Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.
CHAPTER 9
Team SPGL went out to the garage where their two and a half ton truck was waiting. The Huntsman they were shadowing was sitting on the bed next to the crates of emergency relief supplies, and beside the man, was a rifle. "Are you Mr. Antonio Alamo?" Clayton asked.
"That I am." Antonio said, sliding off the truck. "You kids ready to head out? We're wasting daylight." Antonio said.
"Actually Sir, I was wondering if I'd be able to follow the truck in my car?" Halcyone asked.
"Sure, don't see why not." Antonio said. Halcyone pumped her fist, then ran off to get her vehicle.
When all was said and done, the two car convoy rode down to Vale, then out past the Kingdom wall into the woods with but a dirt road to lead them out to Roanoke. Siniy was seated in the back of the supply truck, his gun ready should something pop out of the forest around them. Pale was in the back of the Caltrop, his rifle resting on the janky "truck bed" that had been cut out of the vehicle.
Once they'd cleared the thickest part of the forest, they saw the bullhead team RWBY had taken, flying overhead back towards the school, it's team already dropped off. The meadow they found themselves surrounded by led to fields flanked by a fork in a river, a 6 foot wall and the village inside of it. Village was loosely what it could be described as. The town looked as if it had militarized. Four guard towers were posted on the walls, and everyone had old hunting rifles.
Once the supply truck stopped, everyone got out to offload the materials and find whoever was in charge. "I'm looking for Governor Walter!" Antonio shouted.
"Walter's dead." It was a woman's voice that spoke. Looking to the left, a woman in a red dress sat against a post with a rifle slung over her shoulder.
"Who are you?" Clayton asked.
"Name's Dare, I'm the governor now." Dare said, coming up to meet the team.
Antonio shook hands with the governor, and looked around. "Can you tell us what's been going on around here?"
Dare looked up at the guard tower. "Henry, keep an eye on the supplies, I'm talking to the new guys." Dare shouted as she led the hunters in training through town. They looked up at the bell tower in the village square, and noticed that the CCT relay antenna was snapped off.
"That explains the comms blackout." Pale said, looking at his scroll, seeing that it had no signal.
"What the fuck happened here?" Antonio asked as the team settled in with them in the village hall, crates of dust, weapons and food scattered around.
"We've been under attack from grimm for the past week and a half. Prior to all that, we've had a few disappearances, but when it really started getting bad was when our CCT relay got sabotaged one night, then came more grimm than usual. We sent messengers back with the supply trucks when they returned, but nobody came out to fix the relay." Dare said.
"Those trucks never got back to us." Antonio said looking out to the forest.
"Then something or someone's been snatching them. Thinkin they might be the ones up to something." Dare said.
"I think I know who's behind this." Pale said. Everyone looked at him. "I've seen the same tactic used before. Cut comms, kill outbound messengers, probe defenses… Then comes the raid… You're dealing with the White Fang." Pale said.
"Shit." Clayton muttered.
"Well it looks like we confirmed they were in the south east." Halcyone said.
"Yeah but now we're stuck in a village siege." Clayton said.
Pale looked at Dare. "Ma'am how many people are in this village?" He asked. Dare scrunched here nose for a moment before answering. "156." Pale nodded at her.
"How many are able to fight?" Siniy asked.
"Most men, a couple of the women, some of the boys. About 68." Dare shrugged.
"Fuck… how many vehicles do you have to get them out of here?" Pale asked.
"You came in them." She said dryly.
"Any horse drawn carriages? That's a thing out here right?" Clayton asked.
"Two small ones, and 6 horses." Dare pointed to the stables.
"That's not enough for a 50 mile evacuation." Siniy pointed out.
"And we ain't marching them out of here, we'd be sitting ducks on that dirt road… Halcyone you're a tech and machine junkie, think you could repair the relay?" Pale asked his teammate.
"Depends." She shrugged.
"Better than a no. You get on that... Ma'am…" Pale said, looking at Dare with a grim frown. "We're going to have to dig in and fight."
As Halcyone sat in the bell tower, doing what she could for the relay, the rest of team SPGL and Antonio went over what else they had at their disposal. "All the food stores were in the town hall, all the dust that isn't being used for cooking or power is kept under lock and key in their crates." Dare said, unlocking the cases to show the team what they had to work with.
Clayton whistled at the stockpile. "That's a lot of dust."
"About a half ton, we've got all the types too. Powdered, crystallized, Earth, wind, fire, you name it." Dare said.
"What about specialty rounds?" Pale asked quickly.
Dare shook her head. "Outside of the standard stuff, we haven't gotten shipments of special made ammo, stuff's too expensive." Pale shook his head in turn.
"You guy's got an armory?" The sniper asked.
"Village armory." Dare said, unlocking the door to the half dug out bunker-like building. Pale stepped inside and got a look at what was on display. Cavalry sabers, and rows of pikes were stacked in the room. Most of the more advanced bolt and lever action rifles were already being fielded, which left the simple breech loaders, and gods forbid, very pre-Great War muzzleloaders in the armory. He saw a few canvas covered objects in the back, and pulled the covers off, revealing three relics of a bygone era.
"You've got these things laying around, but don't have them manned?" Pale asked, pointing out the Great War era Gatling gun, the FFR era Maxim machine gun, a Mantle made one at that, and a post war Mantle DP-28 pan fed LMG.
Dare came into the armory with him. "We don't have enough ammo to use them, and not enough people to crew them." She said.
"Not true, the two machine guns could be operated by one man, and the Gatling would only need a loader or two. I could teach anyone who needs instruction." Siniy said, as he looked through the door.
"And I know an old farmer's trick that can solve your ammo problem." Pale said, rubbing his hands together.
"You boys think you got enough time to do that?" Dare asked.
Clayton nodded at the governer. "I trust my guy's… Mr. Alamo?" Clayton asked, looking back at their huntsman escort.
He chukled at the students. "You boys pulled the rug out from under me, shit, I'm half ready to kick back and watch you do this on your own… But I'll lend a hand, I use a muzzle gun, I can educate the rest of the people on how to use them, there's enough for everyone in the village to have two… You said you had 6 horses?" Antonio asked, looking at Dare, who nodded.
"And a mule."
Pale sat at a table with a bunch of improvised tools and boys too young to shoot but old enough to understand measurements. "Take the saltpeter, then the char, and sulfur, grind it in the bowl for 10 minutes, let it dry, dump it in the measurement tube, when it gets to the line, stop, then dump it in the steel case. Once that's done the bullet gets pressed into the case, and crimped in with the pliers." Pale instructed, showing the kids how to hand load the .45-70 rounds for the lever guns and Gatling gun. Said old farmers' trick was an incredibly expensive alternative to dust, but the tradeoff would be well worth it. The heft of the bullets, and their matching velocities, might very well come in handy depending on how many of the Fang didn't have aura.
Siniy sat around a detachment of the men in the village informing them of their role. "One man shoots the gun, the other two feed it ammo. Since we only have four big guns, including mine, we will need to spread them out. The Gatling will be blocking the main road. If the gate falls we're screwed. The maxim will be mounted in the observatory room at the top of town hall, so it can shoot in all directions beyond the wall, it will need water changed out every few minutes of fire, so one of the older boys who can't shoot should be a runner. The pan-fed gun will be mounted on a cart, towed by a mule, so it can move around, and I'll be on the truck." Siniy pointed out the vehicle that the local blacksmith was riveting metal plates too.
Halcyone sat suspended from a rope seat, fixing the relay antenna. Once that was done, she'd need to check and see if the actual software of the terminal had been tampered with. A young boy was up there with her, passing tools and equipment. "You think you can fix it?" The boy asked.
"Probably not, but I'm not trying to fix it. There's only one channel that we need access to and that's the emergency frequency. If I can get that one up, I just need a frayed wire and some power and we can tap out a message to Vale." Halcyone said with a smirk. "Trust me kid, I've been in worse situations."
Antonio Alamo stood in front of a line of women who'd never touched a gun in their lives. He'd instructed them on how to load and prime their muzzleloaders, and had moved onto the marching orders. "Dress right… Shoulder… Make ready… Present… Fire!" The row of women fired, sending melted down lead, tin, silver, even gold musket balls into rows of glass bottles lined up in a fence beyond the wall. "Well done, we'll make soldiers of you yet. Load and prime..." Meanwhile the village carpenters were putting together improvised artillery from oak wood and rope.
Clayton fitted the improvised saddles to the horses along with the 5 riders they had available. Cavalry sabers, and lever action rifles were handed to them all. And after they were done with the horses, dug the spears from the armory into the ground just beyond the wall, creating a row of pikes defending the village from any who'd try to go over the barrier.
Right about at sunset was when everyone was getting antsy. "They attack just after dusk. Human eyes usually haven't adjusted to the low light yet, and the one's with night vision will be at their best before it gets pitch black out if there's an overcast or a Cookie Moon." Pale said, having used the same informaton against the Fang before.
"It'll be overcast tonight." Clayton said blankly.
"Yeah… Those lanterns ready?" Pale asked his partner.
"We've got about 3 hours worth." Clayton said.
Pale nodded. "Right… Guess I'll get up into the bell tower with Halc." Pale said, as Siniy passed by and got into the truck. "It's been an honor." Pale said with a nod.
"I tip my hat to you, one crazy bastard to another." Clayton said, lifting his tricorn off his head and tipping it.
Pale got about five feet away before he turned back to Clayton. "Hey… Why'd you decide to become a huntsman?" He asked. Clayton shrugged at first, before sighing.
"My mother was a volunteer EMT, got shot trying to save a guy's life. My dad's a lawyer, knows and argues the law to put criminals behind bars… Originally I wanted to be a nurse… Then I got into a fight with some kids, and when I beat them I realized that I didn't want to heal the sick or put the bad guy's behind bars, I wanted to go out and fight them, head on, like a hero would… Real bad guys, not just purse snatchers or hooligans, but the sick fucks who'd rather violate the sanctity of life. Murderers, rapists, guys that sell drugs to kids, the people in power who let it happen, maybe even advocate for it... What about you Pale?" Clayton asked, as Pale turned back around to the bell tower.
"Beacon was a mistake I made trying to avenge the person I cared about most… I'm still here because I'd rather honor her dream of seeing the world be a better place, than destroy it in her name." Pale said, before pulling out his watch, and looked at the old picture of his sister. "Really... It's what my sister Dixie would have wanted." Pale said, before climbing the bell tower.
Siniy huffed from his turret. "If you're going to ask, Clayton, my cause of fighting against the injustices of the world begins with having the authority to do so. I need to be licensed before I can punch Jacques Schnee in the face." Siniy said, before chuckling. Clayton chuckled along with him. Then from the woodline, a series of bird calls were made. "Here they come."