Hyperspace
Star Destroyer Sentinel
A day after the battle of Nar Shaddaa
Obi-Wan awoke with a start, having been disturbed from a quiet, uneventful sleep for what seemed like the first time in over a decade. He sat up in his bed, wiping sleep from his eyes as he did so.
"Good morning." Obi-Wan's head whipped to the side to see the ghost of Bao-Dur standing opposite of him.
"Could this conversation have waited another five minutes, or perhaps happen not at all?" Obi-Wan groaned tiredly.
"Unfortunately, no, but I felt the need to give you a fair warning for what is to come." Bao said.
"What do you…." Obi-Wan felt very drowsy again and slumped back onto his bed.
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Rain awoke Obi-Wan this time. He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings, eating up every single detail. It was evening time, or perhaps mid-afternoon, he could not tell, for the rain was coming down hard. The Jedi was in the middle of dense, wet forest, with trees making the already dim area seem even darker. The ground rolled up and down gently in some places, sharply in others, and was slicked by mud and water. Obi-Wan stood, allowing the rain to hit him and roll of his body, ignoring the feeling of being soaked and cold.
"Well, it could be worse." Obi-Wan said to himself. A warble behind him said otherwise, and a vulture-looking being, much like the ones from his first visit to the other galaxy, leveled a rifle at him. Obi-Wan jumped as the creature fired, flipped over its head, and Force pushed it hard into a tree. The creature slammed into it with a sickening crack, and it fell limp.
"Welcome back." Bao said, appearing at Obi-Wan's side.
"So, what am I to learn today?" Obi-Wan asked. "How to deal with rain and sneak attacks?"
"Nothing quite as simple." Bao said, humorlessly. "Today, you learn about your foes, and those you intend to save."
"On what level?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Militarily speaking, Master Kenobi. As you've learned from your previous experience, beings in this galaxy have a slight resistance to the Force. Because of this resistance, you may only enter into this galaxy through areas of moderate to no resistance." Bao answered.
"And this area is?"
"Light, but it will increase soon."
"How soon?" An explosion answered Obi-Wan's question.
"You will learn much while you are here, Master Kenobi. Be open to suggestions, ideas, and be wary."
"Be wary of what?"
"These visits, as necessary as they are, place strain on the Force. The Dark Side can bleed through in prolonged visits." Bao cautioned.
"What am I to expect?" Obi-Wan asked
"Spirits, past foes, Dark Side corruption, and even the living followers of the Dark Side may come to interfere." Bao said. He began to fade. "I shall leave you to your lessons, Master Kenobi. May the Force be with you." And he was gone. Another explosion split through the pelting rain.
"Well, I believe my lessons shall start where the explosions are." Obi-Wan said to himself, humorlessly. He turned and ran off in the general direction of the noise.
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Luck is a fickle thing; most have occasional bursts of luck, others have absolutely no luck, some others make their own, but others are blessed with luck. However, Lady Luck can pluck that away for just a moment, and force those blessed few to make their own luck. In this case, Lady Luck had plucked Sierra-117's luck away at the exact wrong time. A Covenant patrol had passed by Blue Team without detecting them, until a local predator had gotten too curious and too loud. Now, Blue Team, was in a run and gun fight for their lives. A Wraith, the lead of the patrol, was taking periodic potshots at the four super-soldiers, and the gun was spraying aimlessly above their heads. That was easily manageable, the real problem was the infantry chasing them; they were led by a trio of Ranger Elites and consisted primarily of Jackals, armed with carbines, Needle Rifles, Focus Rifles, and one Beam Rifle, a nasty combination of ranged weaponry. Every so often, a shot from a rifle would flash past them, grazing their armor. Add to that the fact that their comms were being jammed and this op was official FUBAR.
The Wraith fired another shot, this one coming dangerously close to Fred, who vaulted over a fallen tree and kept running. A trio of Jackals with carbines knelt and sent a salvo of fire at the running Spartans. As the fire came, the four Spartans sighted a small, rocky knoll up ahead. For the four super soldiers, that would be enough cover. A waypoint, set by the Chief, marked the knoll, and all four Spartans sprinted for it. When they reached it, John took a position close to the base of the knoll, as he had the close-range weapons of an assault rifle and a battle rifle. Fred took a position higher up the knoll, using his DMR to keep the enemy at bay, while Linda went higher, setting her sniper rifle down to pick off the enemy marksmen. Kelly, on the other hand, stayed in the woods. She was the fastest Spartan of them all, armed with a shotgun and twin SMGs, which she readied.
"Blue Team, are we set?" Chief asked over the team radio. A trio of green blips answered his question.
"They're closing." Kelly said quietly.
"Wait until they pass you, then hit them from behind." Chief ordered. There was a loud crack from Linda's rifle, and a roar of pain.
"Ranger down." Linda reported. The Wraith fired again in response, the shot arcing over Blue Team and further up the knoll. The Covenant forces edged closer, staying in cover, and hiding from the sniper. One Jackal stepped past Kelly's position, then, on a whim, turned its head towards the Spartan. Kelly grabbed its skinny head and crushed it before it could make a sound. Fred and Chief took carefully aimed shots at the Rangers, trying to pick apart the Covenant leadership so that the Jackals would run. One of them went down, the other, took cover on the opposite side of Kelly's tree. A yellow light appeared on Chief's HUD from Kelly, a question if she could act. John sent a green blip back, and Blue-2 went into action. She sprung around the tree, shotgun in hand, and blew the Ranger to kingdom come. The Jackals, seeing their final leader go down, squawked to each other and ran back towards the tank. Kelly sprinted after them weaving through the Wraith's mounted turret fire and blasting Jackals apart.
"Blue Team, suppressive fire on the Jackals." Chief ordered. A rolled to his right as a beam rifle shot sizzled through the air past him. Linda's sniper rifle answered the beam rifle, and the forest shook as her rifle boomed.
"Beam rifle down." She said flatly. Chief placed a marker for Fred just ahead of his own position. John moved out from his cover and went forward, switching from his BR to his AR. The Wraith fired again, hissing past Chief as he ran. He leveled the rifle at a retreating Jackal and put three rounds in its back. The turret gunner on the Wraith, a Grunt, saw Chief, and sprayed a blue hail of plasma at him. The super soldier weaved through the fire, firing a burst at the Grunt, puncturing the gas tank on its bank and sending the five-foot-tall alien flying. The Wraith driver, seeing his imminent doom, began backing up, following the Jackals. The four Spartans could've followed the Wraith, could've destroyed it and killed all the remaining Jackals, but the hum of Phantoms overhead dashed those hopes.
"Blue Team, pull back." Chief ordered, and the four super soldiers vanished into the forest.
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Fleetmaster Davao Blavaee' was not pleased. Not only did he now have to deal with the already annoying contingent of human forces on the planet, but four demons were on the planet now. They were most definitely here to determine why planetary communications had ceased, and Blavamee could not allow them to report back to their superiors. The first patrol that had discovered them had fallen back and the lost the four, but Blavaee had sent a whole company of the best skirmishers and rangers he had on the planet. Now, all he could do was wait. He glanced around his command center.
He stood inside the command center of the Pious Faith, a carrier of the small fleet of Holy Flame. The fleet, little more than ten ships of smaller class, had discovered the planet, which the humans called Evropa, and knocked down by a roving ion storm. The fleet also bore with them something precious to them, which floated onto the bridge behind Blavaee. He turned and knelt.
"Major Prophet." He intoned. The Major Prophet of Sanctity had come on the fleet on a whim, a wish to leave High Charity. Now, he was marooned on a human planet until the ships could be reactivated. Which, at this point, seemed unlikely for quite some time.
"Rise, Fleetmaster. What troubles you?" Sanctity asked. The Prophet had an uncanny ability to read a being in a glance, something that constantly unnerved Blavaee. The Fleetmaster rose.
"Your holiness, four demons have landed on the planet." He reported.
"Demons you say? Well, our little visit has become much more interesting. Tell me of the other human forces." The Prophet floated closer.
"The human…Greenjackets," Blavaee struggled with the odd human word, "have proven to be persistent in their skirmishing efforts. I have sent Zealot and Spec-Ops units to hunt them down, but it will be sometime until they are successful in their efforts. As for the army, they are holding position at a place they call New Lisbon. Our scouts have not made it far, as their "Light Companies" and Greenjackets intercept them and force retreat."
"Such an oddity, these humans." The Prophet observed. "They seem more resilient than those of our previous encounters, yet they are indecisive... perhaps it is time we became more aggressive, Fleetmaster."
"Aggressive?" Blavaee questioned.
"We have seen that these humans will stand and fight, despite the odds in our favor, and somehow win. Yet they do not press that advantage, allowing us to lick our wounds, but instead hide in New Lisbon. I am very curious as to why they hide there. A little…how do the humans say, force reconnaissance to determine their strength?" Sanctity suggested. As much as the Fleetmaster did not enjoy having tactics suggested to him by a holy Prophet, he had a point.
"I shall send a strike force at New Lisbon, your Holiness. Once I have ascertained the humans' strength, I will report back to you." Blavaee said.
"I will await you in the Archway. If there are any oddities amongst the humans, come directly to me, Fleetmaster." With that, the Prophet turned his hover chair and floated away. "Oddities? What could he possibly mean?" Blavaee wondered in his mind. As he began issuing orders for the strike force, he thought of his brother, Jauu, and where he was. He had been with a trio of ships that had gone missing some time ago, and he wondered if Jauu was having better luck than he was.
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Obi-Wan peered through the darkness of the forest. The pelting rain did not make his searching easier, the rain drops crashing into his head and splashing all around him. The Jedi wiped his forehead, and, seeing nothing that would impede his progress, moved forward. The ground was flooding with water, mud sucking at Obi-Wan's boots, and leaves and branches fell all around him. He paid all of this no mind as he trudged forward, towards where he thought the explosions had been. They had long since ceased, but Obi-Wan, ever curious, pressed on. He came to a clearing, about twenty yards across, when he had the sinking feeling that this was a trap. He scanned around the clearing, across the trees, across the ground, and towards the sky, but saw nothing. Obi-Wan sighed.
"Well, if it is a trap, let's spring it." And so, he began to walk across the clearing. As he approached the center, a bright flash blinded Obi-Wan. "Blast!" He cried, shielding his eyes. And all around him, he heard deep laughter. They spoke in an unfamiliar language of worts, blorts, and blargs. Then, one of them spoke in Basic.
"Why have you come so far from your lines…human?" The voice asked. "New Lisbon is very, very far from here."
"I must say I fancied a stroll and I took a wrong turn back home." Obi-Wan shot back. He opened his eyes, but found that all he could see, was darkness.
"Your eyes are useless, as will your attempts to defend yourself will be." The voice explained. Obi-Wan closed his eyes and focused on the Force around him.
"You underestimate me." Obi-Wan said, and he concentrated on expanding his senses. Through his closed eyes, he saw the land before him and his attackers. There were twelve of them, all watching him from the trees. One was nearing him. "I would advise against approaching me." The being, one of the seven-foot-tall reptiles from his previous visit to this galaxy, stopped in his tracks.
"Your hearing will do you no good without your eyes, human." The being said. He drew a hilt, and from it came the two-pronged energy sword that Obi-Wan assumed were synonymous with that species. He drew his lightsaber and activated it.
"A Jedi does not need eyes to see." Obi-Wan said and assumed the stance of Soresu. The outstretched arm sent a challenge to the being, sparking a primal rage. The being roared and charged in a bestial way, undisciplined and without thought. Obi-Wan waited until the being cut downwards at him. The Jedi side-stepped out of the way, sliced the sword hand off, and then cut the head off. The eleven other beings all gaped as their leader's head tumbled to the ground, his body slumping down after it. Obi-Wan planted his feet and held his lightsaber at a forty-five-degree angle in front of him. "Any other takers?" He challenged. The eleven all activated their energy swords, rage boiling inside of them. Even in beings that had a resistance to the Force, Obi-Wan could still feel the Dark Side rolling off them in waves. He took a deep breath and waited for the charge. But they did not charge, instead, the beings crept forward, slowly. They were gauging the human that called itself "Je-die", cautious of it, yet they still wanted its death. So they came forward, slowly and watchfully. One came close to Obi-Wan and paused.
"What do you see, human?" He asked, curious.
"I see a warrior, and fool." Obi-Wan answered. The alien chuckled.
"Fight with honor, Je-die, and we shall see who is the fool." He said, and the fight commenced. The alien lunged forward, aiming at Obi-Wan's throat, but the Jedi backstepped and deflected the lung. From his left side, another alien came, slashing at his sword arm. Obi-Wan parried and sent the alien reeling back in pain with a glancing blow to one of his mandibles. The first alien swiped at the Jedi's head, but the smaller man danced out of the way, leapt in the air, spun, and kicked the alien in the face. Gone was the defensive stance of Soresu and in was Obi-Wan's old Padawan form, Ataru. Ataru, or Form IV was an acrobatic form that Obi-Wan had practiced alongside Qui-Gon Jinn, but his death at the hands of Darth Maul convinced Obi-Wan to switch to Soresu, which had more defensive benefits. While Obi-Wan had practiced Soresu more in the past years, he had practiced here and there with Ataru, and he was glad of it now.
"Die, heretic!" An alien roared as it lunged. Obi-Wan spun out of the way and sliced at the alien's chest, burning through the armor and scorching through the flesh. The alien roared in pain as Obi-Wan Force pushed him away. This created a momentary pause in the aliens, now ten, watched as a human sent a full grown and fully armored warrior flying away.
"What sorcery is this?" One growled, facing the Jedi.
"Not sorcery, the Force." Obi-Wan said, grinning, and he invited the aliens to come for more. The aliens circled him, the two that he had hit in the head were back, snarling. By this time, Obi-Wan's sight had been restored, and he me the gazes of the circling aliens. He studied his opponents through pounding rain and the flashing lightning. Their armor was ornate, crimson colored, with blue lines strobing periodically, and a golden tinge to them. "What are you?" Obi-Wan asked them all.
"Your death." One of them growled.
"What should I call you? You are obviously of some importance." Obi-Wan was doing his best to learn, as Bao-Dur had said.
"What does it matter, human? You will be dead soon." And they came again, this time in a pair. Obi-Wan took the pair easily; deflecting the first's stab into the path of his comrade's slash, flipped over the two, stabbed the first in the back, spun under the second's sideswipe, knelt, reversed his grip, and plunged the lightsaber deep into the alien's chest. And as Obi-Wan stood, there were eight circling him. They were wary of the human that had just killed four of their number.
"You are skilled, human." The first warrior said. "Are you a new kind of Demon, I wonder?"
"Demon?"
"Worthy adversaries. Tall humans in dark green armor, fast, strong, and deadly. Honorable opponents."
"I am no demon, I am a Jedi."
"And we are Zealots, warriors of our Covenant, and it is time for you to die, Jedi." And all eight Zealots charged at once. Obi-Wan waited until they began their attacks before jumping. He propelled himself over the Zealots and landed behind them.
"Try again." Obi-Wan taunted, grinning. The Zealot closest to him, turned, snarled, swung his energy sword in a wild cut, and died as the blue lightsaber was forced through his stomach. Obi-Wan summersaulted over another Zealot, slicing into the back of his neck as he came down. As Obi-Wan turned back to the remaining six Zealots, he watched as they literally faded from sight. "What in blazes?" He said aloud. He looked around for them, but all he saw was the rain, the tree line around him, and the six dead bodies on the ground. The Zealots began to laugh, a disembodied, deep laugh that would have unnerved most, but not Obi-Wan. "For warriors of honor, you seem to be quite the cowards." That insult sent the Zealots into a rage.
"You dare insult our honor!" One said. He reappeared at Obi-Wan's side, stabbing forward. Obi-Wan blocked the stab and stared the Zealot right in the eyes.
"Twelve against one blinded human, I think that counts as dishonorable conduct." Obi-Wan answered. The Zealot snarled and pushed the Jedi back as another appeared behind Obi-Wan. He stabbed at his back, but Obi-Wan side-stepped the stab. "And the use of invisibility, definitely cowards." The Zealots roared in anger and came at Obi-Wan. He parried the first's stab, blocked the second's slash, and kicked a third who came from his right side. "I expect better from those who claim to be warriors." The remaining three Zealots decloaked, all enraged. Obi-Wan lunged forward, driving one of the Zealots back. Another came to take Obi-Wan's head, but the Jedi ducked under the cut and Force pushed him away. The Zealots again paused at his display but came back at him. Obi-Wan cut away at one's arm, disarming him and then cutting open his throat. He turned, blocked another strike, and cut a Zealot in two. A third Zealot, the talkative one, came at Obi-Wan with a horizontal cut. Obi-Wan jumped over it and delivered a Force powered kick, knocking the Zealot out cold. As he turned to face the remaining three, the forest suddenly boomed. Blue blood sprayed across the clearing as the Zealots' heads exploded in blue and purple. Obi-Wan took a step back in surprise and looked around.
"Fine work. gentlemen!" A voice called from the trees. From the edge of the clearing came men in green camouflaged combat armor. All held weapons in their hands, rifles of some variety. One man approached Obi-Wan. "Though I must say, watching you work was quite impressive, sir." The man had a heavily accented voice, one of high birth and sophistication. He stood a few feet away from Obi-Wan and gave a slight bow. "Lieutenant Daniel Edwards, 95th Rifle Regiment, and you are?"
"Obi-Wan Kenobi." Obi-Wan returned the slight bow. "Thank you for the assistance, but I had the situation quite in hand."
"Indeed you did, Mister Kenobi, but we saw you knock that Zealot over there silly, and we thought it a good time to intervene and take a prisoner." Lieutenant Edwards explained. As he spoke, four riflemen bound the Zealot up with chains. "And make sure to take his energy daggers off his wrists! I don't want to lose him because of carelessness! The rest of you, take any weapons the blighters had and head back to base." The riflemen set to work stripping the dead Zealots of anything they deemed valuable. "And what of you, Mister Kenobi? I take it you're not from around here?"
"Is it that obvious?" Obi-Wan asked. Edwards laughed.
"Painfully so. Would you accompany us back to our headquarters, and good old Nosey would surely like to meet the man who killed nine of the Covenant's best soldiers."
"Nosey?"
"Sir Arthur Wellesley V, Duke of Wellington, Lord of Evropa, General of all UNSC forces on Evropa, and the only bloody hope we have of wiping the Covenant off the face of the planet." Edwards elaborated. Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow.
"Quite the titles." He commented.
"Only mentioned the relevant ones, Mister Kenobi. I would be here for an hour explaining all of them to you." Edwards said.
"Well I do say I am interested in meeting this Sir Arthur. Shall we go?"
"Indeed. Sergeant McDonald, hurry it up! Time to head back to New Lisbon!" Edwards barked.
"Think we'll make it back soon, sir?" Sergeant McDonald asked.
"If you scum can move quicker than you go to drink, we might make it back to the Lines of Torres Verde by dawn tomorrow! Now move!" The Riflemen moved with quick efficiency and Obi-Wan watched in approval as they stripped the Zealots, bound the unconscious one, and blended quickly back into the trees. "Pardon the question, Mister Kenobi, but do you believe you can keep pace with my Riflemen?"
"The question is, Lieutenant, whether your men can keep pace with me." Obi-Wan said, grinning. Edwards nodded, and the pair ran after the Riflemen and into the trees. As they caught up with the bulk of the Riflemen, Obi-Wan watched as more and more green-armored, or rather, green jacketed men, emerged from hiding. "Your men certainly are well trained, Lieutenant."
"They're the crème of the crop, Mister Kenobi, the finest His Lordship's forces can offer, all trained to be the deadliest marksmen and the most annoying skirmishers ever." Edwards said proudly. "The most independent men and the scum of the earth." Obi-Wan looked curiously at Edwards.
"Scum of the earth?" He asked. Edwards nodded.
"Pickpockets, rapists, frauds, murderers, serial killers, burglars, scammers, contract killers, you name the crime, one of them has done it." Edwards said. "But the army takes them, trains them, and turns them into the finest killing machines in the UNSC." Edwards' face turned dark. "That is, before that bloody ion storm."
"An ion storm?" Obi-Wan had heard rumors of such things but had never seen one himself.
"A great beast of a thing that ripped through the system two years ago. Washed over the planet for an hour, disabling everything remotely electronic. Now, we're maintaining our comns systems, the vast majority of our ground vehicles and surface weapons, and nearly half of our air force. No ships have been able to become space worthy, however."
"And I assume the aliens, or Covenant, as you call them, arrived at the same time?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Indeed they did, Mister Kenobi. We detected them as they arrived in the system and made full speed for Evropa. They almost didn't make it into the atmosphere as the ion storm hit, unfortunately." Edwards answered. "It's been a back and forth with the bastards ever since." As he spoke, a man with a large device on his back approached the pair.
"Sir, incoming communique from Headquarters." The soldier said.
"Thank you, Worthington." Edwards took a handpiece from the device. "Lieutenant Edwards, reporting…We what? No, if any aerial vehicle comes within a mile of us, we'll have Banshees breathing down our arses in a second! You already sent them? Well bloody call them off!" Edwards was frustrated now. "I don't bloody care if command wants us back, you call us, we make it to a damn safe zone, and then you send the bloody birds to pick us up! Call them off and I'll contact Headquarters when we're ready for pick up." Edwards slammed the receiver back onto Worthington's radio. "Dismissed, Worthington." The soldier scampered away.
"Trouble?" Obi-Wan asked. Edwards scoffed.
"More like Headquarters is still in bloody shambles." He answered. "Even with Wellington in charge, the military bureaucracy is still strong. We soldiers get the brunt of the higher ups' grudges and silly games."
"Sounds much like the Senate from where I come from." Obi-Wan said.
"Let soldiers do what soldiers do, eh?" Edwards laughed.
"The term 'peacekeeper' is more applicable to me." Obi-Wan said. Edwards cast an odd glance at Obi-Wan.
"Peacekeepers don't tear up eight Zealots." He retorted.
"From where I come from, Lieutenant, our skill is a deterrent for violence." Obi-Wan explained calmly.
"Our?" Edwards asked. Before he could answer, there was a shout and all rifles pointed in the general direction.
"Sir?" A private called. "You…might want to see this." Edwards snorted and stormed over to the private
"What in bloody blazes is…oh." Obi-Wan followed Edwards to see what had everyone so stunned. Had he not seen the four titans in his last visit, he too would have been shocked. Instead, he smiled as he saw the Spartan Blue Team again. He could sense it was them, even past the expressionless visors. The Spartans, the stoic, professional super soldiers, were caught completely off guard.
"General?" The Master Chief asked in surprise.
"Master Chief." Obi-Wan replied. "A pleasure." Edwards snapped out of his trance, first staring wide-eyed at Obi-Wan, then at the Spartans, and back to Obi-Wan.
"What is this?!" He exclaimed.
"Spartan Blue Team, at your service, sir." Master Chief said, snapping a salute. Edwards composed himself and returned the salute.
"Lieutenant Edwards, 95th Rifle Regiment. To what do we owe the pleasure, Master Chief?" Edwards asked.
"Sir, to ascertain the status of Evropa and attempt to reestablish communications with HIGHCOM." Chief answered. Edwards sighed.
"It appears I shall once again have to explain the status of the world. On to the second matter." Edwards turned to Obi-Wan. "Am I to call you sir, now, General Kenobi?"
"That is a title that carries no weight here, Lieutenant, you may call me what you wish." Obi-Wan replied.
"Would "Crazy bastard who killed eight Zealots" fit, sir?" A corporal called. Edwards snorted as Obi-Wan chuckled.
"Not another word, Fitzpatrick." Edwards answered.
"Aye sir, not a peep out of lil' ol' me." Fitzpatrick replied, grinning. His teammates all grinned with him.
"Now, onto the matter at hand." Edwards began. But as he spoke, a faint rumble came through the air. Edwards paused and listened.
"Phantoms inbound!" Chief warned.
"Cover, cover!" Edwards bellowed. The Riflemen, Spartans, and Obi-Wan all threw themselves into cover as the purple dropships flew closer. They all watched as six Phantoms flew overhead, with four Banshees flying lazily behind them. Edwards narrowed his eyes and then looked ahead, guessing a rough flight pattern as they began to grow smaller in the distance. "Bloody hell!"
"What is it?" Obi-Wan asked.
"If my hunch is right, the buggers are headed straight for New Lisbon! The lines of Torres Verde aren't even finished yet!" Edwards exclaimed. He jumped out of the bush he had been hiding and sprinted after the Phantoms. His men all followed, knowing that their leader, once he had a hunch, had to confirm it, and dragged them all with him. The Spartans and Obi-Wan followed close behind as Edwards tore through the forest. Ahead, the trees began to thin, and the ground began to decline. As the trees became thinner and thinner, Edwards abruptly stopped. He stared out in front of him, panting hard. "Damn it…damn it all." Obi-Wan stood next to him and looked out. Several meters ahead of him, the ground gave way to a tall cliffside. Below that was a flat plain of tall grasses and, far in the distance, another cliff rose sharply from the earth. They narrowed to a point several miles away, where the cliffs were barely a hundred meters apart. But, through the flashing lightning and pouring rain, approaching that gap was an army of Covenant soldiers. Obi-Wan took out his microbinoculars and began looking at the approaching army. Chief stood just behind the pair.
"I assume on the other side of that gap is your HQ?" Obi-Wan asked.
"No, but they'll have open run of it once they're through." Edwards said. Obi-Wan looked at the gap.
"Contact your superiors and inform them of the situation." He turned to Chief. "How fast can you run?"
"Depends on what I need to do." Chief replied Obi-Wan gestured to the Zealot, and the Spartan appraised the Elite for a moment. "Fast enough."
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Author's Note: Okay, this bears some explanation: when I was about 12-13 I got a Kindle. My mother bought me the first book in the Sharpe series; a collection of historical fiction novels written by the fantastic Bernard Cornwell set in the Napoleonic era, and it follows a soldier by the name Richard Sharpe. After I finished the first book, I bought the rest of the series and have since read the whole series, which is twenty-three full novels, about four or five times. This chapter was written in mid-2017 when I was debating how to move forward with From Domination to Genocide, but I needed to finish the Nar Shaddaa segment and wanted to do a homage to the Sharpe series at the same time. Hence the creation of the Duke of Wellington's army in Halo style here. I also thought it would be a good way to introduce two antagonists, which is the Major Prophet of Sanctity and Fleetmaster Davao Blavaee'. And yes, he is Jauu's older brother, so go wild with what you think I'll do there. In addition, I wanted to advance the whole Chief-Obi-Wan thing I have going and give Obi-Wan and greater sense of who and what the Covenant is. So yeah, hope you all enjoyed!