Chapter 2: A Beacon of Hope

Mr. Hammond and the Core Worlds need you!

Be the toughest mother this side of the galaxy.

Enlist in the IMC pilot training program today.

-IMC Pilot Recruitment Ad

Ellis was nervous.

After securing the situation with the prototype Titan, Ellis had requested the girls show him to the man in charge. After several minutes of argument between the girls and his team, and a few calls by the girls, they were packed into an airship similar to their own dropship in design, that the girls called a 'Bullhead'. Tortoise and Weaver, Ellis and Widow's Titans, had been recovered by a covert dropship at the request of Ellis.

They didn't want to terrify the people of this world, at least not yet.

The dropship also dropped off a Mark II Diplomatic Spectre Chassis, to aid in the negotiations with this world's leadership. The sleek frame of the DSC reminded the pilots of Spyglass' field ops frame, only with more dents. While the standard Spectre chassis was laden with various battlefield equipment, medical supplies, guns, rocket launchers, and the like, the DSC was very slim and approachable.

At least, that was the tagline on all the advertisements for the things.

Graves had been given the duty of corralling the DSC for their meeting, but it was proving to be a more difficult task than expected.

"Dammit, sit still you freakin' robot!"

"Problems, Graves?" chuckled Ellis, glad that Graves had volunteered to handle the rowdy Spectre.

It was no secret to the rest of the team that the Mark II DSCs had incredibly bad gyroscopic control during planetary flight. The smart choices were always to power down and pack it up until you reached your destination. However, the Mark IIs also had horrendous reboot times, often taking half an hour or more for the Spectre to come fully online. Most of the problems had been fixed with the Mark III and beyond, and the problems never appeared to affect Mark Is, but with a surplus of the awful robots, the IMC was outfitting every ship it could with them in the hopes that the teams would space or scrap them.

The small things in life were what Ellis lived for, like watching a teammate wrestle with a robot that had no control over its movements. That didn't stop him from being nervous, of course. An unfamiliar world, with strange people like the 'Team RWBY' before him, and no idea how they would deal with this; what wasn't there to be nervous about?

Most likely that answer was his team. Each member besides Ellis and Graves had taken different positions and seats throughout the Bullhead's hold.

The long greasy black hair of Olivia Sherman, aka Spade, was mixed with the shaggy oily red hair of Zeres Melrin, the two locked in a disturbing yet fascinating sort of mating ritual involving tongues and ears. Ellis tried not to look more than he had to at the lovebirds, their perverse displays disturbing him to no end.

Jack was seated next to the one they called Blake, discussing things in hushed tones, Blake blushing occasionally at suggestions from Jack. Ellis figured Jack was telling her about his stash of trashy romance novels that were kept in a secret compartment above his bunk that Graves certainly didn't tell him about.

Widow was showing off her Kradber-AP Sniper to the Ruby girl, whose scythe, they had found out, was also a high-powered sniper rifle. Ellis had to admit, for a girl so small, she could certainly hold her weapon with ease. It reminded him of an old squad he had commanded, but he didn't want to relive those memories now. It would hurt his negotiation skills.

Thinking of that, Ellis decided to rehearse his lines for the meeting, knowing the DSC would merely sputter off a patriotic rant about the IMC and the acquisition of the planet. He figured it would be some big-shot suit that held the papers to this planet's ownership. It wasn't the first time in history that someone colonized a planet without registering it on official charts.

The easiest way to deal with that type of man was money. Simply offer a larger price than whatever they paid for the place, plus a bit of bribery, and you've got yourself a planet. It was lucky that they were employed by the IMC, the men upstairs could match almost any offer, regardless of price. One of the perks of being a multi-system megacorp that also ran a not half bad government.

However, if the leader was one of those ideological or religious leaders, like that one guy on Demeter, then it would require careful language to convince them to give up their planet. If you weren't careful, they could sic a whole armada of killer robots on your team. If at all possible, considering the Penny girl's claims.

Spectres and droids were one thing, but intelligent AI were the real trouble. With normal robots, they either had simple programming that made them very hard to lead, or were controlled by a single, simple, AI that couldn't achieve complete autonomy due to being spread among the bots. Intelligent AI, by comparison, were on the level of three Einsteins, able to process and react to potential situations with terrifying speed. Ellis had heard of the battle on Demeter, and the ruthlessness of Spyglass' first decision as acting IMC admiral.

Ellis shuddered at the memory of those news reports. He shook his head to get his mind off the past, and returned to his speech practice.

"Hey, there!" a boisterous voice said to his right. A deep breath, then he turned toward the voice.

He was surprised to see the golden haired girl, Yang if he remembered correctly, staring him down with a huge smile on her face. Surprised enough to fall back a little in his seat, eliciting a laugh from the golden girl.

"How you doin', dude?"

Ellis blinked, not having been spoken to like that since his time at a desk job in the core worlds.

"Um, fine, thanks for asking." Ellis had to be careful, these girls were just kids, yet seemed to be soldiers of some form. They could be trying to get him and his team killed so that the IMC couldn't get their hands on their planet.

'Never underestimate the lengths your enemy is willing to go to to defeat you.' An old quote from the official IMC training manual that had Ellis had never forgotten.

"C'mon, don't be a scrooge! Where are you guys from, anyway?" The boisterous girl just kept talking.

It couldn't hurt that bad to share a bit, Ellis supposed. People tended to be more willing to vacate their homes when it was a friendly face that told them to. Ellis turned back to the loud girl.

"We are from several different places. I, personally, was raised on Rama."

"How do you deal with the Grimm out there?"

"What is a Grimm?"

"You know, the horrible monsters that have plagued humanity since they first walked the world?"

"I still have no idea what you are talking about."

The girl crossed her arms and huffed in frustration.

"So you're telling me that the Grimm were eradicated in your kingdom? Wouldn't they just come back when you least expect it?"

"Kingdom? What are you talking about; no world has used a king since the original exodus of Earth."

Ellis had always made it a point to know his history, even if it was effectively ancient history.

"Wha? What the heck's an earth?"

Ellis sighed, not wanting to explain centuries of human history to some backwater girl. Quickly, he changed the subject.

"How much longer till we get to meet with your boss?"

"Headmaster."

"Whatever. How long?"

"We should be landing within a few minutes, I think."

"Thanks. Now please leave me alone."

The girl frowned, giving him the infamous stink eye that all women were said to possess. Ellis sighed, returning to his thoughts on what to do.

"FREAKING ROBOT!"

The angry voice of Graves gave Ellis a small smile and a happy thought.

'Good thing that robot is one hell of a thesaurus.'

The Bullhead slowly descended to the Beacon Academy airship landing pad. A small crowd could be seen, no doubt having heard rumors of strangers causing a ruckus in the city.

'Well, they are in for quite a surprise.' Ellis tiredly thought to himself.

"Hey Pops," Melrin said, he and Spade having ceased their mating as they had neared the academy, "what the heck is this place? Some kind of high school for crazy, sword-wielding freaks?"

Ellis sighed. As always, Melrin was extremely rude with his words, but was also extremely good at saying what everyone was thinking. Fortunately, Ellis didn't have to tell him to shut up this time. That honor was given to Weiss, the girl who had spent too much time arguing with Spade.

"Who are you calling freaks, you psychopath!?"

"Psychopath?! Ice-girl, you are too kind!"

It never ceased to amaze the entire squad when Melrin turned an insult into a compliment, almost like he didn't know what an insult was.

"Wha…" Weiss' teammates had their mouths agape at Melrin, and Weiss looked very confused. In an instant, after she had processed Melrin's statement, her face contorted into one of anger.

Before the situation could escalate into another downed dropship with no backup on the way, Ellis gave a small hand signal to Jack. The stoic man stood up and swiftly walked over to Melrin, delivering a solid punch to his head. Melrin dropped like a Titan.

Weiss' face contorted once more to confusion, her mouth trying to form a question, but her mind too shorted to put it out. Jack answered her unasked question.

"Sometimes you have to shut him up for a while."

"Spade, come grab your boyfriend." Ellis called out to the insane woman. She smiled, got out her seat and walked over to Melrin's unconscious body, and slung it over her shoulder. She shot a wink to Weiss, and Ellis could swear the poor girl was shivering in confusion.

"Graves, grab the DSC and let's go" Ellis looked over to the poor woman, her short brown hair a complete mess from wrestling with the robot for the entire flight.

Graves shot a look to the decrepit robot. "Alright, get up you stupid thing."

The DSC had regained its balance since they landed, and it stood up from its spot in a crumpled mess on the floor, stating matter-of-factly "It is time for diplomacy, not combat!" Ellis tried to stifle a chuckle at the overly enthusiastic robot's patriotism.

The girls exited the Bullhead first; Ellis could hear a murmuring from the crowd outside. Ellis looked at his team, crooking his head to signal their departure from the airship.

Ellis, Graves, and the DSC were the first out of the hold; the murmuring getting stronger at the sight of them. The murmuring turned into whispering at the sight of Spade carrying Melrin's unconscious body.

"What's with their armor?"

"Why is one of them unconscious?"

"Are they hunters from Atlas?"

Ellis could hear snippets of conversations, but questions as to who they were were the most rampant and unanswered.

The girls lead the way, the crowd parting as they got close, giving the pilots plenty of space to move through and be leered at by teenagers.

Ellis was pretty nervous.

The hallways of the 'school' were filled with students who stopped to gawk at the strange soldiers. The attention wasn't helping the Ellis' nervous state.

'Why does everyone always stare?'

Being a pilot isn't that weird; sure, you've got some freaky bits poking out of your skin and whatnot, but that's no reason to stare. It's rude to stare, even at people you've never seen before.

'Clearly, these kids either have no manners or they are casing us up.' Ellis' thoughts could always be trusted to make him even more nervous.

"Sir, can I say something?" The timid voice of Widow had snuck up on him while he was lost in his paranoid thoughts.

"What's up, Widow?"

A brave leader meant a brave squad. Ellis couldn't show just how nervous he was.

"Is it just me, or do these kids have an evil look in their eyes?" Widow gestured to several groups of students.

"I'm not sure, but keep your hand on your pistol, just in case."

Widow gave Ellis a short smile before falling back into the rank and file. They continued down the hallway for a time, before Ellis' curiosity got the best of his nervousness.

"Blondie, how much longer are we gonna walk till we meet your boss?"

An unfamiliar voice answered Ellis' inquiry. This one had a definitely grown-up female tone to it.

"You are the new arrivals? Ozpin would like to speak to you immediately."

A woman in professional attire addressed them, a riding crop in one hand and a tablet sort of device in the other. Glasses perched on her face; she gave the pilots a look over and gestured for them to follow her.

"That will be all, team RWBY." She addressed the girls before turning on her heel and walking down the hallway.

The pilots shared a look before following the woman down the hallway. As they passed, the girls, minus Weiss, waved goodbye to the squad.

The woman only walked a short distance down the hallway, before turning to a door with a small plaque next to it that read:

Professer Ozpin

Headmaster

The woman waved her tablet in front of the door, and it slid open to reveal an elevator. She walked in, gesturing for the pilots to do so as well.

Cautiously, they entered the elevator. When the last of them had been packed into the crowded room, the woman pressed a button and the elevator began to rise toward what Ellis assumed was this Ozpin guy's office.

After a minute of nervousness and mind-crushing boredom, the elevator dinged to signal their arrival at the floor. The pilots filed out into a huge room filled with various gears and clocks. Along the walls were a few bookcases, and at the back was a huge desk.

The man behind the desk was not what Ellis was expecting.

Where he had expected to find a slimy businessman drinking orphan tears, was a calm, grey-haired man. He wore a green suit, with a lighter green scarf wrapped around his neck. Like the woman, he had glasses, but unlike her, these seemed too small to be useful.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy, and Remnant, no doubt." The man's voice was calm and contained no obvious malice. "I do hope you enjoy your stay on our world."

Ellis took a deep breath, and then began his planned speech. Or he would have, if the DSC hadn't started talking before he could.

"Hello, and good day, world leader! We are representatives of the IMC, a multi-system government and business conglomerate. We are here today to inform you of the acquisition of your planet by the IMC and its affiliates, and your peoples' subsequent departure, as required by IMC protocol 143-A…" the robot continued its spiel about protocol and the hostile takeover of the planet. Ellis facepalmed as the robot ranted off exactly what he was afraid it would rant off, a patriotic slew of gibberish and inconsiderate, but true, factoids. He could hear Spade trying to stifle a laugh behind him, Graves groaning at the robot's stupid argurments for the relocation of the people on this planet.

Ozpin merely raised an amused eyebrow at the robot's spiel, a smile gracing his face as he sipped his coffee. His partner, the woman, had a look that mixed confusion, anger, and disbelief.

On the plus side, Ellis wasn't nervous anymore. Just a little pissed at whoever made that piece of work that was the Mark II Diplomatic Spectre Chassis.

It was going to take some forceful work to get out of this mess. Like, punching a robot in the face kind of work.

A/N I'm back! The twist? I never left! Chapter two of Grimmfall, a new character introduced and hated by everyone at the same time. Next time we get to hear what Mark really wanted to say, but will the Beacon personal listen to him? Just what is the deal with Olivia? Will Zeres ever wake up from his coma? Will Amanda turn her rifle into a scythe? The worlds may never know.

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