A) Long Range Loadout
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1. Exercise to get stronger and more mentally fit when things get shaky in the cockpit. The extra strength is to keep our cool and our aim straight.
2. Read about the Role's of our military. Things like what we use and what they have been known to destroy, as well as find out how our military is organized.
3. Maybe we should chat up with that red haired lady. It'd be nice to know about how mech's work and why ours is so much more unique...An maybe we can have a "friend" to talk to personally with .
The next week or so goes by quickly as you throw yourself into the training at hand, your combat style tends towards the use of the Long Range loadout for the practice model, and you quickly learn to make excellent use of the range your weapons give you and the sheer speed the lightweight practice model provides. Throughout eight training sessions you manage to win six, one of which you perform outstandingly as you manage to take out the entire force of <Barracudas> in the span of four minutes as you show your seemingly outstanding talent for sniping. All in all as the training sessions carry on you find yourself growing better at controlling your machine, and your performance certainly increases however the sessions simply increase in difficulty as Sander's puts forth more of the <Barracudas> to act as your opponents. He even goes so far as to change the terrain at the bottom of the bay by having them set up boulders, and bits of plating scattered around to restrict your total vision, by the final session you're struggling to even take out a fourth of the <Barracudas> in the highly changed bay area ...
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You split your spare time among three activities for the most part, the first is exercise and training to improve your overall fitness and psyche, the second is delving into the books your library contains on the Oceanic Alliance's military, and the final one is your visiting Julius during your spare time. Your training goes fairly well, and as the days drag on you find yourself quickly able to step up the difficulty and length of your workouts as your fitness grows to meet the demands you are putting on your body throughout the training. Its not great progress, but any progress is better than none.
Your study of the Oceanic Alliance's military goes extremely well as you learn a bit about how the overall command structure is organized, basically the military has a central organization called OA High Command that oversees the three theater organizations which are the Osthon Front Command, Varis Front Command, and Zelaban Front Command. These three groups are responsible for the safety, and continued security of their assigned zones with the internal matters of the military focused primarily on anti-terrorism and pirate actions falls under the command of Oceanic Internal Affairs Center who make use of military assets for covert and home security purposes. Due to the situation of the Oceanic Alliance being made up entirely of island nations the OA's military is focused almost entirely on naval forces making their navy the strongest of the world's four superpowers, meanwhile their airforce and infantry organizations appear to be kept at the bear minimum needed to support the naval assets. However when you look for units and info on things the military has been known to face you find that all recent conflicts are against pirates and terrorists, a war hasn't occurred between the OA and any of the other powers in many years. (See a spoiler further down for some info on some of the assets the OA makes use of.)
Finally, when you can find the time to spare from your training and research you go visit Julius though more often than not you end up visiting her while she's in her office in the Information Analysis Department. You're surprised to find her office cluttered with papers, books, and even a handful of blueprints which you later learn are for earlier models of the <MSV-III Barracuda> which Julius helped design. Aside from that the rest of her office is taken up mostly by computer cases, and monitors crammed into every corner she could find the room for one leaving only a small area at the center of this mess for anyone to actually move around in, more often then not you find her there staring at various displays and typing away at a keyboard with a pace you find unusually fast. However every time you come to visit she always stops her work, and gladly starts chatting with you.
At first your conversations are a bit awkward, mostly filled with talk about your training sessions and how well you, or the practice model was managing to perform in the situations Sanders was throwing at you, but by the end of the week you've managed to somewhat hit it off and start talking about other topics. The turning point comes when you ask Julius about what she does at SSM during one of your first meetings, and much to your surprise she replies that she's one of the head researchers here at SSM. She created most of the current models of the <Barracudas>, and is even the one who designed the <Gorgon> which Sanders seemed to be so proud of. You come away from your meetings with the feeling that you're getting closer to Julius, if only in that you to can talk easily instead of most of your conversations defaulting to your training these days.
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With over a week having passed Sanders informs you that today will be a special training session to test your progress up to this point by changing from the original style of training, instead of going head to head against a large number of <Barracudas> alone with orders to defeat a certain number of them you're being faced off a squadron of <Barracudas> backed by two surface vessels of unknown armament. You'll have the assistance of three <Barracudas> to simulate the type of missions you'll be undertaking in the field with the number of support units the OA would give you, and the objective of getting within range to identify the unknown ships, proceeding to test the enemies' defenses, and then withdrawing successfully. Sanders' exact words were,
"Hektor, your group will win if you successfully close in on, identify the unknown vessels' armaments, and then disable at least one of the vessels before pulling back. Your unit will lose if your unit is put out of action, or you fail to identify the vessels' armaments before your support units are wiped out requiring you to abandon the mission."
Sighing you lean back in the control seat, and feel the familiar jolt of pain as you connect with the <Concept Drive>. Taking a look out from the garage and across the bay you see that the ships aren't stationed in the bay itself meaning you'll be heading out into the ocean proper to pinpoint your targets, as for your support units they are to join you after you've entered the bay and are being controlled by Julius and the others while your opponents are apparently some higher ups from the Analysis Department. Julius, Adam, and Titus wish you luck as you start to move towards the bay with a plan of action already forming in your mind ...
Rank: Trainee
Callsign: <Triton>
Special Distinctions: None
Desires: Fame, Fortune, Power, and Piloting one of the Alliance's Aquatic Mechs
Traits:Decent PilotDecent Booster CombatAverage MarksmanAverage FitnessPoor Uneven Combat Skills Condition: Perfect
Power: Optimal
Apostle Field: Stabilized
Booster Fuel: Full
Armaments:
Hyperion Model F Precision Sniper Cannon [4 Shots Left in Gun, 2 Spare Magazines]
Combat Knife
SSM Pattern Assault Pistol [24 Shots Left in Gun, 1 Spare Magazine]
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((This is just a few of the naval assets the Oceanic Alliance makes use of.))
Emperor Class Submarine
The Emperor is the most advanced, and most powerful of the submarine classes the Oceanic Alliance fields. Emperor Class Submarines are armed with six torpedo tubes, four Faris Sharktooth 25mm CIWS Defense Turrets (two on the port side, and two on the starboard side), four launch tubes on the deck that are loaded and supplied with Anti-Ship missiles and (when surfaced) Anti-Air missiles, and a single Krisman 130mm Naval Cannon. When surfaced the deck has a trio of stored .30 cal HMGs that can be deployed to help boost security when the vessel is forced to surface.
Serpent Class Submarine
The Serpent is the standard submarine fielded by the Oceanic Alliance. The vessel is armed with two torpedo tubes, and a single Faris Sharktooth 25mm CIWS Defense Turret on the deck.
Aramani Class Frigate
The Aramani is designated a Special Ops class Frigate as the ship is very lightly armed to allow room for the control core, and deployment centers for twelve MSV-III Barracuda Unmanned Assault Drones. The ship itself is armed with a single 78mm Vanbur Anti-ship Cannon, and a Faris 25mm CIWS Anti-Air Turret.
Feliken Class Frigate
The Feliken is designated a Support Frigate, and sacrifices any form of weapons for intense survey and radar equipment for quick detection and early warning of incoming forces.
Karamis Class Frigate
The Karamis is an escort frigate armed with three 78mm Vanbur Anti-ship cannons, two Faris 25mm CIWS Anti-Air turret, and a single torpedo tube for anti-sub warfare. The Karamis is a cost efficient escort frigate designed to provide all around support for larger fleets with their main duty acting as an advance net for fleets containing high value capital ships and assets, or for use in small patrol groups.
Sacrasis Class Corvette
The Sacrasis is designated as an Air Suppression Corvette. This agile ship is armed with two Faris 25mm CIWS Anti-Air turrets, and a Hypurnax Launcher system capable of firing both Anti-Ship and Anti-Air missiles with an on board missile capacity of about twenty (with two to four if any of those missiles being anti-ship).
Mekron Class Corvette
The Mekron is designated an Anti-Ship corvette. It sacrifices some of its speed, and all air-defense for two 78mm Vanbur Anti-Ship cannons, and a pair of box launchers on either side containing Phoenix Mk IV Anti-Ship Guided Missiles.
MSV-III Barracuda Unmanned Assault Drones
The Barracuda is a somewhat small scale unit that's as tall as a person, and about as wide in a spherical shape armed with a single 20mm 'Jackrabbit' utilizing either AP, or APDS rounds to allow their somewhat smaller caliber rounds to harm the subs and other drones they are pitted against.