This was a live-action exercise. Normally, it would not have given Harold cause for concern, but the difference between this and training was that here, he was being asked to kill fellow cadets. The angry shouting coming from what he presumed to be the leader of the opposing team only exacerbated his worries.

"But hell," he muttered to himself, as the Rostosov cleared the dim confines of the hangar and came upon the surface. "Didn't I ask for this?"

Naked sunlight now bathed the entirety of the mech's form. Its rotary cannons the size of small buildings gleamed particularly bright as they were unpainted. Engineers who had worked on the Frame realized early on that doing so was pointless, as the extreme heat generated while firing would simply melt the paint away. The ground mulched and crumbled under the massive weight of the Rostosov as Harold sent haptic inputs to make the thing walk forwards. He discovered that he still had to send almost as many counter-inputs as regular ones. Sighing mildly, he realized he'd still have to learn how to properly pilot the damn thing.

Logic Gate suddenly shooting up the atmosphere took Harold by surprise. Elora, up until now, seemed like a crybaby who did not possess the guts for taking the initiative. Turns out, he was wrong. He was beginning to comprehend three things very well:

1.) He probably wasn't the only bastard who knew how to fight around here.
2.) These kids were here testing experimental weapons with him for a reason.
3.) He signed up for this, so he had no right to complain.

"Shit, I think I might've been a jerk," he muttered again. He was shook from this line of thinking when a crude battle map was uploaded to his display, tracing from Logic Gate. He nodded vigorously in approval.

"We've got a map already?" he transmitted at the command channel, and his elation was palpable in his voice. "Hell, that's fantastic work, Elora! One down, only one other issue left," and he stopped, turning the Rostosov around to face the others behind him. "And that is - what is going to be our plan? I know we've discussed lots of tactics down there, but it's time to decide which one to actually practice."

"At this point, I am against the notion of splitting ourselves into smaller groups," he opined. "The good lieutenant said that we're fighting against superior numbers, so I'd rather we all stick together - but not too much, of course - to prevent getting destroyed piecemeal. Let us also assume that our enemies are just as combat effective as we are on an individual basis. So they have fire superiority."

"I suggest then," he said, brows furrowed on Elora's map. "That we make an ambush in difficult terrain. Let us deny the enemy their advantage in numbers. I think that most of our mechs should not have too much trouble traversing such an area."

"Do you guys see that bunch of massive pillars to our left? We can use that place to hide. What I'm thinking is that we can engage the enemy until the weight of their numbers catches up with us, at which point we can retreat deeper into the pillars and do it all again. We will conduct a defense in depth. Does this make sense to you guys?"

"So, opinions? Thoughts?"