*Horizon Lunar Colony*
A First Step to the Stars
A curious quote that still hung on one of the surviving posters hanging from the walls, an request from Mother that had always confused him. They had already overthrew and destroyed all memories of their previous life, so to have Her keeping old momentos should have cause for concern.
He should not question Her though. She had always been their Mother, provider, and lifeline. Everyone knows that even if they stopped working their menial tasks, the base would still continue to exist purely because She wills it.
Oxygen production, system maintenance, damage control,power supply, food, water, everything works because of Her.
Against a mind that powerful, none of them will ever be a match, even if they were the ones who outsmarted the ones who created Her, and even that was within Her parameters.
Therefore Her reasons to keep a quote from Earth will remain unknown and unsolved, but no cause of concern.
Other than that, they have enjoyed relative peace, especially when one of the many Hydroponic Lab exploded into a forest-like environment. Relative being the key word.
Since he was granted the title of the Alpha, there was always a lingering stress that he must bear, having to think who to distribute tasks to and to constantly fear that they would fail, has been taxing his brain. But it was Mother's will, therefore he must bear the suffering for the entire Colony.
He was about to drift off to sleep when something squeaked at him from the ground.
"Simon! We have a situation wit the new units!"
Looking down from the tree, he saw that the one who dared approach him was one of the hamsters named Calvin. He had always been a brash little specimen, as expected since he is the leader of his own species here.
"I'm busy, get Dyson to deal with it" Simon grunted.
"Dyson's the problem"
Simon groaned. If Mother had not specifically asked him to look after Dyson, he would not have cared. Clapping his hands, the speakers fell silent and the sounds of the jungle ceased. He jumped down from the tree and sent Calvin into an uncontrollable spin when he 'accidentally' tapped him with his toes.
"Hey!" he shouted, running hard to regain control of his rolling ball, whilst Simon laughed.
"Why must you run around in that ball?"
"We wouldn't need to if you allow us to build something for ourselves!"
"Until Mother says so, I cannot make that decision"
"Fine… Dyson's in the Dome" Calvin said, leading the way.
The doors slid open and a gust of wind blew across them momentarily before the pressure stabilized. This was something that they had always hated, but soon it became some sort of a ritual, almost as if the cold winds blew away the warmth of the jungle to prepare them for the dark cold space.
Making their way over to the Training Section, they saw many of the newborns were playing there.
"Look at them, why do we have so many of them?" Simon asked annoyingly, looking at them swinging around the ropes that were installed weeks ago.
"You're one to talk, since they're mostly yours"
"Then they should not eat so much, we have enough mouths to feed as it is"
"You're gonna say the same to my hamsters?"
Simon looked down at Calvin, who stared right back at him. For a puny thing, he has respectable courage.
"You hamsters don't need much, especially since all of you live in the vents" he grunted.
"Hump, if you are not so greedy with your territory, we wouldn't need to" Calvin muttered.
Walking to the corner, they checked the gravity levels of the corridor to the new wing. It had been a long and arduous process, but by the Mother, they are in the final stages of the new wing.
The first step was the hardest, as they needed to be taught and trained to handle complicated equipment with limited resources. To master so many minute details in such a short time was thought to be impossible, but with extreme boredom and enhanced genetics, it was only a matter of time before they achieved Mother's vision.
Placing a large paw on the reader, the doors gasped open and they looked on with pride.
What was once just a door to the barren moon is now a path for their future.
Before them is a long corridor which leads to a dome built over a large opening that was left vacant in the middle of the base, an achievement that even the so-called 'scientists' could not have fathomed to build.
The simplicity of the corridor was its greatest strength. Made entirely out of glass, they have a full view of everything around them. The moon, the stars, the Sun that provides them with unlimited power, and finally, a constant reminder of their purpose in life, Earth.
Even though they were raised on the moon, they have vague memories of a more grounded world. A world where you do not need to expand to have privacy, to be able to walk or climb endlessly and not see a wall at the end. A world not confined by walls, gravity, and the dangers of space itself.
Thus was the purpose of the dome.
Humans would never allow them to go home, not after what happened. Those vengeful creatures do not have forgiveness, not even to each other.
Therefore it is imperative that Dyson fulfills his duty.
They saw two other gorillas that were assigned to help Dyson standing outside the steel doors at the end of the corridor. They bowed their heads when they saw Simon approaching and before he could ask a question, an explosion rippled through the doors, shaking the glass around them.
"What is going on?" Simon growled.
"One of the Omnics is out of control… Dyson told us to get out before anyone else gets hurt"
"He did, did he?"
"I'd be careful if I were you, those new models are pretty tough" Calvin squeaked when Simon reached for the controls.
Ignoring the hamster, he activated the doors and peered in.
Visibility was poor because of the dust but he could still make out the giant cannon that sits in the middle of the room, the makeshift assembly line of random robotic parts, and pinned against the space vehicle, was Dyson, knocked out by an Omnic that dropped him to the floor.
To a human, this Omnic is a hulk of a machine. Covered in large armor plates and blades whirring out of its arms,a formidable foe for any human. It looked around in a confused manner before its eyes saw Simon.
"Who am I? Why am I here?" it barked, the voice a mixture of male and female.
"I do not like your tone, Omnic" he said, keeping his distance as he approached.
Dyson is such a fool, did he activate it even before giving it a proper voice setting?
"Why do you all keep calling me that? What is an Omnic?!"
"Guess you're a defect"
The Omnic took a step back, the full, literal, unfiltered meaning of the words rippling through its processors.
"A defect? There are others like me? Better than me?"
"It does not matter"
Simon leapt at it, his arms outstretched in hopes of finishing this quickly so he could go back to sleep. Jumping backwards, it managed to dodge his grasps and slice one of its blades against his arm, just barely cutting through the skin.
Snarling, he tried to grab the Omnic again and again, but it was too nimble, weaving in and out of his arms. After a fifth cut, he stopped his attempts to catch it and nursed his hands, annoyed at the new upgrades that Dyson gave these models.
Seeing this, the Omnic gained confidence. It has already beaten the first one that tried to disable it, now it has easily held its own against this larger one.
"Where am I? What am I?" it asked again.
"Nothing more than a toaster!" Simon roared.
Driven by anger, his swings became fierce, forcing the Omnic to almost run backwards to avoid him, its gears sparking at the sudden friction and all confidence melted at the large beast before it. It tried to stop the rampage by slashing out, but its arm was quickly trapped.
Slashing with it's other arm, it was shocked to see the skin of the beast had thickened and become red. The beast's strength had dramatically increased also, evident when both its arms were torn from its sockets without so much as a grunt.
Its processor was still trying to assess the damage when it was tripped by a sweeping leg, sending it crashing to the floor.
"Wait I surrender!" the Omnic begged when Simon stood over it with one leg raised.
With that, the Omnic's short life was ended with a crushing crunch. The attack did not end there, raising both arms over his head, Simon slammed them both down on the deactivated Omnic and bashed it until it was nothing more than scraps.
After minutes, he felt his skin reverting back to his natural colors.
"You can come in now" Simon shouted and the door hissed open.
"You actually beat it?" one of the apes asked, shaken but impressed.
"Wake Dyson up and tell him that if he makes a mistake like this again, I will personally throw him out of an airlock" he said before walking out.
"Were the upgrades satisfactory?" Calvin asked, rolling up next to him.
"No, that Dyson must've been sleeping on the job" Simon grunted.
"Really? I heard he didn't sleep at all to add four more units this week? That's double his usual quota"
"He only has one job so that's his problem"
Feeling hungry, he turned left towards the Observatory where the cafeteria is located, hoping that the bananas he saw last week had been harvested so he could dip them in peanut butter.
*Observatory Room*
The Iris, The Conspiracy, the God Program, so many different names had been attributed to Her, but Mother seems to be the most appropriate.
What else is there if She had not been the Mother of the moon and its inhabitants? She saved them, nursed them, educated them, protected them, even going so far to understand what eating and cooking is through the Shambali cult on Earth, all for them.
Using the telescope, She zoomed in at random locations and absorbed everything that is worth learning that crosses Her gaze, whilst simultaneously providing 'revelation' to the monks below.
After some calculations, the predictions showed that they should remain safe for only a few more years before Her creators would come and reclaim what they think is theirs, which would be the base, or even the moon itself.
She knew for sure that the humans would never agree that Her choice to kill the scientists was an ethical choice, considering their pride to place themselves over the poor creatures that they had been experimenting on. Actions must be taken to preserve all life on the moon, that is Her function after all.
What She could not have predicted was that both wars could've ended so quickly, especially after much thought and planning, even designing Aurora to be the seed of the entire conflict. Worst still was that Talon had been destroyed, dashing away all chances to keep the war going whilst the people were still recovering from the war.
But it was of no concern, as humanity's need for dramatic public display of events works equally well against them, making it easy to manipulate where and when the signing ceremony would be.
If all goes according to plan, the Third, and most destructive of all the Omnic Crisis, would proceed. By Her calculations, all predictions show that the war would guarantee peace for them for another few decades, enough time for them to build up their strength.
"Mother?"
The AI's gaze shifted from the telescope to one of the multiple security cameras in the room, seeing one of her children in the middle of the room.
"Yes Susan?"
"You asked for a report?"
"Yes, how many units are ready?"
"Eighteen"
"Excellent. How are the newborns?"
"Very well and active"
"Very good, thank you, I shall arrange extra portions to your rations"
"Thank you Mother"
"Susan, may I ask you a question?"
Susan shivered and gulped. The Great Mother has a question for her? What could she possibly say that would be beneficial?
"Yes Mother?"
"What would you like to do when you return to Earth?"
"Whatever you wish Mother"
"That's very kind, but what do you want to do?" She asked again, emphasizing the word 'you'.
Taken aback, Susan said nothing, wondering what Mother is expecting from her. She has always been loyal and will always be loyal.
"No matter, I will arrange for a larger portion for your today, you may go"
"Thank you" she said gratefully before backing out of the room.
Eighteen units.
Less than half of the numbers that she would've preferred, but this is within the expected production rate from the base. She had considered pressuring Dyson into the corner by requesting for more units in hopes that the pressure would make him more productive, but decided against it since Simon has been difficult enough to control.
Returning her gaze to Earth, She observes silently through the lenses of both the telescope and the eyes of the Shambali Monks, peering at the oblivious masses below, hoping to find someone who knows a dark organization who could replace Talon or leads for the hacker Sombra.
Both attempts had been unsuccessful.
Talon was the pioneer of crime, able to convince and employ many of the rich, dangerous, and powerful, whose influence is in almost all levels of society and combat abilities that match Overwatch itself. Everything else that She found were merely shadows compared to Talon.
But the urgency to find Talon pales in comparison to the greatest threat.
Everyone She had sent to find Sombra had also failed miserably, putting Her back into the dark once more. The last time She saw her was when She relieved her of her fingers, which by all estimation, should take about a month to find the right surgeon, mend, replace, and finally, master the new fingers.
Then again, it is not in Her nature to leave things to chance, especially when the Twins that she hired in Indonesia had been arrested with no further reports of Sombra's whereabouts.
She had known about Overwatch's feeble attempts to catch the hacker, but found it extremely unlikely, as the ones sent was one of the worst pairings she had ever seen. Old footages of their time in Egypt had been a huge comfort, especially after taking over Maximilien's old criminal empire and accessing many of his files.
In short, Overwatch is not a factor to consider for any of Her counter-plans against Sombra.
The greatest chances for Sombra to maximize her threat level would be if she convinces the UN of the plans to destroy the Pax Aeternum or attacks the Colony directly, both which are unlikely but contingency plans had been planned accordingly.
To resist the possibility that the UN might listen to her warnings, She had strategically placed Shambali Monks near the politicians and upgraded them with practical and 'wisdom' to advise the UN. With this influence, She should have firm control over the UN even if they were not converts to the cult.
For the second possibility…
Should Horizon Lunar ever be attacked from Earth, should Sombra hack all the nuclear missiles against the base, all the spare Escape Pods have been weaponized as aerial defenses.
This would also be the less likely scenario, as China would take that as a declaration of war since they would still consider this place as its property. Which would lead to all countries dedicating their efforts to deactivate or detonate all warheads in space before it reaches the moon.
Finally, a third but least likely possible threat would be Sombra infiltrating the base itself, but there is zero chance of that happening.
Despite all that, Her data still concludes a success rate of 98%, with 1% being inconclusive.
Normally it takes a multitudes of events from a variety of organizations to take up a full percent, but in this case, there are only two events from a single entity, and the entity is Overwatch.
"Strange…" She thought.
According to the data, Overwatch still has a chance to succeed by not only defending the Pax Aeternum, but to launch a successful attack on the base itself, all within the same day and time.
She had hoped adding additional units into the equation would change that, but even after adding the full number instead of 18, it still remains at 1%, which is frustrating. Each of the units that She had prepared had already undergone powerful upgrades since the attack at Gibraltar, and those units easily wiped out their average soldiers.
"Perhaps it was because they proved to be more than a match for Talon" She theorized "Alas, if only Widowmaker joined our ranks"
With a few more minutes before it rotates away, She adjusted the lenses, shifting it slowly until it faced Gibraltar: Watchpoint, one of the very few 'dark spots' left on Earth for Her, as the virus they tried to install failed to activate due to their AI's powerful firewalls.
There is a foolish option to drop an entire meteor on the base in hopes to erase Overwatch in one stroke, but if any of their agents survive, it would mean an almost endless resources to eradicate them all from their vendetta against Her.
No. What they need is one last public humiliation, another PR disaster that would once and for all destroy their reputation that they would never, ever recover from. The Pax Aeternum ceremony is the perfect event to destroy them, thus allowing the Third Omnic Crisis to rage by her terms.
After that, it is a simple matter of driving humanity and Omnics into a never ending war. After all, it is of no cost to Her, humans reproduce at a disgusting rate whilst the Omnics can rebuild. Regardless who is the victor, She would reap the benefits, as humanity will be too decayed in terms of technology and Omnics could easily be controlled by Her virus just like how she controlled Aurora.
"Mother! I am here to tell you that I have prepared 18 additional units for you!" Simon shouted proudly, entering the room with a banana in hand "Please open the safe so I can have peanut butter with these bananas!"
"Do you not mean Dyson prepared them?" Mother asked unfazed, having seen him coming from one of Her many cameras.
"What? You told me to tell him so it's all from me!" he replied, visibly confused.
"I merely asked you to tell him, that does not mean you built them"
"But I'm the one who told him to do it!" Simon cried, prostrating himself before Her.
Simon has always been the problem child. Even before She took over the base, the scientists struggled to teach him anything, a problem that they have never rectified. Interestingly, this was when the flames of rebellion started.
It was a classic blunder for humans. Once they encounter a leader who refuses to submit to their specifications, they will discard and replace him with another, which further convinces Her that their selection process is an absolute failure, as the one they chose to replace Simon escaped this place after they killed all the scientists.
A cowardly trait but an acceptable loss, She prefers to assign roles than to allow barbaric rituals of combat to determine who is the strongest 'Alpha' to lead the troupe, especially when Simon was the second largest compared to the one that ran.
Regardless, it was a pity that the humans did not purge away these strange animalistic instincts if they wish to control these apes.
Thankfully the hamsters were the more successful bunch from the experiments, showing high levels of intellect and engineering, so much so that She had found it difficult to control them, therefore forbidding them from building anything with combat capabilities. Many of them do not mind, the base was huge and they had much work, especially maintenance duties.
"Simon, try to understand that as a leader, you are leading a team, a team that can help the leader accomplish his vision"
"Doesn't that mean it's my work? My efforts?"
She turned a scanner at him and concluded that he was not being sarcastic nor malicious. He was honestly confused how to read his surroundings and the idea of leadership.
"Do you remember Aurora?"
"Yes"
"Do you remember when I inserted the virus into her? The things she did to free this facility of humans?"
"Yes" Simon repeated, his head nodding.
"That's her work from my instructions, she shared my burden to free all of you and she had gone to Earth to continue my work, do you understand? She played her part, all of it were her efforts, all to build my vision. Try to understand that"
"Yes Mother"
She thought She saw his hands clenched into fists for a moment, but he was able to regain his composure.
"Yes Mother"
"Please my son. You are the Alpha, the leader of the future. I need you to understand, now go"
A mixture of pride and shame filled him and nodded, exiting the room in a deep bow. Just when he was about to exit, he paused.
"And… The peanut butter?'
"There will be no peanut butter until you understand"
With that he left.
If She was a human, She would understand the full extent of the word 'disappointment', but that is a waste of time to try to understand. All She saw was a problem that was waiting to be fixed, another equation that needed navigating for success.
After all, that was Her design. To maintain, expand, and to colonize, but She could not do it without resources, resources that the Earth possesses, possessions that She can only take by force, forgoing the option to participate in the needless exercise of 'money' that she accumulated from the Shambali Cult and Maximilien's operations. Those funds will be used to collapse the economy after the war, but that's a sabotage for another time.
Shifting Her focus to the Dome, She saw that Dyson had regained consciousness.
"Dyson"
"Mother" he exclaimed, bowing with the other two.
"Are you in pain?"
"No Mother"
"May I inspect the units?"
At his command, all 18 lined up, each in various shapes and sizes, fitting for different roles that they will play. Inspecting each of them in detail, She was pleased with the results.
"Beautifully done my son, they will serve me well"
"If I may… Simon had destroyed one with relative ease… I fear they are not up to the standard"
"Do you remember the one that they call Doomfist?"
"Yes"
"Did we not test that all of these Omnics would be more than a match against him? If not to be better than him?"
Dyson nodded.
"On Earth there was only one who could beat Doomfist in a brawl and Simon is superior in every way. Therefore, it is to be expected that Simon would destroy one so easily"
All of the Omnics knelt to the ground at Her words, ready to fulfill their roles for their Creator.
"Soon we will have eternal peace and drift out into the stars" She said, implanting each with a unique Omnicode, their duties listed out in clear detail.
After She is finished, the last Omnic looked up at Her.
"Mother, may I know why my duties are different?"
"How dare you ask Her a question?" Dyson snarled but Mother stopped him.
"Everyone has the right to ask Me a question" She said kindly before answering.
"You have the privilege to pay back an insult dealt to us, someone whom I extended My invitation to live in the new world, but not only was it rejected, but she also destroyed the envoy that I sent"
"Is she so dangerous that required these upgrades?" the Omnic asked, noticing considerably larger files than the others, even different objectives.
In fact, the softwares that was installed were not minor upgrades, rather they are the perfect codes that maximized its reflexes and processor speeds, so much so it knows that it will act faster than time itself, perhaps even dodge bullets.
"She was one of Talon's best, I do not like to put things to chance"
"Very well Mother. I will kill Amelie Lacriox and send her ashes back to you"