“Hey Dakenis.” Xanes called “we’re heading down to get some food you want to come?” 

Varsorus turned from the small desk where he was sitting, glanced at Xanes and the others and shook his head, “You boys go ahead, I'm not hungry.” 

“Alright Sir.” Xanes replied as he, along with Cortin and Bartnis, left the small bunk room.

A few moments of silence followed as Bachmus lay on one of the top bunks and Varsorus flipped through documents at the desk. After several moments Bachmus asked, “Hey Dakis what was the deal with you and that spook?”

Varsorus stopped flipping through papers, and tensed, his face twisting into a scowl before slowly turning to stare at bachmus. “If you ever know someone who joins the Inquisates, consider them dead the moment they join.” 

Bachmus stared back at him, curiosity painting his features, “I-” He started but was cut off as an alarm blared throughout the room. 

Varsorus leapt out of his chair, while Bachmus rolled out of bed, cursing. Over the intercom a calm male voice called, “All hands report to battle stations.”

“Looks like we’ve reached the Bowin Sector, “ Varsorus mused then turned to Bachmus, “Gregis help me grab the gear, we’ve got to rendezvous in the hangar with the rest of the squad. 

Bachmus grabbed a rather large backpack and slung it over his shoulder, then picked up two more. He turned just as Varsorus was leaving the room with two bags of his own. Both men shuffled into the hall and were greeted by a sea of people. 

The corridors of the ship were swarming with people all rushing to get to their assigned stations. “Come on” Varsorus called to Bachmus, “The rest of our unit should be gathering up by now.” 

The two men jogged through the corridors, in some instances pushing through others, until they came to a lift. “Destination Please.” The female voice stated calmly oblivious to the situation going on around it. 

“Hangar Seven” Varsorus called and soon after the lift began to move. Varsorus glanced over to Bachmus and smirked, “You ready to see some action, Gregis?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Bachmus replied, his voice a little uneasy.

“Hangar Seven” The elevator’s voice called, ever pleasant, as the doors slid open. 

Varsorus and Bachmus stepped out in a room filled to the brim with activity. Pilots ran to their ships while soldiers filed in waiting to board shuttles. “Over there” Varsorus said pointing to a group of men. 

Varsorus and Bachmus jogged over to the group and set their extra packs down on the floor. After a moment the rest of their squad came rushing into the hangar and over to them. 

“Did you have a nice lunch break?” Bachmus asked.

The others, clearly winded, scowled at him, “We had just gotten to the mess hall when the alarms rang out.”

Varsorus smirked, “That's the way it goes, grab your packs and fall in.” The Centerus should be briefing us soon.” 

Cortin, Bartniss, and Xanes each grabbed a pack and slung it on their back before moving in to stand beside Varsorus and Bachmus. After a moment they heard a voice ring out, “FORM UP!”

They along with the men around them shifted into neat rows and snapped to attention. “ABOUT FACE!” The voice called again. The men turned around seeing Centerus Zarn and Optius Mevlin standing on top of a shuttle. 

“Men,” Zarn called, “We are about to enter combat.” Then he pulled out a small sphere. He hit a button on it and a large orb burst into life above it. “This is our objective, the fortress world of Salrenshatiss. We must take this fortress to open up our advance into the rest of the sector. The fleet will punch a hole in their defenses, we will use that opportunity to land via shuttles onto the ground.

Our first insertion point will be the beaches near the fortress. We expect heavy resistance awaits us. We will move up from the beaches and clear the enemy held positions littering the cliff sides. From there we will make our way to the main enemy fortress and siege it.” 

Zarn paused, slowly looking each man in the eyes, “This will be a hard fight but I expect us to win it. Now get set to board your shuttles, we'll be heading down in the second wave.”