SNN Feed

As promised, the notices detailing the teams had been posted early that morning, signifying that they really were going to be going through with this exercise. The message detailing the teams had also been sent to each of the participants so that they would know what to expect when they arrived. The team listing looked much like this:

Team One: Purple
Team Captain: Captain David Rhodes
Will Mackenzie
Shinjo Ichihara
Angelos Liatos
Maraska Brovick

Team Two: Black
Team Captain: Major Randall Sterns
Surge Cross
Enyo
Scott Valentine
Sergent Arthur Zhang

Team Three: Blue
Team Captain: Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Collins
Damon Clau
Winter Kanzaki
Domerin Lorcasf
Lexi Giovanni

Those who had not decided to participate in the event but were off duty had been invited to witness the event. One of the ship's massive hangars had been transformed. The chosen crew had worked throughout the night to set up the event. The hangar was barely recognizable. It had been covered in false terrain which made it look like it had been consumed by a miniature jungle. There were stone outcroppings, alcoves, trees, foliage, everything the participants would need to play a game of war. Three 'base camps' had been set up, one for each team, each including the flag of the appropriate colour for the team. Each team had been given an equally defensible position. The railways overhanging the hangar had been equipped for spectators, although the best vantage point had been reserved for Mitsushari who had been selected by the Captain to act as the event's official judge.

As the participants and eager spectators began to arrive, the later already beginning to lay bets with Tanandi and her staff, Mitsushari was more concerned with what was going on back on the bridge. Of course the Captain wouldn't have left someone incompetent in charge, but Mitushari was more concerned with keeping the ship running smoothly than she was with a... glorified party in disguise. But though she couldn't deny the Captain's wishes, she worried about what would happen if they were attacked while this exercise was taking place. What would happen if someone was overzealous in their ignorance of the 'no contact' rule? With the Captain participating, he was in some manner of danger despite the fact that he would not admit it. But there was nothing she could do but sigh and bring the event to order.

She cleared her throat and then began to speak, her voice echoing throughout the large space silencing spectators and participants alike. “Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the event. We will be beginning shortly. Before we do so, however, I would like to lay out the rules for those who will be participating.”

She cleared her throat once more. “A team must be in position of all three flags to win. A team may only capture one flag at a time. Even if a team is in possession of two flags, only one flag may be sized during the attack on their base. If your team's flag is captured you must recapture it before you can capture any other team's flag.

“Should any team Captain feel he does not desire the leadership position, he may choose someone from his team to act as leader, though officially he will still be considered the teams leader and may resume control at any point in the exercise.

“In case all three flags cannot be captured in the alloted time, the winner will be decided based on points. Points will be awarded by the judge – the Captain has asked me to act as the judge and I shall do my best. One point will be awarded for each successful 'kill'. Ten points will be awarded for each successful flag capture. The exception to this last rule, however, will be that any team re-capturing their own flag will be penalized five points for the initial loss and therefore they will gain only five points for the recovery of their flag. The judge has been authorized to offer up to five points at her discretion for exemplary behavior. Two to Five points will be deducted for misconduct.

“A final warning to all participants: this is meant to be a non-contact event. Any form of physical attack will be considered misconduct and result in a point deduction.” And being who she was, Mitsushari would likely deduct the full amount of points for breaking that particular rule. “The Captain has asked me to convey to you that, aside from the rules I have laid out, this is meant to be a war simulation and anything that does not specifically break these rules will be allowed.” Though she wasn't all that thrilled about the headache that was likely to cause.

“We will be beginning the event shortly. I recommend that participants locate their team and begin their plans. The teams will have five minutes for discussion before the event begins. Please use them wisely.”

In one corner of the labyrinthine maze that the Shogun's mecha hangar had become, Captain David Rhodes - who was, consequently, captain of the purple team - intently followed his first officer's announcement from the center of his team's base. The fortification that housed his flag was a simple, but he felt, effective one: two walled, upraised platforms connected by a covered bridge that spanned roughly ten metres between them. Not only did it give his team the upper ground in base defense, but two key defensive positions: a forward position in the first 'tower', and a fallback position in the one where the flag was kept. Both platforms were connected to the deck by twin switchback ramps, as, naturally, Rhodes would have found it unsporting to give his team a foothold where they didn't have to worry about both frontal and rear attacks.

"Very well, gentlemen, miss. Let's work out our strategy, yes?" The captain's steady gaze swept over the faces of the three men and single woman who made up the rest of Purple Team. Of the bunch, the most reliable members in a shootout were most likely Liatos and Brovick; Ichihara Shinjo's small arms skills, judging by his shooting range scores, were rather bad, and young William Mackenzie... well, there was a good reason why he wasn't a soldier. Seeing the individual members of his team for the strengths and weaknesses they possessed in the most obvious context was short-sighted, however; Will and Ichihara didn't need to be marksmen when being themselves would do just fine. "We can safely make a few predictions about our opponents. Major Sterns is easily the most aggressive of the team captains, and we can count on him striking at either us or Blue Team immediately. With two Marines, his team is quite strong, and in case he attacks us first we will need an equally strong defense. Blue Team is likewise very dangerous, but I would count on Lieutenant Commander Collins opting for a cautious, defensive approach that will leave them out of our hair for the time being.

"Mr. Mackenzie, Ms. Brovick, you will stay behind and fortify our position here until further notice. Mr. Shinjo, Mr. Liatos and myself will take a wide path along the starboard edge of the course, bypass Blue Team altogether and strike at Black Team's base. With any luck, Major Sterns will reason that Blue Team is the obvious choice for a first attack, as I do, and strike them first. No matter what happens, as soon as we capture one flag we will have both teams hunting us down. There will be a crucial moment where the third team will not be completely aware of the situation, however, and I would prefer that to be Blue Team."

Before the captain opened the floor to other suggestions, he turned his attention to the young flight mechanic among their ranks. "You may be out of your element here, Private Mackenzie, but I expect you to find a way to put your considerable talents to use in this situation - by any means necessary."

Scott was trying to keep a grin from crawling across his face as he listened to the commanders' instructions.
For him, this was something like falling back on old training. As he had been trained as a marine, he had a lot of experience of fire-and-maneuver and small unit tactics to fall back on. After all, the maxim goes 'Every Marine is a Rifleman', which meant that everyone, even pilots, cooks, and tank crews, got trained on how to fight on foot as an infantryman.

Locating the rest of Black team, he moved to stand with them.
"Right," he said before anyone else could start speaking. "Have any of the rest of you ever served as infantry, or on the ground in any other way? Because, as you might have gathered, I'm a marine, and I reckon that means we've got an advantage to exploit. We don't split up, we stay together, and we cover each other at every point. We move methodically, but aggressively, covering ground to each flag in turn. We don't get into firefights to win, we just go for the flags and fight to get to them. You with me?"

He looked around at the other faces in the group for a reaction, a grin on his face and mischief in his mis-matched eyes.
"We're going to roll right through them all!"

Gabriel Collins almost hadn't shown up in the converted hangar at all. The moment he'd read his name with the prefix 'Team Captain' affixed in front he'd nearly fallen over. He hadn't wanted to participate in this game anyway, was only doing it because Will and Restra had pushed him to it but now Will wasn't even on his team, and he was in charge! Who's fool idea was that? Even the idea of shooting at his crewmates with fake guns made him uncomfortable and how he was supposed to strategize against the Captain and that brutish Major Sterns (who very much fit his own name) was a complete mystery to him.

But he'd shown up, as bad as an idea as he knew it was going to be, and would take his punishment like a man. He waited with his team while the announcment went over the intercom, looking at each of them in turn and feeling extremely out of place and very unfit to be in charge of any of them. It only stood to reason that in a tactical combat situation people who actually knew how to fight would be the best choice for command and he firmly believed that out of the three teams Blue was the weakest. Before the announcement had even ended the engineer had pulled his special pda out of a pocket and was already fervently pressing keys as if his texting, or whatever he was doing, was vastly superior to this game.

The moment Mitsushair finished though he spoke, though he didn't look up from the small screen in his hands. "Right people, I don't know what I'm doing here or why I was put in charge and it's quite obivous that me telling you how to capture a flag will make us lose in the first five minutes. I'm assuming the other teams are more aggressive in nature but we do have one advantage, and that is intellegence. So," he finally lifted his head, looking from one member to the other before his eyes settled on Domerin, "you're in charge of all the combat assault stuff. I will handle reconnaissance."

It wasn't clear just how he planned to manage that, at least not right away, and he looked back down at his pda again fingers moving over it very quickly. Finally though he gave little nod, seeming slightly pleased, and he crossed over to Domerin. "Looks like Security is betting on the game too." He turned over his pda so the man could see it, a color, live image of the very course they were on showing on the screen. In fact the Chief lifted a hand over his head and waved and a corresponding figure on the pda followed suit. There was no doubt it was the feed from the security cameras over their heads and for someone with his skill there was little difficulty in patching in. "Now we can see where they plan to attack first."

Domerin had mixed feelings about this event after reading the list of teams. When he had signed on he had hoped that, ideally, he would end up on a team with Angel. Both of them had been been trained for ground combat and they worked very well together. He didn't know all that much about the ship's Chief Engineer, but he sincerely doubted the man was cut out for this kind of activity. He didn't strike Domerin as the type of person who had marine training. He was somewhat heartened by the fact that he'd ended up on the same team as Winter Kanzaki. Sure, he and the space pirate weren't exactly best friends, but he was rather fond of the other man. They seemed to think along similar lines. If the two of them couldn't manage to stir up some trouble during this exercise... well then there was just something wrong.

He was in high spirits when he showed up for the event and joined the rest of his team for the brief planning session before things got kicked off, though the only sign of it was a bemused sort of smile on his face. He greeted the others who had gathered with a brief hello and a nod and then turned his attention to their intrepid Captain while he made what seemed to be a rather distracted announcement.

Domerin was somewhat surprised when Gabriel Collins announced that he was going to be in charge of the combat decisions. He hadn't exactly come into this prepared to be giving orders. Nor did he usually want to be in charge. In fact, in a real battle situation he probably would have handed the position over to Winter in a heartbeat. But seeing as this is just a game... And it wasn't all that unintelligent a decision either, since even Gabriel seemed to accept that he wasn't really cut out for this kind of combat. A mischievous sort of grin split Domerin's features. This is going to be too much fun... "Alright, Captain." He said with a respectful nod. "If that's what you want."

He wasn't sure what kind of 'intelligence' the other man was talking about or even how it could offer them any kind of advantage for this war game, but he leaned forward with an intrigued expression on his face when Gabe held out his PDA for the rest of his team to take in. For a moment, Domerin was confused, and he looked like he was about to announce that their Team Captain had, in fact, gone crazy. Then Gabriel waved his hand and a small figure on the PDA screen waved back.

Domerin grinned. Ear to ear. Oh this is just too damn good... "Holy shit!" He was sure to keep his voice down, and even straightened up so that no one watching would suspect anything. After all, if anyone from the other teams caught them crowding around the Chief's PDA, they'd know they were up to something. "This is perfect. In fact... can you do that to all our PDAs? Or just a couple more?" He reached into his pocket and held his PDA out to the other man, still grinning from ear to ear. "We're going to need to split into at least two groups, after all."

Maraska Brovick was less than pleased about this entire exercise. She'd thought it sounded completely ridiculous from the first moment she had heard about it. In fact she hadn't even put her own name in to participate and if she hadn't been trapped firmly beneath Sub-Director Viachi when he had informed her that he'd signed her up for this fiasco, she probably would have thrown something heavy at his head. She had almost forgiven him after his explanation that he felt they needed to keep their eyes out for someone acting oddly at this particular event. Most of the population of the ship was bound to be there, and there really wasn't any better way to keep an eye on the people playing the war game than to have a member of intelligence participating in it. She was just bitter that she had been the one chosen to do it. In fact she was even more bitter because she was certain that Viachi was only doing this to punish her somehow because she hadn't yet managed to catch the killer. She hadn't wanted to mention that he hadn't had any luck either because she was fairly certain if she aggravated him she was going to end up schlepping something far worse than this stupid game thing.

Maraska showed up exactly on time and not a moment before. To make this entire situation worse, she had ended up on the Captain's team. She couldn't even try to have a little bit of fun while she was stuck participating in this pointless exercise. She would have to be on her best behavior. Granted 'best' behavior for Maraska was still unacceptable in the eyes of most people on board the ship, but there would be no last minute hostile take overs of her own team, or backstabbing someone who pissed her off if she was on the Captain's team. If there was one person on the ship she wanted to piss off less than Sub-Director Viachi, it was Captain David Rhodes.

Of course when she showed up it was immediately clear that she had not dressed for war. At least she had the decency to wear a camouflage shirt, skin tight though it was, and a greenish grey coloured skirt. Whatever possessed her to show up to a war game in a skirt, no one was ever likely to know, but surely it was the same thing that made her show up in knee high leather boots with a heel so high it was impossible to understand how she could walk faster than a snail's pace. Based on the way she was dressed, her team was likely to think she would be more of a liability than a help until they saw the lithe way she managed to move even with the skirt and heels.

When the Captain announced that she was going to be stuck behind at their team's base guarding it with that shy, socially awkward mechanic, it took real effort for Maraska not to let loose a long suffering sigh. Why did she have to get saddled with babysitting duty? But what could she do? She couldn't exactly tell the Captain what she thought of this whole abysmal affair. I swear to whatever gods you believe in Viachi, I will make you pay for this! "Right, Captain." she said respectfully with a brief nod and then she let her eyes fall heavily on Will Mackenzie.

Raising her fake gun so that the barrel pointed towards the sky, Maraska propped it against her arm and put her other hand on her hip, giving the mechanic a shrewd gaze. "Alright kid, just stay out of my way and you'll be fine... and try to stay out of the way of the enemy's weapon's fire too, alright?"

Major Sterns was apparently treating this very seriously. He stood at one of the narrow windows on his little section of fortification, looking out over the battlefield while he was listening to Mitsushari's briefing. The building he had requested to have set up was quite simple, while still looking as though it should be fairly effective. It was comprised of a single tower with a ramp winding around it to the floor, and the aforementioned window that Sterns was standing in front of across from it. To the left of the ramp, the tower opened again, which turned a corner into a walled in, elevated corridor, lined with three windows similar to the one in the tower. At the end of the corridor was another ramp, this one much more straight than the one going up to the tower. The flag itself was leaning up against the wall in the corner between the tower and the corridor.

After the briefing was over, Sterns continued to stand there, hands on his hips, looking about as impressed as he ever did. Which was not very. He stood there, continuing to survey the terrain, noting the position of the other two "bases", while Scott talked. "That's all well and good, Valentine," he said, turning around. "But the problem with that plan is that it leaves our base completely undefended. Moving aggressively has about as much chance of succeeding as it does of failing. Now, I, of course, am not a marine, nor have I ever been one. I broke out of a POW camp, but that was in a Variable Fighter, which I don't have to tell anyone is completely different. So I'm going to turn the floor over to Sergeant Zhang. The other marine here."

Arthur Zhang was looked to be ready for battle, as ever he did. For the amount of time anyone saw him on the ship, it would almost seem that he existed only for the mission, and all his time after one was spent preparing for the next. The fact that he had signed up for this event should have come as little surprise to anyone. The man in charge of the ship's ground forces should at the very least put in an appearance, after all. He spent the time during the Commander's briefing dividing his attention between her voice and his PDA, on which he was carefully studying the makeup of the teams.

When Sterns turned around and immediately started berating Scott, Sergeant Zhang reached out, giving the man who had just days ago been his subordinate a hearty slap on the shoulder. Then, he gave his PDA another glance before putting it away and looking toward Sterns again. When the Major turned the briefing over to him, Zhang nodded and then looked at the rest of them. "Alright, sirs and ma'am, I've often said that the plan is the first casualty in the battle, but it's still important to make one." Indeed, the Shogun's first mission, which left him standing with his jaw hanging on the ground in Chorizal's dust was still fairly fresh in his mind, after all. "Now, as Second Lieutenant Valentine mentioned, he's a marine, and since our team has both of the marines engaged in this exercise, we do indeed have an advantage.

"Major Sterns has begun to develope a reputation of agression; they're going to expect us to come hard and fast, so we won't. Valentine, you and I are going to go out on our own, while the rest of you stay here and watch the flag. Second Lieutenant Enyo, you watch the tower ramp, Second Lieutenant Cross, you watch the corridor ramp, while Major Sterns stays in the middle to support whichever direction they come at us from. Our first target is going to be the purple team. They have two of the worst shots on the ship, and Brovick is likely to try and sneak around instead of coming at us directly. Watch Liatos, though... he has black ops training, so we need to keep our eyes open." With his briefing over and done with, Arthur Zhang looked around at his assembled team mates once again before nodding one last time. "Gear up, Valentine," he said, apparently seeming to forget the fact that the man outranked him now. He'd probably submit a formal letter of apology later.

Enyo was starting to think that miclones were not all that terrible; after all they had this very interesting game to play. She would not have imagined that they had it in them after all. Also she was trying to remember just what a marine happened to be again. They were the ones who provided all of this equipment. So they had that going for them in Enyo's mind. The meltran thought things would of been more interesting if they tried to capture the flag from their fighters. She guessed it wouldn't be fair since everyone could not pilot a fighter.

Her head shook in an attempt to get back on focus to what her teammates were saying. She knew that shooting Will was going to be important. He still deserved it after all. Next she heard that she would be tasked with covering the tower ramp.

"Very well. As long as I can shoot someone. How far away can I shoot someone?" Her needs were very simple as a warrior; maybe she could fiddle with the rifle to make it shoot from further away. She was a pretty good shot from far away.

Ichihara Shinjo walked into the hangar, looking around the transformed room with a bit of a smirk. This promised to be interesting. He moved quickly toward his team's fortification, smiling to himself as he saw it. Somehow, he wasn't surprised that the Captain would build something like that. Coming up and into the fortification, he nods to the rest of his assembled team mates, tossing Will a grin when he sees the young flight mechanic. Crouching on the floor, he simply listens to the briefings, first from Commander Mitsushari and second from the Captain himself.

Shinjo raised an eyebrow slightly when Captain Rhodes explained their plan. He wanted to put him on the strike team? Thinking about it, though, he couldn't really object. He had no idea how well either the Captain or Maraska could shoot, but he was pretty sure he and Will were about the worst on the team. Hey, it wasn't his job to shoot people-sized guns. So it would probably be fairly inefficient to have the two worst shooters on the team guarding the flag. He was pretty sure Angelos was the best shot on the team, though, so he felt confident. Sort of.

Scott grinned wolfishly, glad his plan hadn't fallen on deaf ears. Zhang knew his stuff - after all, he had used to be Scott's CO, and as such he had a lot of respect for him. The plan was sound too. Working together, the pair of them would be very effective, and leaving the others made a good guard for the base.

Scott checked his equipment, and nodded to Zhang as well as flashing a quick smile to the rest of the team.

"Hooah sir. Ready to go when you are".

Not surprisingly, PFC Mackenzie didn't have much to say while the captain explained his plan. His characteristically shy manner and passive nature had him feeling somewhat daunted in this group. Everyone outranked him by far, where he was usually more comfortable among the enlisted ranks (Gabriel Collins being the exception), and the only one who really made him feel at ease was the easygoing Ichihara Shinjo. He was somewhat relieved when the Captain announced that he would be staying behind to guard the flag while the other three men went on the offensive. Though to most people it would have seemed like he was being left behind for not being such a good shot, Will knew that his particular skills could be put to better use in a defensive situation.

Captain Rhodes had clearly recognised that when he told him to put his skills to use 'by any means necessary', and Will was only too happy to comply. "Aye, sir. Lieutenant Shinjo, can I see your gun?" Producing a small portable toolkit from his pocket, Will popped open a panel on Ichihara's weapon and went to work on the mess of wires and electronic circuits inside. It only took him a minute or so to finish his work - he knew exactly what he was looking for, having apparently done this more than once - and screwed the panel back on, then turned the muzzle of the weapon toward a wall and squeezed the trigger. Instead of one, small bolt of concentrated light firing out of the barrel, as the weapon was designed to do, a near-steady stream sputtered out of the laser gun. Handing Shinjo's gun back to him, Will offered the pilot a slight smile. "Now your shooting range scores don't matter, sir."

With that taken care of, Will had gone to work on his own weapon when Maraska addressed him. A faint flush burned at his ears and cheeks, and he cast his green eyes downward to focus intently on the device in his hands. He found women like her doubly intimidating. Not only did he have a hard time dealing with most women, but as Enyo had recently learned, he found it even more disconcerting when they were dressed like that. "I'll try my best, ma'am," was all he could muster while he continued to disassemble his weapon.

From her high vantage point above the course, Commander Mitsushari gazed down at the competitors as they gathered into their teams and made their plans for the war game to come. A part of her was still convinced that this was a very large waste of time. But the more she took in the course below and the eager conversation between the captains and their teams, the more she began to soften her position. It looked as though this was gearing up to be a fierce competition after all. She felt it would be most interesting to see what happened with Chief Gabriel Collins's team. After all, their team captain may not have been much of a fighter, but he certainly was resourceful.

She interrupted her own thoughts to look down at her watch and realized that the allotted time for strategy had already passed. Straightening herself, Commander Mitsushari lifted a whistle to her lips and blew two short, sharp bursts, once more calling the crowd to order.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," her voice boomed once more throughout the hangar. "The time for talking has passed. Good luck to our teams. When the whistle sounds again, it will signify the end of the competition." She let silence hang in the air for a moment which was thick with anticipation and then she commanded, "Let the game begin!"

Scott moved off quietly and quickly, his 'gun' held close to his shoulder, the butt nestled in and ready to snap up to his eye to fire at a moments' notice. At every corner, he was with his back to the wall, or covering Zhang as he did likewise.
The precision and smoothness came from years of grinding repetition and practice drummed into his brain by a procession of drill instructors and sergeants. Despite knowing it was a game, his training still kept his mind focused and the movements the same as he stalked the others down.

The one difference though, was the slight grin of excitement and enjoyment on his face and the dancing look of amusement in his mis-matched eyes.

As the last echoes of Commander Mitsushari's voice and the second whistle signaling the start of the match died off, Captain Rhodes turned his eyes on his team and cracked a slight smile. "Well, it sounds like the game is on. Miss Brovick, Mister Mackenzie, good luck in holding the fort until we return with Major Sterns' flag. Gentlemen," he turned away from the intelligence officer and the variable fighter mechanic, who was presently dismantling his weapon for the purpose of setting up some kind of trap, and faced Angelos and Ichihara. "Let's be off."

Adhering to his plan of action, the captain led his strike contingent out of their 'fortress' and tracked a wide berth around Lieutenant Commander Collins' stronghold. The roundabout course, coupled with their methodical, cover-to-cover advance, slowed their progress somewhat, but it decreased their risk of being detected by roaming members of the other teams. Unbeknownst to Rhodes, however, it also caused them to entirely miss the two marines from Black Team who were moving in on Will's and Maraska's position. When they reached Major Sterns' headquarters, the captain spied the faint glow from Surge Cross' harness up on the ramp, and motioned for the two men who were with him to stop. "This situation calls for a diversionary tactic," he whispered in a hushed tone. "Lieutenant Shinjo and I will 'assault' the fort from here, and attempt to convince them to commit everyone defending the base to fend us off. Lieutenant Laitos, scout around and see if you can find another way in. When the opportunity presents itself, catch them at their flank and make off with the flag." Of the three men on their strike team, Rhodes estimated that Angel was the most dangerous, and that the task of launching the true assault on Sterns and his team should fall to him.

Shinjo blinked a couple of times as Will asked for his gun. "Yeah, sure," he said, handing the young technician his 'weapon'. Then, he was rather careful to not watch Will do his thing. After all, working with technical things fell well into the category of things that he wasn't paid to do, and he had discovered some time ago that he had something of an aversion to even seeing someone take things apart and fiddle around with them. Some might say that he was the exact opposite of people like Will and Gabe; that he didn't have to figure out how anything with moving parts worked. Of course, he wasn't much better in other respects... he was constantly wondering as to the glide ratios of random things he saw. Usually when he was tired. Or drunk.

His attention was immediately drawn once again when Will fired at the wall, causing his eyes to go wide and his jaw to drop. "Will, you're a genius..." he said as he took the gun back, and looking at it as though it were some sort of holy artifact. The Captain speaking again brought his attention back to the real world, and he just nodded, smirking. "Roger that, sir," he said before standing and following Angelos and Rhodes across the field.

The slow speed at which they moved across the field was strange to him. On the one hand, the pace was excrutiating, as he was usually more or less used to diving right into things. However, it also gave him something of a feeling of safety. Without a few dozen tons of overtechnology armor between him and everything else, he wasn't really looking forward to any sort of open fighting. When they reached Sterns'... fortress... Shinjo came to a stop as the Captain ordered them to. He listened to the revised plan, then nodded and proceeded carefully toward the ramp, standing off to the side of it. Poking his gun around the corner, he squeezed off a burst of fire from his jacked-up gun.

"As soon as you see anyone that isn't one of us coming around the corner on that ramp, ma'am, you can shoot them," Sergeant Zhang said in response to Enyo's... concern. "This base is small enough that basically anything up here is in range. Just... don't try to shoot from one side of the hangar to the other, because I can more or less guarantee that it won't hit." Zhang frowned slightly when the Commander said "Let the game begin". This was a training simulation. If it was a game, wars would be fought with remote control robots. Or possibly remote control vehicles with large guns on them. Of course, he would never give voice to any of these things. That wouldn't be the right thing to do at all.

With another nod, he looked toward Scott. "Let's move," he said simply before standing and heading down the ramp that Enyo would be guarding. He lead the newly-minted pilot toward the Captain's base, at a much quicker speed than many other people would have dared. As Scott covered the corners, Zhang would roll across the intervening space, covering Scott so he could make the move. As they neared their target, Zhang crouched and held up a hand, signalling for Scott to stop.

"Alright, we don't know how many they left in there, or even if they've left yet. So, we'll both move up at the same time, take out one of the ramps, and then move in from there. Once we get to where the ramp corners and goes back on itself, I'll fire off some shots and you can move up. I'll be right behind you." Without waiting for any sort of a response, he got up and ran in a half-crouch toward the ramp, hugging the inside wall as he moved up. Dropping down, he poked his head and his gun out around the corner and opened fire.

The end of all the briefings came as something of a relief to Major Sterns. He hated long briefings. If someone took more than two minutes to say anything, they were talking too much. That was one of the main things that annoyed him about Navarro, in point of fact. It took too long to convince that man that he didn't know more than everyone else. He didn't add much of anything to Zhang's speech; he had basically relinquished command in favour of the man that knew more about ground combat than him. When all the briefings were finally over, Sterns simply stood, nodding at the rest of them. "Alright, let's get this moving. Take your positions."

Following his own order, Sterns moved to his place, guarding the flag directly. As the two Marines moved out, the Major took to patrolling up and down the corridor. Not that he didn't think this Cross guy could guard the ramp. He just... didn't think this Cross guy could guard the ramp. From what little he knew about the man, there was a fairly good chance he'd charge off and leave them to their own devices. The mere thought of that caused the ever-so-slight narrowing of Sterns' eyes. It was on one of these passes that he took note of movement below them. "Look alive, Cross! We got company!"

Scott moved swiftly along the makeshift passagways, and stopped as Zhang briefed him on their assault on the base. Nodding in agreement, the Marine pilot counted to three, and as he heard the sergeants' attack, did the same himself, moving up the ramp while firing rapidly, effectively putting down a curtain of fire he could move under and forcing anyone else to take cover as he moved.

Domerin was quite pleased when their team captain proved to be able to modify more than just his own PDA to 'spy' on the rest of the teams. It was an extremely useful tool, to be sure. So long as they could tell what the other teams were doing, they could create a strategy based no on where they guessed the other team would be, but on where they knew the other team would be and what they knew that team would be doing. Some people would have thought it was unfair to have such an advantage but... all's fair in love and war. And Mitsushari had told them to use whatever resources were available to them.

When their team captain handed his PDA back to him with the display modified, Domerin only grinned more. He motioned for Winter to come closer and announced quietly, "I have an idea. We can bet that everyone is going to be using their skills to their advantage, but unless Will can do something like this too, we have an advantage no one else has. As you can see, both other teams seem to have already chosen their targets, and none of them chose us. That either means they don't perceive us a threat...or they perceive us as a greater threat than each other.

"We couldn't have asked for a more perfect situation. Instead of attacking one of their camps and stealing their flags, I think we should lay an ambush. One of them is going to be successful at stealing a flag at some point. All we have to do is jump them, steal the flag from them and then come back here. The other team won't know that we stole the flag and will go after the team we stole it from instead. It'll work out even better if both teams are successful at stealing a flag... it will take them awhile to realize we've got someone's flag, and all we have to do is steal the last flag during the resulting chaos."

Of course it was unlikely to go as planned. No plan was without it's hitches, after all, and while it all seemed quite easy in his head, it would take careful implementation and alot of thinking on their feet to actually make it happen. But Domerin was confident that he had the perfect partner to help him make it happen. After all... who better to lay an ambush and help him spring it than a notorious space pirate? "You three stay here." He said to the rest of his team. "Chief, if you've got any more tricks up your sleeves, pull them out by all means." He left one of the modified PDA's with the three he had indicated to help them better defend their base. Gabe might even be able to modify yet more of the devices to help them further.

"Winter," he said, turning to his friend with a wicked grin. "Let's go lay an ambush."