Eight men and women sporting some of the most technologically advanced weapons and armor the UNSC had to offer slowly advanced into the darkened arena that had been constructed inside of Operations Training Room 4 of Anvil Station. With the dim light, half the team activated their night vision visors while specially assigned spotters switched to infrared in an attempt to spot the enemy team. Both sides had been deployed simultaneously into the arena, so neither side had the advantage of getting the drop on the other just yet. Nearly a full minute went by before one of the spotters reported a heat bloom behind partial cover near the right side of the arena.

Two riflemen moved to flanking positions and advanced on the heat signature, switching to thermal settings on their weapon sights. Banished forces still made use of active camouflage, a deadly advantage early in the Covenant War especially when what was usually concealed was an angry Sangheili who's natural strength matched those of the improved Spartans combined with the combat prowess of a warrior society. Their fingers hovered over their triggers as they got into position. A silent countdown passed between them.

Both soldier rounded the corner of the chest high cover wall at the same time, their sights trained with exacting accuracy on the heat bloom... only to feel the slight tug of tripwires on their ankles.

[color=a36209]"Two men down, Sergeant,"[/color] a gruff voice called out over the coms, [color=a36209]"Cerberus 4 and 8, you've been killed by rigged fragmentation devices. Congratulations.[/color]"

Both soldier cursed loudly, but kept their radios turned off. Slowly they sat down, one of them tossing the other a piece of gum as they settled in for the rest of the exercise.

"The heat source?," the Sergeant called back over the radio.

[color=a36209]"Upended metal trash can, five thermal flares lit underneath and tied together. All heat. No light,"[/color] the voice responded.

"Which means you can see us right now, can't you," the Sergeant mused.

[color=a36209]"Good instincts, Sergeant,"[/color] the voice sounded amused.

"Aerial Flares!," the Sergeant ordered and four flares fired up into the air and hung there, slowly falling back towards the ground as they burned bright. It was a good call, but it was too late to save Cerberus 2 as the man had the rifle knocked from his hands and was dragged around another piece of cover and tapped twice on the chestplate, a silent knife kill.

The missing soldier gave the rest of the fire team a direction to aim their weapons though and they slowly began to advance on Cerberus 2's last known location. A cluster of four beanbag rounds took one of them off their feet and they returned fire as a plasma sword snap-hissed to life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cerberus Squad filed out, cursing their luck as they headed to the locker room save for their Sergeant who trailed behind them and examined a data pad. Stepping out of the room behind him was a sight no human wanted to see this close to one of their fellows. A sangheili elite warrior in yellow-colored armor reaching out with a hand that could snap a human spinal cord like a dry twig to tap at the data pad in the Sergeant's hands.

[color=a36209]"Your trainee's did well on their weapon accuracy, but they need a reminder that glancing shots barely drain sangheili shields. They are served best by aiming center mass first, then adjusting for their target profile-,"[/color] Tapo'hatam rumbled as he helped the Sergeant scroll through the readout from his armor. A small handful of years ago, he never would have dreamed he would be assisting their one time enemies with training excersises... teaching them the best ways to kill a sangheili warrior. Time and fate waited for no being though, and after the shattering of their Covenant with the Prophets, the Swords of Sangheilios stood ready to fight alongside and hunt down the fools who refused to honor the cease fire between Sangheilios and Earth.

[color=a36209]"Perhaps this information is better viewed with a... beer,"[/color] Tapo'hatam said, gesturing at the corridor which led to the cafeteria.

"No. I should debrief the men and give them double range time tomorrow," the Sergeant said quickly. Too quickly. Tapo'hatam still made so many humans nervous. The Sergeant didn't even salute as he broke away from Tapo'hatam and made his own way towards the locker room.

The Sangheili shook it's head, pushing down the irritation that was so quick to rise when he interacted with a human. He tried not to take such things personally. 

After all, a few years ago he would have killed that entire team of humans and barely bothered to note their deaths in his records.

He walked into the cafeteria by himself, taking a moment to take a plate of cooked fish and herbal tea from an unngoy worker. The cafeteria was still somewhat segregated due to the differences in dietary needs between humans and the former races of the Covenant. He purposefully took a table that was closer to the middle, muttering what the humans often referred to as a mantra of peace before digging into the aromatic meal.