((Collab Post between Letter Bee, Mass, Acer and Savato - perhaps Rofls and Raijin if they're there))
The American Envoy to the UN was visibly irritated. Not only had his predecessor been one of the abducted, but the other members of the UN had preferred to cast aspersions upon said predecesor and each other than doing what was right and sensible - same for his own President; if George Maxwell was right, she had been obstructing any attempts to call a General UN Meeting earlier; Abernathy wasn't much better; he had talked to George and persuaded him to scrap plans for a World Government...when that was exactly what was needed! Addressing the bunch of loons, losers, and idiots that made up the rest of the Security Council, the Envoy spoke, hiding his feelings of contempt:
"Fellow members of this esteemed body, a crisis has come upon us today. While we have diverse feelings on the subject of...Metahumans, the incursion, this incursion by an 'other' -" he was forbidden to use the 'A Word', courtesy of the President, "- this incursion by the 'other', which has sundered families, gutted commerce, and deprived Humanity of its honor and self-respect, is an affront to all of us, a slap in the face to every nation on Earth. Our security has been proven for naught, our weapons, impotent. But what 'the other' cannot take away from us is the Human Spirit, the Human Spirit of cooperation that we hope is rekindled by the tragedies this past day." The American Envoy felt like vomiting and spitting at the rest.
"And so, I call for closer cooperation, for the casting aside of old feuds, for the combining of our strengths and defenses -"
"Cooperation!" The Russian envoy shouted from his spot at the desk. "Right now may country beleives the attack was conducted by American forces on our territory. Even if it is aliens the US Government must have had a hand it. We have seen time after time the US Government playing inocent in times of crisis it caused. My nation believes this is no different. In fact we beleive your president has a hand in it and you are trying to convince us that under YOUR leadership we can fight this. The Russian Federation will never follow the US government's orders since the question we would want to know is when will this end. We like being able to control our military forces." the Ambassador ended by pounding his hand on the table.
"You're grasping at straws, sir," the representative from Great Britain spoke up. She leaned back in her seat, cold voice cutting through the room. "You're making a very grave accusation at one of the most powerful countries in the world based on nothing but paranoia and a hunch." She raised an eyebrow and looked to the American envoy. "Though our dear 'comrade' does have a point. The position of His Majesty's Government is that further information is required. Great Britain calls for further investigation into each and every power represented at this table. We may start strategizing to face these otherworldly assailants once we are certain we have nothing to worry about in our own homes, first."
"It appears old feuds are immune to even the greatest of threats, my friend." the French amabssador calmly remarked, targeting of course his American colleague. "Before we proceed to any form of decision, I would like the Council to take notice of a few facts our intelligence has gathered prior to the invasion. Mister Ambassador." he addresed the American once more. "Is it true that your entire Reformist and military force was unable to defend the Reformist Headquarters in Los Angeles a week back? Our satellite coverage created by our collaborative effort to maintain security managed to identify only one threat. How may we trust you to lead this effort, mister ambassador, if a single Metahuman threat was too much for your military organization to handle? I would also like to add the lack of communication regarding your Government concerning specific High Profile individuals identified in your country." the envoy kept running his mouth, like the righteous Frenchie he was.
The Chinese repersentative had been sitting ever so properly, reserved and respectable but what he said next was not really either of those things, "Honestly while we are questioning eachother it would be fair to keep in mind the origin counrty of many alien themed rumors, whether it resulted from the 'over active' imaginations of the populace or not. America failed to find or notify anyone of another presence in our galaxy before the attack; the call did not come early enough for anyone to react but just early enough for America to seem innocent. Judging from past experiences America withholding infomation should not suprise anyone in this room. So what we must be asking ourselves is whether we are here because an alien threat descended from the sky and took every single Meta from under our noses or because America wants to secure a deal with the aliens to come out on top of this situation. Ask yourselves, is it really that unlikely for that country to betray us all for its own benefit?" The representative still had the reseved and respectful look, however contradictory his words were to that image.
"True..." spoke the American Representative, "we have withheld knowledge of 'the other', so as not to cause a panic, and yes, we have kept other secrets, especially as regards our Metahuman Projects. However, all those are things that any other nation would have done in our place. Not to mention that we have not prevented other countries, or even private organizations, from extrapolating the...'Non-Earth' origins of the Metahuman Virus, that, and we have leaked various bits of information about 'the Third Party' to the other intelligence agencies of the world. Besides, it's not as if Russia and China didn't have their own plans and defenses against the 'Third Party', defenses which also failed." The American Representative then cleared his throat.
"Which brings us to my point," he said, "if full military cooperation is unpalatable, what about an extension of the current international scientific programs and projects that led to the building of the International Space Station? And by that, I mean that if we cannot cooperate militarily, we should at least join together to develop a functioning Hyperdrive, or other means of FTL, which we know is possible from Metahuman powers alone. Other, not strictly military fields I would suggest would be cryogenics, hydroponics, and the research of new alloys that can withstand the ravages of space." The American Representative was hinting at the building of colony ships.
"Forgive me if I'm mistaken, ambassador," the British representative said. "But it sounds as though you intend for us to expand out into space after we've just faced an unprovoked attack from unknown assailants. We have no information on this outside party except that they are capable of producing advanced technologies, including but not limited to advanced space travel and granting superhuman abilities to an alien species in a stable and relatively predictable manner." She didn't flinch over the word that everyone else seemed to be dancing around. The British envoy was many things, but coy was not one of them. "And now you want to goad them on by building what could easily be perceived as an army ready for retaliation. I dare say we were fortunate this time that there was no direct casualties or damages caused by this event, and only a relative handful of our people were taken. What we should be focusing on is taking care of our own, and making sure our global economy isn't in shambles. We're in no state to be doing anything until we've picked ourselves up from this blow, let alone challenging something that obviously far outmatches us."
"True," spoke the American Ambassador, "but at the same time, do you wish for us to be sitting ducks, allowing Alien Fleet after Alien Fleet to come here and use us as a farm, taking away our babies next time they come? No, we need to make sure that somewhere out there, there would at least be a colony - no, a community - of free humans that would live without the shadow of such...indignity. I'm talking not about retaliation, but rather about covert expansion, the planting of hidden colonies and communities. Space is large, even for advanced civilizations, and we might find a refuge for some of us out there."
"Who is to say they will return for such purposes? The Russian Federation may have knowledge of Aliens but we have no deals with them like the United States government. In fact all we have are trinkets that cannot be used properly." The ambassador lean forward, "Our nation has cooperated with the US Space program for nearly thirty years now and this idea of colonies is wonderful but you forget the crucial fact that such colonies require the home planet to exisist. Our British and French members know without the strong control of Imperialism the colonist would be attacked by locals and slaughted. Then there are the problems of colonization. What planets and moons do you colonize? How much will it cost? Can we actually do it? Then there are so many other questions scientist aren't certain of. Also mister Ambassador I doubt the current Congress would agree to such a daring plan." The ambassador looked smug.
"True," spoke the Ambassador, "although what I was betting on was that we'd find planets that are uninhabited, even at this stage. But, still, at the very least, even if we were just to follow what the British Representative says, a measure of cooperation, or at least non-feuding, would be not unwise."
"An outrageous proposition! " The French man shouted." Both the American and Russian envoy tell us they knew of the alien, yet no one disclosed this information!? " the Frenchman spoke with pure self-righteousness. "Yes, let us join our respective people together and inside the alien powers above to war. You Americans, attempting to answer a problem that's not even there. Who's to say they even come back? Who's to say this isn't a good thing? The Meta Human problem is no more. No more weapons of mass destruction walking our streets wait for event he slightest excuse to destroy millions of dollars of buildings, cars and lives. Let them take the Metas and be grateful they didn't take more!" the Frenchman shouted from his feet harrumping.
This was met by a stony glare from the American Ambasssador, before he cleared his throat again and spoke:
"I will be the first to admit to hypocrisy, to admit to the flaws in our approach to Sapient Rights and Sapient Well-Being. I may lose my position for this, but I outright proclaim that my nation, America, has failed to spread its professed virtues of Freedom and Equality. I do not care for the firestorm my words will spark at home, because they will like what I say next:" he then looked around at everyone around him.
"But are you, who condemn us, any better?! Are you, who call us out for tearing up our Bill of Rights and concepts of Human Dignity not doing the same things we did? Look at you, urging inaction, urging 'practicality'," he made a pantomime of a spit, "and even suggesting that fellow Sapient Beings, related to us and descended from us, should be left to their fate as slaves in another land. You dare condemn the way we treat our citizens and the citizens of other countries, while advising acitve malice and neglect of your own citizens?" He then pulled out the UN's Decleration on Human Rights from his pocket. "Look at this! Is not this the same document that we paid respect to, that we have pleged to serve?! What purpose is this organization for if it cannot protect several million people?"
"What purpose is there in an organization that has openly declared its interest towards partisan ends, which has cast aside even the pretense of objectivity and impartiality? What purpose is there in an organization whose first agenda is to give in to fear? We. Are. The. UN! We are Humanity's flawed, yet well-intentioned effort to unite to prevent a tragedy like World War II from happening! Stop looking at your facts and figures and cold judgements and hot prejudices, and look at the human cost! Families have been sundered, fear of the unknown has gripped the hearts of our people, our belief that we - both Humanity and Metahumanity - are the pinnacle of civilization has been dashed to the rocks! We have embraced the idea that we are powerless, and that is in less than a few days!"
"Look around you; the UN has already been dealing with the reputation of being lame-ducks, and corrupt, and ineffective. Look around you, protesters, people who have lost families and friends, are surrounding the building. The world doubts us, and so do I, as we fail to present a united front!" He then faced the French Ambassador.
"Do we really need one more failure on top of a list of other failures? Can we not even strive for even an incomplete victory? Can we not continue on, hoping that luck, fate, the Divine, or whatever you choose to believe in would turn things around? Humanity has never won anything by ceasing to strive, by giving up. Better to shine brightly, and face death with dignity, than live as cowards!"
"I have never embraced a certain stereotype of your people; you know which one. To me, the French, historically, were the bravest people on Earth; they were just unlucky to spend so many men in their wars. But this isn't bravery, this isn't even caution. To be glad of a disaster that happened to one's own country, a disaster that happened to all countries? This is sugarcoating a surrender."
"So, now," spoke the American Ambassador, "I call for a vote. Joint research into Hyperdrive, Cold Sleep, Hydroponics, and Colony Ships, with the fruits of any findings spread equally throughout all Security Council members. Who will join me?"
In the end, no one vetoed the measure.
((Sorry for giving myself an Auto-Win; it's just that everyone else left off working on the collab.))
