Hello friends! Welcome to another iteration of the ever-expanding Dragon's Rise multiverse.
This isn't going to be like Dragon's Rise, this AU features primarily Team RWBY and Team ASHN with a focus on Nova and Ruby. It's going to be a darker, grittier and more hostile universe where Nova and Ruby aren't friends, rather, they are on opposite sides of the proverbial compass this time.
The story tells of Ruby Rose, youngest captain of the United Forces Space Huntsmen, desperate to follow in her mother's footsteps of becoming a great Starfleet Captain, and Nova the Space Pirate codenamed Silver Flame of the Solar Flare, her arch nemesis.
She strives for justice and peace, he seeks freedom and revenge.
All is not as it seems, for under the surface lies a terrible secret, one that may sway the scales of balance when uncovered.
Aged up AU: Ruby is 23, Weiss, Yang, and Blake are 25-26. Nova/Silver is 24 and Hex and Nitro are 27. Luna is 19.
You don't need to know Dragon's Rise to read this, it's pretty much standalone. It will have some similar backstory elements but the story is going to be quite different.
Morally grey characters, some pretty dark themes.
Chapter 1: Setting the Stage
The Universe. An infinite expanse of space littered with stars, planets and all manner of things just waiting to be discovered. From the seemingly untouchable stars to the asteroids and comets that raced through the spaces between, planets coloured in all shapes and sizes, life amongst the vast cosmos.
For thousands of years, Humanity was obsessed with exploring the far reaches of the galaxy, searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life.
In the year 2550, an asteroid impacted the earth shattering the continent in a great earthquake, hundreds of millions of lives were lost but... with equal destruction came equal opportunity.
This asteroid brought with it a newfound material that bore an immense capacity for the storage and transmission of energy. This crystalline material, called Dust, allowed humanity to skyrocket its evolution. Not only did it speed up the recovery of its aftermath, but it enabled a new era of technology.
Finally, after all the millennia, humanity could reach where they had never gone before. Dust created hyperdrive engines that were outfitted onto every form of spacecraft, soon a new industrial revolution spurned the earth as technological companies sprang up like wildfire, all racing to space to find even more of this 'Dust'.
Fast forward two hundred years later and the Earth, now known as Remnant after its tragic rupture, is teeming with humans possessing technology beyond imagination.
Intergalactic travel was now commonplace, resources from alien planets were a standard trade, and Humanity discovered several other species of intelligence. The first to be discovered was Faunus, a race of humanoids bearing animal traits, found on Planet Gaia within the Pandora Galaxy, sitting only a few hundred light years outside the Milky Way.
These Faunus planets were bountiful with Dust and so Humanity took to colonizing those planets to garner these resources. The Faunus didn't take kindly to the human interlopers.
At first, trade negotiations were to be made, but mankind's greed and lust for power outweighed their rationality... it wasn't long before the first shots were fired.
This spurned an intergalactic war that raged on for decades before a peace treaty was brokered. Mutual trade routes were established, and the bloodshed had stopped, both sides had lost too much. The Faunus, beaten and at the mercy of the humans were allowed to live peacefully amidst the humans, provided their occupied worlds would allow free commerce.
As such, an uneasy but budding relationship formed between Faunus and Humans, with Faunus colonies spreading further across the galaxy, humans along with them. Forming brand new colonies and before long, the nearby galaxies were mapped with hundreds of spaceports and numerous colonized planets of humans and Faunus alike.
This 'peace' was uneasy, many Faunus still felt like they were being oppressed, and forced to comply with human rule. Rebellions sprouted quickly across the galaxy... but any conflict was smothered even faster by a looming and more dangerous threat that united both species.
A violent alien race called the Grimm, a hive-mind species that operated under a central intelligence that resided on the Planet Armas. No one has been able to find the planet, but the invasive aliens were a threat to all life, thus defences needed to be made.
The four main technological titans of the earth banded together to form a unified front comprising Vale, Mistral, Vacuo and Atlas. This was called the United Forces Space Huntsmen (UFSH).
As technology grew, the dust spread throughout Remnant's crust, multiplying like a virus. Soon a new type of dust was discovered.
They called it, Living Dust. A special form of the crystal that beat to the rhythm of a heart and resonated on a frequency above all other dust. It was rare, like a precious gem, but a small, palm-sized Living Dust could create something magical.
The Living Dust was extracted, engineered, and put through several processes to produce a new weapon for humanity, the Exo-suit.
The living alloy was surgically implanted into only the most promising of soldiers, this allowed them to generate an external body armour that could enhance the physical capabilities of these soldiers, and produce a unique weapon tailored to the wielder's skills.
They were called Huntsmen and Huntresses.
As more exposure to the living dust became common, humanity began producing children with a special ability known as Aura. It accumulated energy in their bodies from resonance with Living Dust, however only a handful of them could unlock that energy.
The children who unlocked that energy were sent to special academies to train them in the use of these powers. These schools were called Beacon of Vale, Haven of Mistral, Shade of Vacuo Atlas Academy of Atlas and Mantle.
The graduates of these schools would become leaders of the United Forces military. While it was not mandatory for those who unlocked Aura to join an academy, it was considered a form of duty.
Alongside the Exo-suits, the Exo-Mechs were built. These were larger, more robust pilotable robots that would allow Exo-suit wielders to traverse space without the use of a Starship.
Each city trained their Huntsmen and Huntresses to combat the overarching threat of the Grimm, but all was not unified. Due to the overwhelming accessibility of interstellar travel technology, there were those that sought to make their fortunes using more… unscrupulous methods.
Space Pirates sprung up like wildfire and soon the military forces were now not only dealing with Grimm threatening their planet but pirates trying to disrupt the legitimate trade of the four kingdoms.
In the present day, the Grimm threat is managed thanks to the Four Kingdoms UFSH and thus their assaults on Remnant have calmed down.
The Space Pirates, however, have become much more prominent.
-Year 3077, December 27th Remnant Outer Perimeter-
The Black Rose starship graced the endless void of space, its glistening black exterior acting as a pseudo-camouflage against the darkness. Only the light of the nearby Sun and stars that dotted the cold abyss reflecting off its armour plating, and the various lights it emanated identified its existence.
The ship was the size of a small town, it wasn't by any means as large as the flagships piloted by the Unified Forces' Admirals, but it was significant for the space captain.
Ruby Rose sat in her command chair, drumming her fingers on the keypad as she stared out into the open space through the bridge windows. Around her several personnel she managed the computers, checking sensors and tuning various instruments. She found some mild annoyance fidgeting with her clothes, so they didn't crease. A black captain's jacket with a popped collar over a red undershirt and dark grey cargo pants.
"A life of excitement and adventure they said. Bright future for the youngest space captain of her generation they said…" she grumbled, flipping her black hair away from her eyes, the red highlights falling back onto the tip of her nose, much to her annoyance it had grown in the time away from Remnant. "This is what, our fiftieth patrol over these borders?"
"Thirtieth actually," it was a woman with shining white hair and blue eyes, her elevated appearance suggested an aura of refined dignity, though she smiled with the warmth of a friend as she handed Ruby a cup of coffee.
"Coffee? At this hour Weiss?" Ruby looked at her. Weiss was her first mate, second in command of the starship and part of her close-knit team.
Weiss looked at her scroll, "It's seven in the morning on Remnant," she said absently, "Didn't you sleep?"
Ruby scratched her head, "Shit, it's hard to tell time in space. Circadian rhythm is out of whack…" She begrudgingly took the coffee and sipped it, tasting the heavy cream and five counts of sugar, "Oh this is good…"
Weiss snorted, "Well, if you would stick to your schedules instead of staring at space all night you wouldn't be this grumpy."
Just then the bridge door opened and a tall, blonde girl with a strong build stepped in wearing overalls. She yawned sleepily and scratched her head, "Morning guys…"
"…Or you could be like Yang and sleep 75% of the time." Weiss finished dryly.
Yang grabbed Ruby's coffee and drank from it only to recoil at the taste, "Ew, that's way too sweet..." she looked at her, "How long was I out?"
Weiss scoffed but smiled, "I don't know, like twenty hours? Not like you missed much."
"What about the three space rocks we saw, they were pretty big," it was another girl who found her way to the bridge. She bore black cat ears and a slender build, waltzing her way over to Yang and pecking her on the cheek.
"Morning Blake," Yang smiled as she let her entire body weight lean on her.
Blake just rolled her eyes and held her, "Alright sleepy head, let's get you some breakfast."
"Yay, I'm starved…" she said sleepily.
Ruby watched the interaction with mild amusement. It had been five years since she graduated from Beacon Academy together with these three. Weiss, her best friend, Yang her older sister and her other friend Blake.
They trained together, went on missions together, and did everything together. They were her family, and while she could extend that to her crew, these four were special.
Blake was a Faunus and while one didn't see many Faunus at the academy since not many migrated to Earth, she was accepted as one of them despite being an alien. Yang had taken a special liking to her, the two started dating in their third year at Beacon.
Yang was always with her, the sister who practically raised her in her mother's place. They were half-siblings, but they were thicker than thieves.
Weiss was a different case. The heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, the single largest manufacturer and processor of Dust in the galaxy. They owned practically everything from the fuel that supplied their ships to the power plants that powered their cities. She wanted to be different and make a name for herself on her own terms. It took a while to get warmed up but Weiss eventually became Ruby's most reliable friend.
Taking a long drink of coffee, Weiss looked at the scanners, "It has been nothing but dull these last few patrols. If only a certain someone would show up. It would make this last run a bit more fun."
Ruby raised an eyebrow, "You and I both know he's not going to show. He's the most wanted man in the galaxy, he's probably way out of the sector in some other part of the universe stealing from some big haul…"
"CAPTAIN! WE GOT ACTIVITY OFF THE PORT SIDE!" one of the crew members yelled out. Ruby instantly got into gear.
"Fire up the scanners, get it on the feed! Finally, some action!" she fist pumped, energy returning to her body.
Meanwhile, Weiss was cleaning her ears, "You did not need to shout Brandon, good god the room is small enough as is…"
"Apologies Lieutenant Weiss." He went back to work.
"Captain, there's a ship coming into view," the crewmate had his eyes glued to his screen.
Ruby folded her arms, "Well, what are you waiting for? Pull it up on the screen!" she said giddily.
Blake and Yang ran back onto the deck, "What's the problem?" Yang asked now looking much more alive than before.
"Not sure yet, we've got an unregistered vessel coming off the port side, about fifty clicks heading toward the asteroid belt orbiting Mars!"
"Describe Brandon! DESCRIBE IT!" Weiss was getting annoyed.
"SORRY LIEUTENANT WEISS!" he hollered back.
"Easy Weiss, he's new, cut him some slack," Yang nodded to her.
Blake folded her arms, "Who's betting it's just a hijacked vessel?"
Yang fished in her pockets for change, "I'm thinking it's some illegal cargo that got caught in the detection fields that orbit Remnant."
"Oh please, the detection fields would've alerted the entire nearby guard. More likely we just got lucky and it fell into our sector." Weiss explained. The detection field was an invisible forcefield powered by several orbital satellites that detected unregistered entries from either ships or alien invaders.
Yang frowned and hummed, "What are the odds it's our guy?"
"Pfft," Weiss almost fell over, "Please… like a fish that big is in our…"
"Captain, the ship's finally in full view!" the one known as Brandon spoke again, "It's a small cargo vessel, ma'am, no company logos but it looks like a stolen SDC ship!"
Weiss' eye twitched, "Someone stole from our company?!"
Ruby sighed in disappointment, "Alright, bring us in closer and send out four manned fliers. We'll round up this unidentified vessel and bring it home. Our patrol's almost done anyway."
"Roger that captain, fliers are en route."
The Black Rose jettisoned four smaller jet-sized starships from their docking bay as the main ship drew closer.
Ruby pulled up communications and spoke over the open channels, "Unidentified vessel, this is the Black Rose military starship. You are unregistered and do not have clearance to be in this sector of space. Stall your engines and you will be escorted on board. Do not resist or there will be consequences."
There was no response.
Ruby looked at the channel, it was connected. "Unregistered vessel, this is Captain Ruby Rose of the Unified Kingdoms Military. Stop your engines or we will be forced to take action. Do you copy?"
The channel went static, with nothing but noise.
Then all of a sudden it clicked, a small flashing orange light on the pad indicated someone had picked up.
Ruby sighed in annoyance as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Once again, I repeat, unregistered vessel. This is your last warning. Stop your engines, cancel your route and this can end quietly."
"Captain Rose," it was a male voice on the other end, low and dripping with familiarity that all at once formed a black hole in Ruby's core.
Ruby's face turned ashen and her mouth all but dried up.
Everyone in the room was looking at her as her calm demeanour suddenly shifted dramatically.
"Captain? What's wrong?" It was Blake who asked out of concern.
"You know, I find it incredibly ironic that you're the one to be in this sector. It seems our fated rivalry has caused our paths to cross once again." The voice on the other end said almost, lightheartedly.
Ruby could hear the devilish smirk behind the communicator.
"Silver," the word left her lips like a bitter-sweet poison.
"I didn't realize we were so acquainted that you knew me by voice~" he let out a small chuckle.
Ruby clenched her fists, "What the hell are you doing here?" she growled, "Shouldn't you be off pillaging a new planet?"
Everyone on the ship was looking at her now but Ruby was in her own world. The very sound of Silver's voice was enough to spin her brain into tunnel vision. It was like they were two people alone in a room locked in a stare-down, except neither of them was in the same space.
It took a special kind of rivalry to create that kind of tension, if one could call it a rivalry, on paper it was more like two bitter arch-enemies.
"Hmm, yeah. Last time you left me, I was booking it to a new solar system." He said with the suave of a mastermind who had his prey right where he wanted them.
Ruby grits her teeth, the fact that Silver was having this calm conversation meant one of two things, either his plan was already complete, or he was stalling for time.
"Put him on speaker," Ruby issued the command, and the new guy Brandon did as he was instructed.
"Oh, I'm on speaker now? Hello, to the crew of the Black Rose. I'm assuming my favourite group of thorns on my side are here to stop my nefarious plans. Weiss, Yang and Blake?" Silver appeared on the screen.
He was sitting on a command chair like Ruby's except it was a black velvet chair with a shining silver frame, meanwhile Ruby was sitting on a red velvet chair with black metal framing.
The man himself was clad in a ragged white long coat with a high collar and a black undershirt. He looked like a colour scheme that matched yet went opposite to Ruby's. Almost like he was taunting her style. He even wore a black mask that covered his entire face, including his eyes, and a hood covered his hair. He was completely anonymous. No databases had records of his identity and he never let anyone know his real face.
"They're here, Silver, now what are you doing here?" she stared daggers at him.
"Uh, captain? Why aren't we just… attacking the cargo vessel?" Brandon asked.
Ruby didn't even hear him as she was too focused on the man on the screen.
Weiss rolled her eyes, "Because, we don't know what's on it. If Silver is involved then it means things are more complicated, haven't you read his profile?"
Brandon tried to remember, "Uh, I just know he's one of the most wanted men in the galaxy with a bounty of 8 billion on his head."
"You need to do your homework," Weiss groaned.
"Silver is known for convoluted schemes and underhanded tactics. It's difficult to predict him and any engagement is to be treated with the highest level of caution." Blake rattled off as if she was reading from a book.
"Exactly," Weiss followed up, "There's a good chance that if we attack the cargo it's loaded with bombs and we end up nuking our entire fleet and half the moons around here."
Brandon made an 'O' with his mouth.
"Tell the fliers to run a scan on the ship, and check the cargo." Weiss issued.
"You guys do know I can hear you right?" Silver said what they could assume was him raising his eyebrow.
"You still haven't answered my question. What're you doing here, and what's on the cargo?" Ruby narrowed her eyes at him.
He sighed heavily, "It's always, 'Silver what do you want and what're you doing?' Never 'Oh hey Silver, long time no see. How are you?'."
"Please," Ruby scoffed, "You and I both know you didn't hijack that ship just to have a pleasant chat."
Silver leaned his chin on his palm as he looked at her, "Fine, you win. I need this cargo, simple as that."
"Why? What's on it that's so important the great Captain Silver needs it?" Ruby countered. In her mind, she was furiously trying to figure out the situation. Something was wrong with this whole thing and she didn't like it. Why would Silver be so calm if he was on that ship? He was cornered, nowhere to run so… why?
"Captain, we can't get a proper reading but there's no one on board. The ship is flying on autopilot, and we made out three large crates in the cargo hold but no one on board."
Shit. It clicked. The room he was in, was far too big to be on a small cargo vessel. They'd been played.
She spun immediately, "What? No that can't be right!" she looked back at Silver and she could feel the infuriatingly smug grin behind the mask.
"I win." That was all he said before the feed shut off.
"SHIT EVERYONE INTO BATTLE POSITIONS, RECALL THE FLIERS AND ARM FOR HEAVY COMBAT!" Ruby scrambled to the coms.
"W-What? What's going on Ruby?" Yang was confused.
All at once alarms blared on board, Brandon cried out in alarm, "Incoming Dreadnaught class vessel coming out of hyperspace. I-It looks like a flagship!"
*VOOSH*
A massive ship appeared out of thin air in front of the Black Rose. It was almost three times the size of their meagre starship and armed to the teeth. The enormous vessel was shining silver that reflected the stars around it, laden with a metallic orange accent and the Solar Flare plated in gold on its side.
"He played us for fools, he wasn't on that ship! He was radioing us from hyperspace!" she started issuing commands from her chair.
"That shouldn't be possible!" Weiss cried in alarm.
"Well, somehow it is. Anything is possible when it comes to him. To battle stations, prep the exo-mechs! WE ARE TAKING THAT CARGO!"
There was one thing that disturbed the crew about that order. Was it the odds of winning? No. Was it that they had been duped? No.
It was the fact that throughout the exchange, even while Ruby was frantically giving out orders, she was grinning like a maniac.
Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang found their way to the hanger where their Exo-Mechs were primed and ready.
"Alright team," Ruby ordered, facing them, "Suit up and move out. Our objective is to capture the cargo and arrest Silver."
"YES SIR!" they all saluted and simultaneously their eyes glowed their respective Aura colours.
Weiss' suit was a white, slim body armor built for speed, it had a skin-like leathery armour with thermal shielding and a white helmet that sported a blue visor that covered its faceplate.
Yang's suit was bulkier and more robust with heavy, ballistic-proof plating around her torso, arms, legs and mid-section. The plating was thick and underneath it was a black chainmail-like body suit.
Blake's armour was entirely black with no plating at all, the only defences it had were thermal protection and torso plating to protect the chest. The underlying suit was midnight black and around her waist was a black elastic material that could stretch and contract at will. While it didn't have armour it had active camouflage built into its system, the perfect stealth suit for an assassin.
Ruby on the other hand had a more all-rounded suit. Its armour was a medium type, so it was neither too thick nor too thin, with plating around her torso, arms, legs and midsection. There was an underlying black chainmail but the joints of the armour were mostly exposed for ease of movement. It was the type of suit built for dynamic combat and flexibility without specialization.
Their Exo-Mechs mirrored their respective suits, creating a much larger and more destructive frame.
The Exo-Suits were connected to their nervous system, and by extension, their Aura acting as a battery. The wearer would feel through the suit like a second skin making it easier to fight in combat while pain inhibitors were present. The suits would connect to the mechas allowing the pilot to power it using their Aura.
As they stepped into the cockpits the hanger doors opened, and a thin blue forcefield retained the pressure of the ship's interior.
"Alright girls, let's take this guy down once and for all," Ruby commanded as she bolted into space.