Ren and his group entered the sentinel sim hangar and got into their rigs to start putting in their personal settings. Usually in each sentinel were default standard settings; however, Ren liked his to be a little different; no, he didn't use inverted controls; only weirdos use that; instead, he turns up the sensitivity and lowers some of the safety mechanisms. Ren then picked out four students to be his ambush team, led by the seventeenth-ranked student Andrew Boyega.
Ren told him the exact position to be with the other students and to not act before he gives the word, and Andrew agreed. Andrew respected Ren due to helping in getting wins in several mock battles in previous years, so as far as he was concerned, Ren's word was law.
Then another student, Zaira, who was the forty-third-ranked student, asked Ren a question politely. "How are we supposed to get recruited if we aren't more involved in the battle?"
It was a reasonable question, so Ren wasn't offended or anything. "Don't worry, captains prefer those that follow their orders to those who seek more personal glory. If you listen to what I say, I will even bring up your names specifically in my after-action report. I promise each of you that you will be recruited to one of the ships after this battle.
Everyone nodded in agreement before an announcement was playing inside the hangar on the speakers: "T-Minus five minutes before mock battle. Please enter your sentinels."
Ren opened a communication line to all of the other team captains in his group, plus Andrew. "Guys, quick adjustment. There's a nonzero chance that Autumn tries to flank us with a small force. If any of you spot it, call out "Queen of Spades." If that happens, Darian will take a group and take on her forces. Meanwhile, Rachel build the best defensive strategy you can around our home base. You're an ace in defensive battles."
"I got you." Rachel said with slight nervousness.
"Scarlet, as before, take out as many of them as you can. Shock and awe. Ren added.
"Sounds good to me!" Scarlet said cheerfully. She loved these mock battles, so she was more hyped than most of the other cadets.
Darian then chimed in, "I think this could work. We're behind you, Ren."
"Appreciate it, everyone. Now, let's ace this exam."
Soon the mock battle started, and Ren inputted his code into the machine. It was a game of capture the flag; one flag, either red or blue, would spawn in a specific area on opposite sides of the map; the first to capture the flag wins.
Both sides gathered and organized. Callum's forces put most of their forces into a frontal assault while Ren's side focused on spreading them out into small skirmishes.
Ren blended among the majority of his forces watching for Callum. Callum had a unique color of his sentinel being dark red, so he was pretty easy to spot with the default white sentinels.
"Spotted him. Everyone plan is ago." Ren said seeing Callum leading the attack.
Ren being Ren opened the open channel to all sentinels. "Hey Callum, how about we finally decide who the best student in the academy is?"
Ren could already hear Callum scoffing. "It's me. I have nothing to prove."
"Oh yeah?" Ren said cockily. "I think the leaderboard rankings disagree with that statement. You're right below me in the rankings...like always."
"You prick!" Callum yelled.
"C'mon, let's get this started!" Ren yelled back.
Callum left Skye in charge while he chased Ren, who was now dodging and weaving between asteroids.
"Hook line and sinker." Ren said quietly as he led Callum as far away from the main battle as possible.
Meanwhile, Scarlet, seeing the mission was now ago, led the main assault force into a direct clash with the opposing side; now the main forces best fighter was gone. Skye was a solid strategist but lacked in combat.
Riley went after Cason's squad as Scarlet unleashed her explosives into the packs of troops, including Tyler, who was immediately caught up in the explosions.
Tyler left the sim with a shocked face. "Are you kidding me? I DIDN'T EVEN GET TO DO ANYTHING!"
Back in the simulation, while in combat with Cason, Riley spotted Autumn leading a team of about eight past the battlefield, hiding behind the asteroids. He immediately opened the team channel "Queen of Spades."
Darian hearing that led his squad right to where Autumn was and began to engage her, delaying her flanking attack.
"Ren's smart as hell. Completely called it regarding Autumn." Darian said, chuckling.
"That's the genius of New York for you." Rachel said.
Rachel was getting bored, so she borrowed a sniper rifle and took pot shots at the opposing forces.
Meanwhile, Riley had managed to drain Cason's shields before finally eliminating him, taking out one of the opposing captains. So now he decided to assist Scarlet in taking on Skye.
"Where's Callum?" Lily asked on the channel as she was shooting members of the opposing team while hiding behind an asteroid with her sniper rifle.
"Chasing Ren." Skye replied. "Hot head got baited."
"Damn..." Lily said, biting her lip. "Alright, we need to regroup-"
As Lily was speaking, suddenly Skye was taken out by Scarlet's explosives, meaning that only Lily was left to handle the frontal assault. "Oh no...how did it come down to this? Callum, get back here!"
"NO! I WILL KILL THIS BASTARD!" Callum yelled on the team channel.
Ren was still leading Callum through the asteroids, only engaging him in small melee's in order to distract him from the fact this was all about the chase. A game of cat and mouse.
Callum continued following Ren, shooting all around him but not being able to hit him. "STAY STILL!"
"Nah, I'm good." Ren replied.
"When I'm through with you, you'll be on your knees begging!" Callum yelled.
"That's what your mother told me last night." Ren said, making Callum yell. See, Callum may act all tough, but Ren knew one integral fact that he had to implement into this strategy... Callum was a Momma's boy.
Callum was enraged as he still continued his hot pursuit of Ren. Until Ren just stopped, which confused Callum. "Giving up?"
"No, in fact-"
Suddenly Callum was surrounded by four other students, all aimed at him.
"You've fallen right into my hands."
All of the students unloaded into Callum and destroyed his rig, but right before logging out, Callum asked one last question. "What about the honor of a one-on-one?" Callum was trying to speak to Ren's honor...except.
All he heard was Ren laughing. "Honor? All that matters, Callum, is winning."
Ren shot one more shot at Callum's sentinel, destroying it. "Now c'mon, everyone, time to wrap this up."
With Ren's help soon enough, the frontal assault force was wiped out. Autumn's team was as well, leaving only Lily, who eventually had to surrender by default. Meaning Ren had managed to win the entire mock battle without losing a single captain of his.
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