Vanguard

Chapter 39

"Additional assets"

[UNSCVanguard, Unknown Regions]

The Gozanti cruiser floated to a gradual halt alongside one of the destroyer's airlocks and extended the docking tube where it interlocked with the larger vessel. The clamps were secured and the trio aboard the corvette-sized ship began making their way through the tube, Lux and Ahsoka walking side by side while James followed them behind.

"It's good to be home again . . ." Tano remarks as the group neared the UNSC airlock.

"I couldn't agree more" James adds.

Bonteri said nothing, instead he was overwhelmed with a sense of anxiety and nervousness which was something unlike him until now, the idea of boarding an extra-galactic warship was daunting in its own rights.

The three reached the lock where the SPARTAN steps forward and inputs the security door allowing them entry into the destroyer, the first hatch opens with a hiss of air prompting them to step inside and begin the air pressurization procedure where the hatch closes behind them and the air pressure corrects itself to match that of the parent vessel, then a second hatch in front of them slides open and the three finally came aboard what would be the key piece in their future rebellion. Bonteri was greeted with a dull grey three-way intersection with a hexagonal interior design, corridors large enough for three people to walk through shoulder-to-shoulder, the air was stale and recycled much like the ships of their galaxy, and no one was there to welcome Ahsoka and Longarm home or to greet him.

"So much for a welcoming party" he comments.

James takes a step into the intersection and stops in front of him "There's not a lot of us to begin with, eight of us now with you at our side."

"Then I'm glad to be with you here today."

"Good to know."

"James!" a young voice called out with joy.

Lux, along with Ahsoka and Longarm, turned to see a young pantoran girl sprinting through the empty corridor towards them but it wasn't long for him to notice the giant eight foot armored goliath walking a little ways behind the girl. He notices the ODST-clad SPARTAN come to a knee just as the girl came and threw her arms around his torso, he flinches in pain when she unknowingly placed her hand over his injuries but she didn't realize it and he gently places his armored arms around her as she held firmly to his chest.

Bay held on as long as she could until James had to be the one to break away and ask "Hey kid, how's your training coming along?"

"It's going great! Master Lador is really patient with me whenever I'm struggling . . . but . . ."

"But what? What's the matter?"

"My kyber crystal- it's gone . . ."

Ahsoka intervened "What do you mean?"

"Shortly after you two left I went to do more saber practice, but my lightsaber wouldn't activate, and when I looked my crystal was gone."

"Did you dissemble your lightsaber at any time before you went to practice?" the commando wondered.

"No . . ."

Jorge finally catches up with the pantoran and adds "She begged me to search every room for it, haven't found it yet. Not wanting to call anyone out but I think someone took it."

"Who would do that?" Tano asked.

But James already had an idea "I'll handle it don't worry. Tano, how about you take Bay and help her with her force training."

"Sure thing."

Lux then asked "Mind if I come along? Perhaps as a sort of tour of the ship."

The togruta nods with a grin which prompted Cila to head over to her but as James stood she noticed he grunted in pain for only a moment, she immediately became worried "James? What's wrong?"

"It's nothing Bay . . . I uh . . ." he knew there was no way he could lie about this so he braced himself "I took a blaster bolt to the back for Ahsoka . . . the armor took most of the damage."

"You're hurt!? Why didn't you tell me until now!?"

"I didn't want to scare you . . ."

Tano had to rest her hand on Cila's shoulder "James is going to the medical bay to get his wounds checked, he'll be alright don't worry."

But Bayu wasn't fully convinced when she asked the SPARTAN "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'm still standing aren't I?" he asked with a small grin underneath his helmet.

Bay didn't give a grin or even an expression of amusement, it was then when Ahsoka finally prompted her to come with her to the training bay with Lux Bonteri in tow leaving the two SPARTANs alone.

"I get the feeling you know who it is don't you?" Jorge asked.

"I have an idea, but I'll deal with that on my own" Longarm answered as the two begin walking down a separate corridor heading towards the mid-section.

As the two continued walking down the empty hallways Jorge manages to get a better look at his comrade's injuries, similar in many ways to the time of damage a covenant plasma weapon can inflict, and states "You got to get that looked at."

"I know . . ." he responded before he gave an exhausted sigh and asked "Percival?"

The British accented voice responded apologetically "Terribly sorry SPARTAN, I was distracted by something."

"It's alright, what has happened while we were gone?"

"Nothing to note on the Imperial Holonet, but we were able to make better use of our time out here."

James wasn't sure where the AI was going with this "Alright?"

"First I've taken the liberty of repairing and modifying your Mk. lV armor using some of the modifications you made to your Mk. V, you should see some similarities when you arrive in the armor bay."

"I could've done it myself, Percival, but thank you."

"That's not all. During your absence we've also deployed a slipspace probe to report the positions of the Covenant fleet in the Azloc System; it is currently on route to its destination."

The SPARTAN was rather pleased to hear that "Good work, hopefully soon we'll know what we're dealing with. Is there anything else you want to add?"

"Actually yes . . . and I'm quite sure Ahsoka would be very pleased to hear this."

Jorge quickly adds "We've detected a nearby debris field floating out in open space, an abandoned battlefield from the Clone Wars, and managed to find some good usable salvage, including a Jedi fighter in need of repairs. I haven't informed Miss Tano about it because I plan to have it as a bit of a surprise."

"Did anything else turn up?"

The AI reports "Well we were able to recover some materials we could use to make repairs and even reinforce our external hull plating making the destroyer much more resilient to enemy fire, though such a task will require approximately an entire month to complete, but . . ."

"But what?" the sniper wondered.

"We also recovered a number of deactivated droids, some were more damaged than others, but if we can bring these droids back into commission we should have a sizeable workforce to maintain the Vanguard, and speaking of the possible hull upgrades- with the droids the timeframe of the labor will be reduced to a mere few days, a week at most."

"Not to mention it'll be a good start for an army" Jorge adds.

"So how many droids did you recover?" James asked.

"Three hundred and seventy six units have been recovered, all of which are waiting to be repaired and brought back online. And before you ask, once they're repaired we'll install an external remote command module that will give me full control as long as they remain aboard the ship or in close proximity."

"That's great news . . . then again I suppose I'm the one that has to put them back together."

"Not to worry, some merely ran out of power and needed a simple recharge. Jorge and I already remedied that part and got several droids back online. You and perhaps Miss Tano will have to reassemble the rest, given the amount of experience she has with them."

"Alright I'll get to that as soon as possible, is there anything else I should know?"

"In terms of our survival and that of your upcoming rebellion, no, but on a personal note you'll be pleased to know that Bayu has made remarkable progress in her training after what you've done for her. Of course that was until her crystal has been stolen . . ."

"You know who it is don't you?" Jorge wondered.

"I only have an idea" James answered assuring "Kyber crystals don't just get up and walk- at least as far as I know."

"Well before you do anything, it's best to get your injuries examined" the AI states.

"I know, I know . . ."

[Corridors, on route to training bay]

"So this ship took on the entire separatist fleet in the Null Sector?" Lux wondered as he glanced at every small detail of the Vanguard's interior design, he could guess with the heavy engineering and structuring that the vessel was meant to take severe punishment.

"Yep, all in one fatal blow" Ahsoka answered as she led the way.

"Speaking of that fatal blow, where do they keep their nuclear arsenal?"

"Somewhere deep in the ship inside a heavily secured vault. Good luck asking Percival how to find it."

"Right. So who was that big guy we saw?"

"That was Jorge, sure he's seems intimidating at first but he's a bit of a softie when you get to know him."

"Hmph . . . that'll be the day. So Longarm's real name is James is it?"

Cila happily turned to face the senator stating "Yep! He's a really great guy to be around."

"So how did you two meet?" Lux wondered.

The young pantoran turned back to follow Ahsoka but walked alongside their new ally "Well actually he found me when I was still at the temple after what happened, I lost my master when things got out of hand and I became afraid. James was there to keep me safe and look after me even though we just met, I was really glad he came when he did."

"You must've been lucky."

"Yeah . . ." her expression saddened "If only he was there to save everyone else . . ."

Tano turned her head "I'm sure James would've done anything to be there."

Bonteri then frowned "I guess I don't get it . . ."

"Get what?"

"Where he's from- you'd think a person like him wouldn't offer a hand in kindness and risk his life for people he never knew or thought of."

"But he did, because he saw it as his duty to protect those in need. That's the oath of a SPARTAN."

"Hm . . . I guess I just need time to understand things."

The three eventually arrived at the bulkhead hatch of the training bay, the hatch slid open with an air releasing hiss which presented the large open training room before them. As they stepped inside they immediately found Cain Komari and Lador Mattis silently meditating together on the floor in the middle of the room. Of course the two Jedi did not pay the arrivals any attention, whether they were aware or not, but it didn't seem to bother them as they headed off to a separate part of the bay where there was some lifting weights and other devices used to keep UNSC personnel in top physical shape.

Tano pulls off a pair of thirty pound weights from the racks and placed them on the floor side by side, she glanced at Bonteri who was checking out a punching bag that had seen better days, then turned her attention back to Cila asking "Alright let's start simple for today."

But Bayu didn't seem quite like her enthusiastic self "With all due respect Ahsoka . . . I don't think I'm up for it today . . ."

"What's wrong?"

"Just thinking about everything that's happened over the past few weeks . . ."

The togruta kneels down before the youngling and placed her hand on her shoulders "Bay, I know things are difficult and things aren't clear to understand. But I can assure you that things will get better."

"How?" Cila asked, her eyes stared into Tano's with sadness and misunderstanding.

Lux reassures her "I guess we'll just have to have faith in our new friends, like you do with James . . ."

The child thought about it, so far the SPARTANs have come through everything they had done for the Jedi and it was because of James that she has someone to rely on closely for support especially through dark times such as these. Perhaps Lux was right to think they have to trust one another no matter what, whether they were Republic, UNSC, Jedi, SPARTAN, because as of the rise of the Galactic Empire they are all now considered rebels for a new cause.

Bayu figured it was time to change the subject and asked Ahsoka "Can we show him more of the ship?"

Tano grinned "Sure" and stood up before the three began heading out of the bay.

As they left, Mattis had opened his eyes and lets out a depressed sigh.

Komari sensed a feeling of confusion rising within his friend, prompting him to cease meditating and ask "What is troubling you my friend?"

Lador grunted "Perhaps the Senator has truth behind those words . . . about relying on our new allies."

"They're dangerous Lador, what could we possibly gain from this relationship with the soldiers?"

"A better future perhaps, a day where the Jedi can return and peace is brought back to the galaxy, not this militaristic totalitarian autocracy."

"Perhaps . . . but at what cost? How far will the SPARTANs go to achieve this sought out peace, how many will have to lose their lives?"

"I know Komari . . . but as much as you hate to hear it I believe Senator Bonteri is right. No matter what now we are all at the receiving end of the Empire's wrath, all of us branded enemies in the eyes of the galaxy."

Afterwards Mattis began to stand up on his feet and started walking towards the exit explaining "Forgive me friend, I just need time to contemplate."

Cain remained seated as he felt Lador's presence drift away, his voice saddened "I understand . . ." and returned to his meditation alone.

[Sixteen minutes later, lift]

Ahsoka, Lux, and Cila stood on the lift making its way up to the command deck, the mechanical whir dominated the silence as everyone stood there without a word. Ahsoka was calm as usual, a small grin of pleasure was present on her face, while Bayu seemed a bit ecstatic anticipating the next part of the tour even though she has already seen the bridge, but Lux seemed somewhat nervous not knowing what to expect.

Cila turned her head towards the senator and cheerfully asks "How do you like the ship so far?"

Bonteri's eyes met hers "It's nothing I was expecting to be honest."

Tano then comes into the conversation "What were you expecting?"

"Well I wasn't expecting a dedicated warship of this size for starters. Maybe a bigger crew . . ."

She decided it was time to explain the events that transpired long ago "The crew died out when the Vanguard first came to our galaxy, James was the only being to survive afterwards. He spent five years repairing the ship up until only about two months ago when it launched from Saleucami, it even made its first kill that day."

The lift comes to a stop at the top of the shaft, there the bulkhead hatch slid open revealing a small corridor with another door at the far end. Ahsoka took the lead with Bay and Lux in tow, everything seemed quiet and dull until they reached the door on the other side. After Tano puts in the key code to the hatch it hisses open allowing the three to walk aboard the bridge for Lux to see, however what immediately caught everyone's attention was the fact that a crew of active B1 Battledroids inhabited the bridge with most of them working on control terminals and monitoring stations, one droid with yellow markings was speaking directly with Percival's avatar standing on the holotable in the middle of the room.

Ahsoka instinctively reached for her lightsabers quickly ordering the two behind her "Get behind me!"

The British officer turned around with a curious expression "Something wrong Ma'am?"

The togruta took another moment for a second look at what was happening, none of the droids were visibly armed nor seemed alarmed by her presence, most didn't even acknowledge she was there, the commander droid itself had at first a hand up in a steady salute to the AI hologram but was now puzzled why the Jedi armed herself.

"Percy . . . what's going on?" she asked now confused herself.

"Oh I forgot to inform you, we've detected a nearby debris field from one the early battles of the Clone Wars. We managed to salvage some of these droids and brought them back online."

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

". . . It slipped my mind" the AI curtly responded.

She raised an eyebrow, not exactly expecting an answer like that from someone such as him, but shortly after that he gives a warm encouraging grin which seemed to have made her ease up a little. Afterwards she stows her hilts and took a step towards the holotable, she continued to glance between the WWl British officer and the droid commander until she decide to let it go for now.

Bayu quickly changed the subject and waved "Hi Percival!"

He turns his eyes to hers and greeted her "And hello to you as well Miss Cila, have you any luck in finding your crystal?"

"No . . ." she sighed "You?"

"I'm still monitoring every camera on this ship, rest assured if it comes across one of them I'll know about it. I'm confident it will turn up soon."

She then gave gentle smile "Thanks Percy."

It was finally Lux's turn to step up and ask "So you're the great Percival I've been hearing about?"

The avatar swiftly placed his boots together and thrown his right hand up into a stern salute "UNSC AI serial number (PRC 5281-0) 'Percival' at your service Senator."

Bonteri steps forward in front of Percival and asks "So what exactly is an AI?"

"AI stands for artificial intelligence, Senator, we were solely created for the task of operating various complex and significantly important systems and installations whereas human personnel are not capable of handling."

"So you can run this entire ship by yourself if you wanted to?"

"I have been for the past five years, it's actually quite a relief now that I have the aid of these repurposed droids."

Tano wondered "How many did you recover?"

"Enough" the officer responded "Most of them are still waiting to be put back on and reactivated down in the hangar."

"So what do you do in your free time Sir?" Bonteri asked.

"Well I tend to enjoy giving history lessons to Miss Tano and watch over Cila whenever SPARTAN James has gone away- speaking of which, Ahsoka when do you plan to begin our next lesson?"

"Soon Percy" she replied with a small smile.

The hologram nodded in acknowledgement then went back to the previous question "Anyways I also enjoyed catching up on events on the holonet and ensure that all systems onboard the Vanguard are operating at optimum efficiency."

Afterwards the droid commander returns to the AI holotable and reports "Sir, medical bay reports that SPARTAN-121 has been cleared for duty."

"Good, thank you."

The droid turns away as Ahsoka states "Well I think we should keep going with the tour, maybe the hangar next."

As the three began to make their way out, Percival stops them "Perhaps you'd like to stop by S-Deck, let the Senator meet the real James after so long."

The togruta stopped and nodded to that with a grin, afterwards the three headed out, leaving the AI to his devices.

[Twenty three minutes later, S-Deck]

On Deck Seven, James had already removed his ODST armor in exchange for the MJOLNIR titanium nanocomposite suit as he prepares for the armoring procedure. His injuries had been looked over during his brief visit to the medical bay, and after Percival had performed a quick examination and medical rehabilitation the SPARTAN was cleared for duty once more. It was a miracle the bacta patches had performed and James was lucky to have had that sort of technology to aid in his healing process.

The second generation commando flexed his right arm, getting the familiar feel of his bodysuit once again, when Jorge, standing off to the side leaning his left shoulder on the wall next to him, wondered "You think things will ever go back to normal for this galaxy?"

James answered as he ran his right hand across his left arm "Normal? Jorge there's nothing normal about this galaxy, which I can say the same for our own."

The giant didn't bother to grin, not amused by the comment, "You know what I'm talking about."

The sniper then sighed "If the question is; Will the galaxy ever return to the days of the Republic? With the help of the Jedi and the trust of the people, we can make it so again."

"How do we gain that trust? Show that we won't stand for the Empire?"

"That and provide aid to those in need, we can't just focus on one aspect of fighting the enemy."

At that moment the two heard the bulkhead door hiss open letting Ahsoka, Bayu, and Lux in to the bay, almost immediately Bonteri examines the unarmored SPARTAN from the head down seeing the black bodysuit James had finished putting on. Jorge glanced over and gave an acknowledging nod to the three as they came closer and stopped just a few feet away from Longarm who was getting ready for the armoring procedure.

Ahsoka continued "And this is S-Deck, where SPARTANs go to get their armor and equipment."

The Senator makes a comment as he looked around the room "Huh . . . for a room that's so important I was expecting it to be a little . . . bigger."

"How's the tour coming along?" James wondered.

"We already showed him the training bay, armories, the bridge, sleeping quarters, and the gun range" Tano answered.

"Haven't gone to the hangar yet?"

"We're about to."

"Wait a moment we'll come with you, I need to perform maintenance on the Sabre anyways."

The togruta nodded "Alright" then turned to Bonteri with a small grin "You'll like this part."

As the three watched from where they stood, James steps onto the central platform prompting Jorge to press his finger on the activation icon on the holographic control board. From there the mechanical arms stretched outwards with segments of green titanium alloy armor in their grasps, latching piece by piece with each locking into place with the bodysuit. Tano crossed her arms while Cila watched with awe and Lux with undivided attention as the SPARTAN's body was slowly engulfed in a rigid shell of heavy armor. Bonteri couldn't have guessed at how many pieces had been assembled together or how heavy the suit weighed. With the torso, arms, and shoulders finally assembled together, a pair of clamps holding on to a roundish olive helmet with a wide exposed gold visor came down and fitted the helmet over the soldier's head which locked itself with an air tightening hiss signaling that the suit was now EVA capable and combat ready.

Ahsoka then stated "Lux, say hello to the real SPARTAN James" as the seven foot behemoth steps off and flexes his body yet again to reacquaint himself with the suit.

"I've never seen armor assembled like that" he notes.

Longarm stretched his arms and shoulders as he explained "This isn't the typical standard issue body armor you're used to seeing Senator. This is the Mark lV MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor, plated with a dense titanium alloy and refractive coated the outer shell can defend against small arms ballistics fire and even a few blasts from directed energy weapons. It comes readily equipped with energy shielding, weapon readouts, and a motion tracker with an adjustable range, all powered by a micro-fusion reactor that was introduced into the final production model."

"So a glorified suit of armor . . ." Bonteri remarked.

But James dismisses the comment and continues "The most impressive part of the suit is a layer of classified material that grants us inhuman capabilities such as enhanced strength, speed, reaction time, and mobility that far surpasses any normal human."

The senator then glanced at Jorge's suit asking "Why does his look different then?"

The big man himself answered that "This is the Mark V, his was damaged a while back."

As Longarm finished getting readjusted to his armor he asks "Percival what were the modifications you made to the armor?"

Then to Lux's surprise, an English voice emanated from an unseen source "Well with the Mk. V out of commission with no efficient way of restoring it to optimum levels, I took the liberty of stripping it down for parts and began utilizing some of the components to further enhance the potential of the Mk. lV. Energy shield strength increased by thirty three percent, a portion the titanium shell is now comprised of the denser alloy used in the Mk. V construction including the chest plates and shoulder guards, and as an added bonus I incorporated your personal touches onto the Mk. lV, such as a specialized magnetic strip on your right shoulder pad which will allow you to carry that electrostaff you seemed to be fond of."

James took a glimpse at his right shoulder plate, finding the pad modified with the mentioned strip tailored made to securely grasp the handle bar of the staff, then he responded "Thank you Percival."

"It was my pleasure doing so. Now, I believe we were all heading to hangar bay?"

[Elevator lift]

Twenty minutes has passed since they left S-Deck, now they all stood on the mechanical lift that was descending down to the lower decks where the ventral hangar was located. All five of them waited silently with some occasional glances being shared among them, save for James who simply looked ahead as if he was staring at something in the distance. Cila stood close to the SPARTAN sniper while Jorge and Ahsoka stood off to the side, Lux was standing off a few feet from Longarm and continued to examine the armor which he found intriguing. Eventually Bay took hold of James' hand, her small blue hands were only large enough to fully grasp three of his fingers before her entire hand was engulfed by his own, Bonteri took note of that and realized that the relationship between the two was something more akin to a father-daughter relationship given that she expressed care and stood very close to the soldier at given times while he watched over her ever since he found her at the temple and exhibited concern when he was told about the missing crystal.

Glancing at the eight foot SPARTAN and Ahsoka, both standing against the walls of the lift with their arms crossed now talking among themselves though he couldn't hear exactly what, Lux figured they had something in common but it was hard to tell. That was until Jorge glared at the senator and gestured him to come over to join in on their conversation.

He does so, coming within feet of the two, and Jorge asks "She's been telling me about the time you two met, what was it like to meet an enemy face to face?"

"You should tell me" Lux retorts "You've done it longer than I've been alive."

"No no not like that. I'm talking about meeting an enemy but on more pleasant circumstances."

"Well . . . I suppose it was a little awkward and frustrating to think about it, especially in my case after my father was killed by clones early in the war."

"I'm sorry to hear that . . ."

"Thank you, but it was because of my mother that Ahsoka and I learned to try and understand each other- Republic and Separatists- so that one day we could achieve peace."

Jorge fell silent momentarily, his helmeted head bowed as he sighed to himself, ". . . sorry things didn't turn out the way your mother wanted. I'm sure she's going to do everything she can to bring peace back."

"My mother died as well, at the hands of Dooku . . . I heard he died in the Battle of Coruscant, I hope he got everything he deserved" the Senator spoke with some bitterness in his voice.

Ahsoka chipped in "Then it's up to us to fulfill your mother's wishes."

The lift grinds to a halt on the lowest level where the large bulkhead doors creaked and slid open revealing a small corridor for the five to travel through. James and Cila were the first to start walking, side by side, and the rest followed suit afterwards with Ahsoka and Lux next to one another and Jorge lumbering behind.

Another minute of silence passed until they reached another set of specially designed reinforced doors, built to keep boarders from intruding into the vessel beyond the hangar, in which Longarm inputs an eight digit code into an adjacent keypad. In response, the magnetic locks unlocked themselves and the heavy doors slid open with a hiss of air revealing the vast interior of the Vanguard's ventral hangar bay. One by one the group walked into the bay, some first noticing the large pile standing at the port starboard side full of a variety of deactivated droids from the meek B1s to the more powerful B2s and even the dome head of a DSD1 Dwarf Spider Droid from what they could see.

"Got a nice collection here Percy" Ahsoka remarked as the group neared the pile of steel limbs and bodies.

Jorge muttered under his breath "I did all the work . . ." but no one heard, save for James who grinned behind his helmet.

"These were what we could recover so far but there are possibly plenty more to salvage from the debris field" Percival explained.

Longarm began examining the droid pile, seeing some more intact than others, and states "Well it's going to take us some time before we can get them back online, a month perhaps."

Tano adds "I can help you out, though it looks like some droids are beyond saving."

"We'll just have to do what we can."

However in the midst of the conversation, Bonteri was looking about finding several rigid looking air and space craft such as the large olive drab Pelican dropship and the small angular Sabre fighter, even a pair of what looked like sleek fighters with no visible cockpit. However he immediately recognizes the clone LAAT gunship that sat idle next to its equally large UNSC counterpart, though he couldn't identify the strange yellow markings that were made to it. And finally his eyes came to a stop at what was shrouded underneath a large sheet of cloth to keep the dust off, while everyone was talking themselves the Senator decides to walk over and investigate. The closer he came the more he began to realize the angular design of whatever it could be.

That was when Percival's voice asked "Senator Bonteri, might I ask what you're doing?"

Lux froze, he had already forgotten that the AI has eyes and ears practically everywhere in and around the ship, he had to respond "I was just . . . browsing."

The others turned to see where Lux was heading to, Ahsoka noticed the covered object and wondered "Haven't seen that before, what is it?"

Jorge walked up next to her and stated "Just a little something I found while I was out in that debris field . . . figured you might like it."

She glanced up at the eight foot SPARTAN, unable to tell what Jorge was thinking behind that opaque visor of his, and soon curiosity began to take over prompting her to start walking over to the unknown object. Cila wanted to follow but James stopped her by gently holding onto her shoulder, Ahsoka then passed Bonteri and closed in on what she was focused on. In a manner of moments the togruta stops just a foot from the object, now appearing primarily triangular and nearly the size of the wombat drones she sees currently sitting dormant next to each other not too far from where she was. A moment of hesitation came over her but she quickly waved it off and pulled the covers off, the SPARTANs and Percival waited for her reaction.

What she uncovered was a battle-damaged Delta-7 Jedi Interceptor that was surprisingly still intact despite the years it had been adrift though there were complications that made themselves present. The hull along the fighter's port side had been ravaged by blaster fire with the hull pierced in several locations, the classic red and white color scheme appeared to have corroded from the constant exposure to hard vacuum and radiation that lied in open space, and the cockpit canopy was shattered beyond repair. But after another quick examination it would seem that the engines and weapons may be saved despite the wear and tear.

Ahsoka quickly turned to Jorge, shock in her eyes, "Where did you get this!?"

The big man chuckled "Hehe, I told you in the debris field. What you should be asking is how I got it in here but let's not talk about it. What do you think?"

She turns back to the fighter, running her hand along the thin durasteel plating "Jorge this is amazing . . . I don't know what to say."

"Say nothing, I figured you were in need of a fighter so when I came across her I had to bring her in. Hopefully we can restore her to working order."

Longarm added "And if you want we could probably add some UNSC modifications to it . . . weapons, perhaps some reinforced hull plating or countermeasures."

Tano continued to glare at the fighter, finding all of the finer features of the craft, then she turned to the others with a warm smile of approval which made Jorge proud of it.

"I'll begin immediate diagnostics of the fighter and see what needs to be repaired, meanwhile I think it's time to bring some of those droids back into service."

James nodded "Agreed, I'll get started."

Cila added "James can I help?"

"Sure."

Bonteri shrugged "Well it's not exactly what I envisioned of a tour but this one has already surprised me.

Jorge ventured over to Tano, still standing by the Delta-7, and states "If you need help with this, just let me know."

"She continued to grin "Thanks big guy, let's get to work."

Please leave your comments and thoughts. Thank you.