A Krogan misplaced: Chapter 8
Unknown Location - 14 Earth rotations after first contact
The arrangements for the meeting had taken the best part of a week to organise, time and indeed available personnel being scarce at the best of times. Eventually it had been agreed that the meeting would be on neutral ground as opposed to one of the numerous but somewhat ill-secured U.N facilities, and so the proper timetables were drawn up, orders were sent and general ideas assembled for what was sure to be one of the most revolutionary conferences in the history of humankind.
The room was very well designed, hundreds of metres underground and coated in lead, with but two entrances, enough armed guards event without the glut of assisting forces to hold off an army. "Baba Yaga's Cauldron" was temporarily the single most important room in the entire world, not for its position or contents, but rather the group of distinguished people meeting within it.
At the bottom of the primary elevator shaft, through the series of defensible chokepoints and past the extensive cyberwarfare suit, lay a series of massive tables, which had seated along them hundreds of people. Despite being of all colours, appearances and ranks, the group seemed to only be truly differentiated by the flags they had pinned to their suits or dresses, for their faces were unilaterally cold, hard, and distinctly ambivalent of the morass of humanity surrounding them.
When the last group of people, a small number of men and women in matching black suits, sat down, the lights overhead dimmed, and the massive screen which filled the rooms centre lit up. Aside from numerous images of the past few days, of the assorted alien technologies and beings, the screen was dominated by a rather diminutive looking Chinese man, whose short beard was perhaps his most notable feature.
On paper Deng Shachi was the head of a portion of the Peoples Republic of China's Ministry of State Security officially titled "Department 14, Information Security Measures". On paper, the ISM had no powers at all, merely being in charge of updating and securing the necessary protocols for official communications. This included the Chinese internet naturally, leading many to assume the department held a degree of soft power, but little more. This was of course, on paper.
Unofficially, it was China's complete and comprehensive foreign intelligence agency, with a reach that extended across the globe, seeking to disrupt foreign influence in China, eliminate any threats to the sovereignty of the Peoples Republic, and ensure Chinese hegemony remained over East Asia.
For the man in charge of a such an organisation to leave his home country and attend such a meeting would probably have been a shock to the vast majority of attendants under normal circumstances. This meeting however, was being held due to normal circumstances having seemingly gone out the window, never to come back.
Counterparts from every intelligence service on that planet, from the European Task Force-9, the American CIA, and over a hundred others. Gathered in a single chamber whose very existence was unknown to the majority of officials, to do something, about the current clusterfuck the world appeared to be veering towards. After the final arrival had sat down in her seat and a series of assistants handed out the thin dossiers which detailed all confirmed knowledge of the "extraterrestrial situation", as it was being called, the massive metal slabs that served as the doors for the main room were shut, and the conference began.
The first person to stand up was the man who had called the conference, and as Deng Shachi set his cool gaze around the room, everybody fell silent.
"Before we begin, I would like to thank our compatriots at ASIO compelling as much of the data as they could in regards to the current situation. Without their efforts, we would be far less informed as to many of the finer details and their work is to be commended."
A series of appreciative nods and murmured acknolagments filled the wide chamber before silence fell again, and Deng once more began to speak.
"We are here today because as of two weeks ago, the squabbles and issues of our respective governments have become a insignificant concern. The information that we are no longer alone has proven, unfortunately, impossible to contain to any one source due to the public reveal of such. The world knows, that we are apart of something greater, and there is nothing we can do about that. What we can do however, is control the spread of more specific details of such information, and all of those details have been complied into the dossier in front of you."
Deng seemed to have a fire lit inside him at that moment, his tone growing firm as he continued.
"We have what is potentially the single greatest windfall in the history of humankind before us, a chance to determine how our species as a whole will go forth into the unknown, and that is the purpose of this meeting, to decide our ultimate course of action in this unique moment of history. Before we engage in any kind of formal discussions on the matter however, I would ask that we listen to our Australian counterparts analysis of all the information, so we may make an informed decision."
Once he finished speaking, Deng Shachi sat down in his chair, and an elderly balding man in one of the chairs across from him sat up, their image replacing Deng's on the screen. With a firm voice, the man looked down at his, notably thicker, folder and began to read.
"Thank you Director Deng, now our understanding on the current situation is based off a single primary source, and a single secondary source, while the ship itself and the items carried within it provide some corroborating details to both sources. The primary source is quite obviously the extraterrestrial being which calls itself "Urdnot Wrex", and it should be noted that his family name is actually Urdnot, apparently his species have a similar naming convention to many east Asian cultures. The secondary source is apparently an "offline" mode of what the galaxy at large calls the "Extranet". Our current supposition is that is is similar to concept though broader in scope to our own internet. This particular offline mode contains a copy of the "galactic codex", which has been translated by Urdnot Wrex into basic English for our comprehension, it's apparently an alien analogue to Wikipedia. Urdnot Wrex himself has described the Codex as "biased" due to its being written and maintained by one of the major polities we will be going over later on. "
Pausing to clear his throat, the man looked around the room briefly. Every single speck of attention in the room was directed at him, with not a single sound otherwise to be heard. Straightening, he continued.
"Firstly, Urdnot Wrex himself. He is a male member of a species the galaxy at large calls "Krogan", and according to himself is somewhere around twelve hundred and fifty of our years in age. This is apparently completely normal for his species, though apparently it is rare due to the overwhelming cause of krogan fatalities in the galaxy being "Death by gunshot". Urdnot Wrex claims he is a former Clanleader, and some information in the codex supports this possibility, mainly the fact that his name is mentioned on two occasions in said codex as being a descendant of Urdnot Tharx, the first and last krogan Emperor. He apparently gave up that pursuit at some point, because his occupation prior to current events was as a mercenary."
Numerous images and textual quotes began appearing on the screen, and a small murmur of conversation spread throughout the room before being silenced as the Australian spoke again.
"Urdnot Wrex has expressed interest in helping humanity, specifically a "united" humanity in any spaceborne ventures we decide to undertake. He himself claims that this assistance is being offered to prevent the polity known as the "Citadel Council" from suborning humanity into becoming a member species. We suspect given what both he and the codex have stated that this is to a degree, the truth. A secondary motive might be revenge for the Citadel's actions against his species or himself, given that he has stated he has lost numerous children due to our next subject of discussion, the genophage."
Most of the attendees to the conference had some idea prior to current events of what the genophage was. The initial negotiations between Urdnot Wrex and the Security Council having being fruitful with information. But the exact specifics of what it actually did, was unknown to all but a handful. Those handful had small frowns appearing on their faces as they recalled the memory.
"The genophage is some form of artificially engineered disease which was targeted at the krogan race during what the Codex refers to as the "Krogan Rebellions", where the expansionist Krogan Empire attempted to seize control of Citadel Space as a whole. The Council was apparently in a stalemate due to the near endless manpower reserves the krogan possessed. This is due to their biology, apparently a krogan female can produce several hundred young a year under the correct circumstances. The stalemate was ended when a combined strike on the Krogan Emperor and the releasing of the genophage was undertaken. The genophage itself alters the way krogan embryos are formed, causing the vast majority to die in the womb or immediately after birth, with a reported one in a thousand survival rate. This disease has been in effect for the best part of the last millennium, resulting in an apparent tremendous decline in the overall krogan population."
The reactions to the explaining of what the genophage actually was caused a number of people around the room to stiffen at the thought of what might occur if such a disease was released on Earth. But something that really stuck in most peoples heads was a single word. Artificially. That kind of disease could be created at any time, and there would be little humanity could do to stop it.
As thoughts went, they were fairly sobering ones. And the mood of the room reflected it, with frowns colouring the faces of the vast majority present.
The Australian looked about to speak again when one of the British delegation, a woman of sixty, on the far side of the table raised her hand for attention. After looking to Deng, the Australian gestured for her to speak.
"My government had been briefed on all this and more, an no doubt so have your own. But the primary issue here is that if, we do go into space, then we will doubtlessly come into contact with this Council at some point, or if we are unlucky, it could be one of the other powers, such as that "Pirate Queen" or the fanatical space-jellyfish that Urdnot Wrex mentioned earlier. At least the Citadel Council has been shown to be willing to negotiate. And if this genophage does exist, which all data suggests that it may be worse than initially conceived, then we may have no choice."
One of the Thai representatives stood up at the statement, his loud voice splitting the contemplative silence of the room.
"If we were to join this Council then we would become nothing but puppets to their wills! Urdnot Wrex has provided us with examples of what the two higher members of that Council were willing to do to get one over each other in their equivalent of the Cold War. Which is according to Urdnot Wrex, still ongoing. If we associate with them we risk being subsumed entirely!"
Murmurs filled the room as the assortment of intelligence operatives debated over the correct course of action. In the five minutes before anybody else addressed the group as a whole, Deng Shachi just sat in his seat, contemplating. Finally, he lifted his tired bones from his seat and spoke into the microphone on his desk.
"Ladies and gentlemen, if we are to accomplish anything at this conference, then we will need to display a degree of calm. We must not be hasty in our actions or declarations. Especially since we will all probably be dead long before this becomes our issue."
The room silenced once more and various attendees looked up from reading the folders as the Chinese man continued.
"What my government has asked me to present today, with the full support of Washington, Brasilia and the Kremlin, is directly due to the potential implications of our situation. Alien life has found us, not the other way around, and if it happened once it can and will happen again. The Americans have revealed suspiciously artificial looking indents on the surface of Mars, and my own government has authorised me to inform all gathered that we did recover what we now recognise to be fragments of a non0human space station ten years ago. If we remain disunited as this world comes to us, we shall shatter and fall, and the aliens will pick up the pieces."
The room considered the revelations which had been thrust upon them, and as the elderly head of Chinese Intelligence continued his speech, fire in his voice, appreciative nods filled the chamber. But not a single one was ready for the final words of Deng Shachi's sentence.
"Which is why my government is willing to accede to negotiations for the formation of a TRUELY United Nations."
AUTHORS NOTES
Ehhhhh.
I'm unsure about this chapter, still, it had to be done. Can anyone suggest improvements?