[center][h3]Simulation Battle[/h3][/center]
[hr]
"Helmets on now." 

Hal grabbed the VR device and planted it atop his head, fastening it with the under-the-chin buckle. Next were the goggles, and suddenly his vision was pitch black. Yet every soldier was expected to grab his simulated weapon with muscle memory, and he performed without problem. The inner room around he and his squad was smooth and stark white, with only a door and a boxed mirror where one of the military personnel watched and recorded the session. Inside, the team was on treading tracks, where their feet could move while their bodies remained stationary. Luckily, the VR equipment was advanced enough to input other movements within his mind with the neural link, in case they needed to tumble or duck. 

Suddenly images began to flicker into Hal's vision. The scene was scratchy at first, before the definition of the jungle atmosphere about him was fed into his mind. He could feel the heat of the sun. Hear the chirps of exotic birds. Tastes the moisture in the air. The gun he held suddenly weighed as it should. 

"Move out." Riley ordered. Hal held his hand up and extending two fingers, then five, the enclosing them into a fist. The troopers behind him, those similarly in the room, immediately followed orders. The two in the flanks guarding the six scientists they were to escort through near ten miles of jungle without a single non-trooper casualty. Hal had run simulations like this before, but more importantly, he had fought in jungles like this back on earth. Unfortunately, the scenario was on a foreign, hostile planet. He could not trust the flora or fauna here. 

He took point, moving at a steady yet silent pace. His M356 Assault Rifle constantly trained along his visual. It was a mile before they met their first resistance. Enemy fire suddenly cut through the foliage as Hal and his company took cover behind stout trees with an unknown chemical within its trunk to give its bark a greyish color. The plasma fired roared and nearly struck a member of Hal's team, but they were all seasoned and finely honed soldiers, and Hal knew this type of fighting. 

Riley gave the signal, and Charlie's 3,6, and 8 began providing cover fire as 2 and 4 held the scientists behind the thickest of cover. Hal, Charlie 7, and 9 began to move as silent as death round the indention in the battleground, covering their movements until they flanked the enemy. Luckily 7 and 9 moved about as well as he did, only passing past the foliage that would sway with the wind, as if the soldiers had never been through at all. 

Inch by inch, Hal drew his gun over the short branch, past the wickedly pointed brush that separated he and the enemy. Upon inspection, they were insurgents. Likely earthling or martian rebels. Hal could see the sweat beading down their tanned faces as they fired across the expanse toward his squad, and yet again he marveled at how real the simulation seemed. This all happened within the span of a nanosecond, and before Hal could think through the action, he ordered his men to open fire and their bullets cut through the enemy like a scythe through wheat. 

When it was over, they had another 7 miles to go. Charlie 3 had been hit, but he could still move. They couldn't afford to lose any men.