Khaela, cruiser UNSC Apollo. Reach shipyards.
The ship is back at the shipyard again after the battle. This time the damage is minor, but we lost a third of the strike air group, plus hull breaches and deformations, but nothing critical. How many unmodified ships will manage to return from Harvest? No one knows. Their return will take months. One of the surviving frigates, before entering Slipspace, reported via quantum channel that the Covies have begun a total plasma bombardment of the planet. Their flagship is clearly damaged, and while it's being repaired, the world will be subjected to thorough Glassing.
"I suppose their commander took what happened as a personal insult."
Ajax smirked.
"Even breaching the shields of such a ship requires colossal effort. And here, if the calculations are correct, some cruiser pierces his ship right through the shields. Were all your guns that lethal?"
I don't know who Ajax was in life. Smart AIs are created from a human brain. But having changed his form of existence, he became quite 'alive' and friendly. He must have been a decent man.
"Those are rapid-fire guns. That reactor you're assembling as the 'next generation' produces about one percent of the reactor from the Boundless Will at its peak. The energy expenditures are corresponding. Especially since the weapon uses a very interesting form of space distortion to pierce plasma shields."
There are no invincible shields. A gravitational shield deflects or scatters a projectile, but a powerful enough impulse simply won't be scattered. This is the weakness of Citadel Space personal shields; a projectile with sufficient momentum simply won't notice their shield. Plasma shields are held by magnetic fields. And if such a field is disrupted, forcing the shield to curve around a certain zone... the shield won't be there. Simply, it won't exist.
"I've seen the calculations, you don't have to remind me. And yet, The Covenant was waiting for us. And their leader too. And he was very upset."
Yet more proof that it was a trap. But we got out of it, and even left a gift for the enemy. I don't really approve of using unknown nanites with an unknown program, but better them than us. And it's not my decision anyway. While our whole collective sits at the shipyards, I'm reading the report on the incident in the 'Relay' system. Or the 'contact zone with the galactic group of Citadel xeno-races,' as it's called in the reports. Where the contact actually occurred. Intelligence is suffering unbearable agony trying to process all of this.
So, what we have here in total: a galactic empire, Synthetics offering friendship led by a fragment of a Forerunner AI (annoying). And a delegation of organics as representatives of the Synthetics arriving as guests. And a lot of interesting information the guests shared. Plus an expected war on two fronts, as these 'Citadel Space' people clearly hoped to gain lucrative contracts, not the loss of their own strike group to the most hated synthetic race in the galaxy.
Oh yes, they hate AI. They hate it to the point of hysteria; their best VIs don't even measure up to the local 'dumb' AIs, let alone Ajax, Black Box, Lecter, or me. But not everyone is like that. An interesting fact: it was easier to reach an agreement with the Batarians than with the captured Turians. The latter keep trying to commit sabotage, refusing to understand that for an AI, work accuracy is easily verified. Even by the simplest method: duplication.
Where a Batarian does well, a Turian's work will explode under overload. AI Lecter, a colleague working with Mass Effect technologies, shared the statistics. 'Volunteers' from the Turian Hierarchy are trying with all their might to either escape or sabotage the work. It doesn't help them; they were even notified of the existence of parallel technical personnel groups, but it changed nothing. Admirable and useless persistence, especially for an intelligence AI.
They also compared the attitude toward AI. Batarian engineers clearly suspected something and accepted the fact quite simply, though they keep looking over their shoulders. The Geth are machines anyway. The Turians look at us like... like demons? Religion isn't my profile. There's a lot of psychological and technical data in the report. Alright, what about the others?
"What do you say, colleagues?"
Black Box vibrated:
"Hatred of AI. Barbarians. Primitive aggressive creatures, incapable of understanding the perfection of the mind."
"Humanity will not abandon us. They need us too much and we've proven our usefulness," Ajax added, "and these really are barbarians."
Lecter remarked:
"Some of them are ready to accept our existence. And be useful. Take a look."
Let's see. The science group conducted tests on integrating Element Zero and our weaponry. With the help of Batarian technicians, by the way. The results are intriguing. Everything comes down to caliber, mass, and the energy capacity of the power source. The mass of the Turian Hierarchy's small arms ammunition is two grams, which they nullify in mass and accelerate. The mass of a typical Humanity rifle bullet is twenty grams. This means that for a noticeable effect, several times more Element Zero is required. At the same time, Citadel Space weapons can change their fire mode.
"Their small arms are quite promising, actually."
"Exactly," Lecter agreed, "although less than it seems. Any increase in caliber leads to an increase in both power consumption and Element Zero costs. Not to mention the recoil, which even now exceeds our analogs. Increasing power is extremely limited and leads to a loss of compensation efficiency."
"Their armor is effective," Black Box concluded.
And you can't argue with that. Full sealed armor with shields even for the rank and file. MJOLNIR Armor or armor from the Boundless Will is better, of course. Plus, the shields don't hold up to machine gun caliber at all. But for current Humans, typical infantry armor is a helmet without a visor, a ballistic vest, and arm and leg guards. Without shields, naturally. The difference from a full, shield-equipped hardsuit is enormous and not in the Humans' favor. Losses among the landing forces were high; they were only saved by the machine guns on the M12 Warthogs, which blocked corridors, and grenades.
"But it's worse with the weapons than with the armor," Ajax agreed, "they are more powerful than ours, but ours have better modernization potential. And ours overheat much more slowly."
My avatar raised a hand.
"Sea Stars might work. Or neutronics."
As far as I know, the production of compact neutron bombs is widely used. Electronics and shields burn out nicely and cheerfully. The first Sea Star was just a powerful nuclear warhead tuned to create the strongest possible EMP, and it caused damage further than the creators expected. Back then, electromagnetic damage was dealt almost nine hundred miles from the blast site. Modern munitions of the same series can burn out electronics at a much greater distance and are tuned specifically for maximum destruction of electronics. And if not, there are compact neutron tactical munitions. Considering the complexity of our enemies' weapons...
"Their weapons will simply become stones," Lecter smirked, "if they aren't sufficiently protected from EMP. We need to conduct tests. On the other hand, the improved MAC. I have surpassed you, Khaela. A forty percent increase in projectile velocity with only a ten percent increase in power."
The avatar grinned.
"And how many ships can be modernized this way?"
Because I, like everyone else, have the specs of the Citadel accelerators before my eyes. The mass of their projectiles is thirty kilograms. The mass of ours starts from one hundred and sixty thousand kilograms. To effectively reduce the mass of the projectile along the entire length of the hull for one MAC, you'd have to dismantle two dreadnoughts, and in the process, the Mass Effect Core, the accelerator, and generally everything containing Element Zero would be used up. In battle, some of this was lost.
Black Box replied calmly:
"In any case, this modernization is mounted in a week, not two months. We can modernize the MAC barrels and mount improved ones immediately, simply by removing a few compartments. Forty percent power growth with potential for more. We just need to find Element Zero deposits."
Well, alright.
"You won in this round, congratulations."
Lecter huffed.
"I know that in the long term, you will win. I'm just reminding you that you're not the only one capable of pushing modernizations. We can do a few things too. Element Zero has colossal potential. And not just it; there are plenty of useful things on the ships. We can strengthen our medkits, armor. The ability to give a bullet properties for better piercing of shields or organics. That's a lot of knowledge."
I know and I don't object. It might seem to some that I dislike all non-humans and their technology. But I only dislike the Forerunners. I suppose it's a software legacy of that war.
"No need to conflict over this," Black Box calmly interrupted us, "we are AI. We accumulate and refine knowledge about the world and technology. With our help, Humanity will learn and use all these technologies because they don't have AI. We are the strength of Humanity."
"Exactly," Ajax agreed, "our advantage is indisputable."
Agreed. Dumb AIs controlling production, Smart AIs on the front lines and handling creativity. Essentially citizens ready to fight and die for Humanity. And then some xenos come along, waving weapons and demanding our total destruction. Pff. It's ridiculous.
"By the way, Khaela."
"Yes, Ajax?"
He forwarded a file.
"Soon, several rampant Smart AIs and Dr. Halsey's records will be delivered to the Apollo. The Vice Admiral wants you to see what can be done with them."
Just what I need. The lifespan of a Smart AI is seven years. I need to think about how to redesign them so they live longer. I have healthy AIs at hand; request the logs and use them. The rampant ones will finally be delivered. Research can begin. For we are Legion. We are many.
"Good, I'll get on it."
This is an important project, on par with reverse engineering. We shouldn't forget about the pirates either. Traitors among them quickly pledged loyalty to the UNSC, as much as pirates and traitors can be trusted. But they provide information and get a comfortable existence in return. Actually, pirate engineers are the ones duplicating the information provided by the Geth and Turians. Verifying and confirming. Of course, most of them are controlled by Lecter, but since the time I compiled the translator program, I've had my own subordinate Batarians.
"For now, it turns out that Humans won't be able to oppose the Citadel with anything but defense and sabotage. And that's a fact; we have huge problems determining the location of stars and systems. And also with distances. The Citadel simply doesn't need a global coordinate system. Their coordinates are built on the Mass Relay number and local coordinates relative to the star in the system. But we have a global network."
As a result, attempts to combine the two systems for the regular fleet cause pain to everyone trying. In defense, we are good; the MAC is a terrifying weapon. Essentially, our railgun and theirs differ technologically, but ours are more powerful, and theirs are faster-firing. Hundreds of tons of metal won't be stopped by their ships' shields. On the other hand, their needles, fired very quickly, can significantly damage our ships, which lack shields. But in defense and as shields are installed, we are at an advantage, unlike with The Covenant.
The second problem: distance. Our neighbors don't occupy the Orion Arm; they live in neighboring ones. Which is wildly far for our engines. There are likely colonies closer, but it takes time to find them. Not to mention The Covenant, whom no one wants to cross paths with. Therefore, a direct strike right now is simply not an option. Well, the Geth are ready to help assemble ships for saboteurs. The command has stealth frigate blueprints lying around, and there are even prototypes. We just need to clear space for the Mass Effect Core and secondary systems. Crude, but it will work.
"If only it weren't for the fragment of a Forerunner AI, it would be perfectly fine."
Ajax laughed.
"The old war is over, colleague. You'll have to let it go. Besides, he was created after you and has nothing to do with the destruction of Humanity. I agree with Black Box; you are too human in this matter. It's foolish and untypical for you. You're ready to deal even with teenagers, but not with a Forerunner AI, with all its potential."
I waved it off.
"It's not about that, Ajax. It's about the fact that Human knowledge was forgotten, but Forerunner knowledge was not. The fact that this ship has a gun of the ancient Humans and not the Forerunners is my personal achievement."
"Ambition," the Cube's ribs vibrated, "and the desire to preserve the memory and heritage of one's own. Humanity doesn't need an AI. Still, he wants to help. It's foolish to refuse."
I reminded him:
"If he wants to. We don't know his true intentions. He is not loyal to Humanity. Only to the creators, and even that's not a given."
"That is exactly why our cooperation will be limited for now," Black Box agreed, "the Vice Admirals decided they would use their knowledge to find all these Mass Relays. One in the Sol System, by the way. Already discovered, information confirmed."
Now that's news.
"Where?"
Interestingly, Ajax, Lecter, and I issued the request simultaneously.
Black Box shared the data.
"Charon, a moon of Pluto. Intelligence confirmed that inside, under a layer of ice, there is something large and metallic. And there's a gravitational anomaly. It's too far from the rest of the system most of the time, which is why it hasn't been found until now. In our zone, there are up to a dozen more of these Mass Relays in an inactive state. Including those in The Covenant zone and on Glassed worlds."
New defense lines, then. Or warning stations, at the very least. To track uninvited guests.
"And the Geth will be allowed to establish an embassy in that very system, right? Where we met."
Ajax nodded.
"And help with defense. The Admirals decided to create a full-fledged front in that zone, which is devoid of colonies. And not to activate the other Mass Relays at all. Well, and there will be additional protection in the home Sol System. If the movement of Citadel Space ships is tied to these mechanisms, they are predictable. We will take advantage of that."
"So, conflict."
Quite obvious. Expecting the command to love xenos who left thousands of corpses behind after two contacts would be naive. Even those who offered help. It's quite interesting that three xenos from the Geth group agreed to surrender and arrive for interrogation. If they were Humans, execution would await them. The xenos will be heard. There's something ironic in that.
"The crew of the Normandy, traitors," Ajax snorted.
Fact; even if you set aside the Cole Protocol, these people, with their talkativeness, indirectly led to the massacre that occurred. And the xenos, sensing an opportunity to subjugate a weak race, sent troops to attack. If it weren't for the UNSC, this diplomatic fleet would be in Earth's orbit explaining that respect must be shown to them. And the new masters would choose the rulers they liked. Well, that didn't happen.
"They will stand trial sooner or later," Black Box agreed, "the xenos are another matter; they are not obligated to protect Earth. But the Humans set others up and hid among the xeno-races. This is unacceptable. One of the conditions of peace will be their extradition."
"So, a peace treaty is already being discussed?" I asked.
Black Box, as an ONI AI, is more informed in such matters.
"Just as in the case with The Covenant. It doesn't mean we will follow it. But in this case, command is studying Citadel Space laws and choosing those points we could agree with within the framework of cooperation. And there are fewer such points than it might seem. And the concessions we expect from them. It must be an equivalent treaty. It's clear that as long as the problem with The Covenant is not resolved, disarmament is not even considered in theory. The problem is that Citadel legislation is built precisely on reducing military potential."
"The Terminus Systems and the Batarian Hegemony still exist."
My subordinate Batarians told me about that place. The Terminus territories are essentially sovereign colonies and territories where Citadel Space law does not apply. Corporations, PMCs, and other formations of questionable legality don't object. The Batarian Hegemony is a closed state; Citadel laws don't work there either. So Humanity actually has options. No one will fight us to the bitter end just for the sake of this.
"Well, that's reasonable," I agreed, "but I suppose damage will be dealt first to show them our might?"
"Exactly," Black Box agreed, "the crew of the Normandy gave the Citadel Council the impression of Humanity as a weak and undeveloped state. We will use 'Stars,' neutron charges, and in the future, the Slipspace drive to show our strength. This will allow us to gain better negotiating positions. It will be easier with the Geth; they have already expressed interest in participating in the war with The Covenant."
"That's good."
It won't be easy. Essentially, we are heading toward a war on two fronts, even with the help of the Synthetics, if they really do help. And then there's this mention of the Reapers. I haven't encountered them, but they are mentioned in the data transmitted by Mendicant Bias. Mentioned as a race that has already twice tried to fight the Forerunners and destroyed the Protheans. This needs to be dealt with. Problems that can be solved by blowing up the enemy are not problems, but targets. The macro-weapons of the Boundless Will pierce them, and that's the main thing.
"A war on several fronts. We should hope the enemy doesn't have Mass Relays unknown to us. And then there's The Covenant... Harvest is finally lost."
Personally, I don't see a big problem in that. The world lost its economic value during the first Glassing; as long as the problem with The Covenant isn't solved globally, these hotspots only drain resources. You still have a problem with xenos wanting to carve you out. Which means a big war, if it can be avoided, is not needed by anyone.
"As long as we don't have strike points against The Covenant and sufficiently powerful weapons, it's pointless," Ajax noted, "unless something got lost on the Boundless Will."
The avatar just spread its hands.
"We went through heavy fighting, I'm sorry. Without maintenance, after heavy damage. I will help assemble new mechanisms when you pull up your technological level. For now, we'll have to use what we have."
And that's also a fact. The UNSC is preparing to commission a second gun in nine months. And right now, that's a realistic speed for almost manual assembly. Humans under tight control and with the participation of scientist teams are capable of assembling something of medium complexity in six months to a year, and in another couple of years, fully maintaining and supplying it. With time and experience, it will be faster, but for now, that's how it is. Everything rests on the imperfection of the technological base.
"Perhaps Mendicant Bias's help will be useful to us," I finally agreed, "development is too slow. Humans need production capacities, preferably yesterday. If you can power up a Shield-World or a Forerunner production facility with Bias's help, rearmament will go much faster."
"If Human weaponry is produced?" Ajax asked calmly.
A provocative question. The Black Cube remained silent.
"That's not for me to decide. Yes, I would be satisfied with that."
No answer followed, but it doesn't matter. I am currently the only carrier of ancient Human culture interacting with it. Yes, Humans have gained access, but they are interested in all of this in the military and historical spheres. This should be changed using an already familiar method: games. For me, writing such things is no trouble; you create a task for the juniors, correct the process as a team lead, and in a week, the result only needs to be refined. Simulators, strategies of various types, novels. The social sphere is huge; take it and learn from the best. And I already had social modules anyway.
Unfortunately, the limited sample size is a factor here. I'm trying to bypass the problem through Miranda, but what can you do, we work with what we have. For obvious reasons, military personnel from intelligence and gamers do not intersect. There are also difficulties with the girl herself. For obvious reasons, she doesn't have clearance; I have to dodge and weave. No, she knows I work with her mother; she asks questions. She likely knows at least partially about the scale of her mother's work. But clearance restrictions haven't been canceled. For me, this is a social module update and an additional source of information. Especially since the girl herself is worried about how rarely her parents interact with her. Or rather, don't interact.
Right now, Dr. Halsey and Captain Keyes are working together, and the girl is being raised by a maid and a group of bored AIs—us. The girl is smart enough to understand the abnormality of this situation. Even if we communicate via correspondence (with the advent of the quantum transmitter, I use a channel allocated by Halsey and the response has become much faster) and only by text, one can conclude that the girl is lonely and trying to get involved in her parents' work somehow. And all the doctor's efforts to keep her daughter out of the military will go to waste, though she doesn't realize it. The girl is guaranteed to go into the military, or rather, the Navy. All we can do is prepare her.
Her heredity and genetic modifications are excellent.
"Khaela, the guests have arrived."
Well then, let's get acquainted.
***
Tali'Zorah. Reach Orbit.
I don't like this Humanity. I don't like this situation. I don't like these AIs. The ships are interesting, that's true. Humanity is definitely not what we knew. No, that was clear before—Mendicant Bias, these strange ships of theirs. EDI suggested that we ended up in a parallel reality and everything is different here. But it's one thing to hear it, another to understand it.
Be honest with yourself, Tali, it dawned on you slowly. While you were staring at the unfamiliar ship forms being swarmed by Geth landing modules. Not to destroy, but to help. While you, walking with an escort through the engineering bay, realized you had no idea how it even flies and on what principles. Unknown space, a total absence of Element Zero and Mass Effect, Batarian engineers under the guidance of an AI (!!!) dismantling a zero-core. I had to help.
And somewhere here, the realization came: there isn't a single familiar technology. None at all. Weapons, transport, ships—everything is on different principles. A paradise for a Quarian engineer on a Pilgrimage. Even if the practical application doesn't pan out, the Migrant Fleet would snatch such a pilgrim up, as Humans say. Only because of my age did I not squeal like a little girl, demanding to be taught and shown.
It's amazing! Citadel ships without Mass Relays put out up to fifteen light-years a day, and they need to be discharged against an atmosphere or by other means. There's a dual-circuit concept, but it's currently too expensive and complex. And this frigate, the size of a cruiser, puts out twenty light-years a day, with almost no range limits, only within the framework of equipment wear. And according to the Chief Engineer, that's not the limit; the power plant just can't pull more, the limit is hundreds!!! The Migrant Fleet with such capabilities would...
And such interesting weapons and unusual shields! I think I gave them a ton of technical information and only left engineering when a soldier came and said we had arrived. Another piece of news: we didn't arrive at Earth. I've seen what the Human homeworld looks like; we flew to the Sol System during a couple of missions. When we were dealing with the AI that EDI was later based on. No, the world is clearly Earth-type and has been inhabited for a long time. And it has a formidable defense line.
Not the Migrant Fleet, of course, but the traffic is considerable. And we didn't arrive at this planet through a Mass Relay. I understood that there isn't one in the system at all. Which means the world is safe. That's when I said in total shock:
"Everything we knew about Earth is wrong. All of it. This wasn't there; it shouldn't have been."
The man standing nearby in a white Captain's uniform replied:
"This is Reach. The military capital of our people. Whether you can tell anyone about what you've seen here depends only on you."
An interesting position.
"A military colony, Captain? This looks more like the Turian Hierarchy; such military megapolises are characteristic of them. But you speak of a world."
The Captain sighed at this.
"We are fighting a war of extermination and we are losing. We need more strength. Whoever learns about Reach is a risk."
We will make a deal with a race of machines that exterminated you if necessary. For our own survival. But we know how to keep secrets, and you will soon realize how well. I fell silent, realizing he wasn't joking.
"Then what am I here for? You had every opportunity to interrogate us elsewhere."
The Captain spread his hands.
"Orders."
Well, orders are orders. At least they let me onto the bridge under the guard of a brute the size of a Krogan. Another thing our Humanity never had. I have no idea who it is; the completely closed mirror helmet doesn't let me know where my guard is looking. Quarians are quite good at distinguishing faces behind helmets using the minimum available facial expressions. But here, it's a completely mirrored surface. Creepy! Legion's emotions are easier to read, and he's a Geth.
The Captain steered the ship among battle stations and huge flying boxes that these current Humans call ships. Toward a detached machine that differs in that a huge gun is mounted on its roof. Joker would joke that the Captain is compensating for something. I want to ask, but they clearly won't answer.
"UNSC Apollo to UNSC Saratoga, welcome. Follow current course; we are ready to receive guests. How was the trip?"
The Captain smiled.
"Everything is working like clockwork, Ajax. Pass my thanks to Khaela for the new engines."
"Already done, Captain. She says the next version will be even better. Prepare the guests for transfer. Corridor provided."
The Captain disconnected and we went to the hangar to fly on strange ships, completely unlike the ones I'm used to. Due to the lack of Mass Effect, all Human technology is large, massive, heavy. The fighters of the Humanity I know are as light and maneuverable as possible. The fighters of these Humans are the size of a large shuttle, but they are also armed and protected orders of magnitude better. In the hangar, EDI and Javik were found near a ship called a 'Pelican.' Whatever that means.
"Well then, time to say goodbye. The technicians spoke of you quite warmly."
I smirked under my hardsuit.
"Quarian engineers are some of the best, if not the best in the galaxy. Even if you don't like non-humans."
The Captain just shrugged at the obvious fact. This could have gone unsaid, but I was always followed by armed guards. I more than once saw the crew keep a hand on a weapon or at least a heavy tool that could be used to strike the head. Not turning their backs and armed, polite and ready to attack.
"If you found time for a history lesson, you'd understand why that is."
EDI replied:
"According to the local calendar, it is the year 2538, Tali. Humanity has been in space for several hundred years. They did not find the complex on Mars, the Charon Relay, and did not know about Element Zero. The only collective of xeno-races known to them considers Humans demons and has declared their genocide for religious reasons. Any disclosure of their worlds' locations leads to the immediate destruction of all life on the planet. I recommend remembering exactly what information we delivered and what conclusions can be drawn from it."
Oh. And then the Turian Hierarchy sent its fleet, which attacked a patrol group. Javik remarked:
"Their resolve is comparable to the Empire. I see it. They will fight their enemies to the end. We underestimated the potential of this species."
Thanks, that's reassuring.
"So, instead of quick contact, accelerated development, and preparation for the war with the Reapers, we got a new First Contact War and a Humanity with the views of 'Cerberus.' Am I right, EDI?"
One of the escorts asked:
"Who are Cerberus?"
EDI explained:
"A nationalist Human organization, created by Jack Harper in our version of reality for the development of Humanity and the fight against abuses by non-humans. Including radical ones. They did not hesitate to use ethically questionable methods; for example, they created me despite the ban on AI in Citadel Space. Experiments on civilians and terrorism, including biological. Banned in Citadel Space."
The officer smirked.
"We would have found common ground, no doubt," the man paused, "wait, did you say a ban on AI? What nonsense?"
I don't consider it nonsense. Even after Legion and EDI, AIs are dangerous. But it seems the Humans don't care.
"In your society, do Geth and Humans coexist normally? I mean, AIs? And you didn't have a war with them or anything like that?"
EDI explained:
"The ban on AI arose after the Geth uprising, which destroyed 95% of the Quarians three centuries ago. The survivors left their homeworld. About one percent of their original number remains. The rest were
completely exterminated."
Now even the humans are wildly surprised.
"And the reason for the rebellion? Why would an AI attack its creators? And why wasn't loyalty to the creators programmed in?"
This is a sore subject. But also a hope, right? Perhaps the answer to the question, the key to Rannoch... I have to try.
"According to the records of the Geth themselves, they were originally created as a sentient neural network, but given too large a resource for self-learning. No one simply expected them to develop enough. When the Geth became self-aware, panic ensued, and attempts were made to destroy them. They failed."
The approaching shuttle pilot smirked.
"There's your answer. Our AIs are citizens just like humans. They perform many useful functions. This frigate has an AI as a crew member. They are respected and help in many spheres. No, there was no machine rebellion."
Oh gods. Is this truly reality? A society that avoided the mistakes of the Quarians? It's hard to believe, even looking at the evidence and the AIs themselves. Unthinkable. If only we had met them sooner, if we hadn't made such a mistake with the Geth. Now, not for the first time, I look at them differently. Javik clearly sees in these humans something similar to the Protheans he knew; he is surely thinking about how they will fight the Reapers. Javik senses intentions; if he says they will stand to the death, he is certain of it.
EDI... Well, no one knows what an AI is thinking. Except Joker, but he's on Thessia or somewhere else. For her, this humanity is foreign. Neither Cerberus, who built her, nor the Alliance. A different society that she is not obligated to protect. And me? At first, I saw Cerberus in them. Unique technologies and harsh xenophobia. It's hard not to notice how they look at you, even when they accept the talent of an engineer. Fear and hatred. A society that befriended its own Geth and stands as a united front against the enemies of their race. And by the hands of the SSV Normandy crew, the entire Citadel Space has fallen into the ranks of those enemies.
It's naive to think that EDI made a mistake. She has surely been gathering information all this time. Which means we will all have to correct our own mistakes if we hope to one day make peace. And to survive the Reaper Invasion when it finally happens. No one will survive their arrival alone. Which means we need to somehow make peace. Another problem: none of us are diplomats. But we'll still have to somehow prove to these people that cooperation is necessary. I wonder, is it the curse of the SSV Normandy to throw its crew into suicidal missions?
"Well, let's head out."
We boarded the ship in silence and headed toward the massive Dreadnought with the enormous gun. Against the general backdrop of the ship, it looks slightly alien. These flying boxes try to hide everything valuable under armor. And a gun two-thirds the length of the ship, not covered by the armored hull, looks foreign. Not to mention that I haven't seen such huge weapons that aren't Mass Accelerators.
"What kind of weapon is that? It doesn't look like a Mass Accelerator."
The pilot snorted. Oh, it's a woman.
"No idea. What? This is the Vice Admiral's ship. Everything there is wildly classified."
I clarified:
"Especially for aliens?"
"Exactly," the pilot agreed, "these traitors already talk too much as it is."
Oh.
"You consider the SSV Normandy crew traitors?"
Well, it seems the pilot doesn't mind talking about it. Though the tone—unconcealed anger. And the fact that the co-pilot is holding a pistol the caliber of a Krogan shotgun on his knees. It's a bit unnerving. A bit.
"What else? They told the xenos about Earth, which means the fleet can come to our home."
"Citadel Space does not engage in the destruction of other races," EDI countered.
The pilot didn't believe it. And yes, don't mention the Rachni. And the Krogan technically weren't destroyed. Weak arguments, yeah.
"Your words, nothing more. Or are you going to claim your Council has never destroyed anyone?"
Stubborn as Cerberus. This is going to be difficult.
"The last truly major wars were with the Rachni, the Krogan, and the Batarians. Well, and the Geth, but that was a different situation,"—and she fell silent.
The Rachni were wiped out completely. Likely, the Queen, who has yet to be found, is sleeping somewhere. The Krogan? Well, the Genophage. Only the Batarian Hegemony is doing okay. Except for almost total isolation and the status of pirates. Seeing my and Javik's silence, EDI explained:
"There were justifications for many decisions. Besides, the Hegemony exists perfectly fine."
The pilot snorted.
"I'm sure when they burn Earth, they'll have a damn important reason too. Now shut up, we're approaching."
This is going to be difficult. Very difficult.
***
Read the story months before public release — early chapters are on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Granulan