CELESTE RIDGE IMPERIAL ARMY BASE
Endor, 08.30hrs local time
Endor, 08.30hrs local time
Lieutenant Maximums Dram was nervous.
It was not a familiar feeling and definitely not at this intensity. He fought silently beneath the surface to keep focused, though most of his preparations were in hand. The only thing he was struggling to control was himself.
Soldiers busied themselves in the yard outside the command shelter, running back and forth carrying out his orders. They moved like black ants across the square of packed earth, busily perfecting the nest they had worked so hard to build.
Max leaned over the rudimentary holomap on the command table, his military uniform straining against freshly pumped muscles. Endor was the perfect training ground and he and his men had been here for three weeks now. The fresh air and hard graft had done him good, keeping him in peak condition.
"Is the perimeter complete?" he asked. Their camp was not yet quite as elite as its occupants.
"Yes Sir" his adjutant replied. The private was a dry man who didn't believe in using more words than necessary. "All six watch towers are staffed and the final guard fence has just been completed".
"Good" Max thrummed the table. With only eighty men and commensurate equipment, he could not move mountains. But they had made good progress in a short time; taming their small patch of forest high on the slopes, establishing a three-sided perimeter with a steep rocky outcropping at their back. It was a secure position to defend and a sound springboard from which to advance.
"Ensure the men form up well back from the landing zone" he ordered "and I want every one of them, aside from the watch and the spotters. Remind those on watch to keep their attention outward".
The adjutant saluted and marched out into the compound, barking orders to assemble the men. Max watched him go with a brief sense of satisfaction. He was in his element here, leading a military operation. Indeed, it was not military matters that gave him pause. It was the fact he had two passions in his life, one old, one new, and they were about the meet for the first time.
The corner console chimed and his comms operator swung around in his chair. "We have incoming in the south-east quadrant Sir. An Imperial ship".
She was here.
@LadyRen