A lone figure… standing at the edge of destruction.
"She has made her choice."
Abandoned… no, he chose to be left behind, else there be no hope left for humanity.
"Do you have it?"
"Yes."
"Say the words please."
"I have it."
Black armour, as black and mysterious as the ink that hides his past. His back against you, facing the storm that is destroying the planet he knew would eventually fall. He knew he was going to die here, it was a fact that he accepted.
"Tell 'em to make it count."
He's fighting, for hours on end. His enemies having difficulty in taking down one man. No, not just a man, but a soldier beyond what you know. But even such a man has limits. A shot caught him off guard, he stumbled a bit. The helmet he wore, meant to protect, was proving to be more of a hindrance. He had trouble breathing, and the visor was cracked. He takes it off and tosses it to who knows where.
"First glassing? Me too."
He spots a weapon he could use, just laying on the ground. He moves towards it and picks it up, shooting at any incoming hostiles. His face, bruised and bloodied, much like the rest of his body from hours of fighting.
"You're on your own Noble… Carter out."
One of his enemies tries to sneak up on him, but the soldier quickly dispatches it, and finishes it off with his sidearm. There's more oncoming fire, and the soldier fires back. He gets hit on his right shoulder, but it only makes him fight harder, as he wields his rifle and sidearm at the same time. But there's too many of them, and one manages to push the soldier to the ground.
"I'm ready! How 'bout you?"
The one who pushed the soldier tried to get on top of him, but the soldier kicked him off. Another enemy attempts to go for the kill, but the soldier is still struggling, still fighting. The enemy who pushed the soldier goes in for another attempt, but only succeeds in distracting the soldier, before the other one goes in for the kill.
Then, a flurry of images. Of a massive super structure the size of a ring. Of a man and his holographic companion. A terrifying enemy the likes have never been seen. A battle... no, a war for survival. A species in the backpedal. A dishonorable title given to an honourable being. A Schism. A hive mind. A friend left behind...
A return entry to home. A portal opening. A successful containment. A massive structure, bigger than many other planets. An even space battle.
The end of a great war.
The return of a friend.
Stopping an unstoppable enemy.
Finishing the fight.
Resting, in the cold embrace of eternity.
Aayla shot up from her bed. Panting and sweating from the intense and vivid dream.
'Was it a dream?' Aayla pondered as she placed a hand on her head, smoothing the aching pain. She slides her hand across her arm, picking up the sweat that built up from her intense dream. She sat there, on her bed, thinking back at the images that came at her.
"A vision… from the Force perhaps?" She said out loud to herself, unable to make any sense of the vision she received. Swinging her legs, her feet made contact with the cold floor. She sat inside her room in her command ship, a replacement to the one she lost during the battle of Quell. Ever since that major battle, she has participated in the war in more ways than in combat. Although she has not played such an active part in it, such as Anakin Skywalker or Master Obi-wan Kenobi, much like any other Jedi part of the war she still played a crucial part in it.
Much like her current mission now, which was to reinforce one of the Republic fleets in the Outer Rim territories. It wasn't a major operation, but it would go towards leading the Republic, and also the Jedi Order to victory.
Looking at the time, she noticed that she really only had about a few hours of sleep. With that being brought up, it brought her attention back to the vision she just had. Of structure of impossible sizes, an enemy that can consume all of life. It sounded like something from fiction. But it certainly unnerved her as well, why did the force show her this vision? What's the meaning? Is there a meaning? Is it foreshadowing events that will play out in the future, or was it some meaningless dream she just happened to have.
She shook her head and stood up from her bed. She began or warm-up stretches, to prepare her for tasks ahead of her. On top of her duty as a Jedi Master, she also had the duty of being a General in the Grand Army of the Republic. At times her duty as a Jedi and General would conflict, and would bring much stress to her. So stretching was a means of relieving the tension in her body, ready for the day ahead. As she was finishing up, a knock on her door interrupted her.
Standing straight up, Aayla straightened her clothes to be more presentable. A moment later, she answers the door. There stood a friendly face in uncertain times. A Togruta, a friend, a former Jedi. It was only a week since her departure from the Jedi Order, and Ahsoka felt as if she needed to get away from Coruscant in general. Sporting little to no money, she received word that Aayla was departing for the Outer Rim. A call and a favour later, Aayla happily gave Ahsoka a means to leave Coruscant, although it was kept a secret from the Order and the GAR, a secret that everybody in the ship guarded.
"Ahsoka, I hope you're doing well." Aayla smiled at the younger Togruta. She may not be part of the Order anymore, but it didn't mean she wasn't a friend and an honorable person. It was one of the many reasons why she agreed to give her a lift.
But the former Jedi looked a bit uneasy, which was something that Aayla completely understood. The events surrounding what led to Ahsoka leaving was understandable for the Twi'lek. Although much like other Jedi, she did follow the code, but also felt as if the Code couldn't encompass everything. She didn't know how to describe her feelings towards the council and the Code, much more so after what happened with Ahsoka.
But now, looking at the former Jedi, it wasn't that. No, it was something deeper, Ahsoka looked as if she saw a ghost. She saw something that she couldn't make sense of. The look of confusion and worry reflected that to what Aayla felt earlier. She knew what Ahsoka came to her for.
"Master Aayla, may I speak with you for a moment? I…" Ahsoka paused, trying to find the right words. But she wouldn't answer because Aayla knew what she was talking about.
"You saw a vision that you cannot understand. You saw it too, didn't you?" The Twi'lek Jedi asked. Ahsoka's eyes went wide as she looked at Aayla, and she nodded in confirmation. "Come in, little one." Aayla said in an almost sisterly tone.
Ahsoka walked in and started to pace back and forth in the room. While Aayla locked the door and sat on her bed.
"So, what did you see? I can't make sense of the things I saw, it felt far-fetched." Ahsoka started the conversation and kept her pace in the room. Aayla for her part walked up to the Togruta, placed her hands on her shoulders and guided her to have a seat on her bed.
"First, let's calm down… relax. Keeping that pace up would just make you exhausted." Aayla said, and instead of sitting next to Ahsoka, she sat on a chair that sat next to a desk, adjacent to the bed. Ahsoka took a deep breath and started to relax. "There, do you wish to meditate?"
"Uh…" Ahsoka hesitates. "I don't think that's a good idea."
"Ahsoka, meditating is not a strictly Jedi or even force weidling mental technique. It's a way to center yourself, and find the clarity needed to answer difficult questions. For our purposes, it's a means to clarify what we saw." Aayla answered, but found that Ahsoka was still hesitant. She wasn't in the Order anymore, so she couldn't really instruct Ahsoka to follow her lead. So instead of meditating, Aayla proposed another means of clarifying about what they shared. "Do you just want to talk about it?"
"Yes please." Ahsoka answered after a moment of deliberation. After another moment to recompose themselves, Ahsoka once again asked. "What did you see? I don't know if we both saw the same thing."
Aayla looked away, thinking back to the vision she saw. The most notable parts of the vision was centered around a strange armoured figure, fighting for their life.
"I saw an armoured man… fighting until the very end." Aayla said the last part just above a whisper. It certainly caught her attention, a noble last stand against insurmountable odds. She couldn't help but think back to her fellow Jedi and Clone soldiers who fell in such a way as well.
"His armour was black." Ahsoka started to think as well. "It didn't fit in with any Clone units, or just with the Republic in general."
"Could have been a bounty hunter, or some other mercenary." Aayla added.
"But who in their right minds would use slugthrowers? Didn't you see the casings that were ejected everytime they fired their weapon?"
"On top of that, his enemies. I have never seen a diverse set of enemies. All of them were both; not human, and not a species that I could recognize." They both shuddered at their appearances. Especially the ones that wielded the lightsaber-like blades. They all had some sort of shielding that prevented them from taking a substantial amount of damage.
"But the vision doesn't end, there was more of it." Ahsoka moved on to the other images. "These massive space stations, they're like nothing that I've ever seen or heard about."
"Well, except for the station around Ringo Vinda." Aayla mentioned.
"Well… yeah…" Ahsoka chuckled, forgetting about the space station surrounding the planet. Aayla chuckled as well. "But the other place, the one bigger than an entire planet. The one with a lot of arms I think?"
The Twi'lek nodded. "Yes, in all honesty it concerns me. Seeing such massive stations, and the terrifying foe."
"You mean that disgusting disease, right?" The sight of such a creature gave Ahsoka a pause. Not only was it disgusting, but one of the most terrifying things she has ever seen. The fact that such a creature, or creatures, appeared in her vision from the force did not sit well with the former Jedi. "What does this all mean?"
"I do not know Ahsoka. My only hope is that we contact Master Yoda as soon as possible." The mention of a member in the Council did not sit well with Ahsoka, and Aayla certainly noticed. "Ahsoka, I know the Council is the last group of people you want to see. But what we saw through the force, the megastructures, the war we saw, that disease, could only really mean one thing to us, and to this galaxy."
Ahsoka couldn't argue with that. She may not be a Jedi, but something like what they saw, could not just be swept away. She looked up at the Master, it was evident in her face alone that Ahsoka wasn't up for this, but she was putting on a brave face.
"Alright, le-"
A violent shake practically threw both the women to the floor. The lights in the room flickered for a brief time before it returned to full strength. An alarm started blaring as both the women picked themselves up.
"Ugh… What just happened?" Ahsoka asked out loud. Not too long after Aayla's communicator went off.
"General! Something just pulled us out of hyperspace! You're needed at the bridge." Commander Bly reported in quickly before ending the call.
Aayla and Ahsoka looked at each other for a split second before Aayla raced to the door. "Come on Ahsoka!" Ahsoka immediately followed after the Master.
"Captain, report!" Aayla ordered the human captain of the ship. Ahsoka followed shortly after her, and beside Ahsoka was Commander Bly.
"A gravitational anomaly pulled us out of hyperspace, ma'am." Captain Ross replied as he looked at his datapad, running through system diagnostics and checks. "All systems received minor to no damage. However we cannot re enter hyperspace."
"Captain, please explain."
Captain Ross moved next to Aayla and gave her his datapad. "Our systems are mistaking this anomaly as a celestial body. Like a planet, a moon, anything of size that can generate its own gravity."
The Jedi master looked up from the datapad, and through the window ports of the bridge. There was really nothing here. No planet, moon, not even a sizable celestial body that can have that much mass. Not even a speck of dust can be seen, they were literally nowhere, in the middle of space with nothing for lightyears, except…
"Is that…?" Aayla stepped up, right next to the window. Ahsoka and Bly followed her to see a wreckage of some sort of fair distance away.
"Is that wreckage?" Ahsoka asked.
"It's not just a wreckage, but also the source of the gravitational anomaly. It's sphere of influence is quite sizable as well, enough so that it could interrupt our current lane for many others." The Captain explained.
"Can't we just go around it?" Bly asked.
"We could. But the reason why we were able to receive minimal damage is because we're a war vessel. Any civilian vessel that is suddenly taken out of hyperspace would turn out much differently then we did. Especially with how strong this gravitational anomaly is." The Captain explained, making his recommendation clear as day.
"Then it's our duty to rectify this. Bring us in, Captain." Aayla ordered as she took her place at the center of the bridge.
"Aye aye ma'am." Captain Ross issued orders to the various members of the bridge staff, and the Venator made its way towards the ship wreckage.
Ahsoka was still by the window, looking at the ominous wreckage of the unknown ship. She looked over next to her to see that Commander Bly was still there. "Did you get reports of missing ships in this area by any chance?" She asked.
Commander Bly only shrugged. "I wouldn't know, I'm just a soldier remember?"
Ahsoka blushed in embarrassment. "Right… sor-"
"Nothing to apologize for ma'am." He smiled softly at the Togruta. "But concerning your question. I don't think we would've taken this route if there were reports of missing ships in the area. On top of that, even if we had reports of missing ships, our mission is to reinforce one of our fleets in the Outer Rim, not to investigate missing ships in this area."
Ahsoka only nodded, before returning her attention back to the drifting wreckage that was getting closer by the minute. "Strange how a wreckage like that is being mistaken for something that can pull us out of hyperspace."
"Captain!" One of the operators in the Bridge called out to the Captain. That caught the attention of Ahsoka, Bly, Aayla and Captain Ross. "We managed to scan the ship, and strangely enough, it doesn't appear in our records sir."
"Did we update our records?" Captain Ross replied.
"Yes sir, it doesn't match any known civilian spacecraft, or Republic naval spacecraft sir." The Operator responded.
"Could be a wreckage for a new Separatist ship, and the failed test at that." Commander Bly said, with him adding the last part under his breath. Ahsoka heard him and let out a tiny grin.
"Could be, but I doubt the Separatist are this sloppy. If it is a failed test, they would clean it up, or else we'd know about it." Aayla said as she continued to think about the wreckage ahead of her.
"No life forms detected!" An operator at the opposite end of the bridge voiced his findings.
"Damn, there goes our means for first hand accounts." Captain Ross mumbled.
"Sir, we're here!" Another member of the bridge crew voiced out, and everyone looked out the viewport. The ship is clearly beyond repair. Massive chunks of it floated around the wreckage, and clear hull breaches meant they could see the inside of the ship. There were no lights present, meaning there was little to no power on the ship. There were strange markings near what they assumed to be the front of the ship, although they couldn't recognize the language. But what everybody could see was the weapons all around the ship. There seemed to be massive turrets around the ship, along with holes around it to clearly launch some sort of missiles. There were scorch marks all over the ship, especially around the hull breaches. Everyone could tell that this ship has seen action, maybe too much action.
"I could tell, even if it wasn't this damaged that this ship wasn't quite the looker." Ahsoka said. She could tell that the ship looked a bit bulky, and quite angular as well.
"That's because this ship was clearly meant for one thing… war." Bly responded to Ahsoka. He didn't have anything against Republic ships, but he could tell that by design that they were also meant to look somewhat pleasing. But this ship in front of them didn't care about looks, it was simply about functionality.
Aayla turned towards the Captain. "Captain Ross, send out salvage and engineer teams onboard the wreckage. I want to find where the anomaly is coming from."
"Yes ma'am!"
Aayla turned towards Ahsoka and Bly. "Ahsoka, stay here on the bridge, I'll be in the comms room to tell General Kenobi that I'll be late to rendezvous with his fleet."
"Yes Master." Ahsoka slightly bowed her head towards the Jedi Master. With that Ahsoka returns her attention back to the mysterious craft ahead of her, as she witnesses the hangar bay doors opening, and several LAAT space gunship variants leaving to investigate the wreckage.
"We have a live feed."
As soon as Aayla finished her report, to which they were expecting an additional ship to arrive soon to help if necessary, Ahsoka and Bly joined Aayla at the back of the bridge where the comms were. The teams onboard the wreckage were able to give live footage of their positions, with Aayla, Ahsoka, Bly and Captain Ross watching their every movement.
Everyone noted that the hallways of the ship were much like the hallways found in many other warships, including Separatists. They were bland, uninspired, sturdy, and utilitarian, funny how such words would lead to so many variations.
"Damage is extensive here, and so is the amount of debris present. We have to be careful unless we want one of these floating metal knives piercing us and our EVA suits." One of the salvage team members said.
"Please be careful, we're not in any sort of rush." Aayla reminded the teams onboard.
"Yeah, not like we have to regroup with a certain fleet." Bly commented, which earned the glare of the Twi'lek Master.
"Found something!" Immediately the screen switched to another view. The view was that of a floating body. "Well, more like someone." The body was that of a female, the clothes certainly gave away the fact that she was some sort of female officer.
"I don't recognize that uniform." Ahsoka said, thinking back to the various military groups that she has encountered that wore a sort of standard uniform.
"I don't either, must be from a small planet's military." Captain Ross suggested.
"Or a corporate army." Ahsoka added.
"Which one though?" Bly asked both of them.
"I don't know, but they better keep looking. There's a lot more to this ship that I'm starting to realize." Aayla said as she gave the order to keep investigating.
The Force sensitive members of this group looked at each, both feeling an underlying sensation of anticipation. To the two, there was something oddly familiar with this ship; from the ship design itself, to the uniformed corpse that they just pasted. They both knew that this feeling somehow had to do with something with their Force visions. The timing was just too coincidental.
"Ma'am, I think I can narrow the list of potential militaries down." Another salvage team member contacted them and the group immediately switched to his screen. "What military uses slugthrowers these days?"
The Force sensitives briefly glanced at each before looking back at the screen. There they saw the clone salvage member pick up what definitely looked like a slugthrower. They recognized the receiver, the magazine responsible for holding the ammunition, all signs pointing to the weapon being a slugthrower. But it wasn't the fact that they found a slugthrower onboard this mysterious wreckage. The weapon itself had a distinct shape to it, and above the trigger was a black screen, most likely to count the rounds left in the magazine.
Suddenly, for Aayla and Ahsoka, their vision reverts to what they both saw earlier.
He spots a weapon he could use, just laying on the ground. He moves towards it and picks it up, shooting at any incoming hostiles.
There's more oncoming fire, and the soldier fires back. He gets hit on his right shoulder, but it only makes him fight harder, as he wields his rifle and sidearm at the same time.
Their vision returns to the screen in front of them, it seems like others around them did not notice their slip into their shared visions. Aayla contacts all teams onboard the wreckage.
"Prioritize the gravitational anomaly, and try to disable the field as soon as possible, that's an order." A series of confirmations was heard and all teams onboard quickened their search.
"General, what's wrong?" Bly asked but Aayla quickly looked at the Captain.
"Captain Ross, I need you to contact the Jedi council immediately, tell them that it is a priority."
"General, what is happening? Is there something I need to know? Why the urg-" The ship shook violently, more violently than last time and sparks flew all over the place. As soon as the shaking stopped, everyone was getting back up.
"STATUS REPORT! WHAT WAS THAT?" Captain Ross yelled out loud.
"Sir, the gravitational anomaly just spiked, and it's only increasing!"
"The anomaly is projecting something on our starboard side, in front of the wreckage sir."
The caught everyone's attention, as they all attempted to get the viewports to see what was happening. 'Attempted,' because they all noticed how gravity seems to be much lighter than before. Gravity lessened to the degree that they more or less skipped to the front of the bridge, and had to hold their arms out to stop them from colliding with the front of the bridge. Unfortunately, Bly still managed to hit his head on one of the viewports. It would've made Ahsoka laugh, if she wasn't paying attention to the massive portal-like shape appearing in front of the wreckage.
The portal was a combination of blue, black and white, and it seemed to be dangerously fluctuating, almost like it was going to close in on itself at any given moment. Debris from the wreckage was weirdly attracted to the portal, but it was at that moment when they all realized why.
"Sir! We're being pulled in!"
The Captain's eyes were wide. "Activate reverse thrusters immediately!" As soon as Captain Ross said that, everyone, much like the ship, was pulled to the right side of the bridge. Many of them collided with the terminals and machinery on the right side of the bridge. The ship itself also jerked towards the portal.
There were some injuries, but Aayla, Ahsoka, Bly and Captain Ross were still fine. "Our reverse thrusters!"
"It's too late! The anomaly is too strong, it's overwhelming our thrusters and our own artificial gravity!"
The four all returned to the viewports, but much like the operator said, it was too late. The bow of the ship was already in the portal, and the rest of the ship was quickly going through.
"EVERYBODY, HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!"
Voices, too many to count, swirled around Aayla. It was almost deafening. Voices she recognized, as members of the Order she is with. Some were ones she recognized belonged with the Sith. While there were others, from all around the Galaxy. She could hear them all, they were all connected by the ever present Force that exists within us all.
Then, as quickly as they arrived, they ceased to exist. Everything ceased to exist. She felt… empty. She has never felt this empty before.
She felt vulnerable, naked, alone and afraid.
Her feelings, no matter how much they swayed to the Dark Side, isn't bothering her.
She felt no light, no dark, nothing.
And it was utterly terrifying.
"Aayla!" A voice called out, but one she didn't recognize.
"Aayla! Wake up!" The voice continued to call out to her, and she continued to look for its source.
Then she found him. That same man, the black armor, the lone wolf making his last stand. He quickly approached her, and she couldn't move away from him. Eventually, he caught her and placed his hands on her shoulder, shaking her around.
"Aayla, wake up! You need to wake up now!" He raised a hand, preparing to strike her. "I'm sorry about this." The hand came quickly and towards her cheek.
That's what woke her up. Upon waking up, it was a sensory overload. The sound of explosions, crunching metal, shouting, screaming, fires, and blaring alarms. Around her there fires, sparks of electricity, dead bodies of officers and clones. Above her Ahsoka and Bly stood, trying to wake her up.
"Come on! We are leaving!" Bly said as he picked Aayla up and the trio were making their way to the end of the hall, where another clone trooper stood next to an open escape pod, waving at them to hurry.
"What happened?" Aayla asked as she looked around. They weren't on the bridge anymore, and it was only the three of them.
"Now's not the time Master! The ship is falling apart and we need to evacuate!" Ahsoka said. They neared the escape pod, and the waiting clone trooper helped Bly get Aayla into the pod and strapped in. Everyone managed to get into the pod with relative ease, giving the Jedi Master time to look around the pod. Along with her, Ahsoka and Bly, there were four other Clone troopers with them.
Then Aayla realized who was missing. "Where's Captain Ross?"
Bly only shook his head. "Didn't make it." He said sadly.
The Jedi master's only response was to look away in shame. As she did, she realized that the escape pod they were in had already launched, and they were descending towards a planet. She then looked at both Ahsoka and Bly expectantly.
"What happened when I was out?" Aayla said after a brief amount of time.
"The ship was heavily damaged when travelling through the portal. If we stayed inside the portal for any longer than we had, we would've all perished inside a deteriorating ship." Bly started the briefing, with Ahsoka continuing.
"But luckily, our trip ended and we exited the portal to around the orbit of that planet." Ahsoka pointed towards the planet they were nosediving right towards. "By the time the ship exited the portal, Captain Ross ordered an immediate evacuation of the ship. He stayed behind to coordinate the process." Ahsoka paused, reflecting what happened next. "Then, the bridge exploded right after Bly and I carried you out."
Aayla could only nod in understandment, before her Jedi instincts kicked in. "We have to keep moving, do we know where we are?"
"Unknown, by the time we exited the portal, we couldn't scan the local cluster nor the planet before we had to evacuate the ship." Bly answered, as he looked towards the clone sitting closest to the terminal of the escape pod.
"Do we know if the planet's atmosphere is safe for us?"
"Yes ma'am!" Aayla looked at the clone that Bly was spying at. "The pod's sensor confirmed that the planet's atmosphere is safe for us, but…" The clone paused as he examined the more advanced results.
"What is it, soldier?" Bly asked as the clone trooper looked back at them.
"The planet is being destroyed. Being rendered practically uninhabitable." That gave everyone time to pause. Especially Aayla, as she now had even more questions.
'How was this planet dying? And what were the chances that this was the planet in her vision, that they were crashing towards as they spoke?' Aayla thought, and sticking with that last question, she realized just how close to the ground they were.
The escape pod started beeping, indicating that they were getting closer to the ground. "Everybody! Brace for impact!" She yelled as they all obeyed. The escape pod hit the ground hard, and the interior of the pod jostled violently as it flew, anything that wasn't bolted down were thrown everywhere. One of the clones was knocked out by their own weapon hitting him on the face. After the initial hit, the pod loudly screeched as it was dragged through the planet's surface. The pod shook as if they were in the middle of an earthquake, and they all prayed, hoping the pod would slow down and eventually stop.
Luckily for the pod's occupants, it did grind to a halt. Inside the pod was a complete mess. Parts of the pod, along with several panels and loose gear were strewn across the confined space. The beeping ceased to stop, and it got worse since they managed to land. The flashing red was as equally annoying, as it wouldn't stop blinking. It was enough to give anyone who wasn't epileptic an epilepsy.
Aayla leaned her head back against the wall of the pod, exhausted by what just happened in the last thirty minutes or so. "Get me out of here." She mumbled to herself, closing her eyes and hoping to fall asleep.
An armoured boot kicked the glass panel off of it's frame, and the occupants of the escape pod exited their emergency craft. The first thing they all noticed was the smell. It smelled like a volcano mixed with a forest fire; the burnt minerals, vegetation. The next was the ash, raining down from the sky as if an apocalyptic natural disaster involving a volcanic eruption had taken place. Last but not least, was the environment around them. A forest completely engulfed in flames in the distance, and the largest starship that they have ever seen is blasting away at the surface of this planet.
Said ship was unlike any that they have seen. It had a distinctly purple-ish pink with a pearlescent gleam of green and blue. Its shape is so elegant, smooth and rounded, yet it was in steep contrast to what it was doing, destroying what they could only assume to be a beautiful garden world. Or at least, it used to be a beautiful garden world. The clouds swirling around the ships and its beam were storm-like, as if mother nature for the planet reacted drastically to being murdered at the spot.
To Ahsoka, she was mortified to see such a ship causing so much destruction. Even from far away, she could still feel the heat from such a powerful weapon.
But for Aayla, she paid too close attention to her vision.
"Ahsoka…" Aayla called out to the Togruta, who turned to face the Twi'lek Jedi master. "That lone wolf, and his final stand. This is the planet."
Ahsoka's eyes went wide, and a flurry of emotions flooded throughout her being.
"Where are we…?"
A lone figure stood on the empty platform, next to the latest fallen from his team. Around him, storm clouds reigned supreme, as the only one trying to fight the Covenant was nature herself. Yet bad weather wasn't going to stop the Covenant from glassing every single inch of this planet.
He could hear the distant gunfire from the remaining UNSC forces, who were now not fighting for humanity, but for their own survival. It was a valiant, yet futile effort, as the Covenant had practically won. But that didn't stop him, nor the remaining human forces from fighting.
During the battle of Aszod, he did overhear that Noble team wasn't the only Spartan team deployed here. Although he hasn't heard from this Spartan team since. It was better than holding off on his own, at least he wouldn't die alone, unlike what the title given to him says.
Noble Six made his way to this mysterious Spartan team, hoping that they had a better fighting chance together. He looked down on his armament, to see what he can offer to aid the Spartan team. All he had was his Mark 5 Mjolnir Armor, an M392 Designated Marksman Rifle that he picked up from other fallen UNSC forces, and an M6G Magnum. It was a decent set of armament, and it'll have to do for the fight ahead.
The lone wolf made his way off the platform he stood on, and towards where the other Spartan team was located, not knowing that it's where he'll be making his last stand.
"Incoming craft! Take cover!" Aayla saw a sleek ship coming towards their general direction, as she called out for her group of survivors to take cover. They were walking through a forest area, so luckily it wasn't too hard to find decent cover from the unknown spacecraft. But if she had to guess, based on the overall design, it was the same ones who were destroying this planet.
Everyone managed to take cover, just in time for the unknown craft to harmlessly fly over them, and towards the direction they were heading.
"Are they going where I think they're going?" Ahsoka said as she looked ahead to see the craft absolutely going to their destination. They all had originally planned to head to the Venator's crash site, and visit any escape pods to find along the way. Right now they were nearing an escape pod, before this craft flew past them.
Bly looked at Aayla expectantly, and the Jedi general nodded. "Let's move up, quietly." After a series of confirmations they began to quickly yet as quietly as they could, move up. The team all went down to prone positions, before heading over a crest on a hill. Reaching the top of said hill, not only were they able to see the crashed escape pod they were heading for, but also a full sight of their crashed Venator.
The Venator was completely demolished, aside from a handful of recognizable features, it was as much of a wreck as the wreckage they found only a couple hours ago. On top of the capital ship being destroyed, it was all teeming with those same unknown alien ships, and their ground forces. Speaking about their ground forces, Aayla shifted her attention to the crashed escape pod a couple dozen metres ahead of her.
The pod only really had three survivors, a human officer and two clone troopers. All of them had their hands behind their heads, and were on their knees. They were surrounded and heavily, heavily outnumbered. Unknown alien beings stood around them, three distinct alien species were present.
A small, dwarf sized alien which fully compensated their size for their numbers, they made up the bulk of the force.
A support alien with shields, and looked almost avian. They looked more bloodthirsty, as they were eyeing the prisoners with hungry eyes.
Last is what Aayla assumed to be the officers of the group, the same ones she saw in her vision. They were armored, shielded from what she remembered from her vision, had strange split lips, and looked more intimidating than any Separatist unit she had ever seen. One of them, the one in front of the Republic officer, wielded what looked to be similar to a lightsaber. It had two blades, and projected from the front of the handle, rather than at the top or bottom, like many other lightsabers.
"Master, aren't we g-" Ahsoka's feelings for the captured troopers made her want to jump into action, rescuing them. Even without her lightsabers, Aayla knew Ahsoka was a force to be reckoned with, much like her master. But before Ahsoka could even finish her sentence, it was too late.
The officer alien with their blade thrusted forward, the blade impaling the officer. The creature lifted the officer off the ground using their blade, and the group clearly saw the end of the blade sticking out from the back of the officer. Then the alien lifted its blade, along with the officer's corpse up in the air, like they were celebrating its kill, a trophy to keep. The other two clones did not fare any better.
One of the clones was repeatedly shot by an overwhelming amount of fire from almost all the dwarf-like aliens. Even when the clone was already clearly dead, they continued to riddle the body with more shots, and they kept shooting.
The last clone had it bad. A group of avian looking aliens all charged towards the last clone, and began enjoying their meal. The screams were heard all the way to the group, and Ahsoka couldn't bear to listen nor see what was happening.
Commander Bly, along with the other clones were disgusted and understandably angered by the sight. Many of them wanted to go in and avenge their fallen brothers, but Aayla shook her head.
"We can't, it's too late for any survivors on the ship. And I won't lose all of you too, especially if that is our fate." Aayla said sadly, as she moved the opposite way from the crash sites.
"Then what do we do? Do we have a plan, general?" Commander Bly followed her lead, while the other clones reluctantly followed as well. Ahsoka stayed behind for a moment to give the crashed Venator one last look.
Ever since appearing on this strange and dying planet, she hasn't felt well, to say the least. It was almost like a part of her was missing, and with a million thoughts running through her head, alongside the adrenaline coursing through her veins, it was difficult for her to properly pinpoint what was wrong with her. Ahsoka merely shook her head, and focused on the task ahead. She slides down the hill and towards her entourage of clones and their Jedi master.
"I spotted a road not too far from our current position. I'm not saying we should use it, but loosely follow it from the side. I don't want to get caught in an ambush with these things." Aayla said as she led the group.
"But General, what is our plan?" Commander Bly asked, with the other Clone troopers looking at her expectantly. Ahsoka too focused her attention on the more experienced, and still part of the Order, Jedi general. Aayla looked around the group, at the far distance where she could see parts of the massive ships that were annihilating this world. Whatever these things were, they certainly had purpose, a goal. They wouldn't just do this to any planet, even more so considering by the scans, this was a garden world, why destroy it? To Aayla, the answer was simple.
"These things, they're invaders. No intelligent species would target a garden world like this." The Twi'lek Jedi rationalized.
Ahsoka caught what she was saying and continued. "So, since these things are invaders, the 'invaded' would have at least some semblance of civilization, one we could hope we can find if we…" Ahsoka paused as she looked at the road that Aayla spotted earlier. "Follow the road."
Everyone understood the plan, and started what everyone knows would be a long journey to find civilization.
They were all dead.
The signs of battle were as clear as day. It was somewhat relieving to see the bodies of the Covenant forces vastly outnumbered the number of fallen Spartans, but at the end of the day, they still fell.
The burning orange sky, the Banshees flew in pairs, and a couple Phantoms were stooping low to drop off its forces. They knew he was here, and he knew that he was going to join his brothers and sisters here.
This was the day he was living for.
'I can't feel it…'
They were walking, for a good two hours the group followed the road from the side. They made good distance, but they also had a lot of time in their hands. Enough time for Ahsoka to process what just happened in the last few hours.
Ever since entering that portal, part of her still just felt missing. She couldn't understand why, but she also couldn't think too long about it, as the moment she left the escape pod, adrenaline and a million thoughts were racing in her mind. But now, with time in their favour, she took advantage of it and reflected, or at least tried to.
There was nothing, no familiar feeling of the Force coursing through her being. The only thing she truly felt were the Force signatures of those around her. Aayla, Commander Bly, and the four other Clone troopers. Outside of that, nothing, like an empty sea of a dead world, there was little to no Force she could find.
Ahsoka stopped in her tracks, and raised her hand to feel the leaves of a bush she was next to. It was still alive, still green and healthy, yet she could not find any trace of Midichlorians or the Force within it.
It terrified her.
"I know." Ahsoka jumped at the voice. Turning around she saw the group stopping for her, and Aayla next to her. "I know, and right now, I don't know how to feel about it. But we need to keep moving. Once we can guarantee our safety, we must discuss it. Don't let this get to you Ahsoka. Please." Aayla slightly leaned towards her and whispered. "I'm conflicted and terrified as well. I need someone who can understand me, okay?"
Ahsoka nodded, her former Master would've scolded her too for getting distracted during a mission. But then again, she knew for a fact that this situation was something that not even Anakin has ever been in.
They were throwing everything they had against him, and that now included vehicles; from Wraiths to Banshees. He used everything he could scrounge up, from Human to Covenant weaponry.
The fight was getting desperate, and it showed on both sides. Bodies of Covenant were piling up, but he was losing weapons to use.
His visor was cracked, it wasn't big, but it was noticeable. He knew sooner or later, his helmet was going to come off, because it was already getting more difficult to breathe and see.
"Ma'am!" Commander Bly called out from the front of the pack. Aayla walked ahead to catch up with her Clone commander. Once she did, the Commander pointed at what was on the road ahead. "Nik spotted a checkpoint on the road up ahead. We can commandeer one of the vehicles ahead for our use."
"Nik?" Aayla asked.
"Right here ma'am!" One of the other Clone troopers waved at her.
Bly offered her his macrobinoculars, to which she gladly took, and inspected the checkpoint ahead. Indeed there seemed to be a military checkpoint ahead, or what's left of it. There was smoke, burn marks, a few craters from explosives, and strewn around were the bodies of both sides of a war. The mysterious aliens, and what looked to be human soldiers as well. But not focusing on that, she moved her vision to what caught Nik's and Bly's attention.
A wheeled vehicle that had a troop compartment at its back. It was enough to fit them all, but currently it was filled with dead civilians. Aayla lowered the macrobinoculars and shook her head.
"Good work Nik." She said as she passed the macrobinoculars back to Bly. "I suggest we use what we can find. It would certainly lessen our journey, but at the same time…"
"It may attract unwanted attention." Ahsoka said as she stood between the Twi'lek and the Clone commander.
"Beats walking though. I feel vulnerable if we just aimlessly walked, at least we'll have some semblance of armor." One of the other Clone troopers said, with nods of agreement being shared by the other Clones.
"What do you think, general?" Bly said as he looked at Aayla. The Jedi master glanced at the former Jedi, and all Ahsoka can really do is just reluctantly nod.
"Alright Bly, move in and secure that transport. But beware of your surroundings, I don't want to lose more of my men."
The group marched forward, and out of the tree line. One of the benefits of travelling the way they did was for cover, as enemy patrols often passed by them. Now out of the natural canopies, they moved quickly yet efficiently, they didn't want to rush. They were facing an unknown threat that was clearly powerful and plentiful.
Coming up on the checkpoint, it was clear that this wasn't a normal attack, like an ambush or anything. No, it was a massacre.
There were clearly more human bodies here than the aliens that they have seen. The state of their bodies showed the brutality of this invading force. It looked like something straight from a horror holomovie. It was painfully clear that the human soldiers were either killed in combat, or executed quickly. But the civilians, which were clearly all humans as well, the enemy played with their food to say the least.
"Who would do such a thing?" Ahsoka said as she examined what remained of a child. Those avian creatures clearly ate away, revealing the young innards of said child.
"More like what, these creatures…" Nik said as he continued to look at the gruesome massacre. "How does something like this, in the scale like this-" He pointed at the distance where the group saw another large ship beaming the planet. "Escape the eyes of the Republic? We should've known something like this was happening."
"The Seppies committed a lot of atrocities as well, a good amount of them has yet to be reported back to the Republic. I'm not that surprised." Another Clone trooper voiced their thoughts.
"That is, if we actually are in our Galaxy." Aayla just muttered to herself. For as much as she would love to say that outloud, she needed her group to stay focused, and not to be distracted with what she has just said. Although it didn't go unnoticed as Ahsoka glanced at her and nodded.
"We're getting sidetracked. Nik, Ines, clear out the bodies from the transport. Bezel, Cores, make a perimeter and secure the area. We're out in the open and vulnerable, we don't need any nasty surprises." Bly ordered the troops around and they complied with his orders. As the Clones were carrying out their orders, the force sensitives were side-by-side, discussing their current predicament.
"The Force is not present at all." Ahsoka just said it bluntly, although she too couldn't believe her own words, it was impossible. The Jedi teachings spoke about how the Force was everywhere, and within every living being. But the world they were on, was a direct contradiction to their beliefs, an impossibility. "I… I have never felt so lost, confused and alone…"
"Not alone, I could still feel the Force within each other, and with the Clones." Aayla tried to reassure the young former Jedi, but that was really the only reassuring fact that she could give her.
"Do you know what we should do? I have never, in all my life, faced something like this." Ahsoka continued, fear and panic was creeping its way to her, as she faced what she could only assume to be the literal embodiment of the unknown. A world, no… a galaxy so far beyond their own, that the Force did not exist.
"We were never trained to be in an environment like this, because we never thought an environment like this would ever exist. It is troubling, to say the least." The Twi'lek Jedi turned to look Ahsoka directly in the eye. "I know you are not a Jedi anymore, but this is an extraordinary circumstance. I ask you to rely on your training, because it is the only thing that is keeping yourself, and all of us alive, okay Ahsoka?"
She may have left the Order, but the teachings and lessons would forever be a part of her. It's what kept her moving and alive, and it was truly the only thing that's keeping her sane at the moment.
Ahsoka nodded at the Jedi Master, and Aayla smiled and nodded back. "As for a plan, really it's the original plan, except we don't have to walk."
This vehicle was truly unique to Commander Bly. It took awhile for the Clone Commander to get a hang of it, at times it was slippery and at times it was a s stiff as riding a live animal. But it sure made up for how reliable and sturdy it was. By an hour of driving, he had gotten used to the wheeled vehicle.
He turned to his right, to see the Jedi General. Throughout the drive, she hasn't stopped looking everywhere with his macrobinoculars. From what's coming up ahead, to behind them to see if they were being followed, to the sides, over in the distance to see distant ships either patrolling the skies or scorching the planet's surface.
The former Jedi and the other four clones in the back were relatively doing the same thing. Two of them had their heads down, tired at what transpired in the last few hours. The other two plus Tano were gazing at anything that caught their eyes. The overall trip was so far, luckily uneventful, or so Bly thought.
"Bly stop!" Aayla suddenly said out of nowhere, yet Bly compiled and he applied the brakes. The vehicle lurched forward, but all managed to hold tight. Bly glanced at the troop compartment to see if his men were alright, and luckily they all were.
Looking at his general, he asked. "Did you see something Ma'am? What's wrong?"
Aayla lowered her macrobinoculars and pointed over the crest of a distant hill. "Those alien fighters, I thought they were just patrolling. But no, they started strafing." She gave Bly the macrobinoculars and pointed in the direction she saw it happen.
Bly looked into the device, and over the distance. It took awhile to find the alien fighters, as not only were they small because of the distance, but they were also really fast and nimble. But he did eventually find them, two to be specific. They were strafing something beyond the hill. Watching it a bit longer, he then saw a rocket shot from the ground, and directly impacting one of the alien fighters. That alone gave him some hope, seeing a form of resistance that he and his group could assist so they could finally get some answers and solutions.
"You saw that too didn't you?" Ahsoka asked the two of them in front.
"Yes I did, commander." Bly responded. "Resistance, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Ahsoka certainly noticed what he called her. "Indeed, but let's also be cautious. There are clearly two sides and I have a feeling that we are the intruding third party. They could potentially be hostile." Aayla said as she continued to watch the last enemy fighter fail a strafing run, and was immediately shot down as well.
"Bly, you don't have to call me that." Ahsoka replied to the clone commander.
But Bly just smiled at Ahsoka. "You may not be a Jedi anymore, kid. But from what Rex and Skywalker had to say about you, I'll gladly follow you into battle."
For Ahsoka's part, she was touched by the commander's words, as she really couldn't form a quick response. So she really only gave him a tiny yet sincere smile, and nodded to him, as she couldn't find the right words to fully describe how impactful those words were.
"Orders? Ma'am?" One of the clones in the back of the wheeled vehicle asked. They really had nowhere else to go, and they have been driving for over an hour and a half. Any longer and no doubt they would be spotted. At least they may have a better chance sticking with those who were fighting back, especially with those who were effectively fighting back.
"Commander Bly."
"Yes, General?"
"Prepare for battle and head for the fight."
"Yes Ma'am! You heard the General, prepare for combat!" Commander Bly blared out loud as he sharply turned the vehicle to the distant fight.
Hours… he must've been fighting for hours.
Everything burned. From the exhausted muscles to the legitimate burns from plasma fire.
His armour, dented, scarred, scorched at some places. The fight was wearing him down, he didn't know if he could handle it any more. A part of him was scared, it was one thing to know that he could die on a mission. It's another to know he is going to die. But like the Spartans before him, and his own generation, it was a reality he needed to accept.
He kept fighting, because that was what Spartans would do.
He kept fighting, because that's what the majority of his squad did in their last moments.
He kept fighting, because he was fighting for a humanity that was at the brink of extinction.
He kept fighting, because that is what he was trained to do.
He kept fighting, because that was all he could do…
There weren't any more vehicles, he took down the last Banshee. At least there weren't any more vehicles for now. But there was just a never ending and steady stream of elites rushing towards him. He was on his last legs now, beyond exhausted, he wanted to call it in, give up where he stood and just die. But his body and instincts said otherwise, he kept moving, kept shooting, kept fighting. But it only took one shot, a shot on his breastplate to make his helmet downright impossible to breathe in and see in.
He took it off, and tossed it to who knows where. If this was truly his last stand, he wanted to minimize his discomfort, no matter how important wearing his helmet was. He somehow missed an assault rifle laying on the ground, untouch by him. He wasn't surprised, his attention was on the never ending stream of hostels coming at him. So he picked it up, and started fighting once more.
He pulled and held the trigger, an elite that was shooting and missing him lost his shields and eventually fell from the accurate stream of bullets. He heard an elite creeping up on him, using what remained of his strength, and he rifle butted the elite so hard that it lost his shields, using what was left in his magnum and executed the fallen elite.
More elites were shooting at him, and he shot back. But his shields were still recharging, that or they were just simply disabled, because a shot landed on his shoulder. He reacted to the shot, held onto the burnt area for a second, before pulling his magnum out and again and started shooting with both his weapons.
More elites fell before him, but there were simply too many of them. One eventually snuck up to him and tackled him onto the ground. The elite held an energy sword above him, but he managed to kick him off. Another elite to his right came down on him with its own energy sword. But with what's left of his strength, he too punched the elite hard enough for it to lose its same elite that tackled him earlier rushed above him as well, much like the last elite he too punched and knocked out its shields. But it proved to be a distraction for him.
It had red amour, and it didn't have its energy shield. Instead it had an energy dagger raised above him.
'This was it' He thought, his death. He knew he fought valiantly, like many spartans before him. There was some comfort behind his own death, knowing that the fighting, the suffering, was all going to be gone in just a few more moments. He accepted his fate, knowing that he had left his mark on this world.
But fate had other plans for him.
Blue bolts of energy, is what he thought he saw, impacted the red elite. He stopped his energy blade midway before turning around to face the new adversaries. A torrent of fire came before it, and eventually its shields gave out. He roared in fury and brought his energy dagger up, but it was useless against what was coming against it.
Out of nowhere, a blue balde came down on the elite, cutting off the arm where the energy blade was. The elite roared once more before being impaled by the same blue blade. The wielder of such a blade was nothing the likes Six has ever seen. A blue feminine humanoid stood above him, with long tail-like protrusions coming out from above her head.
She looked down on him, worry etched onto her face.
"Ahsoka! Grab him and get back onto the vehicle!" The blue humanoid said, but it sounded distant, he was losing consciousness, and fast too. Then out of nowhere another humanoid alien, this time had orange skin and her hair looked as if it was a limb of its own, grabbed him and attempted to drag him.
"He's too heavy!" The orange humanoid yelled out. Six looked around him to find his fallen weapons. He managed to retrieve both the magnum and assault rifle before help arrived to drag him.
"Bezel! Ines! Help Commander Tano, NOW!" Another voice rings out from the fight, and Six realizes that the two humanoids aren't alone. From the sides two soldiers in white identical armours appeared and grabbed whatever they could to pull him.
"Karabast, he's heavy." Six heard one of the soldiers say, but the three were just barely enough for them to drag him. While six were being dragged to safety, he managed to see what these people were composed of.
There were another three soldiers, two of them looked identical to the other two dragging him, the other wore a variation of their armour. He could assume that meant he was a ranking officer of some sorts. Then there was the blue humanoid with her blue blade. Helf the time she took cover, and the other half she was out in the open, twirling her sword around and deflecting the plasma shots. But the torrent of incoming fire was so overwhelming that she needed to take cover as well.
Along the way of being dragged, Six bumped on his tossed helmet. Without hesitation, he grabbed his helmet and held onto it. He still had trouble breathing, so he chose to not put his helmet back on.
Looking back up, he saw the defending forces being steadily overwhelmed, and an elite was close enough within striking distance of its energy sword.
"GENERAL, LOOK OUT!" The officer yelled out, and Six pulled out his magnum and aimed for the elite closing in onto the blue humanoid. It only took a few shots to deplete its shield, and one more shot before it finally fell. The blue humanoid immediately took cover right after, and a look of surprise was present as she took a glance back at six, who still held the smoking and empty pistol up.
Eventually they reached their destination, and Six realized that they managed to procure a Troop 'Hog. It took a bit, and a lot of strength from the three to load him onto the Hog, before Six finally succumbed to his exhaustion and passed out the moment they laid him on board.
Six momentarily awoken from the sound of combat.
"He's barely holding on!" One of the soldiers above him said out loud. "Stay with me pal!" But once again, the exhaustion claimed him.
Again he woke up, this time he noticed the passing trees and moving clouds. They were on the move.
Above him was the same blue humanoid, looking down on him with worried eyes.
"Hey, you're safe, we have you." Her gentle words echoed to him. Past the alien features, she looked like an angel. She practically acted like one when she rescued him from certain death. So all Six could really do was let out a tiny smile before once again closing his eyes once more.
"Those things, they're really tough. How in the force are we gonna get out of here alive?"
"Did you see how many of those things that guy took down? He must've been fighting for hours."
"He wasn't alone, I don't know if you noticed but some bodies there looked similar to him."
"He's massive, look at the size of him! No wonder he's heavy."
"General, I thought all Jedi could sense life, or at least be aware of everything around them. How did that thing manage to get that close to you?"
"Master, I saw you trying to deflect those shots. It looked difficult."
"I have never fought against an adversary such as those things. Those weapons are not like anything I have ever seen or fought against. Those bolts on their own, are nothing like the laser bolts I've typically deflected. This is… concerning… to say the least."
"How's the giant?"
Six slowly regained consciousness. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw a ceiling above him, and the light glow reflecting off the ceiling suggests a sort of fire was lit to his right. He paused before turning to see the light source, trying to recall what had happened before he lost consciousness.
The fight, his supposed last stand took hours, and took away his strength. Then when he was at death's doors, an unknown group intervened and rescued him. They dragged him back to a Troop 'Hog, where they drove to who knows where. Now, he found himself in some sort of shelter, with some light and warmth coming from his right side.
He now looked over, to find the group that rescued him, and where they all were now. They were all inside a house, a house that definitely used to belong to some farmers, as it was the same layout and similar interior to that of the farm houses he's been through back at Visegrad. They managed to light the fireplace in the house, and they all gathered around, all talking to themselves.
But Six then shifted his attention to the stand next to his bed. The stand had a few medical supplies that were most likely used to treat him. But amongst the strewn around medical treatments, was his combat knife.
Six slowly reached for the knife, they may have rescued him, but he didn't know if they were truly friendly. They had two non-humans with them, and from his experience, that was enough to warrant precaution. But right before he could touch it, he heard a click that emanated from the foot of his bed.
"Don't even try it." He heard, and Six turned to face the white soldier, who held his weapon at him. He narrowed his eyes at the white soldier, and apparently the group heard the commotion and all moved to the two.
The commanding officer was the first to arrive. "Bezel, stand down."
The soldier shook his head. "Negative Commander, he was going for his knife."
"He's a soldier, and doesn't know us, it's instinct, you should know as well." The commander defended Six. He then took this moment as his window. He quickly snatched the knife from the stand and rolled over to the opposite side of the bed, flipping the bed with him and making the bed his cover.
Six heard a strange sound and a blue ring firing from the weapon pointed at him. But it missed and hit the bed instead. Six took cover behind the bed, and held his knife at the ready, by then the other soldiers pulled up their weapons and a series of clicks made the audio indication of their readied weapons. But Six heard a slight French accent, and recognized it as belonging to the blue humanoid.
"STAND DOWN, EVERYONE STAND DOWN!" Six couldn't tell what was happening, but he heard a couple of slapping and mechanical weapon sounds. He assumed the blue humanoid was slapping their weapons away. Then there was a tense moment of silence, both sides waiting to find out what each side was going to do. Eventually The blue humanoid broke the silence. "We're not here to hurt you."
Six shook his head. "That's not what it looked like to me."
"Hey, we patched you up!" He heard one of the soldiers say. It was then he realized that the soldiers sounded strangely similar to one another.
"Be quiet, let me do the talking." The blue humanoid said as Six heard a few steps coming to his direction. "Please, let us help you."
Aayla cautiously approached the turnt over the bed that the soldier used as cover. She couldn't help but remember when they helped him from his last stand. How he did his share and took down the alien that snuck up on her. She then realized the soldier should have then seen them fight.
"You saw us fight those... things. Our weapons fired solid, blue bolts. Not blue circles. One of my men was pointing a weapon at you to stun you, not to hurt you."
"You were still pointing a weapon at me." The soldier replied and Aayla only sighed. She understood the soldier's paranoia and fear. Whoever he was, and the military he stood for, they were facing an enemy that not even the Galactic Republic had ever seen. It was then at that point Aayla realized something.
These aliens, she not only, did not recognize a single species within the alien forces, but there were also no humans present. The checkpoint was littered with human bodies, civilians trying to hop onto the vehicle they now presided in, to escape these aliens. The final nail in the coffin was the soldier's last stand, a single human fighting against insurmountable odds, they were doing what they could to kill him. Wherever they were, humanity was fighting an enemy unlike she, nor Ahsoka, nor the Clones have ever seen. So it would make sense that the soldier ahead of her a slightly xenophobic.
The Jedi Master sighed, knowing what to do. It would take some trust to get some trust back. So using the force she moved the bed aside.
"What th-" The soldier tried to hold onto the bed as it moved away from him, the action took every single shred of her strength to pull off, as the Force was practically non-existent, to the point of moving a small object would drain her immediately. But eventually the bed was out of reach to the soldier.
For the Jedi Master, she buckled from the lack of strength and fell on all four. "Master Secura!" Ahsoka tried to get to the Twi'lek, but Aayla raised a hand to stop her. Ahsoka did stop on her tracks as she saw the gesture, and Aayla shaking her head. Eventually, she did get back up, but was clearly exhausted by the action.
He looked shocked at the sight of the bed moving on its own, but he refocused his attention back at her. He held a stance, ready with his knife. His overall appearance gave Aayla some fright, his sheer size, what she witnessed during his last stand, his eyes were razor sharp, like a cornered predator waiting to strike. He was intimidating.
But that didn't stop her.
She heard her men raising their weapons once again. "Stay down!" She barked at them without looking back at them.
"But General-" Commander Bly tried to say something but the Twi'lek wouldn't have any of it.
"No matter what happens. Do not even point your weapons at him, no matter what." She said in a stern voice.
"Aayla! What are you doing?" She heard Ahsoka call out to her. It was then she allowed herself to be vulnerable and turned to face the former Jedi.
She smiled. "It takes some trust to earn some trust." Aayla then turned back to the soldier, and marched right at him with her hands right above her head.
"AAYLA!"
"GENERAL!"
At first the soldier tried to back up a bit to get some distance between himself and her, but eventually she got too close and the soldier took a step towards her. He wrapped his left arm around her shoulders, making sure she couldn't escape. The knife was then firmly placed on her neck, pressing but not piercing her skin. At that, she heard her Clones raising their weapons.
"I said stand down! Stand down NOW!" She shouted, all the while not taking her eyes off the massive soldier who had every opportunity to slit her throat. She knew she couldn't do anything, one small move and that'd be it for her. She couldn't reach for her lightsaber. Even if she wanted to do something, she was too exhausted to do anything. All she could do was breathe and look at the soldier holding onto her life.
She heard the reluctant grunts and sighs from the clones, but they followed her lead and she heard them lowering their weapons.
She looked up at the soldier, his face bearing the signs of battle. He was bruised, withs cuts all around him. When he was unconscious for the majority of the day, Ahsoka managed to clean him up. But beyond his face, it was his eyes that the Jedi Master focused on. She has seen the eyes of her fellow soldiers, mainly the experienced battle hardened clones, and her fellow Jedi generals. All their eyes had a familiar look, ones who have seen and survived battles, who have seen gruesome scenes, and yet kept walking towards the chaos that is war.
But the soldier in front of her, his eyes were much more intense, and much more jaded than anyone she has seen. War was everything to the soldier in front of her, he has clearly seen more than her clones and herself have combined and multiplied. He has been in this war, longer than she and the clones have in their own war. That alone both terrified her, and yet she pitied him. He has seen more violence and suffering then she and the clones had. And it all was shown through his eyes.
"Please…" She started, just above a whisper. He was so close to her that he heard her plea, and only narrowed his eyes further. "We're lost, we're scared. We don't know where we are and what is happening. We want to help you, believe me. We went through all of that just to save you. We treated you, and we could've killed you while you were still unconscious. If we wanted to keep you alive to get information, we could've forced you to wake up. Instead you woke up of your own accord. All we really want is your help. Please, you're our only hope."
It was his duty as a Spartan to complete the mission, with as minimal of casualties as possible. That's what he was trained to do, and it was deeply ingrained in his system due to his training and augmentation. But now, in a planet that is dominated and being eviscerated by the Covenant, he too could empathize with her. Even though he didn't have a mission to complete, he still had a duty as a soldier to humanity. It's what he learned in his SERE training. A mission to return to friendly space, and report about what has happened to Reach.
But now, he also had another mission, a mission so deeply ingrained in his role as not only a Spartan, but a soldier as well. A soldier is meant to fight, for those who couldn't fight for themselves. It's why Spartans were created, to be stronger, faster, to be more of a soldier than any other soldier, to protect more lives than any single soldier can do. It was his duty, not only as a Spartan, but through the morals and values of a soldier, to protect those who needed him.
The humanoid, now he knew was named Aayla, was unarmed, had her hands up all this time. He has done many things in his career, has killed so many Covenant, and almost just as many humans, a decent amount of them were just as unarmed as Aayla in front of him. He killed them because it was his mission, it's not in his place to question the orders.
But looking at Aayla, who stated that she and her group needed his help. Now, it was completely in his place to do what he wanted. He wasn't ordered to kill them, it wasn't his mission, and now they were asking for his help. He may be a Spartan, but he was also a soldier.
He pulled the knife back, and noticed Aayla closed her eyes and sighed in relief. He could tell that she was slightly terrified at the circumstance that she placed herself in. He put his knife back in his holster, and looked at Aayla, who was rubbing the area where his knife was placed. Looking at the group, they all looked warily at him, not really knowing what to do or say. So SIx decided to break the silence.
"Where's my helmet?" The orange humanoid girl perked up, and went back to the fireplace. She crouched to where she was formerly seated and grabbed his helmet, apparently she was examining it while he was out. Coming back to the group, she steadily approached the Spartan, clearly wary of the massive soldier.
Six for his part was equally wary of the unknown alien, while he was thankful they weren't trying to kill them, it didn't mean he immediately trusted them. So when she reached out with his helmet, he too warily took the helmet back.
He examined his helmet, and noticed the hole on it. He frowned at the damage, but as of now, nothing could be done about it. So he turned it around, and wore the helmet once more, completing his appearance. Even with the glaring hole, he now felt safer with his helmet on, not because it provided his head with safety, but because it covered his face. He didn't take his helmet off a lot unless it was absolutely necessary. Such mannerism also saved him from conversations, as he tended to avoid the likes.
"What's your name?" Six looked up to see that it was the orange humanoid who asked him. In truth, even his own name was classified. Noble team never knew his name, they only really called him Six, or actually Noble Six. It was confidential, and he preferred if it remained confidential.
"Six."
"That's not a name." She replied. Only to receive a frown from Six. She raised her hands in a disarming way. "Six is fine." She said reassuringly. She then raised a hand towards Six, who then got in a ready stance for a fight. She grimaced, "Handshake." She simply said. Six only looked at her, and at her hand for a moment, before reluctantly shaking her hand. "My name is Ahsoka." He looked at her for another moment, before just giving her a firm nod. "Okay…" She replied as she got back to the rest of the clones.
"Six." Aayla came up to him, he knew she had questions, so did he. "Where are we?" At the moment everyone besides Six came a little bit closer to him, they too were wondering where they were at. Six couldn't understand how they didn't know where they were at.
'Maybe it's for the best if I don't answer.' Six thought before he remembered what Aayla said to Ahsoka. "It takes some trust to earn some trust." Six sighed, if he was truly going to help these people, he needed to be trusted as well. Trust unfortunately goes both ways.
After a bit of deliberation, he answered. "Reach." They all looked at him strangely, as if they were trying to find Reach in their mental maps. So he decided to further explain where they were.
"Planet Reach. The final world before the Covenant reaches humanity's homeworld."
"No… no that's not possible, no."
"Bezel…" Commander Bly warned.
"Commander! Do you hear what this walking mountain is saying? An alliance of genocidal aliens who want nothing more than to rid the galaxy of humanity, whose numbers are in the billions, if not trillions? How could something as big as this war, that's been going on for over twenty years slip past the Republic!?" The one clone soldier complained as the rest sat near the fireplace.
"Sit down Bezel, and calm yourself!" Bly sternly ordered the clone trooper to relax. Bezel, still unbelieving the story Six told, reluctantly sat down, with a very visible frown. Everyone else was struggling to make sense of the situation, and Bezel's words rang true for many in the room. Except for the Jedi.
The two Force sensitive members of the group sat next to each other, both contemplating what Six had disclosed. What he said would actually make sense on the planet they were on, their escape pod's computer even stated that the planet was mysteriously dying. Even before they met Six, the massive ships that were destroying the lands also proved what he was saying. Everything in their journey landed credence to what Six was saying, except for their knowledge of their own world, their own galaxy.
Ahsoka looked at Aayla worryingly. They had this discussion a few hours back when they first arrived.
"Aayla, should w-" Ahsoka was about to quietly ask about revealing what they thought about the situation, until Six spoke up.
"If my story is unbelievable to you, then what's your story?" He not only looked at Bezel, but also everyone else in the room. They could tell by his tone that he was as curious as he was critical.
No one really answered right away, so Ahsoka decided that she should be the one to inform him.
"Well…"
"And you think what I said was unbelievable?"
"It makes more sense than what you just said." Bezel argued back at the Spartan.
"So… you guys are fighting a war for about roughly three years, between a massive republic of hundreds of worlds whose ary comprises mass-manufactured people. While the enemy is a separtist group fighting using an army of mass-manufactured robots. This Republic is using space monk wizards who wield space magic and laser sword to fight against the true enemy, and that is evil space monk wizards who also wield space magic and laser swords, and these two groups fighting are the embodiment of light versus dark, evil versus good?" Six summarized what they all had just explained to him.
"Yes, it makes sense!" Bezel placed his foot down.
"Actually when you put it like that, I can see how it's a bit unbelievable." Ahsoka said with a light chuckle.
"Okay everybody enough." Aayla stood up to diffuse the situation. "If that all was hard to believe, then our…" He gestured to both herself and Ahsoka. "Hypothesis would make things a lot more interesting." She paused, trying to make sense of all this, but it seemed that Ahsoka had things covered.
"Why don't I explain it Master, you already had a lot thrown at you." Ahsoka gestured for Aayla to sit down. The Jedi Master sat down and nodded her thanks to the former Jedi. Ahsoka then stood up, demanding and getting the attention from those around her.
"Okay, so to be clear, besides Six here, how much do you all know about the Force?" Ahsoka asked the clones. Their response was about as mixed as she thought.
"Just about the fact that the Jedi and Sith use 'em. To lift things and make miracles happen." One clone trooper responded, she believed it was Nik.
"Okay, so that's what I thought you all knew. So basically, the Force is the energy and the power of the universe. It is in all life, no matter how big or small, the force resides in all. It is all around us, it is in us, it goes through us, it is there, no matter what. It is a constant…" The clones and by extension Six nodded along, indicating that they were following what she was saying.
"Until now." That was a bomb in itself, as the clones were wide-eyed. Before they could murmur between themselves Ahsoka continued. "Ever since we went through that portal-"
"Portal?" Six repeated what she said, Ahsoka held a finger at him, gesturing to him to wait until she was finished.
"Ever since we went through that portal, and landed on this planet, our time here proved that the Jedi's teachings regarding the Force were incorrect. When I passed by a bush, a healthy green bush, I tried to reach out, hoping to find a semblance of the Force, but there was nothing. Right in front of me, was something that was alive, and yet, I couldn't sense it.
"And Six over there." She pointed at the Spartan. "He is alive and breathing, we treated and healed him. Our bacta patches worked on him, he had feelings and he is clearly human. And can't sense through the force." The clones were now confused, and a bit frightened at what the implications of what Ahsoka was saying.
"What are you trying to say, Ahsoka?" Commander Bly dropped the title and went straight for her name. The former Jedi could feel his uneasiness, and nervousness about what she was saying. It was then Ahsoka decided to drop the bomb.
"At the very least, we are not in our Galaxy anymore."
Author's Note: I recently played the Halo games for the first time in over ten years. I missed these games, and I loved them when I was young, and loved them now. It's nice being back with Chief and Cortana. So I decided to make this fanfic. It's gonna cover both Halo 2 and Halo 3. If you want to know the timeframe, the next chapter would focus on their escape from Reach, their debrief and negotiations on Earth. While the third chapter should focus on the beginning of Halo 2, starting off on Cairo Station and ending on them leaving for Delta Halo. At least that's what I'm aiming for.
As for my other fanfics, I'm sorry I haven't been paying attention to them. It's been over a year since Bioshock Averting Fate, but these chapters take awhile to think about. And I realize that I'm that type of person who creates and posts these chapters whenever I feel like. If I'm in the mood for Bioshock, I'll continue that story. But for now, I'm in a Halo mood, along with Star Wars too, lol.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! As always, I apologize if you see any spelling or grammatical errors, I know they can ruin the immersion sometimes. And I hope to post another chapter soon, I guess whenever I'm down for one. Till then, peace!
P.S. I'm really sorry about the release schedule of these chapters, they're random and heavily based on my mood, and on top of that, I have my life and school to worry about. Yay...