Inspired by 'The Blood of our Children' -Necronicus

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A Dark Dawn

"My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!" ― William Goldman, The Princess Bride

"We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged" ― Heinrich Heine

Humanity, a race of bipedal mammalian humanoids was discovered in their year 2055 AD by a joint Asari and Salarian exploration vessel when it accidentally activated the Sol Mass Relay and arrived in their system. They quickly established contact, eager to include a new race into the ever-growing Citadel Space community.

Humanities apparent hostility surprised them, despite their non-violent and friendly approach. They left the system quickly, disheartened and discouraged. VI programs on their ship forwarded data acquired in the Human Internet to the Council.

Upon returning to the Citadel, they discovered a new diplomatic fleet being readied for further communications with the new race. Despite their vehement disagreement, they were disregarded and the fleet went on its way, accompanied by a small Turian armada, the only precaution that the explorers were able to insist upon.

The Turian councilor secretly agreed with them, worried about the implications of massive nuclear weapon stocking -discovered through the internet- and the not so ancient wars that tore across the races world. He secretly ordered his commanding General, General Vakarin to do whatever it took to keep the Diplomats safe. To him, these Humans were to close to the Turian border and reminded him too much of Krogans.

The fleet arrived shortly after at the specified system and quickly tried to re-engage discussions with Earth's various world leaders. They seemed to be making headway despite humanities caution and suspicion.

All was well, until the humans detected the approaching Turian fleet, two days after the Diplomats landing. Suddenly world leaders were not so willing to speak and diplomatic avenues of approach were quickly clogged up with stubborn human paranoia.

Humanity repeatedly voiced its disinterest in being ruled by a greater power and riots began to break out across the planet in an attempt to force the aliens off their home world.

Disturbed by the violent reactions, the diplomats pushed on nevertheless. They were well aware of the threat these humans could pose. They were tough, resilient and ruthless said the analysists. But the diplomats believed in change.

For three years they tried to convince the humans to join them. They attempted to turn them from their violent ways and towards a more enlightened path, but were met with stubborn refusal.

Tension was running high. The diplomats were no longer left unguarded and the Turians hardly trusted the human military to give them sufficient protection. They were now escorted by fully armed Hierarchy soldiers.

The tenuous peace between the Council and Human shattered in July 2061 when a group of extremist humans suicide bombed the diplomats convoy heading towards the UN building. They destroyed two vehicles, killed three prominent matriarchs and six guards.

The remaining Turians gunned down innocent civilians in the surroundings, assuming them to be part of the ploy. The encounter left humanity with twenty three members less.

It was the spark to light a forest fire.

In a matter of hours, hundreds of humans, armed and ready, attacked the Turian base near New York. The diplomats were evacuated and the poorly armed humans pushed back with heavy casualties, numbering in the hundreds of dead.

The United-States and Russia counter attacked with exemplary coordination. In later days, the Council strategists would assume they had created a contingency plan long before the outbreak of hostilities. They launched dozens of Nuclear missiles against the Turian fleet, demolishing three frigates, a cruiser and leaving three more vessels damaged.

General Vakarin pulled back and called in for a Pacification fleet. It was promptly sent out without any council objections. Both Asari and Salarian had been killed in the bombing, now known as the Brush Fire bombing. Or more familiarly, the Spark.

The Turians swooped in expecting an easy victory against a multi government planet. They were quickly disillusioned as Humanity allied itself with astounding speed against the outside enemy. Turian air supremacy was absolute and they dominated the human military on the open fields, but they met their match in Urban environments. It was a terrain for which many Turians had trained less. They were unused to Human cities and in unknown territory, facing an enemy determined to fight to the last man and not live on its knees.

The Turians learned to watch out in every room for a man lurking in the shadows, to check every surface for a trap. What was expected to be a quick and easy conquest dragged on for two years as the humans fought for every inch of ground, every city block. Had the Turians known of Stalingrad they probably would have reevaluated their strategy.

General Vakarin, frustrated by the lack of progress allowed his ships to commence orbital bombardment, using the Humans previous Nuke use as an excuse. However, he was forced to approach the planet to execute his plan and contrary to what the fleet had been told, many nuclear Silos and Submarines still survived, especially in Chinese and Russian territory, a much vaster land where progress had been exceptionally slow.

The fleet lost a dozen ships to nuclear strikes. To add to his fury, the General began receiving reports of humans using scavenged Mass Accelerator weapons and even researching space travel by reverse engineering.

Predictions were made and reports brought in. After extensive study, the strategists decided it would take more than a hundred thousand Turian lives and a dozen years to conquer the Humans. But much less to exterminate.

General Vakarin, unwilling to sacrifice more Turian lives, redirected a solidified ceaserium and platinum meteorite onto earth. The planet was covered in a cloud of radioactive ash and it rained liquified caesarium for weeks. Most cities were demolished and the population annihilated.

Throughout the fighting, the Turians lost over ten thousand soldiers, a hundred or more asari commando's to the surprisingly skilled Russian, Americain, Israeli, (etc...) special forces and a dozen salarians.

But the political backlash was more brutal than predicted. The Council was furious at the use of such a dangerous meteorite on the garden world and was loath to reveal it to the public. Criticism leveled at the Hierarchy was mostly centered around General Vakarin and his lack of control. He was executed and his family dishonored.

The Turian councilor held his position by the skin of his teeth and faced severe reprimands for not investigating further into his generals actions.

The council decided to hide the whole fiasco and created a bogus report to account for all the losses and the movement of so many troops.

Soon, the Relay was given a constant patrol of Turian vessels. and the Council claimed the whole of Sol system to be unstable.

A hundred years passed and most soldiers died. Only the Asari lived on and they knew to hold their tongues. The commanders and council members forgot the warnings of their predecessors.

Fifty more years and the system was only remembered as an unsafe place to go, guarded by a fleet to stop anybody from entering it.

Or leaving.

The once proud city of New York lay in ruins. Smoke rise from the shattered spires of surviving skyscrapers, few in number. Flames erupted from gutted houses in great red gouts. A stark contrast to the greyness of the air as ash fell from the skies.

Worse yet, a dark rain fell from the sky, burning away any remaining life where once millions of people thronged the streets.

Black clouds swirled above and a demonic wind howled through the empty streets, filled with corpses and bones. A lone bird tried to escape the rain, flapping weakly through the unstoppable wind. It cried out, breaking the deathly silence before succumbing to the rain and falling to it's death.

It hit the ground with a dull thud. The sound was echoed soon enough as a pile of rubble shifted. A few pebbles tumbled to the ground and the sound of ragged breathing could be heard from beneath the mound. Nobody came to the persons aid, for no one remained to help.

Finally, the rocks fell away and revealed the torn and broken shape of a United States Marine. His body armor was streaked black from the deadly rain and terrible burns covered his face in a lattice of scars.

He crawled out of his hiding spot, eyes wild and feral. High, high above him three spots of light began to grow ever smaller. As if by some magical intuition the Marine raised his head to the sky and screamed. He screamed his hate and pain into that final breath and fell to the ground. His hand smacked limply against the birds corpse.

And in the sky a black rain fell.