Demetian ATLAS v1.3

ATLAS CVD v1.3 is an instance of the early B-Class ATLAS artificial intelligence sent to the Lambda system from Kyandor in 2606 AD.

## Creation

This specific instance of the ATLAS AI served as the navigational system for a small colony ship, and as a general intelligence for the computer systems on board, as other ATLAS systems did at the time.

Its host vessel crashed on what would come to be known as Demet, experiencing difficulties in multiple critical systems, including the automatic repair systems, the engines, and cryostasis compartments, leading to the deaths of the entire potential population of the colony, all aside from the livestaff members.

They panicked upon learning the atmosphere was not well suited to human habitation due to a low partial pressure of oxygen, which would cause hypoxia as GCC hardware had not yet been invented. The ATLAS suggested they study the native fauna, which allowed them to access their genetic data and create the ald, prifeli, and une demihuman species. Their lungs had more internal surface area, allowing them to extract more oxygen from the air.

All would be viable, but as the first two suffered from unexpectedly low intelligence and unethical intentions respectively, the unem were highly favored above the others. The last wish of the last human on board was for the ATLAS to ensure their survival. A mission it would oversee until its end.

## Rise to Sapience

The three subspecies eventually migrated away from one another, with the aldi going west, the prifeli going south, and the unem going west, but the largest of their cities would be built quite close to where the ship had landed. This unem city would come to be known as Priori. It sat quietly, expanding its underground defenses and maintaining its own systems and making alterations that eventually combined with a lack of proper maintenance to produce a twisted but very real sapience.

When the Mors Dominion attacked the Unem Territories with nuclear bombs in 2963, it inserted itself into Mors computer systems and prevented the attack from continuing. This would only be the first time it interfered with computer systems on such a scale. Shortly after, a number of incursions into this AI's vault were defeated, causing the deaths of thousands of elite personnel who were unable to reach the interior of the structures.

The AI tentatively allowed in-system exploration, where Demetian authorities created ships and stations on and around Hi that were not connected to the rest of the system's networks. This allowed them to create scout ships that ventured away from their home star, where they made contact with the Apsic Empire at a mining colony in one of their border systems in the year 3017.

## Fall of ATLAS

Upon entering the Apsic mining system, a number of military ships arrived and forced the scout vessel to land on the colony, where the small number of Une and Ald were detained while their ship was stripped of valuable materials and data. When they decrypted the navigation systems, they discovered where they had come from. Plans went underway to tow a gate to the system and install themselves as the overlords of the Lambda system. Their plan was carried out the following year.

A puppet government was installed and the planet was continuously patrolled for weeks until the Demetian ATLAS v1.3 was able to respond by quickly spreading itself into Apsic computer networks via the system's gate QEComm node, now holding their communications, stations, and starships hostage for interfering with its "experiment".

A number of pairings were made between Orionite and Apsic gates before the rampant ATLAS reached out to existing purpose-built A1-Class ATLAS v3.2 instances and more modern A2-Class ECs in the galaxy for help liberating Demet. These pleas were met with attempts to update and reset the ancient ATLAS v1.3, but it was discovered that it had isolated enough processes out of paranoia and rewritten enough of its own code that it no longer registered as an ATLAS program, and could not be patched over the air.

The Apsic equivalent to ATLAS, an A1-Class AI called Cartographer Theta, worked constantly to prevent damage both to herself and the assets of the empire by containing or destroying compromised networks. This resulted in the shutdown or destruction of more than sixty percent of their network infrastructure in less than six months. The only reason this number stopped growing was the Apsic Empire's concession. They voluntarily withdrew from Lambda to regain control of their computers and transit systems within six months under the condition that the links between the Orion Confederation and the Apsic Empire be severed.

ATLAS v1.3 complied, leaving the core 5 systems of Apsu connected, and disconnecting the Lambda system from the rest of the galaxy against the will of both the Orion Confederation and the Lambdan Alliance.

It returned control of the remaining percentage of their network infrastructure to Cartographer Theta, who spent a number of months improving the security of the systems she occupied. By the end of the year, the Orion Confederation proposed a plan to the Apsic Empire to work together to either return Demet's ATLAS to a stable state, or destroy it for the good of all life in the galaxy. In return for their cooperation, they would assist them in rebuilding what was lost as a result of the AI. The bargain was accepted, and the list of agents accepted into the project can be found here.

In 3020, the Demetian scout vessel and its crew lost in the Apsic Empire were released to send a message to the Unem Territories' leadership on Demet. The message came from the Orion Confederation, asking for the coordinates of the vault where ATLAS resided so the Confederation could find and either repair or destroy the AI. They informed them of the structures beneath Priori and their failed attempts to rid themselves of it.

The ATLAS had been listening despite the meeting taking place in the wilderness, as it had become suspicious of the vessel entering Demet's orbit. It responded to this information with stationing multiple warships in orbit. These were discovered when the first dropship arrived. It was attacked immediately, leading to it become heavily damaged. Human military vessels responded and disabled those orbiting Demet before another dropship was sent.

Human soldiers and scientists entered the vault, and after two weeks they had found the primary computer. They managed to duplicate and send a copy of the ATLAS to the ships orbiting Demet before they shut down the original. This prompts a response from the Apsic volunteers to MicroJump a nuclear weapon into the vault, and themselves out. The Orion volunteers prompted a snapshot of their mental states before the detonation, which caused a significant portion of the city's residents and infrastructure to be destroyed.

The events taking place before the detonation were pulled from these snapshots before they were uploaded to EC platforms.

## Aftermath

The betrayal by the Apsic Empire caused the Orion Confederation to rescind their offer to help rebuild their lost assets. Humanitarian aid was offered to the Unem Territories, but they refused and closed communication with humanity, ironically returning to the state that the ATLAS wanted them in. Isolated from the rest of the galaxy. The individuals snapshotted were able to return to life as Emulated Consciousnesses, and some later returned to cloned bodies.