Chapter 37 - Debriefings & Discussions


"If there's one thing I wish I could find out there in the rubble, it's a working bugle, cause Three Dog wants to play some Taps.

"It's always a sad day when a soldier falls in the line of battle. And the greater the soldier, the deeper the grief. Now imagine the tragic and untimely demise of the most amazing American hero the Capital Wasteland has ever seen. This grunt stands 100 feet tall, is made of some kind of metal alloy, and slings nukes like a quarterback chucks footballs. That's right, children, I have received word that Liberty Prime, the Brotherhood of Steel's super duper super robot, has been killed. By the Enclave. No, I'm not really sure how, cause yeah, it would take a hell of weapon to take out that gigantic G.I. And that's what worries me. The Enclave are supposedly beaten, bruised, and on the run, but they have the firepower capable of destroying-"

"All right, that's quite enough of that." Elder Lyons said, turning off the GNR broadcast, before turning back to the room.

"Seriously, how does he do it?" Paladin Tristan couldn't help but ask, as confused as ever. At times, it honestly seemed like the radio disc jockey may have actually been omnipotent, with how quickly he delivered the news!

"We only sent the report about Liberty Prime four hours ago!" Sarah's voice added from a different radio.

"And speaking of Liberty Prime..." Elder Lyons interjected, forcibly changing the subject before they could get into another debate on Three Dog's intelligence network. "Sarah, what's the robot's status?"

"Other than "fucked up", I'm not sure." Sarah admitted. "Scribe Rothchild and his team are going over the damages right now.."

"Indeed. Thank god we managed to capture some Vertibirds when we took the Purifier." Scribe Rothchild's voice added to the conversation. "Otherwise it'd have taken us days to safely arrive."

"Rothchild. Any progress so far?"

"Recovery is going... about as well as expected, to be honest." Rothchild reported. "We've secured his head aboard the Vertibird, but the rest of him will have the be brought back the old-fashioned way."

"Any chance you can have him repaired and operational soon?" It was a long shot.

"Hmmm... nope." Rothchild humored his old friend by thinking it over for a second. "With Li gone, it'll take us years to even rebuild him, if we're lucky."

Elder Lyons closed his eyes, once again lamenting Madison Li's departure to the Commonwealth. He couldn't blame her, though. She'd been one of the first to enter the purifier's control room, after they'd retaken it. After seeing James's dead body, Jaune's lifeless body, and a desperate and near-broken Ruby trying to restart his heart, something inside her had snapped.

With a sigh, he put her out of his mind. For her, the war was over. For him...

"So we've just lost one of our only advantages over the Enclave, while they've revealed that they've had another one." Elder Lyons concluded. "It looks like our war with the Enclave is far from over."

"But why now?" Ruby spoke up. "Why didn't they use it before?"

"That's not the main issue right now, Ruby." Sarah said, not unkindly. She knew her friend wasn't as familiar with military matters as the rest of the room, having been a Vault Dweller up until less than two months ago. "What we need to know is, how did they do this, and how many more times can they do this."

"Quite right, Sarah." Elder Lyons nodded to the radio. "Rothchild, any progress on that front?"

"We've managed to retrieve some encrypted telemetry data." Rothchild reported. "Hopefully, their lack of leadership has made them a bit sloppy and they're re-using old decryption methods we've already cracked, but even in the best-case scenario it'll take a while for us to figure out exactly what happened.

"We do have a working theory, though, based on recordings of the battle and the robot's last words. It seems that the Enclave called in an orbital strike-"

"Orbital?" Ruby seized on that word. "Could it have been from a satellite?"

"If anyone would have access to such a thing, it would be the Enclave." Elder Lyons replied gravely.

"That does seem like the most likely cause, but once again, we can't be sure about anything until we've decrypted this data." Rothchild reminded them. "Most importantly, with Liberty Prime gone, the Enclave will be quick to seize on the opportunity to regroup, maybe even launch a counter-offensive."

The room went silent, as they thought about the Scribe's words. They knew the Enclave were communicating and coordinating, even if they were leaderless and disorganized. If they had a chance to catch their breath and lick their wounds...

"I'll organize small-scale assaults on known Enclave positions." Elder Lyons declared, turning to face the room. "Nothing big; we don't want to risk them using that superweapon of theirs again, and we need all the troops we can get to shore up our defenses in case they do go back on the offensive. But we'll keep some of the pressure on."

"But what about the Vertibirds?" Sarah pointed out. Liberty Prime had been their ace in the hole against the Enclave's air power. Without him, they'd have to rely on missile launchers. The unguided missiles, while devastating, were too slow to really be effective against the trained Enclave pilots, unless they could get in close.

"The Scribes were working on a solution to that, before we got Liberty Prime up and running." Elder Lyons answered. "With him out of the picture, it looks like we'll have to focus on it."

"It's a weapon called a Tesla Cannon." Rothchild shared. "Hits like a Fat Man, but much faster and more contained and precise. All we needed to get it operational is a working Pre-War experimental device called a Tesla Coil. Paladin Tristan was able to successfully locate the likely location of one, but..."

"But we didn't see the point of retrieving it, not when Liberty Prime was functional." Paladin Tristan added on, folding his arms as he spoke from the back of the room. "The town is filled with Deathclaws."

"Sorry, but what are Deathclaws?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, right..." Sarah murmured, remembering Ruby's general inexperience (despite all the feats she'd already pulled off). "They're bigger, stronger, and faster than Super Mutants, with a hide thick enough to stop bullets, and twelve-inch claws that can shred through power armor. If the area's been overrun by them..."

"And to top it off, there's an Enclave outpost nearby. It's basically suicide." Tristan finished off, remembering the Knight that had gone in to scout the area. "With all due respect, I'm not sure if even Cross could pull it off."

"What about me?" Jaune suggested, finally speaking up. He'd remained quiet throughout, not having had much to add since he was still catching up on everything he'd missed, but the current situation was, at least, something he could understand.

Without Liberty Prime, they had nothing that could take out the Enclave's Bullheads, so they were developing some big gun to level the playing field (again).

And to finish the design for said big gun, they needed a certain device that was far away.

A stealth mission to an old abandoned town filled with giant bullet-resistant killing machines and enemy goons...

Hey, Team RWBY had survived one, hadn't they?

Couldn't be any worse than an Ursa Major or a dragon.

"Jaune?" Sarah's surprised voice came over the radio. "You're awake?"

"Yup. Just woke up today."

"Are you sure you're fit for duty, Mr. Arc?" Elder Lyons raised an eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jaune asked, confused.

"You've been in a coma for two weeks." Sarah pointed out.

"Your muscles should have weakened a fair bit." Scribe Rothchild continued.

"I feel fine, though." Jaune defended, testing his arms. Nope, everything felt fine.

"It's Jaune." Ruby just sighed, having kept an eye on him for the past two weeks. She had noticed that his body had somehow maintained it's muscle mass despite him being inactive and unconscious, but hey, Aura. Millennia of advances in science and medicine apparently meant nothing in the face of magic soul bullshit.

Elder Lyons looked Jaune up and down, studying him.

"Well... if you say so..." Elder Lyons finally relented, concealing his unease, before concluding the meeting. "Then Paladin Tristan, could you give Knight Ironwood and Mr. Arc the details outside? Sarah, Rothchild, we need to discuss Rockland further. For the rest of you, dismissed."

Elder Lyons stood there, watching as the various occupants of the room filed out.

Once the final person left, and the door was closed, he relaxed, and turned to the radios.

"So, what's wrong, Owyn?" Rothchild asked, knowing how unusual this was. Elder Lyons was generally rather open with his men.

"Sarah." Owyn Lyons ignored Rothchild, instead speaking to the radio in a stern but gentle tone, like a father reprimanding a daughter.

"What is it, father?" Sarah asked, subconsciously stiffening.

"When were you going to tell us that Mr. Arc was a legendary historical figure?"

"... I'm sorry?" Sarah was at an utter loss for words. "What?"

"Come now, a blonde swordsman with lofty ideals, carrying a sword that can cut through anything, and a scabbard that protects him from all harm?" Elder Lyons noted, keeping his voice level. "Admittedly, I didn't expect the scabbard to turn into a shield..."

"..."

Owyn could just imagine his daughter choking on air.

"Would you happen to know if he got the sword from a stone, Sarah?"

"I-bu-wha-"

"Owyn, the sword in the stone is not Excalibur." Scribe Rothchild sighed, correcting the common misconception. Then he added: "Also, even if he did draw his sword from a stone, I doubt Mr. Arc would be interested in ruling over the Capital Wasteland."

"... HE IS NOT KING ARTHUR!"


Author's Note: And we're back, with a shorter, quieter, more light-hearted chapter. Not everything can be non-stop action and hype... but god do I loathe dialogue-heavy chapters... either way, don't expect the next chapter for a while, as usual.

Also, it was honestly rather surprising to see how much love LIBERTY PRIME was getting. Or maybe it was the SS Penny PRIME that was getting all the steam. Who knows?

And poor Ruby Ironwood finds herself completely in over her head when it comes to military matters... because, once again, she's been a Vault Dweller for 19 years, a Wastelander for 1 month, and a Knight in the Brotherhood of Steel for 2 weeks. She's unorthodox, thinks outside the box compared to the more dogmatic Brotherhood, and may have a reputation for pulling off the impossible with Jaune and the rest of the Lyons' Pride, but she's not really a soldier. Her inclusion is more because a) she's a valued operative with the occasional interesting insight, and b) Elder Lyons knows his daughter would want an update on her friend's condition after the briefing.

As for Sarah Lyons... while Ruby Ironwood's probably too inexperienced and innocent to identify her emotions, Sarah just straight up doesn't understand them. She's always been raised to be a leader, a soldier, and her father notes that, along the way, she's forgotten that she's also an attractive young woman. It also probably doesn't help that all the men she's with (i.e. everyone from the Brotherhood of Steel) are too intimidated by her reputation (or her father) to even dare consider showing the slightest hint of interest.

Okay, I will admit, the parallels between Jaune Arc and King Arthur were a complete accident. I swear. I didn't even notice them until I started looking up the Fate series to see what it was about.

No hailing of Arcthur, King of the Brotherhood, Ruler of the Knights of the Citadel.

... with that said, now that I look at it... hmmm, there's an idea there...

Probably won't do anything with it, though. Ruby would've made for an interesting Saber, but I already have two Rubys.