AN:Alright! Time to start that rewrite I told myself I would start so many times in the past! Welcome back to Halo:The Mask of the Noble(Sunrider:Shadow of Noble)! Rewritten in all of its mighty glory! I might combine all 3 episodes into this story (First Arrival, but at its last stages, Mask of Arcadius and Liberation Day) to have it be a longer story. So, enjoy!

Sunrider:T-04:00 hours prior to operation 'Wedding Crash'.

Surrounded...

The Crew of the Sunrider had been surrounded by a PACT Fleet hours ago, right after rescuing another pilot out of certain death at the hands of Lost Technology and a narrow escape. Drawing up battle plans for the Rescue, Captain Kayto Shields sat, leaning against his desk, using his hands as support and staring at the multitude of Holographic Screens ahead of him. The planet of Ryuvia Prime, owned by the Red Fleet of the PACT Armada, stood ahead of them as a sort of incredulously large target to hit. The man ran a hand through his pure-white hair, sighed and looked back at the picture frame on the shelves. The picture of his younger sister, Maray, at her first day of kindergarten. A last memory he had of her from before the event...

The man was taken out of his trance upon hearing the ringing at the door. He tapped a few commands into the holo-keyboard, then yelled to the one on the other side "Come in!" eyes still sweeping the screen. The plans to rescue the Princess of Ryuvia and their former comrade stood ahead of him, nearly complete, so he gave himself a moment to rest, setting the screens to the tab and watching his Executive Officer walking up the stairs. The woman pushed a bit of her dark-brown hair back behind her shoulder, her cherry eyes focused on her Com bracelet.

"Ava." Kayto said idly.

"Captain." The woman answered him, chopping a hand to her forehead promptly. Kayto stood up and saluted back, then showed her to take a seat in one of the two chairs in front of his desk. The man himself took his seat back behind the desk and watched Ava Crescentia, daughter of a prominent Ceran Admiral of the Fleet, well, formerly, take her seat in front of him.

"Any news? How's the crew handling our next op?" Asked the captain nonchalantly, trying to keep a friendly atmosphere even in their currently precarious situation. Their next targeted operation, aptly named 'Wedding Crash' could well be considered a Suicide Mission by any military's standards. Planning a jump dead-center inside the enemy fleet and initiating a rescue operation while the PACT was too dazed at what just happened, to surprised to respond... It was going to be a daring move, to say the least... They both knew that.

"They all know their posts..." Ava murmured, then looked up to the captain "Are you sure you are willing to risk our entire ship and the rest of our crew just for a single girl?" She then worriedly asked. Kayto hummed, nodded and said "Yes... It would be a strategic victory to have Asaga back in more than one way. First being that the bastards wouldn't have access to the Ryuvians' most advanced technology without her... Second, it'd be a boost for morale after the asskicking we just took there... And the Bonus:She's one of us Ava. Has been since the start, nearly two months ago."

Ava stared at him without saying another word, then nodded and said "Very well... Repairs to the ship are nearly done. We should be combat-ready within the next hour. Need help drafting the battle plans?"

"Thanks, Ava." Kayto smiled, nodding. He pushed the folders toward her com bracelet and said "I worked through most of the data I could... So I leave the rest in your capable hands, Commander."

Ava stood up, straightened and saluted, to which Kayto gave the same response. Their com bracelets flared before she could say another word. It was seemingly a yellow alert, so the two tapped their bracelets, only for the face of a Radar Officer to appear ahead of him. "Ma'am, sir! Unknown signature detected, approaching from Warp. Port-side. Recommend you come to the bridge."

Kayto jumped out of his seat, then looked to Ava, who followed him, prompting her com Bracelet's Holo-display. She tapped a few lines of code in as they ran, patching herself into the PA System, then yelled over into the microphone "All hands! Battle Stations! Unknown contact incoming port-side! Engage yellow alert!" And she flicked it off and moved at a faster pace beside Kayto. Alarms blared around the ship's hallways as the two rushed toward the front of the ship, right to the elevators and down to deck 02, where the bridge resided. Walking into it, several Ensigns saluted, to which the commanding duo saluted back quickly and took their positions.

Kayto, taking his seat in his captain's chair, ordered "Have all Ryders ready to scramble... We don't know what we might be meeting."

"Copy that. All present units report mission a-go..." Ava nodded to him, then said "Phoenix, Liberty and Seraphim are out." Calmly examining data from each Ryder-type Mech. She watched the three aircraft fly out and form a Phalanx, or Vee-Formation, preparing for the arrival. The Radar officer looked back and said "ETA to target arrival:3..." making Ava and the Captain and, possibly, their very pilots tense.

"2..."

The three outside readied themselves for combat, while their ship's doctor prepared the medbay in case whoever was aboard may just be looking for help. Paid to be optimistic at times...

"1..."

A flash outside emerged in the inky darkness of space and, immediately upon their sights, came a small drop ship. It looked like a military transport vessel of sorts, but made to only carry some supplies and a lot of troops in its back. Ava looked to Kayto, then nodded and said "Initial scans reveal no power to the ship's systems. Two life signs aboard, one critical."

"Bring'em aboard, everyone! Claude, status on the medbay?" The captain asked via radio, receiving the sharp voice of a young woman. Their pink-haired doctor answered "We're a-go! Everything's warm and waiting for the wounded." jovially. Kayto nodded, closed the call and looked to Ava. He stood up and said "C'mon. We're gonna go greet whoever is aboard that ship."

"Understood." Ava said, grabbing her holo-tab and taking her position beside Kayto. The girl kept her hand wrapped around the holster for her pistol as they walked toward the elevator and down into the Hangar at DECK 00. Walking on-deck to the cavernous hangar and its 12-Ryder hangar, the Captain cast a quick glance toward Holding Cradle 3, where the Black Jack, their kidnapped pilot's Ryder was. The heavily-armored and heavily-armed Mech lay there, motionless... All while the other Ryders came back aboard. In the middle of the hangar, surrounded by a squad of Ceran Marines carrying automatic weapons, was the unknown shuttle, a vessel fo such weird design it made almost no sense to the man and his CO.

Gunmetal-Green, half-boxy, half aero-dynamic, bristling with weapons and able to fit two squads into its back. Farther back, moved away from the vehicle, a pallet with four boxes, all painted the same color. It had the word Marines etched in fading white writing on its landing gear, which'd been extended in the back to allow the aircraft to settle down on the straight floor of steel of the Sunrider's Hangar. Icari, Chigara and Sola joined the two on-deck, with the frail, white-haired markswoman of the team keeping her amber eyes locked onto the unknown, with quite the inquisitive look. Icari, the black-haired swords-girl with a ponytail and emerald eyes walked toward the gunship, arms crossed as she examined its chain gun, a weapon mounted at the nose of the vic.

Chigara, the petite, lilac-haired engineer of the team was walking beside Icari, mouth agape and blue eyes locked on the military marvel before her. The cockpit in the front had its glass shaded black, so no one could see inside... Alas... Kayto walked beside the Marine Master Sergeant, then looked to him and asked "What's the situation?" To which the Sergeant saluted and said "Nothing we can see yet... But the life-signs are moving about."

The Captain sighed, crossed his arms and nodded, then walked toward the back hatch of the vehicle, fingers wrapped around the holster of his gun, before he felt Ava's hand yanking him back. The two exchanged glances, then Ava demanded "What do you think you're doing?" Angrily holding the Captain back. The man sighed, pointed at the vehicle, then said "Going to take a closer look. We need to know who's inside."

Ava sighed, drew her sidearm and nodded, then said "Very well..." Before stepping up ahead of him and pressing an emergency release button at the hatch's forefront. The two backed off, with Ava aiming her pistol ahead as the back hatch, formed of a window and a steel plate with an indentation, slid apart and opened... A single shot came out of the hold and the gun was knocked out of Ava's hand. A set of boots clanking and metal dragging agaisnt metal sounded off and a pair of soldiers, wearing titanic armors, appeared out of the hold, one holding the other up and aiming his very odd gun at the crew of the ship.

The two seemed to have polar-opposite colors of armor. While one had dark-red as the main color, with light-blue accents, the other had the exact reverse. Both of them wore the same type of armor, however. It was battle-damaged, with dozens of burns and what looked like energy weapon scarring, as well as thick cuts on the blue-wearing one. It was also bulky, heavy and with a helmet that much resembled how a Ninja would look, with the visor, a vision slit with black all around the rest of the face. One of the two carried a strange, circular-shaped glass and metal container on his back, which was shining blue. The soldier growled, sighed and lowered his pistol, then heard his comrade grunt. He holstered the gun, set down the soldier and removed his helmet, tossing it aside and making it skip against the hard metal floor, before coming to a stop in front of the Captain, a broken blue husk with several cracks in the visor, as well as scorch marks.

Noticing the wounds on the one without the helmet, the Captain ran beside the two and examined him better. Two-color hair, half dark-blue and half crimson, several cuts across his face, his eyes barely open as he looked up at the ceiling of the Hangar. The boy coughed violently, then exhaled and whispered something. His comrade leaned in and he whispered again, to which the red-wearing man nodded. He took his helmet off his head, placed it by his hip, then stood up and raised his arms, showing his surrender. Standing straight, his bipolar eyes, one crimson and one dark-blue, both locked onto the captain, he asked in a relatively calm voice "We need help... My brother sustained severe injuries. He needs immediate medical care, otherwise I'm gonna lose the last family I have left alive in this god-forsaken Galaxy."

Kayto could tell from the man's voice it was genuine. That and the fact the other soldier's armor was so screwed up and full of combat scarring that he didn't need any extra confirmation. Kayto nodded, looked to the man, then said "Drop all of your weapons and we'll help... Don't want to risk getting shot in the back here." Calmly. The boy nodded, withdrew his weapons from his back and hips and threw them aside. Kayto looked to a pair of marines and said "Help him carry his brother the hell out of here and to the Sickbay! Then get him to the Brig! I bet he can give us some pretty interesting info."

"Thank you..." The soldier nodded, to which Kayto shook his head and said "Don't thank us. We haven't saved your brother yet." Then he walked away. After the soldier and the Marines had taken the man's brother into the Medical Bay, where the Doctor was nowhere to be found, the still-awake one, baffled by where they were, found himself sitting in the brig, his helmet by him on the bed, the Captain and his XO ahead of him and two Marines with high-powered rifles guarding the door. Kayto read through the manifest of the boxes on board the soldier's gunship. Heavy weapons, explosives and enough ammo to supply said weapons for a good few years, as well as a box full of food and medical supplies of unknown origin.

Kayto sighed, setting the Holo-tablet down, leaned his chin onto his hands, then asked "Are you and your brother Pirates?"

"No." The soldier answered, keeping eye contact with the Captain. "We're military assets carrying a highly-valuable secondary Package..." And he patted the thing on his back "A copy of something very important to our people lies on this chip... My brother managed to deliver the Original to its owners, so this left us with the backup for... Emergencies... And I'm saying nothing more."

"You called yourselves 'assets'... Aren't you soldiers?" Ava asked, looking at the soldier, her arms crossed and posture straight.

He shook his head, then said "We're Spartans... We're considered War Assets, not soldiers. Quoting my handler officer, 'Spartans are worth a company of men, a cruiser and a brigade of tanks out there'. I'll add a bit to that:Especially if they're as high-ranked as me and my brother."

"Very well..." Kayto nodded to him. "Any more info you'd like to share?"

"Nothing." Answered the boy, picking up his helmet.

"Any name you'd like to give us?" Ava asked, crossing her arms. The Spartan sighed, then nodded and said "Call my brother Six. I'm Seven in this case." And he stood up, then walked toward the captain and commander, towering nearly a head over both of them. Crossing his arms as Kayto stood up from his seated position, the Spartan looked at both of them, then said "Before we came aboard... I saw severe damage to the outside of the ship. Scorch marks, heavy magnetic battery fire, rocket detonations, holes in the hull... Et-cetera... And considering from the file tabbed 'Rescue Plans' on your holo-communication devices," he tilted his head toward Ava's bracelet screen "I'd say one of your crewmen was taken... Some VIP. Perhaps a leader of one of the non-aligned planets?"

"H-How..." Ava stuttered, her eyes wide as she stared at Seven with awe. The Spartan raised his hand, stopping her, then said "Call it intuition..." And he nodded to them "IF you need help with planning the rescue, I'm your man." And he added "If you do require my aid, that is... I assure you, my brother will follow if I go through with this." And Ava and Kayto exchanged glances, then Kayto nodded and looked to him. "If this is some sort of joke or trick... I'm sure my soldiers can gun you down with ease. Eitherway... Welcome to the squad for now."