An Unfortunate Bunch

[Froste]

After having received his request and dispatched the order, the High Command of the One Sith Military organized and put together a regiment of fresh recruits. The recruits were volunteers, all probably hoping to find a quick rise in the command chain under the Lieutenant Colonel. They all were privates, as the Sith Acolyte requested. He wanted them to be forced to choose their own leaders among themselves. Those who the group collectively thought should lead would more than likely inspire the troops more than Cole could through direct intimidation or some other persuasion technique.

And now, the some two thousand recruits stood at attention in front of the young Lieutenant Colonel. However, Cole did not stand straight and had walking aids planted under his arms. He made sure to place most of his weight on them to help with the illusion. While Cole was not necessarily as injured as he appeared to be, he truly was not in his normal form. However, Cole wanted to exaggerate the injuries to hopefully provoke some sort of response from a thick skulled recruit, who Cole would then make a quick example out of.

At only his own convenience, Cole began to speak to his crowd. "Recruits. You have all asked to be here, to fight under me. Nobody forced you here, and I assume you all know what will be asked of you." Cole took a moment to cough, attempting to keep his illusion alive. "There is no turning back from this point, recruits. You will endure physical and emotional stress. You will ask to go home, to leave. The answer to that question for everyone will be 'no.' The single way to leave this regiment now is by a bodybag." He took a scan of the ground as best as he could from his angle, trying to locate any visibly aggravated individuals. Unsuccessful in his endeavor, he instead asked the audience. "If there are objections to any of this, please, make your way to the front of the crowd to address me properly." The Sith Acolyte motioned in front of him with one hand, careful to not drop the walking aid.

He listened carefully for the shuffle of feet and was satisfied to hear the sound of boots scrape the ground. After a few short minutes, a small group consisting of approximately seven men had formed in front of the Lieutenant Colonel. They began to voice their complaints, mostly being about the only way to leave is by death. There was, however, one recruit who had the gut to personally attack Cole. "We were told we were going to be soldiers for a Sith, not some crippled fake." He stepped forward to better address the crowd. "Is there any reason for us to follow this man? Look at him, he can probably barely walk." Under his mask, Cole let a grin spread across his face. Slowly, Cole began to hobble over to the brave man. "If I am so weak, recruit, get me to the floor and claim the regiment for yourself." Apparently unable to sense imminent danger, the man immediately swung out a fist at Cole's masked face. Cole dropped the two walking sticks and ducked down and to the right, pulling his lightsaber from his hip. He ignited the saber as he spun around and brought the lightsaber up, cutting through the man's arm. Then, he let one hand go from the saber to make an open palm facing the man. Cole pushed the man back into the crowd of complainers, and sheathed the saber. "Get back into your ranks. Bring that one with you if you'd like, if he's as strong as he thinks he should be able to complete the upcoming challenges with only one arm." The six other recruits scurried back to where they came from, and Cole was ready to begin their training. No one had tried to save the one armed man, and he continued to lay on the floor, awaiting whatever came next.

 

[Froste]

Without a break from the interruption he had incited, Cole went around to the evenly seperated groups of recruits and gave them each a different training assignment. He had abandoned the illusion of a weak man that he had created, and now stood tall and walked straight. Walking without a limp did cause the Acolyte pain, however. He hadn't given the wounds the time to heal properly and now had to deal with the discomfort they caused. This pain did not affect how he thought his regiment should be trained, so he would not let it get in the way of their training.

The assignments he gave the groups were meant to test their abilities to work together and build personal strength. The assignments were not necessarily safe, and he did not neglect to mention that to the recruits. In his mind, Cole thought they had a right to know that not everybody around them would survive their first challenge. Every group's assignment was relatively similar, a life threatening puzzle which would require the groups to work as one to complete successfully. Cole was rather sure that just about every group would have a few of their members killed before the answer was clear. He also hoped that his future NCOs would make themselves known to the regiment and to Cole. The one to figure out the puzzle would surely have their head up high on return. Right now, all Cole had to do was wait for the recruits to return.