Zeshaun put his fork down and got up from the table to answer the high pitched beep of his datapad. He searched for a couple of minutes trying to find it through the clutter of his desk. He finally found it under his towel. Gotta get around to cleaning this place up. Zeshaun thought looking around again at the mess on his desk.

General Zeshaun: Please report to hangar C-49, someone will be there with further orders. The message read. Zeshaun rolled his eyes, displeased by the fact that his breakfast was being interrupted. He quickly forked down the rest of his egg and grabbed his toast. He dressed, putting on his black armor and grabbed what he needed, his assault rifle, his 4 pistols and his knife. Zeshaun put on his black armor and ran down the hall, helmet under arm, toast in hand.

When he arrived at the hangar, Zeshaun was surprised to see his mentor and good friend General Rizzit standing in front of Zeshaun's own freighter. Zeshaun, although a little confused, saluted, brushed any crumbs off his face, and put his helmet on. What's he doin with my ship. Zeshaun thought. He also noticed a nice looking TIE interceptor sitting next to his ship, getting ready to be attached to his freighter, where his starfighter usually went.

"Sir, what's going on." Zeshaun asked walking up to Rizzit.

He explained that he had a little mission for him and a couple other people. While he was looking through profiles he found that Zeshaun had his own personal ship and that would work better for the mission. Zeshaun asked about the interceptor and Rizzit said that a new pilot was assigned to this mission as well.

"There he is now." Rizzit said pointing toward a tall black man in a navy pilot's suit.

Zeshaun gasped in horror. He knew that man, well he knew the man while he was a boy. Zeshaun had come to tadath once before while he was a mercenary, trying to buy some weapons. That was when he met the boy. The boy was about 16 his name was Jamal. Jamal begged and pleaded Zeshaun to let him join his mercenary crew but Zeshaun refused, his group was reserved for trandoshans only. The boy followed him around and was such an annoyance, that Zeshaun grew a strong disliking for Jamal. Now 2 years later, Zeshaun finds himself with Jamal again, now being forced to work with him.

"So you know each other." Rizzit asked, an eyebrow raised.

Jamal just came over, and wiped some dust from his pilot uniform. Jamal reached out a hand, looking for a handshake. Zeshaun grudgingly took the hand. Zeshaun never realized how tall Jamal was, He must have grown a foot since I last saw him Zeshaun thought, slightly intimidated by the Jamal's size.

Rizzit gave both of them a look and then invited them into a small office, obviously not his office but what they were using as a briefing room. Rizzit pressed a button and the hologram of a planet appeared.

"This is Borbas IV, a grass land for the most part, but with some major cities." Rizzit started.

And so the briefing began. The STC had intercepted a message going from a ship leaving STC space reading Attack them now, the wheels are in motion, success is within our reach.. Rizzit was afraid that someone was planning or had planned a attack on Borbas IV.

"We are not sure what to make of the message yet, but we want you to go scout out the situation." Rizzit said.

He wanted them to go in Zeshaun's personal freighter so that they would not attract to much attention. This also meant leaving their official uniforms behind. Instead they would be supplied with a set of armor that was more common to Borbas IV. Zeshaun and Jamal nodded and left the room, heading toward Zeshaun's ship.

Zeshaun walked into the freighter and sat down in the co-pilot's seat. He was still not very happy about not being able to pilot his own ship. Jamal sat himself down in the pilot's seat and started up the engines. Zeshaun could hear the other 4 troopers seat themselves in the passenger seats. Zeshaun was relieved to see two of his good friends going along with him, Requiem and Nick both gave waves as they got comfortable. Jamal seemed to recognize the other two, Must be from the navy. Zeshaun thought turning back toward the front.

"This piece of junk better get us their." Jamal mumbled.

"I'm sorry I thought I just heard you call my ship a piece of junk?" Zeshaun said.

Jamal glared at him and got the repulsors going. Soon they were out in space, ready to jump to hyperspace. This is going to be one hell of a trip. Zeshaun thought looking over at Jamal again, with a sense of disgust.

OOC:

So this addition is a little late, but I was hoping for people to give me some feedbacks, especially from higher-ups. If want to join ask first but I probably won't say no.

Zeshaun opened up the door to his room and placed his bag in a corner. He didn't bother to unpack because he figured they may be moved to a place where Minister Balno Tenkerek could keep an eye on them. He took off his helmet and put it on the night stand. He then slowly started unclipping the rest of his armor and left in a pile at the end of his bed. Well, I hope we aren't walking into trap. This was the last thought before Zeshaun drifted off to sleep.

Zeshaun had a strange dream through the night, he woke up sweating slightly. Zeshaun opened the curtains and saw that one of the three suns was starting to rise. Zeshaun rubbed his eyes and hit the shower. He stood in the shower letting the warm water flow over him. He got out and wiped himself down. He clipped his armor back down and was about to turn on the holonet when a rapp came from the door. Zeshaun got up and opened the door.

A man from the lobby held a note for him. Zeshaun thanked the man and took the note. Please meet me at hangar 24 in the space port in 30 minutes, It is very urgent - Minister Balno Tenkerek. Zeshaun crumpled up the note, burned it and left the room to wake the rest of the squad up.

"What are we doing up?" Requiem asked rubbing his eyes before putting on his helmet.

They had all grouped together in the lobby. Zeshaun explained the note and that they would have to hurry to get to the hangar in time. Everyone understood and they left the hotel. Zeshaun waved down a taxi and they got in.

"To the spaceport please." Zeshaun said.

the taxi sped off. With just 5 minutes to spare they reached the hangar. The minister was standing inside the hangar just within the door, looking nervous. When the squad arrived next to the minister Zeshaun noticed that there were 5 other guards, dressed in black armor, standing around. Wow, lots of protection for a little meeting. Zeshaun thought.

"Thank you for meeting me so early." Balno Tenkerek said, bowing.

Zeshaun nodded, asking what he wanted. The minister revealed a datapad, handing it to Zeshaun. Zeshaun read the message out loud.

"Dear Minister, We are fed up with your way of ruling. Prepare to be overthrown." Zeshaun read.

The minister had a worried look on his face, he explained that his spies had learned that the impending attack was coming no later than sunset today. Zeshaun twitched, We have to fight off a rebellion, Two days after they arrived.

The minister wanted them to be around him all the time for the rest of the day. When Zeshaun asked about the safety of the city, the minister waved the question away and told them that he had the home defense corps, was patrolling the city all day. Zeshaun was slightly taken aback by the ministers answer. Shouldn't he be more worried about his citizens. Zeshaun scrutinized.

"Do you think we're on the wrong side." Jamal whispered to him through the commlink.

"Right now, I honestly don't know." Zeshaun answered shaking his head in disbelief.

Jamal flipped through all the functions on the Deathseed and found that these Deathseeds had been modified to hold proton torpedos Perfect Jamal pulled up on the joystick and made a quick U-turn back toward the 5 remaining enemies. An explosion erupted to the right of Jamal and made his fighter shudder. the enemy count went down to four.

Jamal quickly found another target, he chased after it, tyring to mimick his prey's movements. The ugly, this particular one, a combination of a X-wing and an interceptor, must have had a missile lock warning because everytime Jamal thought he had a lock the ugly always side slipped to the left making it near impossible for it to hit. Damn, he's good.

F-3 dropped in behind him and made himself Jamal's wing. Jamal filled Kurt in on the missile lock warning and they decided to trick the fighter into slipping into their missiles. Jamal got another lock and as the ugly slipped to the left again, F-3's missile smashed into it's engines, turning the ugly into a pile of scrap metal.

"Nice shot." Jamal said.

They split off again, going after their own targets. Suddenly, the remaining 3 fighters started flying away, leaving the three deathseeds confused and sitting idlely in space. Jamal then saw a sudden ripple in space, and a CR-90 Correllian frigate dropped out of hyperspace. WEll, that's not good.

"Everyone fall back! go back to the planet." F-1 ordered.

Jamal didn't have to be told twice. He turned his deathseed and quickly put all his power into his engines, aiming for the planet. Large green beams flew by him, probably coming from the CR-90. Jamal went through the atmosphere and had landed in the hangar, probably in record time.

He hopped out of his ship and ran toward the minister and Zeshaun, both of their faces were twisted in horror.

"A Correllian Frigate, just dropped out of hyperspace!" Jamal gasped.

The minister, straitened his back "I guess the time has come," he turned toward one of his guards. "Get our pilots up in the air, tyr to take out the ship."

Jamal turned toward Zeshauan, who seemed to be in deep thought, Jamal wasn't sure if he wanted to go up and fight the frigate or if he would stay down in the atmosphere and try to shoot down shuttles, and groups of infantry that would probably wreck havoc throughout the city. I guess it's up to Zeshaun.

Zeshaun turned toward the minister "Do you have any kind of militia or army?"

The minister nodded, and asked one of the guards to bring Zeshaun, Jamal and the others to the barracks. They quickly exited the hangar and entered a speeder, they sped down the streets toward a less populated portion of the city. A small building was sitting at the end of the street with a few guards standing outside it.

Zeshaun and Jamal both got out of the speeder and walked into the barracks. inside was only about 40 or so soldiers, clad in the most basic of armor, carrying the standard stormtrooper E-11 blaster rifles. I'm not in the army, but this doesn't look good. Jamal thought.

Zeshaun lead his small army against impossible odds, all of them carrying enough grenades to set off a small nuclear explosion. Zeshaun quickly ordered the creation of a barricade, everyone started to get large cement blocks and other things like metal sheets and such that could provide any sort of cover. They set up in a very narrow part of the path, so that their numbers would not be overwhelming at any one time.

Zeshaun had the soldiers all lined up along the barracade, one line crouching and another line behind the first, standing. I hope this is enough to keep them at bay. Zeshaun thought overseeing the work that was going on. He had his doubts but he was feeling more confident by the minute watching the city troopers work up a solid defensive position.

One of the scouts Zeshaun had sent up came running back down the path, breathing heavily. "They're almost here, you've got 5 minutes at the most."

Zeshaun nodded and stood up ontop of the highest point in the barricade. Zeshaun had also managed to find a stockpile of bayonets and what the vast empire would call vibro swords, but the people of Borbas called them K'ruck. Zeshaun waved his K'ruck over his head, and let the whole group know that they were coming.

He had made sure that everyone had a sword, if the battle turned into a close quarters battle, having swords over just the end of their rifles was a large advantage that they were going to need. Zeshaun jumped down from the barricade, sheathed his sword, and grabbed his rifle. He set up right in the middle of the barricade, watching the road carefully for any sign of the advancing army.

The city troopers nervously fidgeted, they were all anxious and probably afraid for their lives. Zeshaun watched through his scope and after what seemed like a life time he saw the distinctive glint of yellow. Zeshaun called everyone to attention, they could now also see the advancing column of yellow armor, coming their way.

The advancing army didn't slow or show any signs of surprise or fear as they were confronted by the barricade.Now it's only 20 more feet until they're in range Zeshaun thought fingering the trigger, itching to get off the first shot, As the first soldier stepped across the line that determined Zeshaun's range, he pulled the trigger, putting a bullet through the stomach of one of the soldiers in the first row.

Following Zeshaun's lead, the rest of the troopers started to fire as well, their shots weren't as accurate, but were accurate enough as the line of enemy soldiers fell. Now, it's all up to the High Council and how fast they can get me those reinforcements. Zeshaun thought watching his 6th kill fall to the ground.

Finally, I thought we'd all be dead before they got here. Zeshaun let out a sigh of relief as he saw three TIE defenders roar over head. A loud cheer erupted from the militia as the defenders chewed apart the advancing enemy soldiers. That gives us a little breathing room Zeshaun thought. He looked around at his soldiers and saw the fatigue on their faces. This was probably the most action any of them had seen ever before.

"You doin alright trooper?" Zeshaun walked over to a young man, leaning next to a wall.

"I'm fine." The man said through deep breaths.

Zeshaun just nodded and handed him a bottle of water, the man took it, thankful and drank it in 3 quick gulps. Zeshaun went back to the front line, and looked for anywhere that was starting to thin out. Luckily the barrier that they had created was very protective, and Zeshaun's losses were minimal. Although they were doing fine at the moment Zeshaun knew that they could not hold up forever. He picked up his commlink and started issueing orders.

"Left and right flanks attack now!" Zeshaun ordered.

He had set aside about ten people on each side of the forest hidden behind a camoflouge barrier so that they could now attack from three sides, instead of just the front. A sudden barrage from either side caught the yellow armored troops off guard and their lines started to thin out. A smile crept onto Zeshaun's face but was soon wiped off when he saw another column of enemy troopers advancing around the corner. They just never stop Zeshaun thought reloading his rifle and aiming toward the new troops.

"Par, where are you, we need some more cover." Zeshaun said, not able to locate the fighters in the sky.

"Sorry, General, we got a whole squadron of fighters on us we can't help you at the moment." Par answered back.

Damn Zeshaun watched the advancing troopers making sure they didn't have any major break through's. He aimed for the unmissable yellow plated armor, sending a few of them sprawling back. Although his men had the advantage for the moment, the new, fresh enemy troopers were making some big advances on their position.

As Zeshaun lined up another shot, a loud, ear popping screech could be heard and when Zeshaun looked up he could see a ball of flame, falling down toward them.

"Everyone down!" Zeshaun shouted, dropping to the ground.

The ball of fire, resembling some kind of multi-pronged starfighter, came barreling down from the sky, nearly hitting his position, and hit the ground right in front of the enemy troopers before exploding in a brilliant flash of light. Zeshaun could feel the metal chunks falling around him. Zeshaun looked up, not getting up from the ground, and saw the smoldering hull of a starfighter, Thankfully that's not a TIE defender Zeshaun thought, looking back up at the sky to see if Par, Kurt, and Jamal were done taking care of their problems.

"Forward." Zeshaun heard an order come from the other side, the first time he had heard anything other than gun fire from them.

The enemy troopers fearlessly climbed over and around the charred hull, pouring fire at their position. Well, they recovered quickly Zeshuan's men wre not so fast, many of them were still cowering on the ground and some even feigned death. Zeshaun had to run around and get everyone up, some at gunpoint before they were overrun by the ever non-stop column of enemy troops.

"Par, don't know how much longer we can hold out." Zeshaun said, looking up again, searching the skies for any sign of the defenders.

"Almost done General." Par's voice came in loud and clear.

Good, we can hold on for just a bit longer Zeshaun though, moving up to the barricade and propping his gun on top of it. He aimed carefully at a clump of soldiers tactically advancing by taking cover behind each other and other objects. Zeshaun fired his shotgun burst and the whole group fell to the ground, he had killed 3 of them and injured the other 3, the Borbas IV militia picked off the others while they tried to crawl away.

The familiar sound of a TIE engine could be heard swooping down from the sky, Thought they'd never come back. Zeshaun smiled as he saw 3 defenders swooping in from the sky to make a run on the enemy troopers.

"All ground units, please be advised that there are multiple shuttles, and transports that have passed through our blockade, we shot down as many as we could, we have fighters working on taking more out, but we predict at least 8 to 10 transports will make it through." The voice of the commander of the navy announced urgently.

What the hell Zeshaun had just started celebrating with the militia when he heard the message getting repeated through the commlinks. Zeshaun quickly checked to see if any of the militia men had commlinks, the continued celebration proved that they had not heard the message. might as well let them celebrate for a bit more. Zeshaun thought, He reloaded his rifle and waited until most people calmed down. Zeshaun called a quick meeting.

"Listen up, I'm only saying this once" Zeshaun started.

He briefed them on the situation and they started making some quick plans to keep the enemy troops at bay. I don't even know the names of the guys we're fighting. Zeshaun thought, rolling his eyes. For their plan to work, they needed constant updates from the navy, which would be easy as long as Par and Jamal were alive and fighting in space. The other part was harder, it required them to be able to jump and surprise the landing troopers.

"This is Commanding Officer Zandak, an update on the situation." The commander's voice crackled into the comm, Zeshaun put it on speaker, "starfighters report that there are three GR-75 medium transports, and five, I repeat five, Sentinel-class shuttles, and 3 Kappa-class shuttles."

That's, 270...540...660 troops on their way to the ground Zeshaun took a deep breath. 41 against 660, never did like odds Zeshaun turned toward the leader of the militia,

"Where do you keep your heavy weapons, and bring me to your vehicle hangars." Zeshaun ordered.

The Borbas IV militia men kind of stood idly looking at each other. You can't be serious. they don't have any heavy weapons or vehicles, we are so screwed Zeshaun steadied himself and started barking out orders. He had assorted the men so that he had some kind of squad system and once they were all lined up they started to move to the position that the first shuttle should be landing. I guess this will be my last mission Zeshaun thought, thinking back to all the crazy missions that he had survived. Never imagined that I would die fighting for some volunteer mission..

"Commander Zandak, can you keep all other ships from pounding on the city?" Zeshaun asked.

After a brief pause the commander replied. "We can sure as hell try."

The answer wasn't very convincing. can't blame them, they're also up against impossible odds. Zeshaun scanned the sky, looking for the imperial backup he had called for. Unless they get here, we aren't gonna last very long. The group of 41 men arrived at a clearing in the city, it was the largest plaza in the city and it was just big enough for a sentinel class shuttle to land in there, unload and then take off again. Zeshaun quickly started to build another barricade and spread his men out to more advantageous positions, waiting for the shuttle.

The sound of an engine went by over head and sure enough a sentinel class shuttle was preparing to land. damn, we gotta hurry Zeshaun ordered everyone to work double time, he even asked willing civilians to help them out so that they could get some sort of defense ready before the shuttle unloaded their troops. Zeshaun looked up in the sky again to check on the status of the shuttle when he saw a Kappa class shuttle now preparing to land close by. what the hell Zeshaun wasn't aware that there was sufficient space to land both shuttle around this area, but when the two shuttles started to descend together, but the sentinal class shuttle having more altitude, Zeshaun figured out what they were going to do.

they're going to use the deployment of the first shuttles troops as a screen for the deployment of the second shuttle, those sneaky bastards. Zeshaun grimaced. They just barely got the barricade up before the shuttles descended below the tops of the highest buildings. Zeshaun watched in agony as the shuttles came down painfully slow. Without any rocket launchers we can't do anything to stop them Zeshaun thought making some last minute changes and fixing little things. The shuttle came into firing range of Zeshaun's rifle, although he couldn't do any damage yet, it meant that they were close to landing. now the real party begins Zeshaun lifted his rifle

As Zeshaun kept his eye on the shuttles, he heard a large explosion followed by screaming and the sound of a crash. He turned his head and saw the blue spears of the ion cannons wrecking havoc on the city. Buildings were in flames, pieces falling into the streets killing many of the civilians that were running away from their burning homes were crushed. Zeshaun watched helplessly, along with the Borbas IV militia as the civilians ran for the cover of the nearest air base, the designated safe spots for the city. Zeshaun turned his attention back to the shuttles, which were almost down.

"Hey! Don't let yourself be distracted, we need your whole self here." Zeshaun barked at the militia men.

He felt their pain but if he didn't keep them in line, they would all be dead before anything even started. I just hope Par and Jamal can handle the problems up there. Zeshaun brought his rifle to his shoulder and kept his sights on the back door of the shuttle. The shuttle landed giving off a small dust cloud, Zeshaun could feel the nervousness from all the soldiers. The door fell open,

"Fire!" Zeshaun ordered.

Volley after volley of blaster fire poured into the opening in the shuttle, body after body fell as they tried to escape the wall of energy that fell upon them. The idea of a quick victory floated into his brain but it floated out just as fast. The second shuttle had landed and was started to open it's ramp as well.

"Half of you concentrate on the other shuttle!" Zeshaun ordered hastily.

With their fire power cut in half, some of the enemy troops were able to return fire from within the ship, forcing Zeshaun and his militia to take cover from their shots once in a while. While they took cover the enemy troops slowly came out of the shuttle and in a matter of minutes both shuttle had been completely unloaded and started taking off. Although the militia had built their barricade, the sheer mass of the enemy troopers was still overwhelming and was working toward overtaking their position. Dammnit. Zeshaun fired shot after shot, only to have another soldier take the place of the one he shot down. The plaza was littered with yellow bodies, and luckily, the barricade was good enough so that they had not taken a single casualty yet, but it seemed like that was about to change fairly soon.

"General Zeshaun," the militia commander ran up to him "we have an urgent message for you"

Zeshaun hesitantly put down his rifle and picked up the comm and set his helmet frequency to the same code.

"Zeshaun, hope you saved me some." A familiar voice rang through the head set.

"Damn you, you crazy bastard, how long were you planning on waiting?" Zeshaun couldn't help but smile when he heard the voice of Alan, his former ASL.

"I got some troopers headed your way, you think you can survive a couple more minutes." Alan asked.

Just as Zeshaun was about to reply he saw a team of enemy troopers setting up an E-web. oh shit

"Maybe not." Zeshaun said grimly. "get here as fast as you can."

He ordered everyone to concetrate their fire on the E-web, but the other enemy troopers set up a screen of sorts, so that any shot that was directed at the E-web would hit just another trooper. THe behavior of the troopers reminded him of the clone troopers, who would blindly follow their commander into battle, giving up their life in a blink of an eye for the cause. how are we supposed to fight something like this Zeshaun thought.

A sudden flurry of bolts splattered their barricade, signaling the completion of the E-web. On the E-web' second strafe Zeshaun saw at least 4 of his men fall, he couldn't tell if they were dead, but he didn't have the man power to have someone go check. Soon the tables had been turned and the enemy troops were advancing with little resistance, they marched over their dead comrades bodies moving forward at an alarming speed.

Zeshaun kept firing into the head of the spear that was coming their way and as Zeshaun started to think that they were going to be over run a rocket flew over his head, piercing the head of the column of enemy troops. Another one of his old squadmates, lead the group of stormtroopers, carrying a rocket launcher. There's the fire power we need Zeshaun turned and signaled the militia to attack.

"Reinforcements have arrived!" Requiem yelled out loud.

The fresh stormtroopers walked fearlessly into battle, taking up stations next to the militia men behind the barricade. The wall of white seemed to dazzle the Borbas IV militia but it seemed to work as a confidence booster, they fired at increasing speeds, and their accuracy seemed to improve.

Zeshaun scooted over to Requiem. "Good to see you." Zeshaun shook his hand.

"Same to you, glad to see your still alive, I thought I might arrive too late." Requiem said.

Zeshaun explained how this was only two shuttles worth of troops and that possibly 6 to 8 more shuttles were making their way into the city at this moment, and that they were in danger of falling debris from the buildings. Requiem nodded, and then went off to tell the squad leaders the info. with these guys here it should be easier, but not easy Zeshaun thought, firing into the retreating mass of enemy troopers. and hopefully our ships can help even the odds up there Zeshaun looked up into the sky, he could still see the outlines of the dozens of capital ships that seemed to be engaged in battle.

To Zeshaun's surprise they got a group of 5 soldiers to surrender to them, he rounded them up and took off their helmets. Zeshaun was a little disapointed that they did not all look the same.

"Who are you working for?" Zeshaun asked pushing the barrel of his rifle into the man's face.

"Why would we tell you, damn empire thinking you can push everyone around." He man snorted and turned his head.

Zeshaun gave Requiem a look and he brought out a few torturing devices, a look of fear immediately dawned upon the man's face.

"Okay I'll tell you everything." the man took a deep breath. "These guys, some kind of warlord, is hiring all the mercenaries in the galaxy, fitting them with this yellow armor, training us and throwing us at this stupid planet, I don't know what why he's doin' it, I think he has some kind of grudge."

Zeshaun nodded, "Did you get all that." He turned to the militia commander. "Kill them any way you want."

The militia commander smiled, "with pleasure."

Zeshaun hoped that they didn't take too much time because they needed to get to the next position quickly if they wanted the upper hand again.

Zeshaun ran with Requiem by his side, feeling like his old self again back when he was with the Paladin's. The militia and the new stormtroopers followed them to the next designated site. A sudden spray of bullets came from Zeshaun's right, from within the small natural park area in the city. Zeshaun hit the ground, taking cover behind some of the cars that were left uncrushed in the street. He saw a few of the stormtroopers lying on the ground, including Requiem. Damn Zeshaun bit his lip, he was tempted to go all out and burn down the forest if that was needed to get the mercenaries out of the forest but he knew all too well that the city was more important than any personal grudge at the moment.

"Let's keep going." Zeshaun said waving the troopers forward.

They arrived at the site but a smaller group of stormtroopers were already. He motioned for his men to fall in where there were holes and serve as replacements for anyone that looked exhausted or injured. He walked up to the two troopers that seemed to be in charge at the moment.

"Holy crap, it's like the squad's fracking reunion." Zeshaun said as he looked into the faces of Njall and TK_421, other members of his old squad.

"Zesh? How's it going, a general now I see." Njall said in his usual sarcastic voice.

"Congrats." TK_421 said.

They talked, Zeshaun got the briefing on what had been happening at the position so far. The shuttle had landed only a few minutes before Zeshaun's forces had arrived and were now advancing toward the city. TK_421 and Njall had to shift their soldiers to keep the mercenaries from entering the city from the landing pad. It seemed that this group was smaller than the one that Zeshaun had fought earlier. They must have certain areas that are more important than others Zeshaun thought trying to see where the mercenaries were most likely to attack.

"I think Alan and Lucky are around here somewhere too." Njall said as the enemy lines started to thin

Zeshaun nodded, "I spoke with Alan earlier."

"Maybe we can find them and we can have Paladin squad wreck havoc on the enemy, just like old times. TK_421 said nostalgically

Zeshaun was liking the idea. He started to bring up his directory to see if he could call up Alan and Lucky but a sudden explosion caused him to look up. One of the buildings was collapsing from a huge blue ion ray that was coming from one of the large cruisers in space. wonder how Jamal's doing up there.

"Let's move." Njall said.

The large group of stormtroopers and Borbas IV militia got up and moved down the road to another landing pad when a sudden claxon alarm started to sound. what now Zeshaun thought looking up at the sky again. A large black and orange object was falling from the sky,

"What kind of bomb is that?" TK_421 asked.

"Thats no bomb." Zeshaun said his eyes growing wide. "RUN!"

He ordered as he ran as fast as he could to the navy base that was down the street. The large force stampeded down the street toward the building. Everyone made it just as the object became clear. It was a large, probably modified, freighter that had been shot down. It was burning and the carcass was falling toward the city. It crushed the landing pad that they had been defending only moments before and a huge explosion set off as the energy cells exploded in a chain reaction, leveling a few of the building around it. A large crater was left where the landing pad had been and the burning ship sat idly in the middle of the city.

The group of soldiers slowly exited the building, smoke and debris still in the air. They walked over pieces of building and large rocks and debris fragments from the ship.

"Let's keep moving." Zeshaun said as he noticed some of the bodies that were sticking out of the rubble.

There was no need for the militia to see their own people's mutilated bodies. I hate war Zeshaun thought as he looked around at the destruction in the city. He enjoyed being part of a squad much better since they didn't have to actually witness the large scale killings of wars, they could go about doing their own business, doing what they could to help the cause. In war they had to ignore any death around them for the larger cause, leaving dead or injured friends behind if the situation calls for it, that was probably the hardest part of war.

The group of soldiers walked down the street again, the next landing pad in could be seen. This one that they had been assigned to was connected with the main space port of the city. This should be a problem Zeshaun thought as he saw some of the dog fights from out side the atmosphere leaking in towards the city. A few stray shots lit up some buildings.  It seemed the largest part of the space battle was occurring right above the space port. must be fighting to get an easy place to land all their troops Zeshaun thought, trying to decifer the enemies strategies.

"Let's position ourselves, and guard the largest landing pads, the private ones won't be as large of a target but be ready to move to them." Zeshaun ordered.

His original group stayed with him, along with one of the squads from TK_421 and Njall's group to fill in for the soldiers they had lost. Zeshaun lead them through the empty space port, trying to find the quickest route to the landing pads when a voice crackled over the comm in his helmet.

"Zesh, you still with us?" Alan's voice asked.

"Still here, and not planning on going anywhere, commander." Alan and Lucky had both been promoted up to platoon commanders, although they had to take position outside the network of paladin squad.

"Well, Lucky and myself are coming down to help you out." Alan said.

"Is that safe commander?" Zeshaun asked.

"Now general, don't doubt my decisions." Alan said jokingly.

Zeshaun was very pleased to hear that Alan and Lucky were both coming down to fight. maybe a reunion will happen after all. Zeshaun spread the good news to both Njall and TK_421 as he ran to reach the landing pad faster than the mercenaries shuttles.