"What's the progress on your projects, General?"

"We had a small hiccup with our firing test several weeks ago; a Militia Pilot managed to infiltrate our facility as we were targeting Orthus. We're not sure how exactly they managed this, though from the camera footage we've recovered, it seems as though he was equipped with the Time-Gauntlet we lost in the Militia raid months ago. My inference, therefore, is that this Pilot was manipulating temporal disturbances in the future caused by our misfire in the present."

"Misfire?"

"The casing we developed for the Ark was not perfect, and our replication of the fold-weapon was too small. We did, however, accomplish our objective; Typhon's moon was obliterated as expected."

"And you managed to recover the Ark from this accident?"

"Yes, we did. At first, I was unsure if it would still be stable, and feared that we may have to coax another from the Inferno. However, it would seem by all accounts to be in perfect condition. Still, instability is a genuine fear that we cannot ignore. Now that the casing's design has been perfected, we should be able to safely contain and transport the Ark to the firing site when the time comes."

"This … Inferno. I recognize their name."

"You do?"

"Affirmative. The Pilot is a former IMC member who was under the command of Marcus Graves at the battle of Demeter- and therefore, was under my command. I'm curious to know how such an individual ended up in the position he now finds himself in."

"It is a rather intriguing tale. Our records state that he was listed as MIA after an incursion on Nedar. He did not appear again in name until the Militia raid on the IMS Kraken, though we've confirmed he participated in another attack on one of our research centers on Tyche, the one that compromised the secrecy of Project Atlantis."

"Interesting."

"He would go on to find the Codex on Erebus- truly fascinating, it is. We spent hundreds of thousands of credits trying to research the artifact to determine what kind of individual it was looking for- and yet, he was simply able to take it. Him, out of all people!"

"You are surprised?"

"Of course!"

"What about his character do you find surprising?"

"You misunderstand me- it has nothing to do with his character. In fact, by our own analyzations of him, he's a rather average specimen except in one category."

"And what is that category?"

"Tenacity. The man has an unwavering resolve that rivals that of even our top soldiers- he's unimpressive aside from the fact that he simply refuses to ever give up. It doesn't come as a shock to me that someone as determined as him would be the one to find the Codex if they put their mind to it."

"Then what surprises you?"

"The fact that it chose him after he'd already endured so much. I'm not one to believe in coincidences, Spyglass, you know this- how is it that one of our own, someone as relatively unimportant as he was, could suddenly undergo so much change in such a short span of time? He's become potentially the most important asset we have."

"You're wondering why events seem to revolve around him?"

"Exactly. Sometimes it seems … I'm not sure. As though perhaps these phenomenons, these occurrences, are pre-ordained. As though everything is proceeding along some linear path, and he's at the epicenter; a path which perhaps has been traveled before."

"That's quite the hypothesis, Marder."

"No hypothesis can be proven until someone deigns to ask a question."

"Moving on- how did you procure an Ark in the first place?"

"Initially, attempts to persuade him to create one consisted of multi-hourly sessions of physical torment each day. However, after Kuben Blisk's recommendation, the sessions were halted and kept as a last resort. He correctly supposed that the Pilot's inflexibility would outlast any pain inflicted upon him, so one of our medical examiners suggested a different approach."

"Oh?"

"By injecting heavy sedatives and certain hallucinatory drugs, we were able to put the Pilot in a hazy, fearful state of thinking. As the Codex seems to have joined itself with him on a metaphysical level, he would release bursts of its energy when under extreme stress. Torture of the body may have been ineffective, but torture of the mind …"

"How did you proceed from there?"

"It was simple, really- siphoning off that energy and condensing it created the Ark. For now, he has fulfilled his purpose- however, I've ordered him to be kept on Typhon in the event that the Ark becomes unstable and we require another. For the time being, all projects are proceeding as planned."

"Thank you for the update, General Marder. Report back to me when the fold-weapon is ready to target Harmony."

"Of course, Spyglass. I look forward to the day when we achieve peace on the frontier."