Harol's laugh was loud after Sigma had made that statement about strawberry cake. He sat more or less comfortably within the heart of the Rostosov, whose gargantuan feet continued to make conspicuous craters on the ground. The Forest of Pillars was still some distance away when Sigma, among others, volunteered to take up a scouting role, headed towards that massive pillar at the center of the battlefield. Initiative was good, but there was a characteristic among his comrades' battle chatter: nobody knew who was calling the shots. There was no officer in charge. And this was reflected in the lack of unit cohesion as Team Sigma mostly tried to get to Zone B. Roger and his mech Yeager's overboost, as much as it was an impressive display, it also made him frown a bit.

"Alright Eiswolf," he said, voice still having traces of mirth, "you have my blessing. Give 'em hell. I hope you'll join us later among the Pillars. I trust you more than enough to retreat when they focus fire on you."

"And Miss Shinkai," he then began, and he only remembered Lora's last name because it was there in clear, bold letters on his display. "I perfectly agree with what you just said." Mostly since it was what [i]he[/i] had said, only dissing the ambush part, though he wouldn't say it right now for diplomatic reasons.  "Yeah, nevermind that ambush part. With mechs the size of these, I, uh, don't think that's possible. As for our formation, I am suggesting this:"

He ahem'ed. Hopefully it would be enough to catch everyone's attention.

"I want everyone with ranged weaponry at the edge of the Pillars, and everyone without them further within. The moment we see the bastards close enough, we open up on them. Use the pillars for cover. I want a kilometer or more of spacing between each unit. My mech Rostosov and Ariin's Paladin should take the center since we are the most heavily armored."

He paused for a moment to let that sink in. Harold absolutely [i]hated[/i] the fact that he wasn't issuing orders regardless of his stern manner of speaking, but simply [i]requesting[/i] that his squadmates do as he said. Authority was split among who spoke the loudest in the group, and it was completely up to the kids to say 'yes' or 'no.' Divided command? Harold chuckled. More like no command at all!

"In the event that they overwhelm us, we retreat deeper within the pillars. Melee Frames can shine here, but the narrow combat width will work against us just as for us. I know some of you guys are ahead of me - if you can scout the place and find a clearing which we could possibly turn into a killzone, let all of us know. If we can't defeat them at the outset of the engagement, we can destroy them there."

"That sound good, fellow Cadets?"