Down a Peg or Ten, Part 2

Posted on Tue Apr 18th, 2023 @ 10:40pm by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant Alexis Ryan

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: Starfleet Academy
Timeline: MD3 :: morning
3656 words - 7.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Reaching up to flick her visor into place, Alexis primed her weapon and flipped her squad-mate a casual salute as she retorted, "Just don't get shot." An immediate grin followed before Ryan went to take her place up against a left-hand crate ready to pepper the first wave with whatever they could to deplete numbers.

As predicted, and to be fair reflecting a decent strategy by whoever was in charge of understand the opposing team's strengths, the first few onto the field were a little overzealous. With a mentality that sought to apply the rules of chess rather than the dirty skirmish tactics that were far more likely in the field, the first arrivals attempted to fan out in formation and were left to stare in distraught disbelief as they were picked off in quick succession. Part of the tragedy of Ryan's injury had been its impact on her accuracy, though she'd worked through enough visual aids to have arrived at decent compensation. One, two, three. Without pause, she hit squarely to the chest, her stance composure and controlled as she then popped back down behind cover.

Zade had followed suit and readied herself behind a crate on the opposite side. As Ryan drew their attention, the Trill peered around the corner of the crate to be her eyes. God, the chess-style formation was so elementary. From what she recalled when she did this test, it was the go-to tactic for the first couple groups. Adjusting her weapon, she aimed and shot two cadets who were concerned for their peers, the little burst of light hitting them in their backs. She smiled slightly when they turned and pouted in her direction before ducking behind the crate again. "Five out!" She yelled to Ryan.

"Come on, guys!" The tall guy, Bradley, from earlier groaned when half of his group trudged to the back of the field, their vests showing where they got hit. He was hiding behind some crates with the Bolian hybrid and the Klingon, and two other cadets were some distance away and planning with each other. "Alright, we're going to use those two as distractions. Fan out and don't stop moving."

"Who made you the leader of our squad??" Atsehl demanded. He wasn't about to hide like a coward, he was ready to take out their opponents!

"You have a better idea??"

There was a brief silence before the Klingon growled. "We fan out, then. And lay down cover fire for our comrades."

Briefly peeking again, Zade was able to spot two others doing some tactic that looked like they were weaving and covering each other, using the crates to add extra cover. Maybe she could scare them. Readying her weapon, she fired off five shots that made plenty of noise on the crate right by their heads, making them flinch. While they were taking cover, the Trill quickly moved to a new location, watching the return fire hit the crates she was just at. Hopefully she could distract them enough for Ryan to move as well.

The lack of retaliatory confidence spoke volumes. Already on the back-foot and scrambling to improvise, the cadets were falling prey to an age-old dependence on textbook precise warfare, which was very rarely how actual conflict went down in Alex's experience. Taking Zade's cover as time enough to switch out her weapon's range and scope magnification, the Lieutenant tested her adjustments towards the ground very briefly and then stood up.

In one fluid motion, a crate behind the bunkered-down trio absorbed the single concentrated shot and then blinkered out of existence , obliterating a fallback position. It had been a tactic she'd determined during her own training, the realisation that a single round from a sniper rifle could affect the integrity of some of the holo-emitters around the course. At the time, it had been contested as cheating. It had subsequently been ruled as merely an inventive way of making use of available resources. Alex was pleased to see it hadn't been compensated for.

Crouched once more, Ryan counted out a rhythm in her head and then popped back up to destroy the crate immediately to the previous' left.

At this rate, there'd be no need for higher ground.

"Still five," she called, "This won't work on the bigger crates but we can eliminate some options."

Zade blinked when she saw the crates disappear. She wasn't aware of this trick, but then again, she was a stickler for the rules back then. Poking her head around the crate she was behind, she saw three equally surprised cadets, and readied her weapon.

Sticking to true Klingon stereotypes, Atsehl overcame his initial surprise with a warrior's battlecry, opening fire at the crates where the enemy was with a rapid succession of fire. "Get moving, already!" He barked at the other two who, thankfully, didn't argue for once. They helped with cover fire as they dispersed to provide more coverage.

Almost as soon as Zade was ready to fire, she had to duck behind the crate again as a lot of weapons fire came from the cadets. Good to see they were finally doing something, they just needed a little push. She listened to the weapons fire, searching for any patterns or breaks, and was able to fire off a few shots while trying to keep eyes on them. She was able to hit a half-bolian just as she ducked behind a crate. "Gotcha," Zade muttered to herself. "Four left!" She called out to Ryan.

So far, the Security Chief had the bulk of the hits, but as much of a statistician as Alex could be, she wasn't overly concerned with her performance rating when it came to shots fired. There had been very little difference about her on the battlefield, in fact, earning a reputation after boot camp had sorted out her temper issues for finding smart solutions to problems that otherwise would have involved more potential for bloodshed. She had trained initially as a sniper, mostly because it had played to the training she'd been given as a child as a last line of defense, but very swiftly she had veered more towards tactical field operations than outright combat. Zade scoring as much as she had was a victory for both of them; it meant their plan was working.

Having done as much as she could to remove the backline cover, Alexis crouched against a crate and peered backwards down the rest of the course to their own fallback options. "If we move fast enough, we can give them some ground in exchange for repositioning. I'll head up." She pointed towards the sniper's vantage off to the right. "You good to duck and weave down here for a bit?"

"Affirmative," Zade replied. Behind Ryan, one of their fallback crates suddenly vanished, just like when Ryan shot away the crates. "Go fast, someone picked up on your trick." Now that the other team wasn't being slowed down by their peers, things were about to get interesting. Looking around, Zade spotted a PaDD on the ground and picked it up. Good, the course still had throwable items. With a solid grip on the edge of the device, Zade threw the PaDD into some crates several meters away, a satisfying CLANG! vibrating the air. Just after she threw it, she adjusted the grip on her weapon and ran the other way, ready to shoot at whoever was unfortunate enough to be distracted by the noise.

One of the two weaving earlier, Maxton, nearly jumped out of his skin when the crate next to him suddenly made noise, sputtering some curse words as he tightened the grip on his weapon. Carefully, he shifted around the edge of the crate before jumping around the corner, ready to fire... at nothing? The only thing present was a PaDD on the ground. Quickly realizing he fell for the distraction, he ducked back around the crate as weapons fire came from the Trill on the other team.

Bradley jumped as well at the noise, but saw the Trill start running and fired back at her. It was embarrassing enough that half the team got picked off almost immediately, but to be mocked with petty deception?? "Atsehl, cut her off!" He barked at the Klingon.

Atsehl growled, not liking being told what to do by an underling, but saw the Trill running away like a coward and the urge to chase down the enemy became overwhelming. Briefly looking around, he spotted a route that would keep him fairly shielded by the enemy and charged off.

It occurred to Alex, without any amount of joy derived from the fact, that certain procedures came far too close to resembling reflex when thrust into a situation that closely replicated actual experience. At the height of her military career, once the rough edges had started to chip away and a particular proficiency for long-range accuracy had carved out her specialisation, she had covered group for exactly this purpose more times than she cared to recall. Running from the front-line assault was a lonely minefield for a sniper seeking its nest, especially if there had been no opportunity to lock down before the hostilities had broken out. It placed her back to the gunfire and the responsibility for her safety was split between the proficiency of the cover behind her and her own speed and agility. Ambush was always a high probability.

She'd partially lost her eyesight that way, after all.

The disappearance of another crate to her left was either a lucky shot or direct anticipation of her path. Veering right, Ryan wove in and out several times whilst crouched low enough to remain out of sight to anyone at ground level. She paused, hunkered down, and listened.

While the stupid Klingon ran off to go hunt down the Trill, Bradley readied his rifle to take out another crate. It didn't take long to figure out how to adjust his weapon's settings to disrupt the holo-emitters. If the two Lieutenants can do it, so can he, and it wouldn't dock his grade. He rolled his eyes when he heard a frustrated growl come from Atsehl. The idiot might as well wear a bright orange vest with how much attention he was drawing to himself.

You learned very quickly in the heat of battle to take what opportunities you had. Vaulting quickly over a crate, Alex pushed off and hit the ground at a roll, rounding the back of the stacked crates that would serve as her best option and clambered up to a perch that allowed her to duck down behind the uppermost crate. Seconds invested in making sure that her rifle scope was focused gave her a crystal clear view of the field, a quick track attempting to pick out targets amidst the flurry of remaining candidates. She had, to the best of her ability, not given away her position yet but her first shot would. With patience, she sought out Zade amongst the maze and tracked back to the nearest threat.

A single shot. The explosion of sniper rounds sounded different, hit differently. Changed the gameplay. It hit from behind, from a direction the cadet hadn't even thought to double check.

Ryan refocused.

Atsehl had finally caught up to the Trill. She was weaving between crates, fueling his urge to hunt her down, and he finally got close enough that he could shoot at her while running and it would certainly hit. He was about ready to fire his rifle when he felt something hit his back, and suddenly his vest glowed red, indicating that he had been hit. "BaQa'!!!" He roared, throwing his rifle at the ground before stomping off the field.

If Sorel weren't Vulcan, he would have rolled his eyes at Atsehl's response. Rather, a sigh of discontent left his nose as he typed on a PaDD. As the "polar opposite" as some of his human colleagues have phrased it, teaching this particular Klingon was difficult. The cadet wanted to use his Klingon ways to pass Starfleet standards, and the low scores on his assignments revealed the effectiveness of his tactics.

Internally, Bradley was glad the Klingon got out. He was a menace and drew so much attention to himself. He did do one good thing, though: by getting himself shot, he helped reveal the location of the other Lieutenant. The next steps seemed simple enough: take out the sniper, then deal with the one running around as a distraction. Focusing his rifle at the crate where Atsehl's killshot came from, Bradley fired, making the crate disappear and revealing the half-hidden form of the Lieutenant. Her vest was just visible in the nook of her arm. He fired again, aiming at that tiny target, but mentally cursed when the vest didn't change color. The vests were configured to change color with a specific intensity, which was preset on the rifles, which meant that he had to change the settings of the rifle back before taking out the other team. Realizing that he drew attention to himself, Bradley quickly ducked behind some crates and got moving, making sure to keep himself sufficiently covered.

Zade pressed her lips together to keep her chuckle in, hearing the Klingon cadet get upset over being shot. The sound of weapons fire drew her attention up to Ryan's position, seeing the crate she was crouched behind disappear. She saw the second weapons fire as Ryan moved, but didn't see the vest change color so assumed the cadet missed. But now she knew where her next target was. Giving Ryan a chance to find new cover, Zade came out of the crates long enough to shoot at whatever she saw moving, hoping to make herself appear to be a larger threat. In her efforts, she ended up taking out another cadet who was struggling with her rifle. "Contact! Two!" She shouted to Ryan, telling her in case she somehow missed it that her snipe did hit and they were now down to two cadets from the previous four.

Bradley was seething. The callouts between the two were doing their job of making the cadets nervous, as evident by yet another classmate getting shot, and the man tightened his grip on the rifle. He wanted to take the Trill out personally. Flagging down Maxton, the two took cover before he whispered a plan. After a moment, the two parted ways.

Zade disappeared back into the crates, weaving around so the cadets wouldn't find her. Whenever there was a break in the crates, she'd fire off a couple shots to keep the attention on her, and she'd keep changing direction so she wouldn't be so predictable. Catching movement, she adjusted her rifle and carefully rounded the corner, looking for the source. Catching a glimpse of movement again, she quickly turned to see the jacket of one of the cadets hanging on the corner of a crate. Smart, Zade thought to herself, looking around again.

Maxton was watching from behind some crates. It looked like Bradley's idea worked, the jacket did distract her but they'd have to move fast if they wanted to keep the element of surprise. Readying his finger over the trigger, Maxton crept around the crate and took aim.

If it weren't for the quiet thump of someone's boot tapping a crate, Zade might have remained blissfully unaware of the cadet. She spun fast, the movement enough to startle the cadet, and shot him in the chest. "One!" She called out. Not wasting time, the Trill looked around for the last one. Between the weapons fire and the callout, she made her location well known, so it was only a matter of time before she ran into the last one.

Bradley had taken up a position relatively close to his jacket but so he could see Maxton. He got the full view of him getting shot in the chest. It was all up to him now. Hearing the Trill get closer to him, Bradley took in a quiet breath before quickly turning the corner in front of her. As expected, she raised her rifle, and with a quick flick of his wrist he used his own rifle to twist hers out of her hands, sending it clattering to the ground. Before she could move, he pointed the rifle at her.

Zade quickly found herself disarmed by the cadet's fast motion, and by instinct she moved to try and catch the weapon but was stopped by a rifle pointing at her. Slowly, she stood straight, the business end of the rifle following her, and she slowly raised her hands to shoulder height. "Looks like you got me," she confessed. But then, a sneaky little smirk crept onto her expression. She didn't need to divert her gaze to see subtle movement behind him in the distance.

At first, Bradley was ecstatic. He caught up to some chief of security in a training simulation and had her cornered. If she ran, he'd shoot. If she tried to pick up her rifle, he'd shoot. If she tried to knock his rifle away, he'd push back... and shoot. She couldn't do anything except surrender. He felt like he was on cloud nine. Perhaps he could use her to lure out the sniper, or maybe he should take her out now and not have to worry about it.

But then, the Trill smirked.

It took only a second for Bradley to realize that she planned this and he fell for it hook, line, and sinker. It was a second too late, because he felt an impact to his back before his vest lit up red. That damn sniper, he forgot to keep track of her. There was a long pause before he slowly lowered the rifle with a sigh, defeat washing over him. "Damnit..." he cursed.

Seeing that Ryan sufficiently played her role, Zade lowered her hands as she watched the cadet in front of her. "That trick with the rifle was good, but don't hesitate when you know there's more than one of us around," she advised. It was risky to let herself be disarmed like that, but she took a chance and she trusted Ryan's ability to keep up. But it was all chance, the Trill didn't know if the cadet would shoot. Knowing how naive the cadets were, though, she figured they were probably still timid. The risk she took wouldn't work again, though, not after the rest of the class saw it.

Bradley looked up at her. "I don't want your demeaning advice," he hissed, clearly upset that he lost. He was upset at himself for letting the chance of victory get to his head. He hated that she was right and that the entire class watched his mistake play out.

"I'm serious. I wouldn't have considered disarming my opponent like that as a cadet." She gave him a gentle smile. "You took a chance, and even though it didn't work out, you learned something, right?" Learning from mistakes and adapting was, after all, the whole point of this test.

Even though he felt like a fool in front of his peers, he did realize that he shouldn't have hesitated like he did. Next time, he wouldn't hesitate. "Yeah..." he sighed, grudgingly agreeing with her.

The Trill's smile widened at that, and she gave him a solid pat on the back. "Floor's clear," she called over to the science chief. She made eye contact with Sorel up in the balcony, who used a nod to grant them a brief break while the next team set up.

It took only a minute for Alex to jog over, visor pulled up onto her head. Not a woman prone to gloating, her expression revealed more of a placid confidence that was the hallmark of a composure that hadn't slipped once. At least not in full sight of anyone; the near-miss had evoked a quiet curse. Rifle slung onto her back, she studied her teammate for a moment, a soldier's habit of checking over their own before moving on, and offered the Trill a wry half-grin.

"Not bad for a warm-up."

Zade returned Ryan's smile with one of her own. "It only gets harder from here. We have about a minute to plan our next strategy..." As she talked, she led them off to a corner so their scheming would be a hair more private.

"A warm-up... Christ..." muttered Bradley, sulking off toward the exit to be mocked by his peers on the balcony. That was a blow to the ego, hearing that his 100% effort barely made them break a sweat. As much as he tried to remember that they had years of experience, it still made him want to go cower in his quarters with some comfort food and his latest movie interest: Ready Player One. As he was leaving, the next group was coming onto the floor.

"Nice going, Bad-ley," a Betazoid man said, a cocky grin smeared across his face. An advantage to not going first was that everyone else saw what their guests could do. Now it was up to their guest Lieutenants to step it up a notch.

Bradley glared at the one who spoke. "Shut up, Asosol." The Betazoid's name was said in a way that sounded like someone saying a human swear with a slight stutter. "I hope you get sniped."

"Yeah, like you did? Fat chance," Asosol laughed. The response from Bradley was an eyeroll before the human sulked off the floor. "Alright, we all clear on our strategy?" The nine others who entered the floor collectively nodded. The Betazoid looked past the circle of cadets to see the two guests finish their chatter and come back to the field. He readied his rifle, a faint whir indicating that it was charged. "Let's do this!"