Ruby dodged around a droid, slashing at the set of exposed wires. As the training droid shutdown, Ruby turned towards the combat master, calmly sheathing her sword.
Then the hairs of her neck stood on end and she span, drawing her vibroblade as quickly as she could.
The new droid's blade clattered to the ground as Ruby took off its right arm, but a blade sprang from its left arm, slashing at Ruby. Ruby severed the central mass of wires, pushing it away as another droid stepped forward.
"Form two!" Inquisitor Jarobi barked and Ruby shifted forms. Taking one hand off the vibroblade, she lowered the weapon into the starting position. She tightened her stance, turning her torso slightly as she did so.
Form II: Makashi focused on footwork and keeping yourself from being disarmed in combat. Fluidity, balance, precision.
Sith Inquisitors traditionally preferred either Form II, Form I: Shii-Cho, or Form VI: Niman. Form I was the opposite of Makashi, focusing on sweeping strikes to disarm the opponent. Form VI, however, was a blend of the five preceding styles. It wasn't as good at anything as the other forms, but had none of the weakness.
Ruby wasn't sure if she liked any of them. Weiss, Pyrrha, Jaune and Blake had all let her try out their swords, and she was decent with them, but she had been trained to use a scythe in combat.
Still, after two weeks of near non-stop training, she was getting used to the three styles. Especially Makashi, which was similar to what she had been using beforehand. Don't block when you can deflect, riposte when the chance came.
The first attack came, and Ruby stepped back as she deflected each strike, waiting for the droid to open up.
When it did, she ran her vibroblade through the droid's 'head', activating the programming that made it shut off.
"Hmm…" Jarobi paced around her, his eyes examining her, "You're performing well today, Ruby. Keep this up, and you could very well become a powerful Inquisitor."
"Thank you, sir."
"No-" Jarobi sighed as her datapad beeped, "I hope that's important."
"It's from Overseer Harkun. He wants my class at his office as soon as possible."
"Then you may go," Jarobi turned, walking towards another training Acolyte, "Form six!"
Ruby stepped out of the training room, walking through the metal hallway towards Harkun's office. She had been able to avoid talking to the Overseer much, but even those few conversations were causing Spindrall's prediction to come true.
"Took you long enough, slave," Harkun sneered as she stepped into the room, the rest of the acolytes already gathered, "Ignoring your betters?"
"No. I was training with Inquisitor Jarobi, but then I got called to deal with an over inflated ego. You can message him if you don't believe me."
Harkun's sneer grew worse as he hit a button on his desk, "Jarobi?"
"What, Harkun? I'm busy."
"The Rose slave is claiming she had been training with you."
"She was until you sent for her," Jarobi said, "I do hope this is actually important, Harkun. It's a hour and a half until we break for the day, you could have waited until then."
"Yes, yes," Harkun hung up, a scowl creeping onto his face, "Alright, so you were training. For once."
"As opposed to the slacking off we've all been so busy with," Ruby snarked, "I'm sure we'd all like to get back to that, so why don't you tell us why you called us here?"
"We'll see how confident you are after this. Ffon, come in!"
"Yes, Overseer," Ruby looked behind her as a black clad man stepped forward. His eyes were a orange that bordered on red, while his skin was as crimson. As he stepped closer, she noticed the bony ridges on either side of his nose.
"Meet our newcomer, Ffon Althe. Sith blooded, and more powerful than any of you could ever hope to be. He will be Lord Zash's apprentice, you slaves might as well throw yourself from the Valley, you'd be saving us all time."
"Soooo…" Ruby stretched out the word, "You called us here to boast about how you're so scared of a bunch of slaves that you're attempting to rig it. You know that makes you look bad, right?"
"Pah!" Harkun scoffed, "if you had an ounce of Sith blood, you might stand a chance against Ffon, slave."
Ruby rolled her eyes, "Is that all? Because apparently I have a suicide note to write, 'dear everyone, Overseer Harkun is such a cowa-"
Harkun's hand sparked meaningfully, "Don't test me, slave. Everyone else can leave, you stay."
Ruby kept the mask up as they left. Be something other than Ruby Rose for the moment, "So why're you keeping me around? Hoping that if I miss an hour of training, I'll lose to your pet?"
"You'll be gaining a roommate as of later today."
"Not Ffon, I hope?"
"Scared?"
"No, it'll just be so much harder to frame you for his death if we're sharing a room."
"I bet you think you're funny?"
"Pretty," Ruby shrugged. Throw up enough sarcasm, and they couldn't hurt you. Couldn't find what would hurt you.
"Yes, well. This is the heiress to a powerful Sith family, you will behave in her presence. That we have to have her bunk with a slave is bad enough, it'd be worse if you're unruly."
"Oh, I'm sure it will be fine. We'll braid each others hair, plot murders. Normal Sith stuff."
"Cute. No self respecting Sith would touch you."
"...Yeah, sure, let's go with that," Ruby said with a shrug, "I'll go clean our room. Bye Harkun."
-X Pyrrha X -
Pyrrha ignored the quaking as the shuttle entered through the atmosphere, staring at the message in front of her.
Heiress? Heiress? She hadn't signed up for that-
"I seem to be out an heiress."
Had, had that been a twisted offer of adoption? She knew the Sith valued strength, but to up and adopt your daughter's killer?
And why hadn't either of them mentioned this to her? She didn't want to be the heiress to a Sith family. She'd only agreed to this so she could find Ruby.
"Uh…" Pyrrha's eyes turned to one of the black suited guards across from her, "is everything alright, Lady Temere?"
No. That was where she drew the line, "Don't call me that."
"Ma'am?"
"Just call me Pyrrha, I insist."
"Are you sure, Lady Temere? It's improper for the soldiers to speak that way."
"Yes," even if she had wanted it, wasn't Jaylana still Lady Temere?
"Very well, Lady Pyrrha."
Pyrrha stifled a sigh. Good enough for now.
"How long until we land?"
"One minute. I suggest being ready."
Pyrrha checked Miló again, before sheathing it, waiting for the shuttle to land as she did. She could do this. Compared to tournaments and Grimm, this couldn't be that hard. Right?
The first thing Pyrrha noticed about Korriban was the heat. The air seemed to shimmer close to the metal landing pad they were on, and she she saw an endless field of sand below them.
Trust the Sith to build their most prodigious academy in the heart of a desert. Beacon was built on a cliff overlooking the sea, Haven was lined with trees, Sanctum into one of the floating islands. Sith had worlds, and they built their academy in a desert. Apparently, they subscribed to the school of thought that misery built character.
Stepping out of the sun, Pyrrha walked to the salt and pepper haired man sitting behind a desk, "Are you Overseer Tremel?"
"Huh?" The man's head jumped up from the display he was looking at, allowing Pyrrha to get a good look at him. The dark skin of his face was marred with lines and there was an almost dead look in his brown eyes, "Ah! I didn't hear you land, apologies," the man stood, "I am Overseer Tremel, yes. You are Pyrrha Nikos?"
"I am," Pyrrha said.
"Well then, stand still a moment so I can get a look at you," Tremel stood, pacing around Pyrrha, "Well, you weren't what I was expecting, but Alistair doesn't tend to make mistakes on such matters. You are, at least, physically strong. And you're not a slave."
Pyrrha blinked at the spat word, "Slave? What do you mean?"
"Alistair didn't tell you? The Dark Council, Darth Malgus and the Emperor have, for some reason, decided to allow Force sensitive slaves to attempt to become Sith," Tremel shook his head, "Disgusting."
"Wouldn't more Sith be a good thing?"
"Normally? Yes. But slaves are slaves because they were weak. Introducing too much of that bad blood, letting it rise so high? That will destroy us."
Pyrrha didn't say anything, keeping her disgust hidden. If Tremel was an example of a normal Sith…
The things she did for the ones she loved.
"Where do we begin, Overseer?" Pyrrha asked. The sooner she got free, the sooner she'd be able to find Ruby.
"Good. Aalale wou-" Tremel stopped, "She wouldn't have taken the initiative like that. Beyond that door is the tomb of Ajunta Pall, within you will find a Sith Warblade. Retrieve your new weapon and meet me in my office at the main academy."
"I'm fine with Miló," Pyrrha said, reaching up to touch the sheathed blade.
Tremel clicked his tongue, "Yes, Alistair did say something about that. Retrieve it nonetheless. Even if you never use it, being able to say you own a warblade that you personally retrieved from the tomb of the first Dark Lord will strengthen our claim that you are worthy of being Darth Baras's apprentice. Even after your departure from Korriban, it will be a sign of your strength."
Pyrrha nodded, walking towards the door, "Then I'll see you in your office."
"Yes. And Pyrrha?"
"Yes?"
"While you're in there, there's been an infestation of tomb robbers thinking they can take our legacy. If you eliminated them, it would also make you look better."
Wasn't she technically tomb robbing?
"Yes, Overseer."
"Good," Tremel nodded, "I'll leave you to it."
Pyrrha drew Miló, walking the brief distance between her and the tomb, sighing as sand got into her boots.
As she stepped into the tomb, Pyrrha met the eyes of a young man. He was wearing brown synth weave armor, a mass produced vibroblade on his back and a blaster on his hip.
He grabbed the blaster, firing a bolt at her. Pyrrha saw his eyes widen as she dodged around his shot. She dodged around the next two, closing the distance between them as his face paled.
"Sith!" He called down the hall as he grabbed his vibroblade, slashing at Pyrrha as it hummed.
Pyrrha caught his arm, running him through as she did.
"No!" Pyrrha dove out of the way as a stream of blaster bolts scorched where she had been.
Two more guards were running towards her, holding bayoneted blaster rifles. Pyrrha span around another two bursts, throwing Miló at one of them.
The moment Miló sunk into his chest, Pyrrha activated her Semblance, catching the blade as it flew back and launching herself across the space with unusual strength, cutting through the other.
Looking down at them, Pyrrha sighed.
"I'm sorry."
-X Yang X-
"I don't like this," Yang said for the twentieth time, carrying a box full of relics into the ship.
"I know," Blake said, carrying another with Ren, "None of us do. But you've still got that bounty on you and are the only one who can fly the ship."
"Yeah," Yang lowered the crate, walking out onto the landing pad as Blake jogged to catch up with her, "I know. But it doesn't feel right, flying a bunch of dusty old relics to the Jedi while Ruby needs our help."
"Me and Nora will make sure nothing happens to her," Blake promised, eyes trained on where Nora and Ren had stepped away, talking quietly.
After a minute of talking, Nora latched onto Ren in a back breaking hug. Ren didn't hesitate to return it, resting his head on Nora's.
With Yang incapable of going, they needed a heavy hitter tagging along with Blake. While Yang trusted her partner, everyone agreed that it would be safer if someone that could cause a lot of destruction if things went wrong came along.
"Tell Ruby I love her when you see her," Yang instructed Blake again, "and make sure she stays healthy."
She had sent messages to Ruby with those words everyday, but it wasn't the same as saying them personally.
Blake smiled at her, just a tiny quirk in the corner of her mouth, "And you make sure the Dragon stays in one piece. I don't want to bring her home only for there to be no home to bring her to."
"Relax," Yang said, "I could handle my baby in my sleep!"
"I know. And we can protect Ruby. I'm not leaving her behind again. Not now, not ever."
"Good," Yang smiled, punching Blake in the shoulder, "You gonna wait for Weiss before heading off?"
"No need to," Weiss came up next to Blake, her white coat buttoned up to her neck, "I'm here."
Weiss reached into pocket, handing Blake a golden card.
"A credit chip?" Blake asked, turning the card over.
"Yes," Weiss nodded, "It has four thousand credits on it. That should be enough to keep you going for a month or two. Just in case you can't find work."
"Thanks," Blake smiled again.
"And if something goes wrong, let us know so we can help. Ruby's not going to be happy if you two die trying to save her."
"We will," Blake nodded, "And you three stay safe. We'll call you when we get settled in."
"Still doesn't make much sense to me," Yang said, "Heading into Hutt space to get to the Empire."
"Korriban is in the Stygian Caldera," Ren said as he and Nora walked to them, "It'll disrupt any attempts to make a jump through it, Empire has the only way in and out locked down."
"And even if it wasn't, Korriban has to be heavily defended," Blake said.
"Yeah," Yang said, "but how does going to Nar Shaddaa help?"
"There's some big bounty hunter thing happening soon," Nora said, jumping in place slightly, "We're gonna find a way in."
"And that helps-?"
"We'll start on Dromund Kaas, the Empire capital planet."
"And from there to Korriban?"
Everyone shared an awkward look.
"No," Weiss finally broke it, "Then they wait."
"What?"
"There's no way they'd let us on Korriban," Blake said, "Dromund Kaas is the closest we can get. We're still going to be viewed as mercenaries, they won't trust us enough to let us onto Korriban. The moment Ruby gets off Korriban, we make a beeline for her and we get out. But that's the best we can do. The only other thing we can do is trust Ruby."
"This sucks," Yang sighed, "Like, really sucks."
"It's better than it was a couple of weeks ago," Weiss pointed out.
Blake's datapad chirped, and she looked down, "Our ship's going to start boarding soon. We're in the fifth group, but we should go."
"Yeah," Yang nodded, "We'll- just don't pull a Pyrrha, ok?"
"I won't," Blake said, grabbing her bag and walking away, Nora joining her a second later.
Yang watched them go, before turning and climbing into the Dragon, retracting the gangplank once Weiss and Ren were on.
"Hold on," Yang said, hands a blur as she got the Dragon into the air, clearing the Coruscant atmosphere at borderline illegal speeds, before punching in the coordinate of Tython, "Oh boy."
"What?" Weiss asked, sitting at the Dejarik table with Ren.
"It says it'll take six hours to get there," Yang said, reaching for the button to turn autopilot off, "I can get us there in fou-"
"No," Weiss said sharply, "We're carrying priceless relics, not guns. We'll do this properly."
"Fine," Yang sighed hitting the confirm button on the autopilot array.
As they leapt into hyperspace, Yang threw up her legs onto the front, pulling out her datapad to play a game.
- X Pyrrha X-
Pyrrha stepped into the chamber, walking towards the mummified body clutching a long sword. As she sheathed Miló, keeping an eye on the rusted droids lining the walls, Pyrrha couldn't help but be reminded of Jaune.
She hadn't heard from him since her self-imposed exile. Hell, she hadn't heard from most of her friends since then.
It had been, oddly enough, Blake who had broken the silence. A month and a half after she had disappeared into Nar Shaddaa, Pyrrha had gotten a message from the cat faunus. In it, Blake had detailed how Jaune had left for the Republic military.
Pyrrha had spent three days procrastinating about responding to it, before sending a message back. A short apology for Ruby, before asking her if the rest were angry at her.
Blake's message had said no, that they never had been. That they all were worried about her.
Pyrrha's grip on the blade grew tight. They shouldn't have been, it was her fault.
Pulling the sword from the mummy's hands, Pyrrha took a moment to examine it. The pommel was curved away from the blade, a red gem embedded in the center of it. The gladiator ran a hand along the leatherbound hilt, reaching the guard. It was clearly intended to block, as each side of the warblade's guard was bent towards the blade, to catch the opponent's blade.
The blade itself was quite simple, a straight blade made of a red tinged metal extended for about… twenty five inches? Dust she didn't know. She'd ask Ruby when they saw each other, she was good at that. Weapons, math and mechanics were Ruby's area of expertise.
The blade seemed to hum in her hand, a pleasant, enticing sound instead of the toneless hum that came from a Vibroblade. As Pyrrha looked around, however, she quickly found a problem. There was no sheath, no way to carry it back while keeping Miló in hand.
The blade humming again, causing Pyrrha to smile. Well, it couldn't hurt to use the sword once. Ruby tried out weapons all the time, even if she always returned to Crescent Rose.
As if that thought had triggered some hidden mechanism, four of the droids sprang to life, drawing conventional swords as they stood between her and the exit.
Pyrrha felt a grin slid onto her face as she wrapped her off hand around the lower portion of the blade. The blade hummed again, like it was excited.
As the first droid stepped forward, Pyrrha launched herself forward, her sword cleaving though the droid before it had time to react. And the one after that.
The next one had enough time to attempt to block, her weapon sinking into the rusted blade. Pyrrha pushed harder, cutting through the sword and droid in one strike.
Before the last droid could move, Pyrrha leapt at it, her new blade cutting though it as easily as its kin. Pyrrha looked down at her sword. It need a name… how about…?
"Ýmnos," Pyrrha breathed through a haze, staring at the sword in her hand. Ýmnos, in turn, hummed in what could only be approval.
With Ýmnos's song in her ear, the walk out of the tomb and to Tremel's office didn't seem to take as long.
As she walked down the hall leading to Tremel's office, she was stopped by a pair of young men.
"Hey there, acolyte! Stop right there," the smaller of the two said, pushing off the wall he was leaning against, "Let me have a look at you."
Pyrrha took a moment to do the same. His hair was shaved in several spots, and he had a cross shaped scar across his face. On his back was another sword.
"So you're Overseer Tremel's secret weapon, eh? You're impressive to be sure, but the old man took too long to make his move."
"You seem to have me at a disadvantage, you are…?"
"I'm Vemrin. Unlike you, I fought and bled for everything I have. I demand your respect."
"And you have it," Pyrrha said, "but Korriban is a big place, surely there's enough room for both of us?"
"I'm glad to hear you say that. There's plenty of room behind me. Listen, if Tremel had made his move a year ago, when I had first got here, you might have had a chance. But he didn't. Now you're too little, too late."
"This is ridiculous Vemrin!" The other man said, reaching for his vibroblade, "let's just kill her and hide the body!"
Ýmnos hummed as Pyrrha tensed, moving the sword slightly. Before they could come to blows, Vemrin placed his hand on his lacky's chest.
"We're not on Balmorra, Dolgis. There are rules and traditions here. We'll leave the cheating and shortcuts to Tremel and her."
"I'm not going to go down easily," Pyrrha warned.
She was going to get Ruby and herself through this, no matter what.
"You think highly of yourself, don't you?" Vemrin scoffed pushing past her, "Coming, Dolgis?"
"I'll be right there, Vemrin," Dolgis said, before turning to Pyrrha and standing to his full height. It probably would have been more intimidating if Pyrrha wasn't nearly as tall as he was, "Listen here, you bitch. Acolytes aren't allowed to murder each other, but accidents happen. It isn't murder if there's no one around, understand?"
"Are you threatening me?" Pyrrha asked incredulously, "Outside the Overseer's office?"
Dolgis froze, looking over to Tremel's office like he had just remembered where he was, "Point is, I'm warning you. Vemrin is the alpha monster here. You mess with him, you die."
"I'm not scared of you," Pyrrha said bluntly.
"Well, you should be," Dolgis scowled at her, before marching away.
Pyrrha watched him go, before walking into Tremel's office. With the Overseer was a woman around Pyrrha's age and they both turned to her.
"Ah, Pyrrha," Tremel said, "You've got the blade, good. Let me see if for a moment, would you?"
Pyrrha handed Ýmnos to Tremel. The Overseer examined the weapon.
"Father," the other woman said, "Who is this?"
"This is Pyrrha. Alistair sent her," Tremel said.
"I thought he was sending Laney?"
Tremel sighed as he closed his eyes, "Aalale is dead. She attacked someone stronger than her."
The other woman closed her eyes, shaking her head, "Damnit, Laney."
Pyrrha stood there awkwardly.
"Back on topic," Tremel said, "Well done, Pyrrha. You completed this trial perfectly. Your next one will be tomorrow. Take your blade and-" Tremel hit something on his desk, and a chirp came from Pyrrha's datapad, "-that is your room number. We're supposed to fill up each room, so you'll be bunking with a slave. My friend Harkun is her Overseer and says she's trouble. Inform me if she is too much, we'll deal with it."
"I'm… I'm sure we'll get along fine," Pyrrha said, turning and walking out.
It took a few minutes to find the room. She would drop off her stuff and go to look for Ruby.
"So," A familiar voice said as the door swung open, "You're my roommate? I don't know what they told you but- Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha let Ýmnos fall from her hands, "Ruby?"
Sitting on a messy bed, though when Pyrrha had entered she had been sprawled out on it and staring at the ceiling, wearing red robes was Ruby.
- X Ruby X-
Ruby stood from her bed, walking with a calm she wasn't feeling. She pulled Pyrrha into the room, looking around the hall furtively. Once she confirmed that nobody else was around, Ruby withdrew, hitting the buttons on the panel next to the door to shut and lock it.
Then she promptly span around and tackled Pyrrha onto the bed behind them.
"Pyrrha! What are you doing here?! No, nevermind," Ruby babbled as she wrapped her arms around Pyrrha, "Dust, I'm happy to see you! I mean, I didn't expect help this quickly when I sent that lett-" Ruby stopped, pushing herself up so she was straddling Pyrrha.
Pyrrha, for her part, was staring up at Ruby with wide eyes, her red hair splayed out like a halo on the equally red sheets.
Ruby hid her own flinch at the crack of her hand on Pyrrha's cheek, watching the gladiator raise a hand to touch the red spot, "What-?"
"You idiot," Ruby seethed, "You and Jaune both. I stayed behind to keep you safe and you leave everyone else? Do you know how worried I was when I got your message? And now you're here! I don't know how you got to Korriban, but there's no way they'd let us get off. And, and-" Ruby froze again, "You need to go."
"What? Why?" Pyrrha asked.
"I'm supposed to get a roommate later today. They haven't shown up yet and-"
"I think I'm the roommate," Pyrrha said.
"Wuh-?" Ruby stared at Pyrrha in bewilderment.
"That family I mentioned… they were Sith. I had to kill their daughter in self-defense and they asked me to come here. I agreed so I could protect you."
Ruby blushed slightly, "Oh."
Pyrrha's face suddenly became serious, "Ruby. They said I was bunking with a slave."
"Former slave," Ruby corrected. There was no point in denying it.
Ruby tensed for a quarter of a second as Pyrrha pulled her close, before returning to hugging Pyrrha.
"Oh, Ruby," Pyrrha sounded choked, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault," Ruby said, "I'm fine. It's over now."
Those scars were hers to live with. Not Pyrrha's. Never Pyrrha's.
"This is my fault," Pyrrha mumbled, "I should have paid more attention, realized you weren't actually on the Dragon."
"I thought I was the one who threw my datapad in?" Ruby asked, "how is that your fault?"
Pyrrha didn't answer, merely tightened her hold on Ruby. Ruby hugged her back, ignoring the part of her that was pointing out, with justifiable confusion, that she was in the midst of comforting someone for something that had happened to her.
Still, Pyrrha was here! Ruby had expected to go at least a year without seeing any of her friends!
"Pyrrha," Ruby said, "It doesn't matter. You're here now. I missed you."
Ruby heard Pyrrha swallow, "I missed you too. More than you could know… Oh! I had something I wanted to ask you. Can you get off of me for a moment?"
Ruby rolled off of Pyrrha, staring at the metallic roof and resisting the urge to give a mad laugh. When she had been told she was getting a roommate, she had been prepared to slide the mask of sarcasm on at all times. There would have been nowhere it was safe to just be herself.
But it was Pyrrha! Pyrrha was here! She could be herself around Pyrrha! Well, almost herself.
"So!" Ruby popped up, a grin on her face, "Whatcha need?"
Pyrrha had picked up the sword she had walked in with, hesitating briefly before offering it to Ruby, "I retrieved it as my first task. I was wondering what you could tell me about it."
"Sure!" Ruby grabbed the sword, examining it. The first thing she noticed was that it was lighter than it probably should have been, "Lets see… Longsword, probably around-" Ruby stuck out her tongue, "Four feet. Not sure what kinda metal though…" Ruby span it once, experimentally, "It's really well balanced," Ruby closed her eyes for a moment, "and radiating the Dark Side."
"Is it safe?" Pyrrha asked, worry creasing her face.
"Pyrrha, it's a sword."
"You know what I mean," Pyrrha sighed.
"Should be fine, yeah," Ruby handed Pyrrha back the sword, "Pretty much everything old does that here. Do you have a name for it yet?"
"Ýmnos," Pyrrha said, leaning the blade against the wall of their room. Something about that it was their room made Ruby want to giggle madly, which she did, "are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Ruby said, "Just happy you're here. Whatcha gonna do with Ým- whatever?"
"I'll get a sheath for tomorrow," Pyrrha said.
"Ok! Hey," Ruby frowned as she realized something, "Where's Akoúo̱?"
Pyrrha stopped, reaching behind her, "I left it on the Dragon."
"Why?" Ruby cocked her head, "It's still a good throwing weapon."
"It didn't feel right, carrying a shield after…"
"Pyrrha," Ruby said, swapping from happy to worried, taking Pyrrha's hand gently, "You took this really hard didn't you."
"Yes," Pyrrha said, looking back at Ruby, "I'm sorry. I'm going to make this up to you, no matter what it takes."
"Make what up to me?" Ruby asked, "You didn't do anything wrong."
Pyrrha crouched slightly, bringing her even with Ruby, "I promise you, I'm going to keep you safe until one of us leaves Korriban. If it's me, I'll wait for you. And if it's you, I'll do whatever it takes to finish here and meet with you."
"I hope you realize I'm not going to sit around like a damsel," Ruby said, remembering the stories she had loved on Remnant, "We're going to get through this together, Pyrrha. Ok?"
"Ok," Pyrrha smiled back at her.
"Great," Ruby chirped, grabbing Pyrrha by the arm and dragging her towards the door, "Come on, let's get something to eat while you tell me what you've been doing!"
-X Line Break X-
Ren felt the Dragon shift, tilting downwards as they slowed rapidly. Ren calmly stood, breaking from his meditation and walking out of his room.
Weiss was seated before the chess set she kept in a corner. Her right hand was holding her datapad, blue eyes trained on it as her left hand messed with the pawn before her left rook. The black piece spinning idly. The datapad chirped and Weiss let go of the piece and reached across, moving one of the pawns on the white side.
Weiss, Ruby and Pyrrha had been happy to see the game existed in the Galaxy, even if it had never become as popular as its circle based cousin. The set had fallen into disuse after they lost Ruby and Pyrrha. Jaune would play on occasion, but he had been focused on whatever thoughts had driven him to join the Republic military.
"Who are you playing with?" Ren asked, leaning on the railing across from Weiss as she moved a black pawn, typing something into the datapad.
"Ruby," Weiss said.
Ren nodded, closing his eyes and listening to the rattling of the ship. The Golden Dragon had been a bit of a clunker back when they had bought it, five years before. The first set of jobs they had ever done were to get the parts Ruby and Yang had needed to fix the various failing systems of the XS. Still despite that, Yang could make the ship dance when the need arose.
"Alright you two," Yang called, "We'll be entering Tython space in a minute or tw-"
Attention unidentified vessel. You are approaching Tythonian space. Identify yourself or you will be shot d-
"Shut up, would ya?" Yang sighed. Whatever she had done, the warning immediately halted.
The holocommunicator in the center of the ship beeped, informing them of someone attempting to hail them.
"I've got it," Ren said to Weiss, who was halfway out of her chair. Turning, Ren walked to it, hitting the button to take the call. The machine flickered on, "Hello?"
Standing in the projected light, flickering slightly, was an older woman with her hair in a bun. At Ren's word, she smiled and Ren was distinctly reminded of someone's grandmother, "Hello. I am Master Yuon Par. I take it you are the freighter bringing my relics?"
Her relics? "We are, Master Par."
"I'm glad to hear that," she said, "Normally, you would be required to land at the station and take a shuttle down, but from what I hear, you're carrying a rather large load. Is that true?"
"Yes," they were being paid by the crate, so Weiss had them pack as many as they could onto the ship.
"Then I have permission to grant you permission to land on the planet," Yuon said, "due to safety concerns, however, I must inform you that you will be restricted to certain areas of the temple."
"Of course," Ren said, "That is reasonable, we are outsiders."
"Thank you for understanding," Yuon said kindly, "I'll head over now to meet with you. My apologies if you get there a bit before me."
Ren sat down as the hologram flicked off, preparing himself for the turbulence of landing. He wasn't disappointed, the entire ship rattled slightly as they entered the atmosphere, through it stopped after they got lower. They really needed to get that stabilizer fixed.
"Damn," Yang breathed, "Ren, come look at this!"
Ren stood from his seat, making his way to the co-pilot seat and looking out. Stretching out as far as they could see was nature. A mountain range was to their left and below them was a giant forest with a raging river through it. In front of them...
"That must be the Jedi temple," Ren said, watching the building approach.
"Yeah," Yang reached over, hitting a switch, "Hey! Anyone picking this up?"
"Yes," a calm voice said, "You are the freighter Master Par mentioned?"
"Yep! We're starting our approach now."
Once they had landed, Ren was the first out, stepping off while Yang finished the sequence to open the cargo bay and turn off the Dragon. Yuan was actually already there, alongside a large trandoshan.
"Ah! It's good to meet you face to face," Yuon said, "This is my friend, Qyzen Fess. Qyzen, this is… oh," Yuon turned away from Qyzen, "my apologies, I was so excited about these relics I forgot to get your name."
"I'm Lie Ren, it's a pleasure to meet you Qyzen, but if you don't mind me asking, what is a trandoshan doing on Tython?"
"Tracking prey, Little Hunter," Qyzen said, staring down his scaled snout, "Beasts of Tython very large, very strong, good for Score."
"Score?" Ren asked.
"Scorekeeper watches us, sees all, knows all. Prey award points. Large prey, strong prey, more points," Qyzen gestured as he spoke, something Ren was going to assume was a smile on his face, "More points, more honor when meeting Scorekeeper."
"Interesting," Ren said, "Do you have a large score?"
"Not one for boasting," Qyzen said, "Yes. Should probably return to hunt. Will be back later, Yuon, Little Hunter."
"Yes, I'll see you later, Qyzen," Yuon said, before smiling at Ren, "Thank you for that. Many disapprove of my friendship with Qyzen. It's good to meet someone else that can see beyond his race, Lie."
"Ren," Ren said automatically.
"I'm sorry?"
"Everyone calls me Ren."
"Do you want to be called Ren?"
"Yes."
"Very well, Ren," Yuon said, "I should probably start in on these relics."
"Are you an archaeologist, Master Par?"
"Of sorts," Yuon said, "I travel across the Galaxy, trying to learn more about the Force from the past. I won't bore you with the details, Ren."
"That doesn't sound particularly boring," Ren said, "We can learn a lot from the past."
"Indeed we can," Yuon said, "but some of my colleagues think I take my interest too far. Would you mind assisting me with the first crate, if it doesn't bore you? I have many relics to go through."
"Sure," Ren said, "Where do we start?"
"Maybe," Yang called, "with helping us actually get them off the ship?"
- X Line Break X-
Slower chapter this time, moving people to places they need to be and preparing to the pile of unpleasantness that is the next trial for Pyr and Ruby. Not sure about the Ren scene, feel free to drop a comment to tell me what you think of it (and of the new way I'm trying to signal perception shifts).
Before anyone asks, no, I'm not intentionally giving Jaune the short end of the stick. He was supposed to get a section this chapter, but I needed to cut something, and him sitting on a ship in the Outer Rim waiting for the Imps to do stuff was the least plot connected. He'll get his time in the spotlight soon, but right now things are all quiet on the Outer Rim.
