This week Max was not distracted. And he was going to pretend that last week had never happened. For many, many, many reasons.

The far-too-familiar pile of gear was waiting as everyone arrived, but before anyone could grab anything, Max began speaking. "Today we're doing things a bit different. This being your final examination, you're going to execute a mission as a team. And, as with many missions of this sort, I'm going to be providing you with the parameters before you decide what to take." This also meant they'd be skipping the run today, but that was okay. Max was sure they'd get a workout without it.

Max made a small gesture and a patch of ground writhed and reshaped itself into a model of the surrounding terrain. The main features were a tall, rocky set of cliffs with an equally rocky beach below them. "We are here," he indicated a spot that was some distance from the top of the cliff. "Scouts indicate that the enemy is going to attempt to land troops here," he indicated a spot on the beach. "Your objective is to keep them from doing so by whatever means necessary. Or, failing that, to keep those troops from making it off the beach. If you can at least keep them bottled up for a few hours, reinforcements are on their way to secure this area."

"Since you are all such good students I'm sure you don't have any questions about this assignment. Which is good because for the purposes of this exercise I am not here." He stepped off to the side and waved at the pile of gear.

Today Max was wearing an odd expression, sort of dopey, distracted grin, and he didn't seem to be paying nearly as much attention as he usually did. There was the by-now familiar pile of random gear awaiting the students. "You know the drill," Max waved vaguely. He sounded like he had other places he'd rather be today. While everyone grabbed whatever gear it was they planned on carrying for today's exercise, Max just stood there, staring dreamily off into space.

In fact, he was just going to stand there staring dreamily off into space until someone probably a TA reminded him that he still had a class to teach.

"Oh, right!" Max blinked rapidly, then shook his head like he was trying to clear it. The continued presence of the dopey grin suggested that he was, at best, only partially successful. "Let's go." Fortunately running around with squads of infantry was so second nature that Max could do it without thinking, so distractions didn't really matter. His lecture, however, definitely suffered for it.

"Today we're going to talk about..." he paused, frowning. "Um..." Another pause. He had notes on today's topic back in his office, and he'd even glanced over them (dreamily) before class, but he couldn't remember what they said now. Then inspiration struck! "Today," Max began again, "each of you is going to talk about what you've learned this semester. At least two things that you hadn't known or thought about before. You can also ask questions that haven't come up yet if you like."

Ha! That way he didn't have to know what was going on. Max told himself he'd try to pay attention and offer feedback and answer questions, but... he was very distracted. He wasn't even paying attention to where they were going.

Max like to think his students were clever enough to be getting used to the big pile of random gear to select from for their runs. They were all pretty bright, after all. "Since you've done this before, today you've got three minutes to gear up. Get to it."

"Going into this course I knew that just a few weeks wasn't enough to teach you more than the most simple of basics about regular or irregular infantry tactics, and I've sought to cover the most important aspects. So today we're going to talk about one of the most important things to understand for irregular forces: cheating. Apparently the modern militaries of this world have some fancy words for this, but I don't really remember what they are. Not that it matters, because in the end all those fancy words boil down to cheating."

The trail today was relatively clear, but was also noticeably uphill. The terrain was slightly rocky and dry, but provided perfectly decent footing. "One of the ways to keep an irregular force flexible is to keep it small," he explained. "And one of the advantages of regular forces is that you can make them big pretty easily. Which means that if you end up fighting a regular force with an irregular force, you're going to be outnumbered, often badly. Now, I know you're all smart enough to know that when you're outnumbered you don't charge in head-first because that's a good way to die, and none of you want that. What you do instead," Max grinned just bit, "is cheat."

"You come up with the dirtiest tricks you can think of: sabotage supplies, cause landslides, lead them into ambushes, pick them off with snipers, anything that lets you avoid actually having to fight fair. One of the important things to remember is that beating an enemy doesn't necessarily mean killing all of them. Getting them to run away can work just fine, and sometimes just slowing them down so that they can't get where they're going quite fast enough to do what they want to do is all you need to manage. Which," he smirked as they came to the top of a rise that looked down over a tree-filled valley, "brings us to today's exercise."

Max pointed out a line of men marching through the valley. "The Danger Shop has kindly simulated a century of troops trained in the same regular infantry tactics you were shown. That's about a hundred men with swords and armor and discipline down there, and your job is to find some way to keep them from getting out the other side of the valley before class ends."

He looked over his students and grinned. "At their current pace they'll be through in fifteen minutes." And there was at least half an hour of class left. "You can take as much time as you want to plan things, but keep in mind that the more time you spend on that, the less time you're actually doing things. And the clock is ticking." He heard that line on TV somewhere.

Much like the previous week, this week there was a large pile of assorted gear waiting when students arrived. "No, we're not doing the same thing we did last week, but you do have five minutes to figure out what you want to carry for today's run. You can pick up as little or as much as you want. And once that's done we'll get moving. Feel free to coordinate among yourselves so that you don't carry duplicates of stuff you only need one of. Or don't, whatever's easier."

Once the five minutes was up, Max simply began jogging off, not making any sort of announcement. After a minute or so, enough time for everyone to settle into the pace, he began. "In some ways the topic of today's class is a bit redundant. We'll be talking about something that all of you have been doing quite a bit of since we started this section in irregular forces. Still, despite your obvious familiarity, it's still worth covering the topic. So today we're going to be talking about improvisation."

"Of course, any military unit has to be capable of some level of improvisation if it is to be successful," Max pointed out as he cut off the main path and through some trees. "But regular forces tend to be assigned tasks which are relatively predictable which cuts down on the amount of improvisation they require. Irregulars, on the other hand, get assigned all sorts of crazy jobs, and that means that they have to be much more adaptable in order to carry out their assigned tasks. This is especially true because of equipment. Regular units are assigned a very specific set of equipment and are given orders based on that equipment. Irregulars, on the other hand, don't really have a standard set of equipment, and that means that they're much more likely to be assigned to do something off the wall, something that they just might have the gear for. Of course they probably don't, but that's how the military works."

"Basically, irregular forces receive all sorts of orders that completely disregard what they may or may not have with them, so improvisation is doubly important if you're to carry out your mission objectives. I realize that you're all independent and creative special snowflakes people, and that you're all rather good at this sort of thing already, but it's an important enough topic that I felt that it was worth covering in its own class."

Max smiled in dark amusement as he pushed through a final stand of tall trees and stopped the run at the edge of a canyon. "It's about twenty feet across," he told his students. "And you have to figure out some way to get everyone over there by the end of class." He glanced down over the edge, "It's only an eighty foot climb, so if you really want to, everyone can go down and back up, but I suspect that some of you can come up with an idea based on whatever you've got with you."

"And once everyone gets to the other side, we're done. But until that happens, you're all staying." Max's grin turned downright evil. "Oh, and I'm injured for this exercise. Broken leg. You have to figure out how to get me across, too."

As students arrived for class they'd notice a large stack of assorted equipment. Very, very assorted equipment. Most of it seemed to be focused on specific sorts of environments: climbing ropes, snow shows, rain coats, water-proofed boots, and just about anything one could imagine. "Today we're going to be discussing and working in difficult terrain. Grab what you think you need from the stack and we'll get to the run." He grinned just a bit as he very carefully didn't tell them what terrain they needed to prepare for. "Remember that you should try to carry everything you need without carrying anything you don't..." Just seeing who grabbed what was going to be interesting.

"You are free to coordinate with one another on who's going to carry what. You have one minute," he added, waiting patiently for precisely sixty seconds before turning and beginning the run.

"Many irregular units are trained to handle difficult or uncommon terrain," Max explained as he ran along. "Mountains or desert or snow or forests. Many are trained to handle more than one. This is extremely important because the entire point of irregular forces is flexibility. If you have to move your teams through the same predictable easy terrain that regular troops move through, then it becomes easy for your enemies to intercept them. Having a flexible force allows you more freedom of movement which allows you to move your irregulars around pretty much at will, or forces your enemies to devote resources defending far more locations either of which is a very good thing for your side."

"For a lot of missions an irregular force has time for planning and proper equipment selection. You can look at maps and pick routes and then select gear based on those plans, but often that's not an option. Sometimes you don't have time because the opportunity to strike is short. Sometimes your plans have to change at the last minute. And sometimes you just don't have access to the equipment you want, and so you have to improvise."

( And then things got fun... )

"One of the huge advantages of a regular unit it its diversity. The number of different skills that can be brought to bear on a situation is extremely high. That's why we've been doing exercises centered around demonstrating different approaches. But sometimes this turns out to be a huge weakness. Not only does it turn out that sometimes no one has a skill you need, but more often it turns out that not enough people have it. If you have one person on your team who is very sneaky, then inevitably, the mission requires two of them."

"In a fully trained regular unit, further training is used primarily to maintain polish. You don't want your people forgetting what they know, or getting sloppy, but your primary purpose is no longer to teach them skills they don't have. People in irregular units must maintain their current skillsets, of course, but because the skills they'll need are unpredictable, they also have to spend a lot of time learning new things." Max looked over his students with a grin. "Furthermore, because the skills an irregular unit uses are so unusual, most of the teaching has to be done by people in the unit."

"We've already seen how each of you have different skillsets. Today we're going to expand on that. Each of you will select a single skill to teach everyone else. It can be anything you know that you think the others don't. Don't worry about making it something you think is helpful in a fight, remember that irregular missions are very different, and some don't involve any fighting at all. So if you want to teach everyone about cooking, that's just fine."

He wasn't slowing down the run, of course. "If you need to stop running in order to teach, that's fine." But his tone implied that continuing to run would earn some bonus points.

"Grab your packs and let's get going," Max said as everyone arrived. It was, after all, tradition. "Last week we talked about various skillsets that you each have, and today we're going to see those in action. One thing that makes irregulars a flexible military unit is that they tend to come up with unpredictable approaches to problems. Today I'll be presenting you all with a single problem and you'll each solve it in a way that plays to your skills. The rest of you will observe the solution in order to get a better understanding of your classmates' abilities. If you have suggestions after things are over, feel free to make them. But keep in mind that one of the points of the irregular formation is that you don't all have the same skills. So while you may have an approach that is more efficient for you, it may turn out that none of your classmates can duplicate it."

Max smiled slightly. "The other thing about irregulars is, due to their flexibility, you can tend to give them very general instructions. Instead of telling you to, for instance, take a certain location and hold it against the enemy, irregulars can be issued orders such as 'find the best way to prevent the enemy from moving through this area'. It's less specific, and due to irregular operations the results you get are likely to be very... creative. In fact, let's do a quick warmup exercise." He waved at the rocky terrain with the visible, but unimpressive, footpath they were on. "How would you set things up so that it was difficult for an enemy to move significant forces through terrain like this?"

After giving everyone time to contribute to that, Max took the group down a trail to the left and they went over a hill to find a large villa surrounded by a ten foot high brick wall. Max drew to a stop to explain the exercise and give everyone a chance to catch their breath if they needed to.

"The villa has a small security team, nothing too serious. You job is to get from here to thr basement of the building. How you do that is up to you. Each attempt will be recorded and once everyone arrives there will be a chance to discuss tactics and choices."

He smiled slightly. "And remember to be prepared for surprises."

[Sorry this is late. Way too many meetings, and all of them ran over schedule. *sigh*]

"Welcome back," Max grinned one of those grins that his students had probably learned to take as a bad sign. "Today we begin our unit on irregular infantry tactics. Today's just going to be an introduction to the concept, so the course today is a bit tougher than usual so that no one gets bored." Max was even nice enough to give everyone a couple of minutes to get used to the hard pace he was setting across the rocky uphill terrain.

"By now you all understand that the regular infantry is all about the system. You learn how to fight in a very specific way so that you can fight alongside anyone else who knows what you do. This makes unit construction flexible and tactics can be applied to any unit with the proper training. Irregular forces are basically the opposite paradigm. They're highly individual units which don't fit into any regular part of the military structure." The group reached a relatively flat area so Max turned around to trot backwards in order to keep an eye on his students.

"That means that irregulars make up a very small portion of any military force. For most tasks you want to know exactly what your forces can do, but every so often you need something... irregular done. Different militaries consider different groups to be irregular. For instance, in Aleran legions light cavalry are irregular forces. But there are some groups that are irregular pretty much all the time: scouts, saboteurs, assassination teams."

"Armies keep irregulars around because while most of the work an army does is predictable, sometimes you need something different done. You need people who can get in and out without being noticed, or a group that's specialized for speed or power or stealth. Whatever."

Max looked over his students critically. "For this reason, where a regular unit relies on knowledge of a specific set of rules, an irregular unit relies on knowledge of each other. Because your tasks will be unpredictable, so will the skills you need. You never know when the fact that some member of your squad is an excellent cook will be incredibly important, or that someone knows how to arrange flowers, or play the flute. The obviouis skills matter, of course, like sword skills or hand-to-hand abilities, but it's important to recognize that anything could turn out to be useful."

"And so, we'll be doing that thing that thing that most of you did in your other classes at the beginning of the semester. Everyone's going to talk a bit about the skills they have. You're encouraged to ask questions of one another, to get a better feel for what each of you can do. It's going to matter as the semester progresses." And no, they weren't going to take a nice breather before they had to start talking.

"I've split you into two groups by RNG," Max announced. "You will get with your group, grab all your equipment, and begin your run. One group will go that way," Max pointed to his left, "and the other group will go the other way," he pointed to his right. "Follow the course marked by the red flags. When If your group encounters another combat force then split into pairs and engage them. Remember, your job is to keep your squad mates covered."

"You may notice that I've assigned one of my TAs to each group. They'll act as your squad leaders, so do as they say." He shot them both hard looks. The sort that said 'don't screw this up'.

"In case it wasn't clear, today will mark the final evaluation of your skills as regular infantry. Next week there will be no class, and in two weeks we'll begin our discussion of irregular infantry."

"Get to it."

And with that he trotted off, heading in neither of his indicated directions.

Team 1:
Anemone
K-mart
Gwynn
Momoko

Team 2:
Ino
Fiona
Azula

(I know there aren't enough for pairs for everyone, but I'm betting on some people going hand-wavey. If you need a partner let me know in the OOC thread and I'll figure something out!)

This week the run began without any ridiculously heavy equipment to put on first. "This week we're starting things off easy," Max explained. "You've learned how to move, and stay in formation, and carry a shield, and you've done well enough that today you're going to get to do something dangerous. Today I'm going to give you swords." Well, blunt training swords, but you could still hurt someone pretty badly with one if only by smacking them in the head.

"Various people have argued for various weapons to be issued to their troops for all sorts of reasons, but you will each be issued a training gladius because it is an extremely flexible weapon. It has been argued that the short length of the blade robs the gladius of the sort of elegance a longer weapon has, and that's true. But war isn't elegant. A longer blade is harder to control and more likely to get away from you. And since you should be standing in formation with your squad mates, that's a serious concern. Better a weapon you can control when loss of control can take out a friend."

"And lack of elegance is actually a good thing here. Remember that you're part of a unit. You work together and you keep each other alive by paying attention to your squad mates at all times. If you had some nobleman's dueling sword you'd be temped to try something fancy, and you'd step out of formation to do it, and then you'd get someone you were supposed to be watching out for killed."

He turned to glare back over his shoulder to drive home the importance of his next words. "I will be teaching you nine specific strikes. You will then practice these nine strikes until you know them by heart. And you will not use any other moves with a sword in this class unless I give you leave to do so." The nine legionary strikes had been developed over centuries to be efficient, easy to learn, hard to screw up, and, above all, effective.

Since they weren't carrying any extra weight Max pushed the run a little faster and a little farther than usual, but he figured no one should have a problem with that. Eventually he drew to a stop at a cleared practice area and picked up a training blade from the waiting pile.

"There are four diagonal strikes," he began. "Up and from the left," he intoned as he demonstrated the strike. "Up and from the right, down and from the left, and down and from the right." He exhibited each move in turn. "Notice that these are not sweeping gestures. They are short and controlled, involving minimal effort." Max began demonstrating the next set. "There are, as you've probably figured out, two horizontal strikes, one from each side, and two vertical ones, upward and downward. And finally there is the straight thrust."

Max's eyes narrowed suddenly. "The straight thrust should almost never be used. You are fighting in a formation, and that means that winning just means outlasting your opponent. Your strike just has to be enough to draw blood. Do that over and over and eventually your enemies fall down and you win. Nothing fancy. None of those whirling flourishes that are in the movies. A short, quick slash is all you need."

Stepping back, he waved at the pile of swords. "Grab your gear and find some space. Practice the strikes I've shown you, and I'll come around and correct your form." Because, yeah, he expected them to screw up.

Today the room was a massive grid. Each square was about half a meter on each side and they seemed to stretch on almost forever. "Today, and most days for the rest of the semester, we'll be running during the lecture. So everyone keep up with me and feel free to ask questions if you have the breath to." With that Max set off at a decent pace, not hard enough to really push himself, he needed enough breath to lecture, after all, but hard enough that it wasn't a walk in the park.

"One of the keys to regular infantry combat is cohesion on the field. Since the battle is larger than any single person, it is important for you to have absolute faith that the rest of your team is where they are supposed to be. You must be able to focus on your assigned area and trust your teammates to watch the rest of them."

"Formations are how we do this. A formation describes not only where people stand, but also the areas which they are assigned to cover. A good formation ensures adequate coverage in all directions without becoming too confusing. Formations vary in size. Some are designed for groups of four, some for groups of four hundred. Two of the most common forms of formation are the line and the column. The line is a slow-moving but extremely powerful formation for fighting. It brings the maximum number of fighters to bear on the enemy by having the entire formation in one long side-by-side line, and having everyone side-by-side assures that they can provide cover for each other. The column is basically the opposite: it is poor for combat, but excellent for maneuvering. Each member of the formation stands behind another in one long column. This means that the formation can move through tight spaces and can turn rather quickly, but it also means that only the front few people can fight at once."

"You'll also notice that, for the most part, both of these formations are forward-facing. If someone gets around to the side or behind one of them then they're in trouble. This is why we have even slower formations like the square, sometimes called a block. In the square you have a number of line formations set up back to back so that they can watch out for each other, but you can imagine how hard it is to move efficiently like that."

"We'll be doing an exercise today involving formations. Form a line, each of you side-by-side, in the order you signed in arrived to class in." Max didn't stop running, apparently he expected them to do it on the move. "Come on, I don't have all day."

Once the line was roughly formed, Max continued. "You should stand close enough together that you can touch the shoulders of the people on either side of you. And you need to maintain that spacing no matter what. If I order you to stop, you all need to stop at once. If I order you to turn, you need to figure out how to rotate your entire line."

He smiled a bit sadistically. "Let's see how fast you can manage to learn that, shall we?"

"The key to any battle, and this is true of non-infantry units as well as infantry, is maneuverability. This is especially true in the long term. While new weapons or equipment or numerical superiority might give you an advantage one day, eventually your enemy will find a way to counter those, putting you back on roughly even footing. And thus maneuver reigns supreme again."

Max stood with his hands behind his back, at a rather impressive imitation of proper parade ground stance. His head swiveled back and forth, eyes narrowed as he looked to make sure everyone was paying attention. "Superior maneuverability allows you to ensure that your forces always occupy the best terrain, that you only engage the enemy when and where you choose, and that you can make effective use of any new intelligence you develop in the field."

His grin was probably not all that reassuring. "And when it comes to the infantry, maneuverability can be boiled down to a single attribute. Endurance."

And with that the room shifted to become a beautiful countryside. Complete with some impressively rolling hills. Also, there was now a stack of large backpacks at Max's feet, one for each student. "Each of these packs contains seventy pounds of gear," he explained. "Last week we ended things with an easy run. This week you will learn what sort of endurance it takes for an infantry unit to be truly maneuverable. You have five minutes to get your packs on and secured. I strongly recommend that you get someone else to help you secure your straps and make sure they are tight but comfortable." Because Max intended for today to be difficult.

"Oh. And you, and you," he pointed at Anemone and Ino assuming they were there. "I need to talk to you."

With that Max shrugged into his own pack, which was even bigger than the ones he'd picked out for the students. He was grinning unpleasantly because, truth be told, he was just enough of a sadist to be a good drill instructor. He was going to push them hard today. Might as well see who could tough things out early on.

"Good morning," his voice boomed. "Some of you may have taken a course with me before, and that's nice. Some of you may have met me in some other venue, and that's nice. But whatever you think you know, is wrong. When you are in my classroom there is precisely one correct way to refer to me, and that is Centurion. It is my rank, and it is a sign that I know more than any of you are likely to learn about the fine art of killing men on a battlfield." His eyes narrowed. "If any of you refers to me inappropriately... well, let's just say that things will get ugly."

"I understand that some of you may have formidable skills you think may make things easy for you here. Let me assure you that you do not. Some of you may be excellent fighters, or even warriors, but that doesn't make you soldiers. This class will shape you into soldiers, and soldiers understand tactics in a way no mere warrior can. So forget what you think you know."

"This course is divided into two parts. The first part will be focused on what are called regular infantry forces, and the second will be focused on irregular infantry forces. If any of you have military training, it is likely as irregulars. I will discuss that in more detail when the time comes. For now we will focus on regular infantry forces, and that means you must all understand the first and most important lesson: your job is to follow orders and protect your teammates. Your job is not to kill the enemy. Your job is not to be a brilliant fighter. Your job is not to be brave and heroic. You will follow orders and keep your teammates alive. That is all."

"Soldiers are professionals. The work you do is scientific, and you will learn to do it properly. Or," and here Max paused to grin evilly, "I will be glad to provide supplemental instruction."

"The reason regular infantry forces are called 'regulars' at all is that each of you has the same job to do. If any one of you falls then each of the others can take their place. It will not matter where in a formation you stand, or who you stand with, because you are trained as a regular you will know how to do your job." Not that Max would ever call them all 'cogs in a machine', but that was very much what he was trying to convey.

"That is all I intend to say today, and that leaves us with some time in this period." Max's cruel smile was back as he flipped some switch and the Danger Room reconfigured itself into a running track. "And that means we can get in some running today."

"Now run! Don't dawdle! You can stop to breathe when the period ends!"

Without so much as a 'good morning, class', Jim pulled up a ship to appear above the student's heads. He really enjoyed the Danger Shop too much.

"This is the Kobayashi Maru. She is a crippled civilian vessel that Star Fleet has ordered you to rescue from the Klingon Neutral Zone. Of course that does mean crossing from safe space to hostile territory to reach and evacuate them before you're discovered and then attacked by Klingon forces."

The ship stayed where it was, but was joined by another one slowly moving toward it as if to rescue the wee people aboard. It was interrupted as five more ships blink into existence to begin shooting.

"As you approach, several Klingon Birds of Prey uncloak, appearing around the Kobayashi Maru and begin to attack. You're completely outnumbered, outgunned and your shields won't hold for very long. There is no chance for other Star Fleet ships coming to your aide as you're the only one in the sector. So. I want you to tell me how you would win this simulation."

"Good morning, class," Jim said once everyone was in their seats. "Today we'll be discussing no-win scenarios."

Shut up, Bones.

"I want you all to split off into pairs and come up with a situation where there is no way to win other than to not go into it at all. That shouldn't be too difficult, right? When you've gotten that done, I want you to write it down and bring it to class with you next week for the final exam."

He grinned.

"And yes, there is a final exam. Good luck," He said, plopping down in a swivel chair.

He missed his so damn much.

After handwavily letting class know to meet him in the Danger Shop, Jim was grinned as he greeted them.

"Glad to see everyone survived the weekend," He said dryly. "Today we're going to be trying a little exercise on teamwork. The goal is simple. Capture the enemy's flag and bring it back to your base without being hit. You get hit, you wake up in the graveyard and do it over again. Is that understood?"

There was a push of a button and the room changed into something much, much larger than before. Or, at least, seemed to be larger. Here, Jim was perfectly at ease. Almost like being at home.

Another push and a map of the area popped up just in front of them all.

"You'll be split into two teams, Alliance Federation and Horde Klingon." He pointedly ignored any looks he may have received for that one. "There are only two entrances to each base and little to no cover in between yours and your enemy's. Work as a team and succeed or go off on your own and be killed." Jim smirked. "Have fun."

( Federation Team )

( Klingon Team )

Instead of class today, there was a note for the students.

You have a free day. Enjoy it.

And then at the bottom there was a doctorly scribble about STDs and what could be caught in the century and how someone was going to have things fall off.

...yes. Yes he did make Bones post this in the room for him.

[[Omg BDE ate my brain!]]

Jim was simply going to pretend last week hadn't happened. Because he was above that sort of thing and there was srz bznz a class to teach here. And he'd be forced to give detention to anyone who mentioned being on a boat.

But riding dolphins was fair game. Sorry, Bones.

"We're going to be trying this again. I assume you all kept the handouts from last week. If not, good luck looking it up elsewhere." Jim was such a nice teacher, wasn't he?

"Today we'll be doing more of a practical exercise in battles," He said with a bit of a smirk. "Pair off and prepare to play battleship."

James Kirk was a man with a plan. James Kirk was... teaching a group of high schoolers while nursing a bit of a hang over. But Rachel was giving him a challenge here.

God help him.

"Welcome to Tactics, I'll be your teacher. You may call me Captain---yes, that includes you, Bones--Kirk. We'll be studying battles and applying them to times when you're dangling off the edge of something real life scenarios in the class, so I hope you all are willing to try to read a book from time to time in order to keep up."

Try not to look so surprised.

"Since it seems to be all about introductions if the radio is correct, I might as well take a page from your fellow teachers' playbook and do the same. But I want you to tell me why you're hear and why anyone would follow you into a fight."

There was a pause as he seemed to remember something far too amusing for it to be nice.

"Also, everyone say hello to the teaching assistant, Leonard McCoy. He'll be glad to help you if you have any questions. A real people person, right Bones?"

"Today's the final. The one. The only. The-- well, you get my drift."

In the middle of the Badlands sim, Kerrigan leaned her weight onto one hip. "Three scenarios. And a question: what's the essence of tactics in action? If any of you gives me the Booth-- 'don't die'- you're outta here. I let it pass once, it's not happening again. To a point, there's no right or wrong answers, otherwise... unless you're a complete dumbass who hasn't been paying attention."

And-- yep, she was smirking. "Finally, there's a shot for extra credit. You want an A really damn badly?" Her expression was positively deadly. "You may have heard of a certain pixie. I'm pretty sure she's somehow involved in this whole caffeine scenario, so I figured a little payback is in order. You steal me a few bottles of her alcohol in retaliation before Tuesday, I'll give you your A."

Okay, so maybe, that had been the absolute first exam-related matter she'd come up with. She needed coffee to plan these things. "But just the booze. If I hear of any of you pranking her, you're out of here. That's dangerous behaviour."

Because stealing from a pixie totally wasn't.

There was a long, long pause.

"I'm, uh, joking." She really didn't sound like she was. "Good luck. And goodbye."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

"One more week before exam time, kids."

The Danger Shop was set up in typical badlands mode, some SCVs scurrying around the minerals in the background.

"You know what that means. Revisions." Kerrigan smirked, a little shark-like, one hand resting calmly, ever so calmly, on her rifle. "In our case, that also means a free-for-all. In other words..."

She nodded her head at the SCVs, the unused Vulture bikes, the bunkers and the two different sets of armor behind her. "Have at, kids. You'll find all the set-ups from previous classes around the perimeter. You can revise your notes on your own time; this one's for the final sim."

( wait for the ocd up! )

Class met in an ordinary classroom today; Kerrigan was seated-- well, leaning, really-- against the desk, her arms crossed. Over her breasts. Protectively.

For no reason, really.

"We've only got a class left until exam time, kids--" Which meant two weeks-- three weeks? until graduation, crap, "So today's time for a review and discussion of the past months' work before the grand final practice next week. You'll be getting your handwavey, if necessary sim stats back. Go over stuff, see what you might need to improve on, and you'll get a 30% grade on that material."

She pushed forward-- away from the desk. "Secondly, we've been dealing primarily with my universe, here. I feel it's a good learning exercise, not to mention good for the pushing whole 'working together' issue, if you all would find a partner and discuss warfare in your world. As it is, in contrast to the other person's, and in contrast to the class material."

[ open after the ocd up! ]

"While you were all either on this island or in its past two weeks ago, Dean Jones and I found ourselves butting some heads to get some important answers." Kerrigan's stance was considerably more natural-- confident, even-- today. "For that, we had to work together. Part of our mission involved infiltrating a government facility. While the intricacies of dealing with a situation like that would involve a hell of a lot more training, I feel it's important to at least be acquainted with some of the basic issues involved."

Her eyes flicked to River for all of an instant. "You learn these things, like most of the issues addressed in this course, by experience. So good luck. Make sure you don't go in alone."

She faded, leaving only a maze of dimly-lit (if squeaky-clean) tunnels behind. And, of course, the inveterate sets of armor.

[ open after the ocd up! ]

"After last week, I figure you're all a little sick of eye-to-eye." Kerrigan was smiling faintly as she said it, but there was a hint of something a little more genuine behind that expression-- maybe a little disappointed, or resigned. "So we're going to take to the skies. The Wraith is going to be your baby - or should I say, babies - today. I won't bother you with the controls-- this is all about getting yourself familiar with the basics of space superiority battle."

The Danger Shop lit up for a moment, and then all that was there was space, little stars dotting the lack-of-horizon. Something invisible played the part of floor beneath their feet, showing nothing more than further distance. An image of the Wraith appeared, as if out of nowhere, in said space.

"The Wraith is a high-speed fighter ship. The key to space superiority is speed, first of all-- but if that's got your interest, you'll have to join Engineering. The second key point is maneuverability, and that's what we're working on today. In today's simulation, three Wraiths," and the image triplicated itself, "Are at each of your disposal. It's your job to outmaneuver your enemy and blast them out of the sky."

She ran a hand through her hair. "One of the basic strategies is harassing your enemy-- deploying small bursts of fire to critically wound them before getting out of range for another pass. Don't stick to your target too long. As long as you can see them, they can probably see you..."

A smirk. "Barring any cloaking devices, of course..."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

"Before the break, I was asked 'what to do if there are no reinforcements coming'. This was mostly the subject of last term's class, but for completion's take, that will be the topic of today's class-- or rather, how to deal in a situation where you have only yourself, your own resources, and your abilities."

Kerrigan's foot was tapping against the floor of the Danger Shop, and her C-10 was pointing helpfully down. "Yourself. That's all you'll have today. No special powers. No special equipment. Nothing but you, your wits, and a big damn suit of armor."

The environment warped, bringing with it a sparse forest, mosses cluttering the ground and trees climbing up against rock walls that weaved in and out. "What do you do when you're on your own? Be smart. Be honest with yourself-- what your chances are, what you can do. You find your own advantages, be they strategical cleverness, sheer unpredictability, or mental stamina. Use them. Distract your opponent. Set traps.. Attack them straight up front. I don't care; just do something, something you're good at, and do it well."

She quirked a grin at the class. "This, kids, is where you get to shoot at each other. Remember that a hit to the head freezes you-- getting hit in a limb disables that particular extremity. Don't be idiots. Sometimes it's tactically useful to take someone out in one shot. Sometimes you have to risk facing every bit. It's all on you."

Before she turned around, she added, "And don't let the Zerglings bite."

[ wait for the ocd up ]

There was no sign of Kerrigan in the Danger Shop, which was set up as a movie theatre. When everyone had filed in and was seated, a short video began to play.

When it was finished, the Danger Shop faded back to a neutral shade of white with a suffusion of yellow, revealing Kerrigan where the screen had first stood. "Today, we're going to talk about reinforcements. Whether in-house or from afar, they can be the one thing that saves your ass. From the vid you just watched, you can take two lessons home-- one, don't be an idiot and get choked up on your pride. Before you know it, you're going to be up to your intestines in the bad stuff."

She paced a few steps towards the front row, and smirked with a certain definite air of cockiness. "Number two? Don't piss off a Ghost."

A press of something in her hand, and the environment changed again, taking the shape of a cockpit. "Reinforcements. If your battle is going to take a while, you'll need them. If you're looking for a good surprise up your enemy's posterior, you'll need them. Don't rely on the idea that they're there-- disrupting the opponent's supply lines is a popular and important strategy to bleed them dry. But if you've got 'em, use 'em."

She launched into somewhat of a technical rant about supply lines and deployment, then fell silent. Just for a few seconds. "I know all of that. Now you know all of that. Let's see if you guys are smart enough to let Captain Moron know." Another pause. "Oh, and Sokka, if he's here-- see me after class."

She faded from view, leaving only the cockpit with a communications device that was crackling.

[ open after the ocd up! ]

"We're back to the practical exercises this week, kids." If Kerrigan was going to comment on being five minutes late... well, she wasn't going to comment. "We talked about resource gathering a while back. Now, of course, you all understand the importance of keeping your resources up. If you flip that around, that means one of your prime objectives should be taking out your opponent's ability to gather resources."

She shifted her weight to one hip, then pressed a button. The Danger Shop environment gave way to the Badlands again, with two small bases on either side-- one command center, some resources, and a couple of SCVs. "In this simulation, your objective is twofold. First, you have to gather as many minerals as you can. Second, you have to try to disrupt your opponent's ability to gather resources. There's a couple of ways to do it.

"For example, you can block your opponent's access to the minerals by building a bunker in the right location. Of course, if you want to manage this, you have to strike quick, early, and well, because otherwise your opponent's SCVs can simply dismantle the bunker before it's finished. You can also simply assault the SCVs with your own, and hope your tactical maneuvering's decent enough to beat your opponent. Anything else... well, I leave up to your ingenuity."

She rubbed her forehead with two fingers. "Any questions before we begin?"

[ wait for the ocd up! remember, kids, scvs can gather resources, build structures, AND fight. sorta. only in close-combat ]

"So over the past few weeks, we've been dealing with different types of fortification." It was a noticably better-tempered Kerrigan who showed up at the front of the class today, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. "First, defensive-- bunkering up, waiting for your foe to arrive, and taking them out as soon as they hit the general area. The uses are pretty obvious, of course. Keep your enemy from invading your base, and you're not dead meat."

Any glance she may have shot at Seely was just reflex by now. "Last week, we dealt with an all together more offensive static position. Well, 'static' would be a bad word for it-- 'set-up' might be better. Still, it's a variant on a defensive position. Take over the high ground and take out your enemy before he reaches your base. You've all played out both scenarios. The matter for today is to look at the replays for the various teams that took on last week's and the 24th's simulations, and to discuss which ones worked, which ones didn't, in what kind of situation which would appropriate, and most of all, how you should balance the approaches, 'cause if you just depend on one, the enemy'll see through you like that. We'll be dealing with bigger-scale defenses next week."

She smirked. "I know it's a boring one, guys, but you're going to have to evaluate or you'll never learn a damn thing. Might actually get you something interesting to answer on your final exam, too. Have fun, don't throttle each other, and if you have any questions of your own, I'm around."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

"Hey, kids."

Lieutenant Kerrigan was doing her utmost best not to run her hand repeatedly through her hair, standing in the middle of a simulated canyon in her Ghost outfit. "We were going to do a physical exercise today, but due to circumstances beyond my control, the planning has been altered slightly. We'll be running another simulated exercise today.

"Having dealt with defensive fortification last week, we'll be working on our offense this time. You're to team up in groups of two-- one of you will be driving a Vulture cycle, which aren't hard to master, but I'd advise anyone with motorbike experience to choose this option to make it easier on your classmates, while the other uses four NPC Marines around the canyon walls to try to take the Vulture out. Vulture drivers, your job's to get to the flashing signal at the end of the canyon."

When in doubt, go with class plans a colleague came up with. "Good hunting."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]