‘An old soldier drinks, but for what reason? Is it celebratory, have them been awarded a high honor, or has something from their past come to haunt them? What have they done to cause such a sadness, or was it something that happened to someone they loved? If the latter, what can be done to fix the trauma?’

Zodac dropped his head and sighed, closing his eyes as he began thinking. He closed his journal, on the bridge of absolutely falling apart, and leaned back in his seat. He raised his arm for the bill, then walked up to the room he managed to bargain for the night. What felt like a looming illness fell upon him, either from the alcohol of the night or from the hangover of yesterday. Either way, he needed the rest. A long day awaited him, and he needed to muster all the strength he possibly could.

As he settled for bed, he placed a slugthrower on the nightstand beside his bed, within arm’s reach, and allowed one to rest on the bed. However, he didn’t bother removing his gear to sleep. At least, not anything beside his helmet, which rested at the feet of the squeaking bed. Zodac hesitated as he reached to turn off the light, quickly deciding to receed his hand. His back rested against the wall as he stared at the door, almost expecting something, or someone, to walk through and attack. The bounty on his head surely contributed to his paranoia and insomnia, the previous nights being even more rough as he's noticed someone following him for the last two days. If there was a good as time as ever to claim the bounty, it would be now.

Within the blink of an eye, blackness. Zodac was sure it was time, the bounty hunter coming to stake his claim. The door to the room carefully slide open, and when movement was spotted, Zodac unleashed a flurry of slugs, but no avail. Whatever was moving, it didn’t even bother slowing down. Instinctively reaching for his other firearm, he felt a sudden chill run down his spine. As he gazed upwards to the person approaching, he did not find it to be a bounty hunter. Instead, a familiar woman with a young face. “Viera…?” He whispered to himself, frozen.

“Zodac,” the voice responded, condescendingly, “what has become of you? Is this what your life has become? Running, hiding, scraping by with your thoughts dwelling on the past? Can you not move on?”

“I know you aren’t real.” Zodac responded. “You, I don’t know what you are. An illusion, or something, but you aren’t real.” His voice shook only momentarily, but he stood firm. “Now, leave me. I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.”

“I hope I'm real enough to get through that thick skull of yours. How can you live this kind of life? You seem to be more of a dead man walking than anything else.”

“And do you think I dont know that? How can I move on, from anything, when the damn government is trying to capture me? How, please, tell me, because I’ve been searching for an answer since Jakku!” He cried out, his gun waving around in his hand. “Do you think I like being miserable, looking over my shoulder every waking moment, just to make it through the day, do you?” His eyes began to water.

“I haven’t seen you do anything to try and help yourself. Not since Jakku. Not ever. How can you expect to move on when you can’t forgive yourself for anything you’ve ever done? It hurts me to see you like this. You know I love you. But Zodac… This is not you. You're not the man I remember.” The entity sat beside the old man, and ran her hand along his scarred, bearded cheek. “There is still time to change. You have to find it. You must, if you ever want to see me again.”

Zodac, with a shaky breath, looking at the woman in her eyes. Despite what she had to say, he only repeated a phrase. “You aren’t real. Leave me.” He closed his eyes as he repeated, and after a minute, he opened them. The lights were on, but the holes from his slug thrower were ever present on the doors and walls. The touch from the woman felt real as well, but he shook his head. He wiped his face and eyes, loaded his firearm, then stared at the door. He was in for another long, sleepless night.

File submitted

Imperium: Unleashed

Battlelord Ric "Tater" Hunter (Sith) / AED / House Imperium of Clan Scholae Palatinae
DBpin # 3160

Caelestis City – Imperial Palace

Battlelord Ric Hunter, Aedile and acting Quaestor of House Imperium, stood at the railing overlooking the formed troopers below. As acting commander of Imperium, he was given an operations order to begin the final assault against the Meraxis forces. He knew what his mission involved, it wasn't his first time to be thrown into the breach.
His mind flashed back to the days before the Exodus, to the days of Empire. In his minds eye, he could see the combined might of full battlegroups of ships as well as legions of troopers decked out in full armor, waiting for battle. With a wistful smile, he shook those thoughts from his mind to focus on the task at hand.
Placing his hands on his hips, he turned to look at his longtime friend and confidant, Malodin'Blade. The Chiss merely smiled and waited. Ric turned back towards the gathered troops below.
“This is it. The day has finally arrived where we are going to finally finish what was started with the Meraxis Empire. As of last night, we received messages from members of the Meraxis military who want to overthrow their Emperor. This information has been verified and we have been given orders to link up with the separatist members and do what we do. Check your datapads for detailed orders and get ready to move out. Serve the Empire above all others!” Ric watched over the assembled crowd of force users and soldiers as they raised their arms and shouted in response.

5 kilometers from Nardash – Lead LAAT/i Transport

Ric could feel the air rushing through the open troop door as they traveled towards the capital of Meraxis. He was outfitted in his Katarn commando armor but had decided to not wear the helmet in favor of a headset.
“THIRTY SECONDS!” Ric shouted above the wind. The troopers nodded as they made their final preparations. The transports began to move towards their designated areas and descended to drop their assault teams off.
As soon as the transport touched down, Ric dropped to a crouch with a E-11 rifle clutched in his hands. He scanned the perimeter as the rest of the troops took their positions. Once they were all there, Ric headed towards the designated rendezvous point to meet up the separatist leaders.
As he rounded the corner, he saw a woman wearing a dark uniform wave at him from the darkened doorway of an abandoned shop. He signaled his troopers to cover him and crossed over the street with Malodin right behind him. Ric crouched by the woman and was a bit surprised to see that she was a Zeltron. Zeltrons were not rare by any means but she seemed to be out of place on this world.
“The Colonel is inside and waiting for you, sir,” she said in a whisper. Ric knew from her accent that she had at least grown up on this planet, she shared the local inflections as the rest of them.
“Lead the way,” Ric replied and followed her in. Malodin waited and had the other soldiers to take up defensive positions around the area and then followed Ric inside. As they entered, Ric peered around the room and noticed a man leaning over a table studying a map.
“Ahh, you must be the one we have been waiting for. I am Colonel Jace Calson, formerly of the Royal Meraxis Army,” The man held out his hand and Ric took it.
“Colonel, I am Ric Hunter and this is my second, Malodin'Blade. Its very good to meet you sir,” Ric reached into a puch on his armor and pulled out a datapad. “So what's the situation here?”
“Loyalist forces are set up around the palace here, here, and here,” he pointed out the positions on the map. “The shield generator is lightly guarded by about a platoon of soldiers. It should be relatively easy the destroy.”
“Great, that needs to be our first objective then. Once the shield is down, then other elements will arrive. Malodin, get the men ready to roll. Anytime you are ready to go, Colonel,” Ric took the helmet for his armor from his pack and slipped it on his head. With a click it locked into place and the visors tactical display lit up.
The group left the building and made their way towards the objective. Ric began to feel uneasy as they moved down the darkened streets. He could feel something was in the air and something wasn't right. It seemed that the local population had just disappeared. Checking the display screen on his HUD, Ric saw that they were one block over from the target.
Ric caught movement in his display from a second floor window. Suddenly blaster fire filled the air and rained down on them. Ric dropped behind the cover a a halfway that separated the sidewalk from the street and began to return fire. Ric watched as Colonel Calson and three of his men were caught in the open and were cut down by a barrage of blaster fire.
“NOOOO!” Major Harkness screamed and tried to run into the street to her commander. Ric grabbed her by the flak vest and threw her to the ground.
“They are GONE! You can't help them!” Ric yelled as he pinned her to the ground. Ric looked at Malodin across the way and used hand signals to send men up into the buildings. Malodin nodded and took three men and moved out. Harkness finally stopped struggling and had calmed down. Ric looked down at her and could see tears welled up in her eyes. He knew how she felt but there was no time to grieve at that moment.
Blaster fire stopped coming from the windows on the second floor. Finally, after a few moments it stopped completely.
“Objective secure,” the comm unit in Rics helmet crackled.
“Copy, regroup and prepare to move out,” Ric replied.
The men dropped down from the second floor and got back in formation and ready to move. Ric motioned forward and the troopers moved out. Ric walked next to Major Harkness to make sure her head was in the game.
“We good here?” he asked.
“Good to go sir,” she replied quickly.
“Good because I need your head in the game for whats next,” Ric saw that his troops were now in their position to attack the shield generators “Take your men and follow me. Better or worse, this fight ends tonight.”
“Copy that sir,” Major Harkness signaled her troops to follow and they moved to the check point. Ric fell in behind them as they approached the guards station. As they approached one of the guards called out.
“Who is there?” he yelled.
“Major Harkness, fourteenth regiment. We are here to reinforce you and take over. You may have heard the firefight a few streets over and we were ordered here by command,” she replied.
“Ma'am, we were not notified about this. I need to check with headquarters to verify these orders<” the guard reached for the com switch. Major Harkness abruptly brought up here blaster and sprayed the man as her troops followed her lead. The sergeant that had been reaching for the com unit fell back into the man behind him, knocking him to the ground. Ric leapt forward and ignited his lightsaber to deflect a few blaster bolts that were headed towards the Major.
The fight at the guard station was very short and very violent. It ended after only a few minutes of intense fire from the forces of Imperium and the separatist forces. Malodin made his way towards Ric to update him on the situation.
“Looks clear into the building, Boss. I still think it'll be best if we breach the wall instead of the doorway,” Malodin was great with breaching charges and Ric nodded.
“Let's get t his done. The rest of Scholae will be landing soon and we need to open the door,” Ric checked his watch and saw that they were indeed right on schedule even after the ambush. Malodin set his charges and they were ready to roll.
“Fire in the hole!” he shouted as he fired the detonator. With a flash and a thump, the wall was now a door. Malodin entered as soon as the flash had subsided and began to clear his side of the room. The rest of the team followed right behind him. Ric followed them into the building with Major Harkness and her troops behind.
“Building clear, Boss” Malodin commed after a few minutes.
“Set the charges and evac. We got to move to meet up with the others,” Ric glanced over at Major Harkness and made ready to leave. “This is it. There will be no going back now.”
She nodded grimly.
“Going back was never an option, sir. Going forward is what scares me,” she seemed to deflate a little at the thoughts about her future.
“Not 'sir', call me Ric. After this is all over, I may have a place for you if you want it,” she nodded and seemed to consider it.
“Kristil,” she said as she walked towards her soldiers.
Ric smiled as he left the building to the speeders that his men had captured. He knew that he had just added another person to his life. As the speeders moved away, Ric flipped the switch on his detonator and the shield generator building exploded.
“One to command. Shields are down, you may start your landings at your convenience,” Ric smiled as he watched the ships start their landings. 'Yeah' he thought to himself 'There will be no going back and everything is going to change.'