AN: Sorry to have kept you all waiting! I wanted to have this chapter out before Christmas but the holiday crunch had other plans. Not too much to say about this chapter, I think I can actually finish this arc up in one more chapter possibly two. After that I'll be moving onto a less combat focused one, possibly a combined arc with the engineering crew and the medics. Not entirely sure yet though. As always, enjoy the journey, keep moving forward and don't feed the guard dogs! - Phoenix Commander signing off!

Chapter Fourteen - Ghosts

Black Blade Base

It didn't take long for the assault team to pry the doors open enough for them to slip into the base one at a time; Lt. Rip's strength helped vastly with forcing the door's locking pistons apart. The pistons themselves hissed as they forced the gap in defenses closed leaving the infiltrators in darkness. Save for the almost imperceptible green light from the visors of Bampot and Long Bow's helmets as they switched to night vision. The group fanned out as they started moving down the main corridor. "Alright we're in, but where do we go from here? Any ideas Phantom? Phoenix?" Long Bow's voice whispered over the comm.

"Well, based on Wind's scans we'd better split up. Half going after the AA firing controls and the rest going after Enkeli and Dr. Fields." Phantom said, pulling up a small map on his visor, and pinging both the main terminals for the AA batteries and the holding cells for the team.

"Given they're both at the far opposite ends of the base that would be the best option, Captain." Penny's voice chimed in across the assault team's comm.

"True enough Penny. You, myself, Rip, Bampot, Lone Wolf and Long Bow will handle the AA batteries." Thamior said, looking at each marine in turn.

Martin chuckled mirthlessly, "Guess that leaves the rest of us on hostage detail. Good, I have a promise to Enkeli that I intend to keep. I swear if Summer has so much as a bruise I'll-"

"Phoenix, all due respect, now's not the time. Save it for when we see them." Surgeon said, cutting the CAG off.

Wolf followed up the hawk Faunus' chiding, "She's right, don't lose focus, we know you're pissed and rightly so. But we need your head on straight."

"Seeing that they launched fighters there can't be many more of these bastards left to defend the base. Whatcha think, Dragon?… Dragon?" Bampot whispered looking at the half-Faunus marksman.

Dragon had her eyes closed as they moved, as if trying to block out her surrounding, trying to listen for something. Then she heard it, a whirring noise signaling the geothermal generators kicking back on. "Bampot, Long Bow, visors off! Everyone get into cover quick, the power is about to kick back on!"

The assault team broke in half and scrambled to get out of the main corridor and into the cover offered by a few side corridors, just as the lights in the main corridor came back to life. Black Fang chimed in over the comm, "Guess the power chose which routes we're gonna take. Good luck getting the batteries down Alpha squad, see ya back on Blizzard."

"Copy that Black Fang. Beta squad remember, Dr. Fields' safety is the priority, Enkeli is secondary." Thamior replied, giving the other assault team a rehash of their R.O.E as he lead his team at a quick walk down a corridor away from the entrance. He tuned into a private frequency, "Paint the walls if you have to, Phoenix. Remember this is not the Battle of the Glenn, you're not trapped in your bird you can actually fight back. But the others are right, don't do anything stupid."

"I'll get my fill before we get to the holding cells. Besides I was going over a few things on the flight down. He and I are pretty similar, we both lost people during the war. But I know our differences, I want to show him just how similar we are before I need to put a bullet in his skull." Martin growled, his hands white-knuckling his assault rifle as Wolf took point leading them in the opposite direction.

"Martin…" The battalion commander paused, hesitant, what he was about to say was never taken lightly and was only ever done as a last resort. "If you need to, remember why we always keep our species ashes aboard the our ships. I don't think she, or Qrow, will blame you." The blue eyed phoenix Faunus said, switching to a fireteam frequency. "All right let's get this done. We'll link back up with Beta squad at Blizzard. Penny, if I find a terminal do you think you could at least kill the lights throughout the base?"

The ship's AI chirped in his helmet, "The lighting in a base this size will have a sectored lighting grid. So I'll only be able to take a portion of the light down at one time. It should just take a few seconds to accomplish, assuming they don't have an AI acting as a guard dog."

"Understood, it's not much but it'll help. Now let's get our job done." The marine grunted, looking around for a terminal so Penny could kill the lights. If he has to pull the trigger to save Summer and they actually manage to take Enkeli alive, Martin is not going to be gentle getting him to the rendezvous. That's assuming our good doctor doesn't somehow kill the bastard herself, I can't imagine she's too happy about being used.

In Orbit

"So how do you think they're doing down there, Coco?" Velvet asked her copilot, the lack of word from the CAP and Battalion captains was making her nervous.

A chuckle came over her headset as the Osprey bomber pilot replied, "They're fine Velv, right now I'm more interested in what's been going on between you and that grease monkey of a raven Faunus. What did you say his name was again?"

"Jason, WO Jason Breach. And he's not a grease monkey, he's one of the engineers working on the DAC. If he were a grease monkey he'd be Pvt. Wukong after getting onto Maj. Goodwitch's or Capt. Thamior's bad side." The rabbit Faunus answered, her voice squeaking slightly at what her pilot was insinuating. "Plus there's nothing really happening between us. We just talked as he helped me with a few of the problems we were having with Crosshare."

Lt. Coco Adel could hear the change in her copilot's voice, so she continued to tease her. It helped ease the tension of waiting and when the time came to bring the rain down on to the mountain range they'd be in a better mindset to focus. "Hhhmmm, I wouldn't call working on the landing gear hydraulics of our bomber for almost an hour together nothing. Especially when you could have let the deck crew handle it, they'd have done it in half that time."

"I-It was more than just the hydraulics, we had to rewire three consoles too!" The bombardier retorted, the embarrassed squeak in her voice rising a little.

"Sure, sure and I bet the-" Coco started to reply only to be cut off by Beacon Actual relaying information over the CAP wide comms.

"Beacon Actual to all squadrons we have twenty four fighters in bound from the surface of the planet with twelve transports trailing them. Red and White squadrons clear the fighters for our Ospreys to get through," Commander Ozpin ordered, sending out the entire CAP to deal with thirty-six ships was certainly overkill. But he wanted to be careful. If Doctor Fields was on one of the transports, which was doubtful at best, it would be a better option to lessen the chance of bloodshed if the rogue Col. was cooperating. "Black and Yellow squadrons cripple the transports but do not destroy them. If Doctor Fields is on one of them we don't want to harm her. Shield, Sentinel, Hammer and Shinobi standby to bring marines to the transports for boarding actions."

"This is Demon to Red squadron I want no more than three of you on one fighter, I don't need you getting in each other's way!" Ruby ordered over her squadron's comm channel.

"Copy that Demon!" Crazy Ivan replied as his Hawk broke formation with Red squadron.

Kamikaze broke off formation with White squadron, "If you think you and Red squadron will get the lion share Crazy Ivan you have another thing coming!" The pilot said over the CAP wide comm.

"Just focus on the fighters you two!" Demon and Ice Queen called over the comm simultaneously.

Ruby noticed a ping in her helmet HUD, "At least we both have the same mentality in the cockpit. - IQ"

The red clad pilot chuckled and sent a reply, letting her console transmit her words, as she pushed her Hawk toward the enemy fighters to engage, "Our pilots can handle themselves. I know they are just being competitive, but they need to be careful. If they get someone killed there will be Hell to pay."

Weiss blinked a few times her mind trying to figure out what was going on in her silver eyed counterpart's mind, she was different than she had been during the academy. What happened to the nervous, high strung woman I knew in the academy? The alabaster haired phoenix Faunus thought. She paused in sending her reply as she flipped her Hawk into a tight turn, over taking an enemy pilot. One of her squadron pilots was lined up on her wing to also take a shot. She eyed her firing controls, waited for the lock tone and just as she did in her old training simulations, blanked out everything. She squeezed the trigger. Two pairs of white lines cut through the vacuum as both Hawk pilots opened fire. The fighter's engines sputtered as the first line of Dust energy struck, disabling it. The second and third shots struck just behind the canopy, turning the main body of the fuselage into a frozen mural as the internal systems started dying. The last found its mark on the fighter's canopy, ice formed, spider-webbing over it until with a large cloud of ice crystals and expelled oxygen it burst. The lone pilot drifting near the disabled craft.

As the leader of White Squadron banked her Hawk hard to face another fighter she could see a flash of red as Red Squadron leader cut her off from engaging, killed her engine letting her momentum carry her forward, and opened fire on the enemy craft with her twin lightning-dust canons. As the twin energy blasts neared their target the enemy pilot tried to maneuver and avoid the attack. The pilot was to slow and the energy beams clipped one of its wings, crippling it. Demon pulsed the Crescent Rose's thrusters and turned with the enemy craft as it continued to drift, bathing it in lightning energy causing cascade power failures in the ship. She didn't stop firing until the wreckage was slagged from the heat of its own engines going critical. "Sorry about jumping your target Ice Queen. I got a little tunnel visioned back there."

"All good, Demon just keep your head and let's finish up." Weiss replied, she was not angry about the wild action, but she was a little concerned about it. I'm going to have to have a talk with you before the Captain gets back. You're more serious than I ever remember seeing you and now that little stunt. What has gotten into you?

Ruby sent a message to Weiss' HUD as she banked to rejoin her formation. "Meet me in the port viewing deck, when things have quieted down." The silver eyed pilot silently berated herself as she scanned the area looking for another target. That was beyond stupid. If you wanted her to notice you, that was not the way to do it! You have to be careful too. Ugh… it's ok, just remain calm and fly smart. Just tell her outright when you see her. And make sure all your pilots get home. Doesn't help that what Blake said has me on edge too.

Ice Queen sent a ping to Demon in acknowledgment. She watched Kamikaze bank hard until he was perpendicular with his quarry, a lone craft whose left wing had been slagged. The human broadsided the enemy with fire-dust, raking the Hawk from nose to tail slagging it almost immediately. "Woohoo! That's another for White Squadron!" The pilot cried as he circled looking for another fighter.

"And that's still one less than Red Squadron, Kamikaze!" Crazy Ivan called out as the appearance of a pair of two micro-star systems announced the destruction of two more enemy Hawks.

At least they're still flying and doing a decent job. I think Pyro and Shadow can get their squadrons to the transports now to cripple them. Weiss thought with a short almost approving nod, as she turned to reinforce the blockade a frown creased her lips. This was way too easy.

"Alright it looks like Demon and Ice Queen's boys opened up the transports for us. Let's get at'em!" Yang called over both Black and Yellow Squadron's comms.

"Copy that, Pyro I think things have been tense enough. Let's get finished quick I have a book to get back to and I'd like to finish reading it before the Captain gets back." Shadow replied coolly as both squadrons jumped toward the twelve troop carriers.

"If I didn't know any better, Shadow I'd say you were bored." Reaper chuckled as he broke formation for the closest transport, followed quickly by Highwind.

"You know she's not bored, Reaper. If Black Leader was bored she'd have us running laps in the hangar while she read." Wind replied as she and Reaper circled the transport, dodging the occasional retaliation fire from the slow craft's smaller canons, raking it with lighting and fire dust and effectively clipping its wings and engines. I hope my scans were accurate enough for the away team. Our Ospreys need those guns down and they can't be late getting to Dr. Fields either.

"Hey Wind, watch your left you've got a craft slipping by!" Blake called over the comm as she moved to intercept it.

"Sorry about that Black Leader." The 2nd Lt. replied, spinning her Hawk into a one-eighty and lining herself up behind the troop carrier's engines, right in it's blindspot. The pilot let loose a barrage of lightning-dust directly into the thrusters of the transport.

"That makes two down, only a handful left. Keep your cool, Wind." Black Leader said, breaking off from the crippled troop carrier and looking for another. Maybe this was overkill but at least it makes sure nothing slips by. Get back soon Phoenix, I want to have a talk with you when you're free. If the Crimson Flame sent these kinds of people after us it was probably so we could eliminate their leadership so they could absorb them into their own ranks. Her thoughts were interrupted by a ping on her HUD.

Yellow Leader was in a similar mindset. The lilac eyed phoenix Faunus was white knuckling her firing controls, letting her console translate and send her words to Blake as she corkscrewed around the length of one of the last transports. "They goaded this fool into emptying his base against a group that outmatched him. We need to let the higher ups know, or we'll be feeding something that's just gonna bite us in the ass."

As the leaders of Yellow and Black squadrons banked to reform the screen in high orbit over the mountain range Shadow sent her reply, "Agreed. We need to nip this in the bud and fast or at least make sure Vale Fleet Command knows what could be happening. A few battle groups would free us to explore the quadrant and be able to help fight if needed."

"This wasn't the simple deployment Qrow made it seem." Pyro muttered to herself as she looked at the planet below her.

As the swarm of the Beacon's Hawk fighters finished circling the overwhelmed force of the Black Blades, no one noticed a small object floating amongst the debris of the battlefield. A probe roughly a meter long and two meters wide was transmitting the chaos to its owners.

Alpha Team

Thamior swiftly yanked his knife from the base of a guard's skull. Sheathing the blade, the marksman brought his rifle to bear scanning the intersection his fireteam had come across. "Clear left, clear right."

Lt. Rip moved the body and placed it in an alcove to keep from being found easily, and rejoined the squad formation. "So far so good. I wonder how many more of them there are?"

"Not that many, he's only the eighth we've seen." Bampot grunted as he rounded the corner to cover the fireteam's rear.

Low Bow ground his teeth a little, "This is too easy. It's almost like he's being given to us. The base is understaffed, as a defense squadron that really should have been ten times what it is. This feels wrong somehow."

Lone Wolf scanned a branching corridor, "Clear right. You're not wrong Bow. Everything is screaming that what we're doing is helping some not friendly people."

Thamior threw himself against the wall on the left and chirped his comm once signaling a contact. The other four members of the fireteam got into position to back up Phantom if things went pear shaped. The battalion commander glanced down the hall again, and signaled the fireteam to fallback. Once they were out of ear shot he finally spoke, "There's six of them between us and the next turn we need to take."

"Shall I terminate the lights in this sector, Captain? It would give you and the team an advantage over them." Penny asked, her voice worryingly cheery at the word terminate. She had helped them so far by killing the lighting in each sector and at one point overloaded a console, killing the guard who had been standing too close. The fireteam was starting to think she was enjoying herself.

Thamior nodded, thinking a little. "Yes, we'll need the lights down. Rip, one of them is near a console I want you to take him out before focusing on the other five. We can't let anyone raise the alarm, as far as the Black Blades know there isn't anything wrong inside the base yet, let's keep it that way. The rest are in standard guard formation and should go down quick, there's no cover between them and us except for the support columns. Everyone clear?"

As the team took up position, Long Bow and Bampot switched their visors to night vision and Penny killed the lights a few moments later. There was a single sharp report as Rip's bullet found the guard's eye and dropped him to the floor. The remaining hostiles scrambled to try and react but another shot from Rip and four more from the assault team put an end to their resistance. "Nice shot, Rip. Keep shooting like that and you might surpass me." Phantom nodded approvingly in the darkness of the corridor at the downed marine. Quickly surveying the bodies to make sure they were down for good, Thamoir motioned for them to keep moving. "We're not far now, let's get our job done and get back to Frost."

After passing a few more corridors Alpha Team made it to the main guidance and firing controls for the base's AA-batteries. "This is it Captain, plug me in and I'll handle the rest." The Beacon's AI said enthusiastically.

"Alright, we'll cover the door till you're done. Be careful in there, just 'cause you didn't run into an AI yet doesn't mean there ain't one. I want to bring you back in one piece, you hear me?" The battalion commander cautioned, artificial or not Penny was part of the crew and if he was being honest, he liked the quirky AI.

"Loud and clear, Sir. I'll be in and out quickly." Penny said, as Thamior plugged her into a console. He could have sworn he could hear a salute in her voice.

The AI was drifting once more into the sea of codes. Waves of numbers, letters and symbols washed over her, flooding her mind with sensor data from the AA-batteries, the back logged data from the sensors in the base that she had been blocking, even power output from the overloaded lighting circuits of the base. "Alright, now if I was the command line for a guidance system where would I be… Ah there you are." Penny said, finding a string of code floating in the sea of information. Without a second thought she took it in her hands and started to unravel it. Without the guidance systems the AA-batteries would have to be fired manually. And as Alpha Team's tour of the base showed her, the renegade marines of the Black Blade was in no position to do that. The Ospreys of the VKS: Beacon would be able to hit the base unhindered.

As she prepared to leave the system another line of information caught her attention. A file directory, to a dossier. "The Black Claw Collective… codenamed this as Albatros. What would the Black Blades be doing with one of their dossiers?" The secretive organization were effectively boogiemen. The only thing that was universally known about them were their underhanded dealings, ranging from smuggling to assassination to intelligence gathering. Their network was vast so no one was really sure if they were working for the good of the Alliance or against it. Most said both and that not even the Collective knew about every job they were apart of. "Hmm… well I do have time." Penny said, opening the dossier. "W-what?" The dossier only held one name, Raven Branwen-Rose.

"Why would they have a dossier on Phoenix's late wife?" The AI pondered confused. As she read further though, her confusion turned to cascade of emotions her processes didn't know what to do with. "Status… alive?! Last mission… operation Mountain Heart… outcome... successful..." There were other missions listed as well. Many were codenamed for things she did not know, but a few she did know, as they referred to Alliance operations, but Mountain Heart could have only been referring to the destruction of Mountain Glenn, Penny signaled for Thamior to pull her out of the system. She was a God damn double all these years! Did Fleet Command even know she was a Collective agent?!

As Phantom pulled her out of the Black Blade's systems he could tell something was wrong. "Penny talk to me, even if you're just a voice in my head right now I can hear when something is up. What happened in there?" He signaled for Alpha Team to hold position at the door.

"That traitorous bitch got them all killed!" The AI growled, if she could have picked up something she might have smashed it into the firing control.

Thamoir felt his eyes go wide, he'd never heard of an AI speaking in that manner or getting this emotional. "Penny, calm down. Who got people killed?"

"Raven, your sister-in-law, is still alive! Just get me back to the ship, Maj. Goodwitch and Commander Ozpin need to hear this too and I don't want to have to repeat everything." Penny spat vehemently, she almost wished she hadn't opened the dossier, she wished her curiosity hadn't gotten the better of her. And above all the AI hoped Martin never found out about it.

Alpha Team moved as quickly as they could, everyone of them tense. Lost in their own thoughts as to what this meant. Thamior above all was ghost white, his eyes shifted from their usual blue to black. This better not mean what I think it does because I will shoot her out an airlock myself if I ever see her again.