“First Squad covering fire, second and third Squads with me . . .


MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”


The silence that had settled over the baron wastes of Galithor was abruptly broken by the orders being barked through the soldier’s headsets and the following blizzard of laser fire.

Pouring from their hand-dug pits, the soldiers of delta company drew their weapons and began to lay down a carpet of lime green fire from their rifles onto the enemy positions that lay ahead on the hill.



As first squad propped their barrels up and began to fire, the rest of Delta company, under the command of lieutenant Deegan Kelly began to advance up the steep incline of Harbinger Hill, so called because it was the first point of alert and defence should the city of Filern come under attack.

It’s declivitous slope sought to deter all but the most steadfast of attackers, while offering a perfect position for defence for over an entire kilometre where it was joined at each side by the towering city walls of Filern.

It’s crowing glory was the castle of Armuud Alsk, the great watchtower of Filern city. It towered just over one hundred and fifty feet into the air and its sturdy stone bowels held over five thousand battle-battle hardened soldiers, all ready and willing to sacrifice their lives to defend their people and their city.

If taken, it would provide a gateway for all across the land, to enter and in this case capture a vulnerable metropolis. However, that would prove no cakewalk, as the soldiers of the 101st Imperial infantry were about to find out.



The attack on Armuud Alsk was by no means a run of the mill, by the book assault, and would require much more unorthodox approach if capture was to be the outcome of the day, for the skies above wielded electromagnetic weather patterns of horrendous power, and were not easily penetrated by the mother ships that lay in wait above the planet’s surface.

Therefore, a straight forward ground assault was the most likely and-most of all- only plan of attack. So, bearing minimal arms and and even more minimal supply of men, the soldiers of Delta Company- a mere 200 man troupe- faced off against the near five thousand strong brigade of men who were heavily fortified, armed and prepared.

It was their plan . . . their hope, that if Delta could by some act of happenstance, breach the perimeter defences of the watchtower and gain ground near the foundations of Armuud Alsk they could plant a sensory device enabling their naval compatriots to target the hunkering fortress and have it come crashing down to the ground in a hail of turbolaser fire.


Gun positions on the hill began to open fire one by one, sending out searing red bolts of fire down upon the advancing squads.


“Keep firing! Let ‘em have it!” Barked Lieutenant Kelly as he let loose several rounds from his blaster rifle onto the first enemy position.

A few paces behind him was Frank Bell, first sergeant of Delta company, and Kelly’s executive officer.



They reached the first marker, a small outcropping of rock where the advancing segments of Delta could regroup and stage the next part of their advance.



“All right, I want squads three to five to spread out along this stretch of the hill, provide cover while our rocket squads pound the crap out of that first position. That’ll allow us to move forward.

The second that position fades, I want three, four and five to take forward facing bow formation and press forward, third and fourth and second will provide covering fire while fifth squad moves into position at the second marker.

Let’s move!”



The men began to make a start for their positions when a bright yellow rod of laser fire caught the foremost soldier in the chest, downing him with unparalleled force.


“Sniper!” Yelled Kelly, “Fall back to the marker!”


Six more soldiers were felled by the hidden assassin's freakish accuracy and a seventh, one private Smit, or smithy as he was known was downed but left alive and was-more to the point- left stranded in the open battlefield.


“Damnit!” Yelled Bell. “The @#%$ missed Smithy . . .medic!”

“No!” hammered Kelly, placing a firm hand on Sergeant Bell’s shoulder. “He didn’t miss, he’s going to try and draw us out. If you step out there he’ll cut you to ribbons.”

“We can’t leave him there.” replied Bell anxiously.

“Agreed. I’ll make a run.”

“What?”

“I’ll flush him out, and when I reveal that son of a @#%$’s position, I want you to hammer him with everything you have, understood?”

“Yes sir.”

“Here, hold my blaster, I’ll need to be as fast as I can.”


Tossing his blaster to one of the private’s, Kelly leapt from his squatted position behind the rock and began to sprint across the open ground ahead. A second passed and a blaster shot rung out creating a resounding ‘pang’ on the crumbly ground underfoot, narrowly missing the heel of Lieutenant Kelly.


Bell could only watch in amazement as this man, in the face of innumerable enemy guns raced forward, unarmed and unafraid. Bell broke his gaze and turned to the oncoming sniper fire, pressing harshly on the trigger of his rifle, taking the gunman down in a hail of fire.

He turned back, and his eyes drifted upon the Lieutenant who had reached Smithy’s prone body situated a mere 20 yards away and had hoisted him on his shoulders.

“Covering fire!!” shouted Bell as he awoke from his astonishment.

Moments later the lieutenant returned with the wounded Private Smith.

It was a strange thing, to look into the eyes of Kelly once upon a battlefield. When Bell stared into his pupils, he could make out no semblance of humanity, it was as though he had reached a zone of almost animalistic drive, a place from where he need not concentrate on reality, instead focus on fighting, on being a soldier.


Every time Bell looked into his commander’s eye’s, it scared him to death.


For it seemed, that in this place he reached, he had no fear. . .and with that fearlessness, he inspired the men to follow him without question, something Bell had yet to accomplish, but also feared to do.

Surely for him to cross such a barrier would mean he would have to loose himself over the threshold between man and beast, and that was something he wasn’t prepared to do.