Chapter34
Breakout Part 1
One of the first things he noted on waking was nausea, the second was that his everything was stiff and painfull, then it felt as if a spike had been driven into his head the moment he looked into the light. Moaning in pain he tried to turn onto his side as the nausea increased in case he vomited and to get away from the damn light but found that he was still secured to the bed. Luckily there was nothing left in his system to vomit up and the nausea slowly abated. As soon as he was starting to focus he noticed that Velvet was slowly stirring. Turning his head to the other side took extreme effort as it felt as if his head was as heavy as a permacrete slab. Pyrrha was on his left
Both Pyrrha and Velvet looked terrible, not that he could blame them. Their hair was sweat stained as was the bodysuits they were dressed in, the soft glow of Aura indicated that their Aura was in the process of trying to heal them. The fact that aura glow was barely visible on them worried him as both had strong Auras and deep reserves, the glow should be significantly brighter. But then again sustained torture would take its toll on everyone and every little bit to help repair the damage was welcome. He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, He found Hina close by as well as another.
"Finally awake are you? Stop trying to use the Force. We can not draw attention to ourselves now." The other spoke, her voice familiar somehow
"Why?" Jaune croaked out
"You will have to be more specific. Why are we being allowed to rest? Why are we being tortured. Why the electric shocks? Why am I saying not to use the force?" The female replied, her voice cracking
"All of them." Jaune replied
"The torture is so that we are broken and desperate when we get handed over to the Emperor, the constant shocks we received is so that we can not focus and therefore escape into the Force. The Emperor wants you alive, that does not specify fully intact, the same goes for your friends. The moment Vader and the Inquisitor feels Force use one of them will barge in here. I for one would like to recover as much as possible before they get in here again." She answered
It took a moment for him to think clear long enough to place the voice.
"You were the one to capture us. Weren't you?" He demanded
"Yes I was. Name is Keira Aliit Wren. I already know who you are, Jaune No Name. Though your friends I do not?" Keira replied
"Then what are you doing here?" Jaune asked
"They caught me on Coruscant. I was offered a deal, track and capture you or stay in the hands of the Inquisitorius and be broken and converted. Should have seen that they would break their word, but then again still had no other choice." Keira answered both tired and bitter
"How did you track us? We erased all mentions we had of the Remnant system and I doubt you could track us through the force otherwise all the unaccounted for Jedi would have been hunted down already." Jaune asked
"You wiped the databanks of the Zygeran ship, however the hyperdrive system and the beacon systems record the data independently of the central system. We used the places you were seen against the data points and created routes to track you on. Ultimately what betrayed your position was a probe droid picking up a television signal, I believe the indigents in Remnant call it, that displayed your face. Facial recognition took care of the rest." Keira explained
Jaune wanted to bang his head against something as he heard that explanation. They had been so sure they had gotten away clean, and then to be tripped up by a television clip for the Vytal festival of all things.
"My turn, why are all four of you glowing? When I risked using the Force I could not sense any of you using it" Keira asked
"It is Aura. Something that is unique to this planet." Jaune replied
"But how are you using it?" Keira asked
"Jaune is from this planet. My sisters and I did the full adoption rite with Jaune and his family before we had our Aura awakened. Or other species are capable of awakening it too." Hina broke in, her voice tired
"Adoption Rites. You mean blood rites. That would mean traces of their DNA was mixed with yours." Keira said musingly
"How do you know it is blood rites. Everyone is sworn to secrecy regarding it." Hina demanded
"My people and yours have a long history especially some families. Only the Yuki of Arkaxia uses the blood rite, it is derived from a Mandalorian rite. " Keira replied
"We have kept away from the Jedi and the Republic so try another one. The only history is contempt and apathy" Hina replied snappily
"At est Mandalore. Just because I am Force sensitive does not make me a Jedi or a Sith for that matter." Keira snapped back
"Never heard of a force sensitive Mandolorian before." Jaune commented
"We are well hidden, considering how the traditional families view Jedi. The new Mandalorians were more relaxed, well up to the siege of Mandalore when Maul overthrew the Government through his puppet. Though the sensitives have not been on Keldabe or the central planets of the Mandalore system for as long as I know. Our clans broke away from the main families long ago as well when it was felt they were shifting away from the Resol'Nar." Keira responded
"You said Wren, the Wren clan is still on Krownrest, we had to pay taxes to the family when we docked there after a shipping run." Jaune said musingly
"The main line is still there. As are the main lines of most of the clans be it on Krownrest, Keldabe or Concord Dawn, except Ordo. The main line went extinct during the uprising of Maul's puppet, I think there may be a secondary line on Krownrest." Keira said
The tables they were secured to started to rise to vertical again and the door opened. The sound of a respirator filled the air for several moments before Vader entered the room, The Inquisistor and two inquisitors following in his wake. All those awake shuddered in the sudden icy cold that filled the Force. Quickly looking to left and right Jaune was thankfull that both Pyrrha and Velvet were not awake but judging from their restless squirming that was not likely to last much longer. Vader crossed his arms and stood there staring at them.
"I apologise for our appearance, if we had known we would have visitors we would have cleaned up." Keira snarked
"Bit hard to do that if you are tied up, Then again they probably feel safer with us tied down." Jaune remarked
"They want to talk obviously." Hina said
"You deduced that how?" Keira asked
"If they wanted to attack they would have send in regiments of Clones to do that for them." Hina replied
"They do have stormtroopers." Jaune pointed out
"Clones can actually shoot straight, the stormtroopers will die in greater numbers from friendly fire than any taken in combat directly." Keira replied
"Amusing." Vader said
"Well room service sucks and the holonet is not working so one must get amusment from somewhere." Jaune quipped
He bit back a cry of pain as Force lightning rippled across him.
"Enough Tenth brother." The inquisitor snapped
Jaune gasped for breath as the lightning stopped, he glared at the now identified tenth brother.
"Open your visor so that I know who to kill when I get out of here." He snarled
"Thoughts of revenge. How unlike a Jedi, your fall has already begun." The Inquisitor intoned in a bored voice
"Never was one. Now are you going to show your face." Jaune ignored the Inquisitor in favour of the Tenth Brother
The visors slid back on the two inquisitors revealing a Falleen male and a female human. Both had the typical yellow eyes of a darksider present. Keira started chuckling
"If you fight that one don't bother aiming for his balls, he has not gotten any." She said to Jaune
"I am almost scared to ask how you know that." Jaune replied
"I cut them with his own lightsaber of when he tried his luck with me. Not that there much to cut off anyway." She shrugged
Both of them were slammed back in their tables moments later, gritting their teeth as a force push was applied. Vader stepped more into the centre of the room
"Got something to say to us or are you just wanting to show off how much power you have over us." Jaune managed to say
The pressure eased. Vader just kept staring at them, the sound of his respirator filling the silence. The Inquisitor stepped up beside Vader. He stepped into Jaune's personal space as he studied him.
"Either lay of licking your bosses ass or give me space. Your breath stinks." Jaune said
"How did you unlock your Force potential?" The Inquisitor demanded, ignoring Jaune's comment
"A secret ritual." Jaune replied
"Jaune. Don't tell him." Hina called out
"It is not as if they can use it. You see you have to find the fountain of wishes deep in the Emerald Forest. If the fairies find you worthy you pay a tithe and they let you take a drink from the fountain, if you are good your wishes come true. Yours, well I won't drink if I were you." Jaune said
"Amusing. I wonder how long your courage and witt will last before the Emperor." The Inquisitor replied
"Speaking of him. How far are we from Coruscant?" Keira asked
"We have not left the Remnant system. The Emperor was so intrigued by the new member of the Empire that he decided to come inspect it and your compatriots have done a great service to the Empire by delivering this system to us." The Inquisitor told Jaune
The Inquisitor stepped back as Jaune attempted to headbutt him. His smile was insidious as he enjoyed forcing Jaune into anger and despair.
"Fuck you." Jaune snapped out
"Embrace your anger young one. Let it fill you. Let it empower you. Embrace the Dark side" The Inquisitor almost crooned
"I would rather die than turn." Jaune replied
"They all say that, they all turn."
Moody spotted the flashing light instantly as the cable car approached the lower station. Turning her back on the window she casually studied the occupants of the car cabin to see if any one reacted to the light. A group of grey uniforms stood at the front door, ready for shore leave, their guide dressed in a white cadet uniform. More and more of the students were wearing the cadet uniform as the constant propaganda was inspiring them to sign up. The immediate freedom to move around, promised high salary and offered benefits to their families playing a role. She and the other teachers in the know did their best to covertly discourage the students from enlisting but a lack of verifiable facts to counter the propaganda stymied that and with the true origins of Arc and the Ichuru sisters, or more accurately a modified true version accompanied by their bounty listing, becoming known during a morning assembly the task became more difficult as the information the teachers had were being considered tainted as it had come from criminals. The truth about their origins had also been supplied to the general press and the Lost Kingdom cover story had been ripped to shreds in the process. There was a growing outcry for them and those who helped disseminate the story to be tried in court and for the Arc family to be removed from governing the region Jonathan was the governor for. The continued lack of appearance by the Arc family in public wasbeing used as confirmation of guilt. Debate as to the actual charges were still going strong. Pyrrha was having their reputation tarnished as a cheater, with several tournament fighters coming forward claiming they had been forced to take a dive or had been sabotaged pre matches, allegedly the pressure and sabotage being paid for by her sponsors. Further allegations were being made linking her to the Mistral crime families through her dead father who was being touted to be related to one of the families oyabun's. Nora's less than stellar record with Child Protective services both in Mistral and Vale had also mysteriously made it into public view, and Coco was viciously being slandered in the modelling community with the tabloids having a field day with the gossip. The rest of CFVY was also being tarnished in the press but not being as prominent th effects were much less visible
More and more did the general public become used to their invaders. Daily new footage was being broadcast of how wonderful the Empire was, visions of happy populations off world was mixed with footage of Grim being decimated by mechanical units supporting clusters of White armoured troopers firing into Grim packs, or footage of arial combat against Gryphon's and Nevermore, intermixed with footage of miners of all races being rescued from SDC mines. The return of the Councils to Remnant signing the praises of their invaders also helped in the effort, more and more unification of Remnant was being preached by their leaders, promises of upliftment were being made.
The middle of the car was filled with stormtroopers preparing to rotate watch with those on duty at the bottom, those troopers not wearing their helmets was the ones granted shore leave, they too had a cadet allocated to them as a guide, not that they would progress further than the cheap bars near the cable car station or the cheap hotels who in defiance of Vale law was advertising that they had prostitutes on site. As for what they did for currency she did not know.
This brought her to the group she was escorting from Beacon, those who were dropping out due to medical reasons. In particular those huntresses with confirmed pregnancies. Most were dressed in civilian clothing, though there too was a smattering of the cadet uniform present, those signing up being allocated to a new assistance corps that had been announced. Though to be truthful not all of those listed as pregnant was, their contact in the form of Derrick and his still unknown employer, using fake lab reports, issued by the laborotary used by Beacon for all its testing service, allowing them to get some of the girls out. Moody would send the names via text, Tsune would draw the blood for testing and soon a report confirming pregnancy would be issued. Tsune had supplied blood from confirmed pregnancoes to the Empire commander for verification by his medical droids when she had been querried as to the number of girls being discharged. As all came back positive the matter was dropped. In the back of this group was Royce, Olson and Walsh. All three of them had decided on using the excuse to get away and start a civilian life. Cameron had decided to stay and had moved in with RWBY.
Three distinct factions had developed within the students irregardless of Kingdom of origin. One who was buying into the propaganda being supplied to them or actually believing joining up was a good idea. The second group were those who had seconds thought about being a Hunter and wanted the chance to return to civilian life, and then there were the ones who wanted to remain the Hunters they had been training to be. Technically there was a fourth group, those who knew the truth and was trapped by circumstances, but ten does not a full group make. Moody leant back against the rail and made eye contact with those wishing to bail out. Subtly the group closed up on her
"Once you are out of the checkpoint go the diner at the far end of the street. Order the Mistrali duck. The people we have on the outside will help you get to your families." She said
The cable car came to a stop and the last group were escorted from the car by Moody. She handed their discharge papers to the officer waiting by the door before stepping back into the car to be returned to Beacon. On return to Beacon she was escorted to her old class room after she cited the need to check on the plant growth in the simulated environment that made up her class, for once actually stating the truth. The plants showing the ravages of the Imperial science officers having taken multiple samples
She stepped into the class and activated the sprinkler system. Opening an umbrella she strolled into the foliage, examining a plant here and there. Her escort staying by the door where it is dry. She did not turn around as she heard movement behind her.
" How many did you get out?" Qrow asked
"Eight wishing to leave. None of them willing to fight back." She replied, keeping up her inspection
"How many of the last do we have?" Qrow asked
"Including your nieces and daughter? Twenty students and three teachers. We will need to get out soon. The imperials are getting really excited about something." Moody replied
"Which teachers? And what have you heard in regards to Ozpin and Goodwitch?" Qrow continued
"Myself, Peach and Tsune. Bart and Peter have decided on staying here and looking after those who don't want to leave. As for Goodwitch and Ozpin. They have yet to leave the tower, Ironwood had been to the infirmary briefly to have his new cybernetics recorded into the system but he had refused to talk to Tsune. He has frequently be seen in the company of the grey uniforms and had been flown away by their bullheads and returned hours later. Winter Schnee is moving around with him but she too has not yet made contact with either Atlas teachers or us or her sister for that matter. Whether she does not want to or her escort is keeping her away is any ones guess"
"Get them ready to go. The white shells I overheard said something about being having to be ready in three days. As much as I want to contact Ozpin the window is closing." Qrow replied
"Did you hear more?" Moody asked
"Not much, for some reason those ones with the black helmets seem to know when I am close. I barely dodged one just now coming in. They said something about Palpatine. Whoever that might be." Qrow shrugged
"Are you shitting me!" Moody hissed softly
"I take it that name means something to you."
"That is their bloody Emperor, Get hold of Derrick we are busting out tomorrow."
"Why the rush?" Qrow asked
"From what Arc and the Ichuru's said he makes the black helmets seen benign. He gets here all chances to escape disappears." Moody said firmly
Qrow was silent as he took the news in. The sprinklers started reducing the water flow as the system was coming to the end of the cycle. He nodded his head and started to push back deeper into the plant growth. He paused
"By the way I saw one the JNPR kids being brought down here." He said
"Which one?" Moody asked urgently
"Black haired boy, Ren. Warn the others not to say anything to him. When he stepped out of one of their bullheads he was in a black uniform accompanied by that guy you identified as Yularen." Qrow said, disappearing from view.
Moody turned around and as much as she wanted to hurry and get the warning out she continued carefully with the routine she followed here everytime she was under observation, her last task to stash the small scroll she had been given, keeping it in Beacon was becoming a risk. Either Qrow would return with the arrangements for their extraction post breakout or a text would be send.
The warning had been unnecessary as the students had been using a telescope to keep eyes on the bullhead pad. Ren's arrival had been noted as was the clothing he had arrived in, when he made his appearance at the dininh hall wearing his old combat clothing the difference was quickly noted and speculation as to reasons why were going around quickly. The common consensus was to say nothing and keep an eye on him. Till they had satisfactory answers caution was the action of the day.
Derrick finished his coffee as Qrow finished his report. He rubbed the stubble of his growing beard, with growing the beard, hair dye and coloured contact lenses he could easily move about. They were sitting on the upper deck overlooking the Fort Freedom Residence, Two man patrols were moving around inside the walls. He had seen his brother and sister in law being escorted into the premises and since then thermal imaging had placed them inside the main bedroom and the adjoining master study, electronic surveillance showed the normal amount of messages between the Residence and the offices in Fort Freedom. On the surface everything seemed to be normal. Intercepting the messages showed Jonathan was arranging for his most loyal to prepare to evacuate or go into hiding
"What do you make of Ironwood being constantly in the company of this Empire?" Qrow asked after discreetly checking that no one was close enough to hear
"Ironwood is both a member of their Council as well as the headmaster of Atlas, not mentioning his position in their army. The fact that his soldiers is now joining the Empire patrols are worrying to the extreme. There is a growing concern he will put Atlas's advancement above everyone else." Derrick replied
"So you believe he flipped to join them." Qrow summed up
"In short yes. So far he is the only headmaster that is frequently seen and he has been heard to call for unification in the press. I believe the Councils have sold Remnant to the highest bidder and he is their choice for planetary Governor, it would make sense to keep the regular faces in place while they subtly take over." Derrick replied
"That is what I and my husband also believe."
The two men looked to the side as a figure had joined them unseen. Kali took a sip from her cup of tea. Mirth was flickering in her eyes at their shocked expressions
"Really gentlemen, letting an old kitty sneak up on you, bad, bad form." She tittered
"Old? Mam I believe you are still in your prime." Derrick replied, his hand under the table
"Oh leave your pistol alone and eat your meal I am no threat." Kali said dismissively.
"How can we help the Chieftain of Menagerie's wife?" Qrow asked
"I am not here in an official capacity, I just tried to visit my good friend Juniper Arc and was shown away rather rudely." Kali replied
"I was not aware that Juniper knew you." Derrick stated
"A recent friendship, we bonded over our wayward children that at present are currently being held in supposedly safety while up in that dreary ship." Kali said
"Let us stop pussyfooting around." Qrow said
"My dear mister Branwen some would call that remark racist. But you are right. I am here for mister Arc or more importantly to contact his superiors. That I walked into a plot to rescue children from within Beacon is purely a bonus." Kali said
"How can a banker help you?" Derrick asked
"Mister Arc if not for your sister in law strongly suggesting that I talk to you above all else, anyone who had dealt with security or intelligence services before would be able to tell you are not a banker. And believe me we learned quickly to spot infiltrators when I ran the intelligence sector for the Fang before my husband and I decided to let ourselves be ousted." Kali replied airily
"So are you here as a concerned mother, a representative of Menagerie or as a member of the Fang?" Derrick asked bluntly
" I am quite capable of multitasking so let us say all three. Now Gentlemen shall we get to business? The longer we stay here the greater the risk of being discovered."
Kali looked over her shoulder and nodded to a large Puma faunus standing by the door. The man nodded back and closed the doors to the patio and approached the table, Derrick was disturbed to see that he knew the man and had bought most of his books from the mans shop. Kali followed his eyes and grinned cattily
"Yes, Tukson is one of my best, officially he had resigned from the Fang. Sienna had also believed he was part of her intelligence network." She said
"Afternoon gentlemen." Tukson said sitting down.
Kali finished her cup of tea and pushed the cup and saucer forward
"As we said we have limited time. Menagerie's social services network is about to have a catastrophic collapse wiping out our civilian database. This will allow us to have our best and brightest children and their families disappear from the system. However Menagerie is too small to effectively hide them and with Vale leading the clamp down on hunting for the Fang we are running out of hiding places and safe houses. Also we need help to move them to safety." She said
"And how we do we know these are not sleepers?" Derrick asked
"You can not, But perhaps an explanation as to why we are doing this will help." Tukson broke in
"You are afraid these Imperials will be worse than the SDC and Atlas." Qrow warranted a guess.
"Yes. With our history we are overly cautious when offers are being made to us without the price being clear. A history of slavery and indentiture will do that to you. Protecting those we have identified as our best hope for survival of the Faunus have been part of a plan created after the Faunus wars, a doomsday protocol if you will. As forwhy we approached you? Vale is our best and only hope for it to work. Atlas would rather exterminate us, Vacuo can not help itself and well Mistral is starting to mirror Atlas, not that we would trust either Atlas or Mistral considering our people's history with them. Hell even the Mistral crime families are becoming distant and have jacked up prices for their services." Tukson explained
"What qualifies them as your best?" Derrick asked
"They are farmers, engineers, technicians. Doctors, nurses. All of them well qualified in their respective fields. People we can not afford to lose." Kali explained
"Is it just those from Menagerie?" Qrow asked
"No, we have identified those in Atlas, Mistral, Argus and here as well. Those from Argus are already on their way here, along with the families of active cell members." Kali replied
"Why?" Derrick asked
"Atlas and the Imperials are extremely active on the base there, they seem to be setting up for a major operations, several units of Mistrali Militia have also arrived there. With the troop buildup we deemed it unsafe to let them stay. The cells are preparing to act to protect the Faunus community there as needed and we are getting their families out in case of reprisals. Obviously they will not be able to do much should it be needed"
"What do you need?" Derrick asked
"A place to hide them. And we are fully aware of what we are asking. Menagerie does not have a lot to offer in return so we are hoping on Vale's generosity now." Kali said simply
"What of the White Fang?" Derrick asked
"Sienna has ordered the cells to go dormant and move all assets that has not been confiscated and destroyed. She is aware that to proceed now is suicidal at best, the exclusion is Argus. She and our best are currently on the move to ensure that her orders are being adhered to. She will be willing to serve with humans should a planetary resistance be needed." Kali said
"And her price?" Derrick demanded
"Protection of Faunus civilians and negotiating a better settlement for our people." Tukson replied
"And if we can not help you?" Derrick asked
"Then we have to hope that the villages we have created across Remnant will be enough. Their survival is why we send Fang members who have their aura unlocked when a village is created to train them as best we can to defend themselves." Kali said
Derrick stood up from the table and dropped a few Lien cards.
"I will pass it up the line. I can not agree to anything as you can probably understand. How do we contact you?" He replied
" We can meet here. Have one of your people graffiti the back of my shop. Instead of leaving words or numbers use colour. Red for early morning, yellow for mid morning, blue for early afternoon, green for early evening, black if our request is refused. I suggest painting a racial slur directed against me as a cover." Tukson suggested.
"I will pass that along as well." Derrick replied
Derrick walked to the door, reaching for the doorknob he paused before turning around.
"Tell your people to lie low and not aggravate the Empire, we have received intelligence that their Emperor is on his way here. As to what happens after that…" He shrugged
Coco was sitting with her back to the wall of the cell she shared with Katya, Yara, Nora and April. She had seen Fox and Yatsu a few times since their "arrest", they were in cell opposite hers along with that have team SSSN. They had been communicating with each other using a tap code had been used by prisoners in the Colour war, Fox having learned it once he had heard of it in Ooblecks class before insisting on teaching the rest of the team. Something she and the others had indulged him in at the time. Thus they knew that Ren had left and had yet to return. Unlike them Ren had walked from the cell on invitation instead of being dragged out of there like the rest of them for interrogation. To say Nora had not taken it well was to say water is mildly wet. Ren's absence and what they had overheard the troopers joke about regarding their missing friends had ensured that moral was at an all time low. To be honest she was starting to feel despair in regards to their situation. Her eyes drifted over to the camera above the door, it was constantly on ensuring that they had no modicum of privacy. She paused, instead of the blue light it usually showed it was showing a yellow light.
The door hissed open and a grey uniform moved in hurriedly. The female stopped just underneath the dome of the camera. She looked back out the door and scanned the passages before speaking
"My name is Amelia Dallors, I need your help." She said
"Like an Imp would really be asking for help." Yara scoffed
"I do not have much time before the system resets. I need help getting my friend out of a cell and of this ship. You do not want to be here when the Emperor arrives, I don't want to be here when he arrives. I can subvert the system but I am no fighter nor am I capable of piloting a shuttle. You can fight and you can fly, what you can not do is get out of here without help." She said hurriedly
"Where is Ren? Where is Jaune , Pyrrha Velvet and Hina?" Nora demanded
"The last is in the high security cell with my friend. Your friend Ren, was it. I last saw him eating with the ISB an hour ago in the junior officer lounge. He is one them now" Amelia answered
"You lie, Ren would never…"
" I do not have time for this, you friend turned, it happens. Now I need to know are you in or out?" Amelia said hurriedly, interrupting her.
"When does the Emperor arrive?" Katya asked
"They say three days. Right now everyone is running around with cleaning cloths. Again I do not have a lot of time." Amelia answered
The five girls shared a glance. April was the first to nod in agreement, Nora was the last to agree
"We are in. What is your plan?" Coco spoke for them