Combat Training, pt. 1 [Open to Outsiders and masochists]

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Chase stands at one end of the room, left fairly blank for the moment, looking over those who've chosen to respond to the open invitation to get in some more training, watching for reactions as much as anything while he speaks.

"For those who don't know, I am Adam Chase, Chases-Parked-Cars. You can call me Chase. In fact, you will call me Chase. And regardless of ability, you will call each other by name while here. We are all soldiers in the same war. I am just a soldier with knowledge that can and will save some of your lives. I will teach it, and in the process, I will find out what you can do and learn from you too.

You can and will use whatever the hell kind of language you fucking want with me, and with each other. I do not like people censoring themselves without need. If you have something to say, say it, and say it quick. If you are offended by my fucking mouth, this is not going to work well.

While in here, I am teaching, you are learning. You will do what I say, or you will leave. However, if you have questions, any questions, or wish to question my methods, say so, godsdamnit. Always question authority - it is the only weapon soldiers have against stupid fucking orders. Be warned - if you question me, I will make you run, I will make you do painful but productive drills, and I may kick your ass - because any authority will do that or worse if you open your mouth when they think you shouldn't. This is not punishment, this is a lesson. Question authority, face the fucking consequences of pissing off authority, and do not stop out of fear of punishment. It may hurt, but unlike some authority, I will answer your questions, even if you piss me off.

That does not mean I brook disobedience. If you're going to learn, you'll do as you're told. Sometimes you have to suck it up, and believe me, I will not be doing anything for no reason. You just get to ask questions along the way.

This is not mandatory. Anyone may leave any time they wish. If you choose to leave because you're bored, or its too hard, good riddance. But I promise you, you make it through all of my classes, I will fight beside you, I will go to hell and back for you, and if necessary, I will die for you, the same way I would for any of the people I trained with back home.

Everyone is going to learn some basics, and everyone is going to learn some small unit tactics, some infiltration and some wetworks. After you know the basics, I will start working with each of you on individual combat styles. I know at least parts of a dozen fighting styles, armed and unarmed, plus long range weapons - but there are some things we'll be getting to first.

I will warn you. This will often not be fun. You will leave my training tired and bruised, and wake up with sore muscles in places you didn't know you had muscles. I do not go easy. There will be days where you hate me, to which I say, good. As long as you know there is a reason for it, and keep coming back.

Any questions?"

Comments

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"Good to see you again." Chase offers first to the trainee, then addresses the wolf, oddly, in lupine, approximating the sounds as best a human throat can manage, greeting it, bidding the animal welcome to the show, effectively.

"You've obviously had some training, seem to be getting on fine."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Fontaine regarded the man with an amused look and simply nodded his head in greeting.

Nokosi paused in his push-ups and pulled his legs under himself, sitting back on them. "Greetings Chase! It is good to see you as well," he replied with a grin.

He nodded his head in agreement to Chase's second statement. "Yes, like the other denizens from Azeroth and probably most others on this ship, I come from a world at constant war, et cetera, et cetera."

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"Ahhh, Azeroth, ok. Yeah, I heard some about that. Horde, alliance, lich king, all of that. Sounded like fun." Half-joking. "Whatever else, they do a good job training their soldiers."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

"And a lot more, yes. If anything the War games were fairly exciting!" He shrugged a shoulder and wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

"Well, if you do not get any type of training then you are a civilian and if you are a civilian then you are pretty much a casualty." Yeah it was sad but true. A commoner's life was rough like that.

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"I hear that. Mostly the way on my world, except there, if you were a civilian, you could end up a casualty... unless you were secretly possessed by a demon." Yeah, he can relate to the life in a war zone, even if the wars were somewhat different. "We'll be doing some war games and such eventually here. Right now, first goal is to get everyone instant standing out of habit - when they can do that, its a good sign they're in shape to handle the next stage."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Possessed by a demon? Well that sounded more like the beginning of a good adventure! He struggled to resist the urge to ask Chase question after question regarding his world. Instead he only bobbed his head in understanding, though the action was stiff.

"Well I suppose I will keep working on it until we are all ready, then. Some others should be working, too," he said, shooting a look to his giant wolf companion. Fontaine merely yawned in response and slid down to the ground, laying on his paws.

So far so good.

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Chase grins at the wolf. "(We can run some hunt and stalk drills for you later. I could use a run anyway.)" he growled, before answering the hunter. "Sounds good. If you're not struggling to keep up, feel free to chat. I'm making the rounds here anyway and checking in with everyone. Also - since you're fairly far along with previous training, what's your combat specialties? Done any stealth work?"

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

The blue wolf perked up an ear at Chase's words. He'd always found the 'formal training' of humanoids fairly boring. He'd just prefer to be out in the wild with his 'master', anyways. Fontaine nodded his big, furry head in reply and then looked knowingly at the elf beside him.

"I have! I am a Hunter, specializing in what is commonly referred to as the 'Survial' skill-set. Excelling at tracking, poisons, traps, and explosions. I fight mostly at a long range, via bow with Fontaine," he pointed to the wolf lounging beside him. "And traps, keeping the enemies at range so that I might make the best use of my bow."

"Since tracking is a big part of what I do- or did; I am very good at erasing my scent. My people also have an affinity with the night, giving me a slight edge as far as stealthiness goes." When he was actually trying to be stealthy. Otherwise those earrings, trinkets and other things dangling from his ears made quite a lot of noise.

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

He takes that in, considering for a few moments. "Alright, preferred weapon is bows, got it. You ever used a sniper rifle? Also, since showing up here, you run into any of the pilots or anyone using a clock for coordinates? 12 is dead ahead, 6 is watch your ass, all of that?"

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

A sniper rifle? Well if it was what he thought it was... "No, I do not use guns as they are particularly noisy when tracking in the forests." So were exploding arrows but by the time it made noise it was already too late. Justified? Right.

"I would also have to say no. The terms for such things were fairly generic when in a larger group and in a smaller group it was mostly hand signals."

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"No worries, there's no wrong answers. I just needed the yes or no. Bow is fine, may eventually see if I can find you a sniper rifle with a silencer. You can stay low when providing covering fire with those, which you can't as much with a bow... though for main combat use, will plan on sticking with plans around the bow. I just want to cross-train people as much as possible for the best efficiency as a unit."

He steps back a little. "Ok, clock coordinates will be important for the next step. Hand signals are good when everyone can see each other clearly, and facing the right way. I'll be using some of those, and if you want to show me your style, I may adopt them, since we have multiple people from Azeroth already... but for now..."

He gestures straight ahead of himself. "That's 12, from there, there's degrees." He begins moving the arm around, pointing to each clock point, narrating as he goes. "That's one... two... three is directly off to that side... four... five, 'on your six' is 'look out behind you', and so on. Easy enough, right?"

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Well he wasn't much of a Marksman hunter as the poisons, explosives or jaw of a horse-sized wolf usually made sure that every shot counted, anyways, but he'd certainly try adopting a new style.

Fontaine glanced at Nokosi and huffed once, a toothy grin on his furry face. "You're going to shoot yourself in the face with a gun. I can see this happening already," he said through their Spirit link.

Nokosi opened his mouth to reply to the wolf but quickly closed it and snapped his head back in Chase's direction when the man continued to talk. "No," he chimed up. "I would gather it is mostly the same, the only thing difference is what the actual vocal commands were." You know like, "By Muradin's beard, get outta th'fire ye bunch o' sons'a Ogres!"

He nodded slowly as the man continued to explain. After he had done so, the elf simply regarded him with a lopsided smile. "I know how a clock works and what it looks like. My world is not THAT primitive in comparison. I would just need to know what every number stood for, is all."

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"Each number stands for a direction. Which is important, since you're close to getting to those drills as soon as I find a partner for you to work with. Especially for you. Soon as we get you into some marksmanship drills with a sniper rifle and scope, I'm going to start teaching you some sniper tac. Basically, when we get to small unit drills, you'll be spotting... telling people from a distance where people are by clock drills... so the field team can adjust and know where people are with only a couple words, even when they're out of visual with you. All of them will be trained to know that twelve means they're dead ahead, six means someone has gotten behind them, where one, eleven and so on are so they can adjust without seeing the enemy.

First though, you and a training partner are going to practice fighting back to back, practicing coordinating quick turns and telling your partner where they'll be striking by clock face, so they know where to attack as soon as they make a turn, without having to locate an enemy. Its a combination of footwork drill, getting used to working with a partner drill, and coordinates drill. You'll both set a fixed 'clock', and be helping coordinate for each other while back to back and moving."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

He sat still, listening intently and trying to make sense of everything being said. So far it seemed as if he were going to be given the Archer rank of a Sentinel. Expert marksman using the environment for cover and carrying out ambushes. Maybe he could learn to properly do an 'Aimed Shot'. It all reminded him of how much he'd wanted to be a part of the Sentinels and how quickly he was denied. Damn Night Elf gender divisions.

This second part seemed fun, though. He very rarely trained with a humanoid partner, barring the sparring sessions with Ronnae. And fighting back to back was usually reserved for the cool melee, kids anyways. It did bring a question to mind, though.

"Where does Fontaine come into all of this?"

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

"On sniper duty, he'll be a sniper guard. Because a good sniper can be the eyes for an entire group, the group is depending on their intel... which also means not always paying the best attention to their own position. Fontaine will be an early warning system, guard your back, and be someone to give you some cover when you need to move or get into melee.

In the clock drills, Fontaine will get to watch at first, since you're going to be the one who needs to coordinate with other people. When we get into small unit and infiltration work, he'll have an active role.

After all, the two ultimate points of this - one is to teach people new combat styles and maximize people's fighting potential, yes. But the main one is to build people into an elite unit, where the whole is greater than the individuals. He'll even get to be an assistant teacher for a bit when I work with a group of four or five and start teaching wolfpack drills and circle up and protect - since he probably learned both of those a long time ago."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

"So...his role does not change. I am glad as I would hate to be asked to keep my companion behind. He has quite a few skills relevant to this line of work." Great! The adventure just wouldn't be the same without him.

Fontaine looked positively happy to be getting such praise. He and Chase were certainly going to be good friends, he knew already. Nokosi's eyes wandered to the golden-white ones of the wolf and he nearly laughed at the pleased expression, there.

"He is both honored and appreciative of the tasks you have given him. And yes, he does know, as do I. I spent two decades being watched over by his mother and more than half a century caring for her pups and theirs, three generations down."

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

No real surprise that a wolf will fit right in with tactical plans designed by a Bone Gnawer.
"No one needs to be left behind, long as they can keep up and get through the training, and long as they can work together. And he's welcome to chat with me any time. I understand wolf just fine, even if I speak it with an urban accent. So far, I'm finding I can work with the people from Azeroth just fine."

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Fontaine stretched his legs and yawned loudly before turning his gaze to Chase then to Nokosi.

"Stand up guy. Why can't they all be so damn courteous?"

Nokosi shrugged. "Mortal society, I suppose. You are just an animal in their eyes, Spirit beast or not," he said, seemingly to himself.

With an annoyed huff, the wolf pushed himself up on his haunches and looked to Chase. A low growl rumbled in his throat, followed by a series of light barks.

[Well that's just swell. I look forward to be treated as an equal by someone other than my 'master'. Or 'side-kick', as I know him.] The wolf grinned mischievously.

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

One way to do this properly. Leaving Nokosi to focus on the endless repititions and exercise a few moments, Chase shifts to a form more suited for speaking in lupine. He may not prefer his lupus and hispo forms, but he's made sure he knows how to get the best use out of them, and if turning into a 175 pound rottweiler helps communication, that's fine by him.

[Why wouldn't I treat you as an equal? You're here for the same reason as anyone else?]

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

Fontaine eyed the dog curiously before lazily plopping himself back to the floor. [Fun trick. You some kind of Druid? Can't say I've ever seen a Human attuned to nature enough that they'd be able to shapeshift. Barring curses, of course.]

He raised a skeptical brow at Chase and snorted. [Why would I expect you to? The lives of animals are never treated as equal to a humanoid's, except maybe to the enlightened or caring. There's a reason why using nature and the elements isn't something you can just 'learn'. I appreciate it, though. Haven't had the chance to speak to anyone on board except 'through' my buddy over there.]

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

Chase gives the canine equivalent of a casual shrug, hunching up the broad shoulders of his canine form.
[All of my people are shapeshifters, but only to canine form. There's others in my world with other animal forms. I get along fine with some ravens, anyway. Didn't say you'd expect me to... but I was born in this form, not the human form, so I got a different perspective and all.]

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

[Interesting.] He cocked his head to the side, [So that's your 'normal' form, then? Like dragons, do you shapeshift into the form of a humanoid for convenience's sake or have you always possessed the ability? I figured I might as well ask before my 'brother' beat you to it; not that his curiosity won't eventually make him bombard you with a thousand and one questions, anyways.]

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

[That's fine, I don't mind questions. We have to keep the shifting secret in our world, but not here. Some of my people are born wolves... occasionally dogs. More are born humans, we're all 'weres', either way. I don't know how long I spent living in this form before I got pissed off enough to go nuts and shift the first time... wasn't so good at telling time then. And most of the time, I prefer humanoid form... having hands is useful, and everyone around me preferred it, easier.]

[nokosi.livejournal.com]

[Hn. That seems wholly depressing and aggravating to have to hide all the time. I can't blame you there. I would kill to have some damn hands right about now, but the Spirit of the Wild is really picky about that sort of thing. Eh. Maybe one day, but I'm not going to hold my breath.]

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

[Yeah, can't help you there. But yes, if anyone outside us and our allies figured out what and where we were, we wouldn't last long. The enemy outnumbers us by thousands to one.]