“What the hell is that?” queried Zeshaun.

Zeshaun didn't like the idea of having to fight off another vehicle or a larger turret.

“Paladin’s, covering position” ordered Lucky.

Immediately the squad formed a circle so that every possible angle was covered and they should be hit unexpectedly.

“There” shouted Nick as he pointed.

Zeshaun looked on and almost fell over in fear. In front of them was a large vehicle. With what Zeshaun could see it was equipped with a turret of some sort on top, a turboblaster up front and blasters in both the front and back. worse of all it had a DF.9 anti-infantry turret on the side.

Zeshaun thougth hard back to the lessons of his vehicle crewman class. The two turrets and lack of an entrance way, identified it as a XR-85 tank droid.

sithspit "Lucky that's a tank droid, it's going to take pure luck for us to be able to take this big thing out." Zeshaun said.

"Thanks Zeshaun." Lucky said.

Lucky relayed the message to the rest of the squad. A chorus of whistles and curses filled the comm.

"Calm down people, it's only a droid, if we think we can out maneuver this thing." Lucky said.

"Right, Lucky what's the plan." Alan said.

"I was kind of hoping  you would give me some suggestions." Lucky said.

Zeshaun braced himself for what would be the hardest battle he would ever be in.

OOC:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/XR-85_tank_droid

Alan had heard tell of the XR-85 tank before but he was no expert on it so he was glad when Zeshaun started rattling through its specs.  After listening to what it was they were facing, he wished he hasn’t heard what it could do after all.

"Calm down people, it's only a droid, if we think we can out manoeuvre this thing." Lucky said.

"Right, Lucky what's the plan." Alan said.

"I was kind of hoping you would give me some suggestions." Lucky said.

Drakar and Zeshaun thought about how to go about taking down such a monstrosity and decided the best course of action was to take down its treads.

“Do you think that will work?” asked Zeshaun.

“If not, we will sure find out and have to try and figure out another way of doing it.  But we definitely have to try and do something”, claimed Drakar.

“Lucky, Drakar and I are going to roll grenades along the ground towards the vehicles treads.  If we are successful then it should disable the thing” said Zeshaun.

“You think you can pull it off?” queried Lucky.

“Only one way to find out” replied Drakar.

“Paladins, covering fire!” ordered Lucky.

The squad took up defensive positions as Drakar and Zeshaun started rolling grenades at the tanks tracks.  The squad opened fire but soon found that the machines armour was more than a match for their blasters as the bolts just bounced off.

The first few grenades rolled past the tank then Drakar got lucky and one of the grenades rolled right under a tread.  It exploded and the squad looked up expectedly.  Through the smoke the tank continued to roll forward.

“It was a good try guys” said Lucky, “anyone got any other suggestions?”

Think Alan, think thought Alan as he ran over in his mind what this tank could do and what weaknesses it possessed.  He knew that if they could only get near enough to it then they could get access to its systems but with such heavy weaponry on its front and rear then an assault would be suicide.

“Wait, that’s it!” exclaimed Alan.

“What’s it” replied Lucky.

Alan was surprised that he had said that out loud but his mind started thinking things over, making sure it would work.  He didn’t know if it would or not but he couldn’t think of anything else.  His thoughts were interrupted as heavy blaster fire started firing overhead. Good thought Alan they haven’t got a lock on us yet.

“If you’ve got a plan, I think we’d really like to hear it” said Nick.

“Yeah, and soon” commented Drakar.

“Right, Zeshaun let me know if I am mistaken or not but isn’t there some kind of access panel on the front of that thing?” asked Alan.

“Sure there is, but with all the weaponry this thing is carrying, you’d be cut down instantly” replied Zeshaun.

“True, but what if some of us stayed back in the shadows whilst the rest of the squad fell back” said Alan.

“And then the one’s that stayed back could attack from the side when it rolled past and get access to the panel, brilliant” finished Zeshaun.

Lucky looked over at Zeshaun and at Alan and asked “you think you can pull it off?”

“Only one way to find out” replied Alan.

“Right, you and Zeshaun hide out here, we’ll draw the tank out, and good luck” said Lucky.

“Good luck to you too” replied Alan.

“Paladin, fall back!” shouted Lucky.

From the shadows Alan and Zeshaun watched the rest of the Paladins running back the way they had come.  Alan glanced down the other way and saw the tank start to rumble after them, its full compliment of weaponry firing at them.

He swallowed hard and thought to himself this had better work.

As Zeshaun watched the droid he counted the seconds in his head until the droid was in the perfect spot. 3...2...1...now Alan and Zeshaun jumped the droid confusing it for a few seconds. Within those few seconds Zeshaun and Alan managed to start a self destructing mechanism.

Zeshaun and Alan looked at each other and ran for their lives. They ran but they were still caught in the edges of the blast. They were flow forward and a loud ringing was left in Zeshaun's ear as he opened his eyes.

Zeshaun heard someone yell. ''There alive.''

Nick offered his hand to Alan, picking him up. ''Nice job guys.'' Nick said. Zeshaun was breathing hard, he hadn't run that hard for a long time.

''I cant believe that actually worked.'' Alan said.

''Me neither. What were you thinking? You could have gotten killed.'' Lucky walked over to them looking irritated.

Alan turned. ''Hey, it worked, right ?''

''Yeah i guess so. Lets move on.'' Lucky said.

The squad moved up cautiously not wanting to be caught off guard by anything. what a day, first a turret and then a tank droid. Zeshaun watched as they approached, what seemed like a hangar for civilian vehicles.

"Let's see if we can convince someone to give us a ride." Nick said.

The squad agreed since they had been walking all day. They crept up to the hangar. The door was not locked so they slowly entered. They noticed a group of engineers working on a transport in the back, they hadn't noticed the paladin's come in.

"Surround them, point your guns at them but set to stun, we don't know if they're bad." Lucky ordered.

The squad moved around the hangar. The engineers had a radio blasting and they were talking so they didn't take notice to the squad moving.

"Freeze." Lucky popped out with her gun pointed at the men's heads.

They looked around and saw that they were surrounded. They put their hands up.

"Paladin, let's move! Zeshaun, I'll drive this time." she started to walk toward the freighter.

The squad chuckled. Zeshaun turned red inside his helmet, he was still only learning but he wished he could have shown some promise on his first mission driving a vehicle. The squad piled into another hover transport, much smaller than the vehicle that Zeshaun drove but still more than big enough to fit the squad comfortably.

"What's the plan once we get to the headquarters?" Drakar asked.

"We will be storming through the building taking out all opposition as needed, we will also try to send out a message to Commander Rizzit telling him our situation." Alan said.

The squad gave a nod of acknowledgment, Zeshaun was nervous. Seeing that the forward base was so heavily defended he wasn't sure how much harder it could get.

"Are you worried about the defenses in the headquarters?" Nick asked

Zeshaun was surprised, Nick had nearly read his mind. Zeshaun nodded.

"Yeah, me too." Nick said.

The whole squad must have been thinking the same thing as a silence fell over the squad. The vehicle slowly came to a stop outside a large building. "Here's the headquarters." Lucky's voice came in over the comm.

"Alright Pallies move out!." Alan barked

The door lifted open and the squad burst out, Zeshaun was afraid to see what they were going to face but he would never back down from a battle as long as he was alive.

“First droid tanks, now this, does this guy have a fetish for droids or what” said Zeshaun.

“Paladin’s attack!” ordered Lucky.

Zeshaun aimed for the chests. The problems with killing these droids is that they are so skinny they almost have nowhere to shoot. Zeshaun sent a droid flying with a few well placed shots.

He saw that the rest of the squad was doing just as well, but the droids  were putting up a good fight. They outnumbered them nearly two to one.

"Watch out for any explosives that they send at us." Alan shouted advice throughout the fight.

Zeshaun checked his belt for some grenades but all he had was flashbangs and that had a higher chance of hurting him than it did the droids. damn

Zeshaun kept firing and firing and firing but the droids just seemed to keep on coming.if i have to fight another droid I might just shoot myself. Zeshaun thought as he took out yet another.

The squad did a fairly nice job of getting rid of the large amount of droids and surprisingly they made it out without any serious injuries, most people got a few scratched but nothing a bacta patch couldn't fix.

"I can't believe this is just the perimeter defenses." Zeshaun said.

"Scary thing is, it probably isn't the only perimeter defense." Alan said as he came up beside Zeshaun.

"Alright, lets move people."  Lucky said as she started walking around the building.

"We're not even going to try the main entrance?" Nick asked.

"They probably have a huge trap waiting for us there, we should find a window or something that we can all climb in through." Lucky said.

The squad moved around the building looking for any way to get in.  They finally found one on the far side of the building.

"No way am I going through that." Zeshaun said.

Most of the squad nodded in agreement.

"Well too bad, it's our only way in."  Lucky said.

they were standing in front of a waste disposal exit that was leading down. Lucky almost reluctantly jumped in first, the rest of the squad even more reluctantly followed.

more dark holes. Zeshaun though as he went into the smelly dark hole.

Drakar didn’t really mind this battle with the droids for two reasons, one they were extremely inaccurate because they were from so long ago, and the second was that he had experience in dealing with droids because that was the way his dad had trained him to fight.

Once they had gotten past the droids, Lucky suggested that they go for a different route rather than the obvious main entrance which was sure to be crawling with something nasty for the Paladins.

Drakar had a sneaking suspicion of what the alternative was going to be, but waited until Lucky suggested what it was going to be.

"No way am I going through that." Zeshaun said.

Most of the squad nodded in agreement.  Lucky quickly interrupted by saying, "Well too bad, it's our only way in." as she leaped through the opening.

“Where’s Zeshaun?” asked Lucky

Her question was answered when he came sliding through the hole.  "Thought you weren't coming" stated Alan.

"Nearly wasn't" replied Zeshaun, "but I couldn't leave my fellow squad mates down here by themselves, someone has to look out for you".

Alan laughed and said "oh, and that someone would be you?"

"Who else" replied Zeshaun.

Drakar was trying to wipe the dirt off himself along with the smell, but to no avail.  He checked all of his equipment to make sure that it was all there.   

"Alright" said Lucky bringing the team back to focus, "let's get out of here".

The squad stormed off down the hallway trying to accomplish the last part of their mission, which was taking down the man that set them up.

Lucky fired first and waved the squad out into an attacking formation.  Alan was happy when he noticed that it was real people firing back, although when a shot grazed his shoulder he decided that maybe he would have preferred the droids after all.

Grabbing his blaster pistol he quickly fired off two shots.  The first went neatly through the forehead of the man that had gotten lucky enough to hit Alan's armour.  Alan was happy to have the armour and the bolt had grazed it and not himself.  Still, he wasn't happy at having his armour damaged.

The rest of the squad joined in the battle, their blaster rifles firing, cutting down the enemy swiftly.  Soon the hall was littered with bodies and Alan was happy to see that everyone was safe and there were no injuries.

Lucky looked down the left route and then the right route, trying to decide which looked the best.  Difficult part being that both routes looked the same.

"Which way?" asked Alan.

"Let's head down this one" said Lucky as she pointed to the right option.

The squad fell in line behind Lucky and Alan wondered what it was they were going to face next and whether the left hand side would have been a better option or not.  Weapons raised, the Paladin's were ready for anything.

The passageway snaked upwards until it came to a large room.  At the front of the room was what looked like an elevator shaft and there were two passageways leading off to the right and the left.

Alan was wondering whether they should take one of the passageways or whether the lift when a rumbling noise echoed from both the left and the right passages.  What the hell thought Alan as he grabbed his blaster, the rest of the squad already with their weapons raised.

Two blurred motions suddenly rolled into view and stopped.  Getting into position and activating shield generators.  Oh hell cursed Alan as the Paladin squad found themselves staring into the faces of two Droideka's.

Hearing the noises ahead of them, Alan started to think that they were going to face more droids.  He hoped that it wasn’t going to be more destroyer droids.  Then he heard voices and was happy that it was going to be people rather than machinery that they would be facing, still, he didn’t know what the beeps and clicks were.

Lucky waved her hand in a motion, indicating the squad to advance slowly.  Alan had already gotten his blaster pistol out and was prepared for anything.  That was until he came face to face with something he never expected to see again, especially here.

“You!” exclaimed Alan.

“What the hell are you doing down here?” replied the man, asking the question but knowing the answer.

“Paladin’s attack!” ordered Lucky.

The squad soon got into an attacking formation as they faced off against numerous battle droids and several men who had nearly killed them with an E-Web back on Abregado-Rae.

How the hell did they get away from the authorities and make it here pondered Alan as he fired back, watching several droids fall from his accurate shots.

The man that had answered back to Alan quickly waved his fellow men back whilst the droids pressed on with their attack.

“We have to stop them before they raise the alarm” called out Lucky.

Alan knew that the reason why they had come down here in the first place was to attack the enemy where they wouldn’t expect it.  Surprise them and take them down easily.  Now, with the arrival of these men, that could be coming to an end.

We have to stop them thought Alan.  Several shots flew over his head and he knew that the droids had first priority.

Glancing over, Alan saw Nick and Zeshaun try to skirt around the ranks of the droids so they could tackle the men but to no avail.  Despite the droid’s poor shooting, they seemed to know the art of warfare, especially when they had superior numbers and they were making sure that they were giving the men all the time they needed.

Suddenly alarm klaxons rang out and Alan knew the element of their surprise attack was foiled.  I knew we should have killed them back on Abregado-Rae thought Alan as he fired back, bringing down more droids.

Now we’re definitely in trouble he thought as the klaxons resounded around the passageway.

The sound tore into Nicks ears. He couldn’t stand it, it was driving him crazy. He hoped they would get out off this place soon or at least shut the alarm off. If the alarm was able to be turned on, it was surely able to be turned off.

The Paladins continued moving through the building. Their element of surprised was completely devastated with the alarm going off.  The continued down the hall, retracing the tracks of the men from Abregado-Rae. Nick had never seen them before, but the other members seemed to have some memories.

‘’They are probably expecting us now.’’ Nick said.

Lucky nodded and continued moving. ‘’We have to shut them down quickly.’’

Nick expected a horrible death coming sooner than he had hoped. The squad came across a control panel, which looked like it had been disabled. ‘’Maybe this might get rid of the alarm’’

By the looks of it, nobody seemed able to activate it again. Drakar approached it.

‘’I guess I can give it a try.’’  Drakar examined it for a while. There was a slot to the right side of it. A keycard was needed to activate it.

‘’We are going to  need some sort of ID card.’’ Drakar explained. 

Nick grabbed something off of his utility belt, strapped onto his armor.

‘’Scavenged this from one of the bodies earlier.’’ 

‘’Impressive.’’

Drakar grabbed onto the card. He swiped it along the access panel. Sounds erupted from it. The screen then appeared, filled with options. Drakar looked at each one of them.

‘’ Summon maintenance, Upload schematics.. There we are, Disable Alarms.’’

Drakar selected that option. And the alarms were turned off. No longer did they drive Nicks ears crazy.

‘’Finally!’’ Zeshaun let out a sigh. 

Nick was surprised how easy Drakar had operated it. The squad continued on, hoping that that would confuse the enemy into thinking they perished from the defences. Nick was relieved, and once again thought he would live to see another day. The squad continued walking down the pathway, hoping to end this once and for all.

"Damn, not this again" yelled Alan as he came face to face with the muzzle of an E-Web.  Do these guys love E-Web's or what thought Alan as he and the rest of the squad dove for cover as heavy blaster bolts flew over their heads.

"I got this" said Zeshaun as he smiled, taking out two thermal detonators.

Nice one thought Alan as, without looking, he angled his blaster towards the E-Web and let loose some shots.  He knew that from the previous encounter, his shots could not get to the operator of the E-Web but he hoped that it might make them stop their assault even momentarily to allow Zeshaun time to throw the detonators.

"Bombs away" called out Zeshaun as he lobbed the detonators.

Mere seconds later and an explosion rocked the passageway.  Alan peeked out from his covering position to see the damage.  There was a lot of smoke from the room that had housed the E-Web and Alan was confident that it was now in ruins.  The smoke cleared and there was the E-Web looking completely unscathed.  What the hell thought Alan as he wondered what had happened.  Then he noticed it.

"They've got a shield around the E-Web" called out Drakar.

"Fall back!" ordered Lucky, knowing full well that the squad did not stand a chance against a shielded E-Web.

The Paladin's hastily retreated back the way they had come and they could hear the men laughing as several poorly aimed bolts flew over their heads.

"What now?" asked Nick once the squad had gotten to a safe location.

"We have to get past that E-Web somehow" replied Zeshaun.

"Only way past is to knock out the shield generator" commented Alan.

Lucky looked round at the rest of the squad and said "I'm open to suggestions people".

The Paladins rushed into the clearing, done by the damage of the explosives. Smoke had filled the now destroyed wall as the Stormtroopers rushed in towards the thugs inside. They barely had a chance to fight back, scrambling for cover from blasts. Nick fired at the thugs as they literally ran for their lives. None of them managed to survive, however.

''That wasn't as hard as i expected.'' Nick said.

''Heh, thats what you get from a sneak attack.'' Lucky looked to the side of the damaged walll. There was a door, probobly leading to the back of the E-web Operator.

Lucky pointed towards the door, and the Squad proceeded in that direction. They went through the door. Infront of them, was the E-web operator, not knowing that they had snuck behind him.

He turned around, hearing weaponry being loaded from behind him. He raised his arms, surrendering.

Nick and Alan approached him. The squad surrounded him, incase he made any sudden moves.

''Where are the rest of your 'friends' ?'' Lucky demanded.

The E-web operator trembled in fear, no knowing if he would live to see another hour. '' J-just follow the door over there.'' He then pointed to the side, towards a door, decorated unlike most of the others.  ''It will take you to the place you seek.''

''You heard him. Move out.'' Lucky commisioned to the rest of the squad.

In a last attempt to escape, the captive throttled about with a blaster pistol. Nick quickly fired at him, preventing any casualties among the squad. ''Well, there goes our information booth.''

Nick and the rest of the squad went through  the decorated door and into a large room, filled with weapons.

''Woah.''

Lucky tensed when she heard the mechanical voices of the droids.This isn't good she didn't have much time to ponder however, as the room became more and more crowded by the minute.

She saw Zeshaun get to work on deactivating the weapons, she knew it would probably take a while to deactivate them all, she just hope that he could accomplish the task quickly. She heard a few bolts whizz past her and hoped it didn't hit any of the un-deactivated weapons and end their career ...and their lives.

She was debating whether to go help Zeshaun or not. She could hear him talking to himself through the ComLink "Zesh, nee any help?"

"I think I'm good, it'll just take me  a little time."

"I'll help you with the task then, we may not have all the time you need."

She shot aa few of the droids to take as many down as she could before swiftly moving off to where Zeshaun was doing his work and started orking on some of the other weapons. When she was finishe ddeactivating a weapon, she would toss it aside and had started to create a neat pile.

“Nice job, Drakar” said Alan as the grenade went off.  He could hear the clanks of several droids dropping down and he smiled to himself.  That should take care of the droids still to come in, now it’s just a case of mopping up the rest thought Alan as he fired a single shot, downing the nearest battle droid.

“I get lucky sometimes” replied Drakar as he shrugged while still firing with his Blaster, his shots mowing down several droids.

“Almost done…..” commented Zeshaun as he continued working hard.

Thank goodness thought Alan as he let loose another volley of shots, downing several more droids.  A bolt flew towards Alan and he ducked, neatly avoiding it.  That was close he thought as he fired back, bringing the droids life to an end.

“Um, guys, we have a problem” said Zeshaun.

Alan whirled round to see that the shot that was meant for him had actually impacted on the casing of the weapon and now it was emitting a beeping noise.  Oh hell thought Alan as he listened to one of the worst noises imaginable.

“Let’s get it deactivated now” said Lucky as she moved to Zeshaun to assist him.

“Working on it” replied Zeshaun.

Drakar and Nick had finished off the remaining of the droids and they all looked on.  They knew that running away from this was of no consequence as if it went off it would obliterate the base.

“Work faster” commented Alan, surprised that he had said it out loud but he hated not being able to help, knowing that his life and the life of the rest of the squad hung with Zeshaun and Lucky.

“I know, I know” replied Zeshaun.

The beeping grew louder and louder and Alan thought to himself is this the end of the Paladin’s.

Nick thought the blast would nearly vaporize the entire base, as well as the land surrounding it. Nick tried to get up, but failed from the impact on the wall. He laid on the ground as he heard what seemed to be paper falling to the floor. Nick moved his head as he laid down, trying to get an eye on his fellow squad members. He saw Zeshaun, who had managed to get up already. He looked around and saw the others, covered with propaganda. What on a wookiees beard was that ? Nick thought as he saw his helmet, which fell off.

Nick took his time to get up, bit by bit he slowly started to get back to his feet. He had a major headache and was dizzy. He stumbled around as he tried to regain normal balance. Zeshaun noticed Nicks attempts to get back up. He helped him, although still a bit dizzy as well. That weapon was strong, even though it was covered in paper

‘’I thought we were toast..’’ Nick said, astonished.

Zeshaun nodded. ‘’I know, I guess luck was on our side on this one.’’

  Both Zeshaun and Nick moved around the  room, helping out the other squad members. Clearly, they were just as clueless as they were.

‘’Well, that was interesting.’’ Alan said, still dazed.

‘’Sir, what about those guys we were chasing earlier ?’’

Alan took a deep breath, trying to think.  ‘’Maybe they haven't yet escaped the area.’’

Nick thought about that for a while and tried to reload his ammo.

Hopefully, we will be done with this mission soon.

‘’So, What shall we do now. Chase them down? Or contact the base ?’’ Drakar said, curious on the squads next move.

Lucky shrugged, and looked around her surroundings. She wasn’t quite sure what to do either.  ‘’I suggest we search around for more weapons.’’  There was no argument against that.

The Paladin squad scavenged the area. There were papers, reports and other sorts of information all over the room. Almost like an ocean.

They came across a group of bodies. All either dead or dying.  They were in uniforms, as if they were high officials. Nick stepped forwards towards them, checking for any signs of life.
‘'These guys are dead.. I wonder if the guys we are after caused this.’’
Lucky nodded to Nick. She was too tired to say anything.

Alan thought for a while. ‘’Lets continue with the task at hand.''

"Let's try to find that commander” said Lucky.

Alan was up for that, he was fed up of squaring off against his hired thugs and outdated battle droids.  He wanted to put an end to this man’s double crossing once and for all.  The Vast Empire was an organisation that Alan looked up to and he hated the Commander for treating it like a doorway to personal gain only.

After stockpiling up on weapons and ammunition, the Paladin’s left the chamber and carried on.  Their trip through the passageways was uneventful which troubled Alan.  He didn’t like the quietness.  He was sure that eventually they would end up in trouble.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the squad found themselves in a giant courtyard.  Alan hadn’t realised that the base was so vast and he was starting to wonder how they were going to find the Commander.

“Ah, there you are, I was beginning to think that you had gotten lost”

Alan scanned the building trying to get a fix on who said it and where the voice was coming from.

“There” shouted Zeshaun pointing upwards.

Alan followed Zeshaun’s gaze and true enough he saw an individual standing on a balcony on the nearest tower.

“The Commander” muttered Nick as he raised his weapon.

“Save it Nick” stated Lucky, “you’d never hit him with that from this range”.

“I commend you for getting this far Paladin’s.  I must admit that your profiles do not do you justice.  I will offer you this one only.  Join me and together we can reap the rewards and overthrow the Imperial’s.  Surely you know the rebellion is just” called out the Commander.

Drakar spat on the ground at the very prospect and Alan shouted back “never!”

Lucky then said “The rebellion is just a petty band of thugs and you will be brought to justice for what you have done here”.

“Pity” replied the Commander, “so be it then, here is where the Paladin’s will be put to rest”.

As soon as the words were muttered, several hangar doors opened and out stormed a large contingent of various types of battle droids.

Oh hell thought Alan, wondering whether this was one fight to big for the Paladin’s.

“Paladin’s, give them hell!” shouted Lucky.

That is exactly what I was thinking thought Alan, grinning under his helmet as he brought out his blaster pistol and started firing.