Dead Star Dockyards

"Wall, back up. Don't overextend!"

"Sanna, you need to get some distance from the rest of us."

"Len! Come on! You have to be faster than that!"

Donovan and his squad were in the middle of a training exercise with Trebar, Tabo, Yabo, Cholst, and Kerefel, sweating it out in the center of the courtyard as they got a feel for each other's fighting style. They had been at it for an hour so, engaging in a form of light skirmish. Obviously, they were not swinging at each other with their full strength or speed. Even for training, they were taking it pretty light.

Well, everyone but Donovan.

"Titanyana, you need to capitalize on mistakes and openings."

"Wall, am I providing enough support to your flank?"

"Sanna, can you get those spikes out a little faster?"

He was compensating for his lack of experience with a plethora of unrelenting orders and questions, pushing his squad mates to the limits of their ability in an attempt to see what they could pull off. At the moment, that wasn't much.

"Len, focus on fending off incoming attacks and keeping Wall from getting surrounded."

"Titanyana, I might need you deal with any threats to Sanna in a real fight."

"Wall, try to keep two of them on you at all times!"

Despite Trebar and crew keeping their probing to a minimum, it was plain to see that there were some pretty big holes in their line. Already at the limit of what a squad could be reduced to at five people, the fact that Sanna could not contribute to any sort of front line left them in an incredibly disadvantageous position during a standard fight. 

"Geh. Sanna, how are your reserves holding up?"

"I'm close to running out."

The factor limiting how long they could go during this exercise wasn't anything to do with their endurance. What would force them to stop was Sanna's split reserves running dry. If he couldn't even use weakened and slow versions of his normal sorcery, it would be of little use for them to practice. Sanna was to be an integral part of their fighting force, representing a grand total of 20% of their manpower. Of course, the efficacy of his sorcery in a fast-paced battle like this was questionable, but Donovan had a great deal of faith in Sanna's abilities. 

"Alright then, I think we should stop here." Donovan had no interest in pushing Sanna further than was strictly necessary. The realm of split was still largely a mystery to him, and he had no idea what effects (if any) an overdraw might have on his mage.

"I don't want to be the reason you are all being held back. Go on without me."

"While I would like to, going on without a key component of our battle strategy doesn't sit right with me. Fighting with you is vastly different than fighting without you, and the chances that you get knocked out before any one of us is remarkably low." Donovan shrugged at Trebar, expressing his apologies for having the session run short. "Sorry guys, I thought we could go for longer."

"Don't worry about it, this is already longer than our occasional session by a fair margin. I think you would be better off discussing your thoughts for now. This is your first time fighting together, and I'm certain you all have complaints and questions for each other. I, for one, have a few suggestions."

"Go ahead."

"Donovan, I'll start with you. Orders are generally not issued during squad battles unless under strange circumstances. Most fights devolve into a slew of one on one-s or one on many-s within a few seconds of the start. So while I understand that you are trying to get a handle on what is going on, you should understand that you won't have the time or presence of mind to do so on the field."

"I should have guessed."

"Sanna, I'll be honest with you, I don't think you are going to get particularly far. You might have some potential in the larger scale battles and duels where you don't need to worry about hitting an ally as much, but the squad battles take place in such close quarters with so few people that you are just as likely to hit a friend as you are a foe."

Sanna shrugged. He was expecting as much, so it didn't hurt to hear from a veteran. 

"Wall, consider dropping the armor. Given how you've been using your shield, I will admit there may be some merit in going ahead with it. I cannot say the same for your armor. It is only slowing you down."

"Sorry, sir, but I will not abandon my heritage." Trebar rolled his eyes in an overdramatic manner. Evidently he had seen that one coming.

"Len, I know you are attached to that pile, but you need something faster."

"But-"

"I'm not saying you should abandon it. I just don't think you are physically big enough to use it properly. You would benefit greatly from a smaller and lighter version."

"But . . . where would I get one?" Len gave in. He wasn't going to ignore the recommendation of his most superior officer, he didn't have the guts to.

"Talk to Donovan about it." Trebar then turned his attention to the final member of Donovan's squad. "As for you. . ."

"Her fighting style doesn't lend itself well to group battles, correct?" Donovan interrupted Trebar before he got the chance to say his piece. "Titanyana has a style that is focused on the dispatch of a single opponent. When faced with two or more opponents, she struggles more than she ought to, and having an ally at her side drastically reduces the space she has available to maneuver."

". . . that about sums it up. Titanyana, I don't know what sort of overall strategy you people subscribe to, but I would guess that you employ skirmish tactics at the lowest level. Is this correct?"

"Um, I'm sorry, but could you clarify what you mean by skirmish?" Titanyana did not let herself falter at the mention of her failing. Had it gone unmentioned, she would have brought it up herself. "I think I understand what you mean, but I want to be sure."

"Small groups of fighters mount raids on enemy forces when vulnerable, retreating once the main body of the force begins to respond to the threat or when they begin to lose the initiative. I imagine the justification is to break enemy morale or delay them whilst on their way to a larger engagement?"

Titanyana's ears flattened a little. They didn't have the manpower to force the type of 'larger engagement' Trebar made mention of.

"It's a little different. Instead of smaller raids on a larger enemy, we purposely spread the enemy out across a large region with rough terrain and win individual battles against smaller groups. I would instead call them 'ambush' tactics, dispatch the foe in front of you before making a decision to retreat or dispatch the next one."

If a Nekh soldier got the drop on an enemy, they were almost guaranteed a kill. They would then be able to retreat, to run away, leading any enemies that followed in pursuit into a trap set by other Nekh. This sort of fighting was the only way they could mount any sort of effective resistance with their numbers, reducing the casualties they suffered. 

"Hm." Donovan furrowed his brows, muttering under his breath. "Guerilla warfare?"

"Sorry? I didn't catch that." Trebar couldn't make out what Donovan said. Titanyana heard it perfectly.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. I was just trying to compare her explanation to something I'm more familiar with."

". . . what is there to compare? It's an ambush."

"'Ambush' is a term that covers a broad range of engagement methods. When you target an specific individual, you might call it an 'Assassination'. Against a larger force, you might call it a 'Raid'. Against a smaller force, a 'Skirmish'. On a wider scale, the frequent employment of these ambushes makes them something entirely different. Once they become common enough to be expected, you don't even need to mount an ambush to deal damage. The mere threat of an ambush can push a soldier over the edge, seeing things where they aren't or attacking allies that weren't in the place they thought they would be, reducing morale as the stress gets to them." Donovan scratched his chin as he looked Titanyana up and down. "Sanna, remind me. Can you make dust clouds, dirt walls, or anything else that might be able to obscure someone's vision?"

- - - - -

Titanyana found herself facing off against Tabo and Yabo, again. Earlier, she had found that every time she wanted to take one of them out, one brother would disengage from his opponent and cover the other. She probably wouldn't have had as much of an issue had her output not been restricted, but the exercise was meant to give them an idea of their performance when faced with a foe on par with their strength and skill.

Now, those limitations were gone. She and the twins were going to fight two versus one, though to say Titanyana was alone wouldn't be completely correct.

"Do you all have your masks on properly?" All three of them tugged on the cloths covering their nose and mouth to demonstrate they were properly secured. The resident expert on the subject of wrapping cloth around the body, Nemo, had done it for them to ensure no dust got in their mouths. "Titanyana, can you see?"

"Yeph." Her mask muffled her speech slightly, but she could still be heard. Donovan had brought down his 'sunglasses', an interesting item that was currently resting on the bridge of her nose. They had obviously been designed for Terrans, the little sticks on the side that would normally rest in the space between his ears and head didn't work for the Nekh. Her ears were closer to the top of her head, so while the sticks had a little bit of catch when stuck in her hair, any sort of sudden movement would dislodge them and send them to the floor.

Fortunately, it was relatively easy to fix them in place with the same wraps that covered her nose and mouth. 

"Alright. Sanna, have you rested enough for this?"

"If all I'm doing is blowing up dust clouds."

"Great. You boys ready to make some noise?" Donovan now addressed the 'combatants' close to the edges of the courtyard. They would be responsible for making a ruckus, simulating the environment that a real battle would entail. Should Sanna be able to create the dust cloud Donovan was hoping for, they would struggle to see Titanyana, but there was every possible they could hear her. The frequent clanging of metal on metal accompanied by the shifting of feet in the dirt should do plenty to disguise her approach. 

"If everyone is ready, start in three, two, one."

It took a moment for Sanna's actions to have an effect, so they didn't so much start moving as they did jump away from each other. They weren't here to fight as they normally would, they wanted to test the feasibility of Donovan's theory.

houfffffff

A puff of air rose from the ground, bringing with it a cloud of dust and sand that hovered in the air. A gentle yet turbulent breeze told Titanyana that Sanna wasn't just leaving this cloud to settle, instead prodding and disturbing it to ensure it lasted and remained as obstructive to sight as possible.

How obstructive was it? Titanyana felt like she could see the ground out to about five or six steps. Farther than that, it was pretty much a wall of brown and tan. She couldn't see so much as a shadow of Tabo or Yabo, and she knew they couldn't see her either. Without these 'sunglasses', they would have to contend with dust and sand getting in their eyes. Right now, all three of them were effectively blind. They knew the general location of their opponent, at least for the moment, but they had no way of tracking their movement.

Well, the twins couldn't track her movement, Titanyana had a secret weapon.

krch

It was faint, barely audible through the damping of the dust and the chorus of sounds coming from outside, but she could make it out. That was the sound of a boot pivoting in the dirt, one of the twins turning to look in a different direction. Unfortunately she couldn't get a read on their distance from such a subtle movement, all she had was a direction, but a direction was all she needed. She darted to the side, trying her best to approach in the manner Donovan had suggested. 

Part of this was to gauge just how close she would have to get to the twins in order to see them. In theory, she would be able to see them first because of the glasses, but it was important for her to know just how large of an advantage they were. Was it a few paces? Only a sword length? Was the difference more to do with field of view? A restriction of how far they could make things out from either side? This was the time to find out, and the tests were unlikely to stop today. Donovan would probably have the rest of the squad train in these conditions, to get used to the limited visibility and accustom them to Titanyana pouncing on a target.

She wasn't a tactical or strategic genius by any stretch of the imagination, but she could clearly see how much of an advantage this mutual visibility limitation could confer. If anything, she would liken it to fighting in a snowstorm or blizzard, the preferred combat condition of her mother's clan. All she needed to do was adapt those tactics - tactics which had only been academic to her at this point - to the current situation.

The ground, while softened from the puff of air, was nowhere near as good at absorbing sound as snow. The dust wasn't as good at absorbing sound either. That said, this was solid ground, so she could move much faster. Additionally, this dust cloud was vastly more consistent than a random weather event. She wouldn't have to worry as much about a sudden drop in intensity revealing her location.

Titanyana stopped after dashing a few steps, movement from the twins suggested they had heard something from her direction. Two sets of footsteps seemed to be approaching her location, off by a few degrees but still approaching. One was steady, the other noticeably less so. Treading lightly, she moved a few feet out of their direction of travel, picking up a handful of dirt as she did so. Crouching to reduce her profile, Titanyana waited. 

One step, two steps, three, the twins slowly moved along, probably believing that remaining static would put them in a vulnerable position. Every few seconds, she would tightly shut her eyes to reset her vision, a precaution against missing their shadows against the murky background. She had a few false flags, but eventually she could be certain that the pair of shadows moving perpendicular to her current position. 

. . . was one of them walking backwards?

One of the shadows was clearly facing opposite their direction of travel, arms semi-outstretched in front of him as he shuffled his feet. This would explain why one of them sounded shaky as they walked, and it was probably a decent method of defending against an ambush. 

Once more Titanyana began to move, directly towards them this time. She took care to avoid sound, gradually approaching until she could vaguely make out their faces. Satisfied, she stood up. Right now, she didn't know if they couldn't see her, or if they hadn't noticed her. She was assuming that this was the distance at which they could see her, but she wasn't going to give them any help by moving. 

". . . ah!"

The instant one of them noticed her, she darted away, committing the distance between them at that moment to memory. The two of them naturally gave chase, but with the initiative Titanyana possessed from being faster and reacting first, they wouldn't be able to catch up to her. They would, however, be able to follow the sound of her footsteps.

This was where the dirt came in. Spitting in it to get it wet and begin to clump together, Titanyana stopped and threw it at the ground a few feet to her side after gaining enough distance, moving silently in the other direction. Would it work? It seemed to this time around, but she had no idea how far this tactic would go in a real fight. For now, it was good enough. She began to close in on her prey.

Once more visually confirming their presence. They were both surveying their surroundings, occasionally wiping their eyes as they did so. Several times, they looked in her direction. They didn't act. Titanyana was comfortable in assuming she was 'hidden', and prepared to strike. 

The twins seemed to have this odd sense of space with regards to each other. Without communicating, they moved in tandem, each rotating around the other with their backs turned an arm's length away from each other. Immediately, she recognized this as a weakness of theirs, not that they could fix it. Because there were only two of them, there were only ever two directions they could be looking. Being back to back like this meant she had the smallest area from which she could approach, but their regular rotation meant that she could time her pounce to catch them at the worst moment, when she was perpendicular to their axis of sight, but which one would she strike?

She held her sword with her right arm. The twins seemed to be ambidextrous, though it appeared they both favored their right arm as well. Right now, they were rotating counterclockwise. Given this, it would be most advantageous to attack the one holding their weapon on the other side of their body, meaning the one on her left at the time of her attack. 

Titanyana didn't need to do any of this thinking in her head though. To her, this was on the level of instinct. Of course the person on the left would be easier! She could feel it.

Jumping forward to gain as much ground while still silent, Titanyana prepared to strike. The moment she touched ground and began to dive forward at them, the twins would react to the sound. She needed to be fast. Fortunately, Titanyana had speed in spades.

"Dead."

Titanyana didn't even need to unsheathe her sword. By the time her prey had managed to get his weapon in a position to fend off an attack, she was already crouched by his stomach, the prime place to kill him from. All she did was place the palm of her hand on his stomach and continued on through, dashing out of the remaining twin's sight just as fast as she had entered it. 

He did not chase after her.

"Oh come on!!!"

- - - - -

"Judging from Tabo's discontentment, I'd wager she pulled it off." Trebar laughed a little at the lament of his subordinate. Considering how much trouble those two made, it was probably a little bit cathartic for him.

"Do you think it was skill or luck?" Sanna, eyes closed in concentration, asked the opinion of his betters. "Titanyana isn't exactly the type of pushover that would require a handicap to beat them, unless I have completely misjudged the twins' strength."

"Maybe not, but the twins don't strike me as pushovers either. If this little smokescreen of yours didn't contribute, I imagine we would have heard a clash of some sort before we got word of one of them being defeated." Donovan permitted himself a mild smirk, his idea had the potential to be a viable stratagem in combat. "Alright, drop the cloud. You've done enough for today. All I wanted was to test my theory."

"Yes sir."