Chapter 34

Colin

Blake was out getting some food and Weiss was still sleeping. He walked over quietly and sat down on her bed next to her. She slowly regained consciousness and recognized him. "Hi Colin, what time is it?" she asked groggily, sitting up. He checked his watch, "Its, noon. Did you sleep well?" he asked smiling, she hadn't actually noticed he was there. "I slept well, thank you." She said looking at Yang and Ruby. "What are you smiling about?" she asked assuming she was the butt of some prank. "Look to your right." Yang said pointing She turned and Colin was sitting right there. "Colin! You're alive!" she shouted giving him a hug, he returned it and smiled. "I must have appeared out of thin air." He said jokingly "HAHA, that was so funny I forgot to laugh." She said glaring at him. He got off the bed and smiled, "now where is my favorite Blake at?" he asked them. "In the mess hall, she was looking for lunch. Which reminds me, we need to eat." Maria said pointing to Ruby and Yang.

"I'll lead the way." He said as he opened the door for them. They walked for a minute or two before coming to the mess hall. Blake was in line for food, her back facing them, Colin smiled and winked at the group and proceeded to sneak up behind her. He lunged forward and got her "Boo!" he shouted. "AAAHHH!" Blake screamed throwing the tray at him, covering him in soup, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and meatloaf. She turned around and glared at the thing covered in her lunch, when she realized it was Colin she couldn't be angry. "It's good to see you're alive, but I wanted lunch." She said not wanting to give the food soaked Colin a hug. Almost as if reading her mind he enveloped her in a massive hug, covering her in food. "AAH! Get off me." She yelled trying to pry him off. He chuckled and let her go.

They were both covered in food, he just laughed it off and multiple crewmen joined in. He set about cleaning the mess and Blake went and changed. When they were all back in the mess hall and eating lunch is when the real talk started. "So, now that I'm back, we have some problems to resolve." He said seriously "We need to take care of the Tyrranid infection, and soon." He said killing his meatloaf with his fork. "We have a small problem on that one." Maria piped up, he stopped killing his meatloaf and listened intently. "We haven't had a confirmed sighting of any Tyrranid, or any suspicious activity. Not even a single kidnapping." She finished as puzzled as he was. He thoughtfully munched on the meatloaf. "What if they have a Queen and are in hiding?" he said after swallowing. No response came and the table was silent for a moment until Ruby spoke up. "Soo, back to my earlier Questions. Was that really you? The giant Golem thingy?" she asked, everybody turned to him. He sighed "Yes, that was me." He said slowly.

"That was so cool." Ruby said excitedly. The rest of the group gave him impressed looks. "I don't really want to talk about it if that's ok with you guys. I kinda just got out of hell." He said in a softened tone. "I'm sorry, it won't bring it up again." She said lowing her excitement level, and her head. "Cheer up kiddo, were going to go to battle soon. Eat up and stay happy. Knowing the Tyrranid, which I do. We are in for an exciting few days." He finished patting her head. She smiled and they finished their meal, heading towards the bridge before their departure. Once there Colin typed some things into the console and moved around a bit. "Send the order to remove all fortifications from the town, I want them gone before tonight. And assemble Rogue squadron." He told an officer, who saluted and ran off down the hall.

The group exchanged inquisitive glances, "You'll find out later" he told them as they made their way to the hangar. Waiting for them was a Pelican, engines running but no pilot. He got into the pilots seat and prepared the ship for takeoff. The group strapped in and off they went, hurtling towards the planet. They landed not 100 feet away from the back door to the east wing. He powered the Pelican down and they disembarked. "I want you to go back to class, if you have any, and I will meet you in the dorm later tonight." He told them, they nodded and went off on their way, Colin went to find his Chief Engineer. After a few minutes of looking he heard the familiar ring of the Engineers voice "Get that wall torn down, no you idiot not there. That box goes over there." The Engineer shouted from outside, Colin smiled and walked out the closest door, looking around to find the very annoyed engineer standing on some boxes shouting.

"Marcius!" he shouted as he walked over, the man saw him and got off his box to greet him. Saluting before giving Colin a firm handshake, "I can see you are making good progress already." He said gesturing toward the partially removed fortifications. "Aye sir we are. But I don't understand why we're getting rid of them?" he said giving Colin a questioning look. "We're going to try a different strategy. And how would you feel if I gave you a challenge?" he asked. This perked the engineers attention "What might that be sir?" he asked quizzically. "I found the Illustrious, and I want you to fix her. Make her better than before." He said handing him a data pad and giving him a sly smile. Marcius's eyes widened as Colin spoke, and even more so as he looked at the data pad. "Sir, how?" he asked way beyond astounded. "No clue, but the ship helped me, so I'm helping her. We already gave the crew a proper burial and the ship is just sitting there in orbit, waiting." He finished

Marcius looked the data pad over again, then again. "Aye sir this will be a challenge, do we have a time window?" he asked doing some mental math on how long out would take. "No, but you will have Sheila's help so it should take shorter than you expect." He responded "I'll need to survey the ship and do so many other things." He began rattling off a to-do list. "Ill' have you on the next shuttle out, make sure to get a good replacement down here. I don't think anyone want these fortifications here for much longer." He said gesturing to the big spire that professor Ozpins office was in. Marcius nodded, saluted and went to find the shuttle. Colin watched him go, turning to see Maria waiting patiently behind him. "We have some explaining to do, want to join me in Ozpins office?" he asked her "Sounds like fun, wouldn't want to miss it." She smirked as they headed towards the headmasters office.

It took him nearly 30 minutes to explain the story from where Ozpin was at to present, and after all of it, Glynda entered late and made him retell it. A much shorter version, but still 10 minutes of talking. At the end of it Ozpin and Glynda looked at him faces mixed with emotion, mostly confusion. "I know I wasn't very specific and it all sounds too… Out there to have even happened but, it did. So I'll let you process that bit and leave you in peace." He said getting out of his chair to leave. "Are you sure you should be out and about after all that?" Ozpin asked, he stopped and though about it for a moment "No, I probably shouldn't be. But I'm the most qualified so looks like I'm on the job." He said shrugging as the crappy circumstances. "I knew I was going to deal with some stupid shit when I signed up, this comes with the territory." He said waving Ozpin's concerns aside, "Besides, who else is crazy enough to willing hunt down a nest of Tyrranid?" he said smiling as the elevator doors closed.

I know it seems like i'm just telling Colin's story. But i assure you i will get back to RWBY soon. Thanks for the support.