Demon: This is the first official chapter for Wings of Chaos. Here… Ah hell, why spoil it? Go read for yourself and find out!
We'll have a message from our friendly neighborhood Karma after these messages… er… after this chapter, at least.
Enjoy!
In the sky, the captain was trying to get the rest of his training team into his view as well as on his radar. He was howling at the earth below.
"Give me a break, I'm babysitting nuggets up here!"
"Command Room to Crow Squadron," a voice called back on the radio, "We have leakers, aircraft unknown. Crossing the border at Cape Basket bearing two-eight-seven to three-two-zero. Captain Qrow, your flight is the only one close enough to make the intercept."
"Damnit." The captain, Qrow, had only that as a retort to the ground. They were already disorganized as is, having the entire flight of twelve nuggets, which was the term for trainee pilots, attempting to form up. "Alright, Barker, Lenom go take the trail position and stay close! The three of us will fly high and engage. Everyone else, stay low and out of the fight."
There was a collective roger from everyone in the flight group. Qrow, Barker and Lenom all climbed above the clouds, whilst the rest stayed low to the ocean.
The trio waited.
They watched their radar, then the sky, then the radar again. The machine didn't tell them the altitude of the unknowns.
Closer they got, yet, the bandits were still out of view.
Until…
"What the-!" A panicked voice called over the radio, "Bandits! Dead ahead! Flying low! They're firi-" The voice was cut off by static and a boom.
"Kline is down!" Another voice called. This voice belonged to none other than Ruby Rose, "They're firing on us! Engaging!"
"Hold on down there, we're coming!" Qrow called desperately. Flying from four-thousand feet to 1000 feet was an easy task, yet still took time. And in a very short amount of time anything can happen.
And things did happen…
All while diving to intercept, Qrow saw blip after blip on his radar disappear. Flying through the clouds, he saw four MiG 21's engaging his force of nuggets. Locking on, he gave the order. "All Aircraft still up, engage!"
With that, they all started to fight back. It was now seven to four, five nuggets having been shot down. One nugget was being chased down by two of the unknown craft. A radar warning alerted the rookie to begin banking to evade. The more experienced pilots, however, wouldn't fall for it, and kept both radar and visual lock.
"I've got him." Said one of the pilots. Thumb over the button, he waited for the nugget to break his turn before firing, fearing a miss. When he leveled out, the unknown chuckled, until bullets began to fly past his cockpit. He turned quickly to evade the fire.
"Crow nine, this is Crow five, I've got your back. Break off and help someone else." The pilot of Crow five, Blake Belladonna, grabbed the attention of both of the unknown pilots, who were once going after the other nugget. Now, they were after her.
Blake was chasing one, knowing full well the pilot she fired on earlier had gotten behind her. She wasn't going for the kill on the one in front; rather, she was playing a game of chicken with the one in back.
Ruby saw her ally being trailed from above, admiring for a moment the pilot's amazing skill. 'That's a recruit and they're flying like that?' She thought. Before she could give it another thought, she dove to engage the chasing plane. Said plane noticed it had Ruby in its sights and broke off. The one in front of Blake did the same.
Ruby flew up next to Blake, tipped her wing in salute, and banked back into the fight. Blake took a sigh of relief, then did the same.
All of Qrow's remaining nuggets had engaged, though most took to avoiding maneuvers, weaving through the missiles. A slim few had fired upon the unknowns, Qrow and his other instructors, Barker and Lenom, lead the charge. Blake, Ruby and another joined them. With the tables turned the unknown leader gave the order and the force retreated.
"Do we follow?" Ruby asked, eager for vengeance for her fallen comrades.
"Negative!" Ground Control shot back harshly, "Do not follow, do not engage any further! We don't want an incident on our hands."
"Are you crazy!" A wild, angry voice challenged. This one belonged to Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long, "We already have an incident here! They fired on us! We should go get them!"
"It's alright, sis," Ruby pleaded, "Let's just go home.
"They're fleeing damnit, we can take them! The have to be low on ammo-"
"Xiao Long, cut the chatter and disengage now!" Even Qrow was yelling back at Yang now. "What if they still have a few missiles!? You go out there and they will rip you to shreds! Disengage!"
Yang finally relented, Qrow had a point. "Alright... Let's go."
The trainee force turned around and fled the combat zone, just like the unknown force. Their base, however, wasn't as far as their enemies was. In short time, Qrow's force made it to Patch, their small "oasis" as they joked. It was nothing more than a small military base, far off the coast of Vale. It was the country's only permanent line of defense on their western flank. The only other thing was their navy, and only one port on the entire west side.
The nuggets all landed, leaving Qrow for last. He always took off first, and landed last, just so he could see how his trainees did.
He landed and taxied his craft towards the hangers. He met the ground crews halfway, and turned his craft off. He flew an old F4E Phantom. A multirole fighter from twenty-five years ago. Yes it was obsolete, but he enjoyed it. He could fly it, at least. He was so used to it that he figured if he's just training recruits, why should it matter?
The crew took his craft to stay idle with the other nuggets. Qrow climbed out, meeting his two nieces, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. "Well," he sighed, "You got your first look at combat."
"Yeah," Yang said, rubbing the back of her head, "Yeah we did."
"You both handled yourselves very well. You easily could have been one of our six nuggets who went down, but instead you took initiative and fought back. Not very smart to the top brass, but very smart to a soldier."
"Thanks." Ruby said, bowing her head slightly. "I guess we should go in?"
"Right." Qrow sighed. To say he was upset was an understatement. A total of six trainees had been shot down during the engagement. All of the nuggets he sent to the area below were in the way of the bogeys, all because the ground had misplaced some zeroes, and hadn't informed Qrow of their altitude.
"Hey, Uncle Qrow," Ruby called, "Did you see that fighter in the number five aircraft? She was amazing!"
"Yeah, I couldn't bare to watch." He huffed, turning around harshly towards the number five craft, "Belladonna! You keep flying like that you'll die real soon!"
The pilot, Blake Belladonna, only stood by her aircraft. Her response was quiet, "I won't die yet, sir." She had been the one to call out the enemy combatants over the radio. She even took initiative and distracted two of them, causing them to chase her away from the fight. How she got out alive, even she wondered.
"Really now?" Qrow asked, shaking his head, "You look like you couldn't even harm a damn bug." He sighed, shaking his head as he walked away, leaving both Ruby and Yang behind. The two sisters stared at Blake, neither saying a word. Until Ruby began to walk towards her.
"Hey," she called, "Belladonna, right?"
"Call me Blake."
"Alright." Ruby extended a hand, "I'm-"
"Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long." Blake interrupted, accepting Ruby's hand shake, "You'd have to find the newest of recruits to the oasis to find someone who doesn't know who you two are."
"Wow, I guess we have a reputation." Yang chuckled.
"If you mean having your father and uncle both working on the island, then yes you do." Both girls blushed a little. They hadn't realized that their father, Taiyang, had been very open about about having both of his daughters at the island. If anything, it was probably a bid to get either of them on a date with his maintenance crews, which he's tried before.
Taiyang, who flew with Qrow in the previous war, was done flying combat; yet wasn't done flying. So, instead of fully retiring he now flies freight for the maintenance. Both he and Qrow are the very reason that Ruby and Yang chose to be fighter pilots, and given their family's history with the air force, they were given rather special treatment from the higher ups. Allowing them to be trained by their uncle was enough, but having their father on island was an added bonus.
"So you've talked to the old man, I see." Yang rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry about him."
"Oh he's not so bad. In all honesty he was more advice rather than random chatter." Blake admonished.
"That's new." Ruby said.
"Yeah. Normally he's either bragging about us or trying to convince maintenance to go out with one of us."
"Which one from the maintenance crew?" Blake asked curiously.
"Yes." Both sisters replied in unison, giving Blake all the information she needed in the subject. The trio laughed the comment off and began to march back to the hanger. "So," Ruby began, "I guess we have to be debriefed now?"
"After we changed out of this, sis." Yang said, throwing her hands behind her head. Ruby nodded and turned to Blake.
"So, do you always fly with your bow on?"
Blake was taken aback. She had completely forgotten that she was wearing her bow. She was also surprised how well it held up during the flight. "Actually," Yang started before Blake could respond, "What's with that bow? I know some people who wear one to hold their hair up in the helmet, but-"
"It's nothing," Blake said, "I use it like that, but I pulled my hair out of the bow when I took my helmet off." The lie seemed to work, as both girls nodded. They continued walking, getting ever closer to the main prep building, which housed the locker room. As they approached the door, the trio heard a rescue helicopter approach and saw an ambulance (which was nothing more than a small cart with a flat back for the medics) run to the emergency landing, just outside of the bases infirmary.
Ruby looked on, hope in her eyes, "I wonder if they were able to pluck anyone out of the ocean?"
"I'm not sure…" Blake said, "I didn't see anyone bail out… But I guess we have to be hopeful, right?" The sisters agreed, then entered the main facility.
The base, considering it's location, was pretty well kept. The runway's had obviously taken up a good portion of the island's southern end. Two six-thousand foot strips of concrete was all they needed. In the northwestern end of the island sat eight hangers. Hangers one through six were main combat hangers, holding jets, fuel, ammo, tools, everything under the sun. Hanger seven held Taiyang's training jets. He used them specifically for brand new pilots, or officers looking to become pilots, could learn. Hanger eight was reserved for the maintenance crews. Every tool, every last thing Taiyang brought in from his supply trips to the mainland was held here. Even mail was stored until someone could get on it.
On the northeastern side was the main facility. The locker rooms were close to the hangers, on the farthest side of the facility. Past that was four briefing rooms (which is self explanatory). Past that was a crossroads; a hallway that split into three sections. To go to the northern hallway would take you to administrations. To go south would take you to personnelle area: crew quarters, lounge and infirmary.
And that was the Island of Patch. A small military base in the middle of the ocean on the western side of Vale.
One by one they enterned. Before closing the door, Yang got a peak at whoever was on the stretcher in the rescue copter. All she saw was a pale female with semi-long, white as snow hair wrapped in a yellow blanket, which indicated that she had been in the water, be pulled into the medical vehicle. "Hey," Yang called, "Did we have anyone in the squad with white hair?"
"Other than uncle Qrow?" Ruby called back, finally getting her flight suit unzipped.
"That's silver, Ruby." Yang sighed, "And no, I mean cloud white." Both Ruby and Blake looked to each other, then to Yang and shook their heads. Neither of them remembered someone like that, nor could Yang remember another female in the training squad. 'Though, it was a larger force today,' the blonde thought, 'She might have been with another instructor before...' She shook the thought from her mind and began to change.
It took her a moment to get completely changed, something that Ruby had grown accustomed to since they were kids. Blake, however, wondered how long it would've been for her. Ruby kept assuring her it wouldn't be too long.
The trio eventually made it out of the locker room and moved to be debriefed. However, a note on the door told them to return after dinner, that the debriefing won't happen. All three shrugged, but moved on.
"Let's go get some food!" Yang stated, "I'm starving!"
"You're always hungry, Yang."
"It's easy to be when you're me, sis!"
All three made it to the cafeteria, but were saddened to see a lack of pilots. So many hadn't returned…
"I wonder what this means…" Ruby said under her breath, "Are we at war now?"
"I hope not. Maybe this was just a misunderstanding?" Blake reasoned.
Yang wanted to comment, but knew it wasn't her place to. Ruby wouldn't have wanted to hear what she had to say, and Yang wasn't sure where Blake stood on the topic yet. All three moved to get their food and sit down. No one wanted to comment on the previous events. Instead, they began small talk.
"So," Blake started, "Tell me something about yourselves."
Both sisters looked at each other, but Ruby gave the speaking floor to Yang. "Well, Ruby and I grew up with the military. Born and raised on bases all over Vale, after a while we start playing with flight simulators on base and found we were quite good at it."
"It was all just a game to us." Ruby piped.
"Right. Not soon after did we get recommended to be pilots. After a few years of officer training, here we are!" Yang finished, keeping her arms spread open for dramatic effect.
"Grew up with the military?" Blake pondered out loud, "Your whole family?"
"Yeah, Qrow, our father and mothers were all in the Air Force!" Yang said, "So Ruby and I both had a bit of motivation when we made this decision."
"Mothers? Plural?"
Ruby and Yang shared a glance, but once again Yang took over, "It's a long story. Another time." She assured, "How about you? Tell us something about you, now."
Blake took a drink, then began "I grew up in Vale's capital city, Vytal. After high school I couldn't figure out what to do with myself, so I joined the military. Vale's Air Force caught my eye, and after some time, here I am." She chuckled, "It was a challenge. They've been reducing numbers for some time, but I guess they found a reason to accept me."
"So what about that bow?" Yang asked, keeping up her question from earlier. She earned a sharp glance from Ruby, telling her to drop the subject, but Yang wouldn't. The blonde knew her sister wanted to know just as much as her.
Blake looked up, surprised, but never got a word out. "It doesn't matter why she's wearing the bow, Yang." Ruby said, "So what if she wants to accessorize with her uniform?"
"Because, Ruby, that's the point of a uniform!" Yang argued, "Everyone is supposed to look the same!" Blake watched on as the sisters argued. It was interesting to say the least. Classic sibling verbal confrontation that she was sure their family had seen time and again. Off the corner of her eye, however, she saw the adjutant base commander, Captain Mercury Black, step in. He locked eyes with the arguing sisters and began to walk over to them.
"Captain Black." Blake called loudly so the sisters would hear her. They turned back, saw the captain, then rose to attention.
"Second Lieutenants Rose, Xiao Long and Belladonna. At ease." All three took a seat, "I came to let you all know that there will be no debriefing for you, at all. Please remain silent about out little war out there. Also, at nineteen hundred hours tonight we want you and the remaining trainees to report to briefing room one. Am I understood?" All three nodded, "Very good. Enjoy your lunch."
He turned to leave, but stopped halfway and glanced back, "Oh, Rose, Xiao Long… What were you both fighting about this time?"
Yang sighed, "Nothing, sir. Just the average sisterly fight."
He chuckled, "So glad I'm an only child. Carry on." With that he left the room. The trio took a sigh of relief, as they feared the argument had gotten negative attention from the higher ups (as Ruby and Yang were so used to, by this point in their lives).
"At least Black is kind enough not to bust us down to sergeant as 'his highness' loves to threaten." Ruby sighed, burying her face into her hands.
"Ah, top brass are all the same." Yang stated easily. "Come on, let's finish up. We have only four hours before the next briefing."
"I'm sorry sir! But you just can't see her yet!" The on-base physician pleaded, "She's been out there for who knows how long! She's in no position to move, let alone answer questions!"
The white-haired pilot listened intently from her infirmary bed, trying to get an idea what was going on. She knew where she was, but was denied any meds until she answered some questions. The physician, however, was having none of that, and fighting to get her some painkillers. Actually, he was fighting to get her anything.
"I don't care of her condition! If she's conscious, she can talk! Now move out of my way, or I'll have the MP's here arrest you!"
"You can't arrest me, I'm one of the three only doctors you have on this island!"
"Fine then. Detain him!"
A short scuffle was heard from outside, with many vocal threats from the physician about reporting the man for 'cruel and unusual punishment', along with a few other crimes. The pilot couldn't make everything out, though. Right after the doctors' cries had dissipated, the door opened, revealing a fairly large man in his Air Force blue's. Behind him were two more MP's, armed with semi-automatic weapons.
'Geez,' the pilot thought, 'what does he think I'm going to do here?'
"First Lieutenant Weiss Schnee of the Atlasian Air Force." Weiss looked up from her bed and swallowed saliva, "My name is Colonel Port, Commander of the Island base of Patch, which you have been brought to." Port leaned in close, "Now… How in the world did you end up here?"
/u/Karmahhhhh - Welp, after a month of planning, writing and knife fights about who is best girl (Demon: Ruby), the AC!AU is up! Discovered DemonLordB7R while browsing reddit, and was quickly met with a "COLLAB NAOW" message. Welcome to the result of that caps-locked PM (You don't even know).
Demon- Now, we're here and ready to pump out the best damn piece of fiction literature we've ever written, let alone seen. Karma stepped out for a moment or two (I just went AFK, promise), so I'm gonna take over for now.
So what did you think? Was chapter one good? Bad? So-So? We'd both like to hear feedback to try to make this the best it could possibly be, so don't hold back!
Next chapter we'll see what happened to Weiss and have a bit more action from our main team. Until then, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and of course:
Until Next Time.