It had been several days since the Imperial Ball and things were returning back to normal.  That is everything except for Alan.  For some strange and inexplicable reason, he had a longing to go back home.  He knew that there was nothing or no-one to go home to but he missed the sights, the sounds and the buzz.  He knew that the Paladin squad was on inactive duty at the moment and he could hop on his freighter at any minute and fly home, yet something was keeping him back.  He knew what that something was.  It was Lucky, he had really enjoyed spending time with her and he didn’t really want to go and leave her.  Then it struck him and off he dashed.

He stood at the door and pressed the buzzer, nothing.  He was just about to go when the door slid open and there stood Lucky in a bath robe with a towel wrapped around her head.  Alan stared at her and still could not get over her sheer beauty.

“I could come back” said Alan.

“Don’t be silly, come in” replied Lucky as she stepped to one side to let Alan come in.  Alan entered her abode and looked around at her place, this was the first time that he had seen what her place looked like.

“I’ll just be a minute” said Lucky as she stepped into the back of her place and got changed.  She returned and asked “so what brings you here?”

“Well, for some time now I’ve been longing to go back home to Corellia and I was wondering if you fancied coming along”.  Alan watched as Lucky thought about it, before she had a chance to say anything Alan continued “I know this great outdoor restaurant which serves the best food around, my treat”.

Lucky smiled and replied “well if that’s the case then count me in.

Alan smiled and got up to go and get ready.  Before he left, he gave Lucky a tender kiss and told her to meet him down by his ship.

A short while later, Alan and Lucky had boarded his ship and were en-route to Corellia.  On the trip Alan told Lucky about his home town and about Corellia, in turn, Lucky told Alan about Tattooine.

In what seemed like no time at all they had arrived on Corellia.  They walked through the streets, the sun shining down on them.  It was truly a glorious day.  Alan noticed that several building were being knocked down and others rebuilding and he wondered why there was so much development going on.  They soon arrived at the restaurant Alan had told Lucky about and they sat outside waiting for their food to arrive.  They both leaned their hands over the table and held each others hand, smiling at each other.  Alan leaned forward and so did Lucky and they kissed softly.  Their kiss lasted mere seconds as a shop across from them exploded and Alan and Lucky were lifted off from their feet and thrown through the restaurant window.  Alan raised his head from the restaurant floor to see a tall man run from the scene.  His head plummeted back onto the floor as he slipped unconscious.

He awoke in hospital to find Lucky sitting next to him.  He rubbed his head and groaned slightly.  “You ok?” queried Lucky when she seen him come to.

“Apart from having a splitting headache, I’ll live” replied Alan, “what happened?”

“Whilst you were unconscious, I talked with several of the law enforcement officials.  They’ve been telling me that they’ve been having a lot of attacks on shops and restaurants”.

“Do they have any leads?” asked Alan.

“None” replied Lucky.

“Wait a second, I seen someone leaving the scene in a hurry” said Alan.

“Can you remember anything about him, what he looked like?” asked Lucky

Alan thought back to the image of the man he had seen “No” he replied, “except, yes, he was wearing some sort of strange jacket, which had an image on it of two snakes intertwined”

Lucky never let him finish as she said “and curled up over a river of blood”.

“Yes, that’s right” replied Alan.

Lucky’s face paled slightly and said “I’ve seen that before”.

Alan groaned and lay back down as Lucky exited the room.  His body felt like it had been slammed against a wall repeatedly.  He remembered one of the nurses had told him that he had suffered a bruised rib and that it would take several weeks to recover.  He sat up slowly, his head swimming.  He knew he had to help Lucky bring down these terrorists.  He thought back to one of his previous postings before being assigned to the Paladin squad.  A world besieged by terrorists.  Everyone was a target, the soldiers because of who they were, the general public because of their affiliations and the innocent who happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time.  Alan knew how vicious terrorists could be and he knew Lucky needed backup.

He swivelled his legs out from the bed and stood up shakily.  He got dressed slowly, his side throbbing painfully.  One of the nurses entered and looked at him with a look of shock.

“And where do you think you’re going?” she asked.

“I have to help my friend” replied Alan.

“You’ll be of no help in your state” she replied, “now get back to bed”.

“I’m going” replied Alan with a look of determination and commitment.

“Very well” replied the nurse “but you run the risk of further damaging your ribs, take these” as she handed him a small vial of pills.

Alan took them and asked “what are these?”

The nurse looked at him and said “they are pain pills, they will numb the pain for a short while, but they will not help you heal, you must try and not aggravate your injury further”.

“Don’t worry” replied Alan, “I won’t”.

He left the hospital and made it back to the Stormtrooper barracks, he knew that Lucky would be deep into her investigation.  He asked around and quickly found out where Lucky’s accommodation was.

He knocked at her door and when she opened it she gave him a look of surprise.

“I thought you’d be in there for a few weeks” she said.

“Doc gave me a clean bill of health” replied Alan, smiling.

Lucky smiled and returned back to her computer terminal.  Alan sat behind her, clutching at his side and wincing slightly before asking “so what have you turned up?”

Alan watched Lucky get up and make some drinks.  She returned with two drinks and Alan was grateful when she set his drink down next to him.  He reached for the drink and took a sip.  It was a very delicious flavour and he could taste a certain amount of alcohol which warmed his insides.

“Thanks Lucky, this is delicious” said Alan as he took another sip.

Lucky smiled and replied “You’re welcome” before taking a sip from her own drink.

Alan reached out and took Lucky’s hand and gazed into her eyes and said “thanks for coming to Corellia with me, I know this isn’t what I had planned on but I’m glad you’re here”.

Lucky smiled and replied “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else”.

The computer terminal emitted a low beeping sound

“What’s that?” queried Alan

Lucky leaned forward to look at the monitor intently.

“Looks like the computer has found something” she said.

Alan leaned forward to get a better look at what the computer had found.

Alan looked at the screen and at all of the faces.  He was shocked when he spotted the face of the man that had ran away from the explosion and finding out that he himself was the leader of the organisation.

“We have to find them before they strike again” said Alan.

“But how?” queried Lucky, “we have no leads and no way of tracing them”.

“Can you get me a hard copy of these people’s profiles?” asked Alan.

“Sure” replied Lucky as she pressed a button and the various profiles came out on paper format.

“Follow me” said Alan as he took the paper and headed out the door.  He walked into the main Stormtrooper barracks and quickly found out the officer who had spent most of his time on this planet.

“Excuse me Sir” said Alan as he approached the officer “I was wondering if you could identify any of these people”.

The officer took the paper and leafed through them before coming to one.  The profile said he was a man in his late thirties, tall, slim built and sporting a goatee beard.  His name was Carl Sandros and he was an explosives expert.

“I recognise this man” said the officer “he goes by the name of Walter Adams and is working as a waiter down by the Restaurant called The Walk”.

Lucky smiled and said “Let’s go pick him up then”.

“You took the words right out of my mouth” replied Alan smiling back, “come on, this way, I know the place well” as Alan started running.

“Thanks” said Lucky to the officer as she dashed off after Alan.

They had held the man in custody for several hours before Alan and Lucky decided to interrogate him.

“So how do you want to play this?” queried Lucky.

“Good Stormtrooper, bad Stormtrooper always works for me replied Alan.

“I’ll be the bad Stormtrooper then” said Lucky.

“Oh like hell you will” laughed Alan.

“Rock, paper, scissors” said Lucky, hoping to win and be the bad Stormtrooper.

“Agreed” replied Alan.

They shook their fists and Lucky’s hand displayed the paper symbol and Alan’s displayed the scissors symbol.

“Dammit” said Lucky.

“Better luck next time” said Alan as they entered the room.

The man known as Walker looked up as they entered.  Lucky looked at him sympathetically and said “tell us what you know of the group known as Los Bandidos”.

The man sneered at her and replied “go to hell doll face”.

“Why you son of a!” shouted Alan as he grabbed the man roughly by the shoulders.  Lucky quickly intervened and moved Alan back.

“My partner doesn’t like you very much” said Lucky “tell me what you know and I’ll make sure he never bothers you again”.

“Does it look like I was born yesterday toots, I ain’t telling you jack” replied Walter.

“To hell with this” said Alan as he rushed over to the man and slammed his fist into his face, the man went flying onto the ground, “you tell me what I want to know and you tell me now!”

“Stand down!” shouted Lucky as she shoved Alan into the corner and rushed over to the man who was lying on the ground, blood trickling from his nose.  “I’m sorry about that” she said.

“Get the hell out of my face” he replied, wiping blood from his nose.

“We’re not going to get anything out of him” said Alan “I say we waste him right now”.  With that Alan drew his blaster.

“You don’t scare me” said Walter.

“Put the weapon down” said Lucky.

Alan’s hand never wavered as he held the blaster on the man.

“You’re not going to kill me” said Walter, goading Alan.

“Put the weapon down now!” shouted Lucky.

“You lose” said Alan as he fired his blaster.  The shot hit the man square on his right leg.  He screamed, clutching his leg.

“You shot me” he said almost in disbelief.

“Get the hell out of here!” shouted Lucky as she opened the door and shoved Alan out.

“Listen to me carefully” said Lucky once she had removed Alan from the room, “you carry on with this charade and I won’t care less if he kills you or not, now this is your last chance, tell me everything you know or I walk away and let my partner back in to finish you off”.

Walter looked at Lucky and to the door, sweat trickling down his face.  He nodded and proceeded to tell Lucky everything he knew.

Lucky left the room and went over to Alan.

“So how was my performance?” queried Alan.

“Good enough, he told me everything” replied Lucky.

“Hey what do you mean good enough, I was brilliant, so, tell me everything he said”.

Lucky smiled and proceeded to tell Alan everything that she had been told.

Alan watched Walter being dragged away and wondered what would happen to him, he hoped the legal system would be very severe.  Alan and Lucky walked back slowly to his freighter.  Their minds focused on stopping the terrorist group before any more destruction was inflicted and any life was taken.  Alan hated seeing his home world caught up in such trouble but he was certain that between him and Lucky, they would be able to put a stop to it.

Alan and Lucky approached the space port and one of the deckhands looked at them and queried "can I help you?"

"We're just looking for clearance to depart" replied Alan.

"Of course" said the deckhand, "what is your destination and I'll radio ahead for you".

"Destination is Daylid" replied Alan "and thanks".

"No problems" he replied as he let them through.  He radioed to the control tower and relayed the information to them.  He watched them board their freighter and then took out a second com.  He talked softly into it "you were right, Walter spilled his guts and they are now heading to Daylid".

He listened as a voice replied "I figured as much, Walter will soon be dead and so will these Imperials.  I will ensure that they are greeted to Daylid warmly".

The deckhand sneered as he watched the freighter lift off and head towards the Planet Daylid and their inevitable doom.

The trip was relatively short.  Alan and Lucky chatted about what they would do when they arrived.  When Lucky wasn't looking, Alan rubbed his side, it still ached but he knew that he would survive.  Arriving at the planet, Alan brought the freighter over the desolate surface.  He landed the craft down and the ramp slowly descended.

"Ladies first" said Alan, smiling as he let Lucky depart from the freighter.  Little did they know what they would find down there.

Alan walked slowly down the ramp, his com unit inside his helmet beeped and Lucky advised and warned him of the group of people waiting for them.  Walking down, he saw them, blasters raised.  He knew that they would not let them leave this place alive.  There was only one thing for it and that was to fight.

He replied back into Lucky's com "You go left, I'll go right".

He heard her acknowledgement in his com and he replied "three, two, one and go!"

As soon as he had uttered the word 'go', Lucky dived to the left of the ramp and Alan dived for the right, un-holstering their weapons and opening fire.  The group of men were taken completely by surprise and several of them fell before the others had realised what was going on.

Lucky and Alan dove behind some rocks for cover when the group reorganised themselves and started to return fire.

"Still glad you came along!" shouted Alan over the noise of the blaster bolts before returning fire.

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world" she replied as she let loose a volley of shots.

The shots died down and the leader of the group shouted "lay down your weapons and maybe we not kill you, maybe we let you live, huh"

Alan glanced over at Lucky, they both nodded together and stood up and fired numerous shots in his direction.  The man dived for cover and the shots missed.

"You want a fight my friends" said the leader "well a fight is what you're gonna get".  With that all of the men opened fire on Alan and Lucky's position.

"Wonderful fellow" commented Alan.  He wondered how they would get out of this position in one piece but then he remembered that both him and Lucky had been in worse positions before and were still alive.

Bring it on he thought to himself as he fired back at the men.

Alan decided to secure the craft in case any more unwelcome visitors decided to come along.  He raised the ramp of the ship and placed its defences on alert mode.  Several small gun turrets appeared from beneath the craft and swivelled around, searching for potential threats.

"So what now?" queried Alan.

"I guess we wait for him to come around and hopefully he will give us some information as to the whereabouts of his fellow members".

They went and grabbed a bite from the ships canteen whilst they waited for him to come around.  Half way through their food an audible crash was heard from the holding cell.  They rushed to the cell and were shocked when they noticed that the man was lying on the ground with foam leaking out of his mouth.

Lucky deactivated the security seal on the holding cell and rushed in.  Alan drew his weapon out in case it was only a ruse.  Lucky checked the man's pulse and looked up and said "he's dead".

Alan looked at the dead man and said "what kind of fanatic kills himself rather than live and be questioned".

"Looks like we're back to square one" said Lucky.

Alan was dismayed, they had finally gotten a lead on this terrorist group and now their lead was dead and with it maybe all hope of apprehending these fanatics.  He was about to head back to the cockpit and return to Corellia when he noticed something on the floor of the cell.  He leaned down and scooped some of it up.  He ran it over his fingers as he realised it was a reddish colour of sand.

"What's that you've got?" queried Lucky as she seen Alan crouching down beside the man.  Alan lifted up one of the man's boots and showed it to Lucky.  She looked and noticed that between the grooves of the man's boots was red sand lodged.

They looked at each other and said together and at the same time "Fargas".

Fargas was a planet on the outskirts of this system but it was the only planet known in the Imperial database as having red sand.  It was a planet that was drummed into Imperial cadets as being a worthless rock but also a planet that was forbidden to go to due to the fact that anyone who went to it never returned.  Back in the days when Alan was going through the academy he had heard several wild rumours.  Rumours such as the planet having wild man-eating creatures, spatial anomalies or pirates.

"I've always wanted to go to Fargas, just to see what all the fuss is about" said Lucky.

"Let's go and find out then" replied Alan as he headed for the cockpit.

Alan looked around the planet and thought to himself what a desolate rock this is.  He wondered where they should start looking and what they should be looking for when Lucky said “look, over here”.

Alan moved over to find out what Lucky had discovered.  There, in the sand was a set of footprints.  “Let’s follow them and see where they go to” said Alan.  Lucky nodded and they moved off, in search of the person it was that had left the footprints.

They walked up and down sand dunes.  Everywhere they looked was just more and more red sand.  Alan wondered if they were ever going to find out where the tracks ended as it felt they had been walking for miles.  His legs hurt and he wished he had some of the Paladin’s jetpacks. 

They approached one of the taller dunes and suddenly they could hear a noise.  They crouched down and crawled up the dune to find out what it was that was making the noise.  Peering over the dune they spotted several men walking around a facility.  Alan looked at them and wondered if they were members of the terrorist group.

Lucky looked at Alan and said “I don’t want to alert them.  You take the one on the left.  I’ll take the one on the right and no blasters”.

Alan looked at her and said “no blasters”.

Lucky nodded,

Alan grumbled and re-holstered his weapon before they split up, crawling slowly down the dune, not wanting to be seen or heard.

Alan moved stealthily around the structure to the guard on the left hand side.  He sneaked up behind him and grabbed his head and twisted it hard.  The guard dropped down dead instantly.  Alan moved stealthily to the other guard’s position to see if Lucky needed a hand.  He was not surprised to find the guard lying dead at Lucky’s feet.

“Well, shall we see what’s inside” said Alan.

Lucky smiled and replied back “yes, lets”.

Alan glanced up to ensure that Lucky had her weapon drawn and pointed at the trap door before he kneeled down and moved it open.  It made a large scraping noise as he pushed it to one side.  Well if no-one knew we were here before, they know about us now thought Alan as he shone his torch into the darkness.  Seeing nothing, he looked up at Lucky who nodded.  Here goes nothing thought Alan as he jumped down through the hole.

He landed on his feet and took out his blaster and torch.  Weapon raised his scanned the immediate vicinity.  He was in what seemed to be a ventilation shaft, it was dark and damp.  Seeing no form of trouble, he called out to Lucky who proceeded to jump down and join him.

They looked to the left and then to the right and decided to go down the shaft in this direction.  They walked down with no incident.  Alan was starting to wonder if they were ever going to find something when they started to hear voices.  They turned off their torches and proceeded slowly.  Rounding a bend they spied a room dead ahead which was well lit.  In the center of the room was a table which several men were huddled over.  Alan and Lucky kneeled down against the walls and stayed in the shadows and listened to what was going on.

Alan suddenly recognised one of the men to be the leader of the terrorist organisation.  He looked over at Lucky and realised from the look on her face that she had recognised him too.

Alan whispered over at Lucky “I can’t hear what they are saying but I think we should crash this party”.

“Agreed” replied Lucky.

They advanced quickly, weapons raised.  The men huddled around the table looked up and immediately opened fire on them.  Lucky fired with precision and one of the men dropped down dead.  Alan fired and hit the other man directly in his temple.  When the smoke cleared, they realised that the leader had vanished.

“Where the hell did he go?” queried Alan.

Lucky looked around but could find no trace and then she looked at the table and said “I don’t know but I think you should have a look at this”.

Alan looked at the table.  He studied it for a minute before he realised that he was looking at the blueprints of the stormtrooper barracks on Corellia.

“You don’t think” he said.

Lucky didn’t let him finish “yes I do, we have to get back to Corellia and stop him before a great deal of our colleagues are killed.

An audible creaking noise was heard throughout the shaft and Alan and Lucky raced back to the steel trap door to find it had been pushed over and secured.  Both Alan and Lucky tried to move it without success.

“We’re trapped!” she exclaimed.

“What the hell are we going to do know” replied Alan as he knew that time was no longer on their side.

Alan raced into the freighter and took his seat in the cockpit next to Lucky.  He quickly raised the ramp and started the pre-flight start-up.  His mind was still reeling over what the terrorist organisation was prepared to do.  He wondered whether their investigation into apprehending them had led to their decision to attack the Stormtrooper barracks or whether it had always been a potential target for them.  Whatever their reasoning, he knew that they had to get back without delay.  He punched several controls and the freighter slowly rose up from the planet's surface and headed out into space.

Once they were clear of the planet, Alan started punching in several calculations into the ship's computer.  Lucky looked over at him alarmingly.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"I'm taking this ship into hyperspace.  We'll get back to Corellia that bit faster".

"Are you insane!" she exclaimed as she wondered what could possibly be going through Alan's mind.  "Unless you weren't aware, let me remind you that we are still in a system and going into hyperspace whilst still in a system is not something that is recommended".

"Don't you think I know that" replied Alan "but they're going to blow up the barracks that the Storm Platoon are housed and I am not going to let that happen.  Are you with me?"

Lucky looked at him slightly shocked at his tone but realised that the risk was warranted and that Alan desperately wanted no further bloodshed, especially that of fellow comrades.  She nodded to him and said "if we don't survive this, then I'm blaming you".

Alan smiled and replied "if we don't survive this then I'll blame myself.  Sorry for shouting".

Lucky reached out and squeezed his hand tenderly "that's alright, now let's get going"

With that he activated the hyperspace controls and the ship lurched into hyperspace.

Alan nodded and got on the com to warn the barracks of the impending terrorist attack.  "What the hell" he said suddenly, looking over at Lucky.

Lucky looked up from her seat and queried "what's wrong?"

"I'm not sure, we're well within range of the barracks on Corellia but I'm not getting any contact with them" replied Alan.

"Let me look" said Lucky as she too tried to contact the barracks.  "Damn" she said "it appears that the terrorists are covering all their bases and they have erected some kind of communications blackout, I can't raise anyone on Corellia".

"Then we have to get there fast" replied Alan as he pushed the engines of the freighter to their maximum.  The ship lurched and the walls of the ship creaked and groaned under the tremendous pressure.  Alan wondered if he was pushing it too much but the thought of the terrorists making an attack on the Storm Platoon barracks on Corellia shook him to the core and he knew the risk was worth it.

The stars around the ship that streaked past suddenly stopped and the ship exited hyperspace.  Several of the panels around the hull of the ship had clearly been ripped away but the freighter was still flying.  Corellia loomed before them and Alan guided the ship down quickly.  He knew that without proper landing permission their arrival would be a surprise and maybe a surprise that the stormtroopers would not appreciate but he had no choice.

I hope they don't blast us out of the sky he thought as he brought the ship down into the stormtrooper grounds.

Lowering the ramp, Alan and Lucky raced out of the ship only to be met by several well armed troopers pointing their blasters at them.  Great thought Alan as he looked at the nervous troopers this we needed.

Shortly after their ID was confirmed, they were led to the Commander in charge of the Stormtrooper facility on Corellia, a General by the name of Dannard.  The General was a well rounded man in his late forties.  He was seated at his desk as Lucky and Alan entered.

"What can I do for you?" he bellowed before either Lucky or Alan was able to get seated.

"We have uncovered evidence that the terrorist group calling themselves Los Bandidos are planning an attack on this facility, primarily the barracks housing the Storm Platoon" informed Lucky.

"Attack!" exclaimed the General "preposterous I tell you.  I run this facility with an iron fist and I can assure you that any attack on this facility would fail".

"Sir, you have to take this seriously" replied Lucky.

The General looked at both of them and said "Listen to me carefully, I see no reason to waste valuable time listening to such outrageous claims".

Lucky looked over at Alan in desperation, she knew that the General was obviously not taking them seriously.

Alan looked at the General and said "Sir, at least put the base on full alert, this is a very serious threat".

The General looked at them and said in a loud voice "now you listen and you listen good, this so called terrorist group called Los Bandidos is nothing more than a bunch of thugs, they have neither the resources nor the guts to mount an attack on a stormtrooper facility.  Do I make myself clear?"

Alan and Lucky both replied "Yes Sir" realising that they were never going to convince the General otherwise.

"Permission to carry out our own investigation into this matter?" asked Lucky.

The General looked at both of them and replied "you can waste time if you want to".

"Thank you Sir" replied Lucky.

"That will be all" said the General, obviously tired of the conversation and wanting rid of the bothersome troopers.

Alan and Lucky saluted and left the General's office.

"So where do we go from here?" asked Alan.

Alan and Lucky raced off down the passage towards the squads briefing room.  They ran as fast as they could, the passageway shook and the lights flickered as the ship continued its bombardment, its weapons obviously getting closer to the buildings.

They hastily got into their armour and started heading outside so they could attack the ship.  Something however was nagging Alan about the whole attack.

"What is it?" queried Lucky as she saw the troubled look on Alan's face.

"Something about this just doesn't add up.  I've lived through troubled times before.  This just doesn't add up to terrorism" replied Alan.

"Maybe they're getting bolder, becoming more like revolutionaries rather than terrorists" said Lucky, trying to deal with Alan's concerns.

"The troopers on this base can deal with that ship can't they?" queried Alan.

"Well yes, but we should still give them some assistance" said Lucky.

"I know, but humour me Lucky.  Can you show me a schematic of this base?" asked Alan.

"Yes, of course" she said as she led him into one of the offices and pulled up a schematic of the base.

"If someone wanted to destroy this place using a bomb, where would they put it?" asked Alan.

"Umm" said Lucky as she scanned the schematic and then pointed "there".  She was pointing to the bases backup power grid.  "A bomb of sufficient payload would cause this to overload causing a massive explosion".  She then suddenly looked at Alan and said "you don't think that's the real target, do you?"

"I don't know" he replied, "but the ship is firing away from that area, so I think it's worth checking out"

"Agreed" she replied, "although, if you're wrong, Kairo's going to have our heads for this".

Alan nodded but decided it was worth the risk and so did Lucky.  They started to sprint towards the power grid.

Lucky opened the door slowly, making sure that there were no bombs or booby traps attached to the door.  Once opened, Alan and Lucky started looking around the room for the bomb.  Both Alan and Lucky were uncertain that they would find something but they had to be sure.  Alan wondered how the battle was going and prayed that the troopers were able to deal with the ship on their own, especially if this was going to turn out to be a wild goose chase.

They were about to give up when Lucky suddenly noticed a small wire showing behind one of the main conduit lines.  She called Alan over and they investigated it further.  Their worst fears were realised when they noticed that the wire led up to a cluster of thermal detonators and a timer was counting down.  It was already down to three minutes and counting fast.

"I hope you took a bomb disarming course" said Alan as he watched the timer count.

"Well, it's been some time" replied Lucky as she looked at the various wires and tried desperately to remember the correct procedure for disarming a bomb.

"Red wire" she said eventually.

"You sure?" queried Alan, wanting to die in a power conduit room by a bomb.

"No" replied Lucky.

Alan gulped and said "I'm with you to the end Lucky, I'll back up whichever wire you think is appropriate".

"Blue" she said.

"A moment ago you said red" said Alan, sweat starting to trickle down his forehead.

Lucky held out her hand and Alan clasped it as she moved back and forth from red to blue and back to red again.  The timer was now down to seconds and Lucky knew she had to make a decision.  She grasped hold of the red wire, then moved down to the blue and yanked it out.  Both Lucky and Alan's breath's were held when she yanked it out and they breathed deeply again when the timer ceased.

At the same time that the timer stopped, Lucky and Alan was suddenly aware that the door that they had entered had suddenly slammed shut.  A display console flickered to life and on the screen they immediately recognised the leader of Los Bandidos.

"So" he said "you are the Imperials that have been dogging me for the last several days".

"You tried to murder a lot of Imperial Troops, you will be brought to justice" said Alan.

"What do you take me for" he replied "I am not a mass murderer.  The bomb that you see here is a ruse, it was never intended to go off".

Lucky looked at the monitor and said "I don't understand".

The man laughed before replying "this was a test to see how smart you are.  You are obviously too smart for your own good and this is also to be your tomb".

"What do you mean by that?" queried Alan.

"Well in a few minutes this room will be flooded by toxic gas.  You see, I can't very well have you chasing me across the galaxy.  Soon you will be dead and my reign on Corellia can continue".

He laughed and the screen flickered and died.  As soon as his image faded, gas started to seep slowly into the room.

"Damn it, what the hell are we going to do" said Alan as he started to cough.