AN: Unrestrained, malicious cackling.
Chapter Six: Boarders
"Admiral." The navigations officer said, a resigned calm in his voice.
Tai looked over at the DRADIS, he could see the crimson signals of the Grimm fleet as they jumped into the system. "So, they're finally here, how many are there?"
"It's a similar composition to the fleet that struck at Vale. A battleship, multiple cruisers, and carriers." The officer replied quickly, and then studied the last signature to jump into the system. "But there is one other signature. It's approximately a quarter larger than the battleship."
"A battle-carrier." Tai said, scowling at the indicator. "Has the rest of the fleet been given the order?" The firepower and fighter-craft of that one ship alone could have taken one of the colonies. Dragon-class battle-carrier…I didn't think any still existed.
The comms officer replied, terminating comm signals until only the channel with the Beacon remained. "Yes, Sir. We have already issued the jump command to the Beacon and the civilians."
"Very good. Tactics get us a firing solution and then be ready to burn the void. We'll stall them as long as we can." The last admiral of the colonies ordered. It took you thirty-six hours to find us…I hope that is consistent because that could be how long it takes them to pick up a trail. Good luck, all of you.
Ozpin's voice crackled over the Solarius bridge, "This is Commander Ozpin to the Solarius. Good luck, good hunting, and thank you for everything you've sacrificed. Give them Hell for us."
"We will, Ozpin. Fly well and don't waste this time." Tai replied and nodded for his comms officer to cut the line. A few seconds later and the blue icons of the fleet winked out of existence.
"Enemy fleet is launching fighters and boarding craft, Sir." The tactics officer called out, almost calmly as he input firing solutions.
The admiral nodded sharply, even as a grim smile curled at his lips. "Understood. Give them our regards and be ready for boarders." As the leading boarbatusk-shuttlecraft and griffin-fighters grew closer, a wall of shrapnel and fire tore through the center of assaulting formations as the escape pods of the knight-class dreadnought laid out in a screening net before them blew apart.
Mid-decks
"Gamma, status?" A black armored figure asked, kicking aside twisted metal to open up an escape from their boarding craft. The craft had cut its way into the mid-decks of the crippled capital ship. They were further from the bridge than Alpha had hoped they would be, the odds of being stalled in a firefight were too high to be optimistic.
"Green, Alpha." Another black dressed boarder replied, checking the med kit on their back before drawing a heavy pistol. "This was never how it was supposed to be."
"Cinder will pay for her treason and this genocide. Even if we have to keep hunting her." Alpha replied, scanning the area where they had punched through the hull of the Solarius. A marksman rifle gripped tight in her fist. "Beta, status?"
"Green, Alpha." The third member of their team replied, ripping free of their restraint harness and checking the assault rifle they held. "We will make a difference, Gamma, we just need to finish up here and then hope our minds can handle the next step."
"Let's move quickly, she'll be at the bridge before us." Alpha interjected, taking point and moving down the corridor toward an access hatch that should bring them to a viable route.
The deck plates vibrated beneath their boots infrequently at first from the Grimm fleet's fighters and guns, the point defense cannons and main batteries of the Solarius doing well to keep the fighters and boarding craft at bay. But as the black armored team moved the reverberations picked up as griffon-fighters started to get through the wall of flack. It was not long before they ran into their first problem.
Alpha heard them first and signaled for the team to halt. A sound of metal tapping rapidly on metal faintly echoed down the corridor before them. "Hear that?"
"Not heavy enough for an Ursa." Gamma replied, keeping an eye out as rearguard. "Beowolf?"
"I'd wager that's likely." Beta replied bitterly, the three of them knew the standard practice was to send in the lupine automata as fodder before the heavier Ursa. "Count estimate?"
"Five by the cadence of that tapping. Heading right for us too, find cover and set up." Alpha ordered, aiming for where the first Grimm's head would be the moment it prowled into view.
Alpha's hearing had been on the mark, as not a moment after the fireteam had prepared their ambush five Beowolves stalked into their view. Beta failed to hold back a curse as they saw bits of flesh and blood from the Solarius' skeleton crew smeared across their metallic skins. "Bastards. They don't even gain anything by trying to eat the crew."
"Take them." Alpha ordered before firing at the lead Grimm. The rifle kicked hard into the marksman's shoulder. The bullet struck the Grimm's left forelimb at the elbow. It fell hard to the deck with a shower of sparks and spraying hydraulic fluids. A metallic shriek of twisting metal and animalistic howls filled the corridor. The wounded Grimm started kicking its remaining limbs to try and right itself as the rest of the pack ran to engage their ambushers.
Beta went to one knee, squeezing off a trio of shots at the second of the oncoming Grimm. Sparks filled the air as the bullets dented the hardened metal plates. With a snort of annoyance, the assault specialist adjusted their aim for the Grimm's head and neck. The second burst of shots punched into the weaker armor of its neck and jaw. The automata went down with a wine of servos. Disturbingly, the Grimm still tried to rise, snapping its broken jaws with a harsh grating of metal-on-metal attempting to bite its target. Only the Beowolf's head responded to its wishes, the rest of the construct remained inert.
Sensing that the medic's weapon was less of a threat, the remaining three Grimm howled and charged past Beta and Alpha to get to Gamma. Cursing, Alpha and Beta adjusted their aim and fired in unison on the three Grimm. Gamma reacted to the charging danger with something akin to disappointment. The medic only smiled sadly, backed away from the metal jaws that snapped inches from their helmet, and raised their heavy pistol.
"What made you turn once more into the beasts that you are? We were better than this and almost had redemption. But something inside you broke, didn't it?" The medic mused aloud, as the pistol kicked in the medic's hand. The shot ripped clean through the first lupine automata's eye and out the back of its head in a shower of sparks and molten metal.
The second fell under the withering hail of bullets from Alpha and Beta. But the third of Gamma's attackers managed to latch onto the medic's arm. With a rasping of metal on metal, a tearing of false skin, and a spray of blood and hydraulic fluids; Gamma's hand fell to the deck along with the pistol. A heartbeat later, Gamma pulled the knife from their combat vest and drove it up under the blood-soaked chin of the Grimm. Its crimson eyes flickered as it registered the damage before dimming and winking out.
"Gamma, status?" Alpha asked concerned, before walking up to the first Grimm they had shot and executed it.
"Loss of my left hand and a third of my forearm. Right hand still operational. I'm still able to finish this mission." Gamma replied with a grimace, before ripping the knife from the Grimm's chin and eyeing the ragged stump of their arm. The flow of synthetic blood and hydraulic fluid halted as the vessels of their arm sealed themselves off from the rest of the medic's body. "I only hope I don't have phantom pains because of this."
"You were too distracted, Gamma." Beta said, bringing a heavy boot down on the head of the second of the two crippled Grimm.
"My apologies, Beta, it won't happen again." The medic replied, picking up their fallen pistol.
"Let's keep moving and stay on your guard." Alpha said after making sure Gamma was ready. "We're not too far from the bridge lift and I am willing to bet the Ursa are not too far behind us."
Bridge
"Navigation, bring us about 2.3-mark, 7.8-mark, 2.2-mark. I want fresh armor between us and that incoming cruiser!" Tai called out as the deck shook heavily under a fresh bombing run from the fighter wings. They had been slowly picking apart the flak cannons for the last few minutes and it was beginning to tell on the large ship.
"Admiral, I'm still getting a feed from the mid-deck corridors." The comms officer called out, as they directed anti-boarding teams to various chokepoints. "That other boarding team is still coming our way, and I'm still not able to ID them."
"If they're shooting Grimm then I couldn't care less who they are, clear them with the fireteams." The admiral replied. "Tactics do you have a solution on that battle-carrier?! I want to make them regret bringing it with them!"
"Sir!" The tactics officer replied as the bridge lights dimmed briefly. "Firing the main nose cannons now!"
The twin cannons nestled into the nose of the dreadnought fired. Each shell, the size of a paladin-dropship, raced across the black void in twin lines of fire and light. One of the Grimm cruisers was quick enough to interpose itself between the battle-carrier and the dreadnaught's guns; one of the shells struck it in the foredecks. A heartbeat later the shell, buried within the tons of armor and plating, detonated, ripping apart the front third of the vessel. The second shell detonated harmlessly in the void, intercepted by the point defense batteries of the battle-carrier.
"Tactics, report!" Tai called out as the approaching battle-carrier rammed a way through the stricken cruiser that had shielded it from the first shell.
"One cruiser out of the fight, Admiral." The officer replied, bracing himself against his console as the Solarius shuddered from a fresh assault. "The second shell was intercepted by the battle-carrier's point defense."
"I had hoped they wouldn't have been up to the task of stopping those shells at this range."
"Orders, Sir?"
"We keep-" Tai's words were cut off as something struck the bridge, knocking him to the deck. A cloud of smoke from blown out consoles filled the bridge accompanied by a screaming of tortured metal. The admiral could taste blood, looking down he could see why. A spar of ragged metal from his own command console jutted from his side. He tried to call out but stopped as he looked around the bridge. None of his officers would hear him, each one was covered in burns from their consoles. Blood pooled at the foot of their stations from their ragged injuries. With a grunt of pain, he tried to pull himself back to his feet, only for an armor-gloved hand to force him back down.
"Easy, now. You're in no condition to be moving." Gamma said, forcing Tai back down onto the deck as he tried to rise. "If you had moved a few seconds later you would be dead too, Admiral Xiao-Long."
"Beta, cover that damn pod breach." Alpha ordered, eyeing the Boarbatusk boarding craft that had smashed its way through the bridge. "Buy us as much time as you can."
"Don't need to tell me twice." Beta replied, switching out a spent magazine for a fresh one before smashing the door controls to the bridge to slow down any Grimm that had managed to follow them through the corridors of the ship. "Two mags left."
"Who," Tai's breathing was ragged, he didn't need to be a doctor to know that he didn't have long left. "Who are you?"
"We are the ones hunting for the Grimm responsible for assassinating our own delegation and starting a genocide on your people." Alpha said, kneeling in front of the wounded officer and helping Gamma to staunch his bleeding. If he died too soon, they might miss their chance at killing Cinder, and Alpha wanted to make sure that didn't happen. "We had planned on forging an alliance with your colonies and attempting to atone for the past."
"The Grimm are infighting now?" The last admiral of the colonies asked, almost laughing before the realization struck him. His eyes widened and his hand went to his service pistol. "I guess that makes you Grimm too then?"
"Yes and no." Alpha replied somberly, unbuckling their helmet and tossing it away.
Tai thought his heart would stop. The young woman kneeling next to him should have been on the Beacon. "What in the name of… Blake? You can't be here!"
"I am and I am not, Tai." The feline Faunus replied, her amber eyes misted with tears and her ears pressed tight against her head. She knew what could be going through the man's thoughts just then. After all, his family had basically helped raise her, or at least a version of her. After this mission the person she was on the R.C.S. Beacon would be the last living version of her. "And I am so sorry for all of this, but there is not enough time for me to explain everything."
"Just tell me this. What are your oaths?" Tai asked, his eyes wide with a mixture of confusion, fear, and anger.
"To keep my family safe, to keep my ship flying, and to keep the light of the colonies burning." There was no hesitation in Blake's voice as she spoke the oath that she had given in another life. "That oath has never once changed, Admiral Tai. You have my word; our family will stay safe. Even if Cinder shows up again within the fleet."
"Then I guess you already have your orders, Lt. Belladonna." He said, sighing as he closed his eyes from the pain lancing through his side. "Good hunting."
"At your signal, Alpha." Gamma said, as the markswoman helped her work a syringe into a bottle.
"Alpha!" Beta called out in warning, as the warped plates around the boarding craft were wrenched apart with a screeching of metal. The thud of heavy steps on the deck were barely masked as Beta opened fire on the two lumbering forms that stepped out of the pod.
"So they finally brought in the heavies." Alpha muttered as Beta's shots ricocheted off of the thick plates of the Ursa. She took aim at the weaker joints in their armor, hoping to slow them down, as they turned their full attention on the closer threat of Beta.
"Alpha, Gamma… My shots aren't cutting it." Beta called over their comms. Before reaching for their belt and charging at the pair of bear-like Grimm. "I've got a plan though, see you on the other side."
"Good hunting, Beta." Gamma replied, shifting their grip on the syringe to use it easier when the time came.
Beta ducked under one of the Ursa as it moved to swipe at the charging assault specialist. The thick, bladed, claws carved deep grooves in the deck plate with a shower of sparks. Taking advantage of the Ursa's movement, Beta slammed the barrel of their rifle into the hip joint of the Ursa and fired the last of the weapon's bullets into it. With the joint weakened, the automata lurched down onto one knee. The second Ursa moved to cover its wounded partner, swiping at Beta to force them back. But the assault specialist didn't dodge the claws of the Grimm. The deadly blades punched into the armor of Beta's breastplate with spray of blood and fluids, the tips jutting from their prey's back. It let out a low metallic growl in triumph that reverberated through the deck as it raised its heavy paw as if to savor killing the one who had attacked it.
"That's close enough, Tincans." Beta wheezed, still impaled on the deadly claws of the Ursa, as the grenades on the assault specialist detonated with a spray of electrical sparks.
"EMP grenades?" An amused voice asked, stepping from the boarding pod. "Clever, Beta, but you know that only works on the old models."
"Cinder Fall!" Alpha growled, as she watched the black armored traitor place her pistol against Beta's faceplate and squeeze the trigger. "Be ready to give her that syringe where it will hurt the most, Gamma."
"Face it is then." Gamma replied, the anger in their voice was tinged with dark amusement. "I won't have trouble with her faceplate."
"I can buy you thirty seconds. Will that be enough?" Blake asked, taking a pair of shots at Cinder and forcing her to duck behind the inert hulks of Grimm corpses.
Gamma nodded and started to carefully pick their way through the bridge to flank the suppressed Grimm. "Plenty. See you on the other end, Alpha."
So…I guess she had us all fooled then. Torchwick…I hope you never find out what your wife really was. Tai thought bitterly and drew his sidearm. "If she gives me a clear shot I will take it, Lieutenant."
"After what she has done, it's only fair you get to take a shot at Cinder too, Sir." Blake replied, taking cover behind the commander's console and squeezing off another shot at Cinder.
"It's not like Beta to be so reckless, Alpha. What changed?" Cinder asked mockingly, before firing at the console Blake and Tai were sheltered behind. Sparks showered them as the fresh damage tore into the inner workings of the machine.
"You know what changed, you traitorous bitch!" Blake shouted over the sounds of the ship dying around them from the continuing bombardment. She brought her rifle up and squeezed off another bullet. The round sparked off the heavy shoulder plate of one of the inert Ursa leaving it deformed and glowing from the heavy caliber shell. "You ruined our last hope for peace, for a bright future free of our sins of the past!"
"Did you really just shout almost the exact same thing Theta said to me before all of this?" Cinder asked, laughing as she tried to move to a better vantagepoint. "How is she by the way?"
Tai asked, firing his sidearm as he saw Cinder try to bolt for a nearby console. With his vision beginning to gray out from pain and blood loss, his shot went wide, and his target reached her cover. "So, I assume there is one other somewhere on the ship?"
"No, Sir." Blake replied ignoring Cinder's baiting question. "Theta is with the rest of the Remnant fleet, she'll be the one waking us up again and I'm not looking forward to it again."
"I wish we had more time for a debrief." The admiral replied with a dry chuckle.
"Me too, Tai." The feline Faunus replied sadly.
A few heartbeats later and the pair heard Gamma finally spring their trap. Gamma had the remains of their left arm wrapped tight across Cinder's neck from behind, the syringe clasped tightly in the medic's right hovered over her right eye. The hardened glass of her faceplate hissed and spat as the acid in the syringe ate at the material. But try as they might, the medic didn't have enough strength left to bury the needle in the traitor's eye.
"You would have had more luck if you still had your other hand, Gamma." Cinder grunted, before lining up her pistol with Gamma's leg. The bullet ripped through the medic's knee, at the same time Gamma fully depressed the plunger of the syringe.
The visceral scream that emanated from Cinder's ruined helmet slowly faded to a wet gurgling as the acid began to eat at the Grimm's throat. "That was for Atlas." Gamma said, before their helmeted head lolled forward.
"Two this time to take her down, it'll be harder next time. See you both on the other end." Blake murmured, helping Tai limp over to where Cinder still lay.
"It could have been worse; she could have tracked the rest of the fleet easier without us stalling her. But I guess this is all the time we could give them." Tai said, barely able to make out the forms laying on the deck before him as the ship shuddered beneath them. The reactors and jump drives would be going critical any moment now.
"Tai?" Blake asked, confused at his wording.
"My vision's shot and I can't even raise my pistol to shoot this damned monster." He replied darkly, gesturing slowly in Cinder's direction.
"I can help with that at least." She replied, steadying his arm and helping him aim for Cinder's heart.
"Remember one thing for me, Blake. No matter what, you are Blake Belladonna, a Remnant." Tai said, as he fired his service pistol until the magazine emptied and the slide locked back. In the next instant the bridge vanished in a burst of light and radiation as the detonating drives consumed the ship.
Remnant Fleet: R.C.S. Beacon
"I will need to wait before I wake the others up this time." Theta muttered as she looked herself over in the mirror of her stateroom, she didn't have long to prepare before the funeral ceremonies started. "Two have attachments that they didn't have before and the other is further up the chain than is comfortable right now."
"Did you say something, Glyn?" Summer asked from the stateroom doorway, her ears still pressed flat to her red hair.
"Just thinking things over, Summer." The soon-to-be president of the Remnant fleet replied. "Trying to come to terms with it all still."
"I know what you mean. Ozpin and I are thinking of standing down the CAP for a day or two to let the pilots sort themselves out." The wolf Faunus replied, morosely.
"What about you?" Glynda asked, concerned as she hadn't been able to speak with the pilot since their meeting two days earlier. "How are you holding up?"
"Still not up to snuff." Summer admitted, her silver eyes boring a hole into the deck between her feet.
Theta walked over to her and quickly pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry, Summer, truly I am."
"I know, Glyn. But I also know you don't need me venting to you when you're going to be running the colonies." The pilot said, stiffening slightly at the sudden contact before relenting to her friend's embrace.
"Pardon me, but that is bullshit. Vent to me all you need to. You knew me before I was working with President Ironwood." She said, pulling away from her slightly to look the Faunus in the eyes.
Summer sighed slightly before nodding, "All right, Glyn, you win. I'll come to you if I need to vent, but you do the same for me."
"I will, Summer" Glynda replied, gesturing toward the door. "Now…let's give them all a proper send off. One that would even make Tai smile."
AN: Yes, I did a thing, a thing I had planned for a while. Anyone want to take guesses on who the other two operatives are? I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! - Phoenix Commander signing off!