Ahsoka had to admit, she was... Impressed. Like... Genuinely.
When master Skywalker had volunteered them to join in on the Spartans' stealth mission. They were following the Master Chief and Linda as they moved to get into position, take a potshot at the enemy commander with a sniper rifle. For some reason, the young Padawan felt some palpitations watching the Spartans' movement. They weren't robotic or laggy, like she'd seen some military units in training be. No.
The Sniper-Spotter duet moved with the agility of a Jedi in their prime and all the stealth skills of a Kath hound on a hunt. Slow and methodical, the four-man team made up of two supersoldiers and two Jedi pushed through with the lightness of a feather. Even in the armor that looked like it weighed half-a-ton, the Spartans moved without making as much as a sound.
Pushing through the rubble, Ahsoka whispered to her master, "These guys are terrifying..."
"Sums up the UNSC so far," Anakin quipped quietly as he ducked under a piece of rubble the Spartans bypassed. Ahsoka followed close behind him as he explained, "They have kinetic weapons. Slug throwers, instead of blasters. Admiral Yularen told me he saw one of their ships split a Lucrehulk in half with a salvo of its main guns. I think we even saw the detonation."
"I saw them when we were flying in," Ahsoka told him in a whisper, "Hulls blacker than night, ships shaped like weapons and built around their main gun... Their biggest ship was massive, too. At least five times one of our own Cruisers..." which caused Skywalker to look back at her, a bit surprised. Sure, Yularen had mentioned the damn thing was massive, but-
The two looked ahead as they heard a finger snap. Chief motioned to them to cut the chatter, then slowly crept forward as they started a climb through the rubble. The two Jedi hummed, nodded and followed the professionals along. Appearing near-by a series of high-rises at an intersection, the group heard the audible thunder of distant artillery engaging the droids, as well as the thump and hum of feet and anti-gravity systems respectively.
Above and to their right, the Droid armies marched unfettered through the intersection, AATs, B1s and B2s on the prowl for their intended targets. The group continued their advance to the base of a tower. The Chief radioed in, speaking quietly, "BLUE One is at Checkpoint Lima. Confirming droid advance in the area... BLUE Two, status on disabling enemy device?"
"BLUE Two to BLUE One. Checkpoint Delta. Moving to Echo... ETA:3 mikes..." Fred replied over com. The Spartan gave a tap on his com to acknowledge Fred's statement, before the group entered the tower. Chief leaned over to help Ahsoka climb, with the Jedi girl smiling as she took the Spartan's hand. He lifted her to the top, then helped Skywalker next, before standing up and drawing his rifle.
The four-man team climbed up the stairs, with the Jedi trailing behind the Spartans. Ahsoka felt a little irritated that they were playing second fiddle to a pair they knew nothing about. Honestly, they were scary, but being treated like a mere guard when you're a Jedi didn't help Ahsoka learn anything. She gasped as she watched the Chief charge ahead. The Spartan drew his knife and surprised two droids, both of which barely got to let out a squeak before they were turned to scrap. Linda pushed up behind him, sidearm drawn, but saw both droids were dead.
She hummed and nodded to Chief, before the man took the lead again while sheathing his knife. Ahsoka whispered, "Nice moves...?" to which the Spartan gave a nod. The group then marched up the tower's way and onto the roof after clearing out another three pairs of patrolling droids. Both Anakin and Ahsoka watched with muted awe as Linda marched up to the side of the building, dropped prone and set up her rifle. Chief sat down beside her and activated his helmet's ranging tools.
Ahsoka sighed and sat herself down on one of the rooftop whatevers, presumably an air conditioning unit's hot-air output fan, before crossing her arms to her chest. She spoke, "Well, this was fairly boring..."
"Some times, boring missions are better," Anakin commented as he sat himself down next to her, still keeping his eyes peeled for any hostiles due to basically being forced to be guards for the Spartans. Ahsoka scoffed, arms crossed to her chest, before Anakin added, "Trust me, I'm not having any more fun than you are. Obi-Wan had me keeping watch one too many times during the early days. But there's an art to patience he taught me back then..."
The young girl hummed, then sighed deeply, "Y'know, I was just supposed to get you guys back to the Temple for the mission... I also didn't expect you to have a reaction like that to the news we're gonna help a Hutt."
"Let's just say I have some... Issues..." He sighed, then shook his head, "Nothing you need to worry about."
Despite Ahsoka wanting to protest and ask more about her master, she couldn't. They watched as Linda adjusted her aim by thousandths of a Force-damned inch, all while Chief was seemingly relaying targeting to her. He looked to the two Jedi and gave a nod as a thundering explosion roared in the distance, only for them to see the building nearby the Separatist HQ destroyed. The two Jedi both watched the plume of smoke rising into the sky, with Chief calling over radio, "SIERRA Niner Niner, report once you've retrieved BLUE Two... Copy."
"Target spotted..." Linda murmured. Ahsoka paused as she saw the girl go completely still, like a goddamn statue. Chief peered down below as the thunder of footsteps echoed. A platoon of Droids was moving in on them. Supers. He sighed and gave a nod to Linda, then started using sign language to provide Linda accurate range and windage. Ahsoka walked up to them and squinted, then looked to see the range.
1200 meters. "That's an impossible shot..." She stated bluntly.
"You don't know Linda, then..." Chief murmured.
"Acquired..." Linda breathed as her heart
"Shoot."
Ahsoka was shaken and almost lost her balance as she felt her legs nearly give way under her. The thundering roar of the Sniper Rifle filled the air, followed by the sight of the contrail of the 14,5mm Sniper round cutting through the air of the place. The snap-pop of a distant impact filtered all the way over to them, causing Ahsoka to go bug-eyed and stare out toward the target, which was at exactly 1,2 kilometers distance from them.
"Kill confirmed." Linda reported, her voice terrifyingly cold enough to send a chill up both Jedi's spines. She picked up the spent casing and slid it into her harness, then slid the rifle onto the back of her armor and stood to her feet, drawing twin Sub-Machine Guns and thumbing their safeties off. She looked to the Chief and said, "Saw the Platoon of SBDs coming our way, right?" which caused both Jedi to go on alert, brandishing their lightsabers.
John shifted his rifle and aimed toward the access hatch they'd used to get up, before taking cover and shouldering the weapon properly. Linda followed suit, taking cover behind him as Chief said, "Our Pelican's coming in to provide CASEVAC, General," as he looked to Anakin. Ahsoka was still awestruck by Linda making that shot, but she'd taken a fighting stance almost on instinct.
The two Jedi readied themselves to welcome the droids, the stomping of their feet coming closer. Chief primed a fragmentation grenade and waited. Once the first droid's bulky frame would appear, he'd throw it. And, indeed, the first gray body of a Super Battle Droid appeared over the stairs. It shifted its arm guns in position just as Chief threw the grenade. A hard thump and shockwave knocked some of the air out of Anakin's and Ahsoka's lungs... Before the young girl rushed ahead.
Anakin called out, "Ahsoka! Get back here! We gotta move in together or you'll be overwhelmed!"
"It'll be fine! They're just droids!" Ahsoka replied with a grin, before throwing the first swing toward the Super Battle Droids ahead, vivisecting one diagonally and slashing the opposite way, digging into another's armor plate. Three more appeared ahead of her and turned their blasters, firing. Ahsoka began deflecting the bolts, a smirk on her face. Anakin let out an exasperated sigh and charged in as well, using Force Push to stop a droid that was flanking his new Padawan.
The Spartans looked to one-another, then paused as another door, this one to an elevator that led to the top, opened. Chief motioned to Linda to go help the Jedi, before turning to face the oncoming machines and racking the bolt of his assault rifle. He quickly Cortana, "How close do you need to be for a wireless hack?" as he opened up on the machines with heavy-duty armor-piercing rounds.
"This should be fine, John. Give me a minute..." She replied as she started working. The Spartan offered her a nod, jumping to the right as blaster bolts hit where he'd been mere seconds ago. Turning back to the Jedi and Linda, the trio met the Droids with heavy fire and some gusto, rifle chattering and fists punching through the tin cans' armor. Ahsoka and Anakin worked together, utilizing their strange magical powers to telekinetically shove a bunch of the droids off the tower.
Fragmentation rounds from the Pelican's nose gun wiped out the next slew of Droids, with the aircraft swinging in for a landing, opening its rear hatch to allow the other Spartans to shoot out from it. The Chief and Linda covered while Anakin told Ahsoka, "Get on the transport, now!" causing the girl to look back at him, surprised. He tilted his head to the aircraft, annoyed, before deflecting a bolt of blaster fire from another of the machines that were still climbing the tower. With a sigh, Ahsoka complied, shutting her lightsaber off and rushing aboard the aircraft.
Skywalker nodded to Chief and Linda, the trio backing slowly onto the ship as they gunned down more arriving droids, among which were B1s now, instead of the B2s of the probably-depleted Battalion that had just recently charged them. Boarding the gunship, Chief gave a click of his com and its engines roared. It took off at high speed, ascending above the tower and closing the rear hatch.
Chief radioed, "Command, this is BLUE Actual. Targets destroyed..." with, yet again, the same cold voice. Anakin looked to them, arms crossed. He was clearly impressed by the display, amazed even. Cold, focused and hardy, the Spartans had proven their mettle to at least one of the Jedi. The Spartan tensed, his body stiffening up just a tiny bit. It was enough for anyone without a trained eye or a sense of the Force to notice, but his team and, by extension, Skywalker had noticed. The man said, "Roger that. We're returning now..."
He turned to Skywalker and Ahsoka and stated, "Droids realized their commander is dead. They're throwing everything they have at the base in one last attack to drive our armies off this planet. We've already received reports of an armored spearhead driving down the boulevard below. Kodiak artillery and your guns have begun harassment fire, but..."
"But they'll reach the first line before they're thinned out enough..." Skywalker completed, sighed and looked to Ahsoka, adding a quip, "You're gonna get to destroy all the droids you want now, Snips." which seemed to get the girl a bit more happy. She had been pouting about five seconds before, so... Chief drew his assault rifle and reloaded the weapon, while the others prepared their own kit, including a couple of new grenades.
Fred lifted up a pair of larger 'explosives' whose protective casings shielded electric coils. A priming button lay on top of the strange weapon, with Fred explaining, "EM bombs. Command handed them to us to test on the Droids..." before handing one to Chief. The Spartan gave a nod of approval as he looked over the Device, with Cortana letting out a low, happy grin.
"Should be fun. I didn't get to do much to the other droids, so..." She chuckled and accessed the relatively simple computer of the weapon, setting a timer, "We can drop them as we fly in and fry a good bunch of droids, seeing as the effective range is about 100 meters from the center of the blast. Now, if it works is entirely up to me figuring out the detonation mechanism and ironing out the kinks and... Done..."
The bomb primed in Chief's hand. She told him, "You'll just press the button and drop them out of the rear hatch. Pilot's already given us clear for it..." to which Fred and Chief looked to one-another. They approved. Walking to the rear of the vehicle as they heard the muffled thunder of the forward-mounted cannon spitting lead, the two prepared to throw their payload. The rear hatch opened to the sight of blaster bolts lancing up at them from a Droid battalion below.
The two Spartans primed the bombs under the gazes of the Jedi and hefted them. The coiled electricity inside began to unfurl as the two weapons left in a staggered drop, one landing in the midst of the droids' rear, while another landed dead between a Battalion of SBDs and a bunch of their Snail tanks. Plasma hit the armor of the Pelican, red bolts punching into armor and heating the sides and belly of the ship up.
The detonation occurred. Two massive bursts of electrical energy arched through the droids around, shattering electrical systems and frying Central Processing Units that were not EM shielded. Two tanks, still rolling due to inertia, slammed into their brethren and derailed the entire convoy just as Kodiak Shells and plasma rounds from Republic, UNSC and Sangheili batteries started landing.
The Pelican swung in and touched down as the Marines, Clones and Elites fought against the closed-in ranks of the droids, with both impressed Jedi dismounting the vehicle with the Spartans, weapons brandished. Both Ahsoka and Anakin deflected blaster bolts back at the droids that were advancing as AT-TEs and Scorpions laid into the advancing AATs.
One AAT caught a Republic walker open and fired its main gun right into the cockpit. The plasma-layered round melted the clone inside and went out the back, causing the Mech to collapse while a Scorpion advanced beside it. The 90mm cannon of the Scorpion spat a round back at the enemy machine, hitting the gullet of the cannon, destroying the turret.
Its twin wing-mounted laser cannons replied, raking the tank with bolts as its base fired the loaded projectiles in the six tubes attached to the repulsor-lift pad that kept it afloat over obstacles. Two armor-busting projectiles found their mark on the Scorpion, detonating and shattering it, the shrapnel wounding a pair of Marines and killing a clone in the blast.
The reply came from another AT-TE. Its main cannon bellowed and another plasma-coated AP projectile lanced out as a reply. The blue-shimmering round hit, boiling away the first layer of armor on the main cupola, before punching clean through into the ammo stowage and detonating. The enemy tank broke and blossomed with the explosion, turning into ash, cinder and twisted petals of whatever metal it was made of.
Ahsoka and Anakin pushed forward, with the Jedi General telling his Padawan, "You wanna survive and fight, stay close to me and we'll make it out together!"
"Understood, master!" She replied, pointing the blade of her lightsaber forward. The two met Obi-Wan, who was at the forefront with Cody and Rex. The bearded Jedi master smiled at seeing them while deflecting the blasts of Tri-Droids' laser cannons back to them. The two Jedi, both the young one and the less young one, nodded to the general of the 212th.
"Good to see you, General!" Rex called out to Anakin.
"Good to see you, too, Rex. Looks like we got one hell of a fight ahead of us," Anakin shot back, deflecting two blaster bolts back to their respective shooters, killing a B1 and slightly staggering a B2. He looked to Ahsoka, who also deflected shots back to their enemy, then stated, "We're taking the 501st and kicking the door! Gotta cut a path through these things!"
"Not recommended!" Obi-Wan called out, "The UNSC has already called for close air support!"
"How close?!" Ahsoka asked as she slashed a droid that tried to flank them in half, before cutting its head off to keep it offline. She gasped, however, when she saw another Droid tank appear, aiming for Anakin. She called, "Master, watch out!" Before jumping just as the cannon fired. She managed to push Anakin out of the way, only to deflect more blaster shots as she landed with a roll.
Skywalker stood to his feet and looked at the spot where he had been before still bubbling after being hit. He blanked, looked to Ahsoka and said, "Thanks..." to which she smiled and nodded.
"Hey. Stick together, right?" She quipped.
"Yeah," He nodded, then jumped back to his feet. He heard the roar of engines from above and, with one hand motion, ordered everyone to fall back. Obi-Wan and Ahsoka both noticed this, as did the Clones and Marines on the front. They pulled back in a leapfrog just as rocket engines powered behind them. Two UNSC Longswords flew in, their undercarriage bomb bays closing.
Six missiles slammed into the line of droid armor, detonations blowing through concrete and shattering the droid tanks' plate armor like sledgehammers striking sandstone. Two more aircraft flew in, dropping a pair of EM bombs each, these ones with a big enough payload to shatter two battalions of droids. Finally, from above, in escort and for ground strike, Y-Wings flew in under guard of Torrent starfighters, dropping payloads as to saturate the area and eliminate even the last of droid opposition.
Cheers erupted across the line as Republic and UNSC troops saw Republic Assault Ships, the famed Acclamators that bore the Republic markings, coming in for landing on the wide fields of crystal outside. The Jedi had gathered in the town square as their troops landed to secure the planet. A Shuttle touched down just in front of them, with the diminutive frame of a green, long-eared man appearing, walking leaned on a cane.
"Skywalker, Kenobi. Good to see you, it is..." He spoke uneasily.
"Master Yoda," The two Jedi greeted with nods. Anakin started, "I take it you're here to brief us for the next part of the mission, master?"
"That, I am. And to ask how your new padawan fares, Skywalker..."
Anakin looked back to Ahsoka, who rubbed her arm as she suddenly felt too exposed. Skywalker hummed, clicked his tongue and said, "Right, well... She's a little rough around the edges, but with some training..." And he saw her perk up. He grinned, then turned to both Obi-Wan and Yoda and stated, "And some patience... She might amount to something."
Words which seemingly got Ahsoka to smile. She gave a nod to Anakin as he looked back, before bowing to Master Yoda, making the elderly Jedi smile softly. He spoke, "Good to hear, it is. For she will be needed in this mission. A lot of trust, the order has. A lot of trust, we put in you... As do our Allies..." before turning to the dropship. The three other Jedi looked up, eyes wide.
"He's not wrong there, General," Admiral Lasky said as he descended the platform under the armed escort of another Spartan. He saluted the group, then said, "A pleasure to see you all face-to-face finally..." and they all shook hands. He looked to see Blue Team advancing toward them and saluted them, before saying, "At ease, Chief. Operation go smooth?"
"Sir," The Spartan replied with a nod.
"Good... Because you'll be working with Generals Kenobi and Skywalker again," The man stated. The confused Spartans and Jedi looked to him and Yoda, to which he explained, "We'll be deploying the cruiser Pass Me The Ammo and a trio of frigates to provide escort for the Republic Assault Ships you will be using to retrieve the VIP. Meanwhile, the rest of the UNSC and Swords of Sangheilios fleet will leave Christophsis and depart for the capital world of the Republic with master Yoda's forces, to initiate proper negotiations and... Well, hopefully find our place in this mess."
His gaze turned to the Jedi Generals as he told them, "Don't lose'em. Chief and his team are the best of the best."
"We saw that," Ahsoka commented, letting out an awkward chuckle, "They were kind of scary..." as her gaze turned to the Chief. The Spartan simply stared back for a moment, then turned to Lasky again. The man hummed and looked back toward the Spartan that was with him. He was shorter of stature than the Chief and his team and wore a different armor. It was painted-over with camouflage patterns resembling nature and had photoreactive panels, shielding and extra pouches for ammo. The Spartan himself carried an MA40 Carbine with a holographic scope and silencer and an M6 SOCOM, not to mention a combat knife on his back.
"Ah, right," Lasky said, "Blue, I'll be assigning another member to your team. Warrant Officer, why don't you introduce yourself?"
The Spartan saluted, then turned to Chief and Blue Team and said, "Sir, Warrant Officer Richard-G295, SPARTAN-III Headhunter Commando, at your service," his voice sounding young. Much younger than Ahsoka and Co had expected, honestly. The Blues looked to one-another, then back to Richard, who said, "I'm a great Scout, sir. You'll find me useful, if nothing else."
"How fast can you run?" Kelly asked, crossing her arms to her chest.
"Ma'am. Fast as needed," He replied confidently.
"You're Gamma... I thought you were all either reassigned or cryo-frozen after the war," Fred stated, motioning to the young man.
He nodded, answering, "Most of us were. I was Cryo'd myself, but I can operate, sir. Got my own supply of what the Eggheads upstairs call 'the Happy Juice'..." before patting a syringe bag on his hip. The Spartans looked to one-another again, before Chief nodded and saluted. Though invisible due to his Generation 3 MJOLNIR's SPI helmet, the young Spartan smiled and saluted back.
"We'll see how well you run, kid..." Linda said in the most non-hostile tone someone could've said such a hostile sentence with. She extended a hand, surprising everyone, then stated, "Welcome aboard..." to which the kid grabbed and shook it, giving a nod to Linda. The trio of Jedi beside her, that being Anakin, Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, all smirked at the exchange.
"Now that that's settled," Lasky hummed, "I'll return to my fleet. Prep for departure."
"Follow you, I will. To see your ships closely, I wish..." Yoda quipped, then let out a short laugh.
As the two men boarded the shuttle, the Spartans watched. Only Richard turned back and spotted Ahsoka. Furrowing his brows, he looked over to Chief and asked with a surprisingly brazen attitude, "We gonna be working with that tailhead, sir?" which surprised the Jedi. Ahsoka furrowed her brows at him, before Kelly snorted and shook her head at the quip.
"Relax. They're allies," The Chief replied calmly, less scolding than one would think while looking at the boy.
He hummed, looked to Ahsoka and said, "Alright, sir. If you say so..." before he departed with Blue Team. Ahsoka crossed her arms to her chest and scoffed. The nerve on the guy to be like that. She rolled her eyes and followed with Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, with Anakin snorting. He could already tell where this was going. Someone as stubborn as him with someone as crazy as a Spartan...
... He blanked. Oh, boy.
