Road Of Advancement

With as little luggage as they were allowed they quickly completed unpacking and arranging their stuff. There was still some time off until 15.00 so they decided to go and grab an early lunch.

"Do you mind if I ask over some friends?" Quince asked him as they made their way over to the cafeteria.

Theodore had already asked Summit to search for information regarding the local cuisine. Since he had been reminded more than a couple of time to sparingly use his credits he narrowed down the choice to one of the more popular affordable cafeterias on campus. They certainly weren't the only ones with the same idea as there were more than a few cadets heading over aswell.

"Yeah sure, I don't know too many people on campus, so it would actually be cool to meet some more people." Theodore agreed readily. He did not have much interactions with peers in the time he had been 'transferred' to this world. So he was actually quite starving to once more be part of a social circle. Being crippled wasn't his greatest regret in his former life, it was the abandonment and loneliness it was coupled with.

"All right, cool! I know quite a few people on campus, so as your roommate, I'll make sure you won't get lonely!"

"Well thank you Mr Social!" Theodore joked

"I actually think that sounds pretty cool, don't you think?"

"I doubt it would get you more female-attention, Mr Single."

"Auch. That was uncalled for Thompson!"

They bantered as they made their way to the cafeteria.

It was a neat little place not too far from their lodgings, The Lonely Anthem, was a diner that was given high ratings on the public cadet fora and was reasonably priced.

"The owner, Alexandre Goncharov, was an alumnus of house Vanir and decided to start his venture close by his beloved school. The Lonely Anthem is greatly successful on campus and was the start of Alexandre's foodchain across many parts of the star sector." Summit introduced the cafeteria in great detail as Theodore had been narrowing down his choices.

In the end, the fact was completely ignored, but comparing several other options, it won out by being the closest. One would always favour a restaurant close by.

They arrived swiftly and found a place among swaths of grouped up cadets. Summit either understated the popularity of this place, or most first-year cadets had done a similar search, because the place was packed.

"Theodore, meet my long-time friends, Julian Brandt and Gaméz Rodrigues. We're from different star sectors, but we've always competed on mech-tournaments. Don't think that we're just junks that get high on pilotiing weapons of mass destruction. We're also junkies that get high on simulation games." Quince introduced the pair of friends jokingly.

"You've lost the glasses, eh? Now, even when you keep your mouth shut, people won't take you seriously. Anyways, nice to meet you, Theodore, try and not become brain damaged by hanging out to much with this clown over here. There are times that I swear my IQ is going down from just being around him." Julian responded.

"Now calm down ladies, I know you can get carried away with your banter, but we have a new person in our circle here, so tone it down." Gaméz said.

"It's a p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e meeting you, Theodore. Is it oké if I call you Theo?"

"Yeah sure. I respond to either anyways." Theodore shrugged. They were a funny bunch, very different from one another, but that made interacting with them also a lot of fun.

"So all of you became SP, right? What's the perks?" Theodore asked

"It's really alright. We get a bunch of extra creds, ask for extra tutoring and we're squad leaders by default. It's too bad we can't be a team together. Well, we might become a team if all of us are picked fo the academy matches." Gamez lamented.

"Guess it's the three of us fighting over you Theodore. I don't think any of us can be bothered to much about the captainship. We're all aiming for the inter-academy squad anyways." Quince joked.

"We'll see about that Quince. With all due respect, but you should take your captainship more seriously. Only if you do well as a captain will you be selected for the inter-academy teams. I'll take the best picks after thoroughly analyzing each pilot performance." Gamez put Quince straight.

"I don't think it matters that much Gamez, we're all elite class students in U1 on KMU. Our capabilities are all guaranteed. I think it's more about developing and polishing our skills here. I will pick pilots for my team based on their personality and potential. I'd rather mesh well with my team than to have a high-performance team that has bad chemistry." Julian put in his two cents.

A small silence ensued.

"At least I don't have to worry about picking teammates." Theodore joked and smiled.

This lead to relaxing the atmosphere and the banter starting up again. Serious topics were more or less avoided after that. Each of them realised their differences and did not want to but heads over their difference. They were a very close-knit, but they warmly welcomed Theodore and left him with enough space to b.u.t.t in.

"Let's gets going, guys. We better get there early. It will be a busy few hours, picking out our 'steeds'. That being said, what's your preferred mech Theodore?"

"Light to medium ranged mech. I prefer distance and clear sight." Theodore answered.

"Hmm, that's great. You fit well with all of us. You might already know but Quince is an offensive knight. Gamez is a specialist, he pilots strikers and skirmishers. I myself pilot support-type mechs. Mobile fire support and recon are my specialities. Though in PVP I'll choose light to medium-ranged mechs as well."

"We'd mesh well as the core of a team!" Julian smiled.

"Well, guess we all have to do well enough to be selected for the inter-academy squad right?" Quince said.

"Don't think too light of it though Quince. With Dwight Hightower and Avery Adair, we're in good company to vie for those places. Not to mention, there are quite a few legacies that we have to surpass if we want a spot. None of them should be any worse than us, perhaps some are even better." Gamez put them straight back with their legs on the ground, as they had jointly begun dreaming of their future joint-squad.

"We've met Dwight before on tournaments. He seems like a cool dude. I don't mind having him around in our team." Quince still continued dreaming nonetheless. Quince was the frivolous counterweight to the serious Gaméz. Theodore mused about how balanced this group was, even with these differences in personality.

"That makes me think, I don't think we've met Avery before? She looks amazing. At least Quince should've remembered her, if we'd met her, right?" Julian asked.

"Now that you say so, I don't think we've met her before. "Quince replied.

"Well, stop dreaming Quince. I know what you're thinking. But you have zero chances with her. Your face, even more so now that you've let go of the glasses, won't impress such a pretty lady." Julian joked, making everyone laugh.

As they conversed they had made their way to the hangar. The huge facility housed an incredible storage of thousands of mech, next to being an active workplace for thousands of personnel, bots and production facilities.

'Impressive.' Theodore thought as he scanned through the massive layout of the facility.

They checked the latest schedule and found the local ID code for their designated 'class-room'. They were expected to report to staff at room one-hundred-and-four, inside area 52 of the hangar bay. The hangar bay had been split in a six by ten roster. Each one-by-one was then sectioned up in multiple segments.

Room one-hundred-and-four was section 1, floor zero, room four. It was a very logical way of managing directions. If you found the correct section, the rest would explain itself.

They reported and, though they were early, they were far from first. Many people had come in earlier.

"Guess we'll wait here for a bit." Julain shrugged.

"It's just going to be the elite class picking now right?"

"Yes, check your roster. The last column says which class were in. There is only one elite class - U-E1. The other classes will pick their mech as well, but they will be hosted somewhere else I believe."

After some casual chatting, the room filled up with elite-cadets and an instructor entered as last.

"Welcome cadets My name is FIint Roger and I will be your class-mentor, you can call me Mr.Roger. My official rank on campus is lieutenant. I will also be teaching you "Mech Piloting 101" and "Advanced Mech Controls" this semester."

"Today you will be choosing your mech for the upcoming year. All first-year train with 'basic' training mechs. In the field, it is common for the engineering bay to be flooded with requests for small repairs. During wartime, the mech engineers are swamped with work. Part of the course at KMU Pilot course is, therefore, learning how to service your mech and how to do basic repairs."

"Your chosen mech will be your partner this year. Excluding U1 teams in the Inter-academy matches, you will only pilot this particular mech. Treat it right. The condition of your mech is vital. Every mech pilot should be intimately familiar with their mech and make sure it is in absolutely pristine condition."

"Regardless of your occupation after KMU, as long as you're a mech pilot, you are partially dependant on the performance of your mech. Not servicing it properly could lead to your early death. Please take it seriously."

"I expect each of you to be familiar with the variety of mech-types and classes that we offer. Please pick one that you find suitable for your level of skill and piloting style. You have three hours to browse and test the mech-roster that has been made available for you. Please note that you can customize the loadout to suit your particular preferences aswell."

"Once selected you to have one hour to test the mech of your choice out in the open area behind the hangar bay. If the mech is not returned within the hour, you are violating university rules and you will be punished. Clear?"

"Yes, SIR." All cadets enthusiastically responded.

"Great. If you're satisfied with your choice, register the mech under your ID and return it to the hangar bay. Your time starts now."

Theodore had Summit call up the mech roster as he interface with a terminal on the side of the hangar. The roster was rather expansive. Theodore quickly filtered through them. He chose to filter based on weight class of 20-30T and selected a filter for ranged mechs.

There were still loads of mechs left in the catalogue, but Theodore did not want to filter down any further. He wanted to browse through them and compare the models that caught his eyes.

He wanted to find a versatile ranged mech, preferably one with a strong laser with lots of customization options. Changing intensity, diameter, speed were very important options to laser mechs. They generated extreme amounts of heat and controlling this would be an important factor for the mech pilot.

Traditionally ballistic ranged mechs would have more impact on the battlefield. However, due to their nature, carrying around ammunition and inherently dealing with massive recoils, they were less quick and agile.

Theodore preferred agileness and speed. Wearing his opponent down and controlling his output fit him better. With lasers, you could still be a true grim reaper on a battlefield if you were to go for high-intensity, well-placed shots. Theodore wasn't afraid that he would not be able to do enough impact.

He quickly found four mech models that suited his needs. In the end, he chose a model that was called "Black Raptor". It was a model that had a natural arch in his back and looked menacing. Theodore noted that though it didn't have an incredibly high top speed, it had great acceleration and had great flexibility. The moderate amount of armour was a trade-off that Theodore was willing to make. His play style usually would keep him at a distance. He wouldn't have to face of in close distance usually.

He took it for a spin and adjusted a few settings, but even before adjusting, Theodore had been happily surprised with the quality of the mech. It was extremely responsive and had very few restrictions in its movement.

Though he couldn't use his laser weapon, the specs of it were beyond the other models Theodore had scouted. He was fairly confident that the weapon would be competitive among high-performance laser weapons.

He returned it to the hangar bay and only requested for his mech to have a large dagger added to his loadout. He chose to have it attached to his left leg, as it was easily accessible.

The reason for the extra weapon was simple, after going to many simulations with Redford, in many different terrains, Theodore learned how useful a spade or knife could be.