A slow beeping noise made Alan, Squad Leader of Paladin, look up from the breakfast that Luckystar had prepared for him. Setting down his utensils, he retrieved the datapad out of his pack and accepted the incoming message.

An emergency action message from the Phoenix Company Commander flashed onto the screen, with a recording of Angel's voice stating: "You leave in fifteen minutes."

OOC:

Paladin

Phase I Objective 1: Call the Exterminator...
Location: Golan I Orbital Defense Platform Veritas
Equipment:

• Standard Squad Loadout
• One (1) Personal Choice Weapon

Orders: Paladin is to be shuttled up to the Veritas, but mechanical problems delay their launch. As a result they arrive after Thrawn's boarding craft land. Paladin will work their way toward the bridge first to eliminate the invaders.
Opposition: Up to Fifteen (15) Squads of Imperial Marines
Add'l Equip.: None
NPC Support: What remains of Twelve (12) Squads of Star Corps Troops (Marines)
Max Posts: 15
Additional Information:

• Imperial Marines
• Golan I

Jamasis got the message. He stopped. Stared. Then he almost pulled the trunks’ lid off its hinges as he scrambled to get out his armour. 15 minutes. Somehow I don’t think that this will be much fun. Frantic shouting came from outside. That doesn’t inspire much confidence. In less than a minute he was wearing his armour, save the helmet. Without thinking he snatched the weapons closest to him, the squad’s E-11 and D15, along with his own. He almost sprinted toward the hangar, still holstering the pistols as he ran.

Upon arrival at the hangar he immediately put on his helmet and checked his E-11 clip. Only then did he notice he was the only one to arrive so far. Maybe I was a bit hurried, with hindsight. But even so, it took mere seconds for Alan to arrive, followed closely by Luckystar, who in turn was followed closely by the rest of the squad who looked both as alarmed and confused as Jamasis felt.

“C’mon guys, get in,” said Alan, gesturing toward the transport. They didn’t need telling twice, and when they had all got in Alan filled them in on some more details “In case you haven’t realised yet, we are under attack. Thrawn is launching a major assault. Pretty much the whole army is mobilizing, and we have been given an essential task. We have to defend Veritas from all boarders.”

“Us against everything Thrawn has to throw at us?” asked Njall.

“The marines on the Veritas will be helping to. Other than that, we can expect to be outnumbered; however it seems logical that most of his marines will be deployed against our other ships.” It was an unspoken thought that Thrawn wasn’t known for being logical. “But remember that our main goal right now is to get to that ship and make sure we control the bridge. Got it? If we are told to wipe every one of Thrawn’s men of that ship then we do it, but we haven’t so we move as quick as possible with as little fighting as possible, until we reach that bridge. If it makes you feel any better, we should be able to get their before they do,” replied Alan.

“Hey, shouldn’t we be moving by now,” interrupted Jamasis. “I mean, this is supposed to be as quick as possible.”

“Pilot, what’s happening?” asked Luckystar.

“Something wrong with the engine. It won’t start properly,” came the reply “if we leave now we might get out of the building, but only if we’re lucky.”

“So what do we do?” asked Volckie.

“I doubt there will be a spare transport under the circumstances. Can you fix it?” asked Alan.

“Sure, but I can’t find what’s broken at the moment,” answered the pilot.

Anxious moments turned to minutes, and nobody talked or moved. The tension was incredible, but the worst of it was knowing that unless they left soon, really soon, then the whole defence might fail. Letting Admiral Thrawn have a foothold anywhere was fatal. They were outnumbered, and letting him capture something as important as the Veritas because of engine trouble was just ludicrous. The engines roared into life, the sudden shock after ten of the most anxious minutes of his life almost made Jamasis pass out.

“Finally,” said the pilot through gritted teeth. “Get ready for a very bumpy ride.”

Sure enough the shuttle left the hangar at least twice as fast as it was supposed to, swerving just in time to avoid a dormant star fighter. Once outside, the shuttle raced toward the defence platform. The defence platform under heavy assault with the imperial shuttles deploying in the only hangar. Great. Maybe there will even be a few Noghri on that shuttle just to make it easier. The silent sarcasm didn’t help much, but then what would? Dozens of minor explosions could be seen all around the defence station.

“Paladin, get ready to deploy. We have a matter of seconds to get off this thing before one of those enemy transports sees us and leaves for help. In all the turmoil outside they won’t be spotted, so we have to take out those pilots now. Then we go to the bridge and hope we don’t meet too many marines on the way,” said Alan.

They approached the hangar bay, and as soon as they were in the doors opened. “Good luck,” said the pilot.

Jamasis and Njall quickly moved toward the shuttle on left, Njall moving to the far side of the entrance and Jamasis brought his E-11 up to his shoulder. They exchanged a quick glance, and Jamasis pointed at Njall, then at the shuttle. Njall nodded, and he hoped he had understood the message. They waited whilst Alan fired one shot, then a second, and then a third shot toward the guards. Jamasis could feel the blood pounding through his head and the adrenalin rushing through his system.

“Go,” said Alan. Instantly, Njall turned and ran inside the vessel while the other groups did the same. Jamasis crouched and aimed his rifle, peering into the darkened transport in case Njall needed help in taking out the pilot. Luckily it turned out to be unnecessary; Njall hit the pilot in the back of the head with his first shot before the pilot even knew he was there. The two of them quickly moved toward their squad leader at the centre of the hangar, who had turned to check on the rest of the squad, moments before the others joined them. Suddenly, something caught his eye near the exit.

“Alan!” shouted Jamasis, gesturing toward the sole marine who had been overlooked. Alan turned and brought his rifle to bear on a final guard, fixing him in his sights then firing a single shot. Even though it was hurried, the marine fell to the floor when the shot penetrated his armour and smashed into his spine. Alan nodded his thanks, and they quickly headed toward the exit. It was only then that Jamasis noticed that Luckystar seemed to be in some trouble.

“What’s wrong,” he asked.

“Nothing, it’s nothing. The pilot in my shuttle tried to shoot back, but he missed. Knocked something down and hit my foot. Don’t worry, it’s only a bruised foot,” she replied. Despite the confident tone, she didn’t appear to find walking pleasurable. Making a mental note to watch her during the mission, Jamasis decided not to press the issue. The Veritas seemed deserted at first. There were some signs of a fight in the first couple of corridors, scorch marks on the walls, but nothing else. Then from up ahead came the sound of blaster fire. I wonder how many marines are on board. Those were some pretty big transports we took out. And three of them?

“Look, over there,” said Volckie. Everybody turned, and sure enough there were a small squad of marines hastily trying to escape incoming fire. Paladin ran toward them, dropping to the floor or standing against the wall for cover. Jamasis fired two shots at one of Thrawn’s marines, the first hitting his shoulder and the second thudding into his chest killing him instantly. Volckie and TK_421 fired several shots toward another three marines to keep them pinned down. Meanwhile Alan carefully picked off the marines every time they broke cover. After a minute or so of careful firing, Thrawn’s marines pulled back having lost almost half of their number.

“Thanks for that,” said one of the marines. “Couldn’t have held them off much longer.” Looking at the remainder of his squad made that clear enough. There were only four of them left, and they all looked like they had been through hell and back.

“Save the thanks for later. Right now we need to get to that bridge. Can you get us there as soon as possible?” asked Luckystar.

“On a normal day, yeah. But Thrawn’s men have split up, and they’ve blockaded up the entrance to the bridge. Some of them are roaming the ship, but most are on that bridge,” replied the marine.

“Aren’t there any more marines?” asked Volckie.

“We got split up when the marines boarded. They outnumbered us; I doubt the other squads did much better than we did. If they are still breathing they’ll probably be trying to get to the bridge as well. We might meet a few, but don’t expect an army,” answered the marine.

“In that case we have to move as quickly as possible. They won’t be expecting a serious attack from what you just said, and we might be able to help some of the other squads at the same time. Take us to that bridge, now,” said Alan.

The marine led the way, followed by Paladin and the other three marines bringing up a rearguard. Everybody looked about anxiously, as if expecting to be attacked at any moment, but nobody came, friend or foe, and this unnerved them even more than an attack would. They soon came to an elevator.

“We’ve got to go up here to get on the same floor as the bridge. But it looks pretty busted up to me,” said the marine. One look told everyone it was hopeless, the door was badly damaged and the elevator itself was just below, a burnt out shell.

“Is there another way up?” asked Alan.

“Not unless we keep walking for another ten minutes or so. You wanted quickly right? You’re going to have to grapple. Luckily we’ve all got the right equipment,” he gestured at the marines “but I’m not so sure about you guys. Either way, we grapple or we walk all the way round to an elevator that might be broken. Your choice?”

Alan considered his options, and then decided.

Alan left the lift shaft, followed by Luckystar and Njall. Then Jamasis clambered out next, already drawing his D15 as he entered the corridor. It was just in time, a blaster bolt smashed into the lift shaft behind him, and Jamasis only just managed to fire back before the marine could get in another shot. He missed, but the man was forced to take cover before he could shoot again. Volckie and TK_421 finally left the shaft, and Jamasis was able to turn his attention to the rest of the fire fight. One of the marines lay wounded on the floor, clutching his arm and moaning quietly to himself as blood trickled through his fingers. Another was sprawled on the floor, after being hit in the chest by another shot. The remaining two marines had moved into cover, but they couldn't move for fear of being spotted. Paladin fired accurately, trying to bring down one of Thrawn's marines with every shot. Through an incredible luck nobody was hit despite the sparse cover, though blaster bolts slammed into the walls and the floor all around them.

"How many are there?" asked Volckie, almost shouting over the sound of blaster fire.

"Three squads at least. Maybe four," Luckystar yelled back. Jamasis holstered his pistol and aimed through the sites of his E-11, firing into the midst of the enemy marines and was rewarded with a loud curse from ahead. Alan picked off another with his pistol, and Luckystar did likewise. Even so, the marines didn't look like they would be falling back anytime soon.

"This is taking too long. They'll have reinforcements arriving any minute now," shouted Jamasis.

"You're right. Got any bright ideas?" replied Njall.

"Maybe one," was the answer, and Jamasis turned to the wounded marine. "Mind if I borrow one of these?" he asked. When the marine ignored him Jamasis took one of his thermal detonators. He set the timer down to five seconds, before activating it and throwing it into the midst of the marines. It caused carnage, and for a second he was worried that he might have damaged the ship too badly to get through. Then the smoke cleared and a last couple of marines staggered away.

Paladin quickly rose and the remaining marines lead them on, past the smoking wreckage that had been the barricade. Dead marines lay sprawled across the corridor, silent screams and indescribable agony on their faces. As they continued further through the ship, the squad slowly grew tenser with the knowledge that they were getting slowly closer and closer to the bridge. They stopped only once, to pick up two more friendly marines. They recognised the marines leading Paladin instantly, and from what Jamasis could understand they were the only survivors from the squad that had been guarding the bridge itself when Thrawn arrived.

"It's a fool’s errand. They have three squads at both elevators and a squad patrolling downstairs. The rest are on the bridge, at least five of them. Take my advice, let’s get on those transports in the hangar and go down to the surface," said the newest marine.

"We were told to get that bridge, and get that bridge is what we're gonna do," said Alan with unmistakable steel in his voice.

The marine changed his tone hurriedly, "Okay okay. You might even be in luck. They kept all the navy guys prisoner, so if you do free the bridge then the Veritas will function just like normal. Well, compared to what we could hope for."

“Anything else we should know?” asked Alan.

“Nothing I know as well. We had to run pretty quick once those marines got here,” said the marine.

“Okay then. You marines all go together up front, we’ll bring up the rear,” ordered Alan as they set off again.

This still seemed a daunting task, and Jamasis was continually distracted by the images of the dead marines, the marines he had killed.  It wasn’t like he hadn’t killed before he joined the corps, but blowing them to pieces? They hadn’t had a chance. Then again, it was doubtful they would have the same dilemma if they had used been in his position. It troubled Jamasis, when he knew he shouldn’t be distracted for even a second.

The marines took the lead as the Paladin’s brought up the rear.  Alan walked at the back of the procession, his thoughts on the upcoming battle ahead.  Plans racing through his head as he tried to come up with a way of evening the odds.  Lucky made her way to the back of the squad and joined Alan, matching her pace to his.

“You know we are going to be heavily outgunned” said Lucky.

“Tell me about it, but our orders are to take the bridge and one way or another we will take it” replied Alan.

“You come up with a cunning plan on achieving that?” asked Lucky.

“Still working on it” replied Alan.

“That wasn’t the answer I wanted to hear” replied Lucky.

Alan suddenly became aware that the squad had come to a sudden halt.  The first thing that came to his mind was trouble.  The leading marine weaved his way through the ranks of the Paladin squad to where Alan and Lucky were.  Alan could feel the eyes of the squad on him as they waited to find out why they had stopped.

“What’s wrong?” asked Alan.

“We’re just round the corner from the second lift shaft.  If earlier reports are still accurate then it is guarded by three squads of Thrawn’s marines” stated the marine.

“Is there any way round?” asked Lucky.

“I wish there was” replied the marine, “we either take them on or we don’t get to the bridge”.

“We have to take them on” replied Alan, “not getting to the bridge is not an option.  Do you have a schematic of the lift shaft?”

Lucky retrieved her datapad and called up a detailed schematic of the platform.  Pressing a few buttons, she called up the immediate location, indicating the location of the lift shaft.  Alan scrutinised it closely, wishing it showed the location of the squad’s that were guarding it.  He took in all the details that the display afforded him and his mind came up with a plan.

“Bring your men here, I have a plan” said Alan.

Alan watched the lead marine move back through the ranks of the Paladin squad as he called what few troops he had to Alan.  Lucky gathered the squad together and soon the marines and the Paladin squad were gathered around Alan to listen in on the plan.

“Listen up guys” said Alan, “we’ve arrived at the second lift shaft”.

“Isn’t that one supposedly guarded by Thrawn’s forces?” queried Jamasis.

“Yes, but in order to get to the bridge we will have to engage them” replied Alan.

“Great” commented Njall, “just what we need is more of Thrawn’s marine’s”.

“Is there no way around?” asked TK.

“I wish there was but the only way to get to the bridge is to engage Thrawn’s forces” replied Alan.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Volckie.

“Up ahead the corridor splits into two parallel running corridors.  Both of these corridors lead to the same lift shaft.  I have to assume that both ends of the shaft will be covered.  Paladin we will take the left corridor, the marines will take the right.  When both are in position we will send down a couple of grenades.  This will hopefully decimate the marines that Thrawn has guarding the lift shaft and throw the remainder into disarray allowing us to take them out easily” said Alan.

“Sounds like a good plan” said Lucky, “does anyone have any questions?”

Both Alan and Lucky looked at the squad and at the marines to see if anyone had any questions before they initiated the attack.

“Let’s move out then” said Alan, “and let’s hope this works”.

The marines branched away from the Paladin squad and started their way down the right hand side corridor whilst the Paladin took the left.  The lead marine informed Alan that they were in position.  Alan could hear the movement of Thrawn’s forces up ahead and knew that they were in position.

“Go” said Alan, both to his squad and to the marines.

Jamasis and Njall took out a grenade each and rolled them gently down the corridor.  The squad huddled for shelter.  Mere seconds later and several large explosions rocked the area.  Screams could be heard from up ahead.

“Move!” yelled Alan, knowing that they needed to press on while they had the element of surprise and hoping that the marines would be in a state of disarray.

The squad pressed forward, their weapons blazing at the marines who seemed to be in a daze.  The corridors were littered with body parts and the walls were coated with blood.  Some of the marines were still alive but not in any state to put up any form of resistance.  The squad put them quickly out of their misery.

“Attack!” shouted a voice.

Alan whipped his head down the corridor and saw a heavily armed squad of Thrawn’s marines charging towards them.  He knew that the lift was being guarded by three squads and he began to wonder just how many of the squads they had taken out and how many were still close by.

The Paladin’s dove for cover as blaster fire rained down around them.  Alan’s blasters were soon in his hands as he returned fire.  His com unit chattered to life.

"Sergeant Major Alan, this is Sergeant Zeshaun, reporting for duty” said the voice.

Despite being in the thick of battle, the voice surprised Alan.  It had saddened him when Zeshaun had been placed out of the squad and into the reserves list due to his injuries.

“Great to have you here” replied Alan into the com, “now get your ass up here, we could use your help”.

“Roger that” replied Zeshaun, “where are you?”

“Go up the lift shaft that has the grappling lines and follow the sound of blaster fire, you’ll find us soon enough” replied Alan.

His blasters sent another barrage of blaster fire towards Thrawn’s forces and he hoped that by the time Zeshaun arrived there would still be a squad.

Zeshaun quickly found the broken elevator shaft. He looked up and saw the grapples along with some fire; he could also hear the distant sound of blaster fire. He quickly started to climb up, one step at a time; he carefully avoided the fire and anything that would not support his weight. The heat from the fire was stifling and he felt like a half baked potato as he got closer to the top. He lifted himself out of the shaft and rolled out into the hallway, raising his rifle, but didn’t run into any resistance, although he could hear the blaster fire, slowly getting farther away. better hurry Zeshaun thought as he started walking toward the blaster fire.

Zeshaun walked around a corner and ran straight into the firefight; he quickly back tracked and looked for another way around. He quietly slipped through the doors of a room and went out the other side arriving in an empty hallway but could hear the blaster fire coming from in front of him. Zeshaun jogged down the hall, his rifle raised he could see the back so the marines and lowered his guard, thinking that they were here to help his squad out. As he was about to call out to them, one suddenly turned and started to fire his rifle at him. Damn they must be with Thrawn Zeshaun tucked and rolled and then started firing back. Coming up to his knees from the rolling position, he ended up right under the bolts of the enemy marines and was able to take out four marines right away with a quick strafe of the large group.

He rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the barrage of bolts that scorched the position he was kneeling in the moment before. Zeshaun clicked one small button and his rifle switched over to the one shot grenade attachment at the end of his rifle. A soft thump signified the launch of the grenade and a ear crushing explosion set off in front of him, the grenade that he had loaded was a special type that was full of shrapnel, so the explosion did not damage Zeshaun as much as it would but he did feel little bits of the shrapnel hit his armor, and he thought he felt the metal dig into his armor. Zeshaun opened his eyes and saw a mess on the floor, armor was torn up and most of the marines were on the ground. Someone from the front was taking out whatever remained of the squads of enemy marines. Zeshaun walked through the bodies and saw his full squad for the first time in months, and he smiled under his helmet.

"Sorry guys took a little detour. Hope you don't mind." Zeshaun said, quickly thinking of a witty line.

“Well you showed up just in time.” Alan said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry to interrupt this reunion but we need to take that bridge,” One of the friendly marines said, butting into the bonding that was occurring between Zeshaun and Alan, “The longer we take, the more squads they can call up to protect them.

“Does this sound familiar to anyone?” Zeshaun wondered aloud.

“Your squad has had a similar predicament?” One of the marines asked.

“The last mission I was on,” Zeshaun started to explain. “We had to hunt down some crazy captain in the bridge of his ship, this doesn’t sound much easier than that, and that mission was a hassle.”

The squad nodded in agreement, some of the newer members could only imagine what they had encountered. Zeshaun reloaded his rifle, put in another grenade and followed Alan and Lucky down the hallway. They arrived at a door, with the remaining few marines in the lead. They quickly started to type on the keypad, getting a discouraging buzzing noise every time.

“I thought we didn’t have much time.” TK_421 said, impatiently.

“Well they changed the codes on us, and it’s not that simple to find a way around them.” The marine sitting directly in front of the keypad said.

“Can I try?” Lucky asked, she had been the go to person whenever the squad had technical difficulties.

The marine snickered at the idea of a non professional attempting the job but let her sit in front of the keypad, nonetheless. Lucky’s fingers flew over the keypad, typing a bunch of numbers and combinations that Zeshaun’s eyes couldn’t follow. Soon a very positive sounding beep came from the keypad and the light above the door turned green.

“How the hell did you do that?” One of the marines asked, amazed at Lucky’s skill.

“Just a skill I picked up during missions, nothing gives you experience like real life situations.” Lucky answered slyly. 

“Less talk, more walk.” The leader of the marines said, slowly entering the bridge.

Alan sighed and signaled Paladin squad to follow the few marines into the bridge, it was surprisingly dark but Zeshaun’s vision seemed to be crystal clear. It had been so long since he was in real combat that the adrenaline was really kicking in. I can’t believe I survived two months without this. He thought smiling, following Alan.

Zeshaun quickly scanned the room and realized that all the entrances to the bridge were being closed off, the blaring alarm was giving him a head ache, and the flashing red light gave some light to the previously dark bridge. It seemed that it was empty but Zeshaun had a feeling that that would change very soon. The marines rushed to one of the closing titanium doors and tried to hold it up, but were unsuccessful, leaving paladin and the marines stuck inside the bridge, with no clear way out.

“Well, at least we made it into the bridge.” Njall said sarcastically, leaning back against one of the idle computer terminals.

“Maybe these terminals still work, we can call for reinforcements or maybe release some of the prisoners.” One of the marines suggested.

Lucky and some marines started to type on the keypads but none of the lights turned on, and the terminals screens stayed black. It seemed that Thrawn’s marines had managed to cut off all power to the bridge. Paladin nervously stood around, unsure of what to do next. They had indeed managed to make it to the bridge despite the heavy resistance, but now they didn’t know what to do, without being able to leave the bridge, or find some source of power, they were helpless, just waiting to be found or attacked.

As the group lounged in the dark bridge, the klaxon alarm and the flashing red lights suddenly stopped, leaving the bridge in an ominous dark silence. A large crash and a very bright light beamed down on the group from above. Zeshaun fell to the ground and rolled behind a terminal, raising his rifle. The sudden light blinded him and he wasn’t sure who was coming down. He didn’t want to attack anyone who had come to save them, but was having a hard time holding back while the enemy could possibly be entering the room. A sudden wave of red bolts rained down on him, he ducked down behind the table and waited for the attack to subside. Well I’m glad we got that problem cleared up Zeshaun thought.

“Open fire!” Alan ordered, he too now knew that they were facing enemies.

The bright light was still causing problems for his eyesight and he was having a hard time determining where exactly Thrawn’s marines were located. He aimed toward the brightest part of the light, hoping to destroy it so that he could see well. There was a loud crack, and the sound of glass hitting the floor. The flood light turned off and the room was shrouded in darkness once again. Zeshaun quickly tapped his helmet and switched over to the night vision setting, he could clearly see the location of the marines and how they had gotten in. Although he had found a way out, getting there was another problem. Zeshaun didn’t count them but it seemed that Thrawn had brought in at least two squads, maybe more into the bridge. Considering the size of the bridge, the firefight would end with many casualties. It seemed that some of the marines already lay on the ground motionless.

“Paladin, regroup near the doors!” Alan ordered, taking advantage of their sliver of time they had while the enemy marines recovered from the sudden loss of their light source.

Zeshaun quickly ran to the door, meeting the rest of the squad.

“This room is so small, that if we shoot in their direction, we should cause some sort of casualties,” Alan said, “But the same goes for us, so everyone be extra careful.”

“Why don’t we just toss a grenade?” Volckie asked.

“We can’t, the explosion would probably kill us too.” Lucky explained to the newer trooper within the squad.

“Looks like we’re going to have to do this the old fashioned way.” TK_421 said with a smile.

Zeshaun reloaded his rifle, and started to scope out a good position to fight from. This is going to be fun

The Paladin’s fanned out across the room, firing as they walked, Zeshaun saw marines start to fall immediately. Thrawn’s marines smartened up and took cover behind the terminals that filled the bridge. Their surprise attack had been nullified and now it was more or less a fair fight. Zeshaun popped up, used his laser scope and quickly found a target, putting two holes in the marine’s helmet. He scanned the room again but couldn’t find another good target before they started firing at him and had to take cover.

When he got a chance he moved to another place where he had a perfect line of sight to a small group of enemy marines, pinning down the marines that were helping the Paladin’s. Zeshaun held the trigger, sending a stream of red bolts from the end of his assault rifle, leaving four bodies on the ground with holes in their armor. This is easier than I thought Zeshaun thought happily as he took out another marine.

“This is easy, looks like we’ll be done in a few minutes.” Zeshaun exclaimed happily into the comlink.

“Zesh, I hope your bad luck went away with your bad back.” Alan said. “That’s one thing I didn’t miss while you were away.” He joked.

Zeshaun laughed but the joy was cut short when another explosion of metal announced the arrival of more of Thrawn’s marines from the other side of the room. The Paladin’s found themselves sandwiched between two group of marines. Guess I spoke too soon Zeshaun thought, jumping for cover as the room was filled with red bolts.

Jamasis followed Luckystar closer to the enemy marines, hoping that they weren't cut down from behind. He stopped near a computer terminal as it provided some cover from ahead. Aiming, he fired towards the marines and couldn't believe his luck when he missed completely.

Most people would have difficulty missing with that many of them so close

He aimed again, but was forced to duck back when he saw one of the marines finally getting a shot at him. He cautiously looked around, but another blaster bolt told him the marine had decided to keep him pinned down rather than randomly shoot at the others. He could see Luckystar desperately trying to get some decent fire in at the marines, but she was no match for them on her own. TK was trying to help as much as he could, but he wasn't much better off than Jamasis, and only narrowly avoided a shot that skimmed his shoulder. The friendly marines were the worst off though. One had already been hit before the fight had begun, though it was impossible to tell if he was dead or injured. Another was bleeding heavily, but had summoned the strength to fire his blaster at Thrawn's men, though his shots repeatedly went wide. The last two were good, but they faced the same problem as Luckystar; they simply couldn't make up for the lack of troops.

I hope Alan's better off. Otherwise we might as well use a grenade.

If it was possible, Alan was even worse off. His twin blasters helped to even the odds, and Zeshaun's shooting was unnervingly accurate, but they were only three against nearly the same number of enemy squads. It didn't look very good from Jamasis' point of view. Another shot smashed yet more of the terminal in front of him. He had no idea how strong these terminals were, but they probably weren't built to resist blasters. Unless a miracle happened they were going to die here, so he had better come up with a miracle.  He slung the bulky E-11 over his shoulder, and then drew both of his D-15's. Moving quickly he fired three shots randomly at his attackers without exposing himself by as much as an inch, then quickly slid round to the other side of the terminal, before opening fire madly with both pistols. A marine was caught instantly in the chest, and he fell over backwards almost in slow motion. Another was hit by the fourth or fifth shot, and crumpled forwards to the floor as yet another was struck in the leg and arm, causing the trooper to collapse in agony, though he would probably live. After the momentary shock, Jamasis moved back to safety as fast as he could, but even so a couple of the marines got some close shots in on him before he was safely behind the terminal.

There you go; the miracle wasn't such a hard concept was it?

"Lucky, I've got an idea, pass it on to TK. You saw what I just did right? When I say, I'm going to do that again, but this time as soon as I start firing they're going to fire back and I doubt I'll be able to hit any of them. So you're going to have to step out of cover and shoot as many of them as you can before they recover, got it?" He paused awkwardly, as he realised he had practically given his ASL orders, "If you think it will work that is."

Lucky replied back through the comlink after a few tense moments, "It might work, and if it doesn’t then we're as good as dead anyway."

"Okay, in five, four, three, two," Jamasis pulled himself to the edge of the terminal, "one," he pulled himself all the way out and aimed, "zero!" as he opened fire randomly on the marines. As he predicted, it took about a second for them to return fire, but by then he was out of the way and as he looked back to where Luckystar was it appeared the damage had been done. She and TK had caught three more marines in the shooting, and even though it was small it was still a victory in a sense. It probably wouldn't end the fire fight, but it might turn it. He glanced back round again, risking a quick shot at the marines. Any hope he had felt was instantly crushed. Rather than being shaken or defeated by their recent losses, the rest had simply learnt from their mistakes and were now prepared for either manoeuvre. Worse yet, they still outnumbered Paladin by at least two to one, not counting that half of their squad were fighting another group that looked at least as large if not slightly bigger. So much for miracles.

"Guys, this may be a bad time but I don't think we can hold them off much longer," said Zeshaun in an admirably calm voice for the situation.

"Yeah, Lucky unless you're doing pretty well we've got a problem. Zeshaun's right, the three of us can only hold them off about two minute’s tops," said Alan. Even he was clearly feeling the stress of the fight now, and that was clear enough in his voice.

"What do you expect me to do? Anybody got any ideas because right now I'm stuck," said Luckystar.

"Sorry, sorry, it's just that this is getting way to close," said Zeshaun.

Jamasis turned toward the other fire fight and wished he could help but forced himself to focus on the group that seemed to dug in and to wary to give any easy shots, let alone enough to get through the exit. He desperately fired a few more wild shots over the heads of the attackers, and he could feel the panic rising in him, until it almost overwhelmed him. He could see the rest of his squad, somehow uninjured, fighting hopelessly. There were only two marines left now, and both were injured, yet they kept on firing. He forced the fear back down inside him, and then broke cover for long enough to get in a decent shot with one of the pistols, hitting one of the marines in the head before they returned fire. He ducked back, and then broke cover a second time. The returning fire came back to soon this time, and the computer terminal was hit badly. Sparks flew off of it, and parts of it exploded into flame. It knocked Jamasis over and he had to shield his head from the sparks, a useless gesture if his helmet wasn't strong enough. He saw the marine taking aim at him, taking his time so as not to miss and inwardly torturing him, before the marine collapsed forwards. His comrades fell to, wounded or dead. It was over in a matter of seconds. More marines came through, and Jamasis groaned then looked about for suitable cover. Then he finally noticed the details of the marines. They were the garrison on the Veritas, it appeared that the survivors had grouped together. They quickly moved toward the other exit, and seeing the hopeless odds, the last of Thrawn's marines tried to flee. Many were shot in retreat, the marines weren't shooting accurately but the corridor that they were escaping by was narrow. One of the marines brought an automatic weapon to bear, and then fired downwards, cutting down any and all of the marines who had lasted so far. When the last one fell, the marines looked around, some checking on the two wounded marines, some checking on the members of Paladin and the rest guarding the entrances, more to look for friendly marines than to guard against the last couple of marines who had escaped the fight.

"You alright?" asked a marine, who gave Jamasis a hand in getting up.

"I am now you've shown up," he said.

Alan slung his blasters into their holsters as the marines finished off what was left of Thrawn’s forces.  He had never before been happier to see marines before.  One of the marines advanced towards Alan and Alan knew instantly that he was in charge.

“Glad you made it to the party” commented Alan.

“Wouldn’t have missed it, looks like we arrived just in time” replied the marine.

“You sure did” stated Alan, “anything to report?”

“We saw some of Thrawn’s forces moving towards the engineering levels but we thought better to secure the bridge first” stated the marine.

“What are they doing going down there, that’s not a very strategic position to try to launch an offensive from” commented Jamasis.

Suddenly the station shook causing some of the marines to lose their balance.  Alan glanced around and immediately started to wonder what had caused that.

“Lucky, see if you can get one of these terminals to work and see if you can figure out what happened” said Alan.

“On it” replied Lucky.

Alan marvelled at just how skilled Lucky was in the technical side of things.  In no time at all she had called up a schematic of the station.  She had removed her helmet whilst she worked and Alan spotted the frown that came over her face.

“That doesn’t look good” commented Njall who saw it also.

“It’s not” replied Lucky, “one of the stations stabilisers has cut out.  The others are compensating for now”.

“Battle damage?” asked Zeshaun.

“Perhaps but I doubt it” said Lucky.

“You think Thrawn’s forces are behind it?” asked TK.

“Well they were spotted heading towards the engineering level” said Alan.

“What is their motive though, why damage a stabiliser?” asked Njall.

“If they can’t take the Veritas” started Zeshaun.

“Then they’ll destroy it” finished Alan.

“Oh that’s just great” commented Njall.

“Paladin’s lets go, we need to stop them before they bring down the Veritas” said Alan.

Lucky slid her helmet on and the squad soon exited the bridge and moved at a brisk pace towards the elevator shaft that was still in operation.  Zeshaun pressed the button and they waited for the lift to arrive.

With a beep the lift shaft doors slid open.  Alan made a move to enter the lift when Lucky grasped his shoulder.  Alan looked at her inquisitively.

“What’s wrong?” asked Alan.

“Something’s not right here” replied Lucky.

“Lucky we don’t have time for this” replied Alan, “we need to get to the engineering levels and quickly”.

“No wait, Lucky’s right, look at this” commented Zeshaun as he looked closely at the floor of the lift.

Alan glanced carefully at what Zeshaun was looking at.  The floor seemed to be fine but then he spotted several slight bumps.

“Damn” cursed Alan.

“What is it?” asked Njall.

“Fall back” called out Lucky when she spotted Alan grabbing his blasters from their holsters.

Once the squad had moved to a safe location, Alan fired both blasters at the floor of the lift.  The lift exploded violently, flames licked up the shaft.

“Oh great” commented Njall, “just what we need, booby traps”.

“OK we take the stairs” said Alan, “and keep your eyes peeled for any further traps”.

The squad moved out, slightly slower this time as they kept their eyes peeled.  This just keeps getting worse and worse thought Alan to himself as he holstered his blasters.

“Ambush!” cried out Lucky.

As soon as Alan heard her cry he leapt off the last step and rolled onto the ground.  His hands reached down and grasping his blasters in his hands.  Red blaster bolts flew over his head as his blasters returned fire.

As Alan had taken point he had been the first person off the stairs, glancing back he realised that the squad were still on the stairs and unable to get down due to the blaster fire coming their way.

A loud creak echoed through the hallway and the staircase shuddered and rocked.  Jamasis and Zeshaun had to grasp a firm hold of the railings as they returned fire, their shots going wildly as the staircase would not let them get settled.

“That doesn’t sound good” commented Njall.

“Get out of there!” yelled Alan, “I’ll cover you”.

Without waiting for a response, Alan stood up and sent bolt after bolt towards the attacking marines.  The marines seemed taken aback by the bombardment and most scrambled for cover or for a better position.

The squad took their chance and one by one they raced down the staircase.  Their hasty exit caused the staircase to buck more wildly.  Njall was the last one off and he had to throw himself off as the staircase was bucking madly.

“Fall back” called out Lucky.

The staircase shook violently as the squad started retreating hastily.  The marines seized the opportunity and began bearing down on the squad.  With his blasters still out, Alan sent a volley of blaster bolts towards the marines.  The shots went wildly past them and struck the staircase.

The staircase gave one last final moan and began its descent downwards.  The heavy steel that had once been a staircase came crashing down around the advancing marines.  Their bodies never standing a chance as the metal ground their bodies into the floor.  Sickening cracks could be heard as bones gave way under metal.

Lucky glanced around at the carnage.  One marine was gasping for air, his body bent in a horrible fashion.  Alan looked at the ill fated marine and wondered how he had survived.  He raised his blaster and sent a bolt through the man’s forehead, ending his suffering.

“I wonder how we’re going to get back up” commented Zeshaun as he glanced up at where the staircase had once been.

“Never mind that, right now we have to get to the engineering level” replied Alan.

The station shuddered and Alan wondered whether another stabiliser had been compromised.

“That can’t be good” commented Njall.

“We need to get there, now.  This station can’t take much more of this” said Lucky urgently.

“Let’s move it Paladin, double time” called out Alan.

The squad continued down the corridor at a fast pace, their eyes constantly peeled for trouble or for any traps that the marines may have left behind for them.  They were running out of time and Alan knew it.  The fate of the Veritas lay in their hands.

The ship hurtled through space, its destination, the Bilbringi system.  Onboard, the Paladin squad waited patiently, everyone eager to assault the shipyard.  Alan had never even heard of the Bilbringi system so he used the time to pull up details of the system.  He had to commend Thrawn for finding such a find and for building a shipyard there.

“You know that by the time we dock at the shipyard that we will have every squad posted on it waiting for us” commented Jamasis.

“That is of course if we get to dock” replied Zeshaun.

Alan listened to the squad’s banter and glanced over at Lucky.  It seemed harmless enough but he wondered whether it was merely just banter or whether they were genuinely worried about the success of the mission.

Alan had to admit that the odds of flying directly into Thrawn’s territory and stealing something that he would value very highly was not something that was going to be easy.  He understood the risks but they had been given a job to do and somehow Alan knew that they would succeed.

“Listen guys” said Alan as he moved towards the squad, “we have always been thrust into dangerous environments and been given difficult assignments.  This one is no different.  Yes it will be dangerous and it will not be easy but it is vital that we get that cloaking device”.

“If Thrawn were to get it working on capital ships then no-one in the Galaxy would be able to stand up to him” added Lucky.

“We are Paladin and we will succeed” said Alan.

The squad exchanged glances between them and then back at Alan and Lucky.  Each of them knew that the mission had to succeed but they also knew that the success was not favourable.

“We will succeed” added Lucky, “go Paladin!”

“Go Paladin!” chanted the rest of the squad.

Alan was happy that the squad’s spirits seemed to have lifted slightly as he and Lucky moved away to a quieter part of the ship.

“So, what’s the plan?” asked Lucky.

“I think we just need to assess things when we land” replied Alan.

“You think we’ll come out of this one alive?” queried Lucky.

“It’s not going to be easy” replied Alan, deciding not to answer the question directly.

The ships intercom crackled to life as the pilot’s voice came through the speakers as he said “approaching Bilbringi system”.

“You heard him, let’s get busy” said Alan as he grabbed his helmet and felt it slide down over his head.

The squad started grabbing their gear and getting prepped for the landing.  Alan moved into the cockpit and looking through the main window saw the vast array of asteroids.

“There she is, the Bilbringi system” commented the pilot.

“Let’s get to that shipyard” said Alan.

The ship banked and started its approach to the shipyard.  Well here goes nothing thought Alan as he waited for the ship to arrive at the shipyard.  Their mission was about to begin.

TK slowly crept behind the rest of the squad, nervous, he didn't want to die against Thrawn's forces or even get captured by Thrawn's forces. However, TK took a deep breath and continued. TK stared out of a window across the asteroid ridden Bilbringi system. He also noticed the Sprawling shipyards in motion of their work around the station they where currently in.

I hope nothing bad involving THEM happens while we are onboard the station TK thought apprehensively. Why did I rejoin the Stormtrooper corp?

TK felt a small nudge on his shoulder.

"Come on" whispered Jamasis

TK followed the trooper who he hadn't really got to know before. He followed on back to the squad.

"What were you doing?" asked Alan curiously

"Sorry i was looking out across the system" replied TK

"Well let's just go" Alan said in shock to TK's reply

The squad stepped inside a long corridor, with rooms spread out across each side.

"Okay there is a possibility of the cloaking device being concealed perfectly, knowing Thrawn in one of these rooms. Said Alan looking over the squad

"We are all going to check these rooms for any signs of the device, move out!"

TK set off towards the farthest rooms with Jamasis, but turned out to be alone as Jamasis turned into one of the rooms to begin his search.

After 10 minutes the squad regrouped only to have turned up nothing.

"Well we will keep up the search, on me" commanded Alan.

Alan led the squad into a large room with networks of doors breaching out. TK heard a sigh come from Alan, but kept moving until reaching the middle of the floor.

"What we going to do sir?" asked Zeshaun

"Only one thing we can do, search" replied Alan.

As she hurried out of the room she was just in time to meet their opposition, they were clad in Stormtrooper armour but it was obviously no one from the Vast Empire. knowing exactly what kind of defence this type of armour carried, sh began to fire away at the weak points of their suits. this fight however wasn't a boring one as their adversaries were a little challenging Thrawn has skilled men for once

Smiling under her helmet at the thought, she fired off a fair amount of shots, five minutes later the squad's blasters were smoking and they were staring at a scene of utter bloodshed. their armor had scorch marks and a few dents, nothing a quick trip at the repair shop back home wouldn't fix. Staring at the scene again, she had a sudden urge to pie the bodies up and make a bonfire but she ket that thought to herself.

"Guys, le's be smart about this and grab ome ammo from the corpses, I wouldn't want to run out of firepower in the middle of a firefight."

"Good point, let's get to it and quick, we have o silence that alarm and get to the cloaking device."

Moving quickly the squad gathered as many clips from the Stormtroopers’ belts as they could safely carry while still being able to use their own weapons should the need arise. When she had gathered everything she needed, she spotted a corpse with a med pack clipped to its belt might be of good use

“Alright guys, let’s move out!” called Alan in a somewhat low but commanding tone.

“You heard the man, let’s go go go!”

With that she sprang to her feet and walked briskly towards the stairs, she did not want to risk opening the lift again and finding another nasty surprise.

Working feverishly to open the blast door, if she could manage to have both slide open then that would be better, but she doubted that would happen.

Entering code after code, she carefully picked apart the mass amount of encryption codes which kept these damned doors shut. time was running out and she was aware that things were going slower than she had hoped, she found this frustrating and was growing impatient.

"Status, Lucky" came Alan's voice

"Almost done Alan, they're guarding the access to the override commands like there's no tomorrow"

Two minutes later she smiled widely and gave a thumbs-up to th squad. "The deed is done, the doors should be coming up momentarily"

sure enough, half a minute later there was a clicking sound and she watched as the doors slowly rose to be hidden somewhere in the ceiling, turning about she saw the door at the opposite end going under the same procedure.

At that very moment she wished they were wearing their standard armour to blend in with the bright white environment. Squads of enemy Stormtrooeprs had been patiently waiting at the doors on both ends,  weapons raised.

"Any ideas guys?" she asked as she raised her weapon at the rwady.

Lucky grinned widely under her helmet as her weapons lit up and she  went into a firing frenzy. alan's tactic was a good one, they could deal with the other half later. Slowly, she walked forward in unison with the squad as more and more bodies collapsed in heaps around them.

After what seemed lke a short time later, there was silence in front of them and some faint shouting could be heard behind them as well as faint screams from a few dying men.

She raised her hand up in a "stop" motion and breathed deeply for a minute, scanning her surroundings, looking for any traps r anyone trying to make a surprse attack.

Suddenly she heard a single whoop of joy coming from Jamasis, with a fierce hand gesture she silenced the young Trooper, a faint smile lighting her face up. She knew where his exhilaration and adrenaline were coming from, she had felt the sam way when she had first started out but now was not the time to celebrate, far from it. After this mission was over, maybe they'd go out for a few drinks.

slowly, she walked a few paces ahead of Alan and the rest of the squad and made a quick survey of their immediate surroundings. Any place in close proximity seemed deserted but she knew all too well that this could change i an instant if they weren't careful or if the reainig enemy forces found a fast way around their blockage to get to the Paladins.

"This way" she called out in a hushed tone as she pointed in the direction where there was a door nearby, most ikely surrounded by a few guards but behind that door, the cloaking device awaited...