Reviews:
Carre: Thanks for the proposal that might happen in the future and your explanation of Penny.
Guest: Remnant will join the Imperium, either has a death world or a hive world. That is up to the citizens of the lost colony. The statement of it being soon might not happen.
Axccel: Going back to the last chapter I can see what caused the troubles, which will be fixed in the future.
Forge Master 00: I am going to try to keep both sides in character and not have one pull a mary sue and complete conquer the other in two weeks. Don't want the Ad Mech turning into Ultrasmurfs, but don't want the White Fang to hack into their cogitators. I believe that the Ad Mech can be best described as cockroaches. No one can control them and you can never truly get rid of them all. Ability of Null?
Guest: The Brothers may or may not be a thing in this story. It might come up in a latter chapter, but Ozpin still has the same powers from cannon. I want to include them somewhere in the story but they will not affect the story until Ozpin can explain how he has his powers.
Votes:
Automata [2]
Men of Iron [0]
Silica Animus [2]
Feudal STC [2]
Speech Syntaxes:
-Speech- Lingua-Technis
"Speech" Low Gothic/English
Notes: By the metal messiah, it was been too long! Spring Break is coming up, and that will allow me to catch up on the new lore for Warhammer after the fall of Cadia. I heard something about Ad Mech getting a transport for their army, last time I check the Adeptus Custodies just got a new codex and there is an announcement for new model of someone important (I believe it was Abaddon). Also some old characters are brought back into the story all the way from Chapter Two.
Chapter Six: Negotiations
Dominus Ira headed straight in the direction that Jaune Arc told her to go to reach Vale. If he was lying he would forfeit his life, hopefully the blonde valued his life more than the chance to endanger his enemy. The servitors stood being their master in a staggered formation, with the Plasma Cannon and Multi-Melta Servitors in front. The female tech-priest wanted to bring the servitors over the more skilled Skitarii for one reason. They are cannon fodder. If the discussion is a trap, the servitors will pin down the guards as she escaped. Eights did some modifications to the servitors equipping them with dead man switches, a perfect present for any seeking to tamper with their blessed augmentations. And for safety reasons the bombs have to be armed by a vocal command from the Dominus.
The journey was relatively quiet. The tech-priest listened in on the vox channel that Eighths was transmitting. At the end of the call she stated, -So it appear that the conquest of Atlas could wait to push back the Grimm menace. - Eventually the five cultist reached the walls of Vale. Two armed figures peered at the white robed figures from the ramparts. The first soldier commented to the other soldier, "Hey Alex, are those the cultist Steal Tree was complaining about?"
"Yeah Dane, they are from the same cult that murdered Hans, Zander, Julius, and Frank half a year ago," coldly answered the other soldier. He turned back to the citizens of Metalica before continuing, "Even if it goes against by personal judgement the General gave us orders. He said and I quote, 'If you see any figure in white robes with a bunch of scrap metal sticking out of it, direct them to Beacon.' I believe you match the description, so just follow us." The gates slowly opened as the two soldiers quickly left the ramparts. Dominus Ira made a mental note on the General's kind depiction of herself. The immaterium has no fury like a woman scorned.
Alex and Dane guided Dominus Ferrum and her servitor guard thru the streets of Vale heading to the nearest airship landing pad. No talk was exchanged between the two parties, but Ira could tell by how much they were gripping their rifles that the soldiers were not happy with the Adeptus Mechanicus. The citizens of Vale did exchange confused stares or glares with her servitors. A few abhumans species could be found scattered amongst the populous, but the rare case of one being thrown out of a store brought hope to the tech-priest's three hearts. She would have to ask the Headmaster about this problem for it will arise in the future.
The tension in the group defused when they reached the VTOL landing pad, which caused the tech-priest to stop in her tracks and stare at the machine from a distance. She could feel it's machine spirit, but it was young. Extremely young. It did not recognize her as a servant of the machine god, but it was more surprised that someone recognized it. When asked about gods the machine spirit laughed at the idea of a god being real, it even insulted her for believing in a machine god. Alex and Dane starred at the cultist as it tightened the grip it had on her two handed axe. She asked, "I assume that this VTOL craft was made in Atlas?" Both of the soldiers nodded before the dominus muttered to herself, -That explains the attitude.-
The flight to the military school was quiet, and it gave the tech-priest time to oversee the city. It was nothing compared to hive worlds, but that is to be expected of a feudal world. By the Iron Messiah, they did not even unify their weak and divided kingdoms into a singular political body. The number of Atlesian soldiers, and warships in Vale made her question if that fact will change in the future. The Dominus turned to Alex and asked, "Where is Vale's army?" The soldier scoffed at her question.
"Atlas is the only kingdom with a standing army of significant size. All Vale, Vacuo, and Mistral has are their huntsmen. Even then there is not enough to protect their borders from the Grimm. That is why the army of Atlas is the sole organized protector of humanity," answered the man with disdain and pride for his home kingdom clear in his statement. Sole organized protector of humanity, sound like these huntsmen are similar to arbites, inquisitors, or assassins in the Imperium. Low in numbers and used for tasks that larger forces can't handle. Or maybe she is giving them too much credit.
The bullhead eventually landed on the docks of Beacon Academy, Ozpin watched from his office thru the hidden cameras as the Dominus Ferrum walked thru the halls of his school. Following close behind her was the so called personal guard. Two of them had giant weapons replacing their right shoulder while the others had a giant metal claw similar to the still unnamed figure from the first security in Emerald Forest. Students actively moved out of their way as the two soldiers lead them to his office. The amount of armor that each one of them was wearing was ridiculous, you could not see any skin on the Dominus and strange heavy weapons hung from her armored breastplate. It must have been extremely heavy for it messed up her posture, forcing her to bend over slightly. Similar to an old man with a cane. The headmaster quickly dismissed the thought of his posture turning into that in the near future.
After a long wait, Dominus Ferrum finally entered his office to see both the Headmaster, the General, and Professor Goodwitch standing behind the desk. Weirdly enough she choose to use the stairs and not the elevator. "You elevator has to low of a weight limit for any tech-priest to use it," explained Ira.
Ironwood glared at the female tech-priest before accusing her, "That has a weight limit of 500 pounds! How much do you weigh?" The strange cannons hanging at the side of the Dominus hummed to life as the moved to face the direction of the General.
"Didn't your mother tell you not to ask a woman their weight or insult them behind their back? I believe the phrasing was, 'a figure in white robes with a bunch of scrap metal sticking out of it.' Is my memory is correct General?" stated the slightly annoyed tech-priest. The tension in the room could be cut by a dull butter knife. Ozpin knew that this was going to be complicated, the situation required carefully phrasing. Before the old man could speak, a holographic map of Remnant appeared from his desk. That was strange, he did not remember pulling up any map. Ira explained, "The Adeptus Mechanicus does not know the borders of your kingdoms, could you point them out for me."
Ozpin pressed a few buttons on his scroll and the borders of every kingdom appeared on the map with their names. The tech-priest studied the map for a long moment before the map itself disappeared. The headmaster questioned, "Am I correct to assume that you hold a high position in the Adeptus Mechanicus?" The tech-priest stood still as the lights in her eyes dimmed down before shutting off. The subtle shifting of her metal appendages stopped, as her four bodyguards stood silently at the elevator door. After a long and silent wait, the light returned back to her eyes. The dominus silently stared at her body before noticing the three other people in the room.
She introduced herself, "Greetings, I am Magos Dominus Pugnus Rubrum. My consciousness is currently possessing the body of Dominus Ira Ferrum. I am the Senior Tech-Priest of the brigade of Legiones Skitarii that is currently waiting in orbit for deployment." This was an unexpected movement on her part…or was it him…questions for later. He stated that there are more of his soldiers in orbit of Remnant. In orbit. That means he claims to be not from this world, his appearance and accent does support this claim. But then again this can all be a facade to throw the headmaster off balance mentally.
Ozpin challenged her/his claim, "Prove it. There is no way you can achieve orbit by using Dust." The senior tech-priest gestured to the window behind the headmaster, to which everyone in the room directed their sight. Their gaze was only meet with the shattered moon, then Pugnus emitted a burst of static from his mask. To everyone's surprise, the smaller remains of the moon started to break apart as if something was hitting them.
The Magos Dominus broke the silence with a threat, "That would be results of the Astral Knight, my flag ship, unleashing a salvo into the moon that orbits this planet. The same result can happen to hostile targets on the surface." Ozpin turned around in his chair to face Pugnus again, he currently had his weapons lowered and his axe was held perpendicular to the ground. The grip on the two handed axe as lesser tightened than before, so at least that was an improvement. It took a second for the general to turn away from the window to join the negotiations again. The senior tech-priest gestured to Ironwood, "I can assume that you did not came here to see the power of the Adeptus Mechanicus. What do you want?"
Ozpin quickly cut off Ironwood before he could speak, "We only want this pointless aggression between us, especially when there are larger threats. For example the Grimm, which I imagine that team JNPR told you about." Pugnus nodded at the headmaster's assumption, know Ozpin knew from the call with Ren that tech-priest Ira was not present for the talk about the Grimm. That means that either he is lying, or that he was listening to the conversation in a same manner as himself. The white robed cultist turned to face the General.
"I can agree to a cease-fire, on one conditions. One, any attempts to harm, steal, or destroy Adeptus Mechanicus property or equipment will result in the nullification of the treaty. I will also follow by the same rule as well," proposed Pugnus as he extended his robotic right hand forward. Ironwood reached out with his metal left hand to meet him. The Magos Dominus turned to face Ozpin as he continued, "Now that the deal with Atlas is done, we need a deal with Vale. You give me the right to move my forces into the city of Vale and in exchange we will help defend against the Grimm."
Ozpin folded his fingers together as pondered the idea. "How about your forces will take rest in Beacon, and you can help train with the students to form them into better huntsmen," countered the old man. Static can from Pugnus' mask as he turned around towards his guards. The four guards started to file out of the room with their leader slowly following them.
The tech-priest commented, "Pugnus tells me that team JNPR will arrive at Beacon in a hour with an armed escort of Adeptus Mechanicus forces. Arrangements for lessons can be made tomorrow." The door to the stairs slammed shut behind the Dominus. Glynda let out a sigh as Ironwood started to head for the elevator. The hold conversation was not confusing for the headmaster, a more fit term to describe it would be different or unique. Everything that Pugnus proposed for the deals have loopholes that can be abused for his benefit, Ozpin will make sure to catch him if he does.
Professor Goodwitch commented, "Did you notice on how his 'bodyguards' did not move at all? They did not even show any signs of breathing! And also he ordered them to file out without saying a word?" Ozpin quickly pulled up the camera feed of the Dominus' current position, Glynda's assessment was somewhat correct. The four bodyguards did not move or react in any manner to the multiple students giving them weird glances, either they were extremely disciplined or something worse happened to them. A lucky event happened to test this theory when a special student bumped into them while she was reading a book.
Ira Ferrum stared at the juvenile female that fell to the ground after walking into a servitor, the first thing that stood out for her was the fact that she was wearing a bow on the top of her head. How peculiar. The female, that the tech-priest assumed was a student, quickly picked up her book before giving the servitor a weird glance. Her eyes shifted onto the Dominus and the glare intensified. Ira could already tell that she was suspicious of strangers, which is a good trait for anyone to have. The student finally spoke, "That is a fine mask you are wearing there, where did you get it?" A mask, the Dominus did not recall wearing a mask.
"I am not wearing a mask," answered the tech-priest. She placed her free hand on her face, while the other held her Omnissian Axe upright. Ira corrected, "This is my face." The student's amber eyes widened in surprise, at both her statement and her monotone mechanical voice. The Dominus introduced herself, "I am Dominus Ira Ferrum, and you will refer to me as Dominus or Dominus Ferrum. I would talk to you feudals more, but duty awaits." The servitors started their silent march, forcing the student out of their way. After they marched out of her sight the student returned to her book and continued her meandering of the halls.
Ozpin noticed a few new pieces of information from the security camera. One, the bodyguards did not say anything or react to Blake walking into one of them. Two, the Dominus is not wearing armor but in fact the metal is a part of her. Making her a cyborg, the same is probably true for the other members of the Adeptus Mechanicus. During the discussion with Ren, Eights did call their troops Skitarii and not humans or Faunus. This probably means that they are not pure humans, or it was a word for a rank. With every new piece of information that the headmaster found to answer a question, ten more will take its place. But all he had to do now was to wait for their forces to arrive and then have Professor Goodwitch find where to put them.
True to their word, a large group of Adeptus Mechanicus forces arrived at the walls of Vale with team JNPR leading them with the tech-priest know as Eights. Professor Goodwitch estimated their numbers to be around sixty men in total, this included the expected number of people needed to crew each of their machines. The gates opened up and team JNPR strolled inside the city and started to head of the bullhead, while the large group of cyborg soldiers formed a perfect parade block. Their 'Skitarii' were in front in ranks of four, followed by the soldiers with tank tracks for feet in ranks of two. Their giant crawler was after that with the six robots with LMGs in ranks of two behind it. The 'Cybernetica Datasmith' marched alongside the six robots. The ten 'Skitarii' on the walkers acted at the rear guard in ranks of two, and at the apex of the parade block was the Enginseer.
A metallic voice called out to the professor, "I assume you are sent by the headmaster to lead us to his school. We will follow your lead, and there is no need for resting arrangements for we do not need it." That was both reassuring and concerning. On one hand she had less work to do, but on the other hand they found a way to no longer need food or sleep. Glynda turned around at followed team JNPR to the bullhead pads. A few hours ago Ozpin told the public and the council of Vale that he found a group of anti-Grimm fighters that will be staying at Beacon Academy. Which did cause a crowd to gather to see them, and the reporters flocked to the parade block like Grimm to negative emotions. She did notice that none of the soldiers, besides Eights and the Datasmith, responded to anything that the crowd or reports said to them. Whether it be questions or insults.
Both Eights and the Datasmith would always tell the reporters, "There will be a public message soon enough to answer your questions." or "I am not high enough rank to answer that question." It would appear that getting any information out of them would prove difficult in the future, but that will be left up for the crow to do. Once they reached the bullhead landing pad, they started with loading the larger machines into the cargo hold while some of the soldiers filled into the passenger area. The professor was stuck on the third bullhead with Eights and ten of the Skitarii. The entire ride was silent, but the Enginseer did take his time to inspect every corner of the ship with his mechanical eyes. Once they landed at Beacon, Glynda was greeted with the Skitarii, which were on the second bullhead, keeping the students away from their machines.
Dominus Ira spoke thru her vox to the crowd, "Disperse by free will or we will have to use force!" A few of the students did head the warning, but not all of them were bright. At the front of the crowd was a probably the youngest student in the crowd wearing a bright crimson hood. She was asking the Skitarii questions about their weapons and armor, it reminded her of a Graian Tech-Priest. But nonetheless, the female tech-priest was tired of their shit. The crowd was complete silenced when the Dominus fired five rounds from her macrostubber into the air. Lucky for her, most of the students disappeared and group of Skitarii Vanguard came to reinforce the defensive of the blessed Onager and Kastelans. Only a handful of students were left, team JNPR, the crimsoned hooded girl, the girl that ran into the servitors before, a girl dressed in pure white, and a blonde girl who was trying to restrain the crimson girl.
I know it is a cliffhanger again, but I did not upload during the weekend and wanted to get the chapter out as fast a possible without sacrificing quality.