Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Shadows of the Force. Enjoy the 2000-word chapter. I don't own RWBY and Star Wars. Monty Oum, Lucas Films, and Rooster Teeth do.
(Venator Class Cruiser Trailblazer, Remnant Orbit midnight)
Lerek returned to his quarters. He allowed the Admiral to take a meeting in officers' quarters. He wasn't happy about the mass deployment of his men, but if things were brewing in Vale? Lerek put that aside for now.
He sighed, looking over a datapad he held in his hand. He had ordered Drifter to set up men in more defendable positions while he was busy trying to get a handle over their military position. The separatist presence was confirmed by his scouts, meaning sooner or later there would be a battle between his forces and their troops.
He could only hope a battle did not ensure. Vale would be destroyed if it did and Lerek would NOT have the blood of innocents on his bands, not here, not again…
"Drifter, keep your men on standby for now. Keep me updated." Lerek said while he shook his head. "Hopefully they don't have Ventress with them…" Lerek muttered and turned to look at Blake.
She looked like a hologram of B1s and B2s, it wasn't a very good representation of what they were fighting… But it did give the Faunus a good look at their enemy.
"I've fought androids before," Blake said as Lerek hummed. "They don't look very sturdy except for these bulky ones," Blake said as Lerek turned.
"They're not, they rely on numbers," Lerek said as he walked over to the holodisk. "The smaller ones are the majority of their army. Their cheap, flimsy, stupid, and rely on numbers. Those bigger ones are super battle droids, they are more durable, not much smarter. Why, what type of droids did you fight?" Lerek asked as Blake hummed.
"Ones with blades built into their arms," Blake replied before Lerek chuckled.
"Ah, so you're a specialist on droids then," Lerek said as Blake playfully elbowed him in the side. "They are easy to break, your right. The separatists just throw more at you when it doesn't work, though. Droids don't care about things like hurting the innocent or using people or shields for example." Lerek said as he sighed and shook his head.
"Sir? Commander Drifter is contacting you on the bridge." Lerek heard from one of his soldiers. "We're keeping the city's airspace secure for now, I don't trust the seppies or those 'republic' transponders." Lerek heard from the clone as he nodded.
Lerek turned and walked out of his room. He let Obi-Wan handle the fleet, his focus was on Vale and the droid army. If the droids were massing as his scouts said? Then they were going to launch an attack soon which was the LAST thing Lerek wanted. He kept the majority of his troops on hold, however. Any good general knew not to tip your hand or cause panic.
"Is your professor good with you going on a mission? I've asked a lot of you guys." Lerek stated while he cracked his fingers. "Do you want me to have a ship send you to Beacon?" Lerek questioned while he hummed.
"You know Huntresses do this ALL the time, yes?" Blake asked and snapped her book closed. "Vale is our city as well. Do you think Professor Ozpin WOULDN'T want us to learn?" Blake questioned as Lerek crossed his arms and put the datapad down.
"Is that a yes, or no?" Lerek questioned with a smirk.
"Yes. I'm sure, Ruby would want to go on an adventure anyway." Blake said while she looked around at the moment. "Besides, it's my job to keep an eye on you. Ozpin told me to, remember?" Blake stated as both continued to walk down the hallway a moment.
"You're a crazy woman, Ms. Belladonna," Lerek said as he turned to his comlink. "Hanger control? This is General Zun. Get a gunship ready, I'm heading to meet with the scouting team." Lerek ordered and lowered his arm.
"You know we're probably going to be fighting them," Lerek said as the duo stepped into the turbo-lift. "My scouts talked about the droids approaching the outpost they've set up," Lerek stated while he brushed off his armor a moment later.
"Hmm…" Lerek heard from Blake once more as the elevator passed downwards once more. "You should know they're not the ONLY enemies Vale has," Blake said while he nodded once more.
"Well, I'm glad that you and I can focus on something," Lerek said while Blake hummed and nodded with a small smirk on her face. "Go get your friends then, I have to go and talk to Drifter for a moment before we get going," Lerek added as he sighed and shook his head.
Blake walked towards one of the 40 LAATs the ship carried. Lerek had told her the republic was sending supply ships to keep the fleet supplied but it was slow, they were still studying the portal…. Part of Blake wondered what that other reality was like.
"So, how is Mr. General?" Yang asked as Blake rolled her eyes at her teammate. "What? You spend so much time around him we barely get to talk." Yang added which got a hum from Blake.
"Because Professor Ozpin told her to introduce Lerek to Remnant and keep an eye on him," Weiss responded as she looked up at Blake. "Their technology is vastly different from ours. I can tell they're not from Remnant. There's a lot we can learn from them." Weiss added as Blake hummed.
"Lerek is… As curious about Remnant as we are about their world." Blake said as she turned to gaze at the Arkanian. "He's nice, snarky, and constantly joking with me, but he's nice. He's mad at the republic coming in force before he was ready." Blake said as Weiss nodded.
"General Ironwood has been at odds with their fleet for a few hours," Weiss said before Lerek started to approach. "General," Weiss said with a bow as Lerek chuckled.
"You don't have to do that. I'm a teenager, not a grizzled old man." Lerek replied as he looked at Blake. "And snarky? You've cracked about as many jokes as me… And as for your request, Ms.? I'm sorry, I don't believe we've talked since we met." Lerek said while Weiss nodded.
"Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company." Weiss said as Lerek started to raise an eyebrow. "It's an energy source on Remnant used for weapons, technology, and the like. One of my father's shipments of dust was highjacked by the White Fang. Blake was involved in fighting the hijackers." Weiss said before Lerek turned to her.
"I'm not surprised with all due respect," Lerek said and then looked at Weiss. "You'd also have to talk to our scientists about some of that. I'm not sure what I'm allowed to reveal about tibanna gas and repulsorlift technology yet." Lerek said which got a raised eyebrow from Weiss.
"I'm going to assume you're all ready to go?" Lerek asked as he went to board the gunship. "Professor Goodwitch isn't mad at you arriving at a military outpost?" Lerek questioned before Weiss started to walk away to do that.
Lerek boarded the gunship as his comlink buzzed. Lerek answered it while leaning on the wall.
"General? We've just set up lines, there's a column of droids advancing on our position." The clone said as Lerek hummed. "They are advancing through the mountains. The captain is requesting reinforcements." Lerek heard before he sighed.
If there was a column? It would lead to a full-scale battle instead of a skirmish like Lerek hoped. He was WELL aware of how bad that would be, but he couldn't leave his men behind.
"I'll send the Maverick your way, sergeant," Lerek stated and watched Blake and the others board the craft alongside a squad of clones. "Do NOT engage unless they're in range. How many droids? Do they have armor or air support? I need details before something happens. C'mon, Trapper, tell me what's happening." Lerek stated and turned to the side.
"Has to be about a battalion with armor. I don't see any Vultures yet, general." Trapper reported which got Lerek to rub at his eyes. "We keep to the ridgeline, going to need some time to get set up. I'll keep you updated, sir. We already got a ship inbound for backup." Trapper said before the line went dead.
"Damn it…" Lerek said as he paused with annoyance. "Drifter? Shore up the ambassador building. You have a battalion of droids approaching. I need reinforcements for Sergeant Hunter and his men. I'm sending the Maverick to support them, what's your status, currently?" Lerek asked as the gunship started to leave the hanger a moment later.
He was silent as he considered his options. He could have the Maverick bombard their position, but that would cause massive damage and ruin the progress of the treaty. If he allowed Vale to deal with it? They could believe that the republic had created the droids as a tactic to force a deal.
There was too much at stake for this deal to fail which meant one option. Lerek would take care of the droids, report the battle to the council, Vale, and the republic. He'd use that to try and push for the alliance. The sooner that was fixed with? The sooner he could focus on the Remnant.
"Blake? There's something I need to get from the separatists." Lerek said as he closed his eyes. "If I'm right? Then I could figure out what the droids are up to." Lerek said while he shook his head.
"Why? What is it?" Ruby asked as Lerek crossed his arms. "Sorry, happy to go fight droids," Ruby said which got Lerek to chuckle.
"You remind me of Master Skywalker's padawan," Lerek said and cleared his throat. "I'm guessing whoever is leading the droids is a tactical droid. Their intelligent, but cocky. Very cocky. I need its head, there's a lot of information on there." Lerek said while he cracked his fingers.
"So, we need to break a robot's head off…" Yang said as Ruby looked away with a bit of a disappointed look.
"I'll explain it a bit later," Lerek said and paused to make sure his weapon was still intact. "But yes. You know what it looks like if you see it. I should warn you the droids aren't like Grimm, they are stupid, but there are thousands of them. They carry blasters. The droids WILL NOT hesitate to shoot you if you get in their way." Lerek said as the others turned to look around at the clones.
"Well, we just have to smash them all to junk," Yang said while Lerek smiled.
"Just be careful," Lerek said and turned to his clones. "Same for you. Just because your soldiers? That doesn't make me better than you. I don't want anyone here charging droids head-on." Lerek added before closing his eyes.
There was going to need to be a plan, but Lerek hadn't the time to form one without dedicated recon like Trapper's. Plus? By that own logic? The droids were still on the move and not actively engaging them. If they were not engaged? Lerek couldn't come up with a plan to overcome them at the end of the day. It was still developing in his head.
"Sir? We've run a scan on those ships, and we've found something." Lerek heard a moment later. "Their leader is Mandalorian." Lerek heard with a raised eyebrow.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out next chapter is going to be a major battle and such. The next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show RWBY and Lerek engaging the separatist army and trying to slow them down and more bonding. The next chapter will be 900-7500 words or such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!