July 15th
2583/20 BBY
10:06 am UNSC time
Jedi Temple
Corusant
Nobody's POV:
Aayla Secura rubs both sides of her temples and lets out a long sigh, exhaustion working its way through her head. While she is not normally this stressed, everything has been anything but easy these days.
The Clone Wars have not been going well for the Republic at all, especially the Jedi Order. No matter how hard the Jedi lead Grand Army of the Republic fights, they cannot gain an advantage over the UNSC or the CIS that is actually meaningful. Also, the clone ARC trooper Fives was killed by another clone trooper after he was accused of attempting to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine. Secura, however, senses that something else was going on there. Fives had been working relentlessly for weeks now, trying to figure out what was in his head before the Halo Incident, as all the survivors have taken to calling it. The young Twi'lek Jedi suspects that he may have found something. Something dangerous.
But Aayla can't focus on that investigation, for a true tragedy had broken out that must be addressed. The people of the Republic are starting to become disillusioned with the Jedi's role in the galaxy as peacekeepers since they have become generals for the clone army, comparing the Jedi to the UNSC Spartans, who are quickly becoming some of the most feared soldiers. As if that wasn't enough, a bomb went off in the middle of the Jedi Temple hangar, killing dozens. When the Jedi cleaned the mess up, they discovered that the explosion killed numerous clone soldiers, maintenance workers and 6 Jedi, one of whom was Knight Tutso Mara. After the funeral was held, Grandmaster Yoda personally assigned Anakin and Ahsoka to investigate who was behind the attack. All was going well when the duo figured Republic anti-war activist Letta Turmond was involved in the attack, and their suspicions were confirmed when they found nano-droids in the food she fed to her missing husband Jackar Bowmani, effectively turning him into a living bomb.
However, a mere day later, Turmond was killed and all the blame was placed on young Ahsoka's shoulders. Before the clones could apprehend her, she disarmed them and successfully escaped Corusant.
Aayla, however, doesn't believe for a second that Ahsoka would do anything like this. As much as the Twi'lek wants to prove her friend's innocence, she was being summoned by Grandmaster Yoda to discuss something that just came up. When Aayla hears the message from the clone, she thanks him and when the soldier leaves her private quarters, she groans in exhaustion.
If only this war would end now, for everyone's sake.
Regaining her composure and forcing any emotion off her face, Aayla stands up and leaves her private quarters to meet her master. As she strolls down the long, red-carpeted hallways of the main Jedi Temple, she can't but notice the solemn faces of her fellow Jedi she walks by. They all radiate varying degrees of pain, sadness, and acceptance that more of their friends and comrades will die before this war is over.
After a few more minutes of silence, she arrives at a nearby communication room where Yoda, Anakin and Obi-Wan are currently standing around a circular communication device. If anything, Anakin and Obi-Wan look worse than Aayla about Ahsoka's predicament. "Master Yoda, Master Skywalker, Master Kenobi." Aayla says, bowing in respect to the ancient green Jedi.
Yoda nods back. "Master Secura. Glad to see you, I am."
A chill runs down Aayla's back as she gets a bad feeling. "Did something happen?"
Anakin coughs loudly, "Yes. You can say that."
Yoda nods in agreement. "Indeed. Found us a new planet in UNSC territory, we have. Abandoned, it is. But found an old facility there, our scouts have."
Aayla stares at Yoda for a long moment, then turns her attention to Obi-Wan, then to Anakin. "So, you want me to help you go to this base and finally learn more about the UNSC's technology since I'm one of the only Jedi who has nowhere to go at the moment?" She guesses.
All she gets is a nod of assent from Yoda. Anakin and Obi-Wan look both relieved and saddened. The female Jedi already knows why the 2 have those expressions, and she sighs in defeat. "All right, I'll come with you. I need something to do to keep my mind off of…you know what."
"Well, now that that's settled, why don't we get going?" Anakin asks. Obi-Wan's eyes widen a little at his former padawan's impatient attitude, but agrees that just standing around is starting to get aggravating. Especially since the CIS has been gaining traction at an alarming rate, with the rate of an army who wears black armor aiding them. The Republic can barely keep up. At first, the Jedi thought it was the UNSC, but they changed their minds when they saw the vastly different symbols and how differently they operated. The UNSC marines, while they are sarcastic, at least fight with honor, while these new warriors often use under-handed terrorist maneuvers to get an advantage. Numerous Republic-friendly merchant ships fell victim to those tactics.
"Immediately, you will." Yoda responds. He then walks over to the machine and turns on the holographic projection. The projection of a tall man with shaved hair stands at attention.
"Admiral Wurtz. Need 1 of your starcruisers, I do. Accompany the Jedi on a mission, you must."
"Yes, General." Wurtz responds, standing even more stiffly before the holo cut off.
12:08 pm UNSC time
Onboard Acclamator-class starcruiser
Orbiting Sidewinder
Together, the 3 Jedi stand on the bridge of the Acclamator cruiser they were given as they look out at the planet. The planet is surprisingly small and completely covered in ice.
The crew is anxious, scared that the Spartans, Sangheili, or those black-armored soldiers might try attacking at any minute. "Admiral Wurtz, keep the ship in orbit. Aayla, Anakin, and myself will lead individual squads of ARC troopers planet-side and find this base."
"Good luck, generals. And may the Force be with you." Wurtz says.
"Same with you, Admiral." The Jedi leave the bridge and make their way to the bridge where 3 LAATs are being prepared for departure, getting into their snow gear. Not speaking a word, the 3 Jedi walk towards the gunships. The squad of 60 ARCs, 20 per ship, notice the coming Jedi and stop working so they can salute them.
"Is everything ready?" Obi-Wan asks the pilot once the trio get within speaking distance of the ship.
"Yes Generals. We're ready to pull out now as a matter of fact." The pilot responds, walking towards the pilot seat. Soon, the 3 Jedi go their separate ways and each board a gunship. The blast doors are shut and in perfect unison, the LAATs fly out of the just-opened docking bays and make their way to the surface of the ice planet.
Several tense minutes pass, expecting an ambush or something along those lines. Thus far, nothing but complete silence. The 3 ships fly past the rocky terrains before finding a piece of flat land in the middle of a canyon the Republic discovered and setting down on the ground. Snow gets blasted in every direction as the ships activate their landing mechanism. The blast doors open and the Jedi, having gotten on large snow jackets so they can stay warm, jump out and lead the ARCs as they also jump. "Hey, Generals. Check this out!" A clone shouts, wiping the snow off a large, oddly-shaped lump in the ground. "Gah!" The soldier shouts, flinching back when he sees the gold facemask of a Spartan soldier's helmet.
The Jedi ignite their lightsabers, ready for an attack, when they see the helmet. "Hang on. Give me a second." Aayla says, using the Force. Within seconds, the snow is wiped off to reveal a Spartan in full battle armor. But this Spartan was different than any other they've seen. His armor looks much older and bulkier than the infamous Spartan's regular armor, and his armor his bright blue. In his hands is what looks like an older model of the standard UNSC assault rifle. Aayla gets to her knees and presses her fingers on his neck. "He's dead." She whispers, looking down in wonder.
"Um, Generals. There's more." Another trooper says, looking behind him. The Jedi turn around and notice more lumps in the thick layer of snow. Anakin then uses the Force to push the show off the strange lumps. As they all expected, the corpses of more soldiers in the same dark blue armor are found, laying in odd positions. With the snow cleared off, the dried blood on the stone can be clearly seen along with older-looking UNSC weaponry, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers, and the strangest part is that one of the soldier's facemasks has cracks running all across it and a skull lying next to his head.
"What happened to them?" Obi-Wan asks, a little scared of whoever or whatever managed to kill all these Spartans. Anakin wonders the same thing while he looks around for anything else. Suddenly, he spots an opening in the side of a snowy mountain.
"I just found our entrance." Anakin calls to the group. They all look in the direction of where he's looking.
"Good job, Anakin. All right, men. I want 20 of you to scout the area. Aayla, join them in the scouting. Find a safe place to perch, and set your rifles to sniper mode. The rest of us, we're going inside the base to investigate." Obi-Wan says, pointing to 20 of the ARCs when he gave them their orders.
"Yes, General." They said in unison, then head up the snowy mountains. Aayla just nods in understanding then joins them on the trip. Then the rest of the group slowly make their way into the entrance of the base. Inside the base are vast, grey hallways that branch off, left and right.
"All right. We're splitting up to cover more ground. Obi-Wan, you take the left, along with half the troops. I will take everyone else and go to the right." Anakin says quickly, leading his squad of troops down the right hallways. The halls are surprisingly windy and on the walls are lined with prison cells that must suck to be inside.
"Men, keep your eyes out. We could be ambushed at any time." Anakin said, holding his activated lightsaber in front of him and using it as a source of light.
Just then, the gunshots go off from the alcoves. One of the ARCs was caught offguard by the sudden assault and received a shotgun blast to the head, killing him. "We got company!" A clone shouts as he shoots at the alcove where the shots came from.
"Just go!" Anakin shouts as he makes his way further into the base, the rest of his men running close behind as they flee from the attackers. They continue to make their way through the winding corridors of the grey base until they make their way back outside. There, in the middle of the snowy field, is a squat concrete base. More gunshots go off and Obi-Wan with his squad are running out of the entrance Anakin and his men came through. "I see you met our new friends."
"Yes. They chased us out of the corridor you assigned us to." Obi-Wan responds in a half-joking manner as the ARCs fire behind them, trying to keep the enemy soldiers at bay.
Before Anakin can respond, the Force screams in warning. The Jedi raises his lightsaber just in time to avoid getting cut in half by a large energy sword, being wielded by a man in bulky aqua colored armor, with a bulbous helmet with a gold facemask. Obi-Wan takes advantage of the stalemate and tries to strike at the soldier. But he's a lot faster than either Jedi anticipated, since he swung his energy blade at Obi-Wan with a strength that knocks Obi-Wan's lightsaber out of his hand. Anakin quickly strikes, but the warrior's speed is clearly underestimated and he blocks the strike.
"Is that all you've got? I've been training with a blue-haired chick for months now. You have no idea how hard I have gotten. Bow chicka bow wow." He said with a cocky voice.
"Ha! Got you!" A high, almost child-sounding voice, said and a blue-armored soldier jumped out from his cover. Only problem: He is facing the wrong direction.
"Uh, Caboose. You're facing the wrong direction. They're behind you." Tucker said, just barely managing to keep up with Anakin's quick strikes. Obi-Wan's eyes, however, widen when he realizes it's the angry blue soldier who he fought during the Chorusan Massacre.
"Oh yeah. There they are." Caboose says, turning around, "I thought they had turned invisible. Which is what the mean girls can do."
When Caboose says that, Tucker is finally overwhelmed and uses the Force on the ground around Tucker, knocking him onto his back 5 feet away and disarmed. Caboose then lifts his assault rifle. "Freckles, help Tucker by doing whatever you do."
Much to everyone's shock, the rifle responds with a robotic voice, "You mean fire. Affirmative, Captain Caboose." His gun starts firing bullets in all directions, killing another 2 ARCs and barely missing Anakin as he ducks under the shockingly accurate shots. Just then, Aayla and her own squad come walking towards them.
"Don't relax just yet." Aayla says as she and her men walk forward, with UNSC marines pointing their guns at their backs.
"What's going on?" A female and very familiar voice asks. The Jedi's eyes nearly pop out of their skull when they turn towards the base, and sure enough, dressed in a set of camouflages green UNSC battle armor, is Ahsoka Tano herself.
"Snips?" Anakin asks, disbelieving at what he's seeing.
She turns her head to Anakin, and smiles. "Hello, Master. You may be wondering what happened to me in my exile that warrants this. But the truth is much harsher for any of you to bear: The UNSC aren't your enemies, but the entire Republic are complete fools. You let the CIS form, you let everything happen, which started this war. My loyalty is now with the UNSC."
Obi-Wan still looks completely shocked at this turn of events, as they are starting to become surrounded as more and more marines leave the base. "Ahsoka, please. You don't have to do this." Aayla pleads with her old friend.
"Oh, don't worry. We're not going to kill you. Once we've finished clearing out the base, you will be sent to the Midnight Facility. After we have finished clearing this base out." Ahsoka says, betraying a look of pain in her eyes.
"What are we going to do with the bodies?" Caboose asks.
"Now!" Anakin shouts. The ARCs understood instantly, and leapt into action, knocking the unprepared marines back. One of them slammed the butt of his rifle into Ahsoka's head, knocking her unconscious. He then scoops her up and they start running as fast as they can across the barren, snowy fields with marines regaining their focus and start firing on them. The ARCs try to fire back, but their blaster shots are too random to actually hit their mark, but one marine fires his sniper rifle, hitting the soldier in the back's head. The soldier's head explodes, showering the other soldiers' armor with blood.
"Well, this mission sure went horribly." Another ARC remarks as they run towards the LAATs. The marines start running at them when their eyes drift up. Obi-Wan, even at a distance, could see that they are afraid of something. One of them even screams, "Thundersnow!" Then they turn around and start running back to the base.
"Oh no." Obi-Wan says. They all follow his line of sight and see something truly horrifying. A huge storm, composed of snow, is flying right towards them at alarming speeds. As if that wasn't enough, lightning starts crackling in the middle.
"We need to get out of here." Aayla says, then they start running towards the gunships, hoping to make it to their ships before the storm reaches them. As Anakin runs towards the ship, he notices one of the dead Spartans on the ground.
He stops in his tracks and uses both his hands to start yanking on the helmet. "Anakin. What are you doing?" Obi-Wan demands, staring at Anakin in shock.
"Master, we need to bring back something to make this trip worthwhile. Well, Ahsoka is very important, but I want to do something successful that means something. Taking this helmet will be worthwhile." Anakin responds, then decides to stop using brute force. Anakin stands up and uses the Force on the armor. Luckily, this attempt works and the helmet rips off the Spartan's head. Tucking it under his arm, Anakin runs towards the only open LAAT as the thundersnow only gets closer and closer.
"General, get in!" An ARC shouts in worry. Anakin keeps on running and running until he decides to lunge. He manages to land inside the LAAT, with the trooper sealing the blast door and the gunships start picking up. Suddenly, ship rocks back and forth, being rocked around by the intense winds of the storm.
"We're pulling up. Hang on!" The pilot said as he pulls on his controls. The gunship soars high into the air for several seconds before it levels out. "All right. We're heading back to the ship."
During the entire trip, Anakin looks down at the still-unconscious form of Ahsoka. He knows she had nothing to do with the bombing, and the Force is warning him that something else is going on. 'Ahsoka, what happened to you out there?'
AN: Yes, all done!
So what do you think? The Reds and Blues will definitely appear again in the not-too-distant future and Ahsoka had allied herself with the UNSC.
How that came to be…will be explained much later.
Anyway, see you next time when the true betrayer is discovered.
Have a Happy Easter.