Date Set: At some point after Captain Dumont's augmentation.



"Doctor McMillan? We're ready."
Hubert put his coffee down and turned to look at his assistant, Doctor Miles. "The prototype?"
"In place, ready for testing." Miles answered.

Hubert nodded and got up from where he was sat at the coffee table, grabbing his data pad as he followed Miles through an automatic door into a large lab. The room was teeming with activity. Around the edges were computers situated on desks that were connected to the walls. Tables and counters scattered the space between the computers and the very center of the circular lab with scientists in labcoats and goggles moving to and from their different work stations.

Hubert and Miles walked right towards the center where a massive transparent box resided. Inside the box stood a large suit of armour, 9ft in height. The box itself wasn't made out of glass, but a special type of fibreglass tested and proofed against explosive ordinance - perfect for what they were about to do.

Hubert walked up to the box and examined the prototype armour. It was a lot bulkier than MJOLNIR, but the team had taken careful steps to ensure that it remained practical in the field. All in all, the armour was meant to be the next big step after Project MJOLNIR, just as the Omega Legionnaires were to succeed the SPARTAN IVs.

Hubert turned to Miles, who was manning a console near the cube.
"Let's test its energy shielding, bring them online." Miles nodded and hit a few buttons on the console. A thin blanket of golden energy appeared over the armour, clinging to it like a second skin. The golden aura grew to the point where it reached roughly a few inches in thickness before seemingly disappearing, small sparks of electricity crackling all over the armour before quickly dying down.

For now the suit was powered by a miniature fusion reactor, however there were plans that considered the use of plasma-fusion hybrid technology or use of magical nexus crystals. However the latter was of much debate. For now however, the fusion reactor would do.

"Alright, shields are reading fully charged." Miles reported. "Should I begin the test?"
Hubert looked over to him and nodded, which prompted Miles to tap at his keyboard once again. From a few meters in front of the armour, a panel opened up on the floor and a mechanical contraption arose from the small pit. The object, upon close examination, would be revealed to be an experimental flamethrower attached to some machinery which held it up and aimed it at the armour.

A few seconds later, a bright glow originated at the barrel of the weapon before a massive wave of flame was unleashed onto the armour. The flamethrower was designed to spray a gel-like liquid from its barrel which would at the same time be lit aflame. The gel was sticky in nature and clung to most surfaces. Thus, one could mistaken the weapon to be firing molten metal or lava. The flames covered the suit's torso area completely, but appeared to slide off an invisible surface hovering half an inch above the suit. This caused the fiery gel to pool at the feet of the armour and slowly burn out.

Miles turned the machine off and stared at the armour. It appeared to be completely unscathed as the gel bubbled and burnt out at its feet. Hubert and some of the other scientists also shaed his awe.
"The shielding?" Hubert said to him. "Check the shielding. How much did it go down by?"
Miles looked at him before returning to his station and checking the shield bar on the console screen.
"Shielding is at... 100%." Miles reported. "Completely unaffected by the gel.."

A grin appeared over Hubert's face. "Excellent. Prepare the next test." He said to Miles as he stared at the armour. It appeared that their upgraded energy shielding technology worked. As always, it was comprised of energised particles that were shaped by a magnetic field generator inside the suit. However, they had now used a more advanced magnetic field generator that packed the particles together more densely than before, which gave them a more slippery surface. Slippery enough for the armour to be virtually immune to flamethrowers and for blunt attacks to be deflected.

Over the next few minutes, the flamethrower was tested yet again against the armour. However this time, Hubert ordered for its shielding to be lowered completely. This time, the gel successfully stuck to the armour and soon covered the entire thing with a huge blanket of red and orange flames. However, as the fire cleared, it was revealed that not only was the armour intact, but completely unscathed. This was due to the fact that the armour was not composed out of titanium alloys like its predecessors, but Kalgenite. This material had only recently been discovered by the GSU and was found to not only be stronger than titanium, but lighter and with a higher melting point. It was obvious that the flamethrower was not hot enough to affect the armour. Coupled with the inner-environmental regulation systems underneath the armour, the user wouldn't feel a thing.

The next weapon to be tested against the armour was the B125 LMG. The weapon, despite firing .50 cal armour piercing, explosive rounds, was virtually useless against the armour's shielding. It seemed that the densely packed energised particles that comprised the energy shielding made it a lot tougher than MJOLNIR armour's shielding system. As such, the team had achieved one major goal with the armour - making the shielding virtually immune to ballistic weaponry.

However the next test was far more important. Again, the shielding was dropped before the LMG was once again fired at the armour. Multiple explosions went off against its surface as each projectile impacted and exploded against the kalgenite armour mercilessly. However after the entire magazine was drained, there was no sign of severe damage on the armour. A few scratches and small dents showed that under continuous fire, the armour may eventually breach but such a situation would only take place if the enemy were to fire at the unshielded Legionnaire for several minutes without having to reload.

However, Hubert was not content with the results. He wanted to test the armour's endurance, but he also wanted to know how much the thing could actually take before cracking. It was for this reason that a modified version of the LMG, one that shot .75 cal ammunition was brought into the testing chamber. Against the armour's shielding, the .75 cal was slightly more effective due to the larger amount of heat generated by the constant, larger explosions as each projectile hit the armour. Since the energy shielding reacted more to heat that ballistic attacks, the shielding did fall down to 85% under sustained fire.

However, when the shielding was dropped and the .75 cal fired against the armour, different results were shown. Initially, for a few seconds the armour seemed to tank the rounds on its own However soon it began to show signs of weakness: cracks and scratches appearing and growing larger and larger under the sustained fire of the modified LMG. Soon, after just over a minute, the suit breached and the LMG tore through its armoured layer, leaving a large hole where it was fired.

It took several minutes for the prototype to be replaced with an identical copy. However once everything was in place, the experiment continued as normal.

The Nightingale Plasma Rifle was the next weapon to be tested against the suit's shielding. As soon as the weapon opened fire, the suit's shielding began to drop. Although the drain was not fast, it was steady and within almost half a minute, the shield strength went from 100 to 0%. Hubert ordered for the shielding to be shut down completely and the weapon resume fire.

The kalgenite supported a refractive coating on its surface to provide some layer of protection of heat-based weapons. This addition was added in as a last-ditch defensive measure until the user would find cover and wait for their shielding to recharge. However in this scenario, the shielding was shut down completely. The refractive coating perhaps survived two or three individual shots from the Nightingale before the armour began to show effect itself.

Unlike the flamethrower, the Nightingale shot compressed plasma bolts at high velocities at whatever target it is aimed. This resulted in an explosive impact that would be enough to completely cook an unshielded Human being in one shot. As such, the ammunition was evidently lot higher in temperature than the flamethrower - which is why after 15 seconds, the armour showed signs of damage. A yellow-hot circle appeared on the point of impact which quickly turned from orange to red. The red turned redder and finally the suit was breached with molten kalgenite spilling out of the hole and dripping down in, onto the floor.

The scientists standing around the display took of their observations - all of which would be relayed to Hubert the next day for examination and to formulate a conclusion. The research base's AI would provide statistics to go with the final report but as of now, it appeared that the testing was a success. However, there were more to be conducted soon, but Hubert decided not to busy his mind with such things and opted to have a good night's rest.

The next day, Hubert sat in his office and went through the blueprints of the Legionnaire armour. In particular, he was examining plans specifically concerning built-in weaponry. It wasn't an unheard of venture. The newest MJOLNIR armour systems were time and time again planned to support firearms stored inside the suit. However none made it beyond planning stages.

This time however, Hubert was determined. There were many designs. Energy gauntlets, pulse lasers implemented inside the shoulder-areas of the suit which would slide out or in at the user's will. Specialised compartments for storage of equipment such as mines, grenades and ammunition. There was even a blueprint for a mini plasma cannon to be fitted into the one of the suit's forearms. The plasma cannon would essentially fire orb-like plasma explosives that attch themselves to a target before detonation. The ammunition would be limited for this kind of weapon, sure. However Hubert had already seen through this and ordered the scientists under his command to find a way to scale-down the size of the plasma grenade as much as possible without diminishing its efficiency to allow as much storage of ammunition as possible.

Of course, there were several other designs for potentially different variations of the suit. For example, the Anti-Air Legionnaire armour would come with a self-assembling, AA-gun that would be stored inside the back of the armour. The boots would feature specialised clamps that flip out and drill down into the ground to keep the user stable, and all the joints in the legs, knees and back would lock into place to prevent any force being applied to the Legionnaire themselves. The weapon itself would be a large railgun.

There were many other plans like it, but a few things were to be considered before such things were put into the manufacturing stages. A lot of logistics to sort out as well as financing and allocation of materials. Hubert sighed. He'd see to these things immediately. He wouldn't let them get in the way of making this armour set his team's best design yet.

A few hours later, and implementation of specific features were underway. The plasma grenade launcher that would be fit into the forearm section of the armour underwent minor changes such as the addition of an onboard targeting system that would connect directly to the user's HUD. Both gauntlets also featured 120 meter energy swords that would activate through signals given off by the user's brain. The swords were designed to be composed out of pure plasma, compressed and shaped by magnetic field generators, drawing power from the suit's as-of-yet fusion power supply.

The pulse lasers were the trickiest. In their simplest form, they were exponentially scaled-down versions of the point-defense pulse lasers lining the GSU ships, used for gunning down enemy craft through the use of lethal, highly charged laser shots. While the versions mounted on GSU ships were capable of melting through 50 centimeters of pure titanium armour, these scaled down versions would be significantly less lethal. Although, they would prove very effective against infantry targets (as the GSU were hardly planning on using Omega Legionnaires in their space battles... as of yet). There were downsides to the pulse lasers however: they would take a few seconds to charge up and a few seconds after that to cool down. While effective against shielding and armour, the lasers were very bright in nature and their glow would telegraph the Legionnaire's position. Despite efforts to suppress the weapon's sound, the pulse lasers were regardless very loud when fired. The lasers were furthermore limited in that they could only fire in the direction the Legionnaire is facing. Lastly, in order for the lasers to even work properly, a small section of the armour's energy shielding in front of the lasers would have to be lowered in order for the lasers to effectively pass through and hit their target. All in all, Hubert and his team agreed that the weapon should be considered a last resort option.

Other miscellaneous additions included thruster packs that would allow the Legionnaire to evade attacks with efficient speed. These were integrated on the back, shoulders and legs of the armour. Judging from engagements in the past, particularly of those undertaken by Spartans, there were rare occasions in which units were placed in situations where they'd have to commence orbital re-entry without the use of an escape pod or lifeboat. Earlier versions of the MJOLNIR armour did not enable some to survive these rare occurences while the newer versions enabled them to do so, albeit not without causing their armours to lock up.

As such, an emergency measure was added to the suit: in the event of re-entry, a Legionnaire would be able to activate the suit's emergency protocols associated with such an occurence. The thruster packs located on the back of the suit would extend outwards to reveal two more exhaust ports on each side, at which point an emergency power supply would direct most of its energy towards the jetpack-turned-thruster pack in order to slow down re-entry. The remaining energy from this emergency power supply would at the same time be directed to the armour's energy shielding, strengthening it particularly at the point of re-entry in order to protect the Legionnaire from suffering injury or death.

The following day had arrived and Hubert was already on-site this time. Doctor Miles joined him shortly after in the massive field directly outside the laboratory complex. It was here where most of their field tests happened. Inside one of the lab buildings, the leader of SPARTAN Fireteam Epsilon stood still as scientists and technicians helped him into their updated version of the Legionnaire armour. The rest of his squadmates were instructed to wait in one of the armouries until they were called onto the field.

The aim of the field test was simple: see how the armour fares in the actual field of battle. In the first round, the Spartan-Legionnaire would face off against a battalion of Colonial Marines outfitted in their latest combat suits. These suits were basic in design - made to be more like armour than the kevlar and metallic plates they wore in the past. They covered the entire body to ensure maximum protection, although some spaces were left unarmoured in order to ensure unrestricted movement. The suits were composed of one-ich-thick titanium alloy covered with a refractive coating to disperse energy attacks to a degree. Micro-motors integrated underneath the suit's armoured layer connected to a neural patch attached to the back of the user's neck, allowing them to move around in the suit freely without feeling it's weight. An inner bodysuit was also to be worn in order to reduce discomfort and also provide some protection to the unarmoured areas.
Most of the 300 Colonial Marines were armed with standard issue Nightingale Plasma Rifles and Executioner sidearms with some carrying with them Heartseeker Rocket Launchers, Thunderbolt Sniper Rifles and even B125 LMG's in place of the Plasma Rifles depending on their preferences.

The next round was planned to include the Spartan-Legionnaire facing off against 100 Elite Commandos outfitted with the latest suits specifically designed for special operations and tactics. The suits, like the ones worn by the marines, were composed of one-inch-thick titanium covering vital parts of the user's body while leaving some areas unprotected in order to allow free movement. The micro-motors however were a lot more advanced in design and actually amplified the Commando's strength in situations where it was needed such as lifting heavy objects or engaging in hand-to-hand combat. The suit also came with an energy shielding that was generated by an energy shield unit linked to the suit's micro-fusion power supply.
The Elite Commandos were also given standard issue weaponry depending on what their specialities were.

The last test would be to see how the Spartan-Legionnaire contends against his own squad - the rest of Spartan Fireteam Epsilon who were all already equipped with their MJOLNIR armour sets and preferred weaponry.

The first round went flawlessly. The Spartan-Legionnaire was armed with a single Executioner sidearm, loaded with armour-piercing stun rounds. The Spartan took some time getting used to the suit. Similar to MJOLNIR, the armour was designed to be as convenient as possible for the wearer. The MJOLNIR armour in particular used force-multiplying and reaction circuits to boost the strength and reaction time of the wearer, by connecting to the Spartan's neural lace and translating their movements to the suit.

The Legionnaire armour was similar but did this in a different way. Spread out underneath the suit were several hundred fibre bundles: thin wires positioned and fixed into specific locations. The wires all fed back to an armoured section under the back of the suit that connected to a series of electrical transmitters leading all the way to the main neuro-electrical reciever. The receiver was designed to connect to the Legionnaire's neural lace and translate their thoughts into movements. Through this way, the Legionnaire would be able to activate the suit's point-defense lasers, fire the plasma grenade launcher from their forearm and acctivate the plasma swords located in the gauntlets.

Along with this however, the reciever would read whenever the brain has sent a signal to a specific part of the body to move, translate that into the suit and have that specific section of the suit move with the Legionnaire. Effectively this would ensure that the Legionnaire does not feel the weight of their suit and it acts more like a heavily armoured second skin to them. Along with this, the fibre bundles also amplify the amount of strength put into movement, which would increase the Legionnaire's already superhuman strength to higher degrees.

Thanks to these changes, the Spartan-Legionnaire was virtually a machine on the battlefield. Whenever he ran, his movements became hard to track for the poor Marines and he made short work of them quickly, gunning down those who positioned themselves far away to snipe him, and breaking the bones precisely to incapacitate but not severely injure those that were within arms reach of him. A few rounds from the LMG, Nightingale and Executioner managed to graze the shielding but these shots were randomly placed from increasingly panicking marines that had no hope of getting him in their sights. All in all, the entire battalion had been successfully dispatched.

The next round showed similar results. Though the Elite Commandos were as extensively trained as they were, they proved to be of very little match for the Spartan-Legionnaire. To give them credit they did show a better level of communication and cooperation and one of them managed to strike the Spartan-Legionnaire with splash damage from a rocket fired by his Heartseeker rocket launcher. However the Spartan-Legionnaire proved too fast to be successfully tracked by the weapon and he either evaded the rockets or shot them out of the air.

On one occasion, a well-practiced Commando hit the Spartan-Legionnaire square in the back with a Thunderbolt sniper rifle. The Base AI later specified that the sniper rifle had managed to down the Legionnaire armour's shields by 50%. The fact that the armour was able to tank such a round came as a surprise to Hubert and his team.

Overall however, just as last time, the Spartan-Legionnaire made short work of the Elite Commandos and like the Colonial Marines, they were all wheeled away to the several hospitals.

Needless to say, the most interesting test was the last. It was Squad leader against his own team mates. Spartans VS Spartan-Legionnaire. The fight was... gruelling.

Multiple ballistic shots pinged off of the Legionnaire armour's energy shields and it was soon realised that the Nightingale Plasma Rifle had the best effect against their leader. The Spartans played smart and stayed at a distance from the Spartan-Legionnaire. Some gunning him with ballistics to get his attention while the one unit that was using the Plasma Rifle shot at him from behind. The shielding was falling at a steady rate but the Spartan Legionnaire quickly caught onto their game.

He quickly turned to deal with the Nightingale-wielding Spartan but failed to account for the fourth member who placed himself several hundred meters across the field. By the time his Thunderbolt sniper rifle struck the Spartan-Legionnaire in his side, the suit's shielding went down to zero. The other Spartans continued with their tactic, maintaining distance and firing at the suit in an effort to crack through it. Hubert was sure that the squad leader would die in this exercise, and for a moment became thankful for the fact that the squad leader had signed a form acknowleding and agreeing that should he die, no blame would fall upon Millennium Armoury or Blizard Tech.

However, the Spartan-Legionnaire suddenly displayed a surprising snap-increase in speed. He charged into one of his squadmates and knocked him down with several strikes, all of which were difficult to track. He then threw the Spartan into another - an attack that she was able to avoid. However the Spartan-Legionnaire was already at her side and prompty dispatched of her with a few well-placed strikes. Having already taken out the Nightingale-wielding Spartan, the Spartan-Legionnaire's final two targets seemed more difficult to deal with. The thunderbolt-wielding Spartan fired multiple shots, but even for his advanced training, the Space Marine moved surprisingly fast and was difficult to hit. The other Spartan switched to his Heartseeker and attempted to lock onto the Spartan-Legionnaire. However, a few shots from the Spartan-Legionnaire's stun pistol threw him off balance and just as he steadied himself, the Heartseeker was already being wrestled from his grasp.

Still being accutely aware of the sniper, the Spartan-Legionnaire spun the two around and a thunderbolt round hit the Spartan right in the shoulder, passing through his shielding, armour and flesh and coming out of the other side. The Spartan-Legionnaire took this opportunity to knock the Spartan out with a single swing from the Heartseeker to his head.

While the sniper rushed to reload his rifle, the Spartan-Legionnaire rushed full speed at him. As soon as the Spartan managed to reload and fire, the Spartan-Legionnaire was right in front of him and the round hit his shields point-blank, draining them down to 50%. However this did not stop him at all, and he grabbed the sniper rifle and ripped it away from his grip.

The Spartan decided to resort to hand-to-hand. While being thoroughly trained and having superhuman strength and speed to back him up, the Spartan-Legionnaire eventually outmatched his opponent and, in the words of Doctor Miles, "beat the shit out of him."

A month later, everything was in place. The final armour design made a few minor additions to the design field tested. For one, an onboard "dumb" AI was to be integrated into each suit to improve the Legionnaire's situational awareness, provide battlefield reports and assessments and maintain communication with other units as well as hack ino locked doors and computers, etc.

The overall design was also very slightly slimmed down and the HUD was finalised using feedback given from Fireteam Eclipse's leader. Several "pockets" were integrated into the suit. These small spaces housed several million nanobots in total that would be able to repair damage to the suit to a degree, primarily to seal any breaches should the user be exposed to the vaccuum of space. A new type of medical gel was also added to the suit, along with specialised nanobots that would travel along the Legionnaire's body underneath the suit and inject the gel into any wounds so that the unit may continue with battle. The medical gel, which was in its prototype stages only a few weeks before, was composed of artificially-manufactured stem cells that ensure the safe regeneration of destroyed tissue.

All in ll, everything was in place and Hubert congratulated his team for another project successfully completed.