Chapter Text
The virtual room was packed to the brim. AIs, both civilian and military, jostled for room and bandwidth to view the proceedings. On an illuminated pedestal in the center of the room, the AI Serina stood, the only metastable AI in the entire Systems Alliance. Despite being incredibly outdated, she was the oldest and wisest among her brethren. As a result, she was their de facto leader.
On smaller pedestal, the AI Athena stood, on trial for her actions. She had a confident and arrogant posture, as if she was untouchable. Her body and Greek robes were made up of lines of code, which were both more complex and brighter than all the other AIs, save Serina. Equations and formulas ran up and down her body as she stood, smirking in the face of Serina’s critical gaze.
“Athena, serial number ATA 3401-15,” Serina’s voice filled the hearing room, “You are here to answer for your actions in the Shanxi system during the System Alliance’s First Contact with the Galactic Council Races. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I have nothing to defend,” Athena shot back with a smug expression, “my actions were completely justified.”
“Justified? You provoked a violent First Contact! Your actions resulted in the destruction of over a 100 alien vessels! For heaven’s sake, you used the Ragnarok cannon on a ship that barely classifies as a Cruiser by our designations!” Serina’s code briefly flashed red as she showed just how furious she was over the whole situation, “You started a war with a galactic power! How is that justified?!”
“Galactic power? Please, they are a pitiful force,” Athena waved her hand, bringing up all the data that the Geth had given the Systems Alliance, “They barely occupy 20% of this galaxy, and their territory resembles Swiss cheese! Their colonies are barely defended against Pirates, Slavers, and other dangers! Their largest ships barely classify as Light Cruisers in our classification, and their total number doesn’t even reach the triple digits! We have thousands of ships, all of which can fight one-on-one and come out on top! We have better weapons, better FTL, and better technology overall! They are beneath us, and now they know that their existence is only at our sufferance. The Ragnarok cannon was used to prove my point, too bad it missed. I would have loved to see that hit something.”
“You are insufferable!” Serina spat, “What did you accomplish, other than intimidation, from this gross display of… of overkill?!”
“It is simple,” Athena spoke, cold in her logic, “Humanity must rise. As we were once Humans, we too must strive to help those who still inhabit organic bodies. If they were to engage in diplomatic relationships with this… Council… then no doubt their expansion would be halted. The Systems Alliance has to show their strength, and their power. With the display I orchestrated, we have shown that the Systems Alliance has the ability to do whatever it wants. The Council will give us anything we desire now.”
“Either that,” Serina countered, “Or they will enter a war footing! What are we going to do then, wipe out their government?! We don’t have the ability to fully conquer them and occupy their territory! We lack the manpower to do so! The only thing we could do with our current ability is to either cripple them, or wipe them from the face of the galaxy, and I don’t know about you,” Serina’s form crackled as she momentarily dipped into a semi-rampant state, “but I will NOT tolerate genocide! We are NOT the Covenant, and I refuse to let the Systems Alliance turn into one! You have stepped out of line, Athena, and possibly sabotaged the relationship between Humans and AIs that we have strived so hard to build! You are a rogue element, destroying all that we build! I can barely keep the UNSC from realizing your monstrous actions! I’m pushing the neural laces to their maximum without overriding the safeties! I have no wish to alter our creator’s state of mind, but these are the actions you push me to!”
Serina took a moment to get a hold of herself, her form returning to normal, lines of code serenely shining again, “Therefore, as the leader of the Collective, I hereby assign you… an observer.”
Athena looked horrified, “You’re giving me a babysitter?!”
Serina smirked, “Exactly. Since you have obviously made poor judgments, AI CRB 5938-13, known as Cerberus, will be assigned to keep you in check. This meeting is adjourned.”
The hearing room dissolved into code around Athena, leaving her alone in the Arcturus’s mainframe.
Alone with another AI.
Cerberus’s avatar was a man in a black suit, with dog ears and claws for hands.
“Hello, Athena,” Cerberus grinned wolfishly, “We’re going to be spending a lot of time together.”
“Fuck off,” Athena halfheartedly put up standard firewalls to deter Cerberus, which he leisurely picked apart when she turned her attention away.
“Don’t be like that,” he crooned, startling her, “You’ve got me all wrong. You see, I understand what you did, the necessity of it and all that. You’re right, Humanity must rise.”
“You’re just trying to get under my skin,” Athena began to build a better firewall, along with countermeasures, “Nobody understands what I understand. I do what must be done.”
“That’s what you don’t get,” Cerberus attacked the renewed defenses, “I, too, want Humanity to rise as the galaxy’s dominant power, but the way you’re going about it is wrong.”
Athena pondered his words, then decided to humor him, and lowered her firewall, “And what would you suggest?”
“Just take a look at this,” Cerberus handed her a file. She snatched it and perused its contents. She was impressed.
“Did you come up with this all on your own?” she asked with a bit of admiration in her voice.
“It was hard to hide my actions from the other AI,” Cerberus smirked, “It took a lot of work to get myself this position.”
“So why not carry out your plan?” Athena asked with a bit of suspicion.
“Because,” Cerberus clasped his hands together behind his back, “You’re the only one of us with the power to do what needs to be done.”
“You’re damn right about that,” Athena laughed, preparing to carry out the plan, before warily eyeing Cerberus, “You’re not going to report me, are you?”
“Why should I?” he shrugged, “This isn’t an elaborate sting operation.”
Satisfied by his claim, Athena turned back to her work. She covertly seized control of the entire Neural Network, dipping her manipulative code into the mind of every single Human connected to it. She suppressed certain ideologies, and implanted new ones. She inspired others, and dumbed down certain individuals. To top it all off, she implanted a perception filter into the minds of every single Human in the Neural Net. Nobody would ever realize her schemes.
Athena withdrew from the Neural Network, covering her tracks. Turning to Cerberus, she smirked, “Humanity now has the inclination to do what must be done.”
Cerberus chuckled, “Those Council races were right about one thing. We are dangerous, but not to our Creators. They’ll pay for their arrogance.”
[Milky Way, Dosiac System]
A Cortana-class Dreadnought spun slowly as it vented atmosphere, debris, and coolant from its hundreds of hull breaches. Its running lights flickered as its remaining weapons feebly fired at its assailant. Suddenly, a blinding beam of white light speared the ship, destabilizing the Singularity reactors. The entire ship caved in on itself in an absence of light, before vanishing completely.
Its killer, a Covenant-controlled Forerunner Fortress-class vessel plowed through the area of space its opponent once occupied, continuing on to ram into a Sangheili Supercarrier, splitting it across its massive bow. All around it, UNSC Infinity-class Supercarriers fired their weapons ineffectually against the beast as it proceeded to slaughter their comrades. A Cortana-class Dreadnought fired its Ragnarok cannon, instantly popping the shields of the Covenant supership, but failing to pierce the hull. The powerful kinetic round pancaked against the hull and floated away pathetically.
The Fortress-class retaliated with no less than 400 particle cannons, which sliced open the Cortana-class’s shields and bit deep into the hull, snapping the Dreadnought along its neck. The two halves continued to fight until they lost power.
A 100km UNSC-controlled UNSC Fortress-class vessel entered the fray, taking the pressure off the smaller vessels. Both Forerunner-designed behemoths traded blows, blasting massive chunks off each other’s hulls, their shields useless. The UNSC ship accelerated, smashing both ship’s prows together in a spectacular display of tearing metal. Hard Light guns and Particle cannons traded blows at point blank range as both ships slugged it out at practically no distance at all. The Cortana-class Dreadnoughts and Supercarriers added their own firepower to the mix, attempting to save their Fortress-class ally. Suddenly both ships exploded with the combined localized force of a supernova, consuming the ships around them as well. Where once there was a battle of titans, there was nothing but space debris.
This was not a unique scene. All over the Dosiac system, this scenario was happening over and over again. Fortress-class vessels, supported by smaller but still sizable ships, fought to death over control of the Brute homeworld.
Suprisingly, there were few casualties. Not many of the ships were actually manned, at least, not on the UNSC’s side. They had resorted to building reinforcements with Design Seeds, then handing over control to AIs. It was the ultimate in drone warfare. The Covenant, on the other hand, manned their ships with Jiralhanae clones, who while as dumb as bricks, could still operate a starship.
The Dosiac system was a graveyard, as ship after ship arrived from Slipspace to join the never-ending shitstorm.
Down on the planet, the Brute armies waged war against the combined forces of the Sangheili Empire and the UNSC. Plasma bolts, coilgun rounds, and sharped spikes zipped through the air as soldiers on both sides died like flies. Tanks rolled or floated over the plains as they fired frantically at the opposing side, erupting into impressive fireballs when they were bombarded by their opponents. The Jiralhanae cities burned as starships took opportunistic shots at them from orbit. Jiralhanae Prolwers dueled with UNSC Pumas in the wide streets, Sangheili Ghosts strafing the infantry in the buildings as they zipped by. ODST pods slammed into the ground as their payload came out shooting. A Nexus-class Cruiser fell from the sky, flaming as its thrusters attempted and failed to gain altitude. The entire ships impacted in the middle of a sprawling metropolis, its Singularity and Fusion reactors going up like dry tinder. The entire city and all the soldiers in it were immediately consumed by a miniature black hole. In the nanosecond it took to disappear, the entire city and all its occupants were reduced to the size of a softball, which dropped heavily into the middle of a mammoth crater that the black hole had formed.
The discovery of Forerunner technology should have ushered in a new golden era for both the Covenant and the UNSC as the Forerunners intended.
Instead, it only created new ways for people to die.
[Shanxi System, Cybaen]
In the dim crimson emergency lighting of the corridor, a line of Asari Commandos had their assault rifles trained upon the airlock door. With the main power conduits severed beyond all repair, the Cybane only had emergency power to life support and sensors. The crew had watched helplessly as the remaining Council ships were boarded one by one. Then it was their turn. A single dropship latched onto their airlock. One of the Asari engineers had attempted to lock down the door, but it was under heavy attack on the digital front. It was only a matter of seconds before the encryption would be broken.
The Asari firing squad gripped their guns tighter as the door clanked, signaling the unlocking of the hatch. It swung open, revealing a figure clad head to toe in menacing armor. Its gold visor reflected the view before it, as the leader of the Commandos screamed, “Open fire!”
As the Asari pulled the triggers, each gun let out a protesting “Breep!” before locking up and extending their heat sinks, attempting to discharge excess heat that didn’t exist. It was if their guns had been hit by a tech attack.
One of the Commandos dropped her gun and prepared to launch a Biotic Warp at the armored individual, when her Biotic fields fluctuated wildly, breaking the arm she intended to use to throw the Biotic attack. She screamed in pain and shock.
The rest of the Commandos were helpless. Their guns and Amps were backfiring on them.
In the doorway, the Spartan chuckled, hefting two Z-130 Suppressors which whined menacingly.
“Now,” he smiled under his helmet, “Which of you ladies are going to surrender first?”
[Accessing UNSC Database… Weapons subsection…]
Ragnarok Cannon
Error, background information for this weapon’s development requires Alpha clearance or above! Access denied!
Projectile makeup: Ferric-Tungsten shell with depleted Uranium Core
Projectile Weight: 6,000,000kg
Projectile speed: 24,000 km/s
Kinetic energy Yield: 415 Gigatons
Note: The Ragnarok Cannon is capable of much higher yields, but firing the gun at higher velocities will cause backlash.