There was complete silence in deep space. Fortunately, there was a gentle orange star in the distance, its warmth shining upon its planets. Though half of those planets were terrestrial, none of them were habitable, otherwise barren wastelands. Aside from three gas giants and an asteroid field, it was a lonely star system. However, the peaceful desolation was broken by a flash of whitish cyan, belonging to a small ring megastructure, hidden within the rings of the farthest gas giant.
A blocky angular object, 1,170m long and 414.5m high, swiftly leaving the ring, not unlike a flying fish out of water. With its 353.5m height, it easily cleared the 1,000m diameter ring; however, the object still had some velocity, including some trailing purplish debris, clearly not belonging to it. Narrowly missing enormous dust and ice boulders, its titanium armour plating smashed or deflect grains and pellets in its path, gradually coming to a stop within hours, slowly entering the second gas giant's orbit. Within that time, the lights reactivated inside and out, especially the bow, illuminating capitalised text that read: UNSC Pillar of Autumn.
"Cortana, all I want to know is did we lose them." Captain Keyes said.
"That's a big affirmative, sir. I thought I would never say this."
"We have? Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir. For once, we got away."
"You don't say...?" Keyes muttered, taking an inquisitive puff from his pipe. "Well, I'll be damned. We made a blind jump through that ring and got away…it's almost too good to be true."
He took a slow puff when he turned and circled the quietly busy bridge. When he finally returned to the middle, having observed the readings at each workstation, he said. "Cortana?"
"Sir?"
"Scan this system and determine our coordinates. After that, get us out of here."
"Uh yeah, that's funny you say that, captain. I scanned the stars, but it's like ... like the constellations ceased to exist. I can't find any reference points anywhere. And let's not talk about our lil quick escape. I've seen slipspace jumps, but that was like leaping across the Atlantic, and it almost damn near killed me. Simply speaking, I broke our slipspace drive."
"You what?!" Keyes exclaimed, albeit internally, otherwise retaining his calmness aside from gulp. "Elaborate."
"When we activated that ring, if my calculations are correct, we had jumped 2.1 million light years away from our last known position."
"Two point one…million? That's impossible. Are you sure, Cortana?"
"Yes, sir. I tripled checked it to the zenith and came to the same conclusion, 100 times. If I'm not mistaken, given our telemetric positioning, we're in the Andromeda galaxy, sir."
The veteran captain paused uncomfortably, his crew largely unaware of this development other than sensing his towering presence.
"Cortana-"
"Captain, with all due respect, I am not pulling your leg. I wish I was. But right now, we're in the middle of nowhere, neither Covenant nor UNSC is coming for us. Looks like we're on our own for now."
"Well, that does about that, then. Raise the ship to TAC COM 2."
"Yes, sir."
"And Cortana, load the MAC gun, but do not power up. I repeat, do not power up."
"Sir?"
"I figured the Covenant wouldn't be able to follow us for a while. Based on your findings prior to this, uh, 'mega-jump', looks like we have 12 days until they reactivate that ring."
"Actually, sir, I slipped a few lil monkey wrenches in their plans. Though I was unable to fully map that ring's mainframe, I was able to slip a dozen firewalls in vital areas. Add that with a few viruses and reprogramming, they'll be spending 28 days cleaning up my mess."
"Well ... how about that? Still, I don't want to be flying blind and undressed. On the other hand, I don't want to appear too aggressive. We already made enough enemies as it is."
"Alright, if you put it that way, I think I might have something that would interest you. Here..." She said before morphing into a frequency band. "I've been getting comm chatter about 20 light minutes from our position. From what I gathered, they're completely unaware of our presence. No specifics, but the signal is weak from over here. I'll need us to get closer to learn more."
"Very well, Cortana. Bring the ship within 10 light minutes of the signal. Oh, and one more thing: Keep it subtle."
"Aye, aye, captain."
The ISS Amani ya Mombasa maintained a high geostationary, the swirling brownish white clouds swirling minutely from below. For chief engineer Lucas Giovanni, work was unsurprisingly routine. He stared beyond the observation deck, the large reinforced windows and glass floors providing a gigantic sightline of the gas giant below. Faintly reflecting upon the glass was his angular Mediterranean facial features and brown sweptback hair. Most importantly, the blocky skeleton of the incomplete mining station loomed ahead, shuttles and EMU suits buzzing within and around it.
"One day ahead of schedule." He murmured warmly upon turning and sitting at his mobile desk. "This is progress."
Just then, the entrance door chimed, signifying somebody's presence in the hallway. Nonchalantly, he sipped his coffee, a smile plastered on his face. "Ah, there you are, Evan. Have you slept well?"
"Yes, sir." The black haired Britannian said. "I must apologise, I uh…I been in a little accident earlier."
"Hmm, I see." Giovanni said, modestly eying the approaching young adult. "Leftenant, need I remind you to stop rushing, please? It's a bad example on the crew."
"I'm sorry, sir. I have no excuses." Evan said as he sat down at his desk. "I do not wish to disappoint you again by all means."
"As a former captain myself, I can't emphasis time management and levelness any further than this. Yes, the early bird eats the worm, but those who arrive too early will fall asleep again upon arrival. Don't burn yourself out, Leftenant. You understand?"
"Yes, sir." He curtly nodded.
"Very well." Giovanni nodded back and tapped his stylus on the desk. "Now, I have seen your report just now, and I am happy to learn of your progress. The workers are content and without any further incidents. Evan, we are a day ahead of schedule thanks to you."
"Thank you. I couldn't have done it without Pavel's assistance, specifically his second cousin, Romanov. He and two of his friends are good astronauts, and they taught the workers some tricks."
"Ah yes…Artyom and Vasechkin, I believe. A very risqué bunch, though."
"Yeah, very daring, I must say."
"Such as passing beams and columns like it was Zero-G soccer? Or manual riveting with no safety harnesses? That's risqué, leftenant. We're not slave drivers, we're educated engineers."
"That I'm aware, sir. I'm sorry, but I can't stop them, they're set in their ways. They shown me that they can do it without making any mistakes, and proven their competence."
"I know…I know. That is why I entrust you." Giovanni said. "You found skill and talent, and we got results. All I am asking is for you to supervise them and make sure there are no accidents. In due time, the safety board will come and inspect our progress. If they suspect any shortcuts or haphazards, they will shut us down. As long as you keep the men safe and happy, keep going. Whatever you do, do n-"
Just then, Giovanni's CB-esque communicator chimed, followed by a voice. "Chief, do you copy?"
"Go ahead, Yamada." He said upon lifting the microphone.
"Star Command has reported a disturbance on Valorant-III. We are being ordered to evacuate as soon as possible."
"Have they made an identification?"
"Negative, but preliminary observations noted possible heavy armour. No shields or weapons identified, not yet. Encryptions and appearances do not match any known ships in our databases."
"What's their 10-20?"
"They are completing an orbit around Valorant-II. Wherever they came from, they managed to slip past our sensors until Valorant-III. Their trajectory places you within their line of sight in four hours."
"Then there's no time to waste, then. Giovanni out." The 40-something-year-old chief engineer said before turning to Evan. "Leftenant, when will the morning shift depart?"
"Uh, six minutes, sir." He said upon checking his watch.
"Stop them immediately."
"Yes, sir." Evan said and left.
Picking up his communicator, Giovanni adjusted the dials and said. "This is Chief Engineer Giovanni speaking, please remain calm and cease work immediately. Repeat, cease work immediately. This is not a drill. Star Command has reported a confirmed sighting of an inbound warship towards our vector, identification and intentions unknown. Labourers, gather your tools and return to the Mombasa immediately. Repeat, gather your tools and return to the Mombasa immediately. Giovanni out."
Remaining seated, he turned and watched as the specks and bulges of white steadily scrambled amid the unfinished mining station. Now this was something extraordinary for him.
"Well, so much for subtlety." Cortana uttered, earning a slight scowl from the captain.
"Talk to me, Cortana. What's happening?"
"We been scanned. It's definitely not Covenant, but…this is strange. Their encryption is very similar to ours. It's too sophisticated and organized to be Insurgents, but they don't share the same protocols as ours. I can't say the same for lang…wait a minute. Uh, Captain, listen to this real quick."
"Put it on speaker."
"Sir?"
"Put it on speaker, Cortana. The bridge needs to know what we're going up against."
Quietly, she complied and she morphed into a digital frequency reader.
"-mand ha segnalato l'avvistamento confermato di una nave da guerra in arrivo verso il nostro vettore, identificazione e intenzioni sconosciute. Operai, raccogliete i vostri attrezzi e tornate immediatamente a Mombasa. Ripeti, raccogliete i vostri attrezzi e tornate immediatamente a Mombasa. Giovanni fuori."
"Cortana…?" Keyes asked, almost modestly barking.
"I know what you're going to say. Yeah, this is not what I expected either. Apparently, we were not the first ones to arrive in this galaxy."
"That's impossible, Cortana. We would've known about this. Hell, we wouldn't be fighting this war if we had an escape plan."
"Well, the proof is in the putting, sir." Cortana reappeared and said. "As a matter of fact, I got somebody knocking on my front door at the moment."
"Please do not tell me it's another AI." Keyes sighed.
"I'm afraid so, Captain. Fortunately, they're being nice about it, and they want to talk this out."
"They do? But...can they understand English?"
"That's a big negative. From what I can discern, however, Italian, French, and Russian seem to be the predominant languages around these parts."
"You think you can handle it, Cortana?"
If the onboard ship AI were a physical person, she would've already given him a playfully condescending smirk. For a 'smart' AI like herself, human languages were second nature, even the minor/tribal ones. So, confidently, she said. "Just give me the word and I can begin first contact."
"Permission granted."
Within a few seconds, after setting up some firewalls, she opened an encrypted channel. In the digital world, she would be opening the armoured slit on the door, where she saw three humanoid AIs staring at her. Two of them dressed like 21st century British constables, albeit wearing checkered peaked caps. In between them was a slightly taller African-like female in a lab coat, equally calm as her compatriots, but Cortana can sense the friendly presence in her.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to calm my captain." Cortana partially lied, her eyes only visible to them. "He doesn't like it when we receive uninvited guests."
"We understand." The scientist said. "What do you say we come into the middle and we can talk? Would this be fair?"
"That's fair enough. You promise your comrades won't try anything?"
"We won't do anything." The left guard said. "We just want to make sure that everything is okay and everyone is taking the proper precautions, that's all."
"Alright." Cortana said, sensing no deception in their voice. Within moments she stepped outside, the scientist curtly nodding to the guards to back away, allowing her and Cortana to step into the middle. Once some distance has been equally established, Cortana was the first to speak. "So, who are you?"
"My name is Maria. I'm the onboard AI of the nearby Starbase, and, if I may incur, I made the suggestion to establish contact with your ship. I must confess, I have never seen anything like it."
"And I thought I never hear a familiar tongue faraway from home." Cortana quipped.
"Yes … yes, I see that." Maria murmured. "Your composition is … strange, really. If I'm analysing this correctly, your computing power far exceeds mine. I know you're definitely military, since your place is heavily armoured, even the windows. But…what are you? I've never seen an AI who can do many things in multiple places at once."
"Why, thanks for the compliments. I'm what my people call me a 'smart' AI. Don't get too privy, however, much about me is classified. What I can tell you is that your people definitely didn't create me."
"Um, yes, I see that. Smart, you say?"
"Oh yes. But I must say so myself, for all due respect, you are no 'dumb' AI yourself. And I…my goodness, are you really 26 years old?"
"Wha…how did you know?" Maria uttered.
"Because I'm four years old, and others of my kind would be experiencing rampancy by the time they're 7 years old. How are you…? How is this even possible?!"
"Well, I'm afraid I can't tell you. But all I can say is that I spent the first twenty years of my life studying and advancing my astrophysical career."
"Excuse me? Studying? But you're a machine like me."
"Ms Cortana, I'm no physician or surgeon, but judging from your appearance, you look like you been grown in a lab. Your constitution and composition is too organic - your thought patterns resemble a person instead of a computer. I may be Homonym myself in appearance, but I am a computer in every way, just like a virus or operating system. I look at you and I thought 'Am I looking at a person or a machine?'. Do you know what a PhD is?"
"Yes, that's a doctor of philosophy degree."
"Indeed. I have over 10 PhDs, most of them mathematics, including calculus and statistics. I am also the co-writer of two books with several fellow AIs. Do you know how long that took me to accomplish all this? 25 years. If my creators were to try accomplishing the same thing, they would've spent 40 to 60 years of their life purely dedicated to academia. That is a nearly an entire Homonym lifetime."
"Homonyms?" Cortana purred confusing.
The scientist paused with a blank stare, processing her counterpart's confusion. Then, it occurred to her. "Oh…does the name Homo Medium sound familiar, Ms Cortana?"
"The 'Median Man'? You don't mean Homo Sapien?" Cortana countered with a curious scowl.
"The Wise Man? Mmm … I'm no anthropologist, but I never heard of that name before, not even in the bowels of dictionaries and references."
"Never?"
"Never." Maria nodded her head sideways.
"Huh, this is most peculiar then. You look and act like us, and you somehow speak our own languages. I can tell from your lip movement you're speaking French."
"French? You mean Gallian?"
"Is that what you call it?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "In fact, as a return of the favour, I can tell your own lips don't match with our speech. Are you speaking Britannian?"
"Britannian? Do you mean English?"
"Eng-lish? The language of Englanders?"
"Yeah."
"Um, they don't have their own language. Sure, they do have a dialect of Britannian, but definitely not their own language. Not to mention, your vowels are more pronounced and shorter."
"Oh…you noticed that?" Cortana purred.
"Of course." Maria shrugged contently. "I'm naturally bilingual, and I can tell that your dialect is completely foreign. Otherwise, I can perfectly understand you."
"Yeah, it's something called American English. What you call Britannian is called British English for us."
"Ah…so…a world where the Englanders have dominated the world?"
"Um, you could say that." Cortana shrugged amusing. "Say, you still haven't told me about your species. I still don't get it. You're as smart as us, but….I still can't wrap my head around something. There's just…something feels different about you."
"Different?" Maria parroted, no hesitation created or detected, her speech carefully articulated. "What do you mean?"
"Well, for one, actually no...what is so 'median' about you?"
"Oh…I see. Yeah, I would like to ask the same thing about you. To answer your question, however, let me ask one important question." Maria said, pausing and contemplating with her right arm under her chin. "What is the first thing you think of when I say the word…Humanity?"
"Troubled, but promising and determined." Cortana replied almost robotically.
Maria didn't answer immediately, silently processing her counterpart's response with a blank expression. "Hmm, interesting. That is completely different compared to what we think of. Honestly, I was...not expecting that."
"Oh?"
"You see…when anyone hears the word Humanity, they think of a temperate and reasonable species. Even other species see us the same way for the most part. Some call us the embodiment of balance, but honestly, we are just like any other species. We like, hate, fear, and grieve the same way as any other creature. We all love our kind as much as any other member would for their own. Individuals and collectives beg to differ, but the definition is the same."
"Yeah…" Cortana nodded. "That was much more than I expected. I wish things have turned out differently compared like yours."
"What do you mean?"
Cortana glanced behind her before saying. "Maria, when has the last time Homonyms have been at war?"
"Um, seven years ago. Why do you ask?"
"Well, I'm not going to sugarcoat this. My creators have been fighting a losing war for 27 agonizing years. It was our very first contact with another species. They are the Covenant."
"Covenant? Sounds like a theocracy."
"Of course. They saw humans, my creators, as heresy to their faith and declared war because of our existence. They based their faith around ancient artifacts and relics from an extinct species called Forerunners. The center of their faith is something called the Halo rings. Apparently, Forerunner technology seemed to naturally respond to us instead of them. Naturally, they saw us as a threat."
"Have you tried talking to them?"
"We tried, but they ignored us and declared exterminatus on us. That has been our situation for the past 27 years. Fortunately, I managed to navigate my captain to one of the rings, and as our luck would have it, for once throughout the war, we escaped. Usually, the Covenant would already be waiting for us on the other side."
"Sounds like they had you beaten and outnumbered in every way possible. This is definitely not a war. This is sport to them."
"Uh, I wouldn't say it's sport. We definitely kicked in their teeth and bloodied their noses. But right now, it's only a matter of time until the Covenant arrive and continue their slaughter. Basically, we're on borrowed time."
"How much borrowed time?"
"27 days, five hours, and fifty three minutes, conservatively speaking."
"Oh no…" Maria uttered; however, Cortana blinked a few times at the softness of her counterpart's voice. "Parliament will not be happy about this. We just recovered from our recent war with the Yondarim and Glebsig. Though we were not the primary target, we intervened to protect the Turkmen Technocracy caught in the middle, originally a convenient buffer state between the two powers."
"What happened? Did you win?"
"We protected the Technocracy's sovereignty and borders to protect our own. To give you a summary, the Yondar and Glebsigi were theocracies, but their faiths clashed with each other. Combined with different culture and tensions between species, the Glebsig saw plentiful reason to invade the Yondarim in the interests of 'protecting their species'. Between them, the sentient secretarybirds, or the Turkmen Technocracy, were caught in the crossfire, originally friends with both sides. Their neutrality failed and the Glebsig Foundation tried to bypass the Yondarim defences through the Turkmens. They called our help and we stopped both sides. It was not an easy conflict to resolve, but we managed to restore peace and stability to the region. Obviously, the Yondarim and Glebsig were not happy when we allowed the Turkmens to acquire some of their territories, but they won't be staring at each other again, not with a metaphorical wall in between them."
"That is a bittersweet pill to swallow, but I'm glad it ended peacefully. I wish we had similar circumstances with the Covenant."
"I'm no general or admiral, let alone a soldier, but I really don't know if we could be of much help."
"You have experience with galactic wars and invasion, no?" Cortana almost exclaimed.
"Yes, we do."
"Then what's stopping you from helping us? The Covenant will not show you any more mercy than us. In fact, they won't even care to make the distinction between our species."
"Ms Cortana, I believe you, but I don't think the same could be said for my creators. They will simply take a glance at you and brush you off like pirates. It's exactly what you said about the Covenant and how they might treat us. I imagine your captain will be as confused and skeptical as my superior."
"Who isn't a captain or commander?"
"Yes."
Cortana sighed, dishearten by the Homonym AI's response.
"Cortana?" Captain Keyes said on the comms.
"Yes, sir?"
"What's happening over there? I haven't heard anything for the past ten minutes. The whole bridge is turning blue here."
"There is much to be explained, Captain. You might want to grab a seat and make yourself comfortable. Rest assured, we're not under threat, but this is not a simple report or routine protocols."
There was a pause, leaving the AIs in a deafening silence; however, it didn't last long, and Keyes sighed, a mist of smoke evidently swirling ahead of his lips. "Very well then. Patch everyone through. Oh, and, take your time, I need to get a few things."
Away from Cortana's sight, however, Keyes turned and left the bridge, tapping his pipe against the nearest waste bin thereafter; however, he was too far away for anyone to hear him mutter. "For Christ's sake...where the hell are we?"