The hostile fire stopped completely.

Marn kept his attention on the probe rather than admiring the result. Dust had turned most of the optical feed into gray noise, so he shifted the drone laterally until its thermal sensors found a cleaner angle. He told Bulwark Actual to hold while he assessed, then watched structure three and four long enough to confirm there was no meaningful movement.

A thermal return appeared behind the remains of five and began moving north while another remained deeper in the rubble. "Western firing positions destroyed. One contact withdrawing north from five. Possible second remaining in the wreckage" Marn reported.

Bulwark Actual told him the squad was moving. Marn switched back to Rooster long enough to report good effect, cancel any further air strike and ask him to remain available.

There were still hostile contacts in the valley, but Marn didn't ask for another pass. Three occupied buildings pinning Bulwark against a wall had justified heavy demolition ordnance. A scattered force with Bulwark now advancing through the settlement did not. Conditions had changed, so the answer changed with them.

One surviving hostile remained inside structure five even though he had a clear route out through the rear. Bulwark Actual eventually asked if Marn could see any reason for it.

A few years earlier he would have tried to provide one. Hidden objective. Delaying action. Concealed device. There always had to be a reason because if there wasn't, prediction became much less comfortable.

Now Marn watched the man for several seconds and found nothing.

"No. Treat him as an armed man in a building, not as part of a plan."

Bulwark continued forward.

The exercise ran for several more minutes before the remaining hostiles were eliminated, captured or driven beyond the scenario boundary. Marn recalled the probe once it stopped providing anything useful, and the valley dissolved around him into the clean walls of the Deck Eighteen simulator.

The evaluation appeared almost immediately.

**Primary hostile location identified: Correct.**

**Secondary prepared position identified: Correct.**

**Opposing-force strength estimate: Low.**

**Air strike coordination: Effective.**

**Decision latency: Above target.**

**Team casualty projection: 18 percent.**

**Baseline scenario casualty projection: 47 percent.**

Marn read the results once before asking about the decision latency. The computer explained that he'd waited more than five minutes after the western position exceeded seventy-percent confidence before reporting it to Bulwark Actual.

"And if I'd reported when you wanted me to?" Marn asked.

The computer calculated that Bulwark would most likely have selected the northern approach, with a projected casualty rate of fifty-three percent.

His result had been eighteen.

"Then I'm comfortable with the delay" Marn said.

The other score that mattered was behavioral prediction. Several hostile actions had fallen outside the responses he'd expected, including the man who had run into the open and the one who stayed inside the ruined settlement when withdrawal was available.

That was the reason Marn had selected the exercise in the first place.

A few years ago he would have replayed each decision until he found some hidden reason for it. Maybe one had existed. Maybe not. The point was learning to stop assuming there had to be one.

"Save the results" Marn said.

The computer confirmed the save.

Marn looked at the empty simulator for a moment before returning to the starting marker. "Generate another scenario. Same objectives. Randomize command competence, discipline and behavior. Don't tell me what I'm getting."

The computer warned that the resulting difficulty could vary significantly.

"Good."

The next environment began forming around him, replacing the simulator walls with a dark forest beneath a heavy canopy. Rain started almost immediately, striking the leaves overhead while distant movement sounded somewhere ahead.

Marn crouched and waited for the terrain to settle, leaving both the tricorder and the probe untouched for the moment.

He would look first, decide what made sense, and then leave enough room for someone on the other side to do something that didn't.