Standard Disclaimer: All rights belong to those whose rights they belong to, primarily Rooster Teeth for RWBY and both BioWare and Lucasarts for SWTOR, though quite namely not me. Don't own a thing.


A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

RWBY Star Wars

EPISODE 4

PROPHECY

It is a time of uneasy peace.
The SITH EMPIRE and the
GALACTIC REPUBLIC
stare at each other, uneasily, as
agents from both sides make
what small gains they can.

It is a time of high adventure
but also deadly peril.

Far from the front lines on the
Imperial Capital of DROMUND KAAS,
Sith Lords gather to discuss a
prophecy, one which might
turn the tide of this detestable
peace and grant tremendous
power to those ambitious enough
to seize it.

All this matters little to those who
merely try to get by, whether
by guile, skill, or perhaps a little
dishonest trade.


Chapter 01
Approaching Tatooine
Ember Celica Bridge

"Are you farking kidding me right now?" Yang bellowed as she frantically twisted the controls. It was fortunate she was securely belted into the pilot's seat of the small tramp freighter, else she might have been tossed against the viewport with her insane maneuvering. The black and white astromech droid situated behind gave her an accusatory warble. His own straps were fastened quite a bit more tenuously.

"Sorry, buddy, just hang tight!" The blonde let out an irritable huff, cricking her neck to the side before examining the display at her elbow. "Sithspit, we've only got ten percent left on our rear shields…" The freighter shuddered slightly, causing the woman's voice to drop into a growl. "Annnd five percent."

ZW-31 tweeted a warning, his head spinning around urgently.

"I know, Zwei, I know! These autoturrents are junk, they're not doing a thing to those fighters!" Yang slammed her fist on a console button before twisting the controls once more. "Ruby! The kark are you doing back there, we're gonna start losing parts off of the ship soon!"

Ember Celica Engine Room

An undersized tan-colored astromech droid with black highlights teetered nervously at the edge of the open bay in the middle of the aft mechanical area. P3-NY was ready to help her master in any way possible, even if she couldn't fit herself down next to where the diminutive brunette crouched.

Ruby let out a sigh as she pushed her sweat-matted red-tipped bangs out of her face. "I'm workin' on it, Yang!" she hollered back, adjusting the sleeves of her black jumpsuit that were tied around her waist. "Penny, sweetie, don't stand so close to the edge, okay?"

P3-NY gave a short affirmative tweet as she shuffled back a bit, not far enough that her master was out of sight but hopefully no longer in the way.

"Ahhh, vape, that's no good," the brunette mechanic finally groaned, pulling the neck of her red tank top up to mop the sweat off of her brow. "Main coupler is about done for, and the backup is already cracked... "

Her droid nervously informed her master of their chances of survival with such impending catastrophic failures, but the girl just laughed her off.

"I'm a Corellian, sweetie, never tell me the odds! Now, let's try rerouting this to here…"

Ember Celica Bridge

Yang grinned tightly as the indicator for the rear shields slowly crept upwards. "Ha, knew she could do it!" she crowed, thumping her artificial right fist against the armrest of her seat.

ZW-31 let out a derisive electronic snort.

"I did so, I gots complete faith in my little sis!"

Another low tweet, unconvinced.

"When have I ever said otherwise?"

At that, the black-skinned droid began a rather lengthy and detailed rendition, all delivered in tweets and warbles.

"Know what, Zwei? Nobody likes a smartass." Yang bit back a curse as another pair of sleek, silvery fighters shot by overhead. "Now, if you're done picking on your creator, do me a favor and find that cruiser for me… The vaping Empire doesn't have an outpost on Tatooine, those short-range fighters have to have come from somewhere!"

The blonde pilot frowned as she tapped a few keys on the console to even out the shields as best as possible, trying to get closer to the nearby planet that the fighters seemed bound and determined to keep her away from.

"This was supposed to be an easy job," she muttered, lilac eyes scanning the readouts. "Why does it never go easy?"

She and her sister had been at this business for a while, smuggling a variety of merchandise for more or less shady clientele across the demarcated borders between the Republic and the Sith Empire. And things had been good during that time, at least, until their last contract. On a job for a petty kingpin out of Nar Shaddaa, the densely-populated moon orbiting Hutta, they'd been intercepted by a rival crew and had their cargo stolen, only barely escaping with their lives and ship intact. This particular run was supposed to get them back on track, make them straight with the previous client as well as give them a little extra padding in their bottomed-out credit accounts.

What they weren't expecting, however, was the flight of Sith Empire fighters waiting for them to drop out of hyperspace right outside of their destination.

"Thirty kriffing parsecs to deliver this cargo," Yang grumbled. "Why would these Hutt-spawn care, anyways?"

She glanced aside at the electronic squawk issued from ZW-31. "You found 'em? Great, where?"

At her droid's mournful moan, she directed her gaze back out the forward portal.

"Oh. There."

Ember Celica Engine Room

"Okay, Penny! D'ya see the big hydrospanner to the left of you?"

The little droid swiveled around, finally pausing by a cluster of tools. Most of them were shoddy or even broken, but a few were still serviceable. She stretched out her gripping arm and pulled up the tool her master had asked for, quickly zipping back over to the open bay.

"Perfect!" Ruby cheered, popping her sweat-soaked and grease-stained head up long enough to grab hold of the hydrospanner and duck back down once more. "Awesome job, sweetie!"

P3-NY gave a happy little warble as she rocked back and forth on her front legs. Her bright green sensor lights focused on a readout panel nearby, causing her optimism to quickly drop with a low tweetle.

"Don't you worry about that, Penny, I can keep us- Sithspit!" There was a bright flash, sparks arcing overhead, followed by the muffled thump of a body falling backwards. "Okay, so that one's good now, I just… Oh, frizz, no. Just… Penny, open a line to the bridge!"

Obediently, P3-NY wheeled herself over to the side, poking at the appropriate button with her gripping tool and giving an affirmative tweet.

"Yang!" the brunette called out. "I can't keep the forward shields going anymore, can we even out the others some?"

"No point, Rubes," her sister came back, voice laden with resolve. "Sith cruiser just popped up ahead of us, we gotta get past it to the planet."

"A cruiser?" Ruby yelped, popping back up again. Her silver eyes were wide and worried. "Shouldn't we be running?"

"Nah, I got this, we can get by."

"Yang, no, let's-" The brunette mechanic broke off as the freighter took several shuddering hits. Her worried gaze traveled over to the shield display. "That was our forward shields."

"Umm… Yup."

"Yang, I can't transfer any more to the forward shields."

"Yeah, gathered that as well."

"Please tell me we're running."

"Nope, almost through, just gotta… Oh. Well, shavit."

Ruby leaned forward and banged her forehead against the rim of the bay. "What?" she prompted neutrally.

"Well, we're past the cruiser, but it just launched another flight of fighters."

"Vape, right, okay…" Ruby ducked back down, frantically pulling wires from a panel. "Maybe I can splice in from the secondaries…"

P3-NY gave a startled squawk as the deck tilted abruptly, the entire frame of the ship vibrating before giving a lurch.

"Okay, so, now we just lost both autoturrets," Yang reported with far less concern than should have been evident.

"Ugh, fine!" Ruby pulled herself out from the bay, scampering across the deck to open a now-smoking panel. "Are they completely trashed?"

"Just the dorsal turret, the ventral one lost power."

"Right, I can work with that," the brunette muttered, tongue poking out from between her teeth as she ripped wires aside. "Should be able to run a bypass and then get into the ducts…"

The ship shuddered once more with an audible bang, dropping Ruby onto her backside. "Shavit, Yang!"

"Yeah, shields under ten percent all around, but that last one just got our sublights and thrusters. Rubes, we're pointed straight at Tatooine…"

"Gah!" Ruby leapt up from her prone position and scrambled towards the rear of the room. "Okay, can I assume you're cool with that being our priority?"

"Yeah, I think that's a safe bet," her sister returned dryly.

"We gonna be able to land still if I give you thrusters?" the brunette called out over her shoulder from where she was digging under the grating. P3-NY worriedly remained at her master's side, gripping tool extended to catch her in case she toppled forward.

Ember Celica Bridge

"Oh, we'll land alright," Yang assured her sister over the intercom. "In how many pieces, well, that's still up for debate."

ZW-31 gave her a sharp beep in rebuke.

"Oh, come on, it was funny. If you can't laugh in this kinda situation, what can ya do?"

Her droid offered a rather differing opinion on her coping mechanisms.

The woman shook her blonde mane over her shoulder, chuckling mildly. "I shoulda programmed in a better sense of humor."

At this point, she couldn't even maneuver. The prow of her beloved, though dilapidated, freighter was pointed straight at the ball of sand ahead of them, and it was looming ever closer. Yang jumped slightly as a trio of fighters flashed past, heralding another sharp bang of impact as more of her ship was torn apart.

"Oh, now, that's just adding insult to injury, don'tcha think?"

Lights on her console began to sputter, blinking back and forth between amber and green before settling, half signifying power while the other half remained grimly dead.

"Ruby, I've got maneuvering thrusters, how about the mains?"

It took a few seconds for the answer to come back across the comms, and when it did, her little sister sounded strained and out of breath. "Yang, that's the best I can give you, the lines are completely fried, aux power conduit just dropped off of our rear, and I think the hyperdrive actually got vaporized."

"Vaporized?"

"Well, there's nothing there anymore where there should be one big-kriffing hyperdrive, just a few thrust vector plates. I can't even give you sublights, the power feed manifold completely sheared off and the hydraulic lines are just gone and-"

"Ruby!"

"...Yeah, Yang?"

"So what I got is what I got, yeah?"

"Preeetty much, yep. Um… Me an' Penny are gonna go tie ourselves down. I'd really appreciate it if we didn't all end up crispified, okay?"

The blonde let out a humorous snort as her grip tightened around the yoke. "Yeah, I'll keep it in mind."

"Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"Love you."

She smiled softly, glancing at the pictogram wedged into the space between the main sensor panel and the starboard viewport. On it were the two sisters, maybe a decade younger and laughing gaily as they were hoisted aloft by a burly blond man and a grinning redheaded woman with shining silver eyes. "Yeah," she murmured. "Love you too, Rubes. Don't worry, I'll get us down in one piece."

Yang tapped the comm unit off, ignoring the new alarms that were clamoring for her attention as she adjusted her harness. "Okay, Zwei, let's not make me a big fat liar, huh? You ready for this?"

ZW-31 tweedled his concurrence, advising that they would hit the atmosphere of Tatooine within thirty-three seconds and the surface of the planet twenty-eight seconds after that, barring any deviations in their course.

"Alright," the blonde pilot murmured, her gaze flickering to the side to note that the fighters had finally broken off their attacks. "We can do this… just hold together baby," she pleaded with her broken and dying ship.

"Hold together, please, please hold together…"

Dromund Kaas
Sith Empire Capital

The hallowed halls of the Imperial Citadel were used to many types of footsteps. Some sharp and fierce, others loud and clomping. Many others fearful and skittish.

The figure currently making her way down the hallway towards a northern antechamber made absolutely no sound at all.

The Rattataki woman, bone-white skin visible beneath her dark cowl, appeared to glide across the marbled flooring, the pooled black robes seemingly drifting on their own accord. Several servants and even lower Sith functionaries backed away from the Dark Lord, bowing respectfully.

Anyone who had the ear of the Emperor himself wielded tremendous power, particularly in the heart of the Imperial Capital.

As the figure approached her destination, the doors opened on their own accord, swinging back on hinges as silent as her passage. Inside, three more Sith Lords of lesser rank awaited her pleasure, immediately dropping to one knee in obsequience as the doors sealed shut once more.

"Lady Salem," the lean, pale-skinned Zabrak male intoned with barely-suppressed mirth, peering up through the matted black hair hanging down past his horn-studded forehead. His black robes swirled around him restlessly as if reflecting the chaos residing within the Sith. "How was your… audience?"

"Well enough, Lord Tyrian," the Rattataki woman replied mildly as she slid past the trio. "Please rise, all of you. I have work for you all."

The figures on either side of the Zabrak rose along with him. The one on the right, a massive, towering figure with blood-red skin and heavy black armor beneath his robes, grunted softly. "What would you have of us, My Lady?" the Sith Pureblood asked in a bass rumble.

"Events are in motion," she replied archly as she sat on her throne at the end of her audience chamber. "And if we act quickly, we may reap the rewards. But first, we must tie up loose ends, eliminate any other distractions. Lord Tyrian, I would like for you to travel to Taris and meet with your usual contact. Make sure we have all the intelligence we require." The woman pulled the hood of her robe back, revealing a shining white pate crisscrossed with black veins. "Once you are certain… eliminate him."

The Zabrak giggled softly, rubbing his hands together in excitement. "Oh, yes, yes, it will be done, My Lady!"

Salem gave Tyrian a nod to excuse him. As he scampered out the door with a gleeful skip to his step, she turned to the towering Sith Pureblood next. "Lord Hazel. Kindly travel to Nar Shaddaa and liaise with a certain gang there. They show promise, and I might have a use for them in the near future. Ensure that they are secure in their dominance within that quadrant of the city." She smirked darkly. "If you have to step on a few Hutt tails, so be it."

"With pleasure, My Lady," Hazel rumbled.

"I shall transmit the details while you are en route," she added with a wave of dismissal. Once the Sith Warrior had departed, she turned to the last figure remaining. Raven-colored hair matched her dark robes and served all the better to highlight glowing amber orbs that blazed with an unquenchable hunger. This young Human woman was her own apprentice at one time and would forever be one of her favorite servants.

"Lady Cinder," she purred. "I have a very special task for you." Salem reclined in her throne, one black-nailed finger tapping on the armrest. "Tell me, have you heard of the Prophecy of the Last Silver-Eyed Warrior?"

The woman before her tilted her head to the side slightly. "I have not, My Lady," she murmured, her voice silky-smooth. "Was this the subject of your recent meeting with the Emperor?"

"It was indeed," the Sith Lord smiled gently. "It is a bit of a misnomer, really. The actual catalyst, from what we have deciphered from the ancient texts, concerns the daughter of this Silver-Eyed Warrior. In any case, she is said to have inherited tremendous power…" Bright red irises glowed brighter within black sclera. "And that she would bring about chaos and change within the Empire at this approximate point in time."

"I see." Cinder tilted her head to the other side consideringly. "I would imagine the Emperor would seek to have this girl destroyed before she would become a threat."

"You would imagine correctly." Salem sat, unmoving, as she waited for her brightest pupil to reach the correct conclusion.

It only took another second for a slow, predatory grin to creep across the Human woman's face. "But you would much rather take this power for your own, would you not?"

"Ahhh, Cinder," she sighed in delight. "You never disappoint me. Yes, precisely, and to that end, I would have you begin the hunt before anyone else might come into play. I have but a cursory description, but at least we know the most distinguishing feature of this girl."

"The silver eyes," Cinder breathed.

"Correct." Salem gave the other woman a quick nod. "Be on your way, now, Lady Cinder, and hunt for this girl. Bring her before me at my base away from the Imperial Capital and we shall all share in this power."

"It will be done, My Lady." The raven-haired woman gave a low bow before spinning on her heel and striding through the doors with a loud clacking of high-heeled boots.

As Cinder passed into the hallway, two more Sith fell into step behind her. The Twi'lek woman on the right, mint-green skin flushed with excitement as she picked up on her master's own glee, seemingly bounced along with her black robes swirling around her. On the other side, a Human male with silver hair regarded both his fellow apprentice and his master with bored, unconcerned eyes, though he did restlessly adjust the black armor beneath his robes and the lightsaber at his belt.

"Mercury, Emerald," the Sith Lord murmured with no small amount of satisfaction. "The game is afoot."


A/N: So, here we go, my latest offering! Now, purists will note soon enough that I'm only loosely basing this off of the Star Wars: The Old Republic game; in fact, I'm just using the setting before much of the events from the MMO itself, and none of the characters from the game will be incorporated. We've got some RWBY players introduced, but we have a lot more to go. I'll update the following list every chapter, just so we keep things straight.

Quick shout-out to those who have helped look this story over and provided both helpful insight and wonderful encouragement. From my usual talented stable of Betas, KellyConnely and CaliopeGrant, to my oftentimes Collaborator and Co-Author, SilvanaCrowe (who also did the cover image for this story), as well as the fabulous authors kaiju62 and AYangThang, bountiful thanks and much love for participating in this newest venture!

Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance):
Yang Xiao Long - Human female from Corellia. Smuggler, talented pilot, and droid tinkerer.
ZW-31 - Yang's custom astromech droid.
Ruby Rose - Human female from Corellia. Smuggler, skilled mechanic, and gun nut.
P3-NY - Ruby's astromech droid.
Lady Salem - Rattataki female. Sith Lord and advisor to the Emperor.
Lady Cinder Fall - Human female. Sith Lord Inquisitor.
Darth Hazel - Sith Pureblood male. Sith Lord Warrior.
Darth Tyrian - Zabrak male. Sith Lord Inquisitor.
Emerald Sustrai - Twi'lek female. Sith Marauder.
Mercury Black - Human male. Sith Warrior.

Until next time, stay shiny!