Ruby and Weiss arrived in the hangar almost half an hour early, due entirely to Weiss' prompting. There were already three others there waiting when they walked up to the ship that would be carrying them down to the surface. Ciel Soleil was standing next to the boarding ramp, her scroll in one hand and a bottle of coffee in the other. The other two were soldiers, like a hundred others Ruby had seen. With their helmets on, all she could tell about them was that one was a man and the other a woman. That was about what she'd expected from the soldiers Winter selected for the mission, and she didn't think about it any further, instead going to stand near the bottom of the ramp with Weiss.

Standing still, quietly, Ruby started to get restless very quickly. She turned to Weiss. "I'm excited. How about you?"

"Don't try to chat with me in the morning, Ruby. I didn't have any coffee."

"We could have had coffee if you didn't insist we get here so early. And now look, we look like the idiots who couldn't keep track of time." Ruby pointed around at the others who were waiting. "They're here because it's their job, we're here because we didn't go get coffee first."

The woman of the two soldiers interrupted. "That's not true. I'm here because I'm an idiot too. I got in late last night and thought I overslept."

Weiss turned to Ruby, taking that information in stride. "But yes, I'm excited. I will be getting some sleep in the transport, however."

Another soldier walked into the group, holding two cups of steaming coffee. "I thought someone would have missed out on coffee this early. Here." He held out on cup towards Weiss.

"Thank you." Taking it and blowing on the hot liquid to cool it, Weiss took a short sip. "Hmm. Not quite how I would have made it, but good enough."

"Steep praise from a Schnee." He laughed and handed the other cup to the woman who had spoken up earlier.

The other man finally spoke up. "You want praise from a Schnee, consider that Winter Schnee is the one who chose us for this mission. I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, since we're shipping off into the wilderness, but if her baby sister is coming along that means she trusts our abilities."

Stopping to think about it for a second, the second man shrugged in acceptance. "That makes sense."

Weiss decided to reassure them. "Don't worry. You won't be babysitting me." She looked pointedly toward Ruby. "You know, we're probably going to be spending a lot of time with Ironwood, since Jinn will be with him for sure. You probably shouldn't bother him too much. You do know how to stay quiet, right?"

"General Ironwood is coming?"

Weiss heard the soldiers talking amongst themselves. It sounded like Winter had been sparing with the details. She didn't address it, however, instead pinching Ruby to get a concrete answer out of her. The other girl finally responded in an affirmative. Content with that, Weiss went back to her coffee. As she nursed it slowly, the area began to populate over the next ten minutes. The number of soldiers had tripled before even Winter showed up, at which point the soldiers all snapped to attention and stood stock still. It was nice to see discipline at work from time to time, as it was a sight Weiss got very little exposure to with her teammates.

Winter walked along the line of soldiers, inspecting them. She started a rollcall. "Stannum."

The man who had brought the coffee called out. "Here."

"Lima." And so she continued.

"Here."

"Cayenne."

"Here."

"Argent."

"Here."

"Seraph."

"Here."

"Holm."

"Here."

"Ovid."

"Here."

"Dusker."

"Here."

"Rhodes."

"Here."

"Hayden."

"Here."

Winter stopped there. She knew the others hadn't arrived yet. She was a big girl, after all, and knew how to count, as well as read nametags. "So we're waiting on McCree, Haricot, Ytterby, Gardet, and Lawrence." She turned to Ciel. "Have there been any complications with their transfers?"

"No ma'am." Ciel answered even as she checked. "Gardet and McCree are on their way, and the others are still gearing up. They shouldn't be long."

"Good, so long as they're all here before General Ironwood arrives." Winter turned her back to the soldiers and went to Weiss. "I trust you slept well, sister?"

Weiss looked up from nuzzling her coffee. "About as well as could be expected. Thank you for asking."

"I slept well too." Ruby interjected.

"I didn't ask." Winter snapped, shutting Ruby up. She looked back to Weiss. "I want you to remember that if anything happens and you need to retreat, do so immediately. Myself and my men will make sure you get to safety."

"I don't think that will be necessary." Weiss finished off her coffee, then added, "But I'll keep that in mind."

Ruby jumped in again. "We'll be with General Ironwood. How much safer could we be?"

"That's a pretty safe place to be." It was at this point that the Ace Ops arrived, Harriet making her way over to stand next to Ruby. "You'd be pretty hard pressed to find any two people who could beat him in a fight."

"You've never seen Nora in line for pancakes." Weiss sniped. She let the conversation veer off from there, not really paying attention to what anyone was really talking about. The last few soldiers filed in before General Ironwood ever showed up. She noticed that one of them, a somewhat older man, seemed to have taken more of Winter's attention. At first, Weiss thought maybe he was the commanding officer of the soldiers, but then what was Winter's role? Maybe he was her second in command, but then what was Ciel? Deciding that she could just ask Ciel, she stepped over to her fellow newly graduated Huntress. "So, what are you in this relationship?"

"Reading." Sure enough, Ciel's eyes remained fixed on her scroll. "Do you maybe want to reword that, Miss Schnee? For clarity's sake?"

"Um... yes. Could you maybe clarify for me the chain of command on this mission?" That would get her the answers she wanted, indirectly but more discreetly.

Ciel paused reading and looked to Weiss. "Obviously, General Ironwood is in overall command. After that, the party is split into three branches. Clover Ebi is in command of the Ace Ops. Third is Winter Schnee, in command of the platoon. The Ace Ops each have equal authority after her, and then yourself and Ruby Rose. I believe technically, Miss Jinn and myself come next, but in practice Winter wishes the former captain to have authority as her second, leaving me with the clerical duties."

That sounded rough. "Oh. Sorry to hear that. Your first assignment as an officer, and you're bumped below a... former soldier?"

"Don't read too much into it. I enjoy the clerical work. It's better suited to me than running around barking orders. And Captain Sparky seems to have a history with your sister, so it should run smoothly. My job looks to be an easy one for now." Ciel offered a small smile, then went back to reading.

Winter suddenly called out. "General, sir!"

All of the soldiers, and the Ace Ops, adopted Winter's sudden orderly stance, saluting properly. The Ace Ops lined up next to Ruby, Weiss, and Ciel, across from the soldiers, and Winter and Clover stood out in front to greet the general. Ironwood had arrived, Jinn behind him and to his left. Weiss looked over to see Ruby waving to him, or maybe to Jinn. She quickly stomped on Ruby's foot, causing Ruby to stifle a yelp, then straighten out and stand at attention, though she continued to forget to salute.

Ironwood stepped past Winter and Clover, the two of them taking their places at his side while Jinn went to stand next to Ruby and Weiss. The general addressed everyone gathered. "This mission is of utmost importance, and could be extremely dangerous. While it is possible that we will face no active threats such as Grimm, we all know better than to rely on that. The climate will be a challenge enough, and the geography of the land where we are going is not properly mapped. Once we are on the ground, we will be traveling in four land transports to the far North. Those of you who are not yet fully on board the classified material relevant to the mission will be read in on route."

With that, he turned and walked up the ramp onto the airship. Clover led the rest of them in after the general, and Weiss found herself sitting near the front, near the general, right between Jinn and Winter. Past Winter, Ciel and the soldiers were strapping themselves into their seats, and on the other side of Jinn was Ruby, who had managed to get herself seated right next to Ironwood. Across from them, the Ace Ops were seated. The ship's pilots called back to make sure everyone was secured, and once they got the signal from Winter and Clover, the engines roared to life.

It was made clear right away that the seating arrangements for the transports were still being finalized, as Winter called across to Clover. "Do you have any preferences regarding who you're traveling with?"

Clover gave a good-natured grin. "None at all. Harriet will be with me in the second transport, Marrow, Vine, and Elm will go in the third."

"Good. I'll put some sturdy men with you." Winter turned towards Ciel and they continued to talk, supposedly on that subject, for the rest of the trip down to the ground.

Weiss looked over to Jinn. "Hey there."

Jinn forced a smile. "Hello again."

Realizing that she didn't look so good, Weiss dared to ask a question. "Are you getting airsick?"

"Oh... yeah." She shook her head. "I don't know why I didn't consider this. I guess I'm not... adjusted to Human life."

"You know, if Jaune is anything to go off of, you won't necessarily adjust to getting airsick." Weiss lowered her voice. "But you don't want Jaune to beat you, now do you?"

"It's not that, it's just... this has highlighted to me an oversight that I really should have thought about." She quickly put her hand over her mouth like she was about to throw up. Once she was sure she would be able to hold it in, she continued. "In my excitement at the notion of being able to take a more active role in the salvation of Remnant, I overlooked a necessary part in the creation of a Human body. I think my immune system is compromised."

Ironwood, close enough to overhear the conversation, leaned forward. "How compromised?"

Jinn looked at the floor rather pointedly, avoiding eye contact. "That may have been an understatement. I... don't have an immune system."

The general sat up again, his face adopting a hard expression. "This is a problem." He did not look happy with this information, but it didn't look like he was willing to let it change the plan. After a moment, he looked back to Ruby and Weiss. "Nothing has changed. You will just have to factor in her health when considering her safety. Until such time as she is able to stand with the rest, you will have to act as her guards as well as someone to lean on, or carry her if needed. I am going to continue to place my trust in the two of you to keep an eye on Jinn at all times. You understand."

Ruby answered quickly, surprising Weiss. "It's like you said, General. Nothing's changed. We won't let you down."

"Good." He closed his eyes for a moment, then reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We have the medical technology to artificially give you an immune system that should be sufficient, but either that will have to wait or the mission will."

Jinn nodded in understanding. "Yes sir. The mission comes first."

In spite of himself, he showed a brief sign of uncertainty, before hiding it away again. "Very well, but you will be spending a lot of time with our best doctors before you do anything else. And from here on, make sure to tell me these kinds of things before we potentially put you in a lot of danger. I don't want you to keep things from me when they're this important."

"Yes sir."

"I mean it. No more secrets."

"Yes sir." Jinn groaned in her misery, which was becoming increasingly visible. She frowned, sitting back and closing her eyes. "How much longer?"

"You hold in there, Jinn." Ruby reassured her. "We'll be down in no time, and then you can quickly throw up and we'll be on our way."

"Fantastic."

Weiss kept close track of the time, and it was only just over half a minute more before the ship landed. With the speed and efficiency that rivaled the soldiers, Weiss unstrapped herself and stood up, standing over Jinn. She made sure not to block the path of General Ironwood or the Ace Ops, but Jinn would not be going anywhere before Weiss, or after Ruby. They were on the ground now, just inside the wall of Mantle, and that meant it was time to start taking their job seriously. She waited for Ruby and Jinn to get out of their seats, and action that took about the same length of time. Weiss planted her face in the palm of her hand at the realization that, despite one of the two being an ancient being of pure knowledge, they were both inept in certain areas. It looked like she was going to have to be the adult.

Stepping down the ramp ahead of the other two, Weiss set her feet on the ground. She looked around to see where the others had gone. Spotting Winter, who was directing her soldiers into the various transports, she finally got a good look at the vehicles that would be carrying them for the rest of the mission. They were big metal boxes on tracks, with only two flat front windows and two small side windows right behind the front. The only doors were on the very back, and the whole thing was elevated a meter and a half off the ground by the large flat rubber tracks running along the sides, with only two small steps allowing for ease of access to the doors. Each of the three smaller vehicles was painted bright orange for visibility, and was easily more than twenty feet long. They were dwarfed, however, by the large transport, which Weiss knew her sister would be in. While the others were large enough to each be a building that could house six people in an emergency, the last one was big enough to carry two of the smaller transports if it came down to it. For now, however, she saw that it was loaded up with all the materials and equipment they would need to build an outpost, or a small base that could contain barracks for everyone on the mission, as well as a garage for the smaller transports, a laboratory for dealing with the Relic, and several smaller units for taking care of the daily needs of anyone living at the base. The monstrous vehicle was also unlike the others as it had six enormous inflated rubber tires rather than tracks.

Turning back to Ruby and Jinn, Weiss waved at them to follow her. "Come on. We can't keep them waiting." She promptly walked over to Winter, who was just finishing up directing the soldiers around, and stopped next to her, waiting for her to be done.

"Lima and McCree, you're with the general. Over there." Winter pointed to one of the smaller transports. The soldiers jogged off in that direction.

Sure that Winter didn't have any other orders to give, Weiss caught her attention. "We'll be in the general's transport as well, right?"

Winter quickly nodded. "Yes. Take care, Weiss."

"You too, Winter." Weiss felt that this would be a good time, normally, to give her sister a hug, but the silver eyes burning a hole in her back told her she would be teased for it. "Okay." She waved to Ruby and Jinn again. "This way!" Breaking into a slow jog, she made her way over to the lead transport and stopped just before reaching the back steps.

The doors were wide open, and she could see that there was a second set of doors less than five feet in. The small space in the back of the transport made for an effective locker room, preventing the people inside from having to deal with the freezing temperatures outside any time someone had to go out or come in. She could see several sets of gear specialized for climate and terrain stocked inside, including thick fur-lined coats, pants, and boots. One of the soldiers was still in the back, Weiss could see by his name plate that it was Lima, and was reaching out his hand in an effort to be helpful and assist Weiss into the vehicle. She simple gestured behind her towards Jinn, indicating that he would be better served helping her instead. Once Jinn and Ruby were up and inside, Lima closed the outside doors and, after a quick salute, turned to the interior doors and went further into the transport. Weiss followed him, finding the other soldier and General Ironwood already in the two front seats.

Ironwood looked back at the girls. "Get strapped in. As soon as we have word from Winter, we'll be setting out. Jinn, I want you in the seat behind me."

"Yes sir." Jinn started forward, brushing past Weiss and promptly tripping on the metal grate floor and almost landing on her face. Weiss caught her, and Jinn looked up sheepishly. "Living as a mortal sure has its little adventures, doesn't it?"

"You have no idea." Weiss snarked as she helped the woman to her seat. Sitting down next to her and buckling in, Weiss decided to make sure that Jinn understood that her caretakers had zero tolerance for any acting out. "Lets be clear about this. You do everything General Ironwood tells you to do. Other than that, Ruby and I have absolute authority over you. If we give you an order, it's for your own safety, and you obey immediately."

Now safely in her seat, Jinn had the presence of mind to smile. "Except for giving out my knowledge, I will do whatever you tell me to until we are back in Atlas."

"That's a fair amendment." Weiss conceded. "But why didn't you say that when the general told you not to keep secrets from him?"

Jinn went pale. "I did wha-"

"General, we're ready to go." Winter's voice blared across the radio, which was shortwave because long range communications wouldn't be able to operate properly up in the north. "We'll follow your lead."

"Copy that." Ironwood motioned to McCree in the driver seat. "Take us out."

"Sir." McCree nodded, and the transport lurched forward.