"Ah yes, thank you my good friend," Gregory says to the departing Druce.
"Eriksson you are correct; Torvig Kelt did visit when Mad John was in command, but the nature of his visit was largely unknown, and definitely not to solidify relations between us. In fact, I don't believe he was even in command at the time of his visit. I could be wrong."
"Now let me take a look at this."
Gregory looks over the datapad.
"For one thing, our area of operations do not come close to overlapping Order territory. Not even our occasional supply convoys reach beyond Omicron Gamma. I guarantee that there will be no territorial disputes on our behalf. Furthermore, Order operations in Edinburgh should be welcomed, so long as those operations do not involve planetfall on Gaia nor the smuggling of wildlife from the surface. Unlike Edinburgh, Lewis system is a restricted area of Nature's Last Hope and very few others are granted access."
Gregory takes the stylus from the datapad and Eriksson, "May I?"
He pencils in a few changes and presents Erikson with the final product:
Non Aggression Pact Between The Order and Nature's Last Hope
The Order and Nature's Last Hope shall adopt an agreement declaring mutual neutrality with the following terms:
Both parties shall agree to immediately cease any hostilities, and shall not start any new hostilities.
Both parties shall not interfere with each other's battles.
Both parties shall not enter each other's restricted territory unless explicitly requested/granted by the other Organisation.
The duration of this agreement is indefinite. Any violation of the terms will break the agreement immediately. A new agreement between the same parties can also void this treaty.
"The first thing you will notice is that I have specified "Nature's Last Hope" instead of "Gaians" as a whole. Allow me to explain. Within the Gaian movement, there is a subtle schism between the Neo-Gaians and the natives. Natives are pure-born Gaians, raised on Islay by other natives in this very cavern. These subsequent generations are dedicated to the core Gaian ideals. Their ultimate purpose - from the very moment they are born to their final breath - is the salvation of Gaia."
"Now the Neo-Gaians..." Gregory leans back in his chair and takes a deep breath. "They represent the new face of the movement, former citizens of Bretonia or elsewhere who are inspired in some way to take Green Front's ideals to the next level. In general, Neo-Gaians seek to expand our goals beyond the scope of Bretonia and Green Front through alliances with third parties such as the Corsairs.
"Nature's Last Hope is impartial to either Neo-Gaian or native. But we are not blind to the schism. Change is natural. It's evolution, natural evolution. Even the great planets, in the scale of millenia, are in constant turmoil through plate tectonics.
"The chief can issue an order to the entire Gaian movement, but we would prefer to keep the agreement between the NLH faction and the Order in case this schism grows deeper and gives rise to another major Gaian power. I hope you understand."
"I'm sorry, I've done quite a bit of speaking. Have you any questions?"