"I will divert all resources and attention into immediately eliminating the vulnerabilities in the state of affairs in my polity, Your Excellency!" he gulped, trying for a nervous smile, wiping sweat off his forehead.
Minister Ru simply stared at him for several seconds. Her golden eyes pierced a hole in the man, bearing right through him, before smiling.
"I’m glad to hear that, President Jarkarthar, but I’m afraid that..."
Her eyes sharpened, sending chills across his skin.
"...Verbal promises are not enough when the stakes are this high. The Kandrian Empire will immediately deploy a liaison to coordinate our forces. We will see to it that you hold on to your obligations."
It was nothing short of a forced entry into another state, violating the sovereignty of an independent frontier state. Yet, President Jarkarthar simply nodded vigorously. "Why yes of course, Madam. I will be sure to wele the liaison with a banquet."
"Unnecessary, we don’t have time for such extravagance. Simply get the job done, is that clear?"
"Y-Yes, Your Excellency."
"Good. However, SIGINT, OSINT, and GEOINT surveillance aren’t the only approaches that we have taken to suppressing this threat," Minister Ru continued. "We are also trying to establish an integrated HUMINT system with the Beggar’s Sect to detect any conspiracy and plan to go to the Strehegeld Star System illegally. Unfortunately, we have been unable to contact the leader of the Beggar’s Sect in the past thirteen years."
HUMINT referred to information acquired by human assets, of which no other organization had as many as the Beggar’s Sect.
In the Era of Expansion, the Beggar’s Sect had done what every other organization did.
They expanded.
But they were the only organization that somehow grew more silent in the Era of Expansion than they were in prior ages. The Beggar Sage had pletely disappeared, although he was a highly fickle individual to begin with. Contacting the Beggar’s Sect only grew harder and harder, and purchasing information from the brokers also grew distinctly more difficult than before.
Nobody knew what the organization was up to. Of course, nobody had ever known what the organization was up to, but something had changed. They would have been greatly helpful if they had joined the task force to protect human civilization existence from the awareness of the arakais, but alas, they simply couldn’t be found.
"And that covers the hard solutions to suppress this threat, but we have also taken softer approaches," she said with a serious tone. "We are also preparing a diplomatic outreach with Don Seralia, the leader of the largest esoteric drug trafficking ring in the Southern Hemisphere of human civilization. Given that she is not apprised on the risks as the members of this meeting are, we believe that we can get her to see reason and not pursue the Strehegeld Star System. The Underworld has a lot to lose in a war of annihilation, after all. I will personally lead the diplomatic endeavor. That covers the two main solutions to the threat of intelligence leaks that the Underworld poses. If any of you possess any other ideas, then feel free to offer them."
"Bradt Distribution Services has strict detection systems for any attempt at booking a ride or a delivery to a forbidden region," Chairman Bradt spoke with a serious tone of voice. "We have an artificial intelligence that files automated reports to the Gaian Alliance Report Portal the moment it ascertains that an attempt to reach the Strehegeld Star System directly or indirectly through the means of our services."
"The proactive petence of your leadership is a wele relief, Chairman Patrick," Minister Ru smiled. "The Kandrian Empire is interested in acquiring your proprietary detection systems for mass distribution to ensure that all panies are able to operate with a similar level of security."
"Why certainly, I would be willing to share, as long as I am pensated proportionally."
"Rest assured, we will not shortchange you," Ru reassured him before turning about the table. "Then, are there any questions?"
"Yes, Minister Ru," Chancellor Roy, the elected leader of the Nebulus Consortium based in the sole nebula within human civilization, seated several seats away, spoke with a serious tone of voice. "How have you been able to acquire intelligence on our enemies and other advanced civilizations in the Orion Star Strand? Has the Kandrian Empire acquired an intel channel on our enemies? Would it not be prudent to share it with the rest of humanity so that we can gather more information for our collective safety?"
It was a question that seemed to be on the minds of many leaders in the meeting.
Minister Ru simply closed her eyes.
"The information was acquired by His Majesty."
The silence that hung in the room thereafter was deafening. Nobody had any follow-up questions on how the information was acquired. Even if they got the answer, it was undoubtedly beyond their ability to replicate.
The truth was that not even Ru had been informed of the source of all the information that had been regularly fed to the Gaian Alliance and the Kandrian Empire. Priceless information that would have taken an aggressive intelligence acquisition campaign was just delivered to them on a plate, allowing them to make much more informed decisions.
It was the scale of the Arakai Web Civilization and the fact that they had more than a hundred Transcendent-level beings that spooked each and every single leader of humanity, even the Colonial Faction that favored the aggressive expansion that had been pursued up until now.
Even at that very moment, in a secret laboratory in the Kandrian Empire, Rui sat on the floor cross-legged with a crystal containing a Divine Mother on the ground before him, her crystallized head on his lap so he could inspect her web brain up close.
He had been there for weeks continuously, his royal attire was crumpled, while his hair was disheveled. The laboratory lacked a window, getting rid of a natural measure of the flow of time. The sterile lights and the regulated air also made him lose track of time, allowing him to simply continue his research and intel extraction.
He heaved a tired sigh at long last, pushing the crystal away.
"I’ve scraped up all the low-hanging fruit from her mind."
From this point on, getting more information was going to be more taxing than ever before.
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