PALADIN

"Fall back" ordered Lucky, "fall back now!

Zeshaun quickly looked down at his watch to check how much time was left not a moment too soon Zeshaun thought as he killed one more rebel before starting to run toward the exit where Alpha squad and Sergeant Barandos were waiting for them. The rebels fired after them, not exactly sure why the storm troopers were running, but they weren’t complaining. The Paladin’s arrived at the exit with only 30 seconds to spare. Lucky quickly ushered everyone on the other side of the blast doors, shut them, made sure they were locked and then made a quick head count to make sure they did not forget anyone. Zeshaun took off his helmet, feeling a sense of security on the other side of the blast doors, and watched eagerly as Lucky started a countdown.

“5…4…3…2…1” Lucky’s voice was cut off by a deafening explosion.

Even though they knew that they were safe on the other side of the door, Tk_421 and Leon both jumped, and steadied themselves on the walls. Zeshaun listened in satisfaction as the sound of exploding ships and burning crates filled the halls. Zeshaun looked at the blast doors imagining the scene on the other side when something large hit the blast doors, denting it inwards. Zeshaun jumped back and fell to the ground.

“You alright?” Alan asked with a hint of a smile on his voice.

“I’m fine.” Zeshaun said slightly embarrassed, he put his helmet back on, his sense of security now gone.



Captain Asuka, the highest ranking officer in the hangar at the moment, was surprised to see the well trained storm troopers running for an exit. I know we’re good but we’re not that good He thought as he confusedly shot at the backs of the fleeing storm troopers.

“Sir, they’re retreating!” One of the newer pilots yelled excitedly.

“Don’t be so sure…” Corporal Jones said suspicious of the imperial soldiers.

Captain Asuka watched as the Imperials exited the hangar, and closed the blast doors. The pilot’s excitedly let out a victorious cheer, and Corporal Porter of the pilot’s ordered the remaining pilots to man their star fighters to engage the newly arrived imperial fighters. The pilots sprinted to their ships and jumped in, starting the engines. Captain Asuka stood next to Corporal Jones, both of them not quite feeling the sense of joy they should be feeling after defeating a squad of storm troopers.

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Corporal Jones mumbled as he holstered his blaster and looked toward his Captain for orders.

“Let’s get out of here.” Captain Asuka said, cradling his head in his hands hand rubbing his eyes. “Maybe we can catch those yellow stormies before they get off the ship.”

He approached the blast doors when he realized that they had been locked from the other side, probably by some kind of hack. oh no The captain realized too late that they had just walked into a trap.

“RU-” The captain’s words were cut off by an A-wing that exploded right next to them.

The blaster cannon from the A-wing flew off and pierced the captain through the stomach, and lodging into the blast doors.  The corporal came limping over, it seemed that the corporal had a broken leg, and was clutching his arm, which was bleeding profusely. The captain’s vision became blurry, and he could hear his corporal’s voice but it seemed far away. He slipped into darkness as he saw a metal box smash his corporal’s head against the wall.

Corporal Porter had started up the hover mechanism when his systems showed some extra weight on the engine of his X-wing I’ll deal with that later He pushed down on the thrusters and as he edged toward the exit of the hangar, a sudden explosion engulfed the Y-wing in front of him, clipping the nose of his fighter, and then his engine exploded, the split second before his X-wing was engulfed in flames, he realized that they had been tricked.

The whole hangar was one big inferno, the ships exploding one after another, some made it out of the cruiser but soon exploded as it reached space. Some of the soldiers were able to avoid all the explosions and were desperately trying to find a safe way out of the hangar, but the heat would soon be too much for them and they passed out, leaving them lying on the floor in front of the blast doors. The black charred forms of what used to be Y-wings, X-wing, A-wings and B-wings littered the hangar, crates of supplies were set ablaze. The explosion had shaken loose rafters and they began to fall from the ceiling, crushing what was left of the ships and killing any remaining soldiers.



“I think it’s over.” Sergeant Barandos said triumphantly.

“Let’s check.” Zeshaun said, moving toward the hand pad.

He placed his hand on the scanner and immedietly pulled it away, he looked at his hand and his armor was melted in certain points. He turned back toward Lucky and asked her to hack through the door. Alan laughed and examined his melted armor. Lucky typed a few things into her data pad and the doors slid open, but jammed on something on the other side. Alan cautiously slipped through the small gap and stood inside the hangar once again. The rest of the squad followed, Sergeant Barandos and Alpha squad followed them.

Alan whistled in admiration at the damage their charges had caused. Zeshaun nearly threw up when he saw the two bodies near the exit. The one causing the jam seemed to have some kind of pole or spike through his stomach, and his eyes were still open. The other had his head crushed against the wall; the heat had crystallized the blood on the wall, leaving a splattered pattern.

“That went better than I thought.” Lucky said in a state of admiration.

BLACKJACK
*************************************************************************************
Inside the New Republic Headquarters, Eriadu

The Stormtroopers of BlackJack Squad were much relieved, encountering no further resistance after clearing the section with sewer access and making their way toward the main entrance.  Wrex showed some fancy knifework in the last melee, having efficiently dispatched more than his share of lone guards.  The plattoon of Wookies, Bothans and Gand was not any trooper's definition of minimal resistence.  In fact an almost surpising number of hallways and rooms were empty...

Spotting the main lobby and at least thirty or so New Republic Troopers, Bothans and Humans.  The stormtroopers gave silent prayers of thanks for not facing Wookie Infantry or worse.  Tanu and Tank opened fire with the Stoukers, sending bodies flying.  One Republic Trooper went grenadier, deftly lobbing a plasma grenade into the midst of the Imperial squad.  Set to contact trigger it detonated as it bounced off of Reese's armor.

The concussive force was enough to send the Stormtroopers airborne on ballistic trajectories.  As Alater, Tanus, Garryll and Tank were at the front of the squad, the blast sent them at the Republic Troopers, while the rest slammed into the walls or back down the corridor.  Alater's ultra-tough hide allowed him to recover immediately.  As he landed among the Republic Troopers he tores into them with hands and tail, ejoying himself as he tore the grenadier in two.

Garryll and Tank were on their feet next.  Too close to use Stoukers or support weapons they drew their respective blades; Gates showing off his skill with the M32 combat knife.  Tank wasn't skilled enough to compete with his Assistant Squad Leader and so settled for using his Ryyk and M32 to inflict as much hurt as possible.  Tanus used the Stouker as a club until he had enough space to switch weapons.

Hurt was not just redefined but unleashed as Tanus demonstrated what his warhammer could do.  Meanwhile the others had recovered and waded into the fray.  Wrex, pissed as hell from being shot down the hall from the grenade's blast, took it out on the every Republic Trooper he could get his hands on.

Kestrel, Semaj, Inyk and reese were content to use their squad-issued Annihilator heavy blasters at point-blank.  The messy decapitatiions constantly repainted their armor, but the built-in wiper automatically cleaned gore off their visors, leaving them clear to acquire another victim of imperial vengeance.

With the New Republic Troopers' fortified position suddenly not so fortified, those still trying to repulse the three squads from the 37th Battalion had their attention divided.  A fatal mistake the tiring and ticked-off troopers of the 37th were quick to exploit, concentrating fire on the defenders from their position outside the HQ.  Two defenders fell immediately from the whithering fire, a third soon followed under the unrelenting assault.  With Ryyk and Toothpick in hand Tank was literally cutting down Republic Troopers from the inside as Wrex and Alater took a far more brutal, 'hands-on' approach.

Outside the shooting was increasingly one-sided, untill finally the defenders' guns fell silent.  Watching cautiously for what the rebels might try, they were overjoyed to see some of the stormies of BlackJack Squad emerge to wave them in as Tanus gave the 'all clear' over the encrypted frequency assigned to the troopers of the 37th Battalion.  The lobby was strewn with bodies as the Imperials regrouped and prepared for the next stage of the operation.

It was a bloody mess alright, in more ways than one.  As he looked about, Tank noted some squadmates made no effort to clean up their armor, but it did make them look more intimidating.  Hmmn...  Tank was glad that they had fought their way through so many.  Can't help feeling like more will pop out from nowhere though.  Maybe I'm just jumpy from the Wookie Infantry and Berserkers we ran into.  Intel didn't have any thing on them.  Thank the Force we all made it through!  I wonder what's next... 

As Tanus and the CO of the 37th reported to their superiors, the BlackJack troopers assisted in patching up the light wounds the troopers of the 37th had suffered in their assault; thankfully no casualties.  Yet.  The 37th had also brought with them additional ammunition for BlackJack.  The Stormtroopers didn't have to wait long for their orders to come in.  This time the signal was stronger and clearer, with virtually no lag time...

JESTER

Most of the buildings and and venues that littered the streets of Eridau were filled with smoke and fire in the aftermath of all the proximity minds exploding one after the other as the wake of the rest of the squad had run through. Lukas moved up first with his rifle drawn as he was yet again met with rifle fire from above, as he ducked behind a torn up venue. Abalar and Kiption stayed back to avoid further injury so Abalar would be Lukas's eyes for what he couldn't see.

Abalar looked through the detached scope off her rifle as she spotted a squad of New Republic troopers and a few snipers perched behind them for support, she then relayed it to Lukas. Lukas poked his head over the counter of the venue and popped off a few shots, hitting one soldier in the neck. The other three troopers advanced up on Lukas's position rather quickly. In doing so, Lukas switched out his rifle for his pistol as he dove over the venue counter and shot all three troopers in quick sucession as a few shots flew over his head from the cover of the snipers.

"The snipers are up ahead of you grouped by a few speeders. They should be easy to take out from where you are..", Abalar said into her mic. Lukas wasted no time in downing them both a few minutes after looking for them. Looking around Lukas spotted a side house that looked like it had been abandoned over the past 6 months from its condition. Lukas ran back and heaved up Kiption carrying him on his back as Abalar followed along going into the sidehouse. Closing the door behind them, Lukas and co. followed as he set Kiption down on an old couch.

"Abalar...I want you and Kiption to stay here while I go and help the rest of the squad.", Lukas said to the other two. Abalar looked at Lukas and nodded her head slowly while Kiption just groaned as he continued to talk.

"I promise to come back and get you, no one should disturb you here because I think the majority of them are after us and protecting the Colonel and Governor..", Lukas said in a hushed voice.

The chatter on he squadnet was getting more and more hectic as Jegora, Mai, and Jager talked to one another it looked like they could use another man. And with that Lukas was out the door, he locked it on his way out and headed off towards one of the New Republic speeders.

Jager's name had been mentioned over the comnet, Lukas noticed in the midst of battle he hadn't replied so on the way to there position Lukas knew he could take care of himself so he had no need to worry about the hardened vet of years of experience.

Hopping on the speeder Lukas punched it into full throttle as he buzzed off in a trail of dust flying off at high speed towards the position of Jester squad and the bearing down Skiff that was ontop of them almost literally.

"Mai, Bright, anyone that can hear me...I am on my way to help.", Lukas said in a confident voice, hoping he would give them a bit of hope in this desolate time.

Lukas only hoped he could reach them in time as the Skiff came into view as it flew over without noticing him as he weaved in and out of piles of wreckage and dead corpses...

PALADIN

Occasionally glancing at the spectacle that lay beyond the doors, she glanced down at her datapad when she received an audible notification of having received the next set of objectives. Having a quick read, she glanced around at the squad before speaking.
“Our next objective is to capture or kill Captain Ruron he’ll be a hard one to catch. He runs whenever things go south; expect heavy opposition as we near the bridge. He will be either in the bridge or his quarters, which are situated near the bridge. The squads which have been aiding us so far will not be doing so beyond this point, they’re tasked with disabling the Liberty’s engines. We’re on our own for this one guys, let’s move out!”
Taking off her helmet and wiping the sweat off her brow, she surveyed the area one last time to ensure there were no more nasty surprises, the task complete, she nodded to herself more than at anyone and moved to where Alpha squad had come from. The bridge was a few floors up still, which discouraged her slightly. Klaxons were blaring off in the distance, probably one of the pilots who had activated an emergency alarm right before the fight began.
Shivering slightly at the thought of what Ruron was plotting for them, she moved about the empty corridors very silently, when it was this still she was sensitive to sound. As they approached the bank of turbolifts, she wasn’t sure if it was the wisest of decisions seeing the pile of bodies which littered the floor. Looking up, she saw a hatch not far from the lift, she would feel better if they used the hatches and climbed their way up. The squad knew what she was thinking; she could hear a few groans as the squad looked at her for direction. She knew exactly what they were feeling. Her body ached all over, the pain ran practically bone deep, and she longed for a hot cup of coffee and a good meal and was in need of a rest. Mentally she was sound, physically she felt herself about to fall apart.

Taking a mighty leap upwards, she managed to grab hold of the hatch handle and pull it down with her, opening the hatch with a hiss. Some had their weapons at the ready, expecting to find Rebels hiding comfily, awaiting their appearing act. Taking a deep sigh of relief, she leapt up once more, got hold of one of the rungs and hauled her body up and climbed up a few rungs, indicating the squad follow her.

“I know you guys would rather take the turbolift, trust me, I’d like that as well but seeing as our arrival was anticipated and we had to create a circus. Now either way, there’s a chance we get located here, but if we had taken the turbolift and five hundred guards were waiting for us on the otherside…Well, you guys get my point. Our bodies ache, we’re tired and quite possibly all hungry, I know I am. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we get to go home.”
As she climbed slowly, cautiously, she wished for this to be over very soon.

PALADIN

Zeshaun fell out of the hatch and sucked in a much needed breath of air.  He was about to take off his helmet and take in a true breath of fresh air when he felt the ground vibrating, and was reinforced by Greywolf yelling.

“Guys we’ve got company!”

Zeshaun took his hand off his helmet, looked up and could see some well armored guards coming down the hall. He punched the ground When will this end Zeshaun thought, they had been constantly under physical stress and Zeshaun was really starting to feel it on his body. His muscle’s were sore, and he felt that even his bones were aching. He picked himself up from the ground, lent a hand to Njall and grabbed his assault rifle and didn’t wait for Lucky’s orders. He started to fire toward the incoming squad of guards.  He hit one in the face, about the only place not fully covered by armor. His shot pierced the black visor, and left a hole where the man’s mouth used to be.

“Nice shot.” Alan said, joining Zeshaun in firing at the guards.

The guards started to fire back, and it was difficult to find any sort of cover in the hallway.

“Let’s find a safer place to fight.” Lucky said, yelling over the sound of blasters.

The squad started to fall back, and turned the corner to catch their breath, in this corridor, there was a stack of boxes stacked up next to the wall. Zeshaun started to immediately grab the boxes and make a small barricade in the hallway where they could stand off against the guards. The rest of the squad quickly joined in and in a matter of seconds they had a barrier of crates set up, and they all waited for the guards. The footsteps got louder and just as they turned the corner, the Paladin’s fired a volley of blaster bolts in their direction, catching them off guard. Two more of the guards fell to the ground, and the others retreated back around the corner, firing back whenever the opportunity arose.

“We can’t waste time here.” Alan said, shooting at the hands and arms that reached around the corner to fire back at them.

“We sure could use Sergeant Barandos right about now.” Zeshaun wished.

might as well use one of these Zeshaun thought as he sifted through his bag and grabbed a grenade. He double checked to make sure that he had a real grenade this time; he loaded it into his grenade launcher and aimed down the hall. He tenderly pulled the trigger; a thumping noise accompanied the launching of the grenade down the hall. It bounced off the  far wall and disappeared around the corner.

“Wait for it,” Zeshaun whispered to himself. “Wait for it…”

The explosion spewed out smoke into their hallway and discombobulated guards stumbled out from around the corner, Zeshaun was surprised that almost none of the guard were taken out by the grenade, these guys are tougher than I thought He thought switching back to his rifle function and started to fire at the stumbling, bumbling, guards. The squad joined in and soon the guards were ducking and diving for cover.

“We got them!” Alan yelled. “Don’t let any of them get away.”

The Paladin’s finished off the guards, leaving a mess of bodies in the hall. Zeshaun stood from behind the crate barricade, and carefully observed the situation, and deemed it safe.

“We should probably get moving.” Lucky suggested, reloading her rifle.

“Don’t know when they’ll be sending their next wave of troops.” Alan added, holstering his DL-44’s.

Zeshaun slung his assault rifle over his shoulder and followed Alan and Lucky down the hall. They continued down the bland hallways, stopping every so often to determine which way the bridge was.



Captain Ruron, rubbed his temples, This is not what I signed up for. he thought as he swiveled in his chair on the bridge to receive a message from his officer.

“Sir, we can’t make contact with Freedom Squad.” The officer said, saluting crisply. “We have reason to believe they have been taken out by the imperial soldiers.”

Captain Ruron slammed his fist on the table, sending more of his figures off the table, and knocked them over. If he had hair, he would have been grabbing it and pulling it out. He quickly tapped in a code on the datapad on his chair. A hologram of his second in command popped up.

“Yes captain?” The officer said.

“Dispatch all remaining units throughout the ship,” He seethed. “Search every inch of this ship, and if the imp’s aren’t dead within the next hour, I will personally kill each and every guard involved.” He trailed off, wiped sweat from his brow and continued he wasn’t aware that he had been yelling.  “That includes you officer.”

“Yes sir.” The officer said without faltering, his image faded.



“Do you hear those footsteps?” Njall asked looking around the hall.

“Unfortunately, yes.” Lucky said continuing down the hall.

“Then why are we stopped?” Zeshaun asked, sarcastically.

The squad ran, down the hall and turned corners faster than Zeshaun could count. A pair of guards came strolling around a corner. The squad sped by them, Zeshaun went a little out of his way to push the guards over and leave them on the ground, confused and unsure of what to do. The Paladin’s continued running down the halls when they ran into another larger group of guards.

“Paladin’s attack!” Lucky yelled, revealing her rifle and aggressively advancing on the guards.

PALADIN

Zeshaun got in the turbolift along with the rest of the squad, with everyone in there it was a tight fit but it worked. The doors closed on the turbolift as the guards came running down the hall, firing their blasters trying to hit something, but as the doors were open just a sliver, Zeshaun could have sworn he saw one of the guards take off his helmet, and smile.

“What now?” Leon asked, “They probably know we’re coming right?”

“I’m counting on it.” Lucky said, pulling out her datapad and starting to tap away.

“What are you up too?”

Zeshaun was about to ask again when the turbo lift suddenly stopped moving, and Lucky moved up to the door, and forcibly opened them, revealing a mess of wires and a lot of metal beams.

“Everyone out, “ She said waving her arms to emphasize her point. “We need to move quick or else they might notice that we stopped.”

Without questioning the squad climbed up the beams on the side of the turbo lift shaft, and Lucky shut the doors again, pressing a button the datapad to start sending it up again. The squad clung to the beams and watched the turbolift go up. Zeshaun turned toward Lucky, wondering if she had a plan.

“We’ll climb to the top now,” She said, looking upwards “We can try and catch everyone off guard by sneaking in.”

“We have to climb?” Njall complained. “You couldn’t have let us off a little higher up?” He said in his usual sarcastic voice.

“Quit your crying.” TK_421 said following Lucky’s gaze upwards. “Besides, the longer you talk the longer it’ll take.”

The squad started to climb, beam by beam, up toward the bridge of the ship. The turbolift shaft wasn’t wide enough for the whole squad only four could go at a time, Lucky, Njall, Leon and TK went first, Alan and Zeshaun brought up the rear. After going up a few floors, Zeshaun’s arms were getting very tired. With the combination of all the running and fighting that they had already been doing his muscles felt like putty.

“How much more do you think?” Zeshaun asked Alan, who seemed equally as tired.

“I hope it’s not much.” He said stopping to take a break. “If not, I won’t have any strength to capture the captain once I’m up there.”

Zeshaun smiled and continued climbing. After what seemed like forever, he could finally see the top of bottom of the turbolift that they were on and he could also hear voices, especially one very loud one who seemed very, very angry. Lucky motioned for everyone to be still, and she made motions with her hands to split and move to either side. Zeshaun hadn’t realized earlier that at the top, there were three other turbo lift shafts that were connected to this one. Alan, Zeshaun and Leon positioned themselves behind the door on the left. Lucky, Njall, and TK_421 positioned themselves on the right. Lucky hooked up her datapad to some kind of terminal she had found within the wires from the wall. She quickly typed in a code and then her voice buzzed in through their commlinks on their helmets.

“Everyone ready to go?” She asked. “Once I open these doors, we have to move quickly or we might get caught.”

Everyone responded in some way and then she pressed the button. The doors slid open, and the paladin’s jumped up into the bridge. A trio of guards was standing, guarding the three turbo lift doors and was surprised when the paladin’s climbed through. Zeshaun and Alan both grabbed the guard on either side of the door and threw them down the now open doors, sending them falling to their deaths. Lucky had managed to pin the guard to the wall and then with one swift punch to the throat, and the guard stopped thrashing and fell to the floor.

“The bridge should be right through those doors.” Lucky said, pointing to the blast doors directly in front of them.

"Kriffing Hell."

Lieutenant Collesta uttered a rare curse to no one in particular as she strapped on the last piece of body armor. Grabbing her Stouker Concussion rifle, she slung the weapon over her shoulder and slid on her helmet. She was a warrior, after all. Promoted through the ranks from her exploits on the battlefield. Despite her ever calm demeanor, she loathed sending all those soldiers to their deaths for minimal casualties against the enemy. Worse yet, it seemed Alfonso had fled and was on the run, while Ruron was making his last, ill-fated stand aboard the Liberty.

Indeed, Alfonso had tempted fate with his relentless destruction of civilian freighters. Collesta had known as much as Ruron that his orders had been foolheardy and cruel, but like the true soldier she was, she carried out her orders with no questions asked. Raised in a military family, her father serving the Imperial Army before defecting to the Rebellion, obeying orders was as much a part of her as her own beating heart.

Cuing up her comlink, she dialed in the frequency of her elite commando unit. "Boris, Januik. Get the squad ready and meet me in the command center in 5."

If this was to be her last stand...I'm taking as many of these assholes as I can with me

*        *          *          *

OOC:

BLACKJACK - Third Objective
Mission: Take control of planetside spaceport, which doubles as the NR Naval HQ on the planet.

Objective 2: Track down and capture/kill Lieutenant collesta

Armor/Weapons: Standard Squad Equipment. ONE personal choice weapon.

Details: Having freed up the 37th Batallion's squads to make their way to the mainframe and download intelligence information, Blackjack is to track down Lieutenant Collesta and either capture or kill her. She is believed to be in the command center (17th floor), but is not guaranteed to remain there. BlackJack is currently on the ground floor.

Expected Opposition:Lieutenant Collesta has called in her commando unit she personally commands. They are extremely skilled, on par with the best of the VE's squads. Collesta herself is regarded as the best of them. Expect token resistance until you find her.

Objective Bonus: Killing or capturing her will allow BlackJack to be extracted, completing their participation in the campaign.

JESTER


To say that Bright was exhausted was an understatement. She hadn't been pushed so hard in years. Given the proper chance and setting the Dathomiri born sergeant would revel in the challenge, but Jester was in no condition for her to be taking things in such a way. With Kiption, Abalar, Jager and possibly Hond either severely injured or possibly dead, Bright did not hold out much hope for her survival either.

That last blast from the skiff had been so close that Bright could have sworn it grazed her helmet. Now she was hiding behind the downed speeder, practically the only cover she had left to her. It hit her then.

"Kriffing Hell!" She muttered under her breath as she reached behind her. Their it was, the last thermal detonator she had left. It was a long shot she knew, but while everyone else was making sacrifices today, she might as well do the same.

"Lukas, what is your position?" Bright asked over the com channel.

"I'm about eight hundred meters out, I'm on foot." Lukas replied through a burst of static. Bright grimaced as her ears throbbed at the sound. She hadn't told anybody about her suspicion that she might have a perforated eardrum and that the other may be on its way out. It had been the proximity mines that had done it. But she was well aware that she would have been ordered out of the fight if she had even hinted to Jegora that she had such a serious injury.

Mai dropped down beside her just then a nimble shadow in the growing shadows of the Eriadu sunset. "How far out is it?" Bright asked fighting to keep the pain from her voice and knowing that she failed. The Cathar's senses were far superior to her own and Bright could only imagine what Mai's head felt like right now.

"Two hundred fifty meters. It is trying not to damage the speeder, I think." Mai answered.

"Well, I'm sure it won't take them long to finally see that they can't afford to keep Alfonso alive." Bright said. She looked down for a moment, "Is our smiling friend still trapped in the speeder?" She asked not even bothering to mask the contempt in her voice.

"Yes, but he is conscious and trying to get out. He'll succeed too if we don't do something." Mai responded.

Bright nodded. "Here. I haven't got the strength in my legs to do what you can." Bright said handing Mai the thermal detonator. "Their trigger happy right now." Bright said when the private looked at her dead on. Or at least thats what Bright thought she was doing, it was hard to tell with the helmets on and all. "All you need is a distraction to get that where it should cause some major damage, say the fuels cells for instance. Either way we need to take care of that skiff before we can capture Alfonso, and this is the only Idea I can come up with so I hope it works."

"You are just as crazy as the rest of them." Mai muttered before Bright found that time to put her plan into action.

"If you hang out with the Jester's long enough, you actually start to be one yourself. Glad to have you with us." Bright said as she stood and made a mad dash across the way.

As predicted, as soon as Bright was in sight the skiff started firing. When she had gone out of their firing cone, the skiff turned to tail her. Bright counted the seconds as she ran, estimating the time it would take Mai to get into position. Looking up she found Jegora still on his speeder bike stopped in mid air. What the hell was he waiting for?

A blast of duracrete and gravel close to Bright's right signaled that she was letting her concentration slip. She muttered a few curses and doubled back on her track not letting her opponents get a bead on her.

Bright was just marveling at her luck in managing to avoid any hits when the skiff blasted a speeder in front of her. Bright saw the flash and knew that she would be unable to fully avoid the resulting explosion. Even with that knowledge she dived to her left as the exploding speeder tore itself apart spraying flames and shrapnel everywhere. Bright's armor stopped most of the smaller pieces of shrapnel but it was no match for the long thin piece of plating that went through her heat softened armor and right through her biological shoulder.

Bright hit the ground on her back, her helmet cushioning her head only minutely as stars erupted before her eyes and air was knocked from her lungs. Bright blacked out for a moment and was brought to by the sound of a second explosion and more flying debris.

The skiff. Has to be the skiff. Bright thought as she tried to fight her way to her knees. The spinning in her head made her want to be sick but she swallowed it down and sat up enough to see that Mai had succeeded in a beauty of an explosion. She would have to thank her later.

Miraculously, Bright managed to get to her feet once if only to fall to the ground again. Her head was spinning making it hard for her to focus. Finally she just sat there and took her helmet off to breathe the unfiltered air.

Out of the corner of her eye, Bright saw that she was not far from the speeder that had trapped Alfonso inside. What was that wriggling mass there? Bright blinked her eyes shut and looked again. She couldn't make out the features but she knew that Alfonso was managing an escape....again.

Bright slammed her helmet on her head and groaned before cuing her comlink. "Mai, Jeg, somebody." Bright said her voice cracking audibly, "Alfonso is making a break for it. It looks as though he has a leg injury but I can't be sure. I'm in pursuit on foot but I don't think I'm going to be able to catch up to him." Bright stumbled her way forward, pushing herself even farther beyond her limits. She was sure she would fold at any moment now.

Still she pushed on, her single minded focus to capture Alfonso at any cost pounding in rhythm with her throbbing head. She would see this through.

PALADIN

“We’ve got trouble!” Zeshaun warned as he saw a whole new group of guards exiting a turbolift, as the captain escaped through the very same turbolift.

Zeshaun fired as fast as he could pull the trigger, only stopping to reload. He took cover behind a terminal which was still on. Zeshaun shot at the guards who rushed through the bridge to engage the Paladin’s as they tried to force their way through to the turbolifts. The guards flooded the bridge, Zeshaun counted at least three squads of guards were taking a stand against the Paladin’s and he was sure there were even more. He took cover behind the terminal, as the guards discovered his hiding spot and started to fire back. He took the moment to gaze out through the large windows in the bridge, Zeshaun saw the Imperial ship that had come to their aid, and thought of Alpha squad. We could really use their help right now Zeshaun thought as he caught a break in the guards attack and dashed away to another terminal where he reloaded and started to fire again.

“We can’t fight these guys forever!” Alan shouted, firing his blasters rapidly toward the guards.

“What do you suggest?” Njall yelled, “Running through them?”

Zeshaun smiled, he wasn’t sure how Njall could keep up his sarcasm even in such an intense fight where victory was not guaranteed. He loaded a smoke bomb into his grenade launcher and signaled to everyone that he was going to fire. He got the go ahead signal from Lucky, then he fired, his gun lobed the grenade into the air, spewing smoke as it flew. As the smoke grew thicker Lucky’s voice gave them commands through their comlinks in their helmets.

“Use your thermal scanners; it’ll be easier to spot them.” She suggested.

Zeshaun activated his thermal vision and could make out the positions of most of the guards. By the way they were moving, it seemed that they had thermal vision as well and the Paladin’s advantage would not last too long. That’s too bad. Zeshaun thought, frowning, not used to fighting against a force so well equipped and with the same training as them.

“Open fire!” Lucky ordered.

The squad fired into the smoke, picking targets using their thermal vision. The New Republic guards seemed to realize that they were in trouble and many of them dropped to the ground, causing the blaster bolts to miss high. Njall managed to hit one of the guards in the head as they dropped to the ground, the guards limp body falling with a thud to the ground. Soon, bolts were firing back at the paladin’s through the smoke. Zeshaun ducked as a bolt headed for his head.

“So much for that advantage.” Leon said, firing back into the smoke.

The smoke started to clear away although the smell and a thin haze remained in the room. The guards had somehow managed to use the smoke to their advantage and were now clearly organized, taking cover behind what they could and forming squads to make the fight more difficult for the Paladin’s.

“Great.” Alan said, clearly frustrated. “This is exactly what that Captain wants, more time to run away, that cowardly bastard.”

Zeshaun could feel the frustration that Alan was verbalizing. They had come so far through the ship, and done so much to get to the bridge, it would kill them to let the captain get away now.


Captain Ruron sat in the turbolift, most of the fear gone from his body now that he was safely away from the fight. Now a feeling of frustration and anger flowed through his body, his head pounding, and he had a slight headache. I can’t believe those insolent fools Captain Ruron thought, referring to his officers What kind of training do they get these days, what use are they if they can’t stop one squad of imperial stormtroopers. He rubbed his temples as the turbolift  slowly descended down toward his personal hangar.

As the captain anxiously waited for the end of his turbolift ride, his turbolfit suddenly jolted, and then stopped moving. A very robotic voice projected from a small speaker embedded next to the door.

“We’re sorry, but we are experiencing technical difficulties, please wait while we look for a solution.”

Captain Ruron slammed his fist into the control panel, smashing the screen .


The Paladin’s were not getting anywhere, the guards were still holding well against the barrage of blaser bolts the Paladin’s were sending their way. It was essentially a standoff and the Paladin’s were getting tired of it, and Zeshaun knew his body wasn’t going to be able to take much more.

“Any good ideas?” Lucky asked.

“We can use some kind of distraction.” Njall suggested.

“Okay, what do you suggest?” Alan asked, curious as to what the trooper was thinking.

“We might be able to somehow cause an electrical overload on the other terminals on their side.” Njall said looking at the terminal in front of him.

“That’s not bad.” Zeshaun said with a smile “Let’s try it, it’s better than anything else we’ve got.”

“Fine, I’ll work on it.” Lucky said “But you need to provide some covering fire, I won’t be able to see anything coming at me.”

“Don’t worry, “Alan said reloading his blasters “We’ve got you covered.”

Zeshaun grinned, reloaded his rifle and started to fire at the entrenched guards.

JESTER

Lukas listened to Jegora's plan and planted a beacon next to where Jager was. After doing so he made a call to get a medical evacuation pronto, he also instructed them to pick up Kiption and Abalar giving them the coordinates to that sidehouse he left them in.

"Beacon has been set and the medical evacuation is on the way Jegora as promised...and going after Mai and Bright", he reported in to Jegora.

His eyes glanced over Jager one more time giving him an assured nod that help was on the way before running down the road in the direction the skiff was head. While running for quite a long time Lukas spotted a speeder that had a dead soldier face in the ground infront of it. Shoving the deadman off his bike he hopped on and sped off as high as the speeder could go in the direction of the skiff.

Bolts of red and green flew past Lukas from behind as he got right up on the raging battlefield, a pair of commando's in black armor trying ramming him as he cut his brakes, they slammed into each other. Lukas took this opprotunity to fire off a few rounds from his pistol as he shot up both of there fuel fuselages with two miraculous shots as they both blew up in a fiery orange ball of fire.

As he road up on where the skiff was supposed to be there was a massive explosion as the fortress in the sky caved in and slammed outright into the ground end over end for a long while. Lukas road up and saw Mai and Bright as he slowed down and jumped off his bike after both shockwaves had streamed past him with sufficient force.

Running up to Bright he checked on her and she didn't look to good. "You going to be alright Bright?...", he looked at her and saw her nod in reply to his answer. She told him to go on ahead and that the Colonel was trying to make a break for it. Bright would cover them from the rear.

Lukas managed to catched up to Mai as they both made off after the Colonel. The downed speeder was right infront of them as the Colonel crawled out and began to run or limp in a way. A flash of bolts came flying in there direction as a pack of Commando's rounded the downed speeder in an attempt to pin them down.

Mai dove behind some random garbage cans and Lukas got behind some smoldering wreckage of a medium sized speeder. "I'll take them out Mai...you go ahead and make a run for it while I distract them on the count of three. 1,2...".

On three Lukas took his last metallic sphere off his belt and through it at the Commando's, most of them dove to the ground as the sphere exploded, creating a smoke screen. Mai up and bolted off at a speed faster then an average human. Lukas grabbed his rifle and picked off two of the Commando's while the other three fanned out and tried to go for Mai.

Lukas wouldn't allow that to happen, he put a bolt in one of the Commando's legs while the other one was smart enough to return fire and force him to duck. The commando ducked down and reloaded while Lukas popped back up and set his sights on the exposed soldier's shin and fired, piercing the commando's flesh wide open as he writhed in pain. He quickly finished off the commando's and ran off in the direction Mai headed.

Mai came over the squad commnet and report in, "Lukas, I've got the Colonel in my sights, he is at a dead end and has nowhere to run. Waiting for you to get here so we can cap him".

And with that, Lukas ran faster to get to where she was so she could aid him, not letting down his guard because he had a funny feeling the suprises weren't over yet.

PALADIN

"What are you waiting for, let’s move it!" yelled Alan.

Zeshaun had a sudden spark of hope that they had not failed their mission yet. The captain was stuck somewhere in a turbolift and the Paladin’s were all still breathing. They moved back the way they came, walking through the smoke that the exploded terminals had created. They walked by little fires coming from terminals coated with blood and bodies. They walked back to the blast doors that they had originally come through and returned to the turbolifts that they had worked so hard to climb up. Lucky pressed the button repeatedly, trying to hurry the arrival of a turbolift.

“Surprised that such a huge over surge didn’t hurt these turbolifts just outside of the bridge.” Leon thought as they waited for the lift to arrive.

Zeshaun peered noticed a slight gap in between the doors and peered in, wondering if there was any damage, when he put his hands to the doors, the doors slid effortlessly aside. that’s not good Zeshaun thought as he opened it a bit more to get a better look. The messes of wires that they had climbed up earlier were now blown out, there was no sign of a turbolift and spouts of electricity were coming from the broken wires.

“You guys need to see this.” Zeshaun said motioning Lucky and Alan toward the door.

The two squad leaders peered down the shaft and they both sighed. “Looks like we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.” Alan said, pulling out a grapple from his utility belt.

Zeshaun got his as well, and the rest of the squad followed suit. Zeshaun attached his grapple to a weapon’s rack that was bolted to the wall. He eased himself down the opening of the turbo lift shaft, checking his footing before putting his full weight on the beam that he had placed his foot on. To either side of him, Lucky and Alan had also done the same, and were working on going down to the second beam. As Zeshaun lowered his leg down, a sudden electrical explosion caused him to lose his footing and his heart rate suddenly spiked as he fell, not able to get a grip on anything. He truly thought he was going to die when his foot caught on a wire and he was able to steady himself. He had fallen a good five feet below Alan and Lucky but was still okay.

“You alright Zesh?” Lucky asked, sounding concerned.

“I don’t think I’ve broken anything.” Zeshaun said checking to make sure.

“ Good, wait, we’ll come down there.” Alan said lowering himself slowly down the two beams that separated them.

The rest of the squad followed the three of them down the shaft, the bursts of electricity sent sparks flying through the air around them. They were careful to avoid broken wires, they didn’t want to risk electrocuting themselves when they were grappling down a turbolift shaft. Zeshaun felt the beam before he put his weight on it, and carefully descended, the lights suddenly turned back on within the shaft, blinding Zeshaun for a moment.

“That’s not good is it.” Njall said looking downwards.

Zeshaun followed his gaze and saw something moving up toward them. oh shit He pressed himself flat against the wall, pressing against the broken wires, risking electrocution. A turbolift shot by the squad, causing Zeshaun to shiver. Lucky worriedly started talking through the comlinks.

“Is everyone okay?”

“We’re all good.” Leon said,  reporting for the upper half of the squad.

Lucky looked around, saw that Alan and Zeshaun were both safe, and felt much better. She couldn’t imagine having to report to her supervisor that one of her squad members were killed by a turbolift.

“The power must be back, these technicians are good,” TK commented.

“Let’s hurry down before the turbolift comes back.” Lucky said. “The next floor down is where we get off.”

Zeshaun lowered his foot down, getting closer and closer to the door; he could see the light coming in from the cracks in the door. Alan was the first one to arrive at the door, he forced the door open with his hands and jumped in, and his DL-44’s out and scanned the hall. He motioned that the hallway was clear and the rest of the squad quickly jumped in.

“Let’s go, we can’t have much time.” Lucky said looking through her datapad quickly before starting down a hallway.

The squad followed her around the ship, taking turns here and there, going through halls that seemed exactly the same to Zeshaun. They walked down a hallway when a door suddenly opened up and four guards stepped out, carrying coffee, and some kind of food. They saw the Paladin’s, dropped their coffees and drew their blasters.

“Take cover!” Lucky yelled as the guards fired shots down the hall.

Within a bare hallway there wasn’t much place to go, Zeshaun dove to the ground in front of him, and grabbed hold of his rifle, firing while he was still on the ground. He rolled out of the way of one of the blaster bolts that left a scorching mark where he had been laying moments ago. The guard kept firing at him, the stormtrooper a very easy target. When Zeshaun unexpectedly rolled into a wall he thought he was finished but the guard suddenly fell to the ground, collapsing to his knees clutching his stomach. Zeshaun looked up and saw Alan standing behind him with his DL-44’s smoking. Alan offered a helping hand up.

Zeshaun accepted it. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

The rest of the guard also went down, although there were a few more scares. Leon got scratched, but nothing a bacta patch couldn’t fix. Leon also narrowly missed getting shot in the head, but they managed to get out alive. They caught their breath for a moment, this mission had been going on for so long that even their overly trained bodies were wearing down.

“Let’s keep going,” Lucky said, looking down at her datapad again. “We’re almost there.”

PALADIN

"Let’s keep going," Lucky said, looking down at her datapad again. "We’re almost there."

The squad was tired, almost to the point of exertion but they also knew that the mission took priority over what their bodies were trying to tell them.  Alan paid no heed to what his body told him.  He knew that if he listened to it then he would find himself sitting down on the deck and taking a breather but Ruron had to die and they were running out of time.

Captain Ruron ran to the docking bay where his personal shuttle was moored.  The doors opened to a degree and stopped.  He scanned the devastation around him.  He had heard that the Imperials had laid waste to his fighter squadron but he had not been prepared for the devastation before his eyes.  Large chunks of what used to be X-Wings, A-Wings and presumable B-Wings, although you couldn’t tell them apart were strewn across the deck.

Ruron’s first worry was that his shuttle had been caught up in this devastation but it had been docked far enough away from the fighters as they took priority in the docking bay.  He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the shuttle undamaged.  His lungs felt like they were on fire as he had managed to crawl out of the turbolift and had ran down through the ship.  He was certain that the Imperials would be by now chasing him.  He didn’t give much faith in the guards he had dispatched to deal with them.

"There he is!" yelled Zeshaun.

Alan’s eyes widened as he saw Ruron running towards his shuttle.  Despite the Captain’s fatigue the shout and the very sight of the black suited Imperials seemed to give him a second wind as he started to run towards his shuttle even though every ounce of his body was telling him to stop.  He cursed the fact that his shuttle was so far away and yet was grateful as any closer and it would probably be a large lump of scrap metal.  Ruron spotted two squads of guards that were sifting through the wreckage, seeking out any survivors.

"Man those doors!" yelled Ruron, "I don’t want anyone coming through them".

Alan couldn’t believe the sight before him as he saw Ruron still on the ship.  The doors to the docking bay slid closed before they arrived and the fact that he could no longer see Ruron irritated him.  Zeshaun was the first to reach the docking bay doors as he hands pressed the button to open them.  Alan willed him on to do it faster as all he wanted was to get the doors open and to get his hands on Ruron.

"Down!" yelled Lucky.

Her body seemed the most fatigued of the lot as she brought up the rear.  From her position though she was able to see the numerous guards that lay in wait just beyond the doors.  As soon as the doors opened, a volley of blaster bolts flew towards the squad.  Had Lucky not said a word then Alan knew that several of them would now be dead.  Instead they had been saved as they had dived for cover as the initial outburst from the guards had sailed over their heads.

"Close the doors, close the doors!" cried out Leon.

Zeshaun slammed his fist on the door panel and the doors closed just as quickly as they had opened.  Alan slammed his fist against the wall.  He couldn’t believe that Ruron was going to escape.  He knew that they had a fighting chance of taking out the guards but he also knew that their deaths would ensure that Ruron would have sufficient time to get away.

He was about to curse out loudly when he suddenly noticed a rung of ladders going upwards.  He hadn’t noticed them before and now he was wondering just where they went to.  In the background he could hear Greywolf arguing with Lucky.  He hadn’t quite heard what the conversation was about but from what little he could hear he surmised that Greywolf was wanting to storm the guards and hope they got through.  Thankfully Lucky had her wits about her and knew that any such attempt was foolhardy.

"Where do those go?" queried Alan, pointing at the stairs.

"On a ship of this size, I would assume they go to the control room that overlooks the hangar deck.  They usually deal with co-ordinating the launch and docking of ships" said Leon.

Alan was surprised by the knowledge that Leon had with starships but he was also grateful.  Immediately a plan formulated in his head and he grinned.

"Lucky, you deal with those guards" said Alan as he rushed to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" asked Lucky.

"I’m going to take care of Ruron once and for all" replied Alan.

Lucky never had a chance to say anything else as Alan had already started making his way up the ladder.  His body cried out for him to stop but he ignored it.  In his haste up the rungs he slipped.  His left foot came crashing down hard on the previous rung sending shock waves up the left side of his body.  Alan winced as he carried on climbing, his foot throbbed with every step but determination won out as he carried on climbing.

Arriving at the top of the steps Alan found himself in a control room.  He was surprised that it was unmanned, although after the devastation they had caused earlier in the docking bay maybe it wasn’t so surprising after all.  Glancing around he saw a large windowed area.  Looking through the window he could see Ruron running, getting closer to his shuttle.  Alan knew that he couldn’t let him get there.  He grabbed his twin DL-44’s from their holsters and fired repeatedly at the windows.  The glass shattered, sending shards down onto the docking bay.

Lucky nodded towards Zeshaun as he pressed the door release button.  The Paladin’s had secured themselves covering positions and were ready for the doors opening.  Weapons drawn and raised, Zeshaun took a deep breath and pressed the button.  The doors slid open and immediately the squad were met with guards that were equally ready.

Leon ducked into a doorway as blaster bolts flew out towards him.  Despite being ready for the fight, he had been surprised by how many guards there were now.  He had managed to kill two guards before the savagery of the guards reprisal became evident.

Greywolf had dived behind a barrel that he had found close by to the docking bay.  From there he popped his head up occasionally to get in a good shot.  Despite getting one of the guards neatly in the face there were still far too many of them.

Lucky was about to get herself into a better location when suddenly the guards were diving for cover themselves.  Shards of glass seemed to rain on them from above and Lucky took the advantage.  Her weapon firing repeatedly into the throng of guards.  Some guards tried to hold their ground but found pieces of glass flying into their heads.

Zeshaun, seeing the guards in disarray pressed forward.  Those that had taken the time to shield themselves from the glass found no refuge from Zeshaun’s weapon as it brought instant death to them.  Once the glass had landed, the remaining guards seemed to quickly gather themselves together.  They knew that they had to get the advantage back and soon the Paladin’s found themselves moving back for cover.

Alan holstered his weapons and grabbed the sniper rifle from his shoulders.  He wished that his blasters could deliver the killing blow but he knew that from this range they would prove ineffective.  Kneeling down, the muzzle of the rifle poked it way through the shattered window.  Pressing the scope up to his eye he swung the rifle towards Ruron.  He couldn’t believe that the Captain had arrived at his shuttle and was about to enter.

Alan knew that he had to do this now.  There was only going to be once chance.  The scope zeroed in on Ruron’s head and Alan took in a deep and gentle breath.  The doors swung open on the shuttle and Alan very gently pressed down on the trigger.  A single bolt shot out from the rifle.  Ruron never seen anything, never heard anything.  The bolt sought out its target and it impacted into the Captain’s forehead.  Ruron’s lifeless body slumped forward inside the open shuttle and Alan smiled with the knowledge that Ruron was dead.

Slinging the rifle back onto his shoulder he could hear the sound of blasters.  He moved swiftly over to the ladder and stopped.  He returned back to the shattered window and looked downwards.  Beneath him he saw several guards firing repeatedly.  He quickly got onto the com to Lucky.

"Close the doors" said Alan.

"If we do that then they will get time to regroup properly" yelled Lucky over the commotion of the battle.

Alan could her the strain in her voice and knew her logic was sound but he had a plan.  He replied back to her "trust me".

If there was one person that Lucky trusted more than anyone in the world it was Alan.  She trusted him implicitly but her senses knew that the guards would form up once they weren’t under repeated pressure from the Paladin’s attack.  She sighed to herself and hoped Alan knew what he was doing as she signalled Zeshaun to close the doors.

Zeshaun couldn’t believe it when Lucky gave him the signal for the doors to be closed.  Surely they were starting to make ground with the guards.  They were at least holding their own against them and he wanted to ensure that Ruron would die.  He hoped that Alan was having better success.

Glancing through the window, Alan could see the doors closing.  He grasped two thermal detonators from his belt and smiled.  He let them drop downwards.  The guards gaped at the two metal orbs bouncing at their feet.  Some tried to run, others merely accepted their fate.

"Fire in the hole" said Alan into the com.

Mere seconds later a large explosion rocked the hangar bay.  It wasn’t the first time today the bay had suffered from a large explosion and Alan couldn’t tell if it would be the last.  Lucky nodded to Zeshaun and the doors opened.  She scanned the devastation before her.  Where the guards had once stood, now there were only charred and blackened bodies.

"All clear" she said to Alan through the com.

Alan initiated a message through to Angel, the Platoon Commander.  He simply spoke the words "Paladin to Angel, Ruron is dead, repeat, Ruron is dead".

With that he made his way back to the ladder and was rejoining the squad.  When he saw them he gave into his body and slumped down on the deck of the ship.  He hoped the mission was over but somewhere he just knew that the day was not over.  For now he would get as much rest as he could.

ALPHA

Bender smiled widely as Targus carried the heavy weight of the explosives on his back. I can get out practically every task I dislike he did not care much for what Sergeant Barandos thought, for all he cared the Sergeant could go and kiss the Lieutenant’s arse.
As they proceeded to the other side of the ship, Sergeant Barandos kept his eyes peeled and his ears sharp for any resistance they might encounter. So far, things were uneventful but he knw it was not to last long. Taking a deep breath, he looked ahead as his squad moved steadily from one end of the ship on their way to the other, to engineering where they would have themselves some fun busting up the engines.  Looking ahead, he saw one of his Troopers Koolie paying special attention to his environment, the Trooper had always been one to pay attention to detail.
Koolie, a twenty year old human from Coruscant was a man of five feet seven inches tall, he was muscular, not as much as Bender but a pretty good looking young man. He was the very intelligent one; his nickname was “the Whiz” courtesy of Bender. Koolie ignored the Lieutenant most of the time and instead did what he did best: pay attention to his surroundings, early in his life he had taken the habit of his attention to detail, if there was a minute change in a place where he had already been, he knew about it and advised the Sarge right away. This instant, he had detected movement out of the corner of his eye causing him to stop suddenly.

“What’s up, Whiz? See anything amazing that interest you?” he heard Bender ask behind him, he turned around and guessed that the man was snickering inside his helmet. Feeling his frustration mount quickly, he motioned for him to be silent and edged a little closer to where he had seen the flicker of movement. Angling his body so that he could see on the other side of the wall with his scope, he wasn’t surprised to see a foe with his body plastered against the wall, his eyes closed and an odd look on his face.
Koolie’s Rifle was already silenced, with a few hand signals he indicated to Barandos the presence and was ordered to fire at will, the enemy soldier was still motionless which he found curious, he fired a single shot to the man’s head who dropped to the ground with a soft thud. He had been expecting enemy fire but there was none, looking back to his Sergeant.

“What now?” Koolie asked.

"They’ll have a good dollface for you further down that hallway’ piped up Bender.

“Bender, shut your pie hole” cut in Barandos. “Keep on going; let’s see where this leads us.”

Acknowledging the orders silently, Koolie slowly walked on until a single Blaster bolt missed him entirely ad hit the wall behind him.

“Watch it!” snapped Bender

As he regained his composure, a flurry of bolts started sailing in their direction.

BLACKJACK

Wrex continued to lay some intermittent fire on the commandos, hoping to get lucky in the carnage. So far, all of his bullets had either pierced the wall or the floor. No flesh.

I'm gonna need some time on the practice range.

Gates sat next to him, talking intently to Tanus. The commandos had swapped to exploding rounds again, causing pieces of duracrete to fall onto his helmet.

"These guys are really starting to piss me off!" Wrex heard Tanus yell through the radio. He could only nod in agreement. The skill level of these soldiers were immensely high, almost parallel to Blackjack's own. He fired again.

"What should we do?" He ducked down, looking at Gates as several rounds exploded overhead. Gates shrugged.

"There's not much we can do from in here. We need to get a clear look." Gates moved down to his belly, crawling towards an open doorframe nearby. Wrex obediently followed.

Crawling on his stomach was something Wrex hadn't done since boot camp. His armor scraped the floor, it's noise drowned out in the gunfire between the other members of Blackjack and the commandos. Wrex could also faintly hear Collesta's shrill voice over the noise of the battle.

When he made it to the door, Gates was already up and had taken a look. He motioned for Wrex to glance around the corner.

Wrex moved slowly, hoping to not attract the eyes of the commandos. Luckily, he was unnoticed, the attention of the commandos having shifted from Gates and Wrex to Tanus, Kestrel and Tank. They had moved a table from one of the rooms, a thick one made of durasteel, effectively blocking Tanus and crew from advancing down the hallway. There were only three of them left along with Collesta, who was wildly pointing and firing her weapon in between shrieks.

Wrex ducked back into the room and looked at Gates. "What's the plan?"

"I've got nothing. Any attack on them would be suicide. Even with our shields, they'd tear us to pieces." He shook his head wearily. "I really can't think of anything."

Wrex gave a small grin. "Suicide you say?" He fingered his throwing knives. "I've been known to make... irrational decisions."

Gates shook his head. "You're not serious? You'd have to be stupid!"

Wrex shrugged as he stood. "Guess I'm the squad idiot now." And with that parting remark, he turned and sprinted into the hallway.

The commandos didn't respond immediately, giving Wrex time to remove a throwing knife from it's sheathe and plant it firmly into the closest commandos calf. He grunted, but remained standing, a testament to his rigorous training. He and the other commandos turned and fired, the shots stopping inches from his armor. Wrex watched the gauge drop from 100 to ten percent in the blink of an eye.

I hope this works. he thought as he threw himself towards the injured commando, feeling somewhat giddy.

He made full contact with the man, sending them both flying into one of the other commandos. Wrex couldn't believe he was still alive, but the happiness he felt was replaced by adrenaline as the man threw him off. He was burly and massive, his strength far outmatching Wrex's. The other commando stood up and reached for his gun, but the gun was shot away by a slug from Gates, now moving down the hallway. Wrex looked up and noticed the shocked look in Collesta's eyes, her feet moving her backward as Blackjack closed in around her.

Wrex felt a strong punch connect with his back that sent him flying back into the floor. He rolled over, quickly avoiding a huge foot that would have crushed his ribcage. Wrex swung his arm, hitting the man's calf, which was now bleeding from the knife lodged to the hilt.

I need that knife! he thought as he quickly stood, putting distance between him and the massive man. He slapped his hands together, then was surprised as a short vibroblade sprung from his right gauntlet. The man jumped, then began backing away.

Well, close enough.

Wrex lunged, covering the distance between him and the man in the blink of an eye, vibroblade humming in the air. The man stopped suddenly, moving into a fighting stance. Wrex slashed and diced, removing several of the man's fingers in the first swipe.

He was no match for an adrenaline fueled, somewhat crazed trooper. His lack of a proper blade also spelled his doom. His eyes glazed over as Wrex plunged the vibroblade into his chest, blood pouring from the wound.

Wrex felt the triumph grow in his chest, until the man began to fall. He fell sideways, crashing into the durasteel table, but dragging Wrex's arm with him. He heard a snap and sudden cold rushed down his arm.

Shit. he thought, grasping his arm as he watched the remaining commandos retreat. Collesta had escaped for now, but Wrex knew Blackjack wouldn't stop. He just hoped his body could keep up.