While they sat in the isolated meteor station, cargo ships came and went, picking up raw materials to bring to the nearby manufacturing systems. But today, they weren't empty, nor were they the civilian mining shuttles that usually made the run.
Today they were military freighters in disguise, bringing in loads of mecha and gear to outfit Abraham Kepler for an extended mission.
Five battalions of three Companies each meant that they were receiving a total of twenty Super Heavy Mecha along with the hundreds of other Mecha.
Other than the Comor Pattern Corvettes they were all new designs and highly classified, so Central Command had determined that bringing Abraham Kepler to the source was too much of a risk and instead had it dock here under the pretense of restocking the raw materials for combat repairs.
Just watching them being rolled aboard on their transport racks was impressive, and Max could only imagine the horror on their enemy's faces when such a force actually landed on a populated planet for a pacification effort.
Many colonies don't even have five major cities, much less the twenty that would be needed to spread out a force like theirs.
It took two days for all the Mecha to arrive and get checked over in their hangars, but finally, it was time for the Pilots to say hello to their new homes in person. Max and Nico were the only ones who had ever actually seen one in person before, all the others were trained on simulators, so the atmosphere aboard was incredibly exhilarated.
"Colonel, I heard you and Major Nico were on the development team. Do you have any tips and tricks for using the new Fast Attack Crusaders?" A captain named Booth asked as he stared in envy at the four X137 Super Heavy Mecha that belonged to their Battalion.
"Talk to Nico, I'm sure she would happily hold a training simulation for anyone who would like it. That fast attack Mecha is her baby, designed specifically because she and a select few others could operate faster than the standard Crusaders could react. The full capabilities of the Mecha are incredible." Max explained.
"Thank you, Colonel. I will grab the others and go talk to her. Once we find her that is." Captain Booth agreed with a fist to the chest salute.
If you knew Nico, where she was wouldn't be hard to guess, but these troops were all new, so Booth didn't realize that Nico was right in front of him, in technicians coveralls and wearing the Tech Adept Exoskeleton while she tweaked and checked over Max's new Command Mecha.
Fortunately, some of the others were already aware of her personality and knew to look for her on the Mecha.
"Major Nico, could you give us a crash course in close combat tactics for the X109?" One of the Pilots called up as she finished her first round of modifications to Max's new Mecha.
"No problem. The design and mobility favor very aggressive piloting, so it might take a bit of adjustment." Nico agreed, using the exoskeleton's gravity control to float down from the Mecha.
The ten Pilots who were in the Fast Attack model X109 all quickly assembled at the training simulators in bay A1, the primary training facility assigned to the First Batallion.
"I will set everyone up for individual training, but first you wall should watch and see how I do it. Run the mission through, and then exit to ask questions and we will go again until you all have the hang of things. I would hate for the Mecha to get a poor review just because the Pilots weren't really familiar with how to use it properly." Nico instructed them, before logging into the simulator.
The scenario that she created was a familiar one, an attack that she had previously trained many Pilots on. The attack on the tech facility on Planet Belmont.
Once everyone was loaded in to spectate the scenario, Nico engaged thrusters and rushed straight into the base, hitting the Mecha Hangar with the shoulder-mounted Disruptor Cannon, while using the Fusion Flamer in her left hand to melt the infantry and light Mecha in the courtyard. Crusaders began to pile out of the warehouse, and she hit the back ranks with the Disruptor Cannon, before charging the front rank with her sword, cleanly cutting through the cockpit before the Pilot could even react.
She then flooded the warehouse with Fusion Flame and used the Mecha's thrusters to fly away as the building went up in a crackling cloud of cooked-off explosives and fuel.
That had eliminated all the military targets in the area, and the shield on the X109 that Nico was Piloting never even suffered a breach, only a few glancing blows from the Crusaders and some light arms fire.
[Did you all see what I did there? Log out and we will have a proper conversation, then you can try yourselves.] Spectator mode didn't allow them to interact with the Pilot in the simulation, so Nico exited the simulator and used the whip arms on the Tech Adept skeleton to stand herself up out of her seat and face the other Pilots.
"Well, who is first?" She asked as they tried to form proper questions for her.
"The Fusion Flamer, what is the effective range at full spread?" One of the pilots finally asked.
"Seventy-Five Meters to the end of the flames. You can sneak a bit more against infantry, but anything beyond seventy-five won't melt Light Mecha armor anymore." Nico explained.
"Is there some optimization trick to speed up your control inputs? I didn't think that a Cyborg hand could move fast enough to exceed the Crusader's input responses." Another one asked.
"Not really, I use a System Function to speed things up, you all will have to do things your own way, but the controls are more customizable, so you can set them up just how you like them for better responses with minimal inputs." Nico couldn't well give them the ability to directly control the Mecha the way she does, so that much was up to them.
They would also have to practice to get more skilled in close combat since the Fast Attack Mecha was a close-range machine, but that would take time, and it was more important that they mastered the basics first before trying to learn new combat styles in a new Mecha.
"Everyone back in the simulation, and remember: Be Aggressive. It's the most survivable route with short-ranged weapons. In a Company sized attack formation the rest of the squad will cover you from ranged attackers, so just focus on what is close and what is targeting you directly." Nico directed the team, who eagerly logged in and began running the same scenario that Nico just finished.
