Chapter 1: The Phoenix Stirs

This is a story of humanity proving itself, this is a story where humanity is special, and in many ways, it could be argued, superior. This is not a story where humanity proves itself better than its foes, in any other way than its sheer determination to be the last people standing. This is not a story where humans are sheep, or shepherds, perhaps not even wolves, this is a story where humanity becomes utterly alien to anyone on the outside and certainly, to you and me.

It all began with the first quantum computer, before these computers could be well understood, and manipulated, humanity had many machines that needed an abundance of sheer power that could not be provided, by even the best molecular computers. Within 10 years we had a space elevator, and colonization plans, not just for mars, but for the entirety of the Solar System, on our way out we found the Charon Relay, we studied it, and we also found the Protean cache, but we never saw an atom of Element Zero, so we replicated the processes without it, but we saw the utility of the Relays. We regarded them with suspicion, but humanity has never been one to be restrained by our better judgment.

We should have waited, we should have been cautious, and then they came. The slavers, found us, took us for the weaklings we had become, no war, no struggle to survive. Shanxi never stood a chance, but thankfully all sentient beings managed to destroy all records of our technology, before they destroyed themselves.

Word got and the beast was awakened, but in the so called civilized galaxy even slavers can depend on their big brothers. The birds, prepared the fleet, the sirens attempted to sing us a lullaby, and the toads found Earth. The slavers like a rabid dog waited in the wings, they knew of our AI, and we were pledged to them by the so called civilized galaxy. The birds looked forward to glory, to another head to be crushed under their boot. The sirens looked forward to another set of fools to believe their lies. And the toads looked forward to taking our technology. We would spite them all.

Oh the colonies set their fabrication bays to turn out nukes, habitats were dismantled, bunkers built, we knew we couldn't win. We had a few tricks, but in the end the birds were landing their flock, pecking at the planet. The sirens sung their lies of peace and prosperity. The toads licked their lips. The rabid dogs raised the whip. So what we did may have come as a surprise to them. Self-annihilation, we denied the crows glory, the liars were shown that they had failed to ensnare another nation, the poisoners would never get to use the fruits of our dreams for their own, and the four-eyed beast were denied their slave race.

They thought the monsters in the dark wiped themselves out, they were wrong. Not a day after the phoenix was lit, the drake began to kill the crows, targeted to their biology, it didn't just kill the birds, no a quick death was too good for them, it tortured the crows, and then when they thought they might recover, it killed them in the most painful and arduous death, they lost their senses before death and not after. Many had to die for the sins of the dogs, and humanity will never know peace from the galaxy.

A/N: So this is essentially Renegade humanity having the upper hand, and deciding to go on the offensive and destroy any threat before they can be destroyed. At this point in the story preparations have been made, but not finalized, for humanities rebirth. Also if you want to think of humanity as nice people, then I would recommend not reading this.

On the other hand a Paragon version of the humanity used he would be a quite interesting read.