Turn 10 September 2123-February 2124
[X] Plan Securing a Friendly Backyard
-[X] Ratify Entrepreneurial Stimulus
Part of you didn't want to sign it on the principle that free handouts were bad, but just taking one look out your window at San Felipe erased any objections quickly. It's not like you were old America who were happy to just let Wall Street fatcats stay rich without consequences through endless bailouts while the working American still had shit wages and working conditions. You were giving money to hardworking blue collar Texans who were trying to start businesses from the ground up with no established wealth or outside patrons to support them. There were no rich Texans as of yet, the only exceptions being Adrian and a couple of the other inventors through patents but even then they were hardly "Elite". Every private business in San Felipe was a small business and most were co-ops run by all of the workers equally. So with little hesitation, you signed the Stimulus and said goodbye to a tenth of the Treasury as it went into the hands of the people.
While seeing so much money leave was a bit rough, there was no inflation since you didn't need to print any money, and now that the small businesses of San Felipe had established accounts to help manage operating costs, and access to electricity and water, they could now be truly ambitious and create high quality establishments to bring a slice of the old world to the new. It was amazing by new year how almost all of the previously abandoned businesses were now up and running with a variety of products and services. Restaraunts with delicious homemade food, crafts and trade stores to sell the product of a Texan's creativity, hotels to provide rest and sanctuary to weary travelers, a downtown theater with a talented trope, you even got your own newspaper, the San Felipe Post. With almost all Texans having jobs and wealth building up, morale across the nation soared. People were no longer surviving, they were living with a purpose, and a true Texan dream that no longer was the next generation damned, but they could live better.
-[X] San Felipe Garages (280/250): 10 Resources per dice. $5 Per Dice +1 bonus to Intelligence Dice [1 Dice] 77+1+1+1
Thanks to the find of the Fayette Armor providing extra motivation, the Garages were able to be completed in October. In total, there are now five Garages alongside the north end of I-10 in San Felipe that can maintain, store and repair any automobile that Texas uses. Four shall be for state vehicles, and one will be a mix of usage for civilian vehicles, the Texans who still had working cars passed down from pre-war family or ownership, and any passing automobile that heads through town, of which there are usually about more than a dozen per week. In addition, the RVs you inherited from the Seals have been transferred over to be used as troop transports and buses. The Corvega Supply Parts has been chosen for conversion into an armory depot for Texan Armor and Heavy weaponry to help guard the Republic.
The main mode of transporation for Texans in general is still walking, bicycles and horses; but with the Garages an issue with a car no longer means that it's completely unusable and the streets have become a bit more active with traffic, especially the ambitious traders who have access to cars. Fortunately, everything is functional right now though the snow days were certainly a pain in the ass that nearly used up your Vault's supply of salt and shut down the nation practically.
San Felipe has Public Garages. Increased automobile usage. New Actions unlocked.
-[X] Clay Pit (62/250): 10 Resources Per Dice, $15 per dice. +5 Resources per turn. Boost to Trade [1 Dice] 33+1+1+1
Work on the claypit continues at a very slow pace.
-[X] Sealy Industrial District (133/240): 25 Resources per Dice. $750. +1 Development Dice [4 Dice] 32+1+1+1, 41+1+1+1, 44+1+1+1, 7+1+1+1
You ran into a bit of a snag with the Industrial District come winter. When the freeze happened, a good deal of the pre-war machinery and piping got jammed or frozen solid, which lead to some components breaking. So the project was delayed by several weeks to thaw the machinery, provide basic insulation, and search for replacements from Astroworld and Space City.
-[X] Scout Fort Bend County (201/125): [2 Dice] Rolled: 54 91!
Once the drama with Rosenberg was settled and you had inducted Aggieland into the League, an expedition to scout Fort Bend County was authorized for the Rangers. Considering most of Fort Bend was settled, and we had been in contact with Sugar Land and Astroworld for some time now, it wasn't a high priority, but it would be good to get some experience for South Company of the Rangers and also know where our local boundaries lie.
The expedition, which started after the new year and would focus on much of January, was a good showcase to the pioneering and scouting excellence of the Texas Rangers. The cartographers were able to make more detailed physical maps and additions to the pipboys, with some limited contact also being made with Katy through interactions with traders. Overall, the impression from Katy towards you and the League seems to be one of extreme caution, but there's no signs of outright hostility so hopefully you can continue coexsiting.
Of your two neighbors and allies, notable developments were Sugar Land expanding their agricultural fields out west to account for the relative peace in Fort Bend with the reclamation of homesteads and plating of new fields along the Brazos, most especially their hypersugar to meet rising demands for Ethanol. Sugar Land is also focused domestically on beautification and restoration of their commerce districts and Methodist hospital. Rosenberg is focused on two main developments. One is the creation of "Sulfur Mines" to extract the long dormant Sulfur deposits in South Fort Bend to use as a major trade asset with the Houston League to feed the growing arms stockpile, as well as to increase their own native supply. The second is a maintenance upkeep and overhaul of the W.A Parish generating station. Having been a generator from both coal and natural gas power pre-war, it seems that Rosenberg wishes to take advantage of recent advancements in power and the Aggie connection to perhaps bring this plant back online for future power.
Lastly of note is the scavenging performed in the expedition. While technically the County was divided between Sugar Land and Rosenberg, there were plenty of abandoned homesteads that could be quietly scavenged or torn down for resources and some pre-war loot since neither power took claim of them in the past 46 years, finder's keepers after all. Most interesting was an abandoned US Army listening bunker located within Brazos Bend State Park. Inside the bunker is a small cache of laser weaponry, and two Stealthboys which may prove to be invaluable in future operations.
Overall, Fort Bend County is a mostly quiet area divided between the three powers of Rosenberg, Sugar Land and Katy. There are some notable signs of Raider presence on the periphery, either from coastal tribes or Houston raiders who were pushed down South by recent offensives, but they are too weak to launch attacks on the major settlements and were easily warded off by our Rangers. For now, the future of Fort Bend looks bright as its citizens plant firm roots and do their best to restore pre-war life.
Fort Bend County scouted. Gain 40 Resources, two Stealth Boys. Gain +1 Intelligence rolls due to experience of Scouting.
-[X] Investigating Conquistadors (286/200): [1 Dice, 2 Free Dice] Rolled: 84, 100!, 27
Through a combination of interrogation of the prisoners we obtained from the Battle of San Felipe, scouting of Conquistador lands discreetly on land and by plane, obtaining information via trade through neighbors like Wharton and La Grange, a number of travelers and defectors who made their way to our side of the Colorado, and sometimes just plain luck; we have been able to gather a very comprehensive profile of the Conquistador and there are little to no unknowns should we choose to face them again in the future.
In regards to their Origins, the Conquistadors were founded by a disgruntled collection of American soldiers, more specifically soldiers who were serving under the San Antonio authority post-war. After the Rio Grande War, some soldiers were heavily frustrated and angry at the state of affairs, how the war ended in a draw, the authority of the San Antonio government and leading officers of the joint base who many felt were incompetent, the constant rations, and the overall poor state of the region even if they only did get one nuke. As such, following the war there was a wave of resignations or desertions, some heading out far in search of greener pastures. One of these was a battalion lead by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Cortez, who took most of his men, stole some supplies and gear, and headed out to Columbus, where they found an electric town thanks to the solar panels, and put them under their heel. The Conquistadors were founded as a way of "taming" the greater Texas wasteland where every soldier serving in the tribes could conquer the land, form a new and glorious home, and live like kings through their labor. Any nobility to their cause would fade over time as the Conquistadors became another Raider tribe to take what they want and live rich off the labors of others, albeit well armed than most Raiders.
The core of conquistador territory is focused along the towns of I-10 from Lulling to Columbus, all of whom having a great solar infrastructure thanks to Poseidon Energy's influence. The sphere of influence and governed territory of the Conquistadors has been in a heavy state of flux since their founding thanks to constant conflicts and messy internal cohesion. Their current domain is said to stretch from the Guadalupe to the Colorado rivers with three notable holdouts in Victoria, Port Lavaca and "New Bohemia", a Czech-Texan state in western Lavaca. However, the Conquistadors are currently trying to expand south along the coast towards Corpus Christi in the hopes of conquering South Texas which has largely remained lawless and may establish an alliance between them and Rio Grande or the Gulf Cartel. The Conquistadors have also had a greater impact to Houston than you previously thought as they were a menace in the 2090's and 2100's before being driven off by Rosenberg, though inflicting a heavy amount of casualties to Rosenberg and causing their isolationist stance. The Conquistadors also had some brief conflicts with Sugar Land, Astroworld and Aggieland, and in fact created the Sealy Seals whose founder was a victim of Conquistador raids.
At the moment, the Conquistadors are currently in a crossroads between being Raiders and a true-nation state. What has kept them in the practice of raiding is a lack of industry or easily available raw materials, thus requiring raids to gain rare resources and relics, and perhaps most importantly the toxic culture that dominates them. The Conquistadors have a heavily self-serving mentality, therefore they have the right because they have the might, and must take what they want in order to live as conquering kings and never be servile peasants like their pre-war ancestors. Conquest is how one becomes a strong man or woman, and victory must be achieved above all else. Hence they are "Conquistadors", they conquer the New Wasteland and colonize in their name.
The Conquistadors are estimated to have between 5,000-10,000 soldiers as available manpower, with more of their tributes and ruled settlements if they should conscript. There is something of a rugged semi-professionalism though discipline can and will break out in times of stress or for self gain. They have a modest arsenal of pre-war military grade weaponry which is focused along the I-10 strip and are adept at making technical vehicles and pipe weaponry. We should be able to take them as we are now, especially with the combined might of the Houston League, but they have been attempting to jumpstart a trade relationship with the distant Texas Arms Association who are said to have working arms factories which is worrisome.
Most recently, the Conquistadors crossed the Colorado and attempted an expedition in search of a major tool which would tip the scales of power incredibly in their favor and put Texas at dire threat. Fortunately, the Rangers were able to stop them, and now you have the bounty.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGGLpl18rs
Captain Susannah Beckett took a sip of her trusty Vault 28 canteen, blowing a loose strand of hair from her face as she stood bored at the counter of an abandoned Red Rocket station, with her and her Rangers supposedly being in an unincorporated community called "Sugar Valley" if the Pip-boys were accurate. The only modicrum of entertainment they had for the past day were their Pip-boys, either through Hologames or playing the radio from nearby Bay City, with Angela's currently set to an Oldy station playing Atom Bomb, rather morbid considering their current circumstances. At the very least, this mission wasn't taking place in summer, so she didn't have to deal with heat stroke or a rising swarm of insects, mutant and pure.
Six days ago on February 5th, a traveler named Rosa had entered into San Felipe, eastbound on I-10. She was a poor barmaid who had suffered the abuse and harassment of the Conquistadors and had reached a breaking point. This close to stealing a pipe pistol and going on a killing spree, whatever survival instincts the poor soul had left pushed her to make a break for it east, to where she and the other townspeople knew there was a friendly face with the Republic. So Rosa in the dead of the night had left Columbus, and bravely swam in the Colorado, then made a mad dash along I-10 to San Felipe, narrowly evading hostile wildlife. The poor girl was near dead from radiation poisoning from the river, but she had just made it to the city limits and was swiftly taken to the clinics for some emergency Radaway treatment. With Rosa came a plethora of new information from the Conquistadors, though most importantly was that they were going to make a trip to Angleton, supposedly in search of some method of gaining control of Fort Davis.
This created a temporary state of emergency as the Republic and by extension greater Houston League mobilized in face of the pending threat. While some voices argued for an immediate strike against the Conquistadors, it was the Aggies who proposed a bold idea. Let the expedition take place, and see if there was some viable method of the Conquistadors getting control of Fort Davis, a means of fishing so Houston could swoop in and take control of the base themselves.
Susanna's South Company of the Rangers was one of the units deployed to monitor the Conquistadors and take swift action. It was a bold action as they barely scouted Matagorda and Brazoria, but a necessary one to contain the threat. Fortunately they had the help of allies with Space City running constant aerial surveillance and the Astros lending STAR units to the Rangers and mobilizing with Sugar Land for any possible sudden expedition. The good news was that the Conquistadors didn't directly enter Fort Davis and there was no sign from aerial that the crazy bots were being mobilized or under hostile control. The Conquistadors seemed to take casualties, and near an hour ago were reported to be packing up and on the move, taking Highway 35 back to the Bay City crossing, then presumably through El Campo and Columbus.
This lead to Susannah and her unit setting up an ambush point at the Red Rocket station. They were just outside of radio range so the Conquistadors would be completely in the dark about what happened, leaving San Felipe free from any retaliation, either in revenge or to prevent them from holding whatever sort of loot the Conquistadors found.
Susannah was driven out of her stupor when a message alert was sent on her pipboy. She switched channels just as the song ended and tuned into the pilot radio. "Dixie actual this is Sparrow-two over."
"Sparrow-two this is Dixie actual. What is the situation?" Susannah asked.
"Bogies coming down 35, 10 mikes out from your location. Staying on the right side, two carriers over."
"Roger, will lay welcome party."
"Good hunting Dixie, over and out."
"Come on people, we got Larpers in 10, everyone take positions!" Susannah ordered, all the stationed Rangers moving with gusto and setting their positions.
Ten minutes later, the Red Rocket stop and intersection was as silent as can be save for birds chirping and the faint brush of wind. A Corporal keeping guard with binoculars, ran back into the station, signalling Susannah who sent a few texts on her pipboy that all was green to go. Susannah also activated a button on her Pipboy, remote activating the pulse mines they had brought with them and laid out in front of the station.
Two green blurs passed, their drivers missing the military-grade spike traps laid out which were enough even for APCs. The tires were slightly punctured, leaving them drifting off of energy, and unable to do much but slide into the Pulse Mines, which went off and killed the engines of the APCs. While traditional mines would have been good at eliminating the problem altogether, Susannah wanted the Pulses in case the Conquistadors were holding onto something valuable.
"Open fire!" Susannah ordered, and immediately 25 streams of rounds were unleashed on the vehicles. Among them were two anti-material rifles, meant to provide a little extra kick and penetrate the armor.
The APC was lit up with gunfire, small holes puncturing into the steel of the dead vehicle. Susannah was very grateful that the old Hollywood trope of instant exploding cars through a bullet wasn't applicable here. Under heavy pressure and locked down, some Conquistadors tried to exit through the back, though that only lead to them becoming more targets, leading to a human pile with blood painting the highway red.
However, there were a few persistent bastards who tried to make a run for it. In particular one heavily armored Conquistador whose armor shrugged off some of the small arms and had very few openings within the plating. The heavy was making a mad dash for the Red Rocket, and from the looks of his eyes, seemed to be intoxicated with Psycho.
Susannah activated her VATS with the hope of making a headshot, she took a few shots to the legs and as she aimed to the head
an electric guitar riff was played somehow, and a powerful of powerful shot danced to hit the Conquistador in the neck, blowing the head straight off and leaving it rolling on the concrete while the Heavy's headless corpse fell down.
Susannah was confused as the sound seemed to be that of a heavy Revolver gunshot, of which only a few Rangers were equipped with custom revolvers and they certainly didn't have the Super Magnum. Susannah looked to her left slightly and was startled when she saw a civilian dressed in a slightly dusty tan trenchcoat and fedora, a tall white man equipped with a revolver of some kind, maybe a Colt.
The man looked Susannah in the eye and tipped his fedora slightly. Susannah took just the briefest of looks at the heavy corpse, then back at the mystery stranger, only to find the man completely vanished without a single sign of his existence, not even casings from his pistol.
"What the Fuck was that?!" Susannah asked in alarm, her voice being the only intrusion upon the landscape as she noticed that all the other guns had gone silent, meaning that there were no more enemies left.
Susannah turned to her subordinate Rangers who were holed up in the Red Rocket with her, "You people saw that right?" She questioned.
"Yeah, some guy in a trenchcoat."
"Who the hell played the guitar?"
"Is there a civvy following us?"
"
Santa Muerte."
"Thank you Jesus!"
The Rangers left their ambush posts and secured the intersection and the APCs. Susannah sent out a squad to search nearby for the man, but they couldn't find him or any sign of recent human transit besides the Rangers themselves, frustrating Susannah to no ends. One of her Rangers did share that there was a popular urban legend in the Houston Wasteland of a "Mysterious Stranger" fitting the same description who would appear out of nowhere and help poor souls in times of need, then disappear as quickly as he came. It didn't make much sense though considering the Stranger had been spoken of since the bombs fell and the man who aided her looked to be in his 30s.
They quickly investigated the APCs and went to looting the bodies, some Rangers very eager to get claims in accordance with the recently passed Battlefield Procurement Code. For the most part, there was nothing too notable outside of some energy shells, a baseball bat, some food, and odd pieces of junk here and there.
However, one female Conquistador who wore a pre-war uniform of Captain was found cradling a holotape, one labelled in tape "Davis Shutdown".
Comprehensive intelligence of Conquistadors gained. Shutdown codes for Fort Davis base gained.
-[X] Specialist Training (167/225): [2 Dice] Rolled: 13+2+5+1, 6+2+5+1
Unfortunately in the midst of Specialist training, there was a major accident. A live round instead of a dummy mortar round was used and careless handling of the mortar lead to it landing on a nearby grouping of soldiers. It was truly a miracle that no one had died, although 5 soldiers needed to be taken to the Vault and one had to be emergency airlifted to Memorial Hermann where the Astros had the best facilities for surgery, including a required implementation of cybernetics. It was a very sobering incident, and you had to pause the training overall to make sure that safety was drilled into your troopers.
-[X] Officer Candidate School (307/250): $30. +1 to Martial rolls. [1 Dice] 97!+2+5+1
At the new year the Second Republic of Texas Joint Armed Forces Officer Candidate School would open. A hell of a mouthful, though you just call it OCS. Thanks to the Aggies, you have access to the finest military educational material from pre-war America and some of your officers and non-coms who will be educators at the OCS have taken a semester at A&M to be trained by the Corps of Cadets on how to craft the best of the future officers. So far, you have been blessed with a very talented pool of leaders to help establish the Republic's place in the Wasteland, and you have faith they will rise to be even greater in the future.
The OCS has also been chosen to serve as the senior command post for the military, helping to free up some space in the Vault and making the School a sort of field base which will be factored into the Austin County Defense plans. In the future, classes will begin with contingents of nominated enlisted to undergo 10 weeks of training and then be deployed. You look forward to the next generation of officers.
Officer Candidate School completed. Gain a permanent +10 to battle rolls. Worst effects of Austin County Defense Nat 1 Mitigated
-[X] Austin County Defense (231/375) : +1 to Martial rolls [3 Dice] Rolled: 16+2+5+1+5(Luck), 74+2+5+1+5(Luck), 1!+2+5+1+5(Luck)
You don't really understand what happened, but there was some sort of drama within the upper leadership of the military that left everyone at high tensions with each other, delaying the reorganization.
+1 to martial rolls removed.
-[X] Rosenberg Understanding: DC ???/???: [3 Dice] 69+5+1, 10+5+1, 33+5+1
Things were pretty frosty between San Felipe and Rosenberg for a while, to the point where the free flow of traffic which used to be dozens per day, halted and all that came on the roads were traders instead of casual tourists. There was a major sense of betrayal from Rosenberg, while in Texas there was a great feeling of frustration and eye rolling at Rosenberg's paternalistic elitism along with old tensions coming to fray over Vault 113 being so gifted and a control vault. Texas and the greater Wasteland was a fierce topic in the Rosenberg elections, while the leading officers of the Military went so far as to start drawing contingency plans against Rosenberg to annex the town through force and maintain the connection to Houston should they do the unthinkable and close Alt-90 and I-69. Tensions needless to say were reaching a boiling point with something going to arise out of escalation. Only for the atmosphere to cool down to a Canadian summer with a wedding.
John Romero was a decent young man who was born and raised in Vault 28. Growing up in the Vault, John knew almost everyone and most knew him, you and Jessie were decent friends of sort with his parents. However, John though he was a decent young man, had a very hard time connecting with others, having a Charisma stat of 2 and slightly below average looks, always being left out and in the background, a quiet loner of the Vault. When you returned to the surface, John got a job running caravan duty, and in his initial travels met and fell in love with Julia Capaldi.
Julia was a happy go lucky gal from Rosenberg and according to the rumor mill, considered a catch on the scene. One of Rosenberg's teachers, and as such a friend of your daughter Jane's, Julia in contrast to John was a very popular and well liked young woman who was a leading figure of her community. As such, she could have her pick of the crop in Rosenberg or any eligible bachelors in San Felipe. Yet in the dating spree that had erupted after relations were formed with Rosenberg, something drew Julia to John and vice versa that they could describe as love at first sight. While many Texan-Rosenberger couples faded, those two remained steady and strong with John finding many reasons to visit Rosenberg outside of trade. John also took a strong liking to the Rosenberg community and found a warm embrace by the 113ers where he was sort of an ugly ducking to 28.
As tensions were thick between your two states, John didn't want to lose the love of his life to politics, and as such in late October, proposed to Julia who happily accepted. As news of the engagement spread between the two cities, the ice that existed thawed as everyone, even yourself took a long and hard look at the growing feud and realized that you had four years of a good time as neighbors and throwing everything that your two nations had built together, including John and Julia's love over flags and lines on a map was a rather stupid thing, especially with Rosenberg after you had exposed the Vault-Tec conspiracy.
As such, November was a time of healing and reconciliation with travel restarting between the two communities, the atmosphere at the shared Orchard garrison returning to warmth, and many relationships near broken becoming whole again. This would climax in the wedding of John and Julia on Thanksgiving at Vault 113 with many citizens from Rosenberg and San Felipe invited. It would take place in Vault 113 as John had confirmed that he was moving to Rosenberg to start his family with Julia there. A sad case with John being the first Texan to emigrate, but he is truly happier there and with Rosenberg being a reasonably functional democracy, if not really quirky, you couldn't in good faith deny him the chance to be happy when his entire family was on board.
You would attend the wedding for a number of reasons. Your family was on good terms with the Romeros, Jane was one of Julia's bridesmaids, and it served as a nice sort of informal diplomacy to show Rosenberg that things were returning back to normal with your presence. Overall a very sweet wedding, especially when they both cutely said "Okie-dokie" in place of their I-Dos, must have been an inside joke.
During the reception when you were relaxing in conversation with your wife at the table, Luke McClellan, recently re-elected Mayor of Rosenberg decided to drop by after diplomatically avoiding you til that point.
"Mr. President, Mrs. First Lady, having a good time so far?" Luke nervously asked, sitting down to your left without prompt. The man was re-elected just by the barest of margins in a plurality, though thankfully one of his opponents had been someone who was vocally open towards close relations with the Houston League and obtaining a quarter of the vote, so it showed you still had friends in town.
You scowled and took a rather generous sip of your wine, "Son, I don't mix business with celebrations, so whatever malarky you want to hash out, save it for tomorrow." That being said, there was a decent chance you might have a hangover come morning, maybe you could use that as an excuse to raincheck til next week.
"I figured. I don't mean to be a bother and spend time writing treaties, I just wanted a quick word just to clear up the air so we can bury the hatchet between our two great states come morrow."
You looked to the speakers as Dean Martin's "Volare" was being played, "You got til the end of this song to say your peace, afterwards fuck off." You growl, your wife giggling at your signature Neil gruffness.
"I just wanted to apologize for the cold shoulder we...I gave you and your people after Wharton." Luke admitted freely, making you raise your eyebrow a bit. "We can discuss more in detail later, but it was rather immature of me to react so harshly when you were defending your people from those Colonial fuckers." Luke said, a bit of venom added at the mention of the Conquistadors.
"You do know that for a couple of decades you basically have your towns as meat shields and disposable buffers to the Wasteland right?" You tested, alcohol pushing away all decorum.
Luke sighed, "I know. I won't say it's the right thing to do, but it's how we survived in this mess since returning. Y'all have been lucky, coming back right when civilization was planting its roots and the absolute worst days were behind. I guess we got so used to it, we didn't think to do more, not without your lone star altruism. I want to change things moving forward, treat our neighborhood with a clean slate and better manners. World's growing more crowded, and I have to concede that we have to get with the times. We'll move forward on talks with the League, and just so you know, all the Wharton County lands can be considered your sphere, something our Council agreed upon."
The confession took you aback, and while part of you wanted to lecture further on everything Rosenberg did wrong and hammer in the finer points, you didn't want to ruin the fun of the night and there was always tomorrow. "That's mighty kind of ya. We'll talk later." You say simply, with Luke nodding and walking off towards his group.
"And thus the great negotiator strikes again." Jessie complements, kissing you on the cheek. "You know, recently I've been wandering why you ever became a Ranger with that silver tongue of yours. If the bombs never fell, you could have been a genuine Hollywood actor or maybe some big shot in the world like Robert House." Jessie says.
You roll your eyes playfully, "Hon, I work for a living, bad enough I'm a politician, don't need to stain my soul more."
"Oh hush you." Jessie says, and the two of you go in for a kiss.
"And now, to start us off on the open mic portion of the night, I'd like to hand it off to our great President, Kit O'Neil, one of the best voices this side of the Brazos." John's father, Charlie Romero says, with the spotlight then pushing towards your table with the Texans present generating a chorus of cheers and enthusiastic hollers.
You grimaced at what you had hoped to break with this wedding, "I'm gonna shoot that man. I swear, does it have to be every wedding." You say with a quiet huff.
"Hey it was your choice to serenade me on our wedding night. Only damned yourself by having the sexiest voice in Texas." Jessie purred.
Shaking your head, you got up to fulfill your role, "I'm singing this for you and only you." You say, then steal a kiss as you head off to take the microphone that was forced onto you."
"Thank you everyone. To start off, I'd like to sing one of my favorites, a very oldie and special song that I feel is great to the start of any union. John, Julia, if you two can only think of the other when you hear this, then you got a good life ahead of you."
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiIBKcd4m5Q
While it wasn't your favorite talent, you have to admit, the way you moved the crowd always made the experience worth it.
"I LOVE YOU BABY!"
Relations with Rosenberg normalized. League Expansion, Rosenberg may resume next turn.
-[X] League Expansion: Aggieland:: DC ???:
--[X] Sugar Land DC 65 [1 Dice, 1 Free Dice] 86, 99
Considering the fuss and stubborness that came from negotiations with Astroworld some time ago, you expected a lot of heel-digging from Sugar Land, especially with the Aggies being such an Agricultural powerhouse which would completely shift the game for Sugar Land's place in the League. However, when you journeyed to the sweet city, you were surprised to find Maria Reynolds not only present as well, but both her and Jack Candy being highly receptive to the Aggies joining the Houston League.
Such a sudden welcome did not come without outside pressure. Apparently, the Spartans while steering clear of Houston proper, are making some greater moves out east. Scout planes from Space City have sighed Spartan rosters on the move near Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston. It's currently hypothesized that the Spartans are looking to monopolize freshwater sources in East Texas as a way of providing a carrot with their Laser Rifle so to speak in enforcing rule over their territories.
It's not just the Spartans either. Astro Scouts and STARS report of a high state of inter-community warfare within the North Houston Anarchy. It seems that the closing off of the South, of which there have been many attempted raids on the border highways which end in failure, have prompted a general sense of urgency and alarm within the Raider Tribes who are fighting for each other to mark clear borders and lay claim to valuable real estate and loot. It's likely within the coming years that North Houston may coalese around a small collection of Raider nations which will make them more of a trouble.
There's your own drama with the Conquistadors to consider, a number of "Raider Nations" forming in East Texas, contact being made with groups from Dallas-Fort Worth, and perhaps most ominous word that San Antonio is entering a rearmament phase and may launch another "Unification War" over Texas. Overall, Texas is becoming a very crowded pool of hostile fish metaphorically speaking as Maria's predictions of the new phase of the apocalypse are bearing fruit. With such hostile times on the horizon, to further stonewall the entry of a powerful state with plenty of pre-war arms and some of the best soldiers in the Wasteland would be lunacy. Thus, the talks went from a negotiation to more reaching an understanding of the new League, and Aggieland President Jacob Bush would travel to the Astrodome to finalize talks, with ratification coming on Veteran's Day.
The entry of Aggieland into the League would come with a number of benefits. For one, with Aggieland's ascenion came the inclusion of its sphere of influence within the common market, most importantly Brenham who now accepted Dollars, thus trade between you and Brenham, by extension Bellville, saw a major rise as you can now use dollars for purchase instead of barter, and from there if need use any number of currencies floating around in Brenham to engage in trade with more distant polities.
The main states of the Houston League found Aggieland's inclusion to be far more positive than anticipated. The old A&M campus on Galveston was reclaimed and reopened by A&M, thus providing Galvestonians with more access to higher education, though the old Texas feud with UT still seemed strong with neighboring UT Medical branch. Space City could now exchange a great deal of ideas and research with A&M, pushing innovation further with both working on restarting the energy sector proper. Imperial Sugar could now safely expand within unowned farms of the Aggie sphere under their protection, and their sugar Ethanol was found to be in high demand by the Aggie machine. Lastly was Astroworld, who found trade to be booming as Greater Uptown now had a bountiful access to agricultural goods and as you had pointed out earlier, Astros could now ship their manufacturing to the industry light Aggieland with new customers.
Overall, it seems that the Aggies joining has been a relatively positive thing. Hopefully it may lead to something greater.
Aggieland joins the Houston League with high approval from all parties. Close military and economic cooperation to come. Brenham joins Houston League's Common Market.
-[X] Old Weapons for a New World (0/???): 5 Resources Per Dice
--[X] Mortar (184/350) [2 Dice] Rolled: 32+2+1, 26+2+1
You made some progress on mortar research to deal with future threats but ran into some difficulties with ammo production.
-[X] Sealy Gas and Oil Depot (303/200): 5 Resources per Dice. $400. +1 Free Dice. [2 Dice, 2 Free Dice] 24+1+1+1, 99+1+1+1, 80+1+1+1, 58+1+1=1
When you received the official report of the restoration of the Gas and Oil Depot, you had to rush to the site and look at the evidence yourself out of pure disbelief. When you interacted with the terminal and were given the raw data, you still didn't believe it yourself so you had to look at an opened container and found that it was still fill of unrefined oil
"How the fuck did the Seals not take advantage of any of this?!" You shouted in pure disbelief, though everyone present gave well sympathetic stares instead of looking at you like you were crazy. It was a rather understandable reaction considering that the Depot was somehow full, and was still full after all these years, never once being touched by outside personnel until today.
"Records show that they had a nasty run-in with the local security bots and they probably didn't want to waste any blood securing what was a nominally unusable resource to them. Still, they honestly never had to go to Austin considering they could have probably just took over this facility and sold it to Space City for a fortune, but who the hell knows what Raiders think." Adrian noted.
You couldn't help but stare in the general direction where the robot storage facility was located. In addition to the usual industrial stock, there were TWO Sentry Bots, albeit of an older pre-war model which were in shutdown mode. Apparently the depot was considered critical enough effort to warrant their presence. A bit extreme in your opinion, but now you had two hulking steel rollers to augment the military.
"Honestly sir, the Wasteland's pretty weird with how much treasure there is left to scavenge. You wouldn't believe half the stories that the Astro scavengers share. Seems like it's rare to travel a block in Houston proper without running into preserved food, ammunition and other commodities." One of your escorting Rangers, Sharon said.
Yeah, that was something of the case with Sealy considering the many lost articles you found and how San Felipe proper was mostly well preserved. Most suspect was the bizarre case of the preserved food just lying around after near 50 years and still being edible after just sitting there. You for one were never going to gamble your digestive system on such finds, but Robin swore that the perfect pies found in the Port-A-Diners were like a slice of heaven.
"And all this thanks to a late shipment on October 22nd." You say in wonder.
"Had it been literally a day earlier all of this would have been shipped down to Houston and probably would have been lost in the nukes." Adrian confirmed.
You breathed a heavy sigh and leaned back against the railing, wanting dearly to head to Kathy's Saloon after this to wash away more wasteland craziness. "Okay, so just how much material are we working with?"
"Well with the Natural Gas, since we already got power from the Vault and my wind turbines, we really don't need it to be used for San Felipe, but if you're willing, I can connect it to San Felipe's old natural gas grid. We can provide heating for homes in the winter and get some cooking gas, would be especially useful for the Whataburger and Dairy Queen soon to reopen." Adrian said.
You had to remind yourself to keep your mouth closed so that you wouldn't be drooling in front of present company over the potential to reexperience such magic once more. You had visited both franchises in Brenham which were independently restored, and by the Lord having such meals was one of the best experiences in your life.
"Overall I'd say we could last about 50 years, but that's if we stay at our present population, which I doubt will be for long. As for oil, we can't really use it ourselves, but we can ship it over to Space City. Get some new asphalt, chemicals and plastic products to make some rare pre-war products. Also Kit, with your permission I want to head out to College Station this weekend. The Aggies are currently working on exploiting shale gas deposits in Washington County and they got plenty of Shale Oil in Brazos and supposedly Burleson. With this, I think I can negotiate a pipeline from College Station to Brenham and San Felipe. From there we could either build or own refinery infastructure, and from here we ship it all the way down to Galveston where they still have the refineries. It probably won't be completed this decade, but we have a real chance to turn Texas back into the energy powerhouse it was in the 20th century." Adrian explained with high optimism.
That...was certainly something. While it's not like you were the producers, this depot could give you a critical edge in the Wasteland and Houston economy beyond just a supplier of water and some neat tech. The Aggies absolutely loved Texas, so maybe you could work together, develop a native industry within the Republic, and go and exploit the Shale fields of Texas and beyond. Like Adrian said, certainly not something you could feasibly complete within your presidency, even if you served a full two terms. However, there was absolutely no reason why as President you should only go for the easy stuff in office. Anything that could make the lives of your grandkids better was definitely worth pursuing.
"Do whatever you think is best. Let's just promise ourselves though that we're not gonna bleed our resources dry. 150 years of good times are never worth the pain that follows."
Sealy Oil and Gas Depot restored to full power, found to be at full capacity. Natural Gas supplied to all of San Felipe. Depot robots operational and successfully programmed as loyal. Two Sentry Bots added to the Second Republic of Texas Military. New Actions unlocked.
-[X] San Felipe Clinic (250/250): 10 Resources Per Dice $15 Per Dice. [1 Dice] 12+2+1
The San Felipe clinics both come into operation in Late September, helping to ease the burden off of the medical wing of Vault 28 and providing high quality universal healthcare to all Texans in need. While we don't have too many Texans experienced in medicine, the provided autodocs along with the hiring of experienced personnel across the Wasteland should be able to fill out needs.
Two San Felipe Clinics built. Quality of life improves
-[X] National Bank of Texas (310/300): 5 Resources Per Dice. +1 to Administration rolls. [3 Dice] 19+1, 98+1, 19+1
The backbone of any modern society was a functioning banking system to oversee the flow of currency, separating Houston from the barter and cap obsessed mess of the Wasteland. Fortunately, your renovations of the local banks showed that they both had functioning terminals that allowed for digital record keeeping, and more than enough space for physical currency storage. The terminal system was particularly impressive for what was a nominally backwater small town bank pre-war as apparently both the Sealy banks had been bought by one of the big Northeastern banks and as such had recently undergone a digital renovation to modern RobCo hardware. As such, your banking system was built on top of the line coding that could give the most precise and accurate readings of transactions. Though just to be sure for safety's sake, you also made sure to back everything up with paper when you could.
Considering no one had any experience with banking for the past near half century, you were worried that the public would be intensely hostile and suspicious to the practice. Heck, even you had to admit that trusting all your wealth in someone else's hands felt a bit wrong. However, when the people of the Republic, most especially the Wastelanders, saw you and other leading federal officials deposit your wealth into and trust the banks, any and all fears they had with the practice were erased and almost all Texans stored their money in the two banks, with the National Bank being used for state level banking and to store "Foreign" accounts while the Austin County State Bank was used for more private and personal banking. You have no fear of any great robbery as both the currency printers and hard currency are stored within the vaults, though if anyone wants to rob the banks stores, they'll have to go through a daily patrol of a militia platoon along with half a dozen Protectrons.
With the establishment of the National Bank, the last great hurdle to a functioning modern economy is gone, and with the Houston League one contiguous territory and the influence of the Houston dollar spreading, the overall regional economy looks to be robust for the near future. Even better, the terminal system of the banks shows great potential in that it has furthered progress on the citizenship ID database that had been placed as a low priority for the moment, and with work with Space City, could be the foundations of a potential credit card system for Houston, though such a project will likely be one years down the line.
National Bank of Texas established. +1 Free Dice.
-[X] Sealy Market (17/250): 5 Resources Per Dice. $200. Boost to Trade and Domestic Sales. [1 Dice] 16+1
Some minor work had been done clearing debris from the Sealy Market, but true labor won't be committed until well in the new year.
