CHAPTER ONE
Sixteen years later, two hours before the Reapers made themselves known to the galaxy…
"That's it for today, boys! Shuttle's inbound!" came the jubilant voice of Chief Engineer Cade Vitona. Jack sighed. Most people didn't enjoy working, especially not in space, but Lead Weapons Designer Jack Vulcan was an exception. He had never forgotten how a machine had saved his life sixteen years ago, and he'd maintained a very close relationship to machines since then. He brushed the metal shavings from his prototypes into the trash chute. Wiping the sweat from his brow, casually picked up his latest design, which was a modified version of the Cerberus M-96 Mattock. It had a higher rate of fire, less kickback, and a larger capacity, and the spray of bullets was even more accurate than the original thanks to a trageting VI designed by Jack's late father. It wasn't perfected yet, but it was operational, and even on shore leave he was going to need some form of protection. He tucked it into the large black satchel slung over his shoulder, the took a look at his wristwatch and decided that he'd better hurry up and leave his Arcturus Station office.
As the lights automatically began to dim, Jack peered out the window at the SSV Starliner, the luxurious passenger cruiser he was taking. Normally he'd take his own construction ship, the MCL* Jetstream, but his ship just wasn't built for pleasure cruises. At least it was his holiday, he thought to himself as he slowly trudged to the spaceport. It went from Arcturus Station to al the Alliance's major trading ports, but t also provided a transport service to the station's personnel. The tinny, electronic voice of a VI rang out over the intercom. "Flight 937, to Eden Prime, now boarding. I repeat. Flight 937, to Eden Prime, now boarding."
((Author's Note: MCL= Mobile Construction Laboratory))
"Oh crap! That's my flight!" Jack exclaimed, dragging his twin suitcases as fast as he could to the docking bay. Although it ws slow going, he finally reached the entrance to the Starliner. The pilot was a young man with limp blond hair and a cheery grin on his face, and his name tag read TREZ. Pfft. What a total Boy Scout. Jack thought to himself with a grin. Trez quickly searched Jack's omni-tool for the boarding pass code with a handheld scanner. When nothing showed up, his smile faded slightly.
"Excuse me, sir," Trez said in a casual Brooklyn accent, keeping up his positive demeanor, "you're not authorized to board." Jack was puzzled. Then it hit him. He quickly activated the omni-fabricator (copyright and trademark, Jack Vulcan) on his left hand and showed that to Trez. "Two omni-tools? That's a new one…" remarked Trez, but he scanned the fabricator anyway. Sure enough, the scanner lit up green and he waved Jack in. Upon arriving in the first-class section, Jack flopped down into a large plush seat. The artificial gravity was quite comfortable, and the ship's plush decor was a definite improvement over Arcturus Station's utilitarian design. Now, the benefits of taking a passenger line rather than th Jetstream were starting to seem pretty obvious. Jack stared at the ceiling, hoping his vacation to Eden Prime would be at least mildly exciting. Little did he know he'd get more than he bargained for...