Interesting Times

December 11, 2159

13:27 STE

Arcturus

Arcturus-Station (unfinished), Parlament Chambers

With measured steps, I joined Andrew at the railing of the highest terrace that overlooked the chambers of the Parlament.

The chambers had been constructed in a way that there were three levels of terraces that went around the length of the room and were open to the public to watch the proceedings.

Not many people were watching yet, but that had nothing to do with disinterest in the proceedings, especially today.

The plans for Arcturus-Station had been drawn up years ago but never realized.

At first, due to the fact that Reach was close enough to Earth, there hadn't been any immediate need for a space station in the Arcturus system, even if it was what we called a 'crossroads' system, a system with multiple primary and secondary relays.

But now that we know that there were other civilizations traversing the stars and using the relays as their principal mode of transportation, the need for a defensible station in the Arcturus system skyrocketed.

While Reach would stay as the main seat of the Alliance military, Arcturus-Station would become the seat of the Alliance government, partly because of the symbolic significance the station represented.

The fact that it was a space station made it easy to show that the Alliance Parlament represented humanity on the galactic stage and not just a single world. After all, it was easier to consider space as neutral ground than a planet.

But Arcturus-Station wasn't supposed to be only the center of our government, no, it would become more than that.

A trading hub, a military defense station, a place to live, in short, our very own imitation of the Citadel.

It would become a monument to our abilities, our pride, and depending on how you looked at it, our arrogance.

That was how the other galactic civilization would probably see it.

"... and because of that, there can be no doubt that this is the beginning of a new chapter in humanity's history. It is now our duty to make it one of our grandest!"

"Seems like Micheal's speech is still going on, huh?" I commented as I relaxed against the railing.

"That's President Port to you, Minister Denebren," scolded Andrew lightheartedly.

A chuckle escaped me, and I retorted:" If you want to nitpick, then at least do it right. It's temporary president and minister. You're the one with the validated position, Director Clark."

"We all know that the vote for Micheal's rise to the position of President of the Alliance Parlament is nothing more than a formality. Just like the elections in four years, he will win those too. After that? Well, we'll see who we can move into a favorable position.

And your position is a given as well. Nobody knows the economic workings of the Alliance as well as you, and Micheal is anything but stupid."

What Andrew was saying was true. While there would be a vote of who would become the very first president of the Systems Alliance, it was a foregone conclusion.

There was only one other candidate, and I wasn't even sure if he was a member of the Parlament, it could have been the janitor for all I knew.

There was not one person who seriously wanted to go up against the founder of the Alliance. They would lose so badly it wouldn't even be funny. The name was just there because it was proper. Anything else could be called political suicide by idiocy.

And with Micheal came the rest of us too.

"By the way, nice touch with the 'must have served five years in a military role' as a requirement for the position of Minister of Defense. Should hopefully keep most of the idiots away", said Andrew. "Couldn't have been easy to get the nations and colonies to agree to that."

"Actually, it was easy," I countered. "Most nations on Earth still have their own militaries, so they think they can get someone into that position that is sympathetic to them. Besides, if they disagreed, their citizens would only hear that they were against the fact that a position concerning military matters would be filled with someone who has experience in this field. They would probably demonstrate or riot again. The climate just isn't right for the voices that would call this warmongering."

"And the colonies?"

"Just had to ask them who they would rather have in this position, someone knowing what must be done or a pampered civilian from Earth. You got to love stereotypes sometimes."

"Stereotyping can be a slippery slope," warned Andrew, his voice rising a bit and gaining a dangerous edge. "In my business, that can lead to underestimating your opponents, and that means usually defeat."

I raised my hands placatingly and said:" I know, don't worry. I'm not underestimating anyone."

"Sorry," apologized Andrew. "It seems like I'm still a bit miffed that those Salarians escaped my trap."

"It's been a year since then, and you are still angry about that?"

Andrew mumbled something unintelligible before replying:" A bit, yeah. I underestimated them, or got cocky, doesn't matter which, but it was my fault they got away. I'm sure they got nothing vital from us, so that is a plus point."

"Besides," I said, "stereotypes are just a way for us to categorize the world around us. When they turn into prejudice, it gets dangerous. Because from prejudice it's only a short step to discrimination."

"Then what is the difference between a stereotype and prejudice?"

"Emotions, to be precise, negative emotions," I explained. "If you dislike something because of a predetermined opinion, it's a prejudice. A stereotype is more like a label you give something. In most cases, it is a label you give to a group, to generalize them, to make them different from your own group. It is something humans have always done and will always do. It's part of the Us vs. Them mentality."

Andrew's fingers beat rhythmically on the railing before him, thinking for a moment before he inquired:" And you use this mentality to your advantage, I guess?"

But before I could answer him, he came to the correct conclusion himself.

"I see how you would use it. Make yourself and your opposite number part of an Us, and then show him a Them to stand against, quite ingenious."

A smirk found its way onto my face at Andrew's deduction.

"You're right," I confirmed. "It makes whoever you're negotiating with more open to your ideas."

With nothing more to say for the moment, silence ensued between us. Silently, we listened to Micheal's speech we had partially ignored during our conversation.

After all, it wasn't like we didn't know what he would be saying. Both of us had to listen to this exact speech twice before today because Micheal wanted this speech to be perfect.

And when the big boss asks you for a favor, you can't say no.

Still, listening to him practicing and listening to him performing it were two very different things. Upon a stage, Micheal's whole being came alive, and there wasn't a single person who wouldn't get swept along by his charisma and enthusiasm.

"...not alone. Our first contact may have been violent, but it must not determine our path forward! After all, we..."

"You know," I said, drawing Andrew's attention back to me. "I'm happy we met aliens so fast."

Andrew raised an eyebrow at my comment and then said more than asked:" Something to do with the Us vs. Them mentality again?"

As always, Andrew had quickly connected my comment to my previous explanation and drew the correct conclusion.

"It leads to it," I agreed and continued by asking him a question. "If we didn't meet those other galactic civilizations, what do you think humanity would have done?"

"Grow apart," he answered after thinking about my question for a few minutes. "Every planet we colonize would, with time, develop its own distinct culture and mindset. Depending on their development, this could lead to large disparities between them, which in turn, would perhaps breed resentment between more and less developed colonies. If that issue would be left alone for too long, armed conflict or even civil war could very well happen."

"That is something I fear could have happened," I admitted. "We humans have never shied away from conflict, no matter what kind. As long as it stays political, philosophical or, hell, a race to one-up each other, everything is fine. The problem is that it is just a matter of time until one person takes it to the extreme, and from there is going to snowball."

"And the Citadel species give us a tangible reason to stand together. An Us that encompasses the whole of humanity. But must take care not to steer humanity in a mindset that sees the Citadel species as an enemy."

"True, that would be unfavorable." A short moment of silence passed between us as I thought about that problem until a word popped into my mind that could perhaps help us with this issue. "Perhaps we should encourage a sort of rivalry between us and most of the Council species. Competing against them in different areas will hopefully stop most intentions to paint them as enemies."

"So, a fluid place in the Us vs. Them mentality. Keeping our view of them flexible enough to see them as potential allies sometime in the future," concluded Andrew, following our previous line of thought. "But don't think I didn't notice that you said most of them, not all. I guess you're thinking of excluding the Batarians?"

I did my best to hold back a burst of full-blown laughter at the thought of us playing nice with the Batarians for any amount of time. A chuckle escaped me nonetheless, and I could see Andrew was fighting the same problem.

"Why should we include them," I asked amusedly. "Their 'cultural heritage' makes the Batarians such a good enemy to unite against."

"Indeed," snorted Andrew. "It is as if the galaxy gave us exactly what we needed."

"I still don't understand why the Council allowed this practice to continue for so long. The Asari, I can understand, think that they can change the Batarian culture if they wait long enough, but why the Turians haven't made any move is something that eludes me."

"Complacency, wanting to keep the status quo, there are tons of reasons for that. From what I've gathered, the Batarians are the only ones that have any kind of influence in the Terminus Systems, mostly because they have their hands in whatever is happening there. Furthermore, the Asari and Salarians are probably stopping any Turian moves in that direction because they have colonies that are not that far from the edge of the Terminus systems. But now that we have emerged so close to Batarian territory, the Council will want to put us into conflict with each other, that way, they will only have to watch out for any incursions from the Terminus Systems."

"The question is what we will do in response to that," I said and let my sight wander through the chambers, watching the representatives from the planets belonging to the Systems Alliance.

"In my opinion, we should let that happen. It will be a good opportunity to sharpen our fangs and show the galaxy what we can bring to the table," reasoned Andrew. "Besides, it will help us in the long run when we decide to push for a Council seat."

There was nothing in Andrew's logic that I could refute. While I wasn't happy with the fact that this would mean that the Batarians would target our less defended colonies to enslave their populations, I also understood that they would do so no matter what. If not by themselves, then by using pirates as intermediaries, the temptation to possess slaves belonging to a newly discovered species was too great to ignore.

"I think you're right," I conceded, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"I don't like it, too, but we must face the fact that it will happen. The only thing we can do is to turn it to our advantage and do our best to protect our colonies and people. They are our greatest assets."

Suddenly, Andrew frowned, his whole demeanor changing as if he was thinking about something unpleasant.

"When we're already talking about protecting valuable assets," he began, "we need to speak about how we keep the DR-drive to ourselves. It is one of the best advantages that we have. The option to operate outside of the Relay network is nothing short of amazing. We can't allow this advantage to slip through our fingers."

"Is this place secure?" I asked instead of answering him.

"Yes, I made sure of that personally. No bugs anywhere close to us, and I carry a device with me that will stop directional microphones. Only option would be a video and then calling a lip-reader."

At his words, I leaned forward, placing my elbows on the railing and crossing my hands before my mouth. Andrew immediately understood what I was doing and copied my posture.

When trying to keep something secret, you did everything to reduce the chance of being overheard, and the longer I could keep the security features of the DR-drive secret, the better.

"From the very beginning, Takahashi and I thought about how we could prevent the DR-drive falling into the wrong hands and have since then implemented multiple security features. We have divided the drive into four parts that are scattered throughout any ship with a DR-drive, the navigational computer, the power generator, the device for opening and closing the rifts, and one more component, that I will not tell you. Should any of these parts be removed without entering the correct codes, which have to be confirmed by our network, the data will purge itself. Furthermore, this will trigger small localized explosions that will turn the parts into nothing more than pieces of junk."

"And what happens if somebody collects enough of the different parts?" asked Andrew, our voices barely above a whisper and able to be heard with Micheal's speech still going on.

"Every drive is a unique copy with its own specialized codes, and if they don't match, our network has to confirm the combination, else the security features activate. Furthermore, if someone tries to change the codes, the same happens. The only security vulnerability is when someone manages to emulate our network, but we constantly improve it. We thought about not being able to combine parts of different drives but dismissed the idea. The upkeep would have been almost impossible otherwise."

After I finished speaking, I changed my posture to signal Andrew that the part of our conversation that needed the utmost secrecy was over.

Seeing that, Andrew relaxed his posture as well, and I could see in his face that he was pleased with the steps we had taken to protect the DR-drive. But he still had to point one thing out.

"Even with all this, there is no way to ensure that nobody else will be able to recreate the DR-drive. Be it domestic or otherwise, it will be only a matter of time," said Andrew.

"I know, but we will do our best to delay that moment," I replied. "That's one of the reasons why we relocated our production facilities to Reach."

"And without a DR-drive, it is difficult to travel to Reach in a timely manner. Plus, the military will be very interested in keeping the DR-drives for themselves. Of course, I will do my best to support their endeavor," promised Andrew.

He looked down at the members of the parliament, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion as he said:" But I cannot promise that those people down there won't try to get their hands on it to sell it to the highest bidder. No matter if they are human or not, greed and the promise of power is sometimes too tempting to resist."

I snorted amusedly at the thought of them trying and answered Andrew's unasked question when he looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Let them try," I said confidently, "the DR-drive is not the property of the Alliance but of Ad Astra. Takahashi and I haven't patented the plans for the DR-drive, so we don't have to publicize them, and they are welcome to try to replicate them. Furthermore, we have a contract of exclusivity with the Alliance Military. If they try to force us in any way, they will quickly learn that this way leads to political and financial suicide. My lawyers and analysts have the domestic side under control, and even if someone can recreate it, my R&D team will be years, no, decades ahead of them. And about the other species, well, I don't think we have to worry too much for the next 50 years or so."

"Not worry too much?" asked Andrew skeptically, and I couldn't blame him for his skepticism. "I would think that at least the Salarians will figure out how to build one before that."

"They will," I agreed and asked a question in return, "but will they use it in any way that could be dangerous for us?"

Before Andrew could think of a reply, I continued to tell him my thoughts about the issue.

"The way I see it, there are only four species that would have any interest in replicating the DR-drive. Five, if you count the Volus, who will follow the Turians more or less."

"Let me guess, the Asari, the Salarians, the Turians, and the Batarians."

"Exactly," I confirmed. "The Elcor will be too passive to do anything, and the Hanar are not interested in anything that does not come from the Enkindlers, as they call the Protheans. The Drell will follow the lead of the Hanar, so no problem there. The Batarian Hegemony will try to get their hands on some, partly because they want to expand their territory and to use them to get more slaves."

Andrew nodded, following my explanation so far. He still had some reservations but was willing to let me explain fully before adding his own thoughts.

"They will never ask or negotiate to get even one, their arrogance will not allow that. Instead, the Hegemony will try to steal ships that have a DR-drive, probably by using pirates, so that nothing can be traced back to them. Maybe I underestimate them, but I don't think their scientists and engineers are skilled enough to recreate the DR-drive with only one stolen ship. They will need dozens, perhaps even hundreds, and that number doesn't even include the ships the pirates will try to keep for themselves instead of giving them to the Hegemony."

"I see where you're coming from, but what about the Council? They certainly have the means to do it," inquired Andrew.

"The Council, huh," I repeated and thought about where to start.

"Let's begin with the Asari. After all, they are the most technologically advanced species in the galaxy right now.

They will be most certainly interested in it, but since it is a purely human design they will dismiss it in the beginning. The Asari are almost as fanatically as the Hanar in the belief of Prothean superiority. Only after they can't deny its usefulness anymore, will they try to get their hands on one."

I stopped for a moment in my explanation to consider if this was the time I could drop a hint that the Asari had a working Prothean beacon. If someone else had this specific knowledge, it would give me a reason for knowing when I had to use it in any negotiation with the Asari. Besides, sometimes it is more effective to let your opponent know that a group knew your secrets but didn't do anything with them instead of only one person who could be silenced more easily.

In the end, I decided against dropping a hint, at least for the time being. The Alliance's position was in no way strong enough to deal with any open or covert backslash the Asari could throw at us.

"The Asari longevity would indeed make them slower to react. We see it in humanity too that older people react slower to changes than young ones," said Andrew, taking my moment of contemplation to add his own thoughts. "Furthermore, the Asari will feel secure in their position as the most advanced species in the galaxy, not even the Salarians could contest that position in a millennium. But what about the other two Council species?"

His question brought me out of my musings, and I continued to explain my thoughts about the two remaining Council species.

"The Turians will see the potential the DR-drive has, and not just from a military standpoint. Worlds based on dextro-amino acids are rare, and there could be dozens around Palaven alone, but with no relay connecting them. Same with planets that have the specific gas concentration the Volus need. The moment they hear about the DR-drive's capabilities, they will devote resources to create their own, but they will be too prideful to

ask us for help or even steal from us, the newcomers to the galactic stage. It will take them years until they get a working prototype, their knowledge in eezo-tech is more of a hindrance than a help since it has nothing to do with eezo. Besides, we will have an ally in delaying the Turian efforts to recreate it."

"Who..." Andrew began to ask before the answer came to him. "The Salarians, of course! They will not want them to have this technology before having a counter ready. Or at least the means to monitor their movements. The biggest military force in the galaxy, able to pop up wherever they want, that doesn't seem like something the Salarians would want the Turians to have."

"I thought the same, too. My impression of the Salarians is that they like to have control and anything that they can't control has to be delayed until they can."

"Wouldn't surprise me. Nobody can tell me that everything between the Council species is roses and sunshine. Now, as we have already mentioned them, what are your thoughts about the Salarians?"

"I do not doubt that the Salarians can and will replicate the DR-drive, maybe even in the next ten years," I said, a smirk growing on my face that had Andrew confused, "but I also know that their first experiments with it will probably end in disaster."

"A disaster?" Andrew's voice was tinged by confusion, and his face reflected that as well.

"A disaster," I confirmed. "Did you know that one of the reasons why our ships are slower than their Turian equivalents is that ours are heavier? The hulls of our starships are denser and thicker. Do you know why?"

"I remember vaguely to have heard that it is because of radiation, but what kind of radiation I do not know."

"Partly, it is because of the cosmic rays, but thinner hulls would do the job just as well, our first designs were bulky because we wanted to make sure that nothing could happen. However, since we created the DR-drive, we made the hulls just as thick or even thicker than before. And we're planning to make them even thicker. What does that tell you?"

I could see how Andrew thought about my question, recalling every bit of information he had of the DR-drive and the phenomenon that allowed us to travel between star systems with it.

"There is some kind of radiation inside the Rift, isn't there?" exclaimed Andrew.

"Bingo. In the Rift, there are three or four kinds of radiation we've never encountered before, they don't even have names yet. The fact is that those radiations can be deadly to humans or any living being that does not possess a metallic carapace like the Turians, and even then, long-term damage is guaranteed if they are exposed to it too long. The density of the Turian ship hulls is barely enough.

But there is one more problem, and I'm truly glad that we caught it before something happened," I said and took a deep breath.

"Eezo slowly destabilizes if it is exposed to the radiations inside the Rift."

"Say what," asked Andrew harshly, not quite believing what he just heard.

"Eezo destabilizes inside the Rift, and that can lead to malfunctions in the best and explosions in the worst-case scenario. The stronger the radiation, the faster it happens. Intriguingly, the more pure eezo is, the faster it destabilizes as well, that is one of the reasons why nothing happened until now since our refining methods are not that sophisticated yet," I explained grimly.

"What are you doing in reaction to this?"

"We're checking each ship and, if needed, exchange the eezo-core. It's already costing us millions, and that number will only go up, but it has to be done. The degraded eezo is currently stored in some out-of-the-way storehouses. A few of my scientists are analyzing it, checking if it is possible to use it in engines again or to make a weapon out of it."

"Seems like you have the problem under control and good work with keeping it on the down-low. I haven't even heard a whisper of it," said Andrew, satisfied with my work. "But how does this correlate with the disaster that the Salarians will have?"

"The Turians have ship hulls around half as thick as ours, but that and their metallic carapace would only save them from dying from the radiation, their eezo-cores would still destabilize. So, what do you think happens to Salarian ships, which are not built for a straight-up fight but with clandestine operations and maneuverability in mind?"

"Their hulls would be too thin to hold off the Rift-radiation. With a pure DR-drive, they would kill their crew, and with a mixed Eezo-DR-drive, an EDR-drive, the ship would explode. To use a DR-drive, the hulls have to be made thicker, which would result in more mass and less speed, conflicting with the Salarian naval doctrine," concluded Andrew with a smile on his face. "At most, they would use it to colonize some out-of-the-way planets or a limited amount of stealth vessels. Still, that is something we can deal with in the future. But by far, the best thing is that they will keep the fact that they have a DR-drive hidden from the other Council species. It will be an advantage for them just like it is for us, the Salarians won't share it. The Asari have shown them up often enough with their technology, and we've already discussed the Turian issue."

"Still, that is all just talk, right now, we must not let our guard down. All I've said could be wrong," I warned, and Andrew nodded, understanding my point.

Our conversation was abruptly ended when thunderous applause filled the Parlament chambers.

Looking at the podium, I understood what was going on. Micheal had finally finished his speech, and the people stood on their feet applauding.

"Looks like he nailed it again," I commented and got a snort from Andrew in return.

"Did you expect differently?"

"No, not really," I confessed. "From now on, it's going to be busy for both of us. I already got my marching orders from Micheal this morning."

"I have heard of them, going to the Citadel again sounds like fun, but to negotiate trade deals and how to adapt our currency to the galactic credit, that's not my kind of fun," Andrew joked.

He was right, it didn't sound like fun to me too, but somebody had to do it, and the fact that I got this job was a good sign. If I did well, that would only help me in the future when I decided that the time was right to throw my hat into the ring for the position of humanity's ambassador on the Citadel.

Yet, there were still a lot of things unattended on Earth and the colonies. Now that Micheal was the president of the Systems Alliance, he could order to place ODPs into Earth's defense grid, something which didn't happen until now.

While the ODPs could only fire with the power of a light cruiser at the moment, the needed power was too high for higher yields, they could still shoot as fast as a frigate. Moreover, simulations showed that should an ODP try to fire with the power of a dreadnought or even just a heavy cruiser, the force of the shot would destroy the ODP itself. That problem was still being worked on.

In the end, that didn't stop us from building 40 of them and distributing ten each to Reach, Terra Nova, and Shanxi, and the last ten had been held back for Earth.

"By the way," said Andrew, who was politely clapping for Micheal's speech, "I have a list of people who would be assets to your R&D teams. At the top of the list is a Dr. Constantin Shayle, engineer, biologist, robotics expert, and a few more fields that fall into his range of expertise. All in all, one hell of a scientist."

"Why are you giving this list to me?" I asked, confused. "I mean, I'm thankful for it, but why not recruit them for the Alliance Research Division?"

It had been an agreement between the talent scouts of the Alliance and myself that each of us would look for new personnel on our own, not using the resources of the other. So, I was confused why Andrew was giving me the list, clearly compiled with Alliance resources.

"Because of those guys," Andrew said and gestured down to the members of the parliament. "Politicians, pencil-pushers, and their lot will have control over the Alliance's budget and how it is used. If a project seems to be too expensive, it's not going to be started at all, or canceled mid-way through. You don't have that problem, and I know that the Alliance benefits a lot if you develop new tech and grow your companies. So, take the list, and in exchange, you don't grab every university student that shows potential."

I couldn't help but chuckle when Andrew said that. After all, it was true that I scouted the best graduates for my companies. With a smile, I gave him my agreement.

If everything worked out as I had planned, I wouldn't need to anymore anyway. In a few years, the best and brightest students would come to the university I was planning to build on Terra Nova, a university that would become one of the most renowned in Alliance space at first and later on in Citadel territory.

Why search for talent if you can nurture it?

With a short glance at my watch, I said to Andrew:" Send the list to my secretary, he will take care of recruiting them. I have to go now, lots of things to do before I head to the Citadel."

I held out my hand, and Andrew clasped it without hesitation.

"I wish you good luck and success in the coming negotiations."

With the farewells done, I went towards the exit of the parliament chambers, mentally going over several bits of information that could give me an advantage in the trade and currency negotiations.

"Yes, that could work if I got the right opponent," I muttered to myself, and I could see in the reflection of the elevator window how the ghost of a smile flashed over my lips.