A/N

Okay, so I had a brief realization that this takes place about ten years before the White Fang began to go violent, so I've decided to use another group. This group is mainly a bunch Faunus that are still trying to 'win' Faunus Revolution.

Supāku Pine was walking home from the town of Ipponsa. Her grandfather had sent her on her first solo journey into town to buy a new pair of wire cutters. She had some urgency to get home. Being only fifteen, she was officially the one of her friends who had ever left the village, much less journey wasn't a particularly dangerous one. It would only take a few hours, and there was rarely Grimm in the cold, mountainous north of Anima. She could barely see the coastline in the distance, which wasn't much of a feat considering her position atop ahill. But she didn't pay much attention to that. She was too busy trying to get home quickly and gloat to all her fellow classmates and friends.

She was definitely not hurrying because she was terrified of the dark, and the sun was just starting to sink behind the mountains. Definitely not that.

Although she did have a 'lack of fondness' for the dark, she would be lying if she said she didn't absolutely love stars. She had memorized multiple constellations, spent countless hours star gazing, and had been saving up for a telescope for years now.

So, here Supāku was, walking down the road, between sparse patches of trees and snow covered fields, starting up at the sky. That was how she noticed the oddity that was currently passing along the shaft of the Strela constellation, which currently resided in the far south of the horizon. It was a pulsating red/orange light; a meteor just bouncing along the edge of the atmosphere.

At least, that's what she thought it was, until it did something that meteors don't normally do. It began course corrections. As it came closer, the light strangely dimmed and changed into a shadow against the stars, like a candle winking out. All that remained of the light was a speck of blue.

It wasn't long before she heard it. It started as a low rumble, but as the object came closer, it grew into a thunder. Soon she could could see that the object was some type of wingless airship, as it roared overhead. The ship, now directly above her, slowly banked towards the west, slipping into a small valley. The ground shook as a low rumble like a gargantuan monster awakening from the depths below.

This quiet valley was about to become very busy.

"What's the name of the village again?" General Ironwood asked.

"Suītopī, Sir." replied the pilot.

Ironwood was currently inbound to a town in north western Anima, and he was exuberant. A little over a week ago, members of a Faunus extremist group had stolen an Combat Airship. The theft occurred north of Vytal, and was last seen headed due east, towards Anima. Now, late last night, a report from a small fishing town by the name of Suītopī claimed that a "large airship had crashed" nearby.

Two plus two is four. Deduced Ironwood. As if to add more fuel to the fire, the town was inhabited predominantly by Faunus, and was known to house sympathizers to the organization. Ironwood wasn't racist.

So now, here he was circling down towards a clearing in the forest to meet up with a Huntress from Mystral City and a group of four locals who were to act as guides. With the two Atlesian Dropships carrying five infantry, fifteen AK-130s, and two Atlas Specialists, they made for a formidable reconnaissance force.

The Dropships came in, creating a massive updraft of snow flurries which made for a rather fantastic site in the early dawn sunlight. As the human and mechanical soldiers began establishing a perimeter, Ironwood walked up to his guests. As the Huntress walked up to him, se spoke with a friendly smirk.

"General Ironwood, I presume."

"You presume correctly, Ms...?" Ironwood answered while extending his hand.

"Oh yeah, name's Cielo Arancione." she said while returning the friendly gesture. She then proceded to tilt her head back and spoke up. "Well ladies and gentlemen," she to the rest of the group, "it would seem this little entourage is all here right on time."

"It seems so, yes." Ironwood agreed with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice. "I propose we get moving. I'm rather eager to reclaim some lost property."

"Agreed." Said one of the locals, a dark skinned woman wearing a white leather fur-lined jacket that looked hand made (which it probably was), a pair of dark grey and green camouflage cargo pants, an a pair of mismatched shoes. Most notable about her, was she, lie all the other locals, was a Faunus. Her pointed deer ears sticking out of her wool knit skull cap made that evidently clear. The woman, clearly the leader of the group, stepped up to Ironwood. She looked closely at him with an authoritative glare, as if daring him to step back. He did.

"I'm Shika Pine. My daughter found your ship." She stated flatly. "She can show you where it is."

"And where is she?" Ironwood asked.

"At my village. We were headed there now." she gestured to the large, faded pale green cargo truck behind her. "You will you be talking your ships, I assume?"

"Correct. We'll follow you from the air." He replied while walking back to his dropship, with the pair of Specialists. The infantry parameter folded, filed out, and loaded up. They were gone just as fast as they arrived.

Just as the General's dropship was spooling up, he called out to Cielo. "You with me or them!?"

Cielo paused for a moment, as if to consider the question. Who was she with? Or did he mean riding with? Either way...

"I came here with them!" She finally replied. "Sticking with 'em!"

Now it was Ironwoods turn to figure out which question she had answered.

A short three minute and they were had arrived at Suītopī. After an indirect meeting between Ironwood and Supāku, mediated by her mother and grandfather, Ironwood decided to finish the expedition on ground with his Specialists, while his troops would quickly deploy once they reached their destination.

Normally, a crash site of this size wouldn't be all that hard find, with large drag marks and fire or smoke rising into the sky. However, there had been an intense snowfall the past few days, which had made high altitude observation insufficient, therefore requiring... a twelve year old guide. Nevertheless, they seemed to make great progress, as half an hour later, they had a good vantage point of a large metal hulk at the bottom of a tall hill. the Dropships, which had acquired visual conformation a few moments prior, had ben authorized to go ahead and secure a perimeter. They troops were not, however, authorized to enter the vessel until the General's arrival.

With Ironwood now on site, they could proceed with the investigation. His first deduction; this wasn't the stolen Combat Airship. As a matter of fact, this wasn't any type of airship that he was familiar with, and since the General was up tp date on all combat vehicles of this size in service, this was greatly concerning.

A/N

Okay, chapter two. A bit longer, however I think I probably over did it in the beginning there, but whatever. sorry if this was a little uneventful, but, well... there you go. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up... soon... ish. No promises.

Questions, comments, suggestions (maybe), leave a review and I'll probably get back to you. No promises.

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