Harry walked along the sidewalk in his home city, taking in the sights around him. Now that magical beings were not forced to hide themselves, they were out in the open for all to see. He saw a Centaur couple trotting down the street while occasionally taking a bite out of an ice cream bar floating by their mouth. He saw a group of dwarves carrying large backpacks, dressed in trekking gear, passing by. Then he saw a wizarding family of four passing by carrying some shopping bags and cups of hot chocolate.
Up ahead, the Quidditch stadium was hosting a broom racing competition, a sport that came from North America, which was fast becoming a favourite among the youngsters of Elysium. There were two permanent Quidditch stadiums in the city. Bot stadiums could host Quidditch and broom racing games. But Harry ensured there were two football and cricket stadiums as well for their substantial muggle population to enjoy.
But these days, muggle sports were also becoming a favourite among wizards and witches. To this effect, the construction of a couple of hockey and tennis fields was also speeding up.
Harry found a Feuerbier shop near the Quidditch stadium. He had been meaning to buy up some of the stuff after Sirius sang praises of the German beer.
"A cask of Feuerbier please."
The shopkeeper was a gruff-looking fellow with a short grey beard and dull blue eyes.
"Here it is, Herr Potter. It'll be two Grians."
Harry unlocked his virtual bank through the crystal armband and placed it against the scanner on the shop's counter. The amount was digitally transferred to the shop's owner, and Harry was on his way with the cask of German firebeer.
Many in the High Council and the Senate were enthralled with the idea of a complete digital economy. Their urge to adopt a digital currency was completely understandable. Harry was the one to convince both bodies to adopt a digital and physical currency. This was simply because he recognised that the Senate and the High Council could one day turn tyrannical. With a simple order, the High Council or the Senate could confiscate the wealth of a citizen if the currency were totally digitised. There was also the unrestricted tracking of money flows that the government could partake in with a totally digitised economy.
With the presence of a physical currency, Harry hoped to avoid a total grip of the High Council on the economy and, through it, an overwhelming advantage to suppress voices that seek change in the future.
The only reason he even agreed to keep the current structure was that the alternative was far worse.
Some, mostly muggleborns and muggles, tried to advocate for a democratic republic government for Elysium. But Harry vehemently opposed such a stupid idea from the start. On paper, democracy was all rainbows and sunshine. People exercise their franchise by electing the most competent and virtuous among them to represent their interests in an assembly. The concept placed enormous trust in the capabilities of the populace and their 'wisdom'.
But such a system was bound to fail from the start in Elysium. The wizarding world was not prepared to adopt a democratic model of governance. There were far too many divisions within the society for a representative democracy to thrive.
Besides, he was not about to ignore the instances where democracy gave birth to the worst tyrants in the past. He was not an ideologue who would ignore the pitfalls of trusting large groups of people to make sound decisions on all occasions.
He walked further down the street until he finally reached a place where the wards were heavy. He could feel the wards reaching out to him and scrying him. Harry allowed it to do so as he walked forward until he reached the big white circular building's entrance. There were tiny cameras embedded on the walls watching the surrounding area for any activity.
He could also feel the long-range snipers observing from a distance. That particular feeling was only there because he knew the security measures of this place. After all, he was the one to design it all.
The wards welcomed him, and the wall before him folded to the side, creating a doorway.
Harry walked in through the door into the massive lab inside. He took the elevator and went down deep through a shaft.
"Level 6." the elevator's interface chimed as the doors folded open.
Before him lay a lab with rows upon rows of stargates arranged for nearly a mile. Several gigantic automation arms worked speedily on the gates with holographic projections displaying magnified imagery of the components being assembled to construct the new gates.
"Harry!" Remus waved from the balcony.
"I heard there is cause for a celebration." Harry yelled before showing the cask of Feurbier.
"You'd be right." Remus yelled with a smile before waving over. "Come over."
Harry nodded with a grin and walked up a flight of stairs with the cask.
"So, show me what you got." said Harry as he set the cask on a table.
"Come. It's over here." Remus said.
Remus led him to a hanger where a massive, metallic ring inlaid with thousands of symbols that seemed to rearrange themselves. Twelve Unspeakables dressed in their customary blue coat moved around the structure like bees, casting charms, waving crystal scanners, and scribbling readings and rune schematics in floating crystal datapads.
Remus picked up a clipboard from a nearby table and swept his greying hair back.
Harry walked over, glancing up at the ring. "This is the Stargate?"
"One of them," Remus replied. "We've managed to reverse-engineer the core architecture from the one in Potter Manor. The data crystals and power core have undergone some revisions to align with the new source code. This model is built entirely by magical means, not copied Alteran tech. We call it Prime."
Harry circled the ring slowly. The craftsmanship was breathtaking—rows of sigils written in a blend of Anglo-Saxon runes and Alteran.
"What does it run on?" Harry asked curiously.
"A triple-plated Naquadria crystal weighing half a pound."
"Security measures for the power core?" Harry asked, knowing the Naquadaria was a volatile material.
"A stasis field maintains the molecular integrity, and we have supplementary magical barriers inside the core to isolate the mineral in case of any reaction." Remus explained.
"I see."
"We've also incorporated a scanning probe that accompanies the formation of the event horizon. This probe will trigger the security measures planted in the gate to shut down should the conditions on the other side be hazardous and transmissible to this side."
"How do you manage that?" Harry asked curiously as he circled the stargate.
"It's powered by a self-sustaining runestone linked to the crystal interface and our own crystal servers in the lab. The runestone will form a supplementary shield within the subspace signal that is sent before an event horizon is formed in the receiving gate. In short, we can dial with almost no chance of miscalculating coordinates or hazard." Remus explained.
"Impressive." Harry looked at the base of the gate, where several thick pillars hummed with energy. "How many have you built?"
"Three are complete. Seven gates are waiting for their power source, and ten gates are in the process of assembling," Remus said. "So far, we have linked all our gates to a closed-loop system except for Prime, which is connected to the gate in Potter Manor."
"Have you managed to bypass Stargate Command's gate on Earth?" Harry asked.
"We have." Remus said with confidence. "We managed to bypass the source code of the stargate in Potter Manor and managed to introduce a code which isolates the gate from the Stargate network in the galaxy. We can remotely reintegrate the gate back into the network if we want."
"That means we can operate our Stargate whenever we want. We will no longer have to depend on the intervals of SGC."
Remus just smiled and nodded.
"Good work, Remus. The High Council will be pleased with this breakthrough." Harry patted the man on his shoulder.
"Well, it was not just me who did the work." Remus said modestly.
"Obviously."
"Harry, I can't thank you enough for all of this," Remus said, his eyes running around the lab. "This is beyond my wildest imagination, and every day there is more to learn. It's just simply… marvellous."
"You don't have to thank me."
"I do. We all do." Remus said firmly.
Harry turned away from the grateful look shining in Remus' eyes.
"Well, I must check in with Croaker before I leave for the council meeting. Do send my regards to Sirius when you see him. I'll be gone for a couple of weeks on a mission."
"I will."
Harry took his leave from the lab, leaving a happy bunch of Unspeakables as they got to enjoy some quality firebeer. With that out of the way, Harry left for the High Council meeting.
The High Council building was built adjacent to the Senate building, both of which are interconnected by a single pathway. Just as the Elysian Senate hosted an enormous bureaucracy, the High Council also boasted one equally large and complex. Harry himself had twenty military attaches serving as the representatives of various branches of the fleet and the army. Those twenty attaches had multiple staff working under them.
Similarly, the other seven members of the High Council had their own bureaucracies to handle all the necessary legwork.
As Harry entered through the entrance of the High Council building, he was greeted by the sight of four massive statues and a walkway leading towards a flight of steps surrounded by a fountain. There was a statue of a dwarf, and the other three were normal-looking men. He didn't know what symbolism the dwarven architect Taimur was hoping with the statues, but he didn't get it.
Harry climbed the flight of steps, and immediately, he was accompanied by his secretary, who had several files on her datapad for him to review before the meeting began. They were mostly reports on the financial expenditure the fleet was burning through with their rapid build-up. Having Svoriin had definitely eased the financial burden on the fleet, with access to prebuilt factories and abundant machinery, which in turn eased their mining efforts in Isaalridr. The more they mined the Naquadah and Naquadria, the better the economy was from a statistical point of view.
They had designated mining to private actors, provided they had the capital to purchase the machinery, hire the workers and pay an annual licensing fee. The mining sector was one of the most lucrative industries in Elysium for investors and workers.
After speed-reading through some of the reports, he made himself presentable for the meeting. The High Council chambers were not as spacious as the Senate, owing to the fact that the public was not allowed within during council sessions. Eight ornate seats were arranged in a semicircle inside the chamber, with the gold eight-pointed star banners hanging from the ceiling.
Harry took his seat, and his two aides made themselves comfortable behind his seat. One by one, the council members started to fill in.
The first to arrive after Harry was Bryce Leroy, the former French Minister of Magic. Then came Josephine Fournier (a full blooded Veela), Nicholas Flamel, Oscar Truman (former President of MCUSA), Rodion Belsky (former Russian Minister of Magic), Stephanie Beck (former Chancellor of United Scandinavian Ministry of Magic) and finally Onfroi, the sole dwarven representative in the council.
While Harry was less than pleased to hand over his influence on who gets into Elysium to the Flamels, he managed to keep Perenelle from gaining a seat in the High Council. While Perenelle's attention was on who would get to come into Elysium, he was busy cultivating a faction within the Senate to lock her out of power. His actions saw to it that Perenelle and her proxies were kept out of the High Council.
But try as he might, he couldn't realistically prevent Nicholas Flamel from gaining a seat in the council. The man didn't even put much effort into gaining the seat. His fame alone brought him enough supporters in the Senate. Seeing where the wind was blowing and considering Nicholas was a whole level better than Perenelle made Harry reconsider fighting against the man's appointment.
But now that the High Council was formulated and a dedicated bureaucracy was taking form, he could push for the council to pursue some of the policies that enabled Elysium's initial growth.
"The emergency session was called to discuss the report of our ground assets from Cimmeria, claiming they have made contact with the Asgard representative assigned to the planet." Nicholas Flamel declared for the benefit of everyone present in the council. "Now, we'll discuss what must be done going forward."
"I prefer to hear what Marshall Potter has to say." Councillor Leroy said. "He is, after all, the one closest to this recent development."
"As you all know, the Asgard come from the Ida galaxy, an advanced race capable of intergalactic transit using their ships. The planet Cimmeria is under their protection under the Protected Planet's Treaty. I sent a trade delegation to help negotiate a trade deal with the Cimmerians. The planet holds some untapped natural resources that could be used for the Federation, and the planet itself is strategically positioned close to some of the minor Goa'uld worlds. Having a permanent base in Cimmeria will help in our planned border expansion." Harry explained it in a way that the council members understood the strategic importance of Cimmeria and the delicate nature of intergalactic diplomacy to be employed in the region.
"This Asgard… are they friendly?" Councillor Stephanie Beck asked curiously.
"Yes." Harry nodded.
"As you well know, Councillors, there are no friends in politics, only common interests." Councillor Belsky commented with agreeing nods from almost everyone in the chamber.
It was a sentiment Harry could also agree with.
"For now, the Asgard share a common enemy with us – the Goa'uld." Harry said.
"An enemy they've failed to eradicate despite their alleged superior technology." Councillor Josephine Fournier observed. "So, they could be apathetic, militarily weak or prefer a status quo with the Goa'uld for some unknown reason."
"The Asgard suffer from genetic degradation as a result of cloning themselves and transferring their conscience to their cloned bodies. They can no longer reproduce, and as a result, they have a physically weak population." Harry added in case the Council missed that little fact.
"That is bleak." Nicholas said with an uneasy look.
"When we no longer share a common enemy with the Asgard… what then?" Councillor Onfroi queried with a raised eyebrow.
"Then I suspect Asgard's interests will not be aligned with our intent to dominate the galaxy." Harry said honestly.
"So, a temporary military alliance at best." Councillor Beck stared questioningly at the rest of the council members. "That's the best we can hope for from the Asgard?"
"Maybe even not that if they strictly adhere to the current status quo." said Councillor Truman, frowning thoughtfully into the distance.
"If an alliance is struck, what will they ask of us? What will we ask of them?" Nicholas posed the most relevant question.
"We start with the basics of any diplomatic engagement. We recognise each other's interests in the galaxy. We negotiate trade deals, share intelligence, exchange technology, and we cooperate in the interest of freeing the galaxy from the Goa'uld Empire." Harry suggested.
Before anything else could be said, one of his aides approached him with a datapad.
"Sir, we've got Captain Rivers and his team contacting us from Cimmeria. They've got the Asgard with them."
Harry exchanged a look with the rest of the councillors.
"Put them through the Council's interface." Harry ordered.
In the centre of the chamber, the ground vibrated as it opened to show a miniature crystal ball rising up. It lit with a blueish colour before a holographic image appeared.
The light dimmed.
And once the light settled, it showed Captain Rivers and the Asgard in the chamber.
The Asgard was small, grey-skinned. The being regarded them with its large dark eyes.
"You are the High Council of the Elysian Federation."
"We are the High Council. We left Captain Rivers in charge of our diplomatic mission in Cimmeria on the off chance we might establish diplomatic channels with Asgard's ruling government." Harry said, leaning forward in his seat.
"And you are?" the Asgard asked, tilting its head ever so slightly to the left.
"My name is Harry Potter. I'm the Marshal of the Elysian fleet, and these are my colleagues…" Harry started introducing each Councillor to the Asgard.
"I am Korr." the Asgard introduced itself. "Asgard's Council assigned me to educate the Cimmerians on the request of Supreme Commander Thor."
"A prospect we find advantageous for the Cimmerians in the long run." Councillor Leroy said with an understanding nod before his expression shifted. "But, considering their current situation, we think the Cimmerians might need a steady food supply and medicine to survive the winter. They'll need shelter to survive the elements now that their crude infrastructure has suffered significant damage during the brief Goa'uld occupation."
"All true. Asgard is ready to help the Cimmerians in any way we can, but our civilisation has long transcended many of the needs the Cimmerians consider vital to their survival." Korr said in a monotone voice. "Your aid in the Cimmerians' time of need will be appreciated."
"We shall do our best to help our common friends." Nicholas said with a gentle smile.
"So, in the interest of peace and prosperity in the galaxy, our peoples must come to an understanding. The Elysian Federation and Asgard can agree that the Goa'uld Empire is a polity that churns untold suffering at an interstellar scale." Harry proposed.
"A noble proposal, Councillor Potter. But I'm not the one you need to convince." said Korr.
"Indeed. We were hoping you'd facilitate a dialogue between us and Asgard's government."
"That can be arranged." Korr said with a nod. "But before that, I need to understand something from you."
"Please, ask away." Harry said.
"Though our bodies have suffered significant genetic degradation, we have certain senses that allow us to interact with our surroundings. Is there a reason why I feel you are not entirely human but something more?"
Harry looked at his fellow Councillors and engaged in a silent conversation about whether it was time that they share their origins with Asgard. When they showed no objection, Harry turned to Korr.
"I hope you have time to spare because this is a long story."
"I have time, Councillor Potter."
AN:
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