VNS ARC, DD-51

EN ROUTE TO ANDYROS

"Jaune?!"

The other three huntresses quickly looked over the captain, recognizing him as well. They stared blankly at him, unsure of what to do.

Hallman spoke up to break the silence. "I take it you know each other?" She looked between the new arrivals and the captain.

Jaune's gaze sharpened slightly. "We're acquainted yes." Jaune did a 180, moving back up the ladderwell to the hatch, motioning for the huntresses to follow with Commander Hallman bringing up the rear. "As the XO said, welcome to VNS Arc. You will obey all rules on this ship or you will be on the next bullhead headed for the main land. Rules are posted in each mess as well as crew quarters. Make sure to memorize them when you get there. If you have questions, ask me or Commander Hallman here. If you can't find us, look for this patch" Jaune pointed to the MP patch on a nearby sailor "and ask the sailor wearing it for one of us. The crew's mess is always open, but meals are served at 0600, 1100, and 1800."

Seeing the confusion on two of the huntress's faces, the XO pointed to her watch, indicating the times mentioned. Jaune stopped at a ladderwell going down to the next deck. "Crew's mess is down this ladderwell, and immediately to your right." Jaune continued down the hall past the ladderwell, then made a left. "You will contain yourselves to the mess, your quarters, the head and the onboard gym, unless you have my explicit permission. You will stay out of the way of my sailors, as they have jobs to do." Jaune stopped at a hatch that read CQ-A7. "These will be your quarters. Any questions?" Ruby raised her hand.

Jaune nodded to her. "Why are you here?" Yang, Blake and Weiss turned their gaze from Ruby to Jaune, all expecting an answer. Hallman looked moderately interested as well.

Jaune sighed, knowing he could not avoid the subject. "You will meet me in the wardroom in" Jaune glanced at his watch "30 minutes. I'll send the bull to escort you." Jaune moved quickly back down the corridor and up a ladderwell, making for his office.

Hallman turned to face the still semi-confused huntresses. "He means well." She smiled softly, then turned to follow the captain.

"Do you think he's sending an actual bull? How would it fit on the ship?" Ruby lay on her bunk, still confused from her encounter with RWBY's former classmate.

Weiss rolled her eyes at her partner as she strapped her moderately sized duffel to the end of her bunk."I highly doubt he's sending an actual bull. It's likely a nickname of some kind." Ruby 'ohed' and kept quiet.

After about 25 minutes of settling in, a knock came from the hatch. Yang answered it, finding a sailor in the standard blue camo the majority of crewmen had been wearing. His name patch read 'Marquez'. "Ma'am the captain ordered me to escort you to the wardroom. If you'll all follow me." The sailor backed down the corridor to allow the huntresses to exit their quarters, closing the hatch behind them.

They were led down the corridor and up two decks. As they walked, Ruby asked the sailor "So why did Jaune-I mean the captain call you 'the bull'?"

"Oh, bull is a term for the senior ensign on the ship. The bull ensign is in charge of training the younger ensigns, as well as maintaining the wardroom or officer's mess. It's my job to keep it clean, secure the tables and chairs when it's not in use, and so on." Marquez explained some of his other duties as they continued toward the wardroom.

BREAK

"So is there any particular reason why you were being so... standoffish?" Commander Hallman stood, arms crossed as she leaned against the bulkhead.

Jaune sat at the head of the wardroom table, his scroll in front of him, a very small smirk on his face. "You had to suppress saying dickish, didn't you."

"I will neither confirm, nor deny." Hallman chuckled and sat down to the left of Jaune. "Seriously, this is the most annoyed I think I've ever seen you. What's up?"

"You'll find out in a few minutes. Half the story you already know, anyway." Jaune dismissed her question just as the door emitted two short knocks, then opened to reveal Ensign Marquez and the ship's current guests.

"Bull, get them some seats, then guard the door." Jaune ordered the ensign. "Have Lieutenant Park report here in 10 minutes."

"Aye sir." The sailor pulled a quartet of chairs from a stack in the corner, splaying them around the table. As team RWBY sat down, he left the room, closing the door with a thunk as the lock engaged.

"Right. I'll just get right to it then. You all know I was kicked out of Beacon just a few months into classes. I never went to combat school, and never had any formal training to begin with, which is why it's not so surprising I was so shit at fighting. When I returned home, my father was furious. I didn't have his permission to go to Beacon in the first place, especially with the family sword. He stripped me of Crocea Mors and nearly disowned me. He decided instead to enter me into the Naval Academy in Vale. In my family, if you weren't a huntsman, you were an officer." The four huntresses looked surprised slightly before Yang said "Explains the ship's name." Jaune nodded before continuing.

"Due to my family's name, I was almost immediately accepted. I was there maybe two weeks before I was pulled out and entered into a PR program. I was fast tracked through officer training, which took the better part of a year. As soon as I was done, I was assigned as the acting XO to the rear admiral in charge of the entire western fleet, Admiral Steele. There I was trained to command a ship, although I served aboard an airship-carrier, VNS Leahy under the admiral. Within two years, the first Arc-class destroyer was rolled out, VNS Arc. I became her captain, and have been in command for a little over a year now."

Weiss lifted her hand slightly, to which Jaune nodded at her to allow her to speak. "You said you were made an officer quickly because of a PR program. Why was that?"Jaune 'ah'ed and pulled up a Navy recruitment poster on his scroll, showing him standing at attention before the Arc. He passed the scroll around so team RWBY could get a better look at the small screen.

"The program was the first of it's kind. You'll likely have seen there are numerous faunus and women crewing the ship?" Everyone nodded. "That is because this ship is a floating billboard. Not only are there plenty of faunus, but this ship is crewed by members of all four kingdoms' navies. Commander Hallman here is Mistrali. It seems like every other week we get a group of news reporters or Navy recruiters who use the ship as a 'Navy of tomorrow' ad. With an Arc in command, a diverse crew in both race and nationality, it portrays that the Navy is adapting and promoting more diversified crews. We're given practically only patrol missions, so we're not really out doing anything interesting or important. We just provide fire support and med-evac to huntsmen that get in a jam in our area of coverage while preventing any kraken or nevermore from attacking the bay." Jaune sat down, resting his arms on the table as he did so to let his words sink in.

A scant few seconds after he sat, three loud knocks where heard from the wardroom's hatch. Jaune hit the unlock button on his scroll and called "Enter."

"Good. Sit down lieutenant." Jaune motioned to the seat on his right. "This is Lieutenant Park, commander of the Army detachment on the ship. Lieutenant, This is team RWBY. One of your fireteams will be shadowing them on Andyros so we can provide accurate fire support and extraction." The lieutenant shook hands with the four huntresses as the captain spoke.

"I take it the fireteam will be support only, then? I find it strange that the council decided to send a team of huntresses to clear such a small infestation, if you don't mind my saying so, sir."

"It is overkill, as the Arc could just pound the Grimm nests, then be right back on her way with minimal ground work. I don't think the chairman sent them here for that sole purpose. Would you care to enlighten me, team leader?" Jaune turned to Ruby, who looked confused for a moment before recalling her own briefing.

After a moment, she spoke. "Our mission is to clear Andyros of any and all Grimm packs, while helping the local defense shore up the village in the event of more attacks. That is the extent of what Chairman Ozpin told me."

"In the event of more attacks? He used those exact words?" Ruby nodded. Jaune checked the time on his wristwatch, showing almost 1045. "Let's see if we can't get him to shed a little more light on what's happening on Andyros. Commander, get me communications. I want to relay a call back to the council building."

"Aye." Commander Hallman pulled out her scroll, connecting it to the small holo-projector in the table. She routed the captains request to communications, and after a few short minutes and two secretaries, the Chairman of the Council of Vale appeared.

"Captain. I see team RWBY has made it safely. You are on your way to Andyros then?" Ozpin's voice held an air of innocence as if he hadn't withheld certain fragments of information from the disgruntled captain.

"Yes, we are on course. I'd like to get some clarification on what to expect when we get there. Your mission brief with Ruby said 'in the event of more attacks' am I correct?"

"You are." Ozpin's smirk faded ever so slightly.

"Would you like to explain to me why you neglected to inform me of possible anti-military elements, other than Grimm in my area of operations?" Everyone looked abit taken aback by the captain's presumption. Everyone that is, but Ozpin.

"Slipped my mind, I suppose. Would you like the reports we have for the area?" He put on an innocent smile

"Not unless you have more reports than I have access to. I make sure to keep up to date." Jaune tapped his scroll.

"I don't believe there is any further information regarding the area that you are not already aware of then."

"Alright. What can I expect of the White Fang then? According to military intelligence, there is a possible cell on the south shores of Mistral, possibly based off-shore. Am I correct to assume that the general consensus is that that base is somewhere near or possibly on Andyros?" Jaune's face had a slight frown with just a hint of anger toward the chairman.

Blake interjected before Ozpin could reply "Why would the White Fang still be operating? Their organization was gutted almost two years ago."

"While you are correct, elements of the White Fang escaped capture and have adopted an even more guerilla stance than before. While they are a threat, most remaining cells are extinguished as soon as actionable intel is received. They are little more than a nuisance. However they can be a very large nuisance if they try." Jaune explained, earning a small nod from Ozpin before he continued.

"According to my advisors, it is very likely that there is at least a staging base in the area, and I concur. You should expect possible sabotage to the village upon arrival, as well as attacks against your ship when you make port, however unlikely." Jaune's frown deepened slightly before he nodded.

"I agree. Which is why the whole detachment will be aiding in the shoring up of Andyros. Most men will provide guard to the civilians, but any and all engineers will execute a sweep to make sure the area is free of any unwanted explosives. They will then aid in the construction of defenses. Understood lieutenant?" Jaune turned to the lieutenant who stood from his chair.

"Yes, sir. I'll have the men ready and briefed by the time we reach the island." Lieutenant Park saluted as he left the wardroom, presumably to prepare his own men of their role in the upcoming few days.

"Good. The ship will remain on condition 3 for the entirety of our stay in the area. Now unless you have anything further I should know chairman?" Jaune's gaze shifted from the door to Commander Hallman to Ozpin's hologram as he spoke.

"Not to my knowledge, no. Should anything come up, I'll be sure to let you know." Ozpin's hologram promptly cut to the spinning VNS Arc insignia to signify the end of the conversation.

Jaune sighed as the transmission ended. "Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling about this mission?" His rhetorical question went unanswered as everyone shared a moment of uneasiness.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So as Amonamon pointed out after last chapter, Jaune should not be a captain after only four years. I see the world of Remnant (especially this AU) as a quite hostile place, there are more sailors dying and not re-enlisting than you would find in the US Navy, therefore meritous promotions are abit more common to keep officer ranks fairly stable. In my head, the Remnant navies will promote an officer around 25% to 40% faster than Earth navies, to put a number to it. I reason that if Jaune had not been boosted by the PR promotion, he would be closer to lieutenant commander or even commander at this point in the story.

Speaking of commanders, Commander Hallman, if you noticed, is a commander after ten years, also pretty young for command rank. You may have noticed that for her to be 26 and been in the navy for ten years, she would have had to enlist at 16. I'm kinda going back to the 'more dangerous planet' excuse, as children must be trained from earlier ages to fight such formidable threats. She enlisted at 16, working her way up through the ranks, making her a mustang officer, also easier to do with less officers. It's abit easier to earn a commission through enlistment than it is to be commissioned. Commander would be the top of a mustang officer's career, but a mustang commander usually holds more sway with their superiors as they have usually much more experience than commissioned officers. Usually, though commissioned officers are guaranteed an admiral rank after about 9 to 12 years, as there are less than mustang officers, and their training is much more rigorous, giving them the mindset an admiral would need.

There is also the fact that destroyers are commanded by a commander and lieutenant commander as CO and XO, respectively. I'm using the 'PR ship' excuse here, as I personally like the idea of Jaune having been forced into a position of great influence and adapting to it, so I bumped him right up. I gave him a sizable portion of time serving as the executive officer (XO) to an admiral so that he could learn from experience. I'm justifying this with Vale needing the shot in the arm to public relations (we'll see some reference as to why likely in the next chapter, along with abit more when on Andyros). The Arc is that shot, with faunus being more prominent in the crew, showing that the kingdom is adapting. The fact that it's an Arc-class destroyer, named for a famous Arc naval officer makes having Jaune as captain even more of a propaganda thing. He's still somewhat probationary, having been assigned predominantly patrol missions, but has shown sufficient conviction and leadership skill to be abit more autonomous.

Condition III - Wartime Cruising, generally one third of the crew is on watch, and strategic stations are manned or partly manned.

UPDATE 10/10/15: So tweaked a few small things here and there, added some extra dialouge modifiers (after speech deals, no idea if there's an actual word for that part of a sentence) to make understanding who is speaking a little easier. The main thing I changed is Jaune's arm, as it serves no purpose whatsoever in the story, I was just really into FullMetal Alchemist when I was toying around with this idea.

UPDATE 6/19/16: So I could have sworn I updated this months ago (AKA October) but for some reason it is still the old version of this chapter. Really sorry about not noticing it and fixing it earlier, but I've been off writing for a little while. I do have about half a chapter written up, though to post soon(TM) in celebration of 1,000 views! I know it's not a lot but this is probably my most popular story other than Simple Soul which kinda died. I will get back to hashing out the rewrite, though for those of you interested and hopefully will post a first chapter within a month or two.

In other news, I'll be at RTX this year, so if you see me feel free to come say hi. I'll try to get a few of those 'My Name Is' nametags to wear around so you can actually tell who I am. There will very likely be an r/RWBY subreddit meetup at some point where I will almost defiantly be. If I had to guess, I'd say it'll be right after the RWBY panel on Friday, but that's just what happened last year. Keep an eye on the subreddit for where/when that will be if you're interested.