Author's Note: The original (or perhaps unoriginal) characters in this story won't just be throwaways, but in no way are they meant to outshine the canon characters. They exist solely to enrich the story and hopefully add weight to the lives of people who would otherwise remain random and nameless.

"Ma'am, do you already have an idea of who you will pick."

Ciel walked alongside her superior, barely containing the smile on her face from the excitement of having just received her first assignment in her new role as Winter's adjutant. It was her job to make sure that what Winter wanted done got done, and while that duty extended to combat roles, it mostly referred to clerical work. She had yet to meet any of the people Winter worked with on a daily basis, other than the major actors like General Ironwood and Penny Polendina. While Ciel had worked with Penny as ostensibly a part of the girl's team before, after the fall of Beacon and a strenuous extension of her training, Ciel had found herself skipping a year at the academy and finding employment in her new position. Only now was she getting a better opportunity to see what Penny was actually like, but she still felt stiff around the robotic girl. As for her relationship with the general, that could be best described as hypothetical. She felt she had gotten to know Winter in the past few days better than she had ever known Penny, let alone the general.

She had of course read files on many other key characters that General Ironwood relied upon, including every member of both teams RWBY and JNPR. While being read in on Oscar Pine's significance, she was made aware of several other things that opened a whole new world to her, which she was not yet sure if she actually wanted to be a part of. She would bear it, however, and deal with this world of Relics and Maidens, Witches and Wizards, and support her superior the way her training dictated. She'd taken to some of the other files she'd read like they were cheap novels she would read in her off time, eating up the information about the ins and outs of the lives of the characters within, fully aware that she would most likely be meeting those characters in person at any moment. She'd enjoyed the questionable rise to prominence of Ruby Rose, relished the rebellious youth of Weiss Schnee, admired the fiery fortitude of Yang Xiao Long, and empathized with the political motivations of Blake Belladonna. If there was one thing she wished for in her new assignment, it was that it wasn't so unprofessional to ask Winter about her sister.

Winter, for her part, was preoccupied with her scroll, going through the myriads of soldiers that were worth considering for this mission. She idly answered Ciel's question. "They will have to have special task force experience. Either counter-terrorism, or better, search and destroy missions on large Grimm. Also wilderness proficiency, preferably utmost expertise."

That was sound logic. It was unfortunate that Ciel couldn't give any useful input, as she was not very familiar with the military personnel. She supposed that if Winter was looking for accolades and recommendations on the personnel files, it wouldn't be too hard for Ciel to do that in her stead. Maybe she could do the tenuous work for Winter. "Ma'am, if I may, what are you looking for in those files? I could create a shortlist for you."

Winter did not look up from her scroll as they walked. "No, that won't be necessary. While some of the best choices have decorations, others that are just as good or better sometimes go unnoticed due to inner bureaucracy in the organization of the military, and at the same time plenty of the more decorated soldiers are only decorated because they have family in the higher ranks."

Ciel had not been aware that such a level of nepotism existed inside the Atlesian military, but she trusted the judgment of her commanding officer. "Understood, ma'am."

With a quick tap on her scroll, Winter finalized her list. It wasn't long, but Ciel suspected that was for the better. Winter quickly sent the list to the communication center as a priority message. The response came back quickly, and Winter answered. "Can you get them assembled by early tomorrow morning?"

The operator looked alarmed, but went about finding the answer to Winter's question dutifully. "Haricot and Lima are off duty with their families, but can be recalled easily. Dusker is on maternity leave, but my information says her child was born two months ago. Most of the rest look like they're on duty here in Atlas, but Cayenne and Ovid are currently stationed near the Schnee Dust Mine."

"Then get them back here right away. All of them. That will be all."

"Ma'am, what do I tell them?"

"That we'll be going North." Winter hung up, so that the operator could begin getting those soldiers all back to Atlas before the night fell. She pocketed her scroll and turned to Ciel. "See that? Efficiency. Once there is nothing more to say, stop talking, or you're only wasting precious time."

"Yes ma'am." Ciel nodded, though Winter had already turned away and didn't see it. It occurred to Ciel that she had just been following Winter and did not know where exactly they were heading. "Ma'am, may I ask where we are going?"

"I need to call in a favor." The door in front of them opened, and Winter's personal ship lay waiting ahead of them, resting on her specially reserved landing pad. "You're welcome to join me if you wish, but we will be heading down to Mantle."

"You're going to meet the captain, aren't you?" Ciel smiled when Winter cast her an irritated glace over her shoulder. She had read about the man in passing, and had guessed at his importance to the first heir of the three Schnee children. Finding his files, she'd found that he was a man of impeccable character and capability, who had been fired from the head of the Schnee Dust Company's security force when he clashed verbally with Jacques Schnee's morally dubious business practices. The mostly Human security force had shortly all either quit or been fired, and were promptly replaced by the new robotic guards of the day, but the impression of Captain Oliver Sparky had been made on Winter Schnee, and she had left her father's company to become a soldier, emulating the better man. The way Winter looked at Ciel for guessing told her she was correct. "Yes ma'am, I would love to come along!"

At the foot of the ramp up into the ship, Winter stopped and turned around fully. "Very well, but please remember to keep your mouth shut unless I ask you a direct question. I will be asking him to join us on the mission as a courtesy, but if he turns it down I will be staying for a couple of minutes regardless, and that is none of your business."

"Understood, ma'am." She gave a quick salute, then followed Winter up the ramp and into the ship, where they sat opposite each other behind the pilot's seat.

It was a smooth and quiet ride down to Mantle, during which Ciel was left to her own devices. Since Winter had just brought up efficiency, she figured it would be prudent to continue the reading list she'd accrued recently. There was still a large list of files to read up on, and she realized upon further inspection that Winter had forwarded her list of names she had selected for the mission, which just added to Ciel's reading list. She moved them to the top of the list, however, since they had just become more relevant to her interests than individuals such as Jaune Arc. The only time Ciel saw that Winter noticed what she was doing, she spotted a tell that Winter had which belied approval. She decided to take that as a sign that she was fulfilling her duties and opened up the first file.

Tim Stannum looked to be upstanding and orderly. A handsome older man, about the same age as General Ironwood, his file spoke of a spotless record. He was someone that the younger soldiers looked up to, even after many of them surpassed him in rank. From what Ciel could tell, Winter had chosen him for his ability to coordinate the construction of fortified structures in the wastes. He had a rather low count of Grimm kills, but that looked to be the result of his support role in encounters, on multiple occasions having to work as the backup medic. That was another point of experience that could come in handy, though Ciel hoped not to test his medical abilities.

Liv Gardet utterly betrayed Ciel's impression of the name, firstly by being a man. His keen eyes and powerful body reminded her a little of Clover Ebi, but what little playfulness had been allowed the Ace Ops commander had clearly been beaten or ground out of this man. She took away from his facial expression in the personnel file that this man would be gruff, rough, and hardy. While he had spent time as a part of the personal guard to Ironwood when the general was younger, but more recently spent most of his time as a lookout on the walls of Mantle. As a marksman, he had managed a fairly high kill count, most of his kill shots taken from over five hundred meters.

Ruth Dusker, who Ciel had heard was a new mother, was only a couple years older than Winter but managed to look the younger of the two. Despite her polite calm and gentle smile in the picture in her file, she had apparently taken home a trophy for Atlas' boxing tournament when she attended military school. It was a silver trophy, but a quick search revealed that the man who won out over her had died in the fall of Beacon. In service, she was on record with only a dozen Grimm kills, but it was noted next to that number that at least three Beowolves had been killed by her bare fists. Ciel had to wonder about the wisdom of fighting a Grimm on those terms, but it had worked out so far for the woman.

Sofia Haricot was in her thirties, and a mother of three. More importantly, her service record included both time as a drill instructor and a drill instructor instructor. Offhand, Ciel worried what kind of children came out of a house with a mother whose face was dominated by a scar running from forehead to chin, but that worry was put to rest when she read that the injury had only happened in the past year. Besides the commanding personality she had over her subordinates, and the kill count that spoke of partaking in the purges of several Grimm hotspots, this woman had an unusual Semblance that protected her from the wind. Ciel could see that coming in handy in the blustery northern wastes, especially as she could reportedly expand that ability to those in close proximity.

Aware that the ship was now starting to land, Ciel started reading up on Foster Ovid. From what she gathered, he was here for his repair and construction work. While he was a capable enough fighter, Winter probably chose him because of how quickly he carried through on logistics projects, especially in the cold climate. The ship shook a bit as it landed, and Ciel stood up. She intended to keep reading in whatever land transport they would be taking, but for now she closed the scroll and put it away. Outside, she and Winter loaded into a military vehicle, just as expected, and headed off through the streets of Mantle. Ciel quickly returned to reading those files.

Whereas some people would get tired of reading another ten files all one after the other, Winter apparently tired of watching Ciel read them. She reached across and put a hand on Ciel's shoulder, breaking her away from her studies. "There is such a thing as too much work."

Taking the hint, Ciel put her scroll away after quickly saving her place for later. "Yes ma'am."

"Finish that later tonight. For now, just stay near the door and keep an eye on the time. If I'm in there for more than five minutes, let me know and we'll leave." The vehicle stopped. It couldn't have been one minute since they got in, so Ciel was surprised that they had already arrived at their destination. Winter got up and made for the door. "Don't keep us waiting."

Stepping out of the armored car that was their ride, Ciel saw the man they were here to see. Formerly Captain Oliver Sparky stood in front of his home, which looked pretty nice for Mantle. He greeted Winter more warmly than Ciel had expected, and what was more surprising was that Winter returned the warmth. Maybe it shouldn't have been so surprising, but seeing Winter act that way was unusual. Perhaps she let down her guard around her sister or brother, but Ciel had certainly never seen it herself.

They separated from a quick hug that served as the high point of their greeting, and Winter straightened up. "Captain, I know you're retired, but I would appreciate if you would consider signing on for a mission. We will be heading North first thing in the morning. It would mean a lot to me if you-"

He waved off her explanation. "Winter, please. You don't have to try and persuade me. Say the word, and I'll go."

"I-" Winter closed her mouth and took a moment to recompose herself. "Right. Thank you. That is... all I wanted to say. But I am not opposed to staying to talk for a bit longer."

"You always did like to find any excuse to chat." He smiled.

Winter went stiff, her eye twitching a little. "What? No, I- You're the one who keeps on talking, old man. I just try to accommodate you."

"Mmm, you're deflecting."

"And you're senile."

"You're the one asking for my help."

"Sh- shut up!"

Ciel watched in amazement. She was sure she had seen someone else with the Schnee name act similarly before.