Hello Everyone, hope those of you that were already reading Mantle of Responsibility enjoyed the new chapter that went up recently, it is getting closer to the end now. Back to this story though, just a quick note, I this one doesn't feel too much like the actual episode with an additional character just thrown in, I just needed to do this one to establish a base of events to come up with a bigger plot later on.
Don't forget, when I posted the first chapter and part of the second one, I had absolutely no plot or storyline thought out for this. It was just a small idea I had when replaying Halo Infinite.
Quick final pre-chapter note, I'll probably do the same at the end. From a Public Servant of his Majesty, King Charles III, I hope everybody has a pleasant Remembrance Day and Sunday.
Replies to Chapter Three -
Blue-Jay1009 - Cheers mate, I figured that it was a similar sort of event. While not quite a betrayal, having to suddenly try not to kill the enemy that had slaughtered half of humanity, does seem a little bit similar to working alongside soldiers that killed off an entire religion.
Person whose name I'm not writing - It's not Forerunner witchcraft mate, the original Broadsword was introduced in 2535 and the Battle for Earth was nearly twenty years later in 2552.
Guest - It is a good concept, the only reason it's unlikely to happen is that the ancient Forerunners were essentially gods when it came to the amount of power and technology they had. Bringing them into a story would be difficult because the enemy they'd face would either have to be so powerful that there wouldn't be much for anybody in the star wars galaxy to do/help OR be weak enough that they could but then there would be no reason for the Forerunner not to just annihilate the threat immediately.
Guest - I'm glad that you are loving the story, pretty certain I updated MOR after this review so I hope you enjoyed the new chapter.
Tmcgo777 - On the way, here you are.
WolfBlade84 - Maybe but don't forget that despite being UNSC, he is still British at heart and maybe I'm just basing it off of my own profession and mannerisms but every British soldier I've met or am friends with had addressed their superiors or people they didn't know by Rank or as Sir/Madam, respectively.
Mandalore the Survivor - It won't be a very long story so his character development might seem different/quicker than some others. True, even with the extensive history of wars in the Galaxy, I don't think they have witnessed anything like the Human-Covenant war for a very long time. I feel like as well as there being some reminders of their own pasts, the great war will also bring them some new realisations as to how brutal war can actually be.
Yes, James will probably see a fair few examples of Mandalorians' fierce tempers, how he will view them might be something I'll go into deeper in a chapter involving the Mandalorians as a plot. Cloning an entire army is a little bit out of UNSC capability but flash cloning is no secret so it is plausible for him to believe it and not be too shocked. Despite the fact that it was humanity's only contact with aliens before the war, I don't think James will fall to the Xenophobic behaviour that some others in Halo do.
Chapter Four: Expanding Alliances
"Well, I see absolutely no way that this can go badly," James said sarcastically, as he watched Zeb put on some kind of pack that had a long terrifying-looking energy link back up to the tank's main canon. It was a long stream of purple energy that seemed to emanate from some type of device fitted on top of the tank's main canon.
The rope-like length of glowing energy ran along and through several smallish hoops that were a part of the muzzle of the canon. With them being a part of the barrel itself, it looked like they might have also had some use in the powerful mounted weapon being aimed manually through physical sights instead of electronic mechanisms.
Both James and Ezra strolled down to where the front end of the canon was, stood next to it was Captain Rex, looking down on the front of the tank and clearly overseeing everything that was going on.
"I'm all too happy to help you chaps catch some dinner, but how exactly are we doing that?" James asked the clone Captain, gesturing with his right palm to Zeb who was descending to the ground once more.
Rex turned his attention to him, "You can't exactly catch a Joopa with a piece of string and a stick, takes a little more than that," Rex said as he held up to his head what to James, looked like a solid pair of binoculars, though due to integrated zoom lenses on UNSC helmets and eyepieces, old style binoculars were rarely ever carried.
Looking out at the landscape through them, Rex continued, "Zeb's wearing a shock pack, it'll give that Joopa a nasty shock long enough for me to take him out with the canon," He explained.
"Sir, why not just use the canon in the first place?" James asked.
"Joopas roam the plains underneath the sand, we need to draw it out into one spot and keep it still enough for me to get a clean shot, they also move real quick so I can't guarantee a decent shot otherwise," Rex made clear.
"Alright then," James said walking down to the edge of the Tank alongside Gregor.
"Commander," James said at attention. Gregor turned around to see the comparatively young soldier.
"Oh come on now kid, we ain't soldiers anymore, you don't have to stand at attention like I'm some old General," Gregor said to James, leaning back against the metal railings.
"I understand Sir, though you don't have to call me kid, I'm twenty-eight," James said.
Commander Gregor gave off a quick laugh, "Technically, so am I," He said in a humorous tone.
"I beg your pardon, Sir?" James asked quizzically with an eyebrow raised.
"Right, different Galaxy and all, our creators engineered us with accelerated growth rates, so we could become soldiers faster," Gregor explained.
"Bloody hell, so you're…I guess nearly sixty then," James estimated.
"And just as strong as ever," Gregor said.
"No doubt about that, Sir," James replied half-sarcastically.
"Alright wise guy, when did you join your Navy?" Gregor asked.
"Must have been over a decade ago, I was sixteen if I remember right," James answered, his hand to his chin while thinking back to his time as a rookie in the UNSC.
"Was it by choice?" Gregor asked, his tone becoming vaguely more weighted.
So far, Gregor didn't seem like the serious military leader he had expected from somebody with the rank of a commander, it was a change when his tone changed from carefree and sarcastic. "I wasn't conscripted, I volunteered as soon as I was old enough," He said to the clone.
"Well, I might have been born to fight but from what I've seen throughout the years, there are only four reasons for somebody to volunteer for service," Gregor said.
"Oh?" James said curiously.
"The first two are pretty obvious, for one, a sense of duty to a cause and second because you want the gun and justification to kill," Gregor said without any sort of visible guessing.
James shook his head at Gregor's first two suggestions, "I felt proud when I signed up but that wasn't why I did and I didn't join up because I wanted an excuse to kill either," He stated.
"Well that leaves the last two, some do it for the attention, what about you Petty Officer? Did you think that the flashy uniform would sway the attention of a certain someone?" Gregor asked, lightening his tone.
Blanking slightly before chuckling, James answered, "No Sir, I don't think the girls would have been very interested in a crewmen apprentice anyway," He said with a newly found grin on his face.
"That only leaves one thing then, you joined because you already had someone there, a brother perhaps," Gregor implied.
James let down his arms in a humour defeat, "Thought I might have caught you out there Sir, not a brother though, my father was pulled out of retirement about halfway through the war and like the young fool I was, I joined up to be like him," He said.
"That makes you a fool does it?" Gregor asked.
Looking back on his decision, James wasn't entirely sure if his decision was stupid or not since the life expectancy of pilots back then wasn't great but in the end, he did make it through. "Maybe, or maybe not,"
"So what did your old man make of your decision then?" Gregor asked interestedly.
The young pilot thought back on the day that he had contacted his father to inform him that he was now enlisted and a recruit crewman. "Honestly, I thought he would be furious and maybe he was but given how much time he would spend telling me military stories when I was a kid, I think he knew it was inevitable," James said.
Gregor let out a short laugh, "So he led himself into that one," He said. "Is he still out there fighting the good fight somewhere?" He asked.
James had a pained look in his eye, "No Sir, he's gone but I don't think now's the time to talk about that," He said, swaying the subject away.
"I understand, Petty Officer," Gregor said, rubbing his hand against the back of his head.
Out beyond the tank, James winced his eyes, "Is that what we're after?" James said, pointing out with his hand at the desert.
Sabine, who had been within earshot of James and Gregor's conversation also looked out at the desert. Large columns of sand shot up from the ground like multiple cannons firing a barrage of shells into the earth.
"Alright, Full-Stop," Captain Rex ordered from the canon seat.
In the driver's seat of the tank and behind the glass front panel, Commander Wolfe pulled back on the two control sticks and the tank came to a sudden stop. The loud groaning from the ageing gears and other moving parts on the tank quieted down to almost a whisper.
The small collection of hanging lamps and other metallic objects chimed and jingled against each other as the forward momentum of the vehicle tossed them forwards and backwards. The silence of the situation was uncanny, everybody on the open deck of the tank looked around for any signs of movement, trying to focus specifically on where the sky-high plumes of sand had been launched from.
"Alright, just a little bit more!" Gregor shouted down to Zeb who took several more strides forward, his spearlike weapon drawn and ready.
Turning around, Gregor looked to Ezra "You know, we really appreciate this, I mean, we should do well today, with your friend here,"
"Yeah, well, Zeb packs quite a punch," Ezra commented.
James sneakily said to Sabine, "Just glad I've not experienced that yet,"
"But Really, Joopas supposedly love Lasasts," Gregor said as James managed to catch the last part of his sentence.
"They love them? What do you mean?" Sabine asked.
"Well, they say they love the smell, or I guess they love the taste as well and maybe it's about the texture you know…" Gregor slowly explained bringing both Ezra, Sabine and James to a sudden worrying realisation.
"Wait, Zeb's not the hunter, he's the bait!" Ezra said first after following the energy cable and Gregor's choice of words.
"Hunter, bait, it's all the same," Gregor said nonchalantly.
From above and behind them, Kanan's anger made a quick reappearance, "No, it's not!" He said impatiently.
"What! Do they not like the taste of clones then?" James asked equally irate.
Before he even got a response to his rhetorical question, Loud and thunderous rumbling started to occur all around them with no clear source as the noise echoed across the seemingly infinite plains. Another series of large and high explosions of sand appeared in the distance ahead of Zeb and the tank.
Craters in the sand started appearing with massive holes replacing what was once the ground. One by one in a serpentine-like pattern, they got closer to Zeb who was still facing forward with his weapon ready. Zeb's attention focused on the holes closing in on him but with no source to be seen.
Back on the tank Zeb and Kanan shouted down to him to move and run back to the tank. James to tried to warn his newfound friend to retreat back to the armoured walker, "Get back here you blithering idiot, it's after you!" He tried to shout out but whether or not Zeb heard them, he didn't move out of the way in time.
In the blink of an eye, the ground beneath him cracked and shattered and from beneath emerged a barely visible unknown type of appendage that wrapped around Zeb's body and trapped his weapon against him completely stuck and unable to move.
Not a moment later, Zeb was sucked underneath the ground, Ezra let out a shout of dismay as his friend was yanked down below the sand.
Immediately after Zeb was pulled under, the beast started to burrow away beneath the sand at an amazingly fast speed for something that was tunnelling through the solid ground as well as sand and dirt. Above ground, the energy cable from Zeb's pack was still live and if the trail of turned-up earth wasn't enough to find out where the beast had gone, the rapidly moving cable would lead them.
With the line zipping away at a breakneck pace, Gregor's face perked up, "This could be him! Our big Bongo!" He shouted out in glee as he somewhat clumsily ran past the three of them up to the command deck.
Inside the tank and at the controls, Wolfe plunged down the right side control stick putting the tank into full ahead speed.
From the seat of the main canon, Rex leaned out and called out to Sabine. "Hey, I bet you know a thing or two about mechanics," He implied.
"Yeah, good bet," Sabine replied, climbing up to the side of the canon.
"Keep an eye on this regulator, the line can overheat and shut down," Rex said pointing downwards toward the base of the canon where the power regulator for the energy cable laid. "No line, no Joopa, No Zeb," He stated simply.
"Got it," Sabine acknowledged and immediately went to work on keeping the regulator stable enough.
Turning around from watching the cable, Ezra shouted up to Rex, "What about me? And these two?" He asked, gesturing to both Kanan and James.
"You won't kill a Joopa with that rifle petty officer," Rex said, gesturing to James who had taken out his rifle the second the Joopa had emerged from the plains to swallow Zeb. "I might need a spotter, get up here," He said
Meanwhile, after reappearing from behind Kanan, Gregor emerged carrying two several-foot-long metal rods and handed one to Ezra.
"You got the best job of all, when the line swings around you'll charge it with the electro-poles, hit the line with the rod and it'll send a bolt of energy down to the Joopa, give it enough and you should bring it up to the surface," Gregor explained.
"Here's one for you General," Gregor said, handing Kanan the pole.
"Don't call me that, I was never a general," Kanan said sternly.
"My mistake, sorry Commander," Gregor said, attempting to correct himself.
"No it's not-" Kanan said before huffing in frustration and heading to the front of the tank, in front of the cable.
From the canon, Rex shouted down to the Irked Jedi. "You should take a page out of your Petty Officer's book!" He sarcastically shouted.
Reaching the canon, James stood partially crouched next to Rex, "You know he's not my commanding officer right?" He questioned the clone Captain.
"Neither am I but you keep saluting and calling me Sir all the time," Rex replied casually.
"Until I find the only other UNSC officer in the Galaxy, I'll respect whatever command I can get, at least the ones that don't shoot me, Sir," James said.
Down ahead of them, the strain on the Joopa to escape become visible as the distance between it and the walker started to shorten. Its instinctual tactic of fleeing as fast as it could in a single direction clearly wasn't working. This become much more obvious to James as it changed direction.
"Joopa is turning Captain, 45 degrees to port," He shouted.
"Copy that Soldier," Rex acknowledged.
Captain Rex responded by swivelling the canon around as fast as the motor would allow, just managing to keep the energy cable intact and directly on top of the Joopa.
In order to straighten the cable back to the front and give both Kanan and Ezra the opportunity they needed to shock it, Wolfe changed the direction of the tank, steering it to the left and stopping the instant that the line become central to the body of the tank.
The line stopped moving right in front of Ezra and Kanan, "Hit it, now!" Rex shouted down to the two Jedi.
Simultaneously, Kanan and Ezra jabbed their electro-rods into the line and sent a quick burst of energy down to the Joopa. The bolt of energy only seemed to anger the Joopa as it sped up and tried even harder to get away.
"I think that only pissed it off Captain," James said to Rex.
"He's running alright soldier," Rex responded.
Down below after giving it a second shock, Kanan and Ezra lost the ability to continue as the distance between the walker and the Joopa caused the energy cable to rise higher, out of their reach. In response, Ezra leapt onto the railing of the platform in an attempt to send another bolt of energy into the line but was still just shorter than he needed to be and was just barely able to hold onto his balance.
At the same time, Sabine jumped up onto the top base of the canon as it started to make noises that even James could tell were not good. "We're losing the regulator!" She alerted them, desperately trying to do what she could to stabilise it with the tools she had.
"All stop Wolfe, dig in! This is where we finish the battle!" Rex shouted.
Wolfe acknowledged his Captain's orders and pulled back on the controls, the walker stopped moving under its own power and the metal legs of the tank stood firm against the ground. It was still being dragged several inches forward as the Joopa tried harder to get away.
The forward momentum of the tank suddenly stopping caused nearly everyone to brace themselves on whatever was in front of them, except Ezra who almost fell over forward down to the ground if not for Kana grabbing him at the last second.
Wolfe was digging the tank into the ground as hard as he could, pushing the strength of the metal and machine to its brink causing several steam vents and valves to disperse searing hot pressured air. In an attempt to get close enough to the beam, Kanan pulled Ezra up onto his shoulders and chucked up his electro pole to him.
Unfortunately, though, the line was too unstable, "Sabine!" Ezra shouted.
"I know, I know, working on it!" She shouted back.
"If that thing blows up I don't think Zeb will be the only one in trouble," James too shouted to Sabine.
"Feel free to come over here and do it yourself!" Sabine shouted back.
"I'm a pilot, not a mechanic, there's a better chance of me killing us before that thing does," James yelled while pointing to the trail leading down into the sand.
"Exactly, then shut it!" Sabine shouted, not even looking up from her work on the now steaming regulator.
While he could repair the odd malfunction or basic damage done to a ship he was familiar with such as the F-41 broadsword or the GA-TL1 Longsword, working on alien technology, no matter how simple, wasn't something he wanted to attempt just yet and not in their current circumstances.
As the line got hotter, Wolfe reached the most stationary position he would be able to get the tank to achieve with each of its metal legs cracking the ground on which it stood.
"Got it!" Sabine shouted as the energy cable finally stabilised enough for Ezra was able to send the poled directly into the line.
Standing atop Kanan's shoulders and holding both electro-poles, Ezra slammed the both of them into the line and held them in rigidly for several seconds, sending a lasting bolt of purple energy down to the incredibly angry creature.
On one knee and knelt down next to the Captain, James focused in on the Joppa using the limited enhancement capabilities of his helmet. He noticed that its speed had now completely diminished and it was almost entirely stationary. With the vibrations feeling as though they were getting closer, James also noticed the energy cable getting shorter.
"Incoming Captain!" James said to Rex, alerting him to the Joopa's proximity. Quickly, he shouted down to warn the two Jedi at the front of the Tank, "It's coming back up!" He shouted, trying to warn them in time for them to get back.
Before Ezra had even removed the rods from the line, the Joopa burst out from the ground. Towering over the tank with the line from the energy cable going down its mouth and throat. It had multiple terrifying red eyes and hard outer layers of scales that James was sure neither his rifle nor any of theirs would be able to pierce.
It had multiple mandibles which all had razor-sharp sickles at the ends of them. Ezra quickly jumped backwards off of Kanan while above them, Rex tried to line up the shot.
"Need a spotter for that one Captain?" James asked with the gigantic beast almost directly on top of them.
"I think I can handle this one petty officer," Rex replied equally brusque.
With the Joopa screeching loudly in front of them, Rex waited just a few more seconds until it opened its mouth and was as close as it could get. Then, he pushed the button on the elevation controls.
There was a loud boom and a blue streak of plasma energy streaked out of the barrel of the canon and collided with the beast. Its violent screeches turned to low-pitched wails as it fell to the ground with smoke from the blast still coming from its front end.
Smashing against the ground, it caused the tank to jump slightly and sent out a weak shockwave through the dirt and sand, kicking scores of it up into the air only for it to slowly fall back to the ground.
There was silence, everyone looked down to where the colossal Joopa had struck the ground. It was evidently dead, the clone Captain's well-placed shot had killed it in one clean go. From the moment he saw where the energy cable was upon the Joopa's emergence, James knew that Zeb was somewhere inside the creature, as did everyone else.
James had hoped that Zeb was still alive but he had no idea if the Joopa had killed and swallowed him already. It was the same though on the rest of their minds until they started to see a small amount of movement coming from the mouth of the Joopa. Their attention doubled to the front of the dead beast as its jaw loosened and started to open, from inside Zeb'svoice came through, clear and alive.
Clawing out from inside, Zeb pulled himself onto the dry plains to the cheers and relief of everyone on board the tank.
"Nice catch old timers," Sabine commented to Rex who looked partially proud of their achievement, giving a halfway salute to her.
Sprinting to the back of the tank and practically throwing himself off of the ladder, Commander Gregor ran fast to both the Joopa and Zeb in glee. Audibly joyful at their catch.
"Now that, that was impressive," Gregor said congratulatory to Zeb helping him stand up, putting his large hand and arm over his shoulder.
"Impressive?" Kanan questioned from above, "You almost got my friend eaten!" He exclaimed.
Standing next to the mounted gun that had brought the Joopa down, James turned his attention to the weapon, "Not bad captain, this thing packs quite the punch, "He said, running his hand along the barrel.
"Doesn't she just," Rex said, standing up from the controls, "I've seen countless clankers been blown to scrap by these beauties, though admittedly ones in better shape," He said, flicking off a small piece of rust on the railing of the ladder as he climbed down.
Followed by James, the two of them walked forward on the deck to Ezra and Kanan, "And you are a natural," Rex said, complementing to young Jedi's skills.
Kanan turned around to the Captain, looking a small bit impatient, "We held up our end of the deal Captain, now it's time to get us those coordinates so we can go," He requested.
"I'll get them but you might consider staying for dinner," Rex said, looking down at the Joopa.
"That thing tried to eat me," Zeb said up to Kanan, "Only fair I get to see how it tastes," He said.
"Can't say no to that, right Kanan?" Ezra said, receiving a seemingly agreeable eye-roll from Kanan.
Rex turned around, heading towards the ladder at the rear of the tank, "What about you soldier?" Rex asked James before climbing up a level.
James craned his neck to look up to the Captain, "Well, even that thing probably beats UNSC rations, why the hell not," He said to Rex.
Several Hours Later
Nearing the end of the planet's rotation, the sun had started to set and the entire plain for as far as the eye could see was covered in a sea of orange and yellow that it could have been on fire.
The walker slowly cruised along the endless plateau with the weight of the Joopa making hard work for the legs and gears on the right side of the tank. It had taken several hours to crane the Joopa to the side of the tank by which time, it was getting closer to the end of the day and night was soon fast approaching.
Once it was hooked up and secure, Gregor had taken great care and joy in carving up and cooking pieces of it into a stew. One that James was eating from his own small mess tin that he carried with him as part of his field kit. Stood next to Sabine and Ezra on the tank's rear outside platform, the three of them had taken turns asking questions and telling more stories about their history.
"Oh come on, even the Empire's propaganda doesn't try making stuff up like that," Sabine said, showing hesitancy at believing what James was describing.
James swallowed another bite of the stew, "It's true, I was there, The Masterchief threw himself and the bomb out the airlock and then detonated it inside the Covenant Carrier, I saw the thing turn into space debris from my cockpit," James insisted, telling the story of how the CAS-class carrier Solemn Penance had been destroyed by the legendary Spartan.
"Hmm, I don't know," Ezra said with a smirk, "Super soldier flying a bomb in the middle of a battlefield, pretty far-fetched," He said.
"Oh right because a galaxy filled with energy sword-wielding and telekinetic peacekeepers is so much more believable," James commented to the young Jedi.
As the three of them spoke, the door behind them leading inside the tank opened and Rex came out from within it. "I've assembled a list of potential bases, clearance codes and protocols the imperials still use, which should be of some use," Rex said
"Thanks, Rex," Ezra said.
Rex then turned to James, "Oh and a little bonus for your lost friend here, I included a few less-known holding facilities in the outer Rim and prison protocols still in use by the Empire, thought it might help a little in looking for your missing friend,"
James was glad there was something he might be able to use as a lead, "Cheers Captain, I really appreciate it," He said thankfully.
"They're on our main computer, your gonna need-" Rex said before Sabine finished his sentence.
"Data Tapes, I got this," Sabine said, walking away to the Phantom to retrieve the storage device.
"Hey, grab one for that prison info as well," James asked as she went inside.
"You got it," Sabine responded.
While Sabine entered the tank Rex joined Ezra at the platform's edge. Meanwhile, putting his empty mess tin to one side, James took out his sidearm and made a deal of inspecting it to pass the time while listening to Rex and Ezra talk.
He was checking the muzzle for obstructions while Rex spoke to Ezra, "You were brave today kid, you jumped right in there to help, a great Jedi once told me the best leaders lead by example, you do that well," He said.
"Thanks, I've learned from a great Jedi too, Kanan," Ezra replied, looking to his master standing in front of one of the tank's side ladders leading up to the top deck.
"He's certainly someone I wish had fought with us in the war," James said quietly. He assumed they had heard him as they briefly looked towards him.
Though he had yet to see him use any of his weapons or display the power that the Jedi apparently had against any actual threats, from what he had heard from both the clones and the crew of the Ghost, they were definitely skilled enough to have made some changes in the Human-Covenant war, maybe even saved more humanity then what was left.
"You know, I don't think he likes me or ever will, can't say I blame him," Rex said, giving a brief look to the Jedi, "The war left its scars on all of us," He said.
James unconsciously lowered his pistol, losing focus as the two continued their conversation.
"Won't you reconsider joining us?" Ezra asked.
"You know, I've outserved my purpose for that kind of fighting I'm afraid, after the war I questioned the point of the whole thing, all those men died and for what," Rex said.
"I guess what they thought was right," Ezra said.
Thinking internally, James pondered what little he had heard about the Clone wars. While he wouldn't ever envy a war on any scale, he did wish that even if the Human-Covenant war was unwinnable, at least they would have had the benefit of still being alive after they lost. For now though, he was just glad that it was over.
His pondering however was interrupted by Sabine who emerged from the tank carrying a small tablet with her, "The clones gave us up, they warned the Empire we're here," She said accusatorily towards the clones.
To James, the shock and confusion were equal to one another.
"Wait What," Ezra said.
"You're mistaken, we would never do that," Rex said adamantly as he held out his hand, requesting Sabine to hand over the data pad she was holding that apparently held the evidence she had for making the accusation.
"I found the binary transmissions to the Empire, and there are messages Ahsoka sent to Rex and he never answered her," Sabine detailed.
Rex took the pad from Sabine's hand, "What? I never got any messages from Commander Tano," Rex said, continuing to believe that Sabine was wrong.
It was a similar feeling that James had, Captain Rex, didn't seem the type of person to double-cross someone like this, "Sabine, are you sure? I mean we did just help them catch that Joopa and they agreed to give you guys and me the intel we both needed," James said in defence of the clone Captain.
Kanan seemed to believe what Sabine had said the moment she had come out, "I knew it, I told you they can't be trusted," He said angrily, walking down the platform to them.
Ezra was quick to partially block Kanan's path, "Kanan wait, is this true?" He asked.
Rex, who looked through the data pad with perplexity, suddenly had a look of suspicion and realisation. He turned around and looked at Commander Wolfe who was facing away from all of them, "Wolfe! What did you do?" Rex asked demandingly.
Wolfe stayed where he was, not turning around, "I contacted the empire, if they found out we were helping Jedi they'd wipe us out," He confessed.
James turned to the clone, "How would they know? you live on a planet with fewer people than a single corvette," He said to the clone in frustration.
Kanan was quick to give out new orders, "Sabine, go warn Hera, tell her to scan for incoming ships," He told her.
Sabine quickly left, running towards the Phantom to warn Hera who was still in the Ghost trying to repair the ship.
"I wanted to protect you guys, protect our squad!" Wolfe protested.
Captain Rex approached the clone Commander, "The war is over, we are free men and we can't live in fear of the Empire for the rest of our lives Wolfe, that's not freedom," He said, trying to put some sense back into the soldier.
His scolding of the Commander wrecked results as Wolfe looked down in shame, "You're right, they're not our enemy, I'm sorry," Wolfe said, apologising for what he had done, realising that he made a mistake.
James was glad that there was little chance of any more betrayals but at the same time knew that the damage had been done, "Well that is all well and good but if this Empire, the one that might have my friend and has already tried to kill the guys that saved me, is one their way here, then I recommend we get the intel and go," He recommended.
Kanan's face suggested that he agreed with the Petty Officer "We can go but Hera is still repairing the ship so-" Kanan started to say but was cut off by what sounded like gunfire.
"Kanan!" They all heard Sabine yell.
Everyone immediately reacted, Kanan leapt upward several feet onto the platform above them without hesitation. James stopped himself from slinging his rifle off his back just yet and followed the two clones up the ladder to where the shots had come from. Climbing up onto the platform, James immediately had one hand on his battle rifle once he had reached the top.
The UNSC pilot had paid little attention to the direction the clones had taken once they reached the platform before him, only noticing that Wolfe had swung left and gone beyond his vision while Rex seemed to be going towards the right side walkway that ran parallel to the one on the left.
James flinched slightly as a red blaster bolt shot right past his head, only missing it by a few inches and singing the very tips of his hair. He finally had both feet on the platform and ran up to the small drop ship, catching sight of what had opened fire on Sabine and now him.
A small back hovering droid with multiple metal prongs coming from the bottom of what James could only describe as its head. The small weapon attached to it fired indiscriminatory at whatever was in front of it as it tried to escape. Now that he was off the ladder and on solid ground again, James withdrew his primary weapon and ran straight forward.
Just as he reached the edge of the ship though, James felt the small shockwave of an explosion. It had come from the rear of the Phantom, right where he had seen the small black droid retreat to. The explosion had occurred just after he again heard the droid fire its weapon. Pushing past the small amount of smoke and pressure from the blast.
Turning the corner, Sabine was on the edge of the platform the ship was on while in the corner of his eye, he saw the droid try to descend down off the staging and onto the ground. James took his chance, with his BR55 already raised and cocked he wasted no time in aiming at the hostile droid.
Allowing for the small amount of recoil the rifle would give and the fact that the droid was quickly moving downwards, James looked down through his scope and aimed directly below where the droid was. Pulling the trigger, a three-round burst of 9.5x40mm bullets shot out from his barrel.
James had no idea how many bullets had hit his target but before the shell casings ejected from the side of the bullpup rifle had even all hit the floor, a small hail of sparks came from the droid followed by a small puff of smoke.
For a moment, James thought his aim had paid off and the droid was dead until the smoke partially cleared and two more blaster shots came through it. Managing to duck just in time, James avoided the two blaster bolts from hitting him right in the chest.
"Bollocks," James cursed himself, angry that the droid was still operational after at least one of his rounds had hit it and from what he could see, knocked a relatively large chunk of its metal body away as well.
Less than a second after his shot, Kanan vaulted off as well in pursuit of the droid that was now underneath the tank. James didn't waste time in trying to follow after Kanan and instead followed Rex and Sabine to the lower side of the ship's walkway. Coming out from underneath them and the tank, the now damaged droid was trying to escape off into the desolate plains.
Directly behind it but losing distance, Kanan was firing off several shots at it from a small blaster pistol that James had seen holstered on the Jedi up until now. Unfortunately, none of his shots managed to kill the droid.
Once more, James lifted up his rifle and looked through the magnification scope, while the droid was gaining more distance from Kanan, the Jedi was still almost practically behind it based on where James was standing he wasn't able to risk shooting the droid without the risk of also hitting Kanan.
While James tried to think if he had enough time to relocate his firing position, his thoughts were interrupted by Ezra who was above and behind the three of them while holding one of the clone's long rifles.
"Rex, you gotta make this right," Ezra said, tossing the rifle to the Clone Captain who caught it and in an instant, swung around to where the droid was escaping. Looking down the sights, his left eye shut, Captain Rex took several seconds lining up his shot and slowly moving his finger to the trigger.
Further to the right, James made rapid glances between his own scope and Captain Rex. Kanan was now safely out of the way for him to try and take another shot but the droid was also much farther from them and would have been a much more difficult target for him to hit.
He knew that with every second passing, his chances of hitting the droid become slimmer and slimmer but at the same time, he didn't want to shoot and risk either missing the droid or causing Rex to miss his by firing too early or causing the droid to change its direction.
Trusting that Captain Rex was a better shot than he was with a rifle, he moved his finger away from the trigger and let the clone take the shot.
Rex slowly squeezed the trigger, keeping his eye on the droid in the distance, a single blue bolt of energy burst forward and streamed across the distance between the tank and the droid in the blink of an eye. Dead centre, the shot went in the back of the fleeing droid and came clean out the front of it.
Dropping down, the droid collapsed to the floor. From the tank, they could all see it fall to the ground after Rex's shot. "Yes," Ezra said cheerfully.
"Huh, Nice shot," Sabine added.
Rex stood up and lowered the rifle, He looked over to the UNSC pilot who was still in a crouched position with a cast-down weapon. "Thanks for the assist Petty Officer," He thanked.
Looking away from the smoke trail in the distance, James looked over to the Clone Captain and nodded acknowledgingly. Growing larger, the smoke was clearly visible against both the white of the sandy plains and the blue of the sky against it. The spread of the fiery orange all across the terrain started to fade away as the sun sank below the horizon.
In its place, the ocean-like blueness started to emerge. Back on the tank, James had followed Rex in climbing down the tank the floor where the two of them, accompanied by Zeb and Ezra, started to walk over to the probe. Eventually managing to catch up to Kanan who had started walking over to the droids crash site the moment it was destroyed, the three of them surrounded the droid.
The smoke that was coming from the ruined droid had started to clear up as the heat and burning metal began to cool down in the night-time chilled air. The night seemed to creep up on them out of nowhere but their attention was seemingly all focused on the probe and its crater in the sand.
Captain Rex knelt down onto one knee, examining pieces of the droid. "Guess I underestimated that rifle of yours soldier, I think you blew its blaster clean off," He said to the Petty Officer, holding up a piece of charred metal.
"Cheers," James said thankfully. After he thanked the clone, the droid let out a quiet whining noise and in a force of habit, James pulled out his M6C from its holster and shot two 12.7×40mm pistol round into the already downed probe droid. The two small but extremely powerful semi-armour piercing rounds struck the top of the droid, putting an end to any further noises it was making.
"I think you got it," Ezra commented.
"Just wanted to make sure," James said as he re-holstered his weapon.
Getting closer to the droid which none of them doubted was a threat any further after the multiple shots it had received, Ezra too looked over the droid, "How long has this thing been watching us?" He asked while Sabine walked up behind him and Kanan.
"Long enough, How's the Phantom?" Kanan said before turning to look over his shoulder and ask Sabine about the status of their ship.
Sabine's face didn't look entirely cheerful, "Well, engine took a direct hit, we're not going anywhere until I can fix it," She said.
"Wait, you mean we're stranded?" Zeb asked rhetorically.
"Yep and the Empire's on its way," Rex said heavily.
James took off his helmet, taking a short breath of the fresh cool air before signing, "Guess my plan of finding Jack without attracting any attention is finished," He said, knowing that very soon, this Empire was not something he would be able to avoid.
"So, what's the plan?" Sabine asked.
Kanan put his hand to his chin while trying to think of what they were going to do. "Let's head back to the walker, we need to get as far away from this droid as possible so the Empire and buy as much time as we can for Sabine to get the Phantom fixed," He stated.
James put his helmet to his side, "I assume it won't take them long to find us down here if they arrive before we can leave?" He assumed.
Nodding at his assumption, Kanan replied, "That's why we need to get moving now, the cover of night will help us put some distance between that and us without being spotted," He said while pointing at the probe droid.
"Let's get moving then," James said, putting his helmet back on and starting the walk back to walker.
He was followed in the trek back to the tank by the others. With the moon slowly rising to their backs they would use the night to their advantage and hope that the probe that had been following them was alone. James assumed that he wasn't the only one thinking that this was going to end in a shootout and that his previous assertion of not dragging the UNSC into anything serious would end up proving false.
Hope you all enjoyed the new chapter, I was going to include a little bit more for this one (About 1k more) but as I finish this and do the continuity checks, timelines, etc. It is evening in Britain and I am about to get ready for work in the morning and I know I won't be able to write anything more for several days until I am off again.
So in exchange for getting the chapter a week early, I hope you can forgive that slight reduction in chapter length. This is being released on the 12th of November 2022 so I hope all my British and Commonwealth brothers have a pleasant Remembrance Day and Sunday.
Today's Excerpt -
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.