Headquarters: Capital Wasteland - Chapter Sixty Seven (Patreon)

Hey everyone! Just a warning, I will be taking off my annual summer break from the 3rd to the 7th of August. Normal posting will continue on the 10th. Thank you for your patience, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

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ALSO! This months snippet will be posted on the first of August, and will take the place of that days poll.

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Just as it had been for the first squad of new recruits, my latest hires arrived with a general understanding of what was going on but lacking a lot of detailed information about the Fallout world. Because of that, we once again went out on a little tour of the immediate area around the base, using the opportunity to double-check it was clear while also pointing out what they should be nervous about, teaching them some of the ins and outs, and letting them get used to some of the terrain.

Captain Rex had a slightly larger handicap compared to the rest of my new soldiers, as unlike Johnson, who had memories of Earth-focused training, Rex lacked context for a lot of things. Sure, he understood the dangers and concepts of most broad threats, but he needed to re-learn some specifics. For example, he did not have the instinctual reload impulse built into his muscle memory. Most of my soldiers had an ingrained desire to reload their weapon after firing h a certain amount, their subconscious was at least partially aware of how much they had fired versus how much ammo they had. However, since even the smallest blasters in Star Wars could fire hundreds of shots before they needed to be reloaded, Rex's instincts didn't trigger until well after his weapon was empty.

Thankfully, he was very quick to learn and adapt, his skills shifting to fit his new circumstance as I watched. I could already tell he was going to be an excellent leader for the new squad.

By the time we arrived back from our short tour around the area, Carlos and Joseph, along with the other soldiers helping them, had managed to get their first car into the empty bay. After confirming the wreck was compatible, they began working to load in two more. Seeing their progress, we stepped in to help, getting the job done in just an hour after that.

The timer for our carts was already ticking, now we just had to wait a full day before we could see what they were like. I was actually a little nervous that the carts would start out small and almost useless, and would require several upgrades before they were worth our time. I didn't voice my fears, however, and basically just crossed my fingers and prayed. Even if it did work out that way, it was just a matter of time and patience before we had the necessary caps to upgrade them.

The day finished out with me going over the newly purchased buildings with a fine-tooth comb, just making sure I hadn't missed anything important. I was still a little annoyed that making power armor or advanced weapons would require us to find every single one, as even in a version of Fallout like this, where the population numbers were cranked up, power armor still didn't grow on trees. 

To that effect, once I was going over everything again, making sure I didn't miss anything from our new buildings, I called a meeting to discuss where we would be going to hunt down power armor. Johnson, Rex, Carlos, Joseph, and I sat around one table, with a good portion of my soldiers gathering around to listen in, which I encouraged.

"Okay. So… there are only a  few places that I would say are guaranteed to have power armor," I explained, leaning back in my chair. "There is Fort Constantine, an underground facility in the very western parts of the city… There is Raven Rock and the Citadel, but for obvious reasons those are not happening."

"Raven Rock?" Rex asked with a curious expression

"It's a large military bunker that is housing the Enclave, kind of like an evil Brotherhood of Steel," I explained with a frown. "They are contained for the moment, biding their time, but chances are we will have to deal with them eventually."  

"Right, not something we can handle."

"Not right now," I agreed, taking a moment to go over the list before shaking my head. "That's really all I can recall off the top of my head. Obviously we shouldn't steal from the Brotherhood, the underground facility likely has a super mutant army camped out on top of it, and Fort Constantine is like triple the distance from here to Rivet City, across likely hostile terrain.

"So the guaranteed places are a bust," Carlos said. "What about places that aren't guaranteed?"

"Well… There is Wheaton Armory to the north, the National Guard Depot to the east, Fort Independence to the northwest… There is probably some at The Mall, though we would really have to hunt for those… and Adams Air Force Base likely has a ton, but that isn't anywhere near here and is also probably an Enclave base at this point."

I frowned, racking my brains for places it was likely that there was power armor.

"Honestly, if we started diving deeper into the city, there is a pretty good chance we would see one eventually," I admitted. "By the end, the streets of the US were pretty heavily patrolled, and that included power armor… But I'm not willing to just start walking around, painting a target on our backs and tempting fate."

"What do you think is our best bet?" Captain Rex asked, listening closely as he looked over some of our maps. "Beyond the inaccessible guaranteed spaces?" 

"Fort Independence," I responded easily. "That place should honestly be on the guaranteed group, but when you get to it in the game, it's already taken over by the Brotherhood Outcasts, so there's no way to know what was inside, and what they placed inside when they arrived."

"If the traitors wanted that spot, it's bound to have some good stuff," Carlos pointed out. "Sounds like a solid bet."

"It likely is," I confirmed again. "It will also probably piss off the Brotherhood, though. Pretty sure it was one of the main reasons they were here in the Capital Wasteland to begin with."

"Well… we don't have to loot it to the ground," Carlos pointed out. "If we go in, take a couple of power armor suits, some laser and plasma weapons, and maybe a few other interesting bits, but leave the rest…"

"How important is keeping them happy, sir?" Rex asked.

"They are the predominant 'good guys' of the area," I explained. "They are far from perfect, but just by keeping the supermutants from washing out the wasteland earns them some huge kudos. Some of them… stick to some of their older ways, but I have faith they are changing for the better. Plus, they could stomp us flat pretty quickly as we are." 

"So very important," the clone responded, and I nodded. "We could always bring them some of the lot as a peace offering?" 

"That would just annoy them," Johnson responded, shaking his head. "If I know one thing about Egg Heads, they get real touchy about their shinies. We show up lugging some special gift for them, they will just get pissed we didn't hit eject before pulling out the drive." 

"...I think I understood most of that," Rex responded after a moment. "They would accuse us of doing more harm than good?" 

"Unless it was a complete emergency, pretty much," I confirmed. "If we did this, it would be better to not leave a trace, let them think someone else came through and did it.'

"What about the other options?" 

"Wheaton Armory… I think raiders are holding it at the moment… and some radioactive waste?" I responded, looking up as I tried to remember something from a very old playthrough. "National Guard Depot has some radiation as well… not as much if I remember correctly. But its main armory is sealed behind a number password, I think. In the game you had to collect a bunch of notes to figure it out, good luck ever doing that here." 

We did know quite a bit more about how radiation worked, thanks to Carlos talking to some scientists while we were at Rivet City, corroborated by conversations with Sarah. Suffice to say we had been correct about it working differently in this world.

"What kind of door?" Johnson added, raising an eyebrow. "Something beefy?"

"In the game it was the sort of standard security door that we've seen a few times," I responded, shaking my head. "But there is no guarantee that's how it will work here. In fact, it's likely all of these places are heavily reinforced."

"My vote is for Fort Independence," Carlos said after a short pause. "You said it's a pretty sure thing that they have it, and there might be other useful stuff there too."

Johnson nodded in agreement, and I had to admit, it seemed like a pretty good target. It was a solid bet they had what we needed, the game did not make it seem like the building was Fort Knox, and it wasn't all that difficult to get to, from what I remembered. 

"It will take more than a day of traveling to get there," I pointed out. "I agree, it's probably our best bet in terms of clean salvageable gear, but we won't be able to just pop over for an afternoon. It's going to be a four, maybe five-day trip, depending on how long we stay, and there is probably going to be fighting along the way."

"We can handle a few speed bumps," Johnson responded. "What are we looking at?"

"Probably raiders," I responded. "I think there is a group of them in the nearby town, and it's likely we run into issues either way traveling that far."

"The carts would stick out," Rex pointed out, and I nodded in agreement.

"They will, especially if they are big and flashy," I said with a frown. "This trip might be shorter than the Rivet City run, but it's likely going to be considerably more stressful. We can handle it, but it's going to be a venture, one we need to prepare for."

"What do you have in mind?" Joseph asked with a raised eyebrow. "The carts will solve the food issue, since we can pack whatever we need."

"We need a few weapon upgrades, plus we need to put a few people through better weapons training," I responded. "A few LMGs stationed on the carts will let us respond hard to anyone trying to pick us off. Depending on their upgrade tree, there might even be a few things worth investing in."

"Might be time to consider upgrading our armor again," Johnson pointed out. "It's been a while." 

"It has," I agreed with a nod. "Okay, here is the plan. Megaton is due for a delivery of meds, and we can finish that off with a few scavenger runs, which we can do tomorrow and the next day. Johnson, we are going to mix up our squads, since I want to get more people started on training. Adam is also due sometime in the next week or so, which we can prepare for after we make the delivery to Megaton."

"That's stacking up some time," Johnson pointed out.

"Then let it," I said with a shrug. "Rushing is how we get ourselves in trouble. We spend two or three weeks patrolling, clearing buildings, picking up goods and feeding the medbay and armory. We spend the Megaton money on training, then once Adam stops by again and makes his purchases, we spend those caps on gear and upgrades. After that, we wait out the last training periods before forming a caravan and heading off to Fort Independence."

Everyone was quick to agree with the plan, especially after I promised to keep racking my brain for any easy alternatives. It had been a while since I had played Fallout 3, after all, and while I had a pretty good mind for details and I had always been a lore hound, recalling guaranteed spawns for certain items was a bit beyond me.

We spent the rest of the day on light duty, eventually breaking out a few bottles of liquor to celebrate the addition of the new squad. 

The following morning, Johnson and I mixed up our squads so that Carlos and a few of my people could stay behind and continue their training, since they couldn't leave the HQ until it was done. The rest of my money went to starting Madison Nash and one of Johnson's men on hacking, and John Barton on lockpicking, both of which were unsurprisingly nothing like the minigame. Either one of the skills would likely end up being vital when we finally made our way to Fort Independence, since I highly doubted we would be able to pop the doors there with a crowbar. 

We would need more caps before we could start the next round of training.

After we were done figuring out the temporary group composition, we headed out of the HQ and into the surrounding buildings. We ended up splitting up, with Rex and half of his team coming with me and half of mine, while Joseph and the other half of both our squads moved out to a nearby space. We were close enough to hear if anything happened, but splitting up teams would make working together and passing on what we had learned during our time in the Capital Wasteland easier.

"I've seen worse warzones, sir," Rex admitted as we stepped over a pair of skeletons to enter a shop. "But there is something eerie about seeing an empty city." 

"I wish it was more empty," I admitted with a frown. "We have been incredibly lucky so far with what we have had to deal with. Once we start pushing for some real change in the area, it's going to be… difficult to handle."

"Yes, not sure I'm looking forward to that," he admitted. "I've fought plenty of strange things in the war, but ghoul hordes…"

"We just need to be careful and fight smart," I assured him. "I'm confident that all of you will be able to handle it." 

“Aye, sir.” 

The rest of the day was a mix of training and scavenging, filling our bags with medical salvage, bullets, guns, and anything easily tradable. We mixed up the groups plenty, giving everyone a chance to get to know each other, and letting Rex experience leading a group alone in a relatively low-danger area.

As we went through the buildings, we did make note of several bits of furniture, like cabinets, work benches, desks, shelves and more, that were in decent condition. With the soon-to-be-finished carts, bringing back larger bits of furniture was something we could manage much easier, and considering we now had three cleared-out buildings, stocking them with furniture was something we needed to worry about.

Technically, I could purchase several upgrades that would finish the interior of those buildings to the same level as the HQ, but that had been expensive, and for most uses it would be pointless. I was not spending caps to redo a glorified brahmin pen, or even a temporary living space for traders.

I was pretty sure I would be redoing one of the buildings, probably the larger one in the northwest corner, with bedrooms so we could finally have a nice place to stay for people not spawned in by the system.

Eventually, as the afternoon started to draw out, we headed back home with full packs. We would likely need another day of scavenging to make enough supplies for a run to Megaton, but we had time and a plan, so that was fine.

When we returned home, I helped unload the medical salvage into the medbay. When that was done, Rex and I headed off to the stables to see how our new carts had turned out.