the clone occupation of remnant (a rwby/star wars crossover story)

Chapter 28

Ironwood wanted to do something, anything, in order to curb humanity first's influence. However, he quickly found that many of the councils politicians were on the payroll of the organisation. And given jaques' views of faunus and the S.D.C's treatment of its faunus workers, it was very likely that the two were at least co-operating.

Any attempts at finding the organisations paramilitary forces also ended in failure. Humanity first did not rely on one single militia, but instead utilised multiple smaller paramilitary groups who alligned with them. The most prominent of these was the watchdogs in the southwest, but others existed, like the bloodguards in the east

The S.D.C itself had not been idle either. Jaques was a member of the geelee family, a noble house that had existed since mantle was the nations capital. Unlike in mistral, noble houses weren't granted nearly as much authority. However, this meant that the forces of atlesian noble house modernised far quicker than those of mistralian houses.

The geelee army was the best example of this. While still using somewhat outlandish uniforms, with their hats in particular being especially ridiculed, they were effective at their duties. And now, jaques had folded them into the ranks of the S.D.C security forces, with many taking on officer positions.

Unfortunately, James couldn't act against this: jaques was the head of both the schnee and geelee families, and as such had the authority to do this. And so, the general was forced to back down.

Currently, however, this wasn't ironwoods priority. As far as he was aware, humanity first did not have the power to take total control of atlas. So for now, he was able to prioritise other things.

And one specific project was currently at the front of his mind...

--

Cradle station 3 was a relatively well hidden facility of the atlesian military, built into a mountain in the east of solitas. The facility was used as a robotics lab and air base, with dozens of atlesian knights and paladins produced every day.

However, the most important part of the station was that it was the home of the penny project... And it's precursors.

Ironwood soon arrived at the doors of the station in his AX-2 dropship, flanked by his marines. As the doors opened before him. Standing there, awaiting his arrival, was professor armand isdole: a close friend of peitro pendolina and former scientist working on the penny project.

"good to see you again, general!" the professor stated in his regular, jolly attitude.

"likewise, professor." ironwood retorted. "how, goes our latest project?"

"oh, splendidly! Come inside, I'll show it to you."

Ironwood followed the scientist through the halls of the facility. As he walked, he saw the various robots being constructed: from atlesian knights being programmed and equipped with rifles to paladins being reffited to allow human pilots. It seemed everything was in order.

Eventually, the two entered a room with a large pane of glass overlooking the floor below. There, ironwood found the project he had been talking about.

It was a massive warship, twice the size of the standard atlesian airship. It also seemed to be far more reinforced, with white armour plates covering the entire thing. The bridge of the ship also seemed to be atop the very back of the ship, similar to Republic models, instead of underneath The main hull like standard versions.

"impressive, isn't it." isdole asked the general. "we taken to nicknaming it the 'I.A.S bonaventure' though the official name is the cerebrus-class destroyer.

"impressive indeed." ironwood replied, stroking his chin. "I take it this has some sort of specialised modification?"

"indeed it does. The bonaventure utilises an A.I program we nickname A.V.A to run the ship automatically, thus eliminating the need for an on board crew other than soldiers. However, there were some slight... Issues."

"what do you mean?" the general pressed.

"the program was based off of project penny's design. However, it seems unable to accept the fact that it is artificial. when told as such, it seems to break down it Into what can best be described as a robotic seizure, with errors becoming rampant. We had to reset the program just to ensure it wasn't damaged or worse. In the end, we made up a cover story: we told it that it was a program made from the mind of a severely injured atlas soldier, who volunteered to undergo a project that would covert her mind to digital form. We've called it ava ever since."

"Are you sure it... Or 'she' can't hear us?" ironwood pondered.

"absolutely." the proffesor replied. "she's restricted to the bonaventure itself."

"very well then. As long as it doesn't compromise it's effectiveness on the battlefield, I'll allow it."

Isdole seemed to give a sigh of relief.

"I take it you've been in contact with The other cradle stations?" he asked the general.

"yes. Station two has reported that their battleship should be ready by the end of the month, and station one has reported their cruiser is already operational. However, I'm here to issue and order."

This got the proffesors attention.

"put the stations security on high alert. I have a feeling something big is going to happen."

"understood general." armand responded. "what do you mean by that?"

"don't worry. I'll contact you when I know for sure."

With that the general walked out of The facility, leaving the professor to ponder what he meant...