[center][color=8dc73f][b]The Jaded Empire - Swick - Track Town (Michigan International Speedway[/b][/color][/center]


The tornado siren began to wail causing quite a stir, without a second thought many of The Empress’s soldiers went into crisis mode, fetching their armor and weapons and reporting to the tunnel entrance. Swick ran into the broadcasting tower and grabbed the radio. “MAYDAY MAYDAY; THE U HAS BEEN ATTACKED, I REPEAT THE U HAS BEEN ATTACKED THERE ARE NO SURVIVORS.”

Swick recognized Heart’s voice, they had served Calypso for years and were good friends, “Heart, what the hell is going on?”

“We were delivering supplies to The U when we arrived two vertibirds flew off from right by the hospital and went north,” Heart sighed, “There is nobody left, they killed everyone. Walter was barely alive when we got here, he said the attackers were wearing black armor. He managed to knock a piece from one of the attackers shoulder.”

“Black armor? Power Armor?”

“That’s what Walter described, the kid has only seen Brotherhood power armor before.”

Swick swept his hand over his head, “Sound like the Enclave, but…”

“I know, they were wiped out in Grayditch and nobody has seen or heard from them since,” Heart agreed with Swick’s assumption.

“No way, you’re right, it was like they disappeared off the planet. Wasn’t there a ragtag bunch of Brotherhood misfits running around the CW?”

“Yeah, but if I recall they had painted their shit red, doubt it was them.”

Swick grabbed the track PA, “ASSEMBLE AT THE TUNNEL, BRING THE BUS AND JEEP I WILL BE RIGHT THERE.” This sped up the soldiers response, the old school bus fired up along with the Jeep and waited just outside of the tunnel. 

“One more thing Swick, they were using energy weapons, lasers and plasma,” Heart’s voice became desperate, “There are ashes everywhere.”

“I am heading down to the tunnel, our ETA should be around an hour, Swick out.” He grabbed his armor and slung it on then grabbed his AR15 and put a few extra magazines on his plate vest. He descended the stairs and jogged to the tunnel to his assembled troops, “The U has been attacked, no survivors. At this time we are unsure who it was, and it seems as though the area is clear. Load up and move out, be on high alert.”


[center][color=8dc73f][b]Lexy - The Grand[/b][/color][/center]


Lexy strummed her knuckles on the table as she listened to the chatter on the radio, Heart had managed to fill her in also, but the mystery guests left no clues other than ashes and the single piece of armor. “Lexy to Camp Grayling. I need all available aircraft in the air ASAP.”

“[i]Yeepppp[/i],” a scratchy voice replied, “We have two available aircraft to fill your request, the others are undergoing routine maintenance. Lemme guess, The U?”

“Yeah, we have not seen any aircraft here at The Passage area, so split them up, one to The U and one on patrol. We have a chopper here to cover the northern area.”

“So what do we do if we find these birds, shoot them down with my good looks?” Johnson said with what grin he had left on his ghoulish face.

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious Johnson, just try to find them and we will organize a land attack,” Lexy smiled from the smartass comment, “I need to get ahold of Capital City and get the Sat-com set up to transmit to New Vegas so Calypso knows.”

“Roger that chica. I’ll order them up and have Sync enroute to Capital City to aid with the Sat-Com” 



[center][color=8dc73f][b]Capital City (Lansing) - Late Afternoon[/b][/color][/center]


Johnson piloted the old single engine plane; landing it softly on the Lansing airport runway coming to a stop in front of the waiting Satcom team.. “Johnson, long time no see.”

“How’ve ya been old friend,” Johnson reached out and shook Rick’s hand, the two ghouls had been stationed in Michigan since before the Great War. “I see you brought Sync along, good, we’ll need him to get this piece of crap going.”

Sync went to work immediately, the crew gathered whatever parts he needed to hook the Satcom back up to the small reactor. “The powersource is not sufficient for lengthy uplinks, do use it sparingly.” Sync informed the team as he pointed at a fusion core before inserting it.

“We will wait until everyone has collaborated their findings before attempting to reach Calypso.”

“It'll be a one shot wonder then?” asked Rick.

“Apparently so, Calypso needs to invest in better parts rather than lavish shit for her palace,” replied Johnson, the group all nodded in agreement, “I will talk to her about it when she gets back I guess.”


[center][color=8dc73f][b]Back at The U[/b][/color][/center]


Swick kicked a pile of ashes, “Nothing,” he swept his arms around, “What was the point of this, there’s nothing missing.”

Two soldiers came running up to Swick and Heart, “Sir, the only thing missing from inside the hospital were all the documents from the research facility. Other than overturned furniture and carts, there seems to be nothing else missing.”

“Who would want some old research paperwork?” asked Heart.

“I have no idea, but we need to hightail it to Capital City, all reports from the other settlements have nothing to report, just like those birds vanished,” Swick looked around, “Round up and move out.” He led the group of soldiers to Capital City. By the time they got there it was nearly midnight.

Swick took a seat in front of the monitor and camera, they were going to send a voice only message alongside a video message in hopes at least one of them would reach Calypso. Heart handed Swick the piece of armor while Sync made the final preparations to connect to the satellite and flipped the breaker. The monitor flickered to life as the reactor hummed to life, “Unit is now operational Sir.” Heart stood behind Swick as the screen read, connecting followed by three dots that flashed one after another, after a few moments the system beeped and read, connection to satellite confirmed.

Swick cleared his throat and hit record, “We are The Jaded Empire attempting to reach The Jaded Empress Calypso. Yesterday afternoon The U was attacked by an unknown entity arriving by two vertibirds. The attackers were wearing black armor and utilized various energy weapons overtaking The U. The attackers arrived from the north and left no survivors, then vacated the area returning north. Where they came from and who they were are still unknown. The vertibirds were not seen after that, we sent out foot patrols and air patrols but to no avail. The search is still underway, but at this time the whereabouts of the attackers have not been discovered. Much of the settlement was burnt and ashes of settlers were strewn about the area. The only thing of interest that has been found was that the research center had been stripped of all documents. No major damage was done to the hospital other than overturned desks, carts and a few lab benches. I suspected The Enclave.”

Heart then held the piece of armor in front of the camera, “This was all that was found, everything screams Enclave, but they haven't been seen or heard from in years.”

“Sir, the core is rapidly losing power, the uplink will be lost momentarily,” Sync informed the men.

“Calypso, hopefully this works and you receive this message. We wi….shit!” Swick smacked the desk as the transmission was brought to an abrupt halt.