Three clones stood around the holographic table, each eyeing a different part of the map displayed to them. They were dead silent for a few seconds as they identified various objectives, memorized the terrain, made note of points of interest, and studied what they could of their primary objective. They all knew the situation in the city below was a dire one, that it would likely end with an early loss in their war against the empire.

But that didn't matter for them, they had their orders, and that was to follow their sergeant's orders, and that she was taking orders from someone high up in the Atlesian Military. Mission top secret, destination unknown, that nice jazz. All they knew was that the city was under siege, and their objective would have them doing… something. If all went according to plan, they'd be in and out before anyone was any the wiser, though if history were to repeat itself as it had done so many times since time immemorial, the more carefully they planned the op, the more would go wrong. It was practically a suicide mission.

But missions like this were exactly what they specialized in. Orbital Drop Assault Commandos, or, ODACs they were called. Another elite division of clone troopers meant to work in smaller groups for highly sensitive missions. They were similar to Specters in that regard, but were better suited for frontline assault should the need arise, and deployed via orbital drop. In a sense, they were the range between HOOTS Troopers and Specters, making for an all round more versatile special ops soldier.

Their visor was more open than the rest of the army's. In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch to say it bore almost no resemblance to normal clone armor whatsoever. Astra City design was almost completely absent in the armor, and it went for more muted tones of dark greys over the stark white armor designed by the city. Part of the reason might've been that it wasn't designed by Astra City at all, rather by Atlas proper.

It still retained the normal clone body-glove, but the fingers on the gloves only extended halfway. Outside of that, it featured a full body armor with additional plating along the abdomen, gauntlets, three-piece interlocking shoulderpads, tassets guarding their hips, cuisses guarding the outside of their thighs, sabatons that guarded the front and back of their ankles with a sort of W-shaped kneepad on the top, with a few light plates on top of their combat boots. Their helmet had a more conventionally shaped visor that used reinforced ballistic glass and gave them a full field of view. The helmet provided night vision and a HUD to the user, and featured advanced communications, GPS and optical technology, and on top of all else allowed them to view infrared light, further optimizing their usefulness in any situation. The visor could be darkened on the exterior to conceal the user's face, and standard attachments that could be utilized on regular clone helmets could still be used on theirs as well.

To top off their equipment, they had an armored backpack that allowed them to... do what any military backpack would, just theirs was armored, so that made it special, and a whole suite of weapons specifically for them.

The first weapon at their disposal was the XA-25S. A specialized plasma submachine gun that was suppressed to be almost totally silent, with plasma bolts fast and discreet enough to be nearly impossible to see from an untrained eye at the cost of being somewhat weak per-shot. Still, the weapon had an incredibly fast firing rate and large, yet very light, gas cartridges, and featured several favorable features such as an infrared laser and blue-dot sight, collapsible stock, compact design, and a foldable vertical foregrip.

The second weapon was the XA-22M. This blaster pistol was similar to the XA-25S in the sense that it was suppressed, fast and discreet, but the gas canisters were smaller, somewhat heavier, and packed a bigger punch per shot at the cost of a much smaller ammunition capacity. It still had the infrared laser, and featured an adjusting gel-grip, a handguard, and blue glow sights.

The third weapon at their disposal was a plasma shotgun, the XA-20P. Unlike the others, this weapon unloaded a plasma canister's entire capacity in a single shot, and had the same range issue than any shotgun would naturally have if not using slugs. To compensate for it's low ammunition capacity, the canisters were very small, no larger than a regular 12 gauge shotgun shell, and the gun could load 6 at a time, and could also load regular shotgun shells. It was a regular pump-action to eject and load in new canisters. It was suppressed like the other guns, and likewise featured the infrared laser, and blue glow sights.

The fourth gun was a revolving missile launcher that could load four rockets, the RML-6. It featured a computer that allowed it to lock-on to targets, and for the rockets to home in and follow it's targets.

The fifth was a high-velocity sniper rifle, the XA-22SR(B). Unlike the other firearms excluding the rocket launcher, this was a ballistic weapon. The usage of bullets instead of plasma gave it much greater range, allowing it to pick off targets from an incredible range that wouldn't be possible for a plasma-based weapon. The scope could adjust anywhere from a simple 4x magnification to an incredible 120x, and featured computerized systems that allowed the gun to link to the helmet's systems to identify and track targets, adjust for factors present, and plot a course for a perfect shot. It also helped that the bullets it loaded were guided, and had stabilizing fins that allowed it to travel a far greater distance with pinpoint accuracy, and a depleted uranium core for unparalleled armor penetration. The downside to this was that the magazine could only hold four bullets maximum, and the weight of the bullets made for the user to have to either carry less ammunition, or pack less of other equipment.

And finally was the ultimate infantry weapon in Xonolite Armory's production, the ultimate infantry weapon it the entirety of the clone army's arsenal, the XA-CLC, or, Concentrated Laser Cannonade. The shoulder-mounted weapon was a technological marvel, allowing the user to, after a brief charge-up, unleash a devastating laser beam that made a joke of aura, shields, flesh, bone, and armor alike. The beam only fired for about a second and a half, but whatever it hit was history, including whatever was behind it, and behind that. If lined up correctly, it's been tested to be able to one-shot two heavy tanks, and severely damage a third. Of course, the devastating weapon was a prototype, highly classified, extraordinarily expensive, even for the Atlesian Military and the Schnee Dust Company. Outside of the clones, their instructors, Ozpin and the upper echelons of command in the Atlesian Military, nobody even knew of this weapon's existence.

They weren't too keen on using it in the deployment, but if the need arose to utilize such a devastating weapon, then the military was more than willing to greenlight it's usage. Even so, they were hoping that even if they were to bring it, they wouldn't have to use it.

"Well… the fleet put up a decent fight." One of them said, their voice soft and somewhat calming to anyone other than another clone's ears. ODAC-01-73984, nicknamed 'Mouse' on account of her kind heart and soft voice. However, only an idiot would let that fool them, as she was an expert demolitionist, the best on the squad. She'd been trained from birth like her other sisters, with the chosen specializations assigned to her at birth being explosive ordinance and demolitions, and the augmentations she'd been designed with to help her excel at this task. Her left shoulder pad's lower plate was extended downward to cover more of her arm, and had an additional heavy plate up top for extra protection. On the upper right side of her helmet she had a high-powered flashlight that she could use to blind enemies in close quarters, or to shine light on explosive traps she was setting up. She had extra explosives on her belt, and her backpack was equipped with radio equipment and remote detonators she could use from her helmet. On her breastplate was a white smiley face with a circle around it on a red background.

"Of course they did, this is the homeland!" Another clone grumbled, crossing her arms as she looked down on the table. ODAC-01-88933, nicknamed 'Bear' on account of her ferocity in combat and steadfast protectiveness of all her comrades, be they her sisters or not. She was born with the chosen specializations and augmentations giving her an edge in the usage of heavy weapons and forward assault. Her armor had additional plates on the chest, helmet, gauntlets and boots, and had a white skull with crossed bones underneath it on an orange background in the center of her breastplate.

"Better late than never, I guess..." Came another, somewhat deeper and more sarcastic in her tone. ODAC-01-80085, or as she nicknamed herself so uncouthly, "Boobs," as a play on her designation and her augmentations having the unexpected side-effect of noticeably enlarged breasts. Ever the sarcastic one, She would pop a joke whenever she felt so inclined to do so. The specializations she was assigned and the augments she'd received at birth made her a hyper-lethal sniper in any given situation. She was the designated sniper, and as such, she used less equipment than her other sisters, forgoing a right shoulder pad in favor of a larger, heavier left one that assisted in stabilizing her aim, and didn't use a backpack. Her helmet had an optical visor flipped up just above the visor, and on her breastplate there were two crossed sniper rifles just behind a skull with a hole that had cracks spreading from it off to the right of it's temple on a blue background.

"Why don't you show some respect, Boobs?!" Bear snapped at the girl. Forming a fist with the hand she was resting on the table.

"Hey, I'm just saying, no need to get angry! I'm just saying, they missed a few!" She held her hands up defensively, getting a grumble out of her tougher sister as she pointed at the three massive carriers looming over the seaside city.

"No, they left them for us." She stated, standing upright and resting a hand on her helmet laying on the table alongside her other sisters.

Though before anyone could say anything more, the alarms blared, along with the doors behind them sliding open, revealing another clone, this one standardly equipped outside of a knife on the side of their breastplate, the absence of a backpack or any markings on their breastplate and an advanced command uplink on her helmet, and a tall, muscular human male who looked to be in his early twenties at most walking in with their helmets tucked under their arm.

Immediately, all three clones snapped to attention as their sergeant, a slightly older clone who'd been running operations like this under the radar for a handful of years by now, entered the room. ODAC-01-00073, "Boss." They'd given her the nickname on account that if something was gonna happen with the squad, she always got her way… and the tidbit that she was a Gunnery Sergeant, and the highest rank any of them were was a Corporal. Still, they couldn't complain. Sure, she could be a bit bossy at times, even for an NCO, but she did care deeply for her squad, even if it didn't seem like it half the time.

"You know the music girls, time to dance." She said in a somewhat upbeat tone, though as if by instinct, Boobs turned her attention to the man in the room. He was tall and muscular, sure, but to top it all off he had the looks, too! Icy blue eyes, short, well-trimmed blonde hair, a strong jawline and a few sexy scars running down the right side of his clean-shaven face. His serious demeanor and air of authority made him all the more attractive in all the clones' eyes, though only one of them was so bold as to voice that…

"Well… Hello handsome~" She purred, getting a small growl out of Bear, a muted chuckle out of Mouse, and an unamused glare from the Sergeant.

"Pods. Now!" She ordered, with the three clones moving as ordered, heading towards the ordered destination after grabbing their helmets. She sighed as she turned back to the man standing head and shoulders over her. She gave a small sigh before walking forward a bit, giving the tall man some room to move.

"New squad?" He asked, his voice deep and powerful as he walked up next to her to take another look at the map.

"With how much command likes to move me around, when isn't it?" She replied, half sarcastic and half serious.

"Well, at least their profile says they follow orders."

"They listen to ME, and they're not gonna like what they hear if they're anything like their profiles suggest!" She grumbled, turning to face him.

"Orders are orders."

"C'mon Joseph, what can possibly be more important than those carriers over the city?" She questioned, believing that the commanding carrier was their objective.

"MY orders. And Boss? Call me Captain. I'll pass on that dance you mentioned, but you can tell me where my pod is." He said with a serious tone, marching off a bit while she just sighed and looked up, closing her eyes for a second before moving over towards her squad…

"Seriously?" Boobs inquired as she looked over at Bear, who was holding and inspecting a XA-25S she'd picked up from the rack. She looked over at her sister and shrugged.

"Well, it's gonna be close quarters." Bear replied, with the girl picking up and pushing an XA-20P blaster shotgun at her.

"Exactly!" She said with a cherry tone, but her more serious sister just pushed the shotgun away, just in time as the sergeant rounded the corner…

"Second pod down on row four, right next to mine." She said, getting a small snicker from Boobs.

"Cozy… Gonna tell us that hunk's name, Boss?" She joked, though her elder sister just snatched the shotgun out of her hands…

"SIR, Military Intelligence!" She explained, shoving the shotgun back in it's rack. "Our new boss. So check your gear, shut your mouths, find your pods, and get set!" She stopped for a moment, picking up an XA-22SR(B) and pushing it into Boobs's… boobs. "For a combat drop!" She finished, snapping on her helmet and stalking over to her pod.

She looked at the sniper rifle for a few moments before groaning loudly, moving off to find her pod after snapping her helmet on, audibly complaining the whole way.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing INSIDE a carrier?" She complained, before moving over to the final ODAC who was in the pod adjacent to hers, taking a nap. ODAC-02-00739. The newest ODAC, who'd thus far only earned the nickname of "Newbie." She'd prepped her gear with an XA-25M, but outside of that, her gear was all standard gear, with nothing to make her stand out unlike the rest of them. Shrugging, Boobs walked up casually…

"Gah!" Newbie grunted as she was rudely awoken from her slumber by a hard bonk to the side of her head from the stock of a sniper rifle. Looking at the clone before her, she easily ID'd her as Boobs. It was obvious, because as if her being a whole two cups larger than the rest of the army sitting happily at C cups wasn't obvious enough, she also had her tag just over her breastplate resting on her collar reading out "BOOBS."

"Wake up sweet-cheeks." She said, before getting pushed out of the way by Bear, and pushed off towards her pod.

"Relax, Newbie, she doesn't mean nothing… Besides, now's the kinda time where it pays to be the strong, silent type…" She said, handing her a XA-22S. Nodding, she took the blaster and stowed it into it's rack in her pod. Not a second after Bear took her leave, the pod door shut on her, closing her in the pod as it began to turn.

As soon as it had turned a full 180 degrees, the on-board display in the door of her pod lit up, with the Sergeant's and the Captain's faces displayed. After a few seconds, though, like everyone else's, their visors darkened to conceal their faces.

"Latest intel reports that the enemy is massing beneath the carriers." Came the captain's voice, eliciting a response from Boss.

"They're pulling back? Why would the empire pull back, they practically have full control of the city?"

"We're not gonna find out way up here. Prepare for drop." His response came, getting a small grumble out of the Newbie. Gripping the pod control sticks tightly, she awaited the feeling of her first real drop. Sure, she'd felt the simulated combat drops back in Astra City, but never before had she actually dropped from orbit, and something about it all told her that it was going to be a VERY different experience…

"We are cleared for drop! ODACs, we are dropping into hell, time to grow a pair!" Boss yelled, presumably to get their squad and the one deploying with them fired up. Just as she finished her statement, the countdown began.

It went by so fast. First one beep, then a second, then a third, and Drop! The sudden feeling of her pod being released from the ship and its rapid descent from the topside propulsion system blasting off forced her head upwards. Forcing her head to look back down, she took in the sight of fellow pods descending with her own, and the burning wrecks that made up the fleet that had defended the city…

"I take it back, the Fleet got its ass kicked!" Boobs's voice came in, referring to the orbital carnage.

"Hey, Boobs, remember when I told you to shut your mouth?"

"Yeah?"

"Consider that a standing order." Boss said with finality. After a few more seconds, they were finally piercing through the clouds, blinding her from seeing anything until they'd pierced through the other end of the thick, dark grey clouds…

To reveal a burning city beneath them, and the three carriers hovering a few hundred meters above the tallest towers, and the beautiful sea that bordered the city. But something definitely wasn't right. Sure, if they adjusted their trajectories they could land in a handful of different areas near the shore, but no matter what they'd miss the carriers…

"On my mark… mark!" The man among them said, with all pods reacting as ordered.

"What the? We're way off course!" Boss's voice resounded, voicing the concerns of all clones present.

"We're headed exactly where I need to go."

"But we're gonna miss the carriers!" She stated, though as if in response to her claim, the carriers started taking off, headed back across the sea. Newbie gulped as she pushed the controllers to adjust her pod's trajectory so that she wouldn't land in the dark waters of the sea. But Boss was right, and those carriers weren't getting any closer, what with them moving away from them and to the other side of the peninsula.

"Hey, Boss, look, they left something behind… some kind of orb?" Mouse chimed in, looking at a spherical package that the main carrier had left behind...

"Aw nuts! Pulse Bomb, everyone, hold on-" She was cut off mid-sentence, as the orb exploded with a magnificent blue, electrical pulse and it's EMP effect killed all their connection. She gripped the bars in her pod hard in preparation for the incoming pulse.

Soon, all she could hear was static from her pod, the terrifying screech of the incoming pulse, and the EMP making the pods' engines go haywire. The pods became erratic, changing trajectories at random for a few seconds, until the pulse finally reached them, launching them all haphazardly, with another pod slamming directly into hers, Newbie quietly counted her luck that the collision hadn't done more than simply dented metal and cracked glass and prayed that she'd live to see the next day as her pod spiraled downward, her sense of direction long lost.

After a few seconds, with her grip on consciousness beginning to fade with the G-force hammering on her, she barely got a glimpse of where she was crashing, before everything turned black…

8 hours later…

She groaned lowly as consciousness slowly returned, rolling her neck as she took in the world around her. She was still in her pod, and there was a street below her, with a few scattered cars placed about haphazardly. Her visor had static running across her vision for a few seconds until it finally cleared up, allowing her to better see the world around her.

It was night time, if the darkened streets weren't enough evidence to that, and it was raining heavily. Not much different than Astra City in weather, so at least it wouldn't trouble her. Looking herself up and down, she checked to make sure all of her equipment was still intact, smiling in satisfaction as nothing on her person was damaged, save for her herself. Her HUD told her that her hard landing had damaged a few bones, and her whole body had sustained a little damage, with her body on her HUD being highlighted in yellow everywhere.

Well, at least it wasn't red or black. Yellow signified damaged bones, red broken bones, and black indicated that that part of your body was no longer attached to you, with the best condition being blue, which signified that that area was in perfect condition.

Looking at her pod, she leaned forward a bit, though due to just how cracked the glass was, it was impossible to tell just how high up she was. Sighing, she pulled the release on her pod, only for it to fail opening, the one remaining light next to it that's glass hadn't completely shattered bleeping red a few times.

She shook her head, before punching the emergency pressure lock-releases. The pod hissed for a few seconds after punching the last release, before the door blasted off, crushing the roof of a small car with it's landing. Looking down, Newbie groaned as she calculated that she must've been at least five storeys.

If her legs were in perfect condition and her aura not compromised, this fall would've been nothing. But as it stood, her aura was in a bad state, and her legs weren't much better. If she hopped out, her aura would only protect her enough that her legs would simply be broken and not irreparably damaged.

It wouldn't do to recklessly hurt herself like that, so, making another small double-take of the area, she smiled as she noticed a first-aid station about fifty meters away, which her suit's computers told her was still mostly stocked, and had aura accelerant. Just what she'd need. It wouldn't put her back at peak condition after her fall, but she'd at least be able to jog and fight through mild pain…

Cracking her neck, Newbie gathered her equipment and leapt out of her pod, bracing herself for the fall. She grit her teeth as she landed boots first and immediately collapsed onto her side, her legs snapped like twigs.

She mustered her willpower to not make a sound as her bones gave way, and began crawling over towards the first-aid station as soon as she'd pushed herself onto her chest.

It took a few short minutes to reach the station, but as soon as she was there, she began to apply the aura accelerant and other medical practices, and within another small handful of minutes, she was on her feet again, shifting her gaze left and right, sweeping the rooftops of buildings as she passed them, keeping all her senses on high alert as she stalked down the street.

It was a slow process, but she found a door that would actually open after maybe twenty minutes. Save for the rain, the city was totally silent. No gunfire, no explosions, no screams. Whatever fires were still raging were nowhere near her part of the city. The only sound in play other than the rain at that moment was the small pitter-patter of her feet in the small puddles concealed by the dark.

She did try to activate her night vision, but the EMP's effects had rendered non-vital systems within her suit inoperable. She'd already started the reboot for her suit, but night vision and other fancy features still wouldn't be operable for another twelve minutes. For now, her flashlight would do. The bottom line of it all was that she needed to find her squad, or at least find out what's been going on since the drop.

All she needed to do was find and make physical contact with SOMETHING that was connected to her squadmates, and her semblance would do the rest.

She remembered Raven's advice for situations like these: "If separated from your squad or facing a numerically superior force, do NOT engage the enemy directly! Hit-and-run and ambush tactics are your friends, use them!" She didn't see any enemies, but it wouldn't hurt to duck into the building and lie low, at least until her suit's systems had fully rebooted.

Though, as if by fate, she crouched low to the ground as she heard something from upstairs. It sounded like footsteps, but she couldn't be too sure. It was definitely coming closer, that much was made more certain by a beam of light appearing in the stairwell. Thinking on her feet, she pressed up against the wall, and lifted herself up onto a high place just above eye level, at least if whoever it was was just doing a quick sweep with the flashlight, they likely wouldn't notice her since she had practically stuck herself to the ceiling.

Sure enough, after a few tense and long seconds, a man dressed in the enemy's uniform and equipment emerged from the stairwell, yawning loudly as he quickly swept over the room, which was more than enough for her.

Pulling her knife out of its sheath on her belt, she silently dropped down behind him as he passed, reaching up as she landed and cupping a hand over the man's mouth as she ran the serrated back across his throat, tearing it apart and sealing his fate. She smiled as after a few seconds, he ceased struggling, and simply went limp.

Gently lowering him to the floor as to not make any noise, she crept up the stairs soundlessly, stopping just before every door, and clearing the room, not that she found many more hostiles. She had entered one room and caught two soldiers sleeping, a third while he was using the bathroom, and on the 6th floor, one with a wide window and a large television in the back, she brained an enemy officer who was too busy preoccupying herself with a smoke to notice her.

Looking back at the television, she noted that it was all static, with a large web of cracks stemming from one spot where a helmet was lodged in… an ODAC helmet.

Quickly moving over to it, she pulled it out and looked it over for any identification, eventually finding the abbreviation for captain on the underside. Noting that it was split straight up from chin to forehead, she could only assume the human must've been killed…

Oh well, it really didn't matter anyways. But it was clear that he had been connected to something relating to her squad, so she didn't have much choice.

Holding the helmet in both hands, she moved the helmet around a bit, bonking the visor a few times with her index finger. After about a minute of more carefully examining it, she concentrated her semblance, being overcome in a grey light with the helmet perfectly highlighted, before everything went white...