I would probably lose all sense of direction if I was playing around in zero-g.
The fourth cycle was virtually the same as before. An hour run, followed by five hours of training, an hour for food, and three hours of sleep. The pattern and the habits were slowly being absorbed by all the cadets, Eva especially. She had never had such a demanding schedule in her entire life. I
Eva and Chengli once again got a feel for moving and behaving as part of a unit, and absorbed all that they could. It didn't matter how great they were as individual pilots. Their worth was determined by their ability to be a part of a squadron. By the end, most of the cadets were exhausted. Unlike
The first thing they had them do was help instruct the other cadets during their piloting simulations. They especially wanted them to give extra attention to the most problematic cadets; the ones who had difficulty grasping six degrees of freedom. Chengli quickly took to the task. He approached th
When the sergeants roused the cadets on the ninth cycle of the week, they had especially merciless looks in their eyes. This was a special cycle. "Everyone up! Now, now, now!" yelled Sergeant Elyn. This startled everyone onto their feet. The sergeants' energetic cries were far more forceful than
"We're gonna go up row by row," said Sergeant Elyn. It was still their first time in actual fighters, and needed to take it slow for now. And so, the sergeants had everyone launch in groups of ten. This allowed the two of them to keep their eyes on five at a time to make sure they were still in con
By the six-hour mark, the cadets had started to feel exhaustion creep into their core. The sergeants had usually dismissed everyone and had them return to their bunk around this time. But things were different, since they were in a practice sortie. One of the cadets hailed the drill sergeants, his
"Yessir!" Everyone then got into their mecha, strapped in, and sealed up. Lights danced across their eyes as their mechs' control decks powered on. Their MFDs blinked awake and faded in. Readouts scrolled past as targeting systems calibrated. Pilots gripped their controls. Eva opened up the comm
When they were awoken the next cycle, the sergeants skipped the run and allowed the cadets to get cleaned up and have a relatively slower start. They all had endured their lessons incredibly well, and so were afforded this little luxury. Afterwards, they jogged over to the sparring gymnasium, where