Chapter 2 – The Arrival

Author's Notes:

Hey all you loyal readers out there, here is the next chapter in "To Fight For Those Who Can't"

Once again, I don't own any of the characters that are classics in both universes. I also find out some of this info from both "Halopedia" and "Wookieepedia", so some of the characters, history, and other things are true. I just put my own touch and ideas to them.

Also, this chapter will see a little action. But it will mostly be setting up more of the story. I will also be going over some of the UANS's current weapons. Remember people, the UANS has been around for nearly 47 years and have been making major upgrades to everything they have. So don't be surprised if wet your self from the new gear.

Also, I will sometimes use some of the species names used by the marines in the games and sometimes use their real names. I will also switch between the word of a number or the actual number form. It just depends.

Also, I don't really know how to do both Yoda's and Jar Jar's voices, but I will try my best.

This chapter has been updated.

Above the planet Tatooine, our story begins once again.

Senator Padmé Amidala had just arrived in the system after 2 long days of traveling through hyperspace in her J-type star skiff. And she was in high spirits. She was excited. She would not had thought that there was nothing that would ever bring almost all of the major Hutt bosses together and make them decide to possibly join a war. Padmé knew that the war would definitely end very soon if the Hutts joined and the Republic gained access to all of their personnel, routes, and other secrets. And she knew that she could help lead them to join.

She had also contacted some friends before she had left Coruscant and asked if they would like to join. They had answered with a yes. So currently, her self excluded, were several others on her ship that she thought would help with this negotiations. They included her old friend Senator Bail Organa, Representative Jar Jar Binks, her friend Satine Kryze. She had brought her friend to help cheer her up. Ever since Mandalore the Resurrector arrived on Mandalore a year ago, taking control of the New Mandalorians, starting the Mandalorians Protectors, and joining the Separatists, the former Duchess had been living with Padmé on Coruscant. Padmé and Anakin had to tell her of their secret marriage and ask her to keep it a secret. Satine had agreed, as a thanks for all they were doing for her and had done. She was still deeply upset about the lost of her people and seeing them fighting a war again. Padmé hoped that the trip would help her spirits, which had been in a depression for over the last year. Also present was her personal bodyguard, Captain Gregar Typho, and her protocol droid, C-3PO, who had been a gift to her from Anakin.

She was so excited about the sudden turn of events in the war, that she felt slightly sick. Which had been strangly happening a lot lately, she still had no idea why. She decided to ignore the feeling and think about the mission. But, for some strange reason, she felt that the Hutts joining the war wasn't the thing that was going to be the biggest event today.

Just then the alarms on the ship went off. Padmé was surprised by this sudden alarm and tried to figure out what was wrong. Just then, Senator Organa, who was co-piloting the ship with her, looked at a display and said, "Unknown energy readings detected 9,000 meters away!"

"Shut down all systems, all except for life support," Padmé ordered, "let's see what's going on."

Place: On board the UANS Avery Johnson, three minutes before exit from slipspace.

Time: 1505 hours, November 22nd, 2600

The UANS Avery Johnson was nearing its destination after 2 long days in slipspace. The crew was ready and willing for what ever was on the other side. All of the weapons, vehicles, and gear were prep. The crew knew that the planet was just one big desert and had come prepared. They had made sure to get portable power packets to power their equipment, which also included refrigerators and fans to help deal with the heat. But, that stuff was all for the crewmembers' personal time only. The portable bases where also ready for deployment for when they could get them safely to the ground.

Right at that moment, Team Epsilon was leaving the bridge, after being debriefed on their first assignment by Shipmaster Caldor. They were to immediately head down in a Hawk dropship and establish a base near the ruins' location, where the ship could be stationed and be able to deploy a firebase, that would allow them to safely keep an eye on the ruins. The Avery Johnson would be following them slowly and watching their backs, just in case of any surprises.

The team had just arrived in the hanger and headed towards their personal Hawk dropship. The H92D-DH, or as it was better known as the "Hawk", was the UANS's new dropship. It was a troop carrier and gunship all in one. It was a mix between the old Pelican dropships and the Phantom. It looked like the body of the Phantom, with the wings and tail of a Pelican joined to it, except they were slightly curvier, so that they looked right together. It was made of the same metal used by the Phantoms, but it was the new green color used by all UANS vehicles. It was equipped with multiple plasma rockets, which combined the explosive damage of both weapons. It was also equipped with two turrets, one in the front that fired superheated bullets, like the old Spiker guns used, which was controlled by the pilot. The other turret was a plasma turret that came out of the hatch in the back and could be used by any one in the cargo hold. It had also increased in size a bit to fit more troops, allowing for all twelve members of Eplison to fit in comfortably.

But Team Epsilon wasn't heading towards any ordinary Hawk. They were heading to their own personal Hawk, which was quite special. It was painted as black as any night could ever be. It was also equipped with a personal cloaking system that helped the team in stealth and espionage missions. The ship was also equipped with flares, in case of missile lock-on. The team had decided to call it something different, the "Hawk-Bat", for it was as fast as a hawk and as silent as a bat. Brutus was their pilot and had the problem of calling it his "Baby" whenever he could. He would not let any pilot even fly it for a centimeter, and had made sure everyone knew it belonged to him by painting a white skull on the front.

As they passed the rest of the crew, they noticed that all of the races on board were selecting their best weapons and equipment. Most of the designs for armor had not changed in shape and form, all except for the human armor. The common marine had now been given old ODST armor after newer armor took their place. But instead of scraping them, the UANS decided to continue making the armor for the common marine, so that they could fight much better on the battlefield and not take so much heavy causalities. They also had been given simple augmentations, which along with the new armor gave the humans' enhanced eyesight, hearing, speed, and strength. But the one thing that all the armor had in common was that they all had been painted a new desert sand color, just for this op.

As the team reached the "Hawk-Bat", Brutus immediately got in the pilot's seat and prepped it for launch. Max came up front to watch the show. Just then the ship's comm system came on. The navigation officer spoke, "Exiting slipspace in 3… 2… 1…" then the soft rumble of the ship leaving slipspace was heard.

"Team Epsilon, you are good for go," Shipmaster Clador's voice spoke from the "Hawk-Bat's" comm system. With that Brutus grabbed the steering controls and the "Hawk-Bat" left the hanger and enter deep space.

When the planet came into view, Brutus said, "Well, it looks like we get to work on our tans while we're here." That got the team to laugh at their number one pilot. Then Brutus pressed a button and a song began titled "Another One Bites the Dust: By Queen" and slowly, Team Epsilon descended into the unknown.

At that very moment, Padmé and all of the passengers of her skiff were in shock at what they beheld. As soon as the systems started shutting down, everyone onboard headed to the cockpit to see what was wrong. When they got there, Padmé told them everything she knew at the moment, which wasn't much. That got everyone to calm down, at least for a second. Then something happened that none of them expected.

A strange white disc appeared out of nowhere, right where the unknown energy reading was coming from. Then to everyone's shocked faces, a strange ship came through the "portal" and started making for Tatooine. Then a much smaller and faster ship left the ship and headed towards the planet. As they continued to watch, the bigger ship slowly entered the planet's atmosphere and stayed stationary.

Padmé was breathless; she had not seen this coming when she left on this mission. The ship was something to behold. If there was one word to say about it at first, it was beautiful. The ship was a color green that shined so bright from the two suns of Tatooine. The metal of the ship actually curved with the ship, making it look like a graceful fish in the sea. But behind this beauty, Padmé could see that it was a war machine in its own way. The sides were graceful all right, but down the middle, it looked more like the barrel of a blaster. It was both a sign of peace and danger to who ever went against it and Padmé was worried about what she had found. But before she could think of what to do, Jar Jar interrupted her thoughts.

"Whosa that Senator," Jar Jar asked.

"I don't know, but, I plan to find out," Padmé answered.

"Padmé, you can't be serious. Look at that thing, it was meant for war," said Senator Organa, "they might be Separatists and dangerous."

"I don't think so," Padmé answered, "besides, we may be dealing with a first contact with a new group and by the looks of it, they could help us in this war. I am sorry Senator Organa, but I must ask you to take my place in the negotiations while I check out these people."

"I will do it," Senator Organa replied.

"Jar Jar, I need you to stay and speak on my behalf. You might want to explain the situation to the Hutts so that they can understand my absence. C-3PO will stay behind with you to help with the translations. I feel they too would want to know of these guests. Also, contact the Chancellor, Jedi Council, and the ship that is coming to assist us about this new situation," Padmé spoke.

"I understand, Senator," Jar Jar replied.

"I will escort you Senator," Captain Typho said.

"I am going too," Satine spoke up. Everyone gave her a look. She then spoke again, "You have helped me in my time of need, I think this may be a way to repay you. Also, I still remember what I learned as the Duchess of Mandalore."

"Agreed," Padmé replied.

They then slowly started up the ship, so as not to draw the new ships attention and headed towards Jabba the Hutt's palace. Once there, Padmé, Satine, and Typho each grabbed a speeder and headed out towards the new arrivals.

Several minutes later, onboard the "Spirit Adventurer"…

"The Senator did what?" Ahsoka asked.

They had just received an emergency call from Tatooine. The entire ship was worried that the Separatist had begun to attack Tatooine and the Hutts. What they did not expect was what Jar Jar had to tell. He spoke of an unknown ship suddenly coming out of a portal and then landing on Tatooine. What had shocked her, the crew, her master, Obi-Wan, the rest of the Jedi Council, and Chancellor Palpatine was that he described it as both the most beautiful ship in existence and also truly the most deadly ship at the same time. Which made them even greatly shocked when Jar Jar told them Padmé, Satine, and Captain Typho had abandon the meeting with the Hutts, to go and meet these new arrivals.

"This has just complicated things," Obi-Wan replied, "How long till we arrive?"

The navigation officer spoke, "We still have at least a day to go, 10 hours if we push the engines to the max."

"I suggest you get there as soon as you can and find out all you can about this group," Chancellor Palpatine said.

"I agree," spoke Windu, "Till we learn more, we must presume that they are dangerous, with the ship that Representative Binks has described to us."

The holograms then disappeared and the crew hurried to their stations, so that the ship could make it Tatooine as soon as possible and be prepared if there was a battle.

While all of this was going on, Anakin was secretly worrying over his secret wife. He must not let anyone learn of the marriage. He had to keep his focus on the current situation and just pray that Padmé stayed out of trouble till then.

Now, back to Tatooine …

After Team Epsilon landed near the coordinates given to them, it only took them a while to find the ruin site.

Each member had brought his or her own gear for this mission. Max's weapons included: his two energy katanas on his chest, an energy knife, which was just an energy dagger in the form of a normal steel knife, on his right thigh, a Helic Rifle, which was a new improved Assault Rifle that fired metal bullets filled with plasma, in his hands, and an Folra Rifle, which was a new improved Battle Rifle that fired superheated bullets, which could prove deadly with head shots, on his back.

Caltore's weapons included: two energy daggers on his arms, two energy swords on his thighs, an energy garrote at his waist, and one Arc Rifle, which was an upgraded version of the Plasma Repeater which could now fire for longer periods of time without overheating and fired green plasma, in his hands. He also had several smoke grenades and an Enemy Jammer around his waist, in case of the need of a fast escape.

Alue's included: two green energy swords on her thighs, an energy stave, which had an energy blade on each end, one being a normal staff blade and the other being an double bladed scythe, a normal steel katana, both on her back, and an Arc Rifle in her hands. But, you could count Alue's whole body as a lethal weapon after all the training she went through on Sanghelios and Earth.

Brutus carried with him: two Gravity Mallets, which were much smaller than their ancient cousin, the Gravity Hammer, being about 1/5 it's size, but each twice as powerful, on his thighs, an Stinger Shotgun with grenade option attachment, which was the classic Shotgun upgraded to fire a blast of superheated metal in one shot and had a huge long blade on top, on his back, and his Blazer Machine Gun, which was a portable turret that fired superheated metal rounds into the enemy and had two long razor blades on the bottom of the barrel and one on the top, in his hands. The Blazer also had two small tanks attached underneath it that each held 500 rounds for the Blazer. Brutus also has two back up tanks on his back in case he runs out. Brutus was so strong, that the recoil from both the Stinger and Blazer did not cause him any trouble at all.

Diblo's weapons included: a Plasma Needler, which was an upgraded version of the classic Needler but with the added bonus of having the crystal needles covered in plasma when fired and tracking the enemy much faster, in his left hand and a Double Barrel Needle Pistol, which was a two barrel pistol that fired small, but lethal crystal needles that were effective when close, in his right. He also had his translator device on his left wrist.

Mok's gear included: his grandfather's Beam Rifle on his back, an energy gauntlet on his right wrist, his personal Plasma Magnum, which was a pistol that could fire very quick burst of green plasma and had a scope attached for headshots, in his left hand, and his Sentinel Rifle, an upgraded Beam Rifle that fired small, lethal shots of the same energy plasma that Sentinels used. He was wearing a custom armor that combined Elite and ODST armor. He wore a helmet that had no faceplate, but had the classic Jackal scope eye attached to it when he needed it.

Dax equipment was unique. It included: two point-defense gauntlets on his wrists, his hologram projection gear on his waist, a Needle Pistol on his left thigh, his Jackal Knife on his left arm, an Assault Needler, which was an old Assault Rifle he had custom made to fire Needler rounds, on his back, and a Magnos Beam, which was the upgraded Focus Rifle using Sentinel Beam and Covenant technology, in his hands. His robotic left arm also flipped into an energy cutlass. The arm was connected to Dax's nervous system, so all he had to do was think and it would flip, turn on, off, and flip back to hand form. His feathers on his head may have been in a rainbow of colors, but that didn't stop him from being able to hide. He had brought out a cloak and armor that matched the desert sand and could blend in without anyone noticing he was gone, right next to them, or if he had even left.

Fixer didn't, like most Huragok, like weapons or killing. But, that didn't mean he wasn't prepared to kill to protect himself and his team. He carried with him: two Needle Pistols and energy knifes on his armor. He also had a strong energy generator that boosted both his and his team's shields when he was close.

Lelek carried almost an armory of explosives on him. He had: two silenced Plasma Magnum in both his hands, a Plasma Rocket, which was a rocket launcher that fired rockets filled with green plasma, and a PlaFrag Launcher, which was an upgraded Plasma Launcher that fired PlaFrag grenades, which were a combination of plasma and frag grenades which struck like a plasma and spread like a frag, both on his back. Lelek may have been small, but he had been a soldier for much longer then most of them and trained for many years with demolition gear. He also had multiple grenades and C-4 charges around his waist.

Kalmar had his one-barrel assault cannon on his right arm and his brother, Jala, had his double barrel assault cannon on his left arm. Both had a shield on the other weaponless arm as well. They also had on both their backs a gravity board. A while back, the Mgalekgolo race saw humans riding skateboards and though of a good idea. The UANS immediately began work on creating boards that would use hover technology and be strong enough for the Mgalekgolo's to ride. The gravity boards were a success and helped allow Mgalekgolo soldiers to get onto the battlefield faster and made them nearly the hardest soldiers to hit in the entire UANS.

Jalo was the least armed, but he didn't need it. He was deadly with any weapon, even a simple side arm. He carried: two silenced Plasma Magnums on his gravity belt and two silenced Calpor SMGs, which was the classic SMG but upgraded to fire lock-on needle rounds. His gravity belt helped him to stand up straight on most worlds. While it was true, Casholu's gravity was lighter then most worlds, it was not as light as most had thought. The truth was that Casholu's gravity was only slightly lighter then Earth's gravity. The reason the Prophets and the San' Shyuum of the Covenant had to use gravity chairs and needed to bend over was simple. They had grown fat on their positions of power and over time, it had taken its toll on their lazy hides.

The team had only found the top of the ruins, due to all the sand covering it, but they had found it. As soon as they confirmed the location, Shipmaster Clador started sending down firebases, soldiers, weapons, and crew. After several hours, the base was finish and in a perfect position to watch over the ruins and defend them if they had to. They had yet to meet any native's, but they were still ready, just in case. It was nearing night and the two suns were beginning to descend when Max noticed something was off. He looked around, but didn't notice anything dangerous. He then looked back at the base and saw everything was still fine. He then looked back at his team and saw the problem. Team Epsilon was one member short.

Dax was gone.

Padmé and her small team had arrived at the site of the new arrivals several hours ago. To say she was shock was an understatement. She had come expecting a ship and crew of one race, but to her surprise, she had discovered the ship contained a mixture of 9 different races, including humans. But the others were completely new to her. Some were bird-like creatures, small creatures who had canine faces, floating squids, some sort of insectoid creatures flying around, huge reptiles with strange mandibles, huge mammals that looked stronger than even Wookiees, creatures who had huge foreheads and probably brains to match, and massive beings encased in blue armor, which were at least 12 ft tall and probably could take a tank on with easy.

Padmé immediately realized that there was no way that these creatures could have all evolved on the same world together and must have come from different worlds. Her next thoughts were over how strange their technology was, she could not even begin to imagine what it could do or how it was powered. She did realize that this group knew war and how to win it. She was worried what would happen if they became the Republic's enemy.

But what most fascinated her was where their base was. To one who wasn't looking for anything in this massive desert, they would have landed anywhere. But this group had chosen to land here for a specific reason alone. And she had discovered that reason.

Underneath the sand were ruins of some sort. From what she could see, it looked like they were made of some kind of metal. But, the metal was bright and looked new, though Padmé was sure that the ruins had to had been here since before Tatooine had been destroyed and became a desert world by the ancient Infinite Empire. Yet, this group had headed straight for these ruins as if they knew from the start they were here. This gave her hope that they were peaceful. But that nagging feeling wouldn't go away. If they weren't here to do harm, why come armed. What could be in those ruins worth so much to start a war?

Then a horrible thought came to her mind. Or was there something in those ruins that was so dangerous and needed to be destroyed, immediately? Something that was so dangerous, 9 races would come to this small world just to stop it. At this thought, Padmé knew she either had to make contact with the group or contact the Republic as soon as possible.

But, before she could make up her mind, Padmé felt a point at her back. She then froze. She knew that feeling. It was the point of a gun. Then Padmé heard a raspy, gruff voice in Basic. It said, "If you value you life, stand up slow and easy now. That goes for all of you."

The group of three slowly got up from where they were laying and scouting the group. They had not expected to be caught. They had come in quick and silent. They had slowed their pace on their speeders so as not to be detected. But, in the end, they had been caught by this mysterious group and had not notice they had been snuck up on before it was to late. Even Typho had not notice that they had company.

"Now, turn around nice and slowly so we can get a good look at our quests," the voice said.

The group did as was instructed and was shocked at what had found them. They had suspected it was a patrol from the ship, but it was in fact just one soldier. It looked to be of the bird-like race, but more built and had many feathers on his hair that were painted an assortment of colors. It was wearing a cloak and armor that actually matched with the color of the sand. But what was stranger was that its entire left arm was robotic and it had an x-cross shape scar over his right eye.

The creature pointed its strange blaster at them and said, "Now, let's go see my friends and find out who exactly you people are. I, for one, was not expecting to find humans here. How many humans did the Forerunners leave behind now I wonder?"

The creature then pointed with its robotic hand towards the base and they went. While they were walking, Padmé was thinking over what she had just heard the creature say. From what it had just said, it seemed it had not been expecting to find humans here. If it thought that, then the rest of the group probably had the same kind of mind. Also, she was trying to contemplate what it had meant by how many humans had the Forerunners left behind. Who were the Forerunners?

After she had finished asking herself these questions, there left only one question unanswered. She decided to get her answer then and there. She slightly turned her head to the right so that her right eye locked with the creature's eyes. Padmé asked the question, "Who are you people?"

The creature gave something of a smile. Then it looked straight into Padmé's eye and said, "Well miss, I'm Major Champion Dax of the Skirmisher subspecies, of the proud Kig-yar people, of the United Alliance of National Species army, and Team Epsilon's best tracker/hunter.

"How did you find us," Captain Typho asked, a little anger making it into his voice.

Dax gave a soft chuckle and then answered the question with, "I heard you about ten miles before you got here. All I had to do was get into a good hiding place, wait for you to show up, and then strike when you weren't paying attention."

Padmé was shocked. She could not believe any creature could have such fine hearing. Then Satine asked a new question.

"Team Epsilon? Who's that?"

Dax gave a slightly evil laugh and answered with, "Your worst nightmare if you mess with any of us!"

They then continue on in silence to the base. Padmé had become slightly scared at what he had said about his team and she could tell he wasn't bluffing. He meant every word when he had said it. Padmé was now sure that this whole situation had gone south big time. She just hoped she could fix this before it all went to hell.

At this moment, back on Coruscant, Yoda was mediating over the news he had heard several hours ago and trying to find out if there was a connection to it and what he had been feeling in the Force of late.

As Yoda mediated on the Force and these new developments, he sensed something. Something strong in the Force, yet completely different from anything that he had ever felt. So, Yoda opened his mind to the new mind and felt his mind travel light-years in an instant. He then saw Tatooine and he was heading towards it. He then went right through the desert and on for miles, until he suddenly stopped in some sort of humongous cave, for Yoda could not think of what else it could be. He then felt something in the cave, alive, but not like him, but still connected to the Force. He then heard the voice.

"The Reclaimers are finally here. Destiny is about to be reawakened at last and the Force will become what it once was. The creatures whose homes long ago were destroyed will meet the children of their saviors. Long live the Mantle," said the voice in a calm, peaceful manner.

Then Yoda saw the speaker and walked toward it. All the while knowing he was going to learn something new. The speaker did not look like any creature Yoda had ever met. It was just three balls of green light floating in mid air. The rest was shrouded in the shadows of the cave.

Yoda then spoke, "Who are you?"

"Greetings, young one," the speaker spoke with not the slightest hint of surprise, "I have waited long for this day. When the children would one day find their way to this world and everything would be made whole again. The ancient war is over, and the time for truths to be revealed is now. I have waited over 100,000 solar cycles for this day. I am..." But his voice was lost to the common ear. But Yoda heard it.

With that, Yoda awoke from his meditative state and was even more confused. Windu then walked in and saw the look on Yoda's face.

"What has happened," Windu asked.

"To Tatooine I must go. Someone there I must find," spoke Yoda, "Someone called… Offensive Bias."

To be continue…

That's right people. Offensive Bias is at last revealed to the universe. If you don't know who he is, then look on Halopedia and be shocked and amazed. And he is not Mendicant Bias, but he is a real character in the Halo universe

Next time, I will be going over some features of the base and other vehicles. Also, the UANS forces finally meet the Republic. How will things turn out? Stay tuned and don't forget to review. Your reviews help me to fix my stories and improve them with each chapter.

Next time "Chapter 3 – The Meeting"

"Long Live The Mantle!"