Disclaimer: I would like to mention that I do not in any way own anything from the Fallout...
Wasteland Gazette [Fallout Series Shorts]
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deathzealotzero
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Disclaimer: I would like to mention that I do not in any way own anything from the Fallout franchise including characters, plot, and everything else about it. I am only playing in a very big sandbox and having a bit fun. Therefore, please no lawyers or anything for I really don't have the money to pay them at all. Thank you.
This had been my April Camp NaNoWriMo Project that I never really got around to posting. It is still kind of rough for I had Real Life Issues taking much of time, therefore, hadn't been able to look it over properly. That said I put both the Foreword, and FAQ sections in Spoilers for those who really don't like reading my long-ass notes and such. That said I hope you all enjoy these stories! For they were quite fun to write!
Fallout: Wasteland Gazette
An Anthology of short stories and ideas based in the world of Fallout
Written by,
William R. Woods
Deathzealot, or deathzealotzero
An Anthology of short stories and ideas based in the world of Fallout
Written by,
William R. Woods
Deathzealot, or deathzealotzero
This had been my April Camp NaNoWriMo Project that I never really got around to posting. It is still kind of rough for I had Real Life Issues taking much of time, therefore, hadn't been able to look it over properly. That said I put both the Foreword, and FAQ sections in Spoilers for those who really don't like reading my long-ass notes and such. That said I hope you all enjoy these stories! For they were quite fun to write!
The following is a series of different shorts and small novellas written by me that are all based in the wonderful, yet still lovable badlands, of Fallout. Mostly Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 for those are the main games I play of the series. That said this series is something I have put together thanks in part to not really knowing where to start on a Fallout story thanks to the many different ideas that I happen to have after playing the games. I really couldn't decide on a simple idea to write about and had several different ideas that run completely different from each other. Hence the reasoning for creating a sort of index if you will of these ideas. A couple may seem like the start of larger stories but really I really do not have the time and patience really to write out every single story that comes out of my head and muse.
That said though you are most likely wondering what in the world am I go to be writing in these many different ideas. This is quite simple they will be all over from alternative universe stories, general what if stories, and everything in between that. For example, one idea I happen to have is to put a spin on the typical Lone Wanderer not being by themselves right out of the Vault, this is usually Amata or another original character following them out of the Vault for whatever reason up to the Vault security chasing all of them out to the Lone Wanderer asking them to do so, but for the purpose of my idea it will be completely different. Therefore, you can expect stories that are going to be quite different from the normal run-of-the-mill stories done by other Fallout fans. Though please be warned I do tend to make large data dumps in my stories thanks in part to a few things.
One last thing to mention is that I really like to 'fix' stuff in that I fix stuff in a story that I think are either plain stupid or just done for the plain fun of it. One major example you would find in my Fallout 4 stories is that I really, really do not like the Laser Musket for why in the world do you need to crank it like that before you fire it. It just takes too long to do that while in the middle of the battle for when I click the trigger I want the weapon to fire instead of cranking it so it can fire. Therefore, expect the Laser Musket in these Fallout 4 stories to be quite different from what you see in game. Another stuff I like to fix is the whole Fusion Core issue with the Power Armor since it is mentioned in lore that anything higher then T-45 series armor sports Fusion Power Plants that don't really need to be replaced or refueled for pretty much forever. Mainly it is stuff that many other authors like to fix themselves, therefore, please prepare yourself for that. Thank you in advance.
I do believe that is about it for this foreword time to enjoy the show folks! I hope you all enjoy this puzzle of crazy pieces of insanity from yours truly.
That said though you are most likely wondering what in the world am I go to be writing in these many different ideas. This is quite simple they will be all over from alternative universe stories, general what if stories, and everything in between that. For example, one idea I happen to have is to put a spin on the typical Lone Wanderer not being by themselves right out of the Vault, this is usually Amata or another original character following them out of the Vault for whatever reason up to the Vault security chasing all of them out to the Lone Wanderer asking them to do so, but for the purpose of my idea it will be completely different. Therefore, you can expect stories that are going to be quite different from the normal run-of-the-mill stories done by other Fallout fans. Though please be warned I do tend to make large data dumps in my stories thanks in part to a few things.
One last thing to mention is that I really like to 'fix' stuff in that I fix stuff in a story that I think are either plain stupid or just done for the plain fun of it. One major example you would find in my Fallout 4 stories is that I really, really do not like the Laser Musket for why in the world do you need to crank it like that before you fire it. It just takes too long to do that while in the middle of the battle for when I click the trigger I want the weapon to fire instead of cranking it so it can fire. Therefore, expect the Laser Musket in these Fallout 4 stories to be quite different from what you see in game. Another stuff I like to fix is the whole Fusion Core issue with the Power Armor since it is mentioned in lore that anything higher then T-45 series armor sports Fusion Power Plants that don't really need to be replaced or refueled for pretty much forever. Mainly it is stuff that many other authors like to fix themselves, therefore, please prepare yourself for that. Thank you in advance.
I do believe that is about it for this foreword time to enjoy the show folks! I hope you all enjoy this puzzle of crazy pieces of insanity from yours truly.
FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions
The following is a series of questions that I either believe to be asked or have been asked about the stories found in the Wasteland Gazette. Now normally I do this in my Foreword but this makes them quite long and I receive my fair share of complaints about it. Therefore, I decided to separate these questions into a separate section. Now if you are not interested in any of these questions then please click the next button to get to the first story of the Gazette. If you do want to know the answers to questions you may have before you start reading, then please sit back and enjoy.
Will you do any stories about the first two Fallout Games or the Tactic and Brotherhood Games?
No. As I have not played any of those games and do not really plan on it currently. However, I do admit some elements of those games will make appearances in many of my stories. For example, the Mid-West and Texas Brotherhood Chapters will either mentioned or make some sort of appearance in my stories.
What about any stories about New Vegas?
Okay, that is a difficult question and the answer is maybe. Like I mentioned earlier I mainly played Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 but while I have played New Vegas I really haven't got that many ideas from it as I have from the other games of the series. I do admit I have one or two ideas and they may make an appearance in the Gazette but it won't be for a while.
Okay, I have to ask where in the world did you get the name for this so-called story?
Glad you asked that! I am a big fan of the Ring of Fire series first started by Eric Flint and part of it is a series of anthologies that sport many short stories called the Grantville Gazettes. Hence I liked the idea of gathering together short stories into a larger anthology like this. Granted the stories in the Grantville Gazettes are officially part of the main storyline but I thought it was a good little shout out to a favorite series of mine.
Will any of these stories go to be crossovers?
Another good question and the answer to that is maybe yet again. I do have a few ideas for crossovers but they may not appear in the Gazette at all thanks in part to them being crossovers but I admit one idea I have is more of a merge between two fandoms not really a crossover. That is about it really. Sorry.
What about crossing over between the different games of the series?
I did admit earlier some elements from the different games will be added to my stories and that can be expanded into yes some of the stories will cross over with one another a few times. One example can be seen in the third story in the Gazette. However, this doesn't include the earlier games of the series, see the earlier question about that. Therefore, you can only really expect Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and maybe Fallout New Vegas be crossed over with one another. Sorry about that folks.
Okay, that is about it for questions and in the future, it may be added to as new questions are asked of me in reviews or emails. That is about it, folks! Happy reading!
The following is a series of questions that I either believe to be asked or have been asked about the stories found in the Wasteland Gazette. Now normally I do this in my Foreword but this makes them quite long and I receive my fair share of complaints about it. Therefore, I decided to separate these questions into a separate section. Now if you are not interested in any of these questions then please click the next button to get to the first story of the Gazette. If you do want to know the answers to questions you may have before you start reading, then please sit back and enjoy.
Will you do any stories about the first two Fallout Games or the Tactic and Brotherhood Games?
No. As I have not played any of those games and do not really plan on it currently. However, I do admit some elements of those games will make appearances in many of my stories. For example, the Mid-West and Texas Brotherhood Chapters will either mentioned or make some sort of appearance in my stories.
What about any stories about New Vegas?
Okay, that is a difficult question and the answer is maybe. Like I mentioned earlier I mainly played Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 but while I have played New Vegas I really haven't got that many ideas from it as I have from the other games of the series. I do admit I have one or two ideas and they may make an appearance in the Gazette but it won't be for a while.
Okay, I have to ask where in the world did you get the name for this so-called story?
Glad you asked that! I am a big fan of the Ring of Fire series first started by Eric Flint and part of it is a series of anthologies that sport many short stories called the Grantville Gazettes. Hence I liked the idea of gathering together short stories into a larger anthology like this. Granted the stories in the Grantville Gazettes are officially part of the main storyline but I thought it was a good little shout out to a favorite series of mine.
Will any of these stories go to be crossovers?
Another good question and the answer to that is maybe yet again. I do have a few ideas for crossovers but they may not appear in the Gazette at all thanks in part to them being crossovers but I admit one idea I have is more of a merge between two fandoms not really a crossover. That is about it really. Sorry.
What about crossing over between the different games of the series?
I did admit earlier some elements from the different games will be added to my stories and that can be expanded into yes some of the stories will cross over with one another a few times. One example can be seen in the third story in the Gazette. However, this doesn't include the earlier games of the series, see the earlier question about that. Therefore, you can only really expect Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and maybe Fallout New Vegas be crossed over with one another. Sorry about that folks.
Okay, that is about it for questions and in the future, it may be added to as new questions are asked of me in reviews or emails. That is about it, folks! Happy reading!
deathzealotzero
Mecha Guru
- Location
- Las Vegas, NV
Feature One: The Steel Wanderer
Turning Points are key places in time where a person has several choices ahead of them and have to decide on one particular choice that will shape the rest of their future. This is no different in the post-apocalyptic world of the Capital Wasteland…
- Unknown Writer, June of 2250AD
Rivet City
Capital Wasteland
September 11, 2258AD
Outside the mammoth hull of the former ship of war that was now known as Rivet City the vastly smaller figure of Doctor James Carter looked up at the towering side of the former aircraft carrier with a sigh imagining for a moment he could see the tiny figure of his friend Madison Lee on the ship's flight deck where he had left her minutes before. With a shake of his head James straightened the shoulder strap keeping his bundled son close to his chest before looking up at the pair of towering figures in T-51 power armor that flanked him.
"Alright then let's go," he mentioned with a jerk of his head towards the distant ruins of downtown Washington DC that surrounded the small port that the former Aircraft Carrier now called home. The powered armored figures could only follow behind the Doctor after looking at each other for a brief moment.
"So Doctor Carter have you decided on where you want to go. The last time I asked you were thinking about one of the two still occupied Vaults?" the shorter of the two power armored figures asked after several moments of silence between the traveling trio as they left the port behind them and the former Jefferson Memorial just past it which had held a dream of a team of scientists that he had once been part of only months before hand. Before the death of his wife and the arguments between the team started which led to the breakup of the team. James sighed at this before looking up at the bare weathered face of the armored woman that had been his silent guard since he left the project months before.
"Yes Paladin Cross I decided to take up your suggestion of heading for the Citadel. Since I don't know if those Vaults would open their doors to me and my son. What will I do when they refused to take us in? Therefore, the Citadel will be the best bet right now," the Doctor mentioned with a shake of his head surprising the two guards, who happened to be members of the newcomers to the Capital Wasteland: The Brotherhood of Steel. They had taken up residence in the former Pentagon and the large underground bunker that was under it which had once been the general headquarters of the United States Military before the war that ended the old world. It had been renamed the Citadel by the new East Coast Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.
"That is quite interesting Doctor. Elder Lyons will be thrilled to take you on since we really do not have that many medically trained personal in the Chapter yet therefore you will be quite welcomed. Also with the orphans we have taken in from both the Pitt and the Capital Wasteland along with the handful of children brought with us from the West your son won't be alone growing up," the second of the armored guards mentioned with a small smile on his lips. This man Knight Sergeant Nathan Hoss had been another member of the Brotherhood of Steel team sent to help guard the project at Jefferson Memorial. The Doctor only nodded at this before turning his attention to his now awoken son while the three continued on wards towards a complete different destiny from others.
Former Springvale
Capital Wasteland
2:22PM
June 10, 2277AD
Over nineteen years later after Doctor James Carter and his son Brian arrived at the Citadel to join the Brotherhood of Steel East Coast Chapter a few power armored figures could be seen quietly moving through the ruins of the former suburb of Springvale. One of the figures swept his Laser Rifle around the corner of a demolished house before moving on not before nearly tripping over a mound of bricks which made the figure curse silently.
"I really don't know why we are in this back-end of the Capital when we should be Downtown fighting against those damn Super Mutants," Knight Dillan Church said with a grumble making the others in the small squad of Brotherhood Knights looked over him with some irritation.
"Quit it with your gripping Church for there is a reason for us being here. This group of raiders have been raiding outlying settlements for months and the Regulators are strained trying to deal with them. Therefore, they have asked for our help in hunting them down," the figure of Knight Sergeant Shari Conard whispered back with a frown in her words as she swept her own rifle around a corner on the opposite of the narrow destroyed road that led into the ruins of Springvale. This once again started a small argument between the pair as they swept down the street making the others in the team sigh in irritation. Suddenly the lead figure of the small team held up a closed fist which stopped the arguing pair of Knights and the fourth figure of the small team. The three armored figures crouched down behind as cover as they swept the areas of their responsibility as the lead figure leaned forward around a corner.
"Alright you lot listen up there is someone hiding in the shadow of that old building. Therefore, we move forward towards it and be ready for anything," the figure of Knight Captain Brian Carter whispered back to his team before waving them forward towards the mentioned building which sported a small corner store along with a small section of apartments next to it. As the group of Knights got ever closer to the building they start to hear small pained groans and such from a shadowed figured leaning against the large trash can that was settled against the side of the corner store. The four knights quickly rounded the side of the trash can to find the figure to be an older woman in a blue jump suit and white lab coat holding a hand to her side that was slowly bleeding. The team of Brotherhood Knights stare for a moment before the final member of the team holstered the laser rifle over their shoulder before kneeling down next to the figure.
"What…who…" the figure managed to gasp through her pain as the kneeling Knight eased the woman's hand away from her wound.
"You are okay now ma'am. We are Knights of the Brotherhood of Steel," Knight Captain Carter mentioned as he kneeled next to his squads Field Scribe and Medic Ashlyn who was busy retrieving several pieces of medical equipment from her pack.
"Oh…that's…good…info…Purity" the figure managed to say before she blinked and her eyes rolled back to her head as she lost her battle in staying conscious. The Captain turned to the medic to see her frowning in concern as she checked the woman's pulse before nodding her head in relief.
"She is only unconscious Knight Captain but she won't last for long if we don't get her back to Doc Church in Megaton," the Medic reported retrieving a rolled up stretcher from her pack making the Knight Captain nod before turning to look over the rest of his team.
"Alright you heard Ash we need to get this woman back to Megaton. Therefore, Ash and I will be carrying her which leaves the two of you to cover us while we make our way back," he ordered the two who only nodded in reply to their superior's orders. That done the young Knight Captain turned to help the medic place the injured woman onto the stretcher before with great care lift the stretcher and started towards the distant settlement of Megaton. The two other Knights calmly keeping an eye out for any Raiders or other enemies in their path.
-o-o-o-
Church's Clinic
Megaton
Capital Wasteland
5:47PM
In the tiny clinic that served the walled settlement of Megaton the figure of Doctor Gregory Church pulled off a pair of surgical gloves and walked over to the waiting figure of Knight Captain Carter. With a weary sigh the old Doctor nodded back to the enclosed surgical area of his clinic.
"She is currently stable Knight Captain but I am not sure if she is going to survive the night, but your team did the right thing bringing her here," the doctor mentioned making the Knight Captain silently curse in the convince of his head before nodding to the other man.
"Did she say anything else for she when she woke up at the gates she mentioned something about Purity?" the Brotherhood Knight Captain asked with a frown for that sounded quite familiar to the younger man. The doctor blinked at this before nodding and retrieving a Holodisk from a nearby table.
"Yes she mentioned something about having information for Purity and something about her Pip-Boy therefore I checked the Pip-Boy she had on her arm. I found this disk in the Pip-Boy's Holodisk Player," the aging Doctor mentioned handing over the disk making the younger man frown inspecting the disk for a moment before looking back up at the Doctor.
"So Ashlyn was right she was from a Vault after all?" he asked making the Doctor huff for a moment as he stare out the opened door of the clinic and the busy central square of Megaton right outside the door.
"Correct Knight Captain for the number on the back of her Vault Suit is 101 which makes sense since if I remember right that Vault is somewhere in the hills above this town," the Doctor answered waving his hand at the rolling hills that could be seen in the distance outside the walled settlement. The Knight Captain sighed at this before nodding his head and turned towards the door.
"Thanks Doc I shall see about reporting this to the Citadel and rescuing Sheriff Simms from my team but I will be back after that. I really want to find out what this Purity happens to be since no one else has a Pip-Boy and the handful of terminals in town really don't have the ability to play a datadisk therefore I need to see about having someone at the Citadel looking up that information from our own records," the Knight mentioned with a nod to the aging doctor making the older man wave his hand in return before returning to his work. Brian only smirked in response before stepping out of the clinic and into the late afternoon bustle of the Settlements Central square. After looking around for a moment the young Knight Captain quickly made his towards the Sheriff's office where he had left his team along with the man's radio which he could use to report to the Citadel.
Church's Clinic
Megaton
Capital Wasteland
9:17 PM
Several hours later found the young man once again in the Clinic looking down at the know shrouded form of the woman who like Doc Church mentioned did not last through the night and expired only a few hours into the night. However not before that she briefly woke up and noticed him sitting at her bedside before smiling calling him James shocking him. She then started to babble something about Project Purity before falling unconscious once more. He then left the clinic due to his father responding to his earlier radio call. It was from that conversation that he learned all about Project Purity and the woman before him now his godmother Madison Li. He then returned to the clinic to find one of Doc Church's assistants/students covering Madison with a white shroud making him stare in shock. It wasn't the first time he had seen a dead body since it was the Capital Wasteland after all but this is quite different for this woman could have been a member of his family if she had come with his father all those years ago.
With a shake of his head Brian turned away from the body and stared down at the holodisk he now held in hand. He didn't know what was on it but if it was something about finishing Project Purity then he was going to find out and then finish his godmother's mission. For not only her but his mother and father as well since it was their dream after all. With a final glance at the body he nodded and quickly made his way out of the clinic he had a team to gather and a briefing to give them. Then he would go out to start this new mission, one that he was going to complete no matter what. This would lead to the start of a new legend in the Capital Wasteland, one that would see the start of something greater for the people of the Capital.
-o-Fin-o-
Well there is my first Fallout story and I hope the readers enjoyed it! Like mentioned in the summary this story basically has the father of the Lone Wanderer, James, joining the Brotherhood of Steel instead of heading all the way to Vault 101 to see if they will shelter him and his baby. I believe many wonder how Madison Li instead took James spot in the Vault instead, because she had quite a good spot in Rivet City after the end of Project Purity. Well apparently there was some stuff going on with the City's Council a few years after Purity which led Madison to take a spot on the council and the previous member of the council Horace Pinkerton leaving the city. In this case it was Madison who left Rivet City instead and after a couple days of thought decided to head for the sole remaining occupied Vault in the Capital Wasteland. There thanks to hardly any medical personal she was let in by the Overseer. Fast forward several years she leaves the Vault to find James to give him the information she had found in the Vault Computers that may restart Project Purity. However sadly she isn't really prepared for fighting against the Raider Gangs that start taking residence around Megaton. She then ends up getting caught by one of said Gangs and heavily injured by them. Later a patrol from the Brotherhood of Steel arrive and find her before taking her to Megaton where she soon passes away from her injuries. Not before she mistakenly calls Brian Carter, James Carter son, by his father's name. This of course starts the Brotherhood trained Lone Wanderer on a quest to restart Project Purity.
That said there are a few ideas I have that take place following this which introduce Amata and a few other 101 residents to the story along with looking at what James is doing at the Citadel during all of this. It is however only a small amount and I don't know if I should stick with the Fallout 3 main story-line or diverge from there. Hence the reasoning for this only to be a one-shot story I am sorry to say.
One final thing, I do apologize for how short this story is but I didn't want to go any more forward in the story-line because my indecision to follow the main Fallout 3 story-line or diverge entirely. Yes I know the story would already be diverged thanks to the butterflies from James joining the Brotherhood instead of Vault 101, but I believe I still could follow the story-line of the game anyways.
I do believe that is it folks! Time for the next story!
Turning Points are key places in time where a person has several choices ahead of them and have to decide on one particular choice that will shape the rest of their future. This is no different in the post-apocalyptic world of the Capital Wasteland…
- Unknown Writer, June of 2250AD
-o-o-o-
Rivet City
Capital Wasteland
September 11, 2258AD
Outside the mammoth hull of the former ship of war that was now known as Rivet City the vastly smaller figure of Doctor James Carter looked up at the towering side of the former aircraft carrier with a sigh imagining for a moment he could see the tiny figure of his friend Madison Lee on the ship's flight deck where he had left her minutes before. With a shake of his head James straightened the shoulder strap keeping his bundled son close to his chest before looking up at the pair of towering figures in T-51 power armor that flanked him.
"Alright then let's go," he mentioned with a jerk of his head towards the distant ruins of downtown Washington DC that surrounded the small port that the former Aircraft Carrier now called home. The powered armored figures could only follow behind the Doctor after looking at each other for a brief moment.
"So Doctor Carter have you decided on where you want to go. The last time I asked you were thinking about one of the two still occupied Vaults?" the shorter of the two power armored figures asked after several moments of silence between the traveling trio as they left the port behind them and the former Jefferson Memorial just past it which had held a dream of a team of scientists that he had once been part of only months before hand. Before the death of his wife and the arguments between the team started which led to the breakup of the team. James sighed at this before looking up at the bare weathered face of the armored woman that had been his silent guard since he left the project months before.
"Yes Paladin Cross I decided to take up your suggestion of heading for the Citadel. Since I don't know if those Vaults would open their doors to me and my son. What will I do when they refused to take us in? Therefore, the Citadel will be the best bet right now," the Doctor mentioned with a shake of his head surprising the two guards, who happened to be members of the newcomers to the Capital Wasteland: The Brotherhood of Steel. They had taken up residence in the former Pentagon and the large underground bunker that was under it which had once been the general headquarters of the United States Military before the war that ended the old world. It had been renamed the Citadel by the new East Coast Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.
"That is quite interesting Doctor. Elder Lyons will be thrilled to take you on since we really do not have that many medically trained personal in the Chapter yet therefore you will be quite welcomed. Also with the orphans we have taken in from both the Pitt and the Capital Wasteland along with the handful of children brought with us from the West your son won't be alone growing up," the second of the armored guards mentioned with a small smile on his lips. This man Knight Sergeant Nathan Hoss had been another member of the Brotherhood of Steel team sent to help guard the project at Jefferson Memorial. The Doctor only nodded at this before turning his attention to his now awoken son while the three continued on wards towards a complete different destiny from others.
-o-o-o-
Former Springvale
Capital Wasteland
2:22PM
June 10, 2277AD
Over nineteen years later after Doctor James Carter and his son Brian arrived at the Citadel to join the Brotherhood of Steel East Coast Chapter a few power armored figures could be seen quietly moving through the ruins of the former suburb of Springvale. One of the figures swept his Laser Rifle around the corner of a demolished house before moving on not before nearly tripping over a mound of bricks which made the figure curse silently.
"I really don't know why we are in this back-end of the Capital when we should be Downtown fighting against those damn Super Mutants," Knight Dillan Church said with a grumble making the others in the small squad of Brotherhood Knights looked over him with some irritation.
"Quit it with your gripping Church for there is a reason for us being here. This group of raiders have been raiding outlying settlements for months and the Regulators are strained trying to deal with them. Therefore, they have asked for our help in hunting them down," the figure of Knight Sergeant Shari Conard whispered back with a frown in her words as she swept her own rifle around a corner on the opposite of the narrow destroyed road that led into the ruins of Springvale. This once again started a small argument between the pair as they swept down the street making the others in the team sigh in irritation. Suddenly the lead figure of the small team held up a closed fist which stopped the arguing pair of Knights and the fourth figure of the small team. The three armored figures crouched down behind as cover as they swept the areas of their responsibility as the lead figure leaned forward around a corner.
"Alright you lot listen up there is someone hiding in the shadow of that old building. Therefore, we move forward towards it and be ready for anything," the figure of Knight Captain Brian Carter whispered back to his team before waving them forward towards the mentioned building which sported a small corner store along with a small section of apartments next to it. As the group of Knights got ever closer to the building they start to hear small pained groans and such from a shadowed figured leaning against the large trash can that was settled against the side of the corner store. The four knights quickly rounded the side of the trash can to find the figure to be an older woman in a blue jump suit and white lab coat holding a hand to her side that was slowly bleeding. The team of Brotherhood Knights stare for a moment before the final member of the team holstered the laser rifle over their shoulder before kneeling down next to the figure.
"What…who…" the figure managed to gasp through her pain as the kneeling Knight eased the woman's hand away from her wound.
"You are okay now ma'am. We are Knights of the Brotherhood of Steel," Knight Captain Carter mentioned as he kneeled next to his squads Field Scribe and Medic Ashlyn who was busy retrieving several pieces of medical equipment from her pack.
"Oh…that's…good…info…Purity" the figure managed to say before she blinked and her eyes rolled back to her head as she lost her battle in staying conscious. The Captain turned to the medic to see her frowning in concern as she checked the woman's pulse before nodding her head in relief.
"She is only unconscious Knight Captain but she won't last for long if we don't get her back to Doc Church in Megaton," the Medic reported retrieving a rolled up stretcher from her pack making the Knight Captain nod before turning to look over the rest of his team.
"Alright you heard Ash we need to get this woman back to Megaton. Therefore, Ash and I will be carrying her which leaves the two of you to cover us while we make our way back," he ordered the two who only nodded in reply to their superior's orders. That done the young Knight Captain turned to help the medic place the injured woman onto the stretcher before with great care lift the stretcher and started towards the distant settlement of Megaton. The two other Knights calmly keeping an eye out for any Raiders or other enemies in their path.
-o-o-o-
Church's Clinic
Megaton
Capital Wasteland
5:47PM
In the tiny clinic that served the walled settlement of Megaton the figure of Doctor Gregory Church pulled off a pair of surgical gloves and walked over to the waiting figure of Knight Captain Carter. With a weary sigh the old Doctor nodded back to the enclosed surgical area of his clinic.
"She is currently stable Knight Captain but I am not sure if she is going to survive the night, but your team did the right thing bringing her here," the doctor mentioned making the Knight Captain silently curse in the convince of his head before nodding to the other man.
"Did she say anything else for she when she woke up at the gates she mentioned something about Purity?" the Brotherhood Knight Captain asked with a frown for that sounded quite familiar to the younger man. The doctor blinked at this before nodding and retrieving a Holodisk from a nearby table.
"Yes she mentioned something about having information for Purity and something about her Pip-Boy therefore I checked the Pip-Boy she had on her arm. I found this disk in the Pip-Boy's Holodisk Player," the aging Doctor mentioned handing over the disk making the younger man frown inspecting the disk for a moment before looking back up at the Doctor.
"So Ashlyn was right she was from a Vault after all?" he asked making the Doctor huff for a moment as he stare out the opened door of the clinic and the busy central square of Megaton right outside the door.
"Correct Knight Captain for the number on the back of her Vault Suit is 101 which makes sense since if I remember right that Vault is somewhere in the hills above this town," the Doctor answered waving his hand at the rolling hills that could be seen in the distance outside the walled settlement. The Knight Captain sighed at this before nodding his head and turned towards the door.
"Thanks Doc I shall see about reporting this to the Citadel and rescuing Sheriff Simms from my team but I will be back after that. I really want to find out what this Purity happens to be since no one else has a Pip-Boy and the handful of terminals in town really don't have the ability to play a datadisk therefore I need to see about having someone at the Citadel looking up that information from our own records," the Knight mentioned with a nod to the aging doctor making the older man wave his hand in return before returning to his work. Brian only smirked in response before stepping out of the clinic and into the late afternoon bustle of the Settlements Central square. After looking around for a moment the young Knight Captain quickly made his towards the Sheriff's office where he had left his team along with the man's radio which he could use to report to the Citadel.
-o-o-o-
Church's Clinic
Megaton
Capital Wasteland
9:17 PM
Several hours later found the young man once again in the Clinic looking down at the know shrouded form of the woman who like Doc Church mentioned did not last through the night and expired only a few hours into the night. However not before that she briefly woke up and noticed him sitting at her bedside before smiling calling him James shocking him. She then started to babble something about Project Purity before falling unconscious once more. He then left the clinic due to his father responding to his earlier radio call. It was from that conversation that he learned all about Project Purity and the woman before him now his godmother Madison Li. He then returned to the clinic to find one of Doc Church's assistants/students covering Madison with a white shroud making him stare in shock. It wasn't the first time he had seen a dead body since it was the Capital Wasteland after all but this is quite different for this woman could have been a member of his family if she had come with his father all those years ago.
With a shake of his head Brian turned away from the body and stared down at the holodisk he now held in hand. He didn't know what was on it but if it was something about finishing Project Purity then he was going to find out and then finish his godmother's mission. For not only her but his mother and father as well since it was their dream after all. With a final glance at the body he nodded and quickly made his way out of the clinic he had a team to gather and a briefing to give them. Then he would go out to start this new mission, one that he was going to complete no matter what. This would lead to the start of a new legend in the Capital Wasteland, one that would see the start of something greater for the people of the Capital.
-o-Fin-o-
Well there is my first Fallout story and I hope the readers enjoyed it! Like mentioned in the summary this story basically has the father of the Lone Wanderer, James, joining the Brotherhood of Steel instead of heading all the way to Vault 101 to see if they will shelter him and his baby. I believe many wonder how Madison Li instead took James spot in the Vault instead, because she had quite a good spot in Rivet City after the end of Project Purity. Well apparently there was some stuff going on with the City's Council a few years after Purity which led Madison to take a spot on the council and the previous member of the council Horace Pinkerton leaving the city. In this case it was Madison who left Rivet City instead and after a couple days of thought decided to head for the sole remaining occupied Vault in the Capital Wasteland. There thanks to hardly any medical personal she was let in by the Overseer. Fast forward several years she leaves the Vault to find James to give him the information she had found in the Vault Computers that may restart Project Purity. However sadly she isn't really prepared for fighting against the Raider Gangs that start taking residence around Megaton. She then ends up getting caught by one of said Gangs and heavily injured by them. Later a patrol from the Brotherhood of Steel arrive and find her before taking her to Megaton where she soon passes away from her injuries. Not before she mistakenly calls Brian Carter, James Carter son, by his father's name. This of course starts the Brotherhood trained Lone Wanderer on a quest to restart Project Purity.
That said there are a few ideas I have that take place following this which introduce Amata and a few other 101 residents to the story along with looking at what James is doing at the Citadel during all of this. It is however only a small amount and I don't know if I should stick with the Fallout 3 main story-line or diverge from there. Hence the reasoning for this only to be a one-shot story I am sorry to say.
One final thing, I do apologize for how short this story is but I didn't want to go any more forward in the story-line because my indecision to follow the main Fallout 3 story-line or diverge entirely. Yes I know the story would already be diverged thanks to the butterflies from James joining the Brotherhood instead of Vault 101, but I believe I still could follow the story-line of the game anyways.
I do believe that is it folks! Time for the next story!
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deathzealotzero
Mecha Guru
- Location
- Las Vegas, NV
Summary: A story that is dedicated to the question of what if the Prydwen wasn't the only airship floating above the Commonwealth during the story of Fallout 4. All the while the Sole Survivor, Nora Carter, tries to find any news on the man who murdered her husband, and kidnapped her son.
Feature Two: The Old Lady of the Commonwealth
Sanctuary Hills Settlement
Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
05:38AM
January 10, 2288AD
In the early morning air of the Wasteland of the Commonwealth, a figure of a woman could be seen slowly jogging up the hill that overlooked the settlement of Sanctuary Hills and served as the entrance to the former fallout shelter known as Vault 111. The figure puffed out gasps of air as she reached the summit of the hill and bent over slightly holding her knees as she caught her breath from the early morning jog for a few moments before she straightened up fully. The woman sighed before walking over the nearby edge of the hill before taking a seat on the hard ground before the edge where she quickly took a few gulps of water from the bottle of water she had been holding in one hand. That done she looked over the settlement laid out before her on the small island that was between the still raging waters of the Concord River and the slowly running Bear Creek that ran along the base of the hill where she currently sat.
Already the settlement started to awaken as light from the rising sun began to reach the settlement. She could see many of the small community's population already moving around starting their days in the dawn light. She quickly moved her attention off the people to the many buildings that made up the settlement. Originally there were several houses and other buildings that remained from before the war but had one by one been torn down to be recycled to be used later and replaced by sturdy hybrid wooden and metal buildings. In one way she was glad to see the painful reminder of her past pre-war life no longer staring in her face every time she moved about the settlement, but on the other hand, she was sad to see the houses go for indeed there was still a reminder of the easier life. In the end, she did like the look of the new buildings which gave the settlement a sort of early America feel especially with smoke now puffing out of the many different chimneys across the settlement.
She looked over the four large buildings that had been built around the former cul-de-sac that was the center of the pre-war town with a fifth building still under construction. These were large five leveled apartment blocks that served as the main residential buildings of the settlement, therefore, the primary home of the many residents of the settlement. Already she could see the hobbling forms of a dozen or so Constructcons Robots moving towards the under construction building where a few human workers awaited them along with a handful of hovering Mister Handy Robots. She briefly inspected the building visually to see that it just about finished and would maybe be done before weeks' end which would allow several newcomers to move in from the small tent city that had been built around the distant form of the former Red Rocket Gas Station across the river from the settlement.
She was pleased for it meant that much of the people gathered in those thrown together tents to move into far better accommodation ones that provided not only electricity but running purified and clean water thanks in part to the former fallout shelter that she found herself sleeping away the years in. She eyed the nearby elevator entrance to the Vault and could barely see the thick cables that ran down the side of the hill towards the settlement which gave them their power via the Vault's Geothermal Power Plant allowing the use of lights and other electrical equipment. Combined that with the Vault's water purification system and its own slowly growing farm made Sanctuary Hills one of the most modern Settlements in the Commonwealth.
Turning back to the four large apartment buildings she knew that each of them contained many small one-room apartments, which only actually sported a bed, desk, a couple of shelf units, a dresser, a small closet, and a bathroom complete with a tub. While these rooms were quite small compared to the apartments, she had been used to seeing before the Great War they were still far superior over the little cobbled together shacks or lean-to shelters that made up the majority of the housing found in settlements today. Each apartment building had twelve of these tiny apartments on each floor making a total of sixty rooms in each building. However due to the need of families two of the buildings sported double for couples and triple rooms which had enough space for small families to live easily. The fifth building would be a mix of the two with the first two floors sporting single rooms, the third double rooms, and the last two levels sporting triple rooms.
The woman then turned her attention away from the apartment buildings to inspect the other various buildings that graced the Settlement. A large workshop building dominated the center of the growing community along with the already mentioned farm replacing the pre-war park that once located there. This workshop sport several machine shops and other such equipment to help the growing settlement. One of which is an advanced pre-war machine shop that been found dismantled in a large warehouse that made up the lower levels of Vault 111 which allowed them to construct some pretty nifty things for the settlement. Then there was a smaller workshop nearby near the cul-de-sac and the large residential buildings which serviced the Settlement's various robots like the Constructcons and Mister Handies that were now helping the human workers in the construction of the fifth building.
Her eye then moved over to the trio of buildings nearer the entrance gate of the settlement. These where the settlement's main diner and restaurant run by the Honsa family which provided food not only to the many inhabitants of the Settlement but to the many traders that moved through the Settlement. It is apparently based on an enlarged form of the pre-war Drumlin Diners that were built all across the Boston area back then. Already she could see a couple of the typical wooden Brahmin pulled carts bivouacked complete with small tents in front of the second building that was a small barn-like building set aside for the settlement's own Brahmin, which now sported a hastily put together fence to help pen in the visiting Brahmin. The final building was the trading outpost which had attached stalls for the traders to sell their product to the inhabitants of the Settlement. Inside the outpost was a small general store for the use of the traders and those of the settlement who needed something. The bivouac made her frown for she once again reminded herself that they would see some small tavern or motel to service the traders. Since the trader's outpost didn't have rooms that could be rented out for the traders for the night. With a sigh as she mentally made the note to discuss the building of such a tavern with her staff before moving on to the last of main buildings of the settlement.
First, there was the medium-sized two-level building that served as the main pseudo-headquarters building of the Commonwealth Minutemen, who both served the people of the settlement as a defense force protecting them from the various enemies that graced the former Greater Boston Area, as well as protecting other settlements spread around the Commonwealth. It sported a couple of bunk rooms for those Minutemen who didn't have an apartment in the Residential Buildings and such to serve as the defensive garrison of the settlement, a small mess hall, training and recreation room, and several other notable needed functions to help the Minutemen. Then below the building was a newly expanded former bomb shelter that the Jahani Family had built underneath their house before the war. It now served as the command center of the Minutemen, along with an extensive arsenal and storage area for the several Power Armors in the possession of the Minutemen. The only thing missing from this building was any form of a communication room which made her look over her shoulder to see the small wooden shack built around a large radio antenna which served the Minutemen as their radio room and central communication hub. However, she knew there some plans to move it into the bunker, but several things were needed before that could be done.
She turned away from the radio shack and back to the view of the settlement were she watched with a small, sad smile as several children made their way down the main street towards the Settlement's brand new school building which stood opposite the Apartment buildings. The building looked remarkably like old single-room schoolhouses she remembered seeing in pictures of early years of the country. This sight made her sigh sadly for the painful reminder of her missing son, but she quickly turned her attention away from the line of school children. Looking to the building that had been built next to the School Building; the Settlement's Clinic, which combined with the infirmary in the Minutemen headquarters gave the settlement pretty good medical care.
With a shake of her head, she turned her attention back to the now fully awakened settlement laid out before her. She looked over at the final two buildings of the settlement with one built in place of her old house which served as quarters for several notable figures of the community including herself. She sighed at this for it was both a relief and a painful feeling when she watched the old house torn down several weeks before. It was a relief from the painful memories of the good times before the war and painful from those same good times. With a sad sigh over those memories, she moved over to the last major building of the settlement which served as the combined recreation building and town hall. It sported several entertainment services and such including a small bar and administrative facilities for the purpose of running the large overall settlement including an office for herself. After eying the building seeing a few forms of traders stumble out of the building and its bar before heading towards the tents, they had pitched next to their carts to sleep off their all-night drinking binge. With a shake of her head, the woman got up and stretched to prepare herself for the reminder of her run.
"General Carter?" a voice started to call out making her turn to see the figure of Captain Preston Garvey, her second-in-command and aide walk up to her. She sighed at this before shaking her head at the man who looked a bit guilty before starting over.
"Sorry Nora," the man mentioned with a small blush on his face making the woman known as General Nora Carter, commander of the Minutemen smiles slightly at the man. For while she didn't mind her title in official instances she did like when her friends like Preston to call her by her first name.
"I was going to ask what happened last night for you pretty much shut yourself in your room after the evening's courier run?" Preston asked with a worried frown making Nora close her eyes with a sigh before looking over at the man.
"I got a note from Nick Valentine in Diamond City mentioning that he was no closer in finding this Kellogg character. For he apparently has vanished from his rented house in Diamond City cleaning it out and disappeared to who knows where," she explained with a frown staring in the distance towards the general direction of Diamond City. Preston started at this knowing that Kellogg was the only link she had found in conjunction with her husband's murder and the kidnapping of her baby son. She didn't even know how long ago that happened thanks to Kellogg and his party wiping any record of their entrance to the Vault before they left from the Vault's computers. The history of Kellogg renting a house in Diamond City was only ten years old but only used sparingly over the years. While there had been rumors around the city of him living with a small boy they didn't know if this was Shaun or not due to no records existing on the pair. The last time the house had been used was only a month before which is how Valentine and Nora had discovered Kellogg had rented the house in the first place, but now that he no longer lived there and cleaned out everything from the house made it seem like the trail got cold.
"I'm sorry Nora. I know you were hoping that Valentine could find something but like you said you don't know that kid with him was, in fact, your son," Preston said with a gentle pat on Nora's shoulder making her nod with a distressed look on her face.
"He still is going to keep any eye out for him and will get back to me when that happens," she said after a moment of sorrow between the two which was soon broken by a voice yelling out a sort of cadence mixed with shouted cursing. Blinking in surprise, the two turned to find several figures jogging up the hill from the opposite side of the hill from Sanctuary Hills where the Minutemen training camp was located where a small parking lot had once been. This made the two Minutemen officers look at one another with amusement before turning their attention to the approaching trainees and the single figure of their trainer: Master Gunnery Sergeant Ronnie Shaw.
Ronnie Shaw had first shown up at Sanctuary Hills only weeks after Nora saved Preston's small group of Minutemen and Quincy refugees from attacking Raiders. It was Ronnie who fully convinced Nora to take command of the Minutemen after hearing about her story and what she had done before the start of the war. Before she wasn't sure of anything thanks in part to her search for Shaun but as she traveled the Commonwealth during that first month, she started seeing that someone was needed to bring some hope back into the Commonwealth. It was also Ronnie who had helped them managed to get into the large underground catacombs of the former Fort Independence which had in the past been the Minutemen's main base. Now it was a shadow of its former self due to the attack that led to the end of the old Minutemen. From the catacombs, the group had managed to recover a few examples of the famous Minutemen Liberty Bell Artillery Cannons, a few heavier weapons set aside by the Minutemen and the equipment needed to produce the Minutemen's signature Laser Muskets. Following that mission and the return to Sanctuary Hills Ronnie refused any high ranking position in the new Minutemen and took upon herself to train any volunteers to become Minutemen.
"Hello General, Captain. Beautiful morning for a run don't you think," the older veteran Minutemen mentioned with a nod to the two officers as the line of jogging trainees approached the pair.
"Of course Gunny. There is a reason I am in my jogging gear after all," Nora mentioned waving at her clothes before eying Preston at her side with a small mischievous smile on her face making the man look over at her nervously.
"Maybe I should have the Captain here join you for I believe he needs the exercise," she mentioned making Preston shake his head in panicked denial making Nora laugh at the look on his face. Ronnie only snorted at this before snapped her head to stare at the gasping trainees that had started to rest while the three had been talking.
"What's this I didn't give you leave to relax maggots! Get up! We still have a mile to go, before its time for breakfast," Ronnie yelled out with a malicious look on her face making the trainees swallow in fear before straightening up and starting to jog once more.
"I need to get these worthless bags of flesh through their morning jog ma'am," Ronnie said with a salute before running off to join the trainees yelling at one of the trainees lagging behind, before taking her spot next to the middle of the line. With a shake of her head, Nora turned to look at Preston, who was still eying her nervously making her laugh slightly.
"Oh relax Preston. I am not going to throw you to Ronnie, but I do expect you to join me for my morning jogs for now on. Since I was quite correct you need to exercise a bit more for all this desk work is making you a bit soft around the middle," Nora mentioned with a small smile on her face making Preston sigh in relief before gasping when Nora hit his stomach with the back of her hand. He muttered at this before nodding to Nora with a smile on his own face.
"Understood General," he replied before shaking his head and turning to look at Sanctuary Hills and the distant former city of Boston.
"That said I was going through the morning radio reports, and it appears several more settlements are requesting our help," he mentioned with a frown retrieving a small folder from the large pockets of his overcoat before handing over to Nora who frowned herself.
"We really don't have the manpower right now to rush off to distance settlements when we are barely able to keep the Raiders away from Sanctuary Hills and the nearby allied settlements," she said with a growl of both anger and helplessness. She opened the folder reading the various message forms contained in said folder before sighing in helplessness. She then looked up at the look on Preston's face and sighed knowing what he was currently thinking.
"I told you when I first accepted being the General of the Minutemen that the old policy of Minutemen being throughout the Commonwealth and ready at a moment's notice wasn't going to work," she mentioned starting up an old argument between the two. In the past, the Minutemen were spread out across the Commonwealth living in the various settlements that had sprung up around the former Greater Boston Area. This combined with the powerful radio transmitter at the Castle, former headquarters of the entire group, allowed the Minutemen to really able to be ready to respond within minutes to any threat. However, that could no longer work in this new Minutemen organization. Since first of all that was one major flaw the old Minutemen had in that they were spread out across numerous settlements and saw them splitting up after the death of General Becker with many of the various officers going their own ways instead of standing by the new General. Therefore, when Nora took command of the remains of the Minutemen about three months before she had made sweeping changes to the organization which done away the old standard of spreading out the Minutemen across the entire Commonwealth. Since for one they really didn't have the manpower to do so and two, the various settlements had shrunk since the time of the old Minutemen with raids from both raiders and super mutants killing off many settlers. Therefore, really didn't have the population to actually support their own Minutemen squads.
"I know General I do agree with you, but still, it did work for numerous years," Preston finally said after several moments between the two officers. Nora only nodded at this before looking back down at the folder in her hand and sighing before she looked back up in some thought.
"What we need is a way to quickly move and deploy teams around the Commonwealth that are also fast," she mused out loud making Preston blink at this before staring at her waiting for her continue her little brainstorm having become used to this since meeting her.
"I wish we could repair some of the crashed Vertibirds around here since they would be perfect though trying to train pilots for them would be difficult. That is not even considering trying to find fuel for them which would be a hassle as well since if I remember right, they are quite the fuel hogs, therefore, need a significant source of fuel for them. No, what we need is something we can build with the resources we have now," she continued on making Preston nod in agreement for while he didn't have memories of the pre-war US Military like Nora did he still had read a few technical manuals that survived the war. He suddenly blinked as he thought of something he had heard about a few years ago.
"I may have an idea General," he mentioned but before he could say anything Nora's stomach started to rumble in hunger which was soon copied by Preston's making the two blink in surprise before laughing.
"Well, it looks like I am not going to finish my run after all. It is time to start the day. Therefore, I shall meet you in my office, after we get some breakfast so you can mention this idea of yours," she suggested before starting back downhill towards the Settlement with Preston following behind her while wondering if he was crazy to think about that report but they really don't have any choice.
Town Hall
Sanctuary Hills Settlement
Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
07:48AM
Just under an hour later found Nora walking into her office in the Settlement's Town Hall after taking a quick shower and breakfast from the Diner before taking care a few minor tasks around the settlement. She saw that Preston was already waiting for her making her nod to him before hanging the old blue Continental Coat that symbolized her status as General of the Minutemen on the back of her office chair and straightened the old pre-war blue Naval fatigues she wore underneath the coat. She had chosen this style of fatigues for the new uniform for the Minutemen mainly due to finding several crates of them in a couple half-destroyed military trucks not far from Concorde and secondly she had been a former member of the Navy herself. Granted she never actually served in a combat role due her assignment to the Navy JAG Office, but she still went through Naval Academy and did a brief tour onboard a destroyer before joining JAG. With a sigh, Nora sat down in the chair before turning her attention to Preston.
"Alright, then Preston what is this brilliant idea of yours that may solve our mobility problem?" she asked the man and was a bit confused at the man's brief grimace before he sighed.
"I wouldn't say it is a brilliant idea General more like a crazy idea I had due to that report I mentioned earlier and reading one of those pre-war books from the Library," he said with a sigh. Making Nora frown knowing that thanks to a large amount of books that had been found in the Jahani Family Bomb shelter. Along with those recovered from the other intact houses of Sanctuary Hills she had decreed the construction of a library attached to the Town Hall's recreation area to allow any inhabitant of the settlement to enjoy them. It had doubled as a school area for the younger children of the settlement before the construction of the schoolhouse.
"Oh. First, what is this report you mentioned?" Nora ordered with a curious look on her face making Preston mutter something under his breath before nodding his head.
"About a year or two ago a Minutemen patrol from Quincy heard from a trader caravan that they encountered that there was an old sailing ship moored at a dry dock near Yardtown, the old former Boston Naval Yard. Someone had taken the dock over and started to add some sort of rocket engines to the bottom of the sailing ship. Soon after the traders saw the ship flying using said engines but it didn't get far before it crashed somewhere North of Boston. I then heard the complete story from another trader about a few months later which was basically that a Ghoul named Captain Ironsides had taken over the ship. He then gathered a crew of other Ghouls and some robots where they soon found and installed the rocket engines. After crashing the ship Ironsides and much of his surviving crew moved to the Westford Way Trading Post a bit up north from here. To help in running the barges that move up and down the river trading," Preston mentioned making Nora look at him in sheer shock before shaking her head and turning her chair to look out the window that gave a good view of the Settlement from the third floor of the Settlement's Town Hall.
"That had to be the USS Constitution, which was both the oldest commissioned ship in the old US Navy and a museum ship. I seem to remember that right before the bombs fell that the news revealed that she was dry-docked for the winter. The idea of someone slapping some rocket engines on it makes me both angry as a former member of said Navy and a bit surprised someone was willing to try something so crazy like that," she mentioned with a thoughtful look on her face. Before turning to look at Preston to find him staring at her in some surprise making her smirk slightly for some time, Preston seems to forget she had been alive before the war, therefore, had a lot of little tidbits of historical fact like that.
"That said, Preston, what is your idea you got from this report?" she asked the man after a moment of his staring at her which made him shake himself slightly before sighing and taking a seat in the chair in front of his desk.
"The idea is pretty simple Nora. Since Rocket Engines didn't work to make a ship like that fly in the sky. What about a sort of balloon like the airships in Skies of Arcadia series," he mentioned making Nora stare at him in shock for a moment since she knew what exactly he had in mind since she had been a longtime fan of that series herself. The books of the series found in the library had actually been hers and have been stored in a sealed container that had been placed in her house's attic soon after moving in. Basically, the series followed a crew of Sky Pirates that flew around the world of Arcadia in a ship that resembled a sailing ship but with a massive blimp-like balloon allowing it fly in the sky. She was also shocked for she had a moment during her teen years where she imagined something like that could be done in real life thanks to her time helping her grandfather sailing a small sailing cutter that had been in her family for many years all around the waterways around Boston. After a moment of this Nora recovered before looking up at the ceiling of her office in thought before nodding her head.
"It could be done, and I have a few ideas myself on how to do it, but I am going to need Sturges and a few of his guys' help in coming up with something," she mentioned after a moment of silent thought on her part.
"You mean it will actually work Nora," Preston managed to say in shock making Nora smile at him.
"It will take some doing and a few expeditions to a few sites I know of to make it work but yes it can be done. Though having it actually work will be another matter, but it cannot hurt to try, though," Nora mentioned making Preston blink at her before quickly retrieving some writing material from his own desk to take notes something he started to get used since becoming Nora's aide.
"What would we need to do this then?" he asked making Nora just smile and started listing various items they would need while Preston took his notes and soon he figured out what his General and friend was planning. He smiled knowing that this would solve their mobility problem quite quickly if it worked. Their little planning discussion continued into the afternoon and grew from just the two of them till it included several others taking the growing discussion from Nora's office to one of the small meeting rooms on the same level of the Town Hall. Before long a plan of action was put together and started on.
Westford Way Trading Post
Westford
Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
January 23, 2288AD
A few weeks later found Nora Carter and her aide Captain Preston Garvey walking into the Big Spinner Tavern located in medium-sized settlement slash trading post of Westford Way. Which Nora found out to be the sort-of gateway to the Commonwealth from other larger settlements north of the old Greater Boston Area and serving the various large trading river barges. The two looked around for a moment in the dimly lit tavern before finding their target sitting at a table in the very back of the tavern. Another look revealed that the target was the only one in the small bar of the Tavern, even the bartender or barmaid wasn't around. With a glance between the two Minutemen, they walked up to the table which had a Ghoul wearing what looked to be an old War of 1812 US Navy Uniform sitting at it. As they approached the Ghoul continued to stare at the table, and the glass of some sort brandy held in one hand seemingly not even noticing the two of them.
"Leave the bottle," the Ghoul managed to croak out as they approached making Nora shake her head with a frown as she eyed the glass.
"Captain Ironsides or should I call you Mister Wayne Cashman?" she asked making the Ghoul look up at her in some surprise mostly due to her knowing his old name before sighing and looking back down at his glass. Nora had found out that since awakening that many of the Ghouls she ran into either had forgotten their original names from before becoming Ghouls or choose new ones to serve them better in their new life as Ghouls.
"Who wants to know?" the Ghoul responded a moment later with a tired drawl not noticing Nora taking a seat across from him.
"I am General Nora Carter of the Commonwealth Minutemen, and I have a proposal for you," she mentioned with a smile on her face. For she had been quite surprised to find out that she actually knew this man from before the war for he had been the last official commander of the Constitution before the start of the war. The Ghoul blinked at this before looking back up her in shock.
"Carter? Why is that name familiar?" he whispered as he stared at her making her smile at him.
"You served under my grandfather Jason Gibbs before he retired and when I was younger you took me aboard the Constitution during the 2064 July Fourth Celebrations," she mentioned with a slight misty looking smile of remembrance making the Ghoul stare at her with his mouth opened in shock.
"Your Nora, Old Man Gibbs Granddaughter? How are you alive?" he managed to say after several moments of sheer shock.
"That is a long story which I can tell you about later over my own glass of liquor in hand, but I really do have an offer for you," she mentioned making the Ghoul lean back in his seat before he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.
"Okay I am listening," he mentioned with a frown on his dry and dead like face.
"I heard about what you were trying to do with the Constitution and making her fly," she said as she leaned forward herself making Ironsides stare at her with a frown and some surprise.
"Yeah so? It didn't work, and the Old Ironsides is now in several pieces on the shores of the Charles River," he grated out in some anger making Nora only smile before holding out a hand to the still standing Preston who retrieved a folder from a pocket of his long coat before placing in her hand.
"Well I do believe you were doing it wrong," she mentioned before opening the folder and slapping down a series of photos onto the table in between them. Ironsides frowned at this before picking up the pictures and staring at them before nearly dropping them in shock as he quickly recognized what he was seeing. In the pictures a small sailing ship, a cutter he immediately realized, could be seen moored in a hastily built dry dock along the shore of some sort. Another showed construction going on around the ship's damaged rigging, and the last showing the same ship now floating several feet from the water with a giant balloon serving as a lifting body for the ship. After another moment looking at them, he then recognized which ship it used to be which saw him looking up at Nora in shock.
"Yes that is the Athos my family's Cutter. I found her pretty much intact in an enclosed dock by my Grandfather's Cabin up by the Minutemen National Historical Park. It was pretty much intact with only the masts and rigging damaged," she replied to his unasked question softly before sighing and leaning back in her chair.
"As for making it fly we basically attached a large blimp balloon to it replacing its masts and rigging allowing to quickly travel around with support from a pair of propeller pods. After several tests we were able to quite easily move her around in the air which is why I mentioned you were doing it wrong earlier," she said as she laid down another pair of pictures. These showed the small cutter floating above a small settlement and one which was taken onboard the ship itself showing the same settlement about a few miles off the ground. She then placed the last photo down on the table which showed the wreck of the USS Constitution on the shores of the Charles River from the air. While it was apparently damaged in several ways, it looked remarkably intact from such a crash.
"We found the crash site, and I already have some of my men securing her so she can be started to be repaired and then converted into an airship like the Athos. But I do not want to start anything till I get your permission and your help in turning the Constitution into a flying airship that can help my Minutemen respond to any raid in the Commonwealth far easier," she mentioned after a few moments watching the Ghoul looking down at the photos. After another long moment, the man looked up at her this time with a certain passionate look in his eyes one that she remembered seeing in them when she was a pre-teen and watching from the deck of the USS Constitution as she sailed into Boston Harbor during the July Fourth Celebrations.
"I will do it, but I want command of her when she is finished," he mentioned making Nora smile before offering him her hand which he quickly took and shook.
"Deal Captain Ironsides and let me be the first one to welcome you to the Minutemen," she mentioned with a large smile on her face. Preston could only watch this and see as the start of a whole new direction for the Minutemen. Soon he found himself following the two out of the tavern watching the two officially start to catch up. He smiled knowing that finding someone who actually knew her in the past would help her recover from the pain of her past. With a shake of his head, he took a final glance at the empty tavern and walked out of the place behind his friend and General.
Commonwealth Airspace
March 5, 2288 AD
General Nora Carter sighed as the wind blew through her hair as she stood on the deck of the newly finished Airship Constitution as it flew south on its first official mission after its conversion into an airship was completed. The repair and initial conversion into an airship went without a hitch taking almost three weeks before it was flown to the newly built Airship Dock outside of Sanctuary Hills where its conversion would be completed and then fitted out with its main armament and crew. That took almost two weeks to finish before the airship went out on a few training cruises which found a few problems with the design seeing the ship return to its dock a few times before it was officially declared finished yesterday morning. Now she was on her first official mission as a Minutemen Airship and its flagship: heading down towards Fort Hagen to investigate the Mayoral Fallout Shelter built not far from the base and its supporting town.
Even then Nora was still pleased they had managed to do this, and she quickly looked over at the figure of the ship's captain to see him quite excited as he roared out orders to his crew of mixed robots and Minutemen volunteers. She smiled at the sight of this before she suddenly frowned at the reminder of Fort Hagen for a week and a half before had she received a note from Nick Valentine mentioning he had finally found where Kellogg was hiding: Fort Hagen. Then with the help of the detective, her reporter friend Piper Wright, and support from the Airship Athos she stormed the man's compound and found out the real story of what happened all those years before when he along with a team from the Institute breached Vault 111.
It shocked her for she learned several things from the heavily injured man not only had the Institute had sent teams of combat Synths throughout the Commonwealth, but they also had replaced several figures with human-like Third Generation Synths. One of which was Mayor McDonough of Diamond City and another was a leader of one of her allied settlements which both horrified and shocked her. She also learned how the Institute was able to move around the Commonwealth so easily, via a sort of teleportation technology. It was also the only way into the massive underground bunker complex built underneath Boston that was the Institute. Therefore, not only was she have to fight the various Raider Groups, feral ghoul packs and Super Mutant hordes but the Synths of the Institute as well. She had fixed one problem, and now another sprang up in its place. She sighed and turned away from the wind to observe the crew of the ship scramble around doing their duties.
A few she could see going over the two turret-like primary weapons of the ship. These two weapons were paired Laser Cannonades, an upscaled version of the Minutemen Laser Muskets married to a turret ring similar to that of the Liberty Bell Artillery Cannons. One of these turrets were mounted above the ship's bow-spirit, while the second was built into the ship's aft right above the Captain's quarters. These weapons combined with four repurpose Liberty Bell Artillery Cannons mounted in the ship's former Gundeck were mainly to be used against enemy airships or ground defenses.
For smaller targets, the ship sported three smaller turrets which mounted a pair of Gatling Lasers along with several miniguns the crew can fit along the deck railings during combat. One of these Gatling Laser Turrets was a little bubble like turret underneath the bow-spirit, a second was mounted on the ship's balloon where the ship's crow-nest would have been on a real sailing ship, a third forward of the ship's twin engines.
Nora suddenly noticed Ironsides standing by one of the large mounted viewing scope and the crewman manning it. With a frown and a shake of her head to clear her thoughts, she made her way to him and saw him lean over to look through the hi-powered scope trying to see something in the thick morning fog.
"Is it the Athos?" she heard Ironsides ask making Nora frown in confusion before stepping up next to the Captain wondering what was going on now.
"No Captain she is in the dock at Fort Jethro undergoing a refit. Since we came up with a few new techniques during the Old Lady's refit," the crewman replied which she soon recognized as one of the volunteers that had formerly manned the Athos during both the testing cruises she went on and when they went on the trip to Westford Way to find Ironsides himself. Fort Jethro was the name of the Airship Dock, and it's attached facilities which she had named after her grandfather.
"What's going on Captain?" she asked the Ghoul Captain, who looked over at her at the corner of his eye as he stared off into the distance trying to see through the mentioned fog.
"Apparently, there is another airship out there, but this outrageous fog is doing an excellent job of blocking any sight of her," the Ghoul reported making Nora frown as she stared as well into the fog as well. Trying to find any shape in the rolling fog before suddenly she gasped as a large dark shape plowed through the fog bank heading right towards them. Ironsides himself though only cried out surprise before turning around to bark at the crew.
"Helmsman! Turn twenty degrees to port, up-angle by ten meters," he barked out while Nora watched as the Constitution came about to avoid the shape which resolved into a large metal zeppelin-like airship with several aircraft buzzing around it which Nora easily recognized as some variant of the VB-01 Vertibird VTOL Craft. A few moments later the two airships quickly managed to avoid each other before they settled along the side of one another seemingly staring each other down.
"Radio Room! Send traffic: Unknown Airship this is the Commonwealth Minutemen Airship Constitution, please identify yourself and afflation," Nora heard Ironsides bark down the main hatch, and the Radio Room emplaced there. However, Nora quickly realized who owned this airship before the return response came as she saw the emblem emblazed on the side of the ship. She blinked as she remembered an earlier time where she had helped a small team of Power Armored soldiers fight off a large group of Feral Ghouls.
"They said they are the Airship Prydwen of the Brotherhood of Steel," she heard the radio room officer shout back to the Captain Ironsides but only shook her head as she stared at the other airship wondering what they brought to the Commonwealth. Did they bring help fighting against the Raider, the super-mutant, and the Institute or did they come to bring the Commonwealth forcibly under their banner? She didn't know and hoped they wouldn't be yet another enemy for she believed that she couldn't stand another upheaval like this but even then she would still fight for the Commonwealth was now her home, and she wasn't about to let someone tell her otherwise.
For those readers out there interested in such things the mentioned Airship Athos looks remarkably like a slightly smaller version of the airship used by the Duke of Buckingham in the 2011 movie version of The Three Musketeers. Hence its name. Meanwhile, while as an airship the Constitution looks like a slightly scaled down version of the Cardinal's airship in the same movie and the addition of the aft-mounted rocket engines of the game's version of the ship. Not to mention without the horrid Grim Reaper figurehead instead a smaller version of the Minutemen Statue replaces it while the ship is done in dark blue and white colors.
I like to mention that I know that in game Ironsides is a Sentrybot not a Ghoul but for the purpose of this story I made him a Ghoul. One that actually has experience onboard the Constitution having been her last official US Navy commander before the start of the Great War and the nuclear fallout that followed. This was a decision I made after I imagined that a new character would be needed to fulfil the role of captain of the ship instead of a simple robot.
As for the armament of the ship I got that from the turret-like gun the mentioned Small Airship in the movie mounted on its bow. It was only really seen in use during the Musketeers attack on the Tower of London and the Duke of Buckingham. For the Constitution and its own turrets, they sport paired large laser cannons which are basically upsized version of the Laser Musket. It is also an answer to one of my main complaints with the Prydwen in that it only sports the ability to carry several Vertibirds and does not sport any other weapon. At least as far as I know.
With that said I like to take a moment to apologize for the large data-dump at the beginning of this story since I wanted to give people an idea on what my dream Sanctuary Settlement happens to be including a few extras like powering the settlement via Vault 111's own power generation facility which for the purpose of this story is a Geothermal Power Plant which it doesn't have in game but I thought it would be nice touch. Another big thing that isn't really mentioned in story is that large warehouses in the Vault which has tons of supplies to start a settlement which is mainly due another Fallout 4 idea I had where the Vault-Tech Crew of 111 had an important secondary mission. This would be constructing a post-war base of power for both Vault-Tech and the Enclave in the Boston Area. However, this never happens due to the Overseer refusing to follow through with the secondary mission after the Vault Residents are stable in their Cryo-Pods which would see the Security and others in the Vault to revolt against the Overseer leaving behind the supplies to be used by the Sole Survivor and the Minutemen to build up Sanctuary into quite an interesting Settlement one with modern applications like running water and very good building material to be used in construction of suitable living areas.
Okay. That's enough moving on.
One final thing I like to mention that I plan on working on a couple more stories based on this story. One would be Elder Maxson and the Proctor Council's reaction to the Constitution, the Brotherhood's first dedicated foray into the Commonwealth, and a general overview on my version of the Commonwealth including factions and other added settlements. As they are briefed by my Sole Survivor as a curtsy to the newcomers in the Commonwealth.
That said I hoped you liked this story and I shall see you in the next you. Ciao!
Feature Two: The Old Lady of the Commonwealth
Aye tear her tattered ensign down
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more…
- First Stanza of poem "Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more…
- First Stanza of poem "Old Ironsides" by Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
-o-o-o-
Sanctuary Hills Settlement
Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
05:38AM
January 10, 2288AD
In the early morning air of the Wasteland of the Commonwealth, a figure of a woman could be seen slowly jogging up the hill that overlooked the settlement of Sanctuary Hills and served as the entrance to the former fallout shelter known as Vault 111. The figure puffed out gasps of air as she reached the summit of the hill and bent over slightly holding her knees as she caught her breath from the early morning jog for a few moments before she straightened up fully. The woman sighed before walking over the nearby edge of the hill before taking a seat on the hard ground before the edge where she quickly took a few gulps of water from the bottle of water she had been holding in one hand. That done she looked over the settlement laid out before her on the small island that was between the still raging waters of the Concord River and the slowly running Bear Creek that ran along the base of the hill where she currently sat.
Already the settlement started to awaken as light from the rising sun began to reach the settlement. She could see many of the small community's population already moving around starting their days in the dawn light. She quickly moved her attention off the people to the many buildings that made up the settlement. Originally there were several houses and other buildings that remained from before the war but had one by one been torn down to be recycled to be used later and replaced by sturdy hybrid wooden and metal buildings. In one way she was glad to see the painful reminder of her past pre-war life no longer staring in her face every time she moved about the settlement, but on the other hand, she was sad to see the houses go for indeed there was still a reminder of the easier life. In the end, she did like the look of the new buildings which gave the settlement a sort of early America feel especially with smoke now puffing out of the many different chimneys across the settlement.
She looked over the four large buildings that had been built around the former cul-de-sac that was the center of the pre-war town with a fifth building still under construction. These were large five leveled apartment blocks that served as the main residential buildings of the settlement, therefore, the primary home of the many residents of the settlement. Already she could see the hobbling forms of a dozen or so Constructcons Robots moving towards the under construction building where a few human workers awaited them along with a handful of hovering Mister Handy Robots. She briefly inspected the building visually to see that it just about finished and would maybe be done before weeks' end which would allow several newcomers to move in from the small tent city that had been built around the distant form of the former Red Rocket Gas Station across the river from the settlement.
She was pleased for it meant that much of the people gathered in those thrown together tents to move into far better accommodation ones that provided not only electricity but running purified and clean water thanks in part to the former fallout shelter that she found herself sleeping away the years in. She eyed the nearby elevator entrance to the Vault and could barely see the thick cables that ran down the side of the hill towards the settlement which gave them their power via the Vault's Geothermal Power Plant allowing the use of lights and other electrical equipment. Combined that with the Vault's water purification system and its own slowly growing farm made Sanctuary Hills one of the most modern Settlements in the Commonwealth.
Turning back to the four large apartment buildings she knew that each of them contained many small one-room apartments, which only actually sported a bed, desk, a couple of shelf units, a dresser, a small closet, and a bathroom complete with a tub. While these rooms were quite small compared to the apartments, she had been used to seeing before the Great War they were still far superior over the little cobbled together shacks or lean-to shelters that made up the majority of the housing found in settlements today. Each apartment building had twelve of these tiny apartments on each floor making a total of sixty rooms in each building. However due to the need of families two of the buildings sported double for couples and triple rooms which had enough space for small families to live easily. The fifth building would be a mix of the two with the first two floors sporting single rooms, the third double rooms, and the last two levels sporting triple rooms.
The woman then turned her attention away from the apartment buildings to inspect the other various buildings that graced the Settlement. A large workshop building dominated the center of the growing community along with the already mentioned farm replacing the pre-war park that once located there. This workshop sport several machine shops and other such equipment to help the growing settlement. One of which is an advanced pre-war machine shop that been found dismantled in a large warehouse that made up the lower levels of Vault 111 which allowed them to construct some pretty nifty things for the settlement. Then there was a smaller workshop nearby near the cul-de-sac and the large residential buildings which serviced the Settlement's various robots like the Constructcons and Mister Handies that were now helping the human workers in the construction of the fifth building.
Her eye then moved over to the trio of buildings nearer the entrance gate of the settlement. These where the settlement's main diner and restaurant run by the Honsa family which provided food not only to the many inhabitants of the Settlement but to the many traders that moved through the Settlement. It is apparently based on an enlarged form of the pre-war Drumlin Diners that were built all across the Boston area back then. Already she could see a couple of the typical wooden Brahmin pulled carts bivouacked complete with small tents in front of the second building that was a small barn-like building set aside for the settlement's own Brahmin, which now sported a hastily put together fence to help pen in the visiting Brahmin. The final building was the trading outpost which had attached stalls for the traders to sell their product to the inhabitants of the Settlement. Inside the outpost was a small general store for the use of the traders and those of the settlement who needed something. The bivouac made her frown for she once again reminded herself that they would see some small tavern or motel to service the traders. Since the trader's outpost didn't have rooms that could be rented out for the traders for the night. With a sigh as she mentally made the note to discuss the building of such a tavern with her staff before moving on to the last of main buildings of the settlement.
First, there was the medium-sized two-level building that served as the main pseudo-headquarters building of the Commonwealth Minutemen, who both served the people of the settlement as a defense force protecting them from the various enemies that graced the former Greater Boston Area, as well as protecting other settlements spread around the Commonwealth. It sported a couple of bunk rooms for those Minutemen who didn't have an apartment in the Residential Buildings and such to serve as the defensive garrison of the settlement, a small mess hall, training and recreation room, and several other notable needed functions to help the Minutemen. Then below the building was a newly expanded former bomb shelter that the Jahani Family had built underneath their house before the war. It now served as the command center of the Minutemen, along with an extensive arsenal and storage area for the several Power Armors in the possession of the Minutemen. The only thing missing from this building was any form of a communication room which made her look over her shoulder to see the small wooden shack built around a large radio antenna which served the Minutemen as their radio room and central communication hub. However, she knew there some plans to move it into the bunker, but several things were needed before that could be done.
She turned away from the radio shack and back to the view of the settlement were she watched with a small, sad smile as several children made their way down the main street towards the Settlement's brand new school building which stood opposite the Apartment buildings. The building looked remarkably like old single-room schoolhouses she remembered seeing in pictures of early years of the country. This sight made her sigh sadly for the painful reminder of her missing son, but she quickly turned her attention away from the line of school children. Looking to the building that had been built next to the School Building; the Settlement's Clinic, which combined with the infirmary in the Minutemen headquarters gave the settlement pretty good medical care.
With a shake of her head, she turned her attention back to the now fully awakened settlement laid out before her. She looked over at the final two buildings of the settlement with one built in place of her old house which served as quarters for several notable figures of the community including herself. She sighed at this for it was both a relief and a painful feeling when she watched the old house torn down several weeks before. It was a relief from the painful memories of the good times before the war and painful from those same good times. With a sad sigh over those memories, she moved over to the last major building of the settlement which served as the combined recreation building and town hall. It sported several entertainment services and such including a small bar and administrative facilities for the purpose of running the large overall settlement including an office for herself. After eying the building seeing a few forms of traders stumble out of the building and its bar before heading towards the tents, they had pitched next to their carts to sleep off their all-night drinking binge. With a shake of her head, the woman got up and stretched to prepare herself for the reminder of her run.
"General Carter?" a voice started to call out making her turn to see the figure of Captain Preston Garvey, her second-in-command and aide walk up to her. She sighed at this before shaking her head at the man who looked a bit guilty before starting over.
"Sorry Nora," the man mentioned with a small blush on his face making the woman known as General Nora Carter, commander of the Minutemen smiles slightly at the man. For while she didn't mind her title in official instances she did like when her friends like Preston to call her by her first name.
"I was going to ask what happened last night for you pretty much shut yourself in your room after the evening's courier run?" Preston asked with a worried frown making Nora close her eyes with a sigh before looking over at the man.
"I got a note from Nick Valentine in Diamond City mentioning that he was no closer in finding this Kellogg character. For he apparently has vanished from his rented house in Diamond City cleaning it out and disappeared to who knows where," she explained with a frown staring in the distance towards the general direction of Diamond City. Preston started at this knowing that Kellogg was the only link she had found in conjunction with her husband's murder and the kidnapping of her baby son. She didn't even know how long ago that happened thanks to Kellogg and his party wiping any record of their entrance to the Vault before they left from the Vault's computers. The history of Kellogg renting a house in Diamond City was only ten years old but only used sparingly over the years. While there had been rumors around the city of him living with a small boy they didn't know if this was Shaun or not due to no records existing on the pair. The last time the house had been used was only a month before which is how Valentine and Nora had discovered Kellogg had rented the house in the first place, but now that he no longer lived there and cleaned out everything from the house made it seem like the trail got cold.
"I'm sorry Nora. I know you were hoping that Valentine could find something but like you said you don't know that kid with him was, in fact, your son," Preston said with a gentle pat on Nora's shoulder making her nod with a distressed look on her face.
"He still is going to keep any eye out for him and will get back to me when that happens," she said after a moment of sorrow between the two which was soon broken by a voice yelling out a sort of cadence mixed with shouted cursing. Blinking in surprise, the two turned to find several figures jogging up the hill from the opposite side of the hill from Sanctuary Hills where the Minutemen training camp was located where a small parking lot had once been. This made the two Minutemen officers look at one another with amusement before turning their attention to the approaching trainees and the single figure of their trainer: Master Gunnery Sergeant Ronnie Shaw.
Ronnie Shaw had first shown up at Sanctuary Hills only weeks after Nora saved Preston's small group of Minutemen and Quincy refugees from attacking Raiders. It was Ronnie who fully convinced Nora to take command of the Minutemen after hearing about her story and what she had done before the start of the war. Before she wasn't sure of anything thanks in part to her search for Shaun but as she traveled the Commonwealth during that first month, she started seeing that someone was needed to bring some hope back into the Commonwealth. It was also Ronnie who had helped them managed to get into the large underground catacombs of the former Fort Independence which had in the past been the Minutemen's main base. Now it was a shadow of its former self due to the attack that led to the end of the old Minutemen. From the catacombs, the group had managed to recover a few examples of the famous Minutemen Liberty Bell Artillery Cannons, a few heavier weapons set aside by the Minutemen and the equipment needed to produce the Minutemen's signature Laser Muskets. Following that mission and the return to Sanctuary Hills Ronnie refused any high ranking position in the new Minutemen and took upon herself to train any volunteers to become Minutemen.
"Hello General, Captain. Beautiful morning for a run don't you think," the older veteran Minutemen mentioned with a nod to the two officers as the line of jogging trainees approached the pair.
"Of course Gunny. There is a reason I am in my jogging gear after all," Nora mentioned waving at her clothes before eying Preston at her side with a small mischievous smile on her face making the man look over at her nervously.
"Maybe I should have the Captain here join you for I believe he needs the exercise," she mentioned making Preston shake his head in panicked denial making Nora laugh at the look on his face. Ronnie only snorted at this before snapped her head to stare at the gasping trainees that had started to rest while the three had been talking.
"What's this I didn't give you leave to relax maggots! Get up! We still have a mile to go, before its time for breakfast," Ronnie yelled out with a malicious look on her face making the trainees swallow in fear before straightening up and starting to jog once more.
"I need to get these worthless bags of flesh through their morning jog ma'am," Ronnie said with a salute before running off to join the trainees yelling at one of the trainees lagging behind, before taking her spot next to the middle of the line. With a shake of her head, Nora turned to look at Preston, who was still eying her nervously making her laugh slightly.
"Oh relax Preston. I am not going to throw you to Ronnie, but I do expect you to join me for my morning jogs for now on. Since I was quite correct you need to exercise a bit more for all this desk work is making you a bit soft around the middle," Nora mentioned with a small smile on her face making Preston sigh in relief before gasping when Nora hit his stomach with the back of her hand. He muttered at this before nodding to Nora with a smile on his own face.
"Understood General," he replied before shaking his head and turning to look at Sanctuary Hills and the distant former city of Boston.
"That said I was going through the morning radio reports, and it appears several more settlements are requesting our help," he mentioned with a frown retrieving a small folder from the large pockets of his overcoat before handing over to Nora who frowned herself.
"We really don't have the manpower right now to rush off to distance settlements when we are barely able to keep the Raiders away from Sanctuary Hills and the nearby allied settlements," she said with a growl of both anger and helplessness. She opened the folder reading the various message forms contained in said folder before sighing in helplessness. She then looked up at the look on Preston's face and sighed knowing what he was currently thinking.
"I told you when I first accepted being the General of the Minutemen that the old policy of Minutemen being throughout the Commonwealth and ready at a moment's notice wasn't going to work," she mentioned starting up an old argument between the two. In the past, the Minutemen were spread out across the Commonwealth living in the various settlements that had sprung up around the former Greater Boston Area. This combined with the powerful radio transmitter at the Castle, former headquarters of the entire group, allowed the Minutemen to really able to be ready to respond within minutes to any threat. However, that could no longer work in this new Minutemen organization. Since first of all that was one major flaw the old Minutemen had in that they were spread out across numerous settlements and saw them splitting up after the death of General Becker with many of the various officers going their own ways instead of standing by the new General. Therefore, when Nora took command of the remains of the Minutemen about three months before she had made sweeping changes to the organization which done away the old standard of spreading out the Minutemen across the entire Commonwealth. Since for one they really didn't have the manpower to do so and two, the various settlements had shrunk since the time of the old Minutemen with raids from both raiders and super mutants killing off many settlers. Therefore, really didn't have the population to actually support their own Minutemen squads.
"I know General I do agree with you, but still, it did work for numerous years," Preston finally said after several moments between the two officers. Nora only nodded at this before looking back down at the folder in her hand and sighing before she looked back up in some thought.
"What we need is a way to quickly move and deploy teams around the Commonwealth that are also fast," she mused out loud making Preston blink at this before staring at her waiting for her continue her little brainstorm having become used to this since meeting her.
"I wish we could repair some of the crashed Vertibirds around here since they would be perfect though trying to train pilots for them would be difficult. That is not even considering trying to find fuel for them which would be a hassle as well since if I remember right, they are quite the fuel hogs, therefore, need a significant source of fuel for them. No, what we need is something we can build with the resources we have now," she continued on making Preston nod in agreement for while he didn't have memories of the pre-war US Military like Nora did he still had read a few technical manuals that survived the war. He suddenly blinked as he thought of something he had heard about a few years ago.
"I may have an idea General," he mentioned but before he could say anything Nora's stomach started to rumble in hunger which was soon copied by Preston's making the two blink in surprise before laughing.
"Well, it looks like I am not going to finish my run after all. It is time to start the day. Therefore, I shall meet you in my office, after we get some breakfast so you can mention this idea of yours," she suggested before starting back downhill towards the Settlement with Preston following behind her while wondering if he was crazy to think about that report but they really don't have any choice.
-o-o-o-
General's Office
Town Hall
Sanctuary Hills Settlement
Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
07:48AM
Just under an hour later found Nora walking into her office in the Settlement's Town Hall after taking a quick shower and breakfast from the Diner before taking care a few minor tasks around the settlement. She saw that Preston was already waiting for her making her nod to him before hanging the old blue Continental Coat that symbolized her status as General of the Minutemen on the back of her office chair and straightened the old pre-war blue Naval fatigues she wore underneath the coat. She had chosen this style of fatigues for the new uniform for the Minutemen mainly due to finding several crates of them in a couple half-destroyed military trucks not far from Concorde and secondly she had been a former member of the Navy herself. Granted she never actually served in a combat role due her assignment to the Navy JAG Office, but she still went through Naval Academy and did a brief tour onboard a destroyer before joining JAG. With a sigh, Nora sat down in the chair before turning her attention to Preston.
"Alright, then Preston what is this brilliant idea of yours that may solve our mobility problem?" she asked the man and was a bit confused at the man's brief grimace before he sighed.
"I wouldn't say it is a brilliant idea General more like a crazy idea I had due to that report I mentioned earlier and reading one of those pre-war books from the Library," he said with a sigh. Making Nora frown knowing that thanks to a large amount of books that had been found in the Jahani Family Bomb shelter. Along with those recovered from the other intact houses of Sanctuary Hills she had decreed the construction of a library attached to the Town Hall's recreation area to allow any inhabitant of the settlement to enjoy them. It had doubled as a school area for the younger children of the settlement before the construction of the schoolhouse.
"Oh. First, what is this report you mentioned?" Nora ordered with a curious look on her face making Preston mutter something under his breath before nodding his head.
"About a year or two ago a Minutemen patrol from Quincy heard from a trader caravan that they encountered that there was an old sailing ship moored at a dry dock near Yardtown, the old former Boston Naval Yard. Someone had taken the dock over and started to add some sort of rocket engines to the bottom of the sailing ship. Soon after the traders saw the ship flying using said engines but it didn't get far before it crashed somewhere North of Boston. I then heard the complete story from another trader about a few months later which was basically that a Ghoul named Captain Ironsides had taken over the ship. He then gathered a crew of other Ghouls and some robots where they soon found and installed the rocket engines. After crashing the ship Ironsides and much of his surviving crew moved to the Westford Way Trading Post a bit up north from here. To help in running the barges that move up and down the river trading," Preston mentioned making Nora look at him in sheer shock before shaking her head and turning her chair to look out the window that gave a good view of the Settlement from the third floor of the Settlement's Town Hall.
"That had to be the USS Constitution, which was both the oldest commissioned ship in the old US Navy and a museum ship. I seem to remember that right before the bombs fell that the news revealed that she was dry-docked for the winter. The idea of someone slapping some rocket engines on it makes me both angry as a former member of said Navy and a bit surprised someone was willing to try something so crazy like that," she mentioned with a thoughtful look on her face. Before turning to look at Preston to find him staring at her in some surprise making her smirk slightly for some time, Preston seems to forget she had been alive before the war, therefore, had a lot of little tidbits of historical fact like that.
"That said, Preston, what is your idea you got from this report?" she asked the man after a moment of his staring at her which made him shake himself slightly before sighing and taking a seat in the chair in front of his desk.
"The idea is pretty simple Nora. Since Rocket Engines didn't work to make a ship like that fly in the sky. What about a sort of balloon like the airships in Skies of Arcadia series," he mentioned making Nora stare at him in shock for a moment since she knew what exactly he had in mind since she had been a longtime fan of that series herself. The books of the series found in the library had actually been hers and have been stored in a sealed container that had been placed in her house's attic soon after moving in. Basically, the series followed a crew of Sky Pirates that flew around the world of Arcadia in a ship that resembled a sailing ship but with a massive blimp-like balloon allowing it fly in the sky. She was also shocked for she had a moment during her teen years where she imagined something like that could be done in real life thanks to her time helping her grandfather sailing a small sailing cutter that had been in her family for many years all around the waterways around Boston. After a moment of this Nora recovered before looking up at the ceiling of her office in thought before nodding her head.
"It could be done, and I have a few ideas myself on how to do it, but I am going to need Sturges and a few of his guys' help in coming up with something," she mentioned after a moment of silent thought on her part.
"You mean it will actually work Nora," Preston managed to say in shock making Nora smile at him.
"It will take some doing and a few expeditions to a few sites I know of to make it work but yes it can be done. Though having it actually work will be another matter, but it cannot hurt to try, though," Nora mentioned making Preston blink at her before quickly retrieving some writing material from his own desk to take notes something he started to get used since becoming Nora's aide.
"What would we need to do this then?" he asked making Nora just smile and started listing various items they would need while Preston took his notes and soon he figured out what his General and friend was planning. He smiled knowing that this would solve their mobility problem quite quickly if it worked. Their little planning discussion continued into the afternoon and grew from just the two of them till it included several others taking the growing discussion from Nora's office to one of the small meeting rooms on the same level of the Town Hall. Before long a plan of action was put together and started on.
-o-o-o-
Westford Way Trading Post
Westford
Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
January 23, 2288AD
A few weeks later found Nora Carter and her aide Captain Preston Garvey walking into the Big Spinner Tavern located in medium-sized settlement slash trading post of Westford Way. Which Nora found out to be the sort-of gateway to the Commonwealth from other larger settlements north of the old Greater Boston Area and serving the various large trading river barges. The two looked around for a moment in the dimly lit tavern before finding their target sitting at a table in the very back of the tavern. Another look revealed that the target was the only one in the small bar of the Tavern, even the bartender or barmaid wasn't around. With a glance between the two Minutemen, they walked up to the table which had a Ghoul wearing what looked to be an old War of 1812 US Navy Uniform sitting at it. As they approached the Ghoul continued to stare at the table, and the glass of some sort brandy held in one hand seemingly not even noticing the two of them.
"Leave the bottle," the Ghoul managed to croak out as they approached making Nora shake her head with a frown as she eyed the glass.
"Captain Ironsides or should I call you Mister Wayne Cashman?" she asked making the Ghoul look up at her in some surprise mostly due to her knowing his old name before sighing and looking back down at his glass. Nora had found out that since awakening that many of the Ghouls she ran into either had forgotten their original names from before becoming Ghouls or choose new ones to serve them better in their new life as Ghouls.
"Who wants to know?" the Ghoul responded a moment later with a tired drawl not noticing Nora taking a seat across from him.
"I am General Nora Carter of the Commonwealth Minutemen, and I have a proposal for you," she mentioned with a smile on her face. For she had been quite surprised to find out that she actually knew this man from before the war for he had been the last official commander of the Constitution before the start of the war. The Ghoul blinked at this before looking back up her in shock.
"Carter? Why is that name familiar?" he whispered as he stared at her making her smile at him.
"You served under my grandfather Jason Gibbs before he retired and when I was younger you took me aboard the Constitution during the 2064 July Fourth Celebrations," she mentioned with a slight misty looking smile of remembrance making the Ghoul stare at her with his mouth opened in shock.
"Your Nora, Old Man Gibbs Granddaughter? How are you alive?" he managed to say after several moments of sheer shock.
"That is a long story which I can tell you about later over my own glass of liquor in hand, but I really do have an offer for you," she mentioned making the Ghoul lean back in his seat before he crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.
"Okay I am listening," he mentioned with a frown on his dry and dead like face.
"I heard about what you were trying to do with the Constitution and making her fly," she said as she leaned forward herself making Ironsides stare at her with a frown and some surprise.
"Yeah so? It didn't work, and the Old Ironsides is now in several pieces on the shores of the Charles River," he grated out in some anger making Nora only smile before holding out a hand to the still standing Preston who retrieved a folder from a pocket of his long coat before placing in her hand.
"Well I do believe you were doing it wrong," she mentioned before opening the folder and slapping down a series of photos onto the table in between them. Ironsides frowned at this before picking up the pictures and staring at them before nearly dropping them in shock as he quickly recognized what he was seeing. In the pictures a small sailing ship, a cutter he immediately realized, could be seen moored in a hastily built dry dock along the shore of some sort. Another showed construction going on around the ship's damaged rigging, and the last showing the same ship now floating several feet from the water with a giant balloon serving as a lifting body for the ship. After another moment looking at them, he then recognized which ship it used to be which saw him looking up at Nora in shock.
"Yes that is the Athos my family's Cutter. I found her pretty much intact in an enclosed dock by my Grandfather's Cabin up by the Minutemen National Historical Park. It was pretty much intact with only the masts and rigging damaged," she replied to his unasked question softly before sighing and leaning back in her chair.
"As for making it fly we basically attached a large blimp balloon to it replacing its masts and rigging allowing to quickly travel around with support from a pair of propeller pods. After several tests we were able to quite easily move her around in the air which is why I mentioned you were doing it wrong earlier," she said as she laid down another pair of pictures. These showed the small cutter floating above a small settlement and one which was taken onboard the ship itself showing the same settlement about a few miles off the ground. She then placed the last photo down on the table which showed the wreck of the USS Constitution on the shores of the Charles River from the air. While it was apparently damaged in several ways, it looked remarkably intact from such a crash.
"We found the crash site, and I already have some of my men securing her so she can be started to be repaired and then converted into an airship like the Athos. But I do not want to start anything till I get your permission and your help in turning the Constitution into a flying airship that can help my Minutemen respond to any raid in the Commonwealth far easier," she mentioned after a few moments watching the Ghoul looking down at the photos. After another long moment, the man looked up at her this time with a certain passionate look in his eyes one that she remembered seeing in them when she was a pre-teen and watching from the deck of the USS Constitution as she sailed into Boston Harbor during the July Fourth Celebrations.
"I will do it, but I want command of her when she is finished," he mentioned making Nora smile before offering him her hand which he quickly took and shook.
"Deal Captain Ironsides and let me be the first one to welcome you to the Minutemen," she mentioned with a large smile on her face. Preston could only watch this and see as the start of a whole new direction for the Minutemen. Soon he found himself following the two out of the tavern watching the two officially start to catch up. He smiled knowing that finding someone who actually knew her in the past would help her recover from the pain of her past. With a shake of his head, he took a final glance at the empty tavern and walked out of the place behind his friend and General.
-o-o-o-
Airship Constitution
Commonwealth Airspace
March 5, 2288 AD
General Nora Carter sighed as the wind blew through her hair as she stood on the deck of the newly finished Airship Constitution as it flew south on its first official mission after its conversion into an airship was completed. The repair and initial conversion into an airship went without a hitch taking almost three weeks before it was flown to the newly built Airship Dock outside of Sanctuary Hills where its conversion would be completed and then fitted out with its main armament and crew. That took almost two weeks to finish before the airship went out on a few training cruises which found a few problems with the design seeing the ship return to its dock a few times before it was officially declared finished yesterday morning. Now she was on her first official mission as a Minutemen Airship and its flagship: heading down towards Fort Hagen to investigate the Mayoral Fallout Shelter built not far from the base and its supporting town.
Even then Nora was still pleased they had managed to do this, and she quickly looked over at the figure of the ship's captain to see him quite excited as he roared out orders to his crew of mixed robots and Minutemen volunteers. She smiled at the sight of this before she suddenly frowned at the reminder of Fort Hagen for a week and a half before had she received a note from Nick Valentine mentioning he had finally found where Kellogg was hiding: Fort Hagen. Then with the help of the detective, her reporter friend Piper Wright, and support from the Airship Athos she stormed the man's compound and found out the real story of what happened all those years before when he along with a team from the Institute breached Vault 111.
It shocked her for she learned several things from the heavily injured man not only had the Institute had sent teams of combat Synths throughout the Commonwealth, but they also had replaced several figures with human-like Third Generation Synths. One of which was Mayor McDonough of Diamond City and another was a leader of one of her allied settlements which both horrified and shocked her. She also learned how the Institute was able to move around the Commonwealth so easily, via a sort of teleportation technology. It was also the only way into the massive underground bunker complex built underneath Boston that was the Institute. Therefore, not only was she have to fight the various Raider Groups, feral ghoul packs and Super Mutant hordes but the Synths of the Institute as well. She had fixed one problem, and now another sprang up in its place. She sighed and turned away from the wind to observe the crew of the ship scramble around doing their duties.
A few she could see going over the two turret-like primary weapons of the ship. These two weapons were paired Laser Cannonades, an upscaled version of the Minutemen Laser Muskets married to a turret ring similar to that of the Liberty Bell Artillery Cannons. One of these turrets were mounted above the ship's bow-spirit, while the second was built into the ship's aft right above the Captain's quarters. These weapons combined with four repurpose Liberty Bell Artillery Cannons mounted in the ship's former Gundeck were mainly to be used against enemy airships or ground defenses.
For smaller targets, the ship sported three smaller turrets which mounted a pair of Gatling Lasers along with several miniguns the crew can fit along the deck railings during combat. One of these Gatling Laser Turrets was a little bubble like turret underneath the bow-spirit, a second was mounted on the ship's balloon where the ship's crow-nest would have been on a real sailing ship, a third forward of the ship's twin engines.
Nora suddenly noticed Ironsides standing by one of the large mounted viewing scope and the crewman manning it. With a frown and a shake of her head to clear her thoughts, she made her way to him and saw him lean over to look through the hi-powered scope trying to see something in the thick morning fog.
"Is it the Athos?" she heard Ironsides ask making Nora frown in confusion before stepping up next to the Captain wondering what was going on now.
"No Captain she is in the dock at Fort Jethro undergoing a refit. Since we came up with a few new techniques during the Old Lady's refit," the crewman replied which she soon recognized as one of the volunteers that had formerly manned the Athos during both the testing cruises she went on and when they went on the trip to Westford Way to find Ironsides himself. Fort Jethro was the name of the Airship Dock, and it's attached facilities which she had named after her grandfather.
"What's going on Captain?" she asked the Ghoul Captain, who looked over at her at the corner of his eye as he stared off into the distance trying to see through the mentioned fog.
"Apparently, there is another airship out there, but this outrageous fog is doing an excellent job of blocking any sight of her," the Ghoul reported making Nora frown as she stared as well into the fog as well. Trying to find any shape in the rolling fog before suddenly she gasped as a large dark shape plowed through the fog bank heading right towards them. Ironsides himself though only cried out surprise before turning around to bark at the crew.
"Helmsman! Turn twenty degrees to port, up-angle by ten meters," he barked out while Nora watched as the Constitution came about to avoid the shape which resolved into a large metal zeppelin-like airship with several aircraft buzzing around it which Nora easily recognized as some variant of the VB-01 Vertibird VTOL Craft. A few moments later the two airships quickly managed to avoid each other before they settled along the side of one another seemingly staring each other down.
"Radio Room! Send traffic: Unknown Airship this is the Commonwealth Minutemen Airship Constitution, please identify yourself and afflation," Nora heard Ironsides bark down the main hatch, and the Radio Room emplaced there. However, Nora quickly realized who owned this airship before the return response came as she saw the emblem emblazed on the side of the ship. She blinked as she remembered an earlier time where she had helped a small team of Power Armored soldiers fight off a large group of Feral Ghouls.
"They said they are the Airship Prydwen of the Brotherhood of Steel," she heard the radio room officer shout back to the Captain Ironsides but only shook her head as she stared at the other airship wondering what they brought to the Commonwealth. Did they bring help fighting against the Raider, the super-mutant, and the Institute or did they come to bring the Commonwealth forcibly under their banner? She didn't know and hoped they wouldn't be yet another enemy for she believed that she couldn't stand another upheaval like this but even then she would still fight for the Commonwealth was now her home, and she wasn't about to let someone tell her otherwise.
-o-Fin-o-
Well there is the second of my Wasteland Gazette stories and I hope everyone loves the idea of making the USS Constitution an airship as much as I do. Granted I know it wasn't really feasible in game since really the Prydwen does nothing but hover over the Boston Airport after all, therefore any other airship would be the same way, but it is the idea that counts. In a story like fanfiction it wouldn't matter really besides being an awesome addition in my opinion.For those readers out there interested in such things the mentioned Airship Athos looks remarkably like a slightly smaller version of the airship used by the Duke of Buckingham in the 2011 movie version of The Three Musketeers. Hence its name. Meanwhile, while as an airship the Constitution looks like a slightly scaled down version of the Cardinal's airship in the same movie and the addition of the aft-mounted rocket engines of the game's version of the ship. Not to mention without the horrid Grim Reaper figurehead instead a smaller version of the Minutemen Statue replaces it while the ship is done in dark blue and white colors.
I like to mention that I know that in game Ironsides is a Sentrybot not a Ghoul but for the purpose of this story I made him a Ghoul. One that actually has experience onboard the Constitution having been her last official US Navy commander before the start of the Great War and the nuclear fallout that followed. This was a decision I made after I imagined that a new character would be needed to fulfil the role of captain of the ship instead of a simple robot.
As for the armament of the ship I got that from the turret-like gun the mentioned Small Airship in the movie mounted on its bow. It was only really seen in use during the Musketeers attack on the Tower of London and the Duke of Buckingham. For the Constitution and its own turrets, they sport paired large laser cannons which are basically upsized version of the Laser Musket. It is also an answer to one of my main complaints with the Prydwen in that it only sports the ability to carry several Vertibirds and does not sport any other weapon. At least as far as I know.
With that said I like to take a moment to apologize for the large data-dump at the beginning of this story since I wanted to give people an idea on what my dream Sanctuary Settlement happens to be including a few extras like powering the settlement via Vault 111's own power generation facility which for the purpose of this story is a Geothermal Power Plant which it doesn't have in game but I thought it would be nice touch. Another big thing that isn't really mentioned in story is that large warehouses in the Vault which has tons of supplies to start a settlement which is mainly due another Fallout 4 idea I had where the Vault-Tech Crew of 111 had an important secondary mission. This would be constructing a post-war base of power for both Vault-Tech and the Enclave in the Boston Area. However, this never happens due to the Overseer refusing to follow through with the secondary mission after the Vault Residents are stable in their Cryo-Pods which would see the Security and others in the Vault to revolt against the Overseer leaving behind the supplies to be used by the Sole Survivor and the Minutemen to build up Sanctuary into quite an interesting Settlement one with modern applications like running water and very good building material to be used in construction of suitable living areas.
Okay. That's enough moving on.
One final thing I like to mention that I plan on working on a couple more stories based on this story. One would be Elder Maxson and the Proctor Council's reaction to the Constitution, the Brotherhood's first dedicated foray into the Commonwealth, and a general overview on my version of the Commonwealth including factions and other added settlements. As they are briefed by my Sole Survivor as a curtsy to the newcomers in the Commonwealth.
That said I hoped you liked this story and I shall see you in the next you. Ciao!
deathzealotzero
Mecha Guru
- Location
- Las Vegas, NV
Summary: As Doctor James Carter leaves Megaton for Vault 101 with his infant daughter he and his escort stumble onto a dying woman with a healthy infant boy. James then takes the boy as his own son and raises him alongside his daughter. However, this boy is like his parents before him is out of time thanks to sleeping through the Great War and its aftermath in Vault 111...
Feature 03: The Trinity
Springvale
Capital Wasteland
September 11, 2258AD
The figure of Doctor James Carter adjusted the threadbare cloak he wore closer to his body to cover his infant daughter Brianna safe in a carrier over his chest from the blowing wind and the dust the wind picked up. With a soft curse on his lips he turned to the tall armored form of his escort from the Brotherhood of Steel. Paladin Shari Cross had been his chief bodyguard for the last several months since the end of Project Purity and his wife's dream due to the death of his wife.
"How much further do you think?" he asked over the howling wind. The woman underneath the powered armor at his side frowned at this before looking around the area and waved an arm ahead of her.
"I believe it's only a few more miles Doctor." Cross answered adjusting her grip on the L35 Gatling Laser held her hands. James nodded at this before looking around the area seeing only decrepit buildings that had once been the small suburban town of Springvale before the Great War. He was about to say something else to his escort when suddenly a crying sound suddenly could be heard from a nearby building. A cry quite familiar to the two travelers, one of an infant in some distress which saw Cross looked over at James to see him looking over at the nearby building with a look of some confusion and a bit of curiosity. Cross saw this and sighed before hefting her Gatling Laser knowing that man would want to investigate. James started to make his way over the building with Cross watching his back and was soon pleased to see him retrieving the laser pistol she had given him months before. A moment later the pair entered a small damaged house to find a disturbing sight, a dying woman laying down on the ground holding a small male infant in her arms. James flinched at the woman's injuries but still kneeled down next to her before retrieving a small medical pouch from his bag. The woman seeing the small red cross on the bag shook her head with a small sigh and a strained smile on her face.
"Please don't waste your medical supplies on me stranger. I know I really don't have much time left," the woman managed to say surprising James but he nodded with a sigh of his own. He put away the medical pouch away in his bag knowing she was quite correct her wounds were too severe. The woman suddenly grabbed his arm as she let out a gasp of pain.
"Though please do me favor take care of this boy. Please. His name is Shaun. I thought I could raise him after I made a mistake and…." She managed to say before suddenly letting out a small cry of pain before starting to convulse as her eyes started to roll into her head as she convulsed once more before her eyes started to dim in death. James sighed at this before reaching over and closing the unknown woman's eyes and turned to look down at the bundle carrying a small baby boy who blinked up at him in some confusion. With yet another sigh he picked up the young baby and with some work managed to make another sling to carry the other baby. He briefly wondered how he could care for two babies all on his own but he couldn't leave the baby out here to die. Besides his wife would have never forgiven him if he hadn't. With a smile he looked down at the young infant and chuckled lightly.
"Well hello Shaun Carter I am your new daddy," James said softly before straightened himself and walked out of the small building leaving the body of the unknown woman behind hoping she had found some peace in death. He had a new life waiting for him and his children.
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
November 10, 2259AD
Over a year later found James Carter peeking into the smaller second room of his quarters to find the now two-year-old Brianna snuggled up with her slightly younger brother Shaun in the crib bed that dominated the small room. He smiled at this for the two had quite an interesting time with the Overseer's own young daughter Amata and her mother. With that thought in mind he turned to look over at his small home office as he wondered how long the woman had. He had managed to arrive at the Vault in time to help her but she really didn't have many years left. He just gave her time. Even then she was still capable of looking over the three young toddlers with the help a few older teenagers she helped teach. Turning back to the room he eyed Shaun and once again wondered what happened with him and his family. He had taken a blood sample from him soon after he got settled in the Vault to maybe find his family in the future and was quite surprised to find that the sample had no abnormalities like many Wastelanders sported in today's world thanks to stuff like radiation or mutations. Even Vault Dwellers had some abnormalities in their blood but Shaun's DNA was pure human something never seen since before the war. James sighed at this before stepping away from the door knowing he would most likely never find out the reason behind it and prepared himself for bed.
Memorial Hall
Vault 101
June 19, 2266AD
In the memorial hall of the Vault the memorial service for Anna Almodovar wife of the Vault's Overseer was coming to a close as the small urn holding a small amount of ashes was lowered into place alongside numerous others that graced the large hall and a small memorial plaque placed over it. James could only sigh as he watched all this for Anna had become a close friend of his due to the close relationship their children had. While her husband was quite a cold individual Anna was a warm and fun person to be around. He couldn't really believe she had managed to last this long with her illness but he was glad for she provided the needed motherly affection needed for his two children. He looked down at the two huddled in front of him with Amata Anna's daughter who was holding onto Shaun while Brianna hugged Amata from her back. All three where quite devastated to hear about the death of Anna. James looked up to see Alphonse Almodovar, the Vault's Overseer staring down at the small plaque making him sigh sorrowfully knowing that he may be a while for remembered doing something similar when his wife passed away. Therefore, he placed a hand onto the shoulders of his children ready to start lead them back to their quarters.
"Come on let's get back to our quarters. Amata you can come with us for I think your father will be here for a while," James said only getting nods in return from the children before he started to lead them away from the sorrowful sight.
Main Recreation Room
Vault 101
July 13, 2268AD
With a flash the lights of the main recreation room flipped on surprising the figure of ten-year-old Brianna Carter who just entered the room. She looked around in some shock as the gathered Vault Residents burst in cheers wearing the funny cone-shaped hats used for birthday parties making her smile slightly. She turned to her younger brother Shaun and best friend Amata Almodovar who were smiling brightly at her.
"So where you surprised?" Amata brightly asked her making Brianna chuckle before whapping her brother on the shoulder as he tried to put one of the birthday hats on her head.
"Of course I was surprised. Though I knew something was up due to the two of you being so secretive over the past few days. I take it you guys got the idea from dad's little surprise party for Shaun here," Brianna mentioned with a smile as she grabbed the hat from her brother to put it on her own head.
"Yup. Since it is kind of tradition now for ten year olds in the Vault to have some sort of surprise party," Shaun mentioned with a smile before turning to look at Amata with a look on his face making Amata roll her eyes at him.
"Yes. Yes. I know I am the only one of us not ten yet," Amata mentioned with a pout on her face making the two siblings laugh before Brianna noticed a group of young boys now sitting down at a nearby table.
"Ugh. Did you have to invite Butch's little group of toadies to my party?" she asked with a wine making Amata sigh before rolling her eyes.
"I had too since all of the other kids in the Vault came down with this flu bug that is going around. Not to mention I don't think my father would have liked me to not invite them," Amata explained eying the four boys with some tension before turning back to Brianna with a beaming smile on her face.
"That said. I managed to find this in my dad's old things. Never knew he was in the comics before till I found that along with few others like it," Amata mentioned handing over a small wrapped gift to Brianna who frowned at this before ripping the paper to reveal the fourteenth issue of Grognak the Barbarian Comic Book making Brianna smile in delight at the gift. Shaun only rolled his eyes at the comic making the two girls chuckle knowing Shaun distaste for comic books. It was quite weird for every other boy in the Vault loved the comic along with its various offshoots but Shaun really did not like them he preferred to go through various technical or mechanical journals given to him by the Vault's Chief Mechanic Stanley Armstrong. He was already quite a capable mechanic that he was already helping Stanley with small repair jobs around the Vault.
"As for my gift sister of mine I believe Dad will show to you later," Shaun mentioned over a brief moment of silence between the three friends. However, before the two girls could say anything in response the tall figure of Overseer Almodovar walked up to the group.
"Happy Birthday Brianna. When a resident in Vault 101 reaches the age of ten they are gifted with their first Pip-Boy 3000 and start to receive their first jobs in the Vault," the man mentioned holding out the wrist-mounted computer that was a Pip-Boy which every Vault Resident wore.
"Thank you Overseer," Brianna said with a strained smile and head bow to the man before clasping the band onto her wrist and booting up the small computer.
"Very well then. I shall be going I have important work to do. I shall see you later Amata," the man mentioned before leaving the recreation room. The three kids look at one another before sighing for they all remembered the man before the death of Anna Almodovar. While he was still cold and distant he wasn't as cold as he was now. He actually smiled a few times.
"So where is Dad Shaun?" Brianna asked with a frown looking around the room to try to find her father.
"He is in the lab talking with Jonas. He shall be here in a bit," Shaun mentioned with a frown knowing their father had been quite busy thanks to this flu bug going around. Brianna only nodded before looking over at the small attached kitchen of the recreation room to see the Mister Handy Robot known as Andy bring out a small birthday cake making Brianna smile in pleasure before moving over to the counter. Behind her both Amata and Shaun smiled pleased at Brianna having a good time.
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
August 3, 2274 AD
Brianna blinked as her father put away the small medical flashlight with a small smile on his lips and leaned back in his chair eying her making her look a bit guilty at the man. In the corner of the office her brother Shaun only smugly looked on with a smile of his own.
"As far as I can tell, you're a perfectly healthy sixteen-year-old girl, so yes you have to go to class to take your G.O.A.T. exam just like your brother told you," James mentioned with a shake of his head making Brianna pout slightly before turning and eying her brother for he had indeed told her trying to play sick would not work with their father since he was a Doctor after all. He also was quite excited about his G.O.A.T Exam unlike the rest of the kids in the Vault who were dreading it. With a sigh she turned back to James with a puppy dog look on her face making both men of the Carter family laugh in response.
"My dear daughter I became quite immune to your puppy dog look by the time you were seven therefore it will not work on me I am sorry to say," James said with an amused look on his face. Brianna could sigh and leaned back in her seat with another pout on her face.
"But daddy the G.O.A.T. Exam is scary, what if I fail it and become a waste management specialist or god forbid a Trash Burner or something else like that," Brianna said with a tremble in her voice making James sigh and lean forward to place a hand on her shoulder.
"You will be fine Brianna you are quite an intelligent young lady therefore I have the utmost confidence in you getting the right job for you. As for you becoming a waste management specialist or a Trash Burner well your poor mother may come back to haunt me if her daughter ends up with one of those jobs so please don't have that happen," James mentioned with a fake shiver making his two kids laugh in response.
"Alright you two scat I have work that needs to be doing. Stanley still has that cough and apparently Miss Vanna is getting close to her due date. I need to be prepared," James mentioned after several moments of the small family sharing a laugh.
"Alright daddy I will see you at lunch," Brianna brightly said hopping off the small medical chair she had been sitting at for the last several minutes before dropping a chaste kiss on her father's whiskered cheek before running out of the office. Shaun followed behind with a wave to his father and a chuckle.
"Yeah Brianna what if you become Official Vault Radroach Control Officer. God knows you killed enough with that gun of yours or maybe the Official Female..." Shaun could be heard teasing his younger sister.
"Shut up Shaun!" Brianna screeched in response cutting off her brother before he could say anything else. James chuckled at this before turning away from the door of his Clinic Office and eyed his desk terminal wondering if it was possible to get some work done on his private project. With a sigh he made his decision and quickly got to work.
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
September 10, 2277 AD
Brianna mumbled as she woke up to someone shaking her shoulder trying to wake her up. She mentally grumbled at this for she had the graveyard shift last night monitoring the Vault's Reactor therefore anyone who knew her personally would know that she needed the sleep. With a yawn and a quiet curse, she opened her eyes to see the pleasant sight of Amata leaning over her. She smiled up at her best friend slash girlfriend sleepily wondering if she had once again snuck into her bed last night after she got off from work.
"Hi sweetie did you sneak into my bed last night?" she asked with yet another yawn but she was quickly fully jolted awake when Amata slapped her cheek...hard. Brianna looked up in shock at this as she held a hand to her now stinging cheek and finally noticed the scared look on Amata's face as well as the face of her brother over Amata's shoulder. He too, look scared and was carrying a N99 Pistol in one hand as he nervously looked around Brianna's room. She then noticed the Vault's emergency lights flashing and the harsh voice of the Overseer over the PA.
"What's going on?" she asked with a frown getting up from her bed now hyper aware. She hadn't felt like this since the damn mole rate invasion two years before which saw several deaths including the majority of the Vault's Security Force. It had been the three of them that saved the day killing every single Mole Rat in the entire Vault. The experience the three of them had in the lower levels hunting Radroaches during their younger years serving them well during that bloody day. For a moment Brianna thought it was another Mole Rat invasion but quickly threw that thought out for she knew Stanley, Shaun, and the other Vault Engineers had inspected the entire Vault from top to the bottom closing off any space which could be used to enter the Vault.
"It's Dad Brianna. Apparently he left the Vault somehow last night and now we got a large invasion of Rad Roaches which furthered the confusion," Shaun responded with a helpless expression on his face making Brianna gape in shock at her brother before turning to look at Amata.
"It's true Brianna. And my Father had Jonas killed due to his part in James Escape from the Vault," her girlfriend grimly explained making Brianna blink in shock before she closed her eyes in pain for Jonas, her father's assistant, and an older brother figure to the three of them. He had helped watched over them while they were kids and the loss of Amata's mother. It was partly thanks to Jonas that the three kids recovered from that death.
"Don't take this the wrong way Amata but your father is a fucking Bastard!" she growled out after a moment making Amata close her eyes in similar pain before she nodded in agreement.
"He hasn't been the same since Mother's death. He has become increasingly paranoid over the last few years and the Mole Rat Invasion did not help at all in that case," Amata grimly mentioned making Brianna nod in agreement since the Overseer had tightened his hold on the Vault and their Residents over the past few years. Now the Vault Security wore complete riot gear and a N99 Pistol while on patrol instead of just an armored vest over their Vault Suit and a Baton like that had been done ever sense Brianna could remember.
"Alright. If your father is willing to kill Jonas, I really do not think he is going to let us go on with our lives in peace. If he still has some rational thought, then he may just lock us up or if he truly gone around the bend he may just kill us to save him the trouble. We know that the Security Force follow him like loyal lap dogs therefore he may just get away with it. Therefore, I believe we have to leave the Vault as well," Brianna coldly mentioned as she finally got out of bed and started to pull on a Vault Suit. After she finished she turned to look at the other two to see Amata looking quite pained making Brianna feel a little guilty which saw her leaning forward and kissing her girlfriend lightly.
"You don't have to come with us my dear. He is your father after all for I don't think he will be inclined to do anything to you if you just act like you didn't know anything at all," she mentioned softly holding the other girl's cheek in hand making Amata smile at Brianna.
"I really don't think the Overseer has been my father for a long while. Oh. I know he still thinks me of his daughter but I am afraid he is going to let his duty as Overseer go over his duty as my father. I really don't know what he will do to me if I stay behind. Therefore, I am going with you Brianna since you not only been a close friend all my life but you had been far closer to me then my father ever was. Besides James has been more of a Father to me then the Overseer," Amata said after a moment making Brianna smile brightly and wipe the tears off her face. Suddenly Shaun fake gagged making the two girls turn to glare at the sole boy of their little group.
"Enough with the mushy stuff girls I believe it is time to get out of here before Security gets here to arrest us. Therefore, Brianna get your gun and I shall start packing up some stuff that we may need. Amata you start packing up the stuff some clothes for you girls while I am packing the other stuff," Shaun mentioned with a serious face making the two girls sigh and nod in agreement. Amata quickly retrieved a small backpack they had found in storage bin several years before which had been used by the two of them to carry their toys when they were younger. She quickly started packing the bag from Brianna's dresser.
Brianna meanwhile stepped away from Amata and walked over to the BB Gun she had used as child and now on a display rack on the wall of her room. She took it down from the rack and laid it down on her desk before walking over to a corner of her room. There she reached around the small book shelf that took up that corner and retrieved a small bag from its hiding spot behind the shelf. Upending the bag onto her desk she quickly took apart her BB Gun and replace several parts with new parts taken from the bag. Finally, she slapped a full 10mm clip from a N99 Pistol into the new receiver of the gun turning it fully into a 10mm Rifle. Shaun had gifted the conversion parts to her on her seventeenth birthday. It was this rifle that allowed the three of them to help fight against the Mole Rats during the invasion. It really didn't have much power thanks to how weak standard 10mm bullets were compared to others but it was far better than a simple BB gun. With that done she turned to see Amata finished with her packing while Shaun came out of their father's home office with a bag of his own. Brianna blinked in surprise to see him carrying a AEP7 Laser Pistol in hand.
"Where in the world did you get that?" Brianna exclaimed in shock making Shaun chuckle lightly.
"Apparently Dad kept it along with a few power cells and a few other things in the small safe in his office. Dad showed it to me after the Mole Rat Invasion saying it is for just in case something like that happened again. Though he never answered my question on why he kept a bag of Nuke-Cola Caps in the safe strange enough," Shaun explained with a soft smile before shaking his head with a sigh.
"Alright I'll take the Laser Pistol while you take the N99 Amata," Shaun mentioned holstering the Laser Pistol and handing Amata the N99 Pistol over to Amata who sighed before inspecting it briefly and nodding her head. Brianna once again thanked Officer Gomez for training the three of them in handling firearms correctly, or this would be a bit more difficult for the three of them in the scheme of things. It did serve them well during the Mole Rat Invasion.
"Let's get out of here," Brianna said nodding to the door leading to the rest of the Vault. She took a long look around the quarters with a sad sigh for there were plenty of good memories of the three of them in this place. Now they had to leave it all behind and go out into the unknown world of the Wasteland. Amata patted Brianna on the shoulder knowing what she was thinking before she turned and walked out of the room leaving behind her old life.
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
Later the three found themselves in the Overseer's Office after rushing through the chaos that had swept through the Vault due to the Security Officers running after the three of them. Thus leaving the Rad Roaches to have a free for all with the Vault Residents. This made the three even more sure that the Overseer was really becoming quite crazy for the Security should have been fighting against the Rad Roaches not chasing after them. After a few incidents with the chasing Security Officers and fighting through the Rad Roaches the three entered the Overseer's office thanks to Amata mentioning knowing that her Father had said something to her about a secret passage to get to the Vault Door. Therefore, won't have to go through the entire Security Force camped out in front of the Entrance Hall of the Vault.
Brianna was leaning against the wall keeping an eye on the door, while Amata was raiding the storage cabinets along the wall of the office for needed supplies. Shaun meanwhile was working on the Overseer's terminal to see if he can find a way to open the so-called secret passage. There were also the pair of Tom and Mary Holden who the trio had saved from the Security Guards guarding the door to the Entrance Hall from the Vault's Atrium. They were now huddling along one of the walls of the office talking quietly with one another. Then finally there was Tom's younger brother Adam who was watching the door alongside Brianna. Adam had joined the Vault's Security Force after the losses suffered by the earlier Mole Rat Invasion. When he had witnessed two of his fellow Officers about to gun down his own brother and sister-in-law, the only family he had left, he reacted opening fire on the other officers which allowed the couple to be extracted from the situation by Brianna and Shaun.
It would thanks to Adam that the group had managed to raid the Vault's Security Armory which allowed them to outfit themselves with Combat Armor which was something that surprised everyone in their little group. Since Combat Armor was not supposed to be in the Vault Armory in the first place. The Combat Armor had been held in a separate room of the Armory behind a code-locked door which Shaun had quickly managed to hack. The Combat Armor sets where not complete and only really had several chest plates along with leg greaves. Therefore, each of the three teenagers sported chest plates and leg greaves over their Vault Suits. Also in the hidden room where several types of rifles and shotguns but besides taking a pair of H&K C10 Combat Shotguns along with enough extra ammo for them and their current weapons the group left the stash of weapons alone. Confused at the reason for this unknown room filled with equipment the Vault officially didn't have the group moved on towards the Overseer's Office.
With a victorious cry Shaun finally managed to break into the terminal which had the group starting to look calmer than before since it won't be long now before they were out of the Vault and out of this madness. However, that changed when Shaun looked up in shock at what he was reading from the terminal.
"Damn. Apparently the Vault was opened before we were all born, several times in fact," he reported with a shocked look on his face which made the group all look at him in shock and confusion.
"That means the Overseer has been lying all this time about keeping the Vault closed," Mary Holden said with a defeated look her face. Brianna shook off her shock before coming around the desk and leaning against it next to her brother.
"Okay. Is there anything written about them?" she asked eying the screen of the Terminal making Shaun look through a few more screens of information before nodding.
"Yeah. Basically it appears the Overseer before Amata's Father opened the Vault Door due to several reasons. They explored the area surrounding the Vault and found a small settlement not far from the Vault where they started to trade with them. That explains how that equipment from the Armory got there," Shaun explained making the others nod in understanding.
"Alright can you download the data from their explorations for it will be quite useful to us when we leave the Vault behind," Brianna excitedly ordered her brother making him nod in understanding reaching for his Pip-Boy and taking out the connector cable from it before plugging it into the Terminal. After a few more moments it was done and Shaun looked up with a small smile on his face as he disconnected the cable letting it retract back into his Pip-Boy. He then went back to Terminal and looked through a few more screens before blinking in surprise.
"Oh. That is weird," Shaun mentioned out loud gathering the groups attention once more.
"What's weird Shaun?" Brianna asked with a frown looking over at her brother to see him reading something else on a screen which made his face suddenly pale in shock. Now surprised at her brother's response Brianna leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder but he still stayed there looking at the screen. Brianna traded looks with Amata before slapping the shoulder of Shaun finally breaking him from his shock.
"Again Shaun what is weird?" she asked him seriously making the older sibling sigh slightly before pushing away from the Terminal and looking over at Brianna.
"Apparently the Vault Door opened once more after Alphonse became Overseer and he left a few notes about it. He mentions that a single man and a pair of infants arrived in front of the Vault Door begging to be let in. At first Alphonse was just going to ignore him but he soon changed his mind when he mentioned that he was a trained doctor and physician which the Vault desperately needed due to not having anyone trained for that. Not to mention Aunt Anna was literally on her death bed at the time therefore Alphonse was desperate for anything to save her therefore let the man in along with the two infants. The man managed to save Aunt Anna's life and stayed around as the Vault's new Doctor," Shaun explained making the room look on in sheer shock even more so then the news that the Vault had been opened before.
"That was Dad and the two of us. It has to be. That means we were never born in the Vault like Dad has been telling us all this time. That means he lied to us," Brianna managed to whisper in some shock and a blink of her eyes. Amata wrapped an arm around her shoulder but Shaun only shook his head and looked back at the Terminal.
"It gets better Brianna. Alphonse also wrote a note about a conversation he had with the new arrival. It was dad introducing us to him in this very office. In this conversation Alphonse asked if the two of us where twins thanks to us looking close in age to one another at the time. Dad then answered no for Brianna was his only child and the boy is an infant he managed to save from something not mentioned in the note. That means the two of us where never related Brianna," Shaun bitterly reported making the group once again look in shock. Brianna looked wide-eyed at the boy she had been raised alongside before she suddenly shook her head and brought him into a hug.
"I don't care about that Shaun Carter for even if we are not officially related you are still my Brother that is not ever going to change you hear me," Brianna mentioned making Shaun nod against her chest.
"Yes ma'am!" he cheekily said with a small salute before he looked back at the Terminal.
"Alright then let's get the heck out of here," he mentioned before walking back to the Terminal and quickly brought a final screen on the monitor. Then with a groan of gears and hydraulics the desk rose up from the ground and the floor opened up showing the entrance to the Secret Passage.
"Well that's cool," Adam mentioned with a grin on his face. And with that the group made their way down the ladder and into the passage itself.
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
With a series of groans a wall inside the Entrance Hall slid open showing the exit of the Overseer's Secret Passage. The group quickly made their way out of the passage and towards the control panel for the Vault Door. Looking around they saw no one in the Hall at all much to their pleasure. At the panel Shaun detached his Pip Boy's cable once more and slotting it into place on the panel. The screen of his Pip-Boy then flashed a quick message before an authorization screen popped up. Shaun quickly typed in a password he got from the Overseer's terminal which saw the Pip-Boy beep in response before the cover over the big red button on the panel popped open and the button started to flash. That done Shaun unplugged the cord from the panel letting it retract once more into the Pip-Boy before looking over at the group.
"Alright once that button is pushed everyone is going to know that the Vault Door has been opened. Therefore, Brianna, you, Amata, and Adam should get into cover just in case the security officers outside come rushing in," Shaun mentioned nodding the door leading to the rest of the Vault and the officers standing guard outside. He then turned to look over at the unarmed pair of Tom and Mary nodded themselves before taking cover by the Vault Door itself. That done Shaun turned back to the console, took a deep breath and slammed his hand on the big red button. With a heavy groan the Door started to open while flashing yellow lights started flashing throughout the Entrance Hall.
"What! Someone is opening the door! Get in their guys," a voice could be heard saying outside the hall. The door leading to the Vault slid open and a pair of Security Officers rushed in but where fired on by the group sending them crawling quickly into cover themselves. A few moments of this and the door was fully opened. Then with care the group slowly started to make their way back towards the door while keeping the Security Officers pinned from doing anything in response.
A moment later the pair of Brianna, and Shaun made it through the door just as several more officers exploded into the room along with Overseer Alphonse which had the two Carter siblings give the man jauntily salutes before Shaun slammed his hand down on a second red button on the outside control panel. The Vault Door then started to close but not before the group hear a sound of pure fury from the Overseer. Then with a click the door finished closing dropping the Entrance Tunnel into darkness. With several clicks of their own the group turned on the built-in lights on their Pip-Boys. A scream from Mary saw the group pointing their arms towards the woman to find her pointing her own flashlight beam down towards the ground. They all did so as well to find several aging skeletons scattered across the area. The group also as one gulped before they started to move on towards the distant light source which soon resolved into a small rickety door.
The group then quickly looked at one another once more before Brianna shoved the door open and warm sunlight spilled into the tunnel making them all gasp in some surprise. With some nervous care the group carefully walked out of the tunnel and into the outside world. The group gasped as one as they stared down at the ruins of the Capital Wasteland that was rolled out before them. It was this moment that finally saw it crystalized in the minds of the group of former Vault Dwellers that they were no longer in the safety of the Vault but in an Unknown Land full of unknown dangers and other such new instances. It was the start of something new for them all and in turn the people of the Capital Wasteland as well. Something that would make them a key element in the future of the Capital Wasteland. An element known as: Hope.
Well this is the third of my little shorts based in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout and the second based in Capital Wasteland. Though this one does have some elements drawn from Fallout 4. The main thing being the character of Shaun, the Sole Survivor's Son, being raised alongside the Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3. To do this I had fudge the timeline a bit to make it work. The main point of this change is that the Institute didn't breach Vault 111 and kidnap Shaun till much later in time about thirty or so years before the Sole Survivor stumbles out of Vault 111 instead of seventy or so years like it is in game. Then a member of the Institute Team become quite guilty over the actions they took and managed to escape with baby Shaun to the Capital Wasteland. There the unnamed Institute Scientist managed to get injured someway, either by Raiders or one of the numerous nasty critters that call the Wasteland home. Then James and Star Paladin Cross stumble onto her and Baby Shaun in Springvale not far from Vault 101.
That said folks, this idea came to me pretty simply in that unlike other games which have the player choose between genders (Mass Effect mostly) I haven't seen any fanfiction for Fallout that have both versions of the player character being characters in a fanfiction story. In Mass Effect fanfiction this is seen with them being siblings, either as twins or just simple siblings. Not so in Fallout 3 fanfiction, at least as far as I know, therefore decided to change that with this story. I then took the idea further and merged an idea where Shaun wasn't raised by the Institute into it. Therefore, I do hope you like the idea.
For this story I am basing Shaun's character partly on my Sole Survivor Nora, and that of the Synth version of Shaun seen later in the game. Therefore, Shaun is quite a gearhead and capable engineer though he lean more towards engineering weapons hence him the one who built the BB Gun and later upgrades it into a sort of a psedo-10mm based Rifle we see it as in this story. This means he will be the one of the group who takes care of their weapons and later on their Power Armor. Brianna meanwhile is the main fighter of the group and sort of their leader though officially she shares it with Shaun.
Speaking of Brianna, I made her a lesbian for several reasons mostly due to general distaste for the other main male characters of the game being paired with her. That doesn't mean I am not the fan of the characters I just don't like them being paired with Brianna. This is mostly Butch, Charon, and any of the Brotherhood of Steel based Characters. The question though would be in later stories is wither she remain with Amata or move onto other relationships.
Jeez. Again with the long notes. Sorry about that but I do believe I am done now. I shall get to work on the next story. Another Fallout 4 just to let you know. Till then Ciao!
Feature 03: The Trinity
Springvale
Capital Wasteland
September 11, 2258AD
The figure of Doctor James Carter adjusted the threadbare cloak he wore closer to his body to cover his infant daughter Brianna safe in a carrier over his chest from the blowing wind and the dust the wind picked up. With a soft curse on his lips he turned to the tall armored form of his escort from the Brotherhood of Steel. Paladin Shari Cross had been his chief bodyguard for the last several months since the end of Project Purity and his wife's dream due to the death of his wife.
"How much further do you think?" he asked over the howling wind. The woman underneath the powered armor at his side frowned at this before looking around the area and waved an arm ahead of her.
"I believe it's only a few more miles Doctor." Cross answered adjusting her grip on the L35 Gatling Laser held her hands. James nodded at this before looking around the area seeing only decrepit buildings that had once been the small suburban town of Springvale before the Great War. He was about to say something else to his escort when suddenly a crying sound suddenly could be heard from a nearby building. A cry quite familiar to the two travelers, one of an infant in some distress which saw Cross looked over at James to see him looking over at the nearby building with a look of some confusion and a bit of curiosity. Cross saw this and sighed before hefting her Gatling Laser knowing that man would want to investigate. James started to make his way over the building with Cross watching his back and was soon pleased to see him retrieving the laser pistol she had given him months before. A moment later the pair entered a small damaged house to find a disturbing sight, a dying woman laying down on the ground holding a small male infant in her arms. James flinched at the woman's injuries but still kneeled down next to her before retrieving a small medical pouch from his bag. The woman seeing the small red cross on the bag shook her head with a small sigh and a strained smile on her face.
"Please don't waste your medical supplies on me stranger. I know I really don't have much time left," the woman managed to say surprising James but he nodded with a sigh of his own. He put away the medical pouch away in his bag knowing she was quite correct her wounds were too severe. The woman suddenly grabbed his arm as she let out a gasp of pain.
"Though please do me favor take care of this boy. Please. His name is Shaun. I thought I could raise him after I made a mistake and…." She managed to say before suddenly letting out a small cry of pain before starting to convulse as her eyes started to roll into her head as she convulsed once more before her eyes started to dim in death. James sighed at this before reaching over and closing the unknown woman's eyes and turned to look down at the bundle carrying a small baby boy who blinked up at him in some confusion. With yet another sigh he picked up the young baby and with some work managed to make another sling to carry the other baby. He briefly wondered how he could care for two babies all on his own but he couldn't leave the baby out here to die. Besides his wife would have never forgiven him if he hadn't. With a smile he looked down at the young infant and chuckled lightly.
"Well hello Shaun Carter I am your new daddy," James said softly before straightened himself and walked out of the small building leaving the body of the unknown woman behind hoping she had found some peace in death. He had a new life waiting for him and his children.
-o-o-o-
Doctor's Quarters
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
November 10, 2259AD
Over a year later found James Carter peeking into the smaller second room of his quarters to find the now two-year-old Brianna snuggled up with her slightly younger brother Shaun in the crib bed that dominated the small room. He smiled at this for the two had quite an interesting time with the Overseer's own young daughter Amata and her mother. With that thought in mind he turned to look over at his small home office as he wondered how long the woman had. He had managed to arrive at the Vault in time to help her but she really didn't have many years left. He just gave her time. Even then she was still capable of looking over the three young toddlers with the help a few older teenagers she helped teach. Turning back to the room he eyed Shaun and once again wondered what happened with him and his family. He had taken a blood sample from him soon after he got settled in the Vault to maybe find his family in the future and was quite surprised to find that the sample had no abnormalities like many Wastelanders sported in today's world thanks to stuff like radiation or mutations. Even Vault Dwellers had some abnormalities in their blood but Shaun's DNA was pure human something never seen since before the war. James sighed at this before stepping away from the door knowing he would most likely never find out the reason behind it and prepared himself for bed.
-o-o-o-
Memorial Hall
Vault 101
June 19, 2266AD
In the memorial hall of the Vault the memorial service for Anna Almodovar wife of the Vault's Overseer was coming to a close as the small urn holding a small amount of ashes was lowered into place alongside numerous others that graced the large hall and a small memorial plaque placed over it. James could only sigh as he watched all this for Anna had become a close friend of his due to the close relationship their children had. While her husband was quite a cold individual Anna was a warm and fun person to be around. He couldn't really believe she had managed to last this long with her illness but he was glad for she provided the needed motherly affection needed for his two children. He looked down at the two huddled in front of him with Amata Anna's daughter who was holding onto Shaun while Brianna hugged Amata from her back. All three where quite devastated to hear about the death of Anna. James looked up to see Alphonse Almodovar, the Vault's Overseer staring down at the small plaque making him sigh sorrowfully knowing that he may be a while for remembered doing something similar when his wife passed away. Therefore, he placed a hand onto the shoulders of his children ready to start lead them back to their quarters.
"Come on let's get back to our quarters. Amata you can come with us for I think your father will be here for a while," James said only getting nods in return from the children before he started to lead them away from the sorrowful sight.
-o-o-o-
Main Recreation Room
Vault 101
July 13, 2268AD
With a flash the lights of the main recreation room flipped on surprising the figure of ten-year-old Brianna Carter who just entered the room. She looked around in some shock as the gathered Vault Residents burst in cheers wearing the funny cone-shaped hats used for birthday parties making her smile slightly. She turned to her younger brother Shaun and best friend Amata Almodovar who were smiling brightly at her.
"So where you surprised?" Amata brightly asked her making Brianna chuckle before whapping her brother on the shoulder as he tried to put one of the birthday hats on her head.
"Of course I was surprised. Though I knew something was up due to the two of you being so secretive over the past few days. I take it you guys got the idea from dad's little surprise party for Shaun here," Brianna mentioned with a smile as she grabbed the hat from her brother to put it on her own head.
"Yup. Since it is kind of tradition now for ten year olds in the Vault to have some sort of surprise party," Shaun mentioned with a smile before turning to look at Amata with a look on his face making Amata roll her eyes at him.
"Yes. Yes. I know I am the only one of us not ten yet," Amata mentioned with a pout on her face making the two siblings laugh before Brianna noticed a group of young boys now sitting down at a nearby table.
"Ugh. Did you have to invite Butch's little group of toadies to my party?" she asked with a wine making Amata sigh before rolling her eyes.
"I had too since all of the other kids in the Vault came down with this flu bug that is going around. Not to mention I don't think my father would have liked me to not invite them," Amata explained eying the four boys with some tension before turning back to Brianna with a beaming smile on her face.
"That said. I managed to find this in my dad's old things. Never knew he was in the comics before till I found that along with few others like it," Amata mentioned handing over a small wrapped gift to Brianna who frowned at this before ripping the paper to reveal the fourteenth issue of Grognak the Barbarian Comic Book making Brianna smile in delight at the gift. Shaun only rolled his eyes at the comic making the two girls chuckle knowing Shaun distaste for comic books. It was quite weird for every other boy in the Vault loved the comic along with its various offshoots but Shaun really did not like them he preferred to go through various technical or mechanical journals given to him by the Vault's Chief Mechanic Stanley Armstrong. He was already quite a capable mechanic that he was already helping Stanley with small repair jobs around the Vault.
"As for my gift sister of mine I believe Dad will show to you later," Shaun mentioned over a brief moment of silence between the three friends. However, before the two girls could say anything in response the tall figure of Overseer Almodovar walked up to the group.
"Happy Birthday Brianna. When a resident in Vault 101 reaches the age of ten they are gifted with their first Pip-Boy 3000 and start to receive their first jobs in the Vault," the man mentioned holding out the wrist-mounted computer that was a Pip-Boy which every Vault Resident wore.
"Thank you Overseer," Brianna said with a strained smile and head bow to the man before clasping the band onto her wrist and booting up the small computer.
"Very well then. I shall be going I have important work to do. I shall see you later Amata," the man mentioned before leaving the recreation room. The three kids look at one another before sighing for they all remembered the man before the death of Anna Almodovar. While he was still cold and distant he wasn't as cold as he was now. He actually smiled a few times.
"So where is Dad Shaun?" Brianna asked with a frown looking around the room to try to find her father.
"He is in the lab talking with Jonas. He shall be here in a bit," Shaun mentioned with a frown knowing their father had been quite busy thanks to this flu bug going around. Brianna only nodded before looking over at the small attached kitchen of the recreation room to see the Mister Handy Robot known as Andy bring out a small birthday cake making Brianna smile in pleasure before moving over to the counter. Behind her both Amata and Shaun smiled pleased at Brianna having a good time.
-o-o-o-
Medical Wing
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
August 3, 2274 AD
Brianna blinked as her father put away the small medical flashlight with a small smile on his lips and leaned back in his chair eying her making her look a bit guilty at the man. In the corner of the office her brother Shaun only smugly looked on with a smile of his own.
"As far as I can tell, you're a perfectly healthy sixteen-year-old girl, so yes you have to go to class to take your G.O.A.T. exam just like your brother told you," James mentioned with a shake of his head making Brianna pout slightly before turning and eying her brother for he had indeed told her trying to play sick would not work with their father since he was a Doctor after all. He also was quite excited about his G.O.A.T Exam unlike the rest of the kids in the Vault who were dreading it. With a sigh she turned back to James with a puppy dog look on her face making both men of the Carter family laugh in response.
"My dear daughter I became quite immune to your puppy dog look by the time you were seven therefore it will not work on me I am sorry to say," James said with an amused look on his face. Brianna could sigh and leaned back in her seat with another pout on her face.
"But daddy the G.O.A.T. Exam is scary, what if I fail it and become a waste management specialist or god forbid a Trash Burner or something else like that," Brianna said with a tremble in her voice making James sigh and lean forward to place a hand on her shoulder.
"You will be fine Brianna you are quite an intelligent young lady therefore I have the utmost confidence in you getting the right job for you. As for you becoming a waste management specialist or a Trash Burner well your poor mother may come back to haunt me if her daughter ends up with one of those jobs so please don't have that happen," James mentioned with a fake shiver making his two kids laugh in response.
"Alright you two scat I have work that needs to be doing. Stanley still has that cough and apparently Miss Vanna is getting close to her due date. I need to be prepared," James mentioned after several moments of the small family sharing a laugh.
"Alright daddy I will see you at lunch," Brianna brightly said hopping off the small medical chair she had been sitting at for the last several minutes before dropping a chaste kiss on her father's whiskered cheek before running out of the office. Shaun followed behind with a wave to his father and a chuckle.
"Yeah Brianna what if you become Official Vault Radroach Control Officer. God knows you killed enough with that gun of yours or maybe the Official Female..." Shaun could be heard teasing his younger sister.
"Shut up Shaun!" Brianna screeched in response cutting off her brother before he could say anything else. James chuckled at this before turning away from the door of his Clinic Office and eyed his desk terminal wondering if it was possible to get some work done on his private project. With a sigh he made his decision and quickly got to work.
-o-o-o-
Carter Family Quarters
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
September 10, 2277 AD
Brianna mumbled as she woke up to someone shaking her shoulder trying to wake her up. She mentally grumbled at this for she had the graveyard shift last night monitoring the Vault's Reactor therefore anyone who knew her personally would know that she needed the sleep. With a yawn and a quiet curse, she opened her eyes to see the pleasant sight of Amata leaning over her. She smiled up at her best friend slash girlfriend sleepily wondering if she had once again snuck into her bed last night after she got off from work.
"Hi sweetie did you sneak into my bed last night?" she asked with yet another yawn but she was quickly fully jolted awake when Amata slapped her cheek...hard. Brianna looked up in shock at this as she held a hand to her now stinging cheek and finally noticed the scared look on Amata's face as well as the face of her brother over Amata's shoulder. He too, look scared and was carrying a N99 Pistol in one hand as he nervously looked around Brianna's room. She then noticed the Vault's emergency lights flashing and the harsh voice of the Overseer over the PA.
"What's going on?" she asked with a frown getting up from her bed now hyper aware. She hadn't felt like this since the damn mole rate invasion two years before which saw several deaths including the majority of the Vault's Security Force. It had been the three of them that saved the day killing every single Mole Rat in the entire Vault. The experience the three of them had in the lower levels hunting Radroaches during their younger years serving them well during that bloody day. For a moment Brianna thought it was another Mole Rat invasion but quickly threw that thought out for she knew Stanley, Shaun, and the other Vault Engineers had inspected the entire Vault from top to the bottom closing off any space which could be used to enter the Vault.
"It's Dad Brianna. Apparently he left the Vault somehow last night and now we got a large invasion of Rad Roaches which furthered the confusion," Shaun responded with a helpless expression on his face making Brianna gape in shock at her brother before turning to look at Amata.
"It's true Brianna. And my Father had Jonas killed due to his part in James Escape from the Vault," her girlfriend grimly explained making Brianna blink in shock before she closed her eyes in pain for Jonas, her father's assistant, and an older brother figure to the three of them. He had helped watched over them while they were kids and the loss of Amata's mother. It was partly thanks to Jonas that the three kids recovered from that death.
"Don't take this the wrong way Amata but your father is a fucking Bastard!" she growled out after a moment making Amata close her eyes in similar pain before she nodded in agreement.
"He hasn't been the same since Mother's death. He has become increasingly paranoid over the last few years and the Mole Rat Invasion did not help at all in that case," Amata grimly mentioned making Brianna nod in agreement since the Overseer had tightened his hold on the Vault and their Residents over the past few years. Now the Vault Security wore complete riot gear and a N99 Pistol while on patrol instead of just an armored vest over their Vault Suit and a Baton like that had been done ever sense Brianna could remember.
"Alright. If your father is willing to kill Jonas, I really do not think he is going to let us go on with our lives in peace. If he still has some rational thought, then he may just lock us up or if he truly gone around the bend he may just kill us to save him the trouble. We know that the Security Force follow him like loyal lap dogs therefore he may just get away with it. Therefore, I believe we have to leave the Vault as well," Brianna coldly mentioned as she finally got out of bed and started to pull on a Vault Suit. After she finished she turned to look at the other two to see Amata looking quite pained making Brianna feel a little guilty which saw her leaning forward and kissing her girlfriend lightly.
"You don't have to come with us my dear. He is your father after all for I don't think he will be inclined to do anything to you if you just act like you didn't know anything at all," she mentioned softly holding the other girl's cheek in hand making Amata smile at Brianna.
"I really don't think the Overseer has been my father for a long while. Oh. I know he still thinks me of his daughter but I am afraid he is going to let his duty as Overseer go over his duty as my father. I really don't know what he will do to me if I stay behind. Therefore, I am going with you Brianna since you not only been a close friend all my life but you had been far closer to me then my father ever was. Besides James has been more of a Father to me then the Overseer," Amata said after a moment making Brianna smile brightly and wipe the tears off her face. Suddenly Shaun fake gagged making the two girls turn to glare at the sole boy of their little group.
"Enough with the mushy stuff girls I believe it is time to get out of here before Security gets here to arrest us. Therefore, Brianna get your gun and I shall start packing up some stuff that we may need. Amata you start packing up the stuff some clothes for you girls while I am packing the other stuff," Shaun mentioned with a serious face making the two girls sigh and nod in agreement. Amata quickly retrieved a small backpack they had found in storage bin several years before which had been used by the two of them to carry their toys when they were younger. She quickly started packing the bag from Brianna's dresser.
Brianna meanwhile stepped away from Amata and walked over to the BB Gun she had used as child and now on a display rack on the wall of her room. She took it down from the rack and laid it down on her desk before walking over to a corner of her room. There she reached around the small book shelf that took up that corner and retrieved a small bag from its hiding spot behind the shelf. Upending the bag onto her desk she quickly took apart her BB Gun and replace several parts with new parts taken from the bag. Finally, she slapped a full 10mm clip from a N99 Pistol into the new receiver of the gun turning it fully into a 10mm Rifle. Shaun had gifted the conversion parts to her on her seventeenth birthday. It was this rifle that allowed the three of them to help fight against the Mole Rats during the invasion. It really didn't have much power thanks to how weak standard 10mm bullets were compared to others but it was far better than a simple BB gun. With that done she turned to see Amata finished with her packing while Shaun came out of their father's home office with a bag of his own. Brianna blinked in surprise to see him carrying a AEP7 Laser Pistol in hand.
"Where in the world did you get that?" Brianna exclaimed in shock making Shaun chuckle lightly.
"Apparently Dad kept it along with a few power cells and a few other things in the small safe in his office. Dad showed it to me after the Mole Rat Invasion saying it is for just in case something like that happened again. Though he never answered my question on why he kept a bag of Nuke-Cola Caps in the safe strange enough," Shaun explained with a soft smile before shaking his head with a sigh.
"Alright I'll take the Laser Pistol while you take the N99 Amata," Shaun mentioned holstering the Laser Pistol and handing Amata the N99 Pistol over to Amata who sighed before inspecting it briefly and nodding her head. Brianna once again thanked Officer Gomez for training the three of them in handling firearms correctly, or this would be a bit more difficult for the three of them in the scheme of things. It did serve them well during the Mole Rat Invasion.
"Let's get out of here," Brianna said nodding to the door leading to the rest of the Vault. She took a long look around the quarters with a sad sigh for there were plenty of good memories of the three of them in this place. Now they had to leave it all behind and go out into the unknown world of the Wasteland. Amata patted Brianna on the shoulder knowing what she was thinking before she turned and walked out of the room leaving behind her old life.
-o-o-o-
Overseer's Office
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
Later the three found themselves in the Overseer's Office after rushing through the chaos that had swept through the Vault due to the Security Officers running after the three of them. Thus leaving the Rad Roaches to have a free for all with the Vault Residents. This made the three even more sure that the Overseer was really becoming quite crazy for the Security should have been fighting against the Rad Roaches not chasing after them. After a few incidents with the chasing Security Officers and fighting through the Rad Roaches the three entered the Overseer's office thanks to Amata mentioning knowing that her Father had said something to her about a secret passage to get to the Vault Door. Therefore, won't have to go through the entire Security Force camped out in front of the Entrance Hall of the Vault.
Brianna was leaning against the wall keeping an eye on the door, while Amata was raiding the storage cabinets along the wall of the office for needed supplies. Shaun meanwhile was working on the Overseer's terminal to see if he can find a way to open the so-called secret passage. There were also the pair of Tom and Mary Holden who the trio had saved from the Security Guards guarding the door to the Entrance Hall from the Vault's Atrium. They were now huddling along one of the walls of the office talking quietly with one another. Then finally there was Tom's younger brother Adam who was watching the door alongside Brianna. Adam had joined the Vault's Security Force after the losses suffered by the earlier Mole Rat Invasion. When he had witnessed two of his fellow Officers about to gun down his own brother and sister-in-law, the only family he had left, he reacted opening fire on the other officers which allowed the couple to be extracted from the situation by Brianna and Shaun.
It would thanks to Adam that the group had managed to raid the Vault's Security Armory which allowed them to outfit themselves with Combat Armor which was something that surprised everyone in their little group. Since Combat Armor was not supposed to be in the Vault Armory in the first place. The Combat Armor had been held in a separate room of the Armory behind a code-locked door which Shaun had quickly managed to hack. The Combat Armor sets where not complete and only really had several chest plates along with leg greaves. Therefore, each of the three teenagers sported chest plates and leg greaves over their Vault Suits. Also in the hidden room where several types of rifles and shotguns but besides taking a pair of H&K C10 Combat Shotguns along with enough extra ammo for them and their current weapons the group left the stash of weapons alone. Confused at the reason for this unknown room filled with equipment the Vault officially didn't have the group moved on towards the Overseer's Office.
With a victorious cry Shaun finally managed to break into the terminal which had the group starting to look calmer than before since it won't be long now before they were out of the Vault and out of this madness. However, that changed when Shaun looked up in shock at what he was reading from the terminal.
"Damn. Apparently the Vault was opened before we were all born, several times in fact," he reported with a shocked look on his face which made the group all look at him in shock and confusion.
"That means the Overseer has been lying all this time about keeping the Vault closed," Mary Holden said with a defeated look her face. Brianna shook off her shock before coming around the desk and leaning against it next to her brother.
"Okay. Is there anything written about them?" she asked eying the screen of the Terminal making Shaun look through a few more screens of information before nodding.
"Yeah. Basically it appears the Overseer before Amata's Father opened the Vault Door due to several reasons. They explored the area surrounding the Vault and found a small settlement not far from the Vault where they started to trade with them. That explains how that equipment from the Armory got there," Shaun explained making the others nod in understanding.
"Alright can you download the data from their explorations for it will be quite useful to us when we leave the Vault behind," Brianna excitedly ordered her brother making him nod in understanding reaching for his Pip-Boy and taking out the connector cable from it before plugging it into the Terminal. After a few more moments it was done and Shaun looked up with a small smile on his face as he disconnected the cable letting it retract back into his Pip-Boy. He then went back to Terminal and looked through a few more screens before blinking in surprise.
"Oh. That is weird," Shaun mentioned out loud gathering the groups attention once more.
"What's weird Shaun?" Brianna asked with a frown looking over at her brother to see him reading something else on a screen which made his face suddenly pale in shock. Now surprised at her brother's response Brianna leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder but he still stayed there looking at the screen. Brianna traded looks with Amata before slapping the shoulder of Shaun finally breaking him from his shock.
"Again Shaun what is weird?" she asked him seriously making the older sibling sigh slightly before pushing away from the Terminal and looking over at Brianna.
"Apparently the Vault Door opened once more after Alphonse became Overseer and he left a few notes about it. He mentions that a single man and a pair of infants arrived in front of the Vault Door begging to be let in. At first Alphonse was just going to ignore him but he soon changed his mind when he mentioned that he was a trained doctor and physician which the Vault desperately needed due to not having anyone trained for that. Not to mention Aunt Anna was literally on her death bed at the time therefore Alphonse was desperate for anything to save her therefore let the man in along with the two infants. The man managed to save Aunt Anna's life and stayed around as the Vault's new Doctor," Shaun explained making the room look on in sheer shock even more so then the news that the Vault had been opened before.
"That was Dad and the two of us. It has to be. That means we were never born in the Vault like Dad has been telling us all this time. That means he lied to us," Brianna managed to whisper in some shock and a blink of her eyes. Amata wrapped an arm around her shoulder but Shaun only shook his head and looked back at the Terminal.
"It gets better Brianna. Alphonse also wrote a note about a conversation he had with the new arrival. It was dad introducing us to him in this very office. In this conversation Alphonse asked if the two of us where twins thanks to us looking close in age to one another at the time. Dad then answered no for Brianna was his only child and the boy is an infant he managed to save from something not mentioned in the note. That means the two of us where never related Brianna," Shaun bitterly reported making the group once again look in shock. Brianna looked wide-eyed at the boy she had been raised alongside before she suddenly shook her head and brought him into a hug.
"I don't care about that Shaun Carter for even if we are not officially related you are still my Brother that is not ever going to change you hear me," Brianna mentioned making Shaun nod against her chest.
"Yes ma'am!" he cheekily said with a small salute before he looked back at the Terminal.
"Alright then let's get the heck out of here," he mentioned before walking back to the Terminal and quickly brought a final screen on the monitor. Then with a groan of gears and hydraulics the desk rose up from the ground and the floor opened up showing the entrance to the Secret Passage.
"Well that's cool," Adam mentioned with a grin on his face. And with that the group made their way down the ladder and into the passage itself.
-o-o-o-
Entrance Hall
Vault 101
Capital Wasteland
With a series of groans a wall inside the Entrance Hall slid open showing the exit of the Overseer's Secret Passage. The group quickly made their way out of the passage and towards the control panel for the Vault Door. Looking around they saw no one in the Hall at all much to their pleasure. At the panel Shaun detached his Pip Boy's cable once more and slotting it into place on the panel. The screen of his Pip-Boy then flashed a quick message before an authorization screen popped up. Shaun quickly typed in a password he got from the Overseer's terminal which saw the Pip-Boy beep in response before the cover over the big red button on the panel popped open and the button started to flash. That done Shaun unplugged the cord from the panel letting it retract once more into the Pip-Boy before looking over at the group.
"Alright once that button is pushed everyone is going to know that the Vault Door has been opened. Therefore, Brianna, you, Amata, and Adam should get into cover just in case the security officers outside come rushing in," Shaun mentioned nodding the door leading to the rest of the Vault and the officers standing guard outside. He then turned to look over at the unarmed pair of Tom and Mary nodded themselves before taking cover by the Vault Door itself. That done Shaun turned back to the console, took a deep breath and slammed his hand on the big red button. With a heavy groan the Door started to open while flashing yellow lights started flashing throughout the Entrance Hall.
"What! Someone is opening the door! Get in their guys," a voice could be heard saying outside the hall. The door leading to the Vault slid open and a pair of Security Officers rushed in but where fired on by the group sending them crawling quickly into cover themselves. A few moments of this and the door was fully opened. Then with care the group slowly started to make their way back towards the door while keeping the Security Officers pinned from doing anything in response.
A moment later the pair of Brianna, and Shaun made it through the door just as several more officers exploded into the room along with Overseer Alphonse which had the two Carter siblings give the man jauntily salutes before Shaun slammed his hand down on a second red button on the outside control panel. The Vault Door then started to close but not before the group hear a sound of pure fury from the Overseer. Then with a click the door finished closing dropping the Entrance Tunnel into darkness. With several clicks of their own the group turned on the built-in lights on their Pip-Boys. A scream from Mary saw the group pointing their arms towards the woman to find her pointing her own flashlight beam down towards the ground. They all did so as well to find several aging skeletons scattered across the area. The group also as one gulped before they started to move on towards the distant light source which soon resolved into a small rickety door.
The group then quickly looked at one another once more before Brianna shoved the door open and warm sunlight spilled into the tunnel making them all gasp in some surprise. With some nervous care the group carefully walked out of the tunnel and into the outside world. The group gasped as one as they stared down at the ruins of the Capital Wasteland that was rolled out before them. It was this moment that finally saw it crystalized in the minds of the group of former Vault Dwellers that they were no longer in the safety of the Vault but in an Unknown Land full of unknown dangers and other such new instances. It was the start of something new for them all and in turn the people of the Capital Wasteland as well. Something that would make them a key element in the future of the Capital Wasteland. An element known as: Hope.
-o-Fin-o-
Well this is the third of my little shorts based in the post-apocalyptic world of Fallout and the second based in Capital Wasteland. Though this one does have some elements drawn from Fallout 4. The main thing being the character of Shaun, the Sole Survivor's Son, being raised alongside the Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3. To do this I had fudge the timeline a bit to make it work. The main point of this change is that the Institute didn't breach Vault 111 and kidnap Shaun till much later in time about thirty or so years before the Sole Survivor stumbles out of Vault 111 instead of seventy or so years like it is in game. Then a member of the Institute Team become quite guilty over the actions they took and managed to escape with baby Shaun to the Capital Wasteland. There the unnamed Institute Scientist managed to get injured someway, either by Raiders or one of the numerous nasty critters that call the Wasteland home. Then James and Star Paladin Cross stumble onto her and Baby Shaun in Springvale not far from Vault 101.
That said folks, this idea came to me pretty simply in that unlike other games which have the player choose between genders (Mass Effect mostly) I haven't seen any fanfiction for Fallout that have both versions of the player character being characters in a fanfiction story. In Mass Effect fanfiction this is seen with them being siblings, either as twins or just simple siblings. Not so in Fallout 3 fanfiction, at least as far as I know, therefore decided to change that with this story. I then took the idea further and merged an idea where Shaun wasn't raised by the Institute into it. Therefore, I do hope you like the idea.
For this story I am basing Shaun's character partly on my Sole Survivor Nora, and that of the Synth version of Shaun seen later in the game. Therefore, Shaun is quite a gearhead and capable engineer though he lean more towards engineering weapons hence him the one who built the BB Gun and later upgrades it into a sort of a psedo-10mm based Rifle we see it as in this story. This means he will be the one of the group who takes care of their weapons and later on their Power Armor. Brianna meanwhile is the main fighter of the group and sort of their leader though officially she shares it with Shaun.
Speaking of Brianna, I made her a lesbian for several reasons mostly due to general distaste for the other main male characters of the game being paired with her. That doesn't mean I am not the fan of the characters I just don't like them being paired with Brianna. This is mostly Butch, Charon, and any of the Brotherhood of Steel based Characters. The question though would be in later stories is wither she remain with Amata or move onto other relationships.
Jeez. Again with the long notes. Sorry about that but I do believe I am done now. I shall get to work on the next story. Another Fallout 4 just to let you know. Till then Ciao!