Chapter Three: The Opening Ceremonies Part One
Quick Question: Should I bring Jorge-052 and Spartan Grey Team into the Story?
From the comfort of temporary room, David watched with a mixture of apprehension and awe as several bizarre-looking airships approached the academy's landing pads. During the war with the covenant, he had earned the distinction of being the only Spartan in the UNSC to be a certified combat pilot. However, the Spartan was confused as to how the craft was able to fly as he couldn't see a visible explanation to his unasked question. It was just another item to put on a list of unexplainable things about this strange world.
"Perhaps, I should head down to the auditorium and join my future classmates to hear Ozpin's opening speech." The former member of Noble Team mused as he walked away from the room's window to leave.
A couple of days ago, he had received a stern lecture from the school's headmaster about trying to socialize with people that were around his age. The white-haired man explained that the constant interaction with people would help him adapt to civilian life. This was something that the Spartan was reluctant to do as many civilians held members of the UNSC military with contempt for a variety of reasons. The feeling was reciprocated towards civilians by military personnel after a fierce battle.
He was also deeply concerned about coming across something called a faunus that Professor Goodwitch had briefly mentioned to him during the tour of the academy. To him, the idea of humanoid people with physical animal traits sounded like something out of a weird comic book. However, the discrimination that they face from non-faunus was a bit alarming to hear. It seemed like humanity would always be prejudiced towards beings that looked different than them.
"Despite all of the advancements that it has made over the centuries, humanity is still filled with arrogant bigots." The Spartan thought as he walked down a flight of stairs that led towards the auditorium.
He was no stranger to bigotry as many members of the Orbital Drop Shock Troops looked down upon Spartans. One of the worst cases being a glory hound by the name of Antonio Silva, the major had been accused of interfering in Spartan deployments on several occasions. However, the man was able to avoid being investigated due to a shortage of experienced senior officers. Secretly, David hoped that the man would someday pay for his actions.
David was abruptly snapped out of his internal thoughts by the very loud and obnoxious yelling of a girl with snow-white hair. He looked over to find that the white-haired girl was scolding another girl that looked to be around the age of fifteen. The Spartan had to raise an eyebrow at the possibility of a fifteen-year-old attending the equivalent of college. Such things weren't impossible as Doctor Halsey had completed her second doctoral thesis by that age. So this girl had to be a prodigy or something to be allowed to attend Beacon Academy ahead of her peers.
"I have a bad feeling that this is going to end badly for the both of them." He thought as the white-haired was repeatedly shook a tube that was filled with a red powdery substance.
Sure enough, the fifteen-year-old girl let out a sneeze that caused the powder to somehow explode in the face of the white-haired girl. David raised an eyebrow as giant snowflakes and bolts of lightning suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Despite the miniature explosion, he could hear the sound of glass bouncing against the ground before rolling towards a girl with a black bow on the top of her head.
"Seeing as nobody was seriously harmed, I better go to the auditorium for the Headmaster Ozpin's speech." The Spartan thought to himself as he turned around and left the area.
As he walked towards the general area of auditorium, David could unconsciously feel the intimidated and awed stares of people. It was a sensation that he had become accustomed to feeling over the years from both civilians and low-ranking military personnel. However, he was able to ignore it with practiced ease.
At the Same time
Glynda Goodwitch was looking over the roster of incoming freshmen with a critical eye that was focused on certain individuals. Apparently, Beacon was going to be hoisting a couple of people that were either famous or related to people that were prone to giving her headaches. She was already making plans in her head on ways to keep a close eye on people in order to minimize the problems. However, she had already created a short list of individuals to observe.
"I can already tell that the next four years are going to be nothing but trouble." The blonde-haired woman thought as she recalled the mental list.
The first person on that list happened to be a Faunus by the name of Blake Belladonna. When somebody that never attended a combat school and is able to score a near-perfect score on Beacon Academy's entrance, she became very curious about their educational background. She wanted to investigate, but Ozpin had made it clear to her that the students were entitled to a level of privacy. Like with Mister Ambrose, she was willing to allow the headmaster to have his way. At least until, she found any evidence of criminal actions.
The next person on the list was the legendary Pyrrha Nikos that was coming all the way from the Kingdom of Mistral to study at Beacon Academy. This was a tremendous boon for them as Haven Academy's reputation had taken a huge hit by having somebody from Mistral preferring to go to a foreign Academy. The intense rivalry between the four academies was extremely competitive to the point of ridiculousness. However, Glynda truly felt sorry for the young woman as she was going to be placed on a pedestal by her peers.
Weiss Schnee was the third person on the short list of people that had caught Glynda's attention. The blonde-haired teacher was well-aware of the numerous security risks that came with accepting a Schnee into Beacon Academy. She had already received a list of security recommendations from General Ironwood that was nearly a mile-long. However, many of suggestions weren't very practical to implement at Beacon for a variety of reasons that ranged from cost to interfering in the other students' education. The young lady was going to have to learn how to take care of herself, if she was to become a huntress.
Finally, there was Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. Anybody that claimed any form of familial relations to Qrow Branwen was somebody to keep a very close eye on. She could already feel a massive headache approaching as she recalled the various encounters with the scythe-user that was constantly drunk. Despite only knowing Ruby for a few hours, she could tell that the fifteen-year-old had definitely inherited her mother's skills. It truly had been a sad day when Summer Rose had been killed by a large pack of beowolves. With the exception of being the only daughter to Raven Branwen, Yang on the other hand was a complete mystery to Glynda.
"I can only pray to any deity that's willing to listen that Yang doesn't take after Qrow." Glynda muttered to herself as the first batch of new students walked into the auditorium.
If Yang was anything like Qrow during his time at Beacon Academy, Glynda was going to demand a triple-pay increase from Ozpin.
Onboard a Winter-class light Prowler
Commander Locke was silently observing his team of Spartan-IVs as they prepared for the mission that they were assigned. When he had been first assigned to lead Fireteam Osiris, the former acquisitions officer had been given a list of five-hundred names to select his three subordinates. For two months, he had carefully read the service records of each candidate before choosing. With the notable exceptions of Blue team and the disbanded Noble team, He had created the finest Spartan units that were currently active within the UNSC.
Each member had been highly-skilled in their field of expertise before being selected to join the Spartan-IV program. Lieutenant Olympia Vale was a former naval intelligence officer and Xenoanthropologist that specialized in Sangheili culture. Sergeant Holly Tanaka was one of three people that survived the glassing of Minab and a former member of the UNSC Army Corps of Engineers. Finally, Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck was a 25-year veteran of the War with the Covenant and a former member of the ODSTs.
"Alright, listen up! Our mission is simple, Doctor Halsey has somehow resurrected a Spartan from the dead and ONI wants us to bring them back for questioning. Now, the Spartan is one of the few Spartan-IIIs that managed to complete more than one mission in their life time. Their service file has been uploaded to your individual datapads." Jameson spoke in a clam manner as he addressed the Fireteam.
In perfect unison, the squad picked up their datapads and looked over the file with a certain degree of professional interest. Amongst the various Spartan classes, the IIIs could be considered the most expendable in terms of production and equipment. They were trained and equipped to be sent on suicidal missions that would buy time for humanity to close the technological gap between it and the Covenant races.
Buck let out a low-whistle as he read the number of rebel militias that the rogue Spartan-III had managed to eliminate by themselves. The fact that the guy had been a part of the fabled headhunters made the file into a more impressive resume.
"This is the file about the wolf isn't?" Olympia asked as she sat her datapad down.
During her time in Naval Intelligence, she had heard stories about the Spartan-III with the codename of wolf before he was reassigned to Noble Team. The Insurrectionists viewed him as a regular angel of death that showed no mercy towards traitors of the UNSC. The last that she heard, some members of the United Rebel Front had created a nursery rhyme to scare their children into obedience.
Locke simply nodded his head in confirmation as he couldn't trust his voice at the moment from revealing a few well-hidden secrets. He didn't tell anyone that Spartan-B312 and John-117 had inspired him into becoming a Spartan-IV in the first place.
"What if he doesn't want to return to the UNSC?" Buck decided to ask about the strong possibility that another Spartan-III would refuse to continue serving the UNSC.
With the notable exception of Jun-A266, most of the surviving Spartan-IIIs as had chosen to go into retirement than continue serving in the UNSC military. They resented being treated as expendable pawns that had been assigned suicidal missions with subpar equipment. From what Veronica had told him, the ONI was keeping a close surveillance on them to ensure that they didn't join a rebel group.
"Unfortunately, Spartan-B312 doesn't have a say in the matter. He will be coming back with us to UNSC space, whether he wants to or not." Jameson said in a firm voice that left no room for discussion or argument.
Both Buck and Tanaka clenched their fists at their team leader's declaration of forcing somebody into return to a life that they may no longer want to live. Both of them had enlisted into the UNSC's military in order to protect their fellow man from foreign and domestic threats. Now, they were taking part in a military operation that spat directly into the face of the oath that they had sworn. This wasn't what they had in mind when they had first joined the Spartan-IV program.
Little did they know that the two of them were about to see the dark side of the Office of Naval Intelligence in the next few weeks.
Okay, a brand new chapter of The Lone Wolf at Bacon Academy for you to enjoy. I wanted to apologize for the delay in releasing this chapter as computer problems has prevented me from releasing the chapter in December like it was originally planned. Now then, I was wondering what kind of semblance should be given to Noble Six. I'm willing to take suggestions as long as they're unique and can't be replicated by Spartan armor enhancements.
Until Next time readers, Hoorah to Ashes!