Chapter 13
There was a soft but incessant beeping coming from somewhere, he didn't know where but if it didn't shut up, Qrow was pretty sure he was gonna fling it out the nearest window. He turned to his nightstand and slapped his hand down hitting the alarm of his bed side clock.
"Mmmm what time is it?" A sleepy voice asked from his left, and he turned his head to the voice. Sehra was sleeping next to him naked, her arm draped over his chest. For a second her tranquil face and red hair brought up another's face but he hastily shook that memory off and looked back at the clock.
"Half past nine." Sehra's eyes shot open at that.
"Fuck, did you just say half past nine!?" She asked as she shot up from the bed, Qrow found himself slightly distracted by the bounce of her breasts. Before she got off the bed she noticed him look and with a coy smile grab him with one hand.
"Maybe next time big boy." Qrow just smiled and shook his head as Sehra raced into his shower; he pulled the covers off and swung his legs over the side of his bed.
"Say what's with the big hurry!?" He called out as he stood up and walked around gathering his clothes and slipping on his pants. His scroll was flashing a tiny blue dot, and he opened it, it was a message from Sanian. She was informing him ahead of time of the major withdrawal of Arcadian forces in Vale and Beacon over the coming week.
Though there was a stipulation of a contingent with a Mechanicum Artisan and enginseers along with an escort to aid in the reconstruction of Beacon and Vale. Along with an Arcadian Army battalion to be stationed in the Forever Fall forest, which are independent of Valean, Atlas and Beacon jurisdiction
Sanian also mentioned that she sending Jaune Arc along with his friends to Arcadia, as well as Blake Belladonna.
Though from what he heard the Sentinel girl that was attached to Jaune intervened when she caught Blake trying to run away. Qrow knew she was the only one to accept their invite in a reluctant sense, as for the rest of team RWBY.
Ruby was still unconscious, and Yang was still coming to terms with her missing arm. Though Qrow was planning on going to Patch and check up on Tai, after he saw Sehra off for her deployment that is.
The Schnee Heiress was taken back to Atlas a few days after the battle was over and the first full reports of the chaos leaked to the world.
Even now the Cross Continental Transmit System was down and only Atlas military grade communications and Arcadian Army Vox traffic was operating in a reasonable manner. Though now with the heiress gone, team RWBY was functionally nonexistent.
Qrow sighed as he looked into the corner of his room; leaning against the wall was Ozpin's cane. He had snuck into the Vault to look for Ozpin a few nights ago, sadly the only thing he could find was his cane. With another sigh, Qrow cracked his neck and went about to getting ready for the day; it also marked the day in which Sehra was also to leave Vale for redeployment now that Arcadia was pulling out of Vale.
With Alexander gone, Arcadia has apparently for the time being set forth into deploying its available strength into the Outlands to scour any Grimm or Daemon packs that may linger around Vale. Or on the continent of Sanus as a whole, though there was talk that Arcadia may deploy more military assets around the world, but that was just a rumor.
"Qrow?" Sehra asked from behind him and he turned to see Sehra dressed in black military fatigues, curiosity etched across her face, her red hair still slightly damp from her shower.
"It's nothing." He said and she raised an eyebrow in confusion before crossing over to him and wrapping her arms around him.
"Don't worry Qrow, I won't be gone for long and before you know it we'll be sitting together with a good drink." Sehra said with a quick wink and pat of Qrow's ass, as she picked up a duffel bag that she had put together the night before. Qrow just chuckled as they left his apartment.
Elsewhere…
Pyrrha sat on the rooftop of the apartment complex that was given to house the first year students of Beacon. Looking down at the streets she could see the green hair of Oobleck talking to golden mane of Glynda Goodwitch. She had come by earlier to talk with Pyrrha and the remaining members of team JNPR about going with the Arcs.
Mainly to inquire why they wanted to go and Pyrrha was honest when she said that she'd rather stay by Jaune's side than continue her life as it were. Of course Ren and Nora were adamant in that belief as well, Pyrrha was prepared for Goodwitch trying to stop them by talking them out of it.
Instead she simply told them the classes would be resuming in a few months. She also told them that she believed that Jaune would rather see them trying to be the best that they can be rather than sit around and gather dust waiting for him.
She was right, but that didn't mean that Pyrrha liked it. Though she couldn't help but feel giddy now that she was invited along with Nora, Ren and even Blake to accompany the Arcs. Though she wasn't sure why Blake was coming with them, she'd figure that she'd stay in Vale with Sun or visit Yang and Ruby.
"Hey kid." A gruff voice spoke up from behind, and Pyrrha snapped her head behind her to see Qrow Branwen standing behind her, putting his ever present flask away. How did he get up there with her, she would have heard the door opening?
"Oh, hi Mr. Branwen, is there something you need?" Qrow just shook his head and stepped forward next to her and sat down. He didn't say anything, opting instead to looking into the distance towards the sea as dozens of Bullheads flew back and forth between the clouds overhead.
If Pyrrha had to describe how the gruff alcoholic man appeared, he seemed a bit more remorseful. Something that was very different than what he had first appeared to be like when they first met in Ozpin's office, when the former Headmaster had told Pyrrha a very surprising secret. He took out his flask once more and took a swig from it, before smacking his lips slightly and putting it away.
"So kid, do you hate us?" This caused Pyrrha to blink where did that come from.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Do you hate us for showing what we've showed you and you nearly dying cause of it?" Pyrrha thought for a moment, looking up at the sky as she did.
"I guess part of me wants to hate you, all those secrets and lies to keep the truth hidden didn't go very well for you or for anyone else for that matter, you tried to keep it in a nice little package but you knew that the enemy weren't going to play by your rules. Yet Ozpin wanted to try and make them play by his rules without actually doing anything, that's where he failed, and instead of enlisting the help of the people who weren't apart to Kingdom politics or nationalism and could and have made a big difference, you gave it to Ironwood." Qrow nodded along as he let Pyrrha let go of her thoughts, the brief thought of letting her take a sip from his flask, flashed in his mind but he knew that was probably a bad thing.
"To top that off, just as I was happy with where I was and you pulled me into this mess and asked me to abandon my friends, abandon Jaune, and ultimately abandon my happiness to help fix your mistake Mr. Branwen." Pyrrha said frowning at Qrow as she said that last part, he just quirked his eyebrow and shrugged as he took another sip of his flask.
"Say what you want kid, but we did what we thought was right, not for ourselves or to cover up the fact that I fucked up in saving Amber when she most needed it, but ultimately it was to protect everyone, including the Arcs. So while it's true that they were the ones to bring the Battle for Beacon to an end, the causalities they suffered along with losing Alexander in the end means that this was nothing but a Pyrrhic victory." Qrow said, internally he couldn't help but laugh a little at what he said. Pyrrha was still frowning at him and he couldn't care less.
"So now that we've gotten out of the way, if the time ever comes when we encounter that woman again."
"Cinder Fall."
"What?"
"Her name is Cinder Fall apparently, I didn't actually know that but Blake was able to tell me about it since her and her team fraternized with them a lot right before the festival." Qrow just shrugged.
"As I was saying, if the chance of facing against the woman ever happens again and you were in a position to beat her, would you do it?"
"You mean would I try getting the Maiden powers if that was a possibility."
"Essentially, yea."
"No."
"No?"
"I'm not interested, I don't want to be forced to be alone because you don't trust people, and I don't want to see what I saw again, while it felt so regal, powerful, wise, and just awe-inspiring. It felt like a lonely life, one that I don't think I'm strong enough to handle especially now." Pyrrha stood up, and started to head back inside but stopped as she gripped the handle of the door.
"One last thing." Qrow turned to face the redhead champion.
"There are more than just two gods to worry about." Qrow frowned as Pyrrha left him on the rooftop alone.
An Hour Later…
Pyrrha stood over her bed going over a mental checklist of all the things she might need. Spare clothes, medical supplies, nonperishable food, matches, rope, several heavy blade throwing knives. She had bought them after the Sentinel, Anna, had started to teach Pyrrha how to throw knives.
It was interesting to learn and she was making leaps and bounds with it. Though it did help with the fact that she could use her semblance in assisting her accuracy, most would just attribute it to the fact that she was a champion fighter.
Next to the set of knives was a black single edge kopis sword, with a slightly curved bone white handle the Arc emblem was burned into the sides. Sanian had been the one to give it to her both as a gift and temporary replacement of Miló.
Which the three pieces lay between it and Akoúo, the points of breakage were distorted by the heat that Cinder had applied to it. Akoúo on the other hand was in better shape overall aside from a few new scratches in the surface and the edge being chipped a little, the shield was returned to Pyrrha a few days after she had woken up.
Apparently the shield had actually fallen off the tower when she had thrown it and Anna had gone to find it for her.
As the memories of that night flashed in Pyrrha's mind she couldn't help but feel guilt and anger, not at Cinder for what she had done but at herself. Had she been stronger she would have been able to put up a better fight and help Alexander fight off Cinder.
She would have been able to protect Jaune, but she failed, Alexander is dead and Jaune close to death as well.
Someone placed a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder and for a second the sight of Cinder lifting her chin up before aiming an arrow at her flashed in her mind. With a startled cry both out of fear and anger, Pyrrha pulled one of the throwing knives into her hand and whirled around ready to stab the person.
However she stopped mid swing as she realized that Nora was the one who was behind her, not an enemy but her friend.
Nora starred wide eye at the blade in Pyrrha's hand, tears began to sting at her eyes and she let go of the knife, letting it clatter to the floor. Nora quickly pulled Pyrrha into a hug as the tears spilled down her cheek.
"I…I…I'm sorry…" Pyrrha chocked out as Nora's arms wrapped around her, Nora could feel her heart break at seeing Pyrrha cry once more.
"Hey now, it's fine Pyrrha, I'm the one who startled you, my bad." Nora whispered trying to play it off as some happy accident, but Pyrrha shook her head.
"No it's not fine Nora; I was going to hurt you if I hadn't stopped."
"Its fine Pyrrha, believe me I'm okay." She could feel the champion shaking, and Nora was at a loss for words, this sort of stuff was Ren's department of expertise.
She still remembered that faithful night so many years ago in what he did to help her cope with the attack. Nora steeled herself since Ren wasn't there; it was her job to give comfort to Pyrrha as she struggled with this time of her life.
Outside their room a certain cat Faunus stood in the hallway, her ears twitching as she heard the soft sobs of Pyrrha.
"Blake you alright?" Sun asked as he turned around to see the wide eye shock on Blake's face, his face shifting from his normal jovial self to a sterner visage that looked alien to see on an otherwise carefree person. Blade just smiled sadly, her body felt heavy and all she wanted to do was sleep.
"I'm just tired Sun, just so tired." Concern touched Sun's face as he stepped closer, his hand reaching a little but he let it drop instead.
"What can I do to help?" Blake looked up at him, a smile once more touched his face but she could see the concern in his eyes. Part of her wanted to shove him away, but at the same time she couldn't help but feel grateful for him.
She knew that she could be a pain in the ass towards people, especially strangers but he always stuck by her, whether by stubbornness or stupidity she doubt she could ever shake him from her life.
She'd even bet money that if she had been successful in leaving Vale after the battle, he'd somehow manage to find her.
"Sun?" She spoke up suddenly and Sun met her eyes once more.
"Wanna come with me on a trip?" A grin split across his face from ear to ear, and he flashed her thumbs up.
"I'd love too." She rolled her eyes, but Sun could see the faint blushing on her cheeks, and felt elated. So the two turned around to go back to their respective rooms and gather their belongings for the trip.
"Wait…Where are we going?"
A Few Days Later…
Pyrrha, Nora and Ren stood before a black Bullhead, the golden emblem of the Arcs painted on the side, all around them men and women of the Arcadian Army were packing up material into Bullheads. Or getting into Bullheads themselves to go wherever it was that they were going, none of them knew what really to do.
A soldier who had escorted them there had told them to wait further instruction but no one else had come by so far. More than a few soldiers had eyed them with curiosity at why they were there but no one had actually asked what they were doing there.
"I'm so excited to see Arcadia!" Nora squealed next to them as the hyperactive girl bounced on the tips of her toes. She wasn't dressed in her regular outfit, while overall it was the same there were a few noted differences, but the biggest would be that she was now wearing a blue-black bomber jacket.
Ren's outfit was in a sense was the same color; he now wore a green sleeveless tail coat with a black sleeveless turtle neck underneath. With black calf high opened toed shoes, Nora had claimed that it was kind of silly because his toes could still get hurt and would get cold as winter rolled in.
Pyrrha had for the most part wanted to keep her outfit but it was far too worn out, the leather top was now loose in the stitching and the bronze cuisses and greaves were too pitted and bent to be useful. She kept the bronze circlet and the sash along with the bronze plate that had her emblem carved into it, though she didn't wear any of that now except her circlet.
Now she just wore a loose red and black flannel with a black V-neck shirt underneath. Going with that, Pyrrha wore a pair of black Arcadian military fatigues with matching boots that she had gotten from Brin. Akoúo was strapped to the side of her duffel bag, along with it was the sword that Sanian had lent her. However the one oddity of Pyrrha's outfit was the white and gold of Crocea Mors strapped to her waist.
Now that she thought about it, having Crocea Mors on her might be what's drawing the attention of more than a few glares from soldiers and support staff. She wasn't aware of how well known Jaune was to the rest of Arcadia or Crocea Mors but surely word must have spread about how she was the one that Sanian saved from the top of Beacon Tower while Alexander was dead.
"I won't lie; it will be very interesting to see another nation that's previously been considered dead or fake for decades." Ren said as he brushed his hand through his hair, lately it seemed to have grown longer, and for some reason the magenta streak on the left side had stayed the same.
Pyrrha was never able to understand how it stayed like that, he never used any hair coloring product, and the most likely explanation was that Nora was the one who did it. There was a fair bit of speculation that Nora's real semblance was the ability to defy all reason, science or reality, no one was sure.
Looking over at the bubbly girl, Pyrrha did a double take when she saw her holding four wooden miniatures that were carved and painted to look like them.
When and how did she get those, Pyrrha will never understand.
"It's a shame that Blake and Sun decided not to come with us though I suppose it's nice that Blake wanted to see her home again, didn't actually think she lived in Menagerie, I would have thought that she lived in Vale if anything." Pyrrha said as she covered her eyes from a gust of wind that was kicked up by a passing Bullhead.
"Be that as it may, I'm glad that she didn't just up and vanish on her own, I'm sure her team would be distraught to hear about no one knowing where she had run off too after the battle." Ren said evenly, Nora looked up towards the sky.
"What about the Ice Princess, do you think she's getting any information back in Atlas, I saw her old man, and he didn't exactly look like a super caring father." Pyrrha hummed a little at that, she wasn't awake when Weiss was taken away but from all eyewitness accounts and the things she's heard about the SDC she could believe that.
"I also wouldn't be surprised if Yang isn't her usual self now either." Ren said, before the mood dropped anymore, the whine of machine servos came from behind them and the three teens looked to see a very familiar face.
"Saul!" Nora cried out in both surprise and joy, jumping at the warrior the large man laughed a little as he caught the bubbly girl. Pyrrha couldn't help but given him a look over, his purple armor was a lot cleaner than the last time she saw him.
As she thought about it, the last time any of them had spoken to the warrior was when he sent them away in the airfields outside of Leflore.
"Hello children, it's nice to see you all again." The old warrior spoke, though it sounded a little hoarse more than usual.
"Sheesh Saul have you been eating sand?" Nora asked brazenly, Pyrrha stared wide eye at the hammer wielder ready to tell her to apologize but Saul just laughed.
"Aye it would seem like that but no, let's just say smoking is a bad thing to do." Nora frowned in thought.
"Sure, but wouldn't your aura be able to negate the effects?" Saul just shook his head once more.
"I'll tell you about it another time, now!" He clapped his hands together, the two metal gauntlets making a loud clang that was reminiscence of gun fire.
"Come children, get on the Bullhead, you're gonna see something you'll remember for the rest of your lives." Saul said Pyrrha and Nora both moved towards the Bullhead as a crew member opened the side door for them. Ren stood back watching the two women of his team talking amongst themselves.
"How is she holding up?" The deep timbre of Saul's voice came from above him and Ren looked up to see an emotionless mask had slipped over the warrior's face.
"She's having nightmares." Saul grunted a little at that, though whether out of indifference or empathy Ren wasn't sure.
"Not many can stomach the sight of death so well at such an age, even those that do, do not come back the same." Ren nodded at this.
"Me and Nora have been doing what we could to keep her together, I tend to accompany her in the day when necessary and Nora had pushed her bed together with Pyrrha's that way she's literally in arms reach."
"It's good that you're there for her, though I suspect if Jaune hadn't been wounded she might be fairing a lot better."
"Not to mention Alexander's death, I wouldn't be surprised if she's beating herself up about that." Saul sighed at that.
"There isn't much to do about that, people die in war all the time, and even now the paths you're going down as huntsmen and huntresses have its own share of hardships that would no doubt leave its scars."
"What about you? Does death and violence not affect you in a way?" Saul simply shook his head, a sad smile on his face that made him seem far older than what he should be.
"That is not the case; I was made to be a warrior, a taker of life, a harbinger of destruction, an angel of death." Saul said simple as he gestured to the aircraft and Ren simply stepped forward. Nora and Pyrrha were already seated, across from them several soldiers were strapped into seats.
"Ren! Why aren't you smiling!? This is a brand new adventure for us!" Nora beamed an energetic smile; Pyrrha was stifling a laugh as the hammer wielder bounced in her seat, though she was held back by the straps.
"Fuck me mate, she's probably one of those fucking civvies that'll break open an airlock and say oops as we're all go for a walk naked." A soldier whispered shouted to one of his buddies next to him, and they both laughed. Ren turned his gaze to the two men, and locked eye contact with them.
Pyrrha watched as the two soldiers stare back at Ren, and within a few moments quickly looked away as Saul stepped into the Bullhead. A noticeable tilt occurred as he climbed aboard, the man that opened the door for them earlier flayed his arms a bit to steady himself at the sudden tilt.
"Let's get this bird moving soon." Saul said as he took a knee within the aircraft, none of the seats were large enough for him to sit in, so he was forced to be in the middle. Even than he took up a sizable chunk of the interior with his armor and bulk.
Pyrrha felt butterflies go through her stomach as the Bullhead's engines started to up, she could feel the downward force on her insides as the aircraft lifted up from the ground. She looked across from her to the soldiers that were sitting in the aircraft with them; she wondered how they would feel if they knew that she was the one that watched Alexander Arc die on Beacon Tower.
"Pyrrha." The deep voice of Saul called out and the red hair champion looked at him, he beckoned for all three members of team JNPR to get up. Looking amongst themselves they unstrapped themselves from the seats; Saul did his best to move to the side and pointed to the cockpit door.
"Go and have a look, you'll like it." The three teens made their way up to the cockpit and opened the door, looking inside there wasn't that much that was different. However looking out the canopy Pyrrha could feel her mouth open in utter shock.
"Whoa…" Nora whispered, and Pyrrha couldn't help but agree with the reaction that she had. High into the atmosphere, a massive grey and black vessel lazily drifted through the sky; behind it Pyrrha could see that the atmosphere wasn't as blue as it once was.
"How high are we?" Pyrrha said aloud, the black visor of one of the pilots turned to her and a woman's voice crackled through an inbuilt speaker.
"We're going to entering the exobase soon, so about eighty kilometers high, I suggest you go and find your seats now, this part of the trip always gives newbies the shakes." Pyrrha could hear the smile in the woman's voice at that last part. The three teens turned back around, slowly making their way back to their seats.
The shuddering of the Bullhead was starting to become very noticeable, and Pyrrha could feel trepidation as they continued to ascend. The ship they had seen was massive, and mostly likely a warship, one that could probably flatten Beacon in a matter of minutes. Which brought up a thought, if they needed ships like that, what did they fight?
She doubted that the Arcs used their vessels often in ground based operations, and with no war going on between the Four Kingdoms, why go through the effort of maintaining such a large ship.
The simple answer was that she just didn't know, and most likely would never know. The more complex way to find an answer would be to talk to someone like Saul or Sanian; they would most likely be able to give her a good answer. Pyrrha reckoned, that it would be best to make sure to avoid Arabella or Katherine, as much as she enjoyed knowing them, with Jaune's state as it is and Alexander's death, it would be an emotional minefield over there.
There was a crackle of an interior speaking coming on, and the woman from before spoke up.
"Docking procedures underway, we'll be set to disembark in a few minutes, and to our special guests welcome aboard." The soldiers started to unstrap themselves and gather their gear together, Pyrrha, Nora and just continued to sit for a few more moments before Saul beckoned them to get ready.
"I wonder how big the ship actually is; just by the size we saw from the outside, I reckon it's larger than even the Atlas Naval ships." Ren mused aloud as slug his pack over his shoulders, Nora spun wide eye to Ren the look of horror on her face was slightly disturbing.
"Ren?! What if they don't have pancakes?!" Ren couldn't help but sigh and pat Nora on the head.
"Nora we don't know unless we check the ship out, even than we're probably gonna be given a tour or something to understand the layout of the vessel of places we can or cannot go, and if they happen to not have pancakes, there's bound to be have something you might like."
Pyrrha could only chuckle as she stood next to Saul, the soldiers laughed and talked amongst each other as they waited for the doors to open. With a hiss and whine of motors the Bullhead's side doors opened, and Pyrrha stepped out onto a grey metal platform, with yellow rails. She looked around and once again was awestruck.
The hanger that the Bullhead had apparently pulled into was easily twice the length and width of the Beacon dining hall. Along the wall to her left and right were at least two dozen more Bullheads resting from metal clamps. Soldiers milled around the platforms like the one she was on, talking casual, the sight nothing but routine for them.
Men and woman in blue overalls and jumpsuits with the Arc emblem stitched on their chests under name tags, with another white skull and golden wings adjacent to them were also about. Pyrrha reckoned that they were probably pilots or ship crew.
Nora and Ren stepped out of the Bullhead behind them have similar reactions to the sight of the aircraft hangar. Saul just guffawed at their reactions before nodding to the Bullhead crew as they passed by them.
"So kids welcome the Arcadian naval frigate, Vergeltung, currently on route to Arcadia." Saul said raising his arms wide as if they haven't already noticed that they were in a massive warship.
Pyrrha was once more distracted by a tall figure in red that seemed to approach from further down the walk way, shivers went down her back as she took a good look at the figure.
It was roughly seven feet tall covered head to toe in a thick blood red robe, the golden Arc emblem within a cog wheel was embroidered on its chest. However coming from its back was two robotic arms; the pinchers clicked and rotated in place idly.
Upon further inspection, Pyrrha could see the jaw of their face was the smooth silver of metal, looking down as if sensing her gaze; it met eye contact with Pyrrha. There wasn't any organic flesh on its face, and Pyrrha couldn't help but recall the nurse when she woke up. Its face seemed to be entirely metal, molded to look like a human skull with green optics for its eyes.
Was this person, she felt the term barely applied to them, injured in some action while in service of the Arcs. Saul stepped forward; Nora and Ren were mimicking each other by having gaping mouths of surprise.
"Ah Enginseer Paulus, how good to see you again." Saul said casually, he must have been accustomed to the sight of the injured man to speak so casually. There was a burst of static that seemed to emit from the being before the raspy tones of a robotic voice came forth.
"A pleasure as always Legatus legionis." Saul raised a hand.
"Please, no need to refer me as such Paulus, we're all friends here." The machine man didn't respond but Pyrrha got the impression that it or he was looking at them.
"Ah, I see you've noticed our guests." Saul said and gestured towards Nora.
"This is Nora Valkyrie, student of Beacon and member of team JNPR." Nora just waved enthusiastically, the red robed figured only bowed slightly.
"Next to her is her partner and fellow team member Lie Ren." Saul pointed to the stoic man who in return bowed slightly which was mirrored.
"If you two are partners, when shall you conspire to bring forth offspring?" The robotic monotone voice of Paulus asked, and Pyrrha could see both teens blush crimson. Pyrrha couldn't help but stifle a laugh; even Saul had cracked a smile.
"No Paulus not in that sense, they're partners on the battlefield." There wasn't a response for a few minutes as if it was thinking.
"That's a shame, while I'm not a Genetor; I calculate that they would have very viable offspring." Saul just shook his head and finally gestured at Pyrrha.
"And last this is Pyrrha Nikos, partner to Jaune Arc and member of team JNPR." Pyrrha bowed slightly, though for some reason she still felt a little uneasy with the man.
"Partner in similar fashion as Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren?" Nora bounced forward a wide smile on her face.
"Nope! They're together together!" The man just stared at her; the green lights of his optics and emotionless face revealed nothing.
"Fascinating." It said before stepping forward towards the Bullhead.
"If you'll excuse me Legatus, I must attend my duties." Saul bowed his head slightly and gestured for the three students to follow him.
Forty Minutes Later…
Pyrrha couldn't help but be in awe everything she had seen, the people, the walls, the lights and machines. The sheer size of it all, it was a wonder of technology that Pyrrha doubted that anyone in the Four Kingdoms could make even with a decade of time and the combined resources of all the nations.
After showing them the cafeteria, observation deck and the hangers along with various stations for lifeboats in case of an emergency, Saul had brought them to a spacious stateroom that he had said was prepared just for them.
"How long is this journey again?" Nora called out as she stuck her head from underneath white linen sheets of one of the beds. Ren stood next to her carefully unfolding and refolding his clothes from his bag, he paused.
"It's not a very long trip, especially considering the size of the vessel, Saul said that we're currently in something called a Geocentric orbit since we're roughly at four hundred kilometers high which would take us about ninety minutes for travel to complete a full cycle around the planet which we're apparently going to do, not sure why it's beyond my understanding but rest assured Nora we'll be there soon." Nora just huffed and rotated onto her back.
"So we gonna hit the cafeteria then?" Nora asked again as silence filled the room, Ren looked at Pyrrha who had already unpacked her stuff, and shrugged.
"I don't see why not."
The three teens got up and left the room, it took them a while to navigate the sprawling grey metal corridors. Twice the teens had to stop and ask a crew member for directions until one of them just told them to follow him and he led them to the closest mess hall.
Rows of fluorescent lights lined the ceiling casting faith white hue over dozens of tables that were lined up into pairs. A little more than a dozen tables were filled with men and women eating or chatting. The black fatigues of the army seemed to congregate mostly to themselves while the blue overalls and jumpsuits of the naval crew sat elsewhere.
Pyrrha couldn't help but feel it's a little odd that they seemed to be separating themselves like that. Then again it's just like anywhere else, a person sticks with what and who they know best.
"Wow that smells delightful." Ren said as the teens got into line, and started to pick up utensils and plates. Pyrrha could feel her mouth water at the sight of mash potatoes, corn, meatloaf, fried chicken, sliced beef brisket, pasta, along with beef fried rice, mixed vegetables, and the far end of the line Pyrrha could see rows of desserts of pie, cake and brownies.
"Ya know this just breaks the stereotype that movies always show about the terrible food that the military give." Nora said as she piled slices of beef over a mound of mash potatoes, the man behind them in black army fatigues snorted but didn't say anything.
After fully helping themselves to food, the three teens took a seat in the far corner of the cafeteria, Nora and Ren on one side while Pyrrha was opposite them; they began tucking into their food.
It was delicious; the mash potatoes were smooth and flavorsome, giving a faint after taste of meat. The beef brisket was tender and moist, each slice of it almost melting in Pyrrha's mouth. The fried chicken was crispy, tiny flakes of the crust showering the rest of her food.
"Wow, this taste amazing!" Nora proclaimed as she dipped a piece of fried chicken in her mash potatoes and munching on it.
"I agree, the preparations and quality of ingredients for this food must be well thought out for." Ren said evenly as he took another bite of a salad that he had taken with him.
Pyrrha watched as a group of soldiers and naval crew seemed to gather around some table further down from them. The muted sounds of conversation could be heard from where they sat.
"So what are you kids doing on a vessel like this?" A feminine voiced asked and the three teens took to see a woman standing at the other end of the table.
Standing before them was a woman a little more than six feet tall with a pale face and red hair that was tied into a pony tail behind her head. She wore dark army fatigues with the sleeves rolled up, a golden eagle with its talons holding each half of the Arc crest, was pinned at her collar, and an indiscernible name was stitched above the left breast pocket.
Pyrrha could see the corded muscle in her forearms, speaking up to the fact that she was probably no slouch in a fight, there was something about her that seemed very familiar.
"May I sit here?" The woman gestured to the spot next to Pyrrha, she smiled.
"Of course." The woman sat next to her and Pyrrha couldn't help but get the faint waft of cinnamon and pine, which was surprising because the more common smells she associated with soldiers, was smoke, oil, carbolic soap and sometimes blood.
"Something tells me you're more than just standard civilians, considering where Vergeltung was recently stationed I'm thinking you're actually Beacon students." Pyrrha nodded.
"You're correct ma'am, my name is Pyrrha Nikos, this is Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, and we're here on invitation to see Arcadia." Pyrrha said as she gestured to her friends.
"I thought Beacon teams were made up of four people?" The woman asked, and Pyrrha met her eyes, they were green, kind of like hers in fact. She could also see that they were the eyes of a very intelligent woman, one who know doubt had a clue on why they were here. Pyrrha looked over to Ren and Nora, both of them met her eyes and nodded.
"Yes, you're right about that, our fourth member and team leader was injured in the fighting at Beacon, you'll recognize him as Jaune Arc the son of Alexander Arc." The woman smiled.
"I had a feeling that would be the case; it was on the news circuits a few months back about how the only son to Alexander Arc was attending the prestigious Beacon Academy. There was a lot of speculation that if or when Alexander stepped down as High Lord it would have been for someone in his family or someone he deems truly worthy, though now that he's dead it seems Arabella is going to step in as Steward until someone's picked but no one but her and the council have a clue who Alexander had in mind." Pyrrha mused over this information.
"What's the council and Arabella going to do now till then, if Vale and Beacon were attacked are they going to try and help the other three Kingdoms prepare themselves." Ren asked but the woman shrugged.
"I can't say for sure, my orders were to link up the rest of my regiment that was rotated back to Arcadia, and wait till further commands."
"So it's just a need to know thing?" Ren asked as he set down his fork, his plate cleaned of food. Nora had apparently gone and had another helping of mash potatoes. Somehow she was also pouring syrup into the middle of it; Pyrrha grimaced at the profane sight of the two mixing.
"That's how it is for everyone; the higher ups rarely let people know things until they need to know or until it's too late to do anything about it. Though to be fair, it's not like we have that much of a choice in our deployments, if we wanted that sort of freedom we wouldn't have joined up." Pyrrha looked at the woman.
"Why did you sign up? If you don't mind me asking!" Pyrrha hastily added the end.
"Ha, well I suppose I just wanted to do something that helps others, I mean sure there's plenty of other things I can do out there, like be a Judge, or a doctor, maybe even the Sisterhood but I wanted to be with in the grit of it all, and joining the Army just seemed like a good idea, so me and a bunch of my friends joined up. Though it wasn't all glamour I can tell you that, I've had my fair share of hardships but at the same time, I've done some good of that I can be proud of." Pyrrha and Ren both nodded at that.
"Fuck those assholes, this is fucking bullshit." A loud voice said from behind, and the four of them looked to see a group of soldiers and naval personnel talking profusely, a tall burly man with short black hair and scar running down his cheek was wringing his hands in frustration.
The woman next to Pyrrha stood up, and moved back into the aisle, and called out to them.
"Lobell! What seems to be the issue?" The man along with everyone around him turned to her and immediately straightened up, snapping a quick salute. She waved them down, and planted herself in front of them, her hands on her hips.
"I'm waiting; if you have something that's upset you corporal, speak now." The man visibly paled.
"Colonel, the vultures in Vale are claiming that we're the ones that were responsible for the Battle of Vale and Beacon." The man gestured at someone to come forward and a small wiry man with glasses stepped forward holding some device and handed it to the woman. She took it and carefully scanned the surface of the device.
"Huh, so it seems that the media has begun shifting the attention to us saying that we're the ones to blame for the attack because we did not give the relevant information nor did we give vital military assets to Atlas to use to stop the attack once it started." The woman sneered as she read aloud, she continued.
"They're also suggesting that it may be part of a larger plan of us trying to take control of Vale by pretending to be the heroes at the last second, taking all the glory while doing none of the work, and whoever wrote this garbage says come back for an more in-depth coverage of the resurgence of the racist and warmonger forgotten Kingdom." She concluded as she turned the screen off and handed it to the man, Lobell.
Pyrrha could see that more than a few people were looked to be upset by this article, she can't blame them either, and nothing about it was true. To fight and die on another nation's soil and then get blamed for the attack in the first place tends to lead to a very disgruntled attitude.
"That's not all." The man, Lobell, said with gritted teeth, as he turned the screen back on and swiped at the screen before handing it back.
"If it wasn't for the hard work of one Pyrrha Nikos, four times Mistral Regional Champion and star first year student of Beacon Academy who succeeded at defeating the Grimm Beast as the famed Alexander the Great Arc died unable to do his duty, the battle may have raged needlessly on wasting valuable Valean and Atlesian lives."
Ren reached across the table and tapped on the surface with his knuckles catching Pyrrha's attention. She turned to him, and could see a hard look in his eyes; Nora was also scanning the room more intently than before.
"I think we should go." He said quietly, Pyrrha nodded simply, and the trio picked up their trays making their way to the exit.
"Hey wait a minute, isn't that the girl in the article?" Almost like a gunshot, the simple question seemed to echo around the mess hall, and Pyrrha turned her head slightly to see that everyone was looking at her. The only sound came from the kitchen as the staff continued to go about their jobs. The woman raised her hands to gain everyone's attention both naval and army alike.
"Alright that's enough folks, it's obvious this is just the article of some stressed out hyper nationalistic newspaper, so get your heads out of your asses." Everyone slowly turned back to what they were doing but Pyrrha could still make out a few hostile glares of people.
"We should go Pyrrha." Ren whispered as Nora stood in the hallway, and Pyrrha reluctantly left, though the red hair woman gave her a wave which she kindly returned. Internally she felt distraught to know that people are aware of who she was and not because of actually meeting her but because of some crazy news article.
Looking around the steel walls seemed to close in on her and everything felt warmer than it should be. She was faintly aware that she was still following Ren and Nora, neither of them was speaking but she could see how they shifted their heads ever so slightly as if to scan for disgruntled soldiers.
To think that she would have to contend with her image with the Arcadians like this, she kind of missed the days when people looked at her in awe or jealous. Instead she's dealing with the potential situation of every Arcadian soldiers and sailors loathing her.
She bumped into something and looked up, standing before her was someone that she honestly didn't expect to see.
"Hello Pyrrha." Katherine Arc said.
Elsewhere…
Sehra Muril sat in the passenger seat of the lead Venator, behind her the rest of her company was making its way on slowly to the Forward Operating Base Amboss, located in the far south western reaches of Sanus.
She didn't really understand the need for having such a fortification all the way down there. The nearest village or town was nearly two weeks by road. Though it would have been one week had Gellar not fall.
Thinking about Gellar brought her back to thoughts about Qrow, when they were saying their goodbyes at the docks, there was something off about him. He looked so incredibly sad, she wasn't sure about why that was the case but it made her heart bleed to see that. She swore to him right there that she would be back in no time, and that's a promise she planned to keep.
"Hey Lieutenant." Sergeant First Class Geri said, and Sehra looked at her NCO, she was focused on the road. Following her gaze she realized what she got her attention for. In the distance several shadowy trails led up to the sky, smoke, and where there's smoke, there's fire.
Sehra picked up the inbuilt vox caster and dialed it to the mainline Amboss communication frequency that they were given. Instead of the usual chatter that she had heard a few hours earlier there was absolutely no traffic what so ever.
Which was bit concerning because the base already had two more companies on hand, that were constantly patrolling the outer perimeter while giving routine check-ins. She switched the frequency to the company channel.
"1-1 this is 2-1, come in 1-1." Sehra said, using her company designation as second platoon's lieutenant, to the first platoon's command squad and overall company commander Captain Joseph Nell.
A grizzled older man, one with years of experience though he never got higher in the ranks despite the seniority and experience at his call.
Some in the company speculate that he was in a fact a higher rank at one point but was busted down for insubordination.
Others spoke up saying that he just didn't want to deal with battalion or regimental politics. Sehra didn't know nor did she care, he was a good man and a better leader, and she trusts her life with him.
"This is 1-1, come in 2-1, what's the deal Lieutenant?"
"There seems to be smoke on the horizon coming from the southwest, the same direction of Amboss." Sehra said and let go of the talk button on the vox, a few second passed by before there was a crackle of static and Nell responded.
"Alright 2-1, I'm pulling back the speed of the rest of the company, since you're already in lead, do you think you can act as reconnaissance for this, I don't want to bring the rest of the company forward the smoke trail of the company will give us away if there's something going on." Sehra put down the receiver and looked to Geri, who had slowed the Venator down to a halt; there was three more Venators behind them that held the rest of first squad.
The last two Venators were actually bringing up the rear of the group as four Chimeras holding the rest of the platoon were placed in the center. Sehra jumped out of the Venator and made a slashing motion across her neck to Geri who killed the engine. Sehra adjusted the inbuilt vox system of her helmet to the platoon frequency.
"Squad leaders get your squads set up for a perimeter then form up on me, drivers you can kill the noise but keep the auto cannons manned." Sehra said, before switching back to her squad's frequency.
"Gillian, set the stubber up covering the road, Geri, pick three and cover Gillian's left, Madison take another four and cover the right, Braddeck start scouting further down the road, the first checkpoints should be nearby, let me know if you see anything out of ordinary." Sehra dispatched her orders and soldiers immediately set to their assigned tasks.
She turned around; four fully armed and armored soldiers came walking towards her.
The first was a petite figure only five foot six, Sergeant Hailey of second squad however was by far the best hand to hand combat specialist in the company. Sehra remembered the one time she had sparred with the shorter woman, it was by far one of the biggest ass kicking's she's ever had.
Her prowess in hand to hand combat had led her to the role of normally taking charged in room to room clearance in dense urban combat zones. She's taking a liking to always equipping herself with a six shell pump action shotgun; taking standard twelve gauge shells or slugs.
Behind her was the polar opposite Sergeant Reverne of third squad, a tall burly man that would have looked so large for his gear that it was almost comical, if it wasn't for the fact that he had the strength to match it. However Reverne was in fact a very gentle person, opting to be the voice of reason and empathy in the platoon.
He was also the only one to carry the A.M.R or Anti Material Rifle and use the fifty caliber rifle as anyone else would use the Agripinaa rifle. His choice of personal weapon also reflects the rest of his squad who are considered the heavy weapons support of the platoon as a whole.
Though every squad has at least one person designated as the heavy weapons user, ranging from a heavy stubber, a rocket launcher, or if they're lucky a meltagun. Reverne's squad however has three heavy stubbers and two soldiers armed with the rocket launchers.
Next came the Sergeants Quentin and Fellon of squads four and five, they were friends who had apparently joined the army together and have somehow managed to be stay together since then. Their squads were mostly just standard for the most part.
They were of a more average build or as average for a veteran soldier in the army. Without their armor and gear on, they would look like any poster model of the Army with chiseled physiques.
"Alright boys and girls, here's the situation, communication from Amboss has gone quiet, along with some abnormal smoke coming from the direction of the F.O.B. so we're gonna move forward on foot and see what we can find out and report back to Captain Nell." Quentin spoke up at that, a slightly airy voice with a slight muffled echo from his external vox caster.
"Lieutenant any idea what's actually going on, do we know if it's an attack or just some really bad accident?" Sehra shook her head.
"Can't say for sure Quentin, but considering what's been going on lately, I'd lean towards a side of caution on this one, we're the only company in the area aside from the garrison at Amboss. The nearest Army unit is 7th Division's 3rd Armor Battalion and even if they had the necessary aircraft to lift a significant portion of their strength, it'd still take them a day's worth of travel for them to come help us and five days of travelling by ground at full speed which they couldn't do even if they wanted too, which isn't even accounting terrain." Quentin remained silent at that, and Hailey spoke next.
"So what's the plan?" Sehra pulled out a data slate, the Arcadian counterpart to a Scroll; it was a little bulkier and weighed nearly four times that of a Scroll in the Four Kingdoms. She pulled up a static map of the region, and where they were supposed to be in relations to Amboss.
"Alright, four squads will be moving out, I'll take the main road Hailey take your squad and go to my left around a hundred meters out, Quentin and Fellon you're on the right a hundred meter spread as well." The three of them nodded and immediately set off to gather their squads.
"What about my squad Lieutenant?" Sehra nodded to the Venators.
"You're staying here with the Venators and Chimeras, Reverne; if or when the shit hits the fan I'm going to want as much firepower as I possibly can until the rest of the company arrives." The man nods and begins splitting his squad up to man the four remaining Venators.
Sehra turns around and walks back towards her squad, they were still in the positions she had placed them earlier, so she switched her vox channel to the squad frequency.
"Alright, everyone on me." She said and they immediately started moving back to her, though she was proud to see that they were still covering the woods and area around them efficiently.
"What's the plan, Lieutenant?" Gillian, the squad's new heavy weapon specialist, he wasn't a very tall man but he had the strength and build of a bodybuilder.
"We're gonna move by foot and observe Amboss checkpoint, we're not that far out so be vigilant, something foul is in the air." He nodded and Sehra looked over the rest of her squad. At that point Sehra looked up to see Private Braddeck standing with them, everyone else jumped at little except for Geri and her.
"Fuck me sideways Braddeck, you're gonna kill me." Madison said as she released a loud sigh, Braddeck just shrugged.
"Alright Braddeck what do you have?" Sehra asked ignoring the comments of the squad.
"It's as you say ma'am, watch tower with a bunker surrounding the base, but I couldn't see anyone manning it, the main hatch is also left open but I didn't approach any further and doubled back here."
"Any signs of a firefight?"
"Negative, but the fact that there isn't anything doesn't bode well." Sehra relayed this to her sergeants, and looked down the road.
"Alright we're gonna move in, Braddeck, Urloy, Kloos, Hall, and Madison, you're with me. Geri, take the rest, we're moving parallel up the road, but remain off to the sides, if we take incoming fire move into the trees." Sehra said as she quickly jogged back to the lead Venator and pulled out her own rifle similar to the one that Reverne has but unlike his, her rifle was a scope attached to the top. In addition she needs to set it down or up against something to fire accurately.
Though she made it up by being the only one in the platoon with a bolt weapon, she checked her pouches for extra bolt magazines. While she had more stopping power in both her primary and secondary weapons in comparison to the rest of her platoon.
She had the downside of having a significantly less amount of ammunition. She could always overstock herself with more but it would just slow her down and in situations like this where she needed to be quiet she rather not have something weighing her down. She clicked her helmet vox to the platoon frequency.
"Alright, all squads move out, maintain distance and radio checks every five minutes." So the four Arcadian infantry squads moved through the woods towards the outer pickets of Amboss.
The forest was eerily quiet; there wasn't any sign of life except for a faint breeze and the occasional rustle of nearby bushes. Though it would always bring the attention of two or three barrels but it would be nothing but small critters that are able to survive in the Outlands.
"Lieutenant, there's the checkpoint." Braddeck said over the squad vox channel, and Sehra kneeled down, unslinging her rifle.
Ahead of them was a clearing roughly a mile wide, with a square grey concrete bunker in the middle, it was roughly five thousand square feet in size. The bunker should be able to house two squads of soldiers along with enough food, medical supplies and ammunition to last about three days of combat should the soldiers ever find themselves cut off from support.
With twenty foot tall tower made from steel and wood reaching skywards in the center. Surrounding the bunker was several layers of barbed wire; the serrated steel wires could and would cut through any flesh that wasn't significantly protected.
In each cardinal direction there was a slit for defenders to fire from, each side also had a single autocannon to bolster the defense. Only heavily armored opponents can stomach a single shell of a autocannon let alone a barrage of the large shells.
Sehra watched for signs of movements within the slits, but there was nothing. She switched her vox channel to the frequency that they were given to contact the outer perimeter checkpoints, there was nothing to indicate that the lines were down. There was just no one on the other side.
"I don't see anything, it's as you say Braddeck, and nothing sticks out aside from not seeing anyone." Sehra switched her vox to the platoon channel again.
"All squads report." There was a brief pause till Hailey responds first.
"Second squad here, we're to your left Lieutenant, entering the clearing now." Sehra turned her head slightly to see the dozen members of second squad slowly exit the cover of the tree line.
"Fourth squad to your right Lieutenant." Quentin voxed in, Fellon came seconds later.
"Fifth squad on the west side Lieutenant, all clear here." Sehra nodded to herself and slung her rifle over her shoulder, pulling out her bolt pistol.
"Second squad on me, we're moving into the bunker, fourth and fifth split into fireteams and set up a perimeter, I don't want anything trying to sneak up onto us." Sehra said as she voxed to her squad leaders before looking at her own squad and signaling them to move forward.
They moved up the narrow path between the razor wires towards the bunker. Sehra could feel sweat prick at the back of her neck, if someone had taken over the bunker; the autocannon in front of them would rip them to pieces before anyone could move.
The seconds seemed to stretch forever until they finally reached the wall of the bunker, she let go a quiet sigh of relief. She motioned the squad forward towards the main hatch. Across from her second squad had lined up on the wall as well.
They moved closer to the hatch and Braddeck who had taken point waved his hand behind him signaling her to come forward.
"You're gonna wanna look at this Ma'am." Sehra quirked her eyebrow, and stepped off the wall and silently moved forward, crouching next to him. He pointed his thumb back around the corner, Sehra peered around the edge, the metal hatch was lying on the dirt floor, and she cursed silently.
"On me." She said simply and slipped around the corner, her bolt pistol raised and aimed at the doorway. The rest of her squad and second closed in behind her, she kneeled down and examined it.
There wasn't any residual matter or signs of heat damage, which meant that it hadn't been blown off. The area where the door locking mechanism was damaged, it looked to be dented inwards to the point that it had bent completely in a ninety degree angle.
The hinges also showed signs of damage. Though they weren't cut with any metal or energy based tool. If she had to hazard a guess, it looked like it had been stretched to the point of breaking. She stood up and looked at the doorway, proceeding slowly forward. The two squads follow slowly behind her.
Stepping into a cool hallway of the bunker, she swept her pistol back and forth looking for a target; a single light flickered above her. At the edge of her vision she spots something that makes her stomach drop. Blood covered the concrete wall to her left; a few splashes were even on the ceiling, the slow drip indicating that it was still relatively fresh. Below it, slumped on the floor were three soldiers.
One soldier had their limbs been ripped off, an arm laid close to her feet, though what was really telling was the fact that the forearm was crushed as well. Fragments of bone stuck through the cloth of the sleeve, and the edge of the arm was stringy with muscles, sinews and the stark white of the humerus.
The second soldier was crumpled on the floor face down; Sehra rolled the body over with one foot and could see that the front of the helmet had been crushed inward. The visor had shattered and she could see bone and flesh intermingling in the ruins of the helmet.
The third one was on both sides of the hallway. From the ribs up, the soldier rested against the wall, a pool of blood around him, lungs poking out from the blood flecked white bones of his ribs. Sehra looked away and could see a line of intestines sprawled on the floor leading to the second half of the body smashed against the opposing wall.
"What the fuck." Madison whispered over the squad vox.
"Vox discipline Private Madison." Geri snapped within seconds, the NCO's black visor helmet scanning the room for threats.
"That's enough Geri, she's echoing my own thoughts at this point, spread out, look for survivors and put a bullet into the face of the fucker who did this." Sehra said over her external vox, the noise seeming to echo needlessly.
Geri, Braddeck and Madison followed Sehra as she walked to the next room; the door was once again on the floor, dented completely vertically as if someone ran into it.
"Do you think it was Grimm?" Madison asked as she swept the room with her rifle, Sehra shook her head.
"No we would have known that the Grimm did this, they're not exactly subtle about attacking like this, and the fact that no one saw it coming also rules out a Grimm attack."
"But what if it wasn't a Grimm Horde, what if it was like an Elder Beowolf that just so happened to be alone." This time Geri respond as she flipped over a corpse with a hole in their chest the size of a dinner plate.
"Have you ever seen an Elder Beowolf? Let alone any Elder Grimm? Sure they would in theory be able to do this but the fact that no one seems to have noticed a giant Grimm killing them and fight back indicates otherwise."
"Than what did this?" Braddeck asked as stood next to the door they had just come in through, his rifle held in his hands ready to snap up at any threat.
"Do you think its daemons?" Madison said softly, before anyone else could say something Sehra interjected.
"No, it wasn't daemons or Grimm, no; this was done by someone else, possibly the White Fang, we know that their group is apparently very involved with the Enemy, someone with capabilities akin to that of a Huntsmen or Huntress would be able to do this." This seemed to make sense until her vox crackled and Hailey came on.
"Lieutenant, you need to see this." Something about her voice seemed to be off, Sehra knew that Hailey was no stranger to death; before she had risen to sergeant she had been a part of the Leflore counter attack. Though her battalion had been ground to the bone and subsequently disbanded, the survivors dispersed
"Let's move." Sehra said as she walked out of the room, her boots leaving bloody footprints from the blood she had stepped through.
It wasn't hard to find Hailey, the bunker wasn't that big but the carnage that had befallen the soldiers stationed in it was large enough to leave most rooms bearing the evidence of it.
In one room, one of the soldiers had their head repeatedly smashed into the wall, their face no longer recognizable from the flat mush of broken bones and flesh.
Another soldier had been split head to toe, whether it was from a blade or by hand it was hard to tell. The ribs of the two halves looked a lot more like puzzle pieces than anything else. Though the innards were splatted all over the floor, and looked to be crush by an armored boot.
Sehra finally entered the sleeping quarters of the bunker where the rest of her squad and second squad stood around something.
Sehra noticed that more than a few of her soldiers had their helmets off, many of whom looked pale. A few were even consoling one woman who was dry heaving on the floor.
The soldiers parted and fear gripped her heart once more as she saw what they were looking at.
Strung up onto the wall was the rest of the bunker's garrison. The wall was lined from one end to another with the skinless corpses of the soldiers, their skin left in piles at their feet. Their armor and clothes also folded neatly as if it wasn't some depraved act of torture.
Sehra moved forward and took a closer look at the skinless bodies. There was something even stranger; the stench of blood was still strong despite the helmet protecting her head. She peered at the muscle and it churned her stomach, not because of the dead skinned soldier but because carved into the meat of the person was a crude circle with eight points going outwards.
"Geri, bring the other squads in, now, Cory, I need you here." Cory was the platoon's vox operator, carrying the thirty pound device in addition to the sixty pounds of standard gear that the Army gives them.
"I'm here ma'am." The wiry vox operator appeared before her.
"Have you checked the Vox systems imbedded here?" The man nodded.
"Yes Ma'am, the casters themselves are undamaged but I took a look at the wiring system and it seems that the antennae's were fried, probably in case if the Enemy was detected and one of the soldiers tried to get a warning off."
"Let's move outside and get the Captain on the line." Sehra, Cory went outside as fourth and fifth squad moved back inside. Geri had also set about to gathering the bodies in one place. Once outside, Sehra opted to take her helmet off, a few soldiers stood near the doorway watching the surrounding landscape.
"2-3, 2-3, this is 2-1, over?" There was a brief silence before the vox caster crackled and Sergeant Reverne's voice came out.
"2-1, this is 2-3, what's up Lieutenant?"
"Move my position now, make sure to bring the Venators and Crimea's and set up a perimeter around the bunker entrance, over."
"WILCO, 2-3 out." Sehra nodded to Cory, and he switches the Vox Caster to the company frequency.
"Break Break this is 2-1 to 1-1." Almost instantly the voice of Captain Nell comes through the speaker.
"2-1 this is 1-1, read you Five by Five, sitrep Lieutenant."
"Sir, the bunker's garrison are all dead, signs of a forced entry and whatever did it was able to kill all of them without them being able to fire a single shot back, also the Vox was sabotaged presumably prior to the attack." At that moment there was a series of cracks and pops in the distance.
"Standby 1-1!" Sehra said before looking around, there was another sets of crackling and pops further south.
"Ma'am what is that?!" Geri said as she and four more troopers ran out from behind her taking up position, their rifles up and sweeping the area.
"Gunfire to the south, it seems to be coming from Amboss." Sehra reached out an empty hand towards Cory, who places the Vox handset back into her hand.
"1-1, come in, this is 2-1, gunfire coming from the direction of Amboss, how copy?" There was silence, in the distance Sehra could see third squad escorting the Chimeras, Captain Nell's voice crackled through the vox.
"2-1 this is 1-1, push on ahead to Amboss, once there establish a defensive line until we arrive, do not engage unless absolutely necessary, report back on what you find, over." Sehra gritted her teeth, and handed the handset back to Cory. She switched her helmet's inbuilt vox to the platoon frequency.
"All squads mount up, we're going to Amboss." Reverne's voice popped up.
"Rules of Engagement?"
"Set up a perimeter at the entrance of the base and fire when fired upon." The squads immediately started to file in the troop compartments of the Chimera's.
"Reverne, you've got point with the Venators, let's move second platoon!" Sehra said curtly into the vox and took a seat next to the hatch of her squad's Chimera.
"So what do you think we're gonna see?" Private Hall, a soldier fresh out of basic asked, she could hear the slight trepidation in his voice. She wanted to say something to comfort the young man, but it would be better to be honest with him then let his set him up for an awful surprise.
"I can't say for sure private, so clear your mind and take a deep breath, remember to watch your squad mate's back and they'll do the same for you, and remember you're a soldier of the Arcadian Army we look after our own." The soldier nodded, and while she couldn't see his face, she'd imagine that it was no doubt pale with fear.
"The F.O.B. is in sight, E.T.A two minutes!" A speaker in the troop compartment blares out.
"Reverne what's out there?" Sehra asks as she checks the magazine in her bolt pistol, he didn't respond.
"Reverne!" She shouts a little louder, he finally responds.
"Lieutenant, you're not going to like this." He says simply and Sehra just groans in annoyance. The Chimera grounds to a halt, Sehra flings the hatch open and jumps out, her pistol raised as she looked around.
They were inside the walls at this point, she looked back at the gate, and the doors were completely gone. The six inch thick steel doors were nowhere to be seen. The fifteen feet tall walls were unmanned and to her left and right she could see towers every fifty feet, with the barrels of auto cannons on three sides. None of them were manned and there wasn't a single person on the walls.
The Chimeras lined up side by side with the Venators in pairs on either side. Reverne had everyone with a heavy weapon in his squad step off the Venators.
More and more of her platoon filed out of the Chimera's setting up a perimeter just inside the gate. Quentin and Fallon already had their squads set up crouched down in front of the Chimera's their weapons pointed outwards.
Hailey took her squad and moved them back towards the main gate, watching it in case someone or something tried to sneak up on them. Geri was already ordering the squad to move forward and assist fourth and fifth squads.
Two of the Chimera's began firing with their autocannons, the roar of the guns were tremendous. She could hear her squad leaders start ordering their soldiers to fire. The pops and cracks of small arms fire filled the air puncturing only by bursts of autocannons and heavy stubber fire as the Venators joined in.
Sehra made her way out from behind the Chimeras with her squad behind her and she started to panic a little.
About a hundred meters away was something that she had hoped that she would never see again. Beings once wrought to bring a hostile galaxy to its knees in the name of a being that was worshipped as a god.
In dark blue and midnight black armor with images of death along with the skulls, some old, and some were new, hanging off their bodies. Most of them carried chipped short swords and serrated axes, a few even held archaic looking bolt weapons.
Surrounding the dread warriors was piles of butchered corpses, bodies and limbs hacked or ripped apart by weapons that no normal mortal could ever wield effectively.
In the distance, the main buildings were alit by flames, some sporadic gunfire could be heard but not enough to indicate a proper resistance was being put up by the base, so Sehra said the only thing she could think of.
"Open Fire!"
Elsewhere…
In the bowels of the Arcadian frigate, Vergeltung, Saul, and two others stood over the unconscious body of Jaune Arc.
"And you're sure we can do this without any unwarranted side effects." He asked once more, he already knew the answer along with the probabilities but he wanted to ask anyways.
"I'm 85% sure that Jaune Arc will not suffer any permanent side effects that will cripple him." The Magos Biologis said.
"We will also begin Phases one to five along with Phase fourteen and throughout the process we shall be conducting as much conditioning as we can; though let it be known that due to his age he won't be able to effectively benefit from the process as a whole, for instance bone growth will not be affected, though density will be increased and to compound that muscle growth will only increase a certain percentage to match his frame, he will not be anywhere close as others would be in theory at this age in terms of strength and ability nor will he be able to connect with any of the technology you can." Saul nodded his head.
"That's fine, I'm not trying to change him as a whole in such a manner, he is to remain for the most part human, though I reckon he'll no doubt be able to wield items that even an aura enhanced individual can't handle effectively." The Magos Biologis nodded.
"Begin." Saul said simply and the Magos along with several attendants wheeled Jaune out of the room. Katherine Arc stood behind Saul, her arms crossed in slight annoyance.
"I don't think this is the best idea." She said evenly, and Saul sighed.
"Nor was it my idea but I follow my orders." Katherine raised an eyebrow at that.
"You mean my father wanted him to go through that stuff? He could get hurt."
"He's already hurt, it was only by chance that your aunt was able to get him to a Hospitaller in time, or he would have died, and yes you're father had mentioned that in his Will, and when I consulted Sanian with this, she also agreed." Katherine snorted at that.
"What happens if something goes wrong?" Saul said nothing, his back still towards the eldest Arc child.
"The love of a true mother never perishes." He said simply and walked away, the thud of his metal boots echoing in the hallway of the ship.
Well ain't this something, Jaune gonna get poked and prodded, Pyrrha's struggling to get a handle on things, Sehra Muril encounters the first of many beings that shall not be named like a mopey Qrow.
Can't wait to see what happens next.
Anyways feel free to leave a review or comment anything you like, I'm always happy and appreciative of whatever you guys and/or gals have to say.
Till Next time...