Chapter Four: Caviis IV

The Red Claw slammed out of the Fold, on fire and drifting. Her sublight engines flickered and died as the ship listed heavily to port. The cockpit a mess of tangled wires, the smell of cooked electronics and the stench of burning ozone.

They were alive.

True, they were without power, the Fold Drive was probably damaged beyond repair; and she was sure that neither the blonde brute, the black-haired Faunus or the off-putting girl in the red-cape had a spare one stashed somewhere. But surviving was a start.

Weiss collapsed into her seat as the thought hit her. She was alive, they had escaped Raven and the Muninn. There was a hiss of a fire suppressor as the Faunus woman hosed down an electrical fire that had sprung from behind the console she had been sitting at.

"Well…" the blonde, Yang, Weiss believed, began, as she looked back and gave a tired grin. "That could have gone better."

"We're alive. That counts for something." Ruby crossed her arms behind her head and leaned back, smiling, as though she was basking in the glory of her great accomplishment of not getting them all killed.

"Alive, but trapped in a tin can with no engines, little power and so heavily damaged I'm surprised we even survived that Fold," Weiss interjected, providing a preverbal needle to Ruby's inflated sense of accomplishment.

"Hey! Considering what we were up against, " Yang shot back as she climbed from the copilot's chair. "We just escaped from Raven Branwen and the White Fang. I think we've earned a bit of a pat on the back."

"Back patting?" Weiss arched an eyebrow before she gestured to the state of the cockpit. She worked to bury her own panic and anxiety. It wouldn't do if the other three could see how terrified she actually was. Weiss needed to present a cool, calm and collected front.

"Yes." Weiss continued cooly, "We have most definitely earned that. Escaping certain doom, to… oh: near-certain doom from either thirst or starvation if we can't get the engines back online."

Weiss looked down to Ruby and then back to Yang. It was obvious that someone needed to take charge of this little group of misfits. She couldn't trust the brute who had murdered her crewmember, the less said of the Faunus the better. And Ruby, while competent, if a little over-enthusiastic, was too immature. If any of them were to survive, she would have to assume command.

"Ruby, take the Faunus and see if you can find out what's wrong with the engines. Yang, check the Fold Drive. Raven was able to hit that area a couple of times and, seeing as you were unable to get our shields up, it's most likely been damaged. I will do a…"

"Wait, hold on. " Yang's tone lowered to a dangerous octave as she glared at the heiress. "Who put you in charge, princess?"

"And this Faunus has a name, Atlassian," the cat Faunus hissed from behind her, "Don't forget who also helped you to escape."

Weiss sniffed as she straightened her back, attempting to intimidate the larger, hulking woman. An attempt, she noted, that was horrifically lost when Weiss realised she only came to just above the blonde savage's well-developed bosom.

Nevertheless, Weiss stood her ground. "I am taking control due to the fact that I am the only one here qualified to do so."

She turned to the Faunus with a polite bow of her head. "I am sorry, Faunus. But I do not know your name."

"That's Blake," Yang answered, no doubt annoyed that she had been so casually dismissed, "but you and me aren't finished here, Weiss. Considering the last time you were in charge you got locked up in the brig."

"Belladonna Zech Blake Ist Dawn Hope," the Faunus woman corrected, clearly becoming impatient with Yang.

"Like I said. Blake," Yang said with a dismissive shrug, before turning back to Weiss. "Like I was saying you wouldn't have gotten anywhere if it wasn't for me and Rubes."

"And all of you would have been captured and killed if not for me," Belladonna snapped angrily. "I betrayed my Brothers and Sisters for you."

"Why?"

All three stopped as Ruby spoke up from the pilot seat, turning to look at the arguing women. Weiss had to suppress an uncomfortable shudder as Ruby's wide silver eyes met hers before sliding over to Belladonna, who was seemingly unable to hide her own distaste at the aura of wrongness that radiated from the young girl.

It made Weiss wonder: What was so unsettling about her? She was cheerful, a little obnoxious, immature and overly cheerful to be sure. But that didn't account for how… disturbed Ruby made Weiss. Not like the vat-freak Yang, or the terrorist Faunus. It was something more. Less physical, more like a gut feeling that something was not quite right with the girl.

"Why what?" Belladonna asked sharply pulling Weiss back to the present discussion.

"Why did you help us?" Ruby repeated, "I don't know much about the White Fang. I mean, you think of each other almost as family, and we're just humans. One of us is even Atlassian. So why?"

Belladonna was silent for a moment. Then she took in a shuddering breath.

"Because Menagerie wouldn't survive if the White Fang killed the Schnee," Belladonna said with a wave of her hand at Weiss. "If the Heir Apparent was executed, the Protectorate would use it as an excuse to invade the Menagerie Systems. We, the Faunus, the White Fang… We don't have the numbers or resources to even give them pause."

Weiss snorted with a dismissive wave of her hand. "If Atlas did take such a direct retaliatory action, the other powers; Vale, The Vacuo Union, the Empire of Mistral, all of them would be forced to act. None of them want the Protectorate in the Menagerie Systems. Especially after what you White Fang did on Ophion a year ago."

Belladonna continued on as she ignored the interruption, "It would be a massacre for the Faunus, ending with either every one of us dead or back in slave chains working in the Protectorate's foundries and mines. Meanwhile, the galaxy would be torn apart in another Great War."

She paused then, her eyes shifting back and forth between the three of them. Weiss was about to snap at her to stop stalling and spit out what more she was hiding when she took a breath, licked the top of her lip and plunged on.

"Besides there is something worse out there." Her words were hurried and she often stumbled over them as though chasing a half-believed memory. "My… my leader, Brother-Commander Taurus Naut Adam Ist White Fang… he made an ally out here in Wild Space. An ally who… Gods of Sanctuary… I barely believe this myself. But he has an ally who can command the Grimm."

Silence hung in the cockpit for several long seconds.

Then Yang laughed and the silence shattered like a fragile, crystalline glass. Weiss couldn't help herself as her own lips pulled into a grin, at the sheer absurdity of it.

"Controlling the Grimm," Yang chortled as she wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry Blakey but that's a good one. You had me. You had me for a moment."

"I know it's hard to believe…"

"Impossible to believe," Weiss curtly interrupted with a chopping gesture, "the Grimm are mindless beasts. You cannot control them."

"I have seen them!" Belladonna shouted back pausing to take a breath, "I have seen the woman control them. They follow her every instruction, every command. It's even worse than that. And… Taurus is gathering White Fang there. With High-Leader Khan's approval."

Weiss couldn't believe the tale that this Belladonna was weaving… well… no. She could believe that some techno-barbarians like the Faunus could think someone could control the Grimm. A few light projectors, a hologram or two and superstitious savages would be falling over themselves to ally themselves with someone who could claim to 'control the Grimm.'

But superstition could be dangerous if that person was using it to gather the White Fang. That was a danger that needed to be addressed. Quickly. If not, the raiders would be able to strike deep into Protectorate territory. Maybe as far as the core worlds. The fleet was vast, but even it couldn't be everywhere at once. What had happened at Ophion, would break across a hundred more worlds.

That could not be allowed to happen.

"How though? How can someone control the Grimm?" Ruby asked, frowning worriedly. Weiss couldn't help but snort. Of course, the bumpkin would believe it.

"I don't know," Belladonna sounded terrified as she shrugged helplessly. "Tech? Dark magic? Witchcraft? I don't know. Does it matter?"

She looked back over at Weiss. "I know asking an Atlassian to help the Faunus is fighting a black hole. I know that this idea of some magic woman controlling the Grimm is insane. But the White Fang is gathering strength on the edge of Wild Space. I don't need to tell you how dangerous that is, Schnee."

"So what do you want, Belladonna?" Weiss asked after a moment of silence.

"Come with me. Come and see what's happening. Then you can warn the Protectorate," The Faunus eyes were wide, almost pleadingly.

"Why can't you warn them, Blake?" Yang asked, ignoring the angry and frustrated frown Belladonna shot her.

Weiss answered for her, as it was her duty to instruct the savage. "The Lord and Lady Marshalls of the Protectorate would never take the word of a Faunus."

If Belladonna was annoyed at being spoken for, she didn't show it. She merely nodded in agreement. "But if the Heir Apparent was to give first-hand evidence, along with the women who helped rescue her, the Protectorate would have to respond."

"Okay." Ruby chirped, speaking up before anyone else. "I'm in."

"Ruby?" Yang rounded on her sister in surprise, "You can't be serious."

Ruby looked up at Yang then motioned with a nod of her head to the hold. "A word please?"

Yang looked like she was about to protest, but shrugged and followed the smaller woman out.

Weiss eyed Belladonna for several moments, glaring at the red wolf's head and three claw marks emblazoned on the woman's white and grey uniform.

Belladonna for her part, returned the glare as the two settled into an uneasy, silent stalemate.

The White Fang was nothing but pirates. Zealots. Mass murdering thugs and terrorists.

But now she was indebted to one. One who had recently left the White Fang, certainly, but a good deed did not wash blood-stained hands clean.

"Belladonna Blake," Weiss broke the uneasy silence with a polite bow of her head. "I don't trust you. I don't like that you show up seemingly out of the void as the one person who can not only help us escape from Raven but also just happens to dump an extraordinary piece of intelligence into my lap. But… You did save me. You betrayed your own…"

Belladonna raised a hand. "Don't say it. I know what I did. I knew some of those Brothers and Sisters since before I first joined. I didn't do it for you. I didn't do it for the Protectorate or any human, for that matter. I did it for the Faunus. "

Weiss nodded, letting the subject of their rescue drop. "I will still thank you for what you did and it is because of that, and the grave danger the White Fang represents, I will go to this planet with you to ascertain this threat. I will speak on your behalf to the Council of Marshalls if your claims are true."

She held out a hand. For a moment Belladonna stared at it, then, gingerly, took it. Sealing the pact between the two, between the former White Fang terrorist and Atlassian officer.

Ruby lead Yang through the hold, stepping over the fallen wires, broken cargo and ruptured armour. She grimaced in sympathetic pain with the ship. Though a total inspection would be needed, it was doubtful that the Red Claw would be able to survive many more Folds or even be void worthy at all. But that was a problem for another time.

"Yang," Ruby turned to her sister when she was sure they were alone and in no danger of being overheard by their two other crewmates. "We have to help them."

Yang shook her head. "No, we don't. We already helped them, Ruby. We got them out of there. What we need to do is leave and go somewhere else. Away from Wild Space. Somewhere Raven can't come after us."

"So we're running?" Ruby asked, unable to believe what she was hearing coming from her tough as nails sister.

"No. It's just- This isn't our fight," Yang huffed angrily as she sat down on a piece of wreckage. "It's the White Fang and the Protectorate's fight. We got nothing to gain and a lot to lose."

"Sounds like we're running." Ruby sat down beside Yang, voice filled with concern. "That's not you, Yang. You don't run from fights. You always took them head-on. Better or for worse."

"Ruby...All I know is that I can't lose you. I've lost everyone else. Dad, Qrow, Gris, Raven. You're the only one I got left." Yang put her arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulled her in a tight hug. "We'll help the Princess and Blakey get a ship, then we'll get our own. Maybe head to Vacuo or Mistral, see what trouble we can stir up there."

The two were quiet for a moment, then Ruby pushed Yang's arm off and stood up.

"Ruby? What is it?" Yang asked. Ruby could tell she was trying not to sound hurt.

"I know what you did on Raven's ship."

Yang stiffened; Ruby could see the panic rising in her sister's eyes. It tore Ruby's heart out to see Yang actually frightened, but she pushed on regardless. Yang needed to hear this.

"I know what you did. I know you killed someone."

"Ruby please…" Yang tried to interrupt the tears forming in her eyes but was stopped as Ruby raised a hand.

"I was scared of you. Horrified that you could do something like that and for a second I thought you were exactly like them. And that hurt Yang. More than you running away, more than anything since mom died."

Yang flinched, each word hitting her like a physical blow, and Ruby knew that this could destroy her sister. But she had to press on, if she didn't Ruby felt like she would lose her sister to this new, frightening and bitter Yang.

"I didn't know what to do. All I knew was that I wanted the old Yang back, and I was terrified that I had lost her forever... Then I saw that little picture. That crayon drawing I made you when I was four."

Ruby sat back down and hugged her sister. "I knew that you weren't some monster. I knew that you were not one of them. You weren't Raven. You were still Yang. Still my older brash, hot-headed, stubborn sister Yang. Sure, that Yang could do silly, stupid things, but she would always try and do what's right. That Yang wouldn't abandon people in need. She would have charged in head first, fists swinging. Please… Give me that Yang back."

Ruby smiled a little. "I'm not going to abandon you either. You are my sister too. You're all I got out here as well."

Yang wiped the tears forming as she hugged her sister back. "I'm sorry Ruby. I'm so sorry."

Ruby didn't say anything. She didn't need to, so she just held her sister.

They sat there for several moments as Yang tried to reign in her emotions, taking deep long breaths. Finally, Yang looked up and wiped her face. A small grin slowly stretching her tear-streaked cheeks.

"I'm still going to ask the princess for a buttload of money." Yang grinned as she stood up.

Ruby laughed as she hopped to her feet. "If she will even agree to that."

Yang shrugged as she walked back to the cockpit. "Why not? I'm me!"

Weiss wiped the sweat from her brow, leaving a streak of grease and grit. Her nose wrinkled with the smell of burning electronics, as Ruby stripped the burnt power cables away and replaced them with fresh wiring. There was a hiss from the electro-spanner and the faint glow of light blue sparks as Ruby worked on the Fold Drive's sensitive circuitry.

The last several days had been… stressful to say the least.

Repairs were slow, due mostly to the constant headbutting. If Yang wasn't being a vulgar extortionist, then Belladonna was sneaking around and questioning everything that Weiss was doing. It didn't help that both Yang and Belladonna seemed to also be constantly arguing about one thing or another.

Or to be more accurate, Yang would loudly complain and Belladonna would either ignore her, get into an argument, or get annoyed and sneak off to work someplace more quiet.

Weiss was at her wit's end.

She had tried to take command, tried to get the rest to listen to her. Yang had been happy enough to follow her lead after Weiss had, very grudgingly accepted Yang's demanded 'Princess Rescue and Bodyguard Service' fee. However, Yang, it seemed, was more interested in teasing and annoying their resident Faunus. As well as testing what buttons she could push with Weiss, her new employer.

Belladonna, for her part, was paranoid and suspicious, often questioning or ignoring Weiss's instructions and plans; instead preferring to stalk off somewhere else to work or find some other task to complete. Usually alone.

And Ruby… Was Ruby.

Thankfully, she seemed to have some coherent ideas about what needed to be done, so she required little supervision.

Weiss still tried to help.

But in truth, the Protectorate, or to be more specific, her father's tutors, had not included classes on ship repair or electrical engineering. So it wasn't entirely her fault when she handed Ruby an arc-wrench, when Ruby had asked for a circuit-infuser. For the seventh or so time.

Though to be perfectly honest, Weiss did not want to be working with the girl. Not because Weiss didn't like her. No. Weiss actually found herself warming up to the girl. Despite her initial assessment of Ruby being somewhat more negative, Weiss had to admit that Ruby was competent. She was clearly skilled in what makeshift repairs they could do with their rather limited resources. Ruby had a good head on her shoulders too, despite her immaturity.

No, it was that Ruby made her… uncomfortable. Not in the way Ruby's vat-grown sister did. That was a purely physical reaction to the 'gene-fucking' as Yang so vulgary called it.

The feeling of otherness from Ruby's was more subtle. Like a stranger stepping on your shadow. Or the feeling of someone you cannot see, watching you.

It was upsetting for reasons Weiss could not fully understand. That intrigued her.

"Well that's going to be about all we're gonna be able to do," Ruby muttered, sounding annoyed. "If we had been able to get shields up this would have been simple but noooo."

Weiss stood up, collecting tools and broken parts as she did. "Well? Are you going to tell me what you did? Or just complain?"

Ruby shrugged angrily and let out a frustrated breath, "I managed to get us some power to the Fold Drive. Problem is, she's not in great shape. Neither is the ship. We can make three, maybe four Folds before either the Drive explodes or the ship's hull falls apart. I don't know about you, Weiss, but I'm not really interested in finding out which one goes first."

"That would make two of us," Weiss agreed, following the strange woman to the cockpit. She frowned as the two found Yang sitting in the copilot's chair, her feet kicked up on the dashboard, slowly chewing on a nutrient bar.

"Well?" Yang asked through a mouthful of dried, tasteless nutrient bar ration pack, from their dwindling supplies.

Weiss ignored her question. "Where's Belladonna?"

"Somewhere." Yang shrugged, sounding bored. "Blakey got huffy for some reason, then wandered off to another part of the ship."

"That's because you keep insulting her," Ruby piped up.

"As I told you three or four days ago," Weiss reminded her 'bodyguard,' "Faunus names are particular, and you are being incredibly informal with her."

"I'm a pirate. Just seems overly complicated." Yang laughed around a mouthful of the nutrient bar.

"We're kinda stuck together," Ruby pleaded, "Can we just try to get along?"

Yang rolled her eyes but smiled reassuringly. "Okay, okay. I'll try."

The door slid open with a hiss as the joined them. Weiss immediately noticed Belladonna had changed out of the White Fang uniform. She now wore a long, twin-tailed white coat with a dark purple lining. Her boots were heeled and her top was short, exposing her midriff.

Weiss hand pressed into her forehead in frustration, as Yang let out an appreciative wolf whistle

"Hey Blakey! So that's where you been." Yang smiled and waved.

Belladonna frowned but quickly schooled her emotions; adopting the emotionally distant persona the three had come to know. "Xiao Long Yang, I have asked you to please stop being so informal. We don't know each other, you have no right to call me 'Blakey.'"

Yang rolled her eyes with a teasing grin. "Alright, alright. Fine. I'm sorry Belladonna."

Belladonna held the blonde's eyes for several more seconds before she nodded her acceptance of the apology.

"I inspected the fuel lines. Most were damaged and the fuel pumps were disengaged. I managed to patch one of the pumps…" Belladonna trailed off.

"The ship's pretty much a wreck," Ruby finished for her. "I just told Weiss, we maybe have three or so Folds left before this ship either falls apart or explodes."

"So we're dead?" Belladonna asked grimly.

"Not necessarily." Yang's grin was smug as she brought up the star charts. "I managed to Fold us fairly close to Caviis IV. We're no more than two, maybe two-and-a-half Folds away."

"What's Caviis IV? And wouldn't Raven be looking for us there? And why didn't you Fold us in the planetary system?" Weiss asked as she studied the holographic chart. "She knows we couldn't have Folded that far from her, and after the damage we sustained, we would need a harbour."

"Yeah, buuuut…. We got three things going for us. One: She has no idea where we are and two: Caviis IV is home to several gangs who… well… they hate Raven more than they hate each other. And while Raven is tough, ruthless, vengeful and cunning; she knows when she's beat. The Muninn is only one ship. She wouldn't be able to take on a small armada of pirates. Which is why I avoided dropping us in the system. If they found us in this near-derelict of a craft, we would have ended back at square one. In pirate chains."

"Gangs?" Ruby asked curiously peeking over Yang's shoulder. "What kind of gangs?"

"Mostly pirate, and most loyal to the crime families and syndicates in Mistral. Which leads us to the third thing." Yang held up her fingers. "Where there are syndicates, there's Slot smugglers. Caviis IV has been used as a popular stopping point for them."

"Slot?" Weiss almost screeched. "Grimmaphage? Are you insane?"

Weiss grimaced, Grimmaphage, or Slot as it was commonly called, was highly illegal in all civilized areas of space; baring the Union, but that went without saying. Grimmaphage was a mix of stimulant and hallucinogenic made from several chemicals found commonly in Wild Space and was distilled from Grimm blood. Taken in small doses it left the user hyper-aware, filled with energy, having pleasant visions. It gave increased strength, speed, and reaction time. Too much though… Well… Pleasant dreams can easily become mind breaking nightmares.

"A little," Yang's smile turned crooked, "But hey. Unless you got a better idea for finding us a ship to get us all the way to the edge of Grimm Space then back to Atlas, I'm waiting for it. Besides, the smugglers aren't that bad… Unless they've been sampling the product."

Weiss had to admit, she didn't have a better plan. Still, she wasn't overly excited to put her hands into drug smugglers, especially those in the pockets of Mistralian crime syndicates. But it appeared there was very little choice.

"I agree with Xiao Long," Belladonna spoke up from behind them, "We need a ship."

"Yep." Ruby cheerily added, popping the 'p.' "Besides, we took on Raven. What chances do a bunch of smugglers got against us?"

Weiss sighed. She didn't like this, not one bit. But she was outvoted. More importantly, she had come to realize, they were right. Yang, Belladonna, Ruby, her; without a ship they were stuck. Caviis IV it was.

Not that she had to like it.

Blake groaned inwardly and resigned herself to another round of angry negotiations, as Xiao Long's temper rose. It was becoming a rather common occurrence if she thought about it. The human was rather ill-tempered.

"Twenty-five thousand? Don't be insulting!" Xiao Long crossed her arms frowning in exacerbation. "The ship is worth at least eighty."

"This ship is rubbish. Barely worth the scrap," The man she was bartering with countered patiently as though he was speaking to an over-eager child, "The engines are nearly fried. The Fold drive is cooked. Half of the bulkheads have collapsed, the superstructure is falling apart. No, twenty-five is more than reasonable."

Xiao Long was about to start again. Blake knew she had to step in before her companion decided to do something impulsive and drastic.

"You forgot the torpedoes, sir," Blake calmly interrupted before Xiao Long could start, "Certainly they are worth more than the twenty-five you are offering us."

Xiao Long shot her a grateful look but quickly returned to the hanger dealer. "There's four of them in there. You know as well as I do that those alone are worth an easy one-hundred. I'm offering the ship and the torps for eighty. Fair?"

The man sat back for a moment thinking.

"Sixty-five," He offered evenly.

"Seventy," Xiao Long offered, as she leaned on the table.

The man nodded. "Done. I'll make the transfer…"

Xiao Long shook her head. "No, I want hard currency. Aegisalt bars, not E-creds."

The man looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "You're a spacer. E-creds will be fine."

"Aegisalt," Xiao Long insisted again.

Blake watched the two as they stared each other down. Finally, the man relented.

"I'll be right back." He said before turning around back into his shop.

"Easier than I thought it was going to be. Thanks." Xiao Long grinned with a nod.

"E-Creds would have been fine though." Blake's fingers tapped a steady tattoo on the grease stained counter. She was becoming aggravated. The argument and the haggling had taken up valuable time. Every moment spent here was a moment the White Fang spent building their forces. A moment where Cinder could continue to weave her dark magics, gathering the Grimm to her.

"Nah," Yang waved her off, "No smuggler out in Wild Space will take E-creds. They're virtually worthless out here."

Blake nodded. "So our scrap dealer here was trying to cheat us."

Xiao Long shrugged. "Not necessarily, but I wouldn't put it past the bastard."

It was just then the man returned and placed a dozen or so milky white and purple streaked card-sized bars on the counter. Xiao Long quickly scooped them up, and after a moment of counting, slipped them into a pouch at her side.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Xiao Long waved once she was satisfied with the payment.

The man grunted something that not even Blake's superior hearing could detect before he turned away yelling at his workers to go and collect the ship.

"Well, that's part one done," Xiao Long grunted as she walked down the street, weaving through the small groups of people clustered around stalls selling everything from weapons to intoxicants to scraps of strange foul smelling meats. "Now to find us a ship."

"And where will we find that?" Blake raised an eyebrow as she followed after her. Side stepping the odd solitary pickpocket and dodging around an overly aggressive merchant hawking Grimm repellent charms made from what Blake could only guess; were human bones tied together with leather strips.

Xiao Long turned and winked. "At the nearest drinking hole, Blakey."

Inwardly Blake seethed as she struggled to maintain an air of aloofness. Xiao Long had been told again and again, over several days, not just by her, but by her sister and the Atlassian as well. It was obvious the pirate was just trying to get under her skin.

"Well… This looks like a good place to start as any." Xiao Long ignoring her seething companion and pushed her way inside and into the dark entrance of the bar, as Blake, still seething with annoyance, followed close behind.

Jaune Arc, smuggler and Captain of the Juniper checked his cards again, then placed a small Aegisalt bar in front of himself buying another card before tossing a larger tablet from his stack into the middle pile. His long, scraggly blond hair and bright blue eyes made his wide smile seem boyish and charmingly disarming, as he passed his turn with a wave.

Beside him, his co-pilot, first mate and ship's cook, Lie Ren, was almost the complete opposite. Where Jaune was blond and open: grinning and laughing, Ren was black-haired, stoic and emotionless. His only movements were to purchase a card himself and to toss in a matching bet; indicating an end to his phase.

Jaune nodded as two of their opponents tossed their cards away in disgust, while another eyed him suspiciously.

"No hard feelings then, Jaune?" Perry, the man who sat across from him, asked lightly.

Jaune leaned back into his seat nonchalantly. "If I had a problem with everyone who tried to blow the Juniper out of the sky I wouldn't have a whole lot of business partners left. It's the way of the game sometimes isn't it?"

Jaune wasn't much one for holding grudges. It was a simple truth that came with the business. Sometimes your employer was your best friend. Other times they would try and shoot you in the back. All you could do was deal with it.

Take Perry as an example. Just the other day he had tried to down the Juniper as it came back from a Mistral run. Perry's ship had gotten the worse from that exchange, but now the two were playing cards in some dingy drinking hole.

To the outsider, this was a strange turn of events. For Jaune and the crew of the Juniper, this was simply a part of life as a smuggler in Wild Space

Perry gwaffed a short laugh. "You shorted the Spiders. They're pissed, and their reach is long outside of Mistral."

"Well, it's not like they were trying to short me. We had an agreement, they failed to live up to it. So I sold off the cargo which they didn't pay for." Jaune's fingers tapped the back of his cards before he looked back down at them. Waiting patiently for Perry to reveal his own hand.

"You sold their cargo to the Tiandihui," Perry commented idly as he laid down his cards. "Queen's Right Chalice."

"No, I sold the cargo they failed to purchase to the Tiandihui," Jaune corrected raising a finger, as he turned his own cards over. "King's Golden Sword."

The man laughed again as Jaune scooped up the pot and tossed several bars of Aegisalt to Ren who had been cleaned out over the past hour or so.

"Well then. I'll be seeing you around Jaune," Perry grinned as he stood up and walked out of the bar, the two others from his crew following behind him.

"He's going to be back," Ren warned.

Jaune nodded as he lit a Lhostick and took a drag. "Probably."

"Want me to get the ship ready?"

Jaune sat quietly for a moment. "We were shorted for our last run, yes?"

Ren closed his eyes, a habit he developed when number crunching, and nodded. "Compared to last month? We're down roughly forty percent. Getting shorted by the Spiders didn't help much."

"No it didn't… There's a lot of money to be made here, so I don't think we'll be leaving just yet. Besides we have Pyrrha." Jaune tapped his lho out with a small, fond grin. "She's worth an easy hundred mercs. We'll be fine."

Ren was about to reply when two women, surprisingly both Faunus, walked straight up to their table.

"You Jaune Arc? Captain of the Juniper?" The blonde Faunus asked. She was smaller than Jaune in height, but the well-defined muscles on her arms made her tough and strong looking. Her smile revealed sharp fang like canines and her pupils were slits.

"I am," Jaune answered, not overly concerned. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ren's arm move subtly to pull his pistol from his holster.

"Great!" The blonde dropped into the chair across from him. "I'm Yang, this is Bla… Belladonna. We're looking to book a ship."

"Lucky for you the Juniper is available for hire." Jaune straightened his shoulders and back, folding his hands in front of him in an effort to appear professional. "What's the cargo?"

The other Faunus, Belladonna, a cat by her ears, shook her head as she too sat down. "No cargo. Just passengers. Four of us all together."

"All Faunus?"

"Just the one. Me. is that a problem?" Belladonna asked with a note of hostility in her voice.

Jaune shook his head. "No, just wanting to know if we have to make climate and accommodation adjustments."

Belladonna slowly eased back into her seat.

"So where are you going? Is there a time frame?" Ren took his cue and leaned forward. "Anything we need to avoid?"

Yang smiled and leaned forward, pushing her… assets out in a very provocative manner. Jaune gulped and snapped his eyes to her, refusing to look down.

"You see Captain Arc," Yang's voice took on a husky, breathy tone. "We have two stops to make. The first is out to the edge of Grimm Space. Then we are going to be returning to Atlas."

"Grimm Space?" Thankfully Ren was less distracted by the display. "Why would you need to go there? That's suicide."

"Oh, we don't need to go into Grimm Space. Just near the edge," Belladonna answered back cooly, ignoring her companion's display. "You see, we were hired to bring an Atlassian academic to the edge of Grimm Space. She wishes to collect several specimens to study the evolution of Grimm who haven't come into contact with intelligent life."

"I see," Jaune said, not daring to remove his eyes from Yang's. "Well then… Let's talk price."

He turned to Ren who quickly wrote a number down and pushed it over to the two ladies.

"Thirty thousand!" Yang was astounded. "I could buy a ship for that."

"You could buy a piece of junk. The Juniper is the fastest ship this side of Wild Space." Ren steepled his fingers together as he peered over them at the two. "Plus we are then headed almost half-way across the galaxy from Grimm Space to the core world of the Protectorate. Thirty-thousand includes our refueling costs, as well as danger pay."

"We could go to any other pilot and get a much better deal." Belladonna argued back. "All who could make the same 'fastest ship' claim."

Yang nodded in agreement with her compatriot. "What she said. Fifteen."

Ren bowed his head as though agreeing with their assessment. "Indeed. They can all make that claim. The Juniper, however, simply is the fastest ship in Wild Space. Or else you wouldn't have come to us. Thirty thousand is reasonable."

Yang snorted. "We both know it isn't. Twenty-thousand."

Jaune knew that twenty-thousand was an insult. No pilot or Captain would accept the job under twenty-five. Yet... There was something about these two ladies. The way they held themselves, the way their eyes kept flickering between him and Ren, the windows, the doors, and the other patrons. That interested him; there was something more and though he had very little interest in heroics. Adventure, well… adventure was something quite different. Jaune, for some reason, knew he wanted this job.

Besides, these women, it seemed like they needed help. Jaune Arc, despite cynicism that had come to colour his views on the galaxy, would never turn away someone in need. That just wasn't him.

Before Ren could open his mouth, Jaune cut him off. "Twenty-three. Up front. In Aegisalt."

Both Yang and Belladonna sat back in surprise. Yang was the first to recover.

"Deal," she said, holding out her hand, which Jaune took.

There was a dull klink as several bars of Aegisalt dropped from Yang's hand onto the table. Ren quickly scooped them up but spent several seconds examining each one carefully, checking for marks and purity before giving Jaune a nod.

"Well, you got yourselves a ship. Hanger Thirty-Two A whenever you're ready." Jaune stood up and motioned with his head "Come on Ren, let's get the ship ready."

A/N And so Jaune makes his appearance. Where Jaune is Pyrrha Nikos is never far behind. Hope you enjoyed this!