Chapter 18: Atlas
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"You're sure about this, John?" Frederic asked him forty minutes later, standing across the work-table from him while the four Spartans picked apart, cleaned, and reassembled their weapons.
"Our primary mission directive is to protect him." The Master Chief answered simply, lifting the frame of his Assault Rifle and looking down its spine, checking its alignment. Satisfied, he set it down and began reassembling the grip onto the bottom. "If he won't stand down from this fight, then we will have to protect him through it."
"Protecting him is the job, yeah." Kelly pointed out, one hand brushing her short hair out of her face while she worked, stooped over her personalized M45, Oathsworn. Giving him a quick glance she raised one thin brow, "Pretty sure getting involved in some ancient shadow war isn't exactly conducive to his general health and well-being, though."
"Wars do tend to be a little less than safe, yeah." Linda added distractedly from beside the woman, sitting on a special, reinforced stool and using her helmet to check and recheck the advanced, specialized scop system in her hand. "Hell of a pothole to step in, this kind of thing."
"The Arbiter has already stepped in it, though." Frederic grunted shortly, leaning against the wall beside the door. One hand drummed gently on the wall at his side while the other rested on his helmet, bracing it against his hip. "I wasn't talking about that, though."
"Ah." Kelly realized, "You don't like splitting the party either."
"Not really, no." Frederic shook his head, "So, are you sure, John? We just managed to get back together again."
"It's a temporary measure." John said simply, sparing the man a glance and then an armored nod, "A very temporary one, ideally. You make contact and set up a communications unit to the Black Sun. Roland and the Hunters can handle it from there, unless you think that your continued presence is necessary."
"And if it is?"
"We'll deal with that obstacle when we get further down the course." He answered simply, turning back to his work and adding quietly, "I've added compiling an information dossier for High-Com on Hunters to our list of secondary objectives. And the Faunus, too."
"That's why you want the comm set up, isn't it?" Kelly asked, giving him another of her appraising looks.
"I do." He nodded, "And I want to try and get it without risking him being detected in their systems."
"Okay, you do know I can hear everything on this ship, right?" Roland complained over the ship's intercom system, his avatar sparking to life on a pedestal in the corner by the door. Smirking thinly, he added, "These lot wouldn't stand a snowball's chance on the Sun of detecting me if I wanted to make intrusions, Master Chief. I may not be an infiltration specialist, but at their level of tech? Pah."
"It's a non-zero risk." John said simply, dismissing the AI's complaints wholly. "And unless it's absolutely necessary, it isn't a risk I am comfortable allowing."
"For now." Kelly added for him, smiling when he turned a flat, visored stare on her, "Glare all you want, John, you and I both know that eventually you'll want him to prod where he isn't welcome."
"...Probably." He finally sighed and relented, electing to ignore Kelly's barely concealed and knowing chuckle. And Linda's amused, quiet one. "For now, we play it close to the vest.
"We'll get it done, Chief." Frederic assured him, pushing off the wall, "I'll load up the communications unit and some spare parts."
"Power supplies, too." Roland added, "The unit won't be compatible with domestic power supplies. We have a few solar units in storage that should do the job, along with a solar storage unit to keep it running over-night."
"I'll deal with it, then." Frederic nodded, "Ladies, whenever you're ready, I'll be in the bay waiting on you. And Chief?"
"Hm?"
"Maybe you try to avoid the immortal witch and her literal army of nightmares?" Frederic laughed quietly, pulling his helmet on and pressing a hand to the door release. It opened with the typical, muted 'click' and he stepped through, hesitating in the threshold and shrugging one final time, "I feel like that's probably a good life choice, Chief."
"We don't exactly make many of those." John murmured with a small, hidden smile before he nodded, "I'll avoid here, with a little luck."
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"We just got our team back together." Weiss complained to her team, standing at the foot of the waiting Pelican and rubbing her arm anxiously. Staring at the ground she frowned, "I hate that we have to split up again, so soon… It's not fair."
"I know." Ruby smiled gently, pressing her side against her partner's and wrapping an arm around her. Weiss stiffened but, after a second, Ruby felt her lean into her and smiled just a bit more warmly. Looking at the other duo standing in front of them Ruby said, "At least this time we're planning the split up."
"And gettin' back together, too." Her uncle added from behind her, leaning against the hull of their transport. "You're splittin' up, sure, but you already know that you're gonna be back together soon as can be. Focus on that bit, girls."
"Saving the world is also a pretty sweet part." Yang added stiffly, hand wrapped around the bicep of her right arm tightly, ignoring the ache there. Smirking, she gave Blake a smug little look, "Besides, the kitty cat wants me to meet her parents."
"Oh good Grimm, Yang…"
"Hey, not the first time I've had you swearing." Yang winked, "Guess I got a way with my mouth?"
"I will beat you with your own arm, Yang." Blake threatened, hefting the inactive, limp prosthetic warningly. Yang laughed, shaking her head, and Blake smiled, her ears flicking energetically. Playfully, she added a quiet, "That's what I thought."
"I'm glad you two are getting along." Weiss chuckled, "I suppose you'll be on the beach, sunning yourselves and enjoying local cuisine, inside a few days."
"Hopefully." Yang smiled, bobbing her head at the improvised melee weapon that was her arm, cradled in Blake's arms now she wasn't using it for a threat. "My arm is water-proof, supposedly. And I love swimming."
"I'll see if my parents won't mind us visiting the Shoal." Blake offered quietly, explaining when Yang raised an eyebrow, "It's a little settlement spread out in some marshes and on a sheltered beach, a little ways off from Kuo Kuana. It's… Mostly for aquatic and amphibious Faunus, but they don't mind visitors."
"Especially not from Princess Blake, right?"
"I am not a princess, Ruby." The Faunus glowered at her, "Like, at all."
"She's right, Ruby." Weiss smiled, a hand settling on the small of her back. A little tell she and Weiss had made up, a long time ago, to warn Ruby to play along. "She's only the first and only daughter of the leader of a nation, whose title is traditionally passed down by a council electing the next Chief amongst the children of the passing Chief on his death."
"Yeah." Ruby smiled, "That doesn't sound like a princess at all."
"Oh my god, Blake, are you actually a princess?" Yang blinked, turning to the Faunus who stared at the ceiling as if searching for divine help. When Blake didn't say anything Yang blinked again, "Oh my god, you are!"
"I hate literally all of you." Blake finally sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose and waving a hand at the three of them, "All of my hate. Every. Single. Ounce."
"I mean…" Yang smirked, raising her eyebrows, "I did not get that impression, like, fifteen minutes ago."
"Oh my stars!" Weiss gasped, yanking away from Ruby and shaking her head, "You absolute… Ugh! You corrupt, salacious, libertine, licentious, useless homosexual, you!"
"Hey." Yang pointed a finger at her, smiling, "I'm a useless bisexual, first of all."
"Ugh!"
"And second of all," Yang smirked, "I was just joking, princess. Take a chill pill."
"Yeah." Blake smirked, "Cool off, Weiss."
"Oh, are we doing Weiss- Ice- Snow-" Ruby groaned, shaking her head and smiling, "Are we doing puns now?"
"No!" Weiss immediately shouted, throwing her hands up in faux exasperation. She grinned, though, and flushed a bit, "We are certainly not punishing anyone right now!"
"...Oh my god I think Weiss just made a pun." Yang blinked slowly, eyes wide as saucers as she turned to Blake, "I mean, it wasn't a good one, but…"
"Not really, no." Blake smiled, shaking her head, "But I say she gets an A for effort, even if she gets, like, a C for the joke."
"Oh, bite me, both of you." Yang turned to the Schnee, lips quirked in a smirk, but Weiss cut her off. " Do not even, you… Absolute pervert."
"Can I odd, then?"
"All of my hate!" Weiss shrieked, smiling playfully, "Every ounce of it! You just passed my father for top of the hit list, Xiao Long."
"Xiao Long is that list?"
Weiss' response was cut off by the sound of heavy, armored feet approaching them. Ruby turned and blinked as the three Spartans strode by them silently, up the ramp and into the Pelican. Quickly, they stowed their weapons before the two women wordlessly slipped by the crates at the front of the transport and into the cockpit. After a moment, the engines flared to life, rumbling quietly and the large, heavily armored man nodded understandingly.
"Are we ready?" Frederic asked quietly as he turned to them, standing on the top of the ramp. "Launch time is now, so if we aren't, I need to know. Fuel is limited, and we can't waste it idling."
"We're ready." Ruby answered him, spreading her arms out to her team and smiling, "Quick team hug before you fly off to meet Blake's parents, Yang?"
"I despise you…"
In spite of her words, Blake was the first to step into Ruby's arms, followed swiftly by Yang and Weiss. Ruby peeked over the shorter girl's head at her uncle, who waved her off. She raised her eyebrows challengingly, though, and he sighed quietly, shaking his head. Then she pouted and the man finally caved, pushing off the Pelican to wrap his arms around the little group of Huntresses.
It only lasted for a second but as far as Ruby was concerned, it was the best second of the day.
Okay, well, the second best, but only because it was really hard to beat looking at Remnant from space!
"As soon as we're done in Menagerie, we'll meet you in Atlas." Blake said as they parted, smiling widely as she looked between Weiss and Ruby and even Qrow, standing awkwardly behind them. "Atlas will suck for me, but…"
"We'll be together again soon enough." Weiss nodded understandably, nodding towards the waiting Spartan. "Go. Meet the parents, save the world. The usual team RWBY brand of nonsense."
The three boarded the craft and Weiss and Ruby were forced to give it space as the Pelican hovered up, into the air and then turned. Slowly at first, it meandered forward, towards a nearly translucent blue field at the end of the hangar. Then it shot forward, engines flaring to life as it rocketed out, spun, and then dipped down towards Remnant below them. In its wake, the hangar began to close, its heavy, armored door sealing the gap that had been protected by the odd shields.
It was amazing.
"You know, when I decided to become a Huntress, I knew I'd be helping people." Weiss sighed, arms crossed beside Ruby, watching the hangar seal itself. "I did not think I would get involved in this kind of insanity, though. Or have so many people needing my help…"
"Neither did I." Ruby nodded, smiling sadly, "Does that… Make you regret your decision?"
"Of course not, don't be an idiot." Weiss waved her off, smiling warmly. "I wouldn't have gotten to meet any of you if I hadn't made that decision. And, apocalyptic secret war and world shattering alien discoveries included, I… I wouldn't trade knowing any of you for anything else."
"Yeah." Ruby nodded, "Things are different from what I imagined, but… I promise, I'll stay here until the end."
"Whatever it might be." Weiss nodded, holding up a pinky and smiling, "Pinky swear."
"Pinky swear." Ruby nodded, smiling and wrapping Weiss' own, fragile pinky in her own. Bobbing it slightly she smiled and turned, "We should robably go find the others. Blake and Yang have their own job, and we have ours."
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"I still think this is a terrible idea." Jaune argued quietly for not the first time, leaning against the armored bulkhead beside the door with his team to either side of him. His arms were crossed and one leg bounced agitatedly, the blonde knight glaring at the metal floor. "You can't just show up over Atlas."
"It will terrify people." Nora added, "And that'll bring the Grimm running."
"Right as Atlas turns to face us, and not them…"
"We can't spare the fuel to descend earlier, and lower, to approach from further away." Roland explained quietly, his hologram glowing faintly from his pedestal. Not turning to look at them and instead staring at the Spartan standing in front of him, watching the nav-console that showed their approach, he explained again, "The most efficient way is for us to descend from straight above, so that Miss Schnee can contact her sister and preempt an escalation."
"Assuming she answers with an alert on…"
"If we waste fuel and can't break orbit, we can't get back to Sanghelios." Thel murmured in quiet distaste, "If we can not return to Sanghelios, my people cannot aid yours. And I cannot aid them."
"That doesn't mean that she'll answer her Scroll." Weiss argued quietly, sitting in the unused captain's chair with one leg folded primly over the other and her hands in her lap, holding the powerless device tightly. "Assuming we get low enough to connect, don't get shot down while my Scroll starts up and I make the call, don't have Grimm swarming the city… What happens if she just doesn't answer my call?"
"Like Weiss said, there will be an alert on, so she'll be busy with that." Ruby added, sitting on the arm of Weiss' appropriated chair and running an old looking brush through her long ponytail gently and slowly. Weiss didn't seem to mind, which amused Thel to no end, and Ruby went on, "So, what do we do if she doesn't answer?"
"We angle the nose of the ship down, towards the city itself." The Spartan explained quietly without looking away from the screen. To Ruby and Weiss he said, "Then I make the jump down, to make contact physically."
"I'm sorry, you make the what?" Jaune asked loudly, eyebrows shooting up as he pushed off the wall, surprised.
"That's… Hundreds of feet up, easily!" Ruby argued, eyeing the Spartan like he was mad. Which honestly, Thel could understand, given what the man was suggesting. She turned to him, then, and asked, "He's not serious, right? This is super army man lingo, or whatever the frick, for something else, right?"
"It is, in fact, not." Thel answered simply, "When he and I first joined arms, to face the Covenant, I found him in a crater. He had jumped from low orbit, and been rendered unconscious upon slamming into the ground."
"...Well, at least I'm used to the crazy by now." Weiss sighed, waving the matter off and shaking her head, "It's hardly any crazier than anything else we've had to deal with thus far, in any event. So if you say it will be fine, I suppose I won't argue."
"So you guys can fall from space?" Nora asked quietly, the Spartan turning to consider her for a moment before nodding simply. Nora blinked, then, and suddenly rounded on Ren, "Hey, Renny, can I-"
"No, Nora, you can't jump out of the space ship." Ren interrupted with a sigh, ignoring her pout until she blinked and grinned, opening her mouth to say something. "You also can't become a Spartan so that you can jump out of the space ship, Nora."
"You're no fun…"
"The Pelican is well away and I'm ready to descend on your order, Chief." Rolan said finally, smiling warmly at the young woman's very typically exuberant display. "I, uh, also took the liberty of prepping interception missiles and other defensive systems. You know, just in case they do try and shoot at us."
"Prudent." Thel complimented the AI, turning a look on his old friend, "Shall we, then, Demon?"
The Spartan nodded simply, fingers curling and uncurling in the closest show of anxiety the warrior was capable of, to the Arbiter's mind. To Roland he said, simply, "Descend."
"I recommend everyone brace slightly." The AI murmured warningly as the navigation console lit up in a stark, yellow warning that read 'Re-Entry Engaged'. "The Black Sun's balancing systems should compensate for anything dangerous, but you'll still get moderate tremors."
Ruby slid off the chair and knelt beside her partner, the Schnee gripping her shoulder with one hand and flicking the Scroll open with the other. Across the command room, Nora slid between Jaune and Ren, wrapping each in her arms and pressing her back against the wall securely, squatting slightly for purchase. Such extreme measures were unwarranted, of course, as the tremors wouldn't even be enough to shake them off their feet if they were remotely steady on them.
But then, this was their first re-entry, so some nerves were to be expected, he supposed.
"Hitting atmosphere… Now." Roland warned, a split second before the ship began to tremble ever so slightly. The five Hunters stiffened, gritting teeth and staring at the floor anxiously, but otherwise didn't react. After a few seconds, the tremors worsened ever so slightly before they ceased entirely and the AI smiled, "We're in-atmosphere now, you can relax."
"That wasn't so bad…" Ruby murmured, standing sheepishly as the others relaxed and flicking an embarrassed look between the three more expert space-farers. "I, uh, suppose that was overkill?"
"A bit." The Arbiter rumbled his amusement, shaking his head wryly as he moved across the command deck to join his older comrade, looking at it idly. Watching the altimeter slowly trickle down he went on, quietly, "But any who would tell you they were not similarly afraid on their first re-entry would be a liar. I myself trembled in my boots as I ascended and descended both, the first time."
"I guess…" Ruby nodded, brightening after a moment and adding, "But hey, at least Jaune didn't throw up."
"One time! I threw up on that shuttle one time!" He sighed, pushing off the wall and throwing his hands up in the air, "One time, and you have to live with it forever."
"I have power! My Scroll is on!" Weiss suddenly said, her Scroll flickering to life, a little white sigil blooming as it ran through its boot-up sequence. Looking up, suddenly, Weiss asked Roland, "What was our altitude when my Scroll kicked on, Roland? I presume you knew."
"I was, and it was approximately three hundred and eighty kilometers above Remnant's sea-level." Roland nodded, "Why?"
"My family are the leading body in Dust usage and study." Weiss murmured as explanation, staring at the screen as it flickered to a quiet, off-silver screen and she began typing. After a moment the screen changed again and Weiss said, quietly, "I'm calling her right now."
"Good." Roland grunted, "Because Atlas has definitely noticed us."
"Video feed?" The Demon asked.
"Yes I do."
"Put it on the main screen, Roland." The Master Chief ordered crisply, "I want to see what we're working with."
The AI nodded and, after a moment, the front of the bridge crackled as a wall of terminals flared to life.
Atlas was a floating, shining metropolis in the sky, floating above what looked in comparison like a malignant scar, belching smoke and sprawling out across the white tundra. Around it were swarms of glinting little things that, after a moment, Thel could discern as the little airships Cordovin had once offered to them, to ferry them to Atlas. As they had there, here they swarmed like insects around their hive, surging up and between the Black Sun and Atlas.
Around them, dozens of warships drifted in loose formations, spinning and rising in an effort to do the same and put themselves between the ship and the Kingdom.
"I'm detecting missile systems attempting to lock on. ECMs are doing their work, but I have anti-missile systems spinning up and- Wait." Roland's avatar froze for a moment before the AI added in quiet shock, "Master Chief, we're… Being hailed on an encrypted channel with a UNSC ident code."
"A UNSC ident code?" The Spartan flinched, hands curling into tight fists at his side, the Spartan turning to the view-screen and then back to the AI. "Check the code against our system's records."
"I did, but I'm accessing ONI classified files in full right… Now..." Again, Roland's avatar seemed to freeze for a heartbeat, as if the electronic entity was too distracted to remember to move and emulate Human patterns like normal. Then he flickered and, when he stabilized, he was looking at the Demon, "Sir, it's a Spartan ident tag."
"A Spartan?" He rumbled in surprise, "How could that be?"
"But that should be impossible, right?" Jaune asked, crossing the smallish room in three long strides and to stand beside the Spartan and the AI avatar, gaze flicking between both. "How the hell could Atlas be broadcasting with a Spartan code?"
"Are there… Spartans in Atlas?"
"No, Ruby, there aren't…" Weiss shook her head, rubbing her chin in a mix of thought and surprise. After a few scant moments, she went on, "I've never seen anyone like the Spartans in Atlas. And with my father's rather extensive connections, I have seen a lot that I shouldn't have, around Schnee Manor. Nothing like them stands out, in the military or private sector."
"And aliens on Remnant wouldn't be something we'd miss." Ren added, gaze flicking to Nora. She shook her head and he added, "What's the code?"
"The code is…" Roland blinked, confused, "Chief Warrant Officer, J--S-052-N5. The hail is headed with it and broadcast on a standard UNSC grade encryption setting. I traced the source but the comm source is not UNSC. The codes are all right, but… The source is foreign."
"Jorge…" The Demon murmured, sounding… Almost pained. Shaking his head he asked, quietly, "The code's valid?"
"Yes, Sir." Roland nodded, "It's an old code, Sir, but it checks out. Source aside."
"...Accept the hail but put it on hold." The Spartan instructed, sliding to a crisp and firm at ease stance and rattling off, "Arbiter, left side. Rose, Arc, right side. Valkyrie, Lie, behind your team leader. Schnee, behind yours."
"A show of unity, for the introduction." The Arbiter rumbled, following his old companion's instructions as the others moved to do the same. Standing beside the Demon, he reached up to straighten his helmet and then check his harness, glad to have worn the former now. "Ruby, I shall follow your word in this. Spartan, I suggest you do the same. These are her people, not either of ours."
"Understood." The Spartan nodded quietly, "Roland, open the channel."
"Aye."
The view-screens in front of them flickered, for a moment, before going dark. A split second passed and they flickered once again, flaring to life to show one side of a wide office, glass windows enclosed by heavy, armored panels. The man sitting was large and imposing, in a heavy looking and clearly military white coat. He was an older gentleman, too, his black hair and beard well-trimmed and kept, but striped and speckled by silver and gray.
He eyed the young Hunters first, surprisingly enough. Up and down, his gaze flicked from one to the next, silently appraising and examining them. Whatever he was searching for in them he either found, or gave up on. Then, instead of the Spartan, his gaze moved to the Arbiter.
And then narrowed.
But there was more there than caution and curiosity, what would be expected of a military man meeting aliens for the first time. No, there was something more there. Something strangely, painfully familiar in the way his eyes narrowed and the way his hand curled unconsciously on the desk in front of him. It balled into a fist before he let out a breath and relaxed it.
"I am General James Ironwood, of Atlas." He said quietly, "And I would like to know why a United Nations Space Command warship is doing over my city. Then I want to know why you have three of my world's people aboard. And finally, why a Spartan is standing shoulder to shoulder with an Elite."
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So as usual, I'm either nowhere near as clever as I think I am, or you ladies, gents and assorted plantoids are too observant. For context, that was Hungarian at the end, and translates roughly to, 'Calm, my love. We still have work to do.'
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Firestarter :
...Adel is a name that already exists in the RWBY universe. I would sooner delete my author's page than name something after Aka that wasn't just a straight up joke.
CT7567 Rules :
Yup!
COBRS DARKNISS :
Chief reacted as he did to being touched, not to the information being revealed. What Jinn said did off-balance him, of course, but being touched is what made him flinch the way he did. It is a testament to their friendship that he didn't shoot him and that Thel instantly forgave it, imo.
Combine 117 :
No!
It doesn't!
:D
Smokey Panda :
*innocent whistling noises*
C313st2001 :
Ruby will not, in this story, become a Spartan, no.
I am not opposed to other, different stories Spartan-izing RWBY characters, but this one has a theme of 'worlds colliding' so having them melt together would run counter to the themes, imo.
Kpmh2001 :
Fake.
Sure.
:D
Razmire :
Nora would cause multiple wars over the state of the Pancake economy, imo. XD
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