I make my way back towards spawn, trying to massage out the soreness in my jaw from my face being pressed into the floor. I don't encounter anyone until I reach it, where I find both squads circled up vaguely near each other. "-scared you with that first shot," says Rease with a grin, talking to a short, red haired recruit from the other squad. "Alright jackass, hows about next time I fire a gun at your fuckin' head, and we see if you flinch," says the recruit, tension in his pose. Rease just laughs it off, which is exactly the wrong response, as the red haired recruit looks like he's about to to swing on Rease.

  Instead, Terrowin and Ravon approach, stifling the promise of combat. "Amarast, that was very impressive," says Terrowin. I look around, trying to figure out which of the recruits is called Amarast, before it dawns on me that that's their squad name. "Oh, shit, welp. Azarinth was like 50% of the way there. Wait, did we lose?" I wonder. "Unfortunately, throwing the datamass across the line doesn't count," she continues, bemusement in her eyes. "Recruit Caz-V, that was well fought at the end. Good call on getting up close and personal."

  "We won?" I blurt out, getting various looks from everyone. I feel my face grow warm from the attention. "I think I was the first to die. I... I didn't know what was going on," I say sheepishly. "Only just," says Ravon, from behind Terrowin. "It honestly could have gone either way. It was down to one member on each team. Caz-V landed a well placed shot, but if Recruit Agstee hadn't turned to engage, Amarast would have won." I see members of Amarast squad give their tall, lanky member various looks, from frustration to sympathy. "However," Ravon continues, "I'm not saying Recruit Agstee's actions led to Amarast's loss. I'm simply trying to point out that the match could have gone either way. In a scenario like the one I just watched, it will always be a toss up between recruit squads."

  "Yup, you guys got lucky," says Terrowin, looking at our squad. "Time to see if it holds. You're switching sides; swap gear, and remember, you only get 20 minutes of prep this time. You already know the field, and you've already done a run against each other, so you know how they fight. Now let's see if you can adapt." Amarast wander into the combat course, leaving the five of us outside, near the equipment table. "So, that wasn't a good plan," says Ko-lee, eyeing me with a cold frustration. "Yeah, but we won though. So it wasn't that bad," says Rease, chivalrously stepping in. I give him a thankful smile, before turning my attention to Ko-lee.

  "I'm sorry love. I imagine watching me get domed probably looked pretty horrifying from your point of view. I got a bit swept up in the moment, and I think maybe I was a bit more reckless than I should have been. That being said, for this particular situation, I do think it was a good plan, because we needed to be aggressive. Our win condition was to kill them all, and we did. Thing is, we're Tenno, not Grineer. In real life, I would never pull stunts like that. Still... I'm sorry." There's a moment of awkward silence as the squad stands there, eyes shifting between me and Ko-lee. I give her space to process, and eventually, she gives a short, jerky nod.

  I reach out for her hand, before I remember that she's not a big fan of PDA, but before I have the chance to pull back away, she takes it. I try to keep my surprise and elation off my face, and I give her a squeeze and a smile, before turning my focus back to the rest of the squad. Caz-V takes the opportunity to break the silence. "It wasn't a bad plan... but we need something new," he says. I nod in agreement, but I keep my mouth shut, as the only plan I'm able to come up with is different variations of "move in quickly, check our corners, hope we're faster on the trigger pull". "They're going to see us coming," says Rease. "Pretty much no matter what. We can't sneak all the way to the terminal. The lookout point in the corner can't see everything, but it can see a ton; it's kind of crazy actually." Caz-V nods his head. "What we need to do is return to basics," he says with a confident grin. "Here's what I'm thinking..."

  Lux Aster could feel the strain in his leg muscles as he held a raised position near the left side of the field. His cheek pressed against the stock of his Grinlock, he scanned the arena for any hint of "Nameless" squad. Lux was confident that the experience gained from the first run of simulated combat was all that Amarast needed to be able to clean sweep the other team. There'd be little to no fatalities on his side, of that he was certain. What he wasn't certain of, however, was if the other team was aware of just how outclassed they were. It wasn't only about winning, it was about making sure that the enemy knew how badly they lost. He shot off a quick message to Hydex, the farthest squad member from his current position.

  LA: Status

  They had all worked out a number of single word call and responses that could be sent in an instant for communication purposes. Some of the messages were obvious in execution; it wasn't meant to be a method of encryption. However, some of the messages weren't very clear, and he had had to spend precious set up time walking his squad through what each one meant, to make sure they were all on the same page. Luckily, every single person on his squad was intelligent, and he hadn't needed to spend more than a few minutes walking them through his reasoning. Only a second after sending his message, he receives a reply.

  HX: Bright

  Like Sol. All clear, it meant. He checked in with the rest of his squad and received the same response two more times. Athlon, on the other hand, sent him something a little more interesting.

  AE: Sound

  Lux had expected this, and it was the main reason he had positioned a member of his squad there. Their squad was very spread out, to cover as much of the field as possible, and it was Lux's job to pick them off as they tried to enter the room with the terminal. Nameless squad had tried to do something similar, but they didn't execute it very well, turning the entire combat scenario into a chaotic mess. He attributed it to poor positioning on the sniper's part, and on the overeager recruit who threw grenades at Amarast. The grenades had only managed to take a single person out of the fight, but more frustratingly they had had to use nearly their entire store of clotra to patch up their wounds. He was glad to had landed the shot that downed her.

  If Nameless squad had had someone in a position of authority, then the combat would have gone much smoother... but ultimately, he had Amarast to worry about, and his own loose cannon in Winsome. Lux couldn't spend time worrying about the failings of other recruits. He focused his attention back on the field, with his sight aimed roughly towards Athlon's position. Unlike the previous sniper, who had taken the lookout tower in the corner of the field, Lux was half kneeling, half holding himself with his legs at the top of a communications array. The array was positioned on the left side of the field, and while it wasn't any higher than the lookout was, it's offset position made it easier for him to see around the intentionally placed obstructions that obscured the view of the lookout.

  The downside to this was that he wasn't fully obscured, and anyone who decided to look up could likely hit him as easily as he could hit them. However, he was certain that he'd be able to eliminate them all before they even thought to look up. His numbers in the range were proof of his ability to perform the task, and the rest of the squad had agreed, after he made sure to explain his thought process to them. It helped that Zay had agreed first. Even Lux had to admit that Zay's tactical acuity was something to behold. The only reason the gangly man wasn't leading the squad was his lack of social acumen.

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  For example, the big man on Nameless squad - Rease, if Lux remembered correctly - had been engaging in psychological warfare, attempting to rile Lux's squadmates. Winsome had wanted the opportunity to return the behavior with a little physical tête-à-tête. If Zay and Lux's positions were swapped, it would've been very unlikely that Zay could have managed to reign in the overeager squadmate. But that was a different universe. Instead, Winsome respected Lux, and the chain of command, and so they were all scattered across the map, holding various checkpoints and feeding Lux the intel he needed.

  AE: Central

  Another message from Athlon. Lux frowned; it meant that Nameless squad were headed into room that Athlon himself was hidden, and it was one of the few places Lux couldn't sight directly into. However, it also meant they were likely to push left, as there were no other exits - bar moving backwards - and so Lux rotated himself around the comms array to get a bead on the expected egress point. He was unable to see what was happening, so he contented himself with playing out the scenario in his head. Nameless squad was slowly filtering into the room, peering into the dark corners under the dim sodium lighting. Athlon, fully obscured by shadow, would sit stock still, and (hopefully) resist the impulse to poke his head out.

  As long as he didn't do that, they'd likely never find him, and they'd eventually all filter out of the room, once confirming it was "clear". To be entirely fair, the scenario playing out in his head hinged on the idea of Nameless squad not being as thorough as Amarast was. While he knew for a fact that his squad was more competent, it was folly to rely on the idiocy on the enemy. Lux's mental visualization was shattered however, when he heard a sound - like metal on metal - in the central room. There was none of the accompanying crack that he had come to expect from the sim rounds, and he knew that the rounds were a polymer, not a metal, but he still couldn't imagine the sound being anything else.

  As the room was entirely enclosed, all he could do was stick to the plan, and wait for them to exit into the patiently waiting view of his scope. A few seconds later however, instead of seeing the familiar blue and gray of a TEPA suit make an appearance underneath his crosshairs, he heard the sound of a door slam shut. Lux quickly scanned his rifle over both exits of the room, only to spot the smallest member of Nameless squad running out of the field. "Where are you going?" Lux muttered to himself. He received a message from Athlon a few seconds later.

  AE: Hey Lux you probably want to come in here. Two of them got hurt and the short one ran off to the med bay.

  For a moment, Lux considered the possibility that this was a trap, and he responded to the message with a code to verify he was actually talking to Athlon. They respond correctly, and he followed it up with one more message, before making his way down from the comms array.

  LA: Take away their guns

  He was careful as he approached the door; he cleared his corners as best he could with the long rifle, making sure to keep his eyes and ears peeled for any hint of a trap. Before opening the door, he sent one more verification code to Athlon. "Just come in here!" they shout in response, with ire in their voice. It's not particularly professional, but Athlon wouldn't have been able to speak if they were dead, and they had a different phrase for if they were in trouble... so with a sigh, Lux entered the room. He kept his rifle pointed at the floor, but made sure his finger was on the trigger, just to be on the safe side.

  On the floor was the one with the blue eyes and the odd accent, as well as the corpo. Off to the side is a pile of weapons; clearly stripped from all four members of Nameless squad. Lux took a moment to recall their names before he opened his mouth. "Antimony, Caz-V, how bad is it?" he asked of the pair. Antimony responded with what he was confident was curse words in a language he had never heard before. "Broken leg, and broken arm, I think," says Ko-lee. Her jaw was tight, clearly doing her best to keep cool under the pressure. Rease, however, was so nervous, that he looked like he might lose his lunch at any moment.

  "It'll be okay," Lux told him with a smile. It seemed to help a touch, and the broad shouldered man gave him a nod. Lux shot off a message to Hydex and Zay telling them to come help, but told Winsome to hold his position. The plan was twofold; on the off chance that this was a trap, Lux wanted to have at least one person in reserve, but more importantly, he didn't want to introduce a volatile element to this medical emergency. He was worried that Winsome would take the opportunity to extract his pound of flesh from Rease.

  "I've sent a message to my squad," Lux told the four members of Nameless. "They'll be here in a few moments, and we'll help you get medical attention." Lux did his best to impose a sense of calm in the room while they waited. It helped to some degree, as Caz-V's breathing became less labored, and Antimony's cursing had at least become understandable. There was a knock on the door, and Hydex and Zay entered the room, their guns lowered, but at the ready. Lux approved of the maneuver. It only took a minute or so to get Antimony upright, and the two squads began making their way back towards spawn.

  In the front was Amarast, helping the injured, while the two functional members of Namless lagged behind. Lux noted the lack of team cohesion, but he choose not to say anything at that particular moment. "There's been an injury," Lux stated, as he approached the door leading out of the field. "I believe it's a broken arm and a broken leg. They'll likely need some form of medical attention. I believe their fifth member is already attempting to retrieve help." Terrowin just gave a grin, one that sent a shiver down his spine. "Will we need to redo the match?" asked Zay from behind him. Terrowin just tilted her head in a mockery of confusion. "Why would we need to redo this match?" she asked.

  Lux heard a groan of frustration from behind him, and at the same time, the arm around the back of his neck suddenly got very tight. CRACK CRACK CRACK went the sound of gunfire, although Lux didn't feel any impact. He heard the weight of a body hitting the floor somewhere beyond his field of view, but he was immediately distracted by the fist in his stomach. CRACK CRACK goes another weapon. Lux wasn't sure where, or how they'd gotten their hands on weapons, as they'd been stripped before they left, but he knew if he could bring his to bear, he'd be able to even the playing field, even with two of his own squad members downed. He reached for his rifle, but found another gloved hand had reached it before he could.

  There was a struggle for dominance, and he attempted to point his rifle at literally any of the numerous targets, but the weapon had not been designed for close quarters, and struggled to get the long barrel raised off of the floor. A finger snaked on top of his, and Lux was forced to pull the trigger, causing a round to go straight into his own foot. He gasped from the pain, but was able to keep his head about his him, and the successive six shots avoided hitting him. As he heard the empty click of the seventh trigger pull, he felt the pressure on his neck abate. Lux instantly fell into a combat position only to find he was surrounded by four bodies; three of Amarast, and one of Nameless. Or rather, he realized with despair, it was only three downed bodies, as Rease - the member of Nameless who he had thought dead - removed a clotra from his waist and pressed it to his gut.

  "So, you had to turn to tricks just to beat us," Lux snapped, fuming at the betrayal. "You took advantage of our good nature just so you could win this little back and forth? Is your ego so fragile that you couldn't face us honorably? You had to resort to cheating?" Antimony just laughs; a grating chuckle that started high and ended low. "Cheating? You think it's cheating because us, the Tenno, didn't want to engage in combat with you, the Grineer? No thanks, friend. I think I'd rather DIE." Ko-lee pulled a Lato up, one that Lux knew she didn't have on her person when they left the central room. He tried to make a play for the gun, arm outstretched in front of him, but the action is impotent. With a pull of the trigger, Lux was forced down onto the rough metal of the floor beneath him. Immobile. Dead.

  Discord! It's the conversation between our squad as the work out the play that we just got to see from Lux's point of view. If you want another 800 words or so of character interaction, you should come join us!