Ruby span the electrostaff, getting used to the unfamiliar weapon. Passing it from one hand to the other behind her back, Ruby turned to Pyrrha with a smile, "Ready?"

"Of course," Pyrrha said, "but why are you using that?"

"Figured it'd be fun to try something else out," Ruby said, "I don't have Crescent Rose, so…"

"Where is Crescent Rose?" Pyrrha asked, drawing Miló and preparing.

"With the Inquisitors who found me," Ruby said, "They were interested in the mechashift and considering they easily took down a few apprentices and a Lord, I didn't want to push my luck. They said I could have her back when I finish here."

"And you believe them? What if they're lying?"

Ruby tightened her grip on the staff, "Then I'll push my luck."

Nobody was keeping her baby from her any longer. She would get Crescent Rose back.

"I'll help, if you want," Pyrrha offered as Ruby climbed onto the platform. Pressing a button on the staff, Ruby entered a stance as she smiled at Pyrrha.

"That'd be great, thanks," Ruby twirled the staff again, before surging forward and swinging at Pyrrha.

Pyrrha angled Miló enough to push the staff away, leaving Ruby to duck under the swing. Spinning, Ruby threw a hand out, pushing Pyrrha ba-

…

"I'm," Ruby stood, sighing as she flicked off the staff, "I'm not feeling it right now, Pyrrha. Sorry."

"That's fine," Pyrrha said, returning Miló to its place, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm just feeling a bit burned out," Ruby sighed, throwing the staff to the side, "We've been doing the same stuff for a month. Practice, practice, practice! It's our day off, I want to do something different. At least Beacon shook things up with different classes."

"What do you want to do then?" Pyrrha asked, "I'm up for anything."

"I don't know! Read, play a game, watch more vids? I just wanna take a break from constantly sparing."

There was that book on lightsaber theory, among others.

"Then let's do one of those. It won't help either of us if you go into the week burned out."

"What about you?" Ruby asked, "it's your day off too. I don't wanna make you do something you're not interested in."

"Then we'll alternate. You choose one, then I will."

"Ok!" Ruby nodded, "but I picked last night, so you'll go first!"

- X Weiss X-

Weiss stepped out of the temple with a sigh. She understood the Council was busy dealing with the fallout of the Flesh Raider attack, but they had been grounded for the last month and it was starting to make Yang unbearable.

Weiss loved that woman but the years hadn't strengthened her impulse control. She was still a hot head, but now she was a hot head with a starship. She wasn't used to sitting around on a fairly backwater planet for several weeks with nothing to do.

Walking further into the courtyard, Weiss watched various groups of trainees practice. The youngest, who couldn't have been older than ten, were practicing with wooden swords. Older students were practiced with electroblades.

Approaching two, Weiss watched them spar. Slash, parried, riposte, parried in turn. Leaning forward, Weiss watched one duck under his opponent's swing, striking her in the knee with a crackle.

Feeling someone approaching, Weiss looked behind her, "Hello, Master Orgus."

"Hello," Orgus greeted in turn, "I see the initiates caught your eye."

"These are initiates?" Weiss asked as the blades clashed in a shower of sparks, "They're quite good."

"They are," Orgus agreed, "before the war, they'd be Padawan, but we don't have enough Jedi for one to take them on."

"Jedi train one on one?"

"Yes," Orgus said, "unlike the Sith, who often take on many apprentices, we prefer to pass down knowledge like this. That's why they're using basic maneuvers."

Weiss nodded, "Is there something you need, Master Orgus?"

"Yes," Orgus gestured for her to follow him, "We're finally ready to meet with you. I'm sorry about it taking so long. We were shoring up our defences and looking into the man you fought."

"Did you learn anything?"

"Both frustratingly little and a surprising amount. He wasn't one of ours."

"Then how was he trained? Is he a Sith?"

"Let's not jump to conclusions," Orgus said, "Not every user of the Dark Side is a Sith, and I doubt they'd use a bunch of tribal natives if they wanted us gone. He may have been trained by a fallen Jedi, he may have discovered his power with the Force on his own, we don't have the ability to locate all Force sensitives in the Galaxy, and fell to the dark without proper guidance."

"I don't think I can give you any more information about him, then."

"We don't think you can," Orgus said as he pushed open a door, "We need you for something else."

"Like what?" Weiss asked.

"We need you to do something for us," Orgus said, "Satele will explain."

"Ok?" Weiss frowned, following Orgus to the large table in the center of the room. A half dozen Jedi were seated around it, with several other chairs open.

"Weiss, these are Masters Gnost-Dural and Tol Braga," Orgus gestured to a pair of kel'dor, "Bela Kiwiiks and her Padawan Kira Carsen," a seated togruta and a human woman around Ruby's age, "Jaric Kaedan and Syo Bakarn," and a pair of human men.

"Hello," Weiss said, smiling slightly and giving a light curtsy.

"And Grand Master Satele Shan," Orgus finished, pointing to the woman seated right in front of Weiss.

"Hello, Miss Schnee," Satele said, "Thank you for the help the other day, things could have gone much worse if you and your friends hadn't been here."

"I'm sure you would have been able to handle it," Weiss said, "The Jedi are some of the most skilled fighters in the Galaxy."

"But there would have been more deaths," Satele said, "on both sides. Because of you, lives were saved."

"It was nothing," Weiss said.

"Nonetheless, you have our thanks. We'd like to hire you for another job."

"What?"

"In the wake of the war," Satele started, "We were forced to abandon several Jedi temples that were either within what is now Imperial Space or the demilitarized zone. One is on the planet of Lothal. We would like to hire you and your team to make sure the Sith haven't located it."

"I'm not one to argue with Creds," Weiss shrugged, "but why there? Is it something important?"

"Just that the Sith don't have it," Satele said, "if you have reason to suspect they do, we'd rather you level the entire complex."

That seemed extreme. Still, Creds were creds…

"Ok," Weiss shrugged.

"Would you mind taking Kira with you?" Kiwiiks asked, "I had wanted to bring her to Lothal, and this might be the last chance…"

"Wait," Kira said, "Shouldn't I stay here? We're in a bit of a-"

"We can afford to be missing one Padawan," Kiwiiks said, "I'll call you back if anything changes."

- X Kira X-

Kira followed Weiss to the ship, whistling under her breath as they entered it, "This is nicer than I expected."

"We spent a lot to upgrade the Dragon. Mostly making the living quarters and lounge more… livable. There's a mini-bar over there, if you drink," Weiss nodded to one part of the room, "kitchen is over there," the opposite part, "That's my chessboard, don't touch it."

"Ok?" Why would she want to mess with her chessboard?

"Bedrooms are there," Weiss pointed down the hall, "closest one is yours… well, technically it's Ren's, but-"

"-I'm staying on Tython for now," the man in question stepped out of the room, a bag thrown over one shoulder, "Master Yuon should be finished translating Rajivari's Holocron soon. I want to see how far this goes."

Weiss patted him on the shoulder, "We'll see you then, stay safe."

Ren nodded, heading out of the ship. Watching him go, Kira turned to Weiss, "I appreciate this, but… do I really need a room? Shouldn't this just be a quick jump to Lothal?"

It wasn't Weiss who answered, instead the blond pilot (she assumed) did, laughing, "Not really. We got a couple of problems, so it'll take a bit!"

"Problems?" Kira looked down, slightly nervous, "Is the ship busted or something?"

"No," the pilot said, voice hard, before walking into the cockpit.

"Sorry about Yang," Weiss said, sitting down in front of a holoprojector and gesturing for Kira to do the same, "The Dragon is hers, so she doesn't like people pointing out it's on the older side."

"I didn't," Kira argued.

"You asked if it was broken," Weiss said, "the Dragon's fine. A good ship can work for a couple hundred of years if you take care of it."

"Then what's gonna make it take a bit?"

Weiss reached over, turning on the holoprojector and plugged in a new datapad, one of the ones Sorosuub had been trumpeting as the evolution to the tech. A map of the Galaxy appeared and Weiss pointed at the center, "We're somewhere in here, the Deep Core."

"I know " Kira rolled her eyes, "I do live-"

"Then you should know that the Deep Core is a minefield of black holes, their accretion disks and fields of stars. It'll take a fair few jumps to get us out of it through proper hyperlanes. Which leads to our second roadblock," Weiss hit something on her datapad and a set of glowing lines appeared across the map, "These are the major hyperspace routes, the ones that you can trust to be safe. Notice anything about them?"

Kira squinted for a second, "All the ones in the deep core lead to one route."

"Yes, the one to Coruscant. If we use it, we could reach Lothal in two days… if there wasn't a well manned Republic fleet guarding the Hydian Way and regular Imperial patrols along the same area. So we need to be a bit more meandering. Once we leave the Deep Core, we'll take the Corellian Run until we hit Hutt Space, do a few jobs to throw off any remaining scent and then use the smaller routes to head to Lothal. It should take… a month, maybe two."

"Two months?" Kira asked, dumbfounded, "does the Council know it's supposed to take so long? Or did you just kidnap me? Because I do have a Lightsaber and I will-"

"I cleared it with Masters Orgus and Shan before we left. They understood. You being with us actually makes it so we have to take longer. If you're with us for a bit, it will be easier to bluff that you aren't a Jedi if we get caught… which means you can't be seen with a Lightsaber."

"I'm not giving this up," Kira said, "it's-"

"Relax," Weiss said, moving her hands in a calming gesture, "You can keep it on you, you just can't use it. Here's what we're going to be doing. We'll stop on Corellia, give you some of mine and Yang's spare clothes and go buy some… let's say 'essentials'. A blaster pistol, a vibroblade and some clothes that aren't Jedi robes, just make you look like another of the many Corellian smugglers out there. By the time we reach Hutt space, it'll be nearly impossible to recognize you."

"Alright, just two things," Kira said, "Am I gonna have to use a fake name?"

"Maybe a last one. It'll be easier if you keep the same first name. What else?"

"I use a Lightsaber staff, so a force pike or electrostaff might be better."

- X Jaune X-

Jaune climbed into the APC, grunting as he lowered himself next to Karle and dusted the smoking spot on his flak jacket. The other human shook his head, "I still say you're mad, sir."

"Why?" Jaune asked.

"You were torn up beyond belief after a fight with a Sith, sir. Anyone else would've taken medical leave, instead you're here."

Jaune shrugged, "I got cocky. It won't happen next time."

"It implies you think there'll be a next time," Euva pointed out.

There would be, he would make sure of it.

"Next time, I probably won't be running into a Sith who wouldn't kill all of us," Jaune said, ignoring the point, "I'm going to be ready."

"You're mad," Morsil said from his spot in the gunner's seat, "You want to fight a Sith? One of those people who can slaughter an entire platoon?"

Jaune laughed, "Remind me to introduce you to my sword teacher. Once you've met Pyrrha, not much can scare you."

"She's that scary?"

"Not scary," Jaune said, letting affection leak into his voice, "but she's strong, loyal and brave. Once you've met Pyrrha, it makes things seem less scary."

"Where is she?" Horner asked, "If she's better than you, she'd be a one woman battalion!"

"She's..." Jaune hesitated, "Retired, now. As far as I know."

Retired probably wasn't the right word, he knew Pyrrha had been fighting in the arenas of Nar Shaddaa, but otherwise…

"Ah," Horner laughed, "Shoulda guessed that one! She's old, I take it?"

"Same age as me, actually," Jaune said, "We're from the same world."

"Aren't you like, twenty two?" Karle asked, "that seems really young to retire."

"We thought we lost a friend to the Imps," Jaune said, "Pyr… she didn't take it well."

"'Thought'?"

"Ruby's alive," Jaune said, "but stuck in the heart of Imp territory."

"Damn," Horner said quietly, "That fuckin' sucks."

"Yeah," Jaune said, grabbing a cloth to clean Crocea Mors, "It does."

"Uhh…" Karle hesitated, "Can I ask you a question, sir?"

"Only if I can ask you why you keep calling me 'sir'," Jaune said.

"I… good point," Karle said, "that sword, it isn't standard issue?"

"No," Jaune stopped, smiling down at Mors, "it's an old family heirloom. My great-great-grandfather used it."

"Then… are you really allowed to have it?" Karle asked.

"I filled out the paperwork," Jaune said, "so, yeah. I am."

"Oh," Karle said, "Ok the-"

Before anything else happened, the APC stopped moving, Horner growling, "Morsil?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Fire at will."

"Attention Republic soldiers!" Jaune leaned over enough to see the roadblock in front of them. Two speeder trucks sat in front of them, assault cannons strapped to the backs, "You are trespassing! Eriadu is a sove-"

A stream of red bolts blasted from above them, smashing into the two trucks as Horner gunned it, shots from blaster pistols and rifles glancing off the Malcolm as they rammed through the blockade.

"Damn!" Horner swore, "Karle, how long until we reach the camp?"

"About a day, sir!"

"Well," he growled, "it'll be a long day then…"

- X Kira X-

Kira sighed, rolling onto her back and staring at the ceiling. She hadn't slept in a bed this nice in… well ever. The Children hadn't been treated half as well as the acolytes below, she had been lucky to have a bed on Nar Shaddaa and the Jedi, while loads better than either, didn't splurge on buying luxury beds.

So, yeah. She wasn't used to a bed like this.

Finally, after an hour of doing everything she could think of, from punching the pillow into shape to reciting the Jedi Code to literally just twiddling her thumbs and staring at the ceiling, Kira gave up on sleep for the moment, standing and opening her door. Might as well get some idea of what was going down and who she was living with.

Kira looked around, counting the rooms, one, two, three, four, five, six. But there had only been three people on the ship?

Walking down the hall, Kira walked into the main area. Slowly, she examined different sections of the room. Chess board was half played, pantry was stocked with cooking supplies, bar was-

"You know," Kira jumped slightly as she realized Yang was seated in the corner closest to the bar, "If you wanted a look around, you could've just asked. You don't need to do the sneaking around thing."

"Sorry," Kira said, wondering why she hadn't gotten any warning sign.

"You drink at all?" Yang asked, pointing to the bar with her thumb.

"Not really," Kira's eyes scanned the bottles.

"Oh, yeah," Yang said, "you're some sort of super powered warrior monk thing. Guess they don't let you have booze?"

"There's not a rule against it," as far as Kira knew, "but we don't really have it on Tython."

"Then grab a drink and sit down," Yang used her glass to gesture to the bench opposite her, "I'll give you a tip, grab one of the bottle closer to you. That's the weakest."

"You think I'm weak?"

"No," Yang said, "I think you haven't drank before and I don't wanna have to drag you back to your room."

Kira rolled her eyes, grabbing a bottle and glass, "Shouldn't you be piloting this thing?"

"Autopilot is a beautiful thing," Yang grinned, "We're outta the Deep Core, should be smooth sailing to Corellia from here on."

"What if we get attacked?"

"We deal with that," Yang said, grabbing a bottle of murky liquid off the table, pouring some into her glass, "when we come to it. So, ever been to Corellia before?"

"No. Grew up in the Outer Rim Wild Space and Hutt space."

"Corellia's a weird one," Yang said, "It's not shiny like Coruscant. Lot of smugglers, lot of little towns. We'll be landing at Coronet, it's a good city."

"It is?"

"Compared to a lot of places?" Yang said, "Yeah. Not a place I'd want to settle down and live, but there's only one world I'd think about doing that and only once the gang's back together."

"Gang?"

"C'mon. You've been poking around, you had to notice all the extra living space we had to add on."

"I was wondering about that," Kira admitted.

"Nora and Blake are on Nar Shaddaa doing some bounty work," Yang started, "Jaune's stationed somewhere with the Repub military, Pyrrha and Ruby are at a s-" Yang hesitantly at the last second, "-hitty school and Ren's back on Tython."

"You know I don't know who those are, right?"

Yang gave another shrug, "We'll see how long that lasts. We'll probably swing by Shaddaa once we hit Hutt space. Get a job, introduce you to Blake and Nora."

"Seems a bit weird. We just met."

"Yeah, well, you're stuck with us," Yang said, "might as well introduce you to some of the others. No harm in making friends. Hey, listen."

"Yeah?" Kira asked as Yang suddenly became serious.

"Don't take earlier personally, Ok?" Yang said, "It's like… what would you do if someone called your laser sword a hunk of junk?"

"Lightsaber," Kira corrected, "I'd be kinda offended, but I also didn't call it a 'hunk of junk', I asked if there was anything wrong with it."

"Ok," Yang grumbled, "So I mighta overreacted. Point is, we're in this together now. Until you go back to the Jedi, we're gonna need to have each other's back. There's no room for bad blood."

"We're both literally stuck in the same ship?" Kira joked.

"That we are," Yang said, standing, "You should catch some sleep. Only another couple of hours till we hit Corellia."

Kira stood up, following behind the pilot. As Yang disappeared into one room, it left Kira tilting her head. Wasn't that Weiss's room?

Pushing that question from her mind, Kira walked back into her room with a sigh. She'd have to buy some holobooks when they landed.

- X Ruby X-

Ruby stepped into the training room, bowing to her teacher, "Hello, Ma'am."

"Hello, Acolyte. I'm sorry for delaying this for so long, something came up." she said, smiling.

"It's fine," Ruby said, "I understand."

"I must say, I haven't seen a single thing that makes Harkun's complaints seem founded."

"You haven't?"

"No," she continued, "I haven't seen you do anything like being 'a disrespectful dog who thinks much too highly of herself'. And that is a direct quote. He seems to think you don't respect him."

"I don't," Ruby said.

"You don't respect your Overseer?"

"He's done nothing to earn my respect," Ruby said, "Why should I respect someone who has it out for me?"

"You make it sound like he's your enemy."

"For his pet to win, I need to die. He is my enemy," Ruby said.

"Remember, Acolyte, Harkun isn't the one who will decide your fate. That is Lord Zash."

"So much for 'the Force will set me free'," Ruby said, studying her… mentor?

"You don't believe that to be true?" she asked.

"There's not much freedom when someone else holds your life in their hands."

"You're strong, Acolyte, and smart. That's all that matters. Use the adversity to learn and gain power. Now, what do you know about Tutaminis?"

"I've never heard of it."

"Well," the Sith started, before covering her mouth and giving a harsh, ragged cough. Rubbing at her throat, the Sith sighed, "My apologies, I've had a cough for the last couple of days. Back on topic, that will not do. Why don't you-"

"I just realized," Ruby blurted out, "I never got your name."

The woman smiled, "That was intended. Just call me Master for now."

"Won't that offend Zash? And can I call you Teacher instead? I don't like…"

"Lord Zash won't mind, Acolyte, and of course. Back to what I was saying, fire another blast at me. Not only will it let me see how you've come over the last month."

Ruby pointed her hand at 'Teacher' running her mind as she did. Who was this? Why were they so interested in Ruby? The only person she could think of was…

No, that was completely ridiculous.

The bolt, now a fist sized blast, flew at Teacher. She casually raised a hand, deflecting the bolt into the ground, "Try again."

Ruby did so, watching the energy disperse when it hit the hand, "So Tutaminis is a bunch of defensive moves?"

"Against energy," Teacher said, "I wouldn't use it against a vibroblade if you enjoy having all your fingers. We'll start with a blaster and move on from there. Ready?"

"I guess," Ruby said as a training droid stepped forward, holding a blaster rifle.

"Good. Do you mind if I ask you questions while we work?"

"No."

"Why don't you tell me about your life before everything," she said, resting her chin on laced hands.

"You're a therapist now?" Ruby joked, focusing on the droid. How was she supposed to do this?

"I'm curious. Any family? Parents? Siblings?"

"Just my sister, Yang," Ruby dodged a shot. How…?

Wait. Didn't she control energy when she used Force Lightning?

"Your parents are gone then?"

"Yeah."

"When did your mother die?"

"I was young. Three or four."

"Well, I hope you can find someone to fit that role."

"Yang did," Ruby let the blast hit her, focusing on reversing what she normally did. Heat, but not searing pain.

Teacher nodded, "Interesting. Any other family?"

"My Uncle Qrow and our dog Zwei."

"Did you have any romantic relationships?"

"No," Ruby said, dispersing another blast, "Not really interested in that."

"Job?"

"Huntress."

"What did you hunt with?"

"My blaster, Crescent Rose."

"You named your weapon?"

"I made her," Ruby said, catching a third. She wondered…

"You're a weapon designer?"

"I can be," Ruby said, "I'm working on the Lightsaber you said. And a spare."

"Impressive," she said, "I- Lord Zash will be very appreciative of your initiative. Why two?"

"Just to be safe," Ruby said, trying to funnel the energy into the air. The bolt hit, skidded up her hand and struck the ceiling. Teacher clapped with a smile.

"Not Jar'kai?"

"I need to keep a hand open for using the Force."

"That can be dealt with through Tràkata through."

"Trwhat?"

"Tràkata. A technique involving the Lightsaber's ability to be shut off and turned on rapidly."

"I don't know," Ruby deflected two more shots, "I had a friend who used two weapons. It's hard."

"Which is why you should learn to use it or a saberstaff, Acolyte. No one has ever gotten anywhere worthwhile by doing something the easy way. Prove to this world you're the best of your class! Can you imagine yourself ten, twenty years from now, walking through these halls as an example of what a Sith Lord should be?"

"You seem passionate about this," Ruby deflected another blast. Now...

"I practice it myself," she admitted.

Ruby caught the next bolt, firing it back at the droid, "I'll think about it."

"I'm glad to hear that, Acolyte!" Teacher said, standing, "Unfortunately, I have things I need to do. I'll send you another message when I have time for another lesson."

- X Kira X-

Kira stepped off the ship into the Coronet space port, adjusting the dress shirt Weiss had given her and walking over to Yang. The pilot was standing at a terminal, registering the Dragon, "I'm kinda surprised we aren't setting off every alarm in this place."

"If that was true," Yang said, "There'd be alarms goin' off every couple of minutes. Ya might not know this, but Corellia is a hotspot for people like us."

Kira looked back at the long freighter, clearly bulkier than standard and with stronger engines, "Yeah, but yours might as well scream 'I'm a criminal, come arrest me!'"

"Well, they will if you start yelling that," Yang said, pushing off the terminal, "There! All set up. C'mon, Weiss was getting a speeder for us. Unless you want to walk to the Blue Sector."

Kira rolled her eyes, jogging to stay even with Yang, "So, what's Blue Sector?"

"Offworlders' paradise," Yang said, "Cantinas, tattoo parlors, fences. The type of place you can get almost anything if you know where to look and nobody asks too many questions. Perfect for buying stuff for you."

"Ah," Kira said quietly. She knew the type of place from Nar Shaddaa… but hadn't been in a few years. There was no way the Jedi would let something like that crop up on Tython.

"You should get used to it," Yang said, "That's the sort of place we stay a lot."

"I grew up on Nar Shaddaa, I've been before."

"Really? That's-" Yang grinned as her holocommunicator beeped, "One sec. Weiss! What's up?"

"Where are you?" Weiss asked, frowning, "I'm waiting."

"Me and Ki were talking," Yang said.

Ki?

"Whatever, just hurry up. We're in row fifty."

Kira shared a look with Yang, "Is she normally like that?"

"No," Yang smirked, "She probably wanted to hang up before you could ask why she didn't drive it to us."

"Which is?"

"She doesn't know how to drive," Yang said, snickering.

"She doesn't?" Kira asked.

"Nah," Yang said, "Never learned. She always had chauffeurs and shit."

"Is she rich?"

"Not anymore," Yang said, "C'mon, before she gets even grumpier."

Kira filled that away. What happened to make it 'not anymore'? Did it have anything to do with her being a smuggler?

They finally arrived at the speeder, Weiss already seated in the passenger seat, "Come on."

Yang winked at Kira… before swooping down and kissing Weiss on the cheek, sending the white haired woman's face into an explosion of red, "Sorry."

"I-" Weiss's brain seemed to reboot, "Yang! Not in front of her!"

"Hey!"

"She was gonna find out eventually," Yang said with a grin, pulling open the car and sliding in.

- X Jaune X-

Jaune stepped into the tent, ignoring the roar of laser cannons and artillery. The barricades set up around Old Factoryville were holding surprisingly well, "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Corporal Arc," the Major said, looking up from a holographic map projected onto the table walking. With the exception of his totally-against-regulations beard, he was the picture of a soldier. White plasteel armor with black highlights, a heavy blaster pistol at his hip, "Just the man I was hoping to see. Come over here."

"Of course, sir," Jaune said, walking over.

"Now, Arc, I have a few questions for you," Jaune didn't say anything, "First off, according to your records, you graduated from Carida with honors. Top of your class in close range combat, search and destroy and forward assault, very nearly there in tactics too. Correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"And what you've done so far, while in most cases incredibly foolish, proves that those marks are not just for show."

"Sir?"

"It normally takes more than a Corporal to assault an entrenched enemy and clear them out. We sent a squad to do what you did single handedly. The Jackets must be proud to have you."

"Jackets, sir?"

"Old joke my CO used to use," the Major smirked, "The NCO's have-"

"Sir!"

"I'll get back to you in a second, Arc," the Major turned to one of the men sitting at the heavy machinery on one table, a headset around his ears, "Report."

"Contact with Revenge 1-3 has cut off! Savior 2-4 is on route to their position!"

"Bring up the feed," he barked, turned back to the main table where a holographic display popped up, playing a 2D vid. Probably from a cam that one of Savior was carrying.

They were moving through the streets of the part of Old Factoryville the Republic had taken as quickly as possible, before reaching a house and pushing it open. What they arrived to, was carnage.

Parts of the metal walls were still slag, trenches carved through them. Standing in the middle of the room, her Lightsaber at the side, was the Sith Jaune had fought.

The sergeant in charge stepped forwards, "Halt!"

"Oh, no," Jause said, "no, no, no NO!"

"Remind me to yell at basic training," the Major said in resignation, apparently realizing the same thing as Jaune. They were going to try and bring her in.

She turned to them, many of the features Jaune had noticed completely removed by the blue tinge, "Well, I must give the Republic credit, they're very good at training martyrs."

"Oh, very funny," Jaune muttered, sure that was a jab at him. She thought he was dead, did she?

"We're taking you in for the-"

The Lightsaber ignited as she rushed forwards, stopping it just before the Sergeant's throat, "Your companions thought the same, as did a young man a few weeks back. Next time, I hope the Republic is ready to aim to kill."

"If that's what you want!" One of the corporals raised their Blaster, firing at her. Her arm moved so fast it was a blur, deflecting the shot back at him.

The Major gave a tired sigh as the- no, calling it a fight wasn't right, it was a strange combination of slaughter and dance started. She grabbed one soldier with the Force, sending them flying through a wall with a sickening crunch and deflecting blaster shots with her saber. Rocketing into their midst with unnatural speed, she sent another two flying into the wall where they crumpled, apparently broken. Her saber cut through two more soldiers, before impaling the last one.

Walking over to his desk, the Major sighed again, "Corporal?"

"Yes, sir?"

"You're dismissed for now. I need to- well, I think you know what I need to do. I might require your expertise on this woman soon."

"I'm not an expert-"

"You survived unscathed enough to still be capable of combat," he said, "that's the closest we have at the moment. Do you have any skill with vibroblades?"

"Yes, sir. It was my primary form of training when I was younger. I have my swo-"

"Is it Lightsaber resistant?"

"No, sir."

"Then," he sighed, "I'll work on it, Corporal."

- X Ruby X-

Ruby stared at the message from Harkun, growling slightly. Why did he want them now?

Standing up, Ruby walked towards the shower, cleaning herself as quickly as possible. All the while, she grumbled about Harkun's love of informing them of a meeting the day of said meeting.

Rushing out of the bathroom, Ruby grabbed her clothes and pulled them on. Pyrrha opened her eyes, blinking tiredly at her, "Wuz goin' on?"

"Harkun," Ruby supplied, "I gotta go."

"Ok," Pyrrha said, laying her head back down, "See you when you get back…"

Ruby rolled her eyes, grabbing her vibroblade in one hand and strapping the sheath to her belt and sliding the bracelet Teacher had given her onto her right wrist and pulled the sleeve over it. Who knew Pyrrha slept in so much?

Balak smiled at Ruby as he stepped away from his and Wyrd's room, his own vibrosword strapped to his back, "Hi, Ruby."

"Hey," Ruby inclined her head, falling back into her mask, "Where's your brother?"

"Oh," Balak's smile faltered, "Wyrd got up before me. He went to get food without me."

"Wooooww," Ruby drew out, "What a jerk!"

"It's nothing," Balak said, "He's always been like that."

"If you say so," Ruby said, running her hand on the hilt of her sword. The pair lapsed into silence until they reached Harkun's office

"Slaves," Harkun said, pacing in front of his desk, "I'd reprimand you for being late, but you're not the last ones here."

"Who-?" Ruby stopped, noticing Ffon and Gerr. Oh, crap…

"Now," Harkun said, apparently not willing to wait for Wyrd to arrive before he started, "for reasons I don't know, nor need to know, Lord Zash has ordered us to speed up. As such, I'm assigning your next assignment now. Balak, you're to go and help Lord Renning with his study on Tuk'ata."

"Yes, sir," Balak said.

"Rose, you're to go down to the tomb of Marka Ragnos and retrieve a holocron stored within-"

"Easy," Ruby nodded, but stopped at Harkun's grin.

"Oh, no," Harkun said, "This is Lord Zash getting rid of you. No one has succeeded in removing that holocron from where it is stored before."

"Yeah, well," Ruby muttered to herself, "We'll see how long that las-"

"Sorry I'm late, milord," Wyrd said, rushing into the room, and unintentionally knocking Balak into Ruby. Ruby quickly faked stumbling back, the expected result when someone like her was hit by someone into Balak, "I didn't see the mess-"

"I don't care about your excuses, slave!" Harkun snapped, lightning leaping from his hands to strike Wyrd. Ruby looked between them and Balak, who started to step forward and open his mouth, and did the only practical thing to do.

She wrapped one arm around Balak, backpedaling out of the room and effortlessly ignoring his attempts to lunge out of her grip…

And his elbow hitting her square between the eyes, "Balak. Balak!"

"Let. Me. Go!" Balak continued to try and rush back into the room, "I'm gonna-"

"I'm trying to save both of your lives," Ruby hissed in his ear, "Best case scenario if you run back in there, Harkun starts shocking you both. Worst case? He kills you and Wyrd, or kills Wyrd to hurt you, or kills you to hurt Wyrd. He's not gonna kill him, Balak. If he lets me get away with all I do, Wyrd'll be fine."

"But, but…" Balak struggled a bit more, before sagging forward, defeated, "I know."

"Come on," Ruby said, continuing to tug Balak away just to be safe, "you're not helping Wyrd any by not doing your assignment."

- X Blake X-

"Ready?" Blake asked, drawing Gambol Shroud in one hand and flicking on the Sorosuub fusion cutter with her other.

"You betcha!" Nora's voice came across, a bit too cheerful for what they were about to do.

"Alright, I'm making the first incision in three, two, one, mark."

Blake resisted the instinctual flinch as Nora's missile rocketed across the space, striking the wall of the building below and exploding to several cries of "Contact!" and a hail of blaster fire. Across the channel, Blake heard Nora give a cackle of glee before returning fire.

Blake breathed in as the cutter finished its square path, turning it off and carefully removing the panel before slipping inside. Slowly reaching into the pouch on her side, Blake pulled out a pair of biotic grenades.

Setting the detonators as she carefully moved along the rafters, Blake quietly spoke into the mic, "Ready, N?"

"Yep!"

"Right," Blake said, "Remember, no-"

"No names, I know!"

Blake rolled her eyes as another missile flew through the air, blasting several droids off their feet as Blake shifted her position slightly and threw the grenades onto the wall. Drawing Gambol Shroud and an ion grenade, Blake leaned back, throwing the grenade at a group of droids as she began falling towards the ground. Doing a flip to land on her feet as the grenades went off, Blake lunged forward grabbing the nearest guard and yanking him behind a crate.

Ignoring the elbow to her left eye, Blake slammed the hilt of Gambol Shroud into her target, hitting the cluster of nerves duros had under their armpit to send him reeling. Shifting Gambol Shroud, she applied it to the back of his head and fired it twice.

Blake slinked away from the body as Nora charged through the breach. A droid flew over the boxes, half its body shattered as Nora let out another laugh.

"What is she? A cyborg? She can't be- MY LEG!"

Blake settled into position, doing her best to ignore the sound of Nora smashing her way through the guards. Sometimes literally, as the droids sailing over Blake's head were testament to.

Blake pulled out her shock glove, sliding it on with a sigh. Blake was starting to suspect this was the only job Braden actually cared about, as the other two had been fairly standard fare while this one was protected by a force of mercenaries and droids.

The door slid open, a hail of blaster fire launching at Nora and sending her Aura flashing. Nora shifted Magnhild, firing a flash grenade into the room without a flinch.

The moment the light faded, Blake ran in, latching the stun glove around the weequay's face and followed him as he fell. Gesturing to Nora, Blake took the cable and quickly began tying their target up.

"One step closer," Blake murmured, enjoying applying some of the skills she had built up in the White Fang for something good.

- AN -

Thoughts? Good? Bad? Meh? I'm curious on people's opinion on Kiki joining a "delivery service" for a bit