Chapter 10: Spartan Relations
April 24, 2682; 1313 Hours
Remnant, Beacon (Combat Training Arena)
Ivan lazily leaned against his clenched hand, struggling to stay awake as Goodwitch continued her lecture on proper combat form when using ranged weapons. Somehow, his armored gauntlet digging into his cheek was preferable to listening to a lecture. He wore his full suit of MJOLNIR Gen-2 armor entirely because Goodwitch decided to make the day after the first round of the Vytal Festival a class dedicated almost completely to combat sparring. She only gave this relatively short lecture because a first year student in the previous class period had no idea how to hold a rifle. His attention was pulled to the center of the arena as Goodwitch called his name. "Mister Chesnokov, since it's your first day back on Remnant, why don't you spar today?"
"Of course." Ivan said, sitting up straight again.
"Excellent, let's see who you'll be going up against." Goodwitch said, swiping across her Scroll a few times.
"I'll go!" Someone said from the stands. Ivan turned to look, and realized that it was Emerald's friend Mercury.
"Mister Black… very well." Goodwitch said. "Take your positions in the Arena."
Ivan nodded, grabbing his rifle as he made his way down the short flight of steps. The rifle he carried was a Battle Rifle, with a few of his own personal touches to make it more of a Huntsman's weapon. Instead of a simple underslung grenade launcher, he had elected to requisition an underslung shotgun. Much like a standard underslung mount, this was always on standby and ready for use. The 8-gauge firing mechanism was actually built directly into the rifle's frame, with the internal magazine holding six rounds. Most of the 9.5x40mm bullets across his combat harness were also Dust-tipped, allowing him a wide variety of rounds for use. He had yet to name the weapon, so he just referred to it as a Battle Rifle for simplicity's sake.
He stood across from Mercury after descending onto the concrete floor of the sparring arena and pulled his helmet over his head. He loaded a magazine of Lightning Dust Rounds into the bullpup-style magazine well of his rifle, racking the bolt back. The blue energy shield above his head shimmered into existence, a way to prevent any stray rounds from bouncing out of the arena. He held his rifle in a low-ready position and centered himself, waiting for Mercury to make the first move.
Mercury sent out a quick kick with his right leg, sending a small explosive charge towards the SPARTAN. The SPARTAN's enhanced reflexes and built-in thruster pack allowed him to dodge the attack with ease, but the kicked-up smoke gave Mercury the cover he needed to advance. Mercury sent out a quick flurry of kicks, most of them dodged by the SPARTAN's lightning-quick augmented reflexes. Mercury's metal-reinforced boots connected with the side of Ivan's helmet, knocking him back a bit.
Ivan quickly sent a signal to his neural implant, igniting his thrusters and pushing him into the air. After landing a few feet further from Mercury, he brought the rifle up to block the next kick from the brawler, with a measure of success. Mercury attempted to aim lower in response, but seemed to be attempting to goad Ivan into something. His attacks were just hostile and offensive enough to provoke a defense, but not enough to secure a victory. Ivan dismissed the thought as an 8-gauge buckshot round slammed against Mercury's Aura, dropping it significantly and pushing him back. Mercury quickly righted himself, rushing at the SPARTAN again and forcing him onto the defensive.
Ivan had finally had enough. He sent a kick into Mercury's chest, forcing him back a few feet with the assistance of his armor's Force Multiplication Circuits. Mercury tried to advance again with another kick, but found his leg caught by the SPARTAN's iron grip. Ivan quickly jerked his arm to the right, sending Mercury toppling over himself. The gray-haired teenager attempted to kick out from under the SPARTAN, but was met with a Titanium-plated resistance as Ivan brought his fist down into Mercury's chest. He had to keep his honed skills in check, unless he wanted to seriously wound or kill Mercury.
Mercury didn't have a chance to escape the SPARTAN's onslaught as he sent another buckshot round into his chest at point-blank range, dropping his Aura down to five percent and sounding the buzzer. He took a few steps back from Mercury, slotting two new shells into his rifle. "Damn, Ivan…" Mercury said, pulling himself to his feet with a heavy grunt. "Not bad…"
"Mister Black, perhaps you should be a bit surer of the fights you pick." Goodwitch said, lowering the shield. "You were in very real danger there." Mercury simply shrugged in response and climbed the stairs, the short tone of the intercom signaling the end of class.
Ivan calmly gathered up his rifle. He powered the weapon down as he slung it across his back, locking it in place with a click. He looked up towards the stands as he climbed the short flight of stairs. He saw Yang and Blake gathering their belongings and heading out the right-most exit, probably going to the Library to study for Oobleck's exam about the Huntsmen Academies. He also saw Weiss and Ruby headed towards the cafeteria, presumably to get lunch during their hour-long break. What he saw last unnerved him slightly.
Ivan saw a rather tall woman with jet-black hair with bright, almost glowing auburn eyes turn to look at him. She had her hair in such a way that it covered her right eye almost completely. She gave him a rather… unnerving smile and followed behind Mercury and Emerald. Ivan knew her only as the leader of Emerald and Mercury's team. He had never heard her name, let alone met her, but something about her seemed off. He made a mental note as he walked out of the arena.
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April 29, 2682; 1200 Hours
Remnant, Vale (Beacon Academy)
Ivan grabbed his Datapad from the desk adjacent to his bed. His team was preparing to make their way to the Vytal Festival's first round of Doubles Matches, where Yang and Weiss would fight for their team to progress to the Finals. Everyone in the room, including Ivan, was in the process of getting ready. His beeping Datapad had grabbed his attention, causing him to reflexively activate it and check the screen.
Colonel Chesnokov,
Report to Firebase India at 1500 Hours. HIGHCOM deems this mission as an Alpha-level classified operation. You will be briefed upon arrival.
-Automated message sent under orders of Admiral Joseph A. Bishop.
Ivan deactivated his Datapad, placing it back on the table as he moved towards his end of the room, opening his footlocker and producing his black Hydrostatic Gel Layered bodysuit. "Ivan, what's going on?" Ruby asked, seeing the SPARTAN grabbing his armor's first layer.
"Sorry girls." Ivan began, turning to face Team RWBY. "I'm not coming with you to the tournament today. Admiral's orders."
"Are you leaving again?" Yang asked, looking somewhat concerned.
"I don't know." Ivan responded. "I need to be on-base in three hours. You all should get going."
Ivan left the dorm a few minutes before Team RWBY did, all of them wishing him luck. Ivan wore his standard MJOLNIR Gen-2 armor with his rank, name, and team assignment on his chest. He carried a Battle Rifle his shoulder and a Magnum at his hip. After a short ride on a Pelican that had been dispatched from Firebase India for him, he found himself in the middle of the UNSC's primary operations control facility for all of Remnant: Firebase India.
As Ivan stepped onto one of the Firebase's many landing pads, which was near the center of a rather large plaza that the UNSC had been cleared to use by the Vale Governing Council, the bored-looking Marine guarding the ramp glanced at his rank and name, giving him a crisp salute as he approached. "Colonel!" The Marine said, standing at rigid attention.
Chesnokov quickly waved the Marine off, handing him the small identification slate that he carried with him. The Marine ran it through a small reader on his wrist. The Marine handed the small metallic slate back, allowing Ivan to slot it back into his armor's compartments. "You're cleared sir." The Marine said, gesturing towards the base's central command building. "Your Team is waiting for you in the Command Information Center."
"Thank you, Corporal." Chesnokov said, stepping past the Marine and into the open courtyard of the Firebase. Firebase India was relatively similar to an old UNSC Deployable Firebase that was generally carried by Phoenix-Class Assault Ships. It had multiple barracks buildings capable of housing the stationed Marines, multiple Armor Depots and Motor Pools, a half-dozen Airpads, Armories, dozens of defensive gun towers with railguns, SAM Pods, and 20mm Autocannons, all surrounding a central command building that had a ramp leading underground near the front.
As Ivan walked through the base, he noticed that there were at least 200 Marines running PT around the base. Much to his pleasant surprise, he found there to be a few Faunus milling about the base, dressed in UNSC BDUs of their respective branch. He even saw a Faunus ODST standing with her team.
Ivan quickly made his way down the ramp, heading towards the Central Command Room. A few lower officers gave him a quick salute as he passed before returning to their duties. He stepped into the main room, finding Admiral Bishop standing over a holographic projection table with the three other members of Fireteam Omega standing around the table as well. He stepped over, snapping into a crisp salute. "Admiral Bishop…" Ivan said, his boots clicking together at the heel.
"At ease, SPARTAN." Bishop ordered, motioning with his hand. Bishop straightened himself out, pressing a few buttons on the table, bringing up a holographic projection of the Vale Megapolis. "A few hours ago, we were informed of a White Fang facility in the Industrial Sector of Vale City. This facility is apparently responsible for concealing and collecting arms, armor, vehicles, et cetera, for the White Fang's operations here in Vale. HIGHCOM has deemed this organization great enough of a threat to send SPARTANs."
"Sir?" Ivan asks, looking at the highlighted location on the projection.
"Go ahead, SPARTAN." Bishop says, facing the Colonel.
"Why send us? Why not inform the Vale Police or Atlas's military?" Ivan asked.
Bishop sighed. "HIGHCOM thinks that these White Fang are up to something. Crime has completely stopped ever since Torchwick got taken in. It didn't dip, it didn't gradually decrease, it completely halted. HIGHCOM wants to figure out why."
Ivan raised an eyebrow. "What could the White Fang be planning?"
"We're not sure." Bishop responded, glancing to the SPARTANs around the table. "That's why we've kept this on the down-low for the time being. I need you all to breach that location, gather any intelligence you can, and capture any possible HVTs only if you're given the opportunity. This'll be a night-op, so stick to M7S SMGs, M6 SOCOMs, and other suppressed weapons. This is an operation within the walls of Vale, and I don't want the people here thinking that the UNSC's going to start firefights with every gang in the kingdom. This is strictly a smash-and-grab mission, no theatrics and no bullshit. I want this done quietly and quickly."
"Aye sir!" The SPARTANs echoed, saluting quickly.
"Excellent. The operation starts at dusk tonight, report to Pelican Landing Pad Twelve at 1800 Hours."
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April 29, 2682; 1812 Hours
Remnant, Northwest Vale (Industrial Sector)
Ivan sat in the back of a Pelican dropship, checking his M7S SMG one last time. He usually didn't carry such a small weapon, but the suppressor was mandatory for the mission, and this smaller PDW with 6.5mm Caseless ammunition was more-than-effective enough to deal with unarmored targets like the average White Fang fighter. Lauren carried an M45D Tactical Combat Shotgun with a Salvo-8 Suppressor on the end. Mary carried an MA5E Assault Rifle with a suppressor, holographic sight, Caseless ammunition conversion receiver, and smoke grenade launcher. Jacob elected to carry an assortment of non-lethal grenades, and two M7S SMGs.
The Pelican itself was modified with a Stealth Drive, similar in design to the one that the Avalon's old Darter carried. It completely masked the Pelican visually by refracting light around it, similar to an Active Camouflage module. The engines of the Pelican were also suited for stealth. Most Pelicans had a standard jet-propulsion tilt-engine system. This one had a smaller, yet equally powerful propulsion system that utilized focused plasma emissions, much like UNSC missiles. The engines were cooled by constant jets of liquid nitrogen, reducing their heat emissions to almost nil in comparison to the older models.
As the Pelican drifted over their designated drop position, which was a mere two hundred feet from their target warehouse, the rear bay door opened, allowing the SPARTANs to make their exit. All four members of Omega team activated their armor's Active Camouflage, jumping from the rear of the dropship. As they fell, they ignited their armor's small maneuvering thrusters, slowing their fall enough and softening their landing. The SPARTANs began making their way towards their target, remaining in the shadows of the back alley that they landed in.
As their target came into view, Ivan looked around. He spotted his team's green outlines on his HUD. He activated his helmet's VISR mode, scanning around the area. He spotted a single heat signature coming from a fire escape on the side of the warehouse. It was shaped vaguely like a human, but had a few pointed signatures coming from its head. He could see the distinct outline of a rifle native to Remnant in its hands. He raised his SMG, sending a short burst at the signature up on the fire escape. The figure fell to the metallic floor with a light thud, the only sound emitted by the SMG being the soft rattling of the weapon's action. Ivan made a few quick motions with his right hand, signaling his team to move forward. He motioned for Mary and Jacob to circle around to the other side of the building as he advanced.
He and Lauren stacked up on the metal door on the right side of the building, waiting for Jacob and Mary's "Ready" ping. After a few seconds, a small ping sounded over their closed-circuit communicators, signaling that the second team was ready. Ivan sent the confirmation ping, awaiting the next step in their plan. After a few more moments, all of the building's power shut down in an instant, as Mary had disabled the fuse box. The electric lock on the door powered down, allowing Ivan to slowly push the door open and peer in with his VISR activated. Three signatures appeared, all of them slowly moving around. He quickly pulled the pin on a flashbang grenade and rolled it through the door, waiting for the pop.
A bright orange flash went off from behind the door, prompting Ivan to throw the door open, funneling in behind his shotgun-wielding partner. As they funneled in, Ivan saw three Faunus covering their eyes, having ripped their Grimm masks from their faces. Lauren quickly worked the pump action on her shotgun, putting two slugs into the chest of a rifle-wielding White Fang fighter. Ivan fired a short, controlled burst from his SMG, felling the other two in quick succession. Ivan's VISR marked the three Faunus as dead as they fell, allowing him to move forward with his partner, who was slotting two more 8-gauge slugs into her shotgun's tube.
Ivan moved through the pitch-black structure, his armor's night vision allowing him near-perfect vision. As he advanced, he heard the quiet bark of suppressed gunfire, followed by the familiar thumps of bodies hitting concrete floor. As they walked, a burst of gunfire came upon him and Lauren, forcing them into cover behind a collection of metallic crates. He looked up, spotting two pairs of White Fang riflemen on scaffolding near the center of the warehouse, along with three more that were on the ground level and advancing towards him quickly. He drew his M6 SOCOM, firing a trio of rounds towards the scaffolding, satisfied when he heard a pained yelp and the sound of a body crumpling to the floor. The gunfire intensified around him, forcing him back into cover as the normal Pulse Rifles on Remnant were easily powerful enough to be on-par with UNSC weapons, if not slightly more powerful.
Lauren popped out of cover, firing two slugs towards the Faunus on the ground. One of the slugs missed, but the other slammed into the White Fang's shoulder, sending him sprawling out across the floor. She ducked back into cover, pumped her shotgun, and blind-fired a slug in the direction of the first Faunus, her round barely missing. Ivan capitalized on the redirected attention and leaned out of cover, firing a quick burst from his SMG in the direction of the scaffolding, dropping the untrained White Fang militia with ease. The remaining two Faunus seemed to panic and begin retreating. Lauren drew her magnum, cleanly slotting two rounds through the heads of the sloppy fighters.
Ivan and Lauren worked on securing the central area of the warehouse while Jacob and Marty worked to secure the upper level offices. As Ivan split from his partner and headed into the small office on the ground floor, he was surprised to find an electrically charged blade slamming into his shields, quickly beginning to drain them. He turned to face his adversary, finding a rather well-built Faunus with a pair of tusks coming from his lower jaw. He reared back the blade for another strike, aiming for the SPARTAN's neck. Ivan quickly ducked under the incoming blade, knocking his back-swing aside. Ivan was surprised at the Faunus's brute strength, as well as the reaction time of the seemingly-normal White Fang grunt.
The bladesman actually managed to start gaining ground on the SPARTAN, knocking his weapon aside, forcing him to go on the defensive. Much to Ivan's surprise, his energy shields were completely drained from the onslaught. He continued backpedaling to better-defend himself, but that quickly began falling as well, as he had no means to actually block the electric currents. Eventually, his weak Aura fell too, allowing the blade to start clashing against titanium alloy plating. Even with Ivan's enhanced reflexes, he found himself strangely matched by the Faunus swordsman. The rather erratic movements from his enemy were almost… choreographed. This Faunus seemed to be able to predict Ivan's every move with relative ease, deflecting his own attacks easily. Suddenly, Ivan found the strange blade embedded in the relatively weak segment of his gel layer's shoulder armor.
Ivan grit his teeth as the metallic blade ground against his shoulder's joint, but he managed to force the pain aside for a moment. The Faunus made the fatal mistake of stabbing into Ivan's body, denying him his own weapon. Ivan quickly reached out with his non-damaged arm, grabbing the swordsman by the neck and clamping down with superhuman strength. He wrenched his entire body weight into a twisting throw, sending his enemy to the floor. In one quick motion, Ivan unsheathed his combat knife and stabbed it through the swordsman's neck. Much to his surprise, this White Fang fighter was trained in Aura usage, this fact signaled by the amount of resistance he received when he was forcing the knife down. It was only when Ivan looked down at his fallen foe and yanked the bloodied knife from his neck that he realized just how much that damned wound hurt.
Luckily, the blade's electric current appeared to have stopped. It seemed to be powered by a trigger within the hilt of the sword itself. Ivan gave his arm an experimental flex, unsurprised when he found himself unable to move it too far without a jolt of searing pain tearing through his side. "Omega… report." Ivan said into his helmet, grinding his teeth together as more pain tore through his shoulder.
"We report all White Fang eliminated." Jacob responded.
"Ground floor's clear, sir." Lauren said. "You alright?"
"Only a giant fucking sword in my shoulder." Ivan responded. "Nothing too bad."
"En-route." Lauren responded, sighing before she cut the communication.
Ivan sat against one of the desks in the small office area, the pain taking its toll now that the adrenaline was wearing off a bit. Lauren came in from the open door, surprised to see a dead White Fang fighter with a rather nasty looking knife wound in his neck. "I leave you alone for one whole minute…" She muses quietly to herself, grabbing a canister of biofoam from her combat harness. "This might sting a bit." She said, grabbing the hilt of the blade embedded in Ivan's shoulder. She ripped the blade out in one quick motion, quickly forcing the nozzle of the biofoam canister into the wound and sending the coagulant into the wound. Ivan winced as the antibacterial and antiseptic met his open wound, then shivered slightly as the foam cooled the area around the wound. "All better?"
"Thanks, mom." Ivan joked, holding his shoulder lightly as he rolled it around. There was still a bit of dull pain, but the worst of the wound could be dealt with by either a medical procedure back at base or his Aura after enough time. "Jacob, anything good on the computers?"
"Negative." Jacob responded. "Mostly harmless shipping manifests and emails. All that's on the manifests is a bunch of Dust shipments from a year ago."
"Let's look around before Vale PD gets involved." Ivan said. "Regroup on the ground floor."
"Aye." Jacob responded, cutting the communication.
Ivan motioned with a quick head movement for Lauren to follow him outside. He deactivated the sickly green glow of his VISR, switching his armor's headlamps on. As he looked around the main shipment floor, he found large metallic shipping crates of varying colors. His heart dropped into his stomach when he saw a large, knee-height case with "UNSC" painted across the lid. "Oh, fuck off…" Ivan said to himself, walking over to the case and flicking open the metallic releases. He lifted the case's lid up, revealing well over eighty kilograms of Compound-12 plastic explosive.
"Jesus!" Lauren declared, looking over the contents of the ordinance case.
"Ivan!" Jacob called out. "We've got an Atlesian Paladin in a shipping crate over here!" Jacob called out over comms.
"And we found enough C-12 to level this whole freakin' block." Ivan said. "I'm notifying the Admiral."
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April 30, 2682; 0021 Hours
Remnant, Firebase India (CENTCOM)
Bishop rubbed the bridge of his nose, letting out a long sigh. "How the hell did this happen?" He asked rhetorically. "How did the White-fucking-Fang get their hands on our equipment? We've got no traces of any going missing!"
"No idea, sir." Ivan responded, still clutching his now-bandaged shoulder. "The only other thing we found was a bunch of year-old shipping manifests, a small crate of civilian-grade M6C magnums, the Paladin, and some crates with Atlesian rifles."
"What was on those manifests?" Bishop asked.
"Dust crystals." Jacob responded. "We found the Dust in there too, so that C-12 is definitely not old."
"No shit…" Bishop muttered to himself. "It was still in our goddamn case!" Bishop let out another sigh. "Never mind… I won't figure this out by yelling at one of my best SPARTAN teams. I'll set up an investigation and let ONI know. You're all dismissed."
The SPARTANs all saluted before turning on their heels and leaving. They all headed to the Armory, checked their equipment and ammo, and documented the equipment they had used. Ivan gathered his things and prepared to head back to CENTCOM to send his report off to ONI, ideas still racing through his mind. "The magnums make sense… Misriah sells them to civilians all over the Colonies. A few weapons stores here even sell semi-auto Battle Rifles." His focus shifted towards the explosives as he walked towards the airport in the early hours of Sunday morning. "The last manifest was a full year old, that's well before we even got here. That Faunus… that Faunus was something else. He fought like… like a Huntsman…"
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April 30, 2682; 0400 Hours
Remnant, Beacon (Dorms)
Cinder Fall sat on the edge of her bed in the easternmost dormitory of Beacon Academy. She was lazily scanning through a list of Beacon's students, discussing with her team. "What about Arc?"
"Jaune Arc?" Emerald asked, scoffing. "Please. That kid's almost as worthless as that crap sword he carries around everywhere."
"No threat, then." Cinder said, placing Jaune in one category on her tablet. "Nikos is certainly a threat, one that we need to deal with as soon as possible."
"Agreed." Mercury said, lying back on the carpeted floor. "Her Semblance gives her an unprecedented advantage over her opponents."
"Threat then, eliminate as soon as possible." Cinder agreed, grinning wickedly to herself as she set Pyrrha's image aside on her tablet's screen. "That finishes up JNPR… what about RWBY?"
"They're all a threat." Emerald said, adjusting herself on the edge of her bed. "The bimbo's a punching bag that hits back, every hit getting stronger when she takes one."
"Schnee's got connections." Mercury commented. "Not too sure about that Blake girl though. I'm not too familiar with her."
"And Ruby…" Cinder commented, chuckling. "The lucky little Rose. She's rather… impressive as a fighter, despite being little more than a child. She's a threat too… but then there's the SPARTAN." Cinder pressed a few buttons on her tablet, handing it over to Mercury, who moved so Emerald could look as well. They saw the backup security camera footage from the White Fang outpost in the Industrial Sector. All was quiet at first, then the lights went out while the camera remained on, as it was connected to a different circuit than the rest of the building's power. They saw a bright flash, a series of gunshots, and a pair of black-clad SPARTANs storm into the building, firing their weapons at White Fang fighters. Mercury had fought the SPARTAN once, but even he was surprised by how… frighteningly efficient they were. "He's the real threat out of all of them."
"How can we deal with something like that?" Emerald asked, looking to the footage again. She saw the SPARTAN take an electric blade to his right shoulder, shrug off the pain, then stab a combat knife through the neck of the White Fang Lieutenant.
"I've got just the means…" Cinder said, leaning back against the bed with a small grin on her face and a twinkle of malice in her amber irises.