Border Country, codenamed Counter Wind
14:25 hours
"You sure you know where we're going, Captain?" Sergeant Vermell asks the young white haired officer sitting in the passenger seat of the M939 transport truck, who is busy studying a map.
"It's Captain Schnee," she responds. Vermell rolls his eyes. She's spent more times reminding her soldiers of her rank than making sure this shipment of supplies gets to the frontlines on time. "And yes, of course I know where I'm going. You think I don't know how to read a map?"
"Course not," Vermell replies, looking out the side window. This border country specializes in agriculture, and over half of the land is devoted to crops. The convoy, composed of three M939s and a fully loaded Paladin, is moving in between corn plantations now. "I just don't think our original route took us through this much civilian territory. Lots of exposure out here for us."
"Well, we're not taking the original route, so stop talking and start driving, Sergeant." Schnee retorts.
"Yes, Sir," Vermell says. Schnee looks at him with a disgusted look.
"What is this, the Atlesian Army?" she scoffs. "It's Ma'am, Sergeant." Vermell sighs.
"Yes, Ma'am," he mutters. Schnee returns to her map, but her thoughts on the matter remain. The nerve of some people! People wouldn't stop looking down on her since Officer Academy, since boot camp even, because she was supposed to be uptight, coming from the Schnee family, the family that built most of the weapons and equipment they carry. Didn't they know how hard she trained? How far her father pushed her to live up to the family name?
"Join the military, be a woman of the people," her father had told her since she was little. "Become an officer, prove your capability, then you can have my company." While people like Vermell spent their days drooling, she spent them working to become a leader; it's all she's ever known, and no one will stop her from earning her surname.
There's a popping sound outside the window.
"Shit, Eagle 2's got a flat," Vermell says. "They're waving us over," and he pulls over to the curb. Schnee wants to punch something. Does the world want her to fail all the time? She shoves the map, which was obviously outdated, under the seat, grabs her rifle, and climbs outside.
"You," Schnee shouts, pointing to a random soldier from Eagle 2. "Tell the Paladin to park ahead of Eagle 1, to cover us."
"Yes, Sir," the soldier says, running to the back of the convoy.
"It's yes Ma'am!" she calls to him. He doesn't even look back. She shakes her head and walks over to the truck, where a few soldiers are inspecting the back left tire. "How long will it take to change it?" she asks.
"Not long," a Corporal says, standing up and wiping sweat from his brow. "Fifteen mikes, tops."
"Well, can we tow it behind Eagle 1 or something instead?" Schnee asks.
"Uh, changing the tire now will be a lot easier, Ma'am," the Corporal says. Well, at least he said Ma'am.
"Alright, start changing it," Schnee says, and turns to the dismounted troops of Eagle 3. "Where's Lieutenant Keltan?"
"Here, Ma'am," one of the soldiers says, stepping forward.
"Form a perimeter around the trucks, just to be safe," Schnee orders. Keltan nods and starts barking orders to the troops. By the time the spare tire is rolled out, there are snipers and machine gunners pointing in every direction. Schnee is satisfied, and gets back in her truck and scans the countryside with binoculars.
"This is bullshit, man," she hears from the bed of the truck. Must be a sniper talking to his spotter, or vice versa. She thinks about reprimanding them right then and there for not keeping their heads on the job, but what the hell, grunts will be grunts.
"Yeah, we need new tires," the other soldier says.
"No, not that," the first says. "Why the hell are we delivering this shit to the front, only to turn around again? We're a combat unit, I want some action."
"You shitting me? We're living the dream, dude. We're getting paid to look good, carry guns, not get shot at, and still get bragging rights. Trust me, I've fought the feds, we're better off with this crap."
"Really? This unit has seen combat? I thought I was replacing a guy that got court martialed or something. I figured you guys have been here all along."
"Nah, we onboard the Templar that assisted Fort Beacon, during the first attack."
"You were at Fort Beacon? I heard that place was hell."
"It was, there were bodies everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. The Captain did a hell of a job cleaning house, though." Schnee smiles to herself.
"Who, Schnee? You mean that bitch is actually a competent commander in the field?"
"Be a woman of the people."
"Grunts will be grunts," Schnee silently tells herself. Besides, it isn't like it's the first time someone below her has insulted her.
"Yeah, where do you think she got that scar over her eye from? A Fed clawed her."
"Bullshit."
"That's what I heard."
"Well, I heard her dad beat her when she was a kid." Schnee stops looking through the binoculars.
"I doubt the CEO of the fucking Schnee Armaments Corporation would let a scar like that show. The media shitstorm that would bring him."
"Nah, it looks pretty good, as far as scars go. I bet he'd do it if he thought it would look good. She was pretty much raised like a child soldier, right?"
Schnee had dropped the binoculars and is about to get up, when there's a crack of lightning, and a body drops.
"Oh shit! Oh fuck!" the second soldier in the truck cries out. "Fuck me, man down! Man fucking down!" Switching her brain to her training she, grabs her rifle and jumps out of the truck, taking cover behind the front tire.
"Locate that sniper, north by northeast," she says in her radio. The soldiers scramble to take cover behind the trucks. Another shot rings out, and a window shatters.
"I got him," another sniper says on the radio. "Rooftop, red barn, 50 degrees our position. Looks like he's on the roof.
"Take the shot," Weiss orders.
"Negative, he's got a bead on me. He'll never give me time to aim." Schnee thinks for a moment.
"Ok. Lieutenant Keltan, give me some suppressive fire. Fire when ready."
"Copy that," Keltan replies. A few seconds later, gunfire rings out from behind her, and red tracer rounds streak towards the barn. Schnee gets up a quickly darts to the Paladin in front of her. She pounds on the side door, and the passenger opens it.
"Tell your gunner to blow that roof off," she tells him, then closes the door. The massive turret wielding a 30mm autocannon swivels to the side, and fires a single shell. Schnee peeks out, and half the barn is reduced to splinters.
"Can we confirm the kill?" she asks the radio.
"Roger, that's the barn," the sniper confirms. "Or, what's left of it."
"Good. Now everyone fall out and get to work on that wheel again. We're well behind sched-"
She's interrupted by a loud whooshing sound, and Eagle 2 is rolled onto its side, the troops using it for cover thrown away, some without a few body parts.
"Contact!" Schnee shouts, and raises her rifle. She tracks the trail of white smoke, and a row of soldiers dressed in black and white uniforms emerge from the corn and open fire.
"Fire! Fire!" a VAF soldier screams. Schnee is already squeezing on the trigger and moving behind the Paladin, turret turning around. She mows down three of them before the side of the IFV comes alive with sparks courtesy of incoming bullets, and throws herself to the dirt.
"Pop smoke and back to the trucks!" she shouts into her radio. She stands back up, takes out a cylindrical grenade, pulls the pin, and throws it into the middle of the road. She turns to the convoy and sees other soldiers doing the same. Others are also shooting, while more are dragging the dead and dying behind the trucks, which are going to be disabled if they don't get the hell out of there soon.
"Move! Everyone move!" she shouts. She walks out of cover, weapon raised, and gets her first good look at the enemy uniforms.
White Fang.
Originally a peaceful human-faunus relations group, the banner has since been wielded by the Faunus organized crime syndicate. Shortly after the Armistice was signed, all of their business was conducted exclusively inside Federation territory. Recently, they have been venturing outside the borders, with cells inside border countries and even the kingdoms, and are dipping their feet into terrorism, including building the bombs used at Fort Beacon. There is a growing mountain of evidence pointing to White Fang sponsorship by the Federation government.
Schnee shoots two and dives behind the truck before a third could take aim at her. Vermell is already there, prone and shooting under the truck with an LMG.
"Get in, I'll drive!" Schnee orders. Vermell abandons the gun and climbs into the truck. Schnee hands him her gun, which he uses to suppress the White Fang troops, and does the same.
"All units, move forward" she barks into the radio. The White Fang are beginning to fall back into the corn. "Paladin, lead the way. If you were in Eagle 2, just walk alongside another vehicle until we're clear." The Paladin surges forward, and Schnee guns the engine.
Bullets are still pinging off the side of the truck, but they lessen the farther they go.
"Goddamn, that was close," Vermell says, reloading the rifle. Schnee looks out the window behind her, and can see the dozen or so soldiers left from Eagle 2 marching alongside the remaining convoy.
She turns back around just in time to watch the Paladin in front of her get T-Boned by another Paladin that burst out of the corn. The symbol of the White Fang, a red wolf head and three claw marks, is painted on the side in place of the VAF symbol.
"Go around!" Schnee shouts into the radio, spinning the wheel to the left and driving onto the corn field as the friendly IFV is hammered by the White Fang's identical autocannon. A new torrent of bullets hammers the truck, a few reaching the dashboard, but Schnee ignores them and keeps driving, hoping that the rest of the convoy heard her.
"Sergeant Vermell, do you have a visual on the rest of the convoy?" she asks, scanning the corn field for any more surprises. Vermell doesn't answer.
"Sergeant Vermell-" Schnee repeats, turning to him. His head is hanging limply out the shattered window. His blood is beginning to build up on the seat, spilling onto the floor.
That's when Schnee's brain starts to try and make sense of the battle; how the sniper pinned them down, how they were ambushed, how she killed multiple Faunus in cold blood; how someone's life ended mere inches from her. She wonders if he felt any pain, or if he was able to hold on for a few more seconds, trying to call out to her for help, but couldn't because he was choking on his own-
Schnee's hands begin to shake the steering wheel, her feet go numb, her stomach twists itself into multiple knots, and she starts to black out. She shakes herself out of it.
"Be an officer, prove your capability, then you can have my company." She reminds herself. Timidly, she talks into her radio.
"Sitrep," she says simply.
"Everyone from Eagle 2 is KIA," Keltan reports soberly. "Eagle 3 lost a lot of its supplies and half its squad. Looks like Eagle 1's cargo is mostly intact. The Paladin crew presumed KIA."
"Radio in a set of Bullheads for extraction. We're not taking this road any longer than we have to."
Schnee wipes some blood of the rearview mirror, adjusts it to see the battered truck behind her, and tries not to look at the Sergeant next to her.