Hello, again this one was just over a month since the last one so Happy New Year everybody. Sorry about the wait, as usual, I have been very busy with my coursework and have only just recently caught up and managed to catch a break. Anyway as normal I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave your thoughts in the review.
Previous chapter review replies -
PM - I have considered re-writing a few more chapters and I might do it eventually but the only reason I did the first two is because it is the beginning of the story that sets up for the rest and they were very badly done and needed a serious do-over for the story to make sense since what happened in the original was rushed and didn't really cover the topics that needed doing in order to understand what was happening and why.
Guest - Yes I did get a few reviews/comments on how the Republic was way too quick to accept the UNSC's entry to the war and an alliance however this is quite far into the war and the Republic isn't doing well and all of a sudden a major galactic power comes in, so they would play it to their advantage to, at the very least, try and stop them from becoming a potential enemy but yes just because they formed a temporary alliance doesn't mean that the Republic trusts them and vice versa.
Henderusmc - I agree with that and I don't really have an excuse other than this was early in the stories posting and I was in a rush to get the beginning open and available but it does miss out on some vital info because of that. It is the main reason I re-wrote the first two chapters because they were rushed and had quite a few holes. Having said that while the senate probably would be untrusting of the UNSC/UEG I am sure they would agree to it if only because they assumed they would have a new ally to do some of the work for them. I'll try to include some more political scene later on.
GuestDCDGojira - Cheers and Happy new year.
LadyKDQ - Thanks.
Guest L - Yes I did have to do a real hard think about how I was going to play that around the armour area since they would have to be made for use not just to the Spartans II and IV's. Also yes while the Star Wars universe has somewhat more advanced shielding from energy weapons It is difficult to write good Star Wars/Halo battle where the UNSC doesn't snipe from a distance with MAC's since they are unbelievably powerful. Another issue is that unlike in Halo the technology in star wars never seems to advance in several thousand years. I doubt they would since the lightsaber is a part of the Jedi religion and a new weapon coming along and replacing it is very unlikely though I can see their interest. Personally, I prefer the lightsaber and yes I have done plenty of personal research on the different forms of lightsaber and force combat but which is best against an energy sword depends on the wielder, not the weapon. Cheers Happy New Year.
Cooldude101011 - Yes I know that the clones are technically genetically perfect warriors and are likely better than the standard UNSC Marine but higher than that I am not sure anything below an Arc trooper could take on an ODST or Spartan (any version).
Guest L - I understand, this is experimental armour though and was made to be adjustable to the wearer, that is my fault for not putting it into the story, and yes it is a lot different to any of the other armours we see in halo as they have a bit more equipment and adaptability but this is very far ahead and again a prototype, Thanks.
LadyKDQ - I apologise for any and all spelling errors when it comes to names, I can't really use spell-checker so I have to try and spot them when I go over the finished chapter before publishing and I do miss a few sometimes.
PM - I can't really say how many chapters the story is going to be because I am not sure when I will have to split up one section of the plot into parts like I did on Umbara and like I probably should have done with Jailbreak but I can say without a doubt there is still at least 10 more chapters to come not including this one, and probably more.
Zealous Specter - That is a good point made their and completely my fault, that 1 kilometre was meant to be 100 and I'll go back and fix that when I can but as to the rest of your pointers I will genuinely take them into consideration for following chapters.
Emperor Bloodfire - I am aware that the American way of writing is to put punctuation inside speech marks but I can't change my writing style for a single demographic also it was how I was taught to write and I can't really change that. Sorry
PM - The possibility of a sequel is unlikely given the ending I have planned out so there will most likely be an epilogue but not an entirely new story to follow on from this one, however, I am considering new storeys as of now for what to do after this one. So having said that I am open to ideas about possible new stories although as much as I love Sci-Fi series of anything I am not perfectly knowledgeable in all of them so it depends on what base it is, especially if it is a crossover. The only place in which this doesn't really matter is Halo since I spend a very unhealthy amount of time reading the lore and history of it.
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Chapter Fourteen: Deception Briefing
Fireteam Resolute stood still at their exfil point after having completed their sabotage mission on a Separatist defended sensor station, it had been close to an hour since they had confirmation that the Infinity and her battlegroup had left for Kessel and would soon be in battle above the planet against the planet's defences.
13:20 Hours, April 13, 2565 (Military Calendar)
UNSC Infinity, 29th Andromeda Assault fleet flagship
Andromeda Galaxy, On-route to Kessel
29th Fleet Composition as follows
1 Infinity-Class Supercarrier
2 Liberty-Class Supercarriers
5 Artemis-class Battlecruisers
10 London-Class Light Cruisers
6 Nevada-class Heavy frigate
10 Hyperion-class Destroyers
Travelling through slipspace was the Andromeda Assault Fleet with the UNSC Infinity acting as the temporary lead ship of the small fleet as the UNSC Monitor, a Thermopylae-class supercarrier had been taken to the newly constructed repair docks above Lucazec after leading the fleet into battle against the Separatist held world of Iego, the battle had been successful in the beginning but a laser defence grid had been activated to cover the separatist retreat, it managed to destroy a small group of 4 Hyperion destroyers and two escort Stridents. It drained the Supercarriers shields but the captain had ordered the ships AI to target all the laser projectors with Archer and Howler Missiles.
The defence grid was eventually taken down at the cost of 6 UNSC vessels not including the single London-class cruiser that was destroyed by the small fleet of CIS ships waiting for them, it was assumed after the battle briefing that the ships had been intentionally left to draw in Republic ships as the planet had been almost completely abandoned by the Confederacy not long after the beginning of the war.
Now though the fleet was replenished and the Infinity would lead it into battle, as soon as they received the message that Fireteam Resolute had completed their mission and that they were clear to commence the attack Admiral Lasky gave the order for the fleet to enter slipspace. Included in the fleet was a new line of planetary assault carriers, the Liberty-Class Supercarrier.
It was almost an exact copy of the now outdated Punic-Class supercarrier but with several key differences, for starters, it carried nearly no aircraft at all except for troop deployment vessels such as drop pods or Pelican warbirds so that it could offload the ground invasion force as quickly and efficiently as possible, it had a reduced amount of weapons and the power from the fusion cores would instead power incredibly durable shields. For defence it relied on these, it's small array of weapons which was primarily a single Series 6 MAC and hundreds of AA placements as well as smaller anti-ship coilguns. However, it's primary defence was its escort.
Each carrier had an escort of 4 London-class cruisers and 3 Hyperion-class destroyers, these ships would break through the atmosphere of a planet and deploy its entire garrison of troops within a matter of minutes, with the lack of ammunition needed for the weapons and increased space for troop deployment, each carrier could hold between 3500 to 5000 troops. Onboard the supercarrier Lieutenant Jet sat at his navigation control and addressed Lasky.
"Admiral, we'll be exiting Slipspace in 2 minutes," He said drawing Lasky's attention as he stood up and walked forward to the Holotank
He brought up several ship command controls as well the basic overview of the ships they were expecting upon their arrival, "Roland, fleet status?"
"Standby...No distress detected Sir all ships are green and battle-ready" Roland replied
"It doesn't normally take you that long for a standard report, getting a little slow there?" Lasky said casually
Roland folded his arms "Very funny Sir, flash copies of AI's aren't supposed to be used for entire ships, let alone one as big as the Infinity, my main processors are still on Kessel with Fireteam Resolute''.
"Nobody ever said running the Infinity was easy" Lasky replied scrolling through the holotanks display of Kessel space.
"Neither did I, I guess I am just appreciating having my full strength back soon...Dropping out of Slipspace in 30 seconds, Sir" He said as Lasky closed down the information and resumed the ship operations and orders instead.
"Roland, I'll need an immediate report on the enemy fleet composition, all fighter groups are to deploy from the fleet once we arrive and take up defensive positions around the Infinity to await further orders". Lasky said turning from the holotable to the front outer viewport.
Several seconds later the ship emerged from slipspace followed instantly by the other 33 ships, they had all emerged in near-perfect formation with the Infinity in the lead and the two supercarriers behind at the left and right close flanks of the Infinity. Besides the Liberty carriers was its escort with the London cruisers split between the ships left and right, the escort destroyers formed a half diamond with two at the rear in-between the two cruisers and the third behind the carrier and in between the two sets of cruisers and destroyers, all with enough space between them to manoeuvre and fire without colliding.
The remaining ships would form the main attack force and punch a hole in the enemy fleet for the carrier groups to get through and make it to the upper atmosphere where the Marines and ODST forces would deploy, followed by the designated Spartan Fireteams. The five Artemis battlecruisers lined up with three in a line and the remaining two further out with one on the left and one on the right, the Infinity would line in between them.
All six of the Nevada frigates took formation above the Infinity with two acting as the wings at each side and another behind and slightly lower. The two remaining London cruisers and four Hyperion destroyers took their position at the near rear of the Infinity to cover their flanks. The fleet awaited orders as soon as it arrived. Lasky was soon to give them orders as he went over the status report from Roland, or at least what was still left of Roland on the ship.
As he received the report Roland read aloud the important parts "Scans complete enemy fleets as follows… 2 Lucrehalk Battleships, 3 Bulwark Battlecruisers, 8 Munificent Frigates, 10 Recusant destroyers and another 13 vessels of unknown or outdated origin, likely stolen ships by the Pyke Syndicate slavers, 36 enemy combat ships total not including fighter craft, Sir". Roland detailed as Lasky started giving orders.
He looked out towards the positioning of the fleet, working out the best way to commence the attack, it took very little time "We're outnumbered but not outmatched, there are two command ships out there, we take down one by the time command has transferred over to the second we can punch a decent hole in the left flank of the fleet". He said moving back over to the holotank and immediately started issuing orders.
He brought up the command structure for the fleet and contacted the captains of the two carrier battle groups, "Carrier groups alpha and bravo will stay in current positions as the forward formation engages the leftmost command ship and accompanying fleet, rearguard is tasked with long-range defence against the remaining ships defending the other side, Lasky out". He said standing by the communication channel and submitting the orders through his command centre console.
As the Infinity moved forward leading the fleet the hostile ships reacted, not moving from their positions but angling their ships to be facing the UNSC fleet, "Internal chatter on the enemy ships has skyrocketed sir, they're in disarray" Lieutenant Cameron
"Good then we know Resolute did their job well, they won't stay like that though, Lieutenant Austen, status on fleet-wide targeting solutions for Accelerator Cannons and Secondary Ordinance" He demanded
The Lieutenant was almost instant with his status report. "Sir, no obstructions between us and the enemy blockade, MAC capacitors are at 100 percent and holding, firing solutions are ready for targets across the fleets missile and MAC systems," He said
One of the sensor analysts alerted the Admiral "Sir, at our current speed we will only be able to fire a single combined salvo of MAC fire before we are within the range of enemy weapons, our destroyers can keep up quick sustained fire but the rest of the fleets loading and charging systems will take longer"
Lasky considered his options "We can't risk slowing down and losing the invasion carriers, Infinity will fire first and the fleet will follow, Roland, create a firing sequence with 0.5 seconds per ship MAC salvo, we'll take down their shields and let the rest of the fleet finish it off".
"Aye Sir, I recommend we prime archer missiles on the Lucrehulk through repeated scans have shown they have cut off power to their propulsion, it's likely they have directed the power to their shields". Roland told the Admiral
Admiral Lasky looked over the holograms of the enemy battleship "Negative, At full power, the Infinity should do more than enough damage and the forward battlegroups fire will disable it, we'll need our missiles for the rest of the blockade". He said.
As he denied Roland completed the targeting solution, "Firing sequence is ready, hostile blockade is 140,000 kilometres out, Sir".
"Good," Lasky said, "As soon as the salvo from the Destroyers and Light Cruisers are away, have them target the Recusants and the Munificents are to prioritise fire on the Munificents, All Artemis Battlecruisers are to stay in formation but fire at will on any ships that attempt to block or fire on either carrier group."
"Orders relayed Sir," Roland said
"Fire!" Admiral Lasky ordered
Seconds away from being in range of enemy fire the Infinity fired it's two forward-facing heavily modified Series 8 accelerator cannons launching the 3000-ton ferric-tungsten slugs at nearly 17% the speed of light towards the enemy command ship, a blinding white flash burst from the muzzle of the weapon for not even half a second as the projectiles launched towards one of the enemy command ships, leaving a white trail of light in its path.
The thundering from the blast shook the ship with its internal dampeners working hard. With the orders commenced every ship in the fleet fired their main canons in perfectly timed sequences after Infinity fired hers. From the Supercarriers first shot it took nearly nine seconds for the rounds to reach the main target. When they finally struck the outer explosions on the ship were visibly destructive but when the heat died down it was still standing with the entry holes visable right as the slower rounds from the battle cruisers met their mark.
The combined power of the 5 battlecruiser canons struck the Lucrehulk with forced power, striking the hull at their split-second intervals not giving them any time to regenerate their shields. It looked almost like one single shot but by the time the third shot had hit the station had taken too much fire and the remaining three slugs shredded right through the hull plating splintering inside the ship causing massive amounts of damage, then as the final shell pierced through the station flared up in a colossal explosion sending debris in all directions.
Simultaneously the Frigates cruisers and Destroyers let loose their weapons in a coordinated strike on the main left flank of the enemy blockade. Countless micro explosions scattered the smaller separatist ships peppering them with shattered MAC rounds draining the shield of ships behind their targets as they blasted right through the smaller ships with surgical precision and lightning speed.
Before the shots died down through the larger half of the undamaged right flank and the left opened fire.
"Status report!" Lasky ordered
Roland was quick to announce "Enemy command ship destroyed, 5 Recusant destroyers eliminated as well 4 Munificent frigates and 6 of the unidentified slaver combat ships. Shields are down to 74 percent Sir".
"Casualties?" Lasky asked as the ship took on the weaker enemy fire
"Mostly the destroyers Admiral, 3 confirmed losses, reports of minor damage from 4 London cruisers, it seems they are trying to focus their capital ships firepower on our smaller vessels, I'm picking up incoming fighters and bombers in attack formation on the Infinity's and Artemis's bows". Roland informed alarmingly
"Fighters are clear to engage, prioritise the bombers and let the defence network handle most of the fighters, Destroyers are to go to evasive manoeuvres and draw enemy fire to our right flank, we have our opening". Lasky ordered
Around the Infinity and battlecruisers, the hundreds of fighter disengaged from their near stationary positions and burst their engines to life at full speed to meet the enemy as they lined for an attack run, as they got closer and closer the hostile fighter droids broke off from the main group and sped towards the UNSC fighters, a small portion of the elite UNSC fighters consisting of mostly the still new Katanas and Mark II Broadswords went to engage them leaving the Sabres and C712 Longswords to intercept the bombers.
From the bridge, the battle of enemy fighters clashed and instantly raged in front and below the ship, with the thousands of rounds from cannon and machine-gun fire as well as ship to ship missiles coupled with the rapid but half accurate fire from the enemy droid fighters. All the Hyperion Destroyers and London Cruisers not a part of the troop carrier battle groups were partly engaged with a large section of the right blockade flank that had tried to reinforce the left.
"Now's our chance, Roland, give the order to both ground battle groups to break through the left blockade wing, Arm all missile pods on the Artemis's and the Infinity we'll take out the unknown ships that are left and save the MAC's for any more ships that try to follow them to the surface". Admiral Lasky ordered
The giant supercarriers led by their escorts made a charge for the gap getting halfway as the silo hatches on both the Infinity and Artemis ships opened and hundreds of Archer and Howler were fired each one aimed at the enemy unknown ships that had moved to block the carrier groups. Belting past the friendly ships the missiles came under fire from the close-in weapons on the Separatist and Pyke slaver ships, the missile was fast though and less than a fifth of them were stopped before they hit.
The small ships of the Pyke slavers could not stand up to the sheer dozens of missiles that each ship was taking and in quick succession, they were all destroyed in small explosions leaving only the 10 CIS ships half of which were Recusant destroyers. Lined up perfectly the advancing escort fired their MAC cannons at will and at the same time the hostile ships opened fire with their main Heavy turbo laser cannons and turrets. In the lead, the carriers both targeted their MAC's at the single enemy battle cruiser while the escort cruisers all targeted at least one enemy frigate as the destroyers posed less of a threat.
The ships fired in quick rapid succession with the combined shots of the Liberty carriers annihilating the lone Bulwark battlecruiser immediately stopping it from firing on the UNSC ships, at the same time nearly a dozen MAC rounds are loosed from the Cruisers and Destroyers smashing into the Munificents from close range followed by missile attacks on the Recusants.
Back on the Infinity bridge, Lasky ordered the ships attacking the right arm of the blockade to pull back and regroup to the main battle group to push forward and finish off what was left of the total CIS force. "Lieutenant Austen, Coordinate with the Artemis Battlecruisers to line up the last Lucrehulk battleship, if we can destroy it they will have no viable command structure left". He ordered as the ships began to pull packs with cover from the Infinity missile and railgun systems managing to eliminate three destroyers as they regrouped.
"Roland, Total enemy strength?" Admiral Lasky enquired
"Reinforcements from the right flank have retreated, total enemy force consists of 6 enemy ships including the Lucrehulk, 3 Recusant destroyers and 2 Bulwarks, hostile fighter craft are also retreating, Sir" Roland informed.
"Status of the carrier groups?" Lasky enquired further
"Free of enemy ships and descending to the planets surface" Roland answered
"Good, as soon as the main battlegroup is regrouped open fire on the Lucrehulk, all other targets are secondary" Lasky ordered
Minutes later under heavy fire from the battleship the main attack force was regrouped and the Infinity plus her Nevada Heavy frigate escorts took aim at the last remaining command ship and opened fire. The shots all launched within a second from different angles striking the spherical ship from all over. It continued firing though until the last round from the lead Nevada, 'white spirit' went straight through the core of the ship and emerged out of the other side where the deflector shield generator was.
As the several hundred-ton shell broke through the outer plating of the generators housing it blew away from the ship in a tremendous fireless explosion. The missing chunk of the ship weakened the hull beyond what it could take and the cracks became larger until the right side of the ship broke away disabling the vessel, leaving it without power and defenceless, drifting in orbit.
As the last command ship was torn apart the few enemy ships that were left stopped receiving communications and attempted to retreat from the system, they never stopped firing only diverting what little power they could to their engines while still holding off the smaller agile UNSC ships. The closest one to the fleet were wiped out by the near-constant fire from the dorsal mounted Onager canons and Lance missile systems.
Escaping before they could be fired upon, a single Recusant and Munificent which was severely damaged jumped to hyperspace in a flash from the system.
On the bridge, Admiral Lasky changed the battlegroups trajectory "Roland have all fighters return to their ships for re-arming, Infinity will head to low planet orbit while the Nevadas stay and keep an eye out for any enemy reinforcements.
(Planet Surface)
Within their small defensive perimeter that had been set up, Fireteam Resolute stood ready for any attacks by the enemy forces that might have tracked them to their exfil point. Watching from the cliffs was Fives, Rookie and Captain Jack. Below them was one of the major spice mines that supplied the Pyke syndicate and their confederacy allies with a large number of resources from Spice to Kesselstone,
Through his private communications channel, Spartan Jack had been receiving updates from the ships in battle above, "Anything new sir?" Fives asked, checking his weapon over as they waited.
"Negative, last communique was that the invasion fleet was breaking through the blockade, we should hear back soon". Jack replied as he looked towards the sky
JD turned around to the mounds they had constructed quickly for cover "Kix, is Cadmon doing okay?"
Kix looked from the outstretching plains to Cadmon who was propped up against one of the speeder bikes, after regaining consciousness he had attempted to take back his weapon from the defensive line until being ordered by both Kix and Jack to rest. "Fine, couple days he'll be back to normal" Kix assured
Around them the ground started to faintly rumble, then it became noticeably more violent and the sickly clouds that covered the atmosphere started to part ways as something came through the cloud cover. A massive ship dining the name Infinity on the side lowered into the planets vile skyline and with it, hundreds of pelicans and escorting aircraft descended with her and steamed right ahead to begin the attack on the settlements as the Alpha and Bravo task forces must have been elsewhere on the planet.
"Attacks beginning Captain," Rookie said as he watched the troops descend and jump from the Pelicans, deploying stun grenades below to stop the slavers from killing or taking any slaves hostage. "Permission to engage?"
"Absolutely not, we all heard Lasky's orders we're to wait here for further orders," Captain Jack said sternly
Switching posts Jesse walked over to the edge "Captains right, we have our orders and besides I'd say those boys over there are doing fine" Jesse mentioned looking over to the complex where battle was raging between the battle-hardened Marines and Helljumpers against the lightly armed garrison of troops, it wasn't even close to a fair fight.
"Still though, Lasky must have something serious for us if he's ordering us to stay here and wait for him...personally," Rookie said
Jesse turned to the three of them "I know waiting here is out of the ordinary during an attack but do UNSC commanders never give missions in person on a battlefield?" he asked, confused knowing how many times clone squads were given missions by Jedi generals and commanders usually in the heat of battle.
"Yes but not like this, nothing is secure and this unknown enemy territory, I presume your commanders do things differently," Jack asked suggestively
"Almost always, General Skywalker has issued some questionable orders but they somehow work out a lot," Jesse said
"I can't deny, I've seen a lot of Jedi commanders pull off some...considerable manoeuvres but they get results though, especially General Skywalker". Jack said notably before looking to his HUD again, "Pelicans on approach, Cadmon wake up" He informed as above them two very heavily armoured D77 dropships came into land, escorted by four OF92's, an open frame vehicle manned by Spartans.
They came in fast before slowing down and descending to the cliff's edge where the Spartans landed and shut down their booster frame's engines as the Pelican continued to descend the soldiers got a closer look at the approaching Spartans. "Captain, is that Fireteam Royal?" Fives asked having fought alongside them many times in the past year.
"Yeah it is, it's been a while," Jack said with slight amusement having now been the leader of his own team for nearly several months.
Pulling back from their positions the rest of them grouped up and closed the gap between them and the Spartans as the Pelican landed, silencing its engines the ramp lowered and a small detachment of marines exited forming a protective perimeter around the two teams. Following them, Admiral Lasky departed in his battle dress uniform, equipped with his old M6D magnum, holstered at his hip.
"Any idea what this is about Iona?" Jack asked looking towards his old captain
She hesitated for a moment "I'll have to let Admiral Lasky explain" Iona said looking to her left as Lasky approached.
"Fireteam Resolute, good job but I'm afraid everything up until now has been a cover for your actual mission," Lasky said to them, getting confused glances from them.
"Eh...Sir you mean this entire invasion was just a lie so you could hand us a new mission?" Cadmon asked
Lasky faltered for a second before looking over to his brother "Not entirely, the slave trade on Kessel has been a prime target and has been in the works for weeks but recent discoveries have my faith wavering at who I can trust right now". He said getting concerned looks from the Clones and Spartans.
"Sir does the UNSC have a leak?" Rookie asked, attempting to put the pieces together
The Admiral shook his head "No Corporal, It's worse than that and the problem is not within our government...It's in the Republic". He revealed
The seven of them stood shocked looking at each other until Iona spoke up looking towards Spartan Jack "After you were resigned to lead Fireteam Resolute, we were sent on a reconnaissance mission on Bomis Koori IV with General Kenobi and Skywalker for a sabotage operation but while we were there we encountered an individual identified by the Jedi as Count Dooku, head of the CIS state and sith lord" Iona explained.
None of them had any time to be shocked before Spartan Mattew continued with the details, "We remained undetected but when we entered the facility we passed their communications relay, I planted a mobile signal interceptor on the array in case we needed information on troop movements in the event of our discovery behind enemy lines but one transmission caught my eye" he said as he held out his holochip display in the palm of his hand.
Appearing was the sith lord and a clocked individual, they could just about see that their lips were moving "the interceptor wasn't powerful enough to decrypt the full signal, whoever this is wanted to stay undetected" Lexi cleared up. The footage went on for nearly a full minute before Matt shut the display down.
Lasky also brought up his holo display but larger and placed it on the ground before activating it form his wrist panel "the audio was too scrambled and corrupted to recover but we managed to replicate the video signal transmission and while we couldn't identify the device or person who received the communication we tracked it to the senate building on Coruscant, we know that it was a Republic official".
"Until we can identify the other person in this transmission we can only guess as to who within the Galactic Republic is coercing with the Confederacy," Kate said
Lasky intervened "Fireteam Royal and Fireteam Resolute are being formed into a temporary task force to investigate this," he said as he started assigning orders "Iona, Fireteam Royal will head to Gardulla's Palace on Nal Hutta, the huts like to think they own these parts of the galaxy and are not fans of us or the Republic".
"Rules of Engagement?" Lexi asked, checking her weapon
"Applied but they hopefully won't be needed, ONI has granted this mission use of the Black fund," Lasky said
"Black Fund?" Lexi asked confused
Iona started to explain "A rumour mostly, a fund with no limit or known budget used for dealings where it's best there is no paper trail, though I suppose now it is not just a whisper".
"Exactly, no matter how much they hate us if there is one thing they'll respond to its money, Whoever this traitor is, it is not likely they'll be using space lanes monitored by the Republic or us, try and buy whatever information you can from them". Lasky said
"And our mission?" Captain Jack asked
"Same objective but different target, take your team to the Florum system, there is a Weequay pirate gang there led by a Hondo Ohnaka the UNSC has even come across his gang a few times". Lasky said
"Anti-Piracy raids Sir?" Jun asked
"No the opposite, so far three UNSC mining convoys have come under attack from him though attack may be a strong word as each boarding attempt was met with armed response and we've never suffered any fatalities" Lasky explained
Cadmon's brow bent upon hearing that "Wait? These pirates have been reported as attacking UNSC ships and personnel and now we're just going to waltz into his base of operations offering to pay for information" He said sternly
Lasky looked over "Unless you have a better idea, Lieutenant" he replied seriously to the soldier, secretly agreeing with him and not wanting to do anything to these raiders except dropping a Hyperion-class nuclear missile onto them. Nobody spoke for a brief second until Lasky looked away from his brother and back to the rest of them "Regroup onboard the Infinity for some rest, you both leave at 1200 hours tomorrow, good luck and may the Mantle guide you" He said as he turned and walked back onto his pelican followed by the perimeter forces. "One last thing," he said turning his head back, "And until I say otherwise this is top secret information which means not one word of this can leak out to anyone...including the Republic and Jedi council," Lasky said looking mainly at the clones.
"Our duty is to protect the Republic from threats outside and within Sir," Fives said proudly.
Lasky faintly cracks a grin before continuing to and boarding his pelican followed by Roland in his forerunner form. "See you around Resolute, won't deny it was a lively experience away from the ship," he said before ducking to board the Pelican.
The soldiers made their way to their transports, "So, how's leading Resolute going then?" Iona asked walking alongside Captain Jack
"Still early but they're all reliable soldiers, especially Fives, he more than proved himself on Umbara, Got to say though having others rely on you is taxing, to say the least," Jack says as Iona mounts her OF92 and starts it up.
"You'll get used to it, I'll see you back at the Full Moon bar, the first round is on you, Captain," she says pompously, taking off followed by the other Spartans. As they leave the second pelican opens it's hatch and Fireteam Resolute board the dropship. All of them find their seats as the ship fires its engines and lifts off the ground throwing the sand and dust of the ground back out across the plains.
It gains altitude as it manoeuvres towards the Infinity following closely behind the Admirals ship and the Spartans. Below them, the UNSC troops begin to finally mop up the remaining hostile forces and liberate the slave population. Arriving onboard the supercarrier, fireteam resolute changed into standard ship grey tunics and headed for the dive bar on the upper decks known as the Full Moon. The doors opened as they arrived and walked in.
It was a large but low room with tables and booths going far back and several bars with blue curved lights on them with drinks and glasses behind them and their civilian staff pouring peoples drinks. Iona and Kate were stood by the bar closest to the door as they walked in and they called them over. "Cap, over here, grab a drink," She said
They walked over to the bar "You guys got here fast, where's Lexi and Matt?" Jack said looking around for his former teammates.
"Back there somewhere talking to some of the 34th troopers about something, here," She said pulling out several glasses from behind the bar and a clear glass bottle of red liquid pouring it out into the glasses pushing them towards the Clones and Spartans. "Finest Mokyshan Red on the ship," she said causing Jacks eyes to widen.
"We're deploying in 20 hours and you're ok with this?" He asked, surprised at her lack of usual rule discipline that she had displayed for years when he was a member of Royal.
Iona was swift to respond "UNSC regulations prohibit drinking before deployment by 12 hours and I trust my team not to do anything stupid, do you? She asked taking another sip of her drink.
Jack took a quick look to his team before sighing "Alright but just one so make the most of it" He said as the four soldiers pulled up the stools sat in front of the bar before trying the drink in front of them and continued talking.
"Wheres the rest of your team by the way?" Kate said noticing they were short a couple.
"Cadmons getting checked up in the infirmary and Jun would rather do blind target practice apparently," Jack said as Iona finished her drink.
"You sure you're good, we fought together for years and you were never this casual before a deployment," He said nodding his head at her glass.
"People change, besides I guess Cadmon and I have the same opinion about doing deals with lawless scum like the Hutts from what I've heard, I thought I was done with that, " She said, receiving a questioning look from the Spartan, she sighed before continuing, "Before I headed up fireteam Royal I was part of ONI's blacklist company...During the war, we would pay the less than loyal insurrectionists for information and sometimes illegal operations to draw the UNSC's military attention away from them and towards the covenant and sometimes it would just end up with more civilian casualties that ONI labelled as...reasonable". Iona explained bitterly
Jack hesitated to respond as he picked up the glass from the bar and took a short drink of it, putting it back down onto the glass surface "Sounds like the kind of operations they wouldn't want to be discussed, I can see why your record is pretty plain looking before you joined the Spartan Core". He said sympathetically.
Iona moved her glass aside "It just feels wrong for these marauders to profit from people they've already tried to kill and still from". she said
"It feels wrong because it is wrong but if we can get the intelligence we need and figure out who is supplying the CIS with allied intelligence we can stop more marines and clones from getting killed and possibly even shorten the war, then we can deal with these pillagers in full force". Jack said
"I know but the UNSC has the power to do something, we already have dozens of colonies and military installations across the inner and outer rim". Iona argued
"But we can't enforce our laws in this Galaxy and it isn't our job to enforce the Republics either" Jack countered turning towards his team
"I thought we were taught to uphold the Mantle," Iona said turning to face Jack
The Spartan knew she was right and that the UEG could have been doing more "It's not that simple, we can't just send in every fleet the UNSC has to offer and clean up the galaxy, don't forget we still have enemies back home". Jack said
"I hope your right about this" Iona said before standing and walking away from the bar.
Captain Jack turned back towards the other side of the bar where his team had been approached by two individuals one of which he easily recognised after a second. "Buck? What are you doing here, I thought Osiris was running security for a diplomatic meeting on Naboo?" he asked
"Re-assigned," Buck said as he stepped over to greet the Spartan "Had to pick up a new addition to the team apparently, Tup, get over here," He said as the clone he vaguely recognised came over from the group, "This is Captain Jack from fireteam Resolute". He introduced
Jack and Tup shook hands as Jack remembered where he recognised the clone from "I remember you 501st on Umbara right?" he asked
"Right Sir, I was just as surprised when I saw Jesse and Kix, glad to know I'm not the only clone joining the Spartans, brilliant work taking down Krell by the way he got what he deserved," he said lowering his hand.
"Too right, so your part of fireteam Osiris now?" He asked
"I am, though I'm not sure Commander Locke is very pleased with it," Tup said
"Relax soldier, Locke is like that with everyone, so anyway where is resolute being deployed to next?" Buck asked
"Top Secret sorry, you?" Jack said knowing that his mission was classified beyond the top.
"Nowhere, for now, Osiris is off temporarily off duty," Buck said cheerfully as he leaned back against the bar and poured himself another drink.
"Must be nice, can't remember the last time I got any shore leave" JD said raising the little bit of drink he had left as Buck clinked his glass to the shock troopers.
"Well when we do we should head to the 79's on Coruscant," Kix said
"Good place?" Rookie asked
"Somewhat, Clones don't get a lot of military leave but when we do on Coruscant that is usually our go-to, the locals even started calling it the clone bar". Kix replied gaily.
"All right, first round's on me then in the event Resolute gets granted shore leave however unlikely that may seem," Rookie said jokingly.
"Okay, a few hours then we head to the barracks, we'll need some rest before we deploy, Understood?"
"Sir Yes Sir!" Resolute replied clearly
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And so ends another chapter, hope you all enjoyed it. Yes, there was a little foreshadowing of what is to come with that ending also I do apologise slightly for the usual long wait for a chapter that wasn't as action-heavy as the last few apart from the space battle but this one was kind of more for steering the plot since that is slightly difficult to do at the same time as fighting a major ground offensive.
Again as usual leave, any thoughts in the reviews and I'll respond to it in the following chapter, especially if it is a continuity or timeline error like I knew I already did with a couple but I have gone through every episode of the clone wars and other canon material to build up the full and I mean full star wars timeline so hopefully, there shouldn't be any more of those problems. As for grammar don't forget it is different in certain countries, in the UK I was always taught to put punctuation outside of speech/quote marks.
