Chapter One:
Frutiful Bounty
Hyperspace bled away, streaks of blue and white collapsing into the endless onyx of space. The Resolute, Anakin Skywalker's flagship, drifted into the boundaries of an uncharted system in Unknown Space.
"Are you sure these are the coordinates?"
Anakin asked one of the bridge crew, as they tapped away at their console, the glow of the screen casting a blue tint onto the crewmans face.
"Sure as can be sir, our intel reports that the distress signal originated from this system."
Anakin would nod before taking a look out the viewport of the bridge. The system's red dwarf star shining a dim crimson hue into the bridge as he scanned their surroundings. Anakin reached out with the Force, feeling it stir in response–like faint notes of a song you can't quite remember.
The young Jedi recognized the familiar yet unsettling stir of the Force–uncertainty, anticipation of… something.
Anakin's anxiety rose.
"Alright, send out some probe droids, lets get a proper scan of our surroundings. I don't want to have any nasty surprises waiting for us," Anakin ordered, before continuing.
"Helmsman, have the ship prepped for an emergency hyperspace jump in case this turns into a separatist ambush, and inform our gunners to keep their heads on a swivel."
Anakin rattled off his orders one by one and the bridge crew replied in a chorus of affirmatives.
Anakin made his way to the aft of the bridge, now in the briefing room, he situated himself at the center, facing the holotable,and the blast doors for the briefing room would close, the holotable lighting up, casting a blue glow over its surroundings. The various familiar faces of the Jedi Council greeted him. Mace Windu, Yoda, and Obi-Wan chief among them.
"Skywalker, have you arrived at the source of the distress signal."
Windu asked, getting straight to the point.
"I have, we're investigating the system now," Anakin replied.
Obi-Wan spoke up, "Have you made any contact with the Fruitful Bounty and her crew?"
"Not yet, though if they're here we should know soon enough. What bothers me though, is what could the Separatists be doing stirring up trouble all the way out here? They couldn't possibly know about Outbound Flight, could they?"
"Unlikely. The Separatists can't afford distraction this deep in Unknown Space. That's without considering that project Outbound Flight was under the highest order of secrecy, only certain members on the Council and the Chancellor being aware of its details."
Windu said, putting down the notion that the Separatists were responsible for the distress signal.
"Well, if not the Separatists, then who? Who would attack a Republic vessel all the way out here?"
Obi-wan would bring his hand up to his chin, as he'd done so many times before, enough for Anakin to know that he was thinking.
"Given the nature of the operation, and with how deep in the Unknown Regions the fleet seems to have traveled, its not outside the realm of possibility that they stumbled upon a first contact situation, which obviously went wrong given the distress signal."
"Outbound Flight had a whole fleet assigned to it, why would only one ship send a distress signal?"
Windu inquired further, seeking to find a hole in Obi-Wan's line of thinking.
Obi-Wan would acknowledge Windu's question, before turning to face Anakin.
"That is the question isn't it? Anakin, be thorough in your search, and be cautious. What or whoever attacked the colony ship may still be present in the system."
"Will do Master."
With that, the meeting with the Jedi Council concluded, however Obi-Wan remained present in the call.
"Master?"
Anakin asked, curious as to why Obi-Wan was still here.
Bringing his hand down from his beard, and gesturing firmly, Obi-Wan would warn him.
"Be careful Anakin, the Force has been... having tremors lately. Something here doesn't seem right... I... I have a bad feeling about this, make sure you and Ahsoka watch each other's backs. Speaking of, where is she?"
"Last I checked her and the 501st were catching up on some training, I wouldn't put it past her to be so caught up in it that she missed the mission briefing."
Anakin bristled, coming off as slightly annoyed with his apprentice's tardiness.
"Well, she did learn from the best."
Obi-Wan remarked, the hint of a smirk on his face.
Anakin chuckled in response,
"High praise coming from you Master."
His mouth closed, forming a thin line as he shifted to a more serious tone,
"We'll be sure to keep each other safe, thank you Master."
"May the Force be with you."
"May the Force be with you."
And with that, Obi-Wans hazy blue image would vanish from the holotable, as Anakin reached for his commlink, keying for Ahsoka.
"Ahsoka, Ahsoka come in."
Elsewhere, aboard the Resolute, Ahsoka's wrist commlink blinked and beeped as she pressed down to answer the call.
"Ahsoka, Ahsoka come in," came the garbled emission of her Master's voice from the commlink.
"Yes Master?" Ahsoka would ask, her breath ragged and tired as she stood in the hangar bay, lightsabers still drawn, where her, Rex, and others from the 501st had been doing their regular training.
"Stop whatever you're doing and prep a shuttle for launch. You missed the mission briefing with the Jedi council so expect to be briefed whilst en route to where we're going."
"Copy that Master, and I've been wondering what's with the tight lipped secrecy around the mission? Why not brief me right now?"
"I can't. Protocol strictly states that we can only discuss it in person or through a heavily encrypted channel."
Ahsoka would sigh before remarking,
"Since when are you one for protocols?"
"Ever since you decided to skip the mission briefing. That training better have been worth it, speaking of, new record?"
Anakin would ask expectantly, Ahsoka not having kept track of time would turn to Rex before asking,
"Hey Rex, what was my time before Anakin called?"
"25 minutes, and 45 seconds Commander."
"26 minutes."
Ahsoka would say proudly into the commlink.
"You know I heard Rex right?"
Ahsoka's face would fall briefly as she'd force a weak smile, meanwhile Rex can be heard snickering in response.
"I-I was rounding up!"
"25, 45 it is." Came Anakins reply, followed by a sigh of acceptance from Ahsoka.
"Good, now get our shuttle ready."
"Okay, but are you sure you can't just give me a quick rundown?"
Ahsoka would ask, prodding at her Master's patience.
"Ahsoka,"
Anakin would say his frustration coming through plain as day in his voice.
"Right right, sorry, I'll get the shuttle ready right away."
Back in the bridge Anakin would roll his eyes, as he moved to the repulsor lift. Admiral Yularen briefly greeted Anakin as he turned over command of the bridge to the Admiral.
"You have the bridge Admiral, just keep me updated on the situation and whatever the probes and scans pick up."
"Aye General," came Admiral Yularens ever professional and brusque reply.
After that, Anakin would proceed further aft of the bridge before reaching the repulsor lift. As he entered, it would descend quickly to the deck of his choice, as he exited he quickly began making his way to the hangar.
The hangar was wide, and spacious as various shuttles, fighters and bombers occupied its many spaces, and clones and maintenance crew moved about the hangar. Across the hangar Anakin could see several clones performing routine maintainance and functional tests on several aircraft that had been acting finicky lately. If he remembered correctly one of them was popping several failure codes and had been downed for the past month.
It's been there so long that Anakin had begun authorizing stripping what parts they knew were good to replace bad parts on other aircraft. However recently it had become a focus for them to get the bird up and mission capable.
Anakin shook his head to clear his mind of the litany of responsibilities that came with being the commanding officer of a clone battalion.
As he approached the shuttle that Ahsoka and several of the clones were getting prepared for the mission, he called out
"Ahsoka, how's everything coming along?"
Ahsoka would pop her head out to look at Anakin from within the shuttle as she and several clones were finishing up a preflight check list.
"Uh, well one of the clones found a fault with the mission computer so they're gonna pull a good one from one of the downed shuttles and install it in this one, so we should have another 10 minutes before she's ready to go," she'd answer, Anakin nodding in acknowledgement would take a once over look at the shuttle in question, the LAAT gunship and the nose art painted on it featuring the snarling teeth of a krayt dragon gave him a flash of an unwanted memory of his old home planet.
A ghost of Tatooine flickered in his mind. Heat, sand, loss. His fingers clenched into fists before he forced them to relax.
"So can I have that mission run down now Master?"
Ahsoka broke him from his train of thought with a question.
Anakin was secretly thankful for Ahsoka giving him something else to think about, even if she didn't know or intend to.
"Right, yeah. So, before the Clone Wars, the Republic and Jedi Council were looking into the possibility of a colonial mission to the furthest reaches of the Unknown Regions. It's main purpose was to be exploratory and to unveil ancient knowledge from eons ago whilst settling new worlds for the Republic. This program was called Project Outbound Flight. Well, approximately 10 days ago we intercepted an automated distress call from one of the colony ships making up this fleet, coming from here in this, uncharted system. So, we've been sent to investigate."
Ahsoka by the end of the quick brief looked at Anakin with a neutral expression as she nodded along.
"So, there's people that need our help?"
"Maybe, we still don't know what we'll find, so be careful."
It was then that Anakins' commlink would beep, Anakin answering as a miniature hazy blue hologram of Admiral Yularen would materialize.
"General, our probe droids and scanners have detected wreckage and debris in the orbit of the 2nd planet from the red star, as well as what appears to be what remains of a basic settlement on the surface of the planet. We've tried reaching out with communications on all frequencies however, it seems… that there's no one to pick up the call."
Anakin nodded before replying,
"Very well, I'll be taking a pair of shuttles with me to the surface with a detachment of troopers. We'll see what we can find, and hopefully, find the colonists and give them the help they need."
"With all due respect General, I don't believe there's anyone left to help down there. From what scans show, the settlement has effectively been destroyed."
"We'll look regardless, there could be survivors, and if so we'll bring them on board and they'll tell us what happened. We need to get to the bottom of this Admiral."
"Very well General, I wish you safe travels."
"Thank you."
With that, the hologram of the Admiral fizzled out and the hangar sprang into action. As the two shuttles were prepped and cleared for take off, Anakin and Ahsoka filed in alongside Rex and their detachment of troopers tasked with the mission.
As the hangar doors opened and gave way for the shuttles to spring free from their nests aboard the Resolute, they turned and descended upon the planet below, a number of large storms visible upon its surface, large, dark Unknown landmass barely discernable from their equally dark oceans.
As they descended through the atmosphere the shuttles turned on their side search lights, as the shuttle bay doors opened.
Rex peered down, trying to see through the nearly impenetrable wall of clouds and rain, switching on his night vision. Anakin having put on a rainy weather poncho would put up its hood, Ahsoka alongside him. What good it did, as the rain continued to pelt their faces, arms and torsoes head on, and a windy chill overcame them.
The broken shells of makeshift homes and what appeared to be a town hall of some sort came into view, it being clearly salvaged from parts of the colony ship that had been assigned to the fleet. What was also clear to them, was that the makeshift settlement had been torn apart, with some "homes" having been melted into slagheaps.
"I don't like the look of this," Rex said with a shake of his helmet.
Ahsoka and Anakin's faces morphed into one of worry, as they too came to the same conclusion that Rex had upon seeing the ruins of the settlement.
Chances are, anyone who lived here, was long dead.
As they landed near the makeshift townhall, and source of the distress signal, Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex and the accompanying Clone troopers disembarked the shuttles, setting up a perimeter around the… somewhat intact town hall.
As Anakin and Ahsoka approached one of the slagged homes, Ahsoka inspected the melted slag itself, finding her eyes settling on an image that would disturb her for years to come. Out in front or at least what she and the others assumed to be the front of the house were the melted, gored remains of, a small… child, she was guessing?
It was honestly hard to tell as the remains had been blasted and practically destroyed beyond recognition. The only thing recognizable being a child's toy left off to the side, trampled, and the barest hint of a small human skull.
Anakin grimaced at the grizzly sight they all shared, Ahsoka bringing her hand up to her mouth in shock as a bile threatened to force its way up her throat. Shoving it down she'd turn to Anakin as he gave the group orders.
"Rex, have your men perform a sweep of the town. If you find anything of note, let me know."
"Yes sir."
With that the group of Jedi and clones split up, their personal flashlights piercing through the veil of mist and rain.
Somewhere, just beyond earshot, covered head to toe in dark blue armor, a trio of Sangheili would watch, waiting.
The leader of the group turning to the others to speak.
"More humans. Go, dispose of the filth."
At that, they would seemingly fade into transparency, blending in seamlessly to their surrounding environment, with a faint shimmer in the air being the only indicators of their presence.
A/N: And thats that. I've honestly been wanting to do a Halo x Star Wars fanfiction for a while now. You wouldnt believe how long I've had the draft for this first chapter sitting in my phone as I made small changes and tweaks to it over time. For anyone whos reading Unknown Variable, just know, its still being worked on, but at the moment isn't a main focus for me. I won't set an expectation for a schedule, just know that another chapter will come out, eventually. It could be in a month, it could be at the end of the year, who knows. The way I write its very, I have to be struck in the moment, you know? I get hyperfocused on an idea and I need to take a crack at it. Which means whilst Unknown Variable is out of my sight rn, this new fic will be getting my love and attention. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter, I spent a lot of time working on it. If anyone would like to volunteer as a beta reader/editor let me know. I sorely need one as it honestly would make pushing more chapters out easier. Until next time, cya!