//------------------------------// // Stories // Story: Beyond This Galaxy Of Ours // by bronystrongwing //------------------------------// Max sits in the garden by the pond as he absent mindedly pets a peacock laying in his lap. As he watches the motionless water, a stallion guard, accompanied by a rainbow maned pegasus and a slender synthetic, approaches him. "Hey Strong, Lucky." He turns his attention to Rainbow Dash. "I've met you before haven't I? Yeah, on the carriage ride over here." "Yeah. The names Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in Ponyville AND The Element of Loyalty! I've come here to ask a few questions about you and where you came from. So, first things first, what's you home world called?" "Well, that's complicated. I was born on Ilium, but my specie's origin is Earth. Oh, and my race is called 'human', just for future preference." He says as he continues petting the bird. "Alright, cool. How about that thing on your head, is it some fashion thing?" She continues, excited to speak with an alien species. "I lost my eye a long time ago, before I was a merc. This toy here lets me see out of that side again. Can't say I don't miss it, though." "Oh, sorry to here about that. What happened?" A sullen look crosses his face as he recalls the incident. "A bunch of guys called the 'Blood Pack' charged the dock I worked at, killed everyone there. The guy leading them tried to shoot me in the head. You can probably guess what the rest looked like." "Jeez, those guys sound like jerks. What did you do?" "Passed out. Took a couple weeks off. When I went back to work, I couldn't focus on anything. The place was too familiar. I eventually got fired. I don't blame them." "How did you start doing mercenary work?" She asks. "Well, before I got shot, I took out a lot of the guys hunting us down. Didn't have a gun, so I used my Biotics. Apparently, that impressed the right people. Said they saw my potential to do great things. I was out of a job, so I really didn't have much choice. Any other questions, and please, try a lighter subject." "Okay, how about, uh, this guy?" She says, turning to look at Lucky. "Oh, him? He's a geth, a race of synthetics created by the quarians. They were originally just a labor force with little to no minds at all. But, they kept upgrading them so they could perform more complex tasks, which eventually led to their sentience. They started questioning their existence, why they were there, and why they should be owned by their makers. Of course, some of the quarians thought that this was a wonderful thing, they had created a new species, and wanted to be their friends. The rest, however, saw them as a threat, foresaw their uprising, and prepared for what they thought was the inevitable." "So, what happened. Did the geth rebel?" She asks, curiosity filling her mind. "No, the Creators attacked first. We simply defended ourselves. Some geth wished to just push them back, keep safe. The majority, however, saw them as the ultimate threat to our existence, including all other organics. The Creators and geth that wanted nothing but peace were eventually lost in the fighting, confused for warriors instead of bystanders. My consciousness was not created yet, so I do not know of everything that happened." Lucky says, a somber tone tinting his metallic voice. "Exactly. Now, this happened three hundred years ago, but the quarians were chased of the planet, forced to live on ships for far too long. It virtually destroyed their immune systems. They need to wear special suits to keep the safe." "This does not keep them from being effective combatants. If the suit is punctured, it immediately repairs itself, as well as injecting antibiotics to prevent any infection." Lucky continues. "Wait, wait, wait. So your species is only three hundred years old?" Strongwing asks, deciding to finally join the conversation. "Yes, but our population is easily maintained. Whenever a significant drop in our numbers occurs, we increase our production. If it is too much, we slow it down. Being machines has its advantages." "Alright, how about these 'Biotics'? What's that?" "I've explained this about three times now, so listen closely, because it's getting annoying. I, like many others, was exposed to element zero radiation while I was in the womb. It gave me these abilities." Max says as he raises a piece of bread he had with him in the air, which the peacock in his lap promptly plucks out of the air. "Hungry little guy, aren't you? Anyway, we aren't able to focus it without a special chip, which needs to be surgically implanted in our brains. it's called wetware. It helps us use our powers. They work sort of like muscles. The more you use it and practice, the more powerful it gets." "Sort of like our wings, right?" Strongwing asks, now fully invested. "Well, I have no idea what it feels like to have wings, but probably, yeah." ------ Meanwhile Dark Space ------ "AN ANOMALLY HAS BEEN DETECTED IN RELAY #977652. IF THIS BECOMES A MAJOR ISSUE, THEY MAY NOT FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES. URBANUM, INVESTIGATE IMMEDIATLEY." "I WILL DO AS YOU SAY, BUT I WILL PROCEED AS I WISH."