Chapter 1

*Ding Dong

The antique grandfather clock in the old man's room chimed as the next hour began.

"Isn't your first day as a Captain for the recruits starting soon? "

"Yeah it is."

"Get going then. What kind of Captain is late on their first day? You realize that first impressions are the most important and once one is established, it's hard for others to change their opinions of you?"

I stood up and took a deep breath. The musty air in the room from all the old furniture filled my nose.

Everything about this entire room felt old and almost broken down, just like him. Forrest Winchester may have been a great commander, but he has terrible taste when it comes to fashion. When I take his place and he retires, I'll make sure to clean up the entire room and put in some new furniture.

"What's with that look?"

I start walking towards the door.

"Nothing, just don't die of a heart attack old man."

I grinned at him and he threw another cup at the wall beside me. It shattered upon impact and was added to the piles of already broken cups that lay sprawled on the floor.

"Your mannerisms are not fit for a Captain!"

"Tell that to you and Daphne"

"Bah!"

I close the door and start walking towards the Assessment facility. It was an incredibly large warehouse facility that is used to house many new recruits who want to join the army as well as train them.

The army is only able to train them for one month which follows a series of knowledge tests about what they will face as well as exercise and basic training such as shooting and reloading a firearm before they are sent out on missions with a commanding or senior soldier as their captain.

I think that's a mistake in their system because the soldiers tend to be untrained to fight, in fact most of the important skills that they would learn to fight against the aliens tend to be after the first couple of months in the army, but the world leaders don't care because they need manpower to continue slowing the advancement of the aliens' territories.

Recruits and regular soldiers don't even get access to the rest of the military's facilities and recreational areas until two months in and what tends to happen is that almost half of the people who join the army either leave or die during the first month out on missions.

In a sense the process weeded out the weak or unwilling.

I made my way past the firing range and makeshift picnic area where other soldiers were eating.

Entering the backside of the warehouse I was greeted to the loud noise of other Senior and Commanding soldiers making roll calls to their platoons. I started looking for my section in the warehouse

Section B5... Section D7... Section F12.

If we were to label the order of ranking people within the system, A1 would be the highest within the rank and F12 meant the least.

I cleared my throat and spoke in a loud voice.

"Attention! I am Commanding Soldier Ren Vincent and I will be your Captain for the month. During this month we will go on a number of missions where we will face groups of Echos and we will be tasked with exterminating their nests!"

I looked at the group before me. Some of the people in the group looked like they failed the exercise training portion of the tests while some people in the right row who completely ignored me must have failed the knowledge test of the exercises.

I continued on.

"I will now be making roll calls. When you hear your name say you're here"

"Anaya Sandhu."

"Here."

"Benedict Ackerman"

"Here."

"Jee Jin Woo."

"Here"

I finished the roll calls and then proceeded with the next thing one the list.

It was time to see their shooting abilities.

Having my platoon lined up, I watched as they fired away at the makeshift dummies filled with sand bags. Almost every single one of them were missing their shots.

They took potshots and the ground would explode around the dummy, but never actually hitting it.

I was baffled. With the amount of shots they took, they should have at least been able to hit the dummies even if it was a lucky shot. It was only a few people who had managed to hit their targets.

We then ran for a 10km jog and for the most part the majority of the group would come in at a slightly below average time with others finishing long after we had already waited and rested.

~

For the next week and a half I had to assess their abilities through a checklist that every captain was given to decide if they were fit to participate on the missions.

Inside Forrest's room I was looking through the documents of each member in my platoon when I puffed out in frustration.

"I can't believe that my platoon is this bad. They either fail miserably during the assessment or are just completely average."

Forrest stops moving his pen and looks up. He adjusts his small circle glasses and looks at me.

"That may be true, but not everything is about tests. As a leader, you must assess a person's character, ability to think and react, and their potential. You cannot truly see how a person will act until the situation arises. It is only then that you'll know what kind of human that person is."

I remain silent while I hear him lecture me.

"If every single person is a failure in the eyes of the leader then the common denominator is that you are the failure as a leader, However there is a chance that maybe you really were dealt with a terrible hand, but more often among the crowd there is always at least one person who has the potential to become more."

He then snickers and mocks me.

"If you only look at the statistics and deem someone as a failure then maybe I should've dropped you as my student. Let me tell you, you were a pain in the ass to train swordsmanship. Even a baby could swing a sword better than you, but I saw you had potential."

His slightly crooked tooth jangled as he jeered from laughter at his own joke.

I looked back at the documents I was reading and read through each document. The entire process took the entire day and had me glued to the couch I sat on. Besides for the ones with certain health and mental risks, In the end I decide to follow the old man's advice and give everyone a chance. In total 64 people will participate in the first mission two days from now.

~

Waking up I got dressed and put on my Commanding Soldier uniform. After getting prepared

I swung by the cafeteria for a quick snack or two before heading into the Assessment Facility.

I greeted my platoon who was chatting away and ignored me. Only the ones in the first few rows greeted me.

I yelled to get their attention.

"Listen up! If I call your name please head over to the Administration Office at the front of the warehouse facility after I start handing out the forms."

"I will be handing out a form of consent. In summary the papers indicate that the military will not provide any benefits toward the person for the first two months. As you know, you have all finished the first month and will finish the second month with me. The military makes it a priority to keep everyone alive, however we will not be responsible or liable to any injury or death that happens during your first two months. Only after the second month will a soldier be able to reap the benefits listed. You can choose to agree to the forms and participate in tomorrow's mission or leave for departure today. Once you're done deciding, if you choose to participate then be prepared to meet here at 6:30 a.m. sharp and be prepared to fight Echos. Once you have given me your forms, you are all dismissed"

Whispers could be heard within each group.

"How the hell do they expect us to risk our lives and we don't even get compensated?"

"I wasted an entire month, They said there'd be so much benefits, but I heard that so many people dropped out of the program, I can see why, the Government tricked us"

One of the people complaining walked up to me.

"You fucking scumbags said on your campaigns and brochures that joining the army had so many benefits, now you're saying that we won't get anything and expect us to die for the cause?!"

I kind of expected someone to lash out so I pulled out my phone and showed him the same brochure.

"Sir if you cared to read the entire thing it was clearly stated that benefits would only be added after two months. If you had thought about it, That also includes that joining the army would be a dangerous job."

He continued to lash out and I told him if he had a problem take it to the Administration Office.

I started listing peoples names and one by one they filed out of the group and walked out. After finishing I hand out the forms to the people in front.

One of the guys in the row started talking out loud.

"Check it out. Most of the people leaving are the fat asses"

His buddy encouraged him.

"Who would've guessed that the walking potatoes wouldn't pass"

It reminded me of the days of being a soldier in the lower ranks. A bunch of asshats and dickheads everywhere. It irritated me and I walked over to them.

no longer feeling as complacent as before and letting the others do what they wanted, I thought that maybe I needed to act like the rest of the Captains and instill discipline into them. Clearly my method hasn't been working for the past several days as they tended to ignore my commands.

The men were older than me. About thirty or so years old. I looked at the first one in the eye and stared him down.

"I will not have that sort of behaviour in my platoon. If I hear something like that again then you can kiss the door on your way out. That goes for everyone here. Do I make myself clear!"

No one said anything. The man glared down at me and I glared back at him.

"Wipe that look off your face before I wipe it for you. I didn't hear an answer! Do I Make Myself Clear!"

The man contorted his face to try to not look mad as he yelled out Yes Sir! Satisfied that I embarrassed him, I then turned around to face everyone else.

"I didn't hear everyone else answer! I Said Do I Make Myself Clear!"

This time everyone replied in union.

" Yes Sir!"

Walking back to the front of the row, I waited until everyone had given me their forms to consent or deny.

I pretended to look at the papers in front of me while I carefully watched as the last person left the area, then I breathed out loud.

I sighed in relief because I wasn't sure how long I could keep the act up as a strict Captain. I didn't want to show my timid self again after putting on that show. I seemed to at least gained some sort of respect after that spectacle since the past week was a nightmare trying to handle that huge of a crowd. It didn't help that I seemed to be younger than half the people in the group.

Throughout the rest of the day I prepared my mind to try to have a stricter mindset for tomorrow. I would give it my all despite the large group of untrained soldiers.