“Gosh darn that’s a lot of stuff you went through,” Elvira said. “How did you have time to think through all that?”

“It’s more a question of practice,” Hitori said. “As you gain experience in fights and duels you should get the hang of it. I’ll try to get us a spot in the Training Center tomorrow so we can do a crash course.”

“Yay… more training.” Elvira smiled. The pair had taken a wide loop away from the Armored Carrier, and were just returning.

“Eventually you’ll know every room in that building better than your own family,” Hitori said.

“Yes. Good. So what are we doing out here then?”

“No need to be nervous,” Hitori said. “Today we’re going to teach you the Omega team super secret strategy.” He was grinning like a skeleton.

“Should I be worried.”

“Perhaps.” Hitori leaned in. He continued in a hushed whisper, “It’s the ancient and powerful technique known as… not dying.”

“What.”

Hitori laughed.

“He means running away,” Gordon said flatly. “Likes to pretend he’s some tactical genius.”

“Hey, how dare you mock the legendary ‘Kite and Fight’ technique,” Hitori said. “It’s gotten us through literally every field exam and class tournament.”

“Legendarily annoying,” Gordon said.

Hitori poked his tongue out at him.

“The gist is never fight the guy in front of you,” Gordon said.“That is a gross oversimplification,” Hitori said. “Even for you.” Gordon shrugged, an innocent grin on his face. “It’s about divide and conquer. We aren’t really the strongest team, so I had to get a bit creative.

“Thankfully we have two ranged fighters, so by keeping everyone very mobile we can wear down opponents. It’s a slow process though, which is why we’ll probably need a few Dragon Stims.”

“So that’s what we’re doing here today,” Elvira said. “Practicing this ‘Kite and Fight’ thing?”

“Basically,” Hitori said. “We’re going to start a few fights with the sentries here and have you try out different positions.”

“Positions?”

“Yeah, these aren’t official names or anything, at least until I publish a paper on it.” Hitori grinned. “But the strategy calls for three positions. Kite, Fight, and Pivot. Kite is ranged attackers, who keep a safe distance and engage targets of opportunity. Fight is melee attackers, where I’ll cut off anyone chasing down Kites and try to distract people. Chandra’s our Pivot, where she acts as the loose center of our formation. We circle back around to her when we need a refresh.”

“It sounds simple enough,” Elvira said. “What’s the catch?”

“It’s slow and finicky,” Protius said. “And it’s surprisingly hard to coordinate while five angry badasses chase you about.”

“It’s like a deadly game of tag.” Hitori smiled. “Though I’m not sure if it scales well. It works on a small group of targets, but against large numbers our opponents could trade out weakened members.”

“How do the other teams do it?” Elvira asked.

Hitori hummed, then said. “There isn’t exactly a standard, but most of the others rally around an ace while the rest of them play defense.”

“An ace?”

“Someone like Bridget, who can go one-on-one with any of our classmates.”

“I had the impression Protius was really powerful,” Elvira said.

“Aw thanks,” Protius said. “Unfortunately I’m a bit of a glass cannon.”

“If you practiced more you wouldn’t be,” Hitori said.

“Hey, if they wanted me to be a melee fighter they’d have tested me on it.”

“They did, you torched the poor bastard before he could do anything.”

“Yeah,” Protius smiled, staring dreamily off into the distance. “Mmm, Flame Thrower Arte.”

Elvira waited a moment, looking over her teammates. Gordon was teasing Protius, while Hitori rolled his eyes at the pair of them. Meanwhile, Chandra was standing a little outside the group. She kept quiet, but her eyes followed the conversation.

“So, Chandra,” Elvira said. “I get the Kite and the Fight bit, but I don’t know about the Pivot. Are you like the other side of the pincer or something?“

Hitori tensed. He started to shuffle away, grabbing Protius as he left. Gordon meandered back towards the truck.

“Not exactly,” Chandra said. She dropped her gaze a little. “I guess I’m more like the bait.”

“Wait, what? Can’t you fight?”

“Well, I’m a Paladin…”

“Didn’t Li tell me….” Elvira pursed her lips. “Nova got some kind of special privilege to train you guys. Is that right?”

“Yeah,” Chandra said, “but I actually came in about a year late, and I’ve had a lot of catching up to do. We’re not the best fighters, usually, so Nova likes to train Paladins in other skills.”

“Ah, so you’re kind of like me then,” Elvira smiled.

“Not quite so bad, I think,” Chandra said. “But a bit.”

“You know, I don’t mean to pry,” Elvira leaned in a little. “But I get the impression Hitori doesn’t like you.”

Chandra blushed. “It’s not that, not exactly. I think he was hoping I’d be more like Seht.”

“The Paladin on Bridget’s team, right?”

“Yeah, and he’s something else,” Chandra said. “Seht was always stirring up trouble back at the Temple, running into town and getting in fights. He likes playing the hero.”

“What about you?”

“Me? Oh, I stuck to myself. Buried in my studies, you know.”

“I meant why’d you join Nova? I can see why some would, but you don’t seem like the adventurous type. Not like that’s a bad thing, but I have a hard time seeing you volunteer for this.”

“The High Chaplain, uh, suggested I’d be a good fit.”

“Ah, that’s basically what happened to me too,” Elvira smiled. “My uncle put me up to this. We’re pretty desperate for sponsors to support the Grey Order, and he thought Nova might like seeing someone who could compete with the White Temple.”

“Kind of a last minute thing then?”

Elvira laughed. “Yeah, I’m what you might call a ‘prototype’. If we were sensible we’d have waited for the second generation before trying to make a sale.”

“A… sale?”

“Oh! No, no. I’m mixing my metaphors here,” Elvira giggled. “I wish I’d practiced Mairtalan a little more growing up. I guess my dad had a point….”

“The Grey Knights don’t have a language plan yet?” Chandra grinned.

“Hah, I’m not sure they have much of any plans. The Order might just be a collection of nerds. Anyway, I was talking about bringing in stakeholders. I think I’m still the only Grey Knight, so I’m not sure we’re ready to look for partners.”

“I see Hitori tapping his feet over there,” Chandra said.

“Right, training. I almost forgot about the spider legs,” Elvira said. Chandra peered at her for a minute before Elvira grinned.

Chandra rolled her eyes. “Well, you’re fitting right in.”