It all started about a year before the war officially began, when Gus was eight.

"Well, technically it started somewhere in the Brittania Alliance, on the night I was conceived. For me at least. But we can skip that."

On the frontiers of human existence, reports had been made of sparse contact with an unknown group of life forms. Delegations of the United Human Republic, made of representatives from all 10 nation systems of the Empire, were sent to the planet often referred to as the tip, Myenta (Author: Pronounced like Vienna not hyena) once the reports of contact grew larger and larger.

It was here they encountered the Covenant of the bloody dawn. They gave humanity an option: submit or die.

Humanity, ever the stubborn existence, rejected both options. And thus the war began on the planet. Initially an isolated incident, it quickly spread throughout that system and to other systems across the galaxy.

First, there were the small and weak Shenia, used carelessly to swarm and outnumber the opponent. They flooded the streets of Myenta, overwhelming the initial defence forces that formed and bringing chaos to the cities of the planet. In fact, due to the hubris of the Bloody Dawn's leaders, only Shenia were used in the opening days of the war. Thanks to this, humanity was able to respond, sending soldiers, supplies and weapons to the planet to fight back their enemies.

Then, there were the Bru'uka, heavy, brutish creatures, donned in midnight blue fur. They were responsible for shock assaults on key locations. Also, they were often used to man heavy equipment, since they could easily carry the equipment to reposition multiple times over the course of a battle. The Bru'uka were mainly used for one specific role on Myenta; fast, vicious attacks that crippled the leadership on the planet.

The Vest'in were winged creatures, often deployed with short-to-medium ranged weapons. They descended from the sky countless times during the conflict, swinging the tides of battle into the favour of the Bloody Dawn.

Finally, the Re'bin closed the war for Myenta, using their massive constructs to drive humanity back and massacre scores of civilians during the Presetia evacuations.

Humanity needed ways to fight back, and they needed them immediately. The XI-11 Crusader and XI-74 Nomad star fighters, the first creations of the war, helped contest the results of space battles by closing the gap between the mainline ships of the two sides.

The L1-0N mobile artillery platforms and the Ch-33-TA attack bikes had a similar effect on the battlefields found on planets, their utility turning many lost battles into heroic victories for humanity.

The B-34-R mech suits, upgraded from the various mining suits and military mechs that already existed, were designed to fulfil a battlefield role matching the Bru'uka.

But it still wasn't enough. Humanity needed more.

They needed to evolve.

The evolutionary programme was proposed as a joint venture between the Brittania Alliance and Europea, with funding from the Combined Asia Isles and the United States of North and Central America. The idea was quickly approved by the heads of the Republic, who were desperate for a total answer to the issues of humanity.

"We already know this."

"Isn't this common knowledge?"

Gus chuckled at their reactions. "I'm just giving the full picture, building up to my point. As we know, the man who led the programme was Doctor Andrew Braye. That man is my father."

"Ohh."

"So you were..."

"That makes you..."

Gus chuckled once again, before continuing his story.

Research began with an elite team of Terran scientists using volunteers and prisoners condemned to death. Initial results showed promise, but something unknown was missing.

It was later discovered that this missing part was malleable DNA. More testing concluded that the forced evolutionary changes could only be done on pre-pubescent children, since their DNA was missing certain 'genetic locks' that prevented the changes in adults.

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The results were exceptionally positive. Subjects evolved tremendously in one feature, such as their strength or their intellect. Interestingly, the type of mutation could be grouped by blood, with people with the same blood type receiving similar mutations.

"Well, there was one exception. Me.

I don't know why, but I was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record. And that bastard despised me for it. The last words he ever said to me, before I joined the military, before the incident that killed the team, were that I was worthless, a mistake, that kind of thing.

After the accident, the programme was closed before they could finalise the second generation, and they never learned what prevented the mutation in me. A single failure amongst a myriad of successes.

But I wasn't a failure.

I think I died in that cell, killed by the Primia. It was there my power awoke."

"You're an evolved?" Connor asked.

Gus nodded. "A unique one at that. I have a power called a 'system.' All I know is that I can use it to increase stats, like my strength and speed. Plus, there was a 'leadership' thing, that allowed me to declare you as followers. That then increases corresponding stats for those who are declared followers, depending on my 'leadership level.'

Sorry, Krista. I'll declare you as soon as I get the capacity," Gus promised.

"So you're an evolved..." Frank began.

"... A unique evolved..." Sofia continued.

The group looked at each other for a moment, before coming to a joint decision.

"We... we can take the base," Klaus said.

"Yeah, yeah we can," Connor agreed.

Krista pointed a finger at Gus. "You had better tell me as soon as you are able to declare more followers," she said with a soft laugh.

"I will, don't worry," Gus said, returning the laughter.

"So, good news," Matty began, appearing at the door, "and bad news. Good news first, I've got a path."

"Bad news? Let me guess, you cut your finger?" Connor asked sarcastically.

"Engineers are actually more likely to get severely injured than non-specialised infantry, you know. But no, the base is mobilising for something."

Klaus quickly stood up. "We need to go. Now!" he sad in a sudden panic.

"Agreed," Gus said. "Between the Standards and Rangers, we should have enough weapons between us," he said, as he threw the Brute onto his back and picked up a Ranger. "Matty, lead us down."

"Sure thing."

As he led them towards the end of the peak they had landed on, he explained the work he had done.

"Going down here should be fairly safe. I've added some of the materials I stripped from the ship to the weaker footholds to try and reinforce them, so we shouldn't fall. Just be careful."

At the edge of the peak was a small, steep path upwards, made of many individual platforms of rock.

The group made it down the path without trouble, each member supporting one another as they descended.

As Matty had said, he had repurposed the alien materials in the ship, formerly used for seating, harnessing and other purposes, into reinforcement for the rocks. The fruit of his labour was clearly visible, tightly bound to each rock he deemed necessary to support.

The second descent was a lot trickier.

Matty had used his limited resources smartly to provide, in combination with the natural shape of the cliff face, a relatively safe route down to the surface. Despite these efforts, they still had to slide down a makeshift rappel with no harness, or leverage the rope to precariously cross gaps between rocks.

Thanks to these dangers, Gus lost his footing. Quickly, an alert arm snapped out from above him and grabbed the collar of his top.

"We can't be losing our evolved now, can we?" Frank noted.

"That was close," Gus gasped. Breathing hard, he used the rope and Frank's help to steady himself on another one of the platforms. "Thanks."

The rest of the group made it down the cliff without incident. At the bottom of the cliff, the floor stood elevated over the base, giving them a small vantage point with which to survey the base. To the side lay a small path, one that was clearly made by something sentient. Towards the front of the platform they stood on, the rock steeply sloped downwards.

Shenia, emerging in swarms from a variety of buildings throughout the base, raced to two locations in the base. Most went straight to the central tower, following the obvious order to scramble their star fighters. Peculiarly, many went towards the walls, and the large, orbital defence cannons that sat at intervals along it.

"They're manning the cannons? But why?" Sofia asked no one in particular.

"It couldn't be..." Gus's eyes widened as he realised what was happening.

"OH! They didn't just save Sol, save Terra. They were for all our territories."

"You're right!" Klaus said in agreement. "It has to be them, right?"

"Almost certainly," Gus confirmed. "The Orcas were never about that battle. It was about saving what remained of our territory."

"The Orcas! Of course! Shouldn't we help them as much as we can from here?" Sofia asked, moving her rifle to reinforce her suggestion.

"Not as much as we can," Connor began. "If I was in the Orca, or any of the other ships it's undoubtedly got with it, I'd just blow this rock up. That's the best way to keep the system safe."

"I agree. We have to make sure we can get from here alive," Krista offered.

"Take positions, and start firing down on them as they scatter to their positions," Gus ordered. "No matter what we do, we need to thin their numbers before we can get into the base."

Gus lay down at the edge of the elevation and gestured for the others to do the same. He brought the Ranger in front of him and peered into the scope as he prepared himself.

Once he confirmed the others were ready, he took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger.

*Legend Mission: Slayer of the Nine Suns.*