater. The second took a higher altitude and peppered the large machine with submachine gun fire. The third fired her unlocked heavy machine gun from a slight distance.

The IS pilot who gracefully figure skated close to the ground unloaded high explosive grenade rounds viciously. Multiple rounds slammed and registered simulated hits on the slow mech, unable to keep up with the far more nimble and agile IS units. Each passing moment turned the machine more blue.

Auto cannon fire from the other three Normals at the base of the ridge scattered and hit home. Their red paint scarring and splattering across the slower moving IS who fielded the heavy machine gun. The dual Falcatas sprayed in controlled bursts over the Solaris as he did his best to force the flying IS units closer to the ground, trying to force them to give up a dimension of movement.

'Grenade launchers...Cassies were right about their devastation.' Marianne thought as she watched the lone Solaris caught in a web of heavy fire slowly lose its simulated components and structural integrity. 'A one for three trade? Was that your plan all along?'

Suddenly the surrounded machine lost its ability to fire her gun, her left arm that contained the cannon drooped down. The large machine's left leg bent down, forcing the machine to take a knee as it had been immobilized.

'One Normal for some damage? Or did your plan not pan out at all?'

Separating in three different vectors, the IS units peeled off the doomed mech and flew parallel to the three Normals who were now in a straight line. While the Normals' occupied the left flank, the IS units hugged the right flank of the once previous black smoke wall that had inhibited their Hyper Sensors greatly. High velocity smoke rounds bursted in front of the three Normals who were arranged in a spaced line, hoping to cross the T and unload a full barrage their plan ran awry. Their fire soon fell as their sensors could no longer track their targets amidst the thick white smoke.

From atop his ridge, the Solaris with dual machine guns squeezed out controlled bursts as he raced to the right of the ridge to avoid being outflanked. High velocity smoke rounds smashed the ground and continually obstructed the visual sensors of the three Normals who were already smoked off from earlier. Suddenly they began to open fire on the three IS units despite being caked full of snow white smoke.

'Using the AFS to his benefit...I...I never would have thought about using it like that.'

"Wait, how are they able to shoot through all that smoke…Military IS grade smoke screens also interfere with sensors?" Louise pleaded out loud, utterly confused.

"He's slaved his team's fire control system to his own visual sensors. He's not smoked off and has full sight of them."

"So?"

"So...It means he can pipe that visual information and ranging data to their FCS and computer systems, he's sending them data and they can use the AFS to read his own data and make course corrections even if they can't see anything. Their AFS data is coming from his cameras, their eyes are his eyes."

"Cheap...Seems like a gimmick based on the test parameters." Louise complained, the headache that she had been nursing only grew as now some man had found a way to exploit the AFS despite not even being compatible with it.

"Oh? You are aware that heavy gun of yours is hitting shots only because their team leader is hiding in a ditch and using her Hyper Sensor to mark targets and ranging right? It's why you're down two women and only three of your pilots can actually close the distance."

Louise could only lightly grumble in response, much to the great amusement of some women in the room. Her internal anger and headache only grew as she watched the shield statistics of the IS armed with the heavy machine gun.

The slower machine had been taking the brunt of the damage due to the heavy weapon it lugged in its arms, it's slower speed and battlefield presence drawing the ire of multiple firearms. At this point it was dangerously close to reaching a simulated knockout. Gunfire tracked onto it as paint bloomed all around her as the distance between her and the two other IS units in front of her grew.

A dual burst from the Falcatas of the semi running Normal on the ridge sealed her fate as a red triangle with an exclamation mark popped up on her screen. Her IS came to a full stop as she received new vectors to exit the mock battle, her communications with her team fully severed to simulate her death.

Despite the demise of their ally, the two forward units soldiered on towards the ridge, by this point they were skating above the ground. Rising up and down with the slightest change in elevation over the shallow rolling hills that the ridge looked over.

'Four to four, the IS is strong but not invincible. It's mobility is monstrous and it can only get better from here. The Normals on the other hand are tried and tested, but stagnant?...Then again both the Normals and IS could easily devastate a peer contemporary conventional force.' Louise bitterly mused as the loss of the heavy machine gun severely dropped the firepower of the Revive fireteam.

'I'll have to ask my German contacts about the Armored Core...Looks like Normal's can defend themselves for now. But the IS is relatively new and will only get better. Though Normals are still a great force multiplier for us conventionals...And can somewhat better defend itself against the IS. Though firepower alone won't make up for the lack of mobility… Looks like Aberdeen Proving Tests all over again, IS mobility trumps all especially with the weapons package it can carry.' Marianne lectured to herself as she watched the two IS units bob and weave through a crossfire of lead.

Coming close to the ridge, the gunfire from the lone mech at the top ceased as they crossed below the line of sight for the lumbering mech's heavy machine guns. Multiple rectangular and square flaps shot open from the IS suits as air brakes deployed, instead of using only the Passive Inertial Controller (PIC) to come to a full stop then move on, the pilots used both the PIC and air brakes to pull hard G's and hug the ridge wall.

Unlike other pilots, such as IS Representatives or Cadets, who relied only on the PIC to make heavy G maneuvers; the aerobrake and PIC combo allowed them to move quickly without exposing themselves to any deadly hang time. To them it was like the difference between drifting around a hairpin turn versus slowing down to a near full stop to carefully navigate it.

Racing alongside the ridge, the two pilots chambered their remaining smoke rounds into their grenade launchers and fired it directly up. Unable to see the IS units below him, the lone Solaris model had his entire view of the battlefield obstructed. It was as if someone had dragged a white sheet over his head, trying to push his way past the smoke; he was rewarded with a direct hit from the heavy support gun of the IS.

Finding an opening through the smoke screen once more, he opened up with his machine guns to suppress the now in view IS units that streaked towards the smoke filled Normals in front of him below the ridge.

His burst was cut short however by heavy grenade and cannon fire. FORAD's IS team leader came out of her hiding hole and began to attack as part of her plan.

"They're isolating him, cutting the support gunner from the rest of the squad. They can't help each other anymore, and now those three are blind since he's in his own fight now." Marianne professed as if she were a college professor teaching combat tactics to a class of junior officers.

'They haven't said anything about the AFS this entire time...The plan to cut the SAW off inadvertently blinded the three Normals...These things do just happen I guess.' Her inner mind monologued, dissatisfied with the way the fight was turning out.

Pivoting his Normal to meet his new foe, gunfire from his squad abruptly stopped completely. Despite his best efforts, the nimble IS that lobbed grenade after grenade out circled him with absolute ease.

Checking to see the stats of his other team members, he saw their overall battlefield condition and survivability plummet on the readings.

'Can't really help them...It's like a sea of mist down there.' He mulled to himself, desperately trying to find a way to wrest back the initiative.

In the middle of his circular turn he noticed the uneven spread of smoke on the battlefield below the ridge line. Racing away from his allies he ignited his boosters and slid down the large slope of the ridge.

"Is he running away?" Louise asked with a slight laugh.

'Don't tell me you're going to...There's no way' Marianne's inner glee started to glow as she pieced his plan before anyone else in the room had even dreamed of it.

Standing at the opposite flank and as far as possible from his teammates, he reengaged his sensor suite and got a wide angle shot of their battle. Like angry hornets, the two IS units that pestered the three Normals punched in and out of the smoky mist into the clear air every so often.

'You sly bastard.' Marianne smiled to herself as she watched the three Normals pour down accurate fire once again.

Covering not only themselves, but him as well. Slowly he maneuvered himself across the rolling plains, never fully taking his visual sensors of the Normals and IS units all the way across the field from him. He expertly maneuvered his machine to make himself a harder target to hit against the solo IS that figure skated around him.

FORAD's squad leader's maneuvering speed and circles only got more aggressive as enemy fire rained on her position from the lone male and the other Normals whenever she passed in front of their guns. Despite the heavy simulated damage that she was dishing out, she had yet to fully piece together what he was doing nor knock out his sensor suite. Though it had weaker sensor package specifications wise, the Normal's sensor suite was an extremely tough nut to crack.

Suddenly a smoke round burst in front of him, coming at high velocity it smashed into the ground kicking up dirt on the way. Rotating his mech to the right he moved diagonally while continually spraying at the two IS units that pestered his allies. Every second that passed meant that the smoky sea that enveloped his squadmates dissipated ever so slowly.

An orange streak of cannon fire came from the semi translucent white mist and detonated paint on the lead IS unit. Sending her careening into the ground, the onboard simulation computer decided that the gunfire had disabled multiple thrusters. The heavy caliber fire supposedly made short work of the weak plating on the Revive that laid under the tougher IS shields.

Propping herself up from the makeshift trench her crash had made, the thrusterless IS was immediately sent back into the ground as a crossfire of machine gun fire slammed into her unit. The ground below her reverberated as her IS thumped against it constantly, her arms felt weak as her elbow stung with pain. Simunitions at point blank still hurt, especially from the heavier calibered IS and Normal weapons.

"That's two IS units knocked out." Marianne calmly called out while nudging an internally fuming Louise. Despite her calm voice, Marianne was overjoyed on the inside.

"Good effect. Good effect! Two more, I'm movi-" Cries of celebration were cut short however as multiple thuds echoed themselves across the metal cockpit of the lead Normal. Wet paint dripped all over the head of the Normal as a grey blur flew across the optical sensors.

Seconds later one of the three Normals in the row reported that she had been killed according to the sim computer. Meanwhile her other two allies began to succumb to heavy whittling fire. Any hopes of help from their team lead evaporated when they processed the new information from his machine.

Like a low flying bomber, the relatively unscathed IS that had been shelling them from the forest cast off her heavy support weapons and zipped around the only male pilot. With only a single unlocked grenade launcher she flew with far greater speed than anyone on the battlefield. Having far more shield points to work with, the speedy IS glided aggressively around the lead Normal.

Rounding to the rear of the larger machine, she used his machine as a shield from enemy fire. Reloading her drum magazine, she unloaded grenade after grenade while sticking like a mosquito on the back of the lead Solaris. With each hit the male pilot could feel the reverberations ripple through the machine and into his suit. His glass console started to flare up in angry red as the simulation computer knocked out multiple subsystems.

Opening like a blooming flower, a simulated high explosive round destroyed the large machine's fingers that held its heavy machine guns. Dropping to the green below the machine remained weaponless, unlike the other members of her team she didn't stop at just disarming the machine. Just as she had done to the other disarmed machine she flew high and unloaded round after round above the Solaris's head unit.

The digital diagram that displayed an x-ray of the machine's condition ran red from the head down with great speed. Everything from the head to the core flashed with angry warning signs, the red tide on the display slowly got closer and closer into the pilot's cabin. Multiple lights flashed and flickered about in the machine's core simulating the destruction of mission critical systems and sensors. Suddenly the main screen went completely black as the thumps slowly continued.

Slowly releasing his grip on the joysticks, with nothing left to do the only man on the battlefield resigned himself to his demise. The futile attempt at a simulated eject failing completely as the computer terminal to his left displayed a series of error messages. Eventually the lights completely died, a horrific wait ensued in which he slowly waited to die a simulated death. The dark cabin filled his mind with thoughts on what it would be to die like this in a real battle. The agonizing wait in which he would have to countdown his own demise greatly unnerved him.

As the thuds rattled away in the pitch black, a voice came over his suit's radio informing him that he had been killed and marked as such. Typing a special password and command into the console to his left his machine lit back to life and stood up tall once again, as if it had been raised from the dead. His screen came back to life as the cameras re-focused themselves onto the sole remaining Solaris of BluFor's team.

Three IS units angrily swarmed and lobbed grenade and submachine gun rounds all over the slow mech. Unable to keep her guns tracked on a target at any given moment her shots served to only increase the noise pollution on the green landscape.

Like a choreographed dance, the faster and nimbler IS pilots weaved gracefully around the large machine. Withering under the heavy firepower the machine was practically drenched in blue paint as its cannon finally fell silent, dropping to the ground with an earthy thud. Soaring above the blocky machine the trio unloaded the remainder of their ammunition on the head and core of the destroyed machine.

Pulling her ejection lever, nothing happened except for a dreaded monotone beep, to all Normal pilots it was the sound of death; indicating that an ejection was not possible. Like the rest of her squad, the pilot of the doomed Solaris waited for her simulated death in the nearly pitch black cabin.

'It's like knowing exactly when you're going to die.' She shivered as her spine wriggled against her seat, the uncomfortable thought greatly unnerving the experienced soldier.

A single red indicator gave her company in the dark, the message a disturbing one.

Cabin Fire

As if it were a shower thought, her mind went back to an old memory in which she spoke to a Cascadian National Guard Normal pilot during her training.

'It's not meant for them.' A man's voice played itself on repeat in her mind. Up until now she didn't understand the meaning behind it, but amidst the darkness it finally clicked for her as her fingers felt the cool plates of her pistol's grip.

"That's five dead Normals." Louise sang out, her headache slowly receded as for a moment she thought BluFor's Solaris squad would claim victory in the day's rematch.

The voices of various women in the room boomed as they began to handle cleanup and the end of the mock exercise.

Throwing a satisfactory glare and smirk towards her senior officer, Louise hoped to subtly gloat and rub her side's victory against the woman to her right. With five dead Normals, and only two dead IS units, the mock battle had gone handedly to FORAD's IS units just as it had done in the last match. The final acts of the battle displayed the devastating effects of the IS and its superior mobility.

'Looks like you conventionals will never learn… IS is just better.' She beamed towards herself, the self congratulations washing over her brain removing any trace of a tick or headache from earlier.

Her wicked smile however soon turned into mild disappointment as she saw the older woman before her stand tall with her hands by her hips, eyes glued to the large screen as she stared down the results and the initial auto generated summary. For a fleeting moment, she swore she saw the faintest traces of a smile on her superior's normally emotionless and cold face.

"I want to talk to that young man and his team." Marianne commanded with a slight undertone of pride, her grey eyes sparkled with hope.

A/N:

The first of many side stories has been completed. Side stories will range on anything from pitched battles to ultra slice of life. Let me know what you think and what you want to see from future side stories.

In addition tell me what you all think of a having a short sentence or summary at the top, I'm torn since it clues the reader on if the side story is interesting to them or not. But, at the same time I feel that it sort of ruins the setting or potential surprise for a side story.

Thanks for all the follows, favorites and comments. And as always, comments, questions and concerns are appreciated.

Disclaimer: I don't own Infinite Stratos or Armored Core.