Six pilots from the platoon gathered in a loose half-circle around the central sparring ring. I had Jin, Sato, Miller and a couple of others from the Vanguard with me, willing to learn the technique. The rest worked on combat drills with Osei leading the training.
I stood at the centre of the ring with Jin opposite me.
"Ether Strike is a single-strike technique that fires Ether through your fist on impact. The concept is simple, but the execution is not."
I demonstrated the buildup phase of the technique, circling Ether from my head until enough had gathered. With enough Ether in place, I channeled the energy from its origin point down my arm and into my fist, and finally released it with a punch. The Ether flickered visible for a half-second, then dispersed. A few around the circle whistled out in unison.
"That's the gist of it. The technique itself drives the Ether through the strike at the moment of contact, the release syncing up with the impact. Too early and the Ether either dissipates in the air before contact. Too late and the Ether will blow back into your arm."
I held up my right forearm, showing off bruises from the Ether blowback that I had incurred from yesterday's cultivation. "This is from one mistimed strike."
Miller let out a low whistle, with the rest of the group wincing.
"The ones who'll learn it fastest have higher Sensitivity or Control stats. Doesn't mean others can't learn the skill, it just means you'll pick it up slower. Alright, let's work through it together, here's how it looks against an actual opponent."
I gathered Ether again, channeled it and threw out the strike against Jin who had placed their arms up in front of them.
I drove the punch into her guard. The Ether fired through my knuckles a quarter-beat after impact, slightly too late. A small portion of Ether pushed back up my arm, causing me to wince in pain. Jin however, had taken the blow and skidded back several meters.
Jin shook off her arms. "Yeah, I felt that one."
"That was a poor execution. The release was late and shallow, yet it was still highly effective. "
I scanned the gathered pilots. "So — who wants to try first?"
Sato stepped forward.
"Of course you do."
"Well, duh."
"Alright, let's see you give it a go. Try using it on me."
Sato squared up opposite of me. He gathered the Ether in his skull, and I could see him visibly trying to feel for Ether. He pulled it from the starting point down his arms and into his fist, his face scrunching from the effort.
He punched out and the strike landed on my guard but nothing fired, the Ether dispersing somewhere along the line.
"Closer than I expected. You held the gathering most of the way, but something went wrong down the line."
"Ehh, what, why?"
"Because—"
"Because you released your Ether before contact was made. That and you didn't gather enough," Ren said.
I turned to look at him, my mouth hanging slightly agape.
"Sorry," he said. "I could see the dispersal pattern."
Sato squinted at him. "You could see it?"
"Yes."
"Like, see-see it? Not just feel it?"
"Yes, I can see Ether signatures at close range. Your gather was clean-ish until the release timing. The Ether left your fist about five centimetres before your knuckles connected. Once the Ether leaves the body, it can't channel through the strike, it just disperses in the air."
I knew he had higher Ether Sensitivity, but I didn't expect it to be this exaggerated.
"Ren. Can you see it on me when I throw one?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Watch the next one."
I gathered the Ether, committed to the strike and threw it out against the ground.
Ren's voice came as the punch landed. "Your release was late again. Though you might be subconsciously applying the same delay while we're in the simulation. If you fire about a third of a beat earlier, it'll release clean, and the blowback should drop to almost nothing."
I stared at him.
He was right. I knew he was right because the moment he said it, I could feel exactly what he was describing in the ache of my forearm.
"Ren."
"Yes?"
"Come here."
He walked over, and the group watched.
"Can you read everyone?"
"At this range. Yes."
"Tell Sato what to fix."
Ren turned to Sato and explained — slowly and specifically, with the patience of a saint.
"Try again," he said. "Hold the Ether all the way to contact. Don't let it leave your fist. Wait for the exact moment of impact, then release."
Sato gathered, committed, and punched out.
The strike landed against my guard, and a sliver of Ether eeked out of his fist. It didn't feel like much, but I could tell there was a meaningful change in the power of the strike.
"Barely felt it, but it was there."
Sato stared at his fist. "But, I did it, right?"
Ren nodded. "I mean, technically. But I don't think you have the Ether Capacity to use it freely or properly. That and your timing is still slightly off."
Sato whooped in cheer, jumping around the group.
"Not bad, Sato, that one took me a week to get down. Maybe you're more talented than I gave you credit for."
"Heh, of course I am! I am the one that almost beat Mil—"
"The hell are you talking about, squirt?!" Miller yelled from the sidelines.
"Oh, that? Nothing…" Sato laughed awkwardly.
I stood back and practiced the Ether Strike following the rest of them. I only managed to practice a few strikes before I was almost completely out of Ether.
Ren kept teaching, and the platoon cycled through receiving advice and practicing.
Miller stepped into the ring midway through the session and followed the procedure. He attempted the strike but fell short before most.
"I guess my Ether Control is too low," Miller said. "I haven't put any additional points into it yet as I've not needed it. Is this even worth pursuing?"
"Much like a mech, it's a force multiplier. That ridiculous strength stat of yours will be used much better when working in tandem with something else."
"Yes, but I already have skills from my framework that does a similar thing."
I shrugged, "That's true, but you won't have a system imposed cooldown for the skill. But if you feel it's not worth it, maybe it's best for you to focus on what you do know."
"If you can do it, Rabbit, then I most definitely can"
He reset his stance and began practicing once again, though he didn't get much past the gathering stage. Ren moved over to assist with him where he could.
We continued working on the strike for an hour, though no one had gotten the technique down yet. The only ones who managed to get much out of it was Sato, but he didn't have the capacity to make use of it.
However, there was one disastrous result. Doran — a pilot from one of the Vanguard who was previously under Osei — threw an Ether Strike against their partner. He committed to it but gathered up far too much Ether in the buildup, and he didn't have the control to back up his capacity. The release misfired, and most of the Ether back-flowed into his arm.
Doran went down hard, shouting in pain, his right arm spasming.
"Medic!" Osei yelled, already moving from his group drills. "Medic!"
The platoon scattered to give him space. Briggs backed away with his hands up while Doran was still on the ground, his arm clutched to his chest, his breath coming in short gasps.
Osei reached him first and crouched. "Doran. Look at me."
Doran's eyes focused on Osei. "It's bad."
"How bad."
"I can't feel my arm."
A medic from the simulation centre arrived within thirty seconds, these things were monitored, and the response time was quick. She crouched beside Doran, ran a quick scan, and said something to Osei I didn't quite catch. Then she signalled for a stretcher.
Doran was carried out within five minutes.
Miller met my eyes from across the ring.
I know where this is going.
I signalled for Osei and Miller to follow me for the oncoming conversation that was about to happen, we moved off about fifty meters from the group, stopping outside of earshot.
"He pushed too hard. He shouldn't have been using his full Capacity without having the control stats to back it up. That's on me, I knew his stats but failed to bring them up. I should have flagged it before we started." Osei spoke first.
Wait what?
"Nah, it's on me," I said quickly. "I introduced the technique without being clearer on what the blowback actually means. I also didn't expect it to react so... Explosively."
Miller cut in. "You're both being idiots, it's on Doran. He was obviously trying to show off and the mistake cost him."
"The fault of a subordinate is placed on the commander" I said.
Miller stared at me, his eyelids flickering almost imperceptibly. For a second, I thought he was about to complain, but instead he kept quiet.
I rubbed my face. The forearm-ache from my own ether strike practice was joining a headache that had been building. "We should have Tomás and Park work on a database that compiles the entire Platoon's stats. But we still have a Bugger in the room."
"And that is?" Miller asked.
"Whether or not we keep teaching it."
Miller looked at Osei, and Osei looked at me.
"My read, is that we restrict it. The pilots who have enough Ether Control should keep working the technique. Everyone else works on what strengths we already have," Osei said.
Miller nodded. "Agreed. A couple of pilots with a working off-system technique is enough for now. We can always expand those who have learned it once we have more people with the required control. It'll only take a week or two if they put most of their points into Ether stats."
I didn't even have to think about it.
"You make good points. Alright, let's restrict it to those who have already started picking it up for the rest of the week, and to those who are really interested. The rest of the platoon can focus on rotations and their new framework skills in the meantime."
"Done." Miller and Osei said in unison.
We looked back over to the group at the centre of the training ground.
"Doran's going to be okay," Osei said.
"He is?"
"The medic said the nerve damage will heal in a couple of days. He'll be out of training for the week, but back just in time for the engagement."
"Not ideal, but at least we're not a man down," I said.
"It's going to make things more difficult, but when has barracks 7 ever taken the easy path?" Miller said.
"You do seem to like to make things harder for yourselves," Osei said with a hint of humour in his voice.
"You have no idea."
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Iterational Index: 24
A flock of known serenity,
is protected from unknown obscenity.
A flock needs not know,
For the Shepherd to bestow.
Never question, never strain
For good things come to those who sustain.
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