Bachmus sat in a rather large tent, leaned back in a hammock. Nearby Bartniss sat on a crate cleaning his weapon, while Xanes sat near him rifling through a pack. After a few minutes passed by Cortin came in and plopped down in another hammock with a sigh.

“All our gear has been stowed, The Dakenis is with Centerus Zarn going over our plan of attack, looks like we will be assaulting the Bowin fortress in the morning.”

“Nothing like an early morning assault to get you started for the day,” Bachmus mused.

Bartniss snorted, “Yeah, you won’t be tired for long.”

They lapsed back into silence, each doing their own thing before Xanes finally asked, “Why did you guys sign up.”

“What?” Bachmus replied.

“For the military, I was wondering why all of you signed up.”

Bachmus grunted, “My sector’s governor issued a draft order, so instead of being forced to go with whatever they assigned me, I went ahead and volunteered, figured I’d rather choose my own outfit, than be forced into whatever they stuck me with.”

“Eh,” Bartniss stated, “I signed up to provide some income for my family, we live in a poor farming community on Arrag. The Army was the best job around.”

“The Von Cortins have a long tradition of serving in the military, most of my brothers are in the navy, figured I’d be a bit different and join the ground pounders.” Cortin answered, “As for why I'm here, my Father made me sign up with Zekor, because he knew he wouldn't place me in a high position just because of my family's status.”

Xanes nodded, “The governor of my planet, Xodia, Has a standing order that one male from each family must serve in the military. My father entered under the order, and I signed up after he retired and they assigned me here.”

Bachmus opened one eye and glanced over at him, “That planet was only conquered recently right?”

Xanes nodded, “ About sixty cycles ago, my grandparents were alive then.”

Bachmus snorted, “And how did your people take the change in leadership.”

Xanes shrugged, “There was some resistance, at first, but the empire has done alot for us, we might be under military occupation, and lost the right to govern ourselves, but with in sixty years we went from being a primitive tribal society to having schools, hospitals, space travel, and the trade that Empire has brought has boosted our economy, and life expectancy has risen.”

“And that,” Cortin added, “Is why we fight, and why the Empire exists, we bring law, order, and prosperity to the people, provide modern comfort, trade, and support.”

“By forcing it on them,” Bachmus growled.

Cotrin’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Bachmus, “It sounds like you have a problem with the Empire.”

Bachmus opened his eyes and stared back, “I have a problem with the way the Empire does things, bringing law, order, trade, and all that other stuff are all well and good. It’s commendable, really. Forcing it on people by gun point, however, not to mention executing those who speak up about concerns they have, that I do have a problem with.”

Cortin stood up, his eyes filled with suspicion and started to say something when, BOOM! , an explosion shattered the quiet night, Cortin and the rest dropped to the ground a half second before shrapnel peppered the tent, and dirt rained down from above. Shouts could be heard from outside, and a second later gun fire lit up the previously quiet night.

“Get your gear!” Cortin yelled, as he scrambled to grab his rifle and helmet.

The rest did the same quickly grabbing their rifles and helmets, as the sound of battle thundered on, now mixed with the screams of the wounded and dying.

Bachmus grimaced, “Looks like the attack came early.”

“I don’t imagine they are happy,” Cortin agreed, “Bachmus, Bartnis, you two take point, let's see what we are dealing with.”

Bachmus rushed out of the tent, followed closely by Bartnis. The darkness of night was lit up with the flashes of laser blasts, and explosions blossomed like mini suns, illuminating the darkened camp.

Cortin and Xanes came out of the tent just as some darkened figures came rushing out of the forest to the right of them, “We got company,” Bachmus shouted as he saw them.

The Imperials raised their rifles and fired, dropping the enemy ambushers before they could get a shot off, but more came flooding out of the dark forest, firing as they went. Bachmus and the rest returned fire, dropping a few but were starting to be overwhelmed.

“There.”, Bartnis said pointing to a clump of metal boxes, “We can use that for cover,”

The others sprinted over to the boxes, continuing to fire as they went. Bachmus and Cortin Reached them first and stood behind them, using them as cover while they blasted away at enemy soldiers they were quickly followed by Xanes, Bartnis as he was running up said, “Hey Cortin remember when you talked about the Bowins slitting your throat?”

“Yeah?” Cotrin replied, while scanning the trees

“I’m starting to wish you hadn’t.” he answered as he brought his rifle over to aim at another enemy.

Cortin started to reply when suddenly Bartnis crumpled to the ground, a sizzling whole in the side of his face. The three of them stared for a half-second before their brain registered the danger, and Bachmus yelled, “Sniper, Drop!”.

Bachmus and Cortin immediately dropped behind the boxes while Xanes screamed, “Allorin!” and started to move toward his friend's body.

Cortin hissed, frustrated, and grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to the ground, hard, “Stay Down!” He snapped, “If you don't wisen up you’re going to end up dead, do you understand me!”

Xanes nodded slowly, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Bachmus, did you see where that shot came from?”

Bachmus grimaced, “No, wait one.” He rose up a little poking his head just over the box, there was a high pitched whine, and a loud Ping!, Bachmus cursed as he slammed into the ground and his helmet flew off his head. It bounced across the ground and rolled to a stop, a big sizzling dent in the side of it.

“That's definitely a high powered rifle,” Bachmus grumbled as he got back behind the boxes, He then looked to Cortin, “He’s in a tree, ahead of us, to the left, about halfway up and just out of range.”

Cortin thought for a moment then said, “Alright, Bachmus you got a smoke on you?”

Bachmus nodded and reached into a pouch on his belt, withdrawing a small cylinder, he reached across Xanes and handed it to Cortin. Cortin withdrew a small barrel and quickly attached it to the end of his gun and slid the cylinder down it., “Alright, I’m going to fire this off and give us some cover, Xanes I need to to fire in his direction, try to distract him, Bachmus, you and I are going to go at him from the right and the left, try to get in range to get a shot off.” He waited a second for the two to nod in acknowledgement,

“One my mark,” Cortin said, his grip tightening on his gun, “1, “ He counted as he slowly began to rise, “2” He was almost out of cover now, “3!” He yelled and quickly swung his rifle up and fired, with a Thunk! The smoke grenade soared out of rifle attachment and started to hiss as it quickly filled the area with grey smoke, Xanes shot up from cover and began firing wildly in the direction of the sniper, while Bachmus and Cortin darted left and right respectively.

As Cortin cleared some of the smoke there was a loud Crack!, as a laser bolt slammed into his armor chest piece. It flung him into the dirt, and he lay there coughing and gasping for air, trying to recover from getting the wind knocked out of him.

Bachmus continued to sprint forward and into the tree line, he finally stopped when he could see a dark figure sitting on a thick branch up in the trees. He quickly dropped to his knees and an angry red laser bolt roared past where his head had just previously been and exploded into the ground kicking up dirt. Bachmus fired three times, the bolts momentarily lighting up the dark forest. They soared upwards and struck his assailant, two hit him in the chest and one slammed into his head, sending the man tumbling into the bushes below.

Bachmus looked around, scanning to see if there were any more enemies nearby. The dark woods, however, stood empty, save for the distant sounds and flashes of weapons fire. He quickly hurried over to Boxes, and was joined by a still somewhat winded Cortin.

“Come on,” He grunted, “Let's fall back to the command position where Dakis is.”

Bachmus, Xanes, and Cortin quickly hurried back, past their tent and further into the encampment, As they moved in the sound of weapons fire grew louder and soon they came across an all out firefight.

Imperial soldiers stood behind makeshift barricades of boxes, and flipped over tables. Bachmus and the others picked up the pace, rushing to get behind the barricades, firing as they went. Their fellow soldiers noticed them and bellowed out a war cry, popping out from their barricades and firing furiously at the Bowin soldiers, trying to provide cover fire for their comrades.

The group dived behind cover just as the last of the Bowin soldiers were killed. They sat for a minute, panting, before Cortin looked over to one of the other soldiers, “Where’s the Centerus?”

THe soldier jerked his head to the left, “Back that way.”

Cortin nodded in thanks, and headed inward toward the direction indicated, with Bachmus and Xanes flowing close behind. They got a few yards in before coming to the camp command area. Men hurried back and forth, while some talked frantically on their radios, issuing orders or getting reports. As they neared them Varsorus came running over to meet them.

“Glad you boys are ok,” He said with a slight smile as he quickly looked over them, then noticed the absence of Bartniss his smile faded, “Bartniss?”

The three shook their heads, their faces slack with grief.

“That’s a shame.” He sighed, shaking his head.

“Dakenis” Zarn called as he came running over, he stopped just short of the squad, “Get your men ready.”

“We’re attacking now sir?” Varsorus asked

“In an hour, first-” he started before being interrupted by a loud WHUMP!, followed by more Whumps!. “We’re going to bombard them to clear out the forest surrounding the fortress.” Zarn finished yelling over the sound of artillery shells exploding.