Dasha couldn’t stop herself from snorting at the enthusiastic response from the only person (besides the commander) that wasn’t a criminal. Ah, it had been a good long while since she’d seen a good soldier boy. She imagined he was not very thrilled with the idea of being with the likes of this group, but hey, they were all volunteers. He knew what he was getting himself into when he signed up.  

“Hey gramps, what exactly do these games involve? Is it a fight to the death sort of thing, or what?” She asked, curiosity getting the better of her. He had told them about how much this mission meant to humanity, but not a lot about what it actually involved. Dasha wanted to know what to expect. If this were a strictly combat situation, she’d be fairly screwed. Going against a human was one thing, but these were new creatures with new bodies that she didn’t know how to defeat. Hand to hand combat was never really her thing anyway. 

“Newton.” The commander said. 

“Yeah?” 

“Hit the deck and give me 50.” 

“... Excuse me?” Dasha raised an eyebrow at the man. “Listen, I’m not one of your little toy soldiers anymore. You guys kicked me out, remember? Ordering me around isn’t going to work, so just answer the damn question.” 

Dasha had barely gotten the words out of her mouth before Lister had snatched her out of her seat and tossed her on the floor, having little trouble lifting her small frame. He didn’t like being violent, but he doubted anything else would catch these peoples’ attention. He needed their respect in order for them to survive this. If they didn’t respect him, they wouldn’t follow orders. If they wouldn’t follow orders, all of them were going to die. 

“While we are on this mission, you are all soldiers again. You will address me as ‘sir’ or ‘commander.’You will listen to my orders. You will not question me, you will not argue with me, and you will not disobey me. Am I understood, or do I need to repeat myself?” He asked, crouching down and speaking loudly to the seething woman that was now on the ground. 

“Understood…” Dasha muttered, glaring up at him. Murder had never been high on her list of things to do, but right now, it seemed like a pretty good idea. 

“Say again?” The commander leaned in closer, as if he couldn’t hear her. 

“Understood, sir.” 

“Now give me 100. Argue and I’ll make it 120, small fry.” Lister added as Dasha opened her mouth to argue some more. Grumbling curses and insults to herself, she got into position and started counting her push-ups. He let the insults slide, this time. 

“Now, while she’s doing that, I’ll answer her question.” Lister started. “We don’t know exactly what the games entail, but from what we’ve been told, we will be set loose in an arena with the other contestants. Apparently, the arena is set up like a maze, or a puzzle. You have to solve the puzzle in order to reach the finish line. As you get closer to the finish line, finding pieces to the puzzle, or clues rather, will become harder and harder. In order to find clues, we may have to battle NPCs that the hosts of the games have set up, or we may have to battle other contestants. From what I’ve heard, they try to keep people from dying, but… Well, things happen. Whoever solves the puzzle and reaches the finish line first wins. Any questions?”