Out of everything that could have happened, every fucked up outcome, it just had to be the most bullshit one. Pacing around a clearing in the sea of unending red leaved trees, the young Captain recalls the events that led to this confusing moment.
A massive battle, ECHO unit had brought together multiple Majors with their respective infantry companies, reinforced by helicopter gunships, infantry fighting vehicles, supply/transport trucks, artillery trucks, the whole nine yards. They'd closed in on one of Supreme Lord Vacati's most dangerous lieutenants, High Lord Damien Valentine. One of, if the not the greatest rat in Vacati's army, Valentine had lived long enough and devoured enough innocent souls he hardly needed to be such a coward. The wretch knew the fight was lost as the third Major easily broke the southern defensive line around the fortress. Whatever that overgrown baby conjured up, it was powerful enough to override the blessed defenses of their combat armor. The spell struck out, hitting every member of ECHO unit that the young Captain could see, himself included. Considering he's still alive and in unknown territory, its quite obvious what kind of spell it was.
Now, alone and lost beyond belief, dreaded memories found their way into his head. Dozens of emotions flooded the soldiers body, none of them pleasant. The worst day of his life had started by getting separated from his men. As his mental state starts to spiral dangerously out of control, it places him in a rather vulnerable position.
Growling soon filled the treeline surrounding the lost soldier, his warrior instinct kicks in. Breaking free of the darkness clouding his mind, he draws his knife and takes a defensive stance. Revealing themselves a moment later to be some of the most blatantly evil looking beings he'd ever seen. Shadows given form, red glowing eyes, white bone like protrusions looking to act like armor. Some resembled lycans, a few looked like miniature T-rex with no arms, the rest looked more like bears, boars, and a even a giant snake with a head on each end. Well, it's a welcome distraction from these haunting memories. Pouncing on his position, the horde finds no easy prey.
Rushing forward to meet them head on, speed easily going beyond theirs, his blade finds demonic flesh. Working as perfectly as it had against all other unholy foes, the sanctified metal of his blade lights the beasts ablaze. For those weak enough, death was instant. The strong, however, felt the blade wrenched and stabbed throughout their dark bodies, burning like fire. Misty black smoke soon filled the clearing as the Captain hacked and slashed through the one sided battle.
Only the lycan mimics, bears and snake offered a fight, if any. Parrying blows allowed for the outnumbered soldier to display his superior strength. Catching a paw that was to smash down upon him, he redirects it into the ground and delivers an uppercut strong enough to break the jaw of a rather unlucky demon bear. Not wasting a chance, the black and white snake sneaks around the brutal melee, using its brethren as the perfect distraction. Grabbing at the striking fang of the giant yin yang snake and holding it at bay, he flips onto the scaled monster, mounting it. Fighting the flailing motions of the snake, he drops a sanctified frag grenade into the crowd below. It explodes a moment later, the holy metal fragmentation shreds the crowd. Shielding him from the blast the snake falls dead, only for a second head to strike out. Pivoting to face the surviving half, it finds its fangs held at bay, and a knife piercing into its skull.
Fanning the smoke away, the young captain stretches out a bit and sheaths his knife. He lets out a small sigh of relief.
"well, at least I don't have to worry about getting swarmed to death" the fight had allowed his tension to slip away, thankfully. Pressing a button on his helmet, he begins hailing his squad. Failing for several minutes. Hoping them just to be out of range, he switches frequencies to hail the entire assault force, if this attempt fails he'll have to find a long range radio somehow.
"this is repentance-7, we read you captain, pop a flare and we'll see if we can find you" nodding and confirming with the IFV crew, firing a flare into the sky. A minute passes before the radio comes to life.
"flare spotted, ETA is ten minutes, stay strong sir" with a ride secured, the officer lets out a bored sigh and plops down against a tree, removing his knight like helmet for a moment. If the IFV's were transported , hopefully the detachment of other vehicles made it as well. Meeting with the majors might be the most important key to survival, their strength and leadership being worlds above his own.
As per usual, ten minutes crawled forward like a damn snail. Roaring of an engine cuts through the peaceful atmosphere, much to the elation of the bored soldier. Repentance-7 bursts into the clearing, a gunner manning the heavy machine gun turret. Screeching to a halt, a fire team of four come rushing out and form a perimeter, their mechanized armor whirring softly as they scan the area.
"thanks for the pick up guys" not wanting to have the fire team standing there all day, he jogs over to grab a seat, only to find it packed. Opting to stand even with the offered seats, the fire team returns to Repentance-7. Going from 0 to 60 in moments, the IFV zips around the tress as they search for a way out. Looking at the assembled soldiers, the young Captain finds himself the highest ranking, making him the acting commander. Any additional ECHO soldiers they pick up will fall under his command, unless they regroup with a Major of course.
"whats our game plan sir?" calls out the commander of Repentance-7, an older staff sergeant by the name of Daniels. Already having thought it over a bit, an extremely basic plan was already being formed.
"if we cant hail anyone else in this forest, we make our way out of it and start hailing again. We regroup with whoever we can and start searching for civilization. If we can't find it, we start building up a camp to sleep in and go from there" nodding in agreement the IFV commander returns his attention back to the driver. These plans of course relied on the fact that they're still on Earth, dark magic on such a grand scale has done crazier. This sea of crimson trees, demonic enemies he'd never seen before, even from any document, recent or ancient he knew of. It could also be a massive illusion, truly any number of things. Evidence to disprove the illusion theory is that the now acting commander hasn't been brutally slaughtered during the past hour of being utterly defenseless. More information is needed to piece together the puzzle, but the leading theory is that they're not on Earth anymore.
A couple of hours pass by before the IFV finds itself exiting the crimson forest, the red grass slowly turning green as well as far fewer regular trees. Hailing attempts immediately begin again, this time far more effective. Multiple IFV's, dozens of transport/supply trucks, five artillery trucks, the mobile comm center, several gun ships that had landed to conserve fuel, a saddening amount of crashed gun ship crews missing members, dozens of scattered platoons and companies being rounded up by the Majors. It seems as though the entire assault force might have made it to this new place. Major Catherine Rennold, the commander of the assault force recognizes the Captain, jumping onto comms in a split second.
"Thompson! Glad to hear you're alive, hold your position, all ECHO unit personnel hearing this are to converge on Captain Thompson's radio origin" Thompson orders the fire team to set up a defensive perimeter as he confirms his new orders over the radio. Radio chatter fills the inside of the armored war machine, Thompson stays on the comms, making sure not to miss any new orders or information. Rennold had managed to contact the at least one of the other majors to relay the information to them.
Within two hours the calvery had arrived with the sounds of helicopter blades and roaring engines. Three IFV's, seven overloaded transport trucks, three max loaded supply trucks, two artillery trucks, the comm center, a few smaller combat support vehicles, the remaining gunships flying in formation. It was enough to bring a tear to any soldier finding themselves stranded in unfamiliar territory.
Leading the charge was an IFV pushing its limit on speed. Stood on top of it, unshaken was Major Rennold, small cape billowing in the wind as they approach. Inhuman levels of strength allowing her to leap from a moving armored transport an impressive distance, the Major touches down in a superhero like pose, silver gauntlet smashing into the ground. Standing, she announces her resumption of command, turning to her subordinate to get the details she may be missing.
"Rennold, always the one for show. Good to see you're here to help unfuck the situation." Grinning, silver gauntlets snake around the younger officer, pulling him into a hug that would have crushed a normal man. Hesitating, almost imperceptibly, he returns the hug. Of course Rennold caught it, saddened to know he's still struggling. The display brings morale up as the soldiers catch up with each other, staying vigilant of the perimeter at the same time.
Releasing Thompson, Rennold starts to give commands, unloading ammunition crates as well as enough supplies to set up a temporary operating base. Soldiers begin digging up dirt to form mounds to mount machine guns facing out in every direction. The IFV's move to act as a barrier to support perimeter defense, their turrets and mounted machine guns scanning the tree line. Snipers took up spots on top of the supply trucks that had been emptied as defenses continued to mount. Preparing for the remainder of their forces to push to their very bare bones operating base, which included the setting up of the mobile comm center. Broadcasting in an area large enough that no part of the massive sea of crimson trees would go untouched.
"alright little brother, time to get a real plan going" letting out a rather displeased sigh, always having hated the name ECHO had deigned perfect for their youngest Captain. Despite his disdain towards the nickname, he waved it off and agreed with his superior on the topic of a more detailed, sustainable plan.
"I had a rather rough sketch of a plan, but now knowing we've got something like a battalion, not even counting like the hundreds of engineers, medics, and tech operators. We're going to need an actual base and tons of food" nodding along as she looks out over the force of at least two hundred and fifty soldiers and dozens of support personnel, all of them busy working towards the goal of making a safe reunion possible. So many men had stuffed themselves into whatever vehicle they could get into. They're expecting at least another five hundred soldiers, and the remaining support crew led by the other two Majors. It was a miracle that the assault force landed so close to each other, maybe it was a property of whatever spell the cowardly lord had conjured up. The position will be held until they can make it here, at least for a day or two.
Picking up the left behind gear, Lye Sall stuffed it all in his bag. Jobs like these aren't the most profitable, but perfect for a slow day. Looking for anything else the rookies might have left behind, he found nothing. He zipped up his bag and slung it back over his shoulder. Gear recovery was strangely common, how a rookie huntsmen or huntress could drop their only life line was beyond him. Although he has been at the game for the better part of a decade, so its been a while since grimm had last made him crap his pants.
Swinging his glaive around as he treks back towards the village he had stayed in the night prior. Yet another boring job for another boring day, at least the girls in the village are pretty cute. A distant noise catches his ear, stopping in his tracks to focus on it. Curiosity gets the better of him, changing directions and heading off to discover the source. Getting closer, he realizes that the sound is starting to move. Breaking off into a slight jog so as not to allow his current object of attention to get away. Hell it could very well spice his day up. The sound kind of reminds him of something swooshing through the air, almost chopping. Dawning on him, he looks up, only to stare in utter confusion as he spots an airship he's never seen before. Climbing a nearby tree to get a better view of it, finding that the air is absolutely filled by sounds of this airship.
And others like it. With guns and missiles on it. That couldn't be good.
Luckily Lye is agile enough to rush across the tree tops in pursuit of the seemingly military formation of the air ships. Now this wasn't exactly the kind of spice he was looking for, an unknown type of airship with no known kingdom markings and armed to the teeth. Once his scroll gets connection, it's an immediate call to beacon, hopefully Ozpin can get into contact with someone who will know. Nearly an hour or two of giving chase, taking him all the way to the edge of Forever Fall, and even further from the village. Finding their destination did absolutely nothing for his new worries. Armored vehicles, armed and armored soldiers with machine gun positions and... snipers! The veteran huntsman immediately dives for cover, praying they hadn't spotted him.
Holding his breath as every fiber of his being is tensed beyond belief. A minute that seems to drag on forever finally ends, relaxing enough to peek over his impromptu cover. No movement is being made to push his position, they're still setting up defenses. The heaviest sigh of relief escapes his lips as he continues to observe this unknown military force. Near the center Lye finds what is definitely a huntress of some kind, her massive silver gauntlets, quite clearly not just for armor. She's speaking with seems to be her younger brother, who's wearing armor more akin to a knight rather than his comrades wearing modern gear. Must be a huntsmen.
In all honesty, given the context of the surroundings, its rather odd to the huntsmen. And he's using a damn glaive with a shotgun built into it as a weapon! Shaking the thought out of his head, he turns his attention to the massive truck with what seems like a whole communications array on the top. This is just getting worse and worse. Seeing more than enough, Lye turns tail and books it through the forest. There's no time for the huntsmen to waste, the higher ups need to know about this before they can leave that area. Pushing himself harder than he had in the past year, he manages an impressive fifty minute time back to the village. Waving off the greetings of the village folk, he starts checking for connection to the CCT tower. Thankfully it connects and he places an immediate call to Ozpin. Its a tense half a minute before the headmaster picks up.
"ah Lye, I do hope this isn't about you being bored again" flushing just a bit at the remark, not wanting to be seen as that childish. Taking a breath to focus back to the topic on hand, Lye starts.
"Ozpin, there's some kind of military group just northeast of forever fall, I didn't see any kind of association with the kingdoms. I've never seen airships like that" silence filled the call.
"did you take any pictures?" damn it! The snipers and the situation had spooked him enough that he was barely thinking about that. He'd be able to lead them there though, definitely.
"no, but I can lead anyone there. What were you thinking of doing?" Lye would never admit it, but his nerves were eating at him. Way too many unknowns, it might have been different if they looked like a group they could easily beat. These guys radiated strength and confidence, even with his short recon stint he could tell.
"before I decide on anything, whats their strength?" racking his brain, the veteran huntsmen goes over what he saw.
"three armored vehicles with some pretty big guns, ten trucks that looked like they were made for cargo and/or people, four airships armed to the teeth, two trucks with massive guns, at least two hundred and fifty combatants, somewhere around like sixty non-combatants with a host of smaller vehicles and what looked like a huntress and huntsmen. The most worrying thing I saw was what looked like a damn mini CCT tower on wheels" that was definitely cause for concern. Communication like that would give any enemy force a ridiculous edge if the CCT network were to go down.
"where are you at this moment?" looking around for the sign, finding it a second later.
"some village called Carren"
"I'll be there as soon as possible" a waiting game. In a situation like this, it's the worst possible thing. These people are a complete mystery with enough fire power to deal some serious damage to vale in a short amount of time. Of course there is the possibility of that not happening, but its not worth it. Better to confront them before they find Vale or any other kingdom. Lye desperately wants to be battling grimm, that was far more simple than whatever the hell his day has turned into.
Ozpin rushed through several calls, alerting James, Qrow, and pretty much his entire staff, to keep everyone in the loop for back up in this upcoming meeting. To Ozpin, a meeting with this mysterious group along with multiple veteran huntsman would allow for a quick, efficient victory in a scuffle. Assuring James that he and his staff could handle the fight without needing a full scale Atlesian response took far longer than needed. A compromise made that a small fleet would be sent regardless of the outcome of the meeting. If it doesn't come to blows, it'll be a chance for a friendly meeting. Boarding the bullhead, joined by Glynda and Peter who were handling paper work at the time and sped off to join their boss. Taking off, the goal is to collect his remaining teachers and Qrow at a landing pad near the center of the city. During the flight to the meeting area, James lets the headmaster know the fleet is on its way.
Touching down at the designated landing pad, Ozpin breathes a sigh of relief to see that everyone was there, armed and ready. Almost leaping on board, it didn't take them long to be ready to take off again. Zooming into the sky, the pilot punches it, sending the bullhead rocketing toward Carren village.
Thompson sighed loudly as minutes drag on into hours for the second time today. Communications had been boosted and fortified by the comm center, allowing for the remaining scattered forces to rally much easier to the other two Majors. Major Ryan Alexander and Major Diane Jenkins successfully gathered up the remaining survivors. a few squads had suffered casualties and injuries to the monsters of the forest, saddening that some poor soldiers wont be able to be buried back home. Where things became complicated was having to send out a few transport trucks to pick them up. The young captain was furious with being held back from acting as an escort, forced to stay and act as the second in command. Rennold patted his head much to his chagrin.
Walking around the now operational mini base, Thompson catches up with officers and enlisted soldiers he's familiar with. ECHO unit is a rather small group considering military groups, only around five thousand soldiers. A rather basic hierarchy, at the top being Colonel Lucas Wyatt, the most powerful combatant ECHO has to offer. Colonel Lucas Wyatts presence can turn the tides of even the most hopeless battles. Joining him in battle is the Lieutenant Colonel, Virgil Keller. Keller survived a building dropped on him, by pure force of will, needing a massive amount of cybernetic augments to continue the fight. Below those two, are the ten Majors who lead the more elite companies, with Captains like Thompson either leading their own companies or reinforcing Majors and their company.
Jumping into the back of a supply truck, the young Captain pokes around the weapons, armor, and equipment. Pretty standard gear such as holy smoke grenades, sanctified combat knives as well as replacements for the arm mounted Exo blades, and UV strobe lights to be mounted on their guns. A commotion outside of the truck sends the soldier scrambling outside. Scanning the area to find the source, he finds what seems to be a VTOL heading straight towards the encampment. Several soldiers break out missile launchers as well as the 25MM cannons on the IFVs tracking the approaching vehicle. It touches down a several yards out from the perimeter. Rennold grabs Thompson and heads out to meet the small group of eccentrically dressed people. Leading the group is a silver haired man appearing to be middle aged. Stepping past the perimeter, the two soldiers move to meet the group halfway, confident they could handle them in the case of violence. Taking initiative the higher ranking officer greets the group.
"hello, I am Major Catherine Rennold with the U.S. Army. This is Captain Ethan Thompson, my subordinate. I believe we have many questions for each other" catching the confused glances between the people behind the lead silver haired man, it lends credence to the idea that they're not on Earth anymore.
"it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance miss Rennold and you as well mister Thompson. I am Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon academy, behind me are some of my staff and other subordinates. You are right in your assumption, we have many questions. Let us start with some basic information. Your vehicles and weapons don't seem to match any design on Remnant, would it be safe to say you're not from Remnant?" nodding along, Rennold gestures to the small base.
"well, since you seem receptive to the idea, might as well be honest. We are not from Remnant, we come from a world called Earth. It's a rather short story with heaps of background info on how we got here" before continuing with the conversation, a man with dark unkempt hair, red eyes, and stubble speaks up.
"how come you seem so calm about this, this kinda thing happen often?" clearly intoxicated to some degree, as his words came out slightly slurred.
"this exact situation? No. Similar magical nonsense? Yes" the group seems to stiffen a bit at the mention of magic, especially Ozpin.
"did you say magic?" the drunkard asks in utter disbelief.
"yes, I did. On Earth we're a specialized military department devoted to combating ethereal entities working against humanity. We're called Echo unit"
Exchanging some more basic information, they found that Ozpin and ECHO are allies in defense of humanity, just in different worlds. To gain more information and not be a total dick Ozpin offers them a place in a currently unused section of the industrial sector of a nearby kingdom known as Vale. There they can set up a safer temporary place to house their people and vehicles. It'll be easier to make a long term plan in case of an extended stay as well. For now however, it's a wait for the remaining ECHO unit to rejoin.
A great ending to a shitty situation at least.
Ok, so let me explain what's going on. I'm currently serving in the military, the days suck ass and are long as well as long periods away from my laptop. However, reading stories like The Pen And The Sword by Twochimpswithoutone and Relic Of The Future by Coeur Al'Aran inspired the hell out of me. I came up with a story about a group called ECHO unit that fights vampires leading the forces of hell against humanity, and I thought hey, RWBY has demonic monsters, and they seem to be lacking manpower. So why not slap em together and see how ECHO unit clowns on the grimm and Salem. It'll turn into a massive shit show later down the line. Vacati is essentially what Dracula used to be before his defeat. Got a whole shit ton of lore for ECHO unit. Anyways, I'll do my best to keep up with this cause damn I wanna write.
Lolz out