Chapter 20: Changing the Guard
As they neared the briefing room, Qrow and Winter were the literal antithesis of one another. Qrow looked like a toddler who had just finished playing with his dinner. Chocolate was still crusted on his lips and fingers. The spoon that he had dropped on the floor previously was of no use to him, since it was still on the floor, upstairs. His strides were short, and his posture was that of an old man. He staggered down the hall with a hunch. Along their walk, he had resorted to using his fingers to scoop the rest of the pudding out of the bowl.
The regimented march that she maintained along the way to their destination drew a stark contrast to Qrow. Because of this, Winter made a point to follow him at an extreme distance. Her pristine military uniform would not be tarnished by the untidy habits of her temporary partner. She saw him stop several feet down the hall in front of her. He waited for her to get close before breaking the silence that they had shared during the brief journey. "This is the place. I'm gonna be honest, I don't know if Glynda's in there or not. But even I know that if she is, she'll throw me right back out if I walk in looking like this. So I'm gonna use the little boy's room. Be right back."
As he strolled down the hall and into the public restroom, Winter couldn't help but wonder why he held such strong prejudices against everything Atlas. He could be such a powerful ally if he would just allow himself to be. She just shook her head and looked at the door that would take her to the General. In doing so, she was reminded of the primary reason she had come here.
The letter was tucked away neatly within the interior left pocket of her overcoat. She reached two fingers into the pocket, and pulled out the envelope, which was sealed and bore the official emblem of Atlas. She knew the contents. It was part of her mission to be briefed on all details and contingencies that could arise based on the contents of the letter. She stood silently, paper in hand, carefully inspecting its perfectly squared corners.
As time passed, Winter noticed that her normally steady hands had developed a barely noticeable tremor. So, she folded them behind her back and tried to reason with herself. Come on Winter. They gave you this mission because they knew you could do it. And you can do it. You will do it. You… have to do it. Qrow's hand resting on her shoulder broke her out of the trance she was in, noticeably startling her and consequently angering her. "Alright, let's go," he said.
"I do hope you've washed your hands before placing them upon me," she said in the least amused tone she could muster.
"I used the finest holy water, just for you, Ice Queen. What's got you so jumpy?" Qrow asked as he knocked lightly on the door.
Despite his choice to use to use the 'Ice Queen' moniker, Winter smiled politely, saying only, "Classified." Qrow allowed a reasonable time to pass before knocking again. There had been no noticeable response after the first attempt.
This time, a groggy voice bellowed from inside, "I'm coming, I'm coming..." Moments later, the door cracked open, and General Ironwood appeared inside. He was only wearing his black undershirt, and some hastily donned military trousers. His hair was very much unkempt, and he had dark circles under his eyes. Those tired eyes initially identified Qrow, "I wasn't expecting you, Qrow. I tried to get a little sleep. Is this important or-" His gaze shifted to Winter, who was standing behind and to the right of Qrow. "Winter? When did you… never mind. Come in, please." He opened the door fully, revealing that he had apparently dragged a temporary cot into the room.
"I didn't think you slept, James," Qrow began, "I figured you just plugged in or something." He stepped into the room and began to explain his visit. "I really don't have much business here, but Winter…" He turned to find her still standing in place in the hall, staring blankly into the room. Looking back towards Ironwood, he continued. "She's been doing that recently. I have no idea why. Anyway-"
General Ironwood stopped him, "Winter, is everything alright?"
She snapped to attention, almost as if she had been sleeping on her feet. "I'm sorry sir, it must be the travel to and from Atlas catching up to me. I apologize." She walked into the room as elegantly as her legs would allow. The men in the room could tell something was wrong. She lacked her signature focus and determination, almost as if she were stalling for something. Qrow closed the door behind her.
"Where'd Glynda run off to?" Qrow asked.
"She went with some of the teams that volunteered to patrol the perimeter. Some of them are pretty raw, or otherwise shorthanded due to injuries.' Ironwood paused briefly, "So, it's just the three of us."
An awkward silence briefly filled the room. Qrow decided that in the interest of not wasting anyone's time, he would begin the conversation. "So, I already talked with Winter about why, exactly, she's here. I guess some of the big wigs in Atlas want an explanation for what's going on in Vale. What they saw before the CCTS went offline apparently wasn't pretty. I told her I could explain most of that, but she insisted on delivering some kind of-"
"Qrow! I do believe that we agreed to do this, my way," Winter said with a scolding voice.
He was confused by the outburst. "So uh... were you using telepathy? Because your way seems to be really, really quiet."
"Stow it, Qrow," she commanded. "I've got everything under control." Ironwood and Qrow simply looked at one another. They were both baffled by the volatility of the otherwise reasonably composed Winter.
"Winter, I don't think such an outburst is helpful right now." General Ironwood walked over to her, and ushered her into one of the seats at the table. "If something is wrong, you can speak freely about it here. Everything that is said in this room is said in strict confidence." Even Qrow acknowledged this with a simple nod. The general then found himself a seat, and Qrow followed suit.
Winter had become uncomfortable in her full specialist attire. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead as she tried to force her mind to process her thoughts more slowly. After several deep breaths, she stood back up, and placed the envelope on the table, and slid it over to General Ironwood. His eyes, and Qrow's, followed the paper as it travelled across the wooden surface.
Ironwood hesitated a moment before lifting the letter off of the table. He looked up at Winter, who now stood at attention across the table from him. His attention turned back to the envelope, which he carefully broke open with his more precise, human hand. He removed the letter from its paper shroud, and unfolded it. The suspense was killing Qrow, whose eyes darted back and forth between the two Atlas personnel in the room.
As the general read the letter, his voice alternated between a faint whisper and nothing, and then became audible again. "General James Ironwood, You are hereby summoned to appear before the Atlas Military High Council..." his voice faded out, but his eyes were still following the text on the paper from left to right and then back again. "... stand trial by Court Martial?" He looked up at Winter, aghast at what he was reading. She remained at attention, but had become pale, with increased perspiration.
After a few arduous minutes of silence, Ironwood came to his list of charges. "Dereliction of Duty and Order Violations!?" The general had now begun to sweat, himself. His eyes finally reached the bottom of the page, where he saw the signatures of each of the members of the ruling council. "Winter? What is this? These charges are ridiculous!"
"I'm sorry, sir. I was sent here to accomplish two missions. The first was to deliver your subpoena, and see to your cooperation. And the second, is-"
"To kill all of the witnesses, right?" Qrow shouted. "You know, I used to think it was James who was the jackass pulling your strings. Looks like I was wrong. Whoever you're working for, there's some things they need to know before you march in here and start arresting people." He took a breath, prepared to continue, but he wasn't allowed.
"Your input is irrelevant, Qrow. We're done here. General, if you'll come with me, I assure you that this will go much more smoo-"
"You're the only one that's gonna be done here if you cut me off one more time… What happened to your special inquisition? This was supposed to be an exchange of information!" Qrow's face was red, and he was prepared to debate the insanity of this new accusation to the death. Ironwood was not his closest friend, but he was one of the few members of Ozpin's inner circle. Watching him get shipped off to Atlas would be a serious blow to their efforts to fight the war that had been hidden so cleverly underneath the veil of confusion.
"Qrow…" Ironwood started, "It's alright. You and I both know what happened here. This is a completely ridiculous time to hold a court martial, but we have the witnesses and documentation to dismiss all of this." The general shifted his attention to his countrywoman, "Before I go anywhere, I need to know what's going to happen to the men under my command, here in Vale."
Winter hesitated. More than the delivery of her message, this was the question that she had been utterly dreading to acknowledge. "They will be placed under the temporary command of… my father."
The general was stunned. When he found words that were not profane, he voiced his displeasure with the news. "I'm sorry, Winter. That is simply unacceptable. Your father is a powerful and influential, but he is not a military man. He has no business leading soldiers. Why didn't the council send another General, or at least someone with experience?"
"To put it simply, they have all been deployed. My father was willing to loan his ship out for this mission to be possible. Unfortunately it's like you said, his power and influence were enough to assure his leadership. Military advisors were assigned to our task force, but he largely ignores them, and no one can realistically hope to confront him about it." Winter did her best to uphold a resolute demeanor. She had never been called on to be what was essentially a Military Police detachment, but she was filling the role admirably.
"Atlas is deploying its military? For what purpose?" General Ironwood was a tactician, and not just on the battlefield. His line of questioning for Winter was designed to gather as much information as possible without openly resisting his own arrest. This was for the benefit of Qrow, who would not be exposed to this information otherwise. Qrow could see the strategy that the general employed as well. He was irate with the Atlas High Command, and by extension, Winter. But it was in his best interest to remain quiet and absorb as much as he could..
Winter was no fool, but she knew that the information that she was sharing was not sensitive. She quickly glanced at her watch, and appeared satisfied with what she saw. "It's like Qrow said before. The only information that the people of Atlas were exposed to was the broadcast from the Vytal Festival. When that feed ended, the broadcast switched to what I can only describe as a shaky video taken from a handheld camera or scroll. We saw infantry units, mechanized units and airships, each marked with the Insignia of Atlas attacking each other, and just about everything else they came into contact with in 's why there is a court martial. Atlas High Command believes you to be in some way negligent in your duty. When the second broadcast ended, there was nothing. We only knew what we saw, and what we saw was very incriminating. The command to deploy the fleet to defensive positions was given shortly after the CCTS blackout. Now, if you please, I think we've delayed for long enough. We can speak more once we're aboard the ship."
Qrow attempted to remain as calm as he could. Both Winter and Ironwood had deflected all of his attempts to stop this lunacy. They were both mind-numbingly disillusioned in their patriotic zeal. "So that's it then? You walk off into the sunset, and drag half of Vale's remaining defenses with you?"
"I'm sorry, Qrow. These are my orders. To break from them would be… unwise. Especially considering what my superiors already assume about our forces in Vale. General Ironwood's fleet was deployed here to provide increased security for the duration of the Vytal Festival. Since I believe it is safe to say that the Festival has concluded, its presence here is no longer required. I know what that sounds like, Qrow, but I have no choice." General Ironwood could sense that the conversation was winding down, so he rose from the table and began to put on the remaining articles of his military uniform.
As he dressed himself, he spoke as cryptically as he could to Qrow. "You and I know what's really going on here. There is simply no way to explain the real dangers that are present in all of this... At least, not without causing a lot of confusion and panic. I'm sure that I'll be cleared of all of these charges once I get back to Atlas. For now, I see no reason to cause a commotion. The timing of this is unfathomably poor, but I will not disobey a direct order from my superiors. I hope you can understand."
"Loud and clear. You two have a nice time in Atlas. Make sure to send me a postcard when you get there. If you want to look me up, try the Xiao Long residence in Patch. That's where I'll be taking the girls, since this place is about to become a war zone again." He got up from his seat and moved purposefully toward the door.
Winter spoke up, "You know, the offer still stands. You could come with us. You and the girls."
He opened the door, then looked back, laughing disingenuously at the ludicrous suggestion. "I don't have time for you any more. Seems to me that I've gotta go make some new friends, since my old ones just turned their back on me." On his way out the door, Qrow grabbed Ozpin's cane, which had evidently been leaned against the wall since the debriefing.
Ironwood tried to reason with him. "Qrow, you know it's not like th-" The door slammed shut.