The First Approach.

A large train of black SUVS halted their approach just outside the assembly hall. Each truck matched the others in the line. Inside the center car lie Ken Jackson come to the small town in former Sweden to attend the first meeting in the newly reformed UN.

He sat in his chair wearing a typical suit. His hair was combed neatly, to the outside figure his age of 50 would seem like a farce for he didn't look much older than 35. Across from him sat his "daughter" and trusted "adviser" May.

He turned to her and then began to speak. "There is going to be a lot of people in there. I need you to make note of everyone you see in there and everything. Once the "festivities" are over we will be heading back home. I don't want to spend any more time than I have to in this god forsaken country."



Kens driver opened the door. Ken stepped through the door offering his hand to the girl to lead her out of the car. "Remember, take note of everything. And be on your guard I'm sure we will see a few old "friends" of mine while we are in there."

Ken knew he might be one of the first to arrive but surely there would be many more following not far behind.

Awaiting other participants of the conference was the man known to the rest of the world as "Soundtron". Luckily enough, Erik had managed to arrive roughly early enough to avoid drawing too much attention from other representatives attending the meeting. The trip here was trouble enough without the Secret Service bombarding him with protection measures. It's a miracle that he managed to get away at all. Holograms do their job quite well, apparently.

To guise the appearance of the leader of half of the free world, Erik had to take many precautionary measures. His appearance was masked with a black chrome helmet that covered his head from the lower neck up, with a visor that managed to hide his eyes from sight. A voice changer wasn't necessary, he simply used his cybernetics to augment his voice to a different pitch whenever he needed to speak. And he wore a flashy set of custom-tailored suit and pants, just to finalize the matching set of attire.

The door creaked open, and Erik lifted his head up to eye the group of people walking in. He had dozed off a bit in his waiting for the other participants as jet-lag seemed to get the best of him. At first, he didn't recognize the middle-aged man stepping in, but once he took a moment, something clicked in his mind and he recognized him. Ken Jackson, otherwise known as the "King of Oceania" to some of his critics. Accompanying was.. a child? No, something was off about her stance for her to be any average child. Nothing that he could exactly pinpoint.

"Welcome, Mr. Jackson."

He spoke in what came off as slightly artificial, but not so much that they couldn't hear the humanoid tones.

Shaen rubbed his eyes and yawned. He had been here for over twenty-four hours already and still, he had not managed to adjust to the drastically different time zone. It should still be dark here and the intern made a face. People were rushing about their business on the streets, speaking in a spattering of languages, only a little bit of which he understood. He walked a few more paces, came across a long line of large vehicles and halted. This must be the transportation he had overheard some of the other government officials speaking of and more than ever, he was glad to have a good pair of working legs. Though the passageway from the hotel to the assembly hall had been riddled with civilians, it had offered him a chance to clear his thoughts a bit.

Before he walked up to the grand entrance, he pulled out a small bag from the inner pocket on his coat and opened it up. The smell of home permeated through the air and he let a smile touch his lips before taking a piece of the dried fruit, placing it in his mouth and chewing slowly. He had dried these apples last winter and even now, they were delicious.

When he got to the door, a uniformed officer stopped him. Shaen sighed, but pulled out his identification badge without complaining. Such was business being an intern for the government and the youth's body stature seemed to indicate that he was quite a bit younger than his twenty-two years of age. The guard grunted at him once and then mumbled some instructions. Something about going up a flight of stairs and turning left (or was it right?) down the hallway. Though he had only been told a moment before, he found he had a difficult time remembering. He glanced around. A few other patrons were present. Maybe he could follow one of them to the meeting. Yes, that sounded like a much better idea than talking to one of the security people again, especially since the one he had spoken to before was in an unpleasant mood.

He walked over towards the outer edge of the room, turned his back to the wall and looked around for someone who would know where the meeting was.

---------

A few minutes later...

A crowd of people had gathered in the hallway, including a man who had been introduced as Mr. Jackson, a rather young-looking female and the leader of his own district.

"Excuse me," he said, walking up towards them. "Do any of you happen to know where the meeting is being held? I seem to have missed the guard's instructions." A frown crossed his face and he shivered slightly and pulled his jacket in closer to his body.

Atmos had arrived somewhat late to the meeting because of his habit of goofing off and was hurrying to get inside. "Hmm, it had been a week ago since I got that notice, wonder what they would want me here fore, heh." He mumble to himself as his door was opened by Security asking him questions. Thankfully one of his two body guards distracted the guard with chit chat so Atmos could walk away as his other body guard followed.

As he arrived at the doors, he was asked who he was and the people following him were. "Ah yes, I am Augustine Towers, also known to my people in Vaferia as Kaiser Atmos. These two are my personal body guards. Their names are Aki and Fuma. They are well trained ninjas from Japan. Now then, excuse us!" Towers barked as he pushed passed the guards with his two ninjas darting quickly in.

As Atmos wwas scanning for his seat he quickly glanced and noticed not only the famous Mr. Ken Jackson but also Soundtron. "Hmm, naturally those two would be here, grant it, I'm just a sub leader of District Scarlet... speaking of which, where is that cow of a leader for Scarlet anyhow?"

He noticed the girls reaction but didn't think it merited any words. Besides he had more pressing matters to deal with. Now before him stood the the very welly disguised man and what might pass as a bad clerk.

"It's going to be held inside in a few minutes. Are you sure you really belong at the meeting kid?"

He turned immediately to face the disguised individual. "Now now, I didn't think they let you walk around without your trained monkeys." He began to walk away leading his daughter further inside. It was quite clear to all on viewers he was explicitly familiar with the man to which he quipped. Just before he got out of speaking range he rang out another quick comment. "By the way, Nice 'Suit' ."

Ken finally reached the inner area and then pushed a large pair of red doors open to reveal a large circular room with a stage in the center for most position.

"Welcome to the first meeting place of the New UN, May. This is actually the exact same building the UN used to meet at over a century ago. "

Ken was quite astonished at the sight of the building tho as usual he didn't let his emotions bubble to the top. Ken was always a huge history buff and just having a chance to enter this building was good enough for him let along actually representing his country in it.

Towers kept looking for his seat, wondering if his country was even included till he found a seat marked Poland. "Now, now... This isn't right at all." he said as he pulled out a roll of duct-tape from his pocket and loudly ripped a piece off, covering the Poland name. Then, from his other pocket, pulled out a black marker and wrote Vaferia and promptly sat down with his two ninja flanking him, standing still as statues... hands near kunais and their specially made tantos.

Shaen nodded once in response to the rather tall man's question and proceeded to pull out his badge and showed it to the man. Of course he belonged here; he had gotten the proper clearance, after all. And speaking, although polite, was out of the question right now. It took too much energy to formulate his thoughts into words, much less into coherent English. So far, this group consisted of very strange people, and as they all followed the important man indoors, his attention shifted to the girl who had been following the man.

She was far more peculiar than any of the others and the intern frowned at this. He took a deep breath, smelling the air. The oblong meeting room smelled all too much like artificial air freshener, but it also smelled like human beings... and something else, something that he could not pin-point the origin or nature of.

Hmm... he thought, fiddling with the fringe on the white scarf he was wearing. As everyone else was moving to take their seats, he looked around for his own. He found a seat under the proper designation and sat down. These chairs were so much softer than the ones back home. Perhaps there was one good thing about coming to this strange place. Without making eye contact with any of the others in the room, he removed a notebook and pen from his bag. It was his job to take careful notes about what went on and report later. He showed a significant preferance to the old-fashioned methods; despite what his superiors asked, pen and lined paper could do a job just as well as a computer monitor and virtual keypad, perhaps even better, if applied correctly.

Ken laughed at mysterious mans comment of the uselessness of this meeting. After a few moments the prestige of the building seemed to fade and the illusion was gone, "Come on May, let us find out seats." He led the young girl through the rows almost directly to the seat marked Australia.

He saw the other leaders of the world act like such children and he shook his head. "You'd think you would have to be at least a little mature to be in charge of a country wouldn't you" he said in a sarcastic tone. He pulled out one of the chairs at his section and motioned for the girl to be seated before he himself then sat.

Ken seemed to be fit for this kind of environment. He was always good in high pressure, board room like situations. This is why when his father passed away his companies board had no problem offering him the CEO position.

As he prepared for the meeting to begin a very short and fat man sat in the chair next to him marked, New Zealand. The man gave a slight bow of his upper body as he noticed Ken. "Well if it isn't my favorite Sub-leader."

The man was Viceroy, Kaldo Surkas. The newly appointed Sub-leader of New Zealand. A long story short, Ken never really liked the man and found his appointment by the board to be an insult. He now had more reason to want this Summit over as quickly as possible.

Ken looked at the hooded man after his remark then stood up.

"I am Ken Jackson of District yellow, and i do not recall ever voting for such a position." He said pulling out a small old run down book from his pocket.

The book was marked UN regulations and rules."As the original codex depicts we must hold a vote for the leading position of this committee. I am sure i speak for everyone when i say, such a major role shouldn't be determined without a majority rule, I mean who is to say you wouldn't just use it for your own advantage."

Kens argument was sound, surely others would refuse this seizure of power, and if they didn't he could always make them.

"So as a member of this committee i call for a vote. If i can get a second all who wish to put there name into the running may do so according to the book."

He held the book up in his right hand as his left was raised for a motion. He looked around into the crowd briefly reading peoples thoughts as he awaited a response.

Looked in the yonder to see Mr. Jackson stand against the name Soundtron. In a whisper to himself "My, my, I wonder whatever shall we do if such a obvious weirdness is about. Well, I'll see how this plays out just a...little longer before I decide to make any decisions."

He then leaned towards Aki, whispering ever so quietly "I want you to take... a silent leave, Fuma can guard me just fine. I want you to find me as much information as possible that your talents can provide on Mr. Jackson and his daughter, and this Soundtron fella, understood my dear?" Aki had nodded in agreement and quickly vanished in cat-like maneuvers out of the building.

Shaen was nearly silent as he observed the exchanges between Soundtron and the important-looking man who introduced himself as Ken Jackson. Ironically, perhaps, he was the only person in the room who chose this behavior. Tension rose in the room as Mr. Jackson's remarks dripped with sarcasm and Shaen reached up to massage his own shoulder. The bed in the hotel he was staying at was not nearly as comfortable as the thin mat he slept on at home and he tilted his head to the side for a moment, then straightened his neck back out.

He fiddled with the pen in his hand, pausing to stroke the lightly padded grip. After a moment, he touched the nib gently to the paper, scrawling out the names of each of the attendees, along with a few notes about each person. Although he was new on the scene, he knew a little of Soundtron, being from the same district, and this Mr. Jackson seemed to take no hesitation in making himself known. His writing was small and to many, would be considered illegible, a mix of the traditional Latin-based alphabet used for English and some symbols of his own design, a highly specialized form of short-hand. It could be transcribed into a computer system at a later point in time.

He looked around the table, taking careful observations of each of the unfortunate inhabitants of the room. Tension was swirling around, a dark grey cloud in the room. Flecks of red joined in the cacaphony, some emanating from Mr. Jackson and other shards originating elsewhere and there was a harsh screech, accompanied by a shower of obsidian daggers. It was so loud in here and he shut his eyes. Still, the images persisted, engraved in his mind. He reached a hand to his temple and began to massage it. So loud, so chaotic. His eyes continued searching for a quiet place, a sign of peace and of being still. A second survey of the room showed nothing to fulfill his request. He let out a quiet sigh. A third survey followed and the fourth one revealed a single break in the pattern.

That girl. She was odd, but he could not quite place it. He glanced over at her, but his gaze did not stay put for long and soon his attention shifted to elsewhere in the room, where his musically-trained hearing picked up the hint of a whisper. Absently, he tapped his pen against the lined paper a couple of times. This was going to be a long meeting.

It took a bit while for Dinivas to find where the meeting was, his client having left for it early with no one noticing. Dinivas entered the room where the meeting was taking place, hearing Ken's disapproval of Soundtron taking position as Secretary General. He was dressed in a red suit with matching pants, but instead of a tie, he wore a cavat, enjoying the idea of being unique from other lawyers. "I'm afraid I would have to object to that Mr. Jackson."

Dinivas slowly walked towards where Soundtron was and stood to his side as he continued talking with a smirk on his face."For one, the old codex is a relic of the past and clearly inadequate for the present. It certainly didn't keep peace within the United Nation of old as the third World War clearly showed." Dinivas looked at each representative that was in the room as a challenge to doubt his words. But before he allowed anyone to respond, he continued to speak.

And secondly, a majority vote would never work. I would think everyone here would vote for themselves rather than someone from another country. Even if we're no longer at war, I don't believe any of you fully trust anyone in this room but yourself."Dinivas once again stared at everyone as he speaked, watching their reactions carefully, when his eyes moved to look at the girl beside Ken, he immediately looked away. Children were something he didn't enjoy being near at all. When Dinivas finished speaking, he crossed his arms and watched Ken, awaiting his response.

Ken did not take kindly to this new mans intrusion. He did not like when other people spoke out of term and certainly when they didn't even know to which they spoke. It only took ken a few moments to peer into this individuals brain and get the answers he wanted.

"All of us here at this committee, before even coming here swore to adhere by the belief system of workings of a world republic system, so regardless to your beliefs that is how it has to work." He looked at the man for a moment before speaking again. "And last time i checked this was for proper council only."

"I mean how would you have us decide a leader, merely by who thinks they are a good one? Or should we simply give it to the one who is the strongest or most charismatic. Always a fine choice, then again if you remember your history 1 country priory did such a thing, and ended up causing the 2nd world war because of it."

Ken looked to the crowd as he made his speech and it was easy to tell some of them were stirring at the thought of another terrible leader gaining control through force.

"So as you might now understand, the only way for us to logically and legitimately choose a leader is through voting. I mean the leader of this committee has little physical power` he simply is the judging party of such."

Ken sat down having completed his rant and took a hanky from his pocket and gently cleared what seemed to be 2 beads of blood running from each of his nostrils. He would have to wait and see how the other leaders reacted he did not take his eyes off the rude man from before. He was quite odd in kens eyes and that was merit enough for him to instigate him further.

Ken heard the mans words. He did not immediately react instead he thought for a few moments. A lot of things were racing in his head, "Fight for it, Or just let him have it?" He made up his mind after about half a minute.

He straitened his tie as he began. "I can understand where you are coming from Mr. White, We the representatives of the Yellow district withdraw our plea of a called vote...For now. We however would like to be the first to call on the order of new business to the conference."

He opened his jacket pulling from his inner pocket a folder and then re-buttoning his jacket. "In the aftermath of the last war it became apparent to me that we the people of the world might need to gain the ability to rapidly repopulate a devastated or baron area. I have here an idea and specs for a research facility where we could learn to do just that."

He looked around the room letting his words sink in. After a moment he continued. "The reason I bring this up in this assembly is I wish to build this facility in the Neutral territory of Antarctica. My scientists tell me the area known as the Ice valley, would be an ideal place to do so. They believe and i do as well that if we can make this area habitable that it is able to be done anywhere. That is all", he said sitting back in his chair hoping his statements at least sounded sincere enough to get him his vote. He really didn't wanna have to abuse his power in the first assembly.

Their talk of peace and a plan for inhabiting Antartica filled the room and Shaen was careful to take complete notes, documenting what each person said, as well as his impressions of their true motives. He barely let his eyes drop to his paper; he'd practiced this particular method of writing so often that he could perform it nearly perfectly without having to look at what he was doing. Such a talent, though often useless, had proven to be the contrary on occasions such as this. He paused for a moment, then proceeded to write a few more notes on the page.

Talk of peace going on, proposed by White District Leader, Soundtron. Mr. Ken Jackson has proposed we populate Antartica. Scope of this project requires White's scientific advancement. Will write memo when return.
Is good idea. Reduce crowded cities, give families a place to raise kids, jobs.
Towers, from Scarlet, not so sure. Has not seen power of technology yet or would not contest.

"I will see to it that the memo gets out to our technical staff."