Well it's time, I can only hope that the plan goes well, small scale battles like these always worried me despite the less amount of people. Turian's are an interesting species to work with for military battles and operations I can already tell that much. I start to focus on the area as I hear the announcer. "Let the mock battle begin fight hard and fight well."

Everyone quickly takes off; we all stay together before we get to the hill that helps to block sight of us from the enemy. I signal the other squads to get in position, the area we're placed on is mainly a mix of forest and plains, combining open fields and trees making cover scarce especially near the bases which hold next to no cover for anyone seeking to attack. I go back to the coms, "Alright Alpha and Beta get started, and remember, move quickly and move efficiently, you know what you're doing."

I say as I take a hidden position near a tree as my squad stays covered taking out the sniper I grabbed as I look through the scope, seeing Alpha and Beta moving past each other quickly dashing through the trees I then hear through the coms a countdown then an explosion, quickly moving my scope as I see that one of our men threw a grenade at the entrance. I see one of the enemy squads move out of the base and into nearby fortifications and get to work shooting at the men running in the forest. "Watch out it seems they intended to hold out and wear us down, they built cover and fornications so be wary." I hear Victis quickly speak through the coms, and I move my scope as I see someone mistakenly pop their head out and try to get an overview of what's happening and I know that's where I come in, taking aim at him and getting ready to fire.

That's when it happens, I can't move and I can barely breath shaking horribly as I look down my scope trying desperately to pull the trigger but unable to as the guy pulls back in after someone else takes a pot shot at him. I'm still shaking as the battle isn't even there for me anymore and all I can think of is the ambush that killed me, my friend and the entire escort all because we didn't know the value of the VIP.

I'm stuck in a loop replaying those events again and again, thinking about what I should have done, I should have asked more questions, I should have taken more precautions! I should have prevented all those deaths!

I'm suddenly shook out of it and I see Tibertus. "Hey! Vel! What's going on you just froze and didn't respond" I hear him say as I remember that he was assigned to my squad. "I... I don't know." I start to breath normally again focusing back on the action. "The squad is waiting for your order; it's been five minutes since you froze!" I simply nod and look through the scope as I growl noticing that we lost half of a squad in my moment of pause.

I look and see that they have managed to get a few people some from the first squad and I see that others from the enemy platoon have started shooting from inside the base. "Shit, change of plans! Alpha get out of that area and use the forest to flank, Beta lock yourself down and start using all the explosives you have, pressure them best you can, Charlie is going to move into the base and attack from the inside. "How are we going to do that!" I see Tibertus yell out as I going through my newer omni tool, still weaker than military grade but not far from it especially with the modifications I made that increased its limit. "I'm going to take their lights; I can't take out their weapons yet but I can effectively blind them."

Tibertus takes a deep breath as I motion for us to move, part of the initial plan having worked as they have no idea how many are in the forest, taking a moment as I work my omni tool and set up two commands. Starting it off by using a low level EMP on the base that shuts down their lights as my squad makes their way inside and I can see some of the enemy turians start to worry.

I then whisper into my coms" Alpha move in once you see a bright light and Beta use a smoke and stay put make them think you're moving." I then set off a flashbang from my omni tool inside the base, blinding and deafening the other two squads as I hear guns firing outside signaling that Beta is providing their distraction. Alpha moves in and meets up with us as we move further in and quickly make work. Our two squads split from each other each taking one side of the surprisingly open room as I take a deep breath while taking out my smg tensing up as I quickly pull the trigger on one of turians before I can even think as the rest of the team takes out the squad on this floor with no trouble, simple shots to the chest putting them down as we get ready to move to the next floor I motion for Alpha to go down and flank the other squad that's shooting at Beta since I remember that the next floor is narrow as can be.

My squad gets on the stair to next floor still moving quickly still having my omni tool unusable due to overheating and cooling down. I take the lead and quickly take cover as I feel a shot fly by as I motion for one more from my squad to come up and have them take cover as we're being suppressed, pushing the button on one of these weird disc grenades as I throw it down the hall, messing up my aim slightly as it lands a little short. However, it still serves its purpose as the suppressive fire ends and the remaining members of my squad move up and take cover.

Tibertus and I lay down our own suppressive fire with my smg and his Avenger keeping the final enemy squad behind cover as the others move down and finish off the enemy before they can react. Taking a deep breath as I see this I quickly get on the coms. "Alpha, Beta give me a report." "The fortified squad down here was taken out; I'm assuming since you're talking to us that it's the same for you?" I chuckle out of exhaustion as I respond "Yes... Yes it is. The next few hours are simply the clean up as our instructors praise us for our victory before sending us back to our barracks to wind down from the battle and prepare for tomorrow.

As we settle in for the night I sit on the side of my bunk/bed my body shaking and if I could sweat, I'm willing to bet I would be. I feel a hand on my shoulder again and see Tibertus who simply says nothing and just stays by my side providing a small bit of comfort as I try to stop my mind's own personal hell.

"Velius... what is matter?" I pause before looking at him and doing my best to explain. "It's complicated, it's just when I saw the guy in my sights and was about to pull the trigger, my body just rejected the motion, I couldn't do it and when we went inside I knew I had to fire and had to fight, so I simply pulled the trigger without thinking and even then I felt like my body was going to collapse.

He listens closely and lets me speak, "I see... well I'll be honest, while I don't understand and defiantly can't tell you what the problem is, I can say that I'm here for you Vel, I'm fully aware that I annoy you but I do like to think that in a small way, you see me as a friend to lean on." I nod knowing that out of everyone here I trust him the most no matter how small it is. "Thank you." That's all I can say before we're forced to settle in for the night and prepare ourselves for the next day.

Graduation Day

Today is graduation day and I couldn't be happier that it's over, it's also the day where I get my face markings, which are going to be the same as Garrus and our father. I was put at the top of this year's recruits for my scores in regular training and my actions during the simulated battle, which if my eyes don't deceive me makes my father very happy. Hours pass and we get through the whole ordeal, being official citizens and expected to go into service for a while as I go over to my father, mother and Garrus.

I feel a strange sense of pride as my father puts on my markings now copying him and completing my look, standing at 6ft 5in as I hug my now eight-year-old brother as I see Tibertus come over to me with his new markings as well, green markings that form a X shape over his face. "Hey Vel! Ready to get going? It seems like we are getting assigned to the same unit!" "What are we doing in the unit?" I say having next to no idea what we are going to be doing. "We'll being focused on shutting down of terrorist, gang, and other similar operations." I think for a moment and sigh not wanting to stay in the turian military but also knowing this can help me with experience of the galaxy, plus I don't want to completely abandon my friend.

I nod to him and he takes the time we have left to introduce himself to my family. "Hello there I'm Tibertus Ursil I'm the one who carried your son-" I shut him up by grabbing his head and pushing it down. "Shut your trap Tib, you didn't carry S'kak" Garrus gives a chuckle at the actions while my father simply sighs at it as I hear one higher rank turian call for all graduates. "I'll be sure to contact you soon; you don't have anything to worry about!" I say as I get going dragging Tib with me he's my friend but he's still a little annoying piece of shit though this shit has some gems in it.

We get on the ship that holds the main people of our unit only containing about five people including Tib and I. We all look at the dark skinned female turian in front of us, her face nearly fully covered in a mix of white and blue markings "Hello I'm the commander of our little fireteam/unit here. My name is Polnia Agnian and I expect you to follow commands as I order them without question is that understood?" Everyone nods, "Good, now then introduce yourself to each other and get settled, I'll notify you once we get an assignment."

She leaves and everyone starts introducing themselves as the first one to speak is a male turian with simple purple markings that fully cover his mandibles. "Hey there I'm Maxus Sulin my skill is mainly in long range and accuracy." Tib then introduces himself. "Hello! I'm Tibertus Ursil and I specialize in hand to hand along with close to mid-range weapons. Finally, the last one introduces herself a female turian with yellow markings that create a full line along her mandibles and mouth. "I'm Destia Quirinus and I specialize in tech and mid-range weapons marksman type weapons." I finally introduce myself, "I'm Velius Vakarian and I specialize in tech and weapons of any range."

After introductions are finished, we all get up and head to bunks picking our spots everyone tired from the long day as everyone quickly drifts off to sleep as I can only worry for the future. I can only think about my plan for it as I drift off, some time in this unit and move on to something else that allows me to travel and gain info, but what kind of job is there that allows that. My thoughts eventually fade away as I fall asleep and the next day arrives.