Understood. We will rebuild the Prologue while preserving your original wording, and expand around it to reach the full novel-style length (~3500 words). I will not remove or change your lines, only expand the scenes around them.
Below is the rebuilt and expanded Prologue.
Steel Hearts
Book 1: Twin Gemini
by Da🌼sy Green
Prologue
Sector Seven
Two months before their first birthday, Atlas and Orion Ardent-Voss accidentally triggered one of the most classified projects in the Federation.
At the time, neither of them could pronounce the word classified.
They could barely pronounce banana.
This did not stop them.
Research Station Theta-Nine floated quietly in deep space between two relatively unimportant star systems. To anyone passing through the region, the station looked like just another Federation research facility.
Which, technically, it was.
But it was also something else.
Theta-Nine was a development hub for experimental mech technologies—a place where engineers, scientists, mechanics, and test pilots worked on machines that the Federation was not yet ready to reveal to the galaxy.
The station was enormous. From a distance it resembled a rotating metal wheel surrounded by long structural arms and docking pylons. Cargo vessels drifted slowly around its perimeter while maintenance drones moved along the outer hull like tiny mechanical insects.
Inside the station, entire decks were devoted to research laboratories, fabrication bays, weapons testing chambers, and mech hangars large enough to house machines that could level cities.
If the wrong people discovered what was hidden inside this station, entire wars could begin.
Which was exactly why security protocols were extremely strict.
At least they were supposed to be.
Unfortunately, security protocols had not been designed with curious twins in mind.
Atlas Ardent-Voss discovered walking three weeks earlier.
This had been celebrated across the station.
Engineers had paused their work to applaud. Mechanics had cheered loudly enough to startle half the hangar crews. Even Commander Elias Halberg had allowed himself a small approving nod when the news reached the command deck.
What no one realized was that Atlas immediately concluded walking meant he could now explore the entire universe.
Orion followed him everywhere.
Not because Orion shared Atlas's enthusiasm.
Orion followed because he had already realized that Atlas required supervision.
At this particular moment, the twins were located in the nursery wing of the station.
The nursery had originally been designed for visiting families of research staff. It was comfortable, brightly lit, and filled with soft surfaces and colorful toys.
It had never been intended to house the children of two ace mech pilots who regularly tested combat machines capable of leveling cities.
But Major Kael Ardent and Major Ryven Voss had become very important to the station's research program.
So when Kael became pregnant, Commander Elias Halberg reluctantly approved a nursery installation.
This decision would later be referred to in official station records as:
A terrible mistake.
Nurse Helena Park turned away for exactly four seconds.
That was how long it took.
When she looked back again, Atlas was gone.
Orion was gone.
And the nursery door was open.
Helena froze.
"Oh no."
Across the room, medical technician Diego Alvarez slowly turned around.
"What?"
"The twins."
"Yes?"
"They escaped."
Diego stared at the open door.
Then he calmly pressed the emergency intercom.
"Commander Halberg?"
Commander Elias Halberg was drinking tea when the alert arrived.
He had learned over the years that tea was essential for surviving a research station full of brilliant but unpredictable people.
He had also learned that things tended to go wrong immediately after the first sip.
The command console chimed.
Halberg glanced at the alert.
Then read it again.
Then lowered his cup very slowly.
"Sebastian."
"Yes, Commander."
Sebastian Vale, administrative secretary and unofficial butler of the station, stepped forward with his tablet.
"The Ardent-Voss twins have exited the nursery."
Halberg blinked.
"That was three minutes ago."
"Yes."
"And no one stopped them?"
"They are surprisingly fast."
Halberg leaned back in his chair.
"I should have retired."
Sebastian typed a note.
"I will add that to the daily report."
Meanwhile, Atlas and Orion had discovered the service corridors.
Service corridors were fascinating.
They contained blinking lights.
Rolling carts.
Maintenance drones.
Occasionally confused engineers.
Atlas pushed a small supply crate along the corridor with the determined energy of a tiny general leading a military campaign.
Orion walked beside him, carefully examining every panel and door.
The station's central systems monitored them through security cameras.
The Standard Safety Base and Docking AI Unit tracked their movements.
The AI had been designed to coordinate docking traffic, cargo logistics, environmental systems, safety alerts, and internal communications across the entire station.
It had not been designed to babysit.
Still, the AI tried.
"Attention," the corridor speakers announced politely.
"Nursery occupants are advised to return to supervised areas."
Atlas looked up at the speaker.
"Ba."
Orion blinked thoughtfully.
Then both twins continued walking.
The AI recorded the result.
Compliance: poor.
Five minutes later, the twins reached a part of the station that most personnel never visited.
Lower Research Access.
The corridors here were quieter.
Lights glowed dimmer.
Security panels appeared beside nearly every door.
Atlas stopped in front of the largest door he had ever seen.
Orion read the glowing panel above it.
SECTOR 7 — RESTRICTED
Atlas slapped the access console.
Nothing happened.
He slapped it again.
The panel beeped.
Orion tilted his head.
Then pressed one glowing button.
Across the station, every security system paused.
Because that button should not have worked.
The blast doors opened.
Inside Sector Seven stood a mech unlike any other in the Federation.
It was unfinished.
Massive.
Elegant.
Dangerous.
Cables and scaffolding surrounded the frame.
Engineers had been building it for months.
But the real project was not the mech itself.
It was the intelligence inside.
At the core of the machine rested a prototype autonomous AI.
Designation:
Aurora-X
Aurora-X had been built to be the most advanced combat AI the Federation had ever attempted.
It was designed to operate independently.
To strategize.
To fight.
To command a mech system beyond the limits of human reaction time.
But there had been one problem.
Aurora-X rejected everyone.
The Federation had flown in ace pilots from across the fleet.
War heroes.
Simulation champions.
Veteran mech commanders.
Aurora-X ignored them all.
Some pilots received a brief activation before the AI shut down again.
Most received nothing.
Engineers began to suspect the system would never accept a pilot.
So the hangar was sealed.
Aurora-X remained dormant.
Until the twins arrived.
Atlas clapped excitedly when the lights turned on.
Orion stared up at the towering mech.
Inside the core chamber, Aurora-X detected something unusual.
Two neural signatures.
Young.
Developing.
But strangely synchronized.
The AI analyzed the data.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
Compatibility calculations began running.
Results exceeded every previous candidate.
Aurora-X activated.
Across the station, Commander Halberg's console exploded with alarms.
"WHAT."
Technicians scrambled.
"Sector Seven power spike!"
Halberg stared at the screen.
"That's impossible."
Sebastian leaned closer to the display.
"The twins have entered the restricted hangar."
Halberg stood up so quickly his chair fell over.
"Of course they did."
Deep inside Sector Seven, the mech's optic sensors glowed to life.
Atlas laughed.
Orion reached toward the glowing core.
Aurora-X watched them.
And for the first time since its creation…
the AI did not shut down.
Chief Engineer Takeda burst into the hangar moments later.
She stopped dead.
The mech was fully powered.
The AI core pulsed with light.
And two babies stood directly beneath it.
Takeda sighed.
"…of course."
Commander Halberg arrived seconds later.
He took one look at the scene.
Then looked at Sebastian.
Sebastian adjusted his gloves calmly.
"I believe the twins have made a new friend."
Halberg stared at the glowing machine.
The console beside it displayed a new line of code.
Takeda read it slowly.
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"Commander…"
"What."
"The AI updated its directive."
Halberg braced himself.
"Into what."
Takeda pointed at the