Chapter 9: Return to Remnant

April 23, 2682; 1236 Hours

UNSC In Spirit of Fire, S-Deck Simulator (Slipstream Space)

Ivan dove into cover as a fragmentation grenade detonated where he stood mere moments ago. He looked up over the metal plate that he used for protection, catching a red glimpse pop out of cover and fire a rifle at him. The white streak of a tracer round passed by his head, forcing him back into cover. He looked to his right, watching his team's sniper put a round into the metal chestplate of their enemy. It seemed that Mary's light injuries she suffered during the Auraxis Campaign hadn't affected her aim at all. She was still a deadly shot.

His team's CQB specialist, Lauren, vaulted over her cover and activated her active camouflage. She snuck up behind one of their red-armored enemies and pumped a full magazine from her SMG into his back. She was, unfortunately, struck in the leg by a sniper round and fell to the ground. The enemy sniper made the mistake of firing again, giving the Heavy Weapons Specialist of Omega Team, Jacob, an opening. Jacob jammed down on the trigger of his ARC-920 Railgun, sending the slug into the enemy sniper's chest with a loud CLANG. The sniper flew back at least thirty feet, slamming into the metal starship wall.

Ivan rolled out of cover, firing three quick bursts from his Battle Rifle, suppressing the final combatant. He began advancing with each burst, eventually coming right on top of the enemy position. He rounded the corner, fully expecting what was to come. The enemy attempted to throw a rather vicious right hook at Ivan's helmet, but he ducked under the closed fist, sending his own augmented punch into the assailant's side, causing him to double over. He brought his knee up to the helmeted head, breaking the shields and knocking him out. Ivan spent a moment catching his breath.

"Victory!" The artificial intelligence of In Spirit of Fire announced over the intercom. "Omega Squad keeps their winning streak going strong. Shutting down War Games Training Simulation Delta-21." As the AI spoke, the internals of the Covenant warship that they had been fighting in mere moments before shimmered out of existence, replaced by the orange-white internals of the holographic projection combat simulator.

"Whoo!" Lauren celebrated, slotting a new magazine into her SMG as she shimmered back into view. "Nice work everyone." She helped the SPARTAN she had put a full magazine of sim-munition into up onto his feet, giving him a pat on the shoulder plate.

Ivan bent down to help the fireteam leader of the other SPARTAN IV team, Epsilon. "Nice work, guys." Ivan said, heaving the SPARTAN onto his feet.

"You didn't do so bad yourself, Colonel." The Epsilon squad leader said, giving Ivan a pat on the back-plate. "Promotion was well-earned."

Ivan nodded to his team and motioned for them to leave the projection room and make room for the next training sim. "Damn, Mary." Lauren said, placing her SMG onto her hip-mounted magnetic retention strip. "Good shooting back there."

"I try." Mary shrugged, her southwestern accent coming out clearly through her suit's vocal systems. "Wasn't expecting Josh to try his luck like that."

The SPARTANs made their way into the armory, placing their weapons back onto their respective racks. Lauren rushed over to the machine that would remove her MJOLNIR armor while the rest of the team re-organized their weapons and tallied up their spent ammunition. After keeping the quartermaster happy, Ivan stepped into the MJOLNIR removal apparatus, which began moving its mechanical arms around and detaching the armored plates. "So Chesnokov…" Jacob began. "Did you ever figure out what your Semblance thing is?"

"No idea." Ivan said, stepping out of the machine. "Apparently it can take some time to manifest, according to what I've heard."

"Did the Spooks ever figure out how this Aura thing works?" Lauren asked, grabbing her Dress Blues from a locker in the wall.

"They think it's got somethin' to do with spending enough time around that Dust Crystal." Mary said. "I'm honestly surprised that ONI hasn't ordered all UNSC military personnel to stay on Remnant for six months. It'd definitely cut down on the cost of shielding for the Marines and Army."

"It takes years of training to use it effectively." Ivan said. "I doubt ONI would be willing to stick the average Army grunt in a specialized training facility for four years. SPARTANs I can see, but I doubt ONI, let alone the Senate, would ever clear something that expensive. They're already sticking some Special Forces on Remnant for training, namely in fighting Grimm."

Ivan reached into his locker, grabbing his Dress Blues. The name was mostly for tradition's sake, as SPARTAN Dress Uniforms were jet black with gray accents, came with a white cap, had gold buttons, and had a white undershirt. "You would know, Mister 'I get a cushy job on Remnant being a student.'" Lauren joked. "We actually have to live on base."

"Official title is Liaison." Ivan reminded. "ONI wants me as a middleman between the UNSC and the Huntsmen of Remnant. Mostly to oversee the training of the new SPARTAN IV recruits at Beacon. Now if you're all done being jealous, I'm going to change. We'll be over Remnant in twenty minutes."

Ivan stepped out of the Armory, his Dress Uniform draped over his forearm. He made his way through the winding S-Deck, or SPARTAN Deck, eventually coming to a door with "Omega" etched into the metal plate. He stepped inside, their barracks seeming a bit more like a bare-bones hotel room rather than a soldier's quarters. He stepped into the restroom, changing out of his Tech Suit and into his uniform. He ensured that all of the buttons were straight, his cap on straight, and the uniform was clean and pressed to perfection, lest he want a lecture from Bishop or some stuck-up Fleet Officer. He stepped out of the bathroom, feeling awkward in the cleanly pressed fabric uniform and dress shoes.

He looked around his little area of the room, grinning slightly as he looked at the small picture of that seemed like it was taken an eternity ago. It was the five members of Team RWBY, gathered together at the Beacon Dance. 'Good to be back.' Ivan thought to himself. He grabbed his deactivated Scroll, sliding it into his coat pocket along with his datapad and credit chit.

He felt the ship lurch slightly as it left the void of Slipspace, followed by the AI's voice over the intercom. "We have arrived in the Remnant System, departing Pelicans to Remnant's surface will be leaving from Hangars 12 through 19 in ten minutes." Ivan quickly left the room, reminded of his schedule. He stepped into the elevator, pressing a combination of buttons that would send him to Hangar 12. Following the short ride, he was able to step into the massive hangar.

The hangar was a bit more equivalent to a shipyard, with the pair of Strident-Class Frigates resting in magnetic clamps on the ceiling, which stretched well over 300 meters tall. He spotted a set of ten Pelicans, all of which were warming up their engines and preparing to depart. The pilot of one of the Pelicans waved him over. As Ivan approached, the pilot gave him a crisp salute, which Ivan dismissed. "Colonel Chesnokov, I've been ordered to take you wherever you want to go on Remnant."

"Really?" Ivan asked, surprised. "What's the occasion?"

"Bishop wants you to meet up with your old team, apparently." The pilot said. "Comms chatter says they're fighting in the Tournament soon. I could take you there if you want."

"Alright then." Ivan nodded.

"Perfect, feel free to have a seat in the co-pilot's seat." The pilot said, stepping into the Pelican.

Ivan followed close behind, taking a seat next to the Pilot. The Pelican's engines ignited once the board lit up green, allowing the Pelican to leave through the hangar's energy shield. The orbit of Remnant had changed drastically in the three months that Ivan had been away. The defensive fleet was almost as large as an Inner Colony's thanks to the presence of a small fleet of Swords vessels. The orbit was even sporting seven Orbital Super MAC stations on this side of the planet alone. There appeared to be the beginnings of an Orbital Tether in construction near the Equatorial Region of Vale.

As the Pelican descended towards the continent containing Vale and Vacuo, Vale City eventually came into view. A massive floating teardrop-shaped stadium levitated over the city, antigrav generators along the bottom of the cone. The stadium was surrounded by Atlesian airships, fighters, and even a few UNSC frigates.

Ivan let out an appreciative whistle as the stadium came into view. "There she is." The pilot said. "That's the Vytal Festival Arena that everyone's been talking about."

"It certainly is impressive." Ivan said. After a short time, the Pelican set down on one of the landing pads with a slight lurch. "Thank you, Flight Lieutenant."

"Sure thing, Colonel." The Pilot said. "Good luck, sir."

Ivan stood up, walking out of the back of the large dropship. He adjusted his uniform as he stepped towards the admissions kiosk. "Can I help you?" The Faunus behind the counter asked, looking up.

"Yeah, I'm here to meet with Team RWBY." Ivan said. "Name's Ivan Chesnokov."

"Oh, you're the SPARTAN?" The Faunus asked. "Well, welcome to the Arena. I think Team RWBY's match is wrapping up in a few minutes, so you should be able to catch the last few minutes."

"Thanks." Ivan said, stepping through the rotating entry gate. He made his way up the short ramp, coming into full view of the arena, which was honestly rather breathtaking. There were easily over fifty thousand people in the stands, which overlooked the central battleground. From where Ivan stood, he could even make out a few Sangheili in the stands. The battleground was divided into two biomes, one a dense forest of glacier and ice, the other a volcanic sort of wasteland. He saw two teams duking it out in the Arena.

He watched from the railing as Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang all performed the dance of combat with another team of Huntsmen in training. Team RWBY appeared to be winning by a landslide. Weiss had quickly come to Ruby's assistance as a staff-wielding Huntsman attempted to sneak up on Team RWBY's leader, kicking him almost halfway across the biome. Blake cleanly clotheslined another Huntress with Gambol Shroud's connecting fiber, knocking her out of the arena.

The battle carried on for a few more minutes, but the other team made one fatal mistake: bunching together. Weiss created a sort of ice ramp with a small bundle of Frost Dust and shouted out to Yang. Blake quickly tossed Yang the pistol section of Gambol Shroud, allowing her to combine both of their momentum as Blake jumped onto the edge of Crescent Rose, using the recoil from the massive bullet to propel both her and Yang forward. Blake tossed the Blonde brawler, who had an entire belt of explosive shells loaded into Ember Celica. She punched the first of the other team's remaining members, knocking him into the other two, and knocking all three out of the arena, winning the match by knockout. The entire stadium erupted into cheers at the final display of combat prowess. Team RWBY was mid-celebration in the Arena as well.

Ivan smiled to himself as he made his way back down, through the combatant locker rooms. He eventually found the one with RWBY shining on the holographic name plate and stepped inside. He began reading through his Scroll, which had finally reconnected with the Remnant CCT Network, while he waited.

After a few minutes of waiting, the jovial Team RWBY stepped inside, surprised to find a UNSC Officer standing in their locker room with his back turned to them. "Umm… excuse me?" Ruby asked. "What's the UNSC doing in here?"

Ivan turned around, a wide smile on his face. "Just here to congratulate you on kicking some major ass in that first round."

Everyone on Team RWBY stood slack-jawed for a moment, seeing their missing SPARTAN. "Ivan!" Yang said, running over and embracing the SPARTAN in a strong bear hug.

Ivan grunted slightly as Ruby joined in the hug. "Good… to see you guys too." Ivan managed, Yang finally letting go after a few moments.

"What are you doing back?" Blake asked. "How was your mission?"

Ivan shrugged. "Went fairly well, Auraxis Prime is now under temporary UNSC occupation and the operation was declared a resounding success."

"And uhh… what's with the new symbol on your shoulder?" Weiss asked, pointing to Ivan's Colonel rank pins.

"Oh, I was promoted to Colonel after the operation." Ivan explained.

"Oh… congratulations." Weiss nodded.

"Now, I figured that I'd take you all to get something to eat; my treat." Ivan said. Ivan, and everyone in the room suddenly heard Blake's stomach growl quite violently. "Yeah… we should probably get some food."

"Good idea." Blake agreed, blushing slightly.

"There's airships that are going back to the fairgrounds on campus." Ruby said. "There's plenty to eat there."

Ivan nodded. "Sounds good."

As they walked towards the airship departures, Ivan listened to Ruby pitch ideas for who would fight in the doubles round. It eventually came down to a vote. Weiss and Yang were chosen to represent Team RWBY in the doubles match, while Ivan, Blake, and Ruby would watch from the stands.

The group eventually boarded an airship, taking a seat at one of the aisles of seats. "So Ivan…" Yang asked. "What happened out there?"

"During the battles?" Ivan asked, everyone affirming with a nod. "Well… The UNSC launched a pretty big invasion. Upwards of two million Marines, three hundred SPARTANs, and two full fleets of warships. Storm had the planet locked down pretty tight, but we had some help from the Swords."

"They were there too?" Ruby asked.

"Yep." Ivan answered. "The Arbiter led the Sangheili forces on Auraxis. We held onto a beachhead for around two weeks before we started advancing, hard. We took most of the planet within two months, but they held the line rather well at their planetary capital. I actually lost my right eye in the fighting there when a Brute got a bit too close with his Spiker's blade."

"But… you still have both eyes." Blake said, pointing out the obvious fact.

"In Spirit of Fire has some of the most advanced flash-cloning technology in the entire Navy. They just grew me a new eye from non-assigned Stem Cells, healed the scar with some surgery, and it's like nothing ever happened." Ivan explained, shrugging. "I could've opted for the metal cybernetic eye, but I prefer flash-cloned stuff I guess."

"You can just grow new body parts?" Weiss asked.

"Within reason." Ivan answered. "Getting a body part completely severed is different than having it melted off by plasma. In the former situation, most of the nerve endings are still in place, so flash-cloning is an option. If plasma burned out my eye, I'd be forced to take the cybernetic one, since plasma does massive damage to the optical nerve, rendering it useless." Weiss nodded in understanding. "Did anything happen here on Remnant while I was away?"

"Not much…" Ruby shrugged. "They had to push the Tournament back by a few months because… you know, alien invasion"

"Eh, fair enough" Ivan shrugged, glancing out of the window. The city's reparations had come along quite nicely. From where he sat, it looked like all of the rubble had been cleared and there was only a few small areas of the city that had yet to be fully repaired.

"Rubes and I went back home to Patch, too." Yang added.

"And Yang took Blake along to meet dad." Ruby cast a glance over to the quiet Faunus, who still had a look of indifference on her face.

"Hope that went well?" Ivan asked, earning a nod from Yang.

"Yep, dad loves my little Blakey." Yang grinned, wrapping her partner in a one-armed hug.

"I feel like your dad likes everyone." Blake shrugged. "I didn't really do anything special."

"Yeah…" Yang nodded. "That's why he really liked you."

"I assume the locals have been getting along with the Swords?" Ivan asked, the slightest hint of worry in his voice. "I mean, not exactly expecting a welcoming parade after what happened, but I hope people aren't doing stupid shit whenever they see a Swords warrior. That's not exactly the smartest thing to do if you enjoy having your arms attached to your body."

That earned a laugh from everyone. "Most people tend to avoid them, but it's been peaceful." Blake answered with a shrug. "They're really cordial to everyone."

"Yeah, it's like they don't know what contractions are…" Weiss added.

"Eh, that's part of their culture." Ivan explained. "It's something they started doing after the Human-Covenant War. After the war, a lot of people in the UEG thought they were just mindless beasts. Their grammar is one of the many ways they had to help to get rid of that image. It's just kinda stuck around."

"Oh…" Blake had heard something similar from a Marine while they were out to dinner one night, but he didn't do a particularly good job of explaining why the Sangheili talked and acted as they did. "They're especially friendly to the Faunus, too." She added. "Even after the White Fang attacked one of their peacekeeping teams after you left."

The airship set down on one of the many landing pads of Beacon academy, allowing the passengers to disembark. "Oh, man…" Ivan whistled, standing up and walking towards the exit. "The White Fang just opened up one hell of a can of worms with that one. The Swords know very well about the Faunus here on Remnant, but now they're gonna be out for White Fang blood."

"Yeah…" Yang nodded. "There's rumors that they've been helping the UNSC root them out of Vale lately, but nothing exactly concrete."

"Welcome to the wonderful world of Naval Intelligence." Ivan chuckled. "Get used to not knowing a whole lot about what the UNSC's doing down here."

As Ivan stepped off the airship, he took in the bustling environment of Beacon with a sense of nostalgia. He saw all of the students in their informal clothes, as it was Sunday afternoon, walking around campus. There was a large fairground in the northern grasslands of the campus, with students and professors alike enjoying the attractions. "Ugh…" Ruby said. "I'm so starving… let's go get food."

As they all started walking towards a stand surrounded by stools on all sides, a voice called out to them from behind. "It might be a bit hard to get food without this." Everyone turned around. There stood a woman with bright mint-green hair, light brown skin, and red eyes. She wore an outfit rather similar to Blake's, but hers was green and white as opposed to black and white. She was holding out a red wallet with at least six hundred Lien in it. Ruby noticed the wallet, went wide-eyed, and started feeling around in her pockets. The girl laughed. "Good to see ya Ruby."

Ruby laughed, walking over and taking the wallet. "Thanks Emerald, girl pockets are the worst, I swear."

"What's up, Em?" Yang asked, walking over.

"Just got back from the stadium, watching your guys' amazing fight. You guys were awesome." Emerald said. For some reason, something about this girl rubbed Ivan the wrong way. She seemed almost too nice. He had seen her a few times at Beacon before his departure on In Spirit of Fire, but he never had the chance to interact with her until now.

"I heard your team progressed too." Blake said.

"I feel like we never see your other teammates." Weiss added.

"Why don't you all come get something to eat with us?" Ivan asked.

"Uh…" Emerald began, looking the tall SPARTAN up and down. "I don't think I've met you before."

"Colonel Ivan Chesnokov, 1st Company of the UNSC SPARTAN Corps." Ivan answered, holding out his hand, which she shook rather firmly.

"Oh, you were at Beacon!" The girl responded, smiling. "I didn't recognize you in that uniform, but you've become something of a legend at Beacon nowadays. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, too." Ivan said. "And my offer still stands, you and your team are welcome to join is for something to eat."

"Oh…" Emerald said, surprised. "I… I don't think that's a good idea. They're all… really socially awkward."

"Ouch…" Yang said. "That's rough."

"So… did you guys decide who's fighting in the doubles round?" Emerald asked.

"As leader, I had to think about this for a good while." Ruby said, proudly.

"We put it to a vote." Weiss said.

"Well I made the decision that we should put it to a vote." Ruby declared.

"Ivan had the idea." Weiss interrupted again.

Ruby sighed. "We voted Weiss and Yang."

"And I'm happy to represent Team RWBY." Weiss said with a nod.

"And we're gonna kick some ass!" Yang said, happily.

Emerald gave a slight chuckle, which unnerved Ivan for some strange reason. "Well, if Mercury and I see you guys down the line, don't think we'll go easy on 'ya."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Yang said, smiling slyly.

Emerald smiled. "Alright well, we're going to catch a few more fights. See you guys later. And it was nice meeting you, Ivan."

Ivan gave her a curt nod as she turned to walk away, waving quickly to the rest of Team RWBY before disappearing towards the airship docks with a silver-haired boy that Ivan recognized as Mercury. Team RWBY began walking towards the small food cart, which was manned by an older man of Asiatic descent.

As the five sat down, the older man came out from behind the counter with a notepad in hand. "I'll have a bowl of the regular, please." Yang said. The man reached behind the stand and instantly produced a rather large bowl of noodles, sliding it over to Yang, who smiled.

"Ooh…" Ruby said, looking at her sister's choice. "I'll take the same." The man, once again, produced the noodles instantly from behind the counter.

"Is there anything with low salt?" Weiss asked. The man nodded, producing another bowl at a slightly slower speed, sliding it over to Weiss.

Blake simply nodded to the man, who returned the nod. He quickly ducked behind the counter for a few minutes, the sounds of sizzling stoves and clattering cookware sounding off. He produced a bowl of noodles with cooked fish expertly woven into the dish. Blake seemed to forgo all normal behavior and start staring at the food, mouth slightly agape. Ivan simply smiled as he saw Blake's bow twitch slightly. "I'll have the same as her." Ivan said, pointing to Yang. Once again, the man instantly produced the food and slid it over to Ivan.

Before Ivan could get his scroll out to pay, Weiss produced a small plastic credit card with the Schnee Dust logo on the front, which the older food cart operator took and swiped across a magnetic strip reader. "Aww Weiss, what's the occasion?" Yang asked.

"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Weiss said, surprised to find her card handed back to her. She looked over to the screen, "DECLINED" blinking across the screen.

"What?" Weiss asked, amazed. "How could my card be declined?" She sank down in her seat slightly as Blake began to sneakily pull the bowl towards herself, hoping the owner didn't notice. "I was barely into my monthly allowance." Weiss whispered to herself.

Ivan produced his Scroll, handing it over to the operator, who placed it against the screen. The transaction was accepted and Blake let out a pent-up breath of relief, happy she could still eat her favorite food.

Weiss noticed the transaction taking place on the activated screen of Ivan's scroll, surprised to see that he had upwards of two million Lien in his account. "How do you have so much money?" Weiss asked, amazed.

"Hoo boy…" Ivan chuckled, earning a questioning look from everyone. "You see, most people here have to work to get that kinda Lien." A small smirk broke out across his face. "That is… unless you have an Eighth Generation Smart A.I."

"The UNSC didn't give you funding?" Blake asked, her mouth still somewhat full of fish and noodles.

"I don't know, but I doubt that you guys accepted UNSC Credits when I first got here." Ivan said, slotting the Scroll back into his pocket.

"Fair point." Weiss said, turning to her food.

"Hey there, friends!" Ivan heard someone call out. He looked over and saw Team JNPR walking in their direction. Pyrrha was wearing her normal combat attire, as JNPR had a match coming up in just under an hour. She noticed a tall man wearing UNSC Officer's attire, her expression quickly turning to surprise. "Ivan!" She said, embracing him in a friendly manner. "It's great to see you again!"

"Good to see you all, too." Ivan said, smiling. Nora quickly ran over, giving Ivan a huge bear hug.

"Ivan!" Nora exclaimed happily. "Did you kill more aliens while you were gone?"

"Nora…" Ren said, shaking his head slightly.

Ivan chuckled. "Something like that. You guys wanna join us? We just started eating."

"Sure!" Pyrrha said, sitting down among the right-most set of stools. Jaune sat next to her, Nora sat next to Jaune, and Ren sat on the end. The food cart operator quickly took everyone's orders, returning with the food almost instantly as usual. As Ivan expected, he was bombarded with questions and queries from everyone at the stand.

As Ivan finally had a few moments without questions when everyone was finishing up, he remembered something. A devilish grin crossed his lips as he swiveled around in his seat to look to his right, looking at Jaune. "So Jaune…" He began, getting the socially awkward blonde's attention. "How've you and Pyrrha been since the dance?" Pyrrha gave a small smile at the memory of her leader in a white dress and sneakers. "So are you and Pyrrha… you know… a thing?"

Jaune almost instantly sat up as straight as a board, blushing slightly as he tried to stammer out a response. Pyrrha laughed at Jaune's response. "Yes, Jaune and I are trying out a relationship. We've only been together a few weeks, though. Officially, that is."

"Good for you guys." Ivan said, giving Jaune a nod. "I always figured you two would be a good couple."

"W-what do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Think about it, Jaune!" Yang said from her end of the counter. "You and Pyrrha trained together, you always hung out, you spent the entire dance together, and she was always trying to get your attention."

"Even when you were going for Weiss." Ivan pointed out, causing the heiress to shake her head in disbelief. "All in all, you guys are honestly perfect for each other."

"What about you, Ivan?" Yang asked. "Do you have anyone waiting for you on Earth or another colony?"

Ivan shook his head. "Can't say that I do. Never actually dated anyone before, not even in high school. I enlisted at sixteen, became a SPARTAN at seventeen. Now I'm twenty and I've been to pretty much every corner of Human space. Settling down and finding someone was never really an option."

"Aww…" Yang said. "You should totally try asking someone out! There's bound to be someone that you like around here."

Ivan laughed. "I don't think so. Even if I did like anyone around here in that way, I'm not too keen on testing the UNSC's fraternization regulations, even if I am technically not active duty right now."

"Technically?" Weiss asked.

"My standing orders are to act as a liaison between the UNSC and Beacon." Ivan explained. "Basically, the UNSC wants to start training SPARTAN IVs here at Beacon, and they want someone to test the waters for them. I'm kinda ONI's lab rat right now, in a way. Once I graduate after fourth year, if they can get permission and if I perform well enough, the UNSC might start training SPARTANs here at Beacon."

"Oh, neat!" Ruby said. "So your job is to be a student at Beacon?"

"Pretty much." Ivan responded. "Pretty good deal, since my duty contract with the UNSC is up when I graduate, so I can retire after I finish at Beacon and do some tests for ONI."

"Are you going to?" Blake asked.

"Haven't decided yet." Ivan shrugged. "Still got three years to plan that."

After a few more moments of eating and casual conversation, everyone looked completely full and rather lethargic. Jaune especially looked as if he ate a bit too much. Pyrrha looked down at her Scroll, surprised at the time. "Oh gosh, we need to get ready! Our fight's in ten minutes."

Team JNPR quickly gathered their things and began preparing to make a mad dash for the airship docks. "Good luck out there, guys!" Ruby shouted, waving them off. "We should go watch!"

"I'm in!" Yang said, standing upright and brushing herself off.

Ivan, Blake, and Weiss stood up and followed towards the docks, preparing to watch JNPR's first match.

XXXXX

April 23, 2682; 1347 Hours

Remnant, Vale (Vytal Festival Arena)

Ivan applauded as Nora quite literally knocked the entire enemy team out of the ring with a single hit from her hammer-grenade launcher, Magnhild. Ivan watched as all four members of the other team flew out of the Arena, slamming into the energy shields that served as barriers between the stands and arena. JNPR was busy celebrating their victory. Ruby and Yang cheered on their compatriots as they stepped out of the Arena. Ivan settled back in to begin watching Sun and Neptune's team.

The fight that Sun and Neptune's team had was rather entertaining and very close. Ivan found, in all of irony's glory, that Neptune was deathly afraid of water. This became evident when Sun was trapped on the oceanic side of the arena, fending off two enemy huntsmen while attempting to goad Neptune into assisting him.

The fight ended in Sun and Neptune securing a win for their team, which was met with a massive applause from the audience. They had effectively put on the best show of the day, since the match was so close. Ivan gave an applause, surprised that they had managed to cinch such a close match that well.

As the match came to a close, everyone in the stadium began to stand up and prepare to leave, as the final match of the day had come to an end. Ivan gathered his things and followed behind his team, planning to meet up with JNPR before catching an airship back to Beacon.

The ride back was rather uneventful, with congratulations being spread all around. When they landed, JNPR excused themselves to go sleep off the fatigue from their fight, leaving the fairly rested Team RWBY standing in the courtyard of Beacon Academy. Blake and Yang excused themselves to head back to their room, looking to get some rest. As Ruby, Ivan, and Weiss stood talking, Weiss looked up, her eyes going wide with some unintelligible emotion. Ivan looked up as well, spotting an Atlesian airship coming in to dock with the Airship landing pad. It carried long banners of the Atlas flag. "Oh my gosh…" Weiss said, amazed. "She's here."

"Who?" Ruby asked, looking over to Weiss.

"My sister." Weiss answered.

After a few minutes of landing preparations, the airship eventually came to rest on the landing pad. The ramp descended from the back of the aircraft, and six Atlesian Knights stepped out, escorting a very tall woman with white hair, icy blue eyes, and incredibly pale skin who wore a uniform of some kind, as it bore some resemblance to General Ironwood's uniform. "Winter!" Weiss said, running over to the older woman.

"Hello, Weiss." Winter said, formally and with an air of authority about her. "How have you been?"

"Terrific!" Weiss said as Ruby and Ivan walked over. "I'm ranked top in my combat class, my grades are doing spectacularly, and-"

Winter playfully swatted her sister's head. "I didn't ask how your grades and rankings were, I asked how you were. Are these your friends?"

"Oh!" Weiss said, smiling. "Winter, this is my partner and team leader, Ruby Rose." Ruby waved to Winter, who merely smiled and returned the gesture. "And this is Ivan Chesnokov."

"A pleasure." Ivan said with a nod.

"That uniform…" Winter said, looking Ivan up and down. "You are with the UNSC, correct?"

"That'd be correct." Ivan answered. "Colonel Ivan Chesnokov, SPARTAN Corps, Remnant Detachment, you?"

"Atlesian Military Specialist under General Ironwood." Winter said, extending her hand, which Ivan shook. "It's an honor to meet a SPARTAN outside of the armor, I've heard that it's rare."

"Somewhat." Ivan responded, nonchalantly.

"Are you here for the conference?" Winter asked.

"I'm not aware of any conference." Ivan responded. "I'm technically a student here at Beacon."

"Really?" Winter asked.

"I'm ONI's pet project for the next three years." Ivan responded. "They're looking to train SPARTANs like this, so they're testing the waters with me."

"Should be interesting." Winter said, nodding.

Ruby looked behind Winter, spotting someone familiar to her. "Uncle Qrow!" Ruby said, running past Weiss and Ivan, embracing a rather tall man with grey hair and a slight stubble. He carried a short scythe at his hip and wore a grey cloth shirt, black vest and slacks, and combat boots. "Did you miss me?" Ruby asked.

"Nah." Qrow joked, hugging his niece. "Good to see you, kid." Qrow walked over to where Winter, Weiss, and Ivan stood. He seemed surprised to see Winter there. "Well I'll be damned. It's the Ice Queen." Qrow joked.

"Hey!" Winter and Weiss exclaimed simultaneously, glancing at each other with cocked eyebrows in response.

As Qrow spoke, Ivan couldn't tell if he smelled like good bourbon or bad vodka. He could practically hear every breathalyzer within six miles going off like an air raid siren. "And this must be the SPARTAN that saved Remnant." Qrow said, giving Ivan a nod. "Nice to meet you, son."

"Pleasure's all mine." Ivan responded, smiling.

"Just what are you doing here, Qrow?" Winter asked, irritated.

"Visiting my old friend Ozpin and my niece." Qrow responded. "Not sure what the Atlesian military is doing here, I thought you guys were busy occupying Mantle for some reason or another. I guess you need to bring your bravado everywhere you go. Helps you Atlas Specialists feel special, huh?" Qrow mocked.

"It's in the title." Winter said, crossing her arms.

After a rather tense moment of silence, Ozpin was kind enough to break the both metaphorical and physical ice as he walked up. "If the two of you are going to fight, at least do it in the colosseum so the students can watch with popcorn." Ozpin joked. "The last time the two of you fought I had to replace all of the cobblestone from here to Beacon Tower."

The two huffed, Winter looking visibly angry while Qrow had a smug look on his face. Ozpin turned to the formally-dressed SPARTAN. "Mister Chesnokov, welcome back to Remnant. Will you be attending Beacon again?"

"That's the plan as it stands right now." Ivan responded. "If you'll take me, that is."

"I meant what I said, Mister Chesnokov." Ozpin said. "You'll always have a place here. I kept your team's dormitory relatively the same, but I had the bunk beds be made a bit less… precarious."

"Bunk beds?" Winter asked.

"Ruby's idea." Weiss said. "I always wanted bunk beds anyway." Winter gave her sister a knowing smile.

"Now…" Ozpin began. "The two of you need to come with me." Ozpin gestured to Qrow and Winter. "It's good to have you back, Mister Chesnokov." With that, Ozpin, Qrow, and Winter left and began walking towards Beacon Tower.

After another rather short awkward silence, Ivan spoke up. "Well, I'm gonna go unpack my stuff."

"I'll come with you." Ruby said. "I'm really tired."

"No arguments from me." Weiss said, walking with Ruby and the SPARTAN.

Ivan walked through the campus of Beacon, a few of the older students recognizing him; a few even greeted him as he walked by. He stepped into his dorm room with Weiss and Ruby behind him. He noticed that the bunk beds were no longer held together by ropes and balanced on old textbooks, but were actual bunk beds. Blake and Yang were sitting on their respective beds and waved to him as he entered. He gave them a smile as he tossed his belongings into the old footlocker. He stepped into the bathroom, quickly changing out of his dress blues in favor of a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He neatly folded the uniform up and placed it on a hanger in the closet.

As Ivan sat down on the edge of his bed, he noticed that Blake had removed her bow. This was the first time that he had ever seen her Faunus features up close. She had a small pair of feline ears coming out of the top of her head, which twitched in response to sudden noises. "So Ivan?" Yang began, catching the SPARTAN's attention. "Anything happening out there?" Yang pointed with an outstretched thumb towards the bright sun, which was making its slow descent towards the horizon.

Ivan shrugged. "Normal everyday life out there right now. Covenant Storm's been kicked out of this sector, Sangheili and the UEG are closer than ever, and one of the last colonies has been re-terraformed and re-colonized. So all in all… things are perfect up there. The whole galaxy's in a state of peace."

"That's good to hear." Yang responded.

"When's the next round of the tournament?" Ivan asked.

"This upcoming Saturday." Blake responded. "So we've got a week of classes between now and our doubles match."

Ivan nodded, yawning and cracking his back. "Oh God…" Ivan said, his spine cracking rather loudly. "War Games today was a bad idea."

"War Games?" Weiss asked.

"Combat simulations for SPARTANs." Ivan explained. "It's a way for us to keep ourselves sharp."

"How often do you do them?" Weiss asked.

"When we're bored on a long jump." Ivan explained.

"You shoot at each other when you're bored?" Blake asked, cocking an eyebrow at Ivan.

"Pretty much." Ivan said.

Ivan continued catching up with Team RWBY well into the night. It wasn't until around 11:30 that they all realized just how long they'd been awake. Everyone quickly turned in, their extreme exertion pushing them to sleep faster than normal.