Continued from here http://www.comicvine.com/forums/fan-fic/8/marvel-iron-age-ares-dmz-chapter-1/746094/#3
Chechyen DMZ New Latverian border
A transport arrives from the capital carrying Ares along with the monthly resupply, as the air ship lands Ares jumps out and demands to see the current commander. After a few minutes a tubby balding man wanders up. Ares looks down on him and begins, "You're being reassigned. I'll be taking command until further notice."
He began to speak but Ares hushed him and waved over a soldier, "I want every soldier currently on base waiting for me at parade grounds within the hour and I'll need a full briefing on the status of all operations by the end of the day."
***
The soldiers on the base grumbled as they gathered on the parade ground and Ares stood before them with a scowl. He then switched on the loud speaker as he spoke through his comm, "You are probably the sorriest excuse for soldiers I've ever seen but I'm here to fix that. From this point on you are no longer border guards, you are conquerors and starting tomorrow you damn well better look the part."
The soldiers began murmuring to each other not sure what Ares meant until he continued, "As of tomorrow we stake our claim on this chunk of hell on Earth in the name of New Latveria, by the end of the month I want to be able to look across that Iron line and spit in the eye of an armored goon from Latverian soil. At dawn I expect you all right here ready for war."
He then switched off the speaker and walked toward the command barracks.
***
The command staff sits around the table giving Ares reports on what was currently going on around the base. He was not pleased with what he heard, morale was low organization was laughable and the ranks were filled with descent. Finally he spoke, "This place is in a bad way, but that's not entirely surprising considering this is usually a punishment post. I know you people all ended up here for a reason but this is just unacceptable. Drills every morning until I say otherwise."
A man spoke up, "Sir, with all due respect I don't see why this is necessary."
Ares nodded, "The land itself is nearly worthless, that's not the point. Right now New Latveria looks weak to the world, We've suffered more in the last year than most nations do in a century we need a show of strength and quite frankly merely surviving the march through the DMZ is an impressive feat. We conquer it we show the world we are a force to be feared and respected."
The man sighed, "And what about the locals?"
Ares thought for a moment, "Use them, build militias, convince them of the benefits of Latverian citizenship. Most will probably join at the offer of food."
***
In the morning before dawn Ares oversaw the exercises the men were put through under his order. Many seemed angry with the routine but he was unconcerned. He wanted them pissed off and ready to fight. When they lines up on the parade ground they were worn out. His voice came through the loud speaker, "I see some of you seem upset, maybe even angry. You should be, but not at me. You men are the soldiers of Doom, never have I seen more disrespect to him than these ranks. You're slow, you're sloppy. I'm going to give you the opportunity to change that, I'm going to make you worthless starks soldiers if it kills you."
He looked back to his Lieutenant, "Drill them for another hour then get them fed we got a lot of work to do today."
The Lieutenant nodded to his fellow officer and yelled,"Move out."
***
Ares walked into the mess hall and noticed the difference between the food the command staff had and the rest. He stood in front of their table, "Dump those trays, you eat what they eat."
At first they seemed to take it as a joke but the stern look said different, "Did I stutter, soldiers?"
In unison they replied, "No Sir."
They then scrambled for the trash can. A few of the soldiers snickered at the officers but a glare from the war god cut it off. He then sat down, "Hurry up men, this isn't leisure time."
***
The base was more active on this day than it had been for several years, Ares had the men bolstering defenses and repairing transports while others were doing weapons maintenance. The command staff seemed upset that they were being forced to do the same work as the regular soldiers but kept their mouths shut. He had an air about him that made them want to follow his orders despite their anger. The regular soldiers just seemed happy the officers were being put on their level.
Not one man on base was allowed to sit idle, even Ares worked along with the men to prepare for the push into the DMZ. By nightfall the place seemed more organized than ever before. Doom himself didn't hold them to this standard. Before lights out Ares sat in his office with a data pad reading personnel files as his Lieutenant walked in, "The men are about to go down for the night , Sir."
He nodded, "Good, tell them to rest up. Tomorrow they're going into battle. There's a base not ten miles from here that's been intercepting transmissions from this base and sending them to Chicago. We attack at 0 700."
(To be continued I know this one was slow but its gonna be mostly action from this point on)
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