Captain Yulan Talikan
Above Icarus, 
STC Acheron A-2 ( Aries class vessel)

No matter how much warning he was given for a training operation it always felt somewhat real to Yulan. There was no different gear for training only the dummy rounds in their rifles, in a firefight however this was quickly forgotten. It was common to see new soldiers with the “1000 yard stare” after full invasion profiles or FIP in military speak. Yulan prided the Septonian military on its realistic training, it worked and made them all better warriors. 
	“ Captain Talikan…..” the admiral on board said towards Yulan “ Raven two will secure the hill-top, overlooking the village of Poikoi. You will provide cover and intelligence for the Marine assault and Raven one’s occupation.” Yulan nodded and spat a quick yes sir before the major moved on to the next assignment. This was a FIP operation, we were invading Icarus home of the veteran 1st and 5th Marine battalions and the elite 12th Infantry regiment. Yulan’s mind went towards planning, what did he need to effectively support the Marine assault? Before his mind left that thought the briefing ended with a crisp “ Dismissed” from the Admiral in command. Thoughts of the mission dominated his mind as he made the short walk back to him company area. 
	His soldiers has already gotten the warning order, somehow without him telling them. The advice ‘Never underestimate the tenacity of the enlisted man’ echoed in his mind as he waded through the chaos to find his junior officers. “ Delta and Echo squads drop the mortars and pick up long range rifles, I want rockets and snipers. Alpha through Charlie pack carbines, I want one machine gun in each team. Camouflage of the day is…….. rocky desert, any questions?” Captain Talikan said towards his Junior officers. They all shook their heads and instantly ran off to brief their platoons. This was going to be a good operation, he had drafted four new members from the newest training class and he was eager to break them in. 

STC Gaston BH-32 ( Blackhole class ship) 
30,000 ly bearing 30 degrees
Ship log: 
-Disembarked from Taoshe
- Jump- Exiting slip-space just outside of the Kalai abyss ( approx 35,000k ly bearing 20 deg)
-Entered Kalai Abyss
-Succesfully Navagated the Kalai Abyss( vou ne compre pa’a quel poi’c eta) Translation ( You don’t understand how hard that was) 
- Docked with asteroid, conducting recon operations 

Peaking over the lip of the asteroid increasing the magnification of his HUD , Sergeant Margaux could just make out the shape of a craft in the distance. It looked segmented and modular, frankly it looked rather unstable to him. “ Ey……Hakto, get over here…” he whispered over the team communications channel. Outside of the conventional combat divisions rank and formalities fade away. In most special forces teams, operators referred to each other by nicknames or first names. Hakto was the name of a particularly large farm animal on the core worlds, known for its ability to cary and pull large loads. ‘Hakto’ the Aradite was also fairly large and carried the heaviest gear, he embraced his name well.
“ oui chef…..?” Hakto quipped as he floated up beside Sergeant Margeux.
	Zero gravity operations were always….peacefull, for lack of a better word. It was silent, save the communication between the team and the ship. Floating around absolute nothingness forced you to calm yourself and remember to keep three points of contact or how hard you pushed off an object. This calmness also helped you forget how dangerous this job was. “ Can you identify that? Ever seen something like that before”? Hakto shook his head “ No chef, thats new to me….” he quipped again dropping his head below the lip of the asteroid, “ We should call the ship……”. Margaux nodded and dropped below the lip himself before switching radio channels, “ Gaston this is Kabal……Gaston, Kabal how copy”? “ Loud and clear Kabal platoon, send it” was the answer from the ship after a few seconds. Margaux explained what he saw and waited to hear the response, communication took a bit when the ship was running its stealth protocols. “ Kabal platoon, return to the ship, we are going to shadow this vessel” 
	Sergeant Margaux sighed inwardly as he heard the message, there was nothing worse then sitting in Blackhole class ship while it ran its stealth protocols. All non essential electronics ( Internal Temperature controls, artificial gravity, Holographic systems) were shut off. To mask its thermal signature the exhaust was channeled back into the ship and out though a series of micro exhaust ports, if you were looking though thermal imaging you would see a dark almost black blue object moving over a black backdrop. All radar and sonar traffic was strictly controlled. The ship becomes a ghost but for the crew inside, life is hard. The directed exhaust makes the entire ship feel like a sauna, there is no cold water and the crew has to eat non perishable rations. The galley has the only refrigerated section on the ship, which is locked down under stealth protocols. Every essential crewmen ( which is everyone on the ship) is ordered to quarters to standby, everyone except Sergeant Margaux and his platoon.
	The captain let Kabal platoon bunk down in the missile bay, which happens to be in the rear of the ship in front of the engines. It was the the hottest place on the ship, according to the crew. Of course no one told Kabal platoon about this, they had to find out the hard way. When then ship was “Stalking”, military speak for running stealth protocols, his platoon was sealed in the missile bay. which resulted to a lot of restless operators.