One by one, every last man and robot made it past the loading bay doors and as soon as we were all through and had gathered, I initiated closing procedures for the many doors.
While the dozen plus doors were in the midst of shutting, I turned to the troops, who were busy moving into the formation I had covered with them earlier. "Alright, here's the general plan for today's excursion. First, we're going to venture northward for a good while and once we reach the first 3-way intersection on the route, we'll head east and continue following the road to Vault 101… Any questions?"
I gave them several seconds to think of something, but no one came forward with anything. "Looks like we're good to set out, then. Remain in your spread out formation and follow my lead while protecting the convoy from any threats we encounter along the way."
"Roger that-" The many new Enclave recruits responded professionally and in sync.
Having said everything I wanted to, I took the lead position as per usual, held my Ravenger gauss minigun firmly within my grasp, and strode forward with the Amata, Don, and the rest of the convoy following right behind me.
...
After trudging across the capital wasteland for a little more than 2 hours at a decently fast jog and exterminating several dozen packs of mutated wildlife as well as multiple parties of raiders, which I found to be quite odd due to their number and frequency, we started rounding the bend located just right behind Vault 101.
"Keep it up for a bit longer, everyone. Our destination is in sight." I encouraged the tired troops who weren't used to running such extreme distances non-stop on top of getting involved in several skirmishes.
Not receiving any responses from them other than the muted huffing and puffing I could hear coming from within their power armor covered frames, I kept pushing forward on the crumbling asphalt road and before long; we came strolling into the cave entrance of the vault. So with us finally arriving at our destination, I told the guys to take a load off and rest for a bit whilst I made a call to my girl's dear ole dad.
*Ring...Ring...Rin-Katcha*
"We're here father-in-law."
"Okay, great, I'll send word to the door guards to let you in."
"Thanks, I'll see you in a minute."
"Yup, catch you in a second, son."
Ending the call there, I waited patiently and chatted with Amata since she was the only person here who was used to this kind of strenuous physical activity for extended periods. And after keeping ourselves entertained with each other's company for a minute or two, the thick gear shaped blast door guarding the vault began to move.
"The door's moving, Amata. We'll continue discussing this topic later."
"Okay."
Putting that conversation on hold for later, we rounded the men up who were still in the midst of breathing heavily and settling their heart rates, although nowhere near the level they were when we first strolled into this place. From there we corralled the troops towards the door and the minute the massive metal gear shaped door rolled out of the way and settled into place, I marched over with Amata in tow to our widowed fathers and the vault entrance's security team, who were all standing in place shocked at the sight of 77 men decked out in state-of-the-art power armor suits and wielding all manner of weaponry.
"You guys good?" I questioned, breaking them from their stunned states.
"Who are all these people, Harold?" Amata's dad asked, completely ignoring or not even registering what I had just said a mere moment ago.
"New recruits courtesy of the Enclave." I answered playfully.
"...I'm guessing since they haven't opened fire on us that you've somehow managed things diplomatically?"
"Nope, these are the men I've managed to convert to my side when Amata, Don, and I went on a mission to take over a satellite relay station."
*Sigh* "Why am I not surprised you managed to perform such a fantastical feat... Anyway, good job, kid. So what's the purpose of today's visit?" He responded whilst my own dad just shot me a thumbs up and a proud grin from the side.
"Well, as you can see, I got all these new mouths to feed, plus the others back at base, so I've come to do some grocery shopping once again."
"I had a feeling this was going to happen one of these days, so I had food production begin expanding months ago to accommodate you and your group's growing caloric needs, at least until you could properly get your own farms up and running. I hope you're not too far out from that because it's not exactly easy to take on another hundred mouths to feed right out of the blue."
"We're about 20 days off from our first harvest, so we're not that far off, but that aside, I have some stuff to discuss with you and my dad. Do you want to head to your office?"
"Alright then, go send your guys down to get what you need, so we can move onto the next thing on your agenda list."
Nodding my head in response, I commanded my robots to begin ferrying food supplies for all the new hungry mouths I gained. Once I had speedily dealt with that, I had Don and the boys disengage from their power armor suits and go relax while I ventured off with my other half, dad, and father-in-law.
It's a damn good thing my father-in-law had the foresight to expand Vault 101's food production beyond their current excess. I can only imagine the headache and trouble I would have to go through to deal with that particular issue in the short term.
…
When the four of us made it to his office, we first moved over and sat on the comfortable dark brown leather couches he had surrounding a now priceless old world stained cherry wood coffee table, and as soon as everyone got situated I initiated the conversation. "So let me give you a rundown of recent events before I move onto what I would like to cover today."
"Have at it, son." My father said for both himself and the overseer.
Getting the go ahead, I began dispensing the details about what we've been up to out in the wasteland.
...
It took dozens of minutes to fill them in and bring them up to speed, but once I did; I found both my dad and my fiancée's looking at me and my partner in crime with expressions that were a mixture of amazement, satisfaction, as well as a wee bit of worry.
"You kids accomplished quite a lot out there and in such a short span of time at that. Color us impressed." The overseer said after hearing the string of events that took place beyond the safe confines of the vault.
"Nn, we did and I think our achievements out there should allow us to level up from being kids, don't you think, dad?" Amata asked with hope in her crystal clear blue eyes.
"Oh, of course not, Amata. You'll always be my little girl, no matter how old you get and how much you accomplish." He returned from the other side of the coffee table, much to her chagrin.
"Does that include me, too?" I asked jokingly.
"It sure does." My father answered this time before the four of us burst out laughing.
After having a good chuckle, I steered the conversation back to what I wanted to cover. "So now that we've got you two up to date on the current situation, I wanted to discuss linking Vault 101 with the metro tunnels. The one my robots are busy clearing, repairing, and expanding as we speak."
Taking a breath, I continued with the last bit. "In addition to that, I would like to bring up the future of the vault."
"Oh, and that is?"
"Opening up the vault and turning it into something more than what it currently is."
"...Alright, you got me intrigued, son. Tell me what you have in mind?"
"Well, as you've just been informed, I plan on clearing out and taking over the entirety of the D.C. metros and making them mine. So I was thinking since I'm already in the process of extending and expanding the metro to my base, I might as well link the vault up with them as well."
"Hmm, wouldn't that increase the risk of danger to the residents here?"
"I suppose in some ways, yes, but I believe the positives far outweigh the demerits of the linkage. And the potential risks would only exist for a very small window of time before defenses are put in place."
"Care to elaborate?" Amata's old man asked, still interested in hearing me out.
"Sure, so first things first it would allow quick and easy travel between the RobCO Facility and here. This would give all of us the ability to safely visit each other whenever we feel like it in a very short span of time instead of having to make multi hour long trips back and forth across the surface of the wasteland that is teeming with danger and innumerable threats."
"That is a big selling point." My father commented whilst his buddy, the overseer, nodded his head along in agreement.
"Two, it would open a whole host of opportunities for the residents here. So instead of being trapped down here underground all their lives living relatively boring existences, they can venture above ground and explore the world once more if they're willing to risk it. Which I imagine many will, once some structure has been established and armaments are plentiful."
"Humans are adventurers and explorers at heart, so I imagine there are quite a few who would jump at the opportunity to venture into the outside world above ground."
"Right, and three, it would make it far easier to turn the vault into the very first city of the nation I plan on establishing in the not too distant future. That is, if you decide to go along with my incredibly ambitious plans and allow me to."
"Mmm... I suppose you are going to marry my daughter and take control of the rains with her along with everything else that comes with it someday, so I might as well make the transition of power easier. Okay young man, I'll participate in this plan of yours. However, we need to discuss the real nitty-gritty details before I and the vault really join you in this mammoth sized goal you want to accomplish."
[ Ding! New Quest ]
✩ | Rising From The Ashes | Objectives: Establish a new nation of 100,000 strong and conquer one of the 50 former U.S. states. Rewards: Perks | Founder |, | Human Ingenuity |, | Natural Born Leader |, 100 S.P.E.C.I.A.L. Points, 1,000 Skill Points, 10,000,000 Exp.
Holy shit, that's one hell of a quest!
Pumped due to the answer I received and the new quest I just acquired, I was about to start laying things out in detail when yet another came in.
[ Ding! New Quest ]
✩ | Expanding The Line | Objectives: Link the RobCO facility and Vault 101 together via metro rail. Rewards: Perk | Civil Engineer |, 10 Repair Points, 10,500 Exp.
Nice, more free rewards.
Even more stoked than moments ago, I began passionately laying out what I've already come up with. "Okay, so this is what I've come up with so far-"
| Creatures Killed & EXP Gained |
Albino Radscorpions (2) 5,208 Exp - Bloatflies (30) 558 Exp - Giant Radscorpions (4) 2,678 Exp - Giant Soldier Ants (15) 5,580 Exp - Giant Worker Ants (44) 8,184 Exp - Molerats (39) 2,902 Exp - Radscorpions (15) 2,790 Exp - Raiders (31) 8,649 Exp - Vicious Dogs (9) 837 Exp - Total Exp 37,386
| New Loot |
Aid: D.C. Journals of Internal Medicine (1) - Bags of RadAway (10) - Jet (13) - Med-x Syringes (8) - Stimpaks (14) - Psycho Syringes (7)
Ammo: 10mm Rounds (1,947) - 12 Gauge Shotgun Shells (313) - 5.56 Rounds (4,177)
Money: Bottle Caps (1,199)
Weapons: CA12 Combat Shotguns (7) - CSG10 Submachine Guns (11) - Frag Grenades (35) - Frag Mines (15) - Molotov Cocktails (11) - R91 Assault Rifles (23) - Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifles (9)
Weapon Magazines: 12 Round CA12 Combat Shotgun Drum Magazines (22) - CSG10 Submachine Gun 30 Round Magazines (46) - CSG10 Submachine Gun 65 Round Drum Magazines (3) - 30 Round R91 Assault Rifle Magazines (92) - 30 Round Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifle Magazines (32)