Hello Readers,

I have been busy with life, and my other stories, but I managed to get this little bit for Human Legacy. I hope you enjoy this snippet while I finish the rest of the chapter.

ShirouKuroEmiya

Chapter Three Sneak Peek

"We greet The Illusive Man," said Miranda Lawson while leading a religious ceremony worshiping humanity composed of believers from all of the Window Space species. "We thank you for gracing us your presence when the rest of humanity has left us for we are unworthy. Please guide us so the promised time when humanity returns to us …"

Jack Harper tuned out what Miranda Lawson, his most loyal and capable subordinate, was saying as she continued with the religious ceremony worshipping him. His mind was elsewhere while his body was on autopilot saying the words and acting in a manner that benefited his status as a "god-like human" as he had done so the same for centuries.

Every time Miranda praised him for being a god, Jack suppressed the urge to scoff. The average human in the 69th century living in Human Space, away from the reaches of the Window races, might seem like gods, but that comparison only happened to hold true if the average human was compared to the Windows races.

Sometimes, Jack wished he could bring Divine Spirit from Earth to Window Space. The immortal beings from the First Age of Gods were the true embodiment of what it meant to be a God. True Divine Spirits were capable of instantaneous magical acts such destroying entire continent, reviving the dead and many other that would take many humans a lifetime (the modern human lifespan measuring at five thousands years on average) to achieve.

The best way to describe the difference between a Window specie, humanity and True Divine Spirit (gods worshiped by humanity) would be comparing them as machines with a momentary value. The average Window race could be worth anyway ranging from ten thousand to hundred thousand mark. The average human was starting at a million. The least capable True Divine spirits at the very least a billion and the greatest True Divine Spirits being worth in the trillions.

Of course, there were rare outliers such as a member of the Window race being able to surpass the average human, but that made them a historical figure in Citadel Space. And the same applied to humans where uncommon feat of an exceptional human surpassing a Divine Spirit.

Jack was about to continue his comparison between the races when Miranda addressed him.

"Sir, the ceremony is over and everyone has left," said an amused Miranda.

"I know that." Jack lied smoothly while he commanded his brain to resume normal operating levels so that time didn't go as quickly it really did. "Miranda can you stop with pretending to be the High Priestess and instead act a 'god-like' human? I have more important things to do then pretending to a god that the Cult of Humanity worships."

"Sir," Miranda's smile grew. "You were the one to first propose this idea. It was your decision that using the power of worship of countless billions of the Window races to make you into pseudo Divine Spirit would benefit Cerberus the most. Afterall, the power of faith would elevate your physical, mental and magical abilities to a whole different level."

"I did," Jack pinched his nose, "but keeping up this charade is starting to become bothersome…" He sighed. "I considering reducing the time I personally attend these ceremonies in the future and instead send one of my avatars to represent me."

"Sir, I must protest against that. If you send a avatar to represent you then the amount of improvement to your abilities would be a fraction of what you would receive if you personally att-"

"Miranda, we both know that isn't the truth." Jack interrupted. "I think you are enjoying being the 'official' leader of the Cult of Humanity a bit too much. If you keep getting too distracted from your true duties then I will have to 'arrange for your death' and find someone else to take your place as High Priestess."

Jack didn't bother to hear Miranda's response as he walked away to a very secure location. This was so that he could read his daily intelligence reports, which allowed him to keep track of all the important matters that might affect Cerberus's operations in Window Space.

- O -

After reading the daily intelligence report regarding Window Space so that he could do his job as Cerberus, Jack Harper stared at one particular intelligence reports. Well calling it an "intelligence report" wasn't completely correct as it didn't relate to any of his official duties. Some in human space might even accuse him of misusing Cerberus's resources for his own personal use. Not like Jack would ever admit that of course.

He had always spent a bit of his limited free time keeping track of asari going by the name of Shepard. Her name reminded him so much of his deceased apprentice from thousands of years ago during the Reaper War. The enigmatic leader of Cerberus had first been drawn to the asari archaeologist, who had specialized in human archelogy, because her name had appeared in his daily intelligence reports regarding the Window Council's top Spectres.

"Sir, are you reading the latest intelligence report on Shepard again?" asked an annoyed Miranda Lawson from being ignored earlier entered the room.

"Yes," Jack nodded and Miranda glared at her superior. "Miranda, you need to get over your inferiority complex regarding your predecessor. My former apprentice might have been regarded more highly in Cerberus than you, but her skillset was very different from yours. Shepard was more of a soldier and tactician. She had never had your skills as a scientist. Her skills as administrator and spy lagged far behind yours. And your skills are more important to Cerberus then Shepard's skillset ever was."

"Sir, that still doesn't change the fact that many in Cerberus prefer Shepard over me as your right-hand woman." Miranda replied, barely stopping herself from growling.

"Just get over it," Jack sighed and he threw an intelligence report to Miranda. "Have a look."

She caught the intelligence report and quickly scanned through it.

"Sir, are you sure the report is correct? I thought the Reaper's anti-human weapons were so effective that if you were killed by them there was no chance of ever reincarnating."

"That only applies to regular humans. Shepard had been very close of becoming a Heroic Spirit that it was possible while her death at Reaper anti-human weapons might have prevented her ascension to become a Heroic Spirit, it hadn't been enough to allow her to reincarnate."

Miranda scowled, and that was very rare of her to ever show such strong hatred towards anybody. As a skilled spy, Miranda's ability to control her emotions and hide her thoughts was amongst the greatest in Cerberus. Yet, Jack found it almost endearing and showed the rare human side of her that Miranda hide from others.

"What are your orders, sir?" She asked, while half-gritting her teeth.

"Tell Major Alenko that he is to act as our liaison to Shepard," Jack replied as he used Projection to materialize a copy of his favored cigar and lit with a simple flame magic spell. "He has no limits to the manpower and resources required in his mission to protect and recruit Shepard."

Jack chuckled as the Miranda's scowl that had been about to disappear, remanifested itself.

"Sir, I protest about Alenko's having no limits of-"

"Your advice is noted, but my orders are final on this matter, Miranda." He stared impassively at his second-in-command.

"Of course, I will see that Major Alenko receive your orders and his blank cheque."

Jack Harper watched as Miranda angrily leaving the room.

"I hope Alenko's aid is what you need, Shepard," said Harper as he smoked his cigar and looked out the window of his office into the dark void of space. "There are signs that the Reapers have rebuilt their numbers since humanity's war with them left them shattered. If the Reapers are back then we need one of our greatest heroes back in the fight."

Codex

True Divine Spirit

The definition of what it means to be Divine Spirit has changed over the centuries since humanity left Earth to explore the stars as their knowledge and technology advanced to levels well beyond even the height of what the alien Greek Machine Gods achieved before their destruction. The average human in the 69th millennia has become so powerful that compared to the Window species they are akin to gods, hence the classification Divine Spirits for the most powerful humans.

True Divine Spirits refer to the original Divine Spirits from the 1st Age of Gods and the numerous second generations of True Divine Spirits that come about during the second Age of Gods. The second and following generations of True Divine Spirits include former Heroic Spirits prior to humanity's advent as a space-faring civilization as their fame had reached levels so high that they had the ability to destroy entire cities unaided by external factors such as items.

Anti-Human Weapons – Reaper Technology

Humanity provided to be one of the greatest threats that the Reapers had ever come to face against. This was shown by the fact that humanity had achieved a unprecedented achievement never seen in the Milky Galaxy before humanity's appearance: the near annihilation of the Reapers. One of the major factors of humanity's ability to defeat the Reapers was their ability to reincarnate with their memories and skills of their previous lives intact. To prevent this near-immortal aspect of humanity, the Reapers created Anti-Human weapons that could destroy the human soul and prevent them from reincarnating.

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Thank you for reading!