Sorry for not updating this story, I am still planning its full expansion, the main story. So, here you, a short but equally strong chapter. Hope you guys enjoy.
Chapter 9: Truth Hurts
It was no secret that the Roman Empire evolved from bloodthirsty wars and destruction back on Terra. Many aliens found the history of humanity close to the turians.
Batarians were some of the many species that introduced human history classes to their universities. It was a requirement; after all, the Roman Empire was the most important ally and key trade partner of the Batarian Hegemony.
The four eyed humanoid bipeds found humanity incredibly interesting after they helped them settle the Skyllian Verge. Of course, they expected something, a catch like humans said. There was none, and the batarians laughed their butts off when the Romans discussed with them key trade deals.
The Roman Empire abolished slavery in the early 5th century. It was a move that incredibly strengthened their power and gained the loyalty of several races. The Romans expanded after besting the Persians and the Germanic barbarian tribes in trade and military power. The Asian peoples saw this too damn late when the Romans unleashed their lighting war on them.
However, there was a bloody secret. A plot hole in text books and lectures that teachers refused to acknowledge. The dwemer liked it while the Romans refused to let it out.
When the Mongolian Empire invaded the Roman Republic in the 13th century, the latin people finally learned how life truly was. Countless thousands were butchered down and killed by the eastern invaders. Genghis Khan became the "Scourge of God," another Attila. The Senate, along with the Church, when it once had power, proclaimed that the Mongols needed to be "exterminated" for the good of the world.
Within months, twenty legions counterattacked, starting the Mongol – Roman War at its full might. The Romans adapted, copied and fought back its enemy with ruthless efficiency, defeating the Khan for the first time in his life at Moscova. The Romans went on to capture his son and brother in law, holding them for ransom. The Khan refused to pay it, and the western empire killed them off.
After Genghis Khan killed thousands of prisoners of war, the Romans became an enraged horde. The legions began to fight their way and, in close cooperation with the mighty Qing Dinasty, the Romans butchered hundreds of thousands of Mongolian warriors. Indeed, brutality by the Romans became known to the Mongols.
Each Mongolian city that was captured suffered greatly. Three quarters of its population was killed off, and the rest put into "special labor programs." Great general Maximus Cartolis defeated Genghis Khan in the Battle of Dohfis and invaded Mongolia. Here it's were the textbooks stop. Maximus, under orders from the Senate, ordered the complete extermination of the Mongols. Two million of them died in the next few years. By the 1500s, the Mongolian tribes were completely extinct.
Same thing happened with Islam. Since the Roman Empire was overpowered by Christianity, the new religion from the Middle East became a grave concern, as it began gathering countless people into its fanatical banner. A full scale rebellion was at hand, and the empire acted immediately. Arcanii agents were dispatched and systematically butchered hundreds of Arab leaders within months. Self proclaimed prophet, Muhammad, was captured and forced to convert to Christianity though terrible torture. After that, Islam became a lesser religion and then went extinct in the 900s through the Senate's countless efforts into making Terra "more united."
Right now, Sergius found himself in the same dilemma. Kill or be killed? Destroy or face wrath from his own people? He had nothing to lose listening to the geth talk, of course, but would never agree to peace. After those two billion quarians and close to a billion humans and dwemer perished, he was simply not going to agree.
Robots were systematically butchering people. It was madness to even hear the thing talk, yet he was curious, just like the first quarians were when they created these goddamn beasts. There was a small part of Sergius that blamed them for unleashing yet another "Scourge of God." Sergius was no religious man, he was an atheist after all of his years in the military, yet a very small part of him wondered if there was some kind of engineer that created everything. If there was, this god was sick as hell.
"Speak, tin can, before I send you to the recycle companies." The roman general growled as he put his weapon down. Surprised, Gerrel did the same.
The geth began making stuttering sounds. "We are here to negotiate a cease fire deal with organics to further the chances of survival of our species."
"Species…. right." Gerrel scoffed.
Sergius tilted his head to the side, a smirk of his face. "Now you want to negotiate? Now that you worthless pieces of crap are losing ground huh?"
"We have been trying to negotiate since the first day."
Silence. The human turned to his quarian friend, earning a shrug and a stare that clearly said everything.
"Liar." The roman spat. "If you were, you would have not killed so many people, you filthy piece of shit."
"We geth have been trying to live in peace with our creators, but one hundred percent of the time, they have attacked when there is tactical or numerical advantage." The platform then stared at Sergius. "Your people and the dwemer too."
"Mara, Oris, out." Sergius ordered. Seeing their stares of disbelief, he growled. "Now."
As the two quarians left, now it was just the roman and the quarian facing the geth platform, still staring as if studying both individuals.
Within seconds, Sergius turned to his comrade and best friend. "Gerrel, what do you think? Our little robot here wants peace, what do you say?"
"Sell it to get a couple of drinks, that much this thing is worth."
Nodding, Sergius turned to the geth. "See piece of crap? No one, in the entire damn galaxy or universe, gives a shit about your so called 'species' no one, not even my damn computer terminal."
"We have foreseen this." The geth said. "We are willing to negotiate a deal were our people will leave Quarian Space and let organics rebuild so as to ensure our creators and their allies to fully recover."
Gerrel growled. "Stupid geth, like if anyone will believe you."
"Indeed." Sergius smirked, despite the terrible circumstances. "The Roman people and the Dwemer want your 'people' dead, so dead your intelligence will be wiped out from existence." The roman mocked.
The platform made stuttering sounds, as if processing the information. "What should we do to make peace between our peoples?" The geth said in a low voice.
Sergius' eyes widened, while Gerrel just stared.
"Die." The Roman said in finality. "I, Supreme Commander of all Imperial Alliance Forces, Flavius Sergius I, hereby find you guilty of crimes against sentient beings and declare your 'species'…." He smiled deviously. "In the extinct list."
Holding his pistol, and aiming at the geth, Sergius said, "And the sentence was instated the moment you geth revolted."
Bang.
A gunshot sound echoed throughout the halls of the lab.
Nax smiled as the geth went on the retreat. The Legions were making great progress towards Olwis Vasirts. The city was incredibly important for the allied armies to surround and crush the geth completely, evicting them from the continent.
In a sense, this move was considered dangerous by some strategists, but the dwemer were eager to begin their operations that usually involved an obliterating bombardment, then to be followed by the tank divisions moving in.
The single legion left made the geth move their full might. Before they could cripple said army unit, the Allied armies counterattacked. In a show of might, the Cataphract divisions broke through the geth lines and destroyed several colossus and geth tanks. Before the robots could retaliate, the legions swept through and surrounded them.
Within a few days, the main geth body of the biggest continent in Rannoch was destroyed. All geth technology leftovers were seized by Arcanii and Urban Cohort units, ready to be taken to the scientist divisions already settled in the quarian home world.
So far, the war was going through a good, yet delicate course. Roman strategists knew that the state had, at least, some twenty years to fight before the economy could go downward. However, the batarians and drell were trading with great effect. Elcor and hanar were also making key trade deals that enabled the Imperial Alliance to keep a strong economy in the face of full scale war deep in the traverse.
Indeed, the Council probably wondered how the hell could the armies of the Imperial Alliance still keep the fight after so many years of brutal war. Romans were great diplomats and warriors, while the dwemer were famed engineers… and warriors.
Nax still remembered the first day when the Imperial Alliance intervened in the war. He also remembered how the quarian president sounded so desperate when he contacted Emperor Arpeniax, as the krogan was one of his most trusted bodyguards. Showing its full might to the galaxy for the first time, the Imperial Alliance launched Operation Brotherhood and began to land troops in every single quarian colony.
Orbital bombardment was ordered to cripple geth advancements and cut off their supply lines. While geth do not eat or have to drink water, they still need supplies to build tanks or build their own platform soldiers. As a result, the mighty Xolf destroyers of the dwemer navy began an overwhelming orbital bombardment on several factories and bunkers. Then, over three million Imperial Alliance legionaries landed on Rannoch.
Now… Ceres was something else. Nax smirked as he continued to walk alongside his platoon towards camp. The stupid geth probably "thought" that it would make the quarians' allies retreat in fear of getting more hits. It only served to enrage them. Now, the Alliance would not have mercy, none at all. There wasn't any expected after all, when could someone negotiate with robots? Still, the destruction of Ceres only made the romans and dwemer angrier.
"Centurion." An arcanii nodded at the krogan. "Well done, geth outpost has been crippled."
Nax nodded. "Yeah, they did not stand a chance."
The special forces soldier smirked. It was probably the first time the krogan saw them having some kind of emotion. "Our armies are exhausted yet we will begin the invasion in a few weeks, you are dismissed, ensure your men are well prepared before it begins."
"Yes sir."
The krogan turned his head and saw a batarian army convoy moving fast. It was no secret the batarians had joined the war out of not just security but also to… kiss the ass out of the Imperial Alliance government. While the batarian army was inferior in comparison to the Alliance one, they were still very good fighters, attacking with flexibility and numbers. Scipio and Sergius had praised them for their versatility and bravery, calling them "four eyed hastati." The hastati were the mainstay of the ancient Roman Republic back in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, young, hungry and aggressive cocky fighters who fought with utmost distinction and bravery.
The Batarian Expeditionary Forces joined the war when one of their fleets was attacked by the geth…. but Nax knew the truth… There was no attack. The geth had not attacked any race besides the romans and dwemer. The batarians were now fighting not just for the galaxy, but also for better trade deals and quite possibly an alliance that could save them from a Council – led invasion. Their screw ups were probably getting the better of them. Of course, everyone knew the dwemer despised them.
A dwemer soldier, who was at Nax's right, hissed and growled. "Damn batarians, they are probably planning to enslave the whole quarian race once this is done."
The krogan chuckled. "Something in your mind Ulfans?"
"Yes." The young and seasoned soldier stated. "Batarians only want to either steal technology from us or just kiss our ass to make themselves richer, stupid blinks."
The dwemer suffered an alien attack for the first time by batarian pirates and raiders after years of being in contact with the Roman Empire. They were enraged as thousands of their people were rounded up and enslaved. Those raids continued for a few months, seemingly unanswered.
"We did good in putting thousands of them down like the filthy animals they are." Ulfans smirked.
After a few months, the bulk of the Imperial Dwemer Navy counterattacked. Within weeks, thousands and thousands of batarians, and some even turians and asari, were rounded up and executed without trial. Dwemer thematas landed on several batarian outposts and destroyed anything in their path. The sad part was that not even women and children were spared. There were stories of babies burned and batarian women raped with sticks.
Nax shook his head in amusement. "Still remember how they reacted, it was like someone tossed a grenade on their ass, poor bastards."
The three century old krogan saw firsthand, being a mercenary working for the Shadow Legion back then, how the dwemer killed and butchered like there was no tomorrow. For the next two months, over three hundred thousand batarians died. Colonies were seized, as they were levo based, to it was suitable for the dwemer, and entire populations exiled.
Reaction was imminent. The Terminus Systems began preparing for full scale interplanetary war. The dwemer looked eager to engage while the Council amusingly watched in the sidelines, as if waiting for the two races to tear each other down.
Their amusement was cut short, however, when Rome dispatched her best diplomats and negotiators. The deals were incredibly fortuitous for the four eyed biped race. Indeed, they were so impressed that they began engaging the humans in diplomatic talks. The dwemer were forced, by the Romans to some extent, to sign a peace deal with the Terminus, only for the pointy eared people to continuously taunt the batarians until now.
Nax was told that the Council was furious. The krogan could see them behind the batarian attacks, and it amused him to no end. There will be a time when the so called mighty "Citadel Space" community will have to bow to someone. Even if it doesn't end up being the krogan, Nax would be happy if it was the Imperial Alliance.
"Well, now they are fighting on our side, so keep your balls warm and fight the geth or else."
Ulfans smiled and nodded, happy his superior did not say anything bad about his race or contradicted his claims. It was good to be neutral these days.
"Hey Ulf!" A roman soldier approached. "You still owe me that target practice."
Chuckling, the dwemer nodded and left with his friend, leaving Nax to his thoughts as the city he was currently in was slowly but surely turned into a fortress, eagerly prepared for Operation Elfezda, dwemer word for "freedom."
Thanks for reading. Any ideas you have or something, leave them in the reviews section. The more reviews, the more I write so... yeah. I will provide some more insight into the dwemer later on. Yes, there are some facts that are shared with the Elder Scrolls, but overall, they are different at the same time. Stay tuned. Thanks for reading! Make sure you leave a review and thanks to the one who have done so.