Chapter 25
Ruby
She was trying her hardest to pay attention with her massive headache, and her stomach wasn't helping. Professor Baldwin was almost done with his lecture when she had had enough. She raised her hand "Professor, can I go to the nurse, I'm not feeling well." "Yes Ruby." He responded as she got up and quickly walked/ran to the nurse's office. When she got there she threw up in the garbage can right outside the office. The nurse quickly came out and walked Ruby to a bed. She pulled up a garbage can and got an IV drip in her arm and gave her a couple antibiotic shots. It took about an hour before she felt good enough to get up.
Colin
They landed back at the back of the school, close to the spot where they took off. When they landed He breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that Sheila wouldn't let Maria crash, but that didn't stop his heart from pounding. He jumped out and helped her out. "That was awesome!" she squeaked excitedly. "It is really fast and really fun." She said breathlessly. "The ship is going to be here soon" he said just as a transport ship touched down in the field next to them. "Aaaaah, speak of the devil." He said walking up towards the bay doors. They depressurized and the door slowly descended hissing, revealing a white light inside.
He smiled as the group of people came out of the ship and lined up at attention. When they had all lined up and the pilot took off to do a refueling run he addressed them. "It's good to see you all doing well, you are here to make a good impression before shore leave. Follow me and try to play nice." He said straightening his uniform and taking the back halls to the auditorium. "All students please assemble in the auditorium for a brief meeting." Came a voice over the intercom. He entered the back of the auditorium and had the troop's line up behind the stage. About 2 minutes later Ozpin had come back stage to meet him. "Hello there professor, is everyone ready?" he asked "Yes, you can make your speech. Give me a minute to get seated because I want to hear what you have to say." He said before walking off into the seating area.
Colin gave him a couple seconds before walking on to stage and up to the podium. The auditorium went silent. "Hello everyone, my name is Colin, and I am an alien. Not as in tentacles, tail third eye or whatnot. But as in not from around here, really not around here. To get technical about 400,000 light years away." There was general murmur when he paused. "I will show you. Can we dim the lights?" he asked towards the technician's booth in the back. The lights dimmed "thank you, now here we go." He said pulling a small disk out of his pocket and putting it on the top of the podium. He pressed a small button on the side of the disk. It hummed to life and projected an image of the galaxy. He walked over to a small dot in one of the arms of the galaxy.
He poked the little blue dot and it zoomed in to reveal an image of his planet, green and blue. "This is Earth, my home planet." He said putting the planet back as he walked over to another arm of the galaxy and pick up another planet. "This is you." He said poking the planet, he then drew a line between the planets. "That is a big space. How are we the same?" someone asked from the crowd. "Good question, some are and some aren't. Let me show you." He said "Alright, can we get some lights and everyone line up at attention." He said. There were sounds of metal on wood as the lights came on. A collective gasp could be heard from the crowd as the lights came on revealing a multitude of different species in uniform.
"These are members of my crew." He saw gesturing towards the lineup. "These men and women may look different from you in many ways, and you will be seeing them a lot so I suggest you get familiar. We have been fighting a war much bigger than just one planet for a very long time. We need a break. Which is why my crew will be visiting the school and surrounding community in small groups from time to time. They will be on their best behavior and do their best to keep disturbances to a minimum." He said looking at Ultra marine commander Spire with a questioning look. "We will do our very best to keep our presence at tourist levels." The nine and a half foot tall man in gigantic metal armor said. Colin nodded in approval "But this also means that if you feel threatened or need help in any way, you can ask any man or woman in tis uniform for help. They will do their utmost to assist you." He said looking back at the marine.
"Helping those in need is always a priority." He responded his deep voice reverberating through the auditorium. "Thank you for your time everyone." He said turning to his lineup. "Dis-missed!" they saluted and exited in an orderly fashion. Colin turned back around and watched as the crowd of students were leaving through the doors, noticing that a group of four students were still glued to their seats. He walked off the stage and thought a small crowd to see his friends. "How was I?" he asked "They are so cool, are we really going to be seeing them around?" Yang asked "Yep, we are getting some much needed shore leave, so…" he was cut off as ruby slumped forward out of her seat, barely being caught be Weiss in time. Everyone quickly got around her but Colin pushed them back letting ruby lay down on the floor. "Hey. Hey…. Ruby, can you hear me. Can you speak?" he asked checking her pulse as his nanites reconnected with the vital monitors in her head.
"Whaaa. Where am I, why am I on the floor?" she asked trying to get up. Colin put his hand up to stop her "Lay down, I'm going to do a simple check on your vitals, your implant isn't working." He said checking her pulse, it was rapid and faint. "Get me some water" he said to Yang, who rushed off to get some. Maria had just gotten back from escorting the troops to the ship and quickly ran to his side. "How is she?" "Weak pulse, paler than usual skin, clammy, troubles breathing, confusion. All the signs of a heart attack, except the pain." He said as he lifted her legs and helped her roll on her side. "Keep her in this position, I'm going to get a medic." Colin said getting up. Just then Ruby started shaking violently and screaming. They rushed to hold her down "MARIA, GET A MEDIC!" he shouted and she quickly ran off to stop the ship from taking off, with a combat medic on board.
Then Ruby stopped, completely. Colin quickly put his ear to her mouth, no breathing. He checked her pulse, nothing. He immediately started CPR as Blake and Weiss watched in horror. "Sheila, defibrillator!" he shouted in between breaths. Some nanites emerged from his body and formed a small machine with tendrils that snaked over Ruby's Clothes and punched holes to access skin. "Charging" came the machines voice. He kept up CPR, "Charging done, Clear the patient." The machine said again, Colin quickly backed up and the machine made a buzzing noise before Ruby's body jerked violently in the air. He checked her pulse, still nothing. He started CPR again and the machine charged back up again. "Charging" ….. "Charging done, clear the patient." He backed off. Her body contorted into the air again, this time she gasped and stared breathing after wards, still unconscious.
Keys and a combat medic ran into the room and rushed towards Ruby, he kneeled down and began treating Ruby as Colin helped. "We restarted her heart, weak breathing and faint pulse." Colin told the medic as he leaned in to hear her breathing and checked her pulse. "We have no rhythm in her breathing and her pulse is irregular." He said as he pulled a bag of clear fluid out of his back and gave it to Maria to hold above Ruby as he put her on an IV of saline and injected some morphine and Ceftriaxone. "We need to keep her stable until a medical craft arrives. Do either of you know of anything that could have caused this?" the medic asked Blake and Weiss, they both shook their heads. He grimaced in thought as Colin's machine turned back into nanites and went back into his body.