Deep in the dark silent vacuum, a ship flies towards a lone, fairly big structure of a space station. A tower-like building stood atop and shone its bright emerald light onto approaching ship, revealing a young woman with silky smooth white hair, dressed in a jacket with long coattails and simple dark pants. She sat in the cockpit and typed on the console, hailing the station.
"Vale Control this is ISC 'The Defiant,' requesting permission to land, over." The girl said in almost commanding tone.
"The Defiant, this is Vale Control, permission granted," came an almost bored response. "Please follow the coordinates and go to docking bay Omega-12."
As the computer received the route, the craft glided over to lower side of the station. Entering the hangar bay littered with small catwalks with railings and slowly setting the ship down on one of four landing pads, the white-haired girl went and checked her belt: a small pouch and a hilt strapped on the side.
As soon as the landing gear touched the ground, she shut off of the console, quickly walked off into the cargo hold and lowered the ramp. The girl was greeted by a big glowing sign: "Level 1." Three figures dressed in black light armor approached her. Two of them were young women, one was lean but muscular with red hair and jade-colored eyes, the other was also a redhead but considerably smaller and had aqua eyes. Leading them was a blonde man with slight grin and almost boyish blue eyes.
"Good evening, my lady," the man began in friendly manner. "My name is Jaune Arc and I'm CO of local security forces here." The man then gestured to his colleagues. "This is Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie."
"Hi!" Nora bounced slightly, giving a mock salute.
"Hello," Pyrrha gave a polite smile and a nod.
"Good evening, officers. My name is Weiss, I'm an independent trader," the girl replied with a nod of her own and closed the ramp.
Jaune looked over the ship. It was almost like a mixture of a freighter and a fighter: triangular in shape and flat towards the nose with foldable wings on the from few scratches on the sides, the hull was almost spotless. It was painted mainly in chrome with red and white stripes stretching over the wings.
"A fine ship you have, lady Weiss," Pyrrha noted, earning a slight smirk and a small puff of the chest from Weiss. "We're gonna have to search it, I'm afraid."
"Very well," Weiss handed her Scroll to Pyrrha who then quickly dove into the cargo hold with Nora in tow while Weiss turned to Jaune.
"I would like to visit the market and then the Academy, as quickly as possible."
"Ok. Go straight down the corridor, then take a left turn and proceed towards an elevator," Jaune pointed at single hallway leading out of the hangar. "The market is on level 2, and the Academy is on level 5."
Weiss received her Scroll back from Pyrrha who gave Jaune thumbs-up.
"I'll be off then."
With a curt nod, Weiss made her way down the corridor and took the elevator.
The market place was structured as a town square, moderately sized for a station as big as this one. It had several hallways leading in all the directions: towards residential areas, sparring and shooting ranges. In the side wall were three large windows, letting in the natural light from the moon to illuminate the market. There were dozens of stands and small shops of all categories. Weapon and ship parts, essentials, armor, Dust canisters and crystals, you name it. The place reminded her of old temples on Solitas albeit with metal plating instead of dark granite of the ruins.
For all the selection, Weiss was on the lookout for two particular things. Spotting one of them, she made her way towards a shop on the far side of the "square."
The shop was a medium-sized wooden-clad with additional space. Wooden exterior wasn't common in this day and age but it did give off that old, cozy atmosphere.
Weiss shifted her gaze up, on the screen above the door that read: "Silver Wiring," and rolled her eyes,"Is that supposed be a pun?"
The white-haired girl carefully stepped inside. At first glance, the shop appeared a lot more spacious on the inside than the appearance let on. To her surprise, the shop wasn't wooden just on the outside but on the inside as well, which is rather risky when working with welding, soldering and technology with high energy output. The sound of soft solo guitar strings played in the room. There were three workbenches behind the counter, all filled with different things and labels on top. One of them was labeled "repair," the second one was named "construct," the last one was: "unique/new."
The counter had two chairs and there was a small bar with shelves of different drinks, from alcoholic to the likes of tea leaves and coffee beans with a small machine standing in the corner, most likely a boiler.
Weiss pressed on the buzz button on the counter and heard a faint "Just a second!"
Not long after, a blond man dressed in an apron and a simple t-shirt came out of the backroom with a small box of fuses and what looked like trigger hammers. He sported a small stubble and even smaller tuft of facial hair under his lower lip.
"Good evening, miss! I'm Taiyang Xiao Long," the man introduced himself. "What can I do for you?"
"Hello, Mr. Xiao Long," Weiss offered a small nod. "I'd like to purchase an energy gate, modulation circuit and a good Hard-Light Dust battery."
"Well, we have energy gates and modulation circuits," Taiyang slowly scratched his stubble. "But we're currently out of H/L D. batteries."
"Is there any other establishment in here that has them?"
The man scratched his chin and hummed, "Not likely, this kind of Dust has been scarce lately, the mines of Mantle Prime had an accident and the whole thing collapsed in on itself."
While explaining the situation, Taiyang noticed Weiss taking a seat with a slow exhale. Of course, Weiss didn't dare to hope Vale station had everything she wanted, but being right was not pleasant all the same.
"Do other stations have them?"
"Probably Atlas station, if not them, maybe Vacuo station."
Weiss hummed in response, lost in thought. Taiyang turned and ducked under the counter, searching for requested parts. Once he found the suitable picks, he popped back up and set them on the counter.
"… Can I offer you a drink?" The man gestured to the shelves. "Travelling is not the easiest part of the job."
"Not the easiest?" The girl raised an eyebrow. "Pray tell why?"
"It's boring," Taiyang shrugged. "Sometimes it seems the same."
"You're running a store on a station in the middle of nowhere," Weiss deadpanned.
"Fair enough, but I have a family," Taiyang explained. "Can't exactly get up and go somewhere without winding them up. Plus there are a lot of unsavory types of people."
He then lifted a mug and a glass, raising his eyebrows questioningly. Weiss considered just paying and leaving, but seeing how the journey to the next station is going to be rather long, she simply replied: "Coffee, black."
"Got it," Taiyang quickly started brewing the drink. "Reminds me, may I ask your name, my lady?"
"Weiss.. Weiss Schnee."
The man's eyes twitched ever so slightly but he continued to brew the drink, "Well how 'bout that..?"
Weiss observed the man quickly but carefully work the magic: wielding the sieve and starting to grind up the coffee beans into fine powder. He then turned on the boiler to heat up the water.
"I know it'll sound very obvious but you're quite good at preparing drinks, coffee at least," Weiss voiced her thoughts, earning a small, fond grunt.
"That's 'cause my daughters drink coffee all the time," Taiyang said with a small smirk, while pouring the powder into the Turka and stirring it. "My oldest, Yang, drinks more or less classic. But my youngest, Ruby is a completely different story."
Once the brown-colored foam formed on top, Taiyang slowly poured the coffee through the sieve into a mug and outstretched it to the girl. Weiss accepted the drink and started slowly sipping, mindful of the heat. The balance was perfect, not too sour nor too bitter.
"This is great," Weiss commented and inquired. "If you don't mind me asking, what sort of beans do you use?"
"My own," the man proudly replied. "I have a small greenhouse at home. I grow them there."
"Oh my," the white-haired girl murmured as the man took his own seat and poured himself some as well. "It has to be difficult."
"Eh, nothing few more UV lamps, good humidity and a heater won't fix."
For some time, the pair simply sat, listening to the soft tune carrying through the speakers.
"Where… where are you daughters?" Weiss awkwardly broke the silence. "If you don't mind me asking?"
"Out, up there in the Academy," came a simple response. "They're training to be Huntresses, or bounty hunters. Depends on who you ask."
"Huntresses?"
"Yeah," the man looked up. "Weird, right?"
"Why weird?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.
"Huntresses and Huntsmen are a thing of the past, dear." Taiyang simply stared at the young girl. "Once they had a noble goal. But with time, everything changes, it always does."
"What changed?"
"They became too embroiled in politics and military counseling," the man gazed at her, no, almost through her, clearly lost in thought. Not long after, he continued. "I was a Huntsman once."
The girl slightly jerked her eyes up to a tattoo on his arm and motioned him to continue.
"In our days, "Huntsman" was a bounty hunting profession more than anything else."
"I see."
"We hunted criminals, terrorists, animals that have gone too far outside their own territory."
"What about Grimm?" Weiss blurted out, then immediately added. "Are the stories about them true?"
Taiyang's eyes widened slightly at the question and he nodded. "To a big extent but not fully."
"Whatever do you mean?"
"Nowadays, the Creatures of Grimm are so rare that many don't even believe they exist," the blond man replied. "Plus there are too many stereotypes, about them sensing negativity from planets away and such."
"Do they sense negativity?"
"They do, but not nearly as those almost legendary stereotypes tell."
"Huntsmen initially hunted them, correct? Not too long ago?" Weiss inquired further, and Taiyang noted that curiosity. "What happened to the Grimm?"
"One day, most of them just disappeared," he made a 'poof' hand gesture in the air. "As if some magical black hole opened up and sucked them in."
The man took a moment to recollect that moment, "I was only 19 when that happened. I was finishing training, I'm 39 now."
"So it's been around 20 years since they disappeared?" Weiss shifted slightly on her side, propping herself against the counter while intently staring into her coffee.
"Mhm."
As they continued to drink, Taiyang told Weiss how since the "Disappearance," Huntsmen corps shifted their priorities towards jobs in governments. First it was bodyguard duties, pest control and the likes. Later though, the norms became the assassinations of problematic political party leaders or members, infiltrations in dangerous groups of people, sabotage of transports, framing. Weiss slowly started to understand why Taiyang was rather skeptical of his daughters training to be Huntresses.
"That's asinine of them to want to join the organization so tarnished. Why don't you dissuade them?"
"A fair question. I tried," the man sighed as he finished his drink and smiled. "They have hereditary stubbornness."
Weiss pulled out her Scroll to transfer the Lien for the purchase and then looked at time.
"Oh, it's almost 12 PM," the girl sighed and put the device back. "I was supposed to visit the Academy as well."
Weiss stood up and placed the chair back in its place as the owner did the same. They placed their mugs into small box with some other kitchenware. The girl packed all the parts and went to the door.
"Hold on a second!" she heard, glancing back she saw Taiyang quickly gather his clothes, switch everything off and make his way to the door. Once he closed and locked the door via electromagnetic lock, the blond man turned to Weiss.
He outstretched his arm towards the young girl, "I'll make some calls, see if I can get those L/H D. batteries by tomorrow's evening."
Weiss carefully took his arm and shook it, giving him an appreciative smile, "Thank you Mr. Xiao Long."
He placed his arm on the girl's shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Anytime, miss Schnee."
Once the exchange was over, the pair went the opposite ways: Taiyang towards the residential area and Weiss, towards the elevator. On her way, the girl looked into the side-wall window to see vast emptiness with a tint of moonlight reflecting off the glassy surface. Weiss stopped and leaned over the railing, simply watching, thinking.
Deep in thoughts, the alabaster-haired girl didn't hear the ding of the elevator and frantic footsteps, approaching with alarming speed. Suddenly, she felt something slam into her side at very high velocity, nearly throwing and sending her fly off the ledge.
"What in the hell?!" Weiss yelled out as she clutched her heart with one arm along with parts, and the railing with the other. When she looked down, she saw a young girl with short hair so dark-red it was almost black if not for lighter highlights on the tips. The klutz sported a red scarf that reached down her lower back and wore a short-sleeved hoodie.
She was clutching her head, muttering "Ow, who put a pole in here?" And then she looked up and saw Weiss, "Oh, hi! I, uh… I'msorryIdidn'tseeyouthere-"
Weiss quickly leaned down and put her hand on the girl's mouth, hissing, "Shut it, you've already scared me half to death, don't give me a migraine too!"
The girl frantically nodded and tried to stand up.
Few moments later, when general blood pressure and adrenaline simmered down, Weiss grabbed the smaller girl's hand and jerked her upwards, placing firmly on her own two feet.
"Be careful next time, in this area you might actually kill someone like that," the white-haired girl admonished and turned back to the elevator.
She heard behind her. "I'll make it up to you!"
"Oh I doubt that very much," with that, Weiss went into the elevator, closing the doors behind her.
Few minutes later, the girl was quickly walking towards her ship. Opening the ramp and closing it once inside, Weiss made her way to her living quarters: a small, somewhat empty looking room with a desk in the corner and a bunk bed.
Sighing, she put the details on the table, shook off her tunic and took off the pants with the belt and knee-high boots, leaving her in small shorts and a black tank top. She then let her hair loose from a ponytail.
Once done with this ordeal, Weiss took a seat next to the desk and turned on a small lamp, she unstrapped the hilt from the belt and started taking it apart.
Putting the case on the table, she proceeded until she saw the main circuitry. The inside of the hilt was a mess of little wires, Gravity Dust-lined walls for upward propulsion out of the hilt's upper exhaust.
Opening up the top drawer and rummaging inside a bit until she found small forceps. With them, Weiss picked up the energy gate and carefully placed it at the root of the circuitry.
Turning back to the drawer and fishing out few tiny screws and a soldering iron, Weiss began constructing.
Securing the gate via screws and bit of soldering, she turned her attention to energy modulation circuit. Repeating the previous process, Weiss then fished out small wires from lower drawer and hooked the parts together.
Putting everything back together and securing the case back into place, Weiss took the hilt in her hand, above the desk, just in case.
"All right," Weiss thought as she flipped the switch, causing the hilt to hum and shake ever so slightly. "One last fragment left."
Side notes:
ISC – Independent Space Craft.
"Turka" is Turkish kitchen ware for brewing coffee.