Outskirts of Imperial territory

At the edge of Imperial space a lone abandoned ship floated about aimlessly. It’s once sleek white hull was riddled with various holes, the ship itself barely holding itself together to the point that any sort of external force would have ripped the whole thing apart instantly. In the vastness of space it would have likely drifted like this for eternity but the abandoned ship was not alone as a massive fleet of warships gradually approached from the distance.

Leading the fleet of Imperial Class Star Destroyers was none other than the Imperial Starfleet's flagship, the Invincible. Its incredible size dwarfed even the mile long escorts by a significant amount. At the very front of the dagger shaped warship lay a super laser powerful enough to annihilate capital ships, space stations and even planetary shields. It was fitting that the Imperial's most powerful warship lay in the hands of its most accomplished military commander, the Sith Lord Dragos. The fleet having closed in on it’s target proceeded to come to a pause as several circular droid probes emerged from the Imperial fleet and proceeded to enter the ruined vessel.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Darth Dragos stood at the center of the bridge; arms folded his eyes focused completely on the foreign ship. He had never seen this type of ship before, perhaps it was smugglers or an experiential Republic cruiser, either way he would have his answers. "Lord Dragos" A voice called out as an Imperial General approached.

"General Veers" Dragos said in reply, turning to the general who bowed at the Sith's acknowledgement.

"The probes are scanning the ship as we speak, their reports will come in shortly", the Sith simply nodded in accordance. “I assume you understand the significance of this investigation?”

“Of course my Lord”

The investigation had taken some time but luckily for the Imperials the pressure was non existent. The veteran crew members of this particular ship prided themselves in being the best but this confidence partially existed due to the fact that Dragos wasn't one to lash out and violently killed a subordinate out of boredom or lack of patience. Dragos however paced back and forth waiting with a certain anxious energy until he was summoned towards the back of the bridge towards a large circular table which was projecting the first person view of one of the probe droids.

"Found something?" The Sith questioned.

"There is extensive damage all throughout the ship. No signs of its crew and we are still unable to identify the ship"

"And none of ours are claiming responsibility?"

"No sir... hold on something is coming" A small alert emitted from the table as the general worked to retrieve it. Within moments a second holographic image appeared on the table taking the form of a map. "These are... hyperspace coordinates. The ship came from Republic territory and it was making its way back towards... the Galactic Center"

"It seems the Republic has found some friends.” Dragos stated.

“Shall we move to the fleet towards the coordinates?” The officer questioned leaving Dragos to ponder on the decision. After a brief pause Dragos turned towards the bridge’s exit.

“No. I’ll take a small task force and head towards the coordinates myself. I doubt the entire crew perished, any survivors will have head there.”

“My lord…” The general was a bit taken back at Dragos eagerness to investigate, especially without the fleet’s backing but the Sith Lord had already made up his mind. “Those coordinates lead to the planet to what some smugglers have nicknamed Aurora. An interesting name considering most of the planet consists of deserts and pockets of civilization. Surely crime infested.” Dragos took several steps stopping just short of the exit.

“If I brought the fleet, the entire galaxy center will be aware of my presence. It’s best to keep the fleet here especially if this is a diversion. I won’t be long.”

The general nodded having no choice but to accept his commander’s decision though he felt compelled to fit in one last question “And should the Emperor make contact…”

“He won’t.” Dragos replied, this time fully committed towards the main hanger.

Theme: youtube.com/watch?v=tRAi43RE-NU

---

It didn't take long until various 'bleeps' began appearing onto the holographic radar table, displaying ships fleeing the planet by the dozens. It did not matter, there few left after the initial move by the Pious Transgression. There would be few enough to spread the word of the incoming wrath, few enough to create fear in the masses in the nearby systems. Troops had already landed on the surface, eliminating the few, petty threats against the cleansing of the world. Reports began coming through the comms, the slaughter had already surpassed thousands during the initial barrage of purging of the planet. The Arbiter was pleased with this small, yet significant victory. The initial scouting of the planet had proved fruitless in their search for any Forerunner technology, some of his shipmasters even had the insulting nerve to suggest that they could spare this planet of cleansing due to it's lack of any Forerunner presence. The Arbiter would have none of it.

He placed his hand onto a console, created with space enough for one, Sangheili, hand. This planet was chosen to mark the arrival of the Covenant, to signal that the Great Journey would soon arrive and burn the non-believers in hellfire. Before him stood a view of the planet's most significant, and largest populated city. There was nothing but disgust in his eye as he began laying pressure onto the console. A continuous laser beam came from his flagship, the one he was aboard, and landed directly on the city below. To the Covenant troops on the surface, they could see a magnificent beam tearing through the city, slowly but steadily. Leaving nothing but glass in it's wake. From a safe distance, of course.

The Prophet of Mercy observed the Arbiter from behind, slowly nodding his head as he saw what Mark this world would be granted. The Covenant mark of "Arrival". A fitting choice by the Arbiter, signifying their arrival to the Galactic Center.

"You have done well, Arbiter. This will show the mongrels that inhabits this sector that their end is approaching. I am pleased."

The Arbiter simply glanced back at the Prophet, offering but a nod. Nothing else was needed to acknowledge the compliment. The Prophet, sitting upon a levitating throne, moved towards a screen with a camera upon it. It soon began flickering the image of the Prophet and his Honour Guards. Broadcasting to the few surviving ships from the unfortunate planet.

"Listen, non-believers! You may believe that you have been blessed by your false gods, to survive this little and insignificant onslaught! But you too will soon face justice of the Great Journey, soon hellfire will consume you and your loved ones! Spread the word; That the Arrival of the Covenant have been ushered upon this sector, and those who wishes to halt the eventual forthcoming of the Great Journey will falter! If you wish to live for but a glimpse longer, tell all those whom inhabit and taint the planets blessed by the Creators, The Forerunners, that they will soon be cast into hell by the Wrath of the Covenant!"

The broadcast ended moments later, showing the view of the fiery Mark that the Arbiter had created upon the planet.

STATION 'STALLION-4'

The station STALLION-4 was drifting through space, No sign of life or maybe there is life inside.
For some reason the power was on, 2 cruisers bearing the flag of space pirates orbits the station.
But they were not alone green aura covered the front of the station suddenly...
The Thirteenth Fleet bearing the flag of K.A.T.A arrived.

FLAGSHIP 'LIBERATOR'
Dik'ta admiral of the fleet sitting on the control room ,10 escort ships launched forward and surrounded the pirates the flagship would slowly launch forward and orbit the station.Suddenly the advisor was commanded by Dik'ta.
"Prepare my shuttle i will deal with the pirates myself."
The advisor nods and walks toward the door and talk to guards, the pirates were still at the same position, Meanwhile the Dik'ta shuttle was ready a Lancer class shuttle with modifications. As Dik'ta entered the shuttle he would sit on the big chair he was followed by 8 researchers and 2 troopers.

INSIDE THE STATION
The shuttle docked as it lands 4 pirates walks up to the door of the shuttle.As the door open the guards aimed their guns at the pirates and so do the pirates.
The pirate leader spoke:
"Well what do we have here? The weirdos of technological artifacts." The pirates laughed
"Leave this place and i might spare one of your ship." Dik'ta said seriously as he holds his gun at his pockets
The pirates did a wedge formation as 10 pirates came out from a room holding laser riffles they all gathered around and all aimed at Dik'ta
The pirate spoke:
"You think you got a chance?" Then the man commanded the pirates "FIRE!"
The pirates fired as Dik'ta and the researchers ran to the back one guard was shot.Dik'ta reached for his gun 'Dik'ta's wrath' and fired at the pirates 2 pirates were killed, Dik'ta rushes for a grenade and shoots it the grenade rolled at the ramp and killed all the pirates.Partly damaging the ship however
2 escort ships docket at hangar, grabbing the body meanwhile Dik'ta and the researchers continued forward.
They found a small planning room with a round table with a holo-emmiter at the center. Dik'ta powered up the table and suddenly it revealed a holographic model of the galactic center filled with the coordinates.
"Sir this are flight coordinates for the galactic center!" A human researcher said.
"Galactic what? Get back to the ship we need to research this data." Dik'ta said as they walk towards the hangar.
"

Ephsor walked down the metallic hallway flanked by two Kellsguard Marauders. The salvaging crews here had reported finding ruins of an abandoned facility here and the Kell had come to see it personally. The House of Ruin's expedition into the galactic center had not turned up much so far, mainly empty planets with minerals to mine or glimmer to drill.

But this...this was a great find, Abandoned technology to salvage, refit, or scrap. The reason for it's abandonment was of little concern, so now The Scar holds over the planet with the fallen fleet while it's investigated. Coming into the main room of the facility, Ephsor found the crew that made the report. A captain was overseeing as the dregs salvaged what they could and Vandals secured and scouted the area. A pair of Servitors was also present, one working to restore power and the other gathering small bits of matter to process into ether. With a nod toward the captain to continue operations, the Kell walked up to one of the computers the servitor had managed to restore power to and extended one of his arms to deploy his mini-servitor. The small machine accessed the computer and soon the Kell could see data stream about the facility's function. It appeared to be some sort of observatory, keeping track of the going-ons of at least part of the sector, it had already even discovered two signals: one brilliant, as if it wanted to be seen, and the other disappearing almost as soon as it arrived, definitely interesting but not of concern at the moment as the servitor began to find data about other ruins and facilities on this world and others. After it took what it could Ephsor grabbed his mini-servitor and took one last look around the room before ordering the captain to begin full recovery of the tech within the facility and leaving with his guards to return to his ship, eager to plan the House's next move once they'd recovered everything.

It was suppose to be a backwater planet of no importance and yet it in it's orbit, the largest assembled fleets of both the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic faced off. Hundreds of ships on both sides of various sizes had their weapons primed to fire at an order's notice. At the center of Imperial Fleet, the Invincible easily defined by its gargantuan size stood as a symbol of Imperial might. At the ship's command bridge, Dragos stared off at his opponent. This was supposed to be his greatest victory but instead, he was playing body guard to diplomats who intended to see the war meet it's end.

"So Lord Dragos you really intend to stay aboard your ship?" Grand Moff Tarkin questioned. Tarkin was an elderly man but still incredibly sharp and professional in appearance. If Dragos was the Emperor's right, Tarkin was his left, a master of politics and people.

"The Emperor has robbed me of our... my victory. We had the Republic on the run, the majority of their fleet has been smashed, in just a few more weeks.." Dragos replied, he didn't bother to face the Grand Moff. Dragos respected Tarkin for his intellectual ability but even he was surprised when Tarkin informed Dragos that the Emperor offered the Republic terms of peace. The war would end, the Sith ideally victorious but the Republic still had fight left in them though it seems their agreement to the peace would only allow the Republic to perhaps catch its breath.

"May I remind you Lord Dragos, that our Emperor has enabled us. There will be time to destroy the Republic entirely, eventually though the Emperor has other matters on hand." Tarkin's sharp eyes narrowed at the taller, armored man. Tarkin would not be alone, he would travel with several others members of the Dark Councils though it was rather unprofessional that the Sith's most succesful commander would refuse to join the negoitations.

"He overestimates their potential.." Dragos shot back, his voice projecting to be darker and more intimidating due to the dark helmet he wore.

"The Emperor needs you, he will need all of us in the wars to come. The Emperor's spies insist that more and more the rumored Galactic Center shall become a priority for all factions throughout the galaxy. In time we will encounter new enemies and we must be prepared to face them. The Republic is already defeated Lord Dragos and since you won't be convinced, I shall go planet side and make our victory final. Remember my place my lord, the Emperor wants to go through, without failure." Tarkin warned as he walked of the bridge. Tarkin was one of a very few people in the Empire that wasn't intimated by the Dark Lord. Knowing there would be no retaliation, Tarkin made his out leaving the Sith Lord to brood.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Within the Galactic Center
Planet nicknamed: Aurora

This was just over a year ago and now the Sith Lord was facing the reality that the Emperor perhaps had been right to focus on other places in the galaxy. The Republic despite its massive losses still possessed a military presence to at least delay and inflict heavy casualties on the Empire. With the peace treaty the Empire focused on rearming and rebuilding its military as preparations to investigate the Galactic Center had taken away. Now, the Sith and his small group of men were landing planet side on the desert planet, nicknamed Aurora. Dragos awake from his brief sleep, his mind having reflected on the past and the circumstances that lead him to this planet. As the ship opened up and Dragos was free to finally step out, he was rather unimpressed with the view.

Aurora was mostly desert with pockets of civilization. The Sith task force had landed on the outskirts of a nearby city when a foreign transmission was picked up...

"Sir take a look at this" An Imperial stated, catching Dragos attention. The message from the Covenant had spread quickly through the Galactic Center. With no formal government, the various inhabitants of the star system had their qualms. Was it a true? Perhaps nothing more than false threats? "Shall we inform the fleet?" A trooper questioned as the Sith conveyed over this recent development.

"No, not yet." Dragos replied, having turned his attention away from the transmission and towards the city in the distance. "We have mission to do, we'll worry about the Covenant, IF they arrive" Dragos replied, urging his men to start moving. Despite his bravado, the Sith had a certain intensity in his movements. He had heard vague rumors about the Covenant, he knew that the threat real and time was running out to seek out their prey. It also seemed likely that Covenant possibly knew about the Empire and it was best to keep hidden unless they were discovered as stealth was their weapon.

As the Sith closed in on the planet reality had hit... they were no longer in friendly territory and they were now about to be introduced to all sorts of different beings from across the stars.

Theme: youtube.com/watch?v=eqOz3ZUf_0M

---

The Arbiter could see small groups of Covenant warships breaking formation from the Pious Transgression fleet, all groups heading for their each designated direction. The salvaging of the Marked planet had proved to be almost a waste of time. One of the things that had been salvaged that he could use to his advantage was a database displaying the exact position of nearby planets. Alongside some articles of interest. The initial scans showed that they displayed similar traits as The Marked Planet. But alas, the planets wasn't close enough for a thorough scan for Forerunner presence. The Arbiter had formed several scouting parties to the various planets, all had orders to withstand from launching an attack. Except if a planet was defenceless and showed positive with Forerunner presence. He personally remained behind with the main force of the Pious Transgression, whom held their position above the Marked Planet, for now. As the Cloaked scouting parties was out of visual sight from the Command bridge upon The Arbiter's flagship, the Illuminated Consecration, he left the bridge and headed for his quarters. There were reports to read and study.

With a single press of an illuminated button, The Arbiter had a screen pop up, displaying the scout parties and their commanders. He held little respect for those under his command, even less trust. There was one of them that he preferred over the others. Fleet-Master Rah Nar'Kolimee. During the brief encounters with this Fleet-master, he had displayed non-questionable loyalty and obedience to The Arbiter's orders. Only negative that could be said of this Sangheili was his recklessness. It had costed him victories. This is why the Arbiter chose him to travel for the planet that had hints of Forerunner technology upon it, based upon articles of archaeological findings of an ancient structure that hadn't been unlocked for centuries. The name of the planet? Aurora.

---

Fifteen Hours Later.
Close to the planet of Aurora.

The five CSS-Class battle-cruisers had the planet of Aurora in their visual sights. It didn't seem like they had any sort of orbital defences, or a defending fleet. There was decent activity of smaller ships, however. The Fleet-Master of this scouting party, Rah Nar'Kolimee, had deemed them to be travelling merchants ships and thought no more of it. His initial plan was to report the lack of any Forerunner technology, but his move was cut short by a beeping light from one of the consoles. The scanning had proved positive on Forerunner presence. It was located at one of the smaller and insignificant cities. The Arbiter's orders was clear. A physical investigation was required for this, in which the Fleet-Master himself had chosen to participate in. With their battle-cruisers cloaked, and positioned a safe distance away from the planet, The Fleet-Master and his task-force departed in cloaked transport ships, that would hopefully keep them off the radar of anyone present at the planet.

With the data recovered from the observatory Ephsor had sent several crew to find the other facilities it mentions and left behind a decently sized crew to finish with the observatory's planet itself. He, however, was taking a large portion of the fleet to investigate a rather unusual entry. As they traveled the servitors were beginning to translate through more of the data. The entry mentions an alien ruin now located under a city on a planet labeled Aurora, and though the observatory and it's machines were technically alien to the Fallen, that something was alien to whoever previously owned them could hold promise a good bounty

The pilot servitor made a loud wail, drawing the attentions of the Archon Priests in the room. A moment later one of the two came up to him "A sensor ping, my Kell, the ship it came from dropped off sensors but the servitor picked up at least one result from the scan" So others had beaten them to it. The fleet came out of their jump over the planet and sure enough they could detect a force landing close to the city. Ephsor stood up from his throne with a growl "Get crews down in the city, find the ruin before they do. Keep The Scar close" with that he stormed from the room to board a ketch with the away crews while the Archons conveyed his orders to the servitor. The Scar was to be kept close, ideally the other factions here only had at most an exploratory or scouting fleets nearby, something the dreadnought could deter even if it couldn't quite catch the smaller dropships. Still, Ephsor hoped they could find something quickly to make this worth it, The House of Ruin is strong but he's not eager to test them against a stellar empire just yet.

On the ground, three large ketches came down, loud booms announcing their arrival as they came through the atmosphere. Two remained overhead,sending out skiffs to deploys troops to secure a part of the city opposite from the Empire's expedition. The third came in to land in a square between some of the buildings to act as a makeshift base for the operation there. Ephsor himself stepped off that ship himself, watching as some of the crew scattered into the nearby building and rapidly offloading equipment, trying to establish enough of a presence there to secure the area and search for the ruin.

{Ignore the blank chat its an accident}

GALACTIC center
Deep Space (Near Aurora}

After the searching the station the data was revealed to be coordinates to a sector of the galaxy The Galactic Center
The fleet was given orders to investigate the sector and help people perhaps.Only the Liberator was sent the rest were left behind
The Liberator arrives at the Galactic Center

"Sir! We have a broadcast in range" The comm officer said

"Play it then." Said Dik'ta

The broadcast was recorded and played
"Listen, non-believers! You may believe that you have been blessed by your false gods, to survive this little and insignificant onslaught! But you too will soon face justice of the Great Journey, soon hellfire will consume you and your loved ones! Spread the word; That the Arrival of the Covenant have been ushered upon this sector, and those who wishes to halt the eventual forthcoming of the Great Journey will falter! If you wish to live for but a glimpse longer, tell all those whom inhabit and taint the planets blessed by the Creators, The Forerunners, that they will soon be cast into hell by the Wrath of the Covenant!"
The broadcast ended.

"I bet these are nothing but a bunch of meat sacks.Get us to the nearest planet." Said Dik'ta

"Yes sir!" The whole piloting crew said

GALACTIC CENTER
Aurora

The Liberator landed at Aurora with the broadcast out of their mind and the will to help others or recover any technology.

"Status?"

"We have strange radar readings but nothing to worry sir." The navigational officer said

Dik'ta's Shuttle,5 escort hips and 2 freighters were sent to look for any sign of civilization within the planet Aurora
Then they found a small city at the horizon.

Aurora
Garuda's Hive



The Sith Task force consisted only of the Dark Lord and several commandos under the guise of black cloaks. To appear even less incognito the small group had spread itself apart arriving at various locations in the city. The city was larger even in person and the population was significantly denser than anticipated. As the Sith task force navigated throughout the city streets, taking note of various landmarks and personal it became obvious that perhaps the Galactic Center was far more populated than anticipated. For all the smugglers and criminals that can be seen wandering the streets, there was enough civilians from various parts of the galaxy that really set the tone that people rather live on these remote, crime ridden planets than live in the war zones they originally came from.

Due to the relaxed atmosphere that Dragos allowed in a mission like this a single commando commented "It's as if they took Mos Eisley from Tatooine and dropped it off here." Dragos couldn't help but agree, the similarity was unquestionable. "Be aware of your surroundings, turns out we just stumbled on to a Hutt controlled city. Garuda's gang call it Paradise, locals call it Garuda's Hive" Another commando stated, informing his comrades.

"I thought the Hutts were too fat and lazy to move"

"You've seen Nar Shadda, why share a shit hole with your competitors when you could thrive in your shit hole away from everyone"

Dragos remained quiet, not minding the chatter between his commandos until an individual caught his attention with the individual immediately recognizing the Dark Lord. Dragos pressed the comlink by his ear "I've found something. Don't make contact with me unless it's an emergency, Dragos out." As Dragos ended his communication, the brown cloaked individual stepped forward to greet the Sith.

"Ah Lord Dragos... I knew we would meet again, what took you so long?" The Jedi stopped just short in front of the Sith. Dragos stared back at the individual across from him, the tension between them building as for a moment they both silently debated on taking their chances on igniting their weapon and striking the first blow.

"Master Kavar... I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Hmm, of course... come, let's go for a drink I'm thirsty" The Jedi replied. The sudden change in Kavar's behavior caused the Sith Lord to be wary but as Kavar walked towards a nearby cantina, the Sith relaxed sensing the Jedi truly did intend to talk.

The pair found themselves a corner, isolated from the majority of the crowd. The music was loud and various alien species talked and cursed amongst themselves or at each other. The pair sat in silence, eyes locked before Kavar alas offered the opening words "You look well. I almost forgot what you looked like underneath that helmet of yours, did you lose it?" Ah yes, a quick jab by the Jedi.

Dragos scoffed at his witty comment "It didn't seem appropriate to wear it. People tend to recognize Sith Lords"

"Perhaps, but not here in the Galactic Center, I've seen all sorts of wild shit and after seeing what I've seen and hearing what I've heard, nobody in this part of the galaxy cares about no damn Sith Lord"

"Is that so?"

"Yup. I've heard of about this fanatical group of aliens who will set a planet on fire just for the hell of it or there's this one group, feminine in appearance but their warriors are among the very elite. From what I hear they would give even our best commando units quite the match" Dragos again scoffed at Kavar's comments. Feeling he wasn't being taken seriously Kavar insisted on continuing. "How about..."

"So which one of them attacked your ship" Dragos interjected not wanting to hear anymore about what lay beyond Imperial territory.

"Is this a joke?" Kavar's tone deepened as the mood soured, "A Sith Vengeance Class Dreadnought attacks us and I'm suppose to believe you had no idea?"

"There were no Imperial ships in the area when your ship attacked."

"I know my Imperial ships, I know what attacked us. If you really didn't know, then it seems there are some Imperials that won't even answer to you" The statement irked the Sith Lord however...

"Lord Dragos." Suddenly a message was incoming from the Sith's comlink. The Sith Lord opted to ignore the very comment but the other line insisted. "Lord Dragos, come in."

"What is it trooper?" Dragos questioned.

"Sir, the locals are starting to get a little antsy... and it's not because of us. They think something is coming" Dragos didn't reply as his attention focused on the veteran Jedi who smirked noting Dragos facial expressions no matter how subtle. "Yeah, you feel it too don't you... something is coming"

"Hey, scumbag! This is Garuda's -PERSONAL- shuttle platform! Only he or his lot have the authorisation to utilise this! Pay up fifty-five creds or taste my blaster!"

Four thugs under the employment of Garuda the Hutt had their weapons aimed at the single, towering Sangheili whom were just glaring at the lot, silently. The four thugs consisted of three humanoids, and the fourth one was a race somewhat similar to the Sangheili (Trandoshan). They didn't even see it coming.

"What are you glaring at?! Pay up or I'll cook you up for a nice, tasty squidmeal-...What in the?!"



Five phantoms, hovering beside the platform appeared from thin air and opened their side doors. Revealing several weapons aimed at them. In the thug's confusion, four shots were fired upon them. They dropped like flies. Civilians in the vicinity began to run and scream. The phantoms hovered closer to the platform, close enough that Spec-Ops troops began to disembark. The Fleet-Master exited last, offering the decrepit spot they were in a glance.

"The non-believers live like filth and live as filth. Disgusting. Engage cloak and scout the perimeter. Ascetics, join the scouts and see if you can find some trace of the Creator's presence. I want a report within the half-hour. Move!"

As the Fleet-Master gave the orders, he could hear reports of newly arrived ships within the sector. In which he merely grunted at and told them to keep the position. As a perimeter was secured, the leader of the Ascetics spoke over the comms.

"Fleet-Master! I've located the entry to the source we're looking for. It is heavily guarded and lies by some abandoned ruins on the outskirts of the city. It will require all of our current troops in the vicinity to clear it. It seems like the local chief in these parts keeps some of his treasure by the source."

The Fleet Master growled in response.

"The infidel dares to hoard his treasure at the feet of the Creator's shrine?! We will advance at once and will be reinforced soon enough."

As he finished the announcement, the Fleet-Master began barking orders at his troops, and they responded quickly. The Sangheili began to prepare themselves to assault the entrance. Quietly and under stealth, as they knew that the local authorities would soon investigate what had just happened on the platform. In the meanwhile, the various ships in the vicinity began to see weird signals coming up-and down from the planet to an apparently empty spot in space. One could almost think that someone on the surface was talking to no one? Just an empty spot of space. Soon, an encrypted signal began to pop up for the more advanced ships in the vicinity and could see that the signal was sent to an unknown location. Something was afoot.

Within the various Battle-Cruisers, armed Covenant troops began to fill the various transport ships. Should the situation get out of hand, they would reinforce the Fleet-Master and his soldiers. The assault on the entrance began soon after. The habitats of the city could hear the distant firefight. Have the war finally caught up to the refugees of various backrounds?

(Just imagine the backround being the dusty town they're in)

---

The Marked Planet, some moments later.
Pious Transgression, aboard the Illuminated Consecration.

"Arbiter! We've received a signal from Fleet-Master Rah, they've found a potential spot of Forerunner presence. The Fleet-Master believes strongly that they are onto something big. They are about to confront the local forces in the area. What do you wish to do?"

The Prophet listened intently to what the Bridge-Officer had to say, nodding slowly to himself. He moved his gaze towards the Arbiter to see what his intentions were.

"Prepare to move the Pious Transgression to his locations and be ready for combat. Scan the area and mark potential hostiles. Have my personal Seraph prepared for descent. Alert the scouting groups of our intent, but inform them to continue their search."

The bridge-officer simply nodded in agreement and began to fulfil the designated orders. The Arbiter turned towards the Prophet.

"If you wish to not partake in the operation ahead, I can arrange for you to be moved to a more secure location, Hierarch."

The Prophet simply waved the offer away.

"No need, Arbiter. I trust that my security will be held in high regard on this ship during the operation while you are on the surface. Now, let us continue the holy duty that the almighty Forerunners assigned us to."

Some moments later, the Pious Transgression entered slipspace. It would take time, however, before they reached Aurora.

One set of orders delivered by the Kell expressed the level of urgency. Find the ruins before they do. With that, Niryrk boarded one of the Ketch ships and waited for it's departure.

Arriving to the dust bowl of a planet, the ship made several drops to key areas. Niryrk watched as several captain's departed with their troops. Niryrk turned to look at his. "I want to be dropped as close to the signal ping as possible. We will not fail." The vandals nodded. The ship dropped his group off at the designated checkpoint. A servitor accompanied him. "Find the signal and trace it." The servitor locked onto the signal and soon began to lead Niryrk and his group. Niryrk contacted Ephsor. "If we are not able to recover the salvage, do you want me to destroy it?"

While that conversation went on. The dregs began to set up a small outpost while murauders surveyed the area.

COMMAND CENTER: SHADOW STAR
Hasrya System, shortly after Covenant Marking

System reboot complete. Sensors online. Shields online. Propulsion online. Drives online. Initializing sensor network. . .. .. ..... ... .. .
Configuration failed
ERR 23387: Bad Transmission
Initializing sensor network (Atmp 2) ... ... .. .. . . ..... .
Configuration failed
ERR 23387: Bad Transmission
Diagnosis started. ETC 24:44:20
-------------------------------------
Diagnosis complete (24:42:57)
Probable cause: external transmission, bad translation
Logged raw data to memloc 000C8A, bank 07

The holoscreen flickered in the air next to the sensor console, the blue text of the system log in one corner of the terminal. One eye watched the display, the other closed in a futile attempt to make up for the long shift. Artenan leaned back in his seat, frowning slightly at the last message as it popped into view. He opened both eyes, watching the terminal for any further updates, but the ship continued its reboot with no further errors. Curious, he sat up and accessed the memory location listed, inspecting the data it contained. It was approximately forty seconds long, containing a lot of white noise in quanta that the sensors were not generally rigged to detect. He shrugged, deciding to play it over the audio system. As he suspected, there was a loud crackling from the speakers, with periods of silence stretching out for several seconds mixed in.

Until the last 7 seconds, where the sensor operator could have sworn he had heard voices amongst the noise. Artenan paused the recording, playing it again from the last 10 seconds. It wasn't a fluke, there were definitely words in there, although they weren't in any language known by the Coalition. Deftly his hands worked the console, cleaning up the broadcast with over a decade's worth of audio training. Minutes later he had an undeniable sample of alien language, sounding quite distressed, along with a rough approximation of the coordinates of the broadcast. Nearly seven hundred lightyears away.... quite a journey, which explained the terrible receiving quality.

He pushed the processed and original transmission out on a channel to Archangel, hoping for an advisement. He knew it would be unlikely at this hour to receive an official order, but somebody would be at the station to take the call. He didn't expect the somebody who answered.

"CCL-31, transmission recieved. Commander Kel'ar requesting open channel at soonest discretion."

Artenan sat bolt upright, barely suppressing the urge to salute. He fumbled slightly with the comms, opening a channel to the flagship's captain, before responding. "SCR-1, channel open, Officer Nychols on duty."

"Ah, Nychols, excellent. I expected your handiwork. These coordinates, they are accurate? A broadcast from the Core?"

"Aye, as best I can make out. The ship caught them while the sensors were initializing, they would have slipped right past our noise gates otherwise."

"Lucky find, then. I've submitted a request to high command that this be investigated immediately." The commander chuckled, and Artenan could feel her shaking her head. "What are the odds, Nychols, of both you and your grandfather establishing our only recorded first contacts?"

"I would say very slim, ma'am. It may be a bogus reading from one of the surface bases. But it is extremely interesting, and may be worth an investigation."

"Precisely. Stay on the line, but no need to rouse your ship just yet. I will be receiving word shortly."

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

Arelya felt a slight whine in her ears through the fog of sleep, her face's features drawing together in displeasure as she tried to bury her head beneath the cover of her wing. The tone was specifically engineered to interrupt sleep, however, so within a minute the kyrian was staring blearily at the speaker mounted by the door to her quarters. What in Lyveck's name... it's oh-fifteen?! She sent out a short blip with her radio, acknowledging that she was awake, and the awful sound ceased. With a sigh she pulled herself off of the bed and checked her insignia bands, before heading up to the command deck to answer the bridge call. Half the crew was already there, Lyra nodding to Rel as she entered the room. The weapon officer saluted back to the ship's captain and moved to her post.

The clock read 0021 hours when the full crew had arrived, and the briefing began. High Command had designated Shadow Star and her crew to investigate the potential transmission. The journey would take four hours, with the first leg being propelled by Gate One. They were to avoid contact unless explicitly ordered to, or engaged, and would act as a listening post for the Corps to take further action on.

Shadow Star peeled away from the dock, its engines beginning to glow softly as it began to accelerate to departure distance. A short cruise under Drive power, the ship entered the launch catapult of Gate One, the crew strapped down and gravity generators primed to lessen the impact. Minutes later, with a shudder, the ship was pushed into the warp fields and released, vanishing with a large distortion.

Aurora

Garuda's Hive

Chaos erupted within the Hutt's city. As regular civilians scrambled for cover various smugglers, thugs, anyone with a weapon really began to panic and fire at each other. The sound of nearby gunfire and running civilians was a message clear enough that if you wanted to live, it was best to shoot first now and ask questions later. With such panic spreading the most dominant gang, the one's that worked directly under the Hutt began to fire almost indiscriminately into various crowds as various laser bolts flew past their heads. It would be impossible for people to calm down now.

Back at the Cantina

"Looks like we got friends Lord Dragos, perhaps we should meet them" The Jedi joked, grinning at the rather stone faced Sith. They both could hear something going off in the distance. "What's your move Sith, going to tell your men to start blasting away themselves?"

The Jedi continued to goad the Sith but suddenly another message from the Imperial pilot came through, "Sir another ship has revealed themselves and they are attempting to contact anyone who can board their ship, located just outside of orbit"

"How convenient. Surely this planet must have some sort of importance" Dragos replied. Despite all that was going on, he had yet to see what made Aurora was tempting until...

"You're right sir. I've been translating the Huttese being spoken by the locals. It's seems Garuda himself is located on the outskirts on
the city and all of his gang seems to be fortifying something... I think-"

"Lord Dragos I can't let you go there." Kavar suddenly announced, his once relaxed persona shifting to a serious, more threatening tone. With a quick volley of words that took the Sith off surprise, Dragos could suddenly hear the sounds of several individuals preparing their weapons behind him. "That was... Huttese, your working with Garuda?" Dragos questioned as he slowly slid a hand towards the weapon clipped to his belt.

"You taught us something in the last war Dragos, many in the Republic would deny it but I know the truth. We were losing the war, we WILL lose the next one unless changes are made."

"Changes?"

"As a defender of the Republic, I Jedi Master Kavar will do whatever it takes to defend the Republic even if it means working with the local scum." And with that a commanded was shouted in Huttese as the several thugs behind the Sith opened fire. Sensing the danger immediately however, Dragos stood up and spun around grasping his lightsaber in a swift reactive motion as he effortlessly blocked the laser bolts at his direction. Hearing the sounds of the Jedi activate his own weapon, Dragos once again turned, raising his weapon to block the initial overhead strike while extending his free hand towards the thugs as he ripped their weapons from their hands and sent them colliding into a nearby wall. Amazed by such power the thugs panicked and attempted to flee as they collided into the various panicked patrons also trying to leave the cantina.

The lightsaber duel was intense, each individual trying to outmaneuver the other despite the cramped settings of the cantina. As people shouted and screamed in panic and in awe, the two force users were in deep concentration. As the crimson saber of the Sith locked with the blue saber of the Jedi a particular panicked cry was heard. As the pair locked eyes they suddenly recognized the familiarity of the word as they both had the same reaction.

"That was Rodian for...grenade!" Sensing the danger the pair disengaged and leaped backwards away from the bouncing round object that harmlessly rolled towards the center of the room before erupting in a massive explosion that blasted the cantina apart. As dust and smoke filled the air, Dragos struggled to stand having found himself in the middle of the street as the bodies and ruin from the explosion decorated his surroundings. Peering upwards Dragos watched as Kavar limped away from the scene being aided by a pair of Republic commandos.

At the outskirts of the city a Republic task force was making it's preparations to secure the ruins that Garuda claims to have found. Mounted anti infantry laser turrets were being prepped across key positioning points across the ruins as other members armed and instructed the local thugs on how to operate this newly acquired military grade weaponry. "Soon" the commander of the task muttered as he could hear the firefight in the distance, "Soon.."

SHADOW STAR -- OVERLOOK BRIDGE
Approximated coordinates of Transmission Alpha

0437 hours, the terminal read. Just three minutes shy of their estimated arrival time, they were going to be early. The Drive was almost prepped for a cold jump to the target, the computer reading showing thirty seconds remaining. There was dead silence on the bridge as they waited for the order, Arelya staring at her terminal with anticipation. She'd walked the length of the ship during the journey with Maverick and Tekrol, ensuring that their weapons and shields were at peak running conditions. Two jumps ago they test-fired the ensemble, ensuring that their targeting solutions were correct. Now the capacitors were at half charge, as was standard protocol for a potentially hostile jump in. It was enough to fire a powerful salvo and enough to tank a beating for them to make an escape.

"Confirm fuel reserves for slow fold."

"Fuel reads good, drive is locked on. Sensors confirm we are running cold," Bramwell sounded off like a machine. "Thermal readings on the drive are a minimum, ready on your mark."

The captain nodded, grabbing a sturdy rung over the command deck and facing the three-meter thick viewports of the forward bridge. "Comms, do we still have a lock with H-C?" A yes. "Systems are go for fold, charge drive capacitors."

The ship hummed as the reactor diverted power over the massive internal conduits, and the Drive's motors began to spool. It was a single lightyear jump, a cakewalk for the ship, which chirped over the in-ship comms as optimal conditions were met. Lyra activated the safety on her console and motioned forward with her hand. "Go for fold."
The view through the windows snapped inward suddenly, compressing to an intense point of violet light, before expanding out into a bright ring and blazing past the ship. Within seconds, they were face to face with a planet, a desert world prominent in the sky, a cool yellow star blazing to one side of the bridge.

"Check distortions, engage thermal cloak." Lyra pulled up the sensor map, giving the whole bridge a view of what their passives were seeing. "There are a lot of contacts here. Keep the drives cool, deploy radio antennas."

"Jump in disturbance was minimal, we are black."
"Lots of local radio chatter. Language... sounds similar, hard to judge." Raldyr, the kyrian communications officer, switched off the chatter that played from his console and seemed to listen. "I can hear them in my head, source must be very strong for a local broadcast. Distress signal?"
Arelya nodded next to him, her natural radio buzzing with voices. "Sounds like one." The chatter continued for several minutes, the ship relaying its data back to High Command, until an unexpected broadcast cut the background noise like a knife. Both kyrians on the bridge flinched at the strength before their implants offered protection.

"Engaging decryption protocols, phonetics detection is enabled and......" Raldyr stopped, obviously confused. "Translating. Captain, parts of this message are already in the banks."
"CCL-31, this is Command. Repeat?"
"Uh... Local radio broadcast is tripping the translation matrix, definitely positive partial translation. Large vessel in orbit around our target... Seems to be offering a spot for negotiations."
There was a muted shuffling on the other side of the line as somebody moved toward the console. "Stand by."

Lyra motioned to mute their side of the line, then turned to address the kyrians. "Arelya, Raldyr, you may wish to prepare yourselves to disembark. I suspect we'll be paying this craft a visit. No need for full armor, although mesh uniform wouldn't be a bad idea."

"CCL-31, we suggest continuing stealth, but if you are able to launch a comm beacon, you are to attempt to contact this vessel. Command standing by for further reports."
---------------------------------------------------------
A small probe was pushed by a burst of cold gas from the forward launch tube, a laser array orienting to lock on to the Shadow Star. Minutes passed, putting tens of kilometers between the mothership and its drone, before a returning broadcast was played, a directed radio transmission aimed at the alien craft.

"Unknown spacecraft, this is captain Lyra Bowyer of the Cindorian vessel Shadow Star. We are preparing to send a two-party away team to rendezvous with your vessel with the intent of peaceful diplomacy. Requesting confirmation of broadcast."

A certain amount of chaos was to be expected given the sudden appearance of the Fallen, but Ephsor wasn't quite expecting that the locals in the city would be turning on each other, truly an odd people. Given the circumstances the Kell had refined his orders a bit, having his crew only secure and protect their landing zone and points of interest, leaving the locals to fight amongst themselves. Since he was trying to keep ready in case they had to beat a hasty retreat most of their heavier equipment was being left on the ships but a few band of pikes and at least one walker were on standby if necessary.

As things were getting established Ephsor received the signal from Niryk. Normally he wouldn't care to destroy something unrecoverable but this many different fleets showing up at the same time couldn't be a coincidence "Hmm, yes but don't be hasty. Only destroy what you are sure you cannot recover" shortly after another transmission was received, this time from one of the alien vessels. They were setting their ship up as a ground for diplomacy if the translations were correct. Ephsor dismissed it, he wasn't interested in the other races at the moment so long as they weren't getting in the way. For now he was readying to move out, initial reports were saying that a particularly well-armed group was fortifying something around the outskirts of the town, as good a place as any to start.

Niryrk and his party followed the servitor as it tracked the signal. Niryrk ended his communications with Ephsor. "Understood." He gave his full attention to the task at hand. The servitor stopped dead on it's tracks. It made a slight wail. Niryrk ordered a vandal with a wire rifle to check it out. It's agility was impressive as it easily scaled the ruins walls. He aimed his wire rifle and shortly after, retreated down the wall. "There appear to be forced setting up a defensive point captain. They did not spot me and if we attack, we have the element of surprise." Niryrk contemplated the idea. He started to give out orders. Vandals with wire rifles began to climb onto vantage points for sniping positions. Several dregs and vandals awaited orders.

Niryrk used his comm system to reach Ephsor. "Found a position they are fortifying. Our snipers can see the entrance deeper into the ruins but the others block our path. We are going to engage. I'm having the servitor send you our location directly to your personal servitor." He ended the comm and prepared for a fight.

One the thugs turned his attention to hear a slight wail. He took a step to investigate when his body hit floor from an accurately placed wire rifle shot. This caused the others in his location to take cover. They weren't fully prepared so Niryrk had the advantage. The cause of the wail became apparent when a blast of void energy struck a turret rendering it nonfunctionable. Niryrk turned from his cover and opened fire. The dregs and vandals with him also began to open fire. The snipers in positions continued to look for anyone who poked their head to shoot. The firefight had begun.