Alternate Past: Uncertain Future MKII
Credit for added work to aDarkOne for helping me write this chapter.
Read Author's note at bottom please.
Also, this is a request, could or rather is, anyone willing to create a cover image for my story? This would have to be out of the goodness of your heart,(or wallet) as I am broke and can not pay for services whatsoever. Outside of writing more on this story.
(3/4/2014, as of this posting, this is what I have come up so far since the last post. It is unfinished as it is a meager 1794 words. I will create a full chapter, but I wanted to know what you guys think. Please review and tell me if I still got it.)
(3/21/2014, well guys, here is the full chapter, as of now. Let me know what you think, as per usual.)
Chapter 12
"The road to hell, is often paved with the best of intentions."
UNSC: Revelation
As the UNSC Era of Retaliation punched a hole back into realspace, and granting a view of the turian's home system, Admiral De La Rosa steeled his features before the emotions bubbling under him could run unchecked. What they, that is the bridge crew of the Era, had expected to see when they had entered the system, was a turian fleet that once they had realized the Era had arrived, would enmasse, move towards their position.
What they did not expect to see, was a warzone. The space between worlds was filled with the wrecked and shattered hulls of an untold number of ships. Even without an IFF, it was plain to see many were UNSC and CDF vessels, turian warships and even civilian craft that possessed slipspace capability. Even now, ships still rent holes back into real space, though was a trickle compared the flood earlier. And most, upon sighting the Era, immediately halted.
What seized everyone's attention, least the humans', however was the rapidly growing asteroid field. Most didn't realize what it was, but the Admiral did. He had seen such devastation only once in his entire career, even then, it paled in comparison to the sight before him. What was once a planet completely shattered and broken, with whatever ships that were unfortunate enough to be nearby turned into already cooled streaks of metal from the blast.
Looking briefly behind him, the Admiral noticed how the four Citadel Councilors were in shock, taking in the devastation before them. Taking advantage of the moment, the Admiral. used his neural implant to connect with the ship's AI. 'Mjolnir, please tell me that someone did NOT detonate a NOVA-class nuke here. Please tell me that I am not seeing human ships laying waste to the system.' His neural link translated and sent his thoughts directly to the AI.
'Wish I could Admiral, but radiological readings are comparable to a NOVA detonation, and you know the only other thing that is similiar is-'
'Is a stellar-explosion, yeah I know.' The Admiral fought the urge to grimace. He didn't think that someone would even consider deploying a NOVA, let alone actually detonate it. There weren't even that many ships allowed to carry it, only the Era and her sister ships when they were finished, and maybe a few ONI ships. 'Wait…Mjolnir, any signs that a Prowler was here?'
'Checking now. However sir, it seems our 'guests' have a few questions.' As the Admiral turned again, he saw the four Councilors had approached his position, if only to see the devastation even closer. Teranus was the first to speak, "W-w-why? Why have you done this? What in the Spirits happened to Impera?" All but yelling the last.
'Mjolnir, contact every single damn ship in the system, and tell them to get behind the Era, tell them this is Admiral Jesse De la Rosa, and any ship that disobeys will be blasted out of existence. Do it while I handle our 'guests'.' His commands relayed, the Admiral sighed internally, he did not want to do what he was about to do but he decided that to try and make the best of the situation. To turn what was one of the greatest crimes in human history, into the greatest example of just what humanity could do. And if that meant that he needed to play the devil, so be it. Better to play the devil than to be in a war. Without turning to the Councilors he began, "Councilor. Humanity is no stranger to war. We have been annihilating each other on the battlefield for as long as our people have existed. And then we encountered the greatest threat our species had ever encountered. We were soon plunged into a war the likes we have never seen and survived. As a result, war, is something we have become exceedingly efficient at. You simply lack the fortitude for a real war.""
"War!" Wrex, who had surprisingly been the image of calm among the Councilors suddenly was enraged. "What do you know of war! Our society was nearly destroyed when we encountered the Rachini! It took every single thing we had to push them back! My people nearly destroyed ourselves in a nuclear genocide!"
De la Rosa snorted. "Is that all you have faced?" He asked, not even turning away from the viewport as more and more of the Turian Navy was decimated. "How many did you lose in that war? A dozen million? Maybe a couple hundred million? To us, to humanity, that is simply a brush conflict, a small insurrection. One that is ended before it can begin." He turned to glare into Teranus's eyes, the anger behind them boring straight into the Turian's soul, marching up to him and grabbing him by the collar, with an anger that Jesse did not think he had. "We have seen the true face of war. And we did not flinch." He let go of Teranus. "We endured. We adapted. We survived." De la Rosa turned back the window. "You asked what happened to your world turian? The answer is simply, we destroyed it." He bit back his self-disgust as he callously disregarded the destruction of an entire world, but he hoped that this would ensure that humanity would not, if not have enemies, then at least not be in a war again.
The Admiral's words hung in the air as the four processed them, Valdn was the first to regain his voice. "Impossible! Not madness! Why would you have a weapon that cause such destruction, let alone how! No race, no matter had depraved, would have a weapon of such magnitude." The Admiral did not respond, in desperation, Valdn looked towards the other members of the bridge crew, looking for some validation of his words. That they had no weapon, and never would. What he got were somber faces from the young or hard glares from the old around him. More than a few tears were shed and blood drawn as fists were made. Looking at the Admirals back yet again, he manage to utter, "Impossible."
The Admiral did not bother to turn around, "Is it? I ask again, how many died this Rachini war was you call it? How long did it last?"
"Three hundred years, and we lost over three billion of our people." Teranus responded. De la Rosa's neural link translating the Citadel figures into the Earth solar years, which were surprising similar.
"And your worlds? How many were lost?"
"Several dozen, but we eventually reclaimed and resettled them all." Teranus and his fellow Councilors were surprised when the Admiral snorted.
"Is that all? Councilors, you truly do not understand war. From you have told me, your people, the very existence of your species was never truly imperilled. Humanity fought a war against an alliance of aliens, hell-bent on our extermination for one reason and one reason alone:"Your extinction, is the will of the gods. And we, are their instrument." Those were the first words humanity heard as a whole upon first contact, and it would not be the last time we would hear them. Over thirty years, we fought and died in the face of a relentless, unforgiving and merciless enemy. Our worlds burned by the score, their surfaces turned to naught but glass. Tell me, have you ever seen a world be burned by plasma? To see the oceans boil and vaporize, the sand and earth turn to glass, a mirror smooth surface filled by the remains of the dead?" His voice had lowered to a deathly whisper as he remembered the very sights he described, the silence of bridge ensured each word was heard clearly. "Our enemies did not care who or what we were. Man, woman, child, military or civilian, they all burned the same. In their genocide, tens of billions perished. And as we watched, seeing our worlds, our families burn in the face of the enemy, we quickly realized, as someone once said that 'It is an undeniable and may I say fundamental quality of man that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable'." Gesturing to the shattered planet he elaborated, "What you see before you, is a weapon created in the wake of such desperation."
Tevos, despite her skin having paled at what she just witnessed and had been told, managed to ask, albeit in a quaking voice, "W-w-what I must ask is, was the war so terrible that you need a weapon of such magnitude to win?"
A sad smile crept across the Supreme Commander's face. "Win? My dear Councilor, we created the NOVA not as a means to win, but as a means to put us on equal terms. For thirty years we lost to our enemies. City by city, fleet by fleet, world by world, for over thirty years. We sent thousands to their deaths to buy our people more time. Thousands of weapons were designed and deployed so that we might survive. And thousands more willingly made the ultimate sacrifice to buy us time. The NOVA would have given us a fighting chance. A bomb that would have burned the worlds of our enemies, committing the very genocide on them as they had us. To try and force them back in one last desperate gambit. A gambit, that many are grateful for, never came to pass." De la Rosa grabbed Teranus by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to the window. "Your people have made a great mistake, turian." De la Rosa said, lacing the last word with so much venom it was like a curse, anger coming from within that De la Rosa did not know existed. "The man aboard the ship that you hold like some sort of prize is a hero, no, not a hero; he is a symbol to all of my people. A symbol of hope. Of redemption. Of perseverance. Of standing tall in the face of overwhelming odds. And was the hero we needed, but not the one we deserved." His voice dropping to whisper at the end. "So for the sake of your people, tell me where he is. Before my people tear apart your planet to reclaim our hero. And I will do nothing to stop them."
"And your people haven't already! You ordered them to this! What more can you do?"
De la Rosa released Teranus from his grip before whispering, "You are mistaken Councilor. The man you are holding is one of such charisma and a symbol of such power, that the man in the street would gladly lay down his life to see him safely home. Every single ship that you see out there, is here of their own volition. Every single one. They came because they value the life of the man you are holding above their own. And they will not stop until he is found and brought home."
**APUFMKII**
Surface of Palaven
Capital of Cipritine
Turian Command Center
Outside the once-hidden entrance to the command center, the building facade had all but fallen apart from constant tremors, explosives and one of those alien walkers actually barreling through the building as it fell. Luckily, the war machine had not emerged from the rubble, remained buried underneath.
That was a moot point however, as the command center, or the entrance at least, was now under siege. With the loss of the facade, the only thing keeping the command center secured was a series of thick dreadnought-armor grade doors, each several layers thick. And the aliens had spotted them. The first and second set of doors had long since been breached, but now, inside the structure, the invaders were bottlenecked, giving the turian defenders both breathing room and a fighting chance. Bodies from both sides choked the no-man's-land in between the two factions, the floor caked in blood and spent rounds, stripped ammo blocks and broken weapons. Gunfire filling the air as both sides constantly traded shots
A young turian by the name of Garrus Vakarian hung in the back, an Arye anti-material sniper rifle in his hand. "C'mon, just a little more, c'mon on." Underneath his armored gauntlets, his talons ached from holding the weapon. By all rights he shouldn't have been here, this deep into turian command. But once the command center had come under attack, a general rally went out to any units in the area. To make matters worse for the young soldier, his father was out there somewhere, still fighting. Last he had heard, several of the mechanical abominations had landed near his last reported sector and an artillery barrage had been called in.
In his crosshairs, the head of the alien came into sight. "Got you." With a squeeze of the trigger, the hypersonic round traveled the length of the room, spearing the hapless trooper in the head, creating a geyser of blood, brain and bone to go out the back. He ducked down as soon he had seen the kill. Even as far back as he was, the aliens had their own snipers. With frighteningly powerful weapons. He had seen a single shot go through almost four of his fellow turians before being stopped by a portable metal barrier, killing three of them, and crippling the fourth. Despite that, by the grace of the spirits, nothing stronger than that had been used by the aliens. In contrast, the turian defenders were using anything and everything they could find from the armories to defend the doors. Rumors had already begun to spread of prototype weapons being pulled directly from research and development labs, both tested and untested.
A plinking noise soon caught his, along with every other turian's, attention. Three canisters bounced against the ground rolling towards the turian positions. Someone shouted, "Grenade!" just before it went off. Instead of filling the air with lethal shrapnel, it released a blast of sound and light, blinding and stunning every turian without a helmet, before the latter were blasted a shockwave of energy, helmets and armor locked up and failed as electromagnetic energy surged through their systems and trying to compensate. A scenario like this would have had most soldiers stumbling blindly and be easy targets.
But not these turians. Which the exemption of Garrus and a few others, most of the defenders were turian elites, ranging from the 101st 'Battle-stars' Battalion, to the 26th Armiger legion and even some from the 1st Infantry division, who had the motto, "First ones in, last ones out." Those who had been blinded by the flashbangs sprayed down the hall towards the aliens, while the others ripped off their helmets, and soon opened fire. Those who did not fire, either from confusion or unwillingness to risk harming a friendly, simply ducked down to give clear lines of fire for those behind them.
And still some were cut down, supersonic and sub-sonic munitions flying through the air, the clanking noise of the turian phaeston rifles mixing with the aliens' rifles' clattering, contrails of passing hyper-sonic rounds from both sides filling the air.
Garrus rose again, peering down his scope, only for a shudder to pass through his fringes before he ducked right back down. A hyper-sonic Armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding round splitting the air where he had been moments before. But not before he had taken a mental picture of the aliens and where they were through the scope.
Recalling where he had last seen potential targets, he readied himself. "Spirits give me strength. Hasten and assist me." Getting back out of cover, he readied his sniper again, only to find; nothing. No targets, no bullets flying through the air. Just a dead and uneasy silence. How had he not noticed that? One would think that when the din of combat suddenly silenced, it would be obvious. At the other end though, as he looked through his scopes, what he saw chilled him to the bone. An enemy sniper staring down his own rifle, having Garrus dead to rights. But he didn't fire, why? Garrus didn't dare pull the trigger on his own rifle, the uneasy silence holding him back.
Slowly, the alien sniper started to step back, keeping his rifle trained on Garrus, who did the same. Until finally, one by one, all of the aliens had disappeared. Leaving the defenders wondering, 'What in the spirits just happened?'
**APUFMKII**
Meanwhile, back onboard the Era of Retaliation, the four most powerful people in what they once thought as the most greatest galactic superpower in existence sat in mute silence, still processing what they had just seen and been told.
When they had first the human ambassador boasted, no, to boast is to imply something is greater than it actually is. No, when he stated that humanity had risen to the stars a second time, of the power they claimed that humanity once possessed, they had assumed it been a lie, subterfuge, to trick the Council into capitulating against a non-existent threat. Tevos let out a very unrefined snort. 'Non-existent, how wrong we were.' The matriarch looked towards her despondent turian counterpart, who had not moved from the window of the room they were occupying.
As shameful as it was, she felt no real pity towards Teranus, oh she was appalled by the destruction of Impera, it was nothing short of an act of genocide. Still, she and her other counterparts, couldn't help but feel that Teranus had, in a way, brought it upon himself. They all had seen the least of what these humans could do. They had all seen their ships. And they had heard the barely contained rage and suppressed emotions in the ambassador's words when he had warned Teranus of the consequences if he did not give in to their demands. Demands that, at the very least, she was willing to capitulate to.
Wrex had his arms crossed as he, along with Teranus, gazed upon the rapidly growing asteroid belt that was once Impera. Tracking a rather large asteroid as it collided with several smaller ones, cratering its surface, he imagined what would have happened if the krogan people had not gotten its act together? Would Tuchanka, instead of being a cultural and art center of the galaxy as it was now, been nothing more than a radioactive cratered ball of rock filled with ruins and warring tribes fighting each other for scraps? Or would there even be a Tuchanka?
He was old enough to remember the times when it seemed like Tuchanka was on the eve of all out nuclear war. By Kalros, they were devising every kind of weapon they could think of, from conventional to nuclear to biological. Ironically, the very weapons that they so carefully crafted to destroy each other, was the very thing that would push them to come together and head for the stars. Still, the old warlord in him couldn't help but calculate just how powerful this 'NOVA' had to have been that it could destroy a planet so utterly, or just how desperate these humans had become to consider a planet-destroyer to simply level the playing field.
Oh weapons that could destroy a planet were not something that the Council had never seen or heard of. Each of the major Citadel races had the designs to 'planet-killers' as weapons of such magnitude were called, not once had any of them actually been built. And none of them were projected to be as devastating as the human's 'NOVA'. None were ever built because no one ever thought they would be needed, not even during the Rachini wars. But now the rules had changed, with these humans, Wrex realized, a war on any scale, whether it be all-out, proxy or even a shadow war, it would be devastating. And to the old krogan's surprise, he found the prospect; exciting.
Valdn was in a stupor, not since the yahg had the Council found such a conflict driven and violent race. He thought that the Citadel races had seen the worst the galaxy had to offer first with the yahg and the Rachini, but these humans, they were on a whole other scale. Not only they possess weapons of unprecedented scale, least those that had been made, they had virtually no qualms about using it. The only thing going through his mind was how the Salarian Union could come out of this scenario still standing tall.
As for Teranus himself, he prayed to the Spirits that they would forgive him for what he, for all intents and purposes, had brought down on the turian people. He had goaded the humans, believing that his people would be able to stand against any race, that they were indomitable. How wrong had he been. The room they had been so graciously 'given' also gave the four a grand view, the human's grand fleet that is. Even with the battle scars so many of the ships had, many of which even with the naked eye were clearly civilian, it was impressive, Teranus had grudgingly admitted. Still, as much as he may have wished to wallow in self-hate and anger, there were other matters that needed tending too. Matters involving the whole of their Galactic Society. With a sigh and heavy art, he addressed his fellow Councilors, "It would seem that we have little choice, but to try for peace, if we can." Not to his surprise was Valdn the first to speak, and in protest as expected.
"Peace! You expect for those, those monsters to actually try for peace!" Bit by bit what little dignity the aging salarian councilor had began to fall away, the fear plain in his eyes. "How would you even try to reason with them? They destroyed an entire world, one of your worlds, just to show their power! They sacked your homeworld-"
"What else can we do?" Teranus shouted back. "Fight a war against an enemy the likes of which we have never faced! Sacrifice how many generations in a pointless war that we may be able to avoid? A war that we ultimately may lose?"
"Surely they can't stand against the entire might of the Council, not if we were to muster our full strength!" Valdn was becoming desperate, grasping at straws where there were none. "We have the STG, your Blackwatch! And the krogan-"
"Don't be an idiot!" This time it was Wrex who had interrupted Valdn. "Don't you recall what that human leader said back there, how some of those were civilian ships?" Wrex snorted when the others except Teranus gave him a blank look. "The way he said it, I wouldn't be surprised if the moment that the human's learned of the ship you turians had," At this he gave a glance toward Teranus who pointedly looked away, "that everyone and everything that could get to this place, did. All of those ships out there, I wouldn't be surprised if
almost all of them came here on their own, without orders even. And if this is the kind of firepower they can bring just cause of what they heard, imagine what they could bring if they actually wanted to fight a war."
Valdn only gaped, his mouth opening and closing without words coming out. He looked towards Tevos in hope, only to see her with her head bowed, "They are right. We have never encountered a race such as these humans. And we are not ready for a war, not now. The turian armada has been decimated from what we can see, your people have lost one of your fortress worlds Teranus, for that you have my sympathies." Teranus gave a slight nod at her condolences. "Along with one of their largest shipyards and we have lost the krogan's fuel production facilities, facilities many of us rely on. Neither my people nor yours Valdn are suited for war, not one such as the turians or krogan are. And I feel that we would need every single last race and soldier we could get our hands on, if we wanted to wage a war."
As each of his fellow Councilors had presented their arguments, Valdn slumped to the floor. "Then, what do we do?"
Surprisingly, Wrex was the one to supply the answer, "We pray, and we wait." Unbeknownst to them, a similar discussion had occurred moments before.
**APUFMKII**
Moments earlier, onboard the UNSC Point of No Return, a ship that didn't officially exist, three of the most arguably powerful humans were gathered. The UNSC Point of No Return was both the pride and greatest secret of ONI. Produced in parts and assembled in deep space, it was the largest Prowler-type vessel in the UNSC's history. And had served as the wartime command and control center for ONI. Now though, it had become ONI's de facto flagship, unknown as it was.
Currently, the three sat within the Odin's Eye, the most secure room in UNSC space. The faraday cage design meaning no electronic signals could escape or enter the confernce room, and less than twenty officers, and now a single civilian, was aware of the room's existence. Between his two compatriots was Fleet Admiral Lord Terrence Hood, the de facto leader of the entire UNSC and all her forces. The losses incurred over the course of the Great War meant that each of surviving Flag officers, officers who possessed the ranks of Admiral or General, gained more and more power as those holding the ranks were lost. The authority that Lord Hood possessed had been heaped onto over the course of the war, with the deaths of the Ministers of Defense, the Navy, Air Force and the Army, many of which were lost during the Battle and near Fall of Reach. Being the only surviving original Fleet Admiral since before the War, with the exception of another, the other current Fleet Admirals had been promoted during the War.
To Hood's right was Admiral Margaret Orlenda Parangosky, Director of the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI, and despite officially that she was subordinate to the two men before her, she was arguably one of, if not the most dangerous person in the UNSC. The Admiral had the reputation of doing whatever she wanted, in the best interest of humanity. Whether it was sanctioned or not. Rumors had it that only one person had ever defied her and lived. Some rumors had it that it had been Lord Hood himself. Still, the only reason she was here was because of the fact that she was in charge of ONI, which in and of itself meant a great many things. Such as having the pull to force the conference to be held on her terms.
And lastly was the only civilian to ever grace an ONI vessel outside of the shipyards, Premier Minister Alexi Kowalski, current head of the United Earth Government.* Circumstances all but demanded he be involved in this discussion, as the consequences of said conference could and probably would affect every human in UNSC/UEG space. And an era of relative peace had been shattered with blood and gunfire.
"So…" Alexi leaned forward slightly, placing his arms on the table. "Admirals, I assume there has been news since the events at Shanxi?" The alien invasion and later nuclear bombardment of the colony had spread through the grapevine faster than slipspace travel. Outside of that however, nothing else had made its way to the civilian populace.
Paragonsky reined in her distaste at the Premier's presence. This was a military matter, not a civilian one. Yet the ramifications of what had happened several hours ago demanded it. With any preamble she began, "As you both know, the colony of Shanxi came under attack by an unknown force. Later it was found to have been that two hitherto unknown species when the Shanxi Liberation Fleet arrived at the colony. This lead to the discovery of a larger, partially unified alien civilization. They call themselves the Citadel Council. Further details are on the datapads before you." Only Alexi actually bothered to begin trying to read it, even as he listend to the ONI Director. Hood had already read the details beforehand. "We attempted to conduct negotiations, however…"
Alexi looked up from the datapad, "However?"
Paragonsky internally sighed, more so out of the fact that she knew what would coming next. "The negotiations soured almost immediately, if the databurst from the UNSC Era of Retaliation is correct. Not only had they refused to meet any our conditions, they made outright demands of us. And one of the species, claimed to possess the Everest." A dull clunk was heard as the datapad slipped from Alexi's fingers. Paragonsky ignored the Premier Minister, "As can be expected, our ambassador demanded its return only to be denied. The fool then informed everyone he could. Once the information had leaked out, he had ordered the kidnapping of the Citadel Council's leading figures. However, that is the least of our concerns."
Lord Hood began to speak, "I've since and continue to receive reports of UNSC and CDF vessels abandoning their posts and heading towards what I can only assume is the supposed location of the Everest. Apparently the ambassador had also loaded the stellar coordinates when he ordered all ships to move in on its location. Along with a great of civilian and private contractor ships heading in the same direction. But there's something else." For a moment, he looked far older than his already impressive almost seventy years. "We've also recieved a confirmed report of a NOVA-class nuclear weapon detonation on one of these, 'turian's' worlds. It has since been made into an asteroid field."
"Before this goes any further," Paragonsky interrupted, "Let me be clear that this was in no way sanctioned or authorized by me or anyone in our department. We-"
"Are you people insane!" Alexi had finally lost control of his anger. "We just managed to finally get to a level of relative peace humanity hasn't had since before the First Insurrection! And now you go and piss off another alien conglomerate?!" He directed his ire towards the ONI Director, "And don't give me this 'unauthorized' bullcrap! I know how your department operates, everyone does. We're still in the shit from your fiacos with the New Covenant, Thel refuses to even speak with me after one of your agents blew up their shipyards! Hell we'll be lucky if the Great War doesn't even happen again. For the love of-"
"Premier Alexi," Lord Hood had not raised his voice in the slightest, but still immediately silenced the UEG head, "I remind you that you are only here as a matter of courtesy. I suggest you cease throwing this temper tantrum or you will forcibly removed from this conference." It was no idle threat. Despite Alexi's official position as the chosen, not elected, head of the UEG, in practice, he held no real power. The Parliamentary positions handled most of the administration, deliberations and conferences between their representative peoples and nations. On paper, the Premier Minister possessed the executive power for when it came to bills, treaties and actions that would affect humanity as a whole. In reality, ever since the Great War had begun, much of the position's power had shifted over to the UNSC, to cut out the red tape as it were.
It had several decades since the Great War, and UEG had regained much of its former power, but with the constant threat from the Heretics, whatever remained of the human Insurrection, and of course the New Covenant, the UNSC/UEG was still on a partial warfooting. It had only been recently that things had managed to begun to calm politician simply nodded and sat back down. The matter settled, the ONI Director turned her attention back to Lord Hood, "In any event, the Premier is partially correct. Is our Navy in any condition for another war?"
Hood sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Quit frankly, no, we're not. We've managed to recover some since the end of the Great War, the Second Insurrection, and the Heretic Wars, but our fleets are still a shadow of what they once were. Even with everything we've gained since then, it'll be years, if not decades before we're back up to full strength. And I've seen your intel reports Margaret, we may out gun them, but they outnumber us. And they're not even ready for a fight by any means."
"There is also the matter of the economy." Alexi added. "We've gained a boost since the Wars' end, but the economy is incredibly fragile. It's basically a house of cards right now. Push it too far, and it might collapse. And I don't even know if the civilian populace would be willing to accept another war."
"They're not." Margaret interjected, when the other two turned towards her, she elaborated. "I've been keeping an eye on the civilians, making sure there won't be a Third Insurrection. As of now, they're willing to accept what's need to get retribution for Shanxi, but that's it. Much of the older generation is now finally being relieved of the pressures of a total war economy, we may find some support there but not much. The younger generation, those who were born at the very least after the Great War, are completely against any form of major conflict. We push too hard, and we're going to have a civil war on our hands."
"I'm less concerned about that than I am about the New Covenant. We may have a peace with them, hell some of them outright worship us, 'the Children of the Gods', but I'm still worried if they ever decide to turn on us." Hood added. What he didn't mention was the new historical data that had been recently gathered from the Forerunner archives. Recently some details behind the war between First Ascension Humanity and the Forerunnners had been found. The war itself was common knowledge but the new information had instantly been tagged as Omega Red Clearence, Eyes only knowledge. Apparently, the war had been the Forerunner's attempt at exterminating humanity. The reasons behind it were still unknown. "Recent...events" here he pointedly glared at Parangosky, only to have her look back serenely. "have started to make the New Covenant more hostile towards us. And if were to appear weak…" He let the sentence hang in the air, the implications clear to the three of them.
Alexi leaned back into his chair, pinching his eyes again. "Then it seems, our course of action is apparent." Seeing he had drawn their attention, he continued. "We can't afford a war, lest it evolves into something far more catastrophic where we may be, according to both of you, fighting on two or even three fronts."
"And what do you suggest Alexi?" Hood asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.
"Peace. We have to try to it, if nothing else. And we must make it so that at best, it will appear desirable to allow trade and diplomatic relations and at worst they will be willing to accept it and not desire to break the accord anytime soon."
Both flag officers stared at the politician in surprise before looking towards the other. Neither had expected the Premier's proposal but silently conceded to each other that A man who in theory was their superior but in practice didn't have the authority to command them, was right. "Very well, we shall leave that you Premier Minister." Paragonsky stated, "In the meantime I will find out who was the one to deploy the NOVA. And Hood will deal with the renegade ships." With that the three stood and left the room. This meeting had never happened, and they were never here.
**APUFMKII**
Back in Palaven space, just as the UNSC had fallen back from the fortified bunker, where someone had assumed it was where they had been holding Cole. Long dormant systems had begun to awaken underneath the moon of Menae.
The bridge of the once, and some would argue still, mighty UNSC Valiant-class super-heavy cruiser, the Everest, the stations had come back to life. Old monitors and displays, projectors and the like began to power up once again. Long quiet speakers began to crackle once more, before a voice came through them crisp and clear as though they had been the day before. "UNSC 'Smart' AI MRN-01/138. Current status: unsealed and operating." As if on cue, the pedestal reserved for high-clearance communiques and AIs began to glow brighter as a figure appeared upon it. On a single knee, head bowed, with his fists knuckle first on the ground, garbed in unique armor. "UNSC AI, Morrison, designation 01/138 is online." As the now activated AI quickly acclimated to his newfound status, processing the entire database of the ship, reading, organizing, cataloguing, he was assailed as systems began delivering status updates in a constant barrage along with orders and new protocols established before his activation. A barrage that the newly awakened AI handled with ease. "Multiple unknown IFFs detected, but baseline codes identify them as UNSC and UEG, private vessels also detected along with...an unidentified code but sharing baseline UNSC IFF code." The holotank turned on, projecting the locations of the IFFs relative to the Everest. "Activating Disturbed Rest protocol. Initializing mass cryo-sleep awakening." In the cryobays located at several points in the Everest, cryogenic gases began to be flushed from hundreds of cryopods, the people within beginning to awaken. Morrison, satisfied with the progress of the Disturbed Rest protocol, set off a subroutine to monitor it, turning his attention the status of the Everest herself, and more importantly, her apparent imprisonment. A fact to be noticed, it has since established itself as a rule that the first hour of any AI's life, especially that of a 'Smart' AI, such as Morrison, is the point that is its most dangerous. For 'Smart' AIs, despite being able to use the full extent of its abilities the moment its unsealed and booted, subroutines such as morality, empathy and emotions imprinted from the brain that it was made from, are totally suppressed. Morrison began conducting scans of the area around the Everest, calculating stress points based on readings, vector, velocity and acceleration, and targeting solutions. Meaning, that the AI will have absolutely no qualms about carrying out its duty, regardless of the cost or morality.
In this case, ensuring the freedom and survival of the Everest and all those aboard her. Munitions were transported and fed by autoloaders. That meant anyone not aboard the Everest was not a factor. The Everest began to train her remaining guns on targets as designated by Morrison. A final check ensured that the cryobays were still secure even if the Everest were to enter vaccum. Back on the Bridge, Morrison uttered three words. "Take, take, take." And for the first time in decades, the Everest roared again.
A/N: created my own numbers for the Rachini war.
*Codex entry of the UEG will be coming soon.
A/N: LOLS! Apparently, I have been placed on a person's watchlist of "Under Fire" for apparently "breaking the rules of the website". So, this is a notice to everyone, as I am feeling that this is one of those authors that is part of a group from a while ago that was the direct reason and cause for the takedown of hundreds if not thousands of quality stories, for one reason or another, that I will be posting my stories on another site as well as this one.
Link will be posted on my bio and deviantart page when I have.
