Atlas, Alexander, and Olivia gathered the troops, ready to make their diplomatic foray into the Belief settlement. With a BERZOOP!, the teleportation kiosk opened, and the troops all went in. The Earth’s children, with their white flags and drums, chanted a slogan of welcome and peace:
***
We come in peace
We come in peace
Fort Bone is peaceful
And not deceitful
We come in peace
We come in peace
No need for war
There’s nothing it’s good for
We come in peace
We come in peace
Our flags are white,
And our cause is right
We come in peace
We come in peace
We’ve made a long walk
Just to talk
We come in peace
We come in peace
https://suno.com/song/ecd8f5c9-ea30-4121-b3ca-5b0e8f917127
***
With big white flags flying in the air and orderly marching troops, Olivia walked to the front. They had outfitted her with a set of standard armor and a crossbow, which she had strapped to her back. But she honestly still wasn't comfortable with the thought of using a weapon.
Their loud, noisy marching peace army made their way to the front gate. There, Oliver and his lieutenants were waiting for them.
“Don’t come any farther,” Oliver said.
Olivia separated herself from the army and gestured for them to wait.
“I’m Olivia, that’s Atlas, Isabella and Alexander. We’re from Fort Bone,” Olivia said.
“Oliver, leader of the settlement,” Oliver replied.
“We noticed that you didn’t vote to kill the baby trolls and thought that was a good sign we could all live together peacefully in the wasteland,” Olivia said.
“That’s exactly what I thought too. I’m glad to meet somebody else who doesn’t want to become a petty warlord the moment he could become one,” Oliver said.
Atlas thought to himself, ‘Hey, I’m not petty.‘
“Well, Oliver, would it be all right for us to enter the settlement and have a chat?” Olivia asked.
“Sure, but I’m going to have to ask that only the four of you come in. Can’t be too careful,” Oliver said.
“We understand. Can we keep our weapons?” Olivia inquired.
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Oliver, looking at Atlas, Isabella and Alexander, was hesitant. But what harm could letting four people into a heavily defended settlement cause? “Sure. And really, Atlas didn’t look that threatening in his pink armor.”
Everyone except for Atlas chuckled at that.
They all walked into the settlement and decided to have some peace talks.
Walking into the Belief settlement, they sat around a large conference table inside a castle. The castle walls were adorned with religious iconography—sun symbols, lions, and crosses.
"I see you take your settlement’s beliefs seriously with the name," Olivia said.
"We do," Oliver replied, "but don’t think that makes us pushovers."
"We would never think that," Olivia said, "but we do appreciate the fact that you’re not immediately thinking of going to war."
"It’s true," Oliver said, "there’s no need for it. We should be united against the wasteland apocalypse, not against other humans."
"Well, that’s what we wanted to talk to you about," Olivia said. "Would you like to sign up with us and join the Fort Bone Empire?"
"I don’t think we will," Oliver replied.
"Why not?" Olivia asked.
"With the new refugees that came in," Oliver said, "about a hundred of them are from the United World Governments, and they’ve decided to take over."
"You’ve let them take over your settlement? Oh no," Olivia said, eyes widening.
"They haven’t taken over the settlement," Oliver corrected, "but we’ve formed a cooperative treaty with them. They’re going to spearhead gathering all the humans that are portaled into the wasteland."
Atlas thought, ‘This isn’t good.‘
"And there’s nothing we can do to convince you?" Olivia asked.
"Look," Oliver said, "I know you’re probably good people. And Atlas, I’ve watched your show too, and I believe in your ideals. But at the end of the day, we’re citizens of Earth, and we’re not giving that up just because we’ve been moved to a different world."
Olivia nodded. "Well, if your mind’s made up, we won’t try to attack you."
"We appreciate that," Oliver said. "Nobody wants a war."
Atlas glanced around the settlement. It had level two walls, similar to Fort Bone, but the warriors looked weak. Many of them were indeed new United Army of Earth soldiers, still holding guns as if they mattered.
"Sorry you made the long walk for nothing," Oliver said.
"It’s fine," Olivia said. "Let’s head back. And if you ever need help, I hope you’ll look for us at Fort Bone."
"Well, that’s mighty nice of you."
"Even though we may not be in a formal empire," Olivia continued, "would you consider a non-aggression pact?"
"Absolutely," Oliver agreed. "We don’t ever have to go to war with each other."
"Great. Then Fort Bone and the Belief settlement will form a non-aggression pact."
Olivia pulled up a system contract. It stated that if either side wanted to break the pact by attacking, they would have to physically rip up the contract. Doing so would trigger a one-day temporary barrier, preventing either side from launching sneak attacks or ambushes. It would give both settlements time to prepare for a formal conflict if the agreement was ever broken. The contract had cost 50 coins at the Portal Justice vending machine. Their slogan was “Opening Gates, Closing Cases.”
The army of Fort Bone headed back to the secondary teleportation point and activated their return stones. This time, they didn’t chant or bang on their bone drums. The white flags rested peacefully on the shoulders of Earth's Children. BERZOOP!‘‘, the return tokens activated. When they got back to Fort Bone, Atlas chatted with the leadership. “Well, it wasn’t a total disaster,” he said.
Stu, still holding his mace, leaned on it like a crutch. "Not a total disaster? We didn’t accomplish anything but walk back and forth like fucking tin soldiers!"
Barbara sighed, crossing her arms. "Could’ve been worse, Stu. At least we got everyone back healthy and hearty this time."
Wang Bo grinned, twirling his staff playfully. "And I didn’t even have to use my ultimate move, Eternal Emperor Who Smashes Through Heaven."
Atlas smirked. "I’m still not calling you that."
Alexander, leaning against a pillar, chimed in, "We gave 'em a good show, though.“
“Yeah” said Atlas, thinking of the new marching band.
"Alright," Atlas said, standing up straight. "Let’s focus on what we learned. We're not done yet."
"Okay," said Atlas. "Quick summary. We've got a non-aggression pact with the Belief settlement, thanks to Olivia."
The team cheered.
"Good job, Olivia," said Isabella.
"Really good job," Barbara added. "Any time we go out and I don't have to patch anybody up is a win in my books."
Olivia blushed, “See, diplomacy can work.”
"The Faith settlement, however, still needs to feel the wrath of the Portal Crushers," Atlas continued, watching as the baby trolls ran around, playing in the morning sun with the mini faeries. "Nobody who voted to kill my baby trolls should live."
The baby trolls saw Atlas and the team, and yelled out “Daddy!” happily. They then also saw Alexander. “Cocksucker!”
The Portal Crushers all laughed, especially Stu. ‘Treating those little guys with beef jerky was fucking worth it.‘
The Portal Crushers agreed, nobody should mess with their baby trolls; they too had started feeling like uncles and aunties to the new baby trolls.
“All right, let's break this meeting up here," Atlas said. "We still haven't done our day's worth of hunting, and I'm sure everyone's got things to do. Alexander, Isabella, will you still be good leading the troops out?"
"For hunting? Yes, sir," said Alexander, his familiar southern drawl carrying through.
"Did you want to split up the army into groups?" Isabella asked.
"I think that's the best way. What do you think, Isabella?"
"Groups of twenty five," she responded.
“Yeah, groups of twenty-five should do it,” Alexander agreed, spitting a bit of tobacco onto the ground. “Keeps us strong enough in case some fool tries to stir up trouble. With Clark’s gang run off, we don’t got any real bandit threat left, not round these parts anyway.”
"Never be too sure," Atlas cautioned. After the last attack at the dungeon, he didn't want to lose anyone by accident.
“What if we went with groups of thirty-five, then?” Alexander asked, adjusting his worn-out hat. “We’ve got near two hundred folks, so that’d give us seven groups right there.”
"That sounds good," Isabella nodded. "Seven groups of about thirty each. We can have an original Portal Crusher lead each group."
‘Ooh, that's gonna be fun,"‘ Atlas thought, amused. ‘Some of the original SFB team was brave and hardy, but not the smartest. Ahem, Hank.‘
Alexander and Isabella headed out to start their hunting duties, while Atlas turned to chat with John and Amber.
"How's Fort Bone doing, John? And how are the crafters, Amber?"
John gave a quick nod. "Fort Bone's looking great. We've got a ton of cash flowing in, and security's tight. But the biggest issue right now is overcrowding. More and more people want to live here as citizens."
"Well, keep the auctions running," Atlas said. "I don’t want to push up that citizenship count too much. We're not registering all new refugees as citizens anymore, but I’d rather not overfill the place. If we ever need to activate one of the manadomes, I don’t want it rejected."
"Got it," John replied. "Should we invest in more accommodations?"
"Sure, as long as we've got the coins. It’s a good use for them," Atlas said, then turned to Amber. "What about the crafters? How are they holding up?"
Amber smiled. "They’re doing well. Hunting groups and adventurers keep selling them bone armor, demon dog bodies, and slime corpses. But the troll corpses are a problem. They’re mostly burnt, and there’s not much we can do with them."
"Trolls are pretty useless for repurposing," Atlas agreed. "But if you come up with a clever way to use the remains, go for it."
"Will do," Amber replied
"Well, give me a shout if you need anything. I’ve got my most important duty to attend to," Atlas said before heading out into Fort Bone town.