"Alright c'mon I promised summer we would meet up together, let's get going," I said gently pushing Cinder and Emerald along. They were in awe at the festival and just how many people and shops there were, which is fair, I'm in awe too. I just also have summer at my throat, and I'm hardly about to anger her.
I could hear a light marching just up ahead causing me to click my tongue in annoyance. Making our way to the front of the crowd my suspicions were confirmed, military police were marching through the central road of Vytal heading towards the arena. I fish for my scroll and call up Rose, "hey summer, I'm gonna be a bit," I said upon her picking up.
"What? Why?" She asked quickly back.
"You know the part where the Vale Republican army got put in charge of security?" I replied.
"Yeah, what about it," Summer said.
"Well it seems as if the MP's, err Military Police didn't get the memo, and the various guards I've seen so far are regular army units doing their jobs. All that to say, I'm probably gonna be halted by various groups of MPs marching around to their posts," I explained.
"Fine try not to get too delayed, Yang and Ruby are getting restless," she said, hanging up. Easier said than done, looks like this current column has passed by, we walked across the road and made our way to the bullhead docks on the other end of Vytal island.
Walking through the crowd, we eventually end up at an army recruitment booth, and I see an odd sight, the recruiters are kitted out in the new combat armor MK2, it's something I worked out with watts and another army engineer originally for the ranger Corp, but I eventually ditched it for redesigned Riot Armor from the fallout games. I always wanted to wear one of the uniforms. These ones come with optional coats unlike the games though.
The combat armor MK2 was designed around clone trooper armor with phase 2 body armor and a phase 1 helmet modified with an American M1 helmet for extra protection for the visor/glass against shrapnel and falling debris. All of the plastoid is replaced with titanium, an oddly common metal in Remnant. Ontop of all that, somehow, the mad bastard managed to fit in some basic modularity for the faunus troops with removeable or hinged plating at points applicable for animal parts.
The armor was picked up by the 501st heavy infantry brigade and 2nd Mobile infantry battalion after I abandoned it to test combat effectiveness against current armor. Evidently the trials went well and an order was put out for a company to put into mass production to phase out current combat armor which was basically just an M1 helmet which was constantly being modified by field armorers for the varied forces we have and a chest carrier with a plate of titanium armor. Works well enough when your main enemy is Grimm. But better armor is always preferred, so seeing it being phased in so soon isn't too shocking but it is odd to me to see the armor rolling off the production lines already.
Funny enough though, the 501st is rocking the same blue as their galactic counterpart. Second mobile infantry is using the standard OD green paint for their armor, a unit marker is boldly painted onto the right shoulder plate.
"What cha starin at dad?" Emerald asked tugging on my sleeve.
"Hmm? Nothing, nothing important anyways, let's just link up with Summer and the gang," I said resuming our walk to the docks.
— Vytal Docks —
"There you are, took ya long enough," Summer said.
"Suppose so, I see the Adels have already made their way here, Moka, Coco," I said, greeting the immediate people I see. "Where's the husband and sons," I asked her.
"They ran off ahead to go shoot bottles or something," Moka said, smirking and rolling her eyes.
"Tai went to get us all some drinks, the main downside of the Vytal festival is how unbearably hot it gets." Summer grabbed a part of her cloak and wiped her brow. "I'm impressed you're able to stand wearing that many layers," she said pointing to my suit and coat. I simply chuckled and scratched the back of my head in response. She doesn't need to know I'm dying out in this heat. From behind her Qrow walks up to me and gets my attention.
"You need something?" I asked.
"Yeah, Oz wants to talk to you about something, related to your little army thing, don't worry I'll keep the kiddos distracted," he said, patting my back.
"Uhh sure, unlike him to not just take a walk out, it's not like the Vytal festival is an event of particular danger to him or his health," I said before finding a bullhead which could take me to Beacon.
— Beacon —
I'm greeted by Ozpin as I step off the bullhead, "Mr. Nash, I assume the flight was alright?" He greeted me as I walked off the airship.
"It was fine, Qrow mentioned you wanted to talk to me about something?" I asked him.
"Oh yes, with Glynda freed up from her duties as the only combat instructor, I was thinking of offering her services to the army to instruct any special forces in some basic huntsman techniques," he offered.
"Uhh yeah, I'll take you up on the offer Ozpin, she can report to the military a week after the Vytal festival ends, that's when I start training my Ranger company," I said, shaking his hand.
"Consider a gesture of goodwill in doing what the council wouldn't," he said smiling.
"Like what, forming a regular army?" I asked mildly confused.
"The Congress you helped form, they're pushing through various Faunus reform laws, and despite the lack of enforceability at the moment is still leaps and bounds above what any other kingdom is doing," Ozpin said, patting me on the back.
"That's fair, though I think you could've just gone to Vytal to mention this to me," I said slightly annoyed.
"Oh yes, there's some students from atlas who wished to meet a member of the Republic of Vale, I figured you would do as any Congress member or citizen," he said before starting to make his way out of the dock.
"Who would want to meet politicians or citizens amongst hunters in training?" I asked mildly skeptical of these students.
"The leader of the team is a little like you, skeptical of the current government and wanted to see if your system could work for a place like Mantle," Ozpin said, explaining the situation more.
"I'm hardly sure that a Republic is the perfect answer to the question of Mantle's sovereignty or ability to grant the people a better deal, but I'll hear these students out, both as a gesture of good will and because you already dragged me here," I said, straightening my tie, I check for any stains while I was walking around in the festival area.
Walking into the lobby of the CCT tower Ozpin introduces me, "this is Captain Brian Nash, he serves in the Vale Republican Army and as good of a person to talk to as any from the Republic of Vale," He said before leaving me alone with a team of nothing but young women.
"So any questions I can try to answer for you?" I asked while taking my helmet off.
"So what's a Republic?" A blonde student asked.
"That's a bit complicated to answer, but at its core it's a system to bring power into the hands of people. It accomplishes this by having people elect specific people from their community to go and represent them in the federal government," I explained much to the interest of the person who asked. "The system Vale uses is based off of an experimental concept I came up with, it's based around dividing power amongst three branches of government so that no branch can get too powerful," I finished.
"I see, and do you think Mantle would do better if it severed ties with Atlas and formed its own republic?" She asked.
"Well two things, one, what's your name kid?" I asked her.
"Robyn, Robyn Hill sir," she replied.
"Well Miss Hill, I'm afraid the answer is never clear cut, politically it would be a death sentence and with the Solitas continent being a permanent snow fixture of the world, it would not be wise to rile its neighbors and current rulers. Morally I'm obligated to tell you that it would serve the people of the world well to have representation in government, no matter how hard it may be to keep that representation," I said to the young Robyn hill.
"I see thank you for answering my questions sir, I apologize if this was an inconvenience to you at all," she said while getting up.
"Not at all, it's rare I meet someone as visionary as I, don't let my words discourage you at all, if you think it is better for Mantle to fight for its own survival than to rely on the hand of Atlas then it is your opinion and I am obligated to respect it. My only advice is to seek allies first and only then should you attempt such a bold move," I said grabbing onto her shoulder stopping her from leaving. I dig into my coat and pull out a blank bit of cardstock, I quickly scribble a couple of phone numbers onto it, "here, this is a number to the office of the president and a number to the office for the speaker of the house, call them when you find the time and they will be far more willing to discuss things like political theory and the such, I'm afraid what I told you is as far as my ability stretches. I'm much more suited to battlefield tactics than political Drabble," I said, patting her back gently while handing her the card.
"Thank you sir, I'll be sure to arrange a meeting with them before I leave the festival," she said, shaking my hand.
"Yeah no problem kid. Just remember this is your childhood still, enjoy it a little and try not to worry too much about politics," I said, giving some of the most hypocritical advice ever. Seriously I'm about as old as her, and I'm telling her to have fun cause she's just a young adult. God I should jump off a cliff just for that statement. She nodded before walking out of the office. "Alright Oz, how did I do?" I asked as soon as their team was out of earshot.
"Not bad, I'd say you did well even," Ozpin said, opening the elevator doors as he walked out while drinking coffee. "I'm impressed you figured out that was standing in there the entire time though,"
"Not too hard considering the fact that you have more of a heart than you tend to show, well that and I never heard the elevator start going up," I said, placing my helmet back on.
"Well you're free to go, Glynda will report to your office after the festival is over, have a good day Mr. Nash." Ozpin said.
I cleared my throat, "I was wondering, how would you feel about a joint program between the army and Beacon Academy?" I asked.
"I think that it would be for the best to keep your affairs mostly out of Beacon, but I'll hear you out for now," he said.
"Nothing too crazy, I was thinking of one of my sergeants coming over and giving a couple classes teaching some practical squad level tactics, it would also help ranger squad leadership to learn some huntsmen techniques, you know if your students offer up any. I'll personally write up the lesson plans and let you review them if that helps sway the decision at all," I offered.
"I was worried you were going to suggest the formation of a recruiting station on beacon grounds, this is an interesting offer though, I'll consider it. You'll receive a letter by e-mail in the evening on my final decision," he said before walking into the elevator and actualling going up it this time. I shrugged and made my way back to the festival.
- End -
Not much to say, hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always, leave a review below if there's anything you wanna let me know.