Headquarters: Capital Wasteland - Chapter Forty Five (Patreon)

It took just over thirty minutes for the older man to inspect each of our offered firearms. He took his time, racking, clearing, and looking inside every single one with a flashlight, even checking the barrels once he had confirmed they were unloaded. When he was done, he let out a long breath, shaking his head.

“As much as I wish I could, I can’t afford to buy all of these from ya,” He revealed, tapping one of the pump-action shotguns, the last weapon he inspected. “I don’t know where you found these beauties, but they appear to be in factory-quality condition, completely untouched. Hell, I think I might have racked some of them for the first time. A fair price from me would be at least four thousand caps, and I can’t afford that, not without some time to reach out to some friends. And I doubt you have a few days.” 

“What can you afford?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’ll take three of the 10mm submachine guns, the three service rifles, and one of the hunting shotguns,” He responded, pointing to each of the guns. “And I can give you one thousand eight hundred for them. Don’t bother negotiating, that's already all I can offer.”

I frowned, looking at all the guns we had brought. The shop owner was buying just about half of them, which left eight remaining. I was considering whether I could sell the remaining weapons to some of the other stores around the area, before the shop owner spoke up. 

“If I could make a suggestion?” He said, gesturing to the weapons. “The city militia is always looking for high-quality weapons, and this is just about the best possible. I’ll endorse their quality, which will make the sale quick and easy… if you promise that next time you come on some gear like this, we sit down and negotiate. This is the second large delivery of pristine guns you brought me, and I want in on whatever you're up to. I got enough contacts to move this kind of goods, but that can only happen after we’ve reached an agreement, and I've had a chance to talk to my people.”

I narrowed my eyes, looking at the older man. In all likelihood, this was just the beginning for both weapons and ammo, so having a contact to sell the weapons to would definitely be a good thing. On the other hand, saturating the Capital Wasteland with high-quality firearms might not be the best idea.

Sure, a lot of them would go toward arming ordinary citizens, but they would undoubtedly eventually trickle down to the raiders and other less-than-scrupulous groups. Our main advantage over raiders at the moment was just how few of them were armed with guns powerful enough to pierce our armor. I was not looking forward to a day when more, or even most of them, were properly armed.

Then again, we did have lower-powered options. The 10mm submachine gun wasn't actually all that powerful, and our armor would handle it pretty well. Same with the Tommy gun look-alikes. If we upgraded our armor and stuck to pistol calibers, then by and large, the threats to us, and anyone smart enough to wear armor, would be minimized. Make it a mix of those and actual pistols, we could make a good bit of money without worrying about jacking up anyone's threat level too much. Plus, it wasn't like raiders or ghouls were wearing that much armor, so the lower-caliber weapons would still help the citizens who bought them.

“Alright. It might be a few days, but we will come back and discuss a better way to sell our finds,” I said with a nod. 

“Good. Give a minute, I gotta shut down the shop so I can take you to see Lucas,” he said with a nod. “It will be tight, but I think I can get him to buy these.”

I nodded, and while he closed up, Johnson and I pulled the guns he was purchasing from their bags and laid them on the table. The shop owner handed me the one thousand eight hundred caps he owed us, and a few minutes later, we left his shop behind. While we were following behind him, Carlos came with us, while the rest of Johnson's squad headed to the main entrance. There was no reason for all of us to be marching through the city, and they could meet us at the entrance once we left. 

It was a quick walk through the city, passing by homes built of scrap and salvage. It was interesting to see how well-made the city was, even though it was built from recycled junk welded together. I suppose that they would have to get good at building with what they had if they wanted to survive. Considering there were likely some pretty harsh winters in this area, the buildings would have to be built pretty sturdy to withstand the snow.

We eventually arrived at an office, the older man stepping inside confidently. There were a few people inside, most of them in the same modified and painted combat armor as the rest of the town patrol. At the back end of the building, sitting at a desk in a corner was Lucas Simms. He was wearing some sort of protective vest, but behind him on a coat rack was his Sheriff Duster and Hat. As we approached, I tried not to think of how much easier it would have been to steal his outfit in a Fallout playthrough if he occasionally took it off like that. Meanwhile, he looked up as we approached, a slight scowl on his face until his eyes found our guide.

“Caleb Bennet, what can I do for you?” Lucas said, eyes flicking back to me, Johnson, and Carlos. “Who are your friends?”

“Here on business, Sheriff,” the old man, Caleb, said. “These here are customers, came to me looking to sell some guns, but they got way too much for me to purchase. They are near-perfect condition, some of the best quality guns I’ve seen.” 

“Is that right?” he asked rhetorically, eyeing our armor and kit. “And who exactly are your customers?” 

“My name's Conner, this is my second in command, Johnson, and one of my soldiers, Carlos,” I responded, gesturing to my comrades. “I lead the new local branch of Wasteland Company, a mercenary group that has set up shop nearby.”

“You look well armed,” the sheriff said. “You the folks who been supplying the hospital with all that fresh goods?”

“Thats right,” I said with a nod. “Happy to help keep the city healthy.”

“Mhmm,” He said, his tone telling me he either didn’t believe me, or at least didn’t care. “And now you're bringing in weapons?”

“Lay off them, Sheriff, you really going to interrogate them when they want to sell the good guys guns?” Caleb pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the Sheriff. 

“... fine, let's see what you got.”

We showed off the weapons, Lucas taking each one and looking them over, laying them out on a nearby table. After looking at everything, he nodded. 

“Alright, if Caleb vouches for their quality, I’ll approve the purchase,” the sheriff nodded. “Two thousand three hundred caps, take it or leave it.” 

“We’ll take it,” I responded easily, reaching out to shake his hand with a nod. “Pleasure doing business with you, Sheriff."

It took a while to hand over the caps, as Lucas had to send a trio of runners to the mayor's office, as they didn’t keep that much capital on hand. But, thirty minutes later, we were paid. We shook hands with Lucas and Caleb before stepping out of the building and heading directly to the entrance of Megaton. The rest of my men were ready and waiting to head out, with Johnson and myself taking the lead. 

Heading back was a bit more stressful than making our way to Megaton had been, both because of how many caps we were carrying, a total of four thousand one hundred, as well as the time. It wasn’t too late, we had made pretty good time so far, but the sun was definitely descending, meaning we now had a time limit if we wanted to make it back before it started to get really dark. 

Thankfully, we didn’t run into any issues, and the sun lasted just long enough that our pseudo-vitality bonus got us back in a decent time. When we arrived back at the headquarters, we were greeted by the rest of my soldiers, who walked us back into the main hall. 

“How did it go, sir?” Kelsey asked as I headed down into secure storage to drop off our caps. 

“We did pretty well,” I confirmed with a nod. “Nobody tried to rob us, and we managed to sell everything, though it took a bit longer than I would have wanted. Still, we are here before sunset, so that's about all I could hope for.”

After storing all of the caps, I immediately headed to the barracks, summoning two more soldiers, one medic, and one standard. This brought our numbers up to eighteen: twelve normal soldiers, four medics, as well as Johnson and myself. Now, each squad had nine people: a leader, two medics, and six normal soldiers.

When we were done greeting our newest recruits, we immediately headed to the armory. I bought four SAWs and four M40s. I was going to buy four and two, respectively, but Johnson advised I should get more.

“We might not always need them, but the M40 will make some missions damn near easy,” he pointed out. “Plus, it's hard to take a fortified base with sniper lookouts.”

“Alright. That means I’m down too… one thousand eight hundred,” I responded, adding rifles to the list and purchasing them. 

Johnson nodded, and we moved closer to examine what I had purchased. Rather than the actual firearms appearing, a screen appeared on the wall, with small ID card-esque tabs for each of my soldiers, as well as myself. I could open each one to reveal a customization screen, kind of like how you might adjust a loadout for a video game. At the moment, all I could change was their weapons, as that was all I had purchased, but there seemed to be plenty of room for new things.

I tested it out by replacing my rifle with an LMG, but rather than my rifle vanishing, I was instructed to go to my room to trade them out. It was a bit disappointing, as it meant I wouldn't be able to trade out weapons for people away from the HQ, but I honestly hadn’t expected it to work anyway. I canceled the change, as I had no idea how to operate an LMG.

“Gonna spend the rest of your cash now?” Johnson asked, looking at the assignment screen as I stepped back. 

“No, I’m going to think on it while we eat dinner,” I responded, already heading to the entrance. “We can discuss it while we eat, see if anyone can think of something I can’t.”

With a nod, the older marine followed me out of the armory, meeting the rest of the soldiers in the main hall. Carlos and Joseph were talking to the two latest new recruits, and I mentally winced. They wouldn’t have the benefit of the walk around we did the other day, but I trusted Johnson to keep an eye on them, so I wasn’t overly concerned.

As we sat down and enjoyed our decent MRE-style dinner, I brought up the topic of what the rest of the caps should be spent on. There wasn’t much reason to hold on to such a significant amount, as we were pretty self-sufficient at this point. Spending it would be a lot better than just letting it sit in the safe, especially since we seemed to have secured a solid source of income. We even had another avenue opening up with Caleb looking to set up some sort of trade agreement for weapons.

There were several things that I wanted to do, from adding some defensive options to the wall around the HQ, to upgrading the construction yard again to see what we would get. Ultimately, however, I decided that the best direction to put my current surplus was to directly improve my soldiers as best I could. With a new variety of weapons taken care of, that meant working on their armor, which I was hoping would come up in the next upgrade for the armory. 

Once dinner was over, my people headed to their bunks, while Johnson and I made our way back to the armory, turning away as I purchased the level three upgrade for seven hundred caps. It was a steep price, but as we stepped inside and checked out what we had gained, I was immediately glad we had paid it. Not only could I upgrade their armor, but I could also buy Standard Soldier Kits, which meant that if it ever came up, I could recruit people from outside the HQ. I’m not sure I ever would, because their loyalty wouldn't be guaranteed like my soldiers' was, but it was nice to have the option.

After looking through the SSK, I opened up the upgrade screen for the armor, checking out what our options were. There were only a handful at this level, but all of them were interesting. The list included a decrease in weight, an increase in pack size, increased radiation resistance, and improvements in protection against mundane, melee, and energy weapons. It was basic, with nothing exotic or reality-breaking, but I was more than happy with the options. The only real issue was that they were relatively expensive at five hundred caps each. 

Considering each upgrade was a complete and permanent upgrade to how protected many soldiers and I were, I wasn’t surprised they cost a chunk of caps. Still, a part of me had been hoping my remaining caps would have stretched a bit further. 

Considering our target, I selected the mundane and melee armor upgrades and, after consulting with Johnson, purchased them. I was a little disappointed I couldn't get plate durability as well, as that would help tank repeated shots, but I would have to wait until we made some more caps. My armor, which I was still wearing, didn’t feel any different, but then again, I might have to head back to my room, as that seemed to trigger some of the purchased changes. 

With only a hundred caps left, it was time to finally call it a night. I said goodnight to Johnson as I headed back to the main hall, the experienced soldier heading back towards the barracks. It was getting late, and with such an eventful day planned for tomorrow, I was happy that I fell asleep almost the moment I crawled into bed.