Hey guys! I was spamming XCOM 2 this past month and it got me thinking about a high tech yet crude version of Remnant. One where people relied more on guns than melee weapons and where people who had aura where unique and special. The squad is 21 in this fic, and the standard gaps apply, CFVY a year older, Ruby 2 years younger etc. I haven't decided on the pairing yet, maybe you guys could let me know your thoughts on which pair I should make, or if I should make one at all (I'm a straight guy so I'm only open to male + female pairings so for those that have more… deviant… tastes, I apologize in advance. :). Anyway, in this story, the four academies are military like organization and independent of the kingdom's own law enforcement/military (except for Atlas). This is following a rough (and I mean really rough) back story similar to volume 3. that's why Pyrrha is dead and Ozpin are missing. This story will have science fiction elements so it will not be purely a futuristic military fic. Grimm will also be massively different here, I'm just not going to reveal it yet.
This is a bit of an add story I guess and I hope it's atleast somewhat interesting for you guys.
Also, English is not my native language so I'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes as well as spelling errors I don't know about or miss in my proofreading. I'm a huge beginner in writing so my style is probably very crude and unrefined. I might jump tenses back and forth tho I try to keep my POV's consistent. Feedback for improvement would be much appreciated. Specifically in 1, the emotion I'm trying to convey. Is it believable, are their reactions realistic. Can you see actual people reacting that was if the situation were to happen to them. And 2. the action, is the action in the prologue chapter ok? Is it engaging or is it boring and 'meh'? I hope to grow as a writer so every bit of feedback, no matter how negative or positive would be appreciated.
By the way, for the readers of Dusts of Time (if there are any) I already have around 60% of the next chapter written but with college stress (engineering is a pain...), new ideas popping up, and life generally being busy, I haven't been able to finish the chapter. It shouldn't take that long though.
Once again, regarding the pairings, should I maybe open a poll about it? oh and does anyone have cover image suggestions, ones i can use which wont break copyright? for any of my stories. i would just try to scribble something down otherside
This is a prologue of sorts, one POV and no breaks. It's basically one long scene from the perspective of a single person.
Anyway, without any more further delay, I present to you: "A War Worth Fighting"
Chapter Start.
Jaune leaned against the rather hard backrest of the transport ship currently taking them into the deep forests east of Vale. To say that he was not in the best of moods would be an understatement.
The team JNR of the Beacon Organization, or simply Beacon, was an elite squad typically deployed for missions involving counter-terrorism or operations of equal priority. This time however, they had been called in to save a kidnapped girl. A girl apparently taken from her own concert. In the middle of Vale proper, while trailed by paparazzi! Honestly, the young blonde couldn't really understand how that could have come to pass. The security force in charge of the theater she was performing at had no clue it even happened, it was only after her personal bodyguards were found unconscious inside her dressing room did they figure out what had occurred.
Apparently, the girl, Weiss Schnee, stepped out of the theater after her performance and got into the waiting limo. Surveillance footage even showed the theater guards open the damn doors for her. Turns out, her driver, who also happened to be one of her two bodyguards, was knocked out and left inside the building while the limo itself was driven by an unknown kidnapper. In her haste to escape from the flashes and the crowd of journalists asking for exclusives, she somehow failed to notice her missing escort. He honestly could only shake his head at this.
He may be a little harsh considering his upbringing and the general training drilled into his very being. He knew that he couldn't hold civilians to the same level as those who receive full combat training.
Now, after the young girl's disappearance, it seems her father, a very rich and influential man, contacted the Atlas military general who, considering his lack of jurisdiction over Vale, made a call to his good friend Qrow, the current head of The Beacon Organization.
So there they were, fully geared up, trailing the signal broadcast by the kidnappers who demanded the release of the faunus workers apparently mistreated in the Schnee mines.
It was quite known that the Schnee Family had a rather large target painted on their backs by the faunus extremist group known as the White Fang, and the rumor of their employee's mistreatment was also rather well known. Granted, the Fang haven't been that active in Vale. And a single kidnapping would hardly count as 'an act of terrorism' if you asked him, but it was still rather mind-boggling to him as to how they slacked in the security department. This was Weiss Schnee they were talking about!
At least, considering her status and importance, he was fairly certain that she was alive. She was a bargaining chip, and it wouldn't be good for negotiation if she were to be severely hurt, or even worse, killed. That most likely wouldn't stop the infidels from roughing her up a bit.
They we're almost there. Jaune looked over his rifle again. He had a habit of loading his firearm only a few minutes before reaching the area of operation. He picked up the magazine he placed on the vacant seat to his right and slid it into the slot and pulled the bolt to load a round into the chamber. He moved his thumb over to the safety to make sure it was still engaged. He tended to remove the safety right before stepping off the bullhead. The young Arc readjusted the metal gauntlet that covered the outer half of his left forearm and checked the display he had clipped onto the inside.
He looked at Nora sitting across from him to see her rechecking the grenade launch she had attached to her own firearm, taking a glance at her belt, he also noted multiple grenades and other explosives, typical Nora, the resident bomber. Her combat attire consisted of a pair of white boots, a pink skirt, a white shirt and a standard Beacon tactical vest. Ren beside her was polishing one of his throwing knives, his own weapon, a cross between an assault rifle and a sniper rifle, together with his signature semi automatic pistol were resting on his lap. He met his eyes briefly and he gave him a nod. He was wearing a green long sleeved jacket under his own tactical vest and a pair of white pants. Taking a look at the empty seat to his left, he felt a pang of sadness wash over him. It has been almost a year now since Ruby's death and he hasn't gotten over her loss yet. After Pyrrha died, it was Ruby who had helped him heal. She was the one who pulled him out of the pitiful state he was in. He had loved her and seeing her get stabbed in the heart by Cinder, watching her collapse into a pool of her own blood, it made him want to grab the blade and plunge it into his own chest. It was the burning need for vengeance, however, that kept him moving forward. He also didn't want to break up their team even further. And more importantly, Ruby wouldn't have wanted that, and neither would Pyrrha.
He shook his head to rid himself of these thoughts before he refocused on the issue at hand. He rechecked the contents of his own vest and the pistol and combat knife strapped to his thighs on top of his blue jeans.
Thanks to Blake, with her past ties with the White Fang as well as her knowledge in espionage, she was able to hack and trace the signal. She said that it was well encrypted and that only her familiarity with the Fang's ways was she able to crack it. The window was rather small as well, since the broadcast was short and Jaune, who was to a small degree, familiar with the difficulties in advanced cryptography, was really impressed at how quickly their resident technophile was able to give a relatively accurate location.
The overhead lights in the bullhead's interior changed from blue to red indicating their arrival at the drop zone.
"We have reached the AO, stay vigilant!" the pilot, Peter Port, spoke out of the speakers as the side hatches hissed open.
Despite the engines directly beside the doors, the entire aircraft was remarkably silent. A stealth bullhead, as Atlas had called it, a state of the art transport vehicle perfect for dropping off and picking up squads without drawing any attention.
Jaune, now standing at the edge of the craft, turned back to look at his teammates who were right behind him. He reached out and grabbed one of the ropes that hung from the wings which allowed for an easier drop and jumped off.
He could feel the friction between the rope and his gloves as he made his descent, Ren and Nora each with their own cables to drop down from.
A few seconds later and the trio dropped down onto the forest floor with a light thump, quickly pulling their rifles off their shoulders.
Jaune glanced at the scroll clipped to the inner side of his forearm as he held his rifle with both hands, his left palm on the guard giving him a good view of the mounted display. The young squad leader led his teammates deeper into the forest.
The light from the sun peeked through the dense foliage of leaves as they tried their best to avoid crunching any twigs under their shoes.
The signal came from an old abandoned dust mine far east of Vale, deep into the emerald forest. He followed the blinking red marker through the cluster of trunks, careful to avoid making unnecessary noise. These were faunus they were up against, their hearing was superior to a normal human's, that is provided that the animal they resemble are of a suitable type.
They trekked through the forest for several minutes before finally breaking out of the treeline to come across a steep cliff. The young blonde looked at the display again, the blinking red dot now roughly fifty meters ahead from them.
Nora walked all the way to the edge and peered down the sheer drop.
"They're down there." she said.
Jaune and Ren followed the redhead and looked down the cliff as well. The cliff was near perpendicular to the ground, and the area down below was a clearing the shape of a large semicircle.
Down in the clearing, the blonde could make out tents, several stashes of crates and a few vehicles, from bullheads to all-terrain bikes and karts. Their make shift base looked crude and hastily set up with their more important resources easy to transport quickly should the need arise and their vehicles off to the edges. The tents were set up in a rough two by three grid parallel to the cliff wall.
"That's a lot more of them than expected."
The sun was high up in the sky and gave the trio a good view of the AO although the cliff was pretty high up so most of the details were hard to see from their vantage point. They could make out a decent number of people moving about down below but they were hard to distinguish from one another.
Ren lifted his rifle. He was the only one with a scope. Their team originally didn't have a sniper. After Pyrrha's death however, Ruby came into the picture, and they have worked with a sniper ever since. After their team was once more reduced to a three man cell, they tried to return to their old ways but the strategic advantages of having a sniper had become a key part of how their team operated. As such, Ren took it upon himself to learn how to provide long ranged support to their unit. Although he didn't arm himself with a dedicated sniper rifle, his gun had enough power to fill in the strategic hole. Slightly higher caliber dust ammunition, thirty round magazine, automatic or semi-auto, and a pretty long barrel.
After a few more seconds, Ren spoke up.
"I found her." He said, still looking through the scope, his rifle now trained at a specific spot. "She's kneeling a few paces in front of the middle tent, front row. She appears to be tied to a wooden pole of some sort."
Jaune squinted, making out a white speck right in the middle. "That's a tough one, she's right in the center of the area."
There were crates to either side of her, probably stacked with weapons, explosives or dust.
He made out another figure approaching their target, stopping a step away from the white clad girl. He vaguely saw the figure lift an arm and strike the poor girl. 'barbarians'. Jaune wasn't particularly fond of the white fang, especially considering they were working together with the organization that took both Pyrrha and Ruby's lives.
"We need to get down there and try to-"
"Jaune." Ren interrupted him.
"What is it?" the blonde asked, his eyes still trained on the area down below.
"She appears to have Aura." this caused their leader to turn sharply to his teammate.
"What?"
Ren lowered his weapon, taking a quick look at the scene with his naked eyes before turning to the young Arc and handing him his rifle.
Jaune slung his own gun onto his shoulder before he reached for Ren's. leveling the weapon and peering through the scope, he caught the man, most likely the one in charge down there, wearing a full faced White Fang mask strike the girl once more and Jaune saw the distinct shimmering of protective energy.
"Holy shit... she's an Alpha." an 'Alpha', a person, human or faunus, who was born with Aura. Aura was a relatively rare form of energy within a select few. Most of the people in their division were Alphas, and all of their field operatives especially. still, it was rather uncommon to find civilians who have aura, even less so, who have their Aura unlocked.
Jaune returned the rifle to his teammates. He dropped the pack he was carrying and pulled out several pieces of equipment.
The first being a metallic cylinder slightly larger than a soda can. He walked over to the large boulder to their left and pressed the circular bottom against the rock before pressing the button at the very top with the palm of his hand. The machine clicked, four rods previously part of the side walls pulled open before a drill sound was heard as the device drilled into and attached itself on the stone surface.
He returned to his pack and pulled out two large coils of rope, advanced and reinforced. Designed to be thin and light, yet strong and durable. He clipped both ends of the ropes to the hook now jutting out of the cylinder before handing one of the coils to Nora who took it without question.
"No time to go around," he started, once more looking at the scene below. He turned to his scroll and pressed a tapped a few commands. A few moments later and the static sound of a communication device blared out of the speaker.
"Everything alright, my boy?" Peter Port, their pilot for this mission asked.
Jaune resumed tapping on his scroll before he responded.
"Peter, I need you to pick up Ren at these coordinates in around ten minutes. After that, I want you to fly further eastward, avoiding this general area," he continued, drawing a crude circle around the enemy base. He wouldn't want their way out of here getting shot down now would he.
Peter kept quiet knowing the young blonde leader still had a few more orders to give.
"We'll grab the target and proceed to the other side of the AO into the tree line. Pick us up at these coordinates another ten minutes after you pick up Ren," once again tapping on the display. "Deploy the ropes for three people, keep low and don't draw attention. We won't use any signals and you shouldn't either. Just stick to the coordinates and we'll meet up there. Then we'll make our escape."
There were too many to take down with just the tree of them, and that's not even counting the need to protect the target.
"Understood." Peter's responded with enthusiasm, "Stay vigilant!"
Jaune now turned to his team.
"Ren, you provide support from up here. I'll drop down. Nora, you're with me.
"Once we're down there, I want you to blow up the tent to the left." he continued, this time looking at Nora. "It's the one the signal seemed to have come from, after that try to destroy as much of the crates as you can and provide cover as needed.
He looked at Ren this time. "Ren, I want you to shoot the leader, time your shot with the detonation of Nora's first grenade to mask the sound and catch them off guard. The leader probably has aura so do as much damage as you can though don't let them spot you.
Jaune returned his gaze to the scene below them. "Hopefully the explosions will distracted them enough for us to make it to the other side and into the forest behind their little camp. I'll grab the girl. Ren, pick off as many as you can before Peter gets here. You should be free to do so without drawing any attention with all the chaos."
He led the pair to the edge of the cliff where Ren returned to his previous position of looking through his scope.
"Ready, guys?"
"Ready." came their simultaneous reply.
"Then let's get started." he hooked attached the coil of rope onto matching fittings on his belt before he stepped off the edge. He pushed off the wall and carefully made his descent, Nora a few meters above him matching his pace.
He could feel the way his gloves vibrated as the rope rubbed against his palm and it didn't take long before they were two-thirds of the way down, around twenty meters between them and the ground, low enough to make the drop with their auras.
He turned to Nora and gave her a nod. She pulled out a grenade from her belt, steadied her footing on the wall behind her and swung hard with enough physical strength to lob the grenade a good forty meters right into the middle of a stash of dust crates to the left of the area a good distance away from their target.
Jaune closed his eyes as he waited, a few more seconds of airtime, contact with the ground, a bit more time for the internal fuse to run down to the chamber filled with explosive dust. And then came the explosion, the dust caught fire and detonated so quickly after the initial blast that the two sounds were difficult to distinguish, even less so the round that Ren most certainly fired at the same time. He waited for a few more seconds as the people below rushed to the scene of the explosion before he unclasped the carabiner off his belt and dropped down the rest of the way. He rushed off as soon as his feet touched the ground, the excitable bomber not far behind.
Nora started shooting first, drawing the enemy's attention as Jaune dashed behind a container having the Atlas logo printed on its side.
Jaune heard the thunking sound of Nora using her grenade launcher as he made his way over to their target. It was utter chaos and it wasn't hard for Jaune to make it over to the center of the enemy's make shift base without drawing too much attention. The ones that spotted him were perfectly shot down by their support from a hundred meters up.
These common Fang members had no aura, each bullet splattering blood onto the grass. The young blonde made it to the left most tent before turning sharply and heading for the center. The enemy 'leader', Jaune was sure it was just another low ranked officer, was crouching behind a wooden crate clutching his head. No blood, but Jaune was pretty sure a bullet straight onto the head from Ren's rifle must hurt like hell.
He was about to charge the man when the ground erupted a few paces in front of him. He dove back behind cover as he waited for the dust to settle. 'Damn it, Nora! Be careful with those!'
As soon as the coast was clear, he resumed his approach on the target only to find the White Fang officer missing.
The Schnee girl had made her way to the other side of the pole she was tied to and tried to use the rather thick log as best she could to take cover. He dashed towards her.
Glinting silver caught his eye as he passed a tall crate and he instinctually raised his left arm. Metal against metal clang as the missing officer struck his machete against the metal plate on Jaune's left forearm. He heard the man growl as he lifted his rifle with one hand and attempted to aim it at his opponent only for him to grab the guard and push it to the side.
He caught the girl staring at him with wide eyes as the man yanked the rifle back and at the same time raised his knee to try and land a solid hit. JNR's leader bent forward as best he could to pull his center of gravity back and absorb the strike. It still hurt.
Jaune made a 'che' sound as the enemy tried to yank the gun again only to stumble back slightly as the blonde let go of his weapon. He reached down on the magnum pistol on his thigh and the officer dove behind another set of crates.
He raised his gun and trained it at the spot where his enemy just disappeared to. 'Damn it!'
He carefully walked over to their target, careful to keep low. She was shaking and her eyes were rimmed with tears. The fear was quite apparent in her expression.
He kept a careful watch for the missing officer. It probably would have been easy to follow and take him down but he couldn't risk delaying any further, lest their target get hit in the crossfire.
The combat knife on his left thigh made a small 'shink' as he pulled it free of its sheath. It cut the ropes binding the girl with relative ease. He then reached out to pull the gag off her mouth.
"Can you stand?"
she stared at him for a few moments,
"Can you stand?" he asked again, more firmly.
"Ah, y-yes." she sounded determined dispite the situation as she slowly tried to get on wobbly feet.
A sound of a small object hitting the ground close to them caught his attention as he saw a grenade land a few meters away.
"Shit."
Jaune pulled the poor girl down with him before she could even properly stand. Sitting behind the wooden pole, he shielded her from the blast by embracing her tightly as the shrapnel flew past them, clipping his shoulders in some areas, though nothing his aura couldn't handle. He saw the shadow of the officer creep up on them and he quickly pulled out a flash bang from his belt, pulling out the pin with his teeth, he lobbed it over the top of the pole before he pulled her head down and shielded both their eyes.
The high frequency sound still disoriented them slightly but the light was thankfully blocked out. Through the slight ringing in his ears, he still heard the man behind them yelp in surprise as he started to randomly shoot about with the stolen rifle. One or two rounds further tore through his uniform on his shoulder but once again were blocked out by his aura, although it most certainly still hurt.
The distinct clicking sound of a gun's hammer striking nothing was heard and Jaune jumped out of his hiding spot.
The man could somewhat see now and the big guy swung his machete, another block. This time, the much shorter barrel of his magnum was left unchecked as the blonde shot a few rounds into the man's chest before the shimmering light signaled the depletion of the man's aura. Jaune didn't hesitate to life the gun and point it directly at his forehead before he pulled the trigger. Blood splatted against the floor and the crates behind him as the big man fell back onto the grass with a thump.
He picked up his rife before turning back to look at their target to find her peeking out from behind the pole, more fear in her eyes than before. Jaune didn't let it bother him however as he ran to her, grasped her arm and yanked her to her feet and dragged her over to a smoking all terrain vehicle. It wasn't gonna be much use as a means of transport, but it'll do just fine as cover. The empty magazine dropped to the ground as he reloaded, pulling back the bolt and letting it snap back with a satisfying click.
"Nora, I've secured the target, we're leaving." he spoke into his comm.
"Peter's here." Ren spoke over the radio.
'Perfect timing.' A few rounds pinged off the metal as he pulled the girl's head down. Without Ren supporting them from above, a few more Fang grunts took notice of them.
"Are you three going to make it out alright?" He asked.
"We'll be fine." It was Nora who answered. With far more cheer than the situation called for.
A few more explosions later and he saw Nora vault over the large stack of crates, bullets whizzing past her. Jaune pulled out two smoke grenades from his belt and with his left had still wrapped around the Schnee heiress' arm, once again used his teeth to pull out the pins before throwing them behind his approaching teammate.
Another one of Nora's magazines fell to the ground as she too reloaded her rifle. "There's more coming from the mines." she shouted as she made her way over to them. She seemed unhurt, though a few tears were noticeable on her pink and black combat attire. Bullet holes probably, tho her aura still seemed to be holding up and she was in a quite obviously good mood judging by the grin on her face.
"They are Starting to reorganize, it'll be tough once they do. We need to go, now." he started to pull the white haired girl along. Fifteen minutes to cover two kilometers of dense forest. They were cutting it close. Jaune could just hope that the enemy wouldn't notice Peter while he waits if ever they should take longer than planned. Nora threw another grenade over the smoke for good measure before the three of them made their way into the forest.
It was tough, diving under brushes and jumping over thick roots.
"Nora!" Jaune shouted her name and his teammate instantly understood his intentions as she reached into the pockets of her combat vest to pull out two round pieces of explosives. Proximity mines. She pressed the activation button of each and threw them over her shoulders. After a short delay, they would detect any additional movement in the area and detonate. It would also serve as a perfect indicator as to where their enemies are and how much time they have.
The blonde glanced at his scroll. Three minutes, they had three minutes before their agreed rendezvous time and they had another half a kilometer or so to go. It would have been easy if it weren't for the terrain making it extremely difficult to travel through. Weiss nearly fell as she stumbled but Jaune quickly helped her regain her balance and they continued their run.
"'We're almost there. ETA two minutes." Ren's voice spoke up from the comms.
"Another three hundred meters to go." as soon as he'd finished speaking, an explosion was heard behind them. Jaune took a second to look back.
The sound of an engine caught his attention. Several engines in fact. "Shit."
"Their on bikes! Move!" he pulled the poor girl a little more harshly forward. He didn't want to hurt her but this wasn't the best time to be delicate. The sounds were getting closer quickly. "Nora, got any more grenades?"
"i have one more. This is my last mag as well."
Jaune had a grenade of his own and one flash bang. The team leader pulled the white clad girl behind a thick trunk as gunfire erupted from behind them. He made a 'tsk'-ing sound as the engine noise got close and closer. Pulling out his last flash bang, he pulled out the pin and lobbed it behind the trunk. A bright flash of light and a few moments later, a pair on a white all terrain motorcycle zipped passed them and slammed head on against the hard bark. The slight ringing in his ears prevented him from truly appreciating the crunching sound that impact was sure to have made.
There was one more bike. Nora shot her last grenade but the think trunks made it near impossible to hit her mark. the bike shot out of a brush and opened fire on them. Jaune shoved the heiress to the ground as both him and Nora returned fire. They took a few shots and the blonde could feel his aura dipping after each bullet hit its mark, they their enemy on their bikes didn't have the luxury of aura and the bike beneath him exploded after a bullet struck the dust tank.
'He was alone?' he lowered his rifle a little to look at the burning remains of the two wheeler. Just as he was turning to tell them to keep moving, one more member of the white fang jumped out from a tree, knife held high and headed straight for the white haired girl.
Both Jaune and Nora tried to lift their rifles in time but it didn't seem to be enough. The scene played out almost in slow motion.
A single shot. And the monkey faunus dropped down to the ground, dead.
"Could use some help?" Ren's smug voice spoke over the team radio.
"I love you, you know that?" came Jaune's reply. The heiress was left quite confused after this.
"I don't think Nora would appreciate that."
"I'll make an exception, just this once."
The trio down in the forest could see the tree's rustle before feeling the wind gusting about them.
"You youngsters alright?" Jaune looked up as he saw black ropes drop down onto the forest floor leading up through the trees, four of them.
They took a few steps towards the ropes before Ren burst out from behind a tree. They could hear more engines in the distance. Jaune grabbed heiress by the waist and lifted her onto his shoulder.
"Wha-?!" she couldnt even finish her questions as the blonde dashed to one of the ropes, his two teammates right behind him. He placed his shoe into the foothold attached to the bottom as her wrapped one hard around the rope.
"Pull us up, Peter." no sooner had the words left his mouth did the they begin to rise up.
It wasn't until the hatch closed and they flew out of the area, their target sitting beside him with relief oozing from her posture, did Jaune relax his muscles. That was a lot more stressful that he thought it'd be. He didn't expect there to be so many White Fang members in the area, nor did he expect them to be that well armed. Were the Fang getting more active in Vale? He doubted the group would transport that much equipment for the kidnapping of one girl, no matter how important she may be. He'd have to ask Qrow once they got back. For now, he once again rested his head on the hard wall.
He glanced at the white haired girl sitting beside him. She was an Alpha, like the rest of them. A civilian with her aura unlocked. That was an oddity. He was curious as to how she discovered it and who'd unlocked it.
He had half a mind to ask her then and there, but he didn't think it was the right time. She moved well, didn't slow them down that much, was responsive and alert. She did good out there and he decided that she deserved to just rest.
Chapter End.
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