Five Years Later*
"Winter Schnee…how long has it been, seven years?" General James Ironwood of the Atlas Vanguard Command looks at the now grown girl sitting across him from his desk, wearing the uniform of one of Atlas' combat schools.
"Yes, sir." Winter nods, looking somewhat intimidated by the General's presence. It hasn't changed from all those years ago and she still felt like a small child in front of him, "It's been a long time, and you were still Colonel back then. Congratulations on your promotion, General."
"Thank you, Winter. But we're not here to talk about me, are we?" he asks as he raises files containing her records and applications, "We're here to talk about your application to join Atlas Academy."
"Yes sir, I'm sure you'll find my grades from Titan Combat School to be acceptable. I've graduated top of my class with the highest distinction, and I have a Grade A Rating for piloting Muscle Tracers."
"That's not something I heard being taught in Combat School," Ironwood notes,
"It isn't. I attended an MT training course on my own downtime." Winter explains.
"Initiative, not something commonly shown." Ironwood mutters as he flips through the pages, "You did a lot of research for this, Miss Schnee, so I'm sure you also realize no matter how good your grades or skills are, I am the one who decides if you become a Vanguard or not. Why should I when the Vanguard only accepts graduates that joined the Specialist Operations branch, and you are only a freshly graduated Combat School student?"
"...I've heard that you were lobbying for the introduction of an AC Piloting Certification Course to be taught in Atlas Academy sir." Winter says, surprising him, "I may not be the heiress to the SDC anymore but I still get news, especially from my younger sister who overheard one of my father's rants about you."
"I should be proud I managed to frustrate Jacques that much." Ironwood snarks before resuming, "And what does this have to do with this? I still haven't gotten approval yet from the Round Table Council. They're the ones that decide what gets taught inside of Atlas Academy."
"To show the validity of such a course, you need results and to get results you need students." Winter continues, "I'm sure you already have a list of students that volunteer for your experimental course, and I want to be one of them."
"Good intuition as well...You understand it's not just a matter of skill or grades, correct?" Ironwood asks, "Despite the advances in technology and aid of Aura, there's a 10% chance of suffering crippling effects from augmentation surgery required to pilot an AC at its fullest potential."
"I do, sir." Winter nods determined, "And I won't back down because I'm scared of getting hurt. Protecting the kingdom from Grimm is a dangerous job, I'll just be taking the risk earlier than usual."
"...You are fortunate I have one slot left after one candidate dropped out of Atlas Academy a while back. I'll normally need signatures from your legal guardians to proceed with the surgery, but that is negated by your emancipation." Ironwood sighs as he stamps her application form with a bright green 'APPROVED' stamp, "Welcome to the AC Piloting Certification Course. Pack your bags."
"Sir?" Winter asks elated at her approval but confused at his request,
"Atlas Academy lacks the resources to train AC pilots, we'll need the funding from the Round Table Council but we can't do that without results." Ironwood explains frustratedly, "So we'll need to head to the only place on Remnant that can provide us with said resources.… NEST Inc."
"Brothers, would you look at that…" one of the Atlas students mutters in awe as they look out the Manta's windows, followed by many other students including herself.
Below them was an enormous airfield covering a vast expanse of land, providing ample space for landing strips, hangars and facilities with several shuttles like theirs flying to and from the airfield. There were also several MTs hauling equipment like fuel canisters and providing security around the airfield, but the most eye-catching were the Armored Cores themselves.
The prized product of NEST Inc. Compared to the Sentinels they were much newer tech and in some areas less advanced such as with Hard Light Dust shielding and Dust compatibility, but they make up for this by being one of the most versatile weapons known to Remnant.
Every single piece of an AC can be customized with the variety of parts sold by NEST Inc. While some found the concept intimidating at first, many soon warmed up including the Atlas Armed Forces which elected to use them instead of Sentinels for the sheer variety they offered as well as their ruggedness and cost-effective nature compared to their bleeding edge but inflexible SDC counterparts.
They soon landed on one of the landing pads, guided by one of the ground crew waving red batons. The Manta shakes for a moment as it engages its landing gear, everyone begins unbuckling as General Ironwood stands up in front of them,
"This is our stop." Ironwood announces, "It's also where you'll be spending the next three years training to get the skills you need to become Vanguard. Make me proud. Make yourselves proud."
"Yes, sir!" they all stood up and saluted as the back of the Manta opened up and lowered a ramp where General Ironwood exits, followed by his students whereupon they were greeted by a woman in a white business suit with white hair and red highlights, followed by a young bull Faunus with red hair that was roughly their age dressed in a black trenchcoat bearing a white NEST Inc logo over his heart with a bandana over his eyes and a katana in a metallic sheath strapped to his waist.
"Welcome, students of Atlas Academy." she greets in a soft, familiar and melodic voice, "I am Ayre, CEO of NEST Inc. Welcome to the Steel Wing Airfield, the main airfield operated solely by NEST Inc. It is a pleasure to see you again, General Ironwood."
Ironwood chuckles as they shake hands, greeting each other like old friends, "Ayre, please, we've been at this before. Call me James. Where's that scavenger bird of yours?"
"At sorties like always." Ayre sighs with a smile, "You know how he is."
"Of course, working like a hound." James shakes his head fondly, "And here I was hoping for a rematch in that Arena of yours. Let me introduce the students that'll be in our care, first, we have Tortuga…"
General Ironwood begins naming each of his students as Winter stares at Ayre. She was still surprised at how she looked all this time, remembering her disembodied voice from all those years ago. Still, she wondered how it was possible, given she only saw one body in that AC. Questions for later she supposed.
"...lastly there were a few last-minute changes on the list. Unfortunately, Robyn Hill decided Atlas Academy was not for her, so she left. But in her place, we have Winter Schnee. She's the newest student at Atlas Academy, just joined yesterday actually." Ironwood says, "I'm sure you remember her."
"I do." Ayre approaches, smiling at her warmly, "You've grown into a fine woman, Winter Schnee. Seven years have changed you."
"Thank you, ma'am." Winter smiles proudly, "It's good to see you again as well."
Ayre nods before gesturing to the boy standing behind her, "Students of Atlas, allow me to introduce Adam Taurus. He will be joining you all in your lessons as you train to become pilots."
"More like they'll be watching from the ride home as I get my license handed to me," he mutters under his breath with a confident smirk.
"Adam…" Ayre says warningly and he shrugs,
"Apologies, boss. Just excited to finally get my chance." he says before approaching the line of students one by one to shake their hands, "Nice to meet you, hope we can get along well."
But when it came to Winter's turn, she felt a slight amount of Aura pour into his grip, reacting in time with her own Aura to strengthen her hand. He squeezes it tightly and watches for a reaction, lightly scoffing when Winter gives him none.
She watched as he stood in line next to her and wondered what that was about. She wasn't unfamiliar with hazing rituals, even Titan Combat School had its own but she was singled out this time it appears. What was his deal?
"Now that you're all introduced, allow me to explain what is going to happen for the rest of your stay." Ayre begins as she whips out a Scroll datapad, "First will be a briefing where we will explain to you what is to be expected and what you should expect, mostly concerning the augmentations you are about to receive."
One of the students raises their hands and Ayre gestures at them to continue, "Ma'am, why exactly do we need augmentations? Isn't our Aura enough?"
"For withstanding the G-force being in an AC will force you to experience? Absolutely." she nods, "But it is so your body can link with the AC and pilot it to its full potential. Without it, you will always be slower. You might react to a quick-moving opponent, but by the time it takes for you to input the commands it will be too late. Your augmentations will circumvent that. Rest assured we have done everything possible to reduce the risk factor of rejecting augmentations, and there has never been a single death. The worst case was when one of our test pilots became a paraplegic due to his body rejecting augmentations."
Ayre says looking downcast as some of the students cringe except for Winter and Adam.
"Let it be known that you can walk out now with no shame." Ironwood steps in, "You can all go back to Atlas by the end of the day and resume classes you previously had."
Not one of them moved despite their fears, and Ayre nodded.
"You will be asked that again after the briefing. If you would all follow me?" Ayre gestures and the students file in to follow her except for Adam who begins walking away, "Adam Taurus, where exactly are you going?"
"Huh?" the boy actually looks at her confused, "But I already got my augmentations, why the heck do I have to sit through the same boring and disgusting briefing?"
Ayre rests her hands on her hips as she glares at Adam, "Because the rest of your classmates will be doing so. It's a good time to start getting to know them, perhaps make friends instead of aggravating them, don't you think?"
She says this as she shares a glance with Winter, apparently having caught on to what Adam did. Winter barely restrains a smirk as Adam looks annoyed, shoving his hands into his coat's pockets,
"Fine, you're the boss," Adam mutters glumly as he follows Winter,
"Good." Ayre nods, "Now, if you would all follow me. We have a long day ahead of us."
Winter groans as she nurses the back of her neck as the painkillers start wearing off. She knew how painful it was gonna be from that horridly detailed video Ayre had shown them, but by the Brothers, it perhaps undersold how painful it felt.
"I don't think I can feel my legs…" one of the students groaned before something kicked him in the leg causing him to flinch, "Ow!"
"See? You'll be fine you big baby, walk it off." Adam says as he looks over the Atlas students lying in their hospital beds or sitting up, "You're all a sorry lot, aren't you? Whining from a bit of surgery. I thought Atlas students were made of sterner stuff?"
"Shut up, man." another student grumbles as they rub their head, "How come you're not lying on a bed like us?"
"Simple, I had mine done a while back." Adam explains as he pulls down the collar of his coat and reveals the surgical incision scar on the back of his neck, "And wow, I did not remember moaning like all of you are right now."
Winter growls at him for making light of their pain when Ayre steps into the room followed closely by Ironwood and Adam's attitude changes to standing respectfully,
"Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good rest after your operation." Ayre greets them.
"Ma'am. Sir." Winter groans as she and the other students are about to stand to attention when Ironwood stops them,
"At ease, all of you." he says looking at them neutrally but with happiness behind his eyes, "I'm glad you are all recovering from your augments. The new gens heal fast, I remember back when I had mine I was out cold for a week, and had to stay in bed for another."
"Technology has improved vastly since then." Ayre agreed, "However we still recommend they remain in bed for the rest of the week in case of any unforeseen incidents."
"This does not mean you will all remain idle." Ironwood says, "You will be attending classes according to the schedule sent to you on your Scrolls to familiarize yourself with ACs. And once you recover I will be personally making sure none of your physical combat training falls behind as well."
"Except me, right?" Adam pipes in as he turns to Ayre, "Come on, ma'am. I know the song and dance by heart already. What's there left to teach me?"
"With your attitude? Plenty more." Ayre says rolling her eyes at his confidence, "Your first classes will begin tomorrow, where you'll be learning AC Basic Construction. And yes Adam, you'll have to attend too."
"Seriously?!" Adam asks, looking outraged, "Come on! You want me to be in the same classroom with people who don't even know the first thing about AC construction?"
"The first thing to know about AC construction are the four types of leg units which lay the groundwork for what type of AC you are building along with what tactics are used." Winter chimes in, getting the attention of everyone, "T.T.R.B. Tanks, Tetrapods, Reverse-Jointed and Bipedal. A tank unit will allow your AC to equip the heaviest weaponry available without being hindered and wield larger generators to power them, while also allowing you to equip heavier armor in exchange for low speeds and mobility. A tetrapod unit allows the same but with a lower weight capacity in exchange for the ability to remain hovering midair for long periods, allowing high ground advantage. Reverse-joints have the lowest weight capacity but in return they allow an AC to launch itself across long distances with minimum aid of thrusters, allowing them to remain highly mobile on the ground. Lastly, there is the Bipedal unit, the most basic leg unit that while possessing no true advantage over the rest, have little weakness to exploit making them well suited for balanced builds."
She smiles victoriously as Adam clicks his tongue and Ayre nods in approval,
"Tsk…Lucky guess." Adam mutters,
"Don't worry, Adam. I'll make sure everyone is equally challenged in my classes." Ayre pats him on the shoulder reassuringly as he looks at her with surprise that was shared by the rest of the students,
"You're gonna be teaching us?" Winter asks, "But you're the CEO, aren't you busy with business?"
Ayre chuckles, "No, NEST Inc. is capable of running itself without me. If it does require my interference it's something I can quickly resolve without affecting the class. Besides, I'd like to try my hand in the education department. Imparting knowledge will be an equally new learning experience to me, as ACs are to most of you."
"...Well if you're teaching then at least I'll be learning something," Adam says reluctantly, crossing his arms almost pouting.
"Ma'am?" a student raises his hand looking excited, "When will we be getting our ACs? And will you be teaching us, General Ironwood?"
However, General Ironwood gives them an almost mischievous smirk,
"You'll be getting Training ACs in the next week once we're sure you recovered." Ironwood assures, "As for who's training you…?"
They hear the tap of a cane coming from out of the room as Ironwood stood aside to allow the person to enter, eyes widening as they saw a man wrapped entirely in bandages save for his left eye with a gray iris, wearing a black jacket zipped up and cargo pants with a square cap on his head. Sewn onto his jacket's shoulder was an emblem anyone with even the barest knowledge of ACs would know of. The symbol of a raven in flight.
All the students suddenly sat up straighter, and even Adam stood to attention at his presence as the man stopped in front of them, giving each of them one long analyzing look before speaking raspily like he was out of breath,
"Atlas students…" he greets, "Callsign; Raven…AC combat instructor…Let's get to work."
"LOADER model. First Generation of General Purpose ACs…sturdy…reliable…not the best for combat, but not the worst…Good for training first timers…" Raven says as he watches the ground crew plug in the Atlas students to their ACs, making last-minute double-checks before they engage standard mode, "You're all in Standard Mode so you don't burst your augments on your first time…Most controls are manual at this stage except for basic movement…Don't rush things…move slowly…"
The Atlas students piloting their dull gray ACs began stepping out of their docking bays carefully with mixed results. Some tripped over on their first step and landed facefirst, some barely managed to stop themselves with their arms, some stumbled and only two managed to do so with little difficulty.
"Schnee…you got experience?" Raven asks as he notices Winter's AC is taking slow and careful steps forward, stretching her arms to try to provide a counterbalance.
"No, sir." Winter says, sounding strained through her AC's intercom, "But I have piloted MTs before. It feels like changing from a bicycle to a motorcycle honestly…if the motorcycle is controlled via nerves."
Adam scoffs as he steps out of his docking bay with similar ease, trying to hide how he was also straining, "Piloting an AC's nothing like an MT, Schnee."
"Quiet…both of you." Raven orders before looking at the rest of his class, "Give your comrades time…adjust to changes…Let us know if anything's wrong…"
"Feels like my limbs suddenly weigh a hundred tonnes, sir." Tortuga, one of the Atlas students, says as his AC pushes itself off the ground with significant effort. About ten minutes later, everyone had finally taken their first steps in ACs and some were whooping and cheering celebratorily.
"Don't celebrate yet…" Raven says sternly and silences them, gesturing to the open doors of the hangar they were in, "You proved you could walk…but can you run…?"
They slowly exited the hangar to arrive at a landing strip that was to be used for today's lesson.
"Lesson today…basic maneuvers…Run back and forth until I tell you to stop…Get used to moving with your ACs…practice using boosters as well… but no Assault Boost. Understood?"
They all affirmed their understanding as they got into position, standing ten meters away from each other for safety. Winter easily locates the switches for boosts and flicks them on, her AC's thrusters roaring with orange flames as it propels her forward at cruising speeds.
Adam was the first to do so, however, and thus the one at the lead, followed closely by Winter and then the rest of the students.
"Not bad, Schnee." Adam remarks after a few laps with the two of them neck to neck, "Not bad at all. But I'm better."
Without warning his AC's thrusters get a boost in power as he launches forward in a small leap putting him dozens of meters ahead of Winter,
"What the-?! You can't do that!" Winter argues.
"He doesn't say anything about Quick Boost." Adam chuckles before Winter growls and grips the manual controls, activating her own Quick Boost to put herself back into a tie with Adam, feeling the sudden increase in G-forces that she pushes through with her Aura.
She doesn't stop there and leaps ahead of Adam who does the same,
"This isn't a race…" Raven reminds through their comm channel, "But if you insist on pushing yourselves…Activate obstacle course…"
"Wait, obstacle-?" Winter asks before suddenly something springs up from the tarmac, clotheslining her AC and causing the boosters to switch off from the sudden stop and fall on her back.
Adam cackles at this but as he looks back at her failure, he misses the obstacle springing up in front of him and trips over, smashing his AC face-first on the tarmac as the rest of the students behind them easily catch up by moving much slower and more carefully.
"Winter Schnee…Adam Taurus… report to engineering later…you'll be in charge of your own repairs…" Raven says, "First lesson of the day…don't run before you master walking…Next lesson…combat maneuvers."
"LOADER 5-B is down! Team B is wiped out! Our reinforcements are-AARGH!" an Atlas student cries out as a gargantuan machine codenamed the Juggernaut blasts her with one of its many cannons, stunning the AC long enough to be swarmed by an overwhelming amount of missiles.
"LOADER 5-A down! We're all that's left!" Winter curses under her breath as her LOADER AC barely dodges a swarm of missiles while firing with a heavy pistol that bounces off the front plate of the Juggernaut before clicking as both run dry, "Damn it, get its attention!"
Her AC switches to the twin pulse blades on its back, just as Loader 4-A, Adam Taurus, blasts at its exposed back with twin shotguns, forcing it to quickly swerve on its tracks with its boosters to protect itself.
With its back now turned to her, Winter roars as she charges in with twin pulse blades activated and prepared to slice apart its back, only for its boosters to suddenly come to life and reverse at maximum speed while she was charging. Unable to change direction in time, Winter can only be crushed under the tracks of the Juggernaut as it fires all its weapons at Adam who manages to dodge half of the barrage before running out of EN and opening himself to getting struck with the rest, crippling his AC as the Juggernaut runs him over.
SIMULATION ENDED=
Winter gasps as she is booted out of the simulation and pulls the cables connecting to her implants out in frustration as the simulator pod opens up, allowing her to stumble out while drenched in sweat from the exertion. While it was a simulation, it felt frighteningly realistic, and piloting an AC in it was no easier than it was in reality. Compared to Standard Mode, an AC's Combat Mode had them bear the full brunt of commanding every aspect of the AC which made it feel like running a marathon without Aura.
Their simulated mission was to assault a ginormous walled complex taken over by hostile forces armed with Military MTs and defended with rail turrets, machine guns, and a mobile artillery platform called the Juggernaut. Needless to say, it was a disaster.
They were split into two teams of five each, with Team A suffering tremendous casualties breaching the wall from the front while Team B dealt with reinforcements that would've swarmed Team A in another section of the wall, but were held up and then defeated leaving a crippled Team A to face the Juggernaut alone and get slaughtered.
A frustrated Adam steps out of his simulation pod and glares at Winter, "Get it's attention you said, look at how that turned out."
"Oh shut it, how was I supposed to know it could do that?" Winter shot back, "And if you hadn't recklessly led us in the charge, we wouldn't have suffered all those needless casualties in the first place!"
"Well if you hadn't split us up, we would've had the numbers to take on the Juggernaut!" Adam retorted as the two stormed up and glared at each other, their faces inches away with none backing down.
"We needed someone to deal with those reinforcements, that is basic tactics!" Winter jabs a finger at his chest,
"Reinforcements we wouldn't need to deal with if we took down the Juggernaut fast enough." Adam jabs back.
"You reckless brute!"
"Spoiled princess!"
"Students." Before things could escalate, they hear the familiar tapping of their instructor's cane as he steps into the simulation room, and everyone immediately stands to attention in his presence, "Performance was…terrible…Can anyone tell me what went wrong?"
"Sir, it was the terrible tactics/recklessness of-?" Both Winter and Adam speak up at the same time, cutting each other off as they glare again before Raven interrupts them,
"Enough…I expect a 20-page report on what all of you think went wrong." Raven declares to the groaning of his students, "Now for team assignments…your individual performance was recorded and you'll be partnered with a wingman for the rest of your studies…"
"A wingman, sir?" Winter asks confused as Raven explains,
"Partner…to support and fight alongside you…" he says, "There will be no teams of four like your academies…you will study with your wingman…train with your wingman…pass with your wingman…or you don't."
The last part has her tense with worry, and so does everyone else alongside her including Adam. She could only hope whoever she was working with, they'll be at the very least competent. Raven pulls out a tablet and scrolls through it while resting his arm on his cane,
"Right, step up if your name is called…Tortuga and Santiago…Leonard and Michael…Richard and Dexter…" Raven calls out the names and one by one, pairs are formed with mixed reactions. But the more that was called out, the more Winter began to worry before she realised who she was paired with.
"Lastly…Winter and Adam…" Raven finishes, "There will be no arguments…there will be no shifts unless one of you is too injured to train or dead…Don't like it? Move on…or start planning murder…If so, don't get caught…"
The pairs split up to begin chatting with one another as both Winter and Adam resumed glaring at each other,
"Planning to send some SDC assassins after me, heiress?" Adam taunts her.
"Former heiress actually." Winter corrects with a frosty glare but reluctantly holds her hand out, "But if you start dragging me down, then you won't have to worry about assassins. I'll do the job myself and I won't leave any traces."
"Took the words out of my mouth, partner. " he hisses the last word out as he accepts the hand and they shake, each of them putting bits of Aura into their grip out of spite and frustration at their situation.