Breed

Chapter Twenty-six

"I know the tassles feel silly," Linc said, "but there's a point to them."

"I thought we were sparring," Ben said, trying to get his touch football belt to lay properly around his large waist.

"We are. But I want you think of this like football, not because it's a game, but because I think the structure will help you focus. One of the things that people new to soldiering tend to do is forget that half of a fight is defensive; they want to charge in, guns blazing. And you need to keep both aspects in mind if you want to get out of a firefight alive.

"To that end, the girls are going to start out on offense. They'll each take their shot at the same time, and boys, you dodge or defend. You get hit, you lose a flag. Lose two, and you're out. Hit each other, don't try to hurt each other."

"I can handle any minor wounds," Cris said.

"I don't think you should have told them that on their turn," Ben said.

"Do you want us to coordinate?" Rox asked.

"No plan. Just go."

"Sonya?" Mira asked, turning in her direction. "Can I borrow one of your bombs?"

"I prefer boomlets," she said, forming one in her hand, "if only because it's less likely to get me put on a no-fly list."

Mira crouched, clutching the explosive tightly to her chest. "Oh, crap," Sonya said, as she realized what she was doing with it. The boomlet exploded in a cloud of smoke. Mira rose out of it.

"Thanks. That'll give me a little more oomph."

"Oh, crap," Ben said. Mira came running right at him. He held out his hands, and shook the ground. She had enough momentum she barely faltered. He turned his palms up to her, and the force vibrating out of them rippled her skin, but she kept coming, and tackled him to the ground.

"Valiant attempt," Linc said, as Mira ripped one of the flags off Ben's belt.

"Yeah, she kind of unmanned me."

"Ladies?"

"This feels kind of like shooting fish in a barrel," Sonya said, creating enough boomlets to fill each hand. She started flinging them with abandon. Ben used vibrations to knock the balls of energy away, and Rui turned to a gas, so they fell harmlessly through him.

"Mommy," Cristobal said as they landed all around him and started to explode.

In the confusion, Rox ran at Rui. He phased again, into a gas, but she leapt at him, anyway, falling into the dirt behind him. "Nice try," he said confidently. She dropped one of his flags into the snow.

"Looks like all of you didn't phase uniformly," she said.

Irene opened her mouth and screamed. The scream was small and tinny, but piercing and all-encompassing. It made Ben wince, but only about the level of nails on a chalk board.

"Ah," Ben said, then looked to Linc.

"Well, she kind of hurt our ears. But I'm going to say no points for that."

She frowned.

"Part of the point of this experiment is to find our weaknesses, not to shame us for them, but so we can work on them, or where necessary, compensate. That's three hits and a miss. Gentlemen, what have you got?"

Rui turned to plasma, and floated. Ben held out his hands and started the earth shaking. "I have never felt less adequate in my life," Cris said, standing between them.