Sabine stood in her quarters, airbrush in hand as she continued working on her mural. She hadn't stopped since they left. Everything was finalized, every detail, every color, every meaning. From her mother to her father. From Hera to Kanan. From Ruby to Yang. The only thing that wasn't finished, let alone present, was herself and Ezra. All that was still there were parts of a rough outline, nothing else. Both families and friends were there, but not them. Regardless of how it was, they weren't together.
This was meant to be a perfection, her reality, but it wasn't complete.
She remembered what Ezra had told her before they escaped Beacon. How he was afraid of being with her. She remembered the last time Ezra gave into his inner demons and emotions. It was right after Malachor, Ahsoka was presumed dead, Kanan was blinded by Maul, and all the young Jedi returned with was a holocron that wasn't his. For the next six months, Ezra remained reclusive, not bothering to talk to anyone. He seemed angry and hurt because it had happened, and it nearly got him killed.
She understood what he meant by being afraid, knowing what could happen if something went wrong. But the promise he made, trying to find a way, got to her. She was going to hold him to that. But now only one question remained in her head.
Would she have to do anything to make Ezra choose? Would she have to put her life on the line for him to find an answer?
"Sabine."
The Mando was pulled from her thoughts as she turned to face the door to her room. Yang was standing there, "They're ready, it's time."
Sabine gave out a slight gasp, but regained a firm expression as she nodded in response before placing her airbrush down and left her room…
RWBY: The Jedi and Mandalorian
Chapter 15 - The Lost and Broken
Premise: What will you do, to save the ones you love?
The Gauntlet and Marauder landed on the outskirts of the cliffside overlooking the ocean. The location was right near the Vale-Vacuan border, on a cliffside overlooking the ocean. The sun was already setting, giving the horizon a orange glow.
"We're here…" Hunter muttered as they disembarked from the ship. They were joined by Tech, Wrecker, and Crosshair, who exited the Marauder.
"...You're sure, this is the place?" Jaune asked out loud
"This is what the data Sabine recovered said." Tech replied, "From the looks of things, it is quite remote. The perfect place to hide a base."
Echo grunted, "Kinda reminds me of the time we had to rescue Gregor from the Empire."
"And you ended up captured." Omega added while lightly punching Hunter in the shoulder
Weiss then stepped forward, and looked around. From the treeline, to the cliff, to the ocean. Yet no base could be seen.
"There's nothing here!" Weiss shouted, "Maybe the data was wrong!"
"Weiss, we just got here." Ren spoke up, "We should look around more."
Ezra then looked at Blake, "Hey Blake, didn't you say that Faunus can see things others can't?"
"That's night vision." Blake corrected him as she rolled her eyes, "And it's not that dark out. It won't work."
Ruby then spoke up, "Maybe the base is hidden? You guys said that the base in Vacuo was buried in the sand, maybe nature got to it?"
Sabine rubbed her chin in thought, "Hmm, it's possible. Chopper, have the ship scan the area."
Chopper grumbled before having the Gauntlet perform a scan of the surrounding area. Sure enough the ship did pick up something, and Sabine quickly examined the data. She looked at it with a look of surprise on her face.
"Huh…well isn't that great…" she muttered, getting everyone's attention. Her face had an ever-present frown.
"What is it?" Pyrrha asked
"The base isn't on land." Sabine explained, "It's underwater, in the ocean."
This was a rather unfortunate problem for them all. They were expecting the Separatists to have built the base on land, and slowly taken back by nature. But of all the places they had to build it, had to be underwater.
"Are you serious?" Weiss muttered, "How?"
"Why would the droids build their base underwater?" Jaune questioned
"Seems logical." said Tech, "Remnant knows little of what beyond the planet, always focused on the Grimm. The last place they would look for a threat would be in the ocean."
"Well, I didn't bring my swimsuit." Ruby added, "So who's going down there?"
"I hate water, I hate getting wet." Sabine muttered, remembering her time in the Imperial Academy when they put her through underwater courses. She also hates getting wet because it can ruin her art.
"Uh, I can't swim…" Wrecker muttered rather embarrassed
"Maybe we don't have to." Ezra said, "May there's a secret entrance."
"Good idea." Hunter agreed with him, "Crosshair, see if you can find anything."
The clone sharpshooter looked at the cliffside with his sniper until he noticed something: a small metal platform that was covering the top portion of the massive rock pillar sticking out of the ocean.
"There's a platform with a console on it overlooking the cliffside." Crosshair said as he looked back at everyone. Sabine then looked at it with her helmet, along with Hunter using a pair of binoculars.
"Well, it's something." Sabine sighed, "Chopper, see if you can fly over and access it."
"We'll have to give it power first, if it's offline." Echo stated
Nora then spoke up, "I can help with that!"
"You sure Nora?" Pyrrha asked her as she approached Chopper
"I'm sure." Nora replied as she waved her off like it was nothing. She then grabbed Chopper with both arms and hugged the poors droid, who squirmed in her grasp.
"Come on! Chop!" she shouted before Chopper took off and flew down towards the platform. However due to Nora's weight, the droid and some difficulty in flying.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" Nora cried out as she held onto Chopper before the droid landed on the platform. Though Nora instead let go and rolled onto it, stopping just a few inches away from the ledge.
"Nora! Are you ok!?" Ren shouted from the cliffside
From his position, a hand with its thumb up could be seen followed by a, "I'm ok!"
"Ok, how exactly is Nora gonna help Chopper?" Ezra asked, "Other than talk him into deactivation?"
"Nora's semblance allows her to channel, absorb, and prudence electricity." Pyrrha explained, "That should give the terminal all the power it needs. Chopper's stun arm should be able to do the trick."
Back on the platform, Chopper fired a stun shot at Nora, who immediately absorbed it. Both her arms were now cackling with electricity as she touched the terminal's internal circuits. Chopper then accessed the terminal, and, after a minute or so, resulted in the ground beginning to shake.
The ocean below them all suddenly began to fold open as a massive grey cube-like object emerged from the water. The top of it opened in a loud rumbling noise, revealing an interior. The water surrounding the object churned and flew up in the air as it was moved around.
When the water and noise settled, the rebels looked to see an impressive sight: an entire Separatist stronghold, deactivated, but in good condition. A small droid factory was at the back section, used for constructing and repairing battle droids; and the cherry on top: three Munificent-class frigates all docked and lined up in perfect condition.
"Oh…we hit the jackpot." Wrecker muttered in astonishment
Ezra nodded in agreement, "Let's move…"
The rebels moved both the Gauntlet, and the Marauder onto two separate landing pads on the base. One on the east side, and the other on the west side.
Ezra, Sabine, RWBY, JNPR, Chopper, and Omega were now standing outside the Gauntlet, looking over the hologram of the entire base. Also there was a hologram of the entire Bad Batch.
"Already guys, we're on the clock." Ezra stated, "Chopper managed to download an entire schematic of the base, so we'll know where to go. Tech?"
Tech then spoke up, "The base currently holds an entire invasion force. A small droid factory in the back, mainly used for repairing the droids that were in battle, along with three Munificent-class frigates docked and in perfect condition."
"That's some invasion force." Jaune muttered
"There's more though." Tech continued, "From what Chopper gathered, there's another located in the remains of Remnant's moon. A small docking yard, holding this in it…"
Suddenly, an image of a massive ship appeared for them all to see.
"A dreadnought…" Sabine muttered in astonishment, "They really went overboard."
"Providence-class…" Omega added, "These ships were used by the Separatists as command ships."
"Ok, so how do we blow it all up?" Yang asked, "There's always a way to do that?"
"The frigates' engines should do the trick." Echo suggested, "Rig the engines the blow, and this place is done for."
"And take the base and factory with it." Ruby added, "But what about the dreadnought up by the moon?"
"Will save that for last, Ruby." Ezra said to her, "Once we deal with the base, we take the dreadnought out then we'll go to Yavin, and warn the Rebellion about Ironwood's plan."
"Even if we do." Weiss interjected, "There's no way General Ironwood will be able to transmit a powerful signal offworld, even with the combined power of the CCT network."
"We have to assume the worst right now Weiss." Blake said to her teammate, "He's reverse-engineered these droids, who knows what he's done."
"Blake's right." Sabine added, "We'll split up into teams, Ruby, Nora, and Yang; you guys have the first dreadnought; Hunter, Wrecker, Jaune, and Weiss you have the second. Ezra and I have the last one. Tech and Crosshair and Echo will stay by the Marauder, while the rest of you will stay at the Gauntlet to repair the hyperdrive."
"Sounds like a plan." said Pyrrha
"Everyone knows their job." Ruby stated, "The fate of Remnant lies in our hands. Let's go!"
With that said, everyone split up. With Omega, Pyrrha, Ren, Blake, and Chopper staying behind at the Gauntlet.
"Come on, let's move!" Omega shouted, "This hyperdrive isn't gonna fix itself! Pyrrha, see if you can find anything the droids left lying around."
"On it."
Ruby's group made their way through the halls of the frigate. They knew where to go thanks to the map Chopper gave them.
"This is nuts…" Yang muttered
"What? That we're trying to save our planet from being taken over by a alien empire? Or that we're running through an alien spaceship?" Nora asked
"...Yes…" Yang replied as they approached the ship's engine room. Ruby took off the backpack she had with her and opened it to reveal a bunch of thermal detonators. She then got on comms, "This is Team A, we've made it to the engine room."
On the second dreadnought, Hunter and his team responded, "This is Team B, we're almost there."
And on the third dreadnought, Ezra and Sabine were already there, "This Spectre 6, we're almost done here. Remember to link the detonators to Sabine."
"Why? So she can take all the credit?" Yang asked
"No, because I know better not to get in between Sabine and the thermal detonator." Ezra replied
"That's right!" Sabine added, "Gauntlet, how are we doing?"
SPARK!
"Working on it!" Omega answered from the ship as she worked, "Blake I need that wrench over there."
"Here." Blake said as she handed Omega the tool. Suddenly, Chopper came whizzing into the room. His head turning and arms waving frantically.
"Whoa whoa whoa, easy Chop!" Blake said to the droid, "What's wrong?"
Chopper then grumbled loudly, a phrase that Omega understood, "You what!?"
"What?" Blake questioned, "What's going on?"
"Chopper just found a tracking device on the ship!" Omega shouted, "It was projecting our location before deactivating it!"
Just then, Ren entered the room, "Uh guy? The scanners are going off."
Omega and Blake looked at one another before getting up and bolting it into the cockpit. Scanners were indeed going off, but something in the air caught their eye: Five Atlas airships approaching the base.
"Oh no…" Pyrrha muttered
"Guys we have a situation!" Blake shouted as she got on comms, "ATLAS IS HERE!"
Nearly everyone stopped what they were doing upon hearing the warning.
"What!? How!?" Weiss shouted as her team stopping in the middle of the corridor they were in.
"They put a tracker on the ship we fled Beacon." Omega replied, "Chopper just found it."
"Ezra, what do we do?" Ruby asked the Jedi via comms
Ezra was silent for a moment before speaking, "Omega what are they doing now?"
The young clone used her helmet to zoom in on Atlas' activity, "It looks like they're securing the facility. Mostly the forward sections. But we have dropships closing in on the frigates."
Sabine frowned, "They're planning on boarding the ships."
Ezra sighed, "Alright then, abort the mission. Everyone, get back to the ships. Hunter, Wrecker, get back to the Marauder. We'll try to hit the dreadnought before we leave the system."
He then turned to Sabine, who had just finished rigging the charges.
"At least they won't be getting this frigate." he muttered
Ironwood stood on the bridge of the lead airship as he looked out at the uncovered Separatist base. He felt somewhat relieved, finally, setback after setback, his plan could come to fruition.
"Sir." an officer approached him, "Our forces have begun to secure the facility."
"Excellent." Ironwood replied, "And our asset?"
"It's ready." the officer responded
"Then have it transmit the signal." Ironwood ordered
The officer saluted him before turning to two technicians who were watching over Artemis' head. The tactical droid's eyes flickered before turning on. Across the entire base, deactivated battle droids of all variants were waking up, and receiving new orders after years of laying dormant.
Hunt down the rebels.
Sure enough, for Team B, they just happened to walk into a squad of reactivated droids
"Whoa!" Jaune muttered
"Blast them!" the lead droid ordered as his squad opened fire, but were quickly shot down by Hunter and Wrecker.
"Everyone be advised!" Tech announced through comms, "The droids are activated! Repeat! The droids are activated!"
"Yeah, we just ran into some." Wrecker responded
"Well you guys go get to your ship." Jaune said to the clones, "We'll get to ours."
"Alright then, good luck kid." Hunter said before he and Wrecker ran off in the directions of the Marauder. Weiss and Jaune continued heading towards the Gauntlet, with the latter grabbing two blasters from the droids before handing one to Weiss.
"What's this for?" she asked
"Hey, its better than a sword." Jaune replied, "And cooler."
"Alright then."
"Sir, we've located the rebel ships. They're docked on the far side of the complex."
"Have Blue-4 move to intercept them." Ironwood ordered, "Destroy the ships, keep them on this planet."
One of the airships then moved out of formation and began to fly over the base and the middle frigate; the one that Ezra and Sabine managed to rig to explode. Meanwhile, Ruby, Nora, and Yang managed to get back to the Gauntlet, fighting several battle droids in the process.
Omega then contacted the others, "Guys we got a problem. One of the airships is moving towards us. It's gonna block our escape."
"Karabast!" Sabine cursed as she and Ezra stopped. The two had just exited the frigate they were in upon hearing what Omega just said. But there was something else.
"The connection with the detonators is severed." she said, "We could go back and reconnect them."
"Are you crazy!?" Ezra stated, "Even if we reconnect them, we'll be captured! By the time we get back, Atlas will have us surrounded!"
"Who said anything about 'we'?" she retorted
Ezra remained silent, he knew what she was talking about. If they wanted to escape, one of them had to stay behind and reconnect the detonators…
…and get captured…
"Then I'll do it." he said with a hurtful look. He didn't want to, but knew it was better than her getting caught.
"No, I will." Sabine said back, "It's like you said, never get in between me and an explosive."
As she turned to go, she was grabbed by the arm by Ezra who pulled her back and close to him.
"Sabine, no." he said firmly, "I won't let you go."
Sabine looked up at him. Everything seemed different now, from the moment they first arrived on this planet. She thought back to their conversation at Beacon, then back to her thoughts in her room. She thought Ezra was the one that needed to make a choice, but she was wrong. I wasn't just him, it was also her. She needed to show him, she needed to save him.
Without saying anything, Sabine ripped the pendant holding the kyber crystal off her neck before grabbing Ezra's hand and placing the crystal in his palm before forcefully moving his fingers over it in a firm grasp.
Ezra looked confused, but also fearful, he had a feeling what she was thinking.
"What are you doing?" he asked before Sabine grabbed him with one hand by the face firmly. She then smashed her lips onto his in an awkward kiss. Ezra was stunned by this, but before he could do anything, Sabine pulled away.
"...I'm sorry…" she muttered before a blue hue hit Ezra, knocking him unconscious. The young Jedi fell to the ground, revealing one of Sabine's blasters in her hand, set to stun. The young Mandalorian shed a tear as she picked up Ezra and began dragging him towards one of the ships, but ended up crossing paths with Hunter and Wrecker.
"What happened?" Hunter asked
Sabine simply handed Ezra's unconscious body to him, "Get him somewhere safe."
Hunter stood dumbfounded while Wrecker just took Ezra from him. Sabine then began making her way back towards the ship when Hunter called out to her, "What are you doing?"
Sabine simply turned back, she looked sad and Hunter saw this due to her leaving her helmet on the Gauntlet, "Buying you all time…"
Hunter nodded slowly, "...We'll come back for you…"
Sabine simply nodded in return before running back into the frigate. She made it back to the reactor and reset the charges she and Ezra put up before.
"General, our infiltration teams and reactivated droids have secured the frigates." an officer announced to Ironwood.
"Excellent, have them prepare to launch at once." Ironwood ordered, which made the officer give him a look of confusion.
"But sir, if we launch, Blue-4 will be caught in the way." he retorted
Ironwood brushed him off, "Blue-4 knows what they're doing. I gave you an order officer."
"Yes sir."
At the base, the three Munificent-class frigate's engines burts to life and the ships began to slowly take off. At this point, Sabine had already reset the charges in the reactor, and was making her way back outside, avoiding any patrols in the process. Meanwhile, Jaune and Weiss were almost back at the Gauntlet, blasting down any Atlas soldier or droid with the blasters they acquired.
"Come on!" Ren shouted from the Gauntlet's ramp as the two quickly boarded the ship. Several battle droids fired upon them as they entered the ship, with more slowly approaching.
"Pyrrha!" Ruby shouted to the redhead, "Push 'em back!"
Pyrrha walked out into the middle of the landing pad, incoming blaster fire flew past her as she extended her hands outward. A black hue covered the droids as they floated in the air.
'Uh, what's going on?' one of them muttered in fear
"Rrrraaaahh!" Pyrrha then swung her arms out and the droids were sent flying either off the platform and into the ocean, onto a lower level, or worse, into the engines of one of the frigates.
"Quick! Inside now!" Weiss shouted as they entered the Gauntlet
"How are we looking?" Jaune asked as he sat down in the co-pilot's chair
"Still waiting for Ezra and Sabine." Blake answered quickly
"Wait, they haven't gotten back?" Weiss questioned, "Where are they?"
Omega then got on comms and contacted Sabine, "Spectre 5, Sabine do you copy? Spectre 6, Ezra are you there? Karabast, both aren't answering their comms."
"Try Hunter and the others." Yang suggested which Omega did
"Hunter, it's Omega, do you have a visual of either Ezra or Sabine?"
"We got Ezra with us." Hunter responded, "Wrecker's carrying him?"
Weiss made a questioning look, "What do you mean Wrecker's carrying him?"
"We crossed paths with the two, Sabine told us to get Ezra out of here." Hunter explained, "We made it back to the Marauder with him."
"Then where's Sabine?" Ruby asked
Hunter was silent for a moment, "She's…not coming…She went back into the frigate to fix the detonators she and Ezra placed."
"What!?" Yang shouted, "She'll be captured! We have to go help her!"
"There's no time!" Echo retorted, "Go out there, and you'll be abducted by the droids!"
"We're not letting her get captured!" Ruby insisted
"Ruby…" Hunter and the clones looked to see Ezra, now awake, approached the comm channel, "Don't go, it's too dangerous. The Bad Batch and I will find a way to get Sabine."
"But…but what about the Rebellion?" said Blake, "You need to tell them that they're in danger!"
Ezra remained quiet for a moment before speaking, "...It's up to you now. The Gauntlet is the only ship we have with a working hyperdrive…go to the Yavin system and warn them. Find Hera and the others, and tell them I sent you."
"And you? What will you do?" Jaune asked
"There are people here willing to fight against Atlas." Tech stated, "We'll find them and hopefully form a resistance movement."
"Even if we take off, the frigates will gun us down!" Pyrrha stated, "And we have an airship approaching us!"
Ezra sighed as he walked towards the the cockpit and look out the window, "...Just wait for Sabine's signal…"
Sabine had successfully managed to reconnect the detonators and avoided several droids and Atlas soldiers before making it back outside. Since the frigate and its two sister ships had already taken off. She didn't have her jetpack with her, an idea she instantly regretted but quickly came up with a solution. She made it to an escape pod and left the ship. The pod landed back on the base, far away from the ship and her friends.
The young Mando got out of the pod and looked over to the Gauntlet, she knew her friends were gonna be ok without her helping them, and she was happy to make friends since she and Ezra were stuck om Remnant. Then she turned her attention towards the Marauder, she knew someone was looking at her, watching. She didn't have the Force, but she just knew. Ezra was standing in the cockpit looking at her, sad but understanding why she did what she did. She smiled as she held the detonator in her hands. She made the right choice, and she muttered something Weiss and Yang told her when they spoke days ago.
"...I love you…"
And she pressed the red button.
Without warning, the middle frigate's engines erupted in a fiery inferno, causing a chain reaction that resulted in the entire ship being obliterated. The other two frigates were left unscathed however, as for the Atlas airship, they weren't so lucky. They were caught in the explosion and the ship was destroyed as well.
"What!?" Ironwood shouted from his ship
"General! We lost contact with Blue-4!" an officer announced
Back on the ground, the rebels saw what had happened. Hunter's voice was heard shouting from the Gauntlet's comms.
"That's the signal!" he shouted, "Get out of here now! GO GO GO GO!"
Without a second, Omega jumped into the pilot's chair and fired up the engines. The Gauntlet then took off and flew away as several Atlas and Separatists droid fired upon the vessel. This act was futile as the ship's shields and hull took the shot like they were nothing.
From the cockpit of the Marauder, Ezra watched as the Gauntlet flew away. He hoped they could make it to the Rebel base in time.
"May the Force be with you all..."
Hunter then approached him, "Ezra! We need to go! Now!"
Ezra remained quiet as he looked out the viewport to see an escape pod and a figure standing next to it. Several Mantas were approaching the pod as well. With a face full of emotion, and knowing they didn't have the time, Ezra looked down at Sabine's pendant before grasping it firmly.
"Get us out of here…" he muttered sadly trying to hold back tears. Tech then jumped into the pilot's chair and fired up the engines, the Marauder then took off amidst the chaos from the destroyed frigate. Ezra walked quietly in the back of the ship and sat down against the wall, still clinging to Sabine's pendant.
From where she stood, Sabine watched as both ships took off. She closed her eyes and sighed, accepting the choice she made. She thought back to when she first met Ezra, then to their time on the Ghost, finally to their time on Remnant. She played her part, now she knew Ezra was going to play his. They looked out for one another.
She heard the sounds of ships landing nearby followed by footsteps. A voice then called out to her.
"Drop your weapons! Hands up!"
Back on his airship, Ironwood frowned at the sight of the destroyed frigate and Blue-4's smoldering ruins. However he was pulled away from it, when one of the officers approached him.
"We lost visual on the Marauder." he stated to his superior, "But we spotted the Gauntlet escaping, the ships is heading towards the upper atmosphere."
"I see…" Ironwood muttered, "What else?"
"We're receiving a transmission. Its signature matches that of the Separatists droids."
"Put it through." he said before a hologram of a battle droid with yellow markings appeared.
"Greetings, General." the droid announced, "We have received new orders from our commanding tactical droid. Would you like to assume command?"
"Yes, I would." Ironwood replied
"Excellent." the droid happily, "Our Providence-class dreadnought is currently docked in the remains of the planet moon. Would you like for us to bring it into orbit?"
This caught Ironwood by surprise, "A dreadnought? Hmm, no actually. There is currently a ship attempting to leave this system. Intercept it and capture the crew."
"Roger roger." the droid replied with a salute, "I'm sending orders to several Vulture droids stationed on our ground base to attack the ship."
With that, the hologram disappeared as Ironwood noticed three Vulture Droid fighters departing the base.
Eventually, the fighters caught up with the Gauntlet and opened fire. They missed several times, but did land a few shots that shook the ship and its crew.
"What was that!?" Ruby shouted
Omega checked the scanners, "Vulture Droids. Ren get on the rear guns! See if you can get them off our tail!"
"On it!"
"Alright Jaune." Omega said to the boy in the co-pilot seat, "Let's go."
"Got it."
While the Vulture droids continued firing upon the Gauntlet, Ren managed to make it to the ship's rear guns and began returning fire. However, since the crew were desperate to leave the system, Omega and Jaune's flying didn't really help him.
As for Ruby, she began to feel funny. The ship was moving faster than she ever thought it could. She knew the ship was faster than a bullhead, due to her seeing both Ezra and Sabin flying the ship. But it was nothing like this. Beyond the cockpit's viewport, the sky was beginning to change. Beforehand, it was sun setting and night taking its place. Now, it was changing to a black void with stars twinkling, Remnant's shattered moon glowing while in orbit.
"We're…in space…" she muttered
Yang overheard her, her expression was just as similar to her sister's, "Yeah…I guess we didn't really think about it. When Ezra told us we were leaving the planet."
"Yeah…" Jaune chuckled before looking at the scanners, "Scanners picking up something."
"Dreadnought." Omega stated while pointing out the window, "It's trying to intercept us."
"Alright Chopper, ready for lightspeed." Yang said to the droid who was a his console
"If we fixed the hyperdrive." Weiss muttered as she finished putting in the coordinates, "All the coordinates are set. It's now or never."
Chopper plugged into his terminal and began prepping the hyperdrive. He then waved at Omega and Jaune, signaling that he was ready.
"Punch it!" Omega said as Jaune pulled a lever nearby. The five eagerly awaited for the ship to enter hyperspace…
…But nothing happened…
A loud mechanical sound was heard instead. Everyone remained quiet, all that was heard was the sounds of the Vulture droid attacking them and the occasional rumble when they landed a shot on the Gauntlet's hull.
The huntsmen then turned and looked at Omega, they all had fear in their eyes.
"...I think we're in trouble…" she muttered
Jaune then looked at the ship's schematics, "It says the hyperdrive is still offline!"
"We're in trouble!" Omega added before bolting out of her chair and towards the engine room. Weiss quickly took her place in the pilot's seat. All while Chopper beeped and grumbled in a panicking fashion.
Omega ran past Pyrrha and Blake, who were in the common room as she made her way towards the hyperdrive.
"Blake! I need your help! The hyperdrive is offline!" she said
"What!?" the Faunus shouted before following her, "Alright! I'm on it!"
"What should I do?" Pyrrha asked
Before either Omega or Blake could answer, a huge jolt shook the ship. It was followed by Ren shouting in pain.
"Go help Ren!" Blake said to her
Pyrrha simply nodded before running to the rear gun. Sparks were emitting from the controls and Ren was lying on the ground groaning in pain.
"Ren!" Pyrrha shouted, "Are you alright!?"
"It hurts…" he muttered, "But I'll get through it."
"No, go rest." she replied, "I'll handle the guns."
Ren nodded as he limped towards the common room, "Where's Nora when you need her? Wait, where is Nora?"
From the bridge of the dreadnought, the battle droid who conversed with Ironwood, named RO-42, looked out the viewport to see the Gauntlet approaching them, with Vulture Droids in tow.
A battle droid with blue markings approached them, 'Sir, they'll be in range of our tracker beam soon.'
'Wonderful, have a squad assemble to the nearest hangar.' 42 ordered, 'Have their weapons set for stun.'
'Roger Roger.'
Back on the Gauntlet, the state of panic was still ever present.
"OMEGA!?" Weiss shouted into the comms
"Working on it!" the clone hissed back
"We're not gonna make it…" Ruby muttered, "We're gonna die…"
"Hey hey hey look at me." Yang said to her, "We're not gonna die. Ok?"
Ren looked around the common room curiously, he still couldn't find Nora before he happened to pass by the ship's engine room and found her. Omega and Blake were standing nearby, working on the hyperdrive. The ginger was currently eyeing a console.
"Nora, what are you doing?" he asked her
What's it look like Renny?" she asked as if he was ridiculous, "I'm gonna fix this hippie drive or what not."
"Hyper drive." Ren corrected her, "And how exactly are you gonna fix it?"
Without warning, Nora pulled a panel to the side of the console, "LIKE THIS!"
She then stuck her tongue on the live wire that electrocuted her, but she remained unfazed, using her semblance to send a current.
For Omega and Blake they noticed that the red error on the hyperdrive suddenly turned blue. The engines revved up, meaning something had changed. From the cockpit, to the common room, to the engine room, everyone felt the ship accelerate. The four in the cockpit saw the stars twinkling in space suddenly stretch into blue and white lines.
The Gauntlet then disappeared, leaving the Vulture Droids to break from formation and towards the Dreadnought.
From the bridge of the Dreadnought, 42 could only stare at the dark void of space.
'This is not good.'
Ironwood received a message from 42, he quickly answered it but was given a not-so-well-good message.
"Sir, the rebels have escaped. They made the jump to hyperspace." 42 stated
Ironwood frowned, he was disappointed, but knew he couldn't ponder on it. He sighed heavily to keep his composure before addressing the droid.
"Very well." he said calmly, "I'm sending you coordinates as to where I want your dreadnought positioned. I will meet you there."
42 saluted him, "Roger Roger."
An officer then approached Ironwood, "Sir, one of our teams managed to capture one of the rebels. We assume she stayed behind to sabotage the destroyed frigate. She came quietly, but stated that she would be rescued. She was armed only with these…"
The officer then handed Ironwood two blaster pistols and a flat gray hilt with a protector cover on it. He gazed at them, but immediately knew who they belonged to.
"Have her put it in a cell." Ironwood ordered his subordinate, "When the dreadnought moves into position, have her moved there at once. I want the reamined airships with us to finish securing the base. See if we can also get the droid factory up and running, that is if it's damaged from the frigate and Blue-4."
Ironwood then turned his gaze back to 42's hologram, "I want you to coordinate all droid detachments. Move out across the planet to the four kingdoms first. Kill any Grimm that attempts to enter the kingdoms.
"Roger Roger." 42 replied before his hologram disappeared
"And what of the Marauder sir?" the officer then asked
"Find them." he replied in a dark tone, "Bring me the boy."
Ironwood then looked at the hilt in his grasp. He began to inspect it as she stood deep in thought. Everything he had worked for had finally led to this very moment. Remnant would be secure, safe, from the dangers that threatened it. Old Ozpin couldn't do anything about it, before and even now. To the General, if you want something done right, do it yourself. He would do anything to save Remnant…
Ironwood then ignited the hilt, a whistling sound was heard followed by a black black outlined by a white hue emitted from the hilt. Down on the base, Sabine was restrained and put onto a Manta, bound for the airship.
…no matter the cost…
Next on the Jedi and the Mandalorian...
Chapter 16 - The Greater Galaxy