The squad was running at a fast pace, they knew that Zeshaun and Njall could not hold out forever against wookies and they needed assistance fast.  Alan could feel his lungs burning from the fast pace but he kept pushing himself onwards.  Rounding a corner they spotted Zeshaun and Njall running towards them.

Lucky came to an abrupt stop and signalled with her hands for the squad to stop.  Everyone skidded to a halt and brought their weapons to bear on Zeshaun and Njall.  Alan could make out several wookies running behind them.  They looked in a bad state and Alan smiled, knowing that it was the work of Zeshaun and Njall that had got them that way.

"Zeshaun, Njall, hit the deck" said Lucky into the com.

Alan looked on as Zeshaun and Njall slid to the floor giving the squad a clear view of the oncoming wookies.  The squad opened fire.  Alan was surprised when despite the onslaught of blaster fire that every bolt was cleanly deflected by the wookies.

This isn't good thought Alan as he carried on firing repeatedly with both of his blasters, cursing as every single accurate bolt got deflected.  Zeshaun and Njall, from their position saw the squad's dilemma and decided to join in the fray.

From their position they targeted the wookies legs and fired.  The wookies could not deflect both the bolts heading towards their body and the bolts heading towards their legs.  They both let out a howl and collapsed to the floor.

Alan smiled as he watched the wookies grimacing in pain and clutching their legs.  Affording them no amount of mercy, the squad opened fire on the downed wookies.  Alan fired repeated bolts into the nearest wookie.  The wookie tried its best to deflect the shots but one of the shots struck its chest, then several more impacted its skull and it was soon dead.

TK and Kaka opened fire on another wookie.  It too couldn't repel the onslaught of the repeated blaster fire.  Its skull exploded as a clean shot went through its forehead.  Lucky wasted no time in targeting the last of the wookies.  Her perfect targeting soon finished it off.

"Thanks" said Zeshaun as he got up from the floor.

TK glanced up and spotted several guards approaching and said "looks like we have company".

Njall looked back and commented "I thought we got rid of those guys".

"Guess we didn't" said Zeshaun.

"Paladin's, let's finish these guys off" said Lucky as the squad got ready for the fight.

Zeshaun stiffened as he saw the wookies and he nearly gunned them down when the lights came up but he figured they could be an asset to the squad if they freed them and let them take out their rage on guards that happened to be walking around. They stood tensly for a minute, both sides not sure if the other was going to attack. Lucky slowly started to move her hands showing that they were friendly and were going to free them. Lucky motioned for everyone to get the collars off of the wookies. As soon as they had been freed then ran out of the room, let out a mighty roar and ran off down the hallway.

"well that was interesting." TK_421 said.

"Indeed." Kaka said still looking after the wookies.

The squad rummaged through the destroyed droid producing machines and found another door leading out of the room and into another. The room they entered was enormous, so large in fact that it had 5 to 7 other smaller square buildings set up inside the room. The squad slowly walked forward and approached one of the smaller buildings. On the front door some kind of code had been imprinted on the steel doors. PVQ-479 Zeshaun stored that in his mind incase they ended up needing it later although he thought it would be highly unlikely. Alan slowly opened the door, letting his blaster slide in through the small crack first and then opening the door just enough for everyone to slide in.

The room was lit by two rows of fluorescent lights, which illuminated a long table, 10 chairs, a recreation area and two doors. The squad walked around and searched the building but found it was virtually spotless. Zeshaun opened up one of the doors a crack and slipped inside, he searched the wall for a light switch and flipped it on. Inside was 3 sets of bunkbeds. The beds were clean but they showed signs of use.

Zeshaun left the room and searched the other room, it was the same . "I hate to say this but this looks like it could be a housing arrangment for a squad of troops."

As if on cue, the voices of a dozen or so men could be heard coming from the direction of another building, they were laughing and talking loudly obviously not expecting visitors. Zeshaun crept up to the door and opened it just enough to be able to see the approaching people.

They were guards dressed in an assortment of armor all of them carrying rifles and blaster pistols strapped to their waist. Zeshaun closed the door and scampered back to Lucky and told her what he saw. She sat thinking for a moment and then told everyone to find a hiding spot, they were going to jump them.

"try not to fire your guns and don't let them call for help or fire a shot." Lucky ordered.

Zeshaun took a position under the far end of the table along with Zippy. Alan and Lucky hid on either side of the door, and Zeshaun couldn't see where the rest of the squad had run off too. The front door opened, and Zeshaun nearly burst out laughing when he saw Alan's reaction when the door almost swung right into his face. Alan silently stepped out from behind the door, following the last person in. Lucky dropped in right behind Alan.

Zeshaun saw Alan and Lucky raise their weapons and bring them down over the heads of the guards in the rear. The guards spun around and ran for cover as Alan whipped out his blaster and pointed it toward the guards. A few of the guards took cover behind the table kneeling down behind it. Zeshaun pulled back his rifle and delivered a crushing blow to one of the guards stomachs. Zippy placed a kick to a guards groin, causing him to crumble to the ground gasping for air.

The rest of the squad popped out of their respective hiding spots and a few whacks later the guards lay on the ground unconscious or dead. that worked niecly Zeshaun thought as he wiped some blood off the end of rifle using one of the unconscious guards sleeves.

"This probably means all the buildings serve as some kind of barracks for the guards. We better get out of here before they discover that one of their squads is lying disabled on the floor of their barracks." Lucky said.

the squad bust out of the room and dashed off toward the end of the room, passing by some guards leaving them confused, not sure if they should shoot or not. As they approached the door that lead out of the room one squad had figured out that the paladin's were not part of their force. A squad had set up infront of the door, and were now spraying blaster fire in their direction. Zeshaun dove behind one of the buildings for cover. there's always guards, if you need to get somewhere be sure to assume guards will be in the way Zeshaun thought as he loaded his rifle and started to return fire.

Can my day get any worse thought TK as he stared at the super battle droids

"Open fire!" Shouted Lucky and the squad opened fire upon the battle droids, TK's head was spinning due to all the banter and occurrences over the mission I hope not all the missions are this hard thought TK as he let of 3-4 e-11 blaster fire directly at one of the droids and it fell, TK was happy they were this easy.... or so he thought the droid got back up so TK fire 5 more at its legs and one ripped out of its wired joint.

"There damn hard" TK cursed

"Keep your fire on them" said Alan tapping TK on the shoulder then going into a crouch position before firing upon the droids

TK popped out and hit the droid in the head and it went back down with a large thud, TK looked around him the squad had managed to drop five of the thirteen droids that left the building.

"This is it im throwing a thermal" Said TK as he found one on a dead guard body "Give me cover while i collect it"

TK sprinted over to the guard and collected the thermals under the protection of paladin.

"I have two" Shouted TK above the battle

"Good" Replied Lucky beckoning to get back to safety

TK threw one and it detonated almost instantly after contact, the detonation destroyed three more, so TK threw the second and this time it finished of the droids. Nevertheless, the battle is not over, more guards enter despite them knowing they will die.

"Get them, even if it costs you your life!" Shouted a guard captain

"That’s a bit harsh" Said TK looking at Zesh who was about to shoot the captain

Zesh let rip of his blaster and it cut through 6 guards like a knife going through jelly, TK followed this fine example and finished the guards off

"I believe it is clear" Said TK

"Then move on" Said Lucky

Lucky let the way through the buildings until the squad came to a narrow corridor, the squad turned left with TK trailing behind and Kaka in front of him, the squad came to a complete halt, the squad stood peering up at a 30 foot door, which in some cases was extraordinary.

The squad went into a room which was in matter of fact was the main room, but when they stepped in the Hutt spotted them and disappeared down a personal lift.

"DAMN" Cursed Alan "This close"

"It's okay Alan we will get him, for now clear out this room of the guards" Said Lucky "Paladins ATTACK!"

TK ran down the side of the room blasting the guards who got near, TK accurately aimed for a Wookiee in the center of the room, but when the fire hit him the Wookiee looked at TK and charged with all his might with his vibroblade, it was almost like he had went berserk "NEVER MESS WITH KIROCHABACCA" Shouted the Wookiee knocking TK to the ground then turned his attention to the rest of the squad.

Zeshaun's head spun in pain but his anger overloaded the pain in his torso and he got up unholstering his submachine gun from it's holster. I hate wookies Zeshaun regrouped with the squad and they all waited for the wookie to attack them. Kirochabacca turned to face them and charged, vibroblade out.

"Fire!" Lucky shouted.

Zeshaun held down the trigger and let his submachine gun fire. You may be able to dodge a few shots, but let's see you try to avoid this Zeshaun grinned under his helmet as he dozens of bolts fly across the distance between them and come in contact with the wookie. Zeshaun stopped to reload but kept his eyes on the wookie to see the creature die. He stopped what he was doing as he saw the wookie charge through the mass of bolts coming out with wounds along all it's limbs, none of them very serious. It seemed the wookie had on the same shield like things on it's forearms as the wookies he and Njall had fought before. They allowed the wookie to absorb the attacks without taking damage. this is going to suck

"Move, move!" Lucky stood and ran from her position as the wookie came bearing down on them.

The squad scrambled out of the rampaging wookies way. Zeshaun narrowly avoided being bashed again as his previous wounds kept him from reacting as fast as the others. He finished reloading his submachine gun but found that he had landed near his rifle. Zeshaun crawled over to it, did a quick check to make sure it wasn't broken and then reloaded it and slung it over his shoulder.

"Try attacking from all different angles." Lucky suggested.

Everyone started to shoot from wherever they happened to be standing. The attack from all around the wookie seemed to be working well enough but the wookie wasn't stupid. It charged toward Lucky, vibroblade positioned infont of it's body to protect it from blaster fire to critical areas. oh shit Zeshaun concentrated his fire on the wookies unprotected areas, trying to cause enough pain to force the wookie to change it's direction. Zeshaun and the other's seemed to have been able to to do enough damage in the wookies upper back to make it curl down in pain giving Lucky time to run and find another position.

The wookie stood back up and howled in pain, blood splurting from wounds all over it's body. that's one tough wookie, as much as I hate them, i gotta commend it on it's ability to take pain Zeshaun thought as he reloaded his rifle. The wookie kept charging at people but the others always managed to inflict enough pain to keep it from finishing it's attack. As the wookie turned it's attention toward Zeshaun, Zeshaun got up from his spot and attempted to run to a different position but tripped over some debris and fell. His helmet slipped off as he hit his head on the ground. Zeshaun hurried to pick up his helmet but saw the growing anger in the wookies eyes I guess it hates me as much as I hate it Zeshaun put his helmet back on.

It charged toward Zeshaun with new anger behind it's eyes. As it took the attacks from the squad it's tolerance for pain seemed to have gone up. that's not good Zeshaun started crawling back but found his back up against the wall. Zeshaun braced himself for the impact. He raised his rifle to block the wookies vibroblade attack. Zeshaun's arms buckled as his rifle took the impact and the wookie and himself were locked to each other in a battle of strength. this is the strongest wookie I've ever met Zeshaun thought as his arm's began to give. Luckily his rifle seemed to be taking the pressure of the attack fairly well. As his arm's gave way to the wookies strength his rifle dropped to his side, his arms felt like jello.

The wookie grabbed him by the shoulders and lifted him into the air. Zeshaun tried to do something but he was trapped in the claws of the wookie. The wookie suddenly let out a violent growl as he dropped Zeshaun and grabbed it's own shoulder." Zeshaun saw Alan holding his rifle I'll have to remember to buy him a drink Zeshaun made a mental note. As the wookie curled over in pain the squad unloaded ammo into it. Round after round pierced the wookie as it was defenseless after taking so many shots. In a few minutes the wookie lay dead on the ground, it's fur soaked with blood.

"That was the scariest thing I've ever faced in my life, possibly scarier than that krayt dragon" Alan said as he stood up from where he had been taking cover.

"I think everything we've faced on this mission has made it into my top 5 scariest moments." Zeshaun said standing up with the help of a chair that had been knocked over in the battle.

"Well at least you'll have some interesting stories to tell your kids." Njall said sarcastically.

Zeshaun rolled his eyes and turned toward Lucky, awaiting orders.

"Ah the sewers" screamed Lucky.

Whilst the rest of the squad seemed to ignore Lucky’s comment, Alan did not.  Despite his helmet being on, there was still an odour seeping into his nostrils and it wasn’t a pleasant smell.  I would hate to think how bad this place smells without my helmet thought Alan.

Lucky sensed the squad’s urgency in locating the Hutt, she too wanted to bring the vile creature down.  She waved her hands forward and the squad started to move slowly through the sewer.  Alan could hear the sloshing noise the squad was causing as the sewage water sloshed around their ankles.

Great thought Alan as he realised they were making enough noise to alert every guard, every raider and he didn’t want to know what else could be lurking down here.  He was looking forward to just getting out of this stink pit.

“I wonder if there is any other wookies down here like the one we just encountered” commented TK.

Zeshaun flashed a glare over at TK and replied “I certainly hope not, one of them is bad enough”.

Lucky held up her hand and the squad came to a halt, crouching down in the sewage water, waiting to find out what was going on.  Alan moved as quietly as he could to Lucky, he grimaced as the water still splashed around his ankles.

“What is it?” asked Alan.

“Trouble” replied Lucky as she pointed forward.

Alan glanced ahead of them and true enough he could see several lights beaming around the sewer.  He wondered how many of them there were and what they were.  He hoped they were not going to be wookies.

“What’s the plan?” asked Alan.

“We have to engage them” replied Lucky, “the Hutt went this way and if we ever want to see an end to this mission then we have to put a stop to him”.

“Understood” said Alan.

Lucky waved the squad forward, her hand signals alerting the squad that there was trouble up ahead.  The sound the squad was making must have alerted the enemy of their position as suddenly the lights flashed directly into their eyes.

Damn cursed Alan as he was suddenly blinded.  He hit the deck quickly and shook his head, trying to clear his vision.  He knew that they had to attack and soon before they were picked off.  He wondered whether the rest of the squad had been momentarily blinded.

The squad carried down the hallway but it just seemed to get narrower and narrower.  This thing gets any narrower and we won’t be able to move any further forward thought Alan.  Whilst Alan wasn’t claustrophobic he still wasn’t happy with the narrowness of the corridor.  He hoped that none of the squad was claustrophobic.

“Well this is fun” commented Njall, “I always wanted to be thinner”

“Yeah, I always thought that” laughed Zeshaun.  TK chuckled as Njall glared at Zeshaun before joining in with the light humour.

Lucky held up her hand and the squad came to a halt, their laughter dying instantly.  Alan moved as best as he could up to the front to see what it was that Lucky had found.  He shook his head as he watched the corridor become narrower still and he knew that the squad could not go any further.

“We’ll have to turn back” said Lucky.

“Agreed, I guess we will have to find another way to get to the Hutt” replied Alan.

“Guys” called out TK.

“What is it?” asked Lucky.

“I think we have company” replied TK.

The squad looked and listened and true enough they could hear footsteps approaching them.  Damn cursed Alan those elite soldiers must have followed us.

“I thought we got rid of those guys” commented Njall.

“Now what do we do” called out Zeshaun, “we can’t fight effectively in this tight environment and it’s not as if we can get into good coverage, we will be sitting ducks”.

“Well we can’t carry on” said Alan as he glanced down the hallway to make sure there was no way forward.

“What about that” said Kaka as he pointed at the wall.

Alan and Lucky glanced over at what Kaka was pointing at and spotted a metal grill plate against the wall.

“TK, Zeshaun, get that thing open now” called out Lucky.

Alan looked down the corridor and heard the steps getting closer.  He watched on as TK and Zeshaun got to work removing the plate from the wall.  Hope they get that plate off quickly thought Alan.

“How are we doing?” asked Lucky

“Nearly there” replied TK.

“Make it quick” said Njall as the footsteps were getting really close and it was only a matter of time before the soldiers came across them.

“Got it” called out Zeshaun as the plate came free.

“Everyone in now” called out Lucky as she waved the squad through.

One by one the squad filed through the small opening.  Alan thought the corridor was narrow but this small passage was ten times worse.  He could hardly move, instead he had to squirm his way through the passage.

Alan could hear the elite soldiers entering the passage and following them.  He knew that all they could do was to carry on and hope that they exited the passage soon.  All of a sudden, Alan could see an opening ahead of him.  Some of the squad had already exited the passage and Alan was thankful to finally be out of the passage.

The squad found themselves in a large empty room, the sewage water still splashing around their ankles.  What Alan found was the sheer emptiness of the room and the deathly quiet.

“It won’t take those soldiers long to get here” said Zeshaun.

“We need to find a way out of here” said Lucky, “fan out and find an exit”.

Alan started his search for the exit, his senses on high alert.  He didn’t know what it was about this place that made him feel uneasy but something did and he had both blasters in his hands already.

“I have a bad feeling about this place” muttered Alan under his breath.

The squad started to enter the next room.  It turned into a long corridor, with grandiose statues adorning the walls.  I wonder if we are getting closer to the Hutt thought Alan as he looked up at the statues.

TK pointed at a hideous deformed looking statue and said “hey Zesh, this one looks like you”.

“Very funny kid” replied Zeshaun.

Alan smiled at the comment and was about to add something when a blasters bolt struck a statue that he was standing beside.  Shards of stone bounced off Alan’s helmet as he whirled around to see who it was that had fired on them.

“It’s the elite’s” called out Kaka.

“Didn’t we just lose these guys?” queried Njall.

“I guess they must have followed us down” said TK.

“Paladin’s, defensive formation, now” called out Lucky.

The squad whirled round and brought their blasters to bear on the approaching elite soldiers.  Both of Alan’s blasters were in his hands as he opened fire repeatedly at the elites.

“Zeshaun, TK, if you have grenades, use them, Alan, give them some covering fire” called out Lucky.

TK and Zeshaun grabbed their grenades and moved out from behind the statues that they were hiding behind.  Alan swung out from his covering position, his blasters spraying bolts repeatedly.  He wasn’t bothered about hitting anyone, rather that he was forcing the elites to take cover so there weren’t targeting the squad.

The grenades rolled towards the elites and exploded.  The statues that the elites were standing beside exploded and came crashing down.  Several of the elites were crushed instantly.  Alan couldn’t tell but he was certain that some had avoided being crushed but now there was a mound of rubble between them and he was certain that they would not be seeing them again.

Njall looked at the mound of rubble and said “I guess we’re going this way” he said, pointing away from the rubble.

Lucky waved the squad on.  They moved to the end of the corridor and entered into a large chamber.  There before them lounged the Hutt.  Beside him were two guards and a protocol droid.  Alan’s blasters were in his hands immediately as he fired at the guards.  They never stood a chance as two bolts sliced into their foreheads and they fell down dead.

“Pratt the Hutt, your days are over” said Lucky

Pratt did not seem impressed or very happy as his tail twitched repeatedly as he started uttering out a string of words that Alan could not make out.  The protocol droid stepped forward.

“His exalted one would like to ask if you have any last words.  You have decimated his army, destroyed his statues and caused nothing but trouble.  As a result of this your fate is sealed, you will die” said the droid.

The squad looked around at each other, several of them chuckling as a Hutt would not survive should the squad decide to attack.

“Pratt, surrender now or die” said Lucky, not interested in the Hutt’s idle threats.

Pratt merely laughed as he pressed a button on his throne.  The squad never had time to re-act as the floor beneath them opened up and they found themselves falling.  They landed hard on the ground.  Alan cursed silently as he should have expected the Hutt to have a trap for them.  A large noise echoed around the chamber that they found themselves in.

“Zesh, Tell me that was your stomach” said TK.

“Not me” replied Zeshaun.

A large steel door slid open and Alan looked at it thinking to himself I have a bad feeling about this.  A large creature slowly lumbered through the opening and Alan realised that it was a Rancor.

“Do all Hutt’s keep rancors?” asked Njall.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think he’s been fed for a while” replied Zeshaun.

Overhead they heard the protocol droid say “his exalted one says die well”.

After the episode with the Krayt Dragon before he was glad that the rancor was not as much of a hassle to destroy. It didn't have the agility and flight capability which made it a lot easier. They exited the room and unfortunately did not end up back in the room where the hutt was sitting. damn, he was this close Zeshaun knocked off some dirt that was on his armor and tried to wipe the blood but it only smeared it. Zeshaun shrugged, reloaded his rifle and followed Lucky down the hall. They could hear the footsteps of soldiers and guards walking around but they were so many sets of feet that they echoed off the walls and made it hard to distinguish where each sound was coming from.

"We'll have to find the hutt again," Lucky thought out loud. "try not to attract to much attention only engage if you have to."

Everyone nodded acknowledging her order and they quietly advanced down the hallways. It seemed they were in the same kind of hallway as the ones that they were running around before they got into the sewers. If the sewers are the only way of getting to the hutt, I think I'll just let him get away Zeshaun thought, his nose crinkling just from the thought of the disgusting smell of the sewage. As they approached an intersection they could hear a set of footsteps getting louder and louder coming in their general direction. Lucky motioned for everyone to be very quiet and then peeked around the corner.

"It's only two guys, they don't seem to be elites." Lucky said. "Alan, Zeshaun, take them out without firing your guns if that's possible."

Alan and Zeshaun nodded and moved up to the front of the squad, Zeshaun raised his rifle in anticipation of their arrival. As soon as they appeared Zeshaun swung his rifle, the end of it landing on the man's stomach. The guard fell to the ground and was clutching his stomach making vomitting sounds. Zeshaun raised his rifle again and brought it down around the area of the guards temple. The body went still and his eyes rolled into the back of his head, blood started to seep out of the wound. Alan had also disposed of his guard. Lucky motioned for them to drag the bodies into a room in the hallway and then advance.

The paladin's walked down the hall anticipating any kind of attack at any moment. At each corner they stopped and made sure no one was coming before they continued on. The crazy thing was, they never ran into or even caught sight of guards other than the first two that they had killed even though the noise of footsteps was increasing. As they walked along the corridor Njall stopped at a ladder leading upwards.

"Guys check this out." Njall said calling the squad around the ladder.

"Should we go up?" TK_421 asked.

Lucky thought for a moment deciding what was best. She shrugged and nodded. The squad started to slowly advance up the ladder and as they did the sound of footsteps became louder. Thats strange Zeshaun wasn't sure he wanted to know what was making all the noise. As he pulled himself out of the hole he nearly had a heart attack. They had managed to make it into the room that they had seen much earlier in the mission, the one filled with soldiers and droids preparing for some kind of war.

"well..." Njall said in a state of shock.

The whole squad hid behind a large stack of boxes and watched the army walk around. It seemed some of the soldiers were packing up and boarding ships while others stood idly waiting for something, Zeshaun didn't know what. The droids were constantly boarding ships and loading into transports, Zeshaun had never seen such a large force of droids before except in movies about the separatist war. This hutt must have reactivated one of those old droid controlling space stations. Zeshaun thought as he watched the soldiers move back and forth around the room.

"This is a nice turn of events." Njall said in his usual sarcastic tone.

"We should probably get out of here." TK_421 said nervously.

Zeshaun was about to say something but was interrupted by the voice of the hutt. It started a message and his droid translated it for the army.

"Magnificent army, we have prisoners on the loose if you see anybody with a set of stormtrooper armor, cut them down." The message cut off and a low buzz started to come from the army.

uh oh Zeshaun shuddered at the idea of this large force of soldiers coming after them. He turned toward Lucky and Alan to see what they would do. They both sat facing each other, Zeshaun hoped they were creating some kind of plan together on a private channel on the commlinks. Zeshaun turned back toward Njall and TK_421 who were shifting nervously. Zeshaun then looked over the boxes and saw a squad of elite soldiers walking over toward their hiding spot. Zeshaun tapped Alan on the shoulder.

"They're coming."

Zeshaun eerily walked down the hall, he was very tired from all the encounters they had run into today and Zeshaun wasn't sure he could hold up much longer. He was out of grenades, running out of ammo and his body was really feeling the damage that he had taken from the wookies and the dragon. We better find this hutt soon or we're ever gonna get off this planet alive Zeshaun heard the distinct footsteps of droids coming down the hall in their general direction. Lucky motioned everyone to be still and try to stand in a shadow.

The droids passed without seeing the paladin's and the paladin's continued down the hall, checking doors to check if there was any sign of the control room. As Zeshaun was starting doubt whether there was any control station at all they came upon a room filled with glowing screens with pictures of a couple different types of droids on the screen. On one of the screens there was a rotating picture of an ancient federation battle station.

"Looks like we found the control room." TK_421 said looking around the room.

"Not quite." Alan corrected him. "That would be the control station." Alan said pointing to the picture of the battle station.

Now that they knew where the control station was they couldn't do anything about it without the power of the navy here to help them out. It was probably impossible for the transports that they had come in to take one of them down and they didn't have the time to wait for some backup to help them. We're so screwed Zeshaun couldn't believe what he was seeing. After successfully finding the location of the control room without being noticed they found out that it was impossible for them to deactivate the droids.

"Well, looks like we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." Lucky said drawing her blaster from it's holster.

"Make every shot count," Alan warned. "I know most of us don't have a lot of ammo left."

They all quickly checked their remaining ammo and then looked back toward Alan and Lucky for any orders.

"Let's bash these computers just to let them know we were here." Njall suggested.

Alan looked toward Lucky who just shrugged. The squad broke apart quickly in the small room and smashed the consoles, leaving the room with a slight haze from the smoke that floated up from the broken computers. that was satisfying Zeshaun thought as he felt a smile sneaking onto his face. After they bashed all the computers they slowly went back into the hallway.

Before they even took two steps a squad of B1 battle droids rounded the corner and spotted them immediately.

"Open fire!" Lucky ordered.

Zeshaun quickly snapped off a shot and took off the head of one of the droids before ducking and rolling out of the way of the droids return fire. Zeshaun popped up from his roll and fired another shot, catching one of the droids in the chest. The programmed droids were no match for the battle hardened paladin's, leaving parts all over the hallway.

"That probably attracted some unwanted attention." Lucky said looking up and down the hall. "We should get moving."

She walked quickly down the hall and the squad follow her, they carefully rounded each corner making sure they didn't walk into an ambush. As they continued down the hall Zeshaun started to recognize some of the hallways and realized that they were getting fairly close to the hutt's main room again. we better catch'em this time Zeshaun thought as he tightened the grip on his rifle.

Lucky motioned with her hands for everyone to stop, they were standing outside the hutt's room again, and they could hear the hutt's sinister laugh coming from within the room. Lucky signaled for TK_421 to open the door and then everyone else would charge in. On her mark TK_421 pressed the button, the door slid open and the rest of the squad rushed into the room with their weapon's raised.

Sitting on the hutt's pedestal was a blue fuzzy projection of the hutt coming from the eyes of the hutt's personal droid. dammit we've been had Zeshaun quickly scanned the room and realized that they were surrounded by at least 4 squads of droids and a squad of elite soldiers. Zeshaun nervously fingered the trigger on his rifle and tried to keep track of who was where.

The hutt started to speak and the droid translated. "His excellence, Pratt the Hutt, wishes to inform you that he enjoyed playing with you and it is a shame you have to die, he generously offers to let you live if you enlist in his army."

"In your dreams, we'd never fight along a greedy hutt." Lucky replied.

The hutt began to speak again. "His excellence is very disappointed by your decision."

The projection dissipated and the droids started to slowly advance with their blasters raised.

"I'm thinking maybe we should have enlisted in his army." Njall said.

No one answered but Zeshaun was thinking the same thing. I'd be happy to come out of this thing with my body still intact Zeshaun thought looking around at all the blasters aimed at his body.

Alan stood up slowly and shook his head.  He couldn’t believe that the squad had been taken out by such a monstrous looking droid.  It had arrived from nowhere and taken them out quickly.  His head throbbed as he remembered the droid swinging something at his head and then nothing.  How long have I been out for pondered Alan as he took in his surroundings.  Alan glanced around and found his blasters lying on the floor. 

What the hell thought Alan as he wondered why the Hutt had spared their lives and not simply killed them when he had the chance.  That’s a mistake he is going to end up regretting thought Alan as he grabbed both of his blasters in his hands and slid them back into their holsters.

Getting groggily to his feet, Alan suddenly realised that they were not alone in the room.  There on his throne lounged Pratt the Hutt.  Beside him were his protocol droid and an assortment of droids and elites.  I don’t like the look of this thought Alan as Lucky immediately brought her blaster to bear on the droid and shot it.

With the protocol droid down, the squad started firing at the Hutt’s army.  Alan’s blasters were soon in his hands as he fired repeatedly at the elites, watching as two fell down immediately.  The fighting came to an abrupt stop as the protocol droid stood back up after being shot.  That’s impressive thought Alan as he watched the droid resume it’s position beside Pratt.  The Hutt spoke to the droid and the droid in turn looked at the Paladin’s,

“The high exalted master, Pratt would like entertainment, if you will not join his army then fight his army" said the droid who was listening to Pratt "If you win you might just be spared your lives and let free, if you lose, well you die in battle, good luck".

Alan watched as the droid and Pratt moved backwards, away from the fighting.  Smart Hutt thought Alan.  He didn’t trust the Hutt and was certain that even if they won, and they would win, then he wouldn’t keep his word.  A Hutt’s word meant nothing and everyone in the squad knew it.

“Alan, take TK and Zeshaun and deal with the elites, Kaka and Njall with me, we will take out those droids” said Lucky.

“Great, more droids” commented Njall.

“You heard her, let’s move” called out Alan.

With the plan set, the squad split into two groups.  Alan watched Lucky and her group engage the droids and he thought to himself that her group had the easier of the engagements as he glanced over at the elites.

Alan’s blasters in both hands, blaster bolts flying forwards towards the elites.  The elites quickly dived and scrambled behind some crates for cover.  TK and Zeshaun joined in, their firing sending shards of wood splintering from the boxes but not reaching the elites.  Occasionally the elites would pop up to fire off a few shots but they were hemmed in and they knew it.

“TK, you got any grenades?” asked Alan.

“Yeah, I’ve got two left” replied TK.

“Zesh, on my signal, we are going to finish these guys off” said Alan.

“Roger that” replied Zeshaun.

“Now” said Alan as he waved to TK.

TK rolled the grenades down towards the boxes where the elites were covering behind.  One of the elites had popped his head up to fire off a few shots and Alan could see the look of horror wash over his face as he saw the grenades rolling towards them.

“Grenades!” screamed the elite.

Immediately the elites stood up and began running away from the boxes.

“Now” shouted Alan.

Together, both Alan and Zeshaun opened fire on the fleeing elites.  Those that did not get cut down foolishly tried to evade the blasts and return to the boxes only to be caught up in the explosions that followed.  Alan moved over to the devastation and looked at the fallen elites knowing that none had survived.

“What kept you?” asked Lucky as her group rejoined Alan’s.

“Well we wanted to give you plenty of time to deal with those difficult droids” replied Alan.

They both laughed as Alan glanced behind her to see a vast array of droid parts strewn across the floor.  I’m guessing she had fun thought Alan.

“Guys, what about the Hutt?” queried TK.

Alan looked at Lucky as she looked back at him.  They both turned their heads and looked at Pratt.  His tail twitched and they both knew that his days were numbered.

“Pratt” called out Lucky, “surrender or die”.

The Hutt’s throne started to move backwards and the protocol droid stepped forward.

“His exalted one wishes you well but he has to return to the droid battle station along with his remaining army.  He has told me to tell you that you are free to go but he warns you not to interfere with his plans” said the droid.

“Oh we will interfere” replied Alan.

“His exalted one worried you might say that” replied the droid.

The protocol droid suddenly shimmered as a shield went up around it.  Its arms suddenly widened as blasters emerged from its wrists.  Is that a rocket launcher thought Alan as he saw a large implement materialise on its right wrist.

“Ok, so not you everyday protocol droid” commented Njall.

“No, but I want one” said Zeshaun.

Alan’s face snarled under his helmet as he watched the Hutt escape once more.  Looking at the droid he knew that they had to take it down somehow.

“Great, we lost the Hutt again” said Njall.

“But we know where he is going” said Lucky, “as soon as we deal with this droid, we will commandeer a shuttle, go to the droid control ship and take it and Pratt down once and for all”.

“And how are we planning to take down this droid?” asked Zeshaun.

Alan glanced over at Lucky and back at the droid and thought to himself now that is a very interesting question.

Zeshaun hastily took cover behind the rubble and started to think of a way to destroy the very much enhanced protocol droid if you can still call it that Zeshaun blindly fired over the the rubble where he thought the droid was standing although the shields probably protected him from any of the bolts that happened to hit it. Zeshaun slowly poked his head up above his cover as much as he dared to, to catch a glimpse of the droid. The droid was calmly standing on the throne platform right where they had left it, still aiming it's rockets in the squad's general direction.

"Anyone got any ideas." Lucky asked looking around at the squad's faces.

TK_421 had used his last grenades on the elites and no one else had any heavy weapon's. Zeshaun searched the room for anything they could use to defeat the droid, unfortunately the room did not have any large beams or loose rafters that they could knock onto the droid, only some pipes that came out of the wall and disappeared through the walls on the other side of the room. Zeshaun looked at the droid and then back again at the pipes. that could work

"If those pipes have water in them then maybe we can short circuit the droid" Zeshaun said.

"Not bad, we just need a way to get a surge of electricity." Lucky said.

"There," Njall pointed to a control panel near the throne platform. "That has some wires sticking out of it."

Lucky surveyed all the things needed to make the attack successful and let out a sigh. "It'll have to work." Lucky said.

"Zeshaun and TK, get the water on the ground, once the water starts flowing Njall and I will cover Alan while he goes to get the current on into the water, and remember keep your feet off the ground." Lucky ordered.

They all embarked on their specific tasks. Zeshaun and TK_421 both found separate hiding spots among the boxes and started to blast away at the rusty pipes. Although the pipes seemed fairly weak they held up nicely under the fire of their rifles. Slowly, piece by piece the pipes started to crumble. only a little more Zeshaun heard a large explosion coming from the other side of the room.

"Hurry up Zesh, we can't out run those rockets all day." Alan said.

Zeshaun picked up his rate of fire and the sparks really began to fly from the pipes. Soon a little trickle of water started to splurt out of the little hole Zeshaun had created. After a few more shots, the water really began flowing out of the pipe. The water hit the floor making a loud splashing noise. The whole TK_421 had created also started to pour water into the room. After about 5 minutes a thin layer of water was on the ground and his boots created a small splashing noise every time he took a step. now's a good time to spark that plug Zeshaun thought as he climbed on top of a box.

"We got a little problem here, I think the droids figured us out." Njall said.

Zeshaun searched the room for Alan and Njall and saw them pinned down by the droids weapons. It had revealed that it had 1 small chain gun turret protruding from the side of it's torso. The fire from the chain gun was firing quickly at the cover that Njall and Alan were behind. I guess we'll have to take the matter into our own hands Zeshaun thought.

"Lucky where are you." Zeshaun asked.

"I'm trying to figure out a way to help Alan and Njall." Lucky said, she waved from her position.

Zeshaun made sure the droid wasn't looking and then dashed across the room to Lucky's position, and took a defensive position behind the boxes that Lucky was behind.

"We'll have to do the short circuiting ourselves." Zeshaun said grinning under his helmet.

"but Alan..." Lucky stammered looking toward Alan's position.

"Alan will be fine, he's a big boy." Zeshaun said.

Lucky nodded and then slowly advanced toward the control pannel. Zeshaun followed her, keeping an eye on the droid, making sure it kept it's attention of Alan and Njall. Lucky reached the control panel unnoticed, she pulled out a few of the wires from the back.

"Get off the ground!." Lucky shouted.

Zeshaun watched Alan and Njall quickly hop up on top of the boxes, Zeshaun gave Lucky a thumbs up and she put the wires into the water. The electricity surged through the water when Zeshaun felt a slight shock, he had trekked up some water onto the platform and the electricity had surged through the water into his feet. Zeshaun felt the shock surge through his body but he wasn't hurt too bad. Lucky rushed over to him and helped him stay up right until he felt safe. Zeshaun looked over at the droid and saw it was slumped over in the water, electricity still crawling up and down it's body.

"That went nicely." Zeshaun said.

"Let's get out of here." Lucky said, with a hint of a smile in her voice.

TK looked out of the ship’s window; he peered down onto the silent city, a city that if this mission goes wrong could be a battleground. TK shivered at the thought of millions being killed over some mistake, he shook his head attempting to forget about the thought.

“Any ideas where this droid place is” asked TK

“Want my honest answer? I have no idea” Replied Zeshaun

“Just forget about it, try get some sleep TK” said Lucky, who in fact looked tired and yawning.

TK nodded of into a slumber, thinking of the times before this mission, before joining the Empire, the times of peace on Naboo with his father. TK woke minutes later from that dream, the nightmare it had become.

“What’s the matter?” Asked Lucky

“Nightmare, that’s all” Replied TK in shock.

“What about?” Asked Alan

“When I was younger, when my father died, those rebel scumbags who caused it” TK said angrily

“It’s okay” Said Lucky sympathetically before handing him a bottle of water

“Thanks” Said TK, taking the water

TK looked at the water and unscrewed the top; he took a sip and placed it on ship’s floor. TK looked around the ship’s hold to notice Zeshaun still flying, Alan sitting in the passenger’s seat, Lucky still behind him, and Njall and Kaka both in a deep slumber.
Should I wake them? TK asked himself with a dirt grin on his face, I better not TK thought, remembering his place.

TK fell into a sudden trance, but was soon awaken by Kaka who clumsily fell off his seat.

“Eh?” Asked TK

“Oh sorry” Kaka said

“Ah, its okay” Replied TK

TK was about to become dormant, but before he had a chance he felt a painful thump to his back, he swung round to observe what just happened, he spotted several red bolts coming towards the ship; they were under attack!
“I think we have found them” Shouted Zeshaun looking back towards the squad before taking evasive action and heading towards the firing zone.

TK caught a glimpse of the huge bulky space station, Looks like a separatist space station thought TK.

“Look out!” Shouted Alan, who was pointing at a hanger.

Before anyone could do anything about it, they crashed into the hanger, TK banged his head of the window, and the world suddenly went dark.

Zeshaun scurried out of the pilot's seat and followed Alan down the ramp and into the hangar, his rifle blazing. The droids were caught off guard by the sudden aggressive attack by the paladin's and before they could fire off a single shot 4 of them were already down on the ground, in bits and pieces. When the droids started to fire back the squad immediately noticed the lack of cover that was available within the hangar. They had been shot and Zeshaun was barely able to make it into the hangar, but landed smack dab in the middle and the stacks of boxes, crates, and equipment were too far away for them to run to safely.

They kept firing at the droids taking them down one by one, but always keeping their eye out for anything that could sneak up onthem. They tried to keep their backs to the smoking shuttle to eliminate the threat from behind. Zeshaun took out another droid and waited for yet another droid to walk into his sights. The mechanized soldiers had no mind of their own and waltzed into danger without a second thought. that's the only difference between you and me Zeshaun thought as he blasted away at another droid. A shot from one of the droids blasters whizzed by his ear and left a mark on the hull of the shuttle plus I have better accuaracy Zeshaun snapped off a shot from his hip and the shot hit the droid right in the chest, sending it through the air.

"We need to get out of this hangar if we want survive." Zeshaun yelled as he saw another group of droids enter the hangar.

"After this batch, head toward the door" Lucky said. "We'll see how far we get from there."

As Zeshaun shot at the oncoming droids, he slowly made his way toward the door on the far right. As Zeshaun started reload he saw a droid aiming toward his direction he looked for someplace to hide but found none. Panicking he dove to the ground only to see the droid blasted off it's feet and come crashing down onto the floor. Zeshaun lifted himself up and nodded a thanks to Alan who had taken care of the droid for him. The squad had managed to migrate to the door safely and was now trying to crack the code to get out, it seemed the hutt had locked all the doors except for the one the droids were pouring in through.

"Almost done..." Lucky said. "Got it." she said triumphantly.

The doors hissed open and the squad ran in closing the doors behind them. Lucky quickly punched the lock to keep the droids out. The hallway was very quiet except for the occasional mouse droid doing whatever mouse droid's did. Their footsteps echoed through out the halls and the silent emptiness made Zeshaun uneasy.

"Look." TK_421 said pointing up toward he ceiling.

On the ceiling was a small camera, painted white to blend in with it's background. It followed the squad as they walked down the hall that dirty hutt is watching us Zeshaun thought angrily. After all the crap that he had been through that day he was getting fed up with the hutt's stupid tricks. Zeshaun unholstered his blaster pistol and quickly snapped off a shot, leaving a smoldering hole where the camera used to be. The sound of the shot echoed down the halls, the whole squad stopped and turned to look back at Zeshaun.

"Can you use a little discretion." Njall whispered.

Zeshaun shrugged, he didn't really care so much for discretion at the moment. He was done with the hutt's games and just wanted to get this mission over with. The usual exhilarating buzz he gets from missions disappeared after the second encounter with the wookies. The squad started back down the hall again when a fuzzy blue picture appeared in the middle of the hall. It was Pratt the Hutt and it seemed to be speaking into some kind of microphone or commlink, his voice came out fuzzy and mechanical.

"I see you managed to follow me here, I'm sorry but the games are over."

"finally." Zeshaun muttered.

"since you already expressed no wish to join forces with me, you will not be able to leave this station alive." The hutt finished talking and the hologram dissapeared.

The squad stood speechless staring at the spot where the hologram of the hutt was just a few seconds ago. The sound of many, many footsteps could be heard coming down the hallways up ahead, the shadow of droids could be seen around the corner. more droids, great Zeshaun put his hands on his rifle and waited for the droids to come around.

Before Zeshaun could even get off a shot Lucky ushered them into a room in the hallway. The room was empty except for another little hatch that lead up into the ceiling and a small bed. Lucky quietly opened up the hatch and she motioned for everyone to go up and through the hatch, the sound of droids was coming closer so Zeshaun scampered up the ladder and into the dark hole. When he got up into the ceiling he switched on his night vision and was surprised to find himself in a room only big enough for a very small person to stand up in with a couple other hatches leading back down, probably to other rooms.

"What now?" TK_421 asked as they huddle together uncomfortably in the small room.

"Let's go down that hatch." Alan said pointing toward one of the hatches farthest away from them.

"Why that one." Njall asked.

"It's as far away as we can get from the droids." Alan said as he already started to crawl toward the hatch.

Zeshaun followed him and was the second one down the ladder, he forgot to turn off his night vision and was momentarily blinded when he dropped down into the room. It was a larger room, from what Zeshaun could tell it was some kind of recreational room. He couldn't hear the sound of droids or footsteps, he let out a sigh. safe for now.

"Let's go, the faster we find that hutt the faster we can get out of here." Lucky said motioning toward the only door out of the room.

They exited into a narrower hallway that was darker than the one that they had come from. The sound of music and laughter could be heard ringing about the halls and Zeshaun could make out the distinct laugh of a hutt. we gotta be close Zeshaun thought eagerly.

Lucky motioned for everyone to stop and peered around he corner. There was a large opening to a cantina like area where all the laughter and music was originating from. Using her hand signals Lucky motioned for them to go into the cantina and take care of anyone who attacked them, hopefully the hutt would be in there and they could take him by surprise.

"Time to crash this party." Njall said through the comm.

Alan was happy to hear the droid say that this was all they had in flesh and blood.  He was fed up with battling elite soldiers and knowing that they no longer had to face flesh and blood opponents was good.  This should be easy now that all we have to do is square off against stupid droids thought Alan as he smiled.  Alan’s smile soon faded though when he turned round and faced the ultra battle droid.

“Get behind the bar counter!” ordered Lucky.

The squad didn’t need to be told twice as they scrambled quickly behind the counter.  The ultra battle droid immediately opened fire and the counter took quite a battering but thankfully it held.

“Return fire!” commanded Lucky

Alan watched as TK wasted no time in opening fire on the droid.  His shots did not seem to bother the droid one little bit.  TK returned to his covering position before the droid had a chance to return fire.

“Concentrate all of your fire upon that battle droid!” ordered Lucky

Alan’s blasters were soon in his hand as he stood up from behind the counter and opened fire on the droid.  His bolts struck the chest of the droid forcing it to stumble backwards.  Alan quickly hit the deck as the droid let out a noise and returned fire, the bolts striking the counter sending shards of wood across the cantina.

“I think you pissed it off” commented Njall.

“Yeah, doesn’t look too friendly” replied Alan.

Lucky was already firing at the droid as Zeshaun stood up and joined in the fray.  Alan was about to get up and join in when Lucky dived down.

“Rocket!” she yelled.

Zeshaun barely had time to hit the deck when a rocket screeched over their heads and impacted on the wall.  Fragments cascaded over the squad, bouncing on their armour.

“I didn’t know it had a rocket launcher” said Zeshaun as he dusted himself off.

“You know this droid is really starting to annoy me” commented TK.

“Only starting?” queried Njall.

“We need to take it down and fast” said Lucky

“What’s the plan?” questioned Alan.

“I’m working on it” replied Lucky.

Another rocket screeched over their heads and blew another hole in the wall sending more rubble across the squad.

“Work faster” said Njall.

“Please work faster” squeaked TK.

Alan glanced over at him and thought his voice sounded awfully high, almost like a school girl.

“Take it easy kid” reassured Alan, “we’ve been in tighter situations than this before”.

TK nodded and Alan started to wonder just what situations had been worse that this one, right now, he just couldn’t think of one.

Alan’s blasters were soon pointing towards the battle droids as he unleashed a volley of blaster bolts into their ranks as he backed away slowly behind one of the pillars.  The rest of the squad moved behind the pillars as Alan glanced out and noticed that the ranks of battle droids had been cut down significantly already.

Well this is easy thought Alan as he popped out from behind the pillar and started targeting droid after droid.  The droids came clattering down to the ground.  Others fired over at the squad but their accuracy was poor to say the least.

“I would prefer to battle super battle droids” bragged Zeshaun.

Alan whirled his head round to look at Zeshaun and said “Zesh, so help me”.

“Look out” called out TK.

Alan never got to finish his sentence as he looked back at the battle droids and cursed silently to himself as he saw a squad of super battle droids entering into the battle.

“Great” commented Njall, “happy now Zesh?”

“Sorry” muttered Zeshaun.

“Where did Pratt go to?” asked Lucky suddenly.

Alan glanced back to where Pratt had been watching and cursed loudly as he saw an empty space where the Hutt used to be.  This Hutt is one of the most slippery characters I have ever come across thought Alan.

“Oh wonderful” said Njall, “the Hutt’s gone, again!”

“Never worry about him now, it’s a space station, he can only go so far” said Lucky, “lets focus our attention on these battle droids”.

Alan nodded and whirled round to face the droids.  He let loose a volley of blaster bolts, bringing more droids down.  He quickly hid behind the pillar as the super battle droids were a lot more accurate and more deadly than the regular battle droids.

Great thought Alan just when I thought this mission was getting easier.