So here is yet another chapter up, hope you guys are really enjoying the story, it is now one of the top 5 Clone Wars/ Halo crossovers on the site so I am really happy about that especially since I never actually imagined the story getting more than maybe a couple dozen follows.

While we are not finished yet I do have another story in the idea phase, what do you guys think about a proper Halo/Star Trek crossover. If I do it will probably be Either Voyager or Next Generation but what do you think, let me know in the reviews. I haven't actually seen many of this type of crossover so the potential is pretty good.

Also if you have any questions that you don't really want to wait for the next chapter to be answered, send a PM and I'll respond as soon as I see it. Finally, I am incredibly proud and happy that this is now becoming one of the more popular Star Wars / Halo crossovers and I hope it continues to rise.

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Replies to last reviews...

Edeath756 - I do love hearing about you guy's guesses (Obviously I can't say) but I will say that order 66 is an unavoidable event at this point. Your second point is pretty on the nose, if I just sent the entire UNSC naval power and the Separatists then the story would get boring pretty quick. With a decade to rebuild and rearm plus the inclusion of forerunner technology embedded heavily in the navy even without the Republics help they could with some ease flatten the CIS.

LadyKDQ - Thanks a lot

TheFishKing - Well if that was true he would clearly be underestimating the ability of even a Spartan-IV, I have no doubt that a team of Spartans could easily handle a Platoon of clones and maybe even an entire company.

Guest L -

Enji-benjy - I do have a way of explaining that, I Intended to do that in the second chapter but I changed my mind and it is upcoming, not an exciting answer but a logical one at least. Sorry if I said stern in a battle when I meant Bow of a ship, I'll go back and some point and make some changes for mistakes like these. Another small mistake I'll need to double-check from now on (Speech changing paragraph)

Guest - Yes you are Right, Rookie should be dead as he was sadly executed and buried at sea on Draco III during a rebellion ambush but while his story has changed I haven't gotten around to explaining yet but If I see an opportunity in the story to sneak it in I will.

Guest - Masterchief will not be in the story, sorry, the Arbiter however is. I know I have said we will be seeing the Sangheili and that was not a lie but it is still a little ways away.

Guest Feng Lei - I did describe in chapter 14 when they are about to assault the outpost in the Infinity's simulation, I'll check it again to see if I missed any details.

N1cok - Yeah that will have been a mistake made at some stupid time in the middle of the night and not realised it, at some point in an editing session I will change that. Before the next chapter upload to be sure.

Tony Miguel - Yes it absolutely will, until it is finished. I promise this story won't be abandoned, I see and have made reviews/comments like that dozens of times on long gone but not finished stories so now that I am on the other side I'll not let it happen to this one. As soon as I saw this one I pulled an all-nighter to get it finished quicker.


Chapter Fifteen: Makings of a Peacekeeper

1130 Hours, April 14, 2565 (Military Calendar)

UNSC Infinity, 29th Andromeda Assault fleet

Andromeda Galaxy, Stationary Orbit around Kessel

S-Deck ("Spartan Town")

The metal floors rattled and echoes of metallic clicking filled the room. In the heart of the behemoth supercarrier, Fireteam Resolute stood in one of the seemingly endless Spartan-IV barracks equipment rooms where they were carefully equipping their repaired armour after their recent battle on the slave world of Kessel. Looks between the members varied as they internally prepared for their next mission.

Alongside them was Fireteam Royal, sharing determination but apprehensions towards their objective of what they knew was essentially paying criminals for information. Even before the attacks by the known pirates on both Civilian and UNSC vessels, the enhanced soldiers would have had serious scepticism about their orders. "So we're really doing this huh?" Cadmon asked, loading a magazine of hardlight energy into his freshly cleaned weapon.

"Orders are Orders Lieutenant," Lexi said from across the room as she finished assembling her armour, obscuring her face with her helmets now darkened blue visor.

"Doesn't mean we have to like them. we shouldn't be paying them, we should be interrogating them" Cadmon said with serious distaste.

From behind him, Captain Jack was putting on his last piece of forearm armour, due to the recently developed automatic locking systems the newer generations of Spartan-IV armour plating didn't require large machinery to remove and put on, unlike its older predecessor.

"It's less messy this way and as bitter as it may be, it's probably also more reliable too". He said picking up his weapon and putting it on his magnetic holster.

None of the others said anything further as they walked into line and left the room, as soon as they left, they turned towards the closest tram system, from there they descended nearly the entire height of the infinity as they dropped to the lower flight deck where both teams extensively modified D81-LRT Condors were waiting for them. The bright lights of the closed hangers hit and bounced off the alloy of the soldier's armour as they walked boldly into the room.

On two separate platforms sat a separate silver and black densely modified version of the D81-LRT Condor, it had been scaled up by nearly 80 percent to accommodate a crew's quarters, small armoury and larger engine for the ships exterior shields and camouflage. Its signature colour was designed to resemble the stealth bird-like look of the infamous ONI prowlers that crawled all over both galaxies. The only part of the almost freighter size ship that remained untouched was its weapon systems, keeping its mini ballista MAC and 5 well-placed twin pulse laser turrets.

The soldiers made their way over to the ships, splitting off as the walkway to them diverged. "Good luck and May the Mantle Guide you," Iona said sincerely, looking over at the Spartan leader and Fives.

Jack nodded back earnestly as the rest of his team walked past and onto the ship through the open ramp way, he soon followed from behind.

"Good luck to you too Captain," Fives said as Iona turned partially towards her ship where her team awaited her.

She gave a slight smile from underneath her hardened helmets exterior "Appreciated Fives",

"Ma'am". Fives said respectfully as he, as well as Iona, turned and resumed his course to the Condor.

As he marched up the ramp into the main fuselage the ramp came up with a low groan from the hydraulics. It was soon followed by the quiet roar of the ship's heavy engines bursting to life. In the cockpit, Fives and Jack took to the controls and received the launch permission from the hangers flight commander. As he puts his hands to the flight stick as does fives behind him, he sees the ship's twin next to him lumber off the ground and gain high speed as it advances quickly out of the hangers blue shielded airlocks.

After watching the ship leave he takes full control of the craft and follows suit, lifting the heavy transport off of the deck and engaging the rear engines. The sudden power thrusts them out of the hanger and into open space where above the now former slave planet, he can still see numerous ships journeying towards and from the planet. Likely carrying the liberated prisoners to take them to one of the UNSC's recently finished colony's for medical treatment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he can make out the ship carrying fireteam Royal half a second before it makes the jump to slipspace and disappears from view, silently wishing them luck one last time he manoeuvres his ship in the opposite direction, entering the coordinates for the Florrum system. Opening a rift in slipstream space, he flew the ship in as it collapsed behind them. Once in transit with the bright blue streams of light passing all around them, Jack put the autopilot on, "Briefing, centre console". He ordered as the team moved from their positions to gather around the metal cuboid.

"Cadmon, bring up the materials on Florrum". He said emerging from the front of the craft followed close behind by Fives.

As they approached the holotank, Cadmon inserts a chip into the system and a large series of files appears before the Lieutenant quickly sorts through it.

"Alright, mission objective is intelligence extraction" Jack starts firmly "We'll arrive on the planet's surface here, one mile out from the compound we have identified as the Weequay pirate gang fortress". Jack stated as he combed through the pictures and details of the desert-like region.

Cadmon then zoomed in on the overhead view of the complex, "Now unfortunately we have no internal look of the building so inside memorise what you can, we'll need it in the event of a quick escape. Luckily I don't believe these pirates will be much of a threat anyway". Cadmon said

"Probably half-drunk anyway," Rookie said facetiously as the Captain opened the file on the pirate gang, not acknowledging the ODST's half-joke, especially since it was likely to be true.

Jack brought up an image of the Weequay pirate leader "Hondo Ohnaka, leader of the Ohnaka Gang, known throughout the outer rim quite well apparently, from what ONI has gathered and what the Republic has provided there isn't a single member of this crew that isn't wanted by the law and the only thing they gave a damn about is money, in whatever form it may be. That should hopefully make our mission easier.

Cadmon removed the images and files on the pirate crew and again brought out the tactical ones of the complex as Captain Jack continued the briefing. "As said, we'll approach on foot and make contact with this Hondo, from there we get whatever intel we can and, as much as I hate to even say it, pay this scum for it and return it to Infinity, any questions?" He asked

Kix partially raised his hand, Jack looked over to him gesturing for him to ask "Sir, why does Admiral Lasky think that these pirates will know anything about a traitor in the Republic?". Kix asked

"It won't be as simple as that I'm afraid, I can't be certain but it is most likely that these pirates will have raided more than just the odd civilian vessel and come across items or people they shouldn't have". Jack finished, Kix seemed partially sound with his response.

"Good and one last thing the Admiral and General Skywalker have read our battle reports, most of them anyway, and have both agreed on the decision the make Fives my second in command of fireteam Resolute, I hope you're up for the task soldier," Captain Jack said congratulatory before looking away from the surprised but pleased clone to Jun. "I hope you aren't too displeased with their decision Jun," he said

"Of course not Sir, I'm sure Fives will do the UNSC and Republic proud," Jun said truthfully.

"If there is nothing else? dismissed" Jack said after nobody raised anything else

With the mission briefing over, the crew resumed their previous positions either studying the mission details further or checking their weapons over again and waited for the relatively short journey from Kessel to Florum to end.

It was a short time later when the alert of impending arrival went off that the crew awoke from their tasks fully and gathered back in the main section of the ship when the Captain came over the comms. "30 seconds to arrival, everybody checks your gear and get in position". He ordered as they took their positions in the ship's harnesses against the walls for rough slipspace exits.

In the cockpit Fives monitored the sensors while Jack brought the ship out of slipspace and ahead of them they saw the desolate sulfurous planet of Florrum, "Coordinates for the complex entered sir". Fives said above him.

Captain Jack took manual control of the ship and increased power to the rear engines, the burst of speed pushed the ship forward. Getting closer to the planet by the second the Condors outer hull temperature started to rise and their speed increased as they started to feel the pull of the planet's gravity well. Entering the atmosphere, the engine's power was reduced and as they fully left the vacuum of space the glowing redness of the plating on the hull faded as they regained their normal speed within the atmosphere.

On his HUD connected to the ship, Fives saw the location the captain had tagged on the map, it was a small collection of rocks large enough to hide the ship but close enough that they could get to the pirate fortress on foot. Losing speed rapidly as it approached the ground, the hefty ship forced a large amount of the sand beneath it to frantically run away from the ground until patches of light stone replaced it and offered the Condor a stable landing platform.

The landing gear extended from within its internal bay mere metres above the ground, touching the ground heavily the gears suspension bounced the ship as it came to a full stop and the engines wound down from a loud roar to gentle whine until they stopped completely. Inside the ship, the fireteam was gathered in the centre doing their final weapon checks as Rookie pulled the lever opening the rear ramp. The sunlight instantly broke through the gaps and lit up the higher sections of the ship's interior.

"Alright we've been over the plan enough, let's go," Captain Jack said as he led his team outside, immediately scanning with his weapon for anything hostile waiting for them, it was clear and he lowered his rifle before holstering it once more. Following him out of the ship the rest of Resolute kept their weapons out but lowered.

The Spartan captain approached the edge of the ridge where they had landed and looked out over the drop to where he could clearly see their objective location, "There it is" Rookie said approaching Jacks side.

Looking around the environment Captain Jack then turned to the drop trooper, "Rookie, you and Jesse take a sniper from the armoury and enough ammo and get into an overlook position from that ridge, no telling if this will turn sour". he ordered

"Yes, Sir!" Both of them said, briskly returning to the ship before coming out carrying each carrying the immensely powerful SRS99 sniper rifle series 5 model that now included an experimental muzzle brake that would dissipate the vapour trail left by the round in previous versions of the weapon, a design flaw that had led previous users of the weapon to lose the element of surprise and have their location discovered after just a couple of shots fired.

They hastily marched to the ridgeline their captain had directed them to and got into prone positions looking through the scope at their target. They could see the massive complex and several vehicles surrounding it from small speeder bikes to a large rugged tank all either manned or watched over by the guards in the courtyard of the fortress. From their high position the two of them could see the rest of the unit had climbed down from the ship's ridgeline and made it out into the open.

It was still midday and they had several hours of daylight left before they had to think about switching to night vision through their scope linked HUD's. "Jesse, Rookie, we're approaching the compound". Fives alerted them through their comm channel.

Adjusting his rifle he hovered his scope over them. "Copy that Fives, we have you on our scope". Rookie said

"Keep it on the pirates and guys...safeties off, fingers on triggers but don't fire unless I give the signal". The captain cautiously told them.

"Acknowledged Sir". Jesse said as the two of them flicked the switch on the side of their weapons from safe to Fire.

Jesse sighed "Are there really no other snipers we could have used, perhaps ones less bone-breaking?" Jesse said through his suits outside speakers to the shock trooper dreading having to the rifle.

Rookie chuckled at his squadmates reluctance "Not unless you want our position to be given away after the first shot, soldier up Jesse" he said partially reassuringly.

"Roger, any luck the muzzle will take some of the blow," Jesse said looking back through his scope.

After hiking through the dense sand for almost a mile the rest of the squad reached viewing distance of the complex as well as the pirates who almost immediately raised their weapons at them. Staying firm captain Jack approached not drawing his weapon followed behind by the rest of his team who were on edge and ready to strike.

Despite the sloppy and undisciplined stances, the Spartan saw he knew it would still be better to navigate the situation without opening fire, as he slowly walked forward to the pirate group he heard Rookie over the comm. "Just say when cap" he whispered.

Jack stopped as he was just a few feet away from the gang of pirates that had their weapons trained on them.

"That's far enough!" one of the pirates shouted

Jack depolarised his visor "We'd like to speak to Hondo Onhaka about a… Business Opportunity". He said

The pirate in-front of them looked to the others beside and behind him before looking back to the Spartan who before seeing his face would have presumed and possibly hoped it was just a droid of some kind.

"Oh, and what kind of business opportunity would that be?" He asked suspiciously, trying to hide his curiosity.

"A very profitable kind" Jack replied fervently.

Persuaded enough the lead pirate once again looked over to one of the others behind him, "Go get the boss" he said as the pirate he spoke to turned and quickly walked back inside the building through the large open hanger.

It was a tense minute of silence between the two groups before eventually, a person walked out of the hangers darkness, not the same as the one who entered just a minute earlier. He approached them almost cheerfully in his pace, coming up beside the pirate the Spartan had spoken with he put his hand on his weapon, casually pushing it down, disregarding the other several pirates that still had drawn blasters.

"Most strange...I've never seen men such as yourselves around these parts before," He said curiously, eyeing the soldiers up down looking at their armour and weapons.

"We don't get around much," Cadmon said sternly from behind.

Taking it as a warning the Weequay pirate decided to stop closely observing their gear, "I'm told you have a proposition, of sorts?" he questioned

"We could use some information and due to your...activities in certain areas we were hoping you might be able to provide it, for a fee I presume of course". Jack said

At the notion Hondo's eyes perked up, "I like you already but who is 'we' the Separatists don't have anything like you and you aren't a clone from what I can see" He speculated before being cut off by the lead Spartan.

"Our allegiances are irrelevant, are you interested in our offer or not?" Jack said calmly.

"Of course, come follow me, we can discuss it further". Hondo said walking back towards the inside of the fortress gesturing with his waving hand for them to follow.

With a brief split second of hesitation captain, Jack followed the seemingly friendly Weequay inside followed by the team behind him. As they walked past the group of pirates they finally lowered their weapons but didn't take their eyes off of them or their gear until they were fully inside and hidden from their view.

Walking inside it was exactly as they had expected it to be, pirates half-drunk all over the place with gambling at several tables and Rylothian women. Even though their darkened visors and Spartan armour they could each see in each other they would rather be bringing the gang to justice.

Inside Hondo pulled one of the pirates aside and whispered something to him, the Spartan was unable to hear but before he could try using his suit to amplify the pirate's voice he had already left and made his way to a room behind a corner quickly. Before the soldier could investigate further Hondo had sat in a circular booth to his right and was drinking from a dark purple cup and gestured to the captain to sit.

He did so cautiously, "So what is this information I can help you with," Hondo asked casually

"Anything relating to say...political figures, within the Republic," Jack said suggestively

The pirate failed to connect the dots "I'm afraid you'll have to be a little more specific my armoured friend". He said, taking another gulp of his drink.

Internally, Captain Jack sighed "We're investigating corruption and we need to know if you've seen anything that might lead us to suspect any particular individuals". He said, hoping the pirate in front of him would finally understand.

Hondo began laughing for several seconds before regaining his speech "Corruption? In the Republic? That's like coming here trying to 'find' a pirate!" he continued.

"I'm guessing I can take that as a no then," Jack said deeply as he moved to leave

"Now hold on I never said that, it's entirely possible I might have what you seek". He said, luring the super-soldier back to the seat. "Of course as you pointed out there is a fee".

While they negotiated behind them and vaguely spread out was fireteam Resolute, partially further away Fives and Cadmon were stood in security position when Cadmon saw something ahead of him behind a stone pillar, he couldn't see around it. He looked to Fives and darted his head in the direction he was looking, peaking the clones interest as well. Meanwhile at the table, the Spartan and Pirate were negotiating.

"Republic credits? No no no what am I supposed to do with those, go to the bank?" Hondo refused "I take items of use, of value, ships or spice but credits?".

The Spartan racked his head as to what he could actually offer the pirate, ships was an obvious no as even if they had no limit to their fund he would not allow him to have one, drugs or Republic spice wouldn't cut it either. "How about Whisky? You guys seem to like your drink pretty well, I could offer a ship worth of Titan Smoke, finest in the galaxy". He said convincingly

"Now my boy, you're thinking like a pirate". Hondo said with a laugh.

While they went over their details Fives and Cadmon were getting a closer look around the corner when a pirate watching guard against one of the stone pillars saw what they were up to and put his hand against his weapon, standing up from his leaning position and started to walk over to the snooping soldiers but they had already seen what they were after.

"Is that?" Fives trailed before Cadmon came on the team's internal communications channel, In front of them suspended partially in a powered restraint, in it was Ahsoka Tano, in the pirate's captivity. Unconscious be clearly breathing.

"Captain! It's Ahsoka, They have Commander Tano hostage!" He shouted loudly through his comm as both he and Fives pulled out their weapons aiming them at the pirates who had figured out what they had seen and too pulled out their weapons. Back at the table captain Jack had reached for his sidearm the very nanosecond he heard they had the Jedi, his friend captive and aimed it right at Onhaka's head, to his right Jun had taken a defensive stance pulling out his twin SPMA hardlight pistols.

"What is this? I was just about to say yes" Hondo questioned before he could accept the generous offer from the blue and white armoured soldier.

"Mind explaining why you're keeping a Jedi apprentice and Republic Commander hostage?" He demanded

"I don't think that's important," Hondo said, effortlessly trying to divert

In response the soldier unclipped another device from one of his armour's lower magnetic clips, he rapidly put it in front of the increasingly frustrating pirates face as a long thin blue and white blade of energy extended, stopping just before reaching Hondo's face. He clearly understood the Spartan wasn't going to walk away.

"Alright!, okay we were raiding a Jedi cruiser for Kyber crystals and we didn't find any so things got a little...tense". He said as the situation in the large open hangar-sized room became tenser and tenser with the pirates ready to open fire at any moment, no matter how fruitless it would be to try.

Slowly pulling his blade back from Hondo's throat he continued "Here is what's going to happen" Jack said softly but deep. "You can take this deal, give us the information or not but either way I am leaving this pile of sand with Ahsoka Tano alive right now, your choice?". He offered

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife as Hondo looked around briefly at the soldiers all aiming their weapons at the dozens of pirates. "You drive a hard bargain, I accept," Hondo said, looking over to the small group of pirates next to Ahsoka to ask them to release her but before he could even open his mouth again, Fives had fired his hardlight rifle at the base of the restraint source.

It fluttered and died almost instantly with Ahsoka then falling and caught by Cadmon, Fives and Cadmon both took an arm over their shoulder putting away their large weapons but drawing their sidearms out. As they walked her over, Hondo pulled out a small chip from his jacket, "A ship we raided not long ago, was heading to Coruscant and we saw a transmission coming from the senate district for half a second before it activated a self-destruct". He said handing the chip over

"And this is?" he said looking at the small device

"I downloaded the manifest, thought maybe I could blackmail the owner". Hondo replied

The Spartan took the chip, "Must have activated when the ship stopped moving or it detected you, this had better be worth the price". He said

the captain stood up from the booth and tossed a small rectangular device to Hondo. "Coordinates for the Titan Smoke drop". He said without a care.

"And how do I know it'll be there?" Hondo said, attempting to use what little standing he had left.

Jack continued walking towards the exit "You don't, in the same way, you don't know if as soon as we leave I won't call in an airstrike on this place" he said, not turning around.

Still, under heavy weapons sights, Cadmon and Fives stayed in the middle of the group holding the Jedi with Kix and Jun providing rear security while the captain led them out the front, not knowing what was going on the pirates out front immediately aimed their weapons at Resolute as soon as they saw the Jedi they had captured free, not risking anything the Spartan used his near-instant reactions and neural implants to send the signal to Jesse and Rookie to open fire.

On the ridge a mile out the two troopers had heard everything that had happened inside and were on high alert in-case they had to leave their positions and rescue them or to open fire, It wasn't long after hearing that Ahsoka Tano was there that they saw the pirates turn around and their team members come out two of them holding an unconscious commander Tano with them. Before either of them even had the thought of contacting their captain over the comm channel, they both received the silent led indicator on their HUD to open fire from the captain.

Already having targets selected they squeezed their triggers and the 14.5×114mm round went screaming at the enemy with the sound echoing for miles, there was no vapour trail following the round this time and the muzzle flash was hidden from view. The near hand length shell casings ejected from the rifles hitting the sand next to them, still smoking.

On the ground the shots reached the targets before the sound did, blowing out two pirate skulls the two prone snipers managed to hit another four in the panic that immediately followed the deaths. The four pirates that remained didn't know where the shots were coming from but were aware they were coming from somewhere behind them and tried to get to the tank for cover and to try and fight back but were immediately gunned down by Jun and Kix.

One remaining pirate holding onto a wounded arm attempted to pull himself into the tank from behind out of view of the soldiers shooting from afar but was soon stopped as Captain Jack used his suits boost thrusters to build up a sudden rush of speed and jumped upwards, landing on the tank and lunging his energy sword through his chest as he attempted to shut the tank's hatch. "They will have heard the shots, move!". Jack said, looking back to the fortress entrance as he could hear them trying to rush out.

They then ran as fast as they could out of the complex and back towards the ship, not looking back they saw the shots being fired from the ridgeline and several red blaster bolts started to fly past them for several seconds. "Jesse, Rookie lay down suppressing fire!" Jack shouted in between running breaths as he could see the ship in sight. Above them, the two soldiers ditched their sniper rifles and equipped their own hardlight SRR submachine weapons.

At such distance, there was little hope of actually hitting anything but they could lay down effective suppressing fire to keep the pirates at bay. The golden streaks of fire kept them from chasing after them but through their helmets enhanced optics, they could see that the pirates were getting close to the vehicles on the other side of the open courtyard. Luckily the rest of the team were now at the base of the ridge and all activated their internal jet packs that extended from the sides along with small metal wings used for stabilizing the flight.

Rookie and Jesse ceased their firing as they slid down from their raised platform carrying their rifles and quickly boarded the ship getting ready for take-off right as the other half of their fireteam started to get up the ramp. Quickly rushing the ship's engines to near full throttle Rookie raised and the ship and pulled away before the ramp and landing gear had retracted. Below them, the gang of pirates had managed to get several vehicles running and started firing on the ship, Rookie managed to avoid most of the shots from the small arms fire with the shields making up for the rest.

On the main guns, Jesse managed to lay down enough covering fire with the short training on UNSC dropships he had, eventually, they were out of sight of the pirates and Rookie put the ship down in a large sand crater, hopefully out of sight of the pirates. Exiting the cockpit, Jesse and Rookie entered the main section of the ship. "Kix, how is she?" Jesse asked as the two of them walked over.

"Fine, just unconscious," Kix said before pulling out a small paper like packet from one of his medical pouches that he opted for instead of extra ammunition and grenades. He ripped the top off of the small sache and waved it in front of the young Jedi causing her to shuffle slightly before her eyes opened wide and she leapt up with an audible gasp.

Backing up slightly Kix took off his helmet, "Easy commander, it's us" he said calming her down as she had instinctively reached for her lightsabers the second she had come to, not finding them.

She looked up finally recognising them, "Kix? Jack? Did the Republic send you to rescue us?" she asked standing up

Despite trusting the Jedi very much he knew he couldn't share the details of their mission, not yet at least "Uh no, we were on a Special Ops mission when we found you, wait what do you mean us?" He said remembering what she had just said.

Ahsoka looked up at him worried "I was on a training mission with 6 students, they were in the middle of constructing their lightsabers when Hondo and his gang attacked our cruiser, I told them to hide in the ship's compartments while I held them off, unfortunately, the bridge between the ships was damaged and long story short I ended up captured". She explained.

"Weren't there any clone forces present?" Jun asked

She shook her head "No, it was a Jedi training lesson, not a military operation and now I can only presume they called for help but coming from Ilum It will take too long for them to receive it". Ahsoka pondered trying to think of a plan.

"Commander, your ship wouldn't happen to have been a Paladin-class corvette, would it?" Cadmon asked, looking at one of the ship's integrated system monitors.

"Yes the Crucible, Why?". She asked sceptically, walking over to him.

"Because the ship's recorded sensors showed a ship matching those specs breaking the surface and landing less than an hour ago". He said

"You have got to be joking!" She said frustratingly

"You said, there weren't any military personnel on that ship, who else is with the students?" Jack asked

"Professor Huyang but he's a droid and wouldn't compromise the ship or the student's safety to bring the ship here, I can only presume then that the younglings have decided to go through with some poorly thought attempt at a rescue plan, for me". She said

Jack exhaled heavily while sitting in one of the chairs around a table opposite the main centre holotank "Alright I'd hoped that I would never have to set foot in that rat's nest again but doesn't seem like we have much of a choice". He said standing up "Resolute, or mission directory has changed, extraction can wait for now we have an evac op to run". He said, getting looks of agreement from the crew.

"Captain...Jack I can't ask you to defy your orders" Ahsoka said to the Captain partly wishing to handle the situation herself.

"Going to have to stop you right there Ahsoka" He started while dumping an old magazine from his sidearm. "Bad enough these pirates almost got away with kidnapping you but Jedi younglings, children, that's not happening". Jack told her, loading his weapon into his holster.

Ahsoka looked on knowing there was very little chance she was going to change any of their minds "Fine, can we fly to the cruiser? Try and find out their heading". She asked

"No, After our little negotiation session, they'll be on high alert looking for us and our ship" he informed as he looked over to Cadmon "Deploy a QR4 Drone, we'll get surveillance over the ship and make sure it's not a trap or rigged in any way". He ordered

"Aye Sir" Cadmon replied as he went to one of the large storage units in the metal-plated walls and opened one to reveal a large compact drone with a dual output hydrogen engine at its rear and several fins and flaps around it for control. He took the drone to the back of the ship, deploying it from the open hatch as its small powerful engines pushed it up from the ground, from his wrist control Cadmon transferred control to the main holotank.

The large screen activated showing what the drone was seeing from its 3 mounted cameras, "I have a visual on the ship, going in for a closer look" the black armoured trooper said.

Getting closer to it the scorch marks from where the ship had been disabled were more visible "Hull doesn't seem compromised, that's a good sign". Cadmon said bringing the drone around to the rear of the ship, "The engines are another matter, thermal scans are showing the engine temperatures to be just below danger levels, the ship must have been in danger of exploding when it landed". He said, finishing the scan of the area.

Both Ahsoka and Jack looked over the report, "No other energy signatures in the area, so we know it isn't a lure from the pirates, Okay we can't fly in it'll draw too much attention from the fortress over here". He said looking over a map of their general area. "We'll fly in with Jet Packs to the ship and find where they went from there since it's unlikely they would have walked right into the path of Hondo's complex from there we track them and hope they haven't reached it yet". Jack concluded as he closed the map.

"Commander Tano, Jetpack for you over here" Jun called out, placing the large backpack-sized device next to him as she walked over to it.

As she was walking over to it "Ahsoka wait" Jack said calling over to her, she turned her back to look. He pulled out two small silver cylinders from behind him and tossed them over to her. Instinctively she caught them one in each hand and recognised them immediately as her lightsabers.

"Manage to swipe them from Hondo on our way out, he's not the only one who knows how to steal stuff," He said with a proud smile as he returned them.

Glad to have her weapons returned to her she activated them to check on them, they worked perfectly with the short green and yellow blades extending, lighting up a small area around the two. Ahsoka gave another smile as she shut them off, "Thanks, I never would have heard the end of it from Anakin if I lost these" She said, stowing them securely.

"A Jedi's closest ally is their lightsaber?" he asked

"A lightsaber doesn't make a Jedi but as I have heard, this weapon is my life," She said, resuming her walk over to the Jetpack lifting it up.

As she put it on her concern increased, "So, how hard are these to fly?" She asked skittishly.

Rookie gave a light laugh as he helped her secure the cumbersome pack, "Extremely, which is why you won't be flying it, I'll link the navigation controls of your Jetpack to my armour, where I go you go". He said as he connected the link between the two Jetpacks from his wrist controls.

"Better, I guess," She said sounding slightly less worried

All geared up they met back in the centre with Captain Jack explaining the plan "Here's how it's going down, Ahsoka, Rookie, Kix and Fives are coming with me to the ship, we'll investigate what we can, try and find out where the younglings went, we track them and bring them back to the ship, the Crucible is still too damaged to fly" He said going over the maps of the local terrain and paths "Worst case scenario is that they will already have reached the pirates base and we'll have to come up with an infiltration plan then". Jack finished, closing the holotank down and raising the cabins lights back up.

"Jun, you Jesse and Cadmon stay with the ship and be prepared to extract us in case this likely will go wrong" He ordered.

The Five of them exited the rear of the ship and gained a small amount of distance before starting up their Jetpacks, "Remember keep it low, the Crucible is .7 miles northeast of our location". He said checking his HUD's map.

Jack was the first to fire his pack launching into the air, followed immediately by the rest of them who stayed close behind him. It didn't take long for them to build up speed and they flew over several sand dunes before finding the Jedi cruiser on a depressed bed of sand and rock. Captain Jack looked to the others, knocking his helmet twice and pointing at the ship with his index and middle finger giving the signal to land.

Lowering their speed and altitude they descended in front of the ship with Ahsoka and Rookies landing in perfect symmetry. "Cadmon, stay on the drone, let us know if anyone approaches the ship". Fives said through their comm, above him he could see and just barely hear the surveillance drone above them.

"Copy that Fives". Cadmon replied.

The group walked around the front of the ship, "Door's open" Rookie pointed out as he saw the hatchway was open and the ramp was down.

"Is that good or bad though?" Kix asked

"Only one way to find out," Ahsoka said, walking towards and into the ship followed by Jack and the rest of them. Inside was almost completely black with very few of the ship's internal lights functioning.

"Lights are on minimal, the engines must still be down," Fives said

"Lights on" Jack ordered as the team activated the twin lights on their helmets, lighting ahead of them, they could see the path split two ways into the ship.

"Alright, split up, Ahsoka and I will take the right while Fives and Rookie take the left, Kix you stay here and guard the door". The Captain ordered as they split off.

As they walked through the ship they saw the blaster marks from the boarding, several metres into the main section of the ship Jack contacted Fives and Rookie, "Anything on your side?" He asked as he and the Jedi turned a corner.

"Negative Captain, it's all quiet," Fives said

As he received Fives, Captain Jack and Ahsoka heard a metal drop of some sort close to them, "Standby Fives, I think we have something" He said as he closed the channel.

Walking down the hallway he and Ahsoka arrived at the doorway to the cockpit and both took one side of the door, Ahsoka had her hands on the door controls holding both her lightsabers, showing a visible countdown to Jack on her fingers she got to one and opened the door, igniting her blades and Jack holding his sword they breached the room only to be met with another green lightsaber held by a young Rodian.

"Whoa easy kid, watch the weapon," Jack said, bringing his energy sword back upwards to try and show he wasn't a threat before holstering it completely as Ahsoka did the same, recognising the young lightsaber wielder.

"Ganodi!" she said

"Ahsoka?" She asked surprised but with relief as she shut off her lightsaber and clipped it back onto her small utility belt.

"Ganodi, what are you doing here?" She asked, relieved the youngling was okay but clearly irate at them being on Florrum.

"We came to rescue you, we managed to contact Master Kenobi but after he never arrived, the damage to the ship leaked most of the coolant so we needed to land and let the engines cool, Petro suggested we let them cool down here and try and rescue you from the pirates, who is that?" She asked, looking at the Spartan after explaining.

Jack took off his helmet, "I'm Captain Jack, UNSC, we were on our own mission when we saw Ahsoka held by those pirates and managed to rescue her, then she told us about the six of you". He explained

"What were you doing on Florrum?" the young Jedi asked

"That's Classified, more importantly where are the rest of the students?" The Spartan asked

Ganodi shook her head "I don't know, Petro told me to stay with the ship since I'm the only one that can fly it, he said they'd find a way into the pirates' fortress". She told them

"You managed to land this heap, not bad ki-" Jack's impressed look took a turn for serious concern when he heard what was unmistakably the sound of a hardlight round being fired. "Come on!" He said as the two Jedi followed him quickly out of the room and across the walkway to where Rookie and Fives had gone, meeting up with them as well was Kix after he had heard the weapon discharge.

They all entered the main large room in the centre of the ship, with all of them there the lights were enough to make it bright and clear. "What Happened!?" Captain Jack asked as the four of them rushed into the room. In front of them, a droid was on the ground with a damaged right arm and both Rookie and Fives opposite it with their weapons drawn on it.

"As soon as we walked into the room this droid attacked us from the ceiling!". Rookie exclaimed

"That's professor Huyang, the younglings lightsaber architect" Ahsoka pointed out "You can lower your weapons," She said.

The two of them lowered their weapons as the droid stood up, "I should think so, I've only had this arm working again for five minutes and it nearly gets blasted" He said angrily but still sounding professional.

"You fell from the ceiling and punched me in the face!" the ODST pointed out.

"We are on a pirate scattered planet and several unknown individuals boarded the ship, what should I have done, offered refreshments?" The droid countered satirically

"Enough of all this!" Jack said aloud "Professor Huyang was it? Do you know where the pupils have gone? We didn't see any tracks outside, the wind must have covered them with sand".

"I'm afraid not, unfortunately, this R2 unit over here only recently finished repairing me after the pirate attack," The droid said

Before they could ask any more questions Cadmon came over the comms, "Uh Sir? I think I might have found them" he said.

"Explain" Jack ordered wondering why he sounded confused.

"I deployed a secondary drone to watch the pirate fortress just in case they sent out a scouting party and I captured something...interesting, I'm sending you the live feed now," he said with the Captain soon receiving the feed, he accessed it and shared the same confusion as Cadmon.

"What am I looking at here?" he asked now in the same tone as Cadmon, receiving no answer he extended the footage to his mobile holo transmitter holding it in front of Ahsoka and Ganodi. The footage showed five small individuals in various strange costumes performing odd forms of acts in front of the pirates.

"What are they doing?" Ganodi asked

"I can only presume to try and distract them long enough for one of them to rescue me, only I'm here" Ahsoka guessed

"They won't be able to keep up the act for long before Hondo realises something is up, we need to get them out now, Come on I'll explain on the way, Cadmon, recall the primary drone and keep the secondary over the compound". He said as he led them all outside.

"The Crucible won't be able to fly in time to make the escape so here is what's happening, Rookie and Fives, take the Professor and young Ganodi here back to the Condor," He said looking at the droid and Jedi only to be met with resistance from the young Rodian.

"What, No! I need to go with you to save them" she protested

The Spartan looked down at her "That's awfully brave of you young one but I'm sure Ahsoka agrees with me when I say you need to go back to our ship, besides we'll probably need you later" he said.

Ahsoka gave an agreeing look, "I understand". Ganodi said

Jack then opened the comm channel to inform the rest of the crew on the Condor "Kix, Ahsoka and I are going to fly over to the fortress and cause a distraction long enough for you to fly the ship in and pick up the rest of the younglings, after that, you'll pick us up but we'll have to be quick before they can pin us down with to much fire, We're running out of daylight we need to hurry". He said looking at the sun starting to set in the distance.

"Understood Captain, we'll dust off once our passengers arrive," Jun said.

After explaining, the soldiers, Jedi and Droid made their way back towards the ship.

As soon as Rookie had transferred the syncing of his and Ahsoka's jetpacks to Jack the three of them turned to their new destination and in a flash, all three of them took off with sudden bursts of speed.

Sticking low to avoid detection they arrived at a large stable sand dune less than a third of a mile out from the pirate stronghold. Kix passed Ahsoka a pair of Macrobinoculars while he and Jack used their suits' optical display to zoom in on the compound. "Okay, we'll need a distraction large enough to draw the attention away from the show to the front so that the Condor can come in and pick up the younglings".

"Sabotage? Those speeders out front could make a pretty big explosion" Ahsoka suggested

"We'd have to get past the guards" Jack pointed out

"What about our active camouflage?" Kix asked

Jack looked further at the courtyard with the vehicles "Can't, too much sand, they would see our footmarks". He counteracted

"I can distract them for a few moments for you to plant some explosives, Trust me," Ahsoka said

"Alright, Kix, let's go," He said, standing up from his position and heading down the slope, activating his camouflage followed by Kix just as they came into viewing range of the pirates. They managed to get as close as the south wall facing away from the pirates before stopping, "Whatever you're going to do Ahsoka, now's the time" He said.

Back on the dune tip, Ahsoka reached out to the force and pulled on the dull sandstone rocks of a pillar next to one of the pirates a dozen metres from where Kix and Jack were waiting. Using the force she pulled them over, toppling and falling on top of the pirate below. The relatively loud crash caught the attention of the small pirate group guarding the speeders who ran off to investigate the sound. When the coast was clear the two camouflaged soldiers ran in and started hiding explosives on the undersides of the speeders and four on the tank.

With enough remote explosives planted they beat a retreat back up to the dune, "Did you plant enough bombs?" she asked.

"As many as we could," Kix remarked

"Good, the younglings look like they're running out of ways to entertain these drunk marauders". Ahsoka said concerningly.

"Cadmon, Status?" Captain Jack asked over the team channel.

"Passengers on board Sir, dusting off now, we'll be on-site in less than two minutes". Cadmon said with the deep whine of the engines audible in the background.

Kix tossed the detonator to the Captain, "Mantle guide us, here goes nothing" Jack said as the three of them lowered their heads and he triggered the remote detonator.

A second passed and then the shockwave erupted and blew sand several feet, looking up from the cover of the sand dune they saw the large residue of the explosion with a raging fire still burning. Instantly the atmosphere changed and the party the pirates had been enjoying was decimated with them hearing the explosion and nearly all of them running towards it, excluding the pirates that had passed out on the floor from their...festivities.

Cadmon came over the channel "That worked alright, QR4 is still active, I count at least three dozen hostiles heading towards the fire". He informed them looking over the drone's camera while Jun flew the Condor.

"Captain, we're on approach, I'm lowering the onramp Rookie and that Jedi kid are waiting to get the rest of them on board". He said as he saw the compound getting closer.

The commotion and noise from the still out of control explosion fire covered their approach as Jun swung the ship around and revered the engines, With most of the entertainers fleeing and no pirate presence he dropped the rear ramp where Ganodi and Rookie were waiting to get the rest of the students onto the ship. The lights in the cabin were dimmed almost entirely part for a low white set of lights.

Not knowing what was going on or what ship was landing violently in front of them several of the young Jedi brought up their lightsabers in defence, it was only when they saw Ganodi did they vaguely lower their guard. She was shouting over to them but not loud enough to hear but it was clear from her gestures she was telling them to get onto the ship.

"Oh no, Captain they're splitting up, hostiles will be back on the Condor in seconds" Cadmon warned as he could see the pirates start to run in groups in several directions several of which would have ended back up to the rear of the stronghold.

Seeing no other option, Captain Jack withdrew his Hardlight rifle, "Rookie, get those Jedi in fast, I have no idea how well this is going to go'.' Jack hurried the soldier as he raised from the sand dune followed by Kix and Ahsoka.

Getting the Jedi pupils on board he was about to ask what he meant when before he could, he heard weapons fire coming from the opposite side of the area. Looking over up the hill he could see clear as day, Kix and Jack in the sword and shield, manoeuvre with them firing their hardlight weapons and Ahsoka in front of them providing cover, deflecting as many rapid incoming blaster bolts as possible.

It worked in getting their attention as the pirates that would have come across them and the ship turned back after they were fired on. Rookie planted himself firmly at the edge of the ramp to provide covering fire in case they were spotted too soon. Luckily their attention rested solely on the other side of the fortress and soon the rest of the Jedi were on the ship.

"Okay Jun, they're on get us over to the Captain" Rookie shouted through the comm.

As the Ship took off leaving the rear ramp down, Petro approached the dark armoured soldier, "Wait, who are you!?" he asked

"UNSC/Clone force and at least with our Captain, friends of Ahsoka". He said quickly

The mention of Ahsoka drew his attention, "Ahsoka? Where is she? We couldn't find her in the pirate's fort". He asked, still not entirely trusting of the soldiers.

Rookie merely pointed outward as the ship left the ground and started banking. Looking out Petro and the rest of the Jedi younglings could see two similar looking soldiers and Ahsoka Tano fighting off countless pirates that were starting to overrun them.

"Put us down Jun," He said to the pilot before looking back at the young Jedi, "Do not leave this ship, understand? You really want to help, show me you know how to use those and keep the fire off the ship". He said while pointing to Petro's recently constructed lightsaber.

As soon as the ship got close enough it was spotted by the pirates who now divided their fire between the ship and ground force. On the lowered ramp the 6 Jedi students all ignited their blades using their combined effort in deflecting many of the incoming blaster shots away from the ship.

Jack saw their incoming flight path and started to back as the ship came in from their left, staying above the ground, "Come On!" Rookie shouted, opening fire along with Fives and Jesse at the rear of the ramp.

One at a time they fought over to the ship with Kix jumping up first followed by Ahsoka and Jack who's shields were taking a beating and wouldn't have lasted much longer. "We're on board, get us out of here!" Jack yelled through the comm to the cockpit as he ditched his rifle in favour of his energy sword to assist the Jedi in deflecting the incoming fire away from them and away from the ship until the ramp could be fully closed and the ship pulled away.

With the lights back up to their normal brightness Cadmon went from the drone controls to join Jun in the cockpit while everyone else gathered in the main centre room. While most of fireteam Resolute checked their armour and took off their helmets the Younglings were gathered in front of Ahsoka.

"What you did today, was reckless and explicitly against what I told you to do" she scolded, none of them protested "But it was also brave, meditate on this, prepare for the future," She said as her glare softened.

Leaving her students she walked over to Captain Jack who had finished talking to Rookie and had taken his helmet off, putting it aside on the armoury rack. "I can't thank you enough for the rescue". She said

"No thanks necessary, wasn't like I was going to just leave you or your students stranded on Florrum of all places". He said leaning against the wall next to his weapons.

"Still, it is greatly appreciated". She thanked

"Anyway now that we're not being shot at I can ask, last time we saw each other you were still Skywalker's Padawan and now your teaching students, finally become a Knight of the Order?" He asked

Ahsoka gave a humoured hum "Sadly no, teaching younglings is another step in my training, I certainly didn't expect this mission to turn out as it did".

"You taught them well, I have no doubt they'll be putting those swords to good use very soon," he said, seeing some of the Jedi looking over their lightsabers design.

"They're not the only ones, I never heard how you got yours, by the way, I overheard your old team leader mention it was a gift before we were frozen in carbonite for the Piell mission". She asked, having been curious about the Spartans own lightsaber since their first meeting.

"It's a story alright," He said, pulling up a seat from the table next to him as the Jedi did the same.

"It was a year after the great war had ended and tensions were still high, I was assigned to a security detail for a diplomatic meeting between the Sangheili and UEG, well half-way into it and there is an explosion on a cliff face and an entire mountain came down on the dignitaries, the last thing I remember seeing, was trying to get them to safety before it all went black". Jack said

"Did any of the diplomats survive?" Ahsoka asked, Jack just shook his head "Sorry" Ahsoka said consolingly

"It was a terrorist attack by remnant covenant loyalists, when I woke up, I was being held by them in some off-planet prison camp, I was in a cell with a Sangheili and my first thought would have been to attack first think later until i noticed he'd used what he could to bandage a wound on my arm, turns out he had been captured from the Sangheili security from another meeting, we knew our only hope of escape would be to work together". Jack continued

"Was it difficult?" Ahsoka asked

"More than anything, his people had killed billions of us in the war it wasn't easy to just let bygones be gone, eventually though we did break free, retrieve our weapons and managed to fight our way to a shuttle when a marshal elite ambushed us and managed to score a hit on him dead centre, he managed to toss me his energy sword as he went down and after a close fight I killed the marshal but he was already gone". The Spartan explained

Ahsoka looked down "What was his name?"

"We never exchanged names, too focused on getting out but afterwards I dragged his body to the shuttle and was picked up by a rather surprised Sangheili task force fleet, he had no offspring or spouse, the Sangheili leader himself Thel 'Vadam thanked me for sticking by the soldier's side to the end and told me to keep the sabre". Jack finished.

"A rare occasion I presume?" Ahsoka asked

"Extremely and that soon after the war ended". Jack said

Before their conversation could continue, Cadmon arrived from the cockpit, "Sir, I've managed to get in contact with General Kenobi onboard the Savior, he was aboard the Negotiator and it was attacked, he was forced to abandon ship which explains why he never arrived at the Crucibles position, anyway he's sent us coordinates for a rendezvous point".

"Good, set in the coordinates but first, about what we discussed earlier," he said discreetly to the soldier.

"On course now Sir". He said before heading back to the cockpit.

"What was that about?" Ahsoka asked half suspiciously

Jack stood up from the table and walked over to the holotank, bringing up the weapon systems controls and a map of the area on the three-dimensional hologram.

"You'll see, but I am going to owe you an apology in about 10 seconds," He said not looking up from the controls.

"What!, Why?" She asked concerningly when she heard another voice over the comm coming from the holotable.

"Lock is good, gun is your's Captain" Cadmon announced

Pulling up a live feed of the ships nose-mounted camera it showed them fast approaching the landing site of the still damaged Crucible, until seconds later when Jack lined up the forward-facing Micro-Mac and fired a round straight at it, causing it to go up in flames. Slight shock and confusion flooded Ahsoka and the younglings mind.

"Why did you just blow up the Crucible? there were thousands of lightsaber components in there". Katooni, one of the younglings asked before Ahsoka had the chance too.

"Exactly, It's bad enough these pirates don't seem to face any punishment from either of our governments but I don't want to know the harm they could cause with a Jedi cruiser filled with lightsaber parts". Captain Jack explained as they could feel the ship's angle changing to head up higher.

"He's Right, the engines were still too hot to take off for any duration without exploding, we can't let the designs and parts on that ship fall into the hands of someone like Hondo". Ganodi pointed out in defence.

"I understand, the Jedi will just have to use another ship from now on, it will take time to gather as many parts again from the galaxy though," Ahsoka said

A chime came through again from the cockpit, "Good job you did Sir because if Hondo didn't get his hands on that ship, these guys sure would have" Cadmon said as he revealed a live feed from the rearview cameras along with the scans, a small Separatist fleet started to descend onto the planet's surface.

"Couldn't have timed that better myself, Good luck with that Hondo" Rookie said cheerfully.

As soon as the ship broke through the upper atmosphere Cadmon and Jun opened the slipspace portal and jumped through on their way to the coordinates provided by General Kenobi. Through the Journey, the Condors crew watched with great interest as the young Jedi practised their lightsaber combat and small force abilities.

When they eventually exited slipspace the Republic Venator 'Savior' was there waiting for them with the ship's captain opening the ventral bay doors for the large dropship to come in for a landing. Landing neatly in the hanger Cadmon shut off the engines and lowered the rear ramp exit. As the Younglings and Ahsoka exited the ship into the star destroyers, hanger Jack and Fives followed behind a little afterwards leaving their helmets, greeted by Kenobi and Commander Cody.

"Fives, Captain the Jedi owe you a debt for rescuing commander Tano and her students" He thanked, shaking both their hands.

"I believe it is we who owe you a debt, Master Kenobi" Jack said

"Ah Yes the crucible, a loss but not an irreplaceable one, why don't we call it even" Kenobi proposed

"Very well Sir," Jack said with a smile looking over at Ahsoka and the Younglings "Those students really are something". He said, impressed with what they had been able to achieve over the last several hours.

"That they are". Kenobi said walking over to them followed by Jack while Fives stayed with the ship.

"Ahsoka, it's good to see you all safe" He greeted

"Yes Master, we had quite an eventful mission" She replied

"The most eventful since Master Yoda went to find his lightsaber crystal," Professor Huyang said, attracting the interest of the young students as well as Captain Jacks.

"I'm afraid that story will have to wait, for now, be proud, you have survived an ordeal few your age could" Kenobi praised taking and igniting his lightsaber "Welcome home," he said drawing his lightsaber to the centre of the group as one by one they followed, brandishing their weapons in unison.

"Jack," Ahsoka said looking at the captain to her left, she slowly darted her head towards them.

Jack understood what she was implying, "Ahsoka I'm a soldier, not a Jedi," he said, feeling unworthy.

She argued back softly "You're a peacekeeper, you use your weapon to protect the innocent, I can see it". She said.

Won over by her words, he walked a few paces forward, drawing out his own blade of energy, joining in on the Jedi's reunion and ceremony.

"I'm sure today was an event that none of us will soon forget," Jack said as he followed the Jedi in retracting their lightsabers.

"I'm afraid I must go now, we have to report back, May the Mantle guide you both," he said to the perceptive Jedi master and apprentice.

"I understand, I'm sure we'll be meeting again soon and may the force be with you, Captain". Kenobi said as the Captain walked back aboard his ship and watched as moments later its engines started up and it flew out of the hanger into space before opening a new slipspace portal and leaving the system. Heading for the Infinity to hand over their findings.

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Wow, that is now the longest chapter I have written so far, hope you guys like it after nearly two months of waiting. The plot thickens with each chapter now and for those of you who know the order of events in the war, we are getting nearer and nearer to the end. How is it going to go?

Yeah though I did change this one up a little didn't I, please let me know what you all thought of the ending because I was a little hesitant to write it the way I did. I also know that the QR4 drone wasn't developed until the late 2570s but there are not really a lot of named drones for me to use so I had to use it for the purpose of fitting into the plot.

As I mentioned above, let me know what you guys think of the concept of a Star Trek / Halo crossover. This is a much longer chapter than I have written before so I apologise If I made any errors or mistakes I didn't spot in the edit.