Chapter 2
When Jaune tumbled out of bed, his first thought was that someone had tampered with his alarm clock because there was no way it had been that loud before. Extracting his limbs from the sheets that had fallen with him, he covered his ears and looked around his team's dorm. He saw Ren, already up and buttoning his tailcoat. Pyrrha, who had also been startled awake, had fared slightly better than him, merely jolting into consciousness rather than face planting into the carpet. Nora was nowhere to be seen.
Amidst the racket, Jaune stumbled his way to Ren and mouthed, "What's going on?"
Ren merely shook his head and pointed to the closet, signalling Jaune to get dressed in his own combat attire.
Sensing the urgency in his non-verbal reply, Jaune reached for his jeans and hoodie. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pyrrha race into the bathroom to don her own gear.
When he was strapping on his chestplate, the alarm stopped. Jaune was about to let out a sigh of relief, only to wince when an automated voice that was just as loud replaced the brief silence.
"All students from Beacon Academy and Atlas Academy to report to staff at the landing pads in their teams with their weapons, armour, and scrolls. All students–"
The voice repeated itself twice more before reverting back to the alarm.
"Nora and I were up when the alarm sounded," Ren said. "She's waiting outside."
When Pyrrha came back in her battle gear, the three of them sprinted out the door, where Nora joined them. On the way to their locker rooms, they saw other students making their way down the hallways. Their run was silent, none of them wanting to waste their breath on questions they knew the others didn't have satisfactory answers to.
Upon reaching their lockers, they sorted through the mass of bodies that were retrieving their weapons. Jaune punched his key code into his own locker, grabbed Crocea Mors and fastened it to his hip.
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The landing pads were in chaos. Jaune could see VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Landing) craft numbering in the dozens. One by one, they were taking students into their passenger compartments, which were quickly covered by retractable armoured doors.
He'd grown quite familiar with the Bullheads Beacon used to ferry them around. But these were different – bulkier, more menacing. In the air, there were more circling around as they waited for clearance to land. Every now and then, one would flare its engines to ascend and have its open landing space be taken by another seconds later. So many times, Jaune could see a mid-air collision or a botched touchdown about to happen, only for the respective pilots to jerk their controls and avoid disaster. The sound was almost suffocating. The roar of engines, accompanied by shouted instructions from various members of staff and, of course, the wailing alarm that could still be heard from the edge of campus, filled his ears and refused to make room for much else.
They moved with the crowd of students, eyes on the lookout for a teacher. Fortunately, he didn't have to look for long as the stocky figure of Professor Port soon came into view, holding a scroll in one hand and his axe-blunderbuss in the other.
"Professor!" Jaune called out and the man turned away from a team of students that were now running off, presumably to their assigned transport. "Team JNPR reporting."
"JNPR? Good. Good." The stout man said. Beneath his thick eyebrows, Jaune could see his eyes, devoid of their usual jovial sparkle and replaced with a steely resolve. "Vale's been breached."
The hairs on Jaune's neck stood on end. Faintly, he heard Nora's breath hitch, and a startled "What?" come from Pyrrha. Ren remained silent, but Jaune could imagine the gunman paling as he absorbed the blunt statement.
"Breached?" Jaune said. "Where?"
"No time to explain. You're team has been assigned to–" Professor Port consulted his scroll, "–Pad 08. You'll receive a proper briefing on your scrolls soon. Hurry now."
Port clapped Jaune on the back, almost causing him to stumble. Jaune reoriented himself and nodded dumbly back.
Vale's been breached.
He kept repeating the phrase in his head.
Vale's been breached. Vale's been breached. Vale's been breached.
He twisted around to look at the airships. Above their landing spots, numbers could be seen rotating in holographic projections. He quickly spotted the neon blue '08' above a VTOL down a few rows.
He looked back at his team and saw their gazes fixed at the mess of activity. They were all wearing similar expressions of disbelief and distress. Even Nora's usually bright and bubbly expression was muted. But he couldn't stand around, looking lost. He was their leader.
"Come on, let's go!" he yelled over the noise. He began walking, sensing the presence of his three teammates as they fell in behind him. Weaving through people and airships, they reached their assigned craft, seeing a pilot in an olive-drab flight suit and matching helmet with an open visor crouching in the passenger section. Upon spotting the four Huntsmen in training, he stood up. When they were face to face, he leaned down and yelled out, voice slightly muffled by his headwear, "You guys JNPR?"
"Yeah!" Jaune shouted back, and gave a thumbs up, just in case the other man couldn't hear him. "Where are you taking us?"
"Just get on. Quick!"
Heeding his words, JNPR approached the open doors while the pilot jumped into the cockpit. In the VTOL's interior, they were met with two more people similarly dressed in flight suits who extended their arms to help lift them into the passenger compartment. The armoured doors on their sides slid closed as they plopped down into the rigid seats.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Char Montreau," said a voice over the VTOL's speakers. "I'll be your pilot this fine sunny morning. Forecast's looking cloudy with a big chance of shit hitting the fan, so be sure to keep all arms, legs, and weapons inside the Oxhide at all times."
Jaune noted the name of the VTOL. Oxhide; sounded like a relation to Bullhead. It would certainly explain the similar appearances.
He felt a rush of wind as the Oxhide's two engines roared to life. His peripherals were tinged with the bright blue flames pointing at the ground as the pilot began his vertical ascent. Gaining altitude, the engines adjusted their angle, propelling the craft forward.
He was hit by a sudden wave of nausea when he realised just how high they were going. It appeared that, even with all the excitement around him, his airsickness wasn't going anywhere. He clamped a hand over his mouth, suppressing a groan as his stomach began churning.
His plight was soon noticed by Pyrrha, who gave him a sympathetic smile. Fortunately, he received a distraction when the scroll attached to the wrist guard on his left forearm lit up.
When they had passed initiation, Professor Goodwitch had issued all of the first-years a student scroll. She had instructed them that it was for academic and emergency use, such as when they needed to be contacted by staff, call in their lockers, or check the aura levels of their teams.
The scroll started relaying an automated voice.
"Attention. If you are receiving this message, you are in possession of a Huntsman's scroll. If you are not the owner of this scroll, you are at risk of violating the Huntsmen Legitimacy Act and are instructed to hand the scroll to the Vale Police Department immediately."
Jaune inputted his ID number and password, and the screen changed to show a digitalised map of Remnant, which zoomed in to show Vale, then was overlayed with the title 'OPERATION RESURGENCE'.
"Vale has experienced a breach by the Grimm–" Jaune's skin crawled at the indifferent tone, "–the origin, of which has been pinpointed to a defunct and previously sealed subway exit to Mountain Glenn."
Jaune's scroll zoomed in further to the Residential District, where a small area was highlighted and accompanied by a caption labelled 'BREACHED AREA'.
"The Grimm have spread quickly."
The highlighted area expanded, with a legend popping up on the side, indicating that the intensity of the highlight signified the number of the detected creatures.
"Local law enforcement units have made contact with the Grimm and are attempting to contain the outbreak, but have reported heavy civilian casualties and are in danger of being overrun."
An emblem of the VPD appeared in the middle of the screen, then shrunk and zipped to the top left corner. It was soon accompanied by a second emblem, showing a falcon in the middle of swooping over a model planet and the words 'ATLAS NAVY' embedded on its circumference.
"Fortunately, the Atlas 7th Aerial Fleet, which is currently stationed in Vale, has offered to lend its assistance, and are preparing to launch a counter-offensive."
Nineteen blue rectangles appeared at the edge of the District, one of them being much bigger than the others and releasing several smaller flecks of blue that were quickly labelled as 'ATLESIAN TRANSPORTS AND ESCORTS'. Approaching them was a smaller group of green flecks, which were the 'VALEAN TRANSPORTS'. Jaune realised that those symbolised the VTOLs that were currently taking him and the other students out of Beacon.
"You will accompany Atlas to the Residential District. Your primary objective is to establish strongholds that will be used as landing zones for evacuation and troop transports, and footholds that Vale and Atlas will capitalise on to seal the breach."
Green arrows appeared on the edge of the Residential District, labelled 'VALEAN FORCES – ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival): STANDBY'.
Jaune's face then appeared on the screen, with the words 'JAUNE ARC' underneath it. A moment later, the rest of JNPR's faces joined him. Jaune could only assume that other teams were receiving different briefings with the faces tweaked to being their own ones.
"You will be in constant communication with Beacon Academy and the Atlas military for the duration of the operation. When addressed, respond with your Team name."
JNPR's faces shrunk, then moved to the bottom-half of the screen as twelve more faces showed up – two more teams of first-years (CYAN and BEIJ), and one team of second-years (CFVY). Lines were drawn from the second-years to the first-years underneath.
"This is your designated Strike Team and Strike Team Commander."
The portrait of CFVY's team leader, labelled 'COCO ADEL' lit up to highlight a girl wearing sunglasses and a beret. Under the symbol for the Atlas Navy, the word 'WATCH MASTER appeared.
"This will be your link to your overall commanders. They take precedence over your Strike Team Commander."
The screen zoomed in one last time to a top-down view of a seven-storey building. It flashed bright yellow a couple of times before a label saying 'PRIMARY OBJECTIVE – AVANTI TOWN CENTRE' was displayed. Once again, Jaune assumed different students would receive different instructions.
"This is the location of your primary objective. Once you arrive, you will be coordinating with Vale's and Atlas' military to push back the Grimm. Be aware of your surroundings. Stay within reach of your teammates. Be aggressive, not reckless. Trust your instincts. Good luck and good hunting."
With that, the voice was replaced with a one-way transmission from Coco, her team's own Oxhide supposedely racing to form up with the main fleet.
"We'll be going in as part of the first response wave," she said, as she pushed up her sunglasses.
"I want you to keep in mind, this is a large-scale operation," she emphasised, her voice ringing with confidence to provide a welcome contrast with the borderline panic Jaune had seen since he'd woken up. "So, no matter what happens out there, you won't be alone. Once we touch down on Avanti, we're going to be swarmed by Grimm. I want you to keep an eye on each other's backs. Remember your training. We do this right, we'll save a lot of lives."
Her lips thinned and Jaune thought he saw a muscle on her cheek twitch. She looked like she wanted to say something, maybe say she was scared too. But she merely turned her head to one side, echoing the briefing's "Good luck", before ending her message.
By now, their Oxhide had decelerated, and was hovering at a distance from the Residential District. Jaune grimaced as he spotted, through the cockpit's windows, little dots of black smoke on the horizon, marking the Grimm's advance.
He looked to his teammates. Their vibrant attires would have complemented the clear blue skies, if not for the Oxhide's doors. Red, green, and pink stood together in anticipation for the coming fight. There was no hesitation in them. No uncertainty.
They were ready, and so was he.
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Codex Entry: The A/UV-71 "Oxhide"
The Oxhide was commissioned by the Vale military and produced by Soryu Frontiers from 79 AGW. Based off the civilian and commercial UV-7 Bullhead, it keeps the twin jet system to propel itself, but the engines themselves have been upscaled to compensate for the greater weight that comes with the addition of armoured plating and guns. In particular, the first feature one looks for to distinguish an Oxhide from a Bullhead is to see whether it has the latter's rounded frame or the former's more angled and bulkier silhouette.
There have been many cases of the Bullhead having machine guns mounted on its hull as an improvised (theoretically) defensive weapon. The Oxhide has emulated and standardised this practice by having a chin-mounted M900A2 Chain Gun, an optional pair of M275 Miniguns (one for each side of the passenger compartment and manned by crew chiefs), and a choice between 20 M66 Hellfire Micro-Rockets or 4 M810 Buster AGMs (Air to Ground Missiles).
The Oxhide is utilised by the Vale Army, while the Vale Marines and Navy have thus far elected to continue using the UH-35 Stanchion Helicopter for the bulk of their tactical aerial troop movements.
In engagements against the Grimm and White Fang, the Oxhide has received much praise for its lethal and reliable firepower. Many a grunt has found great comfort in hearing the low roar of the VTOL's approach, which is often quickly followed by the thrum of its primary and side guns, and the fwoosh of its rockets.
However, one major criticism levied against the Oxhide is its limited capacity. Having sacrificed much of the Bullhead's interior space for ammunition, equipment, and plating, the Oxhide is, on paper, incapable of ferrying anything larger than a fireteam per trip (although smaller squads have been able to squeeze in by using the seats reserved for the crew chiefs, and particularly bold troopers have taken to bolting handholds to the ceiling to allow some more to stand). In addition, the Oxhide comes with a notable lack of fast ropes that would allow soldiers to disembark quickly when it is unable to land, due to unfavourable terrain or other factors. With these shortcomings in mind, the A/UV-71 may very well be a failure at the one core thing it was meant to be from the start: a troop transport.
Fortunately for some, the Oxhide's insufficient carrying capacity drew the interest of Beacon Academy. Assembled in groups of no more than four, Huntsmen teams in training have treated the VTOL as the near perfect storm between manoeuvrability and lethality. They are usually restricted to transporting third- and fourth-year students, who are often assigned to train and operate in areas with the most dangerous concentrations of Grimm. And even then, the Oxhides themselves may only be piloted by the Vale Army's Aviation Branch.
During the Breach of Vale, Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy was able to scramble around forty Oxhides, drawn from the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 11th Vale Army Aviation Regiments. With these VTOLs, he was able to transport his students to face the surprise Grimm incursion and buy the rest of Vale time to properly mobilise. Many have speculated on how he was able to convince the military to loan him so many craft on such short notice, but no officials have made any concrete statements on the matter.