"So, where are we?" Jaune asked as they all finally calmed down.
"According to the star positions, we are here…" Penny showed in the screen their relative position in the sector. They were close to the Mapped Sector, and closer to their home system at least, even if still far away. "… I detect nine planets orbiting that star."
"At least it means we might as well find some Dust deposits and resupply, so the situation isn't as doom and gloom yet. Move us to the closest planet, Neptune. Ren, get Nora and start fixing whatever you can of the ship since we probably will stay here for some time, especially weaponry now." Ren nodded and Jaune hit the intercom button. "Captain speaking, we were detoured from our route by unknown means. Luckily we arrived in a star system with planets, so we might be able to fix this mess. Please stay calm and return to your routine duties."
"Sir, shouldn't we be worried with how we ended here?" Glynda asked and Jaune nodded.
"You take a look at that with Velvet and Penny, Commander. But our priority is resupplying and going back home." Jaune said and the blonde woman nodded in agreement.
…
"This is getting ridiculous!" Weiss yelled as she walked side to side in their quarters while Blake tried to read and ignore the heiress. "It is like the whole universe just want to make us unable to go back home!"
"At least we are not in the middle of nowhere. We find some Dust, fill the tank and go back." Blake stated calmly.
"And since when anything goes our way in this ship?" Weiss screeched and then sat on her bed defeated. "I just… I just want to go to that planet we found, you know? Build a nice little house away from my family, start a life where the Schnee name is one people respect not because of the power we hold but the good we do…"
"Weiss?" Blake dropped her scroll and sat by her friend's side, hugging her gently, surprised those were the dreams the heiress had. "I want to fix my mistakes, you know. I want to make sure the Faunus have their place and the rights that for so long we were denied, but this time, I want to do it the right way. No more violence, no more death."
"Awww, how cute! You two are bonding!" Yang snickered from her bunker, surprised no one noticed her before. Blake tried to straighten up but Weiss hugged her tighter.
"How dare you ruin this moment!" Weiss yelled and Yang laughed while Blake blushed.
"Sorry, sorry, my bad. But since we are planning the future, I want to keep traveling if possible, because I never had so much excitement than in this trip. But only if I can do it with blonde, handsome and captain." She said with a wink.
"Do you even like him? Sometimes I think all you do is teasing him." Weiss inquired and Yang got a serious face on.
"I love him." She stated so seriously that Weiss and Blake had to do a double take. "I love him! Sure at first it was just teasing him, but damn it he got so cute when teased! Then he just had to be there for me when I needed, respect me all this time as a person, not a prize and laugh at my jokes! I want to get him on dates, to the beach, and marry and have children!"
"OK, I never expected to walk into this." Ruby said as she exited the bathroom and sat with the rest of the girls. "You should tell the skipper before Pyrrha or Velvet do."
"Not now, I don't think he needs the drama of a relationship with us trying to go back home." Yang said while playing with her hair.
"That is actually nice of you. I am sure the skipper considers you special." Blake said and Yang face brightened a little.
"Well, I have my plans all laid up. I will be General!"Ruby simple stated and the girls stared at her and then started laughing. "What? I am serious!"
"First, Generals don't go into battles, they do more paperwork than anything else. Second, I can't even imagine you walking around in the uniform." Weiss confused and Ruby pouted while they laughed.
…
"Gosh, I sure can use the longest vacation ever when we finish this mission." Doc said as she examined the cocoon Neo made for herself. It was a translucent construct and the alien girl slept peacefully inside. Velvet and Pyrrha were the ones doing guard duty that moment.
"Me on the other hand… I don't want to see this mission ending so soon and our superiors deciding we should do promotional material instead of a soldier's job." Pyrrha said a little dejected.
"Or maybe you just don't want to go away from a certain blonde?" Shen said playfully, but Pyrrha blushed redder than her hair.
"I…but… yes…" She finally confessed, and Velvet stared at her in surprise. "He gave me everything I always wanted. Purpose and true friends. I am thankful towards him, but also… I can't stop thinking how painful it is the notion of not having him by my side everyday…"
"You know he would not become a stranger to any of us. And who knows, maybe he will keep the Nagato and we could still be his crew?" Velvet said hopefully. She also didn't want to let the boy go away from her. Pyrrha gave the bunny girl a knowing look but smiled. She wondered what Jaune would do if he actually knew there were some girls in love with him.
"Oh, I can't wait for this mission to end and see Jauney panicking over the lovely girls he knows that they love him." Doc said with an evil grin and the two girls paled for a moment. "Oops. I shouldn't have said that…"
…
"Beach house, great lounge, a bar, bitching sound system and lighting for parties." Neptune stated as he planned his future 'house on the planet' when they concluded his mission.
"Add a barbecue grill and we are set." Sun completed and the two fist bumped. Coco just rolled her eyes.
"You two will never change. Me on the other hand? I will have my own store and design clothes. Or maybe become a hitwoman. A stylish one." The gunner said proudly of her carrier choices. Glynda sighed, not amused. "How about you, Commander? Going to stay in the Spacy?"
"Actually, yes, but maybe as an instructor instead of a field officer. Looking at you all make me think someone need to avoid future officers to be so… reckless."
"Reckless saved our bacon a few times." Sun commented and Glynda was about to retort, but shut up as that was true.
"Commander, we are being hailed." Penny informed, breaking the mood on the bridge.
"Inform the captain and pass them trough." Glynda ordered, and an image formed on the main screen.
It wasn't what she expected.
…
"Ship, damaged, we, help."
On the screen was something that could be better described as aqua colored jell-o with three colored orbs inside that lighted in many colors as the small alien creature spoke. Jaune wasn't sure the proper way to react and was glad his sisters were not there to call the creature cute, especially when their name sounded like Moe (said as the English name, not as the Japanese word for cute).
"You are offering to help repair or ship?" Jaune questioned, still having trouble to accept he was speaking with jell-o.
"Yes."
"We are grateful for your offer to help, but we don't have anything of value to offer as payment…" Jaune said still weary of the sudden friendly offer.
"Help you, help us. Ship, tow." Jaune took a moment to decipher the simple way the aliens spoke.
"So, an exchange of favors and you will tow our ship?"
"Yes."
"Very well, we will meet you and discuss what favors exactly we are talking about, if that seems reasonable to you." Jaune decided, considering they weren't exactly in any position to deny help or even to defend themselves.
"Reasonable. Soon, meeting." With that the call ended, and Jaune sat on his chair thinking what kind of favor those creatures could even need them to do when they were at their mercy.
"Sir, do you think it is wise?" Glynda asked and Jaune shrugged.
"Wise? No. But what can we do? If they wished to kill us or to capture us they could as we have no way to defend ourselves. I don't see the reason to deceive us to lower our guard. So it is at least something of a good sign. The thing is I don't see any other options for us except try to get their help."
"You have a point. And we all can do with more friends right now." She accepted and left a defeated sigh. Jaune patted her shoulder and smiled.
"My father says friends come from unlikely places many times. Maybe this is it."
…
"There they are." Neptune said as a tubular vessel approached the Nagato.
The alien vessel used a tractor beam to hook them and started to tow the ship towards the sixth planet on the system. They were impressed with the fact the alien ship, despite being smaller, was having no trouble towing the Nagato, and was in fact moving at least ten times faster than what they could even with the ship in top condition.
Soon they saw the blue and purple sixth planet on the system, and the towing ship passed inside a ring-like station, that lit up in white, probably scanning the damaged ship. After passing through it they saw a donut-shaped space station, several times bigger than the Nagato.
"They are hailing us… sending us docking instructions." Velvet informed and Jaune nodded. "They say they prepared a guest room and are inviting us for a meal."
"Well, why not? Neptune, get us docked. Velvet, inform our hosts we will need a few hours to prepare. Penny, inform the crew everyone is invited, and to use formal uniform. We want to cause a good impression after all." Jaune said with a relaxed smirk. When a problem has no solution, there is no problem, he thought to himself.
"Sir, I should inform it is a complete regulation break to get the whole crew out of the ship like this." Glynda said and Jaune shrugged again, making her sigh. "Why I even try?"
"You do because you are a brilliant and dedicated Spacy officer who cares about the crew. As I see it, we have nothing to lose here." He comforted her and she looked at his eyes and smiled.
"So why am I not the captain here?" she said playfully and Jaune smirked.
"Because people back home is insane." They shared a brief laugh and got to their quarters to prepare for the meeting.
…
"You really need to know how to fix your tie, captain." Glynda said as she did it for him. Jaune just smiled sheepishly.
"The same goes for you, lil sis." Yang said as she helped with Ruby's formal attire.
"I hate heels, tight skirts, and especially the tiny hat!" The Marine protested as they all stood in the corridor that gave access to the portside airlock.
"I wouldn't mind wearing it all times." Weiss affirmed with a proud smile as she stood elegantly in her own uniform.
"You do know how to rock it. Just like me." Neptune said with a bright smile.
"I am with Ruby on this one. It is tight on my tail." Sun complained, his uniform was a complete mess.
"OK, everyone, we hope we can give a good first impression to them, so behave." Jaune said as Glynda finished fixing his attire.
The airlock door was opened and they found themselves in a circular room with a low circular table in the middle but no benches or chairs. On the walls there were monitors that showed the outside of the station and the planet below. Beneath them was a large step covered in white mattresses. From the other side of the room a door opened and first came a trio of robots with trays of food, surprisingly recognizable to the Nagato's crew, and they left the meal on the table. A fourth robot came and put fourteen plates and cutlery, cups and other accessories. It was only after they left that came Moe with other two similar looking creatures, only their bodies had different colors.
"Welcome. Pleased, meet, you. Moe, leader. Larry, second, Curly, engineer." The blob said in his unusual speak pattern. Jaune wondered if they were messing with him, but put his best poker face.
"Pleased to meet you, Moe. I am Captain Jaune Arc of the Nagato. We want to thank you for your assistance." Jaune said unsure how to exactly greet the creature.
"Pleasure, ours. We, silicon based, you carbon. Food, carbon, we, not eats with." He explained and Jaune understood they wouldn't be there to share the meal. "Proof, intent, good will. Present!"
Curly moved and Jaune noticed a small box attached to its back. The creature put it on the ground and opening it, revealing inside four rainbow Dust crystals in the exact size and shape they needed for Penny's mobile unit and their warp engines. Not only that, if those aliens helped them, they could use the remaining crystals to make new ships back home.
"We are thankful for this gift, Moe. How we can thank you for your generosity?" Jaune said as Glynda took the crystals' box.
"Not now. Eat, rest. Help, later. We, analyzing, Nagato. Once done, help us." Moe stated and Jaune finally relaxed and smiled. It seemed that they were having luck that day.
"We will do. Thanks for your generosity, Moe." The small creature seemed to smile, somehow, as the three small 'lights' inside blinked rosy.
"Excuse us. Relax, enjoy, meet later." With that the three aliens left, and the crew relaxed.
"Can we eat this?" Sun asked as his mouth watered as the nice smell of the food filled the room.
"Doc, scan it discreetly." Jaune whispered to Shen and she did as ordered.
"Safe for consumption. I am impressed a silicon-based life form has carbon-based food." She wondered as they all started to seat around the table and started poking the food. Except Nora and Ruby, the two were already gouging themselves.
"Who cares! This delichious!" Nora stated with her mouth full.
"Maybe they receive many visitors that are carbon life forms. Maybe the mysterious event that brought us here is kind of a recurring thing, like many books described our planet had such common wrecking spots." Ren theorized. Jaune agreed as he started serving himself with the food.
"Well, let's not waste their hospitality. Ren, go put one of those crystals on Penny's mobile unit. I want her here with us, since she is part of the crew." Jaune said and Ren took the crystals and returned to the Nagato.
Ren came back a few minutes after, stating it would take a few hours for Penny to join them as she was synching her two cores. They all relaxed and ate, while joking and enjoying the merry mood they got themselves into. When the android came back there were many hugs and tears that made the artificial girl happy and cry a little over the love her friends showed her. For a moment they forgot their problems, and when sleep took them over, they slept soundly as they haven't for a long while.
…
"Penny?" Jaune asked as he woke up first, well, second if you think of the android, but she had no need for sleep. He found her watching one of the monitors that showed the damaged Nagato. It was a sad scene as that was the only home she knew.
"Good morning, captain. I want to say I am thankful for you restoring my body." She said with a smile, and he hugged her gentle, surprising the girl. "Jaune?"
"We are here thanks to you, Penny. You are our dear friend." She smiled and hugged him back for a moment, but then she moved away from him and stared at the monitors.
"Sir, I am detecting unknown objects in trajectory towards the planet. Primitive spacecrafts, rocket propelled. But they carry fissionable materials. Origin: fifth planet." She stated and Jaune looked at the monitors. He couldn't see anything.
"Any danger to us?" He asked and Penny shook her head.
"No sir. Impact will be in fifteen minutes."
When the rockets hit the planet, everyone was awake, and saw the three explosions over the sixth planet's seas, causing huge clouds after the explosion. A few minutes later Larry, Curly and Moe entered the room with, if they could say, sad expressions. A few robots came after them to clean the table.
"Moe, what happened?" Jaune asked and the alien shook his body.
"Fifth planet, hate us. Send bombs, slowly poison. Missed cities, not always." Moe explained, them one of the screens showed a crab like humanoid creature in military like uniform discoursing to a huge crowd. "Higo, sixth planet leader. Blame us."
"For what exactly?" Jaune asked.
It took a while for them to explain exactly what was happening. But the story they got was that the fifth planet was recently hit by a meteor that caused an ecological disaster, affecting their food supply. The planet then suffered a coup, and that Higo guy become its dictator, but instead of solving the problems they were facing, he diverted the attention of its people towards the sixth planet, blaming Moe and his people for the meteor and declaring a one-sided war. Since they lacked the technology, they were sending atomic bombs from now and then.
"We, peaceful, we, no weapons. They, hateful, they, killing us." Moe finished, and a little bit of anger could be felt in his voice. "You, soldiers, help us!"
"How you want us to help?" Jaune asked, feeling sympathy towards the little guys.
"We, made this." The image changed to what Jaune recognized as some type of virus. He already didn't like it and what that could imply.
"We, peaceful, don't kill. You, soldiers. Deliver virus. Silicon base, no risk, carbon based. Kill them all, we peaceful again." Moe stated dryly, and Jaune stared wide eyed at the small creature. They wanted them to deliver a biological weapon and wipe the sentient population of the fifth planet.
"Moe, we are grateful for your help, but what you are asking of us is genocide…"
"They, killing us, slowly. You, kill them fast, we peaceful, fix ship." Moe said, and Jaune and the crew were too shocked to answer. "You, think. But no kill no ship. Kill, fix ship, provides Dust."
With that the three aliens left, and Jaune sat on one of the beds and just stared at his feet. The condition to save his own people was to end the existence of an entire alien race on purpose, and the one tasked with pulling the trigger was him.
…
"I analyzed all the radio signals coming from the fifth planet, and what Moe told us is truth. That Higo guy is using them as escape goats for the problems they are suffering now. I also confirmed a recent collision of a meteor on the planet, causing a dust cloud lowering the temperatures and other events that can be compared to an extinction event." Velvet affirmed in the now crowded bridge of the Nagato as everyone, even Zwei was there.
"The atomic explosions aren't big enough for now, but its constant attacks might as well have long lasting and devastating effects on Moe's planet. And that if that crazy guy Higo doesn't create a bigger, more devastating bomb." Nora added.
"So, can't we just get hid of Higo? It seems like he is the one that is rallying people up to arms." Sun commented.
"While dictators like to paint themselves as absolute leaders, they are always backed up by something, usually military power. Killing Higo could just get a worse person to assume the position." Shen said and they knew from their own recent story that to be true.
The Remnant colonies once suffered a coupe, and the new leader ruled by a few years before being assassinated. After that, his successor assumed with even a more heavy fisted way of ruling, to the point of attacking culture itself as a threat to the colonies, and forbidding things like music, books and even colors. It took decades to get rid of him and avoid a new dictatorship.
"So, do we follow with Moe's request? I mean, sure they are threatened, but I bet there is lots of people on Higo's planet that dislike the guy, and that is not even taking in account the children." Neptune said and there was a moment of silence.
"Sorry, but… We are thinking here about Moe and Higo's people, but how about ours? Our people is dying back home, and if we get our ship fixed, we can save them all." Blake put her two cents in. Ruby didn't like it.
"Then that is how we save them? By killing innocent people because of one bad guy?"
"Do we have other options?" Blake retorted, and Velvet put a planet on screen. It had blue oceans but no continents, just several islands making it spotted with brown and green.
"Fourth planet in this system. Analysis says it might be able to sustain us. With so many of our sensors damaged, I can't say much for now, but if it do, maybe we could just stay there until we find some Dust to warp back home." Velvet said hopefully.
"That won't do. We have only a month worth of Dust and food. Even if the planet provide us with food, our capacity of exploring it, finding some Dust ore, refining it and going back home will be severely held back. And that is if we believe Moe and his people will allow us to do that." Blake retorted. "Look, I will do it if we need to. I already… have blood on my hands…"
"Oh, no you won't! If needed to be I will do it!" Weiss shouted causing everyone to look at her surprised. "My family did many horrible things already with the excuse of 'helping Remnant', and this time this can really save it!"
A small discussion started, with part of the crew completely against it, other part for it and other trying to find alternative solutions. Jaune remained silently for most of the time while petting Zwei, deep in thought.
"Enough!" he shouted, making everyone shut up and stare at him. "This is not a decision for any of you to make, although I appreciate your input. The survival of our people indeed is important, but what is being asked of us is trading our survival for theirs. It is not a decision to be made with a hot head, or to be taken lightly. I will not ask for any of you to do it or not, so none of you need to worry about it. I will take my time, and inform you all of my decision when I have one."
"Captain…" Some voiced their concerns.
"You all resume your daily routine. I will be in the sky deck thinking." Jaune concluded, taking Zwei with him and leaving the bridge.
…
"Jaune?" Velvet's ears appeared first, then just her chocolate eyes as she watched Jaune playing with the robotic dog. While she knew he asked to be alone, she was too worried about him to do so. He turned towards her and waved for her to approach, and so she did.
"Let me guess, everyone is worried."
"How couldn't they not be? Jaune… I doomed an entire moon full of living beings once…"
"Not on purpose, it wasn't your fault." He said and she nodded.
"I know now, but I still feel guilty over it. Jaune, I am worried about how you will be if you do as Moe is asking." He understood her concerns and sighed loudly. So many hard decisions and that certainly felt the biggest one. He hugged Velvet gentle and she blushed, but hugged back.
"It is a power no one should have, you know? Deciding the life and death of so many people like this." He commented and she nodded on his chest.
"But you are smart, you will find a way." She said in a comforting tone and he sighed on her head.
"You put too much faith in me, Vel. But you know what is maddening? The fact that we are being forced on this because Moe and their people don't want to dirty their metaphorical hands! They have better tech than us but want us to do it! They could send the virus in a missile! They could create satellites to down the rockets before reaching the planet! They could…" Jaune stopped talking when an epiphany crossed his head. Velvet looked up worried about him, but he looked down and smiled. "That is it!"
"What is it?" she asked and then Jaune simple kissed her gentle on the lips, making her blush and fume.
"Thanks Vel. I might have figured something out! Penny, call Moe and tell him I want a meeting. I want my armor ready and a fireteam too." With that he left, leaving behind a certain bunny girl too shocked to react.
…
"Decision?" Moe asked when he entered the room they met before, where Jaune, Pyrrha and fireteam RWBY stood fully armored and armed.
"Not really, but questions. Why are you asking us to do this? With your technology and resources you don't need us, at all. Even if you say it is because you are peaceful, you could have dealt with this situation in a non-lethal way. So, why ask us to do this? What is the real reason?" Jaune asked, but Moe stood there, without showing any reaction. That is when they heard a weird laugh filling the room. The door opened again and a new alien entered.
It was as tall as them, but it was avian in appearance, with a head similar to a crow's one, and it even had a yellow beak. It wore a grey and black space suit and had grey feathers on his head. It stood by Moe's side and stared at the group, all of them pointing weapons at him.
"So they were right, you passed the last test, the first person to ever do it." The new alien said in a playful and amused tone. "You see, you are not the first to arrive here in such dare situation. And not the first to be asked to deliver the 'virus'. But you are the first to not let despair dictate your mind."
"Who the fuck are you?" Jaune asked in surprise.
"Oh, sorry, my manners are a bit rusty. I am Qrow. I am actually the owner of this station. Moe and his friends aren't actual silicon life forms, but robots. And in fact there are no life forms in the fifth planet; it is all fake transmissions your ship couldn't get due to the damage to your sensors. Though the fourth planet is indeed compatible with your species." Qrow said in an amicable tone.
"Why this deception then?" Jaune inquired with gun still pointed at Qrow.
"A test, as I said. See, most people we met would not even hesitate in causing genocide to save themselves. Others would doom themselves because their morals wouldn't allow them to even consider any other options. But you… You took the need of your people and your morals in consideration, and thanks to that you noticed the deception. Ah, joy, after all this time we found you. I will start repairing your ship right away, no, better yet, I will upgrade it! Oh, all the cool stuff I will add!" Qrow started babbling, making the rest of them stare at each other in shock.
"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you and what this is all about?" Jaune asked and Qrow laughed again.
"Moe! Get everyone. We have work to do. Also, take our guests to the twins. They want to talk with this funny fellow again."
Jaune had no time to talk as hundreds of Moe like drones appeared from the door and rushed inside the Nagato. The drones captured their guns and basically glued themselves around them. A few minutes later they gathered all the crew members including Penny and Zwei and brought them to the room. Suffice to say a few of them, especially Glynda and Weiss, weren't pleased.
"Excuse me for the rude way I am doing this. Your ship will be as new in a few mega-cycles. But my benefactors really want to talk with you." Qrow said and the Moe-like drones freed them and disappeared towards the Nagato. "Now, let's do a little trip."
The doors closed and the screens turned off. They felt the room warping into subspace, but instead of traveling, they heard something connecting to the room. The door behind Qrow opened and he signalized to be followed. Jaune consented and followed with his crew behind him. The place they found themselves was not what they expected.
They were clear inside some type of tubular space colony, but different from theirs that were filled with buildings, this one had grass, woods, even lakes and were several times bigger than the biggest colony in Remnant. Butterflies and birds flew around, and there was even a breeze gently greeting them.
But to Jaune the biggest surprise were the twin girls standing there to receive them.
"You came, so we finally can have that date you promised us." Miltiades stated with a curtsy.
"You proved worth of our friendship once again, Jaune. And therefore we will help you." Melanie said with a real, sweet smile. Miltiades spoke again with an eerie tone.
"We will tell you a truth no one else knows. We will tell you the origin of the creatures of Grimm."