"Alright, we've got twenty units to the South settlement." He stretched, his back making a cascading popping noise as he sighed.

  He walked past the watch tower, waving hello, checked on the workshop, the gunsmiths working tirelessly at their livelihood - really, everyone's. Eren, or as most called him, "The Boss", had built up this ravaged band of survivors into a well-oiled machine, capable of engaging in heavy trade with all the surrounding regions.

  Thanks to his strategic placement in the middle of the lush farmlands that connected the region, his ever-expanding compound was a hotspot for commerce. Diplomats stopped through, trade deals were struck, technical expositions held, and unsurprisingly, occasional heavy combat broke out.

  He squinted as he saw a man dressed in a suit approach, uncommon for these parts.

  He offered his hand squarely. "Sir, I'm told you're the leader of this fine place."

  "Fine is a bit of a stretch, but I'll take it." Eren patted the man on his shoulder after shaking his hand, leaving a dusty handprint on the man's suit, making him shift a bit.

  "Um," he swallowed before continuing. "I'm here representing the North-East Settlement."

  "Haven't heard from them in a while, how's it going?"

  "Quite well, but the reason I'm here is that we've recently gotten into some financial trouble." He shifted a bit, looking down at the dirt.

  "How many guns and how many bullets?" Eren didn't blink, pulling out a small notepad and a crude pencil poised to write.

  "I'm sorry?" The man asked.

  "That's what we're here for, right? I can give you the guns and ammo, but for 150% price on credit." Eren prepared the pad steadily, while the man fumbled with a small card.

  "2 scoped rifles," he began reading off the card."5 assault rifles, 3 submachine guns, 10 pistols, and 1700 units of ammo: 200 heavy rifle cartridges, 500 light rifle cartridges, and 1000 pistol cartridges."

  He looked up as Eren finished writing the order into his notebook.

  Eren chuckled, looking over the order. "If you're not in financial trouble now you will be when I come to collect."

  The man nodded gravely. "We're going to war. Your supplies are the best and our leader trusts you, that's why we came to you."

  Eren's smile faded slightly. "Forget the flattery, you people decide to cross me and I'll make sure your children find a loving home in the Middle-lands."

  The man nodded. "We understand, but we're very desperate. How soon will you get that to us?"

  Eren looked around, and brought his radio to his mouth. "Mark, North-East ordered twenty weapons, seventeen hundred rounds. Estimated ready time?"

  The radio clicked, then came to life. "Whew." A small pause, "Well, maybe tomorrow morning."

  Eren thought for a moment, then spoke into the receiver. "Make it first priority, and send over a guard to watch this suit feller."

  The man shifted uncomfortably, but just stuck his hands into his pockets.

  The receiver issued a monotone "Roger" before falling silent again.

  "Alright, stay here. A guard will come to watch you 'till your shipment is ready for leaving. Don't eat too much or I'll add that to your bill." Eren chuckled, and the man forged half a smile.

  Eren trotted towards the sound of clanging metal as the sun began to glare with a bright intensity.

  He opened the door to the blacksmith shop, putting on a pair of safety glasses.

  "Boss!" The lead smith waved him over to the largest workbench where he sat. "Production is looking great, and the apprentices are learning extremely fast."

  "Great, what's the issue, Henry?"

  "We're running out of steel." Henry wiped his forehead with a dirty cloth. "At this rate, we'll be unable to produce another gun starting next week."

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  Eren's brow furrowed, making a mental note of the earlier gamble. "Don't worry, Henry. I was talking with South, they've been doing well and we have a deal in the works, so I'll make sure you get what you need." He patted Henry on the back, and continued to walk through the workshop, greeting the different workers.

  He stepped outside, and lit a cigarette in the shade of a watch tower, the dark oily smell of weapon smithing mixed with the low-quality tobacco smoke coating the air.

  "Hey, boss!" a panting envoy came running up, dusting himself off.

  "Yes, boy?" He turned and stepped forward towards the kid, whose face was red from exhaustion.

  "The East settlement reports a large movement of Rebels heading your way." He leaned forward onto his legs, trying to regain his breath.

  Eren looked off into the rising sun, squinting his eyes. His jaw tightened, and for a moment, the weight of everything -- the trades, the guns, the people relying on him -- pressed against his chest.

  "I knew this day would come," he muttered to himself before turning to the boy. "Get to the doctor, at the very least you'll get some water." He guided the boy in the direction of the infirmary, turning to walk briskly towards his tent.

  "Call the others," he ordered to the guard sitting in front of the green army tent before marching in. As the radio crackled to life from the "others" being called, he laid out some old maps onto the table, starting to write some notes on a piece of paper.

  "Boss, can we come in?" came the request from outside the tent flap.

  "Yeah, we've got a problem. A pretty big one." He motioned for the men to take their places around the map.

  They stood, observing Eren scribble some marks on the map for a few moments before he turned to them.

  "We're going to be attacked. One of our envoys who was assigned to East settlement reports a large number of troops heading our way." He pointed to the map.

  "Here there are now." He drew a circle, then a line to roughly the center of the map. "And here is where they will be." He circled the second location and roughly wrote "*US*".

  He stood back, observing the map for a moment before turning back to the others.

  "Any ideas?"

  The men looked around at each other before one older man spoke up, "We could attack them along with..." He looked at the map, "North settlement."

  Eren noted this in his notebook. "Great, I love it. Anyone got anything else?" He scanned each face.

  "Alright, we attack them." He put his notebook away and motioned for a younger man to come closer, "Jamie, you and your team grab a personnel list from the archive. I want a skeleton crew on essential resources, and go to Resource Protocol 2." He pointed to another, older man, more regal in mien. "Bobby, the diplomat. Offer North a third of the spoils for half their troops."

  At this, Jamie nodded and Bobby chuckled. "Would you like us to get on that now, boss?" asked Jamie.

  "Yeah, that'd be great. I need our action plan and at least a 15-page report by tomorrow morning. You can use the information office's tent for now. Make sure you collaborate on strategies for troop utilization."

  Jamie nodded again and shuffled out of the tent, followed by Bobby. The sound of their footsteps blending with the rest of the sounds of activity.

  Eren sat down and leaned back, looking over the maps and his notes. "I just have a bad feeling about this, like there is something we're missing, you know?"

  The other men were silent at this, but they nodded slowly. "I think we should consider it as if we *are* missing something. I don't feel good about this either." A man with greying hair stroked his beard in deep thought, as the others murmured their approval.

  "What are the statuses of the other settlements? Maybe one of them is collaborating with the Rebels?" Eren though at this, and jotted something down in his notepad. "That's possible, any other ideas?"

  He looked around the tent, then at the maps. As he leaned forward, it was clear that a though had struck him. "Do we have a personnel file for envoys?"

  "Yes, boss". A folder as handed to him, and he flipped to the section for East-assigned envoys. "Is this up to date?" The others shrugged, "Bobby is in charge of all of that".

  "Call him on the radio, tell me where he is, we might have..." He swallowed. "A traitor."

  "But boss, what would be the purpose of misinforming us?" A younger man asked.

  "So that our army is fifty miles away when a small group comes to take all of our resources." Eren responded, though he didn't seem fully convinced. He stood up and paced back and forth.

  "Maybe they are right about the Rebels..", "No, no.", "Well, maybe.".

  Suddenly, he pointed to the younger man who had asked the question. "What's your job again?"

  "Internal policy and economy, boss. Why?"

  "Name?"

  "Ethan, boss."

  "Alright, Ethan, would you like to take a break for a bit?" After Ethan nodded hesitantly, Eren walked over to an unsuspecting file cabinet and grabbed a binder. "These are our detailed records since our first month of the end. I need you to tell me how much money we can spare with our current expenses, okay?"

  "Okay, boss. I'll get on it now." Ethan walked out of the tent.

  The other men in the tent seemed to be in thought. "I bet you there is something we're missing, boys. Something so big it could wipe us off of the map."

  The radio chirped.

  The entire tent went silent.

  "Boss - Bobby. We just got a report from a scout unit in the area of the reported Rebel troops." Eren leaned forward, raising an eyebrow but staying silent.

  "Go ahead, Bobby."

  The radio crackled lightly. "Those aren't attack formations, they're all support columns: Engineers, doctors, construction workers."

  At this, Eren slammed his fist into the table, causing papers to fly up. "No, no, NO!" He put his head in his hands.

  "Boss, they're not attack formations, they're only support," One of the men offered.

  Eren looked up mournfully. "So tell me," Eren said quietly. "What do you think they are supporting?"