Athena nodded and hefted her rail gun. With an effective range of ten miles, she’d have no problem projecting power along this hundred metre stretch of road. She was essentially holding a miniature version of the main gun on some classes of warship.

Knossos stepped toward Vreta. He felt the Rothian was slightly out of his depth, but made sure not to come across as pushy. After all, this was just a PR exercise for the Sacred Band, and Thebes had given the leadership role to Vreta as a mark of respect. “We should prepare for the possibility that they’ll hold us in the open-air lane to push hard through the apartments. Thebes will be playing to his strengths, just as we are.”

Knossos spoke quickly, with one eye on the clock as it ticked past fifteen seconds. “I could go with Kjartan, or you could commit more troops there. Eight people may not be enough. Alternatively, we can stick to the plan and I will try to lock down the front entrance to the building. What do you think?” The veteran soldier wasn’t clear if the Rothian had received formal military training before, but something told him the alien was a quick processor of information, which was crucial for leadership.

“Decide quickly, Lizard Man! We won’t wait.” Kjartan hollered from the edge of the zone. He held out his left arm, and armour plates slithered away from well-protected parts of his body to form a hefty rectangular shield attached to it. Kjartan slammed his hammer against the outside of his new shield, creating an intimidating rattle.

Though Vreta did have military training, his expertise did diverge from the kind of fighting that soldiers were responsible for. Espionage required planning, but of a different sort. Still, the concepts of how to read a battlefield and judge the strengths and weaknesses of his own team were not unknown to him. More than anything, if there was one skill his experience had prepared him with, it was to think and act quickly.

“I know how skilled Carthage is reputed to be, and I cannot know if we would be able to overcome her without an overallocation of resources. I do not think it would be wise to make a plan that depends upon holding the apartments. Controlling the apartments does provide access to the windows and a flanking route, but it does not give direct access to our flag. They still have to cross open ground for that. Let us still push mostly for controlling the streets. As long as we can prevent them from getting too much value from the windows, we can diminish the value that the building gives them. Kjartan, if you feel like you may get overwhelmed inside, try to retreat back and draw them out into the open. As soon as Carthage leaves that building, she loses her advantage.”

Knossos nodded and stepped back as the final couple of seconds ticked away. “Yes, team leader.” He turned to the rest of the soldiers clustered around them. “You heard the man! Get tactical, we’re taking the centre. I want to hear comms all the time, especially from inside those apartments.” Knossos and Athena went to the edge of the forcefield keeping them in the spawn area and got ready to run.

Kjartan laughed maniacally, bashing his shield again. “No retreat! No surrender!” The drop troops who had elected to support the berserker were assembled in tight formation behind him, and for good reason.

The clock reached zero, and a loud klaxon sounded. The forcefield vanished, and their shields flared up to show they were active. “Let’s go!” Knossos shouted, and they all surged forward as one.

It seemed like there was little that Vreta, or anyone, could do to control Kjartan. In truth, he was starting to understand why the Sacred Band was less-than-enthused to have him assigned to them, but these were the tools he had been given. He could still try to come out of the scenario with a victory.

Vreta still intended to play to his own strengths. He was not a soldier, and certainly no Datius, but he still had his advantages. While Athena set up in her position, Vreta moved up along the corner of the building off to his right. The simulation had formed wrecked vehicles, rubble, and other obstructions to serve as cover in the streets. Vreta climbed up on one of these obstacles just high enough to get sights on anyone who poked their head up above cover down the street. He could fall back down into cover quickly if his shields started taking hits, but he was confident in his ability to take such duels at range.

At first, Vreta would naturally be aiming down the street along with Athena. In particular, he wanted to see if he could pick off Carthage before she could cross into the apartments. That, more than anything, would give Kjartan a decisive edge inside the building. But, he also tasked his neural implant with keeping up awareness beyond his own point of focus. Vreta’s natural mind could only truly focus on what was in the center of his vision, but his implant could scan his peripheral vision in much greater detail. It could identify Carthage quickly, as well as pointing out anyone aiming at him from the street, or the windows once the enemy reached the apartments.

Athena sprinted off the mark, well aware that taking out key targets now would allow them more time to take ground. There were a few piles of rubble that were higher than everything else, but they weren’t immediately accessible. Instead, she ran to an upturned flier and rested her railgun on its undercarriage.

Looking down the sights, she saw flickers of people moving in between the obstacles at the far end. She focused as laser fire began crackling around them. Even though the sim had changed all their armour colours, she still caught a glimpse of Carthage’s distinctive profile running across the road. She was covered by other running bodies, and there was only a split second window in between cover, but Athena didn’t waste that chance.

She took the shot, and a loud *crack* filled the arena. Athena was accustomed to seeing bodies explode into lumps of flesh at this point, but instead two of the opposite team floated into the air, their shield bright red to indicate they were dead. They drifted back toward the Red Team’s spawn area. Carthage wasn’t one of them.

“I missed her, Carthage is in the building. Changing position.” Athena reported, just as a grenade exploded near their position. She dived to the floor as a curtain of dust rained down on them. “Move!!” Knossos called, jogging through the dust cloud between Vreta and Athena with the bulk of the troops behind him. “Follow me, stay low!”

Right from the start, it was apparent that the enemy was planning around the dangers of long sightlines. They kept low and moved between cover as much as possible. Vreta had a feeling that it was not himself that they were worried about, though even with their precautions, Athena did show why they gave such respect to her. With just a slight opening, she managed to take out two of the soldiers supporting Carthage. Vreta too was tracking Carthage, and as she was rushing into the apartments, he did manage to tag her shields with a shot from his rifle. Unfortunately, his weapon did not have the same power of Athena’s, so one shot wasn’t enough to breach the shield.

Careful movement was not the only way that their opponents were planning to deal with the sniper. Before Vreta had even taken his position, they had tossed a grenade over. Though, the explosive was closer to Athena than himself. It kicked up dust and struck Vreta’s shield with some distant shrapnel, but not enough to force him to reposition right away. The dust did obscure his vision, though in all honesty, that was more to his advantage at the moment, as it also obscured him from the enemy. The arena was not too large, and especially with the ”buildings” on either side of the street to reflect sound waves, his echolocating ability could see where his eyes could not. Even through the dust, his implant could overlay terrain an enemy positions onto his HUD. Thanks to the acoustic effects of the buildings, he could even see around many obstacles in the street.

Vreta had not been able to take out Carthage, but eliminating her support in the first engagement was the next best thing. Kjartan had a whole team with him, so even Carthage would not likely be able to deal with him without sufficient support herself. Athena had already taken out two, and Vreta could keep his position long enough to challenge those trying to make it into the building behind her. Vreta tracked one about to make his move and marked him on his HUD. Even with only small openings to take a shot, the fact that Vreta could track positions through obstacles meant that he could time his shots just right to hit between even small gaps. The first hit did not slow the soldier down, as it easily could have been a stray. The second hit came as he was making the run for the door, and by that point, it was too late to turn back. Vreta hit his third shot just as the Human was a few steps from the door to send him back to his spawn.

Athena got up and moved from the upturned flier. Staying low, she ran closer to the accessible block of apartments, where a large pile of masonry had fallen from the top levels to the street below. She climbed up the heap until she could peek over, then quickly arranged the bricks into a stable firing platform for her railgun.

“They’re moving the cars!” Knossos reported, firing over the top of the military blockade he was hid behind. Another grenade exploded by a cluster of destroyed vehicles. Two members of his team were propelled through the air and into the window of a small jewellers shop on the spawn-side of the street. Glass sprayed everywhere, and a shrill alarm rang out over the top of rippling energy fire exchanges across the width of the street.

“I see it.” Athena, sending a tungsten round through the top of a flier that was making its way slowly across the battlefield. It kept coming. “Spread out!” Knossos called, firing and moving, an energy round fizzing off his shield.

Kjartan reached the access bay door first, promptly smashing it open with his hammer. “You two, check the upper floors. Sound off if you find anyone.” The drop troop team leader ordered, before setting off after the berserker along the ground floor. The other four troopers followed.

Vreta hummed to himself as he watched the enemy approach. He did have to keep close to cover for the stray shots generally flying in his direction, but there was still not too much direct focus on him. He was far in the back, and the enemy did not seem to see him as a primary threat. He supposed he was a bureaucrat to them, after all, but he guessed that would change soon enough. Aside from his rifle, his equipment for this sim included a lethal anti-personnel grenade and a “scrambler” smoke grenade. He felt one of those could be useful here.

Vreta had a plan in mind to halt their advance. His neural implant ran all the calculations, and could help him execute. Really, it was just physics; calculating arcs, timing, wind, travel speeds. Though, without the implants, he probably would not have had the dexterity to carry it out. He quickly double-checked that his implants were synced properly with his weapon sights, then took his lethal grenade in his off-hand. Once the flier was close enough, he threw the grenade along the projected arc on his HUD and quickly got both hands on his rifle. Just as the grenade was passing over the heads of the soldiers behind the car, Vreta fired a shot that struck his own grenade mid-air to detonate it early and airburst it right over them.

The flier stopped moving and crunched back onto the floor debris. Athena put another round through the top of the vehicle, but still no one floated out. “Where are they?” She muttered.

“Taking heavy fire!” Knossos reported, crouching behind a street lamp with his shield flaring. Athena could see half a dozen members of the opposite team were staying back and popping up to shoot a few bolts before taking cover. The rest were creeping forward. “Ok, we’re in position! Suppressing fire!” A marine sergeant yelled, peeking out from behind a street food stall counter just as someone peppered him with energy rounds from a gap underneath the downed flier.

---

Carthage moved quickly through the dimly lit corridor, flanked by marines. She kept her shotgun raised and low light vision enabled. Some of the marines who weren’t augmented opted for using torches. The beams fingered shadows gathering all around them and glistened off rivulets of water streaming down the walls. The explosions, energy fire and mag-acceleration from outside sounded muffled and distant. Carthage focused on her slow, even breathing as they advanced.

They emerged from the corridor into a modest reception area. A concierge desk and a pile of military hardware boxes sat opposite a set of heavy double doors. Another fire door presumably led to the other wing of the building. Carthage silently indicated they spread out, as much as they could, and move to that door.

They were halfway across the lobby when she motioned for them to stop again. She felt something. The operator checked her motion sensor; the enemy was through that door, but one object in particular was heading straight for them. Carthage listened hard, peeling back layers of sound until she heard a *crash* and then *thud thud thud thud*. She could recognize those footsteps anywhere.

“Open fi-” She had time to yell before Kjartan exploded through the wall opposite them in a shower of masonry. “I’LL STRIP YOUR FLESH, WHORE!” He roared, swinging his hammer in a wide arc that covered practically the whole room as energy rounds erupted from every angle.

There was an exchange of fire, some losses on both sides as the shooting continued. Vreta had not seen any respawns as a result of his grenade, but it had served to stop the vehicle in its tracks. Most importantly, it stopped it short of reaching the middle. He could see weapons fire coming from an angle underneath the vehicle though, which was clever. It gave them a limited, but powerful angle to fire from, as return fire would be difficult for most of Vreta’s allies. Even in no one moved into a position they could shoot from it, they could deny access to certain parts of the street.

As quickly as he could, Vreta repositioned. The car was currently useful to the enemy, but that sightline could work both ways if Vreta lined himself up correctly. He decided to take his own tight angle from behind a wrecked bus. He was looking through a hole in the bus’ side and the front window, but he found an angle where he could see under the car from a distance. Between his scope and his own eyes’ zoom optics, he could see who was shooting from the other side. Firing back through a narrow space from long range would be difficult, but Vreta could make the shots. He, of course, would want to get any kills he could, but what Vreta mostly hoped to accomplish was to deny his enemy uncontested access to that angle and relieve some pressure on his allies.

“We’re doing well. We stopped that car short, so we’re closer to the middle. If we can hold that hardpoint, we’ll have the edge. Just take that point and dig in. Make them push into Athena’s sightline if they want to take it.” Vreta said through their comms.

Thebes quickly returned to a kneeling position once his vantage point had been sniffed out. He peeked through one of the holes the rail gun had made at Athena. He marked her on his team’s HUD. “Agent, give me some cover there. The rest of you, get some more grenades on my secondary marks.” The rail gun fired again, and another hole appeared right by his helmet. “Now!” He shouted.

595 popped out from behind a pile of rubble behind the wrecked car, with a sighted assault rifle. She got a few hits on Athena while she was reloading, forcing her to back down. At the same time, six grenades rained down on the middle ground, near where Knossos and half a dozen marines were keeping the area locked down. They all exploded at once, throwing a curtain of rubble twenty metres into the air.

Thebes grabbed one of the new holes in his mobile cover and pushed it so it was still facing the middle but was more diagonally oriented toward the inaccessible apartment block. Then, he used the hand hold to pull the car toward the side of the arena. Since he wasn’t picking the whole thing up, this went quicker than before, with him making up a few metres.

Vreta, if nothing else, kept Thebes on his toes in his position behind the car. Before the wave of grenades, he did land a hit or two on his shields between the gaps, even if it wasn’t enough to send him back to spawn.

When the explosive barrage did come in, Vreta tried to encourage his team to remain aggressive, so as not to allow the enemy to dictate the pace of the battle. “They’re going to try to push off that. We can’t let them overtake the position. Get in some of your own grenades. I’ll mark targets.”

From a standing position, Vreta leaped up from the ground onto the roof of the bus, though he kept near the back in case he had to jump down into cover quickly. It was a more exposed position, but with all the dust in the air at the moment, there would be less eyes on him. Right now, they needed to be able to keep up the pressure, and the clouds of dust did not impede his awareness. With Vreta’s echolocation, he could continue to track their movements regardless of the dust. Anyone pushing would find themselves with taking accurate DMR fire. Though, likely more impactful was the fact that he had his implant broadcast markers for enemy movements to his allies. He wasn’t sure if all of the marines had augmented displays, but Athena at least would be able to benefit from them. Through it all, he still made sure not to tunnel vision entirely on the frontline. A subroutine in his implant was pretty much dedicated to scanning his peripheral vision for signs of threats. Being that he was far in the back, both of the apartment building exits on his side of the arena were in his field of view, so if Carthage won inside, he could at least make sure she did not get a surprise flank.

Carthage’s jump jets pushed her back out of the path of Kjartan’s hammer; she could almost feel it swishing past her face. The soldier to her right didn’t move fast enough and took the full brunt of the swing to his helmet, propelling him against the wall.

Kjartan blocked most of Carthage’s shotgun barrage with his shield and crashed into her. She held onto his shield to avoid being trampled and they crashed backwards through the wall behind her. They tumbled to the floor and Carthage used Kjartan’s considerable weight to propel him over her head with her legs. He smashed through the other side of the apartment they found themselves in.

The one Red marine left alive in the lobby, plus the couple still in the corridor began trading furious energy fire with Blue team soldiers clustered around the first hole Kjartan had made. A grenade bounced off one of the walls and lodged next to one of the doors. A deafening explosion ripped through the lobby setting everything on fire and blowing the doors out into the street.

---

A couple of Blue team members floated back to spawn from the grenade barrage. A couple of Red team members subsequently died trying to push up immediately after. Knossos peeked back out from behind his cover and saw 595 sliding down a pile of rubble on the other side of the street, making a run for the flier.

He unclipped a boxy shape from his utility belt and chucked it at her. It flew through the air, unfolding into a miniature limpet drone with tiny rotors. Halfway through the arc it took on it’s own flight. It buzzed over to the Agent and attached to the back of her body before erupting into a huge fireball before she could reach the flier.

Knossos had no time to celebrate, as a heavy door smacked him on the back of the head, knocking him over.

The back-and-forth in the middle was pretty even at the moment. The enemy had taken out a few of Vreta’s team, but the assumption that they would be able to easily follow through and capture the position ended up costing them. Not only could Vreta still shoot accurately despite the obstructions, but sharing that intel also allowed his allies to do the same. As long as they were paying attention to their HUD, they wouldn’t get caught off-guard.

The team was still holding for now, but they had not stabilized their control of the hardpoint. Knossos had managed to take out the Agent, but he seemed to be in some trouble himself. He was the only member of the Sacred Band they had on the frontline, so he was an important person to keep alive. He could command the squads around him more effectively than Vreta could. Vreta himself did not have an angle on the source of the object that had struck Knossos, but he could still detect it. Every pulse of sound that his implant generated improved his picture of his surroundings, giving him more data to separate out static or inanimate objects from enemy combatants. He had picked out the location of Knossos’ nearest attacker, and though he could not get a shot from where he was, Athena’s weapon did not seem to have any difficulty dealing with obstructions.

“I’ve got a target for you, Athena, right here. Let’s give Knossos some help.” Vreta said as he marked the location.

Athena sent another round down range on Vreta’s mark. A sizable flurry of masonry burst into the air, followed by the floating shell of a marine. “Good hit, reloading.” Athena reported, just when an energy burst from the newly repositioned peppered her position. She slid back down out of sight and ejected the remains of a tungsten bolt from her chamber.

Thebes ducked back away from the hole he was shooting her from and unclipped the battery from the rifle 595 had thrown him with a satisfying click. He clipped a fresh, undamaged one into the socket and aimed down range again. Athena couldn’t suppress the battlefield if he was suppressing her. “Push up!” He commanded, pivoting to shoot at Vreta again before peppering Athena when she reappeared.

---

Carthage rippled to her feet as easily as if she were a marionette. She looked for her shotgun but couldn’t see it - it must have stayed in the lobby. She unstuck an SMG from the magnetic strip on her back and fired at Kjartan through the hole he’d made into the other apartment. He blocked the energy barrage with his shield, got up and charged back at her.

Carthage glided, ducked and juked out of the way of his hammer at lightning speed as they danced around the apartment, trashing everything around them to pieces. She used her SMG like a knuckle duster, darting in to jab Kjartan with it and get a few shots in under his armour. Stray energy rounds splattered all over, including from the lobby where a firefight raged.

Just when it seemed like Kjartan might be gaining the upper hand - scoring a jarring glance with the edge of his shield, an armoured hand smashed through the ceiling above his head. It reached down, wrapped around the berserker’s neck and lifted him three inches off the floor. He roared and swung his hammer at Carthage, who easily dodged. He then jabbed it at the ceiling, trying to dislodge this second assailant. The hammer got stuck in masonry.

“You’ve gotten sloppy, big man. We’ll need to teach you a thing or two.” Carthage chuckled. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Kjartan howled in anger as she sprayed his vulnerable body with energy fire until he died. The arm above released him and slid back through its hole. Kjartan began floating back to spawn. Carthage turned her attention to the fight raging through the partition wall.

Vreta was finally getting a decent amount of pressure on his own position. He dropped down quickly from the top of the bus to a more protected position behind it. He did not have quite as good of a view over the battlefield, but that mostly just affected the areas he could personally shoot. The information he could give to his allies was unchanged.

Ultimately, Vreta decided not to expose himself too much to enemy fire. He did peak from different angles around the bus to return fire on Thebes and keep him pressured, and as Thebes would discover, Vreta could definitely land his shots. However, Vreta prioritized keeping himself alive over trying to personally confirm the kill. For now, the intel he could provide to his team was more valuable than the damage he could personally deal. Even in a confusing situation, he could keep his frontline alert to threats, as well as making sure that no one from the apartments could surprise them with a flank. His zoom optics were sharp enough that he could identify that it was Thebes he was exchanging fire with, which was valuable information.

Taking cover behind the bus, Vreta tagged Thebes’ position with a high-priority mark, then opened a comm link with Knossos and Athena, specifically. “I spotted Thebes, right here. He’s looking at me right now.” He alerted them. Thebes was good enough to challenge any of them, but he could not do everything at once. One of the other two could have an opportunity to exploit.

“So that’s why I can’t hit them!” Athena exclaimed. “I can take Thebes on, but that’ll mean leaving centre.” Knossos said. “I think we have another problem too. Kjartan just floated past me - that means we need to prop up the apartments now.”

Knossos glanced up the steps to hole where doors had stood moments before, and could see fire licking up the walls. “Indoor team, Kjartan is KIA. What is your status?” He called. “Could use some support! Contact left!” The squad leader yelled.

Carthage suddenly appeared in front of the opening, moving across the lobby while firing her SMG. Knossos pivoted and shot at her - she skittered away from the door frame straight away. “What are your orders, Team Leader?” Knossos asked Vreta as another tungsten round whistled over his head and dispatched a runner.

Vreta moved behind the bus to block off the line of sight between him and Thebes, then took his other grenade in hand. It was a “scrambler” smoke grenade which, in addition to being a visual obstruction, provided disruption to enhanced vision modes, such as EM or thermal vision. Given the prevalence of augmented vision among militaries, smoke with disrupting capabilities was the norm. He landed the grenade just outside the doorway on Knossos’ flank to block off the sightline Carthage had on him, so she would have to run outside to have any impact on the front line. Since the smoke did nothing to disrupt sound waves, Vreta could still track enemy positions through it.

Since Kjartan had lost the apartment building, Vreta stopped trying to challenge Thebes and instead kept in cover while watching the windows and doors of the apartments. “Anyone still inside, retreat. I can cover the doors and keep them from giving chase. Our soldiers are holding the middle for now, so if we can keep Carthage and her squad trapped in that apartment building, they won’t be accomplishing much for their team. Every one of them in there is one less between us and the flag.”

Vreta’s conscious attention was now on the apartment exits, while his neural implant handled the live updates on enemy positions. “Knossos, Athena, work together to take out Thebes. If you can get smoke on him, Knossos, I can keep updating his position through it. He might not expect that. You don’t even need to get him out of cover. With me tracking his position, you only need to get him behind something Athena’s weapon can pierce through.”

The response to Vreta from inside the building was a burst of static and a few half words. “Is Saddam inside?” Athena asked. “Likely. Moving!” Knossos called, fast-crawling toward the crashed flier behind cover. Soldiers on both sides were in a pitched battle now, with energy rounds flying across No Man’s Land. Thebes was still co-ordinating from the front, spraying plasma down range at Athena and Vreta.

Knossos unclipped a smoke scrambler and lobbed it by the edge of the flier pointing back toward Thebes’ own spawn. It exploded in a large puff of smoke, covering most of the vehicle and also providing cover for Knossos’ approach. The veteran soldier tapped the Marine sergeant on the back of the helmet and pointed. “Moving left! Give me cover!” The other man nodded and relayed the order down the line.

Knossos wasted no time getting up from behind cover and sprinting toward the smoke, drawing fire from all angles.

---

The drop troopers supporting Kjartan’s ill-fated push into the apartment building had stacked up around the hole he’d made in the wall. They’d caught the opposite team in a bad spot with sparse cover, and had wasted two of them in the corridor almost immediately. The other two had smashed through into adjacent apartments and were firing doggedly from the doorways.

Unfortunately, they were so preoccupied with trying to stamp out the other Marines that they missed Carthage emerging from the ruined remains of her fight with Kjartan. They missed their opportunity to suppress her position, and only returned fire when she was halfway across the fire-stricken lobby.

Vreta ordered a retreat right when she found them. “We could use some support! Oh, shit. Contact left!” The squad leader shouted as Carthage sprayed the opening with energy. She changed weapon and disappeared from view before bursting through a nearby fire door, ripping it off its hinges as she did so.

She absorbed a few panicked energy bursts from the closest trooper with the loose door before sending him flying with a blast from her freshly-retrieved shotgun. She then pivoted and blocked the butt of another soldier’s gun from smashing her visor.

Carthage flicked the weapon out of his hands, discarding it on the floor and bending his arm the wrong way when he tried to punch her. He screamed as she flung him straight into the squad leader who had started unloading his rifle at her while shouting orders. They both clattered into a wall.

Vreta kept his position behind the bus and no longer tried to take shots on the front line, so the soldiers trying to suppress him were mostly just wasting their time. From the position he had, he could see the doors and windows of the apartment building perfectly fine without exposing himself to enemy fire. Even without firing a shot, he could still provide a great deal of assistance to the frontline, especially once the smoke came out.

As quickly as he could, Vreta spoke through the team-wide comms. “Help Knossos’ push! Get more smoke on the enemy; I’ll keep targets marked.” He ordered. The enemy team was winning out in the apartment; that much was undeniable. As confident as Kjartan was, Carthage had the edge on him. However, the frontline was where they could exploit their own advantage. It was a simple advantage, but one that could not be understated: the Blue team could shoot accurately through the smoke, while the Red team could not. Vreta had his implant working as fast as it could to give live updates on enemy positions based on his echolocation data. With more and more smoke covering the battlefield, now was the time to push. All his marines had to do was shoot at their HUD markers onto targets that could not meaningfully shoot back. The enemy had already used a large portion of their lethal grenades in their previous attempted push, so they would not have enough to repel this one.