Four years after the Charter, the Consortium and the League signed an agreement that neither believed in and both needed. It divided the known fields, set rules for new ones, and let both sides work the belt without shooting at each other. It held for six years.
A Consortium holo map of Field 41, with the accord’s perimeter line around the cut.The rules
Fields known in 2101 were allotted by list. A new field, meaning a fresh impact, went to whichever side registered a survey line at it first, and the other side could work the far half after thirty days. Neither side would bring armed units within a kilometre of the other’s cut. Disputes went to a joint board in Nadir that met four times and decided nothing.
The League asked, as a condition, for the three hundred withheld pages of the Final Report. The Consortium declined. The League signed anyway, because its members were starving for parts.
New fields
A field created by descent after the date of this Accord shall be worked first by the Party that registers a survey line at its rim with the joint board. The other Party may work the half of the field farthest from that line after thirty days.
Neither Party shall bring armed units, armed vehicles or armed autonomous systems within one kilometre of the other Party’s registered cut.
Signed at Nadir, 2101 · suspended by both Parties, May 2107
How it ended
At Impact Field 41 in May 2107, both sides had a registered line and both had people inside the other’s kilometre. A shot was fired. The Consortium’s drones opened fire. Two weeks later the Consortium suspended the accord citing armed looting, and the League suspended it citing the dead. Article 7 is the last thing the two sides agreed on.