Welcome to The Neverending War Chapter 7

I am sorry this has taken so long, and I have little excuse.

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The Flight back is quiet there is a level of relief from being saved, the wounded are being tended to. The plan has been agreed upon, the small force of young and bloodied huntsmen were going to prevent the headmistress and the entirety of beacons staff from arresting the three squadrons of cadet fighter pilots and an entire frigate of Cadet Sailors for the as they had guesstimated was at least a full page of crimes. They know that they stand no chance even in fighting shape they would be doomed if they had to face the experienced and expert fighters in a fight. In all reality it didn't matter the intent of the huntsmen was to make an argument in favor of their saviors.

The landing of three squadrons of bullhead transports and fighters and the massive in comparison Beacon cadet frigate was not as noticed by the city or everyone at the fortress that was known as Beacon Huntsman Academy. The large cannons at the edge of the Fortress School still smoke from firing on the horde point outward. The squadron ground crews run about and prepare to receive the landing ships. The Beacon pulls into its berth under the edge of the cliff of the school. Doctors and Nurses wait as the first Bullheads land with the most wounded huntsmen. The rest of the bullheads and fighters circle before slowly landing. Alec and his team stand up in their bullhead. They step out as the transport pushing the large heavy machinegun out of the way.

The headmistress stares at the two hundred fresh huntsmen and another hundred cadet pilots and crew of the frigate. Her assistant standing next to her with a large grin she smacks him with the scabbard of her sword. "Stop smiling." She looks to the young adults who were not dragged away by the medical teams. Alec stands in front of her and behind him stand a hundred and seventy huntsmen, twelve mech suited soldiers and one hundred cadet pilots and another two hundred support cadet personnel. She smirks seeing the seemingly unified front. "I will be wanting reports from all of you by the second day of the classes. We will be creating your teams in four hours. Huntsmen dismissed, Dismissed!" She then turns to the pilots as the Huntsmen and Mechanized team walk out slowly many of the Huntsmen limping hoping to collapse against a wall and sleep until teams were officially announced. "Pilots you will provide flight recordings along with your report. Dismissed."

Alec, Mimi, Beethoven, and Raven walk down the hallway which looks like an overwhelmed hospital, the young adults that had an hour earlier been holding a line against the darkness now lay clumped up sleeping with heads on shoulders and backs against the wall. The four find themselves a small empty spot against the wall and sit back. The adrenalin that had kept most of them going truly gave out the moment the air fleet rescued them only giving them the energy to get to a resting place.

The exhausted huntsmen are left alone for an hour before the assistant headmaster's clacking cane starts to rouse the tired adults. "Aye Children time to find out who you will be spending the next fifteen years with." The young adults slowly wake up, sore and uncomfortable from their sleeping positions.

Within ten minutes they are standing in the large academy hall, the Headmistress stares over the crowd of people. "Last year I made a twenty-minute-long speech for the first year of students in years. I have a similar speech written and planned for today. I will not be reading it. Today you all showed a willingness to work together. Last year I sent my first class of experienced huntsmen apprentices. Forty-three dead another twenty-one wounded and made combat ineffective, sixty-four huntsmen gone in a day. It almost ruined the start of the new huntsmen academy system. All five schools had similar catastrophes hell Atlas lost half of its candidates. It proved the major problem with the apprentice Huntsman program and caused its cancellation. You all did a good job and formed a strong force to survive, even through your problems with each other. We are in a situation where you and your senior class are the proof that the five academies are the best hope for civilization.

I know you are not fully sure about how these units and teams will work but do not worry we are going to create a new huntsman system one that can and will protect civilization. Now it is time to create teams and units."

It takes an hour to work though the teams and the units with Alec, Mimi, Beethoven and Raven put on the same team as expected with Alec in charge they make up team Amber (AMBR) with the support team Riptide, with Rita leading her team of Paul, Tina and Danny. The unit being named Amber Riptide with Alec in overall command was dismissed to their quarters. The eight walk to their new living space, quarters 58. Alec swipes his scroll over the door lock and pushes open the door the large one-hundred twenty-five square meter room has enough space with eight beds, two bathrooms, a kitchenette, a full workbench and eight small desks. Eight small wardrobes sit next to the beds.

Mimi hops over to one of the beds, "This one is mine, The room is a cozy."

Paul takes one of the other beds, "If by cozy you mean small then yes. Shoving eight people into a room this small seems a bit unreasonable. We have a lot of stuff to store."

Rita sits down on another bed, "Don't complain at least we have warm beds and a roof. You are gonna get used to it, anyway there is storage for equipment in the equipment room. And we are really only going to sleep here and maybe work on homework."

Raven smiles, "I mean we could save space if we cut everything down to four beds then just share," she cocks her hips and walks over seductively, "That could be fun."

Mimi smiles as she watches her long-time friend mess with the young man in front of her.

Danny pushes herself up against Paul from the back, "You know I think three of us can fit in one of those beds, what do you say Paul."

Paul pulls himself away from the pair of women raising his hands in surrender, "Alright I get it I won't complain now stop teasing me."

Danny smirks as the man in front of her reacts, "How do you know I am teasing?" She smirks as she sits down on one of the beds, "Maybe I am serious."

Paul sits down on another bed. "So, we all need to make our decisions on beds. Correct?"

"Dibs" Mimi calls out jumping on one of the beds, followed by the others as they claim their sleeping arrangements.

Raven smirks from her new bed as she takes off her boots. "So, Danny were you teasing?"

Alec looks at Raven with a sharp glance. "Raven no." He says sharply, "Beethoven, Raven go and find out what the rules are for the rooms and if we can order additional items." He looks at Paul with a smile, "Please take someone with you and go see what the facilities in storage look like."

Beethoven grabs Raven and her boots dragging her out of the room placing her heels in her hands. While Paul stands up and turns to the group to ask who will be joining him Danny jumps off her bed sliding herself next to Paul her wings fluttering to give herself the extra meter of distance. "Alright," Paul turns to look at Danny, "Grab a paper and pen to write down anything we need." Danny grabs a pad of paper and pen before racing after the young man who walks out of the room."

Rita laughs as the pair leave. "I think our little bird has a little crush on our medic."

Mimi places her sword/shotgun on the bed. Sighing as she tosses her shell belt after it, "I hadn't noticed." She smirks as she begins tearing the weapon down.

Alec looks at the three remaining members of his unit in the room, "Do not push them."

Rita laughs, "so you agree, she has a crush on him."

"I am not agreeing I am saying that if he wanted to be more effective he would have asked brought Tina."

Mimi sits next to Tina, "So what do you think, Does our little bird want to get her feathers ruffled by our doctor."

Tina looks at the tiger woman, "I am afraid I cannot give you much of an answer, I am not good with romantic emotions. I can tell you that Danny's heart was racing only after Raven started her teasing, and Paul's heart was beating significantly faster than normal or even during combat." Tina opens her machine gun and begins to disassemble it, "I will leave it alone. Can you pass me a rag?"

Alec tosses her a white rag and watches as she starts to pull the weapon apart. "Tina I did not see your semblance during the fight, may I ask what it is?"

Tina continues taking apart her weapon, "I was using it how do you think I got that old eighty-eight working. My semblance lets me understand mechanical and electrical system to very minute degree. And being an artificial human, I spent the last five years making sure I had just about every piece of information I could find saved inside my head. I can fix everything, make machines that seem dead work. And bring guns that are missing vital parts back to life."

"What about your childhood?" Mimi says stepping back towards her own weapon, "you are what fifteen to seventeen like most of us? Five years is a third of your life."

Tina smile coldly as she breaks down the bold of her weapon, "I was made to be a huntress, and from my conception I was ushered in that direction. I was treated well by those who were taking care of me, but my existence was paid for by the Kingdom of Vale and me and my fellows knew what we were going to be. Two serve in the army then myself and two others are now first year huntsmen. We are happy with how our lives have gone." Tina stares at the firing pin of her weapon with interest. "I am in my element in combat, when the big gun and interest in fortification are useful I can design and hell even build a fort given enough time and a machine gun is perfect of me, lots of firepower in a small package and doesn't get in the way when I want to work on something like a truck or heavy weapon."

Mimi stares as she stares at the parts of her weapon laying out, "That doesn't sound like a childhood that sounds like slavery."

Tina looks at the Tigress, "I was part of a plan put into implementation five years after the war, it was desperate times Huntsmen retiring or dying, out of the fight and the army barely holding the line. Everyone still messed up after the rose incident, and the king being made head of state and military again. Like I said we were treated well we just had a goal in mind from birth."

"You aren't arguing that it sounds like slavery."

The artificial woman slams her weapon together, "it isn't slavery in the same way we are not child soldiers." She is still very calm as she sets the weapon aside, "we can make a difference, we can save lives, and we chose to swear the next fifteen years of our lives to serving the people of Remnant and defending them against the Grimm. The numbers state that about ten percent of us will not live to our fifth year, and another ten percent will not be able to serve by then, only half of us are expected to retire still combat effective, the rest will either be dead or so badly wounded they will be forced into early retirement, about ten percent of us will continue serving after our fifteen years. I think it is a better use of my life to risk all of that and save people than to hide behind the walls and those that stand on them. My life can be called a success if that happens and the estimated losses can be kept lower." She looks at the shot gun sword combination that Mimi calls her own, "if you replace those gears with a different alloy like this one," she shows a picture on her scroll," and shift that part to the left you can lengthen the tube magazine just enough to fit another shell. And you can use a spring like this," another picture is shown, "will still guarantee reliability. I would personally add a dust infuser that can both infuse the shells or the blade rather than just using preloaded dust ammunition, but it might be too tight. I am not sure. If not you could equip your ammunition belt with an infuser and that would at least give you the shells. Maybe you could make a new sheath for the sword that would allow you to infuse it with dust, I heard of that being done in the war." Tina taps her chin thinking.

Alec looks at the woman on the bed thinking her brow furrowed in a serious expression, "Tina." She looks us worried for a moment, "Mimi doesn't think like that a few diagrams will probably make more sense, She has used that weapon for years already she needs a better visual."

"Very sorry about that Commander Sir, I will work on something if Mimi is interested otherwise I will look into some other ideas."

Alec shakes his head, "it is just Alec, Tina I am no commander or general."

Mimi shakes her head, "Oh I am interested, Dust infusion would be awesome."

Raven walks in with Beethoven in tow, she is holding a small book in her hands, "Dust infusion who is stealing my shtick and yes dust infusion is awesome." She turns to Alec, "The catalogue and rules for the rooms everything has to be approved by you. I have a few ideas that can spruce up the place when you get a chance."

"Thank you Vee, be good and stop teasing them or else."

"Fine I will be good."

"Thank you."

Paul and Danny come back into the room, "So apparently we are getting a tank and bullhead. The workshop for them and of course our lockers and a thousand square meter area for everything." Paul says with pupils the size of dishes.

Danny laughs, "Oh and we are apparently given a unit budget for dust, ammunition and everything else. It is a substantial number plus all of our earnings from missions."

Alec nods calmly, "I guess we have some reading to do. Classes start in a week, and we all have our after action reports to finish." Alec rubs his eyes, looking at the seven others, "after we sleep Raven get the lights." The sound of a whip hitting the light switch can be heard before the room goes dark.