The '59 Summit

## Summit Cause

The summit was an idea presented by Odessa as an attempt to fix the already tainted reputation between the settlements, Terminal refused to join though, still bitter with Odessa, collaborating no further than the mandatory monthly meets. As well as Sioux being too busy with local situations, this left only Odessa and Boulder, as such, they met in neutral territory, meeting just south 50 miles from the Kentucky border in an old government building, This would begin something both traumatic to individuals at the scene and both the faction.

## The First Hour

The first hour of the summit began just as planned, after assuring the perimeter was secure, officials from both Boulder and Odessa territory sat down, starting the first actual summit in over 40 years. discussions were originally started by the Head of Intelligence for Odessa, discussing militaristic improvement, discussions about intelligence leaks and possibly transferring the SAT systems to different systems. While on the other hand Boulder discussed the overwhelming amount of both political gain in the region, funding issues and manpower, stating that corruption had reached an all time high, even leading to things like criminal underworlds in Boulder's sphere of influence, spreading a new drug, a modified version of morphine that could only be taken directly using a device that was expensive to produce, with details few, it still proved problematic as members of Boulder's rather tight-knit council now turned to drug usage, whether intentionally or accidentally.

The overwhelming spread of drug usage in Boulder's sphere of influence and territory was damning, even with the majority of allied smaller settlements falling to over usage of the drug, as well as falling in with criminal activity, this caused the security force in Boulder to relatively outnumbered, leaving the criminals rather uncontested, and Boulder no opportunity to fight back. Along with this was the issue of security breaches in the Odessa wide system, a system relatively unseen and unheard of in any other settlement, it still stood as an important piece, managing most information and record/document transfer from Odessa to Sioux, an administrative region under Boulder. Boulder, while hesitant due to the prior years incidents of both violence and miscommunication, still asked the Heads of the settlement of whom were present at the meet, for military assistance, stating that the only way it could be combated was with force, arguing that politics were too far gone in this case.

Unfortunately Odessa was unable to help, the Heads of the settlement refusing, with only Engineer Head Ray and the local unofficial Head of Exploration attempting to find a solution, as the lack of an elder for the past couple years meant that the armed forces were unable to be mobilized, both only on defense and securing other smaller settlements as per agreement being the exception. Arguably refuting the answer, they demanded some kind of backing, as the summit was Odessa's idea, stating that wasting precious time and resources would be unacceptable. This led Odessa's Intelligence Head into a state of anger, arguing with the head of Boulder's politics, stating his pleas for help were both cowardly and impossible to meet. Eventually, an hour intermission was called, allowing the representatives to move into the second hour, both the second, and final hour.

## The Second Hour

The second hour was met with tension but nonetheless calmed down when Odessa offered aid in the form of an archivist mission, something which hadn't been done in about a decade, but was reinforced when they brought up that the Archivists aren't technically militaristic in nature nor fall under that category, but contain great combat and medical training depending on their ranks. This was met with great reception, Boulder deciding to accept the help, offering something of little value in the wider wasteland, but something of great value to the Archivist branch, a cache containing gold bullion, something like this is relatively only seen for its technological use in modern times, even post-flash, but serve great purpose to the Archivists, as they're well known for preserving precious metals and rare metals.

With this, the meeting was set to conclude in the third hour, allowing for time to recuperate, officials to mingle and plans be drawn before eventual departure. This though, would never happen. Out of the 60 or so individuals there, only a few managed to make it out alive, the majority of the individuals being held in high regard in their respective settlements or high officials. Its still unknown as to how exactly, as nobody who made it out alive properly can recount what happen or refuses to talk about it. It stands especially scarring to the majority who made it out due to the majority of them being of fairly young age, some even at the age of 15, some even younger having been killed in the gunfire. Its said that it started when a few unknown gunmen within the ranks of either Boulder or Odessa personnel began to open fire, killing everybody at the table where all officials from both Boulder and Odessa were, except for Ray and his volunteering apprentice, Hunter.

Besides the individuals at the table, only a few managed to survive the gunfire, managing to escape among the bodies, making it downstairs from the dilapidated building, eventually finding ways back to their respective settlements, a few of them making it back by reaching Cincinnati, where they managed to hitch a ride with a caravan, eventually arriving about a dozen miles out from Odessa, making it to a smaller allied settlement where those few survivors managed to get sanctuary with the settlement, notifying them of the situation.

While the gunmen were never identified, this did scar many individuals, and its certainly noted in history as a scarring event for the faction, and has soured relations even further between the settlements, granting a even further level of mistrust and hurt, sparking a sort of rivalry between Odessa and Boulder, something that til' this very day still hasn't changed. Due to this, in current day, both Odessa and Boulder have refused to attend the monthly meetings, only meeting every 6-8 months, tensing the situation even further. This is considered among many to be the reason for the factions recent decline, blaming bad misunderstandings as the reason for lack of improvement of expansion. But even those individuals don't truly know- was it really a misunderstanding?