Chapter 7: The Atlas Predicament
Somewhere in Northern Sanus, Vale Territory…
A town that has towering wooden walls and several trenches in front that were manned, in one of those trenches was a man that was winded after just repelling another Grimm attack, "Damn these Grimm just won't give up!" He said "I don't think we can hold off another one without supplies"
"Don't worry civi" The man turned to see another man speaking.
He was wearing the standard issue URG PeaceKeeper gear, a set of dark grey combat fatigues paired with black boots and black composite armour going over the fatigues. The helmet had inbuilt ear muffs and shades, though the shades had an unholy blue glow over the left side of the shades, the vest had 'Peacekeeper' printed on the back and front and blue dots lighting up over different spots of the vest as well as the magazine holders, IFAK and holsters, the shoulder guards with the URG symbol on it, forearm guards, thigh guards, knee-shin guards all had a single blue dot lighting up from the armour.
"Theres a supply ship inbound on our location. It's loaded with munitions, fuel, food and medical supplies, when that arrives we'll be able to power up the 'Titan' and the 'Warhounds' we've brought with us, but until then we have to hold out"
"I know but…the town militia is starting to doubt themselves and are only attracting more Grimm"
The militiaman felt a hand on his shoulder, "I know but when that ship arrives, my Peacekeepers and I will enact a Search and Destroy mission, and the Grimm won't bother you for a long time"
The soldier saw a smile on the militiaman's face, "I'll do my best to encourage the rest of the Town Militia" the militiaman said
"Good, now head inside and get some rest…it'll be a long day" The militiaman then get out of the trench to enter the town but before he did he turned to look back at the Peacekeepers who were currently refilling their magazines with dust-rounds and checking the machine gun emplacements.
Now the trenches were just filled with Peacekeepers while the town militia took to the walls, while they were refilling their magazines someone else joined them, he was wearing the same gear as them the only difference was the light green shoulder guards "Hows it going boys?" he said
"Oh…hey Sergeant, nothing much, just held off a level 4 Grimm attack"
The Sergeant could feel the darkness in the air, "I know that look on your face Dan…whats wrong?"
"I-it's just that we only were supposed to fend off a bandit raid and now we're fending off Grimm attacks and they won't give up! I mean…seriously we already fended off three waves already"
Before the squad leader could say anything, a loud howl was heard somewhere far off in the distance, "And it seems that they're back for more" he said before getting up "Alright men, it seems the natives are getting pissed, now lets get those omnidirectional mines set up before they get here"
The Peacekeepers reluctantly got up and climbed out of the trenches to set up more mines on the charred battlefield, the Sergeant then got on his radio, "All Teams sound off, our guests have come back for more"
A wave of radio transmissions was then flooded into his headset, "Amara here. Ready to fight!"
"Sno here. 10-4"
"Arc here. Assuming defensive positions"
The Captain looked at the charred battlefield before him and then with his head hung low he sighed, "Wheres an Enforcer when you them…"
Time: 10:20 Day: Sunday Location: Beacon Combat Arena
"For the hundredth time Ruby, I don't know your mother" Vajo said defensively
"Oh yeah? Well you screaming out her name back there says otherwise" Ruby stated
"I don't even know a Summer, the closest thing I know to a Summer is the damn Season"
"I'm not buying it!"
"Well what do you want? My whole damn dossier just to prove to you that I don't know your mother?
"Yeah that'll be a start!"
Vajo paused for a few seconds before abruptly laughing "BHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, awwww thats…thats just great"—He pulled out his scroll and sent a file to Ruby's scroll—"There, now if you'll excuse me, I have a report to make" Vajo then left the arena, leaving his team behind but not before snickering and speaking under his breath "What a dumbass"
The rest of Ruby's team gathered around her "Well…what are you waiting for? I want to see who Ozpin let into the academy" Yang said
She looked into her files and saw a file labeled 'Onyx,Vajo: Dossier', Ruby tapped on the file to open it, for a brief second her screen glitched before returning to normal, the file opened but they didn't learn a single thing from it. All they saw was paragraphs of information that they couldn't read as it was blacked out.
"THAT LYING PIECE OF SH-"
With Vajo…
Vajo was walking to the landing pads and could swear that he could hear someone yelling from inside the buildings.
"Hmm, well I do hope they enjoyed my dossier" he sarcastically said
"Your sarcasm will be noted sir"
"Thank you, now send a report to the Director on the events that have occurred"
"Yes sir"
Though a few minutes later he received a notification on his scroll, when he checked it, it came from the Captain himself.
"Attention all units, Atlas forces have been sighted to be in the area, scans indicate seven Atlesian warships have entered the AO. Orders are to remain on stand-by, do not fire unless fired upon, meanwhile I will 'negotiate' a ceasefire with their OIC, you will be updated momentarily."
"A ceasefire? You have got to be joking" He said to himself before he started to pick up the pace, he was rushing through crowds of students that were walking around the school, after running through school grounds he made it to the landing pads that Juno's dropship was on. Vajo jumped on the canopy, he could see that she was fast asleep so he knocked on the glass which woke her up.
She opened up the cockpit and yawned, "Do you know what time it is?" she said while reaching for the sky.
"Yeah it's ten- Wait were you sleeping?!" Vajo shouted
She yawned again and put up the visor on her helmet "Yes. Hey…looking good"
Vajo closed his eyes and took a really long, deep breath, "How long were you asleep for?" He said calmly while also ignoring her compliment.
"Eh I don't know, maybe a few hours?" She said casually
With one hand Vajo placed a palm on his face, "You're killing me here Juno" he thought
"Alright, where's Jake?" He asked
"He should be in the cargo hold. Why?"
"Because he should've woken you up and told you about the Atlas forces that are approaching the AO."
"W-what are you talking about?" The only response was Vajo flicking the side of her helmet and pointing at a screen in the cockpit. Vajo shook his head and jumped off, he then moved over to the side door and opened it up. He was greeted with a thermos falling out but he caught it just centimetres off the floor.
He got inside and saw a still body lying on the floor with some slight snoring. He walked up to it and took a knee, and with a deep breath he let it out "WAKE THE FUCK UP YOU FUCKING COCKHEAD!"
The co-pilot jumped up with shock and fear in his eyes before slowly calming down, "Fuck me dead alright calm down man"
"Get up and get to your terminal"
"Alright alright, wait…are we being deployed?"
"Nope but you should still check your terminal" Vajo said before passing the thermos over to Jake.
"Oh…thanks man" Jake got up and sat at his terminal while the Freelancer took a seat at the edge of the exit, "Hey is Juno still in the cockpit?" Jake asked while looking through some reports on his terminal.
"Yeah she's there. Why?"
"Because we have Atlas forces inbound on the AO"
We then heard a voice through the intercom "I already know jackass"
"Wait what? How?" Jake said
"I'm looking at my radar right now and I have six Atlas airships coming in, oh and you might want to open the right side of the cargo hold"
"Fuck me" Vajo muttered before getting up and opening the other door, and just to his luck three Atlas airships were seen flying towards the landing pads while three more were lagging behind, "This is just fucking wonderful, aye mate?" Vajo said sarcastically.
"Eh…I still think we can take out this whole squadron with no problem whatsoever"
"Yeah if there's enough distance between the 'All Under Heaven' and these useless pieces of flying junk then yeah sure"
"Hey if there's enough distance, the 'All Under Heaven' alone could take out an entire Atlesian BattleGroup"
"I know man…alright is there anything else we should know about?"
"Hmm…lets just take one last look see…" Jake said as he scanned every file a second time and finally finding something of interest, "Ah shit…"
"What is it? Atlas?"
"Well…thats part of the problem"
"Scoot over, let me see" Vajo much to his regret he moved over to Jake and looked at his terminal. After looking at the report Jake could feel a tight squeeze that was pressuring his shoulder, "…How much?" Vajo sombrely asked
"I'm not sure, but that village was under siege from the Grimm for a while, we did have a supply ship inbound but as you know…it was shot down by Atlas. The EMT teams are on site and assisting with the wounded but they've gone through most of their supplies already"
"Why aren't they evacuating?"
"Well reinforcements are inbound, they're probably waiting for them but I'm not sure if they'll make it in time"
"But we can" Vajo stated "Get ready for deployment"
"But sir…we have orders to be on standby"
"Did you forget Jake? I am an 'exception'. Now get ready for deployment"
The Co-pilot hesitated but eventually agreed, "Alright, I'll pass it on to Juno"
"Make sure you tell her to double-time it"
"Yes sir"
Vajo sat at the edge of the cargo hold, he could hear the dropship powering up but before they took off he saw his 'team' approaching the dropship. Vajo could see Ruby talking or shouting at him but all of it was drowned out by the engines of the dropship.
Ruby did her best to get her message across but all she got in response was the freelancer pointing to the side of his head and then to the engines, Ruby was about to yell at the top of her lungs but was silenced as the dropship started to take off, though instead of slowly increasing the thrust, the engines were push to the max and started to blow the girls back excluding Weiss who used her semblance to hold herself in position, the dropship then blasted off and blew Ruby, Blake and Yang away.
The three girls recovered and got together, Ruby was fuming at this, "I'm starting to REALLY hate that guy" she said
"I don't think its him you should be hating Ruby, I think it should be that pilot…considering what she just did" Yang said
"I'm not talking about that…well…I am, but that's not important right now sis!"
Yang then placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder, "Listen Rubes…I know you think-"
"THINK?! DIDN'T YOU SEE HIM YANG, HE WAS SCREAMING HER NAME"
Yang took a deep breath and continued "Let me finish…I know you think he knows what happened to super mum but how about instead of forcing him to say something that he may or may not know about but instead we ask someone else that may know?"
"B-but who can we ask?"
"His superior officer" Weiss interjected "I remember him saying that you look familiar to someone but before you could say anything Vajo stopped you"
"Oh yeah I remember now"
"See…we got this figured out, so how about we calm down and play some board games instead?" Yang suggested
"Yeah…lets do that"
Meanwhile Ozpin watched the whole exchange between Vajo and Team RWBY transpire while in his office, he sighed and started to massage his temples with one hand but stop due to another voice in the room.
"Ozpin?" Glynda said
"Yes?" Ozpin said while turning his head to meet hers
"Are you sure it was wise to allow the mercenary a spot in this Academy?"
"No…but he's an asset"
"Is he? He seems more of a threat than an asset"
"I'll explain when James arrives, but for the meantime I need Qrow to gather information on him and his organisation"
*Line Break*
On a dropship en route to target location…
"Was that really necessary?" Vajo asked over the radio
"What? You told me to double-time it" Juno replied
"Yeah but I didn't tell you to use the afterburners to burn them to a crisp in the process"
"Oh about that…uh…oops?"
Vajo took a deep breath, "You know you're not making my job any easier" He said as he took a seat.
"Since when have I made your job any easier in the first place?"
Vajo sighed, "Fair point, but you could TRY and make it easier for me"
"And where's the fun in that?"
Vajo rolled his eyes and conceded, "Jake!"
"Yeah boss?"
"What do we have for supplies?"
"We have enough to supply us for two weeks but it won't be enough for an entire town"
"Well they're gonna have to make due with it, lets get this gear ready to unload"
"You got it boss" They both got up and started to gather up the supplies at the back end of the cargo hold.
Meanwhile on the target location…
[Play Intense City Battle (Ambient Sounds)]
The PeaceKeepers in the trenches were putting up a valiant fight even though the Grimm seemed to be endless, and while the PeaceKeepers were fighting a desperate defence the Town Militia were preparing the second layer of defences incase they ever got through. But the longer and harder they fought, the more Grimm they attracted, as the sounds of automatic gunfire, mortars being fired, mines being exploded, rockets being launched, only increased the fear of the non-combatants inside the walls even more.
The town militia that consisted of combat capable men and women were rushing all over the place to get whatever dust ammunition they can gather to the defence points. The fighting only seemed to get worse as more and more wounded PeaceKeepers started to make their way inside on stretchers, most of the URG medics went on to support the defence while some stayed behind to take care of the wounded.
It was then the everyone started to hear a large amount of explosions being set off with the ground slightly shaking, everyone then heard the sounds of roaring engines, and there they saw it, a URG dropship entered the airspace, hope started to rise as they believed that they were saved, people began to cheer as the dropship turned to use its weapons on the Grimm.
"Oh we made it…HAHA I CAN'T BELIEVE WE MADE IT!" A hysterical URG rookie said
"It ain't over yet rookie, keep the gun hot" The Sergeant said
"Yes sir!" He then began to fire again
The Sergeant saw the ramp of the URG dropship open and out came a single behemoth of a solider, the soldier jumped out and landed on the ground with his rifle drawn, and that's when the Sergeant knew that the battle was now in their favour.
Vajo jumped in one of the trenches and right next to a Peacekeeper, "You! Who's your OIC?"
"He's over there, sir" The Peacekeeper pointed at the direction to another trench.
Vajo nodded and moved into the other trench, there he saw a Peacekeeper with light green shoulder guards, "You! are you in charge?"
"Yes sir! I'm Sergeant Rud!" he said before standing back up and letting off a few shots at the approaching Grimm.
"Alright give me a sit-rep!"
"Alright, we got civi's inside and militia on the walls prepping secondary defences as well as distributing ammo to the other defence points, the EMT's are helping out with the wounded but the real problem is that were running out of ammunition, so I hope you've brought a lot with you!"
"We only have 2 weeks worth in my dropship but it won't last a day in this situation"
"I know…theres not enough to go around"
"We have to do the best we can! What else do you have in your arsenal?"
"Sir! We have a 'Titan' and several 'Warhounds' but they're out of juice"
"Alright, that's on you! Get a combat engineer and get to my dropship, it should be unloading supplies at this very moment, look around for dust energy cells. I'll co-ordinate the defence"
"Yes sir!" The Sergeant then climbed out of the trench and pulled another Peacekeeper with him and ran towards the town gate.
"All units, all units be advised. This is Lieutenant Onyx of the URG Enforcer Corps. Break. I am now the commanding officer of this defence, I need all Squad leaders to report in and give me a sit-rep. Over!"
"Sir! This is Arc of Noble Team! We're currently engaged with beowulves, ursai and creeps at the Eastern Wall. We're just running out of targets to kill over here. Over!"
They seem to be fine but maybe the other squads might need assistance, Vajo thought, he stood up and started firing at the Grimm that was still rushing towards his defensive line.
"Sir! This is Amara of Eagle Squad! We got a lot of targets over here at the Western Wall but we are running out of ammunition. Would appreciate the help! Over!"
"Copy that soldier!" Vajo looked at three other soldiers that was in the trenches with him, "You three!" he shouted "Grab some ammunition from my dropship and get them to the Western Wall"
"Yes sir!" The two soldiers said before climbing out of the trenches and running towards the gate.
"Sir! Sno from Rider Squad reporting in from the Southern Gate! We have wounded and need assistance! Over!"
"Copy that, I'm dispatching the combat medics from my position!" Vajo then looked over to the other trench and saw a squad of combat medics firing at the Grimm, but instead of heading over there himself he used his radio "Combat medics on the Northern Gate. Head to the Southern Gate and support the wounded, and then send in some reserves to man the trenches"
"Copy that sir!" Vajo watched the squad climb out and running towards the gate.
Vajo stood up and stared firing at the approaching Grimm again, in the distance he could see beowulves, ursai, creeps and boarbatusks closing the distance quickly due to him sending other soldiers from his line to support the other areas of the town.
"Sir! The Grimm are rapidly approaching, the Northern Gate is about to be overrun!" Angel warned
"Yeah, I can see that!" Vajo shouted "Prep airburst missiles, pick your targets, guide them in"
"Yes sir, standby"
He then could hear the sounds of a gate being opened and the sounds of footsteps rushing out followed by a battlecry, "FOR A BETTER TOMORROW!"
Vajo turned to see several of the town militia with simple dust powered handguns and bolt-action rifles jumping in the trenches, though they were lightly armed, a gun is useless without something to shoot at. He also noticed the Faunus and Humans that were in the trenches with him "Heh, I've never seen the Faunus revolution, but this seems familiar, aye…mentor?"
"Airburst missiles ready to launch sir"
"Alright" Vajo crouched down with his right shoulder pointed at the Grimm horde, "Fire!"
"Firing"
In an instant, several missiles were launched into the skies, they all went in seperate directions before hitting the ground, killing large groups of Grimm in the process. Vajo stood up again to see the charred battlefield and the mass amounts of Grimm corpses that littered the place, he also noticed that the Grimm attack seemed to be lightening up.
Hmm…the attack seems to be lightening up, now would be the best time to order a counter-attack Vajo thought But I don't think there would be enough ammunition to actually supply the attack and then they're left vulnerable out in the open…
"Sir! The Grimm are pulling back!"
[End Track]
The sounds of gunfire seemed to slowly cease before being replaced by the wave of energetic, joyous cheers.
"All units fall in. Gather up at the centre of town…our job isn't done here…"
Before heading inside he pulled aside a militiaman who had wolf ears and a tail, "Who knows the layout of the land well?"
"Oh…well that will be me sir"
"Good, now I want you to bring someone with you and scout out for a Grimm nest"
Vajo could see the hesitance in the mans eyes, "Is something wrong?" Vajo asked
"N-No…its just that, wouldn't you prefer to send a Peacekeeper instead?"
"Listen here mate, these Peacekeepers don't have a thorough understanding of the area unlike you locals, that's why I'm relying on YOU to get this done…if you run into any resistance you are to get back here immediately"
"B-but I don't don't think I'm the b-best person for this, h-how about you send-" He was cut off as he felt a hand drop on his shoulder, he looked at the hand to only see some purple energy emitting slightly emitting from it.
"Listen…I'd suggest you shut your mouth and follow my orders…"
"Y-yes sir" he said blandly
"Good man, now get to work"
The Faunus nodded and set off into the woods while grabbing someone who was standing in one of the trenches.
*Line Break*
Onboard the URG All Under Heaven, over Eastern Vale Territory
Captain Cole was standing behind a holographic table that showed the continent of Sanus in the form of a green hologram, it also showed the City of Vale while being marked as a large green star while the towns, villages and lesser cities are marked with green dots.
He was also scrolling though the Vale news and stopped as something caught his eye, he enlarged the view on his scroll which showed the reporter Lisa Lavender,
"Ah Lisa Lavender, lets see what bullshit the news has to give us today"
The screen changed to show several Atlesian airships docking at the landing pads of Beacon Academy and several Atlesian fighters flying around in formation.
"Six Atlesian airships arrived at Beacon not too long ago, but it was reported that eight airships departed for Vale. Atlas officials haven't made a statement yet on these missing airships which contained hundreds of soldiers and Atlesian Knights. Now we join Nean Tiger who is currently in the Kingdom of Atlas" The screen then changed to a reporter in Atlas who had orange hair, bright orange eyes and dark skin, she was also standing behind a large crowd.
"Thank you Lisa, as you can see we are standing in front of a government officials office and there is large crowd of individuals who are demanding to know where these airships are, most of them are believed to be relatives or friends of the missing people but-" The reporter was cut off as a loud gunshot echoed throughout the crowd.
"Disperse immediately!" A group of Atlesian Knights were then seen pushing the crowd back, the crowd then started pushing back even more, even started to throw rocks as the Knights.
"Now as you can see violence are erupted from this tense situation, the crowds are starting to get more aggravated ever since that gunshot sounded off and-"
The broadcast was cut off as the screen just showed static, "Nean?" No response was given "Nean, can you hear me?" Again no response.
"My apologise viewers, but it seems that we have lost our connection to our esteemed reporter in Atlas, but nevertheless stay tuned as there is more to come on the VNN"
The screen then showed a list of "exclusive" VNN topics later to be broadcasted:
The rising power and influence of the URG?
A URG embassy attacked in Menagerie.
Councilwoman Desire rooting out corruption in the Vale Police Department.
A large construction project off the coast of Patch?"
"Hmm well that was an interesting broadcast…"
"Sir, there's something that requires your immediate attention"
"What is it Aspect?"
The hologram of Sanus then displayed several red blips on the map, though what was concerning was that they were all nearing the green dots on the coasts and the ones in the remote regions of Vale territory.
"What am I looking at?"
"Sir, the Grimm are seem to be attacking all the villages and towns on the coasts and in the remote regions of Vale territory"
"Hmm…what was the time frame of the attacks?"
"Well they seemed to be 1-10 minutes of each other"
"That seems to be a little too organised…for Grimm especially…"
"Sir, what should we do?"
"What do we have at our disposal?"
"We have ten squads of Peacekeepers on standby, they can be supported with 'Titan' walkers and 'Warhounds'"
"Send them out with a lot of equipment to build defensive structures, meanwhile we'll do what we can here with CAS and artillery bombardment"—He looked at the city of Vale before looking at the rest of the map—"Do we have any Enforcers elements available?"
"Yes sir, 'Hornet' and 'Raptor'"
Cole grunted "Send them out on a Search and destroy mission on Grimm nests and take us over the closest villages and towns, inform me when we arrive"
"Yes sir, but uh…where are you going?"
"I'm going to make a full report to management and request a full requisition as well as extra reinforcements" He then left the bridge, leaving the red A.I Aspect in charge. She sounded the alarm and brought the ship to combat alert Alpha.
"Attention all Combat Personnel, please report to the main hanger immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill" She said over the intercom
"All hanger crew at to prep supply crates and load them all on the dropships and supply ships, including 'Warhounds' and prep 'Titans' for deployment"
*Line Break*
Back with Vajo…
Vajo was in the town centre with all the squad leaders including the leader of the town militia, he could tell that they were all exhausted with the amount of sweat, dirt and dried blood that was on their combat gear, "Alright guys, I need a brief report"
"Yes sir"
Vajo looked to the voice and saw a woman with fair skin, blond hair and dark-blue eyes. An Arc? Vajo thought, he then thought back to the time when she didn't need help over at the Eastern Walls and that the problem was that they were running out of targets.
"Alright Arc, you have the floor"
"Thank you sir" She passed and gave Vajo a sombre look "Sir we were contracted to escort a large supply convoy from the City of Vale to here, the trip was long and the convoy was too large for one squad to protect, so two other teams were called in to support, the trip went smoothly and we eventually got to the village and found another Peacekeeper squad was waiting for"
"That was us sir" Vajo looked over to see a Peacekeeper with fair skin and a modified helmet for her rabbit ears, "We caught wind of a bandit raid and we were sent to help defend the town and set up some defences"
"Whats your name soldier?"
"Amara of Eagle Squad. We were also the ones who brought the 'Titan' and the 'Warhounds'"
"Understandable considering that a bandit raid would attract the Grimm"
"Anyway" Arc continued "We fended off the bandit raid with no problem whatsoever but something was wrong"
"And what was that Arc? Vajo asked
"The Grimm have sieging this town for a while and have attacked with several large waves, this was the fourth wave we held off so far…sir"
Thats odd…how often do you hear Grimm attacking in waves…Vajo thought
"Alright so what's our ammo situation looking at?"
"Well…we don't have much left sir, but the supplies that you and the two EMT teams brought with you did help a lot"
"Alright, medical situation?"
"Right…" Arc waved over a combat medic who was organising the supply of medical treatment to the wounded, the medic was wearing the same gear as the Peacekeepers but the armour was white and the vest, helmet and shoulder pads has the symbol of a red cross on it.
"Did you need something sir?" The man asked,
"Whats our medical situation looking like?"
"Well…its not pretty" He handed Vajo a notepad to which he took and started flipping through it "There's a shortage of medical supplies and the amount of wounded we have won't survive the night with treatment"
So we cant survive another wave without supplies and the wounded won't survive until they get the treatment they need, Vajo thought
Vajo looked back the man, "Load as much wounded as you can on those dropships get them into the air and return to the All Under Heaven, my dropship will fly escort and keep you from harm"
The medic nodded and rushed back over to his team who were treating the wounded.
"Alright what's the status on those 'Tita-"
A.N. It kinda gets dark here so you might want to end it here if you cant handle it. I don't know whats considered dark for people because everyone can handle things different things, so this is just a warning for people who are easily disturbed.
He was cut off as he heard a large amount of people screaming and yelling from the North, Vajo sighed with frustration, "What it is now" he said under his breath
He quickly made his way over to the Northern Gate and saw a large crowd of the Town Militia gathered at the front of the gate, as he made his way through he could hear the voices of people as he pushed by.
"Oh my lord"
"What happened to him?"
"What could have done such a thing"
"What am I gonna tell his wife and kids…"
As he pushed to the front he saw something very disturbing and brutal, he saw the head of the wolf Faunus that he sent to scout out for a Grimm nest, the face was bloodied, the Faunus ears were cut off and his eyes were blacked out with a Grimm substance.
After seeing this Vajo came to the conclusion that has bothered him ever since landing here.
It's not just Grimm out there…
End Chapter 7