Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Shadows of the Force. Enjoy the 2600-word chapter. I don't own RWBY and Star Wars. Monty Oum, Lucas Films, and Rooster Teeth do.
(Venator Class cruiser, Trailblazer, Orbit over Remnant 6:40 PM November 12th.)
Lerek hummed, looking over the data his techs had pulled from both the Paladin and the droid. There was so much to unpack and far too little time to deal with it all at once.
He turned his attention to Blake. The Faunus and he had spoken late at night at the moment about Roman, the White Fang, and several other things.
"Keep me updated," Lerek ordered one of his techs before sighing and turning away to think. "What is going on? Why is there no real plan for them? Unless they're trying to bait us into something like this." Lerek muttered, rubbing at his temples as he sighed, ducking into the turbo-lift.
He sighed, thinking about every possible detail of the plan that could have occurred. The White Fang was unknown to him, but if they had captured military technology from a highly advanced army? Then they were as dangerous as the separatists could have been, trying to focus on them?
Lerek knew Blake knew something about their operations, they had talked several times about her fighting them on the SDC vessel which told him enough to know she could help.
'But that means asking her to dig into a part of her past she wants to be buried.' Lerek thought to himself as he sighed, rubbing his head a moment later.
He leaned on the wall and punched the button for her floor. They needed to talk anyway. Lerek had to try and get some help and that was easier said than done if he could find some bond more with Blake.
Lerek watched the doors open, looking around as he slowly but surely stepped out of the box and headed to Blake's room. He began to find it amusing that she was here, living on his flagship rather than among her classmates as did her team. However? Lerek knew there was a will within the force calling to both of them.
But its will for them was still being unraveled, setting up another set of variables for him that he had yet to determine.
"Blake? Can we chat?" Lerek asked before knocking on the door, he didn't get an answer at first. "You good? I want to talk." Lerek said before he got a knock in response.
Lerek hummed and leaned on the wall behind him, listening to Blake input the same code that he had shown her. Lerek pondered what the next meeting with General Ironwood would bring for them.
"Hang on." Lerek heard from Blake as the Faunus started to type once again.
He allowed her to do it. He cracked his eyes and then looked at the Faunus who looked tired. He slowly entered the room, being cloaked into darkness, Lerek held up his hand, forcing the lights onward. He turned to look at her with a look and then started to think at the next second.
"Do you want to point out why you look so tired?" Lerek questioned, crossing his arms in interest. "Why are you so tired? You don't look like you've got a minute of sleep." Lerek put in as he watched Blake look around the room, her eyes hazy.
It was then he took a look at Blake and realized something while he took a seat on her bed. The Faunus had bags under her eyes which told him that she had been tired for quite a long time. She hadn't slept last night at all; he had left before midnight when he thought about it.
"Blake, are you ok?" Lerek questioned as he raised his eyebrow with the hope that his friend was ok. "You've been up the rest of the night, haven't you?" Lerek asked, getting up a moment later while he started to see the books that Blake had started to ready.
"I've been busy on some stuff," Blake added which caused Lerek to start to tap on his arms with amusement.
He wanted to call a medic to make sure Blake wasn't going to collapse at this moment. He knew Blake was going to argue against him if he did anyway, so he decided to try and make sure she started to get some sleep enough to keep herself safe.
"And what did you want me to know something about the White Fang or something like that?" Lerek questioned as he started to walk around the room. "You look like you've done a lot of research on them and Roman," Lerek added, smirking slightly as Blake let out a slight yawn.
'How did her teammates not notice this and drag her off the ship?' Lerek questioned himself mentally.
Blake looked at him, her eyes starting to narrow as she tried to keep herself from falling over. She let out a yawn as she started to think about what she had looked at last night while she tried to focus on Lerek.
"Well? Would you want me to tell you what I did with a great night of sleep, Ms. Belladonna?" Lerek questioned while he started to smirk as he tapped on his arms once more.
Blake growled, grinding her nails into her arms as the Faunus tried to keep herself from falling over.
"Blake. I think you need to get some sleep before you pass out even worse as you seem like doing currently." Lerek stated, leaning on the door a moment.
He was going to point out that Blake could pass out at any second. This woman looked ready to drop before she even walked over to him, and he still didn't know what was going on. He didn't keep an eye on Blake for several reasons, one of which was because he didn't want to be creepy.
"No, I'm not." Lerek heard Blake state as she stumbled while the Arkanian looked at her with a raised eyebrow once more.
"You're ready to pass out if I so much as touch you, Blake," Lerek stated, brushing off his robes as he put his hands on his legs. "Second? You have bags on your eyes, I can see them. Why did you stay up all night without sleeping? You're exhausted, did you even really find out anything new?" Lerek asked, sitting down in a chair next to her bed.
"And? You've been busy all day as a general." Blake stated, pointing a finger at Lerek who was curious about if she was going to recover from this. "And yet I just needed to find out something about the White Fang. They won't sleep, why should I?" Blake asked, pointing a finger at Lerek who raised a hand towards Blake, lifting her into the air.
"Because they're an army of droids who don't sleep, a criminal mastermind from what I've heard…." Lerek stated walking around the room. "And an army of disgruntled Faunus. Your one person, what is going to happen if you pass out now?" Lerek questioned, placing Blake on the ground before she stumbled back and landed on her bed.
Lerek simply crossed his arms, knowing that the Faunus was tired, unwilling to think about her ponder at the time which caused him to think more.
"I'm a general, Blake," Lerek added, gesturing around the room as he did so. "I still have to sleep, to rest. I'm just concerned about you. Are you not concerned with what they're doing at the time?" Lerek questioned, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth.
"No," Blake stated, earning a nod from Lerek as he looked up at the ceiling. "There's just a lot going on right now," Blake added as Lerek nodded, sitting down next to her.
"Yes, and you don't want to tell me or your friends what's going on?" Lerek asked, raising his eyebrow in concern. "Tell me what's going on with you?" Lerek stated, crossing his legs under him as he brushed off his robes.
"Do you want to know so badly?" Blake questioned as Lerek rolled his eyes.
"No, I'd like to know why after a week of thinking about me being reckless and such," Lerek stated, gaining a groan from his friend as he chuckled. "Why are you so reckless like this? Why would you get yourself so exhausted just thinking about what they're going to do? I have people looking into them, it isn't like I don't have scouts to check at the time." Lerek added, pausing to look up at the ceiling as he did so.
If this didn't go the way he wanted? Lerek knew there would be trouble at the end of the road, but then again? If it was like that? He'd be ready. Lerek decided to let Blake rest before they walked around town.
"The White Fang thing has eaten you up for a while, hasn't it?" Lerek questioned, gaining a raised eyebrow from Blake. "You can hide what you're feeling inside. Don't forget Jedi can sense things like emotions. I know what it's like to be obsessed with something to the point it cuts you deep." Lerek added to which Blake could only sigh, knowing Lerek wouldn't relent until she got somewhat of an answer.
"Yes, it has," Blake said, struggling to not pass out and slowly failing. "Everyone seems to hate or think their monsters, but it isn't that easy," Blake added to which Lerek hummed as he shook his head.
"Maybe, but they're not the people they used to be you know," Lerek added, pausing to check his comlink. "You can corrupt anything. Do you dream of peace? You'd make war sounds great as long as there's peace. Do you want respect? You become willing to use fear." Lerek stated, brushing off his robes.
"Like the separatists and the republic…." Blake muttered, woozy as lack of sleep began to set in at the time. "The White Fang used to be better," Blake added at which Lerek hummed to himself.
"I can't defend someone's views like that, but I will point out the separatists rip apart planets," Lerek responded, uncrossing his legs as he did so. "We don't try and invade neutral planets, and secondly? I don't try and use more destructive weapons. I'm not judging the White Fang, but the ones we've fought? They're not going to stop till they get whatever they are after." Lerek put in, rubbing at his temples a moment later.
"I'm going to stop them," Blake added to which Lerek sighed as she groaned and finally passed out.
Lerek got up and slowly walked to the door. He knew the woman was going to need a while to rest from her lack of sleep. That gave him time to talk, get troops deployed, and maybe catch an hour or 2 of sleep later.
"Now I'll add in the White Fang of the list of people to watch out for it," Lerek muttered as he slowly started to think of how to stop them and the Separatists at the time. "Droids are one thing, but not an army of violent revolutionaries. They're smarter, they are equipped with military-level gear. The White Fang is far worse than the droids, they just don't seem to have the manpower to burn Vale down, but if they can toe to toe with the Atlesian military?" Lerek added, rubbing at his arms with a sigh.
Lerek decided to proceed to the bridge, Drifter would have checked in at the moment and Lerek knew by then? There would be more at stake for him to falter now.
"Ok, time to see what the rest of the world is up to," Lerek added, rubbing at his tired eyes. "Ugh, I need a break from all of this," Lerek muttered, shaking his head as he looked over the rest of the hallway.
"Sir?" Lerek heard over his comlink as he brought the device up to his face. "New data is coming in, General Kenobi just pinpointed more droid forces camping out near Vale. They haven't advanced on the city yet, but General Kenobi is keeping all forces on alert for the moment. Guess he doesn't want them ripping the city apart at the moment." Drifter added in the sound of gunships in the background.
"More battle droids? Great, that's just what we need." Lerek muttered to himself as he put a hand to his temples. "Send what you have to my quarters, I'll draw up plans to try and trim down their army. They have to have a base somewhere; we just haven't found it yet." Lerek added at the moment as he crossed his arms.
There was no end to the amount of damage the droid army could do if he didn't cut them off. Lerek guessed they still had their fleet from the battle before they were all dragged here, but if that was the case? Why didn't they deploy any air support for their ground forces, but then again?
"Droids are expendable and cheap if Ventress got ahold of Dooku back in our galaxy?" Lerek mused to himself with a sigh. "Then she's probably going to be bringing in reinforcements. It will take a thousand droids to burn down Vale, and she has thousands of them on her army." Lerek added, boarding the turbo-lift.
"Why do I always get the hardest missions when it comes down to it?" Lerek asked, pressing the button to start the lift. "Drifter?" Lerek questioned, pausing to lean on the walls behind him.
"Yes, sir?" Drifter asked as he hummed.
"I need you to keep the men on alert and get some of the fighters airborne," Lerek ordered, rubbing at his temples. "We're going to get ready for the droids and cut them down a little. I still need to figure out where their fleet is and how many droids they have. We need to pinpoint where they're located, then we can end this in one go." Lerek started with a hum.
"I'll get some flyboys in the sky, sir," Drifter responded a second later as the lift moved upwards towards the bridge. "How's commander Belladonna?" Drifter added to which Lerek chuckled to himself, cracking a smirk at the moment.
He should have known Drifter would inquire at his friend. Everyone seemed to be thinking about the Faunus at hand, it was more comical than it had any right to be at the end of the day. Lerek put a hand to his temples, he supposed Senator Organa should have been briefed on this.
'I need something to balance out the constant battle droids trying to kill me combined with the war meetings. Might go talk about stuff I have no idea about compared to the other stuff I don't understand.' Lerek thought with a slow smirk crossing his face.
Lerek slowly headed towards the shuttle bay. The sooner he spoke to Bail and Ozpin? The sooner he could return to the Trailblazer and focus upon better issues.
"I'm starting to wish more people were here," Lerek stated, stepping into the turbolift as he did so and starting it. "I don't run on pure sarcasm and quips. I'm sure Ventress has an easier time leading the droid army when they don't need sleep, or food, or water." Lerek added, crossing his arms as the lift descended downwards.
Author Notes
Phew. Another chapter is done! I want to point out that the next chapter will be slightly longer. The next chapter will be in 2-10 months and will show Lerek talking to Bail and Ozpin, set up the next episode, and battle… And finally, show Blake waking up and talking to Lerek and such. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!
P.S: Next chapter is 900-3500 words.