Narm Takes a Vacation

By Narm

Narm grabbed his bag off of the Eternal Dream, he knew he needed a vacation, and he hadn’t taken the Dream out in a long time. Ahh he thought, the Eternal Dream, a Subpro Siren Class Space Yacht. He definitely needed the break, and Master had said that Rotondu was a nice little getaway planet. The capitol city, Udnotor seemed grimy, and Narm had a funny feeling about the atmosphere, but not the he breathed. The people seemed distant, and paranoid. The only other habitable planet in the system was Udnotor (whose capitol city was Rotondu.), the next planet in the line. Narm really couldn’t tell what kind of luxury facilities there were. Oh well he thought, better to keep the money anyway. "As long as I’m here, I might as well stay." Besides, Master was his friend and wouldn’t do anything horrible. Soon Narm made his way out of the starport and into the city. After that bout on the Intruder with that hive virus thing, he really needed it. Good chance to test the features of his new hand. He flexed his left hand, amazed at how it worked. He was especially happy with the small modifications he was able to get done with it. He essentially had a holdout blaster fitted into the palm, it was difficult, and light, but two blaster shots were still two blaster shots. It was really nice for what he would need it for. His second mod, was mainly for utility. A small flashlight was built above the wrist, it could pop out and light a small area. His wrist also had plug ins for his Kelvarek MM9 Wrist Rockets, for direct bracing to the arm, and ultimate control and aiming. The third was so simple, and handy it almost frightened Narm. He had a little automatic retracting slip in the tip of his middle finger. Inside the tiny compartment was a skifter. He ran the tip over the card, and in the blink of an eye, it dropped a skifter on the card. If he was in danger, he just ran it over the chip, and it was safely inside, ingenious. Even though he never cheated around anyone on the Intruder, well there was that case with Master, but still no one wanted to play Sabacc with him. At least they didn’t know about his new device.

Narm headed off for the hotel he was staying at. It seemed to be the nicest on the planet.

He soon checked into his room at the Twilight Sun hotel. It was okay, but it had a large casino, and that was nice enough. Narm decided to go out into the city a little bit. He had been amazed at how light customs at the starport was. They hardly checked through his bag. Narm still felt something wrong in the atmosphere, especially with the way people acted. There was also a soldier or two at every corner, then he realized it. This was a planet under the constant threat of attack, large attacks. Looking at the soldiers, Narm saw someone he recognized. An old friend, he hadn’t seen in a long time. Namr walked over, and tried to remember the name. Max Gunn, that was it. A Quarren mercenary, he wondered what he was doing on this planet. "Hey, Max!"

The man suddenly turned, and paid attention to Narm. "What? Narm! That you?"

"Yeah, been a while."

"Yeah, since you were traveling with Yondalla. What have you been up to, find your calling yet?"

"Yeah, back with the… well, never mind."

"Empire." He cringed. "I know about the Empire."

"No, its not that bad."

"You can believe what you want to. So what are you doing in the galaxies biggest hole?

"I’m on leave, and someone said this was a nice vacation planet, last time I listen to him."

Max chuckled. "How many people you got mad at you now."

"Too many, at least not there."

"Hahahahaha! You were always good at getting people mad at you, and trying to kill you."

"I know how to take care of myself though."

"So, what ever happened to that woman you ran off with? You know, the pretty one?"

Narm hesitated, he felt sad. "…"

"You don’t have to say it. I understand."

Narm recovered. "So what are you doing here? This is a pretty boring place, and far out."

"Ahhh, I needed a break, and their military is desperate for experienced soldiers. I think they’re a little paranoid, but the pays good."

Narm noticed Max eyeing someone, who was obviously getting closer.

"Sorry, its my sergeant, you need to go. Talk to you later." He turned back to Narm. "Yes, that would be down that street, and on the left, about a block down."

Narm quickly caught on. "Yes thank you soldier. I’m just a tourist and don’t know my way around." Narm turned to head where Max had pointed, and saw the man approaching. He was middle aged, probably a tough career soldier. He had a long scar that started from the top of his forehead, and ended at about the edge of his cheekbone. He had short stubble on top in traditional military style. Narm continued on not seeing any more.

It eventually became evening, and Narm was especially tired after the voyage, he was getting unerved about the whole thing, but he decided after some sleep he’d relax.

* * *

The next morning Narm awoke to a dreary day. He put on a flowery shirt, with normal pants. The flowery short was big and billowy, and easily hid the armor breastplate underneath, and a few other necessaties. Narm made his way down to the resturant, and had breakfast. He decided against trying to work over the casino, and headed out into the city. He headed for the place Max had pointed out. He didn’t bother the day before.

Narm got there and found it was a bar. It had tables for gambling, and the owner and everyone else looked scrupulous, but local. Narm thought it was his kind of place.

Narm walked in, knowing he was getting strange looks from some… most of the customers. "Can I get a nice Coruscant…" Narm was about to finish the name of the drink, but noticed the bartenders blank look. "Give me a local ale." Narm decided for simplicity. He paid the man, and took the drink. Narm slowly began drinking his ale, when he noticed at several tables people were playing Sabacc. Just what he was hoping for. Narm downed his drink, and got another, the ale wasn’t that bad. He walked over to the closest table, that was strange he thought, they were playing Cloud City Casino Rules. "So can you deal me in next hand?" Narm bluntly asked.

"No, this is our game, get away." A Sullustan said.

"Cmon I just got paid." Narm held up a 100 credit chip, and it got the Sullustans attention.

"Fine, you can play."

Narm pulled up a chair, and waited for the hand to get over. As soon as it finished Narm started full swing with his routine. He lost the first two hands purposefully. Then he started in full swing. He quickly threw on the magic, and won one hand, and lost another. Soon they were fully confident in their ability to beat him. Narm quickly wrapped up three hand in a row, coming ahead overall. He noticed that at almost all of the tables people were playing Sabacc. Busy day he thought. He lost one, to make him seem beatable, and he noticed some were getting restless, better finish this group off soon. Just as he though thought that a large siren sounded. It shook the building, and warned of imminent danger. "What’s this he asked?" A few other looked blank, but the rest looked worried.

"All civilians calmly report to the bunkers, this is not a drill. There is an imminent attack. All civilians are to go to bunkers in a calm and orderly fashion." A PA announced.

Narm new his was bad, he could already hear people outside screaming and yellign, and the siren would not stop.

"I’ve got a sanctioned bunker. Twenty, no twenty five credits per person to enter." That was the owner.

What a cheap bastard Narm thought. Immediately many patrons of the bar either ran out, or gathered near the owner. Narm thought of a plan. He gathered with the owner, and gave him his twenty five credits, and followned the crowd back to the bunker, but Narm slowly dropped back, until he ducked behind a support. Everyone passed him, even the owner, and bartender. Narm waited until he didn’t notice any noise coming from the end of the hallway. He crept back out to the main room, and discovered no one there immediately, but he did notice the bartender had shut some metal coverings. Narm had a different objective in mind though. Granted they had tried to take some of what they won, there were still small piles on most of the tables. Piles of credits. Narm started from table to table, stuffing his pockets. He opened up his shirt, and pulled out a folded up back pack. Narm quickly began stuffing the rest from the tables into his bag. He didn’t know how much, but he just netted a whole lot of loot. Narm didn’t give up on the bar yet. He pulled out his vibroblade, and dug it into the metal, without too much effort, he had pushed the blade through. He tried working a half circal, he got almost there, and stopped, he felt the metal, and new it was weakened enough. Narm got up, and drew back. Narm then vaulted into the partially cut metal, and bounced back, slightly bending it. "Ow, son of… I think I broke my arm" Narm clutched his right arm, wincing at the pain. He knew he didn’t break it, but it felt like he had. "Why the hell am I doing it this way?" Narm got back up, reached over with his left arm, and neatly bent back the metal. The servos didn’t even struggle once. Narm walked back behind the bar, rummaging through the liqueur. "Ooh. Fifteen year old Corellian brandy. Narm Grabbed that, and put it in his back pack. "I wonder what else is here?" Narm occaisionally ran into a lock or two, but the vibroblade took care of that. There was a blaster pistol hidden under the bar, probably for emergencies, Narm took that. He also found some vintage Coruscant wine, not something he thought he’d find. "Jackpot!" Narm cried as he found some bottles of Flameout, and a bottle of Zairona Ale. Satisfied with his take Narm decided to be off. As he neared the hole in the metal covering, he heard something shuffling. After years of training Narm instantly had a hold-out blaster in his hand, and was listening intently to the other side.

"Dammit, someone already got the money." There was more shuffling, and sounds of a table being turned over.

Narm carefully peered through the hole, and saw a Chadra-Fan rummaging through the mess.

"Wait, theres no holes in the walls, he must still be around." The Chadra-Fan pulled up a blaster. "Come out you bastard."

Narm quickly formulated a plan. He pulled out the blaster he had found from the bar, and used a hold-out in his left hand. He jumped out of the hole, firing wildly, and was surprised that he didn’t see the Chadra-Fan anywhere. Narm felt the cold metal of a blaster pistols barrel placed against his head.

"That was stupid, and don’t move."

Narm was still in a half crouch after the landing from the jump. He dropped both his blaster. "Do you want the money?"

"Its not just about the money anymore."

"What do you want then?"

"Your life." The Chadra-Fan coldly said.

With instant reflexes, Narm brought his hand up and grabbed the blaster in the Chadra-Fans hand. He quickly turned and grabbed its face with his left hand. "Guess I’ll have to give you a rain check." Narm fired the blaster in his hand. The Chadra-Fans body fell to the floor, with a light thud. Narm quickly checked its body to find a vibroblade, and fifty credits, which he took. Grabbing its blaster, and replacing the hold-out to its place in his boot holster, Narm cut a partial hole out, and left the bar. Halfway across the street, there was a shrill shriek, and an explosion rocked the area nearby. Narm hit the ground, and waited for the rocking to subside. He got up, looked back, and saw it was the bar who just left. He chuckled a little bit, and tried to make his way back to the hotel. Along the way, he was constantly bombarded by shelling. He could almost see the city being flattened. He didn’t have much of a plan though. A big battle was about to take place, and he didn’t know anyway off the planet right now. Narm then realized why he was able to think so clearly, there was silence, well silence save for the sound of ion engines, and slightly louder, and faster sounding fighters. Narm new the landing was soon, and he knew where one of the first spots to be hit would be. He almost gave up in frustration, but he knew he had to fight on. Then it came to him. The streets had been mainly devoid of soldiers, they must be gathering someplace. Narm rushed down the street, trying to follow a course parralell to the starport. He just decided to give up on the hotel, there wasn’t anything important left, just clothes, but he really wanted to collect his complementary refresher soaps, oh well, he gave up on it. Soon he came to what he was looking for, there was a blockade in the street, ten soldiers guarding it. He slowed and began to walk up slowly, he made sure both his blasters were tucked away in his belt, one in back under the shirt. One of the soldiers noticed him, and alerted his friends.

"Halt! Looked like a lieutenant that hollered.

Narm stopped , he was about three meters out.

"What business do you have here?"

"I want to find out what’s going on?"

"All civilians are to go to the shelters." He paused. "And disarm yourself immediately!"

"I’m not a civilian." He started taking steps forward.

The officer looked puzzeled. "I repeat ALL civilians are to go to the shelters." He wasn’t sure what to say, so he just gave an order.

Narm noticed that all the soldiers had their guns trained on him. Stupid he thought, what if he had been a distraction, they all would have been dead. "I’m not a civilian. I want to know what the hells going on." With his left hand he pulled out his military ID. Narm walked closer, getting about three meters from the officer. "Commander Narm Greyrunner, Intruder Wing Strike Fleet." He extended his hand. Just as he thought, all the soldiers were locals, and all looked puzzeled. The officer had the distinguishing pale ears that the inhabitants had.

"Uh… Nice to meet you Commander, but you do realize, you have no military authority here." The Lieutenant quickly recovered. He was sharper than Narm had given him credit for.

"I just want to know what’s going on."

"We’re under attack."

"Oh, thanks I couldn’t figure that out, what with the shelling, and the sirens. I thought it was a celebration." Narm realized that it had sounded more sarcastic than he had wanted it to sound. The officer didn’t take it that badly.

"Well, for someone who has only been on the planet for a few days, wouldn’t realize the struggle we constantly face from the evil inhabitants of Udnotor. They’ve attacked."

Narm repressed a sigh, it always was one of those petty feud things. At least there was bound to be a glorious battle. "Any way I can get my ship out of the spaceport?"

"I’m sorry, their dropships are landing there as we speak."
"Dammit! Everythings against me! I was supposed to be on leave’ ya know?"

"I’m sorry for the inconvenience Commander." The soldiers had gone back to doing what they were doing before. Nothing.

"Are there any mercenary divisions I can quickly join with. I might as well get a memorable experience out of this."

"Excuse me. I don’t exactly know what you mean by that?" The officer seemed annoyed.

"Never mind. Mind if I stay here a while?"

The officer wasn’t paying any more attention. "Sure whatever."

Narm just kind of leaned against one of the blockades, not like they were going to stop anything, put at least it was handy. He heard a beeping. The Lieutenant picked up his comlink and began listening.

"Yes sir!" He said. He put his comlink back. "Everyone listen. We don’t have the best news. Our forces have been routed from the starport." He let that sink in briefly. "Instead of immediately securing the starport like command thought, they’re advancing out. Mainly toward the center of the city. That puts us in harms way." He looked around, noticing the reaction from each of his troops. "We will be getting reinforcements from the retreating troops. We will be required to hold them as long as possible, while command regroups and prepares a counter attack." The troops tried to stay neutral. They were dedicated, and didn’t want to outwardly show their worry. "They expect the first of our troops to arrive within a few minutes. The enemy should be right after them, depending on how fast they move."

Narm went unnoticed through the speech. He wanted a battle, but things like this always ended in lots of bad things. "Are you sure this is the best course of action?" He probably shouldn’t start asking things like that.

"And who are you to question us? We will perservere, as we always do. Why don’t you go back to your space fleet?" He said that with an unreal amount of contempt.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to set you off like that."

"If you don’t like any of this leave." He turned back around. "Troops, into position." After the command, the seven soldiers spread along the barricade, awaiting the onslaught of enemy forces.

Narm pulled out the blaster, and checked it out. While no one was looking, he took a spare moment to use the energy pack on the blaster to recharge his arm blaster. Narm then noticed something coming down the street, they were people, most of them were running. It was a big crowd.

"Break to let the allied forces through."

Narm could make out some detail. They were all wearing the same uniforms. Some kind of shirt, in black, black pants, and an olive green trecnchoat, probably with armorous fibers. They also wore a combat helmet with goggles. The officers seemed to have a grey trenchcoat, without helmets, but they had goggles too. There was a variation, the same uniform, but with a brown trenchcoat. Which was what Max had been wearing. That must be for mercs, and offworlders, because that’s who wore them. Narm finely began making sense of all this. The troops were almost at the barricade, which a section had been moved to let them through. Behind the infantry, Narm could make out various armored vehicles. As the first wave of infantry hit the barricade they immediately formed up on the inside, lining it and preparing to lay down a field of fire. A second standing row, formed behind them. Then the first tanks rolled through. They were archaic by todays standards. They had a large blaster cannon on the turret, and several lighter ones, but nothing of significant firepower. A tank took up position at each end, and the last strolled through with the outgoing infantry. Narm made his way to the Lieutenant, who was busy talking to a Major. The Lieutenant had his back to Narm, and didn’t notice his approach.

"What’s going on now, why are so many people going through?" He asked the Lieutenant.

"Who is that, what’s a civilian doing here?" The Major asked.

"He’s not a---" The Lieutenant tried to tell the Major, but Narm interrupted him.

"Commander Narm Greyrunner, Intruder Wing Strike Fleet." He extended his hand. Same reaction he got before.

"Well, you still shouldn’t be in a zone that’s about to fall under enemy attack."

"I’m here though, and not much to change that."

The Major turned around in acceptance, and began ordering people around.

"They’re here!" A voice called from the crowd of troops.

Then Narm heard it. The wine of high performance engines. Swoop troops. He heard the sound of blasters, and screams.

"Troops, open fire!" An officer yelled.

Then the sound of a mass of weapons discharging rang over the street. Then the sound of crashes and explosions. Narm cursed himself for not being able to see what was going on. Around him a flurry of troops moved about, some retreating, others making ready for combat. Narm made his way to the edge of the street where the troop concentration was less. The flood of friendly troops was almost done, except for a few stragglers. The dead were lying in the street, and some of the swoop wrecks were still smoldering. Then Narm could see the tide in the distance. Black dots, coming down the street. Vehicles moving with them. Then another swoop charge. This time it must have been much larger. From side to side, they filled the air, coming closer at a fast rate.

"Open fire!" The officer ordered. The troops began firing into the crowd of swoops. It was a glorious site. The blaster bolts lanced out from the lines, and hit into the crowd. Explosions burst into the air, raining fire and debris across the street. Screams were heard all over as the pilots were killed. Despite the heavy losses the swoop brigade continues on. They opened fire on the crowd of soldiers, and more screams rang into the air. In the distance Narm could hear the same thing going on at the parallel street to the one he was on. Probably happening all over. Then the swoops became a real problem, they were exploding too close to the lines. The flaming debris was being spread into the soldiers. Everwhere the soldiers started to scream. Narm saw how much this was costing the forces. Dying was taking place all around him, and yet they stood their ground. Such stupid tactics. No wonder the war went on so long.

Then the swoops fell back, and the firing stopped. A long pause started. A long uncomfortable pause. There were few sounds. The sounds of the dying, and wounded, the ragged breathing of hundreds of frightened soldiers, and the sound of the approaching army. Ever so closer they drew, then, they came too close.

"All soldiers open fire!"

It might have been a beautiful sight from the air, on the ground it was horrible. Both sides fired at the same time. Crimson bolts of death lanced out in unison to strike large numbers down from each side. They fell as one. Narm tried avoided most of the attack by being farther back. He could see the soldiers moving up to replace the fallen, all of them eager to die as well. The fight continued on. Soldiers dying and people willing to replace them. Narm moved up a little, mainly to get a better vantage point. The enemy tanks started firing. There green bolts easily decimated the people in the way. "Abracadaver." Narm cheerfully said as he plucked a blaster rifle out of a dead soldiers hand. "He won’t be needing it anyway." He readied it if he needed to fire. It was one of the newer Blastech ones, an R-66, with the optional vibrobayonet. Narm looked down at the soldier that he had taken the rifle from. It was a male Quarren, with the mercenary uniform like Max, then in horror, Narm realized the dead soldier was, just another dead soldier. Narm stayed low, and tried to avoid the incoming fire. The bodies were really starting to pile up. Medics tried to pull the wounded out before more piled on top of them. Then something from the lines opened up on the incoming enemy. Narm saw it. Repeating blasters. They poured fire into the oncoming soldiers. Soon the ones farther back were tripping on the dead in front. Narm had never been sickened at a battle before, but something left him queesy. The enemy tanks took point, sheltering the infantry behind them, then they targeted the repeating blasters, taking them out one by one. The large guns of the tanks easily overpowered the light shielding on the repeaters. Narm moved back more, now that the tanks had become more active, he didn’t want to be that close. Behind him, another landspeeder sped off with a load of wounded. As Narm looked forward, he saw something that caught his eye. He couldn’t quite make it out, but it looked like gun barrels. They were on the second story of the buildings by the street. Then the crimson bolts of death took off from the windows, pouring down onto their enemy. Narm could clearly see that on both sides of the street it started. They had outflanked the enemy. Rockets went off. Destroying a few tanks. There wasn’t much more he could make out. Then the enemy tanks unloaded their guns with deadly precision. The two friendly tanks in the line exploded into giant fireballs. Standing back aways, Narm could still feel the scorching heat. That inflicted grand losses to a force that was already staggering. Commandos jumped out of the buildings into the enemy. They were heavily armed. It looked like with light, and medium repeaters. They began wading through the enemy forces. Mowing them down.

"Charge!"

"What the hell?" Narm looked around in disbelief as people all around him obediently rushed the enemy lines. The enemy wasn’t expecting that. They were slow to react, and that cost them dearly. Nearly all of the soldiers were plunged into close combat. "Oohh. I’ve got to get in on this." Narm felt giddy. He put his backpack behind a dumpster. He then plucked some more power packs for his new rifle, and a few more essentials, and took off for the halted enemy. "Aaaaahhhh!" He cried as he rushed toward the mass of soldiers. He raced up to an enemy tank. Its turret was turning, and no one had noticed him. He plucked one of the grenades from his belt, set it to go off, and plunged it down the cannon barrel. He waded into the crowed of soldiers, and ducked as the explosion rocked the ground, sending people all around to the ground. Narm went to work, turning on his twenty centimeter long vibrobayonet. He flew, twisting thorough the crowd. He faced an enemy soldier, and without thinking he hit the soldier with the butt of the rifle, knocking him back, then Narm followed through, jabbing the soldier with the bayonet. He moved onto the next closest one, he didn’t see Narm, and never did as Narm plunged the blade deep into his back, working out the other side. Then one stood in his way to challenge him. He was using a rifle, and nothing else. He jabbed with the butt of the rifle, but the impact was nulled by the armor Narm was wearing. Before he could make a follow up attack, Narm jabbed with the rifle, hitting him in the stomach, and fired. He pulled out the now blood covered weapon, and caught one trying to flank him, with the motion of his arm, Narm had spun the weapon, and plunged it deep into the mans heart, Narm knew he didn’t need to, but he still fired off a blast into the man. He looked around for someone else to concentrate his berserk on. A determined woman stood in his way.

"I will avenge my comrades you unjustly slayed." She rushed him with her vibrosword out. She sliced downward, catching Narm,s armor, but he pulled out before it did any physical damage. She followed up with a wide horizontal slash, but Narm evaded it.

He noticed she was an officer, about major, or possibly higher. She certainly knew how to fight. She made another strike, Narm knew he couldn’t evade it forever. He quickly formed a plan. As she made another strike, Narm used his left arm to grabbed the nearest person. It happened to be a friendly soldier, but Narm decided it was a worthwhile sacrifice for him. He threw the soldier into her, and he landed on her outstretched blade, running him through. While she was momentarily distracted, he slammed his foot into the soldier, causing her to stumble, but she didn’t let go of the sword. Narm rushed through to her, past the unfortunate sacrifice, and with one swift strike put his weapon through her neck, and fired. The bodies slumped to the ground, and Narm paid no heed, the soldier had a sufficient pool of blood, he wasn’t going to make it. Narm didn’t think anyone else had seen what he’d done. Narm continually worked through the melee, leaving corpses in his wake. Then he felt something slam into his back. Narm almost reeled over from the pain, and felt his back get hot, he turned around, and saw a soldier with a blaster, he had just shot Narm. He fired again, but the blast was softened greatly by the amount of armor Narm was wearing. Narm walked to the soldier, who fired again. Narm really felt that, his skin scorched beneath the armor. The soldier started swearing as Narm came within striking distance.

"Die!!!" The soldier yelled slamming the butt of his rifle into Narm’s head. The impact sent Narm to the ground where he remained still for a second. Narm briefly glimpsed the soldier moving toward the heart of the battle. Narm got up, and charged the soldier from behind.

"When you kill someone, make sure they’re dead!" Narm screamed plunging the bayonet deep in the soldiers back, and fired. Soon the battlefield was filled with more of the fallen than the living. Some had just stopped altogether. Narm worked through the last crowd. He saw a friendly soldier get gunned down, and he moved in. Narm gunned down one of the three, moved in and swiftly cracked the butt against the seconds throat, crushing the larynx, and put the blade into the third, and pulled hard until it exited through the side. Narm then looked at the man who was slowly suffocating. He aimed the rifle, and fired. "That’s about as much mercy as you’ll get out of me." Narm then felt entirely exhausted. He shut off the bayonet. He looked down at himself, and saw he was covered in blood, he looked around at the field of battle, he then saw everything get dark.

* * *

Narm woke up several hours later. The sun had set. It looked like he was where he had collapsed. Narm felt a bad headache. He’d never been that affected after a battle before. Of course he’d never been in something that bad before. Narm could hear a lot of squeaking. The rats were out scavenging. There was hardly any light, most of the lamps had been destroyed in the battle. Not too far away the husk of a tank was still burning. Narm found one of the soldiers nearby, and took the goggles off. He fooled around with the buttons a little bit, and found what he was looking for. Nightvision. Narm looked around as far as he could see. There was hardly anything moving. The dead were everywhere. Narm could smell the blood. He slung his rifle and went to the task of deciding what to do next. While he was deciding Narm grabbed his backpack from behind the dumpster. He decided to go back to his hotel. He remembered where it was from there, so Narm left. Staying wary of anyone hidden and ready to strike. He eventually made it back, and found it locked. He knew it was stupid, but he unslung the rifle and used the bayonet to open it. He opened the door to find seven "friendly" soldiers with rifles pointed at him. The lobby was very dim, and he could barely make out any features of the soldiers. "Hello, I have a room here." Narm held up the key as he let his rifle dangle by the strap. "Room 415." The soldiers just stared at him. "I just want a change of clothes so I can go back out there, liberate the spaceport, so I can get my ship, and get off of here. This is by far the worst vacation I’ve ever had." He could hardly make out any details, but the soldiers looked puzzled.

"Who the hell are you?" One of them asked, Narm couldn’t tell which one did.

"Commander Narm Greyrunner of the Intruder Wing Strike Fleet. I was here for leave time. Wonderful planet, seeing I have been out all day, fighting off YOUR enemy!" Narm answered angry, and frustrated.

"Wait, weren’t you the gut at the blockade earlier?"

"No, there is another Narm from the Intruder Wing on your planet too!" Narm almost lost it there.

One of them turned up the lights some, giving the room some decent illumination. Narm could see they attempted to fortify it. "Yeah it is. What happened to you.?" The middle one said, pointing to Narm’s shirt.

"Lets see, oh yes, I had a run in with an enemy brigade. I don’t suppose I could get an money for this, if I charged the shirt, and armor to the government."

"You can go up to your room if you want. Most everyone is gone. Its just soldiers left."

"Say, how’d you survive that anyway?"

"I was knocked unconscious when someone landed on me. They pulled me with wounded, and I woke up so they sent me here. I heard about the mess in the end. The survivor on both sides could have been counted on two hands. I don’t want to see it…"

"It’s okay, it was a real mess. I survived, because I was lucky." Narm finally got to his room, the soldier left and Narm went in. It hadn’t been touched since morning. Narm looked at a chrono, and found that the time was 0324 hours. No wonder he was so tired. Narm managed to find the strength to pull off his breastplate, and the two blast vests beneath it. He examined the breastplate, and looked at the extensive damage: four distinctive blaster holes, dents from various impacts, at least eight different intrusions from various blades. After examining the blast vests he saw extensive damage to those. The first one was damaged beyond use. With many punctures and burns from the blasts, the other one hadn’t taken as much blast damage, but it was easily seen where it had been sliced through. Blood stained all three pieces of equipment in varying degrees, with the innermost blast vest completely covered. Narm felt weak, and tired, he fell onto the bed, and drifted into a restless sleep.

* * *

Narm woke up some time around noon. It was a cloudy dreary day. He opened the door to the balcony. Even from up in the hotel, he could hear weapons fire. He walked back in, and decided to clean up. He used the refresher, and felt the familiar sting of cleaning agents hitting wounds. Once out he bandaged up the various wounds. He also had a considerable amount of bruises all over. Narm was disappointed that they hadn’t given him those little refreshers soaps, so he stuffed the towels into his bag. He threw on some clean clothes, pants and flowery shirt. He brought his one decent blast vest down to the laundry area and cleaned it up. Along the way he ran into various military people who had been using the hotel. Once down at the laundry area he found there was another person there, a woman, local, but there was something in her that said she had frequently traveled from the planet. "Hi." Narm said indifferently. He could notice she was nursing her left arm.

"Hi." she said back, distantly.

She was wearing the standard uniform of the local military. "So what happened to your arm?"

"Who the hell are you anyway? What kind of clothes are those? Shouldn’t you be with the other civilians?" She looked angry. She had dark skin with the pale ears, and black hair, that ended just above her shoulders.

Narm put the blast vest into the machine, and let it do its work.

"Dammit answer me." She angrily said, placing authority into it. She had the sergeant rank insignia.

"That’s a fine howdy do." He extended his left hand. "Commander Narm Greyrunner, Intruder Wing Strike Fleet. This normal dress for me when not required in uniform, and I’m not a civilian."

"Hmmm. Intruder Wing, I know I’ve heard that before." She stared off thinking hard.

"So what happened to the arm?"

"What happened to you, you’re a mess?"

"Oh, I got caught in that melee yesterday. Your not good at answering questions are you?"

He face became contorted, as she puzzled out what he just said. Then it settled on anger. "Got caught in that melee? What the hell? Do you know how many people died in those? And you just say it casually?"

"Thanks, I’m glad you survived too."

"Shut the hell up!"

"So who are you?"

"What are you doing here any way?"

"I’m on leave. Wonderful vacation I’ve had. I have room in this hotel, for the next six days. I think the service is a little sloppy."

The machine she was standing by beeped, she opened it and pulled out her trenchcoat. It was the same green as the regular enlisted. Instead of leaving she decided to stay and grill Narm some more. "So why aren’t you with the rest of the civilians." She said, she had calmed down a lot.

"Because, I can fight. So I plan on liberating the spaceport so I can get to my ship." Narm thought for a second, and decided to ask something. "By the way, are you interested in some slightly used body armor? I’m not going to use it anymore."

She put on the coat, a jagged line could be seen on the left arm. "What the hell? Liberate the starport. Are you some kind of one man army?"

"No, of course I’m not." Narm paused. "I’m a one cyborg army." He flexed his left hand a little bit to put emphasis.

She laughed. That was the first time Narm had seen her expression break from the frown she had been wearing. "The hell you are. Hahahahaha. Liberate the spaceport." She continued to chuckle. "You’re going to die so fast."

"Thanks. Who are you?"

Her coldness broke. "I’m Sergeant Lydia Neesan."

"Hey, you can answer questions. You should have seen me yesterday in the melee, I was close to a one cyborg army."

"Yeah I bet you were." She sarcastically said.

"So about that body armor…" He trailed off. Then the machine beeped, he pulled out his freshly cleaned blast vest. "This isn’t it."

"Sure, I need a good laugh, and I’m not doing anything until they put me in a squad with more than just me."

"That bad?"

"We were directly in front of the spaceport. We lost nearly everyone. I fought at the barricade until I got my arm nearly sliced off. I’ve had a bacta compress on it all night, and it healed fast."

"Ouch, we were over a few streets from the spaceport. I can’t imagine how bad you were it. But I bet I come close." They reached his room, he guided her in. "If you don’t believe me about how bad I got it, look at his." He pulled out the Stormtrooper breastplate. The once white plastic was mostly stained a dark crimson. She gasped as she looked over the extensive damage.

"It’s a wonder you survived."

"Yeah, maybe it is." Narm started reflecting the battle he had witnessed, and been part of.

"Snap out of it, we don’t need you to lose it."

"Thanks. I had never seen anything so… so… grotesque." As Narm said that, he knew he was lying. He knew why he had been sickened, and fainted. Not because it was atrocious, but because he thought it was beautiful. It was the most honorable battle he had seen. Hundreds of soldiers, willing to fight to the death, even charging into a larger enemy force.

"Your lying. I know you are." She looked at him, knowingly. "You find combat desirable. In many ways you’re the perfect soldier. You are driven to fight, and kill, especially those who are your enemies." She grabbed his shoulder, drawing close. "You loved that battle. You were probably the most viscous there." She drew closer, her face mere centimeters from his. "You know how I know?"

Narm couldn’t respond, he thought it, but he couldn’t say it.

"Because I’m just like you. That battle was glorious, and the following are sure to be just as wonderful. You try to act normal, but your mind wanders to combat, and things you can use in combat. I can’t wait for the next one."

Narm had known this all along, he had just never realized it.

Her lips drew near to his, and as they were about to meet, the building rocked form an explosion. "Dammit!" He cursed.

She pulled away. "Guess I’ll have to give you a rain check." Another explosion occurred nearby. She looked back, and ran out of the room.

"Dammit!" Narm cursed. "Of all the rotten luck. Somebody is going to DIE for this!" Narm went to his bag, and pulled out his other breastplate. He quickly put on his other blast vest, under the damaged one, then put on the breastplate. He then replaced his shirt over the armor. "I wish I had brought more weapons. This time Narm loaded down with his weapons. He ran to the balcony to get a better vantage point. There was a fight going on in the streets. Then Narm noticed the sniper sitting on the building, shooting at friendly soldiers. "Dammit, I wish I had a grenade launcher… on me." He steadied his rifle against the balcony railing, using the scope to aim. No one was returning fire at him, so he wasn’t moving. Narm lined up his head in the crosshairs. Then fired. The shot hit the enemy soldier just below where Narm aimed. The soldier slumped over the side, and began dangling. Narm fired another shot at him and the impact caused him to fall. His job there done, Narm ran out, heading to the ground floor. When he got to the lobby, there was heavy fighting. And Lydia was doing most of it. She moved through with lightning speed. Using the butt of her rifle as her primary weapon. She frightened the opposing soldiers, some even ran out of the lobby in panic. The few other friendly soldiers had taken cover, and were firing at the ones Lydia hadn’t killed yet. Narm saw his opportunity to join, and rushed past the makeshift barricade. He worked on the side he wasn’t. Using his rifle to kill anyone that got close to him. He glanced over near her, and could see a trail of bodies leading close to the door. She moved up to one, and used the bayonet to spear him, then pulled the rifle out, and smashed the butt into his face.

Narm worked through, using similar tactics as the day before, kill any enemies standing. He noticed that Lydia was a little more brutal than Narm. She would often fire the rifle into anyone she had speared, then rip out the bayonet in a painful way. Then the friendly soldiers overcame their fear and joined the two lone warriors to fight off the attackers. Still, through it all, he could hear Lydia. She was laughing most of the time, especially when she gunned down anyone that ran. Narm was moving up, closer to her. She was almost to the door. Narm was still about three meters away. He parried a sloppy attack by a close soldier, and jabbed him in the ribs with the bayonet. Then sliced downward until the blade exited out the side. Narm noticed something. Lydia reached the main doors, and all of the soldies broke. Their morale, had broke and they all started running toward the exit. Narm tried to take out as many as he could. Firing off the rifle into the fleeing soldiers. He made it to the doors, where he tried to approach Lydia, without hesitation, she leveled her rifle, and fired into the windows on the side, and they shattered after the impact. Without pausing, she leaped forward, through the broken window, and pulled something out of her trenchcoat. A grenade launcher. She hit the ground, landing on her feet, and fired into the enemy soldiers in the street, who had been fighting more friendly forces. Screams rang through the air, as the explosions tore through groups of soldier. Narm jumped through the window also, although not as graceful he landed, and pulled out a blaster. With the rifle in one hand, and the blaster in the other, he started firing at the now fleeing enemy forces. He strafed along the side of the building, pouring crimson bolts into the ranks. Lydia was laughing uncontrollably, she dropped the empty grenade launcher, and brought up her rifle and charged the enemy forces. Narm took a quick second to change the powerpack on his rifle, and ran after her, trying to keep up. She effortlessly waded through the enemy troops, and hopped onto an approaching tank, hoping to cover the fleeing soldiers from the enemy attack. She moved over the turret, pulling a little ball out of her coat. When she got to the front she dropped it, and jumped the side, rolling as she hit the ground.

During that Narm had been working through the soldiers near the end, killing all that put up a fight. Then a large explosion rocked the area, sending Narm to the ground. He made quick recovery, reversing himself, and saw the tank burning brightly. The area had mostly been cleared out, mostly. Narm got up, and looked around at the carnage. He wanted to get away from the planet. It was doing something to him, with his feelings. He had never enjoyed the sheer carnage of a battle before, it had to be the planet causing it. He walked over to Lydia, who was on one knee, and trying to catch her breath.

"How’d… you… like that?" She asked, grinning delightfully.

Narm hadn’t consciously given thought to whether he liked it or not, it was necessary, but deep down, he did enjoy it. "I didn’t hate it."

"Damn your stubborn." She stood up, surveying the street. Near the hotel, a group of friendly soldiers were mulling. "So what do you want to do now?"

"Actually, I was going to go back to where the battle was yesterday and pick it clean of weapons. Wanna’ come?" Damn, he didn’t realize he had said that, oh well, he already did.

"Sure, nothing to perk up a day like visiting the dead."

She’s insane, Narm started thinking. There is something wrong with her. Then without realizing it he chuckled. This is getting to me, Narm thought. They walked down without challenge. The enemy’s that fled, had obviously left without order. Without realizing it, they had reached the site of the previous days battle. Narm remembered in great detail what had happened.

"Damn, no wonder you were that bad off."

"Yeah, I was lucky."

"You weren’t lucky, I’ve seen you fight. That wasn’t luck, that was a primal skill. Like you exerted earlier. How many did you kill?"

"I don’t… know." Narm responded weakly.

"Don’t know, or don’t want to know?" She looked at the street ahead of them. "I thought we were here for a reason."

"Yeah, lets get to it." Narm felt some of his strength return. "Yeah, before the rats get to them all."

"That’s the spirit. And if we have to, we’ll fight the rats!"

Narm laughed. "Damn right we will." Narm and Lydia each found what they would need. They took bundles of weapons, and used industrial strength tape to hold them together. Before long they had over fifteen bundles of various rifles, and blasters. "So what are you doing with your share?"

She responded, rolling the tape around a bundle Narm was trying to hold together. "I’m going to get back up to space, and sell most of them to black market dealers. The rest I’ll keep." She tore off the tape, and the bundle held on its own. "I ought to get some hard coin for this. So what are you doing with yours?" She was gathering up more weapons.

"Most of it will probably go into my collection, and what I can’t fit, will probably be sold or given out as souvenirs." Narm knelt down, and had to tug hard to pull the next rifle out of the dead soldiers hand.

"Your funny, I’m glad I didn’t kill you in the laundry room like I thought about doing."

"That’s very comforting."

"Hey come over here, I think this body is your handiwork."

Narm walked over to where she was squating. "It probably is, how brutal does it look?"

"Looks like it was smashed and hit with some vibroblade, about twenty centimeters. Multiple slashes, stabs, and some blasts. Looks like your work."

Narm got closer. "Personally I don’t think I’m going to be able to identify the body of someone I may have killed, this really isn’t serving any pu-"

She leapt up from her crouch, and grabbed Narm’s collar. Lydia then deeply kissed Narm, not letting him go. For a long time she held him. Then she let him go, and whispered to him. "I could have killed you, many times over…" Then without a word, she went back to collecting weapons.

Narm, puzzled and without any idea what to make of that, went quietly back to work. Soon the sun was setting. Narm liberated a pair of nightvision goggles from a soldier, who didn’t seem to mind. They worked late into the night, continually gathering the weapons.

* * *

Narm was forced awake the next morning, or sometime the next day. He couldn’t remember much of what he did the next morning. He rubbed his eyes and winced at the bright sunlight coming in through the window. "Aaaahhh, go away."

"Rise and shine. Do you know you fell asleep out there, and left me to do all the work. You’re lucky I was nice enough to haul you back to your room."

"Why are you in my room?"

"You don’t even thank me?" Lydia said with mock shock. "I should have left you with the rats."

"Thanks. Glad I can count on you, now get out." Narm was chuckling.

"Well, if that’s all the thanks I get, I’ll leave now." She walked out of the room.

I have to get off of this planet, soon. Narm went about his morning routine. He prepped for another day of battle, putting on his armor, then felt a deep pit in his stomach, and realized he hadn’t eaten since before he arrived on planet. He should have felt that, but with the adrenaline rush happening so frequently he figured it food wasn’t a priority. Narm finished preparing for the day, and headed down to the kitchen. There were several other soldiers there, but no big crowed. Narm decided to find something good. Five minutes later he was eating rare Dewback Steak. "What a great breakfast. This is better than military food." The soldiers were unresponsive, probably lost a lot of friends. "Get over it, people die, just like your going to!" What the hell. Narm was thinking, he would never say that, but why did he just say it? Something was wrong. He finished his breakfast and headed down to the lobby to see what was going on.

He got down there to see the soldier from the first day, with a few other soldiers and Lydia.

"Their’s Mr. Sunshine now." Lydia provoked.

Narm resisted the urge to tell her off for that. Which was really strange, because he normally didn’t get that worked up about something like that.

The soldier turned to Narm. "Today’s the day, you win back the spaceport for us."

"You’re holding me to that? I wasn’t exactly serious."

"Oh, so that means you don’t want to be placed in the exo-Armored Suit division. As soon as command heard about your superior close combat abilities, you-"

"Exo-Armor Suits? I’m there, where can I get mine?"

Lydia laughed.

"Sergeant Nissan is heading up the unit, the last few suits should roll off the assembly line within hours. The attack is tomorrow."

"You’re going to be my second. Now come with me to the base, so I can teach you how to use a suit." Lydia ordered rather than asking. "There are two speeder bikes parked out front, you know how to fly one?"

Narm nodded.

"Good. Lets go. You’ll need all the training you can get. Don’t worry though. Once you get used to it, you’ll be able to move like normal." She walked out of the lobby, and Narm followed her. They each got on one of the speeder bikes and took off. Lydia guided them to the base, which was crawling with soldiers. They were stopped about twenty times on the way to verify who they were, and whether they were spies or not. She guided them to another heavily secured area of the base. Once outside of the building Lydia parked, and Narm did the same. Most noticeable, the building had a higher roof, and large warehouse doors. "This is the main research and training building. Currently we have 21 Exo-Armored Suits, we use the acronym EAS. I’ve been training with them for awhile now. If you look that way." She pointed and Narm looked. He saw the ruins of several buildings, recently bombed. "Happened the night before the attack. A saboteur knew which building to hit. They killed eleven pilots. Six are wounded too badly to fight, so that leaves the eight regulars, the commanders were all killed. There are also ten reserve pilots, so we are still short nine pilots. I was being trained as a reserve pilot, to transfer in once construction steeped up, and the Exo-Amored Suit Corps became a regular division. I’m pulling you into this because of your sheer combat prowess."

"Thanks."

She guided him inside the building, the entrance was large, and empty, there were several doorways, and she guided him to the one marked training. "The healthier pilots are working on training our new recruits. I never thought it would come down to this." After a security check. They walked inside a cavernous room. Along the right wall were fifteen humanoid looking suits. They stood about three meters tall. They were marked with yellow, and blue. The chest part was open, and the beginning of the arms and legs were opened. Narm looked up in awe, the possibilities he thought. "Welcome to the Training Center. Here you will train on ArmsMobile EXS-Mark II Training EAS. They are a basic, all around suit, used to teach as much as possible to the learning pilot."

They approached the two closest ones. Narm looked around, and saw the area was like any training area, with weapons area, obstacle course, sparring, and a flight course. He could see about fifteen suits out. Some of them were moving, beautifully, and gracefully, while about half were clumsily stumbling about.

"Attention." She snapped her fingers to get Narms attention. "Just climb in. I’ll get in another one."

Narm climbed up the front using the conveniently placed hand, and foot hold. Narm climbed inside the chest cavity, and placed his back to the cushion, with his feet down in the legs, and he pushed his hands into the arms. It was certainly different. The cover on the chest closed over him, and two covers snapped over the open part of the arms, and two for the legs. About 2/3 of the cover was a heavy transparasteel, allowing maximum vision, although he wondered how much protection was compromised. The suit started automatically giving a heads up display about where his face was.

"Once you’ve started up, hit a button that should be right behind you’re the index finger on your right hand."

Narm did, and was rewarded with a picture over his HUD showing the controls, it guided him on how to move, and use all of the features.

"Once you’ve finished studying, try moving." Lydia guided.

Narm started to use the levers and feet just how the directions had taught him, and he promptly fell over. Although after several hours of training Narm had gotten the hang of moving. He could walk, run, fly, and use the arms.

"Now its time for the weapons training. Unlike many other battlesuits, the EAS are more of personal body armor, therefore built in weaponry is very little. Mostly relying on hand held weapons. Once your proficient with any one weapon, the others shouldn’t be that much different." She moved her suit to a table, beyond it at the other ends were targets. She lifted up a rifle. It had a long barrel, with a big powerpack, and long stock. "This is the ArmsAdvances ES-44s EAS Support rifle. It is a higher power rifle, the only thing separating this from any other is its size." She moved to the next one, and held it up. It was shorter, had a wider barrel, and looked like it had under barrel attachment. "This is the ArmsAdvances ES-55s Assault rifle, a good all around blaster, with underbarrel grenade launcher. Plus when you run out of grenades, you pop the grenade launcher, and a bayonet pops out." She demonstrated, I can see you using this a lot." She set it down, and picked up a long slender weapon, with pads to set down on the shoulder. In the back was some kind of box. "This one is the, you guessed it, the AmsAdvances ES-999s Bazooka, a general purpose weapon, of course, we all know what purpose its generally used for. Then we have one more weapon, I’m sure you’ll appreciate." At the end of the table, she pulled off a large sword. "The RomsTech EAS-2 Broadsword, specially designed for wading through tanks." Narm tried all the weapons, on the stationary targets, and moving. Then he trained while firing. Finally he went to through the obstacle course. "Looks like you proved your worth. You’re staying at the base tonight, and we’ll move to the hotel early in the morning. Command is hoping that we’ll be a morale boost for the troops. I’m glad I chose you, you showed exceptional ability in all your training, lets hope its enough." Narm checked his chrono as he got out of the training suit. It was late evening. "The pilots are being housed in a barracks near here. She guided him there, and once inside, everyone was gathered, Narm saw a collection of men, and women, local and offworld, all gathered in formation. An officer was gathered at the front of the ranks. "I’d like to introduce the new recruits to Sergeant Neesa, who will be in command of the unit. Her chosen second is… uh Commander Narm Greyrunner of the Intruder Wing Strike Fleet. Tomorrow is not an unimportant day, if we lose, we are not undefeated, if we win, we are not defeated. Make me proud." He said as he walked out. Narm whispered to Lydia. "Who was that?"

She whispered back. "Base commander, he’s a moron, so don’t listen to him." She raised her voice, addressing the gathered troops. "You’ve been training, there is a battle tomorrow, get some sleep." The crowd looked at her in disbelief. "If I made a big speech, it would only make people nervous. Now get some sleep." She walked over to bunk at the end and plopped down. The assembled pilots each went to there respective bunks, and Narm went to one in the middle that had no one in it. He fell down on it and went to sleep as soon as the lights shut off.

* * *

"All of you, wake the hell up, and get your asses out of bed!" Someone was screaming, it was Lydia. Narm didn’t get up, rolled over the side, fortunately it was the bottom bunk, and he didn’t fall far. The cold derricrete woke him up fast as he hit it. He smelled some food. "You’re lucky, because of how early it is, and how important you are, you get breakfast delivered!"

Won’t she shut up. Narm checked his chrono, 0345 hours. It was early. All the troops quickly put on there combat jumpsuits. They ate a quick breakfast, taking in a substantial amount of cofeene. Within fifteen minutes they were assembled inside of the hanger near the EAS’s. Lydia with her promotion to Major was standing in front of the assembled troops. On her left was Commander Davian, in Command of the Lightbringer Squadron. Average height with green hair. Narm was on her left, and his squadron was Dark Chaos. "Today is the final battle, we win, or we die. We’re going to be a major part of this battle. Our armor took a horrendous beating in the first battle, we’re going to have to back them up, and the infantry. But for one second, don’t think we are defense. We are to push to the very last, and not for one second think about giving up. The only time you are cleared to drop back, is to get more ammo or weapons. With that said, suit up." The pilots moved to their suits. Before Davian, and Narm got to any suits Lydia stopped them. "Before you get to the ArmsMobile EXS-Mark II Combat Design, there is a little surprise. The production holdup was so they could put out three new suits, the new, ArmsMobile EXS- Valkyrie Extended Combat suit. They are slightly superior in every way, and are going to be piloted by us. Ringing in at four meters tall." Narm, Lydia and Davian each moved to their respective suit. The standard colors were a grey base, with blue on the arms and legs. Although Narms had a blck stripe on each arm, and Davians had a white stripe on each arm, and Lydia’s had red. "Okay, proceed to weapon pickup. Most members of the squadron took ES-55s, with two from each squadron taking a ES-44s. Narm took one of each for precaution. A sword was standard equipment, and placed in a sheath in the back between the jets. "People, we’re going to transported to the rendezvous near the hotel, from there, we will walk to the shelter. No jetting, we don’t want to be spotted that early." So by threes they were put on the speeder transport. The convoy of landspeeders set out to the rendezvous point, where they were dropped off at the shelter. There they took a quick break from their vehicles. They were being carefully hidden from the majority of soldiers. They were to boost the morale of the common fighter. The ultimate war machines. After a couple of hours 0800 rolled around, the morning su was bright that day. The fighting force was almost complete. From what Narm heard they had troops on almost every forward vector to the spaceport. Then the orders to advance came down. Lydia addressed her assembled troops. "The orders to move out are going through. The orders for the general army are going to go through first, then we will come in, do fly overs from the rear echelons, and move in to help spearhead the invasion. I admit its dumb, I admit its stupid, but I also know, it is the best way to do it. So get back in your suits." Soon the pilots were in there suits, moving out of the shelter. They stood in the street, now empty of the many troops that filled it minutes before. One by one starting with Lydia, the suits jumped into the air and used their jets to take off. They did a little practice flying, and took off to join their comrades at the front.

* * *

The 54^th Infantry Regiment had just begun to scrape the enemy resistance, skirmishing with advanced guard. Sergeant Max Gunn looked out as his troops finished off the enemy resistance there. Corporal Neineen Weir walked up to him. "Looks like its safe to go on, and that’s what the Captains saying."

"Thanks Corporal." He turned to the soldiers behind him. "Proceed!" Just then a large sound could be heard in the air. He saw Corporal Weir look excitedly in the air, towards the back. Max looked up, and saw 25 specks getting closer. He didn’t know what they were.

"Whoo-hoo! GO NARM! GO LYDIA!" Corporal Weir was hollering his support.

"Did you say Narm?" Max asked.

"Yeah, we were in the first battle together. He’s in with the EAS’s. Their going to liberate the spaceport for us. Whoo-hoo!" They flew overhead, then came down closer to the ground.

Max had heard of them before, but never seen one. He was amazed at the suits. They turned around, and flew back over, then continued onward toward the enemy forces. Behind him his soldiers broke out in cheering. Max figured it out. A giant morale boost. "You can do it Narm!" He cheered for his friend, and felt sorry for the enemy he was about to face."

* * *

Narm steadied his suit, he had really picked up on it. "When do we reach ground zero?"

"Soon Narm, then the true carnage begins." Lydia answered, chuckling.

Narm checked his sensors, they were getting close. It was time. "Chaos squadron, we’re going in full throttle, strafing runs all the way. Lightbringer will be supporting us from a higher altitude. No one is to drop to the ground and engage the enemy. I repeat stay in the air." There were big masses in the streets. With armor supporting them. Narm was the first one in. He missed the personal touch of actually feeling the weapon, but it didn’t bother him that much. He got in closer, and aimed for a tank. "Squadron, open fire!" Narm pressed and held the button. The finger squeezed, depressing the trigger, and unloading crimson death on the enemy. Narm could see the soldiers as he passed over, they looked very surprised.

"Lightbringers, OPEN FIRE!" Davian yelled. Behind him Narm knew the carnage was getting bad.

"Next street!" Lydia ordered. After there salvos, the 25 suits sped off to the street next to the one they were over. They met with a little resistance, but nothing that they armor couldn’t withstand. "Chaos fire!" Narm depressed the button again. His blasts rocked from the rifle, eradicating anyone in their path. He got to the end, pulled up, and rolled. He briefly hovered, watching the Lightbringers pour fire from above. The carnage in their wake was satisfying. The lightning strike left the enemy in disarray. He saw Lydia firing from her suit.

"Next street." She ordered, and she sped off toward it. Again they made a lightning run. Narm pushed his skills to the limit. He wanted to see if he was really ready. He was.

"Next street. This is the main one into the spaceport!" She sped off into the next street, Narm followed, and so did Davian. Lydia landed in the middle of the enemy, with her sword drawn. She was firing off her grenades, and making long sweeps with the sword. She moved in her suit like she did without it. Soon she had cleared a path through to the other side. The two squadrons were making assaults on the street also, putting large gaps in the enemy defenses. "Whoo-hoo this is fun!" Narm cried, as he landed, using his large blaster to kill enemy troops in groups. Soon Davian was beside him, skillfully piloting his suit through the enemy troops. Narm had pulled his sword, and was tank killing. He got close to a tank, and placed the blaster next to the turret, and fired. "Hahaha!’ Narm laughed. He cleaved another one with his sword. When he looked over at Lydia, she had her bayonet out, and was stabbing tanks. Davian was causing general destruction through the lines. The squadrons just hovered, and picked off survivors.

"Chaos, Lightbringers. Change in plans. We can win the battle, or we can wait it out, doing minor strikes, or we can prove to command what these suits can do, and justify training you." Lydia said, fury in her voice.

Narm could see her legs were covered with a considerable amount of blood. "Kill and destroy!" Narm yelled, turning his thrusters on, and speeding through a group of soldiers. Davian pulled up beside him. He had a blaster in each hand and was firing wildly.

"Time to raise the body count Lightbringers!" Davian sounded excited.

"Chaos, time to earn that name!" Narm gave his support to the insubordination. The comm rang out with cheers, as the 25 suits flew off into the enemies heart. "Give them hell!"

"And light them up."

"Okay you two, don’t get too excited before the battle is over." Lydia jumped in. As they ran into enemy troops, they unloaded firepower into them.

"Major Neesan, what the hell are you doing, bring your units back on the primary mission. You’re not supposed to lead the actual advance."

"To hell with your orders, we’re going in."

"This is insubordination! You’ll be thrown into the stockade the minute you hit base."

"Tell that to me once I’ve won the battle."

"Come back or we’ll be forced to open fire."

"Get your units into the battle first, then they’ll be in range. Until then, you can’t do a damned thing."

"That’s it, gross insubordination. You’ll be lucky if you ever see daylight again."

"No ones going to fire on us. And your forces won’t obey you. We’re saving their asses." After Lydia said that, no word came in from command. "They know I’m right. Okay, we’re getting close tot he enemy forces. Prepare to attack. This is the final push."

Narm checked his sensors. They would be reaching the edge of the spaceport in seconds. He looked to his side, and saw the buildings scrolling by. Then looked forward. "Shit missile batteries."

"I see ‘em. Lightbringers fly up and draw their fire, while Chaos gets up close and personal. Time for your favorite game Narm, close combat." Davian rose higher into the air, the Lightbringers following.

"100 meters out… 50… open fire!" Narm flipped onto his side, feet first, using the repulssors to keep from scraping the ground. He used the momentom to plow through the first line of defense. He rose with sowrd in hand firing his blaster the various heavy weapons. "Damn they weren’t expecting that." Some of them fired up ahead before Narm could stop them.

"Aaahh, this is Ten, I’m hit bad. Losing systems---" Static. Lightbringer Ten exploded in a fiery fireball, as his comrades fired into the mass of enemy forces.

Narm made charged through the lines, using the thrusters to propel him as he shoulder smashed a tank, sending it flying. He turned around and used his blaster to kill the gathered troops. He saw the rest of chaos in the fray also, tearing the enemy forces to shreds. This was one of there most concentrated areas. Narm ran out of energy in his heavy rifle, he slammed it down on top of three troops who had gathered to oppose him, he unslung the assault rifle, and started firing with that. A head of him he Lydia land, and fighting, charging through the enemies braking ranks. She mostly used her boosters with her sword out near ground level. She left a bloody trail in her wake. Then the enemy forces crumbled. They began falling back with terror. Running, fleeing from the 24 armored suits, hell bent on their total annihilation. Lydia pushed forward into the retreating forces. "Hey, Davian, lets say we trade places, let the Lightbringers get some aciot, while we hold in the air and provide cover?" Narm asked, he wanted to get back in the air.

"Sure. Lightbringers, engage in close combat!"

"Dark Chaos, pull out and give fire support." Narm boosted into the air, hovering, and using his rifle to pick off retreating forces. He noticed Lydia was not in sight. "Lydia, you there?"

"Yeah, I’m under fire. They’re sending in a counter attack." She switched to the group channel. "Everyone, they are launching a counter attack, it’s pretty heavy. Prepare for a lot of close combat. If they get range on us, we’re toast."

"Chaos, I want six of you to stay with me in the street. The rest spread out in the alleys and prepare to flank."

"Lightbringers, six come with me. The rest spread out with Chaos. I’m not letting you do this alone Narm. Narm went back to pick up the rifle he had dropped. This should do he thought. Then he went back in the line with the others. They waited, Narm saw them approaching on the sensors. "Davian, trust me. I’ve got a plan."

"Let me guess, blindly charge into the enemy forces?"

"Well, its not so much a plan, as an ideal."

"We’re with you Narm, right Lightbringers?"

"I know Chaos is." Narm checked other sensor contacts. The friendly forces were approaching fast, they must have had a cakewalk through the decimated enemy. Soon the enemy was within visual contact. He was thinking, how soon to attack. He didn’t want to launch too soon, and get blown away. He didn’t want to wait too long until they had solid locks on them. Narm became anxious, waiting for it. Then it was time. "GO!" He hit his boosters sending him flying at the enemy. He flung the blaster into the enemy lines. They became close surprisingly fast. He hit the lines and was rewarded with seemingly endless impacts of infantry on the canopy. He drew his sword and used it to cleave the people he was ramming. Within seconds he was part way through the enemy lines, joined by the suits behind him. They left a bloody trail in their wake. In moments they were joined by the suits hiding in the alleys, and buildings. They swept through, leaving very few survivors. Narm concentrated on causing as much havoc as he could. Kicking, shooting slicing stabbing. Although this was just the beginning. The enemy had prepared, they hid their armor in the rear. It was more or less a trap. The tanks, and light artillery opened fir in the streets. The opening barrage killed three pilots, their armor couldn’t withstand the higher power weapons. Narm felt his whole armor shake, and be tossed back into a building. "Damn it!" He saw that a lot o the armor on the top of his right arm was taken off. Fortunately the actuators, and controls still worked. "Damn you!" Narm screamed as the artillery continued, hitting more suits, five more pilots dead. Narm threw on his boosters, and charged the enemy armor.

"Narm wait!" Davian cried out, but Narm didn’t hear him. "Then I’ll go with you!"

Narm had descended into a berserker rage. He swiftly dodged the incoming green bolts, covering the distance in seconds. He flew over the groups of infantry who harmlessly shot at him. Even through the compensators, Narm could feel the high G’s as he neared the tanks. Another four pilots were killed as the enemy continued unmercifully. Without hesitation, or concern, he used his sword to slices a hole in their lines. Davian had caught up to Narm, and was easily working his way through the tanks. With the break in the enemy’s barrage, the rest of the armored suits made their way through the infantry. Narm was getting worried that he hadn’t heard from Lydia. He pumped the entire clip of grenades from the rifle into the enemy armor, then followed up with a haze of blaster bolts. Then sword swipes. Narm tried firing, but his blaster was out of power. He noticed Davian had dropped his, and was just using his sword. Narm switched out the bayonet, and brutally killed all nearby him. Cleaving infantry in half. There was a big hole, where the tanks had once been, and the rest of the suits were coming to fill it. Soon, they were pressing them back.

"Narm, Davian, I need help. I’m pinned down in the rear, and I can’t return fire since I’m out of power." Narm leapt into action. He turned his booster on moments after Davin, who had already taken off towards the rear. The rest of the suits stayed in the front forcing the enemy back. Narm let his sword hang down, occasionally scraping the ground, but more often going through enemy troops, and vehicles. He could hear several speeders exploding behind him. Then he reached the end of the column, enemy tanks, and heavy weapon users were keeping Lydia pinned down, and covering the retreat. The tanks tried to turn their turrets on Davian, but it was too late. With great skill he went through the enemy tanks. They exploded in his wake, the power of his sword cleaving them. Once their attention had been diverted Lydia leeapt from behind the wrecked building she was using as cover, and charged the enemy forces. Then Narm heard Davian scream, he looked over and saw his suit spin around, and crash into building. Narm saw a tank sitting front of where Davian had been. "Damn it." Narm turned his whole body toward it, and rushed the tank. He was amazed at how effortlessly it had become to move. Narm rushed the tank as its turret turned to face him. He slammed the rifle bayonet through the top of the turret, and hitting the ground. The tank exploded in front of him, and cracked the canopy, damaging the HUD. "Davian, are you okay? Are you there?" Narm listened, but all he got was silence.

"I’m… here… I think…" Narm looked as Davian’s suit slowly got up. The entire tranparasteel canopy was shattered, leaving him completely exposed.

"Davian, it’s a miracle you survived." Lydia said, disbelief in her voice. Around them the enemy forces were in a disorganized retreat. The rest of the suits mopped up what they could. He looked around at the twelve survivors. All of them looked the worse for wear. A few still clutched rifles, but most had their swords out, or bayonets. Narm peered through the cracked transparasteel at his blades. The bayonet had large cracks and dents in it. His sword, made of a better quality, still had a fair share of cracks. Most everyone’s suit had visible damage. Some had little cracks, or places where the armor had been blown off. One was missing most of their left arm. Soon they were alone on the street, twelve warriors, without a battle.

"Since no one else is asking, I will." Narm volunteered. "Did we just win the battle?"

"I think I did Narm." Davian said.
"Excuse me, I’m the major, and in command, so I won the battle."

"Now if we could just tell command that." Davian said.

Narm checked his sensors. The friendly forces were getting close. Too bad he didn’t know how friendly they would be. "Hey Major Neesan, are you sure they won’t listen to command?"

"Narm, just stay cool, I’m sure they don’t want to destroy our suits, plus we pretty much won the battle. I don’t think they’ll be eager to blast us off the face of the planet."

"Hey, Major, do you see that?" One of the Lightbringers asked. "Sensor contact, looks small. Probably landspeeder. Looks like they want to talk."

* * *

"I hope you know what you’re doing." Corporal Neineen Wier said. "Lydia can be very hard headed about things like this.

"Don’t worry, once Narm sees us, we should do okay." Sergeant Max Gunn reassured. They approached in a military landspeeder, driven by a private from his platoon. "They haven’t started firing yet."

"How many of them are clutching long range weapons though?"

"I’m pretty sure I’m right, if I’m not, we both won’t have much time to reflect on the mistakes." They neared the twelve Exo-Armored Suits. From what he saw, they looked pretty beat up.

Neineen was thinking along the same lines. "It must have been one hell of a battle."

"Yeah, those are the most powerful weapons on the planet. They already proved that." The reached the group of suits in the street. The landspeeder stopped, and one of them approached. "I hope I’m right."

* * *

Narm watched the landspeeder pull up and stop. He watched as a Quarren got out, and a human. Narm started to wonder if the Quarren was Max. Narm turned to face them, but Lydia walked up, and opened her suit. "Couldn’t they just talk to me by comm?"

The Quarren spoke. "Well, Major Neesan, this was too important. The charges of insubordination, and gross insubordination have been lifted in light of the recent victory, you and your troops made. In fact many promotions, and commendations are being handed out." Narm recognized him, he was Max. The other guy near him looked familiar.

"Well, looks like we should cash in." Lydia sounded cheerful.

Narm opened up the cockpit. "Max, I’m not part of the military, what do I get?"

"Uh… err… Glad to see you survived Narm. I’ll get back to you on that."

"Hey, Narm, I thought you were going to single-handedly win back the spaceport." Narm recognized him. It was that private from the hotel, looked like he had an extra stripe this time. When Narm looked at Max, he noticed it too. Sergeant.

"You can’t hold me to that, they wanted to go with me."

"Can you people head back to base. Command says the techs are going half wild because they don’t have the combat data in their hands yet. Plus, they all look the worse for wear." He looked around for a moment. "We’ll be making the final push, so can you head back soon, and get out of the street. There shouldn’t be much left. They’ve already started launching transports home."

"The bastards better not touch the Dream."

"Cool it Narm, I might have to hurt you." Lydia warned.

"Ha, did you see me, I must’ve fried 50 of their tanks in under three minutes."

"Okay, can you just head back to base." With that, Max and Neineen got back into the speeder and sped off.

"How we doing on fuel everyone?" Lydia asked.

Narm hadn’t thought to check any gauges in a while. "Looks like I’m walking, I’ll never be able to fly back."

"I’m not going to make it either. In fact, I’m not sure of anything." Davian laughed, not knowing anything about his status.

"Okay, we all walk then." Lydia ordered. The armored troops set off toward the base, knowing their job was done.

* * *

Narm opened up the canopy of his suit, and was immediately flooded with people. Techs, military officers, maintenance, and medical personnel it was a mess. Narm was finally able to clear his suit, and end up on the other side. Lydia was surrounded by people asking questions. Davian was being taken out by some med techs. Then the officers took the pilots to one of the command buildings. Narm had found out that the battle was mostly over, and it was down to cleanup. They were guided to a large hall, where some of the top ranking officers were, preparing to give out their finest awards. Davian finally got away from the med techs, and made it to the large room. Narm really wasn’t surprised at what happened, they wanted Lydia to become the commander of the EAS division. They offered Narm a commission, and second in command, which he turned down, so they gave the position to Davian, who accepted. The other pilots were all given substantial promotions. They were all given the Rotondu Star of Valor. Then they came back to Narm, not knowing how to reward him.

"Can I have 5 million credits?"

The officers jaws seemed to drop in unison.

"I’m kidding, don’t hurt yourselves. I have a solution that should be fairly painless. I guess the suit I used in the battle is out of the question." Narm watched them shake their heads. Actually, what I would like is, after that battle, there are a lot of enemy soldiers who won’t be using their weapons anymore, or powerpacks, or anything else for that matter. I’d like to fill my ship to capacity with the arms. I also want 4 thousand, not 5 thousand credits." He watched their reaction. "4 thousand credits will be fine."

"Well, Commander, that is an unusual request-"

"So I get it! I’ll start dumping cargo."

"Wait, well, honestly, we… have never heard anyone ask for anything like that."

"Can I start collecting weapons yet?"

"Don’t you have any respect."

"I’ve got a bank account you can put the 4 thousand credits into. Maybe I have enough money together to buy a bulk freighter, that could hold a lot more weapons than my small space yacht."

"Okay, you can fill your ship, just promise not to get anything bigger."

"Deal. I was looking forward to a bulk freighter full of blasters though."

"For some reason, we could tell. If you ever need a military job out of the Intruder Wing, come here first, not over to them. In fact as a gesture of kindness, our cleanup crews will start piling the weapons, so you can take your pick."

"Thanks." Narm saluted.

"Dismissed."

They all went to the mess hall, they could put up with military food, as long as it was edible. No one had eaten since early in the morning, and they all needed the nourishment.

After they forced down a hearty military meal, they were ready to get dead drunk. "I’m leaving tomorrow, how about we have a good old celebration, where we all get wasted and shoot things."

"Narm, that’s going to far. I do know a couple of bars where we won’t get thrown out of." Lydia said.

* * *

"Damn it Lydia, I thought we weren’t going to get thrown out of this one too!"

"I’m not the one acting like a jackass Narm." They heard a lot of laughing. The rest of the pilots were all laughing at them. They were all also very drunk. "Did you see me make a pass on the owners wife?"

"Yes!"

"That doesn’t count, I was getting money for that."

"Do you know anywhere else to go?"

"No, I’m banned from most of the bars. Hahahaha!"

"Figures. I’m going to call it a night." There were murmur of agreement. "I’m going to the hotel, its closer." Narm stumbled to the hotel, the rest of the group was with him. Inside were a few troops still guarding the lobby, but it was mostly down for the night. Narm checked his chrono, he rubbed his eyes to clear things up. 0435 hours. No wonder he was about to keel over. He found his room, fell on the bed, and didn’t wake up until around noon the next day. He had a horrible headache. He took some pain reliever, got ready for the day, and went to the spaceport. Upon recognition, the guards let him through. Narm liked being a hero. He got to the ship and found that it was untouched. He was lucky. Narm got in, and started stuffing things, he had made ample space for his soon to be loaded collection. Narm was surprised he hadn’t seen any of the group. They would be here. Then he saw them. The pilots, Lydia, Davian, Max, and Neineen, all driving speeders, filled with weapons. What a touching thought. Narm wished he could take them all, the weapons that is. Once they got there they gave Narm the surprise, and helped him load as much as he could on the Dream.

"Narm, are you sure its going to take off?"

"Yeah Lydia, it will."

Narm started saying his good byes.

"Max, its been great seeing you again, enjoy the army." He shook Max’s hand. Narm turned to the corporal. "I never even met you, or know your name."

"Corporal Neineen Wier, it was good serving with you."

"Thanks." Narm walked over to Davian. "Keep the squadrons in line, and if you can, mail me a suit, piece by piece."

"Thanks Narm, I’ll try that." He chuckled.

Narm walked over to Lydia. "You seem to have gotten out of that bloodthirsty mood, the responsibilites of being a commander."

"Shut the hell up." She grabbed him, and kissed him deeply, then let go. "Good luck."

"Thanks. You too." Narm had never been good with this sort of thing. He walked up the ramp, and into the Dream, closing the ramp behind him, he went to the cockpit. After the start up procedure, Narm lifted off from the ground, inside he could feel her riding heavy, but not enough to make a difference. Soon Narm had cleared the planet, and entered Hyperspace. He wanted to go to his bed, but the stateroom was filled with weapons, so he put a blanket on the couch in the lounge and slept there. The next day he checked the, and everything, and he was still a day out, so Narm took the time to wrap the souvenirs.

* * *

Narm entered realspace, and could see the Intruder. They hailed him. "Eternal Dream, welcome home Narm, just transmit verification."

"Here it is." Narm sent the codes verifying who he was. "It possible I can land in a deck. I brought a lot home from my vacation. I want to get the souvenirs out quickly so I don’t have to store them any longer than I have too."

"Sure Dream, there are a few spots where it’ll fit."

"Thanks Intruder." Narm landed in the bay of the Intruder. It wasn’t very busy, and there weren’t many people around. Narm grabbed the first box to be delivered. He got to Kevin’s office to find him in it. "Hey, Sector Admiral. Who wants a souvenir?"

Kevin looked. "Oh, hi Narm, I thought your leave wasn’t over for a couple days?"

"It isn’t, but I came back early, you had to be there to understand it. Anyway, I brought you some souvenirs." Narm put the box on Kevin’s desk. "Open it."

"Thanks Narm, you didn’t have to." Kevin started untaping the side. "This is pretty heavy for a souvenir."

"I’m giving a little something to everyone."

Kevin took off the tape, opened the lid, and dropped his jaw. "Why didn’t I see this coming. I don’t want to know Narm" He pulled out one of the blasters.

"They’re good quality."

"Why does this one have blood on it?" Kevin was shaking his head. "Why does this make me think of the time you stole from those archeologists on Rinota 4?"

"Hey, it wasn’t stealing it was… uh… Treasure Hunting!" Narm paused. "I need to get back at Master for telling me that planet to go to."

"Narm, Narm, Narm. You worry me sometimes, no a lot of the time. Remember the last time, you had to get back at Master, how long were you in the tank until your bones healed?" He pointed to the weapons, not wanting the other sbject to drag. "I take it these were next to nothing?"

Narm pulled out his Rotondu Star of Valor. "They gave me this. You should have seen the streets afterward."

"Thank you for the presents Narm. Now go, this ship doesn’t run itself. In fact go hand out your other presents."

"Thanks sir, glad you like them." Narm went through, giving similar presents to Mac, Euc, Hippie, Thrawn , Dogger but he couldn’t find Master. Narm got back to his room, and saw a message chip lying on his bunk. He put it in his datapad and read it. It was from Master:

Narm, I’m going to find out more about that Hive Virus Project, how was your vacation? Hope you don’t mind, I borrowed some of your weapons. Nothing much, I figured you’d have them all replaced anyway. I should be back, if not, I may be in trouble. Hope you enjoyed the planet. I figured you’d like the war.

Capt. Master

That was comforting. Narm finished unpacking the Dream of what he was keeping. Since he had the time, he took her back to Yondalla’s ship, the Fire One. She wasn’t there of course, but the crew new him. Most were happy to hear the news from Max. They would take good care of the Dream, they also appreciated the bundles of weapons. He flew his Interceptor back to the Intruder, landed, and went back to his room, he realized he had less room than ever, but he didn’t care, he was home, in the Intruder, with his friends, and weapons. Narm drifted off to sleep. The next morning his leave was officially over, so he reported in with Euc, who still didn’t know what to make of Narms gifts. Narm ran into Mac, who thanked him again, and said he was enjoying the weapons. Since he wasn’t busy, Narm spent his time trying to display his now grossly obscene collection of weapons. Narm thought about Lydia, and how she was doing. He’d have to go back there some day.