An Upgraded Soul

Defence Secretary Noah V Hill was 58 this year, he was a mechanical engineer who finished his MBA at MIT Sloan School of Management, he joined an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells aeroplanes, rotor-craft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide.

He served the company as a Vice President and general manager of a commercial airliner program. He was also responsible for all US Army Aviation programs and site activities in Philadelphia. He was later promoted to the Executive council of that company.

He was currently a member of Royal Aeronautical Society and Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Given that, his position had no 'real' power, Noah felt stressed for coming here to represent the President. From the last two years since that organization had surfaced, almost all top countries of the world were suffering from many sleepless nights.

The reason was simple, this organization was so mysterious and there was not a bit of hint at how this organization was formed nor who or which country was behind it. The organization had taken up 'neutral' diplomacy. It did not profess allegiance to any country. The American thought that the Russians or Chinese were behind it while the others thought that the Americans were behind it. No one knew the truth and no one trusted each other enough to believe the other party words.

Some conspiracy theorists who got news from some whistleblower who leaked the news of this organization had confirmed that the Americans had gotten some Alien Technology and were developing this organization in Area 51 and had now deployed this organization to achieve their goal of World domination in the least violent means bypassing the nuclear threats.

By the capability this organization displayed and the way it negotiated with powerful countries strengthened the belief in this theory of not only other countries but American official also. Noah also wished that this theory were true but the fact was very disappointing and positively terrifying. Not even with all the high-level intelligence systems placed at the disposal of the President could help him uncover the origins of this organization.

Noah did not know if there was an Area 51 operating without the knowledge of the Inc.u.mbent President, but he had a long talk with the President about his concerns about these group of people. You will come in contact with this organization only when they contact you.

As to the theory about Alien technology, even Noah thought it might be possible when he saw these organization people fighting. Anyone would think the same way if they saw a single person fighting with 50 hardcore special operations soldiers without breaking a sweat. Only after they used firearms with permission to kill did they kill that monstrosity.

The US government had also paid a steep price for provoking this organization. All the information about the most popular American fighter plane including its core technologies, designs, patents, sales were released into the dark web for the whole world to see. The most painful aspect was that all this information was for free. Even the production line technologies were also leaked. Now any small country could build the same plane for themselves with a bunch of aerospace engineers.

USCYBERCOM had the most challenging period as it strove to erase all the relevant information. They even had to threaten many countries with invasion to cooperate in this process. But the damage was already done. Although they could decrease the scale of damage, Americans had many opponents and competitors also, whom they couldn't afford to offend. So, they could only take this lying down at present.

News that North Korea had already started this work really made the top brass official want to slam their heads against walls. It was really a dark period for the US which aroused giant waves all over the world. This incident also cleared most of the doubts that it was the US behind this organization though at a great price. Also, it stopped from other countries doing a similar mistake like provoking this organization without a reason.

The fear or caution did not come from this organization's capabilities but from its purpose. No one knew what this organization aspired to do or where its ambition lie. This shroud of mystery further caused these countries to lay back and wait patiently rather than making the first move and working as an experimental subject for other countries. The US had already graciously showed what could happen.

So one could imagine how these military officers felt when a member of the organization came to the doorstep of the heart of the greatest military power like it was his house's backyard with no fear at all. It felt truly frustrating for them. Of course, Harry, who did not know that the biggest leak in all of American military history was linked with this person and the organization behind him, was perplexed when he saw how seriously the official took this unknown person.

Mr Noah took a deep breath as he pressed his concerns deep in his heart as he smiled and said, "I am the Defence Secretary, may I know what is the purpose of your excellency's visit?"

The representative of that organization who had visited the first time had requested these officials to address him as 'Your Excellency', this was mocked at that time but now Mr Noah could only concede.

Zurvan's eyes gleamed as he spoke with a hint of a smile, "On Behalf of my organization, I have come to request that the US government closes its embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. My organization has deemed its duty to adopt Zimbabwe to relieve it from its poverty and distress."

"You want another country? what do you think of yourselves? Last time you asked for the Democratic Republic Of Congo, now you are asking Zimbabwe, tomorrow are you planning to ask for the US also?" a middle-aged man who was in the central panel got up and lashed out.

Mr Noah did not have enough time to stop this person. When he heard these words, his heart trembled when he thought of the possible consequence of rejecting this person. When he was coming for this meeting, the president only spoke a few words, i.e. satisfy this person's demands to the best of his ability and exchange for as much technology as possible.

Even if these representatives made extravagant demands, their rewards were equally exorbitant. The last time when the US agreed for ceasing all diplomatic relations with the Democratic Republic Of Congo, they were 'gifted' with a Radar technology which was fare more advanced than the 'still in progress' Captor E Radar technology, which was worth more than $10 billion at least. The engineers in the top military aircraft manufacturing company of America were shocked when they saw that the range of this radar was more than 600km.

One could imagine the impact that this organization gave to them who prided themselves in possessing the most advanced military technology. One needs to know that the US spends almost equal to the sum total of military expenditures of the next seven biggest military spending countries. Adding on to those 'super' soldiers and the leaking of Fighter plane technologies, the President had been advised to tread very carefully while deciding the country's stance on this organization.

Zurvan listened to the Middle-aged person's outburst while his eyes glinted coldly. But the calm smile on his face remained unchanged. His fingers were locked while he sat in a relaxed position slightly moving his legs to and fro. Before Mr Noah could stop this person from further damaging the situation, the middle-aged person continued, "don't think your organization can hide for long from us, the organization of which you are part of is called 'Nirvana', right? You are recruiting of kinds of talent from all over the world and also gathering a lot of resources through multiple channels. Don't underestimate our capability. You might have got some good technology from unknown sources but don't presumptuously think that you could wag your tail in front of us. Sooner or later the day when we know the location of your base of operation, even if you have super soldiers and advanced technology, no one could save you."

Harry felt that the atmosphere suddenly turn cold when he saw the calm smile vanish on that Persian guy's face. Kevin also felt that the atmosphere was not right as he lowered his head as if this situation had nothing to do with him.

Cold sweat rolled down the forehead of Mr Noah as he saw Zurvan calmly stand up. Zurvan shook his head as he sighed, "I thought we had already established the new status quo." Zurvan looked at the middle-aged guy apathetically as he said, "looks like some people are still hung with some previous notions of superiority."

Zurvan swept his gaze towards each of members present as he held his hands together and said, "If you are not able to catch the hint, let me give this straight to you." he took a deep breath and said, "The times have changed, a new era is coming and no one, I repeat, no one can stop it."

Zurvan eyes turned sharp and cold which sent chills down Mr Noah's spine, after all, he was just a civilian official, the other army chiefs were calm and composed but one could see that their pupils had shrunk and face muscles tightened. He continued, "if anyone tried to stop this new era, it is no different than a mantis trying to stop a chariot. Let me get this clear so that there is no communication gap between us, you are not the top dog anymore, a new player has entered. You can't fathom our capabilities."

Zurvan turned towards the middle-aged man and sneered, "Jacob B Barnes s/o Gen. Stephen B Barnes, Director of the Advanced Weapons Research Project, you had accidentally run over a 3-year-old girl child with your car when you were studying in university while being drunk. Your father had helped you sweep this case under the carpet with his influence, right?"

The middle-aged guy violently trembled when Zurvan exposed his past secret like it was nothing, he started regretting going against this demon. Jacob who was the director of the Advanced Weapons Research Project enjoyed huge funds which were allocated to him with little questioning. Using the prestige of his father and the previous achievements of this research group, Jacob had enjoyed high power and influence. But with the introduction of this 'unknown' organization, people started to question if the money or funds allocated to his group has been spent in an efficient way or not when compared to the advanced technologies of 'that' organization. This was a matter of hundreds of Billions of dollars and a big network of interest groups, which caused Mr Jacob to feel at risk and endangered.

This was the reason that Mr Jacob had started developing personal resentment against this ghost organization. He wanted to get this organization destroyed as soon as possible so that it wouldn't influence his position and power. With this idea in mind, he wanted to push the US government to act against this organization, so he stood impatiently to cancel any kind of calm and fruitful negotiations.

But, Zurvan was not done yet as he smiled contemptuously, "the President is waiting for your group to finish Exaflop Supercomputer which can make a billion billion calculations per second. You had completed this project six months back but you had deliberately delayed the announcement so that you could present this achievement to the new president who is going to be elected next month, right? A good plan for further increasing your power in the coming 4 years."

Zurvan looked away from Mr Jacob as he turned towards Mr Noah whose lower lip could be seen slightly trembling, it was not only him but many others who looked unsettled when they heard Zurvan. Who still maintained a blank slate when they reached such high positions. Everyone had a skeleton in their closet which they covered up. If Zurvan started exposing everyone's dark history, anyone could imagine what kind of chaos would ensue.

Zurvan clapped his hands lightly but the sound was like a thunderclap in this silence. He turned and walked steadily towards the exit door as he said, "I will take it that the negotiations have failed, I hope that this situation does not repeat, otherwise..."

"Also," Zurvan stopped at the entrance as he turned and answered, "Nirvana is just a subordinate branch for the main organization, as for the name of the organization, you will know at the right time he he"

Harry's view of the world had upturned today, his faith in his country's strength took a huge hit when he saw an unknown guy spoke a few words and the whole top military brass got rattled. Was a new era coming really? The words of Zurvan still rang in his mind 'you are not the top dog anymore'. Only the light echo of mocking laughter survived after some time as everyone regained their composure.

Mr Noah wiped the sweat on his forehead as he started maliciously at Jacob, "Mr Jacob, I would like an explanation about the delay of manufacturing the Exaflop supercomputer on my table by tomorrow."

Jacob stood like a lifeless corpse since he heard Zurvan revelation, he knew that his career had officially ended that moment. If only he could think twice before provoking such an evil organization.

A soldier suddenly strode into the conference hall and saluted. When Mr Noah nodded, he spoke clearly without any passion but Harry's heart trembled as he gripped his fist when he heard this news, "Sir, the US embassy in Zimbabwe has been bombarded by an unknown group of people, 147 people including men, women and children had died leaving no survivors, no terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for this act."