The room was bustling with excited chatter as the recruits of Hellgate waited anxiously for the event to start. There were many "What do you think will happen?" questions along with many "I have no idea!" responses. The crowd grew silent, however, once a tall white-haired figure approached the podium.

"Recruits of Hellgate."

All eyes were now focused on the man standing in front of them, but the excitement was still dancing wildly throughout the room.

"I am High General Cosmic, your Commander of Training. I would like to be the first to officially welcome you to the Stormtrooper Corps Academy. Your training will be rigorous, it will be mentally challenging, and it will prove to me whether or not you've got what it takes to become an agent of death for the Vast Empire."

Cosmic stood silent for a few moments, staring down from face-to-face, allowing them to soak in his words.

"At this moment, I want a verbal confirmation from you that you are ready for what is to come."

OOC:

Alright recruits! Welcome to your first squad story! At this moment, state (in character) that you are ready for the mission. Write whatever you'd like - I'm just taking a head-count to see who is actually going to be posting on this story.

Strata Kain was more interested in the objectives for the mission, more interested in getting to use his arsenal out on the battle field, more interested in sending shockwaves of pain throughout someone’s body, that he wasn’t even aware of any excitement inside him. He was, however, well aware of everyone else’s gleaming looks of anticipation. In a way, Strata despised them all. Whatever happened to getting things done, getting to the point while showing as little emotion as possible? That’s how his brother did it, that’s how his father did it, and it worked pretty well so far for Strata as well.

He had to remind himself, these aren’t normal bounty hunters, of course they can’t be like me.

Strata sat there patiently, as a white haired man waltzed to the front of the room. This must have been him. It had to be the Cleric Vor’soth he had heard so much about. Any new recruit in the Army would though, “Cosmic” was the High General, he was what all new greenhorns wanted to become, he’s what they aspired to be. Strata had other ideas.

”At this moment, I want a verbal confirmation from you that you are ready for what is to come,” Cosmic stated.

A reply came from the center of the room, Strata then stood, and announced in his acidic speech, “Private Strata Kain.”

Short and to the point, just the way he liked it.

Alcides waited anxiuosly as a man who said was in charge of training said "You have two more minutes,Those who have not yet raised their hands will be excluded from the upcoming mission and escorted off this base."

Alcides thought to himself I would like to see someone try to take me out of this base, one way or another I am going to make it to the corps and make my brother proud

Alcides looked at all the faces in the group and thougt to himself most of the people wouldnt make it in Yosefin.

and he raised his hand

"These datapads contain your first set of orders and mission objectives. The second this meeting ends, you will be directed to the landing platforms outside and taken to STACI. I suggest you look over your datapads in-flight. This mission will be like no other you've encountered - yes, it will be a simulation so you cannot be killed, however, the pain you experience will be as real as anything you've experienced in the past, so I would suggest not getting shot. Now," Cosmic placed his hands in his pockets, "Are there any questions?... No? Good. Report to the landing platform. There will be one Lambda-Class shuttle awaiting your arrival. It's callsign is LX-9 - they will take you to STACI  where the simulation will begin... Good hunting." Finished Cosmic

Alcides waited untill evrybody was out then he exited, this should be easy he thought as he walked to the shuttle. Then he saw the Objectives, well maybe a little effort will be needed he thought as he boarded the shuttle.

15 Minutes Later...

Cosmic walked into the control overlooking the landing port below. LX-9's engines had already fired up, and the pilot was already going through pre-flight checks. The four-person team in the tower immediately rose from their seats and stood at attention as soon as the High General entered. Cosmic casually returned the salute and muttered something of an "At ease." He walked over to the view port and peered down at the Lambda-class shuttle - a datapad dangled loosely in between his middle and index fingers.

A young Sergeant walked up behind him and gave Cosmic a crisp salute, "Sergeant Von reporting as ordered, sir." Cosmic nodded without taking his eyes off the shuttle, "They ready?"

"Yes, sir. They're being escorted to the shuttle as we speak. And if I may say, sir, it's a privilege working under your command for this training exercise. I was personally surprised that you chose me from the others on the list."

Cosmic crossed his arms over his chest, "You came highly recommended due to your previous Academy-related experience, but above all..." A small smirk formed on his lips, "I needed someone to replace the late Corporal Finney."

The Sergeant frowned, "The young man that died in the shuttle accident last month?"

"He's the one."

Von nodded, "That's very unfortunate."

Cosmic let out a small sigh and handed Sergeant Von the datapad held in between his fingers, "This is the list of active trainees heading departing for STACI."

The Sergeant's eyes lit up, and a smile spread across his lips, "Ah - the list of recruits."

"It's a small list." Cosmic said blatantly.

Von squinted as he looked over the datapad, "Four trainees, sir? Out of a pool of fifty, only four made it through your personal inspection?"

"Apparently so." Cosmic looked over at Sergeant Von and motioned toward the datapad, "Don't let numbers fool you. Three out of fifty isn't that bad so long as they tap into the potential that I know they have within themselves. Should they become successful in this venture, they'll prove to be an incredible addition to the Vast Empire's 'White Terror'."

A young woman, no more than twenty, looked over at Cosmic, "General, the recruits are on board LX-9. They're departing in two minutes."

Cosmic nodded, "Very good." He looked over at Von, "You better get down their, Sergeant. You'll need to be sure that STACI's simulation settings are correct."

Sergeant Von nodded and saluted, "Yes, sir." The young man made a one-eighty, and quickly left the control tower. Cosmic glanced over at the chronometer on the wall to his left. Two minutes to prove yourselves...



-------------------------------
STACI - One Hour Later
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The recruits entered a large dome-shaped building with a creatively-hidden control station elevated a good hundred feet off the ground. The entire interior of the building was lined with what looked like millions of mirror-like objects - each served its purpose in transforming the room into a realistic environment. Sergeant Von approached the four trainees and motioned to the large room they were standing in.

"Welcome to the Scenario Tactics And Combat Installation, or STACI as we like to call it. This room is lined with millions of holo-reflectors ready to give you the most realist simulation you'll ever experience. Grass will smell like grass, water will taste like water, leaves will feel like leaves, and even pain will feel just as real as any other pain you've felt. The safety settings have been set to moderate levels, meaning if you get shot by a laser, you'll end up with second degree injuries, so I highly suggest not being in the line of sight of a laser when a blaster's pointed your way."

Sergeant Von took out the datapad Cosmic gave him and made a quick browse through the names and mission objectives, "Alrighty..." He looked at the three recruits standing before him, "You four are very lucky to be here. You are four out of fifty potential candidates - consider this an honor. Private Novalis, Private Celota, Private Kry, and Private Alcides - this will be your trial prior to active duty service. Failure here will mean an end to your career in the Corps. You have your mission objectives, so if there are no questions the simulation will begin in five minutes. I suggest taking this time to inspect your gear. Good luck, troops."

Von gave them a quick nod before turning around and heading up the stairs leading into the control room...

Seeing the STACI structure for the first time was a unique experience. Strata had to admit it was quite impressive, and he’s seen a lot of impressive structures in his short life. He couldn’t wait to see the realism that the recruits were told it would create. Strata was confident in his weapon checks he made prior to take off, that he wouldn’t need to spend any more time doing so. Instead, he waited. As soon as the mission kicked off, Strata would prove his worth to the Corps.

OOC:

Go ahead and delete the post from Sicario, for some reason it never switched my profiles.

Don't worry about the post. I'm just having a head-count right now to see who on here posted is still alive and willing to participate in the Vast Empire.

I'm here, was waiting for more people to post.