Choosing General Zod as their chief diplomat was one of Jor's more underhanded strokes of genius, Lara decides. Her husband would happily talk with humans of almost any description, the better to learn about all and any facets of their curious world, but the futility of his arguments with the Council has left Jor with no love for politicians.
As the one who has announced the Kryptonians to the humans officially, the general is a logical choice, though, and that he has acquired a personal liaison among the local military is very useful, too. Zod acknowledges as much, if rather grudgingly.
As a conciliatory gesture, Jor takes care of most of the organizational details, with Lara giving input when she deems it appropriate. Kal, to both their pleasant surprise, does the same. The first plan for an official address that Hardy's superior – a man whom Zod, for whatever reason, dislikes so much that he won't even say the name – proposes, intends for the Kryptonians to speak to something called the 'Security Council'. Kal is fiercely opposed to the idea.
The Kryptonians' plan to stay in the vicinity is a matter that concerns all of Earth, their son argues, not just 'the nuclear bigshots' as Kal puts it. There is a complex history behind the makeup of the aforementioned council, which Lara is not entirely clear on, except that sheer strength of arms and victory in some devastating war decades in the past seem to feature heavily. She can see how those might not be the best qualifications to represent a planet – for the same reasons as she is not going to let Zod go to Earth on his own – but the vehemence of the protest still surprises Lara. Her son considers the general's idea of another global broadcast a better solution, and the sight of Kal and Zod standing shoulder to shoulder gives Lara an unsettling feeling of déjà-vu for a moment.
Fortunately, as he is not part of the resolute front this time, Jor is on hand to turn things back on a more diplomatic track. This 'Security Council' is certainly out, he concedes, but some acknowledgement of local governmental structures should be observed, and surely there must be some other planetary representation of a more comprehensive kind?
The general washes his hands of the arrangements at this point, but Kal is in a more constructive mood and comes up with a suitable alternative. The United Nations General Assembly is apparently the most equitable representation of Earth's people, and so that is what Krypton, in the shape of General Zod, will address.
Between the three of them, the El family works out an acceptable framework for the speech, too – Zod would mutiny if they handed him a concrete script he had to follow – and Lara makes sure to be the one to brief the general. She loves her son and husband dearly, but the first is a bit too agreeable with Zod right now, and the second too aggravating.
The general listens to her recommendations with a look of wary tolerance, but when she mentions that a physically less imposing escort would go a long way to reduce the perceived aggressiveness of his entrance, Zod smirks and readily agrees to have Faora-Ul and Lara accompany him to Earth.
SZSZSZSZSZSZS
The actual address turns out about as brusque as could have been expected, but when Colonel Hardy comments the meeting with the UN general assembly with a clearly sarcastic, "Well, that went well!" Lara can't help but feeling, yes, it did indeed.
The human colonel looks skeptical when she says so aloud, but grows more thoughtful when Lara explains her reasoning: the general might have been brutally blunt, but he didn't say a single word he didn't mean to keep to, and so humanity now knows where it stands. That some of the humans even picked up on the military caste universal urge to protect, and consequently consider Zod's presence in their solar system to be a good thing in principle, is an unexpected boon.
What Lara doesn't mention aloud is the additional bonus: the more the humans – and especially those in power or with aspirations thereof – focus on the Kryptonian general, the better the chances for her son to slip under the radar, as the humans say. Kal has decided to stay on Earth with as low a profile as he can keep, but with the option to step in if a situation arises that will need Kryptonian powers to resolve.
That Zod has not mentioned him – or indeed any contact between their people except in some nebulous far future – shouldn't be much of a problem, Lois has assured Lara, mainly for two reasons.
One: If Kal wears only his House colors while acting openly Kryptonian – quite unlike the armor Zod and his soldiers wear[1] – and he avoids any official association with the Kryptonian forces, there is a thing called 'plausible deniability'. Her son is also, for all that he looks fully adult, barely of age by Kryptonian standards, and if that fact were to be leaked if necessary – well, humans have a soft spot for youthful rebels against authority.
Especially, and there's the second reason: as long as Kal keeps to actions beneficial for everyone involved – read: doesn't take sides in any human conflicts – he can be the (perhaps literal) poster boy for the advantages the Kryptonians' presence brings. A visible carrot to Zod's more ominously mentioned stick.
Lara is not completely cognizant of all of the details – a few days of observation could never give her full comprehension of the human mind – but she trusts Lois' understanding of these things. The human woman has a very sharp mind and just enough confidence in herself to make things work as she wants them to.
And when it comes to creating a better future, what better start is there than that?
[1] Though the general insisted that Kal is also fitted a set of armor of his own, for the most dire of circumstances.
A/N: That's it, for now. Cue Ms. Lane introducing the new guy at the office at the Daily Planet.
I will probably write a little more in this AU 'verse, though I cannot predict when the next part will come. But there's still a planet to remodel, a whole new society to be built, and you can bet that someone will take Zod's little speech the wrong way and go 'How dare that jumped-up alien declare us irrelevant?! I'll show him, I'll show them all!' Or else somebody's fragile ego will take offense at the way Jor is bending the laws of physics without really noticing – and why should he, physics have been bent that way on Krypton for millennia, and isn't it cute how the humans try to make them work otherwise? – and dig out the Kryptonite ... ;)
