I listened to the noise of a trembling ‘Danger-Room’ with trepidation. Luckily, I carefully kept my expression neutral as Yaga spoke to my four guests, each of which were clearly stricken on many levels. In fact, Querax, upon seeing the pseudo-biotic, had stiffened with a perplexed expression on his face.

“So, you’re the biotic?” He said, seeming uncertain as he studied the man.

Yaga was vastly different from what he’d appeared before. Continual refining of his own biological modifications had made him look incredibly similar to a human, his hair resembling stiff ivory and his eyes a shade of gold. He was slim as well, matching the build of Dr. Ross beside him, albeit with some subtle differences in mass across the torso, likely natural armor beneath the clothing he bore.

“In a manner. I presume you’re one of the Reapers we were told to expect?” Yaga smiled and gave a slight bow to the four of them, “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you, of course. You were briefed on me, but allow me to cordially introduce myself. I am Yaga, one of the head scientists here in Legion R&D.”

Dr. Ross stood next to Yaga comfortably, “And I’m Doctor Theodore Ross. Dr. Ross is fine.” he nodded to the four, “Can we get you any water? Perhaps some fresh air?”

Yamak was the first to recover, taking a breath and striding forward smoothly, holding a hand out and greeting them, “Yamak Rettle, Artorian Company President. Forgive my manners, I’ve never met a biotic that didn’t want to rip my guts out.”

Yaga gave an easy smile and nod, “I appreciate the sentiment, most of my kin - if I can even call them such - have tried to eat me at one time or another.”

That seemed to prompt the others into more friendly, or at least neutral interactions. Uthakka and Querax seemed to be having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I had a seemingly friendly biotic working with me.

As we moved, I noticed that Querax had lingered more to the back of the group, and subtly seemed to be seeking my attention.

Yaga and Dr. Ross occupied the others, answering questions about non-classified operations and explaining the weapons test we were about to display to the group.

With my full attention, Querax began, “Is it wise to allow this biotic freedom?”

I frowned, turning a glare on him before I could control my expression.

The man took no seeming offense, “I only ask out of concern for a fellow Reaper. There have been some biotics in the past to insert themselves innocuously into an organization and work against them from within.”

“Querax,” I took a breath, finding the most diplomatic way to say what I thought.

The words, however, staggered on my tongue as a sigh bled from my lips. There was wisdom in his words, but I couldn’t find myself able to suspect Yaga of anything. He’d fought alongside us, bled alongside us, and had poured his mental energy into helping further the Legion’s more than respectable leaps in research. We owed him a great deal, and he’s asked only to be allowed to pursue his research.

“There are few that I trust more than Yaga.” I spoke with certainty, “and I assure you that he’s had more than ample opportunity to crush the Legion at our weakest points. I’m not understating when I say that he and Dr. Ross represent an irreplaceable part of the Legion.”

The Reaper silently turned his gaze towards the researchers, his four eyes narrowed slightly in consideration. Aloud, he hummed before shaking his head, “Perhaps I am mistaken then…”

I felt a simmering burn of annoyance at his words, but carefully tamped down on the urge to pursue the matter. While I believed in Yaga, Querax had never met or perhaps really interacted with a pseudo-biotic. I had the impression that they weren’t nearly as common in most places as they seemed on Earth.

“Now, please, step into the viewing room. Mr. Garand will demonstrate the weapon system that we’ve constructed.” Dr. Ross gestured to the others, handing out goggles as he went, one of which was a heavily modified helmet for the Saurian.

On the other side of the tempered glass and heavy magnetic rails rested four pillars, a heavy mech, a crackling generator alight with arcs of electricity, and a man.

The man was Terry Garand, and he was standing beside the generator with a digital display.

Not for the first time, I found myself staring intensely at his legs. The man had an accident several weeks ago, an electric jolt that seemed to have had some rather dramatic repercussions on the man. He refrained from speaking about the risky gambit that he’d partaken in, citing that he wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, and when he did talk about it, kept the details suspiciously vague. With his mech, he’d served as the extra oomph that the Raijin Generator needed to discharge.

Ever since then, he’d regained feeling in his legs, and surely and rapidly remastered walking. More than that, he’d demonstrated superior control over his own body, and capability in mental exercises.

I was aware, of course, that he had an A.I. embedded in his mind now. But, thus far we’d kept the event under need-to-know basis only, letting only Yaga and Dr. Ross know about it. We still didn’t know the consequences, being that only myself and Terry actively housed an A.I. persona.

Mine had been based at least loosely on me, Smith having been a dear friend to me and in no small way my savior.

But Dexter wasn’t based off of Terry. It was free form, learning much like a child, and now had more or less direct access to Terry’s brain. Whether that would be a problem in the future, we weren’t sure, but for now we were content with non-invasive methods of examination. We didn’t want Terry or Dexter to be put under duress.

It was clear, also, that Terry had become incredibly useful in R&D. Plans that he’d had but had difficulty formalizing were able to be finally put down to schematics in sensible ways. Previous issues in the Raijin Field had been carefully trimmed away.

Now, the culmination of all of his effort and a team that consisted of Dr. Ross, Yaga, Terry, and five other researchers had led to his newest weapon system.

“Welcome! Welcome!” Terry excitedly called to the observation room, “I, uhh, I’m not much for exposition, so I’ll keep this brief. I’m Terry Garand, though you might know that if you’re familiar with Matthew,” he nodded to me with a slight nervous chuckle, “You might be wondering why we’re showing this project to you all. Tell me, anyone thinking that right now?”

Arianna chuckled, “I imagine it’s to show that your forces are coming along well enough that we shouldn’t view you as lessers?”

“Maybe you wanna show off your toys,” Uthakka shot back, “I like explosions as much as the next guy. Probably more.”

Querax shook his head, “Demonstrate your capacity to handle biotics on your own. You’ll have plenty of suitor paramilitary companies breathing down your necks soon enough. Better to establish a minimum competence level-” at this he nodded to Yamak, “-to ensure the chaff don’t seek to crowd your planet.”

“Probably as a warning. I mean, for my group it doesn’t matter, we’re contracted, but you start screening diplomats through here with good enough tech, people might think twice about taking advantage of you.” He then glanced over to me while grinning, “so long as you’re actually at a respectable level of technology, anyways, otherwise you’re just shooting yourself in the foot. Which is why we’re here to screen it first, right?”

I chuckled, seeing Terry blink rapidly as he processed all of that.

“Uh… wow. That’s all pretty well thought out. Except the lizard guy.” He candidly singled out the large murder-reptile, who seemed flabbergasted for a moment before Terry continued, “though, he’s also probably the one closest to correct. You’re all a bit right, I guess. I mean, the political division definitely wants to spin it like that, but we do want to show off. From what we estimated, this technology is pretty hefty on the Obelisk’s weapons platform, but… well, let’s just show you, eh?”

He grinned, hopping into the mech and hefting the large weapon that effectively took the place of the right arm.

Terry was performing setup as Arianna slid closer to me, “Tell me you’re not actually going to try to cow any diplomatic parties with electrical weaponry.”

I turned to her, smiling, “Watch first, then give me your assessment.”

She pouted, bright red lips puffing before she continued, “Fine, fine. But there’s not much we’d be especially surprised to see.”

Not seeing any real response, she sighed and turned her focus back on the experiment. She was likely right, most of what we’d seen on the Obelisks had been quite impressive. Though, our specific take on how to use it was the main dividing factor.

“Alright, demo fire of the Raijin Cannon without cowl is going in three… two…” he counted down, the mech surging to life with electricity rippling from its right arm. The arm in question resembled a gauntlet more than a cannon, protruding bits of metal arced with dense, seemingly ponderously slow arcs of electricity. Terry lifted the arm, pointing at the pillars in front of him.

Three of them were outfitted, the first from the left being steel, the second being wood, the third empty, while the fourth bore stone.

“Firing,” Terry spoke, ionized beams invisible to the naked eye lancing towards the targets from the gauntlet. Little more than laser pointers, they were harmless on their own.

The surge of lightning that followed the beams faster than one could blink, however, was anything but.

Torrential amounts of power surged through the objects. The first contact scorched the wood and virtually atomized it, smoke pluming from the leftover. Stone shattered, and the steel rapidly heated to beyond a cherry red. The surge did not end with a moment, though, continuing to output for a few more seconds.

The steel pillar was slag before the end of it.

I heard Yamak whistle at that, “I’ll admit, that’s pretty hefty stuff. What’s the effective range?”

As the pillars sank into the floor, Terry answered, “line of sight, that’s the only requirement. Though, I think it’ll have some issues with the atmosphere after a few hundred miles.”

Yamak seemed genuinely impressed with that, “Not bad, not bad at all. It’s good, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a deterrent.”

“Oh, there’s one more test.” Terry chuckled, the pillars replaced as Terry emerged, quickly placing a disc against his chest and pressing a button. A light covering to protect from shrapnel and heat covered him from head to toe.

Terry hopped up to the still empty third pedestal and crossed his arms. The mech beeped as the arm came up, charging for a jolt.

I sensed the others in the room tense, though Querax seemed to relax when he noted that I wasn’t concerned. Instead, he watched with a marked increase in interest.

Once more, torrents of electricity gushed into the room, even more than before. So much so that it seemed impossible that Terry would be anything but a carbonized husk.

After a few seconds, though, the blinding light vanished, leaving molten steel, evaporated wood, shattered and molten stone…

And an utterly unphased Terry Garand standing on the third pillar.

“That… Was it the suit?” I saw Arianna lean forward a wide smile on her face, showing off sharp teeth. Uthakka’s tail thudded lightly as he looked onward, likewise very interested.

“Nope, all the Raijin cannon. With cowl mode active, it floods an area with electricity except for the marked locations. Technically, we can expand that to be much more target sensitive, but we also have small personnel locators that can remove any thought process from the weapons user. I wanted to call it Raijin’s Wrath, but I’m told that sounds arrogant.” He grinned.

“I take it back,” Yamak grimaced, “fighting a ground force that’s doing that all the time would be ridiculous.”

I nodded, “We’ll move on and show you the other projects we have. After all, we’d like your expert opinions on our weapons and armors. Any insights you can give us, if you’d be willing, would also be welcome.”