Sowei City.
Capital of the newly formed, Central-European country of Soweiland and the home of the heroes of the Sowei Revolution, now promoted to Sowei High Councilmen.
It was Wednesday, the first one since the establishment of the Kingdom of Soweiland, and the High Council was having its first weekly session.
"Alright everyone, let's start. Soweiland High Council session Uno, Council Chairman for today is moi, let's take attendance." Leo started saying, then pulled out a list and started reading.
"King guy himself..."
"I'm here." Lucius firmly stated.
"Awesome, Prime Minister, that's me I'm here, Royal Guard captain?"
"Present!" O'Lop said and saluted.
"Awesome, Minister of Science and Development, we don't have one... Minister of Defense?"
"Right here." Said General Starman.
"Wonderful, External Affairs?"
"I have dinner plans." Geowar said.
"What? It's the morning you moron! Whatever, Minister of Internal Affairs and also prison warden and also castle guard...? Why did you take so many jobs?"
"I hate my life." Nick told nobody on particular.
"That much is apparent. And finally Minister of Civilian Protection which we also do not have. Great! Hey is anyone writing all this?"
Silence.
"Hey Nick, catch!" Leo called Nick and tossed a notebook at his face.
"I'm gonna need a-" Nick tried to say before a pen also hit his face. "Thanks."
"So now we can start. What do you guys have to say from your departments?"
"I want a raise." Nick said, now writing in the notebook.
"You're the one who chose to take five jobs! You're not getting squat!"
"It's my duty to-"
"Protect the King and his heirs, we know. You've told us fifty times. Get a life, buddy! Anyone else."
"I want to start recruiting for the army." O'Lop said.
"Yeah, the army also needs guns. And we need to get some ships." Starman added.
"Whoa hold on, what do we need a navy for? Or an army for that matter."
"Well, our neighbours aren't exactly allies to us." O'Lop said.
"I told Francis I'd beat him up if he did anything sketchy!"
"What about Italy? And Switzerland?"
"Don't worry guys." Geowar reassured them. "I have a meeting scheduled with my Swiss counterpart next week, it's under control."
"Didn't Italy have claims on our islands or something?" Nick asked.
"Don't worry about that." Lucius said. "Edward had a meeting with them and made them drop it."
"I adore that guy." Leo said. "Moving on, I think we have enough funds to start a small recruitment campaign, but we only have enough guns for 1000 guys at best."
"Oh speaking of guys, Nick, I'll need to you to start surveying our citizens. We need an approximate population." Lucius said.
"Isn't that the Civilian Protection guy's thing? Why do I have to do it?"
"We're not asking you to protect them you idiot, we're asking you to count them!" Leo told him.
"Fine, fine. I'll do it." Nick conceded.
"Hey, on that topic, we need to hire the Science and Development and Civilian Protection guys soon." Geowar added.
"True, but we can't just hire any random guy. We'll wait for an opportunity to come, and then we'll hire someone." Leo said.
"Until then, Leo and I can split their responsibilities." Lucius calmed the room down.
"Great. I'll get to work setting up a fire department." Leo said, and suddenly a noise went off from the communications device in front of him.
"What's up, front desk?" Leo asked after picking up the phone.
"Hey Leo! Uh, a guy and a lady want to speak to the council." A female voice was heard from the other side.
"Who is it?"
"It's uh, Theo Soleman, from Sowei City 1, and scientist lady, said her name was Dr. Christine Parr or something?"
"Okay first of all, tell Soleman to get lost before is shove his fedora up his nose."
After that a bunch of steps were heard through the intercom, signaling that the blonde reported had gotten the memo.
"And what does that lady want exactly?"
"She says she's here to deliver you an urgent message, and she can't tell me what it is because I'm not a 'government official' or something. I should have her deported!"
"Okay Jessie, enough. Just tell her to wait for a second." Leo said and closed the connection.
"What do you guys think?" Leo turned and asked the council.
"I personally believe this is a great opportunity." Lucius said and many sounds of agreement are heard.
"Personally I really wanna find out what the urgent message is." O'Lop said.
"Alright then." Leo said and turned the intercom on again. "Bring her in, Jess!"
Soon after that, a short white woman, with brown hair wearing a suit and tie and a pair of sunglasses walked through the door of the council room. She was holding a clapboard on one hand and a pen on another.
"Welcome-" Leo tried to say, but he was interrupted.
"Good morning gentlemen. My name is Dr. Christine Parr, I have a PhD in Microbiology, a doctorate in mechanical engineering and am a licensed programmer, as well as a honorary member of the EDGE." The woman said, with her British accent.
"EDGE? What's-"
"The Engineering and Development Global Ensemble. I was made a member due to my invention of the Holographic Projector."
"So what are you doing-"
"I heard that the position of Minister of Science and Development is available, and I would like to take it."
"Christ, woman, can you let me finish a sentence!?" Leo cried out in annoyance.
"My apologies. In the science world-"
"Don't care. How did you know that position was open?"
"I was informed by a fellow member of EDGE. Thompson, his name was?"
"Does a Thompson work here?" Leo asked the council.
"Nobody works here. It's just us." Geowar told him.
"Well if a Thompson decides to work here, tell him he's FIRED!"
"Allow me to present you a list of all my qualifications and inventions." Said Dr. Parr, as she laid a sheet of paper on the roundtable.
"Your qualifications are shopping list?" O'Lop asked, making Dr. Parr turn to a weird shade of red. Just then, another man, relatively short with ginger hair and rectangular glasses wearing very unprofessional street clothes barged into the room, sweating and carrying a stack of sheets of paper.
"I am SO sorry Ms. Parr!" He said, as he ran to the table and picked up the shopping list and replaced it with another sheet of paper. "I mixed my shopping list with the paperwork!" He said. Dr. Parr gave him a death glare.
Suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere Jessie ran into the room, wearing her slightly ragged professional clothes and her long brown hair being very messy, and yelled "Stop right there intruder!" while pointing at the ginger man. After that she lunged at him and tackled him to the ground. "I tried to stop him from intruding, but he would listen!" She explained.
After that the both of them got up and Jessie dragged him out the room, leaving Dr. Parr very mad, and everyone else very confused. Everyone except O'Lop who was clapping.
"Bravo! Bravo!" He yelled.
Leo, who was sitting next to him, slapped him upside the head, making him shut up.
"What was that about?" Leo asked.
"I am sorry, that was my incompetent bufoon of an assistant. Please excuse him, he's unimportant."
Geowar was very curious as to what they assistant actually did, but he let it go for now. Nick, however, perked up at the mention of an assistant.
"Hey wait a minute, if she has an assistant, then that's one less person we'll have to pay!" He excitedly announced.
"Holy shit he's right." Leo realised what the implications were, and let his inner cheapskate take over. "You're hired!"
"Incredulous. Now I would like to have an area where I can conduct my experiments."
"There's a spare room in the castle that's relatively large." Lucius said. "I can allow you to set up your workspace, but since I live there, you'll have to leave at night."
"I have no objections." Dr. Parr said, and the two shook their hands.
"So, does anyone have anything else to say?" Leo asked. "No? Good. Hey Nick, lemme see what you wrote over there buddy."
Leo snatched Nick's notebook and was greeted by a bunch of drawings of women in very suggestive poses.
"God damn it, Nick! These are official papers! This is coming out of your paycheck!"
"If I may, I have a request." Asked Dr. Parr.
"Yes, go ahead." Leo told her.
"I would like to be called something with a little bit more flair than just Minister. How about...Royal Scientist?"
"Yeah whatever. Changing these papers won't be a problem, since SOMEONE decided they should be used for ART CLASS!" Leo yelled as Nick started laughing. "The things I do..." Leo said as he facepalmed.
Meanwhile, Geowar had already left the council room, and had gone outside looking for the assistant.
"Hey, Jess? What happened to that guy?" He asked.
"I kicked him out of the castle, but he's just been sitting out there waiting."
"Alright, thanks!"
Geowar followed Jessica's directions and he left the castle. He found the poor guy still picking up sheets of paper from the floor.
"Hey kid!" He called out.
"We're both technically the same age you know. Even if you are from a parallel realm." The assistant muttered under his breath, his coarse voice making it very hard to be heard by normal people.
Geowar, able to hear him just fine due to his advanced hearing, raised an eyebrow at this. How did he know he was a Starborne? He decided to ignore it for now.
"What's your name?" Geowar asked.
"George Norbert Doris Renie McGrady the Fifth. But I go by just George Renie."
"So what is it that you do, exactly? Why would someone like Dr. Pepper hire you."
"Her name is Dr. Parr." George said.
"Yeah I knew that. But you didn't answer my question."
"Well I suppose it would do no harm for me to show you what I've been working on. Follow me!" George got up and started walking fast. Geowar had no problems catching up.
George led the two towards a carriage, presumably loaded with his and Dr. Parr's personal belongings.
"Ms. Parr has taught me everything she knows about holographic projection, and although she was it's creator, I've taken it a step further. Look!" He said, as he pulled out a metallic disc with various buttons. He pressed the center one and a blue, holographic humanoid emerged. It's features weren't detailed, as it only had two large white eyes and a simple body shape with no fingers or toes.
"This is Holo-Bud! Say hi, Holo-Bud!"
"Hello!" The humanoid said with a robotic voice.
Geowar was impressed.
"What else can it do?" He asked.
"Currently, not much. It's movements are a mix of programming and replicating what movements it detects. Since it's only ever been in our lab, it can walk around and maybe even assemble parts for certain machines." George explained.
"You don't think you can customise his appearance?"
"His appearance is fully customisable, as long as we have a detailed description."
"Can he fight?"
"As long as there's a good enough programmer or a skilled model, he can learn any fighting style, even using weapons or projectiles!"
"Interesting..." Geowar said. "Well, thanks for the demo bud. I'll talk to ya later."
Geowar left the carriage deep in thought. Could this 'Holo-Bud' be the key to capturing the rogue Starborne, Hyperriox? One thing was for certain, Geowar had an idea!