Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback and unless something changes, thanks for not being twats and making disrespectful comments regarding Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Something I'm going to do at the bottom of every chapter in every story now is write a small excerpt from some British patriotic songs and hymns, feel free to ignore them, I just want to spread some little bit of nice 'music' sort of. I know today's was a personal favourite of the Queen.

Anyway, I'm glad the story seems to be going well so far, I'd say the layout and style have definitely changed compared to Mantle of Responsibility. I'm happy with it so far and I apologize for forgetting about the replies to reviews in the second chapter, just had a lot on my mind as I did mention in the author note.

So, in the last chapter, we had some introductions, explanations and a lot of mutual confusion but those who know the relevance of Seelos can probably guess what and rather, who we're about to come across. I hope my method of transport for the ship and our two pilots wasn't too bad. I just wanted a better build-up instead of them suddenly waking up in a new galaxy.

Review Replies -

Guest - Cheers, I thought it was a nice change of pace and it hadn't been done yet and it will become a story, I'm mostly decided.

Jctherebel - Thanks, I am continuing it. The second chapter review was also appreciated.

Mgarner3199 - Thank you, I'm looking forward to writing it.

Miner123lolpeel - Glad that it's got you hooked and I hope you enjoy the next chapter.

Haruau8349 - Much appreciated my friend, I agree that the interaction between them will be interesting especially since, as you put it, he is of more human military and not a Spartan. You are right, even a fraction of the typical Longsword arsenal would be enough to wipe it from existence, I only remembered about the Shiva payload at the last second so put that little narrator piece in to justify not killing everyone on the Ghost.

Beliver218 - No doubt about it, I mean she's a Mandalorian and suddenly appears a man with weapons of a design she's never seen and they use projectile munitions, not energy which is not very common in that galaxy.

Guest - I thought the same, not a lot of these types of stories in the rebels section as well. Glad to hear that the decision to throw in a pilot, or rather pair of pilots, is going over well as opposed to a Spartan or even ODST.

Mogor - Thanks a bunch, I will do my best. I don't expect this one to go into a near-year-long hiatus like with my other story since this one won't be anywhere near as complex and since it is story number 2, It will be easier to write because it is more familiar.

PM - Don't worry, hearing that message isn't going to be a regular thing. I thought the two times in the first and one in the second chapter were already pushing it a little bit.

Blue-Jay1009 - Thanks mate, that was what I was thinking when I started it, it does make explaining forerunner and other related stuff difficult since the average marine/pilot wouldn't know a lot, not as much as Spartans and Admirals anyway, same with knowing what they can or can't talk about, it is a bit of a grey area. As for the question, well, they are heading to Seelos so…

Chapter Three: Once a Soldier

"Ahh!" James yelped almost silently with his outgoing gasp.

His eyes had shot open and he had lifted himself up without even realising he had done so. Supporting himself on his elbows and forearms, causing a small amount of redness to form on his skin, in the bunk he was partially laid down and breathing deeply and at a quick pace. He dragged one of his aching arms to his head, as he wiped it across he discovered it was covered in a freezing cold sweat.

Slowly, he dragged himself upwards off of his back and looked up from his hand examining his surroundings all the while, trying to catch his breath. Collecting himself, James' breathing slowly started to come back under his control enough for him to attempt to recollect what had happened. James knew he had had a nightmare, that much was clear. The cold sweat caused him to shiver and rapid breathing he could only have gotten from a combat zone or intense training.

Finding it gradually becoming easier to use his muscles, he stretched out his arms. Stretching one out left and crossing his right arm over then repeating in the opposite direction. His strain started to diminish when some of the cramps within his muscle had started to settle down. Whether it was after a heavy-duty training session or after a battle, James and most other soldiers usually found their muscles aching heavily the next day.

He pulled both hands to his eyes and rubbed them softly in an attempt to reduce the blurry vision that he often received when waking up from a terrible night's sleep. As the small bits of natural debris cleared from his face, his vision became more unimpeded. Despite the silver and grey colours surrounding him and the uncomfortableness of the metal bunk he was on, James knew he wasn't back in his quarters on the Infinity. For one thing, Jack hadn't done anything annoying to wake him up for once.

James remembered back on their supercarrier, how on more than one occasion Jack had done something to wake him up in a less than peaceful manner. One time, they had been selected to run a routine patrol of the system after their carrier had done a slipspace jump, during their patrol flight he had fallen asleep while Jack was piloting. He woke up halfway to the ship ceiling, only kept in his seat by his seat's restraints, after his co-pilot decided to send their Modified C718 Longsword into a nosedive towards an inhabited moon to wake him up.

Not finding it funny he remembered being initially furious until he calmed down and apologised for falling asleep but still remained less than happy about the way Jack had decided to bring him back around.

Putting together his best effort, James urged his shoulders up and sat fully forward, he had no idea how long he had been asleep if he could even describe it as sleep. Coming back to the reality he was in he let out a disappointed sigh as he turned to his side and stood up from the bunk, his legs trembling slightly after putting all of his weight back on them.

To his left on the floor was his helmet and BR55 service rifle, he always felt a little bit jealous when he saw infantry units and even Spartans using the new shinier BR75 models and the variants that came with it, he knew though that the old stockpile of the battle-rifles predecessors had to be put to use somehow and were given to units that did not use small arms under normal conditions, such as tank operators and pilots.

Until something changed though, it was what he had and since having already gotten the impression from Sabine that this galaxy wasn't too keen on producing ballistic ammunition, let alone any that would operate with his weapons, he made sure to not waste any ammunition. What he had on his flight suits and in his small supply cache was all he had to last him until he managed to get back home.

For now, James decided to leave his helmet and rifle where they were since he was still on the ship with people he didn't consider to be any immediate threat to him. Knowing that Hera told him they would be soon arriving at a planet, he made sure to keep his sidearm on him at all times. Feeling the heavy weight of all his equipment, James removed the detachable magazine part that held his several hundred rounds of battle-rifle ammo as well as a few armour plates.

Settling the hefty magazine holder aside he felt lighter, aiming to find out some more information and hopefully discover he had had some sleep, he made his way to the door. Expecting to have to try and understand the odd-looking panel of buttons next to the door, he approached it. Intending to be careful but not wanting to cause any damage to his benefactors, he slowly reached his palm to the controls.

Unexpectedly, it opened without any prompting. It was not a design he was unfamiliar with when he realised that when leaving from the inside no buttons were required. James thought to himself, that the button he saw must have been to lock it or open it if someone was attempting to gain entry.

Walking out into the hallway, he winced a little from the overhead lights embedded into the design of the walls and ceilings of the ship as he had not had any time to adjust to the bright corridor. He turned his head and looked to the left as he walked out, remembering that was where the cockpit was. The twin hydraulic doors were shut, he assumed that Hera or whoever was piloting must be busy.

Instead, he walked away from it, intending on heading towards the lounge-type area he had been in before and where he had woken up. Vaguely he could hear voices coming from ahead and he started making his way toward them. It was the first time he had walked through the ship without being under attack or completely exhausted and confused. Now that he had time to look around, he saw the small features and parts of the ship that made it appear much less like the standardised military he was used to.

While most of the walls seemed to have the base colour he had become accustomed to with the no-nonsense strictly military grey and silver look, there had been a plentiful amount of colour and lines added in that he could tell were not a part of the ships original design and had to have been done after it was built. Perhaps it had been one of the people on the ship, it made sense to him, especially since none of them wore anything that he would have considered a standard military uniform.

James' distracted looking only extended when he reached the common room but found nobody inside it. The voices were still audible enough to hear them though and they sounded closer than before. Having been a pilot for a long time, James knew how to sense the layout of a ship after he had been in one long enough and could tell that there were more rooms to the rear of the ship that he had not yet entered, including the one where he could hear the voices of the familiar crew from.

When he got closer to the door, with yet another panel on the side, the voices become much more clear. Approaching the pannel and not experiencing the same automatic system as before he took a chance and went for the long white button to the left of the panel, with the other two being half the size and different colours, his guess was proven to be correct when it slid open almost instantly.

He walked inside and was not overly surprised when he found himself to be the centre of attention from the three people in the room, or four if he included the small droid. Shifting his eyes around the room, it was clear that it was some sort of galley or mess hall, cupboards, seats and all the other makings of a typical crew's resting area, presumably designed as small as possible by whoever designed it.

"Morning sleepyhead," Ezra said to him as he walked into the room.

Still dealing with the unpleasant awakening he had, James rubbed his eyes with his hand before putting back it down to his side and responding.

"I guess it's probably morning somewhere, How long was I asleep?" He asked.

Sabine answered him from the corner, her helmet was placed on one of the counters tops so he assumed it was something more important than just armour to her. "About nine hours, you don't have any way of telling time on you or something?"

"I do but I can't exactly go by my home planet's time, now that I'm here," He responded.

"You're timing was something, we were just talking about you," She said.

"Oh? Not on how to disprove of me, I hope," He said somewhat sarcastically.

From the small seating booth, Zeb gave a slight laugh, "He'll fit right in," He said as the droid, who was next to him gave another chirp-like noise he had heard before.

"I'll just assume that was an equally sarcastic comment," James said in the droid's direction.

"Relax, they were mostly just questions about…well yeah you and your ship," Ezra said to him.

"We didn't want to wake you but you can't help us for being just a little bit curious, drink?" Sabine said as she offered him a regular-sized cup that to James was just as standard as back home. It had a brown liquid in it that had a small amount of steam coming off of the top, he might have refused if not for the fact that he had to assume it was safe as three people on the ship were human but also because his supplies would only last so long.

"Cheers," He said as he took the cup and took a small sip so as to not burn his tongue.

"Besides, it was mostly Sabine asking about all the weapons you had, and your ship," Ezra told him.

James lowered the cup from his mouth, "Hmm, tastes like somebody mixed coffee and tea, and I appreciate the rest and even though I can't say anything that would compromise UNSC locations or technology, I guess I can answer some questions if you'd like," He told them.

Unsurprisingly to him, Sabine was the first to jump on his offer, "What weapons were on that ship of yours?" She asked all too eagerly, leaning forward slightly.

"Wow, now I definitely know he wasn't joking about your people and weaponry," He said with a smile while glancing at Ezra.

"Sorry, he is right though, Mandalorians are warriors," She said, apologising for her forwardness.

Leaning against one of the side cabinets he waved her away, "It's fine, I'm not about to go into the really detailed parts but since it is now nothing but a few atoms drifting in space, I guess I can share," He said.

Listening closely with Sabine's ears more open than the others, James answered her question, "Well, the ship itself is called a Longsword, there's a few variants but the one I came here in was our main combat one, the GA-TL1," He briefed.

"Creative name," Zeb commented.

"It's the military, brass isn't very creative when it comes to naming, ours was a little modified, 110mm rotary cannons and a small complement of guided missiles, some of them are fitted with bombs for attacks in atmosphere though," James detailed.

"It certainly looked big enough to carry a lot of weapons, but more projectiles?" Sabine asked, clearly fascinated by his people's use of ballistic weapons.

James who was quick to defend his weaponry responded, "Don't knock them till you've seen them in action, with no drag on them our main ship batteries can send slugs straight through a ship's shields and even the entire structure like nothing," He said.

Looking slightly sceptical, Sabine enquired further, "Really? Straight through a ship with shields, that would have to be a pretty big cannon," She said.

Attempting to convince her, James told them of the time he had seen his carrier do such a thing. "The four on the infinity could take out a Covenant supercarrier almost instantly, I was part of the initial attack force during the Requiem campaign and I remember seeing two of the main batteries fire and go straight through the ship and keep going, they fragmented and spayed the enemy corvette behind it till that went up as well," James told her, building up even more interest in the three of them.

"We don't know how strong these Covenant were though, Imperial Capital ships are nothing to take lightly," Ezra said.

"They were strong kid, believe me," James said in a vaguely darker tone, he looked down to the floor briefly regretting his tone of voice, "So, now do you mind if I ask you a question or two?" He said, trying to move the conversation along.

Zeb answered him, "We'll we don't have much in the way of military secrets, so go ahead," He said.

"What's the history with this empire?" He asked, wanting to know more about the people who had already attacked him once and that he had technically fought back against when he managed to destroy two of them during the small battle several hours earlier.

It was a question that looked somewhat difficult to answer simply based on their faces until Sabine spoke, "There used to be the Galactic Republic, democracy and representatives. Then years ago the war between it and the confederacy ended with the chancellor of the Republic declaring that the Jedi were traitors and that the Republic would be reorganised into the Empire," She explained in as simple a way as she could.

James could tell that there was too much history to talk about in a single conversation but even without hearing what they had all told him before the battle, they had all suffered at the hands of this empire in some way or another. He wished he could say that it reminded him of the Covenant but after what he had fought and suffered through, he was certain that there was not a more dangerous or terrifying force than the Covenant during the Great War.

Already knowing where the sentence was going he finished it for her, "And now, they rule over everyone under their fist, nobody speaks out due to fear of death or imprisonment," He said.

"Pretty much, except for the few of us that stand up to them," Zeb said firmly.

"If they've got Jack then I need to find out," James said.

"Well, as Hera said, this guy we're trying to find has a lot of knowledge about the empire and old Republic bases so there's a chance that he might know where somebody like your friend would be held," Ezra said.

James looked at him, the kid had spirit he thought. "Heh, Cheers kid, so why don't you tell me a little more about these Jedi," He asked, still completely baffled by what he had already been shown as what the Jedi could do.

Before Ezra could answer though, Sabine cut in, "Hold on, you got a question, so now it is our turn," She said.

"Fair enough, go on, though maybe something, not weapon-related," James said.

Sabine sighed, "Boring, Okay then what was your home world like," She asked.

James recalled slightly, caught off guard by her question. "I wasn't expecting that but I guess it depends which one, I was born on our species' home world but I was raised on a different planet for the rest of it," He said.

Choosing between the two Sabine asked, "The one you grew up on then, what was it called," She asked.

"Reach, it was called Reach. One of the earliest planets humanity colonised upon discovering faster than light travel, it was the biggest military colony and one of our main bastions during the war," He answered.

"Was?" Ezra asked lowly.

Becoming slightly quiet, James didn't leave them unanswered, "We shouldn't have been too surprised when they eventually found Reach but we didn't think they would be able to take it," James said.

"You took it back though right, you said the war was over," Ezra asked.

"When I said they took it, I didn't mean they took control over it, the Covenant didn't do that," James said, correcting his earlier comment.

"What happened then?" Zeb asked.

James clarified on what he meant though he could tell they already had a vague idea of what he was referring to, "We managed to hold off the bastards for almost an entire month but realistically, the battle was already over the second their fleets jumped into the system, one by one they moved their capital ships above every major civilian city and used their energy projectors on them until nearly the entire planet was nothing but burned glass," He said.

"What was it like…before?" Ezra asked.

For a brief moment, James smiled, thinking back on his memories of the planet, "You should have seen it, glaciers as tall as mountains, endless oceans for as far as their eye could see along the coasts, Our- My house was just a few miles inland, it was where my father used to teach me about old British sailors, back when wooden ships would sail the oceans," James said, recalling everything he could remember.

Nobody said a word, the room was eerily silent, "how many…died," Sabine asked, trying her best not to look him in the eye.

"For the whole battle, it was estimated to be two hundred million dead and about one hundred and sixty million wounded," James said, but not wanting to lower the morale of the room added on to his statement, "We didn't go down easy though, we managed to kill just as many and reduce their fleets to a fraction of what they were when they first invaded the planet," He said, leaving out that nearly every single UNSC ship was decimated during the month-long battle.

His effort did have an effect, "Now that sounds like my kind of people, go down fighting or don't go down at all," Zeb said purposefully.

"So…Jedi?" James asked, referring to his earlier question.

James could see that Ezra was about to answer him but before he could a loud noise came over the galley, "We're about to exit hyperspace, those fighters damaged our engines on that last run, take the Phantom down to the surface while Chopper and I try and repair the damage,"

As she said that the doors to the galley opened and Kanan walked in, "Alright, you heard her, let's go," He said.

"I'll grab my rifle," James said as he got up.

The four of them followed him out of the galley and towards the front of the ship. Temporarily stopping at the ladder, he entered the hallway where the crew quarters were and entered them. Quickly walking over to the wall he had leant his battle rifle against, he picked it up and give it his usual three-second check for obvious signs of damage. Satisfied that it was in decent condition, he connected it to the magnetic holster on his back.

In a similarly quick pace he reattached his small detachable armour plates.

Looking down again, he thought as to whether or not he should take his helmet with him, he wasn't about to pilot a ship so the link-up system would be virtually useless but at the same time, entering an unknown situation in one less piece of armour felt like a mistake. Picking it up and looking at the polarised visor, he decided to go with his instinct to take it with him.

After placing it on his head, he picked up his magazine holder and attached it back onto the front of his armour and then turned back towards the door, he walked towards it and left the room. Meeting up again at the bottom of the ladder which led up to a different level of the ship, he started to climb the yellow ladder.

While he collected his weapon and helmet, the other three followed Kanan while Chopper continued forward toward the cockpit, last to climb up the ladder James reached the top and entered what was obviously a small transport shuttle. It looked like the size of the typical UNSC escape pods, it was certainly smaller than a standard Pelican transport though, that he was sure of.

Heading for the front of the tiny shuttle that Hera had said was the Phantom, Kanan took the single pilot seat and started up the ship, retracting the hatch at the back once they were all inside. Taking one of the open seats next to Zeb he strapped himself in for the short ride to the surface, despite it being a ship he had never once seen the likes of, James knew there were only many ways to design a set of seat restraints and had no problem preparing for the departure.

With it being such a small ship, James felt the rumbling of the engines as they started up and the metal clanking of what he assumed were docking clamps of some kind being disconnected from the ship. Sliding gracefully out of the docking slip of the Ghost, Kanan guided the Phantom away from the ship and towards the planet's surface.

"How exactly do we know where to look on what looks like a barren desert planet?" James asked, turning his head towards Kanan.

"You'll see once we break the surface," He answered, focusing on piloting the ship.

"Well that's not cryptic at all," He said sarcastically, "Does anyone want to share who it is we're trying to find," He asked.

In the seat closest to the cockpit, Ezra answered, "We don't know exactly," He said.

His answer wasn't entirely satisfactory to James who put his right hand to his forehead, "What? So there might be a chance we're about to walk into a battalion of whatever soldiers this empire has?" He asked slightly alerted.

"Not likely, our friend, Ashoka gave us this information," Sabine said.

Having not met this person, James was unsure of how reliable the information they were working with was, "And you trust them?" He asked.

"Absolutely, she's a Jedi like me and Kanan and has saved our lives multiple times, if she says the information is good, then it's good," Ezra said confidently.

Partially relaxed that the information came from someone that they trusted, despite him not knowing them, James looked on as they got closer to the planet.

Fading in colour, the blue haze of the planet's atmosphere started to dissipate around them as the Phantom left the emptiness of space and entered the oxygen-rich atmosphere. Though, so far from what he could see out of the cockpit window, James was confused as to how there could be enough oxygen on the planet for any life as it seemed to be completely devoid of any flora that would naturally supply a planet with an oxygen-rich environment.

It must have had some different way of producing it but there was still no greenery on the planet that he assumed, from what he knew about plants and his childhood schooling about nature, was always present as a consequence of living organisms absorbing the harmful carbon dioxide.

Now, more than once, James had to remind himself that he wasn't only in a completely new star system, but an entire galaxy with no idea what any of the planets would look like.

When they had entered the planet's atmosphere completely and were at a lower altitude, James felt their altitude slow down now that there was actually enough of both gravity and air resistance from the planet to actually allow them to feel their speed decreasing. Feeling the ship come to a slow cruising speed just a few hundred meters above the ground, James joined the others in removing their seat restraints and walking towards the front of the ship.

For endless miles, it was still just pure white sand to the end of the horizon, "So, are you going to tell us how we're supposed to find anything at all out here, let alone a person? all I can see is desert," James stated plainly.

He hoped to get an answer from him but Kanan seemed to be focusing on trying to attach whatever was sat in his lap to part of the ship's cockpit systems. Wondering if he had even heard him, he was about to repeat his question when the lump of metal with wires hooked up to the ship suddenly lit up and Kanan put it on top of the control dashboard.

To James it looked like a metal head, he sighed, "Does it have something to do with whatever that is?" He asked, almost immediately certain the answer would be yes.

"A little gift from a friend of ours," Kanan said.

"You guys have some really weird friends," James commented.

In a digital voice, the metal head seemed to be blurting out random tones in an ascending pattern, like it was booting up or searching for something.

"We take all the friends we can get these days, anyway it's an old tactical droid head, these things are filled to the brim with old data from the clone wars," Kanan said as the sound coming from the droid started to clear up.

Something resembling numbers started to come through, "That thing was designed to provide tactics to an army? Crikey, I think I owe Roland an apology every time something on the ship wasn't perfect," He said, looking at the droid head, finding it hard to believe that something so archaic looking when compared to UNSC smart AI's was meant to be able to provide military tactics.

"You name your droids on your ships?" Sabine asked.

"We don't have droids, we have artificial intelligences', best way I can describe them is like the personality of a human with the computing power of thousands, Roland is the shipboard AI of the UNSC Infinity," He attempted to explain.

While the most common type of AI was a dumb one or a fourth-generation smart AI, the newer fifth-generation ones were capable of calculating predictions and mathematical equations in seconds, ones that would take humans centuries to do themselves.

"I don't think I'll live to see the day Hera let a computer with a personality take over her ship and definitely not the empire," Ezra said.

"Hey quiet!" Sabine said, "The droids picking up on something,"

The two of them stopped talking and turned their heads toward their droid, its jumbled-up noises had become clear, it was now repeating the same four digits in a row, over and over again.

'7567…7567…7567'

It kept going, "It's homing in on something," Sabine pointed out.

Increasing the speed of the ship, Kanan also adjusted their heading so that they were following the signal that the droid head was homing in on. "Does anybody know what those numbers mean?" James asked.

He got nothing but shaking heads and shrugged shoulders, James rolled his eyes, "This would normally be the point I'd bet 20 credits with Jack that this will end in a firefight," James said casually.

Ezra seemed interested, "I'll take that then, 20 credits that we leave this planet without getting shot at once," He bet confidently.

"Why do I feel like this is not a bet you would win on any other of your 'missions', alright then Bridger," He said with a nod, "Jokes on you though, I left my wallet in my galaxy," He joked.

"Trying to find a pin in a desert here! If you don't let us concentrate I'll be the one with the credits after I shoot the both of you," Sabine said frustratingly.

"Sorry Ma'am," James said respectfully almost standing at attention.

"Leave that behind, just call me Sabine," She said in a more calm tone.

James felt the urge to ask Ezra or Zeb if all Mandalorians had her temper but didn't want to push his luck any further, "Sorry, force of habit, military and all,"

Focusing back on the horizon, something started to heave into view. "Up ahead, there's something there," Zeb pointed out.

Squinting his eyes, James tried to see what was up ahead, even though his helmet did have an enhancement feature it was not an infantry model and was not designed in mind with pilots needing to be able to see things far away outside of their ship since the ships themselves all had the necessary technology to do so instead.

From what he could make out it looked like a grey vehicle of sorts, moving slowly across the plains with a small amount of smoke coming from a funnel on top of it.

Flying closer, what it was started to become more clear, "What is that?" James asked as it was finally up close and visible.

"That looks like an old AT walker tank," Sabine said.

"From the clone wars…" Kanan said, less than pleased about their discovery.

"Well I learned not to judge a book by its cover but that doesn't look like a very effective tank," James said, internally comparing it to the Scorpian and Grizzly tanks used extensively by the UNSC.

"I've seen plenty, they're effective," Kanan said in the same tone as before.

Not saying anything more, Kanan steered the ship to bring it down just a dozen or so meters in front of the walking tank that even having never seen before, James knew had been extensively modified based on all the small structures and additional parts that didn't fit what was below them. They also didn't look like they would fit a military purpose, in any galaxy.

As Kanan brought the ship in closer, James analysed what he could about the giant walking tank, Even before he had joined the military, James spent plentiful amounts of time researching heavy armour and military vehicles, from the current state of the art, all the way back to the first British tanks that rolled onto the battlefield over five centuries ago.

Underneath all the obvious additional parts and structures it looked to be the almost universal grey colour of all military equipment, It had a forward canon that seemed to be operated externally based on the open space at the rear of the gun. Being such a large machine, James guessed that there were more weapons he either couldn't see or had been removed.

While the size of the tank looked impressive, it seemed to have obvious flaws that made it impractical. The one thing that stuck out to James, was the way it moved. On six mechanical legs, it seemed slower than a tank that used tracks and it would also seemingly take a long time to turn around to face a new threat, further increasing its vulnerability.

Knowing that he would have to analyse it later he drew his attention back to the present, Kanan landed the ship directly in front of the tank, even before he had walked to the back of the ship, James noticed the massive beast-like tank stop once it's path has been obstructed.

Behind him, James watched the back of the ship open up as it had the same style of retracting door system as his Longsword and several other UNSC ships such as the Pelican and Condor. Walking out of the back behind the rest of them, James made sure his helmet was on tight and sealed. Coming from around the side the complete emptiness of the planet becomes more apparent.

Looking from one side to the other, James could have sworn he could see the planet's rotation better than he could see any sort of wildlife or local plants. Ignoring his thoughts regarding the first planet he had been to in this new galaxy, he walked beside Zeb and Sabine.

"Ezra, be on guard," He heard Kanan say cautiously to Ezra.

Feeling that there was something Kanan knew and possibly something that could be a danger or a threat he turned to walk towards him and ask him to his face if there was something he should know. Before he could though, there was a loud hissing noise.

They all looked up to the source, which wasn't hard to pinpoint given the lack of anything else the sound could have come from. It was the hydraulic noise of a door sliding open, it sounded slightly dragged and heavy, more than likely from the lack of maintenance the heavy vehicle seemed to be suffering from based on the rusted metal.

From within the shadow cover provided by the metal boards above, three people walked out of the vehicle.

None of them could see them clearly but it was clear that they were the ones driving the tank, "It's just a bunch of old geezers," Zeb said.

"Well-armed old geezers," Sabine added.

James looked again, she was definitely right, in addition to the massive war machine they had emerged from, two of them were also carrying long rifles. They weren't aiming them at him though and he didn't want to give them an excuse to do so, James kept his hands off of his own rifle.

"What do you want?" The one in the middle asked.

Unsure if any of them had heard Zeb's comment based on their lack of an offended reaction, James noticed that the one who had asked as well as another one beside him were wearing what resembled to be the armour of a type he had never seen, it was white.

"We're looking for someone," Kanan replied.

"Well, that's too bad because there's nobody out here," He said.

James knew that there were not any other settlements on the planet, there were none visible from when they had been above the planet and if there had been, he was sure the five of them would have gone there first.

"Hey, uh does the number 7567 mean anything to you?" Ezra asked the man.

It was the series of numbers that had somehow led the group to the tank in the first place, as Ezra asked them if they had any idea what it meant, James hoped they might have something that could lead them on.

"What did you just say?" The man asked much more seriously. He leant forward and the two people at his sides looked spooked as well.

James knew, there was no doubting it, the four digits definitely had some sort of significant meaning to them.

"I said 7568," Ezra repeated to them.

His voice seemed to get less direct, "I haven't heard those digits in…well that's my birth number," He said.

"Birth number?" Ezra said to himself. Feeling equally perplexed was James, who looked at Ezra in mutual confusion.

To Kanan though it made clear sense, "They're Clones!" He said, clearly feeling as though he was being threatened.

Out of the corner of his eye, James could tell something in Kanan snapped when he pulled something off of his belt and stepped in front of Ezra. Kanan ignited what looked to be a blade of energy and readied himself for a fight.

Just like the rest of them, James' eyes had been drawn to Kanan and what he was doing. The weapon wasn't too much of a shock as while it was very different from the energy swords used by the Covenant and Banished, he had seen multiple hostile elites using them during the wars and had seen too many of his fellow soldiers fall to them without ever having seen where the strike came from.

"Jedi! they've come for revenge," James heard the one on the far left of the platform say in the exact same voice as the one that had spoken to them first.

The man raised his rifle towards them, though if James had to guess, he was aiming at Kanan specifically. James immediately pulled his rifle off of his back and watched as several small blue bolts of energy streamed towards Kanan but he deflected them with his weapon away from them.

Zeb, Sabine and James all had their weapons out and ready though James refrained from aiming his weapon directly at any of their aggressors. "Drop the blaster old man," Zeb growled.

With every second that the tension in the situation rose, James found his rifle aim getting higher.

"Don't try it boy'o I'll gun you down," He heard the one on the right say who up until now hadn't said anything but was now also aiming his rifle at them.

Whether it was because he didn't have one or didn't see any of them as a threat, the man in the middle never drew a weapon on them, instead, he pushed both of his comrade's weapons down with the one on the right resisting. "Stand down troopers, now! That's an order soldier!" He ordered.

It was now confirmed for James, he was their leader and they were soldiers of some sort. It was more than likely related to the clone wars he had heard so little about. "But he's a Jedi." He heard him say, sounding more scared than angry.

"I know, I know!" The leader said trying to calm the soldier down, "They weren't the ones that betrayed us, remember Wolfe," He said.

His attempt at de-escalating the situation seemed to work, the gunfire stopped and he turned back to face them, "Sorry about the…weapons malfunction, my friend here is just a little defensive, see we haven't seen a Jedi since…well it's been a while," He said, trying what he could to decrease the circumstances.

"Kanan, Ashoka said to trust them," Ezra said from behind Kanan who still had his weapon active and ready.

Ezra managed to convince Kanan who holstered his weapon and was followed by Zeb and Sabine. James lowered his aim back down to the floor but kept his rifle in his hands at the ready.

Standing down, Ezra stepped in front of Kanan, addressing the ones that James was now certain were the clones, "Well my name's Ezra, this is Kanan, that's Sabine and Zeb, it's nice to meet you 7567" he said.

James turned his head to Ezra, he wasn't entirely too bothered that he hadn't introduced him, Ezra clearly noticed his head turn though and looked as though he was about to rectify his 'mistake' when the soldier in the middle spoke up again.

"Actually, my name is Rex, Captain 501st Clone Battalion," He said almost at full attention, "Meet Commanders Gregor and Wolfe," He said pointing at each of them.

"And your other friend here?" The one Rex had said was called Wolfe asked while Gesturing to James.

"First-Class Petty Officer James Bailey, 296th air wing," James said with his right hand in a salute. He saluted multiple official military figures from different branches and local military back home, with so far no friendly military presence saluting a commander gave some resemblance of familiarity.

"Petty Officer of what exactly, that isn't imperial armour," Captain Rex asked him.

James dropped his salute, "United Nations Space Command, Naval Branch, Captain," He responded firmly.

James guessed he would get the same confusing questions as to what the UNSC was from them that he had already answered partially with the crew of the Ghost until Ezra interrupted what might have turned into another repeat, "He's a friend of ours we're trying to help out but we were sent by Ashoka Tano," Ezra informed.

Ahsoka was a name James, had heard a fair few times now and he made a mental note to ask about her later since it could be another possible way to find out where Jack had ended up.

"Ahsoka Tano, I fought by her side from the Battle of Christophsis to the siege of Mandalore and a friend of hers is a friend of mine," Rex said.

"You can put your ship up top, rest of you come on up," Commander Gregor said.

Glad that the situation hadn't ended up in a battle to the death, James was somewhat glad that he had managed to find someone who could not only provide some intelligence but also one that was of a military background, he felt assured that they both had their personal arsenals worth of war stories. Though, for now, they walked to the back of the nearly two-dozen-meter-long tank and pulled themselves up the ladder one at a time.

"I believe you owe 20 credits, Bridger," James said as he climbed up the ladder.

Ezra didn't seem to believe him, "Oh I don't think so, that does not count as a firefight," He said.

"Getting shot at isn't a firefight for you?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sabine walked up beside them, "Well, in Ezra's defence, it was only two shots and we didn't even shoot back," She said,

"Sorry James looks like you're still broke," Ezra joked.

"Days not over yet," James said.

Meanwhile, at the front of the tank, Kanan had returned to their ship and powered up the Phantom. Carefully, he managed to pilot the small transport ship to the centre of the large metal platform above where the clones had first exited the tank. It landed directly in the middle of it with an audible thump. Exiting the ship once more from the back, Kanan then joined up with the rest of them and made their way to where the clones were, the entrance to their six-legged war machine.

Covering the rear of their convoy, James kept an eye on their surroundings and possible exit routes in the event they needed an escape. He followed through behind Kanan, looking around inside though he tried to figure out what each and every station inside the vehicle did. It looked like it had seen much better days, the metal was nearly all discoloured and multiple parts of the interior looked like they had been completely worn down.

Based on the number of screens and weapons he had seen, James knew that the tank must have needed a crew of at least half a dozen, unlike the versatile tanks of the UNSC that most commonly deployed with crews of only two or three. Normally only a driver, gunner and engineer would be present with the occasional escorting infantry riding on the side of the tank, on top of its four separate tread pods, a feature that meant it could still move and fight even when one or more of them had been disabled.

This walker though had clearly been made into a home by the clones, James let his thoughts about the tank go temporarily as he turned to the clones. It was the crew of the Ghost that had saved him and brought him here, whether or not he had a choice though he didn't care, he seemed it only be polite to let them try and get whatever they needed from these soldiers first.

"How is Commander Tano?" Captain Rex asked.

"Well, in need of help, we all are" Ezra replied, gesturing to all five of them including James.

James brought his hands to his helmet and unlocked the seals before gently removing it from his head, he held it by his side in between his hip and hand, all the while Ezra continued his conversation with the older soldier.

"We could use your help," Ezra said, finishing his request.

Captain Rex didn't look opportunistic about the invitation. "I'm not sure I'm much help to anyone these days, didn't you hear? The empire said the clone army has out served its purpose and retired us," He said, sitting back in the chair he was in. "Nowadays, we just spend our time telling stories, and slinging for Joopas," He said.

Thinking back on his time during the wars, James had never once thought he would get to the point where this Captain was, able to survive a galactic conflict and retire somewhat peacefully.

"This was a wasted trip, you heard the clone and he's not interested," Kanan said bitterly before turning to walk outside.

As he was leaving the room, Ezra kept up his efforts at convincing the clone, "Wait, you don't like the empire, do you?" He asked.

"Well, the empire certainly isn't the Republic, but you can't do anything about that," Rex said, sounding almost entirely convinced.

"You could fight," Ezra said. James smirked internally, the kid had some grit.

"Sorry kid, my days as a soldier are over," Rex said.

Ezra seemed to be convinced for now that they weren't going to get back into another fight, "Well okay, then maybe there is one thing you can help us with," Ezra started, trying to at least get something out of their trip, "we need a base, Ahsoka said you knew about all sorts of secret locations in the outer rim," He said, hoping there would be something they could give them.

Rex raised his eye, he looked to his two comrades who both seemed split on whether or not to assist the rebels, "Well, my memory isn't what it once was but there are a few spots I never bothered to report to the empire, why don't you wait outside and I'll put together a list of coordinates," He said.

Seeming satisfied with the Captain's answer Ezra started to walk towards the door with Sabine and Zeb. As the two walked outside, James stopped Ezra quickly, "I'll be out in a moment, I have my own intel to try and get," He said.

Ezra nodded understandingly. Behind him James could already hear the clones arguing over whether or not to help, resting his helmet on the side next to multiple other white helmets that matched the parts of armour the clones were wearing, he walked back over to them. Managing to catch the latter part of their conversation he could already tell that the clone with the scar across his face, Wolfe was very much against helping them.

He was voicing his frustrations to Gregor who wasn't too convinced of the danger, "Really, What do you think the empire would do to us if they found out we were helping a Jedi, Hmm?" He asked heatedly.

"Yeah, I don't know what the empire would do, but I'm going slinging," Gregor said, walking past James on his way out.

Rex and Wolfe both looked up at the pilot as he walked up towards them, "Something I can help you with, Petty Officer was it?" Captain Rex asked.

James nodded affirmatively to him, "Correct Sir, I'm not with whatever rebellion they are a part of, I'm grateful that they rescued me but I need to find someone and then find out how to get back to UNSC-controlled space," He said.

The two clone soldiers looked equally puzzled, "I was a soldier for a long time, I never heard of any United Nations Space Command," Rex enquired, attempting to get more information.

Hoping not to spend too much time repeating the events that had led up to his arrival, James tried to give a brief version of what happened. "That's because it doesn't exist in this galaxy, it's a galactic military, sir, I can't go into how we got here since I'm not sure even I understand it but my co-pilot and I went from our supercarrier in another galaxy to wherever the hell this is in the blink of an eye, he's my friend and I need to find him," He explained.

To both Wolfe and Rex, it seemed like a lot to take in, "I can already tell this is too much to try and understand in a few minutes, This isn't exactly a Republic listening post, Petty Officer," Wolfe told him, looking around the inside of the tank.

"I understand that Commander, when I woke up on these guys' ship they told me why they were coming here, it was close so I hoped you might know something," James said, trying to make things clearer.

"It was nearby was it…when exactly did you say you 'arrived' here?" Rex asked, inclining that there might have been something he knew.

"Can't say for certain, I was unconscious when they found me but less than a day ago I suppose," James said,

Wondering what the time of his arrival had to with anything, James listened as Rex explained, "It was also less than a day ago that we temporarily lost all power on the tank and even though Wolfe was right, we aren't a listening post, we picked up imperial transmissions reporting system-wide power outages from an unknown source," He detailed.

Piece by piece, the information was helping James put together what was and had happened to him and his friend, "Do you think whatever caused that power issue could have had something to do with however we were brought here?" He asked.

"I wish I could say, all I know is whatever caused that outage made the imperials sacred enough to use unencrypted channels," Rex said.

Trying to understand James started to put his theory together, "If that was because of us and if these Imperials managed to trace the source back to us, then it might have been them that took Jack and shot up my fighter to pieces," James theorized.

"It might be the case, you'd have to somehow access an active imperial terminal to prove it though, as you can imagine, those are heavily protected by the military on their ships and bases," Wolfe informed him.

It wasn't the best of news, James still didn't know where Jack was or even if he was alive but he knew now that there was a way these Imperials could have found them and the Longsword.

James was glad that it was something at the very least though, "One step forward though, I appreciate you telling me Captain," James said gratefully.

"So, are you going to keep going with them until you find your friend?" Rex asked.

Not seeing any other option James wasn't sure what he meant, "I don't seem to have many other options and so far they haven't tried to kill me or anything so if they can help me find Jack, then I think I will if they'll allow me to remain," James said.

"I hope you find him and while I'm sure I have just as many questions as your recent friends out there, I'll let them go for now," Rex said,

"Thank you, Sir," James said.

James turned and left for the door, allowing Wolfe and Rex to continue their debate about helping the rebels, while he knew there were likely fewer consequences of helping him, he was still grateful for what they had managed to tell him. He walked back outside into the sun and looked around on the platform, he saw Sabine, Zeb and Gregor down by the front of the tank's edge, about to walk down to them and inform them of the information he had managed to acquire, he heard Kanan and Ezra's voice coming from above him in the Phantom.

Walking to the side and climbing up the ladder, he approached the back of the ship where the door was still open. "I don't feel like discussing it," He heard Kanan say.

There was a small moment of silence, he walked in front of the door as he saw Ezra about to leave, until Kanan spoke again, "It was at the end, the end of the war," He started, "Our fellow soldiers, the clones, the ones we Jedi fought side by side with, suddenly turned and betrayed us," He said.

Quietly, James walked closer, listening in, "I watched them kill my master, she fought with them for years and they gunned her down in a second and then came for me, later they said they had chips in their heads that made them do it," Kanan said in anguish.

Standing on the edge of the ship, James entered, his heavy footsteps on the metal clearly heard by both Kanan and Ezra. From what Kanan had described he felt fear and anger even being near the clones again, it was something that James knew he could relate to.

James knew he had no long friendship with any of them, he did understand though, "Kanan, When Ezra asked me if my people won the battle for our homeworld, you heard me say yes," He said.

"And?" Kanan asked sharply.

Continuing his account, James kept going, "In the middle of the battle, I was in a Broadsword by myself, fighting a hopeless battle against better fighters than mine, I had just managed to score my seventh kill against all the odds and just before my eighth, do you know what I heard on my comms?" He asked Kanan.

"What?" Ezra asked for him.

"Hold your fire, they're our allies," James said, wincing his eyes shut and clenching his fist in anger.

Kanan turned the pilot seat of the Phantom around but still didn't speak, "I don't get it, why would they say that?" Ezra asked cluelessly.

James then gave his reasoning, "Because, as we were told, later on, one of the species of the Covenant, the Sangheili, was replaced as the second highest ranking member in the covenant, they were betrayed and retaliated against them, being an enemy of the enemy, NAVCOM saw them as a friend and then in a split second I was supposed to fly alongside them instead of killing them," He explained.

"And did you?" Kanan asked, mildly less irritably than before.

"It was an order, I had no choice but after nearly 30 years of war, 30 years of endless slaughter, we were expected to fight alongside them as allies, after they killed countless billions of women and children and turned dozens of our worlds into molten glass, it was an anger I had never felt in my entire life," James told him, "And now…I wish that I did have a chip in my brain to make what I was ordered to do bearable," He finally said.

"You really don't, and neither did I" They all heard a voice say.

It was Rex, "I didn't betray my Jedi, Wolfe, Gregor and I all removed our control chips," He said, turning around to walk away, "we all have a choice,"

Ezra looked back at Kanan, "For what it's worth, I believe we can trust Rex," He said.

Following Ezra, James walked out of the ship.

The two of them left the ship and headed towards the front of the tank where they could see Zeb and Gregor at the bottom of it, James wondered if Ezra was going to ask him any questions about the small look into his past that he had told them. If it were anyone else that he wasn't entirely depending on for survival and assistance in a location his friend, he couldn't have imagined telling anyone something like that about himself to a person he had known for barely a day.

Maybe Ezra wanted to but had learnt when it was best not to ask more questions. James couldn't blame him, he was only a child when the war great war started and even then he was still overly curious about everything.

Walking down towards the foremost platform, Ezra shouted out to Zeb and Gregor, "Are we ready?" He asked.

"Yep, your friend here is going to bring us in our big Bongo," Gregor said enthusiastically.

Looking visibly confused at every word the clone had said, James looked to Ezra "Uhh, what are we doing?" He asked the young boy.

"Well, the clones are helping us with those coordinates so we're helping them catch dinner apparently," Ezra said.

"Something tells me this isn't going to be like those old fishing trips my father and I went on," James said with an eye roll.

"Guessing that was on water?" Ezra asked.

James nodded, "This definitely isn't," He said with a sigh before taking a deep breath, "All right then, let's crack on with it,"

Wasn't that one heck of a long one for a third chapter, hope everyone enjoyed it. I don't have a lot to say in this bottom chapter, as usual, though if you liked it then leave a review and tell me what you thought. Hope that people got a little bit more backstory on James and Jack, even if the story isn't too long I don't want to release too much about their history and try to force people to know about them too much too quickly.

Hope most of my details about the Human-Covenant war have been accurate, I'm not sure at what point during the battle for Earth the UNSC pilots would have been told to stop firing on the elites so I did a bit of a guess there. Anyway as normal I'm sure I'll forget what I wanted to write here later on but I hope everyone enjoyed it. If anyone recognises today's excerpt, let me know in the review.

Today's Excerpt -

Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,

Have ruled thee well and long;

By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained,

Thine Empire shall be strong.