Episode 4: Welcome To The Jungle

Chapter 1: Reunions And Reconstructions

"Sometimes the threat of tyranny is so great, that even the worst of enemies must become the best of friends, to win in the name of freedom."

PREVIOUSLY ON SH50K:

Har Har Bunks, the polar opposite of Jar Jar Binks, and leader of the Republic science crew on Hoth during the Covenant siege, was kidnapped by enemy forces along with his fellow scientists, right after Anakin and his crew members managed to escape from the siege by going through a Time Lord Stargate.

The Gungan professor is probably gonna get slapped by Hunter tentacles, as a form of torture and interrogation... because the Covenant want to know the secrets behind the tech they're delivering to Vecna.

Meanwhile, Anakin and his big group of friends have arrived on some kind of habitable forest moon, on the other end of the Stargate. The heroes quickly notice a seemingly improbable sight, a legion of clone troopers marching side to side with battle droids. Wanting to investigate further, they follow the marching army back to their base, at Hell's Gate.

What's more, Sergeant Neytiri recognizes this lush, beautiful location, the moon of Pandora, as her homeworld and birthplace! She is eager to get to Hell's Gate to meet up with her husband, Jake Sully, who she has not seen in several months.

Author's Note: In this case, Pandora's atmosphere is NOT POISONOUS. Humans and other oxygen breathing species can breathe here, with no problem whatsoever.

Also: The Na'vi had mixed reactions when the Republic colonized their homeworld. Many clans joined, appreciating the advanced technology and new ways of life, but others resisted, fighting back against the outsiders, because they valued their traditions. Those days are long gone, and the people of Eywa have moved on and adapted to the new age.

Their warrior cultures made fine recruits for the Republic's Grand Army, and Neytiri and Jake Sully, now a married couple, have both served their country.

During the walk to Hell's Gate, Master Chief, who is part of Anakin's group, gets a call from Beacon Academy, one of the Republic Grand Army's boot camps, which he just ignores. Perhaps someone in the group is needed for a different assignment abroad?

But the main task at hand is to get updated on the status quo and find out why the Separatists are working together with the Republic. Is the droid insurgency finally over?

"Sergeant Neytiri, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

John-117 was pointing his armored finger at the battalion of soldiers marching at the bottom of the cliff. It consisted of a very odd pairing, odd since these soldiers were supposed to be on opposite sides in a miniature galactic civil war- battle droids and clone troopers.

Neytiri, the Na'vi warrior, was focused on something else, though.

"I recognize this place... I'm back on Pandora! This is where I grew up, learned my survival instincts, and enlisted in the Republic's Grand Army! Everybody, welcome to my homeworld! I don't know why the Stargate brought us here, but I can make sure we all get a warm greeting, once I contact my fellow natives. Also, my husband works at the military base nearby. I haven't seen him in so long, ever since I went to Hoth..."

As for Anakin, he had his own problems to worry about, realizing that a group of scientists was supposed to accompany the party, and now they were probably in the hands of the Covenant.

"God-Emperor DAMN IT! The Stargate didn't take Professor Bunks and his entourage through with us! Now he's gonna get kidnapped and interrogated by the Covenant soldiers searching whatever's left of Hive Boreas back on Hoth! Hopefully he doesn't know anything about how the Time Lord tech works..."

Author's note: Fourth Wall Break incoming!

"Maybe it's for the best," Ruby Rose said. "The Maker would have a hard time doing his thing with so many notable named individuals in one place. And Professor Bunks is clueless about the primordial garbage, from what we know. The only thing we saw that affected the Time Lord hardware was Beidou's cartoon hammer."

Beidou, the young Tau Jedi Knight, smirked at what Ruby was saying. She had a thing for hammers and repairing advanced technology.

"Good thing the Covenant don't have any Acme repair hammers lying around. That's what I used to make the Stargate appear, apparently."

"Stop getting off topic, everyone!," the Master Chief (John 117) shouted. "We have to follow those troopers and droids back to their headquarters. And since there's Republic clones here, we know the people on this part of Pandora are friendly. Maybe Neytiri can be our guide. She might know where these clankers and expendable humans are marching."

Neytiri nodded, and so the group chose to keep up with the army below them.

"First thing's first," Ahsoka said, "here's a bunch of Clawshots so we can safely descend the cliff. Using one is pretty straightforward, just don't drop too fast."

With that, all 8 heroes attached their clawshot grappling hooks to the side of the cliff, and lowered themselves to the floor. Master Chief, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long all dropped much faster than everyone else due to their power armor's weight, but the fall didn't hurt them because of their shock-absorbing boots.

Elsa was particularly enthusiastic about this new gadget, one of several things that Ahsoka and Beidou had made while working under the tutelage of Anakin.

"These Clawshots you invented are pretty neat. Why not mass produce them for the Republic's army? Maybe they already have stuff like this, portable commando climbing gear."

She also brought up a vital point, which never really got mentioned in the story earlier:

"I'm feeling really overheated in these clothes from Hoth. We're on a jungle-covered moon, after all. You all agree with me, right?"

The group said yes in unison.

So right before they proceeded with pursuing the platoon, the team members took off their extra layers of warm clothing, leaving them in their standard Republic uniforms, except for the Spartans, whose armor maintained the right temperature in any environment.

"Ha!," the Chief said. "Looks like Ruby, Yang and I don't have to take anything off. Lucky us."

30 minutes later, after walking closely behind the marching troopers...

The trek ended at the spaceport and army base that Neytiri called "Hell's Gate." It was a fitting name, since the whole complex had a baleful, menacing look, with barbed wire fences, electrified barriers, siege gun towers, air traffic controllers, drone control centers, power plants belching steam and smoke, and most ominously, a tall spire of unbreakable obsidian in the middle of everything, presumably something the Republic and Separatist armies had come together to try and investigate.

"The reason the base was built like this is to keep out all the dangerous animals and plants commanded by Eywa," Neytiri told her teammates.

"Who the hell is Eywa?," Yang said.

Neytiri gave a concise explanation.

"According to my people, she's the goddess who maintains the balance of nature on Pandora. But when we were enlightened by outsiders, we learned the science behind her workings- she's a moon-wide nervous system and brain that connects all the plant and fungal life on Pandora, and since the animals eat the plants and fungi and each other, she basically controls everything like a puppet master. A hive mind, to put it simply."

"So on this world, Mother Nature herself is trying to find ways to kill you the most effectively. It's just as unnerving as that giant pylon of black rock in the central section of Hell's Gate."

"Maybe my husband, Jake Sully, will know the purpose behind the black rock," Neytiri replied. "He works here."

The two blue alien women were very different, one a Jedi and the other a Republic shock trooper, but they both understood the convoluted topics they discussed with astute wisdom.

Then the watchtower keepers spotted Anakin and company. They were startled by the proximity alarm's sound, but luckily, the two long-horned minotaurs keeping watch recognized General Skywalker.

"Oh, sorry. Are you authorized personnel? Wait a minute... You're Anakin Skywalker! We recently heard about the mass attack on Hoth. How'd you get here? How are you even alive?"

"It's a LONG STORY!," Anakin shouted. "I have Neytiri with me, so you should probably let us in."

"No problemo!," the second bull-headed man said back.

Now that they were inside, the group could get some answers behind the sudden collaboration between the Republic and the Confederacy.

Inside the fort:

Hell's Gate was one hell of a fortress. To say it was well defended was an understatement. And yet the inside of the base was just as much of a technological wonder, with elaborate facilities for maintaining all kinds of vanguard starfighters (like the ARC-170, K-Wing, Mandalorian P-38, V-19 Torrent and Pelican gunships,) and a historical armory museum carrying weaponry from eons past in the Milky Way's history, including Na'vi war artifacts and firearms from ancient 2nd Millennium Coruscant.

Anakin and his pals were lucky enough to not encounter any large Pandoran beasts on the path to Hell's Gate, probably because the clone troopers and battle droids had gotten rid of the animals, and they had entered it through one of the smaller gates for letting infantry patrols in.

The latest update in intel:

"So the CIS has been attacked by the same forces that are besieging our Republic? And they want a ceasefire, because we share a common enemy?"

"Apparently so. Remember, the main reason the CIS seceded from us in the first place was because of how aliens and other nonhumans were being discriminated against and systematically oppressed. The foes we've been fighting- the Upside Down, the Nine Hells, the Covenant, the Necrons, the Grimm, and many more- oppressing people is pretty much their main game. So we have more than just a simple reason to come together."

Anakin was speaking with Clone Commander Semicolon, the chief officer in charge of Hell's Gate military spaceport on Pandora. There was an exchange of intel between the two, and following that, good news was being broadcasted on the HoloNet, specifically the official reunification of the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, which meant the forces of democracy had a better chance of winning this war.

"Skywalker, you should probably find out what to do next with your crew," Clone Commander Semicolon said to the famous Jedi. "I hear Neytiri's husband is stopping by. Maybe you should talk to him or something. Additionally, some of your teammates got letters from Beacon Academy, saying they have to return to their headquarters. And I still can't believe you actually survived the Siege of Hoth... you don't need to tell me how, everyone here knows you escaped intact against the odds, the method should definitely remain a secret."

And so Anakin asked his team about the schedule.

"We don't really have anything planned for the near future, but I do have some questions because of what Commander Semicolon said. Elsa, Ruby, Yang. You got holographic letters in the mail telling you to do what?"

"Oh yeah," Elsa said. "Beacon Academy wants us back for a Quidditch championship. I bet you didn't know that space wizards and UNSC Spartans played flying broomstick games. Helps me get over the trauma I've suffered during our harrowing journey, and I'm sure Ruby and Yang can agree."

"Agreed!," the red and yellow sisters replied.

"Quidditch is such a badass sport!," Yang added.

"We're doing it to raise charity money for helping refugees in the Outer Rim, that's what makes it a priority," Ruby explained.

"Which leaves me, Anakin, Beidou, Ahsoka, and Neytiri," said the Master Chief. "Sometimes I wish I could fly on a broomstick, but I haven't put effort or training into using any magic system."

Then Beidou pointed at someone, while trying to get Neytiri's attention.

"Oh, is that your husband over there? He's the only Na'vi I've seen in the base who wears the same feathers in his hair as you! And he has the same pilot's uniform as you, too."

She looked, and realized that she had finally gotten the chance to reunite with her one true love.

Jake Sully and Neytiri both saw each other, and immediately embraced in a hug.

"I'm so sorry for leaving you so long! I won't do it again, I promise you!"

"I thought I lost you when Hoth was attacked by the Covenant! I'm just grateful you're alive, really!"

"Let's go home and see the kids. Maybe I can bring my new friends with too."

"Home, huh?," Ahsoka said. "Where do you guys live?"

"It's not what you're used to, but we've added some modernized features and furniture," Sully said. "We Na'vi have the biggest treehouse you can possibly think of. And we're having a rodizio-style barbecue to celebrate the CIS rejoining the Union."

"My friends and I would be glad to join in," Anakin told him.

"It would be a welcome respite!," Neytiri remarked.

Later that day...

The gang said goodbye to Ruby, Yang and Elsa, who boarded a Theta-class shuttle and headed off to their Quidditch game. Before she left, though, Ruby Rose said one thing under her breath to herself:

"I remember losing a lot of my fellow Spartans during the horrors on Hoth. To the contrary, though, my red power armor suit keeps track of the life signatures of all my comrades... and the lights are still on. They're still alive, maybe captured by the Covenant, and I'm going to demand a rescue mission from Headmaster Oz until my voice croaks. I don't have time for Quidditch. And I gotta inform Elsa and Yang, too..."

Plus, Anakin was thinking about something that bothered him and made him feel like something bad was about to happen: He hadn't asked anyone around about the purpose of the black pylon.

"Damn," he thought. "I should've brought up the elephant in the room when it came to the fort's construction. I have a gut feeling that nobody would know what it really is, though, possibly for the better. Oh well, let's just focus on visiting Neytiri's hometown. Maybe the Confederates were invited to dinner just like us."

Next Chapter: Hoth's Aftermath

I'm returning to work on SH50K. I hope to complete Wave 1 by the end of this year. That is, if I am truly dedicated to finishing it. The good news is, I'm planning out the plot of Episode 5, which comes after Welcome To The Jungle.