Chapter Text
XxX----XxX----XxX
Official Supporters:
Obsessive Readers, Laurel
Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin
Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork, Polemoduke, Lea the Rosenwulf
If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : https://discord.gg/2UZncAm
Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i)scord(.)gg(slash)kfhkfUb
Beta(s) : Mika (OGs remember)
XxX----XxX----XxX
Requested By :
Polemoduke
XxX----XxX----XxX
“You’re sure this is a good idea…?” Jaune asked, standing on the gantry in the woods in the dull grey jumpsuit he’d been loaned, cast in the shade of the warship, Heracles, overhead.
“No.” Soleil offered curtly, her voice echoing out from an Atlesian mobile suit forty feet away. “But we would rather not risk you having some manner of episode once connected while inside our ship, for obvious reasons. Gundam are powerful, often unpredictable, war-machines.
Hers was simple, with a blue chest and white limbs and ‘SP-02’ stenciled on the shoulders and chest. Its head, unlike the Militia units, was more or less human looking - with a face-mask over where the nose and mouth would have been, and a square ‘helmet’ head. Other than that, it was the same, with the overlapping square armor-panels on the waist and the blocky armor sections enclosing its limbs. Even from here, he could see attachment points, though. Little black studs and rails, all along the shoulders and arms, where he was sure she could mount whatever she needed for her missions.
For now, all she carried was a perfectly rectangular shield - just in case his weapons went off.
“Alright…” He sighed, stepping up onto Crocea Mors’ armored chest and sighing as very unwelcome memories, and a gentle throbbing at the base of his skull he’d been assured was just in his head, hit him. Shaking both off, he stepped in and grunted, “Here goes something.”
Moments passed before, with a tingle that crawled across every inch of his body, he closed his eyes behind the helmet…
And opened them onto the quiet forest, stepping away from the gantry and raising his- No, the Gundam’s mechanical hands, curling them into fists and relaxing them. It felt strange, first off to feel anything at all, but also to be able to feel the differences. He had five digits - which meant, based on how the system worked, that the Star-Born also must have - and they were just as dexterous, but they lacked the same feeling of his own hands. And his feet lacked toes entirely, which should have left him feeling strange and off balance, but… Didn’t. Looking up, he also realised he had no way to blink, at least with the Gundam, and his vision didn’t darken when he felt himself do so in his seat, with his real body.
“Arc?” He turned and a readout spun to life in the corner of his screen, scanning the other Mobile Suit and collating information from its height and weight, to the amount of possible weapon fixtures - ninety eight, by the Stars - and its serial number. He thought the woman’s name - Ciel Soleil - and that was added to the top of the list.
“I’m…” Confused, being overwhelmed by data on his unit - and then swiftly not overwhelmed when he recognized the issue, and relevant information about his lack of weapons, energy, and thruster heat was collated into the corner - and the strange feeling of piloting the machine like this. Turning to her, he shrugged and said, “I’m fine, I think. Just… Processing.”
“Figuratively or literally?”
“Both.” He grunted, gesturing at his - the Gundam’s, rather, head. “It’s a lot.”
“I imagine it would be…” She answered, her own machine inhumanly still. Which struck him as strange, until he realised that she wasn’t connected to it in the same way.
The fact he was already internally considering how his machine moved as the normal, even though he knew, technically, how normal ones worked was not lost on him… And concerned him enough to tell her about it.
“Cognitive dissonance, of a sort, most likely. Opening comms.” Soleil answered, before a signal registered on the sensor feed coming from her machine. He reached out to accept it, but even thinking about it was enough for it to open, letting him see her face peering out of the enclosed helmet she wore. “Better?”
“I suppose…”
“Good.” She answered, “Now, we need data from the system. Can you provide it?”
“I… Think so?” He hummed, knowing what they wanted - data on how the Gundam operated - and… Reaching for it, sort of, like he was trying to remember. And it did, just like a memory, rolling out of his mouth as he recalled information he’d never known. “The Crocea Mors functions off of a machine-mind integrated proto-nervous-system, connecting the machine intelligence and database of the Gundam to the pilot and the pilot to the Gundam’s systems over-all. Forwarding data now.”
“Receiving…” The woman grunted as a small bar appeared in the middle of his screen, highlighting her in yellow and slowly filling. When it was done, she hummed and frowned, “This is… Dense.”
“Dense?”
“You just forwarded me data consisting of your machine’s entire current systemic readout, and its autonomic systems’ readouts, as well as environmental data, how it is processed…” She blinked, turning to his video feed and asking, “Arc, can you smell right now?”
He could, he realised now that she mentioned it. He could smell the forest and, when he wondered, idly, what it was he was smelling from it data began to collate - identifying scent sources, pollen make-up and more rapidly in a feed in the upper corner of his screen. Until he didn’t feel as curious and, automatically, the feed winked out.
“Weird…”
“It’s likely to help the Human mind mesh with the machine.” Soleil murmured, “We already hypothesised that the more than necessary levels of refinement on the motor systems, as well as your ability to feel at all, was to better allow your direct control. You mentioned a machine-mind?”
“Yes.” He nodded, “It’s not in control, but…”
“But?”
“But it feels like it’s helping.” He hummed, trying to find the right words. Finally, he went on, “Like… Like how I don’t think about balancing, or breathing, or blinking. It’s all different motions for the machine, of course, but it does the same things. It reaches out and manages things for me as I need, things I can’t do- It answered your hail signal, and brought up the data you wanted. I didn’t do that.”
“Understood.” She hummed, a wall of text reflected off her visor that she was far more focused on. Quietly, she said, “I will… Need time with this. Return your machine to the gantry and disembark. You have a meeting with General Ironwood.”
“About…?”
“Gundam are the best source of new data, information and combat potential in facing the Grimm.” She answered distractedly, “We have one, but only you can pilot it for as yet undetermined reasons.”
“Meaning…?” She gave him a deadpan look and he paled a bit, “Ah.”
Meaning he would need to be the one using it to fight…
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, after the last time.
XxX----XxX----XxX
She watched the forest below the ledge she was hidden on, her knees resting on a thin beige towel and shoulders itching where the shrubs covering the concealed cave entrance tickled her skin. She could hear the echoes of work below and behind her, echoing up through tunnels that were half-natural and half carved out by her brothers and sisters, like a dozen more scattered along the mountainside. But, beyond that, the world was quiet, with empty forest stretching out as far as she could see, before another distant mountain range rose up maybe a hundred miles out and blocked her sight.
Not that she’d have been able to see much at that range even with the macroscope on her rifle… Even something like a Mobile Suit would have been a little blurry dot at such ranges.
Quiet grunts and boots scraping on rock tugged her attention away from the view and she cocked her head, waiting until her guest got to her and grunted, “Hey, Blake.”
“Ilia.” Blake smiled, scooting over and ignoring how the pointed brambles scratched at her even more. She joined her, offering a lidded bowl of stew, and Blake asked, “How are things?”
“We’re down to five MS units and fifteen MUs.” Ilia answered quietly, “Plus Adam’s personal unit. But…”
“But he’s angry…” The ‘with me’ went unsaid, and Ilia nodded sheepishly. Blake couldn’t find it in her heart to even argue against it, though. Her status aside, she’d cost them a Mobile Suit and one of their better fighters. Sighing, Blake scanned the forest and opened the food Ilia had brought her, filling the confines of the shrub with the smell of peppers and rice. “I couldn’t do anything…”
“Who could?” Ilia laughed hoarsely, “Against a Gundam? Come on…”
“That’s confirmed, then?”
“Our contacts have passed along as much.” Ilia nodded, “Or, well… They confirmed the Heracles took the MS on, and that something top secret is in one of their maintenance bays.”
And what on Remnant could possibly be top secret and fit in a Mobile Suit maintenance bay but a Gundam?
“Just our luck…” She sighed, “Sometimes, it feels like the gods want us to fail.”
“Don’t say that…” Ilia laid a hand on her forearm, turning to give her a smile, “We can do this. The Faunus have won wars before, haven’t we? Why should this one be any different?”
Because Atlas had spent the better part of thirty years advancing, formalising, and revolutionising not just Mobile Suit technology, but everything around it, too. Airships, artillery, infantry rifles - even Mobile Units had been designed by them as an intermediary between the Mobile Suits and the infantry and their armored support. The Faunus of old had fought mostly as guerillas and infantry, supporting Mobile Suits that had, at the time, been nearly one-of-a-kind, unique weapons capable of massive damage. Now, though…
Their old tactics would be countered by a squad of enemy MS units, infantry supported by armor, and likely an airship or two.
But she didn’t say any of that and drag up old arguments. Instead, she just asked, “When do you leave?”
“In the morning.” She sighed, “I’m one of only a handful that can infiltrate even Atlas…”
“It’s dangerous.” Blake warned. Grieved, more like.
“As dangerous as getting into your MS and fighting a Gundam will be?”
“More…” She murmured, giving Ilia a look, “I can run. If Atlas catches you…”
“They won’t.” Ilia promised, wrapping an arm around Blake to steal a hug before the Faunus could protest. Sitting back, she opened her own bowl and asked, quietly, “C-Can we just eat, please? I need to sleep, soon, and I won’t see you for a while…”
If she ever saw her again, that was…
Sighing, Blake nodded, “Of course. Let’s eat.”
XxX----XxX----XxX
A few hours later, Jaune was waiting in a small conference room. It was simple, with a round table in the middle ringed by seats and a monitor set on a mounting in the corner. A tray of little pastries had been set out on it, with a jug of water and ice on a little mat beside it, surrounded by glasses. Ciel lead him there, ordered him to sit and wait, and ‘refresh himself’, and then left him to wait. Which he did, for almost half an hour, before the door opened and Ironwood finally came in, smiling apologetically.
“I apologize for the wait.” Ironwood rumbled quietly, waving for Jaune to sit when he started to rise, and be silent when he started to speak. “No, no… Do not dismiss it. You have been waiting far too long to be appropriate, given your stature.”
“I’m… Just a Militia commsman…” He argued quietly, adding as an after-thought, “General.”
“Maybe you were, but now?” Ironwood sighed and took the seat opposite him, with his back to the door. “Now, you are a Gundam Meister, whether you or I like it or not.”
“A Meister…”
“The Crocea Mors will only answer to you, insofar as we can tell.” Ironwood explained, folding his hands on the table and sighing, “Further, Vale needed to be notified of everything which has transpired. They had many questions, and demanded a representative be brought to speak to you alongside myself.”
“I don’t…” He gestured at the room, and Ironwood chuckled.
“She landed around fifteen minutes ago, and is on her way.” Ironwood assured him, “I merely happened to arrive before her. That is all.”
“Okay…”
“I did want to ask, however,” Ironwood rumbled, “what you would wish to do with the newfound power that comes with being a Meister.”
“I’m sorry…?”
“If you wished to, you could simply recuse yourself from combat, and use the political clout from studying your machine in simulated combat. As well as combat against the Grimm. I could even offer you a position to that end in Atlas, if Vale was… Hesitant to.” Ironwood explained, drumming his fingers on the table in waves, from one side to the other. When Jaune’s eyebrows rose, he smiled and dipped his head, “I am not suggesting that, Mister Arc. Only talking.”
“I don’t mind fighting the Grimm…” He answered simply, giving the man a careful look. “But I would prefer to stay home, in Ansel.”
“Will Vale allow that, though?”
“What do you mean?”
“A Gundam, even one with little in the way of weaponry such as yours, is a veritable gold mine.” He answered, “Why on Remnant would Vale not do everything in its power to incentivize you moving somewhere that they could take advantage of it?”
Or, Jaune feared went unsaid, why wouldn’t they do everything they could to disincentivize him staying in Ansel? Even if he did, there was only so much they could do in Ansel to study Crocea Mors, or utilize it against the Grimm. He wasn’t nearly prideful enough to think having a Gundam protecting his home wouldn’t be a waste - it was simply too good, too powerful, with too much potential, to be relegated to one small mountain town. Vale could try and change that, of course. Bring in researchers, build facilities, expand the settlement to make it worth a Gundam, and able to exploit it.
But how much could be done and Ansel still be home…?
The door opened before he could think anymore, and Jaune looked up as a middle-aged woman with bright blonde hair, sharp eyes, and a well-pressed suit stepped in. She gave him a smile and turned as Ironwood stood, accepting the hand he offered, “Ironwood.”
“Glynda.” He smiled, “A pleasure, as ever.”
“It would be more of one,” she sighed, stepping around the table to sit in a seat that was more or less equidistant from either of one, “had you waited to speak to our prospective new Gundam Meister with me, as the Council desired.”
“Prospective…?”
“Technically-”
“Meister is a rank granted, not assumed.” Glynda cut him off with a hand, smiling gently when he blinked in confusion. “Piloting the machine is not all that is needed to be granted the official rank, whatever some might suggest. Piloting it for testing, for science, is not the same as being a Meister. Such a vaunted rank comes with more prestige and honor than either of those entail.”
“I see…” And yet, Jaune realised, Ironwood had given him the rank regardless.
Was that something different about Atlas? Or was he trying to get Jaune on his side, and that was why he’d arrived early? Come to think of it, he’d been generous with his gifts to Ansel, too… He didn’t want to be cynical, but he knew the value of a Gundam - and, since only he could pilot it, of Jaune himself - and he knew that Ironwood would do what he could for Atlas’ sake.
Jaune didn’t appreciate the manipulation, but… He couldn’t fault the reasoning behind it.
“So… What now?”
“I am here on behalf of the Kingdom of Vale.” The woman said, finally offering her his hand formally. He shook it and she said, “I am Glynda Goodwitch, and I work as a liaison, of sorts, between Vale, the Militia, the Hunters, who handle Grimm of a more… Well, lesser nature.”
“I’m familiar.” They handled smaller, more archaic forms of Grimm. The best of them, according to what he’d read, could even handle Beowolves and the like, which had given him a few scratches even in a Gundam.
“Good.” She smiled, “I also work directly under Ozpin, the Head of the Beacon Institute of Technology and Defense. Ane we would be honored to offer you a place beside out prospective pilots, engineers and future defenders of the Kingdom.”
Jaune blinked, slowly, and asked, “Beacon… Is offering me a place?”
“It is.’ She nodded, pulling out a Scroll and laying it on the table. “I can offer you a full scholarship, board, and payment for the next three years as a service contract. You will study your Gundam, alongside the best and brightest the Institute has to offer, as well as participate in training to combat the Grimm. Once you are an alumni of our organization, I will also work with you to find a field of work you find most agreeable.”
“That’s… A lot.”
“If I may be frank,” she nodded, “you have a Gundam to offer. I’m sure the Kingdom would offer you a life of luxury if you asked it. From my background checks, however… I feel you would prefer a life of service.”
“Atlas will, of course, match Vale’s offer.” Ironwood added, flicking the woman a challenging look before he turned back to him. “Further, I am prepared to station a garrison of three of our own Mobile Suits in Ansel for its protection, as well as an engineering team to expand and refurbish its walls. I’m authorized to offer the construction of an air-station nearby as well as a barracks in the settlement, and stipends to encourage Ansel’s growth.”
“I… Don’t know what to say.” He murmured, staring down at the table. “This is…”
“There is no right answer, Mister Arc.” Goodwitch offered gently, smiling when he looked up, “And no rush.”
“Perhaps you should consult your family?” Ironwood offered, “I can have an airship allocated to you until your choice is made.”
“That…” He nodded, “That would be good, uh, thanks.”
They both nodded, stood, and left with Jaune trailing behind. Outside, Ironwood spoke to one of two guards by the door and told Jaune to follow him to an airship.
XxX----XxX----XxX
“It is a minor setback.” The man on the other end of the comm-line said, voice laced in frustration and irritation, “We will secure more communication arrays later, from another settlement. There is no shortage of available targets in the nearby regions.”
“See that you do.” Cinder growled, pacing across her penthouse to stare out at Mistral’s sparkling, colorful mountain metropolis, watching air cars and their ground-bound cousins below. Speaking into the Scroll in her hand, she said, “Time is short… Especially if Vale has added another Gundam to their roster.”
“I am dispatching scouts by morning, to find appropriate targets.” Adam reported, “It will be finished. Shortly.”
She hummed, nodded, and closed the Scroll with a sigh, ending the call. Adam was a skilled combatant, she knew, and would be needed… If only he were just the least bit luckier, he’d be so much more useful. Perhaps he might have even found the Gundam himself. Oh, the things she could do with one of those…
A man behind her groaned, dragging her out of her thoughts and she turned, smiling as the detective woke up, bound to the chair she’d put him in. Pacing towards him, she crooned, “Good morning, officer… I believe I have need of you. Or rather, your access to the migrant databases.”
He snarled into his gag and Cinder smiled.
XxX----XxX----XxX
1v2 :
Undecided.
I don’t know about those SPECIFICALLY, but I do already have some ideas in mind, yes.
Yes.
No, but numerous Gundams already designed are inspired by canon ones - and mobile suits as well as their support units are also inspired by them.
No specific Gundam will be. Many, as stated, will be heavily inspired by them and draw from them, though.
Essiter :
No ship is preplanned, no. I intend to let those chips fall where they naturally do, presuming they do at all.
MM br guest :
I don’t THINK I will use Merlot, due to his presence being mostly oriented around Mountain Glenn if I am not misremembering, but he might. As for the Grimm, I have numerous designs on my own and yes, the Beta and Pacific Rim kaiju both play a part in it. How could they not, I love those series. However there are also other series I am considering for ideas, ranging from Halo to Warhammer to Star Wars.
As for Dust and Aura, they largely function similarly because tweaking that too much would add complications rather than interesting bits. HOW they play in is different, though. For instance, how would a MS pilot with Aura compare to one without? And what kinds of Dust based weaponry could be built scaled up to an MS?