Zack began his punishment of Brin in the class they had scheduled to follow the exercise. Punishment she deserved for turning traitor on one of her siblings. He behavior was simply unacceptable. A soldier should always put the welfare of the company before their own. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, it was a lesson Colonel Lydecker had taught them many times by forcing them to leave or terminate a soldier who was slowing them down. Max had not fit the criteria of needing to be surrendered, her injuries would have had no effect on the outcome of the exercise and Brin could have easily been victorious without compromising her.

Zack cornered Brin next to his assigned seat as she passed him heading to her own. The General who was going to teach the tactics class had not sown up yet. Punctuality was key to anything succeeding, Colonel Lydecker had just proven that lesson days before when he had become enraged at Ash. In Zack's eyes the General was a disgrace, a failure, this class would simply be a waste of their valuable time. He grabbed Brin's wrist forcefully as she passed.

"No matter what the cost you never compromise a fellow soldier to further your own goals. There is no I in team, soldier. You could have succeeded in the exercise without revealing Max's injury. Above all else never compromise the family." Zack growled reprimanding her, this was a lesson the others would serve well to take notice of and never repeat. Hand signals would have done the job fine, but spoken orders aloud the others to hear him as well as instilling fear in her. "Now stand at attention."

Brin snapped to attention next to Zack's desk. "X-5559, I-"

Zack's head snapped around and he glared at her.

Brin tried again. "Zack," she swallowed. "Sir, permission to expl-"

Zack glared at her, hand signals would work just fine here. Brin would be kept in his own, less severe form of the isolation chambers Colonel Lydecker had the nomies in, and occasionally used to reprimand an out of line soldier. A quick series of gestures cut Brin off mid word. Zack pointed to Brin, shook his head, gestured to his own mouth and eyes, then held his hand out straight palm down and made a quick fist. A string of silent orders; Don't speak, close your eyes and don't move.

Zack sat still as a stone in the desk next to her making sure she'd abide by his order for the duration of the class, eventually he'd give her the word to walk before him following the others into the mess hall for dinner. Four hours was a long time to stand muscles tense and eyes clenched shut, but Brin obeyed Zack's order. She'd only begin to feel the pain when it was requested of her that she move.

The General entered the classroom mere moments after X-5734 had snapped to attention her eyes clenched shut and was greeted by a salute from the others. The next thing he noticed was the two empty desks, X-5236 had lost his life and X-5542 was under observation. Their absences seemed a stark reminder of how invaluable and yet at the same time expendable these soldiers were. All of Mantic ore's personal were told never to question and order issued by X-5559 because they believed that it might have undermined the soldiers position of command. So the General ignored the standing soldier, assuming she was being punished by her CO for some wrongdoing and therefore he was to enforce and strengthen the punishment as well.

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AN: Okay I figured I'd post this just to post something. Originally this section was longer, and you'll still get to read it, but I didn't want to keep anyone waiting. I am in the middle of finals for my summer class but come this Thursday I'll be back to posting again, hopefully sooner. Whenever my final term paper gets finished, there is alot more left to come I simply need the time to type it all out.