As the recruits approached Elias tried to guess which were there through luck and which due to skill. A couple still looked wide-eyed and had obviously survived the last few hours in a daze. A thirty minute timer had appeared in his display at which point they would need to be ready to leave the Crust and approach the ziggurat. Enough time for a rest and some planning. He looked over the group in front of him, assessing once more what he had to work with. 

"Recruits. You have ten minutes to rest and eat. Check your batteries and anyone with less than ninety percent charge on your weapon or armour head to the carrier and switch out for a fully charged one. I want anyone that purchased more than the basic training package in cryo-sim to also let me know before that time is up." 

He watched as some recruits took on the glazed look that signified access to their neural link and noted the three or four that were instead looking around confused until it was explained to them how to access their status. Several then ran over to the carrier while most pulled a ration bar or energy drink from their pack and sat down to rest. Elias did the same and waited to see if any had additional skills he could use. 

"What did you buy recruit?" Elias asked as one of the group finished his meal and made his way over.

He was bulkier than some of the others, short compared to Earth standard suggesting he grew up in a higher gravity environment. There were no other real distinguishing features that one could make out while in battle armour; not until you got to the point where you had customised the outfit. Even then it didn't really tell you what the person beneath looked like. His neural link had numbered all the recruits as they fell under his command making the one approaching number 10. Alongside the number he marked the designation with an asterisk.  

"The advanced shield and armour pack." Came the reply from Ten.

It was a standard package, cheaper than learning the two skills independently. This particular package was for a frontline to soak up damage while others dealt it from behind. At least the recruit had a sensible skill; one that would come in handy for the next few waves. Since they had a few minutes to kill Elias decided to be friendly rather than blunt with the recruit. 

"Have either activated yet?" Elias frowned at the lack of comprehension in Ten's eyes. Was he really this fresh once? "Learning about the skill is not the same as having it. Check your skill list - tell me what you see." There was a period of silence as Ten took on a glazed look.

"It reads: Energy Blade; Shield; Pistols; Rifle; Armour." Ten said.

"And what colour can you see, which are activated?" Elias prompted. Glad to see Ten had noticed this already and hadn't taken on the glazed look again.

"Shield is green; Rifle is green; Armour is green. The others are all grey. I presume that means only those three have activated?" 

"Good, now check again and concentrate on Shield and a prompt will come up showing you a letter, what letter do you see?" Asked Elias.

"It's just an E. But I can see the D is a lighter grey, what does that mean?" Asked Ten

"The light grey means you have potential to gain that level of skill; that you have practiced or learnt it but not consolidated the learning in a combat scenario. That is what you paid for when you bought your package." Replied Elias.

"Shit. I thought I had paid to have the skill, not to learn it. No wonder I can't combine my shields like I was supposed to." Ten looked angry at this information rather than grateful.

Elias was sure he knew about how the system worked a few years ago when he had joined up with a company as a recruit, but then he might have been taught it by his uncle or grandfather who were both military men. It was only on the colonies that a neural link was a necessity; to allow the connection to your home base to form and the absorption of Shards. There were whole planets and spaceports where the neural link and its interface were still a rare thing; perhaps this was where Ten had come from. Shaking off this thought Elias returned to the current conversation.

"No. You don't just get given skills, you have to practice and apply them. Most of the others won't have activated the basic Shield skill yet; you just have to apply the knowledge on how to combine shields and at some point the skill will upgrade. For now just get back with the others as I explain how we will form up for the next stage." Said Elias.

"Time's up fodder," shouted Jones at the recruits "so get up, get in line and listen in." Having worked with Elias before he knew what was coming next and was looking forward to the game of picking his team. 

"Right," said Elias "Form a line, I want you in order of number of kills, left to right. Highest on the left. For those of you too slow to realise, this is on your HUD top right corner with a little skull next to it. Next I want you all to switch your utility weapon to rife mode." He waited as the organised chaos of the recruits checking each other's kill counts developed into a line of recruits.

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"Next anyone without the rifle skill step back. To check your skills have a look in the skill menu of your neural link; green means you have the skill."

It was ridiculous that he needed to explain, but Ten had shown him that the group wouldn't be aware of this basic information otherwise. He watched and was relieved to see none of the recruits step back. To have survived the first wave without activating the skill would mean hiding behind the skills and probably bodies of your colleagues.

"Now anyone with an additional skill active, step forward. If your skill is anything other than Armour, switch your utility weapon to demonstrate what it is." Other than Ten, three recruits from the left of the line stepped forward and one from the right. Two of them swapped their rifle to an energy blade; one a shield and the last kept a rifle.

"Alright then," said Elias turning to his squad now he had sorted the recruits "I'll make this easy. Since Jones is so skilled he can pick last; Sammy is taking Ten so she can help with the Shield skill so it's between Rodriguez and Han who picks first."

They all laughed at Jones grumbling once more about how life was unfair and that he should have the best recruits because he was the best. He completely missed the sarcasm from Elias and had turned his back so also missed the eye roll that made them all laugh harder. In the end Han let Rodriguez pick first. To the elite squad it was really all a game at this point, the oldest Swarm in this ziggurat were still well under what they could handle. Most of the next enemies as they crossed the cleared area would still be from the base level anyway. To them this was more of a game to pass the time. Once they all had three recruits there was one spare who was left standing where the line had been. 

"Five. Come here." Said Elias to the last recruit, his squad calling over the recruits by number meant they had all picked up the callsigns by now. "All the rest of you, listen in too." He added, hushing all the chatter that had started as the smaller teams were getting to know each other.

Five moved over to Elias' group and stood slightly to one side waiting. The recruit had the lowest kill count and no extra skills. 

"You're our runner." He said to Five. "Once we step off the Crust our batteries won't recharge so we'll need to swap out for spares. Anyone hits less than fifty percent battery - message Five to get a replacement." Elias dropped his voice so only those near him could hear the next comment. "You do this right and you'll pick up the Support skill, quite a hard one to get in most circumstances."

While the majority of the group joked about being picked last a couple of those looked on Five with a little bit of envy. He had the lowest risk role and might gain an additional skill by performing it. Elias knew they wouldn't be as jealous once the fighting began, while his squad had upgraded battery packs the basic ones supplied to the recruits would run low quite quickly without the background recharge the Crust supplied. One of the benefits of losing over half their number was that the carrier crew had salvaged equipment off all the dead. So Elias worked out they had over sixty spare battery packs sitting in the carrier charging. 

Each of the five groups had been allocated an arc of the circle to cover as they advanced. Elias watched the other groups forming at the edge of the Crust getting ready to move forward as the timer ticked down. The other flank group that now neighboured them had taken a similar approach; mixing the elite squad with the recruits. He tried not to grind his teeth in frustration at the waste as looking the other direction showed an elite squad hanging back behind the remaining recruits in the same formation as the first approach. Neither luck or skill would keep them alive through the next attack, they would need both in relatively large amounts. 

Elias had set his group in a rough diamond formation with the recruits forming the front and two sides. His first pick had been placed at point and advised to fall back if the Swarm were closing in to melee range to fold their formation to a V-shape. All in position they waited for the timer to hit zero before stepping onto the cleared zone. 

Immediately the Swarm started spewing forth from the ziggurat. More of their number had protective spade like appendages at the end of their upper limbs that soaked up the rifle fire aimed for more vulnerable areas. Even as the first of their number were being cut down, others were crawling over and through the bodies to approach the soldiers at the edge of their territory. The smaller area meant that it wasn't long before Eight, Elias' point man, had to move back in formation rather than push further forward. Elias held his rifle to his shoulder and picked off the Swarm with a calm efficiency as the other three in his group used burst fire to try and make up for their lack of skill. 

As they pressed in towards the ziggurat the Swarm surrounding it had grown larger with thicker carapaces showing the Hive's influence on their innate adaptive biology. They had drawn out the older Swarm who were the same size as their human opponents with the front legs transformed into a mixture of blade, hammer and shield like appendages. This was nearer to what Elias would call true Swarm with even his careful aim not punching through their thick outer defences on the first shot. As they approached the halfway mark Elias noticed a new foe take to the field in front of him.

"Shit, they've got some Spitters." He called over the comms. "Pair up, shield and rifle."

The new Swarm had a sinuous neck and upper torso along with elongated mandibles that allowed it to build up and then spit out acid at the approaching line. This meant that the Hive was a bit further developed than the intel had suggested, with the higher level Swarm not only developing specific subgroups but also remaining inside the dome so they could not attack it from a distance. A quick flick to look at his tactical map showed his squad forcing the recruits into the new formation with the front man switching to a shield while the man behind kept up the suppressive fire with their rifle. Even though he could only see the one Spitter it was good practice, and safer, for them all to change.

Elias took the front position alongside Eight. He pulled the two connecting handgrips that made up his utility weapon apart; signalling via his neural link that he wanted to form a shield with his right hand and trusting his skills to keep a pistol in his left. While Eight was only able to watch and defend from acid attacks Elias kept up the fire and slowly moved his group forward using the smaller shield to protect himself and Twelve who was stood behind him. 

They carried on in this formation, shooting down the reducing number of Swarm as they pressed in towards the edge of the ziggurat. By this point they could tell there were only three entrances big enough to allow Swarm to exit the ziggurat from their sector. Jones had completely suppressed one with heavier fire from his Chaingun skill, forcing his recruits to act as a supply line to ensure he had enough batteries to keep firing when needed. The middle entrance was blocked by the Spitter in front of Elias and Sammy had the third under control as Han had brought his team over to increase their numbers. 

Rather than take the risk of further injuries or losses Elias activated his armour boosts on his legs and switched his pistol to an energy blade. He ducked under the approaching Swarm giving Twelve the opportunity for a headshot. As the twitching body of the decapitated Swarm fell, Elias rolled to his feet and lunged towards the Spitter. His body seemed to hit slow motion as he reached the dome and felt the resistance of its structure ensuring he was not an unnatural phenomenon. The slowing of his body did not stop his mind working at normal speed so he was able to watch the Spitter rear its head and refocus on him flying forwards to attack. 

His right arm freed from the gelatinous grip of the dome in time to bring his shield up in front of his face and deflect the acid. As his left arm followed, so did his energy blade slicing straight down the centre of the Spitter's torso. A dark liquid hissed as it hit the ground, reminding Elias not to approach the dying creature. Instead he stepped back and switched to his pistol-shield combo as he waited for the rest of his squad to arrive.