No matter where you looked out in the inky darkness of space, there was always the twinkling stars gleaming back at you. Most of them might have only been pinpricks of lights that the vast twilight threatened to snuff out at a moment's notice from the way they kept winking in and out of being seen, but they were still there. The millions of tiny sparkling lights all around made drifting around on a small moon not as scary as it could be, that was for certain.
"How much longer you gonna be, Ruby?" There was a buzz through the figure's intercom, a small panel of blue light flashing up inside her helmet that drew silver eyes to it, the figure of another girl showing up on it, tall and with a mane of blonde curls flowing straight down to her waist. She leaned back in the padded yellow chair behind her, arms moving to cross over the top of her stomach as she did so. "You know we shouldn't hang around here for long, in an unpatrolled area like this."
"Just a couple more minutes, sis." She replied back as she took another step forward in her spacesuit, dust slowly wafting up from the moon's rocky surface as a thick padded boot trod down on it, settling back down as she passed over. The gravity here was weak, a sign to the small distance needed to get out of its orbit. A small scanner held in one gloved hand flashed out a green radar, the circle widening out till it passed out of what the screen could show.
Over the many years since mankind had first been able to take a trip to the Earth's moon, spacesuits may have become affordable and streamlined from the original design with its bubble shaped helmet, and even customizable, once interest in travelling through space had grown enough that at least half the entire population of humankind had done a trip. Ruby's one had been coloured equal parts crimson red and jet black. But there was one thing that they never could seemed to change if they wanted to keep the safety of the person inside their top priority, and that was having so much padding inside that no matter who was wearing one, the form presented would always be androgynous.
Not that it mattered to Ruby much. Quite frankly, it pleased her a little. But the reason why was something for another time, when she wasn't so focused on the scanner at work before her. If they got lucky, it would pick up on something, a special metal that could be used to make weapons with. Finding a moon, asteroid, or any other kind of rock floating through space that had a cache of said metal, so long as it hadn't already been claimed, meant a big payment from companies looking to grab as much as they could find of the stuff. That tended to happen when the military had a high demand for things.
Moving along in long hops, thanks to the low gravity on the surface of the moon, Ruby grew increasingly disappointed from the lack of response she was getting as she bounced nearly all over the small surface area of this rock. Looks like their luck hadn't been with them on this venture. And they would be forced to head over to the nearest space station soon if they didn't find anything. Or at least Yang would force them to.
A new mark on the screen caught her attention, dragging her away from her worries as she looked down at it. There it was, a dot showing up on the radar! And it wasn't even that far off either! Bouncing towards it in excitement, she failed to notice a shadowy shape a dozen meters behind her, drifting along slowly to the only source of disturbance on the moon.
Her leaps soon brought her over to a small cluster of obsidian coloured rocks poking out of the otherwise boring grey dirt. A squeal that only she could hear echoed inside her own helmet as she bounced in place for a moment, before the teen reminded herself that she was supposed to be a professional here. Before she could call it up herself, the blue communication panel flashed up on one side of her helmet.
"Sis! I found it! There's a whole big lum-"
"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang ordered swiftly, cutting her off as an alarmed tinge crept into her words. The blonde was no longer relaxing back in the chair, instead leaning forth with both hands pulling on various levers on either side of her. "There's a mass of Grimm incoming, and they're heading your way!"
The name of the virus like organisms that had been spreading across parts of the galaxy put a chill down the girl's spine. Anything living that got in their path, they consumed whole. Her suit would only buy her a bit of time if she ran into one of them, until they tore right through it. And she wasn't sure which option would be worse, being starved of oxygen as the vacuum of space ripped the air out of her lungs until she passed out to never wake up again, or being dinner for one of those Grimm.
Time to head away from the patch of rocks and meet up with Yang to get out of here. Ruby twisted on one foot as she hopped again, turning herself easily to face the other direction.
And to come face to face with a pitch-black mass before her, looming overhead with its height reaching well past twice her own. Two round scarlet shapes floating in the shape looked like eyes, and they also seemed like they were locked onto the girl in front of it. Ruby's breath caught in her throat, afraid to even draw in air as they stared off at each other. She drifted in place, split between wanting to push back with her feet and try running away from it, and wanting to see if it would leave her alone if she didn't budge an inch.
Her feet tapped against the ground as she made her decision, but it seemed the Grimm mass had caught on to her plan just from that. Funnelling part of its shape into a basic, long limb, it lashed out at her, the blow sending her up from the moon and into space. Little gravity to hold her back down to the ground meant that Ruby went sailing, even doing some flips while she flailed and tried to right herself. Petrified, she could catch the occasional glance of the Grimm below, lurching towards her, getting closer with each split second in between her glimpses of it.
A bright golden ray shot out from one side to slam into the mass, causing it to swiftly shrink away from the vulnerable girl as if in pain, though the lack of sound made it hard to tell.
"I've got you Ruby!" Yang's voice came through the comm loud and clear, as a small gold and brown painted ship drifted up into place above the teen, another zap from its gun causing the Grimm to scuttle back even further from its target. The edges of it seemed to vibrate with rage at not being able to get any closer, unless it wanted to get blasted away. A hatch in the belly of the ship opened up, a cable shooting out towards Ruby, sliding into a metal aperture on the back of her suit and between her shoulder blades meant for just such occasions. Hooking itself tightly onto the suit, it yanked her up as it recoiled, the Grimm making another leap at her as the teen was pulled into the ship, only to be driven back by another laser shot.
The hatch closed quickly behind her and the ship worked to change the air pressure in the locked space as Ruby slumped down onto the floor, catching her breath after such a scare. How many people could say they had gone face to face... well, face to more or less shapeless lump, with a Grimm and survived? Not many, that's for sure. Her heart was still racing from the encounter, thumping loud and clear in her rib cage.
She could hear the engines roaring away at the back of the hull as the air pressure in the room finally changed to an acceptable level, the door to cockpit opening with a hiss of hydraulics. Stumbling back up to her feet, Ruby rushed through, taking off her helmet as she staggered through to where Yang was trying to guide the ship into a slingshot round the moon, using its own orbit to boost their own speed.
"Strap yourself in!" The older sister yelled towards her, her face a couple of shades paler than normal. That fact alone was enough to prompt the dark haired girl into not even questioning the order, jumping into a seat behind Yang's and dragging her seatbelt harness into place. "There wasn't just that one! There's a whole crowd of them behind us now!"
"Then activate the turret and let me try and hold them back!" Ruby shouted back, the vibration from the engines making it hard for the pair to hear each other if they spoke normally. It took a couple of seconds before the blonde could give enough attention from the buttons and switches in front of her to give a nod of acceptance back to Ruby.
A pull of a lever at the driver's seat, and the younger girl's seat sunk into the floor, taking her down to a small bubble cockpit, the handles for a large rifle that mostly lay beyond the glass waiting for her. Peering through the hardened glass as she swivelled round to face what lay beyond them, there was a moment of panic at seeing it.
There was so much Grimm, that there were basically a solid cloud moving towards them through the vacuum of space. And from the looks of it, they were bound to make up the distance that lay between them in a matter of minutes, before Yang could make the slingshot around the moon and out into space. There was no time to think, not when she should be acting.
Grabbing the handles of the gun, Ruby aimed it towards the Grimm cloud, the recoil as it fired off red laser beams to them making it jump in her hands. Good thing the target was so big right now, otherwise she'd be running the risk of missing it as the jumping rifle skewed her aim. For now though, every hit was slamming into them, knocking patches out of the cloud and helping to slow its advance down.
Still, it wouldn't be enough. The Grimm were still gaining on the ship, and Yang was still trying to get out of the orbit. No matter how many shots she fired off in quick succession, the meters between the two were being eaten up quickly, and there was nothing more she could do. The only thing they could use was the laser rifle, the cannon that Yang had used to keep knocking back the first Grimm could only face forward, and couldn't be turned to face the cloud that was now starting to threaten to consume the ship, and them with it.
By now, the ship was halfway through turning round the moon, about to try and take off out of the orbit as the cloud was right on their tail, almost close enough to reach out and grab the back of the hull.
Just like how Yang had come to Ruby's rescue earlier, a blue beam shot out from the darkness to zap the emerging blob of Grimm that had been about to latch itself to the ship, its form dissolving as the rest quickly scrambled away, no longer a threat now that something bigger than it had arrived.
"Yes! Woohoo!" The blonde pumped a fist into the air in celebration at their close scrape. A few moments later, Ruby's chair rose back up from the bubble of glass and into its normal position, a grin on her own face as well. But there was a question that needed to be answered now, making it slip off soon.
"But... who was it that shot the Grimm?" The question stopped Yang's fist pumping in mid-pump, the older sister having not yet gotten round herself to asking that.
"Ah..."
There was a buzz of static that interrupted what thoughts she had been about to voice, the signal for an incoming communication. Normally, the pilot would be given a choice to either accept the attempt to communicate or to deny it, but no such option came this time. Instead, a large panel much like the one that had popped up inside Ruby's helmet sprang up to occupy the windshield. A stern woman with her blonde hair tied back into a tight bun glared at them through oval glasses, arms tucked away behind her as she stood to attention.
"I am captain Glynda Goodwitch, of the S.S. Vale. You have been caught trespassing in a quarantined area." Her eyes narrowed some more at the pair she could see on her own screen as she paused, though she didn't wait long enough for an answer back before she continued with the same prim and proper tone as before. "Do either of you have anything to say for yourselves?"
Yang leaned to one side of her chair to glance back to her little sister, who was just as confused on what to say as the blonde was. Settling back into her chair to look the other captain in the eyes, she tried to think of a suitable excuse that would get them out of this situation.
"...We didn't know?" Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, with Goodwitch's eyes narrowing even more, before she paused to push her glasses further up her nose.
"Ignorance is no excuse. Either way, I'm using my authority to take you and your ship in to Beacon space station, where you will be processed and charged for your transgressions. This is not up for debate." She added on as the older sister jumped to her feet in anger, violet eyes starting to dye crimson. "This is the law, and you will obey it, or cause further trouble for yourself." She waved a hand to someone to the right of her, and the screen link disappeared in both ships. Wanting to see what ship Goodwitch was commanding, Ruby leaned forward in her seat to look out the side of the windshield.
"Woah." The S.S. Vale was massive, dwarfing Yang's ship by several times. It was like trying to measure a dolphin against a whale. It drifted forward to take the lead in front of them, never going too fast that they wouldn't be able to turn around and blast them if they tried to take off.
Not that they could. Even without the blonde's guidance, the controls were already being set to follow after the larger ship, another sign of the authority they had by taking over the guidance for theirs. Yang sighed exasperatedly and fell back into her chair, sulking. She wasn't sure what was going to happen once they got to Beacon, but she just knew that it wouldn't be anything good.
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