Fandom High School

Being a telepath, Sarah Kerrigan was slightly more resilient against earworms than the average human being. She had been keeping the song at bay since she'd woken up early that morning.

She had a final to give.

"Alright, boys and girls, your final will be part written and part practical. The theoretical part is childishly simple, really. Per module-- infiltration, unusual weaponry and battlefield maneuvers-- write down what you consider to be the three most important points about the subject."

She paused, rubbing her temple. The song was literally starting to drum through her skull. She would not give in.

"After you have finished the theoretical exam, you can move on into a short simulated exercise with a small team consisting of a firebat and a stealth agent."

Oh, it was an insistant one, worse than the time she got stuck with a few drafted farmers from the outer edges. Like someone was beating a stick rhythmically on her brain. She was going to chase it back down to whatever pit of hell it had come from.

"It's your mission to disable the objective without causing enough of a ruckus to get all hell on your heads. Good luck."

Mission succesful. It was done. She would not have to speak again.

She took a breath, collected herself, paced a few steps towards the desk, and bellowed, "HERE! COME! THE DRUMS!"

A silence passed.

Kerrigan smacked herself in the forehead very hard, growled, and sat down.

[ ocd coming up! for non-whovians: here and here ]

"Today, we're talking about something a little different." Lieutenant Kerrigan entered the Danger Shop suddenly, holding a laser pointer like it was a deadly weapon. "We've been working on the best way to function as a small unit against a major force-- but that leaves little room to deal with counter-strategies. Since that hasn't exactly been the focus of this class, we're just going to be taking a look at one of the most major of early opening strategies. Rushing."

She called up an image of a large quantity of Zerglings rushing down a hill into a base. "It's the art of getting a lot of units in before your enemy has been able to compose themselves enough to keep it at bay. In practice, for you guys, this may well easily become your life. Once the rush has breached the perimeter, you're lost. That doesn't mean, however, that it's an impossible strategy to deal with. What's important, and unfortunately we won't be able to fully go into the details on this due to the time, is maneuvering what units you do have at your disposal in such a way that they can take out as many enemies as possible while taking the least amount of damage."

The image shifted to show marines standing on the rocks on both sides of the base, firing into the masses. "Is your enemy short-range, use the higher ground to your advantage." It shifted again, giving way to images of poison-spewing Hydralisks instead. "If they possess firepower, you're going to want to distract them away from your more lethal units so they can do their damage." Firebats came up ahead to attack them while the marins still fired up above. "And don't forget about the importance of stationary defense. If you have any kind of automated defense system at your disposal, use it. If you don't, set someone up within the perimeter with the biggest gun you've got. Block your entrances. Keep your exits to a minimum. Deploying your base of fire in the right spot is half the battle already."

The images clicked away. "Mind your fire," she said, "Keep it suppressive from one location while you pick them off from the sides if you've got the firepower for it. And don't forget about your range -- if they've got long-range, you'll want your short-range up ahead on distract while your long-range grabs them. Now it's your turn. Have a go."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

"My finals are cursed."

Ladies and gentlemen, Kerrigan's opening statement. Paraphrased. The original was a little more on the profane side.

"I'll just... evaluate last module based on class assignments," she noted, and if anyone thought that was unfair, they'd... probably do best not to think it too loudly. ( Anyway, all that being done... )

"This is the very basis of micro tactics," she finished, as the heavily oversketched whiteboard vanished into the background, "So you can laugh and call it 'easy' if you'd like, but if you can't manage this, anything else is essentially beyond you and I suggest a desk job."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

It was definitely a Danger Shop day, but Lieutenant Kerrigan was looking a little bit more frazzled than usual. If there was a reason for this, she was not going to announce it to the class.

Instead, she would probably just yell at someone given an excuse.

"Today, we're going to be dealing with air assaults," she informed the class briskly. Her eyes were doing that neat little staring daggers thing. "Obviously, when you're outnumbered, unless you've got damn good maneuvering skills or a rock the size of a planet over your head, assaults from the air are going to cause some major damage which will probably end in your horrible death. That's where sheer force of armament is going to be on your side. A good shot with the right gun can take a bird right out of the sky."

What followed was a rant so technical as to be downright impressive.

"Keep your heads nice and down, kids," she finally segued probably much to everyone's relief, "You do not want a bullet from a Wraith cruiser in your head. Really puts a crimp in your day if you're, say, powdering your nose or pondering your existential angst, Adama. It's all a matter of range - take that ship out before it takes you and there's no problem. So you kids are going to go get some practice today, and if I hear anyone complaining I'm going to--"

Pause.

"Do something Dean Jones would probably disagree with. Get working."

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

It was Danger Shop time again.

Except Kerrigan wasn't wearing any armor.

That would've been the first tip-off right there.

"Thanks to certain students in this class," she said, crossing her arms, "We have a slight change in the curriculum today. We are going to be concerned with diplomacy and its advantages in the field."

She didn't sound like she felt it had any advantages in the field of all places.

"Since I still believe we all learn by doing, that means we're using the sim to place you in a situation where you will have to negotiate yourself out or die. As this class is his particular gift to us, Adama if he is here can go first. And show you all how it's done."

If you thought she was smirking, you thought wrong.

Really.

[ wait for the ocd up! ]

Today, the Danger Shop had been programmed back into its Badlands setting. The students, as they came in, found themselves standing in a valley with only one exit, with a line-up of Marine armor propped up against one of the walls. Kerrigan stood atop the rocks, her rifle in her arms.

"I have assigned you all groups of two. One of you will be the team leader, another will be assigned a stealth simulation protocol so they can operate what basically amounts to a personal cloaking device - but only within the confines of this sim. Don't try to take this one home, boys," and she may have shot Sokka if he was there a look, "You'll just end up disappointed. Your mission, and it's not up to you whether or not you get to accept it, is to get your stealth unit past enemy lines to the command centre some two miles from here. Check your minimap if you need to retrace your steps -- and good luck."

She turned around and vanished behind the rock.

POINT	CLOAK
TEAM A
Seely Booth	Harry Potter
TEAM B
Peter Pevensie	Bridge Carson
TEAM C
Michelangelo	Rikku
TEAM D
Gwynn Hood	Adam Park
TEAM E
Molly Hayes	Lee Adama
TEAM F
Z Delgado	Sokka
TEAM G
Anemone	Marco Conrad

[ wait forOCD UP! I will ping in with omg bad guys after every two rounds of pings from every member of the team; teams changed to two a piece because your timezones break my brain. for those of you not playing, handwavey is our friend! ]

Sarah Kerrigan stood in the middle of an empty Danger Shop, wearing a simplified version of the Ghost armor. She had a serious expression on her face.

"Hey, kids," she said, "Welcome to Alternative Tactics, which is a pretty poor grouping name for a bundle of skills and knowledge you're going to need on the battlefield when you don't have a large army at your back and the bad guys seem to be holding most of the cards. Situations where ingenuity, resource management, stealth and superior maneuvering can save the day."

"I'm Lieutenant Kerrigan; I'll be your instructor for the duration. We'll be working in the environment I'm most familiar with. You'll find, however, that a lot of these concepts and skills will be of use no matter where or how you're fighting."

The Shoppe environment gave way when Kerrigan activated the program. It reconfigured into the dry asphalt tundra of the Badlands. She was standing on the rooftop of some burned out shops, holding her weapon gently.

"For the time being, though... You'll need some Marine armor for the course, so pick whatever color you're feeling," she grinned, "And have a look around. Get a feel for the sim. I'll see you at the end."

She turned around to leave, but then paused. "Oh, and you've got guns," she noted, "Point and click. Don't be an idiot and shoot someone. It won't kill you, but I'd rather not waste your time and mine reactivating frozen suits." Smirking, she hopped onto the ground.

[ wait for ocd up! ]