[b][centre]Vates – Sector Zero Training Grounds[/centre][/b]

"Good luck, future Mercenaries." Hector’s words made Vates smirk, not because there was anything particularly funny about what Hector said, but because he still couldn’t quite believe he was now a Golden Mercenary. It was certainly not something he ever envisioned doing, nor something he would have ever wanted to do. It seemed he had little choice now though. Looking around he couldn’t see anyone familiar, but then again there were tonnes of people here and his vision only stretched past a few rows of heads. 

“Mornin’ Vates!” came a familiar voice that turned him to turn, “The men told me you left early. I was hoping you’d stick with them.” 

It was the man who had given him a tour and signed him up the day before. “Good morning…” Vates paused as he realised he still didn’t know the man’s name, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I ever caught your name.”

“Roebuck. James Roebuck. Born in Valira. I joined the Military when I was seventeen but after a decade I got tired of the shit pay, the bureaucracy and the politics, and decided to join the Mercs. Been with them ever since. That’s all you need to know” He said shaking Vates hand. “You’ll be in my squad, so you’ll train with my squad. That’s why I had you and some others stay in the squad’s barracks. Now then, let’s get moving, we’ll be starting the day with some combat drills.” 

---

Vates took the brief pause to stretch his legs and look towards the other squads in the area. He could see one man getting irate with another about hand signals. Vates had picked up the signals and protocols fairly quickly, as did most of the squad to Roebuck’s relief. The morning so far had been a different pace to what he had grown used to, not one that was better or worse, just different. “Alright men, take a knee!” ordered Roebuck, causing everyone to drop unnaturally fast; it was the result of their morning training, as they were all now in a mind frame that caused them to quickly respond to their leader’s orders. 

Vates couldn’t help but smile as he placed his hand on the grass and let his fingers dig slightly into the cold earth as his hand softly swung backwards and forwards slightly. It was such a simple thing yet the year in the concrete jungle had left many with only memories of natural beauty was. Looking around he saw that most did not share this little moment, probably because many of the men in this particular squad appeared to be existing Golden Mercs; that was probably the reason why the group as a whole had taken to the drills so well. “You’re doing great lads. So great in fact that I want to try something else! So far most of you will only know of the drills that I’ve just taught you, the drills that we and the other squads will be using. But I bet no-one here knows what drills to expect from the military, or at least not well? You might have seen the odd military squad but I’m sure none of you have seen them in proper force or in a large scale battle?” Roebuck asked. He let the question linger in the air for a moment and he could tell he had the full attention of his men. “You see, the military are going to be using different tactics to us, and I believe it’s important to know these tactics as well as we know our own! Now someone tell me what the main differences between us and the military are?”

A few answers were thrown about, some serious which Roebuck acknowledged, some [i]less serious [/i]. “They are better trained and better armed.” Eventually said Vates. 

“Exactly!” replied Roebuck pointing to Vates, “That really is the main point. We might have some guns, but trust me when I say that they have the range advantage… and they will use it. We are going to have to get up close and personal, but those bastards are going to make us pay dearly for every metre we take towards them. And the real kick in the teeth is that once we reach the fuckers the chances are they’ll cleave through us like butter and we’ll be too tired to run back away!”

That was clearly not what the men expected to hear. It was certainly not what they wanted to hear. Roebuck let out a booming laugh at the bewildered faces of his squad before issuing his next orders. “Now then, imagine that whatever weapon your holding (be it a sword or whatever) is a rifle. Now I want you to get in single file and start jogging along. When contact is spotted I want you to all drop to your knees and start firing. Understood? Good, go!” 

The squad then begun jogging into the ‘forest’ for a good few minutes until they were practically separate from the other squads. It was only a light jog but a few men were clearly begging to feel a strain and Vates wondered how they would fare later on the cardio stage once they had been tired out even more. “Contact left!” roared Roebuck suddenly, causing more than a couple of men to hesitate before dropping to their knees. “Not quick enough! Now, you are all firing in one place as one scrunched up block. Your fire is therefore much more concentrated and is doing a shit tonne of damage. You do not want to loose this advantage by breaking formation and scurrying about like we do. However you need to move right. So what you do is peel out; the man furthest left will run round the back of the squad and become the far right. As he does so he will tap the next man on the shoulder, who after a few moments will then do the same thing, all the time the formation will continue to provide fire but will be slowly moving.” As he dictated this the team followed the drill. After Roebuck was content they understood the drill well he asked them another question, “Now then, what problems do you face when performing this drill?” 

Again a few answers were thrown about. One man suggested that cover could be limited, but Roebuck argued that their superior weaponry and continuous concentrated fire meant that mattered little. One woman noted it was hard for the formation to turn at which point Vates quickly added “and they are only really able to fire in one direction to gain a full advantage.” Roebuck was about to reply but Vates continued, “By utilizing are more mobilized strategies and our hosts we can try to flank their squads which will decimate their ability to provide concentrated fire. Then it’ll just be a case of getting in close, splitting them apart and fighting each one-to-one.”

“Exactly.”