After Princess Ayeolla left the compound, Milano called for a staff sync as well as a command and staff brief. In the two briefings, he explained the core problems that had been discussed in his meeting with the princess. The small element that had escorted her back to her homeland arrived six hours later, revealing that they were only approximately 200 miles from the heart of the alliance. Milano sat back in his chair as he addressed the commanders. "Now, we need to address the "Mireles" situation." He sighs as he rubs his face, looking around the room. "There have been no more deserters in the last week, correct?" The S1 officer in charge stepped forward, nodding. "Yes sir." He says as he looks at his chart. "In total, we have had forty losses between combat losses, deserters, and those that stayed back on Earth."
Milano sighs as he looks up at the ceiling of the tent, collecting his thoughts. "Very well, here is what we will do." He then began detailing how they would hold training and the upcoming battalion formation.
On the day following the princesses appearance at Hood Hill, a battalion wide formation was held in the morning. Eric sighed as he stood in front of his platoon, the empty spot in third squad where Mireles seemed to burn a hole in his heart as he counted his troops. A few minutes later, all soldiers present in the battalion had been accounted for, and the commander showed up.
"Alright, all soldiers circle around me. Milano says as he motions for them to surround him. "I need everyone to be able to hear me." He waited for a few minutes as the entire battalion encircled him, soldiers cramming in where they could so that they could listen in. "Alright, check it out. I know a lot of you joined the Army to be heroes. Some of you joined to get college, and the list goes on. All of that doesn't matter here, soldiers. We are here, isolated against the world. Soon, that will change, and we will have new faces joining us to train alongside us." He paused as he looked around the formation, letting his words settle in. "Some of you haven't liked the way we have treated you, some think they can win the war by themselves, and others think they can take the world over because they have a gun. Soldiers, you can't win against the world just because you have an M4." Milano says with finality. "You may have heard about a soldier by the name of 'Mireles', well, I regret to tell you that he did not survive out there." His words hung over the formation, silence and tension washing over each soldier. "So, I will offer you a choice. We can only win this war if you all work together. Soldiers, we already died once. Let us fight this world so that we can make it our home. If you want to leave this formation and go your own way, that is fine, but you must leave your weapon. Anyone that wants to do so, step out of the circle and go stand by the command tent."
No one moved.
"Alright then." The commander says as he nods to the soldiers, his eyes held a glint of pride as he looks at each soldier. "Zonk."
"RUN YOU MORONS!" a voice called out from the back as all the junior enlisted scrambled over each other to get the hell away from Milano. The commander laughed while watching soldiers run into each other in a mad scramble to get to their tents. All the leaders congregated around Milano as they watched the soldiers act like hounds from hell sniffing for food. "Sir, are you sure that was wise?" A young LT called next to Eric. "Shut up Myer." SGM Hernandez said while chuckling. "Those soldiers will need the R&R before the hell scape called training comes for them."
Training began a few days later when the alliance soldiers arrived. Eric had once more assumed command of the forces at the village. While he was gone, the villagers had decided to name the village "Freedom Village." Today, Mia and Eric were discussing how to train the soldiers on High Value Target retrieval training, and it left Eric exhausted. Training professional soldiers straight out of boot camp was difficult enough, but now he had to add soldiers from another world? Sure, the language comprehension skills helped, but it was still exhausting teaching the equivalence of what were Brishan's privates. The only reason why he had agreed were because they were Mia's soldiers. Mia felt the same consternation. "These soldiers are just so new. They can't even piece together how to tell if someone is lying to them!" Mia grumbled at one point. "Yeah, lets call it a night." Eric said as he pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniel's. "When privates act like privates, this is the best cure." Mia walked behind him and looked at the bottle. "What is that?" She said as she leaned down to sniff it. "This is liquor from my world. I snuck it into the plane. I wasn't planning to drink it so soon, but I have another bottle. This is the best time to drink." Mia looked at Eric while blinking, her head wrapping around what he said. "Other world?" Eric almost dropped the bottle at the glare he was now receiving. "Shit." Mia looked at him and seemed to growl. "Well… I'm just messing with you." Mia says with a giggle. "I had already figured as much when I saw your vehicles on the hill. Also, no nation in Brishan uses the kinds of clothing or weapons you and your soldiers use. It was kind of a no brainer after that. Also, Ally told me." Now it was Eric's turn to be confused. "Ally?" Mia looked away with a whistle. "Yeah… you see, the princess and I might have gone to school together." Eric grumbled as he looked up at the ceiling. "Of course you were." He sighed and face-palmed. "Let's drink." As the night wore on, they had stopped discussing training plans and started drinking together.
"Well, Well, what do we have here?" A voice called out to Eric as he slept. "You two seem to be mighty comfy."