Yang woke up sweating, her pillow and sheets on the floor, meaning she trashed around while sleeping. She breathed hard and put her face between her hands as she remembered the nightmare she had. She saw her mother, Raven, running around some type of crystal made place and fighting Grimm, asking for help. But when the blonde tried to jump in to help, she woke up and now found herself like this.
It made no sense as she hasn't dreamed about her mother since… ever. She never really met her as she disappeared with the FTLRSS-5 when the blonde Marine was just six months older. Her father said Raven did it because no other pilot dared, because she hoped Yang would grow up under a blue sky and with grass under her feet. It was in fact the second ship Raven tested, being the test pilot for the FTLRSS-4 too. Yang got a bit of peace of mind after Ozpin and Jaune allowed her to read all pertinent archives about her mother and the day she disappeared. Sadly, they knew nothing about how she disappeared and especially where she could be.
"Yang, did you have a bad dream?" Ruby asked rubbing her silver eyes with the back of her hands like a cute puppy.
"Yeah, but it is nothing. Go back to sleep, I will just go to the bridge and annoy the skipper." Yang said as she jumped out of the bed and grabbed her uniform from her locker.
"Try to not annoy him much. He's the nicest CO we ever had. I hope we can keep under his command after we return home." Ruby said and they she turned around to go back to sleep.
Her sister smiled and entered the bathroom, taking a quick warm bath, putting her uniform, fixing her hair and finally going towards the bridge. There she found the still amazing image of the holographic deck they got from Qrow, and the amazing visuals of subspace. It was like being underwater, but with an aurora light permeating the way. She saw Jaune talking with Penny while Coco, Sun and Neptune were banging their heads over the sound of music. Velvet was sleeping on her console, her bunny ears twitching from time to time. Ren was apparently the only one working.
"Hey, skipper." She said as she approached his chair.
"Yang? Shouldn't you be sleeping?" He asked in surprise. She smirked and leaned towards him.
"Don't you want me here?" She asked but he just put a hand on her cheek, surprising her.
"Looks like you had trouble sleeping. Is something troubling you?" He asked with genuine worry, and Yang just blushed a little, not used to guys treating her like that. But her playful nature took over her.
"A little nightmare. Maybe if you let me snuggle you I could sleep soundly." She said doing the same puppy eyes Ruby usually did.
"I can sleep with you if that would help, Lt. Xiao Long." Penny suggested with a naïve smile, and Yang couldn't resist it, putting the synthetic girl into a lovely hug.
"Sir, permission to never let Penny go. She is surprisingly soft and warm!" Yang said and Jaune smiled while Penny giggled.
"I am glad I made you feel better, Lieutenant." The android said and Yang just petted her.
"Sir, a few minutes before we reach The Club." Neptune announced as he turned the music off.
The captain decided they needed all information about the mysterious Queen as they could get, since the twins could give them only information about the past, not much about the current situation. Even Qrow said the movements of the Queen were erratic at best, aleatory at worst, and considering she apparently took an interest over the Nagato Kai, Jaune decided to not return to the colonies until he was sure they would be safe.
"Penny, put the ship in yellow alert and wake Velvet. Yang, since you are awake anyway, how about readying a fighter just in case?" Jaune ordered, and the blonde girl decided it was better than trying to sleep back. She let go of Penny and rushed towards the elevator and the android gentle shook the bunny girl.
"You know, that Jun'ee'or led us to a trap. Shouldn't we scare him a little?" Coco asked and Jaune nodded.
"Maybe we can fire down one of his billboards." He answered and Coco saluted him.
But what they saw as they warped out was not what they expected.
The billboards were no more, as The Club itself couldn't be find, except by its several debris. The Nagato Kai immediately entered in head alert and they started scanning. They found debris that probably belonged to spaceships, and the occasional corpse. Whatever attacked the place simple destroyed everything in sight.
"I think Jun'ee'or pissed someone else besides us. And I mean really pissed." Sun commented.
"Ren, report." Jaune asked as the holo-screens outlined the remains.
"Several traces of high-energy photons. It is… similar to the saucer beams that attacked us and the pirates that day." The black haired boy stated. Jaune gritted his teeth understand the meaning of such action.
"Sir… I am detecting a transmission. Automatic… the source is a probe in the middle of the debris." Velvet stated as she checked her panels.
"Pass it through."
The image shocked everyone. It was Roman, the pirate leader. The one they believed to be dead.
"Hello there. If you tried to reach The Club, I have some bad news… It is destroyed, but you might have figured this out on your own. Now, you might wonder who did it, well, I do have the answer, and it was this ship." The old Nagato appeared on screen, as well pictures of all the crew except Penny, Neo and Zwei. "This unknown species have being terrorizing the Sector for a long while and now I am offering a reward. Rainbow Dust, the rarest form of Dust crystal. I am giving 10 jrums for information on the ship's location, 30 for any captured crew member and a whooping hundred jrums for the coordinates of their home planet. Information about their species and ship are being forwarded with this message. You can get your reward in the Deadly Kiss. Good hunt."
"HEAVENS FUCKING DAMNIT! Coco, destroy that probe! Neptune, let's get out of here! Anywhere a week in warp from here, but in the opposite direction of Remnant!" Jaune barked and they did it as fast as they could and a few minutes later they were back in the subspace. "Now excuse me as I swear."
Jaune proceeded to swear the dirtiest, most shameful words ever uttered. Velvet covered her human ears with her bunny ears. Coco and Sun stared in awe while Neptune was too shocked to answer.
…
"Would anyone even believe in such message?" Glynda asked as the crew was reunited in the bridge.
"They don't need to believe. If rainbow Dust is so rare and precious, many will do it for the reward." Blake explained as she passed the video again on her scroll. "It is obvious Roman was the one that attacked The Club. But now he probably put a lot of bounty hunters on our tails."
"But only Sun have a tail…" Penny pointed it.
"And I am proud of it." He answered back with a smirk.
"Let's not sidetrack, please. So, we are NOT going back home, are we?" Weiss questioned and Jaune nodded.
"We don't know if they can actually track us. Ren?"
"Our pattern on this trip have being very random, and we didn't made that much contact with the people around nor we provided info about ourselves, especially about our home system. But as Jaune said, we don't know if our enemies have the technology to track our movements." Ren proceeded to show up an image of the star system The Club was and from there several lines. "The Nagato Kai can detect the first click of a warp, and this trail last a day. It is not enough to determine where a ship came from or goes, but it makes it possible that a tracking technique can be developed."
"That means if we go home right away they can just track us down? Damn it, this is so unfair! When we just accomplished our mission!" Coco protested, in a rare occasion of losing her temper.
"Calm down. We have two steps to do before considering going home. First, going to this Deadly Kiss place and get rid of Roman once and for all. He is a menace to our mission and our people, and therefore I am declaring war against him. After that we will see if the other Club's are still there to get the info we need and maybe get this damn bounty off us." Jaune declared and the crew murmured between themselves for a moment.
"Two questions. Where's the Deadly Kiss is and how Roman survived our last encounter?" Ruby said with her hand on the air.
"Neo?" Jaune asked and the little alien girl took a step forward, and a sector map appeared. She pointed to a pair of stars.
"It is a binary system where the two giant stars trade matter. It generates a lot of cosmic radiation, basically killing long range sensors. Prime spot for hiding." Ren explained. Jaune petted a proud Neo in the head.
"That is why you don't betray your allies. Now, about your second question, Rubes… Either he escaped in a survival pod and was rescued by a ship that survived the battle or passed by, or he was rescued by and is now under the orders of the Queen." Ruby gulped under the prospect of Roman being allied with the mysterious woman that commanded the Grimm as Jaune explained the situation.
"And we are going there? It smells like trap!" Weiss shrieked but Jaune knew of that too.
"Nora, based on our last encounter with the pirates and the mysterious saucer, and the upgrades on the Nagato Kai, how are our chances?"
"WE WILL BREAK THEIR LEGSES!" Nora screamed and Jaune smiled.
"We know it is a trap, we have Neo here to provide intel and our ship have more than a fighting chance against the Queen's vessel. If we don't go there now, we might lose our only chance to get them off our tails. The time to arrival is four days, so we will be prepared for anything. For now, I want you all to try to rest." Jaune said and dismissed everyone. Weiss walked towards him and stared on his eyes.
"I trust you. Remember this." And with that she walked away. Jaune sighed and stared at the star map. Then he felt a comforting hand from Pyrrha.
"She meant that. She trusts you, as we all do, to get us back alive."
"No pressure, eh?"
"Just a little." Pyrrha answered with a smile.
…
"Captain Roman, we have being waiting for days." An alien with a small head covered in grey fur with six blue eyes asked through the radio, the image and sound crackling due to the interference of the two giant stars as they exchanged matter by being so close.
"I assure you Admiral Krafun that the ship that attacked your colonies will be lured here. We left a message where we are sure they will find it. Besides, it is not like you have any better clue to find them." Roman assured as he lit a cigar using his bionic finger.
"I hope, for your own good, you are not lying to me, Roman. There is a warrant for your head too." With that the alien ended the communication.
"Captain Roman, are you sure we should be here in this ship? I don't trust those aliens. They are as ugly as the ones we are after." One of the crewmembers said and Roman rolled his eyes.
"They saved us, gave us a nice little ship to start again, I think our associates can be trusted."
"They shot us!"
"Details! Besides, they got us one nice better ship."
"What if the fleet here discovers our ship is not exactly what looks like?" The pirate asked and Roman sighed.
"There are a hundred ships out there; we won't even need to get involved. And they are too blinded by the reward to care about details. And no buts. I will have my vengeance." Roman finished as he looked at the image of the several different ships in wait.
…
"Commander, you be careful." Jaune said as Glynda, Yang, Neptune and Penny prepared to board the fighters. One of them was a two-seater equipped with long range sensors and would be operated by the commander with the help of Penny.
"I can say the same thing to you, captain. After all, it is the Nagato Kai that will be the main target." Glynda answered as she fixed her helmet.
"We won't go down easily. And I hope the same is true for you four. Now, just in case, we loaded copies of our travel log on your fighters and two rainbow Dust crystal on each. If the Nagato Kai is about to go down, I am giving all of you direct orders to warp back to Remnant and deliver the info and the cores to our people. I don't want any of you trying to be heroes out there." Jaune said and Yang put her hands on his shoulders.
"I can say the same to you. Remember my little sister is here and I really love her, so you better keep her safe and sound or I will kick your cute butt." She stated and put her helmet.
"I will do my best, which is all I can promise you, but if that is not enough, I will try harder. Now, just a few more minutes after we warp out. As soon as we do, you will be launched, but try to keep yourselves hidden for as long as possible." Jaune spoke and they all nodded. The captain saw them getting on the fighters and returned to the bridge. As he entered he saw Ruby and Weiss in the second level of the bridge where they would work as secondary gunners, manning the AA guns so Coco and Sun would focus on the canons. He took the helmsman seat and tried to relax as he checked the controllers one last time.
"Well, that will be one hell of a battle. Qrow better be as good as he said he is." Coco commented while trying to dispel the tense mood.
"We are armed to the teeth. I am sure our girl can take a hundred ships easily." Sun answered and Jaune smirked.
"I will be satisfied if we can take 99 and still go back home." Jaune answered and he activated the intercom. "Attention everyone, our plan is simple. We go there, kick Roman's ass and get out. We strike fast, hard and go out before they can read the name in the hull. This will take us one step closer to return to our families and friends back home, so today I don't want your best, I want you all to surpass your own expectations. Let's do this."
"Awww, I expected something funnier." Ruby said from her seat and they laughed a bit.
"I will be funny later. Velvet, is the message prepared?" Jaune asked the Faunus girl.
"Yes, sir. As soon as we warp out we will broadcast it in all frequencies." She answered while nervousness cracked into her voice.
"OK, let's warp out."
The Nagato Kai warped out and entered in battle mode immediately, with their main canons deployed, as well as the MASERs, and the fighters were deployed soon after, flying away from the ship in stealth mode. As soon as they warped they were baffled by the sheer amount of ships of all sizes in stand by around the orbit of the two stars.
The two yellow giants made a show apart as they traded matter, creating a breathtaking spectacle by themselves, but also interfering in all long range sensors. This forced the Nagato Kai in moving forward in her search for Roman's vessel. Many of the small ships present didn't wait into trying to intercept them, but were surprised by the long range MASERs.
As the Nagato Kai moved closer, they started firing against all hostile vessels in range, sinking many of them easily. There was a moment many of the ships seemed to hesitate, but soon they started swarming against Jaune's ship, firing their own weapons. The new shields were holding better than expected, and while severely outnumbered, they were more in equal footing than expected.
…
"Admiral Krafun, that ship is more powerful than what was reported!" One of the crewmembers informed while the carrier vessel the admiral commanded watched the images of the battle.
"Not only that, they sent us a message." Another informed, and the admiral got curious.
"Pass them through."
"Here is the FTLRSS-7 Nagato Kai. The accusations of our attack against The Club are a lie created by the space pirate Roman. We don't want to fight any of you but we will fire against any ship approaching with a hostile attitude. We are here after the criminal responsible for several attacks against us, and only him. If you know of Roman's location, we would appreciate the help. Otherwise we recommend all of you to leave. Repeating…"
"Launch the fighters and try to get them down. Meanwhile, try to confirm their identity as the ones that attacked our colonies. I don't trust that Roman anyway." The admiral ordered as he observed the skills the enemy ship was demonstrating, as well as its astonishing firepower.
…
"Fighters!" Yang alerted as they moved by the battle's borders.
"Ignore them for now. Our priority is to find Roman's ship." Glynda said as they maneuvered between the ships that still not moved into battle.
"How will we even find him in the middle of those ships?" Neptune asked.
"Roman promised rainbow Dust to them, so he certainly brought it here to prove it was not an empty promise. That much rainbow Dust will appear in our sensors when we got close enough to it." Glynda explained over the radio.
"Well, better we do it fast. The Nagato Kai might be the best ship here, but it is taking a lot of flak." Yang finished as the fighters kept moving.
…
"Sir, it is just me or that ship is different somehow?" One of the pirates questioned as Roman kept observing the battle.
"They might have changed a few things here and there, but they won't be able to resist all those ships. And even if they do, they will still have to fight us." Roman than started laughing. "What I would give to see their faces when we make our entrance."
…
The Nagato Kai kept doing evasive maneuvers as the enemy ships kept incoming. The main canons were doing a good job dispatching the bigger ships in long range, while the secondary ones kept a constant barrage of fire trying to keep the smaller ones away. Things got worse for them when the fighters arrived, and while the AA guns took down several of them, many others were able to fire against the ship, trying to take down the main guns.
…
"Sir, there is some inconsistencies over the ship we are fighting and the one that attacked our colonies." Admiral Krafun approached the terminal that the crewmember that spoke was using. "The ship we are fighting against have three barrels in each of their main canons, while the one that attacked us before have only two. Not only that, there are several differences in design."
"Maybe they are from the same class?"
"If they are, why come here alone? They can't be so arrogant to think they can defeat all of us."
The admiral returned to his seat and got in a pensive mood as the battle raged on.
…
"Damn it! I lost another turret!" Weiss shouted as she tried to down as many fighters and other small ships getting to close to them.
"I lost another one too! There are too many!" Ruby said and Jaune observed the battle map.
"Sun, fire the missiles! All of them! Let's get some breathing room here! Coco, prepare for a microwave drift!"
The missile ports in the back and belly of the Nagato Kai opened and hundreds of missiles were fired, enveloping the ship in a cloud of colorful Dust warhead explosions. They didn't get the enemy the chance to react as Jaune spun the ship in its axis and Coco fired the MASERs, destroying several of the damaged ships in its way and giving the Nagato Kai the much needed room to keep fighting.
…
"Captain Roman, they already destroyed at least thirty ships, many of them are retreating and others are saying they will do the same if we don't increase the reward!"
"Tell them that they can leave if they don't want it. All we need is for them to give those ugly aliens a beating before we go for the kill." Roman said still calm.
"MISSILES INCOMING!" This time he got up to look at the screen.
…
"Large amounts of rainbow Dust detected in the ship with the mushroom shaped bow." Penny stated as the fighters approached the ship.
"It looks like a d…"
"Do NOT say it, Lt. Xiao Long. Arm the missiles and fire. When we confirm the identity of the ship we will go back to support the Nagato Kai."
The three fires fired a volley of missiles and they hit the target of the ship that was almost hidden from the battle. When they exploded, several debris floated and the fighters looked in shock as their target started moving away from them. The weird shaped hull was expunged by a series of controlled explosions, and the true form of the ship appeared.
It was identical to the Nagato.
…
"What the actual fuck!" Coco summarized as the fighters sent the image back.
"It is… us…" Ruby completed as the image became clearer.
"So that is how they convinced so many people to come here. They were pretending to be us. I'm going for a beeline towards them. We need to take them down first. Coco, focus on cleaning us a path! Sun, Ruby, Weiss, keep everyone else as far from us as possible! Velvet, tell the fighters to cover us!" Jaune ordered and the Nagato Kai started the sprint towards its fake.
…
"Admiral! That is Roman's ship! It is identical to the one on our records!"
"Traitorous scum! Tell our fighters to return!" Admiral Krafun ordered.
"Understood! Sir, the ship we have being fighting is in course to intercept Roman!"
"So that is why they came here… Fine, tell our ships we are going to aid them! Try to hail them so they will stop shooting at us!"
…
"Captain Roman! The Hromlunis fleet is siding with the enemy ship! Several others are fleeing!"
"No!" Roman punched the arm of his chair. "They won't escape this time! We have a ship better than theirs! Take us to them! We'll end this now!"
The fake Nagato accelerated towards the Nagato Kai.
…
"Thanks for trusting us, Admiral Krafun. We'll take Roman down then we'll show you the proof we aren't involved with the attack to your colonies." Jaune said as the ship kept pressing forward.
"I'll be waiting, Cpt. Arc. We will give you cover. Good luck." With that the radio went silent and the fighters from Krafun turned to fight the enemies still fighting the Nagato Kai.
"Inform the Commander and the others of our temporary allies and pass their transponder codes." Jaune told Velvet and she proceeded to do so.
"Captain, Roman's ship is coming towards us." Ren informed as he checked the sensors. "They deployed their weapons."
"Try to contact them. I don't want anyone thinking we didn't give them a chance to surrender." Jaune spoke and Velvet tried to contact them to no avail. "Keep trying, Vel. Now, Coco, what about we play a bit of chicken with him."
"Oh, this will be fun!" The short haired brunette answered.
The Nagato Kai kept firing forwards as they closed the distance with Roman's ship, while the fighters kept the others away from the two ships. The fake Nagato started firing, but Jaune evaded the attacks as Coco fired back. The two ships kept in a collision course even when the alarms fired and the canons started hitting, only the force fields protecting both ships. But neither captains showed signs of changing their courses.
The ships were now two clicks from each other, the main canons of the Nagato Kai destroying the ones on Roman's ships due to their bigger firepower. The fake Nagato fired the MASERs, damaging the port side of the real one. They were close to colliding.
Then Jaune diverted course.
Roman smiled from his seat believing in a victory. It was already too late when his crewmen warned what was happening.
The Nagato Kai flew above the fake ship, and rotated to put the four main canons directly aimed at the fake one.
They fired all canons at the same time, close range.
Roman cursed and his cigar fell down, but the energy beams from the Nagato Kai destroyed the bridge he was on.
With the fake ship sunk, the remaining enemy ships started warping away.
…
"We apologize for attacking your ship, Cpt. Arc. I hope you can forgive us." Admiral Krafun said over the radio. The battle ended an hour before and now the Hromlunis fleet was rescuing the survivals unable to warp back to their home systems.
"You've being deceived by Roman, Admiral. We're the ones who should apologize for the loss of your soldiers." Jaune answered and the Admiral nodded.
"It was unfortunate, but not your fault. As soon as we return to our planet, we will inform all our allies that your ship is being framed. Sadly it will take several mega-cycles before we can clear your name." The admiral stated, and then he changed from apologetic to worry. "Now, the information you shared with us about the Devourers…"
"It's all information we have. We hope it can be useful." Jaune answered. They sent to the admiral all information about the Grimm, just omitting Qrow and the twins, for their own protection.
"It will take a while before the idiocrats back home decide to do something with this info. But this changes everything. To think there is someone purposefully spreading such plague around… I have much to consider, Cpt. Arc, so do my people and our allies. I will not hold you here anymore as you probably have your own mission to do. I bid you safe travels and a prompt return home, Cpt. Arc."
"I bid you the same, Admiral." With that the radio went silent. "Neptune, trace a course to the closest filial of The Club. Maybe Roman didn't destroy every single one of them. We will have to wait the cool down from everyone hunting us before considering returning home."
"Do you think the Queen will give up now? If she was really the one that provided Roman with the fake Nagato?" Glynda asked as the Nagato Kai moved to the warp point.
"Considering how fast they made it, I think so. That is why I shared information with the admiral, so at least other people in the galaxy will be aware of her movements too." Jaune explained as he sat back on his chair.
"At least is one problem less to deal with. Maybe we are finally close to finish this mission." Weiss commented and Jaune hoped she was right.
…
"He got himself killed. I told you he wouldn't last one battle considering how eager he was to follow with his stupid plan." The green haired girl commented as they sat idle in a circular room with a table covered in diverse kinds of food and music being played.
"He made himself useful, at least, Emerald. Now we know the ship is around this area of our galaxy. Mercury, how are the deployment of the subspace net?" The long-haired brunette with fiery eyes asked the silver haired man while sipping from a cup.
"Just a few more mega-cycles and we will cover the main slipstreams connecting the star systems with spacefaring species. They won't be able to go anywhere without we knowing." Mercury answered as he bit a red fruit. "Should we really bother with them? They are so… irrelevant…"
"They are. They are insignificant before my power. But they saw something they shouldn't, and I would rather make sure no one does anything I won't allow to. Mercury, take a ship and destroy the fleet that they befriended. No survivors." The Queen ordered.
"Do you want me to destroy that black ship too?"
"Not yet. I want to know from where they are from so I can destroy their people too." She finished as she drank the dark liquid, an evil smile across her face.