The six months that followed were the most intense period of preparation their new reality had ever known. The threat of the Hive forced a level of cooperation that even the Convergence had not achieved. Old rivalries were set aside, not out of forgiveness, but because they were a luxury no one could afford.
The strategy, as outlined by Nox and Vexia, had three main pillars: Fortification, Innovation, and Preemption.
**Fortification:**
The entire merged reality was to be turned into a fortress. Gorok, with his centuries of experience in large-scale engineering, took charge.
"We don't build walls on planets," he declared at the first strategy session. "We build walls *between* dimensions."
