As I reached the barracks, I met the training officer who was about to start the morning call. I stopped him and ordered him to bring me some flashbang grenades. He stood there gawking at me like an idiot.
- Sir?
- Just do it!
All of the trainees were roughly my age. Give or take a year or two. So if I wanted them to take me seriously, I needed to make clear who was in charge. Scaring the shit out of them should do the trick. The training officer soon returned with two bags with the said grenades. I think he already figured what I had in mind and got himself that other one.
- You take left. On the count of three. One… Two… Three!
We both ran from room to room, lobbing flashbangs into each one. It was chaos. Those trainees ran out of their rooms like teenage girls who had just seen a spider on a wall. At that moment the training officer let off a roar that made even me slightly jump, even after the whole shebang:
- Fall in!!!
No one reacted…
- I SAID FALL IN!!!
All of them fell in line, I tried to hide my amusement. Even had to bite my lip to stop grinning. Then I started walking past them looking into each face.
- I am Captain Pērkons of the BloodGuard! And you all just died! Every single one of you! You call yourself soldiers? All I saw was a bunch of wimps stumbling out of their rooms without a clue what to do! I pointed at a female trainee:
- You! What’s the first thing to do when attacked by surprise?
- Sir! Assess the situation and mount a defense, Sir!
- No credit for partial answers!
- Sir! And mount a counterattack if possible, Sir! I got in the face of another trainee:
- And WHY did I not see anyone acting like it?
- Sir! I do not know, Sir!
- Why not!?
- I can’t speak for the others, Sir!
- And there is your problem! You do not know, let alone trust, each other! That’s why you can’t coordinate shit! And during today I plan to correct that! But first off – report to the firing range in 5 minutes! MOVE IT!!!
They got back into their rooms, and I went to the gun range. The first test was supposed to be an examination of physical abilities, but I figured to get right down to the fun stuff, while they’re still somewhat dazed from the flashbangs. So instead of running an obstacle course the first exam was to be marksmanship.
