Star Warfare Fan Fiction Wiki
Register
Advertisement
I thought about your surname thing, so I think I'll be called.... Paladin!

–Staff Sergeant Paladin to Jagdtanker, Rise of the 901st: Chapter 4

Javier Acosta
La foto (10)
Vital Statistics
Nickname(s) Shinigami, Demo Man, Tanker, Paladin
Age Unknown, between mid thirties to early forties
Rank Staff Sergeant
Affiliations Infinity Defence Corps, 901st SS, UHA Army, UHA Navy
Nationality Caribbean
Physical attributes
Status Alive
Sex Male
Height 6' 0"
Weight 180 lbs
Race


Unlike the other operators in the 901st SS, Javier Acosta, better known by his alias, Paladin, didn't earn his stripes in the special operations community.  Paladin emerged from the shadows, a shell-shocked black ops mercenary that has fought for both sides of conflicts and under missions no one else may have agreed upon or been capable of undertaking. Because of this, General Jagdtanker selected Paladin for his unparalleled skill set.

Javier does not appear to have an AI.

Early Life[]

Born to town doctor Joel Acosta and a unnamed mother who died at childbirth, both of Carribean heritage, Javier lived his early life on the outskirts of urban California, USA with his adoptive brother Roy, and boy of Native-American/Hispanic decent saved by Joel after his parents died in unknown circumstances.

Displaying a natural affinity for combat as well tracking skills when hunting with his father, the latter taught Javier self defense tactics. After showing special interest in swords, he was further trained on the use of katanas.

Despite his great prowess in battle, he was described as troublesome, getting constantly in fight with other children. This left him with few friends such as Iris Rodriguez with whom he later be married and had a daughter called Maria.

However, even with his special survival skills he was unable to secure Roy's safety at the riots which occurred after the UHA army set up camp his hometown under the leadership of then Captain Tomas Walker, future Prime Minister, of the British subsidiary, his father being forced to abandon the child when rubble fell on his spine while being pursued by the hostile Military Police.

United Human Alliance Civil War[]

Years after the hometown incident, Javier became a mercenary working free-lance for governments and powerful individuals, while being employed by the Corleone brothers of Infinity Defense, Seraph and Vex (with whom he shares a somewhat intimate relationship after the divorce, and eventual death of Iris).

He became critically involved in the events dubbed "The Great Uprising" which lead to the civil war after Iris, who was president of the United States at a time it was divided in opinion between joining the United Human Alliance, supporting the rebels per according to public opinion or staying neutral, was assassinated at the hands of a enigmatic rival assassin that went by the name Jaeger as he laid witnessed. In that same date, he met with Miles Jagdtanker, whom he battled in a critical misunderstanding. However, as Miles left defeated (and weakened by a previous beating by Jaeger), he was spared by Acosta as he sensed the young soldier's lust for justice. He then choose to leave the picture he had of Maria and Iris with Miles as catharsis as well serving as a way to secretly inform Jagdtanker of his identity.

Alliance-PAIL-Alien War[]

At the time of the alien invasion, Paladin had become part of Miles' personal squad in the Siegfrieds, DC Team, due to unknown circumstances. Due to this, he was part of the group that had first contact with the previously unknown biological anomalies and therefore he was subjected to the debilitating plague in the alien's blood. He has also kept company to the protagonist group, serving as Miles's own personal guard, and earning the rank of staff sergeant in the battalion. Paladin is one the few 901st operators that have been in the unit since their official formation under Lieutenant General Jagdtanker.

Paladin fought in the Battle of the Plains but was injured by aliens. He was Shadow Corps commander General Alexei "Andromeda" Nikolayev, and taken back to Navy Flotilla 14. When the 901st was reassigned to the UHA Army from the Navy, the unit was sent to Imperial Bunker to join the 7th Armored Corps and other special operations units. Paladin was picked to serve under the Lieutenant Colonel Veronica Nikolayev, in the Alliance's week long anti-alien military exercises on Saturn's moon Titan.

When Paladin returned to the planet he participated in the Battle for New Leningrad and witnessed Veronica slay Poison Pit. He also encountered the deadly Serpent but survived.

Paladin was present for the Battle for Trinity City, where both an army of 50,000 aliens and a unit of rebel commandos from PAIL (People's Army of Independent Liberty) attacked the Alliance battle group camped there. At the same time the rebel air force launched another attack on Navy Flotilla 14, sending in more commandos to steal an Alliance warship. PAIL's attack disrupted the battle group's defense against the aliens, compromising the defensive lines. Paladin was part of Jagdtanker joint 901st SS-Marine unit which hunted the rebel commandos in Trinity City. He was present for Sharkface's death and after Jagdtanker killed the rebel responsible, the rebel-hunting unit set out to protect Trinity City's defense generators from the commandos. They succeeded in forcing the commandos to retreat, and the city's defenses slaughtered the aliens in tandem with Navy Flotilla 14, which managed to fight off the PAIL air force after the rebels stole the UHAS cruiser Fair Winds.

Paladin mourned Sharkface's death, and showed his displeasure over the loss of his comrade when he grumpily informed tank commander Aazelion about Jagdtanker's orders to reinforce Trinity City's defenses.

He later formed part of the 901st reception party when the Draco assassin Teagan-963 arrived on Relentless. After Teagan bested the 901st in several simulation missions, he expressed the dislike of the Draco operator to Jagdtanker with the rest of D.C. and Moscow Team, but the general ordered them to cooperate with Teagan and accept her.

Paladin later joined Jagdtanker, Teagan, Riley and Racinrot in an operation in New Leningrad to capture Frederick Crane, a prominent DJ who the Alliance discovered as covertly funding PAIL. Teagan, Paladin, and Racinrot were sent in to the Rostov Theatre to locate Crane, then to follow him to the dinner party at the New Leningrad Resort and arrest him after drugging him. Paladin took on the grumpy persona of "Rear Admiral" Javier Acosta, while Racinrot became "Brigadier General" Joseph Racinrot. The two acted as the military escorts for "Yasmin Tehrani", an Iranian supermodel who Teagan beared a strong resemblance to and disquised herself as.

Paladin pretended to be angry from visiting several "second-rate strip clubs" and viewing "inferior women". He also described a glass of wine served by a waitress as "piss", but toned down his fake ranting at Racinrot's urging.

Paladin and Racinrot later saved Teagan from a Mexican standoff inside the New Leningrad Resort. After Paladin threatened a rebel commando with a "sex-change procedure", he and Racinrot killed the pair of incognito commandos acting as Crane's bodyguards, and Teagan moved in to arrest Crane. As soon as she had pretended to be wasted and in need of sex, Teagan seduced Crane and led the DJ to the men's restroom, where she knocked him out. Paladin questioned Teagan's creativity and then proceeded to toss Crane out the bathroom window. The team quickly exfiled to the New Leningrad Junkyard, where the fully-armored Jagdtanker and Riley were waiting to extract them.

Paladin later sat down to watch the Modern Warfare 3 match between Riley and Veronica. When Racinrot returned from his recreation time with Teagan and explained that he felt a "deep connection" with the assassin, Teagan overheard Racinrot in the distance and casually friendzoned the medic. Paladin and Laser Perseus howled with laughter at Racinrot, while Veronica and Riley expressed pity for the rejected operator.

Personality[]

By the time of the Alien war, Paladin's personality had grown aloof due to the many pains that ache his life, resulting in him displaying more cynicism and wrath. This has not hindered him from establishing friendly relationships with the rest of the 901st SS and other military personnel, despite his disdain of protocol over personal judgement in the rest of the ranks. Still, Paladin has retained his vigilant persona from his renegade days and has kept suspicions of betrayal aside from what are now his allies. He has grown impatient at the rebels due to the shift of attention by the Alliance against what he conceives as the principle threat: the alien legion.

Vital Statistics[]

  • Intellect: 10/10
  • Agility: 8/10
  • Speed: 9/10
  • Strength: 7/10
  • Armor: 8/10
  • Marksmanship: 8/10
  • Melee: 10/10

Average: 8.6


Appearances[]

  • Rise of the 901st SS- Dawn
  • Rise of the 901st SS- Maelstrom
  • Rise of the 901st SS- Redemption
  • Rise of the 901st SS- Paladin

Trivia[]

  • To date, Paladin has changed nicknames the most times of any character in any Star Warfare fanfic (originally known as "Demo Man", and then "Tanker", as well being recognized in the Rise prequel as "Angel of Death").
  • Paladin currently appears to be the only member of the 901st who did not join as part of a special operations unit.
  • He has the least amount of dialogue in all of the 901st cast.
  • Little known fact not mentioned in the stories is that Javier suffers from morning allergies, worsened by the fact of his irregular sleeping pattern, consisting of short 2-3 hour sleep periods per Earth day.
  • Unknown to many, he did in fact study Religious psychology in the same college as Iris Rodriguez.
Advertisement