Neo Ace Academy (an Exocrisis Blue Mecha story)

Neo-Ace Scene 03 - After Action

"Cadets!  Attention!" Major Joshua Scott addressed the assembled students of Class One of the Neo Ace Academy. 

All 24 students of the Academy's inaugural class stiffened to attention in the spartan but spacious ready room outside of the simulator bays.  Class One formed a line, two ranks deep, from First Platoon to Fourth Platoon that stretched the length of the ready room.  The students had their cybernetic helmets tucked in the crook of their arms and wore form fitting, pilot suits woven out of silvery grey nano-fabric.  Each suit had the student’s name printed on its left breast with their platoon numbers and the Neo Ace crest marked on the shoulders.  They represented a variety of ethnic groups with a majority being Asians and Caucasians.  Everyone had short haircuts, with some of the girls wearing their hair to the maximum allowed shoulder length. 

Joshua looked over the fresh, slightly tense, faces of the teenagers in front of him as he walked up the line accompanied by his senior instructor Captain Penny Tanaka.  Both of them wore tan colored uniform jackets over their pilot suits.  The jackets showed their name, rank, combat ribbons, and were emblazoned with shoulder patches showing their duty unit crests and the CAJUN seal.  Two other mecha instructors followed close behind them.

Good, all of the teens were standing properly at attention in a straight line, Joshua thought to himself.  Staff Sergeant Bishop had done a good job of instilling basic military discipline and drill in them during their daily physical activity class.  Right now, he had them for mecha tactics and training three times a week for three hours at a time.  At the age of 39, he did not consider himself to be old, but these faces looked so young to him.  He had taught at mecha academies before, being the only CAJUN quintuple ace, but that had been to young adults, not kids.  He just trusted that Dr. Janet Chan knew what she was doing and had only agreed to do this at her request.

CAJUN was short for Canada Japan Union, an intergovernmental security organization with an elite rapid deployment force.  The organization had eventually expanded to include Pacifica, the western half of the old United States, after CAJUN decisively intervened in the brutal Second American Civil War.  CAJUN and Canadian military units had broken the stranglehold on Chicago, freeing the city, and allowing Pacifican forces to push the True American forces back.  This had brought about an uneasy peace between the two American sides. 

True America was still under the tyrannical rule of President Wenton to this day, seventeen years after he assumed power.  Wenton had originally been vice-president, assuming control after President Allison died in the nuclear destruction of Washington D.C. at the end of the Alien War.  He kept the country together in the state of crisis that followed, but political opposition began when Wenton cancelled the next presidential election.  It became obvious that he was not going to relinquish the presidency and he began a purge of his political opponents.   The Second Civil War started when several states and military units rebelled.  Vicious warfare ensued.  Pacifica was then created under the leadership of the Governor of California to unify the western and many central states against Wenton’s True America.  Pacifica stayed strong and held to the old American ideals and system with its own president.

The Neo Ace Academy was operated by the General Automata Corporation (GAC) under contract to CAJUN.  GAC was the top manufacturer of the most advanced mechas for commercial and military use within the CAJUN member and allied countries.  The goal for the academy, conceived by Dr. Chan, was to train the next generation of "super pilots" for CAJUN in conjunction with the development of higher performance HARM units.  The students were chosen primarily for their superior ability to synchronize with the neural interfaces of the HARM units, an ability that peaked in the ten years.

Joshua stopped strolling in front of First Platoon as he began speaking.  "You have been training for two months now.  Most of you performed well today," he emphasized.  "Second Platoon decisively fought off the spider mechs to hold the line.  Third and Fourth Platoons held the line well.  These platoons then managed to hold out against the follow-up assault by the Hunters.  However, First Platoon decided on a pursuit operation even after driving the spiders back and had a radically different outcome."