Chapter 4
Yang flicked her way through the datapad, pausing to take another bite of her protein bar. All the while she tried to ignore the tapping to her left. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap- "Ruby." Yang growled through her food, glaring over at her sister. She lounged in the pilot's chair, a hydrospanner in hand, poised to once more tap her kneepad. "Can you quit it?"
"Do you wanna' talk to Weiss?" Was Ruby's response.
Yang blinked, swallowing before letting out a sigh. She tossed the pad aside. "No Ruby, I don't want to talk to the Sith."
"Former Sith." Ruby corrected. "Well, not really Sith...Imperial is probably more accurate-"
"Sith is Sith Rubes." Yang cut her off. "You should know better than any not to trust them at their word." She flexed her prosthetic, which creaked pathetically. "We shouldn't have taken her. Even if she's telling the truth, that just means she's gonna' bring the Empire down on her head, and ours with it."
"If she's telling the truth and we left her there for the Empire, we'd be no better than the bounty hunters working for the Hutts." Ruby countered.
"And if the Empire finds us now we're going to lose a lot more than a limb Ruby." Yang warned. "At least the Hutts have a use for us. The Empire? They'll space us and be done with it...if we're lucky."
"The Empire won't find us, because we'll do this quick, get paid, then lay low for a while." Ruby declared. "We could go to Felucia! You've always wanted to visit Felucia!"
"I want to live on Felucia, Rubes, not dig a hole and hope I don't get rained on." Yang grumbled.
"We can do this Yang, we gotta' have faith." Ruby insisted. "The pay is too good! And besides, I have a good feeling about Weiss." Yang groaned, slumping in her chair. "I'm serious! And I think if we talked to her and got to know her we could get a better idea of who she is and what she's doing."
"I know you're serious Ruby, that's what bothers me." Yang mumbled, rubbing at her bicep.
"Well how about you stay here and be bothered, and I'll go and say hello to the scary Sith?" Ruby stood, holstering the hydrospanner. "And when you're done being bothered you can come join." She frowned as she took notice of her sister's discomfort. The prosthetic connection normally hidden by her jacket was now revealed, synthetics meeting flesh with a harsh silver line. Or it was silver once, now dulled and scuffed, and the flesh was bandaged. "Is it hurting?"
"It's aching, I'll be fine, go talk to the Sith, just try not to piss her off, please?" Yang managed a small smile.
Ruby returned the smile, leaning down to kiss her sister on the cheek. "Before we go anywhere, after this is done, we'll get you a new arm, a good one...that's also a gun."
"I can think of a few other things I'd rather have in it Rubes." Yang snorted as Ruby rolled her eyes. "I love you."
"Love you too." Ruby responded.
Leaving the cockpit, Ruby made her way past communications, emerging into the ship's main hold. Though their guest was not present, her cloak was draped across one of the chairs. The material looked well worn but high quality, thick enough to trap warmth without being stifling in hotter weather. It was a traveler's cloak for sure. Weiss was prepared in that area at least. Deciding to check the workshop first, Ruby was pleasantly surprised to find the Imperial looking over her workbench, arms crossed behind her. She looked quite imposing without the cloak, dressed as she was in the full uniform of an Imperial Intelligence officer.
"Forgive my curiosity, this area has a comforting aura about it." Weiss spoke, looking over with a small smile. "Do you spend time here often?"
Weiss' question caught Ruby off guard, but she brushed it off with a shrug. "It's my workshop, I keep everything running here, within reason at least." The mechanic explained, approaching the workbench. "And when I'm not I just...tinker." She gestured to the object Weiss had been examining. It was a belt with a boxy device attached, circuits exposed.
"A stealth field generator?" Weiss recognized.
Ruby grinned. "It was! It's broken. We found it...somewhere, I dunno', but when I tried to use it, it sent out an electromagnetic pulse that knocked out Yang's arm and made our blasters overheat."
"And you're trying to fix it?" Weiss questioned.
"Nope, don't wanna'." Ruby shook her head. "Stealth fields are great and all, but we're not the sneaking type. If we get into something, we're in the thick of it, and if we're in the thick of it, everyone's got blasters-"
"And when no one has blasters, they can't fire at you." Weiss finished for Ruby. "Then you get out of the thick of it. Smart."
"It's not a perfect idea." Ruby admitted. "Yang's arm goes through enough without being disabled so I'm just...trying to focus it. Maybe, like if I could knock out anything but Yang's arm and our blasters it'd be great, but the best way to do that is EMP shielding, which is expensive, so I'm just making sure it won't explode in the meantime."
"Exploding in a firefight would be rather unfortunate." Weiss smirked.
"I haven't done it yet, and I don't intend to in the future!" Ruby laughed. "So uh, these are basically my quarters. Yang's got the far quarters for herself, but you can have the one just down that hall." Ruby pointed to the other entrance to the workshop. "Just past the exit. The trip to Alderaan's pretty quick, but I've never been to Rishi, so you might be aboard for a while, and sleeping in the cargo hold isn't great...I know from experience."
"Thank you Ruby, I'll try not to be a bother." Weiss replied.
"Oh, don't worry about that." Ruby waved her off. "Yang's on edge around strangers, because, you know, that's how the galaxy makes people."
"But not you?" Weiss arched her brow.
Ruby merely shrugged. "Not yet, and besides, I have a good feeling about you. That doesn't happen often."
"It's good to trust your feelings, but take care not to let your guard down." Weiss advised. "There are those among us trained to manipulate such base mentalities to their advantage."
"Oh, like you?" Ruby smirked.
"Yes." Weiss chuckled. "You don't survive as long as I have in my line of work without cunning Ruby. Your sister is right to distrust me. Should your instincts ever fail you, she will not."
"I usually listen to her, but sometimes she can be boneheaded." Ruby explained. "But she just got run out of a bar so...definitely not in the best of moods today."
"I assume that's a common occurrence." Weiss guessed.
"Well...it's infrequent, but not uncommon…" Ruby suddenly winced, swaying in place as her gaze grew distant.
Weiss reached out, grasping Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby, are you well?"
"Uh...yeah, yeah I'm fine." Ruby answered. The ship shuddered, the constant thrum of hyperspace subsiding as the drive wound down.
"Do you have a medical condition?" Weiss inquired.
"No, no I just...get dizzy spells sometimes." Ruby replied. "I think it's my diet. Nutrient shakes and protein bars aren't the best. Or maybe hyperspace just doesn't agree with me, because it usually happens-"
"Ruby, make sure the cargo's ready." Yang's voice came over the intercom. "Schnee, if you have something less conspicuous, put it on. I know your kind love pressed uniforms and shiny boots but we're couriers, and our clients don't like the authorities. Rub some grease on your face or something."
"I have a jumpsuit that might fit you." Ruby offered. "It's clean...mostly."
"I have casual wear, but thank you for the offer." Weiss politely declined.
"Oh, you do?" Ruby tilted her head. "Good. I just assumed because you're still wearing the uniform-"
"I was pressed for time, and the uniform did help avert suspicion at first." Weiss explained.
"Smart, right." Ruby nodded. "I'll uh, go check the cargo. We'll probably touch down in a few hours so…"
"I'll be ready." Weiss assured her. "Thank you."
While Ruby readied the cargo for delivery, Weiss headed to her quarters. When she emerged, she was dressed very differently. Gone was her uniform, replaced by a much more casual and rugged outfit. She wore brown leather boots with matching blaster belt and knee pads, all scuffed and polished numerous times until they dully gleamed. Her freshly pressed white shirt and navy pants were a stark contrast, but a grey pilot's jacket brought the look together. She appeared to be an adventurer, albeit a wealthy one. It worked, as the galaxy had no shortage of nobility looking for excitement in all the wrong places.
Ruby and Yang did not bother to make themselves more presentable. There was no point really. All they were on Alderaan to do was drop off a few crates and receive payment. If they looked like they had just crawled out of a junkyard, so what? Yang did take the expedient of tying her hair into a ponytail so it would not be in her way. Deliveries did not always go smoothly, and the last thing she needed was hair blocking her vision when she needed to shoot straight.
The landing site was hidden in one of Alderaan's remote forests, in a clearing surrounded by tall trees that would hide it from casual observers. House Rist were known for their dirty tricks and underhanded tactics, so their secret spaceport saw quite a bit of traffic. Yang was a skilled enough pilot to land the ship, allowing Ruby to shift one of the crates to the hover dolly as they landed. The key with such a delivery was to be quick, and as soon as the ship's ramp was extended, Ruby was guiding the cargo down, Yang and Weiss in tow.
A well-dressed man approached the ship and was intercepted by Yang. He greeted her politely and they began hashing out the payment details while Ruby was guided by a soldier to a spot where she could leave the first crate. Weiss walked around the ship, noting the half dozen soldiers guarding the pad. She suspected more might be hidden amongst the trees, but House Rist was unpredictable enough that they needed little security. Their enemies always suspected an ambush even when none was in the offing, and that was usually deterrent enough.
Ruby returned to the ship to retrieve the second of three crates, and the soldier assisting her waited at the base of the ramp. When Ruby returned he helped her unload the dolly next to the first crate. Suddenly, she doubled over and groaned in pain. The soldier seemed alarmed, but Ruby waved him off, apparently suffering from nothing more than a stomach cramp. Weiss found it curious, and so did Yang. Weiss watched as the blonde's demeanor turned more serious. She too began scanning the area as Ruby returned to the ship once more.
Weiss had a hunch about the cause of Ruby's sudden discomfort. She also felt a foreboding she could not ignore. She trusted the feeling, following it to one of the soldiers guarding the perimeter. Weiss did not have to watch the man for long to notice how nervous and jumpy he was. She approached Yang and the representative of House Rist with whom she had been speaking. "We've got a problem." Weiss informed.
"What do you mean?" The representative asked.
Weiss glanced at the nervous soldier, and Yang followed her gaze. "Yeah, we do." Yang agreed.
"What's going on?" The representative pressed.
"Ruby, back to the ship!" Yang ordered, just as her sister reached the bottom of the ramp with the last crate. The soldier assisting her tilted his head in confusion. Yang returned her focus to the representative. "You've got a traitor in your ranks."
"Preposterous!" The man scoffed. "No one would dare betray House Rist! Who could be so foolish, so suicidal?!"
"Don't make a scene." Weiss growled under her breath, but it was too late.
The jumpy soldier was already running for the treeline, shouting as he went. "We're made! Now! Attack now!"
In an instant the underbrush erupted with a volley of blaster fire. The soldiers guarding the pad turned to face the attack, taking cover and returning fire. Several attackers attempted to charge forward, only to be cut down by disciplined defensive fire. Without warning, blaster bolts burst from the forest on the opposite side of the pad. More attackers charged, catching the defenders in the middle. The representative ran for cover, leaving Weiss and Yang standing in the open. Weiss drew a pistol from her right holster, then her lightsaber from the left, and charged to meet the second attack. Yang drew her own pistol and rushed for Ruby, who had taken cover at the base of the ship's ramp, behind the crate she had been moving. The soldier who had been assisting already lay on the ground dead, his chest smoking from a direct hit.
Yang could not reach Ruby before a pair of attackers placed themselves between the sisters. Firing from the hip, Yang snapped off a pair of shots that struck first the chest, then the forehead of one of the soldiers, sending his body tumbling into the other. the second man sat up, only for find Yang had her pistol leveled at his face. He had dropped his blaster, but slowly slid his hand toward it, hoping Yang would not notice. She did.
"Wrong move." Yang meant to pull the trigger, but instead her prosthetic arm seized, flexing hard at the elbow and stressing the connection with her flesh. She groaned and winced in pain, fumbling to transfer the weapon to her left hand. It was too late. The downed attacker already had his hand on his blaster rifle, lifting it to fire.
The man jerked and convulsed, dropping his gun and tumbling onto his side as blaster bolts tore through his torso, ripping him to shreds. The shots kept coming long after he was dead. Yang turned to look and found Ruby kneeling over the body of the soldier who had been assisting her, his rifle in her hands and leveled at the now very dead attacker, steam pouring from its cooling mechanism. She had a look of wide-eyed terror on her face.
Yang rushed to Ruby's side, sliding across the metal of the pads on her knees. She grabbed the rifle and gently pulled it from Ruby's hands. "It's okay now Ruby." Yang soothed as Ruby shook and tears welled in her eyes.
Meanwhile, the surrounding battle was nearing its end. Weiss had made quick work of one group of attackers. That freed up the guards to shift their focus to the ambushers on the other side. After a few were killed, they abandoned their attack and fled back into the forest.
Weiss approached the sisters. "Are you injured?"
"No, my arm just...we'll be fine." Yang shook her head. "Go aboard with Ruby for me." She helped Ruby to her feet, Weiss taking her by the shoulders and leading her up the ship's ramp. The representative who had been speaking with Yang had survived the battle, and emerged from his hiding place between some equipment. "Preposterous, huh?"
"I'm so very sorry-" He started.
"I bet." Yang huffed. "You know, I think we deserve some hazard pay...and a reward for saving your asses."
"I'll see to it you're compensated." The man rapidly nodded his head. As unnerved as he had been by the ambush, the sudden revelation of Weiss' Force abilities had him shaken even more. The red lightsaber probably had something to do with that. "Is there anything else-"
"We could use some gear." Yang interrupted. "Mind if I see what our…friends were packing?" She gestured to one of the fallen attackers.
"Go ahead, take whatever you need." The representative allowed.
"Thanks, I've been in the market for a blaster rifle." Yang smirked, kneeling at one of the bodies. She was in luck, the man had been carrying a state of the art model, and it only had a little blood on it.