This chapter is entirely a complete re-work of the previous iteration. Trust me. It's going to be easy doing the chapters that I was able to accomplish previously (Which will take a couple of days until I stop where I was before) previously.
I'm going to give credit to SomeRandomMarine for helping me write this chapter not so long ago. I wouldn't have done this story without his help.
Now then that's over, sit back and enjoy reading this chapter.
Halo Galactic Wars
Chapter Six
A Miracle on Ryloth
"Fred? Linda? Do you copy over?" She called out, the spartan still a bit groggy from her prolonged slumber.
There was no response coming through this woman's internal helmet radio as only the sound of static was only heard. The harsh sound being somewhat drowned from her own slow and quiet breathing.
"Fred? Linda? Do you copy over?" She called out once more, the crackle of static filling her ears once more.
This meant one of two things. First, her suit's communications equipment was damaged. Not terribly uncommon. A reasonable possibility. The second, however. Was a bit more out there. Saved for the more dire of circumstances. Her communications device was working fine, it's just she's out of range of any possible tower or receiver. Not the worst thing to happen, she can work with that.
Kelly-087 let out a sigh as she was stretching after being unconscious for how long she was asleep. As long as she remembered, she was on a special mission along with Fred and Linda to track down anything that proved to be useful against the Created. What she didn't expect was that Blue Team's mission led to her being sent on this unknown planet.
She knew that she was on another planet as she saw a landscape that wasn't in UEG territory and that there were these mechanical soldiers that weren't Forerunner in Origins attacking her. She was lucky that her set of Generation: 3 Mjolnir Armor protected her from multiple energy blasts but was running low on shells for her personal shotgun, Oathsworn. With her being unable to resupply her standard equipment, this meant that she would have to use any whatever enemy weapons she could get her hands on. For the time being.
While looking at the skinny metal robots, the landscape had caught her attention. This being, it was far different than most worlds she was deployed on during the war… It has a unique sort of beauty to it. Although she's just happy it hasn't been glassed this time. Meaning less problems down the line if she's separated from the UNSC for a prolonged period of time.
Sure, there were some planets like Sangheilios and Onyx that had some interesting landscapes…but what she was seeing is something new. However, it did bring a sinking sense of paranoia that washed over her.
Currently, she was hiding in a spot where none of those flying machines could spot her. Kelly could tell that these weren't from either UNSC, Covenant Factions or even Forerunner in origin and design. Hell, even the Inne remnants couldn't have gotten the resources to make one of these things. Let alone a whole platoon if the pile of scrap behind her was any indication.
Taking a peek from her hiding spot, she saw the automaton leaving the area to regroup with its brethren. Feeling the instincts that she needed to get out of there, she proceeded to run towards safety. Wherever that is. So, she picked a direction that didn't look riddled with enemy contacts and started walking. Preparing herself for any possible scenario drilled into her during training all those years ago…
*SNAP*
Her instincts suddenly flared up when she heard a twig snap. She pulled out Oathsworm and aimed her weapon to where the sound was. She was expecting a hostile contact…
What she did not expect was seeing a vaguely humanoid child's head popping out in one of the rock boulders. She had green skin and… wait, was Kelly seeing two tails on the back of her head?
Just then, the bipedal humanoid of unknown origins quickly retreated back. This made the Spartan lower her weapon. Sure, she had no time to speak to a civilian or something, but she needed to know where she was. "Hey, kid!" She began to step towards where the boulder was to not let the individual run away.
Arriving at the other side of where the large rock was, Kelly had found the kid. By the looks of it, she seemed to be all by herself. Good, the Spartan can gather intel about where she is. "Hey, I need to ask a question first?"
"W-who are you?" The kid asked the Spartan. While the humanoid kid was talking, the Spartan could hear that it was indeed a girl, but she never expected to hear a French Accent. Which begs the question, did this alien pick up the accent from a French Colony Expedition?
"Just someone who is lost. Do you know where everyone is? It seems like everyone has vanished." The Spartan asked the girl.
The kid had a sad expression on her face. "Everyone is hiding because of the Separatist Invasion."
Kelly just stared at the kid when hearing the last part. "The Separatist Invasion?"
The green-skinned humanoid just looks at her. Does she know what she was talking about? "You don't know?"
"Like I said, Kid," The Spartan said as she was going to repeat her previous statement. "I am lost and have no idea what these Separatists are. I was hoping you could offer me some sort of information?"
The kid continued to look at the Spartan. How is she going to explain who exactly the Separatist are? An idea popped up in her head. She got up from her hiding spot and looked at the armored stranger. "I know! How about I take you to where my people are hiding?"
"Your people?" Kelly asked in a confused expression.
"Yes, the Twi'leks. MY people." The now identified green-skinned Twi'lek revealed to her. "We can show you where they are. By the way, my name is Hera Syndulla if you're wandering."
The Spartan nodded to acknowledge her. "I see, you can call me Eighty-Seven." She left out her name as she didn't want to reveal her identity. "You better get lead on. We don't want to attract any of those Separatists discovering our position."
"Don't worry, I can show you where," Hera Syndulla said to the Spartan. She began to head back from the path to where her people were located. Kelly then proceeded to follow without making any loud noise.
Kelly scanned her surroundings to make sure that those flying things hadn't found them. Seeing that the skies were clear, she continued to follow the Twi'lek, hoping to gain intel to the planet she is in.
-Scene Change-
Meanwhile, somewhere within the unknown planet, multiple Twi'leks in multiple colors were eating whatever they could get a hold of. The children were running around the area that they are in. They were all being guarded by the Clones. This was the only place where the Twi'lek people truly felt safe. The last remaining sanctuary on their very homeworld.
Elsewhere in the same area, an orange-skinned Twi'Lek male was in a holo-table discussing battle tactics among high-ranking officials. Some from the resistance movement, one Clone Commander with brown highlights and a humanoid Jedi General. "What is the status of the situation?"
"Not good," The Clone Commander answered Twi'Lek's question as it shows the location of where they are. "The Seps have put us in a dire situation. We're all running low on supplies and let's not forget that the lack of morale is present."
"When I would need to plan if that happens," The Jedi said as he scratched and rubbed his chin.
"Are you sure, Di?" The orange skinned Twi'lek asked the Jedi. "After what had happened earlier?"
Ima-Gun Di pondered at what the Twi'lek had said. It had been a few hours earlier where he received a shock within the Force?
Was it really trying to tell him something, perhaps warn him of a coming battle?
"Cham has a point," his Clone Commander, Keeli, told him. "You may want to rest, General. I'll come up with one, don't worry."
As the conversation was still, an adult female Twi'lek was looking for something. Cham could tell that something was wrong. "If you excuse me for a moment." He went to where the woman was and asked, "Eleni. Is there something wrong?"
"It's Hera…" She answered. "She's missing."
"Hera's missing?!" Cham spoke, his voice was now filled with worry. His daughter had the tendency to wander around under their supervision. "We need to find out where she went."
Somewhere near where the Twi'leks were, the two ree had been walking for quite some time. The alien child, her pet droid, and the soldier were in a narrow pathway that would lead to where Hera's people were located. While walking through, the Spartan asked her, "How are you even used to walking through this? It's so small that I can barely fit in."
"Well, not everyone is as big as you." The child replied bluntly.
"Good point," Kelly remarked as she reminded herself that Spartans, even the IV's, are in fact still far taller than the average human or humanoid in this context.
A few minutes went by, and the young alien girl could already tell something. "We're here now."
The Spartan was glad to hear it. Exiting from the narrow cave, the trio had found themselves where the rest of these Twi'leks were. Most happy to see one of their own… only to find their gazes drawn to a towering figure. Standing up to its full height.
Kelly was not bothered by all of this. Rather, she just looks at them back. All of a sudden, two Twi'leks, one in the same color as Hera and the other in orange ran up to the little child and her droid. The duo was then by her side and stood in between her in a defensive manner.
"Hera, where have you been?!" The male orange skinned Twi'lek questioned the young girl.
"And who is the individual? It doesn't seem to be a Clone Trooper." The other female green skinned Twi'lek spoke, eying at the Spartan.
Kelly, meanwhile, was wondering what the latter was referring to her as these 'Clone Troopers'. As she was about to ask her question, she saw multiple soldiers in white pristine armor that looked almost plastic with brown markings walking to her position. And as expected, they aimed their weapons in her direction.
"Don't move!" One with the pauldron said, aiming a unique-looking pistol at her.
"Wait! Don't threaten her!" The Little Twi'lek girl said to the trooper.
"She might be working with the enemy." Another one of the troopers said to her. Kelly heard the dialogue between the two and Hera… but she did hear the same voice from the plastic soldiers?
"No, she's not." Hera told them. "She is just… lost."
-Scene Change-
"Admiral, we have just received word from command. We have the go ahead to proceed with the invasion." A command droid just informed their commanding officer.
"Finally, I was wondering when they let us do our job. Begin sending down our ground forces. We're gonna have to burn out the remains of the garrison if we are to remain on schedule." The Admiral spoke. "The last thing my career needs is to be on Tambor's bad side."
Seeing the droids in the surrounding area gathered up, they were about to prepare for their next order. Just then, the Admiral then realized something was off. "Hold on. Weren't there more droids?"
"About that. We ran into some… complications with the scouting force." A droid informed him while holding a small plastic cylinder shaped object. It then projected a hologram of a tall but strange looking droid engaging a platoon of B1s. With it using its bare fists and what appears to be a kinetic weapon to quickly outmatch the droids.
"What is this you bring me?" He asked while looking at what had been seen at the hologram.
"Unknown, it matches no known PDF militia unit. Hypothesis, classified republic droid soldier being tested on Ryloth." Another B1 Battle Droid answered.
Just then, a holoprojector of Wat Tambor appeared in front of the Admiral. "Admiral, I hope your campaign is a success?"
"General Tambor." The admiral spoke, his gesture was repositioned to be respectful. "We encountered something unusual-." But he was cut off
"Then handle it. Dooku want's results, and unlike you. I have the foresight to bombard anything that poses an issue to our cause." Tambor interrupted. Impatient at the speed of conquest.
"But Dooku needs to know this!" He insisted before showing the Separatist General the holographic image of the tall and armored individual.
"I doubt he needs to know about a Mandalorian impersonator, I'll contact you in a few days. Don't fail me." Tambor then cut off communications on his end.
Letting out a sigh, the Admiral looked over to his droids. One of them walked up to him. "Sir! We located where the Twi'leks are hiding."
This made him smile as he can finally prove himself that he will not fail. Though a small nagging voice in his head was ushering in layer caution. Whatever this new player was, its unknowable nature could lead to a blunder if not handled properly.
"Ready the Droids!" He ordered the remaining Droids. "We'll go where the Twi'Leks are."
-Scene Change-
Spartan Kelly was with the orange skinned Twi'lek and Jedi over at the conference area. The two were discussing whether she was a potential threat or not. The former was weary of her while the latter continued to gaze at her.
By looking at her, he was then reminded of the Mandalorians. Yet, the design was unique in a way. The big difference is the design of the helmet as the visor covered most of the helmet. This showed that this is not a Clone or Mandalorian by design.
"My daughter has told me that you are lost." Cham spoke, finally breaking the silence between him and the two. "Can you tell us what you mean by that?"
The Spartan was thinking about how to answer without giving anything related to the UNSC. After a few seconds, she finally had the right words to say. "My team and I were on a search mission. All of a sudden, I got Separated from the rest of my group and ended up on this planet."
Cham listened closely to her words. He knew that this was not her first time being on another planet. Yet, she didn't know where she was. "If you're wondering what this planet is, it's called Ryloth."
"Ryloth?" She quietly murmured. That was not a planet she was familiar with.
The duo saw her just staring at them. They felt unease with her gaze, if they would even call it that due to her helmet.
"Is there something wrong?" Di asked her.
She looked back at them and shook her head. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just… making sure."
The two eyed her for a moment. But before either of them could question her further…
"General!" A clone ran in, rapidly breathing. "An entire battalion of droids has just landed and is making their way here!"
That was a concern for the trio. "What about the right flank?" Cham asked.
"The right flank had already collapsed." Captain Keeli informed the Twi'lek. "That was our only exit and now we're all stuck here!"
"Captain, is the gunship ready?" The Jedi asked his clone Captain after hearing the bad news.
"It's ready, Sir. But it's not big enough to evacuate all of the refugees." Captain Keeli revealed to his Commanding Officer.
Now, the situation has gotten worse. Realizing the problem, the humanoid General thought of something that could delay the enemy forces to bring the Twi'lek refugees some time to evacuate. As this was happening, the Spartan had slipped away to deal with the problem.
She managed to grab a rifle of unique design as she was walking towards the advancing forces. This may be a suicidal thing to do, but she was not going to let any civilians get captured. Regardless of if they were human or not.
This did not go unnoticed as the little Twi'lek girl saw her leave. She decided to keep quiet about it.
Few moments passed after the Spartan had left, and Jedi Ima-Gun Di had drawn a sketch of the surrounding area on the dirt ground. "Now. If we could reconfigure the fuel system, we could turn the gunship into a bomb big enough to collapse the pass here." He began to draw numerous 'x' into the left passage before doing the same in the middle passage. "The enemy will then only be able to engage us on one front from this ravine." He turned to his commanding Clone Officer. "While we provide cover, the Twi'leks will have time to evacuate with families over the mountain."
"Brilliant strategy, General." Captain Keeli praised the humanoid General before sighing. "I'll go tell the men."
As the Clone Captain left to inform the other Clone Troopers, Di scanned his surroundings. As he did, he realized that someone was missing.
A certain armored individual to be exact.
-Scene Change-
"Sir, we've reached the Republic's holdout. Orders?" A B1 Battledroid asked the Commanding Officer through a holographic call.
"Burn them out, do not let a single trooper or jedi survive!" The Admiral spoke through the holoprojector. With it turning off soon after.
"Well, you heard him. Begin the asau-Wait…what's that noise?" A B1 Battledroid asked its comrades. It looked around to see where it was coming from.
Soon, the same B1 soon had its head fly off after a rather large rock impacted it at the speed of sound. Dropping to the ground. This caused each droid in the battalion to turn towards where the stone was thrown.
"Hello boys. Up for a little game of tag?" The Spartan Speedster questioned the Droids, to which they looked at her with confusion.
"Uh… Do we shoot her?" But before it could hear the reply, the Mandalorian cosplayer ran right through it, its friends, and rammed into the AAT before climbing up the tank and tossing a grenade down the barrel.
The vehicle soon exploded. Shrapnel and soon-to-detonate munitions sliced into significant parts of the army. With the few droids that survived the initial blast zone being ripped to pieces. Functional enough shreek in silicon pain but damaged enough to not be able to fight back.
The rest finally realized what they had to do and began firing everything they had towards the singular target. Most of the tibana bolts had harmlessly impacted on her shield, but made sure she dodged the explosive ordnance being tossed her way as she used her new energy weapon to pick off as much of the hoard as she could. Granted, it didn't quite do as much damage as her kinetic arms but it'll have to do for now.
A few of the heavier ones attempted to fire a set of wrist rockets towards her. Seeing an opportunity, she tried to land a few blasts onto it before it could be launched. After two shots, her third impacted right on target. Causing it to explode and destroy some of the droids that were near it.
Seeing most of the droids retreating, Kelly realized that there was another wave coming. This time, it was coming to the side where the others were at. "Better hope I am not too late?" She said to herself before sprinting.
Back to where the Clones and their Jedi Commander were, they were preparing to make the last stand against the Separatist's Forces. The Twi'leks had already evacuated and they were the only ones left standing in their enemy's way.
"Steady!" Ima-Gun Di told his Troops under his command. "We have to buy as much time for the Twi'leks as possible!"
"Yes Sir!" A Clone Trooper spoke, hiding behind a rock for cover.
In front of them, The Separatist Forces slowly walked towards them. The Admiral was present as he smirked at seeing the Jedi in his personal tank far from the battlefield. "Finally found you, Jedi." Seeing his Forces advancing made him realize that something was wrong.
The Droid Force that he sent was meant to be a huge force. But, it was somehow reduced to half. But that doesn't matter. The Clones and their Jedi Commander were there and he was not going to let this opportunity of eliminating a Jedi be wasted. "General Tambor. You are going to see that I am not an incompetent Admiral."
As the enemy was getting closer, Di activated his blue lightsaber and pointed in the enemy's direction. "For the Republic! For the Twi'leks!"
The Clones started to fire upon the Droid Forces. Some Droids were shot down, but more kept on coming. Each one they down, 10 more would take their place. Soon, Clone Troopers started to die. One by one, their numbers had been reduced to a handful.
During the Gunfight, one B1 Battle Droid threw a thermal grenade and it landed near three Clone Troopers. All saw it coming near them and as they were about to take cover, it soon exploded. This killed the two and knocked Captain Keeli out as well as having his helmet off.
The only one left was now the Jedi. Ima-Gun Di sliced numerous droids from left to right as he used his lightsaber. Yet, despite him cutting waves and waves of droids, more droids had come. If the situation hadn't been worse than before, several Separatist's dropships appeared in the sky and were ready to send in reinforcements.
He was alone…
Or so he thought.
Just then, a droid near him was blasted by the now awakened clone captain. "Captain Keeli!"
"I'm not finished yet, sir!" His Captain called out to his Commanding Officer as he got close to him. "We can do this, General!"
On the cliffside where it faced the Republic Force's last stand, the Neimodian Admiral smirked at seeing the results of his tactics. It may not have been a lot, but it is enough to kill the Jedi and the Clones. "Farewell, Jed–"
*KABOOM*
"What in the name of…?" The Admiral trailed off, his ears still ringing from the blast. "Alright, which one of you fired that? I'm looking at you clone." He pointed his finger accusingly at the Droids.
"No, that one was my idea. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to aim one of those guided arm rockets. Especially if they're from the arm you beat a machine to death with." A female voice called out right behind him.
The Neimodian Admiral turned around and was shocked to see many of his Superdroids being decimated like nothing. There, he saw that Mandalorian knockoff standing next to him. If that was not bad enough, then he saw one of the Drop Ships crashing towards the other.
He wasn't the only one to see this individual. Ima-Gun Di and Captain Keeli momentarily looked up to see the missing soldier dealing with the Separatist Admiral. "General, is that…?"
The Jedi couldn't help but laugh at the sudden change which is in their favor. "It is. Keep firing, she's going to help us."
The Nemidoain Admiral was in a panic. How did the tides turn against him?
He was about to call in more reinforcements when all of a sudden the Droids were suddenly shot by the Arrival of the Twi'lek resistance coming to their aid. Some were tending the wounded
"Well, Master Jedi. Seems like you were able to keep up your end of the deal." General Syndula spoke, an amused look on his face.
"You can thank that armored stranger." Di told the Twi'lek, deflecting a blaster fired from a droid.
Said stranger then kicked the Admiral down the cliffside, where he seemingly survived thanks to the Jedi using his Force Powers to save him. Seeing that his droid forces were decimated, all he could do was to sigh in defeat. "How could this happen?"
Everyone saw the armored Stranger jumping down the cliffside and was unfazed by it. A small crater formed where she landed from and looked at the two important individuals. "Now that's over with, I guess you owe me a favor for saving your lives?"
"Yes, I suppose. But, I would like to know who our new ally is. Preferably by name." The Jedi couldn't help but to ask
"... All you need to know is that I'm a long way from home." She revealed, not revealing her name as they were still complete strangers to the Spartan.
-Scene Change-
Wat Tambor was in his office looking at the image of this supposed Mandalorian Impersonator. At first, it did not bother him, yet after witnessing its potentials, thanks to seeing it fight an entire Battalion of Droids, he then decided to give this important information to his Commander, Count Dooku.
"Hmm… I was under the impression that The Deathwatch was under our command, Dooku?" He questioned the Leader of the Separatist.
"No… I've seen many things during my time. But that… is not a Mandolorian." Dooku replied. His expression showed that he was intrigued by this third-party soldier. Yet, he could not help but to wonder…
Was this the reason why the Force acted so… strange as of late? But, it couldn't be the whole reason. He was missing something… He just couldn't quite piece it together just yet.
Just then a Separatist Battle Droid interrupted the two. "Sirs, we intercepted a transmission from a group of Republic Forces that were stranded from a recent battle."
"I see…" The Count muttered. "My Apprentice is on an assignment to rescue Nutt Gunray. So I'll have to send HIM to get them and give us the information."
"Uh… Is that wise? I've known that cyborg for a while and he's not the type for… discretion." Wat Tambor asked in concern, knowing who the count is talking about.
"I'm afraid time is of the essence, my friend. No need to be picky with our operatives now. Besides, I have little doubt he'll have much trouble completing his objective." Dooku explained.
Seeing no doubts in his eyes, Tambor couldn't help but let out a sigh. "If you say so, Count." With that, the transmission between the two had ended…
Chapter six is now done.
Now there are only three more left until I get to where I originally was.
I enjoyed re-working on certain elements of this story.
Oh, and one more thing…
I hope you enjoyed this chapter despite the blatancy and any errors made in this chapter. Review this chapter and I will see you all in the next chapter. Whenever the next one will be published.