[b]Fort de Beaner, Equestrian Wastelands (North)[/b]

"I won't warn you again. Stay back" screamed the watchmen, his rifle flashing in the dying light.

"Come on, Buckskin, les'in!" shouted the slaver back at him, from the base of the gate. "We've got slaves here!". Buckskin, a dark unicorn covered in white tattoos bearing the Beaner insignia, glared at the slaver. "I can't let you in until you get 100 hooves back and let me send some ponies out!" cried Buckskin, before turning and disappearing from view. From behind the walls, groups of snipers watched them with suspicion. The slaver sighed and turned back to look at Decimus with despair.

When the slaver returned to Decimus' side, he got a tongue lashing from the angry Zebra. "What the fuck is going on?" he hissed. "How the fuck should I know?" hissed the slaver back. "Buckskin knows who we are but he still insists on this safety regulation bullshit". Decimus sighed and placed a single hoof on the end of his muzzle. "All right, lets get back 100 hooves with the others and get this over with. If I don't get my caps, you Beaners can forget about ever working with me again" growled the Zebra as they returned to the main group. Sacred stuck as close to Decimus as possible. You could never be too careful around these slaver types.

The group, weary from travelling so far, watched silently as a scream echoed and a whip cracked. Slowly, the great red doors groaned open a crack to allow a group of heavily armed unicorns and Earth ponies out. Buckskin was ahead of the group and approached the large group of slavers and slaves slowly. "What the fuck..." muttered Decimus irritably. "Shush. These are the 'customs officers'. They're going to check your papers and shit. If you don't check out, they won't let any of us in. So don't fuck this up" growled the main slaver. "Game face on, then" grumbled Decimus, raising a hoof in greeting as the Beaners approached.

"Buckskin, I believe?" smiled the Zebra. He was a master at charm. "Yeah. And you're Decimus, right?" asked Buckskin as his group of armed ponies slowly surrounded the group, pointing their guns at everyone in a threatening manner. Decimus was not deterred and nodded, the same 'genuine' grin on his face. "And these are the slaves?" asked Buckskin, motioning his head at the group of ponies in shackles. "That they are. 7 out of 11 isn't unacceptable, I presume?" Buckskin paused before answering. "We'd prefer 11 but you've done well. Show me the letter I sent your way a few weeks ago and then we can go inside the Fort to discuss business" said Buckskin finally. 

Decimus reached into his pack and slowly produced a few scraps of paper. He set them out onto the sand at his hooves and sorted through them quickly before turning one around and showing it to Buckskin. The black unicorn looked at it for several moments before nodding. "Okay, this checks out. We'll head into the fort now. A few things before that, though. We're going to need to take all weapons off of your entourage" he said, his eyes flickering to the large rifle on the back of Bliss. "No problem" smiled the Zebra, giving a small glare to his lover. "And any other weapons you guys have will be taken off you too. If you're found with a weapon in the Fort, you'll be shot on sight. Got that, little pony?" said Buckskin, giving a horrible grin at Sacred. His teeth were even worse than Bliss', yellowed around the gums and showing signs of decay. To make it worse, his breath was the exact smell of shit.

Sacred nodded, reaching into his pack to pull out a sheathed knife and throw it at Buckskin hooves. He wasn't one for fighting but knives were always nice to have. He felt slightly nervous about walking into a large slaver camp at the mercy of a band of slavers but at the same time, he relied on Decimus to get him through it alive. Bliss gave a horrible look at the Beaners before relenting to the glare she received from Decimus and unstrapping the rifle with her teeth. "Don't get it dirty" she spat at one of the slavers stepping forward to pick it up. Decimus pulled a small pistol from his pack and dropped it at the hooves of another slaver, who quickly grabbed it. 

"Okay, if that's everything, we'd better get going. These wastelands get pretty nasty at night, you know" smiled Buckskin, starting to lead the group down the hill to the fort. A rough circle of Buckskin's ponies formed around the slaves, ensuring all chance of escape was near impossible. Sacred caught a glance of Lank, who was staring straight ahead curiously. Sacred, Bliss, Decimus, Buckskin and the group of slavers that had accompanied them formed the vanguard group towards the gate, which lay ajar. 

"Celestia above, Buckskin, I don't know why you made us go through all that" grumbled one of the slavers, still armed. The slavers had hardly been checked at all, Sacred noticed. "Well, a few reasons. We don't want a group of trackers running wild around the fort with weapons. If shit goes wrong, which it won't, we have the upper hand in taking them down" began Buckskin in a  matter-of-fact manner.

"Oh and the Grand Beaner arrived this afternoon, so we have to check everyone going in and out so we don't have any incidents".

The smile on Decimus' face dropped immediately and turned into a worried frown. "Er, wait, what? The Grand Beaner is here?" he asked, catching up to Buckskin. "Yeah, he came randomly, dunno why" shrugged Buckskin. "He does that sometimes, I suppose. I think he's looking for slaves to take back to Vanhoover".

"Oh....I-I see..." faltered the Zebra. Sacred nudged his boss, concerned. Decimus bit his lip and glanced at his Prench partner. "I don't suppose he'll want to us, then?" asked Decimus. "Of course he will! He wants to see what he's paying for, dunn'he!" grinned Buckskin. The Zebra swore under his breath. Bliss looked completely unconcerned while Sacred was confused.

"What's wrong with zat?" murmured the tracker to the Zebra. "I was hoping to be working with someone like Buckskin, who's at least sane" replied Decimus under his breath. "Just be careful what you say around the Grand Beaner. I hear he's a bit of a...sadist...". Decimus winced at the thought and suddenly Sacred understood the situation. 

Decimus feared the Grand Beaner. His previous cool had been completely lost and now he looked worried. But it was far too late to turn around now. Whatever happened in Fort de Beaner could not be avoided.