The army reached the city of Vale. People closed their windows and doors as the army walked through. Ruby looked around at the houses very nervously. It's been a long time since she's been to Vale. Atia looked around. They then heard an airship.
"I thought this was a no air zone." Anakin looked at the airship.
"Beacon is a no airship zone. We're in Vale." Davican rubbed his eyes. "Whatever you do, try not to punch him no matter how mad he makes you."
Davican with a growl approached the ship with team RWBY. Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka followed. The airship slowly lowered to the ground and lowered its ramp. Out from the ship came a man with white hair and a mustache. His face was stern and dressed in business formal. His name, Jacques Schnee.
"Davican I know you plan to retake Beacon and procure supplies from Atlas, but I will not have it." He began his tirade.
"What's the matter this time Jacques?" Davican rubbed his eyes.
"My problem is you bypassed the Schnee dust company! You went to Ironwood and intended to get this supplies for free!"
"Jacques I didn't bypass you. I went to the proper authorities. The council. Whether they bypassed you or not isn't my problem."
"The council!?... I see. Well you haven't seen the last of me Davican."
"Dad, he's not someone you can scare into giving you what you want!" Weiss shouted at her father. The Jedi looked at her. "Davican did all of this for the people! Something you wouldn't understand!"
Jacques looked a little stunned before returning to his stern look. "So these are your 'friends' that you gave up your family for. And this is the man who took you away."
"He didn't take me away! I left on my own. And these aren't my friends. They're my family."She stood tall with Ruby and the others.
"...You haven't seen the last of me."
He left back onto his airship and took off. Davican rubbed his eyes. Weiss put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. Ahsoka bit her cheek. The army continued its march up the river cliffs. They then stopped just outside of the no fly zone.
"Alright, last chance for resupply. Land the walkers from the ships and don't enter the no fly zone." Davican ordered the men. "Bring down my guard as well. Once inside the only air traffic allowed is for evac."
Ahsoka approached Weiss. "So…"
"Let me guess. Why did I leave my family?" Weiss looked back at Ahsoka. "My dads not exactly the best role model. I wanted this. To be a huntress to preserve my family name. A name he ruined."
"But what about the rest of your family?"
"I am with one of them. Winter never liked dad. Whitley and I never got along. And… My mom." Weiss paused thinking of her mom.
Then Ahsoka placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly and smiled. Weiss smiled back as a massive shuttle came down. It unloaded men and woman in golden gilded suits. They were royal guards. People who were meant to be the last line of defence to the emperor before he passed. Now they were the guards to the grand magister and the son of the late emperor in a different sector. An aegis guard approached the two.
"You the huntress I'm paired with?" He asked. Smoke coming out from the crack between his helmet and suit.
Weiss looked less than thrilled. Ahsoka looked at the man's suit in amazement. It was really fancy and had some rather state of the art gear. He looked like he could blow a squad of clone troopers away. She didn't know the full extent of the gear yet. Once everything landed, they moved towards Beacon. They approached the main avenue of Beacon. Hordes of grim ran at them, from beowulfs to goliaths. Members of the royal guard marines set up beside the clones. Their guns armed with underbarrel grenade launchers and combat shields bolted to their armor. With a calm breath, despite the odds, Davican activated his saber scythe. He jumped past the line onto a goliath, stabbing the saber through its skull. Anakin, one not to be shown up, turned his saber on and jumped by.
When the beowulfs closed in, the harbingers vaulted over the marines and troopers shoulders. Hardlight shields activating and interlocking with each other. The beowulfs and boarbatusks hit the shields. Each Harbinger backed at the force. Goliaths however didn't reach the shield line. Tarmeia ran through the hordes of beowulfs into the school. With a hand sign from Rex, the AT-TE cannons blasted at the grim. Siege tanks set up behind the AT-TE's and unleashed their fiery payload. Explosions rang with grim bodies flying off and vanishing. With an astounding use of the force, Davican pushed the goliaths into the ground. He strained as he continued. The huntress's and hunter's ran forward to remove the strain from him. A beowulf jumped at Davican, but a large scythe flew through its neck.
"Sorry I'm late. Got caught up in politics." Crow came over, retrieving his scythe.
"Well it wouldn't be… Oh god there goes my legs." Davican fell down onto his face.
His mask slid from his face. Blood dripping from his nose. He overextended his powers to hold down all the goliaths. Then a loud roar made them all look around. Out from the sky came a Wyvern. It roared and flew towards the groups. An unlucky AT-TE got picked up by the creature. Ahsoka ran over to Davican.
"Davican what are we…" She covered her mouth when she noticed the blood.
"Wyvern? Seriously?" Davican said hoarsely. "Red. Please try not to pass out this time."
Ruby smiled and walked out nervously. She closed her eyes and breathed. Her concentration was off, but she knew there was a lot of people depending on her. Ahsoka tried to run out to grab her, but was stopped by Davican. Obi-Wan yelled for Ruby to move as the wyvern flew at her. Then her eyes opened. A great flash of light covered the fields of grim. When the light dispersed, the grim were there, frozen in stone. Ruby fell down to her knees just to be caught by her sister. Ahsoka looked around marveling at it all.
"That my friend, was the power of the silver eyes." Davican spoke quietly.
"Silver eyes?" Ahsoka looked at him curiously.
"Just look around. What she just did was the power of the silver eyes."
Ahsoka looked at all the petrified grim. The clones and marines walked through the field of statues now. When the army reached the academy, Davican halted them and went in with the Jedi and huntress'. They walked through the halls to see the vanishing grimm. Then they heard a ursa roar from a classroom. They then looked inside to see Tarmeia. She tore it apart with slightly clawed hands. Her faceplate ripped and torn off, revealing sharp pointy teeth. Davican walked over and pulled a blood pack from her pockets. She bit into it and drank deeply from it.
"W-What is she?" Ahsoka asked incredibly nervous.
"Vampire. My family dabbled in things you… really shouldn't know." Davican said with a sigh. "She's my family's first experiment on the ritual… and their last."
A clone ran in. "Sir, the school is secured. We have reported to the Vale government and air traffic is allowed again."
"Good. Thank you Jedi. Without your clones, we would of lost a lot more."
"I am curious. What was the importance of this academy? There must be more like it." Obi-Wan stroked his beard as he asked the question.
"There is, but Beacon was more than just an academy. It was a tower that connected all communications along Remnant." Weiss answered. "Without it, the communication between countries fell."
"I see. So you retook this tower to fix the communication issue in this world?"
"Yes and it's cheaper than what Ironwood proposed. Though it was much more dangerous and the air traffic embargo made transporting resources here even more dangerous. This act also restores Beacon to the kingdom of Vale."
"I see."
"Anyways. I thank you all for coming. Your help was very much welcome. Here, for your trouble I donated a large sum of hypermatter to your fleet. It should fuel their hyperdrives for a couple more months. Just try not to lose it to the Separatists."
They nodded. LAAT's flew down to pick up the 501st and the 212th. Once aboard, they returned to their ships. Tarmeia looked up at Davican with child like somber as she finished the blood pack. He just smiled at her as the air transports flew in supplies from Atlas. Atia ran over with a data pad and handed it to him.
"Sir, project Nighthawk is nearly complete." Atia told him.
"Good. Any complications?" Davican asked kindly.
"One sir."
Back aboard the Resolute, the jedi stepped off the LAAT to see Wullf Yularen. He approached them with a data pad in hand.
"General Skywalker. We received a transmission from Senator Amidala." Wullf Yularen informed Anakin.
"What was in the transmission admiral?" Anakin asked with respect for the man.
"She informed me that Senator Kyrze has given off very disturbing information. A secret project of the Galactic Defenders is being held in orbit of the world of Mandalore. The Chancellor doesn't want any secrets so close to Republic space. He has authorized the you use the stealth ship for the Jedi to spy. Master Kenobi however has been asked elsewhere."
"But admiral. Is it wise to be spying on our neighbors?" Ahsoka asked nervously. "I mean, they've been friendly with us so far."
"Ahsoka, the chancellor has given us a mission. And you're gonna follow me." Anakin smiled.
Ahsoka held herself nervously. She didn't feel well about this in the slightest. The thought of spying on her love and his people weren't settling well with her. As secret as this project was and as close as it was, nothing felt right. Above Mandalore, a giant dome like station floated around it. Inside the station, two glowing purple eyes opened.