"After the incident last week in training, RC-1126 is a clear choice for demolitions operative for her squad. Her personality could help 1170 out of her shell, which would help squad chemistry phenomenally. However, unless Yang can pull back on her nature, which encourages her to rush into situations, she may cause more problems for her team. Team RWBY has been fully assembled, and has been assigned hyper-lethal combat effectiveness rating. Be advised, if their personalities clash and cause detriment to the team's make-up, this rating will fall. Rose, out."- Sergeant Summer Rose, 5 years BBG.

Kamino. 9 years BBG

"So, this is our group huh."

Qrow was standing still, observing the children sleeping in the room in front of him.

"Yeah, roughly a hundred of them, plus the boys you picked up. And we're supposed to make them killers."

Summer was standing next to him, hands behind her back.

"This was the deal we signed up for Summer." He reminded her, turning away from the darkened room.

"I signed up to train soldiers. I expected adults. But this," she gestured behind her at the children "we're going to be raising these kids to go off and die for someone else's war."

"Funny to hear a complaint about fighting someone else's war from a mercenary." Qrow chuckled at the irony of the situation.

'That's not the same. You, me, Tai, we all had a choice. We made that choice. These kids, they'll never have a choice."

"If you could, would you give them a choice?" Qrow asked, stopping to look at her.

"Yes. They deserve that much." She replied, walking into the lounge set up for the training staff.

"What are you two doing up this late?" Ironwood said, sitting alone at a table, clad in his grey and white Mandalorian armor.

"Same as you, I guess." Summer said, sitting across from them. Qrow sat between them, noticing the drink in Ironwood's hand.

"Aye. We have quite the situation in front of us, don't we?" Ironwood said, gesturing towards the children.

"How do you feel about all this?" Qrow asked him, fingers drumming on the table.

"They paid me to train soldiers, so I'll train soldiers."

"Not going to be easy though."

"Nothing worth doing will be easy Qrow."

"And why is this worth doing, James?" Summer said, leaning forward.

"Because we have a very unique opportunity in front of us." He replied, taking a sip from his glass.

"And what opportunity is that?" Qrow asked, aware of a sudden thirst taking hold in his throat.

"These Kaminoans want us to make the perfect soldier. These kids, they've been genetically modified to be smarter, faster, better than us regular folk. But they won't be people. If these Kaminoans have their way, we might as well be training droids. But we can make them human. We can give them a soul, a purpose."

"How are you going to do that?" Summer said, clearly interested in what Ironwood was saying.

"No idea." He admitted, finishing his drink before setting it down.

He walked away, going to his quarters.

"Figure I'll make them Mando. Seems like a good place to start." He added over his shoulder, an idea forming in Qrow's brain.

Galactic City, Coruscant. Arca Company Barracks. 30 days ABG

"How goes the hunt, Qrow?"

Ozpin was seated behind his desk, sipping at his ever-present coffee while he stared at the man seated before him.

"We're making progress." Qrow replied, leaning back nonchalantly in his chair, as if he didn't have a care in the world. The Jedi knew better though. Whenever he would reach out in the force, to feel Qrow's essence, he was almost shocked. This man was a whirling typhoon of fear, sadness, and anger. The sheer amount of anger present in this man genuinely scared Ozpin. If he didn't know any better, he would assume Qrow was a Sith. Thankfully for the Jedi, he knew of no such thing as a Sith Mandalorian. The thought alone made him shudder.

"Define progress for me, please."

"Well you can't expect us to get this done in a matter of weeks, General. We managed to pick up a member of the cell, and extracted a name from him. The name Cinder Fall mean anything to you?"

"I can't say it does, unfortunately. I don't suppose I want to know how you got this information, do I."

Qrow shook his head, not wanting to talk the details. Tai was a talented man, and a professional, but his methods would surely make Ozpin squirm. As much as Qrow disliked Jedi on principle, he felt no need to antagonize Ozpin.

"Negative, sir. You're better off not knowing that."

"You know, in a way, that's almost worse."

Qrow again shook his head. "Trust me sir, it's not."

Ozpin just sighed, taking a sip of coffee. "So what do you plan on doing with this information Sergeant?"

"I've got a contact in the shadier parts of town I can talk to, see what he knows."

"Well then you better get to it, I think."

Qrow nodded, stood up, and walked out the door. The door slid shut behind him, and Ozpin let out a bemused sigh. Qrow Branwen was indeed an interesting man, and a powerful ally. Ozpin just didn't know how long Qrow would be an ally, and that thought truly scared him.

Galactic City, Coruscant. 30 days ABG

"Alright Yang, tell me what's on your mind."

Pyrrha and Yang were sitting outdoors at a café, both of them dressed in casual clothes, their hair growing longer every day, enjoying the time off. Well, supposedly enjoying it. The commandos were growing restless, but Yang was the worst of the bunch. Pyrrha had a sneaking suspicion that Yang's unease was caused by much more than boredom.

Yang just sighed, setting down her fork.

"What do you mean?"

It was Pyrrha's turn to sigh, not wanting to jump through hoops to figure out what the problem was.

"You know what I mean Yang. You'll feel better if we talk about it."

Yang just sat in silence, staring off into the distance.

"Yang? Is this about the family?"

Yang winced at that, clearly not trying to think about the family on Qiilura.

"No, it's not that. Well I mean that's still a problem, I can't fucking sleep without seeing them. But it's not the real problem."

"That sounds like a real problem to me Yang. Have you talked to Qrow about it?"

Yang just shook her head dejectedly. "I don't want to burden him with my problems. He has enough to worry about, coordinating this op."

"That's bullshit and you know it. Qrow would be very upset if he knew you were trying to face this problem without talking to him about it."

Yang sat forward, her head in her hands.

"I know, I know. I'll talk to him about it later, promise."

Pyrrha still wasn't satisfied, and she wouldn't be as long as she knew something was bothering Yang. Well, something besides the nightmares. Pyrrha wasn't sure how much help she could be with that particular problem.

"What's this other problem you're having?"

Yang lifted her head from her hands, and fixed Pyrrha with the most serious glare she had ever seen the blonde soldier use.

"What I say, no one else hears about. Okay?"

"Of course Yang, I would never tell someone else about the problems you're having."

Yang just sighed, and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Pyrrha, I think I have feelings for someone. One of us."

"Well I think that's perfectly fine, Yang."

Yang seemed shocked, giving Pyrrha a cautious look.

"What do you mean?"

Pyrrha sighed, leaning forward.

"Yang, we are literally fighting to the death alongside our squad. I'd think something would be wrong if we didn't develop feelings for each other. If you don't mind me asking, who is it?"

Yang groaned, burying her head in her hands once more. She mumbled her answer, and Pyrrha had to lean in to hear her.

"Yang, I couldn't hear you."

"Weiss."

Now that shocked Pyrrha, as she had never thought the two would get along as friends, let alone romantically. Truth be told, she wasn't sure what she had expected Yang's answer to be. I guess opposites do attract.

"Why are you acting like this is such a bad thing?" Pyrrha asked, hesitant to pry, but knowing that she needed more information.

"Because all we do is argue! If I told her how I felt she would probably tell me to fuck off and never talk to me again."

"That seems like an overreaction to me."

"Pyr, her nickname was actually Ice Queen in training."

"That's because of the freezer incident and you know it."

Yang just groaned, letting her forehead hit the table.

Pyrrha decided to press just a bit further, hoping to ease her friend's mind.

"When did you develop these feelings for her?"

"I dunno, might have been on Geonosis. But all I know is when she got shot on Qiilura, my heart stopped. It was like I couldn't even entertain the thought of her dying. Something similar happened on Fest."

"Yang you should really talk to her. Not right now." Pyrrha said, as Yang began to panic. "Later though, maybe when all this is over."

"No, you know what? I'll do it tonight. I'd like to go into the raid, whenever we raid the cell, without anything else on my mind."

Yang stood up abruptly, checking her chronometer. "We should get going Pyr."

Pyrrha stood up, happy that she had been able to help her friend.

"And Pyrrha? Thanks for the talk." Yang said, a smile creeping onto her face.

Qrow's Apartment, 30 days ABG.

"You sure this intel is good Tai? I'd hate to start asking around about the wrong person."

Taiyang just chuckled, amused that Qrow would doubt him.

"Trust me Qrow, the chakkar wasn't lying."

Tai had been speaking in Mando'a quite a bit recently, as opposed to back on Kamino, where he rarely spoke the language.

"Did you waste him already?"

"Yeah, he was gonna bleed out anyway. Funny thing, humans don't bounce when dropped from a tall building."

Qrow just snorted in amusement at his friend's nonchalance. "Glad you decided to test that hypothesis for us Tai. The scientific community thanks you for your contribution."

Tai just laughed, as Qrow walked into a different room, where most of the clones were lounging.

"Which of you lazy shabs wants to accompany me on an intel run?" He shouted into the room, and immediately, all the clones raised their hands.

"Okay, I'll take Jaune, Sun, and Neptune. The rest of you get ready for radio traffic monitoring, Tai should be setting up the feed soon.

The three male soldiers walked up to Qrow, clearly happy for the opportunity to have a run ashore, as Neptune called it. Qrow wasn't sure where he had picked up the phrase, and if he knew Neptune, he didn't want to know.

"We going in civvies, sarge?" Jaune asked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, real casual. Don't need you lads walking around Galactic City in full kit, that's bound to spook the normies."

"I feel naked without my armor." Sun whined, and Neptune just punched him on the shoulder.

"Suck it up boys, you'll be back in gear soon enough."

Galactic City

"Sarge, what are we doing here?"

The four were standing in front of what looked like a sleazy diner, if the bright neon sign hanging above the door was any indication.

"We're here to talk to an old, friend of mine. He owes me no small sum of money, and I'm here to cash in."

Qrow walked into the establishment first, noting the sound of a chime going off as he opened the door.

"How may I hel- oh. Hello Qrow." A tall man dressed sharply in white with orange hair walked out through a door in the back, a small girl following behind him.

"Hello Roman."

"I don't suppose you're just here to catch up, are you?" Roman said nervously, his hands behind his back as he stood in front of Qrow.

"I think we both know why I'm here, Roman."

"Yes, well I'm afraid I don't have that much money on me at this time."

"Then let me propose an alternative to the conventional method of clearing a debt."

Roman gestured towards the counter, as Qrow and him sat down, the three clones and the girl still standing.

"You know, I have to ask. Who are the men?" Roman asked, pointing at Jaune and the others.

"They're my sons." Qrow replied, causing Roman to chuckle.

"Quite the assortment of kids you have there Qrow."

"What can I say? I have a weakness for miniskirts. Who's the girl?"

Roman sobered up at that question, looking back at Qrow. "Daughter."

Qrow simply nodded, before redirecting the conversation. "So, about your debt."

"Yes, what is this alternative you spoke of?"

"I want to trade information for the debt. You tell me what I want, and I forget you ever owed me a thing."

"If I recall correctly, I owe you quite a bit of money."

"Well I need a lot of information. Well, maybe not a lot of information, just good information."

Roman nodded, holding his hand out. Qrow shook out, a smile spreading across the face of the orange-haired man.

"So, what do you need to know?"

"Know anything about a man named Cinder Fall?"

The smile dropped off of Roman's face immediately, and he looked over his shoulder at the girl.

"Neo, bring us something to drink. The good stuff, please."

He turned back towards Qrow, a serious expression on his face.

"Qrow… what are you involved with?"

Qrow had a blank expression on his face, not betraying any emotion he was feeling.

"Does it matter? Just tell me what you know."

Roman just sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"First, Cinder is a woman, not a man. Second, she'd the head of an anti-Republic terrorist known as the Grimm."

Neo walked up and set drinks down before them, Qrow giving her a nod before turning his head back towards Roman.

"So these Grimm. You know anything about their operations? A base maybe?"

"No, nothing like that. They've been very quiet recently. Word is that one of their operatives was found dead in her apartment, and another's missing." Roman's eyes widened, and he leaned forward.

"Shit, was that you? Did you take them out?"

"Sorry Roman, but I can't tell you that. You got anything else for me?"

"Just one thing. Word is the Grimm are stepping up the scale of their operations. Something called Phase Two. They're in the market for explosives. I'm talking high-yield, top-grade explosives." Roman leaned in closer. "And they're asking for a lot."

Qrow just sighed, finishing his drink before setting it down.

"Thanks Roman. We'll be headed out now."

"We're good then? My debt's clear, right?"

"Yeah, you're fine."

The clones followed Qrow out the door, Jaune right behind him.

"Sarge? What's our plan?" He asked, as Sun and Neptune walked behind him.

"I know how we're going to find the cell. But first, I have to make a call to Ozpin that he's not going to enjoy."

Qrow's Apartment.

Weiss was sitting in the living room, cleaning her Deece, just as she had been for the past two weeks. Really, she didn't mind the downtime, it just got a little boring, is all. But it was better than being shot and kept in a tank.

Blake was sitting across from her, browsing the HoloNet on a datapad. Ever since they arrived in the apartment and Blake had discovered the HoloNet, she had been browsing it constantly. The other commandos were scattered throughout the apartment, milling around, waiting for Qrow and the others to get back. Tai had gone for a "supply run," and with that man that could mean anything from picking up groceries to disposing of bodies.

"Hey Weiss? You got a minute?"

She looked up to see Yang standing in the doorway of the room, gesturing over her shoulder.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

A/N: Hey guys, Heil96 back with another chapter! Another member of STRQ is revealed in the form of the lovely Summer Rose, and we get some more insight on Kamino. This is a heavy build-up chapter, but don't worry, next chapter will have lots of action! Despite the slow nature of this chapter, I hope I wrote it well. Roman and Neo show up here, and I like the idea of them being criminal, but not being associated with Cinder. And no, the woman Sun killed and the man Tai tortured are not Em and Merc, just in case anyone was confused about that. The older members of the cast are starting to speak some and I'll be gradually incorporating that more and more into the 's about all I have, thanks to everyone who's read this story so far, I've had a great time putting this out! Special thanks to everyone who has favorited/followed the story, and to everyone else leaving reviews. Next chapter will be out Monday around noon CST!



Team RWBY

RC-1183 Ruby, Sergeant Rank

RC-1104 Weiss, Private

RC-1170 Blake, Private

RC-1126 Yang, Private

Team JNPR

RC-1390 Jaune, Sergeant Rank

RC-1163 Nora, Private

RC-8051 Pyrrha, Private

RC-2223 Ren, Private

Team SSSN

ARC S-11 Sun, Captain Rank

ARC S-07 Scarlet, Lieutenant Rank

ARC S-12 Sage, Sergeant Rank

ARC S-10 Neptune, Lieutenant Rank

Other

Qrow Branwen, Mandalorian Warrior. Former Training Sergeant in the GAR

Taiyang Xiao Long, Mandalorian Warrior. Former Training Sergeant

Summer Rose. Mandalorian Warrior. Former Training Sergeant

James Ironwood. Mandalorian Warrior. Former Training Sergeant

Vode An

Heil96, out.