Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang remained crouched for what felt like hours, ears strained as they listened for any changes in the dull hum of the ship or any other sign that they could move out from behind the safety of their cover.
Blake, with her heightened hearing, was the first to pick up on the subtle tonal shift of the ship- one akin to a bullhead decelerating in order to land.
A second or two later, and then total silence, say for their very quiet shallow breathing.
Meanwhile in the control room of the Seeker of Truth:
"Supreme Commander, the Phantom has docked with the Seeker of Truth. A quick overview from the pilot, he reports four casualties that were left behind on the planet."
The elite crewmate called his leader's attention once his terminal indicated the dropship's return.
Thel turned to the crewmate, his features maintained authority, yet his mind was tinged with bewilderment.
Four left for dead?
What manner of threat did they encounter?
No matter, there'd be time to ask questions once we return to the fleet.
"Have the patrol meet me here to go over every detail regarding both their losses and whatever else they could glean from their short time on the planet."
"I will relay the message to them now, supreme commander."
Thel then focused on his crewmate who was overseeing the ship repair details.
"What of the Seeker of Truth's engines."
The answer he received proved the worth of the Huragok amongst the Covenant.
"Reports are showing the issue has been fixed, we're running one more final check, though readings show that they are in working order."
"Alert me the moment your task is complete." Thel ordered whilst giving one final glance at the hologram of the planet.
We cannot remain any further, else the patience of the Prophet of Stewardship worsens.
Back inside the phantom, the four girls tensed upon the sound of footsteps approaching. Ruby's heart beating in her own head, nearly drowning out the steps as they grew louder.
Blake tightening the grip on her weapon, and Yang's fists began to clench, poised to hit the first sucker dumb enough to make eye contact.
Just when they thought those creatures were nearly going to appear from around their cover, a soft hum filled the enclosed space accompanied by the subtle brightening of the interior. Then, silence.
Blake was the first to react, cautiously raising Gambol Shroud above her cover before her head peaked over.
"I- I think they're gone." She reassured the others as she looked to either side of her.
"Where would they have gone?" Weiss whispered, though her tone told everyone she was panicking for Blake's safety, as if one of those things was going to appear out of nowhere and attack her friend's exposed head.
"Think they might have gone the same way we got on here?" Ruby asked.
"Would make the most sense to me." Yang confirmed, before fully standing up beside Blake, then proceeding to walk out from behind the supply crates.
"What are you doing?" Weiss questioned through gritted teeth.
"It's fine Weiss, there's no one else in here but us." Ruby reassured her teammate, slowly easing herself up, drawing Crescent Rose just to be sure.
"Well would you rather we just sit behind these crates all day or do you want to wait around until those things come back? Besides..." Yang paused while turning her back on the others to look around before continuing.
"If they were running in terror from the Grimm, then they're gonna regret running into us."
Weiss huffed in annoyance as she too began to rise from behind their cover.
The brute of a girl was right.
Either they get moving while there really was no one around or else find out when they returned.
Not to mention with the amount of talk coming from the blonde's mouth, anyone or anything still on this ship would have been alerted to their presence by now.
After the initial survey of their local surroundings had ended, the four approached the suspected entrance/exit of the ship.
Surrounding the circular hole in the floor, they began to deliberate how to proceed.
"Whelp… " Yang casually said as a means to break the tension.
"Well what?" Weiss looked up from the opening, confused by Yang's blatant statement.
"From what it looks like, this is the only way in and out." She simply answered, not once looking up to meet the white haired teammate.
"We've figured that out already. What's your point?" Weiss asked while trying not to raise her voice.
"I think what Yang is trying to get at is that there doesn't seem to be any way on or off this ship other than through this single exit." Blake reasoned.
"So?" Weiss quipped back, her features begging for Blake to elaborate.
Blake, for her part, remained calm as she glanced back at her annoyed teammate.
"Remember how we got on? We can only get out one at a time, meaning that one of us has to go first. If there is immediate danger out there; either we can try to get that person back up in here, or else we have to each go down to help, one by one…"
"Oh." The heiress fell silent, head drooping in shame.
How did I not come to the same conclusion sooner?
Ruby then spoke up, the others not missing the concern in her voice.
"Guys. Even though we are all thinking the same thing I'd rather say it so we're all on the same page. Before we do this, I think we need to be prepared to fight, we don't know if whoever or whatever out there is friendly. Yes they may have been scared of the Grimm, but so would any of us if we didn't know what to do against them.
We don't even know how many more of them there could be…"
She trailed off not making eye contact with the others, dreading how they were going to react by the next words to come out of her mouth.
"As leader, I'll go first."
She watched as her three teammates went wide eyed with shock, Yang was the first to snap out of it and began to protest.
"Ruby- "
But was cut off as the younger sister firmly asserted herself.
"I've made the decision, and there is no way of convincing me otherwise."
Yang once again, defiantly objected.
"You can't be serious? You may be our leader, but you're also my responsibility, just as much as I'm yours- "
"Look, we can go back and forth on who should go first, the fact of the matter is… I was the one who got us wound up here in the first place.
Ruby blurted out, refusing to look at her team.
"If I wasn't so caught up with following these things after they were attacked by the Grimm.
If I hadn't been so curious about their ship…
I wouldn't have been pulled in by the light, meaning you guys would never needed to save me.
We wouldn't be here right now having this discussion."
She sighed, her eyes coming to rest once again on her older sister before moving to the eyes of her two friends.
"I've risked not only my own safety, but yours as well. All because I couldn't leave well enough alone."
Blake then interjected, doing her best to alleviate the apparent self imposed guilt felt by the young leader.
"Ruby, I think it's safe to say, none of us blame you for this.
You were only doing what you thought was right, giving chase to what could have been innocent civilians that needed our help.
As for ending up here, how could any of us predict this is what it would lead to.
So putting yourself in the front lines as some sort of atonement… it's not worth you risking your life over."
Ruby sniffled whilst a reassuring smile began to form, at the same time she held back the tears that were starting to form around her eyes.
"Well then- can we just- please, let me go first so we can at least figure out where we are and what to do next."
Yang took a deep breath and exhaled, reluctantly conceding.
"Alright, you go first, but just know. I'll be right behind you. And Weiss and Blake won't be far behind me."
To which the monochrome duo nodded in unison as Ruby and Yang looked in confirmation.
This is it then.
Ruby thought to herself while taking a moment to compile her nerves.
She moved her right foot, hovering over the opening, then as she pulled it back, took one more look around at the others, closed her eyes, inhaled…
Three… Two… One…
And hopped forward.
When she opened her eyes as she began to descend, expecting a hard and fast landing similar to prior times she'd leapt out of a bullhead.
She was surprised to find herself being gently lowered by the aetherial light surrounding her, until she came to rest as her boots made contact with the metallic surface. Her cape fluttered behind her, gradually settling into place.
Once the initial novelty of the descent had worn off, Ruby immediately raised Crescent Rose in its compact form and began to sweep the area; as she stepped forward, the sound of her sister's boots hitting the ground came shortly after, Weiss and then Blake following suit.
Finding no sign of conflict, retaliation, or even anybody present in the local area, the girls lowered their weapons, becoming enamored by the sight of their surroundings.
To their side, or more accurately, directly behind them, they could see they were within an even larger structure.
And with this structure was an opening which was covered by a curtain of light, beyond the curtain was darkness.
The only thing within the darkness were two objects, one of them the girls easily identified, seeing it nearly every night high in the sky…
"Wait… that's… our moon…" Ruby slowly trailed off as it slowly dawned on her.
"Which would make that planet there Remnant… then that means…" Yang tried to continue speaking, though her brain began to short circuit as the overview effect took a hold of her.
"We're in SPACE?!" Weiss exclaimed, matching the sisters' surprise tenfold.
"I thought that wasn't possible?" Yang glanced over to Weiss, knowing that out of the four, she would be the most informed when it came to the technological limits Atlas were capable of.
"Well from where we're standing, it's evident that it is." Blake rationalized, though no less surprised than the rest of her team.
"So, if Weiss is right about space travel not being possible for us… does that mean we're on an alien ship?"
Ruby asked, the shock still awash in her system making it hard not to, as though she was learning to speak again for the first time.
Aboard the control room:
"Supreme commander, all tests have returned, engines have been restored to working operation."
The elite monitoring his terminal called out as his terminal began to flash to life after minutes of inactivity.
Something of a smile of content formed on Thel, yet was lost to his crew as they worked, knowing the order to come before he began to utter the commands.
"Very well. Open a slipspace window so we may resume our journey and return to the fleet.
Back in the small hanger bay within the Seeker of Truth, the four girls watched as the planet, their home, appeared to drift further away.
Until all of a sudden, it became distorted before disappearing from sight as a wave of black and bright blue light washed past their view, followed by pure darkness.
"What just happened?" Yang wearily asked in confusion, looking for solace from the others, to which they said nothing, all matching her expression.
Before anyone else could even begin to figure out what to say.
Their attention was then taken away by something floating towards them.
A creature that seemed to resemble a small King Taijitu without teeth (or any visible mouth for that matter) with a translucent blue body that had many purple sacs on its back and small tendrils on it's front.
Yang began to raise her gauntlets ready to defend the group, but as it was about to approach them, it increased its altitude and the sound of clicks and coos could be heard as more of them came from out of nowhere, one swept past Ruby and began working on the side of the craft they stood next to, not once paying any attention to them.
"What are those things?" The blonde wondered aloud , watching the creatures closely, in case they decided the four were a lot more interesting than the ship.
"For one, they're not the same things as the ones we saw on Remnant."
Blake paused, smiling as she took note of her leader before happily coming to a reasonable conclusion.
"And second, I'd say they're harmless."
"I may be inclined to agree with you, how can you be so certain?" Weiss asked, leaning past Yang, Myrtenaster held firmly yet lowered it based on Blake's assessment.
"They seem too focused on this ship to consider us hostile. And well… Ruby is petting that one..."
Yang turned back, a mixture of concern and surprise escaped her lips. "Ruby!"
"What?" Ruby questioned, while continuing to run her hand along the creature's head as if it would move in protest if she stopped.
"Like Blake said, they're harmless, also this one looked at me like it wanted to be petted."
Weiss, after snapping out of her trance, suggested the next best course of action.
"I think it would be best to search around this place, something tells me we shouldn't stay here for too long."
"I like the sound of that. C'mon Rubes, say goodbye to your new friend." Yang said as she walked over to her younger sister.
With one final head scratch, Ruby lowered her hand and stepped back, the creature tilted its head at the hood wearer.
With one or two coo's and clicks, it looked over to the rest of its kind, and floated towards the ship to work alongside them.
"Okay, but where should we aim to go?" Blake asked, pulling the others' attention.
"We should work our way down, if this ship is a military ship, it would make sense to place support craft under the bows to make it difficult for any foe to avoid close range defences." Weiss deduced, confidence with slight uncertainty laced in her voice.
"How could you piece that together only by being here for a few minutes?" Yang questioned while crossing her arms.
"Most large Atleasian carriers operate on that principle, and so I'm assuming it's the same for this ship too." The heiress reasoned.
The four scanned the surrounding structure and noticed several large doors, each had an unusual insignia on them, and all except one had a rim of right light around the edges.
Even with their combined efforts (though mostly Yang), the doors failed to budge.
The remaining door they had yet to try, shone white, and as they moved towards it, it chimed, hummed and flickered as it began to open once they were close enough.
But before the others walked through, Blake, who was in front halted them as she turned around.
"Maybe we should try to stick to the shadows.
There's no telling what else might be on this ship, and if we manage to remain out of sight, assess whether or not they are approachable.
If they are, that's good- "
"And if they're not?" Ruby worried aloud, despite already being aware of what her black haired teammate was going to say next.
"Then we need to find the quickest way off as soon as possible."
Back in the control room:
Thel watched over his elites with pride, his hand instinctively going for his energy sword, slowly he looked over every little detail an inscription, thoughts turning to the coming annihilation of the human vessel.
This did not last long, as one of the doors to the control room opened, a pair of elite majors entered as part of the accompaniment of Jackals that made up the reconnaissance party sent to the planet.
As he stowed away his blade, he addressed the scouting party after dismissing the elite majors.
"I have been told that out of your total scouting party of ten, plus your pilot, only six of you returned?"
The Jackal major stepped forward, speaking in a dialect which was a mix between Thel's native tongue and his own.
"Yes, we left with ten… came back with six."
"Tell me, what exactly was it that happened, what manner of foe you encountered that could possibly have sent you running in panic." He said with a despotic tone.
The major appeared shocked and was about to object, there's no way that the pilot would have provided that much detail for a 'brief' report that he and his kin fled for their lives once attacked.
Then he remembered who he served under, this was an elite who had his fair share working with Jackals, and most likely experience told him that if Jakals felt like the battle was not worth dying for… running was always the first option.
Instead of insulting the warlord, the major held his tongue and gave a run down of their experience.
"The planet was not barren, it had forests and other plant life.
Also possible wildlife, and maybe more advanced civilisation."
The major paused looking back at the rest of his party before returning to Thel, who simply gave a short nod, allowing him to continue with the report.
"After walking for a while, we heard disturbance nearby, caught off guard and then attacked by wild beasts black as night, eyes burned bright like orange fire and faces covered in white boney armour.
The beasts were big as brutes, maybe even bigger, had the varocity of them too."
Glad those foul beasts are not in the midst within my fleet. Thel thought to himself.
Undisciplined and quick to anger too easily.
He then allowed his attention to be given to the Jackal major.
"Once beasts attacked, we retaliated, only made them angrier, then I gave order to withdraw to safety.
When running back, heard human gunfire, whether aimed at us or aiding against the beasts, I am unsure."
Thel's eyes narrowed at the sound of that, recalling that the energy signatures present on the planet suggested no correlation to human activity. There was some concern that perhaps this planet harboured what could have been a newly established colony, one that may serve as a haven after Covenant attacks.
"Before you heard the human weapons fire, before you were attacked by the beasts, did you notice any sign of human activity?" Thel asked, now wishing that the entirety of his fleet had been there with him.
The major shook his head.
"No, no time to have a clear look back. But phantom pilot reports something after treating wounds and giving medical aid."
The major then sidestepped to his right, allowing the phantom operator to come forward and report his observation of events.
"After giving medical aid, started to fly the phantom back to Seeker of Truth as requested. On the journey to leave the planet's surface, noticed being pursued by a vehicle, not at all like human vehicles encountered before, but could be mistaken for human 'falcon'.
Thinking they could alert others, halting our return, decided to open fire on vessel when it got too close, ensured complete destruction as a result.
"So did the phantom suffer any major damages?"
"Minor damage only, from entering and leaving atmosphere, and destroying unknown vessel, sent engineers to fix damages when we were summoned. Should be repaired by now."
"Very well, it sounds like your attempts at reconnaissance on the planet were frugal at best."
Thel answered, turning his head away from the party.
The major was about to step forward again to protest, the supreme commander looked back at the group.
"However, I do not blame your lack of intel as a result of your decision to put the lives of those under your command first against an unknown enemy as well as the hasty return back to the Seeker of Truth.
If there is nothing else to report, you may return to your duties."
The Jackals looked amongst each other before the major nodded to Thel and led the rest of his kin out of the control room.
Once we have destroyed the human ship, we shall return to that planet to ensure that if it is in fact a human world, it will join the rest that have been reduced to ashes and glass.
Even with only the Seeker of Truth, the limited supplies and his army within.
He was confident he would have been able to establish some base of operations that could damage such a feeble colony world.
At least until other forces could arrive to aid in any further attack.
"Supreme commander." Thel faced the elite crewmate that garnered his attention.
"Readings indicate we will be dropping out of slipspace in a few moments."
"Notify the Prophet of Stewardship. I wish to have an audience with him."
Let us see what it is he requested for our immediate departure…
No sooner did Thel usher the command, the Seeker of Truth exited out of slipspace, and as reality returned to normal space, the nearest planets began to materialise into view as holograms on the terminal as well as a very familiar artifact to the Covenant.
One that elicited a response not just from Thel, but the rest of the crew. Some even left their posts to face the hologram.
"I do not believe my eyes…" An awestruct elite minor exclaimed.
"By the gods, the sacred ring… Halo." Another murmured under his breath in sheer reverence.
"Our faith has seen us through." A third, battle hardened crewmate reflected.
"Focus, let us not forget why we are here." Thel sternly ordered, to which those who were lost in the majesty of the ring snapped to attention and ambled back to their stations.
"Supreme Commander, we are being hailed by the Ascendant Justice." An elite called out to him.
"Of course. Open a communication channel."
Thel moved to the main terminal, the Prophet of Stewaship's visage projected for him to see.
"Glad to see you and your ship have finally graced us with your presence, Supreme Commander Vadumee. I sense there is great talk within the command centre as well as joy permeating the rest of your ship?"
"There is indeed, Noble Prophet, but surely with the arrival of the humans, seeing their end should take precedence-"
"Indeed it shall not!" He said with wrath in his voice.
Thel slightly taken aback, though., remained calm, fully aware what was to come next.
"I, along with my guard, will be coming onto your ship. As part of the Reclamation Order, I will see to it that the fleet takes primary orders from me."
Upon hearing this, Thel clenched his fists, yet bowed his head in submission.
"Very well, Noble Prophet. I will see to your arrival."
And with that, the transmission ended. All Thel could do now was wait, each second that passed, he seethed. The Prophets were wise in holy matters, there was no doubt.
But strategic prowess?
That was something they lacked and were no match when compared to his own kin.
With Blake leading the way, the four managed to remain within the shadows surprisingly well, despite the illuminated hallways.
So far, they had yet to see any other signs of life other than the creatures they encountered both on and off of the transport ship.
Blake still remained on heightened alert all the same, she knew well enough from countless assignments for the White Fang that one should never let their guard down.
No matter how long you think you are alone.
The alien corridors were beautiful in design, with each door they passed through, just like the first, made an audible hum before parting. Obviously they hugged the walls before proceeding, just in case there was a potential foe on the other side.
For the entire duration of their movements along the ship, they had done so in absolute silence, however this only plagued Yang, and finally couldn't take it any longer.
"I'm just going to throw this out, whoever these guys are, they seem to have a thing for purple, and we stick out like sore thumbs."
To Yang's surprise, it was Weiss who answered, she herself no longer bearing the silence, any sound was welcome to her if it meant distracting her from her thoughts.
"Noted, but just be thankful we haven't encountered any-"
Before rounding a corner, Blake instantly raised her hand and halted the group, her feline ears twitching under her bow as she could hear a very large, increasingly loud set of footsteps.
Instantly her eyes widened and she began pushing the others back, knowing that along the corridor they were in had one or two crawl spaces, just large enough for a pair to squeeze in.
Blake grabbed Ruby's arm and gestured for her to follow closely behind.
Yang and Weiss mirrored the action on the opposite side.
The sound became even loud enough for the rest of the girls to hear, and from their limited view, they could see why.
Ruby forcibly grabbed Blake's hand to cover her mouth in order to muffle a squeal out of sheer fear.
The alien towered over its surroundings, probably twice the height of Yang, maybe even more.
The armour it wore shone a cobalt blue, giving an aura of strength and nobility.
It only remained stationary for a few seconds before continuing to walk along the path.
The girls held their breath until they heard the sound of the door to the corridor they came through open and shut.
Crawling out from hiding, hesitant the coast was clear, they all stared at the door the alien left, though still feeling uneasy as to what they saw.
Yang drawled out her thoughts.
"That thing was-"
"Big?"
Blake finished the sentence for her.
"Yeah, you can say that." She replied, her eyes following back to the door itself.
"Wonder if there's more like 'em?"
"Dunno." Her Black haired teammate answered wearily.
"Whether or not there's more. I don't want to find out!" Weiss bitterly said.
The small corridor they occupied went silent, as the other three turned to look at the heiress.
They hadn't heard Weiss talk like that since the day they went to the docks, tried to chase after Sun, which then led to the eventual spat between her and Blake.
Ruby, both concerned and frightened of seeing this side of Weiss again, asked sheepishly.
"Are you okay Weiss?"
Weiss then turned to look at the others, sounding more agitated than a second ago.
"I'm not sure if you guys noticed from your side, but from where we were, I could see it had some sort of weapon holstered.
And the more I think about it, the less comfortable I am walking in the corridors of this ship."
Yang gave Weiss a funny confused look before retorting.
"Yeah, but we have weapons too. So if we do get into a fight, we can take them on."
The heiress glared at the blonde, pinching the bridge of her nose before going on.
"Think about it for a minute, we don't know how large this ship is.
For all we know, one of these corridors could open up to an entire room full of those things, and even if we could fight them, how long could we hold out before we run out of munitions?"
Shrugging her shoulders, Yang answered with the only logical conclusion she could think of.
"We could try and pick up their weapons and use them."
Weiss shook her head slowly pacing back and forth between them.
"That's assuming their weapons operate like one of ours, that's assuming you have the time to pick one up without getting shot from the rest.
And let's not forget they know the layout of this ship a lot better than we do. For what it could be worth, if we did have to run from a firefight, they may herd us into a corner and then what?"
"Can we continue then?"
Blake asked impatiently.
"Well then let's get moving, no point standing around worrying about potentially being shot when we can try to find a way off this ship so that we don't get shot." She muttered past Weiss as she continued forward
Weiss sighed, both annoyed at herself for her bout of anger and the others for not being as worried as she was.
"Alright, lead the way."
Thel waited patiently as he observed the phantom escorting the Prophet come to rest in the main hangar bay. Irritation still coursed through his being, but he maintained the composure of someone fitting of his rank.
Once finally present, the Prophet of Stewardship and his entourage followed Thel back to the control room, few words being shared between the two major leaders.
He could only be assured by his own thoughts as they walked.
This self-appointed power the Prophet wields over my fleet is irrational. Matters about the ring and what to do about it are part of the Prophet's duties.
The fate of the crew and combat of our foes is mine.
He was certain his brothers would agree without question.
Upon arriving at the control room, Thel immediately proceeded issuing orders pertaining to the imminent arrival of the human ship, coordinating with several of the cruiser's commanders.
Time was fickle and for Thel, every moment that wasn't spent strategically positioning the mighty warships to be their most effective for combat was another instance of potential failure.
"The human vessel will soon emerge out of slipspace, and when it does, we shall come out of the shadows from the far side of the planet and open fire in a hail of plasma-"
"No. You will do no such thing." He heard the Prophet of Stewardship protest behind him.
Thel fully turned to face Stewardship, eyes filled with fire, he made no attempts to conceal it, and could tell the Prophet knew, he too locked eyes with him.
"And why must we sit stagnate when our enemies are within our reach, with little to no time to retreat any further?"
"While you and your ship had been absent with feeble repairs, I consulted several of the ship commanders to estimate the trajectory of the vile creatures once they exit slipspace. Most, if not all have concluded that their continued path will take them relatively close to the ring. Any stray plasma torpedoes targeting the vessel could result in desecration of the sacred artifact."
"Then what do you propose we shall do?"
"Send squadrons of seraph fighters to pave the way for subsequent fighters and boarding craft, with teams ready to enter the human vessel and cease their control of their planned path.
To hinder them further, we shall set up a blockade made up of several cruisers to alter their course.
Meanwhile, we focus our attention on the sacred ring, explore its secrets and await for High Charity's arrival."
"But Noble Stewardship, we can allocate the resources to explore the ring once our task with the humans- "
The Prophet raised a hand to silence the elite commander before admonishing him.
"Our 'task' Commander Vadumee is what I say, and at this moment; it is to safeguard this majestic tool of the gods. Unless you want to stray from the path of righteousness?"
Thel once again clicked his mandibles, his teeth grinding against one another, feeling defeated before he answered.
"No, I do not, holy one."
Stewardship leaned back in his gravity throne, a sly smile forming, content that an understanding had been reached and order was once again restored.
"Then have seraphs dispatched, and the leeches ready for when their ship arrives."
Thel placed a hand on his chest, bowing slightly in compliance.
"It will be done."
As Stewardship turned to face the holotable projecting the image of the ring, he began to utter a prayer of grace to the gods.
Meanwhile, Thel, after giving the commands to the necessary seraph pilots, approached one of his loyal crewmates.
"Major, attempt contact with High Charity. I wish to hear what the Hierarchs have to say about the Prophet's control over my fleet."
"We're hailing them, but no response." The major replied a few seconds later, his features neutral, though the commander knew worry when he saw it.
Hmmm. Thel mused to himself.
Before he could say anything else, all present in the control room became alert as another crewmate drew their attention.
"Noble Prophet, Supreme Commander.
Sensors are picking up a slipspace portal.
It's the human vessel!"
While Thel and the Prophet of Stewardship contested one another in the control room, unbeknownst to the commander, the holy leader and the crew aboard the Seeker of Truth, the four girls of Remnant still remained undetected.
News of the Prophet's arrival displaced a good portion of the elites to the major hangar bay, both to bear witness to the San 'Shyuum's presence as well as security detail for the minor races who might try to get a little too close to him.
As for the minor races, they either stayed in their designated sections of the ship or accompanied their respective leading elites.
The girls kept to the walls while walking along the corridors, unable to perceive how long they had been moving through the ship.
Just how enormous is this thing?
Then, as they rounded yet another corner, they saw on the other end of the hallway, a door that opened up to an expansive hangar, similar to the one they had arrived in.
The most notable difference however, was the layout.
This hangar bay appeared to be made up of several levels, with the exception of a platform in the centre of the room that was half the height of the hangar bay itself.
The section they found themselves on, most likely the lowest, housed a dozen or so small craft a few metres from where they stood.
The girls could only speculate that the size of the craft allowed for only one of those large aliens to be seated, if they could even be seated based on the design, more likely the pilot would have to operate it whilst in a prone position.
Yang felt herself grin while beginning to speak, eyes not once leaving the sight of the vehicles.
"Any of you reckon we can use these things to get us out of here?"
Weiss, however, stared blankly, eyes going to the front of one of the vehicles, the pods jutting out from under the fuselage being the weapons she guessed.
I wonder if this ship has multiple hangers with these things, if so what for?
Then snapping out of her thoughts, she answered Yang.
"I'd- rather we find either an actual way off this ship or something a bit larger.
Something where we can all fit and have space to move around in as well as be able to take more than a few knocks of either retaliation from the aliens if they are hostile, or in the event we crash."
"I'm with Weiss on this. Anyone piloting a craft that size is very much exposed to the elements of attack once outside the safety of the ship for support. One or two well placed shots and that's it."
Blake said in agreement.
Yang looked somewhat hurt by the two, taking a step forward and gesturing to the craft again with both hands.
"But look at them. They're practically built for speed.
I'm sure we can outrun any attack in these things, plus you never know, they might think that we're just one of them on a joy flight."
Weiss' attention returned back to the vehicles once again, Yang was right, they did look quite agile.
I wonder exactly what would one of these ships be capable of in a dog fight with one of our fighters?
"Just one question."
She finally got out as she focused on the present rather than the hypothetical.
"Let's say they didn't notice four of their fighters leave the hangar on an unauthorised departure:
Do you know how to fly one?
Because even if you could, it doesn't mean the rest of us will.
Now let's imagine if they were hostile and they did notice we weren't any of their crew piloting these fighters:
Just like with the ship, those aliens know how to operate them and be able to maneuver them effectively with possibly years of experience behind the controls."
Yang, finding no confidence in either Weiss nor Blake, sought Ruby.
"Well, looks like you have the final say in this sis. Do we try to leave with what we have? Or keep going to find another way off?
Ruby looked to her sister and teammates, then at the vehicles in question.
"Sorry Yang. Blake and Weiss are right, we need to stay together."
Yang's head slightly lowered upon hearing the final verdict, though she simply nodded and walked back to the others.
The group didn't give the hangar bay too much thought after that as they continued moving across to the next set of open doors.
Once there, they stood before two adjacent doors, the one on the left, locked.
So they proceeded forward through the only accessible one to them.
"So, did anyone want to talk about those ships we just saw?" Weiss finally wondered aloud, her earlier thoughts plaguing her.
"What else is there to talk about? The fact is, you said you didn't want to use them, then that's that, end of discussion." Yang said, while glancing behind her.
"That's not what I- never mind, forget what I said." The heiress solemnly answered.
"Are you okay Weiss?" Ruby asked with concern.
Weiss sighed in defeat.
"It's nothing, I'll tell you once I feel it's safe to talk. Right now, let's keep going while it's still empty around here."
With the brief discussion at an end, silence fell over the team once again.
They could feel the gradual decline of the hallway they travelled along under them.
A few minutes later, Blake lifted a hand, signalling the others to move forward slowly rather than stopping altogether.
Sure enough, several metres away, the hallway appeared to end with yet another set of doors.
As they crept closer to the entrance, they found the doorway open to reveal another landing that sprawled before them.
Only this time, this hangar bay wasn't as unoccupied as the previous two.
Upon seeing the number of various aliens gathered there, the girls began to tense up, hugging the edges of the walls as they moved closer to the entrance until they were at the very edge of the doorframe.
One of those large aliens was bad enough, now there were dozens of them.
Blake thought to herself as she slowly peeked around the corner, noticing that a large portion of the aliens faced away from the entrance.
Scanning the area, her eyes fell on a set of crates identical to those they hid behind on the transport ship.
After a quick set of hand gestures to the others, signaling where to go, Blake was the first to move.
Ruby then went next after counting down from ten then checking the coast was clear.
Yang, then Weiss followed after doing the same.
While they hid, the three humans were just barely able to hear what was going on from behind their cover, while Blake fared much better.
One of the larger aliens closest to the girls growled and muttered in its alien tongue, it's words translating to;
"The human ship will exit slip space soon, prepare yourselves for boarding."
Blake peered around the edge of her cover and saw a set of shorter aliens waddling behind the bigger one, they appeared to be possibly shorter than Ruby, but not by much.
Their armour was either orange or red in colour and it appeared they wore large triangular shaped backpacks.
The most intriguing thing she noted was when one of them turned to the other, its face was almost fully covered with what looked to be a gas mask, that was until one of them spoke in perfect diction that Blake could understand.
"Me can't wait to board ship and start blasting humans." The smaller high pitched voice said with glee.
"Humans?"
Blake mouthed in confusion before pulling back behind the cover and looking over at the others, their expressions matching hers.
"Did, did I just hear what I think I heard?" Yang whispered with equal astonishment.
Weiss replied, her voice laced with disbelief.
"Could we have misheard that? Humans, with a ship?" The three then looked at her.
"Don't look at me, this is beyond my scope of Atlas tech.
Meanwhile back in the control room
"Noble Prophet, the initial wave of reconnaissance fighters are sustaining heavy casualties with most if not all being unable to return.
The human vessel approaches, we estimate they're course will intercept the cruiser blockade within ninety seconds or more."
The elite major reported, the blips that indicated friendly craft rapidly disappearing on the holographic monitor the closer they approached the enemy ship.
It was only inevitable they would begin the path to the great journey.
Thel reasoned to himself, even with the numbers on his side, he knew well enough that the tide of a battle could always favour the weaker opponent if it meant being drawn out into open space.
Where even the best within his fleet piloting those craft would face certain death, the enemy could crush anything the Prophet of Stewardship threw at them if it meant those pilots solely relied on each other for support rather than have the entire fleet behind them.
Stewardship paid no heed to the looks that were sent his way from the elite commander, nodding his head slightly before waving a hand and ushering the next commands.
"Proceed with the blockade.
They know to fear our ships even when we are far and few.
But with great numbers, and while in the presence of the majesty of the ring, the gods smile upon us. It shall strengthen our resolve as we prevent them from moving any further.
They will come to know the true meaning of being at the mercy of our fleet."
Thel closely monitored the holotable as it updated the movement patterns of several cruisers.
Though it was evident the human ship had not yet relented as Stewardship claimed, its small collection of fighters held strong in defense of the larger vessel against the newly dispatched seraph fighters, though the more resilient leeches were proving successful as they attached themselves to the hull. Confirmation of the teams infiltrating the ship and meeting resistance coming through minutes after.
Suddenly- he saw it, the one thing he knew a human ship that size was capable of with the armaments that were at its disposal.
The ship's forward section amassed a substantial amount of energy, the hologram also displayed several small electromagnetic fields enveloping the entirety of the ship.
A second later he watched as the accumulated energy of the ship dissipated, followed by three projectiles being launched in succession into the blockade.
"Prophet of Stewardship, the human vessel has been successful in disabling one of our ships with their 'MAC' rounds…"
The crewmate held his breath for a brief few seconds as he studied the console before him.
"Ship readings indicate the human vessel is preparing to fire another round.
What do you request we do in retaliation?"
Stewardship glanced over to Thel, but sought no advice, sensing the rage that formed within the warrior even as he gave the order.
"Continue to send seraph fighters, eventually they will break through their pathetic lines."
Back within the hangar bay with team RWBY:
When the others were back behind cover, Ruby confided with them.
"Okay, change of plans. If we heard that correctly, and when they mean humans, they mean humans like us, then we need to find a way to get off this ship and get to them.
If we can't, we try to prevent them from attacking-" She was cut off by a firm nudge on her shoulder to be quiet.
"Guys look." Yang gestured as she leaned out of cover slightly, the others following where she pointed.
Sure enough they saw several of the smaller aliens, with the larger one following behind them go through a door in the side of the hangar bay wall. Once the larger alien stepped through, the door closed immediately, followed by a muffled explosion.
That's when they realised, unlike the other hangar bays they'd been in, the door the alien group went through led to a transporter of sorts.
As they looked around, they saw that the bay had a long walkway, with several doors that stretched along the opposing walls, with doors leading to said transporters, though given context from what the smaller alien had said must have meant they were some form of boarding craft.
"We need to get onto one of those boarding crafts."
Ruby whispered as they all sat back behind safety.
Yang once again peaked over, checking their surroundings for an opening.
"I say we go for the door just after the one we saw those other aliens go through."
"Are you sure that its safe? We have so much ground to cross between here and there, all the while without being spotted."
Weiss then strained her neck to get a view of the layout before adding hastily .
"There's nothing else we can do to separate us from them and their weapons."
"I'm telling you, we can always clear this place out."
Yang simply reasoned.
"Wait, someone is coming."
Ruby quickly added as the four held their breaths, the telltale sound of one of the larger aliens walking past the crates without glancing their way.
"That was just a little too close for comfort."
"Then let's get going."
Yang said, looking over her shoulder to see if any other alien was close by.
"Coast is clear, come on."
As she was about to start moving, she felt Blake grab onto her arm.
"I have an idea."
Blake responded as she looked between the three.
Then, closing her eyes, she activated her semblance, her shadow clone appearing next to her in exactly the same position as she sat. Then the clone opened its eyes, slowly stood up, and ran out of cover through the main walkway of the hangar.
The three cautiously peeked around the corner as they watched the clone run past the aliens, and listened to what was happening.
A larger alien took a step back in surprise and pointed as Blake's shadow clone ran by, nearly brushing past it.
"Wort Wort Wort."
One of the smaller aliens then turned and questioned its superior, its high pitched voice hinting fear.
"A human? Where?"
"Aaaawubadugh." The larger alien roared in anger before drawing the weapon from its holster and firing on the shadow clone.
With most, if not all of the attention of those in the hangar bay solely on the foreign entity, the others quickly got up and ran to the intended door of the boarding craft.
Their boots clattered on the metallic floor, but as they crossed through the entryway, one or two of the aliens had noticed the group, and now were leveling their weapons in the four girl's direction.
Yang, who was the last to enter, fumbled with the controls in the hopes she had found one of the switches to close the door. Before the first of the alien's weapons discharged, the doors began to slam shut.
In the control room, Thel clenched his mandibles together as he watched the hologram display yet another volley of projectiles being fired from the human ship into the fleet.
The dread of the aftermath of the shot was as clear as day, only to be confirmed by his subordinate a minute or two later.
"The humans have opened fire yet again… reporting four casualties.
The truth and reconciliation also reports heavy damage across multiple sections, overall hull integrity is holding however."
"Send a direct message to shipmaster 'Ravamee that I order his ship to withdraw from the fight and begin repairs. Land on the ring if necessary."
Thel barked without thinking.
"I would beg to differ."
He heard Stewardship say over his shoulder.
That has been clear from the moment you boarded my ship.
Thel thought and was about to vocalise, his crewmate calling over to him.
"Commander, the first few of our transporters are reporting they are ready to be jettisoned to the human ship."
Thel's mandibles relaxed a little, now was the time to be in control of his crew and the rest of his fleet, sitting by to let the Prophet do as he pleased was no longer an option.
"Send them off, and dispatch a squadron of our banshees to protect them, no doubt the humans will have their wretched counter defence 'Long Swords' at the ready once they realise what we plan on doing."
"Commander! Noble Prophet! We're reading that one of the boarding parties has managed to break the line, and successfully deployed their antimatter charge; their MAC is inoperable."
They may have been successful with repelling the first few waves, destroying four of my ships and slaughtering my brothers aboard their ship… their time to savor their small victories, just like the others, are at an end.
"Return fire on the humans!" He bellowed, straightening himself up as his voice boomed throughout the control room.
"What are you doing?!" Stewardship questioned in equal tone.
Thel swiveled where he stood and marched closer towards the Prophet.
"Your recklessness has cost many a life to be quelled needlessly.
Now the humans have nowhere to turn to, except the holy ring. I suspect that since we have destroyed their greatest weapon, they are now forced to leave, we need to destroy their escape ships before they can even disembark, if not eventually set foot on the ring."
Stewardship's mouth quivered slightly, though he held it shut.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang held their breath, hoping that if the door was shut, it wouldn't open again. And that despite those few aliens that did see them, others outside would think the Leech they stood in was ready for launch.
And sure enough, there came a strobing flash of light before a forceful jolt. The small craft had been released and was hurtling to what they could only assume was the 'human ship'.
"Well, at least we made it out of there okay." Blake sighed heavily.
"Just wishing the humans they called them aren't as hostile like those guys." Yang said aloud.
Ruby then looked over to her partner, who had taken a position at one of the corners of the ship, slumped down on the floor, arms resting on her knees and head down, not paying any mind to a word anyone said.
"Weiss...?"
She asked with a slight watery ladened voice.
"...Before we left Remnant, do you remember what happened just after we felt that ship take off? There was that sound, almost like an explosion… it was … it was our transport ship... that explosion was our transporter being obliterated… two pilots… coming to pick us up and- "
"Weiss, what happened there, no one could have guessed the outcome." Blake chimed in, kneeling beside her and putting a comforting arm around the heiress.
"The point I'm trying to make… all this time. We've been trying to work out if those aliens on that ship were friendly… clearly from how they responded to your clone they aren't."
"But- We never were making the assumption they were, we stayed out of sight all that time for that very reason." Yang then said.
"Think about it for a second would you!"
Weiss snapped, Ruby and Blake recoiled a little, though they didn't release their arms around her.
"The size of that ship we left , those smaller fighters you saw and wanted to use, even their weapons… I know I speculated that it was a warship of some kind, there's been one question I've been thinking about since we stepped aboard it.
Who or what are they fighting to be armed like that?
And the small ship we came in on, what was it doing on Remnant?"
The others fell silent, pailing as the realisation dawned on them as to what Weiss implied.
That was until she spoke once more.
"More importantly, if they aren't 'humans' like us? What kind of humans are they?"
A/N:
Well hello there, I've finally found the time to get this out, my apologies, work has been kinda hectic so I've been busy, editing was probably what took the longest time to get this out, but here we are.
Also, not to be one of those people, but I've got to say I'm happy to see so many people, whether RWBY fans, Halo fans or Both at once (obviously) take an interest in the story and want to be kept updated.
Now I don't know if I should set up a poll or just ask that you reply as a review or comment but this is what I'm wanting:
I need a name for an elite i'm going to use for this story (but he won't be used for a while) but i'm both open to suggestions on both naming convention and actual names people have thought of. I will probably try to come up one myself but if I find a name that is suggested that I like, I'll ask you all to vote if you'd like to see that character appear by name (again this will be an OC elite).
Now I will respond to reviews (If you don't want your comment responded by name in the future, please let me know):
Non-nonhuman:
I will try my best to improve on grammar, I tend to have a habit of internalized dialogue/ thoughts for characters as I like the aspects of self reflection in stories. Also yes, I've read several crossovers where by character X meets character Y and it's just a beat for beat of the original material but with character X being introduced.
I will try my best to avoid the same thing happening, but (without too much spoiling) there will be a difference, I'd say it will become more apparent in 'Halo 2' but yes, things will not be exactly set in stone as the game.
admiral809:
I hope you find this chapter to be to your liking. The short: Will be explained once at Alpha base. Long: This will be explained even later on in the story, but it will not be overlooked, one thing that RWBY proper has a problem with is setting in universe law (aura, semblances, gods, magic etc) and is a nit pick I have with the writers (they do good with some areas of the show, but they do have their faults too).
bocazaz117:
(Thank you for the many replies)
Well, I might have unintentionally paid homage to Halo:The Flood, since I did like that book and took inspiration for the beginning(from memory alone). Rest assured, that I won't forget to mention 'one hardass son of a bitch'.
The events won't play out like the books, I will use it as a guide, but mainly I will draw from the games.
Yes, it was a good start, I'm very happy with how it came out.
I love you're enthusiasm, I will try to keep it epic as possible.
We will see, yes the Halo Universe is brutal, even without flood being a major threat to the galaxy, but I will find a way to convey the grittiness.
revan-mandalore:
I'm glad I was able to come up with something you've wanted, and I hope I can continue to deliver. As you can see I will keep this up (time dependent, of course).
ArguableReader:
To keep it brief, noted.
I have thought of most of what you have written, and will try to address most if not all elements in the story to a degree (note that this is a story based on my own interpretation of characters as I have written another RWBY fic, and that could potentially blur between what the canon characters are vs my own version).
But also, yes Ruby's weapons obsession is something that I know I will have fun with once she meets the marines.
Shadow Walker of Fire:
I hope so as well. Sounds like an interesting read, don't really see to many stories with the two teams, but even so it's mostly about Jaune if he is in it, plus I like it when maybe the teams get mixed up a bit more like I've always thought a team made up of RBJP and WYRN could work if we didn't get the original teams together.
The Glorious Him:
Oh they be big... I've used Halopedia for my sources, so it was a bit hard giving a range for the covenant species (also there have been those conventions where there was a height chart on the wall and grunts and Jackals are either the same height or taller than the average event goer).
And the games can sometime make it hard to measure the characters properly, so although there are official heights making the Jackals six foot five and Grunts five eight, here I'm just going to keep the grunts five one and jackals five six (maybe a bit taller- I don't know what that would be in inches).
robocroc:
Not just the first halo arc, this fic will be the first of three (maybe four with 'two' being between one and two).
Again, A Big Thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.