Hey guys, sorry I've been MIA lately. But life has been all over the place recently.

To put it simply, I had a testicular cancer scare. But luckily it turned out the growth I had was a benign cyst. So thank God for that.

Second, I've been trying to get my savings back together, trying to pay a little bit extra on my car loan so I could pay it off early.

Third, I've been seeing this girl lately, and honestly? Things have been going good. So I haven't had time to write.

So my lessons.

Check your balls, get your budget in order, and go outside and talk to women.

"You know, there's something I don't understand." Jem said as he looked out of the window looking down at mantle below.

He hated having to fly up here for work everyday. But he didn't really see a reason to complain. To his understanding, they had already lasted longer than they had in the show. So now he had no idea how long it would last until Salem reworked her plans so that she could cause chaos. Things had been all too easy. And he didn't like it. It was like he was constantly preparing for a catastrophic event that he knew was inevitable but he didn't know what to do to try and minimize the damage. Sure he could get the citizens as prepared as possible, but he still wasn't sure what they were going to do about the evacuation of the city if it came to that.

The relics were always an option, but he would rather not have to resort to that unless they had to.

"And what's that?" Robyn asked as Fiona was currently off getting a snack from the vending machine.

"Well, its been about a year since I got elected, and so far we haven't heard anything new. No massive Grimm insurgencies, no white fang attacks, we changed everything so much that its like we painted an entirely different canvas, one that I have no idea how we're going to finish it." Jem said as he didn't stop to consider the effects his meddling in the timeline would have.

Sure he may have avoided some of the tragedies that occurred in the original timelines, but did that mean things were going to be better or worse? After all, Watts was never caught rigging the election and they had no idea where he was.

On top of that, he avoided the plotline for most of RWBY after volume 3.

"The people are a lot more prepared for a disaster ever since you took office...even if the council thought you ordering all that emergency food for Mantle was a bit excessive." She pointed out as he shook his head.

"But, what about evacuation? We still haven't solved that transport problem. A lot of the people on the ground can't just hope on a bullhead, and the rest of the council has been fighting me on expanding the Atlas air force." Jem said as he ran a hand over his scalp.

Damn he missed being able to run his fingers through his hair.

"Well, you can't expand to just come in and make demands without showcasing a need for it."

"Being able to evacaute everyone so they don't die isn't good enough?" He asked as Fiona came back.

"With all due respect Jem, you've been dealing with these bureaucrats for a year, you should know by now that they won't risk investing their money into something that may happen." Fiona said munching on her candy bar.

"Yeah, I bet that's what the politicians in Vale thought too when the Vytal festival was attacked, you think that would have been a big enough wake up call." He said as he turned back to the window.

"Its not just aircraft you're asking for Jem, you're asking to train more personnel, that costs money, then you have to feed and clothe those personnel, that costs money and then-" Jem cut her off.

"Robyn please, I know what you're trying to say, you don't have to say it. Lord knows I've dealt with the 'lowest bidder' type of thing before." Jem could remember the first time he enlisted.

Most people didn't realize that military grade meant the lowest bidder possible. If there was one thing Atlas had in common with the US government, it was that they didn't see the need to throw more money than they needed to at a problem. (1)

"Jem, as your friend, I just need to say, you're overthinking the whole situation. Why don't you go home? You've been here for hours ever since the last meeting ended. Why don't you go home and see Winter and your daughter?" Fiona asked as Jem had a tendency to get inside his own head.

"Yeah, I should. Its just so many things have been bothering me lately, and I have no idea how I'm going to get through them." He said as he cracked his neck.

"I mean, I know the Happy Hunttresses had some civilian trained pilots, I'm sure there are some with privately owned aircraft." She said as Jem stopped.

"Wait a minute..." He said as he thought about something.

"How much does a single turbine helicopter cost versus a bullhead?" He asked as Fiona and Robyn looked at him like he was crazy.

"What are you talking about? What are we in the dark ages? You can't expect the air force to start using antiquated-" Jem cut her off.

"No, I'm not asking that, but private manufacturing is still a thing, and you said there are some civilians with privately owned aircraft. I got an idea...may not be a good one, but it might solve our little evacuation problem." He said as he took off.

Robyn and Fiona watched him go away.

"I hope he doesn't have a stupid idea." Robyn asked as Fiona scratched the back of her head.

"I mean, knowing him, it might be a stupid idea, but somehow it works."

Jem in the meantime was going to see if he still had that old manual on aircraft that his Uncle gave him from the Vietnam war.

(1) As anyone who has ever served before will confirm, 'Military Grade' means cheap as possible.