[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/oCNBSDj.png[/img][/center]

With the ball done and over with, what comes next is more training. Both schoolwork, physical, and magical exercises fill the remainder of the month and the next after. Now that each cadet has greater control over their transformation and abilities there’s more room for magical training, though the exercises remain simple for the most part--no fighting Voids again, at least for now.

Of note, during this time teams are made official. The group from the Laurus, now plus Cordelia, is designed Magi Team 3. Astrelle’s absence, when investigated, seems to be a family matter. She has, perhaps, achieved her wish to be rid of her responsibility to the Imperium.

And then there are things to attend to outside of school. It takes some time before Aiya De Mars makes herself available, but when the time comes she makes good with Nicole on her earlier offer. During the neon-lit evening she and Nicole spend out on the town the Hastian is treated to places even she’s not seen before, clubs filled with thrumming music and rooftops sporting breathtaking views of bleeding neon lights that stretch across the city’s harbor. 

The Duodecim girl is as flighty and flirtatious as the first time they met, complementing and thriving off Nicole’s already vibrant energy. The dark-haired girl has the confidence of someone who both knows what they want and has never been denied it, and a ravenous enjoyment for everything that’s available to her. When they part, sooner than it seems, she does so with a kiss on the cheek and a promise to rendezvous at another date.  

The redhead isn’t the only Ars Magi that has a courter, though. Unfortunately neither of the two officers are able to secure permission to visit the robots, but both Penny and Dana receive invitation instead to go out into the city and see the new Magical Maid Altea movie. It’s a much less intense evening than Nicole’s, but not unpleasant. The offer is left open to go out again later, but neither of the officers are particularly insistent on the issue.
 
Throughout the month there are also rumors swirling around, mostly based on gossip overheard and stories traded at the ball. There’s talk of the new anti-Void machines, and of the upcoming joint exercise between the academies. The latter is confirmed by Nova Lux’s instructors soon enough, the date set for the end of the month.

The time passes quickly for most, until the day draws near.

[hr]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/4jhIwHp.jpg[/img]
[b]𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚊 𝙻𝚞𝚡 𝙰𝚌𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚢
𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚁𝚘𝚘𝚖 [/b]
[b] 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟸𝟿𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟷𝟽 𝙰𝚅[/b]
[b]𝟺:𝟶𝟶 𝙿𝙼[/b]
[i]Dana Noel, Penny Grenoble, Nicole Cognoscenti, Diana Khay Vanna, Cordelia Whittaker [/i]
[hr]
[/center]

“This will be your field of operation.” 

The screens in the center of the briefing room flicker, cycling through green-tinted images until an aerial view of Palmyra’s abandoned district appears on the central monitor. From above the tall concrete walls cordoning off the district are made visible, towering above the desolate half-structures that fill the empty streets.  The Nox diffusers, tall pylons that stretch above the streets, glow a pale blue in the afternoon light. The cadets will recognize at least some portion of the district from their entrance exam, and one of the observation towers is still half-destroyed from the incidents during that exercise. 

The officer presenting, instructor Drier, gives her audience a moment to digest the image. The cadets from Nova Lux are arranged in a circle around the central monitor, all seated in neat rows and sorted according to their established teams. In the dim evening light the monitors are clear and glowing, and Team 3 has a good vantage from their place near the front row.

“In this exercise you will be clearing and securing several key structures, marked here.” On the monitor buildings begin to light up, their skeletons highlighted in fluorescent yellow.  “Accompanying you will be several cadets from the Officer’s Academy, who will act in a supporting role as your operations team.”

She continues on, beginning to point out routes and instructions. Several for teams that aren’t those of the girls from the Laurus, though she gets to them eventually:

“Team 3. Your first objective will be to escort your operators to target C—” Drier motions again toward the monitor, which zooms in on a half-collapsed high-rise near one of the district entrances. “Where they will set up their base of operations and direct you to the rest of your targets.” 

The screens flicker again, the images of ruined buildings and debris-filled streets vanishing to make way for something new: Pictures of machines. Tall, bipedal constructs with boxy looking bodies, rectangular heads, and long flexible legs.

“As Voids would be too difficult—and dangerous—to coordinate, your opposition for this exercise will be automated drones, provided by Juno’s Defense Force. Their magitech armaments have been reduced to less-than lethal capability for this exercise, and you are allowed to use any amount of force within your means against them.”

Discussion and planning continues for another hour, until the cadets are dismissed. The next evening, the mission commences. 
 
[hr]
[center][img] https://i.imgur.com/INRP3w2.jpg [/img]

[b] 𝙿𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚢𝚛𝚊 𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙴𝚡𝚎𝚛𝚌𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚉𝚘𝚗𝚎 
𝙰𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙳𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚝 [/b]
[b] 𝙹𝚞𝚗𝚎 𝟹𝟶𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟷𝟽 𝙰𝚅 [/b]
[b] 𝟼:𝟶𝟶 𝙿𝙼 [/b]
[i]Dana Noel, Penny Grenoble, Nicole Cognoscenti, Diana Khay Vanna, Cordelia Whittaker [/i]
[hr]
[/center]

By the time Team 3 arrives at their rendezvous point the evening sky is grey, overcast, and very wet. Sheets of rain wash over the empty streets and run down shattered buildings, forming deep puddles in the pockmarked streets. As the Ars Magi step out of the transport they find that their partners from the Officer’s Academy are already arrived and waiting, shrouded in cobalt colored cloaks to protect them from the downpour. 

There are familiar faces hidden in those cloaks. Among the three figures waiting is Aiya De Mars. Accompanying her are two other cadets: Garnier, a wiry, dark-skinned, bespectacled young man, and Holst, a short and severe looking blonde girl. Dana will recall Garnier as the third of Noah and Dima's group, one of the cadets she spent time speaking with at the ball after the dancing finished. There’s enough time for a few brief greetings as the red LEDs on everyone’s clocks slowly count down the remaining minutes until the exercise commences. 

“Team three,” Eventually comes the static-laced voice over the groups radios. “You’re clear to move. Escort your team and secure the target.” 

The target building is visible in the distance, a the half-standing silhouette of a parking garage that looms over the surrounding area. Between the group and it are several hundred yards of ruined street, piles of rubble, and—something else. 

Lights begin to flicker to life in the dim evening, specks of red and blue that are soon followed by cones of fluorescent yellow. Spotlights begin to move across the streets and the faces of buildings, and the heavy sound of metal crunching through debris can be faintly heard in the far distance. 

“Garnier, would you tell our heroines what we’re looking at?” Aiya’s voice rises smoothly, the dark-haired girl motioning toward her companion. 

It takes a moment for the other cadet to grab a sleek looking display from their pack, and after a few keystrokes and Garnier relates: “Target’s about 300 yards. Opposition is unmanned drones. Not very smart, but they come with sensor arrays and communication relays. If one spots us, they all do. They’re designed to kill Voids, so they’ll probably be good at picking up anything that uses a lot of magic.” A significant look is thrown toward the team of Ars Magi. 

“Holst, get me a count of how many there are, pretty please.” 

The smaller cadet, when asked, quickly finds higher ground. She's nimble, scrambling up the side of a ruined building before reporting back a moment later: “Eight, I counted. Could be more hiding in the rubble, though.”

“And it’s up to our heroines to protect us from them.” Aiya smiles, a sharp grin that cuts across her face as she turns to address the team of Ars Magi. “We’re at your service.”