Chapter 27
The way forward
Ruby was looking horrified at the plate before her. She blinked and looked again. Still not believing her eyes she looked away and looked to the glass that came with ordered meal. She blinked again. She looked again at the glass before looking to the plate again. Yang nudged Weiss.
"How long has she been like this?" Yang asked
"Ever since I got here about fifteen minutes ago." Weiss replied
Those knowing Weiss would have trouble recognising her at present. She was currently dressed in a coverall that had a hood added. Said hood was currently fully over her head. She was also seated leaning forward hunched inwards, very unlike her usual prim and proper posture, She had been dressed like this ever since she had returned to the medbay, the robe degrading as she ran and blushing up a storm. And yes Yang had confirmation that the carpet indeed matched the drapes.
"Why is the milk blue and for the love of the brothers how can cookies be green?" Ruby cried out despairingly
"Spinach flavour maybe?" Yang said teasingly
Ruby turned pale, her eyes rolled back in her head and with a delicate sigh she fell forward, face planting into the plate of offending cookies. Yang reached out and lifted her head and moved the plate. She took one of the cookies and gave it a bite
"Not great but not bad either." She said noncommitedly
Blake reached for one and took a bite, She moaned in appreciation and grabbed the plate. She then proceeded to emulate Ruby pouncing on an unwary box of cookies. Katya grabbed her hands to stop her once she had devoured half the plate
"Easy girl, that is synthetic catnip. You do not want to go on that ride, believe me." She said warningly
"But it is so good." Blake moaned, trying to break free
"You say that now, wait till wake up naked in the cargo bay with no idea how you got there or why you are covered in yogan jam." Katya said with a shudder
"Speaking from experience?" Yang asked grinning
"She does, not that it stops her from hitting the catnip." Yara broke in
"And I am guessing you have proof?" Yang edged closer
"I do that file and a quite a few more
"I will show them the Lothal video file." Katya warned
Nor was Blake the only one to overindulge in foreign foods. Several platters stood before Coco. Her usual stylish and fastidious appearance was missing as she was indulging in yet another plate of nerf ribs and tomalo sauce. Her face was smeared with the bright red sauce, the most disconcerting thing was not her appearance but the noises she made as she ate. Needless to say the table she was at was given a wide berth. Yatsu finished a nerf steak and sat back, sighing in appreciation. He coughed to draw Coco's attention, while fastidiously wiping his lips with a napkin
"You have a lot of something on your face." He said
"It can wait." Coco replied, reaching for another rib
The teacher and Tsune had sat down at the far end of the room, they were idly chatting as they had their breakfast. Surprisingly Bart was still present, all of them having expected him to be right in front of the terminal that had been unlocked. Though from the amount of caf he was imbibing and the bags around his eyes, he had not been sleeping
"Mind if we join you?" A voice spoke
Glynda looked up and saw the eldest Arc and her wife, both with an infant in arm. Both looking exhausted
" You are more than welcome." She invited
"Thank you." Sapphron said with a yawn
"Rough night with the young ones?" Tsune asked
"These two no, their cousins now that is another tale altogether. We spend the night preventing them from rampaging across the ship." Sapphron replied
"Governor Arc did not help?" Glynda asked
"No, he and our uncle shared a room. And we were given a barracks room with the rest of the Arc brood." Terra explained
"May I?" Glynda asked, gesturing to one of the infants
Post breakfast the tables were cleared and all gathered around the central table. Glynda was obviously not happy with the presence of the underage Arc daughters, but since she did not have control of the venue was forced to let their presence slide. Hina was absent in person as she had adjourned to the medbay, her holographic image being projected by LA1D2. Oobleck folded his arms across his stomach
"Before we begin, I have something that has been niggling me." He said
"What is it Doctor?" Yara replied
"Where did you get the information to fake the missing kingdom so creatively?" He asked
"That would be me. I found the tale of the missing towns and forts in a book called Fables and Tall Tales from the Kingdoms." Terra admitted
"A very rare book, it has been out of print for close to fifty years. Where did you find it?" Oobleck asked
" A garage sale shortly after we moved into our house. There were three copies of it in a mystery box that Sapphron could not resist buying." Terra replied
"Mystery box?" Oobleck asked for clarification
"Generally it means the persons just threw everything in a box and set a price on it, you pay for the box and take a chance on the contents." Sapphron explained
Glynda cleared her throat
"As interesting as that may be, we do need to discuss what is happening going forward." She said before Oobleck could continue
" I think the main thing is that everyone wants to return home. And as much as I would want to go back myself I do no not see how we will achieve that" Jaune said
" You fear that the truth about your situation and the ship would be uncovered to the public?" Port asked
" Not so much the public but the Councils demanding what we can not give." Jaune replied
"We can have everyone here sign non disclosure agreements. Though that will be a temporary solution." Oobleck pointed out
" Assuming everyone abides by it, sure, however we already have an Atlas team that has been spying and reporting on us." Hina said
"And short of terminal solutions, which we will not consider, how can we ensure their silence?" Pyrrha added
Yatsu lifted a hand. Glynda pointed to him and the giant man crossed his arms
"The way I see it you are dealing with both an electronic and human element. Can you alter the information in Penny's memory and that of the device you confiscated?" He asked
" The programming is basic so that should be possible." Yara said musingly
"Your semblance, you want to use your semblance on Ciell and Anne." Velvet gasped
"Just what is your semblance?" Cameron asked
"Memory alteration. I can erase up to four days of a persons memory at my current level." Yatsu said
"And how would you explain the missing days?" Rebecca asked
" Fake an injury and claim they were knocked out after their aura shattered. If you can create an image in Penny's memory to support that…" Yatsu trailed off
"They will believe the evidence they extract." Port concluded
Dew sat back and crossed her arms. She looked directly at Jaune and the sisters
"And what if we do not want to go back. Will you give us sanctuary and shelter?" She asked
"What about your families?" Moody asked
Dew pulled the shoulder of her tunic off to reveal a tattoo on her shoulder
"Conscripted. Just you or your team as well?" Derrick said with a grimace
"All of us." Dew replied
"Let me guess, you were taken in young and your family had been declared as bandits." Johnathan stated
"Yes. Though how a general merchant could have been a bandit, I don't know. I was six when I was taken. The others were much younger so they do not remember their families." Nebula said
Noting the confusion on the students faces Obbleck cleared his throat to draw attention before starting the explanation
"Contrary to popular belief Vacuo does not just have golden beaches, an ancient Mega city and endless desert. It is deplorable tradition started by Malik the Conquerer as he is known in Vacuo. By decree the Caliph or King as we know it can have those who defy him declared as slaves to serve at his whim. More recently with the nobility acting as ruling body it has been changed to indentured servitude for those and their families convicted of crimes not punishable by death. For those crimes that carry a death penalty the family members not implicated will be indentured." Oobleck explained
" The true state is that a crime is whatever a noble decides. Which is why VISA does not do business with any of the noble families of Vacuo. We see them in the same light as the SDC and Atlas council." Derrick added
"And as much as they call it indenture it is nothing but slavery." Jonathan spat out angrily
Dew nodded to the two Arc brothers
"An indentured servant can pay their "debt" off quicker by volunteering for Huntsman duties. You may have noticed how basic our weapons are. You get a cheap weapon and your huntsman pay goes to your contract holder, minus a tenth that goes to Shade. For those who do not wish to risk it, you can work in a household, or in one the resorts or get rented out as labour to companies like the SDC." Dew said
"Of course what you earn goes to the contract holder minus what it costs for food, uniform and a place to rest. So your debt never really gets paid." Violet added
"One has to give them credit in that they do not discriminate between human and faunus. They enslave equally." Derrick said
Blake looked shocked, her head spun to Ooobleck who merely nodded.
"You have sanctuary here." Jaune said firmly
"And you will be taught and paid for it accordingly, well once we have access to our credits again." Yara added
"And the training will be free of charge and your pay will include room and board at no cost to you." Katya insisted
Dew, Nebulla and Gwen obviously relaxed and sat back. Jaune looked around the table. Port, Oobleck, Moody and Tsune looked approving, Goodwitch had a neutral expression, reaching into the force he scanned her emotions. She felt guarded and cautious.
"How quickly can you rewrite the robots memory? We can not have you remain up here for much longer if we have to create a credible cover story and we are approaching the limit Yatsu can destroy a memory" Derrick asked
Jaune felt a sudden lurch of emotion from Goodwitch, that was as quickly surpressed before he could classify it. Quick glances to Hina, Pyrrha and Velvet confirmed they felt it too.
"The last patients will be out of Bacta treatment in another two hours and then they can be woken up slowly or we can let them do it at their own pace." Hina said smoothly
"Writing the software and adding the images? Two hours." Yara said musingly
LA1D2 bleeped and whistled in respons before its dome swung around once
"An hour. You sure?" Yara asked
A grating sound and a dismissive bleep followed
"Just asking buddy. And keep that tone to yourself. Remember who gives you your services and upgrades" Yara said chiding
"and there is no chances of getting some bacta samples are there?" Tsune asked
"We can give you a sample but it would be useless. Only the Vratix knows how to produce the algae that bacta is distilled from, and as far as we know it can only be done on Thyferra." Hina replied
"Vratix?" Oobleck asked
"And insectile species, indigent to Thyferra." Yara explained
"I was inside algae created by insects?" Weiss asked, turning pale
The rest of team RWBY started snickering
"The bugs finally got you." Yang chortled
"It is perfectly normal to have a dislike of insects." Weiss said snootily
"But it is not normal to stand on chair and refuse to move when there is an ant on the floor." Ruby replied
"I was merely observing from a distance." Weiss responded
"Yes clenched knees and shaking like a leaf is a perfect indication of a scolarly inspection." Yang countered
"Girls, enough. Since Atlas is too cold for most insects, fear of insects is something a lot of Atlas residents suffer from, and a phobia is not a source of amusement. No mental health issue is a joke." Tsune said firmly
"Sorry, doc. Sorry Weiss." Yang said contritely
"Weiss, we will have a few chats once we are back at Beacon about that. And the rest of you will also be coming in for mental health assessments and debriefing with the therapists." Tsune added
Tsune nodded to Goodwitch who once again took up control of the meeting
"Now that we have agreement to return, we have to create a cover story that will seem credible." She said
" Team NDGO obviously died as heroes. I suggest a rearguard action and when they were about to be overwhelmed we think they blew the fuel dump and our last explosives." Jaune said
" And the rest of our transports were destroyed then as well. What about we escaped on the river using rafts but we got washed away well past the town as the river was raging thanks to the recent rain." Pyrrha suggested
"And with dealing with the injured we could not really steer the rafts and were at the mercy of the current, not mentioning keeping ourselves afloat." Velvet added
"Of course once we reached land we had to set out over land till we got scroll signal and arranged for pick up. Smashing Grim and bandit knee caps all along the way." Nora putt in
"Speaking of bandits, I nearly forgot. Mistral pays out bounties on the Branwen tribe. If you can give me the footage you have, VISA can negotiate the payments for you." Derrick said
"if I may ask, what do you do for VISA?" Moody asked
"I am in the internal security division of the bank. If you want to know more, how about a nice dinner and I can tell you more." Derrick replied with a rogue grin
"Stop hitting on our teachers." Jade said in exasperation
" Yes, you will only get our adopted sisters into trouble." Coral added
"And me?" Jaune asked
"You are a boy, you deserve trouble." Coral replied, sticking out her tongue
"Girls, your sisters and brother are already in the litter box as it is they can not get any deeper. Derrick, I will take you up on that offer." Moody replied
"I agree on that point, though in fairness the Remnant members of the teams are just as complicit. I believe a thirty page essay on Mitral and Vales recent history will do and a thirty page recent history of the Galaxy for our non Remnant." Oobleck stated
"Sucks to be you." Coco smirked
"That would include your team, Miss Adel, after all miss Scarlatina knew of their origins as well." Oobleck pointed out
"No fair professor, she never told us anything." Coco objected
"That is doctor miss Adel, shall we add another ten pages?" Oobleck countered
"I will see you for extra classes. Though Derrick I will regretfully pass on the dinner, I am sure you can understand why." Port said
"Sure, Pete, you are just too macho, you will just cramp my style with the ladies." Derrick
The three teams just groaned in suffering. It took a moment before registering that neither Peach nor Goodwitch had weighed in on the issue. Seeing the poorly hidden smirks on said teachers, they knew their woes were just begining
"Thanks uncle, you really helped us out." Jaune said sarcastically
"My absolute pleasure, my dear nephew." Derrick smirked malicously
"Can someone explain what this litter box thing is we supposedly are inhabiting?" Katya asked
Beacon.
The press filled the space in what was normally used for the stunts assembly. A podium had been set up. The flags of Vale and Beacon would normally be in a higher position than the flags of the other Academies and kingdoms, today they were all level. Ozpin and the members of the Council present all were dressed soberly and with black bands on their arms. Silence reigned as Ozpin ascended the podium
"Good evening. Ladies and Gentlemen of the press. We have received word from Magnus that the first herd has been destroyed completely. The Huntsman of Remanant and the Soldiers of Atlas were victorous. Though our joy is tempered with sadness for those who bravely gave their all and paid the ultimate price. Thankfully the number was much lower than anticipated." Ozpin said solemnly
He looked over the crowd
Thanks to the efforts of our allies from Atlas, the second herd has been damaged greatly as well and we will hopefully be able to report its destruction as well soon."
Subdued handclaps started up and slowly built crescendo till Ozpin lifted a hand and silence descended again
"I have more news. A few days ago a very ill adviced and sensationalist report from a news station had listed the Serenity Forest teams deployed as killed in action. I am happy to report that the report has been erroneous. As of an hour ago we recovered the teams, though sadly they too have sustained casualties. We mourn the losses the teams have suffered. Especially we mourn the loss of team NDGO from Shade academy, not that the losses of the other teams are insignificant. The four young woman decided in acting in a rearguard action to allow the injured huntsman and woman to be extracted to safety by the rest. Their last action was the detonation of the remaining ammunition, dust and fuel that was held in the camp. I believe we have all seen the footage in the first unsanctioned report and the devastation of the camp. Instead of devastation of a loss we can now call it the grim victory of four brave young women. Four young women who looked darkness in the face and defied it to their very last. I ask for a minute of silence for these four brave young woman and the others who died at Serenity."
The press rose and the minute was observed. Ozpin stepped back onto the podium
"Thank you. Now I am certain you would like to know how the survivors escaped the horde that besieged them? Well who better to tell you the tale than senior Huntsman Peter Port, the Hunter in charge" Ozpin said with a small smile
Peter Port entered from a side door and made his way to the podium as Ozpin stepped back.