Reviews:
Ghostly: There is a full brigade detachment and a super heavy detachment of Ad Mech in orbit of Remnant, currently there is only a patrol detachment on the surface. Down below is the entire list. There are also the marine skitarii and other non-combat tech-priests on the four ships themselves, for example Magos Explorator Double Null. He is not in the story yet and will be consulted in the trial of Penny (Y'all are voting for what he says).
-Six Units of Skitarii (Two on surface)
-Six Units of Kataphrons (One on surface)
-Two Units of Electro-Priests (None on surface)
-Two Units of Infiltrators (None on surface)
-Two Units of Ruststalkers (None on surface)
-One Unit of Servitors (On surface)
-Three Units of Dragoons (Two on surface)
-Two Units of Ironstriders (None on surface)
-Two Units of Kastelans (One on surface)
-Three Onagers (One on surface)
-Five Tech-Priests (Two on surface)
-One Cybernetica Datasmith (On surface)
-Six Imperial Knights (None on surface.)
Forge Master 00: Thanks for the support! The machine spirit face judgement by the Omnissiah. Funny how you say if he was even 10,00 years old, similar to Belisarius Cawl's age, somewhere between 12,000-17,000 years old (Mostly likely on the higher side for he was already old during the great crusade).
Kyralus: I chose a Forge World Graia Tech Priest to compare to Ruby mainly because of the similarity in color. The skitarii would only open fire if they were trying to harm the Onager, not inspect it like the students were doing.
Guest: To be honest I going to tone down Ruby's gungasm to that she does not die from blood loss due to a giant nose bleed, and that she will not try to steal them. She might be grabby but she will not accidentally cause a war between Vale and the Ad Mech. A for the propositions of what to do with the Faunus, I will tell you a hint at one of the options. It sounds like Servitude Imperpituis.
Votes for Trial of Penny:
Automata [2]
Men of Iron [0] (Nobody voted for it so it is gone)
Silica Animus [2]
Feudal STC [2]
Speech Syntaxes:
-Speech- Lingua-Technis
"Speech" Low Gothic/English
Notes: I was wondering if y'all want me to write non cannon holiday specials, they will basically be just for fun and laughs. I am using 6 wounds for the amount of aura of a student, I can't tell if that is too little or too much. For professional hunters it would be around 8 or 10 wounds.
Chapter Seven: Dragon against Steel
Starts off where the cliffhanger ended.
Professor Goodwitch quickly stepped between the students and the line of 'Skitarii'. The rest of team RWBY finally got their leader to calm down and stop asking questions. Eights joined by the side of the professor and started to have the Skitarii move back to the Onager. Ruby walked up to Eights and simply asked him, "Could you show me your weapons?" The Enginseer glanced to the other students who were shaking their head violently sideways and mouthing 'No'. Glynda could tell that he would be smirking if he still had a mouth.
"I would be glad to, but first we must introduce ourselves to each other. I am Enginseer-8873, but my friends call me Eights. I am one of the five Tech-Priest in the Adeptus Mechanicus brigade on this planet," introduced the tech-priest as he slowly walked between Ruby and her friends, slowly bringing her closer to the line of Skitarii. Yang and Weiss were attempting to burn his white robes with their glares while Blake's bow twitched as she listened in on the conversation.
Ruby returned the greeting, "Nice to meet you Eights. I am Ruby Rose, huntress in training at Beacon Academy. What exactly does a tech-priest do?" Eights let out a low mechanical chuckle as he wrapped his arm around the crimson teenager as he led her away from her team and up to the 'Skitarii' line. He made a grand gesture to the entire patrol of soldiers and engines of war.
He informed her with pride prudent in his speech, "This is my work child. As a tech-priest of the Enginseer specialty, it is my endless duty to conduct the maintenance and repair of the multitude of machine of the Adeptus Mechanicus! I have been assigned under Magos Dominus Pugnus Rubrum to make sure that none of his soldiers are damaged, in this group right here I am assigned on repairing the Kataphrons, Sydonian Dragoons, and the Onager. Also I have the ability to build more ammo or weapons in case any are damaged beyond repair." Ruby stared at awe at the robed cyborg as he explained his job. Her eyes were filled with innocent curiosity, comparable to that of a toddler.
Eights knew that the other students behind him hated him for his actions so far, but he couldn't care less. Staring up at him was the probably the first tech-priest that would come from this world, but she still had her flaws. One was that her friends would try to convince her out of it. But the second obvious problem was more pressing, her eyes. Those damn silver eyes were filled with hope, curiosity, innocence, and other traits that were lost to the mankind during their struggle amongst the stars. She seemed interested in only weapons so far, that cut down the possible options. Explorator, Artisans, Dominus, Enginseer, or Transmechanic were the first few options that came to the cogitators of Eights.
The line of Skitarii shifted to create a hole, allowing the robbed cultist to further lure the innocent student closer to the crawler. Yang started walking to bring here out, but the gap in the line was quickly shut. The tech-priest started explaining the creation in front of him as Yang tried to shove past the robed cultist, "This right here is an Onager Dunecrawler. It is of the Icarus Array variant, designed to clear hostiles out of the sky with ruthless efficiently. It bears a Daedalus Missile Launcher, a Gatling Rocket Launcher, a Twin Icarus Autocannon, and a Cognis Heavy Stubber for any hostile not in the sky. There are two, what you can call, 'crew men'. One driver and one gunner, they are both bound to this blessed machine out of their own free will."
"Hey! Let me thru! I need to speak with my sister!" yelled the blonde bombshell under the analytical explanation of the crawler with fancy word like 'Emanatus Force Field' and Broad Spectrum Data-Tether' that he explained. Ruby walker around the machine inspecting every inch of metal with her eyes. Her pure innocent eyes. Yang could not just stand quietly as this creep talked to Ruby about some sort of god. She was only half listening to the conversation for most of her concentration was put into trying to get past these Skitareye, or whatever they were called.
"Yes Ruby, every machine has something called a machine spirit. It is the soul of the machine and can feel emotions like use humans, there is only one problem. Only tech-priest can communicate with the machines spirits, and you must be a follower of the Machine God to become a tech-priest," explained Eights as he answered another one of Ruby's questions. He noticed that the Sydonian Dragoons armed with Taser Lances begin to shift from their position turn towards where the Enginseer and Ruby came thru the line of Skitarii. He tilted his head a little bid to the side to see out of the corner of his ocular senses the blonde student attempting to shove past the phalanx of soldiers.
Glynda Goodwitch cautiously stood out of the coming confrontation, her hands were politically tied in this situation. If she sided with Eights than her students would hate her and the Adeptus Mechanicus could see it as a sign of being loyal to them. If she sided with Yang, which she wanted to do, then her students would not think different of her and the Adeptus Mechanicus could see it as a sign of hostility. Hostility would lead to a massacre of any unarmed student that they would find, and team RWBY left their weapons in their lockers while team JNPR had not the chance to change out of their combat gear. All the professor could do was to wait and hope for a peaceful solution. Her thoughts were answered when the line of soldiers parted to the robbed cultist and Ruby walking away from the crawler.
Eights commented, "I wish I could have answered more of your questions, but it appears that your friend here was getting…anxious." The Enginseer turned to see that the blonde's eyes were red, he does not remember them being that color before. A matter to find out latter.
Ruby smiled and nodded at the tech-priest statement, "Yeah, Yang can be like that sometimes…Well I want to learn more about that talking to machines ability. So then until next time!" Team JNPR and RWBY stated heading into the depths of Beacon Academy. Professor Goodwitch on the other hand started walking towards them with her eyebrows narrowed. Eights quickly looked around trying to find Dominus Ferrum to use as an escape goat, but she was nowhere to be found.
"You know that Miss Xiao Long as about to fight your soldiers because you were not letting her reach her half-sister," warned the professor as she gestured to the twenty Skitarii standing behind the Enginseer.
Eights quickly retorted, "For being a combat school, I am surprised you forgot to teach your students discipline. Sometimes they will not be together and worrying about the other will only distract them in the heat of battle, leading to one of them getting kill. But by their lack of discipline I can assume the headmaster see them as expendable pawns, that is why we agree to help teach your students." To be honest, the tech-priest was only speaking down upon the school to test the professor's resolve. By the fact that she was present during the meeting with Ira, she is probably the highest skilled professor in this school. If Professor Goodwitch cracks under his insults then these huntsmen at the school would act the same or worse, making them weaker than the Skitarii.
The professor took in a deep breath to calm down, Eights noticed that a few of the veins popping started to become hidden under the skin again. Once she was calmed down, she coldly ordered, "Gather the members of the Adeptus Mechanicus that will be teaching students and head up to Ozpin's office within the next hour." A burst of static escaped the Enginseer's speaker, causing Cyber and Ira to come and join him.
-What do you want to teach the students? - asked Eights to the two other tech-priests. They both gave him weird looks as if he was a mad man. He explained himself, -We are the only three Adepts here capable of teaching the students, and I will probably work in the forge if they have one.-
The female tech-priest quickly stated, -I will be the combat teacher, while Datasmith-1721 stays with the patrol detachment incase the students try anything. Don't want them touching the Kastelans do you?- Cyber could not argue with that statement. If Eights remembered correctly, the Cybernetica Datasmith did challenge Enginseer-0352 'Precision' to a duel to the death for touching the Grim Shepherds. Thankfully Magos Dominus Pugnus quickly broke up the fight before it started. The Dominus started walking to the entrance to the school, forcing the Enginseer to run a little bit to catch up.
Cyber quickly got to work moving his forces to a more defensible position. Their current location was too close to where the VTOLs dock. The datasmith found a location on the wall without any windows above it. That was the perfect position! They only had to protect the Onager from one direction instead of multiple, and they only had twenty Skitarii in total. In the center of the formation was the Icarus Array Onager, then the Kastelans surrounded it. Protecting the automata were the Battle Servitors (Kataphrons and Servitors), then came the outer ring of Skitarii of both variants. The Sydonian Dragoons acted as the early screen and patrolled outside the line of Skitarii. The only thing that would make this position better is if he built trenches, but this property was owned by Beacon Academy. And to be honest, Eights pissed them off enough and Cyber does not need to help in that matter.
The two tech-priest walked silently thru the school, the school populous knew about them know due to the near massacre at the landing pads. Most of the students wisely avoided them because of this. The exception to that case happened when a female student with mint green hair approached them. She greeted them in a friendly voice, "Hello, I do not recognize you. Are you new here?" Enginseer Eights took one glance at the girl and say traits that he saw on the Forge World Metalica while he was still a Menial. The traits of a thief, he had lived around them for his entire life and any that were caught were sentenced to Servitude Imperpituis. Out of the four servitors that they brought to the surface, three of them were peasant crooks.
Dominus Ferrum stared at the student, there was no reason they should be talking. It also appears that the students are already a good portion into the school year, there should be no new students. Unless she was just attempting at small talk. The other tech-priest whispered to her, -She reminds me of the thieves I meet while a Menial.- Ira could not remember her childhood as well as the other tech-priest so she had no experience in the matter. The Dominus choose to not say anything and just keep on walking to the headmaster's office.
Emerald watched the two tech-priest silently as they stared at her. It was a little bit awkward, but it got even weirder when a burst of static came from the robed figure with the giant metal claw. The other person stated in a monotone voice, "We have pressing matters to attend to child." Then they both started walking away, she couldn't help but to furrow her brow at their antics. They both say they have important business to do, but they spend a minute just staring at her. Bunch of hypocrites, similar to some government officials. Also the way that person said 'child' creeped her out a bit, most people would call her huntress in training or miss. Nobody called another person child unless there was a giant age gap between the two people, or they were ridiculing them. But the robed figure did not appear that old, and its voice was monotone presenting no emotions.
Eventually both the tech-priests reach Ozpin's office after the long trek up the stairs. "You know we have an elevator for a reason," commented the headmaster. Eights pondered on the proper way to phrase the explanation.
"Well you see headmaster, there is a high chance that we exceed the weight limit for your feudal elevator," stated the Enginseer as he double checked his equations with his cogitators. Both of the two humans in the room gave the male tech-priest a weird look.
Ozpin reasoned, "Our elevators weight limit is 2,000 pounds, are you sure that you are not overestimating your weight?" Dominus Ferrum stepped forward while chuckling.
"Didn't your parents tell you to never ask a women their weight?" retorted the female tech-priest as she stepped up to the desk, opposite to Ozpin. She continued, "I will be the combat teacher while Eights will teach students in the forge. I did pass by one while on our way to your office, I assume you hold classes in there?" Professor Goodwitch pressed a few button on her scroll before look up to the Dominus.
"Since I am the combat teacher you will be coming along with me as I explain the rule in my class, while Eights will head to the forge to help any students that enter," explained Glynda as she walked past them and stepped into the elevator. Eights left for the stairs and the professor gestured for the female tech-priest to enter the elevator with her. She reluctantly agreed and stepped into the death trap, Professor Goodwitch pressed the button to be greeted by a warning. 'Over Maximum Weight Capacity.' Dominus Ferrum cursed the offending machine spirit as she exited the elevator and headed for the stairwell. Now there were two machine spirits that were on Ira's list to educate.
After a humiliating wait, Dominus Ferrum exited the door to the stairwell to join with Professor Goodwitch. Glynda decided to start the conversation, "Since you will be working as a part time combat assistance, I need to know what weapons you have and what they can do." The giant gun on her left side raised, and a hummed was emitted from the coils of the weapon.
Ira explained, "This is the Eradication Ray, it will not be used in the combat class. That will leave me with my Macrostubber, which is simpler to your feudal pistols, and my Omnissian Axe. I can assume my axe does not need a description. Then I have methods of protection, a Refractor Field and Masterwork Bionics. I know my limits and I would be able to handle one of your students in a fight." Glynda was typing away on her scroll all the information the tech-priest was giving her. The Dominus knew she was recording the information, but it was not she was telling them how to replicate it.
Both the Professor and Dominus entered into the combat class room. The students started to whisper to each other, until Professor Goodwitch silenced them, "This person here is Tech-Priest Dominus Ira Ferrum of the Adeptus Mechanicus. They have agree to allow them to stay at Beacon Academy in exchange for them to help teaching. She officials starts, and is qualified for her position. We will continue the rest of class as normal as she observes your skills."
The blonde bombshell of Beacon stood up and yelled, "I will fight her!" Before Glynda could tell her to stand down, the tech-priest stepped into the ring and gestured for Yang to join her. The student quickly ran to the locker rooms to prepare for the fight.
Professor Goodwitch reasoned, "You know you do not have to fight the students to prove anything." Ira laughed as she turned to face Glynda.
"I do not need to prove anything. I am teaching them their place in the chain of power," ominously stated the tech-priest. Yang stepped out of the locker as Dominus Ferrum removed her Eradication Ray and handed it safely to Professor Goodwitch as she displayed their auras' on the screen. Except that the tech-priest aura meter was glitching out. Before anyone could ask the Dominus stated, "We fight till the other is unconscious or surrenders!" Yang gave a curt nod in reply as she loaded her gauntlets with shotgun shells.
The bell rung and the two combatants charged the other, each letting out their own war cry. Yang's was a normal yell while a loud burst of static came from Ira. The blonde launched a haymaker at the tech-priest which was blocked by the shaft of the Omnissian Axe. The Dominus quickly pushed back on the punch throwing Yang off balance before launching a powerful overhead strike which the student easily dodged. The blonde then attempted to pepper the robed cultist with her shotgun shells, but most of the bullets bounded off of her armor. A shimmer of blue surrounded the tech-priest to protect any shells that went thru her armor, similar to aura.
The robes on Ira shifted a fraction as a barrel of a hidden gun protruded for the folds and empty a shower of bullets into the surprised blonde. A huge chunk of aura was removed, almost sending Yang into the yellow. She remarked, "That was a cheap move." The Dominus scoffed at her statement.
"It the field it does not matter how you fight. It only matter if you win!" yelled the tech-priest for all to hear as she charged the student. In melee Yang was better than Ira, but her bionics could self-repair faster than she could hurt her. Similar to the Imperial Guard in every combat situation, this was a battle of attrition. Whoever grows tired first would lose, and the flesh is weak. After a long minute of fists against axe, the Dominus swept the blonde off of her feet when she overextended herself. Ira hefted her axe above her head and swung down at the student's head yelling, "DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF THE OMNISSIAH!"
Yang rolled away, but Ira predicted this and had her macrostubber firing where she would move to. A bright flare of yellow signaled that the student's aura broke. The tech-priest stopped firing and growled, "Yield." The blonde bombshell raised up her hands in defeat. Dominus Ferrum commented, "You rely on your strength and endurance too much. My weapons have a far reach, if you would have gotten closer I would not have been able to strike you effectively with my axe leaving me with a weak pistol. Know your enemies weakness and exploit it in combat."
Yang walked back to the locker room as Dominus Ferrum retrieved her Eradication Ray. She was not surprised that she had won the fight. One, she has around 70 years of battle experience while Yang was only a teenager. Two, if anything could get past the refractor field her masterwork bionics would repair the damage. The only thing that was lost in the battle was a little bit of macrostubber ammo, which Eights could easily make.
Afterword: Did you really expect Yang to win the fight? She does have her semblance and aura enhanced speed and strength, but the Dominus had augmentations to every function to her body. And Ira Ferrum outclassed Yang in the ability to adapt to the enemies weakness to get the advantage. I also kept the fight short because it would have been just a bunch of dodging and block as the tech-priest waited to tire out Yang and find weaknesses.