We arrived at the hanger on Level One just as we arrived over the Planet Eden. The energy fields that separated the hanger bay from the cold vacuum of space greeted us with the sight of the Planet itself. It was a lush green planet from up here. Beautiful in appearance with dots of blue where there were no doubt bodies of water. I could see why it might be called Eden, or ‘Perfection’ in the old tongue used long before Humanity took to the stars.

Upon that green planet my squad and I would be burning a farming community to the ground, down to the very last crying babe. We were approached by one of the dock workers, he was hesitant and seemed somewhat scrawny for someone needed to lift heavy metal beams, and repair shuttle jumpers.

“You the Squad being sent planet side for a Rebel sweep?” He was sweating, perspiration showing either strain, fear, or overheating. I did not care which.

“We are, is our shuttle prepped for departure?” My voice sounded oddly distant to my ears, no doubt a cause of coming out through a filter to be clearly heard.

“Y-yes Sir. You also will have one extra shuttle of ground troops to act as your support. Single squad of five soldiers. I- I believe they are experienced in this sort of OP” I just stared at him, why was he rambling?

He pointed us toward our shuttle. It was an old model, like the one we arrived in though painted in our Squads colors. Black with that odd sheen of red that made it seem to shine bloody. Our Generals crest was implanted upon the side of the hull, and under it was the old saying that matched our suits. ‘Respice Finem’ No doubt our General desired that to be our respective prayer or battle cry.

When we reached our shuttle, I noticed a second just behind, blocked from view by the first. A small group of five soldiers dressed in basic field combat gear to provide the maximum amount of mobility, and as much armor as it could were meandering around the entrance. One of them noticed us, and nudged a large black man that looked toward us and came alive. He straightened, and motioned for the others around him to follow.

I stopped, my Squad stopping with me as they approached. I was frowning, these constant conversations were ruining my planned time table to begin our first Operation. They stopped around six feet from my group, well within range of a few steps, but far enough to allow weapons to be drawn. Experienced? The gear they wore was colored similar to our own, though in muted undertones rather than standing out.

“You greenies the new arrivals meant to be Azazel’s Personal Squad?” He said, absently butchering the words with an odd dialect I had never heard. A mix of old English, and new English that made him sound somewhat hickish. I did not oversee the lack of formality when mentioning the General either.

I regarded him, contemplating how long it would take to close the distance, dodge the first gunshot they would get off, and place my pistol directly against his skull. It would be warranted, but if this was our support I needed to keep them alive, for now.

“Cat got your tongue Greenie?” He laughed, his buddies laughed, and my squad and I just stood there at perfect attention.

“No, a cat does not have my tongue. You will also refer to me as either ‘Sir’ or ‘Captain’. You will follow proper protocol when addressing me, or my Squad. You will also never again refer to General Azazel as simply ‘Azazel’. Grunts like you have not, nor ever shall, receive the right for such informality. Am I clear?”

They paused, seemingly stunned at what I had stated. I saw one of the smaller men take a step forward, his mouth opening to no doubt say something regarding us ‘Greenies’. He never got the chance to utter a word, Azza had stopped it cold with the barrel of her freshly minted AK - 99 pointed directly at him. No doubt sighted between his eyes.

The tension rose in octaves every passing second. I saw one of the others slowly reach for his gun, and my hand went to my pistol and had it drawn and pointed within a fraction of a second. “Don’t” my only words, my last words. If he drew, support or not, I would kill them all.

The big man put his hands up, and backed away a step. “Woah, easy now boys. Let’s not do this, A...General Azazel won’t like us fighting. Ease down Franklin.” the one that had his hand near his gun slowly moved his hand back. The look he gave ensured he would be a casualty of the conflict below. I would allow no descent among my assigned support personnel.

I holstered my pistol, and spoke without looking toward Azza. “Gun up, Azza. The matter is settled.” She holstered the weapon without a word, assuming an at the ready stance. “Get loaded up, we leave in two minutes. Follow behind, once we arrive I will formulate a plan of action.”

The big man nodded, I’d have to teach him to salute as well, it appeared. But later, for now they may be needed. Once I learned the situation in its entirety before beginning the assault, that could change. They went to their shuttle, and we entered our own. It was sparse, lockers filled with ammo clips, and basic military gear. Though there was a scorpion missile launcher within one of the lockers as well. That might be useful for that.

I stuck my head into the cockpit and saw a pilot. Odd, I tapped his shoulder and he looked back at me, giving me a small salute. “Sir, we are ready to launch.” shocking, he knew what to do. Good, I could keep him then.

“Make ready, depart in one minute.” He saluted once more and began doing a systems check. I might like this pilot, quiet and following military protocol as best as his seated position allowed.

I banged my closed fist lightly on the entrance to the cockpit and turned around to see my Squad settling into their respective seats. Each one was going over their gear. We had only the three weapons to go over, but a great deal of clips and grenades to fiddle with on how to remove and use properly.

I took a seat and began doing the same. I touched a section of my belt and a collapsed clip popped out, I checked it. It held forty bullets, a clip for my pistol. I pushed the only noticeable button and it collapsed upon itself into a five inch thick square. I check my belt, and there were three more squares in the same general location, and a large hole in my belt.

Interesting, rather simple in appearance and function though I doubted the science behind it was simple. I didn’t care much, beyond basic maintenance and that it worked however. I placed the clip back into the slot it went into, and went around the belt. Shotgun clip holding twenty shells, the long collapsed clips for the AK-99. I had three kinds of grenades, five small balls each that were odd from what I had been trained in.

First off, they were all balls with different color. I assumed the yellow were flash-bang, the red were obviously incendiary in origin, the black I had no idea, perhaps simple grenades? I would test it in this OP to be sure of the function.

I checked my pistol, and a small button just above the trigger guard caused the barrel to round out and elongate two inches. This was the silencer, interesting. I fiddled with it further, basic pistol beyond the Mods, and improvements. Taking it apart and cleaning it would be a simple matter, judging by the other weapons it would be the same with them. A great deal to learn, and memorize to properly use to the fullest their capabilities. They would be my tools for as long as I was alive, after all.

“We are about to begin breaking through the planet's atmosphere, Sir!” The pilot called back, causing me to look up from my investigation. Rising from my seat I went to the cockpit entrance, staring out at the planet as we began to descend.

The shuttle jumped, and rocked entering the exosphere. It evened out after a moment, though continued to rattle with each sphere we broke through until we reached the troposphere. Exiting the first layer of atmosphere that separated Eden from the vacuum of space, the ship evened out relatively quickly and allowed us a smooth low air flying, just above the massive greenery.

“We are approximately ten miles from the village rumored to hold Rebel activity, Sir. General Azazel left a mission summary on what he would prefer for preliminary operational undertaking within the side panel just behind the entrance to the cockpit. I have been requested to inform you of this, and then proceed with standard landing protocol.” He paused a moment, smoothly avoiding an unnaturally large tree with blue vines that looked like they snaked toward us for a moment.

“Standard protocol has us landing within the Village itself, Sir. It will both arouse suspicion in any Rebels present, and be somewhat routine for the Village. General Azazel has regular military sweeps to aid the Villages of each planet fight the native wildlife. As such, they will see you, his personal squad, as a test of sorts. Eden does have the most ferocious of beasts within the Quadrant, after all.”

I didn’t bother replying, instead moving back a bit to look at the summary provided. The words scrolling through the screen were relatively basic concepts. The missions end result was the utter annihilation of every single living soul within the Village. He has no set time, so I would be allowed freedom to go about it as I wished.

The summary included several options I could choose, from picking them off one by one in the night, explosives, and several other such methods. I decided I would finish the first OP within three days, that was my set time limit. Long enough to show I ensured each individual was killed, short enough to show I had a deep and seated drive to succeed as quickly as possible.

I’d get accustomed to the villagers, learn the layout of the jungle, aid in defense if the wildlife struck, use this to build trust. It would make it easier to slaughter them all like the pathetic rebel sympathizers they no doubt were.

I placed the detailed summary back in its holding slot, and turned to regard my Brothers and Sisters as we arrived at the village, the slowed descent of the shuttle evidence to such.

“Infiltration method 35, gain the Villagers trust, show no sign of our true goals. Do what you need to upon arrival to earn the trust of the common folks, do a request within the Village, plan to do a sweep of the surrounding area later to clear out wildlife. We have a three day time limit, learn the layout, structural weaknesses, weapon cache locations. If our Support ground team hinders us, dispose of them quietly in the jungle. Understood?”

“Sir, yes Sir!” I nodded, unholstered my pistol to gain one last glimpse of my preferred weapon, and holstered it again. I felt as the shuttle touched down, and the sound of the rear hatch opening to allow us to debark from the shuttle itself. The slight static click of the Pilot speaking to us via a secure radio channel. “Good luck, Sir. Show them what it means to betray the Empire!”

Radio Silence ensued after that, and we stepped onto the very first planet aside from the Core World training Academy that we had grown up on. Time for Operation: Eden's Fire to commence.

intend to detail a great deal, and I will warn any and all readers at this point. Very graphical, and detailed descriptions of violence, gore, and murder will be occurring within these Chapters. Read further at your Own risk.

As always, much love and cookies.