Chapter 1

IMPORTANT: THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS ARE AN OPTIONAL READ. Skip to chapter 3 if you want to get right to the action. You won't be missing anything as the plot will be explained eventually either way. I repeat. The first two chapters are NOT NECESSARY to be read!

Tl;Dr: If you want a more suspenseful story with mystery elements, make the skip. If you'd like to read a more conventional exposition, start from here.

This is a rather slow chapter for set-up. It's mostly dialogue so I can establish two major characters that will play important roles later on.

E.T. related stuff and excitement comes in a chapter or two.

The night was silent, black as pitch, but for the lonely moon hanging in the sky. The cosmos overhead failed utterly to be breathtakingly beautiful, lacking the decoration of stars that would provide some relief to its blandness.

Somewhat fittingly, in one of the highest spires of Beacon, a certain headmaster toiled away at a task just as lacking in poetic value as the sight outside his windows.

Ozpin sighed, leaning back in his chair. Were he his younger, more energetic self he may have directed a glare at the stacks of budget forms piled on his desk. Alas, he simply lacked the energy left to commit to emotions like anger.

In truth, he couldn't fathom a reason to his fatigue. It certainly shouldn't be lack of sleep. The very earliest Beacon's students appeared to sleep was eleven or so, and it would take several hours for the noises of combat from the training rings, or arguments from the residential wing to cease.

There was also the occasional explosion, but by the gods he hoped he wouldn't have to deal with any of those.

A small voice in his mind raised the questionable option of leaving such affairs for Glynda to handle. He dismissed it quickly. The woman was terrifying enough as her usual self, and the very embodiment of fear when dragged out of sleep. She wouldn't kill the students, but he'd fully anticipated cases of lifelong trauma.

Which would mean even more paperwork.

At any rate, the night was young, even if it didn't feel like it. A heavy weight settled in his heart as he reached for the restorative essence that he had been relying on for the last five hours, only to find its container depressingly light. He tilted it over his head, allowing the final drops of coffee to fall into his mouth.

What was he going to do now?

Before the hopelessness of his situation could set in, however, a shrill ringing reached his ears. He set the thermos down with a dull thud, glancing at the transparent display that had raised itself at an angle almost perpendicular to the table.

"Unidentified caller…" He mused. How curious. So it wasn't Ironwood with more of his ridiculous demands, or an angry Winter complaining about about Signal's resident drunkard. Neither was he expecting any council-related matters. Not at this hour.

The caller would need to have an authorized ID to bypass Beacon's operator, for he'd given specific instructions to reject all anonymous numbers - attempts to smuggle alcohol into the school in a vast majority of cases.

For one to reach his office…

Interesting enough, indeed.

…

Across an ocean and many, many miles away, a brilliant sun shone into a room with a radiance unbefitting of the biting chill outside, the words "call accepted" flashed across a tense gaze.

Polendina leaned forward as an expressionless face flickered into existence on the room-wide holographic display before him. On screen, the man's bright brown eyes were as enigmatic as they had ever been, but the dark hue under them was a new addition. One that most wouldn't expect to see on the features of a man so mythicized by media.

"Ah, Ozpin. This… Doesn't seem like the best time. You have my apologies."

The headmaster waved dismissively. "For how urgent the matter must be for usage of this channel, there is no need for you to be. I was not given earlier notice of but this is hardly an unreasonable time for me to be contacted. Besides, in my job a 'best' time to call me is virtually nonexistent. What is it?"

"Nothing that should be a cause for alarm, fortunately." His fingers trailed across the console, bringing up a highlighted file and selecting "send" when prompted with a confirmation. "Take a look at this."

He raised his head a moment later, confirming that the transmission had been delivered."To put it simply, Vale is the impact location of the first recorded and observed extraterrestrial object that is predicted to survive atmospheric entry."

Ozpin simply tilted his head, which Polendina took as a silent invitation to continue. "We're currently tracking the trajectory. The numbers are a bit rough, but the relative velocity to our planet has been narrowed down to eighty-five thousand kilometres per hour or so."

"That's quite a jarring number, though my understanding of interstellar distances is beyond rudimentary at best. Could you elaborate?"

"If you'd like a way to visualize, Remnant itself is revolving around our star at about a quarter more than that speed."

He paused, waiting for Ozpin's nod.

"ETO-1 is still about four-hundred thousand kilometres away, having just passed our moon. We'll have a more specific location within Vale as it approaches. I've also set up an automated program that will alert Vale authorities to evacuate the projected affected area, once there is either two hours left, or if enough data is collected to accurately calculate the trajectory. For safety measures I have a team on monitor duty as well. They'll send the warning manually if needed."

The headmaster hummed contemplatively, folding his fingers together before him. "That would leave us with… Slightly less than five hours?" His hand drifted offscreen, returning with a sizeable thermos. Ozpin set it aside with a soft exhalation after glancing into it. "Well, this is an exciting development. If I may express my concerns though - what type of impact are we speaking of here? This is an unprecedented situation and evacuation efforts should begin as early as possible if a populated area is to be affected." A small frown spread across the white-haired man's forehead. "I'm also interested to know why you've sought me out in particular? Why have you chosen to delay informing the council of this?"

About that...

The ideal plan was to be able to avoid that part altogether - it was a virtual impossibility for councils to get anything done within a remotely reasonable amount of time. From Ozpin's increasingly arched eyebrow, however, he wasn't quite so confident as to the chances of the plan coming to fruition.

He went for the diversion. "We have a much more accurate estimation of ETO-1's size than on its trajectory - almost impossible to predict with high accuracy when taking into account Remnant's rotation and the effects our gravity well may cause. Long-ranged sensors have put the meteoroid at eight metres in diameter or so. Over half of that is guaranteed to burn up in our atmosphere, and what's left will be travelling at a much lower speed."

A moment, he spared to skim the data panel at a corner of his screen. "We're not entirely sure if the landing point will even be in a populated area, and even if that is the case, no more than an area a hundred metres in diameter is needs to be vacated."

"And again, why wait to deliver this news to the council?"

Polendina coughed. "..."

"I suppose you would have your reasons." Instead of a veiled denial that Polendina expected, Ozpin's face cleared . "Thank you for letting me know regardless. And for the lovely infographic."

It was an ambiguous statement, and an opening. Polendina rushed to take the opportunity. "I spoke to Ironwood earlier. He suggested that I try contacting you first. I'd like to ask you to relay a request to the council. It'd be an extremely difficult task for me to get through those thi…" He trailed off, unwilling to be so forward with the insult.

"Now that you put it that way, I can understand your position." The hint of exasperation in Ozpin's voice and the upwards shift of his eyes said more than enough about what he thought about said council, and also served to ease the worry Polendina had about his temerity. "As much as I wish to assist you, I'm afraid I'm not completely void of reservations. Voice your request first."

The words, however discouraging they may have been, weren't a straight up refusal either. At the very least the headmaster didn't sound completely disinterested. "I'd like to bring a research party to study ETO-1 when it lands." immediately aware of what the unintentional implication of his words may have been, Polendina rushed on. "It's a small group. Only me and my personal team."

"There will be no involvement of the Atlesian government?"

"No, there will not." He knew the reason behind Ozpin's hesitation - it seemed the man had reached the same conclusion as he. Such an event would be incredibly significant in humanity's history. This would be a discovery crucial to a Kingdom's pride, not to mention the chance of some very classified benefits. There was no chance Vale's government would allow the possibility for Atlas to weasel in and take credit for any discoveries that were made. Even if Vale lacked the technology and equipment that Atlas possessed to make such findings in the first place.

He'd informed Ironwood and Ironwood only for the same reason. The news would spread like a wildfire across media and any progress would grind to a halt as pressure built up from Atlas trying to stick its nose in and bring politics into science - which would result in complete disaster. As an independent researcher, he could travel to Vale privately, thus avoiding the trouble altogether.

If Ozpin agreed, that is. Even if the headmaster mirrored his opinion when it came to politics, it didn't change the fact that he was asking the man to put a good deal of time in when already appearing to have a copious amount of work. He'd need to provide incentive.

"And yet, if I'm not mistaken, did you not mention General Ironwood earlier?" The noticeably sharper tone of Ozpin's voice cut into Polendina's thoughts.

A cringe almost broke onto the doctor's countenance, before he squashed it down. "No, no, please don't misunderstand." He hurried, frantically shaking his hands. "James is a good friend of mine - as is he one of yours, I believe. I was simply seeking him for advice. This has nothing to do with the military. I visited him personally because of my intention of preventing involvement from my State."

"I see…" A drumming sound emanated from the speakers, likely of Ozpin's fingers tapping on his desk. The headmaster must have noticed Polendina's nervousness, for he gave a rueful smile. "I'm sorry if I came across as hostile. Yes, Ironwood is a wonderful friend, but we've had a disagreement lately. I've been receiving pressure from him regarding th-" Ozpin shook his head. "At any rate, no reason to trouble you with that."

That's not an answer...

Not that Polendina expected it to be as easy as this. After all, he couldn't ask someone to commit to a difficult task for nothing. "On another note..." He began carefully. "We could establish a permanent exchange plan between the Atlas Academy of Sciences, and Beacon. We have many hunter-trained students here who would wish to experience studying in Vale, and Ironwood is… Considering whether or not to implement it."

Ozpin's eyes widened for a fraction of a second - already an incredibly prominent expression of emotion for the man. According to James, he'd been asking for an exchange program for years now, which the General had constantly denied… Until now. "And this could perhaps… Mirror a similar act of cooperation between our Kingdoms resulting in mutual benefit?"

"Exactly."

"... With a legal contract signed of what you promised - specifically, that this will be an operation independent of the Atlesian government, and the SDC, I... Might be able to secure you the permission you requested." Ozpin said, after a long silence.

Polendina resisted the urge to let out a triumphant laugh on the spot. "It will be done. I'll ready an agreement immediately. Thank you so very much, Ozpin. I'll not be so arrogant as to claim that you have no idea how much of an opportunity this is to drive humanity's progress forward, but trust me - you won't regret your decision."

"I can't guarantee the results you're looking for."

No matter. Even if Ozpin didn't manage it, he'd keep to his promise. "You don't need to. I'll be very much in your debt just for the effort you make."

"In that case… I'll have some more calls to make."

"As do I. I look forward to meeting you."

"Likewise, Doctor. Good luck, and see you soon."

The video feed dimmed, then blinked off.

...

I don't have a beta yet, so if anything sounds strange please let me know.