In a dimmed conference room, eight individuals sat around a rectangular table in silence watching a projection of an intense sparring match. Most of the faces of these individuals had faces of intrigue while others had faces of boredom. Once the match finished a voice came from the head of the table.
"Bis, Keket, as expected you have raised a spectacular Warrior and Princess. Her talent for combat surpasses anything I've ever seen at her age. It must be a joy to nurture such a talent."
Bis, King of the Northern Kingdom looked to his wife Keket, Queen of the Northern Kingdom with a look of confusion. He turned his attention back to his lord the Emperor of the Songhai Empire Amare Askiya.
"I'm surprised Lord Askiya, I thought you would be more concerned about your son. From what I've seen previously with your first born you would be stony face if he lost in this manner."
With a slight smile on his face Amare looked at the projection where his son was looking at the camera with a calculating look. No doubt, he has noticed that he was being watched.
"The joy of having multiple children is that each one has their own personalities, wants, and desire. So, the way I see and treat them are different as well. Baako, as I'm sure you've seen from him being in your care has a desperate sense of responsibility as he tries to prepare himself to be the next emperor.
An ambition I try to nurture in kind with strictness, to raise standards to keep his fire well lit. My youngest is more concerned with technology and himself. To keep that selfishness in check I try to limit his freedom as much as I can. The phone lock was because of this so he would be more forced to look at his surroundings-"
A ding went off at the moment and the message flashed on the screen 'Network Compromised'. The view then switches to Talib as he tries to hack his way out the lock with a look of conviction on his face.
A chuckle comes from the other side of the room as the man the chuckle came from starts typing as well and the message 'Network Secured' flashes on the screen. Talib's face drops in frustration and buries his face in his hand. Amare smiles at the projection.
"I'm glad you're having a good time Dela." Dela the Southern King keeps his chuckle going.
"It's not often I get to play with my toys in this manner so I am taking full advantage. He is innovative but still too arrogant and green to break the lock." Amare gave a big hearty laugh.
"Have as much fun as you need at my son's expense, he will either grow from this experience or he will grow tired and give up all together. Either way I get something out of it by knowing his charac-"
"And what of your middle son when it comes to desire." A booming deep voice interrupted from Amare's right side. "He looks to be a fool the way he acted after defeat." Amare turned his head towards Chike Ruler of the Central Kingdom keeping up a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes but he didn't immediately answer. Feeling the tension rising, the Queen Mother interjects.
"Rahjah, has no outward desires that he expresses to us. Everything he is tasked with whether it is studies, technology, athletics, or strategy he highly excels in. His thirst for knowledge is the most potent of the three. So-"
"So, he's a jack of all trades and master of none. No reasonable talent, I see." Chike interrupts again with a facial expression of aloofness. Amare facial expression is unchanged and he keeps his silence as he continues to stare at Chike. Lesedi however, has a face of disgust and it is about to explode.
"YOU DARE TO-"
"Chike, can you please stop your teasing. It's not nice to treat your lifelong friends in this manner." Mariam Queen of the East interrupts her baby sister in the calmest of voices. A slight grin finally appears on Chike's face.
"Of course, Mariam I was just-"
"Besides, it's clear the boy has a talent in observation and leadership which we all know is hard to come by." The grin from Chike disappears and turns into a scowl. Before he can rebuttal, the emperor finally speaks with his smile still ever present.
"Well, that's enough about the Children, let's get down to the real business." The projection changes to a map of the globe. "Mirembe, please if you could give us the run down." Mirembe gets up from her seat and bows to the room.
"Thank you, my lords and ladies, if you would permit me to do so I would like to get into this 'State of the World' meeting." The map panned and zoomed into the middle east region of the world highlighting the territories formally known as Israel, Syria, and Saudi. "There has been increased activities in these regions over the last few months. Outwardly it would seem that Saudi was the biggest aggressor beefing up their military with funding and technology. However, based on our spy network and our personal private interactions with Israel.
They are the ringleaders backing the unrest in this region. Even though I say unrest it would be more accurate to say that they are forcibly unifying. So more of stabilizing the region under one banner instead of constantly fighting with each other.
For over two centuries, to the world, the middle east has been unified under one banner. Internally, we know that it's far from true. They have been more of an alliance of countries instead of a true empire. The way they've operated till now was as separate territories, having different economic and diplomatic goals. That has now changed." The room started to fidget at this but only the Emperor seemed unfazed and smiling.
"According to our intelligence, from the borders of our own Askiya Empire, Bulgaria and Greece to the west, Russia to the north, India and China to the southeast their 'Empire' will finally stand united." Contemplative silence followed from this declaration. Mirembe just stood there waiting for comments and questions that she knew were coming. Chike was the first to speak.
"This poses no threat to us, this doesn't hinder any beneficial diplomatic relationships we have."
"Our Military and intelligence network strength is still head and shoulders above what all those countries have to offer combined." Keket added in.
"Our technology, to my current knowledge doesn't lose to any innovation those countries are producing" Dela said pensively.
"Our natural resources and GDP are far greater than the current state of the region as well" Mariam finalized. The air seemed to relax a bit before the Emperor spoke again.
"The question is not if they pose a threat, there is no one on this earth capable of harming the citizens of the Askiya empire except for ourselves." He spared a glance at Chike which he returned with a scowl. "If the entire world united to wage war on us and take our resources they would not succeed for 200 years. That is the type of effort that we and the previous generations have put into the Empire that it is today." An air of confidence and expectancy filled the room at his words. "So, I ask my colleagues, my fellow royals what is the trigger for this development.
I'll give you the information that the Prime Minister of Israel has tried to barter with me for our teleportation technology. Has that anything to do with it? Or is there a deeper agenda a foot." Surprise and murmuring filled the room, but Mariam was the first to speak up clearly and the room followed with the emperor inputting their own rebuttals.
"That is odd, Saudi has attempted barter for the same thing, but not as forward as it seems Israel was. They've asked for a trade route with the same technology so they could import goods from us more efficiently."
"You mean they've asked for a receiver instrument? I guess they feel that they can reverse engineer that into a fully functional device. It's not like we ever kept it a secret, but we don't use the technology outside the empire. How would they even know what it looks like."
"Like you said it's not like we've kept it a secret, we use it with trade between countries and local government officials use it as well. It's not strange that someone visiting our territory has set eyes on it."
"Spies?"
"I wouldn't go that extreme as to use the word spies, as it implies that there's surveillance for nefarious motives. More like informants."
"Don't be naïve, if you think other countries don't have spies on this continent you need to be reeducated in the art of politics."
"Correct, in every country of power we have surveillance. Not to overthrow, but to track worldly developments. Where do you think we got all this information? It's not hard to expect that other places have the same viewpoint."
"Is it possible that our technology has already been smuggled out the territory?"
"No, we would have noticed already, our teleportation technology gives off a unique wave pattern. As of 30 minutes ago, there have been no such unauthorized signals anywhere on this earth."
"The only type of device that could be smuggled easily are the portable teleportation devices and that's only given to people in this room…"
"Does anyone want to report an act of treason?"
"If something like that happen, we would already know. Our engineers aren't so inept that a member of the royal leadership could take advantage of its citizens. Don't forget what this empire was built on, there are safeguards, checks, and balances." After observing the conversation so far, Amare noticed one kingdom not engaging in conversation.
"Bis, Keket, the Heads of Military and Intelligence have been quiet. Do you not have any questions or anything to add to this topic? A lot of this information comes from you." Bis looks at his wife Keket and hesitates. Keket has more confidence and speaks.
"My Lord, per policy, unless asked directly by you or a danger to Imperial Security we do not divulge intelligence operations to keep the integrity of the office. This does not apply to any of those times. I'm one thousand percent positive there are no traitors among us, and all spies get from us is just counter intelligence." The room paused for a moment then the Emperor spoke again.
"In light of the information heard today, then what do you expect." Keket remained silent and turned to her husband. Looking nervous, Bis started to ramble.
"We have the most advance and deadliest military of this era, that can't be disputed. However, we do not have the largest military. Because of advancement and government policy we use more automated drones than actual soldiers. Compared to the last world war our combined forces compiling of every country in the empire is 55% less than what we use to have. It's also-"
"Get to the point Bis." Chike hurriedly interjects. Bis hangs head and sighs but he hardens his expression and got serious.
"In truth, the Arab empire has been making too many dangero- no 'Threatening' movements toward our territories. We the north have been preparing for some time to be ready to respond in kind when those aggressions ramp up." The military head without any of his previous timidness spoke clearly and decisively. Happy to hear the resolute talk, the emperor stood.
"Bottom line is we talk a big game that we have the best military in the world. The way it's looking, we're going to have to prove it."