Chapter 2

"Imperial Shuttle 1152 requesting docking permissions," the Imperial shuttle pilot said through the comm to a Star Destroyer.

"Shuttle 1152, docking codes received and accepted. Proceed to Bay 2," the flight commander said.

The shuttle pilot landed the shuttle in its designated landing bay.

"Grand Admiral, we have arrived," the pilot said.

In the shuttle's crew compartment, Thrawn acknowledged the announcement and walked down the opening loading ramp. The Destroyer's hanger crew all stood at attention for the Grand Admiral.

"At ease, everyone. Your welcome is appreciated, as always," the Grand Admiral said, relieving the crews to their duties.

Thrawn made his way to the bridge and his second in command was waiting for him.

"Grand Admiral," Constantine said. "I presume your trip went well?"

"Indeed it was, Admiral," Thrawn said, his stone cold voice as calm as ever. "The Emperor has taken the arrival of these unknown people very well. However, he has tasked us with investigating who these people are and where they came from."

"Where should we begin?" Constantine asked.

"Set a course to our first encounter with these soldiers; To Kamino," Thrawn said.

Pretty soon, the viewscreen was full of blue as the Star Destroyer, and the entirety of 7th Fleet, jumped to hyperspace; Straight to Kamino.


"John-117? Are you sure about this sir?" an ODST asked.

"I'm afraid there's no other choice," Lasky said. "You know he's the best at something like this."

"Yeah, by blowing things up," another ODST joked.

Lasky glared at the ODST unit. "He only blows things up, when there's nothing else he can do. If there's a chance at peace with the natives of this galaxy, then he'll take it."

"Well last I heard we already made peace with… what a Rebellion?" the first ODST asked.

"This Rebellion is for the good of the galaxy… or so I was told, but we don't want to fight anybody unless we absolutely have to," Lasky said.

He continued to brief the mission to the ODSTs. They were to first report to the hangars with the Spartans. They would have had a rendezvous with some Rebel craft, but they didn't want to get involved in their conflict against the Empire, so they're scouting different Imperial controlled planets to gather more information on how exactly they stay in power. They had to avoid fighting at all costs, and follow Imperial rules. They had to blend in… at least as much as a bunch of 6 foot super soldiers could, but it is a big galaxy after all.

The ODSTs arrived at the hangars and they saw the Master Chief himself standing in front of a row of Pelicans.

"So what are we using?" the ODST leader asked the Chief.

"You're all in temporary command of a Strident-class heavy frigate. Of course the Master Chief is top command of it," a hangar engineer said. This engineer has been briefed on some of the specifics, but not all. He only knew they needed a Strident-class frigate and who was in command of it.

"I don't think Strident frigates have any drop pods," an ODST said. This guy was new to the group and didn't know much about ships.

"Really? I always thought they did," another said.

"Either way, we are using Pelicans to deploy. We don't want to leave any pods or marks from the pods behind if we are to avoid the Imperials, or any beings, from discovering our full presence here," Chief said, taking everybody by surprise. "I've read the report of Team 5s encounter with the Imperials on Kamino. We cannot have any encounters like that, again."

The ODSTs stood at attention and called out simultaneously, "Yes sir!"

Lasky came over the speakers then, "Away team, you are cleared for ship transfer. The ship's crew will be at your command."

The Spartans and ODSTs boarded one of the Strident-class frigates to meet the crew standing at attention.

Chief and a few ODSTs made their way to the bridge and began departure protocols.

"This is Sierra 117 to Infinity. Are we clear for departure?" the Chief asked.

"Infinity to Sierra 117, you have been cleared. Dropping you now," Laskey said.

The frigate was launched out of the docking bay and into open space.

"Nav," the Chief began. "Set a course to the nearest Imperial planet of low security."

Just moments later, the slipstream drive was active, and the heavy frigate jumped to Slipspace.


"Ezra," Sabine called, shaking Ezra's shoulder. "EZRA!"

Still no response from the young Padawan. Sabine groaned and slapped him.

"EZRA!" she screamed as she slapped his face.

"OW!" Ezra yelled, rubbing his face. "SABINE! WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?"

"I was calling your name for about a minute," Sabine stated, crossing her arms. "What were you thinking about anyway?"

"Nothing…" Ezra said, but Sabine wasn't buying it.

"Ezra," she said, a stern tone in her voice.

He just sighed, "Alright, I was thinking about those ODST guys we met a few days ago. We haven't heard anything from them since."

"Ezra, they're trying to stay out of our conflict against the Empire. Any transmission they send to us could be intercepted and traced back to them. Even worse traced to us," Sabine said.

"I know, but…" Ezra began.

"No buts, Ezra. We can't risk the Empire catching us, and we can't drag people from another galaxy into this war," Sabine said.

"You're right…" Ezra said after a long pause, almost sad.

Sabine's eyes softened, hearing the sad tone in Ezra's voice. She almost wanted to give him a comforting kiss, but she couldn't. Instead she pulled him into a hug, which really surprised him.

Nobody knew that Sabine secretly loves Ezra, but everyone knew Ezra loves Sabine. Funny thing is, Ezra didn't know everybody knew his 'secret'. It was obvious from the very beginning.

The Ghost shook then, but something wasn't right. It didn't feel like a shot hit the ship, or like an asteroid or piece of debris hitting the hull. Whatever it was made the Ghost lose power for a few moments, but when it came back on, everything was flickering; As if the ship couldn't decide to kill the power or stay alive.

Hera ran down the hallway, a terrified look on her face but simultaneously confused.

"Hera what's going on?" Kanan asked.

"I don't know. Something that looked like a wormhole appeared, but before I could run scans, a massive ship appeared and the wormhole collapsed!" she explained.

Ezra ran out of his room and into the hallway, "Is it the UNSC?"

"I don't think so. Whatever it is, it's big and… purple," Hera said then.

"Purple?" Sabine asked.

"Who do you think they could be?" Zeb asked.

There was static heard from the cockpit, as if there was a transmission trying to get through. It was a language nobody has ever heard before. After a few minutes of attempting to speak with the unknown ship, there was a warning shot heard.

"Everybody get down!" Hera called.

A shot hit the Ghost, right in the airlock and it burst open. Fortunately, everybody was strapped down in the gun turrets or cockpit seats. Chopper was able to contain the breach by rerouting whatever power they had into their shields and focused it to the breach.

"Nice work, Chop," Hera said, much to the droid's approval.

"Hera, there's something coming…" Sabine said. She already ran to the breach to inspect the damage when she saw a strange looking ship headed for the breach. It looked like some sort of boarding ship.

"I think it's a boarding craft!" she called then.

"Who are these guys?" Hera asked. "Just the appearance of the ship knocked out our shields and they poked a hole in my ship?"

There was another jolt as the boarding ship clamped onto the side of the Ghost. Sabine had already run into the cockpit by that time.

"We need to lock ourselves into our rooms. Whoever these guys are, we can't escape them by ship," Hera said. "Go NOW!"

Everybody ran to their rooms and closed their doors, locking them. Soon, they heard large footsteps walking down the halls, so everybody was forced to climb into extra hiding spaces originally used to smuggle items past the Imperials… Everyone except Sabine and Ezra. There was barely room in the spaces and Zeb took up all the space.

He hid in a dark corner and when the footsteps faded to another part of the ship, Ezra carefully and quietly opened the door.

"Kid!" Zeb hissed, trying not to attract attention. "What are you doing?"

"I need to get to Sabine and make sure she's alright," he replied. "Also, there should be room in her hiding space for me."

"Are you crazy? You're going to get caught!" Zeb said.

"No I'm not," Ezra said.

Zeb caught on and stopped Ezra from opening the door further, instead quietly closing it again.

"Just climb through there," Zeb said, pointing to the ventilation shaft.

"You know I don't do that anymore!" Ezra hissed.

"Unless you want to be caught, I suggest you do it!" Zeb shot back, quietly.

Ezra took a moment to think when he heard those footsteps returning. This time there was chatter, but they didn't know what they were saying.

"Alright, fine!" Ezra finally said, jumping up into the vents.

Zeb closed the vent after Ezra was all the way inside and climbed back into his space. Just as his panel was closed all the way, he heard a sound from his door, as if it was being broken from the inside out. He heard the door hit the wall on the above his hiding spot, but he didn't dare move a muscle.

Heavy footsteps filled his room, along with more chatter from the unknown people. He knew right then these guys were not from this galaxy. He's heard every language in the galaxy, but these were different.

Ezra quietly crawled through the vents, at times using the force to make him hover slightly to avoid his clothes from dragging through the vents. He navigated his way to Sabine's room and quietly jumped down.

"Sabine," he whispered. He crept up to the panel and opened it. Before Sabine could cry out, he clamped his hand over her mouth.

"SHH!" he hissed. "It's just me. There's no room for me to hide in Zeb's room, and they already broke into it. Can I join you in here?"

"Why here?" she asked quietly.

"Because I know Hera and Kanan are together and Kanan Ezra-proofed his vent panel," Ezra said.

Sabine nodded instantly and made room for Ezra. They closed their panel just as the door next to their room was broken into.

Ezra looked at Sabine and saw a look he never wanted to see again. Her face had lost a lot of color and she was obviously trying not to scream. He couldn't blame her. This was something not even the Mandalorians could handle. The Imperials were well known, but whoever these guys were, they were unheard of.

Pretty soon, their door was the last one left standing, but not for long. When their door was smashed open, Sabine clung to Ezra and tried not to make a sound, literally choking herself. Ezra wrapped his arms around Sabine, making sure she knew she wasn't alone. There were heavy footsteps in the room, and the same chatter. Ezra suddenly looked puzzled and Sabine gave him a fearful 'what' look.

He used a hand language they made up and told her they're speaking pattern is the same from every other room; As if they're saying there's nobody here.

That made Sabine relax only a little, but whoever was on top, seemed to be taking notice of her art work. He stayed longer here than any other room. Sabine gave Ezra another fearful look, and he knew something was wrong. Then it clicked; He didn't close the vent panel.

The large creature stared at the colorful artwork at the walls, but then focused his attention to the open vent panel. His eyes drifted down and saw footprints in the dust and it stopped in a corner. He turned to his boarding party and told them to search the rooms again.

He himself stayed in the room and followed the tracks. He knelt down and stared around at the corner, the ceiling, then back to the floor. He didn't see anything out of the normal, except for a lot of dust. He eventually stood up and left the room.

Ezra and Sabine let out a quiet sigh of relief when the seemingly huge creature left the room. Sabine then let out a very quiet sob and used Ezra's shoulder to muffle her cries even more. Their panel was bent slightly inward, just inches from their heads.

"Sabine…" Ezra whispered, as quietly as he could but audible enough for Sabine to hear.

"I'm terrified beyond belief, Ezra… I don't understand their language," she replied between shaky breaths from her crying.

Ezra stared, surprised. "You've heard every language in this galaxy…"

"Apparently I haven't… unless there's something I…" Sabine started, but a huge bang shut her up.

They heard a lot of yelling, but they couldn't understand a single thing. However, it was obvious that they, whoever these guys were, are very angry and frustrated. Sabine squeaked, about to cry out in fear, but she quickly muffled her scream into Ezra's shoulder. He would've been blushing if this wasn't such a terrifying event.

Eventually, all talking and footsteps were gone and they heard something like a ship detaching itself from the Ghost. After a few more minutes of waiting, Chopper came up through their communicators and told them there were no other life signs onboard. Slowly, everybody left their hiding spots, except for Zeb, who was pinned under his door.

"Hey guys," Zeb said. "I'm pinned under my door. Little help here?"

Kanan helped Zeb out of his hiding space, Hera and Chopper went back to the cockpit and saw the ship disappear into another wormhole, and Sabine… well she began crying again into Ezra, who also looked pale from the damage those guys did to the Ghost.

"Whoever they are," Ezra began. "They are not from this galaxy."

"How do you know?" Zeb asked.

"There was no Force signature…" he replied.

Everybody looked at Kanan who nodded. "He's right. There was no Force signature. Whoever they are…"

Hera dropped a distress beacon for the Rebellion, who quickly arrived to tow the Ghost to a docking port. From there, they jumped back to Yavin. Sabine hadn't let go of Ezra's arm the entire way back, but her hand did slip into Ezra's which really made him worry. He led her into what was left of her room and sat down on the bed.

"Sabine talk to me. What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Whoever they were… I just want you to know something I've felt for a long time…" she began.

Ezra stared at her, his worry only growing.

"Ezra… promise me nothing will happen to you if we come across those guys again," she said, a pleading look in her eyes.

"Sabine…" Ezra said, but Sabine interrupted.

"Promise me, Ezra… Please…"

Her voice was breaking, still very frightened about this encounter. "Please… I-I can't…"

"Sabine?" Ezra asked. Her eyes filled with tears.

"Promise me!" she urged.

"Sabine! You told me never to make promises we can't keep!" Ezra said, but Sabine didn't want to hear that.

"Ezra Bridger, please promise me you won't do anything stupid if this happens again!" she said. "At least promise me that…"

Ezra stared "Define 'stupid'."

"Don't confront them… don't sneak around like that again…" she said, her fear growing. Ezra could feel her fear, which was something he didn't like to feel.

"I promise… I promise I won't do anything like that," he said finally. What he got in response really surprised him. Sabine threw her arms around him and kissed him, but only for a few seconds.

She rested her head to his, "Thank you…"


"Captain Lasky, sir!" the ensign called. Lasky walked over to him.

"What is it, Ensign? A report from our away team?"

"Negative, sir. It's the Rebellion," he replied.

"The rebellion? I thought I told them we can't help them in their…" Lasky said, but he was interrupted.

"No sir, it's something different. They have an urgent message from a…" he took a moment to look at his notes. "General Syndulla."

Lasky turned to the communications officer, "Reroute that channel here, immediately."

A blue Twi'lek appeared on the holotable, but she looked frightened. In fact, her entire crew was standing around her, every last one of them looking just as terrified.

"Captain Lasky," Hera said.

"General Syndulla. I presume this must be urgent to contact us like this?"

"Indeed… my crew and I… encountered something."

"If it's something about the Empire, I'm afraid we can't help you," Lasky said.

"No it's not Imperial… though we were attacked. Our Jedi felt no Force signatures on the attackers," Hera said. Two men behind her nodded slowly.

"I've heard about your Force and all but I don't understand what you're saying," Lasky said.

"My point is, Captain," Hera continued. "Whoever our attackers are, they were not of this galaxy."

Lasky frowned. "I assure you the UNSC would not do such a thing."

"We know it wasn't you… this ship…" Hera tried to explain it, but it all happened so fast. "Chopper, did you get a clear look of the vessel?"

The droid beeped in response, knowing what Hera wanted him to do.

There was another beep from the Infinity's communication console.

"Sir, they sent us something," the officer reported.

"Bring that up, too," Lasky said.

An image of an all too familiar ship appeared and Lasky paled slightly.

"We were wondering… if you know anything of this vessel," Hera said.

Lasky leaned onto the console and nodded. "We do indeed… and it's nothing good."

He heard the young woman in the background, whom he recalled as Sabine, make a noise.

"Syndulla, what's the status of your ship?" Lasky asked then.

"No power, one of the airlocks has been blown off… so many dents in the floors and walls, broken doors… critical," she replied.

"It's a miracle you and your ship are even here," Lasky said.

"We had spaces in our rooms, originally used for smuggling, to hide in," she said.

"Then it's no wonder they didn't find you, but the fact that your ship is even intact as well as it is already..." Lasky said.

"Who are they?" the boy known as Ezra asked, urgently.

"I'm afraid I'm not supposed to tell you, but it's also for your own good to avoid them at all costs," Lasky said. There was a long pause. "But considering that there's no time to ask Central Command for clearance, I can't just leave you in the dark."

Everyone from both sides of the communication looked uneasy.

"General Syndulla, Kanan, Ezra, Sabine… And you big, purple, hairy creature…"

"Zeb!"

Lasky winced, "Sorry… Zeb…" he paused a moment. "I'm afraid you have just met the Covenant."

"If the Covenant is here, then that means they also sent a ship to investigate the same Anomaly we found," a Lieutenant said.

Lasky nodded. "I'm afraid we have to break comms here, but I must warn you. Avoid that ship at all cost. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT engage in any communications with them!"

That definitely did not make them feel better, but they took the warning to heart.

"You don't have to tell us twice," Ezra said.

"While you have your war against the Empire… We'll have our little war against that Covenant assault carrier you encountered." Lasky paused again before adding. "Good luck, all of you. Stay safe."

Their communication was broken and Lasky turned back to the Comms officer.

"Get me the Master Chief!"

"Right away!"


The Master Chief was just watching his unit train when he was told Lasky needed to speak to him.

"Chief, there's a message from Thomas Lasky for you. He says it's urgent," Cortana said.

"Send the transmission to that terminal," he said, pointing to a communications console. It was convenient he was standing near it when he got the message.

"Chief, I'm afraid there's terrible news," Lasky said.

"I read you loud and clear, too, sir. What's going on?" Chief said.

"Our Rebel friends have encountered the Covenant within this galaxy. We need you to stay on alert," Lasky said.

"What ship did they find?" Cortana asked then.

"Their ship's power was knocked out when the assault carrier exited Slipspace. The Covenant searched their vessel, but fortunately for the Ghost crew, they had hiding places in their quarters. They're safe," Lasky reported.

"Acknowledged, Captain. We'll keep our scanners active," Chief said.

"Thank you. If you do encounter the carrier, do not hesitate to contact Infinity. We will arrive as soon as we possibly can," Lasky said.

"Yes sir," the Chief said just as the channel closed.

"Cortana, notify the entire crew," he said then.

"Already done, John," Cortana said.

Chief shook his head, but didn't say anything.


Back on Yavin, Sabine was sitting with Ezra in his base quarters.

"It's going to be a long time for the Ghost to be repaired completely. You can imagine how upset Hera is," Sabine said.

"So we're grounded from any missions until it's done?" Ezra asked.

Sabine nodded. She couldn't forget how close they were to being found. Just the smallest sound would've given them all away.

"Ezra…" she started.

He looked at Sabine's scared face. She was still slightly shaking from fear.

"What if we hadn't hidden ourselves?" she asked.

"I don't know, and I don't want to know. Captain Laskey made it clear to us to avoid these guys and I don't intend on ignoring it," he replied.

Sabine looked up to Ezra and saw the same fear in his eyes that she had in hers. They didn't want to know what these Covenant wanted to do next.


"What? The Covenant is there, too?" the UNSC leaders exclaimed. It had been a couple days since the Infinity established almost immediate communications with their home, all thanks to the rebellion's help.

"I'm afraid so, sir. One of our contacts has reported a Covenant CAS-class assault carrier within this galaxy. I don't think there's any more ships here, though, which is the only good news here," Lasky said.

Of course the responses would take about a minute, which was painful, but better than waiting days.

"That's as good of news we're going to receive I presume… Very well. Proceed with caution, Captain. We grant you command of Infinity through detached duty. You are free to operate free of the chain of command, considering the spotty communication. We trust in your judgment," the Admiral said before the channel was closed. Lasky stood, frozen in surprise. Detached duty was something the UNSC never does, but it also made perfect sense since they are pretty far away. It was amazing how their comms could even reach them. (Plot reasons. Too complicated to explain and/or fix)

"All hands, keep our Slipspace drive spinning. We jump as soon as we get any other sightings of the super carrier. Keep all our frigates ready to depart. As soon as we exit Slipspace, we will deploy them," Lasky said through an open intercom channel.

"I need all station leaders to report their current status," he added.

Pretty soon, the XO walked up to him.

"Sir, all stations report ready," he said.

"Good. Now, we wait," Lasky said.


I didn't have an author's note at the end of the previous chapter, but I am aware that things have been rushed and I have been trying to fix all the prewritten chapters (all 4 of them) without changing the story too much. Also, the situation where Infinity would normally contact primary government for help... well I would have to rewrite the entire story then, and that's something I'm not able to do. It's... complicated.

But anyway I hope this chapter was better, and all future chapters as well. Feel free to point out anything I may have messed up on. If I am able to, I will PM you to discuss the matter.

Also (To save me some time with fixing this problem) the Admiral speaking to Thrawn in this chapter was supposed to be THE Konstantine in the SWR show, but let's just say, considering he should be dead during this story, that it's a different admiral with a similar name.