Chapter 1

HALO: RISE OF THE JEDI

It has been an eventful year for the UNSC and the galaxy as a whole. The Empire hasbeen defeated again, and the Imperial Navy, the epitome of fear for lovers of freedom,has been crippled. But the war is far from over; the Empire is regrouping andpreparing for another fight and the EMPEROR PALPATINE is sending more bountyhunters to find and kill all the new Force users in the New Republic and prevent therise of the JEDI.

Far, far away, a UNSC stealth ship stumbles on an interesting find…

0000 hrs

UNSC Stealth Ship "Applebee"

Kamino

There was a momentary flash of bright white light as the Prowler exited the non-Einstienian, non-Euclidean realm of Slipspace. The man sitting inside, Lt. Joseph Walker, unbuckled his harness and floated in zero-G to the side windows to peer at the planet he had arrived at.

The planet, according to New Republic intel, was called 'Kamino'. The inhabitants were apparently very thin, very tall, very graceful…and responsible for creating and maintaining the Empire's clone army. The rains, according to Walker's computer, would make Earth's monsoons look like drizzles. There was no land to be seen, but the Kaminoans lived in cities above the monstrous waves. These cities consisted of multiple platforms and buildings set upon highly strengthened pillars that could withstand the pounding from the ocean.

Walker frowned. There was no way that drop pods could be used here, unless AlCom wanted the ODSTs to explore the sea bed. They had to send in the Marine Assault Landers. It would be a definite pain in the ass-anti aircraft fire would definitely take out many of the MALs-but there was no other choice. One thing working in the Allies' favor was that only twenty Star Destroyers were guarding the planet, something Walker considered odd for a planet responsible for creating three-quarters of the Imperial Grand Army. Maybe the Imperials thought that the Allies wouldn't travel so far.

An alarm beeped for Walker's attention; a TIE scout was approaching, and he had to get his ass out of there fast. He strapped himself in and engaged the maneuvering thrusters. The small puffs of energy would be sufficient enough to move him out of sensor range of the scout ship. Soon, the scout passed, not noticing the piece of shadow a football field's length away.

Once the TIE was a safe distance away, Walker busied himself flying the Prowler as far away from Kamino as he could. Five hours later, Walker engaged the Shaw-Fujikawa Mark-V engines and the Prowler jumped into Slipspace.

2000 hrs

UNSC Super Star Destroyer/Mobile Command Base "Preston Cole"

Edge of Imperial Space

The Super Star Destroyer dwarfed all the other ships in the United Nations Expeditionary Fleet. Formerly called the Lusyanka, the ship was captured during the Battle for Earth and rechristened Preston Cole. Modifications to her underbelly and the presence of two thousand Covenant Engineers meant that the ship could service and repair twelve Zanzibar-Class Destroyers at the same time within five hours. While the turbolasers were powerful weapons, projectile weapons were also powerful, as the Imperials had painfully found out. Therefore, six Plasma MAC turrets were added on, three to each side. Although the Imperials didn't consider one-man fighters any risk, the UNSC had a different idea; twelve hundred 50mm MLA auto cannons were added to the Cole's already intimidating armament. Five thousand slots on the underside of the ship were for the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers' Hot Entry Vehicles, or HEVs. At any one time, twenty squadrons of Lance Short range fighters would fly cover over the immense vessel.

But none of these things were at the fore of Fleet Admiral Hood's mind as he anxiously waited for the Applebee to return. The information Walker would come back with could tell the difference between a stunning victory and a humiliating defeat, regardless of the strength of his flagship. Then a crewman whispered something in his ear, something he wanted to hear very much. Hood went to his office to meet with Lt. Walker.

2030 hrs

Hood was waiting patiently in his office when the door opened, revealing a very exhausted Walker. "Please sit down Lieutenant, and feel free to speak candidly."

"Yes, sir, thank you sir," panted the ONI agent. "Maybe we should add scooters or some trams in this place. Took me half an hour to get here."

Hood chuckled. "I know what you mean. Why don't you give me your report?"

"I exited Slipspace at exactly 0000 hrs. Kamino is exactly as New Republic Intel described to us, except for one thing."

"Oh? And what may that be?"

Walker could barely suppress his glee. "The supposedly two hundred-strong Imperial fleet guarding it is currently at a tenth of its strength: only twenty ships."

Hood was astonished. "Twenty ships? That's all? The Imperials probably think we aren't gonna go on the offensive." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe it's a trap. Maybe they're trying to give us a false sense of security. If that's the case, I'm giving the order for the entire expedition to mobilize."

Walker was astonished. The expeditionary forces consisted of twenty New Republic capital ships, two hundred UNSC ships, and two hundred and eighty Covenant ships, a total of five hundred ships. "Wouldn't it be a waste for all the ships to attack twenty enemy ships?"

"It may seem so, but I'm not taking any chances. The Imperials tried something like this on the New Republic at a place called Endor and nearly destroyed them. If there's a trap, we have the strength to beat it off, and if there is no trap, the Imperials will be completely overwhelmed. It's a win-win situation."

Walker considered it, and nodded. "It's better than my Athens mission, anyway."

0500 hrs

The arrangements had been made, the Expeditionary Fleet mobilized, all prayers said and everything polished to a squeaky clean shine. Because of their ability to travel through Slipspace (or hyperspace) the X-Wing squadrons were to be the fighter escort during the jump. The New Republic Star Cruiser Home One, commanded by Admiral Ackbar, was to be the ship leading the attack while the Preston Cole would be safely guarded by two dozen UNSC destroyers. The Republic ships would be in the front, the Covenant ships second, and UNSC vessels right behind them. The main Covenant force, consisting of four hundred and twenty ships and commanded by the Arbiter himself, would be waiting at Chiron TL34, ready to give backup at a moments notice. Improved communications (mostly from pilfered Forerunner artifacts) meant that messages would travel much faster.

For Hood, the entire thing went by so fast and so smoothly he hardly had time to admire the efficiency of the men, women and aliens under his command. The mission was perfect: the Fleet was prepared, the ground troops were prepared, and thanks to the Delta Squad commandos, they had valuable and useful intel on the Kaminoan cloning facilities. He had a mind to take those technologies; they would help in creating the Spartan-IVs.

A red holographic figure appeared on the holotank at Hood's elbow. "The fleet is ready to depart, sir."

"Start the countdown timers, Durandal. All ships will jump at the same time." As the entire fleet began to move, the Cole's deck shuddered slightly and the ship, along with the rest of the fleet, vanished.

0600 hrs

Imperial Star Destroyer "Guardian"

Kamino

Lt. Commander Dann Needa stood at parade rest at the bridge of his Guardian-class ship. She really wasn't a Star Destroyer at all; she was a frigate, one of twenty responsible for patrolling the watery planet 'below' the ship. He was nervous; Guardian-class frigates sported only two Turbolaser cannons, not at all sufficient to deal with the Mon Calamari Star Cruisers. He had no idea what to expect from the UNSC and the Covenant; he had been posted here since the war began and had never seen them before. Still, it was enough to keep away drug lords and crime bosses that wanted a clone army of their own. The Kaminoans were very susceptible to money and tempting offers, and Needa didn't doubt for an instance that they would gladly spike the cloning vats in exchange for their freedom. Little did he know that his fears would soon be realized and made even worse by the arrival of an enemy fleet.

Down below, in the capital of Tipoca City, a Kaminoan was giving life to some of Needa's fears. Taun We strode gracefully down the hall to the cloning facility. She walked to an elevator which went down several levels, one of many hundreds of concealed elevators. The giant facility she entered was another cloning facility. Here still were bred hundreds of thousands of Jango Fett clones, ready to battle at a moments notice. She stood at the platform overlooking the muster bay, standing with an old, ailing Prime Minister Lama Su.

Su looked at his assistant. "Give the command."

Taun We understood. She pressed a button.

All over Kamino, clones in well hidden facilities and even some in monitored facilities heard a song, a song that would wake up a sleeping rebel in each of them.

Bal kote, darasuum kote,
Jorso'ran kando a tome
Sa kyr'am nau tracyn kad, vode an

And glory, eternal glory
We shall bear its weight together
Forged like the saber in the fires of death, brothers all

Non-clone Imperial officers and those clones that were untampered with heard the Mando'a song, but didn't know what to make of it. But the Fett clones knew what it was: a battle song, and a signal.

The Clone Rebellion had begun.

A/N: I know this chapter is a bit rushed, but I don't have enough time to add in the details that I would have liked.