Alan was glad when he heard that Lucky was alright and in good hands with Renji.  He had been concerned when he had heard her call for help.  Alan decided that it was time to take out a few more turrets.  Walking down the corridor he came across a display console.  He wished Lucky were here as she could access consoles in mere seconds.  It took Alan several minutes before he was able to access a map of the spaceport facility.  He scanned the map looking for potential targets.  Suddenly something caught his eye and he scanned in closer.  It looked like a turret but its dimensions made it look five times bigger than any turret he had seen.

I guess that's my next target he thought, knowing that whatever kind of turret it was, it had to be taken out.

He jogged to the location of the turret, always mindful of approaching soldiers.  His movement to the turret went with ease and at only one point did he encounter two soldiers.  They were surprised to see him and even more surprised when Alan's quick reflexes downed them in mere seconds.  Stepping over the corpses, he moved on swiftly.

Arriving at his destination, Alan peered round the corner to see what kind of resistance he might encounter.  His eyes widened when he saw ten heavily armed soldiers and another two manning what seemed to be a heavy blaster cannon.

What kind of turret is this pondered Alan as he realised that he could not take this turret on by himself.

He tapped him com and said "Lucky, Renji are you there?"

Several seconds passed before a response came back from Lucky "yes, we're here, what's up?"

"I've just come across what seems to be some kind of advanced turret, it needs to be taken out but I can't do it alone as it is very heavily defended".

"No problems, we'll be with you shortly" replied Lucky.

Alan sat down and waited for the reinforcements to arrive.

Alan waited round the corner from the turret.  He was thankful when Lucky and Renji arrived.  He was hoping that one of them had a few grenades to make the attack on this turret an easy one as he didn't have any.  Now he wished he had taken some before endeavouring on the mission.

"Tell me one of you have some grenades?" he queried.

Lucky and Renji looked at each other and then back at Alan, shaking their heads.

Damn thought Alan, wondering why nothing was easy.  Alan pondered on how best to approach the situation.  He could think of nothing easy or without risk but he knew that the turret had to be taken out and risk was part of the game once you were in the Imperial Army.

"Ok, listen up.  Renji, you’re the youngest and probably the fittest of the group, especially considering that Lucky has been injured" said Alan

Lucky was about to protest, feeling that she was the fittest amongst them but decided to hold her breath when she heard that Alan mentioned the fact that she was indeed injured.

Alan continued "I want you to run past the corridor and attract the guard's attention.  They should focus on you.  Don't hang around though.  I don't want you getting yourself killed".

Renji nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly "understood".

Alan continued "whilst the guards are focused on you, Lucky and myself will launch an attack on them, when they move back to focus on us, you can spring into action and join the attack, hopefully the surprise will be good enough so that we can take enough of them out before it gets into a frenzied fire fight".

Renji and Lucky nodded.  This was either going to go well or very badly.  Alan hoped it would go well.

"You ready Renji?" queried Alan.

Renji composed himself and nodded.

"All right, let's do this then" he said.

With the destruction of the turret, the remaining soldiers either fled or were cut down by the precision firing from Renji, Lucky and Alan.  They were about to plan their next attack when Alan's com chirped.

"Sam, Alan, respond please" came a voice.

Alan recognised the voice immediately as being Grand General Fury.

Alan replied back "this is Alan Sir, receiving you loud and clear".

"What's your status over there?" queried Fury.

"Well, we've taken out several turrets including what looks like an advanced turret and we've vented some sections into space which should cause some disruption to the troops stationed here" replied Alan.

"Good word" replied Fury, "you're work there is done, get yourselves over to the hangar bay and acquire yourselves a shuttle.  You can then either dock with the MC90 Steadfast or one of the frigates beside it".

"Understood Sir" replied Alan. 

He tapped his com again and said "attention all Paladin's, we've been ordered to acquire a shuttle from the hangar bay, make your way there at once".  He hoped that the remaining Paladin troops heard the message and that they were ok.  Looking over at Renji and Lucky he said "alright, you heard Fury, let's double time it to a hangar bay and acquire a shuttle and get out of here".

Renji smirked over at Alan and queried "acquire one Sir?"

Alan smiled "well, maybe we'll steal one, I'm sure they've got plenty to spare anyway.  Let's move out"

Renji and Lucky nodded and they all started off at a brisk pace down the corridor to the nearest hangar bay.  Alan hoped that the hangar bay would be relatively unguarded because of the commotion going on in the facility.  He knew that nothing ever went according to plan and wondered what kind of defences the hangar bay would have.

Alan looked at the image on the device.  There was a vast array of different ships and shuttles littered around the deck.  Finally Alan made up his mind and pointed to one on the screen.

“That one” he said.

Lucky looked at the image and back to Alan.  “You sure?” she queried.

Alan simply nodded back.

“Which one are we going for?” queried Renji.

Lucky passed Renji the device and pointed it out.

“That one” he replied “the rust bucket, the one that surely won’t even fly.  Out of all the ships, you pick this one”.

“It’s a Corellian ship, isn’t it” said Lucky.

“What can I say” replied Alan, “they make the finest ships, trust me Renji, she will fly”

Lucky and Renji looked at each other and prayed that Alan was right.

“So, what’s the plan?” queried Lucky.

Alan looked at the device once more, panning the cameras around so he could get a better look at what security there was.  It was hard to count how many troops were stationed there and also what kind of hidden devices they had.  He decided that there was only one thing for it.

“We walk in through the front door and blast our way to the ship” said Alan.

“We blast our way” replied Renji, “that’s the best you can think of?”

“Relax Renji, we are Paladins, we’ve been in tougher scrapes than this and lived to tell the tale, besides, you want to live forever?”

Lucky smiled and readied her blaster.  The three of them walked to the entrance of the hangar bay, weapons raised and ready.

“You ready?” queried Alan.

Lucky looked over at him and replied “ready to kick some ass”

Renji looked over and said “ready as I’ll ever be”.

“Good, then let’s do this” replied Alan as he pressed the door switch and the doors to the hangar bay slid open.

Alan was happy to be onboard the Corellian ship, in a way it felt like being home.  Lucky, being an experienced pilot, took the ship out of the hangar bay doors and out into space.  Alan smiled, he knew that this ship had been a good choice and now they were safe and sound. 

“Alan, I’m in need of some assistance here” called out Lucky.

Alan wondered what the problem was.  Surely it couldn’t be a problem with the ship.  Then the ship lurched violently and Alan had to grab a nearby handhold before he was flung onto the ship’s deck.  What the hell Alan thought to himself.  Then the ship banked and buckled and Alan understood what was going on, they were under attack.

“Alan!” shouted Lucky from the cockpit.

Alan sprang into action and clambered down a ladder on the ship and got himself set up into one of the ships gun turrets.  He placed a communications device over his head.

“How many of them are there?” he queried to Lucky.

Lucky’s voice crackled through the ancient communications device “thankfully only one but he is on us good and tight”.

“Understood” replied Alan “just try and get me a good shot of him”.

The ship banked as the defender’s ship opened fire.  The blaster bolts flying harmlessly past the hull.  Lucky was an excellent pilot but Alan knew that this attacking ship had to be taken out.  Alan could feel the strain the ship was being put under.  He knew that she was a sturdy ship but he had never planned on taking it into combat.

Alan suddenly spotted the ship and opened fire on it.  The ship dodged and banked, evading the blasts that Alan sent its way.  Damn it, he’s good thought Alan.

“Will you hurry up and get him” shouted Lucky down through the comms, “I don’t know how much more punishment this ship can take”.

As if on cue, sparks flew behind Alan, he hoped that the weapon hadn’t shorted out.  He was glad when he returned fire and found his turret was still functional.  The defender’s ship banked again and Alan lined his turret up and let loose a volley of bolts.  Alan was more used with a simple blaster than the turret of s star ship.  His bolts went wide, and then one of his shots hit the side of the ship.  It started to spin and Alan fired repeatedly and the ship erupted into a bright ball of flame.

“It’s about time!” said Lucky through the comms.

Alan smiled and replied “You’re welcome, now take us home”.

“Should we dock with the MC-90 or one of the freighters?” queried Lucky.

“No” replied Alan, the squad had been through a lot with this mission and he wanted to be home “take us back to Headquarters”.

“Roger that” replied Lucky as the ship lurched into hyperspace.

The ship landed safely back at the Vast Empire Headquarters without incident and Alan was glad of it.  Several days later and true enough, the Paladins were once again being called in for duty.  Alan strode into the barracks and Lucky looked up at him, she smiled and said “I thought you weren’t coming, now hurry up, we’ve got a briefing soon”.

Alan was about to get ready when a Private walked in, saluted, handed Alan an envelope and left.

“What’s that?” queried Lucky.

Alan opened it and he gulped as he read the words on the letter.  “I’ve been ordered to report to Grand General Fury”.

Lucky looked at Alan with concern and queried “should we wait for you?”

“No” replied Alan, “you’d better get going, I’ll catch up with you”.

With that, he strode out of the barracks, tapping his hand against his leg nervously, wondering what Fury wanted to speak to him about. 

Little did he know that his days as a Paladin were now at an end.