I don't own RWBY, Red vs. Blue, Halo, or Star Wars.
2525 RST (Remnant Standard Time)
72 BBY
The vastness of space never failed to amaze Ron Curk. He had been flying starships since he was a teenager living on Corellia, and now he was captain of his own ship. It was an YT1500 light freighter, a close cousin of the more famous and slightly smaller YT1300. Fire Eater was Ron's' pride and joy, able to haul ten tons more cargo than its smaller cousin he could make more money than most independent haulers. Ron hauled mostly legitimate cargo, only dabbling in smuggling when he was really desperate.
Today was day twenty-four of a six months long job he signed on for. He had hired his ship out to the government of Eriadu, who were hoping to exploit the Unknown Regions. So far the job had gone rather smoothly, they had already penetrated a little over one hundred light years into the Unknown Regions. Ron glanced at his long time friend and copilot Zaren Hun, a Devaronian male, who was keeping a close eye on the star charts. Even though they could count on the ship computer to drop them out of hyperspace, they still wanted to do it themselves rather than rely on technology.
Aside from Zaren, the only crew Ron had was R2-T90, Artee, their astromech droid. They also had a passenger on board, a human named Sabton Mor, who was an official from Eriadu tasked with monitoring the job. Ron thought that Mor was more of a pain in the ass than an asset. The man had taken an entire cabin for himself, forcing them to pile the supplies they were going to store in there in the halls. He was also constantly questioning their ability to navigate through the twisted knots of hyperspace that was the border of the Unknown Regions. In fairness, even Ron had his doubts, but Mors' constant complaining was uncalled for.
Just then, the source of Ron's' annoyances walked into the cockpit. Sabton Mor was a rather short stout man with a bald head and beady brown eyes. He honestly had liar written all over his face in Ron's' opinion.
"What's going on," the bald man demanded more than asked.
"We're coming up on a yellow star. We need to drop out of hyperspace to make a course adjustment," Zaren explained patiently. Ron suppressed the urge to role his eyes. He had always heard what people from Eriadu were like, but he had thought that it was just a negative stereotype. Mor seemed to prove him wrong on that assumption.
"You might want to strap in. We don't want a repeat of what happened when we dropped out at that red dwarf," Ron said, just keeping a smirk from coming on his face. Mor went red in the face from remembering that incident; it had taken them all morning to get his head out of the refresher. He sat down in the seat behind Zaren as Artee came trundling in.
"Magnetize yourself Artee," advised Zaren. The little astromech tootled a reply and magnetized his feet to the floor.
The clock on the computer screen counted down to zero. Ron pushed down on the hyperdrive lever and the Fire Eater came out of hyperspace right at the edge of the star system, only a fool would try to jump right in to an uncharted system. Ron and Zaren did a routine systems check first to make sure all the ships systems were running properly. Mor was checking the charts and recording the new hyperspace route they had just blazed. Artee for his part, started to do a scan of the star system. The little astromech was searching for any signs of technology or life in general. He let out a squawk of alarm at what he detected.
"What is it Artee," Ron asked; as he glanced at the little screen that translated Artee's droid speak into basic.
We have a large ship approaching us at 90 degrees to starboard, coming in high, was the reply on the screen. Ron took a look in the indicated direction and cursed loudly. The other to organics in the cockpit looked up from what they were doing. Seeing their quizzical looks Ron just pointed. When the two glanced out the starboard side viewports they cursed as well.
Not three kilometers away from them was a ship moving to intercept them. It was probably the ugliest thing that Ron had seen in his entire life. The ship looked like a blaster rifle with engines slapped on as an afterthought. Ron guessed it was some tip of warship, and as it got closer he could see several gun turrets and what he supposed were missile pods.
"Is that a mass driver? How primitive," Mor snorted derisively.
"That primitive mass driver can still through a several hundred ton round a fraction of the speed of light, which I might add our shields couldn't take," Ron snapped back at the snob. Zaren shook his head at Mor's stupidity. As the mystery ship slowed to a stop in front of them a pair of what appeared to be heavy fighters came up alongside them effectively boxing them in. Then the Fire Eater shuddered, as if it had been scooped up in a giant's hand. They were slowly being drawn into a hanger that was just big enough to accommodate their ship.
"Well looks like we're going to meet the natives," Ron joked nervously.
They had no choice but to lower the boarding ramp and walk down with their hands up. A group of armored humanoid beings caring what looked like slug throwers of all things approached them cautiously with weapons ready. Ron couldn't tell what species they were, because they had opaque visors covering their faces. Three of the unknown beings came forward and started checking them for weapons.
"Get your hands off me you primitive savage."
Ron and Zaren would of face palmed if they weren't so worried about their heads being blown off. Leave it to Mor to make things even more complicated than they already where. When Mor shoved the one that was trying to search him to the ground Ron was sure that the pompous twit had just gotten them killed. Instead of the unknowns shooting them full of holes like he thought they would only one stepped forward. This person, who was smaller than Mor by the way, proceeded to pick the fat man up with one hand. Then this person turned Mor upside down and shook him hard a few times. Some odds and ends fell out of Mor's pockets, then seemingly satisfied, the unknown unceremoniously dropped him on the ground.
The two space freighter bums would have laughed their heads off if they weren't in such a dangerous position. Still they couldn't help the snort of amusement that escaped their lips. The rather small figure turned to them and they immediately shut up. With one deft move the unknown pulled off their helmet revealing the unmistakable features of a human female. She was pretty in all honest opinion with short brown hair and striking silver eyes set in a fair heart shaped face. The young woman said something and gave the two a crooked grin.
"Um, we can't understand you," Zaren said. The woman stared at the Devaronian and blinked clueless at him, then turned to Ron with a questioning eyebrow.
"Don't look at me sister. I have no idea what you just said ether," Ron stated. If it wasn't obvious before, it was now that this was a completely undiscovered human civilization. That wasn't unheard of even today, but this civilization was rather more advanced than the ones discovered in recent times. Those civilizations had been the primitive decedents of colony ship crash survivors. The Eriadu government was probably going to be very happy with this discovery of an entire new market they could exploit without the Trade Federation interfering. That is if Mor would stop being an ass before he got them all killed.
The young woman seemed to realize that they weren't from around here, because she face palmed and grumbled something. Ron would guess she was saying something along the lines of "I'm not getting paid enough for this shit." She called out and suddenly a hologram appeared on her left. The hologram was green tinted and resembled a young human woman in a lab coat, however the key difference was that she appeared to have a set of antlers growing out of her head. Ron suspected that this was a translator of some sort, and when the woman gestured for him to speak it confirmed his suspicions.
"Um, hi," was Ron's intelligent opening. Mor, who by this time had recovered from his rather unprofessional search, let out a groan and covered his eyes. Zaren for his part couldn't help but let out a snort. The woman even grinned as she probably guessed that Ron had said something stupid. Hologram lady for her part let out a sigh and tapped her foot, giving him an annoyed look. Clearing his throat Ron tried again.
"Hello. We are travelers from the Galactic Republic in search of new markets to trade with. The planetary government of Eriadu commissioned us to find a new trade route into this region of space. I am Ron Curk, Captain of the Fire Eater. This is my…"
"The Fire Eater, really?"
Ron paused when the hologram spoke to him in Basic.
"Yes that's the name of my ship. You speak Basic," he questioned.
"I do now. I'm this ships AI, it doesn't take much for me to figure out a language when I'm listening to it; and seriously, Basic? Couldn't come up with anything more boring to call a language could you," the now identified AI said with some sass in her voice.
"It was called that thousands of years before I was born so don't go pinning that stupid name on me," Ron fired right back, before realizing he probably shouldn't argue with her. The AI just gave him a coy smile and started to strut around him, as if inspecting him.
"Oh you're feisty. I like that," she purred. The woman standing in front of them rolled her silver eyes and said something to the AI.
"I am not a bitch in heat," the AI fired back at her. This was too much for Zaren as he started to laugh. The AI seemed to remember what she was supposed to be doing and turned to the Devaronian male with a curious look on her face. She 'walked' up to him and gave him a once over with her eyes.
"Excuse me, but what species are you," she asked.
"I'm Devaronian. My name is Zaren Hun, what's your name," inquired Zaren.
"Oh, where are my manners. My name is Shirley, and this is Captain Spring Rose. She's the commander of the Space Marine complement on board. Which also reminds me, welcome aboard the URSC Audacity," answered Shirley.
"Audacity, and you where criticizing my ships name," snapped Ron.
"It's a stupid name for a civilian ship," replied Shirley. Ron was about to get into a heated debate with the AI about ship name, when Mor finally decided to open his stupid mouth.
"I am Sabton Mor, representative of the Eriadu government in charge of this mission. I demand that you release us at once and take me to your commanding officer. If you do not the Eriadu government will take this as a hostile act," Mor stated; and here Ron thought that Mor couldn't get anymore pompous. Shirley gave the twit a soar look.
"And how will the Eriadu government know if we don't let you go," she asked coldly. Mor seemed to realize what sort of situation he was in when he saw the way the AI looked at him. He shut his mouth and kept his head down.
"As to your request to see the commanding officer, Captain Stuart will see you in the wardroom," she said in a more polite tone.
Captain John Stuart had served for twenty three years in the URSC navy. He had enlisted at the age of sixteen and fought in the Third Grimm War, and later in the Second Faunus War he chose to remain loyal to the URSC. That had been a difficult choice for him, but now he was one of the first Faunus to make it to the rank of Caption in the navy. There was talk around the URSC that John might even become the first Faunus to be promoted to admiral. John took some pride in knowing that he served as a bridge between humans and faunus, he took it as a sign that things where improving. Today however, it looked like he was going to be serving as a bridge between to completely different civilizations.
While Shirley had been chatting with the crew of the unknown ship she had also been hacking into the ships database. The AI grumbled that it was child's play and copied all the data that the strangers had on their ships computer. When the data was uploaded to the captains' personal computer John couldn't help but be impressed. This 'Galactic Republic' covered a sizable chunk of the galactic disk and had hundreds of thousands of different species that answered to it. He also noted that there was a sizeable chunk of space that was designated as 'Hutt Space' as Shirley translated it. Shirley then gave him a notice that she was taking their unexpected guest to the wardroom.
John was waiting for the three guests when they arrived with Shirley's hologram leading them in and Captain Rose bringing up the rear. The fat one forced his way to the front and blabbered something in an angry tone. Captain Stuart didn't let the tone faze him and merely glanced at Shirley for a translation.
"He said his name is Sabton Mor and that he is a member of a very powerful family on the planet Eriadu. Apparently if we don't let him go his family will bring the weight of the Eriadu government down on our primitive heads," Shirley said, rolling her eyes.
"Please tell him that if he keeps making empty threats like that I will release him, into the nearest star," John replied coldly. He was telling the truth too. The URSC didn't need another external threat; they had enough trouble with the Grimm. If this pompous ass did pose a threat John would kill him.
Shirley translated Johns' words and the look on this Mor characters face was priceless. The fatso went white as a sheet while his companions seemed to grin in approval. The taller human shoved the twit to the sided and said something. Shirley almost seemed too pure, which was enough to tell John that she liked this guy. If Shirley liked someone then that usually meant that that person could be trusted, so John focused on him.
"This is Ron Curk, captain of the Fire Eater. He says to ignore the pompous twit and that he and his crew come in peace," the AI reported.
"That's what they all say before the turn you into a pile of goo," Spring quipped. It took a lot of effort for John not to laugh at that, but she had a point. They always said that right before they stabbed you in the back.
"Captain Rose, will you have permission to use your semblance," John ordered. Spring Rose had a rather unique semblance. While most Hunters had semblances that helped in battle, Springs semblance allowed her to tell if someone was lying. The trick was she had to be touching them in order to do that. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Ron's shoulder. The man turned with a quizzical look on his face and blanched at the sight of Spring with her eyes glowing.
"He is telling the truth Captain," reported the young marine captain.
"Good, we'll deal with him then. Captain Rose please escort the others to the next room," Captain Stuart ordered.
Zaren was worried, for the last hour he and Mor had been held in another room with the young woman who had given Mor the rough search. Despite the rough treatment she had given the ass, she seemed to radiate a warm friendly curious vibe. Mor for his part would not stop grumbling about mutiny and lost markets. Zaren was a very patient man, but he was at the end of his limit. Just when he was about to get up to knock out the ass the doors opened. The two Captains walked in and shook hands. Captain Stuart turned and left saying something to Captain Rose.
"Well what happened," asked Zaren. Ron turned to Mor with a shit eating grin on his face.
"I hope your bosses will pay triple what they offered, because I just struck a deal for you," Ron said.
"What kind of deal," asked Mor warily.
"The United Remnant Space Command is going to send a trade delegation to Eriadu. They hope to open an embassy there," replied Ron.
"So are we free to go?"
"Yes, let's go home," Ron answered.
No one knew at the time that this interesting little side note in history would change the greater galaxy so much. The United Remnant Space Command would come to shape the galaxy and the Jedi Order in the coming century like no other power before it. For better or for worst, the URSC was brought onto the galactic stage.
END
This is a prequel one shot to a project that I'm working on for early next year. Its something of a test run so let me know what you think in a review. I have never played "Halo" so any info I have on it is from Red vs. Blue or from Wiki. If you have any useful info on armor and ships I'd appreciate it. For those who might be curious Spring Rose is my OC of Ruby's grandma, she might show up in later stories, but no guarantees.