-Imperials-
Colonel Lucifer Jones wiped his forehead, he had his helmet clipped to his utility belt, the sun was directly above and it was very hot. The air was also humid and even with his suit’s temperature regulating mechanisms he could still feel sweat forming on his body. His hair was a dark brown, and it was cut short, so that it would not get in the way of his helmet. He was at least a couple inches taller than most of his soldiers in his division, making him an easy target for most enemies, it is a surprise he has survived this long. He was overseeing his division set up camp, and listening to the roar of the tanks engines. He was very annoyed by the fact that their arrival did not come before the rebels. This left them without a star port, forcing them to ferry their troops without a convenient crew and drop off area. They had to create their own, which took longer than they would have liked, he did not enjoy having to stand out in the heat for so long, especially when they had a battle looming in their future. Another man dressed in identical armor walked up next to him and surveyed the area before speaking.
“Looks like we’re going to get to lead again.”
“Same old same old,” Lucifer replied, kicking up some dirt with his shoes. “At least this should be a pretty large battle, lots of excitement.”
“hooray.” The other man said unenthusiastically. This other man was slightly shorter than Lucifer but had the same short hair cut, although his hair was a very dark black.
“Don’t sound so excited Greg, it’s not like we are going to take on a squad of Rancors.” Lucifer said with a grin on his face.
A smile snuck onto Greg’s face. “I never liked your sarcasm.”
The two of them began to hit each other playfully, and then it turned into a wrestling match, letting their childish sides get the best of them. They were rolling around in the dirt, the older men in Lucifer’s division rolled their eyes, the younger newer recruits laughed as they unpacked their tents. Someone cleared their throats near them and Greg looked up, he saw a black boot and then he looked up, the amused face of Major General Jefferson looked back at him. He shoved Lucifer off of him and stood up at attention. Lucifer also jumped up from the ground and saluted.
“He started it sir.” Greg said pointing to Lucifer.
Lucifer turned his head to look at Greg, jaw dropped, then he turned back toward the general. “Can you believe this hooligan sir? He obviously started it, just look at the guilt on his face.”
The General held up his hand and they both stopped. He had a slight smile on his face as he spoke to them. “Let’s be serious gentlemen, we have a very large battle up ahead of us, while I do enjoy your excess enthusiasm, let’s try to be more professional in front of the men shall we?” he said motioning toward the soldiers setting up camp.
“Yes sir.” The two officers said, saluting and standing at attention.
The general stretched and rubbed the back of his neck, “You boys know I won’t be down here for the battle, so I expect you to be my eyes and ears, I want to know everything that’s going on.”
The two men nodded, the general waved them away giving them permission to leave. They turned on their heels and walked back toward their own tents. Lucifer passed by his soldiers as they slipped into their tents for the night, they had had a long day, ferrying from the star destroyers to the ground and then setting up camp. They had so many men here, Lucifer couldn’t see anything but white tents for miles around and he was happy to have so many soldiers here. He also knew that somewhere the Rebels would be doing the exact same thing, which left a little knot in his stomach.
guess we’ll just have to see how things play out He thought as he took one last look at the setting sun before entering his tent for the night.
=Meanwhile at Greg’s camp=
Greg returned back to his camp, east of Lucifer’s encampment. He watched as the last of his troops arrived before nightfall, they seemed tired. His troops were the ones designated to guard the drop off point for the troop ferries so they were on their feet all day. He gave a few of them encouraging looks as they passed by giving salutes. One of his squad leaders approached him.
“Major Owden sir!” The stocky man said, saluting.
“Yes sergeant?” Greg answered looking the man in the eye.
“We are nearly set up sir, all of our tents are up and only a few more mess tents must be constructed before you can rest sir.” The sergeant said cheerfully.
“Thank you sergeant, get some rest.” Greg said with a smile and a slack salute.
The short, stocky, man made his way down the rows of tents and entered his tent. Greg watched as the setting sun cast shadows over his camp, he looked to the hills in the distance and thought he saw the silhouette of a ship flying across the horizon.
I’ll deal with it in the morning. Greg thought as he walked to his tent and went inside, he set his rifle down next to his bed, and threw his pistol down underneath his pillow. He unstrapped the knife from around his waist and hung it on his chair. He looked around the small tent and sighed.
“Can’t wait till I get back to my officers dorm back on the ship.” He complained to no one in particular.
*Rebels*
Lt. General Terrance Carter roamed the city, even though he knew that a large imperial force was waiting for him somewhere out past the city limits he was very calm, and in a rather cheery mood. He tipped his hat to those that he passed on the streets, even though this was an imperial controlled planet they seemed to be indifferent to rebels and imperials alike, there was no hostility or militia to stop their takeover of the city, they were actually welcomed and people offered their homes for lodging.
I rather like the people here. The General thought as he strolled into the main market. A Rebellion soldier jogged up to him from behind and gave a quick salute.
“Sir, we have set up our camps and the soldiers are all settled, shall I allow them to rest?”
The general thought for a few moments before answering. “Yes, they will have a tough day ahead of them, let them rest for the time being, we want them at full force tomorrow.”
The soldier saluted and then ran off in the direction of where he had come from. He saw another one of his officers in the market, talking to a pretty young woman who was attending to a stall. Terrance rolled his eyes, his colonel was again, flirting with the women, and he had a bad reputation of getting beat up by husbands and boyfriends because he had gone a little too far. The General watched his officer from an inconspicuous distance pretending to be shopping for some fruit. Terrance smiled when he saw the colonel get slapped and the women storm off back into the house. The colonel looked shocked and then he had a fearful look in his eyes as a very large man came from within the house, waving a club. He began to run but Terrance intercepted him before he got far and tucked him away into an open home.
“We’ve hardly been here a half a day Morgan, try to reign in your horses.” The General whispered as he watched the large man pass the house shouting something and waving his club.
“Thanks Terrance, thought I was a gonner.” Colonel Morgan Tarp thanked his General.
“Let’s go back to camp without anymore incidents shall we.” Terrence suggested.
Morgan nodded in agreement and then they took to the streets once again, the sun was setting and the buildings around them cast shadows, a few of the street lights flickered on as the two officers reached their residence. The third officer was waiting for them inside.
“What have you two been up two, I was worried I would have to send a search party out there.” Colonel Jordan Trance said, moving his feet from the table back to the ground; he was munching on an apple.
“You didn’t think we were killed already did you?” Colonel Morgan Trance said with a smile. “We still got a fight ahead of us.”
“That’s right boys.” Terrance added. “We’re all gonna be dead by the end of tomorrow so why not celebrate!” he pulled out a large bottle of rum from the cabinet and three shot glasses.
The two colonels laughed as they picked up their cups and took the shots. “Why we celebrating so early? You don’t think we’ve already won do you?” Colonel Trance said with a coy smile on his face.
The three of them were very close, all good friends since school. They were the kind that slacked off during their classes, yet they were natural born soldiers, so they passed all their exams, and Terrence even managed to be first in his class. They were all in part of the corps heading the attack, Terrence was the commander while Morgan and Jordan lead the two divisions within it. They had managed to arrive at Galtea before the imperials, thus being able to capitalize on the small space port that they had. They brought down many shuttles, bringing whole companies down at a time. Their arrival to the planet had gone rather smoothly and General Carter was very pleased, things were already going in his direction like they had been recently.
They had also managed to set up scouts and picket lines, the first reports were that the imperials had not even arrived yet on the planet, they were nowhere to be seen but the scouts had not yet made it over the mountains and General Carter had a bad gut feeling that they would be camped out there, waiting for the rebel’s attack. Terrence Carter would rather have avoided a battle here, but he couldn’t stay here and then leave without being followed by such a menacing force the whole time that he was trying to get closer to Coruscant.
“Is it just me, or is anyone else getting that weird feeling you get when you’re about to lose a battle.” Colonel Morgan Tarp said, losing the smile on his face and squinting his eyes as if to see something that was in the distance.
“It’s only your nerves getting to ya,” General Carter said smiling and patting his colonel on the back. “We’re on a roll, there’s no way we could lose!”
Morgan sighed, “true, but still…”
“Don’t be such a party pooper Morgan!” Jordan said with enthusiasm, “Let’s worry all about that tomorrow, no need to worry before the battle has begun.”
Morgan could already see the alcohol in Jordan’s eyes and he shook his head, “I’m off to get some sleep, you both should too.”
