[Union] Salarian Scientists Request Return of Exotic Equipment

Salarian Scientists Request Return of Exotic Equipment

Representatives of the Zora Ke Institute of Applied Sciences released a statement earlier today requesting the return of the Dark Matter Convergence Circuit. Thanks to the device, constructed between 2176 and 2181, the Institute had been one of the premiere centers of study of the interaction of matter and dark energy. However, the Institute’s expertise and equipment - including the DMCC - was relocated shortly after the start of the Reaper War to be used by the Crucible Project.

“The [DMCC] is a highly specialized piece of equipment”, Head of Research Nelan Jir was quoted as saying, “with no use for the reconstruction effort, but absolutely vital to continued research that may eventually prove of the utmost importance. We know for a fact it survived the firing of the Crucible undamaged.”

The statement does not discuss the logistics of transporting the space station-sized device. At the time of this writing, representatives of the System Alliance have not issued an official response.

Stick a few hundred thrusters on the back and give it a push? Newton's First - an object in motion stays in motion unless shot at with a mass accelerator!

On a more serious note, screwing around with dark matter is never a good idea. Hope they have black hole-proof walls.

I imagine the other council races are reluctant to remove a crucial part of the crucible in case we need it again at some point.

I don't think it's been integrated into the Crucible as it was. Maybe it was used to produce things needed for the Crucible or it was disassembled and parts used for its construction. I think in the latter case, it's a total loss.

More interesting is the fact that this is getting out to the press. Why can't this be handled on diplomatic channels? Or does the Alliance really show reluctance in returning a piece of equipment that's one of a kind?

Knowing the present situtation, it wouldn't surprise me that the Alliance actually lost it.

no comment


No Comment.

No Comment!


Guess who is assigned to be part of the task force that is handling this.

Can't say I've ever heard of equipment described as exotic before.

Ah, so I see the Alliance quite literally has been caught with their pants down this time.

I don't mean to sound rude (which is the first sign that I'm probably going to come across as it) but given all of modern society's research and development of dark matter/dark energy in things like ship engines, ME field generators, and biotics

I think we'll be alright.


Not...really? I mean it's a public and widely acclaimed institution and the DMCC was something of their crowning achievement. Honestly I'm rather relieved that this isn't all being handled behind closed doors; a bit of public pressure might actually expedite what I'm sure's a pretty nasty diplomatic snafu.

Out of curiosity, Mr Lowell sir, how do lose a piece of equipment the size of a space station? Enquiring minds need to know.

Incompentently, Mrs. King. Incompetently.

Oddly enough, the SSV No Comment is another piece of property that the Salarian Union is rescinding the use of. Christened after the UNAS Military’s code name for Mt. Aconcagua, the SSV No Comment was a stealth dreadnought that we lent to the Systems Alliance specifically for use in theatres of combat that required vast amounts of plausible deniability, such as its various illegal activities in the Terminus, the bombing of the batarian settlement Notchk’aa, and of course, escorting the woman known as Commander Shepard in (brief) times of significant duress. With the No Comment in tow, military and political leaders (such as then-Councilor Udina and Admiral Hackett) would be able to, in two words, reveal the extent of their involvement while conveniently giving the public zero information to work with.

Naturally, hostilities with the Reapers are currently at hold, and as such, we would like to have our ship back for the time being – if only as a just payment for destroying one of our research stations, as Diplomatic Immunity has so conveniently informed us.

See this is why you should never trust the Navy or bureaucrats. And especially not Navy bureaucrats.

That leading question assumes we have lost it Miss King. Apart from that, it is also something that pertains to a highly classified piece of equipment and therefore we cannot comment on it.

Now to not totally shutdown the discussion, I am willing to speculate on how one could lose a space station sized piece of equipment; under the explicit understanding that this is in no way related to the Dark Matter Convergence Circuit specifically, or indeed any piece of actual equipment in general.

That said, space is big, and you can all things concerned quickly lose stuff in it, for example, we did not detect the entire Reaper armada until it was at our doorstep. So when we place something into space so when you place something into space you always make a note where exactly it is and what it heading is, so you can find it again later. If such a record is rendered useless, you will have a hard time finding again. Caveat; obviously, some things can be found back, for example if you put something in an orbit around a star/planet/other localized gravitational body there is a far better chance you will be able to find it again (if you know what star/planet/body) but even then you would be in for a search.


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a stealth dreadnought named "No Comment"

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I cannot confirm or deny anything regarding what you just said, there are limits to sanity and security clearance after all.

Regardless; I did not in fact refer to the “SSV No Comment” (if such a ship really exist,) but truly saying I am in the incapability of commenting on such a speculation. If you wish to interpret this as a public confirmation of the destruction of equipment, so be it, but my ‘no comment’ comment was not intended to overtly or covertly do that.

It is just standard practices to refuse to comment on these sensitive issues in public, and while I can not confirm or deny the destruction of Dark Matter Convergence Circuit as such I would care to publically muse about the following.

It would surprise me that if the DMCC was destroyed during the construction/firing of the crucible (or for some reason afterward) that the Union would not have been informed of this by now at some (high) level. Now given such a realistic assumption, (Union intelligence keeping tabs on Union equipment,) going public in such a way, (instead of using backroom dealing,) can mean one of many things. Two of which are;

They know their equipment is still salvageable, they want it back and want to do it in such a way as to make the Alliance and its partners (chiefly the Hierarchy,) look weak if they give it back or like bullies if they do not. Meaning that such a grandstanding is mostly for domestic (Union) consumption; either showing its public how strong the regime is or that it is under pressure from the outside and therefore it should stick together.

An alternative is that they know the equipment is destroyed or otherwise unsalvageable, at which point doing it in public would be a way to put pressure on the Alliance and its partners. Either to get something they really want (like that supposed ‘stealth dreadnought’) or to make the Alliance look unreliable to its (potential future) collaborates making further cooperation more difficult.

Obviously, there are scenarios that are more ‘interesting’, it is always fun to speculate on the ultimate goals and plans of the Salarian Leadership. Obviously this all is just fanciful speculation about things that happen way above my pay-grade.

Why would give the salarians back their own equipment would make you look weak?

The way they are spinning things, the right word at the right place make all the difference. In this case there is an accusatory undertone in their statement, (for example “We know for a fact it survived the firing of the Crucible undamaged” has an implied, ‘so don’t even try to lie about it or else’ in it.) Such a thing could be used as a basis to spin it from a request into a demand if they wished to do that.

The way I see it (and I'm fully aware I don't have all the information, so this is mostly for discussion's sake), time plays against the Alliance here. If they give back their device to the salarians now, they'll make them look like big drama queens for all their accusatory tone. But the longer the Alliance wait, the more they'll be justified in their accusatory tone.

They still haven't recovered from the PR disaster that was their lack of involvement during the war, so it'll be a blessed opportunity to look like the reasonable people who were cheated by the upstart Alliance.

First, this scenario, as said, would be primarily for internal consumption where they have a tighter grip on the narrative. More importantly, it does not matter what others think of the situation and its resolution only what the local population thinks and there is very little chance they would think of themselves as drama queens.

Second, and this is once again speculation, you are not considering how deeply the Dark Matter Convergence Circuit is integrated into the crucible, even if the Alliance wanted to give it back it might take months or even years to get it out unharmed. You might argue that having the Alliance reassure them they will get it back would be good in such a case, but if you read carefully, they are not asking for such a promise, they are asking for their equipment. Such a promise is just begging to be spun into the “Alliance dragging its feet.”

There is no win in this scenario, but you can mitigate it by refusing to play the game in public hence the official "No Comment" stance.

This is a very sensible argument, but I would argue that there is no time out in the PR game. If you don't play, people assume you have something to hide. In that case I'm pretty sure that when you say "no comment", people hear "we have some reason not to give back the salarians their property".
I've observed with interest the Alliance focusing their PR on silence and deflection, for example on the question of whether and how political power will get back to public institutions at the end of your 5 years plan, and I'm not sure it's doing that much good.

That is where you are wrong, it might be because you are a batarian and work in the terminus that you have a far different understanding about these things than the Citadel Space resident. When an official says “No Comment,” he is effectively saying; “we do not comment on an evolving situation for two reasons. Firstly, we need to make sure we are internally on the same line and deliver a consistent message to avoid any confusion. Secondly, we are initiating active talks with all involved parties in private to resolve this issue in a satisfactory manner for all involved parties. We believe that the best way to resolve such an issue is in private where we have more freedom to float ideas around the room. It is our experience that doing so in the public eye is restrictive. For example, the public might interpret initial offers made by all sides as their final offers and cause offense. Additionally any compromise, made in public, that are a natural part of any such a negotiations/talks could be considered by the public as giving in to the other side. This would make the whole proceedings more difficult as no one wants to ‘lose face’ in public. That is why we are not going make comments in public about the issue proper as doing so would ultimately make any talk more difficult and would probably result in the talks taking longer than needed.”

I believe you understand that if we have to say such thing each time a reporter asks about an hot-topic issue (this or any other) we would not get any work done, that is why we just use “No Comment.”

As for the whole PR angle, you are overestimating it, the only PR angle there is the salarian one, and that is out of our hands, no matter what the Alliance and its allies end up doing.

So you are implying the Salarian Union is no longer allied to the Systems Alliance, and therefore should no longer be considered an ally to Citadel Space?