SG Vol. 1 pt. 22

Broken Egos; Simulation

It’s the next day and I have to make good on my word of letting them into simulators.

“I know you’ve all got experience with the simulators, but how far have you gone?” I ask. Zane never gave me a single bit of information on what the fuck these brats know or don’t know.

Valkyrie is the one who would normally answer for the group, but she’s let Shitger take on that role ever since I shouted her down yesterday.

“Only basic flight simulations,” Shitger answers, “sir,” he adds on after noticing some other instructors nearby.

The fuckers are here to watch and see if these brats have improved after a week with me.

To my surprise, Worm speaks up and asks, “Sir, can we fight the VRAG?”

“You ever fight them before in simulations?” I ask.

They shake their heads.

Shitger says, “Sir, but we’ve learned about their physiology and tactics against them already, so—"

Fucking hilarious. “Hah. So you think that you’re ready for your first trial against them?” I ask.

Shitger, Muscles, Valkyrie, and Worm nod their heads. Breeder, Samurai, and Filly are smart enough to not.

“Alright then. I’ll let you brats go against the demons first. Row, two, pods two through eight. Go get seated,” I order.

The cadets salute me before rushing over to the second row of pods in this fucking-freezing room. Though, the room is going to heat up as soon as the pods come online and start up the simulations.

I remember my first time getting into a simulator pod and how excited I was. They’re essentially van-sized domes built around actual cockpits that can fully spin, rotate, and swing around. A combination of the machine and harnesses that they’re going to have to strap themselves into will simulate the effect of g-forces on their bodies. I didn’t think that non-centrifuge g-force simulations would be realistic a decade ago, and now this technology is even more advanced than it was then.

At the observation deck, a row of screens is in front of me showing me split-screen views of what the cadets are seeing and the insides of their cockpits.

I knew Valkyrie was going to have trouble strapping herself in. She might as well just get a damn breast reduction surgery.

Now, I get to choose which simulation to load for them.

I was only planning on letting them duel against each other. But, these brats want to fight the demons, so that means they’re too confident. Nobody at their stage should want to nor feel even slightly ready to fight those bastards.

I know the perfect simulation for them.

“Your objective is to make it to the location highlighted on your maps, clear the enemy out, and standby until ground forces move in to perform a sweep. Estimated enemy forces include a squad of Cutter-class and at least one platoon of Forager-class. Be prepared for evasive maneuvers as you approach the objective. You will be piloting F-16 VSUs for this operation. Understand?” I ask.

“Copy, sir!” the cadets say back in unison.

Yellow lights glow on top of their simulators.

Those lights turn green once the simulations have loaded. “Begin,” I order.

The cadets prove that they know their basics by lifting off the ground with their thrusters without crashing into each other or accidentally trying to enter the lower atmosphere. Instead, each of their units is hovering right above its starting location.

“We should appoint a leader,” Breeder says over the comms.

“Valkyrie?” Shitger suggests.

“Alright,” Valkyrie answers. “Vic on me. Muscles, Worm, Breeder on my right. Samurai, Shitger, Filly on my left.”

They’re already fucked if she’s leading and telling them to get into a Vic formation.

At least they all know how to get into formation with crashing into each other.

“Remember, Cutter-class are in the area which means to get ready for evasive maneuvers. There is only a squad of them, but that’s enough to wipe us out if we’re not ready. Is everybody ready?” Valkyrie asks and gets a positive response. “Let’s go!” she shouts.

Their lack of experience shows now. Valkyrie is going too fast and the left wing of the formation is falling behind. They catch up when they notice that she’s going faster than she should be, not wanting to be left behind, but going this fast is only going to make sudden evasive actions harder on their bodies. Furthermore, without knowing exactly where the targets are and without a time limit, they should be taking their time to carefully advance and to try and gather information.

Dumbasses.

Somebody wraps their arms around my chest to hug me from behind.

“Fuck off, Zane,” I say.

“What’s wrong? I wanted to come and watch their first trial after – wait, you’ve already sent them into this simulation?” Zane asks.

“They’re too confident. I want them to learn just how stupid they are to think they’re ready since they’re the ones who wanted to fight the demons.”

“Ah. How long do you think they’ll last?”

“They won’t.”

“Does anybody see anything?” Valkyrie asks, swiveling her units head around to scan her surroundings. All any of them can see are the burnt trees below as they fly through a mountainous region.

“Nothing, over,” Shitger answers.

“There!” Worm shouts as several dozen red blips pop up on their displays.

A beam of red plasma takes out one of Valkyrie’s legs and one of her two thrusters behind it, sending her into a downward spiral. Valkyrie shouts, “Evas—"

Three beams converge on her, causing her simulator to violently shake and throw her around before the green light on the top of it turns red.

The others can’t see her on their screens anymore, but I can. She’s pounding her fists against the sides of her cockpit.

“Split up!” Shitger shouts. “Try not to get hi—Filly!”

One more beam scores a direct hit on Filly’s VSU, tearing straight through the center of the cockpit. She would be dead before she even knows what’s happening if this was reality.

Breeder and Worm stay together to try and break to the right, but a missed beam in front of their path causes them to stop and panic.

“Where do we go?!” Worm shouts.

Breeder answers, “I don’t know!” before another beam takes out her left arm. If this was reality, the ammo stored within her arm would have created an explosion that would knock her completely out of action. Instead, her unit can still fly with some minor balancing issues.

Worm positions her unit next to Breeder’s, wrapping one of her arms around the other’s machine, and tries to fly off.

Four shots of plasma take them out at the same time.

Shitger, Muscles, and Samurai are the only ones left.

Shitger continues surprising me by barely avoiding the enemy’s attacks. Unfortunately for him, there is no way he’s going to get out of this in one piece. They have him on the run and he’s focused entirely on evading rather than pushing forward.

As for Samurai, she shoots straight up into the air with her gun at the ready.

She won’t be able to reliably hit the targets from this distance with the F-16’s standard loadout, but that doesn’t stop her from trying.

She raises her gun, scans for the enemy, and… gets blown to pieces right before she can lock onto them.

The dumbass wasn’t treating this like a real mission or else she never would have done something so idiotic.

Only Shitger and Muscles are left. Muscles is evading enemy attacks while trying to advance, but he boosts too low to evade an attack going for his head and crashes into a group of trees. The crash doesn’t knock him out of service, but the Cutter-class are ready to shoot him down as soon as he gets back above the trees.

It’s down to Shitger.

“Shit! What – what do I do?!” Shitger shouts into the comms, his voice panicked. “Sir? I – I don’t know what to do! There’s too many of them! I can’t even get close!”

He glances up at the camera, knowing I’m watching.

He doesn’t get an answer from me.

“I – what’s that?” Shitger asks.

He’s finally fucking noticed.

A valley with walls just tall enough to hide a VSU in runs up along the edge of the simulation’s map and leads straight to the enemy’s backside.

“I’ve got it!” Shitger shouts as he flies down toward the valley.

His excitement distracts him and causes a plasma beam to nail him in his thrusters, taking out his ability to fly and safely descend.

He crashes down into the valley, right where he wanted to be, but the speed of his fall and being head-down results in his VSU being crushed under its own weight right up to the cockpit. His simulator shakes and roughs him up which is a far kinder fate than being crushed to death.

Every simulator has a red light shining on top of it.

“Objective failed. Ending simulation,” a robotic voice tells them.

“I’m impressed,” Zane says. “Most cadets would have lasted a fourth that long getting tossed right into this simulation.”

Valkyrie looks like she’s calmed down, Filly is shaking and crying, and the rest just look disappointed in themselves with their heads hanging low.

“Don’t scold them too hard, alright? They performed better than most would have,” Zane says, patting me on the shoulder before taking his leave. “Positive reinforcement works well sometimes.”

“They’ll get positive reinforcement when they deserve it. Right now, they’re still worthless,” I answer.

The red lights turn yellow as the simulators return to their default positions.