Depa, Kanan/Caleb, Saw, Cut, Suu, Jek, Shaeeah, Fennec Shand, Trace, Rafa, Rex, Bane, Taun We, Bib Fortuna, Todo 360, Hera and now Chopper have appeared as guest characters in the Bad Batch so far. I think I speak for everyone when I say I hope to see Wolfe and Gregor appear in another episode or another season if the series gets renewed for a second season, which I am hoping for.
Anyway, onto the reviews.
Darth Cody: Thank you.
Monster King: Please tell me what it is about my story that you like.
Jack Smith1: Thank you. I also took a look at your recent chapter of Call of RWBY and I saw a couple of things you need to fix. The M60 Patton MBT wasn't put into production until 1959 and not in the 1940's. The AR-15 also wasn't put into service until 1956. I also noticed a bit of Wolfenstein and Resistance in your latest chapter. Pretty good, but I would stick with World War 2 material like Medal of Honor, Sniper Elite and such.
Luffy L Deathwalker: Thank you, and you'll see the answers to all your questions as the story goes on, after the chapters involving A New Hope.
Chaotic Skunk Demon: Pyrrha isn't going to become a Jedi, she isn't force sensitive and the lightsaber is mostly to ensure she has a fighting chance against someone like Vader or one of the Shadow Saber guards. Ruby isn't going to be like Mace Windu in terms of fighting style. Sure, Juyo/Vaapad is a powerful form, but she seems more like Makashi user to me. Glad you like the Remnant fighter jets and the F14. For clarification, the F14 Super Tomcat in my story is called the F14 Scimitar.
Spartan-626: I was debating about how to include the clones of Galen in this story, but now I have that taken care of. The project Maul and Salem are referring is a secret, but I can tell you all this much, Sienna will live.
Alright, onto the story. No real action this chapter, but a bit of a change for a certain character.
Disclaimers are the same as before.
Chapter 46: Remembrance
Walking through the hallway of her home, past the protruding columns decorated with black scones and lit candles, nature paintings that hung in an alternating pattern between the columns and the occasional cushioned chair or round coffee table, Weiss noted that things were just the same as they always were.
Her home was as quiet as tomb, much like it's always been aside from the servants that worked for her family. All the wealth and fame that came with her family's name meant nothing to her now. She would much rather be with her friends, who had become more like a second family, despite that they sometimes got on her nerves. As she walked through her home, her thoughts turned to her friends.
The roar of jet engines from outside echoed through out the house. Turning her eyes towards the window, Weiss watched as Atlas S35's and S27's flew overhead from one of the airbases close to her home. Due to her fathers' connections with the military, it wasn't uncommon for her to hear fighter jets or see military personal asking her father for favors or access to prototype military equipment the Schnee company was developing.
Her father even had his own personal fighter squadron to see to that his 'assets' were protected and enforced. Officially called the 22nd Air Division 4th tactical fighter squadron, the 'Schnee Team' as they called by many a pilot is an elite squadron of ex-military pilots who after their service with the military ended, became a squadron of mercenary pilots, selling their services to the highest bidder, much like the Galm Team was.
Though the Galm Team had officially joined the Vale Air Force, the Schnee team had a 'respectable' relationship with the Schnee Dust Company. Escorting their cargo ships to the ports of the other kingdoms, clearing the air of hostile Grimm that were threatening mining operations and mostly, attacking the shipping routes of rivaling companies. The last one job was held with distaste by Erich Hillenberand, the leader of the team.
Compared to other pilots, Erich never held any great ambitions or was interested in promotions or awards, he just wanted to live to his life as a regular pilot. Though he rarely cooperated with his allies, his squad mates trusted him, but he found that many of the missions he was sent on to be lacking any kind of challenge. Weiss knew this from overhearing several conversations with the leader of the squadron and her father, which had become more frequent since she had returned to Atlas.
Her thoughts were broken when she heard a familiar voice from in front of her. "Good afternoon, sister." Directly in front of her, a teenage boy, somewhat younger than Weiss stood before her with his hands at his side. "A pleasure to see you out of your room for a change."
Weiss sidestepped the boy and turned to speak, but the boy moved to face her. "Hello, Whitley. You're in a cheery mood today." Weiss said with annoyance.
"Klein made crepes for breakfast." Whitely answered with a smile on his face.
"What do you want?" Weiss asked.
"I heard Father shouting with someone in his study earlier. It wasn't mother, she's out drinking in the garden, again." Whitley replied with a sigh. "I think it was a man, but it wasn't Lieutenant Hillenberand. I believe he and his squadron are attacking one of those mysterious war factories that have been seen over the tundra. I thought I should warn you, I heard he had to asked to speak with you." He added.
"I'll be fine." Weiss assured him.
"I know you will. You are strong, like Winter." Whitley answered with a smile. Before Weiss could say anything, her younger brother embraced her in a loving hug. "You have no idea how worried I was when I heard that Beacon and Vale was attacked. I saw everything before the CCT was destroyed, you fought bravely for your friends. I was worried that you had died when the footage was cut off. But then you 'came back'. I knew you were strong, like Winter. I may not have said it before, but I am grateful to have you and Winter as my sisters." He admitted, much to Weiss's surprise.
Whitley ended the hug and from what Weiss could see, her younger brother had indeed changed from the angry and contempt little brother she had known for most of her life. "Anyway, good luck with Father!" he said, returning to the calm and controlled appearance that both of them were to maintain. As he walked away, he turned around and spoke. "Oh, before I forget, I thought I should let you know, one of the new maid's father has hired wishes to speak with you later. She said something about training." He added.
"Thank you." Weiss replied with a smile. Before she continued to her father's office, past a large family portrait of herself, her mother, Winter, Whitley and her father who had a neutral expression on his face.
Meanwhile, half away across the world, Ruby was having a nightmare about the fall of Beacon. "Your skills have grown exceptionally. But your skills are nothing compared to the power of the dark side." She heard Vader say before she heard herself screaming Galen's name, just as she did when her latent power activated.
With a gasp, she woke up in a cold sweat, lying in her sleeping bag in a clearing amongst the woods. Nora, Ren and Jaune were also asleep in their own sleeping bags around the long burned-out campfire while Cody and Alpha laid against a tree. Ruby looked around and all seemed peaceful, but her mind was racing as if she were in pain, so after grabbing Crescent Rose 3.0, she went for a walk and found Rex and Fordo returning from their patrol.
"Hey, kid. Why aren't you sleeping?" Rex asked.
"Oh, I uh just had to use the bathroom?" she fibbed. "Ok, fine. I had a nightmare about what happened at Beacon and I miss Galen, ok?" she admitted.
"That's nothing new. We all know you miss him, but I wish I could tell you that he's alright. All we know is that General's Plo and Kota took him off world for medical treatment, but we haven't even been able to get a communication from the rest of the rebellion about his condition." Rex admitted before Fordo spoke.
"I can tell you this much, having seen him in action I know he's a tough kid to kill. He's alive, I know it and he'll return when we least expect it." The ARC captain added before he turned his gaze to the stars. "If I know him, like I think I do, he's probably thinking about you right now and is on his way back as we speak. The Demon Lord will return, to this world and to the girl he loves."
Ruby smiled before she walked back to the camp with the two clones. Sometime after they finished packing up their camp, the group continued down the road with Ruby holding the map. "So, the next town is… uh-huh… uh-huh… We're lost." She finally admitted.
"We're not lost. The next town is Shion. My family used to visit it all the time." Jaune confirmed.
"Oh, yeah. Don't you have, like, four sisters?" Ruby questioned.
"Uh, seven, actually." Jaune replied getting a giggle from Ruby. "Well, it wasn't all that bad. Over here is a great hiking trail, and over here is where we went camping all the time. I got my own tent, mostly so my sisters would stop braiding my hair. They kept giving me pigtails, though I think personally I'm more of a…" Jaune started explain before the group came to a stop.
"We've got a big problem." Rex stated as the two leaders looked up from the map and saw that the village, they had arrived at was completely desolated. The sky grew to a gray color as two columns of smoke rose into the air. A gazebo with a broken tower and lampposts askew across the town as bodies laid across the road approaching the town. Ruby dropped the map as the whole group rushed towards the town while Ren tossed his backpack to the ground.
"There could be survivors! Spread out and search for them!" Fordo instructed the others who immediately started to search for any possible survivors. They searched through the wrecked houses until Ren called them over to a broken building where a mortally wounded huntsmen was propped against the wall, a wound in their abdomen. From what the Huntsmen told them, a tribe of bandits attacked the village and in the ensuing panic, the Grimm arrived along with several platoons of droids.
Though they had planned to take the huntsman to the next village, their planning was pointless as the Huntsmen had succumbed to his wounds and died. Rex, Cody, Alpha and Fordo left the group for a few moments before they decided to speak in private.
"Any ideas why the droids would go an attack a village?" Cody asked.
"Probably to ensure the Grimm killed everyone in the village." Alpha answered, spying the bodies of several dead villagers who had been executed by bladed weapons. "Dooku tried to have Tambor firebomb the homes of the Twi'leks so the CIS could use it to political advantage. I don't think it was for political gain."
"Maybe it was something else." Fordo spoke, noticing a cloven hoofprint impressed into the ground. He knelt down to examine the hoofprint. "Whatever did this, must have been extremely powerful. Powerful enough to force the bandits attacking the village to retreat. Grimm are fueled by the negative emotions generated by all living things, even us. We've only fought the Grimm in Sanus, so we don't know what kind of Grimm did this." The ARC Captain stated.
"We do know one thing though." Rex added, moving the dead body of a bandit onto their back and took a good long look at the body. "This bandit belonged to the Branwen Tribe, meaning that Raven Branwen ordered this raid and didn't give a damn about the loss of life, to her people and the people of the village. Galen told me that she somehow managed to get a lightsaber and she's a former member of Team STRQ, the same team that Ruby and Yang's parents were a part of." He explained, closing the terrified eyes of the dead bandit one final time.
"When we get to the next village, we can spread a warning to the other villages about the destruction of Shion village. We should also try to get in touch with Hunter and his squad, they've been destroying large concentrations of Grimm across Sanus, so whatever did this might be on the other continents. We need to warn them." Cody added. The other clones agreed and quickly rejoined Ruby and her friends.
Back in Atlas, Weiss stood outside the door to her fathers' study and was about to enter when she heard the voice of her father on the other side. "I'm not talking about the good of my company; I'm talking about the good of Atlas, our entire Kingdom!" her father shouted.
"That is a load of garbage and you know it!" the familiar voice of General Ironwood countered.
From the other side of the door, Ironwood and Jacques continued to argue while Artoria sighed with disgust.
"I beg your pardon?!" Jacques questioned.
"Jacques, will you please, just hear me out?" Ironwood asked.
"You are a trusted friend and ally to this family, James, but what you're suggesting is absurd!" he argued, roughly slamming his glass down on the table.
"You both need to stop bickering like children and look at the bigger picture! Arguing amongst yourselves is only to bring the Grimm closer and closer to the kingdom!" Artoria snapped, much to Ironwood's surprise and Jacques's annoyance.
"What the hell do you know about the situation!?" Jacques's demanded.
"You're blowing everything out of proportion. Yes, the Dust embargo is hurting the people of Atlas, but if Dust is sold to the other kingdoms what's to stop them from launching an attack on the Kingdom? Incase you haven't forgotten, the world believes that Atlas was involved with the fall of Beacon, considering that many fighter jets and equipment was used by the White Fang and Imperial forces. You sit here in your office, counting your blood money and not giving a damn about the people who die working in your mines! There are things more important than money, such as the safety of the people!" Artoria exclaimed.
"Artoria, that's enough!" Ironwood exclaimed.
"The council will never agree to this. Your Dust embargo has already cost me millions! I can promise you; I have not forgotten that you hold two seats on the damn council!" Jacques argued.
"Of course, it's all about you. Ever since you became a part of this family, you've only increased the tensions between Human's and Faunus, cut corners when it comes to the safety of the people working in your mines and you've gone as far as to use the military to drive your competitor's out of your way. You've never once lifted or even fired a weapon in all your life. You're nothing more than a coward!" Artoria spat, turning to the door. When she opened it, she found Weiss standing by the door, having heard everything. "Miss Schnee." She bowed.
"Miss Schnee!? My apologies. I should have been gone by now." Ironwood said before reminding Jacques that they weren't finished with their discussion and telling Weiss that she'll have a home at Atlas Academy once the doors were open.
"Did you forget your manners while you were away?" Jacque questioned. Weiss was annoyed at her fathers' comment, but calmed herself down before apologizing to her father. "Can you believe there are still people in the world that blame Atlas for what happened to both Beacon and Vale?"
"They weren't there. They don't know what the Empire was capable of. Nor have they seen the Widows or Mutant Grimm. I have." Weiss answered, walking to her father's desk.
"It's a wonder Ironwood wasn't stripped of his rank. I suppose the council trusts him, for better or worse." Jacques scoffed, finally sitting down and pouring himself another drink.
"I trust him." Weiss replied.
Jacques sighed, downed his drink before turning back to his daughter. "Thanks to him, Atlas is forbidden from exporting Dust to other Kingdoms. 'A precautionary measure' as he puts it, 'until we are certain no one is going to declare war.' How anyone could possibly find that to be sound logic is beyond me. Now, thanks to him, I've had to reach out to several PMCs to deal with the increasing theft of Dust by the White Fang. The Sicario Mercenary Corps has cost me more money than the damn embargo!" he cursed.
Weiss knew that name well. From what she heard, they were a private military company that was primarily an aerial based operations unit, but also included several armored divisions, electronic warfare and logistics support units made entirely up of former soldiers, pilots and tank jockeys. Compared to other PMC companies, Sicario wasn't interested in the money but more focused on assisting in pushing back the horde of Grimm and the more violent factions of the White Fang. They even had their own ace fighter squadron called the Hitman Team.
Though she had never met them, she heard many stories about their exploits. To the pilots that they fought alongside, many of them considered them to equal to the Galm team in their piloting skills and used primarily the F15, SE-29 and F14.
Her thoughts were broken when her father spoke up again. "Which is why the Schnee Dust Company will be holding a charity concert in the coming weeks. We need to show the people of Remnant that we are on their side. That we are all victims of the Fall of Beacon." Her father spoke.
"That's… wonderful news." Weiss said, surprised at her father's plan, but somehow, she knew the charity was just to make the company money.
"I know. And I think it would make a lot of people happy if you performed at the event." He said with a smirk. "Many forget that you were there. My own daughter, a Schnee, on the grounds, defending another Kingdom! We need to remind them! And we need to show them that the Schnee family is just as strong as ever!" he added.
"Are you asking me if I'd like to sing, or telling me?" Weiss asked. She soon caught her answer when her father gave her a meaningful gaze at her, saying that it would make a lot of people happy. With a sigh, she told her father that she would start practicing, much to his delight.
With that concluded, Weiss left her fathers office and found both Klein and Whitley waiting for her with a mug of coffee for her. Their butler even made the two of them laugh with his antics, which was just what Weiss needed after her talk with her father.
"Come, sister. Let us not keep our guests waiting. You have plenty of work to do and I don't mean your singing practice." Whitley said, before he took Weiss to the same training room where her father had her tested before going to Beacon.
To her surprise and joy, waiting for her there were Arthur, Hardcase, Hevy and Serra, the latter of whom was dressed in the same maid's outfit that Weiss wore for when Galen and Ruby had their date. "Arthur!" Weiss exclaimed and hugged him. "I didn't think I would see you again." She admitted.
"I have my ways. Your father said that I have 'no place being near his youngest daughter', but your brother was more than happy to let me into your home." Arthur replied.
"And Serra, why are you wearing a maid's outfit?" Weiss asked.
"Master's Fisto and Secura sent me to Atlas to keep an eye on the situation developing in the Kingdom. The Dust Embargo has indeed hurt the Kingdom, but they sensed a great disturbance in the Force. What the source of that disturbance is, we do not know so they sent me to investigate and to see that you continue your training." Serra admitted, turning to Whitley and giving him a smile. "Plus, I think there might be more to your brother than even you know." She added.
"As for me and Hardcase, we've been sent here by Rex when your father took you back by force. Despite the fact he came for you personally, the guy is just like Gunray, Tambor and several other Separatist leaders since they valued only money and power. Plus, we need to figure out where he got those droids from. As far her knows, we're just mercenaries hired by one of his associates." Hevy explained, holding his new helmet in his hands. Much like Fives, Echo, Hardcase, Kix and Jesse his armor had the same blue stripes as 501st troopers, complete with a pauldron, skirt and kama.
"Plus, it gives us a chance to see what Atlas is like and figure out what Ironwood's plan is. I've got a bad feeling about his Dust Embargo and that he probably knows more about who was responsible for the attack on Beacon then he's letting on." Hardcase added.
"Whatever the reason, we all need to be ready for the storm that is coming. If Beacon was attacked, then it is obvious the other academies may be targeted as well. Whether that is true or not, no one can say but warriors such as us must be ready for whatever comes next. That includes your brother here, milady." Arthur agreed, turning to Whitley who had picked up a wooden sword.
"I may not be a huntsman, but if I am to uphold the legacy of the Schnee's then I should train for that day." Whitley remarked with a smile as Serra walked over and corrected the position of his hands. "Thank you, Master Jedi." he thanked and began to practice.
Weiss smiled before Arthur tossed her a wooden sword before taking a fighting stance and gestured for Weiss to come at him. Weiss was more than happy to oblige and the two soon began to spar.
No one knew that dropping out of hyperspace was the Rogue Shadow. Galen had returned and took his ship towards Vale.
Bet you all weren't expecting Whitley to have his personality change so suddenly, did you? Well, I figured that I'd have that happen earlier for good reasons. I mean, family is the most important thing in the world after all, plus there might be more to Whitley than meets the eye.
Now, I brought in the Schnee Team from The Belkan War and they will appear later on. As for the Sicario group, they are from the Indie game, Project Wingman which is a lot like Ace Combat but takes place in our world which has suffered a terrible catastrophe.
Aside from Hevy and Hardcase, Serra is in Atlas, working as a maid in the Schnee mansion. Anyone want to guess if she's the reason that Whitley had a change in personality earlier than expected? If you want to guess, go right ahead. I won't tell anything.
Now, Galen is back and next chapter will see him and the Bad Batch kicking ass and taking names. Speaking of said squad, they now have a page for them on Fanfiction, so you all might see a Bad Batch story from me in the future.
Anyway, please read and review and I'll see you all next time.