Vanguard

Chapter 28

"Here to collect"

[Realspace, UNSC Vanguard]

Ahsoka Tano and SPARTAN James appeared onto the bridge where they were quick to find out that the destroyer has returned to real space still somewhere in the Abrion Sector given the short duration of the travel through slipspace. Jorge and the holographic avatar of Percival were looking up at a holographic projection of a feminine droid acting as a news anchor for the galaxy-wide Holonet.

"You made a new friend Percy?" Ahsoka asks as she and Longarm stopped at the holotable.

"Very funny ma'am . . . no we were listening to the latest occurrences across the galaxy.

"Your galaxy makes a lot of peculiar droids don't they?" Jorge adds rhetorically

"That's a luxury droid; they've been mainly used as servants and broadcasters. For obvious reasons . . . boys are all the same no matter where or what."

All three men looked at the togruta with Percival asking "That includes us as well doesn't it?"

"What? No! Um I mean . . ."

The three men chuckled under their breaths which resulted in Tano giving James a punch across his shoulder just before they tuned their ears in to what the droid was announcing "In more recent times, the Grand Army of the Republic achieves another victory in the outer rim territories, while the frontline push towards the Separatist homeworlds are slowly advancing across the stars. In other news, the crisis on the agricultural world of Ukio was resolved when the Republic 104th and 212th battalions responded to various attacks on local settlements. The investigation soon turned into a full conflict between the Republic and an unaffiliated faction with a substantial military force, casualties were remarkably high but our boys in white emerged victorious."

Percival then muted the droid's voice with Jorge stating "Well . . . so much for credit."

"Don't worry about it Jorge, I kind of like the modest living style" Longarm comments.

"Well that might just suit you" Percival retorts "But I prefer to earn credit where it is due. The least they could've done is mention us as a third party."

Jorge changes the subject "With that aside, after our little spar in the training bay, I had Percival run a munitions check on our weapons systems" he then turns to the AI "Percival?"

Percival took away the luxury droid and placed the Vanguard in its place on the holotable "Over the last month of active combat we've been using a lesser amount of munitions than we normally expect from fighting the Covenant. We're still well stocked up on Archers and ammunition for our point defenses but our MAC is a different story."

"Why is the MAC the problem?" Tano asks rather curious.

Jorge asks her "Have you seen the size of the rounds we fire? Roughly the size of a school bus."

Longarm adds to clarify "UNSC warships can only hold so many rounds because of their size and how much credits and materials it takes to make one. The last time I remembered, a destroyer can carry twenty four rounds before having to resupply from an external source, Percival how many rounds do we still have?"

"From our engagements with the Covenant prior to the incident and our more recent activities, we have fourteen rounds left in storage" the AI responded feeling a sense of importance over the matter.

"Damn . . ." Longarm cursed himself before giving a moment to think "Alright we'll need to be selective with our targets, only use the cannons for the greatest potential threat to the ship, until we can find a way to replenish our supplies."

Jorge interjects "How? You and I both know what those rounds are made of so how are the three of us going to have the time to dig up the materials and manufacture one shell?"

But Ahsoka argues "You don't have to use the same materials to build a shell, this galaxy has a whole variety of minerals that you could use, and you can probably buy some of it easy off the market or scavenge from ship wrecks from time to time."

"Alright that solves our materials situation, but what can we do to build a solid shell? This ship isn't even rigged with an on-board fabricator capable of producing something of that size."

James gave the holographic avatar one glance which prompted the AI to mention "Um . . . about that."

Ahsoka was quick to realize "Let me guess, you do have a fabricator for the MAC."

"Believe it or not, but the Vanguard was originally assigned to be a long-range patrol vessel meaning trips that could last up to several years, so we were fitted with such a fabricator capable of creating tungsten-ferric slugs for the cannon. We even have enough resources to produce two rounds for the cannon and plenty more ordnance for the pods and guns before needing to resort to other sources."

Jorge turned to Longarm "You knew about this?"

"It wasn't at the top of my mind" he retorts "But nonetheless that gives us sixteen slugs that we need to use only in the direst situations, much like our nuclear arsenal."

Tano had to ask "We have two warheads left right?"

The AI answers "Correct."

"Right well what about small arms and munitions for our other crafts?" James wonders.

"We still have enough ammunition to start a small scale guerrilla war and enough explosives to destroy this ship twice, we're still stocked on ammunition and ordnance for our other vehicles to last us a while. But we need a solution to our problem once our UNSC standard munitions are depleted."

Ahsoka had one solution "We could always buy blasters to replace the small arms."

Longarm adds "We could possibly get our hands on some small Starfighters to replace the Sabre and Wombats."

But Percival still presented one dilemma "And what about the destroyer? It's going to take serious effort to replace the point defenses and missile pods for whatever this galaxy may have to offer. And we can't afford any weapon systems that may prove taxing for our reactors. From what I was able to gather from the Holonet, which is hardly enough, the destroyer barely has enough electrical output to charge a turbolaser for a single burst, let alone a blaster cannon."

"Don't worry, we'll figure it out when we come to that bridge in the meantime let's do what we can about the Covenant and possibly the war."

"Yes of course . . . I'll begin to sca- Warning: multiple unidentified vessels have been detected coming out of hyperspace within sensor range."

Longarm's mind quickly jumped into action "How far out?"

The hologram changed once more, this time into a small flotilla of ships all roughly the same size as Ahsoka's Gozanti Cruiser, with AI stating "Eighteen hundred nautical kilometers off our port bow, and they are approaching fast."

The four closely examined the incoming vessels, they counted five ships, three of which looked like gunships while the remaining two were acting as transports, all of different classes with different designs, regardless James orders "Give them a warning, if they don't turn back then prime the pods and guns."

"Of course" the AI complies before opening a channel on all frequencies "This is the UNSC Vanguard to unidentified ships, you have trespassed into a secure no-fly zone, proceed to correct your vectors and return to hyperspace, failure to comply will be met with force."

They watched carefully hoping the five ships would turn away but they remained on course, "They're not responding, warming up missile pods and bringing our turrets online" Percival reports.

"What're they doing? They don't look military to me" Jorge remarks as he rubs his chin trying to understand the situation.

But Ahsoka had an idea on what was about to happen "They're pirates, James we can't let them on the ship."

Longarm acknowledged and relayed the order "You heard her Percival, lethal force has been authorized, acquire lock-on and fire at will."

"Gladly."

[Slave l, Cockpit]

Aboard the heavily modified Firespray-31-class Attack Craft, Slave l, Boba Fett, a young unaltered clone of his 'father' the legendary and late Jango Fett, flew the ship in the company of a female mandalorian bounty hunter named Vale Kaladi as they, and their supporting vessels, closed in on the Halberd-class Destroyer.

"Now are you going to tell me the plan?" Boba asks as he steers the ship.

Vale sat next to him, working on one of her dual Model 434 'DeathHammer' Heavy Blaster Pistols, and answered "It's simple; the gunships will distract the ship's defensive guns while the transports finds a way to board it."

Almost immediately after elaborating the plan, a blue-skinned duros outfitted with a pair of LL-30 blaster pistols and easily recognized by his wide-brimmed hat, Cad Bane appeared behind the two and comments with his usual raspy voice "Sounds simple enough."

But Boba protested "You're placing a lot of faith in those transports; they're too slow and hardly have any shields or guns to protect themselves."

"That's why we're here, to distract the guns, aren't you paying attention?"

Fett sighed and turned his attention back to flying the ship that was until moments later when one of his consoles lit up emitting a high-pitched beeping "We have missile lock."

Bane watched as they neared the destroyer before stating "This is where the fun begins."

In the distance they could see the dark four hundred eighty five meter long arrowhead shaped warship, slowly growing in size as they approached, and soon a storm of missiles were launched from the destroyer's port side.

The beeping immediately became erratic with Boba stating "We have missile launch, readying counter-measures."

"How many?" Vale asks.

"You really don't want to know."

As the hailstorm of Archer Ship-to-Ship Missiles rapidly closed in on their designated targets, Slave l and the others attempted to take evasive maneuvers but the transports were too cumbersome to take any real actions. The three watched as portions of the missile volley slammed into the slow ships, many piercing their weak shields, and tore them apart with sheer unmatched force, shredding the outer hull and eviscerating the inner structuring, they never stood a chance.

"Well so much for the transports" Boba remarks as he began to make hard banking maneuvers to stay ahead of the missiles that had turned and pursued the gunships.

"Means more credits for us once we get this bounty" Vale replies seemingly happy about the loss of the transports and their crews, even Cad gave a satisfied grin.

The Slave l was being followed by seven of the original sixty missiles launched from the destroyer but it wasn't long till Boba activated the ship's counter-measure systems, deploying decoy flares from either side of the ship that emitted a scrambling code that mimicked the Slave's signature, and successfully drawn the missiles away putting them in the clear for the time being. But their moment of relief was short lived once the vessel's eight point defense batteries came online and began firing illuminating flak rounds onto the three gunships, with each round detonating dangerously close to the ships' hull causing shrapnel to rack the durasteel.

One explosion detonated too close for comfort for Vale prompting her to say "Okay change of plans! We'll board that ship and deal with the targets ourselves."

"And how do you propose we'll get on the ship without getting blasted!?" Boba argues.

Kaladi took a moment to think, watching of the gunships that strayed too close to the destroyer in an attempted strafing run on the destroyer's hull be torn apart by flak and a small barrage of missiles, the blaster fire given from the gunship did little to damage the titanium alloy armor.

Then she remembered something and asked "Didn't you say you installed a signature scrambler on the ship?"

[UNSC Vanguard, Bridge]

"Another hostile ship has been destroyed, that would be three kills so far" Percival reports with satisfied grin.

Longarm congratulated the AI "Good work, redirect gun batteries five and seven onto that gunship at grid B-2, looks like he's about to make a run on our bow."

"Acknowledged, and you will be pleased to know that the fourth ship that was located in grid A-5 has been destroyed, their transponder dropped off radar."

"Excellent work, these pirates should've known better than to take on a UNSC destroyer head on, even the Covenant knows better."

"They're pirates, they never do" commented Ahsoka.

The remaining gunship came within weapons range and began firing its dual repeating blaster cannons, sending bolts slamming into the outer armored hull of the ship causing minimal damage to the armor.

That was until the gunship fired two proton torpedoes from its missile bay causing to alarm Percival "Warning: Incoming torpedoes . . . range: two hundred and fifty meters out. Brace for impact."

As the two proton torpedoes zeroed in on the ship, the automated gun batteries fired away sending a monstrous amount of flak around the withering gunship and the torpedoes, and once the attacking ship was reduced to nothing more than riddled, twisted metal, the two torpedoes slammed into the Vanguard's starboard mid-section, ripping through the outer layers of armor with relative ease and caused massive damage on a small scale, rendering the entire deck level inaccessible until the breach was repaired.

The trio maintained their footing as the ship rocked violently from the impact, "Report!" Longarm barks.

"Deck nine has been breached and venting; I've secured all hatches on that level and initiated damage control systems to repair the hole. We're fortunate enough that it didn't breach the other levels."

"Alright, that means all hostile targets have been eliminated . . . good work."

"Wait- one of the vessels' signatures just came back online" the AI reports seemingly surprised.

But Jorge didn't believe it "No way a ship that small could've survived flak rounds, let alone a single Archer."

"This one didn't have to; I'm guessing it jammed its own signal to remain hidden."

Tano asks "Where is it now?"

"Docking with our port airlock on deck thirteen. Our guns don't have an angle on that ship and I can't risk firing the missiles on ourselves."

James quickly ordered "Seal all bulkhead hatches and give us access to the emergency weapons locker."

"Of course."

As the SPARTAN walked over to a wall, containing a bracket holding two M7 SMGs, a BR55 Battle Rifle, and a M45 CIWS Tactical Shotgun. He grabs the M45 and tosses it over to Jorge, who caught it and performs a quick weapons check, while he takes the two SMGs and attaches them to his thighs and takes the battle rifle into his hands.

Ahsoka with a firm expression said "C'mon, let's go say hello to our pirate friends" and headed off the bridge with the two SPARTANs following her out.

[Deck Thirteen]

After having cutting their way through the internal locking mechanisms of the ship's airlock with a plasma cutter, Vale, Boba, and Bane took their first steps aboard the Halberd-class Destroyer into the empty lit hallways with no soul to be found.

"You think for a ship this large there be a crew" Fett remarks as he glances down the hallways.

"Yeah . . ." Kaladi replies carefully with her two blasters in hand "I'm beginning to think this isn't their ship . . ."

"It'd be a shame if someone took it off their hands" the duros remarked as he took in the interior design, robust and dull.

Almost immediately a voice with an English accent spoke through the intercom system "Oh I can assure you, the ship is in the hands of its rightful owners. I can singlehandedly control this vessel at my will on the command of my creators."

"Creators? So you're a droid then" Vale replies.

"You might say that, but don't worry I'm the least of your worries as of right now."

At that moment Boba called out "Vale!" causing the two to turn on their heels and spot a young togruta standing a little ways further down the corridor leading to the bow of the ship, two lit lightsabers in her hands. Not moments later did a green mechanical giant, followed up by an even larger armored figure, appear around the corner behind the Jedi with a black scoped rifle in hand, and aimed directly at the three bounty hunters.

Bane quickly recognized Ahsoka and greeted her with the tip of his hat "Well hello there little lady, didn't figure you'd be here."

Jorge wonders low enough for only Tano to hear "You two met before?"

"Bane. I was hoping you'd gone down with some of the other ships" she replies sharply to the bounty hunter.

"What can I say?" Cad shrugs before he gestures to the boy "I got a good pilot to taxi me around."

At that moment Vale trained her pistols on the giant, Boba drew a DC-17 from his side aiming it at the same target, Bane drew his dual pistols, and she demanded "Step aside Jedi, we're collecting his bounty."

"Bounty hunters?" the SPARTAN muttered just as Ahsoka responded "Leave now. You're outmatched."

Vale chuckles "That may be, but it hasn't stopped me before."

The two female fighters narrowed their glares on each other, Vale slowly trained her blasters on Ahsoka while Tano readies her sabers in return. Boba kept his aim on Longarm while the SPARTAN kept his rifle leveled with both hostiles; Jorge maintained his position behind the two with his shotgun ready.

Then James orders with authority in his voice "Both of you leave the ship now or we will use force!"

"And miss one of the largest bounties I've ever seen? You have a funny sense of humor soldier boy" Cad retorts.

Both sides stood idly with weapons pointed at one another, waiting for the first one to pull the trigger, in James's mind he analyzes the situation: Three unidentified suspects, one female, one child, and a male foreign species all heavily armed and are currently presenting themselves as significant threats to the ship and crew with the intent of inflicting harm. Shoot to disable? Negative. Lethal force is necessary and has been authorized.

The SPARTAN was the first to pull the trigger, sending a three-round burst of semi-armor piercing projectiles slamming into Vale's chest plate without warning, the two watched her fall to the ground without a sound and called out "Vale!" before turning back and open fire sending blue and red bolts downrange towards the trio.

Longarm made no attempt to duck for cover as he stood behind Ahsoka allowing her to deflect the incoming rounds with ease until Vale steadily got back to her feat, saved by her mandalorian armor fitted with a denser alloy plating of mandalorian iron. She and Bane dives for cover afterwards, avoiding further incoming fire from the SPARTAN and his lethal aim, alongside Boba and the three began returning fire. Tano deflected as many shots as possible but few would make it through and either pass by harmlessly or hit against Longarm's shields, his MJOLNIR Mk. lV was holding fairly well but due system restraints and outdated technology his energy shield was proving to be somewhat more vulnerable to enemy fire than the Mk. V.

He and Jorge were eventually forced to take cover behind a strut that protruded from the walls and he return fire keeping the hunters in cover which allowed Ahsoka to take the opportunity and charge forward. Kaladi quickly spots the incoming Jedi and trained both of her pistols before firing away sending red bolts of laser fire downrange, her skill with her preferred weapons allowed her to be efficient in killing her targets, including Jedi. However Tano made quick use of her two sabers, deflecting every shot until she came within striking distance and lunged for the mandalorian who quickly holstered her blasters in exchange for her beskad, a mandalorian styled sword featuring a blade commonly made of a forged lightsaber-resistant metal called mandalorian iron or more commonly known as beskar.

The bounty hunter swung her sword up and effectively countered Ahsoka's lightsabers when she swung them in a downward motion, Boba takes aim at Tano with the intent to shoot to stun but his blaster was suddenly shot out of his hand forcing to turn and spot the two towering SPARTANs charging at him with Longarm having his rifle raised. Jorge charges in like a freight train and nearly slams himself into Bane however the latter was able to leap out of the way and fire a quick four round burst of shots into the giant's back, all of which were countered by the shields, before the SPARTAN came back around swinging his shotgun like a club where it collided with the side of Bane's head, knocking the duros onto the ground with extreme force.

"Don't move!" Longarm barked at the young Fett who in turned bolted the other way fleeing the scene.

Ahsoka ordered "Longarm stay with the kid! I'll deal with her!"

The SPARTAN nodded and began sprinting after Boba down the corridor, Vale maintained her footing against Ahsoka, both of their weapons were locked with one another in a balanced struggle, and she asks "He sounds cute, is he your betrothed?"

"Yeah! He's one of a kind!" Tano replied jokingly just as she blasts the mandalorian away with a Force Push.

Kaladi secured her footing by driving her sword into the floor panels before standing back up at the ready "That's sweet. I'll be sure to attend the ceremony."

The bounty hunter then swung her blade into the reversed grip, much like Ahsoka's style, and moves in for the strike lunging at the togruta who raised her two sabers and blocked the hit, Vale then asks mocking her "You're a little small for someone like him aren't you?"

[Deck Fourteen]

Boba was making haste trying to elude the SPARTAN-ll as soon as possible but he stayed on him easily with weapons in hand.

James yells out "Stop right now!"

But Boba didn't respond, instead he reaches for a small utility belt around his waist and produces a small silver orb, with a flip of a switch he turns and hurls the orb towards the incoming SPARTAN while emitting a high pitched pinging and blinked red. Longarm immediately dove for cover to avoid the inevitable explosion. But once the device bounced off the floor it ejected a stream of smoke and filled the corridor with a grey haze, giving the boy enough time to run away putting distance between himself and the soldiers.

"It was only smoke? Damn kid." James growls as he resumes the chase.

The SPARTAN sprinted through the smoke and quickly spotted Boba far down the corridor overriding a door hatch and enter, closing the door behind him. He quickly arrived to the sealed hatch and began attempting to open the door via keypad but for some reason it denied him access to the room.

"Percival get this door open" he orders after making a second attempt with the keypad.

The AI responded "I am unable to access the door controls, it appears he spliced through the wiring mainframe, locked it from the inside, and turned out the lights, clever boy. However this is a minor setback and I will have control in just a few moments."

"Alright I'm going in on thirty, switching to thermal."

With a mere instant thought through their neural links the SPARTAN's vision was switched to thermal setting, the man himself was glowing bright orange with heat while his weapons and surroundings were a darker purple. He then stacked up on the left side of the door and readied his weapon, with the intent of subduing the child rather than using lethal force.

"Hatch opening in three . . . two . . . one . . ."

At that moment the hatch slid open, James storms in checking every direction in order to prevent being flanked or ambushed but the boy was nowhere to be found. The room was pitch black but the two super soldiers could see clearly, unfortunately for them Boba was nowhere in sight, instead all he could see was shelves and storage units for spare parts for vehicles and maintenance, he was inside of one of the Vanguard's storage bays.

James carefully scanned his side of the bay when he muttered in Hungarian "Hol lehet a fiú?" (Where's the boy?)

After a quick thought he glanced up to see a single vent leading into the air ducts; he grabs a nearby stepstool and places it under before climbing up to open the vent and look inside. But once he peered his head inside and spotted Boba lying in the darkness, Fett lashes out with a handheld stun device jabbing it into the SPARTAN's neck and causing him to yell out in pain before falling off the stool onto the floor with a heavy thud. The young bounty hunter leapt out from the air ducts and swiped one of James's SMGs from his thighs.

Longarm propped himself on one elbow, recovering from jolting shock he received to the neck, and looks up to see Boba looking down at him with his own gun pointed at him "Your bounty is going to set me for life . . ." Fett claims.

The SPARTAN made no motion to stop him and states "Well what're you waiting for? Do it."

Boba seemed to have hesitated a little; he hasn't killed anyone yet despite having tried to and still seemed unsure of what may happen to him afterwards. A moment has passed before he steels himself, corrects the aim of the gun onto James's head and pulls the trigger, only to hear the click of an empty chamber.

"What?" Fett asks in disbelief.

"Forgot the magazine did you?" he asks as he shows the stick mag in his hand "It's useless" Longarm explains as he steadily gets back on his feet "And now you're coming with me for questioning."

Boba attempts to run but the SPARTAN lunged out and seized his right arm before holding him up above the ground for interrogation "Who placed the bounty on us?" James asks with a firm tone.

"Let go of me!" Fett demanded.

"Who. Placed the bounty on us?"

"I don't know!"

"You're lying! Don't think you can fool a SPARTAN, if you don't tell me what I want to know I'll personally drag you to the brig!" Longarm yelled out, his voice booming over the boy's.

"Alright alright!" Boba yelled back "It was a Jedi! And we're not after anyone else, just you!"

"I want a name!"

"I don't have one I swear!"

James eventually became perplexed "Why would a Jedi try and put a price on me? It doesn't make- AAAGH" he soon cried out as Fett drove his shock device into the SPARTAN's waist causing him to let go.

Boba fell to the floor before clubbing James over the helmet with the empty gun before darting for the door; the SPARTAN quickly recovered and resumed chasing after the boy through the corridors.

[Deck Thirteen]

Tano staggers back after being dealt a swift blow to her right cheek from Vale's left gauntleted fist. The togruta withdraws to a distance while her opponent readied herself with her beskad in hand; having already tasted blood when the blade had cut across Ahsoka's left side only moments prior though fortunately the wound wasn't deep.

Bane and Jorge however were dealing blows one after another, they disarmed each other after a brief firefight shortly after Longarm had gone to track down Boba, with Jorge doing his best to land a heavy blow and Cad avoiding every strike with the aid of his jet-powered boots dealing quick strikes though it was hardly fazing the SPARTAN.

Kaladi stood her ground with her sword hanging loosely in her hand "So what's a Jedi like you doing with soldiers like these? They hardly look your type."

"That isn't any of your business now is it?" the togruta replies sharply.

"Ohhoho defensive aren't we? Don't worry I won't tell your lover."

"He's not my-" she stops herself giving an annoyed groan before lunging out with her sabers.

Vale grinned, having annoyed the Jedi enough, before she skips to her left evading the lightsaber and attempt another slash at her side. However Tano quickly reacted swinging her right-handed saber up and block the attack.

Jorge throws another right hook towards the duros bounty hunter only to miss yet again when Cad ducks below the fist and maneuver to the SPARTAN's backside, with the aid of his boots, and fire his grappling hook around his opponent's neck, the wire wrapping around Jorge's throat to ensure it's secured, and began to pull on it hoping to bring the giant down. However he underestimated the SPARTAN's augmented strength when Jorge grabbed hold of the wire and pulled, flailing the bounty hunter around until he slammed him into the wall, before grabbing Bane and deal a harsh blow to his head.

Cad was then thrown away like a piece of garbage, sprawling out onto the floor before he steadily gets back up to his feet albeit taking heavy breaths. He takes one glance at his dual pistols lying on the floor close by and dives for them just as Jorge does for his shotgun, Bane was the first to reach his blasters and opened fire when the SPARTAN grabbed his weapon and took cover behind a strut before leaning out to fire off a shell.

With the two sides dueling it out through firearms and swords, James returns to the scene with his left wrapped around Fett's neck as he struggled to free himself, and he raises his M6G magnum at Cad firing a shot that grazed the bounty hunter's left arm. Bane yells out in pain before setting his eyes on the green SPARTAN and his prisoner, his magnum was trained on his head.

"Vale . . . we have a problem" Cad claims calmly.

Kaladi immediately disarms and takes Ahsoka hostage after another saber lock before looking over to see her companion being held hostage by Longarm, the two bounty hunters immediately ceased hostilities by ironically turning their weapons on him instead of continuing their fights.

Vale tightened her hold on the togruta while Bane fell back to her side with his blasters still trained on the SPARTAN, just as James demanded "You have someone that belongs to us."

The mandalorian chuckled "Aww he does love you. That's sweet" much to Ahsoka's displeasure.

Bane however stays focused "We could say the same to you."

Jorge joins James's side "Then perhaps a prisoner exchange is in order but on our conditions."

"Let me go!" Boba demanded.

Longarm ordered "Quiet."

The two armed bounty hunters looked at one another, hoping to find a way out of this mess while they still hold the cards but however they needed Boba for their own reasons, Cad then asks "What are your demands soldier boy?"

"Just three simple requests: One, you let go of Ahsoka in exchange for the kid. Two, you get on your ship without any further struggle and leave. And third, is that you never show your faces around us again, or we will kill you. Am I understood?"

The duros responded reluctantly "Crystal . . ."

"Good. First step."

The two bounty hunters hesitated and were reluctant to release their own prisoner, but Vale eventually took a deep sigh and lets Ahsoka go which in turn allowed James to release Boba. Tano gathered her sabers and calmly walked over to the SPARTANs while Fett returned to his co-workers.

The two prisoners were now back to their respectful parties with Longarm stating "Now step two."

"Yeah we got the idea, we're going" Bane growls before he and Boba made their way back to the airlock where Slave l was docked.

However Vale stayed behind only for a brief moment to say "You know there'll be more people like us coming after you, right?"

"We'll be waiting for them" Jorge answers confidently.

She gives a grin, actually starting to like the way these men live despite fighting them tooth and nail for the moment, she then looks to Ahsoka as she began to back away "Hope you enjoy your honeymoon pretty girl."

Tano quickly protested "He's not my-" but stops herself knowing there was no chance of making Vale quit taunting her.

Kaladi was soon back aboard Boba's ship and they detached from the Vanguard making way for open space, the trio watched through a nearby viewport as the ship distanced itself before jumping into hyperspace.

Jorge comments "Well that could've gone worse."

His fellow SPARTAN replied "Yeah . . . Ahsoka what did she mean about a hon-"

"I don't want to talk about it" she interrupted him.

The big man then asks "So if those were bounty hunters, who placed the hit on us?"

Ahsoka replies "I don't know, someone who knew about you two long enough to even hate you. But-"

"A Jedi" James answers surely "Cain."

"Cain Komari? But why?"

"He's the only one that has it out for me, he convinced Skywalker to confront me which failed. It's only reasonable to think he'd send hunters next."

Jorge asks "So what now?"

"We get out of this system before more bounty hunters arrive. Percival set course for a nearby system, one that will give us some breathing room."

The AI responded "I regret to inform you that we cannot make a slipspace jump with a breach in the ship's hull, or we risk exposing the interior to hazardous radiation, it will need to be fully restored before we can jump."

The SPARTAN sighed "Alright fine, Jorge and I will head out to make repairs, Ahsoka return to the bridge and help Percival with system diagnostics and radar surveillance."

Tano acknowledged the order with a nod and made her way bow, the two SPARTANs turned and headed off towards the aft with the hope of repairing the breach and regain their ability to make FTL jumps. With high hopes Ahsoka would learn something of the Covenant's movements via the Holonet but the chances were unlikely, but one can never be too sure.

Please leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you.