[color=9e0b0f][u][b]Titus Crassus - Queastor of The Legion[/b][/u][/color]

Titus readily accepted Cain's handshake and returned it firmly.

"Vegas is indeed a strange place," he replied, "And this meeting no less so. I will share with you what I know thus far."

Titus then led the Khan(s) out of the Gourmand, down the strip, and towards Freeside where their horses were waiting. Titus and Atius swiftly mounted up. Despite his bookish appearance, Titus was an excellent horseman, and after taking the reigns he set off down the streets of Freeside with the Khans in tow. As they trotted down the filthy thoroughfare lined with beggars, thugs, and would-be gamblers, Titus rode beside Cain and explained what had happened in the time since the meeting had begun,

"You did not miss much," Titus began, "Once we had all arrived and the proceedings begun, the NCR saw fit to immediately declare war and announce that their invasion was already underway. Caesar Lucius had suspected that such an attack was imminent, but I admit we had believed they would wait until after these proceedings had concluded. Then to add further insult, it was revealed that the NCR President whom we had been dealing with was not actually the President at all. Kimball, coward that he is, refused to even attend the meeting in person. Instead he sent a body double, no doubt for his own safety."

As they passed through the east gate of Freeside and out onto the windswept expanse of the darkening Mojave, Titus led the group of Khans towards the east. In the distance, beyond the ruins of outer vegas, a campfire could be seen glowing,

Titus sighed, before continuing, "In any case, Caesar left to see to the defense of Arizona. Kimball is a fool if he thinks his advance will be met unchecked, or that his army will not suffer terribly for treading through Legion soil. The NCR's second invasion has been what Caesar and his Legates have been planning ever since the first war concluded. The wastes of Arizona will be a deathtrap for the NCR soldiery. The President most likely wants to use this war to unify his people and distract them from the problems at home. I think the fool will find, however, that his people are going to be far less amicable to the devastation that this war will bring to them. Perhaps once they've gotten the chance to experience the horrors of war first-hand, they'll rid themselves of the corruption thats leading them."

As Titus finished, the horsemen rode up to the small Legion encampment they'd been traveling towards. A contuburnium of eight veteran legionaries and their Decanus stood watch over the camp, which consisted of several hide and leather tents dyed crimson red, all circling a large bonfire at the center where the butchered meat of a bighorner was roasting. At the forefront of the camp, a single tent larger and more ornately decorated than the others stood out prominently. Titus and Atius both rode up to this tent and as they dismounted one of the legionaries hitched the horses to a row of wooden posts. Titus invited the Khans to do likewise and then beckoned them towards the waiting bonfire.

The Queastor took his seat in a hide chair draped with furs and offered the similarly decorated chair next to him to Cain, while likewise offering other seats and sitting logs around fire to the rest of the Khans men. Atius stood guard next to the horses, while the the Legionaries kept a sharp eye on the surrounding Mojave landscape. 

"First, before we talk I want to offer you food and drink. I'm sure you're hungry from your travels and I can't imagine you had enough time to truly enjoy anything that our hosts at the Ultra Luxe provided," Titus said, and he motioned to a pair of slave girls waiting off to the side. The two women immediately brought forth plates of food to the Khans, consisting of roasted brahmin, bread, and fruits. While also bringing cold water and several wine skins to quench their thirst. 

"Take what you like," Titus grinned, "Nothing like one of those so called 'exquisite' meals from the gourmand perhaps, but the calf was killed only this evening and the produce nearly as fresh as that."

Once the Khans had sampled the food and had their fill, Titus broached the topic he'd been hoping to discuss with Cain,

"The reason I wished to meet with you and your people is simple," he started to say, "Caesar wishes to extend to the Khans an offer of goodwill, and hopes that any transgressions that we might have committed in the past towards one another might be forgiven. Your thoughts on the NCR as well, I would like to know. Especially now that Kimball Junior has shown himself to be just as misguided and overconfident as his father was."