"Alright, we're going with plan C, mobile defense, visibility is poor so they'll have to come closer in order to hit us. I expect Gray will do the opposite of what he normally would do so I expect him to play aggressive." Kelly stated.
"I think you should play aggressive with him, ma'am, he seems kind of dense, and I don't mean just the match!" Bridget spoke up.
"Sergeant Jacobs, keep your mind on the match!" Kelly reprimanded her slightly.
"Yes ma'am, was just worried you wouldn't since we've never seen you so friendly with anyone, especially a man, before."
"Noted, but you have nothing to worry about, the past is the past. Two Columns while we move, Double-V formation when we stop, I'll take point, Jacobs, Dove, and Graves will take rear with the railguns."
"Ma'am, permission to speak freely?" Alice finally butted in.
"Granted, but make it quick, we need to find ideal terrain before Gray's team does."
"I have worked with him in the past, while he is... creative... he doesn't have the training or command experience that you have. I don't feel comfortable if we're going to be taken orders from him."
"Focaccina, your candidness is appreciated, I suppose I should be honest with you all as well. I disagree with how the military wants to enlist all of the players without telling them the truth. I want to show them that regular players are just as effective as military trainees at piloting mechs and that we can work together. I know it is selfish of me to impose my own views upon you so if any of you would like to not participate I will understand."
"Ma'am, we appreciate the honesty, I imagine all of us will gladly follow you, that includes myself that has been with you the shortest." Alice said with a slight smile.
"Awww, did Alice make a short joke?" Britney said teasingly.
"F**k off Britney! I am 152 centimeters tall, not a dwarf!" Alice said angrily
"Sergeant Focacinna, they're just messing with you, drop the profanity, you do not need to be short with them." Kelly said sincerely.
Kelly suddenly realized what she said and her face flushed red with embarrassment. Fortunately nobody could see this since they were in their mechs already so she pretended that it was not meant as a joke.
Kelly did have good teammates as they knew she didn't mean it as a joke, but that still couldn't stop the other girls from almost exploding internally with laughter and the occasional chuckle still managed to sneak through the comms.
"Ok, cut it out! We're moving!" Kelly finally barked.
The 8 mechs steadily moved through the jungle, seemingly not bothered by the weather and terrain. They came across a small clearing that would allow them to get into formation without a tree getting between them.
"Ma'am, single contact on sensors, must be their scout if we can pick it up at this range!" Tia said while her mech walked next to Kelly's.
"Agreed, keep moving toward it, make it look like we're going on the offensive!" Kelly ordered.
"Yeah, this looks like where Gray would set up an ambush." Kelly thought to herself.
"Stop here, mount railguns, deploy spider drones in all directions." Kelly ordered
"Roger!" came across Kelly's comms from every one of her teammates.
The reason Kelly's team didn't take a scout mech this time was the military's spider drones and the lack of viable sniping terrain. Flying drones made more sense, but the canopy of trees would get in their way so spider drones were used instead. They had no combat ability, but they had sensors for detecting enemies within 50 meters of them.
"Ma'am, spider kinda picking up two enemies at our 10 o'clock."
"Kind of?"
"Ma'am, they appear to have some sort of jamming so we can only detect their approximate location."
"Copy, hunker down, one and two face 10 o'clock, three face 4 o'clock. Open fire at any movement."
A few muzzle flares flashed where Bridget and Caitlyn were aiming their two rail guns and they both aimed directly at the flashes and squeezed the triggers. They felt their mechs shake under the immense recoil even though it was a simulation.
"No hits!" Bridget shouted.
"Bridget, aim slightly left of previous shot, Caitlyn, slightly to the right. Fire again!" Kelly yelled.
Two more shots rang out from the rail guns, this time Caitlyn said excitedly "Hit ma'am!"
"Finish it off!"
Bridget and Caitlyn aimed again, following where Caitlyn hit and looking for a mech to be moving after taking a direct hit from a railgun. Both fired again, this time Bridget yelled out, "Hit! Got his leg!"
"Good, he's no longer showing on sensors, look for the second one!" Kelly started to feel excited, she was confident in her victory thanks to her team member's coordination and her superior mechs and weaponry. "Ok, if I know Gray, he's probably going to sit back and wait for us to move then counter us as well." Kelly thought to herself.
"Spiders picking up 2 more at our 3 o'clock, out of firing range and not moving." Alice said.
"Yes! This is Gray playing defensively and taking his time to think up a strategy, he always does this!" Kelly said to herself starting to feel even more sure of herself.
"Advan–" Kelly started to say
"Spider drones picking up 2 more coming fast from 6 o'clock! Entering fire range!" Felisa suddenly said.
"What?" Kelly thought to herself, Gray was never this reckless. "Bridget, Christine, adjust for the 2 approaching, Caitlyn keep your eye on the second mech that is still hiding from earlier."
The team quickly and efficiently positioned themselves just as two mechs came bursting out from the tree line behind them and opening fire. Bridget and Christine both opened fire on the two mechs approaching them without waiting for the order.
"Got his arm!" Christine said excitedly.
"Just grazed the other." Bridget said dejectedly.
By now the two mechs were able to finally start chipping away at their armor and the mechs without railguns started to anxiously reach for their heavy battle rifles.
"Maintain position! Open fire with the heavy rifles from optimal range!"
Christine and Bridget fired another salvo at the two mechs coming from behind them but both shots missed as they seemed to be able to predict the shots slightly by watching the blue glow of the charging coils on the railguns.
"Found second mech! Firi–" Caitlyn started to say excitedly.
Christine suddenly interrupted her "My gun is down!"
Caitlyn spotted the second mech that was hiding when it had opened fire on Christine's mech, but it seems the target was not the mech itself, but Christine's gun. By having Christine and Bridget aim behind them, they gave the remaining mech hiding in range a perfect shot at their weapons.
"Damage?" Kelly yelled.
"I'm fine, but Heather's mech shorted out from the discharge." Christine said calmly.
"Take Heather's weapon, Bridget, pull your railg–"
Caitlyn interjected "Second mech down!"
The second mech appeared to be opening fire on them continuously, and after a well aimed shot, Caitlyn seemed to have hit its torso as it stopped firing.
"Ok, Caitlyn, help Bridget fin–"
Bridget interrupted "My gun is down too, no damage, but railgun won't spin up!"
"I was wrong! I only finished off the first mech!" Caitlyn said while gritting her teeth. Feeling frustrated with herself she started firing shot after shot after the muzzle flare that had hit Bridget's gun.
"Caitlyn! Calm down!"
"I almost got it!" Caitlyn said angrily as she fired several more rounds at the mech that was hiding earlier. "Got him!"
Caitlyn watched with satisfaction as the second blip from the spider's sensors disappeared leaving the 10 o'clock direction clear. Alarms suddenly blared on her weapon's status and she immediately released the railgun. Electricity arced again and shorted out the mech she was using as a mount.
"Rita is shorted out, taking her gun!" Caitlyn decisively took Rita's gun from her shorted out mech.
Kelly bit her lip and thought "Now we're 6 vs 6, but without our rail guns, they could kite us since we only brought heavy battle rifles, Bridget doesn't even have a weapon aside from her pistol and combat knife. I made a mistake, Gray sold me on the offensive, but I never expected him to act so hastily! I can do the same!"
"Advance towards the scout! Probably 2 mechs there, but if we can take out their scout, they will lose most of their vision!"
Kelly and the 5 remaining mechs on her team left Rita and Heather since their electronics were shorted out. They could be restarted, but the process of jumping it would expose one of their mechs as well as the shorted one so it wasn't exactly something you did during combat.
"Bridget, take point, I know you don't have a weapon but that way if they have any surprises for us we won't lost another weapon." Kelly said, she didn't like giving this kind of order, but she also knew it was the most logical.
"Understood, taking point!" Bridget said calmly, she didn't like the order either, but she also understood the logic like Kelly thus didn't complain.
With the 2 mechs behind them and the 2 mechs at their flank able to to out range them, they advanced towards the tree line to get out of the clearing. They wanted to take out the scout mech so that they could hide in the forest and use their weapons to their full advantage since they needed to be closer than what Gray's team needed to be for their optimal range.
"Spider drones showing that the 2 mechs originally at our 3 o'clock have started to advance rapidly towards us, the 2 from behind us are also giving chase but they are slower than our mechs." Alice reported.
"Good! Maintain a direct heading, we want to push the scout and its escort into the corner of the map, destroy them, then scatter in the forest and use the spider drones to find them and pick them off one by one."
Kelly's heart was thumping for some reason, she was above average in military and also why she was given an officer's position, but she never considered herself superior to anyone else. Still, she really wanted to show Gray how much she improved even if he himself hadn't changed a bit.
"Ma'am, ground is starting to look strange!" Bridget yelled out.
"Crap! I got lost in my own head!" Kelly thought to herself. "Full stop!"
Everyone's mech came to a complete stop, Bridget's was the furthest ahead and she felt her mech become extremely sluggish immediately.
"Having trouble moving!" Bridget's mech was trying to lift its legs but the feet of her mech soon were unable to break the surface of the ground.
"Quicksand! No unnecessary movements, back out slowly!" Kelly ordered, but she found her mech was having trouble moving its feet as well. They had picked fast mechs, but they weren't strong enough to overcome the weight of the mech's leg and the force created by the quicksand's displacement.
Only Tia, Caitlyn, and Alice were able to turn their mechs around to face the 4 coming from Gray's team. Bridget, Kelly, and Felisa were stuck facing forward.
"He got me, this is what he wanted all along..." Kelly whispered to herself. "Everyone, engage your targets at will, we fell for his trap, but let's take out as many of them as possible!"