Melbourne received an assault rifle, pistol and kevlar vest from the armory and proceeded to head out the door towards a yellow triangle indicating the destination he was expected to arrive at. He signaled his squad to follow him.
As Melbourne's squad rushed down the corridor of the space station, a voice blared over the intercom.
"Attention! Breach in Elevator Room 3! All troopers in the area, be alert! One squad of intruders has breached the torus!"
Melbourne signaled his squad to stop running and maintain a more stealthy pace, issuing squad commands based upon a virtual interface that didn't require knowledge of actual sign language used in real warfare.
Melbourne's Aclito assisted the simulated combat, showing cursor lines to indicate enemies he had not noticed himself. This was how he noticed three soldiers rushing down the corridor towards them.
Melbourne signaled his squad to fan out into multiple wall niches on either side of the corridor designed to help ambush intruders. He then instructed the closest soldier to wait until the third rebel was in his sights. This way, the entire group of three enemies were killed at once before they ever saw their attackers.
A golden star appeared in Melbourne's vision. Presumably, this was the VR congratulating him on a job well done.
"Another rebel squad has breached Elevator Room 3!" boomed the voice on the intercom. "All other elevators now secure! I repeat, Elevator Room 3 is compromised!"
"Ah, so we're playing 'capture the command post'." thought Melbourne. "I always had fun playing those kinds of FPS games. The enemy will be able to insert reinforcements through that point at a steady rate until I and my squad take it over."
"Go! Go!" commanded Melbourne. "We need to retake the elevator before they can consolidate any more forces in the outer station!"
Melbourne studied the map of the area outside of Elevator Room 3 and noted seven red dots. He then analyzed his squad and looked at their specialties.
[Adrian Mneknonic: Assault Infantry
Job Description: A normal foot soldier who specializes in assault rifles. Heavy fire keeps the enemy suppressed. Same as the squad leader.
Equipment:
*Assault Rifle
*Pistol
*Grenades: 5
June Lama: Riflewoman
Job Description: An accurate marksman who specializes in taking out enemies from a distance. Her primary weapon is designed for more accurate shooting at the expense of an assault rifle's high rate of fire.
Equipment:
*Hunting Rifle
*Pistol
*Grenades: 5
Lenny Giralde: Grenadier
Job Description: Great for taking out rooms full of enemies in close proximity and removing pesky tanks or other armored enemy installations. His primary weapon is a rocket launcher and he is an expert at using grenades the most effectively.
Equipment:
*Rocket Launcher (Ammunition: 5/5)
*Pistol
*Grenades: 10]
"You're limiting me on the use of my grenadier's primary function." thought Melbourne. "I wonder why this simulation gives regular weapons infinite ammo?"
"Get back!" yelled a soldier as a white dot approached Melbourne's squad on the map.
Melbourne gestured his squad to hide in the tactical niches again and the newcomer joined him.
"My whole squad is dead!" cried the soldier. "We were ordered to take Elevator Room 3, but we were outnumbered. The rebels were waiting for us!"
"Shh!" demanded Melbourne, looking at the red dots on his map. "Looks like they're returning to the elevator room. I think they're trying to build up their forces before they begin invading the rest of the station. We are going to take them out before that happens. What's your M.O.S.?"
"I'm a sapper." said the man. "The name is Corporal Lorenzo. The enemy hacked the automatic turrets before sending troops up. I was ordered to utilize the manual override in the room to get that system back online."
"Sounds like you would be useful to us." said Melbourne. "I'll help you complete that mission."
[Mission Update: War Games
*Retake Elevator Room 3
*Protect Sapper Lorenzo as he fixes the automatic turret system.]
"Adrian, you set up at the nearest door into the elevator room. You will go in firing on the enemy as soon as your watch screen receives a green signal light. I will take the middle door. Lorenzo and June, you will stay behind me. Lenny, you will go to the furthest door and wait until you hear gunfire. After that, you will enter the elevator room and throw grenades at the largest clusters of enemies you see. When you get into position, send me a green signal light. Understood?"
"Yes, Corporal!" exclaimed Melbourne's squad in unison.
Lorenzo's dot turned purple, implying he had turned from a non-important factor into a direct asset to his squad.
The squad rushed to the horseshoe shaped section of corridor that skirted around the elevator room and got into position.
Melbourne ordered June and Lorenzo behind a crate that would give them cover. Melbourne then received the green light from Lenny, sending a similar message to Adrian in turn before opening the door to the room and running in firing.
June immediately started shooting the furthest foes from the cover of the crate as Melbourne and Adrian started mowing down enemies. The last door into the room opened and two grenades were thrown at two different groups of rebels.
As the last rebel was slain, the elevator lights signaled a down arrow, implying someone was ascending from the central hub of the station.
"Squad, form up inside the elevator room!" commanded Melbourne. "We have captured the command post and must hold it while Lorenzo fixes the auto turrets. Do not let Lorenzo be killed under any circumstances!"
June and Lenny both moved in and took cover behind shield walls welded into the floor by the military for situations just like these, training their eyes and guns directly on the elevator door.
The elevator dinged and the door began to open. Lenny immediately threw a grenade into the elevator, killing four of the five newcomers while the other one came out firing.
Before he could hit anyone, June's bullet hit his head and sent him falling to the floor.
"Next!" exclaimed Adrian eagerly.
Just then, Melbourne noticed the four bodies of what must have been Lorenzo's squad lying on the ground with the dead rebels. Even though he knew it was a simulation, Melbourne couldn't help but feel some grief for the sapper.
"Alright, the manual override is running!" exclaimed Lorenzo. "Elevator Room 3's automatic override will be complete in five minutes. We just have to hold down the fort until then."
Lorenzo picked up an assault rifle from one of his dead squad mates and prepared to join Melbourne in defense of the entry point.
"These elevators can deliver a fresh batch of passengers once every minute." commented June. "That means we have to kill one wave of troops every minute until the time is up."
"Yup." said Lorenzo. "After that, not only will the turrets in this room work, but hidden machine gun turrets in the elevator will terminate any passengers who enter. That's why the other rooms are already considered secure. Their manual overrides were successfully activated remotely from the command center. Unfortunately, there was an error with the wiring to this one, so I had to come here personally. That's why this room was compromised and they managed to get a temporary foothold. Good job getting it back. I'm sure you'll get some kind of commendation for it, maybe even a promotion if you're lucky."
Five minutes passed and the reinforcements arrived wave after wave until the manual override was complete. Melbourne's squad easily took each wave out without suffering a single casualty of their own.
"Elevator Room 3 has been secured!" sounded a voice on the intercom. "The torus has been secured. All enemies have been pushed back to the central docking hub."
"Good job, Corporal!" sounded an ecstatic voice over Melbourne's communicator. "We have stopped the enemy advance into our station, but we need to retake the docking hub now. Your squad has proven capable. Here's the situation. A missile has taken out the docking bay's anti-spacecraft turrets. However, the enemy has installed their own similar weapon inside. If sapper Lorenzo can take that over, we can stop enemy reinforcements from boarding the space station. However, there are four enemy fighters hovering in the docking bay who are eliminating any infantry units we send into the room. The elevator you are guarding exits into an area of the docking hub with excellent cover, so you should be able to infiltrate the area without being noticed too fast. Get up there and start blowing up those bastards. As soon as you take down the fighters, I can risk sending reinforcements to help you take over the enemy's anti-spacecraft weapon. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" exclaimed Melbourne.