Chapter 24
First Strike
Pyrrha shook her hand as Ruby missed pouring the coffee into her aluminium camping mug, if not for her gloves she would have been dealing with a nasty scald. Ruby was drying up the spill while muttering apologies. Pyrrha noted that Ruby did not make eye contact. Shrugging she took the pot and filled her cup and moved along to receive a plate and cutlery from Weiss who was next in line in the serving line. Weiss gave one look before she reddened and looked down hastily, Yang was the next in the line, she maintained eye contact and with a wink and smirk ladled a double portion of food onto Pyrrha's plate
"Got to keep your stamina up, champ" Yang smirked
Blake was next, the catgirl had a faraway look in her eyes. She looked slightly pale and on looking closer Pyrrha noted a spot of dried blood on her nostril. Blake was almost mechanically ladling the food onto peoples plates. Pyrrha made her way to the roughly constructed table and sat down opposite Jaune and Velvet. Nora was sitting next to her with Katya opposite her. Next to Katya was Hina with April and Yara next to her.
"Is it just me or is team RWBY acting weird?" Pyrrha asked
"Now that you mention it, yes. Ruby especially" Jaune replied
"I wonder why though?" Velvet remarked
"It is obvious. They are trying to adapt that they are single and we are not." Nora replied
"But how could they know we have not seen them at all till now?" Katya asked
"Little Ruby saw us in the shower tent, did you not see the piles of rose petals from when she fled? It was not as if we were trying to be discrete and secretive." Yara said
"That explains Ruby then, but what about the rest?" Pyrrha said
Hina shook her head
"As a single child you would not understand, Yang probably spotted that something was up with her and got it out of her. And lets face it, what you lot were up to makes for interesting gossip." She said
The conversation stalled as the teachers made their appearance. The missing teams falling in, moments thereafter. Port cleared his throat
"Good morning students. I have just spoken with headmaster Ozpin. Magnus had been under air attack from swarms of Nevermores and Gryphons. The attack had been repulsed with minimal losses and damage. A lot of it due to the weapon design miss Valkyrie had handed in prior to your departure. Miss Valkyrie, headmaster Ozpin had asked me to inform you that you have been nominated for the Star of Vale, third class."
Port led a short round of applause and Nora was silent, blushing furiously in shy pride. A very unusual look for the boisterous girl. Port led them have the moment before continueing his briefing
" With the main herd still approaching Vale has ordered more equipment and resources. As such our neighbours will be working harder to meet demands. This means there will be more convoys to guard and protect. Be prepared for an upswing in Grim encounters. To that end I and the senior teams I came with will be starting on our deep sweep missions."
"Will we be joining in on those missions?" Ciell asked
"No, you are to continue as you were here." Port said shortly
Moody stepped up
"With professor Port away I will be resuming full command here again. After breakfast we will be making our way to the scrap yard. The timber mill and brick yard had given us two vehicles to use in convoy protection duties. Those that do not know how to drive will be taught there. The rest will be looking into reinforcing those vehicles." Moody informed them
"That will be excluding team JNPR as I will need you to fly the search teams out deeper into the forest." Port jumped in.
Peach cleared her throat
"Along with convoy protection duty we have to start patrolling the side roads and areas. Once the herds reach Magnus there will be an upturn in negativity and those areas will be at risk. However you are to ensure your own safety first at all times, it is well known that there is criminal groups in between the civilians, so keep an eye out. And before it gets asked, no we will not be looking at arresting those criminals. Our jobs are to protect the civilians and destroy the Grim where we find them."
Peach saw that the last statement did not go down well with some of the teams. The Atlas teams making the majority of those, with team RWBY being next. The Vacuo team looked indifferent, and the rest looked resigned. Mister Arc lifted a hand
"Professor I will need another two to join my flight team. While we normally only take one an extra set of eyes will be needed now." He said
" Who do you want?" Peach asked
"Ember and Darcy from NDGO. It makes sense to leave KHYA here, both Katya and Yara are the most proficient with mechanics, so you will need them the most. The second most proficient will be Yang as I believe she does her own maintenance on her motorcycle." Jaune replied
"Very well, do any of you have anything to add or report?" Moody asked
Yara was walking around the junkyard looking at what was available in the junkpiles, though to be honest she just wanted to get away from the sound of clashing gears as those not trained in driving were getting lessons, at this rate she would have to rebuild the gearboxes and clutch plates before they even get on a patrol. She paused as she saw a vibrant orange shape and two mutes yellow shapes under a shed. Walking closer she noticed that the door to the shed was lying on the ground. Stepping into the shed she saw another vibrant orange shape behind the first. All four vehicles were covered in dust. Running a hand along the side of one bus she saw the lettering appear. It read "..le Department of Corre….". She wiped again and got the full sign Vale Department of Corrections. The yellow busses were marked Department of Education. She studied the busses for a moment before making her way back to the group. Stripes was sitting next to the owner of the yard on the porch of the man's house, Moody had made herself comfortable in a rocking chair.
The house itself was much larger than expected. Through the open steel door she could see that the wall was four cinder blocks thick and a second much thicker steel door was ready to block the entrance, small reinforced glass windows were set in the door with metal slots underneath it, she suspected it was for gunports. Chains were affixed to the stair case leading up to the second level, with the ground floor being basically bare she suspected the living levels was a floor up. The owner, Rodger Blackwell, was human and was the same age as Stripes, who was the mans brother in law. The two stopped their conversation as Yara approached them.
"Why are there four unused busses in the shed at the back?" She asked
" Never had use for them, that's why." Stripes replied
"They were send down from Vale 'bout five years ago. Some nonsense that all settlements must have them." Rodger stated
"The mayor repeatedly told them we don't need them but will Vale listen, so they have been in that shed since they arrived." Stripes said, spitting some chewing tobacco to the side
"So they should be in running condition?" Yara persisted
"Reckon the batteries must be dead and the tyres will need work, otherwise they should be good to go." Rodger said pensively
"What are you thinking?" Moody asked, stopping rocking the chair
"The orange busses look armoured, so if we can get them running they will be better to use than the two trucks we were given. And getting the school busses ready will be good if we have to evacuate groups of people outside of town." Yara said
"Let us go take a look, if you are right I will let the mayor know Beacon is commandeering the vehicles." Moody said, standing up
It took getting a truck from the brickyard to deliver batteries and sets of tyres along with several jerry cans of fuel to get the two prison busses running. Once the busses were idling the two older men supervised the young hunters as they changed the tires. Yara, Yang, Katya and Ruby were inside the busses removing the seating and cutting gun ports into the sides underneath the reinforced glass windows. Yatsu and Hina were busy removing plough blades from a hole riddled tractor to add to the front of the busses, the only ones not performing some sort of task was Moody and Fox, the latter sat down on an old oil drum giving snarky comments from where he was seated. Despite his Semblence no one wanted to take a chance on giving him tools to work with. Moody was moving around between the two busses checking on the progress.
Moody found Yara looking up at the roof of one bus. She was standing on a pile of loosened seats with a tape measure in hand. Several permanent marker spots were drawn onto the roof
"What is the problem?" Moody asked
"I was thinking of cutting a hole for a gun post to counter Nevermore, one front and one back but if I do so we will not be able to use the side door." Yara answered
"Then we just use the emergency exit, having something against air attacks seem more important than having working doors." Moody replied
Moody made her way to second bus were Yang and Rubu were welding four seats in place behind some gunposts another four seats had been repurposed to make stretcher stands. She passed on the message about making the holes in the roof. She dropped down as the drivers from the brickyard got the school busses running and started driving them outside to be driven to the camp to stand by for evacuation use.
Port was seated in the door of the LAATi he leaned over to check on the pallet underneath the craft containing the teams and their equipment. He felt Miss Valkyrie grab onto him to keep him safe, this despite being secured properly by a harness. They were currently on their way to the farming community to drop of three teams to start their sweep from there back to the camp. The other teams standing by in camp to be picked up and dropped of. He chuckled in his moustache as he noticed that several of the students were leaning over the rails of the swaying pallet most looking green or very pale. He felt the craft slow down as they approached the settlement. He lifted the macrobinocuars he had loaned from the front and checked on the settlement. He noted with approval that the damage done by the bandit attacked had very nearly been completely repaired and that this time the farmers were adding firing positions on the wall.
Jaune reduced speed and switched fully to the undercarriage repulsor coils as he started lowering the pallet to the ground. He was receiving verbal updates from Nora who was lying prone on the deck with her torso hanging out of the craft as she gave visual information. He had received confirmation that both Pyrrha and Port were holding her ankls firmly and were in position to pull her back rapidly.
"Pallet is down. Pilot. Passengers disembarking and some really barfing up a storm." She reported cheerily.
"Got it Right, Let me know when we can lift. Ren stand by on the winch to reel the pallet closer." Jaune replied
Jaune looked to the side as Octavia tapped his neck. She pointed to the east
" There is a lot of smoke over there. Is there another farm or town there?" She asked
"Nothing that is marked on the area map." Jaune replied
Jaune toggled the internal coms
"Ren, check due east. We have a lot of smoke but nothing marked on the map." He said
"Got it, it is too contained for a forest fire, never mind that it is too wet for a forest fire anyway." Ren replied
"Pallet is empty." Nora reported
"Winch it in , we are going to take a look at the smoke." Jaune replied
Moments later the whine of the winch stopped as the pallet was nearly against the body of the craft. Jaune boosted power to the main repulsors and they veered of to the east. The door to the cockpit opened and Port stood in it, bracing himself. They moved closer to the pillars of grey smoke.
"I believe the smoke is thinning." Octavia remarked
"That is because the fires are being doused. You definitely have someone down there." Port replied
"Tree coverage is too dense to get a proper thermal read from the scanners." Jaune said
"Shall I send the relative location to the ground team?" Octavia asked
"No. As much as I want to find out what is down there, the Grim sweep is much more important. The best we can for now is to warn the farms to be alert." Port replied
Jaune closed his eyes and concentrated on the Force, he sensed a lot of lifeforms below them, the emotions they broadcast were diverse mostly fear and discomfort, though several spikes of hate made itself known. He opened his eyes and concentrated on his flying, thanks to his helmet the two people with him did not notice his momentary distraction. He felt the Force nudging him, it was warning him of something but it did not feel urgent. He felt it when Pyrrha touched his senses, she too had felt a nudge. He banked the ship and turned towards Camp, there was a second group that needed to be dropped off.
In the trees below a Faunus was standing on a thick branch holding a pair of binoculars. She was dressed in a black cloak with white stripes on it, a Grim Mask was hanging from her belt. She looked to the trunk of the tree where another Faunus stood, this one held a rifle pointed directly at the airship moving away. Sure footedly the woman made her way back to the trunk. The cloack splitting in two as her squirrel tail rose to help her keep balanced on the branch. The other Faunus lowered his rifle
"What the hell is Atlas doing out here?" The man asked, his voice gravely
"Don't know, perhaps brother Adam will know. The question is do we proceed with our operation?" She asked
"We have little choice, we need the supplies." The man replied
"A pity we could not take pictures, I have never seen anything like that ship before. And since when are bullheads being armed?" She responded
"We will report it to brother Adam as well, he will need to know if Atlas is changing their protocols even if only to warn our brothers and sisters fighting in Atlas."
Returning from the second flight had the flight group spotting the four busses and two small trucks standing to the side, a fuelling truck was close to their fuel area filling up a new tank that had not been there the morning. Someone had taken the time to draw a circle in paint on the grass to designate the new landing area. Looking closer Jaune noticed that the area had a brown sheen inside it. He opened a com link channel to Katya as he spotted her armoured form close to the circle. He switched to Yuki
"Sis, what is going on down there?" He asked
"We finished earlier than planned and laid out a landing area, don't worry it is not ground or mud down here. We packed the remaining bricks first before putting clay on it and drying it with fire dust. It is safe to land." She reported
"Grab hold of Yara, we need to check the second engine, it has missed a few times now." Jaune replied
"Will do, you want me to tell Moody we need to stand down for maintenance?" Yara responded
"Please, okay I am bringing it in." Jaune replied
Katya found both the beings she was looking for at the fuel area. Yara was double checking the new fuel tank that there was no leaks from the pumps or the tank itself. Moody was helping to move the crates of fuel for the LAATi away from the diesel tank on Yara's instruction to split the fuel.
"Sorry to interrupt here, Jaune need us to help service the engines. He said number two is misfiring." Katya informed Yara
"I will be done in a few minutes, we will need to wait for the engines to cool down anyway." Yara replied
"How long will the ship be unavailable?" Moody asked
"Depends on what we find. AT minimum we will not be flying till the morning." Yara replied
"Damn it, we have a larger than usual convoy this afternoon." Moody said with irritation
Moody rubbed her neck before breathing out
"Nothing for it. How many people would you need for the repairs apart from you three?" She asked
"The three of us will be fine, Hina would have been useful but she is more use as a medic on convoy protection." Katya answered
"Okay at least we will have more guns available on the busses and the Scout." Moody replied
Ciell was standing next to Penny on top of a watchtower their attention was directed to the ship and the fuel depot instead of watching the surrounding area as they were supposed too. Ciell was taking notes as Penny was relaying the conversations as she was lip reading, her eyes capable of near telescopic range. Their teammates was standing below the watchtower to give them warning should someone approach. They were unaware that they in turn were being observed. Hina was lying flat on the base of another tower, macrobinoculars trained on the Atlas duo, she was recording the duo while picking up their conversation from microphones she had hidden in the roof of the watchtowers for just that eventuality.
"Can you look closer at the craft engines?" Ciell asked
"I am sorry, cadet Ciell. I do not have a visual from this angle." Penny replied
"A pity, the General has been asking for more information on this craft again. I hazard we will only be able to get a closer look once we get assigned a shift."
"I can attempt an approach at night." Penny suggested
"We will keep that option in reserve if no other opportunity presents itself. Right now we can not afford to draw any suspicion onto ourselves." Ciell shook her head
Hina lifted her comlink to her mouth. She spotted her family stiffen slightly as the channel opened
"Be warned. Atlas is snooping, secure all dataports." Hina reported
"So that is what your language sounds like." Octavia spoke behind her
Hina spun around. Octavia was seated against a pole supporting the roof close to the ladder. Hina swore furiously, she had been so engrossed in her surveillance that she had failed to sense the other girl closing in.
"I don't know what you are saying but I do not think it is very polite." Octavia said with a giggle
"It isn't." Hina admitted
"Don't feel bad, stealth approaches is something we practice frequently at Shade. We do have a very large bandit population so learning stealth is very important." Octavia said with a slight smirk
"Still I should have been more alert." Hina replied
"If it makes you feel better, Atlas over there is till unaware you were watching them." Octavia said with a slight wave
"Not by much." Hina replied dryly
Octavia studied Hina for a moment
"It must have been hard to have to learn an entire new language on coming here." Octavia remarked
"We already knew this language, well the spoken form. Our writing is a bit different though." Hina replied
"What is it like, where you come from?" Octavia asked
"A lot like here, it depends on where we travel. Some places are open grassland, some endless forests and then the cities we go to are filled with beings, all speaking their own languages ,at times so many you feel like you are lost in a sea of beings."
Hina sat down in front of the Vacuo girl and they started exchanging stories, though Hina felt a lot of regret for having to heavily alter and sensor hers. The macrobinoculars had been left pointed to the other watchtower, a blinking light indicating that it was still recording.
Morning brought the return of light rain and the seven teams were huddled under the large canvas covered roof of the eating area. Moody and Peach were seated on the table and ready for the day. Moody looked to Jaune first pointing to the LAATi that had a groundsheet drawn over the engine compartment
"Is the bullhead capable of flight yet?" She asked
"No, we were able to fix the problem but the sealant we used needs a lot of time to properly settle, and this moist air is not helping it to do so. Tomorrow is the earliest we can fly again safely." Jaune answered
"I would like to take some time to check the other engine out and do a proper service." Yara said
"I assume you will need your sisters and Mister Arc to help with that." Peach commented
"Not really, I can do it by myself at most I will need someone to hand me tools. I have been teaching April so she can help me." Yara replied
"I can help too." Penny volunteered suddenly
"Just need one person to help, thank you for offering though." Yara answered
"We could use a mechanic on the busses if we have engine trouble, I think we could use you there. Neither I nor Jaune is very good with the local engines, more used to our technology than what is available locally" Katya suggested to Penny
"A good idea. Thank you for volunteering for that duty." Moody broke in
Moody looked at the teams
"We have an early morning escort to the train station. JNPR, NDGO And what is left of KHYA bus one , I will join you there. Bus two CFVY, CLAP and RWBY. BROW we want two of you to follow the convoy in the trucks we were given, Beacon is sending us supplies on the train coming in. The other two and Peach will ensure that April and Yara actually work and not spend the morning snogging in the bullhead." Moody said
The two indicated individuals looked away as snickering filled the area. Peach made an, I am watching you gesture to her sister. Yang nudged Ruby
"And you said I am overbearing and stifling." Yang said to her sister
"And we thank team RWBY for volunteering for dishwashing duty." Peach replied
"Thank you, Yang." Ruby muttered, poking her sister
Moody cleared her throat
"We received word from Beacon that the first herd is closing in on Magnus, the really bad news is that a reporter from Vale Central News has managed to stay there and has been sending footage back to Vale. The idiot had send back raw footage of the aftermath of the Nevermore attack and the station had aired it without censoring it. Needless to say it caused a lot of reaction in Vale. The wall garrison has already reported an increase in Grim activity. We know the footage will have been seen here as well, once we are done with escort duty we will be starting to visit individual houses outside Serenity town and try to convince the locals to evacuate to the town or otherwise bunker down Expect Grim activity to have increased. Also on their way back JNPR flew over what we think may be a hidden camp or a drug factory, whatever or whoever was down there chose to hide their presence, so be vigilant. We will split in two groups for this one Prison service bus and a school bus per group. Obviously the school bus is for evacuation purposes." Moody said
They found Doctor Tsune sitting on a very large pile of goods as they pulled in at the train station. Moody exited first and approached her friend and collague and greeted her with an exuberant hug
"Is there anything left in Beacon's storehouse?" Moody asked with a grin
"Not much, but a large portion of this is care packages for the Hunters in the field. Following VCN screwing up VISA had been calling for collections for care packages for Hunters matching five Lien for every one Lien collected. Several Clothing and food suppliers had jumped on the bandwagon and offered goods at cost, your group is actually the first to receive packages. With some to spare for Peter and his teams as well" Tsune replied
"A good thing we have a lot of packing space then. I am actually surprised Ozpin let you come out here." Anastasia replied dryly
"I am just a GP, Vale Central and Brother of Mercy had already detached several Trauma surgeons and nursing teams to Beacon to deal with incoming patients, I was simply not needed there at present, plus Peter made a convincing case that I could be useful out here, even though psychiatry is not my speciality." Tsune said
Moody pointed to the bus she had exited from
" You will be riding back with the team we want you to look at. The other team is back at camp, well half of them." Moody said
"I believe mister Lie is the one you consider most at risk." Tsune stated
"We do. I trust you have read up as to what his semblance does. More than that, we have noticed he seems to be withdrawing more and more into himself and away from the others." Moody said
The two stopped speaking as a figure in red and gold armour came running closer, a scroll in her hand, the tone coming from the scroll was very familiar.
"Professor Moody, you left your scroll. Professor Peach is calling." Pyrrha said
"Thank you, Miss Nikos." Anastasia said, taking the scroll
Moody walked away before answering the scroll. Tsune started directing the students to start loading her cargo onto the trucks they had come with. Moody returned shortly after finishing her call, a frown on her face.
"Bus one, we have a new mission. The marshal reported that they received word from a merchant convoy moving by road that the main access road has been deliberately blocked. They are however busy cleaning up a fight between two local producers of Meth and can not investigate. We have been asked to investigate."
"When are we moving out?" Jaune asked
"As soon as I have briefed bus two. I suggest hitting the bathrooms before we leave we are not stopping for bathroom breaks." Moody replied
Moody whistled sharply and waved Coco closer and gave her the new orders leaving Coco in charge of the return trip. Tsune carried her pack and weapon to the bus and climbed aboard. Apart from Arc in his white and gold armour all the others were scampering for the bathrooms. Tsune dropped her gear
"Mister Arc, can you tell me who is who in the coloured armour?" She asked
"Pyrrha is in the red armour with the gold. Nora is in the pink armour with the lightning flashes. Hina is in blue, Katya is in the red with the pink ear lights. Team NDGO Nebulla Violette is the blonde, Dew Gayle is the one with the indigo hair, Gwen Darcy black hair brown eyes, Octavia ember is our other redhead." Jaune rattled off.
"Mister Lie, what colour is his armour?" Tsune asked
"Ren is just wearing a chest piece, he did not want full armour." Jaune replied
"Can you give a quick briefing as to what is where before we head out?" Tsune asked, looking around the bus.
The main road had been cut straight through the forest, it was wide enough for four vehicle lanes and was decently tarred and maintained. The branches from the trees on the sides blocked the sun from shining down on the road, casting the area in a gloomy light. Due to the poor light they were forced to drive using their headlights. Jaune, Pyrrha and Hina had a growing sense of unease and a warning of danger. Both Pyrrha and Jaune had started pacing from along the length of the bus, both had converted their DC17s to sniper mode, Hina had climbed up the ladder and armed the gun they had set up for air suppressive fire . Their unease spread to the rest of the passengers who were now keeping their guns close. Moody was about to address the three when Jaune spun towards Nora who was driving
"Nora, stop now!" He ordered
Nora slammed on the brakes. Moments later the road in front of them erupted in a spray of dirt and fire. Machine gun chatter started up as Hina started spraying fire into the tree line. Jaune and Pyrrha dropped down to their knees beside the gunports closed to them and started firing
"Katya, Nora go to thermal." Pyrrha called out
Doreen Green was swearing up a storm as suppressive fire from a machine gun was forcing her to stay behind cover. Thanks to her sensitive hearing the squirrel faunus could hear the crack of rifles along with the chatter of the machine gun, Her swearing intensified as another machine gun started up and another two rifles began firing as well. She heard the screams and cries of her brothers and sisters as they were hit or were looking for cover. How could things have gone so wrong? How did the driver of the bus know to stop before the charges blew. What is a department of corrections bus doing here? Why is it being crewed by armoured Atlas troopers? The trap had been set up for Serenity towns Marshals, not this. Brian Sykes, her oldest friend and snake faunus was seated against a tree like her and trying to make himself as small as possible. She could see him take a deep breath before he twisted to fire on the bus. A crack followed and he was thrown back. Doreen crawled over to him. She managed to pull him back to her cover, a fallen tree. Rounds impacted the trunk throwing slivers of bark into the air. She pressed down hard on the wound, trying to force her aura into him, that single shot had shattered his completely
"Reen, get out of here." Brian gasped out
"Not without you." She said through tear filled eyes
"I am not going anywhere, I know it, you know it." Brain said barely audible
"No, we are getting you home to Kuo Kuana." Doreen responded
"Tell Mary, I love her. Tell her, her daddy loves her so much. Don't let her make the same mistakes I did." Brian said
"You can tell her that yourself."
Brian did not answer, his eyes were open but there was no life in them. Doreen felt for a pulse but could not feel one. She threw back her head and screamed out her anguish. Dimly she heard the whistles marking the call for retreat starting up. She kept seated as she heard her brothers and sisters rush away from the ambush site. She heard the calls of the wounded as they were left behind. She stayed seated, holding onto the cooling body of her friend. She looked up as she heard movement in the trees to her side
"Drop your weapon!" She heard a voice call
"Drop it now!" Another called
The chatter of gunfire erupted from two weapons and she saw red flashes to her left. She let her friend go and scrambled up the tree. She looked down as two armoured figures stepped into view. One was dressed in pink with yellow flashes the other in red with pink cat ears and a tail attachment, the tail was drooping and barely twitching. The cat trooper bent down and checked for a pulse. She moved her hand up and closed Brian's eyes. They cocked their heads to the side before turning to move back to the road and the bus they came from. Doreen moved along the branches to observe them, her hands reaching for the pistol she carried in her belt.
There were five of the armoured troopers by the bus plus seven in colourful and unique clothing carrying unique weapons. Three of the armoured troops looked up into the trees directly at her. Doreen instinctively moved back into cover but the three were keeping pace with her movements, however they did not raise their weapons. An older human female produced a megaphone from inside the bus
"I am Professor Moody from Beacon Academy. You have attacked a Huntsman contingent. This is a clear breach of the laws of Vale and of Menagerie. If you surrender we will show mercy and extradite you back to Menagerie to stand trail there. Attack us again and we will be authorised to execute all of you. Think of your wounded and do the right thing." The woman called over the megaphone
Doreen looked down at the pistol in her hand and engaged the safety catch. She holstered the pistol and started moving away, pausing for a moment she left her grim mask and her black cloak on the branch. She was done with the Fang, now she had to find a way back to Menagerie, a little girl needed her.
Moody relaxed her posture somewhat as she noticed the figure in the branches move away. She noticed that three of her students followed her posture.
"Situation report." She demanded
"Fifteen dead on the left." Nikos reported
Thirteen on right, we had one wounded who refused to surrender, we were forced to kill him." Katya reported
"All of them were wearing White Fang insignia." Arc added
"You want to hunt them down?" Tsune asked
"As much as I want to, we need to get to those merchants and get them to Serenity. I think they were the main target." Moody shook her head
"Shall we go and check the bodies for identification and gather the weapons." Dew suggested
"Go ahead, may be we can use that to track down the attackers and find out what is going on." Moody gave permission
The students scattered to do so. Tsune leaned against the bus. Moody produced a battered old tin and rolled herself a cigarette and lit it. Taking a few puffs she extended it to Tsune
"You saw it too I take it?" Moody said
"That three of them were ready before the rest of us even suspected something was wrong, yes. It raises a lot of questions." Tsune said taking a pull
" The longer we are out here the more things pile up. Yet there is nothing I can use to force a confrontation to get the truth out of them." Moody said in irritation
"Not mentioning that they seemed to track that last one before she cleared out. I know you tracked that one with your Semblance, but a precognitive and tracking semblance at the same time for three people, not likely. Not mentioning that miss Nikos has a very different semblance recorded." Tsune added
"Going to be a very long debrief with Ozpin tonight." Moody sighed
The Executor. Deep Space
Vader had just stepped from his biopod when his aide made his presence known. Vader nodded to the man
"Lord Vader, the bounty hunter wishes for a moment of your time." The man stated
"Send her to my ready room." Vader replied
"She is already waiting there." The man reported
Vader entered his ready room to find Keira setting up the holomap. She looked over her shoulder as he entered the room. Tapping the console four blue lines were added to the map. Vader walked over to her and she started her briefing
"I have received the data that the ISB has pulled from the Zygerans craft. There are four routes that he followed that does not match regular hyperspace routes. Cross referencing them to movement reports and sightings I think we can eliminate two of these." Keira reported
Two of the lines disappeared and she manipulated the map to highlight the remaining two routes
"We know the target was on Agamar and recent reports from the corporate sector has placed the ship at Alderra three. Thus making this route the most likely one used." She continued
The second route dimmed and the last one lit up. Vader studied the route for a moment. Keira continued
"I cross referenced the targets ship movement and the Zygerran ship, Both vessels bought large amounts of fuel, coaxium and water and food at the mining platform present there. With the target also buying a large amount of childrens clothing." Keira continued
" An unusual purchase." Vader pointed out
"Something he tried to do on Agamar as well before being jumped by the bounty hunters. I believe I know why." Keira replied
"Continue."
"As per the ISB report from what they found from the survivor of the last raid, the target had been coerced to take a cargo to Jabba the Hutt. Considering that they picked up cargo from a slaver I am guessing that the cargo was slaves and the target realised it. I believe that is what caused him to deviate of course. As to what caused him to emerge in the Force that I do not know." Keira concluded
The door opened and the aide stepped in
"Lord Vader. The Emperor requests that you contact him." The man reported
"You will wait here." Vader told Keira, moving towards his communications room