Everyone had made it back safely to the cliffs of Beacon but not everyone was in high spirits, Weiss had barley said two words to anyone and almost refused to even be attended by the medics they had on hand any nearly struck Ozpin for inquiring about what caused her to snap.
She sat alone on a nearby rock hugging her legs to her chest as she starred out into the emerald Forrest as she was fully cognizant to the gun shots she took especially the one to her right eye, she haunts and a freak out this bad since she caught Whitley trying to put on Rylanor's dreadnought helmet and almost killed him dead then and there.
She feels her clothes heal around her as Glynda uses her semblance to fix them and comments "miss Schnee you mus..." Weiss's eyes light up with psychic might as she ghosts the handle of her rapier and says " . " her tone is deep and ethereal with raw power Glynda hasn't seen since she last saw a maiden in combat and can see the very air and ground around her get visibly cold making her back away slowly.
Weiss in all her years had never trusted anyone with her feelings except for Rylanor, her adoptive sister Winter and mom Willow and would get violent when others tried to pry into them even if it was well intentioned and this was no exception as she sees Glynda back away from her and dissuade Ozpin from trying the same thing it surprisingly Jaune is the exception as ontop of her usual closed of demeanour she very heavily distrusts men getting close to her.
Using high gothic Jaune asks her "hey Wenoa, look i know your still sore from whatever you saw but I want you to know we're all here for you even if we might not fully understand what you want though" he goes to leave but Weiss replies in Cthonian much to his shock "thank you..."
Jaune bumps into Marcus and feels Marcus slip him a piece of paper into his right was cheek pocket making him confused as he pulls it out and looks at it and discovers it's a scroll number.
Ruby and Penny however are eagerly chatting away as they discovered both have a love on engineering and machinery despite Ruby figuring out Penny is a robot just at a glance having been around more than a fair share of robots and mechanicus elements in her young life.
Nora reunites with Fenria and huge the massive furred wolf and even hops onto her back and scratches behind her ears.
Later on that day deep within beacons vault...
The area had been converted to be able to house 30 suits of power armour for astartes and the semi primarchs, this was done so that whilst at beacon they could spar and train in their native gear without worry and have access to a safe place to firing their weapons without it blowing holes in thing's. There even was a feasting table built into this chamber with a other set serving as a group therapy session area as Qrow knew just form Yang and ruby and Weiss that it would be needed.
Ruby and Yang had already in secret shipped their power armour hear to beacon with the other's choosing to arrive for their 1st private lesson in this chamber in their power armour as Qrow had used,very reluctantly a few portal's to allow them to do what they desired but Ruby's dreadnought iron Rose had to stay at the xiao long family home as if it was needed there would be no way for it to get out the chamber without ripping it to pieces.
Qrow and Ozpin stand together with the former in his armour and holding the wine flask Ahriman had given him decades ago when they last met, the two were in a relationship and have been for some time as Qrow was fully matured as a demi primarch with the former being polyamorous and being in on and off relationships with his former teammates in team STRQ with Summer going missing and Raven soon after who took off to find her as the two of them were really close.
"Here's hoping for a smooth 1st lesson Qrow" Ozpin says sipping from his ever-present coffee mug smiling up at the 6ft5 mass of power armour that was Qrow at the moment, Qrow smiles sipping from the flask "indeed, it's the therapy part I'm dreading despite it being desperately needed for some of them, Ruby got along well with enough with Ironwoods little project"
Ozpin walking around takes a chance to look at Ruby's artificer power armour and power scythe responds "yes indeed, I foresee those to getting along quite nicely. How is Taiyang in recent year's"
Qrow stands beside his venerable lover saying "he's been ok all things considered, losing two wives with one of which was a former spouse of a primarch in Raven has left a lasting mark on him but he's otherwise fine." Ozpin then asks " and what of Ruby, I can't imagine having your farther dying in your arms isn't a thing may child should do"
Qrow sighs "she still talks to his tomb, before major events in her life or she's feeling down, but otherwise she's fine, her "quirk" has provided her with a blessing in that regard. "
Before Ozpin can comment Nora arrives through her portal with it being closed behind her as she comes through riding Fenria and greets them "I haven't seen that armour since the council of Nikea! How are you doing this time evening Qrow" her happy bubbly persona comes through her vox grill on her artificer MK1 thunder helmet. Qrow answers "likewise Valkyrie, well not counting meeting a few weeks ago" he ends with a chuckle as Johan or Cardin of the 1st legion comes through proudly displaying his power armour off "evening my fellow cousins"
Jaune is next to arrive in his armour with his trim having gone from black to Orange to signify his adoption by the Arc family, followed by Weiss Ruby and Yang who all arrived together with Weiss generally refusing to even consider bringing her armour and even requested a transfer from beacon back to Atlas which to Jaune to talk he out of it.
Blake had chosen to come in armour it hadn't arrived yet.
The large group of demi primarchs reunite and hug one another finally having the chance to do it properly.
Nora enthusiastically greets and hugs everyone except for Cardin as the two have always been at one another's throats, however everyone pauses when another joins them and it isn't Blake it's someone else dressed is Artfifcer MK2 armour but it was feminine to the point Yang's armour looked tame by comparison.
It still bore the hallmarks of the armour style with the exception being the almost completely featureless smooth bronze looking dome helmet, the only exception being the long flowing maine of bright crimson hair coming out the top back of it and sweeps down over her shield arm which clutches an ancient Terran style of shield from roughly where Turkey used to once be, the shield isn't auramite but shimmers' in the light of the chamber proudly displaying the emblem of the war hounds legiones astartes.
This has a few of them gasping as many had heard legends of the champion of the twelfth legion, the breaker of chains and governess of Nicerea Angrons home world and a legend has it had done it with 100 hand-picked astartes and 1 regiment of imperial army after claiming she could do so to her farther and the emperor to which the latter had allowed.
Even Cardin and Jaune and Weiss who were legendary warriors in this own ways paled in comparison to one of the most famous and feared melee fighters out of all of them and was unique in having next to no psychic power of her own a true rarity amongst her cousin's.
Qrow had no idea she was even on world never mind attending beacon turns to Ozpin and the old headmaster answers the unspoken question "she insisted on her secrecy and wished to surprise you all, she paid for it as well"
The champion then speaks through a modulated voice "I am sorry for the surprise as well my cousins but I had to keep my identity a secret as I didn't know if many of you would be hostile or not." she locks her power spear and shield to her back as she embraces Ruby being one of the few who regularly served alongside her among her cousins.
Yang comments "well slap my ass and call me a Faunus, I never expected the chain breaker to be here of all places." The champion who goes by her last name of Sarrin responds "likewise daughter of Baal"
Meanwhile aboard the night lords strike cruiser the "Queens Talon"...
Legionarie Velarin, a member of the only legion tactical support squads in the task force that's on world is sat in his private quarters cleaning the barrel of his bolt pistol with his heavy weapon being a rotor cannon which was hanging on the wall.
On his desk in a glass case was an old slug weapon from his time as a hive ganger from Nostramo, he and his group had had the balls to attack the very same squad he is now a part of having impressed the sergeant enough to warrant consideration.
His gene seed was of the Night Haunters line being one of 39 out of the 148 of the night lords present to have the original Primarchs gene seed. His armour was one of the few MK 7 Aquilla pattern equipped men in the whole force with 4 brothers' having MK8 errant and they were legion champions, his armour was fairly standard with the exception being the heavy lightning bolt patterns on his gear and a true rarity, he hands a combat knife made of Artemesian steel, a gift from their chapter master after his squad had pulled his feet from the fire during a battle in one of the many black crusades.
Valarin was well over the average service age in the legion which was 380 years with his own age being 489 years of age and surprisingly had minimal scarring as his squad had a history of getting into action and coming with nothing but smoking barrels and glowing heat vents on the power armour.
He's inside his power armour bar his helmet his long flowing black hair draped over his right shoulder and power pack when he hears over the ship's loudspeakers "heavy tactical support squad anvil report to the flight deck for combat drop at once, repeat report to the flight deck for combat deployment.
Valarin can already hear his sergeants voice in his ears about getting his ass into gear, slotting into his loaded bolter into his holster he gets up and takes his rotor cannon of the wall and loads in the heavy magazine and pulls the loader handle back and cycles it a few times to load of ready to shot, before he departs he grabs his helmet with the targeting sights on the left of his helmet and puts it on and it takes only a few moments for it to power up and display the relevant information like armour condition, ammo counter and gun heat level.
After a few minutes he's on the busy flight deck along with his squad with his sergeant having a power axe and wrist mounted plasma pistol and his bat winged helmet locked onto his bald head as he's giving the briefing in the hold of the thunder hawk with the on-board hololith his voice old and gravelly with age "Were answering an intercepted call for aid, were deploying to the deserts of Vacuo to pull a civilian town out of the jaws of a Grimm assault, it's a beast hunt. this nation is known for having a heavy amount of Faunus in its population, so keep your bolter pistols bolstered unless absolutely needed."
"Understood" nearly everyone in the squad says as the youngest, legionary Menalor having only recently been made an astartes and joined the squad comments "Were risking our lives for mutants? Wasting rounds for them?" The sergeant Garindor answers ghosting his power axe answers "It's our orders new born, our very Primarch gave us these orders so we obey."
the youngling Menalor responds ghosting his combat knife as he was a former hive ganger himself and Valarin knowing the gesture meant a fight was imminent and with a look from Garindor clocks Menalor right in the face and takes the knife saying "Next time it you're going to think about drawing on your comrades I'll plug a bolt shell through that thick skull of yours."
The assault ramp of the thunder hawk closes up and the engines kick in and the immense bulk of the thunder hawk lifts of the flight deck and takes off into the void as the squad locks in to their seats.
The vessel is rocked by entry turbulence as they enter the atmosphere high over the skies of Vacuo and judging by the way the empty seat straps waving around, they are facing towards the surface and very soon the weaponry on-board opens fire and a loud rumble sets in as Valarin knows they are twin heavy bolters on the front end of the craft.
The craft suddenly levels out and the mag locked seats release their occupants and the assault ramp lowers and they can hear the roaring of Grimm in their hundreds can be heard over the roar of the thunder hawks' engines, the sergeant is out 1st unloading his plasma pistol at full auto and at a lower power setting a few Beowulf's ablaze in the searing heat as the super-heated liquid plasma melts them.
Valarin exits second and joins his sergeant on the right firing his rotor cannon into an incoming Grimm, whilst these are stubber calibre rounds they seem to be drastically more effective than bolter pistols and rifle calibre on the wolf type Grimm and unarmoured or lightly armoured targets as she to the mass reactive shell's often over penning Grimm.
A red targeting reticule appears on the shoulder of the beast and within seconds a burst of 50 calibre stubber rounds spits out of his barrels and rip into the black meaty mass of muscled flesh and eventually the large arm of the creature comes free of the torso in a fountain of brackish blood as it topples over wounded and screaming in agony, now downed Valarin plugs a few rounds into its throat to make it bleed to death in the sand.
Turning his head rightward Valarin can see a group of native hunters advancing of this hordes right flank and belts out into the squad vox "We have native reinforcements coming to our aid sergeant" Garindor relays the news and orders "Watch your fire, if the beasts are engaged by natives move on to the next one and keep moving."
To be continued in part 2...