The Gauntlet fighter unfortunately, was now past redemption sadly enough. Whatever had hit them had hit them hard enough to destroy the engines, the wings, and everything in the back and as Stalker and Ray both stood on top a hill full of trees and bushes, they both had their rifles out but Stalker had lost his cycler rifle in the crash and now only had his Hunter weapon, Stalkers Hunter.

Stalker had rigged the entire wreckage now, which was scattered around a radius of at least 50 feet, full of explosives he and Ray had saved up over the months and years as it as mixture of volatile crystals, plastic explosives, grenades, and the remains of some power cells, jerry-rigged to explode,, and as Stalker watched the hill with his heavy blaster rifle's scope, he held the remote detonator that would set off the hill in a explosion that few could miss from miles around.

And as the two watched the area, Ray said with his sniper blaster, "I see them! I see about several squads, three AT-ST's, and about twelve of your Dark troopers."

"Roger. Prepping the explosions." Stalker slowly clicked something's on the remote detonator and then flipped a switch as the clear casing that had protected the main detonator button was no longer in the way and Stalker prepped his thumb as the huge force slowly descended down upon the crash site. And just as the group got the closest together, Stalker thumbed the detonator as the two watched what happened next.

An explosion, so huge it sent chunks of the earth sailing through the air, obliterated everything and anyone at the site and as the two of them got up and began to move out with their weapons and their armor, Stalker only hoped he could get another Gauntlet Fighter at some point.

"... and so, since he crashed... we don't know where he is.." said Glynda as she addressed the room.

Ozpin, Qrow, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Mara, Theo, Verde, Retz, Sky, and Alexandria were all looking at Glynda as Ozpin sighed and said, "... So as of now... we have no idea of what damage they could have done?"

"Or any casualties the Imperials may have suffered... and as of right now... we lost our greatest King piece... and our last Alpha..."

Ozpin put down onto the holoconsole his cup of coffee and he walked away as he said to Glynda, "I give you command... until further notice..."

"But... sir... what are we to do.." asked Glynda as they watched Ozpin slowly walk from the area.

"I said.. you are in command, miss Glynda... do not fail me.." said Ozpin coldly as he soon went into his personal room and locked the door.

Glynda pushed her glasses up before she looked at the rest of them.

"Well then, since I've been given command.. our objective is to oversee the finishing of the defenses on Vale... I want Theo, Verde, Retz, and Sky to join Qrow as you secure the turbolasers along the walls. Ruby, take your team with Alexandria and prepare the transports at the space port while Jaune, take your team with Mara and secure the armory for an emergencies we will have." said Glynda as she looked at everyone.

Everyone nodded and as they soon left the room, Glynda was all alone in the command center as she slowly slumped to the floor and dropped her holopad and her wand and as she slumped to her knees, she bawled into the holoconsole.

Ozpin could hear this and as he looked around room, he then suddenly and violently began to strike everything around his room with his cane as he cried tears that spattered everything.

"Stalker! Damnit! Stalker!!!"

The sun slowly set down upon the horizon of Remnant and as Ray and Stalker continued to march from the crash site to the city of Vale, Ray asked, "I'm now wishing we had managed to salvage a holopad from the crash... at least then we could get picked up but now we're leagues away from the city of Vale..."

"I know but that... thing that hit us didn't really let us have any time to really prepare... besides, you saw the Imperials.." said Stalker as he looked around.

He stopped as they both suddenly got into a crouch and as they looked ahead, Ray then understood what Stalker had seen and was also thinking. Two Imperial Scout troopers were calmly sitting on their speeder bikes as they seemed to only have their small blaster pistols and heavy, sniper blasters and as Ray and Stalker got behind some tree's, both took out their weapons as Stalker said while aiming his Stalkers Hunter rifle-form, "Get the one on the left, I nab the one on the right."

"Roger!" Ray began to aim his blaster as Stalker did the same.

The Imperial Scout troopers only heard the sound of heavy blasters being fired as they were shot off their bikes and as Ray and Stalker ran over to the bikes, they got on as Stalker said, "Lets check the fuel reserves!"

They both did so and then nodded in agreement. Not a lot of fuel had been used up yet.

"Finally! Lets get really moving to Vale!"

BTTOOM! BTOOM!

The sounds of the blaster being fired behind them, sent the two men scrambling as the speeder bikes suddenly went full speed and as the two expertly piloted the speeder bikes through the dense forest, Stalker looked back as he saw the dozen enemy speeder bikes coming after them and Stalker shouted to Ray, "Looks like we have a high-speed chase! SO PUSH IT TO THE MAX!!!!"

And with that being said, the two of them punched their speeder bikes to max speed as they burst out of the forest and as the Imperial Scout troopers chased after them, the blasters underneath the speeder bikes of the Imperials began to fire around the two and Ray pulled out a Weksar as he fired back while he piloted and a Scout trooper tumbled from his bike as the others swerved to stay out of the way.

"That's one! Lets hope we can beat the rest before we reach Vale or any other friendly place." said Ray as he put his Weskar away.

The speeder bikes were letting out an extremely high-pitch whine and the noise would have become extremely painful and unbearable had both Ray and Stalker not been wearing their Beskar'garm helmets and as Stalker felt a blaster shot zip right his head, he suddenly lifted back as Ray watched him go into the sky and as Ray bobbed and weaved as a sudden flurry of blaster shots went all around him.

Stalker went a few good feet into the air and then cut power as he went flying behind the main pack and then he punched it again as he was suddenly chasing after the Imperial and as he aimed the blaster underslung on the bikes carriage, he suddenly fired a flurry of blaster bolts at the group as the Imperials Scouts scattered but three were caught and the bikes exploded into fire as Stalker zoomed past them all as he regrouped up with Ray.

"Nice one!" Said Ray as he gave a thumbs up.

Suddenly, the sound of a Tie above them sent both boys scattering as twin, neon green bolts of death and doom exploded in between them and Stalker cursed as it screamed past them and then he said, "Lets hope we can find shelter soon! Otherwise we won't last long in the open!"

"I say we split up and meet up a mile or two ahead!" shouted Ray.

"Do you think our trackers can track us that far? No! We go full speed ahead and bob and weave when we hear that thing! And lets shoot these frakkers at our backs!" Stalker pulled out a Scout Troopers blaster pistol and fired it and another trooper tumbled from his speeder bike as the 8 remaining continued after them.

Ruby slowly walked into the forgery that Alexandria had set up in the base and as she listened to the sound of metal being beaten on by a hammer, Ruby slowly turned to corner to see something she had never expected. Metal shavings, half-finished armor, melted weapons, and crude projects were scattered across benches and the floor as the furnace was still piping hot but as Ruby looked around the workshop, she saw Alexandria mercilessly beating at a sheet of metal with her hammer, not even shaping it but just beating it senseless and Ruby quickly jogged over and tenderly put a hand on Alexandria's shoulder, who rounded on her with tears flying and water falling from her eyes as she almost wailed out, "What do you want?"

"Alexandria..." asked Ruby in a little bit of shock.

Alexandria tossed the hammer and metal away as she bawled and slumped to the floor and she looked at Ruby with hair plastered on her face as Ruby went to her knees and held Alexandria's hands as she said, "Why? Why do all of this?"

"WHY DID HE HAVE TO GO THOUGH?!" Wailed Alexandria as she shook her head with her hands clasped to it.

Ruby slowly managed to wrap her arms around Alexandria's body as she hugged the girl and Alexandria sobbed as she said, "I want him back... I want him back!"

"I know you do... we all do..." said Ruby as she put her chin on Alexandria's head and slowly let out a shoosh! as she hoped to calm down the girl.

Alexandria buried her head into Ruby's shoulder as Ruby felt her body shudder from the sobbing and crying, she patted Alexandria's head as he said, "It's gonna be alright..."

Weiss saw this from around the corner and she almost felt bad for Alexandria. Almost.

She then turned away as she walked away and as he adjusted her new bra, she was almost annoyed how Stalker had made it transform from what it had been to now a normal, average size bosom. She gave a sneer at the very thought of him giving her this and as she looked around, she suddenly ran into Theo, who looked down at her in his Phase 2 clone armor as he said, "Where you going?"

"Its obvious I've done my work. What do you want?" asked Weiss.

Theo looked around before he took her by her collar and shoved her into a room before saying, "You gotta a bad problem with Stalker and I don't like it one bit!"

"Oh please! What gave you that idea?" asked Weiss as she rolled her eyes.

"Your body language says it, your motion just then said more. You don't care about Stalker, do you?" asked Theo.

"And why should I?" asked Weiss as she looked at him heatedly.

He got into her face as he said, "Now listen here, young woman! He is the only reason you are alive, the only reason why many of us exist still today and you going around like he was nothing is disrespectful to his loss!"

"He was a mercenary! He was expendable and was being paid to fight for us!" said Weiss.

"HE DID THIS JOB BECUASE HIS DUTY AS A HUNTER HAS NEVER STOPPED!" Roared Theo as he almost slammed her against the wall.

"The same duty like his duty to his people?" Asked Weiss.

Theo raised a fist and Weiss flinched but Theo held it above her as he said, "Shut up, you stupid bitch. Get out!"

Weiss quickly ran out of the room and as Theo looked at the first, he sighed. He knew what it was like to abandon one's own friends and family and knew it just has torn Stalker apart.

He thought back to the day his entire battalion was attacked, the day his commander had ordered him to flee ans never look back.

And as he did so, he slowly walked from the room as he said, "Come back to us, Stalker.."

The city of Vale looked before then and as Stalker and Ray struggled to keep their speeds up, their fuel reserves were running very low. But, as Stalker looksd behind him, he was just thankful they had either lost or killed their pursuers and as he looked down, he then pressed the comms on his helmet as he began to open broadcast. "Vale, Vale, this is The Hunter. Does anyone copy?"

There was static and as they enterred the ruins of the outskirts of the city, suddenly a rocket burst from one of the ruined buildings towards Ray and Stalker suddenly juked as he intercepted it and as Ray fell off his bike, Stalker tumbled from his own, smoking, as Ray took out his Weskars and began to broadcast, "Vake! Vale! This is Ray! Imperials have engaged and downed Stalker! We need back-up and immediate medical attention!!! Someone help us out!!!"

He fired as Imperial Scout troopers fired back and as he grabbed Stalker just as he put up one of his blasters, he dragged Stalker into the ruins of a store as he propped him against a walk before Ray took out his blaster again and began to fight of the enemy.

His blaster took out two scouts before one popped up with a launcher and he fired his jetpacks only rocket as it spiralled away and blew up the trooper and as he fired a few more times, he shouted, "Vale! Vale!!! This is Ray!!! A need help right now!!!"

Suddenly, he heard a gunship as his blood ran cold but when he looked up, he watched as a old Clone Wars LAAT go low as it's beam turrets and blasters fired all around while Theo and several troopers jumped out and ran over.

"How bad is he?" Shouted Theo as he fired his gatling blaster.

"He took a rocket for me but his armor held!" Shouted Ray as he and another Rebel began to rush Stalker across open ground to the gunship as it continues to provide fire support as it hovered in the air.

Theo fired as he watched some rebel soldiers fall to the enemy but he gritted his teeth as he heard Ray shout, "He's on!!!" And then Theo ran to the gunship as he felt blaster fire all around him but just as he jumped onboard, he watched the hatch close just as he looked back at Stalker.

"Ozpin, Stalker needs medbay right now... he's gonna need a lot of bacta for a rocket..."