The classes that first month were going very well for Eneas; at that moment, he was just waiting for the day it was his turn to take charge of the Arcadia simulation. The expected day was Wednesday; it's not that he was nervous about failing, but about getting it right.
The assumptions in the simulations were intricate and he couldn't risk making mistakes if he wanted to get a good grade. For many, it would only be a desire to stand out on Eneas' part; for others, it would be a competitive mentality, but with two weeks of class he was too early for anyone to call him a genius. However, for Eneas it was much more, it was the path he had to walk to save his mother, to save humanity.
Captain Theseus was standing in the class, he was eager to see what Eneas would do, although he had prepared a challenge for him, to see to what extent that cadet was just a skilled boy or really had the makings of a commander.
"Let's begin. Today our commander will be Cadet Eneas; name the formation commander"
Eneas began to count on the fact that on the bridge he would have Telemachus as second in command, Hector, Ajax, Nestor, Jason and Ariadne as Mecha pilots. Penelope, Cassandra, Lavinia, Paris, and Agamemnon as fighter pilots, and he distributed the rest to the rest of the positions on the bridge.
The biggest surprise was that when he went to Mechas's simulator, he was the first to command the Arcadia from a place other than the command bridge. Captain Theseus smiled at this brave decision. It was what many great admirals would have done: reduce the personnel on the main ship as much as possible and gain attack power and alternatives outside.
The assumption was a complicated situation: Arcadia would be attacked multiple times by two cruiser-type ships and a large battleship, with more than 7 mechs and around twenty fighters on display. It was such an unfavorable situation that it really seemed like they were going to a slaughterhouse rather than a simulation.
Eneas's first orders began to sound before starting his simulator.
"Telemachus, direct the ship to Sector A28 behind the alpha cruiser, keep the Arcadia in line with the battleship at all times, vary the courses to maintain cover, Hector, Ajax and Nestor, you will head to the beta cruiser along with the rest of fighters, raid and retreat, but above all, don't let it surround us. On the bridge, divert energy to the front defenses and attack the alpha cruiser at medium range. You go for the fighters; I'll take care of the rest. "
Although Eneas pronounced the initial orders of the battle plan without hesitation, everyone began to wonder if the cadet was attempting a suicide tactic to be destroyed and not be blamed for the failure of the simulation.
Eneas got into the simulator, and after loading all the systems he gave his first order to his own ship, instead of using the typical mech robot form, which was the most used and which could have the greatest firepower, Eneas had a different plan.
"Change into Raptor form"
The mechas had a form in which they transformed into a ship with a configuration similar to a fighter, much more maneuverable than the robot form and faster than the robot form but with much less firepower and precision. This was the way in which Eneas was eager to test his abilities.
While the Arcadia made an emergency turn to take course, interposing the enemy cruiser in front of the battleship's fire, and while the rest of the group was distributed between the fighters and the other cruiser, he launched himself at full speed against the mechas that were already leaving. Battleship formation.
At the speed at which he was going, it was difficult to hit them, although it was also a difficult objective to reach, when he was about to reach the Mech formation, he gave an unexpected order.
"Change into mecha form, charged pulse shot"
At that speed, the raptor transformed without losing almost any inertia, so he crossed the Mech formation without being intercepted while he transformed into the destructive colossus-type robot of the Hellenic Navy. Two disabled magnetic pulse cannons in raptor form fired at the two closest ships, but Eneas didn't wait.
"Change to Raptor form, turbo jet at full power"
As the robot had just been assembled, even with the same inertia of rotation and spatial displacement, it readjusted to the raptor form to shoot into space at high speed before the shots of its enemies hit the target.
The two ships hit hard by the electromagnetic pulse cannons were immobilized, the raptor form's high-powered ion blasters hitting both targets before they could even regain control.
Eneas used a tactic similar to the previous one to disable another of the mech enemies for combat; however, the simulator's AI was not stupid, and he launched the rest of the fighters in different trajectories to reach Arcadia.
Meanwhile, Telemachus had taken the Arcadia to the coverage area behind the enemy cruiser; this prevented the battleship's large weapons from being able to hit them, although the launch of subsonic missiles to reach them would shortly begin.
The crossfire between both ships was cruel, but being ships of similar categories, only an error or external intervention would tip the balance towards one of the two.
The three mechs that were with the other cruiser, as well as the fighters were doing a good job, with their mobility and raid type attacks not only would it not join the fray, but at that rate and in the long run it would be seriously damaged.
Jason and Ariadna destroyed fighters as if they were mosquitoes; it was long and complicated, but they had disabled all options for assistance from the small and annoying ships.
However, although the first move was clearly favorable to Eneas, they would hardly be able to escape everything that would come upon them when the battleship's missile attack began.