The alert came without warning as Jack was in the orbital command center above Mandalore when Cassandra's voice cut through the silence.
"High-priority transmission intercepted."
A hologram snapped into existence.
Multiple Republic emergency channels, fragmented overlapping Distress signals.
Jack's eyes narrowed.
"Where is the source?"
"Geonosis."
The name alone was enough.
The projection shifted, assembling itself into a coherent tactical display.
Republic signatures.
Jedi transponders, Separatist fleet markers.
Jack went still.
"So it starts," he said.
The feed stabilized.
Grainy battlefield footage filled the air.
Jedi surrounded in a massive arena as droid armies moved in formation, and then the sky tore open. As Republic gunships descended in waves, deploying clone troopers directly into the fight.
The first large-scale engagement of a war, the Senate hadn't even officially declared it yet.
"Confirmed," Cassandra said. "The Republic has deployed a clone army."
Jack watched the identical soldiers move with precision.
Jango's legacy mass-produced and weaponized as his body was cooling on the battlefield.
"Do we have confirmation of command authority?" Jack asked.
"Yes," Cassandra replied. "Emergency powers will be granted to Palpatine."
"Of course it will."
Jack exhaled slowly.
Everything was moving exactly as expected.
The battle escalated rapidly as new feeds appeared.
Separatist reinforcements are pouring in out of orbit, with more of the Republic Venator-class Star Destroyers dropping out of hyperspace and immediately engaging the Separatist forces.
With more landing craft arriving with more troopers, heavy artillery, and walker units.
The scale shifted in seconds what had been a rescue mission became a full military engagement.
Behind Jack, the Spartans of the Royal Guard stood motionless.
As they waited, watching, they didn't need orders to understand what this meant.
Jack turned away from the projection.
"Status of our fleet."
"Combat-ready elements stand at eighty-two percent operational readiness," Cassandra said instantly. "Full mobilization possible within six hours."
Jack considered that.
Six hours was nothing.
They could be at Geonosis before the battle even ended.
If he chose to go, he didn't.
"Not yet," he said.
That answer wasn't hesitant; it was a calculation.
"Mandalore is still classified as a neutral system," Cassandra said.
"Yes."
"If we deploy openly, both the Republic and the Separatists will register us as a third faction, or we have."
Jack nodded.
"And they'll both turn on us eventually."
"Probability: high."
Jack looked back at the battle.
Jedi fighting on the front lines and clones are dying by the thousands due to poor formation tactics.
The droids are advancing without hesitation.
Both sides are already committed, but neither is fully in control.
The holographic map shifted again.
Trade routes in the Outer Rim territories are unsecured systems.
"We fight their war, and we shape it how we want it." Jack continued.
A new set of orders appeared in the air.
"Phase One," Jack said.
"Deploy reconnaissance assets along Outer Rim hyperlanes. I want real-time tracking of Republic and Separatist fleet movements."
"Confirmed."
"Phase Two expands ship production by another thirty percent. "
"Already in progress."
Jack's gaze hardened slightly.
"Phase Three…"
The image of Geonosis rotated slowly in the projection.
"…we make contact."
Cassandra processed that for a moment.
"With which faction?"
Jack didn't answer immediately; instead, he watched the battlefield again.
He watched how both sides fought, how they moved, how they thought.
"The Spartans, for now, we tell them we will inter as mercenaries," he said finally.