Halo - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Sangheili Pirate in the UNSC ❯ Tje President of the UNSC ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

1230 Hours, August 30, 2547 (Military Calendar)\Earth
“Mr. President!” cried Henry Ferguson. “Mr. President!”
Henry chased the United Nations President down the entire day. He was trying to find President Knight at his usual spots, but the leader was not there. Finally, he found the UN President walking back to the UN Building. The President of the United Nations and Commander and Chief of the United Nations Space Command was none other than Kiryuu Mechagodzilla Knight. Kiryuu paused in his tracks and turned slightly to face his assistant, his green, metallic, biomechanical mane of dreadlocks wiggling slightly about his shoulders. Five hundred years had gone by, five hundred long years of working his way through biased human beliefs towards what he was, and even bigotry against `his kind'—as in machines and artificial intelligences and Kiryuu fought his way up to the highest position in the land. Almost 500 years ago, he befriended a Western Dragon named Dunkelzahn and became his running mate for the presidency of the United Canadian-American States. Dunkelzahn won and became president in 2057, only to be assassinated the night of his inauguration. Kiryuu, being his vice-president, took up the seat and brought the UCAS out of the gutter. Two full terms Kiryuu served and those two terms were the foundation of what he could achieve for the greater good of humanity. Just because he was a machine did not mean one bit that he was heartless. Just because he had a hydraulic pump for a heart did not mean that he did not feel emotions for humans, sympathy for the weak and pride for the strong. Though he lost the only bit of humanity he had—the bonded link with Dr. Katsura Yugami, his own soul came in and gave him a revival of human morality. Though he was a biomechanical, reanimated mutant gojirasaurus, he knew what it meant to be human.
Though at the beginnings the UN was lead by the Secretary-General, as soon as a unified arm-forces began to take militant charge over the warring belligerent colony planets, a president and commander and chief of the forces was needed to oversee all policies of military power over the colonies and to keep the peace in Earth's growing empire. Coined sometimes as President of Earth, the United Nations Space Command Commander and Chief delegated over the presiding senate and congress when in wartime and would often make more military sovereign decisions when war was fought. Though the Covenant had struck first, it was the President of the UN Council who wrote up the declaration of war upon the Covenant to secure Earth colonies against the growing menace. Much like the President of the United Canadian-American States, the President of the UN is only allowed to serve two terms, though vetoing of terms by disagreeing countries can keep a president from serving twice.
Unlike the AIs that exist today, Kiryuu had the capacity to become rampant and not think himself to death. Most AIs that were created through positronic copies of human synapses die after being active for 7 years. Kiryuu's own AI had been active since the late 20th Century and began to show his rampancy and sentiency around the very early years of the 21st Century. No matter how hard mankind tried, they could never pull another `Kiryuu' out of their hat. He remained one of a kind to this day. He was a citizen of Earth, the only mechanical citizen of Earth and the only guts to run for President of the UN as a machine. He after all, had a reputation. Before even taking on the presidency, he was the CEO of the Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research. And being the head of cybernetic research the UN called upon his company to help in the SPARTAN program. The difference though between the biosyntech he had in his body and the biosyntech used for the SPARTAN program was Technomancy. Since Technomancy was now forbidden to use, Kiryuu and his team of scientists developed a new type of syntech. Luckily syntech could be created without the aid of Technomantic crystals because living tissue was used not dead tissue. Kiryuu knew that in order to create something like him—Technomancy would be needed to revive the dead cells for creation of syntech. Therefore the SPARTANs created were only termed cyborgs not cyberzombies—which is what Kiryuu happens to be. Though Technomancy was forbidden as well as regular magic being forbidden, Kiryuu was allowed to use some to shrink himself down in order to fit into buildings. Which is why right now he only stood 8 feet tall and not us usual 200 feet tall.
Kiryuu Knight was dressed in a royal blue polo shirt with black triangular stripes running down along the shoulders and the sleeves and also down the trunk of the shirt. On his left breast was `UNSC' written in white block letters. His slacks on the other hand were the exact opposite, black with blue triangular stripes along the outer seams running down the legs. Sunlight glistened off the silvery plates on his arms and the armored plates running down his tail, which wagged softly above the pavement. His tail never dragged. On his gray, draconic snout, were a pair of dark green sunglasses—which had in one of the lenses a plasma screen that scrolled information down for Kiryuu to read. Henry stopped right before the human-sized, cybernetic dinosaur, gasping for air.
“I've—been look all over for you, Mr. Knight,” he breathed.
“You're 5 minutes and 12 seconds late, Henry,” Kiryuu remarked coldly, eyeing the Scot with his burning gold eyes. “I'm disappointed.”
“Aye, sir,” Henry said. “Sorry about that.”
“It's good that you wish to join me in the meeting,” Kiryuu said as he started to walking again. Henry stumbled after him, minding not to get too close to be whacked by the dinosaur's tail. He always walked one step behind Kiryuu Knight.
“I know, Mr. Knight,” he began. “But about this meeting with this…Telek `Herosee. Sir! I do have to express my concern for this. I mean, commissioning a Covenant defector into the UNSC. Congress thinks you've blown a circuit or something.”
“My processors are working at 100 efficiency, Henry,” Kiryuu informed. “Why would they question it? He is perfect for the job. We could learn much, save lives by knowing Covenant tactics, weapons, ship designs. Why what he has given us now has been very beneficial. His pirating—stealing technology and secrets then handing them over to us has helped us. I call it a blessing, not a curse.”
“But have you read the history on this alien?” Henry asked. “According to our sources he was a Fleet Master—a Rear Admiral—if you will in one of the largest fleets in the Covenant Armada. The fleet Particular Justice. They were responsible for over half the glassing of the Outer Planets! He's a war criminal! He should be hanged for his crimes, not put on the payroll.”
“Duties that he has done while under orders from his superiors,” Kiryuu noted. “Our soldiers are no different, Henry. They follow orders from their superiors just as Telek has done. If they are ordered to kill babies—though horrible that may sound—they do it. He's military! If a superior asks a subordinate to jump off a cliff, that soldier might do it. And I have gathered from the reports that time and time again Telek disagreed with his orders. Then, the disagreements worsened to the point where Telek became insubordinate and belligerent to his superiors—to the point where they tried him for treason and almost executed him. I want this Elite on the payroll.”
“Sir, please,” began Henry. “He's an alien, a strange being. What makes you think that he will fit in? His kind have been our enemies since the war started. And they started it not us.”
Kiryuu paused in his steps and turned around. Henry quickly jumped over the President's tail just as it swung around when Kiryuu turned to face him. Though the man had some points, Kiryuu could not help but to notice the tone in Henry's voice. Then, he chuckled in sad realization.
“Come now, it seems to be you're a bit of a bigot, Mr. Ferguson,” the bio-mechanical dinosaur pointed out as a dark smile grew across his scaly lips.
“Me?” Henry asked, shocked by the fact that Kiryuu Knight would call him such a title. “Heaven's no! I'm no bigot. How did you come to such a conclusion?”
“Here, we have an opportunity to learn more about the Covenant from someone that used to be a part of it,” he began. “We finally have our window of opportunity and you're slandering it left and right. Henry, we're struggling against this war. The Covenant is just too powerful, but with Telek's help, I think we can finally even the odds. Too many planets have fallen. Too many lives.”
“But he's an alien…not human…”
Kiryuu sighed: “Henry, what am I?”
“W—what are you?” Henry asked. “You are the President of the United Nations.”
“True,” Kiryuu nodded. “But what am I?”
“A—really good tennis player?” Henry asked. Kiryuu took off his glasses and gave his assistance a chilly glance. “A wonderful tennis player!”
“Henry…”
“Good business man?” Henry asked.
“That's what Lofwyr calls me,” Kiryuu said. “No, what am I?”
“A hundred and 30 million years old, reanimated, radioactive-mutated, cybernetic dinosaur,” Henry replied in defeat. “Gojira.”
“Yes, and yet here is Gojira now the President of the UN,” Kiryuu said. “I'm not human either.”
“I—didn't mean that,” Henry protested. “I meant he's an alien. You're not an alien.”
“I certainly look very alien,” said Kiryuu.
“Yes, you were born on this planet…”
“How does that make a difference?” Kiryuu asked. “Why shouldn't I allow Telek in?”
“He—was a part of the enemy,” said Henry.
“That's the key word, isn't it?” he asked. “He was. He's not now.”
“But he could betray,” Henry said. “Never trust a traitor.”
“Never allow a computer to get so smart that it could potentially take over the planet either,” Kiryuu said, again chuckling darkly at the human. “And yet here I am.”
“But with the kind of knowledge that Telek has,” began Henry. “He'd have to be a part of the Office of Naval Intelligence. He'll have high level clearance.”
“I know,” Kiryuu nodded as he started walking towards the building. He paused for a moment just as the automatic glass doors opened up for him.
“You're giving him ONI clearance?” Henry asked as he followed the President inside.
“Yes,” replied Kiryuu. He heard the receptionist greet him from behind her desk. He nodded and gave her a slight wave. Other personnel as well as members of the UN Senate and Congress also politely greeted Kiryuu as he walked towards the elevator with Henry trotting behind him.
“But—with that high level of security clearance,” Henry began as the two entered the elevator. “Telek `Herosee will know all our secrets.”
“Yes, and we'll know his,” Kiryuu pointed out as the door closed. The cyborg pressed a button for his floor, which was on the very top level of the building. He swiped his security card and the elevator lifted up.
“But, Mr. President!” Henry continued his protest. “Again I must express my opinions on this…”
“Henry,” Kiryuu interrupted. “I have a set of rules for you to follow. While under my employ, you must understand that while I respect your views and your opinions—and you are more than graciously allowed to have them because it shows that you're one step above the animal that you evolved from—however you must understand that my decisions on these things is to help the whole of the UN, Earth and its colonies. But one thing you must take to heart that if I want your opinion I'll ask for it. Is that clear?”
“Y—yes, sir,” Henry sighed.
“Excellent,” Kiryuu said. “Now, I've been told they are setting up the holographic projector on Reach. So, I'll be able to at least be there—somewhat to meet Telek in person. Oh, I wish I could be there in physical body.”
“But under the circumstances,” began Henry. “We can't risk it. A Covenant ship might come out of slip-space, fire on the ship that's carrying you and we'll have to find ourselves another president.”
“Indeed,” Kiryuu agreed as the elevator slowed to a stop on his floor. As the doors opened up, Kiryuu and Henry slowly walked out onto the black, shiny floor that was the office of the President of the United Nations. This was Kiryuu's office. Behind the oak desk was the flag of the UN and a secondary flag, the flag of the United Canadian-American States—which was Kiryuu's home country. A smaller flag sat in a pen holder. It was the flag of the state of Utah, which Kiryuu was from. Nearly a hundred years after the NAN was created, the Ute Nation during the second crash of the Matrix was re-absorbed into the United Canadian-American States. After that, the Ute Nation returned to being called Utah and reestablished Salt Lake City as its capital, which is the home town of the Utah Foundation of Bio-Organic Research. Because Kiryuu was from North America, the UN Building in New York became his home for his operations. Unlike being the President of the UCAS back in 2057, Kiryuu did not have a capital city as his home. He traveled back and forth from the UN building in North America to the UN building in Europe, keeping estates there as his homes away from home. But his true home will always be Salt Lake City. Kiryuu went behind his desk and promptly sat down, kicking off his shoes and sticking his metallic feet up on the desk. The back of his chair was specifically designed for his tail, having a hole for it so that he could slide it through.
“I suppose you'll go through with this no matter what I say, Mr. Knight,” Henry sighed.
“That is my plan,” Kiryuu replied.
“Very well, sir,” the Scot sighed again. “If you have need of me, I'll be down the hall.”
Kiryuu gave a wave of dismissal to his assistant and watched him walk out through another door. He settled back and waved a claw over a panel in his wooden desk. Behind him, an indention in the floor rose up and his green dreads extended down, linking themselves to ports inside the indention. Kiryuu closed his eyes and began to dial up Reach, his CPU diving into the many network of nexus' within the interstellar communication system. He had full clearances to ONI, and he used that server to get through to Reach. It was the fastest of all the military servers. Despite Reach's distant position from Earth, Kiryuu could make it there in good time through his systems, unlike how it used to be. When he was nothing more thought of than a computer, Kiryuu would take hours in hacking into military grids in order to discover secrets and potentially blackmail countries into submission to keep his own secrets—now as the President, there were no obstacles that stood in his way. Kiryuu's eyes opened and a smile crawled up his lips when he finally reached the desk of Vice-Admiral Vince Witcom.
“President Kiryuu Knight!” Vince called, his weathered, tanned face appearing on the holographic trideo screens above Kiryuu's desk. “I didn't expect you to call so soon.”
“Admiral!” Kiryuu began. “How's our guest of honor? Has he arrived yet?”
“Not yet, sir,” said the Vice-Admiral. “But given their present speed, I'd give them 10 more minutes. They ran into some trouble on the way and had to blind-jump it all the way here. And Telek's carrying the Memphis attached to his ship. Captain Reynolds has been complaining about the bumpy ride from the backseat all the way, so I've heard.”
“He's tough,” Kiryuu said. “He can take it. How's that program going?”
“Moving swiftly,” said Witcom. “The SPARTANs are progressing nicely. Thanks of course to some of the new upgrades from the friendly Foundation.”
“We aim to please,” said Kiryuu. “Of course, I'm going against the laws here by giving syntech for augmentation purposes. But that's often looked over given present circumstances.”
“Given the circumstances, we wouldn't have made it this far without your help,” said Vince.
“Very little progress, Admiral,” Kiryuu said. “I'm not satisfied. But that will change.”
The Vice-Admiral glanced away when he heard his assistant speak to him. Then, he glanced back and his smile brightened.
“Our guest of honor is here,” he said. “A bit earlier than I expected. Covenant engines are fast.”
“We're still trying to retrofit some of the engines that he has given us onto our ships,” said Kiryuu. “Mind you, it's a bit difficult so I've heard. It's like having a computer that speaks Greek talk to another computer that speaks Russian. With Telek's help, though, it should get a bit easier. I just hope it's enough.”
“It will be,” said Witcom. “I just hope your faith in someone you've never even met is well placed.”
“Think of this as an interview,” said Kiryuu. “If I feel he's not qualified during the interview, I won't hire him.”
“A business man to the end,” Witcom chuckled.
“Something Lofwyr always says to me,” Kiryuu nodded. “Set up the holographic projectors. If I can't shake his hand physically, I'll shake it through my avatar.”
“Yes, sir,” Witcom nodded. “You heard him.”
Kiryuu settled back again, his mind began to reflect on his decisions. Though he was met by opposing arguments on his decision to grant this alien the commission in the UNSC, the overweighing argument that they could easily gain secrets that agents of ONI and many sailors and marines had fought and died for. It was a desperate move, but the UNSC was getting desperate now. All that was left of Earth's colonies were a few of the Inner Planets. All of the Outer Planet Colonies had been utterly destroyed. Yes, they were getting desperate. It was a hard decision for Kiryuu to make, but he had no other alternative. He just hoped he had made the right one.