2. Beyond the Call of Duty

Dragging the munition into the open, I tumbled the rest of the tent. Black containers stack upon black containers. It was too alarming. I could only laugh at the dread of an immenient all out war. Trillions dead, just like last time.

If I did not had cybernetics ensuring my sanity, I would have just stood there frozen. I knew what I had to do next. The turret was still operational, but right now, it could only target orbital and suborbital aircrafts. I walked up to the base of it, opening the maintenence panel. Among the many wires and panels, switches and plugs, I scanned, then moved a switch down. The barrels started to point down slowly. With such a large intended range, it was no wonder they would make them so slow, but it was truely inconvienient. After it pointed at the horizon, I clicked the same switch right. With the same loud noise and slow speed.

I went back into the tent after remotely connecting to the turret. Without a mounted camera, I had to rely on less useful methodology. Taking note of the local map provided on the screen, I went back outside. The large turret, which casually shot blasts far heavier than my cannon could ever put out with a full charge, was pointed directly at the batteries of another one. According to the map, it was sepratist controlled, and the ship it pointed at in orbit supported that.

I clicked the big red button, and the barrels shot huge bolts of plasma. An explosion in the distance, and the entire turret, along with any munitions containers, went up in flames. Next, an installment to the left, just the same as before. And like that, the third one fell as well.

For any future shuttle passing through this space, they should be as safe as ever. Until the empire sends more supplies, that is. Going back into the tent, I sat down at the control chair, quickly inputing commands through the orbital screen. The turret moved outside the tent, taking aim at the hidden ship in orbit that the sepratists marked as allied. After quickly looking at the direction the turret would fire, it was clear that the ship wasnt visible to the eye.

Commanding the turret to fire was as easy as pushing a button, and thats what I would do. Before that, I felt it would be best to make modifications. The exposed panel of the turret had many uses, but the remote access I had was far more capable of tasks. The batteries of the turret started to dim, and soon there was only a tint of the capacity light remaning. I pressed the botton and the turret shot.

The barrels almost shattered to dust from the power of the overclock. The ends were bent, and it would likely need repairs if it wanted to be used effectively again. The huge bolts shot straight in the sky, burning brightly with power. After holding my breath for so long, there was impact.

A large imperial ship appeared out of thin air, its entire left half decimated. The entire ship tilted from a lack of support, but it remained afloat in orbit. The sky began to be painted with red, as allied ships fired on the newly discovered enemy. Fighters scrambled from the hanger of the large ship, but they were useless, half of them were destroyed and so were the ship's turrets. It quickly became under republic control, and the entire vessel was surrounded.

I sighed sweet relief, sitting down on the dirt below me. It was finally over, and waiting for the evac squad was the only thing I could do from now on.

Something moved in my periphary. A black shuttle rose up from the hanger of the sepratist base. It hovered in the air above, before turning its front toward me. I got up, sprang to my feet from the sight of it. It was not a cargoship, it was a fury class interceptor. The creme de la creme of the sith. The same ships that rained down plasmic terror on Coruscant the day of the sacking.

I ran to the control panel of the turret. My fingers fumbled and shook as I tried grabbing the switch with my large fingers. Even cybernetcis could not calm me down now. I hurriedly looked back and forth between the ship and the controls. The sounds of the turret moving barely registered in my ears. The ship got larger by the second. I could see the outline of the pilot by the time the turret stopped moving. I hit the button.

Thin bolts shot out of the turret. It travelled through the air, striking the ship on its side. The armouring ate them, smoking at the large charred circles the bolts formed. I almost thought I missed my mark. The ship turned, and I realised I did not. Spiraling out of control, the pilots tried their best to stablize the vessel. They could only work to touch it down safely in another location. It would give me enough time to run, I hope.

I looked towards the republic base. Another shuttle rose, blocking the sun in my vision like a masiah that would save me from the death that lay in the imperial interceptor. They would be here soon, I just needed to run to them.

Servos and hydraulics, with the tell tale sound of decompressing brought me out of my fantasy. The interceptor was lowering its ramp, and the door to the inside was opening. They were still in the air, fifty meters above me, but I guess it did not matter to the owner. Death stood on the ramp, grasping the metal pole while looking down at me. My eyes twisted, zooming in on the figure before they disappeared when the vessel did another 360. A zabrak, just the same as me, but still quite different. Her orange skin and very contrasting, thick, dark black tattoos were far cry from my thin, flowing lines that faded into black. She had short, dark black hair that accented the six small horns across her forehead.

Her rite of passage and personality were not of my concern though. She disappeared behind the rest of the ship, and I waited for her to appear again. The ship made it to fourty meters. I charged my next shot. Her frame appeared again, my trigger finger relaxed.

Three bolts, each making a bee line for her future position, did not make her flinch. As the ship continued to spiral, I charged again, waiting. A flurry of red, and my three bolts were heading into the bottom of the ship, or the sky next to it. Just by swinging her arm. She disappeared behind the ship again, I fingered my explosive round trigger and clicked a setting on my assault cannon. Only a single chance to wound her, and a single chance to make her angry enough to trick her.

Twenty feet. Her lightsaber still ignited, she looked at me. I released three bolts, the first was normal, the second and third were closer together, but weaker. She deflected the first, putting another into her ships hull. The second was just as easy, but the third caught her right collar bone. Her screech and yell shook me to my metal supported bones. She was pissed, her face distorted in rage.

She jumped, her arms positioned to impale my skull with her lightsaber. I pointed up, shooting three regular bolts. The first was reflected, and so was the second, but she evaded the third. I had no clue how she could move so normally in the air, but it worked for me. My explosive round shot. It was not something to casually swat away with a lightsaber, but she tried anyway. When the red lazer sword met the round, it exploded. Out of the cloud came a sparking hilt and a body with half an arm missing.

She smacked against the ground and rolled. I kept my barrel pointed at her throughout the air. She did not move, but I refused to believe it. My scanners brought up her information. Concious, the presence of the word was almost burnt into my retina. I fired at her body, but she was already up and running at me. She dodged, and her good arm began to crackle with electricity. I shot an explosive round at the ground between us. Dirt kicked up, blocking each others vision. I held the trigger and swept the entire horizon. The huge line of green plasma bolts nearly emptied the entire charge, but there was no way I missed.

A bolt of lightning shot out from the smoke. It covered me head to toe. My muscles spasmed and moved involuntarily. My hud was the only sight that remained clear in my vision. A message appeared, notifiying me of the rapid charging my built in defibulator was doing.

As the static in my body started to disipate, I gave my hud a command. I fell to my back, taking a final look toward the republic base. The shuttle was close, and fighters were scrambled behind them, firing ahead of themselves at an unseen enemy. I told my cybernetics to stop my heart, and fell unconcious.

My defibulator did not need to activate, the hands of a droid on my chest did the work. The head was a familiar sight, the same model as the one I met on my shuttle. I was safe in republic hands. I was ejected with kolto as I swivelled my head. There were five other troopers with us. Each had the standard issue armour and munitions. A black bodysuit with light, blaster resistant white plates on the arms, legs, and torso. I had been wearing the standard issue overcoat this entire time, a blue coat designed for casual wear inside a barracks, not the battlefield. Their helmets were close faced, with a single stripe of orange down the middle. I was quite a fan of the colour scheme, and it was continued throughout the entire set.

All of them had some sort of damage, scorch marks from blasters across their chest or arms. Clearly whatever the fighters were shooting at brought foot soldiers as well. All of them looked spooked, like they saw a ghost, even without their facial expressions he could see that.

The droid noticed he was awake,

"We have arrived at the base, your wounds are minor and not life threatening, you will report to the med bay to recieve kolto treatments for any muscle tears you sustain. I advise that you avoid situations in which your heart will stop."

Largely ignoring the lecture the droid gave me, I had my hud run an analysis on my body. Many of my muscles were torn from the spasms the lightning put me in to. On the otherhand, my assault cannon was fully charged, and my defibulator could probably resusitate me ten times. A new message popped up on my hud as we touched down on solid ground.

Cybernetic efficiency increased by 15%

An odd message to say the least, considering the circumstance I found myself in. I would have to find time to do a proper diagnosis. For now, the group of soldiers and ranking officers waiting outside was a bigger priority. A soldier offered me his shoulder, and I accepted. Thankfully their boots have an elevated heel, because I only needed to squat down a little bit to rest my weight on him. Walking down the ramp of the shuttle, I noticed the scrambled fighters in the air above, still dogfighting with numerous different imperial ships.

The clapping took me out of the sight. We paused in the middle of the crowd. Soliders lined up on my left and right, with civilians behind them. They were all clapping, likely briefed on what I had done. It was impossible to miss the large imperial vessel in orbit, surrounded by ships.

It was only this moment that I realised all I had done. Exposing the breaking of a decade long treaty, destroying three anti air installments controlled by the enemy, and surviving the fight of a lifetime. Finally, exposing a hidden vessel carrying dozens of ships that escaped under radar. My adrenaline started to pump again. I was alive.

-Later

I got up from my bed, still half asleep. Notifying my system that I was awake, my brain started to shake off the weariness with the help of my cybernetics. The pain of my muscles pounded though my entire body, my pain receptors were turned back on during my sleep. Zabraks are a very resiliant species though, so it was nothing that could make me bedridden.

I walked down the hallway to the med bay. The door swished open automatically, locking into place. The droids inside were still working with the paitients from yesterdays dogfight. The screams and groans were absent though, as most of them were asleep.

An empty handed droid met me at the entrance.

"Full name and ranking?" It asked, robotically.

"Corporal Rhodium Potega." I responded, equally as robotic.

The droid wordlessly grabbed a small needle from a cooler. Gesturing for my arm. It stuck the needle in and injected the green kolto inside. Safely taking it out, the droid gave me a container of pain killers. I waved it off, and it put them back. Leaving the med bay, I met with a squirmish kid.

He saluted awkardly, looking anxious, "Sir! Commander would like to see you in your office!" he yelled, far louder than he needed to.

I smiled at him, just to make him relax, and left him down the hall way. Following the signs down to the commanders office, I stirred in my thoughts. I knew what was going to happen, but wasnt prepared for it. You can feel alive after doing something risky, but doing it again is just as scary and anxiety inducing as the first time.

Knocking on the door, the rough voice of a veteran allowed me inside. The key pad turned green and I fingered the button. The door swished open, and I was suprised to see the face behind the voice. The voice of a grizzled veteran belonged to a large female twi'lek. Her blue skin and race was the only similarities she shared with my first kiss, everything else was a far cry ive seen from twi'leks to date.

Her body was larger than half the people in the barracks, and her right half of her jaw was encased in metal. The scorch marks across her right side and across her throat told war stories on her behalf. With her large body, I would be shocked if anything other than an explosive round from my cannon put her out of service, but she still seemed extreamly capable.

"Corporal Rhodium, please sit."

I saluted as best I could, and sat down infront of her small desk. At least, it looked small next to her and I.

"You're promoted." She said, getting directly to the point.

I nodded expecting this, "Thank you commander." getting up to leave, thankful she was quick on the draw.

She slapped the table, "Hold on Sergeant, I havent finished yet."

I did as I was told, more than suprised I went up three ranks in one go. I suppose I should not be, really, I had done quite a bit. Anti air is a serious threat, and taking back all three of the ones they held was vital. But then, thats ignoring the other achievements. Shooting an unapproved imperial war vessel from the sky is enourmous, not to mention the discovery of their supplies.

"Because of your actions yesterday, the entire military has been in a bit of an uproar. With sith fighting, many containers with their name on it, and proof of an unapproved orbital craft in our space, many are arguing we should go to war. But it has not been so simple." She said, her bright green eyes looking me dead in the cybernetics.

I had nearly asked about the details of what she said, but she beat me to it, "By all accounts, you are a war hero, who could retire with plenty of money to start a different life. I have a proposition though, and a request."

I waited for her to continue.

"The empire is as annoying as ever, diplomatically shutting everything down. To the citizens of the empire, you are a war criminal who was the first to break the treaty with an attack on a civilian transport, killing thousands. They want you dead, but announced to us that the sith responsible was not acting upon their orders, and that they have nothing to do with it. They 'apologized' but havent done anything about the situation."

She took a sip of a whiskey glass I didnt notice was full. Then scanned my expression as she thought of what to say.

"If you go off world, I have no doubt you will die."

Again she paused.

"Why arent you responding?"

I rubbed the top of my head, scratching around my horns as I responded, "I could have guessed they would do something like this, im just trying wait for the clue to whats next for me."

She nodded, throwing the entire glass back and pouring herself more. She slid the iced glass toward me, "Can you get drunk?" she asked.

I shook my head, and she took the glass back, downing it in one go.

"Well, ill be the first to admit that im glad you recorded everything with your optics, if you didn't, we might have missed out on half the evidence you found. We showed everybody your video, and currently its circling around the entire military. You are an inspiration to everybody, the jedi are impressed, and every soldier has their blood boiling at the sight of you laying a beatdown. Seriously, I havent seen anything like that since I was in the field."

Getting the hint, I predicted where the conversation would lead. Ill join an influential unit, and be given dangerous missions.

"I read about what happened to you on Coruscant. Im sorry. It was a terrible day, my parents were there too, and my sister was in the temple."

I did not expect that. The glass of whiskey in her hands felt a lot more real now, as well as her status.

"If you continue your service, I will sponser you. Ill give you full access to the engineering lab and equal voice in your missions, you've more than proved your worth in this regard."

It was an immensly tempting offer, one I could not put down, "I accept." With the money and materials, I could make vast improvements to my cybernetics.

She sighed, "Phew, thats good. You can rest for today and tomorrow, but after that I would like to brief you and show you to your team."

"And your request?" I asked.

"Right, I would like you to continue doing the impossible." she said, plainly.

"Im sorry sir, I find that sentence funny."

"Yep, and I have a feeling that if I put it another way you would accept on the spot. Fight sith for me, kill as many as possible."

I pondered, for half a second, "Yes sir, Ill do exactly that."

The twi'lek looked relieved, "Good, ive already prepared gifts assuming you would accept."

Getting up, I earnestly sounded my thanks, "Thank you commander." and left.

The same thin man that met me outside the med bay was waiting for me. He looked at me expectantly, "Well sir? Are you going to stay?"

I nearly laughed, "Can you lead me to the engineering lab?"

The small lad looked ecstatic and almost cheered on the spot, "This way sir!"

Time to make upgrades. Many things to work on, and plenty of money to do it with. My wage probably doubled, and the 'full access' was code for 'use whatever you want'. It was a far cry from the training site, here I should have ample resouces to invent. Pulling up the recording my cybernetics made of yesterday, the same recording that the commander was talking about, I skimmed the footage until the fight with the sith. I paused before the end, we had arrived at the lab.

The young man let me in, and I thanked him before I closed the door behind me. Finally alone, I found a seat and tried to breathe. It was too intense. Too many things going on at once and clouding my mind. I sat with my head in my arms as I thought. Even for a soldier, even for a zabrak, the pressure was quite insermountable. I brushed with death, closer than I did growing up on Iridonia every day, and just as close as that day on Coruscant.

Taking myself out of the events of yesterday, I tried to focus on my hobby. Walking around the lab, it was quite obvious I had plenty to work with. Alloys of all qualities, chemicals, and a plethora of the machines needed to make something with them. I got lost in the thought of making so much with it all, but something took me out of it.

A partially broken lightsaber lay on the table, next to my assault cannon. A datapad was next to it that read, "To my favourite war hero." With a heart, and signed '-commander'.