Dr. Shen smiled when he saw the elevator doors open into the Engineering Bay to reveal a familiar face walk out, eyes scanning the room for the Chief Engineer. Shen put down the notice for Bradford's latest work order and left his office to go and greet the always-energetic Ruby Rose.

"Good morning Miss Rose, how may I be of assistance today?"

The young Corporal locked in on the sound of Dr. Shen's voice and gave a smile to match his own. "Dr. Shen! I had some time off, and it's been awhile since I came down here to see what you guys were up to, so I thought I'd hang out for a bit."

Shen chuckled and gave Ruby a knowing look. "Are you sure it was because you missed me? Or did someone let slip that Bradford put in a build order for the prototype enhanced beam optics, and you wanted to make sure you were the first in line to test it?"

The engineer confirmed his suspicions when Ruby refused to make eye contact with him and instead opted to kick around a few pieces of loose concrete by her shoes. "I figured as much. And here I thought you wanted to spend some time with dear old Doctor Shen."

Ruby's eyes shot wide, Shen's light-hearted tone evidently going over her head, and she frantically waved her arms in protest, "No no no! You're totally awesome to hang out with! You show me cool stuff, we talk about guns, and… and…" She looked around to make sure nobody was looking, "… and you sneak me cookies from the commissary ever since they cut me off."

Her last comment elicited a laugh from the aging engineer, "I'm pretty sure you set a record for the fastest time an operative had a rule added to The List since recruitment. Speaking of your cookie embargo, I'm going to have to slow down the volume of contraband I sneak out of the commissary for you. I think they're on to me."

Ruby let out a sound that was a cross between a whine and a sob upon hearing the bad news before Shen continued speaking, "It's good that you came down here, though. In addition to letting you test the new beam optics, I've been meaning to ask you a question about your weapons." Ruby's mood shifted almost instantaneously when Shen brought up Crescent Rose.

"I'd love to help! What's up?"

Dr. Shen smiled and gestured for Ruby to follow him back to his office, "Oh, several things. I'm very interested in the form-shifting your weapons posses. Integration into several of our own systems could prove to be advantageous, such as modifying our MEC equipment to allow our troopers to equip both a Kinetic Strike Module and a Flamethrower. I would like your assistance and insight regarding mechanical characteristics such as weight ratios, material densities, composite strengths... that sort of stuff." Ruby's expression lit up at the thought of weapon design. Some of the engineers on Shen's team could take a few cues from the girl's enthusiasm.

"However, there was also one other thing," Dr. Shen continued, "Dr. Vahlen wanted to ask you this question herself, but she figured that you're more likely to see me sooner than you would see her." He winked at Ruby. "Guess she knows you as well as I do."

Shen opened up a file on his datapad and handed it to Ruby, "This dust material that you talk about… you've told us that you use it for a great many things on Remnant, but you haven't explained how it's produced."

"Oh! That's simple. It's embedded inside Remnant's landmass, so we build mines and dig it up. My partner's family owns one of the largest mining companies in existence." Ruby held a hand up to her mouth and stood up on the tip of her toes to whisper into Shen's ear, "That's why she acts all proper and stuff. Her family is super-loaded, and so she's sorta-basically royalty."

The engineer rubbed his chin pensively, "Hmmm, since we've never found traces of Dust on Earth, I think it's safe to assume the only place where it can be naturally extracted is Remnant." He returned his gaze to Ruby. "Do you know if it's possible to artificially fabricate Dust?"

It was Ruby's turn to think. The only Dust she knew of was mined from quarries. Considering what a breakthrough like artificial Dust would do to the Dust market, Ruby was certain that it would be all over the news. "I'm not sure if it's possible. It's never been done on Remnant in any case." She shrugged. "That may have something to do with the monopoly mining companies have on Dust, though. My guess is that if they ever discovered someone making their own Dust, the situation would get… ah… resolved as soon as possible." She cast a sideways glance, and Shen noticed a look of discomfort growing on her face. "Weiss is an amazing person, and I respect her a great deal, but her family's business is known for engaging in… less than savory practices to increase profits. I wouldn't be surprised if they took steps to ensure that mining remained the only way of acquiring Dust."

While Ruby was clearly ashamed at the possibility that profit and greed were holding back progress on Remnant, Dr. Shen was hardly surprised. In all honesty, Earth was just as guilty of that kind of practice. "So what you're saying is that you've never heard of Dust being successfully manufactured, but you've also never heard of the possibility of such a technology being refuted. Is that correct?"

"I… suppose so? Maybe studies were conducted about it before I was born, but I've never heard of it. Ozpin would know," she added, and her expression quickly became one of melancholy.

"Ozpin?"

She shook her head. No point wishing for the impossible. "He's the headmaster at the academy we go to. He's really smart, and if anyone would know something about manufactured Dust, he would." She gave Shen a nudge, a little of her usual spark returning. "If Vahlen ever figures out how to get us back to Remnant, you should meet Ozpin. I think you two would get along really well."

"When Vahlen figures out how to get you back," Dr. Shen corrected, "I'll be sure to pay him a visit and congratulate him on his success as a headmaster. If you and your friends are any indication, he's an extremely talented educator."

Ruby's cheeks became rosy as she blushed under Shen's high praise. He always seemed to know just what to say to a reaction out of her.

"Alright, alright, let's not play the 'Embarrass Ruby Game', I get enough of that from Yang. Unless you have any more questions about Dust, shall we get started with your ideas on form-shifting equipment?"

Shen chuckled and pulled out a fresh pad of paper from his desk. "Yes, let's."

As usual, Dr. Vahlen was too busy with something on her terminal to look up when she heard people enter. Weiss suppressed a sigh when she saw the doctor's hand go up to signal 'I know you're there, but I'm too busy to give you further acknowledgment at the moment.'

"Doctor, we talked about this."

Vahlen's eyes shot up at the sound of Weiss's voice; evidently, her ability to detect the presence of guests did not extend to discerning their identities, "Oh! Hello, Weiss. Sorry, I was… wrapped up with… research… things, and…" She shook her head. "You're right, I'm sorry. How may I help you?"

Ruby peeked around from behind Weiss, "Actually, Doctor, you called us down to see you."

The Chief Scientist had somehow missed Ruby's presence behind Weiss. Now that she was looking more carefully, she also failed to notice Blake and Yang. "Ah, yes. Indeed I did. I wanted to update you on my team's progress regarding research into Aura and the Hyperwave Relay Event, as I promised the last time we all met."

This evoked a reaction of extreme interest from both Ruby and Yang. Blake, Vahlen noted without surprise, remained impassive. It was likely that Strike Eight's Scout figured out this was the purpose of the meeting as soon as she was informed about it, and opted to withhold judgment until Vahlen finished giving her the facts. Regardless, the doctor was sure that she had the attention of all four huntresses, whether they were showing it or not.

"First and foremost: the Hyperwave Relay." She made a few keystrokes on her tablet and a 3D projection of the device in question winked into existence between the five women. "A fascinating piece of technology, really. It's primary purpose is a communication device, but it's unique insofar as it uses extra-dimensional space to allow for rapid transit of data-"

"Doctor."

"Hmm, yes?" Vahlen looked over at Weiss and saw her friend giving her that look, "Oh, right. Sorry." She cleared her throat and started again, "Bradford and you Strike Operatives have been able to utilize the Hyperwave Relay to determine enemy squad compositions at mission locations. This is because the beacon housed within the relay uses highly advanced methods to bypass normal encryption technology and provides us with extremely accurate data."

She tapped her tablet again and the projection transformed into an exploded view, revealing the beacon itself underneath the housing designed by XCOM's engineering team, "It seems odd that the aliens never developed countermeasures to its use, but perhaps the aliens never expected their technology to fall into enemy hands. It wouldn't be the first time their hubris has worked to our advantage. Not only are we able to determine the nature of enemy contacts, but we have also been able to detect several new UFO signatures that have previously been obscured from our sensors. All interesting information in its own right, but that's not why I brought you here."

Another tap, and the projection started to zoom in on the beacon. Even after the entire projection space was occupied by nothing but the beacon, it continued to zoom. The huntresses watched as the image magnified on the center of one of the several rings supported by the beacon's structure, and eventually stopped as numerous halo-like entities appeared. It reminded Blake of when the doctor showed her the 3D projection of Meld, with multiple strange objects floating in space above her research desk. Unlike the Meld material, however, the halos weren't reacting to each other. They simply exploded and reformed on their own accord. Blake wasn't sure what she were looking at.

Vahlen quickly and happily provided details. "This is a nano-scale magnification of one of the cavities within the beacon. As far as we can tell, these… phenomena you see are quantum collapses and regenerations." She put down the tablet and joined her guests in staring at the strange image before them. "Unfortunately, we have not had this device for very long. It is likely that this technology is the culmination of centuries of work, and we've only had the opportunity to reverse-engineer it for a scant few months. It's not an exaggeration to say that we understand less than ten percent of how the structure works. We were able to understand just enough to adapt it to our needs, but the rest of it is essentially a scientific black box, shrouded in mystery."

She idly tapped on her tablet once more, and the view snapped back to the beacon proper. "While it's true that we can be accused of 'playing with fire' by trying to use something we know so little about, what choice do we have? The invasion leaves us with few options, and any possible advantage must be examined to its fullest extent, no matter how dangerous the consequences may be."

The five of them sat in silence, watching the beacon's rings rotate in a rhythmic manner. While nothing Vahlen said so far was of direct use to the huntresses, it was still held the girls' attention. The doctor continued, "Are any of you familiar with the concept of quantum tunneling? … No? Well, at it's most basic level, quantum tunneling is an event that allows a particle to pass through obstacles and barriers in a way that conventional physics declares to be impossible. In a three-dimensional space, this usually comes in the form of particles escaping an atomic nucleus, or electrons jumping across a metallic barrier due to a large electric field." She waved a dismissive hand. "None of that explains your situation. However, it does provide the basis for a possible theory."

"You said the relay operates in more than three dimensions," Blake observed. "Does your guess rely on that along with this quantum tunneling thing?"

Vahlen smiled. As always, Blake was the most perceptive. "That is correct, Miss Belladonna. We are all beings of three dimensional space, and so we are unable to perceive anything beyond the natural translation and rotation about the X, Y, and Z. However, this does not mean further dimensions are absent. Our preliminary research into the Hyperwave Relay supports that. We do not know for sure if the aliens themselves are capable of operating in extra-dimensional space, but they have developed this device that achieves such a result for them. And if the device is capable of utilizing dimensions beyond our observational capabilities…"

The hologram zoomed back to the view of the halo structures in their constant state of explosion and reconstruction. "… the idea of a 'wormhole' would sound silly and unprofessional to some of my peers in the scientific community, but this invasion has already borne witness to flying saucers, laser guns, zombies, and psychic powers. At this point, teleportational technology would be just one more thing in the ever-growing list of science-fiction-made-real breakthroughs we've made in the last six months."

"Of course," she continued, "This raises more questions than answers. How is the device capable of tunneling macro-scale objects like humans? Why did it specifically chose your precise location on Remnant as the other tunneling point? Did it just use extra dimensions to bridge a gap in three-dimensional space, or are you from a different dimension?" The doctor shook her head. "We're working to answer these sort of questions, but it will take time. For now, though, we believe it's safe to conclude that the extra-dimensional nature of the beacon is what allowed you to wander into our facility from Remnant, and we will work towards replicating the event in a reverse manner to allow you to return."

Ruby nodded. She didn't know what to make of all this quantum tunneling mumbo jumbo, but the doctor's closing statement was optimistic enough. They would just have to wait and see how quickly Vahlen's research team uncovered more information about the Hyperwave Beacon. "Works for us. You said you also wanted to talk about Aura?"

Vahlen nodded, tapped her tablet, and the hologram of the relay disappeared and was replaced with a human body. While the skin was visible on the hologram, so was the skeletal structure, nervous system, and other biological entities Ruby wasn't familiar with.

"I've analyzed the biometrics data taken from the tests you all agreed to. Thank you, by the way," she added, "I truly appreciate your willingness to assist me in this research. I'm afraid I have both good news and bad news. The bad news is that I cannot detect anything different between your biology and those of the Earth-based staff I have on file. If there is some incredibly obvious difference that delineates between those with Aura and those without, it is not something my suite of equipment can identify."

Her guests continued to stare at Vahlen with impassive faces. If the doctor's bad news was upsetting the four girls in her office, they were doing a remarkable job of not showing it. "The good news comes from a little experiment Dr. Shen and I conducted. It was more about satisfying curiosity than anything, but the results are interesting. I believe my associate spoke to you about Dust, Miss Rose?"

Ruby nodded. "He asked about the possibility of artificially manufacturing Dust, yes."

"Indeed. While the possibility of manufacturing our own Dust opens up exciting avenues of research, we are also concerned with how to go about using it."

Vahlen opened up a drawer under her desk and pulled out a small vial containing red Dust. "Weiss graciously shared with me a sample of Dust for my own personal analysis and use. However, I it remains inert when subjected to almost every external stimulus I can think of. It seems that your Aura is the only way to get a reaction out of this material." She put the vial down and smiled. "Or was the only way until about four hours ago."

The Chief Scientist stood up and walked around to the front of her desk where she casually leaned against the edge as she continued talking. Weiss noted that she was nowhere near this casual when they first met, and gave herself a mental pat on the back for helping Vahlen loosen up a bit. She would eventually think of a favor to call in at some point, but for now she was actually enjoying her 'job' of helping the doctor transform from a workaholic robot into an actually sociable person.

"From the way you've described your Aura to myself and Bradford, it is summoned through force of will. You internalize your desire for how it takes shape, and it does so. Well, it occurred to Dr. Shen that this sounded remarkably similar to descriptions given to us by our psionically gifted soldiers. After learning a new psychic technique, they simply will it into tangibility as the situation requires it. So we decided to borrow one of our psi soldiers and see if she could get a reaction out of the dust sample on hand."

Dr. Vahlen's smile grew wider, like a kid who just finished unwrapping her most anticipated gift on Christmas. "It took Captain Durand some time, but she was eventually able to ignite the Dust with her psychic capabilities. We selected the Captain for this test because she is the strongest psionic soldier we have on staff, and therefore the most likely candidate for success in our experiment. Consequently, affecting Dust is almost certain to be much harder or even impossible for other members of XCOM's Psi Corps, but the proof of concept is there."

"So what you're saying," Ruby ventured, "is that the psychic power your soldiers have is basically Aura?"

Vahlen shook her head. "While that is certainly possible based on the evidence, it is not the only available conclusion. There is one concrete fact, and that is psionics is capable of affecting Dust just like Aura. This indicates the two energies are at least similar, which may provide us with a starting point in our efforts to better understand how Aura works."

Yang clapped her hands together, the sharp sound caused the Chief Scientist to let out a squeak of surprise and topple a stack of paper sitting next to her on the desk. Yang, of course, paid no attention to the consequences of her actions, "Hey, sounds good to me! Do you need us to do anything to help, doc? Run some tests or something?"

Vahlen, still recovering from Yang's sudden outburst, returned the now-disorganized pile of papers to the table, "That would be helpful, actually. The only drawback is that testing soldiers for psionic aptitude is an intensive process and takes several days. Either I stagger the testing schedule so that only one of you is unavailable at any given time, or I ask Bradford to temporarily decommission Strike Eight while we run the gamut of test protocols on all four of you simultaneously."

Ruby looked at her three friends, and it looked to Vahlen like the four of them were holding a silent conversation. Whatever it was they were wordlessly discussing, the 'conversation' ended quickly, and Ruby returned her attention to Vahlen with a smile, "With few exceptions, we fight as a team. So if you want all four of us to undergo testing, we're more than happy to do it together."

Dr. Vahlen nodded. "Very well. I will inform Bradford and make the necessary arrangements. Expect testing to take six days. Some parts will be rigorous, other parts… a bit dull, I'm afraid. Brain mapping is time-consuming and there's not much you can do while it progresses."

Yang shrugged, evidently unfazed by the prospect of boring scans, "Hey, it'll all be worth it in the end right?" She nudged Blake and smiled. "I don't know about you, but I'm personally psi-cked about helping Vahlen get us our Aura back! Oww!"

Blake delivered a smack to Yang's head while Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"Dammit Yang."

A/N: Alright, so as you've seen from Ruby's little chat with Dr. Shen, XCOM is planning to integrate some of Remnant's tech and design philosophies into its own weapon systems. The problem I'm encountering is that my creative juices aren't flowing as well as I'd like, and I'm having difficulty thinking of badass ideas beyond fusing the MEC's Kinetic Strike Module and Flamethrower. If you've got any neat ideas for form-shifting weapons, armor, or utility slot items, leave it in a review or drop me a PM. I would greatly appreciate it!