The Alpha Quadrant.

Shifting Haze Nebula.

The Hidden Shadow Research Facility.

Enviro-Simulation Deck's Jungle Biome.

A Riverbank Within The Deeper Section Of The Jungle.

"Sir, with all due respect, we're not getting into that river."

Corporal Baveen's left eyebrow twitched violently as the squad comprising of five Romulan infantry troopers he was assigned to lead for the duration of this Reman manhunt stood at the edge of a random riverbank with fearful expressions etched onto their noble features. The artificial sun was already beginning its descent upon the fake horizon soon; the moon shall rise high into the night sky to replace its celestial brother. Although, Baveen hardly cared about the current day/night cycle as he had some insubordinate troopers to deal with at the moment.

"Oh," Baveen kept his tone low and deceptively calm while he addressed the soldiers underneath his command. "Please explain to me, trooper, why can't five highly trained soldiers of the Romulan Empire cross a simple river without any issue?" Honestly, the Corporal wanted to blast the insubordinate cowards with his disruptor rifle. Unfortunately, the decrease in available soldiers caused by the Remans grenade bombardment meant every surviving trooper became a precious resource, thus Baveen preventing from following his desires to shoot his subordinates where they stand.

"Sir, it could be boobytrapped by the Remans," The Romulan trooper who'd raised the objection of entering the river nervously glanced between his acting commander and the aforementioned river. "After all, that's how those damn bastards got Beta squad when they tried to cross the previous riverbank." Beta squad had attempted to cross a previous river a few miles back and had been rewarded for their efforts via several hidden grenades embedded in the sand exploding when they stepped over them. Needless to say, many Romulans had watched their step when moving past that particular river.

Corporal Baveen sneered at the coward's answer. "Yes, I'm well aware how Beta squad met their end," he'd personally seen the aftermath of the grenade boobytrap when his own squad investigated the area to find out what happened to Beta squad. "However, the Reman platoon has used their entire grenade supplies during their bombardment and setting up that trap." There was absolutely no way the Remans had any more grenades to use against them, meaning that the river before them wasn't armed with hidden explosives.

Even with Baveen's less than kind reassurances that there weren't any grenades waiting for them in the river, the Romulan soldiers still stared at the water source with apprehension. The Corporal groaned with annoyance at his fellow troopers' antics and started to walk into the river. He knew that it would be better to simply show them that there weren't any traps waiting to go off in the water. Once Baveen reached the midway point, he turned around to face his subordinates, who seemed relived that nothing had happened to their leader.

Baveen smirked at his comrades while lifting his arms in triumph. "See, there's nothing to fear…." Sadly the Corporal was mistaken; within a few heartbeats, an impressively sized spike, attached to a long log, came bursting out of the water and impaled Baveen through his right leg. A pained scream ripped its way out of Baveen's throat whilst greenish blood poured out of his recently made wound. The Romulan soldiers assigned to Baveen watched with sickened expressions as their commander withering in agony.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Baveen cursed up a storm whilst fighting through the pain so he could glare at his subordinates. "Well, what are you lot waiting for?! Get over here and help me remove this damn spike!" Honestly, it was times like these that Baveen actually missed Demeel's company, at least the hot-tempered Private wouldn't have to be shouted at in order to receive aid. Unfortunately, Demeel had been reassigned to another squad after the command to march into the jungle to hunt down the Remans was given by lieutenant Dulos.

At any rate, Baveen's yelling seemed to have done the trick and snapped the Romulan out of their shocked state; the entire squad rushed into the water to assist the Corporal with removing the spike without causing further damage to the injury. A Private used a combat knife to cut the rope holding the log and spike together, allowing his comrades to carry their commander to the other side of the river without having to worry about the heavy log weighing them down. Once they've lowered their leader onto the sand, the squad's medical expert kneeled next to Baveen so he could adequately examine the bleeding wound.

"Hum, you're lucky the spike didn't hit any arteries or anything else of importance," the Medic shoved a piece of smooth wood into Baveen's mouth and gave strict orders not to spit it out no matter what pain he might experience. "Truthfully, if the spike was a few inches bigger and hit a little further up, then you've had lost the entire leg." The Medic grabbed ahold of the wooden spike. With a significant amount of strength, he pulled the spike out of Baveen's leg, causing the Corporal to wail in agony, not that the Medic paid much attention to Baveen's screams since he was too busy preventing the man from bleeding to death.

"Damn, savages," another squad member muttered whilst standing guard next to injured Baveen. "Couldn't take us in a fair fight, so they've resorted to cheap tricks and traps to achieve victory." The soldier huffed indignantly, completely ignoring the hypocrisy of his own peoples' choice to cheat in order to win a war game.

The Private who'd cut the rope holding the spike and log together nodded in agreement whilst going back into the river to investigate the boobytrap. "Ah, the spike trap was triggered via a tripwire lined across the river floor," the low ranked Romulan soldier used the tip of his disruptor rifle to pull a silver wire out of the water. "The wire's colouration also made it hard to notice in the flowing water, so it's easy to understand why Corporal Baveen hadn't seen the trap before it went off." With a flick of the wrist, the Private throw the silver wire back into the river.

Baveen glared at the private while removing the piece of wood within his mouth. "Great, so I can inform Lieutenant Dulos I was taken out by a well-hidden primitive trap!" The injured Corporal breathed deeply to calm his agitated nerves as the Medic bandaged his wounded leg. "In any case, you'd better get out of the water, Private! We've still got to find the Remans, and if that trap's anything to go by, then they must be somewhere within the immediate area!" Baveen grimaced as the Medic finally finished sealing his wound.

The Private saluted. "Yes, sir! I'll be right….." A startled scream escaped the Private's throat as something underneath the water suddenly pulled him into the depths of the river. Baveen and the soldiers on the riverbank immediately opened fire at the same spot the Private was pulled underwater. Bright green disruptor blasts nailed their target and vanished into the river's watery depths. Seconds passed in total silence as the Romulans kept their weapons trained on the liquid surface of the river. When neither the Private's nor his attacker's body raised to the surface, it was pretty safe to assume that the attacker managed to get away without getting hit by the disruptor fire.

"What in the name of the senate just happened?" One of the remaining soldiers nervously asked while helping the others drag Baveen away from the river just in case whatever took out the Private decided to attempt another sneak attack.

The Medic swallowed fearfully before responding. "It must've been a Reman waiting within the murkier parts of the river's bottom," he held a disruptor pistol towards the river with the full intent to fire at anything that even looked like a Reman. "The filthy barbarian must've seen the Private was alone and took the opportunity to pull him underneath the water." Which meant the spike trap had also been a lure to fool them into splitting their numbers into a more manageable force and thus make eliminating them an easier task.

Baveen repositioned himself into a more comfortable position on the sand. "I didn't know Remans could even hold their breath for such long periods." The Corporal pointed his disruptor rifle at the water, ready to fire should any Remans come to the surface.

"It's an adaptation they've gained after spending generations within the Dilithium mines," the Medic revealed while putting away his medical supplies. "The atmosphere within those mines is highly thin, so the Remans were forced to evolve more powerful lungs to survive in such extreme conditions." An evolutionary trait that had gifted the Remans a tactical advantage when it came to surviving in harsh environments or, in this case lying in wait to ambush any Romulans who wandered too far away from their squads.

"Then we'll stay far away from any major sources of water," Baveen grimaced in pain as the others helped him onto his feet. "The chances of traps or Remans waiting in the rivers or large pools of water are too high to risk it." The Corporal didn't want to lose any more soldiers to the Remans, so extreme caution when moving through the jungle would need to be exercised for the foreseeable future.

"But, sir, what about the Private?" The remaining squad members gazed towards the river where their comrade had vanished.

Baveen sighed tiredly. "There's nothing we can do to help him," the Remans must've already caused enough harm to the Private to activate the health sensor meaning that their lost comrade wasn't a part of this battle anymore. "Besides, we know he's alive since the war game prohibited any form of actual killing in the war games." The knowledge that none of them was in real danger was the only reason Baveen hadn't ordered a search of the entire riverbank for their missing squad member. Plus, with his leg wound, it was considered far too dangerous to split up at the moment.

A member of the squad frowned. "Sir, I really don't enjoy the idea of leaving a comrade behind and at the mercy of the Reman platoon." The Remans may be bound to the same rules of the war game as themselves, yet that didn't mean that those savages would simply stop at taking the Private out of the fight. Torture was a realistic possibility, and given that there wasn't a time limit for the war game meant the Remans could take their sweet time in torturing the Private for information or simply for the fun of it.

"I don't like the idea either, trooper," Baveen hopped past the others and headed for the trees. "Yet we must abandon our comrade if we're to have the chance to win this war game." The Reman that took their comrade must've reinforcements nearby, and Baveen didn't want to be out in the open when they searched the area for them. The others reluctantly agreed with Baveen and proceeded to head deeper into the jungle while having their weapons raised at all times. Once they're out of sight, a Reman breached the surface whilst carrying the unconscious form of the Private.

"Huff, huff, damn, I thought I'd run out of oxygen before they decided to leave." The Reman dragged the unconscious Private onto the riverbank and hurriedly tied the Romulan's arms and legs together. After the Private was properly restrained, the Reman destroyed the soldier's equipment and weaponry by blasting the aforementioned things with his disruptor pistol. Once that was taken care of, the Reman dashed into a highly dense piece of foliage while activating his communicator; after a few seconds of static, the communication line connected with Captain Ravek.

"Captain, I've wounded the squad heading towards the northeast cliffs just as you've ordered," the Reman soldier dutifully reported whilst barely holding back a smile since he knew the Romulans were listening into their communications. "I'm going to follow and assist with the ambush when the fools attempt to pass through the cliffside." The Reman raced in the opposite direction; when those idiots gathered around the cliffside, they'll only find disappointment and frustration. The idiots would tire themselves out when their commander ordered them to rush the cliffside, an added bonus.

The communicator whined for a moment before Ravek's voice came through the device. "Excellent work Kiavek," the captain praised their platoon's scout specialist. "I'll send five others to reinforce the ambush site while the rest of us head for the heart of the jungle." Kiavek withheld a snicker as this fake information would give the Romulans even more motive to reach the empty cliffside at a much faster rate, thus tiring themselves out that much sooner. The fools were totally clueless that they knew about the breach in communications and used that to their advantage.

"Roger that, captain," Kiavek ducked underneath a fallen tree before continuing his race back towards the rendezvous point. "I'll get to the target location within the next twenty minutes and shall return to communication silence for the duration of that time frame." His actual target would take thirty minutes to reach, yet the Romulans were listening, so it was better to lie and feed the false information for as long as possible.

Ravek's voice hummed with approval. "Understood, take care of yourself, Corporal Kiavek." The communication cut off after that good-bye/good-luck from captain Ravek, allowing Corporal Kiavek to give his full attention to the surrounding jungle. As the Reman scout dashed across the wilderness, he wondered how many Romulan soldiers they'd be able to dwindle down until they were reduced to a small enough size to begin the final stage of the plan. At any rate, Kiavek had to reunite with the others before the Romulans reached the cliffside and the heart of the jungle.

Kiavek only wished that they had a hidden camera in the enemies' command tent because the angry expressions of the Romulans would no doubt be hilarious when captain Ravek began the next phase of the plan.

Romulan Hill Base.

The Command Tent.

A Few Minutes After Kiavek Communicated With Captain Ravek.

"Contact all squads and have them converge on the target areas the Remans foolishly believe shall be their safe havens!" Lieutenant Dulos was smirking with vindictive glee as the three sergeants and two soldiers chosen to remain at the hill base scrambled to complete his command.

A couple of moments passed before a sergeant gave a hurried report. "Lieutenant Sir, the squads have been informed and are converging towards the targets as ordered," he read through a data tablet that contained the hourly reports sent from the squads within the jungle. "Unfortunately, sir, several squads have been reported as either heavily injured by boobytraps or have been completely taken out by Reman ambushes." The Sergeant frowned with displeasure as the reports counted five squads taken out by the ambushes and eight suffering injures caused by various traps.

Lieutenant Dulos scoffed at the reports while waving his hand in dismissal. "Our losses are minor at best, Sergeant, and with the locations of the Remans rendezvous points now known to us, victory is all but assured." Dulos couldn't wait to see the pleased smile the major would give him when he utterly crushed the Remans. Obviously, the embarrassment with the grenade bombardment would've to be explained away as to not embarrass the Romulan military; after all, it wouldn't do for a lesser race to have any kind of victory against their betters.

On the other hand, the Sergeant wasn't so convinced about their chances of victory. "But, sir, what if the Reman rendezvous is actually a trap set to lure us into a false sense of security?" The reports indicated that the Remans traps and ambushes have been set up to slowly dwindle their forces until there was barely any left to put up a decent fight. The injuries the soldiers sustained and the lack of continued assaults after the damage was done strengthened the theory that everything the Remans were doing was to weaken them before going for the killing blow.

Instead of listening to the Sergeant's concerns, Dulos openly sneered at the man with undisguised contempt. "That's defeatist talk, Sergeant, and I'll not tolerate it within this chain of command!" To Dulos's eyes, victory was mere hours away, and he'd not tolerate anyone within his command to question that belief. "Besides, the Reman savages have no idea that we have access to their communication systems, meaning that the chance of the info leading to an ambush or trap is less than zero!"

"But, sir!"

"I'll hear no more defeatist talk, Sergeant!" Dulos immediately interrupted the Sergeant before he could continue polluting the minds of his loyal subordinates with defeatist thoughts. "Now return to your post before I'm forced to have you stripped of rank and set into that Reman infested jungle without any weapons or communication equipment!" Dulos breathed heavily while glaring murderously at the Sergeant, who stared back with a cold expression, moments ticked past, and the other officers worried that a fight would break out between them.

However, instead of causing a fight, the Sergeant chose to salute his superior. "I understand, sir," the Sergeant's tone was ice cold, and he appeared to be barely holding onto his emotions judging by the rage contained within his eyes. "I shall endeavour to avoid speaking out of turn for the foreseeable future." The Sergeant felt like he was pulling out his own teeth with a pair of rusty pliers; the triumphant smirk Dulos gave him didn't help. Yet, for the sake of the men fighting out in the jungle, the Sergeant will endure the Lieutenant's military decisions until the end of the war game.

Dulos nodded in satisfaction. "Good, hopefully, by the time this war game is over, you'll learn to respect the chain of command." The Sergeant bites his tongue to prevent lashing out at the fool chosen to lead their platoon during this war game. "Now get out of my sight before I decide to go through with that threat of sending you into the jungle!" The Sergeant bowed before proceeding to race back to his post. After the Sergeant was gone, Dulos's gaze shifted towards the other Romulan officers within the command tent.

"Well, what are you lot waiting for?" The Lieutenant growled at the assembled officers like some kind of wild animal. "Get back to your posts! We've a war game to win, and we'll not achieve victory by just standing around talking!" The officers saluted their agitated superior and then returned to work. Once Dulos was satisfied his soldiers were doing their jobs, he gazed back to the tactical maps. The central map was of the jungle and was littered with red markers that indicated where the Remans had set their traps and ambushes.

"It's only a matter of time now," Dulos marked the river where the spike trap had been set off. "With the location of their rendezvous points, we'll make short work of the Remans and Major Soteen shall reward me with a promotion to a captain's rank." Dulos could almost taste it. Perhaps after the promotion to captain, he'd have that insubordinate Sergeant court-martialled for his insolence or, better yet. Convince Major Soteen to send the fool straight to the Dilithium mines as a means to teach the Sergeant why none underneath him ever dared to talk back to Lieutenant Dulos of the Romulan Empire.

Yes, it was only a matter of time before the Remans, and the Sergeant fall to his might!

Time Skip, An Hour Later.

The Northeast Cliffside.

"I don't like this; it's too quiet."

Corporal Baveen slowly nodded in agreement whilst his squad and several others that met up with them during the walk to the cliffside hide underneath the thick jungle foliage. The cliffside in question was located at the edge of a decently sized lake. A smoke cloud could be seen rising from the top of the cliff, meaning that someone was up there and had started a fire. Given that only two groups were wandering the jungle at the moment meant that it had to be the Remans making camp.

"I agreed that it's far quieter than I'd like," Baveen tried to use binoculars to see what the Remans were doing sadly; the darkness of the night was too great for Baveen's binoculars to get a clear visual. "However, Lieutenant Dulos wants our squads to climb that cliff to investigate the Reman campsite." Baveen honestly didn't want to climb to the top of that cliff, especially not with his injured leg slowing him down, yet orders were orders, and Baveen wasn't going to face a pissed off Dulos simply because of a severe injury to the leg.

The assembled squads grumbled at having to climb a cliff. "So, how are we going to get up there without the Remans spotting us?" One of the troopers from another squad asked because if even one Reman managed to spot them during the climb upwards, then the situation would turn to shit real fast. The Remans would've the high ground advantage, and with them unable to move very well during the climb, the battle will turn into a shooting game like those earth carnivals. Although, the Romulans themselves would be the ducks in this scenario.

Baveen and the other squad leaders talked about how they would climb to the top for a few moments before answering. "We'll climb the western side of the cliff, which should provide us with plenty of cover should the Remans learn of our presence." The western section had plenty of large boulders to hide behind encase of discovery, and the shadows created by the artificial moonlight covered that entire part of the cliff, so the odds of being discovered dramatically decreased thanks to the moon's position.

Another squad leader took over explaining the plan. "Once at the top, we shall take out as many Remans as possible, and if victory isn't assured, then we will retreat to the jungle to plan out our next move." The unnamed squad leader continued by saying that they'd jump off the cliff and into the lake to escape the Reman platoon since the fall wouldn't seriously harm or kill them. A few more minutes were spent discussing how they'd meet up with each other should the plan go wrong. After that was taken care of, they carefully left the foliage and headed for the bottom of the cliff.

Once arriving at the bottom of the cliff, all gathered Romulan soldiers shouldered their weapons and began to climb towards the top of the cliff. The ascent towards the top was taken slowly and cautiously as the Romulans didn't want the enemy to learn of their presence. Some of the soldiers had to take longer than the others since they were helping Corporal Baveen climb the cliffside. However, even with Baveen's injury slowing them down, the gathered Romulan soldiers still managed to reach the edge of the clifftop within forty-five minutes.

A soldier peered over the edge to look at the Reman campsite properly. "I see two Remans near a bonfire and a few others resting within makeshift shelters a couple of feet away from the bonfire," the soldier squinted his eyes in an attempt to get a better look at the enemy. "I think I saw their weapons being stored near their shelters, but I can't be sure since the shadows are concealing too much of the camp from my field of view." The soldiers below mumbled at the news, yet Corporal Baveen was quick to take control of the situation.

"Okay, so we know their numbers and where the weapons are being stored for the night," Baveen grunted in slight pain as he climbed up next to the soldier who scanned the campsite. "We'll climb up and attack now before they can become aware of our presence." The others agreed, and as silently as they could manage, the Romulans pulled themselves over the top of the cliff while also unholstering their disruptor rifles. Another squad leader took the lead and carefully moved towards the bonfire. Once within range, the squad leader fired at the shadowy figures only to frown in confusion when the figures fell over without making a single sound.

"What in the name of the senate?" The squad leader moved over to the figures while flanked by his comrades. Upon reaching the bonfire, he gasped in disbelief as the shadowy figures turned out to be fake Remans constructed out of sticks and other kinds of local foliage. The other squads, realising the Remans gathered around the bonfire were fake, rushed to the shelters and saw that the 'sleeping Remans' were also fake along with the weapons the soldier from earlier thought he saw being stored next to them.

Baveen knocked over the fake weaponry while screaming with frustration. "We've been had! Those gods damned Remans set up a fake campsite so we would waste precious time and energy getting up here!" The Romulan soldiers never felt more humiliated than they did at that very moment. The tiredness they felt after climbing up the cliff just added insult to a metaphorical injury.

A random squad leader analysed the surrounding cliffside with a slightly worried expression. "So, what do we do now?" He asked his fellow squad leaders while their subordinates scattered throughout the campsite in search of any clues that might reveal where the Remans were actually located. The site wasn't that large, so it would take only a couple of minutes to search the entire area.

Baveen hummed at the question whilst resting against one of the makeshift shelters. "We should spend the night here and then contact Lieutenant Dulos at first light to let him know of our situation." The other leaders liked the idea as many of their subordinates were tired, and having a goodnight's sleep would definitely help them when the time comes to fight the Remans.

"I'll set up a patrol around the perimeter so the Remans can't assassinate us during the night cycle." A Squad leader whose group was at full strength volunteered for guard duty. The others agreed with the idea of night patrols since they had no clue where the Remans were hiding, so taking steps to defend themselves from night attacks was necessary to their survival.

Baveen moved away from the shelter he was resting against and limped over to stand next to his fellow squad leaders. "Excellent, our squads shall take turns on guard duty throughout the night, and after that, we will…." Baveen paused when the sounds of multiple disruptor rifles striking against something thundered throughout the entire campsite. The cliffside was hit with disruptor blasts which caused the ground beneath their feet to start crumbling away as the rocky surface of the cliffside became unstable.

The squad leader's eyes widened with horror as they realised that the entire campsite was one carefully disguised trap. "The Remans are destabilising the cliff's surface; everyone jump into the lake quickly before it's too late!" The Romulans raced to the cliff's edge and, without delay, threw themselves into the water. Baveen felt the wind whip past him before making contact with the lake's watery surface. The Corporal gasped reflexively and hurriedly, swimming back to the surface before he could run out of oxygen.

"Splash, cough, cough, cough," Baveen's head breached the surface, and the Romulan soldier coughed to remove the water that had accidentally filled his mouth. Once the water was gone, Baveen saw that his comrades had made the jump to the water yet felt frustration when he saw some of their health sensors flash red, indicating that they were now considered dead. "Is everyone already?" He asked while wiping away the water surrounding his eyes.

"Cough, cough, we find, sir!" The Medic from his squad answered while swimming over to Baveen's location. "Unfortunately, two squads were taken out by that cliff trap, and several others have sustained some minor injuries." Both the Medic and Baveen grimaced at the news knowing that the swim to shore would drain any reserves of energy the other Romulans had left. Worse still was the harm done to their weapons as the impact with the water had severely damaged the disruptor rifles, and the tech experts within the remaining squads weren't sure if they were safe to operate.

Baveen huffed angrily. "Great, I can't even imagine things getting any worse." As soon as those words left Baveen's lips, a hail of disruptor blasts, without any kind of warning whatsoever, sailed out from the tree line and struck the heads of the still battle capable fighters. The surviving Romulans screamed with scared expressions as they were literally defenceless against the unseen Reman assault, which was decimating their forces as a scythe does to a field of wheat. A couple of Romulans tried to swim away and was rewarded for their efforts with multiple disruptor blasts delivered into their exposed backs.

Baveen watched the one-sided massacre with a sober expression. "To think I once believed the Remans were just savages without any chance of winning this war game," the Corporal solemnly saw his squad's Medic get blasted in the face after trying to help some of the others reach the lake's shore. "However, the truth is we've been manipulated by those we've believed to be lesser than us from the very beginning of this battle." The seconds ticked by and was solemnly followed by the panicked screams of the Romulan soldiers. Everyone except for Baveen had been taken out by the hidden Reman troopers within two minutes.

"I was such a fool," the spike trap should've been his wake up call that the Remans were dangerous and thus shouldn't be underestimated. "Now, my squad and the others that companied ours shall pay for the arrogance we've displayed this night." An emerald blast soared past the trees and made a beeline towards Corporal Baveen, who noticed the blast's approach and closed his eyes to prepare to accept his defeat with whatever remained of his dignity.

"I wonder how Private Demeel is doing at the other rendezvous point," Baveen didn't understand why he was thinking about the ill-tempered private at the moment like this. Yet, the thought of his fellow soldier brought the Corporal a strange sense of peace. "Probably screaming at the Remans to come out of hiding and fight him head-on." Baveen chuckled at the thought while feeling the heat from the disruptor blast grow stronger by the second. It wouldn't be long now until impact caused Baveen to be sent into the realm of unconsciousness.

"I hope that Demeel fairs better than we did against these demons in Reman flesh."

A massive bang echoed throughout the lake, and Corporal Baveen was finally taken out of the war game.

The Heart Of The Jungle Biome.

Twenty Minutes After The Massacre At The Lake.

"Sir, we've lost all communications with the squads sent to investigate the lake!" Private Demeel listened from his potion upon a suitably sized rock as the random trooper gave their squad commander a report on those sent to the northeast lake. Communication silence wasn't unusual when conducting military operations. However, those sent to the northeast lake were told to radio the squads sent to the heart of the jungle biome every hour on the dot. The absolute silence and failure to contact them at the allotted time could mean many things, none of which were practically good if Demeel was honest with himself.

Private Demeel's squad leader cursed at the news. "If they're not reporting in, then we can only assume that the Reman somehow managed to terminate our comrades." The surrounding Romulans shifted uneasily at the thought since, besides themselves, the lake investigation squads had been the only surviving Romulan presence within the jungle. The others not a part of both investigations had been taken out by the Remans ambushes, hit and run tactics and boobytraps mere hours ago before the moon had fully risen into the sky.

"If that's true, then we're officially alone now and wouldn't be getting any chances of receiving reinforcements from Lieutenant Dulos." The trooper who'd reported the bad news to the squad leader grimly says while nervously fingering the trigger of his disruptor rifle. "The Lieutenant will want to save the few troops he has left rather than risk losing them to the Remans," Demeel growled angrily yet knew that his fellow soldier was correct that Dulos wouldn't risk the meat shields he has guarding the hill base. The bastard was leaving them here at the tender mercies of the Reman platoon, which was hunting them down like frightened animals.

The squad leader nodded. "Yes, Dulos won't risk the few soldiers he has left to save us," not that it would do the fool any good since there were only ten soldiers at the hill base along with three Sergeants, two Corporals and Lieutenant Dulos himself. "We must therefore save ourselves and hopefully reach the hill base before the Remans decide to finish us off." The surrounding squads grimaced as they'd have to march during the night to reach the hill base. However, if they stayed here, the Remans would hunt and then eliminate them before the sun rose in the morning.

Another squad leader grunted while holstering his disruptor rifle. "Well, we'd better gather everything needed for the walk back to base," the squad leader glared at the clearing that they'd thought contained the Reman main campsite, only to find out it hadn't even been used by their enemy. "With any luck, we should reach the halfway point within two hours." He walked away from Demeel's squad and proceeded to shout orders to the surrounding Romulan soldiers. The clearing became a hive of activity as the surviving troopers prepared to leave the area.

"Honestly, I didn't expect the Remans to cause such harm to our forces," Demeel angrily thought while leaving his rocky seat. "Even with our natural and tactical advantages, we still got our collective assess haded to us." It was humiliating that the superior race was getting thoroughly thrashed by the Remans, who were nothing more than slaves meant to serve and eventually die in the name of the Romulan Empire. Major Soteen would be furious with them for suffering such losses to a lesser species, and Demeel could only pray that he wouldn't be caught in the station commander's wrath.

"Huh, at least we're leaving this senate damned jungle," Demeel assisted the other members of his squad in packing away some of the less essential equipment. "Hopefully, we can leave before anything else goes wrong." After the equipment was packed, Demeel went to report to his squad leader. However, before he reached the squad leader, a Romulan trooper assigned to patrol at the edge of the clearing released a startled scream when a silvery rope, tied into the shape of a loop, burst out of the earth and wrapped around his ankle.

"What in the name of the senate?!" The trooper shouted in confusion, and before any of the other Romulans could offer assistance, the silvery rope pulled hard, causing the soldier to lose balance and fall to the ground. Once hitting the earth, the trooper was swiftly dragged into the foliage, where his screams for help echoed for everyone within the clearing to hear until they went silent a few moments later.

"Shit, the Remans are here!" Demeel and several others fired in the direction where the trooper had vanished. Several seconds passed before the Romulans ceasefire, therefore, allowing the jungle to return to its eerie quietness. The squads clustered together at the centre of the clearing as a means of offering protection from the unseen Reman attackers.

"Come on, come on, where are you?" Demeel scanned the tree line for the enemy yet was only met with darkness. Suddenly a disruptor blast sailed out of the darkness and nailed a squad leader directly in the heart, return fire was offered by the Romulans. However, the eerie silence after they stopped shooting hinted that the Reman responsible for the attack was long gone and worse uninjured by their hail of disruptor fire.

"Sir, we can't stay here!" Demeel wasn't sure who yelled those words, but he ultimately agreed. The Remans were firing at random intervals and locations, making it hard for the Romulans to get a hit on their opponent. "I suggest we retreat into the jungle and attempt to reach the hill base!" Okay, that idea Demeel disagreed with as the Remans had an advantage in the thick jungle foliage. Since they knew where the Romulans were, the enemy could easily follow after the retreating soldiers and pick the different squads off one at a time until there was none left to oppose the Reman platoon.

Demeel's squad leader must've realised this because he nodded negatively at the suggestion. "Negative, if we attempt to run for it, we'll be hunted down long before we even see the hill base!" Plus, with how dark it was, getting lost was a real possibility, with the Remans so close that would be a death sentence.

"Well, we have to do something, sir!" Demeel shouted, speaking up for the first time since the engagement began. "The Remans have already taken down half our troops, and more are dropping by the second!" Without warning, several more silver ropes burst out of the earth and just like before, they wrapped around someones' ankle and dragged the unfortunate soldiers' into the darkness. This sudden kidnapping caused a few of the surviving troopers to drop their weapons and begin running in the direction of the hill base.

"Get back here, you cowards!" Demeel roared furiously as the deserters vanished into the darkness. Moments after they escaped into the jungle, a storm of poisonous green light erupted within the darkness, followed by the screams of those that chose to run for their lives. Demeel temporarily felt satisfaction upon hearing the deserters hadn't made it far before getting slaughtered by the Remans. A quick glance around told Demeel that only he and several members of other squads were still left standing.

"So this is how our fight ends? Not gloriously annihilating the Remans and showing them why we're the superior race," Demeel ducked as a disruptor blast soared over his head and nailed the soldier standing behind him. "but by standing in the middle of a clearing and shivering like frightened animals." It was sobering to realise that the battle was almost over and that it wouldn't be the Romulans standing victorious after the dust settled. One by one, the others were taken out by disruptor fire until only Demeel stood within the clearing.

The Private glared at the surrounding darkness whilst breathing heavily from exhaustion. "What are you bastards waiting for an open invitation?!" Demeel threw his weapon away and opened his arms wide in a welcoming gesture. "I'm right here! Come and get me ya, filthy savages!" Yet none came out to accept Demeel's challenge; instead, a silver rope soared out of the darkness and wrapped itself around the Private's neck. Before the Romulan even realised what was happening, the rope tightened and proceeded to drag Demeel away into the darkness.

"Gasp, you dirty, gasp, fuckers!" Demeel cried as the darkness swallowed him whole, leaving only silence to fill the clearing. A single Disruptor blast roared into existence, indicating that Private Demeel had been dealt with once and for all. The Remans had utterly crushed the Romulans sent into the jungle, and now all that was left to do was deal with Lieutenant Dulos and those few soldiers he had guarding the hill base.

Time Skip, Two Hours Later.

The Romulan Hill Base

Lieutenant Dulos's Command Tent.

"This can't be happening; this can't be happening!" Dulos grabbed at his hair in frustration whilst trying to understand where he went wrong. It was supposed to be an easy victory against captain Ravek, yet somehow every soldier he'd sent into that cursed jungle has been eliminated. The defences surrounding the hill were ruined beyond their ability to repair, and to make matters worse, the Remans were no doubt on their way here to finish the job. Dulos understood that defeat was simply a formality if the Remans attacked now. Major Soteen will undoubtedly have his head once both sides are allowed to return to their respective barracks.

"I've got to do something quickly before the Remans get here," Dulos studied the reports while enjoying the silence of the command tent. The Lieutenant had banished the others to the defensive line after getting tired of listening to their defeatist talk, which he'll be discussing with the Major once this war game is over. "Perhaps I can strap grenades onto my men and have them charge the Remans once they've arrived." A suicidal charge would definitely take the enemy by surprise, and as an added bonus, it would injure those that had the nerve to talk back against him.

"Yes, yes, that could work!" Dulos smiled triumphantly, unaware that someone had just sneaked into the command tent. "I'll need to use my authority to force them into doing the suicidal charge against the Remans, but the results shall be worth the effort!" Dulos laughed darkly at his plan. However, that laughter died when the familiar cold metal of a disruptor pistol was pressed against the back of his skull.

A low, threatening growl echoed through the command tent. "I've served plenty of dishonourable and pathetic Romulan commanders during my lifetime," captain Ravek came out of the shadows and stood next to Lieutenant Dulos. There was nothing Ravek despised more than commanders who undervalued the lives of those that bravely served and died under them. "Yet, none of them would ever think about turning their own man into suicide bombs just to win a war game." Disgust dripped from Ravek's tone whilst he pressed the disruptor pistol further into Dulos's skull.

Dulos swallowed. "How did you get past the guards?" The Lieutenant couldn't understand how this was possible. He had the guards patrolling around the clock. The damn savage should've been caught and brought to him within minutes after attempting to sneak into his command tent.

Ravek chuckled at the question. "It was relatively easy to overpower the guards without alerting anyone of our presence." Corporal Kiavek had the most fun out of them all when sneaking around the hill base and removing the Romulan portals without being noticed. "Truthfully, your foolish decision to work them to exhaustion has worked in our favour," Ravek said mockingly as Nikrax and serval other Remans entered the tent while dragging the enemy Sergeants, who were all tied up with thick silvery rope.

Lieutenant Dulos seethed at the humiliation of being caught by the Remans. "You damn animals!" Dulos attempted to move away from the Reman captain but stopped when the other Remans raised their weapons towards him. "We, the Romulans, are your kind's masters, and as such, we should be superior in every way!" The Romulan Lieutenant's eyes appeared wild and crazy as he ranted angrily at those he viewed as nothing more than slaves meant to serve his people.

"The only superior trait the Romulans possess over everyone else in the universe is their unlimited arrogance." Captain Ravek scoffed at the fool's words. Having grown tired of the idiot, Ravek fired his disruptor pistol, which slammed into Dulos's skull and thus secured the Remans the victory over the 121st Romulan infantry.

"Another flawless victory, wouldn't you say, Captain." Nikrax joyfully commented whilst stepping over the unconscious Dulos. "I think we've even improved our fastest win recorded by a couple of minutes." The other Remans chuckled since it did indeed appear they had beaten their record of fastest victory against an enemy force.

Ravek laughed at Nikrax's comment regarding their record. "Indeed, Nikrax. However, I highly doubt the Romulans shall be impressed with our well-earned victory." If anything, the Romulans will be hopping mad at the humiliation they've received during the war game. No doubt, Major Soteen would want the Remans to return to their barracks as soon as possible so he could punish the fools that failed to defeat them without giving the Remans the satisfaction of seeing him furious at his own soldiers. "At any rate, have the men gather at the bottom of the hill to wait for extraction from the enviro-simulation deck."

"Understood, Captain," Nikrax saluted while subtly kicking Lieutenant Dulos directly to the face, and Ravek pretended to not notice that it happened. "I'll have the men looking presentable for the Major when he arrives." Nikrax left the command tent leaving Captain Ravek surrounded by his loyal subordinates.

Meanwhile, At The Central Security Hub.

Major Soteen had never felt as murderous as he did at this very moment. The victory that should've gone to the 121st infantry unit was now nothing more than a pipe dream. The worst part was Soteen had been forced to watch the Remans outsmart the 121st infantry at every turn. He couldn't even accuse the Remans of cheating without risking the exposure of his own crimes, meaning that when he goes to the enviro-simulation deck, he'd be forced to congratulate Ravek for the victory and do so with a great big smile.

"Lieutenant Vratol, please remind me to punish Lieutenant Dulos after he awakens." Soteen also planned to punish the captain in command of the entire 121st since it was technically his fault they failed to defeat the Remans by sending such an incompetent Lieutenant to lead the platoon.

"Sir," Lieutenant Vratol saluted while recording the order onto his data tablet. "Should I also have the Sergeants and other members of Lieutenant Dulos's staff brought here to explain themselves?"

The Major frowned thoughtfully at the suggestion. "Yes, it's important that we learn how these idiots fucked up such a simple victory." Soteen glared at the monitors as they showed images of Remans dragging unconscious Romulans towards the bottom of the hill base. "And have a company of heavy infantry ready to accompany me to the enviro-simulation deck." Best to have some protection encase the Remans got any funny ideas.

"Understood, sir," Lieutenant Vratol typed something into his data tablet. "I'll have the 3rd heavy infantry company escort you to the enviro-simulation deck." The 3rd heavy infantry was expertly trained, so any potential fighting was slightly favoured for the Romulans than during the war game.

Major Soteen nodded in satisfaction. Excellent, now if you'll excuse me, Lieutenant, I've got some filthy Remans to congratulate on a victory they certainly didn't deserve." Soteen walked out of the security hub and headed for the elevator, which would take him to the sections containing the enviro-simulation deck. However, as he marched to the elevator, Soteen was forced to accept that the Remans had won against the supposedly superior Romulan race. That fact tasted like ash within Major Soteen's Mouth.