Hey everyone! It appears as though there is interest in this rewrite (probably more than there was for the original).

With this chapter, I should note that this is an AU in which Anakin never became Darth Vader. However, there might be some minor changes with Anakin's character. I can't imagine anyone going through what he goes through without changing some. That said, I would love to know what you all think. Do you all want more? Is there something I need to fix? What did you all like?

So, without further ado, I give you chapter 2...


(Unknown System: 1 hour later)

The Chief ducked as several more plasma bolts streaked overhead. Leaning out from cover, the Chief let his shields take the brunt of the abuse as he tossed a couple plasma grenades. The first stuck to a Spec Ops Elite while the other one stuck to the front end of a ghost. The Elite's final yell was drowned out by the twin explosions. The Elite had been blown across the clearing with a river blood following him, while the Ghost had been blown into three different pieces. As his shields reloaded, the Spartan slowly moved forward with a raised Carbine.

Sprawled out across the small valley were the remains of several Covenant- or rather, "Storm" as Cortana informed him- troopers. Intermixed, were the remains of a Wraith and three Ghosts. In the center was his, now destroyed, Warthog. He was lucky enough to have jumped before the blast hit the vehicle.

"Apparently they forgot what 'search and rescue' means," the Chief commented as he stepped over a dead Jackal.

"N-no, you just… be th-th-there," she answered as she tried fighting through the rampancy.

The Chief nodded as he silently racked his brain for ideas on how to fight Cortana's rampancy. She had explained the process of her literally "thinking herself to death" to him. However he ended up in the firefight before he could think of an idea of how to solve it. Then like a bolt of lightning, the idea hit him.

"You're designed from a human… Dr. Halsey!" he exclaimed as he mentally put the pieces together, "If we can get you back to Halsey, she should be able to fix you."

There was a moment of silence as Cortana thought over the idea.

"She may not be able to. Before we left, the UNSC hadn't figured out how to cure rampancy," Cortana answered.

"A lot can change in seven years. Unless you have another option, we don't have a choice," he countered as he started making his way up the hillside.

"It's worth a-"

Cortana's voice was replaced by static. In the background, the Chief thought he could hear faint voices. Though, he could not understand any words.

"Cortana?" he asked with worry.

"That wasn't me. The suit intercepted a signal, but lost it to interference. Let me try to get it back," she explained with the verbal equivalent of a thoughtful frown.

Silence reigned again as the Chief froze in place. As Cortana silently worked, the Chief raised his carbine and turned in a slow circle. At the same time, he cast frequent glances up to his motion tracker. Being out in the open like this ran against the Spartan's every instinct. However, it would help receive a clear signal. It also allowed him to look for any obvious jammers.

"I can't clear up the signal, or even get it back. However, it appears to be being jammed from somewhere," Cortana informed him.

"Covenant?" the Chief quizzed.

"No. Whomever is doing this is much better than the Covenant. Remember, we had off world communication on Reach for most of the battle," she answered with a mix of worry and admiration.

The Chief nodded. He remembered that battle more than he really wanted to.

"Can you at least tell where it's being jammed from?" he pursued.

"Not exactly. However, it's coming from somewhere inside that tower behind you," she answered quickly.

The Chief turned toward the summit. He quickly saw the structure she was talking about. It's point peaked over the ridge like an energetic child trying to play hide-and-seek. With that knowledge, the Chief continued his hike up the hill. As he rounded the top of the hill, he froze. The vertigo tried setting in instantly. A shear cliff went downward as far as his eyes could see. Opposite of that was a large Forerunner tower that also seemed to stretch into oblivion. Connecting the two sides was a bridge easily big enough to fit two Wraiths side-by-side.

After a quick search, the Chief found a slightly narrower pathway leading down. The hike felt like forever, but the Chief finally got down to the bridge. The silence was almost disconcerting as the Chief made his way to the tower.

"Chief, we have a problem," Cortana declared with a worried edge.

"What sort of problem?"

"Whomever is in charge of the Storm forces knows that you're here, and doesn't want you in that tower. All units are being ordered to converge on the building," Cortana explained.

"Looks like we'll have to be quick," he declared as he checked the charge on his carbine.

With that he took off through the entryway.


The woman calmly watched as the Elite Spec Ops team made its way toward her. She sensed confusion as leader came to a stop in front of her. Clearly he was off put by finding a second human.

"A human ship crashes with your fleet, and yet you are surprised by a second human," she noted with a sly smile.

The Elite quickly recovered and raised his plasma rifle in response.

"Is that any way to treat a lady?" she asked in mock disgust.

The team opened fire in response. Using the Force, she absorbed the plasma bolts as she rushed forward. The shields quickly failed on two of the Elites as she assaulted them with Force lightning. She used the force to send two grunts tumbling across the ground. With a subtle touch with the Force, she activated the plasma grenades on one of them. A deafening explosion drowned out the cry of pain from another Elite as she used the Force to plunge an energy sword into his back. The fight was chaotic but quick. The fight soon ended as she made quick work of the squad. The woman allowed a sadistic grin as she looked at the bodies. The bloody scene was sure to attract the attention of Storm forces.

"There Spartan, I'm doing you a favor. Now do me a favor," she ordered to seemingly no one.


The room was alive with plasma fire as more Elites stormed into the room. The Chief ducked behind a wall as he changed out cartridges. Leaning out, he emptied most of it into an Elite. Shifting his aim, he put the last few shots into a Jackal. He unclipped a couple plasma grenades. He stuck the first to a Jackal's shield, and the second to the top of a barrier that a couple Elites were using for cover. The twin blasts blew three Jackals across the room, killed one Elite, and dropped the shields on the other. A simple shot to the head dealt with him.

The Chief spotted an opening and sprinted forward. His shields flared with the impact of plasma bolts. However, his defenses held as he drove a combat knife into the neck of an Elite and produced his Magnum. He said a silent "thank you" to overpowered side arms as he traded fire with the remaining Elites. After a couple more minutes of fighting, he finally finished the last one off with a shot to the head.

As the alien hit the ground, he looked around the room. Satisfied that he wasn't going to die from a plasma bolt or needle to the back, he turned around and went sprinting up through the maze of passages and rooms.

"Cortana, where am I going?" he quizzed as he found himself at the four-way intersection of two passages.

"Go left. If I'm understanding this correctly, there sh-should be a li-ift up ahead," Cortana answered in a rampancy affected voice.

The Chief pushed the worry out of his head as he turned and went down the grey walled passage. As he continued, the Chief could see the occasional blip appear on the bottom edge of his motion tracker. He was running out of time and knew it.

"Huh, that's odd," Cortana commented, "It appears that the Storm just lost a Spec Ops team."

"I'm not surprised. We did make quite a mess," he replied offhandedly as he turned a corner.

"Not here. It was team sent to help search for any secondary entrances to the tower," she corrected.

"What kind of injuries," the Chief quizzed as he felt a surge of apprehension.

"Unusual ones… If the battle net is to be believed, we're talking about electrical burns, dismemberment, broken limbs, and explosive fatalities," she replied.

Even without seeing her face, the Chief could picture the disbelief on her face.

"So we are clear, this 'Storm' and us are the only ones who crashed on this planet, right?" the Chief asked.

"As far as I can tell. Given what little we know of the planet, I'd venture to say that it's most likely someone living here," Cortana confirmed.

The Chief nodded as he stepped into the lift. After activating the lift, he had a moment to stop and think. However, that did little to clear things up. The more he thought about things, the less it made sense. However, his musings were interrupted as a radio transmission. Like the last one, he could hear faint voices over the screeching of feedback, but this time they were different.

"I think I heard something that time," he noted.

"Yes, I-I was able to clean up part of the sig- signal. Whatever-r-r is broadcasting that signal isn't Storm or Forerunner," Cortana agreed as the rampancy flared again.

"Human?"

"I think-'We've asked you to give up your home and your life.'" Cortana suddenly declared in an unusually deep voice.

"What was that?" the Chief demanded as worry started to creep into his voice.

A failing A.I. was the last thing he needed right now.

"It's nothing… just part of the rampancy. We need to keep moving," she answered hesitantly.

He nodded as he stepped out of the lift. The grey passages seemed to ascend forever. Though he didn't say anything, the Chief noticed that all signs of pursuit had disappeared.

"That's odd. I can't seem to listen in on the battle net, all I keep getting is static," Cortana noted, "I wonder if it has anything to do with the lack of pursuit."

"Proximity to whatever is jamming us?" the Chief ventured.

"No. That's a broad channel jammer of some kind. Whatever is jamming the Storm's transmissions is single channel, and it's dialed in to their frequency," Cortana answered.

The Chief mentally logged the information as he kept moving. He really didn't want to think about what could be worrying them enough to break off pursuit. The last time he had seen the Covenant scared was when they unleashed the Flood, and he was praying that they had learned from the first two encounters.


The woman watched as the Wraith swung around toward her. She tossed the first plasma round to the left. The next one flew wide to the right. The woman grinned as she reached out with the Force and squeezed. Purple metal warped inward, sparks flew, and electricity arched as she slowly crushed the vehicle. The woman felt a measure of satisfaction as she crushed the vehicle down to a mass of metal and blood slightly bigger than herself.

She was snapped out of her reverie as a burst of twin plasma shots streaked past her. Spinning around, she sent the metal ball streaking toward the approaching Ghosts. The leader had no time to react before being crushed. The second one jerked away fast enough to avoid the same fate. Instead, he was thrown to the side like a pin in a bowling alley.

Surveying the damage, the woman decided that jamming the Storm's comms was the best decision she had made. She had not only forced them to forget her helper in favor of her, but they were so hopelessly confused that no one could organize a reasonable hunt for her. With a grin, the woman vanished into thin air as she went to look for more trouble.


(Location: Unknown)

Was he dead? Was he alive? How long had he been here? Anakin didn't know. All he knew was that there was nothing. He felt nothing under him. He felt nothing above him. He was just there, suspended in a void blacker than the space in which he had been traveling. He lifted his hand so that it was in front of him. At least that's where he thought it was. Oddly enough, he had barely felt the movement and he did not see the hand.

Pop!

Blinding light assaulted he senses. Anakin reflexively covered his eyes, but stumbled as he was pushed by some invisible force. He quickly blinked as he caught his balance. As the light slowly gave way, grey, geometric structures filled in the space. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, his full range of senses returned and he found himself standing on the bridge of the Resolute. A groan caught his attention, turning, he found the Admiral trying to pick himself up from the holotable he had been tossed against.

"Are you alright?" Anakin asked as he helped the man up.

The Admiral didn't immediately answer as his eyes drifted to the viewport.

"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about that," Admiral Yularen finally answered as he pointed to the viewport.

Anakin quickly glanced over and saw what he was talking about.

"Which part… the planet or the hole in the middle?" Anakin questioned with an air of unease.

"All of it," Admiral Yularen mumbled as he watched his bridge crew put itself back together.

Everyone moved as fast as their bodies would allow as they attempted to re-man their stations.

"What's our status?" the Admiral finally demanded.

"Power is still down. We have power to some of the maneuvering thrusters, but nothing else," reported a crewman.

"Weapons are down."

"Shields are recycling."

"Isolated power fluctuations in the forward hanger."

"Gravity generators are cycling in section 4A"

The reports came in so fast that Admiral Yularen almost had to make the crewmen slow down. However, he got the point. For the foreseeable future, their ship was a crippled mass of durasteel that may or may not have cover from fighters.

Next to him, Anakin suddenly felt an air of apprehension, and it had nothing to do with the ship. A sudden coldness swept over him, and the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. Reaching into the Force, he felt nothing but darkness. Suddenly the Force shouted an alarm.

"Fire the thrusters! Get us away from that planet," Anakin suddenly barked.

Startled, everyone turned to him.

"Did I stutter? Reverse power," Anakin pressed urgently.

The helmsman turned to follow through with the orders, and Admiral Yularen turned to stop him.

"Admiral, a word please?" Anakin requested, stopping the Admiral mid word.

Once they were away from the crewmen, it was Admiral Yularen who started.

"Do you care to tell me what that was?" the Admiral demanded.

"Yes. Something's wrong. I can't make you do it, but I strongly suggest keeping the ship away until we can get a sensory scan of the planet," Anakin explained.

"Sensors are down. I don't know how long it will be until they're up," the Admiral argued.

"Admiral. There is something very dangerous down there. I need you to trust me," Anakin pressed.

"What kind of dangerous thing?" the Admiral quizzed.

"I'm not totally sure, except that it is strong," Anakin paused as he thought over everything.

"What, like a-"

Admiral Yularen was interrupted as the Captain approached him.

"Sir, we were able to get the baseline sensors operational…" the Captain started before pausing to collect his thoughts.

"And?" Anakin pressed.

"And that hole's a gravity well. If we hadn't pulled away, we would have been pulled through," the Captain finished.

No one immediately responded as the Admiral and Anakin locked eyes. The Admiral wanted to be upset. He wanted to be mad that Anakin had, again, cut into his chain of command. However, he couldn't- not after the Jedi just saved countless lives. Rising to the perceived the challenge, Anakin just stood there. Since the end of the war and Palpatine's rapid, violent fall from grace, he had been trying to prove himself. This was just another step in that process.

Finally the Admiral let out a sigh as he broke the silence, "Tell the helm to hold station. Get fighters out in a full screen, and focus on getting the point defenses on line."

"Admiral," called a crewman from the sensor stations, "We're picking up another ship in the system."

"Where?" demanded the Admiral as he lead the way over.

"They're making their way toward the planet," the officer replied quickly as he pointed to his screen.

"Have they lost their mind?" the Admiral mumbled to himself before turning to the Captain, "Hail the ship. Wave them off, before they're pulled in."

"Sir, receivers are online, but the comms are still recovering. We may not be able to reach the ship in time," the Captain warned as he wavered in his steps.

"Just do it, Captain," Anakin cut in forcefully.

"Yes sir," the Captain replied crisply as he turned to carry out his orders.

Next to Anakin, the Admiral silently shook his head. Skywalker may be reckless and impulsive, but at least the kid was decisive.

"I'm going over to communications. Let me know if anything changes with that ship," Admiral Yularen ordered.

Anakin simply nodded as he stared at the screen. Were those orders an attempt to get him out of the way? He didn't know. Probably, but then again, Anakin could think of worse ways to be booted out of the way.

"How big is she?" he asked the operator.

"Big sir. From what I'm getting, she's about three miles long," the officer answered.

Anakin raised an eyebrow. That was bigger than anything the Republic of CIS had ever fielded.

"Any shields?" he pursued.

"There could be. However, the interference off that planet is making it hard to tell," the man replied with a frown as his fingers carefully moved across the controls.

Finally, after a few minutes of watching the ship, Anakin let out a sigh. By this point, his fascination with the ship had worn off, and the Admiral was back to his usual spot at the center of the bridge.

"Anything?" he asked as he walked over.

"No. With the comms down, we can't reach them," the Admiral answered with a frown.

"Are we getting any chatter?" Anakin followed up.

"Yes, but it's going to take time to decrypt," Admiral Yularen confirmed.

Anakin shook his head. That did absolutely nothing to help them now. He went to speak, but was stopped as he felt the sensation of a cold tentacle slithering up his spine. The tentacle traveled up his spine and into his head. He quickly slammed up his mental shields up as he felt it attempt probe his mind. Then it was gone. The sudden end to the sensation startled Anakin. Looking over, he saw the Admiral stare at him with a look of worry.

"What is it?" the Admiral asked.

"Whatever's down there just tried to… It… Something's not right. I'm gonna have Rex put together a recon detachment," Anakin finally declared as he tried to explain what he felt.

Without waiting for a reply he turned for the rear blast doors.

"Wait… What? Now, hold it," the Admiral called.

However, the only reply was the sound of the doors snapping shut behind Anakin. With a string of muttered curses, the Admiral took off after him. As he raced to catch up with Anakin, Admiral Yularen was reminded of his increasing age. The sprint down the command tower nearly killed the aging officer. After what felt like forever, he finally caught up to the Jedi.

"Anakin, what are you doing?" the Admiral demanded between breaths.

"Something's wrong," Anakin snapped as he spun around.

"What is this 'something'? Why do we care?" the Admiral pressed as he physically grabbed Anakin's robe, "I have to sign off on any operations. With a crippled ship and no idea of where we're at, you are going to need to do better than 'something's wrong'."

Anakin froze as he let out a sigh as he attempted to slow himself down.

"Do you remember Palpatine?" he quizzed.

"Yes. I nearly got caught in the political backlash," Admiral Yularen affirmed with an ever hardening frown.

"The Force radiates darkness off men like him. When the user can't mask it, this darkness can be sensed. The stronger the user, the further away it can be detected," Anakin explained.

"Ok. Now that I have my crash course in the Force, why does it matter?" the Admiral prodded impatiently.

He did not like being away from the bridge for so long.

"Palpatine killed three Masters and nearly crippled a fourth. He was powerful. This user, is worse. Palpatine had the strength to level the entire government district. If put in the same situation, I would be worried about this person reducing Coruscant's entire population to zero," Anakin finished.

For once the Admiral paused. He honestly didn't know what to say. The idea of that kind of power seemed unimaginable. However, so did the idea of an old politician killing three Jedi and sentencing the fourth to an extended stay in a bacta tank.

"I made the mistake of ignoring a threat like this once. I won't do it again," Anakin stated5 after a few seconds.

The Admiral slowly nodded as he replied, "I'll sign off on Torrent Company only. We'll keep monitoring comms from up here. However, you are without close air support. Until we have guns and shields on line, they are our only defense."

"Understood, I'll keep you informed," Anakin agreed before rushing to continue his previous task.