Chapter 29 Rules and "Rules"

Inquisitor Wolf was just as intense of a teacher as General Tennant was, taking over a three hour slot of their mornings. There was no gentle start, no introductory exercises, instead he started them directly with the task of provisioning a newly formed Battalion.

They spent an hour going over the relevant sections of the regulations, and then the Cadets were dropped directly into the virtual reality scenario as the Commanding officers.

As the Instructors hoped, they fell naturally into the roles, meaning that after they compiled the list of necessities Nico mercilessly referred everyone to Max for final signatures while working out the budgeting with the department heads created by the simulation.

The whole scenario takes place aboard an Imperial Light Cruiser, the sort of vessel that carries special forces strike squads to their destinations. Both Senior officers decided this was the best location for it, since that was likely to be their first command, and the plasteel walls covered in gray blue paint is what their training area was designed to duplicate, keeping a sense of total integration between inside and outside the simulation.

The idea that the General has was to make them forget that they were Cadets while they were training, and have everything flow seamlessly from one task to another. In theory, it should help smooth their transition from the academy to a duty station.

Drawing on Nico's memories from her previous life, the Cadets agreed to leave every department a bit of discretionary money after the necessities were ordered. The staff in the scenario are programed to behave as normal soldiers would, and not long after receiving their instructions they start returning to Max with requisition orders for additional items that weren't on the list.

Most of these things were fine to approve, but he did catch a number of questionable orders. Either overpriced, not itemized or straight up unnecessary.

He's almost through the list when he sees a requisition order for 'training equipment' in the quantity of two crates with no additional details but with Nico's signature on it.

Max uses his Innate Talent to see what she was up to and finds that the crates have sports equipment, musical instruments, playing cards and other such items in them. Entertainment and Leisure items aren't on the approved list for their requisition, but nothing in the crate is specifically prohibited.

Max signs off on it and when the orders are placed the scenario ends, bringing them back to reality.

"Let's see how you did Cadets. I believe in a level of officer autonomy, so I didn't watch inside the scenario, instead I will audit your requisition orders as a Commissariat Officer." Inquisitor Wolf informs them with his unnerving toothy smile and starts going through the budget and orders.

They've come in five percent under budget, a good sign, and the items look good. The scan from his data tablet says they got everything necessary, plus most of the additional items that new Commanders miss if they micromanage their staff. Just like Max did, he notices the training equipment order, but only has the order sheet to go by.

So, he pulls up the data from the training scenario and checks the content to find out if they missed one of the planted corrupt logistics officers and ended up with contraband in their order. What he finds are two very standard enlisted troops motivational shipments.

Ordered as they were, they're not technically prohibited, but most Cadets and rookie officers would deny them as wasteful spending and then end up with a low unit motivation score when their scenario is run through the preset mission metrics by the Simulation program.

Overall, he's very impressed with this first attempt even if a number of their quantities are off from what is actually required and they missed almost every efficiency upgrade because they didn't force the departments to collaborate on their orders. With Kepler's advanced technology, many specialty items can be replaced with a single multi tool.

He sets the simulator to complete the mission the Cadets were assigned to prepare for with their approved Requisitions, getting back a score of 73 points, comfortably passing, but not nearly good enough for his standards.

"Barely passable. High scores for readiness and morale, low scores for efficiency, spare parts supply and ammunition reserves." He informs the eager Cadets once the data is compiled.

"Tomorrow, we will be going over the extensive list of mistakes you made. Expect it to take all three hours."

Max decides Major Wolf's smile is a lot like Major Payne's. It looks friendly, but it really isn't. Three hours worth of mistakes for a two hour simulation has got to be a lot, certainly far more than Max thought he'd made.

The lecture was just as painfully long as Max feared, but over the course of the next two weeks he learned an incredible amount about supply consumption by military units and the variety of Kepler technology which quietly powers military society. Which led him to the inevitable conclusion that energy weapons are underrated.

Sure, they might not be as effective as projectiles and explosives, but the sheer volume of munitions that are required for an extended bombardment are mind boggling. Even with the Kepler Kingdom's caseless artillery rounds that the Battle Cannon of a Crusader Class Mecha uses, it's still a struggle to store more than a few hundred in the giant Mecha.

That's more than enough for a "normal battle" scenario according to the regulations, but Max isn't sure who defined that term, or if they'd ever personally seen combat.

While they finished their crash course in basic provisioning, their afternoon physical training was starting to pay dividends for Max. His dexterity and speed had been growing at a rapid pace even though his Strength stat had barely advanced, making everything from martial arts to Mecha Piloting easier for him.

He didn't have to struggle to keep up with the maneuvers anymore, the pace was almost comfortable to him now, and General Tennant had declared they were almost done with the Line Mecha training.

Once he was satisfied with their provisioning skills, Inquisitor Wolf moved on to troop discipline in combat scenarios. Methods, theories, and how everything from deployment formations and equipment to the availability of a field cafeteria instead of reheated rations could affect behavior.

Unlike provisioning, that topic would not be done quickly, with the plan being that he would spend the entire semester on that portion of their officers training.

The end of the second week also marked their final checkup from the doctor, to determine if their bodies development had stabilized after the System Enhancement at 100 bonus points. Both Cadets really hoped he would say it had, because that was the last thing that General Tennant was waiting on to change their piloting courses.

The Corvette Class Mecha were faster, more responsive and more heavily armed. Piloting them with a developing body could lead to internal injuries, which would delay training even more than waiting until the Cadets were fully prepared. For that reason the academy didn't usually teach it at all. The lower the grade of System Compatibility a soldier has, the closer to a systemless human their growth rate becomes.

Everthing relating to youths in society was based around that fact. Even the age of adulthood was set at two years after system induced puberty finished, since that was when their mind and body could be expected to be fully developed. For Alpha Rank Cadets, that often meant during primary training. For Delta Ranks, that could be after their university years if their early training was slow to progress.

The Doctor's response wasn't as good as hoped. Their Alpha Grade Systems were causing more changes than usual to the existing state of their bodies, and they'd need more time to adapt before moving on to new forms of training.

Part of that delay was also due to the gravity training continually increasing their abilities, which prolonged the change, so General Tennant altered the schedule a little. Instead of teaching them new piloting tricks, next they'd learn Mecha maintenance after their morning command lessons.