Ruby ran through the tight halls of the star destroyer, alarms ringing in her ears. In front of her Weiss looked desperately for a way out, repeatedly trying to get away from Ruby. Ruby however kept her blaster trained on Weiss at all times, she knew that her only way out was by taking the captain hostage.
"Where is my X-wing being held?" Ruby asked as her head scanned the hallways quickly, making sure to try and avoid the groups of stormtroopers running around in pursuit. "I won't help you escape," Weiss said indignantly, Ruby jabbed her with the barrel of the blaster.
"Well we will have to do this the old fashioned way then,"
"And what is that hmm? Running around aimlessly looking for your ship?" Weiss said sardonically, Ruby let out a single laugh, peering around the corner of the hallway, "That about sums it up."
Ruby pushed Weiss as fast as she could. Weiss craned her neck against the cold steel of the blaster pressed to her neck. Her eyes darted around the hallways, trying to find the perfect moment to escape. Suddenly she heard the familiar sound of combat boots stamping down the corridor. Weiss stopped abruptly, causing Ruby to have to push her forwards again. It gave the stormtroopers just enough time to round the corner. Ruby froze, pulling Weiss in front of her and pressing the blaster to the back of her head. "Back off or I shoot," Ruby said menacingly. The Stormtroopers raised their blasters,
"There they are, open fire!"
Ducking underneath a series of blaster shots Ruby broke away to her left, Weiss shouting out orders as she was pulled along. "Only fire if you can get a clear shot of the rebel!" Weiss bellowed as a bolt impacted dangerously close to her head, if Weiss didn't know any better she might have thought they were aiming for her.
Bits of shrapnel exploded from the wall nearest Ruby, the red bolts impacting and scorching the grey wall. She turned a fired back, not aiming at anything in particular, her fire just an attempt to hold back the rush of oncoming stormtroopers. Weiss saw an opportunity to escape as Ruby focused her fire on the Stormtroopers, but before she could break away Ruby spun and the blaster was back to being aimed at her. Ruby pushed them through a large set of blast doors, closing them behind her.
"Alright where now," Ruby said to herself as she analyse the crossroads she was at.
"As I said I will not help you," Weiss eyeing the blaster still trained at her. Ruby groaned,
"Oh shut it princess," Ruby pushed her ahead, picking her next path randomly. After a series of abrupt turns she noticed Weiss starting to frown. "So I am going the right way," Ruby smiling as she teased the Imperial captain.
"I don't know what you're talking about" Weiss raising her head in defiance, only to be pushed on again. Ruby pulled them aside, hiding behind a small outcropping in the wall. She heard the squad of stormtroopers run down the neighbouring hallway. Weiss looked as if she might cry out, only to have the blaster placed over her lips. After a second Ruby ran back out, pulling Weiss along with her.
Cautiously Ruby opened another large blast door, this time looking in to see a large hangar bay. In the middle of the bay sat her X-wing. Ruby grinned and cautiously stepped out into the hangar. Immediately the ground around her erupted in laser fire. Ducking back inside the hallway Ruby didn't have to grab Weiss as she ran out into the hangar. "It's me, Captain Schnee, hold your fire!" Weiss waving her arms in the air. She shrunk back down as several bolts impacted around her, barley missing her. "Surrender Captain Schnee, your treachery is at an end," Cardin stood above the hangar on an overlooking platform. Behind him stood a squad of stormtroopers blasters trained on Weiss. "Cardin I will not have you spreading lies on my ship! I don't know what treachery you are speaking of!" Weiss turned back to look at Ruby, the young pilot having disappeared.
"Enough captain, my men see through your lies. You are weak, unwilling to truly fight for the Empire. I should have known your mercy was an indication of betrayal, in not noticing this sooner I have failed, but now it is time to remedy that." Cardin raised his hand, the words forming on his lips.
Ruby fired on the crates of power cells stationed near Cardin's balcony. The chemicals in the power cells igniting, creating a large blinding explosion. Weiss fell to the floor, the shockwave of the blast knocking her over. The shaking causing several stormtroopers on the balcony to stumble, the flash of light stunning them momentarily. Ruby dashed across the hangar, more stormtroopers slowly emerging from the other entrances.
Ruby ran past Weiss, who was blinded by the explosion and still on the ground. Ruby looked back at the helpless captain, blaster fire now flying across the hangar. As a shot almost hit Weiss, Ruby groaned, stoping and dashing back to pick her up. Ruby fired back into the groups of stormtroopers as she climbed into the cockpit of the X-wing, having thrown Weiss in already.
Cardin shouted orders to the troopers, also turning to shout them into his comm. With blaster fire pelting her ship, Ruby started to take off. Her R2 unit taking several glancing hits as they ascended. On top of the frantic escape, Weiss sat next to her, uncomfortably taking up half the seat of the one man ship. Awkwardly Ruby flew out of the hangar, the turbo laser batteries either side of the exit slow to start firing, giving her enough time to set up rear deflectors and gain enough room to manoeuvre.
Weiss was slowly gaining her vision back, now looking out into the expanse of space. "W-what?" she asked in confusion. Ruby didn't say anything, too busy frantically prepping the ship for a hyperspace jump, made more awkward by her bound hands. "N-no, turn us around take me back!"
"Shut it princess, we are not welcome there, trust me." Swerving to avoid the fire from the star destroyer Ruby keyed in the command to jump, letting the R2 unit find the most suitable destination. Weiss opened her mouth to protest further, but was cut off as the stars streaked into a blue light, and the X-wing jumped into hyperspace.
Yang awoke suddenly from her dream, sweat beading down her forehead. The images she had seen flashed before her again. A girl with white hair, one with darker hair, fighting what appeared to be stormtroopers. Her… sister… her sister was in danger. But she was alive, the images of still in Yang's mind giving her a nostalgic feeling.
Yang got dressed as quickly as she could, just clasping on her belt as she stumbled out of her ship into the hot morning sun. She raced out of the spaceport and into the bustling crowds of Mos Eisley. She had to find him quick, he would know how to find her.
Moving madly about the city she made her way to the small hut on the east side. She strode up to the sand coloured building and banged on the door. "Hey it's me open up!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming give me just a moment," the voice said form behind the rust coloured door. The door slid open revealing a tall man in a soft green robe. "Ren we need to talk," Yang pushing past him to get inside, uninvited. Ren was busy wiping away oil from his hands as he was pushed aside, watching Yang with curiosity as she rushed inside. "What's wrong Yang? Is it about your sister, if so I'm still sorry about her loss," Ren said as he bowed his head. Yang was anxious, shifting her weight repeatedly and scanning the room constantly. "You need to call your Rebel buddies, my sister is still alive, she escaped the star destroyer," Yang finally looking Ren in the eyes. Ren looked baffled, before eventually coming to a realization, "Greif is a hard thing to deal with Yang, I have lost many friends over the years so I know what you're going through."
"Ren, she escaped, trust me, I just know." Yang locked eyes with Ren, who gave in.
"Fine, how can I help?"
"Call up your rebel buddies and send in the fleet or whatever, take out the star destroyer and make sure she's safe."
"Yang I can't call in the Alliance fleet, even if I could…" Ren said quietly, stroking his chin, "Ruby is a friend but the Alliance has to play it smart if it is to win this war." Yang sighed, rubbing her face with her hands. "There has to be some way we can find out where she is and help her,"
Ren smiled at this and shook his head in disbelief, "I think I actually might be able to help with that." Yang's head shot up, looking eagerly at Ren. He moved into the next room, Yang following behind him. The room was small, containing a workbench that took up most of the space, various tools and parts scattered over the desk. In the corner of the room however sat a droid. It was a design that Yang had never seen before, more flexible than a protocol droid, yet having the same, if not more, humanizing features. "It's a prototype Imperial assassin droid, fresh off the production line. The Alliance managed to capture it in a botched assassination. They sent it out here for me to inspect, see what I could learn from its data stores, maybe even reprogram it to fight for us" Ren said with pride.
"And?" Yang asked impatiently,
"I managed to get a complete data dump from its memory banks a few days ago, I just sent it off to the fleet. I made a copy though, was hoping to find out more about the droid itself." Ren turned to yang smiling, Yang just looked confused. Ren sighed, "I found Imperial codes in its memory, ones that can be used to tap into their communication lines," Ren raising an eyebrow, waiting for Yang to realise what he meant. Yang just stared back, and then suddenly gasped,
"We can check to see if they mentioned the escape, see if we can figure out where Ruby is." Ren nodded, calling up the relevant files on a data pad.
Yang studied the droid while he worked, curiously inspecting the oddly unthreatening killing machine. Yang prodded at its chassis, the metal was clearly thick, perhaps think enough to resist a blaster bolt or two. She nodded in appreciation of the droids likely high capacity for damage. She reached around its neck, finding the activation switch easily. Ren looked over just in time to see Yang turn the machine on. "No!" he cried as he leapt over trying to stop Yang, but it was too late. The droids eyes lit up and it starting speaking, "Salutations! I am P3-NY, personnel eradication unit, how may I be of service friend!" The droid spoke in an off putting cheerful tone with a female inflection, causing both Yang and Ren to stare at it awkwardly. The droid just gazed back, switching back and forth between looking at Yang and Ren.
Yang whispered to Ren, keeping her eyes on the machine, "Why isn't it killing us?"
"Well I said I was working on reprogramming it, I just started but it seems to have taken effect," Ren whispered back. Ren stood up straight, now addressing P3-NY properly, "You are not needed at this time, you may shut down for a while."
"As you wish," the droid said enthusiastically before the lights in its eyes shut down and it slumped. Yang stood up now as well,
"That is one interesting droid, if you ever need to sell it I know a guy,"
"Let me guess, some bounty hunter or Hutt?"
"Well, yeah, but he's not that bad," Yang said with a shrug. Ren shook his head returning to his data pad.
"Yang you should see this," Ren handed over the small pad. Yang scanned the broadcast transcript, quickly getting tired of the robotic Imperial messages. Suddenly, something sparked her attention. "Rebel pilot escaped… Traitorous captain… Outer Rim Tatoo system. That must be Ruby, and the Tatoo system is us, that means she's probably here!" Yang looked excitedly to Ren, who smiled back. Yang jumped up heading towards the door,
"Wait up Yang, I'm coming too!" Ren raced after her strapping on his duel holsters as he followed her out the small house.
The X-wing came out of hyperspace abruptly, the stars fading back into reality and a large yellowish planet coming into view. Ruby had managed to get the restraints off her hands using one of the toolkits located in the cockpit. While the jump was a short one, it had felt like an eternity. The entire time Ruby had jostled with Weiss for a better seat, the one person cockpit barely big enough to even house the two of them. She also had had to keep an eye on the stolen blaster, careful to not let the Imperial captain get her hands on it. Thankfully though Weiss was too distracted to contemplate escape.
She had been betrayed, mutiny had forced her off her ship. Cardin, the ungrateful fool had acted so quickly, and turned her ship against her. Why was it so easy for him to do so? The question kept passing through her mind. "Where have you taken us?" Weiss asked impatiently, Ruby sighed with contempt, "This is Tatooine, it was the closest planet the R2 unit could figure out the jump co-ordinates for."
"It doesn't look like much,"
"It really isn't, Hutt controlled mostly, lots of sand and a lot of dangerous people." Ruby said passingly as she flew the ship towards the planet. Weiss studied the desert world intensely, "So this is where your rebel base is," Weiss turned to watch Ruby's reaction. Ruby let out a laugh, still focusing on the piloting,
"Yeah I am going to fly you, an Imperial captain, directly to my friends." Ruby said sarcastically, "the plan is I drop you off and leave,"
"Well how am I supposed to return to my ship? I have no credits or any way to contact it," Weiss stared at the rebel pilot with wide eyes, panic beginning to creep up on her. Ruby smirked, "I hear there are always jobs for cantina dancers," Weiss just gasped, taken aback by the rude implications of the snide remark. Ruby just shook her head, her smirk slowly turning to a frown as she examined the ships readouts. "Oh no, we have a problem,"
"What is it now? Are you going to tell me that I am not even pretty enough to be a dancer? That I should become a beggar?" Weiss scowled and crossed her arms, the move causing more discomfort in the small cockpit. Ruby looked at her in confusion, "Oh your pretty enough to be a dancer, but that depends on whether or not you are horribly disfigured by the upcoming crash landing!"
"What!" Weiss snapped her head to look down at the readout display, reading the critical reports on all the engines. "What did you do!" Weiss shouting accusingly at Ruby,
"Me! It was your stormtroopers that shot the ship up, I had nothing to do with it!" Ruby shouted back. The X-wing jostled as they entered the planets gravity well. The sandy surface of the planet quickly enveloped their entire view. Ruby's hands danced across control panels as she tried desperately to gain more control of the ship, "What can I do!" Weiss raising her voice over the sound of the ship's many groans,
"I dunno, try and redirect as much power into the repulsor system, it might just make the crash a little softer," Weiss nodded and started working.
The X-wing quickly broke through the atmosphere, flames scorching the exterior of the ship. In free fall the fighter hurtled towards the desert. Ruby did her best with the little control she had and managed to angle the fighter as to hopefully slide across the sand rather than impact directly on it. "Repulsors are as strong as I can make them I think!" Weiss cried out as she turned to watch the fast approaching ground. "Brace!" Ruby yelled as the ship slammed into the planet's surface.
A spray of sand shot out from the X-wing, as it slid over a large dune. With a final gut wrenching jolt the ship came to a stop, imbedded deep in the sand. Ruby blinked, dazed from the impact. She looked over to Weiss, who had hit her head on one of the ships dashboards, a single streak of blood falling down her brow. "Another happy landing," Ruby murmured.
Blake rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she sat up, the small room she had rented was still dark. Yet another nightmare, as always it was a mixture of memories of her homeworld, and memories of Adam. A new addition to her dreams however was the blonde Jedi. The fight had played through her head several times, she could still faintly feel the girls presence. Along with the memories came the undeniable feeling she had forgotten something, that the encounter had not gone the way it should have.
"I have to help her," Blake said to herself. With a resigned sigh, Blake got up and prepared to leave. She couldn't let the darkside consume the Jedi, not like it had consumed her. She had to help her hide, and if she could try to teach her something about controlling herself. The irony of Blake, the ex-Sith inquisitor, teaching a Jedi knight, was not lost on her. Yet at the same time it felt oddly right, she who had dealt so heavily with the darkside, with the anger and hatred, was the only one who could understand the young Jedi's struggle.
Hiding her lightsabers she set out to find the blonde Jedi.
Yang came to a screeching halt as she entered her hangar to find the inquisitor once again standing in her way. Ren stopped close behind her, picking up on the obvious tension his hands drifted to his blasters. "What are you doing here?" Yang asked with obvious attitude, her hand too coming to rest on her blaster. Blake sighed, "I'm here to help,"
"I might give you two some space, it appears you have some, history," Ren said as he stepped aside, still cautiously keeping his hands near his blasters.
"It's not like that, we just, oh whatever!" Yang shooing Ren away, who just raised a hand in defence. Yang turned back to Blake, "what do you mean by help?"
"I can't let you go down that dark path, and I need to help you stay hidden from other inquisitors." Blake moved closer, Yang inching back ever so slightly, causing Blake to stop. "I don't want anything to do with the Jedi, or the Sith, or whatever you are. I just want to find my sister." Blake perked up at the mention of a sister, another potential force sensitive who needed her help.
"Well then let me help you with that, it was my job to find people for the Empire, I'm sure I can help track down your sister, a-and I need transport off this planet, I could pay," Blake stepped forward again, enthusiastically stretching out her hand. Yang eyed it for a second, before nervously taking it. She then pulled Blake in abruptly, "If this is some trick and you are still working for the Empire, or if you try to hurt or manipulate Ruby, I will kill you," Yang said in a hushed tone.
"I told you, I don't work for them anymore, I just want to help." Blake replying confidently, Yang huffed and let her go, "People say a lot of things, doesn't make them true. Now get on board, my sister is out there somewhere and if she is anything like me, she is almost certainly in danger."
With that Yang strode onto her ship, looking back she smirked "Welcome aboard the Ember, trust me when I say your ten thousand credits were well spent."
"Ten thousand! We didn't agree on a price!" Blake's mouth agape just thinking about the huge sum. Yang however was already halfway to the cockpit. Ren walked up behind Blake and patted her on the shoulder, "Always negotiate price before shaking, but don't feel too bad, Yang's done this too quite a few people." With that Ren entered the ship leaving Blake to pinch her brow in frustration, before reluctantly getting aboard what she hoped was a luxury cruiser.
Ruby and Weiss trudged through the yellow sands of the Dune sea. The heat of the twin suns beating down on them. Ruby had unzipped the top half of her orange jump suit, her white singlet already damp with sweat. She carried the fighters survival kit on her back, the extra blaster pistol that she kept in the ship holstered at her side, and in her hands the Imperial blaster rifle. Weiss shuffled along behind her, her Imperial uniform jacket tied around her waist, her black singlet masking the various sweat stains. The ship had been un-saveable, the damaged cause by the impact had rendered it scrap metal. "Why did you choose this god forsaken planet," Weiss groaned
"I didn't choose it remember, I had to jump here, cause your stupid… Stormtroopers damaged my R2 unit, who does the astrogation." Ruby puffed out in between heavy breaths.
"Well if you hadn't…" Weiss slowing to think of the hundreds of things Ruby could have done, or not done, in order to prevent this. "Hadn't what? Joined the Rebellion? Tired to breakout?" Ruby looking back, a taunting smile spread on her tired face. She stopped smiling as she saw Weiss stumble, eyes drooping and mouth hanging ajar. "Come on, give me your best, I'm sure you have some creative things to say about us 'Rebel scum'" Ruby slowing further to stand just in front of Weiss. The Imperial captain stumbled again groaning as she did so, "Haven't we already done this? Already had this conversation?" She said with a hoarse voice before falling to her knees. Ruby dropped the backpack filled with the survival gear and dropped down in front of Weiss. "Hey, stay with me, we just need to find some shelter. Stay focused, talk to me!" Ruby shook the bleary eyed girl. "I think you're a-a bad person, evil, that your only bringing suffering to the galaxy, what do you have to say to that, huh?" Ruby continued to taunt her, trying to keep her focused.
Weiss slumped, exhaustion getting the better of her. "Just… leave me…" She murmured quietly.
"Not gonna happen princess, now get up, it's just a little further,"
"You… don't even… know where we are going" Weiss looking up at Ruby's face, blinking through the bright light.
"There are some rock formations just up ahead, we can rest there for tonight, it's just a little further."
"Why… I'm your… enemy," Weiss asked with a shaky voice.
"I have to prove I'm better than you guys. I don't just let people die," Ruby said with determination, as she began to drag Weiss towards the rock canyon up ahead. "I'm not… bad… I don't… want to hurt… I can… make better… for everyone," Weiss mumbled deliriously as she was dragged across the hot sand.
Weiss woke up to a dark sky, the glow of thousands of stars creating a vibrant ceiling. She rose slowly on one arm, eyes adjusting to the dim light. Two walls of red rock surrounded her; the ground itself appeared to be made of the same rock, with a light dusting of the sand she had spent the day trekking through. To her right sat what appeared to be a light, the cylindrical lamp glowing a soft orange and irradiating comforting warmth. Behind it stood Ruby, who was busily setting up some sort of antenna. Weiss sat up putting her jacket on as she did. "One minute this place is hotter than an overheating hyperdrive, the next it's as cold as space," Weiss muttered, breaking the silence. Ruby looked up from her work, "Finally awake, thought you might have bought it."
"It will take more than a walk through a desert to kill me," Weiss said unconvincingly. Ruby let out a laugh,
"Sure, sure." Weiss sighed in response reluctant to utter her next words,
"Thank you," she said meekly. Ruby looked up from her work looking questioningly at Weiss.
"Don't think I caught that," Ruby teased. Weiss crossed her arms and turned away,
"I said, thank you," Weiss stated more confidently.
"No problem, while I doubt you would have done the same for me, it's what I do,"
"Excuse me! I would have most certainly endeavoured to try and keep you alive, if it did not compromise my own safety of course." Weiss turned back to face Ruby, who was finished with what Weiss guessed to be a signal emitter. "I must say though, I am surprised a rebel would actually help me."
"I'm fighting for a free galaxy, I can't help make it that way by becoming as amoral as the Empire." Ruby spoke with a calm resonance, her eyes drifting off into memory. "Taking a person hostage though is perfectly fine?"Weiss chided
"I was fighting to survive, and how does hostage taking register on the Imperial morality table? Anywhere near genocide and slavery?" Ruby matching Weiss' sass.
"We're not all evil, we have done a lot of good for the galaxy." Weiss sounding like she had the line memorized, Ruby just looked at her sardonically, causing Weiss to scowl.
"Do you really believe that?" Ruby asked seriously, a look of concern on her face.
"I'm not stupid, I understand that there are many who misuse the Empire's resources. Speaking of genocide for instance, my own father, achieved the lofty title of Grand Moff for basically destroying an entire planet and its inhabitants. His bad decision though, does not make every Imperial a mass murderer." Ruby's expression grew dark upon hearing Weiss' words,
"Yet you became the captain of an Imperial star destroyer. You knew what your father had done was wrong, the things he did in the name of the Emperor, and yet you still joined the Imperials." Ruby's tone laced with venom. Weiss' scowl deepened, her hands clenching into fists.
"I didn't exactly have a choice. The Empire has done a lot of wrong, but it has unified most of the galaxy, if someone with some sense could take control then it could result in peace, security, no more war. If I can climb my way through the ranks I could make changes for the better," Weiss looked into Ruby's eyes, "Without the need for violence."
Ruby's dark expression lessened and she examined Weiss in a new light. She shook her head, expression becoming mellow. "You can't change the Empire from within."
"Why not! It's better than starting a galactic civil war!" Weiss' emotions getting the better of her, the exhaustion of the day lowering her defences. On the verge of tears she kept speaking, "Why! Tell me why!"
Ruby looked at her with pity, "Weiss, you want to know why?" Interpreting the other girls glare as an indication to continue, Ruby looked down at the lamp. "You are better than most Imp's, from what I saw on your ship you have a level of restraint most who work for the Empire don't. That's the problem."
"So I am a better commander than most of my counterparts, how is that an issue?" Weiss asked indignantly.
"Your men didn't fear you, I certainly didn't. You Imperials built a whole system dependant on fear. You fear your commander, that's rule number one. Suddenly you come along, you don't sacrifice people, you don't act like an Imperial commander, they don't respect you. Being different in the Empire is not something that ends well."
"Sounds like you have experience?" Weiss questioned with genuine curiosity. Ruby turned away, obviously not open to talk about it.
"In the Alliance, we trust each other, that's how we keep going. You can't build a better galaxy through fear."
The two sat in silence, the argument having taken the last energy either of them had left. "Let's get some rest. If we are lucky someone will pick up our signal by morning." Turning her back to the lamp, Ruby laid down to sleep. Her mind a jumble of thoughts, Weiss too eventually succumbed to the weariness that she felt throughout her body.
Authors note: Thanks for reading! Really enjoying writing some good old star wars, and I hope you are too. This chapter was a difficult one to write so feedback would be appreciated, I will stress though that I prefer reviews from actual accounts rather than guests. I much prefer an open dialogue with people so I can talk through the issues to better understand them. Also this site is pretty fantastic and you really should make an account, just trust me its a bunch of fun.Anyway, thanks for stopping by, have a good one. Next time: Sandpeople!
