"Listen up!" Lieutenant Zhang said. "The next week you will be assigned to your permanent duty stations or invited to receive advanced training. Some of you might think that you've already done enough to get into your desired career path. Think again, because if you perform poorly today, I promise that you can forget about your dream assignment. Today's war game is the last one and it's going to be the CTF. You know the drill."

The Infantry Training School was much more fun than the boot camp. The latter one was mostly about discipline and basic training, while the former imparted very useful skills and knowledge. Over the months there had been fifteen field training exercises and this one was the last one. Despite the lieutenant's words Max was quite sure that her results were good enough for a good duty station, but she would still give it her all.

She was a red team leader in Lin's squad. Almeida was a platoon commander this time, which was disappointing. She had been looking forward to the war game, but with Almeida being the platoon commander it would probably be a short exercise. He was a fool with an inflated ego. Lieutenant Zhang was giving him the last chance, Max reasoned, but she didn't believe that he would ever be promoted past Corporal. She didn't know Lin well, but at least the lieutenant didn't shuffle the teams. She would be with Reyes, Fokin and Wang. They were a good team.

To be truthful, even after months at the infantry school it was still hard to comprehend that she had somehow ended up commanding a team of marines. Chloe would have never believed. Hell, Max wouldn't have believed either, but here she was one of the best scoring marines of the Infantry School.

"It's going to end quickly," Reyes said.

"Yeah," Fokin agreed. "I was hoping for a chance to show off… a little."

"Keep the chatter down and move to the shuttle," Max said. "You'll get the chance."

Nikita Fokin was a marine from Russia. His surname was the source of thousand jokes. He was prone to silly mistakes but otherwise quite good. Anke Wang was German with Chinese ancestry. She was the opposite of Fokin: quiet and disciplined, but nowhere as good as Fokin. They were still PFC like Reyes. Not that there was much difference between Corporal and PFC. The rank of Corporal was guaranteed after twelve months in service, so they would eventually catch up to her.

From what she had read, the Alliance rank structure differed a lot from the one that had been used in the 20th century. There were no branches. Even the Alliance Marines were but a part of the Navy and with enough training any marine could eventually become a commanding officer of an Alliance vessel. The Alliance normally considered anyone ranked lower than Corporal as NRFC, meaning Not-Ready-For-Combat. A nicer expression for Fucking-New-Guy. Corporals weren't much better and served mostly groundside in various garrisons. The only way to the fleet was to serve long enough to be promoted or to be noticed by an officer because of exceptional skills.

Serving with the fleet was prestigious. And different. A lieutenant would normally lead a platoon groundside. On a vessel though it would a team or a squad. Smaller scales, higher ranks, better equipment and immense responsibility. With that said, it was much easier to get a promotion here than in the 20th century. The Alliance Navy was a fast-growing organization and desperately needed more grunts and officers. An inexperienced commander was better than no commander at all and that meant huge opportunities for promotions.

The shuttle brought them to the Red Base and they quickly got in positions in case the blue platoon would try to attack early. Max was a team leader this time and didn't have any say in planning their strategy but knowing Almeida squad leaders would be ignored too. Her fears were confirmed a few minutes later when the leaders finished discussing their tactics. Lin, Fuchs and Ogawa seemed to be angry.

"Lin, your squad will defend the base," Almeida ordered. "Fuchs and Ogawa will go with me to capture the blue flag."

The next half an hour nothing happened. Max's team was assigned with defending the flag, which meant she wouldn't fire a single shot until the very end. Boring and needless. The plan wasn't good in her opinion. Almeida wanted to assault the blue base with two squads. Not only would the blue platoon have numbers on their side, but they would also be in a better position behind the walls. Either that or they would meet in the forest. And since Almeida didn't intend to spread the teams out… Their squads were going to be slaughtered.

"Damn," Fokin said. "I hate this hurry up and wait shit."

"That's what Marines do, Fokin," Reyes said.

"I'd rather hurry up and shoot."

"I've got a better idea. How about hurry up and shut up?"

"Not nice, Reyes."

"Do I look like a nice person?"

"Hmm, you've got a point there," Fokin said. "Anyway, any idea what duty station you're going to request after the graduation?"

"I'll follow Caulfield."

Max snorted. "As if I'd want your ass anywhere near me."

"Who said your opinion matters?" Reyes asked.

"I did."

Suddenly they heard gunfire outside of the base.

"Red base, this is Alpha!" came the voice over the radio on the platoon-wide channel. "Contact. Sector Bravo 7."

"Roger," Lin responded and then continued on the squad channel: "Get ready, marines!"

"Stay in cover," Max commanded. "And cut the chatter."

They waited. The flag was located on a hill. The area was easy defendable and provided enough cover to hold the position under heavy fire. She was sure that they could defend against frontal attack, but an attack from the left would be bad.

"Red Base, this is Bravo. Alpha Squad is down. Lost two full teams on my squad. Not sure if we took anyone down. Retreating."

"Roger," Lin replied. "Need assistance?"

"Negative."

For a few minutes there was silence. She hated doing nothing while her teammates were fighting. The squads must have walked into a trap, otherwise they would inflict at least some damage. She would have to assume that it was them against full platoon. Almost no chance to win without going overboard with her powers.

"Red Base, this is Bravo. We're pinned down. Won't make it to the base. We'll try to reduce their numbers for you."

"Good luck, Bravo," Lin responded. "Charlie Three Team, get ready for a frontal assault, we'll cover the flank as long as we can."

"Roger," Max said.

Lieutenant Commander David Anderson was disappointed. He had been watching the field training exercise from the very beginning, but it was a goddamn mess. The blue platoon performance was acceptable, their strategy decent. There were mistakes and their inexperience was glaring, but they were okay. For boots. The red platoon, however… The platoon commander was a bufoon. The trap was obvious, the squad leaders gave the cue, but he still led them into the trap.

"I wonder why he was promoted," he said.

"I ask that myself, Commander," LT Zhang replied, watching the feed from the drones over the training field. "He's good in CQC and he's got excellent marksmanship, but he's unfit for command."

"Agreed."

The situation was hopeless for the retreating marines. A single team against two squads? Impossible odds. Still the team leader managed to keep the team in game long enough to take down five marines from the blue platoon.

"What's his name?" David asked.

"Corporal Christian Fuchs, Commander," LT replied. "One of the best in the current course."

"He's done very well considering the situation."

The lieutenant nodded. "If I may ask, Commander, is there a particular reason why you are here?"

"Corporal Caulfield," David replied.

"Oh… Of course," LT Zhang said. "You aren't the only one interested in her. I was worried that her talent would be going to waste on some distant rock in a garrison due to lack of high school diploma. Fortunately, she took a test last week. Passed with a record score. I'll be really surprised if she doesn't receive an invitation to the N-School soon."

The lieutenant couldn't be any closer to truth. David was here to appraise her skills. He had read reports about her, mostly because she was an oddity, but hadn't paid much attention until she had made enough noise to catch interest of the N-School. That day, when he had found her at the old lighthouse, she had reminded him of a scared cat, first time out of a cozy home. The police investigation had shed some light on her past, but most of it was still unknown. Why would anyone clone a random girl from the 20th century? Considering her unique skills however…

They watched as the blue platoon attacked the Red Base. It wasn't a well-organized assault. Their commanders were either mediocre or too cocky after success against the two red squads. The numbers advantage was, however, overwhelming. Under heavy fire two red teams retreated to the core of the base in order to cover the flank for Caulfield's team that was holding the front entrance to the area around the flag. A sound strategy under circumstances. Then he noticed something odd. Caulfield had moved faster than physically possible. In an instant her position had slightly changed. A glitch? Must be it.

"It seems Caulfield's going to counterattack," the lieutenant commented. "Bad decision."

"I disagree," David said.

"It's four against thirteen, Commander."

"Yes, but holding the position isn't an option either."

Caulfield dashed forward with a speed of a cheetah, while her teammates provided cover fire. She slowed down for a short moment to aim and fire, taking down a marine, before diving behind the cover of a wall. The next second one of her teammates ran forward, while others poured fire on the blue squad. They were repeating it, moving one random person in time. A textbook maneuver, flawlessly executed. But it wasn't surprising. Although few could do it right out of the boot camp, teamwork was expected of the Alliance marines. Surprising were Caulfield's speed and accuracy. Outstanding would be an understatement. While others were simply providing cover fire, every time she would pop out from her cover a marine from the blue squad would fall.

"Holy shit," LT Zhang whispered looking at the screen.

David didn't say anything, but he agreed. Caulfield's aim was perfect and lightning-fast. The reports were praising her speed and accuracy, but he hadn't believed that she was this good. Inhumanly good. It took her team about a minute to break though the line, taking down the whole blue squad. With a single casualty. The blue platoon didn't have the numbers advantage anymore. They were encircled. The red platoon won.

What a miraculous turnaround, David thought.