It had been a couple of months since Diane ended up Ironwood’s care, Ironwood was sitting in his office, it was a small silver room and it had a plain metal desk in the middle of it with a simple chair that he was currently sitting on, Ironwood grimaced “Diane I have important meeting and I’d like you to stand by me. Jacques Schnee going to be here in a few hours to discuss the Atlas Army’s payment for the dust our military requires.”

Diane frowned “Father what do you wish for me to do?”

Ironwood sighed “I don’t wish for you do things, I would like your support though he grates me a lot.”

Diane smiled “I will be there.”

Ironwood nodded “I do believe it would be good for you to were your armour but leave your helmet behind, it reminds him of our solidarity and position.”

Diane nodded “I’ll be there father, I just need grab my armour.”

Ironwood smiled “I love you my daughter never forget that.”

Diane smiled “I know you do father” she bowed and then left the office. She walked through the silver hallways to her room on the ship, it was small white room holding a plain white bed, as well as a side drawer and a custom suit of armour on a rack, it had a titanium steel chest plate with reinforced kevlar covering the stomach as well as titanium steel plating for the entire lower part of the armour.

Diane headed into the plain bathroom with a plain sink, shower and toilet, she grabbed a plain white towel and hoped into the shower she lathered the soap over her skin through her mane and washing behind her ears, after quickly cleaned herself off she walked out of the room and quickly put her armour on.

Diane exited her the room to see a six foot two pale white lion Faunus with a mix of two blue and cerulean in his mane, she forced a smile “Specialist Armour what do I owe the pleasure?”

Armour growled “You think you’re special simply because your the General’s daughter don’t you, that you can wander these halls like…”

A voice boomed “Specialist Armour what do you think you’re doing?!”

They both turned to see a six foot six dark blue equine Faunus weariness dark blue titanium steel armour with a moderate sapphire blue mane her dark blue wings flapping behind her, Armour bowed ”Forgive me Commander Luna but she shouldn’t be here, she is only here because she is the daughter of General Ironwood.”

Luna shook her head “Really, did you know you were insulting my sparring partner.”

Armour’s eyes widened as he turned to her “You spar with the Eternal Moonblade!”

Diane frowned “I have about an hour to kill before I need to meet with father I’m sure we could spar for a bit.”

The trio entered the sparring room, it was a dirty dusty pit of dirt surrounded by a silver room with several tables and chairs to watch the fight, as soon as Luna and Diane entered the room everyone turned their heads much to the shock of Specialist Shining Armour, one of them grinned “They’re going to go at it!”

Shining Armour watched as Luna towered of Diane being twice her height, Diane was quite tall for her age at three foot three. Luna grinned as she drew her longsword “Are you ready?”

Diane grinned her pink aura filling the air “I wonder how much you’ve improved since last time.”

Luna delivered a thrust which Diane caught with her fingers before throwing her off balance, Shining Armour blinked “How did she do that, Luna has been fighting battles for centuries?”

Diane turned to him “Rule one of combat, if you’re faster and stronger than your opponent you can kill them or in this case beat them.”

Luna sighed as she stood “Ow okay I think I’ve had enough, that hurt a quite a lot more than I expected.”

Diane rubbed the back of her head “Sorry I got a little carried away” she then pointed to Shining Armour “as I wanted him to get I am not just here because I am Ironwood’s daughter, now I need to meet with my father.”

Diane headed to her father’s office leaving Shining Armour being glared at by everyone else in the room, Ironwood smiled “I’m glad you’re here beside me.”

Diane smiled “Father, you’ve given me so much. I was on the street alone and you decided to take me in.”

Ironwood frowned as he heard noise outside of the ship “Stand next to me, that is Jacques’s private shuttle. We are going to meet him out there, a mere formality but a necessary one for a man of his demeanour.”

Diane nodded “Yes father.” The two headed to the front of the ship passing by Atlas soldiers and Atlas robots, they stepped out to see a shining white shuttle. A pale man with white hair and moustache walks forward, he was wearing a pure white double breasted jacket with a blue shirt and vest underneath, a could large men wearing black shirts and pants as well as sunglasses stood either side of him. He approached with a forced smile “James it’s been a while.”

Ironwood nodded “Jacques, it has been a while.”

Jacques frowned “Who is this Faunus you have with you?”

Ironwood raised an eyebrow “She’s my adopted daugther, is there a problem?”

Jacques frowned “No there isn’t it” He turned his bodyguards “guard the shuttle” he then followed Ironwood and Diane into the ship. He grimaced as he looked around at the Faunus soldiers walking through the corridors “How can you stand collaborating with their kind?”

Ironwood scowled “Jacques don’t forget what did you to Casey Stormwind? I have not forgotten that incident so don’t test my patience!” Diane raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything

Jacques nodded “I understand, so let’s get down to business. You want us to provide Atlas with your yearly supply of dust in exchange for your yearly payment.”

Ironwood took a deep breath “Yes I do Jacques.”

They entered his room, he took his seat and Diane stood behind him, he then pressed a button on the table a metal chair emerged from the floor for Jacques to sit on, Jacques grimaced as he took a seat “How do you stand to sit on these chairs, they are horrible?”

Ironwood frowned “We are soldiers, sometime a stump is you seat plus you and I don’t have a tail to sit so it’s not as bad.”

Jacques shook his head as he put the papers on the table, Ironwood frowned as he begun to read the papers “Everything is fine except for the month delay for the delivery time, we need those here on that day.”

Jacques frowned “The White Fang attacks have intensified, we will need to take a little longer to prepare the transport for travel so it won’t be attacked.”

Ironwood growled “Don’t you think Atlas has it’s own dust mines, they are far less efficient then yours but they can provide us with what we need. I make sure to purchase yours at five times the normal rate of dust because you guarantee that they get here faster than Atlas’s own, so if you want our continued business you will get them here on time am I clear!”

Diane frowned “Father we should provide an Atlas escort for the Dust shipment, we don’t the White Fang gets their hands on our dust.”

Ironwood nodded “That is a good idea Diane” his eyes then narrowed as he looked at Jacques “I will provide an escort for the shipment but it must get there on time is that clear?”

Jacques nodded “Yes,I will have it done right away.”

Ironwood ordered a few soldiers to escort him to his shuttle, after he left Diane frowned “Who’s Casey Stormwind?”

Ironwood sighed as he felt a tear in his eye “She was an old flame of mine, she was a Faunus scientist that worked for Atlas before I took command, in one of the experiments conducted between us and Jacques’ company one which he was personally responsible for the safety on had an accident and she died due to his lackluster safety protocols her blood is on his hands. I have still not forgiven him for that incident.”

Diane gave her father a hug “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

Ironwood shook his head “It’s fine, as my daughter I needed you to know.”

Unbeknownst to him a dark blue wolf Faunus wearing a dark blue shirt and pants was standing on the roof, her left eye glowed red as she had a black ooze around it, her right arm was black and covered in armour. She smiled as she left “I’m glad you have someone caring for you my love” not a single figure noticed her shadowy form leaving the area.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this chapter.