Chapter 28
Cooling Period
Yara dropped her pen and rubbed her sore hand. She glared down at the exam pad before her, before angrily pushing it to one side.
"How can they demand fifty page essays, that is monstrous!" She exclaimed
"Speaking to the choir." Nora said dropping face down in her book
The teams were seated at their usual table in the mess hall waiting for the serving staff to start dispensing lunch, JNPR and KHYA and had been working since waking up on the essays that Oobleck had set for them, CFVY had not been seen since they returned. At a table behind them BROW was catching up with another team that had just returned.
"Then you should not have lied to the teachers." Ruby said smugly
"Or to us." Yang added
They looked up to see that RWBY had returned from the counters and were fully loaded down with plates of food. Pyrrha's hand twitched and Ruby glass of juice flipped over. Yangs plate of desert flipped over and landed on her head
A purple stain covered Ruby's shirt and cloak. With a war cry Ruby launched a bowl of fruit and yoghurt at Jaune, who had lifted his hand to rub his neck when her glass fell over. Jaune extended his hand and the bowl veered of course, striking Cameron in the back. The bowl on Yang's head rocketed up as her hair flashed in flames. The Fight was on.
The teachers on premises had just finished a staff meeting and had started towards the mess hall. A pair of food covered second years came scampering past, Glynda was about to ask to the how and why they were covered in food when the group became aware of the noise coming from the mess hall. The leisurely walk from the staff room became a brisk walk. Spotting a group of students belly crawling out of the room had the walk become a trot.
They stopped and several jaws dropped in awe of the scene of carnage before them. Innocents unable to reach the doors to escape were cowering under their tables. The floors were covered in pools of spilled coffee, tea, water and multiple sodas. A swordfish had been impaled by its fins into the door of the mess hall. For a fleeting moment Glynda wondered why there was a swordfish in the kitchens anyway, before returning to the battle before her. Miss Schnee was in the process of being hogtied by links of sausages by miss Olson. She barely saw Bart move before the door was slammed before her face.
The thud of a body followed and then came the sounds of several cans of soda erupting. Bart pushed the door open. A multicoloured miss Rose was lying in an ever expanding circle of fluid, several cans of soda added to the mess as they were now draining their contents, obviously Miss Rose had been the one to impact the door then, and if not for Bart's rapid action She would have received a flying Rose and several cans. She nodded her thanks and stepped into the battlefield A sharp whistle filled the air and the combatants barely paused before resuming combat. They found themselves encased in a purple glow before being lifted from their feet.
Glynda glowered at the floating figures as Bart and Peter went to question and extract those trapped under the tables and the serving staff. The two men came back in short order
"Well?" Glynda demanded
" It was started by Miss Rose when she threw a bowl at mister Arc, he defended himself by deflecting the bowl away and did not escalate the incident," Bart said
"Unfortunately the bowl had struck Miss Cameron, who did retaliate who threw a plate of pasta at miss Rose, she missed and hit miss Belladona. She in turn hit mister Ren with a tuna sandwich and then miss Valkyrie got involved ." Peter said jovially
"At which point it all went to the dark brother in a handbasket I am guessing." Anastasia stated
"Precisely." Bart said
"The swordfish?" Peach asked
"Miss Schnee's weapon till she was disarmed by Miss Olsen using sausages as a whip." Peter replied
"Just how did they manage this?" Silver asked
Several thuds and groans came as Glynda released her semblance. She was about to storm forward when she was stopped by a touch on her shoulder
" Don't be too harsh. They had just returned from a combat zone, let them be children." Ozpin said
" And just let them get away with this?" Glynda demanded
"No, they will be cleaning this up, but I think that should be enough punishment." Ozpin replied
It took them well into the night to clean up what they had messed up in half an hour. They were bone tired as Glynda and the head chef were doing a meticulous inspection of the mess hall and kitchen including the fridges and store rooms before allowing them to disperse to their rooms. They had also been banned from the mess hall for a week by the head chef, a punishment Ozpin had not over ruled. Thus they were now reliant on the small kitchen unit in the dorms. Either that, going out for meals or MRE's.
Though the entire incident was not without benefit as all the teams involved had seemed to have vented some if not most of their disgruntlement with the other teams. By mutual accord they had gone to the shower rooms annexing the gym and the combat class as no one was willing to wait for a shower with the congealed food and fluid that they had forced to keep on them while cleaning. The clothing were destined to be discarded en masse. They returned to their dorms dressed in whatever they had kept in their lockers. Weiss drew a lot of attention with her multicoloured hair as she had been unable to find anything to hide it. Their hurried excuse of it being soda stains she had been unable to wash out being believed for the moment.
With a great majority of the students and visiting schools still on deployment classes had been turned into revision periods or remedial classes. The exception for that being combat class. All the year groups had been put into one very large class for this and the entire Friday was sacrificed to one class
"Miss Scarlatina, you will be facing miss Rose." Goodwitch called from her high chair overlooking the ring
Goodwitch noticed that miss Scarlatina had altered her combat uniform. Where once it had been a coverall in tones of brown and gold she was now covered by a brown robe. The robe dropped and she stepped into the ring wearing a now distinctive typed of armour. Instead of cat ears two rabbit ears rose up. The armour was painted in her normal colours of brown and gold. This was not the only new thing, instead of her old camera slash weapon she was holding onto a silver tube with orange highlights
Ruby deployed Crescent Rose with a flourish. Velvet dropped to one knee, the tube extended forward in one hand, Ruby fired towards Velvet before firing another shot to propel her forward. The tube in Velvet's hand spat out two orange blades. The dust round was deflected of course. And Ruby skidded to a halt to deflect the second blade being swung at her. Ruby retreated rapidly trying to gain space in which to be able to use her scythe, spinning Crescent Rose to bloke the swings and stabs of Velvet's new weapon. If she was honest she found the constant thrumming of the weapon to be rather threatening. With a jump she gained enough space and she started her counter attack.
Velvet lifted a hand from her weapon and made a thrusting motion before making a pulling motion on completion. Ruby felt herself being thrown back and with a cry of despair she felt her baby being ripped from her hands as she was sent arse over tea kettle to the edge of the ring and beyond
"Victory to Miss Scarlatina by ring out." Goodwitch announced
The thrumming noise stopped and Ruby looked up to see Velvet's armoured hand stretched out to her. She allowed herself to be pulled up, moments later she was reunited with her baby.
"Miss Nikos and Mister Arc, you are next." Goodwitch called out
The muted chattering that had started up on Velvet's defeating Ruby in under two minutes immediately stopped. The white and Gold figure of Jaune stood on one end and the red and gold of Pyrrha on the other. A short round of comments was quickly silenced as neither were armed with the weapons they had used before.
Snap- Hiss. Snap- Hiss
Two blades came into existence one blue one green, the weapon sounds identical to Velvets. They stood facing each other for a moment. Pyrrha rushed forward in a barely seen rush of movement, Jaune did not go to a guard position. He jumped well over her moments before she was in his space and flipped himself over while in the air and striking out with his weapon. Pyrrha flipped her blade up and caught his downwards strike deflecting it.
She spun to face Jaune and struck out immediately. The fought forwards and backwards. Their weapons giving bright flashes and sometimes sparks as the blades met. They jumped, twirled all over the ring as the tides of the battle ebbed and flowed between them. Pyrrha won as she managed to slash Jaune's back after a jump over him. Both stood panting in the ring for a moment before Jaune closed his weapon down
"Pyrrha wins this one." He called to Goodwitch
"You both are still high in Aura." Goodwitch replied
"I can't move my back, our weapons create a stun function while in training mode. In a normal fight that would have been a killing blow." Jaune explained
"I see, how long does this stun effect last?" Goodwitch asked
"Half an hour, professor." Pyrrha replied
"Very well. Win Miss Nikos. Kindly help your partner from the ring."
Velvet stepped back into the ring and between her and Pyrrha Jaune was lifted and carried out.
"Mister Daichi, Miss Valkyrie you are next."
Jaune, Cameron and Ruby were doing descending to Vale in the cable car doing the food run for dinner as no one wanted to cook for all of them in the small kitchen unit, Coco had joined them as CFVY had joined them in the mess hall ban after Fox had been busted smuggling food out of the mess hall to the exiled teams. The cable car lurched as they left the Beacon station, Ruby pointed out the window as she noticed an Atlas shuttle rapidly approaching well outside of normal speed ranges. They were all looking as the shuttle visibly slowed down as it began its final approach to the landing pads, dimly they thought they could see the forms of Ozpin and Goodwitch approaching the field
"Must be someone important then." Cameron remarked
"Must be, what if it is Ironwood himself." Coco replied
"Unlikely he should still be with his fleet, only something very important would have him come here." Jaune countered
Ruby was reading through the wishlist of dishes that the teams had combined.
"Jaune, why does your sisters insist on several orders of calamari? That is over and above the seafood they ordered. I can understand the two litres of milk each, but calamari is just…ew. Is it something that they need in their diet?" Ruby asked
"No it is just them getting a meal and revenge at the same time as they put it. Also they love fish and for the record they will not get two litres of milk each."
"How can it be a meal and revenge at the same time?" Coco asked
Jaune looked around quickly to make sure they were alone out of reflex
"You know their species were nearly wiped out yes?" He stated
"Apart from their colonies, yes." Coco replied
"The species that did it is called the Mon Calamari. And yes their heads look like squids as well, instead of tentacles they are bipedal." Jaune said
"Okay that explains it somewhat." Coco said with a shudder
"Any creatures that are just tentacles?" Cameron asked
"Raptaurs, but you do not want to get near one. They are thirty feet on average and carnivorous, their tentacles can extend five times their body size. Then Sarlac's supposedly has tentacle too." Jaune replied
" The biggest animals?" Ruby asked
" Rancor's , they make the dinosaur T Rex I believe you called them look cuddly. Kryat dragons also get very large, Wampa and Bantha's. Those are the ones I can think of immediately."
"Okay the most vicous ones, you know the type that looks cute and innocent." Cameron challenged
"Lothcats, be sure to ask Yara, she can tell you in detail about them. Ewoks too, though there is some debate if they are beings or animals." Jaune replied
"Did Yara do a study of them?" Ruby asked
"Something like that." Jaune said with a smirk
The shuttle had barely sat down before the door was opened and Ironwood stepped from it and briskly started towards Ozpin and Glynda. The trio moved away and started walking towards the tower
"You made good time." Ozpin said
" Had a good tailwind, are you sure you have them?" Ironwood asked
"Both Qrow and Winter have eyes on them. They are evacuating the civilians in the building as we are speaking. The floors above and below them have been secured and your Ace Ops is ready to breach. They are leaving the adjacent flats till the last moment" Ozpin replied
"How did you find them?" Ironwood asked
" A safety check from a bank on a depositor if you can believe it." Ozpin said
"Come again?" Ironwood replied
"VISA has a policy to check on their pensioners, if an account suddenly shows abnormal use by the pensioner they phone to check on them. Should the pensioner fail to answer a security question or give a phrase they gave as a warning code, a member of the bank security division will do a quick check on them." Goodwitch explained
"The officer they send identified Emerald Sustrai from the police bulletin that we now know they share with the banks. He fell back and contacted the special number." Ozpin added on
"And they are sure the targets have not been spooked." Ironwood asked for clarity
"From what we have learned when they do these checks they go in a group pretending to be from the watchtower of the Brothers sect, preparing to recruit and spread the good news." Glynda replied
Ironwood stopped and gave a brief shudder before moving on
"That alone would give me reason to move." Ironwood said
"I take it you have a chapter of them in Atlas as well." Ozpin said
"I believe the only place they are not active is the Grimlands." Ironwood replied
They made their way to the staff room where all the monitors were now showing images of the specialists and Soldiers moving into position. Colt was monitoring the images. That reminded Ironwood of something
"Have you sorted out the security on your office terminal yet?" He asked Ozpin
"Misses Terra Cotta Arc is still working on it. I can not believe the amount of risks she had found so far." Ozpin replied shaking his head
"I would like to a see list. I may have the same vulnerabilities." Ironwood replied
" Misses Arc said she will be finished in the next few days with her work. I already contracted her to look at our databases." Colt said, not looking away from the monitors.
" I do believe the CCT network will want her back at some point." Iron wood said
"I think it is unlikely that she will return, her wife's family is in Vale and I believe we are paying her three times her CCT salary as it is." Colt countered
Ozpin's scroll rang interrupting the conversation
"Qrow." Ozpin answered
"…"
" Proceed, take them down, Fall must be kept alive."
Mercury was looking through the windows again, something was off. Traffic still moved, pedestrians still moved about. Noise was still coming from the units on their sides. Their current host was still tied down to the bed and blindfolded and gagged. Though that would change as soon as her funds ran out. He was still unhappy about Cinder's decision to keep them alive to use their funds, sooner or later someone will notice that their accounts were dropping. But Cinder believed she knew best.
He finished his tour of the second bedroom and swept through the sitting room again, Emerald and Cinder were in the main bedroom and he refused to go in there if he had no reason. Cinder growing more intolerable with each day, even Emerald was starting to lose her veneration for their perfect leader. Glass shattered. Canisters fell into the rooms.
Mercury staggered as the flashbangs went off, before starting to cough as multiple canisters of teargas were added to the mix. He was thrown from his feet as the wall behind him was breached by explosives. Moments later he was arcing in agony as he was subjected to multiple tasers shattering his aura. Darkness claimed him.
Ironwood gave a grim smile as three bodies were carried out by the Ace Ops. He saw Adern injecting all three before they were tied to stretchers for transportation. A fourth stretcher made its appearance as the true resident of the unit was being extracted from captivity. The old man did not know it, but Atlas will be paying for his stay and all costs involved in the best hospital in Vale.
"Bring them straight to the elevators we will be waiting to receive them." Ironwood heard Ozpin instruct Qrow
"I thought we only needed Fall." Ironwood remarked turning from the screen
"We are not taking both down. I only need to be close to be certain they had not switched hosts before releasing the other one into your specialists care. I believe they can use their skills to interrogate Black in the few minutes it will take." Ozpin replied
"And here I thought you would object to enhanced interrogation by the specialists." Ironwood observed
"Call it what it is. Torture. I find it appalling but we need to know what they know." Ozpin said shortly
The first pod door opened and the unrestrained body fell out. Ozpin stepped closer and looked at the lifeless husk. He spotted movement on its back and the flesh erupted as the Grim symbiote it had hosted tried to escape. It was pinned by the cane in a flash before a small blade popped from within and killed the symbiote
"Give my regards to your Queen." Ozpin snarled
The second pod opened and the inhabitant was gently removed. Ozpin looked over his shoulder to his deputy.
"Her vitals signs are stable." Glynda reported.
"Good." Ozpin breathed out in relied
"I believe we should have Tsune look her over to confirm it. And I also believe we should ask doctor Ichuru if we can use that bacta tank of theirs," Glynda continued.
"No. the risk is tou great." Ironwood objected
"But so is the rewards. Talk to doctor Ichuru and insist on absolute privacy. Tell her Amber fell prey to a new variety of Apathy." Ozpin instructed
"I will do so and I will stay with Amber till she is ready to be released from the bacta tank." Glynda confirmed
Ozpin lifted a hand to stop Ironwood's protest.
"James, normally I would agree with you fully but if what both Tsune and Glynda has reported is true we will have Amber on her feet in days and not the months if we used what we have available. We owe Amber the best care we can give her." Ozpin said
Ironwood bristled but backed down. Glynda moved past using her semblance to elevate the stretcher Amber had been placed upon. She was already going through her scroll contacts one handedly to find the number of the student she wanted.
"What of Lionheart?" Ironwood asked
"I think we should send Winter and Qrow to bring him here, the sooner the better. Salem will move quickly to plug that hole. She will be aware that Fall is dead, she would have felt her symbiote dying. Lionheart will not be aware and will probably still be in place at Haven." Ozpin said
"And how do we explain his absence?" Ironwood asked
"A tragic accident, we all know how much he like flying his personal bullhead. In fact he was warned multiple times not to fly so far of shore over the sea." Ozpin replied
"And what is one more unidentified body for the cities undertakers." Ironwood nodded grimly
The two men made their way to the elevator, behind them the body of Cinder Fall was starting to disintegrate like the grim parasite that she had allowed herself to be infected with. Though unlike the Grim the process was much slower.
"It should interest you that we have recovered the true memories of P.E.N.N.Y. her creator had left a second memory centre that was not directly linked to her central programming. Pietro was most displeased that his creation's memory had been altered." Ironwood idly reported
"I take it your two human agents can not remember a thing still." Ozpin querried
"Not a thing. Your student was most thorough with his semblance. I do not suppose we could borrow him from time to time." Ironwood responded
" I will give you all his details for the background checks you will want to run on him and his team. Though I believe they are more likely to follow our off world visitors should they be asked."
"It is a pity I can not openly ask about their cybernetics or their weapons…"
The door of the elevator closed behind them.
Glynda repressed a shiver as the tank lifted upright and Amber was idly floating in the blue fluid, she could not stopping comparing it to a specimen floating in a jar. The sound of keys being pressed filled the air. She turned around to look at the young woman standing behind the terminal. A red light began blinking. Hina frowned and a hologram appeared. She slammed her hand down on a button
"Jaune get in here. We have a big problem." Hina said urgently
"What is wrong?" Tsune asked
"And why are you calling in mister Arc?" Glyndaadded
"Second first, as captain of this ship he needs to know if something is wrong with his passengers or if they have a condition that is a threat to his crew. Secondly if what I am seeing is what I think it is, we are going to need an isolation bay and a surgeon ." Hina replied
The door to the medbay opened several minutes later and a tousled haired Jaune came in, he was dressed solely in a pair of trousers and was barefoot. A spot of lipstick on his mouth corner started to explain his state of dress.
"Sorry to interrupt your happy time, but we need to get to the surgical unit on the Dawn." Hina said sharply
Hina manipulated the hologram and it moved to a close up of the patients chest before moving inward. A black mass showed up on the hologram
"What am I looking at?" Jaune asked
"That is some kind of parasitical being in her chest. It needs to be removed before it does more damage." Hina replied
"Is this something native to Remnant?" Jaune asked
"I have never seen anything like it," Tsune answered looking confused
"She was attacked by an new variant of Apathy. Maybe it has something to do with that." Glynda said
"That would explain why her Aura is not recovering, it may very well be suppressing it." Tsune said musingly
"Well whatever it is, it needs to get out of there.
"I'll go warm up the engines. Can I ask you to get the doors? Oh and Hina, TD will remove that under a rayshield. Since we don't know what that is, no one is getting near to it." Jaune replied
The four were standing behind a plexiglass window staring into the isolation unit as the droid was performing the procedure, The rayshield bathing the room in a blue glow. A green light sprang to live as the droid lifted a weakly moving mass from within the patient using a modified tractor beam, the beam moved it to the far side of the room before placing it in a tray.
"Object removed, shall I have the organism incinerated?" TD asked
"Can you keep it alive for dissection?" Tsune asked
"Ünit shall attempt to do so, however my primary concern is the patient."
"Just make sure everything has been removed." Jaune urged the droid
"Of course captain."
Hina looked over to where the droid was still operating.
"Jaune, you might as well go get some sleep. This will take a while longer. I will let you know if something changes."
"You sure?" Jaune replied
"Best take professor Goodwitch with, she looks like she could use the rest as well." Hina insisted
"I am fine, thank you for your concern." Glynda countered
"Glyn, this is a polite way of saying to get out of her imedical centre before you both vomit. You both are alternating between as white as a sheet and grass green." Tsune said
Jaune led the way out of the unit and started towards the officers deck where they had taken rooms for themselves. If Goodwitch had taken a few moments to take several deep breaths he did not comment on it.
"Mister Arc, if I may ask a question? Or should that be captain?" Glynda asked
"Mister Arc will do, professor." Jaune replied
"The weapons you , miss Nikos and miss Scarlatina use, you said training mode causes parylysis." Glynda stated
"And you are wondering what it does in full deployment." Jaune guessed
"That is correct." Glynda said, adjusting her glasses
"Then let us divert to the second cargo bay, I believe I can demonstrate there."
The second cargo bay was filled with crates and behind the crates a large form was covered by a taurpalin of some kind. Jaune opened one door to a crate and took the control pad mounted to it. Moments later a bipedal droid holding a cheap blaster stiffly marched out and came to a stop in front of the crate, Jaune deactivated it and hanged the control pad back up before closing the door to the crate.
"This is a B1 battle droid, they were the staple droid units of the Seperatist Army. I know they don't look like much." Jaune said
"It looks very similar to the Atlesian Knight units." Glynda remarked
"Huh, you are right professor. Anyway one by itself is a reasonable threat to a civilian, to a trained soldier not so much. The problem was that the Seperatists could churn these out by the thousands per day."
"So these sseperatists deciced on quantity over quality is what you are saying." Glynda replied
"To a large extend yes. These things have several weak points but still made of a very strong metal, disabling or destroying one depends on knowing their weakspots."
Jaune looked to the side and levitated a broken vibroblade over, slashing at the body of the droid he left a deep score across its chassis, Before handing the blade over to Goodwitch
"We recast Ren's Stormflowers using this metal. This is Durasteel, a lot stronger than the dust steel alloy Ren had used."
Glynda took a few practise swings before she too struck the droids chassis and a piece of the blade broke of
"I see what you meant with a strong material, but what are you leading up too?" Glynda remarked
Juane unclipped his lightsaber and toggled the activation stud. He lifted the blade up
" This blade is in essence plasma, at a rough guess a few hundred degrees in your Celcius range. Honestly I should probably work it out." He said
Jaune pivoted as he swung and bisected the droid from shoulder to groin. The two halves slit apart in glowing metal and sparking electronics. He flourished his blade before switching it down.
" A lightsaber can cat through most materials, two metals it has problems cutting through are Beskar and Cortosis, two metals not commonly found. At a guess I would say diamond should also be problematic. The heat of the blade will cautarize anything it cuts off." Jaune said
"And this weapon is commonly used?" Glynda asked
"No it is restricted mostly to those who are Force sensitive, to really effectively use one, one has to connect with the living Force." Jaune replied
"And I am assuming being force sensitive is a rarity?" Glynda querried
"The Force is part of all what we are, it moves through us, guides us. But those who can feel and interact with it is quite low. And with the recent war and the purge the numbers are even lower." Jaune answered
"Yet another reason you and your adopted sisters are in hiding I assume." Glynda stated
Glynda straightened her glasses and clothing
"Thank you for showing me this. I do believe I will now need to get some sleep." She said
"Of course, Professor, I do believe you should be able to have a relaxing day as well as we will only be returning well after dark. Assuming of course your companion responds well to the bacta treatment." Jaune replied
"A circumstance I will take full advantage of." Glynda replied with a quickly hidden smile
Mountain Glen Subway tunnels
The messenger pushed his way deeper into the abandoned railway car that was being used a quarters and made his way to the very rear car. Adam Taurus and his few trusted lieutenants were studying a very old map of the system when the messenger pushed past the door guard. Taurus looked up in irritation
"Sir. West street safe house has been raided by a combination of Atlas specialists, Vale Police and several hunters." The messenger reported
"Was anyone captured?" Banesaw grumbled
"They managed to evade arrest, though they could not destroy the safe house. The cell leader and his cell is on their way here." The messenger replied
"And what of the other contact?" Adam demanded
"Nothing sir, we have a human answering the line and delaying speaking. I believe your contact has been compromised."
Adam nodded at that, delaying a call to get a trace is a standard Atlas tactic, if they had Cinder's scroll it was safer to assume they had her as well. Meaning that Atlas will in short order know where they are. He dismissed the messenger with a wave of his hand.
"What of our contacts in Menagerie?" Banesaw asked quietly
" Sienna Kahn is in full control there, we have been officially excommunicated from the parent body." Adam replied shortly
"We knew it was likely to happen." Banesaw said shrugging
Adam looked over the map and lists of supplies again. He thumped a hand against the crate they were using as a table
"We simply do not have enough to attack Vale. With Fall's thief dead dust has not been arriving and if with Fall now unavailable…" Adam trailed off
" Shall I order the base to be evacuated?" Bane saw asked
"Prepare for evacuation, once those fleeing Vale reach us, we leave for Mistral. They should still welcome us, we have allies there. Set the dust charges to our entrances, if Atlas wants to come search here, well let us show them some hospitality." Adam ordered.
Banesaw nodded as he stepped back and made for the door. Adam pulled out the scroll containing Cinders contact details. He placed it on the crate before smashing it with Wilt and Blush
"Should have known better than to trust a human." Adam said with a sigh
He started packing what possessions he had out, finishing with a fire dust charge in the room to destroy all traces of him having been there. The device would be activated the moment he left his base for the last time, He placed a photo against the device.
"Goodbye my love. You are now irrevocably an enemy." He said
The photo was of Blake standing next to a Schnee. It had been taken in one of the shopping malls of Vale. In the photo the girls could be seen arm in arm and laughing.
The Executor
Keira was busy shifting through the data from the various probe droids that had been dispatched when the door opened and Kallus rushed into the briefing room she had appropriated. From his state it was obvious that the man had been rushing to get here, he was breathing fastly and slight sheen of sweat was on his face
"Is there a fire on the ship. Agent Kallus?" Keira asked
"We found them." Kallus ignored the joking question
Keira dropped the datapad she had been reading. Kallus moved to the central console and linked his datapad to it
"The droid dispatched to the last point had found a planet that showed signs of basic life. It attached itself to a communication point. This is what it transmitted." Kallus said
The Hologram showed a studio setting the text scrolling in the background was undecipherable to them. A human female and a humanoid male sat what seemed to be a desk. Both beings were speaking in basic
"…. And with the situation in Magnus nearly completed we can now look forward to yet another event. I am of course speaking of the Vytal Festival." The male said
"Yes, the festival we have all been waiting for with bated breath. And for those of us with a gambling itch a fully loaded wallet." The female stated
"And what a wonderfull selection of combatants we have this year, of course the pundits still maintain that the Champion of Victory will be the last one standing." The male continued
" That is what they always claim. Though one has to wonder how well she will do not having trained exclusively for this event having been deployed to the Serenity Forest." The woman stated
"The bigger question is will she once again don the sponsor approved armour instead of the team armour she had been sporting recently." The man countered
"According to an expert we consulted the new look actually gives her better protection and with the helmet in place she does seem much more imposing. Especially if seen with her team and the sister team that wears the same type of armour." The woman cited
"Yes, another set of wildcards in the deck. Her team JNPR lead by the recently returned from the dead Jaune Arc and the team containing his adopted sisters…"
The image shifted to show a redhaired girl in a rather revealing armour set, before being replaced by an image of seven beings in iconic armour that all in the room were familiar with, before smaller facial pictures replaced the image in two batches labelled in the unreadable script. Kallus manipulated the one picture to show a blonde haired male
"It seems Mister Noname has assumed another identity." Kallus remarked
"Well, Kallus, I do believe Lord Vader would like to see this for himself." Keira replied