“We need to focus on team scenarios.” Helen said during one of their team meetings after dinner.
“We are doing just fine with the individual challenges, our team members are at the top of every individual scoreboard.” Marcus answered.
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t graduate, we are falling behind the others, and we are in fifth place now.” Sakura said.
“We just need to do better, it will add up.” Marcus retorted.
Helen sighed. “The individual challenges give less points than the team ones.” She said.
No one said anything for a moment, each sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, mulling things over in their heads, they all knew that they had to change tactics if they were to retake their place at the top.
“We suck as a team.” Paul said. No one said anything, they knew that he was right. Their teamwork lacked, they were able to get average scores in team challenges by relying on individual skills, the majority of their points came from individual challenges, at the time it was enough to give them the top spot, but when the others started improving their scores their team fell behind. The other teams had also each elected a team leader, while theirs hadn’t.
Again no one said anything. After a few minutes Noah finally spoke.
“We need a team leader, someone to direct us in team challenges.” He said.
“And how do we choose?” Alexander asked.
“We could vote.” Paul said hesitantly.
“Not going to happen.” Ana said. “Face it, we would vote for ourselves.”
They all nodded, and then Adrian was struck with a thought.
“That was their plan.” He said.
“What?” Bethany asked.
“Think about it, the other teams are all balanced, while ours is full with people who have great individual talent and are leaders. We don’t work well when we need to listen to others.” Adrian answered.
The rest of them all looked surprised that they didn’t see it before.
“So what? They want us to fail?” Sakura said angrily.
“I don’t think so. I believe they want us to learn to work together, and maybe to learn how to follow.” Adrian said.
“So we got handicapped, and we are back at the start, we need to choose a leader amongst leaders.” Bethany said.
“Or not…” Adrian said a thought forming in his head.
“What are you thinking?” Bethany asked.
“Hm… I’m thinking that we were given a lot of freedom.” Adrian said.
“So?” Helen asked.
“So, the other teams, they choose leaders on their own, they weren’t told that they had to. The trainers only care about the scores, not how we get them.” Adrian paused.
“And that means what exactly.” Ana asked.
Adrian smiled as his idea finally fully formed. “We don’t choose one leader, we chose ten.” He said smiling.
The others looked at each other bewildered.
“Uh, Adrian, that is the problem we are having now.” Tania said.
“You misunderstood me. I don’t say we don’t change a thing, I say we literally choose ten leaders.”
“I’m not following.” Marcus said.
“I think that I am.” Bethany said a smile forming on her face.
Adrian turned to Bethany and asked. “In how many fields are scenarios divided?”
“Obstacle courses, combat actions, hand to hand, zero gravity and individual scenarios.” Bethany answered.
“So?” Marcus asked.
“We chose ten leaders, I get it now.” Sakura said.
Adrian smiled at her. “Yes, we divide the scenarios, ten leaders, each one of us gets to lead in the area he is the best in.” He said.
“That might work.” Tania asked.
“We would need to split our training time.” Sakura said, the rest of them eagerly joined in, their excitement rising. By the end of the hour they had split scenarios amongst themselves, Paul would lead during scenarios that included boarding actions. Helen would lead the obstacle courses in gravity, while Marcus would lead obstacle courses in zero gravity. Noah would lead them in their training for individual challenges, as he had the most top scores, while Sakura the station boarding courses. Alexander combat scenarios in zero g, Ana capture the flag courses, Tania hand to hand, and Adrian and Bethany would alternate in combat contests against other teams. They decided that rather than doing all scenarios at once, like the other teams were doing, they would focus on one area first and then moving on to the other, they divided their remaining time so that each team leader had enough time form strategies and so that they had time to get used to his leadership, they had also left some time close to the end of the twelfth month to come back and try to improve anything that they thought they could. They spent the next three days training, without entering in any scenarios. The trainers came by their training area, each team had their own training area assigned to them, and asked why they didn’t do any scenarios, and they just replied that they were training. On the fifth day of training Paul was finally confident enough in their teamwork and his strategy to enter one of the boarding scenarios, by then they had fallen down to seventh place. For their first try they chose one that had them boarding a disabled pirate vessel, with the goal to gain control over the ship, they chose that one because the others tended to avoid it as no one had actually managed to take control of the ship. The ship was a three hundred meters long cruiser, with a crew count of over eighty, most of whom were armed.
Team 9 (named after their room number, since they didn’t decide on a name by the deadline the trainers chose the name for them) arrived at stations simulation center, and entered in the boarding scenario. After they were all “jacked in” they closed their eyes and suddenly they were on boarding shuttle, on their way to the pirate ship, they checked their weapons as they were taught to do, doing everything even though it was just a simulation, it felt real, and their trainers would evaluate their attempt and add or detract points accordingly.
“Alright, remember the plan, keep in constant contact, and let’s do this!” Paul said over the comms, they were all wearing light assault armor, completely sealed off. The only thing anyone could see was a black armor, and a dark gray visor on the helmet, the only way to discern who was who, was by pinging their implant signature. They were off course in constant contact by implants and their visors had a HUD that showed a name above each of their head. Implant connection was of course simulated by the central computer, they were in fact connected to the simulator by their implants and weren’t in direct contact with each other. That was also the reason Iris wasn’t in the simulation with Adrian, the computer was simulating the standard implant. Iris could have accessed the simulator through Adrian’s implant, but doing so would alert the staff of her presence, and that was still a secret. They suddenly heard a bang, and their shuttle shook as it was attached to the pirate vessels hull, they could hear the cutting mechanism opening their hull, and after a moment they saw a green light show above their heads, and a hissing noise that told them that the opening was pressurized. They stood up, and moved into a formation with Alexander in the lead and entered the ship. They had cut into the ship’s cargo bay, there was no one here, after they all entered, they slowly moved towards the elevator, which led to command deck. The simulation program was smart, it adapted to the players, and it never responded in the same manner, so the experiences that other teams had were of little use, except for one thing. They knew that the command deck was filled with pirates as other players decided to try and board closer to the command center, so they decided on a different tactic. All simulations had material that went with it, from mission objectives, to “rumors”, schematics and such. Paul had studied those schematics in great detail, and had come up with a plan that they all believed could work. There was some bickering about the execution until we were reminded by Helen that Paul was the leader for this scenario. After that they had quietly assented to his plan, not wanting to have to deal with others messing with the scenarios they will lead. The scenario had strict parameters, they couldn’t chose equipment that they carried, so their assets were limited. Each one of them had a standard N22 assault rifle, light assault armor equipped with a small oxygen tank that could provide up to three minutes of breading air, standard K17 side-arm pistol, not much kick but it was silent, a flash grenade, old tech but still effective for stunning hostiles, and a stun rod similar to that of the batons of Earths police, only these were shorter and could deliver enough shock to render the enemy unconscious for several hours. As they arrived at the elevator Sakura immediately opened its control panel and attached clamps on the main line that controlled that sent the commands to the elevator giving her access and control to the elevator systems. After a minute of hacking the panel through her datapad, she turned back to the rest of them.