Hello all! theotherpianist is back with another installment of Rise of the Empire! I had a nasty bout of illness that knocked me out of comission and denied me time to get to this to you sooner.
This chapter is a bit of an experiment on whether shorter chapters are better than longer ones. I don't want to bore you to death but at the same time I feel like there's so much I need to give to you to experience this story as it grows and expands. Feel free to let me know you're opinions.
I'm pleased to announce that this chapter introduces some long awaited characters to the story and introduces some different characters entirely. I'm pleased to announce the partnership I have with gwb99 has now expanded to include characters of his. He penned to me the following letter:
To the readers and followers of theotherpianist. Some of you may know me and some of you may not. To those that do if you've read my flagship story "Shadows Of War"'then you know that theotherpianist and I have a mutual partnership. Said partnership has allowed me to include certain characters of his in my story and now my characters will be included in his. I cannot thank him enough for allowing me this opportunity. That's all for now.
A fellow Fanfiction reader: gwb99
And now let us return to a galaxy far, far, away.
Chapter 16:
Cryobay Eight, UNSC Svalbard
Cryptum, Interior of Mountain, December 9th 2559: 10:18:04 Hours UNSC Standard Military Time/Calendar
Spartan William Gunther
It was surprising how anti-climactic the pod was. His touch brought a sudden increase in the pods humming and produced a small amount of steam but otherwise it was entirely normal. That was until the pod hissed and released its latch letting a cloud of steam fill the air.
"Castle Two! Wake up." he called out to the silent cryobay.
There was no response from the armored figure still shrouded over with steam.
He tried again.
"Castle Two, can you hear me?"
The steam cleared and for the first time he saw the occupant therein.
She was wearing a generation one MJOLNIR CQC suit of armor that was a lighter shade of blue than his navy colored armor. Secondary pale blue sections broke up the solid coloration and visually complimented his own suit. Her silver visor on the CQC helmet was glistening with some of the condensation from warming up.
He leaned closer and tried for a third time.
"Asher, wake up."
Whether it was repetition or the name he didn't know but the Spartan stirred and gave a groan as she flexed. Slowly but unsteadily she climbed out of the plasteel pod.
She turned and finally caught sight of William.
"What-who are..." she trailed off.
"It's me." he said.
"William?" she asked confused.
He removed his helmet and felt the cold air chill his skin slightly.
The Spartan opposite did the same and revealed her face exactly as he remembered it. Soft, pale, marred only by a faint scar running up the side of her face. Brown eyes met green.
"Oh my gosh..." she breathed dropping her arms limply to the side. "It is you!" she exclaimed and in a move that surprised him seized him in an embrace. His vision was briefly blurred by her light brown hair swallowing the two of them for a moment.
"Erhem." he coughed slightly red. "Asher, I need to breathe."
"How did you find us?!" Asher asked slightly dazed. "When our ship went...I thought for sure we were dead!" she said her voice cracking.
"I'm here now." Will said. "I had to make good on that promise." We can save the heart to heart later though. We're under attack. Ready to get back to work?"
Her face flashed concern and then her voice adopted a more professional tone in an instant.
"I'll save the thanks for later then. I'm ready. What do we need to do?"
"You could take this back for starters." he said unclipping the M27 off his back and giving it to her.
She opened her mouth to ask a question but Will stopped her.
"Later. We have more pressing matters to attend to. I owe you an explanation."
She chambered the weapon and inspected it as William handed her the ammunition.
"Thanks for remembering it."
"Where are the others Castle Two?" moving on to the next order of business.
"I believe they're in the next bay over. It was a mess when the Captain ordered us to freeze ourselves."
"Lead the way." he said motioning to her.
"Castle One this is Castle Four. Find anybody yet? Captain's awake and about to start quick thaw protocols in your area."
"He's found one person." Asher chimed in from next to him.
"Is that you Asher? Find any of the others?"
"It's me. They're in the next bay over." Asher replied.
"Then they should already be revived. I'll be there in a moment to meet them myself!" Chelsea said with an attempt at hiding her glee.
"Let's move!" William ordered and the two turned to exit the room.
They ran out into the corridor and began following it up the length of the ship. As they passed the call to battle stations was issued and within a few more seconds confused crew members were starting to emerge and run to their assigned posts.
They had been running for about a minute when from around a corner ahead of them five Spartans dash around the corner all clad in SPI armor.
"Well its about time you showed up." The tallest one said removing his helmet.
"Yeah, Ralph here was blaming our crash landing on me! I don't do slipspace drives thank you very much, too much quantum mechanics at work." said a much shorter male Spartan.
"Oh shut up."
"You shut up Hansu."
"Both of you be quiet!" said a blonde female removing her helmet and turning around to face them.
"Castle team in a line and sound off!" William called out silencing them all at once. "It's been years since I've last seen you and I seem to forgotten a few things. Now, tell me who and what you are."
That bit was of course a lie. He knew and remembered all of them quite well but he wanted to see how well they could adjust to being back in the real world. As he spoke he began to feel himself regain a part of himself that he had lost.
"Castle Two. Asher. Second in Command sir!" she crisply said.
"Castle Three. Hansu. Intelligence." his scout followed in time.
"Thank you Spartan Lee. Castle Four is-"
"Right here Castle One. Castle Four, close quarters and EVA activity." said Chelsea from behind him.
The rest assembled all chorused enthusiastic welcomes and Chelsea fit right in between Hansu and his number five."
"Castle Five. Elizabeth. And I hope you remember that I'm your Intelligence Officer!" said a smaller but peppy Spartan.
"I do remember Elizabeth. Nice to have you back." he said giving a nod to the next Spartan in line.
"Castle Six! Ralph! Making everything disappear." he exclaimed boisterously and finishing with a slow nod.
"That won't be necessary Ralph." William said giving him a stare.
"Castle Seven, Felix, and I think I'm supposed to be your fix-it guy."
"You think?" Will said raising an eyebrow.
"Uh no. I am your Engineer." he corrected himself.
Will nodded and gave a nod to his last team member who was in comparison to Elizabeth very much less peppy and quieter.
"Castle Eight." she spoke almost whispering. Brittany. Corpsman."
He nodded to his assembled team.
"Well it seems like you all still remember your purpose in combat. Thank you for indulging me in that completely non-required exercise. I have one more question for you, where are your armor suits?"
The group exchanged tiny glances at one another.
"Damaged sir. They're still in the armory. We had to do a hard drop on our last mission. Every one of us had armor integrity compromised except for Asher." Felix finally replied.
"How hard of a drop?" Will asked.
"Jumping off a falling Pelican. We recovered these from an ONI test facility."
Will nodded. "We'll take care of that later. You all have weapons?"
They presented their gleaming arms in hand.
"Good. We need to move."
"Commander why?" Elizabeth asked
Will flinched.
"I'm not a Commander anymore Elizabeth. Only an LT." he said quietly looking at the floor.
"Lieutenant, what's wrong?" Elizabeth tried again.
He looked up and looked them square in the eye.
"We're under attack."
Padawan Ahsoka Tano
LAAT/i Gunship enroute to surface of Unknown Planet, Wild Space Regions
10:30 hours, 14:9:28 Galactic Standard Calendar
The troop bay of the Gunship was unusually silent as the Gunship picked itself up and accelerated out of the ships dorsal hangar and joined a cloud of over one hundred others from their fleet all making full speed towards the surface. Several Acclamator class ships were descending to deploy ground compliments and prefabricated bases all while the Pride of the Core and its Venator escorts moved overhead to provide local fire support. The Allied Species had already moved part of their fleet back into atmosphere to provide more assistance to the ground-not that they were able to at the moment. There were reports of the Separatists holding them at bay with AA emplacements.
The Togruta Padawan stifled a yawn and looked around at the assembled clones. There were the two ARC's Fives and Echo that were attached to the 501st, Captain Rex, and other various men including a squad of ARF troopers all sporting 501st colors. The rest of thee Gunship was filled with the members of Torrent Company. And then there was Anakin, with a face of hardened determination looking at nobody or nothing in particular. This look was becoming all too common with him and it worried her.
She cast her mind back to when Ahsoka had first met Anakin on Christophisis. He had been much more laid back then allowing himself to joke or banter in the middle of a high-stakes situation-that was gone now. The war had simply burned it out of him. He and others knew nothing but the dark cloud of war and suffering that had swallowed the galaxy. And how had she been affected? She had asked herself the question before and couldn't honestly tell. The war had certainly matured her much quicker than normal but other than that she considered herself blessed to be otherwise unaffected.
"We're entering atmosphere now General Skywalker." the pilot's voice chimed over the intercom. "The droid army has surrounded a mountain with two main entrances. The Sangheili have almost driven off their attackers on the far side which leaves the rest of the army on the other side."
Anakin looked up.
"Where are Master Windu and Obi-Wan?"
"They are-well they were on course as of five seconds ago." The Pilot replied confused.
"What?" he looked up.
"Droids must be jamming us sir. I've lost radio contact with everyone but I have visual on other Gunships though."
"Master, without communication we won't be able to form a strong offensive and push through!" Ahsoka pointed out with growing concern.
"Agreed. Pilot, see if you can overtake the gunships and get them to fall in behind us. Can we determine where the jamming source is?"
"I can try. I'm opening up the blast doors now."
Slats in the sides of the two doors of the LAAT opened up revealing the world outside. Red lights suddenly flashed to life illuminating the bay and signalling for the occupants to prepare themselves.
"I got a lock on the source. It's a large object but I can't make out much more than-"
A loud clanging rumble shook the gunship cutting him off.
"****it! We got anti-air emplacements opening up on us. I'll get you in as close as I can!"
"Roger that! Troopers, prepare to engage enemy forces! We push hard and we push fast and today will get a lot easier!"
"Sir yes sir!"
"General Skywalker! The jamming is coming from an armored vehicle about 2 clicks away. Destroy that and you should be able to make contact with the others."
"Understood!"
Ahsoka clutched a handhold as she felt the gunships weaponry snarl to life in an instant. Looking out the window she saw that they were flying above the droid army now cutting through lines of B1 battle droids with ease creating a column of wreckage in their wake. There were other gunships that had joined them now and were following their lead.
Another concussive jolt shook the LAAT making everyone stumble for a moment.
The Pilot cursed. "I have to set her down now before she falls apart! Right door is green!"
The doors hissed open and the lights changed from crimson red to a vivid green as the doors slid opened all the way and the gunship touched down.
She ignited her lightsaber and shoto and charged forth into a bright sunlight world with Anakin and the Clones right behind her.
They had landed in the middle of a wide strip of grass flanked by a forest on either side that extended over a hill and disappeared over the other side
"Go go go! Move it up!" Captain Rex ordered as the Gunship roared upwards to escape eney
It was then that she realized that they were completely surrounded by droids.
"Just another day at on the job." she mused before swinging her blades into her trademark Shien reverse grip and then dashing forward to provide cover for the Clones who were still lacking decent cover. Her blades caught a barrage of red bolts and smacked them harmlessly away.
"Into the trees regroup with our men north!" Anakin called out leading the way.
Ahsoka ducked as a rocket from a B2 soared over her and collided with a tree blowing the top half off and raining splinters on everything. The tree began to tilt dangerously until with a crack it snapped and plunged toward them. A couple Clones standing beneath gave frightened cries as it descended towards them. Ahsoka turned her back to help while the ARC troopers dashed forward to give her cover.
Reaching out into the force she extended her hands and caught the tree giving the Clones enough time to scramble from underneath to safety.
They reached the cover of trees without further incident and Ahsoka collapsed behind the safety of a large tree next to Anakin to catch her breath.
"We're all accounted for." Captain Rex said emerging from his cover and approaching both of them. "Droids don't seem interested in following us."
"I guess we caught ourselves a break." Ahsoka quipped.
"Break or not the UNSC is still under siege." Fives spoke up from behind his tree. "We can't move forward with the plan until we take out the jamming device."
"But...we also have that many more droids ahead of us." Echo pointed out.
As the group debated on what course of action to take next Ahsoka felt herself being drawn away from the conversation by a whisper from the Force about danger. She felt a prickling feeling crawling over her skin as though something was watching them. The Padawan stared around for a moment and seeing nothing looked back.
The feeling didn't go away.
Starting to panic, she put her head down and tried to ascertain what it was through her montrals on the force reaching her mind out to feel out whatever it was. She recoiled and flinched when her perception brushed on something large and distinctly alien. The whisper was gone in a split second leaving her with only fear of what that object was.
"Ahsoka?" Anakin asked noticing her worried expression.
"Something's out there." she said quietly.
Instantly the Clone's became silent and snapped their weapons to the ready scanning around. Anakin ignited his lightsaber and looked around as well.
"I feel it too. We're not alone out here. Keep an eye out but we're going to move up."
"Yes sir." the Clones chorused.
Fives and Echo took point with Anakin while Ahsoka held back with the rest of the troops.
"I don't like this." one of Torrent Companies clones said.
"Me too. I got a bad feeling about this."
"I think they gave you an extra dose of paranoia in the jar of yours." a third member added.
"Quiet. Be grateful that we can slip by them." Rex said pointing his left hand to the column of droids that had resumed their slow trek to the mountain.
Ahsoka noticed a flicker of crimson that disappeared as soon as she caught sight of it. She paused for a moment to look behind them she continued walking ahead and continued moving staying close to the group. They had ascended over a hill with some caution and were descending down into another one when she saw the light again and this time a triangular beam trained on the back of Anakin's torso.
"Master!" she cried out.
"What?" he said turning around and seeing the beam trying to comprehend the beam trained on his chest.
"Duck!" she yelped as she thrust her arms out to force push him as far away as possible.
He fell back on the ground some distance away as one of the clones rushed forward weapon aimed at the beam. Before anyone could react they all heard a sharp crack and the air was filled with a crimson red beam as it struck the Clone in the chest.
"Aaaaghh!" the trooper cried out in horror as he began disintegrating before their eyes from where he was hit outwards all the way to the edges of his body. As he disintegrated crimson colored ash floated upwards lazily leaving no trace of him."
"What the **** was that?!" exclaimed Captain Rex kneeling over the spot where the body had landed horrified.
"Look out!" yelled another member of Torrent company pointing to another beam that had pierced through the darkness of the trees. Another crack sent the man sprawling to the ground and knocked off his helmet.
"Help!" he screamed in fright. Someone help me pleea-" his anguished reply was cut short by the disintegration of his vocal chords. He locked eyes with Ahsoka for one, horrible moment,a and then he was gone.
Ahsoka felt sick from seeing such a horrible death up close and personal.
"It's a trap!" yelled Anakin.
Rex took aim with both blaster pistols and fired at the location of the beam. The shot went over the heads and struck the tree behind them which turned crimson and back to slowly disintegrate as well.
A sudden blur of motion slammed into Ahsoka and she gave a yelp as she crashed against another tree. She felt the air squeezed out of her lungs as she looked up dazed into the eyes of a 12 foot insect looking droid with a disturbingly human mask covering its face. Her next pained breath of air was expended in a sharp cry of fear.
The mask parted to reveal a human skull which promptly gave another defeaning scream.
Never had she seen anything like this before. She prayed to whatever God happened to be out there at the moment that it was not Separatist.
"Get the droid!"she heard someone from beyond her field of vision.
Her vision suddenly cleared as she saw Fives and Echo charge and tackle it knocking it back several feet pinning it to the ground. They poured blasterfire onto its body but were surprised at a sudden flickering which dissipated their bolts. With a savage swipe of its weaponized right arm it knocked them both to their feet but Anakin rushed to their assistance and plunged his lightsaber into the head.
The flickering 'popped' and with another scream it dissolved the same way as the other clones had.
Anakin was next to her in a moment trying to pull her up.
"Come on, come on! Get up!" he said desperately.
She got up dazed and cleared her head with some difficulty as she saw a flash of blue light transform into the figure of another droid.
"Come on, fall back! Fall back!" Captain Rex ordered as they all picked themselves up.
Anakin reached back and sent a wave of telekinetic energy in the direction of the unknown assailant collapsing several trees in the direction blocking any view that their assailants might have had of them. It gave a loud shriek of anger as they escaped.
They all retreated without any hesitation in a ragged group down the hill and up another one.
"Did we lose it?" Ahsoka asked after several minutes of running.
Another two materialized out of a spinning blue black portal.
"You had to ask!" Anakin yelled over the noise. "Take it down!"
Ahsoka and Anakin reached out at the same time and sent one of them flying through the air into somewhere unknown. The other was quickly destroyed by combined blasterfire and a surgical stab from Anakin.
"There, behind that overhang!" Anakin called out withdrawing the blue bar of plasma out of the droid and leading the group underneath a large, thick sheet of rock that would cover their position.
"Where is Boost and Jek?" Rex asked as their latest enemy collapsed.
"Right here sir!" two ARF troopers spoke in unison.
"Flank around both directions. I don't want anything following us."
"Sir yes sir!" they chorused and ran in opposite directions away from the group.
The rest of them fled down another slope into a thick bank of haze and mist trying to catch their breath and underneath the overhang that Anakin pointed out. They all collapsed and sat down extremely tense and exhausted.
"That didn't look like any Separatist droid I've ever seen." Echo broke the silence in a whisper.
"Coloration didn't match anything we've seen either." Rex added.
They sat in silence for a minute more.
"Where are Boost and Jek? They should be back by now." grumbled Rex.
They heard a noise from beyond and instantly trained their weapons on two figures that emerged to be the troopers in question.
"Boost, Jekk, did they see us?" Rex questioned as the two ARF troopers dove for safety.
"I don't think so. Nothing was on scanners and even if they did see us, this fog should be more than enough to hide us."
"After what I've seen today I'm not taking any chances." Anakin replied. He looked out into the thick bank of green fog and threw up his hands.
"Where the blazes are we anyways? We're way of course! We should be at that mountain now with that jammer taken down."
"Why don't we try heading northeast until we find the column again." Boost suggested. "I'd rather take my chances with the Separatist's then whatever these...things are. Poor Niner didn't even have a chance to run and Claptrap died trying to scream for help."
A collective shudder went through the group while the face of the mute Clone scorched Ahsoka's vision again. She gagged and tasted bile in the back of her throat.
"We need to move." Fives said after another thirty seconds had gone by.
Wordlessly they all got to their feet and stared into the fog.
"Go." Rex ordered and the group moved forward weapons aimed all around.
"Double time!" Anakin suddenly ordered urgently.
Not a second later did another crimson beam tear through the fog nearly decapitating Rex.
"Blast it! How can they see us in this soup?!" Ahsoka yelled in frustration.
"More of them, watch your right!" Echo called out as another two more of those things spawned into existence on top of a small knoll wielding a smaller version of the weapon on the previous one.
The smaller weapon was no less deadly however as the droid fired a concentrated crimson beam of energy into the heart of another clone. The beam tore itself cleanly through producing nothing but a small hole from where the projectile had gone through.
Ahsoka raised her sabers and prepared to leap at it when a dozen canine looking droids suddenly leaped from behind it into sight.
The pack of wolf-like droids opened fire with automatic weapons out of their mouths and charged the group. Ahsoka swung her lightsabers to catch the projectiles but when she did they merely exploded along the length of the blade into small crackling tendrils of energy. The effect reminded of her of the discharge two lightsabers coming into contact would make.
"They're not using blasters master!" Ashoka called out.
His only reply was a short grunt of acknowledgment before he threw his arms forward in a force push that pushed the leaping pack into the knoll with enough force that they burst apart into fragments of metal. He then sprang to engage the other unknown before it could do more damage.
Rex took advantage of the other droid's distraction and took out the energy field it possessed with several shots. Enraged the thing suddenly disappeared into nothingness only to reappear a moment later in a zigzagging pattern shifting in and out of existence. Ahsoka shoved the Captain out of the way as the droid gave a massive swipe with a sword on its left arm. Ahsoka's lightaber collided with it. The blade did not disappear out of existence revealing it was made out of some lightsaber resistant material.
The droid confused at the apparent non-death of its foe raised its other weapon and slammed it into her. She staggered back dropping her shoto while it lunged forward. She desperately lashed out with her only remaining saber and squeezed her eyes shut as it came at her with a diagonal slash. She felt an enormous pressure on her blade. She opened her eyes to see that she had caught her blade between a backwards hook curve in the blade. The droid tried tugging its weapon free but Ahsoka angled her blade to keep it hooked. She rolled to get out of range of the droid's other weapon which the droid was now trying to use.
"Get free!" she heard a Trooper call out.
Deactivating her blade she rolled underneath the droid and sprang to her feet flipping on to the construct's back. It instantly bucked and wheeled about wildly as it tried to displace her. It was all she could do to keep her balance as the clones opened up with their weapons. Ahsoka reached out through the force and seized her shoto from its resting place on the ground. The weapon sprang to life and she drove her yellow and green blades into the armored carapace of her enemy, finishing it off without further incident.
The clearing they were in became silent.
"I feel that we're close. Keep moving." Her master ordered again.
The diminished group kept moving and charged up another hill and exited the bank of green fog running down another hill as they did so.
"Well I'll be." Fives muttered as they came to a stop.
Before them stood the end of the tree line that suddenly transformed into a series of rolling plain that led right up to the mountain. They could see the droid forces stretched out in a short column that led all the way to the mountain. Farther off on the left and right they could see Kenobi and Windu's forces pushing back on their flanks.
What looked to be Anakin's forces were currently camped behind the safety of a large hulk of a Separatist cruiser that must have crashed earlier in the battle.
"Sound off." Rex ordered.
"Boost and Jek here."
"Dogma present."
"Appo here."
"Sink."
"Kaarma."
"Tyto."
"Fives and Echo."
Rex swore.
"That many?" he sighed sadly. "General we should link up with our forces, looks like they're all pinned down."
"Wait a minute Rex." We got a contact heading our way."
"Clankers?" asked Dogma.
Anakin motioned for them to get down.
Ahsoka noticed it after they had all crouched. A large dome like object with many attenae protruding from the roof was moving slowly away from the battle hoping to be unnoticed. It was leaking smoke and belching fumes. Clearly wounded and looking to run away.
"That has to be how they're jamming us." Ahsoka muttered.
"My thoughts exactly Snips."
"Troopers! Rockets on my mark!" Rex called out.
Several Plex launchers appeared in the hands of the Clones all trained on the lone dome.
"Execute."
Several seconds later they were greeted with a explosion bright enough that it, for a moment, outshone the sun.
Spartan William "Will" Gunther,
Interior of the Mountain,
10:50:01 Hours:
Will's eardrums were suddenly blasted as his comlink suddenly blared hundreds of voices at the same time. Despite the sudden pain he couldn't wipe the small of his face as he knew that only this could have meant that the Separatist's jamming them were no more.
Around him as they jogged through the temporary field camp set up in the middle of the tunnel others burst out into wild cheers as their radio silence was relieved. They looked at him and the seven other Spartans behind him and cheered even louder. For behind him and his team was a huge column of men and materials from the Spirit of Fire and the Svalbard all headed for the front lines.
He tuned his radio to Palmer's frequency. "Commander Palmer this is Castle Team on station with a lot of men anxious to fight. Where do you want us?"
He heard the noise of gunfire and blasters for a few seconds before she responded.
"I'm busy at the moment. Hold on."
Several seconds passed before she spoke again.
"Our extreme left flank is collapsing. Spartan Fireteam Rapier is the only group on station right now. Give them a hand will you? I'm marking their locations now. The General will deal with your reinforcements. Palmer out."
Several location markers blinked onto his HUD.
"All right, you heard the lady! Go go go!
They took of at a sprint towards their location towards the sound of battle. The UNSC had made some ground against the Separatist as evidenced by a lot of metal corpses on the ground but their were a fair amount of human ones too. With a tunnel as wide as this it wouldn't have been a stretch to say that it felt like a scene out of Earth's first world war.
They vaulted over a pile of twisted MTT's and caught sight of their target. Five Spartans in SPI Mk. III armor, the more advanced cousin of that which his six members of his team were wearing, were trying to hold the line against a large group of droids.
"Weapons free!" Will yelled as they vaulted over the wreckage and landed to the right of the beleaguered fire team. "Castle Team, shift fire left and assist!"
He jumped to the far right of them and lobbed a grenade clearing out four of them before ducking for cover. Asher to his right finished off his attackers. Ralph and Felix took advantage of some cover behind a dead Warthog and began lobbing high explosive shells from a pair of M319 Grenade Launchers. Further off to the left of them the rest of his team had taken up a comfortable position behind a pile of rubble and rock and began to pick off the enemy with precise fire.
The other Spartans were distracted for a moment by the sudden appearance of eight armor clad figures charging into battle along side them. Several cheers erupted from two of them but they quickly focused to the task at hand..
William flicked the safety off his weapon and fired a short burst into the head of a B2 before switching targets to a rolling destroyer droid. The destroyer ripped itself apart as its forward momentum, coupled with several large holes in its structure caused its integrity to fail.
He ducked as a missile from a launcher wielded by a B1 soared overhead and promptly eliminated that threat as well.
He changed positions and rolled next to one of Rapier's members.
"Spartan Will at your service. What's the situation?"
The Spartan glanced at him for a moment before gunning down a trio of B1's and dropping his current DMR for a fallen MA5.
Kevin-G097, Rapier Team Leader. You have my thanks Spartan. Things were getting bad down here. We're low on ammunition and these things just keep coming! We were being pushed up against the wall until you arrived." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the wall of the tunnel.
Will noted the age of the voice that accompanied the armor.
"Must be part of Gamma Company." he mused. "How young they are...How young we were."
He tossed him a few magazines which he deftly caught before reloading his rifle nodding thanks.
"The only thing we needed is more soldiers to push back the enemy line. I contacted Palmer but didn't think she would send us a Spartan Team."
"Well here we are."
Kevin nodded. "Do you have a Sniper on your team?"
"Sure we do. Why?"
"Our sniper, Emily is pinned down and can't move more than she can right now. With you here I was thinking we could send her down the line to provide better fire."
"That will be fine." he turned away for a second.
"Rapier Five."
"What?"
"Move yourself down the line and find a better position. We'll cover you."
The female Spartan grunted and jumped from her vantage point off the destroyed pelican and began running behind them over to where Ralph and Felix had taken up residence.
"Hey thanks for sending the lady here Castle Lead." Ralph joked.
"You know there's a reason we call her Valkyrie." Kevin said over his comm line to him.
"What's that?"
"She's merciless when she chooses who lives and dies. If you're not careful you'll end up with the bigger half."
"Is that the half that's saved?"
"Not even close. Go blow some of these freaks up and stop hitting on some way younger than you." Rapier's sniper interjected.
Will heard some stiffled snorts of laughter from Rapier and he rolled his eyes as he watched Ralph's posture sink ever so slightly. Good, he needed humble men.
The droids had renewed another push and William found himself switching to shorter and smaller targets as they began to overwhelm the defense.
"What gun is that? Is it new?" Kevin asked curiously as he fired his scavenged MA5D at the encroaching droids.
"FNH FS-2000. 21st century technology that became the basis of yours." Will said pointing a finger at Kevin's rifle as he ejected a spent clip.
"Huh. You'll have to tell me how-"
His attention was diverted by two large objects rolling towards them suddenly. One of them opened up with its main cannon and a chunk of the pelican's wing was sent flying in an instant as it tore away.
"Heads up Rapier! Enemy armor closing fast! Find some cover." Kevin called out next to him. "Rapier Two, have any stickies left?"
"That's a negative!" another Spartan called out over the comms.
The tanks having announced their presence decided to act as artillery support and started raining down fire over their heads. William watched Kevin sigh at the sight and debate on what his options were.
"Spartan? I can take care of that tank for you." Will said eying the vehicle as they crouched out of sight.
"What? No, I can't let you do that!" he spoke suddenly. "We don't have the weapons to take it on and you're all a bunch of...of..." he stopped. "What the heck even are you?"
"Tell your team to keep the tank distracted for the moment and I'll do likewise."
The Spartan stared back at him perplexed.
"What's your plan?"
William unclipped a fragmentation grenade from his belt and tossed it up and down once before rolling out of cover and firing a short burst from his rifle.
"Improvise."
Extract from the personal log of Spartan III Kevin G-097
"Improvise." the navy colored Spartan said as he disappeared from sight.
"Improvise? What the devil are you thinking?" I asked stunned. To go out into the middle of that field right now was a death wish, even for us.
"Any ideas on who our friends are?" My demolitions expert Rapier Three spoke up as he joined right next to me."
"No clue other than that they're either extremely good, complete idiots or-"
"-listening to you right now on an open channel." Spartan Will said with a trace of humor. I mentally slapped myself over that one.
"Castle Two, we're going to take out that tank, front and center now."
"Got it Will." a female voice affirmed. That must have been Castle Two.
"Spartan Kevin, are you ready to assist?"
"Yeah." I grumbled still slightly embarrassed.
"Good. We move in 15 seconds. Take down as many targets as possible and help clear us a path. Since the rest of my team doesn't have their regular armor they'll stick back with you to assist."
"Roger that." I replied.
"You're going to want to watch this." Castle Three spoke.
"Why's that?" I asked the other Spartan.
"Because the Commander is going to put a show on for you."
I eased myself into a better position to see the advancing droids easier.
"On my mark!" William called out.
"Sync!" Castle Two confirmed.
A seconds pause while the armor finished launching a salvo.
"Go!"
Two blue blurs launched themselves over the makeshift barricade that had been created down the line. They came up from their jump with a roll and sprinted in tandem firing weapons. I felt myself lose focus of the enemy and instead on them. Castle Three hadn't been kidding, the two Spartans were blisteringly fast and almost creepily entirely in sync. When one ran out of bullets the other would leap over the other one and switch positions. They were leaping rolling, sliding, flipping, and moving so fast that the only way to tell that they had been there was a pile of scrap where a droid had once been.
"Suppressing fire!" Castle Four ordered and six weapons opened up in an attempt to distract or hurt the enemy.
"Rapier! Assist Castle Team!" I ordered coming to my senses.
They obeyed and the droids were caught between two sets of foes. It was working, as stupid as their idea was, it was working. The droids seemed to panic facing fire from all of us at once and two charging Spartans. The tanks that had been raining fire farther behind our lines were starting to back up and decided now was the time to deal with them.
It was too late though for them though.
I felt a surge of giddiness as I watched the two suddenly split without words and run for the two different tanks. William mantled the first one is a jump that landed him on top of it. He scrambled upwards quickly and began to fire at the other one with his gun. The other turned distracted and fired at the first tank. With its back turned Castle Two mantled it in an instant and ripped open the hatch. The crew of the tank was tossed unceremoniously out in an instant. William jumped off his as it exploded from the damage sustained by unfriendly fire.
Castle Two was behind the wheel of the tank in an instant and after a few tenuous seconds of trial and error was driving the thing and using it against the droids. William mantled on top of Asher's tank and he began to snipe the droids.
"Come on!" I called out to my team."We can't let them take all the glory!"
We sprang out of our positions and began to follow them in earnest. Castle Team likewise leaped out of theirs and we began plowing at an angle into the Separatist lines like an arrowhead. The tank stopped and we all clambered on in earnest.
I looked back and smiled. A large pile of fresh scrap lay sparking on the ground.
"Nice work Spartan Kevin." Will said with a nod.
"Our pleasure."
"Did you like the movie?" Castle Three asked snarkily.
From underneath my helmet I turned red and looked away.
"Lock it down Hansu." Will silenced him at once.
"Geez...sorry Commander-"
"To KEVIN, not me."
Castle's sniper apologized at once and we just sat there for a moment while Asher blew up everything that came into range.
The droids suddenly started to push harder and faster on us almost coming at us with reckless abandon.
"This tank can't kill them all. Lend a hand will you?" Asher piped up from the cockpit.
The tank began to roll forward again while we fired at the droids. Sitting on top of armor tended to help one see the broader picture.
"Holy ****! This is awesome!" Rapier 3 called out enthusiastically as he lobbed yet another grenade into the enemy lines.
"Why can't we do stuff like this more?" Emily asked as she put a trio of rounds in the head of a Super Battle Droid.
"I have no clue. Where the heck is the rest of our army?" I asked as we continued to drive through the enemy.
It was then that the cavalry arrived in the form of an enormous fleet of Warthogs followed by Scorpions and a variety of tanks I had never seen before in my life (they looked like Scorpions on steroids). Despite the relatively little clearance they had the air was filled with the buzzing of Hornets as they soared overhead and opened up with cannons and missiles.
"That enough of an answer for you?" Micheal asked.
"Shut up." I said trying to conceal a grin.
From behind the tanks came a long line of Marines armored in long outdated armor.
"No way..." Rapier 5 whispered as the men jogged past and we were swallowed up by an advancing UNSC force.
A Warthog pulled up next to us and a Spartan clad in scout armor dismounted.
"Commander on deck!" Will shouted and we all stiffened up and dismounted the tank.
I recognized her as the one who had sent us to the left flank in the first place.
"At ease Spartans. You all deserve a well earned break. My appreciation is not easily won but today you have earned it." She turned towards Castle Team and eyed them.
"I know you have just woken up to be thrown into the middle of **** but welcome back to reality. I'm Sarah Palmer, commander of all Spartan Personnel and forces aboard the Infinity. The Captain was looking to speak with you but that will have to be arranged later."
"Why does he want us?" Will asked.
"That's for you to find out later. Fireteam Rapier. In light of your recent defense of our flank you have earned yourself a day's rest. I'll put in a a good word to the Captain about you, but in the mean time we still have a lot of tin cans to crush between here and outside this forsaken mountain."
"Yes ma'am!" we chorused.
General Obi-Wan Kenobi
Exterior of the Mountain,
11:16:04 Hours:
"Blast it Cody, where is that air support?"
"I don't know sir. General Windu was in charge of taking care of that. We can't commence bombing operations without the guns in his area taken down.
A sudden shadow roared overhead as the unmistakable bulk of two Venators settled overhead.
With a blistering barrage of lasers they suddenly blasted the field outside the mountain repeatedly throwing up an enormous cloud of dust and smoke.
"That did it! The droid line is breaking!" Commander Cody shouted as the smoke cleared and revealed a blackened expanse of nothingness. The only droids left were now in the mountain.
"Well that was easy. All units advance!" he ordered.
The AT-TE he was sitting on top of suddenly began to move forward as his forces began to close in for the kill. He smiled that their luck today had begun to change. At least one thing was going right.
"Obi-Wan do you read me?" the voice of his former suddenly Padawan crackled through his com-link.
Make that two things.
"Anakin I'm here. I assume you took out whatever was jamming us?"
"Correct. I'm on a Gunship right now. We'll pick you up and then we can deal with these droids personally."
"I copy. Obi-Wan out."
The Gunship appeared a second later and Anakin and Ahsoka greeted him as he climbed aboard the LAAT leaving Cody to deal with the army.
"Had fun?" Obi-Wan asked eying a scratch that across Anakin's lower lip.
"Oh this? Some type of droid ambushed us in the woods. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen. I just embraced a tree more than I normally would. That's all."
"Weapons on the **** thing disintegrated whatever it touched." Rex scowled from an unseen corner with Fives and Echo."
"Disintegrated you say?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Turned em' into the ash within a few seconds. Nothing left at all." Echo grimaced.
"Hmm. Then we'll have to tell our men to stay clear of the trees. That's all."
"Uh, Generals? I think I can't proceed." Their pilot announced.
"Why?" asked Anakin slowly.
"Because the UNSC is blocking up my LZ."
"Land us outside." Obi-Wan ordered still skeptical
The doors opened and they stepped out to see an armored column sitting at rest with many men milling about lazily with a Separatist AAT at the front. 13 armored figures were sitting on it looking glad to be out of a fight.
"About time you showed up!" a Blue Spartan said in greeting casually. He stood up and came down to meet him.
"Are we all clear?" asked Obi-Wan surprised. He recognized two of the figures as the Spartans from Rhen Var.
"All clear. Just some clean up duty needed in the side tunnels."
"And you did this all by yourselves?" Ahsoka asked.
"Of course not." he said pointing towards a large advancing column of infantry. "You did half the work yourself."
"And what of your Sangheili allies?"
"Taking care of stragglers. I do believe that my Superiors are seeking to meet with you." he said pointing to a Pelican that was descending towards them now.
It landed and the back opened up to reveal a very tired looking Admiral step out.
The Spartan had now been joined by the others and saluted as the Admiral stepped out.
"Greetings Master Jedi. Thank you for your assistance today. You saved a lot of lives and we can't thank you enough."
"The pleasure is ours. The Chancellor desires that we set up research and scientific outposts on this planet but we can leave that for later."
"Agreed. I think we all need a break for a little bit. I have important business for the Spartans here though. Give me a moment."
"What do you need Admiral?" the leader asked.
"I heard about your actions from Palmer today. In light of your recent leadership roles it is my duty to honor that. I have received authorization to reinstate your previous rank as Commander for showing excellent gallantry and bravery in the face of danger. Traits that are well needed for receiving this rank. And in addition your Team is to be transferred to the Infinity to serve in its Spartan compliment. All your belongings will be shipped over there shortly but you are to report ASAP for debriefing." he turned to an exclusively olive armored group of Spartans.
"Fireteam Rapier?"
"That's us." a male spoke up.
"You have also been requested to transfer from your current ship to the Infinity to serve in the ship's Spartan compliment. In addition we wish to award you all the Bronze star for your supporting actions in holding our flank up for so long. Congratulations. You are to report to the Infinity ASAP for debriefing. Good luck."
They all saluted and headed back to the tunnel.
"They are most impressive." Obi-Wan said as soon as they were out of earshot. "If only all our Clones showed this much devotion. I would not doubt the loyalty of our army, but it's one thing to have a soldier who is not genetically engineered to fight for you from birth do so with unwavering faith."
"I can only hope they are what you say they are Master Jedi. We need more men like them but the lengths to which we did so make me shudder. But another time, let's talk negotiations."
"Yes," Obi-Wan agreed. "Let's talk."
And thus concludes the first arc of this story! Will and team are re-united, the universes are more or less reacting the way the should be, the Republic and UNSC/Swords of Sangheilios have joint military action, but we have yet to see Dean, Eric, or Zek Lhar. Wonder what could be happening to them? And what of the Absolute Record or the Spirit of Fire? The next chapter will naturally be a little bit of an unwind but not for long!
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Many thanks to gwb99, Lord Razer, and ARCCaptainFordo for being wonderful betas.
Yours in writing,
t.o.p.