Weiss stepped off the ramp, the hard gravel crunching underneath her boots. The low hanging suns ushering in the cool breeze, a welcome change from the burning heat of the desert. On her back Weiss carried a small pack, her soiled uniform and blaster rifle tucked away inside. Nervous, alone and aimless, she stepped away from the freighter.

She could feel the stare burning into the back of her head. Weiss knew she couldn't turn back, the feelings of guilt were strange, unexpected, but if she turned back they would surely overwhelm her.

Walking out of the hangar Weiss reinforced in her mind the simple fact that she could never be what Ruby wanted her to be. She was an Imperial officer, and proud of it. Both of them wanted peace, but Weiss knew that it could never come from anything but the power of the Empire. The unity and order Imperial rule had brought could be used to create a truly peaceful galaxy. While the Empire's power had come from brutality, with time Weiss could turn that viciousness into benevolence.

Ruby simply represented the honorable side of the Rebellion, as Weiss liked to think she did for the Empire. Both sides had heroes and villains, terrorists and freedom fighters, leaders and tyrants. Yet only the Empire had the resources, the position, to truly change things. One person was not enough to change the galaxy.

Ruby watched Weiss leave, unsure of how to feel. Instead she felt it all at once, a maelstrom of emotions. Sadness, guilt, regret, anger. Weiss had gone from a hated adversary to someone Ruby hesitantly called friend. Of course Weiss would never see it that way, but Ruby saw the good in her. So she held out hope that one day Weiss would see the Empire as Ruby did, experience it as she had.

The Alliance had won many battles, but it had also lost an equal amount. There was a long way to go before they could restore freedom to the galaxy. To defeat the Empire they would need every person they could get. Even a single being could change the galaxy.

Yang and Blake strolled through the active streets of Mos Eisley. Just as in the daytime the spaceport was bustling with all manner of creatures, and all manner of lowlifes. Despite the obvious danger, the atmosphere was cheerful. Yet while outwardly pleasant, under the veil of drinking, flirting and laughing lay, fighting, dealing and murder. All things Yang's was accustomed to and experienced with.

Fighting the strong urges to stop and partake in the boisterous nightlife, Yang continued to push through the crowd. Carrying the few things that Blake owned the pair walked cautiously back to the ship. From the corner of her eye Blake spied a group of stormtroopers moving through the crowd. "Stormtroopers," Blake whispered to Yang. Yang spared them a glance before picking up the pace,

"Let's hope they are not here for Ruby, or us," Yang murmured as discreetly as possible. The Stormtroopers walked past the pair, Yang smiling and nodding awkwardly to the group, the white clad soldiers taking no notice of them. "Well that eliminates us," Blake said as she pushed on towards the hangars.

"Yeah, but let's get out of here as fast as possible anyway," Yang said as she matched Blake's pace.

Reaching the hangars the pair noticed groups of stormtroopers inspecting the various ships parked inside. Sticking to the shadows the two made it towards their ship, the troopers getting uncomfortably close to the ship. Jogging towards the Ember they noticed a wary looking Ren standing guard. Yang nodded a greeting, "What's with the bucket heads?"

"Penny picked up an Imperial transmission, they sent a scouting team down to the planet looking for Ruby and Weiss."

"Penny?" Yang wondered aloud, Ren sighed and shrugged,

"P3-NY started requesting we call her a more humanoid name. Strangest droid I have ever encountered." Ren and Yang nodded thoughtfully, Blake breaking the silence,

"I believe you said something about getting out of here as fast as possible?" Blake's accusing tone forcing Yang and Ren out of their contemplation. Yang smirked and pushed the other two inside, "I believe I did."

Weiss wiped the sweat from her brow as she keyed in the final communications codes. There was only one thing that could so easily unsettle the calculating Imperial Captain. Her Father.

The holo projector flickered to life, the emotionless face of Grand Moff Schnee materializing before her. "Daughter, a pleasure it is to see you alive," his deep voice tingling with amusement.

"Hello Father," Weiss replied meekly.

"Last I heard you had turned Rebel, helping a prisoner escape no less." His infuriatingly mocking tone testing Weiss' composure.

"That is a lie Father I-"

"Was betrayed by Lieutenant Winchester, yes I imagined as much," his face forming the 'know-it-all' expression Weiss was well accustomed to seeing. "The boy has promise, but he is too eager, overconfident. Have no fear though, he will soon learn the error of his ways," Weiss winced as her Father smiled, the sickening expression filled with bloodlust. Weiss' mouth only opened a fraction before she was interrupted, "I have sent someone to deal with Mr Winchester. Your Star Destroyer I believe is in orbit of your location," Her Father paused, her stomach sinking as he eyed her with suspicion. "You will return to command, but sadly news of this incident has spread. You are the talk of the Imperial Navy, many truly believe you have betrayed the Empire. If this talk continues you will either end up discharged or worse. You need to give them something to sate their suspicion."

"L-like what?" Weiss knew the answer but still hoped she was wrong. Her father looked at her knowingly, seemingly seeing through her charade.

"You spent time with at least one Rebel, if you were to provide more information about them, perhaps where they are located, it could go a long way to clearing your name completely."

Weiss froze, her thoughts conflicted. As if under a spell, her mouth started moving, yet she dared not hear the words coming from her own lips. Once she finished, her Father's sickening smile returned and the hologram faded away. She had betrayed Ruby.

The Ember shot out of Mos Eisley, disappearing into the dark night sky. In the cockpit Yang and Ren frantically prepared for battle. Yang reached over to trigger the ship wide comms, "Blake! Ruby! Get to the guns!"

Blake ran though the ships hallways, meeting a depressed Ruby halfway to the gunners well. "You alright?" Blake asked as she started climbing down the ladder, Ruby looked down and shook her head. "I'm fine, let's focus on getting out of here alive," Ruby's voice devoid of its usual cheerfulness. Blake slid down the ladder and into the gunner's chair, "good idea," she whispered to herself as she fixed the headset on and activated the guns targeting system.

Looking out of the gun's viewport Blake could now see stars, the ship having properly left Tatooine. "Ooh boy, there is one angry looking Star Destroyer bearing down on us," Yang said through Blake's headset. "I doubt these turrets will do much against that," Blake said cynically, hoping Yang didn't actually want them to attack the Star Destroyer. "Very funny," Yang said with little humour in her voice, "Ember is a lot faster than any Star Destroyer, it's the damn fighters I want you two looking out for. Got that Ruby?"

Ruby shook herself back into the moment, removing any thoughts of Weiss as she spoke, "Yeah, shoot the fighters, got it."

"Here we go," Yang mumbled nervously as she spun the ship out of the Star Destroyers oncoming fire. Ruby and Blake moved with the ship, their guns now facing the metal behemoth behind them. Blake had never been on this side of a space battle, she was usually the one looking out at the fleeing target.

Ruby aimed her gun at the hangar bays of the Star Destroyer, this was far from her first encounter facing a Star Destroyer, she just hoped it went better than last time.

"Here they come," Ren said from Yang's side as he operated the ships scanners. Yang rolled her shoulders, and gripped the controls hard. "Incoming TIE Fighters, we need another ten minutes before we can make the jump to hyperspace," Ren called into the comms.

Blake and Ruby could just make out the enemy ships, the TIE Fighters coming at them blindingly fast. Within moments the fighters were upon them, both Ruby and Blake opening fire at the TIE Fighters as they came in range. Green and red bolts flew past each other, the Ember shaking as the defectors absorbed several hits. The fighters broke away to avoid Blake and Ruby's fire, splitting into two groups either side of the Ember.

Yang caught sight of several fighters passing her, and with a grimace she pulled the ship after them. Now chasing a group of TIE Fighters Ruby opened fire at the exposed targets. Her shots burst through one of the fighter's cockpits, the ship exploding before them. Blake fired now too, but the remaining fighters had already begun evasive maneuvers. Unable to hit them Blake spun her gun towards the other group of fighters now approaching the ship's right side. Blake fired in an arc, her shots colliding with two fighters, the mass produced ships crumbling under the laser fire. "I got two!" Blake cried triumphantly.

Ruby picker her shots carefully, used to dogfighting in a fighter of her own she easily shot down the remaining fighters in front of the Ember. "I'm up to three!" Ruby looking down to Blake with a smile on her face. Blake looked up with a confused glare, "It's not a competition," she said dryly

"Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, whoever gets the most gets to use the showers first," Yang spoke through gritted teeth as she desperately avoided fire from both the Star Destroyer and the TIE Fighters. "Why does going first matter?" Blake asked as she returned to shooting.

"Well, thing is, the heating system is busted so a hot shower only lasts for a minute or so," Yang forcing out an anxious laugh as she finished.

Blake and Ruby shared a nervous glance, before both retuned to shooting with a new found vigor. Yang, now with all her enemies behind her, started spinning the ship to avoid their fire. Ren franticly diverted power to both the hyperdrive and rear deflector shields. "We are nearly ready to jump, just another minute or so," Ren said as his hand drifted to the hyperdrive controls, ready to jump as soon as they could.

Ruby continued to have an easier time shooting, she was truly in her element. The spinning had little effect on her, and she easily destroyed another three fighters. Blake had resorted to a more wild fire technique, thrown off by the spinning and the fast moving fighters she decided that her best option was to shoot as much as possible. As haphazard as the technique was, she did score another two Tie's.

A light flickered on the ships dashboard, Yang taking her eyes off the viewport to look down. With a cocky smile she looked to Ren, "Punch it!" Without needing to be told twice, Ren slammed the lever down, the stars streaking into blue light as the freighter left Tatooine.

Surrounded by a team of Stormtroopers Weiss stepped back onboard her Star Destroyer. The officers stood in rank and file either side of her. Yet immediately she noticed that these were not the people that had served under her. New faces, unfamiliar faces. "Who are you?" Weiss asked no one in particular. A young officer stepped up,

"Uh, Your previous command team was deemed unfit for duty, they were removed from command." The young officer's voice was shaky and hesitant. Weiss looked into his eyes, naturally his not daring to meet hers. She saw fear.

It clicked almost immediately. She didn't know why she had suspected anything different from her Father. Weiss turned away from the young officer, hands quivering she quickly hid them in her jacket. It was hard to feel sorry for Cardin, he was the epitome of what everyone saw as the quintessentially ruthless Imperial officer. The rest of them though, they were innocent, they had served dutifully under Weiss, she had dared called several of them friends. "Dismissed," Weiss whispered, her voice catching in her throat. No one moved. "Dismissed!" Weiss shouted, eyeing the scurrying officers as they left.

Weiss dropped her bag, discarding it without a care. She straightened herself, her hands clasping behind her back. With a confident strut she made her way to her quarters. Eye's followed her as she moved through the ship, her team of Stormtroopers behind her.

Her quarters were untouched. Cardin had obviously not had enough time to move in before her Fathers assassin had dealt with him. "Trooper, my Father sent an agent, bring him here immediately." She didn't look back, instead taking the sound of his boots moving as confirmation of her order. Weiss quickly go to work discarding the borrowed clothes and donning her Imperial uniform

The uniform didn't feel right, the fit seemed all wrong. Weiss knew she had worn it several hundred times, yet this time unlike the others, it felt different. A knock sounded at the door and Weiss spun, patting down the uniform to make sure it looked neat. "Enter," Weiss said with head raised. The door slid open with a hiss and in stepped a strange figure. Clad in black, eyes covered by a red visor, horns poking out just above his hair. "Inquisitor Adam Taurus, you must be Schnee's daughter." The inquisitor stepped inside, visor slowly scanning the room, hand tracing over the spotless desk.

"Yes," Weiss said cautiously, "I am the daughter of Grand Moff Schnee," she said putting emphasis on his title. Taurus smirked,

"Your Father called in a pretty big favour, I don't just work for any Moff that comes along and needs his daughter's bullying problem dealt with. Though you won't have to worry about that anymore, your issue has indeed been dealt with."

"You killed my command team," Weiss stated without fear. Adam moved close, looking down on the Imperial captain.

"I wiped them out, got rid of your problem, sent a clear message to your new officers too," Adam nearly whispering in Weiss' ear.

"Well then, you are no longer needed, I will make preparations for a shuttle to take you back to wherever it is you came from." Weiss looked into his visor now, fighting back the creeping tendrils of fear that crawled up her spine. "No need Captain, I plan on staying for a while. You see, I helped you and now you have to help me,"

"With what?" Weiss asked curiously. Adam stepped back, turning away from Weiss,

"The freighter your ship failed to capture. I can lead you to it, all you have to do is apprehend the occupants and deliver them to me." Adam's blasé tone changed, a dark seriousness creeping into his voice. Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, Ruby had escaped, it was the first she had heard of the incident. "Well I doubt we were able to track their hyperspace jump, I'm afraid for the time being they have escaped."

Adam chuckled, "Your technology will only get you so far, I can find them."

"May I ask how you are tracking them?"

"No, you may not. You will just have to trust me." Adam stared her down, his face emitting a relaxed confidence, like a predator about to strike easy prey. Weiss pursed her lips, brow furrowing in anger. She felt sick, like she had talking to her Father, it all felt wrong. "F-fine, tell me where the ship is and we will hunt them down." The words turning bitter in her mouth as she said them. Adam nodded, sporting a sickening smile to match her Father's. Without another word he left, leaving Weiss alone with her guilt.

'Blake' The word echoed in her mind. Her eyes snapped open and Blake sat upright. Her eyes darted around the room, reaffirming her surroundings, making sure she was still aboard the Ember.

The dreams never stopped. The flashes of her training, the memories of her planet. Always Adam's voice calling to her. This time had been particularly bad, it had felt like Adam had been in the room.

She needed to clear her head. Wrapping the thin blanket around her like a cloak she left her room to wander the ship. Everyone had gone off to rest and relax by themselves, the last few days having taken its toll on everyone.

Ren's room was the first she passed. Blake peaked inside quickly, the door not fully closing on his room. Inside Ren worked tirelessly on Penny, seemingly calm, at peace while he worked. Little seemed to truly affect the stoic rebel, he simply worked, never complaining.

Taking a few more steps down the corridor Blake passed Ruby's door. Ruby had shut herself inside hours ago, and Blake didn't need to touch the Force to feel her sadness. Weiss' departure had hit her hard, harder than any of them had expected. Everyone else however now held suspicions that the sudden Imperial interest they garnered on Tatooine was likely Weiss' doing. Ruby simply refused to believe in the betrayal.

Blake of course was more than certain. Weiss was a Schnee, and they were friends to no one but themselves. She would have sold them out for a hot meal if she could.

Finally, near the cockpit, was Yang's room. Sparing a glance inside, the door unashamedly left open, Blake saw the bounty hunter sprawled out over the bed. Blake smiled, there was no deception with Yang, in all aspects what you saw was what you got.

Letting Yang sleep Blake moved over to the cockpit. Inside she took a seat in one of the well-worn chairs, the seat creaking loudly beneath her. The streaming blue light of hyperspace dominated the view, the soft glow seeping throughout the room. Wrapping the blanket tightly around her Blake meditated. Steadying her breathing she calmed herself, pushing away the lingering thoughts of her dream. Instead of focusing on the past, she looked ahead. Blake was still uncertain of how to proceed, of what to do. After having lived a life so focused, so controlled, the freedom she now had terrified her.

"What's wrong?" A voice called, bringing Blake back to the ship. She spun the chair to see yang in a loose fitting shirt and shorts, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Nothing… Just thinking," Blake said as she turned the chair back to face the viewport. Yang fell into the chair beside her, idly checking the ships status.

"What about?" Yang asked as she turned to face Blake.

"The future, mostly," Blake said with an exasperated sigh.

"Don't bother," Yang said nonchalantly, "Dad always said to stay focused on the present. Keep your mind on what you are doing."

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Blake said in defeat.

"As I remember it you were supposed to be teaching me to control my powers. So, go ahead, teach me." Yang crossed her legs and waited eagerly. Blake glanced to her left, smiling again at the enthusiastic Yang. Spinning to face her, Blake crossed her own legs. "Fine then, let's begin. Close your eyes," Blake said as she closed her own. Tentatively Yang followed suit. "Focus on your breathing, picture yourself, calm, at peace."

For a while the two sat in silence, concentrating completely on the simple exercise. Blake ran through the teachings in her mind, hastily remembering the Holorcon's lessons. "Now picture the room, remember its every detail. Do you see it?"

"Yeah, I think so," Yang said uncertainly.

"Good, now picture the ship. See it as though you are walking through it."

Yang sat silently for a moment, Blake eventually taking this as a sign to move on. "What do you feel?" Blake asked hopefully. Yang sighed, brow furrowing in concentration. "Sadness, I feel… Sad," Yang stated with surprise.

"Who's sadness?" Blake asked eagerly, the visage of the wise teacher faltering as she grew excited at Yang's progress.

"R-ruby, I can feel her," Yang sounding slightly confused and still surprised.

"Keep going," Blake prompted.

"I feel, calm, focused. Ren, I can see him, working on Penny," Yang now sounding somewhat excited.

"Excellent, now come back to the cockpit." Blake opened her eyes to watch Yang, whose brow was still wrinkled with concentration. As if being touched by a cold breeze, Blake felt Yang reach out to her. "No!" Blake gasped, arms shooting out to grasp the still focused Yang. Suddenly, Yang let out a pained cry, falling back just out of Blake's reach.

Images flashed through Yang's mind. She saw Blake, eyes aflame with passion, anger. She saw death, countless people falling to Blake's red sabers. Yang saw others, dark figures lurking like shadows around her. Above all she saw another Faunus, a taller male, with a glowing red visor. Yang could feel it all, the hate, the pain but mostly the despair.

"Yang!" Blake shouted as she steadied Yang. Yang's eyes opened, her vision blurred slightly by tears.

"What happened?" Blake asked anxiously.

"I saw you," Yang whispered, almost with disgust. Blake's eyes widened and she turned away, embarrassed and guilty. Yang got to her feet, examining Blake in a new light. "What did I see?" Yang's voice filled with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

"The past, you saw the past. My past."

"You really did that… all those things? Killed all those people?"

"Y-yes," Blake's voice wavering with shame. Yang was shocked, unable to do anything but stare.

"And all the things they did to you?" Yang's voice dripping with pity. Blake looked back, the pain of her many scars coming back to her. All Blake could do was nod.

"Is that… What I was like, when we fought?" Yang's eyes sparkling with more tears as she asked the painful question. Blake winced,

"The darkside, it consumes you. You simply stop being yourself, and you become a monster," Blake said solemnly.

Neither one could look the other in the eye, both caught up in the pain of the past. Yang wiped her eyes, blinking away the last remnants of the visions. "I'm going back to bed, that's enough for now I think," Yang said as she hurried back to her room.

Blake sat down, alone in the cockpit once again. She sunk into the chair, unsure if she had lost a student, or found someone who could understand.

Hours later the Ember left hyperspace, shooting out into empty space. Everyone gathered in the cockpit to discuss their next move. "Well here we are, middle of nowhere. What's are next stop?" yang looking to Ruby and Ren for an answer. Ren stroked his chin,

"I need to deliver Penny to the fleet. She has hundreds of Imperial codes in her memory banks, that could prove very useful."

"I need to get back to my squadron, they probably still think I'm a prisoner." Ruby chimed in, having appeared to have broken out of her small spout of melancholy. Ren nodded agreement, "I have the co-ordinates for the fleet under Admiral Ozpin's command, your squadron should be stationed with him."

"Well then looks like we have our next destination," yang said cheerily as she handed the controls off to Ren. Blake looked to Yang, an awkward tension still hanging between them. "Are you sure we should go to the Rebel's?" Blake asked nervously,

"Why not? Rubes and Ren are big shots over in their camp. Us being on the run from the Empire, the safest place is probably with the Rebels anyway." Yang dismissing Blake's concern. Blake sighed, surrendering to Yang's logic. "I just feel, I dunno, like we are being followed,"

"I did thorough scans of the ship, I don't believe Wei-" Ren was cut off by a harsh stare from Yang, "that anyone placed any tracking devices on the ship. On top of that our jump was untraceable, I made sure of it."

"See? Nothing to worry about," Yang said confidently. Blake looked to Ruby for support, Ruby just shrugging in response. No matter what she did, Blake couldn't shake the odd sensation that she was being watched, that someone was following her.

Authors note: Sorry for the wait, the site was bugged out for a day or so meaning I had to wait to upload. If this chapter is slightly sloppy its because my editor didn't have time to go through it properly. If you find its not sloppy then I did a proper job of editing myself (yay for learning!). Anyway thanks for reading!



Next time: Reunions! Loyalty! and preparation for battle!