It was midnight; Lucky was at her desk looking over some files when her computer beeped and a message popped up on the screen. As she quickly read through it, a groan escaped her lips. They had barely just from their previous mission and they were being sent out on another already. Getting up slowly, letting her sore muscles stretch, she sent out a message to everyone to meet up in the briefing room in twenty-five minutes.

Grabbing the data she had received, she made her way down the long, dim hallway to the squad briefing room only stopping briefly to grab her fourth cup of coffee of the night. Arriving a little early, as she always liked to, she went over notes she had quickly scribbled down and a few holoprojections of Nubia, the planet they were being sent on.

As she was putting the final touches to her preparations, the doors hissed open and the squad slowly entered and took their seats. As eight pairs of tired eyes looked her way, she stared back for a few seconds before beginning.

“First off, I’d like to welcome private Kaka to the squad. I really hope you’ll enjoy it here, Private. Now, on to the mission briefing…”

“Nubia is a quiet planet of a few billion habitants; recently however there has been a discovery of some not so appropriate pieces of business. As you all probably know, this planet is headquarters to Nubian Star Drives and a few more corporations. The unwanted materials shipped to planets without authorization or later knowledge of these activities by the clients. Their economy is starting to suffer, planetary leaders are threatening war on each other and everyone in the area is just feeling miserable. Now waddya say we go stop these bad boys and restore peace where it belongs.”

Looking in each member’s face, they all seemed quite tired and a little discouraged, all except for Kaka who was bright-eyed and looked like he was itching to get started.

“Everyone stay seated a minute, I may have something that will cheer you up.”

Getting to her feet, she exited the room and came back a minute later with a bottle of corellian ale and nine glasses.

“One glass, then we get ready for departure. Shuttle leaves in an hour and a half, eat breakfast and drink a glass of water with it, it will counter the long-term effects the ale will have on your bodies when the mission begins.”

Filling each glass almost to the brim, she passed them around and drank hers quite quickly./ Setting the empty glass down, she stood, told everyone they were dismissed once their glass was empty and left the room.

She waited outside for Alan to join her took his hand in hers and both left for home to get ready. Opening the door, she requested the “Betty” droid take out two buns and toast them , turning to Alan, she asked him if he could fry four eggs and some sausages as she had an urgent need to use the bathroom and take a shower./ coffee and alcohol could help detoxify your system quite quickly and efficiently.

Eight minutes later, she stepped out of the bathroom refreshed from the quick shower, slipped on her undersuit and headed for the kitchen.

“Go take a shower while I finish up breakfast” she called to Alan as she made her way to the stove and took over the eggs and bacon, flipping them over until the eggs were golden and the bacon was soft but a little crispy. As he left, she buttered the toasted bread and made breakfast sandwiches which she kept warm, made coffee and put two glasses of water on the table with a pitcher of orange juice in the center.  When he came back a few minutes later, breakfast was already on the table. They ate quickly, pieced together their armor and gathered the weapons they would be bringing along on the mission before heading out the door to the hangar where the ship was awaiting .

Hopping onboard, she put away her gear and took a seat, waiting for the rest of the squad to arrive and for the shuttle to finally take off.

Zeshaun had fallen asleep with the holonet on and the remote still in his hand. He had already taken a shower that night and was enjoying catching up on the sleep he had missed while he was on Naboo. A violent buzz jolted him awake, he sat up quickly revealing a vibroblade in his hand and in his haste he jumped up from his chair started to go for the light switch but ended up walking into the new cabinet he had installed in his room to keep his ever expanding collection of weapons. mother f... Zeshaun stopped and rubbed his forehead. He felt slowly along the wall until his hand hit the light switch and flipped it on. His room was a total mess. He had been going on missions so often now that he hardly cleaned up his clothes or the dirty dishes. Noticing the mess he started to pick up and sort his clothes onto his bed. About halfway through sorting his clothes he remembered the reason he had woken up. He checked his pocket and found a new message on his data pad. Lucky had asked them to meet her in the meeting room in 25 minutes, he had received the message 20 minutes ago. damn He threw down the clothes that he had in his hand, grabbed some kind of bread from his refrigerator and ran out the door.

He made it to the meeting room just as everyone else was coming in. He tried to wipe the sleep from his eyes before entering the room. Lucky was already standing at the front, data pad in hand. When everyone sat Lucky started to explain the reason for the late night call.

"Nubia is a quiet planet of a few billion habitants; recently however there has been a discovery of some not so appropriate pieces of business." Lucky started.

another mission already? Zeshaun tipped his head back in exhaustion trying o stay awake for the entire briefing. Apparently some kind of business scam had made the whole world unstable and numerous leaders were threatening war. It's too early to be hearing about other people's troubles Zeshaun wiped his eyes again. When Lucky finished she revealed a bottle of Correlian Ale along with nine cups. That got Zeshaun's attention, he waited patiently for Lucky to come around with his cup. He gulped down the ale in a couple of drinks and then returned the glass. He got up to go back to his room and start packing everything that he had barely just unpacked for the new mission.

He opened his door and slipped back into his room. He pressed the button on the coffee machine and threw some toast in the toaster while he grabbed his duffel bag that was still on his bed. He stuffed his guns in the bag and then zipped it up. He had given up packing extra clothes long ago, finding that it was just a waste of space. His toaster dinged signaling that his toast was done. He shuffled into the kitchen, filled a cup of coffee, and started eating his toast. The coffee was helpful in waking him up a bit more and after he had eaten, he started to clean his room again. He cleared his dirty dishes to the sink and made a mental note to clean them first thing when he got back. After tidying things up a bit more he opened up his closet and took out his shock trooper armor and clasped it on. He grabbed his light assault rifle out of his bag and slung the bag over his shoulder before he headed out the door.

He walked through the empty halls until he reached their designated hangar. The shuttle was landed in the middle of the hangar with a few mechanics walking around. He waved to a few that he recognized and then stepped up into the shuttle. He saw Lucky and Alan both already seated waiting for the others to arrive and to take off. Zeshaun nodded to both of them and threw a quick salute before storing his bag away in a compartment and finding a seat. He planted himself in a seat near the door and slumped down and tilted his head back.

Without turning toward Lucky he said, "Saving some planet's economy couldn't have waited till the morning?"

Zeshaun saw Lucky turn toward him out of the corner of his eye. "It's more than just the economy that needs saving you know, if you were listening you would have known that I said that the leaders were threatening war against each other." she huffed

Zeshaun laughed. "I know, I know, I'm just messin' with ya."

Alan turned toward Zeshaun. "I hope you know that when you mess with her, you're messin' with me too." Zeshaun was surprised with the lack of sarcasm in his voice.

"Sorry sir, won't happen again." Zeshaun said not knowing if Alan was serious or not.

"I'm just messin' with ya." Alan said as he turned away from Zeshaun.

Zeshaun smiled and leaned his head back against the window to try and get in a little more sleep before they took off. I can't ever sleep well while I'm flying. Zeshaun thought as he slowly drifted off.

Kaka woke up to a very "great" morning, the datapad woke him up.

"This is not going well on the first day, i've got to get used to this."

He then reached for his datapad which was still beeping somewhere on his bed. A message from his squad leader instantly sent him into a shock, he rushed out of bed and got changed.

The door leading to the exit of his room opened with a slight "whurrr", as he rushed down to the briefing room he thought, "Why do i get the feeling that we are gona do something stupid today?"

~~~

Kaka was really excited, being excited is one thing, but smiling at every squadmate was really weird. Even though he is really looking forward to his first mission, Kaka just felt a little bit left out and thought again "Well, a piece fresh meat is always cold anyway"

Finding Njall on the seat, nearly on the edge of falling down, he was quietly sleeping. Kaka decided it was best to leave him alone, he then went over to Zippy, who was apparently trying to sleep too. For the third time, Kaka thought to himself again "What in the world is happening? Am i the only one alive?!", in the meantime, he was also focusing on his letter to his dear sister and more imporatantly his mother.

Kaka found himself next to a empty seat, it seemed to him that the squad was a little bit stale. He wasn't much of a drinker, but he slowly let the liquid fill his empty stomach. Within a few minutes, he found himself a little bit dizzy. The others were fine, which wasn't shocking to Kaka as he knew that they were used to it. He drank a few cups of orange juice and ate a piece of toast, the mix of ale, orange juice and toast did not make him feel good, he gave a light whack to his head and wondered into the hanger

Still wondering what type of weapon he will get to hold was troubling Kaka, "what am i gona get? A sniper rifle? Maybe i should ask Zeshaun? I heard he has a cabinet full of weapons, interesting..." Kaka looked at the squad's leader "Luckystar" who was gesturing everyone to come on board.

Luckystar did not look much of a soldier -although the breakfast she whipped up was scrumptious-, "well, im sure she does well in combat or else she would not had ended up being a squad leader"

He slipped into the black armor issued by the squad leader on the previous day and got onto the ship. making use of the hours he had, Kaka took his datapad and started to read an article...

Zeshaun woke when the shuttle jolted, signaling the shuttle entering the atmosphere. looks like I slept through that whole trip Zeshaun sat up, rubbed his eyes and quickly scanned the shuttle. All the paladin's were all up, most of them just waking up. He peered out the shuttle window and saw a large city surrounded by vast fields and huge mountain ranges on one side and a light blue ocean on the other. Even though they were several hundred miles away from the city Zeshaun could see a few small air buses in between the buildings. those things must be huge! Zeshaun thought excitedly. The shuttle got steadily closer to the space port that was in the center of the city, the command tower, over looked all the other buildings in the city. It took the shuttle only a few more minutes before it had started to pull into it's designated spot in the space port.

this planet sure doesn't look to be in any economical crisis Zeshaun thought surveying the city from his high position at the spaceport. The city streets were bustling with people going and coming from work and even more of them making their ways to casinos, theaters, and other buildings of entertainment. A human man dressed in a suit flanked by guards came out to greet them. Zeshaun could see out into the vast fields and was surprised to find that he couldn't see another large city anywhere, only small settlements and mountains.

"My friends, we're glad to have you in our city." The nicely dressed man said with a large smile.

Zeshaun put his helmet on and turned toward the man waiting for a reply from either Alan or Lucky. Lucky stepped forward.

"We're here to help you with your economical problem." Lucky said.

The smile loosened on the man's face. "You're not here to help us fight the other cities?" he asked longingly.

Lucky just shook her head. The man's smile turned into a frown but he remained polite.

"Please follow me."

The man turned on his heels and started walking toward a door leading out from the landing pad. The squad followed quickly following the man through the spaceport and out into a long hallway crossing over the main street down below. The halls led to an office building, from the looks of the furniture, amount of guards and expensive looking decorations it was the office of someone very important. The man in the suit stopped, opened a door and ushered them inside.

A fat man, wearing a workers uniform and a military officers cap turned around from the window that he had been staring out of. He gestured for the squad to take a seat. 9 seats had been arranged around the man's desk. he was obviously expecting us Zeshaun thought taking a seat next to Requiem and Alan.

"Thank you for coming to our city in our time of need." the man said as he seated himself in his ridiculously over-sized chair.

"I already explained to the other guy that we're not here to fight a war, we're here to stop one." Lucky said.

The fat man held up his hand, keeping Lucky from saying any further. "I understand that your mission is to prevent this war but it is inevitable, I am President of the Nubian Star Drives, Inc. Zarr Ackdar, most call me President."

Lucky just nodded and listened on.

"The PharmCorp. is suspected in this heist of our clients merchandise, they are out main competition for business on the planet."

Lucky cut in. "They've never interfered with your business ever before, what makes you think it's them."

President Ackdar snorted. "They've been planning it for years, they're the ones who killed President Orlo, my predecessor, a couple of months ago."

The squad gave each other speculating looks, this guy came in power just a couple months ago, and now he wants to wage war. Zeshaun found it hard to believe that some how this President Ackdar was up to no good. Lucky suddenly got up from her seat, the president glared at her.

"Please take a seat." President Ackdar motioned at her seat.

"No thank you, we'll be in touch." Lucky motioned for the squad to follow her out the door.

They all got up and filed out of the room and back to the space port. From there they took an elevator down to the main street and entered the steady stream of people walking up and down the street. Their stormtrooper armor kept people away, giving them a little bubble of space as they walked.

"I didn't like that president." Alan commented.

"Anyone else find it strange that the old president died just around the time that the shipments started to disappear." scoffed Requiem.

The rest of the squad basically had the same feeling about the new president. this guy sounds like a crazy guy Zeshaun thought thinking back to the comment he had made about how war was inevitable. Lucky suggested that they find a kind of transportation and make some kind of plan to find out more about the situation and see if they can get a different story from the PharmCorp. They walked a short distance until they found an airbus stopped at one of it's routes through the city. They hopped on and Zeshaun was instantly amazed at the capacity of the bus. It had at least 4 dozen people in it all seated comfortable. they need to get some of these in Tadath

The bus brought them to another, larger station where it seemed a bus was preparing to take a trip across the ocean to the only other land mass on the planet. Luckily the headquarters for the Nubian Star Drives, Inc. was on the coast and they wouldn't have to take a trip across the large land mass. As the squad stepped up to the counter to buy tickets Zeshaun oticed a group of armored men making theirway through the crowd toward the paladin's and they didn't look too friendly.

"Lucky, looks like we've got company."

“Yeah, they are the A-280 Armour-Piercing Heavy Blaster Rifles, able to cut through our armour like they didn’t exist” replied Zeshaun.

“Oh great” commented Njall.

“Let’s make sure we don’t get hit” said Lucky.

Well this is going to be fun thought Alan, mere seconds before the men opened fire on them.

Tons of firing can be heard everywhere, with the 360 degree paranomic view installed into the squad's helmet the squad could time their firing right. This made a deadly squad, dealier.

"Zeshaun, what did you say again? Armour piercing?" Kaka was getting really excited, it was his very first real scenario in the battlefield, even the simulator did not match the real... A round came through the steel wall, barely missing Kaka's head.

Njall saw what happened and spoke through the comlink "Wow, a team of snipers that have a firing rate of a rifle, whats next?"

Lucky pointed at the guy who was covering his friends, "Take that guy out."

Zeshuan was crouching behind a steel sheet, he was in the best position to flank the armoured fools. Seeing the oppurtunity, Lucky ordered "Zeshuan, backstab them. The rest, advance while covering fire, make sure you dont aim your fellow squadmate."

Zippy focused on preventing a backstab for the squad, just then he noticed a few moving figures. His helmet immediately shifted to thermal mode, "five... six... Madam, we got a few more behind us"

"Back to back people!" Lucky ordered, Zeshuan was busy killing the armoured men with their own weapons. Being a quick thinker, Alan fired a shot at the terminal, preventing more armoured men from pouring through the door.

Well, for Kaka, its a entirely different story, deaths meant nothing to him anymore but the reality of it stunned him. Just then, Alan commed him, "Come on Private, fire!" A sense of belonging to the group made Kaka feel it was right... the feeling to kill.

~~~

Alan kicked the dead men on the floor, "Remind me to study more onto weapons next time." Zeshuan replied "Sure thing sir."

Kaka grabbed a person who was still alive in the pile of lifeless bodies. He made him kneel down by kicking his knee.

"Im sure you have something to say."Kaka pointed his rifle at the man's head while removing his helmet.

"Look, i have nothing to do with this", the man was panting and panting, so much for that strong look, "We were ordered to take out storm troopers in black. They said something about you guys speciallizing in assassination missions."

Lucky took a long look at the man, "Mercenary." Lucky got cut off suddenly, it was obvious she was communicating with HQ.

"Who sent you?" Njall demanded.
"I cannot reveal." The man replied with a strong force.
"Oh, im sure you can reveal the answer to my friend's rifle, can you?" Njall pointed at Kaka's rifle, "He has been itching to get his first kill from the start. So if you dont want to feel hot laser melting your brains, you better start speaking."

"Pharm Corp, please dont kill me. I got four mouths to feed."The man pleaded. Lucky looked at Alan and said"Restrain him, orders from headquaters."

~~~

Zippy looked out into the vast ocean, Lucky commed the squad "Lets move, i still got the tickets!"

"I don't like this..." Zeshaun said from behind Lucky.

Alan glanced over at Zeshaun and said “I don’t like it either.  Keep your eyes peeled for trouble.

The squad started to advance slowly though the street.  They had wanted to take the bus to PharmCorp to get some answers but the driver had instead taken them to a deserted part of the city.  It smelt like a trap and Alan knew that if it smelt like a trap, chances were it was a trap.

“Welcome” said a voice.

The squad glanced around and spotted a tall man wearing a crisp suit.  Alan had no idea how the man had appeared so quietly and it disturbed him that such a man could approach a squad of well trained stormtroopers without attracting their attention.  The man’s image flickered slightly and Alan soon realised that he was a projection.  Where is he projecting from pondered Alan.

“Who are you?” asked Lucky.

“Let’s just say that I am a representative from PharmCorp and I am giving you a friendly piece of advice.  Leave this planet” replied the man.

“Not until we get to the bottom of this” replied Lucky, “We spoke to President Ackdar and he told us you are trying to take over his business and that you assassinated the previous president”.

The man snorted and replied “I wouldn’t listen to a word that power hungry president says.  This world does not need the likes of you causing trouble.  We can deal with President Ackdar.  Now leave, this is your only warning”.

“We don’t take kindly to warnings” stated Lucky.

Alan could sense the squad getting anxious.  He too felt it, his hands on his blasters.  He knew that trouble was just around the corner.  He didn’t know how but he could just sense it and he could tell that the rest of the squad could sense it also.

“No, I didn’t think you did” replied the man, “perhaps this will change your mind”.

The image of the man fizzled and died.  Four armed men suddenly dropped from the skies and landed directly in front of the squad.

“Oh great, they’re wearing jetpacks” commented Njall.

“How come we don’t have jetpacks” stated Zeshaun.

The men opened fire on the squad and Lucky quickly waved the squad to take cover and disperse.  The squad needed no further orders as they quickly fanned out.  Alan, both blasters in his hands immediately let loose a volley of blaster bolts towards the nearest soldier.  He immediately leapt up in the air and the bolts missed.  Damn these guys are good thought Alan.

“Damn it I can’t hit anything” shouted Kaka, “they keep flying off when I try to shoot them”.

“I suggest, shooting quicker then” called out Requiem.

“Where did they go?” asked Zippy.

Alan scanned the skyline.  He knew they were there somewhere and he knew their next stage of attack would be soon, he just didn’t know when.

“There” called out Lucky as she pointed.

Oh hell, here we go again thought Alan as he targeted the flying enemies.

Alan couldn't believe his eyes when his well placed throw took out one of the enemy whilst flying his jetpack.  If only the rest of them could go that easy thought Alan.

“That thing with the detonator may have worked once” Zeshaun said into the comm., “But how are we going to take out the rest of them?”

“I guess we’ll just have to wait for them to run out of ammunition or fuel” Kaka said.

Alan nodded, he wished that they could take out the rest of the flying enemies but they had the clear advantage over the squad and it was not tactically viable to try to finish them off whilst they still had their jetpacks on.  Lucky knew this also as she led the squad quickly into a ditch.

Alan could hear them circling overhead.  The whine of their engines was sending a chill through him.  The enemy fired repeatedly at the ground but could not get a fix on the squad.  This is going to work thought Alan, wondering how much fuel the jetpacks had left.

"Grenade!" exclaimed Zippy.

Alan whirled his head around, his eyes widened as he realised the enemy had started throwing grenades at them.  One of them had landed directly in the ditch.  Some of the squad had already clambered out of the ditch and Alan was quickly after them.  The grenade exploded, Alan was caught up in the tail end of the explosion and was thrown to the ground.

"You alright?" asked Lucky as Alan looked up and saw her leaning down, her hand outstretched.

"Yeah, I'm fine" replied Alan as he took her hand and let her help him up.

"Well this is great" commented Njall, "now what do we do?"

Alan glanced over at Lucky.

"We fight" said Lucky.

"Everyone okay?" Lucky called.

Everyone grumbled all of them quickly taking cover from another possible attack from the jet troopers.

"Wait a minute" said Alan as he glanced around the squad, suddenly realising that they were one person short.  "Where's Kaka?"

The squad seemed surprised by the question and even more surprised when after looking through their ranks, they too could not see him.

"Over here" called out Kaka.

Alan glanced over and spotted Kaka who was emerging from a smaller room.  His armour was coated with a layer of dust and Alan had to assume that that room had taken a pounding also.

"You have to see this" said Kaka.

The squad crawled through the debris and into the other room.  It too had been demolished with large parts of the walls strewn across the floor.  Then Alan noticed what Kaka had been talking about.  Littered across the floor were several jetpacks, probably the same ones as was being used by their attackers.

"I don't see what use these are" commented Njall, "they look broken to me".

"Not all of them" called out Requiem, who had immediately began looking through them to see if there were any that was still in working order.

"Well let's use it to kick their asses for a change" exclaimed Zippy.

"I volunteer for that" chimed in Zeshaun.

Alan shook his head.  He didn't need to have Zeshaun's helmet off to know that he was grinning from ear to ear and practically hopping up and down on the spot to get strapped into the jetpack.

"No" called out Lucky, "you were not around in Paladin when we used these.  I have more time flying these than you do.  I'll go".

Alan didn't like the sound of that at all and added "wait a second, I have just as much fly time in those things as you do and besides which, you are more important to the squad.  It should be me that goes".

"True, but I've been itching to get into one of those things ever since Paladin stopped using them.  I'll be fine" replied Lucky.

"You'd better be" warned Alan as he watched her strap on the jetpack.  He swore that he would make sure he would protect her especially after their last mission and now here she was again, going somewhere where he couldn't protect her.

Lucky nodded to him as she finished buckling herself in.  Alan watched as she activated the jetpack.  Her body flew high in the air.  The only thing he could make out was the plume of smoke coming from the jetpack as it soared high.

"Let's give her some assistance" said Alan as he waved the squad out of the remains of the building.  Be safe Lucky he thought as he got ready for the jetpackers to return.

"Our main objective is to find out what PharmCorp is hiding and to have a private talk with the boss, lets move."  Lucky ordered

The squad moved slowly and cautiously into the hallway of the PharmCorp building, keeping a lookout for any more mercenaries.  They hadn’t gone to far when they heard a voice coming from a nearby room.  A voice that was ominous and……. familiar.  They heard part of what he was saying waft down the hallway.

“Maybe this will change your mind.”

Suddenly, a blaster shot sounded from the outside, and there was a scream from outside the building.  The squad ran into an empty room and peeked outside.  There, they saw the dead body of two men, both wearing the uniform of Nubian Star Drives.  One of the men was gripping a blaster. 

“I remember that voice.”  Requiem remarked, “That was the man in the holo that warned us to stay away.  Maybe he’s around here and can give us some answers.”

The squad didn’t have to go that far.  Njall looked into the room two doors down and motioned the squad over.

“Look, there he is!” Njall said

“Alright, in case this goes wrong I want us to split up” Lucky said, “I will go in with Njall, Zeshaun and Zippy.  Alan, you will take Requiem and Kaka and hide in the next room, we will send for help if we need it”
Njall could tell that Alan wanted to object, but he went along with the plan.  Once Alan’s group was out of sight, Lucky motioned for her group to move. The four of them ran into the room and quickly surrounded the man.  It was the same one from the holo all right.  The squad however, failed to notice the man press a button built into the desk.

“We have some questions for you, and if you don’t want to get hurt it would be in your best interests to answer them” Lucky said, in a forceful tone

“I think you’ll be the ones hurting after this” the man said with a sneer, as he motioned towards the doorway

Ten cloaked men stood there, gripping their blasters tightly. 

I think the would be a good time for help Njall thought, but before he could say anything, he heard Lucky send the help signal, it barely being sent before the cloaked men closed in.

Zeshaun left one finger on the trigger of his blaster as he pulled off the hood on the cloaked figure. The light revealed a furry wolf like head easily identifiable as a bothan. what the hell are these things doing here? Zeshaun wondered. He kicked the weapon away from the dead bothan's hands, just to be safe, revealing the weapon as one of the bothan's signature weapons, the incinerator.

"Good thing none of us got hit." Alan said nervously.

Zeshaun nodded, the squad went around the room uncloaking the other dead bodies revealing 7 bothan's and the one guy that Alan had blasted the face off of, most likely a bothan as well. The only guy that they failed to kill was the man from the hologram. There was only one way out, other than the way they had come in Looks like he ran that way Zeshaun got up from his knees, kicked the body one more time and rejoined the squad by the door.

"Looks like we'll have to catch that guy if we want our questions answered." Lucky said, "We'll search through the building, we shouldn't split up, we don't know how many more bothans are around and you don't want to go up against one of them alone."

The squad nodded and followed her don the hallway. It was lit very brightly and the pure white walls made it seem even brighter. Even with the light adjustment on the helmets Zeshaun still have to squint a little from he bright light. when would you ever need to have lights this bright Zeshaun thought making his way down the hall. It was surprisingly long and without a single window or door, he wasn't sure how far up or down they were going. As they walked Zeshaun noticed that the hallway was full of little security cameras, and they moved following the squads advancement they're not looking to be discreet Zeshaun thought, the cameras were as big as a blaster and were black, making them pop out from the white walls.

"Is anyone else getting freaked out by this white hallway." Kaka asked.

Everyone laughed nervously, after such a bold attempt to kill them in the room before, the peace and serenity of the hallway was making everyone jumpy. Is it just me or is it getting hot in here Zeshaun could feel his sweat building on his forehead but was afraid to take his helmet off. He looked around and saw that his squadmates were also starting to show signs of over heating.

"Anyone got any water?" Njall asked.

"Screw water, how bought some whisky?" Alan said.

The squad laughed nervously again, something's not right Zeshaun finally took off his helmet and wiped his forehead and quickly put it back on. He put his hand on his assault rifle feeling a slight sign of fear in his gut. A sudden blue image appeared of a hutt, middle age by the looks of it. Zeshaun almost emptied a whole round of bullets before he realized that it was a hologram or a large hutt.

"Hello, I'm Pratt, the owner of PharmCorp, I see you didn't listen to my customer service agent." the hutt said

"Well they didn't do a very good job at welcoming us." Lucky said through gritted teeth.

By now the room was recognizably hotter, and Zeshaun was sweating buckets in his armor.

"Since you didn't want to listen to his warning I guess you'll just have to suffer, this hallway will heat up until you all die from dehydration and exhaustion." the image of the hutt fizzled and then dissappeared.

The squad stood stunned for a moment, then quickly started talking all at once. Lucky silence all of them and then brought them together in a little pow-wow. They decided to search the hallway for some way out, there had to be an air vent or door.

The squad moved down the hall at a quicker pace, searching for a way out from the white oven.

"Over here!" Zippy yelled.

Zippy stood next to a blank wall. The squad formed up around him and just stared blankly at the space he was pointing to. They all gave Zippy scrutinizing looks.

"I think the heats gotten to your head." Zeshaun said.

Zippy just shook his head, he revealed a thermal detonator and placed it on the door and started to run. The rest of the squad quickly dispersed and got as far away as they could before the detonator went off. After clearing the smoke, Zeshaun peered into a whole in the wall that lead downards down a less lighted hall lined with doors and more hallways.

"I guess the heat wasn't getting to your head." Zeshaun murmured as the squad stepped out of the heated hallway and into the darker hall.

Zeshaun stared out the window not quite hearing what Alan had said before and was almost left behind as the squad departed to try and put a stop to the hutt's plans. Zeshaun jogged to catch up with the rest of the squad. He placed his rifle in his hands and followed Zippy who was at the back of the column. Lucky lead them deeper into the building passing hundreds of doors and windows, most of the windows showed different angles of the large compilation of mercenaries, local soldiers, and weapons that was in the huge room.

"Where are we going exactly..." Zeshaun piped up from the back.

Alan turned his head "to stop the hutt."

Zeshaun rolled his eyes and just followed the group through the hallways. As he walked he kept hearing footsteps behind him but every time he looked back he saw nothing, no matter how discreet he was he could never catch who or whatever was behind them.

"Guys I think we're being followed by something." Zeshaun said through the comm so that what ever was following them wouldn't hear.

"Okay, everyone keep a sharp lookout." Lucky ordered.

They continued through the halls until they reached a large room, empty except for a few boxes and a small personal carrier with the pilot still sitting, smoking a death stick.

Lucky motioned for everyone to quickly fall back before the pilot noticed them. Alan quickly moved to the front and aimed very carefully with his rifle, it wasn't his usual sniper rifle, but Alan was good enough to take the pilot out in one shot. The shot rang out through the room and the pilot slumped over the controls, blood seeping out of a hole in the side of his head.

The paladin's quickly ran into the room searching for any other threats before they relaxed and started to make their way over to the personal carrier. As he approached the carrier Zeshaun heard the same noise that he had been hearing through out the halls, he turned around quickly bringing his rifle up but saw nothing. The sound came again but this time it was above him. what the hell Zeshaun looked up and was met with the glowing eyes of a magna guard falling from the ceiling, preparing to spear Zeshaun.

Zeshaun quickly dove and rolled away from the guard, the spear pierced the concrete floor where Zeshaun had been standing and now a large magna guard was standing in the middle of the room. Another one dropped in from the ceiling and landed gracefully next to the first. jet troopers, bothans and now this? Zeshaun fell back to the cover of a box. The first magna guard put it's spear away and both revealed blasters in both hands.

"Try to take out one at a time, we can't fight both of them at once but maybe we can take them out if we all gang up on one" Lucky shouted.

Zeshaun popped up from behind his box and snapped off a couple of shots in the droids general direction. He heard at least one shot hit, Zeshaun stuck his head out to see the extent of the damage he caused but only saw the guard aiming their blasters toward his cover.oh shit Zeshaun got up and ran as the boxes he was hiding behind exploded in a shower of splinters. there's no way those are normal blasters Zeshaun saw the rest of the squad frantically running for cover as the magna guards wrecked havoc on anything they hid behind. we're in one hell of a mixup

Zeshaun frantically searched the room for some kind of way to put a stop to their electro staves. Zeshaun shot toward the magna guards general direction once in a while just to keep them from advancing on him. I don't even know what I'm looking for Zeshaun thought. He scanned the room again, and something swinging in the sky caught his eye not another one Zeshaun was afraid it was another magna guard but it was a bundle of beams hanging from a crane on the ceiling, apparently this building was under construction. Zeshaun followed the strings that were holding the beams up and found that they were attatched to a mechanized pulley system. those beams should do a number on those guards.

"The beams hanging from the roof, should be enough to take out at least one magna guard." Zeshaun announced through the comm.

"How are you planning on keeping the guards in one place long enough..." Lucky asked skeptically.

Zeshaun didn't say anything, he grinned under his helmet and took off, running toward the guards. He shot a couple shots in the air to get their attention. The magna guards immediately started chasing after him, closing in on him with every step they took. Zeshaun ran around the room, making cuts in random directions to keep them off his back for that much longer.

"Alright, get them to stand about 3 feet infront of that personnel carrier." Alan said.

"better not hurt the carrier, I'm looking forward to driving this thing around the building." Zeshaun said.

He didn't get a reply back and so he just sprinted toward the carrier, he stopped and turned and started to shoot, the magna guards slowed and started to encircle his position, just as they stepped into range of the bars, Zeshaun heard a burst of laser fire, and then the sound of a rope ssnapping. He looked up to see the bundle tumbling down toward the ground.

The magna guards looked up, looking as surprised as a droid could look. They both dove out of the way but one of the beams landed on the back of one of the magna guards with such force that it split the body in two. holy shit Zeshaun's jaw dropped from the sight. The destroyed magna guard crawled along the ground using it's hands to move, leaving the lower half of it's body behind. Zeshaun ran over, quickly snatched up the electro staff that the droid had dropped and plunged it into the center of the droids head.

"serves you right." Zeshaun muttered under his breath.

He was breathing hard from running around so much, and he leaned his back against the carrier, almost forgetting that there was a second magna guards. Zeshaun ducked just in time as he saw the purple tip of the electro staff coming toward his head. The spear plunged into the side of the carrier, not again Zeshaun rolled and started running again.

"Help please." Zeshaun said in between breaths into the comm.

Zeshaun ran around for a bit before he realized that he was still holding the electro staff in his hand. He started running toward the squad. As he passed Alan he threw the staff toward his general direction. Alan quickly dropped both of his blasters and snatched the staff out of the air.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Alan asked.

"Sorry, but I'm done running, go fight that guard with the staff, it's the only way to stop him." Zeshaun said in as dramatic a voice as he could conjure up.

"Have I ever told you that I hate you?" Alan said jokingly.

"Just go kill the guards."

Zeshaun stopped at a wall and sunk down to the ground. I haven't run this much since....well ever Zeshaun caught his breath reloaded his rifle and started firing shots toward the guard. As the guard advanced on Zeshaun's position, Alan ran forward thrusting the spear into the back of the guard. The guard gave a very painful look and turned around to face Alan.

"Well that didn't work as well as I though it would." Alan said nervously.

"Alan move!" Zeshaun shouted as the magna guard brought up it's own staff to skewer Alan.

Zeshaun let out a sigh of relief as he saw that Alan was able to save himself from the brutal strike the magna guard would have landed on him if not for Alan's instincts. Zeshaun stood himself up, reloaded his rifle and started to chase after the magna guard which now happened to be wielding both electro staffs. Alan was helplessly firing at the magna guard from the ground. gotta go help him Zeshaun thought. Luckily the rest of the squad was moving in to help him as well, that should hold it off for a few minutes Zeshaun quickly searched the room again for some kind of miracle weapon that could kill the guard, his eyes fell upon the carrier.

Zeshaun dashed across the open room toward the carrier and popped the door open. He dragged the dead body of the pilot out into the passenger are and turned the keys. He pressed  a few buttons and then turned the carrier to face the magna guard. He clicked the carrier into gear.

"Eat this!" Zeshaun yelled.

He pushed the carrier forward, aiming straight for the guard that was advancing on the rest of the paladin's. The guard turned away from the squad and faced Zeshaun and the carrier. Zeshaun pushed the carrier faster, the guard stuck both electro staffs into the ground and set himself in a defensive position. oh crap Zeshaun got up from his seat and ran to the back of the carrier, realizing that the guard was planning to skewer him with the spears. The carrier smashed into the spears that the guard had set up, smashing through the control pannels, and piercing the two chairs in the cockpit.

The spears plunged into the carrier, cutting the front into three pieces, but the carrier was going to fast for it to be stopped, it slammed into the body of the guard, smashing it into the wall behind it. Zeshaun was thrown into the air by the impact and landed hard against the wall of the carrier and back onto the floor the tip of one of the electro staffs right next to his head. damn that was close Zeshaun picked himself up and started to limp toward the exit when he was tripped up by something. He looked down and saw the arm of the magna guard holding onto his leg, tightening it's grip. Zeshaun followed the arm and saw it was connected to half of the body of the magna guard. what is it with these guys Zeshaun tried to pull free but even with it's lower half gone, it was stronger than Zeshaun.

Zeshaun kicked the arm, but nothing happened, he pulled out one of his blasters and started to shoot at it's head, the guard just used it's other hand to block the shots. I'm doomed. Zeshaun started to call out for help but he wasn't sure that the rest of the squad could hear him. Zeshaun kicked the droid in the head but it only ended up making the droid angrier than it already was.

The magna guard started to drag Zeshaun back toward it, in the other hand it revealed a vibroblade. that's not good Zeshun desperately tried to hold onto different things within the carrier but he couldn't find anything stable. Zeshaun watched the guard raise the vibroblade and bring it down, he closed his eyes but felt nothing.

"That was close." he heard Alan's voice over his head.

Alan was standing over him, blasters poineted at the magna guard. He had shot out it's eyes, killing it. Zeshaun shook his leg loose and stood up.

"Thanks."

"Don't worry about it." Alan said helping Zeshaun off the carrier.

"After all this, I don't know if this world is worth saving." Zeshaun said with a smile.

Tensing, she walked onward slowly, being careful to make the least noise possible. She had a very bad feeling in her gut, it was a cold and hard feeling that intensified after each step she took. At a junction, she stopped not too sure if they should press on or stay put. as she was turning her head to speak with Alan, she heard a sound that sent a chill down her spine.

Readying her rifle, she took one step forward and peeked around the corner but retreated just in time as a bolt whizzed by her ear. Two droidekas were stationed in the hallway which she wanted to access, when she had retreated the shots stopped. They were waiting for them to come out, paladin wouldn't be taken out this easily.

"Anyone who has a grenade, use them", taking out two grenades of her own, she took a giant step forward and threw the grenade in a looping motion before stepping back.  There were two detonations but she could still hear firing going on, motioning wit hher hand she invited the squad to join in the fun.

“Let’s backtrack” said Lucky, “there is no way through those shields and we aren’t going to be any good if we just sit here”.

“We going to try and find another way down?” asked Alan.

“No, my guess is that this Hutt will have placed shields up at key locations preventing us getting to him” replied Lucky.

“So what are we going to do?” asked Zeshaun.

“If we could find a terminal, maybe I could bring the shields down” commented Requiem.

“My thoughts exactly Req” said Lucky.

“Great, first Bothans, then magna guards and now droideka’s, what next, a krayt dragon” commented Njall sarcastically.

“Hey, how come he never gets into trouble for saying stuff like that and I do” objected Zeshaun.

“Because his never comes true, yours do.  If we do happen to get attacked by a krayt dragon then yes, he will be in trouble” said Alan.

“Guys, let’s go” ordered Lucky.

The squad followed Lucky down the corridor back the way they had come.  This time the squad started checking the doors, hoping to find a terminal so they could bring the shields down.

“Bingo!” exclaimed Zippy.

The squad quickly filed into the room and Requiem set to work about accessing the terminal.  The squad stood guard, making sure that nothing attacked them whilst they were trying to break into the system.

“Ok, I’m in” called out Requiem as he carried to work on the system.  “Damn” he called out after a while.

“What’s wrong?” asked Lucky.

“They have a very complex security protocol for the shields, I know where they are and I can turn them on but I can’t turn them off” said Requiem.

“Show me” said Lucky as she kneeled down.

“There” said Requiem as he brought up a schematic of the shields around the base.

“I know how to fix that” said Lucky as she smiled.  Her hands moved fast across the terminal and Alan glanced over her shoulder and chuckled to himself as he watched every single shield in the base coming on.

“Oh great, now we are going nowhere” said Njall.

“True, but neither are they if they don’t turn off the shields” replied Lucky.

True enough, it took a few minutes as the squad watched apprehensively at the terminal, but one by one the shields were lowered.

“Good thinking Lucky” said Zeshaun.

“Thanks, now let’s get back and take care of those droidekas” replied Lucky.

The squad filed out of the room and started to proceed back to where the droideka’s were.  Zeshaun glanced around to get his bearings.

“Wait a second” called out Zeshaun.

Lucky turned around to see what the problem was and watched as Zeshaun ran off away from the squad.  Where the hell is he going thought Alan.  Zeshaun returned quickly with a big grin on his face.

“I thought these might come in handy” said Zeshaun.

Alan shook his head in disbelief and thought to himself that only Zeshaun could come up with something like that.  Before them, Zeshaun stood with both electro staff’s and Alan wondered how the droideka’s would fare against such technology.