Once the troops had gotten settled into the mostly empty academy built deep underground in this rural part of the planet, Max got straight to work with the Cadets. They were all eager to get out and prove themselves, but a Crusader Class Pilot held a lot of respect in society, especially one currently active in Special Tactics or Special Forces Unit.

For most of them, fighting alongside such a figure was no more than an idle daydream of heroism, the sort you never expect to come true, the career version of winning the lottery.

Max parked Stalwart in the reinforced hanger while Vincente and Charlie Squad took first guard patrol, accompanied by a full company of infantry from the Landers. Max wasn’t in charge here this time, that was Colonel Sanders, but the Colonel respected the autonomy of the Heavy Mecha and let Max set the patrol schedule for his own men as he saw fit.

All the remaining Cadets had gathered here in the auditorium, a drab green bunker with no windows and soft yellow lighting that flickered with the pulse of the Academy’s internal generator. It was a bit depressing to look at, but somehow it still reminded Max of home. The slums had the same crappy yellow lighting everywhere since it was the cheapest and most energy-efficient option produced within the Kepler Empire._.

The crowd silenced when Max walked in, heading directly for the stage at the front of the room and preparing a speech as he went.

“Greetings everyone. I am Major Erebus Max, Pilot of the Crusader Class Mecha, Stalwart, and commander of the Stalwart Special Tactics Unit. I have been briefly made aware of the situation here, and I am going to be honest with you, it isn’t great. Therefore, I am going to give everyone here a crash course in Battlefield survival.

I will teach you smoother operation techniques, rapid targeting tricks, and the essentials of teamwork to ensure that you don’t die on your first patrol, should you meet Narsian infantry. All of the things I will teach you are viewed as necessary for becoming an advanced Mecha Pilot, and if some of you prove worthy, I will use my authority to upgrade you to Corvette Class Pilots.”

Max’s announcement brings a round of cheers to the room. Here, Corvette Class Pilots are the peak for the average citizen, leaders to be respected. Plus, if they live they will be war heroes, and that’s bound to count for something.

These naive kids don’t yet know the horrors of war, so being a hero seems glamorous to them, not the trauma-filled lifelong nightmare that Max knows underlies the word out in the real world. But if it motivates them, he will help as many as he can to see the dream come true.

“Most of this training can be done through your VR headsets, using a custom program that I brought with me. I am sending it to the academy database now, and then you can return to your dorms and get started. I will be watching everyone’s progress, and wing leaders will be chosen tomorrow morning from among those who advanced the most.” Max declared, then took a look at the base’s wireless network, finding that it was open access with no password required or firewalls around the server, other than a simple read-only restriction.

“Colonel, is this standard for the planet? This level of file security is a joke, even I have managed to plant a file on your servers without anyone noticing and I’m standing in the middle of the auditorium.” Max whispers to the Academy’s Headmaster, Colonel Sanders.

“Before this, we never needed the security, so most places were pretty lax. There is a scrambling field around the base so that it can’t be hacked from the outside though, to prevent industrial espionage. The valuable files are all offline as well.” The Colonel responds and Max resists the urge to facepalm in front of the cadets.

No wonder the Lander controls had been hacked, the government here didn’t even try to keep anyone from using their authority. Chances are, the Narsians just walked up to a computer someone left logged in, and got straight to work without needing to break the codes at all.

Max quickly informed the Fleet’s Central Command of this fact, and his findings on the training of the troops here, then walked to the clearly marked observation room to see how the Cadets were doing. They should be logged in by now, and the first bits of training with General Tennant would be starting.

It wasn’t going to be easy on them, the General’s personality as programmed into the software was demanding and merciless, but it would adapt to their current level of skills, constantly setting the training at just barely possible.

These kids all knew they were the dregs and needed to work extra hard just to keep up, so Max had high hopes for their work ethic, even after seeing their dismal system compatibility displayed.

He knew they were all D Rank, but some of these shouldn’t have qualified at all. D Minus with no Primary stat bonus? Were they just straight lying about the kid having a system? Or another one with a 1.01x modifier. A one percent bonus is barely a primary stat at all. Even for the D minus rank that is pretty sad.

There were some decent ones though, at 1.2x and 1.4x modifiers, which could eventually stack up some pretty respectable physical skills.

One screen suddenly flashes red about fifteen minutes into Max’s observation, signaling that the headset had been removed, so Max switched over to the Dorm’s internal camera system.

“I am a person, not a worm, I am a Pilot, I can make the Mecha move.” The cadet muttered over and over as tears flowed down their face.

“I guess not everyone is a fan of the legendary General’s tough love training style.” Max shrugged, then changed the settings on the program to give the Cadet Major Payne as an instructor the next time they logged in. She was strict but fair, and much more gentle with the Cadets than General Tennant was, despite having zero tolerance for slacking.historical

“Now, who will be the next to break? I’m sure more than one Cadet thought they could skate by with the bare minimum.” Max said to himself as he smiled at the screens, watching hundreds of cadets giving their all to learn the new techniques that they were assured would save their lives a hundred times over.