An Owl's Beacon

Chapter 1

"James... If I may, what exactly are we looking at here?" Glynda asks as she fixes her glasses, staring (with one eyebrow raised up) at the metal contraption glinting with the midday sun Ironwood just parked near the walls of Beacon Academy behind Ozpin's office.

Because nobody really goes there, right? At least, not on purpose, right?

"About nine months ago, we discovered a viscous, blue liquid. When mixed with water and given enough kinetic energy via Dust, it has a special property that allows instantaneous transportation of goods and gears. You may even call it teleportation," Ironwood explains as he pulls up his scroll and projects a video to Ozpin and Glynda, showcasing half a dozen researchers working on miniature versions of the cylindrical machine Ironwood brought.

The muted video starts with focusing on one of the two teleporters, the research team is putting in crates full of robotic parts, various elemental dust bottles, and even a chair. As soon as the team exits the machine, the feed zooms out to a wide shot of the two teleporters separated by a wall. To ensure validity and transparency, the team approaches the second teleporter and proves it to be empty inside. Manually closing the hatch of both teleporters shut, the lights dim as a lever is pulled and some buttons are pushed, both teleporters slowly light up a few seconds later. In a bright flash of yellow light, the teleporters have suddenly died down and the lights of the laboratory return to their original brightness, the team opens up the first teleporter that they went into a while ago to show that the aforementioned items have now disappeared without a trace even as they inspected the inside of the teleporter. Upon exiting, they check the second teleporter to show that the contents inside are exactly the same as what was in the first teleporter.

"Very impressive work," Ozpin comments, "and you brought the final product here for all four kingdoms to use freely?"

"Well, not exactly, Oz," Ironwood replies, earning a questioning look from both Glynda and Ozpin, "see, when you brought up your concern about how... Imposing it is to bring entire ships full of armies in a time of festivity as well as how my tactics need a more subtle approach, I remembered that among the things I brought here, I had experimental technology. We were planning to test the teleporters to see if they can handle transporting loads across continents. And with prototypes of this size, we would also simultaneously attempt to teleport armies of Atlesian Knights and even an Atlesian Paladin alongside other things."

"James, you haven't attempted to teleport animals or even people, have you?" Ozpin follows up.

"I've been advocating for minimizing the need for living casualties in the battlefield, and I shall approach research projects like these the same way. Don't worry."

"And I assume you're not going to leave this machine out here in the back exposed to the weather?" Glynda asks.

"Of course not. With your approval," Ironwood gestures to both of them, "I am hoping there will be a strategically advantageous place for the teleporter. With more major improvements and additional failsafes, we could ensure that none of your students will set the machine off and get themselves teleported across continents by accident."

"Hmm..." Ozpin ponders on this for as long as two sips of his coffee before deeming it a safe move, "very well, general. A couple more questions about this mysterious liquid while we look around... What else is there to it? Does it have a name? Is it so abundant that you were able to repeatedly experiment on it?" Ozpin queries as he starts walking away from the machine and the area in general.

"It doesn't have a name yet, but what we do know is that this doesn't classify as Dust of any conventional form. We also have to securely lock the teleporters and include a drainage system because the mixture has a tendency to leak out and trap up foreign objects before vanishing into thin air. So..." Ironwood rambles on with Glynda walking close behind the two of them.