Shahim looked at him and then placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, a sign of great friendship, “There is a roadblock ahead, designed to give advanced warning to the base of any approaching force. I intend to take three men and destroy that roadblock. Hassim Bin Maktala, I name you general in my absence.”

The man froze a moment, Shahim had never taken another man into his confidence in the storied year since he had first joined the army. Now he, Hassim Bin Maktala, would have his own destiny tied to this star’s ascension. He bowed his head, but Shahim was not finished.

“Hassim, you will bring the rest of the force to the main gate and meet me there. They have their forces spread wide around the base’s perimeter to ward off small attacks. Leaving their pathetic roadblocks to give them enough warning to gather their troops at any given point to resist a more concerted attack.” Shahim smiled, “I will see to it that they do not get that warning.”

Another leader, Dakar Wakin, came running up, but Shahim and Hassim stayed focused on each other as Shahim carried on, “Though we have only four hundred and fifty to their five thousand, we will crush the unsuspecting forty-five men that make up the standing guard at their main gate. By the time the rest of the base is alerted, we will have spread out into three groups.

“The first, led by me, will take a hundred men to the right and work our way around the perimeter, taking out the on-duty guard teams as they converge on the main gate. The second force, led by Dakar here,” Shahim looked at the second man standing expectantly at their sides, “will break left with another hundred men and sweep along the perimeter in that direction, destroying the reinforcements coming from the north.

“With gunfire spreading around the outside of the base, the remaining bulk of the base’s off duty forces will not be able to focus their response and so they will resort to their standard response pattern once the perimeter is breached, which is to retreat to the missile silos in the northern part of the base to defend the nuclear weapons that are stored there. This will allow you, Hassim,” Shahim looked at his first general once more, “to take our remaining warriors into the southern part of the base, where the non-nuclear munitions are stored.”