Huntresses of the Galactic Alliance (RWBY x Canon Star Wars)

[Xero Key]

"OOH! I can't wait till we get to Menagerie!" Ruby Rose excitedly raced around the observation deck of the Valien transport liner, her rose petals fluttering around and particularly bothering her partner Weiss Schnee who was trying to read a book.

"Could you please calm down?" Weiss tried to stress her annoyance, but the silver-eyed Huntress-in-training ignored her. "Ugh, just how do you deal with her like this Yang?" She said to her side where the buxom blonde brawler was sunbathing.

"I don't." Yang said, not even moving her sunglasses to look Weiss in the eye. "Doesn't help that you gave her double her usual for coffee."

"She was freaking out! What was I supposed to do, knock her unconscious!?"

"Might have made today a bit easier." Blake's husky voiced as she stepped up behind her two reclining teammates. "She hasn't stopped quizzing me since we left Vale." The three closed their eyes just before another blur of red petals blew past them, this one taking a string of black with it. Blake's upper ears flattened a little as Ruby let out another excited screech.

"No bow kitty cat?" Yang asked when she turned over on to her stomach.

Blake reached up and scratched her upper ears. "I'm... It didn't feel right to keep hiding when I'm coming home."

Weiss gently closed her book and set it in her lap. "When you said you were born 'outside the Kingdoms', I was sure you meant a village. Not what could become a Kingdom of its own given time."

"Please." Blake snorted, and old fire smoldering in her eyes. "Don't tell me you believe that old line? Menagerie is barely a village in size, and those past the mountains are either crazy or stupid. The 'Fifth Kingdom' crap was justification for forcing us into a ghetto, nothing more."

"Before you two start arguing again." Ruby Rose said as she came to a stop. "And yes, I was listening the entire time, thank you Yang." Yang held up her scroll, dialed to Ruby. "Menagerie is about to become a Kingdom. The world doesn't really have a choice anymore." She tilts her head to the bow of the ship were a shadow was creeping along towards them. A low-atmosphere starship of the Galactic Alliance drifting lazily around Menagerie's coastline. "I mean, kinda hard not to be listened to when you control the. One and only. SPACEPORT ON THE PLANET! WOOHOO!" Ruby blasted off again, narrowly avoiding some of the other passengers.

Weiss and Blake shared a look, and Weiss sighed. "I'm sorry Blake, it just takes time to get rid of...everything I grew up with."

Blake laid a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry too, it's just a sore topic for me. My whole family really."

Yang pulled her sunglasses down a bit. "Speaking of, do you think we'll have time to meet them?"

Blake grimaced and her ears pulled back in embarrassment. "I'm pretty sure that can be arranged."

"Attention passengers, please report to the shuttle bay for arrival to Menagerie." The ship's comm rang out and the girls gathered their things and headed to the ships shuttles, stepping onto one with all their luggage. The transport took off from the underside of the cruiser, descending across the ocean and beaches of Menagerie to rest on to the mountain. Team RWBY stepped off the transport and survived the flattened mountain summit they were on. To the east was a vast desert, sparingly dotted with small shelters and erected buildings that stood out of place, and a large saucer in the center of the encampment.. To the west was a compact city in Mistrali design, a large metal pillar stretching to the sky above them where Atlas had set up a weak version of a CCT tower to facilitate better communication. "Attention visitors to Menagerie. Off-world travel is accessed by the shuttle pad with transport to the orbital station. All tourists destinations in Menagerie are accessed at the base of the mountain. Thank you for visiting Menagerie spaceport, sponsored by the Galactic Alliance."

"This is... very different." Blake hefted her personal bag on to her shoulder and started to roll her large bag across the landing field. "Um, excuse me! Trooper?" She called out to the female armored figure, the helmet carrying two cone tails hanging down from the back. When she turned, Team RWBY was faced with a purple skinned face beneath the clear shield of the helmet.

"Yes?" Her voice came through a radio crackle.

"Um... yes, uh... Ruby? Be a leader?" Blake stammered.

"Huh? Oh! Right. Team RWBY of Beacon Academy in Vale. Do you know where we check in for barracks assignments?"

"I'm one of the officers handling that." She held up a scroll and started tapping through it. "Can you spell the acronym for me?"

"Arr. Double-Ewe. Bee. Why."

"Okay... Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Bel-" The trooper paused in shock, then looked up at Blake and specifically her upper ears. "I'm sorry, do you have any relation to Ghira and Kali Belladonna?"

"They're..." Blake shyly looked to her team and out to the city. Her ears flattened. "My parents."

The trooper went rigid. "Ma'am, you need to come with me." She reached out to grab Blake's arm but was stopped by a sword to her throat.

"Touch her and I will not be held responsible." Weiss declared, as icy as her nickname at school would suggest. *Ka-chunk* Yang's gauntlets expanded to full size and Ruby's weapon unfurled into it's ranged mode. "Team RWBY does not let their team get arrested without a fight."

The trooper's eyes dropped to the sword and the various weapons. "How about you all come along, just so you don't think she's in trouble?"

"Sounds like a plan." Yang said with her eyes a bright crimson. The trooper gulped and slowly backed off from Blake, gesturing for RWBY to follow her. They entered one of the lifts to ground level, then took a hovercraft to the largest Old Menagerie structure. A palatial upper-Mistrali home with a green slanted roof. The trooper led them up to the top of the stairs, taking the large knocker on the door and slamming it back with a gong.

The door slowly opened and a black haired woman with cat ears peered through the crack. "Blake?" She hesitantly asked.

"Hi... mom." Blake shyly said.

"Blake!" Kali wrapped her arms around her daughter in a tight hug. "Thank you trooper, you can go now." The trooper saluted and left the porch with one of the Chief's Guard. "Oh, I'm so glad you're home." She raised her head and smiled at the other members of RWBY. "You must be her teammates!" They just nodded, too stunned to say anything. "Please come inside, I don't doubt Ghira will be here soon once he hears!" Kali let go of her daughter and practically skipped inside.

"Well," Yang said after a long silence. "I guess I need to stop calling Weiss-cream Princess, don't I Blakey?"

The daughter of Menagerie's chief simply hung her head and waved her team inside, all of them chuckling at Yang's joke in some capacity. The five had barely sat down for tea when the dining room door slid open with a bang. The opener was la large man, covered in furs and hair. "Blake..." Ghira Belladonna took his daughter into his arms and held her tight, tears forming in his yellow eyes. "We've missed you so much." They stayed that way for some time.

It was later during dinner that the subject turned to the Alliance. "I was unsure about them when they offered to to make Menagerie the primary access point for their space station, but it did bring us to the negotiating table with the Kingdoms." Ghira said after a long drink of his tea. "I had been hopeful of the Fifth Kingdom potential, even after we saw how dangerous Menagerie could be. I'd honestly thought that hope had died." Kali laid a hand on her husband's arm.

"But no matter how it happened, Menagerie is a better place thanks to the Alliance." Kali said. "I've even started making pen pals on other planets! Can you believe it, other planets!"

"It is exciting mom."

Weiss humphed. "I'm also glad Menagerie is where the Alliance has set up their base. It made father livid, something I can take pleasure in."

Ghira raised an eyebrow. "No love for your father Ms. Schnee?"

"Even before meeting Blake I was... unfavorable to my father's opinions and treatment of those under his employ." Weiss tactfully admitted. Ghira considered her carefully before nodding.

"In any case, Blake?" Ghira turned to his daughter. "Take your friends to your room."

"Oh that's not necessary Mr. Belladonna!" Ruby said, waving her hand. "Academy students have barracks set up at the Alliance base, we'll stay there." She turned to Blake. "Of course we would never say you had to leave your own house Blake, so we'll pick you up for training."

Kali smiled. "We insist Ruby. Having Blake's friends around will make the place more lively."

Yang beamed and poured herself some more tea, followed by her teammates and hosts. "Well, in that case ma'am. A toast!" She raised her glass. "To friends and family!"

"To friends and family."

 

[Xero Key]

The sun slowly crept into the room where Weiss Schnee slept, landing perfectly on her eyes. She groaned in response and shifted across the bed to no avail. A soft snore from the other bed in the room told her Ruby was not bothered by any sunlight. Weiss' bleary eye opened and glared at her partner's perfectly functional sleep mask. "Well I'm not getting any more sleep." Weiss mumbled to herself and reluctantly got out of bed to start her day. A quick shower and she was dressed and out the door, nodding to the Menagerie guards and Alliance troopers protecting the chief's home, receiving stiff nods in return but particularly robotic from her fellow Remnens.

Dawn had barely come as Weiss stepped down the wharf market, wares being set up to be sold that day, fishing boats pulling in to the docks, a few troops patrolling the early morning. "Can I help you with something?" Weiss turned to face the skunk woman who addressed her, her bushy tail tense and raised. She was leaning over her stall, hands flat across the wood.

"Sorry, I was just looking around."

The woman snorted. "If you aren't looking to buy, get outta here."

"I didn't realize you were open." Weiss said, blinking.

"I'm not." The woman crossed her arms and her eyes started to roam above Weiss' head. Weiss followed them behind her and saw that almost all of the early morning movement had stopped and everyone was staring at her, specifically at her back. A few Faunus dressed in older White Fang uniforms were fingering weapons at their hips.

Weiss gulped and nearly jumped out of her skin when a heavy hand fell on her shoulder. She turned her head and was faced with a human in Galactic Alliance armor. "Hey kid, might want to take a transport to New Town. Before things get ugly." He had his other hand resting on his sidearm, a gentle but concerned expression on his face. Weiss turned her head to see some of the Faunus had started to approach.

"I think," Weiss gulped out. "That might be a good idea." And so left the wharf under the watchful eye of the trooper, and sat herself down on the hover-train to the Alliance base. The sun rose high as she passed through the mountain, beating down on Menagerie's desert and Weiss's soul.

All Weiss could think about as she walked between the shops and residences of the Alliance base camp, was how strange it is to be more comfortable among literal space aliens than beings from her own planet. Even with her... disagreements with her father, she is always proud to be a Schnee and bear the family crest. At least until she came to Menagerie. "I'm starting to wonder if I should change my outfit. At least now I understand why Blake wore her bow even after we found out." Weiss wandered down the metal paths, the harsh rays of the sun fortunately deflected by a cooling mesh stretched between the structures, considering her own future once she takes over the family company. "Oof!" Unfortunately, Weiss became too wrapped up in her thoughts and tripped over someone.

There was a clatter of metal. "Hey, Watch It!" A gruff, accented voice yelled out. Weiss and her victim untangled themselves from each other then got off the floor, a few Alliance troopers barely trying to hide their chuckles.

Weiss put on her best public smile and turned around. "I apologize for my clumsiness, I was lost in thought, is there anything I can do to help?" Weiss opened her eyes and blinked in shock. There was no one in front of her.

"Lower." The gruff voice ordered and Weiss's gaze followed. Weiss blinked again. "What, never seen a Dug before?" The skin was leathery, a muzzle jutted out with flaring nostrils, and it was...

"Are you walking on your hands?" Weiss couldn't stop herself from asking. The creature was resting on two large paws from its forelimbs, using its hind limbs to pick up its fallen tools.

"Eesh, humanoids. Always expecting da same everywhere. Youse gonna help me or what?" The Dug asked, re-attaching some cylindrical objects to its belt and putting others in a case.

"Oh, right! Sorry." Weiss started helping return the materials to their proper place, forming a glyph platform to carry some of the cases along as she followed the Dug.

"Nice trick girly. You one'a dem Remnens?" The Dug asked as they walked.

"I am. My name is Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Comoany." At the very least, a little name recognition in the galaxy couldn't hurt her when the SDC went galactic.

"Oh, rich girly." The Dug smiled slimely. "Name's Sebulba. Might have heard of my great-grandpa? Same name, big time podracer."

"I can't say I'm familiar with the sport yet." Weiss admitted.

Sebulba hopped a little as he shrugged. "Eh, couldn't hurt ta ask. This is my stop, bring the stuff inside." Sebulba pressed some buttons on the side of a shack and the door slid open. Inside was a small space comparable to a studio apartment or value hotel room. A single bed, small entertainment center, and what looked like two closets. Around the room were various workbenches and projects in some state of disarray or repair. In particular was a sheet partially covering a non-wheeled motorbike ('A speeder-bike' Weiss' memory helpfully supplied) near a larger door.

"Fresher's da one on da left," Sebulba indicated with his head towards the closets. "Blue to sit, green to clean. Set the stuff down on a clear space fore you go though."

Weiss floated the tools to a mostly clean table, dissipating her glyph as soon as it touched the table. "Thank you, but I need to get back to my team."

"Team? Oh! You're one'a dem Hunters right?"

Weiss bristled. "Huntress, please. The non-gendered form applies only to those who retrieve food."

Sebulba's back paws raised up in surrender. "Sorry, sorry. Lot a worlds with da same words. Gonna get confusing." He rubbed his chin in thought. "You know, I used ta be in da Pits back in da day. Maybe I could give youse some pointers?"

Weiss gained a cocky smile. "I'm fairly certain gladitorial combat is a bit different than the scored Vytal Festival."

Sebulba smiled grimly. "Why don'tcha find out, huh?"

+++

"KEEP YOURSE GUARD UP!" Sebulba shouted from the sidelines of the ring as Weiss was beset by AK-130s in front of her. "DROIDS CAN BE JUST AS FAST AS ORGANICS, IF NOT MORE SO! LEARNED DAT DA HARD WAY!" Combat wise, Weiss was doing great. The droids were swiftly being dismantled by Myrtenaster. The problem was the amount, forcing Weiss on the defensive of the small ring.

Weiss back stepped to the edge of the ring the Dug had set up, and then stepped over it with the droids shutting down as she did so. "Oh come on Weiss!" Yang called from over by Sebulba, were the rest of RWBY were sitting on rocks. A few Alliance officers had joined them, Ruby reluctantly fishing out some Lien to hand over. "We had money riding on you this time!"

"Well sorry, the restrictions are stupid! No Semblance, no Dust!" She turned her head to face her 'coach' with disdain. "Amity Colliseum's environs are coated in Dust and much larger than this. Why am I doing this kind of training?"

Sebulba shook his head, low-limbs crossed. "It's about knowin where you are and having sure footing. Rocks can come out of nowhere if you aren't expecting them."

"I am perfectly aware of where everything is!" Weiss huffed. "I just... can't keep my foot count up at the same time I'm dealing with the droids and watching my surroundings."

Sebulba shook his head again, sighing. "I said it's about knowin where you are, not calculatin."

"What does that even mean!?"

Sebulba reached into a bag next to him and brought out a speeder helmet, which he tossed to her "Here, put this on."

Weiss did so and started waving her hands out in front of her. "I can't see a thing! How in the world am I supposed to avoid the ring, let alone fight?"

"Its called blind fightin! Dis will force youse to learn the ring and your opponent!" Weiss growled then marched her way back to the center of the ring, using Myrtenaster as a pointer to know where the droids were. "Okay, GO!"

Weiss heard the droids whirr to life, the shifting of their weapons and the clanking of their feet. She knew she was surrounded and knew she was outclassed without her eyes. 'Don't count it Weiss, just move.' One step. 'I said don't-!' "Argh!" Weiss was punched from the left, followed by the right, then kicked backwards.

"KNOW DA RING GIRLY, KNOW DA RING!" She heard Sebulba shout, similar words of encouragement from her team.

Weiss tried to listen for the droids but they kept surrounding her, forcing her back like every other time. She heard the shifting click of one of the droids forming its swords. 'Crap! I don't know what to do! If I back up I'll probably ring out again, but I don't know where anything is! What do I do, what do I do!?' There was a crunch of sand and Weiss spun on her front heel, bringing her sword around in a circular slash, tearing through multiple sheets of metal 'What did I do?'

"DAT'S IT GIRLY!" Sebulba cheered. "YA GOT EM!"

"Woohoo! Go Weiss!"

"Great Job Weiss!"

"You just made us sooo much money!"

Weiss heard the droids power off and removed the helmet, seeing for herself that she had sliced through three of the droids necks, carving a gouge in two others. The lines in the sand showed the rest had backed away before being shut down. "Wow..."

"Now dat's how its done! Nice job girly! Youse ever want in da Pits, I can work somedin out for ya." Sebulba said shaking her hand. "I knew there was somedin special about youse, I could feel it."

Weiss smiled hand handed the helmet over. "Thanks, but I don't think I'll do much tournament fighting outside of the Vytal Festival."

Sebulba smiled himself, fingering one of the cylindrical tools on his belt. "Well, I tink I can still show ya some tings in the future. I'll be rootin for youse." He turned his head to the rest of RWBY. "All a youse! So win me some big cred!" He turned back to Weiss. "Look me up if youse ever want anudder lesson."

"Sure thing. You make a great teacher." Weiss smiled and shook his hand again, before walking off to celebrate with her team.

Sebulba's own smiled became slightly sad when she walked away. "Yeesh, and dat's da whole reason I came to dis place, get away from teachin." He fingered the cylinder again. "Shoulda known. We don't get vacation."

 

[Xero Key]

Yang Xiao Long considered herself an adaptable girl. Space aliens? Okay, super weird by any measure, but not something she couldn't deal with. She did help raise her little sister after all, so she was certain she could handle herself. So when she found herself in a small cantina just off the beaten path in the Alliance Sector after making some money off of Weiss' efforts in the ring, she was sure she could have some fun. The room was dark, cramped, and lined with holotables in various states of activity. From active games to news to... Okay, Ruby is never allowed in here if that's considered normal! Yang tugged at her scarf as she distinctly avoided looking at any table with twirling figures. She made her way to the bar and sat down next to a really big lizard.

The bartender finished typing into a terminal and turned to her. "Zara Fey, I run this establishment and I run it clean. ID card please." She held out her hand and Yang passed over her scroll. "Remnans." Zara said with an eye roll and placed the scroll into a slot on her terminal. her eyes glanced over the screen before pulling it out and handing it back. "You just squeak through to stay, but i am not serving you any alcohol."

"Oh that's okay, I wasn't in the mood for any!" Yang said smiling.

"Uh huh." Zara took a look around and saw the cantina was quiet, so turned back to Yang. "So, what can I do for you?"

Yang shrugged. "Soda and some info, if you have either."

Zara pulled out a glass and filled it with a bubbling liquid. "Not sure what passes for carbonated drinks on this planet, so I'll give you what I have. As for information, that depends on what you are looking for."

Yang took a sip, grimaced a little, but kept drinking to not be rude. Zara noticed and made a short note on her terminal. "Well, I guess I'd start with... what those guys are doing over there." Yang indicated with her head at two people playing some sort game with red and blue holograms.

"That's Oh-gar-in. It's a deck builder game using figures from history and whatever else the makers could find."

"Sounds fun, how do you play?"

"You put credits in a machine and hope something of value comes out on the card." Yang raised an eyebrow and Zara shrugged in response. "Capitalism at its finest."

Yang looked around the room some more and found a group crowding a table, cards clearly shifting hands. "So what's that, some sort of poker?"

Zara mouthed the last word then shook her head. "Not sure what 'poker' is, but those guys are playing sabaac." A jeer went up from the players as a big, purple slug witha cape pulled in what was at the center of the table. "It's a gambling game, obviously, and one of the more popular in the galaxy if not the most popular. Bets can become legendary."

"How do you play?"

Zara looked at Yang questioningly, then waved over a droid. "Beeps, watch the bar. I need a break." The droid did exactly what its name suggested, and Zara led Yang to an open table, pulling out a stack of hexagonal cards that she laid on the table. "The goal of sabaac is to get as close to the number twenty-three as possible, positive or negative, without going over."

'So like blackjack."

"i'll take your word for it. Now, as the dealer I make sure that each player has at least two cards and... hmm, this would be easier with more than two." Zara looked around the room and her eyes fell on the reptile still at the bar. "Hey Klerssk!' The reptile looked around till he spotted Zara. "Up for a no-stakes game?" The reptile shrugged and joined them. "Now where was I?"

Yang eyed the reptile cautiously. "Uh... dealing."

"Right! So, I deal a card to each of us face down till we each have two cards." Zara laid out three cards, then another three. "Here we look at our cards and count the values, and since this is no-stakes and i'm teaching you, we'll all show. Okay Klerssk?"

"Ffine. The ffemale ssshould learn evventually." Klerssk said, Yang shuddering at the natural hiss to the voice.

Zara smirked. "Not used to trandoshans huh? anyway, show your cards." The three flipped them over. Yang had two dots with a circle and a woman with a bottle, Klerssk had a person with blue and yellow and a black colored woman with waves, and Zara had three dots with a sword and a clown. "Okay... Yang, you have a Two of Coins and a Mistress of Flasks, that gives you a total of 15. Klerssk got really lucky with two different Special cards, Balance and Queen of Air and Darkness, giving him a total of -13 which still puts you ahead of him." Klerssk growled a little. "And I have an Idiot which is worth zero and a Two of Sabers, giving me a total of two."

Yang looked over the cards and smiled. "So... does that mean I win?"

Zara smiled and shook her head. "Not so fast kid, now we bet. There are two pots, the hand pot which goes to the initial winner of a hand, and the overall sabaac pot which can only be won one of three ways. In this case if my next card is a Three of Sabers, which lets my cards be read as Zero Two Three and gives me an Idiot's Array, or one of you hits 23 or -23 with the positive trumping the negative."

Yang looked down at the cards again then started patting her pockets. "Uh, I don;t think I have any," Klerssk held up a plastic chip to her and nodded to Zara. Zara had six chips in front of her and pushed two of them to Yang. "Oh, thanks."

"No problem." Zara smiled evilly. "Because this is where sabaac gets fun!"

The six cards lit up and everything on them changed. Yang now had a devil and a star, Klerssk had an 11 of Flasks and a 10 of Coins, and Zara had a card with a single Saber taking up everything and a 5 of Coins. "What the hell happened!?" Yang's lit up and her eyes changed to red. Klerssk licked his lips with his forked tongue and Zara actually left her seat in surprise.

"Um, uh, that was the shift phase. W-when the betting ends, the cards change suits and value." Zara slowly eased herself back into her seat as Yang's hair started to cool off.

Yang took in a deep breath and let it out, followed by another. "Okay, okay. How do I prevent that from happening?" Yang asked, struggling to reign in her temper.

"See the yellow lights around the center of the table?" Zara asked and Yang nodded. "That's the Interference Field, it prevents the computer from seeing the chips in the cards and changing them. During the betting phase you can place a single card to save there. I didn't tell you because it didn't matter right now and seeing new player reactions is," Zara gulped at the still heated air around Yang's head. "Usually fun." She finished with a hesitant smile.

"And now?" Yang asked, still drawing air in slowly to calm down.

"Now we count our cards' values and the winner gets the hand pot. You have The Evil One and The Star, so that's -15 and -10 with a total of -25, so you bombed out." Yang looked at Zara confused. "You lost. I have the Ace of Sabers, 15, and a 5 bringing me to 20. And Klerssk has 11 and 10 for 21 and that makes him the winner." Klerssk scraped the three chips to himself, still eyeing Yang's hair.

Yang looked over everything and accepted the stack of chips a droid placed next to her. "So, what next now that I lost?"

Zara took out a tablet after placing her cards face down. "Flip your cards over." Yang and Klerssk did so. "Now I just need to force a shift, perks of being the owner,... perfect! Check your cards again, good. Now we act as if Klerssk won with some different cards and," Zara placed the deck of cards on the table. "And we draw. You could also discard but going down to one isn't going to help you." Zara picked up one of the cards and added it to her hand, Klerssk following her lead and Yang doing so slowly after. She noticed that both the owner and Klerssk had also gotten a stack of chips.

"So... now we just keep going until someone gets sabaac?" Yang offered.

"Or until someone can't bet."

Klerssk licked his lips again. "It'ss a sslow game, but worthwhile." He turned his large eyes to Yang's own. "It'ss posssible to even win a sship through it."

Yang's eyes widened. "Really?" Zara and Klerssk nodded.

Zara pointed out the big game on the other side of the room. "See that hutt over there? The slug with arms? That's Thorgo. He's actually bet his quite a lot recently, must be down on his luck."

Yang turned around and stared, wide eyed at the hutt.

It was sometime later that a thoroughly drained Weiss was knocked out of her her chair by Yang barging into the Belladonna's library. "Weiss! I need a loan of a lot of money!"

Weiss rubbed her head as she glared at her teammate. "And why would I give you a blank check?"

"Because I want a starship and I can win it off an ugly slug!"

 

[Xero Key]

Blake Belladonna was awoken from her childhood bed for probably the fourth time by Yang and Weiss' arguing over funding for a gambling competition. On the second day Weiss relented into being the financier, now the arguments where more about how much the entry should be. "Can they just keep it down for one day?" Blake growled out, futilely trying to cover all four of her ears with a pillow.

"I find that highly unlikely." Ruby's voice came through the plush. Blake raised part of the pillow and glared at her leader with a bloodshot golden eye. "Both of them want the ship now but Weiss needs to justify it to her dad."

"It will take decades before Jacques Schnee approves of gambling." Blake groaned.

"Yeah, that's what Weiss said too." Ruby swung back and forth on the balls of her feet. "So… your dad offered to show me around the Alliance base, you wanna come?"

Blake considered going back to sleep until their scheduled training time when the Freezerburn argument reached a new plateau. "Are You Crazy!? I Could Buy Ships With That Many Credits!"

"You're Barely Suggesting Enough For A Glass Of Milk!"

Blake popped out of her bed and grabbed a robe to go to the shower. "I'll see you in ten."

+++​

The Galactic Alliance base of Kuo Kuoana was built directly into the mountainside separating the original settlement from the harsh Menagerie desert. Ghira Belladonna confidently strode through the sentient-made tunnels followed by his daughter and her team leader, not even hiding the smile on his face as he was saluted by workers of various species. "The intention is to transform the base into Remnant's main spaceport, the station delegated to reserve docking." Ghira said proudly.

"It is amazing Mr. Belladonna," Ruby said. "But isn't there an issue of space when we get too many tourists?"

Ghira's happy mood fell at that. "Yes, well, the experts from the Alliance are sure that our main issue will be emmigration and not immigration."

Blake crossed her arms. "And why is that dad?"

"I'm not the best to explain." Ghira gave a quick salute to two guards by a large door, which opened to let the trio into an operations center. Troopers of every kind were operating machinery and consoles, a large table in the center displaying numerous figures holographically was surrounded a beings dressed in uniform.

"Professor Ozpin?" Both Ruby and Blake loudly asked when their eyes fell on the projections on the table, drawing the attention of everyone involved in the conversation.

"Ah, Ruby, Blake. How are you enjoying Menagerie?" Ozpin smiled gently.

"Pardon me Ozpin, but Chief Belladonna why are these trainees here?" A woman with white hair and a severe temperament dressed in an Atlas uniform questioned.

"This is my daughter Blake and her team leader, Ruby Rose." Ghira's eyes narrowed. "I'd assumed I had the freedom to take them here in my own Kingdom, Major Schnee."

"As the Atlesian representative for military matters, I would have liked to know if-"

"Winter, that's enough." General Ironwood spoke up from his projection. "We weren't exactly having a secret meeting." Winter Schnee huffed quietly but relented. "Now, where were we?"

One of the aliens, a creature that Ruby thought looked like a periscope covered in skin holding a hammerhead shark head attached to a camel's hump standing on two legs, started making a sound like frogs arguing. "<The expected trade routes to your planet general.>" Text in the center of the hologram provided, indicating the translation was from Ithorian.

"Ah, of course." Ozpin said while scratching his chin. "I think this would be a fine teaching opportunity for our young Huntresses-to-be, wouldn't you agree James?"

"Yes, I do Oz. Major Schnee? Please bring up the map." Winter nodded and inputted commands into the table, transferring the projections to the outside of the table and bringing a map of the galaxy up.

"This is our galaxy." Winter explained while the map gained lines criss-crossing it. "And these are the major hyperspace routes. Travel across the galaxy is only possible along them." The map changed again, smaller lines dividing up the galaxy with a large space on the left side. "These are the various agreed upon sections of the galaxy such as the Core and Rims."

Blake eyed the map critically. "And where is Remnant on this?"

The map changed again, zooming in to the far left side of the map. One of the hyperspace routes stretching across it. "Here, Shiritoku Way in what is commonly called the Unknown Regions."

"<Astrogation charts mark this area as Grid E16. Our discussion was about the potential issues Remnant faces for the galaxy at large.>" The Ithorian mentioned. "<Your planet has very little resources for export, with your 'Dust' ceasing operation in LPO.>"

A fish headed being who had been silent until now scoffed. "Maybe in your view ambassador, but Alliance Military believes Remnantian soldiers would be a great asset! One we don't want squandered by falling into the mercenary field as is want to happen in the outer reaches of the galaxy!" Both Ozpin and Ironwood glared at the speaker. "Look, I know your opinions but you could be the main point of expansion into the Unknown Regions. I don't want you falling to criminals and slavers because you aren't integrated into the Alliance enough."

"Thank you Admiral Garton, we'll bring up your… concerns at the next pan-Kingdom conference." Ghira diplomatically interjected. The Mon Calamari nodded and ended his projection, the Ithorian shaking his stalk in approximation of a shrug before signing off as well.

"I'll leave you to your tour girls. Have fun!" Ozpin signed off cheerfully, while Ironwood gave Winter a nod.

"Well that was… illuminating." Blake said, noticing her leader was silent. "Ruby?"

"Do people really think we would just be mercenaries going to the highest bidder?"

Winter gently laid a hand on the girl's shoulder. "It's an unfortunate statistic for cultures like ours from what I've been told. Warrior cultures have a habit of preferring things their way over the social standards of the galaxy."

Ruby shook her head. "That admiral, he thought we would be a major asset. How?"

"Think about it Ruby, Huntsmen and Huntresses are functionally bulletproof while our Aura is up." Blake supplied. "If that is applied to blasters," She looked to her father and Winter.

"To a degree." Winter admitted.

"Then we could take a lot more shots before going down. Add in our Semblances and…" Blake trailed off, she could tell Ruby had gotten the point.

"I'm still surprised that General Ironwood was so against it." Ghira commented. "Considering Atlas' normal tradition, it seems like he would have been in support."

Winter took in a sharp breath. "Admiral Garton's plan was for forced conscription and complete eradication of Huntsmen Academies and transformation into Alliance facilities, ensuring almost all Aura capable fighters are immediately inducted into the Galactic Alliance military." She ground out through clenched teeth. "Atlas does request time served in the military, but it is not a requirement and Specialists like myself only need to serve for a short amount of time."

"So Ironwood wants us to keep our independence." Ruby commented. "I guess that makes sense, we did kind of fight a whole war about that." Just then, both Blake and Ruby's scrolls went off. "Yang?"

"Hey Rubes. Listen, I got Weiss to give me an in to the game, and I'm playing tonight. Wanna watch?"

Winter peered over Blake's shoulder. "Weiss, is that you?"

"WINTER!? What are you doing here?"

"I'm representing Atlas to the Alliance. What's this 'in' I'm just now hearing about?"

"Oh, she's funding me in a sabaac game so I can win a spaceship off a Hutt." Yang supplied unhelpfully, not even hesitating to throw Weiss to her sister's mercy.

"WHAT!?"

+++​

The cantina was small, dimly lit, and much quieter for the usual sabaac games that went on in it. Yang guessed it was because of the Atlesian troopers waiting in the wings, or the Atlesian Specialist glaring over Yang's head, but she put it out of her mind. She'd been playing conservatively the entire night, waiting long enough for Thorgo the Hutt to make a big enough bet to really lay into her funds. That will draw his ship out of him. A Deveronian with three cards in his hand looked at them and placed one in the exclusion field, then pushed forward his entire stack of chips. "All In."

Yang smirked, this was just the kind of bet she was waiting for. "I'll call." She divided out the necessary amount and ignored the choked sound the Schnee sisters made.

The Rodian at the table folded but Thorgo looked contemplative. "Jee widd buttmalia mah starship, Ghtoc goba duhonocha light nreightah."

"The great Thorgo the Hutt cannot afford to monetarily match the bet, but offers his Ghtoc Industries 720-series light freighter instead." The protocol droid with him translated.

"Sounds fair to me, how about you red?" Yang asked the Devronian.

The Devronian snorted. "Sure, that's a quality line."

Thorgo set down a datapad with the registration information, then the table began to shift the cards. Weiss could be heard literally praying "Please let Yang win, please let Yang win." There was a small flicker of the table's lights and the cards finished their shift. Zara looked at her register briefly and her eyes widened in surprise, signalling Winter to come over.

The Devronian laid down two tens and showed his excluded card was another ten. "Krif." He flicked his cards away.

Thorgo was confused by his two cards, a Devil and a Dark Queen. "Choy? Beet jab shulu!" the droid didn't bother translating, it was clear what he was saying.

Yang gulped as she laid out her cards. A Zero. A Two of Swords. A 3 of Swords. "Sabaac…" She let out in a whisper.

"Cheeskaja-ha!" Thorgo roared, slamming his palms down onto the table.

"Well, there is one at this table." Zara said letting the Atlesian troopers come up behind the Hutt. "I picked up a little disturbance from the table, coming from your datapad when the Shift started. Care to explain?" The Hutt looked around nervously. "No? Then I will. I was wondering how you kept winning big everytime you bet your ship, now I see why. Your datapad was forcing your seat to get the winning cards."

The Hutt blubbered some protests but Winter slapped detention cuffs onto him. "By the deputized authority of the Galactic Alliance, you are under arrest." The troopers hefted the Hutt out of his chair and led him away, Winter staying behind to grip Weiss' shoulder. "You are lucky your compatriot won, Weiss." She let go and followed her troops and their captive.

Ruby and Blake eyed each other. "So…" Ruby started. "...don't we have a spaceship to inspect?" Team RWBY left the cantina and went to the shuttle pad, nervously excited about leaving their planet's atmosphere for the first time. The shuttle gently took off and shook as it exited the atmosphere.

Weiss held Myrtenmeister in front of her, watching as the color of the dust in its revolver faded to darkness. "Amazing." she muttered.

"Yeah, it is." Blake said, but she was looking out the window. The space station was hovering above them now and the shuttle was coming to dock. The team was let off with the other passengers and they wandered out of the bay into the corridors.

"Does anybody recall where Thorgo's ship was docked?" Ruby asked.

"Allow me." Weiss strode over to a console and input the registration information. "Here we are, level 6, bay 12." She led them to the lifts taking them up a few decks and down the corridor to the indicated bay.

"Well… this is it." Yang said, typing in the key code on the console by the door. The bay doors opened and the ship was plain to see in the center of the room. Well curved like a bird with spread wings perched upon a child's head. "I cannot WAIT to take this baby out for a spin!"

"Yang hold up!" Ruby grabbed her sister by her skirt. "We still have something very important to do!"

"Learn to fly?" Blake asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Get the Hutt smell out?" Weiss pinched her nose.

"While all true, I'm talking about something more important!" Ruby strode confidently in front of her team. "Friends and Sisters, we stand here as some of the first of our species to actually own a spacecraft and can spread our good deeds as Huntresses amongst the stars. To do that we must present a strong, fearless, and determined front to the galaxy! We must name this beautiful craft something that will be inspirational!"

"Yeah, right on Ruby!"

"Sounds good to me."

"An excellent idea, might I suggest something like… huh, this is harder than I thought."

The girls paced around the bay with various suggestions. Yang's 'Beehive' was shot down immediately, as was Weiss' 'Aurora Glacier'.

"How about…" Blake murmured. "Shining Beacon?" The other three looked at her in confusion. "Well, it's why the academy chose that name right? To be something to look towards with hope?"

Weiss thought about it for a minute. "Yes, that seems perfect."

"Great idea Blake!"

"Alright then, the Shining Beacon is ready to go forth for Remnant!" Ruby cried.

"As soon as we know how to fly." Weiss interjected.

 

[Xero Key]

For reference, RWBY's new ship does exist in Canon but has more basis in Legends.
https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Class_720_freighter

It was the chief competitor to the Corellian YT series, of which the Millennium Falcon is a part of, but Ghtroc Industries went out of business. Like a lot of light freighters, Shining Beacon had previous owners that made it into a smuggler ship.

As you can see, Shining Beacon can carry quite a few Huntsmen/Huntress teams across the galaxy. I think it may end up being the basis for Rementian starships once they have the facilities.

 

[Xero Key]

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The cold metal of the simple chair echoed as Salem's coal black fingernail landed on it. The chair was not what Salem would consider comfortable, even compared to her old crystalline throne she had abandoned on Remnant.

Ta-Tap. Ta-Tap. Ta-Tap. Ta-Ta-Crunch!

The armrest crumpled in her grasp as she glared out the viewport into the empty blackness of space. "Ozma…" Salem whispered to herself, her eyes burning their unholy red in her reflection. "I can feel your satisfaction, you know? Even from here, I can tell that you believe I am beaten. You are as much a fool as always."

Salem stood and stalked across the simplistic room to the viewport, laying a hand and reveling in its cool touch. "I can assure you, driving me from our world will not stop me, dear husband." Her nails scratched against the transparent surface, her eyes becoming blazing suns against the dark horizon. "I am patient, this will not hinder me for long. You have only chased me into the shadows, a place I am accustomed."

Salem smiled and glided her way out of the room. "Enjoy this respite while you can. Your precious Alliance is strong, but you know that strength will bring you nothing."

+++

Ruby rose from her bed in a cold sweat. The nightmare had already faded from her memory but the feelings had not. "Ugh, Ruby?" Weiss groaned from her bed. "Are you okay?"

Ruby put a hand to her forehead and wiped away some sweat. "Yeah, yeah, just a bad dream."

"Mm, me too actually… what time is it?" Weiss didn't wait for an answer and opened her scroll. "Oh five hundred hundred. Well, I'm not getting back to sleep." Weiss threw off her covers and grabbed some of her exercise clothes. "I'm going to get some stretching in before I meet Master Sebulba at dawn. Want to join me?"

"Nah, you go ahead. I think I'm gonna grab a shuttle and meet Yang at the Beacon." Ruby yawned out. Weiss shrugged and exited their room in the Chief's manor while Ruby got in the shower. After getting dressed and checking her ammo in Crescent Rose, Ruby headed for the shuttle pads.

The trip to the Alliance station was unmarked by turbulence, giving Ruby plenty of time to think. Her stomach was in knots even though she remembered none of her dream, it haunted her. Her eyes stung. The shuttle rumbled as it docked and Ruby exited, heading to the docking bay her sister's ship resided in. "Oof!" Ruby was barely paying attention as she approached the bay, meaning that when a vaguely familiar body was in front of the doors she ran into it.

"Are you ok Ruby?" Ruby looked up to the green optics of Penny Polendina. Though there was something different about her. She reached out and let Penny help her up.

"Penny? Did you get some work done?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've heard of tear ducts but…"

"Oh, These!" Penny traced the lines falling down her cheeks from her eyes.. "I have decided to fully embrace my droid heritage!" Ruby looked at her friend's fingers and saw the skin was now segmented at the joints.

"That's… interesting. But aren't droids, you know, slaves?"

Penny popped up even straighter and placed a hand over where her heart would be. "And that is why I must embrace it! I must be an icon to all droids that we have souls, that we are not mere tools!"

"Vrmm Vmm!" A mechanical whir sounded from behind Ruby, who turned to find a little droid with a cylinder body and a clear dome head that came up just below Ruby's knee.

Penny happily pointed at the droid. "Oh, this is my friend Buzz, registration R10-Z6. He's an astromech utility droid."

"Vrirp." Buzz angled itself to Ruby, then sharply rotated its head to Penny.

Penny rolled her eyes. "Okay, technically I 'own' him but it was the only way to prevent a memory wipe."

"Vrrr."

"Hey, Pen! Did Ruby get here yet?" Yang's head popped out of the bay. "Yep. Hey sis, kinda busy right now." She glared at Penny and Buzz. "You two, back to work." She pulled her head back in.

Ruby just looked from where her sister had been and the two droids. Penny picked up a large crate and Buzz hooked itself up to a cart and dragged it into the bay. "What's going on?"

Penny sighed as she led Ruby to the ship. "I dropped out of Atlas Academy. My team was… less than enthusiastic about me keeping my nature a secret. A faunus hiding their features is one thing, but an artificial human apparently is too much." Penny shook her head. "Ciel was accepting but even she was awkward to be around until I decided to quit."

"Kinda hard to be a Huntress without schooling though." Ruby commented as she stumbled over the fuel cables connected to the Shining Beacon.

Penny put down the crate and shrugged. "I'll apply for the certification exam when I'm ready. Right now I want to see the galaxy and find other droids who will work with me. Yang was kind enough to hire me on."

"Vreep whrr zii." Buzz buzzed as it passed between Ruby's legs.

"That's rude." Ruby crossed her arms.

"I know, Buzz just doesn't care for organics much. A few bad owners."

"No, I mean. 'Red=...' THAT! Seriously. It's a combat skirt!" Ruby shouted at the little droid, who gave a dismissive beep.

"You understand him?"

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Most organics need a screen to translate binary."

Yang leaned over the edge of the engine. "Ruby's always been good with machines. Speaking of, can you check the comms? I think we've got a call but I haven't hooked my scroll to the ship yet."

The grynoid and organic went inside the ship, down the halls near the starboard escape pod where a communication center was set up. Sure enough, there was a flashing light of something trying to connect. Ruby pulled on a headset and activated the holo-emitter. "Hello?"

A blue, 3d image of Weiss popped up above the emitter. "Ruby, hi…"

"What's wrong?"

"Um, you know how I got the money for Yang's entry to get the Beacon?"

"Yes?"

"Well, um, you see… Myfatherfoundoutandisthreateningtorepossesstheship."

"WHAT!?"

"I know, I know! I was able to keep him from doing it but only barely."

Ruby stared at the tiny image of her partner. "HE'S DOING WHAT!?" Echoed through the ship followed by a flaming, red-eyed Yang stomping down the corridors into the comm room followed by a sheepish Penny. "What did you do to my ship!?"

"I didn't do anything! I thought I had pulled the money in a way he wouldn't notice so I could put the other winnings back to cover it. But he did and says his lawyers can argue that he owns the ship because it was won with his money and now he's given me two options: surrender the ship to him or…" Weiss looked down shyly and rung her hands.

"Or. What?" Yang growled out, her hair making Ruby fan herself to keep cool in the enclosed space.

Weiss took a deep breath. "Or we do some jobs for him to pay off the debt. Deliveries and such, taking a really reduced pay in exchange for not taking the ship."

Yang pinched her nose and the flames faded. "How reduced?"

"Fuel and food only?" Weiss offered with a grimaced smile. Yang did not return one.

+++

Team RWBY plus Buzz and Penny met in the Shining Beacon's cockpit once Weiss and Blake came aboard. "So, the Vytal Festival is in a month and we have to run freight for Weiss' dad or our very nice ship is getting stripped for parts."

"He wouldn't strip it, he'd reverse engineer it and start making a fleet to…" Weiss corrected but died off as she saw Yang's glare from the pilot's chair. "I'm not really helping am I?"

"Nope." Yang popped.

"We can withdraw from the tournament, run more jobs that way and pay it off faster." Blake offered. "I'm pretty sure Professor Ozpin would rather we not have a debt to Jacques Schnee hanging over our heads."

"Yeah, but there is no way we will be allowed to take the Beacon out without a Huntsman or Huntress with us." Ruby sighed.

"RWBY+Penny-Adult=No Travel?" Buzz questioned.

Penny rubbed the astromech's clear dome. "None of us are official Huntresses. Without a license, we legally cannot take actions like this on our own." Buzz whirred and angled downwards sadly.

"It's not like a Huntsman or Huntress is just gonna offer themselves as crew." Yang slumped in her chair dramatically, just as the console started beeping. Yang slapped her hands over her face. "Is it Weiss' dad?" She mumbled out.

"Oh dear, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important." A high, breathy soprano asked. Hovering just over the emitter was a blue woman in a poofy combat dress holding a parasol.

"Professor Peach?" Blake questioned.

The normally blonde blue figure nodded. "Indeed. My old teammate Winter told me about your predicament. I haven't been enjoying teaching as much as I thought recently, so I thought helping you girls out might be a nice change of pace."

Team RWBY, Penny, and Buzz all looked at each other and then the hologram. Ruby smiled widely. "Professor Peach, welcome aboard the crew of the Shining Beacon!"

 

[Xero Key]

(AN: He he... So I changed the title because I had another idea come up. As for why it took a year, I had no muse until recently.)
=========================

Weiss brushed a few wrinkles from her skit as she stood outside of Sebulba's hut. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand to knock but was interrupted by her teacher inside opening the door. "There ya are, good. Thought I was gonna have to wait. Come in and grab one of the crates."

Weiss blinked and followed the Dug, who was loading a small hoversled with boxes. "I… only came by to-"

"I know, I know. Ya can't keep up with our lessons. Why do you think I'm packed?"

"Um?"

"What? Ya think I wouldn't notice? I'm comin' with ya."

"I don't think Yang would approve of more people, we're pushing things as is."

"Oh yeah?" the Dug raised himself fully on his forelimbs, meeting Weiss' eyes. "Do ya happen to know yur way around the galaxy? Or at least speak Hutt?"

"No."

"Then I'm comin' with ya."


+++




"Docking control, this is Shining Beacon requesting clearance for departure." Yang tapped at the earpiece after she finished to make sure there was a whine. A sound of gibberish responded. "Great… Docking control, I am unfamiliar with your language. Can you repeat in Basic or Vytalian?"

There was a pause, and then an accented female's voice came through. "Shining Beacon, you have not logged a flight plan. Departure will not commence until a flight plan is submitted."

Yang blinked and turned to Blake who was in the third seat behind her. "We didn't put in a flight plan?"

"I thought Penny did." Blake said.

Yang brought up the intercom. "Penny, did you log the flight plan?"

"Oh, sorry!"

Yang rolled her eyes and contacted the station control again. "Docking control, this is Shining Beacon again. Our flight plan should have just been logged."

"...Confirmed Shining Beacon. Be careful down there, I'm told Atlas isn't exactly friendly this time of year."

"Yeah yeah, thanks for the heads up." Yang switched to the intercom again. "We're pulling out everybody, so if you don't want to miss Weiss' house on approach, get to the cockpit." A few seconds later, Yang spit out rose petals as her leader raced to the co-pilot's seat. "Yeah, Ruby? No Semblance on my ship. I do not want to be cleaning out the engines and vents because you were hyper."

"Sorry."

Weiss sat herself down across from Blake. "Professor Peach and Sebulba are comfortable in the lounge, and Penny and Buzz have got the engines primed." She grimaced a little as she checked the time on her console display. "We'd better get moving. I don't want to risk my father finding some fault in being simply 'on time'."

Yang nodded while Blake keyed in a command on her console. The Shining Beacon slowly lifted off its moorings and began to move backwards out of the hanger. Team RWBY watched in no small amount of awe as the cold metal of the hanger was replaced by vast ocean of black dotted with pinpricks of white, a single strip of blue light separating the habitable living space of the hanger from the emptiness of the void. Yang twisted the controls of the ship, turning it around to face the shattered moon that for so long hung above Remnant.

"It feels like this should be… bigger, you know?" Yang commented, watching as a small fleet of ships darted between the fragments of their natural satellite.

Ruby, however, was gazing at the blue and green sphere just barely in view of the Beacon's cockpit. "Everything we know. The academies, the Grimm… it's all down there now." She said sadly, her irises made more reflective than normal by the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Yang placed a hand on her shoulder and gave Ruby a gentle smile. "We still have a place Ruby. It just might be a little more widespread than we first thought." She angled the ship towards the planet and began its descent into the atmosphere. The girls bounced in their seats involuntarily as the Beacon entered the atmosphere, the hull briefly coming alight with fire as their entry pushed the air out of their way with tremendous force.

The ship angled back upwards, cutting off the flames in their view and allowing Team RWBY to see gently slide below the cloud layer. "Welcome to Atlas." Weiss said with all the enthusiasm of a runaway child returned home.

The floating city of Atlas was circled by two Atlesian ships, and an Alliance Hammerhead hung above it. Blake's console beeped and she responded by pressing some buttons. "We've been cleared to land just outside the Schnee Refinery, in Mantle." All four girls stood up from their seats and looked down below the floating city, into the caldera of a volcano and the city under Atlas' shadow.


+++




When the ramp lowered from the ship and Weiss walked down it, she was surprised to find both of her parents waiting on the platform. Several guards surrounding cases clearly marked for Dust transport. "Mother, father? I was… not expecting both of you." She hastily gave a curtsey.

Willow wrung her hands. "Your father felt-"

"I thought it would be best for you to have some form of comfort before your long voyage. You are after all, the first Schnee to travel beyond our star system." Her father interrupted. He cupped Weiss' face and gently raised it so their eyes would meet. "I expect nothing less than the best from my children." He said when he let go, patting Weiss on the cheek.

A groaning came from the Beacon as one of its cargo lifts lowered itself to the ground. Yang and Professor Peach were on board, while Ruby was visible being instructed in the lifts' use by Sebulba inside the ship proper. Peach gently stepped off the lift, her umbrella resting neatly on her hip. "Mr. Schnee, I just need you to sign the mission order here." She said, holding out a datapad. Jacques slightly rolled his eyes but took it, signing with a touch-pen in his pocket. "Very good, now just to recap the parameters: We are to deliver these crates of Dust to Bakura, then to Corellia to retrieve ship schematics from a… Dukran Tyr?"

"Yes yes, do be careful with that!" Jacques yelled at Yang and Blake or were loading the crates on to the lift.

Professor Peach gave Jacques a beaming smile. "Do not worry Mr. Schnee, Team RWBY is one of Beacon's finest teams." She turned and gave a nod to Weiss to return to the ship and moved to follow, but stopped. "Just one last thing, how are you selling Dust for the credits?"

"Scientists contacted me, willing to pay to see if they could replicate our atmosphere's effects. With Dust not a viable economic standard anymore, I felt it would be best to move to something more lucrative." He turned around and gave a sharp jerk of the head away from Willow. His wife hesitantly looked back at the ship, before following her husband.

Professor Peach shook her own head and entered the ship, raising the ramp behind her as the two daughters of Taiyang argued over Ruby's control of the lifts. Once everyone was aboard and the ship had left the atmosphere, Peach joined Team RWBY and Penny in the cockpit. "Okay," Yang muttered while working on her console. "Bakura locked in. Gonna be a bumpy ride though, Remnant is just off the hyperspace lane if I'm reading this right."

Peach laid a hand on her student's shoulder, calming nerves Yang didn't even realize she had built up. "You'll do fine."

Yang took a deep breath and reached to the console between her and Ruby, gripping the lever. She looked to Ruby, who smiled with a thumbs up; to Blake who closed her eyes and nodded with a gentle smile; to Weiss, who was shaking nervously but also had an excited look on her face; to Penny and Peach, who both were watching the stars expectantly. "Here we go."

Yang shoved the lever forward, the stars in front of them stretching as the void turned a bright blue. With a jump from the engines, the Shining Beacon raced forward into the swirling typhoon of hyperspace.


+++




Space travel, Ruby thought, was far more boring than she had initially imagined. At first the constantly shifting shades of blue entranced her. Like a stormy sea, it brought her back to her childhood on Patch, resting on her mother's knee as they watched the white caps crest over the cliffs. She felt she could watch the endless patterns swirl through hyperspace and her mind forever.

That feeling lasted only a day into their five day voyage. It was now day three.

"I'm bored!" She fell across the bench of the lounge, resting her head on Weiss' lap. "Entertain me." She commanded her second.

Said second barely even spared her leader a glance as she focused on the papers and datapad on the table. Instead she grabbed a cup of coffee, added an obscene amount of sugar, and lowered it into Ruby's hands.

"Okay, I don't think you know what the words 'entertain me' actually mean." Weiss did not respond except to pour another cup and lower it to Ruby, who now had two cups of her personal coffee. Ruby shrugged, down both of them, and sped off to the starboard cargo bay. Inside, Yang was also focused on a datapad, going over each and every crate's contents with a diligence her sister had never seen before. "Wow," Ruby said, drawing Yang's attention up towards the ramp. "I have never seen you this focused."

Yang turned back to the crate and double checked something, before slipping a piece of paper next to the crystal she had finished with. "Yeah, I know. Weird right? Yang Xiao Long, quadruple checking every minor detail." She shook her head. "Doesn't really sound like me at all."

Ruby jumped over the railing and landed on Bumblebee, sitting side saddle across the motorbike. "Why do you think that is?"

Yang shrugged, then gestured to the walls of the hanger. "This is...it's actually mine, ya know? I mean, back home it was really 'Be a Huntress', nothing else really mattered. But now I," She took a deep breath and looked deep into her sister's eyes. "I have something else! Something that neither dad or mom ever could do."

"Even if it's running cargo out of what is basically your trailer?"

"Hey!" Yang exclaimed, sending a sloppy punch intro Ruby's arm. "There is nothing wrong with working from home." She pulled her sister into her arms and gave her a noogie. "Now get out of here, I got to finish my check."

Ruby turned to petals and slipped from her sister's grasp. "I doubt they'll be any different than last time!" She called from the entranceway, then went to wander the ship some more. As she was passing the communication console, she noticed it was lit up. She sat down and saw that it was a distress signal. She activated the receiver and tied it into the PA. "This is the Shining Beacon responding to your distress call. Repeat this is the Shining Beacon responding to your distress call." Ruby heard Yang impact on the floor, having made the leap from the hanger to the entrance, her heavy footfalls racing to the cockpit.

"Pirates, Pirates everywhere! Please, we're just a fuel outpost! Help! Please, hel-!"

"Come in. Fuel station, do you read me? Come in!" She hit the cockpit button just as the ship shuddered as it dropped from hyperspace to sublight. "Yang, I'm sending coordinates now."

"Got 'em. Penny, plug it in!" Another shudder and the ship jumped back into hyperspace. "Ruby, you and Blake get into the pods and use them as turrets."

Ruby jumped out of her seat and into the pod closest to her, followed immediately by Professor Peach. "You know this is not our mission." She said, calmly sitting down in one of the seats with a cup of tea.

"What kind of Huntresses would we be if we let people get hurt just because it was out of the way?" Ruby asked sarcastically. She didn't need to see it to know that Peach was smiling. Hyperspace vanished with a thud, small craft that looked like bow ties swirling about and firing green beams at something just out of Ruby's view. "Blake, I have four on scanner. You?"

"I've got six and one big guy. Looks like the main one."

Sebulba's voice crackled in. "Focus on keeping da small fry off the depot, blondie an' me will worry about da carrier."

Ruby pulled at the guns and began firing at the Tie Fighters. Her red beams were missing every time, the fighters streaming as the swoop passed them. The ship rocked as they were fired upon. "I can't hit them!"

"Me neither, these things are fast!" Blake said, the sound of her guns firing to no avail.

In the cockpit, Sebulba grimaced as another Tie Fighter lanced at their hull. "Good news, dere off da depot."

"Yeah, but what kind of shields are on that thing!?" Yang yelled as she swerved the Beacon to avoid fire. "I can't seem to make a dent!"

"This is not what I thought would be happening on my first space mission." Penny commented. Buzz whirred next to her. "Huh? If we can disable the carrier's engine, the fighters will stop because they don't have hyperdrives?" Penny looked out at the Gozanti carrier out the window.

"Hey, maybe you can hack their shields, just bring them down!" Yang laughed.

Penny shook her head. "That is not how slicing works, Yang. Either Buzz would have to be physically linked with the ship to do that."

Weiss stumbled up the ladder to the cockpit, falling into the empty chair when the ship was hit again. "We can't take another volley like that. We need to pull out."

"No way! We're Huntresses, we don't abandon those in need!" Ruby cried over the comm.

"But we aren't ready for this, we jumped in head first with no idea what we are up against." Blake rationalized.

Sebulba closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Weiss felt a charge in the air, as if a whistle went through her ears. She looked at Sebulba and saw he was in deep concentration, one of his hind paws was slowly twisting in the air, as if he was turning a knob. "The shields… their lowering!" Penny exclaimed in joy.

Yang moved the Beacon into position and opened fire on the rear of the carrier, ceasing the blue fire of its engines and leaving it adrift, smoking at the holes in the hull allowed oxygen to escape. Sebulba let out a breath of air and cradled his wrist.

Weiss looked at him in wonder as the rest of the crew cheered, the fighters stopping their assault and surrounding the carrier. Even now she felt an… urge to do something around him, but she was not sure what.