Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam SEED, nor Star Wars, so... jizzamed...

"Speaking"

"Radio"

'Thoughts'

Chapter One: Winds of Discovery

Sol System

Lagrange Three

Nazca-class ship, Voltaire

Mobile Suit Hanger

Yzak Joule, a young man about 18 years of age with silver, jaw length hair and sharp blue eyes, frowned as he looked over the report for the freighter that the Voltaire was tailing, rotating his shoulders as he settled into his white pilot suit. The freighter, Blue Lagoon, was suspected to be a remnant of the now mostly defunct War Profiteers known as LOGOS. The freighter was moving off the designated shipping lanes for the area and moved far too irregular for people who were lost.

Looking over the hangar, he took in the four other units loaded into the hanger. Next to his own white ZGMF-X2000 GOUF Ignited, armed with a Slash Wizard pack, equipping his unit with a MA-MR Falx G7 Beam Axe and two MMI-M826 'Hydra' Beam Gatling Cannons loaded onto it's shoulders, was another, black, GOUF Ignited, that had been equipped with the M1500 'Orthos' High Energy Long Range Beam Cannon, currently folded up for storage on it's lower back, this GOUF Ignited was piloted by his second in command, Dearka Elsman, a blond haired, purple eyed man who was close to his own age with tanned skin and was wearing a black pilot suit, matching the colour of his unit.

Across from them were two standard GuAIZ R units piloted by Katie Courgas, a brown haired woman about two years younger than them with silver eyes, the other pilot was an older man named Lev Mikhail, a large man with a shaved head and piercing red eyes.

In between himself and the two units across from them was a rather unique unit, that many people would be surprised to find in a ZAFT vessel even just a year ago. The base of the unit was a GAT-02L2 Dagger L, coloured coloured white with black trim and red slash marks and has the symbol of a howling wolf on it's right shoulder that had been heavily modified, the head unit had it's basic face plate removed and a more human like one in it's place while on it's back were three shields that were equipped with an array of powerful pulse thrusters on the lower end and what looked like silver fins folded up underneath them, the two shields on either side were armed with a 300mm Hyper-Impulse Beam Cannon while the central shield was armed with several spray missile launchers, in addition to those it was armed with a modified M703K Beam Carbine.

This unit was piloted by a Mercenary named Ryu Hisanaga of the Fenrir Mercenary Guild that he founded with his wife, he was a couple years older than Yzak with short, military cut brown hair and dark green eyes, wearing a black armored flight suit with red highlights.

"So, Yzak," Ryu started over the radio, catching the pilots attention. "Kira wanted me to let you know that we're having a Barbeque after this patrol is finished, she wants you and Shiho to show up."

Yzak's eye twitched slightly, Kira Hisanaga, nee Yamato, was Ryu's wife of a five years now, having married during the First Bloody Valentine War, not long after the founding of the Fenrir Mercenary Guild. He had mixed feelings on the woman, on the one hand she was an amazing pilot, a brilliant hacker and software specialist with amazing charisma, on the other hand she could be extremely annoying with hacking into personal databases to get blackmail material and hacking shipboard computer systems for pranks when she was annoyed with someone.

"I'll be there," he informed with a defeated sigh, it was better to show up and deal with her then, than not showing up and dealing with the aftermath of her vengeance. "I take it you're going, Dearka?"

"Yeah, Mir's not really giving me a choice with that, really," Dearka informed, obviously shrugging as he spoke.

Ryu's laugh echoed over the SQUADCOMM. "Our women have us whipped, my friends," he informed. "Speaking of… was that you and Shiho I saw all snuggled up last week at Lacus' concert?"

Yzak was saved from the embarrassment of answering when the ship's Captain's voice broke out over SQUADCOMM. "All Pilots, prepare for launch!" he announced. "We are now catching up to Blue Lagoon!"

"Roger that, Joule Squadron is now launching!" Yzak announced as their units moved into position.

"This is Hisanaga in the Striker Dagger, I'll be launching too," Ryu announced as the modified Dagger L followed after them. "Getting bored just sitting around doing jack shit."

Dearka snorted over the radio lines. "Tell me about it," he agreed. "These patrols are boring as hell."

"Just shut up and stick to procedure," Yzak growled as their units were launched one by one, the fins under the Striker Dagger's shields unfolding as Ryu got into position. "Attention civilian freighter Blue Lagoon, come to a complete stop and prepare for Inspection Boarding!"

Instead of slowing, the thrusters on the Blue Lagoon flared as it picked up speed. "Cease or be fired upon!" Yzak warned. "This is your final warning!"

"They ain't listening," Ryu declared as they chased after the freighter, five Windams being launched from the freighter, two of them equipped with Aile Striker Packs, another two were equipped with Launcher Packs while the final one was equipped with a Sword pack. "Yup, I think it's safe to say negotiations are over…"

"Break and attack!" Yzak shouted as he opened fired with his 'Hydra' Beam Gatling cannons at one of the Aile Windams that pursued him.

The Sword Windam closed on the Striker Dagger, Anti-Ship Blade at the ready, while the other Aile Windam moved to cover the Launcher Windams as they moved to take a shot at the Voltaire.

"Feh, rookies," Ryu announced as his three shield boosters activated, launching him in a sudden burst of speed that allowed him to dodge the swing of the Sword Windam before the two side boosters tilted up and over the shoulders of his unit before the two Hyper-Impulse Beam Cannons fired, the twin beams engulfing the unit. "I'll deal with the Blue Lagoon! You got this here?"

"Yeah, we can handle this," Yzak replied as he dodged a Beam Saber Swipe from the Aile Windam before bisecting it with his own sword. "Dearka, take the ones going for the ship!"

"On it! Katie, Lev, on me!" Dearka ordered as he used his 'Orthos' Beam Cannon to distract the Launcher Windams from their own shots at the Voltaire.

"Roger," came Katie and Lev's replies as the two began firing on the Launcher Windams with Beam Rifle shots, even as Yzak closed on the last Aile Windam.

Ryu pushed the acceleration to the Striker Dagger further up as he was pressed against the back of his unit as he closed in on the Blue Lagoon whose minimal weaponry attempted to drive him off only for him to dodge the blasts with ease as he closed in on the freighter. He snapped up his Modified Beam Carbine, firing it in full auto at the ship's engines, quickly disabling them before putting the rifle away he fired at the weapon emplacements with the six 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, ensuring the ship was completely disabled. "The Blue Lagoon is now disabled," he reported. "How's it going, Yzak?"

"Just finishing up now," Yzak replied, impaling the last Aile Windam with his sword. Meanwhile, an 'Orthos' shot from Dearka took out one Launcher Windam, while tandem Beam Rifle Blasts from Katie and Lev destroyed the other. "Report in, everyone."

"Not even a scratch," Ryu informed as he took position over the Blue Lagoon. "Still bored though…"

"No damage here," Dearka informed as he sighed.

"I got dinged by a missile, I think it messed up my thruster control for my leg," Lev reported. "Still Combat Ready though."

"All clear here." Katie reported.

"Alright, people, let's get the Blue Lagoon secured then return to the Voltaire," Yzak remarked. "We'll rendezvous with the task force afterwards."

"Roger that!" came the response as they moved to secure the freighter.

Meanwhile - Bespin System

"Imperial Star Destroyers are coming in!"

"Shields at 51%! We can't take much more!"

"Fighter Screen is holding, but they can't keep this up forever sir!"

Moving quickly through the Bespin Star System was a single Venator-class Star Destroyer, colored a mixture of crimson red and dark yellow in color, with a symbol reminiscent of the old Mandalorian Mythosaur skull, colored dark yellow. The vessel, named 'Dauntless', was firing its heavy dual turbolaser turrets and other weapons backwards, as a pack of two Imperial I-class Star Destroyers, and three Victory II-class Star Destroyer's chased after them, firing their own respective weapons at the older Starship.

Fighting between them were swarms of Starfighters, as StarViper-class Attack Platforms and Z-95 Headhunters went toe-to-toe with TIE/LN Starfighters and TIE/sa Bombers. Though they were obviously holding their own, it was not looking good for the crew of the Dauntless.

On the bridge of the retreating Star Destroyer were several figures, the one standing at the front was a young man who appeared to be in his early thirties, with shoulder-length white hair, and green eyes wearing Mandalorian Neo Crusader armor minus the helmet, and was barking out orders.

"Tell the Fighters to finish up, and to head back to the ship!" he ordered. "We've almost got the Hyperdrive ready! Divert power to engines and shields! Tell Jaden he's had enough fun out there!" The crew all carried out their assignments, as the man sighed, turning to one of the other figures on the bridge.

"I certainly hope this was worth all the trouble here, Ab'yla." He said. The person in question was a Cathar woman, looked to be close the same age with short neck-length brown hair matching the fur over her body, and yellow cat-like eyes wearing a leather flight suit, a WESTAR-34 Blaster Pistol strapped to her side.

"It is, Zann," Tani Ab'yla said nodding, "With the Tibana Gas Mining facilities here damaged, it will take the Imperials time to get production going again. Plus all the data on Imperial movements in the sector is a nice bonus as well."

Tyber Zann nodded as the Dauntless continued on its course, its fighters returning to the hangar. "What's the Hyperdrive Status?" he ordered.

"Its almost charged!" the officer manning the Hyperdrive System said. "We can launch the moment the last fighters have returned!"

"Tyber, additional Imperial ships are approaching." Another figure, this one a Scaled Avian Talortai said, wearing simple green robes, wielding a pair of large metal blades. "They are coming at us head on, they are opening fire!"

"Jaden has returned sir, as have the others." the Operations Officer said, just as a salvo of Turbolaser batteries impacted against the shields. "Shields have dropped to 24%!"

"Jump, now!" Zann shouted, and not a moment later, the Dauntless's engines fired up, and accelerated forward before it vanished in a speck of light.

"Successful jump to Hyperspace…" The operator said with a relieved sigh, "We made it…"

"We're not out of the woods yet," Tyber said, "The Imperials could follow us… we need to be ready when we drop out." He glanced at the Talortai. "Urei, what's our condition?"

Urei Fen looked at the tactical screen. "We've sustained moderate damage," he said. "Port engines have been damaged, will need repairs. Tractor Beams are offline, and our Point Defense systems are at 2/3rds strength. Shields down to 15%, and need to be recharged after leaving hyperspace. Two of our Turbolaser Batteries have also been heavily damaged, and need repairs..." Urei then growled "The Hyperdrive is leaking as well… we need to repair it. However the back-up is still operating, but only at a rating of 15."

"The crew? And what of the pilots?" Tyber asked. "How many did we lose?"

"15 of our pilots were lost in the battle," Urei said, "And 102 of the men onboard the Dauntless were killed, and another 231 have been wounded, some critical."

Tyber sighed at that, as he leaned against the railings of the bridge. The losses were bad, but not nearly as bad as they could have been if they had stayed and fight, or if the Imperials had the brains to bring out an Interdictor Cruiser. "Send the word to get repairs started as soon as possible," he said. "And make sure the wounded get treated quickly as well."

Urei nodded, as he headed out to issue the orders. "What's our heading, ensign?" Tyber asked the officer behind the controls of the Hyperdrive.

"Well sir… options were limited…" The Ensign said, rather nervously, which did not bode well with Tyber. "I tried to find a route close enough, but we jumped before we could… lock them in…"

Tyber groaned. "Where are we heading, Ensign?" he repeated the question, sounding more aggravated.

"I uhh… tried to punch in the coordinates to the Endor System," he said. "We, uhh… could be a few… dozen… Parsecs off…"

"So you're telling us… we could either end up at Endor… or in wild Space?" Tani shouted. "Are you kidding me!"

"It's not that bad, Tani," Tyber began, but Tani looked at him incredulously.

"Not bad? We could end up in orbit of a damn star! Or inside a Black Hole!" Tani shouted, "This is why We don't do blind Jumps! They are TOO DAMN RISKY!"

"What's too risky?" A new voice said, as Tyber and Tani glanced to see a new figure walk on the bridge. Standing at close to 6'0, he was wearing what looked like a customized version of Mandalorian Shock Trooper armor, however with the addition of a Kama Command Skirt, and shoulder pauldrons, all colored primarily Red on Black with some green trimming. In his two holsters were DC-17 Hand Blasters, next to which were a pair of cyndrillical devices. The figure removed his helmet, revealing him to be a young man in his early twenties with short spiked black hair, and crimson red eyes.

"Ensign Kubas tried to get a hyperspace lock on the Endor System," Tyber said. "However, he wasn't able to lock the coordinates. So as Tani has so delicately explained, we could either end up at the star system… or anywhere around or between it."

The Mandalorian glanced at Tani and then the ensign. "It's not that bad," he said. "Believe me, I could name a lot of scenarios worse than this. However there is nothing we can do about it now other than to be ready… just in case the Imperials are crazy enough to follow us through a near blind jump."

"Exactly, Jaden." Tyber said, "It isn't the ensign's fault. We should use these moments to get ready for our next tangle with the Imperials, and try to make it back to Mandalore or one of our other Consortium Worlds."

Tani sighed, shaking her head "Whatever..." she said, as she moved to leave the bridge. "I need to do some repairs myself for the Shadowclaw." With that she headed to the turbolift, and headed down to the hangar.

Jaden Takeo sighed as he shook his head "How Matthew deals with her, I'll never know..." He muttered as he walked next to Tyber. "Well, at least we made it in one piece, eh Tal Vod (1)?"

Tyber smirked a bit as he chuckled. "Indeed we have," he said. "It could have been a lot worse, to be honest… do you sense anything, Jaden?"

Jaden frowned a bit, as he looked out into the blue void of Hyperspace. "As a matter of fact, I do," he said. "Though… its not danger or anything like that… it's like some kind of… awareness… I can't quite explain it…"

"What do you think it is?" Tyber asked, and Jaden shrugged.

"Can't really say," he said. "I'm not the best at seeing into the future, you know that, Zann. Even then, the future is never set in stone after all. It doesn't feel like Imperials… but we should be prepared for anything."

Tyber nodded at that, before looking at Jaden.

"Did you hear anything from Boc?" he asked, and Jaden smirked a bit at the mention of their friend, a fellow Mandalorian named Boc Werd.

"Last I heard, he's still gathering some recruits on the Outer Rim, and rescuing GAR deserters," he said. "He still hasn't been able to recruit Boba Fett."

Tyber sighed at that. "You know how Fett is, Jaden. He's a lone wolf to the end," he said, while Jaden shrugged.

"Boc's determined to recruit him, however," he said. "Jango led the original True Mandalorians, so who better to lead the New True Mandalorians than the son of Jango himself."

Tyber shrugged. "No skin off my bones." he muttered.

Later, Sol Council Task Force Alpha

Voltaire, Pilot Rec Room

Ryu yawned as he reclined on a rather cozy recliner, watching as Lev and Katie played a game of poker with some of the crewmen of the Voltaire. "Well, this was rather easy money," he announced as he shifted himself into a more comfortable position. "They really pulled out all the stops, hell, the Sol Council hired Terminal's Gungnir to be the Flagship for this task group."

"Yeah," Dearka remarked from another recliner nearby. "Some people might consider it overkill, but that doesn't really apply to hunting down Blue Cosmos."

"There's no kill like Overkill I suppose," Lev said with a small chuckle, "Though a bit of a challenge would've been nice for once."

"Hey! Be careful what you wish for, Lev. Anything that could happen, WILL happen." Katie warned before she placed her card deck on the table. "By the way, Full House."

"Oh come on!" Lev shouted, as he slapped his cards down. "Seriously?"

Katie just giggled. "Today's my lucky day," she said, as she collected her winnings. However, just moments later, suddenly warning alarms started blaring across the ship.

"Damn it Lev, you jinxed us!" Ryu groaned as he stood up. "Alright, let's see what's going on."

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Voltaire, Yzak entered the bridge "Report! What's going on?" He demanded.

"Sir, a contact just appeared at grid E-17," the Captain said. "It literally just appeared out of nowhere, and we detected no Mirage Colloid particles in the area. Its not matching heat or laser scans of any known ships in our database."

"And its fucking BIG, sir," The sensor officer said. "It's the same size as the Gondwana!"

Yzak's eyes blinked in surprise at that. "Are you serious?" he asked. "Check and see if there are any bugs in the ship's system."

"We have, sir. Twice," said the sensor officer. "The sensors are working fine. Whatever is out there is HUGE and just sitting there."

Yzak's eyes narrowed as he looked out in space, a few moments of silence passed before he issued orders again "Set course towards the vessel," He said, "Let's see if we can find out where this ship came from, and get our suits ready to head out."

Meanwhile - Onboard the Dauntless

"Sir! Gravity well detected!" the Sensor operator shouted from the console. "We're dropping out of Hyperspace!"

Tyber's eyes narrowed. "It's too soon to arrive at Endor," he said. "Looks like Tani was right…" he sighed. "Take us out of Hyperspace… let's see where we are."

A few moments passed, and the void of hyperspace vanished around the Dauntless, as it returned to real space. The crew were expecting a wide variety of things from black holes to stars and many other dangers of making blind jumps. However none of them were prepared for seeing the large blue planet, with a single dead moon.

Tyber blinked in surprise. "Hello, what have we here?" he asked. "Sensors?"

"It appears to be a Class-M world, sir." The Sensors officer replied, "Much like Alderaan or Corellia… single moon. And..." The officer blinked "I'm… also picking up radio chatter… I think this world is inhabited."

"Inhabited?" Jaden asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yes sir," The officer said, "Though I am picking up a lot of strange interference across the system, but it appears that - whoever these people are, they are in an early space flight civilization from the looks of things."

"Interesting…" Urei said. "An inhabited world the Empire has no knowledge of… perhaps we could sway the locals to the cause of the Rebellion and the Consortium?"

Tyber nodded at that. "It's Possible-" he began to say, before once again warning alarms went off, and one of the sensor officers cursed.

"Sith Spit! Victory I-class Star Destroyer, right behind us!" he shouted. "It's charging weapons!"

"RAISE SHIELDS!" Both Tyber and Jaden shouted simultaneously, as the Dauntless was taken up to Red Alert once again. "Turn us about 15 Degrees, fire everything we've got! All StarVipers, Headhunters, Y-Wings and Skipray's are cleared for emergency launch!"

Minutes Earlier - Voltaire

"What the actual fuck is that?" Lev asked, as the Voltaire's MS Complement had launched, and moved with their mothership as they approached the now easy to see contact. As their own sensors had identified, the vessel was indeed massive, rivalling the size of the Gondwana easily in length. However, its shape was very distinctive, being a dagger-like shape, with a large tower close to the end of the vessel, along with very large and obvious gun emplacements.

"What are the emission profiles?" Ryu asked the Voltaire's operator. "What can you tell us about them?"

"Whatever that thing is, it's got more power than the Eternal, Archangel and Minerva combined!" The Operator said. "I'm not picking up massive amounts of Radiation, so it's not nuclear powered or anything like that..."

Ryu was about to reply, however at that very moment, literally appearing from nowhere emerged a second ship - this one slightly smaller that the first and with a more triangular shape. Just seconds after arriving, the ship began opening fire with green beams of energy upon the smaller one, as the latter began to turn evasively.

"WHERE THE HELL DID THAT ONE COME FROM?" Yzak shouted in shock.

"I think it may be a Faster Than Light capable civilization we're dealing with here!" Ryu shouted out in return. "And from the looks of it, they are not friendly with each other."

"First contact… it's fucking First Contact..." Katie muttered in shock.

The two Dagger-shaped ships quickly began to duke it out against one another, as the larger vessel returned fire with blue beam of energy, along with some type of missiles. Soon launching out of both vessels emerged strange looking craft which resembled Mobile Armors in a sense - but one thing was certain, they were not earth in origin, as they watched the Fighters battle it out with one another, and the two larger ships brawled it out.

"Hisanaga to Gungnir, what are we doing, Odin?" Ryu asked the Veteran Ship Captain. "Let'em duke it out or get them to stop?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the comm, before there was a reply. "Gungnir to Hisanaga… try to hail them, break up that fight," Odin said. "Let's see if we can get them to negotiate."

"Roger that," Ryu confirmed before opening a broad spectrum comm frequency. "This is the Sol Council Task Force Alpha to the two unknown ships, we are herby ordering you to stand down for negotiations, non cooperation will result in you being fired upon."

There was a pause in the comm lines, however the battle seemed to continue. Then a reply came from an authoritative, arrogant - yet surprising human voice. "This is Captain Logkar of the Imperial Star Destroyer Intimidator," he said. "To the vessels belonging to this 'Sol Council', you are interfering with Imperial Operations to apprehend Traitors and dissidents! You shall not interfere, and you will prepare to surrender yourselves to the Galactic Empire, or face obliteration!"

Ryu sighed as he closed the channel. "Welp, there's our answer," he informed with a sigh. "Gungnir, which ship belongs to that arrogant asshole?"

"Transmission came from the smaller white one," Odin said, "You have my authorization to engage, Hisanaga. Reinforcements are en-route."

"Roger that, hope you don't mind Yzak, but I am now taking command of the mobile suit contingent," he informed as he flicked through the assorted units the task group had, including the Gungnir and the Voltaire, there were two Earth Alliance Drake-class escorts, another ZAFT Nazca-class Destroyer, an EA Agamemnon-class carrier, and finally two Terminal Hummingbird-class Interception Cruisers. "Hisanaga to all Mobile Suit Units, anyone damaged is to remain with the ships to act as a defensive screen, Spectres you are on Interception duties, everyone else, on my six, Ships will be firing an opening salvo and we'll close in."

Meanwhile - in the Battle

Jaden growled as he piloted his custom StarViper-class Attack Platform, as he flew it through the waves of TIE/LN Starfighters and Bombers "They sure as hell got a lot of e'm out here!" He shouted, "Someone keep those damn bombers off of the Dauntless!"

He accelerated after a pair of TIE Fighters which were making a run for the Dauntless's bridge, as he stayed behind him. He got the proper locks on both Imperial Fighters, and with two satisfying clicks of the controls, green energy beams arced out, as the lasers destroyed both TIE fighters before they could even get close.

It wasn't looking good for the Dauntless though, as their shields had yet to fully recover from the last battle and were barely holding together. While they were slugging out some damage to the Imperial starship Intimidator, it wasn't much. And while they were proving to be capable of standing up against the TIE Fighters, they were using their larger numbers to run classic Swarm tactics against them, taking them on two-on-one.

Jaden cursed as he banked left, narrowly avoiding another TIE fighter's barrage of laser fire. 'Force me, a miracle would be handy right now!' He thought.

Several blasts of green energy streaked across the empty void of space, impacting against the shields of the Victory I-class chasing them shortly before several snub fighter-esque fighters streaked through the battlefield, their missiles taking out several of the TIE fighters as what seemed to be a swarm of droids streaked in towards the Imperial Ships.

Jaden blinked "Da Fuck?" He said, as he watched the unknown contacts - likely from the planet they just discovered - engaged the TIE Fighters and the Intimidator. At first glance the Droid machines did not look very mobile, however a team of TIE Fighters opened fire on them, and the machines were capable of dodging the beam by meer millimeters, and returned fire with their own handheld energy weapons, some of them possessing sword and axe-like energy melee weapons - some even having a weapon surprisingly similar to a Lightsaber. And some of the Snub Fighters actually transformed into more of these deadly machines!

"Holy Shit…" He muttered in shock, as he saw the machines devastate the TIE Fighters in ways no one has done before. "Zann, are you seeing this shit?"

"I am, Jaden… though I can't believe my eyes," Tyber said on the comm. "But I'm glad they're helping us instead of them… how about we give them a hand?"

Jaden smirked at that. "I think we should," he said. "All squadrons, on me! Let's repay these guy's assistance with our own!" His StarViper moved forward, towards the Intimidator as numerous other Starfighters and Bombers moved to follow him. Jaden then keyed the open comm, hoping that one of the locals will receive him. "This is Commander Jaden Takeo to the Local forces, thank you for your assistance, but if you want to put a dent in that Star Destroyer, you need to take out its primary shield generators! They are the large sensor domes on top, though the shielding is strongest there, take them out and the whole shield goes down with 'em!"

"Roger that," a voice replied in, surprisingly, Galactic Common, before the droid that had what looked to be three mobile shields on it's back streaked away from the others, ducking and weaving through the blaster fire before it was right up next to the Shield Generators when it pulled out it's lightsaber like weapon and plunged it at the dome, struggling against the shield for a second before it broke through and into the generator, initiating a chain reaction before repeating the process with the other one and taking out the entire bridge with a final sweep of the sword.

And then every other machine opened fire on the Victory I-class Star Destroyer, as well as additional fire coming from their own vessels far off in the distance, targeting and disabling their weapons, engines and other systems which they deemed would remove the large vessel as a threat. Eventually, they rendered the entire Intimidator into nothing but a defenseless crippled hulk.

'Holy shit…' Jaden thought, as he watched the machines go to work against any remaining Imperial TIE's with their machines. "I gotta get me one of those!"

"Alright, Jaden, get back to the ship," Tyber said. "All flights, RTB. We don't want a fight with whoever these guys are, and we need to show them we're not here for one."

Jaden nodded in understanding. "Got it, returning to Dauntless," he said. "You might want to try contacting these guys Tyber, make sure they understand what's going on."

"Working on that now, opening wide frequency," he said as he sighed. "This is Tyber Zann, leader of the Zann Consortium and current Captain of the Star Destroyer Dauntless. To the unknown forces of this star system, we appreciate your assistance. We are recalling our Fighters and Bombers, and are standing down as requested. We didn't come here for a fight."

In response the unit with the three shields flew up to the bridge of the Dauntless, seemingly inspecting those on the bridge. "I am Ryu Hisanaga," the voice from before informed. "I thank you for your telling us the weakness of that ship, we will be boarding your ship shortly, I would like the members of the bridge staff to be present, in particular the… person at your left."

The Line was closed shortly after as the shielded unit flew away, several units bearing a similarity to it, each armed with an assortment of weapons taking it's place, sending an obvious message of 'no funny business'.

Jaden sighed, as their craft entered their respective hangar bays. "What do you make of this, Zann?" He asked.

"I believe we may be dealing with a First Contact situation to this people," Tyber said. "Judging from the way that machine looked and responded to Urai. I've studied Xeno Psychology during my time in the Imperial Academy, so it's my best guess." He sighed. "Well, we don't have much choice, so we'll go with this… me and Urai will be heading down to meet them, and I want you to be there with me Jaden."

"Already there," Jaden said. "I'll wait for you… by the way, those machines they use are freaking awesome! Force I hope we can get some of those…"

Tyber chuckled a bit. "You can be such a child sometimes, Jaden," he said, and his blood brother rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, see you in a minute," he said, as he unstrapped himself from the cockpit, and stepped out of the Starfighter onto the hangar.

A few Hours Later,

Aboard the ship-to-ship shuttle

Ryu sighed as he sat with the 'diplomatic team' that was heading over the Dauntless to begin initial diplomacy, with him was the Captain of the Gungnir, Commander Erik 'Odin' Corval, the Commander looked to be in his late fifties, although his age did little to detract from his presence, powerfully built with his golden blond hair beginning to grey, his Terminal Uniform immaculate and while he only had one eye, the other had been destroyed when a ship he had been commanding went down in flames, resulting in heavy scarring on the left side of his face, the one remaining crystal blue eye pierced through anyone who met his gaze.

With him was the Medical Officer of the Gungnir, Dr. Silver Toka, a woman in her mid thirties with blond hair and green eyes, wearing a black dress shirt and skirt under the white lab coat.

Yzak was representing ZAFT along with Dearka, who was currently flying the shuttle, and the EA ships sent the captain of the Drake-class, Ironhide, Captain Evan Wilson, a rather young man of 20 with dark brown hair and sea blue eyes wearing the standard EA Captain's uniform and his 2IC, Maria Chekov, a blond haired, blue eyed, russian woman in her mid to late twenties wearing the standard EA uniform with Lieutenant bars on her chest.

Ryu himself had been elected to represent ORB, mostly because the Chief Representative, Cagalli Yula Attha, was his sister-in-law, or, his wife's twin sister. "Dearka, how much longer?" he called out to the blond.

"We're coming towards the hangar bay the Dauntless has directed us to now," Dearka said. "So just a few more minutes."

Ryu let out a sigh as he looked over to Odin. "What have I done in my past, current, or future life, to earn diplomatic duty?" he groaned out. "That's Kira's job, not mine!"

Odin chuckled a bit. "I guess sometimes, we just gotta bite the bullet," he said. "Especially for something as big as this… First Contact with an alien civilization… one which has humans part of it. We're making history here Ryu."

Ryu shrugged in response. "Then it makes even less sense for me to come, but… oh well, what's a Merc to do?" he asked rhetorically. "But… it should be interesting, to say the least."

"I'm more worried about the crew of that other ship… the Intimidator was it?" Yzak asked, "Whoever this 'Galactic Empire' is, they don't seem like the kind of guys who enjoy negotiating, assuming the rest of them are like that Captain."

"Well, they can always send in a few mobile suits to check things out, worse comes to worse, I'm sure a Destroy or two will convince them to sit and talk," Ryu countered. "Although the Destroys are banned from use right now…"

"I think we can convince the council to make an exception for this case," Odin said, as the Shuttle continued forward, as it approached the hangar bay in question, passing through what they could only describe as an 'Air Shield' over the hangar bay door…

…only to slam down to the ground on the haul, as the crew felt the familiar feeling of Gravity upon them, as any items floating in zero G fell to the hangar deck.

"FUCKING HELL!" Dearka cursed out as he quickly fired off the positioning thrusters from below to lift the nose up long enough for the landing arms to deploy. "What the hell was that? It's like I was just suddenly on the Earth with this thing!"

"I think its safe to say they have more effective Artificial Gravity systems than we do," Odin said, sighing. "To be able to support gravity without any form of rotation… and it's likely they have this tech across their ship."

Ryu sighed as he stood up, checking his sidearm before picking up a scoped assault rifle. "Alright, security detail," he called out, catching the attention of three EA Marines who were selected for the security detail. "Check your safeties boys, if we ruin First Contact because of a misfire, I'll be personally taking it out of your hide."

The EA Marines gulped, but all of them nodded as they double-checked their safeties on their weapons.

"Well," Odin said as he stood up from his chair, "let's make history, ladies and gentlemen."

Outside of the shuttle stood Tyber, along with Urai and Jaden, as the Shuttle finally came to a stop "They seem to lack any form of Repulsorlifts…" Urai observed from its near crash landing. "Strange… most other species have at least some mastery of such technology."

"Well obviously, they are not like most species, Urai," Jaden said, his hands resting on the two cyndrillical objects on his belt. "But they sure as hell make up for it with those giant machines of theirs."

"Let's just hope we don't make them any more angry at us, like the Imperials did," Tyber said, as they watched the door of the shuttle open, as the first of the people of the star system left.

The first three out were obviously the security detail from the way they quickly scanned the room as the next person stepped off, wearing an armored black suit that was rather form fitting and carrying a scoped assault rifle along with several others, each wearing what looked to be military uniforms.

"I am Commander Corval, captain of the Terminal Warship Gungnir," the largest, and eldest, one announced as he stepped forward, the one wearing that black suit stepping up with him. "I was chosen to speak on behalf of the Sol Council for the time being."

Tyber nodded at that. "I am Tyber Zann, leader of the Zann Consortium and acting captain of the warship Dauntless," he said, as he gestured to his friends. "This is my second-in-command, Urai Fen, and Jaden Takeo, my Blood Brother and third in command."

The Commander nodded as he looked them over. "Do you mind telling us why those… gentlemen were pursuing you?" he questioned. "And why they were so… belligerent."

Zann sighed. "That's the Galactic Empire after all," he said. "Most of their top officers are utterly loyal to the ideals of the Emperor… and those who aren't are just greedy scumbags probably working in the pockets of the Hutt Cartel."

"The Zann Consortium, and more recently the Rebel Alliance, have been fighting the Galactic Empire for over Five Years - two in the Rebellion's case," Jaden said. "We hit them where it hurts, but… the Empire is very large, with most of the galaxy rallied behind the Imperial Navy, Army, Stormtrooper Corps, and their emperor. People don't like it, but… they are just too afraid to really stand up against the Empire, fearing the inevitable counterattack… or they're just in the good graces of the Emperor and could care less."

The Commander nodded slowly as he took in the information, looking over to Urai he point his chin at him. "I will admit to be curious as to your friend here, we have yet to encounter alien species outside of fossils."

"I am a Talortai," Urai spoke for the first time, "My people come from a planet many light-years from here… we are not the only species in the galaxy, as there are roughly thousands - if not tens of thousands of other alien species out there, some looking more… Human than I do, while others do not."

Corval hummed in response as he nodded. "Can you tell me how it was you got here?" he asked, glancing over to the man next to him. "We theorized that it was an FTL Drive of some kind…"

"Our Hyperdrives, yes," Tyber said. "We were in battle with the Imperials over the Bespin System, having just completed a Raid there. We entered into Hyperspace to escape… however, our ensign was unable to lock in proper coordinates to our destination, and we entered into a blind jump into wild space… where we ended up here - and the Imperials, as you have seen, were either brave or stupid enough to follow us."

"It looks like your ship received extensive damage," the black clad man commented, speaking for the first time in the meeting.

"Yes, we received quite a bit of damage from our first fight… and the Intimidator did a fair amount of additional damage," Zann said. "Our Primary Hyperdrive is heavily damaged, and our backup is barely functioning at all. Not to mention we received multiple casualties across the ship."

The Commander looked to the black clad man who shrugged. "We cannot promise you any aid outside of medical assistance," he said finally. "Anything else will be for the Sol Council to decide."

"Any assistance would be appreciated," Jaden said. "Most of the repairs we could pull off on our own… granted it would take quite a while to do so without any shipyards or ports."

"Like I said, it will be for the Sol Council to decide, Dr. Toka here will begin overseeing the transfer of some of our medical supplies and a few personnel," Corval informed, nodding to the woman wearing a white labcoat. "We will also escort you to Copernicus City for a meeting with the Sol Council."

Zann nodded as he turned to Jaden. "Jaden, could you escort the Doctor to the medbay?" He asked, and he nodded as he faced the doctor.

"Please come with me," he said, and Toka nodded as she walked forward. Jaden began to turn away, however he glanced at the figure with the scoped rifle for a moment, with a curious expression before he turned and lead the doctor to the med bay.

"We will be heading back to our respective ships now," Corval informed. "Contact us if you have any questions."

"We shall," Zann said nodding, "Again, thank you for your assistance."

Corval nodded as he and the other officer types headed back to the shuttle, the black clad man whistled sharply, making a circling gesture to the security detail. "Close it up, we're bugging out," he said to them. "Also, you mind shutting off whatever gravity control you have on in the hangar?"

"Of course," Zann said nodding, as he turned to one of the many engineers in the hangar bay. "Prepare to disable the gravity in the hangar bay so our guests may leave without any… further incidents," he said, and the engineer nodded as he went off to follow the order.

The man in black nodded in response as he entered the shuttle, the door sealing shut behind him.

"Dropping Gravity in ten seconds!" The engineer shouted, standing next to an R2 Astromech droid who was manning a Terminal. "Everyone hang on to something!" Ten seconds later, the artificial gravity was deactivated, as anything that was not strapped down to the deck started floating in mid air, as did the shuttle as its thrusters activated once more, and maneuvered out of the hangar's air shield. Moments after it left, the gravity was restored and the objects clattered back to the deck.

Zann sighed for a moment "Well, at least they are a reasonable people," he said, as he turned to Urai "See if we can fix what we can of the engines, and prepare to set course to the city they designated for us. I have a feeling that this will be a very… productive meeting."

Copernicus City, Two Weeks later, Sol Council Meeting Room

"…And that is my report on the initial contact with the… aliens, that arrived," Odin concluded. "Our… guests have been placed in the Three Suns Hotel here in Copernicus City while you deliberate on what happens."

Sitting in various chairs around Odin was the entirety of the Sol Council, filled with representatives of all of the nations of Earth and the Sol System. Including such countries as the Atlantic Federation, Eurasian Federation, United States of South America, Republic of East Asia, Equilateral Union, Oceanian Union, the South African Union, the Martian Colony, and of course, the Orb Union and the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty (ZAFT), the latter two sitting right in the middle of the meeting room, being Cagalli Yula Attha, and Lacus Clyne.

"Well, at the very least they were reasonable, and willing to negotiate." The President of East Asia said, "Unlike these… Imperials."

"What do we know about this 'Galactic Empire?'" The President of the South African Union asked.

"Not much, aside from what Tyber Zann told us," Odin said. "If the rest of the Empire is like the late captain of the Intimidator, negotiating with them on peaceful terms may be… difficult."

"It could be that this Tyber Zann is taking advantage of the situation to manipulate things to his favor," the Earth Alliance President, and older man the name in his late forties with greying brown hair and sharp blue eyes. "The crew of the Intimidator could be the exception rather than the norm."

"I doubt that, Mr. President," Odin said, shaking his head. "It's possible, but from what info we gained from them already, I believe there is at least some truth behind what he says."

"Shall we meet, with Mr. Zann himself, so that we may hear him speak?" Lacus spoke up politely. "We may be able to better judge him that way."

Odin nodded. "I believe he would be willing to speak with you all," he said. "He and his Second and Third in command can be here within the hour if you so desire."

Lacus looked around the room, as mutterings spread out. "I think it would be best if we met with them tomorrow," Cagalli spoke up, gaining the attention of the gathered representatives. "It would give us all time to prepare for what looks to be a rather… lengthy day."

After a moment or so of consideration, everyone else nodded. Cagalli's proposal did make a lot of sense, after all.

"Then we shall inform Mr. Zann of our meeting tomorrow," Lacus declared to the Council. "Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a good day."

Copernicus Harbor, Fenrir Israel-Class Assault Carrier 'Via'

Ryu yawned as he finally was able to get 'home', while they did own a rather nice villa on the coast of ORB, and several others around the world in assorted PLANT Colonies or Independent Colonies, it was always the Fenrir Flagship 'Via', named after his wife's deceased biological mother, that felt like his home.

It was, after all, the place where he had pretty much lived in with his family for a good four years now. "Daddy!" A pair of young voices shouted out, causing a smile to spread across his face as two young children, a boy and girl, came running out of the ship's docking port and to him.

"Shiro! Hitomi!" he shouted in return as he bent down and scooped the two up into his arms as they tightly hugged him, their arms around his neck as he stood back up, holding his twin children in his arms. "Have you two been good for mommy while I was away?"

"Uh-huh!" the two coursed as one, an odd thing about the two of them, they either always spoke in conjunction, or finishing each others sentences.

"Glad to hear it, you two," he informed as he walked into the ship, inside his wife of five years was waiting for him, he couldn't help but admire his 21 year old wife, her dark brown hair was tied up in a waist length ponytail that swished as she moved, her body was one that could easily make supermodels jealous, large breasts that matched her hips perfectly, creating a hourglass figure, she was currently wearing a plain blouse that hugged her curve with a pair of short blue jeans with a pair of knee high heeled boots. "Hey, Kira, I'm home."

Kira smiled at him. "Welcome home, Ryu," she said. "I heard about what happened on the patrol - not something you hear about every day."

Ryu chuckled as he kissed his wife on the cheek. "First Contact is never something you hear about everyday," he agreed as they moved deeper into the ship, heading towards the ship's cafeteria. "I think we won't be short on work for the foreseeable future."

"Can I ask what you mean by that?" Kira asked. "There's rumors flying all over the place."

"Had an, interesting… event, during the routine patrol," he informed. "Extraterrestrials decided to have a running gunfight on our doorstep, something tells me more will be showing up, we're going to want to call the Havok and get them here."

"I see…" Kira replied, nodding. "Yeah, consolidating our forces to be ready for anything would likely be a good course of action."

Ryu sighed. "I'll try and get you and Athrun onto the repair crew that the Sol Council will no doubt be sending, even if it's to get these people out of here," he informed her. "They have a completed FTL system, see if you and Athrun can understand and reproduce it."

Kira nodded. "That'll be interesting," she remarked. "Depending on just how it works, we might need to jury-rig it, but it definitely would be a great boon for us to have FTL travel."

Ryu nodded. "I'm not sure if I trust these people or not," he informed. "And I don't want to be reliant on them for new tech."

"Understandable," Kira remarked with a nod. "So… based on this initial encounter, what is the rest of the galaxy like?"

"Uncertain," Ryu informed. "I don't think even all of the crewmembers on the ship we took out were like it's captain, but… I think that when we see the Galaxy, we're going to see the Bloody Valantine Wars all over again."

Kira winced. "That doesn't sound good," she remarked. "Bloody Valentine Wars on a galactic scale… I can't even imagine just how brutal that would be."

Ryu nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I want some of our commandoes out there gathering information as soon as we can," he said with a sigh. "But… that can wait, for now, let's get something to eat, shall we?"

Kira nodded. "Yeah, let's," she said, joining him as they headed for the Mess Hall. "I got a message from Lacus earlier today - she said she'd be joining us after the council meeting."

Ryu smirked as he butted his elbow against his wife's side. "Wonder when someone will actually work up the nerve to call her on our… relationship…" he said teasingly. "It's the most open secret in the world."

Kira chuckled. "Yeah, I guess it is," she replied. "Well, we'll need to see what happens… though I think that people are more focused on Cagalli and Athrun's relationship than they are ours with Lacus."

Ryu chuckled. "A former ZAFT Red Coat, turned Mercenary, snuggling up cozily with the 'Lioness of ORB'?" he let out a snort. "Surprised Cagalli hasn't assaulted the Paparazzi yet."

"Agreed," Kira remarked. "She always had a short fuse… and I've heard a rumor that they've possibly added one of the Hawke siblings to their relationship… They both told me it was baseless - and Cagalli vehemently swore that she both wasn't bi and wouldn't dream of sharing Athrun with anyone - though you have to admit, Lunamaria and Meyrin have both been visiting ORB a lot, and they both have had at least minor crushes on Athrun. Something like that's a press nightmare magnet - and Cagalli's really losing her patience."

Ryu chuckled again. "Hm, maybe we should invite the four ladies on an… extended vacation to Mars or something," he suggested. "Y'know, to get away from the press and all the stress of their jobs."

Kira smiled. "Yeah, that'd be a good idea," she replied. "We'll need to see about doing that soon."

Ryu nodded in agreement. "Hopefully before whatever is going on in the galaxy at large boils over to us," he murmured as they arrived at the ship's cafeteria, that took cues from the Minerva and fashioned it much like one would a cafe, although there was a buffet style set up, the ship's cook, Hanami Hisanaga, nee Yukikaze, his younger brother's wife and fellow mobile suit pilot, made quite a bit of food every day and loaded the buffet table with it for breakfast lunch and dinner. "Looks like Hanami and Jin returned, how bad did the staff complain about the decrease in food quality?"

"Pretty badly," Kira remarked. "She's one of the best cooks I know, even better than Shinn."

Ryu snorted. "I swear, Commandos are the biggest bunch of whiners I have ever worked with, give them rations they complain they're dry, give them a home cooked meal, they complain there isn't enough, I think it's all they're good for sometimes," he confided to his family, sending the twins into a fit of giggles.

Kira giggled, as well. "That does sound typical for at least our Commandos," she replied.

"Well, maybe once they get some food in them they'll be able to do some real work," he informed. "Sol Council wants us to get feet into the ship we captured as well."

"Right," Kira replied. "Will definitely be interesting to take a look at what they can do. Anyone else going to be sending teams?"

"Terminal and the EA," Ryu informed. "We're the groups with the best ground and raiding forces so, they got elected to send in troops, we got hired to do so."

Kira nodded. "Well, definitely going to be fun working with Take-nii again," she remarked with a smile.

Ryu smirked. "It'll be busy for the next while, that's for sure…" he informed, before turning to the twins who were eagerly digging into their own food. "So, what have you munchkins been up to while I was gone?"

Meanwhile - Three Suns Hotel

Copernicus City

"What's your take on the people here, Jaden?" Zann asked, as he, Urai and Jaden were now gathered in their suite in the Three Suns Hotel, having stayed there for roughly a week after the Dauntless entered the city. During their stay they had gone over much of the history and culture of the planet, focusing mostly on more recent history. This of course caused them to learn about the Bloody Valentine Wars, George Glenn, GENESIS, and Requiem among other events in history which shocked and surprised them to no end.

Now, having been told that they would finally meeting the Sol Council tomorrow, they needed to discuss how they should approach the council. Jaden himself sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, they may be a bit… unpredictable." He said, "According to their history, it has only been a few years since the last war ended. While they have managed to recover from most of the damage, they still are not up to 100%. And there are still those who have… distastes between the whole Coordinator vs Natural dilemma they face."

"Do you think they will help us?" Zann asked, and Jaden shrugged.

"Can't say," he said, "They are certainly interested in the technology we have - and we haven't even shown them the good stuff yet. Though they may not be able to give us direct help, we might be able to arrange a technology trade. However that's if they trust us."

Urai nodded at that. "Indeed," he said. "They have only had the experience of dealing with one Imperial Starship, and have only made contact with us. It is possible that they believe we are trying to take advantage of them. As far as they know, we could be lying, and its the Empire that is being overrun by our forces and the Rebels."

"Another 'visit' by the Empire should change that," Zann said. "Assuming they can find this star system, of course."

"They'll be back, that much is certain," Jaden said. "The local Imperial Admiral won't just ignore the disappearance of a Star Destroyer, and that will lead to an investigation. And its very likely that whatever Starships didn't follow us in our Blind Jump will have likely gained the same Coordinates the Intimidator received. All we can do is try to make sure this system is as prepared as they can be when they come back for their ship."

Zann nodded. "Still, we need to gain their trust," he said. "Otherwise we won't be going anywhere… any ideas?"

Jaden closed his eyes, as he thought about the potential solutions. However he then opened his eyes and smirked "I got an idea," he said, getting the two's attention. "If they want proof of the Empire's atrocities… we'll give it to them." He pulled out his Commlink, and activated it. "Jaden to Shara, you reading me?"

"I got you," A male voice said, "What is it?"

"I need you to send me all of the data we have in the history banks, dating back to the years leading to the Clone Wars to all modern records and recordings we have since." Jaden said, "Along with my own personal recordings from my helmet HUD Camera. They have enhanced encryption, right?"

"Yeah, they all are." Shara said, "I'll get them sent over ASAP."

"What are you planning?" Zann asked, curious.

"They want proof, we'll give it to them," Jaden said, smirking. "The Dauntless has tons of historical footage from the Clone Wars, all the way up to the war today, including every last war crime the Empire has committed since that the Dauntless has witnessed - plus the accounts we got from the Rebellion, and my own recordings from my HUD Cam."

"Couldn't they just dismiss them as forgeries?" Urai asked, but Jaden shook his head.

"No, I believe this civilization has advanced enough technology to tell whether or not a 2D Holo Recording is a Forgery or not," he said. "Given they have people who have that much experience in such things. We will request that the Council brings with them someone who specializes in these kinds of things, who will confirm that our recordings are legitimate, and untampered. Since they have an enhanced encryption level, that will further help prove that these files are untampered in any way."

Zann nodded. "It could work," he said. "But if you're including your Recordings… are you including the Vector mission?"

Jaden frowned a bit, as he was silent for a good few minutes before he sighed "Yes… they need to know exactly what the Empire is willing to do for galactic conquest…" he said. "If they have to see what we went through on the Vector… so be it…"

Zann sighed, but nodded as he trusted his judgement. "Alright Jaden," he said, "I'll leave that part up to you… but now we had best get ready for a big day tomorrow."

The Next Day, Sol Council Meeting Room

"Gentlemen of the Dauntless," Lacus announced clearly to the gathered representatives along with the crew members of the Dauntless. "I apologize for the delay, but… welcome to Copernicus City, I hope that you found your accommodations to your pleasure, please, have a seat and we will get started, my name is Lacus Clyne, and I am the spokesperson of the Sol Council and former Supreme Chairwoman of ZAFT."

"A pleasure to meet you, Chairwoman Clyne," Tyber said, as he sat in the middle of the room, with Urai and Jaden on his flanks sitting next to him. "As you know, my name is Tyber Zann, leader of the Zann Consortium. This is my second-in-command, Urai Fen, and my blood brother and third-in-command, Jaden Takeo. We thank you for allowing us to speak to the council today."

Lacus smiled in response as she bowed. "We will now begin hearing what you have to say," she informed. "We will try to hold off our questions till the end, but we may need you to clear things up for us."

"Thank you," Zann said, "Well then, no use in wasting time… have you brought someone who fits the criteria we requested?"

"We have," Lacus said, as she gestured to the woman standing next to her, being none other than Kira. "This is my friend Kira Hisanaga, she is the best computer expert the Sol Council has."

Zann nodded, as he turned to Jaden who brought out a small device. "I brought with me a device which should help explain things," Jaden said. "It's a Hologram Projector, filled with all of the historical data we have, along with the mission records of the Dauntless herself, as well as my own Mission reports from my HUD Cam. These records are all unedited, placed under enhanced encryptions. However I wish for Miss Hisanaga here to confirm that all of these records are unedited as we show and explain them to you. "

Kira blinked a couple times, before she nodded and stepped forward to Jaden and accepted the Hologram Projector from him. She then walked back to Lacus' side before using her holo laptop to scan the projector.

A couple moments passed, before she nodded. "What he says is true," she said. "I don't detect any anomalies that would suggest forgery - and neither does Axl."

Lacus nodded, as Kira handed the projector back to Jaden. "You may proceed." She said.

Jaden turned to Zann, who nodded as he set the projector in the middle of the room. "This may be a bit lengthy, but it is important," he said, as he pressed the proper commands into the Terminal. A beam of light came out of it, and appearing overhead was a large Holographic image of a spiral galaxy - their galaxy, causing several of the Councilmen and women to look in awe.

"As you may know, this is our Galaxy." Jaden began, "A little over Twenty years ago, the galaxy was ruled by the Galactic Republic, founded over 4,000 years ago. It has been the reigning superpower of the galaxy for thousands of years. And after the New Sith Wars roughly 1,000 years ago, the Republic had entered a 'Golden Age'." The Hologram displayed images of alien worlds, some with massive planet-spanning cities, and massive stations in space which could rival that of the Colonies. Once again, causing many to look on in awe.

"However… roughly 20 years ago, the Republic had begun its decline," Jaden said. "Corruption had begun to seep through the Senate, as more Senators fell into the pockets of the likes of the Hutt Cartel, or the Black Sun Pirates. Since the Republic had disarmed and dismantled their Military Forces after the New Sith Wars and the assumed extinction of the Sith, the Judicial Forces were unable to maintain order, as numerous outer rim worlds were raided and attacked by Pirates."

The images then switched to numerous vessels opening fire on smaller, lightly defended vessels which did not seem to resist, as well as showing massive slug-like aliens dealing with other species, the creature itself causing several of the councilors to recoil in disgust.

"And it only got worse, as Corporations like the Trade Federation, Techno Union, and Banking Clan were given seats in the Republic Senate, in exchange of ensuring the protection of their Hyper lanes from Piracy." He continued, "As you could seen in the image, Corruption did not stop. And many of the outermost worlds were beginning to become increasingly dissatisfied with the Republic's actions."

"21 years ago, these worlds seceded from the Republic, and became the Confederation of Independent Systems, CIS or Separatists." Jaden said, "Their fighting force coming from the massive Droid Armies that the likes of the Trade Federation and other Corporations provided, after signing the Treaty of Geonosis." There were images of massive factories, trugging out thousands of humanoid - shaped robots and other large machines of war, and numerous massive Starships being built in shipyards.

"At this rate, the Republic was doomed," he said. "With no Army to protect itself from the Separatists, they were defenseless… however one journey by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered the planet of Kamino… where he discovered that another Jedi Master, named Sifo Dyas had commissioned the Kaminoans to create a new Grand Army for the Republic… a Clone Army."

There were images of massive white buildings, and the councilors watched in shock as they saw tens of thousands of men, all of whom looked identical training with various weapons, children manning computers, and men donning white colored suits of armor. "These Clones were created from the DNA of one of the greatest warriors of our galaxy, the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Jango Fett." There were brief images of a man wearing silver and blue armor which looked very similar to Jaden's, fighting numerous enemies, dual-wielding pistols and flying building-to-building on a Jetpack.

"With this Army… the Republic was capable of Fighting the CIS… and thus the Clone Wars began," Jaden said. With that, numerous battlefields were shown, as CIS Droid Armies clashed with the Clone armies of the Republic. Across deserts and under oceans, in urban conflict to open grassy plains they fought, and massive space battles overhead covered the skies as Starships and Fighters clashed, entire cities destroyed, and numerous lives lost. Many of the onlookers watched in shock, including Kira and Lacus, watching it all unfold. 'This is worse than the Bloody Valentine Wars combined...' they thought.

"The War continued for nearly four years," Jaden continued. "Until it finally ended…" but he shook his head. "But it did not end the way anyone wanted… as it was too late when the galaxy discovered the real reason behind the war, the Clone Army, and countless other acts that predate the war itself."

The council looked both confused and intrigued by this, but they could all tell that the answer was not going to be one they like. "The Jedi Order… were the keepers of peace and justice of the Old Republic," Jaden explained, as the holographic image showed a massive elaborate temple-like structure in the middle of a city. "Long allies to the Republic… they followed their interpretation of the Will of the Force for tens of thousands of years."

"Excuse me, but… the Force?" Lacus asked.

"I'm getting to that," Jaden said. "The Force… in its basic terms, is a lifestream… an energy field which connects all living things across the galaxies. It surrounds us, and it's what binds the universe together. The Jedi were among some of the few called 'Force Sensitives', people who are capable of tapping into the Force, and accomplishing many abilities which would be impossible otherwise…" Jaden then raised his right hand, and several Councilors watched in shock as several objects in the room from water glasses to chairs lifted up into the air, before being gently set back down. "I myself, am a Force Sensitive… though I am not a Jedi for… various reasons."

"Amazing…" Lacus whispered slightly, never having seen anything like this before. Kira's eyes were also wide… then she felt very… strange when she felt Jaden use the Force 'What… what is this feeling?' she thought. 'It's like my Awareness but… it's not danger or anything...'

"The Jedi are among those who can use the Force… but they are not the only ones." Jaden continued, "They and the Republic have one enemy… one which has been plaguing them for thousands of years… the Sith Order."

The hologram then displayed numerous battlegrounds, not those of the Clone Wars, but of battles carried out by massive amounts of men and women in robes, some wielding blades of energy colored green and blue, while others wearing darker robes had blades of crimson red. "The Sith Order are the long enemies of the Jedi. While the Jedi use the light side of the force to promote peace and justice… the Sith are considered pure evil, using the Dark Side of the force to bring chaos and destruction across the galaxy."

"Five times the Sith brought the Republic to its knees," he continued. "But each time the Republic and the Jedi prevailed… after the New Sith Wars, the Jedi assumed the Sith were wiped out with the last Sith Lord dying at Ruusan… They couldn't have been more wrong."

"One Sith and his apprentice escaped," Jaden said, as a dark humanoid figure appeared. "A Sith Lord, whom we only knew as Darth Bane. He kept the Sith alive over 1,000 years, with the establishment of a new Sith Order, with a new Sith Code… the Rule of Two. One Master, and One Apprentice. One to have power, and one to crave it. It was a system where the Apprentice is destined to slay the Master, and take up the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. And this process continued… for a thousand years, as the Sith waited, planned and plotted the downfall of the Jedi and Republic."

"The Clone Wars was all devised by the Sith Lord of the time," he said, as the image showed an elderly man, wearing elegant robes as thousands of people cheered up at him, as he stood on a balcony. "Supreme Chancellor Palpatine… elected after the Naboo crisis of his homeworld, and held office in the Republic longer than anyone before him. The people adored him, as he wanted nothing but peace and prosperity for the Republic… or so they thought."

"Palpatine was in truth, the Dark Lord of the Sith at the time, and still is today." Jaden said, "Known by his Alias to the Separatists… Darth Sidious. He planned out the entire war for decades, and was the true person who founded the Clone Army. He was in a position where he was capable of controlling both the Republic and the Separatist forces… slowly weakening the Republic, while ensuring the CIS never went all-out against them. All of this was to exhaust the Jedi Order, as their numbers were spread out across the galaxy, disconnected and tired from the War."

"Then… it all came to an end 19 years ago," Jaden said as he sighed. "The Jedi finally caught on to who Palpatine really was, and attempted to arrest him for treason… but all four Jedi Masters who were sent to apprehend him were killed by Sidious, and his new Apprentice Anakin Skywalker… now known as Darth Vader. He used this incident to claim the Jedi had turned on the Republic… and initiated Order 66… and Operation:Knightfall… as the Clone Troopers across the galaxy… turned on their Jedi Generals, killing them."

Jaden paused for a moment as he sighed. "I warn you… these next few images are very… graphic," he warned. "These are records taken from the Jedi Temple, and across numerous other Battlegrounds across the galaxy."

Several of the councilors - Lacus, Cagalli, and Kira included - gulped but nodded for him to continue.

The video image then showed a large battlefield, where Clone Troopers marched across a snowy bridge as massive Droids opened fire on them. Leading the charge was a Jedi with a large head, wielding a blue lightsaber as he deflected laser shots with it. "Come on!" he shouted, as the Republic troops advanced.

However the video zoomed in on one trooper wearing a red uniform, as he answered a small holographic device where a dark hooded figure appeared. "Commander Barrac… Execute Order 66," the sickly, evil voice said, causing several councilors to shiver at.

"At once my lord," The Trooper said, as he signaled the troopers to form up, as they raised their rifles again… but not at the Droids, but at their own Jedi General. He looked surprised as he saw them point their weapons at him… and then they opened fire. He deflected the first few shots, but being caught completely by surprise, he was eventually gunned down, and he fell to the ground dead.

This scene was repeated across several other battlefields. Clones on Speeders shot one Jedi off of her own speeder, Clones in Starfighters gunned downed the ones manned by their Jedi Generals, and on massive forest worlds Clone Commandos gunned down a Jedi repetitively until she lied unmoving.

Then the scene switched to a massive column of Clones marching into the Temple, led by a single hooded figure with a Lightsaber. It then skipped ahead, showing the Clones assaulting the Temple, blasting and attacking anyone wielding a Lightsaber with brutal efficiency. But it did not stop there as numerous security guards tried to defend the Jedi, only for themselves to be utterly destroyed by the Superiorly trained Clones. But that was not all, as they watched in shock as numerous people who were unarmed were lined up and executed firing squad style.

The scene then switched to the hooded figure stepping into a room with several chairs, where coming out from behind them appeared - to the councilors shock and horror - children of various species.

'Oh no, don't tell me…' Kira thought, her eyes wide.

"Master Skywalker?" A blond-haired human child asked, coming out of the cover. "There are too many of them, what are we going to do?"

The man, Skywalker, looked at the children before him, before he drew out his Lightsaber, activating it as the Child stepped back in shock.

"I think, that will be enough," Lacus announced, seeing her friend's distress and rage as her amethyst eyes memorized the man's face. "There are some parents here right now."

Jaden nodded. "I understand," he said as he hit a command which skipped the video ahead. "What you saw… was Order 66. Unknown to the Jedi, all Clones had a microchip implanted into their brains… which ensured absolute utter loyalty to the Supreme Chancellor, and forces them to comply with the 150 Contingency Orders all Clones must Obey. Order 66 was placed as a method to remove the Jedi as a threat in the event they betrayed the Republic… which Palpatine used to ensure nothing of the Order survived, ensuring that all Jedi, be they Masters, Knights, Padawans, or Younglings were eliminated, and any Temple Workers or guards were also killed. The following night, Palpatine called forth this meeting."

The screen then changed to a massive chamber, filled with various species. The screen being shown in a POV next to a man and a woman. In the center of the room was Palpatine, wearing black and red robes, however his skin now looking burnt and aged.

"And the Jedi Rebellion has been foiled," he said, in that sickly voice of his. "The Remaining Jedi shall be hunted down, and defeated!" There was a large applause from the many senators around him. "The attempt on my life… has left me scarred and deformed… but I assure you, that my resolve has never been stronger!"

"In order to ensure the security and continued stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the FIRST! GALACTIC EMPIRE!" he shouted, with a roaring applause following his words. "For a safe and secure society!" The countless species cheering and applauding the Sith Lord, standing before him as he raised his hands in triumph in his ultimate plan of control and conquest.

"So this is how democracy falls…" the woman standing next to whoever the Camera belonged to said. "With a Thunderous applause…"

"Sidious became the First Sith to do something that no one before him could," Jaden said, his eyes narrowed. "He toppled the Galactic Republic, and not only destroyed the Jedi Order, but he also made it so the Jedi appeared as criminals across the galaxy, effectively securing the dominance of the Empire. That was all 19 years ago… the Galactic Empire has become even stronger with most of the last Separatist Holdouts wiped out. Countless worlds have been subjugated, their cities turned to ruins and ashes, and their species enslaved."

The images then switched to soldiers wearing armor similar to Clone Trooper armor, but much different now. As they march across streets, and guard large columns of aliens whose hands were bound by metal chains across burning landscapes that once were their homes. Massive Star Destroyers bombarding planets from orbit, causing their populations to flee in terror, but it was all pointless as they too found themselves destroyed by orbital Turbolaser fire.

"Any Jedi who may have survived Order 66, was either hunted down like animals, or they went into Exile, discarding their Jedi past and heritage." Jaden said, "Many became hermits, or turned to... other solutions just to survive, like bounty hunting or smuggling. I know not how many Jedi survived the purge… if I had to guess, less than a hundred."

"While for all these years, no one stood against the Empire," Jaden said. "That was until me and Zann founded his Consortium..." the images switched to figures wearing armor similar to Jango and Jaden's, rappelling down from cables as they assaulted an Imperial-controlled building, and smaller Starships fighting against equally sized Imperial ones. "It first started off with us wanting to liberate our homeworld of Mandalore… but our size grew more and more, and our goal spread to saving the galaxy from the Empire's grip. And in recent years, the Rebel Alliance has come to as well… but even with their help, we still struggle to fight off the Empire's forces."

"Not many rally to our cause because of fear," he continued. "And I admit, they have reason to… The Empire has near infinite resources, ships from Kuat, troops from Cardia, and numerous other worlds support the Empire either out of fear or loyalty. And now… our allies in the Rebellion claim the Empire is making multiple new Doomsday weapons, one of which, they believed is still in development, called the 'Death Star'… from what the Rebels say… you can compare it to your own Superweapons, GENESIS and Requiem… only it does not sterilize a world… it shatters it in a supernova blast, leaving nothing but rubble in its wake."

The councilors were horrified that such a weapon could exist, with Lacus lowering her head solemnly, as she visualize a weapon of that magnitude being used by people like Patrick Zala, Muruta Azrael, Djibril, or worse, Rau Le Creuset. Kira, after seeing the images of all the enslaved civilizations, numerous deaths, and now these 'Monster Weapons' was clearly despising the Empire, more than she despised Blue Cosmos or Le Creuset.

"The Empire will not hesitate to use such a weapon on Rebel or Consortium sympathetic worlds," Jaden said. "And they would certainly not hesitate to use it on a world that does not bow down to them… like your world. The Empire doesn't negotiate, they Subjugate. They don't want peace, they want control. And the Emperor and Vader do not care who gets in their way to achieve their goal of total galactic conquest. While the Rebellion and Consortium will continue to fight on… with the way the war is going now, the odds are very much stacked against us."

"You seek our assistance, don't you?" Lacus summarized, getting straight to the point. "Is that correct?"

"In a nutshell, yes," Jaden said, glancing at Zann for a moment, before he continued. "I understand, however… that despite it being several years since your last war ended, you are still recovering from your losses, we could never ask you to fully throw yourselves into this conflict… however any aid you could give us to bring this war to a quicker end before even more lives are lost would be greatly appreciated. The Mobile Weapons you possess… Mobile Suits, they are far superior to any machine the Empire currently has in their arsenal, making their current mainstay Walkers and TIE Fighters look antiquated, even surpassing the Rebel X-Wing and our own StarVipers. For any aid you gave us… we would be more than willing to establish technological trades with you, from our starship's Hyperdrives, to our own weapons, medical technologies… anything."

He then glanced down for just a moment. "I don't want to see another world turned to ashes from orbital turbolaser fire…" he said, "I don't want to see columns of innocent civilians, both alien and human, be enslaved or executed for simply standing for their ideals. I don't to have to tell another son, daughter, mother or father that their loved ones won't be coming home." He then glanced up. "I am a Mandalorian… we are no strangers to War and Battle in general… but these actions that the Empire use against not only us, but against the entire galaxy… is nothing less than a massive series of War crimes over and over. This war has to end before it destroys the entire galaxy… it will be like both of your Bloody Valentine wars… multiplied by a hundred fold, if the Empire gets their way."

Lacus smiled at him kindly. "I understand your concerns, more than you realize, Mr. Takeo," she informed kindly. "The Sol Council will now undergo deliberation, please, return to your Hotel for the time being, I fear that this will be a most… heated discussion."

Jaden nodded, as did Zann and Urai. "I thank you for hearing us out," he said, as he made a small bow "May the Force be with you, Miss Clyne." And with that, the three stood up, left the council chambers.

"Color me impressed," Zann said. "You'd make one hell of a speech giver, Jaden, maybe even a politician?"

Jaden snortd. "Hell no, but thanks anyways," he said. "All I did was tell them the truth Zann. We are Mandalorians, we enjoy war and battle, true… however we are not like the old Death Watch or Ancient Mandalorians. We will not support mass Genocide like the Imperials do, nor will we ever again. Pointless suffering brings no good to this galaxy… the people of this world understand this more than most people in the rest of the galaxy do."

"Indeed," Zann said with a small sigh "But, anyways… nothing more we can do today… we best get back to that hotel, and wait for them to summon us again… "

The Next Day, Sol Council Chambers

"I apologise for the Delay," Lacus informed as the visitors took their place in the Chambers. "Our… discussions were most spirited."

"We assumed as much," Zann said nodding. "I know Jaden gave you all much to think about… though I would assume you have come to a final decision?"

"We have, and…" she offered them a sad smile. "I am afraid that we are in no position to give you aid, as it stands right now, the risks are far too great if we were to join you in your battle, as you know, we are only just beginning to recover, and tensions are still deep between our nations, and some wounds haven't even began to heal, as of right now, our anonymity is our greatest defense. I am deeply sorry, but the Sol Council cannot lend you any aid at this time."

"However," Cagalli added, "though we can't give any direct aid in your fight, we will be able to repair your ship for you, so you can return."

Both Jaden and Zann sighed mentally, however they both realized this was a possibility from the start. "Any help would be appreciated," Zann said, as he glanced at Jaden, nodding as he stood up. "Of course, we would feel rather… guilty of us if you received nothing in return for the hospitality you have given us and our crew these past few weeks… therefore, as a token of our gratitude, we wish to donate the backup Hyperdrive of the Dauntless to the Sol Council. Once the repairs to the main Hyperdrive are completed, we will not need it… I believe it will do you more good than us. It's old, but it will get you where you need to be."

Lacus smiled at him kindly. "We thank you for your kind donation," she informed gratefully. "I do sincerely wish you the best of luck with your struggle, and I hope you do enjoy your respite here, however brief it may be."

"And thank you, for what aid you have given us, Miss Clyne," Jaden said, as the three of them stood. "We wish you and the rest of the people of the Sol System continue on prosperously, and may the force be with you all."

"May the solarwinds be on your back during your travels," Lacus returned. "I now call this meeting of the Sol Council to a close."

As the meeting went out, Tyber, Jaden and Urai stepped out the same way they came in "Well, that could have gone better…" Zann muttered.

"It also could have gone worse," Jaden added, "I'm not surprised that they decided this course of action… honestly, if our positions were swapped, would we have reacted any different? They only recently came out of two major wars that cut their population nearly in half over the course of four years. We should be glad they are giving us even this amount of aid."

Tyber nodded as they walked through the hallway, only to pause as Kira approached them, a kind smile on her face. "Hello, we haven't been officially introduced, I'm Kira Hisanaga, co-founder to the Fenrir Mercenary Guild," she greeted them, giving them a slight bow of her head. "I am coming to you on behalf of Representative Attha, she would like to invite the three of you to dinner tonight."

The trio blinked in surprise at that. Tyber glanced at Jaden and Urai, who both shrugged. "We… would be honored, Miss Hisanaga," he said. "I will admit though, this seems rather… sudden."

Kira gave an understanding smile, a small spark in her eye. "Well, for us, politics have always been on the… quick side, many decisions have had to be made very quickly," she informed. "And many of those who now serve as the leaders of Nations have served in the wars and have a… unique approach to things."

Zann rose an eyebrow at that, glancing once more at Jaden, and while he was wearing his helmet, Zann could tell his blood brother was smirking as he nodded. Tyber in turn nodded as well "Well… then we shall be there." He said, "Just give us a time and place."

Kira smiled. "About seven local time," she informed. "Garden Plaza Restaurant, I wish you a pleasant night, gentlemen."

As she walked away, Jaden and Tyber exchanged looks. "What do you think, Jaden?" Zann asked.

"I think… we may be getting more help than we were lead to believe…" Jaden thought. "But let's not get too hopeful…" he sighed. "Well, I suppose we have a busy night… " He glanced at his armor and sighed "It's times like these I wish Mandalorians had a dress code outside of heavy armor at all times…"

That Night, Garden Plaza Restaurant

"Welcome, gentlemen," the hostess greeted the three Mandalorians as they entered the open air, garden restaurant. "Ladies Cagalli and Lacus are waiting for you, please, follow me."

Jaden grunted slightly, as he adjusted the collar of the uniform he now wore - a modernized version of the Old Republic officer uniform utilized by Republic Officers during the old Sith Wars, only with Mandalorian Markings. "We're damn lucky one of these things fit…" he muttered to Tyber, who was wearing his usual attire which was not too out of place, as was Urai. "You know I hate wearing uniforms like these…"

"Well, you couldn't walk into a restaurant in full Shock Trooper armor," Tyber muttered back. "This isn't Keldabe afterall. So stop complaining."

"I make no promises," Jaden muttered back, as they continued to follow the hostess.

They were led to a private table that was surrounded by an explosion of colorful flowers of nearly every breed, growing up wooden lattices giving the occupants of the table privacy, there were currently three occupants at the table, Cagalli, who was wearing an ORB Uniform with the markings of her station on her uniform. The second was Lacus who was wearing a purple kimono-esque dress under a black haori. The final member was Kira who was currently wearing a plain black sleeveless dress that fell to her ankles, a slit on either side to allow for easy movement.

"Thank you for accepting my invitation, gentlemen," Cagalli said gratefully as the three rose to their feet in greeting. "Please, have a seat, we're ready for the first course, Naomi, thank you."

"Of course, Lady Cagalli," Naomi replied with a bow before moving off towards the kitchen.

The three extraterrestrials took their seats across from the three women before them. "This is a rather nice restaurant here, I admit," Tyber said,. "It would probably give a few places I know on Coruscant a run for their money…"

Lacus smiled in response. "Thank you, I am actually the owner of this restaurant," she informed. "I had it built at the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, a peaceful place for leaders of nations to talk."

"Certainly is a perfect place to do so," Jaden commented. "Great atmosphere and everything… however I doubt you asked for us to be here to make idle chit-chat, and to enjoy the cuisine… which by that smell, I can already tell is going to be delicious."

"She actually hired me to personally headhunt the best chefs within the Sol System," Kira informed with a chuckle. "And you would be correct, this is not a social call."

"Gentlemen, allow us to properly introduce ourselves, I am Lacus Clyne, spokeswoman of the Sol Council," Lacus informed, a sly smile working its way onto her face. "And a member of the Fenrir Mercenary Guild."

"I am Cagalli Yula Attha, Chief Representative of ORB," Cagalli. "Also a member of Fenrir."

The three Consortium members all blinked in surprise at that statement, "Wait… you're part of this Fenrir Mercenary Guild?" Jaden asked. "That's… well, surprising to say the least. According to the files we were sent, we heard that you were former members of this guild during the war… but you resigned after you began your new positions."

"It was… an unfortunately necessary lie," Lacus informed. "We of Fenrir, have known of Extraterrestrial life for over five years now, and have had undisputable proof of it as well."

Kira passed the trio a picture of what looked to been a massive structure with what looked like small spires inside of a glass contained area. "This is the greatest secret of Fenrir, and the source of our own technology," she informed. "A data archive from an extinct race of aliens from around 50,000 years ago."

Jaden rose an eyebrow as he looked at the images, looking at them for a few moments "Wait…" he muttered. "Are these…" however, his eyes widened. "I'll be damned… Zann, are these?"

Tyber looked at the photos, his eyes widened slightly "Yes… I think they are…" he muttered. "No mistaking those Ruins…"

The three women looked surprised at the two Mandalorians. "You… recognize them?" Kira asked.

"Yeah… we've seen these before." Jaden said nodding, "Those ruins… they are Rakatan Structures… left overs from the Infinite Empire."

"The Infinite Empire once ruled the entire galaxy, ruled by the Savage warrior race, called the Rakata." Tyber said, "They were among the first Force-Users we knew of… aside from the ancient Je'daii Order, and its rumored they created the first Hyperdrives which were actually powered by the Force. They took billions of slaves, and used them to construct numerous structures such as these… "

"The greatest symbol of their Empire was a massive space station, known as the Star Forge." Jaden continued, "A massive factory station set in orbit of the sun of their home star system. Powered by the force… and feeding on the Dark Side, corrupting anyone who used it. It was capable of building massive armadas of Starships and Legions of Droid Armies within years, if not months."

"The 'Dark Side'?" Kira asked. "What is that?"

"I spoke a bit of it during the meeting," Jaden said. "But essentially… the Jedi and Sith believe there are two Sides to the Force… the Light Side, and the Dark Side. The Jedi use the light side, to heal and help those around them, or at least try to. While the Sith followed the path of the Dark Side, using it to harm and kill those who stand in their way for more power."

He shook his head/ "There are many… dark stories about what the Dark Side does to people," he said. "Darth Sion, the Sith Lord of Pain, was made immortal, and could heal any of his wounds… at the cost of being in agonizing pain for all of his life. And Darth Nihilus… he was capable of feeding off of the Force, absorbing the very life out of entire planets, rendering them into lifeless husks like the Miralukan homeworld nearly 4,000 years ago."

Lacus and Cagalli looked appalled by the fact while Kira hummed in response. "I was one of the primary researchers for this… library," she informed. "But… they made no reference to anything like this… Force, you described."

"They probably called it something else," Jaden said, shrugging. "But it doesn't quite matter now… the Rakatan Empire met their fate when they all suddenly lost their connection to the Force, and their empire collapsed, their slaves rebelled… and eventually, the Rakatan species has gone virtually extinct. Leaving nothing but their technology and ruins behind."

"Including the Star Forge," Zann said. "During the Jedi Civil War, two Dark Lords, Revan and Malak, found the Forge and used it to craft a massive army which nearly destroyed the Republic… but a redeemed Revan lead an assault which severely damaged the Forge, practically destroying it."

"What do you mean 'practically'?" Cagalli asked.

"Rakatan Technology… has a fascinating ability to repair itself over time," Jaden said, "The Star Maps they used are proof of that. While the Star Forge was practically destroyed… its remains stayed in-tact, and over the years… they have been coming together, reforming into a new Star Forge."

"Well… you gave us one of your secrets, here is one of ours," he said. "We found the Rakatan home Star System - Lehon - several years ago… and we found the Star Forge. While it is still incomplete… we have been helping in its repairs, trying to improve where the Rakatan failed… they solely used what they believed to be the Dark Side… myself, and other Force users like me… don't view the force as black and white like that. We believe the Force has no sides, and is just a tool like any other… which can be used for great good, or great evil."

"The Star Forge we are rebuilding is powered by both the 'Dark' and 'Light' sides of the Force," Zann said. "It does not 'feed' upon it like it previously has. While still incomplete… we believe that at its current rate with our aid… the Star Forge will be fully functional within a few years. We hope that it will become our one trump card against the Empire, as well as a method to help with the costs of repairing the damage done with the war, building construction and agricultural droids to help in the long recovery process."

The three women were both surprised and awed by the potential the Star Forge had. They then wondered if there were other stations just like it. Lacus was the one to ask.

"And… are there any other stations, just like this one?" she said.

"Actually, yes." Zann said, "Only two that we have found however… the Foundry, which is just a Factory built into an asteroid which can build Droid Armies from material harvested from an asteroid belt, and a large Terraforming station… the latter we hope to use on worlds the Empire has burned over the course of their… purges."

"But even with these Rakatan facilities, we are still severely outmatched against the Empire." Jaden said, "It really comes down to our lack of Manpower… even with the Kaminoans on our side and their supply of RAIL Clone Troopers, its not enough to counter the countless legions of soldiers the Empire has… not to mention Kamino clones take ten years to train and mature, while Imperial Spaarti Clones can come into service in less than a year."

"Cloning?" Cagalli questioned. "You have such technology?"

"Yes, as I mentioned in the meeting," Jaden said. "Many races have Cloning Facilities, however the Kaminoans are among the greatest genetic researchers in the galaxy. During the Clone Wars, they created the first Clone Army for the Republic… which four years later became the basis of the Imperial Armed Forces after Order 66. Since the Empire had begun training naturally born troops into their armies, less money was going to Kamino as they were treated like Bantha crap. So we cut a deal with them, where they helped make a Clone Army for us, in our fight against the empire. Bringing forth the RAIL-Class ARC Trooper program, an army of Troopers with the same training as Clone Commandos and Alpha-class ARC's from the Clone Wars, using a wider gene pool than just Jango's. Say what you want about Clone Soldiers… but those soldiers are among the finest men and women I have ever served with during the war, and are all brothers and sisters of Mandalore as far as we are concerned."

The three Earth women were a little uneasy, because of their experience with Le Creuset, but they knew that these clones are not like the copy of Al Da Flaga. Still, they were cautious.

"And… these clones are different from the ones who carried out… Order 66?" Kira asked, hopefully these Clone Troopers wouldn't attack any innocent people at the mention of a single word.

"Of course," Jaden said nodding, "It was one of the subjects we hammered out with the Kaminoans when the RAIL program began. We wanted them to be capable of following orders - but more importantly, we taught them Morals, and when not to follow an order. And since they lack the microchips which forced them to follow said orders, its all the better."

The three women sighed in relief at that.

"Thank goodness. Forgive us if we sound prejudiced, but we had a bad encounter with an insane clone son of a Billionaire, four years ago." said Kira, shivering at the thought of the insane ZAFT Commander.

"I read up a bit on that part of history," Jaden said, shaking his head. "This Le Creuset chakaar sounds like a real piece of work… good riddance to bad rubbish."

The three women nodded at that.

"He also nearly killed a friend of ours… Flay Allster," Kira said. "She was formerly a follower of BC's beliefs. But after being around me, Lacus, and finding out her true heritage, she's been working towards redemption."

"I can understand that," Jaden said nodding. "Early on in the war, many Clones deserted from the Imperial Army, having realized that Palpatine had tricked them all, many of them seeking to redeem whatever actions they had done. Clone Captain Rex and his company of Clones deserted during Knightfall, trying to save as many younglings, Jedi and Temple workers they could as the rest of the 501st attacked the Temple."

The three young women blinked at that. "So they overruled their… programming?" Cagalli asked, and the three nodded their heads.

"Yes," said Urei, "And not just regular Clones, but also a few Clone Commando squads, and some surviving ARC Troopers. Infact, the Commandos and ARCs were the ones who are training the younger clones, since they have experience from fighting in the Clone Wars, following in the steps of the Cuy'val Dar, the Mandalorian and Mercenaries who trained them on Kamino before the Clone Wars."

"How many Clones defected like this?" Lacus asked, and Zann shrugged.

"If I had to put a number on it… I would say close to a System Army's worth in strength," Zann said, "That would roughly be about 300,000 Clones. When Order 66 went out, there were entire legions of Clones who disobeyed the order, realizing Palpatine didn't have the Republic's best interests in mind, and was just spewing crap to the public about the 'Jedi Rebellion'."

Kira along with Cagalli and Lacus, all shared a look of astonishment that clearly stated that they were surprised that so many clones deserted from the Imperial Army.

"You said, there was a microchip that forced them to carry the orders," asked Kira. "How were they able to fight it?"

Jaden shrugged. "Even we are not absolutely sure why," he said. "But… if I had to shoot a wild guess… their will was so strong they 'broke' the programming of the chips. Or they just saw things logically and knew Palpatine's orders were illegitimate."

The three women all smiled at the strong will part, until Cagalli coughed into her hand.

"Anyways, we asked you here for something other than sharing secrets." she said, and nodded to Kira who returned it and placed a piece of paper onto the table.

"While the Sol Council has voted to not help you," Kira informed as she slid the paper over to them. "It does not mean that Mercenary Groups, like Fenrir and Terminal, are not available for hire," she pointed to the contract. "That, is a contract for hiring Fenrir, it's fairly basic, and what you get, depends on what you offer in return."

The three were shocked and surprised by the offer. Even though they didn't get the support of a Planetary Government, they are at least getting help in the form of a contract for a Mercenary Guild. Jaden and Zann both smirked at that.

"I like that, and I'm sure we can give you something in return as well. Like say, giving you a few ships with lightspeed capabilities and star maps of the galaxy?" Zann suggested, "And in return, a few examples and design specs of those mobile suits."

"We can supply you with blueprints and a couple of our older models, you understand why we can't give you our current ones," Lacus informed. "We do need to keep our edge somehow."

Jaden nodded at that, knowing that they would likely do the same. "We can work with that," he said. "What kind of machines would we be capable of accessing?"

"As we said, our older ones," Kira said, revealing the schematics of several different machines. "The GAT-01 Strike Dagger, GAT-01A1 "105" Dagger, GAT-01A2 Slaughter Dagger, ZGMF-1017 GiNN, ZGMF-515 CGUE, and the ZGMF-600 GuAIZ are what we can offer, along with most of their variations like the GiNN High Maneuver type, the GuAZI R, and such."

Jaden grinned at all of the options they had to choose from, while outdated to these people, these machines far outclassed anything the Empire had in their own military forces. "Oh, I believe this is a fine transaction," he said. "I think it's safe to say you have a deal."

With that, the three women nodded before they handed the contract to the two, and Cagalli handed them a pen so they could sign their names.

"Just sign your names here…" she said, pointing at the dotted lined at the bottom of the contract. "…you can sign in your respective languages if you want."

"Very well," Zann said, as he was the first to sign his name into the contract, soon followed by Jaden, and then Urai.

"Thank you," Cagalli said, retrieving the document. "We all look forward to seeing this relationship between your Consortium and Fenrir grow over these next few years, and hopefully bring this conflict to a close."

"Ma'am, sirs, the first course is ready," Naomi announced as she and several waiters brought out trays of appetizers. "As you requested, we included delicacies from the world over, please, enjoy your meal, for drinks I have brought out a bottle of Vintage Royal Celebration Wine, aged for over sixty years, several winemakers worked together putting all of their secret brewing skills into a total of five casks, please, enjoy."

"Oh, that sounds nice," Zann said, accepting the bottle. "Always enjoy trying new wine…"

"Sounds fine to me," Jaden said, forcing up a smile but mentally cringing. Sometimes he felt like the only Mandalorian in existence who does not have a particular taste for Alcohol in general, and focuses mostly on other forms of drinks like Corellian Soda and such. Though he could still take a glass or two for the sake of politeness. 'Just focus on the food Jaden, and you'll be fine.' he thought.

An Hour Later

Jaden sighed as he rested on the bed, 'That was good food. Especially that beef steak. Much tastier than Bantha.' he thought. 'And the Chicken? Damn I thought Endorian Chicken was good, but damn…'

However, before Jaden could begin to relax in his hotel bed, suddenly his commlink started going off, causing him to blink as he picked it up. "Takeo, what is it?" He said.

"Sir? We have a problem! BIG Problem!" Came the voice of the sensor operator of the Dauntless. "Long-Range sensors just picked up an Imperial IFF, Viper-series Probe Droid!"

Jaden's eyes widened as he shot up out of the bed. "Osik!" he cursed. "Why now of all times… did you intercept it?"

"Negative. We sent out a StarViper, but by the time it arrived, the damn thing self-detonated," the Officer said. "You and I both know that when they do that, they've already sent what they were looking for."

"Damn..." He muttered, "An Imperial Fleet won't be too far behind… the Sol Council isn't going to like this… keep me posted, ensign… I need to make a call to the council."

Sol Council Chambers

"So, you are saying that they will be sending in a fleet?" Lacus summarized the emergency session. "I see, I would like to know their probable fleet strength and firepower," she then turned to the president of the Earth Alliance, an older man with greying black hair. "President Weathers, as the Spokeswoman of the Sol Council I am temporarily lifting the ban on the Destroy Units, I want as many in space as soon as possible, I also want the Shinpan and the Wishbringer on standby, I will also contact Fenrir and have them bring the Havok in, Ladies and Gentlemen, if these people wish to bring war to our doorstep, we shall show them how we fight a war."

The President nodded, as he picked up the hotline to send the word back to his homeland.

Jaden hummed in thought. "The Imperial Forces will likely be from the Anoat Sector." He said, "Commanded by Admiral Zidian Ashmer… he's a diehard Imperialist, but I admit he is a competent commander at least. Luckily, however, the sector, with the exception of a few Victory and Imperial-class Star Destroyers, is mostly defended by Clone Wars era starships. I'd say… his fleet will have a handful of Imperial I's and Victory II's, a few Acclamator-class Assault Ships for the planetary invasion itself, and vessels like Dreadnought Heavy Cruisers, Strike Medium Cruisers, and Carrack Light Cruisers will be in the fleet… with maybe some of the smaller modern ships like a few Tartan Patrol Cruisers, Broadside missile cruisers, and maybe a Lancer Frigate." However he sighed as he shook his head "The real trouble though… is his own flagship."

Lacus rose an eyebrow at that. "His… Flagship?" She asked.

Jaden hit a button on the Holographic projector, as an image of a large starship appeared on the screen. "Admiral Ashmer is in command of the Imperial Starship Eliminator, a Praetor II-class Star Battlecruiser," he said. "It's roughly 4,800 meters in length, and it alone has enough shields, armor and armament to take on a sized fleet on its own. While the Empire rarely use Battlecruisers, considering them less versatile and leading them to build more Star Destroyers and Star Dreadnoughts, it is none the less a very fearsome - and dangerous starship. "

The Councilors were intimidated by the specs of what, in their opinion, was a massive ship. It was bigger than ZAFT's own Gondwana.

"How can we fight a monster like that?" fearfully asked one of the councilors. "That thing is enormous!"

"You have some advantages though," Jaden said, reassuringly. "While your ships may not compare to their own size… it all comes down to your Mobile Suit forces. Most imperial starships armaments are focused towards ship-to-ship combat, with very minimal point defense weaponry, leaving that task to their TIE Fighters and smaller escort ships like Lancer's, Tartan's, and Carrack's. Their weapons are so large and slow, they can't hope to keep up with the speed of Fighters and Suits. The Rebel Alliance use this tactic all the time. "

Lacus placed a delicate hand under her chin in thought. "What other weaknesses does this Battlecruiser have?" she asked and Jaden pressed a few buttons.

"Well, larger Imperial ships tend to be slow - obviously," Jaden said. "Battlecruisers like Praetor's and Star Dreadnoughts turn like an overweight drunken hutt… not to mention very expensive to maintain… that is unless the Imperials smartened up and used Slave Circuits like the Katana Fleet did cutting crew requirements in half. "

"So, they prefer to fight with overwhelming firepower?" Lacus asked, a smirk on her face. "Representatives, please remember, while we do not boast the same size, when it comes to firepower, we are not exactly coming up short. Councilwoman Ezalia," she said, turning to ZAFT's Supreme Chairwoman who bore purple hair and silver eyes. "Please take GENESIS Gamma out of lockdown, I would like to see them survive that."

The councilwoman nodded as she picked up a hotline of her own. Jaden smirked a bit as he remembered looking at pictures and watching videos of the GENESIS gamma ray lasers. To say he was a little terrified of them would be an understatement.

"Gentlemen, would you please forward any technical data on the enemy forces?" Lacus asked the extraterrestrials. "Also, message Fenrir, Ryu is to push their operation up to now."

"Of course," Jaden said. "I'll have the data sent over right away."

"Thank you, now, if you will excuse us, gentleman, we have a battle to plan," Lacus informed.

END CHAPTER

AN: DragonKnightryu: And Shit just got real up in here, thank you to my fellow writers to assisting me with this reboot, 117Jorn, Takeshi Yamato and Patriot-112!

Takeshi Yamato: No probs, Ryu! Things are going to get real hot real fast, here, so be ready for it! :D

117Jorn: FOR MANDALORE :D

Patriot-112: And in the next chapter, TOTAL WAR REIGNS!

Custom Ship Specs

Israel-Class, Assault Carrier
Known Ships:
Masada
Israel
Dvora
Special Armor and Equipment:
Phase Shift Armour with Laminated Plating
2x Linear Catapult
Armaments:
4x 'Goliath' Triple Heavy Beam Cannon Turrets
4x 'Rhino' 183mm Cannons
36x Pulse Laser CIWS
16x Heavy Missile Tubes (facing sideways, on the rear of the ship beside the support vehicle bay)
20x Medium VLS Silos (behind the bridge facing up)
1x 'Rapture' Siege Ion Cannon
Carries:
6x Assorted Mobile Suits
2x VTOLs
8x Assault Landing Craft
Known Captains:
Known Crew:
Sections:
Cafeteria
Bridge
Gunnery Bridge
Hangar
Support Vehicle Bay
Recovery Deck/Helipad
Crew Quarters, with communal Men and Woman Baths
Officer's Quarters, with Individual Baths
Rec Room
Mobile Suit Pilot Ready Room
War Room
Infirmary
Observation Deck
Appearance:
arkhonus . deviantart art/Israel-Assault-Carrier-441964638

Hummingbird-class
Ship Type: Limited Production Interception Space/Air Cruiser
Manufacture: Terminal
Operator(s): Terminal
Known Ships:
Hummingbird
Raven Tail
Crow's Claw
Hawk's Talon
Special Armor and Equipment:
Lightweight Titanium Armor
Large Hyper Impulse Lightwave Thrusters(H.I.L.T)
Armaments:
4x 'Misani' Single Barreled Beam Cannons
6x 'Isami' Magnetic Rail Cannons
Manyx Igelstellung II's mounted on hull
Manyx Pulse Beam Interception C.I.W.S
Carries:
15x TVMF-01 Specters
Known Captains:
Many
Known Crew:
Many
Sections:
Bridge
Pilot Ready Room
Hanger
Armory
Maintenance Bay
Engine Room
Infirmary
Cafeteria
Barrack
Officer Quarters
Appearance: Looks like the Lombardia-class.

Custom Mobile Suit Specs

Model Number: FMS-03S 'Striker Dagger'
Unit Type: Assault Ace-Use Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Cold Fusion Reactor
Manufacture: Fenrir
Operator(s): Fenrir
Equipment and Design Features:
3x Shield Boosters, each equipped with an Armor Lumiere Shield Generators and Voltaire Particle Collection System (VPCS)
Panoramic Cockpit
Phase Shift Armor
Hand Link System
Fixed Armament:
6x 75mm GGI-XUI Triple Barrel 'Scorchers' Anti-Missile Vulcans, two mounted in head, two mounted on each wrist, uses High Explosive Rounds
2 x Armor Lumiere Beam Sabers, mounted in thigh compartments
2x 300mm Hyper-Impulse Beam Cannons, mounted in Side Shield Boosters
6x Spray Micro Missile Launcher in Center Shield Booster
Optional Armaments:
Modified M703K Beam Carbine, can fire in full auto, burst fire or precision
Pilot(s): Ryu Hisanaga, many
Appearance: Has the basic Frame of the GAT-02L2 Dagger L with a gundam like face instead of the faceplate, but does NOT have a V-crest, it has three of the Shield Boosters equipped onto it's back and has the arms and legs of the Strike Gundam, colored white with black trim and red slash mark
Info: With the massive success of the Shield Booster Units he produced for the Vidar Striker, Ryu went to work on mass producing a unit for Fenrir that utilizes the technology, using the Dagger L as a base he modified the frame using data from the Gundam units that were produced by the EA, and later stolen by Fenrir, to further increase the unit's capabilities and survivability, while it is only used by the ace pilots of Fenrir, the only ones able to handle the power of the thrust from the shield booster, it is the first unit mass produced by Fenrir.

Model Number: TVMF-01 'Specter'
Unit Type: Transformable Stealth Type Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact Battery
Manufacture: Terminal
Operator: Terminal
Special Equipment and Design Features: Mirage Colloid; Panoramic Cockpit
Armament:
2x Igelstellung CIWS mounted in head
Beam Saber, mounted in forearm, hand carried in use
Beam Submachine gun, hand carried, mounted on body in fighter mode
Optional Armaments
8 x 'Alpha' Multi-purpose Missile launchers, two mounted on shoulders, two mounted on thighs, and two mounted on wings; 6 x Missile tubes per launcher, multiple missile types can be loaded into different launchers
'Havoc' Missiles: Standard Air-to-Ground Missiles
'Sidewinder' Missiles: Air-to-Air Missiles
'Hammer' Missiles: Anti-Ship Missiles
'Ballista' Missiles: Anti-Fortress Missiles
Pilot(s): Termina
Appearance: Looks like the Delta Gundam with reversed swept wings
Colors:
Standard: Dark Navy Blue with White Trim
Info: Terminal's special forces mobile suit, given to Combat Agents who specialize in hit and run tactics. Also used as Air Support by Terminal's Infiltrator Teams or can be outfitted for a Strategic Air Strike on heavily defended targets.

(1). Tal Vod (Blood Brother)