Maramanakama Imperial field command center.

9:07 Local Planetary Time

Prince Gelios, the governor of this sector of the Occupied Territories looked over the farview map of the district he was attacking.

His troops were highlighted in green on the map and a large portion of it was covered with shaded areas that represented zones where their pulsar's field of sight was dampened by an enemy spell.

"Who would have thought that the terrorists would be capable of making a shadow field around this area?" General Bartolommeo, a Carunian whose race was humanoid with a bulldog-like appearance and brownish yellow skin, said to the prince.

"Well, their main strength is stealth and sneak attacks, so I guess it make sense that they would focus on it." Gelios replied as he rubbed his chin in contemplation for their next move.

"My lord, we have just received the following: 'The Captain of the 83rd,Count Luper, has been hit by an ice arrow, his squad suffered heavy casualties, the captain has been taken to the field hospital!'" one of the staff officers informed him.

"Serves him right! Him and his lead from the front attitude, a leader does not do the work of a common soldier, look what happens when it is so! This battle has been going on long enough. Order the troops to initiate an offensive into the area."

"But, my lord the enemy is heavily entrenched here; if we order a charge we will suffer heavy casualties! We should at least wait a little while until the heavy armor is ready for deployment." Bartolommeo said to him.

"Well, isn't that what soldiers are supposed to do? So let them do their duty and die for their country." Gelios said with a disinterested wave of the hand.

"As for the armor, we cannot risk it being caught in an ambush; the heavies will follow the infantry, who will act as bait and spotters for it." The prince added.

Bartolommeo recognized the tone of his voice and knew that further arguing was pointless;

"Yes sir, I will organize the attack now." Bartolommeo said and Gelios gave a nod of approval with a pleased smile on his face

He now had no choice but to carry out the orders.

"And do so in a way as to avoid follies such as Count Luper's'."

But this was not Bartolommeo's first battle, nor his first time receiving bad orders.

Gelios nodded in approval at his chief officer's suggestion and this was all Bartolommeo needed.

For the general was a seasoned veteran, and he knew how to 'interpret' an order when such a thing was needed.

He looked at the display that showed the state of the infantry, they were all in column formations around the battles perimeter and divided into five groups, the 1st being the vanguard, 2nd, 3rd, 4th being the middle and the 5th was the rearguard.

Bartolommeo thinking of his troops and how he had a duty to lead them forward over any obstacle, be they foreign or homegrown, and gave the order that the 5th group would be the vanguard of the attack, followed by the 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups and finally the 1st would make up the reserve.

It would take time to reorganize the lines with those orders, plenty of time for the armor to be ready to support them.

And if Gelios asks about these new maneuvers?

Well, what could the governor do but support them? For he just approved of them barely a moment ago.

Thus he could not go against it, since it would hurt own position and authority, and make him look weak and indecisive.

That was never a good thing for a politician and Prince Gelios was the top politician in the Occupied Territories.

As the General was also top of his own game.

Bartolommeo turned his back at his now grinning commander and smiled at his own wit, he had just refused to obey an order by executing it!

This way of 'interpreting' an order was something he did all the time and none in this system did it better than him.

With that the general did his duty both to his prince and to his men, and none could blame him for it, legally or otherwise.

To Bartolommeo this was just another day at work.

It was the reason why he, and he alone, was a general and why he, and he alone, was the commander general on this planet.

Meanwhile Gelios, after gazing at how his troops were preparing to charge the rebels, felt bored and decided to look elsewhere, so he turned his gaze towards the ceiling.

There the prince saw a spider that was hanging from its spider silk, while weaving its web.

"You know that today many will die so you've come to feast on them, didn't you my eight legged friend? Well if that's true, just wait a minute and you will not be disappointed!" he thought to himself as he raised a glass of wine in the gesture of a toast to the spider as a wicked smile formed on his face.

The battle was nearing its critical stage; all under the gaze of the six pairs of eyes that showed the one that looked trough them what was happening in the command centre as he carefully spun his intricate web which would ensnare its intended targets.