A Reasonable Crusade
Part I: Ex Tenebra Lux
Chapter II: Beginnings
James stared sullenly at the door in front of him. The "event" had happened only a few hours ago, but it was just the latest in a long string events that made his day "positively unpleasant" as Inquisitor Fob would have put it. First the Crusade Fleet he had been leading, as part of a plea deal between himself and Inquisitor Lord Damnos that would prevent the destruction of the Aprior Sector, had gotten stranded in the Warp. Then, the other ships suddenly disappeared, along with the Astronomican. When they dewarped, they found themselves above a pre-space human world that had, apparently, not been reached by the Imperium in the Great Crusade, or any subsequent Crusades. Then he learned that humanity was, for the most part, relegated to four cities in the entire world. By what, no one in the crew could have guessed. After all, they hadn't detected any Chaos taint in the world, nor were there traces of Xenos. The lack of Chaos taint was another problem. Surely in a world that produces such powerful pyskers often enough for the rooftop to happen, there would be some. Even Imperial sanctioning didn't completely seal off Warp taint. He had been completely blindsided by the gun-cane the white man had used, and later once again with the sheer amount of warpyness going on on the rooftop. And just to make things worse, Zora and- James started as he realized he didn't know the Astarte's name. Or that of the Sororita, for that matter. 'I'll just have to ask them once I find them. Doesn't do to be on a strange world and not know the names of your companions.' James thought. 'Well, anyways, they abandoned me, and I haven't heard from them since. Would it have killed them to at least have told me where they were?' Before James could continue mucking about, the door opened revealing an old man in a black suit, with a green undershirt. In all honesty, the man reminded James of a Necron. Reflexively, James fixed the man with an Inquisitorial stare. It didn't even seem to phase the man.
Taking a seat, the green man stated, "What you did was very dangerous. Not just to yourself, but to bystanders aswell," after taking a sip of what looked like recaff, the green man continued, "Now, it is very noble that you were willing to endanger yourself to protect others. The exemplification of all it means to be a Huntsman. However, if your friends had not been on crowd control, collateral damage might have been more than just some damaged buildings."
"What friends?" James asked flatly, before the green man could continue.
"A very big armored man, and two women, one of who had red robes," came the green man's reply.
"So that's where they were. It would have been nice for them to have told me, but I thank you for informing me of what they were doing."
"In case you were wondering, I have already talked to the girl," James had not been wondering, but signaled for the green man to continue anyways. "She has agreed to come to my school two years early. I extend the same offer to you, though you would probably come as a professor. You are a bit old to be a student, after all." James considered the green man's proposal. Going to the local schola would help him learn of the local planet. On the other hand, he could teach nothing that was relevant to this planet.
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline. I don't know what I would teach. I'm a fighter, I only know combat."
"Then you can take over the combat courses. It is a Huntsman Academy, after all. Besides, the current professor for those classes is a bit overwhelmed with other duties. Freeing her from classes would help."
A little surprised that a school, no, Huntsman Academy, as the green man put it, would have combat courses, James stood up and stretched his hand out. "Then I'll accept. My name is James Fletcher, by the way."
Accepting his hand, the green man stood up and shook it. "Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy."
James was now riding on a "bullhead" as the natives called it. It was a transport craft, obviously civilian, due to the great glass walls and distinct lack of defensive weapons. James was looking out the window at the landscape. It was breathtaking. Truly, this would be a paradise world, if it were not for those "Grimm" creatures he had recently learned about. When he had returned to the landing zone, he had found that the armsmen on the ground had voxxed the ship for back up after a large bear-like creature had attacked. He had had to ask Ozpin what it was, and after explaining to Ozpin that no, he was not trying to trick him, and that yes, he really was from space, and that yes, he was human, and eventually taking Ozpin up to Black Rose, as James called the ship, he had finally gotten an explanation. It appeared that these "Grimm" were some kind of daemon, but that didn't make much since, since daemons would definitely register Warp taint, and usually had organs and blood and mushy red, green, blue, or purple stuff inside. All these Grimm had inside was solid redness. After that sorting that mess out, James managed to convince Ozpin that he should be the one to announce the existence of the Imperium. It would take a while though, since the tech-priests had to develop a vox-caster that would be compatible with the Dust powered communications of Remnant. Until then, they decided to say that James was merely from a faraway place, but would not deny the truth if asked.
The Bullhead was now getting ready to land at Beacon. He could see Brother Alfredus, a Silencer from the Nullarium, as he had learned, and Sister Marion waiting at the landing site. On each window a video started playing. It was the purple woman from the rooftop. In the video she introduced herself as Glynda Goodwitch. The video was an introduction to Beacon video for the students. When the bullhead docked people started running off. Whether out of excitement at being at such a prestigious academy, or out of desire to be away from the scary scull man, James could not say. Well, for the kid at the trashcan he could. Today he had opted to make an impression and had worn his evil goon costume and hat. When he exited the craft, the wind lifted the broad brim and tossed his cloak to the side, giving James quite a striking figure. As he strode down the ramp with his cane unpowered, he heard a small voice behind him. Turning around, he saw that it was that it was the red girl he had attempted to stop a robbery with.
The girl let out a nervous "Eep!" as James fixed her with an Inquisitorial scowl. Nervously, the girl proceeded, "I-I j-just noticed th-that you were the man who h-helped me f-fight Torchwick th-the other d-day."
Slowly turning his scowl to a comforting smile, James said, "Why, yes I am. I don't think I got your name then, little red." The smile helped to restore the girl's confidence, though it was contrasted by the skull pins holding his cloak to his armor and the large skull set in the =][= on his hat.
"It's Ruby. Ruby Rose," the little girl, now known to James as Ruby, got out.
"Thank you, Miss Rose. I expect I will be seeing a lot of you in class." With that, James turned heel and walked over to Alfredus and Marion.
"Where is Zora? I thought she would be here," James asked.
"She is at the schola's Forge. She was too excited examining the equipment and told us to go without her," Sister Marion replied. If James had to put her accent down as anything, it would be Cadian. And with her color eyes, she could be Cadian if James didn't know better. James took out his scroll, issued to him by Ozpin until he could get his vox to work with the CCTS, to find his dorm. He had been assigned to one of the teacher's dorms, meaning he'd have it to himself. He and Zora had been the only ones to officially sign on, and since Zora was a tech-priestess and spent most of her time in the Forge, James was the only one out of the four to have a dorm. Alfredus and Marion lived at the base the armsmen made when they had first landed, since it turned out to not be far at all from the campus.
"Very well. I don't expect the rest of my gear to be arriving until later today by Valkyrie, so you two are dismissed." When the two turned to leave, James went to find his dorm. It was time to take off the stupid hat and costume. Following the scroll's map, James found his room easily enough. Taking off his evil goon costume and folding it away neatly, he surveyed the room. It was small, with one bed, a window, and a dresser, but it was big enough for him. Placing his uniform into the top drawer, he hung his "hey-look-at-me-I'm-in-the-Inquisition!" hat on a peg and laid his weapons on the bed. He took the bolt pistol and mag-locked it to his side. He never went anywhere without it, and it's weight was comforting. Then he took his lasgun and propped it up beside the dresser. The power saber he left on top of the drawer and took his power cane in hand. He had nothing else to unpack, as the rest of his gear would not come in until later. Striding out the door, he locked it and started down the hallway. Nothing would be happening with him until tomorrow, when he would help oversee the initiation activity. Taking advantage of his free time, James decided to scout out the campus. It was still fairly early in the morning so lunch would not be for a while. At that moment, James heard a voice that was starting to become too familiar.
"What is it, Miss Rose?" James asked tiredly. The little girl was starting to become a little annoying.
Hurriedly, Ruby spat out, "Well,it'sjustthatyou'reourcombatprofessor,soIwaswonderingifyoucould-" Holding up a hand James stopped her.
"Speak slower. I can hardly understand you."
Taking a deep breath, Ruby started over, slower, "Well, since you're the combat professor I was thinking that meant that you would have a cool weapon, so I was wondering if you could please show it to me?" James stared at her. This little girl came up to him to ask him about his weapon? She's just a little girl, what could go wrong? James thought as he grabbed his bolt pistol. Handing it over for the girl to examine, James noticed that her pupils dilated in pleasure. "It's so big!" Ruby exclaimed, "I've never seen one this size before!" Ruby cradled the pistol that was the size of her head in her hands. "What is it? What does it shoot? Doesn't it hurt to fire? What did you name it?" Ruby asked excitedly, jumping from foot to foot.
"Slow down, Miss Rose. One question at a time from now on," James said, not putting a dent in the hyperactive technophile's demeanor, "It is a bolt pistol. It fires .75 caliber mass-reactive rounds-" eliciting an "ooh" from Ruby, "-meaning it fires a very large bullet, then explodes after entering the target. As for whether it hurt to fire, the recoil would dislocate my shoulder in one shot without my armor." Taking the pistol back from Ruby, James noticed how much her attitude changed. "And what do you mean 'What did I name it?' Nobody names their weapons."
Surprised by his answer, Ruby, back to her normal, if normal could ever describe her, self said, "Everyone names their weapons. Take my sweetheart," Ruby said, pulling out the big scythe James had seen her use earlier, "Crescent Rose. If you don't name your weapon, then its not really yours!"
Considering this, James said, "Alright then, I think I'll call it Rose's Thorns."
Slightly creeped out, Ruby asked, "You're naming it after me?"
Shaking his head, James replied, "No. For as long as anyone can remember, my family's signet has been a white rose intertwined with a red rose. No one knows where it comes from, or what it means."
Seemingly unsure of his explanation, Ruby shook it off. "Well, I'll be going now, off to meet new friends and all that-" Ruby began, before being interrupted by James.
"I think I know someone who might want to meet you. Just follow me to the Forge. Oh, and be warned, she might come off as a little creepy for those unused to her kind." With that, James set off in search of Zora, with a curious Ruby following close behind, wondering what exactly James meant with the "her kind" comment.