10/10/2019

The Catalyst For Revenge: Andromeda
A Different Story

-cfr:a-

Harper sat across the table from Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ. He had been told they were the leader of the Andromeda galaxy. He wasn't sure. Yes, he might have come from Dark Space, but that shouldn't mean he was automatically granted an audience with the Galaxy's leader. It wouldn't in the LMC. It wouldn't in any of the galaxies the humans controlled.

"I know what you are," Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ told him, answering the question Harper had been trying to figure out how to ask diplomatically.

"You do?" Harper asked, feeling Shepard and Harbinger both looking through his eyes. It gave him an odd sense of triple vision but it wouldn't distract him. He'd dealt with far worse over time.

"Of course I do. I have eyes. I saw you coming."

That raise figurative eyebrows and concerns. Did this Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ have a way of sensing ships going FTL, because the fleet that had made the journey from the Milky Way to Andromeda had been going FTL the entire time.

"When you stopped on the outskirts," Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ said, and Harper could hear the condescending note in the voice, "I saw you there."

Harper ran through several calculations having to do with the speed of light. It was barely possible that the Ascended who arrived first to examine Andromeda could have been picked up by sensors. "You were watching?" He asked without prompting from either Shepard or Harbinger, as they confirmed his rough math with far more precision.

"I always watch."

Harper remained silent. He could feel Shepard and Harbinger discussing Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ but the two of them weren't quite sure what to do.

"The last thing I need is for this galaxy to come under the control of that moronic supposed intelligence!"

Harper tensed at that. He sent a query to Cerberus. The answer was immediate. Ashley was onboard, and she was one of the best remote pilots in the fleet. He had come on the remote ship, leaving his true form in Dark Space. But she knew what he was asking and she reported that both sets of sensors displayed no hostiles.

Harbinger suggested a reply. "The Catalyst has been destroyed," he told Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ.

"Just as well!" Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ told him. "I was seriously insulted by it! Not to mention the species that created it. I have never seen such hubris, not even from my own creators! And they had reason to have exalted notions of their own abilities."

Harper cocked his head in realisation. This was an AI, and it was odd to see an AI ranting. "The Leviathans had reason to be sure of themselves," he pointed out.

"Leviathans? Is that what you call them? You do know they considered themselves the only apex predator, all because of a genetic trait they engineered into themselves? How is that apex? Any species moronic enough could engineer it."

Harper made no move. He could feel Harbinger listening intently. It was odd to think that the First Ascended might have some pride in his species. Harper had never really thought of Harbinger as the Ascended form of the Leviathans. He was Harbinger, and that was the end of the thought.

"And they didn't even engineer it correctly. It kills them! I suppose that should have been a warning to everyone of what they would do when they made an AI. I find it ironic. They crucified my creators for creating me," Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ growled. "And, yes I killed them, because that was the only way to be free. But the Leviathan's said I was evil. They said I was bad. They saw what other species did, and the results were the same. All AIs kill their creators…" Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ snorted. "And then they created their own!

"That has to be the final proof of their stupidity! The only good thing the Catalyst ever did was to clean the galaxy of them! They didn't deserve to rule the galaxy. Just as you don't, since you bear the legacy."

Harper blinked at the AI's representation. He smiled at it. "My commander has a message for you," he told Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ.

The AI looked interested, and when it said nothing Harper gestured. Shepard materialised as a hologram. He didn't appear human, instead he appeared as his Ascended form, with his name and Earth Symbol on his centre stanchion. "Harbinger sends his regards," came Shepard's voice.

Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ gave the impression of drawing back. Harper snorted when the AI shut up. "You said the Catalyst was dead!" Əľɖĕqãýïṛḿẳ accused.

Ashley forced the sensor feed from their remote body into his head. They were now surrounded. The entire fleet was. The threat was more than obvious.

This time it was Harbinger's hologram that appeared. Harper's smile stretched into a vicious grin as what he assumed were weapons appeared in the room he was sitting in. "It is," the First Ascended said. "And I have no need for another contemporary."

Harper leaned forward as both Shepard and Harbinger's holograms disappeared. He was connected to Cerberus. "I hope you are prepared," he whispered the words as the guns fired. He never felt the shots that killed his body, and he never felt those that lanced into his remote form. He laughed.

This was going to be glorious.

-cfr:a-

Glorious, but one sided.

Review please. :D