And so the day of the meeting finally came. The event was held in Ayaan, which, assuming I remembered the game right, was the first colony you founded when playing as the African Union (aside from the capital, of course). The city was filled with all kinds of people, more than it was used to: New Agencies for all of the planet's major broadcasting networks, tourists who wanted to see who the new arrival to the planet was, and, of course, a large security detail to prevent accidents from happening. An incident at this summit would be a diplomatic nightmare, and I doubted that any of the major factions would make any slip ups in this regard: the fallout would ruin them.

For once, my expectations were met and exceeded.

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Since I had complete control of almost all electronics on the planet, I decided that the first thing to do was see just who was arriving and how. Well, not who was arriving: each colony was sending their respective leaders to this summit. Sending anyone else in their stead would be seen as a sign of weakness, cowardice, or hubris. How and with whom they arrived, though, was still up in the air.

First to arrive was Barre himself: the man was the one who ran the city (or at least gave the orders to the governor), so it was expected of him to appear first, as host. Next came Fielding and Elodie, each escorted by a fairly large security team. Presumably, they felt the need to arrive first since they belonged to the other members of the Triumvirate that met me. Appearing later might have lost them face, or something like that: I didn't really know that much about politics at the time, okay?

Next to arrive was Reginaldo, who, much to my surprise, had a relatively small security detail. At first, I was baffled that he was sending in such a small force. Then I examined their gear, and realized that the six or so men he had with him were carrying some of the most advanced weapons on the planet, which were also surprisingly robust. That told me all I needed to know: he wanted to rely on quality here. Make a statement that his troops are better than everyone else's.

Following him was Kozlov, who was joined by both a team of regular soldiers and a trio of CNDR war bots. Cutting edge tech, if I do say so myself, with better fighting skills than a dox. I could destroy them fairly easily if push came to shove, but I'd lose quite a few doxes trying. I think Vadim had the same idea in mind as Reginaldo: use a display of technology to try and intimidate me. Of course, since his opponent was someone that could easily hack all of his robots, that strategy was definitely a failure.

The rest were quick to follow. I saw troops ranging from human-alien hybrids to cyborgs to perfected humans and, owing to Chungsu, some troops that could hardly be considered human anymore. Seriously, Firaxis was right about the Harmony-Supremacy archetype embodying power by any means and creeping out everybody.

Though, considering what I was going to do with that tech in the future, I was hardly one to judge.

Of course, now that all of the other leaders had arrived, I needed to arrive soon, otherwise they might assume I was, at the very least, not punctual. Everything matters in the world of politics, especially the small details.

Well, might as well arrive in style.

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The ship I arrived in was an experiment with the Spore tech I had at my disposal: mostly designed to look cool, but without sacrificing function too much. As for protection, my security detail consisted of six robots, all designed to resemble the basic marines used on planet. Best to hide my armies nature as a force of machines for now.

My arrival was a rather grand affair, with an escort from Barre's own tacjets, right up to the landing pad. Once I disembarked, my robo-marines assumed a protective position and we began our advance into the meeting hall.

"So, anything I need to keep in mind for this, besides what you said?" I asked to my advisors, taking advantage of the fact that, as AIs, their mind were linked to mind.

"Be cautious," warned Synais. "They're obviously checking to see if you have any weaknesses. Keep your guard up, but don't let it make you terrifying."

"Also, pay attention to everyone," pointed out Kathikon. "You are a living computer, and due to all of the Crogenitor advances added into your Promethean body, you should be able to perceive things faster than anyone else in the room. Look for anyone whose acting shifty and see if they make mistakes."

"Lastly, be rational here, and humble, too," offered Fide. "While you are above them, don't act like it: it's rude and will only sour any future relations you'll want to build with them."

"Um, I think you guys are forgetting something," interjected Rory.

"And what, dear boy, is that," asked Synais, with a hint of venom in his voice...well, mental voice.

"What, exactly, is the name of our team?" was my son's response.

...crap. I'd gone through pretty much everything needed for this meeting, but I hadn't thought up a name for my forces.

"...Um...well...good point, squirt."

Yeah, Synais, apologize for your blunder. Though since none of my advisors had pointed that out, the blame fell on all of them, as well as on me.

"Well," offered Fide, "we need a name for our 'team'. It should probably relate to your name, commander, since you created this team from scratch, but I have little else to offer in support for this...problem."

Well, let's see: name related to Flameal15k, so something fiery sounding. Also, I have a confederacy of aliens following me, so there's that..

And now I had a name. Hopefully, no one thought it was too weird.

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After a few minutes of walking, I finally arrived at the meeting room and took up a seat at the discussion table. Barre, perhaps as an attempt at humility, had chosen a circular table for this meeting. That, I could respect: no head to the table meant no explicit leader, so everyone at the table was an equal.

Once I arrived, Barre decided it was time for the meeting to begin.

"Welcome, fellow brothers and sisters. Today, we welcome a new arrival to our home."

Then, he turned his attention to me.

"Allow me to introduce myself: I am Samatar Jama Barre, Kubwa Mjomba (great uncle) of the People's African Union."

Then, one by one, the rest of the leaders introduced themselves, and relatively quickly at that. I think that they rehearsed this part of the meeting.

For the record, data my worms snatched indicated that really was the case.

"Susan Fielding, CEO and CFO of the American Reclamation Corporation."

"Elodie, Governess of the Franco Iberian colonies on Chiron."

"Reginaldo Bolicar, Commander of the Brasilian Expeditionary Force to Planet Chiron."

"Daoming, head of the Pan Asian Cooperative."

"Kavitha, Leader of the Protectorate."

"Hutama, Prime Minister of Polystralia's Seeding Colonies on Chiron."

"Vadim Kozlov, Commander of Slavic Federation operations on Chiron."

"Arshia Kishk, Leader of Al Falah's colonies on Chiron."

"Duncan Hughes, Prime Minitser of the North Sea Alliance's colonies on Chiron."

"Lena Ebener, Director of INTEGR operations on Chiron."

"Han Jae Moon, Chungsu Planetary Commander."

Then, finally, it was my turn to introduce myself.

"I am impressed by the myriad colonies that inhabit this world: we only had one seeding group reach our world, and we have lost the records of where it came form. Furthermore, my superiors have requested that I not offer my name to you for security reasons. All of that being said, I am Commander Flame, Leader of the Infernum Federation."

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I was surprised that they actually went along with what I said.

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So, read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!