The year was 2552.

Humanity lay at the brink of extinction.

The Greatest Fortress, second only to Earth herself in defenses...

Reach...

It Fell. Fell while its defenders fought inch by bloody inch, until none remained.

We will follow the story of one of the defenders, left with nothing but his will, wits and survival instinct after Reach was declared lost and after his final mission was accomplished. And his travels through A Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Operation GALAXY:The Spartan of the Republic

30TH OF AUGUST, 2552, STANDARD UNSC CALENDAR

LOCATION:UNKNOWN

"Lone Wolf"

"There'll be another time..."

His eyes slowly fluttered open. An orange sky greeted them and he felt sand grind below his feet. The hulking, armored soldier stood to his feet, feeling his back for his equipment and gear. Six frag grenades lined his armored belt, while his multiple pouches held ammunition and rechargers for his gear, among which were a pair of Elite Plasma 'Rifles', an M6 Magnum, an MA37K AR, an M392 DMR, an SRS-99/95 Anti-Materiel Rifle and an M45 Shotgun. Beside these, he also had the Energy Sword he'd retrieved from an Elite general stowed on his back. Add to that a Grenade Launcher and a Spartan Laser and the trooper was stowed to full capacity.

He had ammo for every weapon in every pouch, enough of it to last him days. He also hauled a small bag that was clipped to his belt, containing MREs for later usage. The Spartan was clad in a set of white MJOLNIR Mark V armor, with stripes running down the chest next to a red and black flaming skull emblem. His chest was stocked with pouches, a knife and a short-range radio communication device which, for now, picked up only static. His left shoulder was a bulky, rounded plate of armor that was hardened. His helmet was a RECON helmet with added attachments, including a pair of NVGs that linked directly to the armor's visual system. His right shoulder was FJ/Para, bearing another emblem...

He scanned the horizon ahead, noticing nothing but scarlet rocks and plateaus. He was on top of a cliff whose fall would kill him if he took the jump without a jetpack. Looking down, the Spartan saw a line of... Strange machines, marching toward what seemed to be a massive wall in-between the two cliff-faces, upon which were multiple gun ports. The Spartan watched as machines... Combat Droids that were clearly of advanced design, milled about on top of that wall... His HUD flickered to life, his shields powering on and his MT kicking up. Strange... He must've been hit by an EMP before waking up.

He scanned his surroundings and saw an approaching droid. A skinny, thin thing painted to match the desert it was in. The Spartan drew his DMR, knelt and shouldered it, before looking down the scope. He watched the thing swivel toward him and aim whatever it had as a weapon from the hip... A scarlet bolt struck next to Six's head. The Spartan didn't flinch, responding with one bullet to the mech's head, sending it toppling to the floor.

Reverberating through the air, the shot was eventually dulled out by the hum of engines. The Spartan, hearing the noises coming from his right, looked to see a wave of strange gunships entering the atmosphere. Guns fired, flak exploded and an all-out battle began as some of the gunships slammed crashed to the floor. Thankfully intact... The Spartan saw troopers pile out of them, wearing white armor. Following them, people with strange weapons too piled out...

He gazed to the gun-filled wall as its weapons began to spew scarlet death by the tidal wave at the crash survivors... He surged forward, even with all his heavy gear stowed on his person, before skidding down one of the rock walls and jumping on top of the artificial gun wall. He landed on a droid, punching its head clean off, before drawing his Assault Rifle and opening fire on fully-automatic.

The AP Rounds made short work of the mechs, sending several battered corpses of them toppling over the sides of the wall. As they woke up and began to engage the Spartan, he started feeling the brunt of the plasma rounds striking his shields. He was thankful they still held, even if they were dimming and slowly reaching critical under the barrage. He'd just have to hurry up the assault.

Grabbing a droid by its skinny throat, he put it in front of him in hopes it would take the brunt of shots while he readied a Plasma grenade. He knew Plasma would have enough residual energy to kick up a small EMP and, if the explosion didn't melt the tin cans, hopefully it'd burn out their circuits. He pulled the blue ball of death off his belt, hitting the button and hurling it over his makeshift bot cover... It landed on one of the droids, which began screaming for help as it stuck... And the detonation sent burning hot plasma and the EMP pulse into the droids, melting them completely or shorting them out.

He tossed the corpse of the droid he grabbed into several of its bigger, bulkier grey compatriots, toppling them to the floor, before he drew his Magnum and executed them. He then withdrew one of the Plasma Rifles and aimed it toward another squad of droids. The bursts of superheated, ionized gas punched through the droids, melting internals with extreme prejudice.

He heard one of the big grey fuckers coming in behind him and swiveled about, kicking him off the wall and to the floor below. Hearing two weapons activate on opposing sides of the wall, the Spartan gazed upon one side, to see a human clad in a black robe appearing, a hilt emanating a plasma beam in his hand... And behind him, a girl, maybe 16, with a similar weapon spun backwards, like a dagger... She had orange skin and tails instead of hair...

The Spartan snapped his plasma rifle toward her and the handgun toward the guy. He froze, as did the girl, upon seeing the weapons drawn... The girl spoke "Easy, easy! We're not here to hurt ya!" And she stowed her weapon after shutting it off. She looked to the man, then said "Master... Please, stow it." to which the man seemed surprised... He nodded, then put his weapon away as well. The girl smirked, then said "There... See? Friends."

... The Spartan had a sour taste in his mouth, but he chose to go along with it. He lowered his pistol and plasma rifle, putting them both away. He watched as one of their soldiers approached, pistols drawn, before stopping in front of them and saying "Damn. General, Commander, where'd you find this guy? He's carrying a lot of gear." before he too stowed his pistols...

"We're actually trying to find out who he is." The girl noted, before tilting her head toward him... "So... Uhm... I'm Ahsoka. Hi. I'm friendly. And those on your right are comrades in arms of mine. My master, Anakin Skywalker."

"Hey there." Skywalker gave a mock salute... Wait what.

"And Captain Rex. 501st." Ahsoka continued. The Captain gave a nod. Six looked to all 3 of them, then gave a nod and looked outward from the wall, to the direction that the clones and such wanted to head. Clones, Skywalker, Ahsoka... The Spartan had a nagging feeling he'd seen this before. He turned to Ahsoka, who gave him a smile, before asking "So... You got a name, big guy?" as she stared up at him... Which was funny enough, considering how far back she had to crane her neck. The Spartan took a moment...

"Six." He said in a calm voice.

"Well... That's a fancy name." Rex quipped, looking about. "So... Six. Any idea on how to take down this wall and allow our troops to advance?"

The Spartan looked to Rex. "You expect me to help people I don't even know. People with an Alien in tow, at that." He simply stated in deadpan, making him and the other two double over. It gave him a bit more time to process as he knelt to the floor of the wall and ran his hand across creases and small crevasses in-between the stones that were joined to make the wall.

He found a tiny, almost unnoticeable hairpin crease, rounding the feet of Rex. Possibly an elevator. He showed the Captain to step back... He cocked back his fist under the surprised gazes of everyone, and before Ahsoka could step in and ask him what he was doing... He punched down onto the rounded stone, cracking and breaking it with one direct hit, sending stone crashing down the shaft. He looked to Ahsoka, who apparently had a bag of explosives, then motioned to her to hand it over... She did so reluctantly and the Spartan clicked the bombs on, before tossing them down the shaft. He stood up and said "I suggest we evacuate the wall before those detonate."

... He had a point. Ahsoka looked to him and said "Follow me, Big Guy!" before she pounced off the building. The Spartan followed, as she asked, jumping headfirst toward the floor and straightening up. He watched as the other two followed, with Rex screaming bloody murder as he fell... The bunker detonated with a spew of dust and fire and smoke. The Spartan straightened his descent, approaching Ahsoka and going ahead of her, then he flipped himself over as he saw the floor come quicker. Spinning about, he activated his jetpack. The thundering hum of the engine kicked in and he caught Ahsoka mid-flight, before touching down on his feet and running away from the debris. Her eyes went wide as she stared at him, being held in a bridal carry and all...

He set the girl down, then drew his DMR and used the scope to see how far away Skywalker and Rex were. Before he could scope them in, Skywalker landed first, before using... Some kind of telekinetic power to catch Rex and set him down beside them. Dust kicked up and covered the area, but, thankfully, the Spartan was unaffected. He watched as Skywalker and Rex emerged from the dust cloud and approached him and Ahsoka...

"So... That was fun." Skywalker grinned. "I like your style, Six."

"Yeah... Just... Next time, General, tell me to jump." Rex noted, dusting himself off. The Spartan ignored their laughter, before turning to Skywalker and asking "Do you have a possible number of enemies? Armaments they possess? How many of those droids they can produce?" to which the man's brows quirked up. The seriousness of the Trooper before them made Anakin reconsider first impressions. This wasn't a simple mercenary... His gear and armor should've said as much.

"We don't have exact figures, but we've identified several outposts and the location of enemy AA Guns." He shrugged. "Why?"

"... Because I figured that, if this is a planetary invasion, as those ships in the back lead me to believe," The Spartan pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the Acclamator-class Transport Ships floating in low atmosphere "You would have some sort of intel... So you don't dive headfirst into the hellfire of Anti-Air and Anti-Infantry guns like this. At least you know where the Triple-A is. And if that's the case, we can take it out... Do you still have ships you can divert over here? Transports to assist our assault?"

... Noticing her Master and Captain Rex seemed off after a little bit of a burn like that, Ahsoka Cleared her throat, making Six turn toward her and squint as she spoke "Our objective right now is to rendezvous with the other Jedi Masters and their troop formations at Point Rain. The assault on the Spire Fortress defending the enemy droid foundry can begin from there." with a rather smug air about her... Six nodded, then looked to Anakin and Rex.

"Tell your men I'm taking point." He simply stated, before walking off ahead as the Clones of the Platoon caught up with them.

One of the troopers stepped up beside Rex and asked "Sir, who the hell was that?"

"Said his name's Six. And that he's taking point." Rex shrugged. He looked to a pouting Ahsoka and a still-stunned Skywalker and asked "Sirs, what's your take on this guy?" before tilting his head toward the Spartan, whom had drawn his SRS-99/95 to scope in a possible advance route. He watched as multiple, presumably enemy, aircraft swept in toward one point in the middle of the desert. A circle barricade formed of gunships and walker tanks...

"... You people surprise me more and more the deeper I go into checking your tech..." The Spartan murmured, before scoping in a strange, twin teardrop-shaped fighter diving toward them. The canopy had one of the ugliest bugs the Spartan had seen since Reach... Ahsoka gasped as she moved toward him... But when the bug took the gun-run approach... Six's sniper rifle rang and the canopy shattered. The aircraft veered to the left, spinning through the air and beginning to burn... It slammed into the ground next to the Spartan with a thundering detonation.

The Spartan stood up, lowered his SRS and looked to Ahsoka, who seemed shocked. As was everyone else, really. What, wasn't it common for a man in armor to snipe a bug out of a cockpit? He waved them forward, then pointed toward the LZ being defended by their fellow troopers. As they marched forth, walking by the cliff face, the Spartan heard the telltale roar of Flamers

Looking up, he saw several of the same ugly bugs flying out, ablaze from Flamethrower troopers... And as a semi-human general with a cone-shaped head marched out with his troops, the Spartan found himself receiving several guns and Flamethrowers pointed at him. He ignored them, drawing his Sniper again as Ahsoka and the others worked to calm the troopers down. He knelt, aimed down the scope and saw the approaching Droids...

"Six, what're you doing?" Ahsoka asked, stepping up beside him. He raised his left hand and showed Ahsoka to be quiet for a moment... Zeroing in on one of the ships going for a strafe run on the position, the Spartan's rifle thundered. Another canopy broke, another bug died and its fighter slammed into its neighbor, detonating both of them midair. The young Jedi Padawan's eyes went wide upon seeing Six's round having hit its intended target and gained a bonus.

The Spartan checked his magazine, noticing one round left plus one in the chamber. He slapped the mag back in and slid the weapon on his back, before showing the Jedi trio to follow him to the Landing Point. Skywalker took to his side and asked "You just hit two impossible shots... How?" before he gazed upon the Jedi and drew his Energy Sword.

"Simple. Training." The Soldier answered with a shrug. "Practice makes perfect, the saying goes."

Brows raised, the Jedi approached him and Ahsoka seemed a tad shocked at the blase attitude of the soldier. The group dashed toward the LZ, reinforced by the Flamer squad and another unit of Clone Troopers... Six had a nagging feeling he knew this place. He did. It was an oooooooold Childhood show of his late great grandparents. He still recalled them showing it to him... But he firmly couldn't recall their faces... Star Wars:The Clone Wars. The place was about as non-tactical as it came, but the Spartan did expect it to be...

As they made it to the Targeted Landing Area, Six's rifle barked and droids fell, gunned down by precision shots. Powering his Energy Sword and charging into a slew of droids, the man gutted them with direct slashes and strikes reminiscent of the movement of an Elite, but with more human grace added into the mix as he sliced through them.

Hearing the whir of engines, he looked up to see an approaching squadron of Y-Shaped bombers deploying their payload onto the Droids and their transport and attack vehicles, much to the cheer of those Clones present. He approached where Ahsoka and Skywalker were, with the conehead. They were seated next to a ginger man with a thick beard and armored shoulders and arms. The man regarded Six with a hint of surprise, before asking "Just what else did you drag with you, Anakin?"

"... We... Kinda found him wandering the Droid Lines, killing droids." Ahsoka noted, giving an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah, but he's been a great help so far... Even if he's a little eccentric." Anakin noted, looking at Six. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me. We've much to do, still." Six noted, looking back at the ray-shielded Fortress spire defending the only crossing toward an alien foundry that produced combat mechs and droids... He was down to two rounds in his current Sniper mag as he watched a squadron of enemy birds squawking as they tried to retreat. He knelt, drew his rifle again and Kenobi raised a brow.

"Is he gonna try to-" The man cut off as the Spartan's gun thundered. Twice. One of the ships lost one of its thrusters, while another began spinning uncontrollably. Six wasn't trying to kill them, but they needed to learn not to fly in a straight line when he was around. Removing the empty mag from his rifle, loading in a fresh one and putting the gun on his back, the Spartan turned to Kenobi and helped him up.

"Name's Six. You are?" The Spartan tilted his head to Kenobi.

"General Kenobi. A pleasure to meet you... Six...?" The man chuckled "Anakin does have a habit of bringing about strays."

"Wonder what that says about the Alien." Six tilted his head to Ahsoka and watched as Kenobi's eyes went wide, before turning about and saying "I'll find somewhere to sit tight and wait for one of you to explain to me where the hell I am. Until then, deal with your usual." as he strolled off toward an AT-TE six-legged Walker Tank and sitting down next to its middle leg. He fucking hated the thought he wasn't home anymore and couldn't, for the life of him, figure out where he was...

Oh, well... Might as well just make a fight out of this one... He wasn't gonna go and die as easy as that anyways...

Ahsoka approached him, a bit dirtied by dust and such, but still walking. He looked up at her, then asked "Can I help you, Alien Gal?" before watching her take a seat in front of him with a grin. Tilting her head, the girl noted "You're possibly one of the most xenophobic people we've met so far. How many remarks was that?" in a snarky tone. Six rolled his eyes.

"Nowhere near what I should be saying." He stated.

"And yet you haven't even shot me. Cute." The girl mocked, smirking.

"Shooting someone when you're outnumbered by said someone's allies is not a sound strategic decision. Then again, nor was you guys landing the way you did, but... Let's leave that out of it for now. Where am I?" He asked, noticing how the girl's expression shifted from snarky pride to actual, genuine surprise. Like he'd just said the dumbest thing in the world... It irked him.

"You're on Geonosis... It's a Separatist controlled planet." She stated. "What, you don't know how you got here?'

"... Frankly, even if I knew, it wouldn't be much use... So, Seppies own Geonosis again..." He said. "Do you people still need soldiers around? Or at least some decent officers?"

"Think you fit the bill of 'decent', Six?" Ahsoka's grin returned. Six shrugged, to which she said "Oh, come off it, I'd say you'd be fine. Just gotta drop the xenophobia down a notch."

"... Yer asking me the impossible." He hummed... And Ahsoka snorted.

"Sure?"

"Yeah... For the time being, Tails." He returned the snark. And Ahsoka felt her Lekku, blushing. She pouted at him...

"Joke's on you. These are awesome." She pointed at them... Six hummed, then leaned forward and squinted at them, his visor polarizing to zoom in. Not really useful at all, save for the cute fa-... He'd stop right there, backing off slightly. He felt something clink in his left chest pocket and he slid his hand into it, before stopping... Four Dog Tag sets, their aluminum clinking together... He took a moment of silence, before stowing them back in the pocket as she raised a brow, then asked "You doing alright?"

"Fine." He said calmly... She pursed her lips. She'd seen the dog tags... So he must've lost some comrades... "Hey." She spoke to him, taking his attention to her. She gave him a smile "Despite the trash-talking, if you ever need someone to talk to, Six, you got me around. Like you quipped, we're both strays our master picked up, so... You know."

"Thanks..." Six hummed. "I'll keep that in mind." He stood up, then extended his hand toward Ahsoka and said "C'mon. I think your master will need us." gazing upon her, the sunlight hitting his back... The giant soldier before her extended her a hand in a sing of friendship... Or maybe just a temporary alliance... Ahsoka wanted to find out what made this guy so xenophobic, so for now... She gladly took his hand, standing up...