Chapter 18:
The Russian delegate to MATIC, Vadim Morozov, headed the research project. He described, "We are concentrating all our people in secret complex near Baikonur Cosmodrome. It is in Kazakhstan, large country, many empty areas. Government persons there look other way when suitably rewarded. Ones who don't, eh, can be dealt with.
Place under Indian Ocean is for weapons tests only. Too difficult to deal with air pressure and keep village in same place safe, during weapons tests.
In Starfleet Research Base number 1, in Kazakhstan, we bring families of technical personnel. Almost all non-magical, plus a few squibs. Conditions there considered luxury by them. We also have places for wizards and witches and their families. We are combining technology and magic.
Everyone there learns about magic. Everyone there takes oaths. For now, noone leave, but later we'll have way to prevent leakage of information."
What noone knew at the conference, except Albus Dumbledore, was that places and names from the Star Trek canon were being subtly given to the committee.
The head of Starfleet Research Base number 2, Ace Castillo, reported. "I am Ace Castillo, head of Starfleet Research Base number 2 and also Starfleet Academy. Research base 2 reports to Mr. Morozov, but specializes in computers and US research. Both it and the Academy are based in the Presideo in San Francisco. The Presideo is a US military base in the process of being abandoned. We will nudge things so it continues to be abandoned due to planning and decision delays. Our operations there are well hidden. We also have office space in San Francisco and San Jose, with dummy corporations. We will be making use of the fast developing computer industry that is based there.
The Academy is a structured program to teach new members of our operations about our programs, knowledge they will need, and the requirements of the oaths they need to make. It also provides academic learning and magic instruction, for any of our personnel who need it."
The American delegate to MATIC, Peter Quahog, addressed the committee, "We are stepping on the toes the non-magical intelligence agencies. They are trying to recruit the same Soviet scientists as we are, and are noticing their disappearances. They worry that some sort of bad actor is becoming dangerous.
For those of you not familiar with Non-Mag entertainments, I'd urge you to watch the James Bond movies. You'll see what they think is happening. I have a viewing area in this conference area for those who want to see those entertainments.
We are also running into difficulties with US agencies, when we recruit US scientists. I've told the agencies what I can, but want the ICW to authorize that more information be given out to No-Maj governments.
I pointed out to US intelligence contacts, that both NATO and former Warsaw pact military budgets are rapidly falling, and that we are preempting other actors from acquiring dangerous technologies.
They know there is more to it than that, and that we are developing something for ourselves. They are smarter than you'd think, and confronted us with the evidence of what we are doing. I told them that I can assure them that we are not developing something to use against Non-Mag's, and that if they knew what we were doing they would agree."
When there was a formal request made to the ICW, to inform the non-magical governments about the threat from extraterrestrial civilizations and the research project to defend the Earth, there was a solid majority against it, and actually fairly upset about it. They did not accept that developments in non-magical technology would tend to make the Status of Secrecy less tenable, or that a united Earth response to any future alien contacts is needed, or that technical progress would be faster with full cooperation with non-magical governments.
At Hogwarts, the Advanced Study Group got occasional updates of the Starfleet project, and the challenges in getting more complete cooperation from the ICW. Hermione found out about a Squib who attends the nearby University of Stirling and was willing to provide information. That university happened to be one of the leading centers in the development of the web. She said, she expected to give us a report on the World Wide Web after winter break. We, in the Advanced Study Group, were still trying to help provide evidence that might convince the International Confederation of Wizards about the difficulties in keeping the Statute of Secrecy due to new technologies.
Sitting around the Ravenclaw common room fire, Danny Kershaw, who was not in the Advanced Study Group, asked Luna how she was taking elective classes in her second year. She answered, "The Headmaster approved. Soon Professor Griselda Marchbanks might let anyone test to take any classes beyond their year. I hope she stays after this year."
Anthony Goldstein said, "Right. I heard she only signed a one year contract. She'll probably go back to the Wizarding Examinations Authority."
I added, "Maybe she'd still visit Hogwarts to administer tests for placing into advanced classes, even if she doesn't stay as Professor of Advanced Studies?"
At the next Advanced Study Class, Professor Marchbanks, started right on time, with a silent class. She was even more forbidding than Professor McGonagall, and since it was an optional class, she had no patience for those that didn't appreciate the opportunity of being in her class.
"There have been many questions about Starfleet. As you are well aware, I help you learn how to learn, how to research, how to formulate questions. I do not answer questions, although I do facilitate bringing in guest instructors when needed.
Recently, a group of 12 of you had the question, would Starfleet provide better career opportunities for those who were muggle-raised or muggle born than existing opportunities. I have facilitated them getting information about current employment in the Ministry and the larger enterprises, as well as the job vacancies in Starfleet. Here is their report."
The group of 12, mostly muggle-born, got to the front of the class and took turns presenting.
"Here is the percentage breakdown of senior ranks of the Ministry, compared to different years of graduation from Hogwarts, NEWT results, OWL results, and finally WOMBAT results.
No matter how you compare them, purebloods are very much over-represented in these senior positions. That is true even if you look for specific skill levels based upon testing results.
In the junior levels of the Ministry, the over-representation of purebloods is less, but still present. Muggle-borns are under-represented significantly at all levels, more so at senior levels.
In a different study, we looked at senior level employees of enterprises who are not part of the owning families. Similar results, of over-representation of purebloods and under-representation of muggle-borns.
Finally we looked that ads for positions in Starfleet, and find that most indicate a preference or requirement for varied levels of familiarity with muggle culture.
We therefore conclude that for both muggle-borns and muggle-raised, Starfleet would be a superior career choice.
We are planning to follow up this presentation with advice on what to study to have a better chance of being hired by Starfleet. We have already contacted the Wizarding Resources department of Starfleet to get insights into what they look for, beyond what is stated in their ads, and how they anticipate hiring to proceed in the years to follow."
Professor Marchbanks said, "That was a well put together presentation. The next set of questions are variations on how the Wizarding world is able to afford what must be considerable expenses of Starfleet. I will assist in two ways. One is to point out that most of the discussions in the International Confederations of Wizards and even the MATIC, Muggle Advances in Technology and Interstellar Civilizations, committee, have transcripts and in most cases those transcripts are not considered secret. The students interested will put together requests for these transcripts, and when an adult is needed to sign them, I will.
We will also have a special guest lecturer next session, Bardoc, a member of Gringotts bank. He will explain the Goblin's role in finance and how the ICW can raise funds for Starfleet."
There was a lot of buzz in the halls of Hogwarts about having a Goblin give a lecture. There was no restriction on who could attend a presentation in the Advanced Study Class, and they were always scheduled at a time when no other classes or essential activities were scheduled.
In the expanded lecture hall, holding probably half of the students in the castle, Bardoc was at the lectern wearing a typical Goblin business suit and a short sword. He said, "I am pleased to be here."
He held up a galleon, and asked rhetorically, "What is this? Is it wealth?"
Then he answered his own question, "No, it is a hard to duplicate token that can be exchanged for wealth. Before the establishment of Gringotts Bank, in 1474, the prices of goods and services fluctuated wildly.
Your Professor Cuthbert Binns probably told you about the 14th Century Wizarding Economic Bubble, and about the founding of Gringotts, but from what I've heard, not in how they were linked.
The founding of the bank was not a favor to the Goblins, nor to the Wizards, but a mutually beneficial arrangement. Gringotts does far more than provide a secure storage facility. We maintain a stable value of money, so far, for over 500 years. The century before Gringotts was founded, convinced the Wizards that they were not capable of maintaining their own money supply system.
The money supply has to match the wealth in existence, to keep prices stable. Yes, some prices will rise, others will fall, but overall the value of a galleon should remain stable. Gold, by itself, does not do that, nor does silver nor bronze. A carefully curated currency system can do that. I say can, not intrinsically does.
The muggle governments of the world, after centuries of using gold, or switching between gold and silver, tried their own currencies, also with serial numbers, similar to the way Galleons, Sickles and Knuts do. However, their values have collapsed in the last 60 years. That is due to their own governments having control over their own currencies and finding it expedient to increase the money supply.
We Goblins are honest brokers who also do not tolerate dishonesty towards us. We maintain the currency according to our guidelines, agreed to with wizards in 1474, not at the behest of day to day demands of wizards.
Part of what we do, is set exchange rates to Muggle money, such as the Pound Sterling. That rate at the moment is about 5 Pounds per Galleon. For those of you who have bought similar things in both economies, you'll have realized that the Galleon buys more than 5 Pounds Sterling. It is set that way to encourage a flow of Muggle money into our coffers and Galleons to the general public. That could be reversed by setting a different exchange rate.
We also, with the cooperation of the Wizarding governments, prevent counterfeiting, magically when possible, and with law enforcement when necessary. We also make it physically impossible to gain more than 5 Pounds Sterling of value from trying to extract the physical components of a galleon.
That leads to the question of the funding of Starfleet. First, and most importantly, it is not by creating money. That would lead to inflation, and not the creation of value. It is also not by the imposition of taxes.
Instead it is by the allowance of additional avenues of magical to muggle trade, which is highly regulated, to bring in the wealth that will be balanced by the expectation of profit from the research being done by Starfleet. In a way, the spending now is an investment, expected to be repaid by the muggle corporations being created at the edges of the Starfleet project.
It gets far more complex than what I said. Some of it is confidential, for now at least."
After a request by a student group, the Starfleet Wizarding Resources department, sent Justin Gérard to make a presentation. "Good afternoon, students of Hogwarts. I am Justin Gérard, one of the staff who recruits wizards to join Starfleet. I was asked to describe to you what sort of witches and wizards we might be hiring in the future.
There are different categories of employees we are looking for. The extremely talented individuals who can combine magic and technology will always have a place in our organization. I will be privately speaking to any who have caught my attention so far.
We are also looking for those who both receive an Outstanding in their NEWT exams for Transfigurations and Charms, and also have a non-magical University degree in science or engineering.
There are many other roles in our organization. We also need support personnel. Some help the non-magical scientist and their families, and help them in their links to their former lives, while they themselves are sequestered in our facilities. Others help create the environments that facilitate their work and everyday lives. Many other roles exist."
Later he met with Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, and George Weasley, "We have been keeping track of your accomplishments, and hope to see them continue, and then to have you consider joining our organization. In the years until then, please feel free to owl me, and ask any questions that you might have."
He told Albus Dumbledore, "The other members or your secret study group might well have extraordinary accomplishments, but unless they stand out in things they can claim publicly, or at least to my organization, we would have no way to evaluate that. We can consider privacy pledges if that would facilitate the recruitment of extraordinary individuals. We also would, if desired, find roles for spouses of extraordinary individuals, even if they on their own would not warrant such recruitment."
At the next MATIC meeting, Peter Quahog, who was named Starfleet Non-Magical Relations Chief, reported, "For some reason, US intelligence is blaming us for the attempted overthrow of Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin. We had nothing to do with that. Again, we implore to be given leeway to tell them more about our mission."
He continued, "Research and Development Director, Vadim Morozov, gave me an indication of their future activities that might be visible to Non-Mag's. Once they perfect some weapons systems, they would like to deploy them in orbit. They can find a way to get them launched from their nearby former Soviet launching center in Kazakhstan. That center is already planning to launch private payloads for a fee, but would not knowingly launch weapons.
Using magic, we can make weapons systems look like cameras or communications systems. However, we also plan to influence, using magic, non-magical news organizations to talk about the threat of asteroids hitting the planet. This will get them thinking about the need for orbital systems to deflect such threats, and better monitoring of objects in distant space."