"There's more than meets the eye here, isn't there?" Snipes asked, crouching down next to Lambert.

"What makes you say that?"

"Too many coincidences." Snipes buckled his helmet to his belt and lit a cigarette for himself and the former Captain.

Lambert inhaled deeply and sighed, "Let me tell you a story, First Sergeant. There were once four men, they'd worked together a long time and come to know each other very well, they were like brothers and rarely fought amongst themselves.

"One day these friends were asked to scout out potential areas for another terraforming plant, being as their planet was a barren, inhospitable place. Normally these men would not have to do it themselves, having plenty of underlings, however boredom had long ago set in and so they took it upon themselves to do it personally.

"On their way to one of these possible positions one of them finds he badly needs to relieve himself of certain burdens all living things must deal with, so they stop the speeder and he gets out and scrambles behind a rock. A few moments go by, the others mock him as he's crouched behind this rock. Then there was a crash and a scream, his friends come running to see what happened.

"What they find a hole in the ground where their friend was, they toss a glow lamp down, now the magnificence of what they see takes their breath away. Everywhere the cave is completely covered in Nova crystals. The light of the glow lamp shines off them and mesmerizes them, despite the death of their friend one of them quickly crawls down and begins the wander around. The remaining two lift the dead body from the hole and wait.

"They waited two days for their friend to return, but when he did he told them tales of unending tunnels of crystals, they went on for miles and a miles he claims. As proof of this discovery he brought back several different types. Right there they made a pact. They'd keep it to themselves, and split the profits between them.

"The details of getting the mining operation together are dull, however once it is done greed begins to set in on the companions, two of them believe they each deserve a larger cut, words are said, threats are made. And then one of them gets an offer, a certain army needs to take the planet, in exchange for his help he can have control of the planet when they leave. He takes this offer and within a week their outpost is attacked. The betrayer rallies all those under him to try and depose the other, while the other flees with his force and takes them towards the mines, refusing to lose control."

"And the third one?"

"Oh he gave up hope and tried to get lost in the mix until he could figure out a way to redeem himself."

"Interesting story."

Lambert reached into his armor and pulled out a necklace, on the end a green nova crystal hung, catching the light even in the smog of Siczaya.

Snipes let the rest of the trip pass in silence, words would have to be exchanged with Korakas.

As Snipes luck was once again either working for him or against him, Korakas was waiting at the makeshift landing pad. Explosions sounded all around them as the enemies artillery rained down on the base, nobody payed attention to it, Snipes could hear bombers overhead, but somehow Korakas decimated AA emplacements kept them in check. Snipes could hear the front lines changing, the clash of battle and screams of the beaten.

"RAIDERS! I NEED YOU ON THE SOUTHERN FLANK, THEIR ARMOR IS MOVING!" Korakas yelled over the noise.

"WE NEED TO TALK FIRST!" Snipes yelled back.

Snipes grabbed him roughly by the arm and guided him roughly to the nearest tent, a supply tent, it was empty, that was good. He turned to stare into Snipes visor, he was about to open his mouth, Snipes fist was already flying though, the armored fist striking the open face, blood flew everywhere. Snipes grabbed his head and slammed it into a supply crate and held it there.

"I think it's time you tell me what the hell is going on here."

"You're going to the stockades for this."

"No, actually I'm here to asses the situation and take actions as necessary, they trust my judgment and that's why I'm here. Now speak up."

"I, I've got a mine, under the terraforming plant, it's very, very profitable. I'm not leaving it."

"Then how are you getting the goods off-planet?"

"Smugglers, a hutt contract."

"Workers?"

"Slaves, procured from trandoshans."

"Why didn't you report this to the Vast Empire?"

"Bigger profits."

"Your army is getting torn to pieces trying to fight this battle."

"I'm not letting Grelay or Lambert have my mines."

"Lambert doesn't even want the mines. This is going to have to go into my report."

"NO! No! Please, I'll cut you in, 30%."

"Don't kid me."

"Forty percent!"

"Fifty and it's a deal."

"Fine, now let me go."

Snipes released him. He brushed himself off and tried to stop the bleeding in his nose.

"If you want to defend this plant there are better ways to do it." Snipes pulled his field data pad from his belt and brought up a map of the lines. "Move the bulk of your force to the north, along the mountains and roughly a quarter should be over here, along the acidic lake to the south in this craggy outcropping, it's looks like the only way down to the lake without having to crawl down a cliff. RAIDERS will join your men down there, we'll also need one or two tanks, preferably the quickest and another squad of stormtroopers."

"Leave a corridor open? Think they'll march right down it like they should?"

"No, they'll try and trap the smaller portion of your force between them and the lake, but I've got a plan for getting us out of there."

"I'm risking alot leaving this up to you."

"Yeah, you are."

"Fine, but for now we need you on the southern flank until the enemy has been pushed back."

"Lambert is coming with me."

"Fine."

Snipes turned and abruptly left the tent, RAIDERS were gathered around the tent, a short distance away. These modern tents were more like sheds, no sound had traveled through it. Snipes signaled to RAIDERS to follow him. They went back to the landing pad and took a short LAAT/i ride through the battle to the southern flank. The battle raged bellow and around them, the LAAT's were forced to defend were forced to defend themselves from both ground and air based attacks, the archaic machines trying desperately to stand up against more modern imperial technologies. It wasn't uncommon to see one burst into flames or get hit by an ion pulse and crash into the lines, causing terrible casualties everywhere. Snipes was glad when the thing finally came to a halt fifteen feet above the ground and allowed the RAIDERS to disembark.

They were still beaten up and bruised, many of their wounds had once again again opened or had never been closed, but they were still in better shape than the regulars in the trenches.

An artillery blast reminded Snipes he wasn't invisible, Snipes made a crouched run into the nearest trench, followed closely by RAIDERS and Lambert. Snipes picked up the first rifle he found and handed it to the dishonored Captain and nodded, for now he was a RAIDER.