Across The Stars (Star Wars x Halo)

Chapter 3

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UNSC Pelican, Echo-322

March 28, 2558

0935 Local Time

En route to UNSC Reclaimer

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there was one word to describe this whole situation, it would be chaos. Simple as that. What was supposed to be some routine patrol, turned out to be first contact with more aliens; either for better, or for worse. But one thing about this whole mission immediately turned this into some November Black ONI op: The fact that the new "extraterrestrials" are disturbingly similar to humans, or are in fact, human themselves. Like the orange-skinned humanoid that laid next Luka Ambrosia in Echo-322. And the fact that there are about 5 marine guards with BR55 rifles, just shows how confidential and sensitive this is.

Luka again takes a glance at the alien, if she remembers, from the records on the ship, she is called Ahsoka. Her role is what's known as a Jedi. As confusing as the name is, the role is still undefined. ONI scientists didn't crack all of the information yet, and there is still some work to be done in order to decrypt the rest of the language. Luka's hands, scarred and calloused from many years of work, brush against the TACPAD in her hands, it's screen responding in kind, showing her the terabytes of information that the ONI teams had captured.

From the pictures of the derelict "Star Destroyer" to the walls of text of ONI reports, the information on this thing is as mediocre as the UNSC had information on the Covenant's technology during the Human-Covenant War. A tingle gets sent down her spine, remembering all of the things the genocidal alien conglomerate had done to Humanity. She distinctly remembers Reach, burnt to ashes. She watched as the Aszod Shipyards were bombarded from orbit, the sickly purple sheen of the Covenant glassing lasers turning all opposition into molten slag.

Shaking the moment out of her head, she regains her composure, coming back to the gunmetal grey of the Pelican's interior. Her dark brown eyes, dulled and having lost their sheen after so many years of war, flick back to the orange humanoid beside her. Luka takes a closer look at the alien, narrowing her eyes at the girl. There's something about this girl that doesn't feel... right. Luka's instincts are telling her something is wrong about the Girl. She remembers how the scientists were mulling around her, and some ONI agents were a little more heightened around the girl. Sure, it is first contact, and everyone is bound to be a little jumpy, but not deploying marine guards with heavy weaponry...

"1 mike until we reach the Reclaimer!" The pelican pilot unceremoniously announces, shaking Luka out of her thoughts. "Thank you for flying Pelican Airlines, and we hope we see you soon~" The pilot chortles out, while the rest of the marines snort in amusement. The pelican swerves in, the drab olive green mass moving its engines to face the floor. Luka sits up from her seat, putting her TACPAD away, while holstering her M6D Magnum.

The ramp hisses, and finally begins lowering. The hydraulics groan out, taking on the weight of the Titanium-A plating of the Pelican. The ramp lowers to reveal the Captain of the Reclaimer, decked out in a blue-grey Navy BDU. His cold, piercing blue eyes stares at the alien, and at the ONI agent. Not a word is muttered between the two of them, as the stretcher that contained Ahsoka rolled past. The marine guard tightened their grip on the MA5D assault rifles, glaring at the alien for any sign of movement.