Chapter 2:
Log Entry 6, June 2nd, 2857
Colonel Lewis O'Neil
So, we're famous now. One of our drones squadrons recently took out a Nuckelavee rampaging through a village. The good news, several thousand people have been saved. Bad news, we're getting a lot more publicity. I've ordered drone flights to stick near the FOBs for the time being.
In other news, we've learned that Dust actually works in space. However, its effects are less than ideal and is weaker when not in the atmosphere. We're going to take the dust samples to another planet, see if anything changes. We also discovered that Dust is very similar to the Rare Crystals we use in our energy weapons and sensors but surprisingly more efficient. If we can learn whole to integrate Dust with our reactors and energy weapons, it could boost their output by 23%.
End Log
Log Entry 7, July 3rd, 2857
In other news, we're looking into developing a new IFV. The boys have nicknamed it the Heavy IFV program, a cross between a traditional Main Battle Tank and an IFV.
The news about our defense of Kuroyuri is dying down. I believe it is time for us to deploy some SF operators into the Kingdom of Mistral. Their orders are to start seeking out people we could… I feel like abducting people to test what Aura is is a terrible idea. Then again, we may just be helping the locals by removing criminals. Our people in Vale have the same orders.
What could go wrong?
End Log.
Log Entry 8, July 9th, 2857
The good news is that we have a sense of how this Aura works. Something about connecting to the shroud and having a stronger connection means more power. Also, we got a few new weapons systems to work with, including a few Warthogs and Stealth jets.
The bad news is that two days into the mission, the Mistral team had to abort because they adopted a child. And said child was horribly mistreated so they didn't want to leave her behind.
I'm still trying to decide if that was a smart move in acquiring people to study this Aura without actually kidnapping someone or a horrible idea because they just took a child off the street.
End Log.
New Sandfish Island. July 10th, 2857
"Explain to me again, why did you decide to adopt a child?" General Lewis Denorab sighed.
Master Sergeant Andrew Grinsom simply shrugged as he was carrying the young thirteen-year-old child in his arms. It was admittedly a strange feeling for the Master Sergeant, to be carrying a young child.
"Well, our orders were to find people of interest to test their Auras. Admittedly, well-profiled or even low-tier criminals disappearing may have elicited some sort of response. So we were just wandering around Mistral looking like tourists when we found this found child who escaped from an abusive orphanage." Alexei responded.
"Dammit, you two. Why are you trying to cause us t-" General Denorab was interrupted when Secretary Clarkson calmed said General done.
"Thank you General for your voice. Operatives, I know that you have a good heart but we can't exactly experiment on children due to the Conventions." General Secretary Clarkson stated.
"Well, we didn't exactly want to leave this child out in the streets and she started following us when we gave her some Lien," Andrew replied.
"We know Master Sergeant. But the fact remains is that we can't exactly just od testing on said child. You two are active-duty operators so you really can't adopt this child and the civilian towns on Sandfish island aren't ready." Clarkson sighs. "We may have no choice but to-"
That was when two more people joined the call. This turned out to be both Victor Ross and Sophia Limburn. "Madame General Secretary. We heard something about a child being taken in by one of our teams. What happened?"
Suddenly Clarkson had an idea. So he explained the situation to former officers before ending with: "Do you think Sydney Ross would like an older sibling?"
"You want us to take care of a young, potentially traumatized teenage female from another world who has magic superpowers?" Both of their eyes light up. "Sure, we could use another distraction. Sydney keeps complaining about how he feels alone at home."
Most of the officers look appeased. The Couple of Mass Destruction were already aware of the operations on Remnant and they were not only able to keep a secret, but also find ways to explain otherwise supernatural occurrences.
"I'll sign the adoption papers. What's her name?" Victor asked.
Everyone looks at the young girl who spoke softly and Andrew spoke up for her"Her name is Cinder. Cinder Falls."
Entry log 9, July 11th, 2857
Oh, thank god for Former Field Marshal Ross and Fleet Admiral Limburn. I'm glad that they have a soft heart for children because taking that Cinder child from our hands frees up some worries. Anyways, the brass has explicitly forbidden us from abducting innocents and only targeting criminals. We've drawn up a list of people we're going to target for Aura testing. Hopefully, no more children get's 'adopted' by us.
I Cannot believe I just said that.
End Log
July 13th, 2857
Sometime in the evening, Ross-Limburn residence.
10-year-old Sydney Ross-Limburn, son of two war heroes, returned to his home after a decent night of hanging out with friends. While his parents were nice and all, he honestly wished he could have had a sibling.
Walking through the front door, he ran into his mother. "Hello son, how was your day?"
"It was alright. We went to Koritus's house and mostly hung out. We didn't do anything bad." Sydney assured his mother, before realizing something was off. "Mom?"
"Sydney, do you remember when you said you wanted a sibling?" Sydney's eyes widen. "Are you going to be ok with an older one?"
"YES!" Sophia chuckles. This was one of the side effects of being a Crusader or the descents of two, they always longed for companionship. After all, being both super soldiers and having an extended lifespan tended to get boring. So Crusaders and those with Crusader genes were quick to make friends or even family.
That was when one of the doors open and Sydney's father walked out with a…..a girl?
"Hello son, meet your new sister, Cinder." He smiled before placing the young Cinder on the floor.
For the young Cinder, who had experienced nothing but pain, she had expected several things: rejection, hate, anger, jealousy, etc. What she didn't expect was a young, golden brown ten-year-old to envelop her in a massive hug. "A SISTER, BEST DAY EVER!"
For the first time in many years, Cinder Falls felt something she missed, love.
Enter Log 10
September 23rd, 2857
I think we're getting lucky, a new organization just pooped up calling itself the White Fang. It's a Fanus Equality group that wants equal rights for all. Pulls some light off our operations. The list of people who we're 'volunteering' for our operations is complete (thankful all of them are criminals).
Unfortunately, we may have to tone down our operations soon. The situation with the former fallen empire worlds in the neighbouring sectors is becoming less than ideal. A few religious extremists are launching terror attacks on cities. We have dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded. Command is thinking of pulling a few special forces units from Operation Beacon of Light to aid in this operation. We're prepared to pull our forces from Mistral and send those units to help out
End log
September 24th, 2857
A couple hundred KM South of the city of Vale
Sergeant Major Andrew Grinsom watched through the scope of his Viper as a Boarbatusk entered his sights.
Breath in. A loud bang was heard and the Boarbatusk was hit the instant his finger pulled the trigger. Breath out.
"You know, I'm actually surprised the Grimm fall this easily to our guns," Alexei stated as he watched simple sniper round dissect the massive beast creature. Said creature falls to the ground and vanishes into dust.
"The standard velocity of a rifle or pistol cartridge using just dust is around 400 feet per second or roughly 120 meters per second. That's roughly a third of what a 9mm round from the early 21st century can do. Hell, that's just the 40% of what a .22 Long Rifle round can do. Modern weapons can fire up to 2000-45000 meters per second and we can handle that thanks to advanced recoil control systems, augments, and alternate materials. And that's just what standard ammo can do. The incendiary rounds I'm firing do a lot more damage." Andrew responds as he lines up a panicked Beringal.
"So if we gave all of our soldiers AK47s, they actually might be fine?" Alexei humoredly asked as he began calling out wind speed and distance.
"Well, it's over double the velocity of what a 9mm can do and has a lot of energy. They should be able to handle the weaker Grimm with ease." Andrew pulls the trigger again and another round spears through the Beringal.
That was when a shout was heard and the pair heard more gunfire erupted a few kilometres away.
"Why does that scream sound familiar?" Alexei asked. "Was that the Huntress Summer?"
"Yeah. Let's move." the pair pulled out their M5 battle rifles and began heading towards the source.
"England Actual, this is Redeye 4. We got signs of hostile contact engaged with local forces. Moving to investigate."
"(Comms) Copy that Redeye 4. Try to not get us into the spotlight again, we don't want to compromise our operations in Vale. We're sending a flight of Hawk drones to provide air cover."
"Copy that, we're moving." the pair began running through the jungle. Being very cautious and checking their inbuilt motion sensors.
Like last time, they found a hill and laid down on it overlooking the battle, though what they found took them by surprise.
"This that…. This that a Grimm jellyfish?" Alexei asked in disbelief. The pair watched as some sort of flying jellyfish-like Grimm with tentacles approached a barely standing Huntress Rose. Rose was bleeding, clutching her side, and panting hard.
"Uh, I think that's a seer but aren't those suppose to be myths." Alexei said with disbelief.
"Ah crap, and there appears to be a King Taijitus, 2 deathstalkers, a half-dozen Beowolves, and a Sabyr." Andrew mutters as he pulled out his Viper, before two more flying creatures land behind the seer. "And add two Nevermores and two packs of Beowolves in reserve. England Actual, this is Redeye 4, we need heavier reinforcements."
"(Comms) I see that. 16 Hawk drones are on being deployed and we've scrambled two Warthogs and a Specter Gunship to your location. Hold on for now and see what they're doing."
"You should have stayed away Summer." the see said in a taunting voice.
"Great, the Grimm talk," Alexei muttered.
"Salem, you won't win," Summer growled, still looking defiant with a sword in hand. Her clothes ripped, there being blood on her face, and she looked exhausted but determined.
The seer laughed. "Oh, you poor Humans thinking that you still have a chance. Let me tell you this, Humanity will suffer. Ozma really should have not recruited you into his inner circle."
"Ozma? Hmm, interesting." Andrew notes.
"Oh but I think I spent way too much time here. It looks like baby Rose will not be seeing her mother again. Goodbye Summer Rose." and with that, one of the tentacles of the Seer raised itself to stab the huntress.
"(Comms) Take the shot Redeye 4! Hogs and Drones are in the area!"
Bang! A single shot zips through the air and slices right into the ball/head like part of the seer before the explosive tipped round explodes within the Seer's body. The resulting micro explosion showers both Summer and the other Grimm in Grimm bits before it vanishes into dust.
"What in the oum-" before Summer could finish, Alexei opened fire with his M5 rifle. A 2 shot burst sliced into a Beowolf, another burst cut into a Deathstalker, and 3 shots took out the King Taijitus. Another round from Andrew's rifle takes out the Sabyr and spears a Beowolf as well.
"(Comms) Drones are coming in for an attack run." One of the AIs controlling the drone squadrons reported. Suddenly, a crackle was heard in the sky and a dozen missiles rained down on the Grimm group. The good news was that most of the Grimm swarm in front of Summer died, along with the reserve Beowolf packs. The bad news is that Summer, awestruck by the power of the Allied Forces drones was flung backwards and knocked unconscious.
"How many times can these people endure blunt force trauma?" Alexei whispered.
"You know, the number of times they deal with this, I'm surprised they aren't brain dead. Cover me, I'm retrieving the Huntress." Andrew stands up and begins running to the Huntress.
"(Comms) This is Whitehorse 1 to Redeye 4, we heard you needed some aircover." one of the Warthog pilots said over the comms.
"Whitehorse 1, this is Redeye 4-2, thank you for coming. Target the Nevermore, Danger close." Alexei spoke into his comms.
"(Comms) Copy that, coming in for a gun run." two craft painted in green and light blue swooped in the Nevermores, which had just taken off to go after the Hawk drones.
"(Comms) Targets locked. Guns guns Guns." a familiar BBBBRRRRTTTTTT of the Warthogs Magnetic Accelerator Rotary Cannons spewed hundreds of Tungsten-Depleted Uranium rounds into the Grimm airborne creatures, who promptly ate every round and fell to the ground while dissolving.
Another group of Beowolves appeared, focing Alexei to divert his attention again, his M5 barking as 2 dozen rounds cut down the Beowolves. Quickly ejecting the magazine and slamming a full-on in, the part Russian Part Commoner kept an eye out for new hostiles.
Meanwhile, Andrew reached the down Huntress. Summer had just shaken herself awake and was trying to use what was left of our aura to heal herself.
"Summer? We need to stop meeting like this." Andrew said with a smile as he pulled out his medkit.
"Sorry, an important mission for Headmaster Ozpin and- Ahhhhh!" Summer winced in pain as she clutched a stab wound.
"What the hell were you fighting? Hold still, I'm applying a substance that will accelerate your healing." Andrew said, pulling out a packet of Medi-Nanogel as applying to her wounds.
"Fuck, one of those Seers things and a massive number of large Grimm. Salem." Summer muttered and winced in pain before the effects took effect.
"You can tell me more about this Salem later. Come on." Andrew once again picked up Summer in a fireman's carry and ran back to Alexei. The Hawk drones continued pummeling the Grimm from the skies and Grimm began to retreat.
"We need to get her to a FOB. She needs additional medical attention and the other villages are a hundred kilometers away." Andrew told Alexei. Alexei nods and gets on the comms. "England Actual, this is Redeye 4. We have recovered a huntress in need of medical attention."
"(Comms) Copy that Redeye 4. We already diverted the Specter to your location. Think you can hightail it to the area you were sniping at just a few minutes ago?" Andrew nods, more than capable of carrying the downed Huntress to safety.
"We can."
"(Comms) Then get your asses to the new L.Z! There's a small horde of Grimm numbering 100 and climbing, 4 kilometers off your location. We can't send any more air assets in time."
The pair of special forces operators, under the cover 16 Hawk drones and 2 Warthogs, began converging on their old location. The Grimm swarm is held for the time being but after 10 minutes of non-stop firing, the missile banks in the drones run dry.
"(Comms) This is Spooky 4, we're coming in. The massive 100-meter long gunship, commonly called Specter Gunships, landed. The gunship itself was very similar to first-generation corvettes deployed by nations during their first tenures into space. (Think a Reptilian corvette but with larger wings, a lot smaller guns, and the ability to land on planets).
"(Comms) Hang on, Grimm swarms 400 meters out. Firing Stormfire Cannons." The four storm fire rotary cannons open up sweeping aside the entire Grimm swarm in seconds.
"Deploy the Grave lift!" Andrew yelled. A beam of light appears under the hovering Gunship. Both Alexei and Andrew step into said light and they float up to the hovering gunship. They reach a platform above and thanks to the help of two crew members, are pulled onto a platform that leads to inside the Gunship.
"We're on board! Get us out of here!" the Specter gunship suddenly stops firing, turns south, and starts speeding towards the FOB in Vale of the UNS-COM forces.
UNS-COM FOB in Vale
3 hours later
"So you're telling me that your team rescued the Huntress that you saved a few months ago?" General Secretary Clarkson asked.
"Yes sir. She was attacked by what our sources have called a seer along with several new types of Grimm." Andrew reports. He was once again speaking to the leaders of two spacefaring nations and they were on surprising cordial terms.
"Hmm, we looked over the camera recording. The seer was speaking and this Summer Rose mentioned someone called Salem. This is concerning, it means someone or something is in control of the Grimm." Chancellor Garcia said.
"Salem ehh? I feel like that's a reference to the Salem Witch trials centuries ago. Regardless, I looked at the videos of that seer creature. From what I gather, it's a communications device of some sort. My guess is that this Salem person is hiding somewhere and uses the Grimm as her servants." Limburn adds in. Ross wasn't here as he was busy teaching his newest daughter the basics of living on Earth.
"If we can figure out how these seers work, we could trace where this Salem is and evaluate her as a threat or not. An extreme shame that the Grimm bodies disintegrate." Clarkson says.
"This huntress, Summer Rose, she could know something. Perhaps this Headmaster Ozpin. He's the leader of one of the hunter schools right?" Garcia asked.
"Yes sir. Headmaster Ozpin is the headmaster of Beacon Academy, one of four major Hunter academies. Beacon itself is supposedly the best of the Hunter schools on the planet. The academies themselves are also home to the CCTs." Alexei replied.
"Hmm, there's something more about this Headmaster. We'll have UNIS or UNSOCOM question this Huntress. Who do we have that can do a questioning?" Limburn asked.
"Uh, that would be Agent Matthew Iverson, UNIS. Alternatively, we can just have the pathfinders help out as well." Colonel O'Neil responded.
"Hmm, use all three of them. Summer Rose may be less likely to panic if she sees a friendly face. And Colonel, you're to tone down on combat operations. I wouldn't be surprised if someone saw a hundred meter long gunship flying as fast as a 5th gen fighter." Limburn added.
"Yes Ma'am." the meeting ends and the two special forces operators and Colonel O'Neil look at each other. "Well, I suppose you should head down to the med-bay?"
"Might as well. She should have recovered from her nasty bump by now." Andrew agreed.
"I'll send down Agent Iverson to help you out. Dismissed." the two operators leave the room and the Colonel sighs.
"First Mistral, now this. At least those Specters are worth their price tag." he muttered.
UNS-COM FOB, Vale
Med-Bay
Summer shifted in her sleep. The events of the previous hours were being replayed in her head.
Another simple mission for Ozpin. Go to the village of Sojourn, figure out what was with the new Grimm sighting, and be home to begin preparing for Ruby's birthday. Where did everything go wrong?
Oh right, the Grimm sighting was actually a seer, and Salem laid a trap for me. And she struck me before I could make do with my silver-eyed powers. Summer's eyes began to slowly open up before she shot up. Where in the oum am I?
"You're awake!" a familiar voice called out. Summer turned to her right and saw the familiar sight of the soldier that was Andrew Grinsom. She also saw a second figure, who she didn't recognize.
"Andrew Grinsom? Where on Remnant am I?" she croaked. Fighting for several hours on end made her exhausted.
"Main operating base for my people. Water?" Summer nodded and Andrew moved towards some sort of machine. A quick whirl and a glass appear out of nowhere. Andrew then proceeds to move to a sink and fills up the glass with water.
Meanwhile, Summer takes a look around her surroundings. She's clearly on the 4th floor of a building, due to the window on her left showing her the outside. They were clearly near the mountains somewhere, and this was a surprisingly large base. Not as big as the Atlas base in Argus but still, there was landing pad for transports of somekind.
Looking around the room, Summer noticed several large cabinets and shelf doors in the walls where she assumed they kept the equipment and supplies for patients. The walls were painted light blue (same as on the UN flag), there were a few cabinets, and the place looked quite roomy.
That was when Andrew finished filling up the glass of water, walked over to her bed, and handed her the glass. Summer gulped down the liquid in one shot before taking a breath.
"So, welcome to New Sandfish Island, Fort Name is to be decided later. This is my spotter and partner Alexei Fedorov." the other man just gave a small wave, which Summer responded in kind.
"Summer Rose, Huntress of Vale."
"Master Sergeant Fedorov, a pleasure to meet your Miss Rose."
"Master Sergeant? You're military? Atlas?" SUmmer asked,
"Yes to the first part, no to the later. We are not related to the kingdom of Atlas." the Man responded in an accent she couldn't pick up.
Summer just stared at the pair, confused. No other Kingdom operated their militaries anymore. There had been talk of reforming the Vale Defense Force after the disaster at Mount Glenn but nothing changed.
"I understand that you are confused about your situation but don't worry, you're not in trouble. In anything, we want to ask you some questions." Andrew spoke in a calm voice.
"Is it related to Salem? I figure you would want to know." Summer replied, with Andrew giving off a smile.
"Let's just say our organization has the planet in our interests." Then his smile dropped. "We never knew the Grimm could talk."
Summer sighed. "It's….complicated. Is there somewhere more secluded where we can talk about this?"
"Right this way. We actually got a spook to come over. He's got a room set up for us." Alexei said.
"Spook?"
"Person who deals in intelligence gathering. Basically spies." Summer chuckled at the name.
Secluded room in the base
Summer had imagined being interrogated by the Atlas military but she always pictured it to be within some dark dirty room with a single flickering light bulb.
Instead, she was sitting in a small room (which was painted light blue), with decently bright lights and a window to the outside. Sitting in front of her was a person in camo colours. This place looks rather homey. Still, I am definitely not going on any solo missions anymore, not with Salem around.
"Huntress Rose, I'm Mister Iverson of the United Nations Intelligence Services. Pleased to meet you."
"Uh, thanks. Who exactly do you work for again?" Summer questioned.
"No point in hiding it." Mister Iverson said. "We're a part of an independent military organization called the United Nations Allied Forces. We operate…..more in the shadows and only recently have we begun to operate more….openingly against the Grimm."
"I assume that the miracle of Kuroyuri was your work then?" Iverson nodded to Summer's question.
"Let's just say we were testing out some new combat craft and we were spreading out our operations. Now, we have a few questions."
"Alright, ask." Summer said.
"Who's Salem? I understand if you feel this is a bi-"
"Don't bother, I would have died if it weren't for your team. And besides, I feel that you people are competent enough to know the dangers." Summer shot back. "Salem's the queen of the Grimm."
Silence reigned for a few seconds. "...what?"
Summer's face changed to a more serious look. "Allow me to explain."
10 minutes of explaining Salem and the whole situation on Remnant later
"So, Salem's the queen of the Grimm who has been alive for thousands of years and who wants to wipe the Human race and by extension the Fanus, Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, is a part of a secret plot to hold the line, and you were sent on missions on behalf of Ozpin to gather information on the Grimm. You were sent out to find out about a new sighting of Grimm which was this Seer, a Grimm capable of telepathic communications, and she's hunting you because your silver eyes are special in a way you don't really know." Iverson repeated, while his wrist computer records everything.
"Yes. That's about it."
"And you're telling us all the information despite not knowing much more about us. Why?" Iverson asked with some skepticism.
"I've seen your equipment. The fact that you wiped out several Grimm swarms is impressive. Ozzy could use some help like yours. And…..my gut is telling me to trust you." Summer said sheepishly.
"It's alright. We aren't going to spill this to the people of Remnant…..yet. Its just, we never had enough information on the Grimm and this just expands what we know." Iverson sighed.
Silence reigned. Then Summer spoke up. "What happens to me?"
"Well, that's up to Colonel O'Neill. Best guess, we'll just release you. On one condition though."
"And that's what?" Summer asked.
"You keep our interaction with Headmaster Ozpin a secret. As much as we could use an alliance with this headmaster, our forces are not ready yet." the agent replied.
"Sure."
Adelaide, Australia
September 25th, 2857
"You just released the huntress who admitted that she was working for a secret cabal on the planet? And this is true thanks to the lie detection equipment under the desk?" Ross asked with some skepticism.
"Well no, we did more than that. Essentially she's become a sleeper agent for us. Ross, it's not as simple as just hey we trust you, go home now. We did more than that." Agent Iverson said.
Ross sighed. "Please tell me that you did more than just let her leave."
"We bugged her scroll, we have drones following her, and there's a small raider team preparing to move to patch happy?" Agent Iverson responded.
Ross sighed again. "Look, I'm sorry. Intelligence gathering is not my expertise, that would be Anastasia but she's in Greece with Mitch. Just don't let Remnant learn of our existence too soon. And please, no dissections. It's tempting but only on the Grimm"
"I know sir." the agent disappeared and Ross stood up from his impromptu command center. The holographic table showed what assets were deployed on Remnant and where they were.
Ross switched the view to one overlooking the military assets of Sol. Being the capital of the UNS and practically one of the beating hearts of the galactic economy, it was well defended. The hologram showed four Solarian fleets defending the system. The Sol Guard (a fleet equivalent to a numbered fleet, 10,000 ships, dedicated to guardian Sol and the nearby systems), along with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fleets, which constantly rotated out with other number fleets. HE gazed as 4 Titans and a Juggernaut defended the capital system.
"Grimm, soulless beasts. Shame that rebuilding the former Imperial space is sucking up resources we could use on Remnant." Ross muttered.
"Hey dad, we're going out to eat? I heard Hunter's Gill is open" a new voice called out, and Ross turned to see the newest member of his family walk in, with Sydney trapped in a headlock. It had taken a few weeks to let Cinder adapt to the fact that no, we don't want you to overwork yourself to death in that piss poor excuse of an orphanage.
"Alright then. How's school?" Ross asked.
"I'm…..still getting used to it. And it's been difficult hiding my Aura." CInder replied.
"Don't worry girl. No one will judge you for being special." Ross said, pulling his two kids into a hug. The family embraces for a while, the scars of Remnant fading in Cinder's mind.
Not Codex/Database entry this time around :(
Also reminder, this is mostly going to be a lighthearted story. Less people dying, hopefully more humor. Fire for Stellar Effect is going to be updated for a while. Next chapter will be a few scenes on Cinder's life