Forty crew, four starfighters, one transport ship. Eight heavy turbolaser turrets, two medium turbolaser turrets. A multitude of point-defence laser cannons, four heavy proton torpedo tubes. The shields were at least equivalent to an Imperial class I, the hull was easily comparable minus a few weak points involving the ventral hangar bay.

Ren had done wonders, the life support systems were now running at full capacity. The engines needed a little more time, but the guns, shields and general facilities were now up and running. Weiss had sent the crew to start practicing with the guns, and Ace squadron had been sent to scan through the other wreckage to find anything they could use. That left Weiss to take care of the planning, and studying her father's new weapon. She had to figure out this weapon, and find a way to negate it lest it end their rescue before it could begin.

Sitting on the bridge Weiss read over the reports, fascinated by the strange properties of the missile. Her focus was interrupted by the hissing sound of the doors opening behind her. The methodical clunking of metal feet against the floor surprised Weiss. Spinning around she saw Penny walk in carrying a heavy load of what appeared to be blasters. "Penny? I didn't know Ren brought you,"

"Sorry captain, I was offline but Ren said he needed me to show you some things he found," Penny said in her usual cheerfulness as she dropped the blasters at her feet. Weiss raised her eyebrow in surprise at the pile of rifles. "So the ship is stocked with weaponry?"

"Yes, the armoury of the ship is fully stocked and in great condition!"

"Thank you for the update," Weiss said as studied the blaster rifles, "I'm sure they will be useful in out upcoming space engagement."

"Oh that's fantastic! I'm not really sure how they could be useful, space battles usual use larger weapons but if you think you can do it then good luck!" Penny gave Weiss a clumsy thumb up, completely missing Weiss' sarcasm. Weiss sighed, the droid waiting to be dismissed, "You can return to Ren now Penny, I'm sure he needs you,"

"Aye aye Captain!" Penny said as she gave a mock salute. Now she could add the contents of the armoury to her list of resources. At the very least the list looked more complete, tricking her into feeling better. A console beeped nearby, Weiss gliding over on her moveable chair. "Weiss here,"

"This is Ace one, we found another load of torpedos in one of the other wrecked ships, sending through the co-ordinates," Ruby's voice coming through slightly warbled, interference seemed to be an issue in the graveyard. Weiss passed on the message to the transport ship, now being used as a freighter to pick up anything of interest out in the mess of destroyed ships. Now without interruption Weiss returned to her study, going over the elements of the missile that had destroyed the Beacon.

For the most part it looked like a standard projectile, nothing particularly special except for the strange fuel source used to power the weapon. Weiss couldn't determine what it was, only it wasn't a normal power source, and that it was several times more powerful than any power source fitted into standard torpedoes. The missile seemed to have shield retardant energy field around it. After slicing through the shield with ease, the energy field would serve as an accelerant for the missile, sending it into the hull of the ship and detonating with tremendous effect. She was uncertain of whether or not point defence weapons could destroy the incoming missile, the energy shield very likely being able to block small amounts of laser fire. Ion blasts might be able to short out the missile, but there was no real way to test the theory without discovering whatever the power source was. If Weiss could neutralize her father's new weapon it could even the playing field, if she couldn't it was likely going to be a very short battle.

Yang and Blake took up positions either side of the next door. They had stalked through the tunnels of this mine in pursuit of the prisoners, the guards herding them deeper and deeper into the mine away from the intruders. Yang had taken up one of the fallen stormtroopers blasters, her own having fallen away when she had dived away from the grenade. "Ready," Yang asked, Blake nodded. Slamming the door controls with her fist, Yang aimed her blaster into the next room. Blake dashed through the door, lightsabers ignited at her sides.

The last of the troopers stood either side of the prisoners, the huddle of Faunus shying away from the fight. "Don't hit the prisoners!" Blake shouted as she dodged streams of laser fire.

"Sure thing!" Yang said as she fired back at the troopers, her shots carefully aimed. Blake made short work of her troopers, quick slashes searing through their armour. It wasn't long before the last stormtrooper fell, a well-placed shot from Yang impacting on his helmet. Blake stood before the other Faunus, red blades illuminating the dark cave. "We're here to rescue you," Blake said stepping forward to help one of the Faunus up. They cowered before her, all eyes drawn to her glowing sabers. "Stay back red blade, we will not suffer your kind again," an older Faunus said as he stepped in front of the group. Blake froze, unsure of what to do next.

Yang walked up beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder, "Turn off you lightsabers, leaving the talking to me." Yang stepped forward, the Faunus clearly not as intimidated. "Alright people, let's get moving it's time you got off this rock, now follow me."

The Faunus moved cautiously staying away from Blake. Yang ushered them back up through the mine, carefully stepping over the corpses of the stormtroopers. Blake hung back, surprised and hurt by the mistrust her own people had of her. "Why is she helping us?" The elder Faunus asked Yang,

"She's on your side, she was the one that found out you were here. You see her kind before?" Yang said motioning to Blake's weapons,

"The red blades have come before yes, they take our young. We never see them again," the old man said with glassy eyes. Yang nodded,

"Well she is one of the good guys, trust me."

The group moved through the caves quickly, Yang pushing forward and making sure they weren't going to encounter any trouble on the way up. That left Blake guarding over the prisoners. Whenever she tried to meet their gaze they quickly turned away, she could feel their fear of her.

Blake was surprised when one of the Faunus broke away from the group to walk with her. Blake didn't meet the girls eyes, "Your one of us, a-a Faunus," the girl said quietly, Blake nodded. "T-thanks for saving us. Your not," the girl paused, taking a nervous breath, "Really a red blade are you?" Blake looked at her,

"I was once; but not anymore. As my friend said we are here to save you. My name is Blake,"

"I'm called Velvet," the two of them walked beside each other, an awkward silence enveloping the whole group. "What about the others," Velvet asked nervously, Blake stopping and giving Velvet a surprised look,

"There are more? Here?"

"Y-yes, I don't know where but we heard the guards talking about them. There are a few other camps like this one on the planet" Blake broke away from the nervous girl running up towards Yang.

"Yang!" She called, her friend jogging back towards the group. "Yang there are other camps, we have to get everyone out,"

Yang's eyebrows shot up. "Let's get these people out first, the Imp's probably set off some alarm, no doubt they have people coming to get us."

"But the others…"

"We'll get them, but let's try not to die along the way, running headlong into an Imperial prison with a bunch of malnourished prisoners isn't exactly my idea of fun."

Ruby's A-wing drifted past the hull of Weiss' new ship. Through the cracks and tears in the surrounding derelict craft, beams of light from a distant star filtered over the now functioning cruiser. Pushing her fighter around the back of the Venator Ruby started up another scan, looking for more supplies. "Weiss, you still there?"

"Yes Ruby," Weiss said through the crackly comms.

"You really should come up with a name for the ship, we will need a designation for the fight."

"You might be right, give me some time, I'll figure it out," Weiss said casually.

"Don't make it something lame,"

"I'll try not to," Weiss said dryly. Weiss sighed, the comms still active, "Ruby report back to the ship, it's time to set things into motion."

"Aye aye captain," Ruby said as she turned her fighter back towards the hangar.

Weiss assembled her team, the Rebel soldiers and Ace squadron all standing before her in the large central hangar. "We are nearly ready to go after General Ozpin. While we don't have a full crew, we are determined and capable." Weiss assumed the pose she had so many times before, hands clasped behind her back, chin raised, voice firm. "You have all been assigned roles, the gunnery team will man the cannons, the engineering team, led by Ren, will keep us operational. Ace squadron will run as our fighter detail. The rest of you will join me as the command team."

Weiss studied the faces of her crew, noting an inspiring lack of fear. "Now, the goal is to disable the enemy star destroyer, so that we can bring the General back alive. To do this we will need every advantage we can get,"

"Because destroying it wasn't hard enough," Sun said, eliciting a laugh from a few of the assembled Rebels. Weiss gave him a stern look, silencing him quickly,

"Yes, this will be difficult, but if we don't try then Ozpin dies, and potentially gives away vital information that could kill the rest of us."

"That and he has been a friend to all of us," Ruby chimed in. Weiss smiled softly and nodded,

"Yes, without him we would all probably be dead, so we owe it to him to rescue him."

The Rebels nodded, all exchanging knowing looks, thinking back to all the times they had relied upon Ozpin. Weiss gave a final nod and stepped down from the podium she had constructed. Ruby and Ren fell in behind her, "So what is the plan?" Ruby said as she walked beside Weiss,

"Hit and fade attack to draw my father out. We find an Imperial facility, attack it to gain my father's attention, bring him back here."

"Here? The graveyard?" Ruby said, "I mean our fighters might have a better chance if it comes down to fancy flying, but you're not quite as manoeuvrable."

"That's the point, father will have a much harder time navigating this scrap yard. We know the location of every leaking reactor, every missile cache that is still untouched. This place is a veritable minefield under the right condition."

"The theory is sound," Ren said thoughtfully, "Most of the derelict craft could be used as mines. The explosions, electromagnetic pulses, would slow down possibly even disable an Imperial class star destroyer."

"Indeed, all we need is a suitable target to draw him out, and hope that we can beat him," Weiss said softly, her mind already racing with possibilities.

Yang wrenched the Ember's controls upwards, hastily pulling the freighter off the ground. Pushing past the other Faunus Blake made her way into the cockpit, the only place that wasn't packed with people. "How many TIE fighters?" Blake asked as she sat in the co-pilots seat,

"Sensors are picking up two at the moment, hopefully that's all they have," Yang said as the ship lanced through the sky.

"Uh oh," Blake murmured,

"What?" Yang asked, eyes still focused on the approaching clouds, "What is it?"

"They have more TIE fighters, Interceptors too," Blake said as she leant back to allow Yang a glance at the sensor readout. Yang's eyes darted to the display for a second, seeing an uncomfortable amount of red dots. Yang looked back towards the skyline, eyes wider than before, "Get someone in the turrets, looks like we might need them."

Blake jumped up, heading back into the main area of the freighter. Pushing past a few frightened looking Faunus Blake called out, "Imperials sent TIE fighters, we need people on the guns!"

One of the younger male Faunus dashed towards the ladder, sliding down quickly. Eventually Velvet too made her way to the ladders, climbing quickly. Blake tried to hush the frightened prisoners before heading back to the cockpit as they started to crowd around her with questions.

Yang broke through the clouds, the distant whining of the TIE fighters ion engines drawing closer. Then the Embers turrets fired, causing Yang to breathe a sigh of relief. Blake fell into the seat behind her, "How are we doing?"

"They are going to catch us before we can make the jump to hyperspace," Yang said nonchalantly. Blake grimaced,

"Six TIE's and two Interceptors, think we can hold them off long enough to make the jump?"

"Probably," Yang said with a cocky smile, "but where is the fun in that." Yang spun the ship back into the clouds, the TIE's soaring past her.

"Yang what are you doing! We have passengers on board!" Blake said as she stared in utter confusion at Yang's foolhardiness. The Ember burst out of the clouds again, the TIE's swarming around her ship like insects. The turrets fired in every direction, catching TIE's as they tried to pull around to make a pass. "Forgot to mention this, but if we take too many hits, we aren't jumping. Haven't had time to fully repair the shield generators," Yang said sheepishly. Blake face palmed,

"It's been a month since they got damaged, you better get us through this."

"Haven't gotten us killed yet," Yang said as she grinned.

"Not for lack of trying," Blake whispered as she angled what shields the ship had. The Ember shuddered as the deflectors absorbed the fire from one of the Interceptors, warnings flashing on every screen in the cockpit as the shields went down. "Blast it, guys shoot the bad guys before they can shoot us!" Yang said into the comms,

"Sorry!" Velvet said meekly,

"Lead the shot, if you can't hit them, at least make it harder for them to hit us," Blake encouraged. The ships turrets pumped out more shots, this time vaporising the Interceptor. "Yang they are forming up for another attack run,"

"On it," Yang pointed the ship down, racing towards the surface. Behind her the TIE fighters formed up, trying to get a shot off at the plummeting freighter. Yang juked left and right, the green blots flying past towards the ground. "Yang, pull up," Blake said as she watched the fast approaching surface, "Yang!" Blake said, wincing as the ground rushed towards them. Yang aimed for a river that streamed down from a set of mountains. A moment before impact Yang ripped the controls towards her, the ship groaning as it lurched back. The water from the river splashed around the ship, the Ember flying just feet above the surface of the water. Yang let out her held breath, the sound of crashing TIE's causing her to grin devilishly.

Blake opened her eyes, now looking towards the peaks of mountains. "Don't do that again," she said shakily.

"Won't have too," Yang said as she eyed the tight valleys of the mountains ahead.

Now only three TIE's remained, all just managing to pull out of the dive. The constant stream of fire form the Ember's turret forced their focus on evasion rather than precision. Yang ducked the ship in between the mountain's peaks forcing the TIE fighters closer together. Two fell to lucky shots, the last one pulling out of the trench like terrain of the mountains. "Last one's fleeing," Blake said with relief,

"That's our signal to get out of here. Hopefully next time we come round they won't have resupplied with new fighters," Yang activated the comms, "Good job down there, great shooting."

The tension in the ship lifted, Velvet and the other gunner receiving several pats on the backs as they returned to the crowded common area. "Nice flying, just please, please don't do that again," Blake laughed sinking into her chair. Yang laid back, putting her hands behind her head as the ship flew back towards the clouds. Flying casually through the atmosphere the pair was greeted by a sea of stars, several Faunus sneaking into the cockpit to see that stars they had been so long declined. "Let's find us a nice new home for your friends," Yang said as she started flicking through possible locations on the navicomputer. Blake watched on, commenting occasionally on pleasant looking planets.

Velvet joined them in the cockpit, standing patiently as she waited for them the pair to acknowledge her. Blake turned and smiled, "You're a naturally on that gun Velvet,"

"T-thank you,"

"You ever want to fly around the galaxy send me a holo, I can always use a good gunner," Yang said as she continued her search. Velvet remained standing, obviously wanting to say something else,

"What is it Velvet?" Blake asked soothingly,

"We wanted to give you these, it's not much, but we don't have anything else." Velvet handed over a small pouch to Blake. Blake looked inside to find a small bundle of softly glowing crystals,

"Where did you get these?" Blake said as she studied the crystals closely,

"That's what we were forced to mine, we managed to keep a few,"

"They look like…" Blake stopped, her eyes darting to her lightsabers. She was almost certain that these crystals were similar to the use in her sabers. Why would the Empire need focusing crystals? Blake looked back up to see Velvet still standing, waiting for permission to speak, "Thank you Velvet, that is very kind of you, is there anything else?" Velvet visibly straightened,

"We want to go back and free everyone else," Velvet said with a new found confidence and determination.

"Velvet we can't, not yet, the other prisons are probably ready for us, are we are not armed to take on that."

"Listen to her kid, I have broken people out of Imperial prisons before. If they're ready for you it's suicide," Yang said, still focused on the navicomputer. Velvet stood her ground,

"T-the others made it clear, we have to save the others." Blake stood and rested a hand on Velvets shoulder,

"And we will," Blake reassured, "Yang we need to find your sister." Yang looked up at this,

"Are you sure your people want to go back, to fight?"

"Yes," Velvet said without wavering. Yang sighed,

"Tell everyone to settle in for the moment, I know there is not much room, but it will take a little while for me to try and contact our friends." Velvet nodded, returning to the throng of people waiting by the entrance to the cockpit. Yang could hear the chatter of the Faunus, there was no protest, no anxiousness. "You don't want them to rescue the others?" Blake asked somewhat accusingly,

"No, I just don't like the idea of them risking capture again, or worse."

"It's not going to be like that, when we come back we will be bringing friends; enough to deal with any Imperials."

"The force tell you that?" Yang said slyly,

"Nope, I just have faith in my friends," Blake smiled, something Yang hadn't seen in some time.

"Glatteis? What does that mean?" Ruby said as she stared quizzically at Weiss. Weiss rolled her eyes,

"It means black ice, in my homeworlds native tongue, though that's only a close translation."

"Oh, I guess that's pretty cool,"

"Much cooler than 'Crescent Rose'," Weiss said teasingly. Ruby pouted,

"Don't make fun of my fighter, if it weren't for my sweetheart then neither of us would be alive right now,"

"Fine, I won't make fun of your sweetheart," Weiss said in an exaggerated manner.

"I thought you were her 'sweetheart'" Sun said to Weiss, walking past and only catching the end of the conversation.

"You would think so," Weiss murmured, causing Ruby to lay a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"You're my other sweetheart silly,"

Weiss ignored the heat in her face and clasped her hands behind her back. "Well it appears everything is in order, helm, take us out of the debris field." The Rebel nearest Weiss began quietly ordering the other bridge crew. A deep rumble ran throughout the ship as the engines powered up, the ship moving forward. Weiss couldn't hold back her smile, she was back in command. The crew all shared similar smiles, having worked on getting the ship operational in the last few days, and for it to finally work without issue, was something to be proud of. "Excellent job everyone, the Glatteis is officially ready for battle," Weiss declaration caused several of the crew to cheer, Ruby bouncing forward to wrap Weiss in a hug.

Emerging from the graveyard of ships the Glatteis entered empty space for the first time in years. "Gunnery team prepare a volley of fire," Weiss ordered,

"Copy that." Weiss watched as arcs of blue turbolaser fire shot out from either side of her ship. She turned her head to see Ruby staring happily at the streaks of blue energy. "Set sublight engines to full speed," Weiss said as she took a step back to watch over the shoulder of one of the bridge crew. The engines made no horrible sounds, the ship didn't come apart, instead it sped onwards. "You did it," Ruby whispered into Weiss ear,

"We did it," Weiss whispered back, "We all did," she said addressing everyone on the bridge and everyone connected by comlink. "Ren," Weiss called into the comms, "send Penny's attack analysis through to the bridge it's time to find out target."

"Captain," Ren now using Weiss' official title, "I have sent through the data, I also sent through an intercepted transmission that seems to have been sent to… Ruby's A-wing?" Ren said slightly confused by the information. Ruby moved towards the console, opening up the transmission, "What does it say?" Weiss asked suspiciously, Ruby smiled,

"Red like roses,"

"hmm?" Weiss said in question. Ruby turned to her, her smile having grown,

"It's Yang, the secret code we set up. She wants to meet," Ruby moved to the comms, "Ren, send our coordinates back to origin of that transmission."

"Done," Ren said quickly. Weiss crossed her arms, frown forming on her face,

"It could be a trap, and I didn't authorize that, I am Captain remember."

"It's not a trap, trust me," Ruby said confidently. Weiss rolled her eyes and uncrossed her arms,

"I suppose we could use your sisters assistance in the coming fight," Weiss conceded as she shook her head and returned to her position at the front of the bridge. "Alright while we wait for Yang, let's run a few more drills, we are severely under crewed, so we need to be as polished as possible."

Greetings friends! Back again with another chapter, sorry if its a little rough around the edges, have been under interesting circumstances when writing (lack of sleep). However as always it was a blast to write and its amazing when you lovely people seem to enjoy it as much as I. So Thanks for stopping by, hope your excited for;

NEXT TIME: New Allies! And the Battle of Menagerie begins!