[u][b]Simon Barnaky - Palace of Caesar[/b][/u] “Very well then. I shall have to make do with the current state of affairs as regards the Khans. They will have their autonomy if that is your preference your excellencies.”, Gladstone said, assuming a kindly demeanor that didn't quite jibe with the cold and calculating look in the man's eyes....a look he had seen before. It reminded him of the expression on the face of the High Elder's long dead predecessor, when he had sent Latham, Dekker, and him East along with their supporters back in '90. He had put on a good show, as Gladstone was doing now...but they had all known they were really being exiled. It only confirmed the obvious when they never received replies to the reports they, and when time and the struggle to survive claimed his comrades, eventually he alone, sent West faithfully. And when, sixty long years later, Owyn Lyons made his own journey to Washington, he had refused any contact with them....it was only after Lyons himself became unable to ignore the misery around him any longer and cut his own ties with the West did he reach out to him, but by then it was too late for them to do much for each other except provide moral support. And of course, once Maxon had seized power contact ceased entirely again. While it was certainly possible that his statements here and now had caused Gladstone to cool towards him...he no doubt had expected him to endorse his plan without demur...it also occurred to Barnaky that the man may well never have been acting in good faith to begin with. Whatever was happening, he needed to be on his guard with the Western Elders...that much was crystal clear now. Back in Omaha, Barnaky began issuing orders for the first moves of the new game he had found himself in. “This war is of your making, it is your choice how to fight it", Gladstone concluded, "I shall send word for the offending articles to be held back in storage...”, he paused for a moment, then continued"..."though perhaps I could call for a list of the other non-Chemical weapons to be forwarded to both of you. I would recommend the deployment of some of these articles, if only for the tactical ability they will afford us. We have multiple MIRV capable Fat Man’s for instance, able to wipe out thousands in the blink of an eye. Along with Gauss minigun emplacements, and thermobaric cluster weaponry deployable by bomber or missile batteries if modified correctly.” "Ordnance such as you describe is not prohibited, and with proper deployment should be quite effective against the massed feral attacks the Cult likes to use", Barnaky replied diplomatically, "I'd love to hear more about your capabilities in these fields, especially in tactical air support....." [u][b] Capital Wasteland - The Citadel - F Wing[/b][/u] The old mainframe room was sweltering hot....the air conditioning unit had been stripped by scavengers before the Children had moved in...a state of affairs that wasn't helped now that the mainframe, after two days spent getting power restored to the underground F and G Wings of the ancient and crumbling structure, was finally active. All Scribe Carruthers could do is pray to whatever Gods may be listening that he would find the items on the list Dr Strasse had given him quickly. Scooting his office chair to face each of the four terminals before him, he launched different searches on each. This would go a lot quicker if Jensen were here....but the Children had her setting up flood lights to illuminate their "relic"....a Mk 28 nuclear bomb, salvaged from Liberty Prime's wreckage, that had been left behind first by Maxon when he had embarked on his doomed Expedition to the Commonwealth, and again by what was left of the Eastern Brotherhood when they abandoned the Capital Wasteland. Overlooked during the brief occupation by the Cult, it was found by the Children who had driven them out, who naturally took it as a sign of Atom's favor and a group of them settled in what was now deemed a Holy site. Noticing data scrolling up the screen in the third terminal, Carruthers scooted over to it. The search he had been doing was for a name, and it had come up with results. Carruthers opened the first one. It was the crew manifest for the Prwydyn dated November 20, 2287, notes indicating it was at the time of the Airship commencing it's final voyage. Under Vertibird Wing 02, he found the following entry: [color=39b54a]>Vertibird 2-4 > Pilot: LSGT KYLE, ROBERT J KT-351LS Co-Pilot: LSGT HARRISON, CYNTHIA M KT-956MT LWO: SLCR STILES, PAUL R KV-451GA WO: LCR JOHNSON, BRYAN N KV-570GD [/color] Also present were the index numbers for their individual entries in the Chapter's Codex. Carruthers scribbled them all down and saved the document to his Pip-Boy. He had no idea why Lancer-Sergeant Kyle was important, but orders were orders and the Brethren he served with may be of use as well. As he wrote, suddenly something warm and yielding pressed against his back, and a chin rested on his right shoulder. "Whatcha writing, Dave?", Alexandra, his 'minder' from the Children living here, purred into his ear. "Not again", Carruthers thought to himself. Part of the complicated agreement they, with the help of the Talon Company mercs who had escorted them here, had worked out with Confessor Polonium, the leader of the Children of Atom who resided here, had been that they would agree to be watched by one of the Children at all times when they were working, and had to get approval to remove any object from the building. As the Talon mercs had made it perfectly, and rather saltily, clear at the briefing at Adams that they would not raise their hand to the Children for any amount of caps except in self-defense, they had no choice but to agree to their terms. His first minder, Jack, was all of twelve and quickly got bored with his assigned task and began skylarking about and asking incessant questions about everything he did. After a day, he was abruptly replaced by Alexandra, who was even more distracting....for a entirely different reason. It wasn't that she was unfriendly or anything like that....the problem was that she was entirely too friendly. "Nothing important, Alex", he replied, trying not to react as she pressed up against him a little more, "Just some old personnel records." "The Prwydyn, eh", she said as she leaned over him and looked at the screen, "That was their airship. It was neat....too bad they Maxoned all the stuff they built that thing from." It was sad, Carruthers thought, that the memory of the last Maxon would come to this....as an word to describe theft, or a thief. Even the Talon Company mercs called Raiders 'Maxons'. "Everybody loved the Brotherhood when Old Man Lyons was alive", Alexandra went on, "Even though he was an unbeliever he was a righteous man, but when Atom called him home he was replaced by that asshole Maxon. He just took what he wanted from people...they came to Megaton for the Great Relic at the center of town, they claimed it was because it was dangerous, and threatened to kill anyone who got in their way. The Grand Zealot wanted to fight, we weren't even alone because the unbelievers in town were tired of the Brotherhood Maxoning from them all the time and stuck up for us. The Prophet..the real one, not that Heathen in the Pitt...said no, that it was a sign that Atom wanted us to leave the Capital Wasteland. That was the start of the Great Pilgrimage. After we left, they Maxoned everything that wasn't nailed down to build their airship. They even Maxoned Rivet City's reactor! I tell you, no-one missed Maxon once he finally left to plague Boston. As talking about the past seemed to distract her from rubbing up against him, Carruthers decided to see how long he could keep her talking. "What happened next?", he asked. "Oh, that's the best part!", Alexandra exclaimed excitedly, "We...well, my parents, as I wasn't born yet...went on the Great Pilgrimage of Atom, the faithful spread out all the way to His Holy Island, in the far North. There, we found more, and bigger, relics of Atom, including a ship that can go underwater!" "A submarine", Carruthers said, as a icy shiver ran down his back, "Dear God." "You're [i]so[/i] smart!", Alexandra said, giving him a quick hug, "Anyway, not long after the Grand Inquisitor Tektus found the nucleus on His Holy Island, the Prophet began to have dreams. It took him a while to understand what Atom wanted from us, but he came to realize that Atom, in His mercy, had not turned his back on the Capital Wasteland...he wanted us to [b]save[/b] it!" "So", she continued, "The Prophet revealed to us Atom's Plan, and work began to make the Vessel ready for the sea, and to get more ships, and gather as many of the Faithful as we could find, and prepare ourselves for the sign!" "What sign was that?" "Word reached us that a great host of heathens had invaded the Capital Wasteland, she replied, "and were sweeping all before them in the name of their False God. And that the Brotherhood had fled, and only Talon Company stood against them, but they couldn't hold out much longer. It was then that the Prophet said this was the sign they had been waiting for, that it was Atom's Will that the heathen be driven out of the Capital Wasteland forever, and proclaimed the Great Crusade!". "Tektus, at the head of the Two Thousand, landed in Alexandria", she continued, "and headed North. Learning that Talon Company were still holding the Mall, and the area around Rivet City and the Purfier, but that most of them were pinned down at Fort Bannister, Tektus realized if he smote the heathens besieging Ft Bannister, that Commander Jabsco would, with or without us, move on the city to relieve the siege of the Mall..to save his men...thus serve Atom's Will whether he realized it or not. So Tektus used one of the small relics from the Vessel to release His Holy Light to scour the heathens, and Ft Bannister was saved. Atom's Light also softened Jabsco's heart, and he agreed to join the Crusade, opened their Armory to the Faithful, and as one Talon Company and the Two Thousand marched on the City. "By small relic", Carruthers said, nearly speechless by what the girl had said, "do you mean Tektus used a nuclear weapon on them?". "Of course.", Alexandra said matter-of-factly, "Their imaginary god didn't...couldn't...save them from Atom's Light. Nor did it at Alexandria. Or in Falls Church. Or in Chevy Chase. Or in Bethesda...they had finally had enough after Bethesda, and left to the North East, vanquished by Atom." "After that, it was over", Alexandra said. "There are still some of them out there, raiding from time to time, but they fear Atom's power now so have not dared to send a Army into His land again. My dad helped drive the heathens from the Pentagon, and when Elder Lyon's grave and the Relics of Liberty Prime were found here, this site was declared Holy and the Prophet gave his blessing for him to to dwell here and he sent for mom and me. It's nice, but I liked the Holy Island better....the water [i]there[/i] was full of the glow, but here the Purifier takes it all out of the river, so swimming isn't as fun." "That's unfortunate", Carruthers said, it just now occurring that he should have been recording this. "It's OK", Alexandra replied, "The Glow is too much for those without the gift to withstand, I understand this." Her voice then became low and husky as she pressed up against his back again and began to toy with his hair, "Speaking of the Gift, Dave, there is something I wanted to discuss with you...." "O-Ok", Carruthers replied, his mouth going dry as he realized the girl meant to seduce him. "W-wh-what is on your mind?" He felt her attempt to spin the office chair around, and instinctively raised his feet off the ground so she could spin the chair so he now faced her. She then plopped down in his lap and drew up to him nose to nose. He could see that the pupils of her admittedly lovely brown eyes were dilated like dishpans. "As you hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of Atom.", she said gravely. "do you understand what that means, Dave?" He shook his head no, now too flustered to speak. "It means", she continued, "that as my Mother passed Atom's gift, which she received from her mother, to me in her womb, it is Atom's Will that in turn I share His gift with others, until that glorious day comes in which all the world can join together in His Glow. I've chosen you to help me carry out His will." After a long pause, she continued. "I want you to give me a child, Dave." Before he could speak, Sister Jensen walked in through the open door behind Alexandra. She didn't appear surprised. "Alexandra", Jensen said, "The Confessor would like to speak to you for a moment. Now, please." She glared at Jensen for a moment, then reluctantly got up and walked around her and down the hall. Once the door to the stairs down the hall slammed shut, Jensen entered the room. "Sister, I...", Carruthers began, only to be cut off. "Don't worry about it", she said, patting him on the shoulder then peering at another of the monitors, "The Confessor explained it all to me. They are hoping for at least one pregnancy from our visit, and they've already gotten to Hagen and Garcia so you may as well join in on the fun. They even offered me a husband...so long as I stayed and converted as they don't want the baby brought up an 'unbeliever'...I politely declined of course." "Why us?", he asked, "surely there are plenty of men around." "They have a rudimentary understanding of how genetics work", Jensen replied, "they want to avoid inbreeding, they figure the babies you fellows give them will be smarter and healthier than the average Wastelander, and most importantly, they want to spread what they call 'Atom's Gift' as widely as possible." "She mentioned that", Carruthers said, "Did he say what trait they are attempting to pass on?" "He claims someone with the Gift has a near total immunity to radiation", she said, "sounds preposterous, but he believes it, and if true it would explain the things I'm hearing." She looked up from the monitor and down at his lap, then back at the monitor again. "Anyway, Alexandra is no doubt a lot cleaner than the whores in Rivet City, not to mention livelier in the sack", she then added dryly, "and clearly she had your attention...." Embarrassed, Carruthers pushed himself up against the table, much to Jensen's amusement. "For fuck's sake, Liz!", he groused. "Hello", Jensen said, as data started to come up on her screen, "Got something.....a after action report." She scanned over the report, then went back and began to read it closely. "Fuck..me...running", Jensen said slowly as she read further. Reports of Vertibirds falling out of the sky, weapons failing to fire, all but the most heavily shielded electronics failing for no reason...if she had been reading this anywhere else she would have assumed it was a sick joke...but it wasn't. "Dave, you have got to read this. Where is Dunwich Borers? Look it up for me." Carruthers called up the map on his pip boy and looked it up. "Centreville, Virginia", Carruthers replied after a bit, "About 20 miles West of here." "Find Hagen and get him warming up the SATCOM right the fuck now even if you have to pry him off his new 'friend'", Jensen said in a tone that brooked no dissent. "You, my friend, have struck paydirt."