Volunian/Federation Southern flank.

5:52 Local Planetary time.

The members of the 1st squadron of the 695th fighter regiment were exhausted and weary, not just of the fact that most of them where from sub temperate climates and they were in a desert like area, but also of for the fact that their current commander Lt Lance Hendrickson was dragging them along Captain Hannibal Rogue’s extended patrol mission.

“Why in the name of all that is holy are we here?” Bob one of the foot soldiers asked the others around him.

“Our regiment is here because the Volunians are allies of the United Federation of Planets (U.F.O.P), and we are here to protect them from the Empire.” Hogan replied.

“I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about why are we going each night on an extended patrol here of all places? I mean we’re dozens of miles away from our front lines, that and we’re fliers not ground pounders, also there’s nothing here but the entrance to that forest!” Bob said to him.

“Well, that’s what we get for having Hannibal ‘Silly Billy’ in our regiment; the crazy fool actually thinks the enemy will come from behind us! What’s next? Will their monarch do a triple summer salt, land on our right and left flank and moon us to death?” Hogan said and the others around him chuckled, they had little respect for their current highest ranking officer, since his latest proposals had been time and time again rejected by their senior officers for being too outlandish. The generals had even gone as far as to reprimanding him publically and they had even begun a not so secretive smear campaign, making him the laughing stock of both armies stationed on Volun, they he had done decent job at that since it made the troops forget the fact that he was once the most popular and well respect sailor in the fleet that was stationed here.

“They’re laughing at you, should I do something about it?”Lieutenant Hendrickson asked Hannibal, Lance had a good ear and could clearly pick up what the soldiers were saying behind their backs.

“Let them be kid, I’d rather them be right and laugh at me than it be the other way around; I just hope I’m wrong.” Hannibal replied to the young freckle faced Lance as they started climbing the small hill that was before them.

 Hannibal was about eight years older than the twenty something Lance, but despite their age difference the two men got along well, almost like brothers.

As they were nearing the top of the hill Hannibal asked Lance the following:

“So how are things at home?”

“Same old, same old, Miranda’s got another suitor pursuing her.”

“And how many beaus does that make, fifteen?”

“Thirteen actually.” Lance said and both men shared a chuckle, Miranda was Lance’s twin sister and the object of affection from many of the young men back at the capitol.

Miranda and Hannibal had talked face to face over the windwaker and warprider a few times when Lance called home and they were at each other throats the moment they started chatting to each other.

 They argued about anything and everything!

“You two are like oil and fire, put them together and it burns everything in sight.” Lance teased him.

“We’re not that bad!” Hannibal replied trying to sound insulted, but in fact he was trying hard not to laugh.

“Not that bad! At one point you argued about which brand of dung would be the most suited for growing jiga fruit.”

“So?”

“Neither of you knew what jiga fruit even was at the time!” Lance countered with a smile on his face.

“We were merely making an intelligent debate based on speculations from general horticultural knowledge.”

“Jiga is an underwater plant that grows in water so deep that sulfuric volcanoes are its only source of nutriments.” Lance to his friend, a smug smile on his face.

Hannibal said nothing, merely shook his head in defeat.

“Why all of the sudden interest in my family?” Lance asked him.

“No reason, just making conversation and I have no interest in regards to your family whatsoever!” he replied.

“Or, maybe you have an interest in a particular member of my family.” Lance said continuing to tease his friend as they arrived at the top.

As soon as Lance finished his sentence Hannibal quickly jumped on Lance and threw the young man to the ground, and so the lieutenant found himself with his back pressed against the dirt and with Hannibal on top of him.

“You know, when I said you had an interest in one member of my family this isn’t what I had in mind!” Lance said to him in a confused and panicked voice but was cut off by Hannibal’s hand which covered his mouth; he was about to struggle free when he saw that Hannibal was signaling with his free hand to be quiet and that there are enemies near.

Realization dawned on Lance and he gave a quick nod of his head, Hannibal released him and gestured to the crest of the hill.

Lance rolled on his stomach and followed Hannibal as they crawled to the top of the hill to look at the other side, the rest of the men that were with them followed suit.

When they arrived at the top and saw what was on the other side they could barely believe their eyes, all except Hannibal who cursed himself for being right.

Down in the valley where thousands of imperial soldiers and all of them were moving North West to attack their army’s flank.

“This is impossible, that forest is too thick to move an army through!” Bob said to his teammates.

“Nothing is impossible kid, just hard to pull of sometimes; this here proves it and I got a sneaky suspicion that I know just how they did it.” Hannibal said to him as he looked at the vast army before him.

“They’re just a few miles away from our supply dumps; we have to do something before it’s too late!” Lance said to Hannibal.

“It’s already too late, look at that column over there.” he replied, handing him a pair of binoculars.

“What do you see beyond it?”

“Supply trucks.” Lance said to Hannibal.

“Exactly and supply trucks are usually placed where you least expect them to be attacked, which means that the enemy’s rear is here and its spearhead is over there where our supplies are.” he pointed towards the direction of their supply dumps.

As he was gesturing towards their own lines a sudden flash of light was seen in the distance, it was from a bolt of lightning which hit the ground only a few shorts miles from their locations.

As the sound of thunder echoed throughout the landscape the small group saw some movement below the crest and an enemy soldier walked towards them, they remained glued to the ground hoping the night would camouflage them so as to avoid detection, since there were countless enemies at the bottom of the hill and only a handful of them.

The soldier stopped just in front of Hannibal and stood there for a few moments, a sound was heard coming from the soldier and initially they thought that he was drawing his sword, but a moment latter Hannibal felt warm liquid pouring over his head and he realized that the soldier in question was relieving himself.

“I’ve heard of Imperials getting p.i.s.sed at the Federation, but this is ridiculous!” Hannibal thought to himself as he fought down the urge to strike.

 Lance upon seeing his friends ‘predicament’ moved his hand to his mouth to suppress his laughter.

After he finished urinating the soldier was preparing to return back to his post when another thunderbolt lit the night sky to reveal the U.F.O.P soldiers and a very angry and a very p.i.s.sed captain, but before the soldiers had time to scream or call for help, Hannibal leaped up and stabbed the soldier in the gut, killing him and dragging his body over their portion of the crest as the sound of thunder roared across the land once more.

“That tonur! In combat you’re supposed to use the sword given to you by the army, not the one given by Mother Nature!” Hannibal said is a half hushed voice as he dragged the body.

 “Well, not everyone is as wise as you are!” Lance teased him.

“Kid save the jokes for latter, for now get the two wise guys behind us to send a warning to headquarters on what the enemy is doing, and let’s get out of here.” Hannibal said to them as the two in question jumped at the realization their commander knew that they had been badmouthing him behind his back.

But before they could say anything in their defense the communication crystal on the enemy soldier that had just been killed was heard broadcasting a message.

“Troop 17 report in, what’s the situation?” The voice from the other end of the communication crystal said in Imperial Basic, and upon hearing they all froze in fear realizing that they may share the fate of this member of troop 17.

“Is everything alright?”