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LOCATION: VALERIE CONNORS' APARTMENT
CITY: WASHINGTON, DC
DATE: APRIL 20, 2026 | TIME: 10:00 AM
Valerie Connors was very pleased with the results so far.
She had been appointed the Special Liaison for Strategic Cooperation, a fabricated title that allowed her to still work under the auspices of United States Senate Majority Leader Barrett Langston.
It also gave her diplomatic immunity when traveling abroad, which was a nice perk. Not that she was concerned.
As The Curator, she had access to so many tools of persuasion, she was pretty sure she could talk her way out of anything.
But having been appointed as the United States representative to the North Korean Transition Council… now that was a surprise.
Her boss, Senator Langston, had engineered the whole thing. He'd been given a rare class by the System called The Orator, and while Valerie's own powers of persuasion were subtle and nearly impossible to detect, the Senator's skill set was another thing altogether.
As a member of the Armed Services Committee, Langston had been aware of Operation Twin Fang, and when he heard of Grim and Vanessa's success in taking down the dictator, he arranged a five-minute meeting with the President.
Five minutes was all it took to convince the President of the United States to put his protégé on the Council.
Not the Ambassador to the UN. Not the head of the CIA, or anyone else in the cabinet who actually had applicable experience.
No, it was to be Valerie. The President agreed during the meeting without even demanding to see her credentials.
All a tribute to Langston's newly acquired powers of persuasion. And manipulation.
When Senator Langston left the meeting at the White House, his hands were shaking so hard that he had to close his eyes and focus his breathing to get it to stop.
He'd just convinced one of the most powerful men in the world to do something based on Langston's own word alone.
If I can do this, imagine what sort of legislation I can get passed…
Valerie accepted the appointment. She knew the significance. And from there, the sky was the limit.
Because she now had the ability to sway decisions in one of the most potentially volatile situations in modern history. Her whispers now carried the weight to tip the scales when that very history was being written in real time.
One of the North Korean generals on the Council tried pushing back on most of the reforms.
Valerie had been calling in remotely to the meetings, and asked if she could speak to the general privately.
Everyone else left the room, and Valerie learned that her words still held sway over the internet. He was particularly caught up on providing rice and wheat for the people. He wanted to save it for the military.
Valerie assured him that with humanitarian aid corridors opening up, more food would be coming soon.
What she left unsaid, was the fact that after an unprovoked attack on a US carrier, North Korea's military capabilities were about to be completely dismantled.
Japan after World War II came to mind.
Eventually he relented, and Valerie found him more pliable after that initial conversation.
She planned to travel to Pyongyang soon. They only needed to figure out a flight path for her.
But so far, everything was going according to plan.
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LOCATION: VOSS TOWER
CITY: SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
DATE: APRIL 22, 2026 | TIME: 3:00 PM
After Grim and his team returned from their mission in North Korea, Mallory gave it a day before calling the Core Council together.
Mallory started the meeting, as usual.
"Good afternoon, everyone," she said. "I want to start by congratulating Grim, Vanessa, and the team on a successful mission in North Korea."
Colin Mercer, who was also in attendance, patted Grim on the shoulder, and Darian did the same to his wife, Vanessa.
"The loss of the USS Ford was a tragedy, to be sure," Mallory continued. "But who would have predicted that it would lead to the potential reunification of the Korean Peninsula? It's an opportunity I don't plan to miss."
"What do you mean?" Ronan asked, looking up from his laptop.
"Well, I think in this global feel-good moment, it's time to announce Vitalyx to the world. What do you all think?"
They all knew it was coming.
But Mallory's words still landed heavily in the room.
"I, uh…" Grim started. But then he didn't finish.
"We're ready," Colin said. "I agree. The only way we could choose a better moment would be if Russia pulled out of Ukraine. But those matters will be settled eventually."
Elise Draven leaned forward on the table, a serious look on her face.
"Vitalyx is staged as far as we could get it within our control," she said. "It won't take much to push it out to the final locations once the Peacekeepers are in place."
"Grim?" Mallory asked. "What do you think?"
"I guess we're as ready as we're ever going to get," he said. "I wish the Peacekeeper Force was ten times the size, but it'll have to do."
Ronan turned toward Grim.
"What do you imagine are the greatest threats we'll face?"
Grim laughed.
"Ronan," he said, "I've seen a lot of shit in my day, and I can imagine a lot of threats. But the greatest is governments seizing the supply and rationing it. As we've been discussing."
"Valerie can call over up to one hundred members of that group she deals with in Allovia," Vanessa said. "They all have skill sets similar to the Velvet Reapers. We could postpone the announcement, and—"
"No," Mallory said.
She stood and began pacing near the tall windows and looking out over the San Francisco Bay.
"Humanity has suffered long enough. Let's give them something new to hope for."
She turned toward the group again.
"A life free from disease and illness. It's time. We'll deal with the fallout as it comes, but I know that with over fifty thousand allies, all inducted into the System, we can overcome anything."
For the rest of the meeting, they discussed the details. This wasn't the global Tutorial yet, and all that came with it. This was Vitalyx only.
In the end, they decided that, in order to not take away from the tremendous developments on the Korean Peninsula, they would make the announcement on July 15th.
It would be a press conference that Mallory would lead, but they would prepare a brief information packet that would go out to seated governments in every country simultaneously.
They were, however, unanimous on one matter: they would handle the distribution. Not the governments. It would be an uphill battle in most countries, but the Council was determined.