AN: The crew discuss some pressing topics and maintenance their ship as well.

Please enjoy and review!

Thanks to Spartacus400 on the RWBY Wikia for beta reading.

Disclaimer: RWBY is a product of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. All characters are owned by Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.

Chapter 8: Ground Control to Major Tom

The astronaut's vessel had been spiraling towards its destination for near half a year now. In those six months, the aviator and engineer had come to terms with their fate, and further developed their friendship. The spoke with one another frequently, discussing and debating books and events that they obtained fair knowledge of; racial affairs, grimm surveys, recent findings in technology and space. They learned more of each other's difficult past, and the few beacons of light that help them through the days, weeks, or months.

Recently, Blake had noticed something not quite right with her relatively new acquaintance. Over the last week, she had become less and less talkative. Their relationship seemed as if it had reverted to the first two weeks aboard the Beacon. That awkwardness resurfaced, though neither avoided one another, in fact it had almost seemed Weiss was keeping closer to Blake than before. Today it was the point where Weiss wasn't even attempting contact anymore. She just ate and stared out the ship's viewport in their resting quarters.

Her current radio silence worried the faunus. Blake had tasked herself with staying in same room as her, to watch for any signs of sickness or distress. She sat on the bed, against the wall and disguised her mission with a painfully reread book. Every half hour or so she'd peer over the book and each time she'd see the same sight; Weiss, hand propping her head, looking the tiny window. She'd finish each viewing with a short sigh and return to her literature.

After what her wristwatch indicated was about four hours, Weiss finally spoke up.

"Blake?" Her sudden response startled Blake, jumping a bit in her seat.

The faunus closed her nearly complete book and set it on the bunk, "Yes, Weiss?"

Weiss' head turned to Blake. Her eyelids were kept low as well as her voice, "Blake...If I ever...If I…" She sighed, shook her head, and looked back out the window again.

Blake crept across the room to her disturbed co-pilot, "What is it?" She sat down on the bunk with her. Amber eyes studied the engineer's still form. Based on the look in her eyes, Weiss wasn't distressed or anxious, she was quite calm of all things. But she was almost too calm.

With her sights still set for the stars, Weiss attempted to redress her dilemma, "If I ever...succumb to space madness, Blake..." She looked back to Blake, a seriousness developing in her pupils, "Will you promise me...that you'll put me in the airlock…"

"No…" Blake whispered

"And jettison me. And don't look back."

A sincere stare was shared between them, "I can't do that, Weiss." Blake shook her head.

"Blake, if I lose to insanity, I can be a very real danger. I have a lot of anger still with me. I may kill you...or rip apart the ship. You have to do it if I lose my mind."

Blake stood her ground, "You understand why I can't do that, Weiss. I cannot kill again, I refuse to."

"If it happens, you have to, for your own safety."

"No." Blake looked down at the metal floor, "I may lock you up, but I would try to save you. No matter how far gone you are." Weiss tilted her head to somewhat face Blake, whom angled her head back up to the engineer. Her eyes were wet, holding back her strong emotions, "Because, whether you know it or not, in the last six months you've become the closest thing to a friend I've ever had. You are a person that cares about me. I can't let a person like that go like that, not without a fight."

Weiss straightened up slightly, taking a breath and a moment to think. She knew Blake didn't have many acquaintances in the past, but if she was the closest to thing to a friend to her, that spoke a lot. She understood how friends would do amazing things to aid one another, but Weiss knew when to stop trying to help a person, when it was too late. Even if it was Winter on this ship with her, she'd jettison her own sister if she became too broken to repair; for the good of both of them.

"Blake. I just hope you know. When it comes to the time of action, for either of us, we have to do what needs to be done," Weiss nodded gently, "I'd do to it to you, if I had to."

Blake perked up in what seemed to be offense, but extinguished her fuse before she exploded, "Weiss, I understand. Somethings have to be done. But my point is that it doesn't also have to be done a certain way, you can try another method."

"And if it doesn't work?" Weiss raised her brow in question, "I don't believe either of us would be able to take seeing each other like that, Blake, at least for long periods of time."

"And if we do jettison one another?" Blake answered with a question, "You would have to spend the rest of your life alone," She focused on her partner, "Do you want that again, Weiss? I'm guessing not. Not to add you might join my ranks just from being isolated in the spacecraft. And Weiss-" Her explanation halted.

Weiss held her index finger in the air, silently ordering Blake to quiet herself and listen. Azure dots scanned the interior of the vessel. The two lights above them fluttered for a second before returning to normal. Their eyes connected amid the observation session. Suddenly a loud, dull thud reverberated through the craft and the lights went dark, causing pitch blackness. The two women held their positions until dim red emergency lights powered on.

"Cockpit?" Blake asked, still frozen

"Now."

The aviator jumped to her feet and yanked down the ladder.

The second cockpit door was pushed forward by a brunette while a platinum-haired woman with an engineering degree sprinted past her for the controls. She toggled and re-toggled a selection of overhead switches, along with some on the dash. None of which were responding. Blake watched as Weiss started to curse out the technology.

"No, no, no! No!" The controls were dead, "Dammit!" Her fist pounded on the hood of the dash, "We're running the reserve fuel cells."

Blake stepped behind her, interjecting, "Any theories?"

Weiss scratched her chin, "The reactor couldn't have powered off. SNAP-Class reactors can run for decades with the minimal amount of uranium."

"What about that thud? What was that?" The aviator pointed behind her with her thumb.

"A panel most likely." Weiss' hand fell to her thigh, "Maybe a power coupling overloaded. If it were to, it would cause a small, breach-like explosion, enough to blow off a panel but not to damage the ship. That would explain the the thud."

Blake looked around the cabin, focus landing on the emergency lights, "We have a blown power coupling. How long do we have to fix it?"

"Not long." Weiss shook her head, "We only have about two, two and a half hours to fix the coupling before life support begins to fail."

"Let's stop the ship from spinning and suit up." Blake met her co-pilot's gaze and sighed, "I hope you like long walks on the beach."

The airlock opened with a hiss, then there was utter silence, except for their breathing. The two astronauts stood at the edge of the craft wearing state of the art orange spacesuits. The suits were extremely slim, lightweight, and tough compared to their old heavy, bulky models. The lab boys back on Remnant had removed the large backpack of oxygen and replaced with several small packets of oxygen in the lining of the suit, it reduced weight and the danger of a punctured tank.

Blake stood at the front and was the first to see the stars amuck the blackness, which reminded her to flip on her flashlights. She concentrated on her breathing as she looked down into the abyss. One tiny shove from being in deep space. She tilted her head up to see the core of the vessel and the SNAP reactor between the two first rings. Her digits were tight around the handle inside the airlock as she prepared herself to leave the craft. For a few moments, only the sound of O₂ flow was shared between them.

"Testing, Testing. B, Do you copy?" Weiss' procedural voice came through her comms.

The aviator stared off into the black, "I copy, Loud and clear, W."

"Check tethers." The two tugged on the clips connected to their suits and then the other ends attached to the airlock interior, "Tethers are a go on this side, over."

"Tethers are a go on this side as well, over and out."

"Whenever you're ready, B," Weiss looked over her partner's shoulder, "Just remember we're on the clock, out"

Blake nodded in her helmet, "Roger, W," She inhaled, "Beginning walk, out" She pulled herself to the right, her left arm reach out into nothing. Her extended hand swiftly moved in an arc to meet a handle on the exterior of the craft. Her breath stuttered as she firmly clamped down on the rung and carefully swung around to the outside, her right hand meeting her left. Now perched on the thickest ring in microgravity, Blake opened up her comms.

"Walk is a go." Her uplink beeped, "Beginning ascent toward the reactor, over."

Weiss now floated at the edge of the airlock, waiting for Blake, "Copy that, B. Waiting on you, out."

Looking up at her destination, Blake pushed herself up. It was almost like climbing a ladder underwater, except the ocean was a ventablack vacuum. There was nothing to push or pull against but the spacecraft she clung to. She felt Weiss take up position on the ladder, feeling the vibrations through the aluminum plates. Weiss confirmed her place on the exterior through their uplink. They quickly fell silent as they climbed sluggishly, listening to their oxygen flow.

"Blake?" Weiss asked, breaking the formalities.

"Go ahead, Weiss." Blake saw the light from her partner's flashlights sink down before moving back up.

The engineer sighed, "I've been meaning to ask you this, Blake...How did you feel...when you…"

"Killed my father?" Blake finished, "Panicked, nervous, lost, scared-"

"No," Weiss cut her answer off, "I mean overall. At the end how did you really feel?" At this, the aviator ahead of her stopped on the ladder.

Blake turned outwardly, one hand still latched on the rung, to glance down at Weiss. She swallowed, "You really want to know?"

"Yes."

"Honestly, Weiss. I felt relieved," Blake went back to her ascent, "Call me a killer, but...I could finally be me without reprimandation."

Weiss blinked and looked past her co-pilot to see they were just about at the ship's core, "Okay, B, you know what to do? Over," She reinstated the orthodox methods.

"Open the marked panel and initiate power flow through the reserve coupling? Over."

"Affirmative, out."

Weiss quietly watched Blake move up a few more steps before stopping. She gazed at the scene confused, her partner was a foot away from the core of the ship and four feet from the reactor, she couldn't stop now.

"W, We have a problem. The tether is too short." The was a pause, "I'm going to have to untether, over."

Weiss spotted the white line pulled tight, "Negative, B. It's too dangerous. We're in deep space with no support. We'll go back get a longer tether, over."

"Negative, W. These are the longest tethers. We have to activate that reserve power coupling or have the life support fail. I have to untether and float over, over."

Azure eyes shifted for a moment before Weiss grimaced, cursing mentally, "Copy that. You are greenlit for untethering. Be careful, out."

"Will comply, W," Blake's hand was shaky as she unclipped the strip from her suit's harness, "I am untethered, I repeat, I am untethered. Stand by for status."

Still close to the ladder, Blake used her flashlights to scan the surface she was about to jump to, searching for anything stable she could grab. She spied the panel, a red-striped triangle with an exclamation point printed on it. Directly above it was long yellow bar, well-built enough to not break off if she were to grab it.

Her fingers gently pressed on the ladder once, just enough to achieve a small amount of momentum. She bent her knees, allowing for more freedom as she rotated and to preparing to launch herself. Feline ears twitched inside her head sock, patiently waiting for her chance to pounce at the yellow bar. Degree by degree the goal aligned itself with her. Then came the moment truth; she pushed her feet down.

For two or three seconds she was alone in deep space, though it felt like hours. Both of the cosmonauts held their breath as she bridged the gap. Her hand stretched as far as her body would allow, but she didn't think it was enough. She was afraid she would miss and skid along the core of the spacecraft until she floated away from the back end and forced to watch her only hope drift away from her. To her relief, her prediction was proved wrong when her fingers wrapped themselves around the yellow bar.

In that second, both women let their lungs continue working. Blake grabbed the bar with her free hand and paused for a moment, enjoying the brief period of respite.

"W, I've made contact with the target. Opening the panel now, out" The faunus pulled herself up to become eye level with panel. She easily found and took hold of the small metal handle and proceed to pull back on it. And pull back on it. And pull back on it.

Blake grunted as she tried once more, "The panel isn't opening, over"

"Is there any sort of latch on the panelbox? Over." Weiss replied

A quick search of all four sides of the rectangle revealed nothing, "Negative, W, over."

Weiss closed her eyes and gritted her teeth as she rummaged for an explanation to the problem, "The mechanism is probably stuck, B. The only way to surpass that is by force, out."

"Copy that, W. Standby for status." Blake pressed her palm into the yellow bar for support as she pulled the other hand. Beads of sweat started to trickle down her forehead. She loosened up muscles and tried another long pull at the handle, but no avail. She decided to change method to short, powerful yanks.

First yank, the panel began to give in, causing Blake to smirk at her soon-coming succes. Second yank, the panel was nearly open, she prepared her sore arm for a third attempt. Third yank, "BLAKE!"

The worst case scenario unfolded.

The panel bursted open with an unanticipated amount of force. Flinging Blake out of her grip and off the spacecraft. Out into deep space. Where she'd either be toasted to a crisp by the heat, exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation, suffocate, or all three. She began hyperventilating, Weiss was shouting her name over the comms, she was spinning out control. Sun, blackness, sun, blackness, sun, blackness, over and over again. Weiss kept shouting words, but Blake couldn't understand them or respond.

Then everything just went black.

See you next time...

Love,

~Vox