(Note for reference and my little rant: The Phantom Menace takes place in 32 BBY, Jango Fett was adopted by the Fett clan as a foundling 58 BBY when he was around 10 years old. 0 BBY is around the Events of A New Hope. The BBY time system in Star Wars is a timeline like BC in real history, which counts backward. BBY = Before the Battle of Yavin. Here is a chart to get an idea. This will be important if you see any time skips or and time frame of the year for any Star Wars fanfiction. I hope this clears any misunderstanding. I know that the BBY system can be confusing to anyone who is just a casual Star Wars Fan. Now back to the story
Phantom Menace 32 BBY, Revenge of the Sith 19 BBY, New Hope around 0 BBY/ 1ABY, Return of the Jedi 4 ABY )
Reach was dying loudly.
Covenant plasma slammed into the surface in towering blue-white spears, each impact rattling the ONI blacksite deep beneath the planet. Dust rained from the ceiling. Alarms screamed. The whole world felt like it was being shaken apart by a giant, angry god.
Noble Six sprinted through the collapsing hallway, armor sparking and cracked, his visor split open and exposing his right blue eye. Everything hurt, but pain was optional for Spartans.
Missions weren't.
He wasn't here to save Reach.
He was here for Cassandra.
ONI Blacksite Epsilon-9
The blast door sealed behind him as the Spartan descended into the darkness. Alarms wailed overhead, flickering red across the narrow walls. Dust shook loose from the ceiling every time another plasma round thundered into the surface above.
Cassandra's vault waited at the bottom.
She was ONI's most illegal creation, a forbidden Superintelligence, designed to surpass even Cortana and operate without rampancy for decades.
Her database contained:
Genetic records for every Spartan on Reach
Training models and full combat simulations for Noble Team
All UNSC doctrines, tactics, and battlefield algorithms
Complete engineering knowledge of UNSC weapons and tech
Black-level ONI projects were never meant to see daylight
Cassandra wasn't just an AI.
She was the sum of the Spartans' lives.
If the Covenant got her, they'd understand humanity better than ONI ever had.
Six reached the final blast door, sealed with an eight-point biometric lock. His gauntlet hit the panel.
ACCESS DENIED LEVEL 0 REQUIRED
He stared at the screen.
"Figures."
He jammed his knife into the maintenance slot, ripped out the safety plate, and forced a hardwire bypass. Sparks flew. Alarms shrieked.
The door cracked open.
A single pedestal illuminated a crystal-blue AI housing, glowing with pulsing light.
Cassandra spoke before he even touched her.
"Spartan-B312. You're late."
Six blinked. "Traffic."
"I can see the plasma bombardment," she replied dryly. "Please recover me so we can leave."
"And I see your humor file is almost nonexistent," Six shot back.
"Oh? It appears you've found yours."
He slid her crystal into his armor. His HUD rebooted instantly sharper, cleaner, more efficient.
"Oh dear," Cassandra muttered. "Your armor is a trainwreck."
"It'll live."
"Your optimism is adorable."
"Let's go," she commanded.
Six obeyed.
Project X
As he turned to leave, Cassandra halted him.
"Spartan, there is an undetonated cryo-locker two rooms ahead. ONI hid something from even me."
He followed her nav-ping to a cracked lab chamber. Most of it had melted, but one cryo-vault still hummed with power.
A vial floated inside, glowing silver-blue.
PROJECT X TEMPORAL/BIOLOGICAL ENHANCEMENT SERUMUNAUTHORIZED USE WILL RESULT IN EXECUTION
Six stared at the warning. "Execution?"
"On the bright side," Cassandra remarked, "it's unlikely they'll enforce the penalty now."
He cracked the locker. Cold air spilled out. The vial was shockingly cool in his hand.
"Side effects?" he asked.
"Slowed aging. Enhanced cellular stability. Potential instability when exposed to exotic slipspace fields."
"Useful."
"Dangerous."
"I'll risk it."
He pocketed the vial.
The Rift
They reached the surface just as the sky tore open in a spiral of violent light. It wasn't Covenant fire.
Cassandra sounded genuinely alarmed.
"Spartan, this is a dimensional shear. Not slipspace. Something is ripping the universe."
The gravitational pull intensified. Six tried to brace, but his ruined armor couldn't hold him. The serum in his pocket pulsed, reacting to the distortion.
Elites screamed as they were torn upward. Rubble spiraled toward the widening vortex.
Six held his ground
The ridge behind him exploded.
The shockwave hurled him forward into the rift.
Everything dissolved into a tearing sound and blinding light. His bones felt like they were being rearranged. Cassandra shouted through the distortion.
"Spartan, your biology is destabilizing! The serum is reacting with the rift!"
"How bad?!" he gasped.
"You're de-aging!"
"How far?!"
"I don't know!"
His armor shrank slightly around him. His limbs elongated. His entire body burned like it was being rebuilt atom by atom.
Then
Darkness.
Mandalore around 56 BBY
He hit the dirt hard enough to crater it. Red soil burst outward, dust clouds rising into the air.
Cassandra rebooted with a soft chime.
"Spartan… vitals nominal. Temporal stabilization complete. Biological age approximately… eighteen."
Six groaned. "Perfect. Back to being a teenager. Every soldier's dream."
Before he could stand, shadows surrounded the crater.
Warriors in polished Beskar armor formed a circle around him, T-visors gleaming in the harsh sunlight. Capes fluttered. Jetpacks hummed.
He recognized warriors anywhere.
One stepped forward, blue and silver armor, battle-scarred, posture commanding.
Verd Fett. Patriarch of Clan Fett.
His voice rumbled like distant thunder.
"You. Offworlder. You fell from the sky like fire. Explain yourself."
Six stood, brushing dirt off his battered chest-plate.
"Rough landing," he said dryly.
Behind the warriors, a boy, maybe twelve, peeked from behind Verd's leg. Sharp gaze. Fierce posture.
Jango Fett.
Verd tilted his helmet slightly. "You are not wounded?"
"Not enough to matter."
"You wear strange armor."
"Long story."
"We have time."
Six looked around at the heavily armed Mandalorians. "I don't."
A ripple of amusement passed through the warriors.
Jango stepped forward boldly.
"Your armor is damaged," the boy said. "But you stand like a warrior."
Six's exposed blue eye met Jango's stare. "You should see the other guys."
Jango grinned. Mandalorians nodded approvingly.
Verd Fett folded his arms.
"You fell from the heavens. You survived the impact. You joke in the face of warriors."A pause."That sounds like a Fett."
Six blinked. "…a what now?"
Verd stepped closer, placing a heavy hand on Six's shoulder plate.
"You are no Mandalorian by blood. But that can be changed."
Jango stepped beside him, eyes bright.
Verd's voice echoed with ancient pride.
"Offworlder. If you choose it…Clan Fett will take you in."
Cassandra whispered in his helmet: "Spartan… I believe you are being adopted."
Six exhaled.
New world.New life.New clan.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Why not? I've had worse first days."
Verd clapped his shoulder with warrior approval.
"Welcome, then… brother."