“I think he’s done!” Catie yelled as she backed away.
Cadet Major Baker came running up. “What’s going on here?!” he demanded.
“We were just doing some hand-to-hand training,” Cadet Lieutenant Hoffman replied.
“Who authorized this?!” Baker demanded.
“We were using our initiative, sir!” Hoffman barked.
Baker turned on Sanchez, “What were you trying to do?!”
“He told me to break her arm!” Sanchez said, nodding at Hoffman.
“That was an illegal order! Why did you follow it?!”
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to,” Sanchez said. “She was holding back the whole time. I knew if I got aggressive, she would take me out.”
“MacGregor, what do you have to say?!”
“He got aggressive,” Catie said. “I think I busted his knee.”
“Yeah, and cracked a couple of ribs,” Sanchez gasped. He was grimacing from the pain.
“MacGregor, help him to the hospital, you broke him, now go get him fixed!” Baker hollered. “Lieutenant Hoffman, Lieutenant Boutros, you’re relieved. Report to headquarters at 0600 tomorrow. Sergeant Chambers, Sergeant Favre, you just got promoted. Take command of your flights and get them to bed, we have our final test tomorrow!”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Our mission is to capture the main house,” Baker said. “Now there are several possible objectives we could have been assigned, so they don’t know which one we’re after. We will approach from the east after being dropped off by an Oryx. The rest of the squadron will follow an hour later. The house is on a hill here. We will set up observations and do recon around the house. We need to identify the positions of their sentries and lookouts, determine their routine. We’ll plant explosives on the bunkhouse, and around the perimeter. Once we’re ready, I’ll signal Flights Three and Four to attack from the north. That will draw their attention, and allow us to take out the sentries and infiltrate the house. Once we have control of the house, we’ll have Flights five and six join the attack from the south. We should be able to take up sniper positions on the roof of the house. We’ll blow the charges we planted to distract the enemy and cover the rest of the squadron as they advance.
“The Oryx will drop us off at 0200. I want to be in place at the hill by 0330. We’ll time our entry for 0400 when they will be at their deepest sleep, and the sentries will be at their most tired point.
“Any questions?”
“What types of sensors do they have?” Cadet Lieutenant Worth Lambert asked.
“They will have infrared, heat detectors, motion detectors, and night vision goggles,” Baker replied.
“Then how are we supposed to sneak up on them?”
“Their sensors will only reach out for two hundred meters,” Baker said. “Our battle armor will absorb energy, which will help with the motion detectors. We have to avoid any tripwires or other booby traps.”
“What about the heat sensors?”
“I think the energy absorption of the battle armor will help with that.”
“Sir,” Catie said.
“Yes, Cadet MacGregor.”
“Our battle armor has energy storage. If we discharge them before we enter their sensor range, then our body heat will go into the storage, and we’ll maintain the same temperature as the ground,” Catie explained.
“How do you know this?” Baker asked.
“Read it in the manual,” Catie said.
“How do we discharge the storage?”
“Lie on the ground; there’s a setting to route the heat to your back and radiate it into the ground.”
“Excellent. Good job reading the whole manual,” Baker said. “We board the Oryx in two hours. I want everyone here in their battle armor in one hour. We’ll inspect our weapons and armor before we board.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“The house is four hundred meters ahead. I want scouts on the wings at one hundred meters. We’ll set up base camp at two hundred meters and start scouting the enemy positions,” Baker ordered.
“There is a second ravine over there,” Cadet Howard said, pointing at the map projection he was sharing with Cadet Major Baker. “It looks like it’s an easier approach from it to the house, now that we’ve got a better sense of the terrain.”
“I agree,” Baker said. He sent the coordinates out to the rest of the team. “We’ll set up there in twenty minutes. Move out in units of two, fifty meters between each unit, discharge the heat from your armor before you go.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Major Baker, I just took out an enemy scout,” Cadet Boucher announced over his Comm.
“What!” Baker hissed.
“I took out an enemy scout.”
“Where are you?”
“Northeast of the house.”
“Every fallback to Rendezvous Alfa!” Baker hissed into his Comm. “You too, Boucher.”
Everyone quickly and quietly moved back toward their first rally point on the ranch. Catie checked the surveillance drone’s feed; she could see that the Delta Squadron was already moving around the house, preparing for the assault that they were now aborting.
It took twenty minutes before they were all gathered back at Rendezvous Alfa.
“What’s the problem?” Boucher asked Baker as they halted their retreat and prepared to take stock of the situation.
“You idiot. Your mission was to scout the house and identify where the sentries were.”
“But this guy was way out beyond the house; he was walking right toward our camp.”
“Doesn’t matter, you should have reported it and waited for orders.”
“What about initiative?”
“Initiative is supposed to be used to accomplish your orders, not to step outside their parameters!” Baker barked. “Now, they know that our objective is the house, they will all be awake in a few minutes, and they’ll be on alert and calling for reinforcements.”
“But we should have time before the sentries report in.”
“No, their Comms will have reported them out of commission as soon as
