Chapter 2: Yavin 4
Yavin system space, 4 days later.
Yang, Ruby, Telone and Askedan were on the deck of the Red Void as it approached Yavin 4
"Yavin control, here the Red Void with 2 passengers on board, ask permission to land."
"Here Yavin control, permission granted Red Void, welcome home."
Askedan sighed before turning to the two sisters with a slight smile.
"Well ladies, this is where our journey ends."
"Thank you for bringing us here" said Ruby with a smile on her face, making Telone turn around
"Hey, you are just extra merchandise girls, basically, we were on Tatooine to buy weapons from the Hutt."
"Ha, my sister is certainly the most rubelle merchandise of all your ship" says yang smiling.
"..."
"..."
You understand, Ruby, rebel, rubel..
-Yaaang, Ruby moaned.
-okay, alright, none of you understand my sense of humor anyway.
Askedan sighed again, it was not Yang's first bad Puns, and certainly not the last.
"OK girls prepare yourselves for the landing, we'll be there soon and an officer will take care of you once there"
"Okay."
It took about 20 minutes for the ship to reach the base and descend to a clearing in front of what appeared to be a Massassi temple.
As they descended, the two sisters were momentarily dazzled by the sun before finally seeing the temple and the dozens of rebel soldiers bustling around the airstrip.
"Well Ruby, it looks like we have arrived"
"Finally, I thought this trip would never end"
As the two women looked around them curiously, a man in an alliance officer's uniform approached them, he was a small man with a heavy mustache and white hair.
"Hello, I'm Major Port, you must be the two new recruits that Captain Askedan brought us, right ?"
"Yep, my name is Yang and here is my sister, Ruby."
"Hi."
"Well, please follow me, we must complete some formality" said Port making a sigh grow in Yang
"Great, paperwork..."
"Come on, it will surely be fast, what could they ask us ?"
2 hours later, even Ruby wanted only one thing: Get out of here
"FINISHED, FINALLY FINISHED" yelling Yang loudly pressing the record button
"Wait for me sis, I'm almost done"
"Hurry up, what have you answer ?"
"The place of birth, we are born in space, so..."
"put corelia, this is where we grew up after all."
"aaand, it's over!"
Ruby and Yang were heading towards Captain Port who was waiting at the entrance of the room welcoming them with a smile.
"Did you finish the formalities ?"
Seeing that they both nodded, he motioned them to follow him
"So, you will both rest in the dormitory that you will be assigning with two other people, try to get to know them, if you all succeed tomorrow's test, you will surely be teammate."
"The test, which test ?" Ruby asked
"haha, tomorrow, all the young people who joined us will make a battle in simulator, it will allow us to see who will be directly able to pilot and who will have to spend more time in the simulators"
"But we have never flew Alliance fighters" Yang replied
"in fact, we never flew a fighter at all" added Ruby
"Don't worry, I saw that you have put in your record that you have experience of flying on light cargo ships" said port waving a datapad, "otherwise you could not participate in the test."
"But flying a fighter is different from flying a freighter," protested Ruby .
"This is certain girl, but you still have the day before you to adapt, moreover we are not there to judge you, even if you fail, you can easily try it againe later after more training aboard a specialized vessel."
The rest of the path was quiet until the small group arrived in front of a metal door
"Very good ladies, I'll let you get to know your new comrades" said port while leaving Ruby and Yang without really knowing what to do, it was finally Yang who spoke first:
"Come on Ruby, it's time to put your best smile and make new friends"
Nevertheless seeing Ruby's pitiful attempt to smile through her nervousness, she could not help but giggle
"Yang, it's not funny !"
"Sorry, is that the head you just make is so..."
Seeing Ruby remained nervous, Yang sighed and put her hand on Ruby's head
"It's okay rub, you're the best gun woman I know and you're even a better pilot than me, there is no chance that these guys do not like you."
"Surely..."
"With a bit of luck, you might even find the love of your life" said Yang with a wink
"Yang" moans Ruby
Without giving her time to continue, Yang opened the door, with a sighing Ruby behind her.
The room was actually very tiny, with just enough room for the 2 bunk beds and the place to walk between them, a bright ceiling light was the only light source in the room.
The room was empty except for a woman in the bed at the bottom right of it
She looks like a Felacatian, although the absence of a tail and the presence of a pair of feline ear on her head showed that she had blood from at least one other species.
She was reading a book in a language that neither Yang nor Ruby could decipher, the woman looked up at their arrival
"Hello" she said in a calm and monotonous voice
"Hi, you must be our new comrade, I am Yang Xiao Long, and here is my sister Ruby Rose."
"Hello, nice to meet you" said Ruby
A moment of silence followed before the Felacatian responds
"I am Blake Beladonna"
"So, is there another person besides us ?" Yang asked, hoping that Blake would socialize with them a little, after all if they were to spend the rest of the war in the same squadron, it would be better if they get along.
"An arkanienne, with a scar in the left eye."
As Yang and Ruby looked at each other wondering what to say, Black sighed before putting down herbook
"And where do you come from ?" she says
"We come from correlia" said Yang, happy that the girl starts talking.
"And where did you come from?" Ruby asked.
-Felacat, in the outer rim.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Yang tapped in her hand, making the two other women jump.
"Well, what if we going to say hello to our fourth partner !"
"I don't think she'll like it," said Black, shaking his head.
"Do not worry, kitten, everyone likes to meet Yang Xiao Long," the blonde replied with a wink, taking her two teammates, forcing them out of the room.
Black first wanted to resist, then she saw Ruby's resigned face and realized that she had been trained by someone who was turbulent, and that it would be faster to follow them than to fight for hours.
While black was in her thoughts, she collided with Yang's back who had suddenly stopped
"What is it Yang ?" Ruby asked confused
"I don't know where this Weiss is"
"..."
"pff"
Seeing black giggled, Ruby looked at her with a slight smile while Yang looked falsely hurt
"And here it is, I just want to socialize and you make fun of me"
"Sorry it was just so ... unexpected"
"Finally, maybe this outing will be nicer than expected," Black thought before moving past the two sisters
"Follow me, she is probably in the simulator room"
"There is a simulator room here" Yang exclaimed
"Of course, how do you want us to train otherwise ?"
"But Captain Port didn't mention anything apart from tomorrow's test" Ruby sighed, making Blake grin a littl.
"The Captain Port is an officer a bit... head in the clouds"
"At least we have a bellabeauty to help us" said Yang with a nod to Blake
"... Yang, how long have you been keeping this one in reserve ?" asked Ruby
"Since blake told us her name," Yang said with a grin on her face while Blake glared at her before walking back to the simulator room.
On the Side of the Temple, there was a room filled with around twenty Flight Simulator.
Several people of many different races were inside, one could see on a giant screen high up in the back of the room that was broadcasting the current battle in the simulators.
"good, the battle has just ended" says Blake
Indeed, the giant screen was showing the debris of the rebel ships destroyed while the Cadets came out of the simulators.
Among the Cadets, a woman with pale skin and white hair, a scar in the left eye and with white pupil while her hand has only 4 fingers, showing that she was an Arkanien, went to them.
"Black," she said, nodding.
"Weiss, this is Yang and her little sister Ruby, they are our new roommates until the test" says Black.
"Hello," said Ruby, raising his hand slightly.
Weiss gave her a cold look for a moment before saying.
"We will be able to get to know each other tomorrow, when you have proved that you are gifted enough to stay with me."
"What's your problem?" Yang exclaimed, making Weiss raise an eyebrow
"My problem is that the majority of the people here are incompetent and it is because of them that we just lost" replied weiss by pointing at the giant screen before leaving.
Yang turned a quizzical look at Blacke.
- Well, she is not necessarily wrong, most people here think that flying is simple but the majority would be more in their place in the infantry, not that I depreciate the infantry, just that there would be more efficient there, "said black, making the two sisters sighing.
"Yang, and if we were going to train."
"A good idea, I'm just behind you little sister."
The next day, in the simulator room.
On a platform was a middle-aged man standing in front of a group of about twenty people, each wearing the orange outfit of the Alliance pilots.
"Greeting everyone, for those who don't know it yet, I am colonel ozpin and I would be, with several other officers, your evaluator for this test.
I know that many of you have joined us following our statement.
And I see before me men and women of all races of this galaxy, all united in their desire to fight the tyranny of the empire.
But what I see above all is wasted energy, for no other purpose than the fight against the empire, too focused to destroy to think of building.
You will learn that our goal is not to destroy order, but to create a new one, more just, more equitable.
I know that many of you were not born when the old Republic was there, when the races lived in equality, and maybe none of us will ever see it, but it's not is not for us that we fight, but our children and their children after them."
Colonel Ozpin withdrew, giving way to a blonde woman wearing glasses in addition of an air of severity that sent chills in each of the cadets present.
-Hello, I'm the commander Glynda Goodwitch, I'll be the one who will send you the information and your operator during this simulation, well now everyone had receive a datapad before entering, I would like you to head to the simulator with the same number indicate on it, your designation will be "hunter" followed by the number of your simulator, further instruction will be given to you once inside.
"Good luck sis" says yang with a wink before heading to her simulator
Ruby looked one last time at Yang before entering Simulator 9 with a sigh.
Ruby smiled as she started her fighter, being surrounded by mechanics was where she felt best, here only the mechanics was present. She no longer needed to pay attention to other people, to have to pay attention to the way she spoke, to behave. She honestly could not understand how her sister could so much like to chat with others. For her, it was only in a ship that she could really feel comfortable.
After a few minutes of waiting, the simulator screen lit up, revealing about twenty other fighters, Z-95 Headhunter, all waiting in what looked like the hangar of a cruiser.
"For all the cadets, the simulation will start soon, get ready."
As soon as the voice of the commander goodwitch disappeared, an alarm sounded in the ship and a voice echoed through the hangar.
"To all ships, forward"
At the same time, the twenty Z-95 fly off.
While her fighter was coming out of the hangar, Ruby could see an asteroid field close to the ship while her radar was displaying several enemy fighter squadrons on approach.
"To all the hunters here the commander goodwitch , your objective is to hold for 20 minutes, the time that the cruiser can pass in hyper-space, you are alone, and the cruiser's turbolaser are too damaging to help you, good luck hunter squadron, and may the force be with you. "
"Great" thought Ruby, dropped in the middle of a battle with almost no training, without a squadron leader and outnumbered, really great.
As she sees the Imperial fighter flying towards the rebel group, a smile involuntarily appeared on Ruby's face.
"Here we go."