As the cloud caused by the explosion subdued Jaune rushed with his hardlight shield and sword against Roman, while Pyrrha and Blake took on Neo. While the three of them got the pirates by surprise, they were met with fierce resistance.
Jaune was surprised to see that Roman wasn't all talk and was fighting in equal footing with him, despite the assistance of the Hunter armor. And he wondered what that cane was made of to block his sword so easily. They traded blows and none of them seemed to be able to outdo each other.
Pyrrha and Yang weren't having better luck with Neo. The redhead had learned her lesson last time and didn't waste her energy with her Semblance, trying her best to hit the multicolored adversary. The blonde also tried to use more of speed instead of power, but even against the two Neo was able to keep them in check, always with a smirk in her face as she used her weird weapon to block and counter. But that wasn't working as they were not only getting in each other way, every time they were about to hit, the girl would dematerialize in a rain of shards and be somewhere else hitting them back.
In one of those movements Neo smiled and fired two rounds from her weapon, making Pyrrha and Yang fall back and collide with each other. The two girls got up and waited, but the multicolored alien girl just waited for them while Jaune kept fighting Roman.
"Should one of us help Jauney and then the three of us go get this midget?" Yang asked Pyrrha as her visor started to glow red.
"No… He would not be of help if we can't coordinate." Pyrrha said as she caught her breath.
"If at least that girl stopped moving so much!" The blonde complained as she got ready to fight again.
"That is it! Yang, I have an idea to pin her down! When I do, it will be your turn!"
Pyrrha felt a little ridiculous she never thought of this before. Sure the little alien had no much metal on herself for the redhead's Semblance to control, but everywhere else was made of metal. She threw her shield against Neo, and the girl blocked it with easy, but this time Pyrrha used her powers to make the shield come back and hit the alien in the back. A displeased expression filled the enemy's as she shot the shield, breaking it in many pieced.
But Pyrrha smirked under her helmet and controlled the pieces and made them hit Neo from several directions, making her illusion trick useless. The alien girl grew annoyed and used her weapon to hit the shards, making them getting stuck on the ground. But Pyrrha was not finished, and used her Semblance to manipulate the cables beneath the floor to wrap them on Neo's legs. With the distraction Yang got a window and punched Neo for the very first time, making the enemy fly back and held her stomach. The blonde tried to punch again but was hit by a shot, and while the armor saved her, she flew back.
Pyrrha jumped in the fry and started raining thrusts with her spear, and a still groggy Neo barely was able to dodge. You don't get hit by Yang without paying a price, after all. The redhead used her upper hand to disarm the alien and kicked her in the face. An angry Neo looked in surprise while holding her face. The Marine tried to connect a punch but hit shattered glass and Neo's own punch, sending her flying. The alien didn't have time to breath as Yang punched again, with the alien answering with a kick. The two attacks connect and the two girls flew with the blonde landing by Pyrrha's side.
Neo didn't have that lucky as the powerful punch sent her flying and she collided with Roman, making Jaune step back while the pirate stumbled and Neo fell on the ground, squirming in pain and holding her stomach. Roman let out a displeased sigh and kicked the alien girl making her pass out, and then he kicked her again, angering Jaune.
"Useless piece of trash! I should never have spent the money I did with you!" Roman growled but had to block and jump back as Jaune put himself between him and Neo.
"What are you doing?! She is your ally!" The blonde said and Roman started laughing loud.
"You're precious! Ally? She's my slave, an object I bought from the traders years ago." Jaune answered by attacking careless, and Roman used the chance to trip him and put his cane on his head while the two Marines watched in fear. "You gave me too much trouble! And to think you will die because you pitied an enemy that is just a slave. I will enjoy shooting your brain off!"
"Zwei! Bite!" Jaune yelled and the robotic dog jump and started biting the alien's forearm. Roman yelled and shouted as he tried to get the drone out of his arm. Seen a chance, Pyrrha launched her spear, and Zwei jumped off Roman. The spear hit the arm and cut it off, making the pirate growl in pain and ran away by a service door. Jaune got up and ran towards his Marines, helping them to stand. "Thanks, you two saved me. You too, Zwei." The robotic dog barked happily. "Now let's get out of here."
"They locked us inside!" Yang stated as she tried the door. She started punching it, but she was already low in Aura. Jaune looked around and decided to do a new crazy stunt.
"Nagato, here's Jaune. We can't reach you by the air dock, we will escape other way. Start flying, we will signal you where to pick us up."
"Understood, captain. But be aware you will not listen the end of it." Sun answered. Jaune approached Neo and saw she was still alive, so he grabbed the emergency space bag and put her inside, closing the zipper and seeing his Hunter pressurizing it.
"Captain, what exactly are you doing?" Pyrrha asked and Jaune armed his pulse rifle. "Oh." Pyrrha stated as she realized the situation.
"And why are we taking the midget with us? Let the pirates take care of her." Yang said as she watched Jaune finishing preparing the space bag.
"You heard Roman, right? She is… was a slave. At least I hope to find a place where she can receive a second chance. Don't worry; I will keep her in the brigs after Doc get a look at her. Yang, grab Zwei, Pyrrha, hold on Neo. Prepare to one hell of a ride."
…
The Nagato pushed itself out of the clutches of the pirate's base, and Coco and Sun fired against the ships still docked, but most of them were already moving to intercept. Neptune maneuvered the ship a few hundred meters away and checked the scanners for any sign of the captain and the girls.
"Whatever he want to do, better he do fast! They are coming to get us and I think this time they don't want our ship!" Neptune said as he dodged a few shots. Sun fired back and took a ship down.
"Knowing him, it will be either really anti-climatic or HOLY HELL!" The golden light of the pulse canon crossed a few dozen meters from the ship's nose, which was too close for the crew members. As soon as the light dissipated they aimed the cameras at the rather large hole they opened and saw four people floating outside. "Captain! You almost took us down!"
"Jaune can't answer at the moment! He used too much Aura! Use the tractor beam to get us inside the ship!" Pyrrha shouted over the radio. "And have Doc on the bay because we have an injured prisoner with us!"
"Prisoner?" Sun wondered while Ren used the tractor beam to pull to pull the group inside the ship by its docking bay.
"We wonder about it later. Ren, activate the explosives on the base! Sun, Coco, destroy the enemy ships! Neptune, get us out of here! Set coordinates back to Remnant, we are going home!" Glynda ordered and they did as asked, but Velvet noticed the last command.
"Remnant, ma'am?"
"Yes, Sgt. Scarlatina. He accomplished our mission, after all." The blonde woman said but it was not the time to celebrate as the pirate ships kept firing on them.
…
Jaune and the others floated on the docking bay as the artificial gravity was turned off due to the red alert. Ruby and Weiss helped the four of them down and Doc started examining them, but Blake kept a gun pointed towards Neo all the time. The captain saw that but couldn't blame her for being cautious. After all they were fighting her a few moments before.
"You need to rest, the four of you." Doc affirmed as she scanned them. Zwei barked as he floated with Ruby. "No, you are fine and can resume your duty, Zwei."
"Pyrrha, Yang, you two go to the med bay with Doc. I am needed at the bridge. Blake, go with them and keep an eye on Neo. I want an armed guard with her all times until I decide what to do with her." Jaune explained as he used the few minutes to catch his breath.
"You should let Glyn command this fight, Jauney." The doctor said but the blonde boy shook his head.
"It is my ship, my responsibility. I want all of you out of the docking bay, it is too dangerous here."
"Shouldn't we launch a fighter at least? I still can fly." Yang said but her tone showed she was not in top condition.
"We will warp as soon as possible. I will not risk any of you now. Not when we almost did it." They didn't have time to inquiry him any further as he floated towards the elevator to go to the bridge. The rest of them followed his orders.
…
"Status report!" Jaune shouted as he entered the bridge and the Nagato shook once again as it got hit. He sat on his chair and opened his panel.
"We activated the explosives and took one ship down with it." Glynda explained as the image of the base shattering could be seen. "Wukong and Adel took down other three as we were fleeing."
"Perfect! Now get us out of here!" Jaune stated as he saw the pirate ships firing and pursuing. "Sun, fire the mine net! Coco, missiles and canons! Neptune, Ren, I want all the speed!"
"Aye aye captain!" They answered at the same time.
The mine net was as the name suggested a series of powerful explosives linked by a thin nanotube cable. It was impossible to see by naked eye in the darkness of the space and the carbon coating made it hard to be detected. The net being a hundred kilometers in each side made it a good trap against pursuing ships. And as one of the mines contacted one of the pirate's ship; the net wrapped itself around it and all the small explosives detonated at the same time. It was more than enough to break the ship's hull and kill it.
"Incoming fighters!" Coco warned as the seven remaining ships launched small, globe-like ships with four wings.
"Neptune, spin us so the MASERs forward! Coco, fire them at the same time! Sun, AA guns, use them!" Jaune barked.
The Nagato kept being hit but did the spin and when the MASERs were pointed Coco fired, frying a good number of the incoming fighters. The ship was hit by canon fire and one of the MASERs exploded. Neptune spun again and tried to get distance while Coco and Sun kept firing every weapon they could. They sunk two other ships along the way while taking a few hits, and Jaune thanked the improved shields or else they would have exploded by now.
"Two more minutes before the jumping point! GAH! We lost one auxiliary engine! Make it three!" Neptune said as the Nagato got a strong hit in its back.
"We lost one of our main canons! And half our AA guns!" Coco shouted as she and Sun kept trying to get hid of the pursuers.
"Prepare all the flares! Ren, tell Nora to prepare the rest of our MOABs! I will use the distraction if needed too!" Jaune shouted and Ren did as asked, then the captain talked to the ship itself. "Come on, girl, just a few more clicks!"
"Jaune… I am detecting subspace variation! Something is warping close by!" Ren said and Jaune looked at the main screen as the aurora effect gave place to a silver saucer like object.
The object flew 'above' them with impressive speed and fired energy beams against the pirates. Before the Nagato could do something of it the saucer fired against them, hitting the remaining of their weaponry and shaking the ship violently. The ship left a trail of debris as it moved forward.
"Damage report!" Jaune asked as he fixed himself on his chair.
"No one's hurt, but we have hull breach in the Dust deposits and the food factory. All weapons are offline. Force shields are offline. We lost both auxiliary ionic engines. The enemy ship is now using a tractor beam on us." Penny reported and Jaune was almost panicking.
"Sun, fire the flares and the MOABs! I want them exploding as soon as the flares ends! Neptune, the moment the bombs goes off, warp, jumping point or not!" Jaune ordered.
No one questioned him.
The flares were launched and activated, nullifying the tractor beam for long enough to the Nagato to flee again. The saucer took a few moments to resume pursuit, apparently failing to notice the MOABs approaching them. The truth was bombs weren't very effective in a vacuum, but Dust bombs were different. They generated kinetic energy in an atmosphere, true, but in space they generated pure cosmic energy, heat and light.
When the five bombs exploded, it filled the empty space with a beautiful show of lights.
When the lights subdued, there was only the mysterious saucer floating, undamaged.
…
Roman woke up. He wasn't supposed to, he thought to himself as he looked around the dim lit room he was. He got up and noticed another thing that wasn't supposed to be there. His arm that Pyrrha took was there, but not exactly. It was a bionic prosthetic and he found it fascinating. He wondered who rescued him after the mysterious spaceship attacked them when they were pursuing the Nagato. Probably some fool species with too much kindness to know better than saving a pirate like him.
He was taken from his thoughts when the doors in front of his medical bed opened and three people walked towards him. He was surprised because they looked almost the same as the Nagato's crew species, except for the black veins visible wherever the skin was. There was a woman, with green hair and red eyes, the skin darker than the other two and a playful smile. A man, silver hair and black eyes, and a smug smile that made Roman want to punch him on sight.
But the third one, the other woman in the fiery dress was something different. The way she walked and stared at the pirate was regal, and Roman could sense her immense power from afar. She cast her golden eyes on him and smiled with a hand on her waist.
"And who you might be?" Roman asked, knowing he had little chance to escape that woman even if he tried.
"I am the one that owns your life. I did not rescue you from the wreckage for nothing. So, until you pay your debt, I owe you." She stated and Roman gulped. She wasn't jesting and she could do whatever she wanted, he thought.
"And how exactly can I be of assistance?"
"That black ship you was pursuing, it escaped our grip with a feint. That ship saw something they shouldn't have, and I need to find them quickly. So, let's start with you telling me everything you know about them." Roman expression was first of shock, and then an evil smile crossed his face. It appeared he would have another opportunity to have his vengeance.
…
"Well, the MASERs are gone, beyond repair, as it is three of our main canons and half of our AA guns. We lost the artificial gravity system, the bullhead the pirates captured, almost all of our Dust when the hull breached AND 90% of our food supply with that. The auxiliary ionic engines are lost. And the reason we are stranded in open space is because the damage to the left MASER also damaged the warp engine, and broke the rainbow Dust at its core." Nora explained to a tired Jaune as the Nagato drifted around. After a few hours in subspace the engine gave up and they were expelled from it.
"OK, that sounds bad. Can the warp engine be repaired?" The captain asked trying to keep as calm as possible. At least no one was injured except for Neo that was still on med bay.
"Thankfully it can. But we only have enough Dust to one more warp. Even if we gather all the Dust around form our guns to life support, we can do only this last trip." Nora said in an unusual dejected tone. Jaune stood up and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"One more trip is all we need." He said and she smiled at him. Jaune returned to his seat and activated the intercom. "OK, everyone. First order of the day, six hours sleep. I know all of us have being awake for the last 24 hours and that is not healthy, so I am ordering you all to sleep. Let the automated repair sister do its job for now. After that, I want you gather all Dust you can, from your guns to the bullheads and fighters. The priority is keeping the Nagato flying. After that we will start repairing the warp engine. Once we finish that we will discuss our next step."
"I hope you are adding yourself on those mandatory six hours of sleep." Glynda asked as she saw how Jaune was barely able to stay awake.
"You and me both, Glyn. If I stay awake any longer I will collapse. Penny, sorry I can't give you a rest too, but I want you to start the repairs on the warp engine right now."
"It is no problem at all, captain. I am fully charged and can work for a week!" the android said with a smile, and Jaune nodded.
"OK, I am going to pass out in my quarters. See you all later." He answered as the crew left the bridge, all walking in zombie mode.
…
"How's she?" Jaune asked as he visited the med bay the next day. On a med bed was Neo, still unconscious but alive. She looked peaceful there, at least.
"Considering I am treating a completely different species than the one I was trained to, she is stable, but I can't say stable good or stable bad." Doc said as she ran some tests again. "You know, you did well rescuing her, I think she would not survive her wounds if she didn't get first aid."
"That we shall see when she wakes up." Jaune said as he approached the girl. She really didn't look like she could fight Yang and Pyrrha at the same time and give them so much work.
"I wish we could be friends, you know?" He turned to Ruby as she spoke. She was in guard duty that morning. "I mean, if she was a slave and all, I hope she see what we did as helping her."
"This is a good attitude, Rubes." Jaune said with a smile and petted the girl, an act that ended up her favorite. "Sorry we had to confiscate your cookies."
"Well, we do need all the food we can. A month's worth supply, right?" She said with a grin and Jaune nodded, glad to have such optimistic girl on board in a moment like that. But then they listened to beeps and saw Neo squirming on the bed.
"Doc!" Jaune asked as he approached the table. Neo started trashing and he tried to hold her.
"Vitals are going wild! I have no idea what is happening!" The doctor said as she checked the panels. "I will try to stabilize her but you need to hold her!"
Jaune nodded and turned towards Neo when the alien girl simple opened her eyes, grabbed his collar and kissed him, tongue and all. It was just two seconds, but when she let go of him she returned to sleep, the beeping stopping. Jaune and Ruby stared at her dumbfounded, but the doctor just checked the panels and left a sigh of relieve. She turned to the girl and noticed she was sweating some type of gel.
"Whatever you did, Jaune, it stabilized her and triggered some physiological response. She is… cocooning." The doctor affirmed as the gel covered the girl's body and crystallized.
"Cocooning? You mean like a butterfly?" Ruby asked, as Jaune was still too shocked to answer.
"Exactly. Maybe her body is going to adapt to our life conditions." The doctor concluded as she got some samples. "And Jauney just become the first boy to kiss an alien."
"Oh, when I tell everyone…" Ruby giggled evilly, taking Jaune out of his shocked state.
"Don't do that! Call Blake, I want two Marines with her from now on. I won't risk that her change into a monsters instead of a butterfly when she wakes up. And Doc, I want a full check up on myself. What if she impregnated me or something?"
"To be fair, you would be a great father, captain." Ruby stated and they laughed a little.
…
"You… kissed her…" Pyrrha asked when they reunited at the med bay as Jaune wanted to speak with everyone. Jaune stared at her, and then at Ruby, that scratched her cheek and smiled guiltily.
"You told them." He affirmed as he pointed an accusatory finger at the small redhead.
"It escaped me when we talked about first kisses in the shower…" She said apologetically.
"First, she kissed me. Thankfully it didn't affect me and apparently it is helping her. Second, this is not why we are here."
"It is so now." Yang said with a smirk, and slightly red eyes. Jaune groaned and massaged his nose bridge.
"No, it is not! And it never will! We are reunited here today…"
"Oh, a marriage! Who is marrying?" Nora started babbling and Ren covered her mouth and nodded to Jaune continue.
"…so I can congratulate everyone. We accomplished our primary mission, and we are returning home." They all stared at him in shocked silence, and he stared back. "Uh, really? I hoped this time I would get more of a reaction."
"But… how… we… I not even…" Weiss started babbling too.
"Look, Nora and Penny finally fixed the warp engine, and the only thing left is using our reserve Dust core so we can go back to Remnant. We indeed discovered a planet fit to colonization, a prime planet to boot! No sentient indigenous species, high compatible with our physiology, no claiming over it and with the pirates destroyed there is little risk for our colonization effort!" Jaune stated, and finally it clicked with the crew. They started smiling, laughing and even crying. They shared hugs and smiles for a good fifteen minutes before Jaune could talk again. "So, once we put the core online, we are going home. I wanted to thank you all because without you this mission wouldn't be possible. I want to say you are more than my crew, you are my friends and family, and even if the Command back home sends us to different posts, I will do whatever I can to be close to you GAH!"
He couldn't finished as Yang, Pyrrha and Velvet hugged him, and that suddenly turned into a big group hug as Nora and Ruby pushed everyone into it, even Glynda and Doc. Another good five minutes passed before they could break out of the hug.
"OK, remember to not do this when we are in any official ceremony." Jaune joked.
"I promise nothing." Yang said with a wink, making Jaune blush a little.
"So, let's make our girl fly again." Jaune got a metallic box he brought with him, where the Dust cores were guarded, and punched a code, scanned his hand and used a voice sample to open it. Inside, two dodecahedral crystals rested, the size of a closed fist, made of shining colors. The captain grabbed one and stared at it, examining them for a while. Then his face contorted into an angry scowl and he broke the crystal with his hand, cutting it. The Doc and Velvet rushed to help him while the other watched the scene.
"Dude, why you did that! Don't we need those things?" Sun asked first as he saw the glass fragments and Dust powder on the ground.
"Those… aren't real rainbow Dust crystal… just normal Dust powder in a glass case…" Weiss said as tears flowed from her face. "They are fakes."
"What? Fakes? Why they gave us fakes?" Sun asked in confusion, a feeling shared by anyone else.
"Penny, security logs, from last to first." Jaune asked and Penny nodded.
"Arc, Jaune, Spacy, Captain. Ozpin, Director of Project Beacon. Ironwood, James, General, Colonial Armed Forces. Winchester, Henry, Atlas Councilman…" The captain cut her on that point.
"Councilman Winchester? Detail it."
"Councilman Winchester was the one who took the reserve cores from the Council Safe Locker to deliver it to Director Ozpin. His escort was fireteam CRDL from the Colonial Marine Corps. They used the Councilman Private's bullhead to go from the Council station to Project Beacon's dock." The android explained and Jaune started cursing under his breath.
"Wait, do you believe that they would steal the Dust? Isn't it useless except for the warp drive?" Neptune asked.
"We don't have proof. Maybe the colonies don't actually have extra cores to spare. Maybe the good counselor decided our mission was doomed and decided to 'save' the Dust, or that if we succeed we would show how his son 'found' some Dust crystals to help the colonization efforts. Either way, whoever did it screwed us." Jaune summarized as Velvet cleaned his hand from the cuts.
"No! It can't be! Not when we need one last step to finish this mission!" Weiss started crying and yelling, and Ruby hugged her tight. "Don't touch me…" Weiss said in a weak tone but kept the hug.
"Nora, Ren, alternatives?" Jaune asked his engineers. The duo stared at each other and then at the captain.
"There is… none… The rainbow Dust is what creates the warping… There are no substitutes…" Ren said defeated. Nora hugged him to hide her tears.
"There is a real rainbow Dust crystal we can use." They all moved their eyes upon Penny, who kept her eyes cast down. She unzipped her jacked and exposed her chest, but before anyone could say anything, it opened to reveal a shining crystal that changed colors and glowed naturally.
"It is a real crystal." Ren said as he examined it. "We can use it on the engine!"
"But… what about Penny?" Ruby asked, and Jaune signalized to Ren to explain.
"The crystal is being used as a Positronic brain. It is what gives Penny the ability to feel. But to use it at the warp core, it would need to be realigned. It would effectively erase its function as a Positronic brain… and Penny would be just a normal AI." Ren concluded.
"Wait, are you saying this would kill Penny?" Ruby said in panic.
"Unacceptable! She is our friend!" Weiss said in support.
"Calm down everyone! We won't be yanking Penny's heart out of her chest. I want options!" Jaune shouted and they started talking all at the same type.
"That won't be necessary." They all stopped talking when Penny's voice came from the intercom. They looked around to see the mobile unit wasn't there anymore. Ruby zapped to the door but it was closed shut.
"Penny!" She yelled at the walls.
"I am not a real girl. So I won't really 'die'. My mission is to help the crew, even if this is not what you all want. I am thankful I met you all; you made me feel a part of the crew instead of part of the ship. And to thank you all, I will give my core for your lives. In my heart, I know it is the right thing to do."
"Penny, as your captain I am commanding you to stop!" Jaune shouted with tears on his eyes.
"I am sorry, captain. I won't be able to obey your order. Thank you, for everything."
…
Penny stared at the empty space in the warp engine where the core should be. She never expected to be hesitant to do what she was born to. Memories of her time with the crew filled her systems, and at the same time compelled her to do what she had to. Once again she opened her chest and activated a programmed routine. Her body now moved on her own and grabbed the Dust crystal, putting it in place. Then she activated the Nagato's one last warp back home.
…
"Damn it, Penny… Why you had to do this…" Jaune asked as they noticed the ship going to warp. Everyone was either crying or in silence.
"She did what she needed to… She saved us all, all of Remnant." Glynda said as she sat by his side and wrapped her arms around him.
"You know what is sad? They won't recognize it because she was artificial."
"But we will! We will tell everyone about her. That the only reason we did it was because of her!" Ruby shouted to the captain and he gave her a weak smile.
"I just wish I could have said to her that to me, she was a real girl." Jaune lamented again, tears escaping from his eyes and floating on the zero-G environment.
"I am thankful you see me like this, captain."
"PENNY!?" He yelled as he shot up.
"Yes. Did you all forget I have two cores? Maybe I should have said it beforehand…"
"Wait, did we forget THAT? WE ARE ALL DOLTS! DUNCES! IMBECILES!" Weiss said as she tried to dry her face. "Never scare me like this again!"
"OK, let's us all forgot the scare our little friend did and celebrate! We are going home!" coco stated and they all started celebrating again….
Until the ship shook violently.
"Penny!" Jaune asked.
"The warp engines are working fine… Something is diverting our course and pulling us… faster than supposed." The med bay door opened and they rushed towards their stations. Once in the bridge Ren started analyzing the data.
"There is a disturbance on the slipstream we are riding." He informed and Jaune cursed openly for a bit.
"Can we escape it?"
"We are being forced to warp out." Penny informed. As soon as they warped, she showed on the screen a yellow star. The star looked very alike their own so they were helpful they did it. "Defining our position, but… I don't think we are in our home system anymore, captain."