Humans that were hippies, immigrants and some outlaws lucky enough to get rescued when they got in trouble in the no man's land were the ones that took residence in this place. Several languages were spoke here. It was a good thing Nicoletta was here. She spoke 2 of them. However, she was very cautious. She had an eye implant that allowed her to scan and identify anyone she met to cross reference them with the government's database. As you would expect, there were a ton of bounties here. It was very dense for the population. Some of them were to be killed on sight for the most heinous of crimes that they had committed. "If this clan of 'borgs is just fine with hiding the scum of the world, I don't want them on our side." she murmured to me. I turned to face her and said "But do you want all of them as enemies? Give them a chance." She crossed her arms as we waited to meet with one of the PEP units. I was actually surprised that we had not actually seen one yet that was not busy enough to attend to us. They had to know who we all were. They did not greet us for an hour.
It was made clear to us from how they talked down to us that they did not appreciate me and my clanmates coming here after breaking our alliance. Even if they liked all of humanity, they did not like being disrespected by other factions. This was something to learn. "I apologize for the disrespect. Circumstances demanded that our relationship change, but I never forgot our bonds. That is why I have brought a special guest with me." I said. Nicoletta rolled her eyes, but kept it together as I introduced her. She got a warmer reception after hearing that she was from the government. "If we could talk about maybe reaching a deal, that would be great for everyone here." I said. I got frosty glares from them. "It will not be easy. Trust has to be established. Especially from Sixteenth Notes Clan. How will we know that you won't simply break this new alliance?" one of the PEP units said. I groaned. I did not like where I thought this was going. "What can we do to prove that Sixteenth Notes and the government are trustworthy partners?" I asked. That brought me to the clan engineer of Void Clan.
Like I was fearing, it was the beginning of a multi stage quest chain. This could take forever to do. All I could do was wait for the rundown from this female PEP unit. She told me that she was working on a new weapon. It was the shotgun that shot acid pellets instead of regular slugs or shells. "To keep this area safe, we often patrol the perimeter to ensure that no mechanical monsters get close to our sanctuary. I need to stress test this invention. Go take this gun on the next patrol and tell me how it does." Checking the menu, there were 3 stages to proving our trustworthiness. I took the gun and examined it. It looked like a standard semi automatic shotgun to me. I also got the cartridges to reload it. I offered it to Nicoletta. "Want to do the honors, Captain?" I asked her. She curled her lip at it. "I think you can handle that weapon fine enough." she said in a forced sweet tone. I knew better than to press her here. "When is the next patrol?" I asked the clan engineer. "In the mornings. You don't have to do it first thing. We don't pressure guests to patrol right away. Most are not suitable."
