A "What do you mean there's Atlesian Theramore class battlecruisers closing in on the city, we're not at war!" General Macnamara shouted into the telephone receiver. "No I don't care what they say, they need both council approval and clearance from 5th air command to even dock their craft in vale...what do you mean why?! We're stuck with security detail remember, fuck sakes send a VTOL craft to the AA batteries and have them stand down, and get a D-Craft up to the lead ship with major Campbell and organize clearance for them before 5th air sends for P-51's and they start a war!" He shouted to the officer on the other end.
"Bad time to interrupt?" I asked walking in.
"A little, you know why atlas is sending their ships over?" He asked me.
"Best I can say is that they, A. Forgot about us, B. Don't give a shit we're here, or C. Both, either way I came to ask about Malady Field, how's the construction of the airport going?" I asked.
"How respectful of them, as for the airfield construction it's going fine, the 102 has recently sent up a project you might find interesting," he said handing me a folder, looking at it, the header of it says 'The MV Gate,' open the folder the full project is titled The Multiverse Gate, seems we're expanding, also seems like I might have a way out of I needed it. "Interesting, any reason why they're doing this?" I asked.
"I think they're doing it because of you, not for you, mind you, but instead curiosity of the multiverse in general," he said pointing the receiver of his phone at me.
"Good to know," I said before turning to walk out of his office.
"Oh, by the way, sir, I would pack for a small trip, we're on diplo duty soon, apparently Miss Kahn from the white fang wishes to discuss things with us," he said before going back to his phone.
"Right...good to know," I said walking out.
- My Room -
"Penny, how are ya kiddo?" I asked walking inside of our dorm room, I immediately started to go and pack...or Macnamara sent a message to Penny and she packed for me...alright that works too.
"Just fine! I'm actually headed out with Ruby later today, you gonna join us?" She asked me.
"Ehh, I'm not a shopper, but you two have fun," I said smiling, looking though my scroll I notice that I have a meeting with Old man Oz today...with Ironwood's ships trying to park this is gonna be another fight, isn't it.
I grabbed a bottle of whiskey and refilled my flask before taking a swig of it myself, "uhh is everything alright? Last time I saw you do that, you went and saved a group of hostages, don't tell me you have to do that again?" she asked me with an eyebrow raised.
"Hmm? Oh no, none of that, I just have a meeting with Ozpin later and I think general Ironwood is going to be there, a new headache for me is all, thought I would cut the pain to the chase and, well, chase it down with some hard liquor...yeah I know shitty excuse for drinking at what 9 in the morning? I just hate Mondays," I said rubbing my temples.
"There there, it'll be okay, I believe in you," she said patting me on the back, sighing I get up and straighten myself up a bit.
"Thank penny, why don't you go and meet up with ruby, I have to get going," I said to her before leaving the room again.
- CCT tower.-
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," I mumble while in the elevator ride up to the tower. Arriving with a *Ding* the doors open and my worst fear is here, The esteemed General James Ironwood is in Ozpin's office. Oh, this is just going to be peachy.
"Gentlemen, General, Good to see you. I see that you managed to get here before your ships James," I said walking in with purpose, that purpose...To avoid getting a migraine from this meeting.
Ironwood opens up, "Do explain why my-"
I breathe in and interrupt him, "Because I'm in charge of the security of the Vytal Festival, and the Vale Council has given me permission to deny entry of any persons of suspicion and with all due respect General I don't appreciate warships being parked over this kingdom, not just because of the fact that it would mean I just bent over to the will of Atlas, which really undermines my goals, no it would cause turmoil general, the people are fine with my army due to recent activities and operations, they are also fine since this army spawned from the city, it may be large, but General Macnamara and I don't go around flop our di-"
"I think you made your point Mr. Nash, he is right though James, not only is it within his job to deny you, it is also a matter of Grimm, an army is a symbol of war, and Captain Nash here sells this fight against Grimm as a war, and he does it well, just look at his press corps, so the people see his army as an army of defense and expansion, but when people look at those warships you brought James they will end up asking themselves just what are we fighting that warrants that kind of firepower," Ozpin said ending the debate.
"I'll send you the coordinates for Malady Field, your ships will be safe there and can stay there for the duration of the festival General," I said showing him my scroll with the coordinates.
"Fine, but it's not Atlas' fault if vale gets caught unprepared," Ironwood conceded marking down the coordinates.
"I assure you, James, with one million active service members and land taken and held in an area of high Grimm activity, I think I'll be fine, your ships will only cause more harm than good here, this is a kingdom, not a field," I said putting away my scroll, "now then Oz, what did you want to meet with me for?" I asked turning to Ozpin.
"Yes, well I figured if you are going to make moves against Salem, then perhaps we should discuss battle plans as it were," he said with a gentle smile.
"We can give me a second though, I need to do something real quick," I said before pulling out my work scroll and calling up one of my sergeants, he arrived shortly after.
'Drop this off at my office and keep a watch of it, don't shoot what's inside if it comes to life, just keep an eye on it,' I said whispered to sergeant Williams, before handing him the box with the seer Grimm.
"Yes sir, is there a reason why it can come to life?" he asked.
'There's a seer Grimm inside that, seems the enemy wishes to open discourse with me, and I'll keep it that way since this might be the out I've been looking for remnant, this war against the Grimm has gone on for far too long,' I said before dismissing him.
"What was in that package?" Ironwood asked.
"Have some faith James, for one it's just a package I asked to be delivered to my room discreetly, would you like the world most powerful people to know about your private items?," I asked.
"No, I wouldn't," he replied.
"then you should know where I'm coming from," I said before taking a seat.
"Now then you wish to discuss battle plans, then we should start with Vale, I wish to reconquer Mountain Glenn and keep its territory, vale has long forfeited its claims to that land in my opinion, and I need it to further my plans," I said pulling out plans for a major military and civilian complex drawn up by the finest minds in my army.
"This is asking to be doomed," James said sighing.
"Heh, you clearly don't trust me enough, I'll be clearing out the majority of Mountain Glenn with a series of strategic bombing campaigns which yes will end up leaving most of the settlement in ruins, but it's far easier to clear off rubble with little to no Grimm, compared to taking the entire settlement with only the army and air support which would have left the city in rubble anyways," I said while showing the plans on a current map of mountain glenn.
"These maps seem recent? When did vale send out bullheads to make this map?" he asked me.
"They didn't actually, malady field has been sending high altitude scout planes out and doing aerial reconnaissance on the place for operation Cobra," I said pulling out some of the photos they've sent me. Oh yeah operation Cobra, on earth the breakout from Normandy, in remnant a breakout from the kingdoms.
"When will you commence your assault then?" Ozpin asked.
"Hmm? Oh the same day as when you send out the Students for their missions, I'll be putting the mission up as an option for the kids, all the NCO's and CO's have been brief on this," I said nonchalantly.
"Clever way of bolstering your numbers Captain," Ironwood said with a raised eyebrow.
"Not really, it allows the kiddies to get some real combat experience while still keeping them safe, most of what's in mountain Glenn is low level grunt Grimm, you know beowolfs and young nevermore," I said shrugging, "all I gain is some extra manpower which is hard to come by, vale literally has a few million able bodied men in just main city alone, it takes a surprisingly long time to traverse from the bullhead docks for beacon to Jackson Military base," I said rubbing the back of my neck.
"Hmm, I approve of this plan, vale could certainly use more living space, and it would be another victory under your belt," Ozpin said rubbing his chin.
"There's only one issue, with my plan, and that's the wyvern that's lodged in the mountain, anti air isn't gonna be enough to deal with something like that I'm gonna need to build up 5th air command and get ships, which means I'll either have to get Army ordinance to draft blueprints and source a dockyard to build them, rely on atlas support, or purchase them, which is really tempting option at the moment," I said tapping my chin
"If you need ships I can provide some, this wyvern seems serious," Ironwood said reluctantly after some subtle nudging from Ozpin.
"Hmm, I'll need some of your crew to train up the crew of the first MRA battle fleet, but I don't see why I can't accept, what's your price, general?" I asked with a smirk.
"Only that I get to join in on the operation," he said shaking my hand.
"It's a deal then," I said with a brazen smile.
"What's with the smile?" He asked me.
"He played us like a fiddle is what happened James," Ozpin said catching onto my little plan, granted I didn't come up with this plan until 30 seconds after I pulled out the plans, but you know 'planned' nonetheless.
— end —
This was a longer chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed it.