Lisa frowned. “Yes, everybody and everything they have ever known is under threat.”

Luke took her hand; her skin was soft.”Enough work talk when I have such a beautiful woman in front of me.”

She smiled. “So, you think I am beautiful? I feel the same way.”

Gasps went up from those around them.

The old bartender dropped one of the drinks he was carrying.

Luke turned his chair to look at the holographic display. It was in the indecipherable local language, but the images of the alien ships made it clear.

They have arrived.

Luke’s stomach turned. “I guess we’d better be making it back to our posts.”

“Yes,” Lisa replied. Her eyes fixated on what she saw before her. “But, first.”

She reached over, putting his face in her palms, and pressed her lips against his. “We’ll finish our date soon.”

Luke nodded, wishing they were somewhere other than a warzone.

They got up and parted ways.

Luke headed straight for his sentry point on the fortifications. Unsure what to expect, he thought every second would count. But it was more like a slow descent into hell.

Timothy’s bloodied head lay in front of him. He needed to stop the bleeding.

He walked up to the small, round wooden table and sat down beside her. She smelled of perfume.

A smile broke out across her face. “Fancy meeting you here? What are the chances?”

Luke grinned. “Finally, more like. So happy to finally get some time with you.”

She replied, her eyebrows raised, “Yes, you’ve been very busy, with trying to protect Timothy and everything.”#

After putting his hand up to signal the old barman that he wanted a drink, he replied, “Don’t talk to me about it. I’ve been waiting for that Jaime fella to do something, anything. Then, I could take him out, but nothing so far. I told John to keep an eye on things.

Lisa scrunched her face. “Timothy’s a goner, so!”

They both laughed.

The old bartender put down a drink on the table. He nodded his head and said, “On the house.” Then, he walked away.

Luke smirked. “What was that about?”

“He’s giving you a free drink for your service defending his planet – he did the same for me. There’s only one type of drink, though, and he doesn’t know much English.”

“It can’t be easy for the people here.” Luke looked at the man and could see the fear in his eyes.”

The sound of gunfire and bombs reverberated through Luke’s body. His hand was shaking. Around him, Alachins were breaching the fortification and ripping through the flesh of the defending Troopers. A few seconds ago, Timothy had ordered a retreat to the tunnels.

Another explosion. Closer this. His eyes bulged at the sight of Timothy and his battle chair flying through the air and then crashing to the ground.

He ran down the rampart. He saw that a burly Trooper had drawn his handgun and was walking towards Timothy.

It must be Jaime. No!

Luke raised his machine gun with one arm and opened fire, riddling the approaching Trooper forcing him to the ground in a pool of blood.

Racing to Timothy’s side, he was relieved to see John, Lisa, and Yvonne follow close behind.

Their time on the planet had been so different, only a few hours beforehand.

Luke had finally been given some hours off from sentry duty. But even better, Lisa would be off at the same time, and they had arranged to meet in a small tavern near the centre of the compound. The first time he could relax since he landed on the planet.

His pulse raced on seeing her. She was wearing a white dress and a top. Her hair was tied up in a bun.

The next and final part of the time cycle was the target practice. A practice gun was passed from one Trooper to the next. The group formed a line in front of one of the many targets – 3-D printouts of various aliens that the Empire had fought against. Many were already extinct.

“Don’t worry John, there’s no need for you to practice,” Luke said in a mischievous tone.

John’s facial muscles tensed. “What do you mean by that?”

Luke laughed. “Someone has to be the worst.”

Shaking his head side to side, John replied, “Give me that .gun.”

He proceeded to take some of the worst shots Luke had ever seen.

All apart from John, laughed to themselves.

Luke went to go to the toilet at the other end of the large room. There were lines of free cubicles, and Luke went to the rear.

When he finished, a goon from earlier was waiting for him. He had long scars down both sides of his face.

Luke stared right at him. “What do you want.?”

“Relax, I’m not here to fight. You need to know. He’s talking about assassinating Timothy. The Emperor would never forgive us, he’ll slaughter our families! You have to do something.”

An hour later, the siren went off once more. It was met with groans.

“Time to go, chaps.” John smiled. “Come on, none of that dreariness. We all love doing hours of mindless exercise that may or may not benefit us in the future.”

The group got up from the table and walked to the opposite side of the ship. They entered a gym with a multitude of equipment.

They walked to their usual side and space. Luke sat down and started using the dumbbells, John went straight to the weightlifting. The   others stretched. “All seeing Emperor” played in the background. It was Luke’s favorite, and he hummed along to the words.

Service to The Emperor

Obedience to The Emperor

Love for The Emperor

Slay his enemies

Love his Army

A shout came from close by.

“There’s the lapdog.” A burly, Trooper with a mop of black hair was pointing his finger straight at Luke to a group of men, who immediately went towards him. John put down the weights and stood by Luke’s side.

The Trooper went almost nose to nose with Luke, his eyes bulging. “Tell that commander of yours that we’re sick of it. The food, the routine. This is not what we signed up for.”

Luke’s jaw clenched, he pushed his head forward, their sweaty foreheads touched. “Speak to him yourself, I hold no special position.”

The man grimaced. “So, if we hang you from this ceiling, it won’t send him a message?”

John projected his voice. “Over my dead body.”

“Yeah, mine too,” Lisa added from the rear.

One of the other Troopers whispered, “That’s enough, Jaime. There’s no point us all getting in disciplinary trouble.”

Staring at Luke, Jaime replied, “I understand, boys. We’ll catch up with this guy another time.”

He turned and went to the far side of the gym, followed by the others.

Lisa stood beside Luke.  “Are you okay?”

Luke nodded and shook John’s hand and slapped his back.

“You need to watch out for him,” Lisa continued,” he has a lot of lackeys. He’s been complaining about everything since we first set foot on the ship.”

“Maybe, you should mention it to Timothy,” John added.

Luke shook his head,” No, he has enough problems at the currently. I’d say, we deal with this in house.”

“Whatever you think, bud.” John turned and went back to weightlifting.

“Look after yourself, Luke.” For a moment, she linked a finger with one of his.

Lisa and Yvonne joined them at their table. Their hair unkempt, their eyes bloodshot. Luke perked up on hearing Lisa’s voice.

Lisa was small sassy Trooper. She was five foot with brown hair and freckles. Yvonne was tall, with long red hair. Lisa was talkative, friendly whereas Yvonne tended to be more terse, at least when talking to the guys..

“Ladies, how are we today,” John asked. His eyes averted to where the food was being to next.

Lisa frowned. “Stinky.”

“I hate that there no showers. I feel disgusting,” Yvonne added.

Connor, a bald and pot bellied Trooper joined and completed the table. “Yuck, stay away from me then.” The group laughed.

“We could even if we wanted to with all the locked doors and cameras.” Yvonne smiled.

“Bet he won’t be saying that when you get a chance to doll up” John added.

For a moment, Lisa and Luke’s eyes meet across the table.

The great had filled by now. In the distance punches are thrown, but it received little attentions and was broken up with fanfare. A regular ocurence.

The brown slop that passed for food reached their table. For a moment, they all gazed at it.

Lisa stabbed it with her fork. “It looks worse every time.”

“Another hour and a half,” Luke replied.

“Wow, we have to wait for over one hour to go from one small cell into a slightly bigger one.” John shook his head from side to side before clambering back onto his bed. After taking a large breath, he lied down.

There was silence.

“Timothy said it won’t be much longer?” Luke whispered.

“Really?” John replied. “He has to say that. The troops are on the verge of revolt from boredom and revolting food. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame him. He’s following orders like the rest of us.”

Nothing more was said between them.

An hour and half later a long beep when off.

The two men put on their uniforms and the opened the door to a barrage of noise as other troopers passed. Everybody was heading in the same direction to the kitchen. Their noses long used to the foul smell of unwashed bodies.

The room was set out with multiple round tables, some of the places already taken. They went to the same table as usual. Murals of family life were painted on the wall. Ostensibly to increase morale, but there were now faded. Kitch staff were busy going from table to table giving out the food..