Kerseas and Cerius were as opposite as two men could be. Even though both men were in their early twenties they looked nothing alike. While Kerseas was large and strong, tanned skin, and a shock of red hair, Cerius was thin weak with pale skin and a longer black hair. While Kerseas spent his time reading of great battles won by the Sword and of tactics of war, Cerius read philosophy. While Kerseas was hot and emotional, Cerius was cool and calm. Although they seemed opposites in every trait they had become the greatest of friends in the past three years of sharing quarters in the base of Verseux II.

Kerseas looked down from his perch upon the upper bunk at his friend. Cerius did not meet his gaze; his nose remained buried in his book of “Enlightened Philosophy”. “You worry too much Cerius, the Eagles are long gone. They got tired of us defeating them and the flew home.” Kerseas returned to cleaning his chaingun.

“Perhaps you are right my friend but it is still unwise to let our guard down,” replied Cerius not looking up from his reading. Kerseas groaned at the reply. Kerseas seemed odd for a Diamond Sword. Short-tempered and quick to act with little patience for foolish meditation he seemed more of a Star Wolf than anything else. However his calm in battle, understanding of tactics and strategy, as well as his loyalty made him as worthy a Diamond Sword as any other.

“So what are you doing today Kerseas?” asked Cerius.

“I think I’m going to spend some time with Kathlyn today. Help her with what ever she is up to.”

“Ah yes, Kathlyn. The obsession.”

“Shut up.”

The light of the midday sun beamed through a small window. The only sound to be heard, the flipping of Cerius’ book’s pages and the clicking of Kerseas’ chaingun as he ran a cloth across it. The past week had gone by in such peace, a welcome change to the constant bombardment of the Eagles. Cerius found the calm to be disturbing; Kerseas merely found it to be calm.

The voice of their commander suddenly filled the hallowed hallways and every room of the base. His voice was not its usual calm, reassuring tone of security that had seen the men through battle; it was more urgent. “Battle stations, everyone into armor. Are sensors have detected six Blood Eagle dropships approaching base at full speed. Reinforcements have already been summoned but it will be an hours before they arrive and the Eagles shall be upon us in minutes.”

“SIX DROPSHIPS! We can’t defend against that kind of number. They must have a couple of Talons,” yelled Kerseas as he quickly donned his Hoplite armor and readied his equipment.

“A wise man once said, ‘The only man more foolish than the Eagle who attacks with blind ferocity is the man who is caught by surprise by this’,” said Cerius as he put down his book and slowly rose to his feet.

“Oh shut up and get in your armor,” grumbled Kerseas.

Talon commander Ronis sat in his command chair upon the bridge of his dropship. He watched the green marble that was the grassy fields of Verseux II grow larger on his monitor. He glanced back over his shoulder to his lieutenant Malnarus who stood at attention, still as a statue in his crimson armor. “I have tired of playing Swords tedious game of strategy. I have tried every logical maneuver suggested by tactical texts and strategic history. How many men man that base Malnarus?”

“A single Blade containing eighty soldiers sir. Rather large for a single Blade,” said Malnarus remaining unmoving, his eyes not shifting from the monitor.

A grin chuckle rose from his commander. “We shall see how well the strategy of eighty sandrakers holds against the force of the five hundred warriors of Rending Talon,” said Ronis, as he looked the green marble that now encompassed the entire view screen. “Send down the first wave of scouts and Myrmidon shock troops. Inform to target the bases Diogenes turrets. Once every last one is reported destroyed lower all dropships into orbit and deploy every last soldier.”

“Loses shall be great sir,” reminded Malnarus in his placid tone.

“I don’t care. The prime said he wanted this base no matter what the cost. You can’t make an omelet with out cracking a few eggs. Understand?”

“Perfectly sir.”

The base shook under the force of missiles and mortars. Cerius in his Peltast and Kerseas in his Hoplite ran through the shacking halls of flickering lights. Soldiers yelled to each other over the communicators with shacking confidence. Soldiers ran back and forth with repair packs upon their back. “Shock troops have infiltrated our base. Cerius, defend the eastern generator. Kerseas, go to the third hall of the second sector of the south wing, our men our fighting an incoming group of heavies flooding through a breach,” came the steady voice of their commander over their communicators.

“Acknowledged,” both men said in unison as they split paths at an intersection in the hallway.

“Remember not to die Kerseas,” called Cerius over his communicator.

“Well duh,” replied Kerseas.

Kerseas ran down the hallway using his jets to boost his pace. He rounded a corner and nearly tripped over a female Diamond Sword. She sat leaning against the wall, a deep wound in her side where her Peltast armor had been blasted by a plasma burn. A long lock of brown hair came down like silk through a crack in her helmet. Kerseas produced his repair pack. She looked up at him. Her eyes shielded by the closed helm of her armor. Her voice came shaken but calm. “I’m fine, the breach is just around the next two corners. Go help the defenders.”

“I’ll only be a second,” said Kerseas, kneeling down next to the wounded comrade. He recognized the voice as well as the hair. It was Kathlyn, a warrior weak in stature but strong in spirit, perhaps to strong for her own good. Her arm came up, shaking but strong it pushed him away.

“I’ll live, its not serious. We have to seal that breach.”

“I’ll be back when we seal that breach to tend to your wound. Don’t Go ANY Where Kathlyn!” lectured Kerseas.

“Go,” she said with another push.

Kerseas was off again. He rounded the corner to find a group of a half dozen Hoplites huddled near the next corner that would lead to the breach. A mortar explosion flooded out from around the corner, shaking the floor underneath him. He joined the other Hoplites. They were making a plan. A man of great reputation for battle in the base named Isfas was in the center of the ring of soldiers helping formulate the plan.

“Glad to see you join us Kerseas, we need as much help as we can muster for this. Alright, so Jon and Terrence will flood the breach with grenades forcing the heavies back a step, than the alphas flood out the hole and use the Stormhammers while the Betas will fire from the hole with Plascannons. Kerseas you join the Betas.”

Everyone nodded their heads. The plan was executed with Diamond Sword precision. The grenades forced the enemy Myrmidons back a step. The two groups flooded out the hole to find a group of three Myrmidons gathered on the ledge of the base. The alphas took to the air with their jetpacks and blasted them with disks, while the betas scorched them with point blank plasma. In a moment three corpses fell like bricks into the valley below the floating base. The group reentered the base and the breach was quickly sealed with a small force field.

“Good work,” came the Commanders voice as he began issuing new orders to the soldiers. “Kerseas report to the eastern generator and help defend it.”

“Acknowledged,” said Kerseas happy to be assigned to where Cerius had gone. Quickly he ran back around the corner, producing his repair pack as he went. Kathlyn was gone, a trail of blood leading away. Kerseas quickly followed the trail. It led to the intersection where he had parted paths from Cerius. Right led to the generator and to Cerius. The blood trail led to the left. Cursing his luck and Kathlyn in one breath Kerseas took off down the left corridor.

He ran as fast as his burning legs could take him. His breath came sharp and quick. He was amazed at how far the wounded female had gone in such a short time. Kathlyn had always been able to impress Kerseas. He had always admired her for her strength of spirit. He had admired her for a lot of things. He crossed another crossroads. To the left he saw a crimson Peltast, his back turned to him. The Peltast was following the blood trail as well. The vulture thought Kerseas, probably hoping to find an easy mark he can embellish into a great battle. Kerseas charged down the passage, his chaingun coming to life as he ran. A hail of bullets exploded into the Eagles back and the Peltast crumbled to the floor. Kerseas did not slow his pace, as he charged over the Eagles back.

He turned another corner to see Kathlyn limping away toward an inventory station. One arm wrapped around her body, clenching the wound, her other arm against the wall for support. Her helmet was in one hand, her long hair draping her back. “Kathlyn, hold up. I’ll heal you,” called Kerseas as he ran down the long hall way towards his friend. Kathlyn turned too see him. Her hazel eyes met his shielded gaze. He loved those hazel eyes but they always made him nervous. A slight smile crossed her pain struck face as she saw him running to meet her. He loved that smile. He would see to it that she survived this battle even if it meant abandoning an order.

As he approached her, a small black object flew in through a window between the two of them. It landed closer to Kerseas and he looked down to see what it was. Horror stabbed his heart like a knife so painfully he almost died from the heartbreak. However he knew death was not far behind the pain. A small black orb rested on the ground, green smoke rising from its dark form. In an instant that slowed to a decade Kerseas looked up at Kathlyn, her beautiful eyes were struck with the same terror as his, the terror of realization the end was upon her. He decided in that instant he would not let the mortar of the crimson tribe mar the beauty of her eyes or of her smile. He cast himself upon the mortar, huddling over it he shielded its terror from her innocence. He looked up to see those eyes one last time. She was trying to yell something to him as she ran towards him but he could not hear it through the thunderous clap that followed. His world turned green, than red, than black. He felt something tears his body apart, he felt a great force throw him against a surface that crumbled under its force.

He awoke. He was in a cave of some kind. He looked around through blurred eyes. He tried to move but his entire body lit a fire with pain from the effort. He felt as if his body had been torn asunder. He wasn’t far from the truth. A fire was lit in the center of the cave. The cave opening was not far away, a night sky gleaming with a thousand stars from outside. Kerseas blinked his eyes until his vision cleared. Cerius sat across the cave from him, reading his book of philosophy. Cerius’ Diamond Sword armor, usually bright and beautiful was marred, scorched and in some places missing.

“Where am I?” asked Kerseas. It hurt to speak so he stopped.

“In a cave three kilometers from base. The base was taken. We are the only ones who escaped as best to my knowledge. I found you broken but alive at the bottom of the valley beneath our base. You were blown clear from the base by a mortar blast. Later during the battle I was sent to repair the roof turrets but was blown clear by a scouts missile. I found you and was going to try and take you back to the base when the Command to retreat was sounded.”

Kerseas groaned. Cerius had a way of taking a simple question and giving a dozen answers. “Do you know what happened to Kathlyn?” asked Kerseas. He didn’t want to hear the awnser.

“She was either killed or taken prisoner. I’m sorry Kerseas if anyone else had escaped they would have met us here by now.” Cerius put down his book and brought it walked over to Kerseas. He sat next to him and gazed into the fire. A grim choice. You were better off dead then captured by the Blood Eagles. Kerseas closed his eyes. He felt like he would either cry or vomit, but neither came.

“Now what are we going to do?” asked Kerseas with a shacking voice.

“Survive,” said Cerius calmly, “Survive.”