Biodroid: Dawn of a New Age

Chain of Command

It's been 3 days since the new cadets joined the academy, 3 days of the routine has served them to become more acquainted with the semi-military life that the EDF tries to implement along the whole corp. This was a choice made by the researchers and the tops in command of the EDF as a way to not repel many recruits due to the difficulty in attaining the Resonance Link between a Pilot Candidate and a Biodroid.

-"Alright, that's it for this morning's exercises everyone. Now go grab a shower and meet me in classroom 3 in 15 minutes, you are dismissed."  said a commanding Lt. Cruz to his cadets.

-"Yes Sir!" as they replied in unison and broke files to go to the showers that were divided by s*x.

-"I'm getting used to this routine, how about you guys?" asked a very amped-up Jean to the rest of the male cadets that where already walking towards the showers. 

-" You are already getting used to this? In just 3 days?" asked a seemingly tired Ryan, for the physical part of the day was the one that drained him the most.

-"Yeah! I've been doing extra work during the evenings so I'm in my best form yet, remember what LT. Cruz said a couple of days ago, Both mind AND body need to be in top shape top become a pilot." replied Jean.

-" Extra work...? Where do you get all that energy from?" Asked Ken surprised, even though he was already accustomed to the routine as well. 

-"Haha! I Challenge myself every day, I strive to be the best I can, so I can be a suitable Pilot, after all we have a lot of competition." this last part was aimed to remind them of the older cadets that where ahead of them in the pilot candidacy, specially those that where already chosen to be Pilots candidates. Some of the older cadets had already opted to become researchers or developers, a very thin group was chosen as a pilot candidate due to the difficulty in finding brainwaves that could be synchronized with the already available Biodroids, some of them were cut and sent to different areas of the EDF.

-"You can try as much as you like, I doubt you'll ever be a pilot candidate, there are not enough Biodroids for all of us and they will select the best of us, try as much as you can Jean, I will be one of the few chosen pilots, not you and certainly not Ken, maybe Ryan will make it?" said Maximilian   with a mocking tone.

-"If only the best are chosen, then you must take into account the rest of our platoon, remember that both me AND Ken are ahead of you in both grades and physical attributes and Yelenna is above us all, so if anyone has to step it up, that should be you, Maximilian." replied a surprisingly defiant Ryan. Since the very first day on the academy, Maximilian started harassing those he considered to be less than him and those he considered to be here because of privilege, be it being the son of certain someone or friends with the higher ups, for him, only him and Jean was here because of their skills, the latter because of his relative passable skills, the rest were here because of favors or relations, they where not worthy of becoming pilots. 

-"Say all you want Ryan, everyone here knows why both of you got in on the first place." he replied while implying that they got preferable treatment during the exams.

-"That's not Tru-..." started saying Ryan, but was cut off by Ken.

-" Sure Max, think whatever you want, just one more cadet that thinks im here because of my dad, whatever... Is not like I care what you or anyone else thinks of me..." he said with a stoic voice that hided his true feelings of discouragement and resulted in the end of the conversation. 

As they approached the male showers, that where on the opposite side of the female showers n the main building of the academy, they saw Cpt. Edwards coming out of his office and speaking with a very low tone to another EDF Lt. that they didn't recognize, the latter replying with a hearty "Yes Sir" at the time he parted ways with him. Everyone admired Cpt. Edwards, even the new cadets, for he was regarded as the best pilot of them all apart of being the leader of the EDF chosen by consensus among his peers and the R and D team, as they walked near him, Ken started to say greet him as usual.

-" Good morning Da-..." he started saying and was interrupted by him.

-"Good morning 'Cpt. Edwards', you mean, right? Cadet Edwards?" he promptly interrupted while giving him a direct gaze with no other feeling than that of commanding respect. 

-" Yes...Sir... I apologize, Good morning Cpt. Edwards." replied Ken with such embarrassment that it produced a smile in Maximilian's face. 

-" Respect for all of your superiors is of utmost importance to the EDF, this is key in the battle field and you will do well to keep that in mind, is that clear, all of you?" he replied on the same commanding tone.

-"Yes Sir" they all replied in unison at the same time they changed their relaxed posture to that of attention. 

-"Good, I don't  want this kind of behavior to repeat again, cadet Edwards, meet me at the training field when your day is done, this lack of respect shall be taken care of, is that clear?" he said directing his words towards Ken.

-" Yes sir..." he replied with discouragement. 

-"IS. THAT. CLEAR. CADET?" asked the Cpt. with a stronger tone.

-"YES SIR!" replied Ken with an equally stronger tone.

-" Good! Carry on, cadets, off to your next assignment." he said as he dismissed them without changing the tone or the look in his eyes. 'I'm sorry Ken, you need to understand that there is a difference between being in the academy and being home...this is for your own good' he thought as he walked towards the laboratory. 

As the cadets reached the showers, they noticed a group of older cadets coming out of it and probably walking towards their respective classrooms, as the crossed paths, one of them said

-"Ah, but if is our beloved commander's son, are you a pilot yet, oh preferred one?" he said with a very insulting tone, one that seemed aimed towards provoking Ken who remained silent and kept walking. This has become common during his brief days at the academy, every now and then, some of the older cadets, as well as Maximilian on is own platoon, used to make fun of him with comments that resembled that one, he got used to it pretty quick but still affected him, albeit not as strongly as one would think.

-" Pay no mind to them, C'mon, lets get ready for our next class." said Ryan while he tried to encourage Ken. As they emerged from their respective changing rooms, for the common showers were equipped with everything needed to keep a safe distance and privacy from one cadet to the other, the group headed towards the classroom 3 without speaking a word. 

As they reached the classroom, they noticed Lt. Cruz was already there as well as the female part of the platoon

-"Thank you all for allowing us the pleasure of your presence, guys, take a sit." said an annoyed Cruz, they were late.

-" Today we shall discuss the Biodroid's Weaponry. Weapons comes in different shape and sizes, all of them are laser weapons though, some are stronger than other, some have more reach than others and each one of them has unique features." started saying Lt. Cruz to the platoon as the male part of it took their respective seats. The seats where distributed in the same order of the formations, 7 chairs with their respective desks, each assigned to a member of the platoon in the order they where ranked. As Cruz Continued "All of the Biodroids are equipped with a standard array of weapons designed for close combat and medium range combat, since all of them are modeled after the human body, using said weapons while piloting will be the same as using a laser pistol all by yourself, thus making it easier to prepare you for battle without being inside your Biodroids, yes, Cadet Antonov?" as he directed his gaze towards Yelenna that had her right hand raised.

-" This is due to the Resonance Link, correct? Since we are linked in mind with the Biodroid, its easier to transmit to the biodroid's mind the way of using said weapons, IF we know how to use them ourselves." She asked at the same time she explained her own question. 

-"That is Correct, Cadet Antonov, however, due to the difficulty in pairing a pilot and a biodroid, the training for each and every cadet is the same, the basic one. IF, after you have joined minds with your Biodroid, you want to learn how to use a different kind of weapon, you must take different training , but only after you have a Biodroid Assigned, yes, cadet Walker?"

-" Why must we wait to learn a new type of weapon? Wouldn't it be more efficient for me to learn all the kinds of weapons available to a Biodroid before I get a Biodroid assigned?" asked Ryan with genuine intrigue. 

-" That is an excellent question Cadet, the reason behind that is that every weapon created for a biodroid, except for the standard array, is tailor made to your specific requirements while your mind is joined with your biodroid, see, once your mind is joined with you biodroid's your true self becomes one with your biodroids, creating a new self, this new self has its own feelings, that feed of your own, this new self takes into account your biodroid's mind and yours to make its own preferences, although you can still feel your biodroid conscience, remember that I told you that you are no longer 2 conscience, you are 1 big, merged self, that can act differently to your separate selves. After you get used to this new self, you will have the preferences in weapons pretty clear and, since every resource used needs to be maximized, we have decided that is best until your combat preferences are well defined before proceeding to create any weapons for you and your partner." he explained while referring to the Biodroids as partners. As he explained some of the types of weapons, like long range cannons, designed to keep a safe distance from the enemy and taking accurate shots instead of firing a barrage against a closer enemy like the heavy artillery railgun, a question was raised by Emma. " Yes, cadet Emma?" 

-"Yes, beside those types of weapons you mentioned, is there specific types of weapons that any pilot/partner has requested that seemed... different? " she knew what she was asking, for there was a common story of certain pilot's way of combat.

-" Ah, yes. I see where you are going with this, Cadet. Yes, there have been 2 set of pilots/partners that used very different weapons, this was know first as a rumor, but its all true, Cpt. Edwards and his partner requested for a Sword, this was way back when the Cpt. was a Lieutenant, aside from the standard issued set of weapons, and the late Lt. Walker and his partner requested for a Halberd. They have been the only set of pilots and partners to request such distinctive weapons. As they requested them, they gave the weapon's specifications to the research teams, for the Sword, it needed the blade to vibrate,  this would make it easier to cut through the Biodroid's metal and require less maintenance to the blade. This vibration part was a hard task for the R and D team, but it was finally developed successfully by Dr. Izumi, and they implemented the same vibration con Lt. Walker's Halberd." as he explained, some of the cadets seemed surprised at this revelation, then Ryan raised a hand.

-"Why are there no more unique weapons like these?" he asked with a seemly unperturbed tone at the mention of his father.

-" Because, not one set of pilot/partner has ever requested any unique weapons, this denotes the uniqueness of the level of Resonance that Cpt. Edwards has with his partner as well as the one that Lt Walker Had with his to a lesser degree." concluded Cruz while he continue to explain about the rest of the weaponry.

This was how every day at the academy went, exercise during the mornings, classes during the afternoons, lunch was served between classes, some breaks here and there and some combat training between the cadets, the latter had clear intentions of developing the combat experience of the pilot candidates because the biodroids that could be assigned to them lacked said experience. Some days they trained with weapons at the firing range that was situated behind the main training field, it was longer than the training  field, thinner on the sides and it ran along the back wall of the academy. They practice shooting at targets at different ranges, some of the targets moved, others appeared and disappeared in seconds. After the afternoon training they where dismissed and free to go study or go home.  

As Ken was about to go home he saw his father coming out of the main building with an intense look on his face and was walking towards the main training field and he then realized Cpt. Edwards was walking towards him in order to punish him for his lack of respect. 

-" Going somewhere, cadet Edwards? " asked Cpt. Edwards to Ken in front of the whole platoon before they left the training field.

-"No Sir, I am here, as you can see, waiting for your commands." he replied without a hint of an attitude or defiance, for he understood what he needed to do and he wasn't about to make a fool of himself in front of the rest of the platoon, specially Maximilian and Lt. Cruz Who was still there.

-" Good, start running around the training field and I will tell you when to stop, Lt. Cruz, get me a chair from the supervising area, this will take long, the rest of you are dismissed, unless you want to train or join cadet Edwards, I suggest you leave the training field." he commanded with the same voice he issued the running command to Ken.

-"Yes sir, we will leave immediately." Replied Yelenna in the name of the whole group as they departed, all of them minus Ryan who stayed behind as he was motioned by Lt. Cruz to help him with another chair. As both of the chairs where placed one next to the other

-"What's the other chair for, LT?" asked Cpt. Edwards to Lt. Cruz.

-"That would be for me, Cpt. I wish a word with you, if I may." he replied respectfully.

-"Sure, have a sit, this will take a while so I appreciate the company, Cadet Walker, care toy join cadet Edwards with his punishment?" he asked, same commanding voice as before.

-"Sir... I...." he started saying but trailed of.

-"Speak your mind Cadet, its only the 3 of us here and Ken can't hear us." he said softening his tone and inviting Ryan to tell him whatever was on his mind.

-"Sir, I think you are being too hard on him, he is having  a bad time already with the rest of the cadets trying to make him feel bad... I think we need to help him overcome those situations, not make him feel worse about the life in the academy, sir." he said with a respectful tone.

-"Ryan, one day you shall be a fine leader, you think of your comrades often, be it during combat training, taking care that no one gets hurt and that no one goes overboard, making sure no one makes a mistake during weapons training, overall taking care of the whole platoon and assisting in what you can, but this is something you can't shield Ken from." this time, it was Lt Cruz who was speaking, then he continued " I understand how you feel, I've noticed how the other cadets treat some of you new cadets, specially Ken, you and Sylvia. That is something that all of you need to overcome on your own, you won't be there to shield them every time, they need to be able to shield themselves of everything that might hurt them." concluded Lt. Cruz.

-"But-..." he started to reply and was interrupted, this time by Edwards.

-" Ryan, don't let your feelings cloud your judgement, if Ken can't overcome life in the academy, he wont be able to overcome a difficult situation in battle. If he can't convince the rest of the cadets that he is here on his own merits, he wont be able to reach all of his potential, now, if you wish to join him in his punishment, be my guess, but I wont be going easy on him today." he said with soft eyes. Ryan understood that the Cpt. meant well but that did not distracted him from the point that Ken needed a friend and he was not about to let him overcome anything alone if he had it his way.

-" I will join him..." he said as he started jogging towards Ken at an accelerated pace until he reached him and then, they both ran at the same pace.

-" What are we going to do with these two?" asked Nick.

-"That's what i wanted to talk to you about 'jefe', is not looking good with Ken, he is just going through the motions, never asks questions, doesn't seem to care about learning or to distinguish himself above the others on any of the training." replied Cruz in a very informal tone.

-"I'm going to need to find a way to motivate him... I just don't know how, he's always been like this." replied Nick with some resignation.

-"  Don't worry, we still got time, he will come around, I'll make sure of it." replied Cruz with confidence, then continued "Ryan on the other hand, he seems like a clear cut above the rest, his brain is only bested by  Yelenna's by a small margin, and Ken has more physical prowess than him, but his makeup is off the charts! He is always one step ahead of his platoon regarding the coordination of the training and the security measures, he also makes all the right questions and, as you can see, he often speaks on behalf of his peers, he has strong leadership skills." Said Cruz with excitement.

-"Yes, I can see that, he takes after his father, he too took care of his comrades above all else, always thought of them first, but Ryan shows more determination, imagine speaking up to the captain at that age... He sure is brave." replied Nick.

-" He is, I can imagine you doing the same though, there is a reason you are the leader of the EDF after all." said Cruz.

-"Nah, I Just try to make everybody safe, that's all, those two... those will be better, with you guiding them I'm sure they will both make it to pilot candidate, after that, the rest is up to them. " he said while smiling at Cruz.

-"'ay, ay ay...' That's a tall task 'jefe'..." said a resigned Cruz as they both watched the cadets run 3rd lap around the field.

As time passed and the sun was setting, David and Nick exchanged information on the state of the cadets, the different towns and village, the fleet and whatever EDF issue they could talk. Nick explained that he was wary of an attack, it has been too long since the last one and he was sure one was close, but he couldn't think of the place that should fall victim to it, as he commented that to Cruz, he changed the topic to something more trivial and casual. 

-" That's enough, cadets, form up here." yelled Cpt. Edwards across the training field to the now exhausted cadets. As the cadets approached them, Cpt. Edwards said

-" I Hope you understand the reason behind this punishment, cadet Edwards."

-" Yes...Sir...." replied Ken while recovering his breath.

-" Good, now lets go home both of you, Ryan, I also hope you understand the burdens of trying to shelter everyone around you." this time he directed his eyes at Ryan.

-" Yes... Sir....I will... do it Again... and again....and again... if it means saving one of my comrades." replied Ryan with a clear fire in his eyes.

-" I can only say that you'll need to be prepared for the road you have chosen is a hard one. Lets go home Ryan, Ken." he said in a more informal tone.

While all 4 of them walked away from the field, Nick eyed the front door of the main building hoping to see someone come out of it, but that didn't happen so he kept walking towards the exit with the intention of going home when suddenly a loud explosion sound interrupted the otherwise quiet evening, said explosion came from inside the main building. As the 4 of them turned around

-" Ken, Ryan, go home, Cruzie, come with me." he ordered the 3 of them as he started walking towards the academy, both Ryan and Ken where still processing what was happening so he doubled the order "GO HOME! Both of you, that's an Order!" as both of them reacted to him and replied

-" Yes sir!" at unison, to which Ken added "Be careful Dad..."at the time he turned around and ran away from the academy. 

-" Don't worry about me, get some rest, this is probably nothing, explosions at the lab happens every time." he said more to try and convince himself than to convince the two cadets, as he and Cruz were reaching the main door, only one thought was in his mind 'Aiko... please be Safe...'

......