Headquarters: Capital Wasteland - Chapter Seventy Eight (Patreon)

Even though everyone was home and we had plenty of caps, I didn't immediately jump in to buy a new world. We took our time, acclimatizing to our new gear and training, testing the limits and, in some cases, even actively breaking those limits to see how the equipment reacted. While we had everything we needed, I was not ready to start exploring a newly unlocked world until I was satisfied with everything.

Was I being a bit paranoid about the idea? Sure, but our schedule was clear, and we had time, so putting things off for a bit was fine, especially since our training involved going out and doing things, like looking for more medical supplies and clearing out another layer of space around the HQ. 

I had to admit, patrolling and exploring with power armor was a unique experience. Even though I wasn't in it, having Joseph and Andrew walking around in power armor, and our Stomper unit backing them up, made me feel a lot more confident in poking around buildings. I knew from experience that power armor made a damn good bulwark against ghoul hordes, meaning they could distract them while the rest of the squad could pick them off comparatively easily. 

Again, I was beginning to understand at least some of the bold-as-brass, holier-than-thou overconfidence that many of the Brotherhood chapters exhibited. They really gave you a sense of being unstoppable.

By that point, those interested had picked over a good number of the energy weapons and spread them out. In addition to the laser LMG, Joseph took a bulky, rounded, power-armor-modified plasma pistol as his second sidearm, while Leon took a laser pistol that looked like a book, with a trigger and grip built into it and a glowing bit at the dangerous end.

The second laser LMG went to Rex's second power armor-clad soldier, while the man himself took a laser rifle and laser pistol. His squad also got a plasma rifle, which looked like a more angular, longer version of the plasma pistol, and another laser rifle. Johnson team took the last plasma rifle, two laser pistols, a laser rifle, and the energy cannon, which looked like a sleek, futuristic rocket launcher. I desperately wanted to get more of the energy cannons into he hands of our squads, as we badly needed a long-range explosive option. Unfortunately, given how rare they were until the Enclave started stirring up trouble, we would likely have to settle for a few rocket launchers.

Sadly, I had a feeling I would need to level the armory up a few more times before I could get that.

I also used some leftover caps to buy a few upgrades for our standard kit. I bought a second grenade and finally brought the number of stimpaks in the kit to three, which increased how many the medics carried.

With weapons, new purchases, and armor distributed, and everyone with at least a week of practice, I finally agreed it was time to unlock a new world. We sat in the main hall, with Johnson, Rex, Carlos, and Joseph gathered closer, and the rest of my soldiers sitting back to listen. Rex and Johnson also had their second-in-command sitting behind them, to the side, so they could listen in and contribute if necessary, without taking up space around the core group of "officers."

"Alright, so I put aside three thousand caps, and we have another thousand," I said. "We are all fully trained and ready, armed to the teeth and with plenty of armor. I am finally feeling confident enough to buy the next world."

"Why so much caps?" Carlos asked with a frown. "It was only a thousand, right?"

"It was a thousand for a random world, but two thousand if we select the genre," I pointed out. "And I wanted enough to buy two of the genre selection ones, since I am absolutely ready to bar anyone from entering a world completely if I don't like it."

"What would qualify a world for that type of ban?" Rex asked with a frown.

"Any place where the threat is too high," I explained. "I'm not sending you guys into some hellscape just for some potential resources. If the world is too dangerous, I will absolutely just seal it up and never go inside. I will also ban a world if the people inside it are too powerful or tricky. I refuse to accidentally bring over Mephisto or something similar from a Marvel universe, or something equally as horrible."

"But the barrier..." Carlos pointed out, trailing off.

"The barrier between this world and the connected one will protect us from contamination from just about everything, so we don't have to worry about zombie bites or metaphysical influence slipping past us into this world," I confirmed, quickly continuing. "However, it was also made clear that we can bring people back with us, so there could be a real danger of accidentally bringing some demon or angel or who the fuck knows what by accidental invitation. Which is why I would rather never set foot in worlds with those things."

"Even if they could help the wasteland?" Rex asked.

"There are entities or beings out there who could help," I admitted. "But those types of worlds never escape consequences. I refuse to let a goddess of nature in to heal the planet, only to accidentally invite the goddess of rot in with them, because they are two sides of the same coin and blah blah blah, a whole heap of metaphysical crap."

"Is... is that something that could happen?" Carlos asked, his eyes a little wide.

"If the options for the random world are as wide as intimated, then yes."

"...So the question is spin a completely random wheel for a thousand caps, or double it for a weighted wheel," Johnson said, summing it up pretty well,l and guiding us back on topic. "I'd say it's a no-brainer, but just weighting the wheel doesn't guarantee a success." 

"You're absolutely correct, it doesn't. From what I understand, just selecting something like sci-fi doesn't mean the apocalyptic threat can't be The Thing," I clarified. "Luckily we will be told what the apocalypse is, so we won't be blindsided." 

"Do we know what the Horizon worlds issue is?" Carlos asked. "Don't get me wrong, it's a little rough to call it a vacation spot, but… it seems pretty okay." 

"Yeah, I looked at it before. In the game I know the setting from, there were all sorts of safeguards in place that were meant to help humanity rise up again. There were some issues, but they were being worked on," I explained, running my hand through my hair as I recalled what I had played oh so long ago. "There were also humans off-planet, I think…I can't quite remember. In the Horizon world we have access to, the process started, remade humanity, and then failed catastrophically, destroying itself. There is no hope of return, no humans off-planet, and the robots are specifically programmed to stop any major advancements in technology."

"So they will be stuck like that, small tribal groups, forever?" Carlos asked, looking a little horrified. "Can… we help with that?"

"Honestly… maybe? But it's not something we could even consider now," I said with an equally unhappy frown. "Honestly, I'm putting a blanket ban on advanced tech being sent to the Horizon world, so no lasers and no power armor. I'm a little shocked our guns haven't triggered a response yet, but that doesn't mean we should push our luck." 

They digested the rather unfortunate revelation for a minute or so before I shook my head and refocused. 

"Either way, we need to make a choice," I said, tapping the table. "My instinct is to roll a random one first, and if we don't get anything useful, we roll a second one, this time with a genre addition. If luck is really not on our side, we can try a third time with another random."

"What criteria are we looking for?" Rex asked. "If it is specific, it might be more economical to state a genre."

"Our primary concern is resources, specifically resources we can take without stealing from someone innocent," I responded. "Money, ammo, medical supplies, useful tech, the whole gamut. I want at least one upgrade to the transfer system. With any luck, it will make passing stuff back and forth easier."

"And anything too dangerous or without those resources is a failure," Johnson clarified. "Personally, I say gamble first for the chance to save some cash. We can try holding down the corner later."

A quick look around the room confirmed that the rest of my team agreed, as did most of my soldiers. With a nod, I picked up the tablet that had been lying on the table we were sitting around. After a quick scroll through the options, I selected the completely random world option. After a short prayer to the RNG gods, I hit purchase. In the corner of the tablet, a new tab appeared, right beside the information tab for the Horizon world. I quickly activated it, pulling up a screen about the new world connected to our own.

"Oh…. I said, trailing off as I read. "That's… not what I was expecting." 

"Well? Don't leave us hanging," Johnson said, slapping the table. 

"It's XCOM," I responded, not quite sure how I should feel. "I know it as a turn-based game. There have been a bunch of them, but I'm only familiar with the most recent ones. The older ones, I know nothing about."

"Would it have what we want?" Joseph asked.

"I mean… technically? Yeah, it should. Money, resources, interesting bits of tech and equipment…" 

"Then what's the problem?" Carlos asked. "You look like you're chewing a lemon."

"Right, okay… quick rundown. In the setting, basically aliens invade Earth. At first it's this secret, small farms, all hushed up, that kind of thing. Then it gets bigger, with city invasions and more. When you're playing the first modern game, it's possible to fail, and most people did, so the studio decided to make it canon. For the second game, you start the game with the aliens having taken over the planet, basically convincing everyone they were there to help, that they were benevolent and just wanted to spread technology, cure diseases, that sort of thing."

"God damn aliens," Johnson asked. "Lemme guess, they weren't doing any of that?" 

"Of course not. They were using us to build an army, modifying us, using us to build like a perfect vessel for them or something. Their forces were filled with other species that they did the same thing to," I responded with a frown. "If you won the second game, I remember them claiming that they were desperately building an army for a reason, that there was something worse out there? I can't remember exactly."

"So what's the issue then?" Carlos repeated.

"The problem is that there was a reason most people failed the first attempts in both games," I explained. "The Advent, which is what they called themselves once they took over, was made up of a bunch of different species, all of them deadly in different ways. Massive muttons, snake creatures, psychic grey aliens, modified humans, fucking Chryssalid…" 

"So it's too much for us?" Rex asked.

"It… could be," I responded, hesitating to say anything concrete. "It depends on where we are, when we are… how entrenched the Advent forces are…And how deeply we can push them. Honestly… a lot of what made that game hard was the interface." 

"Not something we have to worry about," Rex pointed out simply. "What are you thinking, sir? Should we roll again?"

"... no, not yet," I said, frowning and shaking my head. "Before we do that, I want to poke our heads out on the other side, figure out what is going on. We might be able to slip in undetected, look around, and get a sense for where we are. From what I remember, patrols get pretty lax around the outskirts of major cities, at least at first."

"And what about the enemies?" Carlos asked. And what makes this world worse than the original?"

"The characters in the games were killing them with normal weapons. Well, at first," I explained. "In the games, it took time for them to start ramping up proper threats. As for what's wrong, the XCOM 2 world sucks already, but it looks like the team that rises up to fight it just doesn't come together in this world."

"But is it worth it?" Rex asked. "It sounds like there are some interesting things, but would they be worth the effort?"

"Stealing from Advent would be good. Just dumping their medical supplies into the medbay would be great," I explained. "They have weapons, armor, vehicles, plus there are empty cities that have resources we could take if I remember correctly… It depends on the threat level. If our weapons are effective, we could funnel the money we make there into improving our weapons and equipment to better take on the rising threat…"

"It sounds like that could be worth it, but we won't know for sure until we start to poke the hive," Joseph responded. 

"Yeah, that pretty much nails it," I responded with an unhappy look. "We would need to get over there, do a little exploring, and maybe some minor assaults to know what our weapons are capable of. If it's too much, and our weapons aren't enough to make quick work of the threats, then we know we wouldn't be able to handle the later threats."

"And we pull out?" Rex asks.

"If it's true, then yes, we pull out, for now at least," I answered. "Eventually we should be able to fight them pretty effectively, if we keep upgrading our weapons and our abilities. Hell, I'm going to drop another six hundred caps when we are done here to bump up the energy weapon resistance to our armor. It's already pretty high, but seeing as the Advent almost exclusively use energy weapons, buffing it up more will make us pretty resistant to them."

"I think you're all forgetting something," Johnson said, drawing everyone's eyes. "If this world is as screwed as you say it is, we could also do a decent bit of good, helping people. Maybe not save everyone, but if help isn't coming like it's supposed to, maybe we could do some help of our own." 

For the next hour, we considered the various options, while I did my best to dredge up every little bit of information on XCOM I could think of. Eventually, we broke apart, with Johnson and his squad packed up for a new mission. They were headed to a local clothing store we'd spotted earlier, and grabbed everything off the shelves. 

Step one for finding out what the other side of the dark door was like was infiltration, and for that we needed to fit in.