Weiss paced around the Vale's bridge, looking over the tactical display as she walked.
"Commander?" The communications officer called. "Incoming transmission from Admiral Qrow."
"Put it through," Weiss replied tiredly.
Admiral Qrow's image appeared in the corner of the tactical display. "Commander Schnee, is my niece there?"
"One moment," Weiss replied as she tapped the mute button and activated the intercom. "Captain Rose to the bridge. Repeat, Captain Rose, report to the bridge."
"On my way," Ruby's voice came through the bridge intercom.
It took several minutes, but the bridge doors finally hissed open, and one of the marines yelled out "Captain on deck!"
Weiss turned to the door and snapped to attention.
"As you were," Ruby called tiredly. "You called, Weiss?"
"Yes, your Uncle needs to speak with you."
Sighing, Ruby looked at the tactical display, and pressed the mute button. "Good evening, Uncle," She said.
"Ruby, I need you and Commander Schnee to accompany me into Terran Imperium territory to meet with Admiral Williams."
"We'll be there, sir," Ruby replied. "Where are you?"
"The Shadow of Light sector Naval Yard. I'm monitoring the construction of the R.F.S. Atlas, the next ship in the Vale class."
"Alright," Ruby said. "Helm, standby to jump to the Shadow of Light sector."
"Attention all hands, this is the X.O," Weiss called after tapping the intercom button, "prepare for phase Jump."
"Helm jump now," Ruby called.
Almost immediately after she finished saying that, there was a brilliant flash outside the window from the energy discharge of the phase drive as the ship tore a hole in space to move to its destination. When the light cleared, the hull was illuminated by the twin blue giants of the Shadow of Light sector
"Status?" Ruby called after the jump finished.
"Jump complete, Ruby," Weiss replied. "We are about three-hundred kilometers away from the naval yard and closing."
"Good," Ruby replied with a nod. "Helm, all power to engines. What's our ETA?"
"About five minutes, captain. Just to let you know, we're about to enter the solar radiation belt, and we won't be able to jump once the phase drive is recharged until we're out of the belt."
"Weiss, tell the Admiral we're going to dock at yard seventeen. I'm going to the airlock to meet him."
"Aye, aye Ruby," Weiss replied.
"Good to see you again, Ruby," Qrow said with a smile as the airlock hissed open.
"I'm sorry about Ironwood," Ruby replied, sounding a little mournful.
"He was a traitor," Qrow replied with a shrug. "When the trial concludes, he'll get his justice. Come on, let's get to the bridge."
Ruby followed her uncle as they walked through the corridors. "So, how's mom doing?" she asked.
"She's recovering quite well. Commodore Rose should be back in the fight in no time."
"Goo- Wait, did you say 'Commodore Rose?'"
Qrow nodded. "Because of her quick thinking, we managed to eliminate a vast swath of traitors from the upper echelons of the Navy. It's only appropriate that she be given a rank fitting her accomplishment. Not to mention the fact that we needed a new Commodore after Ironwood."
Ruby let out a contented sigh as she summoned the elevator. "I'm glad she got promoted," She said. "Honestly, having my mom call me ma'am? Weird."
Qrow chuckled. "I imagine so."
Ruby and Qrow stepped into the elevator. "Bridge," she called, and the elevator hissed away. Ruby and her uncle stood silently as they waited.
"Captain on deck!" a marine yelled as the door hissed open.
"As you were," Ruby called, and the crew returned to their stations.
"Drive is about ten-percent charged," Weiss said as Ruby walked up to the tactical display.
"Helm, take us out of the dock yard. Weiss, how long until we're out of range of interference from the suns?" Ruby asked.
"Once we launch from the dockyard, about ten minutes," Weiss replied. "It'll still take about fifteen more minutes for the phase drive to finish charging once we arrive." {A/N}
"Okay," Ruby replied with a nod. "When we're ready to jump, take us to... Where were we going exactly?"
"The Terra Nova sector," Qrow said.
"Yes, ma'am," the helm officer said.
"Guess we just need to sit and wait now," Ruby quipped as she leaned against the tactical display.
"Captain, phase drive is standing by," Weiss said.
"Good," Ruby replied. "Helm, jump us to the Terra Nova sector."
"Aye aye."
Space flashed again, and the brilliant light of the Shadow of Light sector was replaced by a blue-green world with a complicated ring system that seemed as though it would belong to a gas giant..
"Captain, incoming transmission from the U.S.C. Athena," one of the officers called.
"Put it through," Ruby replied with a nod.
Admiral Williams' face appeared in a corner of the tactical display. "Captain Rose," he said with a nod. "Good to see you again. And I'm glad we're meeting on better circumstances than last time."
"So, what's going on?" Ruby asked.
"I need you, your X.O, and Admiral Qrow to come aboard the Athena to discuss our findings from the blackbox of that pirate cruiser, as well as your revelations from the rogue Commodore that you eliminated several weeks ago."
"We'll be there soon," Ruby said with a nod as she activated the intercom. "Lieutenant Commander Adel to the bridge."
Ruby waited for several minutes before the chocolate-haired woman arrived.
"You called?" she asked.
"Yeah, Admiral Qrow, Commander Schnee, and I all need to go to the U.S.C. Athena. You have the deck until we get back, Coco," Ruby said
"Sounds good," the woman replied. "Don't take too long. I'd like to go back on my break."
The shuttle approached the massive, angular, gunmetal-grey ship. It was nearly as long as the Vale, and significantly wider, with a pair of large nacelles that ran half the length of the ship that had massive thrusters mounted at the aft, with two more similarly-sized thrusters mounted on the side main hull. Towards the front were two more more nacelles mounted closer to the hull, each with another massive thruster mounted at the rear. The shuttle flew low over the broad ship, and Ruby could not help but stare at the ship. The multitude of antennae and other items protruding from the hull combined with the bulky form to give an image to the ship that was a far cry from the sleek lines of the ships in the Remnant Federation.
"Athena control, this is Remnant shuttle pilot, callsign Thorn," the pilot called. "Requesting landing clearance."
"Thorn, this is Athena control," the ship's radio crackled, "Sending vector now. You cleared to land when ready."
"Confirmed, coming in now," Thorn replied.
The shuttle glided along the hull, passing next to a pair of small, bunker-like structures that were mounted near the rear of the ship. Finally, as they passed the aft of the ship. the pilot swung the shuttle around and fired the main engines again, slowing the ship to a brief stop. The shuttle nosed down, and the pilot fired the engines again, slowly bringing the shuttle to the set of small doors on the bottom of the ship between the two large thrusters. The shuttle passed between the thursters, and finally came to a rest within a small landing bay, where it was towed into a massive hangar that was bustling with activity. They came to a stop and the door hissed open. Weiss and Ruby stepped out first, and were immediately greeted by two long, parallel lines of marines in full dress uniforms, who all snapped to attention the moment Ruby's foot touched the deck. The meaning of the display was clear: these people were soldiers, through and through.
"Admiral Qrow, Captain Rose, Commander Schnee," Admiral Williams said as he walked between the lines of soldiers. "Welcome aboard the U.S.C. Athena."
"Quite the display you have here Williams," Admiral Qrow quipped.
"Protocol," Williams replied.
"Seems a little excessive," Ruby muttered, sounding a little nervous.
"The United Space Command is a little different than your military," Williams said. "If you'll follow me to the Strategic Command Center, I'll explain on the way."
The three Remnant Navy officers did as they were asked and followed Admiral Williams out of the hangar bay and into the corridors. The ship's interior was narrower than the Vale's, and was distinctly utilitarian, with very little space wasted, and the plating was thick, covering the ship's internals to protect the ship if it was boarded.
"The U.S.C. is very strict on operational discipline," Admiral Williams explained. "When you're at your post, you follow the orders your given. Occasionally, someone will protest an order, but it will almost always be carried out. Only in extreme cases, such as when an officer is about to commit treason, will an order be disobeyed."
"Off-duty, however," Williams continued, "is much looser. Because of our tighter duty regulations, a lot of off-duty restrictions have been reduced in comparison to our historical militaries. For instance, though your military doesn't expressly forbid relationships between personnel, they are discouraged. Here, provided they don't interfere with duties, what a member of the military does in their off-duty hours is fully their business. We even have full-contact sparring rings. Beating each other senseless apparently does wonders for stress."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Ruby asked.
"No, all matches are carefully monitored. Don't want anyone to suffer a crippling injury from a stray blow to the head."
Finally, they arrived outside of an elevator door, which hissed open at their approach.
"S.C.C," Admiral Williams called, and the elevator hissed away.
All four stood in silence until the elevator finally arrived. The door hissed open, revealing a massive room with numerous, complicated looking displays, with crewmembers carefully watching each one. In the center of the room was a massive holographic map that currently displayed the entire galaxy.
"Welcome to the nerve center of the United Space Command Navy's first fleet,," Admiral Williams said. "There's one on all twelve of the Zeus class dreadnoughts. From here, an Admiral can direct an entire battle without distraction from the bridge crew."
"So, what did you need to show us?" Admiral Qrow asked. "I imagine you didn't bring us out here to show us where you direct your fleet."
"Follow me please."
All four walked to the large hologram in the center of the room.
"Athena," Admiral Williams said.
"Yes, sir?" asked a woman's voice from seemingly nowhere.
"Pull up the data you got from the black box."
"One moment," the disembodied voice paused, and the hologram shifted, revealing an image of a series of three large, concentric rings with a number of ships surrounding it that were so small they might have just been simple dots. "There, done."
"Who's that?" Ruby asked cautiously.
"Athena, the ship's A.I." Admiral Williams replied, glancing at Ruby. "All U.S.C. ships have an A.I. on board to assist in running the ship."
"Aren't A.I.'s incredibly dangerous?" Weiss asked, growing visibly nervous.
"Yeah, kinda," the A.I. replied. "Honestly though, killing these guys wouldn't be a very good idea. Without them, I'd probably be space debris."
"Umm... What?" Ruby asked.
"Honestly, in a battle between A.I.'s, the better one will always win," Athena said. "People, however, are notoriously unpredictable. As a result, I, along with all other A.I.'s, all take care of tasks that normally require extremely fast reaction times or precision, such as electronic warfare and point defense systems, while the meatbags-
"Athena," Admiral Williams scolded.
"Sorry, the organic crew," the A.I. corrected with a laugh, "handles everything else, such as helm control and primary weapons."
Admiral Williams sighed. "Anyway, take a look at the strategic display. What do you see?"
Ruby studied the rings shown in the hologram. "This looks like the artifact on the border of the Federation," she said.
Admiral Williams manipulated the hologram, zooming in on the small red blips that surrounded the rings. "What do these look like?"
"Remnant Navy ships and pirate vessels," Ruby said sounding slightly worried. "But I thought the ships at the artifact were some other race."
"Athena, open the video from the black box."
The hologram changed again, showing a two-dimensional screen. In the image. On the screen were the images of a battle, as particle cannon and railgun barrages flew away from the camera, while beams of energy lanced ships nearby, tunneling holes through some, and cleaving others apart before the video suddenly cut out.
"Was there anything else there?" Qrow asked.
Admiral Williams shook his head. "We believe the ship took an E.M.P. that knocked it out until well after the battle was over. The next action it saw was when you forced the ship over our border. As for the rest of the data on the box, most of it was useless, but there is another copy of that invasion plan you sent me."
"So, what's your plan to deal with it?" Admiral Qrow asked.
"I have a few ideas that I'm not ready to share yet, but I have already started ordering the evacuation of our outer colonies to the fortress worlds."
"Is there anything else you need to share with us?"
"There is one other thing. A rogue Remnant Naval ship has been sighted near one of our colonies. We believe that it might be scouting the area for the coming attack."
"Thank you Williams, we'll deal with it as soon as we're done here. Was there anything else?"
"Not for now," Williams replied.
"Then we'll get back to our ship."
"I'll talk to you soon, Qrow."
"Ruby, Admiral Qrow's shuttle has departed for the shipyards at Shadow of Light," Weiss said.
"Good," Ruby said. "Helm, stand by to jump to the border at these coordinates." She typed a few numbers into the display and tapped a command to send the coordinates to the helm console.
"Standing by to jump, ma'am."
"Do it," Ruby said with a nod.
The window flashed and, when the window cleared, it revealed an empty star field with a single ship hovering in the distance.
"That must be the ship," Ruby said, "Open a channel."
Weiss tapped a control on the side of the tactical display. "Channel open, Ruby."
"Attention Remnant Naval vessel," Ruby called. "This is Captain Rose of the R.F.S. Vale. Stand down and prepare to be boarded."
"Ruby? You're a captain now?" A female voice asked.
Ruby's face paled. "P-Penny? is that you?"
"Yeah! It's good to see you, friend!" she replied energetically.
"Who's Penny?" Weiss questioned cautiously.
Ruby looked down in shame. "She took me under her wing in the academy, and we even dated briefly towards the end of my first year. But she was on her last year of the academy, so we broke up shortly before Penny completed her training. I though she was killed when the R.F.S. Relic vanished and was assumed destroyed."
"No," Penny replied over the communication link. "Commodore Ironwood ordered me to join th rebel group to protect the people of the Remnant Federation against Terran aggression."
"Penny, Ironwood was committing treason!" Ruby practically yelled.
"That doesn't matter," Penny insisted. "Part of our oath is to protect the Federation above all else, and that's what we're doing by preparing for another war."
"But we're essentially allies with the Terrans now!" Ruby argued. "Not to mention the fact that they've pulled most of their fleet away from our border!"
"Ruby, please don't make this any harder than it needs to be."
"Penny, what you're doing is putting the entire Federation at risk!"
"But if we don't, the Terrans will eventually-"
"Comms, cut the channel," Ruby demanded. "Weiss, sound red alert. Helm, bring us in to broadside."
"All hands, this is the X.O." Weiss called into the intercom. "Red alert, all hands to battle stations. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill."
The R.F.S. Vale moved ponderously forward, its main engines flaring a brilliant blue as they pushed the dreadnought towards the much smaller battleship.
"All stations report ready for action," Weiss said.
Ruby nodded. "All guns, open fire on the Relic. You are authorized to shoot to kill."
The first railgun shells sped away from the ship, slamming into the Relic's shields. The shields flared blue as they strained to withstand the impacts. The battleship turned to face the Vale, and started to move as well, attempting get along side. Smaller railgun shells slammed into the Vale's shields, and bright pulses of energy flashed away from the particle guns of both ships, causing both ship's shields to light up under the sustained barrage. Finally after several minutes of fire, the Relic's shields finally flashed brightly and disappeared, causing the Vale's weapons to start tunneling into the hull.
"Captain, the Relic's shields are offline!" One of the bridge officers yelled over the din of weapons slamming into the Vale's shields.
"Good," Ruby growled. "All batteries, continue firing."
After several more barrages of fire, the Relic was little more than a burning wreckage. Suddenly, there was a flash from the torpedo tubes just as the ship started to fall apart.
"Captain! Torpedoes incoming!" another member of the bridge staff yelled.
Ruby looked out of the window in horror as one torpedo flew straight at her, passing cleanly through the shields {A/N} and slamming into the bridge. The weapon detonated, and caused Ruby to fly into the wall and black out.
Weiss picked her wounded body off the deck of the ruined bridge and limped over to the tactical display table. She grunted as she painfully lifted her hand to activate the intercom.
"Attention, this is the X.O." she called painfully. "I need multiple medical and critical trauma teams to the bridge immediately."
Weiss looked over to the wall where the captain, her captain lay. She slowly limped to Ruby's side and knelt down, looking at the untouched face. She cupped her hand around the side hidden from her view and brought her face around to look into her two eyes. when the rest of Ruby's face was revealed, Weiss saw just how bad Ruby was. The entire right side of Ruby's face was covered with burns, and when Weiss had gently moved Ruby's body, she noticed the young Captain's right arm was missing below the elbow. She desperately put what little strength she had left into applying pressure to the wounded arm.
Please, please, please be okay, she thought desperately, just as the bridge doors finally hissed open and medical teams surged onto the deck.
A/N: Story notes:
Phase Drives require a recharge time, and can't be used to close of large sources of radiation, such as a star. Attempting to either jump within heavy radiation or before the drive is fully charged will jump the ship, but it will cause the drive to overload and detonate, rendering it useless.
Torpedoes use a unique phased warhead, allowing them to pass through shields without being stopped. The warheads are expensive, which is why they're the only hard-ammo weapons that use them. Also, torpedoes are rarely used in close-quarters by capital ships because the sheer volume of fire being exchanged combined with slower relative velocity will likely result in very few if any torpedoes hitting the ships.
There we go! Thanks for reading everyone! And, if you like this story, then you should go check out BurningPeace's fanfic Millennial Rose, which was inspired by this one. It's a really great read already (even though it only has one chapter so far), and looks like it's going to be action packed!
Also, if anyone would like to do cover art for this and/or for Path We Walk, please send me a PM, as I'm still looking for someone to do those.
Finally, I know a few of you are going to ask why the Relic (a battleship) lasted longer than the Haven (a battlecarrier) did in combat, and that largely boils down to preparation. Penny had time to prepare her ship for combat, including increasing power to the shields to brace for the Vale's fire. In addition, the Haven was merely disabled instead of destroyed, and disabling a ship is simply a matter of hitting it in a few key spots to prevent it from fighting back or escaping.
As always, thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next chapter of Lone White Rose, the last chapter before the epilogue! See ya there!
