After the testing was done we took a personal day to catch up on rest before we took someones head off from being grouchy. We used some of that personal day to go and visit Elena and bring her some more books to read. We found out that since Thietian was using her as an excuse to leave earlier, he'd been able to catch back up on sleep. His morphing process was no longer slowed down and was back to normal. This was a huge relief to know it was merely due from being exhausted. Her sister and the family showed up not long before we were to leave and we found out how everyone had been adjusting to their new home.
We found out that Belle had been snapping to Natalia's shop and bringing back anything that was salvageable from the rioting looters breaking in. That made her happy she didn't lose everything from her shop, which made Alex happy. He was helping her most of the time either straightening out her still usable bolts of fabrics or helping her figure out what could still be salvaged from the boxes that Belle would fill and send back. However, for a few hours everyday he went and worked in the storage rooms doing inventory checks and counting supplies, seeing what we used more of and how we should stocks up on anything while we could still access markets freely.
After our day of rest, we met up with our battalions. Split in to two battalions with just under eight hundred trained recruits each. Upon our arrival they were already split into two separate groups, knowing who'd they'd be taking orders from. They stood straight and orderly, quietly awaiting us to speak.
"Kind of humbles you a bit, doesn't it?" John asked me gesturing with his chin at the sight before us.
I smirked at him,"Yes it does, every time..." I trailed off thinking of years past before so much of the world had changed.
"I still forget sometimes, you did control a division of troops in the past." He shakes his head.
I clear my throat, "Yes, in Korea, Vietnam, I did undercover work, but then the gulf war I commanded an entire corps for a while. That was the last war I was in, I hated all the paper pushing, boot licking they expected." I shrug and step forward, "You ready for this?"
John sighs, "As ready as one can be."
Stepping forward to the podium placed in front of the assembled battalions, we used the sound system today to address this many because we wanted to make sure we were heard.
John muttered to me, "Sure wish we had had this when the crowd was larger."
"Shush, we have it now." I whispered from the corner of my mouth.
He rolled his eyes and stepped forward with a smile.
"Hello, I am John Lacroix, some of you have trained under me, others have heard of me. Beside me is my Wife, known to you all as Sin. We have first hand experienced and seen the workings of what the Erl-king has been planning to do with the human race."
"The majority of the world takes prescription drugs of some sort, that they need to stay healthy and alive. He had been working with large companies and high government officials, with no morals, to lace these prescription drugs with highly addictive street drugs to make everyone addicted to them. It would have caused mass overdoses, a larger mass of addicts, dependent on their next fix."
"It would have killed off the ones too weak for his uses and eventually made the rest into slaves. The ones healthy enough to not be taking these, would then easily be overtaken, forced into submissive slavery and used for whatever purpose his insidious heart desired. "
"In an attempt to foil his plans, we've become much stronger adversaries then he expected. We compiled the evidence and released it into the world, with the corrupt companies and officials he had aligned himself with. Now, he is gathering his armies and been preparing them for battle. Battle with the human race unless they submit to him."
He paused looking at all the faces, staring intensely listening to every word he said.
"Even with the proof, some governments still question if this information is entirely true. Others hope for a peaceful negotiation to prevent the loss of life that a war will ensue. We are not as optimistic about the outcome as others, for we know the twisted way in which the his mind works. That's why we've been working with some of the Fae's royal family who have worked hard to ensure that their fathers plan doesn't come to fruition. They are also the ones who have given us these safe havens and resources to help build up our own forces to fight back."
"We will not be fighting alone either. They have brought along their loyal trained soldiers to fight along side with us. However, when the Erl-kings armies start to attack, there will be people still trapped in the cities who are unable to flee and fight back. That is why we have chosen you all and you are here today. Because you have shown to us, you have the endurance, knowledge under pressure, and are capable of working together as a team to get the job done."
"You all, are to be the ones who help get those people out and to safety. Now, I will not lie to any of you. These are not going to be soldiers that will listen to you if you try to reason with them. They will kill you on sight, or worse. They will not care about any ones life or freedom because they are loyal only to the Erl-king. Some of you will not make it through this alive. However, we are going to do our best to prepare you, so that everyone here has the best chances possible."
He steps aside and lets me step forward. The crowd gives a loud applause as he moves.
"In other words we're going to teach you all how to kick some ass, and if need be.... take as many of the Erl-kings loyal minions out as you can. They shouldn't be lonely on their trip to hell."
That made every one erupt into louder applause with cheers ringing out too. I stepped back and gave him a grin. "Remember, I like to get to the point."
He laughs at my words, hardly believing that I could make it so short and sweet to get that sort of response. "That you do."
I wink playfully at him and turn to motion for our company and platoon leaders to come forward. I felt it was good to introduce who would be commanding them under our orders.
Futere, Anzo, Suites, and Hughes were among these Company Majors. We were proud of our choices and knew that they would do just fine.
After our assembly we went and let the company majors introduce themselves to the platoons under their command. We walked around supervising how they talked to them and since they were all given some guidelines and exercises to help with training, they already had work to keep them busy.
With Grier's help, Hughes was discovering that he was blessed with other gifts other than puzzle and lock picking magics and was capable of moving objects around as long as they were light weight. He was having trouble with snapping though, which Grier explained that not every one gifted even among the Fae could snap. It was not common, but still possible. She also explained about how the magic needed energies to work and the 'fuel' that magic users would use to not drain their own energy. He had been mortified to say the least and only after thorough explanation, did he entertain the idea of drinking any of the blue bottles contents.
We couldn't blame him, we even told him how we have to choke it down, that we take it like a shot and have a chaser when possible. We told him how it gave us enough power to learn to snap. We also explained how having the ability to snap could save his and his teams lives. It was up to him and we left it at that.
Now that we could divide our time between here and helping Thietian and Cass. Just in time too. The last meeting with some the undecided governments were going to take place in just three days. We didn't know how that was going to go and considering how we only had roughly half of the worlds governments on our side....
We would need to convince the majority of them showing up to the meeting or otherwise we didn't want the heavy burden of choosing who could get safe refuge at one of the refugee sites or compounds. So much of the land had to be reserved to be able to grow enough food to support the population.
The possibilities if we couldn't gain enough of the countries to fight back were weighing heavy on my mind.