Pirate King Ray – I agree that the show Adam went in that direction and the end result in my version is likely be the same. However, I want to see if it is plausible to show him trying to be a better man and that it was the events on the train which sent him over the edge.

Merendinoemiliano – Showing that different characters have different agendas and that from their point of view they are valid is one of the things which I want to do with my fanfiction.

General James Ironwood was contemplating his next move. He had hoped that sending Winter to Vacuo would result in a few small tactical victories which would solidify his control of the military and marginalise the power of the faction in the military consisting of the younger children of the financial and social elites. He had certainly hoped that it would make clear that Winter's allegiance was to him and not the SDC. However, he saw a chance now for a strategic victory in relation to Atlas politics generally and in particular allowing him to take de facto control of the council.

As General in command of Atlas's forces he held one council seat and as headmaster of the Academy he held a second seat. However, he was in effect counterbalanced by John Marigold who ran Atlas Gold and George Campion who was of the old aristocracy. They were traditional allies of each other and had supported him taking on the headmastership as they had perceived him as sharing their goals. However, they now clearly regretted that decision. They were reluctant to increase military spending and thought preserving the wealth and power of the elites was the true role of the council. In truth he considered that they had fooled themselves. While tradition and business were integral parts of Atlas's greatness and he was happy to acknowledge that, they did not trump all other considerations.

The two remaining seats were held by William Sleet and Jill Camilla. In their eyes, both were moderate reformers with Sleet being more concerned about Mantle and social inequality and Carmilla focusing on social freedom. Sleet more often sided with Ironwood against Marigold and Campion but did not believe in increasing the power of the military. Camilla's support of freedom made her suspicious of Ironwood, but she despised Marigold. He suspected that she and Sleet had formed a pact to prevent either Marigold or Ironwood dominating Atlas. While he thought that they were both woolly thinkers, they were basically honest and while enjoying the trappings of power and flattery were not looking to enrich themselves.

Sleet had been pushing for the people of Mantle to be given an elected seat on the council which would have the side effect of breaking the deadlock on the council. So far the point had not been decided. Marigold had refused to contemplate it unless Ironwood gave up the council seat he was entitled to by virtue of being headmaster. He fundamentally considered that the council should only make changes if there was a majority of two votes. Campion objected to the change ostensibly on the same grounds, but in reality because he was against giving the poor and uneducated a direct say in government. Ironwood had said that he would only agree to removing the seat reserved for the headmaster if the seats that Marigold and Campion held were merged so only one seat reserved for the Atlas elite but knew that this offer would not be accepted. Camilla although supporting the proposal believed that the change was so fundamental that unless it had the support of five members of the council it should not be taken forward.

The opportunity arose out of the attempt to kill Parsifal campion. The interrogation team had already spent ten hours with the Vacuoan criminal who had for 100,000 lien and a new identity revealed all he knew about the multi-kingdoms' involvement in the attempted assassination and the use of criminal gangs by the multi-kingdoms in Vacuo. Clover had been ordered to offer the local CEO and head of security at Atlas Gold a plea bargain in exchange for exposing the rest of the conspiracy. If as he suspected more of the multi-kingdoms were involved then the rest of the council would unite against Marigold. Certainly, Sleet and Camilla would be horrified. He was looking forward to seeing the effect on the previously staunch alliance between Marigold and Campion of hearing that Atlas Gold had conspired to kill Campion's brother. The brothers may disagree on every fundamental issue imaginable, but family was family. It also would not help that Campion's younger son had clearly been perceived as acceptable collateral damage. While he had little doubt in his own mind that Marigold knew nothing about the plan, Marigold did like to boast about how his subordinates knew what he wanted done without asking him and how good a judge of character he was.

At the next council meeting they were set to discuss the complaints of the multi-kingdoms concerning the recent inspection in Vacuo at the De Lagers mine. Initially the multi-kingdom chiefs including Marigold had been happy to let Jacques stew in his own grease, until Jacques apparently informed them that their Vacuoan subsidiaries had copied virtually everything the SDC had done, only incompetently. He was sure Marigold was going to demand that the investigations be paused, and the multi-kingdoms given a chance to put their house in order and that Campion would support the move.

However, Ironwood was certain that he could block it without playing his ace in the hole concerning the assassination attempt. Sleet, who belonged to the same ideological faction as Parsifal Campion, had clearly been given a heads up that he should press for a full investigation and he was due in an hour to discuss tactics with Ironwood. Sleet could persuade Camilla that they should see what the evidence showed before making any decision on squashing or delaying the investigation. If she showed signs of wavering he had the photos which Winter had sent of what had happened to certain of the workers and a sheet comparing the prices at the SDC company store with the prices for the same goods in Atlas and the base in Vacuo. While Camilla believed in freedom, she also believed in responsibility and that people should do as they would be done by. Failing which a split vote would allow the investigation to continue.

He wished that others would understand what he did. That humanity was involved in a constant war with not only Grimm but a powerful immortal force who could influence the Grimm. Humanity's main aim was survival, it needed to be strong and united to survive and Atlas was the strongest kingdom and needed to lead the defence of humanity. He understood why Ozpin restricted the knowledge of the existence of Salem and his own powers to a select few. He respected Ozpin but felt that he lacked focus. He had too many secondary goals which deflected him from strengthening humanity.

He had used his original alliance with Marigold and George Campion to become general and then headmaster. He had then split with them and hoped to rid himself of one and preferably both in the next few months. Sleet, Parsifal Campion, and their fellow travellers would be useful allies for the time being but were fundamentally weak. They wanted to ensure the happiness of the greatest number and would make too many compromises to protect humanity properly. Still to secure their political support he would insist that the multi-kingdoms complied with the rules in the future and that the investigations would go ahead. He understood their view that history taught them that Atlas needed to balance all parts of its heritage and that every so often it was necessary to rebalance the emphasis. Indeed, if it had not been for what Ozpin had revealed to him, it might have supported them and merely argued about the exact balance while accepting the principle. Oddly enough despite their desire to do good, people found Sleet a cold fish and Parsifal Campion's sense of noblesse oblige embarrassed the elite and he was kept far away from Atlas.

He had already pencilled in Winter's promotion on her return. He would recommend to Ozpin that she be brought into the loop and she could deputise for him in face-to-face meetings with Lionheart and Qrow. Lieutenant Amin would be placed on the fast track with a view to promoting him into the Ace-Ops in two years. He would need to talk to Winter about Major Magenta. His inclination was to keep him in Vacuo, promote him to colonel but appoint a colonel with more seniority from headquarters to replace Colonel White. There were a few people with seniority whose loyalty to him was suspect and promoting them out of the way made sense. He also wanted to use not putting Magenta in charge as a negotiating chip which he could give up in return for increasing his power to run the military without hindrance or oversight. He wished to bring the inspectorate under the control of the military and that would be part of the price for eventually agreeing to a cover up.

Ironwood decided that he needed to think further about the young Lynx Faunus who had brought the informant in and helped save Ambassador Campion's life. His view was that good service should be rewarded but felt uneasy about having anyone at a senior level in the Atlas military who was not a citizen by birth. His antecedents were unclear and the suspicion that he was the love child of a member of the Atlas elite and a Faunus suggested that there would be limits to his loyalty. There were a few possibilities he had in mind and he did recall that Magenta had pressed for creating a local regiment in Vacuo for service there. The Lynx Faunus could be a possible officer. Alternatively, he could be enrolled on the mustang programme. Ironwood would have to decide whether it would be better for him to attend Atlas or Vale. Clearly Mistral was out of the question.

It had been part of the price for Marigold's support in awarding him the headmastership and thus the second council seat that he had supported taking a hard line against the demands of the White Fang. Humiliating the Belladonnas had been a difficult call. In the short term it had secured his second council seat and in retrospect he had too easily allowed himself to be persuaded that the analysis that infighting within the White Fang would collapse was the right one. Ghira had lasted a year and had eventually handed over power to Sienna Khan in a civilised way. She had also allowed him to live and paid him a handsome tribute in public. He now believed that it was too late to negotiate a deal which would be acceptable to both sides and that inevitably the fight would intensify. Too many Faunus had good reason to hate Mistral and Atlas and too many humans in Mantle were too poor to easily accept Faunus being given practical economic equality. He looked at the photographs from the De Lagers mine and grimaced. If he were a Faunus and did not know about Salem, he would have joined the White Fang and pressed for an escalation of the struggle.

The best they could achieve with the Faunus was to limit those who joined the White Fang. This needed a mix of stick and carrot. He would avoid too heady rhetoric, but perhaps Ozpin and Oobleck could suggest a formula which could suggest gradual change and a removal of the unnecessary humiliations. The other need was to crush its organisation in Mantle. He wondered whether the secret service could infiltrate the White Fang. Precious attempts to do so had been failures. The spies tended not to last long before been found out and had not progressed far up the organisation.

He thought about Jacques Schnee. He would need to speak to him again soon. However, he wished to delay until he had evidence one way or the other about the SDC's involvement with the assassination attempt. Still the SDC was the largest of the multi-kingdoms and ensuring that Atlas had access to the best quality dust was crucial. Certainly, it was in Atlas's interests to avoid giving Mistral or Vale an excuse to nationalise the SDC's operations in their kingdoms.

/-/

Adam was sitting down with Ronald Rouge, his second in command, and Bruno Brown who was one of his oldest comrades. Blake was by his side and wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He grimaced to himself remembering her gasp of pain when he squeezed too hard.

He said, "I have decided that we will target the Rising Sun mine. The advantages are that it is remote and thus military aid will take a long time to reach it. We will thus have the time to maximise the damage. The intelligence which Ilia and Julie recovered suggests that they have recently discovered a rich seam so it will cause the most potential damage to the SDC. A third advantage is that it is not too far from the border with Vale."

He paused, "Our leader Sienna Khan has ordered me not to participate in the attack. This will be a major escalation of our campaign and she wishes to ensure that it can be portrayed as primarily an economic attack. She is concerned that because of my past history with the SDC that I would have problems controlling my anger. While we all know that the Atlas authorities will present a stubbed toe as an atrocity, her commands should be obeyed. I do anticipate that you will meet with resistance. The security at the mine is handled by the Mohawk tribe. They are tough fighters and have a certain professionality. You should assume that they will not surrender unless their position is helpless. Thus, there will be casualties and I want you to ensure that as few as possible are suffered by us. That is why surprise is of the essence. Three supply ships are due in three days which will drop off supplies and then collect dust from the mine for delivery. They will stop at a refuelling site 400 miles from the mine to collect workers and as well as refuel. The refuelling site is 300 miles from here. It has a minimal guard, and it is proposed that we take it over the night before. If we can avoid casualties at this point we should do so. The site is manned by Vacuoans and there is no reason to believe that they are personally responsible for any ill treatment of our brothers and sisters. They are of course complicit so if they are slightly damaged then no tears will be shed. There is of course a risk that the raid will fail at this point. However, this is unlikely. The crew members generally take an opportunity to stretch their legs and in any event need to sign the dockets recording the amount of fuel taken on board. In addition, each ship should arrive separately at ten-minute intervals. Besides which we do have a history of hi-jacking cargoes without harming pilots who co-operate, and it is likely that they will surrender rather than try and escape particularly if we have captured the engineers and/or co-pilots."

Rouge asked, "How many guards will there be at the mine?"

"There should be eight above the surface and another twenty underground. If we capture those above aground and the management team, it is anticipated that those below ground will surrender. If they refuse then we will threaten to brand and then kill any prisoners who have been captured. While the Mohawks are conscientious, they are not suicidal or particularly sadistic. If we do need to brand people we will start with the mine manager cheeks and if they still refuse to surrender kill him. If we are fortunate then we can keep gunfire to a minimum and sound the evacuation alarm so that all the miners, mine personnel and security guards will vacate the mine of their own volition. If the guards emerge piecemeal it should be easy to take prisoners at that point without having to shoot them."

Adam paused and said, "Think about the plan and test it for flaws and consider whether we can improve it. Our colleagues are investigating obtaining additional SDC transportation staff uniforms."

Ronald and Bruno saluted and left together discussing the plan. There would be up to forty comrades and the arms shipments from the Branwen tribe had arrived on time and had been in good condition. Raven Branwen was a pain to negotiate with but had a reputation of making good on her promises as well as her threats. With luck they will be able to collect enough dust from the raid to recoup the costs and with luck make a small profit. The Albains had set up a system whereby stolen property could be sold through shops in Menagerie at a competitive price and everyone involved was incentivised not to draw too much attention to the provenance of the goods.

He felt Blake's head resting under his shoulder and smiled to himself. It was good to have someone to hold and who he trusted and cared for. She said, "I think you speak to Julie and Ilia again. Something odd is happening in Vacuo at the moment."

He turned to her "Does it impact on the mission, my dear?"

"It may be as well to consider if it does. The more I think about her description of waiting for the pervert to turn up the more puzzled I am."

"Flirting with a Faunus working for the Atlas military did seem to be taking an unnecessary risk."

"A Faunus with a posh Atlesian accent and wearing a dinner suit did not immediately cry out Atlas military. As Ilia and Julie describe things, it was a reasonable call to avoid hassle. However, the fact he just wanted cover as well and did not make a pass was odd. That bar fight, his quick exit and the arrival of ten armed men just afterwards suggests something was happening."

She squeezed his hand, "It was clearly the right thing to do to have most of us leave Vacuo City. However, she and Perry spent an extra two days there and they have picked up some rumours."

"What are they?"

"A crack set of Atlas Specialists are in town, some high-ranking government officials are staying in the main hotel and are being protected by Atlas soldiers, all the Atlas multi-kingdoms are working late, and Grimm incursions are the worst that anyone can remember."

Adam looked into her eyes. "So, everyone in Vacuo is on edge? Trying to find out why risks drawing attention to us. Anyway, we will be hundreds of miles away when the attack happens."

"You know that stuff which Beige insisted on talking to Julie and Ilia about. I had a look at the files they downloaded from his computer. Dear, could you let go of me before I continue."

Adam removed his arm and smiled at her, while wondering what she had to say.

She continued, "It sounds like the SDC is having to defend its store prices and it appears that he is the person responsible for devising and defending them. He also had a paper defending the treatment of miners as independent contractors and detailing the advantages for the SDC. It sounds from what Julie and Ilia can remember that he had persuaded the authorities that they cannot challenge the prices as the law stands."

Adam clenched his fists. Blake had been right to ask him to stop holding her. He remembered back eight years and the anger amongst the workers when prices at the company store had increased by 50% and they were told that they had to buy their own safety equipment. That had started the chain of events which had led to the death of his parents, the mutilation of him and others, and his attempted murder.

"So, nothing will be done – same old, same old. The law is that the rich can do what they like to Faunus. No reason to delay the attack as it is not as though the Atlas authorities will do more than give the SDC a smack on the risk. Maybe worth giving the documents to Sienna and the Albains for publication in the Vale and Menagerie press once we get back."

He thought to himself that if Beige was still in town after the raid then Julie and Ilia should definitely arrange to meet him again. Actually, perhaps they should arrange for him to disappear the night before the raid. If was clear to him that even under Sienna's rules of engagement he deserved to die.

/-/

Winter was meeting with Major Magenta and Colonel White. The Colonel had got back from leave two days ago. He had not been happy to discover what had happened in his absence. However, General Ironwood had explicitly ordered him not to intervene and to leave the Major in command of the investigation at the De Lagers mine.

He was looking resigned when the meeting started. "Captain, on balance I thank you for ensuring that I was not around when you decided to set off your explosion. I would have been tempted to defuse it and that would clearly have been the wrong thing to do. The reason for this meeting is to ensure that I wish to explain to you why my actions seemed reasonable at the time.."

"The line that I propose to take and which certainly in my case was true was that the original payments were not made to officers in order to turn a blind eye on inspections. Apologies, bad choice of words." He coloured and wiped his brow.

"When the strikes started, first at the Rising Sun mine and then later at other SDC mines and then the other multi-kingdoms, the amount of negative emotions attracted Grimm in numbers which threatened to overrun the mines. Many officers and men died or were seriously wounded, and others left later because of PTSD. At the time Umber Raddock and the other local managers of the multi-kingdoms came to see me to express his thanks for our help and said that it had come to his attention that the army had decided not to pay the active duty supplement to the men and officers. He said that he understood that this was due to political pressures in Atlas not to draw attention to what was happening here. He said that this seemed to him and the others to be unfair and that they wanted to make ex-gratia payments to the men and officers involved in defending the mines and keeping the peace. They also offered to make lump sum payments to the families of the dead as well as to the seriously wounded. At the time I was irritated that the men were being underpaid and was prepared to accept his offer at face value. I discussed the offer with the Major."

Major Magenta nodded at this.

The Colonel continued, "He distrusted the motives of the local managers and those of Umber Raddock in particular. He also felt that as a matter of principle we should not be paid by outside persons for doing our duty. He felt that it left us open to blackmail and that receiving the extra payments could get to be an addiction. In retrospect he was right. However, at the time we were busy fighting the Grimm and protecting the lives of civilians. The message from headquarters was to do our job and not to double guess the civilian authorities."

Major Magenta added, "The colonel is being unfair to himself. There are good arguments for the military not intervening in areas which are outside of its expertise or telling the civilian authorities how to do their job. I am certainly not competent to rum a mine. The then Ambassador made it clear to us that at most we should raise concerns with the inspectors and the trade attaché and leave it to them to investigate. When we did raise issues, we were told that they had been investigated and found to be unfounded. We also received messages from headquarters to stop wasting people's time and that the council was complaining about us interfering in things which did not concern us."

The Colonel continued, "I was told to do my job and stop complaining. That if we did not get our act together the major and I would be replaced."

Major Magenta said, "The rumour mill was that Colonel Cordovin was being lined up to replace the Colonel. Neither of us wanted to risk a repeat of Ambershah."

Winter winced. She could imagine Cordovin ordering her troops to open fire on striking miners.

She said, "But the payments continued after things returned to normal?"

The colonel replied, "Things never really returned to the old normal. They got less hectic, but the numbers of Grimm near the mines is still significantly higher than it was 10 years ago. We also had a real problem with retention and recruitment. Lieutenants did their twelve or twenty-four months and wanted to leave. When they got back to Atlas, they did not encourage others to spend time here."

The Major looked up, "Married soldiers do want to bring their spouses out here and certainly do not want to educate their children here. Even without the Grimm, the animals and insects are dangerous. When you add to that the fact that the weather and terrain behaves as though it is trying to kill us, volunteers are rare."

Colonel White said, "Few officers with any connections seek a posting here and those with connections generally try to reverse a decision to send them here. Our best secondees are those who feel that they have something to prove. Once officers are posted here, some like the Major here, decide that they love the desert. Others find spouses here and decide to stay on. The additional payments do motivate some officers to accept the posting and others agree to extend their posting because of them."

Winter said, "I certainly did not know about them."

The Major said, "Word of mouth. Young officers when offered a posting here will go and speak to older officers who they know served time here. It is seen as an unofficial, but accepted, perk of the job."

He handed Winter a file. "I handed a copy of this to the APMs yesterday. It demonstrates that senior people at headquarters knew about the payments in broad outline. You will note that the discussion is guarded, but in effect the message we received was that headquarters would not investigate the payments provided that the officers did not talk about it. In addition, we corresponded with the tax authorities."

The Colonel nodded, "I have always declared the payments. We also have a formal ruling that hospitality is not taxable." He checked the time and said, "My meeting with APM Primrose starts in five minutes" Magenta handed him another copy of the file with some of the pages flagged and the Colonel left the office.

The Major stared at Winter for a few seconds. "Do you have any further questions, Captain?"

"Why did you refuse to accept payment?"

"Did not trust the people making the payments. Optics were wrong and Raddock was really pushing his semblance when he tried to persuade me to accept them. Even if there was not a formal quid pro quo, it did result in some of the officers getting a little too close to the multi-kingdoms and more prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt. I also felt it best to protect the other officers if the person in charge of deciding which mines were inspected on a given day was not receiving payments himself. I also did reduce the amount of warning mines receive of a visit to four hours from twenty-four to allow them less time to hide any wrongdoing. I believe that you found that useful on the inspection when you spotted who had been sent into the mines on a second shift. I persuaded the Colonel to talk to the tax office and we do tell officers that while entertainment is not taxable, any cash payments must be declared to the tax man."

He paused and said, "In reality, I think that the socialising with the multi-kingdoms on a regular basis is more pernicious in ensuring that officers see their duties in terms of safeguarding commercial interests. The other feature which makes me uneasy is how many officers join the multi-kingdoms at the end of their stint."

He looked at her, "One thing which you should bear in mind that the colonel did not seek to remove me or have me posted back to headquarters and has been pushing me as his successor. He agreed that having the officer in charge of day-to-day operational matters not receiving money would lessen the damage if I were correct and the multi-kingdoms were preparing themselves for a mud slinging contest."

He looked at Winter and must have seen something which encouraged him to continue and said, "Captain, there were three arguments which Raddock made which the Colonel found particularly persuasive. The first was that the multi-kingdoms contribution to the costs of the garrison increased from 20-25%, but none of the money seemed to be reflected in improved facilities for the troops. He offered to persuade the other multi-kingdoms to join with the SDC in funding improvements to the facilities on the base. That made him more receptive to the argument that as Grimm activity had not returned to normal, ex gratia payments continued to be justified. The second was that the payments had already been made to so many officers that there was no way that all of them could be court martialled and that the longer the payments continue the truer it became." He paused.

Winter said, "And the other argument?"

"Raddock and the others said the SDC, and the other multi-kingdoms enjoyed the benefits of having defeated the strikes and implementing the efficiencies, he and the other managers had received increases in pay and bonuses. He said it seemed only fair that the military shared in the increased prosperity. He then pointed out that General Ironwood still enjoyed the benefit of his second council seat. Obviously knowing the general as we now do the implication of a connection was unjustified, but the other council members clearly were grateful for the role the military played in crushing the strikes and his support in outlawing the White Fang."

Winter then asked, "The mutilations. Why were they ignored?"

"Everyone wanted to believe Raddock when he blamed the three we found on over enthusiastic and over stressed personnel who had been attacked by Faunus and who had since left the employ of the SDC or died. He also claimed that they only happened after a fair hearing and complied with Vacuoan law, but that safeguards were being put in place to prevent it happening in the future. The decision was made by the then Ambassador and was seconded by the Council that we should rely on the SDC internal investigation led by their lawyers and the implied promise not to do it again and if they did not to use a brand with the company initials on it. This was a relief to all of us as we could not see how any public investigation could benefit Atlas. Well almost everyone. Captain Martin Marigold did not and was discharged from the service on psychiatric grounds before he could resign his commission. Is it any surprise that the Colonel and I did not put our heads above the parapet? Good day, Captain."

After the Major left the room, humming an old tune, Winter thought about the messages that she had been sent. First, the Major was almost certainly right that too many people were implicated for disciplinary action to be taken against all recipients. The Colonel was so close to retirement that there would be no point in prosecuting him especially as it looked like the Major had had covered the Colonel's back just enough to make it easy for the APMs to say that a prosecution would fail. She also saw that he was hinting that if they scapegoated him or the Colonel then he would have a file somewhere showing what had happened to officers who tried rocking the boat and telling them to shut the frack up. She wondered whether she should seek out Lieutenant Marigold. On returning to Atlas, she had joined Robyn Hill's political organisation and started the process which had resulted in becoming a happy huntress.

She accepted that little good would be served by telling the truth to the world. However, she would do what she could to weight the scales in favour of dealing with the systemic problems from within. She then realised the song the major had been humming dated back to the great war. It was a song associated with the lower ranks. In a film from 10 years ago made in Vale it had been illustrated by a scene of Atlas specialists jumping over each other backs watching by a cynical set of privates and NCOs. She recalled that the chorus went "They were only playing leapfrog."

She heard her door opened without the courtesy of a knock. She turned to admonish the intruder to be greeted by a mocking tone, "It is good to see you too, Ice Queen."

"What are you doing here and how did you get in?"

"Ozpin sent me, and your security is rubbish."

"Hunter Branwen do sit down and get to the point."

"Dr. Oobleck has picked up rumours that the White Fang is planning something in Vacuo." He tossed a photo on the table showing a young Bull Faunus with a scarred eye. "This young man is all grown up now and really hates Atlas and the SDC. He is known to have been seen passing through Vale on the way to the border with vacuo. Oobleck and Ozpin think they may be planning a kidnap or an assassination attempt on you."

He sipped from his flask, "Someone reported that they had been requested to make a set of branding irons with WF on them."

The film referenced above is "Oh what a lovely war" which was made in the 1960s and directed by Richard Attenborough (probably best remembered now for the first Jurassic Park, but in his time a talented actor and director).