Hey guys sorry it took sooo long for this chapter to get posted, but it was out of my hands. Anyway on to reviewing "reviews" from waht I've been seeing some people are still complaining about Sovereign surviving two supermacs, you guys need to calm down and let me do my job by finishing this story and revealing the whole how Sovereign able to survive a Super Macs okay! Damn how many time do I have to say this. Also as fellow gamers on this site did anyone see Spike TV's video games awards? I was very disappointed, now moving on hope you guys enjoy this chapter and make sure you read what I have at the end.

December 8, 2685/2185

Normandy SR-2

Deck 3: Crew Quarters

Shepard stopped by at Deck Three to speak with Garrus. When he made it to the mess hall, Garrus was sitting by himself at a table, Shepard joined him and took a seat opposite of him. The sign of the Turian noticing came in his species' equivalent of a grin. "Shepard, coming by to check up on me? Very surprising, I thought you would have your AI keep an eye on me."

Shepard just grinned. "That's not necessary, you've earned your place here on the Normandy." Shepard looked around and back at Garrus. "Has the Cerberus crew given you any trouble?"

Garrus shook his head. "I think the Turian who helped you take down Saren has given me some credibility, and it helps that we're all working together to stop the Collectors. I just wish the Council's heads weren't so far up their collective asses, and would help you instead of building more dreadnoughts."

Shepard nodded his head. "I saw one of those new dreadnoughts the Citadel has, it looks like it could do some damage, especially from what I heard."

Garrus nodded his head. "Those dreadnoughts are the combination of fear and determination from the Council to not be suppressed by the OSA, they feel having that thing will level the playing field."

Shepard shook his head. "We're not the enemies, the Reapers are."

Garrus shrugged his shoulders. "The Council doesn't believe in the Reaper threat and thinks they are a myth created by Saren to control the Geth."

Shepard could not believe how idiotic these people could be, but before he could say what he felt, Caprica came on the PA telling Shepard they would be at Horizon in one hour. Shepard thought it would be a good idea to get everyone in the conference room and tell them about the mission.

Normandy SR-2

Deck 2: Conference Room

In the conference room, Shepard gathered his squad together and debriefed them on the situation. "Okay people listen up, Horizon has gone dark we don't know if it's the Collectors or a damaged comm. system, but if it is them we need to prepare." A holographic image of Horizon appeared over the table. "Horizon is a Human only colony on the borders of the Terminus systems, so don't expect heavy defenses like the OSA Colonies."

Miranda stepped in. "The Collectors will bring a total of five ships to the colony and take out any defenses in space. One ship will then land and begin launching seeker swarms to immobilize the citizens."

Garrus then asked a question. "Are we going to expect back up from either Cerberus or the UNSC?"

Shepard shook his head—how he wished he'd have more help right now. "Right now they're mobilizing what ships they have for a counterattack, but we need someone on the ground." Shepard then looked at Mordin. "Mordin, tell me you have something?"

Mordin looked at Shepard for a moment and smiled. "Yes!" He brought up an image of body armor.

Shadow Sea

Lera System

Horizon

1 Hour ago

Horizon; a temperate world that hit the "sweet spot" for carbon-based life, due to a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere maintained by abundant indigenous photosynthetic plants and bacteria. While the native plants are very palatable to Humans, the soil conditions are such that a handful of introduced Earth species have flourished, and the colonists must take strict care to prevent ecological disasters. Genetically engineered "terminator seeds" that grow nutritious but sterile crops to minimize outbreaks are the rule rather than the exception. The animal population on Horizon appears to be exploding in diversity similar to during Earth's Cambrian period. Large flying insect analogs take advantage of the thicker-than-Earth atmosphere and low gravity to grow enormous. Microbial life has proven relatively benign; a series of vaccinations for the most virulent strains of soil-borne diseases is all that is required for a visit.

Horizon is protected by three ODP's and a fleet of five frigates and one Cruiser.

Horizon

Military Installation

At the military installation General Warsaw was going over the daily operations on the colony as he was reading everything over his data pad Gunnery Chief Williams walked up to him and saluted. "General!"

Warsaw looked at the fine officer. "At ease Chief! What do you have to report?"

Ash relaxed a bit and told the General everything. "Sir the new Onagers we set up are having a problem."

"Tell me what else is new." Replied the General annoyed about the Onagers.

Chief Williams didn't like the Generals remark and explained how serious this is. "Sir, without those Onagers online this colony could come under Collector attack."

The General looked at Williams not liking her attitude. "With all due respect Gunnery Chief, this colony is very well-protected, and the odds of a Collector attack happening are quite sli..." But before the General could finish that statement, alarms around the base went off.

Military Installation

Command Center

General Warsaw and Chief Williams ran into the command center, when they got there everyone was working at their stations at top speed and efficiency. The General walked up to the holotable to find out what was going on. The colony's AI Liz appeared on the table. "General all ODP's have been destroyed, the fleet is engaging with five Collector cruisers."

The General knew Williams had a smirk on her face when Liz said that, but focused on getting this colony ready for a fight. "Liz direct all the civilians to the fallout bunkers immediately and prepare the men, you know the drill, get our biotics on every platoon that we send out there, get our soldiers wearing heavy armor."

Liz confirmed the order and went to work, the General turned around and looked at Chief Williams. "Chief Williams, don't you have a colony to protect?"

Chief Williams nodded her head. "Yes sir!" Ash then left the command center.

Shadow Sea

Lera System

Space

On the far edges of the Lera System, a Slipspace portal opened and out came the Normandy SR-2. Caprica immediately activated the ship's cloak and the Normandy blurred out of existence. Joker then piloted the Normandy to Horizon.

Normandy SR-2

Bridge

Shepard was on the bridge next to Joker and Caprica. When the Normandy got close to the colony, Shepard could see four Collector ships along with what was left of the defense fleet and ODP's, but Caprica said there was five; one landed on the planet and had began launching all ground forces and seeker swarms. "Can the Normandy take on four Collector Cruisers?"

Caprica shook her head. "Unfortunately no, the Normandy would only be able to take down two Collector ships before being destroyed."

Shepard thought of what to do, but Joker was the one that came up with an idea. "How about we use Wasp mines, the Normandy does have a compliment of them."

Shepard looked at Caprica, Caprica was processing this new information. "It would give us a ninety-three percent chance in victory." Shepard nodded his head and called for his squad in the conference room.

Normandy SR-2

Conference Room

When everyone came in the conference room, Shepard began the battle plan. "Alright people here's the plan: from what we been able to get from listening in on the comm. link is that the Collectors are attacking everywhere on the planet there are multiple fronts around the colony, we can't get them all so, I am breaking us up into teams. Zaeed and Garrus, you two will be sent to the market district covering civilians."

Shepard switched the hologram of Horizon to show a different area. "Toha, Jack, and Grunt you three will be busy fighting the Collectors, I need you guys to keep the Collectors busy." In response, Grunt slammed his fists together excited to see some action, Jack crossed her arms and didn't really care, and Toha nodded his head.

The hologram then changed to a different area. "Kasumi and Mordin you two will be damage control and coordinate with the military on the planet in helping out with whatever they need."

Shepard then closed the hologram. "Miranda, Jacob, and I will head to the Military Installation on the planet and see what we can do, let's move out."

As the squad was preparing to leave, Caprica appeared in her usual revealing red dress. "Shepard we have a problem." A hologram of Horizon appeared on the table along with red dots in the locations of where Shepard was going to send his squad too. "The Collectors have set up jamming fields that prevents us from using our teleporters. This jamming field is the same one Saren and the Geth used on Virmire."

Shepard looked at the holographic display with the red dots. "Can we take those things out with our weapons?"

Caprica shook her head in disappointment. "I'm afraid not. First off, we would need to de-cloak to fire our weapons; and secondly, not only does the jamming field disrupt our teleportation technology, it is creating some form of static field that interferes with our targeting system."

Shepard nodded his head. "Guess we're taking the shuttle for this mission. How many charges do we have for the job?"

Horizon

Shuttle ride

"This is it people!" began Shepard, addressing the occupants of the shuttle, "For those of you who are looking for payback from the Collectors, now's your chance! Take no survivors—and if you are feeling the urge for a little irony, you have my permission to steal Collector weapons on this mission!" The shuttle was coming up on the installation and was immediately targeted by the defenses, Shepard punched in the necessary codes to allow them to pass. The Shuttle landed to drop off Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob. The shuttle then left to drop off the others.

Horizon Military Installation

Command Center

Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob walked into the command Center escorted by guards. Shepard walked up to the one in charge. General Warsaw was in combat armor and turned away from the holotable and looked at Shepard. "Commander Shepard! I heard a lot about you and your supposed coming back to life." He then looks at Miranda and Jacob. "I see the reports were true, you working for Cerberus."

Miranda was surprised by this. "Reports? You mean you already knew."

The General grunted. "Hmph! What are you three doing in my installation."

Shepard walked up close to the five star General. "We're here to help and stop the Collectors, you must have known the Senate placed Cerberus in charge with stopping the Collectors."

The General crossed his arms. "So much for stopping the Collectors from attacking this colony."

Shepard had hard time containing his anger. "We could not predict the Collectors attacking this colony, we're here now and my people are already coordinating with yours."

An assistant of the General walked up to him and gave him a data pad. He read over it and looked back at the Commander. "I have reports of a shuttle dropping off a Turian and Salarian accompanied by two Humans, I assume this is the help you are referring to?"

Shepard nodded his head. "Along with three others I sent to attack the Collectors. They're the best in the galaxy."

The General put the data pad away and turned back on the holotable. "We'll see about that. If you really want to help, get the colony's defenses back online."

Shepard saluted the General and went straight to work.

Horizon

Downtown District

Garrus and Zaeed were taking potshots at the Collectors, who then unleashed their seeker swarms, but thanks to Mordin Solus they were protected from the swarm. Garrus and Zaeed began falling back from the overwhelming numbers of Husks heading their way, running straight into a building for cover.

"That was close." Said Garrus

Zaeed nodded his head. "Damn bastards are tough SOBs, we need to find more firepower."

Garrus looks around. "Where are we anyway?"

From the layout of the building they were in some kind of corporate office, Zaeed and Garrus went up the staircase to get a vantage point with their sniper rifles.

Corporate Building

Rooftop

When Zaeed and Garrus got to the roof top they saw frozen Humans with automatic weapons, Garrus and Zaeed walked up to them to get a better look and Zaeed recognized them immediately. "They're the Colonial militia stationed on this planet, you can tell by their clothes that they're not standard UNSC. Poor bastards must've been confused at such an attack."

Garrus then saw the difference. "On Turian colonies we have something similar, but instead of militias, Turian families keep small arms in their homes and take basic training courses that include instruction on how to create simple anti-vehicle explosive devices."

Zaeed looks at Garrus with a raised eyebrow. "Does that include children?"

Garrus nodded his head. "Best way to get them ready for when they join the Turian Military."

Zaeed and Garrus head to the edge of the rooftop only to find something very useful. "Look what we have here." said Zaeed, walking over to what Garrus believe to be a weapon. "Do you know what this is?"

Garrus shakes his head. "The UNSC does not reveal much of their weapons to Turians."

"This, Garrus is a plasma mortar; condenses plasma into a ball, lobs it into the air, and lands it right on the enemy creating an explosion. All we have to do is get the right trajectory."

Garrus look skeptical. "You know how to work that?"

Zaeed had a grin on his face, he took the Mortar and placed it on the edge of the roof top, charging up the plasma and making the trajectory calculations. Once the math was done in his head, he pulled the trigger—the result was a large ball of plasma being flung into the air and falling down in an arc upon a group of Collectors. "Now this is what I call firepower."

Horizon

UNSC 115th platoon

Major Sloan was leading her platoon through damaged buildings, she was accompanied by a Salarian and Human Female in a hood. According to the General, they were part of Commander Shepard's team who was also a part of Cerberus. She lifted up her hand signaling everyone to stop. "Alright, get me a secure line to the General."

A communications officer began working on his Omni-tool and nodded to the Major. "General this Major Sloan of the 115th platoon."

After few seconds the General came on the line. "Major! What is your exact position?"

She activated her Omni-tool. "Sending you coordinates now sir."

"Major I have you near the colonies comm. tower, the Collectors took that out during the first wave, I need you to go and repair it."

Major Sloan responded with a 'yes sir' and took her platoon to the tower.

Horizon

Nearby the Collector cruiser was Toha, Jack, and Grunt fighting the Collectors keeping them occupied, while the colonies military can mount a defensive and counter attack. This team of three were giving the Collectors a beating, Jack was attacking them with her biotics, Grunt was charging at them with his M-300 Claymore and Toha was slicing the Collectors piece by piece with his plasma swords.

Warthog

In a warthog was Shepard and his squad heading to the defense tower that controlled all the Onagers on the planet; if he could get those Onagers operational, the Collector ship would be forced to leave the planet, but the other four Collector cruisers were another matter. "Joker! How's it coming with those WASP mines?"

Horizon

Orbit

In orbit of Horizon were four Collector cruisers pointing their main weapons at the planet, but unknown to the Collectors was a cloaked ship placing WASP mines on the outer hulls of their vessels.

Normandy SR-2

Bridge

Joker was piloting the Normandy to each Collector ship when he got the call from, Shepard. "Commander! The WASP mines are coming slowly, Caprica is making sure when these Mines go off, it will cripple the Collector ships preventing them from firing, so far we only got one down, three more to go."

"Keep me updated on your progress and speed it up, once the colonies defense come on line, those ships will have a strategic advantage and begin bombarding the planet." Said Shepard

Warthog

As the warthog continued down the path directed by the General, they immediately came to a stop: there was a collapsed building blocking the rest of the way there. "Looks like we'll have to go on foot from here." replied Shepard

Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob all got off of the warthog and went through the buildings.

Horizon

Destroyed buildings

As the group made their way through the buildings, they came upon a group of Collectors putting frozen civilians in what looked like organic pods. Shepard nodded to his team and they all moved into place, Shepard then gave the signal and Jacob and Miranda used their biotics and lifted the Collectors up, while Shepard sent out a biotic attack sending the Collectors flying.

Shepard walked up to the frozen civilians and looked at Miranda and Jacob. "Is there anything we can do for them?"

Miranda shook her head. "No, the paralysis will wear off in time."

Shepard nodded his head and continued to the defense center. Along the way they saw other Collectors taking civilians in the pods and heading into what looked like a shuttle and flying off to the cruiser.

After some time going through the buildings they came across a squad of Marines fighting off husks, Shepard and his squad join in and helping the squad. After the last Husk was killed, the leader of the squad came up to, Shepard. "Thanks for your help, the name's Ghost."

"Commander Shepard of the Normandy, what's your platoon doing here?" asked Shepard

Ghost looked back at his platoon and back at Shepard. "Our mission was to prevent the Collectors from taking civilians, but these Husks keep getting in the way."

Shepard could understand. "There are some civilians frozen back from where we came, also we saw a group of Collectors taking those pods. They're putting Humans in and taking them off into shuttles."

Ghost just cursed and started thinking. "Okay people listen up, we have a new mission: we're going to take the frozen civilians, secure the area, and hold out until reinforcements arrive." He looks back at, Shepard. "What are you three going to do?"

Shepard checked his gun and looks at Ghost. "I'm going to shoot my way to the colony's defense station and get those Onagers back online."

Ghost nodded his head. "You should know someone is trying to do the same, her name is Gunnery Chief Williams."

Shepard looked at Ghost with fire in his eyes. "What did you say?"

Horizon

Defense Station

Ashley Williams took cover behind buildings when two scions and a dozen Collectors appeared out of nowhere. She fired her assault rifle at the enemy and threw a frag, and some plasma grenades, but only more came determined to prevent her from activating the colony's defenses. Ash was thinking about falling back and returning with numbers that could help her fight her way through the Collectors, but everyone was busy dealing with other matters, but as she was contemplating on whether to leave or stay, a Collector ambushed her, flushing her out of cover before it pulled up its particle rifle intent on finishing her off, only to be thrown in to the sky and blasted so far away the Collector was soon gone from sight.

Ash looked to see who saved her only to be filled with uncontrollable emotion at the sight of her former Commander and lover. Shepard, Miranda, and Jacob began firing at the Collectors on sight. Shepard was the first person to reach Ashley. "Ash! are you okay?"

Chief Williams was speechless for a second only to regain her composure once she heard explosions. "Yeah I'm fine, what are you doing here?"

Shepard and Ash took cover behind buildings. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I'm working closely with Colonel Johnson on protecting all outer colonies on the border of the Terminus Systems from the Collectors." She then looked at Shepard with daggers shooting out of them. "Now what are you doing here?"

"Short version is, I'm working with Cerberus to fight against the Collectors." replied Shepard

Ash shook her head unable to believe it. "I can't believe the reports were accurate."

"We can talk about this later, when we're not being shot at! Now let's get to that defense station!" said Shepard

But before the group moved out of hiding, a Collector appeared unlike anything they had ever seen previously. This Collector had two looking horns above its head and seemed to be in command, Shepard turned to his comrades. "Have you guys ever seen anything like that before?"

Miranda, Jacob, and Ashley all shook their heads. "Nothing in the reports ever gave a description about that Collector, we should take precautions when engaging this one." replied Miranda

Shepard nodded his head. "Alright people lets go."

Ash nodded her head and fired at some Collectors with her assault rifle, while Miranda and Jacob were covering Shepard to get in close. Shepard moved through the battle field under cover and hitting Collectors with biotic attacks so powerful it would make even an Asari Matriarch think twice about going up against him. Even Shepard was surprised by his biotics being so powerful, he then thought it must have something to do with Project Lazarus; he would need to sit down with Miranda and find out what the heck was going on.

The Collector Captain saw this attack and was immediately taken over by Harbinger. "Assuming direct control."

Shepard saw this supposed glowing Collector and was not impressed and sent a biotic attack at it, but to his surprise and the surprise of everyone, the glowing Collector merely shrugged off the attack and sent its own, causing Shepard to put up a biotic barrier to protect him. The attack was enough to knock, Shepard off balance a little, but manage to regain it and fall back to cover. "Preserve, Shepard's body if possible."

That was something that caught everybody's interest, but that would have to wait. They continued to fire everything they had on the Horde. Shepard moved from cover to cover taking pot shots at the glowing Collector and it began taunting Shepard's attempts. "These attacks are pointless, these attacks are primitive." The Collector then threaten, Shepard. "If I must tear you apart, Shepard I will!"

Shepard had enough of this Collector and charged at him with his assault rifle and fired repeated rounds in him, but when Shepard got too close, the Collector knocked him down. The Collector then spoke again in a menacing tone. "You cannot stop us, Shepard, your worlds will be our laboratories!"

Shepard could not stand this monster anymore and put all of his biotic power in his right fist and slammed everything he had in the Collector Captain. The force alone was enough to break through his barriers and right in his chest and out the other end and it showed, Shepard's right arm going through the Collector as if a sword went right through it. Miranda, Jacob, and Ashley were very surprised about what, Shepard could do, even Shepard himself was surprised. But before Shepard could relax the glowing Collector wasn't dead and looked at, Shepard in the eye's. "We are not finished, I will find you again. Releasing control of this form." And just like that the glowing Collector turned into ash, just like when Sovereign was controlling Saren.

After that happened, Shepard fell down on one knee exhausted from using his biotics, Ashley saw this and ran over to carry him back.

As the Scions and Collectors continued to fire on Shepard's team, they called in for air support about a dozen Oculi rained down from the sky and began firing at Shepard and his team. He had no choice, but to call for a retreat for now.

But as Shepard and his squad left the area, a very familiar Collector walked out in the open. "Flee while you can, Shepard. The experiments will continue."

Horizon

Military Installation

Command Center

After the failed attempt in retaking the defense station, Shepard, Miranda, Jacob, and Ashley returned back to the Installation, but when they got there, Shepard was surprised to see all of his squad there, Toha, Jack, Grunt, Kasumi, Mordin, Zaeed, and Garrus. "What are you guys doing here?"

Toha stepped forward. "We were overrun by the enemy's air support, we could not stay and fight back."

Shepard walked up to the General. "Why weren't the colony's sentinels released to counteract the Oculus?"

The General turned away from the holotable and looked at, Shepard. "The Sentinels Factory was destroyed in the first attack by the Collectors from Orbit, they knew exactly where to hit us."

Shepard was surprised by this information, such locations like the Sentinel Factory was a secret only known to the highest ranking officials on colonies. Shepard then remembered what Intel said about the Collectors: they were allied with the Shadow Broker. "Is there anything we have here that can take out those Oculi?"

The General looked at, Shepard with a smile for a change. "As a matter of fact, we do."

Military Installation

Garage

Shepard along with his entire team, walked into the garage, Shepard then walked up to what look like a tank. "So, what do you guys call this thing?"

Ash had a grin on her face. "We call her the M-44 Hammerhead tank, it's a prototype tank designed by R&D department for killing Collectors and Husks."

Shepard nodded his head. "Can't wait to take her out." Shepard turned to face his squad. "We're going to hit the Collectors' air support soon; we'll have to be ready for when that happens, and I need everybody to be ready."

M-44 Hammerhead

The M-44 Hammerhead floated right out of the garage with incredible speed. Shepard was piloting the Hammerhead, to his right was Toha and on his left was Grunt, they were heading to the defense station.

Military Installation

Command Center

General Warsaw looked on the holotable of Shepard and his teams progress along with his own forces, they were getting into position. "Where are we with the Seeker missiles?"

"We have begun loading them in the launch tubes and we've got Liz guiding them." said the Lieutenant

The General nodded his head. "Good, everything seems to be on track."

But just as the General finished that sentence, Liz appeared with urgency. "General, I am detecting a horde of Husks and Collectors heading to the fallout bunkers."

The General acted fast. "Liz, activate the XG4300 Testudo."

In that moment on the Holotable, the fallout bunker was shown with a hard light shield over it, protecting the bunker and all the civilians in it.

The General let out a calm breath and focused back on the task at hand.

M-44 Hammerhead

Shepard parked the M-44 hammerhead on top of a building overlooking the defense center and a whole horde of Collectors and Husks. The Oculus was nowhere to be seen, but could be called for at anytime if Shepard and his team attacked. "General, we are in position! Are the seeker missiles ready?"

"They're ready, Shepard, but once you activate the Onagers, it will take time to pump the necessary power into them, expect heavy attacks on your location."

Shepard then punched the boosted gravity propulsion drive and glided off the rooftop and on the field of Collectors, Shepard fired the Hammerhead's main weapon and targeted all nearby enemy's, in that moment all UNSC forces launch simultaneous attacks around the colony, the Collectors counter by calling their Oculus, but this time the General was ready, from the Installation a hundred missiles left the base and was automatically guided by Liz. Using satellites to locate every Oculus all the seeker missiles struck and took out the Collectors air support.

Military Installation

Command Center

The General saw the successful strike at the Collectors air support from the holotable and looked at everyone. "Well done people, now we just have to hope for the best from our forces and..."

Before he could finish that sentence, alarms began going off in the command center. "General, the four Collector cruisers in orbit are targeting our location, this is probably retaliation for our strike against their air support." said Liz

General Warsaw got straight to work. "Activate our own hard light shield."

From the ground a hard light shield began to form upward and over the base like a dome protecting the entire installation from the attack.

Defense Center

After the Collectors and Husks were taken care of, Shepard went straight to work in activating the Onagers, but in that moment General Warsaw came on the comm. "Shepard, this General Warsaw."

"General! I'm almost done over here, thanks for taking care of those Oculus for us." replied Shepard

"I'm afraid you'll have to thank me some other time, I won't be able to help you like that again."

Shepard turned away from his work on the console. "Why? What's happened?"

"The Four Collector cruisers in orbit have begun attacking the base, we had to activate our hardlight shield to protect us, but it has also crippled us from firing our seeker missiles, the Collectors will most likely send in another wave of Oculi, get out while you still can."

Shepard then switched channels. "Joker! did you get all that."

"Yes Commander and we have a surprise for those Collectors." responded Joker

"Time to show the Collectors we give as good as we get. Joker light it up." Said Shepard with a grin on his face.

In that moment in the sky four explosion could be seen in the day time and it was explosions everybody cheered about across the colony.

Shepard turned away from the explosion and got the colonies Onagers online. "General the Onagers are online, let's kick that Collector ship off your planet."

"Already on it, Shepard."

As Shepard walked out of the defense center, he could see all the Onagers shooting at the Collector Cruiser, Shepard thought this was the end for them, but all of a sudden the Onagers near, Shepard's location was destroyed. Shepard looked around to see where the shot came from, Toha shouted at, Shepard to look up and from what he could see dozens of Praetorians and a lot of Collectors and Husks in shuttles heading their way.

Shepard told his squad to head for the tank, but it was destroyed from three Praetorians. "General, my position is being overrun by a lot of enemy units."

The General came on the comm. "I see that, Shepard. everywhere on the colony the Collectors have pulled back and are focusing on your location, I've redirected all ground forces to meet you there, but it will take time to reach you. You need to hold off long enough for them to reach your location, I'll send whatever I have left."

Shepard pulled out his assault rifle and took cover around the defense center along with Toha and Grunt. "We're on our own until help arrives."

Toha looked at Shepard with concern. "If they do not arrive in time, I feel even we cannot hold off this many enemies." He then looked up at the clear blue sky and basked in its beauty. "This is a good day to die."

As Shepard and Toha prepared for the inevitable, Grunt on the other hand was getting excited. "Finally something to kill."

Horizon

Orbit

Above Horizon in the vastness of space, a ship unlike anything in the OSA was secretly cloaked and not detected by anyone's sensors including the Normandy's. The ship was monitoring the whole thing from orbit and was about to make an appearance.

Unknown Vessel

Bridge

On board this nameless ship was a crew of only Humans and three of those Humans were well-known Spartans. Near the holotable were two Spartans watching the whole Collector attack taking place. On the right side was Dasiy-023 and her left was Nicole-458.

As the two continued watching, Nicole made this whole thing interesting. "Twenty credits says, Commander Shepard won't survive for too long."

Daisy looks at her fellow Spartan and grins. "I wouldn't underestimate him, he may not be a Spartan, but he has one hell of a team."

Nicole just chuckled. "Blue team is a hell of a team, red team is a hell of a team, even those asshole Freelancers have a damn good team, but Shepard's team is just a big mess of different species trying to work together but will utterly fail."

But before Daisy could reply back another Spartan stepped in and broke it up. "You two cut it out. We're here on a mission." Cal-141 the all female Spartan team leader.

"If by 'mission' you mean a test run of the new armor system the geeks created, that only requires one person to use it, then no this isn't a mission." replied Nicole

Cal looks at Nicole as if a parent was looking at her child for being a smart ass, she then moved over to the comm. link. "Emile, how are you doing."

"I'm ready to get this over and done with, let's not keep the boss waiting."

Cal understood and began launch procedures. "Attention everyone, we are about to commence Operation: Gladiator! Opening hangar doors now."

On the outside of the ship the hangar doors began opening on the undercarriage. "HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IV armor you have a go for launch."

Horizon

Orbit

Emile-A239 was launched magnetically out of the launch bay and headed straight for Horizon at speeds that made the Sabre look like a washed-out minivan.

Horizon

Military Installation

Command Center

In the Command Center, people were running around trying to get organized for a counter offensive around Shepard's location, but so far getting all forces through the debris of fallen buildings and damaged roads caused by the Collectors' bombardment from orbit had become difficult.

General Warsaw walked up to the holotable and looked at his second in command. "Are the F-99 Ospreys ready?"

The Lieutenant nodded his head. "The Captain of the carrier said he is ready to launch on you orders, General."

Without hesitation he ordered the launch of thirty F-99 Ospreys unmanned combat Aerial Vehicles.

As the General waited anxiously for the results of the Ospreys, Liz appeared on the holotable with urgency. "General I am detecting an unidentified object heading towards the city at incredible speeds."

Warsaw had a shocked look on his face, he was hoping it wasn't the Collectors. "Can you bring it up on the holo table?"

Liz shook her head. "No General it's moving too fast for the satellites to keep up."

"Where did it come from?" asked the General

Liz only shrugged her shoulders, not knowing the answer to that question.

Horizon

atmosphere

The thirty Ospreys were on their way to the city, each one was being piloted by either experience pilots or AI's. Once they got close the thirty's Ospreys broke up into three groups of ten, each one heading to certain locations around the city, one group was heading directly to, Shepard's location packing enough firepower to take down a large group of tanks.

But in the skies as well was Emile-A239 in the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mk. IV flying past the Ospreys as if nothing could stop him, he was enjoying himself in this new type of armor made specifically for Spartans, but the fun would hold as he was coming up on a group of soldiers pinned by Scions and Collectors, Emile did a loop in the air and made a dive down at the squad, activated the weapons on the armor and fired two green plasma bolts at the Scions and Collectors, creating an explosion that disintegrated both of them. Once he was assured that his side-mission was complete, he continued heading towards the city.

Defense Center

Shepard, Toha, and Grunt were in a firefight with a whole horde of everything the Collectors could throw at them. Explosions left and right of the squad, who were now holed up in the defense center and returning fire whenever they could. Before long, the F-99 Ospreys the General sent went over the Horde with missiles and gun turrets, trying their best to take down as many as they could, but even with this much air support, they could not handle the Praetorians shooting them down.

"Well there goes that plan, any ideas?" asked Shepard

Grunt just growled."We'll kill them all till there's none left, but a pile of their bodies." replied Grunt

Toha who was holding a plasma rifle and looked at Shepard. "We could always call the Normandy for support."

Shepard shook his head. "As long as the Collectors have those jamming fields up, their targeting systems are useless; and even if they got close it would still be too dangerous, they could accidentally shoot us by mistake."

As they continued to think, the Collectors became more aggressive in their assault, they used one of their shuttles and slammed it in the defense center with a dozen of abominations. This action forced Shepard and his squad to jump out of the defense center before it exploded. The team moved through the battlefield dodging and shooting their way to cover. Once they were in cover, Shepard put up a biotic field to protect them further, but with continued attacks on their position, even he could not keep it up.

In the background of this attack, Harbinger appeared in his menacing way and began giving out orders. "Stop Shepard! Focus on Shepard! neutralize Commander Shepard."

The biotic field soon dropped from the combined attack from the Collectors. After that the Collectors stopped firing and Harbinger flew over just a few yards away from Shepard's current location. Your allies have fallen, Shepard. You have no one left."

Shepard gave Harbinger the finger from cover, but that only made Grunt laugh. "Shepard submit now, you do not yet comprehend your place in things."

Shepard looked at his squad for answers, but they did not, Shepard then spoke for the first time. "If I surrender, will you leave this colony and my friends alone?"

Harbinger replied with a yes, Shepard and his squad came out of cover with their weapons dropped on the floor. Every Collector had their weapons trained on Shepard and his squad. Shepard walked up to Harbinger with defiance in his eyes and stood right in front of the monster.

It didn't look like it, but Harbinger had an evil smile on his face. "Shepard, your interference has ended, you escaped us before. Never again."

Shepard was scratching his head and only could respond with. "Didn't I kill you already?"

Harbinger only laughed. "Shepard I always survive, this shell is only a vehicle. The flesh is only a machine."

"You are no machine monster, if I was not bounded by a gun pointing at me, I would have killed you with my bare hands." said Toha with anger in his voice.

Harbinger shot back with his own words. "You are vermin, destroying this body will gain you nothing."

"I don't know about that, watching Toha stab you with a plasma sword would be pretty satisfying." replied Shepard

Harbinger walked in front of Shepard, not amused by what he said. "You are arrogant Shepard, you will learn."

As Harbinger began walking away, everyone including Harbinger began hearing a high pitched sound coming from nowhere, Shepard, Toha, and Grunt looked around for the noise only to be surprised by plasma fire from above them. The plasma hit the Praetorians in the sky and soon began to rain on the remaining Husks and Collectors. The Collectors began firing their weapons in the sky trying to hit something, but it was a futile effort. After a while the one who was attacking made an impressive appearance and landed so hard, it cracked the ground beneath him.

Shepard got a good look at their savior and saw a Spartan with a white skull on his Orange face plate along with a horn on top of his head, wearing some pretty impressive bluish grey armor. Harbinger however was not impressed and ordered his Collectors to open fire on the Spartan. Everything the Collectors had was fired at Emile, but Emile activated his energy shield surrounding the Spartan in a bubble that covered the whole armor. The energy shield was shrugging off the attacks. Once the Collectors saw this, they stopped firing and tried to retreat, but Emile wouldn't let them; he opened fire with everything he had firing out all types of plasma he had at the Collectors and Husks.

After the fight died down, Shepard and his squad walked up to the Spartan carefully, Shepard looked at the carnage and nodded his head in approval. "Well that beats my kill score, thanks for you help."

Emile looked at, Shepard and his squad. "I wasn't here to save you or this colony." Emile then activated the armor's rockets and flew out of the area and headed back into space.

Horizon

Space

Joker and Caprica got the message from, Shepard about their Spartan friend from the planet and order them to stop him, Joker pulled the Normandy to where this Spartan was coming from, Caprica attempted to hack the armor, but could not do it as another AI was blocking her every attempt, just then another ship de-cloaked right in front of the Spartan and picked him up and left the area in Slipspace.

Horizon

Everywhere on the colony the Onagers activated and targeted the Collector Cruiser and opened fired, the combine attack from the Onagers began damaging the cruiser to the point where the Collectors decided to leave, they activated their engines and lifted off of the planet, but as a last act of vengeance, they activated their FTL drive in mid atmosphere which caused a shockwave that destroyed many buildings and caused much injuries to the military contingency.

Military Installation

Command Center

After the Collectors left Horizon, it was not long until help arrived, a UNSC fleet came with supplies and secured the colony. Shepard was in the command center looking at the damage done by the collectors when they left the planet in FTL, the shockwave alone was enough to cause damage to the command center, albeit they lowered their shields when the four cruisers in orbit were destroyed.

"It may not look pretty now, but we will rebuild better than before." said General Warsaw

Shepard turned around and looked at the General in the eye. "I have no doubt about that, what's the casualty?"

This is where the General lifted his hand to his face and was greatly upset by this. "The Collectors took a third of the colonists and most of our soldiers were killed."

Shepard shook his head. "Too many have died here today and I will make sure the Collectors pay for every single one."

Horizon

Medical tents

Shepard was heading to the medical tents set up by the relief teams that arrived with reinforcements, where the survivors were gathering to get medical attention, that's where Ashley was helping out as best she could. Along the way, Shepard drove by some of the wild life the colonists brought with them from OSA space, they were all killed by the Collectors; blind wolves, Colo, Scrub grubs, Doarmir, Helioskrills all dead.

At the medical tents, Ash was coordinating with the medical personnel in helping them with the injured civilians, Shepard walked up to her. "Ash."

Ashley turned around, not surprised to see, Shepard. "I was wondering when you would show up. We can talk over here." Ashley led, Shepard away from the tents. Once they stopped, Ash turned around. "Listen, Shepard I'm sorry, but it's over between us, I moved on when I thought you were dead."

"Ash, I can't say anything to change your mind but you're right I was gone for two years, we should both move on." replied Shepard

Ash nodded her head. "Thank you for understanding." she took a deep breath and walked away. "I should get back to the tents."

Shepard looked in the direction where Ashley was walking to. "Good bye Ash." Shepard then contacted the Normandy. "Joker send the shuttle to pick me up, I've had enough of this colony."

Cronos Station

Inner Sanctum

The Illusive man was sitting in his chair with his usual cigarette in one hand and a glass of whisky on his chair, he was waiting for, Shepard to make a connection and after a few seconds the connection was made. "Shepard. Good work on Horizon. Hopefully, the Collectors will think twice before attacking another colony, now that we have shown Cerberus getting involved."

"It was our first strike. How do we find them next time?" asked Shepard

"The Collectors will be more careful now, but I think we can find another way to lure them in." said TIM

Shepard took notice of what TIM said. "I wondered if you had something to do with that attack. Ash said the UNSC got a tip about me and Cerberus."

TIM took a drag from his cigarette before responding. "I released a few carefully disguised rumors that you might be alive and working for Cerberus."

Shepard then decided to correct TIM words. "I'm working with Cerberus not for them, remember that before you begin spreading rumors about me."

TIM took a sip of his whisky and placed it back on his chair. "We're on the same side, Shepard and I need people to believe you're with us to make it easier for the culprits to come out of hiding."

"I see, what were you trying to prove?" asked Shepard

"I suspected the Collectors were looking for you, or people connected to you. Now I know for certain. It was a risk, but I couldn't just wait for them to take another colony. You understand."

Shepard was reluctant to agree, but couldn't argue with the obvious truth. "We need to make sure they don't abduct anyone else."

TIM made it clear of how he feels about it. "I want the Collectors stopped for that very reason. That's why we're doing this, Shepard. I'm devoting all resources to finding a way through the Omega Four relay. We have to hit them where they live. Your team will need to be strong... as will their resolve. There's no looking back. The same goes for you. Can I assume you've put your past relationships behind you?"

Shepard thought about it and made up his mind. "I'm free, clear, and focused on the mission."

TIM tap the ash from his cigarette in his tray. "That's what I like to hear. Shepard once you find a way through the Omega Four relay to the Collector home world...there's no guarantee you'll return. To have any hope of surviving, you - and your entire team - must be fully committed to this."

"I'll make sure they're ready, one way or the other. The Collectors won't know what hit them."

"I trust you know what you're doing. I just want to be clear about your odds. I've forwarded three more dossiers. Keep building your team while I find a way through the relay. And Be careful, Shepard. The Collectors will be watching you." But before TIM closed the link, Shepard stopped him.

"Hold on a second, I have something to show you." Shepard brought up the images and video footage of the battle at Horizon and the strange Spartan in the armor. "You mind telling me what this is?"

TIM walked up from his chair and took a good look at the Spartan and his armor. "Well this is a sight to see, Shepard what you see here is an armor system that no longer exists and a Spartan who defected a long time ago."

Shepard was only confused. "You didn't send this guy to Horizon and that ship?"

TIM turned around and looked at, Shepard. "What ship?"

Shepard brought up an image of the unidentified vessel. "The luminary on the Normandy went crazy when that vessel dropped its cloak; it's obviously from OSA space, but who is in control of it? ONI, Union or another organization in the OSA or UNSC."

"Unlikely, the Spartan in this image is Emile A-239, he was a part of Noble team before he disappeared years ago. Nobody knows where he went not even his team knew either; as far as I know, this is the first appearance he's made in last few decades. And as for the armor, that is the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL armor."

"The what?" asked Shepard

TIM walked over to Shepard's hologram. "The armor you see there was supposed to be the most powerful armor ever created, but all research and the prototype of this armor were destroyed during the beginning stages of the Human-Covenant war. And there was only one person in the galaxy who took those secrets with her to the grave, Dr. Halsey was the armor's original creator."

"If she's dead, then who built this thing?"

TIM had no idea who could be behind this. "I don't have the answer, but I am determined to find out, continue building your team, while I look into this."

Shepard nodded his head and disconnected, leaving TIM to himself, he walked over to his chair and was about to activate his comm. only to find a chess piece sitting on his chair with a letter next to it, he picked the chess piece and the letter and read the letter with wide eyes.

Normand SR-2

Miranda's office

Shepard walked into Miranda's room/office and got straight to the point. "I want to know what you did to me."

Miranda was still typing before responding to, Shepard. "I was wondering when you would show up, you are referring to your biotics right?"

Shepard crossed his arms waiting for an answer. "Maybe if you say please, I would respond better." asked Miranda

Shepard took a seat and looked at Miranda. "I don't say please on my ship."

Miranda stopped typing and looked at, Shepard for the first time since their conversation. "Very well! There was another project besides Lazarus, it was called project Templar."

OSA Space

High Charity

OSA News Network

"Hello and welcome to the OSA News Network, your one and only news station on High Charity that covers everything in OSA space, I'm Emily Wong and today, I bring you news about the Human Colony Horizon." An image popped up to Emily's side with actual footage of Horizon. "As you can see the Human colony Horizon came under Collector attack making this colony the fourth one in the war. Fortunately the Colony was saved by Cerberus who committed resources to evict the Collectors off the planet allowing the UNSC to move in and secure the colony with supplies, President Hwang sends her regards to the families that lost loved ones on Horizon and vows to make the Collectors suffer for every last soul. In other related news, the OSA Market has increased by seven percent since the introduction of the Krogan as a member race in the OSA; this has caused quite a controversy with the Citadel Council as they have had troubled relations with the Krogan since the rebellions, especially the Salarian union."

The screen change to show an image outside of the Senate chambers. "In other news, the OSA Senate has called all ambassadors on High Charity to meet them in the chambers, this has not happened since the second contact war with the Turians, we will keep you posted on any events that take prior during this delicate meetings, I'm Emily Wong reporting to you live on the OSA News Network."

High Charity

Senate Chambers

In the Senate chambers, the ambassadors took their seats behind them was their respective flags that represent their people, the Senate was in their usual position all four members were seated around a large oval table. Anita Goyle began the talks. "I thank you all for taking your time in meeting with us on this important matter."

Rolam'ee also thanked them. "Yes, we thank you, but we have business to discuss with each and every one of you on this day."

Wreav then sat up and spoke. "If this is about the Reapers and the war we all are going to have to commit to, I don't see why we had to come, the Krogan are already with you on this and you probably won't have to worry about the Reapers. The minute we enter in the war their days are numbered."

The Jiralhanes, Kig-yars, and Yamne'e liked what Wreav said, everyone else thought he was an idiot. "As much as we appreciate the Krogan support, we are going to need everyone to commit in this war, we don't know when they will arrive, Admiral Hackett has assembled some of the best scientists in OSA space to giving us a time frame of how long we have, so far they have been unlucky, but we are still continuing to bring whatever we have to the table and so far we managed to get eighty-six percent of total military resources together and we need your help in finishing the rest."

Tranquility then took over. "What we need from all of you are ships and army's to combat the Reapers, there is no negotiating on what can and can't be used in this war, is that understood?"

Anita was upset with Tranquility's attitude with the other races, bossing them around like that was unacceptable. "However we will take in consideration to any problems you have with this, we thank you for your time and all information about what exactly we need shall be sent to you via email."

The ambassadors all left the chambers leaving the Senate to themselves, once they were gone Tranquility had his site on Anita. "Must you always interfere with what I say and present."

Anita looked at Tranquility with accusation. "You were demanding them to hand over everything leaving their worlds unprotected."

Tartarus defended Tranquility's actions. "This is war, we will need everything if we want a decisive and quick victory over the Reapers."

Rollam'ee then stepped into this conversation. "Yes we will need everything, but we can't just throw everything we have and hope it will be enough, we must plan this out strategically and quietly."

The Senate agreed and adjourned for the day.

Serpent Nebula

Widow System

Citadel

Council Chambers

In the Council chamber the Council was looking over the latest results in their own project in creating super soldiers like the Spartans, and it had become somewhat of a success. "The results are as specified: all our soldiers will be given a higher muscle density, better vision and reflexes, we won't know how well they will do in combat against a Spartan or the other super soldiers they have created, but it will give us a better understanding of where we went wrong and how to fix it." said Valern

Sparatus nodded his head. "Good, we'll need these soldiers to be ready for anything, my people are already design the best weapons possible for them."

"And mine are creating the best armor, I'm proud to say that we are one step closer to levelling the playing field against the OSA." said Tevos.

The Council then left to make other preparations.

Hourglass Nebula

Sowilo System

Hagalaz

Shadow Broker's Base

In the Shadow Broker's base was the Shadow Broker looking over his agents work on gathering vital intelligence on Cerberus's activities and passed them on to the Collectors, for a fee of course, business was still business even if he was dealing with the devil. After organizing everything , he got a call from his top scientist under his employment a Salarian. "Doctor! What do you have for me?"

"Shadow Broker, I have been studying the slipspace tracking device we found on the containers in the previous base; before it was destroyed and was able to create another to draw in an OSA ship for the Collectors to attack it, but further research into this has allowed us to understand Slipspace technology a lot more than we ever could, with enough time and funding we may be able to create a working Slipspace engine."

The Shadow Broker liked the sound of that, he would have Slipspace technology in his pocket and would make billions off of it! He knew the Citadel was still researching Slipspace theory and was trying to create their own, but were years away, maybe even centuries. "I will give you your funding, but I want a working prototype soon. Shadow Broker out."

UNSC Space

Unknow Location

Unknown planet

ONI's manufacturing base

On a catwalk in one of ONI's secret base, Leonard Church was looking over two years of research and funding of what he manage to obtain in the line Installation. Out of the assembly line was all manner of Forerunner weapons being created for ONI's personal use, Church was impressed with himself and it only got better from here on out. As he continued to gloat over his success, one of his agents walked up to him and handed him a data pad, Leonard read over the pad and had a look of anger in his face.

ONI

Freelancer HQ

ONI Infinity-class battle cruiser Susanoo

Church walked into his office. "Alpha, we have work to do." But after a while Alpha did not respond, Church tried again, but still no response, he then saw a chess piece and a note under it on his desk, Church walked up to his desk and took the chess piece and the note and read it and had a look as if he saw a ghost."

OSA Space

Unknown Location

Halo Installation 2

On the Forerunner ring world known as Halo was a group training the new recruits in Project: Knight. This group was well known in Section Zero, but their famously known for being the off spring of the failed Orion project. Each 1.1 was training their respected groups, Kevin being the N7 Slayer was training all Slayer groups, Frannie was the N7 Shadow and was training all the Shadow groups, Guy was the N7 Destroyer, Benji Wong was the N7 Paladin, Jan was the N7 Fury, and Darin was the N7 Demolisher.

After hours of training, the team regrouped and waited for Parangosky to arrive. Margaret walked up to her number one team and looked over them and was impressed with the final results with Project: Knight, especially Kevin and Frannie's x31 Gladius swords. "A job well done, Section Zero now has an army of the best soldiers in the N7 Academy and the best instructors to teach about their new cybernetic implants, you should be proud."

The 1.1's had their heads up high and were proud to have reached this moment. "Now I have a mission for you, you are to go deep into Citadel space and infiltrate one of Cerberus's off-world bases."

The team nodded their heads and without questioned boarded their personal stealth ship. After they left Parangosky teleported back up to her personal dreadnought and walked into her office where she found a chess piece along with a piece a paper that had words on it, she carefully walked into her office and picked up the chess piece and the piece of paper and what was on it said "Quando il gioco è finito, il re e il pedone vanno nella stessa scatola." Margrate crunched up the paper in her hands like it was someone's throat she was squeezing and could only think of the one person she hated the most.

After a while, Serin Osman along with security team rushed into the room with weapons ready, but only saw Margrate sitting in her chair with a glass of brandy in her hands, Osman told the security team to leave and closed the doors. "What happened? You activated the security alarms in your room."

Margrate didn't respond and was busy looking at a video footage of Horizon, her agents manage to obtained. "It would seem that some ghosts don't rest in peace after all." she threw the chess piece at Osman, who caught it and looked at it, it was the white Queen. "We have a new player on the chessboard, it's time for a new game."

Unknown Vessel

Slipspace

Inside the unknown vessel that appeared over Horizon was Emile who was walking down the corridor heading to the comm room, but at the doors was Cal. "What are you doing here?" asked Emile

"Just finished giving my report on the Collectors." She looks around and back at Emile. "How was the Mark IV?"

Emile exhaled as he recalled his experience in the armor. "It performed as expected, now step aside, I have my own reports to give to Mother."

Cal stepped aside and allowed Emile to walk in the comm room.

Comm Room

Inside the comm room was an advance slipspace communications designed to communicate at any distance with incredible security to prevent from prying eyes. Emile stepped forward and he appeared as a hologram in a dark room, after a moment he heard a voice. "Emile-A239, how did my armor perform?"

"As expected from a genius such as yourself, I managed to save the colony and Commander Shepard's ass and made our presence known to ONI, Cerberus, and Section Zero. I think we gave them much to think about."

The voice was pleased with Operation: Gladiator. "Good, return to the Capital at once, I want a full diagnostic on the system as well as further testing on the armor."

Emile complied with the demands of the shadowy figure and closed the communications.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter especially at the end, can anyone guess who it is? even if you do I'm not going to reveal it, The next chapter is not going to be as long as this one, becasue there is a big fan of this story who was dying for me to get this chapter up and I am going to make sure to put it up faster, so I will talk to you guys next time.

Codex:

HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IV Armor Defense System-

Armor components

Energy shielding: A protective barrier that surrounds the armor and protects the user from harm.
Fusion reactor: The fusion reactor is the most essential part of the armor's system, as it provides power to all equipment on the armor - the reactor is built into the suit and allows for nearly unlimited movement. The fusion reactor in all versions of the Mark armor are half the size of a normal fusion pack that conventional marines carry around.
Magnetic weapon holder strips: The armor features very small, yet powerful magnets placed on the legs, waist, and back of the suit that are used to hold any equipment or any weapons with a magnetic property. The suit also contains a magnet system within its boots that allows its wearer to stay attached to a metal surface in zero G environments and can be toggled on or off by the wearer.
Power supply control unit: Manages the power supply of the armor.
Mark GEN2 BIOS: The basic input/output system, standard firmware interface to the GEN2.
VISR 4.0: Up to version 4.09, these visor installments are optimized and customized to facilitate specialized tasks.
Force-multiplying circuits: Allows the user greatly enhanced reflexes and strength, improving mobility and combat effectiveness in close quarters.
Motion Tracker: Shows movement of friendly and enemy units within the system's radius.
Medi Gel: Allow for physical injuries to be sealed and repaired without the use of external medkits.
Support Upgrades: These customized and specialized upgrades allow combat advantages by modifying the core and periphery systems of the GEN2.
Tactical Packages: These customized and specialized packages allow combat advantages by modifying the core and periphery systems of the GEN2.

XG4300 "Testudo" Hard Light Shield- With the advent of the Reapers and Collector attacks in OSA space, researchers were pressured into developing a new method of defense. The result came in the form of Hard Light technology; similar to the technology utilized in the Omni-tool, Hard Light has proven its worth to the Forerunners. The first attempt at moving towards Hard Light technology is in the XG4300 Testudo unit. As of this moment, this shield is being field-tested, but tests so far have shown that it can withstand Collector particle weapons. Efforts are being made to make the shield man-portable.

X31 Hard Light Weapon "Gladius"- In addition to research into Hard Light shield technology, researchers are looking into Hard Light weaponry. The first of these experiments is the F31 Gladius...a weapon in the shape of a short sword, hence its name. With a better understanding of Hard Light, developers hope to make these weapons more efficiently, but as of now, the Gladius prototype is going through field-testing.