fandomhigh | Battlefield Tactics, Thursday

This time, the students' visit to the Danger Shop would reveal a teacher. Kerrigan stood atop a rock, her arms crossed and her bearing very, very steady. "This is a practical course," she said. "Nobody's going to teach you how to run an army in seven easy steps, so I hope that's not what you had in mind when you joined us here."

She raked her eyes over the kids. "Practicals," she said. "The goal is for you to start thinking creatively through experience." A pause. "Or something like that. You, and you. You, you..." She pointed at a few random students, pairing them up one with the other. "Team up. On the other side of this ridge is a small army. We have higher ground, they've got numbers. Near the back of their encampment, against this very same rock, is their food supply."

"You're all outnumbered. So the trick is to starve your enemy. It's going to be hard for them to find another way out of this valley and set up a steady supply route. You've got some Danger Shop explosives to take care of the whole thing, but don't abuse the Danger Shop safeties."

One more glance their way.

"Now go."

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"Funny how starvation erodes loyalty at times," Karla said. "Especially when they weren't particularly loyal to begin with. But I wouldn't trust them on just their word alone. I have other methods of determining motive and intent."

"Yeah, so do I," Kerrigan replied, voice a slow drawl. "Funny how reliable that sometimes isn't." She tilted her head, all inhuman grace, and added, "The more you look for loopholes to let them off the hook, the more chances you give them to stab you in the back."

"Nothing is foolproof," Karla said with a shrug. "I don't know anything more about this army than what you've told us, but the rank and file of most armies are filled with people who don't have much stake or say in what happens."

She looked back to the valley again. "Do they have a source of water? That I know about, I mean."

"Bottled. A single shallow pool," she said. Her face didn't show any change as Karla spoke; she still looked disinterested. "Thinking about something?"

"Starvation is slow and painful and not the kind of death I'd wish on...most people." She'd been about to say anyone, but that wasn't entirely true, was it? "I can't allow the entire army to surrender, because they outnumber us by a significant degree and going through systematically killing all the officers and higher ups will just harden sentiment against me."

She sighed. "And just letting them leave, even if I made them leave all their weapons and gear behind, just means that I'll have to face them again another day, at a spot possibly less of my choosing. But I do know that with their food gone, they'll be drinking a lot more water. And if this is a significant portion of their army...maybe we can broker peace afterwards. At least it will be quicker." That didn't stop Karla from looking miserable for suggesting it, though.

"You want to poison the enemy," Kerrigan said, and finally, there was a note of something - approval - in her tone. "Amazing. I didn't think any of you had it in you."

"I don't like it," Karla flared. "But I've promised my people that I would do anything in my power to take care of them. And I'd rather do this now and end it here than continue a long drawn out fight that will kill more people on both sides before it's done."

"No one's asking you to like it," Kerrigan said, flatly. "I, for one, don't give a shit. The only thing I'm interested in is making sure you know that on the battlefield, your morals are going to have to be compromised." Her mouth quirked dangerously. "But I see you have a feel for the stakes..."

Battlefield Tactics, Thursday

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