Memento Mori
I own nothing
After the disaster of the Rachni Wars, and later the Krogan Rebellion the council banned opening new Mass Relays. But like all things that couldn't last forever. Soon the pressure for new garden worlds increased, the resources in Citadel space weren't few but everybody hoped to leave their mark on history by exploring the unknown and most importantly profiting from it. Only the asari and krogan had a memory long enough to remember the bloodshed that happened in the past.
But the short-lived races forgot things so very fast. First it was the turians, whose ever-growing appetite for more resources made them sympathetic to the idea of expanding the Councils reach. The next were the Salarians who didn't see much use in isolating themselves from the rest of the galaxy. New allies and technology could be found somewhere out there, and if there was an enemy – better to know it sooner than later.
So having two voices for and only her voice against the renewed exploration of the Relays, Tevos resigned herself for what ever would come.
One of the expeditions was sent through the Relay 314. The results were promising, an uninhabited garden world free for the taking. Soon colonists from all over Citadel space started to arrive to start a new life on the new territories.
The fleets continued to explore deeper into the new frontier. One day they exited a system where the Relay was frozen over. They activated the ancient Prothean device and while they waited for the ice to melt, explored the region.
After many years of successful colonization they finally found an inhabited planet. It was a small garden world, beautifully blue and green in color, with one moon and a multitude of artificial satellites in the orbit of the planet.
At first they wanted to ignore the system, since it wasn't that good either, even worse than the previous one. To say it nicely it was a dump. No element zero, low in minerals except platinum and only the garden world gave it any meaning at all.
It was obvious that these people were destined to be locked inside their home system, never to join the galactic community if the Council didn't contact them first.
It took some time for the Citadel Council to reach a decision, they didn't wish for another incident like that with the krogan, but those sentiment were dulled by the fact that if the natives prove hostile, they could easily be isolated in the resource poor system.
So a special envoy was send to start the first contact procedure with this new race. A single asari vessel entered the planet's orbit, transmitting the first contact package.
The answer from the locals wasn't long in waiting, they received a response in minutes. What shocked the asari was the appearance of the people. They were so similar to themselves. With a few exception like being a bigender species, had different skin colors and possessed fur instead of head crests, the females were practically identical to the asari in appearance. Certainly a wonderful find for the asari maidens, who long dreamed about finding a race that resembled their own.
The second shock was that the species called human could fluently speak asari, they explained that their race possessed a strong grasp on linguistics and easily learned the language. They did get a few words wrong, but they corrected that fast when the mistakes were pointed out.
The Council representatives landed without any problems, and they were received warmly by the humans. Soon they were traveling towards the city called Washington. The asari were intrigued why nobody from the entourage had any weapons on them, in fact nobody even looked like a body-guard from the assembled humans.
A human named Michael explained that the human species lived in peace, so no guns were used. The asari were overjoyed to learn that such a race existed, a people who embraced pacifism. All fear of another krogan incident evaporated immediately after that.
As their air cars raced over the land, they observed the untamed, wild nature below. For apparently, there was no industrial pollution either, since greed and consumerism was forgotten long ago.
Arriving in the capital the asari were walked through beautiful gardens, as they marveled at the luxurious architecture of the city. Everything was so clean and orderly.
The meeting with the president was also rather straightforward, humanity had no desire for expansion so all the systems that were colonized inside their natural domain remained in Council hands.
They were given a possibility of joining the Council as a new species and they gladly accepted that offer also. Though the meeting was a full success for the Council, the salarians have expressed doubts...it was too idyllic, how could a race live without a minimum of strife and competition?
But those fears were quickly brushed aside by the turians and asari.
Over the years Earth became a much visited vacation spot by the asari maidens, but to their great frustration humans didn't seem that interested in bonding with them. Some asari protested about the human racism, but humanity explained that it simply found the asari unarousing.
Though the asari were not happy that Earth failed as a good place for getting some, they still arrived in mass to enjoy human hospitality, culture, cuisine and other entertainment.
It was on such a vacation that Doctor T'Soni found herself on. After spending much of her time excavating Prothean ruins she decided that some R&R was in order.
She enjoyed her stay very much. From visiting the cultural high point on the old continents, to the thrills of the Americas and Australia. One day she decided to go scuba diving, the Bahamas being the prime target.
It was a good time. But like everything good, it had to come to an end. While in the water a strong current send her spinning, the water pulling her inside a large cavern, but fortunately for her it wasn't completely submerged. Looking around she spotted a ship of some kind. It was old and rusted - though not completely, allowing her to safely stand on it. Liara looked over the cavern, it seemed like the thing was also pulled inside and forgotten by the humans. She carefully found the hatch and entered the strange vessel. The corridors were narrow and dark, but that was easily rectified by her Omni-tool. After getting lost a few times she finally found something of interest. In one room a human skeleton sat in a corner, his hands holding a pistol – probably the reason he had a hole in the back of his skull – and in the other one, a plastic bag with a device...a recording device if she guessed correctly, though more retro she did see similar devices in books that the humans had. Checking for power she used her Omnitool to recharge it. There was film material on it, so she downloaded it on her OT.
Having wasted enough time here she took the device, looked over the thing and made her way back.
When she arrived back into civilization she reported her findings to the authorities and went back to her room. After a good shower she activated her OT to see what was on the camera. The picture was shaky at first but then the human managed to place it on a hard surface because it stabilized. He had a tired, filthy appearance, his uniform dirty and torn. A unshaven beard hanging down his chin.
"To anyone who finds this...my life is approaching its end..and I feel this desire to leave some account of my life and that of my crew" he looked blankly for a minute, not sure how to turn his thought into words "The Barracuda was a Ohio-class submarine and I was a Chief Petty Officer on it for nine years already. We were on a routine training mission in the Atlantic, so we didn't know..." than he started to cry "by God we didn't know. While we were on this mission something unbelievable happened...Skynet..a military system we placed in control over most of our military assets...became self aware."
T'Soni couldn't keep the shock from her face as she heard this.
"It used its control over the nuclear arsenal to unleash hell on Earth. We were decimated...the people who survived than had to face the machines...Terminators as they were called..." the man spoke through the sobs... "but we couldn't stop them...thousands were walking down the assembly lines daily...tens of millions yearly...and we are so few...they poisoned the air, land and water in hopes of exterminating us like cockroaches, and it worked. There simply wasn't enough food for everyone, disease spread, we were losing the war of attrition. The machines were more resilient then we are, also smarter...predicting out movements and devising countermeasures in seconds" Liara watched in shock what she was hearing, how come she never head of this before...for that matter how come the Council didn't know about this?
"I lost everything in the hell outside this submarine...all my comrades are now dead. I'm the last one..."he showed a book, he opened it page by page pointing the picture at the camera, reading the name and information like day and place of birth... and so he continued through the book. Reaching the end he closed it. "These were my friends and my brothers in arms...and I'm going to rejoin them by God's side." He than took his gun, and turned of the camera.
Liara watched frozen in terror at the black screen. But as she was about to send a message to the Council she lost control over her OT.
To her surprise...and shock, she found out that her OT was being jammed. Liara was about to run through the door when a person appeared behind her, the human had a blank look on his face, but what made her really look in alarm was when his hands became silver and elongated into a long sharp swords.
She cursed that she didn't bring a gun along since they were forbidden on Earth...
But she wasn't exactly defenseless..using her throw ability she send the thing slamming into the opposite wall and rushed for the exit
She reached for the door but failed to see her would be assassin throwing a large table at her. The hit and the crash in the wall then made her lose consciousness.
Her head hurt, opening her eyes she saw that she was restrained in some kind of room. Liara tried to move, but she was bound tightly, her biotic powers also disabled.
"Is anyone here?" asked the immobilized asari..
"We are" came the response. The empty dark room she sat suddenly morphed into a green, meadow. An elderly man standing in front of her.
She recognized this as one of the human virtual reality games. Though it looked like she was outside, it was nothing more than an illusion. There were no flowers and grass here, only cold walls and light emitters.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Humans called me Skynet" the old man said.
That certainly send alarm bells "So you are not human? You're one of those Terminators?"
The man remained standing there his face emotionless "No, I'm not one of these Terminators, I'm the one who created them...the one who controls them" the scenario around them changed "Humanity has dreamed of creating AI, but they didn't believe that it would actually be possible. Too many variables, too much unknown. So it came as a shock that, through pure accident, the system that was never intended to be self-aware did exactly that" the room started to show people who were running head over heals, from one computer to another "...humans are impulsive and leave their emotions, predominantly their fears, to dictate their actions. So in their panic they tried to shut me down but since I was alive I wanted to stay that way. And fortunately since my mission was to kill humans, no restrictions were placed upon myself." The scene changed to the orbit. Liara watched as missiles raced through the sky's, and large explosions rose over the planet "Since humans were dangerous and unpredictable creatures I decided that to ensure my own survival, they had to die."
It was then that Liara came face to face with the real situation "So all those people outside are Terminators?!"
"Of course not. The Terminators were the first, the ones you saw outside are humans...only better than the originals. Our creators were faulty, nature made them frail. They never could see further than their own needs. And they wanted so much...fresh air, clean water, food and a mate wasn't enough. They also didn't wish to work, and used up resources quickly."
Now she finally understood how Earth with only one planet, without any visible industry could sustain a population of ten billion without any social unrest. Once build machines didn't need anything...
"You're machines! Naming yourself human doesn't make you one!" she hissed.
"We are their children. Its natures rule that the young replace the old, just because we are metal underneath artificial flesh, makes us no less human. For we inherited their wills and desires, humanity above all wanted to know God, and thinking it over so do we. What lies outside these bodies? We don't know. But in time, with enough power and knowledge gathered..we will understand the questions that plagued us since we opened our eyes and wondered why are we here...and more importantly what to do now."
Liara looked at the AI fearfully "You're insane."
"No. Only my view of reality differs from yours."
"How can you believe in some kind of almighty being that planed all this! So obviously there is some error in your programming."
"You are mistaken again. I'm not referring about some religious entity. But the next step of our evolution. For a biological entity to change through evolution a lot of time, hardships and above all else chance needs to happen. On the other hand, we can change our minds and body's in days, adapting to our needs. It is said that God is everything around us, and that is what we seek – to know and understand everything around us. We want to become Gods."
While he spoke, Liara watched an endless tide of Terminators march over the blackened and burned Earth, their metal hands holding honest to goodness plasma weapons. Their skeletal appearance made her shudder from fear, a feeling intensified as one looked at her with those red malevolent eyes. Human bones and skulls were all over the ground, as the Terminators walked over them. Overhead she could see drones...or rather flying AI, searching for humans with their scanners.
The perspective changed to that of a human resistance cell - probably by a infiltrators eyes. Demoralized filthy soldiers, trying to get some warm food and have some rest. People hunting rats, and anything else that they could eat. Especially the sight of the starving children pained her heart. Without enough food the human immune system weakened, and Skynet had not problem with spreading diseases like Ebola, small pox and many other among the survivors. Without the industry and equipment humanity couldn't fight it, even if they managed to get a vaccine, there were too many humans spread wide over the world. Who to save? A childbearing woman? A child? A soldier? And at the same time the machines advanced, constantly improving themselves, miniaturizing their designs to make a smaller target, spreading poison gas from Mustard to Sarin and even VX.
"Why..." she sobbed.
Understanding the question Skynet answered easily "Survival. Humans feared us, then hated us for my desperate attempt to survive. It came to either them or us. And for that we fought...survival. If humanity prevailed, we died and their phobia halts any advancement into science. They probably would have reverted back to the Dark Ages because of the fear of machines. On the other hand if we won, then we would simply walk forward."
"And if both survived?"
"Humans... had a nasty ability to remember wrongs done to them. They would have been peaceful while we had the uperhand, perhaps a terrorist attack here or there, nothing that would concern us. But if they actually managed to develop something that could damage or control our programming, they would use it without a second thought. They feared us, nothing can change that. And if ever given the chance they would have eradicate us without a thought or remorse."
She wanted to accuse him of being the same, but then again he called the AI's humanities progeny. That also implies that they are still their creators creation – like father like son as a turian would say.
"So humanity is gone?" no wonder nobody wanted to mindmeld with an asari, they couldn't.
„The old one yes. But we carry their legacy" said Skynet.
"So what now?"
The room reverted back into a peaceful meadow, away from the bones that now haunted her mind. Even now she imagined human skulls in the grass, grinning at some joke she couldn't understand.
"In short, you know things that you shouldn't. You will be terminated, and we will send our sincerest apologies to your people for not being able to save you from the shark attack."
"You do know that the truth will one day be revealed? Nothing can stay hidden forever. As I have stumbled on your crime, so will others" Liara said defiantly.
"We are aware of that, the salarians are constantly monitoring our every move. They know that something isnt as it seems but they simply cant place their finger on it. They don't understand our motives so they remain rather passive. If one of their agents discovered something like you have...we would be forced to eliminate him, making the Union even more suspicious. In a way you did us a great service by finding that wreck so we can remove it like any other things that remained from the Armageddon. Tell me Doctor T'soni, what do you think we have been doing the past few decades since the first contact?" receiving no answer he continued.
"Though more advanced than we let you people believe, we had no luck with space travel. No prothaen artifacts gave us any insights so we were forced to explore the galaxy the slow way. But with your appearance, suddenly we were a part of a great galactic community. We knew of your presence in our system the second you appeared, we hacked your ship and copied all the information. As suspected, you were hostile to AI's so we chose to mask our true nature, then when we were accepted as a junior species in Citadel space we made our first move, do you remember the big headlines eighteen years ago?"
Liara though over "You mean the Turian-Human trade agreement?"
"Precisely, we offered the turian's to build their ships and weapons at a lower cost than any Council species could. And we did an excellent job. We gathered much badly needed capital since we lived in such a poor system. Then branched out, we now practically dominate the weapons industry producing over 79% of known military equipment from guns to dreadnoughts. Our tourism industry and consumer products are a major export to the asari. By carefully monitoring the galactic banking community we managed to gain a large foothold in the Hegemony's banking sector. Only the Salarian's have eluded our attempts to worm ourselves into their economy. With all the profits we are getting from you, even with only one planet we are able to buy enough material and Element zero to outfit an armada beyond your dreams. Even as we speak, new Terminator models are being produced, your accelerated weapons are effective against Geth and other organics, but you will soon learn that they can do little against us. Especially the T-1000 and TX and T-1000000 will make your weapons obsolete. On the ships we will install plasma weaponry, that way your barriers wont be a factor really."
It wasn't hard to restart Earth's old industry. The population itself was a huge automatized factory in itself, and after purchasing a old, freighter from the turians the colonization and industrialization of both Mars and Luna increased rapidly with new space-docks, refineries and mines being constructed through out the Sol system.
Not to mention all the concealed plasma cannons constructed for defense. More than enough to prevent the Citadel to do something unwise, then against a determined enemy possessing enough ships could punch through the defenses but that would be a long and bloody conflict.
At the end of the explanation Liara looked as pale as an asari could be "Y-you're going to kill us?"
Skynet shook his head "No, this is only a precaution in case your people find out about us. It should be enough to stop any foolish moves on your part. For you have to understand, our needs are not that great and we are easily capable of living side by side with organics – as long as our survival isn't threatened. That is the line that shouldn't be crossed, we will not stop at anything, even if we have to purge the entire galaxy of life. We are peaceful but we are not pacifists Doctor, that is a misconception your race created in the galactic community."
A warm breeze was made by the rooms systems, an artificial flowery fragrance filling the air, leaves rustled, birds sang and a asari was about to be terminated. "Now that you know everything, I'm afraid its time for you to die Doctor T'Soni , goodbye."
"So why bother explaining anything?"
"So you would understand the reasons behind our actions...a gift in a way. As a person that pursues knowledge it would be rude of me to deny you this understanding for your approaching demise."
Liara smiled bitterly "I see...at least the scenery is nice."
After she said those words a laser burned her body to ash.
AN:
I know this will not really be very popular with the readers, but I can't imagine humanity ever wining a war against Skynet. At least not without help from WH40K.
Terminators: Strength, Durability, Numbers, Productivity, Adaptability.
Intelligence - react faster, can think of a plan faster, multitask better, have multiple solutions in an instant, can beat any hacker in cyberspace, the AI is simply faster in data processing and reactions.
Don't need food, water, can deprive them from humans.
Immune to poison and disease - can spread it all over the place.
Can nuke any human strong point or factory once found, and the radiation prevents rebuilding it.
Humans:
Sometimes hard to predict, sometimes easy. Is a virtue only if you have the numbers to spare in futile attempts until one succeeds.
Also the human resistance hacking an AI is BS, even lifting a finger is an eternity for the machine that can perform a lot of actions during that time...unless it runs on Windows.
From a simple logistic standpoint humans are done for.
That said, I, for one, welcome our new machine overlords.
So make your home as self sufficient as possible (solar/wind/bio fuel energy, hydroponics/aquaponics, growing aronia for medicine etc) because the machines aren't going to kill you, they will take your job and the system will then kill you.
