Vanguard

Chapter 35

"On our way to the ball"

[Thirteen hours later, Hyperspace on route to Onderon]

"So Bonteri was a Separatist back during the war until he was anointed Senator for his people?" James asks sitting in the co-pilot seat of the Gozanti-class cruiser, currently outfitted in regulated ODST BDU as per their mission.

"Right, I think he wanted to honor his mother's wishes and end the war before anyone else had to die. It was his mother and him that made me realize that there's always two sides of everything" Ahsoka answered as she too relaxed in her seat, watching the stars fly pass them.

"I say that's a lesson well learned. But sometimes there are things that we could never understand . . ." the SPARTAN sighed underneath his breath.

"Like the Covenant?"

"Exactly . . ."

"So they're waging a war against humanity all for this 'Great Journey'? What's so great about it?"

"Nothing . . . it's just an excuse for them to commit genocide against humans and those that aligns themselves with us. Though what I do like is that they branded us SPARTANs as demons, monsters that dared to halt their journey, and should be feared. Back in the day we were the most fearsome soldiers on the field, Covenant would run if they even heard we were close by."

"You still are . . . give it some time and maybe the Empire will start calling you the same."

James chuckled liking the idea "Heheh maybe."

He looks over to the togruta, finding her donning the same type of armor minus the heavy shoulder pauldrons and combat greaves, and she was still trying to adjust to the suit, shifting herself from time to time to make herself at least somewhat more comfortable. Though she wasn't complaining, the armor provided better protection from blaster fire than her usual clothing that she left on the Vanguard and it would make it a lot more difficult for Imperial officials to recognize her as a Jedi. He decided to run the plan one last time through his head.

Before they left the destroyer Percival studied Onderon and its recent activities and learned that the Imperial Administration is planning a ball in the planet's capital, Iziz, in preparation for unveiling something that would help the Empire enforce their rule over their systems. Ahsoka and he would enter the city and acquire the appropriate needs to infiltrate the dance and secure Lux Bonteri, Tano stated that she would handle Lux, feeling that if James was assigned the duty he might have to knock the senator unconscious for unnecessary reasons, and proceed to exit the city and perform a series of random jumps to throw off the supposedly pursuing Imperial ships off their scent. Securing Lux will give them an edge against the Empire and cause groups to incite insurrection against their tyrannical rulers while others are prompted to leave seeing that even the mighty Emperor's will couldn't keep them protected.

The hyperspace before them began to distort and the ship dropped out into Onderon's outer orbit, there they could see the lush jungle planet below with Imperial Venators maintaining their positions in the atmosphere. It was time for them to make their approach to the surface.

"Unidentified vessel this is the Imperial cruiser Concord, state your business in this system" an Imperial officer demanded over an open channel, coming from one of the looming cruisers that was the closest to the Gozanti.

Tano looked over to Longarm and motioned him to answer, he presses down on a communications transponder and answered "We're looking to sell some goods down on the surface."

"What sort of goods?" the officer asked sounding curious.

The SPARTAN glanced over to her, waiting for an answer until she whispered something, and answered hesitantly "Fruit . . . from Saleucami."

"Ah, exotic fruits then. Transmit your security codes so that we may confirm."

Ahsoka flips a switch and sends the Imperial cruiser the codes that they hope would get them through, they waited silently and anxiously for a response, then it came "It appears you're still using a Republic code algorithm, but given that the system is still new we'll assign you a new security clearance. Standby."

The two waited silently further until a monitor chimed upon receiving a new set of codes, then the officer continued "You are cleared to land, just remember to use your new code from now on."

James answered "Thank you Concord we appreciate it" and signed off.

The Gozanti continued without further delay, the Imperial cruisers and fighter escorts done nothing to halt their advance to the surface, Ahsoka remarked "That went better than I hoped."

"Agreed. Hopefully it'll be the same on our way out."

The cruiser began its decent down into the planet's atmosphere where the two were greeted by lush jungles that seemed to span out endlessly with no limit, Ahsoka glanced over to see the SPARTAN-ll commando observe the jungles with fascination behind his clear visor, his blue eyes fixated on the wonderful view, and she grinned knowing he was like this.

"It's amazing isn't it?" she asks.

"Yeah . . . it's always a new adventure to travel to a new planet. It's also a nice change of scenery compared to our worlds back home, nothing but super cities and civilian commerce much like Coruscant."

"Didn't take you to be the nature loving kind of person" she asked surprised to learn this about her super soldier friend.

"It does get old seeing the same kind of architecture over time, no matter how extravagant the designs may be, but nature itself is always unique, nothing is the same."

"Wow . . . that's really thoughtful of you to say that."

"It's something I thought about when I was a kid back on New Harmony, just outside the town I lived in there was a large ridgeline that spanned from the southern seas to far up north. Every day after I got out of school I would head up there alone into a small cave I found and I would stay there until the sunset came. Every time when I got back home to my parents they'd ask me if I was visiting the same old cave again."

"What did you say?"

"I said 'That same old cave always has something new to explore, so it isn't the same' and they would always grin."

Ahsoka grinned and as she looked out the viewport she stated "I would've liked to meet your parents, they seemed so nice."

"Yeah . . . I'm sure they would've liked you, probably even during the midst of the war. They're not the kind to hate."

She seemed to laugh a little inside and noted something "Speaking of parents, Bay really sees you as sort of a father figure to her."

He glances at her "All I did was make her a power cell and promised to teach her self-defense techniques. I'm surprised she's becoming so attached again so soon since . . . well you know."

"I know, but I think Cain is worried about that."

"What makes you say that?"

"I think he feel it's a Jedi tradition to train the youngling, if Bay starts to learn from you it might pull her away from those traditions."

"And you mentioned that there's a rule against forming attachments with others in the Order, right?"

"Yeah, as much as you and Cain don't see eye to- well, you two don't get along well but I think you both have Bay's future in heart."

He nods in agreement "I do, maybe Komari and I should talk about Cila. Hopefully we can compromise."

The two fell silent afterwards as the cruiser glided over the massive jungles below, though it wasn't long until they began to see the outlining of buildings in the distance under the morning light and one of said buildings was in fact a massive palace. The city of Iziz was coming into view.

"Is that it?" James asked.

"Yep, there's a space port just along the outer walls. We'll land there and make our next move."

"The Empire will most likely have security checkpoints throughout the city and the landing pads, how do you expect to get through them without shooting someone?"

She gave a confident smirk "Just leave that to me Longarm."

"Alright" Longarm stated as he stood up and grabbed his M/LBE Hard Case rucksack before putting it on his back "I'll get ready."

The Gozanti cruiser was on its final approach towards the Iziz spaceport where it hovered in mid-air deploying its landing struts and made a gentle touchdown in one of the vacant landing pads inside a circular hangar that was fortunately large enough to contain such a large ship. Near the entrance to the hangar two armor-clad clone shock troopers decorated in their distinguishing red markings calmly made their way over to the cruiser as the boarding ramp extended down and allowed its two occupants off, one was pushing a hovering crate while the other led.

The two troopers halted just in front of the togruta with one asking "Is this the crate of fruit from Saleucami?"

Ahsoka, under the guise of a merchant, answered "Yep, it was freshly picked not too long ago."

"We're going to have look at your identification and expect the contents of the crate. Make sure everything checks out."

Tano glanced back at James, whose face was obscured by the polarized bluish-silver faceplate and had a hand ready to grab his suppressed M6C/SOCOM latched to his thigh in case things go south, and turns back to the troopers "Alright no problem but . . ." with a wave of her hand in front of their helmets she persuaded them otherwise "You really don't need to look at our identifications, or the crate."

The two troopers took a moment and one responded "We really don't need to check your identifications, or the crate."

She continued "You can move along."

The other then motioned with his head "You can move along."

Ahsoka then motioned James to follow with the crate in hand, the two shock troopers paid no mind and allowed the two to pass without further interruption. The SPARTAN couldn't understand what had just happened, the troopers looked like they were ready to draw their weapons until Ahsoka confronted them and made them turn away.

He waited till they were out of earshot and asked "What was that back there?"

She answered as she continued leading "Jedi mind trick, it's something I'm still getting a hang of but at least it worked."

"You haven't used that on me did you?" he asks concerned.

But she answers nonchalantly "No, it only works on the weak minded."

"Huh . . . I guess I'll take that as a compliment then."

The two eventually passed through the entrance gate and stepped onto the bustling streets of the capital, people from all around the planet blanketed the roads looking to be somewhere and buy from the market stands that inhabited the sidewalks. Ahsoka and James could easily make out the Imperial patrols that marched through the streets, some people tended to step out of the way but many paid no mind to them, all of which were shock troopers.

"Lively place" the SPARTAN comments as he looked at the scenery around him.

She silently watched a pair of troopers walk by them before she noted "That ball must be pretty important if the Empire has shock troops patrolling the streets, ditch the crate and come along."

He nods to that and ferries the crate over to a market stand that sold scrap parts, the SPARTAN and the vendor shared a few words before an agreement was made and they shook on it, James walked away with a handful of credits while the vendor got access to a crate full of starship components that could provide a fortune, both parties were fairly happy about it. He eventually links back up with Ahsoka and the two began to make their way through the crowd with the young togruta leading the way.

[Thirty seven minutes later, local apartment]

"Can't believe they're charging us sixty credits for a rundown room" Ahsoka bickered as she sits down on their rental bed that wasn't even comfortable.

James stood by an open window looking down at a busy market square "What I can't believe is how you fell for false advertisement. Nobody sets a room for sixty credits, hell not even my galaxy did that."

Tano stretches her arms and lays back on the bed "Yeah well at least we have a place to lay low until we get started on the mission. Speaking of which, I have a plan on getting into the ball."

The SPARTAN turns away from the window and faces Ahsoka with his arms crossed "Alright, you have my undivided attention."

She then sits up and began explaining her plan "We can expect security to be very tight at the ball, probably be no way for even us to get in without getting our hands dirty. But what if we were invited to the ball?"

James stood silently listening as she went on "Imperial officials will be coming from all around the sector to witness the unveiling of whatever the Empire may have, generals, admirals, even political figures like Lux. So if we were to disguise ourselves as an important figure . . ."

"Then they'll have to let us in-" he taps onto his helmet "Percival are you getting this?"

"Of course, I find the strategy brilliant, it reminds me of the Trojan Horse the Greeks built in order to infiltrate the city of Troy."

It was evident that for them to infiltrate a heavily fortified structure the two needed someone to tap into the Imperial network and guide them through or around dangerous obstacles while causing havoc among the enemy's communications. So Percival created a subroutine of himself to accompany James and Ahsoka in order to provide electronic support on Onderon.

James then adds "So all we need is the fitting uniforms and proper identifications, not to mention they'll have a roster of the guests coming."

The AI stated "I can manage the identifications and the roster if you can get me near a security terminal in one of the Imperials' checkpoints."

Tano adds "I doubt they'll let someone like me walk in with a uniform on, too young to fill the part of an admiral or general. But I think I have something else in mind."

And finally Longarm figured out what he was going to do "So that leaves me the role of the Imperial. I don't suppose the markets have a uniform for sale?"

"Don't worry about that SPARTAN James" Percival assured him "The moment we landed I was able to remotely tap into a portion of the Imperial network that was setup here. I've managed to pull together pieces of information which tells me that an Imperial rear admiral is overlooking the operation of a security station not too far from the palace."

"Alright well I guess I know what I'll be doing today then" he remarks but then he looks over to Ahsoka "But what're you going to do?"

"You don't worry about that, just worry about how you're going to get to that admiral."

The SPARTAN nodded in response before he polarizes his helmet and heads out. It wasn't a little longer after he left when she finally decides to head out and do a little shopping.

[Forty three minutes later, outside Yolhan Square]

The ODST-clad SPARTAN leaned his back against a stone wall as he looked out into the vast Yolhan Square where the large and magnificent Unifar Temple sat upon in all its glory, he was quite impressed by the architecture that was put into such a massive building. The security was a lot more evident here given that Imperial troops traveled in larger numbers, some were equipped with riot control gear, and a security checkpoint was placed on nearly every avenue that led into the square. He was standing near the main checkpoint station that overlooked the main central street that stretched throughout the city all the way to the walls, the very station where the rear admiral was supposedly stationed in.

"Excuse me sir?" an old weary voice spoke to him.

He turns his head to his left to see an elderly man looking up to him with tired eyes "Yes?" the SPARTAN asked.

"Could you perhaps spare us a few of your Shuura fruits?" the man asked as he gestured to the small open crate of fruit that sat next to James's feet.

"Us?"

"My family and I- the market prices are starting to rise because of the new 'Imperial marketing standards', we're barely getting by with the small income we have with our business. A kind gesture would go a long way. I'll be sure to repay the favor."

The SPARTAN contemplated for a moment, he saw truth in the man's words and his body language indicated he was sincere, he grinned under his helmet "You have a lot of guts to come up to someone like me and ask for something. I respect that."

He kneels over and grabs six Shuura fruits from the crate and generously hands them to the man "Here, and don't bother returning the favor, odds are you'll probably never see me again after this."

The man gave a warm gentle smile "Thank you" and began to walk away but he stops shortly and turns around "You know it's because of kind-hearted people like you that we all still have something to hope for in these new times. I'm sure we'll meet again someday" and carried on his way.

Longarm watched as the man disappeared into the bustling crowd, he really admired what the man said about still having hope- that was his purpose of building this rebellion, and now he couldn't help but ponder about it. Though he needed to focus on the task at hand, he turns his eyes back to the large building sitting across the street from him with a guard tower situated not too far which is currently occupied by a single trooper, and after a moment he closes up the crate and takes it with him as he crosses the busy street and come up to the door. The command structure looked no different from the rest of the buildings that inhabited Iziz in terms of architecture but it served its purpose due to its convenient locale and proximity to the temple. He was also fortunate to have bought the fruit from a nearby stand with the credits he earned from selling the starship components.

He steps up to the front single metal door and knocks hard on it, making sure to grab someone's attention inside, though it didn't take long for someone to answer through a speaker built next to the door "State your business" a clone demanded.

"I got a delivery of Shuura fruit for the Yolhan square guard post, is this it?"

A momentary silence followed before the trooper stated "We didn't order any fruit."

"Ah you're right but my employer said it's a gift for the 'fighting men of our new Empire'. Expenses are already payed, I just have to drop it off."

A second voice was heard and the clone began to talk amongst themselves for a moment, James stood there patiently while they muttered under their breaths until the clone asked "What kind of fruit did you say?"

"Shuura."

"Alright we're letting you in, standby."

The door buzzed and opened allowing the SPARTAN to walk in where he was greeted by four shock troopers all armed with blasters, one trooper points to a table stating "You can set it over there."

James acknowledges and sets the crate down where he begins to open it but one of the troopers stopped him "Ah wait, let us open it."

"What for?"

"It's a security measure, stand aside."

He shrugs and backs away from the crate while the trooper sets his blaster aside and carefully opens the lid, the shock troops have probably been receiving threats or acts of violence lately if they were acting like this. The trooper eventually opened the crate to find the promised Shuura fruit inside, he then takes his helmet off and grabbed a fruit to enjoy.

Two others followed suit but the forth kept his helmet on and asked "I don't think a fruit delivery needed heavy armor and a blaster, what's your story?"

James leans back on a nearby wall and answered "Well the fruit came from Saleucami at first, the merchants there had been having trouble with a couple of pirates that was looking for a profit. So the hired me to make sure the goods got to where they needed to be."

"I didn't think pirates would go after some fruit, I mean it sounds a little off."

"It's a big galaxy, nothing is ever expected to make sense."

"Yeah you have a point, but what about you? We've never seen armor like that before."

"Handmade myself, comes equipped with everything I'll ever need to survive the galaxy."

The trooper was impressed "Looks well made, I'd like to see it compete with the new armor that's going to be unveiled tonight at the ball."

This caught the SPARTAN's undivided attention "Really? What kind of armor are we talking about?"

"Something that'll replace our current ones very soon. I'm not even supposed to tell you about it but I guess we can consider that as your compensation for the fruit."

"Alright fair enough . . . but what about the ball? Got an idea whose attending?"

"That's on a need-to-know basis only and that'll compromise our security" the clone then became suspicious "I think it's time for you to leave."

James shrugged "I understand, but there's just one problem . . ."

The other clones became weary of their new acquaintance, the fully suited trooper slowly moved his finger over the trigger "What's that?" he asks in a threatening tone.

He then spoke in his own firm voice "You've already compromised the security of this station" and swiftly drew his magnum before firing the first round into the trooper's head that resulted the clone to fall with a silent 'pfft'.

"Get him!" another trooper barked, but unfortunately he and his fellow troopers didn't get the chance to fight back when they each received a 12.7mm semi-armor piercing round to the cranium, every single one of them crumpled to the floor without even a cry of pain.

The SPARTAN ensured no one else was moving before he ordered "Percival, cut off communications from the inside, I don't want anyone to call for help."

"Done it the moment you walked in. I've also located the admiral which you can easily guess right now."

That told him one thing "Command center, acknowledged" and activated his helmet's VISR outlining irrelevant objects and walls yellow, and the discarded blasters as blue.

He holsters his magnum before pulling his rucksack off to produce a suppressed M7 submachine gun from inside, he throws the rucksack back on afterwards, and cocks the compact weapon loading the first caseless round into the chamber. After ensuring that everything on him was combat ready he begins making his way further into the station down through the tight hallway that should lead him to the command center several floors above. On the first floor he encountered no resistance, the four initial troopers he killed were probably merely there to deter civilians, but it stood to reason that there were plenty more in the upper levels but the bright side of it was that there was likely a barracks and possibly an armory which meant if the SPARTAN played his cards right, he'll have the drop on them.

He approaches a short stairwell that lead up only to the second level, it served as an unintentional defense that denied him a straight shot to the command center without opposition, but he didn't complain knowing he was making progress. With each soft footstep he silently climbed the stairs up until he reached the second level and entered another hallway, empty upon first glance, with several closed doors lining the sides.

"Percival" he spoke quietly into his helmet.

"Already working on it . . . and there- I made a remote tap into the station's security footage. I'll highlight targets as you go."

The SPARTAN nodded to that and began to quietly walk down the hall with his SMG braced against his shoulder, finger gently resting on the trigger ready to pull on a moment's thought. He carefully took eleven steps down the hall before he started to hear voices coming from one of the rooms he was coming up on, he easily recognized a burst of laughter of a clone, which made him slow to a steady tread.

"Two contacts through the door on the left. Far side of the room in the left and right corners in their beds."

"Confirmed."

The ODST-clad super soldier carefully approached the door to his left, the voices were becoming louder with each passing step, and stuck to the wall next to the doorway. He realized that if either clone manages to fire off a shot, no matter how unprepared they are, then everything was going to go from quiet to downright deafening in a matter of seconds, so he needed to be quick and precise with each shot. He eyed the door control panel next to him, simply a button to open or close, and took a moment to slow his heart rate, taking deep breaths and exhaling to slow his heart to a steady beat, after a few breaths he cleared his mind and pictured the room in his head. As Percival described he could see the two clones relaxing in their cots sharing jokes and talking with one another in separate corners of the room across from him.

With that note he slams the door control with his left fist and darted into the room, immediately stopping once he passed through the doorway, and found the two clones sitting in their black bodysuits, highlighted in green, on their beds with their eyes opened wide full of surprise. The next instant became a swift blur as the black giant swiftly and proficiently pulled the trigger three times rapidly, each met with a firm 'pfft', into the first clone's chest then turned on his heels and pumped two more into the other's chest and head. The two clones slumped in their cots without a sound they didn't know what had hit them before it was too late.

Longarm then backed out of the room and proceeded down the hall "Clear."

"Well executed SPARTAN, single contact on the right two doors down. Shaving his beard in front of the mirror to your immediate right."

The SPARTAN repeated his pre-entry process and entered the room before putting a two near simultaneous shots into the trooper's back without delay and left the room with another calm "Clear."

"Two more contacts beyond the next door to your left."

He repeats the process again, four more shots left the barrel, and reported "Clear."

"Good, last room down the hall on the left, three contacts with two on their beds and one pacing back and forth in the middle."

"Acknowledged."

The commando carefully approached the final door where three men stood behind it, completely unaware that most of their unit is already dead and that they were next, and repeats his breathing and mental picturing. He takes one last breath of air before he opens the door and immediately places three rounds into the trooper on his right lying in bed, he effortlessly swiveled the aim of his gun onto the standing trooper who seemed to be caught off guard and places two more shots into his chest. The standing clone staggered back and fell upon his remaining brother, James fires three more rounds but the surviving clone unintentionally used his dead brother as a shield before he grabs his blaster carbine situated at the foot of his bed and fire off a bolt that grazed across the SPARTAN's left shoulder. Longarm grimaced from the hit and finishes the clone off with two rounds to the chest and a third to the forehead.

He recedes back out into the hallway and briefly placed his hand over the scorched shoulder pauldron, there was no moderate damage to his shoulder but the armor was left in bad shape, but before he could resume moving forward Percival reported "Be advised, the remaining garrison has been alerted and are preparing defenses two floors above us, they know where we're going."

"And the command center?"

"Same floor, I count six troopers still standing plus our admiral."

"Easy enough" he remarked confidently.

The SPARTAN broke into a sprint and dashed off down the hall, up the second set of stairs and continued running down the third floor. It wasn't long till he began to hear voices barking orders to one another, setting up hastily made barricades and gun nests to prevent the intruder from getting to the command center. He rushes up the third and final set of steps until he stopped at the top of the stairwell and peeked into the hallway, he immediately spots two sets of barricades with two troopers behind each one armed with typical weaponry.

He sets his weapon to automatic before he leans into the hallway and fires off a spray of full metal jacket rounds into the closest barricade, the high volume of fire catches the two troopers in the open leaving one dead and the other mortally wounded. The two remaining troopers opened fire sending blue bolts of plasma downrange into the stairwell forcing the SPARTAN to duck back into cover.

"I'm starting to really hate these guys" James commented as he reaches down to his utility belt and pulls off a handheld canister labeled with a yellow strip across it.

A bolt strikes close to him before he pulls the pin and lobs the grenade over to the barricade where it rolled past them, the two troopers stopped firing to look at it, and detonated releasing a blinding light and an ear splitting blast. James took the opportunity to come out of cover and quickly put down the two stunned troopers with clean lethal shots to the torsos, their plastoid armor did little to protect them from even the smallest of armor piercing rounds.

With the hallway cleared there was nothing standing in the SPARTAN's way to the heavy pair of bulkhead doors that took its place at the far end of the hallway. Passing the first barricade he found the wounded clone gasping for his last breaths of air, two 5mm rounds had ripped their way through his right lung with another three having gone through his abdominal region, James decides to grant him a kindness and ends his pain with a steady shot to the head silencing the clone indefinitely. He continues walking onwards when he passes the second barricade, finding both clones dead with tight gunshot wounds in their chests, and didn't stop to bother giving a moment to think before he comes to the bulkhead doors.

"What do we have Percival?"

"Six inches of durasteel plating, I'm trying to break into the station's door control but something locked me out, I'm doing my best to work around it."

"Too much time, I'm going through it."

"Since when were we on a timeframe and what do you have that could possibly blast through it?"

Longarm holstered his SMG in exchange for the Covenant energy sword he decided to bring along "Who said I was going to blast it?" he asks before he plunges the dual pronged blades deep into the door and began carving out a hole.

He could hear the men inside bickering over what to do as the sword gradually burned a line through the thick durasteel, it took him roughly seven minutes to cut an oval through the door before he readies himself for the breaching. He sheathed his energy sword and drew out his SMG once more moments before he forcefully kicks the door through and toss in another flashbang to disorient the remaining few men. He covers himself from the blast, only to happen suddenly, and moves in through the hole to quickly put two rounds into the blinded trooper to his left then turn on his heels to place three more into the trooper to his right. Then he centered his attention to the last sole survivor of the station currently standing behind a circular holotable displaying the Unifar Temple, the rear admiral himself.

"Ergh! Ngh! How dare you attack an imperial installation!?" the admiral inquired as he rubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his arm

The SPARTAN made no response, knowing the admiral's ears are still suffering from the concussive blast, instead he trained his weapon on his chest and waited for the man to recover.

It didn't take long for the admiral to recollect himself, his blindness subsided shortly before he noticed the six foot black armored figure armed with a small compact gun aimed directly at his chest, in a desperate attempt the admiral made a move for his side arm drawing a heavy blaster pistol but the SPARTAN's aim proved true when he pulled the trigger and shot the weapon out of the man's hands.

"Agh! Identify yourself at once!" the admiral demanded.

"The name's Longarm, perhaps you heard of me" he responded curtly.

The admiral grinned as he rubbed his wrist "Well I certainly have, finally a pleasure to meet the one person bold enough to break his way in and out of the Jedi Temple."

"So word got out about that. About time."

"Everyone in the Empire has heard of you, even the Emperor and Lord Vader. You've certainly become a troublesome man since then. But I have a proposal for you, will you accept it?"

"Normally I read the fine print before accepting to anything."

The admiral scoffed "Cautious one aren't you? Very well here are the terms: As of now the Empire has branded you as a traitor and everyone will be looking for you for the bounty that's on your head. But, if you surrender your ship and all of the Jedi scum you have aboard I will grant you a full pardon for the criminal acts of attacking Imperial troops and harboring fugitives."

"Tempting, but I made a promise to someone that I'd keep the Jedi safe. And if there's one thing everyone in this galaxy should know, is that I never go back on a promise."

"I see. Well then I suppose those are your final words to say? But now I must ask, why are you here? Did you come to take me prisoner to barter off for something valuable? Or do you plan on stealing whatever data we have here? Because I can assure you, you won't be leaving the city alive."

"I'm not here for you or the data" he trains his sights on the admiral's head "I only need your uniform."

The admiral became confused "My wha-" but his moment was abruptly ended when James fired a single round into the brain causing the imperial official to stagger and simply slump over on the holotable dead.

The SPARTAN holstered his SMG and looked around, finding nothing but three dead bodies, and walks over to the deceased admiral before he proceeds to strip the man of his uniform all the way down to his undergarments. He only needed to take the boots, leggings, belt, coat, and after securing the clothing inside his rucksack he proceeds to head back out the way he came in, over the corpses of men he had just killed to get this uniform. He glanced at every body he passed, seeing them as wasted lives rather than something meaningful.

Eventually he comes back into the first room where the four dead shock troopers laid and the crate full of Shuura fruit still sat on the table, he took a moment to think and decides to take the fruit with him. He steps back out into the busy streets and proceeds to walk away from the station, Percival had already sealed the door and communications resumes transmitting the clear signal with no indication of trouble.

"That went better than expected" the AI states.

"That was just the easy part, now comes the interesting part of the mission. Did you do anything about the guest roster and invitation?"

"Yes, I've managed to alter the invitation list and roster to ensure you and Ahsoka get in with no complications. How do you feel about being Rear Admiral Danforth Whitcomb?"

"Whitcomb? That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. That'll do perfect Percival, and Ahsoka?"

"She'll be called by Raya Zekna, she chose the name herself."

"Alright, you know where she is now?"

"Not too far from our apartment, she's shopping at the moment."

"Set a waypoint."

Afterwards he spots the old man with who appeared to be his eldest son working to sell their jewelry from their stand, the man spots the SPARTAN coming with the crate in hand, he grinned "I thought you said I wouldn't see you again."

"Well I thought I stopped by and give you a little something" Longarm replied as he sets the crate on the counter in front of him.

The man raised an eyebrow and opens the crate to find it still full of fruit "Consider it a gift all expenses paid."

"Wha-" the man stuttered, his face turned joyful "I-I don't know what to say. This is enough to feed us for two weeks!"

"Don't say anything, I thought about what you said earlier and it made me realize something."

"And what's that?"

"That no matter how dark things may seem, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. I'm going to do what it takes to get us there."

The man grinned "Spoken like a hero if I say so, and you seem determined to do so. But here I must insist, take this as our appreciation."

He holds out a golden necklace encrusted with an assortment of blue jewelry, the SPARTAN hesitated to take such a gift but the man had a proud smile across his face and eventually the soldier accepts the gift "Thank you."

"No need for thanks, you've done enough for my family. I bid you luck in your future."

James nods in acknowledgement and begins to head back out into the bustling crowd.

[Twenty two minutes later, Burma's wardrobe cartel]

"You've picked a beautiful dress little miss, I'm sure your lover will find you irresistible" a female toydarian, Burma, complimented.

"Thanks Burma" Ahsoka replied kindly "How much do I owe you?"

"Two hundred and thirty seven credits, expensive yes but I'm sure you understand."

"Not a problem" Tano stated as she paid Burma the credits to purchase the dress she chose, thankfully the money given to her by Senator Amidala hadn't been frozen by the Empire.

Burma grinned joyfully and carefully took the dress to package it up, and when the toydarian came back she kindly hands the packaged dress to her. The two gave their pleasant smiles and ended their business with the togruta heading out the front door.

As she left she immediately finds Longarm leaning his back against the wall with his arms crossed, she asks "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough, you ready to head back?"

"Yeah let's go."

The two then started walking off back to their apartment building side by side, nobody paid mind to the fact that there was two beings donning combat armor or the fact that one was armed with a weapon, some of the children that they passed by thought it looked cool, and she asks "So you got what you need?"

The SPARTAN pointed his thumb to his metallic rucksack "In here, you?"

She raises the package in her hands "In here, so now all we have to do is get ready for the ball. I always wonder what you look like in uniform."

James gave a small grin to that, it's been a while since he wore anything that wasn't plated with titanium armor, and replied "You'll know soon enough, for now let's stay focused."

[Five hours later, Apartment complex]

"Are you almost done yet?" Longarm called out as he finishes adjusting the belt around his waist.

"Just about" Ahsoka replied from another room.

The SPARTAN made one last check of himself, the clothing he stole surprisingly fit well over his muscular body granted he still wore the ODST bodysuit under the uniform as a measure of protection in their cover ever gets blown. Everything was in the right place that would help him pass as an Imperial admiral, it was still weird to think he was going to go behind enemy lines as the enemy rather than donning his MJOLNIR armor and deal with the situation head on, in fact this is the first time he had ever disguised himself as the enemy.

Ahsoka finally called out from the other room "Alright I'm coming out, close your eyes!"

"What do I have to close my eyes?" he wondered seeing no point for surprises.

"Just do it!"

He didn't bother to argue and does as he was told, he closes his eyes and listened as a door opened and closed followed up with light footsteps approaching him, he could only wonder why she wanted this moment to be a surprise until he heard her voice only feet from him "So, how do I look?"

The SPARTAN opened his eyes and found Ahsoka dressed in a pure white hybrid dress that took elements from a sheath and slip dress with a large part of her midriff exposed, the tight skirt reached down to her ankles, and high heel shoes that elevated her to roughly his height though he still towered by a mere few inches.

"So?" she asks still waiting for a response.

Longarm had never been pressed into a situation such as this, but fortunately he had one word that came to mind "Elegant. Are you still carrying your weapon?"

She pats her right thigh where she still carried her M6C strapped to her leg "Yeah, and thanks for the comment. You don't look so bad yourself for an admiral."

"Thanks, but there's one thing still missing."

Her expression became curious "What's that?"

The SPARTAN-ll stepped over to his rucksack, resting on the bed along with their armor, and reaches into the metallic pack to bring out the jewel encrusted necklace "A merchant wanted me to have this after I gave him a month's supply of fruit for his family, I figured this would go nicely with your outfit."

He steps back in front of her and holds the necklace out to her in the palm of his gloved hand, she was surprised by this but she couldn't say no to the kind gesture, she calmly takes the jewelry and puts it around her neck.

Once that was done she asks "So, you ready to go?"

He nods in acknowledgment "Ready."

"Alright then . . . let's go."

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