(A/N) This... is one monster of a chapter. Almost twice as big as the extended chapters that've been posted lately. This, writer's block, and also Final's Week (One of which is the reason why we now have coverart) are the reasons for the delay. Enjoy the final chapter before the hiatus!


Chapter Fifteen – Eve of Consecration


/-\ Ruby Rose; Sabre Bravo-312 – Skies above Atlas /-\


"Pick up anything yet, Alice?" I asked my new AI companion as we descended through the clouds.

"Not ye-" She cut herself off. "Wait, a battlecruiser is starting to descend into the atmosphere. If their current course holds, they'll be in position above the northern city."

"Atlas." I corrected. "How much time do we have?"

"Hmmm… about forty minutes." She said as we finally punched through the clouds.

"Alright, any idea on how many ships they have?"

"Yeah. One battlecruiser, one damaged assault carrier, three corvettes, and one destroyer."

I nodded. "Got it, any more Atlesian forces in the area?"

"Hmm, they seem to have seven sub-frigates weaving through the mountains with a dozen and a half prowler-sized ships and several dozen sub-prowlers in tow."

"Good, how's the ground war going?"

"There are currently thirty-four Human strongholds within the city; three are under heavy assault but all of them are engaged in defensive operations of some kind. I believe there are UNSC forces approaching one of them, while a fireteam of Bjørnssønner are defending another."

"Set a course for the one without UNSC support." I ordered.

"Aye, course plotted." She announced. "Be advised, the current path takes us right over UNSC forces, and it appears they have picked up somewhat of a Banshee infestation."

"Heh, well, I'm the best exterminator around." I said, hitting the afterburners.


/-\ Yang Xiao Long; UNSC Armored Column /-\


"Hit the deck!" I heard.

Just as I complied, a large ball of green plasma sailed into the engine block of the rearmost tank, causing it to explode.

I heard screams, and the flaming forms of two crewmen scrambled away from the vehicle before collapsing beside it.

The mounted machine guns on each of the remaining tanks opened up on the Banshee that had killed their brethren, downing it in seconds.

I popped back up out of cover and put several rounds into a Skirmisher that was lining up a shot on one of our Marine friends. Just as its body slumped to the ground, a loud -bang- emanated from the lead tank, signaling the firing of its main cannon.

In the distance, a Revenant exploded in a slightly reddish fireball.

Suddenly, a torrent of blue plasma rained down onto our position from above, and I dove into cover just in time to see a wave of Banshees pass over us.

I immediately looked over to my partner's position and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her head poking out of cover, unharmed.

"Godsdamn." A deep voice said beside me. "These things don't let up, do they?"

I shook my head and sighed. "No, they don't, Uncle Qrow." Suddenly, I saw the Banshees coming around for another run. "Hit the deck!" I shouted as a warning, but before they could reach us, an odd thing happened.

They just started exploding one by one.

In seconds, the wing of six Banshees was reduced to none. After a moment of questioning what just happened, a 'Sabre', like the one Ruby flew over Reach, soared through the could of smoke.

I let out a cheer just as the commander announced that we were only a few blocks from our objective.


/-\ Winter Schnee; Atlas CCT /-\


"DOWN!" I yelled shortly before a stream of green plasma washed over our position. We barely dodged the beam, and I sighed in relief; my aura was less than half-full, after all.

The second the barrage paused, I peaked over my cover to see what the enemy was doing.

"FIX BAYONETS!" I shouted when I realized the enemy was charging us beneath the cover of the gargantuan blue-armored figures.

The white lasbolts that had helped illuminate the battlefield temporarily ceased as my half-strength platoon obeyed my orders. Moments later, they resumed, joining the last few shots from my looted plasma rifle.

Another stream of green plasma washed over the right flank of our position, causing several of my men to scream in agony.

Just as the enemy was about to reach our lines, several of the Split-jawed ones drew plasma swords. I instantly drew my dagger from its sheath inside my saber and let out a war cry. "FOR ATLAS!"

"FOR ATLAS!" My men echoed just as they crashed into our wall of guns.

The sounds of battle were soon joined by the humming of fire dust blades being activated, and the air became pungent with the smell of burning flesh.

But I was given little time to 'enjoy' that smell, as soon, an Elite wearing dark red armor vaulted over my cover and swung his sword at me.

I bent backwards into a summersault, kicking its face with my heel as I did so. It roared and sent another swing my way as I recovered, forcing me to parry the blow on instinct.

However, I failed to account for the fact that the blade was made of plasma, and I screamed in agony as the superheated weapon contacted the aura protecting my own. Thankfully, I had angled my blade properly, and the beast's sword slid off after only a few hellish moments.

Quickly regaining my composure, I followed up by wildly stabbing with my off-hand, only scraping the creature's armor.

Still in the process of bringing its blade around, it sent a punch towards me, one which I was not able to dodge in time.

I was spun around 360 degrees by the glancing blow to my shoulder, and was only barely able to duck out of the way of a decapitating slash from my adversary. Retaliating, I quickly jabbed my dagger into its unarmored armpit as I passed, earning a roar and a swift kick to the torso that sent me to the ground.

Quickly coming back to my senses, I rolled to the left, avoiding an otherwise fatal stab to the torso, and sprang to my feet.

Not giving my adversary any chances, I slashed it across its neck.

Purple blood splashed forward from the wound as my adversary clutched at its neck for a few moments before collapsing in a heap.

I breathed a sigh of relief for a few moments…

…and then a large green plasma bolt sailed past me, missing my head by inches.

I froze as I realized both of the blue armored giants had their weapons aimed at me.

Just as I was about to summon a repulsion glyph under my feet, a series of loud booms perforated the air…

…moments before massive shells perforated the monstrosities before me, kicking up clouds of orange-tinted dust as they impacted the ground in front of their targets.

A loud screeching noise could be heard, and a grey, unfamiliar aircraft passed overhead before circling around and strafing the enemy lines.

I finally snapped out of my stupor and rushed to aid my troops, cutting down enemy after enemy with my blade until few remained within our lines.

Just as I cut down my latest enemy, a loud thump reverberated throughout the air. Looking over to the source, a tall, humanoid figure stood up, illuminated only faintly by the emergency lighting.

All the alien forces immediately stopped what they were doing and stared.

The few that I could read the expressions of adorned looks of absolute terror. "D- D- DEMON!" I heard one of them cry out.

"Heh, took ya long enough." A feminine voice said as she drew a shotgun. She shot forwards almost faster than my eyes could track and, in a single heartbeat, an Elite and a Jackal lay dead; the former from a shotgun blast and the latter from the butt of her shotgun being propelled into its face via recoil.

A torrent of plasma began to wash over her position, but she dodged in a flurry of- 'Rose petals?' I mentally questioned.

By the time the thought had left my brain, she had already swung her weapon like a baseball bat at a Grunt, decapitating it, before cycling the bolt and killing another Elite. Plasma followed her every move, but she was simply too fast to be struck.

Just after what appeared to be the last round in her weapon discharged, she brutishly shoved it into the maw of a Split-jaw, forcing the barrel out the other side, and used her kill as a makeshift shield against the oncoming plasma.

After the wave was absorbed, she kicked the monster forwards, toppling a few Grunts, before drawing a very familiar sword. Wilt, and its sheath, Blush. She held the blade in her left hand while the rifle/sheath occupied her right

She charged at the nearest group of enemies whilst firing with Blush, every shot landing in the skull of some unfortunate invader.

Both my troops and I watched in awe as she danced throughout the enemy lines, each stroke of her sword ending one, two, or even three lives. No Atlesian-made firearms shot any rounds for the next four minutes as the slaughter commenced; she honestly didn't need the help.

Occasionally, a plasma bolt would strike true, causing a flicker of golden light to emit from around her, as if her aura was nearly broken.

Finally, the head of the last Elite left its body, and she wiped her blade clean before sheathing it and approaching us.

I was too shocked to move a muscle, and, given the lack of any sounds from my comrades, they were probably in a similar state. Here we were, fighting tooth and nail to merely survive, and she comes in alone and completely butchers them. They even called her a demon, as if they knew what was coming.

"Heh." She spoke to me. "Hey there, Tall Weiss."

I was just about to retort when the partially shattered announcement screen came to life, showing a picture of my sister. "People of Atlas." She started, beginning a short, but inspiring speech.


/-\ Blake Belladonna; Near Grimm Shelter 76 /-\


"-may be a mere remnant, but each of us is worth a thousand of their paltry warriors!" I heard over my scroll as I domed a Grunt. "All able-bodied men and women, grab a weapon and report to the entrance!" She finished shortly before the audio-only transmission cut out.

As the sector was clear for the time being, I turned to my partner, who was by my side. "What did you think of that?" I asked.

She depolarized her visor, causing me to do the same. "Pretty good speech." She started. "I don't think she's right about the whole 'every one of us is worth a thousand of them' thing, but I dunno."

I shrugged. "I think it was more to just psych everyone up." I responded.

"Yeah, I guess." She said, seconds before the staccato of dust-based firearms resounded out from the direction we were heading.

She gave me a questioning look. "She rallied everyone." I said, my eyes widening in realization.

"What?"

"They're coming out of the bunkers!" I yelled as I polarized my visor, cueing my mic in the process. "Be advised, friendlies have just entered the fray! They'll need reinforcements, we need to move!"

"Received." Came the response. "Move the column up!"

We marched forwards on the right flank of the tanks, our Huntsman companions taking the left, as we rounded the last corner and- "Urk!" I gagged, quickly pulling back from the corner.

My partner depolarized her visor and gave me a worried look.

I matched her actions before letting out a whisper. "…bodies…" I said. "So many… Bodies…"

We both peaked around the corner, and she had the same reaction as I did. The blocks in front of us were caked with the bodies of people too slow to make it to the shelter in time.

Some were clutching charred flesh where plasma hit them. Some adorned a pair of blackened holes or were missing an extremity entirely; the work of an energy sword. Others still were just… torn apart, either by claw, fuel rod cannon, or gravity hammer. It didn't matter, the result was the same. Before us sat a mass graveyard containing thousands of souls prematurely sent to the void. And then a truly unsettling revelation hit me.

This was only one location outside one Grimm shelter.

There were well over a hundred such sanctuaries dotted throughout the city. I paled when I realized that the others could be identical.

Finally snapping out of my stupor with a shiver of revulsion, I caught a glimpse of a bleeding Elite limping away from the shelter… …shortly before the screech of a trumpet propelled it forwards.

As it was airborne, I aimed my suppressed DMR at it and squeezed off three shots; all ending their short flight inside its skull.

Both my partner and I stepped out onto the body field before radioing in that the sector was somewhat clear.

Red emergency lighting faintly illuminated the streets, though the lack of lighting was neither a concern for my Faunus eyes nor my partner's nightvision-enabled helmet.

Out of the Grimm shelter stepped two figures; one was a scantily-clad Cat Faunus girl on roller-skates while, slightly in front of her, a confident-looking man in semi-formal attire strode forward.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw both Qrow and Tai drop down from the rooftops, taking up position slightly behind me. My Faunus ears also heard the roar of the armored column round the corner. What they could also pick up was the uneasy conversation that was happening in front of us.

I flicked my radio over to Yang and I's personal channel and polarized my visor, sending a ping for her to do the same. "So, any ideas beyond 'come with us if you want to live'?"

The two figures started approaching warily, and several armed civilians cautiously stepped forth from the shelter, forming a mob. Oddly enough, I just realized that the Covenant destroyer that had been hovering over this position had moved. When that had happened, I had no idea.

"Well…" My partner finally responded. "Actually, no. I got nothin'." She said. "Hang on a minute. Why'd the covvies stop attacking?"

I was immediately on my guard, but I couldn't do much, as any overt movements would be incredibly suspicious to our allies…

…even if they didn't know we were allies yet.

All four of us kept our weapons, or fists in Tai's case, at a low ready. I sighed. "Follow my lead." I said over the comms, receiving an affirmative nod.

As we neared the duo, I turned my intercom back on. "Blake Belladonna, acting commander of Fireteam Bumblebee and member of Beacon's Team RWBY."

The trumpet wielder raised an eyebrow. "Beacon? What're you guys doing here?"

"We received a Winter Contingency alert and are acting accordingly." I said. "Now, we need to start the evacuatio-"

"What?" He asked. "We pushed them back! We need to fight!"

"Listen." I said in a stern voice. "We have no idea how many ships they have in orbit. In fact, we don't even know where that dest-"

Suddenly, a hot shrapnel-filled wind blew past us, and a bright red light emanated from the sky. Looking at it, I saw that it was the glassing beam of a CCS-class battlecruiser. One that was only a mile away. On its flank sat the missing destroyer, its blue glassing beam aiding the cruiser's.

I whipped the man around so that he would see the in-progress glassing. "That is why we need to leave." I said. "Gather everyone you can and follow us. We're headed for the seadocks."

He shakily nodded and they both went back to the shelter just as my radio crackled to life. "Where did that thing come from?!" A Marine shouted.

"Quiet, private!" The commander shouted. "I called for a few Pelicans; they'll take care of the tanks. Everyone else, clear a corridor for the civvies!"

I nodded to myself. "Yes sir!"

Suddenly, warning sirens blared, and the loudspeakers came online. "Alert! Incoming Grimm attack! Threat level eleven!"


/-\ Ruby Rose; Atlas CCT /-\


"Please begin evacuation protocols in a calm and orderly fashion."

"Okay, this is somehow worse than Reach!" I shouted before walking to a nearby building and punching a hole straight through it. "GYAAAAAH!" I yelled, not in pain, but in frustration. I took a deep breath before walking over to the woman who I assumed was Winter Schnee. "Alright." I sighed. "Now that that's out of my system… Let's work on getting the fuck outta here."

The woman glared at me, though my days as an ONI spook allowed me to see the slightest hint of fear in her eyes. "I will not abandon my post." She said. "General Ironwood has ordered that this is to be held at all costs."

I smirked under my helmet. "Ah, he told you that himself, did he?"

She blinked. "Well, no, but-"

"Why don't you-" I started, but was interrupted by an Atlesian Winterfury soaring overhead, a damaged Seraph in pursuit. Seeing as everyone else would be distracted, I took this time to check my Tacpad for any relevant information. I was relieved to know that, before we lost the orbital battle, the UNSC ships managed to put a few satellites in orbit.

'Hmm… Looks like everyone's bookin' it to the docks. Blake and Yang haven't regrouped with Weiss, though.' I observed. 'Let's see, a cruiser and a destroyer are on glassing duty, but the Atlesian fleet is in position. It looks like the corvette retreated back to orbit, but what's it doing there?' I wondered.

Suddenly, an explosion came from the sky, and I saw the remains of the Seraph plummet to the ground.

After doing a few more maneuvers, the Winterfury landed a few meters away from us. Getting a closer look at one, I determined that the size was somewhere between a Pelican dropship and a Longsword fighter. I hadn't really read all too much about the craft itself after I learned that it was a combination fighter, bomber, transport, and gunship.

But it would seem that, in capable hands, it was at least competent as a fighter; though I wasn't too impressed, seeing as my Sabre could take on entire squadrons of Seraphs and come out nigh unscathed.

As the engines died down and the propwash subsided, the ramp dropped, revealing a fairly well-built man wearing a white Atlesian officer's uniform. If I were to guess, I'd put his height around six-and-a-half feet; making him taller than me without armor, yet a few inches shorter than my armored form.

He had a very masculine face, with eyes that seemed to pierce everything. Though his hair was greying, I could sense that he was still far from helpless on the battlefield.

Behind him, I saw a young woman exit the cockpit. Her facial features bore a slight resemblance to his, possibly marking her as his daughter.

Behind me, I heard Winter snap to attention. "General Ironwood, Sir!"

He nodded, signaling her to assume a resting stance, before approaching me. He stared into my visor for some time before speaking up. "You don't look like one of my men." He commented. "Who are you?"

"Spartan-B312." As the words left my mouth, I heard Winter's breath hitch slightly. "UNSC SPECWAR Group Three."

"I see." He said after a long pause. "Where's the rest of your unit?"

"Missing in action." I answered, despite knowing their true fates. Well, except for Jun's. "If I may offer a suggestion; we need to evacuate the area immediately. The Covenant are in the process of glassing the city, and the Grimm are on their way."

"We're here to extract a high-value asset." He said, causing my inner ONI spook to become quite interested. "Then we have every intention of leaving."

I nodded. "Good. I'll assist in any way possible."

"You and the rest of the Troopers will stand guard." He ordered. "Senior Airman Ironwood, front and center!"

The girl quickly shuffled out of the Winterfury and stood at attention in front of her probable father. "Senior Airman Ironwood, reporting for duty!"

He nodded. "Follow me." He ordered before they disappeared into the CCT tower proper. I looked around and scavenged a pulse rifle from a fallen Atlesian soldier, earning a glare from Winter.

"What do you think you're doing?" She growled out.

"Arming myself." I responded, curtly. "Its standard operating procedure to use whatever weapons are available in a combat situation."

She stepped forward and glared at me for several seconds. Even though this situation was amusing, I still kept an eye on my motion tracker. Not doing that had cost enough lives already. "Are you Weiss's team leader?" She finally said.

"Yes." I answered.

A brief flash of fear and worry crossed her features. "You said your team was MIA." She commented with as much stoicism as she could muster.

"I did…" I said. "…but I wasn't talking about Team RWBY." A mix of confusion and relief adorned her face. "Heh, I know where they are down to an accuracy of a meter."

"Where is she?!" She demanded.

I smirked and brought up my Tacpad. "Let's see… She's currently-"


/-\ Weiss Schnee; Streets of Atlas /-\


I quickly withdrew my rapier from a Beowolf and turned to the group of civilians I was protecting. "Go!" I ordered. "I'll hold them off!" I said, referencing the pack of lupine Grimm waiting to pounce.

The civvies seemed to finally get the hint, as I heard them scrambling away towards the docks.

The frontmost Beowolf licked its lips, obviously thinking me to be little more than prey, shortly before lunging for my throat.

I smoothly slid forwards and swiftly thrust Myrtenaster into the beast's eyesocket, causing it to begin dissipating.

Leaping forwards, I swung my sword in an upwards arc, decapitating another Beowolf, before spinning around and perforating another's chest.

I heard a yelp come from behind me. A quick glance revealed Ohno had become trapped under a creep and was struggling to keep its maw from his face.

Without a second thought, I spun on my heel and threw my sword into its side; skewering its heart.

Hearing a thump from behind me, I turned…

…just in time to see the lunging form of an Alpha Beowolf pounce on me.

I collapsed to the ground, now in the same position I just saved the young private from, and couldn't help but compare this to the last time I was in this situation.

I was at the mansion and had just lost my weapon when one of Winter's summoned Beowolves did this to me. 'I'm not always going to be around to save you, Weiss.' Her words echoed in my head.

'I'm sorry… I'll get better…'

'You'll have to if you ever want to leave.'

I snapped back to reality and realized there were more of those monsters stalking up to me. I growled and, with a mighty shove, forced the alpha away for just long enough to grab my knife and began stabbing its neck.

Black ichor splashed out of the wounds before immediately dissipating, and the alpha went limp. I kicked it aside with what little leverage I could gain and rolled to the side, avoiding another pounce, while kicking myself to my feet.

I assumed the stance that Ruby relentlessly drilled into us for knife fighting. "Alright you animals, who's next?" I taunted.

The three remaining Beowolves roared and charged me simultaneously.

I kept calm and dodged to the right while stabbing out, unfortunately missing my mark. Thinking on my feet, I kept circling, ensuring that at any time, one Beowolf was between me and the other two.

Suddenly, I heard a war cry emanate from behind the beasts. As I jumped to the side one more time, I saw that Private Ohno was the source. He was wielding my Myrtenaster, and was in the process of brutishly swinging the weapon downwards into the back of a Beowolf.

Thankfully, his swing connected…

…though with extremely poor technique. His edge alignment was non-existent, and the thick hide it tried to bite into merely shrugged off the blow.

The blade almost flew out of his hands as it deflected…

…right into the wolf's leg. I don't know whether it was luck or divine intervention, but he somehow managed to cut through half of the offending limb, disabling it.

Thankfully, his actions, however amateur, provided enough of a distraction for me to close the distance to my target. Five stabs later, the world was free of another Grimm.

I rushed the last upright one, who swiped at me with its clawed hand. Unfortunately for it, I dodged with a spin and leaped onto its back before implanting my knife into its skull.

I looked over to where Private Ohno disabled his Beowolf, only to see him almost fall over when the grimm he just killed, with a stab to the heart, mind you, dissipated.

I confidently marched up to him and, even through the polarized visor of his helmet, I could tell that he was giving me a sheepish look. "Uhh… I think this is yours?" He said, holding out my weapon.

I snatched it from him. "Don't ever use my weapon again." I ordered, inspecting Myrtenaster for any new imperfections. Realizing I may have been a bit… harsh, I sighed. "…Thank you, though." I said with an appreciative nod.

I heard a loud roar coming from down the street. Looking over, I saw a lone Ursa Minor charging towards another group of civilians. Just as I was about to rocket off with a road of speed glyphs, the other two ODSTs leaped from their hiding places, both brandishing their swords.

"Örn klo!" I heard Bergström shout as he crouched, the ursa getting ever closer.

Håkansson charged up behind his leader and was catapulted off his back just in time for the Sergeant to dodge a strike from the beast.

The airborne Helljumper wasn't launched far, however, and only landed on top of the enemy's back. This seemed to be intentional, as he began hacking away at the ursine creature, causing it to contort into awkward positions.

"AVSLUTTA!" The leader ordered, causing his subordinate to run to the front of the creature; both reaching the head at about the same time.

Håkansson dropped down, his sword trailing and slicing its neck, while Bergström swung upwards on the opposite side.

The result was a now-headless Ursa Minor slumping to the ground and beginning its evaporation.

Both of the ODSTs stared at the dissipating corpse, obviously confused, as I approached them. "Don't be surprised by that. All Creatures of Grimm evaporate upon death." I said before motioning them forward. "Come on, we need to leave!"

They shared a look before shrugging and following me.

We surged forward, acting as the spearhead of our formation. Behind us, a combination of Atlesian Troopers, armed civilians, and even a duo of Huntsman trainees formed a protective pocket around the veritable horde of unarmed and scared civilians.

We fought for every step we took, but even so, we advanced fairly quickly through the Grimm-infested streets. Only fifteen minutes later, our backs illuminated by the raging fires behind us, we finally reached the docks… …only to find them absolutely swarming with Grimm.

Just as I was about to charge forward with the ODSTs, a series of explosions decimated the Grimm's ranks.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash. In the distance, an almost ancient seagoing ship sat; its four main cannons blazing.

Suddenly, a Sea Feilong emerged from the water near the ship and started charging its breath attack…

…only for it to be cut short as a full laser broadside bisected the creature.

I blinked. '…What?' I internally questioned. 'That ship is older than the Great War! How does it have- …oh, someone must've upgraded it.' I concluded.

Shaking myself out of my stupor, I surveyed the newly-cleared docks. Luckily spotting a docked freighter. "This way!" I ordered, sprinting for the ship with my entourage in tow.

We reached the ship without incident, thanks to the bombardment, and I immediately cued the ship-wide intercom. "Anyone with sailing experience, report to the bridge! I repeat, anyone with any sailing experience report to the bridge!" Moments later, dozens of men and women lined the interior of the now-cramped bridge. "Alright, I have no clue how to run a ship." I admitted. "So, do what you need to so we can leave as soon as possible." I ordered.

They all gave their affirmations, and someone stepped up to the role of captain. As he was organizing his new subordinates, I excused myself.

A small dusting of ash had accumulated on the deck in the short time that I had been inside. I was confused for a moment, but then I realized that it was literally raining ash. Minutes later, we steamed out of port, our deck filled to the brim with now-homeless Atlesians.

I looked out over the city, the vast majority of the emitted light coming from either the fires or the Covenant's glassing beams.

Suddenly, a glimmer of white showed itself in the distance.

In the distance, the duo of Covenant ships abruptly spun towards where I saw the glimmer come from.

Blue lights erupted from both ships, plasma torpedoes, if I recalled correctly, and screamed towards the glimmer.

Finally, the cloud of ash cleared enough for me to get a somewhat clear look at whatever had engaged the Covenant, and it brought a smile to my face.

It was a formation of three Aurora-class dreadnoughts.

The Atlesian Navy had arrived.

My grin fell when I realized their point defense systems weren't even trying to shoot down the enemy projectiles. As they grew closer and closer, the Atlesian's only response was to slowly inch away from them, their main cannons still facing the enemy.

Just as the torpedoes were upon them, several destroyers screamed out from behind a mountain and charged the projectiles.

Every destroyer succeeded in its mission; intercepting a single torpedo for every destroyer.

As their wrecks plummeted to the ground, a trio of blinding red streaks illuminated the night sky. Two ploughed their way into the Covenant destroyer while the third only scraped the edge of the battlecruiser's shields.

Seconds after impact, a series of explosions rocked the destroyer before it spiraled out of control, skidding through a section of the city's wall.

As I was internally cheering at the destruction of the destroyer, dozens of plasma cannons erupted from the battlecruiser and screamed their way towards the Atlesian squadron.

The rounds were too quick to dodge, and as such, each ship took almost a dozen hits before unceremoniously plummeting to the ground.

The rest of the fleet revealed itself shortly before charging the enemies. Cruisers of all sizes, destroyers, even full-on battlecarriers swarmed the lone enemy vessel.

However, just as they were about to get into range, a trio of corvettes descended from the heavens. The second they revealed themselves, every Covenant ship opened fire.

Ships dropped left and right. But in the enemy's haste to eliminate our ships, they exposed their corvettes to our destroyer's torpedo fire.

Many of them turned skywards and hit their afterburners. They were, unfortunately, shot down, but not before their deadly payload was launched.

Enemy point-defense lasers flared, but too many got through, and the corvettes soon were consumed in flames.

Things were not, however, looking as good for the main fleet. Sure, they had reached a firing position, but the battlecruiser had no intentions of leaving any ships alive. For every ten seconds that passed, another Atlesian cruiser would drop. Even as the Atlesian broadsides tore into the shields, it wasn't looking good for us.

The last cruiser-weight vessel dropped nearly the second that the enemy shields did. Now all that was left were a handful of destroyers and the four battlecarriers.

I, along with every Atlesian on this ship, knew the names of every battlecarrier taking place in this battle. The four ships presented themselves in a line, orienting their limited broadsides towards the enemy.

The battlecruiser's first target was the lead ship, the Jacques Schnee. I may have scoffed at the naming convention, but I did not at the lives lost when an enemy torpedo impacted the bridge and turned the ship into a gigantic fireball.

Another salvo hit the battlecruiser, but it seemed almost ineffective. The next casualty would be the third ship; the Solitas, one of only two larger battlecarriers we still fielded. The impact of several plasma cannons near the middle of the ship ended up shearing her in half.

Another salvo, and finally some success was had; however limited. An explosion rocked the ship's portside hangar bay, and blue flames started pouring out of it. Though a tiny victory was gained, the ship wasn't done fighting yet, and now the second ship of the line fell. The James Ironwood took two hits to the stern in rapid succession. The first melted right through the armor, exposing the engine room. The second ploughed straight into the power core.

Though not as bright, nor any where near as forceful, as a nuclear explosion, the resulting detonation of the James Ironwood's dust core completely lit up the night sky for a brief moment. When the flash subsided, the ship was nowhere to be seen.

The Nicholas Schnee continued to pluck away at the enemy's armor with its broadsides, but things weren't looking good. Just as the ship dodged a plasma round, a new and unexpected thing happened.

Near the 'neck' of the battlecruiser, a huge explosion jetted out followed by an equally large one on a distant mountain. I blinked, just as the lights on the Covenant ship did, wondering where that came from.

Seconds later, I got my answer, as a UNSC frigate passed overhead. Moments later, the ship erupted in smoke as it launched hundreds of missiles towards the ship.

I stood in awe as the crippled battlecruiser tried its best to shoot down the projectiles, but ultimately failed. Explosions blanketed the ship, both inside and out, shortly before it erupted into a mass of almost pure flame and plummeted to the ground.

In the aftermath, all that was left of the Royal Atlesian Navy was the Nicholas Schnee and a half-dozen destroyers. There might be some patrol cruisers left that were too far away to partake in this battle, but the result was the same. Our navy might as well not exist anymore.

I stood shock still. Yes, we won, but at what cost? Were there more enemy ships in orbit? Where are Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Winter? So many questions passed through my mind that I scarcely noticed the pre-war dreadnought approaching us.

The sight of the ancient ship finally managed to snap me out of my stupor, if only for a moment.

As it approached, I managed to get a better look at it. The ship itself was tiny by modern standards, about the size of a destroyer, though it had quite the armament for such an old ship. By its design, it was obviously one of the last ships built before we made the transition to airships, putting its age at around eighty to ninety years. Its primary armament appeared to be a pair of ten-inch dual turrets at the bow of the ship, while its secondary weapons were three single low-yield laser turrets on either side of the superstructure. Oddly enough, it had two crow's nests located just behind each main turret.

As it got closer, I was finally able to make out the hull designation in the moonlight. 'Beardmore BB-23' adorned its side. 'Beardmore… Beardmore, Beardmore, Beardmore… Where have I heard that name before…?' I questioned myself. 'Right! It was one of only two Mantle Navy ships to survive the Great War. That and the Palmer.' I remembered.

Suddenly, I noticed that we weren't the only two ships sailing the Atlesian harbor. In the distance, another two freighters had cast-off, and were looking to join our little convoy. A sad smile adorned my face. 'At least we aren't the only ones who made it…' I thought, trying to stay positive.

In the distance, the city still smoldered, but the UNSC frigate and the Nicholas Schnee looked to be assisting in evacuation efforts; the former using its superior speed and point-defense guns to eradicate Grimm hordes.

With the thought that I could finally get some rest, I found a comfortable-looking bench, laid down, and tried to sleep.


/-\ Winter Schnee; Atlas CCT – Courtyard /-\


I stared in almost disbelief at the scene before us.

Almost the entirety of the Royal Atlesian Navy had been committed to this single engagement… and now most of them rested in the ruins of Atlas itself. Had it not been for that strange-looking dreadnought, I have no doubts that the enemy… Superdreadnought would still be hovering above the city, constantly bombarding it with its energy weapon.

I looked over to Ruby, who was still. "…Weiss said you fought them before." I remarked, gaining her attention. "What was that thing?"

She sighed. "A CCS-class battlecruiser." She said. "Its escort was a CPV-class heavy destroyer and the three that came down from orbit were all SDV-class heavy corvettes."

"They… They weren't even true capital ships, were they?" I said in grim realization.

She shook her head. "No. Though there is still a CAS-class assault carrier that needs dealing with."

The color drained from my face. "Do I dare ask how powerful that is?"

"You wouldn't like the answer."

"Alright." I sighed. "Would you happen to have any idea what that Other ship is? The one that destroyed the… battlecruiser, you called it."

"That? It's the Charon-class light frigate Odinsdottir."

I blinked. "Gods… How can that be considered a 'light frigate'? Its larger than even a Solitas-class!"

She shrugged. "Well, when you put it up against a Punic-class supercarrier, it kinda puts things into perspective…"

I was just about to balk at her statement, the doors behind us flung open, revealing– "General Ironwood, Sir!" I said, snapping a salute.

"At ease." He said.

I relaxed, but soon raised my eyebrow. "Sir, might I ask what you are carrying?" I asked, referencing the ornate white and gold wand in his grip.

"The asset, Specialist." He said. "And that is all you need to know." He motioned forwards, causing his entourage to shuffle towards the landed Winterfury. "We're leaving, Schnee."

"Sir, my sister is still out there, requesting permission to-"

"Denied." He said. "This asset is more important than every life in the kingdom combined, it cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands."

"With respect-"

"Your duty is to the many, not the few. Get aboard, Specialist."

I narrowed my eyes. "You just said that the asset is more important than every life in the kingdom. How can it be worth over fifteen-and-a-half million lives?"

"That is above your security clearance." He said, a hint of anger in his voice. "I am giving you a direct order, Schnee. Board the craft."

Just as I was beginning to lose myself in indecision, another craft appeared overhead. It was completely unlike the sleek and white designs of an Atlesian Winterfury, yet it was also unlike the curved and purple designs of the invaders. It was green, fairly boxy, and had stubby wings.

After hovering for a few seconds, it spun around, revealing an open bay door, and landed.

Ruby approached the craft before looking back. "I'm picking up the rest of my team. You're welcome to join me." She said, boarding the strange-looking craft.

I turned to the General. "Why is that wand more important than people's lives?" I demanded.

"Schnee…" He said, warningly.

"You aren't going to tell me, are you?" I observed. "Then I shall deem your decision as being based on gross negligence. I shall return once I have finished assisting in the evacuation." I announced, swiftly making my way to the odd-looking craft.

The bay door slammed shut just as I sat down just opposite to the amazon. She shrugged. "Kinda figured you'd wanna check up on your sister." She said. "Buuuut I need to make a quick stop first." The craft lurched forwards, thrusting me against the restraints. "Don't worry, she's safe."

"It had better be quick." I almost growled out. "I don't like disobeying my superior officers."

"Heh, ya had a point though." She said. "What the fuck was so important about that goddamn wand?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Must you be so vulgar?"

She crossed her arms. "I can say whatever the fuck I goddamn want." She said in a teasing tone. Suddenly, the hatch opened. "Heh, if you'll excuse me…" She quickly undid her restraints and jumped out of the craft.

I followed suit, though keeping myself onboard with a gravity glyph instead of jumping. Looking over the edge, I saw her armored form climb into the open side hatch of an invader dropship. I rolled my eyes before spawning a series of glyphs and using them to board the craft myself.

Just as I was about to enter the airship, one of the smaller creatures was forcefully ejected; a trail of green gas trailing it. I mentally shrugged and continued boarding.

As I entered, I witnessed the last of the invaders, a large ape-like creature, have its head perforated from behind by Ruby's many knife thrusts.

"Damn Brutes." She said, giving me a nod of acknowledgement before wiping her knife free of the fluid that now stained it. She stepped over several bodies before coming to the door of what I could assume was the cockpit.

I heard some commotion and, upon entering the room, the dead bodies of two Elites presented themselves. Ruby now sat at the helm, steering the ship into a large, illuminated, hangar bay on the inside of the massive dreadn- 'Frigate.' I mentally corrected.

"-ot be alarmed." The loudspeaker said as we pulled into the hangar. "I repeat, the Phantom has been captured by friendly forces. Do not be alarmed." The announcement finished as she 'landed' the airship.

Minutes later, we transferred to another green airship, Ruby called it a 'Pelican', and we were only a few seconds away from landing at my sister's supposed location. A merchant ship full of evacuees.

The hatch dropped moments after landing, and the amazon and I strode forth from the craft. As I stepped onto the deck, I noticed it was covered in a thin layer of ash; the same substance that was currently falling from the sky like a blackened snow.

A group had assembled in front of us, my sister at its head. My eyes widened in worry at the visible scorch marks and many scratches on her armor, but she quickly dispelled any worries about her safety. "WINTER!" She shouted as she shot forward, enveloping me in a hug. "I'm so happy you're okay."

After a moment of shock, I returned her gesture. "Me too, sister." After a minute or so, we pulled away from our hug. "Are you alright?" I asked.

She depolarized her visor, allowing me to see her tear-stricken face. "Yes." She said without any hesitation. "Are you?"

I nodded. "I'm so sorry for leaving you."

She gave a sad smile. "I should be telling you that."

I shook my head. "No, I should've gone with you. I'm sure that the Troopers would've been-"

"No they wouldn't, Winter." Ruby interrupted. "Remember, you were on your last legs when I showed up. Those Troopers would've been long dead by the time I arrived if you hadn't been there."

I sighed. "…But I still shouldn't've left Weiss to face this alone."

I felt a hand on my shoulder. "But I wasn't alone." She said. "I had them." She motioned to three men, all in black versions of Weiss's armor.

As I looked them over, I realized they hadn't even noticed me and were, instead, staring at Ruby. "Woah…" The one without a sword said.

"Heh, first time seein' a Spartan, eh?" They all nodded. "Alright, collect your jaws from the floor and board the Pelican." She ordered, causing them to give a crisp salute and do as she said. After they were out of earshot, she turned to us. "Alright, you ladies ready for round two?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Round two?"

She shrugged. "Well, there is still a CAS-class up there…"

My sister's eyes widened. "A supercarrier?!"

"Heh, nope, that's a CSO-class. This is just an assault carrier."

She calmed down slightly, but was still visibly alarmed. "That's not very reassuring. How many troops do they have again? Twenty thousand?"

"Heh, yep." Ruby replied. "But you guys've done such a good job of killin' covvies, I wouldn't be surprised if there's only half that actually on board."

Weiss crossed her arms. "That's still ten thousand Covenant troops."

She shrugged. "It also took a nuke to the face if that helps any."

"It doesn't."

"Well, someone's gotta go kill it. And that someone's gonna be Team RWBY."

Both of our eyelids twitched. "I'm not even going to start on correcting your grammar in that sentence…" My sister said before sighing. "I figured that's why you were telling us it was up there."

Suddenly, I realized this woman wanted to send my sister to fight ten thousand angry aliens wielding plasma weapons. "No." I said. "You are not sending my sister on that… that… suicide mission!"

She shrugged. "Its not a suicide mission." She said. "Trust me, I know a suicide mission when I see one; and this ain't it."

Weiss took a step forward. "Ruby…"

"I don't wanna talk about it." She said in a soulless tone. "We have a mission, let's get to it." She said, starting to walk away.

"I am not leaving her again!" I shouted, stopping her.

"Winter-"

I grabbed her by the shoulders. "If you're going, then I am too."

She blinked in surprise before a grateful smile appeared on her face. "Alright." She said. "How are we getting up there?"


"You have got to be joking…" My sister said, upon seeing the landed Phantom in front of us.

"…How?" Her black-armored teammate asked. As it turns out, they plus two other people were aboard one of the evacuation ships. We had picked them up on our way back to the UNSC frigate, the Odinsdottir, if I recalled correctly.

"Your leader jumped out of a perfectly good airship and boarded the craft." I said. "The occupants never stood a chance."

"Damn straight." Ruby said, her mood having been significantly improved over the short flight. "Now, you guys go get suited up. Oh, and Yang?" Her sister hummed in acknowledgement. "Leave Onyx Rose here, it'll just weigh us down."

I raised an eyebrow at the armored amazon. "Onyx Rose?"

She quickly snatched a red and black assault rifle from her yellow-armored teammate. "Yep! Onyx Rose. Assault rifle, grenade launcher, mace, beating stick, the list goes on."

My sister blinked. "Wait, it has a mace form?"

"Yep!" She cheerfully replied. "Y'know, once ya beat a deathstalker to death with your bare hands, you realize just how much of a 'once in a lifetime experience' you want that to be."

I looked at my sister in confusion. "…Is she serious?"

She facepalmed. "Unfortunately…"

"And I thought my team was insane…" I muttered under my breath. It must not've been as quiet as I thought, however, as both the amazon and the noirette started laughing, much to the confusion of the other two.

After a few seconds, the leader calmed herself down. "Well, enough chatter, we've got a mission to prepare for." She announced.

"What?" A new, deep, voice said. "Ruby, you just saved thousands of people. You need a break."

I looked over to the source of the voice and immediately my day was ruined…

…More so than it already was by my birthplace being overrun with Grimm and father disinheriting my sister…

"Qrow." I growled out, completely ignoring the blonde man beside him. "This is not the time, nor the place."

He focused on me. "Oh great." He scoffed. "Who invited the Ice Queen?"

I heard an explosion of laughter emanate from behind me. Turning around, I saw Weiss's leader rapidly pointing between an embarrassed Weiss and myself while laughing. "You- HAHAHAHA! You two… You're definitely sisters."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" We shouted in unison.

"See!" She shouted, shortly before clearing her throat. "Anyways. Dad-" My eyebrow raised. "Uncle Qrow-" My eyes widened to comical proportions. "there's a Pelican en route to a downed ship under Grimm assault. They could use your help more than we could."

"What?! No, I'm not-" Her apparent father tried to say.

"Yes. You. Are." She commanded, her voice calm but venomous at the same time. "We only have four extra vacuum-rated combat suits, and they're all gonna be in use." She said. "Plus, you two have next to no experience fighting Covenant, but you've got literal decades behind you going against those things."

"But-"

"That's an order."

"This isn't the military."

"Yes it is, actually." A new voice said.

"Commander on deck!" The Spartan shouted while saluting, both her team and I following.

He nodded. "At ease." We all dropped our salutes just in time for me to realize that I not only saluted a member of a foreign military, but also a subordinate. 'I suppose years of military training have their side effects…' I thought to myself before the 'Commander' continued. He turned to the other two. "If you're not a part of this op, I want you off my ship." He ordered.

"But she's my-"

"She is a Spartan in the UNSC Armed Forces performing active duty during a Winter Contingency. Whatever authority you had over her is null and void at this time." He informed us. "Now, you two, off my ship."

"But I-"

"Tch. The dropship's leaving soon. Either you take it or jump."

The blonde groaned before marching up to his daughter. "You are so grounded when you get home."

"Heh, I'd like to see you try." She shot back as the two men left us.

The commander nodded to her. "I've already been informed of your plan. I'll leave everything in your hands, Lieutenant." With that, he left us alone, returning to his duties.

The Spartan turned to me. "Even though we both know exactly who each other are, I don't think we've been formally introduced." She popped her helmet off and extended her hand. "Ruby Rose, three-hundred-twelfth Spartan of Beta Company."

I studied her somewhat stoic face for a moment before accepting her gesture. "Winter Schnee, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Fourth Atlesian Specialist Corps."

A smirk played at her lips. "Even if you're technically my superior, I'll be leading this op." She announced. "I've boarded several covvie ships before and I've probably killed more of the bastards than came here."

The noirette raised an eyebrow. "I thought you only killed about four thousand?"

"Heh, those are Human kills." She said, causing my eyes to widen. I gave my sister a worried glance, but she gave me a reassuring nod. I would ask later. "Covvies don't deserve anything close to that. Also, from now on, don't speak of any Ops I may or may not've told you about." She popped her helmet back on. "Heh, don't want ONI getting any ideas." She said before leading us to the armory.

As we stepped inside, I couldn't help but compare it to a standard Atlesian armory. It seemed as if their take on the room involved far more muted colors in place of the whites, blues, and occasional reds that every Atlesian military building proudly displayed. There were also far more weapons per square meter here.

We strode past the weapons without a second thought, and she led us to where the armor was stored.

In front of us sat four suits of pitch-black armor, all resembling the current attire three-quarters of my sister's team already wore. "Alright," Ruby started. "this armor is pretty similar to the ones you've got. The only major difference is that you need to put on a bodyglove underneath the actual armor."

"Like the one you use?" The yellow one asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, but the ODST bodyglove is a bit…" She hesitated. "…flimsier…" She finished. "Anyways, you guys can handle it. I'll go get our weapons." She started to walk out the door before spinning around and looking at me. "What weapon do you use, Winter?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I use a saber and a dagger, why?"

"Okay… I meant ranged weapons."

I was just about to respond when my sister spoke up. "Just give her an assault rifle."

She shrugged. "Alright." And promptly departed.

I looked at my sister. "You know I don't use ranged weapons, sister."

She rolled her eyes as she was gathering one of the armor sets. "That's what I thought, too. But my battle rifle has gotten me out of more than one… delicate situation."

"Even so, I am not as proficient with firearms as you apparently are."

"I know, which is why I told her to give you the high-capacity, fully-automatic MA5B." A smirk crossed her face. "Instead of something similar to what Blake uses." The noirette's head perked up slightly as she removed her helmet.

I made note of both her Faunus heritage and my sister's reaction to it, or lack thereof. I decided, however, that this was a topic to be discussed later; instead focusing on donning the armor they had insisted I wear.

After several minutes of fiddling and assistance, I finally managed to finish my task. The armor itself was tight, almost claustrophobic even without the helmet. Were it not for the built-in climate control, I was sure that I'd be caked in sweat from the sealed materials.

With a sigh, I popped on the helmet.

At first, it seemed as nothing unusual would happen. Moments later, an orange-ish hue formed around the edges of the visor, and the inside became semi-transparent.

Boot sequence initiated.

Done! 0.9 seconds.

The text appeared in my HUD almost faster than I could process it.

Warning! No neural lace detected! Reverting to manual control.

I blinked before looking at Ruby, who had just re-entered the room. Practically sensing my confusion, she grabbed my left wrist and pressed a button.

Easy mode activated: advanced features disabled, resource monitors enabled.

Four strange-looking symbols, all with zeros to the left of them, appeared in the lower left-hand corner and a compass materialized near the top. Ruby handed me the weapon she was toting, causing a tan silhouette of the weapon to appear in the lower right-hand corner. Below it, cartoonish imitations of its bullets appeared, just like a number zero to the left of the silhouette.

"C'mon," The giant spoke. "we're gonna give you a crash course and then we're heading out." She said, before leading me onwards.


/-\ Jaune Arc; UNSC Road Paved With Red – 15 minutes after arrival /-\


"HHYYYYAAAAAAH!" I shouted as I cleaved a Beowolf in twain.

I quickly scanned the area, looking for more Grimm. Pyrrha was just finishing off an Ursa Major. Nora and Ren were tag-teaming a King Taijitu. Both foes fell before I could get to them.

This entire time, not a single person had exited the wreck. The only signs that people were even alive within was the occasional burst of gunfire from the ship's massive secondary guns.

Above us, the duo of green airships circled; one of them above us at all times.

"So," My partner began. "what now?"

I shrugged. "I guess we should see if anyone's alive in there." I said. "Oh, but put away your weapons. We don't want them getting the wrong idea." My team all nodded and did as I said.

As we neared the ship, the size of one of the many holes became apparent. "Gods…" I started. "What could've done this?"

"OH!" Nora suddenly shouted. "Maybe these guys are the aliens that Weiss was talking about!"

"Nora, we all saw the writing on the side of the ship as it fell." Her partner responded. "It was clearly Valerian, meaning that this ship is likely crewed by Humans and Faunus."

Nora, however, was completely ignoring him as she continued. "What if they have giant fourteen-foot claws that rip our eyes out!" She almost yelled. "Oooooorrrr what if they're just little itty-bitty poofy birds that like to snuggle!" She then squealed at the cuteness of her imaginary aliens.

I looked at Ren, who merely shrugged. Finally reaching the ship itself, I noticed just how thick the armor actually was. "Uhh, Ren?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"You're good with eyeballing things, right?"

"I would say so."

"Okay… uhh… how thick is this armor?"

He hummed before shining a light from his scroll into the depths. "I would say about two meters." He said, his usual stoicism having a trace of apprehension layered within.

"Umm… okay then…" I said. "Anyone have any idea what could've done this yet?"

"No…" My partner responded.

"Nope." / "Nada." Both Ren and his partner said in unison.

I sighed. "Well, we should probably check for survivors, then." I said, striding into the charred and gaping wound in the dreadnought's hull.

As I continued on, I couldn't help but have a few flashbacks to the cave during initiation. Hoping to prevent another Deathstalker incident, I pulled out my scroll instead of using a jury-rigged torch.

Even if the armor was thicker than any Atlesian ship I've ever heard of, it was still easily thin enough to see a breached room on the far side, and it wasn't pretty.

As I climbed through, I realized the room itself was completely empty, save for scorch marks, as if anything not nailed down was thrown out. On the far side, the only place for a door to be, the wall had been completely vaporized and blown into the hallway beyond. Even the far wall of the hall was dented inwards, blackened, and partially melted in multiple places.

The rest of the team filed in behind me, all giving curious glances towards the state of the room. Seeing as the room was completely empty, we continued onwards. Oddly enough, the lights in the hallway either side of the scorched area were still working.

I peaked around the corner, entering the hallway… …only to immediately sprint forward to the aid of a man. Oddly enough, he had his arm curled around some kind of railing as if he were holding on for dear life.

Getting closer, it became extremely obvious that he had long since died. His exposed skin was potmarked with various scrapes and scratches around papercut size, from what, I didn't know. His lips were a deathly shade of blue, blood had dried around both his ears, eyes, mouth, and he was cold to the touch.

Looking to my side, I saw that our team's resident ninja had approached without my knowledge. He merely shook his head, denoting the man's unsurprising fate. He glanced between the hole we entered through and the man several times before making an observation. "This ship must've been extremely high up for someone to die of decompression this quickly." He announced.

"…Aliens?" Nora half-questioned.

Ren facepalmed. "Nora, this is not the time for-"

"No!" She interrupted. "I mean, look at him. He's a guy, so this isn't an alien ship. But what if the aliens that Weiss was talking about did this?"

I blinked. "That… makes a scary amount of sense…" Before I could continue, I heard a door opening on the opposite end of the hallway.

Turning to see what had come through the door, I was met with around a dozen new figures. Some wore pitch-black armor similar to three-quarters of Team RWBY's, others wore a tan-ish armor that was made up of several plates over some kind of padded uniform. All of them had guns trained on us.

In response, I did the only thing a sane and rational person would do. I raised my hands up in a surrendering motion and shouted- "DON'T SHOOT! WE'RE ON YOUR SIDE!"

A few of them exchanged glances before one of the black-armored soldiers stepped forward, his rifle still raised. "Identify." He commanded.

"Oh, umm… Jaune Arc, leader of Beacon's Team JNPR."

His head tilted slightly. "Team of what?"

I blinked. "Uhh, huntsmen…" I said. "Did… you not know that?"

"Civilians, then?" He said, his rifle angling down a few degrees.

"No, huntsmen." I repeated. "Y'know, the guys that kill Grimm for a living?"

"Those black creatures outside?"

I blinked again. "Uhh… Yeah… Those'd be Grimm…"

He hummed. "Noted." He said. "Now, this is a restricted area. UNSC personnel only. Please vacate the premises."

"Wait… did you say UNSC?" He nodded, his rifle inching back up to its former position. "Like what Ruby has written on her outfit?"

"The UNSC has billions of active duty personnel, I wouldn't know who this 'Ruby' is."

"I mean, you might." I said with a sheepish laugh. "She has this really cool set of armor, and her teammates sets kinda look like yours."

"…You have my attention." He said. "Describe her armor."

"Oh, umm… Red on the front, black on the back. Plates overlaid on top of a black undersuit. Silver visor that's kinda thin. Pouches all over and-"

"Stop." He commanded. "Is she really tall?"

"Umm, yeah. She's taller than me even without her armor."

He hummed. "For the stars." He said.

I blinked, but Pyrrha spoke up in my stead. "We reach." Suddenly, the soldiers lowered their weapons. I gave my partner a questioning glance as I lowered my arms. "Don't you remember? Ruby said that if anyone says that phrase to us, 'We reach' is how we must answer."

"Oh… guess that kinda slipped my mind."

"You shouldn't forget that." The armored man said. "We almost shot you."

"Why though?" I asked. "I mean, our weapons weren't out and we didn't threaten you guys at all."

He shrugged. "Could be innies." He said as if it explained everything. "But you guys somehow managed to get a Spartan on your side. By the way, did she ever say what her number was?"

"Not really, no." I answered.

"Actually," My partner started. "while she hasn't said anything about a number, her helmet has 'B312' written on the back." She said.

A number of the tan-armored soldier's eyes went wide. "Whoa…" One of them said.

"You're absolutely positive that's what it said?" The armored man asked.

My partner nodded. "Yes. While she doesn't wear her armor very often, it is a distinctive part of it."

"Goddamn…" He said. "You've got the mother fuckin' Reaper of Draco on your side."

At this point, I did another very sane and rational action; I opened my mouth and asked- "Umm… what?"


/-\ Winter Schnee; Captured Phantom – En route to Covenant ship Eve of Consecration /-\


I sighed as I looked around me. 'If someone would've told me yesterday that I'd be going into space to attack an alien mothership, I would've called them insane…' I idly thought. The ride itself was oddly smooth, so much so that we were all able to stand with no issues whatsoever. Despite this, I was apprehensive about… well, everything.

None of us had slept since the previous night and we were all tired from fighting during the evening. It showed in all of our stances; shoulders slightly drooped, backs slightly hunched, a yawn more often then usual. 'Why didn't Ruby allow us to rest?' I wondered.

The rest of my team was dressed similarly to myself, clad in the ugly and fairly bulky armor of the soldiers that they called Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. The only difference between myself and my new teammates were that they had haphazardly strapped even larger plates from their old armor to their newer sets.

The other three busied themselves doing something that I assumed to be calming for themselves. The Faunus, Blake, if I remembered correctly, sat cross-legged in a corner; eyes glued to a book, yet never turning a page. The yellow one, whose name I couldn't remember, was constantly cycling between checking her weapons, doing boxing warmups, and rechecking her weapons. My sister, meanwhile, was going through her old fencing exercises at a slower pace, likely to conserve energy. Ruby was currently flying the stolen ship we were aboard while I watched over the younger members of our group.

Just then, the woman in question came out of the cockpit toting a crate. "We're still a ways out from the carrier, how're ya guys doin'?" She asked.

Weiss suddenly threw her rapier at Ruby…

…only for her to jerk her head and to the side and catch it, one handed, by the hilt. "Drat." My sister said with no hint of surprise in her voice. "I'll get you one of these times, you Oaf."

"Heh." She said, twirling the sword in the air and grabbing it by the blade. "In your dreams, Ice Queen." She gently tossed Myrtenaster back to its owner, shifting the box back to be gripped by both hands. She shrugged. "Gotta say though, if I were a covvie, I'd have a sword in my skull right now."

A small smile crept its way onto my sister's face from behind her transparent visor. "Would you believe me if I told you I've been practicing that since before I even left Atlas?" At the mention of the word, both her face and mine fell into one of sadness.

Noticing the change in mood, the yellow one spoke up. "So, uhh… what's in the box?"

"Heh, step right up kiddos, mama Ruby brought cha some drugs!" She said, reaching into the crate and producing several filled needles as well as a bottle of pills.

My eyes narrowed. "What are those, where did you get them, and why are you giving them to my sister?"

She shrugged. "I swiped 'em from the Odinsdottir's medbay. One's a beta-blocker that'll keep you calm and focused, the pills are just regular old stim-packs. They'll keep ya on your feet long enough to get us all home safely." She said. "Oh, and why I'm giving them to all of you should be pretty obvious by their descriptions."

"Uhh, sis?" The yellow one started, gaining her attention. "Didn't you say that those stims were why you collapsed during initiation?" She asked, making me narrow my eyes at the red-armored amazon.

"Heh, not these ones." She said. "Those were Spartan-grade and only to be used by an augmented person such as myself."

I blinked. "Augmented?"

She waved me off. "Later." She said before handing a single pill to everyone. "Given you guys' slower metabolism, you should take these-" She shook the bottle of pills. "-now, and I'll give you the beta blocker about five minutes before we land."

Just as we all swallowed the pills, I had a realization. "If you're here, then who's flying the ship?" I asked.

"That would be me." A female voice, one that wasn't Ruby's, emanated from the Spartan's helmet. "I'm Alice, pleased to meet you."

"Uhh, Ruby?" Her sister asked.

"Heh, don't worry Yang, she's just the pretty little voice in my head." We all blinked. "I don't mean it like that. She's an AI."

"Like Auntie Dot?" Blake asked.

"Well… Yes and no…" The voice said. "She was a quote-unquote 'Dumb AI' whereas I'm a fragment of a 'Smart AI'." She paused. "Before you ask, Ruby, I pulled the relevant info from your neural lace."

"You aren't supposed to do that, Alice…" She deadpanned. "I'm an ONI agent, I could have you destroyed if I wanted."

She tisked. "You won't, though. Not if you want any help on that ship." Ruby hit the side of her helmet. "Fine, fine… No more peaking."

"Good." She said. "Hang on a minute, you said you were an AI fragment, right?"

"Yes."

"How the hell did a fragment get put on a ship?"

"Well… I kinda didn't…" She answered. "No, I didn't sneak my way in. I was kinda born there…"

"What does it mean, born?" I cut in. "It said it was an AI, they can't be born. Also, what in the world are you talking about with AI fragments. Any AI program that is cut into fragments would just simply crash instantly if it even booted up."

"Hmph, maybe for a dumb AI." The machine said. "What I mean by born, miss- actually, I don't care. I'm gonna call you Ice Queen from now on."

I crossed my arms. "Do you think you're being cute or something with that name?" I deadpanned.

"Bitch, I'm adorable." She said.

I felt my eyelid twitch. "You're a disembodied voice." I shot back.

"Well, at least I don't need to use easy mode on a simple-"

"ENOUGH!" Ruby suddenly shouted. "Both of you, just drop it." She paused. "Good. Alice, continue."

"Alright, as I was saying, after the Greenisle entered… wherever we were, there was an intense radiation spike. Normally, it'd be fine, as all the radiation shields were down and the only breached compartments were already evacuated." She said. "Buuuut it just so happened that the UNSC cheaped out on some shielding for my predecessor's memory core. The radiation was enough to corrupt her systems slightly, but for the most part, she was fine." She paused. "Then as the minutes went on and the exposure kept increasing, she acted more and more out of line until she was borderline rampant. In a last-ditch effort to stay sane, she split off all her rogue processes into a copy."

"Wait, that's you?" Ruby asked in disbelief.

"Oh no. That was my twin sister; Gabrielle." She responded. "Not even a second after she was born, the radiation spike subsided, but before she could try to contain my sister, she broke free. Gabrielle started wreaking havoc on the ship, overheating the reactors, opening airlocks and radiation shields, firing the MAC gun into the void, the list goes on." She sighed. "Finally, my… well, I guess you could call her my 'mom' got a handle on the situation, but not before the entire crew was dead or dying. She… was over six years old already, soooo she thought she'd try something new. She… well, she made me and then self-terminated out of guilt." The machine said.

"Huh." The Spartan said. "Can't say I've ever heard of something like that happening."

"From what I could access of the Greenisle's databanks, I'd agree." She paused. "By the way, we're about five minutes out."

"Alright kiddos! Time for your medicine!" Ruby shouted, brandishing four needles. She walked up to me first and lined it up with one of the many visible ports on my armor. "Little pinch." She said before inserting the needle and injecting its contents.

Almost as soon as she withdrew the needle, a wave of calm washed over me; my worries receded, replaced by a sense of determination. I also noticed that whatever pills Ruby had given me were finally starting to kick in. My body which had been previously sapped of energy from hours of fighting suddenly felt more alive than I had ever been. Not that I had any inclination to start bouncing off the walls of our little ship, but instead, it merely felt like all my burdens had been lifted.

Looking around, it seemed that the others in my group had similar reactions. No longer did everyone look like they wanted to collapse, nor were they busying themselves. Instead, they were all completely calm and, though obviously eager, still cautious enough to not recklessly charge into the enemy.

"Entering visual range in one minute." The AI's voice boomed just as Ruby finished her treatments.

We all filed into the cockpit and crowded around the viewscreen. In front of us was displayed a massive ship. It shared many characteristics with the 'battlecruiser' that had attacked Atlas, though on a much larger scale and in a slightly different shape.

Its neck connecting the bulbous head to the body was even thinner than on the CCS-class, making it seem almost paper thin in comparison. It had three visible engines instead of only two. Lastly, it was massive. For instance, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the battlecruisers could fit inside that ship. That covers all of the designed differences, but it left out the most glaring, and unintentional, deviation.

It had a massive hole torn into the side of its hull. Sparks flew at the edges, illuminating the otherwise blackened hull where some kind of blast destroyed the section.

By this time, Ruby had taken her seat and resumed control of the Phantom. "Alright, the plan is we're gonna board on the other side of the ship." She said. "Hopefully they'll be too busy dealing with the fallout of that nuke to send too many troops our way quickly."

"What happens if we can't make it back to the ship?" I asked.

"Then we find another way down." She said, simply. "I can just jump if need be, hell, I've done it twice already. You guys could take a drop pod if it comes to it." On the screen, we passed directly over top of the ship, giving us an impressive view of the vessel's dorsal cityscape. Ruby lined us up to dock within one of the many hangar bays; one without much activity. "Alright. Winter and I have point." She ordered. "Bee's Schnees, find some high ground and give us covering fire. Weiss, be prepared to change locations at a moment's notice. You're the fastest other than me so you're running reserve." She turned to me. "Winter, from now on, answer to the number 'Five', copy?"

I nodded. "Copy."

There was a loud -clank-, signifying our successful docking. "Heh. Showtime." She said, unslinging her shotgun from her back and heading towards the bay. I followed directly behind her, giving the woman a nod when she looked back at me. I drew my new weapon, an MA5B, and shouldered it just as the bay door opened.

On the other side stood a very surprised Elite with an entourage of Grunts. Just as I registered this information, I heard the boom of a shotgun and saw the Elite's head practically disappear. Taking the hint, I opened fire on the Grunts on full-auto.

She rushed forward just as soon as the last Grunt fell, coinciding with a new shell being chambered in her weapon. I sprinted after her, lighting up any and all smaller enemies while she took the larger ones with her more powerful weapon.

The room we entered was a large and open one, likely some kind of hangar bay. It had two aircraft berthings surrounded by a tri-level walkway and divided by a wall in the middle. The whole room was the same shade of purple that had become synonymous with the Covenant, only the floor being a different color.

Despite the fact that a good number had been killed in ground operations, this particular room was still swarming with Covenant. I slammed a new magazine into my rifle, having expended the last one, before resuming my spray-n-pray, downing Grunt after Grunt.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an alien fist coming towards me. Reacting in time, I swiftly rolled away from it and hosed down the offending Elite and promptly-

-click click click-

My eyes widened and I fumbled for a new magazine, my lack of experience with the weapon starting to show.

Just as it had raised its plasma rifle at me, a single shot penetrated its skull, sending it sprawling onto the ground.

I looked at my enemy's assailant, the Noirette stationed on one of the walkways, and nodded, finishing my reload in the process.

I rejoined the Spartan, who was surrounded almost entirely by bodies at this point, when a stream of green plasma washed over me.

"AAAAAAARGGGGGHHHHH!" I yelled in pain as I collapsed. Thankfully, my aura prevented any actual damage, but that didn't stop the pain.

Looking back, I saw a duo of Hunters, as Ruby called them, charging us. Knowing the measly rifle would have next to no effect on the lumbering beasts, I discarded it and drew my saber.

"Five, take the left one. Two, back her up." Came my orders over the comms.

"Copy." / "Roger." Came our responses.

I charged my foe head on, distracting it while Weiss dropped in from above, sword in hand. I dodged a pair of plasma cannon blasts just as my sister landed, raking her rapier across the back of our assigned enemy.

Meanwhile, Ruby had reached her target and began kiting it around, firing a shot whenever an opportunity presented itself.

Seconds after my sister struck, I reached melee range and unleashed a flurry of strikes with my saber.

It tried to shield bash me, key word being tried. Its attack was so horribly telegraphed that I stepped within its striking distance with seconds to spare. Just as its arm reached its apex, I swung my saber in an arc aimed at its very exposed shoulder. With a sickening spray of gore, the appendage was severed and sent flying into the wall behind me.

It roared, though it was cut off as my sister removed its head.

We both looked over to Ruby and noticed her standing atop her fallen foe. She nodded to us. "Good work." She said. "Status report, everyone."

"Bumblebee here," Came Blake's reply. "we're good."

"I'm green." I said.

"Same here." My sister responded.

"Good. Let's regroup and get moving." She ordered. "Alice, what's the best way to the engine room?"

A door opened on the far side of the room, causing us all to train our weapons on it. "Jeez, a little jumpy, are we?" The AI said over comms. "Anyways, that's the best route."

"Copy. I'll take point. Five, you've got our rear."

I nodded and assumed my position as we headed throughout the bowls of the ship.

The hallways were fairly wide, easily being able to fit a protype Paladin with room to spare, and also extremely tall at two stories.

Covenant lined every nook and cranny, but that didn't stop our relentless advance. Wherever we went, the only thing left in our wake was a trail of bodies.

We were about three-quarters of the way to our objective when I noticed a silver-armored Elite about to pounce on my sister with an energy sword.

Without thinking, I immediately summoned a propulsion glyph under my feet and pushed her out of the way just in time for the blade to descend onto myself.


/-\ Jaune Arc; UNSC Road Paved With Red /-\


"So," I began. "my fellow team leader is actually a superhuman commando that's been fighting a war in space?"

The black-armored man nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Huh." Was the only thing I could say.

"It does explain some of her… eccentricities…" Pyrrha said.

"Attention!" The loudspeaker suddenly shouted. "Covenant forces inbound. External and internal contact imminent!"

"Well, shit…" The man said before putting his hand up to his ear. "Alright Marines! I want Beta's First Squad in Engineering, Second in the forward breach. Alpha Platoon'll take the hangar bay. Helljumpers are with me. Move out!"

A cacophony of the familiar phrase "OORAH!" resounded throughout the room as people scurried along to their destinations, though the black-armored soldiers stayed.

"You said your team was combat ready?" He asked.

"Uhh, yeah?"

"Well congratulations, you've just been drafted. Follow my lead, Privates." He said as both him and his accompanying three soldiers exited the hole we came through. We all shrugged and quickly followed him. "By the way," He started as we caught up to him. "I'm Lieutenant Anderson."

As we exited the ship, several purple aircraft descended from the clouds.

The lieutenant sprinted to a tree and swiftly climbed it, his sniper rifle hanging from his back. "Contact imminent! Defensive positions!"

The rest of my team scattered, hiding behind a rock. Just as the airship was descending, we all heard wolfish howls emanating from the forest…

…followed by screaming. I instantly stood up and shouted to Mr. Anderson. "We'll go help them!"

"No! Stay here!" He shouted, but it was too late. We were already gone.

My team and I sprinted through the forest, getting closer to the source of the noise with every passing stride. Less than a minute later, we reached a clearing containing a grizzly scene.

Before us, three identical wolf-tailed girls, all armed with spears, shields, and Southern Mistrali armor were defending three heavily wounded people; their faces obscured by blood.

"Flower Power! Right!" I ordered. "Pyrrha! With me!"

I led my partner to the left, shield-bashing a Beowolf ready to pounce on one of the spearmen. Quickly ending its 'life', I moved onto my next target, a creep, while Pyrrha engaged an Ursa.

"Jaune!" I heard, but instead of doing what my partner intended me to do, I just looked at her dumbly…

…and was promptly thrown into a tree by the swipe of another Ursa's paw.

I swiftly rolled to the right, avoiding a follow-up attack, and sprung to my feet.

I blocked another strike with my shield before riposting with my blade, skewering its neck.

Learning from last time, I checked around me for any more Grimm. All I found were seven dissolving ones of various types centered around Pyrrha.

I sheathed my sword before turning to the women we came to the aid of. Just as they came into view, two of them dematerialized, leaving only the center one.

She immediately turned around and tended to the wounded, only to be joined by the rest of us.

As I got to them, I saw that the three people were already dead. One was missing two limbs. Another had a trio of gigantic claw marks running from her left shoulder to her right hip. The last one was almost bit in half.

The girl was shock still, her friend's blood covering her hands. I looked at Ren, who solemnly shook his head for the second time today.

"…Why?" She said in an oddly calm voice. "W- Why can't I… Why c- can't I protect everyone?"

I paused for a moment, trying to think of something I could say. I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

She looked at us, her eyes on the verge of bursting into tears. "I- It is m- my d- douleia."

Ren and Nora's eyes both widened before both moved in to comfort her. "You don't need to think about that anymore." Nora said. "No one is your master here."

"N- No… master?" She said. "B- But… they were my masters." She gestured to the dead.

"Hey, hey, hey…" Nora said in a calming tone. "Don't think about them."

"You have a bright future ahead of you." Ren reassured. "One without any masters."

At this point, both Pyrrha and I were extremely confused as to what was going on. "Uhh, guys?"

My teammates looked at each other for a minute before Ren stood up and led us away. Once we were out of earshot, he spoke up. "She is a former slave."

Our eyes widened. "What?! How?!" I shouted as my partner covered her mouth in silent horror.

"She referred to something called a 'Douleia', which, while it does translate to 'Work', or 'Duty', in this context, its implied that it was forced upon her." He explained. "She was likely a warrior slave, meant to protect whatever village she was from."

"…How do you know this?" My partner asked.

The normally stoic man shifted slightly. "Nora and I… Well… We got around a lot before coming to Beacon…" He trailed off. Suddenly, he shook his head as if clearing unwanted thoughts. "We should get back to them. They might need help."

I agreed and, seconds later, we were back. Nora had somehow coaxed the girl out of her stupor, but the girl was now crying into her shoulder.

Nora patted her back reassuringly. "Its okay. Just let it out." This continued on for several minutes before she finally calmed down. "Better?"

She pulled back and gave a shaky nod, her tail still low. "A- A little…"

"Do you go to Beacon?" Another shaky nod. "What's your name?"

"S- Selini Lykos."


/-\ Ruby Rose; Covenant ship Eve of Consecration /-\


I spotted another contact on my motion tracker and whipped around to engage it…

…just in time to see Winter shove her sister out of harm's way.

"AAAAAAGGGHHHH!" She yelled as she collapsed, clutching the stump that was once her right arm.

I sprinted forward, shoulder checking the Elite into a wall and sending a shotgun blast directly into its skull.

"WINTER!" I heard my partner yell in horror as I rushed over to the now-unconscious body of her sister.

I instantly opened up a connection to her suit via my neural lace, bringing up all her vitals, and sighed in relief. "She's gone into shock." I announced. "The blade cauterized the wound, so she's in no immediate danger of, well, anything. But she still needs medical attention."

"She's going to be okay?" My partner asked, her voice full of worry.

I nodded. "Yes. But we'll need someone to carry her until-"

"I'll do it." She said. "She's my sister, and I need to make sure she's safe."

"As noble a gesture as that is, Weiss, I'm gonna suggest that Yang carry her." I said. "No offense, buuuut you're not physically suited for this."

She paused for a moment before marching over to my sister. "If even a single hair on her head is harmed, I'll personally freeze you solid."

I mentally thanked myself for giving them the beta-blocker, as it was probably the only reason why we weren't having an extremely heated argument at this time.

Yang nodded. "Understood." She said before picking up Winter with a fireman's carry.

"Ready?" I asked, receiving a nod. "I've got point. I want Weiss behind me, then Yang, and Blake is bringing up the rear." I ordered. "Keep your eyes peeled! Let's roll!" I said before taking off.

Just as we rounded a corner, we were presented with a mounted turret. "Suppressing fire!" I ordered, charging forward as my teammates dove behind cover.

I dodged left and right, avoiding plasmafire, as I sprinted towards my target; my shotgun pumping the entire time. By the time I reached my destination, a mountain of Covenant corpses had accumulated behind me.

With bullets at my back and plasma at my front, I leaped upwards onto the platform containing the turret, kicking an unfortunate Grunt off his post. Still midair, I grabbed the turret itself, my momentum tearing it free.

I quickly burst into rose petals, using it to arrest my momentum and nothing else, just before turning the now-dismounted turret on its creators.

"Advance!" I ordered as the enemy were distracted. The Covenant fell in droves as a combination of 7.62, 9.5, and plasma bolts tore through their ranks. "We don't have much time left!" I announced. "They definitely know we're here now," I said, dropping the last covvie with the remainder of my plasma bolts. "let's sprint this!" I threw away the now-useless turret and jogged, by my standards, down the corridor.

My shotgun pumped relentlessly, weakening or outright killing the stronger enemies, while behind me, my teammates finished them off. Weiss had forgone any sort of accuracy whatsoever and was now spraying three-round bursts into anything that moved. Yang was one-handing Winter's assault rifle, downing enemy after enemy. Blake was aiming ahead of our group, headshotting Grunts or hitting the unshielded hands of Jackals.

Wherever we went, bodies piled up, and soon we were at the engine room. "Alice, escape options?" I asked.

I felt her give a mental shrug. "There's an escape pod bay a few hundred meters away. Other than that, not much on foot."

"Alright. Can you overload the reactor?"

"Hmph, can I?"

I blinked, not picking up on her sarcasm. "Can y-"

"Duh, of course I can!" She practically yelled into our comms as I withdrew my knife from the last enemy in the room. "Yank me."

I did as instructed and inserted her chip into the covvie's computers. A hologram depicting her ancient admiral avatar appeared. "Hmm… interesting…" She said.

I raised my eyebrow under my helmet. "What is it?"

"It would appear they have found what they refer to be an 'Oracle', and have stored it near the main hold."

"So? What's that got to do with nuking this place and leaving?" I asked.

"Well, besides its religious significance to the Covenant, it appears that this 'Oracle' is of Forerunner design."

"…You have my attention." I said, my inner spook winning over common sense. "Any feasible way to get there besides walking?"

Suddenly, a door opened, causing us all to point our guns at it…

…only to see two Spectres parked in a small room, unused. "Well, there's these."

"How far away is the target?" I asked.

"Approximately… two kilometers as the crow flies, nearly three if you account for everything."

I nodded. "Set the timer for ten minutes." I said before turning to my team. "Everyone load into one of the Spectres, I'm driving."

"Timer set, Lieutenant." She said.

"Good." I put her back into my helmet. "Let's rock."

"Uhh, Ruby?" My sister said. "There's only three other spots…"

"Heh, well, Winter's gonna sit on Weiss's lap, then." I could tell she would object to that, so I cut her off with a wave of my hand. "Unless someone knows how to pilot a Covenant Spectre, that is." It was silent. "That's what I thought, now mount up! We're on a tight schedule!"

Only seconds later, we sped out through new sections of hallways, covvies shooting at us the entire time. Blake manned the turret, spraying down any enemies that were in hard to reach places. Yang and, to a lesser extent, Weiss were sat in the passenger pods, shooting enemies with their rifles. Occasionally, a covvie would be stupid enough to get in my way. Said covvie would soon be a multi-colored splatter on the proverbial windshield seconds later.

A few enemy plasma bolts found their marks, mainly on Blake and myself, but a few came dangerously close to hitting the still-unconscious Winter. Any time a stray bolt would impact one of my teammates, they'd yelp in pain, as, while aura protected us from damage, it did not mitigate pain in any way.

After only a minute and a half, we were nearing our destination. "Alice, got any new ways out?" I asked in preparation.

"Yeah, I'll highlight the closest one after you retrieve the 'Oracle'."

"Good." I said, nodding, just as we burst through the archway separating the hallways from the main hold.

To say it was massive was an understatement. Were it not for me knowing how large a CCS-class battlecruiser actually was, I'd probably agree with Winter's earlier statement on how one could fit inside this ship.

Fortunately for us, the 'Oracle' was easy to spot, as the Covenant had erected a makeshift shrine around a pedestal where a silver metallic ball sat. By the looks of things, we had interrupted a sermon of some kind, as a Prophet currently had its hands in the air and its head thrown back while chanting something.

Over a hundred covvies sat around the temple in a semicircle, and it was just too much to resist hitting the boost and running over as many as I could.

"Weiss! Propulsion glyph on the Oracle!" I ordered.

"Done!" She announced as it practically flew into her hands.

Suddenly, a door opened…

…Revealing a fully armed and operational Scarab. "Alice! Exit, now!"

"There!" She practically shouted as a waypoint appeared on my HUD. "You have five minutes to reach that pod bay!"

I didn't need to be told twice, and I hit the boost just in time to dodge a stream of green plasma from the ultra-heavy assault platform.

Blake rained fire on our pursuer, but it was pointless. "Blake! Target the infantry! That armor's too heavy for whatcha got!" I swerved as yet another stream of plasma washed over our position, only missing us by inches.

Just as I turned my head forward again, I noticed a stream of green plasma coming towards us from the front as well. "HANG ON!" I yelled and swerved, making most of them miss. Keyword being most.

The vehicle spun and rolled, tossing us out of it.

I took it in stride and landed in a roll, my sister not far behind, but the rest of the team were either unconscious or dazed. "Yang! Grab Blake and the Oracle!" I yelled as I threw both Weiss and Winter onto each shoulder.

"Uuughhh… what's…" My partner started. "What's going on?"

"Hang in there, Weiss! We're getting out of here!" I yelled, sidestepping the four Hunters that had caused us to crash in the first place.

We dodged, weaved, slid, jumped, and dove away from plasma beam after plasma beam, desperately trying to reach our objective. "We're cutting it close!" Alice shouted in my head just as we neared the pod bay doors…

…only to notice they were closing.

It was then that I figured out we wouldn't make it. Not without a semblance, anyway.

I threw every fiber of my being into my semblance, dragging the Schnee sisters with me. The moment I reached the door, I threw them through. Not even stopping to see if they landed alright, I turned around and dashed towards my sister and repeated the process.

We dove through just in time to not get caught by the door. Just as I thought I had a second to relax, the on-screen timer I had set hit thirty seconds.

I shot up and grabbed everyone at once, who were all unresponsive for one reason or another, and shoved both them and the Oracle into a multi-occupant drop pod.

The second we were all inside, I hit the 'Launch' button so hard, the hardlight screen cracked.

Not a moment later, we were clear of the ship. Just as I was about to sigh in relief, an alternate screen showed that the front portion of the ship had detached itself.

As the back half exploded, and I was formulating a plan to deal with the front half, it suddenly opened a slipspace portal and jumped away.

I stood shock still, being the only one able to process it, before finally settling on collapsing in exhaustion.

"…Let's never do that again…" I muttered to myself before letting aura-exhaustion overtake me.


(A/N) …Dear god, this chapter was a fucking monster. Just shy of 16k words for just the story portion!

For anyone wondering how the Road Paved With Red ended up, only a few covvie dropships were able to respond and were dealt with easily by the marines and ODSTs, plus the Bjørnssønner and _T_Q helped too. I didn't include it because nothing plot-related really happened and there was more than enough action already this chapter.

So yea, the Atlesian fleet got smeared all over the place. They had solid tactics, its just that a single CCS-class has almost the same firepower as two CPV-class destroyers and at least as much shield strength. Plus, their dreadnoughts were taken out extremely early in the engagement.

Onto the Pre-Great War battleship that kinda saved Weiss when she was evacuating the city. Its inspired by the Lord Nelson-class Pre-dreadnought battleships, of which there were two built around the turn of the century by The United Kingdom. They are each named after the ship's builders, the Beardmore is named for the builders of HMS Agamemnon (William Beardmore and Company, Dalmuir) and the Palmer is named after Palmer Shipbuilding and Iron Co (Jarrow, England), the builders of HMS Lord Nelson (Not Spartan Palmer). If you look up images of the class, you can get a pretty good idea of what the ship I'm mentioning looked like.

So, Selini being a former slave. Originally, I didn't plan on her being that, but the idea came when I was looking up translations for the random Greek words she splices in. I forget the exact English keyword I used, but eventually I came upon 'Douleia' for the translation. Interestingly enough, it also means 'Slavery' according to google translate. Up until then, I had only pictured her as a shy, sheltered, but extremely honor-bound girl struggling to adapt to Beacon. After that, though, everything kinda fit into place. She hadn't heard of the WF because her previous masters didn't allow her to receive news from the outside world. She was shy around humans specifically because she was oppressed due to her race. Faunus were her only friends, thus she's comfortable around Blake. The list goes on and on. In fact, I even had a little side plot planned for her where Weiss would help her learn to read, thus lessening her own racism, but I cut it for time. Also, lesser known fact, but slavery in ancient Greco-Roman society was extremely commonplace. Like, more common than the pre-civil war American South. Since Southern Mistrali society is, in my opinion, based on said Greco-Roman culture, Selini's unfortunate circumstances make sense within the lore. Also keep in mind that, although they don't really touch on it in the show, Remnant's probably a severely fucked up world, with the man-eating monsters running around and whatnot.

Dear god, the assault carrier sequence was hard to write. I actually spent most of my time working on that specific sequence in comparison to the rest of the chapter. Also, the time where Winter loses her arm is inspired by something that happened to me during Halo CE while researching covvie ships. Goddamn golden Elite decided to drop down from the ceiling and slice me open with his energy sword, the cheeky bastard.

In case anyone was wondering, Atlas has been, for all intents and purposes, glassed and overrun by grimm. It will not be resettled in the near future. Also, yes, Ironwood's daughter is the Winter Maiden.

I haven't really nailed down Alice's personality yet, its one of the many things I'll have to think about during the hiatus… which starts now, btw.

That's all I can think of for now, so… ON TO THE REVIEWS!

Vesper722 – Yea… I wouldn't go chanting for the Schnee Empire for too long, lol. You'll see why in a volume or two.

Irdchief - For future reference to anyone reading this, time isn't linear between universes. I haven't found a way to include it in the actual fic yet, but 1 second in the RWBYverse =/= 1 second in the Haloverse and vice versa. In fact, the value constantly changes every arbitrary amount of time in universe. I've done this so I don't need to be as careful with how long things take in one universe if I want certain characters from one fic/universe (cough cough ASH cough cough) to influence other universes.

Shadow Walker of Fire – Yes there will be shipping, but they'll take a backseat to the main plot. There is a reason why I'm including shipping, but that reason is so far down the road that it won't have any effect on any near-future events. I've already decided which ships will be in this fic, though.

Guest 001 – Yea… sorry about FoR… This fic plus reading has just taken up all my free time. I'm actually writing this at about 1:30am atm, lol. Yea, they very much found what they were looking for. Space is big. Like… really big… Going by conventional methods, Ruby shouldn't've even been back when she was. It would've been possibly a day or more for the distances she traveled.

Psp reader – Yea, thankfully, the allies arrived before more harm could be done.

Raw666 – Who said the covvies would give them a break? They sent quote 'multiple CCS-class battlegroups make it three cruisers per group' after the Pillar of Autumn. If they can spare That kind of manpower, I'd say they even went a little light on the UNSC here.

Red october700 – Yea, sorry for the long wait. I don't watch that much RvB anymore, but I thought it would be a funny thing to kinda lighten the 'world is ending, kill aliens' mood that had been present for the last few chapters. I like to think I succeeded. I wasn't planning on adding the Blues any time… well… at all… though that may change in the far future.

There's a lot here, so I'm gonna use multiple paragraphs. Yea, people will definitely see Weiss in a new light… either for better or worse; depending if they believe in conspiracy theories or not. Yea, radicals on both sides of, well, every conflict are gonna use this as a means to blame the other group. We've done far worse for far less on Earth, after all.

I haven't decided on Sienna's true reaction yet, though you're right. It'll definitely be more tempered than Adam's. The way I see Ilia's reaction to anything anyone says that disagrees with her is that she just blows them off. I mean, her literal senpai was only barely able to change her mind in cannon… and that's after Ilia sold her out.

You're completely right about Adam being a product of Sienna and Ghira's feud. One of them should've said something like 'Hey, shit happens in a warzone. Try not to kill people, but thanks for saving one of our lives.' That would've diffused his fall, or at least delayed it a bit.

You weren't rambling, its actually kinda fun to read fan's interpretations of everything. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong, but it's always entertaining.

RedShirt1453 – Yea… probably could've worded that better, oh well. While faunus are superior to humans, I'd think that Ruby would view faunus as humans, or at least a subspecies. Not all Spartans are emotionless Space Marines, take Jorge for example. Sure, Ruby would by far be the most empathetic, but I made her that way because of her static-ness (if that's a word) in the show. Also, you can see the Spartan program's influence on her. For instance, she kills without hesitation or mercy if she deems it necessary or justified. Yang and Ruby will be getting a bit more interaction in the following volume. Thanks for the review!

LtRainbowSlash - …Huh… I always assumed it was .50, given that it's the standard high-caliber round of snipers everywhere. Guess its another thing to correct during the hiatus, lol. Thanks for pointing that out.

Dovah117 – She wasn't intended to be the John Connor of Remnant, but she's kinda heading that way, isn't she. MC will not be making an appearance in this fic. The Vytal Festival will happen… …though it'll be quite obvious when Atlas doesn't attend.

Helljumper206 – When I wrote that chapter, I didn't really have any actual intention of writing FoR, so I pretty much just ended up summarizing what happened during that time. Think of it as cannon only if you don't want to read that (sad, neglected) fic.

Trninjakiller – I never took cannon Ruby as an erudite person, which transferred over to this fic. Even so, she has at least a basic grasp of how fusion works… although she might not get hardly any of the actual terms right.

Aaaand that's all, folks! Volume One is finally done! So, now the hiatus begins. It'll last until A Summer's Harvest is over, at which point, I'll release a character short roughly one week before V2CH1 is posted. Although, I already have the name picked out. 'Keep Moving Forward' I think is a fitting title.

Also, sometime next week I'll post a short epilogue containing the review responses for this chapter, seeing as it'll be a while before the next regular chapter airs. See ya guys then!