An Army Worthy of Ruusan

[Caulder Dune]

DROGHEDA
DROGHEDA CITADEL

The Drogheda Citadel had been in ruins for quite some time. Centuries ago, mindless upstarts deposed the ruling monarchy. Despite the Citadel being a perfectly defensible structure, the rebels abandoned it once their new government was set up. It was a symbol of an old "oppressive" regime, apparently. Well, what they called oppressive, Adekos called maintaining the proper order of things. So what if a few dissidents had to be strung up every now and again? As long as it was safe to walk the streets at night, as long as the threats of Bando Gora Slavers were kept away, as long as a strong system of law remained in place, what did they have to complain about?

Shortsighted. The lot of them. Good thing they were dead now, but the Citadel was still here. Dilapidated, but still there.

With the rising tide of the Triumvirate in this sector, an army would have to be raised. It could not just be some mundane force as employed by the likes of the Republic. They would have to be well trained and well equipped. Mr. Maijora could handle the equipment, but another individual would need to be contacted in order to oversee training. The Drogheda Citadel would serve as the primary training academy for this new force for order in the galaxy. And overseeing the development of a training regimen would be [member="Luca Thorne"]. Carach spoke highly enough of Luca. The man apparently served with Carach's Royal Guard. Adekos could only hope that would come to mean something positive.

They entered the courtyard of the collapsing citadel now. Behind them a few assistants were taking notes on what repairs would be necessary. Renovation would be expensive, but most worthwhile things are. "How long have you served with Darth Carach, Mr. Thorne?" The Umbaran asked, fiddling with the brazen gauntlet on his wrist as he spoke.

 

[Arage Bao]

DROGHEDA
DROGHEDA CITADEL
[member="Darth Adekos"]

A command was a command.

That did not mean Luca had to be happy with the situation at hand. Being pulled away from his duties to train a new generation of soldiers for the 'glory' of the Sith Triumvirate would have been an honor for many a person, but for him it was just a bother. He already missed the field. The bullets firing, the kinship with his squad (even if they were simpletons at times), the explosions and that rush of adrenaline every single time he faced death and yanked himself away from it by the nick of it.

"A decade give or take, my Lord." Thorne replied respectfully, while surveying their surroundings. His helmet was removed and currently rested against his side, at the end of the day it was disrespectful to be helmeted when you were in a formal discussion with your superior.

This wasn’t a war zone.

Only the arrogant and the foolish would raise the ire of their employers in such ways.

"I commanded the Triumvir’s Royal Guard for most of that time." he added dutifully, after which Luca awaited further questioning.

 

[Azimuth Industries]

[member="Luca Thorne"]
[member="Darth Adekos"]

He tugged at his high, black collar with a clawed, spindly finger. Hot. The facilities near the Drogheda mines were always hot. The Givin took another sip of caf. Bitter, black, and lukewarm. Just like his soul.

Ni’gel stared at the digital mounds of work before him. So many transactions to process. So much data to enter. All logistical ground-up work for the creation of this new military of the Triumvirate. Data entry. No algorithms. Truly thankless work, utterly beneath someone of his capacity.

Empty recesses glared woefully. The terminal screen cast a blue glow across his pale, skeletal features. Gaunt and more unmoving than a corpse.

A spike of anger lanced through him, an infernal spear hurled from some hollow hell. Ni’gel began to type. Slowly at first, click-clack, click-clak. A quickening drumbeat. Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat. He would show them what a Givin of quality could do. Ni’gel brought his full mental prowess to bear on the task at hand.

His fingers flew. Click-clack, click-clack. Faster and faster. “I am the whirlwind,” thought the Givin. Click-clack, click-clack. Reaching tone, the flat-lining of a dead man. The stream lining of labor. A chewed sheet metal rhythm. The symphony of a mind at work, body the factory, skyrocketing production levels. Output on the order of magnitudes. A solar wind of efficiency, eviscerating boredom and sloth, reducing them to ash floating in the void.

“This is my apotheosis,” thought some portion of the mind.

Ni’gel transcended.

Two cubicles over, a dark haired man failed to stifle a giggle. The Givin’s furious typing and string of muttered numbers could be heard over everything else in the office. A steady noise, quickly become ambient.

“What the blazes?” A Duros looked over at the giggling human. “Jax, what did you do?”

Jax put a hand over his mouth. “Just a little stim in his caf.”

“You drugged him?”

“Psh, drugged shmugged, just gave him a little motivation is all.”

The two office lackeys peeked their heads out and watched the Givin decimate his workload.

“I want what he’s having," said a voice three cubicles down.

In unison, both the Duros and Jax replied, "Shut up, Stan."

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Luca Thorne"]

"A decade? Impressive." Well, strictly speaking it probably wasn't too impressive. If memory served, Carach was rather conservative when it came to deploying his Royal Guard in dangerous situations. Understandable, really. No doubt their equipment and training were expensive. No need to waste them in frivolous battles that risked more than they obtained. Darth Adekos veered towards the same policy when it came to his own minions. Even the droids. Expendable didn't always mean the same thing as inexpensive.

They continued their walk around the dilapidated courtyard. Truth be told, Adekos was not a fan of the architecture. When the Triumvirate began the rebuilding process, they would have to bring in some foreign architects. Probably Tionese. The Umbaran had a profound bias towards the Tion Cluster even after his little secret society had stopped meeting regularly. It was a cluster that was simply better than most others. Economically, politically, socially... He could go on, but that's not what this thread is about.

The Stormtroopers in service of the Sith Triumvirate needed to be as every bit skilled as they could be out the gate of training. Darth Adekos intended to supplement them with war machines and the finest equipment money could reasonably buy. But automaton reinforcements, high-quality weapons, and the finest mass produced infantry armor currently present in the galaxy could only bring so much. Training itself could only bring so much beyond the rawness of battle. That wouldn't stop them from trying.

"You are skilled, then. Trustworthy as well I would think. Have you acted in the capacity of a trainer before?"

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Darth Adekos"] | @Ni'gel

“Yes, sir.”

Not that I like it or anything.

But that was the plight of a good soldier. You did what you were ordered to do and that was the end of it - no but’s, no maybe’s, you just started jumping up and down until your employer was happy with the way the sand was compressed under your feet.

“The upper-echelons of the Royal Guard - those who protected Lord Carach personally - were trained by me.” he supplied helpfully, before taking a look around the fortress himself.

It wasn’t bad.

But he had visited Hapes once during a black op. There was little that could compete with the splendor of the Queen Mother’s court. Though, most civilizations didn’t make their men into little pets either, so perhaps nothing was entirely perfect.

Still. Hopefully they would incorporate some elements of Hapes’ architecture, maybe even hire one of their famous designers while they were busy.

“If I may ask, my Lord. What will the size of the first group be?”

Already he was pondering on where to start with this. Looking at the Triumvirate’s ambition… well, it would probably be quite the undertaking.

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Luca Thorne"]

So this man had trained Carach's personal protectors. Well, that was all the information needed, wasn't it? The man responsible for the purported 'elite' status of the men who stood musclebound and ominous behind Carach was far better than any resume. Though Adekos would have liked to see one anyway, just for record keeping purposes. "Most impressive." Adekos said, although this time he meant it. Darth Carach was a fickle creature. He would never settle for less than the finest protectors. Probably. Though the two men had conversed frequently, they had never gotten on the discussion of bodyguards. Though that was most likely because it was impolite to talk about people who were standing right there.

As they continued through the sprawling courtyard, skirting the edges of a fallen statue, Mr. Thorne asked how large the first group would be. "A company: one hundred and fifty men, give or take some extra in case a few of them die or wash out. You'll want to be especially brutal in seeing them through their training. Those one hundred and fifty men will each take what they've learned from you and see about training one hundred and fifty more men each." Being a major player in galactic affairs meant that exponential growth for an army would be essential. A government with no army held no authority. In a perfect galaxy, Luca would oversee all training as a permanent position. But Mr. Thorne could not be everywhere at once. One hundred and fifty men was already quite the burden, Adekos had no desire to make the Royal Guard suffer any more than was necessary.

"Will you be requiring any special resources? Equipment, support personnel, etcetera."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

It seemed the Sith Lord was more knowledgeable about how to actually train an army than Luca had first assumed. For some reason most people thought it was as simple as just dictating a few lessons, point them at a target and that would be the end of it.

The truth was far more different from that. First of all Luca couldn’t train all of them. Well, technically he could, but that would take years to do properly and they didn’t have years - and the soldier wasn’t about to forsake all his other duties for this one either.

So he would need a small control group first. Train them to be his COs, who had the know-how to teach the rest.

Trickle-down mechanisms didn’t just work for economics.

“I will need far more than I can sum up right now, my Lord.” Luca replied earnestly.

“But the most important thing is an isolated location with plenty of room for every single training scenario.”

They would need all the equipment they would end up using in a real war. They would need opponents to train against. A lot of auxiliary personnel too, because while Thorne was good, he wasn’t an one-man-army by any means.

“Once the location has been pinpointed, I can provide you with a list of everything I will need, if that is acceptable?”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Luca Thorne"]

"As I expected. Perfectly acceptable." The only training methods Adekos was familiar with were flash memory and programming. Programming droids to fight was hardly the same thing as training a Stormtrooper Corps from the ground up. And as much as he would have liked to simply mechanize the entire Triumvirate military... Well, being a Sith state meant there were going to be certain expectations. One such expectation was a military that at least included an organic component.

Really, Darth Adekos had no problems with organic soldiers. Droids just happened to be better. More versatile, more reliable, and involving less upkeep. It was hardly anyone's fault. That was just the way things were. But the hearts and minds of the people couldn't be won by droids- there were no battle droid heroes. Except for that insufferable HK droid that held power in the Omega Protectorate. Now that droid, the exception to the rule, was dead along with the government he served. Hardly worth noting. No, polls and surveys conducted found that people who lived in nations with primarily organic armed forces felt safer than those with mechanized armed forces.

They were all terribly mistaken, but Adekos lacked the power to change public sentiment. Otherwise he wouldn't be here. "Will this citadel not be sufficient?" Adekos asked. "We have the budget to acquire simulation rooms and equipment, though if you prefer more traditional methods we can find another location."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

Luca suppressed his urge to blink in confusion.

For a moment he wondered if the Sith Lord was testing him or playing some kind of joke, but apparently the man was completely serious about the question.

“My Lord, I do not think that would be wise.” the soldier began carefully. Of course, Darth Carach had always appreciated him being frank and honest with his opinion when it concerned a subject that he was knowledgeable. But Sith were notoriously… fickle creatures.

Damage their pride and their wrath could be the end of you.

“For one, this location is already in the public eye and you want the first batch to be trained outside of it.” Common sense, really. They were surrounded by hostile and antagonistic nations, so spies would be an issue. (SpyNet would be a big concern)

“And while simulation rooms might be a fancy development there is nothing that can replace good old fashion physical experience.”

That was frankly just his own opinion, but if he was going to train them an army, he would train them in his way. And that meant doing things the old fashioned way, instead of utilizing some garbage tech that simulated things.

Real war won’t be a simulation.

“So my professional assessment is that we will need a location with enough space to train in every military discipline, but detached enough from civilization that spies and saboteurs won’t be an issue.”

Luca bowed his head.

“If it pleases you, my Lord.”

 

[Caulder Dune]

[member="Luca Thorne"]

An eyebrow would have been raised, if it were at all visible. This was an impenetrable citadel in the mountains, far from the rest of Droghedan civilization. They had to take a skysled to get here. As far as isolation and security went, this was virtually the perfect place. Sure, it was a bit of a fixer-upper, but Darth Adekos loved long term investments more than his bastard children. If Thorne's concern was hostile action, then he would be pleased to know that the Republic hadn't been associated with the term "successful" for what felt like a generation, the Techno Union lacked manpower, and the Silver Sanctum lacked willpower.

Besides, who murdered trainees? That was just completely uncivilized.

At any rate, Adekos had no desire to argue. This man was the expert. Part of running a successful national enterprise was recognizing when someone knew more than him and yielding personal preference to expert opinion. Maybe later he could lecture Thorne on why The Science of Creating Life was the most important work of Sith research literature in the history of the galaxy. You know, just to keep things balanced. Thorne also spurned the use of simulation pods. Again, he would know more about this. If he didn't, he wouldn't be on Carach's payroll.

"What would please me is you having the autonomy to make the decisions you believe are best." Adekos paused in his walk to observe a crane lifting up a fallen statue of Queen Sarna. He wondered, briefly, how much it would be worth on the antiquities market. "If you would like to scout for a superior location, then I implore you to do so. Just keep it on Drogheda, as we have a deal with the local government."

 

[Arage Bao]

[member="Darth Adekos"]

“Besides, who murdered trainees? That was just completely uncivilized.”

Luca did. He actually preferred that tactic over most other tactics. Why wait until your enemy has a serviceable army to fight you, if you have the capability and opportunity to root them out immediately? It was easier and you didn’t have to throw your own army into the meatgrinder.

A perfect win-win situation.

But Adekos had thought that, he hadn’t said it outloud. Sadly this meant that Luca could never verbalize these truths, because he wasn’t a mentalist Sith Lord who could read minds.

That was why Thorne simply nodded.

“I will have a list with possible candidates for you by the end of the week, my Lord.”

In a world of spaceships, repulsor lifts and highly advanced sensors they could quickly pin-point the most viable sites and then narrow down the ones that would be the best in terms of cost-efficiency versus effectivity.

Maybe they could build the complex underground… embedded into hard bedrock and completely off the grid with its own supply of power. Isolate the facility from any sensors through spec-

Well, now he was getting ahead of himself.

“Is there anything else you need of me, my Lord?”