It was high noon when the convoy moved down the empty main street of Supyla. The small town was located only a few kilometers from the Capital of Sumpura and was therefore a threat to the controlling party of Sump. For this reason the whole population of the town had been packaged off and sent to live in areas further away, along with the citizens of every other town close to the Capital.

That had been the brilliant plan and decree laid out by the ruler of Sump, King Bulgme Ilyminn. A king he was anything by, only having the title because it was his choice and not by bloodline in the traditional sense. He had seized power by getting many of the citizens to back him against the old democratic party and the small brained Nuknog were too ignorant to see through the plan.

They found out how wrong they had been almost as quickly as the coup had progressed. Moments after the power was transfered, many citizens were taken to camps far from the cities and imprisoned on the suspicion that one day they may pose a threat to King Ilyminn. When resistance began to slowly mount, the King could no longer feel secured and forced those were not completely loyal away from the Capital and the surrounding areas so that they couldn't threaten his seat of power.

As revolts grow and were mounted against this new dictatorship, King Ilyminn began to spend more and more money on defense than anything else. He hired mercenaries to go on assaults with his own trusted troops. While his new troops and new, more powerful equipment kept the rebellions quelled, much of Sump suffered for other reasons. There was less and less money to finance industrial growth as well as the ever important farming sections. Sump itself was mostly a polluted planet and the farming sectors were prized possessions, however, the King left them to whither without proper fertilizer or water.

Resent kept building and because of the lack of food and running water and unpaid wages. For years and years a new resistance movement had been forming. They called themselves the Sump Liberation Force and the King's spies imparted the knowledge on him that this Force was getting first grade armament. From whom this armament was being bought, they did not know, but they did know that the SLF could in no way pay for these new weapons. Why someone would support a small time group like the SLF, King Ilyminn did not know. His tiny brain could not process so much information, it could react instinctually.

That was exactly why this convoy now moved through his desolate town. Instinctually the rebellion would have to crushed under force and shown that it could not possibly succeed. Reports had come in that rebels had been seen within this very town and were getting ready to assault Sumpura. This preemptive attack was hoped to put a stop to that, but what the intelligence agents did not know, was that their intel had been planted ahead of time.

As light reflected off the armor plating of the armor personnel carriers the first of the mines went off. When the smoke and debris cleared after the large explosive blast, two lead speeders lay on the ground in smoldering ruins. The whole convoy had come to a halt and just soldiers began to jump from from their carriers, missiles flew from the surrounding structures to slam into those APCs. First two, then three, then four of the small hover Personnel Carriers lay in pieces with bodies all around them.

Laser fire rang out from all around the convoy and cut down troopers before they could return fire. It could seen, however, that the fire being returned was somewhat more accurate than that coming from the ambush. As the initial shock and surprise started to wear off, the more professional mercenaries started to regroup and coordinate the engagement. Surviving tanks from the center for of the convoy formation began to move off to sides and fire their heavy guns into builds from which fire was taken. The mercs themselves started to move from one building to another, but while they took losses, they inflicted even heavier ones.

Within the hour the engagement had all but ended, leaving the main street and the surrounding ones littered with the dead and dieing. The resistance fighters had given and taken from the enemy and felt it was time to retreat. While they had done well, they could do much better. Kind Ilyminn's forces were better trained and training meant a lot during an engagement. When things turned against them, the SLF fighters broke from a cohesive force to fight as loners and that meant certain death.

"AMBUSH!"

Came the immediate cry from soldiers as soon as the mine was hit and incoming fire was being taken. Soldiers in the lead of the convoy had already been taken out in surprise, but those in the back had already begun to react. The Black Nebula Legion, a mercenary group for hire, was also in the midst of the combat, fighting alongside the King's forces.

For weeks before, Ludge, Jasik, and many other members of the Legion had been training the forces of King Ilyminn, as well as bringing in plenty of high tech arnaments to train them with as well. The King's troops were a fighting force to be reconciled with. Their only weakness would be the overestimation of their abilities. As for the Legion, well they didn't believe in weakness.

"Goddamn rebels."

Jasik, the third in command of the Legion stepped from his transport, along with three other mercenaries. As for the battle going on, many of his men were behind cover and holding off the enemy. Now would be the time to move. Throwing his cigar down, the Legion Lietuenant General rushed forward, sliding along the ground and stopping behind cover.

"Lieutenant! Take your squad over there and clear that building! They get a chance to fire off any more RPGs, were not going to have an ass to shit out of! Now get your ass moving!"

Instinctly the officer relayed the orders to the Sergeant and first squad took off as second and third provided cover fire. Popping out of cover himself, he aimed down the sight and fired his weapon, hitting a rebel in the chest, dropping him dead. As he retook cover, he noticed a grenade land next to his leg.

"Shit!"

He exclaimed before grabbing the grenade and throwing it into a nearby window. He watched as rebels tried to escape the blast radius, but failed to do so as one went soaring out the window, dismembered and dead.

Fear.

Fear is the most useful tool that a man can use against their foe.

Fear can sometimes be more decisive than the greatest training. Than the best positioning. Numbers and tactics waver to it.

Fear destroys the one thing that is most important to keep in troops. The thing that has them hold those positions so that those tactics work. The thing that has them hold ground, and without makes numbers and training pointless as these men break and route.

Morale.

And fear is what made Sha’tek one of the most fearsome weapons the Legion had its disposal. He wasn’t brought along for training, he was brought along as a weapon to help reinforce the Legion if they were called to battle. Which the King had finally done. At the explosion of the first mine and the call to arms, the APCs had opened their doors to let out as many troops as they could before getting hit.

The troops in his APC were thrown out the hatch, being too slow for the beast known as Sha’tek to bear. Carnage awaited. Blood was waiting to be spilled. With a growl Sha’tek sprang from the bowels of the machine, into the screams and yells of pain and death. A loud roar escaped from him as he couldn’t resist the euphoria of it all. The scent of burning flesh, and the coppery scent of blood had begun to hit him with all the pleasure of a skilled lover. He looked for the nearest enemy position as he took his ssliath and brought it to the ready.

The double bladed weapon hungered for blood as much as its wielder. And one he saw his opportunity, Sha’tek decided to sate their lust.

A rocket had missed its mark and collided with a nearby building. A large gap now lay in the wall of the building as blinding smoke lingered there. Sha’tek charged forward towards the gap, as everyone else tried to find some form of cover.

----------------------------------

“COVER THAT GAP!” Yelled the rebel lieutenant, chocking slightly on the smoke kicked up from the debris. He could hardly see, but he didn’t want the enemy to gain a foothold on this flank. It was then he heard a yell for help. He raised his rifle to search for a target.

The debris cloud was still thick, and he couldn’t make out anything. Shapes began to emerge, but he couldn’t make it friendlies from hostiles yet so he decided to hold. Another couple of yells, then more. In rapid succession he heard soldiers call off. Random blaster shots began to ring out, but he heard them dig into the wall. The officer began to back off, against the wall.

Suddenly, a hot jet of something hit his face. He tenderly reached out and touched it, bringing it to his nose to smell what it is. Blood. He suddenly became all the more aware as fear began to seep in. He raised his rifle, looking for the target, as the dust cloud finally came to part.

Before the lieutenant stood a thing he’d never seen before in his life. The creature appeared to be half snake, half man. Soaked in blood, he held on of his troops up upon this weapon of sorts. The soldier gasping his last breaths as his blood flowed down the weapon to the maw of the beast. With a guttural laugh he spun his blade, throwing the soldier off and into the wall with a sickening thud.

The beast was soaked in the blood of his comrades and slowly it began to approach him. The lieutenant didn’t know what to do. His eyes darted around to the eviscerated bodies of his friends and allies. His weapon shook uncontrollably in his hands as the creature took its leisurely time to get to him.

Fear had taken him before the beast finally did.

"Ambush!"

As the APC began to fill with the sharp sounds of deflected laser fire, as well as the thundering booms of missile impacts, Ludge grunted to himself as his group of soldiers-in-training began to rush out of the carrier. The Legion Commander grabbed for his rifle, rolling his neck to crack the bones within as he did so.

"Damn greens," He murmured, pushing to his feet and walking in the wake of his over-eager charges. None-the-less, as the tall Legionnaire clanked down the ramp of the APC, coming out amid a war zone of blaster fire and thermal explosions. "Get into your squads, keep down and begin standard confrontation tactics," Ludge barked, indicating that the King's soldiers were to begin attempting flanking manoeuvres.

As laser shots rang out all around, Ludge walked toward where Jasik crouched behind cover. Levelling his projectile rifle, Ludge fired a series of shots, spraying the rebel's firing in his direction with a hail of metal slugs. The different ammunition type had seemingly caught the rebel's off guard, at least to begin with, however they seemed to have caught on and were quick to seek their own cover.

Coming to a stand above his fellow Legion member, Ludge smirked as he glanced down, his automatic rifle blazing as he continued to lay down fire toward the enemies' position.

"Get off tha ground, ya damn nerf," The General said, his smirk turning into a grin. "These rebels couldn't the ground if they were standin' on it. Besides, you ain't doin' much good behind cover, when I need you to get your ass around their left flank... Sha'tek is already assaultin' their right side, so get to doin' the same,"

Bending down, Ludge turned his head protectively as a laser bolt smacked into the portion of wall he now used as his own cover. Reaching to his belt, the General pulled a thermal detonator free, and clicked the activation pad; holding the explosive to a count of three, Ludge reached back and threw it over the low wall...

The ground shook as the thermal blew, throwing dust and bloodied portions of rebel in every direction from the point of origin. That was Ludge's cue, and even as the reaction of the rebels was to duck and cover, the General leapt up and over the wall, rushing toward the building the enemy were using as one of their offensive positions. As he reached the crater his grenade had made, Ludge began opening up with his heavy repeater, tearing through the staggering and recovering rebels who were standing before the structure; and as the General reached the doorway into the building, he flipped back his rifle, shouldering it, before he grasped his vibro-knife.

The weapon was about a foot in length, and was excellent for close quarter engagement - not to mention the fact a six-foot-something soldier with a swinging combat knife was intimidating to an enemy so pathetically prepared and trained.

Bursting through the doorway, Ludge was quick to slash at the first rebel standing in his path. The young man fell under the vibrating blades with a cry, blood hitting the dirt covered ground of the previously deserted building. Turning to his left, Ludge brought his blade down across the chest of another rebel fighter, resulting in a very similar death. Rushing toward the closest enemy, Ludge raised his vibro-knife with a roar...

While at the same time, the King's forces were massing to start similar moves; each team under the control of a specifically picked leader, who had shown the most promise as decided by the Legion commanders, had begun assaulting the rebel's buildings, seeking to force them out into the open, and to take their vantage.

It wouldn't take long for the Legion and their assortment of trainees, to move through the holdings of the rebels. And once they successfully broke the enemies' spine, taking away their ambush points, the rebels would find themselves in a great degree of difficulty...

Two point three kilometers away from the embattled town existed a sad and barren hill. The hill itself was the embodyment of the planet as a whole. A hilly, mostly barren, wasteland of a place that very few people could choose to call a home, much less fight over. Money and raw resources, which itself translated into money, caused people to do crazy and deathly things.

It was resources and the quest for money that had brought distruction to this once lively planet, which had beamed with life. The need for those credits was so great that companies had exploided the planet and its alien popullation for the sake of getting more of it. In doing so much mining and polluting, the planet had its climate broken and existed as did now, a barren shell.

The need or want for money also translated to some into power and for power individuals could go a long way as well. It was driving force, but a force that drove more men to evil. Such had happened on this planet with the King coming to power. The King had forgotten, or simply not cared about the fact that his people had at one time been slaves on this planet to a single mining company. Now, however, history repeated itself. The inhabitants of Sump were now slaves once more, but this time to one of their very own.

This was what this civil war was all about, thought Colonel Ilmus Stevenson as he sat crosslegged on top of the hill and stared through the high powered scopes of his Stellar Enterprises issued IR-18 Multiple Use Rifle. He had been sent to train the resistance fighters since they were mostly citizens that wanted their planet back and away from the hands of a tyrant. They had little chance, however, when going up against actual army forces, let alone the mercs that the King had recruited for his dirty work. While the Resistance seemed to do alright in most of the battles, they were beinging to loose moral. They could not win and the King's men were getting better trained and armed each day.

With one eye closed, Ilmus watched the engagement take place in the town below him. He watched the rebel forces engage the King's troops, but they had failed to surround the convoy and left the rear mostly unassaulted. This had proven deadly as the enemy quickly regrouped at the rear before advancing and assaulting the Rebel held structures.

Unlike their opposition, the resistance forces could not adapt when the situations changed. They simply began to panic and retreat without much order. What interested Ilmus the most, however, were the mercenaries that directed the King's troops in the battle. They were all highly trained and reacted rather well as both soldiers and leaders.

The one he focused much of his attention on was a half snake half man looking creature that he had never encountered before. That creature was a nightmare in reality for the rebellion fighters. They scattered like animals from a fire and hardly fired a shot at the creature. He would have to each them discipline and never fear something on the field of battle. Fear was usefully at times, but not when used against you, as it was now used against the rebel force.

The creature was acting like a blood hungry rancor. It tore into people with a large sword and as Ilmus watched on, began to be completely covered in the blood of its enemies. Unlike everyone else on the battle, it seemed to kill just for the fun of it. There was no honor in it and as Ilmus brought the target sight to rest against the creature's chest, he contemplated killing the thing right there and then. His finger slowly moved away from the trigger, however, as his moral side took over and he realized that there would be no honor in this killing as well.

For now, the creature was not his enemy. He was there simply to observe and study the enemy for the moment, but that was going to change soon. The colonel took a deep breath and looked down slowly as he lowered his rifle. Many beings had died on that battlefield for their beliefs. He would make sure that the next time these two foes met it would not be so one sided. His men would have the will to win back their freedom and that a stronger will than money could ever be.

He stood up and took one last took at the town that lay below before turning and walking away with his rifle on his back.

"Second squad on me! Third squad, follow the General!"

With that, Jasik spun around the side of his cover, taking the left flank of the rebels. Peppering their position and putting them under cover, his men ran quickly around before the Lt. General followed.

"Sanchez! Mueller! Frag and clear this building!"

Without question, both men took up positions on either side of the door. As Mueller prepared his grenade, Sanchez popped the door open and the device was thrown. Turning their heads away, the shrapnel tore the room to shreds, taking out the rebels inside. As soon as it detonated, both men rushed into the room with scattered gun fire as they finished off the remaining forces inside.

"All Clear!"

Came their cry before coming back out. Jasik was already peering around the corner of the building. There were a few structures up ahead, but it seemed the enemy was concerned with both Ludge in the center and Sha'tek on the right.

"Alright boys. Tactical column along side this building. Its gonna be tight and there are still a lot of them out there. Move out."

Mueller took the lead as he walked steadily against the wall. They could hear sporatic blaster fire up ahead in the next building. The rebels had a heavy gun on the second floor and it seemed most of them had scattered to that position. Arriving at the door, Jasik signaled with his hands for his forces to stack up against the door. Reaching to their sides, each man pulled out a silencer and screwed it onto the end of his barrel. Taking the lead position, Jasik cracked open the door and peered in. The rebels were occupied laying down supressing fire and were unaware of his presence. Opening the door wider, he motioned two of the men in slowly and pointed out the two targets he wanted them to dispose of. Aiming at the third, each man possessed a head shot and took it as soon as Jasik pulled the trigger.

"Tidus, rig up your explosives. We'll bring this place down to the ground."

Jasik spoke in a soft tone, keeping the rebels upstairs unaware of their position. Within a few minutes, the mercenary had set his explosives and the timer. Running out towards cover with the rest of the squad, the enemy became aware of something amiss downstairs. A few of them rushed down to see their comrades killed. Turning, they noticed the timer reach one then zero and the place lit up, crumbling down.

"Good work boys! Now lets sweep this area and report back to base."

Smiling, Jasik pulled out another cigar and lit it up, taking a long drag from it. He took pride from his work. As a hired soldier, getting paid meant getting the job done.

"FIGHT ME!" Roared the powerful beast, staring down a band of soldiers which had gotten themselves cornered. He seemed now as if his natural scale colour was red with the blood the slowly dripped off of him from their comrades. All of which had been unworthy. He threw down a second blade he kept at his side. Just a simple vibrosword, but it'd do the job if he ever got disarmed. If he ever fought a being capable of disarming him.

The humans only sat, huddled together, clinging to each other, and with their urine running down their collective legs. Sha'tek looked away, unable to contain his disgust as he let this long growl.

"Pathetic creaturessss. You are not even worthy of my blade." Sha'tek hissed as he picked his blade from the floor. “Not even worthy of the title of ‘Ssssoldier’. Of a warrior. You are nothing but pitiful wretchessss.”

The freedom fighters slowly opened their eyes after a moment of silence and the vision of their nightmares was gone. They slowly separated themselves and began to straighten themselves, wondering if what happened was the result of a new weapon of some type. A nerve gas or something. The soldiers began to get up, prepared to route to the set rally point when a group of the King’s soldiers entered.

And mowed them down with not even a thought.

Sha’tek rejoined the main column with a sneer on his face. He hated most of these ‘training jobs’. These fights that were walkthroughs for soldiers who just were too green to hold their own but with a bit of experience could hold their own against their foe. And that normally meant they were nowhere near capable of standing against a powerful warrior of the Deep Fang Caste.

It had been so long since his battle worthy of speaking of before anyone. Battles he was ashamed to have even been a part of. There was no honour in taking the challenge out of the fight for them men. How would they gain strength if not fighting on their own? How would guiding them by the hand give them any might of their own, when they grow dependency on his strength?

Sha’tek made his way through the troops. Snapping aggressively towards any that gave their frightened gaze to the beast. If not for orders otherwise, he would snap any whimpering fool who was pathetic enough to show their fear in his presence. But alas, the chains of command held firm to him. But a good bit of shock definitely set the point through to these humans.

He wondered how Ludge had anything in common with most of these Humans.

Humans were weak. Squishy, poor-moraled, and ill-molded for the rigors of battle. There were definitely far worse in a fight than the humans, like the Bith who’s super-sensitive hearing is entertaining when you throw a sonic grenade at them. Or some of the especially spindly species who at least had the wit to allow droids to do the battle for them like the Muun.

“How much longer are we ssstuck on this pathetic rock?” Sha’tek growled as he joined Jasik who was lighting a self-congratulatory cigar. He was almost tempted to speak out against it being an unworthy battle for it but decided to let his friend have an excuse to indulge.

Ilmus has finished checking all the gear and moved back up front with the rest of the men. The all seemed relaxed as the freighter moved through hyperspace towards Sump. Being a reather long journey, there was not much to do. During the try Ilmus had sat near Lexx and they both discussed what would happen on Sump and how they would do ago training the men. It was planned to train a group of them well and have them in turn train other units. This would lessen the burden on Lexx and himself, but also training more Resistance fighters at a quicker pace.

As he reached the passanger compartment, the reentry alarms come on. The Colonel felt the ship drop into normal space and vibrate gently as the sublight engines kicked in, pushing it toward. It banked slightly and increased speed, but then the intercom clicked on.

"Colonel Stevenson, we have a situation."

He got up and quickly made his way down towards the cockpit. As he entered, Ilmus turned his head to where the pilot was pointing. There, off in the distance, he could see the shape an older Corvette moving towards them as well as some smaller twinkles of light that must have been fighters.

"Well that wasn't there before. They must have brought those in not long ago. Just try to get us through and set 'er down in the SLF territory."

The piloted nodded and banked the large freighter a little more to put some space between it and the defending forces. While this freighter had been specially designed for covert mission and was almost invisible to scanners, it was still large and visiable to forces near by. It had just been sheer bad luck they had emerged from hyperspace in such close to proximity to these defensive assets.

Lexx felt the ship begin evasive maneuvers and she headed for the cockpit.

"Dammit, we have company! Colonel, will you assist me please?"

Stevenson knodded. Lexx motioned the pilot to step aside and she took control of the ship.

"We're going to need some of those explosive I brought along to make this work. Colonel, I have almost a dozen grenades in my bag. We're going to need to release them with whatever junk you can spare along with it."

Stevenson left the cockpit and gathered the grenades and some spare parts and was standing by for Lexx's signal.

Lexx steered the ship towards the atmosphere and came in at a high rate of speed. Alarms went off that the hull temperature was climbing rapidly.

"Get ready!"

The other ships were trailing behind but began to back off. Lexx's ploy had so far worked and they thought the ship was having difficulties and was about to burn up in the atmosphere.

The controls started to get difficult as the ship began to shake.

"RELEASE THEM NOW... AND HOLD ON!!!"

Stevenson released everything. In a matter of seconds, the grenades exploded and Lexx steered the ship down. The other ships saw the explosion and detected the wreckage and broke off their persuit thinking the transport just exploded in the atmosphere. Since the ship was fitted to be invisible to scanners, the enemy ships had no idea they were fooled.

"Pilot, you may take back the controls and head to the designated coordinates."

Stevenson returned to the cockpit as Lexx was turning the controls over to the pilot. She had a huge smirk on her face.

"Well???"

Stevenson laughed.

"Not bad."

"Easy there big fella."

He laughed as he took a long drag of his cigar and let the smoke fill his lungs. Such a sweet sensation with the spice in them. He let it out and took a look around.

"Were going to be here as long as were getting paid to be here. Just make sure you do your job right and look after the platoon assigned under you Captain.

Turning, he looked the warrior in the face, took another drag, and just smirked.

"With as much buisness as were doing, its going to be hard to go from job to job while also trying to train new recruits. Something you'll also be responsible for given your hellacious thirst for battle."