Chapter Seven: "They must be excited about somethin'!"

Jaren Kai had already spent a couple of hours preparing for the captain's war games. Captain Ski had given locations to drop off their weapons and equipment and had let the groups go for the rest of the day. Jaren chuckled to himself as he sat in his room, adjusting a couple of scopes to his weapons. With the unique hangovers half of the squad had from the night before, everyone probably needed the rest of the day off.

After readying his equipment and ensuring that every advantageous item had found its way into his stash, Jaren began a rudimentary survey of his teammates. He didn't know yet who was going to be on his team, but he figured he might pick up some ideas from his fellow Talons. It seemed, though, that everyone was keeping his own ideas to himself. Whenever he entered another Talon's room, that particular member quit whatever he was working on and acted as if he had simply been resting. Jaren knew better, though.

Jaren returned to his room disgruntled with the results of his survey. Not knowing who was on his team was eating away at the normally patient man. His mind still busy, Jaren began to weigh team strengths and weaknesses. Telia was obviously near the top of the shooters list and would probably not be on his team. Kendrick was a good shot, too, though. When he had entered Quis's room, she had been fidgeting with a small device attached to her belt. He figured she had something up her sleeve. Mekial seemed very sneaky and devious in her own right as well. Jaren wouldn't put it past her to have something planned to turn things around at the last minute.

Instead of trying to figure out every detail, he decided to head to the lounge, where Sergeant Bullwinkle would be posting the teams shortly.

It seemed that the Talons were getting good at being Talons.

*****

Rubi slumped into an open chair in the lounge, anxious for the list of teams to be posted. Mekial was already waiting in the chair across from her, and the two shared a knowing smile.

Neither had been able to see the list that Sergeant Bullwinkle had put together so far. He swore he had some sort of program running on his datapad that would spit out the list once its calculations were complete. Yet the sergeant kept the datapad on him, and no infiltration techniques had aided either of them. Even the air ducts hadn't helped. The two had come across evidence that the other had been in the same area only moments apart. The two were becoming of a like mind in their partnership and found that most of their war-game preparations were identical in nature.

The two continued to sit and await the list's posting, hoping that they would land on the same team.

*****

Captain Ski watched as his unit began to shuffle in from their various activities. His scarlet droid stumbled in after Stone, and he noticed that H9 was missing an arm. H9 was looking nervously around the room, maybe not wanting to stir up any other trouble. Kevin decided to punish the culprit with hangar duty for a couple of days, but all in all, he truly understood the whole ordeal and didn't care much that the arm was still missing.

Jaren Kai entered the lounge. Ski had found out a little earlier that it was his own support team leader who had been ultimately responsible for the patrol car incident, but he had decided to sweep the whole thing underneath the rug until after the war games. Of course, that would mean a decent talk with him, but it would be interesting to see what the man had to say about the ordeal. Some of his squad's tricks and pranks were beginning to rival the infamous Wraith Squadron.

Speaking of pranks... Kevin wandered onto another topic. The stuffed hawk-bat toy he had received as a gift had "commandeered" the Hawk and taken it under siege. He still heard chuckles and whispering about where the elusive creature would appear next. Ski had narrowed the culprits of that particular prank down to Trika, Kaiba, Kithera, or Milan, but he doubted that Milan would engage in such an activity without being totally out of his mind.

To the delight of everyone in the room, which was now flooded with Talons, Sergeant Bullwinkle arrived. Instead of declaring the teams, however, he seemed horrified at the sight of his recruits lounging around, waiting for orders.

"Well, wadda we have 'ere?" The recruits caught their breaths and at first, in denial, thought that he would swiftly post the lists and leave. To their horror, Bullwinkle stepped into the doorway and blocked off the main exit. "If y'all got nothin' to do, then we exercise! I want y'all to drop an' gimme fifty! Now!"

A couple of Talons tried to contest the order, but it seemed that Bullwinkle's calculations were still working on his datapad, so, grudgingly, all fifteen squadron members hit the floor and proceeded to give Sergeant Bullwinkle his "fifty."

Before the Talons were even done, however, his datapad buzzed with the obvious sound that his program was done. "I got 'er calculated all out how yer strengths and weaknesses will add to yer team's power, and this here program had ya both dead even!" Bullwinkle told the squad. The sergeant waited until the last Talon was done with all fifty before printing out the list and posting it on the back wall of the lounge.

Kaiba made it to the back first strictly due to positioning and a tiny bit of creeping toward the wall during "exercise time." Sorting out the teams from the protocol for the games, she read aloud the listings of the groups.

Red Group
Ski
Faithwood
Aris
Jais
Muir
Talson
Rinani
Cloudrifter

Blue Group
Quinn
Heartilly
Kai
Yrisar
Adair
Lirac
Altura
Flynn

A mixture of reactions followed, but it seemed that everyone was satisfied with his or her group.

Sergeant Bullwinkle made a couple of quick announcements. "Red Group'll be taking the Eagle; Blue Group'll be taking the Hawk. Yer transports leave five standard hours before dawn, so I'd suggest some rest in addition to yer preparation. Bring any standard equipment yer position is qualified fer, and be prepared to show yer stuff. You'll arrive at two different bases nicely set up for us by them boys down at Intel, and yer mission will be to infiltrate and capture the opposing team's base with efficiency. Do this right and ya'll make me a very proud man."

The Talons looked at their sergeant, wondering if he really was a man to begin with, and contemplating whether they wanted to make him proud in the first place.

"Is that all?" Rubi asked with a mixture of curiosity and excitement.

"That's all we have been given," Kevin answered from behind the group, who turned around to listen to their leader. With a nod, he let them all go. In a mad rush for the doors, the Talons bolted from the lounge to prepare for the contest.

"Well, I'll be," Bullwinkle said with a hint of wonder. "They must be excited 'bout somethin'!"

Kevin closed his eyes and tried to picture Sergeant Bullwinkle floating away into space. "We will see how excited they really are when it comes down to performing under pressure," he returned, not wanting to open his eyes and see his assistant again. "Have you packed the ration bags for both teams?"

"Everything's packed, Cap'n!" the other responded, yet from his retreating voice, he sounded like he was leaving. Kevin opened his eyes just as the fumes from the dirty man exited the room. Who could tell what kind of rations the drill sergeant and cook had come up with, let alone what mischief he would create between now and the war games?

*****

The unit had quickly split into the proper groups, each eyeing the other suspiciously. Jaren, the given leader, grabbed the helm of Blue Group and took a quick inventory. Each team seemed to be split according to strengths and positions, and he was quite sure that they would be evenly matched.

Strategy would be the ultimate key to victory.

"How did Red Group manage to get Captain Ski?" Quis groaned, for no particular reason other than to complain about having to participate in the war games.

"And they managed to get the better sniper!" Trika exclaimed, then turned sharply to Jaren. "Oh, I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?" A wide grin split her odd-looking face.

Their makeshift leader smiled wryly. "Very funny," Jaren remarked. "How come we got the lowly code-pounder and not the real hacker?"

Trika looked offended for just a moment. "Believe me when I say that you'll be praising me by the time we win these war games. You'll want the lowly code-pounder in this scenario." The strange-looking woman interlocked her fingers and stretched her arms outward, then wiggled the dexterous digits as if typing. "And I must add I do my job quite well."

"All right, all right," Kendrick interrupted the banter. "What's the plan for the meantime? We've got four hours until we're to meet at the Hawk."

Jaren addressed the group. "Get any gear you might need for an extended stay outdoors. Meet at the Hawk in three hours to discuss strategy." He shifted closer to his team, who took the hint and moved closer as well. "One last thing." He lowered his voice. "Mekial, see if you can plant some sort of listening or tracking devices on the other team's gear. Get to the supply rooms before they do and give them a few surprises."

Mekial nodded and gave the group one of her trademark evil grins.

"The rest of you should check your own things for the same tricks," Jaren instructed cautiously. "Dismissed."

He watched his group scramble to their respective rooms to prepare and did the same, using caution to make sure he was not being watched. He gathered his standard field equipment, which consisted of his camo outfit and tactical vest, a small kit of camo face paint, camo netting, glow rods, rope, a multi-tool, rifle scopes of different magnifications, and a survival knife. He loaded all of his gear into the pockets of his tactical vest and his backpack, picked up his weapon, and headed for the ship. He had some other materials to pick up from the hangar, and he wanted to get far away from the other team and the possibility of being watched. When he next saw Mekial, the team's espionage expert, he would get her to help him locate any bugs the other team might have placed in his gear.

He was ready for anything.

*****

Rubi scowled as she listened to Captain Ski detail how to prepare properly. The teams were split evenly, but she was a little upset that Quis had been placed in the other group. The engineer had something clever up her sleeve and Rubi knew it. And she had been split from Mekial! The more she thought about the setup, the more she wanted to scream.

She wondered for a moment if the other team would play fairly.

Probably not. So she wouldn't, either. Rubi took five small devices out of her pocket and began to fidget. No, she was not going to play fairly at all.

*****

At Jaren's order, Mekial moved into "enemy territory" and retrieved several of their ration bags from Sergeant Bullwinkle's supply room. She planted several listening devices within the lining that were virtually untraceable with any technology Red Group would have. Now she just had to hope that they didn't end up eating their packs like Sergeant Bullwinkle had taught them. She wasn't quite sure what would happen then.

Utilizing every ounce of her spy training, Mekial sneakily slipped past Red Group's discussion in the hallway and made her way back to Jaren. The sniper was on the hangar roof preparing his rifle, as everything was being modified to compensate for the practice arena. The last thing the Talons needed was someone getting sniped by accident, and all weapons would be inspected for proper stain-mounting before take-off.

"How did it go?" he asked quietly, not bothering to look up or draw unwanted attention to their conversation.

"Perfectly." Mekial was messing with a transmitter and receiver in her ear. A broad grin began to make its way across her face. "You won't believe some of the stuff coming through this thing."

*****

Telia Aris prepared for "war." She had been trained well by Jaren Kai, and she knew exactly what kind of tactics he would be using with his group. She would be sure to use that to her team's advantage.

She had almost finished packing, knowing that Jaren had probably prepared the exact same items. This, however, was her time to prove that she could make it on her own.

A knock on the door caused her to look up. She stood quickly and saluted, and the salute was returned from Captain Kevin Ski.

"What can I help you with, sir?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable with being Red Group's sniper," he said, not making a move to enter the room. He was apparently making this a quick visit. "I know that things might be a little hectic right now, but I feel confident that you can handle the situation."
"Thank you, sir," Telia answered. "I won't let you down."

"Good," he said, turning to leave. "I didn't think you would."

Telia couldn't analyze the conversation very well with so many distractions in her head. As Ski left her room, though, she understood that it was finally time to show her commanding officer and Jaren exactly what she was capable of.

*****

After the posting of the long-awaited list and Lieutenant Kai's briefing, Kendrick returned to his quarters. Without preamble, he pulled a shoulder bag out of his closet and started sorting through the things he would need, throwing the majority of them into his pack.

The necessities were obvious: camo clothing, a small med-kit, and electro-binoculars. Ken came to a small pouch at the very back of the closet. He smiled before throwing that in with the other equipment. The contents of the pouch would serve as a small present in case his temporary "enemies" got too close. Kendrick had risked five paychecks in a Sabacc game with the boys from the 212 to acquire that little bag of surprises.

He looked about the room, wondering if he'd forgotten anything. Letting his gaze wander upward, Ken spotted a little bump protruding from the north wall.

"Nice try," he smiled, removing his blaster pistol from its home near his hip. Turning it around, he gently ground the butt of the gun onto the bump. There was a satisfying crunch as the listening device was crushed under the pressure.

"Had a chance to plant bugs already?" he asked his empty room aloud. "This will be an interesting little exercise."

Not willing to take any more chances, he deactivated the lights. It was only after the soothing blackness surrounded him that he added the last few items to his pack and pockets. He zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, then paused to slide his vibro-knife into its customary spot in his boot before he continued into the hall, sealing the door behind him.

Ken was supposed to meet the rest of his group at the ship in one standard hour, but he thought he would do a little reconnaissance work first. Maybe he would sneak out some decent rations behind Bullwinkle's back.

He would probably need the practice.

*****

Jane Muir slung her pack over her shoulder and gave her room one last look. She had practically cleared the place out for the war games, and although she could well hide her emotions, she could barely contain the slight smile at her own bag of tricks. She had something extra in mind for her enemies. No one would see it coming.

She turned out the light and locked her door, slipping down the hallway and heading toward the lifts. Her destination was the sixth floor and then the roof's hangar, then the Eagle, and then war. As she stepped onto the lifts and punched in the correct security sequence, she couldn't help but smile at the last part.

War was truly one thing that Jane would thoroughly enjoy.

*****

Danya looked at herself in her room's mirror and grinned. She couldn't be more wired unless a bomb was strapped to her torso. She banished that thought quickly. She was already nervous enough and didn't need any distractions from what needed to be done. Taking the last bit of electronic equipment from her desk, Danya arranged her packs to their most comfortable position and gave herself one more look-over. Every bit of programming, networking, hacking, slicing, and data transfer protocol she had ever learned would be needed for this exercise, and she was more than confident in her abilities and her hardware.

With a muttered curse at the Chinaési woman's name, Danya wondered what Trika would have under her belt. Probably much of the same. How would they compare in the end?

"Just do your job," a voice from behind interrupted her thoughts. Jumping around and reaching for a weapon that was not there, Danya halted and saw that Captain Ski stood at her door.

A little embarrassed at her actions and perhaps at her transparency, she smiled kindly and then remembered to salute. Captain Ski swatted the salute away. "I didn't come here to receive respect," he told her, then shifted his weight toward the frame of her door. "Are you all right with this setup?"

How ironic that he called it a setup, she thought. She would have actually liked that psycho Milan on her team, but all in all, she supposed everything was fine. "Yes, sir," she turned back around and fiddled with a strap over her shoulder. "I'm ready to prove myself, sir."

"I'm confident you'll pull off whatever is necessary," Ski commented, noticing her nervousness fluctuate with each different word or tone he spoke. "You've practiced for something like this for a very long time."

Maybe getting along with him wouldn't be as impossible as she had first thought. But she merely nodded. She understood everything he had said, but keeping her own emotions in tow would not let him in on any weaknesses she might have. "I'm ready, sir," she said, and straightening to full height, all of 1.6 meters, she proved it.

*****

"Hey, stop looking so glum," Ty said, giving his partner a genuine smile. "This should be really fun."

Rinin stood at Ty's door, waiting patiently for his partner to pack so that they could meet their team at the Hawk. "I'm not glum," the Twi'lek corrected lightly. "My sanity levels can only take so much, though."

Ty stood up from packing near his bunk. He took a good look at his three bags and then at Rinin, who still stood patiently at the door. "What are you talking about?"

Talon Fifteen leaned on the frame and smacked his head hard against the durasteel. "We're not going for a month-long vacation," he frowned, gesturing with his eyes at the massive cargo Ty would be carrying.

"I've got some important stuff in there," the man protested and, to prove it, opened up the first bag to show the Twi'lek a load of camo paint and clothing.

Rinin dropped his bags and made his way toward Ty's bunk. Before Ty could stop him, he unzipped the last bag to reveal its contents. As the mangled mass of clothes, equipment, and - bottles? - began to pour from the bag, Rinin could not hide his surprised expression.

"You packed your own brew?" he said a little more loudly than Ty would have liked.

"Keep it down," Ty hissed, suddenly wishing his door was closed. "You want Bullwinkle to catch me with this?"

Rinin shook his head.

Ty smiled, beginning to pick up the bottles and jugs from the floor. "I knew you would agree with me once you caught the big idea."

*****

Milan ignored another demanding knock on his door, along with the voice that followed. "I'll be there in a second," he growled back, not entirely sure he wanted to see his teammate when he opened his door. Flinging the last bit of prepping material into his bag, Milan carefully tucked away the last of his weapons on his belt and person and grabbed his stuff to leave.

Just then, the door opened with a whoosh, slightly shocking him. He frowned at the odd-looking female standing in the corridor. "Now, what if I had been changing?" he calmly asked her.

Trika leaned against his doorframe and unplugged the two port devices she had used to slice his door. "Oh, that wouldn't have been good," she began with a devilish smirk. "I would have seen all of that blubber and flab underneath your uniform and would have had to take a recording for all the squad to see."

Much to her relief, the big Kiffar actually broke forth with a grin. To be honest, the man probably had no fat on his body at all. Milan was about as muscular as the best-trained athletes in the galaxy. And to add to his imposing figure, he now wore a weapons rack on his belt. Like he wasn't scary enough. Trika shook her head in mock-disapproval. "Is all of that really necessary?"

Milan looked down at his array of knives and ammunition, then looked back at the smirking Trika. Playfully grabbing her by the throat and moving her out of his room, he turned very serious. "You never know when I might have to keep you in check or shut you up." He dropped her against the opposite wall so that he could close his own door and lock it... whatever good it would do against the likes of Trika or anyone else with slicing abilities.

Somehow, he knew that everything he did would come back to get him eventually.