"Welcome, Horatio," Sergeant Louise whispered clearly as Horatio walked past her.
"Thank you, Squad Leader," Horatio replied with a smile, looking into her purple eyes.
"Hey, welcome. I'm Fidio. Lydos, stop being so stiff, say hello."
The young man named Lydos took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.
"…Work hard, rookie. Don't get too happy too soon. Except for the three of us who joined earliest, everyone else has died in action.
Seven times we've had replacements, and none survived. Getting to know you guys, then watching you return to the Golden Throne one by one, that feeling is truly… never mind."
He sighed again, swallowing his words.
"As a rookie from the last round of replacements, the only thing you need to do is survive. We'll handle the rest. Although for most rookies, even that is difficult to achieve."
[The casualty rate is really high… ]
"I will," Horatio said with a strong voice, undeterred.
"Now, Class 3816 cadets, dismiss! Class 3810 cadets, stand by! Next, we will announce the first batch of pre-selected candidates for the Imperial Navy's new unit."
As soon as the words fell, Lieutenant Stirling walked down with a written petition.
"The following squads, fall out!" He read out the existing numbers, then provided a new set of numbers.
These individuals had undergone strict background checks by the Military Intelligence Command, primarily from Navy Heir families whose ancestors had maintained loyalty to the Emperor for five generations, including the second son of the Ravenberg Family.
For experimental purposes, a few individual Navy Heir cadets from non-Navy Heir families, but with impeccable backgrounds, were also included, such as Henry Harvey, who became a Junior Sergeant Major at the age of 16.
Horatio, who had seen the proposal in advance, knew that this unit was being prepared for the 'Hellspawns' under the Fleet Military Intelligence Headquarters, so the selection process was extremely stringent.
The first round pre-selected 26 groups, consisting of 13 Childer of Loyalty groups and 13 preparatory student groups, which were matched 1+1 to form 13 teams.
This design was based on the premise that the future 'Hellspawns' unit could not only be selected from Navy Heir; it was necessary to verify the feasibility of training ordinary people into Hellspawns, otherwise, they would face severe replacement difficulties.
Horatio's group was designated as Group 13, merging with Archie's Group 15 to form Team 13.
Theoretically, a full team would consist of 6 people + 6 people, totaling 12 people per team, which is a formation that aligns well with the Imperial Navy, as it perfectly fills the 12 seats in a Valkyrie transport aircraft. Two teams together could fit into an Avis Landing Craft, with an additional heavy weapon two-person squad for squad-level fire support.
However, the cadets who fell out quickly discovered a problem—the largest group on the pre-selection list only had 5 people. Where was the sixth person?
Just as the cadets were whispering and looking around.
A schoolyard gate slowly opened.
26 Storm Troopers Sergeant Majors, wearing bright red berets, jogged in a line and stood before the cadets.
Looking at these tall, robust, perfectly built veterans in military green Skyhawk training vests, with cold, emotionless faces and mostly noticeable, terrifying battle scars, many cadets couldn't help but gasp.
"Holy crap, there are Storm Sergeant Majors too."
"They're not going to train us, are they… But I'm just a preparatory student."
"What kind of new unit is this? It's a mixed formation."
As the cadets whispered among themselves.
"Silence!" Lieutenant Stirling shouted, stopping them.
"This line of incredibly glorious Storm Sergeant Majors are your seniors from the previous Storm Troopers unit! They are all elites who fought their way to be the last one remaining in a ten-person squad, climbing out of piles of dead bodies! Now they will serve as your squad instructors, providing you with special training to forge you into the strongest Imperial Army soldiers.
You will undergo incredibly rigorous training. This new unit still operates on an elimination system, and the only methods of elimination are death and severe injury!"
Many new cadets who had joined as replacements swallowed nervously, but they also knew that even if they were afraid, they had to undergo the test, because from the moment they became preparatory students at the officer preparatory school, they, like the Navy Heir, had dedicated their bodies and souls to the God-Emperor and had undergone the exact same physical surgical enhancements as the Navy Heir.
The Navy Heir's performance was far calmer than that of the preparatory students, with many having indifferent eyes.
Lydos, standing in front of Horatio, even scoffed provocatively at the burly Sergeant Major directly opposite him, silently expressing the pride that 'Navy Heir are superior to Storm Troopers'.
Many of them had come from the Loyalist Nurturing School; brutal and rigorous elimination was their childhood. Now, they were merely moving from one extreme to a higher level of extreme, and many held an eager, proactive attitude.
The Storm Sergeant Majors spread out and stood in front of each group, signifying their role as that squad's instructor.
Standing in front of Louise was a female Voidsmen-at-Arms Officer, whose mouth was always downturned, appearing to be in her mid-twenties, with a high nose bridge, a shallow, long battle scar near her left lower eyelid and right lower jaw, and short hair.
If not for her feminine physique, she could easily be mistaken for a burly man from behind.
This female Sergeant Major was very tall, estimated to be at least 1.9 meters, with tight, muscular physique, and her six-pack abs, along with her eight-pack abs, were visible beneath her dark, fitted undershirt.
Seeing Horatio observing her, the female Sergeant Major shifted her gaze and looked at him.
She was expressionless, yet one could feel a sense of disregard in her eyes—the contempt of a strong individual, which made those who met her gaze instinctively feel their presence intensely suppressed by her.
Louise frowned deeply, her purple hawk-like eyes fixed on the golden-brown eyes, as if challenging her, forcibly pulling the female Sergeant Major's gaze back.
Silence fell over the schoolyard. The atmosphere between the two was as tense as two Western gunfighters standing face to face, ready to draw their pistols at any moment.
If one were to describe the two with animals, the female Sergeant Major was like an aggressive lioness, while Louise was like a steady but potentially explosive wild horse.
"In the future, these Storm Sergeant Majors will be your best instructors!"
The female Sergeant Major stepped forward, her body directly confronting Louise.
"Valina Baslong, Catachan, Storm Sergeant Major Major, participated in 108 battles, 45 of which were Kill-teams missions, with a 100% success rate."
[Catachan… that planet where people fight plants for air and survival space from childhood, where almost everything is fiercely alive, and even Chaos Space Marines and Tyranidss can't easily get away unscathed.]
And Sergeant Major Major seemed to be the highest rank among this batch of Storm Sergeant Majors; unless one reached Navy Master Sergeant Major, she would be the highest-ranking officer in all the squads.
"Louise Tavira, Cadian, Navy Sergeant, Ship Assault Branch, participated in 15 battles, 4 of which were Kill-teams missions, with a 100% success rate."
100%. Even if the two did not speak, everyone knew that this high success rate was built upon a high casualty rate.
The two saluted each other, but their gazes were like needle points against wheat awns.
"Everyone, prepare for live-fire exercises tomorrow. Dismiss!"