Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Cold Compassion. Enjoy the 900-word chapter. I don't own RWBY, Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth do.
(Vacuo.)
Winter and Slater looked at a holographic version of Ironwood and the rest of the Atlas Council.
"The invasion is going off pretty well, but there's still a lot of ground to cover. We are trying to reach Shade Academy while still fighting off Grimm here and there." Slater stated while he tapped away at his scroll.
Slater hummed before Ironwood turned to Winter as the general continued the rest of the report.
"We've run into Emerald, one of Cinder's more prominent minions… she engaged me quickly, then retreated when a Paladin attacked her. I'm hesitant to pursue her because of her semblance." Winter heard Ironwood rub at his throat before looking at Robyn who sighed.
"We can't waste time chasing down every enemy we find. We need to get to Shade and secure its relic before Salem does." Robyn stated, Ironwood held up his hand and looked at the councilwoman.
"Robyn, we also need to be careful about this. Salem is far too dangerous to consider brute force the answer, and the longer we wait to try and clear out the playing field? The longer she had to mobilize defenses to try and stop us." Winter looked at Slater as Sleet spoke up.
"General Ironwood will be arriving in a few days to coordinate the assault on Vacuo… Ms. Hill is busy organizing whatever militia we can muster to defend Atlas… we do have several groups of reserve knights and Paladins we are deploying." Sleet pointed out before Camilla nodded.
"General Schnee? I want you to find out what you can about Emerald's appearance in Vacuo. I heard a few days ago about Ms. Fall's inner circle and if their still active? It means they might know something about Salem that can give us an edge." Slater turned to look at Winter before sighing.
He knew very well that Vacuo was the worst place to deploy Atlas troops. The heat meant they had to halt their advance every day and advance at night.
It also meant equipment wasn't entirely properly made for such weather, leaving the air support mostly to Vacuo ships.
Slater also knew the bandits and vagrants of Vacuo knew the terrain far better then the Atlesians did. He was glad the loose government of Vacuo was sending whatever aid they could.
He was also glad to see Mistral troops. He had frowned though at seeing a downed White Fang camera drone in the sand yesterday.
Whoever was behind the sudden resurgence of the White Fang? they were spying on the others for information, and it bothered Slater to know the White Fang were still so deadly.
He thought they had disbanded when Adam died, no leadership to rally behind meant they would be less effective.
Though Atlesian troops had several commanders to ensure the chain of command was maintained so another branch could have taken over leadership.
"I'll put it on the list to go and check for her, but our primary objective is to capture the Vacuo relic." Slater heard from Winter and sighed with annoyance.
"Something you want to add, Colonel Slater?" He heard from Sleet and shook his head.
"Only annoyed at how tough this war is, Sleet." Sleet hummed and turned to the others.
Slater continued to mess with his scroll before Ironwood looked at the duo.
"Winter? Stay safe, we both know Salem is going to come after you… and no amount of military might be going to stop her when she does." Slater heard from Ironwood before the general and the others cut their connection.
Slater turned and walked away towards the bridge. Winter caught up to her second in command easily and looked directly into his eyes.
Slater paused to turn and look at his girlfriend and commanding officer, he wondered if they'd hate that if they knew, but Ironwood would probably be the only soldier to get mad at them.
Slater sighed and put his scroll away.
"Your still worried about everything coming up, aren't you?" Winter asked, Slater nodded and looked to the side.
"Yes, because you aren't bait, you going after Salem will get you killed. Salem is way too strong to try and battle head on." Slater tapped his scroll on his arm before nodding.
"You're still worrying about nothing; I'm going to be fine." Slater heard from Winter.
"It isn't that you're going to be fine, it's what we have to lose before we win. Salem is never going to let us have a victory where we might all walk away from this and unless there's a way to trap her without threatening our lives? We can't go against her so openly." Slater pointed at the bridge.
"I know what my job is, and you have yours, ma'am, I'll be on the bridge if you need me." Slater stated before he walked towards the bridge of the ship.
Author Notes
Phew, another chapter done! I want to point out this story is probably going on hold till season 8. Next chapter is going to be next week and will show Slater and Winter arriving at Shade Academy. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!
Ps: Neo might be next week along with Saphron, Summer might be Wednesday. Raven is 1200-word Tuesday, Winter 900 Saturday, Yang 1500 Saturday, and Ruby 1500 Sunday.