Chapter 1: Operation Briefing
A/N: Hey, guys. I know that I've missed my intended updates by quite a bit. However, life has been hard personally. So, I've sorta lost my muse and will be putting my other stories on hold until I can go back to the drawing board and rewrite them. So, prepare for a major rewrite of everything :D I'm slowly getting my life together though, and I'm also looking for a Beta to help get these updates through quicker. However, back to the point of this A/N, I know many of you are probably like 'Oh look here's another one to be like updated every few years.' Hear me out though. I've been doing a lot more research into both RWBY and Halo, both the main series and the extended universe through extra games or literature. These two are some of my favorite universes. Halo in terms of the intricacies of politics and military conflict while RWBY has that modern fantasy setting that deals with the issues of racism and moral conflicts. So, here I am, with a renewed muse and quite a bit of this story done. So, ah, give it shot will ya? And like always, I own absolutely nothing besides several OCs and the plot of the story. Oh and just saying, lots of elements are going to be greatly changed. So don't exactly expect it to be like either universe.
A soft feminine voice speaks into an antique voice recorder, lips pressed tightly together whenever she thought of what to say, "The war had been over for only a few months. The UNSC was slowly handing back control over to the UEG. However, the war had taken its toll on the UNSC's fighting capabilities. The Home fleet was devastated as were several other fleets that jumped in after the battle was at its zenith. Combined, the fleets barely passed a hundred or so functional ships and even that was a stretch as many were either heavily damaged or at half strength in terms of personnel. Much less to man an offensive against the Covenant remnants. However, all wasn't lost as the Elites were a god's send during the Battle of Earth. The Covies were burning through our ships like paper. Thankfully, that schism between the Elites and the rest of the Covenant resulted in many of the Sangheili becoming turncoats. As fighting continued around High Charity, a fleet of Sangheili jumped into Earth orbit and engaged Truth's fleet. We watched as they made work of the remnants of Truth's fleet as a majority had gone through the portal with Truth's dreadnaught. Still, we weren't prepared for what lay on the other side of that portal. It was tough fighting but the Sangheili and our fleet were able to do enough damage that most of the Truth's remaining fleet was decimated or forced to retreat. Shortly after, the A-"
"Cassandra! You better not be making another of those logs of yours when you said you would be studying!" A sharp, feminine voice rang through the air as a young woman bolted up right in her seat with her eyes wide.
"Um, I'm studying mum! I was just repeating something in the textbook out loud!" Cassandra called back, hoping her mother bought it.
"Mhm, you may be an adult now and you may have fought in that war, but you're still the horrible liar you were as a child. So, wrap up your studying and get ready for dinner. Wear something nice, we've got guests over. And no more making logs! Go out and find some friends, it isn't healthy for you to stay inside all day." Her mother told her through the door followed by the sound of footsteps moving away from the door. Cassandra took a deep breath and sighed. Her mother had been right. She was an adult and yet she was stuck here, living in her parent's guest room since she had no place to go. The end of a war did that to people. With the Home Fleet so devastated, she was among the many that weren't renewed for service as there were no ships available to man. Her own ship, the UNSC Dawnbreaker, was one of the first Marathon-class heavy cruisers to engage the Covenant above Earth when Truth's fleet jumped in. Consequently, it was destroyed with few managing to make it to the escape pods and get out. She didn't take the crashing landing gracefully. Cassandra remembered hitting the ground in the pod and waking up months later in a hospital in Montreal. She spent the better part of a year confined to the bed to allow her to recover. As these memories ran through her mind, Cassandra fingered the medal on her naval uniform. 'A Bronze Star, everyone on the Dawnbreaker got it.' She sighed and looked to her right where a display case, courtesy of the UNSC, displayed more bronze stars. A lot of the people on the Dawnbreaker didn't have much family left so many listed other crew members as the next of kin. As a result, a lot of the medals were awarded posthumously to those that lived through the ordeal. Another sigh escaped her lips as she quickly put her uniform on before stepping in front of the mirror. She curled her auburn hair around her fingers, huffing as she took note of the hair that was beginning to pass her shoulder. 'I should get that cut soon, it's getting long again.' As she thought about what to do with her hair, she made eye contact with herself and she smirked at the azure eyes that shone with excitement. She hadn't felt this excited since she was assigned to the UNSC Dawnbreaker. Oh, it wasn't anything really special. Dinner was to be a formal event, and Cassandra was just happy to feel her uniform on her again. She examined herself, scoffing again after noticing that she was losing her athletic build.
"Honey, if you're done looking at yourself in the mirror, our guests are waiting on us now," Her mother stepped into her room with a warm smile. Cassandra sighed and looked up at her mother with a slight scowl. Her mother couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of the scowl, "Oh dear, you aren't getting any taller. You've inherited your dad's height. Now come on, dinner will get cold." With that, she turned and walked off with Cassandra in tow who huffed the whole way from the slight to her height. Cassandra turned into the dining room, ready to greet their guests who her mother was being a pain about hiding their identities when she stopped in her tracks, shocked by who was sitting at the table. One was her old commanding officer, Captain Musa Ludovicus, and the other was somebody from ONI which was a given with the symbol on their shoulders. Cassandra immediately snapped to full attention and saluted her former commanding officer.
"At ease, Lieutenant, we're not on the Dawnbreaker anymore," Musa told her with a comforting smile as he gestured to the open seats when the man from ONI coughed. "Ah, I'm sorry Larson. Lieutenant, meet Agent Larson from ONI. He's an old friend of mine who called me up for a favor." Cassandra and her mother sat at the table, her mother looked between the three with a suspicious look on her face.
"Listen, Mister…?" Her mother left the question open as she realized that she hadn't bothered to properly learn their name. Only that an old acquaintance of Cassandra's was visiting with an ONI agent.
"Ludovicus, Miss Westfield. Captain Ludovicus, I was Cassandra's commanding officer when she served aboard the Dawnbreaker. I must apologize, I forgot to introduce us when we made plans to visit.
"Oh, it's quite all right, Captain Ludovicus. Cassandra here could use the company. She's been cooped up in her room for the past weeks, barely going out," Her mother gave her a pointed look at that and Cassandra huffed in her seat.
"Captain, if we can get back to the reason for our visit?" Agent Larson said, his voice calming and soothing but that instantly put Cassandra on edge. Everyone in the navy knew to never trust an ONI agent out right.
"Can we eat first? I'm starving after studying all day," Cassandra said as she gestured for her guests to dig in before grabbing a roll from a nearby basket.
"Of course, we should eat first before the food gets cold," Musa said as he began to dig in with a pointed look at Larson who looked ready to object. Larson huffed and followed suit with Cassandra's mother following right afterward. Table talk was light and friendly, but there was an air of dread. ONI involvement was never really good. Only reason why Cassandra didn't tell her mother to send Larson away was cause it was her old captain that set this all up. Dinner wrapped up quickly and the wine was broken out.
"Nothing breaks the ice better than alcohol. God knows I learned that lesson better than most," Musa said with a soft smile before Larson coughed, drawing all their attention to him.
"Miss Westfield, your captain is an old friend of mine. I asked him to refer somebody to...lead a mission after he declined to lead it himself. He's given me an outstanding performance review about you. Graduated from the Naval Academy ranked five out of four hundred and seventy three students. Exemplary service during the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV and during the Fall of Reach resulted in your promotion to Lieutenant and reassignment to the Dawnbreaker after the destruction of your previous assignment, the UNSC Leviathan. Following this, the Dawnbreaker was assigned to the Home Fleet and saw action against Covenant forces during the latter part of the battle of Earth where Truth's fleet jumped into the system and engaged what was left of the Home Fleet. The Dawnbreaker was amongst the first to engage Truth's fleet. It was able to destroy two battlecruisers alongside other Marathon-class cruisers and managing to heavily damage a third before it took too much damage and the core began to meltdown. Escaped with roughly a quarter of the crew. Escape pod landed hard in Northern Canada where navy personnel picked up survivors of the crash landing and took them to Montreal for recovery. Awarded the Bronze Star alongside the entire crew of the Dawnbreaker for its part in the defense of Earth. Application to renew service was denied due to the inability of finding a ship to place you with. Does that sound right?" Larson stopped, trying to make sure he hadn't said anything wrong or different.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Cassandra said as she poured herself another glass of wine. She didn't know how to feel about the fact that Larson knew more about her service record than even she remembered about her own service record, "But what does this have to do with me."
"We're launching two ships at New Years time. Both are the first of their class. However, before I continue, I need to know that you're on board. Otherwise, we can part ways and pretend this talk never happened. You have me continue and you're agreeing to come aboard this operation." Larson warned her and they sat in silence for a good minute or two, sipping their wine as each pondered what they heard. Cassandra caught her mother's eyes and gave her a questioning look, looking for help but all she got in return was her mother's head shaking no at her. This was her choice and she knew what she had to do.
"Go on, Agent Larson. I don't really feel like I belong on the ground anymore," Cassandra said and her mother gave her a sad but supportive smile.
"Very well, Captain Westfield, the ships getting launched are the first of the Infinity-class supercarriers. Very ambitious project that has been in progress since 2544. The UNSC Infinity is the only ship officially launching on New Years. The UNSC Eternity is going to be listed as incomplete. However, Captain Westfield, you will be taking the Eternity on its maiden voyage." Agent Larson was surprised to see the shock on Cassandra's face. A promotion to Captain and her own ship, most people would be celebrating but Cassandra looked genuinely surprised and shocked at what happened.
"Wait, why me? Honestly, sir, there have to be more qualified people out there and Captain? I'm an inexperienced Lieutenant, sir. I've only been in service for what a few months before Sigma and only a couple of months or so after Sigma?," Cassandra stated, confused and out of breath.
"You were recommended by Captain Ludovicus to lead this operation. You cannot hope to command this operation as a Lieutenant, especially when your frigate compliment's highest ranking officer on each ship is a commander. So, I'm using my authority to give you several skip-promotions to Captain. As for more qualified, yes. But with the Covenant not being truly gone, we need as many veteran hands out re establishing contact with our colonies or escorting colony ships to recolonize some of our former colonies as quickly as possible. That and I trusts Musa to provide me with personnel that area up to par with their objectives. Anymore questions?" Larson quipped, raising an eyebrow.
"No, uh...What exactly is my mission?" Cassandra asked, wanting to get this night over with.
"I thought we'd never get to that," Larson said with a smile as he pulled out a datapad from inside his jacket and showed it to Cassandra. "This is a message aimed at Earth from an unknown location from a familiar source." He placed it on the table after connecting it to some speakers to amplify the sound.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is UNSC FFG 221, Redoubtable, and UNSC FFG 294, Paris. Requesting reinforcements. Slipspace drives are inoperable, engines are inoperable. Currently in orbit around unknown planet, system unknown." The pad repeated the message until Larson turned it off.
"The Redoubtable and Paris were considered missing in action after failing to reach Installation 05 with the In Amber Clad and Coral Sea. This was message was received five days ago. Now, these ships should be a full operating strength given they weren't engaged in any fighting until they attempted to follow the Prophet's carrier through its slipspace portal. Issue was, they never made it to the other side. Coral Sea managed to get some data from the Installation and make it back to Earth alongside the Dusk. You, Captain Westfield, are tasked with getting to those ships, seeing what could be done about their drives and evacuate the crew. Scuttle the ships of they can't be repaired." Larson said as he stood up and put his data pad away.
"Anything else sir?" Cassandra said through a yawn, noticing her mother was vacant from the room. 'It was pretty late, so she must've gone to bed.' Her thoughts reasoned out. 'Hopefully dad and Leslie get back before I have to leave. I don't want to leave mom here alone again.'
"I expect you to be ready to ship out in two months. Understood, Captain?" Larson raised an eyebrow as Cassandra saluted.
"Crystal, sir."
"Very well, Captain. Come, Musa, let us depart. We have much to discuss and it's better if Captain Westfield here is able to rest."
The two were escorted to the door by Cassandra who watched them go before she shut the door and sighed. She made her way to her room, exhausted but proud. She believed herself inexperienced but she knew that this was a chance to prove her worth. She quickly switched into some pajamas before flopping on her bed, falling asleep as soon as she hit the mattress.