May 25, 2026

New York

Cerberus building

Jack Harper gazed out onto the city below, contemplating the reaper dilemma.

The intrusion had been a success and the reaper code was downloaded without trouble. The only problem was the massive size of the program and the time it took to download. Though talking to Sovereign had been easy, the reaper seemed eager to share its knowledge with them, though it's constant monologue frustrated him too no end. But, he looked at the large memory storage device on his desk, it had been worth it.

Also in his chat with Sovereign he had learned some very interesting information about indoctrination. Eventual total control over a person's mind and body, the prospect of this thrilled him. While the rest of humanity might see this as crime against nature he saw opportunity. Sabotage, assassinations and other dangerous tasks behind enemy lines could be carried out by the enemy. No more risking lives over high risk or suicide missions. But unfortunately the technology just wasn't available and unless they wanted to completely dissect Sovereign for the generator then it was out of their reach, for now.

But now that they had the reaper code then project HARVEST could begin. Sovereign had told him all about the Catalyst AI on board the main Citadel relay, a troubling adversary but not impossible. Reprogramming every reaper while another AI was able to undo their work would be difficult. So there was only one choice left to them, the Citadel must be destroyed and the Catalyst along with it.

He smiled, for an ancient AI of untold destruction Sovereign was incredibly naive. It gave humanity all this knowledge and told them to prepare, well they prepared alright. The reapers wouldn't stand a chance after the last harvest, and humans will stand as the dominate unchallenged rulers of the galaxy.

But first things first, he turned to his desk where the MSD sat. "EDI, I'm giving you authorization to call the lads down stairs. Tell them I have a package for them and they'll receive instructions up here."

"Yes Illusive Man." He smiled, Illusive man, he rather liked the name.

June 01, 2026

Genesis station

Office complex

Barnes had to give Harper credit, the man really knew how to make a comfortable office. After the bastard had left back to earth on the Legionary's return trip, things had been easier for him. The only problem, he thought turning to the massive window, was that Sovereign took up 95% of the view outside.

But still, it was there and he had taken it to get out of the broom closet that the designers had the nerve to call an office. Not to mention he'd wanted to search every inch of the place for anything that Jack had left behind. But ether the man wasn't doing anything bad or he was really good at covering his tracks.

Though he would love to continue searching for Jack's privet life, he had work to do. He dropped into the chair behind the desk, sighing in relief when it didn't groan in protest over his weight and brought up relevant files to his visor.

First in line was the new WarHammer project, which Gould had unknowingly created when he wanted to make an ultramarine. Apparently Gould must have been successful, because a short time ago the R&D had swooped in and classified everything related to the project. Now Gould was asking for authorization to find users for the WarHammer, which Barnes promptly denied. He was going to need to see what Gould was working on before he authorized anything else.

Second was Project Eden, humanities first step into colonization. The Explorer would be the first ship to pass though the newly named, Charon Relay, to investigate a chosen planet. From the map that Sovereign gave them they had chosen a local garden world in the Exodus cluster to hold the first human colony. Though Barnes was concerned about the multiple relay jumps between the two planets. They would have to build a station or something in Arcturus to insure that the system remained human space. Now all they were waiting for was the Explorer to finish with its retrofits. A new more powerful Harpoon drive, upgraded Archangel laser, close quarters plasma cannons from reverse engineered Ceph technology and the new Orbital Drop Pods for infantry.

In fact, he checked the time on his visor, they should be done any minute now.

"UTN Explorer has left docking bay 1," SECOND informed him.

He smiled,"good luck Shepard, I think we're all going to need it."

June 01, 2026: UTN Explorer successfully passes the through Charon relay, surveying planet Eden Prime now in progress.

June 20, 2026: Construction of the colony, New Vegas begins.

July 10, 2026: Construction is completed and the Legionary begins to transport colonists. Current population of Eden Prime is 350, more expected soon.

July 31, 2026: Humanities first off world shipyard, Thor's Forge, is founded in the asteroid belt. Construction on the new earth defense fleet is underway.

August 09, 2026: WarHammer is given both test subjects and officially moved to Eden Prime for testing under the authorization of Jack Harper.

August 13, 2026

Eden Prime

Testing zone 2

Gould gazed around him in awe of the nature around him. Beautiful, peaceful, all natural organic scenery. It was perfect. He was standing in a clearing among the vast forests of Eden Prime, scattered around him were rocks of various sizes.

He could have kissed Harper for giving him this chance, but given the conditions that the man had put him under and not to mention Gould's general dislike for him so that kiss just wouldn't happen. One such condition was stepping out of the VTOL behind him. Miranda Lawson, Harper's personal representative in the WarHammer's testing.

"What's going on Gould, where are they?" He grinned, Miranda hadn't been there on the 11th for the WarHammer's strength test. She had only got here yesterday, so it gave him a real opportunity to test the stealth systems. He didn't tell her what part of the trials he would be running with her.

"Wellll," he drawled out. "Why don't you try and find them." She scowled at him, before activating nanovision and searching around the clearing.

"Orders sir," the call came suddenly making him jump.

"Just wait," he whispered back. "Let her search a little, but don't do anything! Wait for my signal, OK?"

"Understood," the comm went silent. John was a good soldier and commander, perfect for WarHammer.

Miranda kept on searching for the next 15 minutes, and still she found nothing. He had made the WarHammers to be able to hid from all but the most advanced scanners, Miranda wouldn't be able to find anything. Finally she stormed back to Gould, body language showing anger and frustration through her nanoshell.

"Are you trying to mock me," she hissed. "I was called out here to see what your creations could do. But there is nothing here."

"Nothing? Are you sure about that?" She gave him a death glare.

"There's Rocks if that's what your saying."

"Then good job," he grinned at her. "You probably found one of them." He then proceed into the middle, shouting and clapping.

"Well done guys! You can come out now!" Around him the outlines of four massive boulders shimmered before dissipating. Miranda couldn't help but gape at the 23 foot tall suits of armor that towered above her. They were exactly like the small figurine that Gould had showed her in the VTOL, but she doubted they were supposed to be that large. They also carried one of the largest hand held weapons that she had ever seen.

"You like them?" She started at Gould's sudden appearance by her side.

"State of the art nanite holographic projectors, perfect for hiding in plain sight." He continued, going up to the nearest WarHammer and taping its leg. "Titanium-C, a combination of both human and Ceph alloys covered in synthetic nanoweave. Powered by a reverse engineered Ceph plasma reactor." He finished grinning at her.

The shock Miranda had felt wore off and was replaced with curious fascination.

"Why make them so big though," she asked, walking up and inspecting the armor.

He shrugged, "bigger is better. Not to mention powerful."

"Alright," she said turning to Gould. "But how do these things work? Do you actually grow a person to that size?"

"I had considered that, but then I found something easier." He motioned up to the helmet and shouted, "Show her John!"

As Miranda watched, the helmet discontented with a hiss and lifted up allowing a man to crawl out of the neck section. As the man crawled out she saw some kind of liquid flow off him back into the armor.

"The armor is completely filled with a new nanogel that I invented," Gould explained gazing proudly at his creations. "Though technically it's all just liquid nanoshell. When a person becomes submerged, the gel will temporarily merge with him. Transferring motor control from his body to the armor, think of it as a body extension." Miranda stared at him, blankly.

Gould sighed. "In simple terms, it becomes your body." She nodded before an alert drew her attention to her visor.

"That's impressive, but right now can they fight? Do those guns of theirs work?" She asked urgently.

"The bolters, yeah they work. But we still haven't tested their full armor modes yet. Why?"

"Because we have a big problem," she said transferring the alert to Gould. His eyes widened at what he saw, UTN Alert 027, unknown alien presence in orbit. Prepare for attack.

Its a short chapter, I know. But I need to collect my thoughts and what ever brains I have left for the next one, though it will take a while because I have summer jobs to do.