"Trainees!"
Erikal Slin's voice rang through the early morning cold, the easily recognizable figure of the division Commander walking in his easy stride along the front lines of the assembled and standing at attention graduates of the hastily created King's Army Academy. Most of the soldiers only barely knew how to drive a mech, much less fight in one--but with any luck, the far more rigorous combat training they'd undergone in boot camp would translate to some amount of competence in a large suit of metal armor.
"You've come a long way since you entered our military, though not as far as I'd like to bring you. You've had the best combat training we could give you, and the best equipment we could muster. You're the best we've got, and I for one would have no one else watching my back."
Commander Slin paused, and shook his head, hoping his grimace wasn't visible. They were all so young... And being given a crash course in the theory of mech design in a quickly appropriated, stuffy classroom was hardly a quality training course... But they didn't have options, they didn't have time. The best he could do was try to send them on non-dangerous missions until they'd gathered some experience, then try them in a more unforgiving furnace.
He raised his voice again. "It is my greatest pleasure to greet you, the newest members of the King's Army. You're dismissed. The job starts tomorrow. For now, have some fun."
He smiled, turned, and walked away.
***
Meanwhile, the head of the King's Mage Corps was giving much the same speech to her own soldiers, though Marjorie Kina spoke with much greater confidence than Slin. True, her soldiers were young, and green--but she'd been training mages her entire life, and she was pretty damn good at it. No, her speech had a focus, alright--mostly telling the mages to keep the mech pilots alive.
If she could instill a rivalry between the two, all the better for their performance.
She dismissed her own troops, giving much the same instruction as Erikal.
Erikal Slin's voice rang through the early morning cold, the easily recognizable figure of the division Commander walking in his easy stride along the front lines of the assembled and standing at attention graduates of the hastily created King's Army Academy. Most of the soldiers only barely knew how to drive a mech, much less fight in one--but with any luck, the far more rigorous combat training they'd undergone in boot camp would translate to some amount of competence in a large suit of metal armor.
"You've come a long way since you entered our military, though not as far as I'd like to bring you. You've had the best combat training we could give you, and the best equipment we could muster. You're the best we've got, and I for one would have no one else watching my back."
Commander Slin paused, and shook his head, hoping his grimace wasn't visible. They were all so young... And being given a crash course in the theory of mech design in a quickly appropriated, stuffy classroom was hardly a quality training course... But they didn't have options, they didn't have time. The best he could do was try to send them on non-dangerous missions until they'd gathered some experience, then try them in a more unforgiving furnace.
He raised his voice again. "It is my greatest pleasure to greet you, the newest members of the King's Army. You're dismissed. The job starts tomorrow. For now, have some fun."
He smiled, turned, and walked away.
***
Meanwhile, the head of the King's Mage Corps was giving much the same speech to her own soldiers, though Marjorie Kina spoke with much greater confidence than Slin. True, her soldiers were young, and green--but she'd been training mages her entire life, and she was pretty damn good at it. No, her speech had a focus, alright--mostly telling the mages to keep the mech pilots alive.
If she could instill a rivalry between the two, all the better for their performance.
She dismissed her own troops, giving much the same instruction as Erikal.