Here's chapter 5.
(A/N BREAK BECAUSE LINES WON'T APPEAR)
The Normandy had left Omega and was now on its way to Purgatory, a massive ship used to house the galaxies most dangerous criminals. Naruto and Sakura had just returned from the armory to pick up a pair of Omni-tools.
"I'm going to sleep." Sakura started. "Want to clean up all that clutter all those files from omega left me with."
"Clutter yeah right. No probs." Naruto said absent-mindedly as he tinkered with his Omni-tool.
Knowing Naruto was in a world of his own now, Sakura only shook her head. "Why did I even bother to let you know?" She asked out loud as she walked to her maintenance chair and lay down. Her usual green colored eyes faded into grey before closing.
Naruto sat at the desk where his terminal was set up. He wanted to copy the data in his terminal on to the Omni-tool, but before that he needed to figure out just how to go about doing that. The way the two devices operated were very different. And so, he began searching for the coding that made the Omni-tool tick.
ONE HOUR LATER…..
Naruto had finally figured out where to get the coding for the Omni-tool when the tell tale sound of the cargo bay doors opening was heard. He was expecting Shepard but to his surprise, it was Miranda.
"Miss Lawson." He greeted. "What brings you down here?"
"Please just call me Miranda." She smiled. "And I'm just here to talk."
"To talk? What about?" Naruto asked.
"I find myself curious about you. Clearly you're not some everyday soldier. Those shots you did with your pistol were superb." She said.
"That wasn't something that would be considered special. Many in new Eden can shoot like that." Naruto answered.
"Oh really?" Miranda asked. "How is that possible? That shot was over 200 meters." Miranda asked as she sat on a part of Naruto's desk.
"Between genetic modification, implants and military training, you can practically turn any gun into a sniper rifle. Of course that's only assuming a gun from this galaxy is used."
"So you had implants? Or were you genetically modified?" Miranda asked curiously.
"Neither." Naruto answered. "Well I suppose I was in a way genetically altered. Both my parents are genetically modified. And some of their modifications past on to me." (A/N I have no clue if genetic modification can be past on to kids just work with me here)
"Interesting. You really are from another galaxy aren't you?"
"That I am."
"When I was little, I had found a book about your New Eden. I was always fascinated by its tale. It was the only book I had that wasn't academic. I had to be very careful making sure to never let my father find it."
"Why is that?" Naruto asked.
"My father is a very controlling man. All he ever wanted me to be doing is studying even on my free time. He saw books that involve fairy tales, myths and legends to be worthless and thus unnecessary to me."
"Must have been a pain."
"It was. But that is in the past. You are here now. Someone who is from the supposedly mythical New Eden. You wouldn't mind telling me what happened when the humans of new Eden got trapped would you?"
"Not at all. Although it's a pretty long story. Even the short version." Naruto chuckled.
"I have time. All of my duties are taken care off and it will be some time before we get to our destination.
"Alright then. Let's see where to start?" Naruto asked himself. "Well, according to record, after the
Wormhole collapsed, my ancestors tried to re establish contact. However that proved to be a waste of time. Not long afterwards, they discovered how to activate the stargates."
"Stargates?" Miranda asked.
"They're huge structures that are all over new Eden. They allow us to move from system to system just like your mass relays." Naruto answered. "They figured out how to get the entire network back online. At first everything went well. Humanity had scattered across new Eden but things went down hill once again. The stargate network simply shut down and it became impossible to reactive. So we ended up being split up again. From what we know. Allot of fighting broke out among the people all over new Eden. We almost ended up dying off completely. As a result, much of the technology was lost. We ended up losing knowledge of warp drives, which was only just recently discovered. Hell in some places records show tech had regressed back to a time where they used swords, bows and arrows. In the end, only 5 groups of people would survive. They would later be known as the Gellente, Caldari, Amarr, Minmatar, and the Jove." Naruto paused. "By this time all knowledge of our origins was lost to most. The Gellente, Caldari, Amarr and Minmatar all thought they were the only humans in the galaxy. And by this time these factions had developed their own distinct cultures and rediscovered warp tech and soon after they reestablished the stargate network." Naruto said.
Can you tell me about them?" Miranda asked.
"Sure. I'll start with my people, the Gellente." Naruto began. "The Gellente federation is the only true democracy in new Eden. Much of our history is locked in constant battle between warlord, tyrants, rebellions etc. eventually we managed to put an end to all that and formed the federation, which would latter become the economic powerhouse of new Eden. The people in the federation are some of the wealthiest in new Eden. Many started off with nothing but struck gold, there are those who pushed their luck too far however. We also are known to have some of the poorest people in new Eden. The majority of Gellente are liberalists, believing in individual freedom with a love or luxury. Sadly this normally puts us with a head on course with the Caldari."
"Why is that?"
"The Caldari state is run by giant mega corporations and were once a part of the federation. Their first home world was even in the same system as the federations. they are very different from the Gellente however, where as the Gellente are liberalists, the Caldari are nationalists, casting aside individual freedom for a "state first" philosophy . They look out for what is best for the state even when that state was a part of the federation. They began spreading out to other systems and colonizing planets without the consent of the rest of the federation. When they were found out, the federation demanded that the colonies be turned over, they refused and war broke out. At first the Caldari were winning, but soon the Gellente were able to fight them to a stalemate. When all was said and done, both sides called a truce, but not before the Gellente took the Caldari home world.
"I don't understand if the Caldari were just a part of the federation, how could they compete against them?"
"At the time the federation was recovering from all the constant wars, we had only been a democracy for a short time. The Caldari are also combative by nature and to top that off the Caldari, though fewer in number, had and still has some of the top tech in new Eden. That gave them enough edge to hold back the Gellente."
"They sound like dangerous enemies." Miranda commented. "What is their society like?"
"To be honest I admire their society." Naruto began. "As I said they are run by giant mega corporations, under those corporations several are smaller corporations, and under those smaller corporations are countless companies. The state takes care of their people. If you follow the rules, you can live comfortably. Their laws are strictly enforced; if you break them you could find yourself homeless and disgraced, unable to ever get a job. Pretty good incentive to stay on the right side of the law. The people are combative and love to gamble, this makes dealing with the Caldari a bit….tense at times, and dealing with them politically wise is like trying to walk thought a wall."
"Why is that?"
"Imagine. A race that is run solely by companies. If something illegal is done it will most likely get from one of the smaller companies." Naruto began. "Now the minute said company is fingered out, it vanishes into its parent corporation and another company pops up days later to take its place. In addition to that the entire state would back that little company up 100%.
"Hmmm I can see what you're talking about. Pinning down illegal activities must be very difficult."
"It is." Naruto assured. "Next are our allies, the Minmatar. They are a tough no non-sense race who are fiercely independent. To a Minmatar, the most important thing is being able to take care of yourself on your own. They are a people who have a strong culture, based around different tribe and clans dating back from the days before they even had basic communications. Because of that, each tribe has its own culture and traditions, and despite the urbanization they went through, they still managed to keep each of their tribe's individuality. They are the most numerous of the races in new Eden, and they have incredible ingenuity. At one point, they had an entire empire."
"What happened to them?"
"The Amarr happened." Naruto answered. The Amarr are a people capable of acts of great good as well as evil, all in the name of their god, who is their emperor. They are a theocratic society whose religion encourages slavery. They were the first to rediscover warp tech, this allowed them to spread out before any other race, conquering and enslaving any other people they come across, the Minmatar included. Because of this, they boast the largest military force in new Eden. Their society starts off with the emperor, below him are the 5 ruling houses from which a new emperor is chosen, below them are the nobles and then the commoners followed by the slaves. Their emperor's word is absolute, however, their empire is so vast, it's sometimes difficult for him to control matters unless he's actually there. Those are the four major factions in new Eden."
"Didn't you say there were 5?" Miranda asked.
"Another faction that survived were the Jove, but I wouldn't call them a major faction since there are so few of them." Naruto answered.
"Do they have anything worth saying about them?"
"Oh there are tons of things that can be said about them." Naruto began. "For starters, if you see them, you would think they are some sort of alien."
"Why is that?"
"The Jove are hands down, without a doubt the most technologically advanced faction in new Eden. When humanity regressed in tech, the Jove kept all their knowledge intact, meaning while we were stuck on planets fighting ourselves, they continued to advance. They eventually became particularly good at genetics, resorting to using it to solve any and all problems. That is where their problems started."
"Go on." Miranda urged.
"They started messing with their core instincts as well as their appearance. Their skin is pale grayish yellow, almost transparent, with veins clearly discernible. Their heads are abnormally big, but otherwise their bodies were thin and feeble-looking. Then comes their mentality. They still act human for the most part, but the things that drive them are completely different from any other human. Their aggression, their sexual drive, several emotions and all sorts of things that define us as humans, all of them wiped clean. They don't feel anger in fact in order for their people to become soldiers; they need to be reconstituted to become aggressive. It was this extensive genetic modification that screwed them over. Once they had a massive empire, but the modifications they made to themselves gave birth to the genetic disease called Jovian disease, which made them fall into depression so deep they lose all will to live. They end up dieing 2 weeks after they get it. As advance as they are now, they were much more advance thousands of years ago when they had their vast empire. The disease basically keeps them from producing the numbers needed to achieve their former glory."
"If their so small and advanced why haven't the other factions tried to invade them?"
At this Naruto laughed. "That's exactly what the Amarr tried and ended up getting their asses handed to them." He answered. "The Amarr arrogantly sent a force of a mere 200 ships to attack the Jove, expecting little resistance. They completely underestimated the Jove. The Jove value knowledge above all else, to that end, it is almost impossible to keep anything hidden from them due to their advanced sensor and bugging capabilities. They knew the Amarrian plan of action even before the fleet commanders in charge of the invasion did. Then came one of the most powerful ships in new Eden. A mothership class vessel that lay waste to the Amarr invasion fleet. Using smaller vessels to keep the Amarr at bay, the mothership annihilated the Amarr fleet. The Jove defense force was only a third the size of the Amarr fleet yet they beat them with minimal loses."
"That is indeed impassive. But even with their advance tech, if Amarr military is as large as you say, surely they could have tried again in full force."
"They wanted to. But the Minmatar took the opportunity to rebel against there masters. The Amarr couldn't afford to fight the Jove and deal with a rebellion so they called a truce. This also gave the Jove a reputation that made them seem unbeatable, so no one would dare threaten them."
"Are they really unbeatable?" Miranda asked.
"Hell no. Even the Jove can't withstand the full might of any of the main factions in new Eden. The simple fact of the matter is by them beating the Amarr, with a force smaller than that of the invaders, made them seem unbeatable, as no one knows exactly how large their defense force is or how many motherships they possess. Then they are also feared because no one knows exactly how much they know. They were the ones who invented the means by which one can interface with a ship and they were the first to have capital class ships. They trade their tech for valuable information, in fact, the reason behind the Caldari being ahead of the other 3 major factions is because they had trades with the Jove. And it was those trades that allowed the Caldari to fight the Gellente to a standstill despite the Gellente being greater in number. Everyone fears that if they attack the Jove, they would give their enemies new tech that could tip the balance of power to one side's favor, resulting in war. One such tech that everyone fears is a device that creates a wormhole."
"They can create wormholes? Then why didn't they try to come back here to their ancestor's home galaxy?"
"The Jove tech is powerful, but not that powerful. The biggest wormhole they could ever produce would be like a grain of sand compared to the massive wormhole that linked two galaxies together." Naruto answered. "No realistically speaking, I doubt the Jove would ever let anyone just have that kind of tech. the power to create a wormhole anywhere would mean they could have a massive fleet right at their doorstep in the matter of minutes. Even the Amarr would find it hard to fight against an opponent that can appear out of no where. Then there is a trait that all humans possess. Humans imagine and assume things and over time those assumptions sometimes get past off as facts. One such thing is the rumor of the Jove possessing a weapon that can destroy an entire planet. This is pure speculation but the Jove would neither confirm nor disprove the rumor, preferring to let everyone's imaginations run wild and fear them. It's understandable really. All the Jove want is to be left alone, and fear is a damn good deterrent."
Your galaxy sounds very interesting." The Cerberus operative commented. As talked around Sakura's "sleeping" form curiously inspecting her for a few minutes. "Hmm" she hummed tentatively.
"What is it?" Naruto asked.
"Is it sleeping?" Miranda asked.
"In a sense she is." Naruto said as he emphasized the fact that Sakura should be viewed as a living being.
"My apologies." Miranda said quickly catching on to Naruto's dislike of Sakura being referred to as an object. "I can understand her needing to be refueled via food consumption, but sleeping?"
"Nanoroids sleeping don't function the same as our need to sleep." Naruto began explaining. "Certain functions work better when they enter sleep. In this particular case, Sakura is only sleeping to sort out junk data. She should only be out for about another hour. Nanoroids go for months without sleep but Sakura hates even the smallest amount of junk data, so she often goes to sleep every few days to clear it all out."
"She's truly impressive." Miranda began. "You must be quiet the genius to be able to create an a.I like her."
At this Naruto laughed.
"What's so funny?"
"Sakura told you I created her didn't she?"
"Yes when we met for the very first time." Miranda answered.
"It's amazing that for all her pride, she doesn't give enough credit to herself in regards to her own creation." Naruto commented aloud.
"Pardon?"
"I created Sakura's body." Naruto began. "But the individual that is Sakura came into being all on her own. Sakura, like all other sentient was once a normal A.I. I programmed her to do small things like keeping assigned areas clean and later I programmed her to keep track of logs. She just became sentient on her own."
"How?"
"Even the Jove can't figure it out. In New Eden, there are around 1000 known sentient A.I, all of them got that way on their own."
"Are you saying you had nothing to do with Sakura being how she is?"
"Do you have any idea how silly that question is?" Naruto asked. "So you're saying that I have the knowledge to understand the human mind, to recreate a conscious. That's pretty damn epic there. Most if not everyone goes about their lives without even understanding themselves, how could I possible make an A.I that has the imagination and ingenuity of a human, but the processing capabilities of a computer?" Naruto paused as he looked Sakura over.
"Then what was she like at first?"
"As far as go….she was pretty dumb." Naruto laughed. "To be honest, I almost scrapped her, deeming her to be a complete and utter failure. But I started to see some improvement in how she performed. Still below average, but enough to get by. After a few years something happened."
"What?"
"Something happened that pushed her on the road to sentience, exactly what I don't know." Naruto said. "I at the time had no clue what was happening of course. It was very subtle, Sakura started acting outside her programming. I made her to keep my lab clean and to keep track of the logs on my ship, however she started to branch out. Instead of keeping an assigned area clean, she made it a point to keep my entire home clean. If there was nothing to clean, she simply connected to the galactic-net (take a guess what that is) and stay on until she was needed, something I didn't put on to her programming either. What made me realize she was becoming sentient was an incident."
"Go on."
"I often carry Sakura out on the field with me. We were under contract to get info for some scientists on a kind of insect. We found a nest of the things but it turns out the apex predator of that planet, was also interested in that nest. We didn't notice it's presence until it was too late. I'll be frank, I saw Sakura as little more than another a.I that could easily be replaced, so I ordered her to run, knowing the creature would chase her and give me a chance to escape." Naruto paused. "Normal a.I normally follow orders without question, so imagine my surprise with Sakura express concern about her own personal well being should she follow that order. When I made the order again, she was about to follow it, although clearly she was reluctant to do so. By share luck, the predator that had us trapped was also being hunted. A Minmatar hunter shot it before it could attack us. When we got back home I ran checks on Sakura to find everything was as exactly how I programmed it. From that point on, Sakura started showing signs of self awareness."
"I don't understand, if she was acting differently then shouldn't' there have been a change in her programming? A virus? Corrupted data perhaps?" Miranda asked.
"I couldn't find any of that in her programming." Naruto affirmed. "At least not at that time."
"Meaning?"
"Nanoroids are often upgraded when their owners feel the need to up their capabilities to give them more tasks to perform." Naruto began. "Sakura upgraded herself, something that once again should be impossible, the entire upgrading process was something that should have been impossible. Sakura at the time took the form of a girl that looked no older than 10 years of age. I left to tend to some business and when I came back, she had the appearance of an adolescent and not only that, she had a personality. Before she was simply aware of herself but after her self upgrade she started acting more human. Considering how she looked, and preferring to do things her own way even if it wasn't the most efficient and doing things to pass the time."
"How was it she was able to do that?"
"I have no clue. Everything about her upgrade was strange. From what I could figure out, she somehow forced herself to increase her processing capabilities; from there her personality must have begun to develop. How the hell she made herself "grow up" is something that still has me bashing my head. For a nanoroid to "grow up" it needs an injection of new nanobots. Sakura had no means to get new nanobots. According to her, she just wanted to look older, and over the period of a few days, she grew up. When I analyzed her, I found that a lot changed in her coding. Several things I didn't put into her code were there. Somehow she managed to order the nanobots in her own body to replicate, resulting in her growing up. I knew then beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was sentient. And she was the very first one to actually control her own body in such a way. Most nanoroids are modeled after adults, so a sentient "growing up" is unheard of. I continued to explore her systems but before I could get too far I got halted by an unknown defense mechanism. It makes the strongest firewall look like a joke. I always heard of the defense that sentient have, and I saw it as an opportunity to be the first to crack it. That dream crashed in burned." Naruto chuckled. "To this day I can't find a way around it, Sakura insists that she isn't putting it up on her own accord. Such a strong defense leads me as well as other how tried to crack it to believe that the defense protects the coding that gives the nanoroid their personalities and their ability to think outside of their programming."
"Huh. That sounds very interesting." Miranda commented as she looked at Sakura again. "Then the fact that she appears fully grown means she underwent another upgrade am I correct?"
"Pretty much, her second upgrade only seemed to be for cosmetic reasons, she hated the fact that others, myself included, always poked fun at her size." Naruto chuckled.
It was at this time Joker's voice came over the inter comm. "We've arrived at the space prison."
"Well then, time to get to work. You coming?" Miranda asked.
"Not this time. I think I'm going to get a more in depth look at all the info Sakura got for me." Naruto answered.
"I enjoyed our chat, maybe we can do it again some time." Miranda suggested as she left.
As soon as the cargo bay door closed, Sakura spoke. "Didn't Shepard warn you about her?" She asked.
"And just how long were you awake?" Naruto asked.
"Long enough."
"The info I gave her isn't important, it's not like I told her any details on the tech we have in new Eden." Naruto said.
"If you say so." Sakura said as she watched Naruto resume tinkering with his Omni-tool. 'I really don't trust that Miranda.' She thought to herself.
A/N One thing I keep forgetting to note. The mass effect storyline that you know of will take place over a period of about year (exactly how much time had pass in MS2 was never pointed out anyways, at least I don't recall). This is so Naruto can dink around in the milky way. I went into the mass effect wiki and got all sorts of new idea that basically made me throw my original idea out the window. Good thing I listened to that little voice in my head that told me to look for more info on mass effect lol. I learned a ton of stuff that I never bothered reading off the codex in the game and it gave me a ton of inspiration. It's a good thing I looked it up when I did. After the next chapter it would have been a bit of a pain to implement the new ideas into the story. I firmly believe you guys will like it. After the next chapter, the story will branch off completely from what you seen in the game.