[u][b][color=ed1c24]James Gregor Castner[/color][/b][/u]

As they delved further into the brush, following the ticking of the tracker, James’s mind wandered. What if the crew survived? Earlier he’d decided that he’d fight them if he had to, but should he try to convince them to help? Or even lie? There wasn’t a good answer. He’d just have to see what happened when they arrived.

As they pushed further into the undergrowth, he could suddenly make out silhouettes of several people. He was tempted to call to whoever it was, thinking it could be his comrades, but something didn’t feel right. That instinct was confirmed when the forms became more clear: cultists. Four of them, with some sort of pet mutant. And… three bodies. His brothers. Whatever harsh feelings he had towards them were forgotten for the moment at the sight of their blood, of the cultists treating them like trash.

"Well?" A feminine voice asks, "What have you learned? The Prophet is eager to know why The Brotherhood is here."

One of the cultists stood and approached the leader with a bow, "The craft and its passengers were indeed armed high priestess, but we have no indication that there was any more to this group than the corpses we recovered. It seems unlikely they came to attack us and perhaps merely wandered off course."

"Or it is a scouting party," The head cultists replies as she pets the gulper, who snuggles into her open palm eagerly, "The Brotherhood would be apt to send such an expedition to asses a situation, and then they would send their soldiers to wipe us out. Such is their way."

"Surely they would not dare. They could not hope to succeed..."

"That would not deter them...in any case, The Prophet has foreseen this eventuality. We must destroy all evidence of this craft and capture any Brotherhood soldiers that remain and bring them to The Prophet. Plant the explosives and take the bodies, we will take them to the Deep Fog and bury them in The Mother's grace. Everything else goes to The Nucleus."

The cultist bows, "Of course. By The Mother it will be done."

The cultists then continue about their work, hurrying to obey the commands of this 'high priestess' and unaware of the group's presence.

James would like to seem these cult freaks try to resist Maxson’s war machine, but that wasn’t going to happen as far as he knew. Though more might come when they get no report back. He couldn’t allow them to blow up the vertibird, that was for sure.  

“Well if we want the brotherhood gear looks like we are gonna have to fight for it.” James whispered to the group “don’t seem to have noticed us yet so we could attempt to sneak around and fire on them from all sides... Loud but should get the job done quick. ”

"You're kidding?" Corrine hissed.  "There's at least four of them, plus the leader, and the gulper -- and please trust me when I say they are stronger than they look -- even if we take out one or two before they see us, we're still outnumbered."

“Or...” James added on, “since I’m injured I could run out, act like fish face just attacked me and ask for help, make a big show out of it. Assuming they don’t just attempt to shot at me on sight whilst they are distracted dealing with me you can sneak up and take them out quietly or hell maybe even try to capture them.”

"Who do ya think yer talkin' to?  Because I ain't actually shot a gun before and last I checked, ammo was limited."  She looked between Castner, James, then Steve.  "They think the Brotherhood were scoutin' the place out, and are lookin' for survivors to take back to their base.  The Nucleus.  That means they've done something with...or, to...the Children of Atom."  Corrine shook her head, sadly.  "We can pose as Brotherhood, all of us, and just let ourselves be captured, get into the heart of the cult and find some way to...you know...make it explode.  It's a pre-war nuclear sub.  We'd save the town, at least."  She swallowed.  "Not sure we stay alive for many more hours, otherwise, considering our condition and their numbers."

He was silent during this exchange, gauging their ideas. The vertibird supplies could definitely help the town in the short term, but a few laser rifles and some power armor might not be enough in the long term. The chance of successfully infiltrating the Nucleus seemed slim, but not a bad idea. but they were going to blow the vertibird if they didn’t act.

“For once I agree with the Enclaver. We need those supplies. We could attempt to infiltrate the nucleus another night, but tehy’re going to blow up what we need right now if we don’t do something.”, he whispered urgently. He turned to the Enclaver. His offer to be a distraction was noble, but seemed unnecessary. “I don’t think we need to you to do that James. We have enough of an advantage by catching them from surprise at multiple angles.”, he looked to Corrine next, though he addressed all of them. “I think we can take them if we have Steve and I fire our powerful guns against the leader and the gulper. Those two can either rally the troops, or sniff us out with their… enhanced abilities.”