Original X-roads-2003

    We walked inside a yellow stone building that sat to the west of the circle of trees. The inside was nothing more than a large room, about three hundred men stood training.
    “Here they are.” Sertoff motioned to them, then he walked to the center of their block formation.
    “ATTENTION!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
    The group stopped and sheathed their swords, in a thunderous clap they stood at perfect attention. Staring straight ahead at him, the air stilled.
    “This is your new commander.” he held out his hand to me.
    They raised their hands and saluted me.
    Sertoff walked over to me, “Your troops await your command, Commander Jasylin.”
    Ok, so now I have them. Now what do I do with them? I walked to the center, “Ok put your hands down.” I muttered. “I’m not as formal as he is.”
    They moved quickly and uniformly, standing wit their hands behind their backs.
    “You don’t have to stand like that either.” I complained.
    “A certain amount of discipline is required for authority.” Sertoff stood at my back.
    I rolled my eyes as I looked over my shoulder at him, “You treat your guys your way, and I’ll treat mine my way.”
    “You’ve got a lot to learn about commanding a troop.” he assured me.
    I ignored his comment and walked across the front of their line, they stood in perfect rows. “I want to know each and every one of you personally.” I started talking to them. “But as I can see… We may not have time for all of that now, sooo… We’ll just have to all live through this so I can do it after the fighting.”
    Sertoff grunted.