Edit: Changed the year to be canonically correct.

HNV Exiled God, a week after the previous chapter

Eckhard was many things. Militia occupation survivor, newly promoted HEF sergeant, overseer of Lyz's wellbeing, and a master with the Flatline rifle. What he wasn't was someone who had complete control over their Aura.

Hence why he was on the ground with his Aura flickering as it failed. "Can we call it a draw?"

Lyz walked over to the soldier, looking down at him. "Y'know, you're pretty good for just starting out. Especially since you're wearing that stupid 'grunt' armor."

Eckhard pulled himself to sit up, and looked up at the Maiden. "This armor has a recorded history of saving grunts like me from dying immediately to a shot from a 40mm cannon. Don't diss it."

"But it's so bulky. How do you expect to fight someone like me, who can move quickly and easily?"

Doctor Engelmann stepped in before Eckhard could respond. "To be fair, Miss Green, your suit enhances your abilities and speed. Even if Sergeant Eckhard wasn't wearing the armor, you would still wipe the floor with him."

Eckhard stood up. "Yeah...great. When do I get my armor?" He asked.

Lyz's armor was nothing too special. It was standard Grapple Pilot armor in grey camo, giving nominal protection before she had to use her Aura. The forearm armor was modified for Lyz's lightning abilities, unfortunately this meant the grapple was removed. The helmet was Lyz's favorite, since she now had access to infrared vision and night optics, as well as an ammo counter for her 'secondary' weapons. Her weapon of choice was a Volt SMG and the Thunderbolt Anti-Titan Weapon, which was no surprise to Eckhard.

"I have it ready...almost." Doctor Engelmann said. "We need to find out what your Semblance is first. That's the hardest part, because I have to tune the suit to be able to withstand your powers."

"I think my Semblance is getting my ass kicked." Eckhard said. "Wait, what's today?"

Doctor Engelmann looked down at her watch. "Thursday?"

"No, what's the date?"

"12 November, 2860. Why do you ask?"

"Isn't Stage Two Armor coming out soon?" Eckhard asked.

"Ah yes, the HEF and the R&D Department's little pet project that actually was more successful than intended." Doctor Engelmann sighed. "I can tell you it will be coming out soon, but I'm not sure if it will get to us anytime soon-"

"Remnant has done her duty, all she needs now is total subjugation." A voice said.

The trio looked back to see Vice Emperor Grey walk into the hangar. "Stage Two Armor will be available soon for the HEF, but since the mission on Remnant is to simply keep our foundries safe the armor will not be available to the rest of the forces here."

"Okay...what do you mean the rest of the forces?" Eckhard asked.

"Well, you will be provided the Special Forces Variant of the Stage Two Armor." Grey answered. He then turned to Doctor Engelmann. "That armor you are building for him won't be needed, Doctor. I want it saved in the case Stage Two fails under his Semblance."

"Yes, Vice Emperor." Doctor Engelmann saluted.

"Now, let's get you fitted, Sergeant Eckhard."

Somewhere in the Grimmlands

Goliath herds are large groups of Elephant-like Grimm that were nearly impossible to destroy or get rid of. Groups of Huntsman would need to be deployed to destroy them, and they would need air support and in some cases artillery support. Goliaths largely left villages and Kingdoms alone, they had lived a long time and knew killing a couple humans would kill them, too.

Unfortunately for them, the HEF was skipping over the step of them destroying their property. Malta class battleships were glassing them with beams of plasma and conducting airstrikes with point defense turrets and missiles. Goliaths ran from the onslaught, but the weapons of war were faster than the personification of fear. Beowulves howled in pain and fear as bullets struck them down, the 50mm cannons ripping them apart. Ursa and Ursa Majors would be obliterated by missiles striking their groups, disintegrating them instantly. The only Grimm having luck were the flying types. Gryphons and Nevermores would land on the ships, and engage in combat with turrets and Titans stationed on the outside to deal with this problem. They would scratch up the paint job on the ships and dent the armor, but other than that it was the same as the Grimm on the ground.

By now, the majority of the battleships were only to provide close cover fire support over the foundry bases. The soldiers on the ground were thankful for that, but it meant that any expansion was nearing the realm of impossibility. Battleships would come back from patrols with damaged turrets and large feathers stuck in the armor, much to the chagrin of the mechanics who had to pull them out of the armor.

On the topic of the foundry bases…

Foundry Base Fyre-Pit

The drum of the 50mm turrets and the 8.8cm cannons was constant for the soldiers, and they had learned to tune it out. They had become bored of it, actually. The amount of shell casings lying around the turrets and cannons outnumbered the Grimm outside, almost.

"Sunder!" A man wearing a curved cap and a white overcoat with grunt armor underneath turned around to see who was calling him. He turned around to see a woman in similar garb coming towards him.

"Syun, what is it?" Sunder asked.

Syun grinned. "You're not gonna believe what command just handed down to us."

"Orders to move off this planet?" Sunder guessed half-heartedly.

"Yes, actually."

Sunder turned around so fast his foot gave out under him and he fell over onto his face. "You serious?" He asked as he got up.

"Yes. Command sees it fit to have a couple bases instead of the current number we have." Syun answered. "We get to get back to Exiled God."

"What about the battleship squadrons?" Sunder asked.

"They'll be escorting us to the atmosphere and return to protect the bases still here."

"Sweet. Anything else?"

Syun scratched her head. "I feel like I'm forgetting something…" They both saw something in the corner of their eyes.

They turned to see transports from the east lift into the sky, with battleships following them to the sky and space.

"That was Foundry Base Scotland." Sunder said. "Guess they're moving out, too."

"They were pretty far from here…" Syun said before both of their eyes were assaulted by a blinding light and they were knocked off their feet.

Ears ringing, Sunder hesitated to open his eyes. He shakily got up, and looked towards Foundry Base Scotland. All he saw was a huge explosion in the shape of a mushroom.

Syun got up, holding her head. "Oh yeah...now I remember. We're detonating the evac'd bases to kill off more Grimm."

Beacon

Ozpin was looking over reports from the missions the teams had gone on, and grimaced. Many of the reports detailed the destruction of the villages, and the loss of life sustained. It wasn't just a good portion of them either.

It was all of them. He hadn't even gotten to RWBY's report yet, and he was afraid for the worst. He put down the report he was reading and reached for the next one, only to grasp nothing. Ozpin looked at his in tray, and found nothing in it. He reached for his phone, and called Glynda.

"Ozpin?" She answered.

"Glynda, you delivered all the reports, correct?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes. And before you ask, Team RWBY hasn't returned yet." She answered.

"Glynda, who is with them?"

"Bart is. They were deployed to Redford Village."

"Glynda, get the good doctor on the phone."

A few minutes passed, and no answer came. Ozpin dialled Doctor Oobleck himself, and got no answer as well. "What is going on-wait."

Ozpin grabbed the other reports, reading the details again.

Bullet holes. Burn marks. Blast marks with blood mixed in them. A lack of Grimm at the scenes of destruction.

He grabbed his phone and called Glynda. "What is it, Oz?"

"The reports Glynda! You read them, right?"

"Yes, I did. I don't understand-"

"Look at the details again! What is consistent with all of them?"

There was a sound of shuffling as Glynda read her copies of the reports. "All the details are the same, the destruction was uniform. Well...almost. It seems the further the village was, the more present Grimm were."

"Glynda, Redford was the closest village to Vale. The cause of the destruction swept through the outer layer and worked inwards. Team RWBY is fighting the cause right now!" Ozpin shouted.

Redford Village, around 15 minutes later

Ruby sliced a spectre in half, the robot falling to the ground. She sped away as a 40mm shot impacted the ground were she just was. "Yang! Blake! Weiss! Doctor Oobleck! Where are you?!"

Yang came flying through the forest and landed in the wreckage of a burnt house. Weiss ran from the opposite direction, with a Reaper breaking through the foliage. Blake and Oobleck appeared, with Blake turning around to fire her weapon into the trees as Stalkers broke through the treeline.

"I guess that answers my question." Ruby said sullenly as the team regrouped around her. "Any plans, guys?"

The house Yang was in erupted into flames as she burst out of it and flew towards an Atlas Titan. She punched it square in the visual module and it crumpled immediately. The titan fell, and Yang landed next to the group. "We need to call for help!"

"How? The robots are jamming our signals!" Weiss exclaimed as she summoned a wall of ice to impale the oncoming Stalkers.

"We need to stay in the village! Ozpin has surely realized we are in trouble and is sending help!" Oobleck shouted. "We need to beat back this wave!"

As he said that, a hailfire of missiles flew over them and landed in the forest, obliterating the oncoming robot forces.

"Or that could happen." Oobleck said, rather surprised. He and Team RWBY looked up to see Atlesian gunships start strafing the forest.

A Bullhead landed behind the small circle. The door opened and a group of soldiers walked out. "Team RWBY? Professor Oobleck?" A soldier in red asked.

"Doctor." Oobleck corrected, but he and the team nodded.

"Get in. We were sent by General Ironwood." The group followed the soldier into the Bullhead as gunfire was exchanged between the two forces. The soldiers backed back into another Bullhead, and both lifted off the ground and left the village.

Team RWBY didn't relax until they couldn't see the village anymore. They all slumped down on the floor of the aircraft. "That was terrible." Ruby sighed.

"Well, it's over now." Weiss said. "We need to report back to Ozpin about what we saw."

"We're here because Ozpin knows they would be here." The soldier said, coming back from the cockpit. "General Ironwood got a call from Headmaster Ozpin saying you all were in danger. Turns out he was correct."

"What about the other teams?" Blake asked, checking her ammo count.

"They returned, some had Grimm problems. Others had nothing. No one was close to you guys." The soldier said. "If I were you, I would demand extra credit for this."

"Oh believe me, we will." Yang sighed. "They...they were endless."

"Yeah, that's how they worked last time." The soldier said.

"Last time?" Blake asked.

Weiss didn't even let the soldier respond. "It's them, isn't it? You fought these things when they tried to destroy two Atlesian militaries. It's the same force?"

"Theoretically, these are remnant forces that escaped the damage, but yeah." He responded. "I hate that they're still here."

"Why? Shouldn't have the Grimm wiped them out by now?" Weiss asked.

The soldier seemed to age at the question. "The Grimm fear them. The robots only have one opposing force: us."

HNV Deterrence bridge

General March looked out the viewport of the Deterrence, staying silent. His soldiers had been pulled off Remnant, his automated robot force had been attacked, and his plan was starting to unravel.

He grinned evilly. Plan A was unravelling, and revealing Plan B. The Summer Maiden was under his control, as well as a powerful Aura user. Vice Emperor Grey seemed pleased with the progress, as well as the energy provided to the rest of the Hammond Empire.

"General?"

March turned around to see a man with the same outfit as Sunder and Syun from the foundry bases saluting before him. "Commissar Eltis, what can I do for you?"

"The foundry bases have been detonated. We can't give you a Grimm kill count, unfortunately." The commissar reported.

"Considering that these monsters disintegrate upon death, I would be worried if you could give a kill count." March chuckled. "Any word from the Jaeger Commanders I have assigned?"

"17 Actual found the Fall Maiden..well, Fall Maidens."

March turned around. "Explain."

"The original Fall Maiden was attacked, and her powers were mostly stolen. The attacker is at Beacon to finish the job, but they both have the power." Eltis explained.

"This planet…" March muttered, looking to the side. He turned back to Eltis. "Very well, I guess it's time for a heist."

Eltis looked up. "Sir! You can't be suggesting-!"

"I am. We're stealing the Original Fall Maiden and bringing her here. Tell 10 Actual and 09 Actual to regroup with 17 Actual and steal the Maiden." March ordered. He turned to the communications crew. "Get Exiled God on the screen, I have orders."

"This leadership, I swear…" Eltis muttered.

HNV Exiled God

"I'm sorry, what?" Eckhard asked, sticking a finger in his ears. "I don't think I heard you correctly."

Lyz sighed. "We got a mission."

"But I don't even know my Semblance!" Eckhard exclaimed. "How am I supposed to be any help if you're gonna be all like whoosh and kapow!" He made hand gestures to accentuate his sounds. "All I got is my damn rifle."

"That's where this new tech comes in." Doctor Engelmann said. She was holding a rifle case. "Something just came from the R&D Department." She set the case down on the hangar floor.

Eckhard kneeled down and opened the case. In the case looked to be an older model shotgun from before the Age of Space Exploration and the rise of Hammond as a company. "I've read about these. They were a favorite among the fabled Team Rainbow."

"Correct, Eckhard. This mission requires an infiltration of Beacon Academy." Doctor Engelmann began, ignoring Lyz stiffening up at the word 'Beacon'. "And this weapon has been modified to fight the trainees there."

"What is it?" Lyz asked, walking towards the case.

Eckhard picked up the shotgun, and stood up. It was a Mossberg shotgun with a bayonet on the end of the barrel. "It's a Mossberg shotgun, a powerful one at that."

"Only half correct." Doctor Engelmann explained. "This a Mossberg, yes. But it's been upgraded to fire Aura Piercing slugs or Aura killing shrapnel rounds."

"Aura killing?"Lyz asked.

"We've developed a type of shrapnel round that when fired will completely deplete the Aura of the target instantly." Doctor Engelmann continued. "Aura piercing speaks for itself."

Eckhard picked up the rounds and started loading the shotgun. He finished loading and threw the shotgun at Lyz, who caught it. "Fire it at me."

"What?" Lyz asked.

"Shoot me, the Aura killing rounds are in there."

Lyz aimed the barrel at Eckhard, and pulled the trigger. The kickback blew her back and the round blew Eckhard back. They both landed at the same time on their backs. Doctor Engelmann was silent until she burst into laughter.

Eckhard felt very tired, like he ran twelve miles without stopping, as he got up. "Ow…" Lyz got up, feeling like she was kicked in the chest. "Ow…"

"Hahahaha...okay, I probably should've warned you about the kickback, Miss Green." Doctor Engelmann said. "And maybe a little more warning to you, Sergeant."

"Thanks." They both said. Eckhard rolled his shoulder. "What's our mission? I forgot to ask."

"We're stealing the Fall Maiden...or well, one of them." Doctor Engelmann said, pulling a report out a folder on a nearby table. "Read this, and get ready. You two, along with 10 and 09 Actual will be HALOing into Beacon to link up with 17th Jaeger squad and 17 Actual."

"Three Jaeger Commanders? Seems a little excessive." Lyz asked, already wary of Jaeger Commanders after 16 Actual. She was glad the robot was destroyed as punishment for hurting her, a testament for her trusting the Hammond Empire more.

"Well, when it comes to Beacon...we have history with them interfering with our plans." Doctor Engelmann rubbed the back of her neck. "I think 17 Actual has a bone, or robotic limb, to pick with everyone in Vale by now."

Eckhard picked up the shotgun from the floor. "Well, let's see the report. Something tells me this is a sooner rather than later thing."

"Before you read it, Vice Emperor Grey wanted to give you this." Doctor Engelmann pointed behind her, which Eckhard looked back, and grinned.

Ozpin's Office, the next day

Team RWBY walked into Ozpin's office, with a report in hand. The previous day had been hectic, to say the least. Between finding out Redford had been destroyed, going a week without communication, and almost being killed on their first mission, it was a lot for them.

And to find the robots were the remnants of a supposedly deadly force was even worse.

"Ah, Team RWBY. Glad you could make it on such short notice." The headmaster said. "Good, you brought your report as well." He took the report as Ruby handed it to him.

"Headmaster." Weiss started. "What did we get sent to fight?"

"You weren't sent to fight anything." Ozpin explained. "You were sent to find out why Redford Village went dark, and you were successful."

"It doesn't feel like a success." Yang muttered.

"The success was we now know remnants of the military that attacked both Atlesian military forces and the White Fang are still on Remnant, and the bonus is you get to live to tell me that." Ozpin said coldly. "Or would you rather still be down in Redford in a circle, surrounded, the same way we found you?"

Yang shut up at that.

"Now, the primary goal is to get a group to go and finish off those forces before they can move on Vale." Ozpin continued. "This will be a professional mission, no trainees allowed."

"But we did fine...ish." Ruby quipped up.

"While I do admire the optimism, I can't send training students on this mission. It has to be done by professional Huntsmen and Huntresses alone." Ozpin explained, seeing the unasked question. "Atlas military personnel will be supporting them."

Ruby slightly wilted, upset she wasn't getting another crack at the robots. Yang patted her shoulder. "It's okay, we'll get them next time."

"But when is next time?" Ruby mumbled.

That night, over Vale

The night of Vale was silent, save for the occasional city noise. In the sky, Atlas Battlecruisers patrolled the skies, but the air was peaceful.

Above the Battlecruisers, a cloaked recon ship flew through the sky, it's backdoor open as four figures jumped out of it. They rocketed towards the ground, past the Battlescruisers and their sensors. The figures landed on the ground, out of sight of the regular people in Vale. They got up out of the small crater they formed, their eyes glowing red as they moved towards Beacon. They got looks from the crowds as they moved. The armor they wore was foreign and the robots didn't look like anything Atlas had.

"What are those?"

"Special Ops? No way, not in public."

"Are they here for us?"

"Those robots look cool."

"Blatant militarism, Atlas at its finest."

The taller of the two armored figures leaned to the shorter one. "They think we're Atlas?"

"Yep, and that should be insulting. You guys have more training than they do, and better technology by a long shot." The short one responded.

"So what do we do if they start asking about Atlas stuff, Lyz?"

"We don't respond, and if push comes to shove I will speak."

The two robots behind them looked at each other, and shrugged.

The shorter one, Lyz, turned to look at one of the robots. "10 Actual, how far is Beacon?"

"Around 10 clicks that way." The Jaeger Commander pointed straight. "We should run, this mission is time sensitive."

"You say that now." The other Jaeger Commander, 09 Actual, deadpanned.

The group broke into a sprint towards the shining Beacon.

Somewhere outside of Beacon

17 Actual was getting tired of waiting. The sneaking around and searching for the Fall Maiden was tiring for the robot. 17 Actual had scanned a majority of the students, its cloaking had been used to the max these days. The students nor the staff had found the robot and the Jaeger squad with it. Tonight, however, was different for the advanced androids. 17 Actual had been given orders to hold, reinforcements were coming to Beacon to assist 17th Jaeger Squad with an important operation. Since 17 Actual had informed of the predicament of two Fall Maidens, leadership decided to steal one of them.

"17 Actual." The Jaeger Commander turned around to see a Jaeger walking up towards it. "The reinforcements are arriving soon. Radar detected an object flying over at fast speeds above the battlecruisers around 5 minutes ago. The Reinforcement squad consists of two Jaeger Commanders and two humans, both with their Aura unlocked."

"Wait, two humans with Aura?" 17 Actual asked, perplexed.

"Their designations are 'Summer Break' and 'Sergeant Eckhard', the Summer Maiden and her overseer."

17 Actual nodded. "Very well, where are we meeting them?"

"Beacon front grounds, near the fountain." The Jaeger responded. "We should go now."

"Then let's go, I'm looking for a fight tonight."

Beacon Visiting Dorms

The hallways of the dormitory were quiet, no one was up and walking around. Except for one fourth year Atlas student, who was patrolling the hallways to make sure no students were up and around doing naughty things.

Born into a family who still believed in the old ways of Mantle and the old government, Ella McCauley was one of the few people on Remnant who still had a 'normal' name and not a color. Her team found the name both refreshing and weird. Atlesians found it nice some people remembered their roots. Many people outside of Atlas found it terrible that a child wouldn't be named after a color, but it wasn't as rare as some thought it would be in Atlas and Mantle. Thankfully, the McCauley family was very influential in the Atlesian government and outside in Atlas itself. The McCauley Mining Corporation was the primary foundry for making materials for weapons and bullet cartridges that held Dust: Steel.

But that wasn't important now.

Ella had been assigned as patrol for tonight. Her platinum blonde hair was in a military bun, and she wore the standard Atlas Academy beret, and her huntress armor was standard Atlesian fatigues and soldier armor plating, minus the helmet so her green eyes could see clearly. While her armor was very in line with the 'Atlas' look, her weapon certainly wasn't. The sleek armor was a direct contrast with her weapon, considered barbaric to many in Atlas.

The Chainsaw-Sword Mark 3, or as she lovingly called it, the chainsword. It was a grey painted sword with chainsaw blades, and could morph into a high caliber assault rifle, chambering a .44 round with a 30 bullet clip. Her weapon had gained a lot of attention after brutally wounding a White Fang member who attacked her while she was with her team on a mission when she was a first year. Thankfully, only her team had known about what happened to the second grunt, who was bisected horizontally by the weapon. Her teacher wasn't happy about her coming back from the mission with blood on her weapon.

Speaking of missions, Ella was walking past a window when something caught her eye. She looked outside to see a group of silhouettes run towards the fountain.

She scowled. "Vandalism at Beacon?" She ran towards a door to the outside, her right hand on the hilt of her weapon, which was strapped to the left side of her waist.

Outside

Lyz and Eckhard were standing in front of the fountain, 09 and 10 Actual behind them. Lyz was staring at the fountain statue, Eckhard was loading Aura killing shotgun shells into his Mossberg, and the Jaeger Commanders were sitting down. 09 Actual had taken this time to toss a plasma dagger up and down, catching it by the hilt.

"Where is 17th Squad?" 10 Actual asked. "The mission starts soon."

"They'll be here. 17 Actual hasn't failed the Hammond Empire yet." 09 Actual responded, catching his plasma dagger. It pointed the weapon at 10 Actual. "Unlike a certain Jaeger Commander."

"16 Actual got what it deserved." 09 Actual shot back. "But it did the job."

"Can you two chill?" Lyz looked back at the bickering robots. "16 Actual is dead, leave it at that."

The two robots shut up. Eckhard looked over at Lyz. "Bad memories?"

"You expect me to forget what that robot did to me? It acted totally different from these two and 17 Actual! It's like it was programmed to be evil!"

"How about you shout a little louder, I don't think the clock tower man heard you."

Lyz and Eckhard looked towards where they heard the voice. Out of seemingly thin air, 17th Jaeger Squad appeared in front of the small group. 17 Actual was in the lead, his plasma sword already ignited. "We must move quickly, the school has patrols of Atlesian soldiers."

"Then we kill them. Not like you've already done that, 17." 09 Actual deadpanned. "You're the only one to kill Beacon protection so far."

"They suspect nothing."

"They obviously do suspect something, because they have patrols now."

"Enough." Eckhard ordered. "Let's just grab this person and go. The SR bird isn't gonna stick around forever."

The group nodded in agreement, moved towards the clock tower, and activated their cloaking devices.

Ella arrived at the fountain a little after they left, and looked for vandalism. When she found none, she sighed. "Guess I'm still jumpy after what Ironwood told me."

She took out a photo of a soldier wearing blue Atlesian soldier armor. He was giving a thumbs up to the camera, while two of his buddies were in the background wrestling with a Ursa cub.

"Oh Shawn, if only you could see me now."

Inside the clocktower

Soldiers were patrolling the inside of the CCT, while others were working on terminals. They were replacements after the last crew was wiped out by intruders. These forces were experienced, they had fought on the shores of the White Fang base or in the abandoned streets of Mountain Glenn. With them was, without a doubt, one of the best.

Specialist Rey Syth was a veteran many Grimm excursions and White Fang missions. Her time at Beacon was filled with boredom and questions from other students about Atlas. She didn't mind the questions, but she hated the boredom. The monotony of paperwork and assigning patrols was wearing down on her. She wanted excitement, something to-

A loud CRACK pierced the quiet of the CCT base room, and a soldier fell. Blood was pooling on the floor.

"Cover!" Rey shouted, as more bullets flew through the air. One soldier was too slow, and was hit square in the face with what looked to be a dagger.

Some soldiers fired back, others threw small dust grenades. Rey pulled out her weapon, a shotgun that shifted into an axe. One professor at Beacon thought the weapon majestic, but she saw his and realized why. She loaded a dust shell into her shotgun, and stood up from her cover to aim. She was met with a faceless reflective visor, which was connected to a full body armor suit with a bandolier of ammo pouches. Which was connected to an arm holding a weird looking gun to her abdomen.

(Spectre-BO3)

The weapon roared, and she felt something pierce her Aura and exit her backside. She fell to the ground, clutching the wound. She could feel her Aura trying to do something, but she didn't expect a round to pierce.

"Whaddya know? They do pierce Aura." The figure who shot her said. It pumped the weapon, and Rey realized she was hit with a shotgun slug. "Guess that makes two of us surprised." The figure walked away as Rey's vision started to dim.

Eckhard turned to the remaining soldiers, firing slugs into their torsos as they popped up. In the corner of his eye he watched as Lyz's Volt SMG shot searing bolts of plasma into screaming soldiers, no doubt alerting anyone and everyone in the school that they were here. He shrugged, they were in for a rude awakening from both his weapon and Lyz's secret. He popped the final soldier with his last slug in the clip, the head exploding into a gory paste on the wall behind him.

"That was unnecessary, sergeant." 09 Actual noted. "Brutal, but we're not here to send a message."

"Me killing one of their best probably sent a pretty damning one." Eckhard responded to the Jaeger Commander. "Let's get to the Maiden. 17 Actual, if you would." He gestured to the elevator.

The other Jaeger Commander nodded, and motioned for his team to watch the perimeter with Lyz and Eckhard. The three Jaeger Commanders would be descending to find and secure the body while the rest protected their entrance and exit. A sound plan to be sure.

But no plan survives contact with the enemy. That's why it takes General March months to think of a plan, because he's got more contingencies than the entire HMF combined for one damn plan, down to the effing letter. Eckhard thought. It's only failed him once.

17 Actual stuck his hand through the elevator door, and forced it open.

Goddammit.

Ella

Ella was walking back from the fountain when her radio crackled to life. "All Atlesian specialists or Fourth Years, hostile forces have infiltrated the CCT."

Ella picked it up. "This is Ella McCauley, Fourth year trainee. Orders?"

"Cadet, you are to move towards the CCT under the assumption that the tower has been compromised. Specialists are on their way to support you and any other cadets with you. Repeat, you are to move under the assumption that the CCT is compromised. General Ironwood has initiated the following Protocol: Brother of Light."

"U-understood. Moving out." Ella put her radio away and ran towards the CCT, hoping forces were already there.

CCT

"It's too damn quiet for just finishing a fucking firefight." Eckhard snarled. "They're on their way."

"How would you know?" Lyz asked.

"Contact. Twelve Specialists and One Cadet Specialist." A Jaeger reported. The Jaegers powered on their weapons, Eckhard loaded more slugs into his Mossberg, and Lyz loaded a round into her Thunderbolt.

"Lyz, think you can rile them up?" Eckhard asked.

She smirked, and aimed her Thunderbolt out in front of her. "Firing!"

The weapon reported, and a ball of pure lightning ejected from the 'barrel'. The ball flew slowly through the air, but random bushes and 'air' were shocked as it passed by.

"There are your targets! Kill them!" Eckhard shouted, and fired a slug.

The First Battle of Beacon had begun.