Several Years Ago
Special Operations Command Headquarters
Earth

The large black limousine rolled up the street and parked on the side of the road. There was the hiss of a pneumatic seal losing as a door opened and a ramp jettisoned out from inside. Out of the dark interior came an older man in a wheelchair and following close behind his attendant a huge man seven feet tall and made of solid muscle. They were dressed in similarly sharp clothing, black hand tailored suits and they looked to be the epitome of professionalism. The world seemed to stop at the beck and command of the man in the wheelchair no matter his small seemingly fragile stature; the pedestrians in the street moved around them like a great force was repulsing them.

The man in the chair whispered something up to his attendant who nodded and moved them across the empty street to the SOC building. From the outside something would seem decidedly off about the SOC campus. From the outset it did not look too out of place for governmental standards, it was a rectangular building made of deep black stone with a single long walkway leading up to the front door. And yet things were still strange. The building for one did not have anything would you expect in terms of security no guardposts, no high fences or security cameras and yet nothing moved passed the invisible boundary that lay between the sidewalk and the fine cut grass each spear in perfect height will all the others. People that walked by stuck as close as they could to the curb almost walking on the street. It was as if the SOC campus was not even there an enigma that vanished in and out of sight to the point that no birds even rested in the trees dotting the lawn and no small animals danced across the grass from point A to point B. No life dared to move about the campus, no life dared to break the ritualistic santicity.

The man in the chair went across the walkway as if he owned the place, seemingly unphased by the unnatural oppressiveness of the area. He and his attendant entered the building into a large waiting area filled with seats and benches that seemed to never be sit in. At the far end was a desk with a lone soul behind it but beside that there was nothing else at all in the entire area. The pair approached the women at the desk at the far end. Telling them their names and the appointment she nodded and spoke into the communication devices attached to her ear. She seemed normal enough pale skin and black hair pulled back into a ponytail but the closer one looked the closer you could notice the glint of machinery moving behind her eyes, she wasn't even human just a convincing robot that could probably kill any unwanted visitors quicker than they could blink.

They were kept waiting a long time even though the place seemed to be a ghost town nobody in the hour they sat there seemed to come in or out. Finally a door opened and out came a women dressed in a crisp black SOC uniform with long red hair. She walked with a purpose the sound of her footsteps echoing across the emptiness. She introduced herself to the pair as one Kelly O’Connell and beckoned for them to follow her. They walked and talked of common polite things like the weather as the man in the chair looked ahead and Kelly looked down at her datapad swiping away at the information as it came. Behind the door things seemed to be more alive as more souls dressed in similar uniforms walked about all on their datapads and yet none talked to one another all moving in statuesque silence. The hallways themselves were sparse and made up of all strong lines with the occasional door with a name and a department on it. Eventually they were lead to a door below the complex in the basement area the door was simple and was labeled Director Crane.

Kelly knocked on the door and a masculine voice on the other side beckoned them to entire. Inside the room sat a man at a simple desk the wall behind filled with antique analog clocks an expensive purchases these days all with diffrent names of countries and times ticking away quietly behind him. At his desk sat a small fish bowl with some tropical fish swimming about it and behind that a cup of coffee in his hands sat Admiral Jonathan Hector Crane the director of Special Operations Command and resultingly one of the most powerful men in the entire galaxy.

He was younger than most would imagine barely older than thirty and yet his eyes told a story of great intelligence and almost predatorial instinct. The yellow one was an obvious implant that robotics behind it constantly moving and scanning and he made no signs of hiding it though the blue one the human one did just the seem and it almost felt as if the blue one could perceive even deeper than the yellow. He ushered the man in the chair forward welcoming him into his domain, the tiger letting the hunter into his den.

“Doctor Iqbal! I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting! I was held up in a meeting with the Defense Council. You know how those higher ups love to talk.” He explained polite and proper almost to the point that it sounded faked.

“Yes, yes of course. No matter I’m assume we are here to talk about my project.” The doctor replied his voice calm and collected as he began the game of social sparring with the Admiral.

“Ah yes Daedalus...... After review it has been concluded that your initial test are satisfactory and we will begin moving on to the next phase of development.” The admiral replied taking a long drag from his cup.

“I assume that I will have the full cooperation of Special Operations Command in this next phase?” The doctor asked not yet satisfied. Crane looked across at him raising an eyebrow as he did before he nodded and continued.

“Of course doctor. We are going to provide you with all the resources that you need to make the project successful. While I can’t be there personally Ms. O'Connell will serve as my personal representative to you to make sure things go smoothly and there are no delays in the chain of communication.” Admiral Crane explained but suddenly there was blinking as the Admiral’s datapad let up. He looked down and shook his head muttering something under his breath.

“It would seem I have an urgent matter to attend to Doctor Iqbal. I trust that Ms.O'Connell can handle ironing out the details here.” The admiral explained grabbing his datapad and standing up, he moved towards the door but before he left he looked back towards the Doctor and he spoke and for the first time it seemed as if the entire facade left and Doctor Iqbal for one moment spoke with the real Admiral Crane. “Doctor Iqbal Special Operations Command is placing a lot of money and a lot of resources in good faith of the Daedalus project. I suggest that you do not disappoint me Doctor.”

---

3711 A.D
Daedalus Compound
Haoma
4:00 AM

A sharp shrill alarm sounded off among the barracks. Castle’s men went into each of the barracks yelling and ushering the recruits out. To some it might of seemed odd almost cruel to have grown men and women yelling cursing at children but the children who looked like teenagers not the ten years old they actually were were used to it. They had become accustomed to the routine of life and its normal everyday chaos that followed. The recruits rose quickly getting ready in PT gear in an expedient fashion before being rushed out rank and file all in straight lines and without much talking.

They were brought out in front splitting into squadrons as they formed out in lines in front of Castle who standing bright eyed and bushy tailed waiting for them all. Command Master Chief Petty Officer Jerome Castle was an older man almost fifty years of age biologically having spent an ungodly amount of time in cryo during FTL travel so there was and yet he could easily take down anyone in the Compound without even blinking an eye. A man with so many medals of the highest order that in his dress uniform he shined like a christmas tree on a winters night. Castle himself was dressed in his own PT gear and ready to go on the morning run that had become customary to the members of the base. 33 kms in under an hour with sixty kilos of weight on the back. For some it would be brutal for the Daedalus children? Today was only monday.

As they were broken up into squadrons and teams and the groups filed up with another as Castle began the marching cadence and the talking slowly began. The squadrons of Alpha company by this point we're pretty tight knit group having spent the first ten years of their lives living through hell to be the best soldiers the Union has ever had. As they finished up strapping their backs in they began to move. A slight jog at first it became faster until finally it became as steady run. As Castle yelled the cadence from the front of the pack the members of First Squadron were near the back with ten more kilos of weight than everybody else. A punishment for failing the capture the flag game last week. The general consensus was that there was a severe level of miscommunication between the Red and Blue team making up Squadron 1 leading to an utterly horrendous showing with Squadron 20 being able to overwhelm their position in record time needless to say Castle was not amused. So they were exiled to the back of the line so they could deal with their “personal issues” They began to talk like all the rest following in step. It was just another day at Haoma.

"So, ladies, I'm hoping we've all learned our lessons from last week, right? Let's review," Sam shouted from the front of the Squad 1 pack. She, most of all, had taken the loss personally, given her naturally ambitious nature. It was part of the reason she found herself at the front of her squad - there was nothing Samantha wanted more than to improve and be the best she could, and if that meant setting the squad pace, so be it. However, Sam knew that the squad's problems were a lot greater than her own morning run pace. PT was great and all, but Sam couldn't help but feel that her weakness in tactics and strategies and her general hardheadedness contributed to the squad's brutal loss.

Then again, she wasn't exactly the only one with co-operation problems. To Sam, it seemed like Squadron 1 was the "fun bunch" - just about all of them had a pretty severe personality quirk. Rei was increasingly more and more mechanical, Francis was obsessive-compulsive, and Liu freaked out if your breathing even remotely sounded like you were saying "AGS." Sam knew better than to use those as excuses or to hold those issues against anyone, but come on. She could name four other squads off the top of her head that had the team chemistry of a well oiled machine, regardless of their personal faults. Squad 1 was like a four year old tied two sticks in an L-shape and called it a gun.

Anyways, Sam began her Capture the Flag review session: "First off! How many times have we been told that communication is key? I'm no paragon of co-operation, but guys. Come on. If Laura or Nate have an idea, we should talk about it instead of running off and doing our own thing. Yeah, yeah, I know I'm a culprit, too, but we're a squad for a reason, right?

"Second! As I recall correctly, we completely failed to adapt to Squad 20's tactics shift. That feint they pulled caught us all with our pants down. Red Team had no idea what Blue was up to, and they carved us apart like a turkey dinner. As we've been told many times, adaptability saves lives. And from where I'm standing, or uh, running, we're all dead.

"And finally, I'm just gonna hammer in yet again that communication is massive. If one of us can't figure out what everyone else is doing, then that's it, game over."

Sam took half a moment to catch her breath, before concluding, "Now, I think I've just about covered all our areas of weaknesses from last week. Come on, do you guys like being at the back with ten extra kilos? I sure don't. We're a lot better than this, and we definitely do not belong at the back of the pack after getting demolished by another squad. So, any questions?" She glanced back to flash a smirk at her squadmates, something she did often in an attempt to keep things between everyone fairly light-hearted.

Alexandre jogged along, beside Samantha. He didn't have any problem with their pace, nor their situation. He could go faster, if he wanted to, but then again, why exert himself now? The ten-year-old boy held the pack's straps with his abnormally large hands, at least, abnormal for a normal ten-year old. By now, even the shortest of Squad 1 was taller than the average human adult. However, Sammy was saying something.

Blithely jogging along and humming the tune of the cadence that Castle was shouting, Alex waited until Sam was done speaking. Though he was fond of the girl, that didn't prevent him from having some doubts. Raising his hand, and turning to look at Samantha, he said, in the voice of an eager student in a classroom, "Teacher, teacher! But what if everyone has a great idea, and they all want to share it at the same time? Wouldn't too much communication be the problem, then?" Grinning, he turned back to the rest of the squad, gesturing to them in a broad, exaggerated movement. "I mean look at us! We're simply overflowing with good ideas and camaraderie!"

Looking forward again, he placed his hand on his chest like a singer, and then spoke in a falsetto. "Come on guys, let's all hold hands around the campfire and sing Kumbaya!" He then broke into a few bars of the song, and then laughed. Contemplative, he said, "I do think that we need to beat the other squads. If only to rub it in that prick Castle's face."

A sudden flashback. Black smoke, pouring out a sleek engine, one of four. The loss of thrust caused the vehicle to fall, crushing John beneath it. The trainees were shocked, but Alexandre broke down. That kid was his best friend, outside his squad.

Shaking his head, he shook his fist in the air, and said, humorously, "Damn you, Castle! You can put us on KP duty, you can take away our bottle of booze, but you can't take away our freeeeedooooom..." He trailed off dramatically, as if bleeding out. Bowing, he said, "I- I'd like to thank the Academy, my mother, and the Dark Lord Cthulhu for winning me this Oscar for Best Leading Actor! I couldn't have done it without you all!"

Rei grimaced as she ran with the heavy weight strapped to her back, making sure to keep up with the rest. Punishment for losing a game of Capture the Flag. While she understood that competition would allow the contestants to push their own limits, and grow in strength at a far more rapid pace, wasn't the extra weight detrimental? If you allow only a single group to carry it, then the rest of the groups do not receive as much of a harsh training, and therefore fall behind.

However, unlike the usual, she wasn't voicing her opinion out. The reason behind such a fact was that at the front of their running group was Sam, who was giving something akin to an AAR. While still thinking of her own topics, she listened in to her. As usual, she was quite right with her words, as she pointed out the problems that had occurred during the game. In Rei's mind, she was quite the leader, keeping everyone's spirits up, while still being capable of scolding them. If only she would be more capable in the tactics department.

Before being able to open her mouth to speak her mind, it seemed that Alex had beat her to it, voicing arguments that ran counter against Sam's words. Of course, his thoughts and pattern deviated as usual, into something nearly incomprehensible.

"Listening and understanding everyone's input simultaneously is not a problem. The problem is that we lack the thought of voicing input." With a sigh, Rei tossed a related argument into the mix, wholeheartedly agreeing with the lack of communication.

She remembered the game of Capture the Flag that they did. Everyone seemed to do their own thing. It was like several tribes quibbling over politics, while a nation stormed through for land.

Part of Nate had to admit that he liked this punishment. Course he hated that his team had lost but still this was a great team activity. Even though he was a bit taller than his siblings, Nate still left like Alpha was more of a family than a team. He might have been the only one to think of it that way but still. Nate kept his heavy weight on his back.

Nate would have a ton more stuff to add to his notebook about the whole squad. He kept notes mostly because he knew that Dr. Iqbal was doing similar about all of the squads. Nate figured that he could do it on his own.

Sam: A great leader who could use help with tactics. Nate liked to think that he could help her in that regard. He also liked the fact that she said that they should listen to his ideas. He liked that idea.

Alex: Sure Nate didn't like how he wasn't as calm as the rest but at least he knew how to have some fun. Nate had to admit that he saw Alex as a friend. They were polar opposites of course. Nate rarely showed emotions.

Rei: Nate didn't know what to think of her. She seemed calm enough. That was good enough for Nate.

"Sam is right. We all can't be talking over everyone else. I tried to say a plan to help us win but it was ignored." He stated not sound angry or anything like that. He sounded bored. Nate ran up so he was parallel to Sam and Alex.

"We've got to act more like a team less like a mob. "Nate continued. He seemed happy. Well happy for Nate which meant he was smiling a bit which might seem odd to some but again it was Nate.

Laura was jogging alongside her comrades and the rest of her team, behind Samantha and Alexandre. They had been punished for failing the capture the flag game last week, and now they had to complete a run with ten kilograms of weight more than anyone else in the squadron. The extra weight was heavy, but it was not something she couldn't manage. While they were running, Sam had taken the opportunity to start up a conversation, touching on several of the team's weak points during the embarrassment last week.

Communication had been all over the place and that led to a terrible show of teamwork. Although they had failed horribly, Laura wasn't upset nor did she wished she had better team members. She had spent sometime among her team mates and have grown to like them. They were a fun bunch. Especially, that funny guy, Alex.

Samantha had grown to act very leader-like and began pointing out the key failures of team in the game. Laura and Nate had been asked to provide ideas if they had. The whole squad had split off to carry out their objectives without knowing what they were actually suppose to achieve, causing one helluva mess. Sam continued about communication for several more minutes before finishing, allowing Alex to butt in as he jogged alongside Samantha.

He then went on in the same snarky humorous voice she loved calling her teacher, and asking what if they communicated all the same time, thus resulting in over-communication. Jogging alongside him, Laura punched Alex's head playfully as she said that, while she laughed. "No silly, we speak one at a time, then we can have all the ideas and not get mixed up! I got it teacher, roger that!"

Alex then began to speak in a falsetto as he asked everyone to put their hands for a Kumbaya. Laura sniggered at the thought of them rubbing it in Castle's face. None of them liked him. He was indeed what one called a prick. As Alex rattled off and began beginning his thanking speech, she gave out a laugh. There he went again with his obsession of Cthulhu, as he began thanking the mythical creature.

Liu listened on carefully as his team mates spoke, nodding as he heard the issues his various team mates spoke of -- which essentially boiled down to, "we're shit at working together and communicating!" Of course, Liu would never say that in front of his team mates -- his allies. Instead of commenting on their faults and criticizing them as a group, he had found that his team mates had... already done that. So, for this conversation, he took a rather supportive stand from the sidelines.

"Let's try harder next time, guys!" Liu said, his innocent per-pubescent voice being slightly louder than usual. "I know we can do it!" Liu grinned as his head and eyes shifted from person to person, wanting to make sure that each of his team mates heard him. After he had grinned at everyone for a few seconds, he moved his head back, his eyes staring at the pack of the person in front of him.

"Let's beat them next time!" Liu stated as an after thought before his gaze suddenly dropped to the ground, his grin seemingly disappearing. His mind began to replay the memories of the Capture the Flag game between Squadron 1 and Squadron 20. He began to scowl, moving his finger to his cheek as he slowly remembered how horrendous the game went, how horribly Liu had acted during the whole game. He had ran off on his own, trying to scout out Squadron 20 as he moved quickly throughout the "battlefield." As soon as he had caught glimpse of Squadron 20, he could remember one of them saying out the three lettered acronym, causing Liu to go needlessly crazy.

He clenched both of his fists as he stared at the ground. Liu had an unnecessary hatred for them. He couldn't exactly explain it, but he hated them. He wanted nothing more than to destroy the planet that they inhibited, because how could they? How could they betray their own kind, shoot at their own kind first without any sort of hesitation? After all humankind has gone through, there now had to be another rift?

Liu shook his head violently, trying to regain his thoughts on Squadron 20 as he stared at the ground. Perhaps if Liu hadn't gone crazy, maybe the game would have gone differently, maybe they would have won.

But they didn't. They didn't, and it was all because of that damned dog in Squadron 20.

Liu's head slowly rose, his grin having disappeared only to be replaced by an grimace. "Because I want to destroy them."

Francis Newman - Another morning, Another day at Haoma

The morning was cold enough not to be too unbearable for Squad 1, yet not too comfortable especially with the extra ten kilograms which was tightly strapped to Francis's waist, a terrible repercussion which served as punishment for losing a game of Capture the Flag against squadron 20, apart from their "personal issues." Though it certainly wasn't his fault for his fellow "comrades" being as simple-minded or even hot-head as they were but that was the life of working in a squad, if only he could work alone. In solitude, he could find himself not being limited by a such a nuisance. If only they were to his level. Why of all people should he be subjected to punishment when it was clearly their insolence and insouciant behavior such which everyone including him in trouble? Luckily, however, it was only a morning run. If it hadn't been, the heat would definitely done some significant physical damage or bring back terrible memories of poor boy's friends dying of heat stroke. Although running at 4am was certainly much better than running in the middle of the day where he would sweat so bad, it would soak his entire gear and make him, and the others, smell of a very terrible odor which lasted for days.

During the jog, like always, the team spoke among themselves while the boy remained utterly silent, and never uttered a single word or even so much as even a gesture of complaining as he always did most of the time. Not only did the silent, intelligent young soldier had a disdain for people and small "chit-chat", he always found that his words could potentially harbor his own weakness and expose himself to his enemies, whoever they may be among his own squadron. All of these were mainly the reasons for residing in the privy in his own thoughts while his comrades spoke among themselves, as he could truly care less about what they think about him or anything at all.

But thirty-three Kilometers? In under an hour?! He egregiously thought to himself, while the weight of his belt quickly shifted up and down which seemed pull on him while he jogged behind the others discreetly, trying not to be noticed. An extra ten kilograms certainly wouldn't hurt him, although they were quite a lot but he found no true reason to complain; Either you run the day, or the day ran you. Although this is much different than what he was used to. Nonetheless, Francis found himself jogging at a somewhat reasonable pace before finding some comfort during the vigorous morning run and the number of kilometers he had to travel (which itself happened to be a number divisible by three) - All while he made the calculations in his head to assure that he was not only running a pace which would most certainly bring the most desired outcome for the squad and himself which of course included taking an amount of steps which were divisible by three by the time he got back to stretch afterwards for a cool down. Francis jogged along the rough, dirt road, behind the squad, yet not too far or even directly behind them to the point where dirt would be kicked in his face or his PT gear. There definitely wasn't a problem in being behind, just as long as he could maybe show off a little and sprint ahead of them towards the end of the track. This habit was what he loved being in endurance runs as as was habitual for Francis, at least this way he could easily spread his legs far enough in order to assure that he definitely ran a number of steps which, again, were divisible by three, a number he never feels comfortable without. Although there were quite a lot of things Francis found unsavory.

First off, Francis hated cadence. Mainly because it threw off his careful counting as he realized that the number of steps he would take were not taken into account before he went to the finish line to condition. The obsessive compulsive could easily find himself in an even, prime, or any other number that wasn't divisible by three by accident which would make him feel uneasy; though accidental whole numbers which weren't in threes weren't as terrifying to Francis as fractions or even worse: Infinitesimals, the worst but most interesting number of all. Then were the incompetent "initiates" he worked with and their "personal issues" as Castle would put it, but if there was one thing he could be fond of, it was Valke's sophomoric sense of optimism. Although he truly never found Alex funny in any sense, especially when he began to mimic voices in falsetto which he found incredibly annoying, it still was nice to see someone with not with such an aggressive behavior as the rest of the initiates in his squadron. There was some aspects about the soldier which he honestly found quite fond of such as his joyfully simple pleasures in life, a care-free attitude and most importantly, his seemingly trustworthiness, and how connected he felt around him which make the young troubled boy feel at ease since the time his two friends died tragically of heat stroke. But if there was one thing that they all had in common, it was the hatred each one of them shared, which was that "prick commander" Castle and their rivals, squadron 20. Francis did his best to remain quiet while he ran a good pace along the track slightly behind his fellow comrades.

Daedalus Complex
Haoma
12:00 PM
One Month Later

The children of Squadron 1 and Squadron 20 stood at attention in front of the capture the flag area. In front of them sat a squat small square shack known as Base 1, further down through the forest was Base 2 the two buildings serving as the respective bases for the teams during the game. The two squadrons have been looking forward for this rematch for awhile, Squadron 1 and Squadron 20 had a sort of rivalry against one another that stretched all the way in the beginning when Squadron 1 beat Squadron 20 in the obstacle course test that started in the first week of training. Squadron 1 wanted to reclaim their honor from last month's terrible defeat and subsequent month long training from hell from Castle as a result. Squadron 20 wanted to shove another victory in the faces of their enemies because winning against even total losers was always fun. While one would expect them to be talking amongst themselves or even throwing insults at the other team they both sat silently at attention their training have priority over petty rivalries no matter how much the opposite seemed to be. Somewhere they knew the rest of the children in the Daedalus program were watching, the big games always being broadcasted in the instruction room were the rest would sat and watch to take notes upon tactics and see where other squads went wrong. Though in this case it was less of a training simulation and more of hte blood sport that was about to go down in the big One versus Twenty rivalry.

Stern footsteps approached them and Soon with a Castle was there with a few of his helpers. The helpers began to hand out the gear to the students no protective equipment, they only had a sensor to detect when they were hit and apply a shock to the body temporarily paralyzing them and putting them in the "dead state" and practice rifles basically high velocity rubber bullet firing rifles that could deal the same pain of an actual bullet with none of the damage so the children were acclimated to the sensation of being shot. As they suited up Castle watched silent his hands behind his back waiting for them to get ready. His stern gaze watching them as a hawke would watch their prey, he had high expectation today for both teams but more so for Squadron 1 to redeem themselves for the horrible showing that they had last time. The entire team was made up of excellent individuals who were great at their respective jobs but together they just seemed to not be able to the rhythm they needed. Teamwork was even more important than individual skill when push came to shove and if they didn't have that they woudl get slaughtered in active combat. As they finished he spoke to the explaining today's game. "Hello recruits. You both know why you are here, one group to restore their honor and the other to maintain it. But today maggots we are doing changing things up on you because we love you all that much. Today is not the normal game of capture the flag you have been accustomed to. Today each team does not have two flags, today only squadron 1 has a flag that they must defend from Squadron 20. This flag is also not a flag that you have become accustomed to, today it is not cloth, today it is made of flesh. Frisk front and center!"

Out from Squadron Twenty Line came a girl with short blonde hair and bright blue eyes who approached the center almost meekly. Astrid Frisk the de facto leader of Squadron Twenty. A fairly standard girl for the most part she had a brilliant tactical mind and was known with dread by some of the other teams at how effectively she would shred through their defenses. She stood in front of castle who looked down at her as she spoke up. "Astrid Frisk reporting for duty sir!"

"Frisk congratulations today you get to be a flag." He explained with an amount of dry amusement to his voice as he produced a set of heavy shackles that he attached to her hands. She looked at him almost confused, looking back at her own team who looked back at her stoically. Castle gestured towards Squadron 1 pushing her along into the group where she stood awkwardly to the side. "Alright everybody standard rules apply you have one hour to prepare yourself, can't leave the designated area or else the sensors will shock you anyway, don't die etcetera. Now since Squadron Twenty one the last match it means that Squadron One is going to have to talk the walk to Base 2. NOW MOVE IT!"

Base 2
Haoma
12:10 PM

Squadron 1 stood in front of the small shack painted blue that was considered Base 21. They were devising of plan for the coming attack talking amongst themselves. Astrid was sitting in the shack thinking to herself as she listened to them talk. They were arguing about how to set up there defensives properly and the best plan to make sure that Squadron Twenty did not win again. She let out a sigh knocking her head against the back of the shack. She listened to there conversation and wondered to herself silently how they got anything done because it seemed whenever it came down to brass tacits everyone had a plan and all they did was argue without ever coming to a consensus. She wondered how her own squad was doing they probably already had a plan, they knew how each of the squads worked so it was just a matter of exploiting their own weakness against them. Squadron 1 was easy then, all you did was attack like a team against them and their patchwork defenses would fall apart as they all scrambled to do their own thing. She shook her head trying to get a stray tuft of hair out of her face as she muttered to herself under her breath loud enough so that those more perceptive would be able to make out the exact words. "A defensive strategy isn't going to work."

Rei kept silent, as she watched the rest of Squad 1 attempt something that only slightly resembled a plan, while basically running simulations of each one of their tactics within her mind. Most if not all of them were bound for failure, with the most likely scenario was being overrun. Her eyes drifted over towards the blond girl from Squad 20. From past runs, she was the leader behind the 20th. However, any plans that Rei might've had, she tossed aside, choosing to wait out her teammates' arguments. At least, that was the case, until she picked up the quiet words from their 'flag'.

Those words had sparked an idea, one that was quite dangerous and possibly immoral, but nonetheless effective. The sound of a rubber bullet being chambered in her rifle could be heard, before she aimed up and fired, hoping to get the attention of everyone. Once she was certain that she grabbed most of them, Rei began to speak. "Let's use her. This is less of a game of 'capture the flag', and more akin to a hostage situation. Use her as a shield." Her words were cold, harsh, yet extremely realistic. However, they would be gentle compared to what she said next.

"Also, considering she's the head of the pack, she would know what kind of tactics the twentieth would utilize. Interrogate her for information." Words colder than a cryogenic canister, Rei's gaze seemed to sharpen, gold and blue eyes narrowing as they stared at the blue eyes of Astrid, no, the flag. In Rei's eyes, she was nothing more than an object at the moment. Cold, heartless eyes, thousand yard stare.

"If she doesn't feel like answering, shoot her." As if making her point, Rei chambered a new round into her rifle, before planting the muzzle against Astrid's stomach. "She's not a player this time, she's a flag. Shooting her multiple times should be fine."

Alex stood at stiff attention, wearing his trademark antique aviator's sunglasses, reflective lenses above his usual smirk. However, with Castle this close, he didn't say anything except for the expected 'Yes Sir,' 'No Sir', and occasionally mumble under his breath. However, when he saw Astrid emerge from the other group of Squad 20, and heard what was going on, he mentally pumped his fists in the air. Without Astrid, they wouldn't have active leadership. Still, even with Astrid gone, they had a significant advantage, because Squad 1 couldn't get their crap together.

But even with all their problems, he still loved each and every one of them. Sam, even if she did have to be the best at everything. Laura, even if she was altogether too stubborn. Nate, even if he was too selfless for his own good. Francis, even if he had that whole slew of issues going on in that head of his. Rei, even if she was scaring him lately. Liu, even if he did freak out at the mere mention of AGS. Alex knew that he was as equally fucked up as the rest of them, but then again, who wasn't, in this place? Saluting Castle, and breaking away with his Squad, he jogged near the front of the group, as always. Might as well be him, right? Casting a glance back at Astrid, he tried to gauge her personality, and see what she thought of his squad. As he thought, she had that same slight sneer of condescension that the rest of Squad 20 had, whenever they saw Squad 1.

When they got to Base 2, they had already spent 10 minutes in transit. That meant they had 50 minutes to prepare themselves. Alex stood off to the side, and watched the others carefully, listening to each of their plans, and fighting the urge to question them. These were ideas his squad had, not orders from some... prick. He didn't need to worry about there sincerity or safety. He trusted them. He listened, and then he heard Rei suggest using Astrid as a human shield, or even torturing her with the training rifles. Eyes widening, he stepped over to where Rei was standing, he shoved the gun away from Astrid, and grabbing Rei's shoulders, he looked into her eyes, and said, "Tenrei! We can't do that! That's what AG-" Alex glanced at Liu for a second, before looking back at Rei. "What they would do! We have to be better than them! No matter what!"

Turning back to Astrid, he did grin, and say, "However, I'm not suggesting that we don't use her, in some way. Maybe, since she's the flag, we could tie her up and take her with us, and abandon the base, and stay mobile? That's what killed us last time. We're a breaching team, not a holdout team." He looked to the others, particularly Sam and Laura, the two leaders, for support. Nate was a good friend, but he was in no way a leader, just like Alex wasn't. Rei would be a good leader, if she wasn't so damn robotic! She began to start to be this way early on, around when they all were six, Alex remembered. He had tried to help her, but he couldn't do anything for her, no matter how hard he tried. "If we stay mobile, we can win this thing."

The team were in the small little blue building that had been designated as the base for Squad One. They were going over ideas and strategies in trying to overcome as well as prevent a similar fiasco, like what happened in the previous game. Ideas after ideas were thrown into the mix, but none of them were any good. It was then that Rei spoke up with a plan in mind. Her plan was to use their flag, the leader from Squad Twenty. She wanted to use the girl as a shield or even interrogate her for information.

Now, that wouldn't work. It was just unnecessary violence without any guarantees of achieving anything at all. Shooting her wouldn't help anything as well either. Their goal was to prevent the enemy team from retrieving their flag, not killing or torturing the girl. However, she glad to see that she wasn't the only one to see that. Alex had spoken up as well, indicating his disagreement of the his fellow team member's plan.

He then came up with a plan of his own. Tying up her up and carrying her with her as they went mobile, abandoning the base altogether. That plan could work, if they were planning to stay mobile. Listening to both of her team mates ideas so far, she had combined elements from both of their plans to formulate a plan of her own. But this was more of a stationary strategy. Laura then spoke up about her plan.

"Ok, so flags are managed to stay high up so people can see right? I say that we blindfold and gag her so she wouldn't be able to say a word and tie her up in the tree there, where all can see. We will then spread ourselves around the perimeter of the flag. Then, when Squad twenty comes around looking for her, we can then use our guns with those awfully painful rubber bullets to shoot them in an effort to make them surrender."

Waving her hands around before slamming a fist on the table, she continued "There are only two problems to this plan. We need to find a way to get up up there, and a way to communicate between ourselves while we are scattered." Looking around to her fellow team members, she said "Anyone else with a better idea, please feel free to voice out."

Liu waited patiently as his team mates talked, staring at the gun in his hands as he twisted and turned his arms to look at it. It was filled with rubber bullets which -- while they still hurt -- wasn't exactly lethal. The non lethal gun looked almost like a real gun. Well, it actually was a real gun, but it looked like it could actually kill someone. After a few seconds of playing around with his gun -- even taking out the magazine a few times and putting it back in to observe the rubber bullets -- Liu turned towards his team mates.

"I kind of like Rei's idea," Liu said, his voice quiet at first. "It's a bit crude and... a bit inhumane, but it doesn't matter how we get it done, we just have to get it done." Liu's eyes wandered around, meeting the gaze of every one of his squad mates before finally settling on Laura. "But! I like your plan too! Just... wouldn't it be a bit too obvious if..." Liu hesitated for a bit, almost as if he was trying to figure out what to say. He glanced back at Astrid, staring at her for a few seconds with a cold glare before turning back towards Laura. "... The girl was out in the open with no one guarding her?"

Liu allowed for a few more seconds of silence to pass before finally raising his hands up in the air. "But I dunno!" Liu said, trying to act playful and cheerful. "I'm not a very good tactician," Liu gave out a small chuckle before taking a few steps away from his team mates. "You can execute whatever plan you think is best as long as we all agree on it, okay?"

Nate scratched at his head. This was a bizarre little experiment wasn't it? He had no idea what the heck they should do. There was the idea of carrying the flag all the way up the tree and leaving her there. Course that would lead to the issue of being basically stuck up said tree if the other team decided to cowboy up and go for the flag. Then there was the idea of carrying the flag with them. That was not half of a bad idea except there was the same issue as the one before. Also the team always seemed to break up.

"Okay. If we do either plan we have to work together! One group is defensive and the other scouts ahead. We could lay an ambush for the other team in the woods. If any of us climb up the tree we could get a very good killing circle on them if they enter the kill zone." Nate said speaking up for once. He was sick of being quiet. He looked around at the group. "If any of us want to win we need a good plan. Like my idea mixed with another?" He said trying his best to work as a team.

After the long morning run, the sun soon stretched high across the sky as the day grew hotter and more dry while squadron 1 finally finished the thirty three kilometer run through the dry woodland. Sticky sweat began to trickle down Francis's face from exhaustion and rained on his PT shirt, hitting his shoulders and chest like bullets, although his minor discomfort was nothing compared to what he experienced in his earlier years as an initiate. The earlier days of children being driven out into the heat with hardly enough water to keep them going as some even died. Children including his dear friends during these "mandatory exercises" as Castle put them - It was not a memory Francis enjoyed returning to.

When they had returned to the end point of the race, they had only the commanding officers to greet them with even more hostility, especially Castle who implemented "discipline" more than any of the other officers did. Francis deeply loathed him more than anyone else in the entire establishment. Shorty after finishing the run, The children were then allowed to take a short ten minute break before cooling off and stretching before being called to do the next activity where they were to be hauled out in front of the capture the flag area. Their gear had been already carefully placed in crates and the children changed while cooling off. Francis looked into the crate and reached for his ACU uniform, complete with a soft cotton shirt, comfortable pair of Nylon/Cotton pants and Jacket. His brightly, slick leather boots were cleaned to a high shine as was the rest of his uniform. Afterwards, the children were then called on to run half a kilometer north to the capture the flag area, where they would meet their next challenge.

To his surprise, Squadron 20 was there. But how? Could it be the officer's way of testing Squadron 1? Or was it just plain coincidence? It certainly couldn't have been, especially since they competed against each other quite often. Whatever it was, Francis took this as an opportunity to finally get back at the squad who is hated the most. Across from him was Squadron 20, a group of belligerent, apathetic individuals who would do anything if it certainly meant winning. Francis could easily read it in their brute, emotionless faces while they stood inanimately at attention - the pretentious mark of condescending demeanor, all of which were drawn deeply in their faces as their chins were held high and he could almost feel the intensity of hatred they must have felt for him and his squadron. Most importantly, in that Astrid Frisk who was called on to represent the flag, she was a very incisive and was crowned for her brilliant tactical mind. She is the only person throughout the entire establishment who has ever beaten Francis at a game of chess. The young boy then almost wondered about how each of them thought individually instead of as a team, clearly with Astrid removed from the equation, this would leave them without their "brilliant tactician" and a slight hint of a devious smile soon arose from Francis's face.

---

Base 21
Haoma
12:10 PM

When they arrived at Base 21, the children immediately gathered around to plan what to do next while Astrid was placed into the shack, completely isolated. Once again, Francis was quiet and reclusive while he imperturbably listened to his teammates, but he could not remain that way for long; Soon enough, he would have to think of a way to beat Squadron 20 before they beat him. In a game of two, there is only one victor and one loser. What would I be if I kept my mouth shut? Francis cogently thought to himself as he then hesitated to speak with his squad for the first time in months, taking his first breath he then spat it out.

"I am not entirely convinced that a simple defensive strategy will work, at least not in the way we'd want it to." Everyone soon turned to Francis, almost in surprise that he would even utter a word to them. "If we all stay here - there's only a certain amount of time before they breach our defenses and get us one by one. As much as we all need each other, we all need to win as well as having the most desired outcome." He then promptly looked around to find a proper position for himself to hide in, which was part of his plan. "How about we keep Astrid as bait and gag/torture her, like what Rei suggested, while I and several others take positions in those trees?" He then pointed at a group of tall, thick redwood trees that were completely covered in lush green leaves that could easily serve as a Sniper's Nest for himself and any other initiate who was a decent shot. "It may leave her her somewhat exposed but I am certain that Squad 20 is foolish enough for fall for something like that. They'll close-in while we rain hell down from above - Just think about it, we could easily get the upper hand on them, you guys know I'm a decent shot... They'll never expect it coming."