AN: Hello everyone sorry I'm late. School is starting to pick up so updates are going to be sporadic for a while. In other news the first chapter of Writing Our Own Story shoud be ready by Wednesday so keep an eye out for that. See you guys on Wednesday in Writing Our Own Story and Phoenix Rose on Sunday. Enjoy the journey and don't feed the guard dogs. - Phoenix Commander signing off.
Thanks as always TheAtlanteanKing.
I am always accepting mission, faction/races, or disposable OCs.
I DO NOT OWN RWBY IT IS THE SOLE PROPERTY OF ROOSTERTEETH PRODUCTIONS
Chapter Five – Meeting the Crew
"Damn it when they built this ship they completely changed the layout from a traditional cruiser. Where the hell is the sickbay?" Martin grumbled. When Martin left Ozpin's ready room after his conversation with Admiral Qrow he had been trying to find the sickbay for the last fifteen minutes. He was about to give up when a voice called out to him.
"Salutations Captain. Can I help you find something?" The voice asked pulling Martin from his thoughts. When he turned to face the speaker he was met by the sight of a young woman with short orange hair, clad in a white blouse and green coveralls.
"Yes I'm looking for the sickbay the layout of this ship is different than what I'm used too," He replied a little warily. Martin could not see any obvious rank insignia. While it was not required to have your rank shown openly while off-duty most military personnel wore their rank to avoid complications with proper protocol.
"Sure thing. The sickbay is on deck-twelve, corridor-C just past the lift. I can show you the way if you'd like Captain," The woman replied cheerily.
"Thank you I'd appreciate it. By the way my name's Martin Rose," He said as he followed the quirky crewmember. He found himself having to almost run to keep up. It wasn't until he had caught up to her when he noticed her hand phase through a bulkhead as she went past it.
"You're a hologram?" Martin asked blinking. When he had first seen her he had thought she was real. "Well, real or not she is a member of the crew of the VKS: Beacon." Martin thought.
"Precisely Captain Rose, well actually I'm the Beacon's AI. My name is Penny. Here we are. Welcome to the sickbay Captain. I look forward to working with you." With that the AI vanished from the corridor.
"Rather quirky for an AI. Kind of reminds me of the old engineer at Fleet HQ." Martin thought as the doors to the sickbay opened. The last thing he had expected to see was the same marine corporal and private from the landing bay from earlier. The corporal was a blonde haired monkey-faunus with dark-grey eyes. One of which was being nursed because of a black eye. The private was human with blue hair and dark-blue eyes. Sporting a similar bruise. "Are you both going to be ok?" Martin asked with a chuckle when he saw them. They stiffened as they recognized him.
"Corporal Wukong and Private Vasilias got away with only those bruises because your brother pulled your daughters off of them. Apparently they said that their fire team could have taken you down given the chance." Summer said as she walked up behind Martin. "You both are free to go." She nodded towards the door. With how fast they bolted for the door Martin was surprised they didn't hurt themselves.
Martin would need to have a chat with Yang and Ruby about keeping their fights contained to the sparing ring. The last thing he wanted to do was confine them to quarters. "Captain Rose reporting in for medical examination, Doctor Field." He said with a salute. Summer just chuckled.
"No need to put on a show Phoenix. Now I'll start with your medical history. Your file says your 43-years old. I take it that is in human years?" She asked. Normally one age was listed for personnel. With a phoenix-faunus however the listed age was not their actual age but when they had last revived.
"Correct I'm 43 in human years. In phoenix years I'm 103." Martin answered. The exam followed the standard pattern Summer asking questions about his medical and family history, with Martin giving the answers. Summer was not really surprised to find out that Martin's late wife had been human. It helped explain why her death had impacted him the way it had.
"Before I clear you for duty there is one more test I need to do." Summer said as she pulled out a syringe. Martin's eyes widened a bit. The thing is he has no problem using a syringe on others. When a syringe needle is turned on him though he can get a little...uncomfortable.
"Well shit." Martin thought. As the syringe wielding phoenix approached him. "Is m-my b-blood really necessary?" He stuttered nervously.
Summer just smirked and locked the door to the sickbay. It wasn't the first time she had to deal with someone who hated needles. Besides this also gave her a way to start getting his mind off the Crimson Flame. "Yes Martin it is. Don't tell me you're scared of needles." His only response was a subtle shift to the edge of the examination table and a quick glance at the air duct. It would not have been the first time Martin had crawled through an air vent to get away from doctors with needles. "Tell you what though, you sit through this and I'll see if I can't get the ship's cook to give me some supplies for a dinner specialty of mine." She said with a smile. Summer had been the cook in her family so she had picked up a few skills.
Martin's eye twitched. That was an offer he had to be crazy to refuse. "A-alright you win. I'm crazy but, not crazy enough to refuse an offer like that." Martin said as calmly as possible. Inside he was anything but calm. As the needle was inserted into his arm he had to struggle to keep from jumping from the table.
Mess Hall
Hebel Campana, also called Chef because of his position as the ship's head cook, leaned on the counter top. The lunch rush had just ended and he was taking a moment to decompress before he began preparation for making dinner for the crew. The fight that had broken out earlier hadn't helped with getting ready either. "I hope things will calm down now that everyone is finally aboard and we can get underway." The chef thought. His friend a rabbit-faunus named Ensign Zhu Shu Chen - the engineering chief - was giving him a hand with some of the equipment before her duty shift started. There were still a few of the crew in the mess hall as well. Including the wing leaders of the Osprey-bombers and the Falcon-dropships. They were talking about the fight that had broken out.
"Didn't think little red could have punched as hard as she did. Neptune was lucky that was all she did." One of the Osprey pilots said. Her rank denoted her as a 1st Lt and as one of the leaders of the Osprey-bombers. Her uniform was a mix of brown and black. Her hair was cut to her jawline and she wore a pair a pair of black aviator glasses.
"Coco, those two are just as crazy as they were in Fleet Academy. I'm just glad we got Yang off of Sun. I thought she was actually going to kill him." A blonde haired Falcon pilot said. His uniform was a mix of blue, white, and gold. His hair was tousled and cut short to just above his ears. His rank listed him also as a 1st Lt and as one of the leaders of the Falcon-dropships. They immediately quitted and jumped up to a salute as one of the other pilots called out "Captain on deck."
The subject that had been cause of the earlier fight walked into the mess hall and returned the salute. For some reason Martin had a violin in his hand. He also looked like he could use a drink. As the CAG sat down Chef pulled out a shot glass and bottle of scotch pouring him a drink. The phoenix nodded in thanks with a small apologetic smile.
"I heard about the fight my daughters started. I hope it didn't cause too much trouble." Martin said. There was a derisive snort from the rabbit-faunus that was just finishing fixing some of the equipment in the kitchen.
"Just tell them they owe Chef here a few new table legs, Captain. How they bent steel table legs I'll never know." She grumbled as she packed up her tools and headed off to her engineering station.
"I'll make sure they make the repairs themselves." Martin called to the retreating figure. Then he looked at Chef. "Mind if I play a bit?" He asked. Chef just nodded in reply. Martin walked over to one of the empty tables and began to play and sing softly.
Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest.
White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test
Black the beast descends from shadows.
Yellow beauty burns gold~
As the last notes faded Martin noticed that the rest of the mess hall had turned their full attention to him, lost in the music of the song. Then there was a shift in gravity as the Beacon disembarked from the dry-docks and began its voyage to the Beta Quadrant. Then he stood up with a nod to the pilots and to Chef and headed off to the pilots ready room. Thirty minutes later there was a call on the ship wide coms. "This is the CAG to all squadron leaders. Report to the pilots ready room for shift assignment."
CAG - Commander of Air Group
1st Lt. - First Lieutenant
