In the spirit of friendship, the alliances of Echelon and Atlantic Empire hereby enter into this Mutual Defense and Optional Aggression Pact. Atlantic Empire has been a protectorate of Echelon's since before the creation of either alliance. When the friendship started, we were known as TSH and TAL. We've both since moved onto bigger and better things. In the process, AE really outgrew the old protectorate, as they're over 800k strength at the time of this signing.