[u][b]Gloria Van Graff - Ultra Lux, New Vegas [/b][/u]

	Gloria sat and watched as a few stragglers entered the room. It upset her slightly that nations lacked the respect to even show up on time but that was not something she was going to speak up about. As she grew up, she learned the importance of being courteous and showing respect to those around her.  Gloria had learned it the hard way by her father who would ruthlessly beat her as a child until she learned… and that message was something she had passed on to all Van Graff employees, show respect, or face the consequences. Apparently these nations didn’t learn the same thing growing up.

The first of the latecomers was a representative of the Angels of War. A rather large mercenary group that had recently tried to gain entrance to the weapons market in recent years. To Gloria, she found them rather underwhelming from reports on their ‘nation’. Apparently a large amount of them thawed from ice and were from the Pre-war era, which somewhat intrigued Gloria but not enough to overlook the fact that this nation was competition. A competition that would likely need to be eliminated in the future. Though at the moment, they served the purpose of being a competitor to the Gun Runners, which in-turn meant the Van Graffs didn’t have to deal with them.

	The next latecomer… was unusual to say the least. Clad in… well, if you could even consider [i]that[/i] clothing. Gloria found herself accidentally staring at the women for longer than what could considered reasonable. The lady was beautiful, that much was obvious. And when she announced where she was from, Gloria hadn’t even heard the name before surprisingly. Either way, the fact that she was barely wearing clothes lead her to believe that the woman was from a tribal nation and if they were anything like the Legion, they would prove to be rather useless trade partners given the fact that Tribals rarely relied on energy weapons.

Following the two late arrivals, the King spoke up again. This time, to officially commence the summit."With formalities out of the way, I would like to open the floor to any urgent discussion our honored guests might have, before I speak on the behalf of Robert House. Are there any important matters that anyone wishes to bring to the forefront before we move forward?" 

Gloria sat quiet. Her dealings would be dealt with privately amongst nations as they had always been done in the past. It would prove detrimental to announce any trade deals with other nations present, as it would only serve to weaken the reputation of the Van Graffs to nations that didn’t particularly like the trade partners that they had chosen. 
	
Lucius, surprisingly, was the first to bring up the fact that the peace treaty was ending. And was actually the one in favor of renewing it to some degree. “"Then maybe we might discuss the fact that the Treaty of Goodsprings has reached its end. Mars alone knows exactly what that means, but I can take a fair guess. The treaty must either be renewed, or the Southwest will likely be awash with blood soon enough. And I can assure you, that whatever horrors the first war brought, the second will unleash even more."

Gloria could simply feel the discontent that her father had as Lucius spoke up. It was certainly not the initial statement they had expected from the Legion. A new war would jumpstart profits and allow for new weapons contracts. Peace… well, peace just wouldn’t do.

The next to speak up was the mercenary from up north, he spoke condescendingly about how these nations needed him… as if his group was actually a threat to anyone at this table in the slightest. Gloria held back a laugh but Salvatore let out a snicker at the arrogance of the man. 

Then out of nowhere, James Kimball made an announcement that relieved both her and her father. He first started by shutting down the arrogant merc that had been invited, he then made an outrageous offer that would obviously get rejected… and the president knew that. He then made the big announcement that his invasion of the legion was already in progress as he spoke. Gloria realized now why the NCR wished to speak with them… he was already intending the fight the legion, and he wanted the Van Graffs to supply his army. Everything was working out even better than the Van Graffs had originally thought the summit would. They’d have massive profits coming in from the west, and if everything worked as planned they’d be expanding into the Midwestern Brotherhood and perhaps even further east.

As expected, the Midwest voiced their discontent and House also condemned the NCR and voiced how any battle within 100 miles of the mojave’s borders would be considered an act of war against the F.Z.M. Though, in all honesty, she doubted that House would attack anyone until the war was over. He wouldn’t pick a side, but Gloria could see him coming in and taking on the weakened victor once the war had concluded. As for the midwest, they had been against NCR expansion since the beginning, and were the only reason the NCR hadn’t won the war 5 years ago.

Gloria looked around the room at gasps from everyone sitting around the table as they heard the initiation of war against the NCR. And as Lucius heard the news he immediately bid the table farewell to defend his land. The Caesar of the legion was always the head of the strategy so it was easily predictable that Lucius would respond in this manner and leave. Though, Gloria had hoped to actually speak with him before he left… shit had simply hit the fan too fast… far faster than expected.

Then, out of nowhere. The representative of the ‘ghost-traders’ whoever the hell they were who had come with Joshua Graham spoke up about his discontent with the NCR invading the Legion territories, and then made a statement that made Salvatore clench his hand into a ball “As for us. The Ghost Traders simply wish to widen and expand trade with the Free Economic Zone of the Mojave," explained Christine. "My people are very good at constructing and repairing various Pre-War tech. Namely old plasma and laser equipment. We'd wonder, if it's possible to set up business in New Vegas… We'd be even okay with setting up our trading posts in the New Vegas sewers - if the topside is too expensive or too occupied for us”

Salvatore spoke up almost immediately, Gloria could tell he was holding back the urge to punch the woman “Is that so? Well, I’m afraid that just won’t do. The Van Graff Corporation controls the energy weapon trade in the region and I’ll be damned to let some unknown nation try and impede our operations and trade in the area. If you want to open up trade, you can do so through discussions and contracts with us.” he looked to the King hoping he would be in agreement considering the fact that House had always had good relations with the Van Graffs.

Then under even more outrageous circumstances something else happened. The damn president announced he had a television message play where the ‘actual?’ president described the situation. What the fuck was going on here? Gloria couldn’t help but feel like everyone here was getting played and that at any moment a bomb was going to go off in the room...