A NOBLE Menace

Disclaimer: I do not own Halo or Star Wars in any way, shape, or form, they belong to their respective owners.

(A.N) I will be honest I was not expecting such a positive feedback for this story like I got with the first chapter. I thought that people would have preferred having Noble Six in the Empire Era rather than the Prequel/Clone Wars... but I am glad to see otherwise. I was also surprised to see that people want this to be a Six x Padme pairing.

Though I should point out that if that is the final pairing then they would not get together until Attack of the Clone, for two reasons. First and foremost, Padme is fourteen and Six is nineteen, and while that is not much of an age difference when they grow it, right now that it slightly paedophilic (at least to me) but once epII begins Padme will be twenty-four and Six twenty-nine.

And secondly, Six needs time to adapt to the Star Wars galaxy. He is cut off from the UNSC, ONI and unlike my other fanfictions he does not have Auntie Dot with him this time offering him mental support; to put it bluntly he is alone. Plus, as a reviewer pointed out he is a SPARTAN. Granted unlike a Spartan-II he does not have the thyroid implant that suppresses their sex drive, but nonetheless he has never learnt how to act like a normal human let along get into a romantic relationship...

Meaning that it will take time, which over the ten years between EpI and EpII he may be able to too seeing as how there will be no genocidal war that he will be fighting in...…depending or not if I find a way to get him back to Milky Way galaxy.

Now onto the reviews!

Edboy4926: Thank you for the kind words, really appreciate it. Did any Huragoks come through you ask? well you'll have to read this chapter to find out :) Now as for Jar-Jar I won't be killing him off, however I may change his personality with the Jar-Jar from the Shakespeare adaption of the Phantom Menace, I highly suggest reading it id you haven't.

Six will not be showing them any videos about the war, at least not straight away, I want him to settle in first before he does the massive reveal; plus, I don't want to tell them EVERYTHING within a few chapters.

J smitheram91: Thanks mate, appreciate it. I do have a few changes I plan to make but I'm not going to spoil them for you.

Daggercloak000: Six will be using UNSC weapons but he will also use Star Wars weaponry seeing as how he is a Spartan and they use whatever weapon they can find on the battlefield.

Hamilton406: It is my headcanon that Six and Kat have a strictly brother-sister vibe seeing as how they both come from Beta-Company. I know you could argue that Tom and Lucy clearly have feelings for one another, and they are in Beta-Company but the two have been through a lot together, at least far more than Six and Kat ever did.

CT7567Rules: As I said up top, Six will be using UNSC weapons such as the Assault Rifle, DMR, Sniper, Spartan Laser and the Magnum, but he'll also be using Star Wars weapons. Currently he is nineteen years old.

UNSC INFINITY: I think it was for two reason. First and foremost, the Ardent Prayer (the Corvette) more of a scout ship than a warship meaning that it's not meant to be on the frontlines. Secondly, it is a very old ship nearly five hundred years old as it was built in the twenty first century (2070); and lastly, no. Six will not be a Jedi nor a Sith, in fact he will not even be Force Sensitive.

SupremeRuler17: Sorry but Ahsoka Tano is out of the question. By the time that the Clone Wars begins Six will be twenty-nine going on thirty and she will be fourteen years old.

Anthonym3: Maybe, but he will certainly form a kinship with the Clones since both the Spartan-III's and Clones are expendable soldiers.

iZuikaku: Its certainly possibly considering that Six has an alternate means of FTL.

1stHorseman: That is what I was planning on doing seeing as how currently Padmé is only fourteen years old.

Chapter 2: What the hell is a Spartan?

32 BBY, Outer Rim Territory, Ardent Prayer.

A groan escaped from the back of his throat and echoed inside the metal casing of his helmet as he regained consciousness; as well as a pounding headache that felt like the goddess Athena was trapped inside his head, banging to get out.

Dark blue eyes fluttered open only to squeeze shut as they started to water from the brightness of the light which hit him harder than a berserk chieftain. Blinking a couple of times to attune his eyes to the room, he opened them a final time and took note how much the afterlife looked like the inside of a Covenant corvette, a hanger bay to be exact.

And if it were then it was a clear indication that he was in Hell, which he suspected he would ultimately end up when his time came. You did not get to pass through the pearly gates of St Peter with the deeds he had committed working for ONI; but if that was the case then should he not be atop a cloud somewhere along with the other lost souls?

He guessed it did not matter, at least that was what he thought as he found himself laying on his back and staring up at the purple metal ceiling above him.

"I really am in hell." Noble Six muttered bitterly as he stared up to where the Type-31 Exoatmospheric Multi-Role fighter, more widely known as a Seraph-class Starfighter, were sored behind the shield on the ceiling. "Perhaps the Covies were onto something. Maybe they really are the instruments of the Gods." He added in his mind.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He thought resentfully, glaring daggers at the ceiling. He had spent most of his life defying the Covenant and their Gods, and just because he was dead he was not going to start repenting for his sins; call him petty but he was going rebel against their religion and everything they stood for until the very end...

"God, I sounded like damn INI. I really must be dead."

Noble Six closed his eyes and waited to fade any into nothingness or be tortured for all eternity for his heresy. He waited, waited, and waited and still nothing happened. Cracking one eye open and wondering what on earth was taking them so long, all the Spartan could see was the purple, metal ceiling directly above him that, unless he was mistaken, seemed to be mocking him as he stared at it.

"Hmmm, well, if nothing is happening then maybe...I'm not dead." He thought to himself before sitting up and scanned the room to see that he was still inside the corvette's hanger bay. Looking all around he saw the familiar sight of dead Covenant, the ones that he, Jorge and the Troopers, had dispatched earlier scattered across the room; and parked a few meters in front of him was the Pelican that Noble Five had used to transport the slipspace drive onto the ship.

"I'll be damned." Six muttered as he climbed to his feet before rolling his shoulders that felt extremely tight, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he was wearing heavy armour. "I'm alive." He said stating the obvious as he stopped looking around the room and down to his hands. Clenching them so that his knuckles cracked, he pursed his lips. The crack felt real, as the tech suit that was pressed between his skin and the armour pieces.

"So, it worked." He thought as he spun around and headed for the shield to see what had happened and how he was still alive. "Guess I shouldn't have doubted Kat." He added as he reached ships entrance that was protected by the shield that prevented him from being pulled out by the vacuum.

As he looked past the shield and instead of seeing a dark, empty, lifeless void of Slip-Stream, he saw the familiar, somewhat comforting, vast reaches of space and the billions, perhaps trillions, of stars lightning up the cosmos; if he had not been so preoccupied with thoughts that were currently running through his head he may have even considered the sight to be beautiful to behold.

Still, there was one thing that crystal clear to him...he was nowhere near Reach, nowhere near the Epsilon Eridani system from the looks of it. While it was true that he was no navigator, he knew enough about the system to know that none of the stars were in alignment, just as he could not see Reach, Tribute, Tantalus or Circumstances, a planet famous for its universities, anywhere.

But the questioned lingered, if he was not Epsilon Eridani system...then, where was he?

"This is Lieutenant Spartan-B312." Noble Six called out over the UNSC channels hoping that he had not been transported to Covenant territory, though knowing his infamous bad luck he would not be surprised if he had...it was why he hated playing cards; Lady Luck hated him for some reason. "Does anyone read, over?"

He waited a good twenty, maybe thirty, seconds until he spoke again.

"This is Spartan-B312, does anyone read?"

Again, he was met by the silence of the empty hanger bay.

"Damn it!" This was not where he wanted to be, not by longshot. He had no idea where he was, the corvettes engines had been clipped, which he and the other Sabre pilots had done to prevent it from escaping and warning the supercarrier, and lastly he had no idea if said supercarrier had been transported along with him. If the latter had then how much of the ship had survived the journey?

He may have had his moments but there was no way that he could take on thousands of Covenant alone. He may have been created as a suicide soldier, but that did not mean he was suicidal...well, not right now at any rate.

Shaking his head as he gained new purpose, he spun around on his heels and headed towards the bridge for a second time. As far as he knew he and the troopers had not damaged any of the terminals on the bridge, so if he could get them working then maybe he could figure out where he was; and if he couldn't figure out a way to repair the engines then he could find a way to lower one of the Seraph's down he could use one of them to plot a course to the nearest UNSC base.

Depending of course if he could work out which way was home...and if he couldn't he would just have to take a leap of faith; it was either that or just sit there and wait to die from starvation.

Taking a quick detour, Six bent down in front of the weapon cases that the troopers had laid out before their untimely demise, a demise that he could have prevented if he had been a better squad-leader, and picked up the assault rifle.

Doing a quick ammo count, he reached down to grab the M6 Spartan Laser and placed it on his back. He knew that it was overkill, and the chances that he would need it were slim to none, but if he did have to abandon ship there was no way he was leaving it for the Covenant to find; last thing humanity needed was for them to study and replicate their weapons... even if theirs were technologically superior in every aspect.

The anti-vehicle connected with the back of his armour with a clang, alerting Six that it had connected with the magnetic plate before he moved on and headed for the bridge, his assault rifle resting securely in his arms.

When he arrived at the door, he hit the button with the side of his fist and waited for it to open. The door hissed before retracting into the walls, allowing the Spartan to proceed through them and headed in the direction of the plasma battery, the very place that he and his fireteam had dealt with the Covenant earlier…. how long ago he couldn't say, he was not too sure how long he had been unconscious.

Within a few minutes he had crossed the ship and was standing before the entrance to the bridge. Doing exactly what he did with the hanger bay door, he slammed the button with the back of his hand and waited for it to grant him access.

Entering the bridge for the second time that day, Six scanned the room to see that it looked exactly how he had left it before heading back to the hanger bay to regroup with Jorge. The bodies of the Corvettes previous crew were little across the floor, making the entire place look untidy; and on the far side of the room he spotted the leg of one of the troopers sticking out of the portal shield.

He sighed as he lowered his head, both in mourning and shame. They would have still been alive had done a better job, had he been a better leader; or if Jorge had led them into battle. He should have paid better attention, covered them while they engaged the Covenant instead of heading off alone to do his own thing. He was meant to lead them, not just point them in the direction of battle while he went off to do his own thing.

"You don't win until your team wins." It was a saying that Franklin Mendez had drilled into him more times than he would like to admit during his training on Onyx when he had broken away from his team to win the game; either capture the flag or ring the bell. Though working for ONI, specially a lone operator Headhunter, teamwork was non-existent, and he had learnt to depend on only himself and the intel that his handler gave to him.

"Focus, Six." He scolded himself mentally at getting side-tracked with his guilt; his team were dead and gone and unless he found a way to get the corvette operational or find a UNSC channel to either broadcast his location or send out an SOS to them he would be joining them.

Walking across the room he saw that the holographic image in the middle was still showing Reach, meaning that he would have to figure out how to do new scan of the surrounding area. Operating the basic functions of the ship were easy enough, he along with every other Spartan-III had been taught how to use Covenant Technology on the most basic level. He could type in a few commands to make the ship go where he wanted too, he knew how to use the plasma cannons near the plasma battery...

But the other control panels that operated the ships countless other systems? He might have well of been a caveman banging a rock.

Unlike his fellow Spartan-III's he seldom dealt with the Covenant since the Insurrection took up a great deal of his time; to be candid they took all his time. It seemed like whenever he eliminated one group another two rose and took their place, retaliating tenfold. It did not matter that humanity was being slaughtered with each passing day, nor that their armies were being obliterated...all that matter was that they free from the UNSC...

Who cared that they were contributing to the death toll of humanity if it meant that they got what they wanted?

Crossing the room and passing the bodies of the fallen Covenant, he stopped in front of control panel and terminals that circled around the entire room, the latter of which were showing words of an unknown delict; which he suspected was the Covenant langue rather than the individual langue of each Covenant species...as far as he knew only the Grunts and occasionally the Elites spoke English.

"Alright." Six spoke in his head again as he slowly walked around the row of panels trying to get a feel for them. "Layout can't be that different from a human ship...I hope." He thought the last part optimistically as he stopped before one of the keypads and raised his hand above wagging his fingers as he took a deep breath, steeling his nerve.

"I just hope this is not the self-destruct button." He thought as a slight chuckle escaped him. What a way to go. He had just defied death, found himself transported far from Reach, or at least that was the hypothesis he was going with until he knew exactly where he was, just to be taken out by pressing the wrong button.

"Aright, here goes nothing."

Taking another deep breath, he pressed one of the many buttons on the keypad and waited for something, anything, to happen. Initially, he thought that he hadn't pressed it hard enough or it only responded to Covenant DNA but considering that he had used the NAV controls earlier he threw that theory away. Within a few seconds he realized exactly what he had activated or turned off as he felt himself slowly levitate off the ground.

Looking over his shoulder he saw the bodies of the Covenant and his fireteam floated off the ground and into the air. Tearing his eyes away from the floating bodies, Six looked back to the control panel and hit the button again turning the artificial gravity back on. Hit boots banged as they hit the floor as did the rest of the bodies, most notably the Elites that were wearing the metal armour.

"Not that button then." He said stating the obvious as he sighed through his nose as he looked over every single button that was on display. there had to be hundreds, and there was an infinite possibility of which one did what. Honestly, it felt like finding a needle in a mountain of needles. He really wished that he had took the time to study both Covenant tech and their langue now.

Hindsight really was a bitch.

His inner-monologue was brought to an end when he heard a hissing sound coming from the left side of the bridge. Lifting up his Assault Rifle, which had been hanging loosely in his right hand, he snapped in the direction of the door as he went across the room passing the massive holographic image of Reach until he was standing about fifty meters away from the door that's green panel had vanished which informed him that it was opening.

Shifting his weapon in his arms, Noble Six slowed his breathing and focused solely on the door as he waited for them to open and the ones that were on the other side to come into view and see who it was left aboard the corvette. He hoped that it was a lowly Grunt on the other side, if it was then he would easily be able to keep them alive and get them to do a scan of the system to figure out where he had been transported too.

After what felt like an eternity, but in truth was only a few seconds, the door opened and retracted into the walls and person that was on the other side entered the room. However, rather than a Grunt, Jackal, Elite or even a Hunter entering the room instead it was a creature that had multiple blue tentacles that had glowing lines running up them, a snake-like head with six black eyes, three on each side, a large body that was covered in metal shards, a black helmet that was covering their head with a glowing blue eye socket...

But most notably it was floating a few meters of the ground and humming a softy gentle tune as he drifted into the room until it stopped when it noticed him pointing a gun at it.

The Lieutenant gripped the base of the assault rifle tighter as he watched the alien, which he was certain was called an Engineer...or at least that was what ONI had dubbed the creatures as; and he had only seen one or two during his time on Reach, especially when the Covenant had taken over SWORD Base.

He like the rest of ONI did not know a lot about them, unlike with the Grunts, Jackals, Brutes, Elites or even the Drones, the Engineers were seldom seen on the battlefield. He personally had only encountered them inside SWORD base and even then unlike their comrades they hadn't once picked up a weapon to fight against humanity, all they seemed to do was grant the Covenant extra protection such as generating another set of shields for them...something that was damn annoying when you were already outgunned ten to one.

How exactly they managed to do this without physically interacting with the Covenant he did not know, but then he did not know the workings of their technology...ONI had barely scratched the surface of understanding it let alone incorporating it into their own technology; their greatest achievement being incorporating their energy shielding into the Mjolnir Power Armour, allowing Doctor Halsey to create the next generation of Mjolnir and dubbing it the Mark V.

The armour that he was currently wearing, or at least the prototype version. From what he had heard Halsey had been busy over the last two years creating the final iteration of the Mark V. What exactly was different from his and the new set he did not know, but if the advancements between the Mark IV and V were anything to go by then he was certain that the next iteration could possibly be a game changer...

But alas...he would not get to wear it. Not just because he hadn't the foggiest idea where he had been transported too, but also because it would be reserved for Doctor Halsey Spartans, specially the Spartan-II's.

Even if he worked for ONI and considered one of their best assets, or so his handler had said, but he was still second fiddle when it came to his predecessors and thus had to wait an considerable amount of time until he received the same benefits; but at least he eventually got the same benifts as the II's, along with the rest of the CAT-II's, something that could not be said for his brothers and sisters that participated in Operation: TORPEDO or the majority of Alpha Company...

He prayed that Gamma Company would be spared from experiencing a similar fate to Alpha and Beta company, but he knew that was a fool's gambit. He knew for certain that ONI, specially Colonel James Ackerson, the creator and engineer of the Spartan-III program, would find another pointless mission to send them on that would get them all killed and in the end would be ultimately pointless; the operation would not even put a dent into their overall numbers let alone stall to give humanity some breathing room...

And after that both ONI and Ackerson would begin looking, that is if they had not already, the next batch of candidates for Delta company before they would be sent to Onyx to train to be Spartans. How many more children would be thrown away needlessly in the war? By his count over six hundred Spartan-III's had perished on their damn suicide mission, pointless missions that had been the cause of his sister pertmantly losing her voice from the trauma of witnessing their family being killed before her very eyes.

But he guessed it didn't matter in the end. The war was far, if ever, from being over and until it was ONI would continue to send as many to their deaths as it took to win the war; all ethics and moralities that they had once upheld all but forgotten as they fought for their survival.

An eternity seemed to have passed within the span of a few seconds as the Spartan and Engineer stared at one another, neither budging an inch as they waited for the other to make a move. A few more seconds passed and again neither of them moved aside from Six brushing his finger across the trigger and his left hand gripping the assault rifle tighter as he prepared to take down the Engineer if it so much as lifted a tentacle.

Then finally the Engineer let out a soft, gentle chime as it drifted passed the super soldier and floated around the bridge, apparently not caring in the slightest that a human, a demon at that, was on the bridge and their comrades were laying dead on the ground; which admittingly through the Spartan-III through a loop...did the alien not care? Or perhaps he was biding his time until he attacked.

With that last though, the Lieutenant kept both his eyes and weapon trained on the Engineer as it drifted across the bridge and stayed close to the control panels, and seemingly ignoring the bodies of his fallen comrades. Within a few minutes of inspecting the many consoles and monitor screens the floating squid-like alien headed back over to the Spartan and stopped a few dozen meters in front of him; no doubt being cautious of him.

Noble Six stood there looking puzzled as the Engineer slowly brought up its tentacles, clearly not wanting to startle him, before it began waving them in front of him almost like...

"Wait is that sign-langue?" B312 thought to himself recognizing some of the hand, tentacles really, signs that it was using; unfortunately, just like with the Covenant langue, he did not know much sigh-langue other than the most basic signs.

"Can you speak?" Six asked slowly, his weapon still pointed at the Engineer who shook its head left to right to answer his question much to his surprise.

"But you can understand me?" The Spartan continued getting a nod as the alien lifted its head up and down. "Good to know." He almost laughed at his luck finally changing for the better. Maybe there was hope yet.

"Do you know how to use the corvettes scanner?" He felt stupid for asking the Engineer, who was technically still an enemy, if it could work the ship, but it was either do that or randomly hit every button on the bridge and pray that he found it before he activated the ships self-destruct button...depending or not if the corvette had a self-destruct button, and to be honest he did not want to test that theory.

As to answer his question, the Engineer made another high pitched chirp as it turned around and levitated over to the counsel on the far side of the room, near the NAV control he had used earlier that day.

"Of course, I used the wrong bloody controls." Six grumbled in his headed as he followed the Engineer that moved surprisingly quick. "Miracle I didn't kill myself...though the day is still young."

Crossing the room within a few seconds thanks to his long strides, Six stopped beside the Engineer who extended their long tentacles and began working the controls so quick that he could barely keep up. Before he could ask what button controlled what he heard a humming rumbling from behind him. Turning around he saw that the massive holographic image of Reach had disappeared entirely, and a new image was in its place.

"Thanks." Six said somewhat awkwardly as he nodded at the Engineer who in turn chirped happily. Thanking an alien, oh how things had changed. If Emile was there, he would have probably have shot the Engineer first and then finished him off for good measure for conversing with, let along thanking a member of the Covenant like they were old friends.

Taking a closer look at the new holographic image that had come on screen, well appeared in the centre of the room, Six studied the image before him. In the middle was a single corvette which he assumed was the one that he was currently aboard...otherwise he was going to be in for a world of hurt once/if they started firing at him.

Above the corvette he could see a large chunk of the CSO-class supercarrier along with offshoots that right now he could only guess were pieces of metal that had broken off from the supercarrier that even when missing the bow and stern still dwarfed the corvette significantly; but what threw the Spartan through a loop was the smaller ship in the background.

It was small, very small, much smaller than the corvette almost like a prowler, specially the Sloop-class prowler (1) the only difference was that the front was more angular, pointed that resembled a tip of an arrow, and at the back were what appeared to be twin engines that acted as the wings. From what he could see the ship had no weapons, meaning that it was one of two things, first and the one that he was backing the most was that it was a ship designed for reconnaissance missions; and the other was that it was a civilian ship that was in the area.

Call it a gut feeling but he sincerely doubted that it was the latter. Why on earth would a civilian ship be out in the middle of nowhere and unescorted instead of traveling via slipstream to get wherever it was that they were heading; simply using their sublight engines would take them decades, possibly centuries to reach the end of this system let alone the one that they were heading too.

It had to be a prowler, it just had to be. It was the only thing that made any logical sense given the evidence that was available to him. It either belonged to the UNSC or ONI, though his money was on the latter, it would make sense seeing as how the ship was probably a prototype model that they were field-testing before they massed produced them for counteroperations against both the Covenant and Insurrectionists.

Briefly glancing over his shoulder to see what the Engineer was up too, Six frowned as he saw that it was still fiddling with console in front of it. He did not want to risk the odd-shaped alien from potentially getting the intel on their prowlers, even if their stealth systems were far above humanities in just about every aspect, but he knew without the Engineers help he was a sitting duck.

Not just because he had been transported lightyears away from Reach and possibly human space, but also because he could not confirm if there were any Covenant still alive aboard the piece of the supercarrier; and knowing his luck there would be a whole damn armada gunning for him the moment they discovered that a human, a demon of all things, was alive and aboard one of their ships.

"Can you contact that ship?" The Spartan asked getting the Engineers attention as it turned around to face him, his head tilting as it looked at him. "The small one." He felt that he needed to clarify.

The Engineer chirped joyfully as it floated away from the console that it had been using and headed around the room until it was before another on the other side of the room. Turning its long neck around to look at him then let out another high-pitched noise that Six could only assume was the equivalent of it calling him other.

"How the hell do the Covies speak to them?" He asked himself as he walked over to where the longnecked alien resided. He just could not imagine, even if he did find the thought amusing, the Covenant, especially an Elite or Brute, doing sign langue.

"...got through to them?" Six asked after a few moments of silence.

"..." The Engineer remained as silent as the room as it fiddled with controls. His long tentacles moving so fast that the Spartan even with his enhanced vision could not keep up with it...though not from lack of trying.

After another twenty, maybe thirty seconds of the unbearable silence, which made feel slightly paranoid that the Engineer was secretly trying to contact the remains of the supercarrier. He had no idea what it was doing...all he could do was trust that the alien would not betray him; and if it did then he would just kill it, problem solved...even if it meant that his hopes of escape were slim to none.

"Anything?"

This time Six got an answer as the Engineer replied with a melodious chime as it turned its long snake-like neck around so that it was looking directly at him. When the Spartan said nothing, the alien chirped once again and pointed at the console that they were both standing in front of with its tentacles.

Grasping what the Engineer was getting at, B312 gripped the console and leaned forward to look directly into monitor screen hoping that it was where the intercom was located; hopefully he was not going to make an ass of himself...or worse yet speak directly to those still aboard the supercarrier.

"This is Spartan Beta-312 contacting unidentified ship, do you read?

A few minutes prior,

Aboard the stationary Nubian starship that had stop its journey to Tatooine, at least for the time being, Qui-Gon Jinn rested his hands behind his back and waited patiently as he watched Captain Panaka notifying the Queen, who was surrounded by her handmaidens, about what had transpired ten minutes ago; which he himself was still trying to wrap his head around.

Not that fact that this was possibly a first contact scenario with an unknown species, most of the galaxy had been explored apart from the Unknown Regions which as the name suggested was unknown meaning that it only made sense that there would be dozens, perhaps hundreds, of species that they had never encountered before of all shapes and sizes.

But rather his hypothesis that the portal was another means of FTL (Faster than Light) travel in leu of Hyperspace. If his theory was right than everything could, perhaps for the better...or the worse, change forever.

While yes, if the technology was shared they could perhaps replicate or even integrate it into their own technology it could advance them centuries ahead of what they currently had after the Republic and their technology as a whole had stagnated over the last few thousand years since they had reached the pinnacle of perfection with their tech, but contradicting that it would also upset the balance that the Galactic Republic and the Jedi had worked so hard to create over the last twenty-five thousand years since they had joined forces...or so history said.

Relations were already rocky between the Republic and the Trade Federation, the blockage of Naboo being an indication of that, due to the formers increase of taxes that the latter found unfair; but no matter how they felt on the matter, the Federation had gone too far this time and thus would need to be held accountable for their crimes and anyone that they had hurt or killed during their occupation on Naboo.

The Droid army could not be held accountable for the deaths they were simply doing as they had been ordered too, as they had been programmed to do by their masters, no the Federation would need to answer for the war crimes that they had committed simply because they disagreed with the taxes that the Republic had set; no credits were worth all the lives that had possibly been lost.

Hopefully, the Republic could work out an arrangement that would end the bloodshed before it was too late.

"What do we know about these ships?" Queen Amidala's voice pulled the Jedi Master from his inner-monologue and back to reality to see that the monarch of Naboo was staring at him with her emotionless brown eyes, her white face paint preventing him from registering any emotion on her face; which he suspected was one of the reasons as to why she was wearing the face-paint in the first place.

"Nothing, your majesty." Qui-Gon admitted solemnly, bowing his head ever so slightly to her. "But I can tell you that I have never seen this design of ship before and I have been right across the galaxy, visited countless systems and hundreds of planets over the last forty years."

"Is it not possible that it is simply a new design of ship?" The Queen suggested neutrally, though the Jedi could feel her curiosity through the Force. "A prototype perhaps?"

"No, your majesty." The Jedi Master replied shaking his head. "If this was indeed a prototype as you pointed out then there would only be one."

"Maybe they had the resources to make two?" Captain Panaka cut in before the Queen or Jedi could say anything further. "For all we know the smaller ship, which is still intact," He said looking directly at the Queen before back to Qui-Gon. " Was a relative success and tried to build the same ship with a larger mass...only they failed."

"The Captain brings up a compelling argument." Amidala hummed as she clasped her hands on her throne's armrests. "Do you think that could be the case, Master Jedi?"

"I do not believe so, your majesty." Qui-Gon said disagreeing with Panaka theory. "I can only make assumptions…."

"We do not deal in assumptions, Jedi." The Captain cut him off firmly, his brown eyes narrowing as he glared at him. " We deal in cold, hard facts..."

"Captain, please." The Queen halted anything else he might have said with a simple hand gesture. " I'm sure Master Jinn will explain his reasonings if you would allow him to speak." She added with a pointed look getting an embarrassed one in return.

"Apologies, my Queen." Panaka said sincerely. "It won't happen again." He continued bowing his head to her.

"Please Qui-Gon, continue." The Queen urged the Jedi.

"Thank you, your Majesty." Qui-Gon said offering his thanks. "As I was saying before I do believe that these are prototype ships as the Captain assumes but rather that these ships originate from the Unknown Regions."

"That's quite a bold statement, Qui-Gon." She remarked as she interlocked her fingers together. "Do you have any evidence to back up your theory?"

"None." The Jedi admitted in a heartbeat. "But as I said before it is only an assumption, until we get more information on these ships I cannot say for certain; but as of right now it's the only logical explanation."

"How so?"

"The portal that these ships arrived in it is my belief that it is another means of FTL travel, perhaps not too different from our own Hyperdrives."

"Hyperdrives do not make portals as far as I remember." Amidala commented.

"No, but we do enter a separate dimension when we activate a Hyperdrive." Obi-Wan Kenobi spoke up for the first time gaining the entire rooms attention. "Sorry," He mumbled as his cheeks heated up much to the amusement of his master. "I'll be quiet."

"My Padawan is correct." Qui-Gon said with a smile, laughing softly at Obi-Wan's embarrassment getting a glare in return. "When we enter Hyperspace we leave our own dimension and into separate one otherwise our ships would crash into stars, planets, asteroids and who knows what else; it is also why Astrodroids and navigation computers are so essential for Hyperspace...last thing we want to exit Hyperspace inside of a sun."

"This is very interesting but what does it have to do with the portal that Hyperspace?"

"As Hyperspace enter its own dimension," The Jedi maverick continued ignoring her interruption. " Perhaps the FTL on these unknown ships enter their own unique dimension to travel FTL in a way that we have never seen before."

"Impossible." Panaka exclaimed shaking his head, choosing now to speak after in no short words to remain silent by the Queen. "Hyperdrive engines have been in use for over twenty-five thousand years, possibly before even the Galactic Republic was formed. Without them it would take centuries to cross systems let along the galaxy."

"I don't dispute that." The Jedi Master stated but the Captain either chose to ignore him or just was not interested in anything he had to say as he continued.

"If there was another means of FTL we would have discovered it millennia ago."

"Not necessarily." Qui-Gon countered locking eyes with the Captain. "It is after all common knowledge that our technology has stagnated over the last few thousand years, with no major advancements since the days of the Cold War."

"Cold War?" The Queen repeated with pursed lips. "Apologies I am not familiar with that war."

"It was the era when the Sith Empire returned." Obi-Wan informed both her and the rest of the room, no one missing how he spat out Sith Empire like it was venom from his mouth. "It is only thanks to the efforts of Grand Master Satele Shan and Supreme Commander Jace Malcom that the Republic and Jedi were warned about the resurgence Empire and that we ultimately won the war in the end."

"Ah, yes...the Sith." Queen Amidala mumbled under her breath. "If I recall correctly, they were are an enemy of both the Republic and the Jedi?"

"Not anymore, your Majesty." The Padawan answered rather quickly. "Not since the Jedi and the Republic wiped the Sith from the face of the galaxy, ending their villainy once and for all." He added sounded rather proud of that fact.

"Actually, at the time it was Padawan Shan and Corporal Malcom." Qui-Gon corrected his Padawan but was overall glad that at least some of their academic lessons had sunk in; Force knows that Obi-Wan preferred the more practical lessons during his apprenticeship….not surprising considering that he had almost left the Order when no one would take him as their Padawan, foolish really taking into account how talented he was and the hidden potential that was still untapped.

It would only be a matter of time until he would complete the trails and become a Jedi Knight and later a Jedi Master within another ten years, he was certain of it.

"But that's not issue at hand." The Jedi commented as he tore his eyes away from his Padawan, someone that over the last decade he had come to view as a son; even if Jedi were not supposed to form attachments...but how could he not? They had both spent ten years training together, he learned as much from his student as Obi-Wan had learnt from him. It probably did not help that he did not shun is emotions like he had been taught to.

"Yes, you want us to take into the smaller ship, putting you in harm's way your Majesty," The Captain said looking directly at the Queen before turning back to the Jedi. "simply because you're curious."

"Curiosity has nothing to do with it, Captain." Qui-Gon said firmly, his face set like stone. "But there could be hundreds, perhaps thousands of innocent lives trapped aboard those ship."

"Your job, your only job is to protect the Queen and get her back safely to Coruscant which so far you have failed at that."

"I could say thing about you, Captain Panaka." The Jedi Master countered, his tone neutral as he stared at him. "You're Captain of the Royal Guards, correct?"

"Are you going somewhere with this, Jinn?" Panaka almost growled, meanwhile the Queen, Obi-Wan and the Handmaidens watched their debate/argument unfold not daring to say a word or get in the middle of the two.

"If not for me and Obi-Wan,"

"Please don't bring me into this, Master."

"You would still be held captive by the Trade Federation," Qui-Gon stated further deciding to ignore Obi-Wan's protest. "If anyone has failed protecting the Queen than I think we both know who that is, do we not?"

"How dare you!" Panka seethed with gritted teeth.

"That is enough," The Queen commanded raising her hand. "Both of you." He added looking between the Captain and the Jedi Master.

"My Lady,"

"I said enough, Captain Panaka." She ordered sternly, narrowing her brown eyes on him almost daring him to defy her.

"Yes, my Queen." He bowed to her wishes but not before sending a final look to Qui-Gon who seemed unfazed by it. "It won't happen again."

"And I am the one that ordered Quarsh to surrender, Qui-Gon." Queen Amidala explained to the Jedi as she defended the Captain. "It was my hope that in surrendering that the Trade Federation would not harm my people, hopefully they have a modicum of integrity and will not kill any of my people; so if wish to blame anyone then blame me, it was my decision…. one of which I am questioning was the right course of action."

"You did the right thing, your Majesty." Obi-Wan said commending her actions knowing that many others in her place would have retaliated in anger, possibly in the deaths of innocent people that would be caught in the crossfire. "Once we reach Coruscant I'm sure the Senate will find a solution to end things peacefully between Naboo and the Trade Federation."

"As do I, Padawan." The Queen said almost smiling at the young man that stood beside his Master. "My people are suffering and without their Queen I fear they may believe that I have abandoned them simply to save my own skin. Something that I certain that the Federation will use to demoralise my people, weakening them both mentally and physically."

"The Trade Federation would not do something so reckless, your Majesty." Qui-Gon said doing his best to ease the Queens worries; though strangely he felt that one of the Handmaidens feeling just as guilty, perhaps more so, through the Force...it was almost like she felt personally responsible for the Queen leaving, or at least the Queens words had hit her hard...

Exactly why she felt like that was lost on the Jedi Master, but he supposed it was a story for another day.

"How can you be so sure?"

"The Federation would not risk angering the Republic as..."

"Sorry to interrupt but we've just picked up a transmission, possibly an SOS." Ric Olié's voice came over the ship's comms interrupting anything that Qui-Gon was going to say to the Queen.

"From one of the ships?" Qui-Gon asked before anyone else.

"Yeah." The pilot confirmed over the intercoms. "Seems to be coming from the smaller of the two ships and is using an unknown frequency; thankfully that little Astrodroid has managed to clear most of it, unfortunately it's still a little choppy but it's better than nothing."

Everyone in the room looked over to where the Queen was sitting who despite the situation seemed as calm and collected as ever, remarkable for someone so young. Both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan saw the Queen, only for a fraction of a second, avert her eyes over to where her Handmaidens were standing and could have sworn that one of them nodded her head ever so slightly; but it happened so quick that they were not sure if they had imagined it.

"Let's hear it, Mr Olié." The Queen ordered regally and gracefully as she sat up straighter in her throne.

"Yes, Ma'am." Ric replied before playing the message over the comms for the rest of them to hear.

"Th is rtan ta-312 conting ified ship, do read?" The voice was broken up but from what they could tell it was distinctively male; and spoke in Basic. "I re-eat, is Spartan Beta-3.. contacting unidentified ip, do you read?"

"Spartan?" Obi-Wan asked out loud as he looked to his master. " Have you ever heard of that name before, Master?"

"Not that I can recall." Murmured the Jedi Master as he wracked his mind thinking hard if he had heard the name at all in over the fifty plus years, he had been alive. "Possible proof that my theory of these ships coming from the Unknown Regions is correct." He stated further to his Padawan.

"Perhaps." Obi-Wan whispered. "But I don't think we should jump to any conclusions until we get more evidence; personally, I am of a similar mind of the Captain that this is simply a Hyperdrive engine gone terribly wrong."

"Anything is possibly, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon conceded to his Padawan words. "But my instincts tell me that is not the case, and I am afraid that I must trust them; after all they have never let me down before."

"As you say, Master." Obi-Wan acknowledged tilting his head at the older, more experienced Jedi. "You know that I will follow you regardless, I was just expressing my opinion was all."

"I know and I am glad to hear it." Qui-Gon Jinn answered with a soft smile directed at his Padawan. " I would very disappointed if you started keeping your thoughts to yourself and remained quiet when I started acting like a foolish old man." He finished with a chuckle.

"You're not old Master."

"But I am foolish?"

"Not trying to rush you or anything but do you want to answer the message?" Ric asked over the comms saving the young Jedi from answering such a question, much to his relief.

"I don't think we should, your highness." Quarsh spoke up as he pulled the bottom of his uniform to get rid of the creases that had formed. "It could be a trap."

"By whom?"

"Take your pick. Slavers, pirates, mercenaries, bounty hunters for the Federation, and finally the Trade Federation." The Captain listed off at the top of his head. "And if the Jedi is correct and this is a possible first contact scenario then who is to say that they are friendly?"

"So, you suggest leaving them stranded alone in space, trapped and alone, while we escape?" Queen Amidala asked him with the same emotionless expression, meaning none whatsoever.

"You're my responsibility, your Majesty." Panaka countered quickly as he looked at her. " Not them."

"So, you're suggesting that we leave them?"

"If it means keeping you safe then yes." He stated without hesitation. "They're not our problem."

"We cannot just leave this Spartan when he is asking for help." Obi-Wan exclaimed gaining everyone's attention. "What if he is the captain of the ship and he had hundreds of crewmen injured?"

"Not our concern." The Captain of the Royal Guards said crisply, narrowing his eyes at the Jedi for even suggesting it...it was bad enough with the older Jedi but now him? "Your job is to get us to Coruscant, or have you forgotten already?"

"Our job is being peacekeepers." Qui-Gon retorted. "Which we intended to be." He added before looking past the Captain and over to the Queen. "I understand that you're concerned about your people and your planet, and have every right to be, but this Spartan and his crew could be suffering as well, perhaps even dying. I ask, implore you even, to allow us to offer aid to him."

Queen Amidala said nothing as she returned Qui-Gon gave with one of her own. As she looked at him, once again, her dark brown eyes drifted over to where her Handmaidens were, specially where the one that was surrounded by all the others that were acting as body shields in the event that the Trade Federation discovered that Padmé was in fact the real Queen Amidala and she was nothing but a decoy.

Padme locked eyes with her for a brief moments before tilting her head forward just enough so that she could see that she was giving her permission to allow them to aid the man that had identified himself as Spartan Beta-312, at least that was all they had managed to pick up over the garbled transmission.

"Very well." She spoke up as she pulled eyes way from Padme and back over to the two Jedi standing before her. "We're heading towards the Coruscant to ask the Senate for aid, it would be unbecoming off us to refuse to help when we ourselves need it more than ever."

"Thank you, your Majesty." Qui-Gon Jinn thanked with a bow, as did Obi-Wan.

"Ric, please inform this Spartan that will offer aid to him to the best of our ability."

"Yes, Ma'am." Ric replied over the comms before they went dead leaving an awkward silence that lingered in the room.

"Myself and Obi-Wan will head to the bridge and see if we can help the pilot contact the Spartan."

"Very good, you're excused." Queen Amidala said airily as she waved them off with the back of her hand. The two Jedi bowed a final time before exiting the room leaving the Queen, the Handmaidens, and the Captain alone in the Throne Room.

Watching the Jedi leave the room, Panka sighed in frustration at his authority being disregarded by both the Queen and the Jedi. He was only trying to do his job and keep her safe after she had almost been captured by the Droid army that had invaded Naboo, his precious Naboo.

"I really hope we don't regret this."

And cut! Well, here is the next chapter of A NOBLE Menace I hoped you all enjoyed it even if it had no action like the previous chapter. It would have been out last week but I recently started work again and had to het the pub that I work at up and running again and so have had no spare time to do anything over the last seven days. But I will try to get the third chapter out soon, which will have Six meeting both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan.

Also, do you think that I should have Six, Qui-Gon and the others head to Tatooine seeing as how they now have the Covenant Corvette and have Six head there alone at a later date, or should I follow the events of canon and head there after I get the corvette up and running?

Anyway here are the suggestions/options that I have for the Noble Six pairing (if I decide to one) ….

Six x Padmé

Six x Sola Naberrie (Padme sister)

Six x Aayla Secura

Six x Fay

Six x Sabé (Decoy Queen)

Six x Shaak Ti

Six x FemRevan

Six x Bastila Shan

Six x Satele Shan (Younger)

Six x Kira Carsen

Six x Ashara Zavros

Six x Bo Katarn

Six x Kelly-087

Six x Linda-058

Six x Miranda Keyes

Six x Olympia Vale

Six x oc Forerunner

Six x Oc Ancient Human

Six x Cal-141

Six x Daisy-023

Six x Ellen Anders

Six x IIsa Zane (First Spartan-IV and member of Insurrectionists, could create an interesting side story)

Or if I take this story into the Mass Effect universe as a sequel or side story then there is of course the pairing from that franchise such as...

Six x FemShep

Six x Tali

Six x Cora Harper

Six x Ashley Williams

Six x Liara T'soni

Six x Miranda Lawson

Six x Sarah Ryder

Six x EDI

But these pairing would be included in the sequel/side story that I will right after the Phantom Menace story is over, so you don't need to suggest them, or do it's up to you.

Anyway, please read, review, and follow.