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Cumeria (pronounced Cue-Mare-ia) Is a curious planet in the Delta Quadrant. It was found to be a completely lifeless desert planet, so the Imperial Military built a research base for experimental technology.

Currently, the Delta Labs, as they are called, to be as discrete sounding as possible, carry out research into teleportation technology, among other less tasteful things. They are even attempting time travel, though its still a dead end in the planning stages.

The one and only feature on a tan, lifeless planet, the delta labs are spread out in an eight-pointed star pattern over several dozen miles, with each end holding a different test facility, and the spars connecting them to the main facility in the center are bullet train tracks. The entire facility is enclosed, as the heat is far too high for most beings to survive in. The main facility houses living quarters, mess halls, an infirmary, and the administration areas, as well as a small starport built on a tower that rises from the top, connected to the facility by a cargo elevator.

As the small Imperial Freighter landed on the starport of Cumuria, the lone occupant awoke from cryo sleep. He had traveled a long ways to come here, and the stasis-like sleep was necessary. He pulled himself free of the sleep harness, and stretched weary muscles, flexing his massive frame. He checked the console to ensure the ship had landed fine, then returned to the hold and took a short shower, Imperial regulation, 3 minutes long.

He dressed in standard fatigues, then went to his armory. He began pulling on the heavy armor plates he wore, fitting each section together perfectly, making sure every piece was spotless. If it wasn't, he took everything off and cleaned it, then started again.

Next came weaponry. The Heavy Incinerator-class flamethrower, and the Hydra multi-warhead rocket launcher, then sidearms. He finally slipped the heavy helm over his head, feeling the auto-senses of the equipment come to life, feeding him all the necessary data. He flexed the cybernetic tail fused to his spine, and found it in perfect form, as always.

He then clean the ship thoroughly, all the while going over the mission via his helmet's data feeds to his ship's main computer. Meet a girl, a friend of his old acquaintance Saul, a man he recalled having the skills to be a heavy weapons trooper, but lacking the physical build needed.

Finally, he locked down the ship and stepped off. The few techs and security personnel there let him be, his ship had transmitted the proper codes to inform them of just who was coming.

Guy Montag, Flame Trooper Captain, took his first look at Cumuria. a trackless waste of desert sands, with the massive facility built here the only center of habitation on the planet.

He entered the cargo lift, and prepared to wait for the hour and a half long journey(as the data on this facility had told him) down to the main facility from the starport spire.

As the elevator neared the bottom, events were even now unfolding that would forever change the face of the planet. A biohazard warning sent from one of the labs triggered a response from an Imperial Cruiser in orbit, which immediately moved into position over one of the main spars of the Delta Labs. This particular section was the one that Guy and Persephone were going to be looking for in the future, and home to the receiving end of the teleportation systems. The high-speed bullet train line, the only thing connecting it to the facility, was bombed out of existence by the Cruiser, due to the warning it had received. The now blocked off section of the base was overrun by some kind of experiment that had gone haywire, and was now quarantined. It would have to be entered and sterilized with flame, and as luck would have it, a small team of heavy flame troopers were on planet.

And a well-known captain of these men had just arrived...An officer was dispatched to bring him to Central Command at once.

As the lift ground to a halt, Guy hauled open the hatch, wondering what the bombardment from orbit had been, before he had lost sight of it as the elevator entered the facility. He brought up his map of the place, and saw that one section was now separated from the rest of the facility, the train tunnel destroyed utterly.

He stepped out of the lift, adjusting the fuel lines of his flamethrower, noticing a girl standing there nearby, and a red-faced man in the garb of a low-ranking officer of the Imperial Military hurrying to the lift as well.

Guy acknowledged the girl with a nod of his helm, then turned to the officer, who handed him a data disk.

"Your assignment, sir. Please make haste."

The officer turned and ran off without giving Guy the chance to ask what the job was. He slid the disk into his helmet's reader, and listened to the data quickly. He checked his original plans, and , as he had suspected, somehow this mission to cleanse the infested lab was right where he was supposed to go to help save Saul's life.

Finally, he turned to the girl again.

"I heard about Saul. I owe him one favor, and this is it. I will help you, but only to save his life," he said, his augmented voice box giving off that same tone of intimidation the Empire was so known for having in the helmets of its soldiers.

He toggled open his comm unit, scanning for, isolating, and cracking her comm unit's frequency, then opened a secure channel. What he said next chilled her.

"I know what you are...Rebel. Were this any other case, you would be dead. But, since this is not the case, we can be friends."

He stuck out a massive hand, gloved in thick armor plate, capable of crushing her bones to powder in a second, to shake.

Guy shrugged, the massive plates of his armor making him seem like a golem of some kind come to life.

"As you wish. A moment please..."

He paused to secure his flamethrower to his chest with the magnetic clamps he'd built into the armor, and turned off its fuel pump. Now, both his hands were free to do other things. He reached up and hit the hidden catches on his helmet, pulling it clear of his head.

The helmet came loose in a cloud of smoke, revealing a hardened, grizzled, heavily bearded man smoking a cigar. He grinned as he blew out another cloud of smoke.

"Much better, now we can go," he said, his voice loud, booming, and full of cheer.

Guy didn't say much, he just followed her to his old friend's ship. he lifted his wrist, and opened one panel, revealing a wireless computer device. He punched in a set of codes, and the ship unsealed itself.

"He gave me the codes to his ship some time ago. I never thought I would need them, seeing as how I have my own ship."

He closed the computer, and waited for her to lead him aboard the ship, which he had never been on, much less known the type of ship Saul had owned, just the access codes.

Guy's face took on a look of rage, and he stood up from where he had sat, backing her into a corner.

"Why you little-"

Then he burst out laughing and sat back down, the small seat groaning under his massive bulk.

"You should see your face girly. Like a ghost!," he said, holding his sides. Finally, he subsided enough to speak, wiping tears from his eyes, for he had been laughing hard enough for them to come.

"I heard about you from Saul. Good kid, mostly, a little too nice though. Don't worry, this is a favor to him, I see no reason to let my superiors know about you."

He puffed out his chest a little.

"Though, I am an Imperial Officer, and folks report to me...why should I report to anyone else unless its vital that I do? Bah, its nothing to worry about."

He sat back and lit a second small cigar, and told her a bit about his career, home life, etc, but nothing that she couldn't find in his basic file in the Imperial data centers. His military record was sealed, and all of them kept in various hard copy formats, never on computer systems, for there was always a hacker that could beat a so called foolproof system.

Guy had noticed her loss of control, and,having read her file, took some time to compose an answer. Finally, he spoke again.

"I know it must be hard to trust me, having lost your parents to the Empire. But we stand for everything we've worked for, and for peace."

It was rote learned material, nothing heartfelt. It was all he had been able to say. But maybe....

"I know one of the people from your parent's house personally. He was my commander a few months after that incident."

He hoped to spark her interest, so that she would get some control of herself.