The gentle wind rustled through the leaves on the tall trees.
A few birds sang their merry song to each other as they flew between the trees.
Twigs broke underfoot as some animals scampered across the forest floor. Some looking for food, others were the food, escaping being the next meal of their predator.
Small insects scurried around looking for seeds and other sources of food. Some scurried around carrying small pieces of leaves to use to build a home with.
Humans walked around, hiding behind trees at odd intervals. Weapons at their side, armed and ready to fire.
One man looked over his shoulder at a woman and she nodded back at him. They both knew their mission, and they knew it was dangerous, however they were familiar with their surroundings which did give them a slight advantage.
The man slowly moved out from behind a tree… looking all around him for any movements. All was quiet. He continued to move along until he reached the next tree and he waited for the woman to follow his movements as she hid behind another tree.
They were getting close to their target… they could feel it… but having a moving target was always going to be trickier than a stationery one.
Once again the man moved out and hid behind the next tree. As the woman began to move the sound of a twig breaking, and birds flapping wildly as they were startled by the noise made them both turn round and face the direction it was coming from. Giving hand signals to the woman she carefully made her way over to the man. They conversed in low whispers so no one would be able to hear them.
"50 meters away sir." Said the woman as she reached his side.
"How many?" He asked… keeping his eyes firmly fixed on the trees ahead of him, scanning for any movement.
The woman shook her head a little… all she could do was to guess, as she couldn't see anyone. "Three. Maybe four."
"Move out."
With a nod the woman followed his orders. Carefully moving forward. Taking each step as carefully as she could she made sure she trod on no twigs to give away her position. Once the woman was far enough away the man began to move as well.
Almost as soon as he moved off a shot was heard and he quickly took cover behind the tree again.
"Ensign!" he called out as she was shot and fell to the floor with a thud. He poked his head round the tree and noted four people coming his way. He knew he was out numbered, but he had to try.
The woman stood up with a groan as she wiped the green paint off her uniform and flicked it onto the ground.
"Thanks commander. That really hurt." The woman said as she walked towards the men moving her way.
"Sorry." Came the reply from the chief engineer of the starship Enterprise. "Catch ya back at the pod."
"Good luck." She replied and disappeared off through the trees.
"You might as well give up Malcolm! You're out numbered!" Commander Charles Tucker called through the trees. "You've lost the rest of your team."
"I never give up, Commander. That's one thing you should have learned about me by now. Reeds never give up." Lieutenant Malcolm Reed called back. He peeked round the trunk of the tree again and quickly pulled back as green paint splattered on the trunk near his head. In the short space of time he had managed to take note of where two of his other security team where. He hadn't managed to pinpoint Trip yet, but he knew he'd be able to find him soon enough.
Taking another peek round the trunk he aimed his plasma rifle and shot. A ball of red paint splattered on a tree near to Ensign McKrawsky, however he managed to dodge out of the way of it and quickly opened fire on Malcolm. He fired another shot however the red paint splattered on the ground near the feet of McKrawsky. He fired again, but his weapon was out of ammunition.
Seeing his chance Malcolm quickly made a dash through the trees to give him some distance, giving him the time to reload his weapon with more red paintballs. As he ran green paintballs rained down on him, but none actually hit him.
He finally stopped behind a thick oak tree to catch his breath and reload his weapon. As he did so he looked around him and a plan began to formulate in his mind.
Trip, McKrawsky, Jones and Walker rushed after the escaping Lieutenant. They were determined to bring him down. They knew they were closing in on his position and they knew he would soon run out of places to run to as they were heading towards a cliff.
When they got to where they knew Malcolm was hiding near they slowed their pace and they began to carefully look around them.
McKrawsky jumped round the side of a tree ready to hit Malcolm… but he wasn't there. The other three kept doing the same as they walked along.
Jones came to the oak tree where Malcolm had stopped. He jumped round the side… but no Malcolm. Unfortunately the officer was unprepared for what came next until it was too late. He heard a plasma rifle being charged… he looked up into the tree and just watched as a red paintball shot him in the stomach. He fell to the ground with the force of being shot at close range.
Malcolm looked around charged his weapon and quickly shot Walker before he had the chance to be shot himself. Walker fell to the ground with a thud, alerting both Trip and McKrawsky of the attack.
It was now 2:1.
Jones and Walker stood up and together they walked off. Leaving the battle site behind them and not wanting to get in between a firefight between the three men left.
Knowing that now his opponents knew his hiding place, Malcolm jumped out of the tree and ran off, keeping low to the ground for a few seconds to avoid fast flying paintballs, then straightening up to gain more speed. Trip and McKrawsky took off in hot pursuit.
Very soon Malcolm neared the edge of the forest and came to the cliff. Seeing a rocky outcrop he quickly made for them and hid. After a minute or two Trip and McKrawsky left the safety of the trees and carefully looked around. They made their way up to the edge and peered down, half expecting to see Malcolm clinging on with one hand ready to shoot him… but he wasn't there.
Giving hand signals to McKrawsky they made their way over to the rocks. Climbing all over them they looked for Malcolm, but he wasn't there. It was like Malcolm was a chameleon and had blended in with his background.
That's when it hit them.
A red paintball hit McKrawsky in the stomach and Trip dived for cover, very nearly being hit himself.
Malcolm was once again hiding in the trees.
He tried to fire again, but he found once again his gun was empty. And he had no ammunition left. He threw his gun to one side and jumped out of the tree.
He then raced towards Trip knocking him on his back.
In the process the engineer lost his grip of his weapon and it fell out of his hands and onto the ground.
Trip and Malcolm were engaged in hand to hand combat… not exactly what Captain Archer had said was in the rules of this combat training exercise, but with Malcolm anything that involves using skill to take down an enemy is all right.
"Hey! Malcolm! Get off me!" Trip yelled as Malcolm sat ontop of him preventing him from getting to his weapon. "Hey" No hand to hand!"
Upon hearing those words the rules quickly came back to Malcolm. he had gotten so caught up in the moment that they had complete slipped him mind. He jumped off Trip and ran for the plasma rifle. Armed it and ten fired.
Trip froze. His own weapon had been used against him. He was covered in green paint.
The engineer glared at the grinning officer in front of him. McKrawsky quickly stood in between them both to prevent any real fight breaking out.
"Ok sirs. I think a winner has been found. Let's get back to the pod." He said as he tried to shuffle the two of them back to the meeting point.
"I'm gonna get you back for this Malcolm. You can bet your life on that."
"It was all fair Commander."
"You were holding me down!" he pointed angrily at Malcolm. "The Cap'n said no hand to hand."
"It slipped my mind." Malcolm continued to grin. He knew that Trip was going to pan his revenge in some nasty way… but with his skills in combat, he was pretty sure that what ever the commander was going to have lined up for him he would be able to get him back for it… or at least just get him into trouble with Captain Archer or any harm done to him.
Malcolm also knew that Captain Archer would be on his side in this argument. There weren't any punches thrown into the fight. It was just holding his opponent down to prevent being shot. Nothing was said against that. Plus also McKrawsky, being a security officer, would have Malcolm to deal with if he didn't take sides with him… he had had it all planned from the first moment he had heard the combat training was going to take place… and he had enjoyed every moment of it.