Two days later...

It had been the most hectic two days he had ever been, before and after the war itself. He was to meet his parents and siblings, and also make sure that everything was okay when he will at least leave. General Quaritch was the one who will be in charge of the base, while Sofiya would be his second-in command; both people respected each other, and would be a nice complement to both of their skillsets. He would be leaving with the base, clear of mind, at least sure that the base he had been working on for so long would be in safe hands until he comes back to command it. The submarine he was going to ride on was still preparing and being loaded with all the things he might need. For a submarine that was five-hundred and-sixty meters long, it supposed to have a lot of crew and a lot of equipment; the latter still rang true, but the former didn't really quite resonate. The submarine was mostly automated, controlled by the artificial intelligence known as , and she made sure that ever single part of the submarine did not have any leaks, or the servers and equipment either being faulty or having breaches in the systems software i.e. being hacked by an outside source.

TTD-1 Odin was a five-hundred and sixty meter long submarine, capable of carrying as much as thirty aircraft in its two inner hangers. The runway was covered with the steel hull of the ship, and could be uncovered by the crew when needed and/or an emergency came throught; for now, the submarine carried twenty-two Rafale M fighter jets, six heavy-lift helicopters and two reserve helicopters. It could also house a team of twenty SRS Pilots and their respective titans; the heavy-lift helicopters transporting both the robot and the troops with just one helicopter. It, like most submarines, featured the ability to generate oxygen underwater, allowing crew members to survive even in the case of an emergency or an accident. The submarine also featured sixteen large bays used for launching multiple types of UAVs, while the submarine also housed a small radome for the jamming towers in order to jam enemy communications and equipment. The submarine was of trimaran design - amidships, the vessel was divided in three further compartments, the central hull that contained the vast amount of weaponry aboard the sub to defend itself against surface and underwater threats, plus the two large pump jets that powered the sub and propelled it to speeds of about forty-two knots when submerged, and thirty-eight while surfaced above the water. The power of the submarine was measured at about three-hundred thousand horsepower, more than enough to propel the submarine that was as agile as the Los-Angeles class submarines used by the American Navy during the war against the Sirens themselves.

Twenty-four VLS tubes were placed in both auxiliary hulls, for a total of about give or take forty-eight launchers. It sported various short-range anti-air and anti-ship missiles, along with submarine-launched ballistic missiles like the Trident IV that NATO uses all the time. The submarine also had a railgun that was placed on the sides of the runway; it could be both raised and lowered while on the surface, the gun itself having a range of almost two-thousand kilometers, enough to go and touch some things that other people say can't be touched. Supposed to be it was a short-range gun, but Jaune and the others like to think of it as a 'to whom it may concern' weapon, enough to go and reach the people that they really wanted to reach, and it could go more than its range when loaded with GPS-guided munitions; things that they are fortunate of is that they still have some satellites up in the sky; something that Sofiya told him early morning during his timely jogs around the base. The one-hundred and twenty-eight caliber weapon boasted a barrel length of between 76.6 and 79.8 meters long, and had a bore diameter of about six hundred millimeters; and when the gun in overcharged and loaded once again with GPS-guided rounds, it can reach a maximum range of four thousand to five thousand kilometers, enough to reach Vale and Vacuo without moving the submarine from the base itself.

The cannon's projectiles could also change their flight path using active aeroelastic wings in conjuction of working together with both the satellites and any airborne drone in the area, may it be the drones up in the sky and in the area of operations, the satellites guiding up in space, the drones deployed from the submarine, or every single one of them combined. However, if the UAV or satellite be destroyed the opposing enemy force, a failsafe inside the shells instruct the said round to self-destruct by itself. Additionally, the terminal guidance transmission is a bit susceptible to jamming by other enemy jamming equipment, rendering the said gun less accurate when shooting at a target.

That said, all the waiting stopped when the soldiers who were looking and checking at the submarine told that all the systems are fine and good, as every single piece of kit and every man and woman aboard the ship are ready to set sail. Seeing the base for one last time, he went inside the submarine, the said submarine immediately diving as it exited port, escorted by two carriers, four heavy cruisers, and six destroyers.


At the villa...

Making sure that they were not being followed by anybody else, the Arc family went inside their own seaside villa. It was pretty large, even for Atlas standards, and featured every creature comfort one could need; from charging stations for every single person's scrolls, to the most advanced security systems not even the mighty Atlesian Military could ever get their hands on. It also featured some huts and umbrellas on the sea shore, complete with complementary seating arrangements and the most beautiful view Arcadia could offer. The house was properly secure; the most loyal and trustworthy troops were always on guard in case something happens; which was very unlikely, but they really didn't want to take the risk.

I mean, they're royalty. They have enough reason to know when to take risks and when not to take them, especially when something happens.

Once they all got comfy and prepared to listen, the father started to talk about what happens next.

"Alright girls, here is the plan. We will meet your brother at the wharf, in which we will wait for him. We still don't know what he will ride from his island to where we are right now, so we can at least prepare and anticipate until it eventually happens. The guards here are all loyal and trustworthy; vetted by me, your mother and your uncle, so there will be no problems with it. We still haven't told them what would happen tonight, but at least that would ease our worries a little bit."

While the father was talking, the mother started to 'butt in', so to say.

"You know, he has quite the right idea to not trust any of the kingdoms right now. Knowing what they do and how they do things, I'm pretty sure they're just going to be using Jaune and his troops for their own agendas, and he has every right to think about it like that. He doesn't know what had happened in the past few months that he had been out of commission, so to speak, and even though the talks have stalled for the time being, I'm pretty sure sooner or later, he and his forces are going to be spotted, and it would not be pretty for everyone else involved. Besides that, we still don't know what others may think about him because of what happened, and even though most of the people's mentalities have changed, that doesn't detract from the fact that he did it in one of the most prestigious academies Remnant has to offer right now."

"Your mother is right though...Even if Jaune does come back to the limelight and reveal himself to be alive, and testify against his teammates and maybe even both the teacher and student body themselves, he still has the not-so-large chance to lose and be hated by the people, but if he is proven not guilty by the court and his testimony does get at least somewhat noticed, it would tip the scales to him somewhat; not fully, but at least most of the people would immediately side to him. I mean, you wouldn't leave your teammates alone in the Grimmlands just for a minor offense that would get you a slap on the wrist at best, right?"

"Besides, the number of people trusting in the hunters and huntresses is decreasing; since most of the children in this generation think about the fame and glory they would receive; it's not an honor anymore, it's a sign that your higher than the people you are protecting, not because it is their job to do so; to protect and serve the people until their last breath."

Elizabeth, one of the older sisters, also started to talk. "How do we make sure Jaune and his troops stay safe in our borders then, mom?"

"That, my dear, is what we are going to plan today."

And so, in the span of the whole afternoon, they planned everything that they needed to do, and what they wanted to talk about.


AT NIGHT, ON THE WHARF OUTSIDE THE VILLA...

The night already had set in one the villa and the shimmer of the moon reflected off the pristine blue sea. The family was waiting on the wharf, along with two of the most trusted guards they had, and waited for a boat to arrive. So far nothing had popped up as Jane, one of the more younger sisters, was looking at the binoculars and looking for something, a telltale sign that somebody may be out there. Her eyes were starting to hurt because of the binoculars, but she still kept an eye out of his older brother, who was somewhere out there. Suddenly, she saw a ripple in the water; it was small, but second by second, it started to get larger and larger as a giant behemoth of a ship raised out of the depths like a Sea Feilong about to devour a ship into pieces. The said ship lurched forward a bit as its front end rose up to the sky, before falling back to the sea.

By now she had taken the binoculars from her eyes and seeing the large ship that just rose out of the depths, and both the rest of the family and the guards with them really wanted to ask how in the holy hell did that...large chunk of a thing even get up from the water. The time passed as the ship just...stayed there for as long as they can see its large visage. Suddenly, they saw one of the sides of the ship had opened and a small boat had started to get out of it. From there, they could see their brother and some soldiers riding the boat. The girls wave at their brother as the boat neared the wharf, and he actually waved back to them. Once the boat had arrived, their brother threw the rope and let their father tie the boat onto one of the small pillars. Once that was done, their brother then climbed up the ladder of the wharf as his men also did what he had just done. Arriving on the top and dusting off his clothes, he started to speak to them.

"Nearly the whole fucking afternoon inside a tin can with the height of the castle doesn't really do it justice." He said as the shipgirls that escorted his ship jumped upon the wharf, nearly giving all of them a heart attack, more so on the soldiers that were with the family than anything else.

As soon as he wanted to say hi to his own family members, he was dogpiled by his own sisters, some of them even openly sobbing, happy that he was alive despite the fact that his appearance actually changed. Once that was done, his mother hugged him very tightly, her too openly sobbing that her 'baby boy' was back, alive and well and also back in her loving arms. He also had hugged his father, who had tears threatening to leak out of his eyes. He also had introduced the shipgirls and the soldiers with him to his parents; they tried to ask questions but that would be done inside the villa, not outside of it. After the rather heartwarming reunion, Jaune cleared his throat and spoke the words he wanted to say;

"Shall we talk inside, then?"

And so it begins.