For a month solid Airic and the other Platoons trained as much as they could, the rest if them still not waking up a d training early morning like his was. There had been some resistance at the beginning of the year from a few of them, but when you squad mates freeze you out for one reason, it is pretty easy to fix and most of them did.
Because of it the Platoon of Squads commanded by Airic was a tighter knit group than the rest of them. They also had the most coordination between the squads, and any one of his squad leaders could take command of the entire Platoon because they knew his job as well in part.
When they ran the simulation for Combat Performance, the instructor was amazed they survived even the first twenty minutes, let alone had yet to have a single casualty at an hour and completed the hellacious mission within 4 hours. Not one of the Platoons in any school had ever achieved the accomplishment of even completing one of them no matter what level.
It was a statement piece to the Seniors who had watched thier performance as well, a d they both knew thier Platoons would never be able to achieve the same thing. Airic had unilaterally shattered the perceptions of everyone there, as that same battle had not been survived by 5 times the men that Airic had taken in. They even had 10 times the men escape alive, and was the only reason so few of them had died. It had been a fighting retreat, as thier positions had been overrun before they could even react.
"Send a copy of that to General Kerrigan and the Council." General Shank said if the footage from the simulation. If had recorded everything about the encounter, and showed them tactics I don't think even he had ever considered in his Military Career. Tactics that if worked in the real world, might just help turn the tide of a war that had waged on for 25 long years. A war that had claimed billions of lives, and would claim millions more every year without fail.
"What is the reason sir?" His assistant asked knowing thier aids would demand to know.
"They asked what benefit someone being able to use multiple Elemental Abilities would be, that video is thier answer to that very question." Shank replied knowing if he took a first year team lead by that same Cadet and won the competition in a similar fashion, thier would be FAR less opposition, and more funding as well.
"Very well, should we send an invitation to the Annual Competition as well?" His assistant asked knowing his type of humor.
"Excellent Idea Captain, send them atleast a dozen tickets with it. Tell them there is nothing like seeing it in real life, up close and in person." Shank said as they began the squad drills and competitions.
It was three weeks between the school competition and the World Competition, a d Airic had forced the Senior Platoon that had barely won to begin training like his crew did. Except they did it every day for 2 hours a day, the entire Platoons in the simulator as my guys showed them how each of the assessments could be completed.
By the time they were done showing them the potential simulations they might encounter, it was announced by the Council the World Competition would feature a brand new never before seen simulation to challenge the finalists of each school.
With only a few days left until the competition the two teams relaxed a little, knowing that soon they would be competing against hopefully the best the rest of the world had to offer.
The plane ride from Africa to France was more than any of the teams could hope for, as each platoon essentially had its own plane just because of the number of people a d the equipment they had to bring. All of thier personal gear was with each of them, even if thier battles would be in the simulator. The squad maneuvers were required to be in full gear as well, even though most of them chose some weapons to show off. Airic had ensured his teams actually used thier weapons, and proudly showed them off no matter what thier quality was.
The grounds they would be competing at were what truly amazed him, as the simulator had enough capacity that both Platoons of each school were meant to compete at the same time. That could only mean the simulation had a real life basis to it, a d they were attempting to determine a viable option that would kill as few additional soldiers as possible.
Airic and Major Willis appeared in the jungle with thier squads, and Airic narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what it was, but he felt like he had been here before when all hell broke loose around them.
"Defensive fire, 3 rounds." Airic ordered his team as they each selected anything suspicious and fired a shot. They did it three seperate times when they heard the beasts snarling in the tall grass. The thrashing let them hear where the creature was, and the nearest soldiers fired at it until it stopped.
The reports were not promising, as not a single squad could see more than a dozen feet, and the local fauna seemed to be resistant to Elemental abilities. Airic however recognized it as a Necromancy spell, and happened to know fiend fire worked wonders against it as he cast the spell and began teaching the other fire casters how to use the level 6 Ability like it was child's play.
The only issue was it made whatever path it wanted through the dense vegetation before burning out in 30 or 40 feet, and only 4 of them were able to actually cast it in the simulator.
"What else do you think is in store for us?" Willis asked him as they burned a clearing large enough for themselves to comfortably defend 200 people.
"I think we are about to learn what actually killed my father." Airic said as more animal snarls and howls could be heard all around them. "Incendiaries!" He yelled at his grenadiers who lobbed them into the tree lines all around them to let the Elemental users rest for a minute after having created thier shelter.
"The ammo isn't going to last forever." Willis said as Airic smiled.
"An hour, perhaps a little more if we don't get overrun first." Airic said as 3 large wolf like creatures barged into the clearing near his men. He was surprised when the 3 were hit with over a dozen Elemental a ilities almost simultaneously, one of them exploding violently as a crystal dropped where it had been and the other two were frozen at the lower half while thier upper halves burned and yelled in pain before arrows found them and ended the screams.
"Defensive line, conserve the ammo as long as we can. Fire users, as quickly as you can burn us a path 30 feet wide going in that General direction." Willis said as it indicated that was where the portal to get them home would be. The only issue was they didn't know if it was one mile, or 5 miles that they had to go through the thick overgrown jungle.
9 hours his team survived the ordeal, finding the portal and using it to end the simulation. They had run out of ammo in the last few minutes, as a beast that none of them had ever seen before had infact overrun them. 20 men would have been lost, but Airic had noticed something with thier weapons that the administrators had as well. The larger calibers were enough to crack it's hard armor, and once enough cracks formed it would take damage. The .55 caliber and above made cracks that took time to exploit, while 20mm cannons and 40mm grenades were able to inflict damage much quicker.
It was a weapons choice Airic was glad he forced at least one member from each team to make, a larger caliber even if it meant less bullets. He himself had found matching .55 caliber pistol and rifle, even if the pistol could hold 5 shots. His rifle could only hold 10 before he couldn't aim properly, and he could only carry a dozen quick loads and 10 clips for his rifle before he was out of ammo.
"You really think whatever that was was what killed your dad?" Emily asked after they finished it and he nodded.
"I do, it was an argument my dad and I had frequently. By requiring someone to use weapons over .50 caliber, you severally reduce thier ability to carry ammunition for that weapon. In fact, my nearly 200 rounds is an outlier for amount of ammo. Most only carry 100 rounds or less, and in some situations that just isn't enough ammo. The counter however is sometimes you run into situations where even a million rounds of small arms fire would do little to your enemy. Than those few big rounds from a larger caliber platform can have a drastic impact on the outcome. At first when the small rounds were bouncing off it, the creature was fearless. Once those .55 calibers, 20mm and grenades began making an impact, it began to retreat. We may have only injured it in the simulator, but I bet inside a week we get a new holo back that they killed the beast responsible for killing my father." Airic told her as they prepared for dinner and bed.
Thier success in the simulator had been unanticipated, and because of it they had not been able to do some of the squad events, and their squads had a lot of events that they still had to complete.
The next evening they had finished all of the competitions, and the scores calculated for who won the games. There were 26 Academies representing the last of humanity, most of them the graduating classes of those Academies.
"This year we have all been surprised by the amazing accomplishment of a Platoon pairing that has never been achieved before. Our simulations have been the pinnacle of impossibility to train soldiers what they may face, and you have shown us proper training, dedication, and supplies can mean the difference between life, and certain death. Combined with the exceptional performance in the squad competition by those of Cadet Lieutenant Airic Carter of Atlantis Academy, his Platoon has taken first place with a combined score of 1272 out of 1300." Admiral Bates said from the podium registering a nearly perfect score. 600 points was the possibility from Squad Training, and the Platoon Simulation was the other 700.
"In second place, with 1,120 points, Cadet Captain Willis of Atlantis Academy." He said to a other explosion of applause and celebration from the parents of Atlantis Academy. "3rd Place, Cadet Colonel Parker of Grant's Academy with a score of 812." He said as there was applause, no matter how subdued as thier 3rd place had been over 300 points behind second.
Willis knew that not one second of what he was experiencing of the finish was his doing. Airic had lead them through that simulation, a d because of it he got to see just the type of Commander he really wanted to be.
"Cadet Lieutenant, you seem a little young to be here at this big stage, let alone to be the top ranked Cadet with such a low Rank." A reporter said as he smiled.
"Just because most schools use this as a Senior showcase, doesn't mean ours does. If it seems I am young and a Cadet Lieutenant shouldn't be here, it is because I am young. I am first year Cadet Lieutenant Airic Carter of Atlantis Academy, and my Platoon won our schools competition games. Only our best should lead us into battle, and these games were definitely a battle for my Platoon of first years. Hopefully we get to come back next year, and the competition will be even better than it was this year." He said formally before he left her there with even more questions now.