The Old and the New
A man with darkly tanned skin and short, black hair walked down the corridor of the CR90 corvette Tantive IV. Down the right side of his face there was a blistered scar almost as if he had been burned. Over the years since he had received it the scar had faded. As the man walked, he was so lost in thought that he bumped into another person.
"Sorry, I didn't-"
"C'mon, Boss, get with it!" said the man he had run into, Tony Adams. He stood a couple of inches shorter than Boss with buzzed brown hair and eyes. Compared to Boss, his skin had a pale look. He smiled; Adams was a unique person. It wasn't because of any special abilities he possessed or "powers". It was because he wasn't from this universe; he was in fact from a universe nowhere near here.
Boss himself was unique. He was a clone raised in the labs of Kamino and had fought in the Clone Wars. Being a commando, he had been the sergeant of a squad titled Delta. The four man team had fought to preserve the Republic and defeat the Separatists. Nineteen years later, he was taken in by Senator Bail Organa and was the bodyguard of his daughter, Leia. That was the only reason he and Adams were on the ship in the first place, to protect the princess from harm.
The Tantive IV was believed to be on a diplomatic mission for the Imperial Senate. In reality, they had very important cargo on the ship. The Death Star was about to become operational: the battle station contained a laser capable of destroying an entire planet in one blast. In a last effort to stop the Imperials from using it, they obtained the plans and layouts of the weapon. Hoping to find a way to exploit a weakness, they were going to pick up Obi-wan Kenobi on Tatooine and then deliver the plans to Alderaan, Leia's home planet.
"Just thinking to myself," replied Boss. Adams crossed his arms and lifted an eyebrow. Even though Adams was thirty-seven years old, for some strange reason he looked like he was in his late twenties, and acted even younger.
"Thinking about being in action again, aren't you?" asked Adams, uncrossing his arms and letting them fall to his sides.
Boss shrugged, "It feels good to know that I'll be able to use a blaster after all this time."
Adams grinned, "I can't wait to use one of those in a fight. It'll be a lot different than using a battle rifle." Boss instantly thought of the somewhat primitive rifle with its three-round bursts. He then started to remember the war he and the rest of his squad had fought in.
The Human-Covenant war.
Boss thought back to the day his squad had met the Chief, Master Chief Spartan-117, over nineteen years ago. The Chief had come through a portal that had transported him to the commando's universe. It was then Delta had agreed to help the Chief and returned with him back to his universe. But, they had been followed by the cyborg named General Grievous, who had been a general of the Separatists' droid army. Grievous had then allied with the Covenant leader, the Prophet of Truth. The Covenant were a group of alien races formed together under the religion of the Forerunners, and believed it was their duty to wipe out the human race.
Delta Squad had been joined by many allies from their own universe: Omega Squad, Commander Gett, and ARC Trooper Ordo of the Clone Army, Sergeant Kal Skirata, and the Jedi Obi-wan Kenobi, Etain Tur-Mukan and Bardan Jusik. With the return of the Chief's Spartan comrades Kelly, Fred, Will and Linda the odds turned against the Covenant. Then, with what seemed an unbelievable stroke of luck, the Elites, Grunts, and Hunters seceded from the Covenant and allied with the humans.
A massive battle had then begun; Humans and the former Covenant members against the droid army and the Covenant Loyalists for control of a special structure called the Ark. They had won, but lost the human's home planet as well as many teammates including Jusik and Boss's squad mate, Fixer. They had then gone their separate ways, returning to their own universe. Adams, a former Marine in the United Nations Space Command, had refused to stay and left with Boss and the others.
"Boss!" He turned around to see Leia walking quickly towards him.
"What's wrong?" Boss asked, seeing the worried look on her face.
"There's a Star Destroyer that's just come out of hyperspace behind us," she said. "We think it may be the Devastator." Boss stared at her in shock; Darth Vader had been the last known commander of that ship. The last time he had been up against the Sith lord he had impaled Boss through the shoulder with his lightsaber and nearly killed the commando.
She didn't know that though, she didn't know anything about his history. Leia was told that Boss had been in the service and that he had been hired by her father along with Adams to protect her.
"How close?" Boss asked.
"They'll be within firing range in ten minutes."
"Fierfek," said Boss. "We've got to get our weapons now; I can't fight with this blaster pistol. Leia, you need to return to your room and wait for us."
"I can't," she replied. "I need to meet with Captain Antilles; he needs to tell me something."
"Alright, go there and wait for us before you do anything. Adams, come on." He took off down the hallway toward the armory. Once they arrived, he jammed his fist on the open button and the door instantly slid into the wall, allowing them to enter. When he was inside, Boss saw that there was no one here. Good, they could get in and out quickly.
"You got any shotguns in here?" asked Adams, looking around.
"No, just blaster rifles and pistols."
"Oh well," he said, walking over and picking up a somewhat large blaster rifle. "This will do for now."
The Master Chief stood with Will outside the entrance of the base on Jecovah. Jecovah was a small planet just outside of Earth's borders and was the place where the portal between the two separate universes was located. When the Spartans weren't away on missions, they were stationed here to protect the civilians. This was the last place to live as Earth was still uninhabitable. He stood outside for a little bit longer, watching the Marines walk by, then walked back inside with Will following suit.
"Are you all right, John?" asked Will, jogging a bit to catch up with the Chief. John had been his name before he had risen to the rank of Master Chief; when he had still been a child.
"I'm fine," he replied, walking straight forward. The truth was he wasn't all right. Every single person he knew was gone, either dead or not around. The other Spartans were currently on a mission in the far reaches of space and weren't expected to be back for at least another few months. Cortana's lifespan had ended and she had "died" several years back, which still pained him to this day. Both Commander Miranda Keyes and Sergeant Major Avery Johnson had been shipped elsewhere after the war had ended and he had not had contact with either of them since then. Even the Arbiter wasn't around, doing some business with the new Covenant Alliance. Will was the last person he knew that he still had contact with.
The Chief continued walking until he reached the portal room. There was a squad of ODSTs, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, in the room watching over the portal. In the dim light their black armor was barely discernable. They looked up, surprised to see him.
"We'll take over from here," the Chief said. The lead ODST didn't move for a moment before he shrugged and left the room, motioning for his team to follow him. The Chief walked to the center and pulled his battle rifle from his back, holding it in his hands. He stared at the portal, ready if anything came. Nothing had come through for nearly ten years.
"You miss them, don't you?" asked Will suddenly, standing at his side. He was referring to the clones, and everyone else that had come through that portal. The Chief did miss them, he wished that they would come back someday and be here to stay. But, he knew that would never happen.
"Yes, I do," he answered simply.
Will remained silent for a few moments before replying, "I do too." It was then that the teleported started making a loud hissing noise and instantly the Chief and Will had their battle rifles at their shoulders, ready to fire. It continued for a moment, and then two men in white armor came out of the portal, their guns raised to their shoulders as well. The newcomers armor had a small resemblance to the armor the clones wore, yet was completely different. When they saw the two Spartans standing there, they turned their guns to aim at them.
"Drop your weapons or we'll shoot!" one of them yelled. That was all the Chief needed to hear as he squeezed the trigger and killed the man on the left. Will shot the other one in the chest, killing him.
"I'm going through," stated the Chief, bracing the butt of his rifle to his shoulder as he walked towards the portal. "Something's wrong."
"Well, you're definitely not going alone," said Will, following him. The Chief didn't hesitate as he stepped through. When he arrived on the other side, he instantly saw a small group of more white-armored men, their guns held casually at their sides. The Chief took advantage of the surprise and opened fire immediately, dropping two of them before they could even respond. Will came out right behind him, killing off the other two just as they were about to return fire. It was night here, so he turned on his night vision, an upgrade to the MJOLNIR armor, and searched the area.
"Chief…over here," he heard a weak voice say and turned to see someone slumped against the canyon wall. The Chief ran over and instantly recognized Darman, even though he didn't have his armor on.
"Darman! What happened to you?" asked the Chief as he knelt down beside him, questions he wanted to ask the commando forming in his mind. Darman's face and body was covered in blood and what looked like his black fatigues were ripped.
"They interrogated me," he managed to say, spitting blood out onto the ground before continuing. "Asked where the portal was, where the other clones and Jedi were." He paused and took several breaths before continuing, "I didn't tell them a thing."
"Come on, we've got to get you out of here," said the Chief, standing up. "Can you walk?" Darman nodded and with the Chief's help stood while Will kept a look out. Darman then put his arm across the Spartan's shoulders and they slowly made their way to the portal, Darman limping beside him and Will on point. The Chief didn't let his guard down until they were back through the portal and in his universe. When they arrived, they saw that the original group of ODSTs the Chief had dismissed were standing outside the portal, their battle rifles raised at them. When they recognized him, they lowered their weapons and the sergeant of the squad spoke.
"Chief! Don't scare us like that!" He paused as he saw Darman beside him and asked, "Who's that?"
"Friend of ours," the Chief replied. "Stay here and watch the portal, we're taking him to the medical wing."
"Chief, wait," said Darman, speaking up. "Etain and Gett were captured by the Stormtroopers as well. If you and Will hurry, you can save them before they're too far away." The Chief stopped walking, stopping to consider what he should do. He remembered Boss telling him of the relationship between Darman and Etain. They loved each other, and he guessed that the two of them as well as the former Clone Commander, Gett, had stayed on Kashyyyk incase someone tried to get through the portal.
"I would go myself," Darman continued. "I wouldn't get too far, though," he gave him a weak grin. The Chief knew he owed Darman, as a comrade and as a friend.
"Sergeant," said the Chief, pulling Darman's arm off of his shoulder. "Get him to the medical wing. Will, come with me. We're going back."
"You should be up front, not back here protecting me," protested Leia as Boss and Adams flanked her down the corridor.
"We can do more back here," replied Adams. "And besides, we're your bodyguards; we're supposed to be protecting you."
"As you always have," said Leia, smiling. They were taking her back to the living quarters on the ship, where she had a temporary room. The two of them had donned their armor, Boss has his commando armor while holding his helmet at his side and Adams had his Marine armor. Leia had discovered the armor hidden in a secret room when she was a child, though Boss was thankful she had never made a connection and figured out he had been a clone in the Clone Wars.
"Boss, I can never get over the fact that you look like a Stormtrooper," stated Leia, eyeing his helmet as they walked.
"What can I say, they copied me," he joked and Leia laughed, but Boss got a sick feeling in his stomach. It was too close to the truth. Suddenly, the entire ship shook and Boss had to grab onto a railing on the bulkhead wall to prevent from falling over while Leia grabbed onto his arm. Adams had grabbed something on the other wall. All around the ship alarms started blaring through the hallways, red lights flashed on the ceilings.
"What was that?" asked Leia, looking around the hallway as if she could find the disturbance. It was then that several Rebel troops started running past them. Boss grabbed the arm of one of the soldiers to stop him.
"What's going on?" asked Boss, letting go of his arm.
"Vader's Star Destroyer is shooting at us, but not enough damage to take us down. He's trying to capture us!"
"Okay, hurry up and guard the doors," ordered Boss and the soldier took off after his comrades.
"This isn't good," said Adams, holding his rifle at his side. Boss knew he was right; it had just been confirmed that it was Vader's Star Destroyer, there was no way they could escape against a ship that size, and to make it worse that meant that Vader knew the Death Star plans were on the ship.
"Leia, where are the plans?" asked Boss. They had to get them somewhere safe, if not, jettison them from the ship in a vain attempt to keep them from the Sith lord's hands. To his surprise, Leia reached into her pocket and pulled out a data disc, holding it in front of him.
"Antilles gave these to me," she explained as she put it back in her pocket. "He seemed to know that we were going to get boarded."
"Then we need to get you out of here," stated Boss. "We can sneak you out on an escape pod and land on Tatooine. There, you can find Obi-wan Kenobi and get help." He felt his stomach drop as he realized that if she found Obi-wan, she would also find Sev and Atin. Sev had been a part of his squad while Atin had been in Omega, the two commandos hiding with Obi-wan in the deserts of Tatooine. Boss hadn't seen his comrades in nineteen years.
"What about you two?" Leia asked suspiciously, looking at the two of them. When Boss and Adams exchanged a meaningful look, her expression became one of horror. "No! You can't stay here! If the Stormtroopers find you, you could be killed!"
"We have to stay behind, to help protect the ship and to delay Vader and his troops for as long as possible. Our top priorities are to keep you safe and to get those plans to Alderaan." She still looked fearful, but then knew that her duty came first and she nodded.
"We'll take you as far as the escape pods," said Boss. "After that, we won't be able to come."
"Alright," said Leia with a resigned sigh, accepting the fact that they wouldn't be coming with her. "Let's go." Boss was in the lead as they made their way towards the pods, Leia behind him with Adams bringing up the rear. Several times the ship shook so badly that they nearly fell over, but they continued on. Boss thought they would make it unchallenged until an unlucky Stormtrooper strayed into their path, only to receive several blasts in the chest by Boss.
"Fierfek, there wasn't even a warning that they had made it this far," said Boss, making sure the Stormtrooper was dead.
"You think they could have taken the ship that fast?" asked Leia.
"If they have, there's no way for you to make it out on an escape pod," said Adams, looking worried.
"Let's keep going," said Boss, taking off again. "We can find a way once we get there." On the way to the pods, they only met a few more Stormtroopers before they arrived. But, from the faded sound of blasterfire, Boss knew there were other more heated battles on the ship. When they got there, the room was completely empty.
"I don't like this," said Boss, staying alert for any sound. A beeping behind him made Boss whirl around, but then he recognized the little blue astromech droid, R2-D2.
"Jeeze, Artoo, don't sneak up on us like that," said Adams, letting out a breath of relief. R2-D2, along with the protocol droid, C-3PO, were droids that belonged to the Captain. R2-D2 had been passed though many different owners, including Senator Amidala and Vader himself, before being stationed on this ship. It was weird to see the astromech without its counterpart.
"Wait a second…" said Boss, thinking to himself. "Leia, do you think you could insert that disc into Artoo's drive?"
Understanding dawned on Leia's face as he asked the question, "Yes, and I could record a message for Obi-wan as well." Artoo rolled forward as he listened to their plan, stopping in front of Leia and letting out some excited beeps.
"We'll cover you as you record it," said Boss, gesturing to Adams to follow him. The two of them stood next to the door where they had entered and watched either side. Boss could tell that the gunfire was getting louder, showing that the Stormtroopers were getting closer. At least the Rebels were putting up a good fight. Boss lifted his blaster rifle as someone turned the corner but instantly recognized the humanoid shaped gold droid, C-3PO.
"Threepio, you di'kut, d'you have a death wish?" Boss asked angrily, lowering his weapon.
"I am sorry, sir, but I have been looking for Artoo," he answered, walking over to where he and Adams were standing. "Have you seen him?"
"He's inside," Adams said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder.
"If that droid would just stay with me we could avoid trouble," said C-3PO to himself as he walked between the two of them and further into the room. Adams grinned as he walked by, but the smile instantly vanished as he brought up his rifle and shot something that was behind Boss. The commando instantly spun around to see what had been behind him and saw a Stormtrooper falling to his back, dead. Just then, two more came around the corner and started firing. Boss' adrenaline shot up as he tried returning fire but it was no use, the troopers were too well covered. The two of them were forced to retreat further into the hallway.
Boss heard footsteps behind him. He turned and saw Leia running towards them. "I've got the plans and the message into Artoo; he understands what he needs to do."
"Good," said Boss, checking to make sure the Stormtroopers weren't coming towards them. "You need to get out of here. See if there's an exit towards the back of this place. We'll hold them off for as long as possible."
Leia looked as if she was about to protest, but stopped herself and instead said, "Good luck." She then turned around and ran back the way she had come, disappearing around a corner. When she was gone, Boss moved forward a little bit and blindly fired several shots over his shoulder, trying to keep the Stormtroopers at bay. One of the Imperial soldiers was stupid enough to step completely out of cover, trying to get a read on them. He was instantly shot once in the head and once in the chest by both Boss and Adams. The firing briefly stopped and Boss was wondering what was going on when suddenly he saw a thermal detonator roll towards the entrance, stopping right in front of them.
"Move!" yelled Boss and he and Adams dived to get out of the blast radius. The grenade exploded, and fortunately they were out of range enough to avoid serious damage but they were still propelled a few feet where they hit the far wall. Falling to the floor, he scrambled to get back to his feet but it was too late, the Stormtroopers were all over them.
Boss threw one Stormtrooper into another, causing them to fall over and he tried to aim his rifle but couldn't as one of them grabbed it. As the trooper tried to wrestle it out of Boss's grip, another soldier hit him in the stomach with the butt of his rifle, making Boss let go of the weapon. There was nothing he could do now as his hands were forced behind his back and were cuffed. Looking over, he saw that Adams had already been subdued.
"All prisoners were ordered to be taken-," started one of the Stormtroopers but before he could finish his orders, there was blasterfire behind Boss and turning, he saw one of the soldiers fall and Leia holding a blaster pistol. As soon as she was seen, she took off in the other direction.
"Set for stun!" said the same Stormtrooper who had spoken earlier. The one nearest to her raised his rifle and fired some stun waves, causing Leia to fall to the floor, unconscious.
"Now we have three new prisoners," said the trooper. "Take them to Lord Vader."
The Chief stepped through the portal with Will right on his heels, both of them aiming their battle rifles. But, there was nobody there save for the dead Stormtroopers from earlier on. While the two Spartans searched the dead soldiers, he felt weird at being back in this canyon after years of being gone. Activating his night vision he saw that the canyon had not changed at all and sure enough, he soon found the same path he had taken years ago when he had met Scorch. He kept an eye out for Trandoshans, but Darman had not mentioned anything about them being around so he was mostly worried about the Stormtroopers.
He started following the directions given by Darman but saw that there was no need. In the distance there was a house that was ablaze, the smoke drifting into the air like a beacon. Arriving at the house, the Chief saw objects and furniture distributed about the place as if someone had tried to find something. The Chief hoped that Etain and Gett had not been trapped inside the house; there was no way they could have survived.
"Who's there?" called a voice from behind them. The two Spartans instantly turned around with their battle rifles raised to their shoulders, but stopped in surprise at who it was.
It was Commander Gett, with Etain draped across one of his shoulders and a rifle in hand.
"Chief, is that you?" asked Gett in surprise, walking forward and lowering his gun.
"Yes, it's me and Will," he replied, also lowering his battle rifle. "How did you escape? Darman said the two of you had been captured."
"So Darman's okay?" asked Gett with apparent relief in his voice. "I was worried. But, to answer your question, Etain had managed to hide her lightsaber in her boot. She used some sort of Jedi mind trick to convince the trooper she didn't need to be searched. So, she was able to cut most of them down. One of them broke through and hit her in the head, knocking her unconscious, but I gunned the last of them down."
"Well, this saves us a lot of searching," said Will. "We should head back before more of those Stormtroopers show up."
The Chief nodded, "Let's move, we can finish explaining when we get back." He led the way back towards the path into the valley and towards the portal, where the three of them walked through. The group of ODSTs raised their rifles when they came through, but then lowered them in relief to see the Spartans.
"Hey Chief," said the sergeant, walking forward to meet him. "Someone wants to see you; he's waiting outside medical wing."
"Darman?" asked the Chief, confused.
"No, someone else," he replied, shrugging his shoulders, causing the black armor that was on his body to clap together. "I don't know who it was, I didn't see them."
"Thanks," said the Chief and instantly took off to the wing, thinking to himself. Who had showed up? Someone from the UNSC, or someone from the separate universe that had somehow missed them? When he neared the medical wing, he heard someone yelling and he instantly knew who it was.
"The smoke is not going to do anything bad, just let me in!"
"Sir, we don't want the patient to be exposed to the smoke at the moment, especially in his weakened state," came the strained voice of the medic. "Please, dispose of the cigar." The Chief turned around the corner and saw Sergeant Johnson and to his surprise, the Arbiter, standing there talking to the medic. As soon as the four of them were in sight, Johnson turned around and immediately broke into a grin, pulling his trademark cigar out of his mouth with his hand.
"Chief! Ha-ha, I knew I'd see you again!" He then saw who else was with him, and stared in surprise, "What's going on? I heard Darman was in the medical wing, and now Gett and Etain are back."
"I'll explain everything shortly," said Gett, stepping forward while holding Etain in his arms. "Can we please help her first?"
"Of course," said the medic, stepping forward and relieving Gett of Etain. He carried her into the room while the rest of them stayed outside.
"So what's going on?" asked the Chief, turning to look at him.
"Well…" started Gett, leaning against the wall. "After we left here, we all split up to go into hiding. The Empire was searching for us, and would kill us if they found us. So, we all went in pairs or small groups: I stayed on Kashyyyk with Darman and Etain to watch the portal; Niner and a man named Kyle Katarn were sent somewhere to start a mission; Sev, Atin, and Obi-wan went to a planet called Tatooine to help watch over Luke Skywalker while Scorch and Fi lived with Luke-"
"Wait a second," said the Chief, interrupting. "I recognize that name…"
"Skywalker?" asked Gett, looking at him. "Yeah, you're thinking of Anakin Skywalker."
The Chief stared at him at surprise and Johnson voiced his disbelief, "You're telling me that Darth Vader son of a bitch had a kid?"
"Kids, actually, his wife had twins," replied Gett. "He had secretly married a Senator named Padme Amidala without anyone ever finding out until the end, when he pretty much killed her in his rage after finding out she was working with Obi-wan. As far as I know, he still doesn't know his kids survived."
"So you are protecting the children from him," said the Arbiter thoughtfully.
"Exactly, we don't know what would happen if he ever found out they were still alive," Gett said.
"So what about Boss and Adams?" asked Johnson. The Chief knew the sergeant was worried about Adams. Johnson had trained him and had known him for a long time.
"They're Leia's bodyguards now, who's Vader's other child. She was adopted by Bail Organa, a senator that represents Alderaan in the Imperial Senate. Unfortunately, we haven't had contact with them or anyone else since we split up, and we really need to."
"What for?" asked the Chief.
"When the Stormtroopers captured us, they started asking us questions. Where were the other clones? The other Jedi? What were we doing there? None of us answered, so they took Darman somewhere while they were going to take Etain and I to a camp they had set up. They started bragging to us, saying how they already had found other clones, listing off their numbers since they didn't know their nicknames. I didn't know any of them, except for one. RC-1262." Neither Will, Johnson, nor the Arbiter knew who he was talking about, but the Chief instantly knew.
"Is Scorch the only one they've found?" asked the Chief and the other three looked at him in surprise for knowing the number.
"It's all they said," said Gett. "But, it's only a matter of time. They found us, and with everyone getting more involved in the Rebellion they'll begin uprooting everyone else who's in hiding."
The Chief's heart started beating faster; everyone from the separate universe was in danger. The fact that Gett was standing here with them and both Darman and Etain were in the medical wing was proof. He recognized what position they were in the war; it was similar to when the Covenant had found Earth and had nearly destroyed it. If it hadn't been for Delta finding the Chief, humanity would not be alive this day. From the looks the others were giving him, he knew they were thinking the same thing he was.
"We'll help you."
Author's Note: Just want to say that you don't need to correct me concerning Halo 3's storyline. I wrote this before the game came out, and it would have taken a long time to fix both Halo: RC and this to fit the storyline. Figured you guys didn't want to wait any longer.