The same dream.
Her mother fighting black creatures in a crystal like place, asking for help.
She isn't able to do anything.
She wakes up.
Yang was tired, tired of having that nightmare since they warped again after finally killing Roman. They were going to one of The Club's to gather information on their new enemy, the Queen, and maybe after that going home. But those dreams were getting a toll on her and she had no idea what to do. She just got up and sneaked out of the quarters. She needed something to do to relax; she needed something to help her sleep.
As she walked aimless through the corridors she stumbled onto someone.
"Yang? Are you alright? You look awful." She looked up to see Jaune Arc staring at her. His concerned looks help her to feel a little better.
"Thanks, skipper, but I…"
"Lie to me and I am making you have mandatory counseling with Doc."
"…I'm having nightmares about my mother every night and it is driving me insane." Yang admitted, or better yet, decided to save herself from Doc. The Faunus woman was a nice person, but her counseling sessions usually involved trading an old trauma for a new one (involving counseling).
"Why now?" He wondered, and then he finally noticed she was just in her undergarments and blushed. "Er, Yang, I think you should get some appropriate clothes before we keep talking…"
She stared at him, then on herself, and blushed madly as she covered as much as she could with her arms. Yes, she was a flirt that liked to flaunt her assets, but she wasn't so bold as to stay there like that, no matter how much she loved that silly captain. Jaune noticed her dilemma and gave her his jacket, and she was glad he was taller than her as it covered the most dangerous parts.
"Come on, let's go to my office." He said, gently taking her by her hand. She always had men doing nice gestures towards her, all to get into her panties, but Jaune was so genuine, his face so filled with real concern, that she just let him guide her. Once they were in the office, he gave her a warm cup of tea and she accepted it. "Now, can you tell me what the nightmares are about?"
"She is fighting, asking for help, but I can't reach her in time. You know what is weird? She is wearing a spacesuit of sorts. I never saw her in one. It's like my mind is trying to play a scene that makes sense." She confessed, and Jaune, which was sitting by her side, gently gave her a hug.
"I'm sorry we didn't find any clue yet."
"The mission takes priority, skipper. Besides, the truth is that I shouldn't hope. I mean, space is so big and all. I shouldn't expect we'll just come across a clue like this." She confessed, and Jaune gently combed her hair with his fingers, making her relax.
"Hope is only a problem when it becomes an obsession. I don't think you should stop hoping." He said in a comforting tone, and she nodded, her head on his shoulder.
"I just… I have Ruby, dad, this crew… you… I can't let my mother's disappearance being what drives me forward…" She confessed, and Jaune gently kept hugging her.
"So don't. Keep the memory of your mother alive, but live your life. I believe she would like that… Yang?"
The girl fell asleep. Jaune took her in his arm and put her on his bed. He smiled and decided to let her sleep, just hoping the crew wouldn't make a fuss of it.
…
"Lt. Xiao Long, please wake up."
Yang woke up and looked around. She wasn't in her bunker, but in the captain's bed. She checked herself and noticed she was with his jacket, her underwear intact, and cursed herself to even think the skipper would try something while she was sleeping. She saw Penny with her uniform on her hands.
"Heya, Penny. Good morning…"
"Good morning, Lt. Xiao Long. The captain wants you in the bridge ASAP. He said they found something you need to hear."
Yang wondered what the android was talking about and took her uniform. She fixed herself, used the captain's bathroom (glad it was very clean and neat), put her uniform on and walked towards the bridge, with Jaune's jacket on her hands. She found the usual culprits on the bridge, plus Glynda, Ruby and Nora, and they all were around Velvet's console.
"Hey, guys, what is up?" She said in a better mood, the sleep finally giving her the rest she needed. She approached them and returned Jaune's jacket.
"I think we discovered the source of your nightmares. Velvet, play it again."
"SOS(static)Here's(static)lost(static)somew(static)FTL….5….(static) Command… Raven…"
"We caught this message a few minutes ago. It's coming from the subspace and we're trying to determine its origins." Velvet explained, and Yang just stared at her panel.
"The twins used some type of empathic link to talk with me before, using the subspace as a conductor. We believe your nightmares might be due to your genetic and emotional link with your mother. And now we have this message." Jaune stated, and Yang still just stared at the panel.
"Yang?" Ruby asked with concern.
"It can be just an automated message." Yang said, not daring to hope. "Or an echo of an older transmission."
"It could be. It doesn't matter; we're going to investigate it." Jaune said and Yang stared at him, not understanding why waste their time there. "The FTLRSS-5 disappearance is an unsolved mystery we might be able to solve today. Spacy doesn't like to have mysteries unsolved, so this is to bring closure."
This is to bring you closure, Yang understood, and she fought her emotions to not just cry and hug the captain on spot. She just nodded in gratitude towards him, and her sister gently held her hand.
"So, any chance we can actually find the source of this call?" Jaune returned to Velvet, Nora and Ren.
"With just this it will be hard. We don't know how radio calls work in subspace to use intensity to determine distance and direction." Nora explained as she checked Velvet's panel. "If we could get a repeated signal..."
"Can't we use the quantum properties to get a clue?" Ren suggested.
"Well, it could help narrow it down, but it would take years to develop the right math to do so, considering we barely know enough about the subspace." Nora said in a dejected tone.
"We have another source of information. Yang, tell us when you started having those dreams. If possible, tell us the time you woke up from them." Jaune suggested, and Yang nodded, telling them what she could. Nora them gleamed in happiness and got over a holographic map of the slipstreams they rode on.
"I knew it! Every time we cross close to a superknot she has a nightmare!" She showed several knot like structures, and the route the Nagato Kai was taking. She pointed the time Yang woke from every dream as close to the points several streams crossed. "If we go back to the last one, we might be able to get something."
"Well done Nora. Neptune, let's see if those improved engines really can make us navigate those streams. Get us back to the last superknot Nora marked." Jaune ordered and they all returned to their positions. The captain gives on last smile towards Yang before putting his jacket back and sitting.
"I hope we can discover what happened to your mother, sis." Ruby said and Yang smiled.
"Me too."
"Now, why you came from the skipper's room and why you had his jacket?" Ruby asked and Yang groaned.
…
"SOS! Here's FTLRSS-5! I got lost somewhere INSIDE the subspace! If you can hear it, if you can reach me, I crashed into some type of solid structure inside the subspace! It is some type of Dust crystal moon! There are black creatures here trying to attack! I have food only for five days! Please help me! FTLRSS-5 Commander Raven Branwen of Remnant Spacy, asking for help!"
"This is just a clearer version of that first contact. After that we are receiving a constant distress signal, Spacy standard." Velvet said.
"Nora, Ren, any clue about from where this message is coming?" Jaune asked his engineers.
"It would take years to…" Ren started but Nora cut him off.
"Here." She said showing a superknot on the subspace map. Ren stared at her in disbelief.
"Nora, how you can even say that?"
"I had Penny run the needed theories. You know she can think a hundred times faster than us? All I needed was to give her some pointers, check out some theories and bam! We had the needed math." Nora explained happily. "Oh, and woman's intuition."
"Nora, we talked about woman's intuition before…"
"They never failed my sisters before, so I'm going to trust you on this Nora. Neptune, let's check this knot." Jaune ordered, leaving a speechless Ren and a giddy Nora behind.
…
"Wow… Imagine how much this is worth!" Coco commented as the Nagato Kai entered a superknot. It was an incredible turbulent as they tried, but once inside it was just as calm as normal space. And in the middle, there was a huge moon-sized, multi colored Dust crystal.
"So, do you think Dust come from here too?" Sun asked off-handed.
"It would make sense. Dust was always a mystery to our science, but if indeed originate in the subspace superknots, it would certainly explains a lot." Ren said in a pensive mood.
"We aren't approaching it with the ship. Nora, prepare the fighters, including the surveillance one. Yang and I will scan that place and see if we can find the FTLRSS-5." Jaune said as he got up.
"Isn't the subspace like… really bad for your healthy outside the ship? That is why we can't go in the sky decks while here." Sun commented.
"Qrow improved the shielding on the fighters and the Hunters, but even so it is a two hours limit before the cumulated energy start to damage the body. And three hours to create irreversible damage." Ren explained.
"So we will do it quick. We will find the FTLRSS-5, grab its black box and come back." Jaune stated, though he had one small glimmer of hope he didn't dare to say aloud.
…
"Ren, are your readings the same as ours?" Jaune asked as he approached the Dust moon-like body with the fighters.
"Yes, the cosmic radiation gets weaker as you approach the moon. Maybe the Dust is absorbing it. If the progression goes like this, you probably can stay a whole month in that moon. Don't mean you should."
"We will stick to the plan. Get in, scan, get the black box, and get out." Jaune said ending the call, then radioing Yang. "Listen, if we find your mother's body…"
"Thanks, I know. I'm happy Ruby isn't here, and I only expect to find bones. But at least, this will be the end in this chapter of my life." She concluded.
The two fighters started a low flight over the moon. The two blondes couldn't help but think that was the most beautiful image they ever saw in their whole lives. The way the colors were disposed, the gigantic crystalline structures. It took them an hour before finally seeing it. In the side of a gigantic Dust crystal was the black familiar form of a FTL ship and Yang felt her heart beating faster, and she was almost going there without orders. Thankfully Jaune gave the order before she could do something rash, and they landed by the ship's side.
The duo left the fighters and walked towards the downed ship. It was incredible damaged and would never fly again. The door to the interior was open, and Jaune motioned to enter first, but Yang didn't allow him to. She wanted to be the very first to do so, and she hoped he would understand. Jaune moved aside and took a guard position, and the girl silently thanked him before entering.
The ship was identical to the old Nagato on the outside, but it was several times smaller, and had only the pilot's cabin. Yang soon found the large seat, and slowly approached it believing to find her mother's body there. But instead she found it empty. She wondered if her mother decided to leave the ship, and if the black creatures she described could have entered the ship.
She left and found Jaune with his gun pointed towards a downside slope.
"Saw something?" She asked, and Jaune nodded.
"Black, slug like. Found her?"
"Empty. I copied the logs though. We can go as soon as you want to." She answered, and the captain wondered about it.
"Let's explore the surroundings for a bit. See if we find signs of her."
Yang couldn't be more grateful for that. They decided to go as they would if their ship crashed, and search for a vantage point they could defend. So they walked down the slope, and walked between the crystal structures. As they walked, they both saw movement in the shadows and kept a guarded stance. But for now, no signs of Raven.
"Yang, there." The blonde turned to see what he was pointing at. A slug twice as big as Zwei was staring at them. On top of its antennae was a pair or red eyes.
"What are those?"
"Grimm… maybe?" Jaune said as the colors match mostly, though they didn't had the white bone-like plates and spikes.
"Didn't the twins said the Grimm were dark matter life forms? Do you think it is those?" Yang questioned.
"I think I don't want to find out. Sorry, Yang, better we…" The slug made a movement, faster than expected, jumping on Jaune and revealing white spikes from its body. He was about to shoot it but Yang stopped him and punched the black creature away.
"This place is pure Dust! A misplaced shot can blow it all!" She warned and he nodded, putting the rifle away and checking his sword and shield. They worked there too. They turned around and saw several Grimm-slugs surrounding them, blocking their way back to the fighters. "Run away?"
"My favorite plan. Simple and safe." He answered and both turned and ran.
Gravity worked funny in the subspace, with the tiny moon-size body offering more gravity in some spots and less in others. It made their escape more difficulty than expected. Jaune tapped Yang's shoulder and showed her a cave like space on the top of some crystals. She nodded and they started jumping. Yang reached the space easily, but when Jaune did his last jump he got caught by a heavy gravity pocket and was about to fall. Thankfully a hand grabbed his and pulled him to safety.
The hand didn't belonged to Yang, but to another person wearing a heavy duty spacesuit, carrying a long sword with a red blade and wearing the weird shaped, dated helmet with the Spacy designations printed on its side.
"I don't know who you are, but I hope you can help me. I am Raven Branwen, Remnant Colonies Spacy. I was testing a prototype ship when the warp engines acted up, throwing me here. I have being here for days, my food supply is almost finished and those things keep attacking me. So, if you can help me, or even understand me, please, help me." She said in a calm voice, or as calm as possible as her situation allowed. Jaune stared at her, than at Yang. The girl stood there, maybe too shocked to answer.
"Commander Branwen, I'm Captain Jaune Arc of the FTLRSS-7 Nagato Kai, Remnant Colonies Spacy." There was a long moment of silence.
"What? But… That is impossible! I met Jaune Arc, he's a baby! He was even born the same day my daughter Yang was. It can't be you!" Raven said with clear confusion in her voice.
"Commander, you disappeared more than twenty years ago." Jaune tried to explain as simple as possible. It wasn't working.
"You can't be serious! How is that even possible?!" Raven was starting to panic, so Jaune put his hand on her shoulder to calm her and get her attention.
"Time in the subspace flows different than normal space, especially in places like this superknot." He explained to her and she remembered Ozpin said subspace time moved faster, but it would be just a few seconds for hours spent inside, not years for days. She wanted to disbelieve him, but his armor, the insignias, the fact he presented himself as Jaune Arc, it couldn't be a lie.
"My daughter… It means… I was absent when she needed me the most… She is probably a woman now." She wondered, and Jaune stared at Yang. The blonde girl was in a loss of words as she finally met her mother, but they couldn't even stare at each other face due to the helmets. She simple had no idea what to do or say.
"Commander, we need to get out of here. We landed our fighters close to your ship, and if we reach them, we can go back to the Nagato Kai. If time here is compressed as much as it seems, it means a day spent here is somewhere close to four years in normal space, and an hour is sixty days. I would rather we get out of here sooner." Jaune said in a proper commanding tone, and Raven couldn't avoid being impressed, considering he was a very weak and small baby when he was born.
"Those slugs won't allow us to get to your fighters easily, and we can't just shot around a big Dust crystal. I hope those armors of yours have some tricks of their own." She stated and Jaune observed the slugs now rounding up the base of the crystal they were hidden. He deduced the negative emotions cumulating there were attracting them similarly as it would do with the Grimm they know.
"Nagato, do you copy? We might need an extraction with the tractor beam." Jaune asked by radio. A bit of static came first then the voice of Glynda.
"Here's Nagato, we can't do that, captain. According to Sgt. Valkyrie, the effects of the subspace on it are… mysterious." Glynda said with a bit of annoyance on her voice.
"Wait… Glynda? Glynda Goodwitch?" Raven asked as they were linked.
"This voice… but it can't be… Raven?"
"I can't believe it is you! I always expected you to become an instructor! Wait… who's the admiral now?"
"Who else? Tenryuu. I can't believe you are alive!"
"Tenryuu? That explain so many things. Glynda, my daughter? How's she?"
"Raven… your daughter is… wait… captain, we are detecting an incoming ship! It's… a Queen's ship!" They turned to the entrance of the cove they were in and saw the saucer-like vessel using the zoom in their helmets.
"Damn it, not now! Glyn, put this place between them and the ship, let's hope their sensors could be blinded by it! We will try to reach the fighters! Radio silence from now on!" Jaune ordered and analyzed the situation. They needed to move fast and the slug Grimm was starting to climb after them. He saw some big crystals around, many bigger than them and had an idea. "Lieutenant, toss those at them and clear us a path. We need to go." He turned around and noticed Yang was focused on Raven. "Lieutenant… YANG!"
There was a prolonged silence as the two women motioned to face each other. Jaune couldn't fathom what was going through their heads, nor was he really worried about that at that moment. The slugs were coming way too closer for his taste and he needed to get them moving.
"Yang, we'll have to postpone the family reunion and emotional moment! I need you to get those crystals and toss them against the slugs! ASAP!" Yang finally was brought off her stupor and did as asked, grabbing crystals and tossing them against the slugs, smashing some and forcing them to retreat.
With that the trio jumped down, Jaune carrying Raven as she didn't had a Hunter armor to absorb the fall. As they landed, the captain let go of the woman and they rushed towards the fighters. The slugs though decided they didn't want their visitors to go, and started firing the spikes from their bodies. Jaune used his shield to cover for them and soon they saw the FTLRSS-6, covered in deadly slugs.
"Damn it! We can't set the auto destruction now!" Jaune shouted.
"Why? Let's just get our fighters and go out of here!" Yang questioned as they kept running for the fighters.
"That ship has the coordinates to our planet! We can't let the Queen get this data!"
"Who's this Queen?" Raven questioned.
"The one that is sending Grimm creatures across the galaxy. She is trying to find us and our star system! And believe me when I saw AAAAH!"
Jaune fell down with a white spike stuck in his leg. Yang cried out for him and grabbed and tossed him over her shoulder and they rushed after the two fighters. The blonde girl removed the spike and applied the sealant on his leg, hoping that the armor would do the first aid, but turned to see the slugs slowly approaching and the space saucer coming closer.
"Yang, put me on the survey fighter. We need to go back." Jaune said with labored breathing. "Once we are inside the Nagato we blow up this place and take everything down with us!"
"OK, OK…" She did as he said and put him in the back seat of the survey fighter. "I hope you know how to pilot one of those… mom…"
"I'm just twenty years behind. You take your captain with you; I'll take the other one." Raven stated as she jumped in the fighter. "Uh, twenty years and it is all so familiar."
Yang sat on the fight and they took off. But as soon as they did the saucer launched several fighters of their one, prolonged silver vessels that reminded them of leaves, forcing them to fight back. That was when the blonde Marine received the emergency signal from Jaune's armor. He was entering in shock.
"Damn it! I need to take him to the ship or he will die!" She screamed over the radio.
"You go, I'll keep them busy!" Raven answered back as she turned around and started downing the enemy fighters. "Go!"
"But…"
"Your friend will die if you don't go! This is an order, lieutenant!" Raven shouted over the radio, and Yang did as asked.
It didn't take her long to reach the ship, and Jaune was hauled to the med bay. She would have gone with him if there wasn't for the other important person to her in danger, and instead rushed to the bridge.
"Raven, get your ass back here! We need to get out!" Glynda ordered via radio.
"I can't without bringing every one of those to your doors! And that ship is going for the FTLRSS-6!"
"We will detonate the moon from here, come back!" Glynda ordered again, but Raven laughed surprising them.
"How big will be this explosion and how fast it will expand?" She asked, and Nora ran the calculations.
"It will take less than two minutes for the explosion to reach us… and we will need five to get out of this knot." She informed.
"You can't get out on time, but I can in the fighter. I'll send a Dust missile on that thing and get out as fast as I can!" Raven stated and Glynda and Yang stared at Nora.
"The reason we have fighters is not because they are faster than bigger ships, but with less mass they can change directions and especially accelerate faster. The Nagato would take five minutes to reach top speed and leave this pace, but the fighter has a chance of doing it in two minutes… barely." Nora admitted. 'Barely' wasn't good enough for Yang.
"No, no! I won't lose you again! Come back here and we will find another way!" The blonde Marine yelled over the radio.
"Yang, listen to me! I need to do this! I don't know all the details, but it's clear those things are a threat to everyone back home! And I won't risk the life of my daughter! Glyn, take your damn ship out of here, I can't keep them off my back for too long to have this discussion! And Yang, I promise we will meet again! I won't lose any more time with you than I already did!"
"Don't you dare to give this order!" Yang shouted as she loomed threateningly at Glynda. The commander sighed and deactivated her Hunter.
"I'm sorry, Yang… I'm really sorry… Neptune, get us out of here."
…
Raven kept the dogfight the best she could, as long as she could. The sheer number of enemies made it almost impossible to avoid any damage, but somehow she managed with a few scratches on the fighter. Whoever made those did an awesome job, she thought. As soon as her radar signaled the Nagato Kai left the superknot, she left a sigh out. She never imagined to met her daughter that way, and lamented it was such a brief encounter when there was so much to be said.
But she had a mission to do now, though, and she would accomplish it. She dodged a few fighters and launched her four Dust missiles, immediately turning around and trying to outrun her enemies. It took a half minute for the fighters to realize what she had done, and they stopped the pursuit of Raven and turned to try to intercept the missiles. They downed only one before the other three exploded in the surface of the Dust body bellow.
A big explosion filled with light.
The explosion destroyed the fighters and the saucer ship.
Raven closed her eyes and her thoughts were filled with her wish to meet her daughter again.
…
Jaune opened his eyes and recognized the med bay. He looked down and saw his leg was there, wrapped in bandages. Doc was by his side, smiling.
"So, how's the damage?" He questioned as he moved his leg a little.
"A day or two before the nanobots fix the bone and muscle, but there was a toxin that I was barely able to counter. I'm keeping you in observation for as long as I see fit." She explained and he nodded.
"I'm assuming everything went as planned?" He asked, and noticed the change in mood from the Faunus medic, and turned around to see Yang sleeping in the nearby bed.
"We lost three months of normal time there and… Raven used the fighter to blow up the Dust 'moon'. We have no idea what happened to her, so I had to give the poor girl a light sedative. But I'm not sure if she can recover of losing her mother twice like this." She explained and Jaune nodded and sighed.
…
"Hey." Jaune said as he noticed Yang waking up a few hours later.
"Hey…" She answered back meekly. "Good to see you again, skipper."
"Yeah, same here… How're you holding up?"
"I… want her back… It's so unfair…" she said as tears rolled from her eyes.
"I'm sure you will see her back." Jaune said in a comforting tone. Yang just left a nervous laugh out.
"Don't need to lie to me, skipper… even if she escaped the explosion, she is lost again in the subspace in that fighter… And what is our chance to stumble on her again?" She started crying, and Jaune reached for her hand.
"Quite good, actually. Yang, remember the remodeled fighter can warp. And even if Raven got unconscious, they are programmed to return to Remnant if something happens to the pilot. It means that if she did escape that explosion, she is in her way home." Yang eyes shot open and she stared at Jaune, sincerity coming from his blue eyes. She jumped out of her bed and into his, hugging and silently crying on his shoulder. Jaune just comforted her, a hand combing her bright blonde hair.
…
Yang dreamed again.
Inside the cockpit of a fighter.
From its windows, she saw them again.
Four metallic tubes floating around a dying planet.