A Krogan misplaced: Chapter 14Cape Kennedy - Florida - 9th of November 2052
The rocket ship was the biggest of its kind ever constructed, towering some five hundred metres off of the ground, and studded by an array of podlike alien components alongside more recognisably human styles which made up its core, the behemoth of a vehicle was to be a statement to the universe, even if none other than its creators would see it.
But to Matthew Stoltzfus, 52nd President of the United States of America, the symbol of unity was far more important.
Matthew was aware he was hardly the most striking President in recent memory, being possessed of a rather dumpy frame, watery eyes and a long scraggly beard which hung down to his chest, a reminder of his old Amish way of life even after he chose to move to the big city. But while he may have been physically unimposing, Matthew liked to imagine he was known more for his speeches and policies rather than such outward things as appearance.
Standing amidst the crowd of delegates, amongst whom were the representatives of almost every nation on the face of the planet, containing such familiar figures as the Chinese President and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and even the towering visage of Urdnot Wrex, the sole non-human sapient inhabiting humankind's birthplace.
But more important to Matthew were the thirty two suited astronauts standing at the boarding ramp. From nineteen nations and seven continents had come the men and women selected for the greatest leap humanity had taken since the discovery of fire. The thirty two people in front of him would begin the first steps of Project Moses, the human settlement of Mars.
About three metres behind the President
Fatima Santos hadn't really expected to go too far in life, what with being the lovechild of a particularly drunk night between a otherwise devout member of the British Gurkha Regiment and a Filipino tourist, she'd grown up accepting that her best position in life would likley be as some secretary or another, or as a factory worker in some sweatshop.
When Fatima reflected on it, she was lucky that her lolo had taken such thoughts as a personal insult and challenge. Oh she might have despised him at the time, but the amount of effort her lolo put into getting her into military, even the damned British one when her own country still wouldn't allow it, was a greater testament to his strength of will than anything she could say.
Idly, she twirled her kukri around in her hands as she scanned the crowd once more, letting the familiar feeling of the blades edge sink in as she looked for anything that could possibly be suspicious. Finding nothing, she turned her eyes to the back of her charge, the one and only Urdnot Wrex.
Fatima still didn't know why she had been selected for guarding the most important VIP ever to exist as a full time job. In truth she suspected a degree of politics were involved, every country had been trying to get personnel into proximity with "Old man Alien" as much of the internet dubbed him, for prestige as much as anything else. Perhaps Fatima had simply been of a diverse enough background that a few minds agreed she would fit the bill.
But even after knowing the krogan for 10 years, Urdnot Wrex was something of an enigma to her. Fatima knew a fair amount about him, his habits and skills as a fighter or teacher. As well as more idle things like his personal preferences towards the ridiculously spicy foods Earth had to offer, or his odd dislike of amphibians.
Yet his thought processes, the reasoning behind his decisions or his thoughts regarding human events? Those were things the millennia old alien kept close to his chest as it were.
Checking radio chatter, Fatima silenced her thoughts as other security at the Moses Launch reported no signs of anything going awry. Which considering the last three occasions Wrex had been to was a relief. Crazed conspiracy theorists and lunatics made for poor assassins, but in ten years Fatima had needed to stop far more of them before they committed unwise acts than she had even been aware existed. The one primary disadvantage of being the only non-human on a pre-instellar flight species was seemingly that you became the prime target for any conspiracy group. Wrex being Wrex, had thought that such things were hilarious.
The last of the astronauts, the small Congolese man who was the main pilot, finished their speech, and as one they gave the salutes of their nations, a bewildering display of hands over hearts, on the sides of heads and pointed in the air either clenched into fists or open.
In truth, Fatima suspected that Wrex didn't quite know what humans as a whole thought of him. The interaction between the krogan and the human public had been quite limited aside from specific pre-organised events after all. But Fatima knew. The name Urdnot Wrex was quite possibly the most recognised one in the world. Almost everyone knew the basics, of the moment when humanity had discovered that it wasn't alone. Some hated him of course, for reasons of almost every kind. Some saw in the krogan divine intervention, or inspiration for art and other great works from cultures not human.
But Fatima saw in Urdnot Wrex something far more important, he represented hope.
Hope that humanity would solve its problems and squabbles, that the children of Earth might cease their warring and arguing to unite behind what they would do tomorrow, instead of what had been done yesterday.
Craning her head to watch the last astronaut disappear into the towering rocket, Fatima gave a small smile. Maybe it wouldn't be in her lifetime, but she had a sense things were going to get better.
- President's Office, Sudan, five years earlier
The Sudanese President was a bulky man, the years of running a country always at the verge of tearing itself apart at the seams having caused the man a great deal of stress. Stress he relieved by eating perhaps a bit more than would be recommended by any doctor.
But even if he had wanted to make mention of that fact, Alek Dawoud would not have dared to do so. His position as head of intelligence was secured only by the grace of the man opposite him. Grace which could be taken away at a moments notice. So as the great bearded man finished off a delicious looking plate of roast lamb, Alek waited. Finally, a slight nod was given, the plate was taken away, and Alek could get down to business.
Shuffling the papers in front of him, he began to speak in the timid tone of voice which had made all those superiors before the coup assume he was some wretched bookworm, possessed of little ambition.
"I have a-ah report on the situation in Kadugli Mr President. The neo-janjaweed group was dispersed as ordered, but it seems the police were...overzealous in doing so."
The President looked at him with a glare, Alek wasn't worried, the glare was just that, the man had his ways of dealing with frustration or failure but thankfully a firing squad wasn't one of them. Stroking his beard, the President spoke a few words in a deep tone.
"Overzealous...how? Minister?"
Alek made something of a show of appearing nervous before glancing down at the paper and reading off the attached report.
"It would seem that the officers...took the permission to use force in a somewhat liberal manner. Three neo-janjaweed were killed and an officer was badly wounded in response."
The President gave a frown, his jowls wobbling slightly as he did so.
"Give the man a commendation and line him up for a promotion, but that hardly fits the description of "overzealous"."
Alek gave a single short sigh, before showing a handful of pictures to his superior, of burnt homes and destroyed thoroughfares.
"The officers seem to have desired some revenge for the wounding of their comrade and... burned down the meeting hall in which the Janjaweed had gathered. This then spread to the neighbouring slums and it's estimated that almost 400 have been left homeless."
The normally jovial President then proceeded to let loose a barrage of some of the foulest curses the Arabic language could conjure up, insinuating numerous things about the parentage of his police chief, said police chief's relationship with his farm animals, and the soon to be fired police chief.
The tirade was capped off by the heavyset man leaning deeply into his chair, before he turned slowly to Alek, obviously in deep thought.
"Evidently, an issue of this magnitude demands rectification. Prepare documents for the arrest of all high ranking officers who are known to be even the slightest bit corrupt or disloyal, i'm cleaning house."
A slight pause occurred as the mountain of a man wiped his brow with a handkerchief before continuing.
"We'll also need someone to fill in the vacancy of Police Chief, at least temporarily. Do you have any men who could do that?"
Alek thought about it for a few seconds, before a name came to mind that had previously crossed his desk.
"Yes sir, I believe I've mentioned him before, one of my lower ranking agents from the Badri family. Loyal, aligned with our cause, and too wealthy to be bribed."
The President nodded at the words, idly signing a few documents Alek had handed him before speaking.
"Excellent, get him informed immediately. What was his name... Al something?"
"Amir sir."
"Yes well get him on it."
Not thinking about it for the rest of the day, Alek Dawoud signed one of the more important pieces of paper in human history.
Authors Notes
lolo = Fillipino word for grandpa
I should really follow people's advice and save my half-completed chapters on a google doc, because I lost another 4-5000 words worth of work across 3 stories. *sigh*
*mid way though edit* AND IT HAPPENED AGAIN. But I had a google doc so it's fine.
But nevertheless here is the first of the "timeskip" chapters, this one taking place as humanity gradually adapts to the changes being thrust upon it.
And as always, any opinions you guys, gals and cthulioids have are very much appreciated. Like seriously, i'm pretty sure half the major plot points, continuity snags or problems which would have shown up have been altered due to reader feedback.