Ruby was wearing her new set of power armor, only her face was exposed as she had the helmet under her arm. She was standing in front of the armory's map, her team arrayed in front of her clad in similar suits of armor, Yang was trying to fit her hair into the suit, Weiss was glaring at the map currently showing a picture of a verdant hydroponics bay, and Blake was staring into her helmet with a thoroughly confused look on her face.

Proud of her troops Ruby cleared her throat to gain their attention and made her announcement "I have gathered you all here today to plan the operation of our lifetime, a High stakes robbery" with a click of a button the screens image changed to a low detail overview of the factory around the hydroponics bay, "this is our target, held within are the materials we need to survive, no thrive! In this unknown place, come nightfall we will begin scouting a path into the bay, once an entrance and exit path are planned we will begin operation "harvest moon"

A smooth female voice then spoke up, seemingly coming from the walls "well this seems awfully dramatic, if you wanted some more greens you could have just asked" after a few seconds of stunned silence the voice spoke again, this time with a hint of humor "we can hear everything you say you know"

It was Weiss who recovered quickest, her indignation overpowering her shock. "How long have you just been watching us! You could have at least introduced yourselves and told us what was going on!" the voice let out a 'hmmmm' before speaking again. "We weren't yet certain if you were threats or not, as for how long we have been watching well, shortly after you entered our world." Blake spoke next, a trace of sarcasm in her tone hiding the wariness underneath "since you're talking now I can only assume you don't think we're threats to you anymore?"

A small drone flew into the room, holding a tray of fish filets and various tubers. "Not as such, anything capable of harming the factory is a potential threat, you are just unlikely to become a threat proper" the drone set the plate on the table and a section of the countertop folded open revealing a stove with pots already on the burners. "Revealing myself and our surveillance capabilities will only lessen the potential threat you pose, so that course of action was taken. If only to prevent you from rampaging throughout the factory in search of better food"

Ruby sheepishly scratched at the back of her head "yeah we were going to do that weren't we? Sorry about not just asking first" the voice sounded out again "you didn't know that you could, and you have yet to commit any wrongs here" Yang a might bit fed up spoke "it's great that we're all getting along, but where are you? And do you have any idea of how to get us back home?"

Only a few moments after Yang finished speaking the voice introduced itself "I am Balistria, the mind in charge of the proactive defense of the factory. This is as close to a meeting as we can get, as technically speaking you're inside the closest thing I have to a body, but if you'd like I can bring a humanoid drone in to talk to you? As for your second question, we suspect another portal will open up too somewhere on your world within the month."

It was Weiss who put words to the thought they were all having "you mean to say we are going to be stuck here for an entire month!" Balistraia gave a prompt reply "you jumped through an unknown energy anomaly, at least it was unknown to us at the time. You're lucky it didn't just disintegrate you" the whole team paled at that and ruby was filled with the realization she could have gotten her entire team killed with her impulsive decision.

She let out a nervous laugh "it's a good thing it didn't kill us then…" "quite, well we will be returning you to your world as soon as we are able, but I have some questions I hope you can answer in the meantime?"

The questions were just basic things, what the average person lived like, if there were any wars, how prevalent the grimm were. Things of that nature, and things most everyone on remnant would have known. But one thing in particular stood out to ruby "wait you guys don't have dust here! How do your bullets work without dust! And how do you generate power?" Balistraia gave the vocal equivalent of a shrug "explosives and combustibles mostly, though we do use a bit of solar power"

It wasn't long before the team got hungry and cooked up a meal with the fresh ingredients, then they turned in for the night.

That set the pace for the next few days, drones would bring plates full of ingredients or properly cooked meals and then Balistraia would spend time talking too and learning from the team of huntresses. "There are schools in each of your nations that train your peoples defenders? They might be capable of teaching my commander how to use aura, how fascinating" Yang spoke up then, "you keep mentioning your 'commander' but we've never met him, do you plan on ever introducing us?" Balistraia let out a short giggle at that "you already have, you even watched him shower" Ruby and Weiss both blushed at that and Weiss let out an indignant shout "I did no such thing, it was those two who stared!"

The screen on the wall showed a video of Weiss peaking at the live feed through the cracks in her fingers. This only caused Weiss to grow even more indignant. Yang headed off her rant "well that doesn't really count as a meeting does it? He didn't even talk to ruby when he pulled her out of that reactor area."

Balistraia let out a short sigh "I asked him about meeting with all of you but he cannot truly speak, and he has never been around another person before. He's spoken to nothing that he has not built himself." Blake spoke up at that "I still find it hard to believe he created you, not even Atlas can make something artificial seem so… human." Ruby followed that up "if he created you wouldn't that make him your father?" Balistraia's response was hesitant "I cannot reveal much of how I was created but it is less to say he built me piece by piece than it is to say he grew me, and calling him my father …. It may be apt but I have never thought of it like that before"

Yang decided to change the subject a little "I still find it hard to believe he started all of this by himself, I couldn't imagine being all by myself for so long" Balistraia spoke then "you do what you need to do in order to survive, when pushed beyond your limits you'll be surprised at what you can accomplish."

It only took a few days for the sedentary lifestyle to wear on the huntresses, and they ended up asking for access to a training room to work off some of their pent up energy. By now they were proficient at finding their way through the factory and they reached the room Balistraia had only referred to as the 'testing' room.

When they arrived at the airlock into the room Balistraia spoke to them before opening the doors "oh by the way, my commanders in there. I was hoping you'd spar with him. He is not proficient at close quarters combat"

Ruby flashed a smile as the doors opened "we'd be happy to help" ignoring Weiss's mutter of "he can't be worse than Jaune"

AN -

another short one, so I'll post another chapter Wednesday or something. need to remember that the rwby stuff is supposed to be light hearted and comedic, at least that's my goal, need the practice.

I keep trying to make things make sense, when it should just be silly.

likes and reviews feed me.