Author's Note:

Welcome to the following two Interludes for this story, The first one will be rather plot relevant as you will soon see. but otherwise I'm happy to have gotten out these Interludes. In other news I've finally hit eighteen years of age, and have started writing chapter seven. It will likely range between ten and twenty thousand words but lower your expectations to the lower end. Anyway please follow and review, tell me what you think.

Interlude 6-1 : Atlas Aura Science 2: In for a P.E.N.N.Y, in for a Pound

"Excellent work! You've finally done something right for once." The aide grumbled at Polendina's half insult half compliment but didn't complain admitting his mistakes.

Doctor Kitsune felt mirth at their misery but turned back to her own work. There had been a number of breakthroughs with their Dust and Aura research. They found that it was possible to force aura to solidify into Dust with incredibly dangerous and very explosive results. The only issue was that locating these clouds would take great deals of time and could deplete the deposits of Dust unless they can create more.

A difficult prospect for them. But there was a more energy efficient if somewhat slow method. Instead by using a large crystal preferably of quartz or diamond and injecting it with aura you can form what she had dubbed an aura crystal. An object that radiated with life energy. There were multiple possible uses they had hypothesized for it. Some were tested and much to her delight were proven correct. A source of nature could change the Crystal into a certain type of Dust. Though it made her wonder what type of Dust would arise from the activities of modern human civilization.

"How does the research on phased array satellites go?" The fox Faunus perked up her significant others question. After the 25th Vytal Festival they had received a great deal of Lien from an anonymous (Ozpin) source. An idea had been spawned as a supplement to the CCT.

A massive satellite constellation built up of thousands of low orbiting machines. The great numbers were needed to support the modern and ever increasing consumption of bandwidth. She believed they would only need a router the size of a small pizza box to connect to the network reducing the potential if unlikely danger of an attack. It made her paranoid, why was Ozpin so worried about something so impossible unless he knew something was coming.

'Don't be ridiculous…he might just be as paranoid as I am.'

"It's going well…trying to work out an appropriate power source for it. Those new fangled solar panels are easy enough to make when we have a mature silicon wages industry to exploit." The other lab workers around her seemed to agree nodding with conviction.

"What about Dust or this nuclear power." She stopped her scribbling and her flat out expression told the doctor all he needed to know.

"Neither technology is mature enough. We haven't attempted any experiments in forming an aura field and this nuclear energy while it's been tested in the lab has no real world testing." Especially with how dangerous the technology ultimately was. Weapons capable of killing millions was not something she wanted in the hands of any of the kingdoms. In fact the weapons could only have uses against humans and Faunus. The Grimm were too spread out for nuclear weapons to do any significant damage unless it was a single Grimm of immense size and mass and those are too rare to be worth the expense and danger.

"Fair enough…how efficient can you design them?" Kaneru thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.

"About 27% with silicon though there are some other systems based on our phased arrays. A trillion tiny carbon nanotube rectennas atop a mix of aluminum, copper and nickel to convert solar energy to electricity at up to 90% efficiency at a lower cost then panels."

"Of course…" The aerospace scientist turned to her counterpart in the more…biological field.

"Now anything on your end?"

"Well…sort of but…"

"I understand, research can be pretty slow sometimes."

"We'll work it out…"

A video played a scene of controlled chaos, dozens of scientists moving back and forth as something was being tested on. Doctor Polendina came into the scene with a bedraggled appearance though his happiness was obvious to any who could watch.

"Experiments have been going well…we've learned a lot about the nature and relationship between aura and Dust." The image blurred as the man dragged the camera elsewhere. He set it down near a testing stand containing a chunk of molten metal.

"For example we've expanded the number of materials which can be imbued with aura though for a Hunter this would already be well known." He brought out carbon powder and with some hidden mixing the metal glowed with a generic white light. Once the metal coupled he was left with what seemed like a normal steel alloy. But it was no longer a normal metal.

"By mixing the right crystalline materials with liquid metal we can imbue a metal with an aura field. Once it's part of the metal it becomes stable no longer shifting into Dust when exposed to energy." The metal was swiftly remelted and now mixed with a handful of Earth Dust. The magical substance was then used up as a reinforcing agent to the high carbon steel.

He grabbed the sheet of forged steel and tapped his knuckles against the metal. There was a weak flash of light and the doctor fed aura into the metal.

"The metal naturally feeds on a surrounding source of free floating aura keeping it's properties functional if reduced in low aura environments. Besides that the properties of the metal can be set at forging by the right applications of aura and Dust. Just as Hunters can change the properties of material so can our new machines." He gestured to a stack of small mechanical devices behind him. They resembled eggs in their shape, the computerized machines having a visor shaped Hard light screen. "After monitoring the manner in which aura interacts with a substance we simulated the metal to recreate those properties mechanically."

"It's…rath—" A feminine voice called the man from off screen. He frowned and glanced back at the camera.

"I'll be back…" The camera cut off moving on to another video.

The doctor appeared again this time with a less unruly appearance. He coughed and Doctor Kitsune took up some of the camera space.

He coughed. "The second log for our department. Now focusing on our computer technology and its connection with aura. He clapped his hands summoning a strange four legged and robot and another humanoid one. The first robot was yellow and black balancing on four thin legs. It had a long neck ending in a grasping claw and moved incredibly naturally. The second one was a faceless white robot with open wires around its head and chest area; it outsized the doctor by a fair amount.

(Basically imagine MiniSpot and the Atlas robot from Boston Dynamics)

"Our work on robotics has gone quiet well, though going from a hard coded system to machine learning lead to some…incidents. These advanced robots are the prototypes for future robotic machines. The applications for the medical industry, mass manufacturing is endless. Though there are some military ones as well." He selectively looked away as the two robots danced, showing off their advanced movement appearing natural despite their electrical hydraulic systems.

"We believe more advanced models could one day supplement Huntsmen in the field acting as cannon fodder to throw against our enemies." An amused glint was reflected on Polendina's eyes. "You could say our machines would serve as our beowolves and Ursa while Huntsmen would be elder Grimm." He clears his throat as he moved on to another related subject. "We've had some measured success in aura infusion similar to that of Huntsmen." He still looked disappointed however. "But it's not as protective, which is obvious in hindsight."

The camera shifted to a more open view, and one could examine the equipment laden throughout the lab. One display stood out in particular, a large shiny chip that seemed heavily parallelized. He picked it up with an odd carefulness.

"Now this is the most recent masterpiece. A carbon based neuromorphic computer fueled by aura. It's the solution to our problem…once I can get it working I mean." The video cut off in a sudden bout of static.

He appeared again…

"Log ugh...3, no Log 6. Both our projects have gotten well off the ground after about six months? Yes, that's right. We've gone quiet far in such a short amount of time. At our current pace the rocketry program should be ready in another year. Our aura and Dust research should be ready for a possible unveil around the 27th Vytal Festival."

There was a loud Thump that made him flinch though he relaxed when the sound didn't return.

"Anyway there has been progress made on making aura more effective for a machine intelligence. I've made attempts to examine one's brain wave through an MRI to translate them into neural code." His Visage was now tainted by frustration.

"It has not been going well…" Electrical static damaged the camera and the footage stopped.

"Log 12 date… December 12th…" The doctor fidgeted under the scrutiny of the camera. He no longer was in the best condition, his lab coat was messy, he was uncombed and unshaven.

"We…may have been overzealous in our research, not thinking about the consequences. Should have listened to the child's warnings for restraint."

The doctor remained silent paying special attention to the various aura crystals laid haphazardly across the desk. He sighed, gripping his beard in an ancient habit. He lifted one crystal into his hand, kneading the power source between his fingers.

"It seems I may have gone a little overboard on my brainwave programming." He slumped in his chair. "Perhaps I should go back to the beginning."

He flinched as a puny feminine voice asked for him. With a wave of his hand a hologram formed, demonstrating a roughly brain shaped and massed computer system. The skeleton of something formed around it, still incomplete.

"I…started a new sub project within the Aura research institute. I was attempting to create something that could replace Huntsmen in the field. I called it P.E.N.N.Y or the Polendina Evolving Neural Networking Youth. Just a little joke, since it could one day replace Huntsmen students." There was a bitter tone in the scientist's voice. "Just my luck that it wasn't a joke in the end…"

"Fa—sir?" He palmed his face as a youthful voice cut through the thick atmosphere.

"What is it?" His voices became something kinder and warmer as the young "women" waited.

"I…it's nothing…not important." The voice clicked off, and Polendina released a disappointed breath.

"The…project was simple, first I would create a massive neural network on a diamond-graphen matrix. That would serve as the primary processing center of our Hunter machines. However I needed something as much like a Huntsmen as possible. I needed to find the root of what generates aura. Most of our aural science only stores it, generating a supply of it I nearly impossible."

Two images popped up on the camera, an image of two separate brain recordings used as an apparent template for an artificial intelligence.

"Using my brain as well as Dr. Kitsunes brain as a template for the P.E.N.N.Y neural processor. It helped in our endeavor needed to replicate the soul and by using a combination of various techniques we succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. Two years of research has led to this. At this point we only need to create a biomechanical body to house her consciousness." The man seemed nervous, licking his lips and scanning the room for some unseen enemy.

"The issue is…this is beyond the scope of what the project intended…I've already shut down all the research into this, leaving only the less ethically questionable options left. It's a dangerous and tumultuous time with the rise of tension between Faunus and humans, the increase in banditry and Grimm attacks…but personally." He leaned inward as if to say an important secret.

"I believe we can make it past this rough spot. P.E.N.N.Y could even be the key to this." He stopped talking, becoming completely serious. He touched something behind the camera and the screen winked out for New Years…

Author's Note:

I hope you find this interesting. I honestly want to go in a different direction than the mostly fantasy slightly sci fi vision of Canon Remnant. Kind of a more even mix between say Crysis, Halo, and with a little bit of magic built of that. It should work out well...