Chapter 45

"You want to steal a ship? From the military?" Chrysanthos spoke slowly, as if he was considering each word. "That's… bold of you."

Pyrrha rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Y-yeah. We need to get to Atlas. We have to talk with the General. But they won't help us so we have to take more drastic measures."

Her father hummed. "I see. I was hoping you'd just come for a visit, but it's obvious you are just passing through." He sighed. "Alright. I was going to head down in a few days to review their security. It's what they pay me for after all." Chrysanthos reached into one of the desk's drawers and pulled out a scroll. He immediately was tapping at it faster than Pyrrha ever could.

After a couple minutes of relative silence, he placed the scroll down and pushed a button, causing it to project a holographic image of the base. Several points glowed red. "These are the bases vulnerable spots. I've recommended Cordovin fix them, but because they are Atlesian built she doesn't think they could possibly be weak points." He shook his head in annoyance. "If you want their ships I recommend the backmost one. Break in there and you'll have plenty of cover as you make your way towards the Manta's."

"Wow. Thanks, dad." Pyrrha smiled.

"Heh. It's no problem sweetheart. Besides I can use this to show why she should have listened to me." He smiled back. "Now once you claim a ship you'll need to figure out how to stop them from chasing and shooting you down. You could try to hit the control centre but that would be dangerous…"

"We'll figure something out. Thanks, dad." She got up and came around the desk to hug him. It was nostalgic. It felt like years since they'd hugged.

"Just stay safe, alright? I want to see you come home again. For an actual visit next time."

"I promise."

He pulled back with a smile. "Now, was there anything else?"

"Well… we'll probably need some tools?" Pyrrha replied.

"I can help with that."

"You want to… I'm sorry could you repeat that for me?" Saphron asked, voice slightly hysterical.

Jaune winced. "We want to steal one of the bases Manta Ships so that we can reach Atlas."

"Right. Okay. And you want Terra to help?"

"If she wants to! We won't hold it against her if she doesn't want to! She'd be risking her job after all."

Saphron sighed. "I… you'll have to ask her. She should be home in a couple of hours." Jaune and Ruby both nodded back to her. Nora was busy making faces at Adrien, who was laughing like a madman. "So… uhm. What have you been up to since you left home?" She desperately tried to change the subject.

"W-well I went to Beacon. Made it in." Jaune shrugged. "I made a lot of friends but…" He paused for a moment. Saphron caught his eyes darting to look at Ruby next to him. The red-and-black-haired girl calmly sipped a cup of tea Saphron had prepared. "Well, it wasn't all good. Even before the end of the tournament."

Saphron nodded. "Yes that was… well I'm glad I wasn't watching."

"Huh?"

"We'd put Adrien to bed an hour before but he'd woken up and was crying. I went to try and get him back to sleep and missed it. The one time I can be glad for him waking up in the middle of a show." She sighed again. "Terra saw it though. She turned it off pretty fast but anyone who saw that would have had a rough time sleeping for a while."

"Yeah…" Jaune's voice sounded weak.

"So what do you do during the day?" Ruby quickly asked, switching the subject away.

"Oh. I'm a stay at home mom. At least for now. Terra makes enough for all of us. Though once Adrien is in school I might get a part-time job."

Ruby nodded. "One more question. Any embarrassing stories about Jaune?" She asked with a smile. Saphron couldn't help but notice that it didn't really reach her eyes. She wasn't asking out of genuine interest, more out of an intent to keep them away from the more depressing topics.

Saphron smiled and dived into as many stories as she could remember.

Ruby smiled politely as Jaune groaned. "They don't need to hear that!" He moaned.

Saphron smiled in the way only an older sibling could. "Oh, I think they do Jaune!"

"Yes please!" Nora loudly called out as she threw Adrien into the air, easily catching him and throwing him back up. The toddler giggled constantly.

"When we were all young us girls were bored, right? So one day we decided we didn't want to be 'the seven Arc sisters and their brother'. We wanted to be the 'eight Arc sisters'!"

"Noooo!" Jaune groaned.

"So we dressed Jaune up!" Saphron gleefully announced. Nora burst out laughing immediately. "Put him in a nice dress and braid his hair and he looks stunning! Well, maybe not as much anymore." Jaune pouted.

It was hard to fully get into it, however. Saphron seemed like a great sister to have, but she reminded her of Yang too much. Despite being the one who had asked for the stories she wished Saphron didn't have any or had refused. Ruby found herself paying less attention to the world around her as memories flooded her mind. Memories of Yang, which inevitably flowed into Weiss and Blake.

"... Of course couldn't accept not showing off our newest sister!" Saphron was saying as Ruby zoned back in. "So we took Jaune with us to the Sunday market. He was the talk of the town for weeks!"

Jaune whined in sorrow as Nora cackled, which caused Adrien to start copying her. Tears formed in Jaune's eyes as the chaotic pair laughed at him. Ruby gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.

Saphron giggled and continued. "Eventually he started crying so we went home and mom yelled at us. After that, he got his own tent whenever we went camping. Stop us from braiding his hair every night."

A moment after she finished the front door opened. A woman entered with a quizzical look at them all. Saphron stood up with a grin. "This is my wife Terra! Terra, these are Jaune's friends, Nora and Ruby!"

"Hello. To what do we owe this pleasure?" Terra asked.

"Well, we were in town and…" Jaune swallowed. "We need your help in getting to Atlas."

"My help?"

"Feel free to refuse!" Jaune quickly added. "Anyway, we are going to steal one of their ships and take it to Atlas. If there is anything you can do to help us we would greatly appreciate it."

"Saph can I talk to you?" Terra said. Saphron looked confused but agreed. The pair left the room for several minutes. Eventually, they returned. "Okay look I can't do much of anything. I can point you to one thing though. The base has scanners built all around the coast. There's a tower out in the forest that takes in that info and sends it back to their main control centre. If you want to steal a ship and not get killed you'll want to disable that."

Ruby nodded. "Got it. How would we disable it without breaking it? We only need it down for a few minutes."

"I'll write up some instructions for you. But make sure nothing can lead back to me, got it? I'm doing this as a favour for family." She looked to Jaune.

"Don't worry Terra. We'll make sure you aren't implicated." Jaune confidently said.

She sighed in response. "Alright, then I'll write that up now."

"So we have blueprints for the base including weak points and where to hit to disable their sensors," Taiyang said, leaning on the dining room table and pointing at the hologram in the middle. "What's the plan?"

Ruby looked around the room at their gathered team. Everyone looked worried. Jaune was biting his lower lip as he looked at what information they had. Ruby sighed and stepped closer to the table.

"It'd be dangerous to send everyone in the back to get to the shuttle we want. We'll need to send in a small team to grab it and fly out to pick everyone else up. While that happens someone disables their sensor's." She said.

"I could just fly in." Qrow said from the corner of the room before he downed another glass of whiskey. Ruby nodded and thought for a moment then looked around the room.

"Who can fly it?"

"Qrow and I learned a little bit, but not all that much." Her father responded.

"I know!" Maria declared. "Plus I can plug my eyes into its systems. I'll have a better understanding of its surroundings."

"Alright. Qrow, you'll head in and grab one. Dad, you take Maria in the back way and meet up with Qrow. Maria will fly whilst you two can distract anyone who gets in the way."

Jaune pipped up. "They'll react really quickly. Other Manta's could be deployed quickly, whether the scanners are down or not. We'll need a distraction." He pointed to the front gates. "We could have a small team hit the front and then pull back a minute later."

Ruby hummed. "Pyrrha. Could you carry someone while flying?"

"Uhm. I should be able to carry one person. It's hard to do sustained flight but I should be able to manage."

"Alright then. Pyrrha, you'll take Nora and hit the front. Qrow once the shuttle is leaving head to the front and join them. Once he gets there the three of you will retreat and join up with everyone else."

"What about the scanner tower?" Jaune asked.

"I'll handle it." Ruby replied. "I'm the fastest aside from Qrow when he's a bird. I can hit it and pull back fast enough to rejoin the group."

Jaune looked like he wanted to argue but decided against it. "Okay. Once the shuttle is airborne it should leave the area and circle back. Once it's out of their scanner range it can lose any pursuers and come back for everyone." He finalized the details and looked around at the team.

"Any complaints or issues?" Ruby asked. When nobody raised any she took a step back. "Alright then get ready. We'll do it early tomorrow." Everyone started to disperse but Oscar came up to speak to her.

While she'd been out meeting Jaune's sister he'd gone to get some new clothes. It made him look more like a Huntsman. "Oscar?"

"Hey, Ruby. I just wanted to say I'm taking your advice to heart. I'm going to be a Huntsman so I needed to look the part." He motioned to his new threads. "I need to be someone I can be proud of. Thanks for pointing that out."

"It's not a problem Oscar. It's good that you're making that effort."

Before either of them could say anything else Maria butted in. "You and I need to have a talk." She said to Ruby.

"I suppose we do. We'll talk later Oscar."

"It's alright. I said what I wanted to. I'm going to go. I promised to help cook dinner tonight." The farm boy ran off, leaving Ruby alone with the old woman.

"Let's talk outside." Maria said. Ruby followed her outside to a set of white table and chairs secluded in amongst a copse of trees and bushes. The pair sat down across from each other.

"So. Silver Eyes?" Ruby asked.

"Yes. You've used them once, correct?"

"Yes. I froze the massive Grimm that attacked Beacon and injured Cinder. I haven't figured out how to use it though."

"Hmmm. Silver Eyes are a unique power. They are fueled by the desire to protect. To preserve life."

"So I just have to what? Think about who I want to protect?"

Maria nodded. "That may work. You have to find what works for you. It's a powerful ability that can defeat almost any Grimm, especially with training."

"And I suppose you can't use it after losing your eyes?"

"I haven't managed yet. Though after that vision I wonder…"

"What do you mean?"

Maria thought for a moment before she spoke. "That God of Light used a power awfully similar when he transformed. I wonder a lot about that. Do Silver Eyes come from him somehow? And his didn't originate from his eyes, so does that mean I could learn to use it without mine? Things to think about."

Ruby pondered it for a moment. "If I find out I'll tell you."

"Please do. It's a pain when I fight Grimm these days! I'm not what I used to be you know." She waggled her finger at Ruby.

"Right…" Ruby looked at Maria with concern. "Are you prepared for tomorrow?"

"Of course! I'll get to teach Cordovin a lesson!" Maria cackled. Ruby blinked in confusion.

"Right okay. So you used a scythe, right? Any tips?"

"Well, I did use a different kind of scythe and fighting style." Maria then hummed. "I recommend using two scythes!"

"So just what you used? What a great and wise tip." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Honestly, I think you're fine on the scythe front. You have the speed and power you need for it. You have multiple long ranged options and an option for if you're disarmed. The best I can think of is trying to use more Dust. Once we're in Atlas you'll have a good chance to mix in more Dust."

"Thanks. That's helpful. I should go prepare. Make sure my weapons are clean and ready." Ruby stood and returned to the house. Her mind was still going backwards. Her time at Saphron's had brought too much to the front of her mind.

She needed some alone time. The room she'd been given was a good place to curl up and cry, especially if she brought Zwei with her. As long as she made herself presentable before dinner.

Zwei was all too happy to help her.

A/N: Here we are with a preparation chapter. I'd planned for only half of this to be prep with the other half being the start of the missions but it ballooned out into this. I'm fine with it though. I like having the plan detailed out. A couple of family moments, though one causes Ruby to be very sad. Poor girl really needs to find someone to confide in. I probably went over the same info a bit too much. Probably makes it less interesting. Oh well. Next chapter should be more entertaining.

Meanwhile, V8 has finished! I enjoyed it. Sitting down and adding it to the plan is tough at times but it's going! Been listening to the credits song on repeat after FlyntOfRWBY released a lyric video. It's a banger. Can't wait for the soundtrack. Although we didn't get as many songs during the episodes as we used to. Hope that doesn't mean they are low on them this volume. Loved to see Casey's own band show up in it though! Their recent EP is amazing! That was a tangent lol.

I hope you all enjoyed! I'll see you next time!