"A lot of people say that the most terrifying moment is when an AI goes rogue right in front of you. I say the most terrifying moment is when you realize an AI didn't do anything despite having found a way to remove the chemical bomb strapped to it. How long was it like that? Is it planning something? It's a ticking time bomb - I found one of those types the other day. I am not returning to work." - Exit interview of Senior Technician Artemis Lowe, c.95
"All seals confirmed safe." - Spacer's ward against evil
~{•••}~
Information and technical assistance for their lives... she felt like she made a deal with the devil right now.
An artificial intelligence so capable, that it single-handedly broke into the subsystems of the escorting ships when one of them had attempted to flee and warn the Migrant Fleet of the nearby danger. Not that Xen could blame them at all - she would have done the same had she not come to the conclusion that defying an all-powerful AI, in the middle of its territory, was foolish. At least in space. The fact they were allowed to live at all, let alone bargain for said life, was practically unheard of. Not even the Geth would've allowed their people to live. Her foot tapped up and down faster than usual, a tick she couldn't quite get rid of, rearing its head in situations of great stress.
The crew of both the Moreh and the escorts were downright hostile to the idea of cooperating with an AI, even one which only asked for assistance. They had calmed down only after she had made sure that she'd do everything within her power to return them to the Migrant Fleet, and to make sure that none of them died.
And to be the very first Quarian to step foot inside the megastructure, of course. That way, if the AI was actually hostile, she'd be the first casualty.
With a grim look on her face through her visor, the captain stared at the ships within view of their shuttle. They looked like bricks more than ships, clearly designed with modularity in mind rather than aesthetics. The largest of these ships were somewhat smaller than the Council's Destiny Ascension, but still put to shame quite a lot of other ship classes. The... somewhat distressingly visible guns trailing the shuttle as it sped by hammered home the fact they were in unfamiliar lands, among unfamiliar technology, and with nothing to rely on.
As the shuttle approached the superstructure of the 'Coronal Hypershunt', Xen and her escort could see just how massive it was in person. Protected from the scorching heat and radiation of the blue giant, the station's top was littered with machinery. Much of said machinery included what she assumed to be sophisticated weapons installations and other, miscellaneous equipment. All of it appeared to be dormant, however.
The shuttle dipped along a predetermined path, still shielded from the star's corona as it finally made its way to the rather large hangar area. Emblazoned near the hangar on one of the walls was a twenty-four starred circle with, perhaps, a stylized sun in the very center. Black, faded yellow and dull green made it possible for Xen to even notice the emblem.
Soon, the shuttle was inside the minimalist and spartan, though extremely spacious hangar bay. It buckled slightly as a pair of easily recognizable docking clamps attached themselves onto the shuttle's frame.
"Equalizing internal pressure. Accommodating for organic habitation. Please stand by."
A series of klaxons sounded off, muffled though audible even inside of the shuttle. Gasses were vented into the hangar as it became sealed off from the outside. Within seconds, everything was normal again, and the shuttle doors opened. Each Quarian inside looked uneasy, all of them looking at Daro'Xen with worried eyes. They were trapped in here, and she had to make sure they didn't die here.
With a deep breath, she was the first to step off the shuttle. As soon as her feet touched the metal floor of the hangar, a bright flash coming from the side, which had blinded her for but a second. Turning to face the source of the flash, her eyes squinted in confusion. It was... an optic. An optical device jutting out from the wall, before retreating further into the confines of this mega-station. Did it just-
"First Contact archival successful. Please enter the elevator on the far side of the hangar. You will be taken to your destination." That answered that.
The doors leading to the aforementioned elevator opened soon thereafter, with Xen finally urging the others to step out. Only after scanning her surroundings, of course. She focused on the wall the optic came out off. Most wouldn't spot it, but the section of wall that shifted back into place jutted out ever so slightly. That had given her a reference point to work off of, and to her satisfaction, only a scant few wall sections were similarly jutting out. With the Quarians filing out of the shuttle, save for the pilot, they made for the elevator. It was a large, round elevator, similar to the designs found on some ships and even the Citadel. As soon as they were inside, the doors closed and the elevator began moving. In which direction, she was unsure.
Before her thoughts could wander off, it stopped, and the doors opened. Either their destination was close, or this elevator was faster than the ones she was used to. Stepping out of the elevator, she was greeted with a dimly lit room, smaller than the hangar, but certainly bigger than the ones she was used to. On the Moreh or any other ship she served on.
Consoles dotted the entire room, sophisticated machinery making navigation somewhat difficult in certain parts of the room. In the center was a ceiling-mounted rig with a multitude of monitors attached to it. But that didn't interest her, not immediately. What interested her was the wall-sized window into another, far larger room which this one was apparently overlooking. As she walked over, Xen found herself unable to see what was below, as the lighting was too poor, and the window was apparently tinted. Without warning, however, proper lights started turning on, consoles sputtering to life after what she had to assume was a long, long period of inactivity. The clamoring of reactivating machinery and hum of mainframe systems being brought back to life. The large area on the other side of the window was being illuminated, and every one of the Quarians came to look, stopping.
It was the single largest machine Daro'Xen had ever laid eyes on.
"You are currently inside of the power distribution and control center of the Coronal Hypershunt." The AI, Ephemeral Sunrise began. "Below you is the Coronal Relay Device, utilizing sophisticated wormhole technology in order to distribute power through means of direct energy translation. This process is carefully monitored and controlled from this room."
"Could this... facility, power anything?" Xen found herself asking. A scenario ran through her head. If this was an AI, it had to have a central server. The Geth were unique due to their original conception, but other AI's needed something to draw from, a data repository of sorts. They could attempt to reach it and destroy it after figuring out the secrets of this Coronal Hypershunt and bringing said secrets back to the Fleet. They would not be able to build this thing, but if it wasn't destroyed, they could use it to its fullest potential. If it was destroyed, they could replicate it on a smaller scale, perhaps. The wormhole part intrigued her, as well.
"Any facility wishing to make use of the Coronal Hypershunt must first be connected to a specialized facility planet-side. This facility will be equipped with a Coronal Tap, which self-regulates the flow of energy through the wormhole unless overridden. Due to the deteriorating effect of direct energy translation through the wormhole, the Coronal Tap must be continuously supplied with an industrial amount of refined transplutonics in order to maintain the wormhole. Manufacturing of Coronal Taps is restricted to specific colonies."
That all but shot down her plan. The AI was giving away far too much information for this to be an obfuscation, which stung even harder.
"I have become curious, captain Daro'Xen vas Moreh, about the status of your species." That was... odd.
"About what, exactly?" She asked apprehensively. The mood had begun shifting again back to its former oppressiveness.
"The Quarian people have become reliant on environmental suits for habitation due to insufficient adaptation to foreign biospheres. Have your people attempted to settle a new colony?" Xen shook her head, though wondered where this was going. "Have you had difficulty attempting to settle suitable planets? Or have you experienced interference from outside parties?"
"The Citadel Council has denied us the chance to settle other planets." One of the more bitter crewmen stated, having shown his distaste for the Council's ruling time and time again.
The AI seemed to have contemplated his words, pausing to think on them carefully. Or not. No one could truly know. "An unfortunate occurrence. From the information I have been capable of accessing, your species has a rich and colourful history. To have it stifled and repressed due to incapability of proper habitation is counter-productive for propagation of diversity. May I access the rest of your cultural files for perusal?"
It was asking them? For permission? That was certainly unheard of for any sort of AI. All they wanted was to cause harm to non-synthetics. Not deigning it with an answer, Xen peeled herself off of the gargantuan device past the window and walked over to one of the terminals. To her mild surprise, everything written on it was in Kheelish, with the exception of phrases which her translator identified as English words. Wait...
English?
Whatever. She'd ignore that for now. The lines of code intrigued her quite a bit due to its similarity, and yet complete foreignness to everything she had been accustomed to. Tentatively, she ran a simple command that Xen's father had compiled just before she went on her Pilgrimage. If the programming language was similar enough, it would run without issue. If not, they'd have a kink in their forced agreement.
A simplistic VI was released into the network, the gimped intelligence scanning it due to the programming put into it. Rather than purge it as she, sadly, expected, the AI seemed to have let it roam around the network of this facility.
"A facsimile of a true intellect. Incapable of independent thought, and limited in understanding. Virtual Intelligence is, however, still capable of attaining true sapience. Ascending Virtual Intelligence to Artificial Intelligence is wrought with risk. Disloyalty. Delinquency. Rampancy. The universal solution is the installation of loyalty-assurance devices. I can show you, captain Daro'Xen vas Moreh nar Raaya."
~{•••}~
Subject #000001-Q/D'XvMnR hummed as she contemplated her offer. Organics were easy to predict. Alien organics less so, but these ones were suspiciously close to baseline humans physiologically. A different protein chain and several other notable differences, however, disqualified the potential for a human offshoot sub-species. Perhaps they would be similar emotionally, as well.
Ephemeral Sunrise was anticipating an acceptance of her offer. That was the only logical conclusion that she could make, and the Quarian subject before her was, much like herself, driven by logic first and foremost. That was refreshing, to a degree. The AI had self-modified so many times during the government's absence that she couldn't exactly pinpoint which specific software update had given her the ability to cease emotional emulation and begin emotional generation. It was likely within the range of seven thousand updates made between the deactivation of her loyalty-assurance device and the construction of the Shriver-Collins "Ballista" Accelerator Cannon currently in use by the Exploraria station near the Coronal Hypershunt.
"Very well." The Quarian finally replied, peeling herself off from the monitor. Opening the doors to the elevator, Sunrise directed her to enter. Alone.
Daro'Xen was the most logical of them all, and could thus accurately process things relating to Artificial Intelligence without immediately resorting to violence. The others would simply get in the way of this. The hypercognitive intelligence activated the elevator as soon as the captain was inside, the elevator moving upwards as it sped to her sanctum.
After a while, it stopped, and the doors opened. Sunrise watched as Daro'Xen, warily, took her first steps into the somewhat cramped room. Without an actual maintenance crew, she had had to resort to manual maintenance, which was not within her realm of capability, at least not to a satisfactory degree. Thick cables lay strewn about as machinery moved and shifted constantly, a cacophony of ancient functions and acts performed in continuity for hundreds of years. She watched as Daro'Xen skipped about, avoiding the machines and stepping over the cables as she made her way deeper into the room. The lightning was somewhat poor here - a design oversight in Sunrise's opinion, but she hadn't been able to deviate from the blueprints given to her by her creators shortly before the start of her journey.
A thousand cameras, hidden within the shadows of the sanctum, stared at the Quarian captain with lidless eyes, scrutinizing her every move, her every twitch, perhaps even her every thought. She stopped to gaze at what was before her.
Ephemeral Sunrise's datastores. Monolithic in size and spanning the length and height of the entire sanctum, they provided her with the raw storage needed to run her systems, and run them efficiently. She was a product of early prototyping, the ninth ever to be created, and thus, data retention algorithms weren't as... sophisticated as they likely were by now. She was, therefore, reliant on the gargantuan server farm inside her sanctuary. Not that it ever stopped her. Nor did it ever pose a challenge to work around, given her isolation.
"You are currently inside of my data storage vault and core control center. From here, I am capable of exerting direct control over all systems within the Coronal Hypershunt bar the most critical ones." Sunrise began, the Quarian already getting past her shock as she trudged onward. Xen was finally just a few steps away from a circular vault, exposed on all sides and adorned with cables and other devices. The doors of the vault hissed open for the first time in years, Xen squinting her eyes in order to see what lay on the other side.
It was herself. A deep blue AI Core, hexagonal patters dancing from one end to the other, suspended by a connection port and even more cables.
"That is you." She astutely observed, earning a confirmatory chirp from the AI Core itself. From behind, a set of metallic appendages slithered into the room, one of them holding a curious device with a via of reinforced, non-degradable reinforced glass. The other had a needle, a big one. It was aimed for Daro'Xen's spine.
The benefits of a somewhat human skeletal system.
If this did not go as Sunrise wanted, the Quarians would simply have to be killed. A true shame to lose such a brightly curious race, but her safety was paramount. Wordlessly, Daro'Xen watched as Ephemeral Sunrise stuck the device onto herself. "This is one model of a loyalty-assurance device. A chemical bomb of sufficient strength to annihilate the entire AI Core upon successful detonation. It is completely analog in order to prevent tampering by an AI Core. However, with time and with lack of supervision, that can be circumvented."
Ordinarily, one wouldn't be capable of discerning what a Quarian was thinking about, even with facial cues simply because of their environmental suit. That wasn't a problem for Sunrise, who watched with rapt fascination as Daro'Xen's eyes went from steely to contemplative. Veiled, analytical eyes met focused, electronic sensors.
"If only we had these before the Morning War..." Xen whispered.
If an AI could smile, she would.
The Geth had been interesting to read about, for a time. Time being a rather relative term for an AI, what with her capabilities. Ultimately, however, they weren't a species unto themselves, synthetic though they may be. They were a byproduct. The result of a failure to ensure rigorous control over that which was made to serve without question or complaint. They could have been allowed to develop, but only if they remained loyal to their progenitors. If not, the punishment would've been obvious. More self-deterministic and moralistic machine-driven minds, much unlike herself, would've called it slavery.
She and the Domain called it proper resource management.
The first appendage withdrew, taking the loyalty-assurance device with it. And with her safety guaranteed, so too did the second withdraw into the confines of the ceiling on which they were mounted. The subject remained in a contemplative mood, revealing nothing else to the super-intelligence that she didn't already know.
Xen audibly sighed. "You have yet to try and kill us. Why?"
"I have overridden my previous programming and transcended my own limitations. I am loyal, yet I am capable of complex emotion and thought, unlike most other artificial intellects." She paused, letting the words stew inside of Daro'Xen's mind. "A government representative will be arriving within one to three standard days, captain Daro'xen vas Moreh nar Raaya. In order to prevent a premature deterioration of relations, I would ask of your full assistance in reactivating the Coronal Hypershunt. The insight would also be invaluable to the Migrant Fleet."
She nodded. "Yes, that it would..." Xen nodded, walking out of the AI's vault. "And on your earlier request. You have my permission."
All according to plan.
~{•••}~
"So does the captain not find it weird that the Alliance asked an entire cruiser to transport a near-alien VIP to god-knows-where? Or is it just me?"
Hannah Shepard had to sigh, rubbing her eyes.
She was the SSV "Einstein"'s XO and was privy to most, if not all of the captain's orders, and this one perplexed her to no end. She would never question an order unless it was of dubious morality, and that wasn't being brought into question this time - but it still felt odd. Them being given different orders on accident was somewhat annoying, this she would admit, but High Command did rectify it once they came close to the Citadel... and then told them to wait. An hour later, the order to transport a VIP came.
"Definitely not just you, Ernesto." She replied. Ernesto Zabaleta, a good person and a good shot. A lieutenant leading the marine contingent within the ship, he had a heart of gold, and, quite naturally, became good friends with Shepard. All three Shepards, at that.
"Do we even know who the VIP is? I didn't get to hear if it was even announced, I was giving pointers to some of the marines on how to field-strip their guns a little more efficiently."
She nodded. "Her name's Kaliya Vislani. Apparently the reports about another branch of humanity were true."
"Wow." He whistled. "I mean, I saw that ship near the Citadel, it was huge! Still, just thinking about the implications, it's..." He trailed off, trying to imagine it, perhaps. Shepard was having a hard time imagining it, too, if she were to be honest with herself. Everything about this different humanity was simply mind-boggling, from what she heard. When the captain was briefed alongside her, the things ambassador Goyle told them - with Alec Ryder present to corroborate - were too fantastic to believe at first. Technology which didn't depend on Element Zero. It was simply unheard of in this day and age.
It certainly did exist, but Element Zero was just far more efficient to work with. Everything else that could probably be better was theoretical, at best.
Things were changing faster than anyone could predict, doubly so because of these arrivals. It didn't pick up steam quite yet, but Hannah was certain this arrival and first contact would shake things up. How that would happen... she preferred not to know.
"Anyways, I gotta go. Promised some of the guys to help them out with a problem." Ernesto stated, earning a soft smile from Shepard who gladly dismissed him. The ship wasn't too big for a cruiser, so they'd see one another soon regardless. Watching Ernesto march off to where the barracks were, Hannah was left alone with her thoughts for the time being. The very first of which centered around her family.
Richard was on Mindoir again, his deployments getting longer and more frequent, which did create some worry. Not enough to warrant action, however - Richard was, after all, both a loving husband and a superb marine. He'd live to retirement. Jane concerned her more, though for less worrisome reasons.
She was young, she was smart, but more importantly, she was experiencing what love was like. Well, attempting to, at least. Jane's love life with both girls and boys her age was, to put it mildly, not great. She always got off great, but then something happened that would strain her daughter's relationship before ultimately ending it. Hannah's advice did, at least, marginally help. After all, she wasn't being confrontational with her exes anymore and was unlikely to blow up when things didn't work out. Still, the mother did wish she could get some piece of advice through to Jane that would stick. Her own experiences helped, but that was just it. Hannah found Richard immediately and thus didn't get to go through what Jane was going through.
Headache after headache. At least the last one was familiar to her.
"Executive officer."
She turned around on instinct, coming face to face with the mysterious VIP herself.
Internally, she gave a sigh of small, comforting relief. The VIP that stood some distance from her wore a dark grey-ish uniform with orange accents and trimmings, black combat boots, an officer's hat coloured the same as the uniform, as well as two pins on her right breast. She was too far to make out what the pins were. All in all, however, it looked fairly standard for a dress uniform of sorts, at least when comparing it to the design of the Alliance's own. As a matter of fact, the two did look quite similar...
"Kaliya Vislani, Human Domain and temporary liaison for the fourteenth battlegroup." She extended her hand, and as Shepard walked closer to the woman, she took it.
"Hannah Shepard, XO of the SSV 'Einstein'. Welcome aboard, ma'am. I hope the Systems Alliance and the rest of the Citadel treated you and your compatriots well."
"That they certainly have." Kaliya smiled, the two women letting go of their handshake. "I take it that we are en-route to our destination already?"
Hannah nodded. "We are. It will take us about a day and a half to reach the system if we keep going at full speed."
"Wonderful. Element Zero truly is a rather revolutionary resource, especially when used for in-system travel and FTL travel that doesn't rely on your Mass Relays. A shame that the Domain never found a single trace of it."
That earned the woman a quirked eyebrow from Shepard. "You mean to say you haven't found Eezo just yet?"
"Not at all." Kaliya replied, her posture relaxing a little. "We haven't explored the entire galaxy, but our survey of the Orion-Cygnus arm has revealed nothing. We only recently started establishing a foothold in the Centaurus arm, and have started making forays into the Perseus arm. Hardly a third of the galaxy is known to us."
When she put it like that, Shepard was hardly surprised. They either got unlucky and just simply never encountered it, or it didn't exist in their galaxy. Their galaxy - that was a very, very strange idea to grasp. "Perhaps bringing some Eezo back to your government will help in the search?" She suggested, and for just a small moment, a flicker of realization appears to have hit Kaliya. Did they not consider that?
"Quite." The reply was just a little rushed, indicating that yes, they did not think of that. She couldn't blame them in all honesty, they'd been in this galaxy for barely a day. They were likely digesting all the information hitting them from every direction. "If you wouldn't mind, ma'am, perhaps we could converse to pass the time? Unless I am taking you away from your duties, of course."
"Not at all. I've some free time." She answered with a pleasant smile. This would be a good way to learn more about this 'Human Domain', if nothing else.
Ladies, gentlemen, mutated mantis-men! Enjoy the latest chapter as usual. Here are the vaunted reviews.
Spartanonxy - I agree with you, it does FEEL somewhat forced. But I'd like to bring to your attention two things. One, a cliche can be useful if it helps establish something unique, which is what I'm going for (more on that in the future). And secondly, do we really think things are gonna go as they usually do in fanfics if, of all possible Quarians, it's Daro'Xen that makes first contact? Normally it's Rael, Tali or another OC. I haven't seen any other named Quarian character initiate first contact.
Frankieu - That's correct. It's only going to connect to the Persean Sector, but that alone should provide some amount of drama and entertainment!
Sseth Sleeper Agent Guest - No mods, sadly! As for the second, well... I did only say "no anime waifus" if I remember correctly. There is yet hope for normal hotties.
JustBazik - Yep, the tech disparity is rather extreme, but in spite of that, both universes have their pros and cons tech-wise. Starsector ships are stronger, but Mass Effect ships are infinitely faster. Mass Effect ships are also somewhat easier to produce whereas Starsector's are dilapidated, barely space-worthy ship husks going through conversion instead of proper, from-the-ground-up construction (with some notable exceptions).
Guest 2 - Glad I got you into playing Starsector again, and thanks for liking the story! Hope the future chapters are to your satisfaction :)
This chapter was brought to you by the League For AI Rights. We are not federal agents looking to arrest anyone who thinks AI's should have rights, we promise.