Lieutenant Amin had finished a Grimm observation patrol in the vicinity of Vacuo. While Shade Academy primarily dealt with the defence of the city the Atlas military undertook periodic aerial observations and would let Professor Rumpole and Professor Theodore if there were signs of Grimm concentrating. The last week had showed a steady increase in Grimm numbers, particularly near the Atlesian quarter. This was the area where the Atlesian and Mistralian employees of the multi-kingdoms tended to live. It had been pleasant doing something normal. He arrived back to find RSM Ebi waiting for him. The RSM saluted and said, "The Major wishes to see you in his office right away, sir."

They saluted each other and Marrow set off to the office. He found not only the Major there, but Mr Corkran. The Major said, "I trust the mission was satisfactory, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir. We have reported to Professor Theodore. He did suggest that as it seems to be Atlesian angst fuelling the Grimm, he would have no objection to us carrying out some patrols near that part of the city."

The Major laughed wryly. "I will talk to him soon. Anyway, that was not the reason for calling you in. Ask the Sergeant to file the formal report and change into smart civilian clothes. You and Mr. Corkran have a mission of alcoholic mercy tonight. Lieutenant Beamish has returned from the De Lagers mine and needs some friends to listen to him. Mr Corkran will explain on the way into Vacuo."

Within thirty minutes he was on his way to Vacuo with the scout by his side, each carrying an overnight bag.

Marrow said, "The Major said that you would explain why we have been ordered to spend a night on the town?"

The scout said, "Yes, sir. It is another unexpected spin off from the recent kerfuffle. Lieutenant Beamish and Captain Schnee's visit t' the De Lagers mine seems t' have had the same effect as dropping a grenade into a sewage works. Lieutenant Beamish has had the misfortune to have had t' stay behind to see what lurked beneath the surface."

Marrow nodded. His trip to Atlas, the time he spent with the Ace-Ops and the fact that the general had sent two teams of APMs and the top military lawyers back to Vacuo with the Ace-Ops and him suggested that the excreta had hit the fan even before the rendition event. He had had a very weird interview with two of the provost marshals where they had enquired about which members of the multi-kingdoms he had been entertained by and whether he had received any gifts of lien from them as well as asking for details about what his duties were in Vacuo. the major had semi-prepared him for it by warning him to bring his diary and duty logs to the interview and a recommendation to answer any questions about benefits and payments honestly. The weirdness had come when one of the interrogators started withdrawing questions asked by the other one challenging his answers that no one had offered him lien. He had then asked Marrow to excuse them and five minutes later they returned and said the interview was over and thanked him for his time. They had not been speaking that quietly outside the door and he had picked up some snippets along the lines of "he's telling the truth", "because he's a Faunus" and "our superiors can read between the lines."

Mr. Corkran continued, "Some of the men who accompanied the lieutenant approached me on a confidential basis to say that they were worried about him. He is a rather innocent officer and seems to have been shocked by what he found. It did not help that Professor Rumpole does not believe in euphemisms and revealed what the Captain had discovered t' him."

There was a pause and the scout continued, "Lieutenant Beamish clearly preferred reading Jaune Buchan novels t' Rougeyard Kipling short stories when he was young. The Major has many fine qualities, but the imagination t' put himself in the place of someone who still has illusions t' lose is not among them. Our mission is t' find him before he meets up with any executives from the SDC and either berates them or is berated by them for doing his job. Either way risks him attacking civilians which is a court martial offence. We must also listen t' him unburden his soul. If the captain found what I expect she found, then he will spend an embarrassing amount of the evening asking for forgiveness from the two of us. Do you know which haunts he is most likely t' attend?"

Marrow said, "It depends on if he is searching out the SDC or going to the places he most enjoys drinking at."

"That is rather a lot of places to visit. We need some help."

They had reached Vacuo and dropped off their overnight bags at the R&R officer accommodation. For these purposes, Mr Corkran had been designated an officer for the night by Major Magenta. The Lynx Faunus suddenly shouted, "Sun. Do you and your friend want to earn ten lien?"

A young monkey Faunus appeared in front of him accompanied by a well-dressed human boy of approximately the same age with blue hair. "Sounds good to me, LC. What do you want me and my friend to do?"

"I am looking for a friend who forgot to tell me which bar he was going to. Could you quickly check whether he is in any of these ten and report back to me and my friend Marrow if you find him. We will be in Martin's for thirty minutes and will then move on to the Blue Goliath. Here is five lien to start with and an extra five when you find him. Here is a picture of him. He may be wearing a tuxedo or in a Captain's uniform."

The human friend looked over the Monkey Faunus's shoulder and said "My dad knows him socially. Let's try Rick's."

Marrow and Leslie went into Martin's, ordered a beer each and checked to see if Beamish had been in.

Ten minutes later the Monkey Faunus and his friend returned and said, "Neptune was right, LC. He is sitting at a table with a large bottle of wine and is talking to a rather disreputable looking man."

"Much obliged, Sun, Neptune. A bonus for efficiency is called for." Corkran handed each of the boys ten lien and finished his beer.

As they briskly walked to Ricks the Lynx Faunus mused "I trust that the owners do not associate me with the recent unpleasantness."

/-/

Winter was waiting for the scheduled meeting with the Ace-Ops. Clover had taken the report from Qrow seriously as had General Ironwood. Winter had been confined to base for the time being although it had been presented as her taking over some of Major Magenta's duties as part of her professional development. Clover had been deputed by Ironwood to investigate the threat to Winter and protect against it.

Unfortunately, Atlesian intelligence on the White Fang in Vacuo was more or less non-existent. There were two theories for this, one which was held by Major Magenta and Colonel White was that there was next to nothing to find. The lack of any strong government institutions meant that there was no real history of anti-Faunus laws for a civil rights movement to campaign against. While there was a certain amount of anti-Atlas feeling, it did not seem to be confined to Faunus. To the extent that there were self-proclaimed leaders of the White Fang locally they appeared to be ineffectual and best ignored. In summary, this view held that the nature of Vacuo meant that humans and Faunus realised that they had quite enough things to fight against in the Grimm, the weather, the native animals, and the treacherous nature of the ground without going after each other.

There was a second theory that the White Fang were highly organised and embedded in Vacuo but used it as a safe haven rather than as a base of active operations. However, they were so well organised that no concrete evidence existed, and it would require a major intelligence operation to uncover. This was one of the views held by the previous head of intelligence at the Embassy. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of last week's operations was that the intelligence branch of the local embassy was in disarray and the head of intelligence was currently suspended from duty. It did not help that the Atlas ambassador had relied on them being thoroughly compromised in order to persuade a potential informant that the safest thing to do was to surrender to the military. Also, the diplomatic service had regarded the requests for more resources as empire building and the proposed operation as being more likely to inflame opinion against Atlas than to uncover useful information.

Clover had asked to be given access to the intelligence files and after consultation with his uncle had spoken to the editor of a local paper, an historian, and the head of protocol at the embassy. He was due to report his conclusions so far at a meeting which would also be attended by Professor Theodore from Shade Academy.

There was a call from the gate. The corporal on duty said that a civilian called Sieben had arrived from Atlas and wished to see her.

"Klein Sieben?"

The corporal clearly checked the civilian's papers and a few seconds later said, "Yes."

"I will be happy to see him. Please arrange an escort."

A few minutes later there was a knock on her door and the family butler entered.

"Klein, welcome to Vacuo. I was expecting you. I am afraid that I have to be in a meeting with my immediate superior in 15 minutes."

She opened a drawer and handed him a small package containing among other of a set of keys, a signed but undated stock transfer form made out in favour of Weiss and a SDC debit card.

Klein looked embarrassed, "Actually your father instructed me to say that he has no intention of requiring you to give up your shares or the debit card. The shares were left you by your grandfather and no special conditions were attached to them. He has asked me to remind you that the waiver of your right to attend board meetings while a member of the military is still in force. The monies in your account remain yours and the dividends will continue to be paid into it. There will be a credit limit on your debit card, but again he doubts that this will be an issue for some time. Your allowance will cease and the payments from the family trust fund will be redirected to your siblings, but as you never seem to spend much of it he suspects that you will not mind that much. Thank you for the keys. Your father does say that as a distinguished member of the Atlas military you will be welcome to social functions organised by the SDC including at the mansion to which officers of an equivalent or lesser rank are invited. However, he anticipates that your duties in Vacuo will mean that this will not be relevant until after the end of your posting."

"Thank you, Klein. How is my family?"

The butler's eyes changed colour and his voice changed, "In good health. Madam is still quite tired in the evenings. Master Whitley continues to model himself on your father. Weiss asked me to pass on her love and this letter. Your father knows that she has written, but so far as I am aware has not read it. Madam asked that you be careful when dealing with Weiss not to require her to take sides against your father."

Winter was slightly surprised that her father had not been more vindictive and would need to think about the implications.

"Thank you, Klein. Will you be staying long in Vacuo?"

"I will return tomorrow. I have been asked to meet with Mr Raddock tomorrow morning."

"I wish you a good journey, Klein. Please pass on my regards to the family and tell my mother that I will do my best to comply with her request."

"Good luck, captain."

He left the room where the solider who had originally escorted him was waiting to show him off the base. Winter tore up the stock transfer form and put the letter in her jacket for later reading.

She left for the meeting. She found the Ace- Ops waiting for her and Professor Theodore joined then shortly afterwards. She noted that neither the Major nor the Colonel were attending. Neither was Qrow Branwen, although he had indicated that he would be in Vacuo for some days and was available for consultation if needed.

Clover said "Good evening. The purpose of this meeting is to evaluate the intelligence passed on by Beacon and how we can best act on it. I have no reason to doubt the identification of Adam Taurus and there have been reports that various White Fang members have left their normal haunts in Mistral. The information on the branding forks seems solid as well and in light of Mr. Taurus's history the threat to Captain Schnee is credible."

Harriet said, "I thought it was established that the branding had been faked to discredit Atlas and the SDC?"

Clover coughed, "In light of recent developments, I feel that it is unwise to assume that the original conclusion was necessarily correct. At the very least, the White Fang believe that brandings did take place, that the SDC were responsible and even under their existing guidelines for local commanders an attack on Captain Schnee would be justified both as a Captain in the Atlas military and as a potential heir to the SDC. Forgive me, Captain, but most of the Atlas financial press assume that if you left the military you would be reinstated as the Schnee heir and the White Fang no doubt takes the same view."

Winter nodded, "While they are wrong, I can understand the logic. Specialist Brees, I am prepared to accept for the purposes of this meeting that Adam Taurus's injuries were inflicted by employees of the SDC and that I am a legitimate target."

Professor Theodore said, "You may well be a legitimate target in their eyes, but you are not an easy target. You are a Vytal Festival tournament winner, are trained in battling people, have a strong aura and you have the Schnee family semblance. Kidnapping you at this base or on patrol would be a high-risk strategy."

Clover said, "Those are good points. We have been discussing as Ace-Ops how we would go about kidnapping you and it only made sense if killing you was seen as an acceptable result. In addition, anyone who had done any research on you would know from the Vytal festival final that you could make a strategic withdrawal by Manticore."

Winter said, "Noted. I assume you have enquired discretely, but I spend virtually every evening at the base. To save embarrassment I can confirm that I do not have a euphemistic close friend in Vacuo and if I do have to stay overnight in Vacuo it is either at the Embassy or the officer R&R barracks."

Clover said, "I have checked your records and that has only happened five times since you were posted here and currently there are no large-scale events planned for two months which the White Fang could count on you being required to spend the night in Vacuo. We have decided that security protocols need to be improved at the barracks and the embassy and I have recommended to General Ironwood that the defences be upgraded. Captain, I would prefer it if you did not sleep at the barracks for the time being, if only for the safety of other officers."

Elm said, "An attack on the Embassy would be a major escalation in the White Fang's modus operandi. There would be too high a risk of civilian casualties and besides which Ambassador Campion is unlikely to be regarded as acceptable collateral damage by Sienna Khan."

Winter said, "Despite your compliments, I am not invincible. Do we know of any particularly strong semblances among the White Fang?"

Clover said, "As far as we are aware, there are no ex-Atlas Faunus graduates who are members of the White Fang. There are some dropouts from Haven who are unaccounted for, but no one who sounds as though they could cause you a problem. Beacon has refused to allow us access to their records, but informally say that they are not aware of any graduate who has joined the White Fang. Of course, there are unknown semblances out there and it is not necessary to go to an academy to be dangerous. However, to kidnap you it would be necessary to knock you out in the first thirty seconds and I am not aware of any semblance we have faced which is capable of that. Actually, Professor Goodwitch could probably drop a building on you, but if she is a member of the white fang we have a lot more to worry about."

Theodore said "Someone killed Rhodes a few years back and Summer Rose was capable of looking after herself. We cannot rule out that someone out there believes he or she has the talent and may have proved it to themselves."

The room went silent at the two names. Everyone accepted that sometime there were just too many Grimm to handle and that one died because one's aura was exhausted.

Harriet said, "If I were going after you Winter, I would want the first attack to be a surprise attack or to have someone close to you who could do a joint attack. In the Faunus wars one human general was taken out by one of his aides who was a disguised Faunus. Is there a traitor in the camp?"

Clover apologetically said, "We have asked for assistance from the profilers in relation to the Faunus on the base and Harrier has read their combat reports. One has a semblance which would be perfect for the surprise attack and the other's background check is full of holes. I know you instinctively are going to reject both names but hear Harriet out."

Harriet said, "Lieutenant Amin's semblance is perfect for an ambush. He could hold you in place and allow you to be captured. I do not know how long his aura would last, but if he practised on other people with strong auras he might be able to judge it. I know that he has been through Atlas Academy and is highly rated and thought of as loyal. Still, he must feel some annoyance that he was placed on a team of second raters whom he carried at the academy and the Vytal festivals. I'm not saying that he was always a traitor, but he may have been radicalised in Vacuo."

Vine said, "If I was a Faunus, I would feel outraged by what you and Beamish found at the mine, especially if it looked like that there had been a cover-up in the past."

"Who would have radicalised him? Lieutenant Beamish, me, Major Magenta?" snapped Winter. This was all nonsense.

Harriet, "Mr Corkran. According to his file, he claims not to know who his father is and his mother died when he was 10. There is nothing in the file about how she died or where she picked up that accent. He has been working for his living since then. If it was not for the ears, he could pass for an Atlas aristocrat. OK, when he joined he was young and was more of a baggage carrier helping an older guide so there was no need to investigate too closely and after he had been here a few years and had proved useful, no one had any incentive to go back and to a proper background investigation."

Clover added apologetically, "I am afraid the profilers are fascinated by him."

Winter said, "You have worked with him. He is efficient, good at his job and well liked."

Clover said, "The Major and my uncle have used him as a trap for poor officers. Alright, he is always acquitted, but the number of times he has been charged with insubordination has not given him much cause to respect the Atlas officer class. It is also perfectly obvious to all of us that if he did not have the ears, he would be rising effortlessly up the ranks."

"This is nonsense. If he and Marrow – Lieutenant Amin – wanted to kill me then the night the ambassador was attacked would have been perfect."

"But what if this was part of a bigger plan?" said Harriet.

"What plan?"

"Suppose Corkran is a long-term sleeper agent who has been waiting for the right opportunity. Suddenly a member of the Schnee family arrives together with a young Faunus officer with an extremely useful semblance. The young Faunus officer is not invited out socially by most the other officers. He is the only officer not offered extra money by the multi-kingdoms and he is only entertained by the middle managers. Perhaps he broods on this- is the reality that despite the support of some senior officers he is never going to be treated as an equal by the people at his own rank. He then hears about the treatment of the Faunus by the multi-kingdoms and wonders whether he has been living a lie."

"Either me or Major Magenta would have noticed if Lieutenant Amin had been unhappy. He also gets on well with Lieutenant Beamish and is liked by the other officers."

"Before you reject my argument out of hand, when you investigated the De Lagers mine you clearly knew what you were looking for and had suggested to Beamish what he should look for. Who was your source of information? Was it always directly or indirectly Mr. Corkran? In this regard I have checked his personnel files and one of his referees was a Mr Brian Thrush, who is apparently a leading member of the Mohawk tribe whose main source of income is their contract with the SDC."

Winter paused. She had to think carefully about the answer. It was clear that Harriet in particular was itching for an excuse to arrest the Lynx Faunus and Lieutenant Amin.

"The original tip arose out of a meeting with representatives of the Mohawk tribe which the Major and I both signed off on and the Major was particularly keen on investigating. The Mohawks said some younger members of the tribe did not wish to work for the SDC because it made it difficult for them to attract lovers but would consider working for the military. I discussed this with Major Magenta who said that he was not surprised and that Mr Corkran probably could fill me in on the rumours. He did stress that before asking I must be certain that I was willing to hear answers I did not like. When I asked Mr. Corkran he was hesitant and waited until he had seen my reaction to each new piece of information before continuing. He finally referred to the brandings and that the rumours were that they had mostly been done as a matter of policy to frighten the strikers into submission. While the information came from Mr. Corkran, without Major Magenta encouraging me to ask the question I would never have heard about it."

Professor Theodore chimed in, "The Major has in the past asked me why the Academy did not concern themselves about conditions at the mines. My reply was that I had intervened when reports of the multi-kingdoms breaching or bending the terms of contracts with Vacuoans. It was no concern of mine if the Atlas authorities allowed its companies to abuse citizens of Atlas or Mistral and I suggested he speak to the Atlas Council if he felt that it would do any good. Still, if Mr Corkran is such a master spy as you suggest than he could have relied on Major Magenta reacting in the way he did. Anyway, what is this mysterious wider plan?"

Winter saw Harriet bristle and the other Ace-Ops wince at the underlying contempt in the Professor's words.

Harriet said, "The wider plan is to undermine Atlas by more or less simultaneously leaking the full details of the SDC and the other multi-kingdoms alleged activities here and killing Captain Schnee because of her involvement in an alleged cover up. The involvement of an Atlas officer in the murder would be merely the icing on the cake."

Professor Theodore laughed and said, "I prefer my version where Major Magenta has manipulated you all into cleaning the stables. It has far fewer moving parts. By the way I saw him just before this meeting started. I was passing on a message from Rumpole that Lieutenant Beamish was rather distressed. He thanked me for the warning but said that he had already been told about this and had sent Lieutenant Amin and Mr. Corkran to keep Mr. Beamish company and prevent him from fighting the SDC management team. Still, he did agree to let us have a second hand ADA for a young blind orphan who has the makings of an excellent hunter about him."

Vine said, "If Harriet's theory is correct then if they encourage Beamish to release the story of the investigation then they could achieve the first part of the plan."

Winter said, "What are you proposing to do? March into Vacuo, arrest an officer who happens to be Faunus and a Vacuoan citizen who is also a Faunus in a restaurant or night club. Presumably, you will also arrest Mr. Beamish for good measure."

Clover said, "Thank you, Captain Schnee. Clearly there are many ways that this could go badly and we have no proof of any wrongdoing to justify an arrest. Perhaps we can ask the Major if they found Lieutenant Beamish and we can join them for a friendly drink. Elm, you know Beamish's sister, don't you? It will gain us time and avoid anyone doing anything precipitate. If need be we can say we were concerned for Lieutenant Beamish's well-being. I think we should reconvene the meeting in the morning and ask Major Magenta to join us. Professor Theodore, I would like your views on the local White Fang representatives so perhaps you can let us know what time works for you."

"Between 6 and 8 tomorrow morning or after 7 in the evening. We are holding one of our training and assessment days for young people who are thinking of becoming hunters. By the way, in summary my view is that the local leaders are sanctimonious plonkers who could not organise an alcoholic celebration in a pub. I presume you or the Embassy do keep tabs on the staff at the Menagerie consulate. Some of them are competent and I presume are sympathisers of the White Fang. I have made it clear to the consul that any trouble directed against Vacuoan citizens will not be regarded favourably."

Clover said, "Perhaps I can call you tomorrow at 7 AM for a slightly more detailed assessment. I would also be interested in hearing any rumours of new Faunus arriving in Vacuo. I gather Professor Polendina has been working on a new upgrade of the ADA and is looking for an opportunity to stress test it. Use by a potential huntsman may be an excellent test of the technology. Thank you, Professor. Captain Schnee, perhaps you can join me in visiting the Major."

They saw the Major in his office who said that Lieutenant Amin had let him know that they had found Beamish at Rick's and that they were keeping him company along with an inebriated huntsman. It was decided that the Ace-Ops would head into Vacuo and that Clover and Elm would seek to join them in the bar. The Major had found it amusing to point out to Harriet that the bouncers would almost certainly seek to refuse her admission considering her part in a bar brawl recently.

After the Ace-Ops had left he bought a glass of wine for him and Winter. "Captain, I do hope that they are not proposing to arrest my men. We will be doing the White Fang's job for them if we assume that whenever anything goes wrong that every Faunus in our ranks is a traitor and every officer who has a problem adjusting to the fact that we are called upon to do things which are the lesser of two evils is deficient in moral fibre."

"Certainly not tonight, Major. It may be helpful for them if you speak to Specialist Ebi about why you encouraged me to investigate the SDC and why you pointed me at Mr. Corkran."

"Understood. It was simply my best opportunity to do my duty. I will also point out to them that the fact that Parsifal became the ambassador because the first choice was invalided out of the service and the multi-kingdoms decided to try and kill Parsifal was not something I or anyone else could have planned."

Winter returned to her room and looked at the letter from Weiss before opening it. She knew Weiss missed her and looked up to her. It did not help that she associated Winter leaving for the Academy as the time when the fairy tale life of a princess in a happy family came to an end. She also knew that the fact that Willow had specifically requested that Winter behave in a certain way then it was worth listening to.

/-/

Adam was keyed up. They would make their move in two days. They would take over the supply base at nine and then take over the freighters. HE had agreed to the suggestion that the attention of the guards be distracted by a small group of nomads looking to acquire water and supplies. They should be in place by tomorrow evening and were primed to approach the mine gates when the transports came into sight. Julie had fixed up a meeting with Beige for the evening they took over the supply base and he had booked the morning afterwards off work to spend more time with her.

He had added a refinement to the plan. The workers would be taken away from the mine and some of the explosives would be set on a delayed action time fuse. With a little luck, the Atlas military would be caught up in the explosion especially by those to be place din the mine offices. It would be too much to hope that Winter Schnee would be seriously inconvenienced, but one can only dream.

Sienna Khan had vetoed the idea of going after Winter directly. She had said that the risks were too great and that it was lesson 101 of insurgency tactics that you do not fight your enemy on their preferred ground. Adam had eventually admitted to himself that although he fought he could beat her, it was far from certain and the risk that even if he did win she could escape was far from negligible. Also finding the right opportunity could include waiting for months. Still, it had softened her up to agreeing this week's attack.

He cuddled Blake who was sleeping next to him. It was good to have someone to speak to about his plans and would provide constructive criticism. He was annoyed at her continued questioning of whether Bruno was the right choice to be second in command. Yes, Bruno could be headstrong and over-emotional, but passion was needed in battle. He was the right person to motivate the attack force to keep going against determined resistance and he would defer to Ronald who would be focused on the plan and the strategic objectives. He would also be credible when threatening to brand the backsides of the mine management to ensure compliance.

/-/

Umber Raddock was working late at the office. He had finalised the arrangements for the necessary accident. The promise of a large one payment had encouraged Major Grune to agree to play his part and certify that the fall was an accident and, if asked expressly, state that he had seen the workers faces before they went into the mine. He had not realised how many people Crimson had decided to make an example of although he was relieved that at least he seemed he had given up using the SDC initials five years ago. Still it was quite clear that there were limits to which the Atlas Military and the ambassador would be willing to cover up without Umber Raddock having to pay some price for it.

His private scroll rang out and he checked. It was Vassilias which surprised him. He was the local representative of the Vassilias transport company which was based in Mistral. A younger son who was trying to prove his worth to his father and brother by immersing himself in the family business. He had his family out here which was unusual. The two danced carefully around each other. The SDC maintained his own freight service and had resolutely refused to outsource this function. Vassilias kept trying to tempt the SDC to use his company's services for small loads or unusual destinations while Raddock sought insights on how to make the SDC operation more efficient. They were friendly mainly because they both came from Mistral and had no reasons to be enemies.

"Umber, old chap. Sorry to disturb you, but I am Rick's. A certain lieutenant is here and some of your hotheads are being egged on by their friends from the multi-kingdoms to consider teaching him a lesson when he goes to the bathroom. The bouncers are getting twitchy and the Lieutenant is accompanied by two other officers and a huntsman. I thought you might appreciate the opportunity to nip this in the bud."

The scroll scammed round and Raddock saw that the signs were that the story was true.

"Thank you, Vasilias. I will be right there. Perhaps I can place some business your way tomorrow."