Thought For The Day
A COWARD ALWAYS SEEKS COMPROMISE
==II==
"Blake, what is inmediasres?" - Ruby asked as soon her faunus teammate came out of the bath, fresh out of the shower and already in her pajamas.
"Hmm? Did you mean In Medias Res?"
"Maybe?" - Ruby blinked twice, looking back down at her scroll's screen.
"Its a really old writing trope, it means something like starting by the middle. It is extremely common in poorly written fanfiction, though established authors also abuse it quite a bit. Ever saw a movie that started with an action scene and then did a 'flashback' to the actual beginning of the story? Its like that." - the faunus replied while being very careful in drying her fluffy ears.
"Like, starting with a chase and after the hero escapes, going back a few days to show why the hero was running away in the first place?" - Ruby frowned a little as she thought of quite a few movies like that.
"Exactly, why do you ask?"
"It came out on my crossword puzzle, and I was wondering if it was a real thing." - replied RWBY's petite leader.- "If it wasn't, that meant I made a mistake somewhere, right?"
"I had no idea you like those, Ruby. I have an slightly better impression of you." - commented Weiss as she turned around from the school book she was reading.- "Crossword puzzles are a great way to improve your vocabulary."
"Ehehe~ thanks, bestie!" - Ruby smiled and went back to her puzzle.
==/ /==
Qrow's shotgun blew the ork's face clean off its skull, leaving nothing but the greenskin's ridiculously hard bone and a bit of sinew. Yet even blind and dying, the brute's power claw still reached for the huntsman, threatening to snip him in half with its ridiculously oversized scissor-like blades. Seeing no way out of it, Qrow turned into a bird, his much smaller form popping into existence outside the blades' grip.
He quickly went back to his normal appearance, not enjoying the taste of the spacehulk's atmosphere in the least, thankful his transformation affected all items on his persona, because he was not looking forward to abandoning his borrowed suit's encapsulated atmosphere, not in the least.
Qrow here. I found your damn CAT. And one of those orks you told us about. - he quickly reported over the vox link.
Good work. But please do not refer to a blessed tool of the Omnissiah in such manner. Is the Cognitae Automated Tomograph device still functional?
Qrow looked at the now headless CAT. Its body was longer than it was taller, and while the camera the remnan associated with its 'head' was now laying across the room, the thing's other antennae and flashy bits seemed to still spin and blink as before.
Probably? The ork cut its head off, but it seems everything else is still working. Its not moving though, so I guess it needed the cameras to move about.
Is your position secure? - Brother Indis asked calmly.
I blew the ork's face off, I doubt it'll try and get up.
It still may. Cut its head off if you can, just to make sure.
Are you serious!?
Quite.
This isn't some sort of weird payback for it taking the CATs head off, is it?
No, greenskins are absurdly durable. Given enough time, it may actually recover, assuming there's at least half a brain left in it.
Alright that's bullshit, but I believe you. This little adventure is so bizarre.
Qrow transformed Harbinger into its sword form, and decapitated the ork. He had to hack twice, surprised at the sheer toughness of the ork's bones. By the way the thin twitches under his first blow, he realized it really was still alive.
'That's just wrong.' - he thought, then looked around to make sure he was indeed alone. No greenskins screaming at him as they charged down the hallway or even around the corner. Finally convinced, he called back over the Vox.
Alright yeah, it was still alive. Good call. What now?
I'll instruct you on how to retrieve the Cognitae Automated Tomograph device's data bank. Once you have done so, please return to the shuttle.
Alright, sure. How's things on your end?
Currently engages with the orks main forces.
Shit, what? Are you sure you can give me instructions right now? - Qrow's voice dripped with disbelief.
Affirmative. It is not a problem.
'Easy for him to say,' - thought Qrow.- 'the man is wearing more armor than an atlesian paladin, and carrying a lot more weapons, too.'
To be fair, brother Indis was positioned at a vantage point, overseeing one of three parallel hallways leading from different parts of the unholy amalgamation of ships they had been crawling through for the last hour, into a much larger hall behind him and his brother marines. As the orks continued to rush at them, all three of them simply continued to fire on them. Literally in his case, as his heavy flamer had little issue toasting the xenos in the confined space through which they insisted in charging at him.
When the relatively small spacehulk that watch commander Askalon labeled as Child of Ruination began approaching the Oum system, the Deathwatch reported the issue to the freshly stablished planetary council of Remnant, and prepared to bombard the thing from afar, for once glad that communications to the greater imperium were disrupted, as it made reporting the spacehulk's existence quite impossible, thus preventing any eager magos from requesting an exploration party, an scenario that was much too common for the watch commander's tastes.
When a few minutes later he got a council's request for information on the exact nature of an spacehulk, he thought very little of sending them some data. He quickly regretted it as later that same day, he got a request for retrieval of the damn thing.
'Humans.' - he would have made an internal eye roll if he still had enough cynicism for it, but he was well past the point of being surprised by the decisions of mortals when it came to the appropiation of wealth.
He sent them more information this time. In fact, he sent them as much information as he could find about times when a planetary governors' greed ended in disaster. It was quite a large data file, to be honest.
And what was the council's decision? They wanted it at least explored before coming to a conclusion. Being truthful, he wasn't actually beheld to whatever the council decided, but on the interest of good relationships, he agreed to send a group of CATs into the hulk to determine the value of any potential salvage, as well as the level of risk involved in such operations.
Honestly, Commander Askalon knew better than to dare hope the hulk would be empty and ripe for the taking, but brother Indis pointed out that this particular hulk was small enough to be deviated towards the system's star if need be, and composed mainly of imperial ships and asteroids, which meant that actually recovering it would catapult the number of ships in-system from nothing to three or four, a definitive boon for operational security.
"Fine," - he said after a minute of consideration.- "but you will be in charge. I want your team to make the arrangements to deviate it into the system's star before you board it. If you don't send a cancellation signal every twenty minutes, I want it gone, understood?"
"Yes, commander." - brother Indis then added.- "Do I have command of this operation, then?"
"I said as much." - the commander nodded, and went back to other matters.
With a crooked smile, brother Indis approved the council's request for their own observers during the mission.
==/ /==
"At ease, specialist Schnee." -Gen. Ironwood called as soon as Winter entered and saluted.- "Have you heard about the spacehulk that entered the system a few hours ago?"
"It was spotted by multiple scientists and reported on, sir. Its in the news." - the prim and proper young woman replied even as she 'relaxed' in place.
"Our brand new planetary council has decided that they want it. Watch Commander Askalon sent us a very thick file full of information on the dangers and benefits of such a thing, and I was out-voted in my attempt to just allow the Deathwatch blow it into the sun." - the general sighed.
"To allow, sir? I thought they made it clear that they were basically a federal-level entity and Remnant's council wouldn't have direct authority over them."
"We don't, but we're still neighbors and it would be bad for either of us to get into the other's bad side. That, and greed seems to have won the day."
"I... don't really know anything about it beyond what little has been shown in the news, sir."
"Yes well, you may want to take a seat, specialist." - replied the general as he pulled a two-inches thick folder out of a drawer and placed it in Winter's hands.- "I will prepare us some coffee."
Winter eyed the massive stack of documents, and took a peek at the first page. She found it to be printed in an odiously small font.
==/ /==
"Oz, please tell me our representative voted against recovering this thing." - Qrow whined after reading the file for twenty minutes or so, barely making a dent on the thing.- "This thing is basically a catastrophe waiting to happen."
"We voted in favor, actually." - the headmaster admitted with a guilty smile.- "A normal spacehulk is made up by hundreds of ships, asteroids, and space debris fused together by time and the warp. It is full of lost technologies and valuable artifacts that-"
"It is a ghost ship full of monsters, Oz! For brother's sake, just let them blow it into the sun!"
"Its really out of my hands, Qrow. I honestly hoped the Watch Commander would just blow it up regardless, then we would all go back to our day without adding any world-ending horror to our list of worries, but..."
"I thought space marines were supposed to be murdering zealots?" - oddly enough, Qrow sounded almost hopeful.
"Oh, we have one working on the kitchen right now, you know? Brother Neresh cuts a very imposing figure, but he's actually a very kind soul. He was really interested in a tour of the academy and wanted to try cooking once. Mentioned he was surprised about how similar many of our ingredients were to those of his homeworld and wanted to treat our students to the taste of his home."
Qrow looked at Ozpin, unsure if the man was being serious or not, then sighed.- "Uh... I may need to try that before I go."
That got Ozpin to nod in agreement.- "Its not every day we get to try another world's cooking, after all."
"That's nice and all, but why did you ask me to read this thing?" - he tried to wave the folder at Ozpin, but the damn thing was too heavy and collapsed under its own weight, causing Qrow to curse under his breath as both men began to collect to documents.
"Well, the Deathwatch agreed to help collect the hulk, but only after making sure it was safe, so they are sending an... erhh... a Kill-Team to make sure any unpleasant surprises are dead before moving it into orbit of the planet."
"Good for them. I still don't see how that involves me."
"The council wanted to send an small team of observers to make sure the Deathwatch won't just blow it up without checking. Officially, its akin to a ...cultural exchange."
"...for fuck's sake, Oz. Am I-"
==/ /==
"-going to space, sir?" - Winter looked at her superior with wide-open eyes.
"That is correct, specialist. A shuttle... hmm a Corvus Blackstar, will come be waiting for you on the fleet docks at 1800 hours. I've been assured that you will be supplied with anything you will need." - the general paused for a moment.- "That leaves you with most of the day to read the file, so I suggest you don't waste any time. Coffee?"
==/ /==
"No, I don't want any fucking coffee, Emerald." - Cinder shoo'd Emerald away.- "Watts! How the hell did you even manage to get me a seat in that little excursion!?" - Cinder fumed, squeezing the barely smoking folder in her hands hard enough to leave a light imprint of her fingers on it, causing Emerald to take a few steps back from her.
"Lionheart is sending you as Mistral's representative." - the older man responded calmly through the screen.- "I don't see the issue. I'd kill for the opportunity. In fact, if I wasn't two continents away, I would have tried to go myself. Why, the deathwatch's gunship alone must be an amazing sight, let alone spaceships meant for actual interstellar travel!"
"I saw the conversation between Ironwood and Askalon same as you, Watts. An spacehulk is basically dozens of ghost ships rolled together and chock-full of alien monsters. Besides the ridiculous danger, I see nothing to gain from me going up there."
"Oh, well actually if you stop squeezing that poor folder and try giving it a read, you'd find that both I and our newest associate are deeply interested in obtaining as many samples as possible. To this end, we require you to-"
"I do not care!" - cried the sociopath.- "Merlot and you want alien samples? Then go get them yourselves! I'm already busy with trying to ambush the Maiden." (1)
"You do realize we wouldn't be doing this without her majesty's approval, right? She's very, very happy with Merlot's work so far, and quite interested in what we could achieve with alien samples..."
"I... I see." - Cinder replied, more softly this time.
"It is good that you understand. Please read the folder back to back. Its important."
==/ /==
"These brother librarian Galileo, seconded to the Deathwatch from the Ultramarines chapter." - Gen Ironwood gestured to wards the first transhuman in the line. The supersoldier's enormous terminator armor was slightly different from his brothers in that it had a psychic hood, and his super massive black armor was different in that it has a shoulder painted blue with a white U on it, he's carrying a mag-locked power sword stuck to the left side of his hip, and his left gauntlet had an integrated flamer. Brother Galileo nods, and general Ironwood moves further down the line.
"Brother techmarine Indis, whom also happens to be the first voice from the Imperium ever head in Remnant. Seconded to the Deathwatch from the Ravenguard." - The techmarine's armor was completely sealed, or rather, it would be more fair to point out that brother librarian Galileo was the only one missing his helmet. Brother Indis' black armor has a red shoulder with a skull and a cog painted on it. Half the skull is clearly prosthetic, with a visor and iron plates represented on it. Brother Indis is carrying an enormous assault cannon in one hand, a power axe in the other, and has two extra arms reaching up from behind him, one with an extra gun and the other sporting an industrial-looking claw as well as nearly a dozen smaller, obvious precision tools.
"GLAD TO MAKE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. HOWEVER BRIEF IT'LL BE." - Boomed out of the techmarine speakers.- "Please excuse me, volume."
The librarian rolled his eyes, while tiny bits of electronic chitter could be heard coming in tiny bursts out of the other Deathwatch terminators in the line.
"Ehr, a pleasure?" - said Qrow, then followed the general to the next marine in the line as he mumbles about the lack of a Crowguard.
"Brother Viteon Kephea, seconded to the Deathwatch from the Blood Angels chapter." - the Astartes stares at them through the lenses of his armor, but says nothing. His armor has power claws stretching from the top of each wrist, and a thick metallic hose connected to what looks like a flamethrower's muzzle on the underside of each wrist.
"And finally, brother Vasos Agamenos, seconded to the Deathwatch from the Imperial Fists chapter... and if I remember correctly, your chapter recruits directly from Terra, humanity's original world, brother Vasos?"
"That is correct, general." - replies the massive Astartes, his black armor has a yellow pauldron showing a First enclosed by a ring.- "I was born on Terra, though our chapter also recruits from the worlds of Necromunda, Pharos and Inwit."
"Uh, how does the recruiting process work?" - Winter asks almost immediately.
"It varies greatly from chapter to chapter. We will have ample time to talk while en route, if you are interested on the topic of my chapter's method of recruitment, but I cannot truly speak for others."
"I would be grateful." - the specialist smiles politely, and nods.
"You will leave as soon as the Astartes gunship arrives, and spend a couple of hours in the Deathwatch fortress. There you will be equipped for the mission, and will be given any new information on what to expect from the spacehulk itself." - explains the general.- "That will be all."
==/ /==
"How the heck does this fly?" - asks Qrow as he looks at the deathwatch's gunship. He looks at the terminator by his side.- "Its a box."
"I am not a techmarine." - Brother Viteus lifts and spreads his forearms slightly, which is probably as close as a terminator can come to shrugging in full gear.- "But as long as it has a powerful-enough engine won't anything fly?"
"Its more of successfully falling upwards." - Brother Indis's voice somehow managed to sound amused despite the low growl of his helmet's vox caster.
"Trust me, I know aerodynamics, its a little more involved than that." - supplied Qrow
"You do?" - Winter looked at the eternally drunk huntsman with a clearly surprised expression.
"You'd be surprised, but let's just say I enjoy watching birds."
"An interesting hobby." - Brother Vasos contributed from his seat.- "I enjoy architecture, myself. Most people think Imperial Fists care only about defensive structures with no care for aesthetics, but our father was simply serious about his job. One day, the foes of humanity will be gone, and his children will be free to design structures that favor beauty over defensive value."
"I did not expect you to have such an interest, though I shouldn't be surprised, considering a Salamander has been cooking for the kids at Beacon." - Qrow's comment causes Cinder to look at him from across the floor.
"You've been hosting an Astartes?" - she tried not to sound worried about how it would affect her revised plans to infiltrate Beacon.
"Yeah, nice enough guy. Drank me under the table."
"He pranked you." - Techmarine Indis comments again.
"How so?"
"Astartes can't get drunk. Our bodies are too efficient. If he was ingesting alcohol, he truly was doing it for nothing but the flavour."
"Well that doesn't seem fair!"
"That is not quite correct." - Brother Librarian Galileo corrected from his seat.- "Space Wolves ferment their own Astartes brand of ale. It is potent enough to kill a mortal on the first sip, and just about powerful enough to get an Astartes drunk after a half dozen mugs."
Qrow smirked to himself, the weight of how unlikely the situation was amusing him to no end. He was riding on an agile flying brick, en route to the moon with an squad of super soldiers belonging to humanity's galactic empire while talking about hobbies and booze.
Life was good.
He wondered if his aura would let him survive a taste of that Astartes-pattern ale.
==/ /==
Author Notes:
You know, I thought about using DAKKA DAKKA! instead of ==/ /== as cut lines for this story, but wasn't sure everyone would get or appreciate the joke. I also downloaded a font type called barbarian that allows me to basically type a high quality ASCII sword, but I highly doubt FFNET would let me use it since it doesn't even lets me use some basic ASCII symbols like alt+13 musical notes.
1- I am absolutely convinced that it makes no fucking sense to write a crossover without changing the story. Of course having Remnant pop back into realspace and revealing the existence of not just aliens but a full-on galactic empire would change the actions of characters, so Amber never went for that pleasant ride. Instead, she traveled to Atlas to witness the conference with the emmissaries of the Deathwatch as they revealed themselves to Remnant.
Dramatis Personae:
Astartes
Watch Commander Ramiel Askalon - Dark Angel. Barely any chill.
Brother Indis, techmarine - Ravenguard with a sense of humor. Enjoys DIY shows.
Vasos Agamenos - Imperial Fists Devastator
Neresh Ul'sho - Salamander Assault Marine (Respected Flamewalker of the Besieged Cohort). Likes to try the local food of the worlds he's in, enjoys meeting new people.
Brother Viteon Kephea - Blood Angels Assault Marine
Sak Esehr - Salamander Chaplain (Reverent Pacifier of the Protean Cult). Likes visiting other planets volcanoes and mountains. Really wants to find a way to preserve a Grimm's mask and see if he can make it into a pauldron, perhaps.
Brother librarian Galileo - Veteran from the tyrannic wars, he takes aliens seriously enough that he's one of th7ose few that once their original time in the Deathwatch was about to expire, decided to stay permanently in order to maximize his alien-killing prowess.
Other
Dr Merlot - A disgruntled scientist o7bsessed with genetics. He originally believed Grimm to be the superior species and was obsessed with perfecting them through both genetics and cyborg implants. He was the BBEG in the video game RWBY: Grimm Eclipse, and was presumed dead at the end, but nobody found the body.