QA:
Q: Is Remnant going to be annexed by the Imperium?
A: Ultramar specifically.
Q: Is Penny going to come back?
A: ;)
Q: Will there be other Imperial Forces
A: I was considering some House Terryn Knights and possibly some Deathwatch.
The Thunderhawk banked around the mountain range towards the recovering Vale City. The automated guns on the rebuilt walls tracked it until the IFF had confirmed it was friendly. Cassiel went to one of the side doors and called Ruby over.
"Ruby you may wish to see this."
He opened the armored door and Ruby peered out into the early morning air and she gasped.
The city was well on its way to recovery.
There was still evidence of battle damage but the corpse of the petrified Wyvern was gone, the drop pods that had been used to deliver space marines directly to the city had been collected and removed, and even some of the more catastrophic damage had scaffolding around it.
She couldn't help but smile slightly. Ruby was able to enjoy a small victory. The losses of the previous week and the battles since the Battle of Vale had weighed hard on her conscience. But now she saw the fruits of her own labors and the labors of all other Huntsmen and Huntresses.
Their deaths and sacrifices hadn't been in vain.
The Thunderhawk touched down at a courtyard at Beacon campus. The open area had been given by the miraculously still alive Professor Ozpin in the aftermath of the battle for use by the Ultramarines. It turns out he was able to survive due to a timely intervention of Pyhrra Nikos and a few well placed shock grenades from a pair of Reivers that had been drawn by the sounds of battle. The back ramp dropped and Cassiel stepped down to greet Chaplain Bariel. Since Markus had been interred in a Dreadnought, Bariel had taken the majority of his leadership duties until Cassiel could find a replacement.
"Greetings Brother-Captain." He said as they clasped wrists. Cassiel had exchanged his powerfist for his personal master crafted blade in case he had to do any hand shaking or the like.
"Hello Bariel. How goes the reconstruction? Any deficiencies?"
The skull masked marine shrugged.
"About as many to be expected. The civilian population took heavy casualties, as did the local defense forces and we have had to pick up some of the slack. What I wouldn't give for a single son of Dorn though."
Cassiel laughed, his vox grill making it sound like more of a growl.
"Even the Templars?"
The chaplain tilted his helmet in thought.
"On second thought maybe we are fine as we are."
They both chuckled and Ruby coughed behind Cassiel.
"Ah I don't think you've been introduced. Ruby this is my company's chaplain, Bariel. Don't let the skull visage fool you. He's as much of a spiritual counselor as a warrior. Should you have any philosophical or spiritual questions, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to assist you."
The Chaplain made a slight bow. He was a full head shorter than Cassiel, a member of the Old Breed of Space Marine. His armor was covered in honor markings and purity seals and on his belt was a crozius arcanum with a grav pistol in a holster.
"A pleasure."
"Hello! Nice to meet you!" She said cheerily, still partially enamoured by how swift the rebuilding was going. If someone had told her a few months ago the city would be well on its way to recovery, she'd have called them crazy. But to see it now...
Cassiel began to move towards the entrance of Beacon, the temporary capitol building since the council of Vale was murdered six months prior.
"You went to schola here did you not, Ruby?"
"School? Yeah, in fact I'm still in my first year! The school itself is so great and full of history! It has made some of the finest Huntsmen and Huntresses that Remnant has ever seen!"
Ruby was so enamoured with telling her very tall aquaintence all about Beacon that she didn't notice the rather tall blonde haired woman approaching them with a stern expression on her face. Cassiel noticed her immediately and his hand subconsciously hovered near his holstered plasma pistol.
"Good morning, I am Glynda Goodwitch, I understand you are the representative of the... Ultramarines? I apologize if my student has been bothering you. They are all under strict directions to leave your forces in peace."
Ruby jumped and turned to see one of her professors looking at her in mild disapproval.
"Greetings," Cassiel said. "I am the Captain of the Ultramarines 5th company and the representative of the 4th in my Brother's absence. I also assure you that your student is with me by my request. I have chosen her as a representative of sorts."
Her eyebrows raised slightly in doubt but she said nothing of her thoughts.
"I understand you wished to meet with the other world leaders today?"
Cassiel nodded.
"Very well. That meeting begins in three hours, but Lord Ozpin wishes to see you before then. In private."
Cassiel revealed nothing through his posture but he was quite surprised the eccentric man wished to meet him alone. He was also surprised at the 'lord' title but before he could ask, Ruby asked for him.
"Lord? Did the Professor get a promotion?" She joked.
Glynda, however, stayed straightfaced.
"Yes, actually. Until the line of succession is restored, Professor Ozpin is the highest ranking person in Vale with any power and as such, he leads the kingdom until the matter is resolved."
Ruby looked meek. "Oh..."
Cassiel took this moment to take control of the situation. "And what might this Lord Ozpin want away from the eyes of the other kingdoms?"
Theoretical: He has something to hide.
Practical: He wishes to use me and my Space Marines to achieve his goals.
Goodwitch stares at him cooly, no emotion betraying her thoughts. "To explain to you the gravity of our situation."
He nodded. He didn't trust her in the slightest and sent a coded message to his fast reaction force to be on high alert in case anything went awry.
"Very well. Lead the way Miss Goodwitch. Ruby, I will be indisposed for some time."
She looked like she was going to protest but thought better of it and nodded.
Cassiel followed Goodwitch through Beacon, the familiar corridors seemed different without Grimm and corpses lying about. It seemed brighter. More of an institute of learning than a charnel house.
They finally came to a partially complete office and stopped before the large wooden doors.
"Weapons please."
Had his facial features been visible, his incredulous look would have almost been considered offensive.
"No."
Finally, a little bit of emotion plagued her features. Irritation.
"Please, we have a str-"
"You do. I don't. No."
She sighed. "Very well. I suppose we can make an exception."
"Good. Shall we?"
She opened the door and in the middle of the room was a table with a silver haired man with glasses sitting at the head. In one of the other chairs sat a man with a large amount of scruff and Cassiel was fairly sure he could smell alcohol on the man's breath from across the room and through his suit's scrubbers. And in another sat a man clearly of military bearing, his close cropped hair and ramrod straight stature the most obvious signs.
Glynda took another chair, leaving two open.
The man with glasses spoke.
"Please. Have a seat, we have much to discuss."
Cassiel looked at the small wooden chair. It seemed well made and somewhat expensive if somewhat plain.
"I would likely break that."
The man smiled and nodded. "Very well. Welcome, I am... Lord Ozpin. And I believe you are Captain Cassiel."
Cassiel nodded and rested his right hand on the pommel of his sword.
"How may I help you today Lord Ozpin? I trust the recovery efforts are proceeding smoothly?"
Ozpin nodded.
"Now let's get down to business. I'm sure you're quite aware than this is no courtesy meeting."
Cassiel nodded.
"One doesn't live two hundred and fifty years by not using their Emperor given brain."
Eyebrows shot up at that.
To give credit to Ozpin, he didn't seemed too phased by that revelation.
"For starters, I would like to extend condolences for your lost subordinate. His sacrifice is a model to us all."
Cassiel nodded. "Firstly, he is not a subordinate. We are like brothers. Secondly, he still lives, but I appreciate the sentiment. He is a brave warrior."
Again, eyebrows shot up. His wounds were quite grevious, even for an Astartes, and for him to still live would be nearly godlike to mortals.
"Now. I believe you had something to tell me." Cassiel stated cooly, his pict and video recorders already recording. He had no reason to distrust them, but he had no reason to trust them either. It wasn't out of malice but he was entrusted to the lives of 150 battle brothers of his own and of the 4th company and he would rather be damned for all eternity than let them die in vain.
"Yes we... I do." Ozpin said grimly. And so he explained the dark past of Remnant. The Grimm, the Great War, and Salem. He even touched on the relics and the maidens though Cassiel suspected he was hiding much.
"And that is the gist of it. So I must ask, Captain. Will you help us?" Ozpin asked.
Cassiel was prepared to answer when the military officer, General Ironwood, finally spoke up. The man was clearly irritated.
"Absolutely not Ozpin! We don't even know who these people are! Or why they're here! For all we know, they could be here solely to enslave us all!"
Cassiel turned to the man.
"You are General Ironwood, correct?"
"Yes." Said the man curtly.
"Then you would do will do know 'General' that your choices during the events six months ago would have personally gotten you shot by me had you been under my command. Your tactical placement and over reliance on those... androids got hundreds killed for no reason. You even got thrown off your own ship. The sheer incompetence and arrogance you showed nearly damned this entire city to an ugly death. Had myself and my Space Marines not arrived when we had, the death toll would have been much, much higher and the city would have been lost. Your objections mean nothing to me and until you redeem your gross miscalculation you mean nothing to me. As for your proposition, Lord, I would have purged this filth from your planet whether you asked or not. Now, I believe we have nothing more to discuss. Unless any of you have something more to add?"
The room was silent. You could almost cut the tension with a dull knife. It was clear the General hadn't gotten dressed down like that in quite a while. He was almost trembling with barely contained anger but said nothing.
At least his military bearing is well ingrained.
Cassiel turned and left without another word. He admitted that this may not have been the most diplomatic way to solve the issue, but he didn't rightly care.
He made his was back to the courtyard and saw the Ruby wasn't here. He assumed she must be off visiting classmates so he decided to wander the grounds. There was still much he didn't know about about this planet and it's peoples. And much like his Primarch, Cassiel had a hunger for knowledge about peoples, places, and cultures. And so he wandered in silence until the meeting came. He went and learned what he needed to learn.
Vale and Vacuo had taken to the space marines quite well. Whenever a horde of Grimm were discovered, the Ultramarines fell upon them like a thunderbolt and left nothing but empty shell casings and dissolving corpses in their wake. Mistral and Atlas, however, were more mistrustful. Likely due to the fact that the status quo was being upended as it was. There was no word from Menagerie, the abhuman kingdom, thus far but Cassiel suspected that wasn't due to their own voice.
At the end of the meeting, Cassiel walked back outside. The sun was setting now and Cassiel found the sight fairly relaxing. He finally removed his helmet and maglocked it to his side and took a deep breath of the clean air, his three lungs filling with the crisp autumn air. He heard footsteps, small and timid behind him and turned to greet whoever it was.
Who he saw was young girl, barely coming up to his hips with a pair of rabbit ears on her head. She seemed to be trembling under his gaze but she had something she wished to say.
"Greetings." Cassiel said while taking a knee so he was closer to her height. The abruptness making her jump.
"H-hello. My n-name is Velvet." She said softly before taking a deep breath and shoving a card into his chest. "W-we just wanted to wish your friend well. We hope he recovers soon. We... I saw what he did. That village had a lot of Faunus in it. And he saved them while almost dying... so... thank you." Her face was flushed with embarrassment as Cassiel took the card.
It said 'Get Well Soon' on the outside and on the inside was several dozen signatures, at least 36.
Cassiel smiled and thanked her before putting it in one of the pouches on his belt.
"I shall ensure he gets this. He will appreciate this gesture." She bowed and hurried away.
Mortals. He thought fondly. I will never understand them. They never cease to amaze and confuse me.
He stood to hear Ruby calling to him. And standing with her... was the alcohol smelling man from earlier.
"It never ends does it?" He said sourly and made his way to the pair.
"Hey Cassiel! Have you met my Uncle Qrow!?"
"We are... somewhat aquainted." He allowed.
The man seemed unimpressed by the Astartes in front of him, which was quite impressive all things considered. Even hardened veterans of the Imperial Guard seemed to cow when under the gaze of a member of the Adeptus Astartes, but this man seemed more cautious than anything. If transhuman dread had an effect on him then he wasn't showing it. The man had seen much in his life.
"Greetings, Qrow." Cassiel said finally.
Qrow looked him up and down before speaking. "Hey, I heard Ruby and Yang were gonna be traveling with ya. Who gave ya permission to order 'em around?"
Ah. He isn't mad about my dressing down. He is simply worried about his family.
"I assure you, if they travel with me, it is purely their choice. Do not worry, they are not in a combat capacity. They're more of a cultural advisor. I wish to learn of this planet's peoples and cultures so we may better negotiate with you."
The man squinted and took a swig from his flask before continuing.
"And how can you guarantee their safety?"
"They will be under the personal protection of my honor guard and myself. Not to mention the 150 others like me who were born and bred to smite the enemies of man."
The man nodded but still looked suspicious.
He took another swig of his flask before stuffing it in his pocket.
"Alright. I'll keep my eye on you though." He said with arms crossed.
"Okayokayokay! Stop it both of you! Please?" Ruby finally said. She clearly could sense the tension between the two. As could some of the other students, who had started to gather to see what a fully fledged Huntsmen wanted with one of the giant blue warriors.
Cassiel decided to extend an olive branch.
"Qrow. I swear to you on my home world of Calth and my oath as a Space Marine that no harm shall befall them as long as I still draw breath."
Cassiel extended his hand, while he wasn't completely sure about most mortal customs but he had observed them shaking hands when reaching agreements. Surprisingly, Qrow accepted albeit awkwardly. He was somewhat thrown off by Cassiel's earnest oath.
Truthfully, he'd wanted to spook the tall knight if at all possible and he really hadn't expected an oath sworn on seemingly everything the Ultramarine stood for.
They awkwardly shook hands and Qrow huffed seemingly in satisfaction before turning to Ruby. "Alright then kiddo. If you need anything just call my scroll okay?"
He turned to Cassiel and looked up into the Space Marines eyes.
"You better not go back on your word."
Cassiel's face never moved. "I shall not. It is an oath."
