Star Wars: Rise of Reach

What's up world? This is SpartanPrime101 bringing to you another of my Halo-Star Wars Crossover Fanfiction stories. I've read many past H-SW stories before and became intrigued to attempt some of my own. This will be the first installment in a series of stories concerning the Battle of Reach onward. In terms of storyline, this occurs between the break between episode 9 and 10 of Star Wars the Clone Wars season 3.

I got the idea for this intro from Jorn117's Star Wars: Spartan Alliance Fanfiction; however, while this chapter as well as the second will be somewhat similar, they will be the only thing of any similarity to Jorn117's story. Chapter 3 onward will be my own work.

I hope they meet the expectations of my readers and reviewers. Any form of plagiarism is unintended, and will be corrected as soon as possible should you demand it.

And now, finally, here is Star Wars: Rise of Reach.

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"Talking"

"Radio/Comlink"

'Thinking'

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[Chapter 1: The Discovery of Harvest]

RNS Resolute, 1.5 years before RotS

"Navigation; how long until we reach the co-ordinates of General Arellea's Battle-group?" Admiral Yularen spoke to his navigations officer of the RNS Star Cruiser Resolute.

"We should be coming out of hyperspace in a few minutes, Admiral," Ensign CC-1924 Blake called from his position at the navigation monitor. "Master Arellea said that the Spirit of Mandalor and her escorts would send out a locater beacon once we arrive at the rendezvous point."

The veteran Republic Admiral nodded his head in satisfaction at this. "Mantle," he called to the Resolute's communication officer. "As soon as the fleet drops out of hyperspace, try to contact General Arellea and verify the exact co-ordinates for our rendezvous."

"Yes sir," Ensign CC-1142 Mantle responded as he readied the Resolute's comm. channel.

Looking out at the bluish streaks of hyperspace, Yularen thought back as to why he and his men were risking their lives travelling deep into unknown space: Barely a few hours before, the Spirit of Mandalor and its Battle-group had just completed their routine patrol along the outskirts of the Outer Rim territories, and were preparing to return to Coruscant for some much needed leave for its crew. After finally hunting down and eliminating a small Separatist convoy that had been harassing Republic outposts near the asteroid station of Polis Massa, the weary Admiral and his Taskforce was ready to finally get some shore leave for their soldiers and crews.

However, just before they could enter hyperspace towards Coruscant, they had received an emergency transmission from Jedi Master Justine Arellea of the 110th Hellfire Corp, deep within unknown space of all places; how and why she was out that far was still unknown to Yularen and his officers.

None-the-less, as she had issued a code-Omega emergency code along with her transmission, it would stand to reason that she and the 110th's commanding officers – Jaren 'Akaan' Kando'a, one of the last known existing members of the True Mandalorians, and his second-in-command Commander CC-3307 'Sarge' – had definitely stumbled onto something big.

Consequently, Yularen along with his comrades and friends Jedi Masters Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker and the latter's padawan Ahsoka Tano had set out with the Resolute and its escort of seven other Venator-class Star Cruisers, nine Acclamator II-class Assault ships and eight Sabre-class Star Destroyers to join up with and investigate the 110th's recent discovery.

"Admiral Yularen."

Yularen turned to see four individuals approach him, three of which were human while the fourth was a young Togrutan. Two of the humans and the Togrutan were dressed in standard Jedi outfits outlined with both men equipped with military style gauntlets and armor. One of the male Jedi was tall with messy brown hair and clear blue eyes with a scar over the right eye. The second was an older male with a light brown beard and hair, blue eyes and a slight aura of wisdom and light humor. Their Togrutan companion was a female with bright orange skin with blue eyes that possessed a desire for attention and accomplishment. The fourth and final human was dressed in white armor with blue markings on his helmet, shoulder pads and chest plate, and was equipped with two plasma pistols and a shoulder shield pad over his left shoulder.

The three humans were Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi and CT-6597 'Captain Rex' of the 501st Battalion, and the Togrutan was Ahsoka Tano, Jedi padawan to Anakin and secondary Jedi commander of said Battalion.

"General Kenobi, Commander Skywalker; we are approaching the co-ordinates sent to us by the 110th Hellfire Corps and should be coming out of hyperspace shortly."

Obi-wan Kenobi nodded at the Admiral's words. "It seems we will finally be able to find out the reason behind Master Arellea's 'unusual' request."

Anakin Skywalker frowned at this. "Not to mention reckless. I still don't see why we of all people were called out this far into unknown space, and to do so without informing the council."

Ahsoka Tano rose her eyebrow in scepticism. "Huh; I thought you of all people would jump at the chance to do something like this without the Council's approval."

"To an extent" Anakin countered. "There is a difference between withholding information until gaining a better understanding of certain situations and holding information indefinitely. However, travelling this far into unknown space isn't exactly something that should be kept from their attention."

Obi-wan nodded in agreement. "But clearly, whatever Arellea has found would probably not receive the Council's approval if we did inform them of our mission. And seeing as she and her allies managed to make it out here safely, the same should be with us as well."

This did little to calm Anakin's tension.

"With all due respect, sir" Captain Rex spoke up, "but shouldn't we have at least confirmed with General Arellea of what exactly she had discovered this far from Republic space before we agreed to meet up with her. For all we know, we could very well be marching into a trap set up by any natives that reside out here."

"And" Rex sighed "it wouldn't be the first time the 110thsomehow managed to get themselves and those around them into this sort of situation."

"And that's what worries me about all this" Anakin argued. "I still think she was reckless to trust these so-called True Mandalorians, considering their reputation throughout the Outer Rim. And they aren't exactly the most subtle when it comes to jumping straight into the fray. "

Ahsoka smirked humorously. "Are you sure you're not just jealous that Ace's skills are actually better than yours?" To which Anakin frowned as Captain Rex and Obi-wan tried not to grin humorously behind him.

Next to Anakin, the Mandalorian/Hellfire Corps pilot Captain Arlen 'Ace' Jarkh'on was by far the most renowned starfighter pilot of the GAR throughout the Outer and Inner Rim systems. It was also rumored that Arlen had managed to outfly even Anakin back during the Battle of Polis Massa a few months before. Something that irked Anakin to no end, especially when it gave his padawan the chance to tease him about it.

"Admiral" Blake then called out, "we're about to come out of hyperspace."

At this, the Jedi and Yularen turned and walked toward the Bridge's forward view port. "Time to find out if I'm right" Anakin stated as they waited for the ship to drop out of hyperspace.

"Indeed, Anakin" Obi-wan replied solemnly, "indeed".

After a few seconds, the bluish-light streaks of hyperspace disappeared as the Resolute and her sister ships returned to normal space…

…

Fire. And Glass.

…

That was what the Jedi and Yularen saw before them as they stared in pure shock and dismay at the planet before them. Throughout the Resolute's bridge, everyone had stopped what they were doing so evident was the shock that seemed to make up the atmosphere around them.

Ever since the start of the Clone Wars nearly two years before, all of them had witnessed several acts of atrocity and devastation committed by various corrupted Separatist and (on the rare occasion) fellow Republic officers on many of the Inner and Outer Rim planets and moons. A prime example was the occupation of Ryloth during the early months of the war by the Separatist leader Wat Tambor, during which he had instructed the bombing and ransacking of nearby towns and villages – while they were still occupied by women and children.

Sadly, all this was nothing compared to what they were seeing right now, as a majority of the planet before them seemed to be literally on fire while the remaining half was made of glistening glass and ice.

"Holy…Fracking…Hell!"

Captain Rex's statement easily summed up the thoughts of Yularen, the Jedi and the officers on the Resolute's bridge. Beside him, Ahsoka rose her hands to her mouth in shock as Obi-wan and Anakin gazed silently at the inferno that seemed to reach up and beyond the planet's thermosphere. It was then that they took notice of the hundreds of wreckages of ships that floated along in the planet's orbit, most of which were blocky and metallic-grey in design while a few others seemed more graceful and purple in design.

"By the force" Yularen muttered in disbelief and horror. "What could've happened here?"

"Um, well-uh, sir; ac-according to the ship's scanners, sir," Ensign Blake stuttered as he checked the monitor before him, "the planet seems to have been subjugated to orbital bombardment by some sort of…highly condensed plasma energy weaponry that…somehow terra-formed most of the planet's surface into a crystalized glass substance. And as a result of the severe temperatures caused by the bombardment, the remainder of the planet suffered some sort of Nuclear Effect, hence the ice structures along the equator."

"It would seem that we now know the reason why we were summoned, Admiral" Obi-wan stated, his face displaying his own disbelief and shock at the disaster once called a planet looming before them.

"Sir, new contacts coming up on the starboard-bow" the ensign in charge of the Resolute's Sonar called out. "Confirmed friendly: it's the Avenger-class Dreadnaught Spirit of Mandalor and the 110th, approaching us from the planet's northern hemisphere."

Turning their gaze away from the burning planet, the Admiral, Jedi and Clone Captain looked out towards the floating wreckages loitering above what they assumed to be the planet's North Pole. Sure enough, after a few seconds, Yularen and the Jedi could make out the tell-tail shape of the 14,072 meter long Avenger-class Dreadnaught – the flagship of the 110th Hellfire Corps and renowned bane to Separatist naval commanders – coming from behind the planetary debris field, surrounded by her escort of eleven Venator-class Cruisers, nine Acclamator II-class Assault ships, fifteen Sabre-class Star Destroyers, four Chancellor-class Star Destroyers, four Arrowhead-class Fleet Carriers, two Liberator-class Star Destroyers, a single Praetor-class Star Battlecruiser and a lone Mandator II-class Star Dreadnaught.

While the firepower wielded by the so many heavy-weight ships was impressive, it was the Avenger-class Dreadnought that was the most significantly powerful of them all. A few years before, a group of spice traders had discovered the Dreadnought adrift deep within Mandalorian Space, where it had been abandoned seven hundred years before, following the end of the Republic invasion of Mandalor.

Sadly, upon the initial inspection after its discovery, the pacifist New Mandalorian government had demanded its immediate dismantlement and for all design specs and blue prints of its surprisingly near-futuristic hyper-drive hardware and weaponry targeting system to be destroyed; this demand was shortly followed by a similar request by Chancellor Palpatine himself, to the outrage and dismay of the Clone Arc Troopers And Clone Commandos that had trained under Jango Fett and Kal Skirata themselves.

Thankfully, after the intervention of Jedi Master Arellea and Prime Minister Lama Su of Kamino, the Dreadnought was relocated to Republic space, where it was somehow 'misplaced' while on route to be dismantled at the Republic shipyards at Ord Mantell.

Several months later, after undergoing a massive overhaul and modernization of its aging and damaged equipment, it was released to the newly formed 110th Hellfire Corps under the classification of the new Avenger-class Dreadnought the Spirit of Mandalor; at over 14Km in length, it was by far the largest ship ever built and used by any military force in the known galaxy.

Despite having occasionally fought alongside her over the past year, the Avenger-class Dreadnaught was still a sight to behold for the Jedi and crew of the Resolute.

"Admiral" Mantle spoke up from the comm. Channel. "We're receiving a priority signal from the Spirit of Mandalor; Commander Kando'a wishes to speak with you immediately."

Yularen, the Jedi and Captain Rex glanced towards the ensign before heading back to the communication hub behind them. Once there, the Admiral activated a secure channel to the Avenger-class Dreadnaught, to which the hologram of a man in bright red and yellow Mandalorian armor appeared on the holo-table, his head obscured by a three horned Clone Commando Shock Trooper helmet.

This was none other than Jaren 'Akaan' Kando'a, one of the few surviving members of the True Mandalorians before the massacre of Galidraan, and the Supreme Commanding Officer of the 110th Hellfire Corps.

"Admiral Yularen, Master Jedi; glad you could finally join us. I take it you now know as to why Justine and I called you out here on such short notice."

Yularen glanced back at the apocalypse outside the Resolute's bridge before he spoke. "Yes, we have. And I assume you can explain to us exactly what happened here?"

The Mandalorian Commander nodded. "We had sent down some scouting parties to the planet's surface, and apparently they found some sort of military complex at the base of a mountain range in the northern hemisphere. We also sent some scout ships to investigate the destroyed ships in the debris field, and managed to recover some data from one of the ships databanks that miraculously wasn't destroyed in the chaos."

Anakin then leaned forward. "Well, that should come in handy when you explain to us exactly how that planet became a Fracking fireball!"

This outburst caused the fifteen year old Togrutan beside him to gap in surprise at his choice of words; despite the understanding behind his obvious anger, this was one of the very few times Ahsoka had seen her master lose his temper so easily.

{SpartanPrime101: For the record, I checked her age on Wookieepedia, and apparently she was fourteen years old when she was introduced in the Star Wars the Clone Wars movie in 2008}

"In spite of my friend's colorful choice of words" Obi-wan spoke up "I believe that we are all in need of a full understanding as to what exactly transpired here, Commander"

The True Mandalorian sighed in weariness as he spoke. "I believe that it would be best if we spoke of this in person, Master Jedi; my crew and myself are worried that the…'persons' responsible may have a stealth ship nearby and may attempt to hack our communications network. And…what I have to tell you isn't something that should be kept on record."

Yularen frowned at the Mandalorian's words, as did the Jedi and Clone Captain beside him. The fact that the Mandalorian hesitated in providing a first-name basis of who-or whatever was responsible caused them to become cautious as to whether they should take the Hellfire Corp's CO for his word.

However, despite their suspicion and weariness of the Mandalorian Commander's request, they understood the necessity behind said request: If those responsible for the planet's current state still be in the surrounding systems, they would no doubt attempt to hack their communication's so as to intercept any form of information and/or tactical movement the Resolute and its Taskforce would make.

After glancing at and receiving slightly hesitant nods of agreement from the two Jedi Masters, Yularen looked back at the hologram. "Very well; we will be there shortly to discuss further on the matter."

Before the Admiral could shut off the hologram, Anakin spoke up. "Hold on, Jaren. Before anything else, you mind telling us what this planet's called? Cause I sure as heck don't remember any known Republic or Separatist planets being out this far from known space.

"Because, Master Skywalker" the Mandalorian spoke "this planet wasn't aligned with either the Republic or the CIS. It was once one of the key outer colonies of a separate power that exists in this part of the galaxy…"

"…and according to the recovered data-logs, the locals referred to it as…Harvest."

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And here it is, the first chapter to Rise of Reach. I know it was shorter than my other stories. This way, I can post more chapters over a smaller period of time, thus resulting in less migraines for me.

Hope you enjoy reading this, and hopefully you can convince ole Jorn117 to continue Star Wars: Spartan Alliance, among other stories.

Till next time, folks.