Chapter 17

A/N: Hi guys, hope you're all doing well. And welcome back to Becoming Human. When we were here last time, Riley had reunited with his brother and are now making their way down to the surface to begin talks with Remnant.

So, I was working hard on this one and hopefully this is a good chapter for all of you. Writers block hit me hard doing this so sorry if it doesn't hold up to expectations. This is also me studying for the upcoming exams. So after this chapter, save for a couple things for Renewed and Metro: A New Light, updates won't be as much until after June. Once I've survived the exams, I'll be back.

So, hope you enjoy this chapter.

"James, please. You must relax. Pacing around isn't going to help nor solve things. All we can do is trust in him." Ozpin slightly adjusted his glasses, gazing at his troubled friend who indeed was pacing around within the office. "I haven't seen him like this for a long time. Then again, I can't blame him since there is a fleet in orbit."

Said General mumbled words to himself trying to make sense of the current situation, trying to formulate a defensive strategy if things were to go sour. "Oz, I know what you're trying to say, but I can't help it. I'm a general, and it's my duty to lead my forces in defence of Remnant. Remnant could well be under invasion from those... Those aliens!

Ozpin met James' eyes sternly with his hands bellow his chin. "They're human like us, James." Saying that, the Headmaster stood up, taking a few strides over to Ironwood. Standing beside him, Ozpin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't doubt him. I'm sure everything will be alright."

Both men soon saw something off of the horizon with Ironwood sighing deeply in response. "I do hope you're right, Ozpin. I just pray you're right." Ozpin merely nodded with the two witnessing two aircraft entering the Beacon airspace, soon starting their descent as quickly as they arrived at the same place where the "Helljumpers" were extracted from.

"Why don't we go introduce ourselves then? To shake off some of the tension?" The Headmaster proposed to his colleague, opting to clear things up with no misunderstandings between them and the new arrivals.

With a silent sigh, Ironwood nodded. "Very well."

"Good. Now, we can't keep them waiting. Wouldn't want to be known as bad hosts to our guests, hm?"

Cole gritted his teeth, obviously peeved by the fact one of his freteam members had disobeyed a direct order. Sadly, it was constantly done by the same person no matter what. The pencil in his hand threaten to snap in half before he slowly closed his sketchbook with a half finished drawing, mostly resembling an Elite, and stowed it away into his knapsack.

"For the last time, why did you bring a Fury (1) with you, Clara?" Cole pinched the bridge of his nose, his dark blue eyes glaring at the perpetrator who carried such a dangerous device on her person while his short dirty blond hair waved about from the Pelican's movement. More importantly, to a SPARTAN-III, armored in MJOLNIR Mark V Power Armor, mainly the CQC Variant, colored in a dark violet instead of it's iconic green color. Though the Spartan crossed her arms and frowned like a child.

"I'm the explosives expert of the team, Cole! And besides, this Fury is my baby!" Claramond Bruna held the football sized device in her arms as if it was a baby. Her pontyail laid against her right shoulder showing it's bright auburn color with her jade green eyes glaring back evenly. Despite being a super soldier of the UNSC, one thing was a bit overlooked in Claramond's augmentation, her personality. Barely changed. Before hand, she was a child that was hyper. Now she's a hyper Spartan with heavy ordinance on her. Something that both Covenant and the UNSC fear.

A small chuckle was heard near the ramp of the Pelican causing both ODST and Spartan to look over. Another ODST armored in the CQC Variant of the ODST BDU with an M90 Shotgun in hand loaded in shells into the chamber. His short spikey black hair bobbed about with brown orbs focusing on the firearm. "You have 15 kiloton bomb in your possession that has a blast radius of 1.3 kilometres. And you're complaining like he's taking away an actual baby," He brought up with a light Irish accent and smirk. Loading in the last shell and pumping it, he placed it beside him leaning back against the wall. "I'm in the same boat as him. We'll be vaporized if that thing goes off, and Lord knows what'll happen if that goes off now."

"As much as you want to argue, Bruna, Cole and Alec are right," A woman added in, belonging ho a third ODST. Claramond widened her eyes in shock and looked over at her fellow woman. Armored in the standard ODST BDU, she had a MA5C Assault Rifle strapped behind here and the ODST Issued M6S/SOCOM Handgun strapped to her right thigh. Her hazel eyes casually glanced at the Spartan before blowing away a stray strand of dark brown hair away from her face. "There's no need to bring in a Fury with you. The Admiral said we're to be his security detail, not a strike force."

"Randi Lynch, you can't possibly-"

"Bruna, listen, please?" Randi asked the Spartan.

Claramond huffed silently and pouted like a child once more. "Nein..."

The Sniper groaned softly before remembering the small conversation he had eith Riley prior to them leaving the Pathfinder. "Clara, if you hand over your Fury, how about I'll make sure you can have a months supply of scavanged Plasma Grenades? Would that work?" Cole asked her, trying to strike a deal.

Claramond was silent for the moment before she reluctantly gave the Fury over to Cole with a sigh. "Make it twenty Plasma Greandes."

"Consider it done."

Alec shook his head and laughed again. "See? Was it that hard?"

The Spartan was about to retort back to her fellow teammate before the Pelican jostled about and went absolutely still. Cole nodded and stood up with his helmet in hand. "Alright people. You know the music." Placing his helmet om, the faceplate polarized as the other three got their helmets on as well.

"Here we are, Cobra. Be sure to give the good impressions, alright?" The pilot asked via the PA of the Pelican. After thst, the ramp began to go down with the team responding im grabbing their weapons before disembarking.

"The view here almost rivals Reach. Though not as much," Cole told them as they were soon met with the academy grounds of Beacon.

Alec whistled in amazement looking at the large academy and grinned behind the silver blue tint. "Still. You can't argue the view looks amazing."

"Fireteam Cobra, regroup on me." All four looked over to see their Admiral looking over at their general direction with his group already formed up with him in a loose formation.

"You heard the man, let's move it, Cobra," Cole ordered to his team and made their way across the courtyard to him.

"This place looks amazing! You must give me a tour of this place once relations have improved between the UNSC and this planet." Lieutenant Nathaniel Evans is a jubilant man around his late twenties. Though he preferred being called "Nate" for short. Dressed in the standard UNSC Marine Corps BDU (2) with the exemption of the helmet, the LT's short blond hair remained as stiff as ever and his bright blue eyes burned with curiosity and the hunger for the knowledge of learning something new.

"Easy there, LT. You'll have all the time in the world to learn about this planet once negotiations are done," Riley told him with a sigh. "That is if Ironwood will be calm enough to talk."

Patrick chuckled, subtly nudging his brother with a grin. "Oh, don't worry about that Ironwood character you've been telling me about. I'm sure we'll settle things out."

As if on cue, the ODST saw Ozpin and Ironwood walking out of the academy and towards them. "Ten Credits say this'll go south real fast," Riley whispered to his older brother.

"Then those Credits belong to me then, baby bro," Patrick replied back causing Riley to roll his eyes with a "Tch".

Clearing his voice, the Rear Admiral quickly adjusted his armor and walked towards the two approaching them before glancing over at Fireteam Cobra. "Relax, everyone. Just be yourselves." Facing forward again, Patrick smiled slightly and soon gave both men before him a small nod. "Ah, you two must be Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood. It's a pleasure to meet you both. I'm Rear Admiral Patrick O'Neil, Commanding Officer of the UNSC 8th Fleet."

Ozpin returned the smile to the Rear Admiral whilst taking a sip from his mug. "The pleasure is ours as well, Admiral."

"Please, just Patrick. Can't ever get used to being called that even after eight years being of being one," Patrick admitted causing the three men to laugh a little.

Ironwood mainly was still suspicious about the UNSC Officer before him but decided to play the part for now. "It's an honour to meet you, Patrick. Can I assume that Glynda is fairing well?"

"Oh, you mean my brother's handler? She's fine. Still a little jumpy since she said she's the first one from your planet to ever travel to space."

The Headmaster's smile became a bit bigger at this and nodded. "I see. I'm glad she's taking it well."

The Rear Admiral laughed softly and shook his head. "It'll be a bit for her to grab her bearings, but it'll be quick." Patrick then clapped his hands together looking at them both. "Though I would like to say I'd like to talk to you in private in regards about me and my fleet being here. I'm sure I've thrown the entire planet into panic, and I'm terribly sorry for doing so."

"Very well then. Let's take this to my office to discuss. Prof. Goodwitch? Would you like to come along for this?" Ozpin asked his fellow assistant. She just nodded in return before walking past them towards the academy. "Anyone you'd like to bring for this?"

Patrick nodded back before looking over at the UNSC Personnel behind him. "LT, you're coming with me. Riley, look after the fireteam. Hopefully this won't be long for me."

The ODST just nodded reluctantly and blew out a sigh. "Fine. You owe me a drink then."

Ozpin's Office...

Patrick breathed deeply as he stood along with Ozpin and Ironwood while he looked out of the window. His gaze was focused on the sky, staring deeply into it. "So, why are you here with your fleet, Patrick?" Ozpin asked him, both men wanting to know. Glynda and Nate just stood a further away to observe/respond.

The Rear Admiral turned himself around to look at them nodding. "Well, I was given two objectives from the UNSC High Command. One of which is to retrieve UNSC Personnel, which would by Riley. The second is if there is another universe or whatever the ONI Eggheads say is to colonize. Assuming my brother has told you because I know him, he told you about the war our universe is in."

"Indeed. He said your world is in a war of survival against a group called the Covenant," Ozpin confirmed for Patrick.

"So he did. Alright. So Objective Bravo is to colonize because the UNSC and ONI want to make sure that Humanity still has somewhere to thrive if we lose the war. Call it a contingency plan if you will, a failsafe."

Ironwood sighed a bit before looking over at Patrick as he had his hands behind him. "So, do we have to worry about you invading us then?"

Patrick was shocked hearing this from the Atlesian General and shook his head frantically waving his hands as well. "What?! No, that's bullshit! Why would I do that? Never in million years would I do that to humanity! Either from my universe or yours."

"Then what about the Faunus then?" Ozpin bluntly threw out.

This caught Patrick off guard since he has never heard such a term before. "Faunus?"

"You've seen them already as we passed through the halls to reach Ozpin's office. People with animal features on them. Rabbit ears, cat tails, antlers, and the list goes on," Glynda stated to him. "And before you ask, no, they weren't experimented on. It's a natural thing that happens."

"How intriguing. Though why did you bring them up?" Nate asked being confused.

"Because the sad reality is that the Faunus are subjugated. Treated like lesser beings than Humanity, Lieutenant Evans," Ozpin answered for him. A disappointed look graced his features with a sigh coming along. "Thanks to this, an insurgent group was born from the peaceful White Fang. So tell me, Patrick. How will you deal with this?"

Patrick was silent from this. His eyes closed with his thoughts racing, trying to gather an answer to respond for Ozpin. Slowly opening his eyes, he looked into the Headmaster's eyes with an intention of understanding. "We'll treat them as equals. Because if there's one thing that the Human-Covenant War has taught me, racism has no place in our ranks. We either stand together or die divided. The men and women under my command know this well, and will have no trouble treating them equally."

Ozpin and Ironwood were slightly surprised hearing this from him. It was rare to hear such things from their own people. But hearing this from someone that was from another universe entirely shocking.

The Headmaster's frown was then replaced by a hopeful look and nodded. "Good. I'm glad to hear that from you."

"Thank you. Though, I am just wondering if I could have my ships land and begin to colonize. All I need are your authorizations and the proper location, or locations, to do so."

"Oh, I can't do that for you, Patrick. But hearing what you said, I'm sure the councils of Remnant will listen and allow you. Me and Ironwood will vouch for you that you're not a threat," Ozpin explained lifting the hopes up of the Rear Admiral.

"Though I am interested on what you'll have your forces do on Remnant," The General asked wanting his suspicions to be confirmed or laid to rest.

"Well considering that we're entirely a new faction coming into Remnant, we need to show that we're here to help, not to destroy. If we are allowed to colonize, then first things to do is to create UNSC embassies in all the main locations of your planet to strengthen our relations with each other. That and we'll be helping out in construction. My forces are glad to lend a helping hand whenever they can. And for your White Fang problem, I have ODSTs on station to act as Counter Terrorist Units to take the fight to them. But that's just for now. It'll change as things become more clearer of what'll happen and we won't enforce our control."

Ironwood sighed in relief and nodded. "Well, I don't see why we can't allow you here. What about you, Oz?"

"While I'm still worried about what will happen as time goes on, I have faith that things can be handled. We can never truly know until we try." Ozpin extended his hand out with a smile. "Then let us be the first to say welcome to Remnant."

Patrick smiled back before grasping the Headmaster's hand and they shook firmly before doing the same with Ironwood. "It's quite the honor, you two. I promise we will do our best to uphold peace, security, equality and hope."

They all nodded at each other as their hopes were greatly lifted up as this moment from now on began the integration of the UNSC into Remnant.

Well, that was something, right? What will happen now that the UNSC have now opened relations with Remnant? You tell me!

And as for Renewed, as you already know, the OC Contest is over. All of you that have submitted have amazing characters! Though it pains me to say that I can only chose three out of the numerous submissions I've gotten. Though I do hope to use some of the other's who are not part of the team as other teams in a way to include them, though not so much so I don't overwhelm myself.

(1)- Fury. A Fury is a tactical nuke that is less than one megaton, and has a radius of 1.3 kilometers of an explosion range. Yeah, you can see why they're panicking.

(2)- The Marine BDU that Evans wears is basically the one that the Marines on Reach wear.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you again next time.