Chapter 13: First bump in the road
Thanks AaronReach for pointing out I messed up the chapter. They were like right next to each other being both Chapter 13s. I really need to organize the naming conventions.
-Fifth day aboard the vessel-
Ruby woke up between the middle of the night and early morning to feel her throat dry. Five days aboard the Solar Flare and their daily lives had felt rather calm.
Yang seemed to enjoy her job in the engine room, Blake was having an easy time of surveillance and Weiss, despite burning the first few lunches, was actually getting the hang of things.
For the last two days, however, Silver hadn't spoken much to her, Hex said he was handling some classified work that they couldn't know about yet.
As she walked back from the mess hall, she noticed his office light on, she didn't know what possessed her… but she knocked on his door.
No answer.
She pushed it and the door slid open on automatic.
The office was a mess, littered with documents all over the desk, monitors open and loaded with tabs and windows of things she didn't understand. Silver was still awake, pouring over the notes frantically.
"Silver…?" She asked curiously.
He shot up from the desk with wild hair, his mask loosely hanging off of his face so she could barely make out part of his right eyebrow, "Huh?! Who…?! Oh… it's you." he quickly adjusted his mask until it covered his entire face again.
She rolled her eyes, "Silver it's fucking four in the morning why are you awake?"
"Is it?" he looked at the time, "Oh… fuck, no time for sleep, not like I get any anyway…"
She paused, taking a drink of her water, "Uhuh… when was the last time you slept?"
"Does it matter?" he sighed heavily and adjusted his mask, "Well, since you're up… wait are you planning on returning to bed?"
"Uh… yes?"
"Never mind, get some rest. I'll sort you guys out in the morning, we're heading to a nearby planet in the Omega system, and a distress call was just intercepted," He explained, "I just… need to figure out how to…. Fuck I'm not a biochemist… maybe Slug can help…"
He looked like a mess, his hair was sticking up wildly, and she couldn't see his eyes but could tell he had bags from sleep deprivation. His movements were also jittery and off. It was… a little sad to see. The Silver she knew and loved to hate was a chaotic, charismatic mastermind and smartass. This… was not normal.
She ignored the name and his mad ramblings, "Do you need my help?"
Why was she offering? Why did she care? Was it because this was her job now? Yeah… that was it…
"No, it's okay. You make sure you rest up. I need you and team RWBY in full capacity when we land tomorrow. If the distress call is right then we're looking at a siege."
"A siege? By Pirates?"
"Yes, some pirates are attacking a colony on Trinity," he said handing her the distress call.
She browsed it, "Wait, the tropical planet? Isn't it mostly jungle though?"
He moved to her side and looked her in the eye, "No, there are a few settlements on there by the Faunus people, look I'll go through the mission brief in the morning… just make sure you get to sleep."
She looked at the cup of water in her hand and then back at Silver, there wasn't any question about what she should do. Downing the entire cup she asked, "How do you take your coffee?"
He looked at her baffled, "Black with one sugar… wait are you staying up to help me?"
She nodded, "Yeah, you look like a mess and you clearly need help. I will not take no for an answer, so sit your ass there and keep at it, I'll be back."
He stood still momentarily, watching her in awe, "Rose…"
She stopped in the doorway, looking back, "Yeah?"
"Thank you..." it was genuine and from the heart.
Something inside her sparked and she had to hide the giddy feeling it gave her, "Uh… yeah sure whatever…"
-8 am, Omega System, Trinity-
Trinity, a tropical planet located on the inner circle of the Omega system, a large jungle-infested planet chock filled with flora and fauna, most of which were carnivorous.
A small settlement of Faunus located just above the equatorial line toward the north side, where the temperatures were favourable all year round, very few tropical storms and the wildlife was manageable.
Silver led the crew of the Solar Flare alongside Team RWBY on the ground, the skies were clear aside from a few far-off clouds, meaning the heat was intense, and so was the humidity.
By planet standards, it was quite mild but for those accustomed to Remnant's atmosphere, this was like a Sauna.
"Remind me… why… we're here…?" Weiss asked through gasps as she wiped the sweat dripping down her forehead.
"Distress call," Silver said from the front of the pack, "A local friend of ours sent out a signal saying they're under siege from an invading pirate crew."
"Who the hell would want to invade this place?!"
"Don't know, don't care. What matters is we make sure they never try this shit again."
The crew approached a large metallic structure hidden deep within the foliage of the jungle. A large clearing surrounded by dense flora and thick trees that all but blocked out the sky. This facility was more like a giant factory, with a significantly large farm behind consisting of massively tall trees that split down the middle from a central trunk and branched into a spiderweb network of wooden appendages bearing large brown, red and yellow fruit that looked like large peanuts.
A massive two-layered metal fence surrounded the property.
"This place looks like one of the SDC Dust factories," Weiss said looking over the architecture.
"It was," Hex said as a matter of fact, "Until we liberated it."
"You mean stole," Weiss glared at her.
"No, liberated. This factory used to be sapping the ground of its natural dust layer causing the environment to die rapidly," Nitro responded, reaching to the soil and grabbing a fistful of dirt. "See this?" he pointed at the coloured layers of dirt.
One layer was significantly lighter than the others, "Lighter colour is the dead nutrient sapped soil. Two years ago this entire area was more barren than Hex's social life."
"HEY!" she smacked him over the head.
Weiss stared at the soil in confusion, "But… why would my dad do that?"
"Because he's a greedy prick, that's why," Silver responded curtly as he approached a large steel gate and pressed an intercom button on the wall.
A loud doorbell rang out through the facility and within a few seconds someone responded, "Who's there? Don't make me get the turrets, I'm armed and dangerous!"
"Slug, chill out, it's me. We got your distress signal."
"Nov… Silver!" he quickly corrected, "Finally, I was getting worried you wouldn't respond. Come on in, I have hot chocolate!"
The interior of the facility was just as spacious as expected, with several floors separated by decking ascended with a main factory space for production. Several machines were spread out across conveyor belts, though they were all stopped.
Silver's pirate crew was set up around the perimeter of the compound while Team RWBY, Hex, Nitro and Silver himself held a meeting with the one known as Slug inside.
He was actually anything but a slug. The person was a short male roughly in his early thirties dressed in overalls. He had dark brown hair, a large beard and pointy whiskers sticking out of his lip. A pair of fluffy ears sprouted over his head, rounded and shaped like that of a raccoon.
"Sheesh, never thought things would get this bad," Slug whistled, "Can I get you ladies anything? What about you and the lad?" he looked at the captain.
"Coffee, please," Silver responded.
"Uh… hot chocolate?" Ruby asked hesitantly.
"Coffee, iced" Weiss followed.
Blake and Yang shrugged, "Uh we'll have whatever you got I guess, cold preferably."
Slug snapped his fingers and a strange robot comprised of an elongated torso and a pair of hands came driving in on four wheels carrying a teapot, ice cubes and their various drinks.
It began handing them out one by one while Slug looked over them, "Say… you look awfully familiar…" he eyed Ruby.
Silver groaned, he forgot they were that famous, "Never mind them, Slug, get to the point."
"No… no they aren't your usual crew… too dignified, and that one looks like a Schnee…" Suddenly his eyes went wide, "OH YOU'RE TEAM RWBY!"
Silver instantly grabbed him and slapped his hand over Slug's mouth, "SHHH! Do you want to tell it to the whole neighbourhood?"
"Well I'll be damned," Slug whistled impressed, "How'd you recruit the baddest Huntresses of the UFSH in the system to your crew?"
"He didn't recruit us, we've essentially been kidnapped," Weiss said sassily.
"I'd love to hear the story…"
"Slug, we don't have time for this, tell me the details now or I will release Luna into your stockpile. Remember what happened last time…." Silver threatened.
Slug shivered, "I'm still financially recovering from that loss…"
"Alright I hear ya," he finally gave in and plopped not the chair, "About a week ago, some strange pirates invaded the planet, took over the nearby village and closed it off. I don't know what for but they haven't found this place yet thanks to that fancy cloaking device."
Hex looked at the console, "You've been running it non-stop haven't you…"
"Yes…?"
"No wonder we found this place so easy, the damn thing is overheated… I'll have to do some repairs, Yang, we're on duty."
Ruby frowned in confusion, "I still don't get why pirates attacked, isn't this place supposed to be a secret? How did they find out?"
Slug shrugged, "Well, it's not entirely a secret since I'm legally required to state where I ship my chocolate and coffee from according to the UFSH Legal Authority guidelines."
Weiss held her mouth open, "Wait… you ship coffee and chocolate?! What brand?!"
"Space Oasis? Ever heard of it?" he asked pulling out a bar and throwing it to her.
She flipped over the package, "Holy shit… I've seen this stuff on shelves, but isn't this like the gourmet chocolate with the secret recipe and hidden owner and… oh it's coming together now…"
Silver's eyes narrowed, "If this is information that only the UFSH would know then…"
"Our information leak was bigger than I thought," Ruby finished for him.
"Or… no… I hope it's not what I'm thinking," Silver muttered to himself, "Doesn't matter, right now we need to get a game plan, and do some scouting. Slug, send me a layout of the affected area."
Slug saluted and sent him a holo-map.
Silver studied it carefully before folding his arms in thought, "Rose, I'm going to need your help with this. The two of us will infiltrate during the night."
"Why don't I go, I'm good with stealth missions," Blake raised her hand volunteering.
Weiss gawked at her, "You're… volunteering to help them?! Why?!"
"Innocent people need help Weiss, it's no longer a matter of whether Silver is a good or bad person," Blake looked at her seriously, "These are my people too."
The Schnee raised a finger to argue but let her hand drop when she found no solid reason not to agree. Blake was indeed right, this wasn't a matter of helping the bad guys.
This begged the question that kept replaying in Ruby's mind: If Silver was the bad guy, then why was he helping people?
Silver nodded, "As much as I appreciate it Blake, I'd prefer to have you here. My men are good but they aren't as combat trained as you guys are."
"It would help if we had our suits~" Yang bounced on her heels and batted her eyes at Silver.
He snorted, "Sure, but only in a combat scenario, Hex has the override controls for your suits so she can shut you down if you get out of hand."
Hex nodded and tapped on her tablet before simultaneously all four members of Team RWBY's suits sparked at the back of their necks giving a signal they were online again.
He checked the time, "Alright, ETA 2 hours, Red, you and me will head out."
"Why me specifically?" she asked genuinely confused.
"I told you already, right? I trust you to watch my back." He said before turning around and leaving to inspect somewhere else in the facility.
Ruby was left staring again at the empty space, a blush creeping over her face one that did not go unnoticed by Weiss.
"Ruby, are you… blushing?!" Weiss asked incredulously.
She shook her face rapidly, "N-NO! Why would I?!"
Blake snickered, "Don't tell me the charismatic bad boy is affecting you. He could literally be an old man behind that mask for all we know."
"No he's… actually not…" Ruby said softly.
Yang elbowed Blake and laughed, "Yeah there's no way my sister would… wait what did you say?!"
"Uh, nothing, gotta go uh make sure my suit's working!" Ruby squeaked before bolting off in the opposite direction of Silver.
"We all heard her say that right?" Weiss looked at the couple.
The two nodded slowly in confirmation.
Silver and Ruby left the factory and headed in the direction of the Faunus village, about three miles off the property stood another large clearing carved into the jungle.
It wasn't a modern city or anything close to that. It was more like a series of wooden houses and huts connected just above the forest floor by bridges made of wood and vine. The layout was efficient and networked so all important-looking buildings had easy access from anywhere in the village.
Silver and Ruby were hidden in the outskirts of the village, taking up roost in the tree line overlooking the area. With a solid vantage point, they could easily scout the enemy.
Through their visors they saw dozens of what appeared to be pirates patrolling the vicinity, they were dressed in dark green camo uniforms to blend in, though they bore no pirate insignia.
"This is strange," Silver said aloud to Ruby who was observing beside him. "These don't look like pirates."
Ruby watched as one of them went into a nearby hut and dragged out a pair of Faunus, a couple from the looks of things, stringing them by their necks and dragging them to the main hut where a large yellow light emanated.
"They look like pirates to me…" she grits her teeth in anger. "We need to help these people."
She got up to engage when he held her back, "Wait, take a closer look, acquire all the information before engaging."
"What? How can we wait when there are people that need our help!"
"Your spirit is in the right place but your head isn't. It's how I kept outsmarting you, Rose, you have a tendency to let your emotions rule your actions. Unlike your sister though, you only let it affect you when it comes to extreme situations…" he put down his visor and looked at her and smirked, "Or me."
She rolled her eyes while hiding her blush, "What are you psychoanalyzing me now?"
"No, just making an observation, I'm not perfect either but we need to be smart about this."
"What do you propose we do?"
"Well first up, they're not pirates, they move like they're trained soldiers, with purpose and efficiency. No markings mean either mercenaries or some military faction, secondly, we need to see their full forces. There could be more hiding."
She thought for a moment, "So… we get in closer? Find a way inside the main building?"
"Exactly, great minds think alike, the question is how."
"We could call for Blake?" Ruby voiced.
He scratched his head before snapping his fingers, "I got an idea," he pulled out a mask from his storage and handed it to her. It was black, like his but had red eyes instead of his orange.
"We're pirates, let's be pirates."
"You're a pirate, I'm a soldier," she corrected him, "What're you suggesting?"
"Follow my lead."