Chapter 15

A/N: Hello everyone, how are you doing? Oh, and welcome back to Becoming Human.

So, I'll keep saying this, I'm trying my best to update as much as I could even with school now looming over me and trouble in Physics. So I'll do what I can to juggle time.

So, hope you guys liked the last chapter of this. Though I can feel the salt in the air after I posted it, since as I know, including all of you, when you found out the UNSC have now entered the stage. Hey, I know it's kinda boring now with that, but I've been planning to have that happen for a long while now, so I hope you respect my decision to have them come.

Ahem.

Well, other than that, I got nothing else to say but to enjoy the next chapter of Becoming Human.

If there was one thing that Riley knew in all his time in the UNSC, that was to remain calm. Being in a calm and relaxed state allowed people to think clearly without stress and panic putting a strain on the thought process. Plus that fact to help people to remain calm in situations where the heart would be beating faster than normal. That was one thing he knew in all his time, and something he keeps to date.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT I SHOULDN'T MOBILIZE MY FORCES CONSIDERING THAT THERE COULD BE A HOSTILE INVASION FORCE RIGHT ABOUT REMNANT?!" Ironwood shouted at Riley slamming his fist down against the desk of Ozpin's as both the Headmaster and ODST were present.

Well, not everyone was calm considering the fact there was a fleet in orbit of Remnant, and slowly continuing it's descent down to the planet.

Riley lowered his head down and groaned softly shaking it. "General, for the last time, there's no need to lose your shit over something like this"

The Atlas General looked like his head was about explode from the sheer stress and panic of what was going on until Ozpin cleared his throat to catch his attention. "James, I suggest you should trust in him. Despite the short time he has been here in the academy, Riley has shown his worth, even bringing an entire village's population within the walls of the Kingdom. So I believe we should put our faith in him until things have been sorted out."

Ironwood looked at his old friend before gazing over at the ODST who had his arms crossed with his own annoyed look. Begrudgingly, he dipped his head down and nodded in agreement. "... Fine..."

Riley nodded letting his arms drop to his side. Taking a couple strides towards the desk, his whistled softly and tapped his foot waiting for a moment. Heather soon appeared on his shoulder and tilted her head at the ODST. "You called?" The A.I asked with her hands behind her back.

"I need a favor done, Heather. Get the coordinates of the airship docks of the academy and relay it to the 8th Fleet. They'll send a Pelican down as soon as they receive it," Riley replied back to the A.I Construct.

"Consider that done, Riley. I'll notify you once the Pelican has landed," Heather answered, soon disappearing leaving the three men to themselves.

Riley looked at both Headmasters and sighed with a nod. "And I need to ask you two favours before anything else escalates. Whatever Huntsmen, Huntresses or Atlas Military Personnel have been notified of this, tell them not to engage if any ships come down. I've explained already, those are my people up there. Hell, you know of my origins almost a month ago, though Ozpin here knows a little bit longer, sharing you with enough information about me and who the UNSC are."

"And are you sure they're not here to invade Remnant?" Ozpin asked in his calm demeanor.

"Considering that I've received a transmission from my people looking for me, I doubt they have any idea of invading, just needing to retrieve a trooper like me," The ODST argued back at him. "And please, Ironwood, don't attack out of paranoia. It'll cause more problems than I could count."

"RILEY!" Heather's voice shouted before she reappeared standing on Ozpin's desk with a distressed look.

"What's wrong, Heather?"

"T-They... They sent in-"

BOOOOOM!

The ground shook as thunderous crashes were heard. Ironwood ran over to the window behind Ozpin and widened his eyes seeing what the commotion was all about. "Don't tell me..." Ironwood began dryly.

Riley groaned and covered his face, embarrassed by the fact his people have done this. "He had to send them in," He grumbled under his breath walking towards the elevator. "Ozpin, trust me when I say this, send in your best negotiator to the front from your staff. I'll be needing him or her if the UNSC need to negotiate themselves," Riley told the Beacon Headmaster as the doors opened prompting him to go in.

"And where are you going?" The Atlas General demanded to the ODST with a small glare.

Turning around with a glare of his own. "To make sure those Helljumpers don't cause any collateral damage," He responded to him before the doors closed.

Ironwood turned his attention over to Ozpin with a groan. "Are you sure that we can trust him for this?"

"We have no other choice, James. All we need to know is to wait and see what will happen."

Riley stomped his way down the hallway that was going down towards the front entrance of the academy. A scowl made it's mark on his face as he drew out his M6C going through the sea of students, either in uniforms or their battle gear, have swarmed around, panicking or curious to see what was going on. They were currently blocking his way to the front, prompting him to fire his handgun a couple times into the air. This caused the students to get out of his way allowing his passage through the crowd.

Once getting outside, he was filled with relief mixed in with annoyance seeing the sight. A multitude of SOEIV (Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Insertion Vehicle) Pods were strewn about, some upright, some one their sides, with one dangerously close to the monument in front of the academy. All laid empty as their occupants made a perimeter near the airstrip docks, fellow ODSTs keeping watch over the students and their own.

But it annoyed him seeing how some students were murmuring to each other about some rather negative topics regarding about the Troopers that have dropped in. Then again, this was rather unorthodox of insertion to begin with.

Shaking his head, he looked over at the crowd that had gathered up and took in a deep breath. "Listen up!" Riley bellowed out loudly catching their attention. "I don't care if all of you have any bad comments about what is currently going on here. But if you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything! In addition to that, I don't want to hear of anything about Beacon Students having a scuffle with unknown soldiers! If I hear anything about this, I'll make sure all of you will be doing laps around the academy! Is that clear?!"

The crowd just remained silent, not even wanting to defy the orders their Combat/Team Tactics Instructor has given them.

Nodding in approval, Riley turned around before walking towards the perimeter that was set up up ahead. "Here goes nothing..."

Striding towards the perimeter, a couple ODSTs walked towards up with one of them raising his hands up to stop him. "Hey, civi, this is as far as you can go."

"Though it is sorta confusing why we've landed in front of a school, nonetheless on a planet filled with people," The other ODST pointed out before both stared at him.

Riley gazed at the two Troopers for a good while before lifting the right sleeve of his shirt up. There was kanji tattooed onto his bicep with the word "GHOST" right beneath the kanji. (1)

"Sergeant Riley "Ghost" O'Neil of the 7th Shock Troopers Battalion, Trooper. The one you've been looking for," Riley stated in a serious tone causing the two Troopers before him to flinch.

"S-Sorry about that, Sergeant... We didn't know it was you..." One of them stuttered trying to remain calm.

"Then again, you saw me wearing civilian clothing, so it's understandable. Now, status on the Pelican?" He asked the ODSTs now walking into the quickly made LZ (Landing Zone) with one of them coming along in tow.

"Just a couple mikes out. They got a few more in to extract the rest of us before we get back to the UNSC Pathfinder, Sarge," The Trooper replied back as other's looked over in confusion.

"Alright. Who's your CO here right now?" Riley asked before they came to the edge of the cliff where they saw a few small, black specks in the distance indicating it was their extraction.

"Oh, 2nd Lieutenant Quinton Park with First Sergeant Cole Alister as his second in command, Sir."

That's when Riley stopped hearing that looking at the ODST in bewilderment hearing the last name. "Wait... Alister? As in, Reaper of the 105th Shock Troopers Division?" He questioned trying to make things clear. All he got was a nod in return and he sighed, but had a hidden smile. "So, you've gone up the ranks have you, Cole? Wonder how much your kill count is now?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself, Sarge?" A voice answered with slight pride in the tone. Riley turned around to see who spoke seeing one of the many ODSTs before him. But it was one he recognized right away. Armoured up in the Sharpshooter Variant of the ODST BDU, the chest plate was painted in a pale orange with a small sniper's crosshairs on right side of the faceplate, as well a much darker orange as accents along the armor. An SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle was strapped onto the side of his rucksack with the common M7S on the faceplate was currently polarized, showing the iconic bluish silver color. Even with his face hidden, Riley could tell there was a grin behind the helmet. "You kinda looked like hammered shit, Sarge," Cole Alister stated, laughing a little.

"That happens when you get yourself into numerous firefights in just a short span of time, Trooper... Or should I say, First Sergeant Alister?" Riley replied with a grin of his own.

"Hey, don't you mock me, I can court marshal you," The Sharpshooter jokingly warned him causing both him and Riley to laugh at that. "Though, I can't since he's here," He added in crossing his arms.

"Don't push it. But I need to ask you, how's the team doing? Last I heard before being sent off to Algolis was you came back from an assignment."

"Oh, we're doing fine, Sarge. Been promoted to the rank I am now to lead the fireteam. But I have no idea how you keep her under control," Cole muttered in annoyance causing the older ODST to chuckle at his stress.

Both ODSTs soon heard the cocking of M7S Submachine Guns and MA5C Assault Rifles with someone barking orders form behind. Turning around, Riley groaned more seeing how they had their weapons pointed at his handler, Glynda. She had a rather irritated look on her face with her riding crop out ready to fight if any of the Troopers pulled on their triggers.

"Stand down! Stand down, damn it!" Riley shouted walking towards the Huntress with his own irritated look. The ODSTs looked at him before he raised his right sleeve up to show his tattoo making them obey his orders and lowered their weapons as he approached Glynda. "Miss Goodwitch, I apologize for them retaliating the way they did. But I can't blame them, all by instinct was their reaction to aim at you."

She merely scoffed at him with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed, glaring at the ODSTs behind him and saw them visibly shaking a little thanks to her Aura emitting a somewhat angered state. "At least they have some sense of decency as soldiers."

"Marines..." One ODST coughed softly to himself.

Riley shrugged before they heard deep rumbling and looked to see four ships flying towards them. A small smile once again came to his face seeing them. "Never thought I'd see a Pelican again," He whispered to himself before looking at the ODSTs. "Alright, Troopers. This here is Glynda Goodwitch. I expect all of you to give her the utmost respect. As for now, all you need to know is that she is the ambassador of the place here. You'll be debriefed once everything has been cleared up."

"Sir!" They all responded back without any comment, hiding any negative thoughts from him.

The Pelicans soon landed on the airship docks with the cargo bay doors slowly going down even before they made contact with the ground. Within them were a couple Marines in each one as they went down the ramp and aimed their weapons for any threat that would attack them.

"Alright, Troopers, let's get moving! The Pathfinder isn't waiting all day!" The CO of the entire platoon, 2nd Lieutenant Quinton Park, ordered. In silent agreement, they slowly withdrew from their positions, still looking around if there were any threats slowly entering the cargo bay of the Pelicans.

Cole nodded as he looked at Riley and nudged him. "Rides' here. See ya later, Sarge," He said before marching off to one of the Pelicans. "And since I'm a higher rank than you, Sarge, I order you to buy me a drink once you've been debriefed."

Glynda had a raised eyebrow hearing The Sharpshooter's voice. "He sounded awfully young to be a soldier of his caliber," She stated, loud enough for the ODST to hear her.

"He maybe young, but he's a good kid. And one of the beset snipers i know in the entire 105th Shock Troopers Division."

Another ODST jogged over to Riley and saluted him, looking at both him and Glynda. "Come with me, Sir. You and the ambassador will be reporting to the helm of the Pathfinder ASAP to be debriefed by the commanding officer before beginning civil affairs if needed," He said to them.

"Lead the way then, Trooper," Riley responded with the ODST nodding in confirmation and marched off to the Pelican to the far right.

"Mr. O'Neil? If I may ask, where is this vessel I've been hearing from those soldiers?" Glynda asked him being a little wary.

"Well, Remnant hasn't achieved it yet. So, if you need to hurl, I won't blame you. We're heading off into space," Riley admitted to her making the Huntress go wide eyed at this. "I know what you're thinking, impossible. But it's possible in my world. Now c'mon, we need to get going."

Riley walked over towards the designated Pelican to ferry him and Glynda off to the Pathfinder as she stood there in shock. "Space... This will be a first if I say so..." She muttered to herself before following him to said Pelican.

Getting aboard, Glynda found herself being in the presence of multiple other ODSTs, Marines and her colleague. She could only sigh hearing a couple mummers and whistles at her. "Being ogled by men... When will this end?"

"Well, hope you'll be comfortable in the "Blood Tray, (2)" Miss. We don't have anymore seats for you," A Marine mentioned to her with a sheepish smile. "The ride will be about... About ten to fifteen minutes at best..."

"... I'll kill you later for this, Ozpin..." Glynda thought with a silent growl.

Well, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter of Becoming Human. I was in a bit of writers block working on this and it feels a little short on my part. But I hope this was enough to sustain your interest in this.

(1): The kanji on Riley is translated to either Bastard or Badass, and on very recognized officers of the ODSTs. When shown, other ODSTs are obliged to help the officer out.

(2): Blood Tray is what the passenger area of the Pelicans are called.

So, what will happen now that Riley is now reunited with UNSC Forces? How will Glynda feel being the very first Remnant Civilian to be in space. And who exactly is the commanding officer of the small fleet in orbit of Remnant?

As always, reviews are welcomed, good and bad, as long as the bad reviews are critical and not just plain bad insults.

Well, see you then.