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>>2040889

“So, what’re we gonna do?” she asks.

“I wish I knew,” you confide. “Right now, I don’t even have a good estimate of how many Lurkers there are. That is, unless you can fill in the blanks.”

“Oh,” Sandra says. “Well, there’s probably at least a hundred at their main base, but not all of them live there. They’ve expanded over damn near the entire eastern coastline around here, and that’s been making my life hell.”

“What sort of technology do they use? How about tactics?”

“They’re thugs, and they carry guns,” she shrugs. “The normal kind, mostly? They probably have plenty of rockets, as well.”

“What about re-breathers?” the Major asks. “How popular are those?”

“Not very common, nowadays, partly due to scarcity after the radiation heavy years with no one making new ones.”

“If you say nerve gas again…” Arya warns.

“Dead is dead!” the militaristic machine shouts. “Who cares how they got that way?!”

The arguments continue as your deadline draws closer. Two more days until the enemy closes in, and by the looks of things, battle lines are already being drawn. A lucky tip from a psychic had helped you down a sniper this time, but what about the next or the inevitable one after that?

You sigh. One step at a time.

> But what now?
> [] Interrogate your prisoner. You need information.
> [] Chart a course back to base. You want Lucius and Sandra safe.
> [] You need to go and gather some extra resources. From where?
> [] Other

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>>2040893

For new players, welcome to Fallout: Last Spark, a post-apocalyptic game where-in you take up the role of an artificial intelligence originally designed to protect and serve the citizens of Seattle in event of catastrophes both natural and man-made. Woken after a two century nap, you are now back on the path to reclaim your city and tame the post-apocalypse.

For those who want to follow me on twitter for quest announcements and the like:
https://twitter.com/bananon_QM

All previous threads can be found here:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=fallout%3A+last+spark

>>2040893
> [] Interrogate your prisoner. You need information.

If she refuses to cooperate, then apply corporal punishment, I.e. A spanking.

Good to see you back, bananon. Thought you gave up on running this for a while.

>>2040893
[x]Other:
How many robots have Jeremy, Lucius, and Sandra been able to put together? What are they up to?

I'm not sure I remember what the result of their project was here, gonna check the last thread.

How's the Gatling Laser repair coming?

>>2040893
I'll also say that the problem of nerve gas is that our side doesn't have rebreathers. Anything bigger than a gas grenade is gonna be a huge risk. If the wind changes direction, we'll be killing people.

That said, if the Brotherhood squads wanna sally forth or man the walls and use it, we can certainly get somewhere that way. They might object for tactical reasons, of course.

>>2040893
> [] Interrogate your prisoner. You need information.
Whatever the Lurkers are paying, we'll offer something more valuable to the Golden Sons: Their lives. Starting with this one's.

>>2040893
>>2040983
>>2040996
>>2041011
>>2041106

“We’ll put it to a vote of the people that are going to be actively defending the area,” you state. “I won’t argue with your statistical analysis, Major, but on the other hand, it can set a precedent of chemical warfare, which will long term hurt our cause.”

“I guess it is their choice,” Arya concedes, albeit unhappily.

“Good. Then the next order of business is going to be dealing with the prisoner. If the Golden Sons are mercenaries, maybe we can apply enough leverage to make them rethink this contract. She’ll be pivotal for that.”

“Best of luck talking it out with the little psycho,” Sandra welcomes, kneeling down to scratch between Shadow’s ears. “I’ll be getting back to the egghead.”

“By the way, Lucius,” you ask through the eyebot still down in the lab. “How long are we waiting on the sound cannon and the gatling gun?”

“Building a stable diaphragm for this type of signal emission is complicated, given the materials,” he says, wiping sweat from his brow. “Give me another hour, and then one more for the gun. I’d prefer we use it more as a deterrent than anything else, but should it come to blows, you might be best served mounting it to one of the jeep power sources, back at the base. Maybe I could build some sort of heat jettison system as well…”

“I’ll leave you to it,” you conclude. “Jeremy, how about you? How many units do you have up and running?”

“Our numbers are up to 19, mum. A few parts had to be swapped around here and there, but I should be able to relieve my archives of the excess protocols and subroutines shortly and then return to my previous position.”

“And how many of those can fight?”

“Fight?!” he seems scandalized. “Pardon, mum, but we’ve only just now gotten back to a skeleton crew. I’d prefer not to lose these poor souls again, so soon!”

“Again?”

“I’m attaching the old personality modules from my old coworkers, those that weren’t destroyed wholesale,” he explains. “It will take the system some time to kick in, but soon after, they should be right as rain, some of them, for the first time in over a hundred years!”

> It’s clear he’s already getting attached.
> [] Press the issue.
> [] Let RobCo stay fully staffed for now.

> About the prisoner
> [] Good cop
> [] Bad cop
> [] Other

--

>>2040983

Making time is just difficult, really difficult.

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>>2041225

Forgot picture.

>>2041225
If there's one thing raiders are good at, it's chems, chems and killing. Two, two things raiders are good at. Chems, killing and looting- dammit.
> [] Let RobCo stay fully staffed for now.
Still a neutral facility vitally needed by the wasteland.
> [] Bad cop
Good cop (Arya), bad cop (you), really bad cop (Major).

>>2041225
>> [] Let RobCo stay fully staffed for now.
> [] Good cop

Ask Jeremy and others if there's a local store of bots around - like a Nuka-park where the bridge gang has been getting their robots.

Tell Jeremy they already had a sniper outside the facility and as such he should be prioritizing security.

[x] Other: Realpolitik
We can bring in Major for the bad cop and play the good cop, but that's just for establishing relationships.
Generally speaking, we should restrain the prisoner and make it clear that until she gives us a reason to do otherwise, her best use to us is as a hostage and fodder for weapons experiments. Don't show her that you've broken her cypher, she may use it again in getting a message to her people or something.

We are open to hiring on the Golden Sons ourselves if they'd be willing to shift their allegiance or else we can just let them walk away.

If that doesn't get results, we have until the end of the sound weapon and gatling laser repair project to enhance the interrogation if need be.

>>2041225
> [] Let RobCo stay fully staffed for now.
> [] Good cop

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>>2041300
>>2041289
>>2041273
>>2041266
>>2041225

“You have a point,” you concede. “The facility needs to remain defended and get back to full operational capacity. Do you have everything you need to continue getting units back online.”

“We’ve made the most we can with the cores that we received,” Jeremy explains. “We still might be able to double our capacity with a bit more assistance.”

“We’ll keep that in mind for later.”

You switch back to the security center.

“Major, I think having you there during the interrogation could be useful. Would you mind coming with me?”

“Need me to lay the hurt on the maggot?” she questions. “Okay, but I don’t know if this laser has a ‘stun’ setting.”

“Just intimidation for now,” you inform him.

“Can I come too?” Arya asks, and you know exactly why.

“Sure,” you agree. “Now, let’s get going before she breaks something.”

You hear the banging long before you see the cell, the protectron still ineffectually offering suggestions.

“Repeat. Metal is harder than flesh. The likelihood of successful breaching is-”

“Shut. The Fuck. UP!” she shouts a split second before another metallic warble. “Shit…”

“And there goes your shoulder, I’d wager,” you speak up as you approach, letting the eyebots take to either shoulder.

“You really should be careful,” Arya admonishes. “The nurse barely managed to patch your sternum.”

“Who? Wha- Oh… More, fucking robots,” the prisoner curses from behind the grate, spitting toward you. “Get me whoever’s in charge here, now!”

Being behind bars has a way of diminishing people, and the child before you would hardly be intimidating on her best day. A mess of bushy brown hair lies splayed about her head, and her slight shoulders and thin frame speak of a youth not accustomed to a proper diet. Add in the mountain of bandages, the cage, and her arms still secured behind her back, and only the strange intensity behind her eyes saves her from being pitiable.

“We are people… after a fashion,” Arya says.

“More importantly, we’re the ones that decide if you walk out of here with both of your legs still attached or not,” Major points out. “Worst comes to worst, there’s a hill of weird lookin’ rats outside that might not mind an extra meal.”

“Save the threats,” the girl hisses. “I’m with the Golden Sons, and my squad will be here any minute.”

> What to say?
> [] It’s been hours. They aren’t coming.
> [] Good. Then let’s talk about hiring prospects.
> [] I’ve already put eight raider ‘elites’ in the ground today.
> [] Other

>>2041591
[x] It’s been hours. They aren’t coming.
[x] Good. Then let’s talk about hiring prospects.
"Your squad's late, if they ever show. You ever been coldcocked and woken up in a cage before? All you can manage is to try to kill me. I can choose to take you down if I want. Your options are more limited than mine."

"Someone should tell me what the Golden Sons take as payment. You can either break against me like your shoulder just did, turn on the Lurkers with a new job working for me, or give me something to ensure you walk away with your lives. I'm not letting you out of that cage without an answer from someone who can make a decision on the matter - you're more good to me right where you're sitting if it gets their attention, so you're going to remain a hostage until I have a reason to spring you."

"Go ahead, say something useful. You've wasted enough time harming yourself, getting weaker while I have you in my custody."

>>2041637
Sure

>>2041637
Sounds good.

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>>2042010
>>2041644
>>2041637
>>2041591

“It’s been hours since you landed yourself here. If your squad is even coming, they’re late.”

You know for a fact from her notes that this recon was done on her own initiative. They may not even know that she’s here.

“Don’t blame you for not getting it straight away, but you needed a little surgery after getting cold cocked. Surprised you haven’t broken yourself back open with your antics as a matter of fact.”

“I’m tougher than I look,” she huffs.

Getting a closer angle on it, her shoulder is already swollen and purple.

“Sure you are,” you humor her, and then casually open the door.

The result is predictable: she runs straight at you, perhaps intending to bite you to death. You simply respond by gripping on her injured shoulder, an action that draws an automatic yelp before the girl crumples to her knees.

“But you also aren’t in a position to be making threats. It would take less than a second for me to sever your arm at the joint, and that’s if you were in peak condition. Instead, you are a few good knocks away from ending your life for me under some misunderstanding that you have a snowball’s chance in hell of making it out of here without my say-so.”

She clams up and gives you her best defiant stare.

“You can’t kill me,” you state simply. “You can’t even win a fight against that door. So, how about you knock that off, stop injuring yourself, and tell me what it’s going to take to convince the Golden Sons there are better uses for their lives than dying at the Metro’s doorstep?”

You can see the flicker of recognition there, maybe concern or fear that you know the Lurker’s plans, but she quickly buries it.

“Listen,” you say, walking her back into her cell and closing the door between you. “I have my own mercs, chemical weapons, an army of robots, and a mad scientist all working overtime to ruin your people’s day. If they go marching in on the day of the battle, they’re going to break against me like that shoulder of yours just did against the wall. The only difference is that they aren’t going to get a second chance.

“That said, until I have an answer from someone fit to make an offer or your friends have been reduced to a pile of corpses and ash to be swept off the streets, you won’t be going anywhere.”

“We’d really prefer the former!” Arya adds.

“Speak for yourself!” comes the Major’s rebuttal.

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>>2042113

“The point is, if keeping you here means that someone will come looking for you, that’s exactly what I want. It’s just a matter of whether what we’ll be exchanging at that point is going to be words or lead. For your sake and theirs, I hope it’s the former. So, how about you stop injuring yourself while you’re in my care and say something useful?”

The results are somewhat predictable as the captive just stares maliciously at you from her side of the grate, perhaps thinking on your offer or trying to think of a way to escape as you return her gaze with an unfeeling mask.

> What to say?
> [] Where can I find your people to cut a deal?
> [] How many of you are there?
> [] Other

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>>2042118

And, with that, I need to sleep. I'm actually already up three hours past what should be my bed time. See you tomorrow.

>>2042118
> [x] Where can I find your people to cut a deal?
Let her know she can ask for you when she makes a decision, and that she doesn't have much time.

[x] Other

In the meantime, let's figure out what Sandra, Lucius, Major and any contacts currently at the Metro know about the Lurker base. We're going to need to plan for a preemptive attack. And we need to return those holotags to the BoS.

>>2042118
>> [] Where can I find your people to cut a deal?
>> [] How many of you are there?

>>2042150
Also, does Jeremy have medical or repair eyebots? We should give him the plan and have him build a couple or modify one of ours to take along if possible, get a patch-up bot in play to back us up. Aria would probably be glad to run that end of the operation if she has access to the requisite data but for now we can do it ourselves.

>>2042118
> [] Where can I find your people to cut a deal?

>>2042118
> [] Where can I find your people to cut a deal?

We don't need to use nerve gas, guys. We can use crowd control gases instead, to mollify Arya and the Metro. Tear gas is less likely to kill anyone on its own, but it can make the Lurkers and Golden Sons into very easy targets.

>>2042784
This is a great idea, especially if we have a day free of wind and our people are wearing rebreather masks. Otherwise it's a tactic we learned the limits of in WWI. Once the wind changes direction we have a problem. It's why we should use it on the Lurker base the night before the attack rather than trying to manage them the day of. For one thing, the base will have buildings.

>>2042118
Did the girl's journal say anything about meeting with Johnnie, or what made her go on this recon trip?

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>>2042118
>>2042150
>>2042153
>>2042156
>>2042337
>>2042784
>>2042796
>>2044068

“Listen, if you can at least tell me where I can find your people in order to cut a deal, things are going to go a lot more smoothly for everyone.”

Silence.

“We really want this to end in the best way for everyone,” Arya volunteers. “We don’t want anyone to die if they don’t have to.”

Silence. She blinks and twitches her nose uncomfortably.

“I can respect your discipline in clammin’ up,” the Major notes, “but any merc worth their salt keeps an eye out for the best deal at any given time, especially if their present bosses are assholes. Regardless of if they’re assholes or not, which they probably are, whatever they’re paying you probably isn’t worth the skin off of your backs.

“No, the whole business of killing for profit is a calculated balancing act of weighing risk versus reward, and if the spies they’ve been sending into the Metro-” You notice her stiffen. “Have been feeding back even half the information they should have by now, then your boys are going to be looking for a way out. Your primary outpost probably has a fielding station, anyway, for handling these sorts of negotiations. We’d just prefer to skip the messenger before we have to stop counting bodies and start burning them by the dozen.”

You hadn’t had much of their organizational info to relay to the Major, but from the look on the girl’s face, apparently the bot had hit a lot of nails on the head simultaneously. Eventually, the girl sighs, stretching her arms proving a bad move as it sharpens the obvious pain in her shoulders.

“Maybe we have a forward outpost. Maybe we don’t. Either way, the only way I’m taking you there is if I go with you,” she says simply.

A predictable response.

> What’s your counter offer?
> [] Sure.
> [] No dice.
> [] Other

--

Bed time for me again, and back to once per day updates. Apologies, folks, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do much more. I’ve actually been thinking about moving the quest to tgchan to better suit the pace a working schedule is going to force on me. Please let me know what you might think about that.

>>2044785
>[] Other: It will be considered if you answer some questions first. Why did you think that coming here solo was a good idea?
We need to know how she got the idea to come to the RobCo facility, how she knew that there were humans here to shoot rather than just the robots, and why she came here when it wasn't like there is a bounty on Lucius or Sandra she could collect on.

As for moving, aren't tgchan quests more drawquests? Also, something about separating discussion and story posts, such that you have a story post thread that's only story posts and votes, and a discussion thread that's discussion about the votes?

>>2044872
Going with this, here.

>moving the quest to tgchan
Not exactly a fan of tgchan, to be honest, but you should do what you think you should.

Honestly, I don't like how she, a random merc, got it in her head to try to ambush our assets here, without letting her superiors know.

Yes, she's not part of a professional PMC with legit military discipline, and from her reaction her group has spies in the Metro so they know about Lucius and Sandra.

But why this unsanctioned recon/assassination, then?

Also, we still need to ask Jeremy if this factory can produce all of the components it needs to produce robots; raw materials aren't enough if we don't have the tools/machines needed to create new circuits and vacuum tubes, and we know that they can't produce the power supplies for said robots or Jeremy would have done that already.

So we have to consider how many fusion cores are needed to get enough robots operational that they can begin manufacturing robots again. We need to find a General Atomics robot factory as well; Sentrybots and Assaultrons (assuming this RobCo factory can even make them) are great, but we need Mr. Handy's if we're going to be running a factory, and they're a GA design.

>>2044785
>[] Other
"Nice try, but no. You are going to give me the location of your co-workers...No, your friends, so I don't have to kill every single one of them, and then bring whatever is left to you for identification. You can save your friends' lives by just telling me where they are. It's really easy. I'll bring you a map, you point to the spot, I confirm, then we make a deal. Once the deal is sealed and your friends are no longer going to their death, and the lurker question has been answered, you go on your merry way. In fact, I am so giving that you will get the medical treatment gratis. What do you say? Living to spend another day with your friends, seeing every one of their lifeless bodies after I am done with them. Easy choice, I think."

>>2042118
You know, I really hope she's not bugged, because you just gave her a rough outline of what to expect from our defenses. She can't be released until after the battle, if at all, unless the Golden Suns change sides.

>>2044785
>No dice.
The prisoner transfer will happen after the negotiations, not before. Besides, you need time to recover.

>Moving to tgchan
Yes... give in to the dark side... Plus you can draw the chapter lines where you want to and not when page 10 beckons.
>>2044872
Tgchan has several longrunning textquests (the presence of images in every post in this quest should help), and while the enforcement of the dis/quest split would be nice if it actually ever happened, the level of discussion in this thread would probably be allowed in the main thread.

>>2045035
>But why this unsanctioned recon/assassination, then?
Probably to prove herself, i highly doubt a PMC would send a kid on a recon if they have better people suited for the task.
That or deniability.

>>2044785
Ask her how long it would take to get to the forward outpost. If we have the time it may be worth doing.

>tgchan
I don't really see the point, OP. You'd just lose certain people and gain a lot of new, very different people unfamiliar with the quest.

>>2044872
>>2044883

The circumstances of her getting here aren't that important, but we could ask who put her up to this, sure.

>>2045035

Odds are this is just how they operate, unless Johnnie told her to get into this position. Which doesn't seem to be mentioned in her log.

>GA facility for Mr. Handy model

Jeremy seems to be building them just fine.

>>2045313
She has no motivation to trust us for this and every motivation to keep destroying herself in a futile attempt to escape given your terms.

>>2045824
We could sweep her for bugs, but I find it unlikely that low-tech mercs who make use of child soldiers are going to have anything that sophisticated. We detect radio emissions when we interact with our environment, I'd wager we could find it and neutralize it.

>>2045836
We can't negotiate until we have a decision-maker to negotiate with. She's not motivated to take us to one unless she retains leverage. At best, we'd have to set up a call on the radio and she doesn't seem to have one on her.

>>2045854
The important thing now is to verify a means of getting ahold of them and decide whether we have the time to commit.

>>2044785
Bananon, is Jeremy building new Mr. Handy’s or is he reactivating old ones that had run out of power?

>>2046024
If he's reactivating old ones, he still has the schematics for their maintenance and could probably fabricate more as he did with our eyebots.

>>2046778
Our Eyebots are RobCo designs, so of course he would be able to make more of them. Second, they were put together from parts that were ready to be put together, not from activating anything from the factory floor, so it would have nothing to do with manufacturing another company’s products.

>>2046984
Just checked the wiki. RobCo did development and design work on Mr. Handy units after General Atomics created the original design. Doing such work requires having sufficient understanding of the machine to make new ones from scratch.

I'd say we have the design, but if you want to wait for QM confirmation feel free. Might just want to ask him on Twitter, though.

>>2047339
That's like saying that a random Ford factory should be able to produce Mazda CX-9's because the two worked on the design together and the CX-9 has a Ford V-6 engine.
That's pretty unlikely.

>>2047599
No, it isn't. The personnel at this RobCo facility have to maintain Mr. Handy units and Jeremy has probably rebuilt more than one from the ground up. He's had significant repairs done on himself. There's no scenario in which the preexisting expertise and technical information available and the need to repair or fabricate new parts for hundreds of years hasn't given them sufficient data to manage to build more units.

With Lucius there on top of all that, there's really not a lot of room for them to fail to be able to build more Mr. Handy models and they've got plenty of scrap to scavenge for parts if they need to.

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>>2044785
>>2044872
>>2044883
>>2045035
>>2045313
>>2045824
>>2045836
>>2045854
>>2045973

“Nice try, but no,” you respond. “You’re going to give me the location of your coworkers… No, your friends, so that I don’t have to kill every single one of them and then bring whatever is left to you for identification. Let me stress, you can save all of them right now by telling me where they are, or at least where I can find someone to talk to.

“So, how about it? I’ll bring you a map, you point out the spot, I confirm, and then I go and make the deal. Once that’s taken care of, you can go on your merry way with all your comrades. Consider the free medical treatment an added bonus, while you wait.”

“Fuck off,” she answers. “You need something. I need something. Those assholes aren’t my friends, and you’ll need more than words to barter with anyway.”

“I need collateral, not another liability,” you inform her.

You’ve had the eyebot in the other room combing her journal in the middle of this conversation. Seems that she’s about fifteen, and has taken to calling herself Sparrow. Family is all KIA or MIA for the past seven years, during which she developed an attitude and a knack for scrapping. The diagrams are actually rather impressive, considering a girl her age with no formal training.

No close associations with the organization, survival oriented. You condense personality traits down from the amalgam of information she’s stored in her most private notes, eventually wrapping around to the present day and her current operations. Seems she was left off of the detail due to her superiors’ concerns that she wouldn’t follow orders, and lo and behold what the wisdom of age has foreseen.

“Well, let me know if you change your mind,” you say, moving to leave.

“Hey! Where are you going?” she demands.

“To win a war.”

You leave her to think, still watching over the video camera feed in case she tries something as you stroll your way back up through the manufacturing bay. It’s not quite a full RobCo fab, more a distribution center with a repair station thrown in. Jeremy, or more likely you, were going to need slightly more impressive facilities to start printing a robot army to retake the wastes.

> The real question is: What now?
> [] Press the captive for information. You need to cut a deal quickly.
> [] Scramble your three eyebots. To where?
> [] Ask Jeremy something. What?
> [] Other

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>>2047768

Another day, another update.

>>2045973

In response to your question of making a switch to another site, it's because one update a day is about all I can manage, and there, I wouldn't have to worry about autosage before a chapter is finished.

Anyway, bed time once again. Take care folks.

>>2047787
Bananon, please answer some of the questions we asked you.

Can Jeremy and the RobCo factory build General Atomics designs like the Mister Handy and Mister Gutsy?

Did Jeremy build more Mister Handy's or is just reactivating the ones he had in storage?

Can the factory even produce more robots, since they can't produce more fusion core themselves? What about being able to produce the vacuum tubes/microchips needed for a lot of components?

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>>2047817

I tried to answer that in post. Jeremy is just reassembling old parts that were left from before the war. There are a couple of workbenches in the shop, but most of that is used for repair work and light circuitry/wiring production and retooling warped metal parts than it is for forging new metal plates or heavy duty actuators.

Basically, just like it said in the post, this is a repair facility and operations hub, not a factory. Otherwise, Jeremy is a terrifyingly good technician that can throw together just about anything with the right, RobCo standard issue parts or close enough approximates.

In order, and more concise:
> Repairs, yes. Building, no.
> Reactivating old ones from storage, though all protectrons from what you can see.
> No on the former. Yes on the latter, with the exclusion of microchips which were cutting edge technology at the time before the war.

>>2047768
> [] Ask Jeremy something. What?
Ask Jeremy if he has spare parts for Assaultrons and Sentry Bots, just so Major can cycle her bots through here for much needed repairs and maintenance.
Also ask him if he has the location and communication protocols for RobCo and General Atomics factories in the greater Seattle region.
And also ask him if he has any UOS updates as well as software updates for Sandra's PipBoy.

> [] Scramble your three eyebots. To where?
Arya's back to the Metro to warn Rex that there are Golden Son spies inside the Metro.
The other two to go to Vault 57. Flying there is considerably faster than walking, so they should be able to get there within a few hours.

>>2047888
Solid plan matey. Supporting.

>>2047857
Thanks for the clarifications.
So, since this is a distribution center and repair facility, we can't build new robots, only repair them so long as we have the spare parts, which we can't manufacture without considerable effort.

Could we even build the metal armor and heavy duty actuators needed for major replacement and repair of Assaultrons and Sentry Bots? Or would we need to dip into limited supplies of already constructed spare parts?

>>2047768
>> [] Other
We need a new interrogation method. Retrieve puppies from the vault!

>>2047857
Assuming we could get access to a full-scale RobCo factory, would Jeremy or the factory have the schematics and machining tools needed to produce Mister Handy's and other General Atomics designs (assuming this wasn't a jointly operated factory or one that specifically was making Mister Handy's under license)?

I would like to know if any of >>2047662 's arguments hold water here.

>>2047888
>>2047768
Oh, would we be able to send our DAVID unit along with the Eyebots to Vault 57? While the Eyebots would be enough to talk with the computer inside, we might need hands to manipulate things.

>>2047857
Also, because I've seen it mentioned multiple times and I'd like it to be definitively answered, does this facility have the schematics for the Medical and Repair Eyebots? Ones detailed enough to allow for construction of them, not just repair.

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>>2047950
>>2042156

My upstairs neighbors were banging on my ceiling all last night. So, a couple things slipped my mind. Jeremy does not have the schematics for a Medi-Eyebot or the Repair Eyebot, but you do. The real problem with constructing them would be the lack of proper parts for either and the need to procure medicine for the Medic-bots to inject.

In my mind, they are basically like flying syringe throwers that dispense healing. The repair bots, meanwhile, basically have a high speed induction/magnetizing grid that can force metal sheets back into alignment and patch holes. Making them from scratch before the battle would require time and resources you probably don't have.

>>2048737
Repairing stuff is something we probably should be thinking of doing after the battle anyways. For now we should just try to get more firepower in other ways.

>>2047768
>[] Other
We brought in Sparrow's pipe rifle; could Lucius make it into a more powerful sniper rifle?

Does Sandra know how big the Golden Sons are, and what numbers they might field for the Lurkers?

And any attempt at rescuing the prisoners that the Lurkers are keeping at their HQ needs a way to not only break out that many people, but also keep them hidden while getting them out of the factory, and get them back safely to the Metro or someplace else, which is going to be difficult as there are Lurker patrols all over the place, from what Sandra said.
And breaking the prisoners out is likely to trigger the attack on the Metro early, before our defenses are ready and the BoS is in place.

Further, the only known quantity of Lurkers is that they have 100 raiders at their factory HQ, with an unknown number spread out along the eastern coast of Seattle that they can call back for the attack, on top of an unknown number of mercs.
I think the odds of facing less than 100 enemy combatants is too optimistic by half.

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>>2047768
>>2047888
>>2047902
>>2047905
>>2047911
>>2047914
>>2047950
>>2048765
>>2051043

Apologies, folks. I'll pick up tomorrow. A few things came up, and I really have to sleep now if I want to survive tomorrow afternoon.

>>2051139
No problem, as long as the curse of the QM does not take you 100% im happy at least.

We need a method of fast travel, that can handle the broken landscape, isn’t too loud, and preferably is robust enough to handle some combat.

Maybe Lucius could help us build a tricycle or quad-style bike for our DAVIDs. A sidecar or docking stations for a pair of Eyebots. Electric motors to be quiet and a reinforced suspension system, maybe with spare Eyebot lift systems to provide an ability to jump obstacles. And powered by fusion/microfusion cells or fission batteries.

Mostly as a means of quickly scouting locations to determine if it would be worth it to send a bigger scavenging party and to recon targets for an assault team.

>>2052420
But our eyebots are already as fast as RALPHIE!

Now that the Major has access to our communications satellite, she could do counter-insurgency operations by taking an Assaultron, a couple StealthBoys, Sparrow’s pipe Rifle and ammo, and becoming a vengeful ghost stalking raiders and slavers, leaving behind their violated bodies in public spaces to be found as a warning.

>>2052687
Heyyy, that's our job!

>>2051043
>could Lucius make it into a more powerful sniper rifle?
Right, like turning it into a gauss sniper rifle.

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>>2053140
>>2051043
>>2048765
>>2047950
>>2047914
>>2047911
>>2047888
>>2047768

“Jeremy,” you call through the nearest eyebot.

“Yes mum?” the old machine responds.

“Do you know where the closest RobCo manufacturing facility is for commercial use?”

“Well, I imagine that there haven’t been many -new- constructions in quite some time. That would leave the closest proper mega factory right outside of Olympia. I’d be rather surprised to hear that it hadn’t been turned into a crater, however, or been picked clean for parts near a century ago.”

“True,” you sigh.

“Now, don’t sound so glum, mum,” Jeremy insists with a wave of one arm. “It’s not the end of the world, nor I imagine, the factory that would be most pertinent to your interests.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re a military type, of course, is what I mean. You’ve hardly a need for a legion of robotic nannies or the like, I dare say. It’s a grand loss, of course, but you might be more interested to know I have in my records a number of requests made by the good folks in McChord before the war.”

“The McChord Air Force Base?”

“Yes, mum. Seems the powers that be were bankrolling considerable operations and pushing timelines before the war broke out and, well, I’m no military tactician. However, one can’t help but to imagine that a fabrication facility right next to a base specialized in air transportation just makes sense.”

“You guys talking about McChord?” Sandra calls from down the hall. “Best forget about that. The place is crawling with radiation, Ferals, and the Children of Atom.”

“The Children of who, now?” you demand. “Whose Adam?”

“A-tom, with a ‘t’,” Sandra emphasizes. “They’re a bunch of radiation baked loonies that think bombs are god or some shit.”

“Oh god, there are still nukes there?!”

You and Arya’s voices perfectly overlay as your thought processes sync up. For a second, it’s almost like the old days, before you once again drift apart.

“No one knows…”

“Bull honky,” the Major scoffs. “I know.”

“And?” you prompt.

“We knew the Commie’s were up to no good. Like hell we were gonna ease up the trigger finger and ‘not’ be ready to blast them back to kingdom come, once or hell, even twice if need be. True, we mighta overestimated our staying power in the wake of nuclear annihilation, but there was plenty of material left on site to go for a round two.”

“It would explain where they got all the mininukes from,” Sandra sighs, “and the radioactive power armor.”

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>>2054191

“Great…” you groan.

“Nothing worth having comes free,” the Major insists solemnly.

“We’ll table that for when we aren’t fighting a land war against an unknown number of enemy soldiers. At least for right now, Jeremy, do you have any spare parts for repairing the Major’s machines. I can’t imagine that they’re fairing terribly well after so many years without a qualified technician.”

The Major snorts.

“It doesn’t take a genius to bolt on spare parts, and I got left plenty to keep my troops spick and span. Rest assured, anything I send your way will still have plenty of fight left in it.”

“What now, then?” Arya asks.

> That is a good question. What now?
> [] Vault 57. A couple of eyebots and a DAVID can cover that distance easily.
> [] Send someone back to the Metro. There are spies about… probably.
> [] Try to help Lucius. He’s handling about as much as he can right now.
> [] Other

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>>2054192

I live, I die, I live again! And now, I have to go die again for like... seven hours.

>>2054192
>> [] Vault 57. A couple of eyebots and a DAVID can cover that distance easily.
Woof!

>>2054192
Send an eyebot on a speed run to return BoS tags.

Then the Metro.

>>2054192
>[] Vault 57. A couple of eyebots and a DAVID can cover that distance easily.

>>2054192
>[] Other
Send one Eyebot with the BoS holotags back to the Brotherhood, and then the Metro to warn them of spies.

We can control the DAVID while Arya and the Major continue using the Eyebots.

>>2054192
>> [X] Vault 57. A couple of eyebots and a DAVID can cover that distance easily.
Meow!!!
>>2055008
Also this

>>2054192
Oh, hey, does Jeremy have any updates to the PipBoy operating system that Sandra could use? Maybe VATS?

>>2055009
>>2055005
You know, we had a long discussion of this in previous threads and the thought then was that trying to get a bunch of dogs back to the city was going to be difficult within the timeframe and that transportation of useful tech back from the vault was something we should do when we had more time.

We have a countdown clock of less than 48 hours before a hundred guys come kill a bunch of people we have helping us harbor shit we stole from the aggressors.

Are you guys sure now is the time to go crack a vault open?

>>2055114
Unless we have any closer, more promising leads on long lost loot, then yes.
How far away was that train full of power armor again?

>>2057327
It was further, but our closest lead on long-lost loot is the BoS.

The idea previously discussed was to interrogate the prisoner from the Lurker base held at the metro and use his knowledge of the base and stealth boys to undertake a night assault on the lurker camp, and to set up ambushes at the river crossing near their base when they marched north.

This is much less of a gamble than trying to loot a vault that may be full of nothing useful.

>>2057387
Thinning the raiders' numbers in the time we've got is good, we've certainly got enough weapons without further scavenging. (More ammo could be good, though? We'll probably recoup it from dead raiders.) Maybe we should start with some isolated outposts.

>>2057463
We'd have to know where they are, and for that we'd have to talk to the Lurker we have captured and held at the Metro. It was suggested to us by Johnnie that he was kept around because he had a strong back and wasn't too mouthy.

Given that Johnnie warned us about the rogue sniper we caught that apparently wasn't sent our way on anyone's orders, we should probably consider his suggestion to offer the captive Lurker a stable life as a farmer and pump him for information on the base - supplies, layout, captive/slave locations, where the non-combatants and children are, where the food is, whether there's any water sources to poison, where the entrances are, etc.

>>2054192
>>“Nothing worth having comes free,” the Major insists solemnly.
The Major seems awfully attached to thoughts and tactics that have been proven wrong...

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>>2054192
>>2054219
>>2054936
>>2055005
>>2055008
>>2055009
>>2055028
>>2055114

There are plenty of different directions your attention is pulling you, but fortunately, recent acquisitions are giving you options.

“The assaultron is going to make a B-line back to the Metro, so that I can explain the situation to Rex. Meanwhile, one of my eyebots will go and deliver the Brotherhood holotags, as well as assess their preparedness. The last eyebot, I’ll be leaving here to keep you all apprised of the situation as best as I can.”

“And the rest of us?” Major asks.

“Assuming Vault 59 is still sealed and stable, it might be a convenient way to bolster our numbers in preparation for the raiders,” you explain.

“It might…” Arya says, floating closer, “but somehow, I don’t think the puppies are going to be combat trained, I mean, not -really- combat trained.”

“Wouldn’t bet on that,” the Major objects, drawing a look from both of you.

“What do you know about this vault, exactly?” you probe.

“That it was given special attention by the US government, and thus, likely to have been created with training protocols in mind.”

“Is that all?” you ask, feeling as though she’s leaving something out.

“Not really, considering Black Site 357 never managed to pass the damn material on down the line.”

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>>2057986

“You’re referring to the canid FEV,” you state bluntly, switching over to a private channel to avoid informing everyone about this.

“I might be,” she admits. “Then again, it doesn’t really matter what was planned if it never happened. Dug into the field reports on super mutants, anyway, and can’t say I’m sorry that little operation didn’t get up off the ground. Last thing we need in these parts is a pack of radioactive, mutated super-wolves to worry about.

“Still, if that operation never got started, that means whatever Vault Tech had planned probably did. Bunch of nimrods probably have them playing cards or some nonsense. Might be something more serious, of course, but I wouldn’t put it past those peckerheads.”

“So, Major,” you say, switching back to the main channel, “and Arya. Thoughts on pursuing the vault?”

“More warm bodies for the grinder wouldn’t hurt,” the Major shrugs.

“I’d rather we try to find a way around fighting at all,” Arya admits. “Sparr- I mean, the prisoner might be able to tell us how to find her friends, or we might be able to find them on our own.”

“There’s also the plan to assault the raiders in the night…” you muse.

“Best to pump the Lurker you took hold of for information then. We’ll get the base, the layout, their numbers, and hit ‘em where it hurts.”

“But when is the question.”

“Well…” Major hums, pulling up a map in your collective mental space. “The way things are looking if we got ahold of the contents of Vault 59, we’d be in a good spot to swing through the raider camp on our way back with our impromptu troop. Not exactly the stealthiest approach, but if you want to test their combat effectiveness…”

“We’re making a lot of assumptions!” Arya protests, perhaps a little agitated, even. “The vault might be empty for all we know or filled with something bad! And even if it wasn’t, they might not be any good at fighting, or there might not be that many of them. And then you’re going to try to send them at people with guns!?”

Arya does have a point… though you suspect her motives may not be entirely strategic here. Still.

> What to do?
> [] Pursue Vault 59. There are likely to be more than dogs there anyway.
> [] Pursue the Golden Sons. Better to cut the enemy numbers, though you aren’t sure what you can offer them.
> [] Launch a night raid on the Lurkers. If they have caught wind of your operations, they may strike early out of fear.
> [] Other

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>>2057989

I'm dying from being up this late. Mistakes were made, but I wanted to post -something- today. Goodnight folks.

>>2055028

I'll try to address this in the next update.

>>2057989
>> [] Pursue Vault 59. There are likely to be more than dogs there anyway.
Cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of war! We can get the Vault and hit the raiders with plenty of time to spare.

>>2057989
> [x] Pursue Vault 59. There are likely to be more than dogs there anyway
We need tactical puppies.

>>2057989

Because OP has been feeding us clues and is eager to write it, and because anons cannot resist doggo for long, I'll say we pump the Lurker in the metro for information with one robot body while we're on the way to Vault 59 with our other robot bodies under the leadership of the other units if necessary and we'll shift our attention as necessary to make the operation work smoothly.

That way, nothing gets missed.

>>2058137
so storywise, we'd go interrogate -> vault -> raiding with or without the spoils of the vault. That works, though it's going to take a while.

>>2057989
>[] Pursue Vault 59. There are likely to be more than dogs there anyway.

The problem with launching a night raid against the Lurkers is that it will prompt an immediate response from the Lurker forces not at the HQ and from the Golden Sons.

>>2058311
There's also a hostage situation involved. One of the reasons to launch the raid is to extract metro prisoners and hostages. At least two Metro traders are in Lurker custody at the moment.

There's already going to be a response from the Lurkers. They're going to be managing logistics for getting their forces ready to hit the Metro. That IS the primary response; speeding it up by an hour or two is not going to change much. They have to rally somewhere and we need to hit them there. Crippling their base if they're not home is a bonus; we can withdraw quickly if that's the case and reinforce positions at the Metro.

We've taken away their fastest means of transportation. We have hovering robots and wheeled vehicles. They don't and must respond at a walking pace.

We have significantly beefed up defenses at the Metro by getting BoS troops on-site, which we're going to check on and warn of the attack so they'll be ready to brace for the assault.

The idea is to launch a predawn raid in the hours before they set out towards the Metro, including setting up fallback positions to attack them from when they run out of their stricken camp (we can use stealthboys to hit it with molotovs and tear gas, maybe even napalm if we mix some from the Metro's supply - Rex's motorcycle is likely to have some - and then hammer them as they run for their camp's gates). After the raid is concluded, we can withdraw ahead of their advancing force to advantageous positions, lay Viet Cong style booby traps and ambushes and weaken them on the move.

By the time they arrive at the Metro to leverage their strength they're going to be reduced, or else have a severely weakened base to fall back to.

>>2058348
So extract prisoners while under fire while escaping on foot for several miles through hostile territory.
And we took two Jeeps from them, but we don’t know the full size of their vehicle fleet, so the Lurkers or Golden Sons may have more vehicles.

>>2058358

>So extract prisoners while under fire while escaping on foot for several miles through hostile territory.

When you strip an idea of all its good points it is easy to make it look stupid.

We have intel and stealth boys for the approach. We have scouts that levitate thirty feet off the ground and use superhuman optics. We have reaction speeds that put good soldiers to shame and multiple bodies. Small-scale surgical operations are a strong suit for us so far because of these qualities.

We can come in and leave under the cover of stealth boys. Prisoner extraction can be managed by vehicle. This is all better than the alternative, which is letting the hostages die. Given how delicate the matter of the Lurker assault already is, it would not do to do nothing.

After the prisoners are safely away, we can proceed at slightly above the speed of the Lurker force and assault them as we go.

There's no need to reduce the plan to its most challenging components as if they have not been addressed.

>And we took two Jeeps from them, but we don’t know the full size of their vehicle fleet, so the Lurkers or Golden Sons may have more vehicles.

That we took the sole two working vehicles of the Lurkers, if not confirmed, is heavily implied by the writing of the QM so far. The rarity of a working vehicle is the reason we got a value of 10,000 caps for them.

>>2058358
>>2058386
I will add that getting the sniper to play ball and take a message to the Golden Sons would be a good idea if we wanted to confirm the presence or absence of more vehicles.

I imagine we can change our minds on that anytime if people would like to reconsider. She can still take us to them.

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>>2057998

It got late before I even noticed. Not to mention, I've been fighting a horrific head ache. Apologies, folks, but I'll pick up tomorrow, and hopefully have time for more than one update. I'll shoot for the first in the morning, and we'll figure out where to go from there.

>>2060665
No worries! Thanks for posting and feel better.

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>>2057989
>>2058035
>>2058131
>>2058137
>>2058142
>>2058311
>>2058348

“We’ll consider it a recon mission for right now,” you conclude, your David shouldering Sparrow’s sniper and giving it a few experimental looks down the sight before stowing it for the trip. “There could be more than dogs there if it was a military sponsored installation, and every little bit helps. All we give up in exchange is a David and two eyebots while still aligning ourselves for a surprise attack the night before the raid.”

With that settled, you bid your human allies farewell.

“Please take care of yourselves,” Lucius requests, his sound producing advice murmuring in an ominous base as he turns a few nuts and bolts into place.

“Yeah. If worse comes to worse, I’ll try to get the egghead out of here and back to the Metro,” Sandra adds.

“Ah, right,” you remember. “Jeremy, do you have any updates to the PipBoy firmware that you could pass to Sandra? OS updates as well as a copy of VATS would be a huge help.”

“What’s VATS?” the scavenger questions.

“It stands for Vault Assisted Targeting System,” Lucius explains, not missing a beat, “and it’s quite useful. Essentially, the wrist-mounted computer on your arm helps you adjust your firing angles to target specific enemy vitals.”

“Is there anything you don’t somehow know about?” Sandra demands of the scientist, getting a non-committal shrug in return.

“I had one at one point,” he explains nonchalantly.

“And what happened to it?” you ask, looking to his now bare wrists.

“Well, I found myself rather curious as to how it worked. One thing lead to another and… Well…”

“He broke it,” Arya finishes.

“Hmm. Well, not exactly!” the man objects. “Rather, it was a necessary sacrifice for my research.”

“So, you broke it for a reason,” Arya insists.

The man blushes before burying his face in a still-exposed circuit board.

“And what research was that, exactly?” Major demands, reminding you that you hadn’t had a chance to explain Lucius’ work to her thus far.

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>>2061503

“In the age before the war, our ancestors happened upon what I believe to be a rather important discovery,” the scientist begins, his voice echoing as he talks into his machine. “The semiconductor based transistor, much smaller than any vacuum-tube technology of the time, was the reason that miniaturized electronics like the PipBoy could exist. The microchip, several orders of magnitude more complex than a circuit board in turn several orders of magnitude larger than itself is the beating heart of that technology. In order to determine how it functioned, however, a bit of dissection was necessary. That, of course, with electrochemical analysis, microscopy, magneto-analysis, etc…”

“And did you succeed?” you ask.

“I was in the testing phase,” Lucius sighs. “The device that I showed you earlier, the prototype, contains a micro-fabricated circuit board of a much simpler make as its primary processing unit. However, the micro-fab itself is-”

“In the custody of the Lurkers,” you finish with your own sigh.

“Yes…” he finishes.

“Incidentally, I do not have those files on hand,” Jeremy chimes in. “It was rather limited in distribution to preserve secrecy and trademark.”

“An army of VATS equipped soldiers…” the Major muses seductively over a private channel. “We could take back this rock with no trouble.”

“We’ll try to get you back your supplies,” you promise Lucius, “but for right now, we need to get going.”

That apparently settled, you waste no more time returning to the billowing winds and chilly night-time air. An eyebot with a separate AI piloting each, and your David unit taking center, you take pains not to be seen as you stalk away, heading eastward.

> You are in transit.
> Roll 1d100 for random chance and choose an action.
> [] Ask The Major about Project Mjolnir
> [] Fill The Major in on Lucius’ other project.
> [] Have the eyebot back at Jeremy’s do something. What?
> [] Other

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>2061504
Hell yeah, back to the random encounters.
> [] Ask The Major about Project Mjolnir
Would firing the weapon with an... obstruction in the way be feasible? We want that weapon but there's a giant mutant pigeon roosting in the Space Needle right now.

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>2061504
>[] Fill The Major in on Lucius’ other project.
She might know of resources that could help it along.

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>2061504
> [X] Ask The Major about Project Mjolnir

>>2061540
>>2061553
I feel the need for a median roll

Rolled 98 (1d100)

>>2061540
>Ask The Major about Project Mjolnir

i am thinking of halo power armor

>>2061642
>>2061624
Shenanigans

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>2061504
>> [X] Fill The Major in on Lucius’ other project.

>>2061540
>>2061624
>>2061642
I think it's pretty apparent that the Dice Gods want to talk about Project Mjolnir.

>>2061694


gib us da spicy rumors

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>>2061504
>>2061540
>>2061553
>>2061624
>>2061642
>>2061688
>>2061694
>>2061715

> 98

“So… Major…”

Nothing seems to trouble you on your way out of the complex, neither molerat or ghoul taking notice as you dodge through abandoned alleyways on swift, robotic wings.

“Yeah?”

“We kind of got side-tracked when you mentioned Project Mjolnir before. From the way you brought it up, though, you seemed to think it was pretty important.”

“That’s because it is pretty important,” the machine emphasizes, the eyebot slightly covered in frost now as it bobs against the wind. “Project Mjolnir was going to be one of the greatest technical achievements of the prewar era.”

“And what does that mean?” you insist.

“She probably means it was some kind of weapon,” Arya concludes.

“Well, yeah…” she agrees, though perhaps taking umbrage with the other bot’s tone, “but that would be to sell it short. This wasn’t any old weapon. It was going to be the ultimate weapon: the first of a network of an anti-missile, anti-aircraft, anti-nation weapons that would have made damn near everything else obsolete.”

“I don’t like the sound of this…” Arya groans.

“That’s a pretty bold claim,” you point out, cutting an argument off short, “and on top of that, you said it was, ‘supposed to be’. So, is it even operational at this point?”

“That remains to be determined. The boys we had working on the device before the war had all the numbers on paper, and were damned near close to test firing when the bombs dropped. For obvious reasons, the exact news never filtered back to us as to how it all turned out before everything came to a hard stop.”

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>>2062028

“Okay… So, we know that it’s the Space Needle, but what was this weapon supposed to do?”

“The earth as we know it exists in a maelstrom of forces out in space that’d blast the surface of this rock into glass before we could blink. So, some of the eggheads back in the good ol’ days started asking themselves, ‘Why not put those forces to work for us?’”

“Because it’s insane and might destroy the planet?” Arya offers, being ignored.

“Well, turns out, another egghead had already done half the work for them. You’re familiar with the Tesla Cannon, right?”

“The charged particle cannon?” you offer as pieces start clicking into place.

“Yup. Same principle, but on a bigger scale. Basically, it uses the entire earth as a capacitor and fires off a round of lightning big enough to glass half of Manhattan along with anything dumb enough to get in its way.”

The sudden shutdown for ‘maintenance’, the installation of an oversized nuclear powerplant below the foundation, the outside contractors brought into build it, all of the holes in your logs. They’d managed to weaponize a building right under your nose, and those of the American people, and now, knowing what that device might be capable of, you see why.

“So, they used an ion bridge to bring down several million pettajoules and then form a second to funnel it elsewhere…” Arya says, thumbing through your library as she tries to paint a picture for herself. “The Tesla Cannon had to swap out heat sinks, though, and even scaling up, wouldn’t the whole thing just melt?”

“Don’t know. Even my files were limited on that. All I really know is that the Enclave’s mission here revolved around acquiring it.”

“Well, right now, there’s a giant, mutated pigeon guarding that roost,” you sigh, boosting your speed even further as you see the water glistening in your field of view. In one, spectacular rush, you are then gliding over the waves with the others moving out to avoid your wake. “Until we can figure out how to deal with that, even checking it is off-limits.”

“Pigeon? Oh, you mean the eagles. Your guess is as good as mine as to how the damn things got that big, or how they keep flying, but yeah… That complicates things.”

“Those things are eagles?!” Arya demands.

“Well, give or take…” The Major explains. “There’s a lot of other stuff mixed in there, but the base is still there if you look for it.”

“FEV?” you ask.

“FEV,” The Major confirms.

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>>2062033


However, before you can even begin to wrap your head around that, something else catches your eye. Ripples of pale moonlight dance over the icy water, occasionally giving way to shadows, and in those shadows, for just the briefest second are… eyes? A human face gazes up at you for a brief moment, you’re positive, before just as suddenly plunging further into the darkness beneath the waves and vanishing from sight.

> That’s… Was that real?
> [] Investigate. You can’t dive with this body, but you don’t want to lose whatever that was.
> [] Keep going. Something to worry about later.
> [] Other

>>2062037
>> [] Keep going. Something to worry about later.
Could be ghouls, could be even worse mutants. Can't have any good loot that isn't waterlogged.
What body of water is this? The bay, a puddle?

>>2062037
>[] Investigate. You can’t dive with this body, but you don’t want to lose whatever that was.
>Other: Ask the Major if she has any Navy or Marine Corps files and if they were doing any experiments with aquatic troops/genetic modifications.
Give the other two the memory of the face we saw.

>>2062064
It can't be ghouls because of the undamaged human face.
If it were damaged like that of a ghoul, it would have been mentioned.

It could be mermen, some kind of mutant human offshoot, or it could be a group of technologically advanced survivors that kept scuba equipment.

>>2062079
Support

>>2062079
That works. Seconding.

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>>2062037
>>2062064
>>2062079
>>2062365
>>2062372

“Hold on,” you tell the others, stopping to hover over the water and cursing as your thermals turn up nothing in the shifting currents.

“What is it?” Major asks.

You show them the picture from your synapses and feel their minds turn toward the same conclusion.

“Were there any projects in the area that could have produced aquatic humanoids?” you ask the Major.

“Enclave directive 27-4,” the bot turns out in short order. “Meant to determine the feasibility of amphibious hybrids in colonizing mostly aquatic worlds. It was a long shot, but if you were going to try it anywhere, Lake Washington would provide a large aquatic testing bed with reasonable distance to the ocean for trans-colonization.”

“And there was a Vault 37 located right by the bay, which means…”

“The refugees were all probably turned into research material,” Arya finishes.

“Really, that applies to everyone who signed up for the vaults,” The Major states, matter-of-factly. “They weren’t actually designed for the sake of the general populace, but for the continued longevity of the human race.”

“I don’t know if I like that way of thinking or the people involved…”

“There are good people in this world, and there is evil,” you state. “Our purpose was never to pass judgement, but to do what we can to foster their better natures. Desperation makes people callous and cruel. I think the world today reflects that fact.”

“Maybe…”

In any case, the time hovering has allowed you to try some alternative search methods, eventually wrapping around to radar. It’s a bit hard to fenagle, stretching the depth of penetration far enough beneath the waves to make out features on the bottom, but eventually you do manage to find a cave of sorts about thirty meters down. You take a mental note of the location, and then, with a silent nod to the others, move on.

Hovering halfway between shorelines as you glide along the waves, your miniscule tidal swell isn’t enough to garner any attention. It’s an enviable peace, really, nothing but the steady wisp of the waves roaring behind you as you tick the miles on your odometer, and as you break toward the distant shore, the nearest campfire is nearly a mile away.

No sense finding out if those people are friendly or not right now. You have miles to cover and places to be before sunrise, and the less unrelated parties that knew where you were going, the better.

With that in mind, you keep a low profile, hovering low and going as fast as you can without making a racket as you head for the tree line of the Tiger Mountain State Forest. Thankfully, no thunderbirds or raiders of hell make themselves known at the last moment, but the boundary does still give you pause as the unmanicured undergrowth rushes up to meet you before the trees, the fence line that once kept the area in check now buried somewhere within its depth.

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>>2062947


> How do you want to proceed?
> [] Gun it
> [] Go for stealth
> [] Other

>>2062952
>[] Other
Go for a medium between speed and stealth, while broadcasting on Vault-Tec, Enclave, and military bands a standard request for acknowledgement.
Also ask the Major if the Enclave seemed to be interested in Vault 59. Cyberdogs were a thing before the War, and might be something we can bring back.

>>2062952
>> [] Gun it
The Vault door's pretty thick, they won't hear you coming. Don't light up the airwaves, geez, just knock like a normal robot once you get there.

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>>2062952
>[x] Other

I just checked the map.

Pic related has a large circle with the core of the city where we came from, a large circle over Tiger Mountain where the vault is, and a small one over the Lurker base.

We're probably to the east of Seattle on the shore to Bellvue.

We can let the others lead for now, slave navigation control to them for the unit you have on location, and shift focus back to the units in the city for the trip unless the Major or Aria pull our focus back to the group en route to the area. Ask them to report anything noteworthy to us as they go.

We still have to debrief that prisoner in the metro and return the holotags and try to get some intel from the BoS. We can do some of that now while the others are on their way.

>>2063237
I will say it's too bad we didn't recon the route to the Lurker base for ambush locations on the way out here, but whatever. We'll have do deal with that another time.

>>2063028
Support

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>>2062952
>>2062997
>>2063028
>>2063237
>>2063252
>>2063415

Haha! Map research! The Major did mention that it was kind of on the way, but you've got the gist of it. As for everyone else, I'm going to try to get to bed early tonight, but I'll be back and updating tomorrow. Until then, take care.

>>2063443
Thanks for running, Bananon! See you next time.

>>2063443
Good night!

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>>2062952
>>2062997
>>2063028
>>2063237
>>2063252
>>2063415

It's not much of an update, unfortunately, but give me a 1d100 for your approach. The consensus seems to be 2 to 1 for going loud.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>2066078

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>2066078

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>2066078

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>2066078
Banzai!

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>>2066078
>>2066094
>>2066148
>>2066220
>>2066556

> 75

“Keep our present heading and velocity,” you instruct the others. “Staying in a tight formation might be asking a bit much, but don’t wander far.”

“Roger!”

With that settled, you flourish your wrist, unsheathing the heated spike within in preparation for the press forward. You can already see the hanging ivy and thick, braided brambles from here, bushes and underbrush covering whatever spots aren’t cluttered with too many trees. This was going to do wonders for your paint job, you’re sure.

Fortunately, post-apocalyptic or not, the leafy foliage still seems to give way easily enough when exposed to hot metal, turning whatever won’t bend back against your accelerating chassis being into mulch in short order. It’s slow going at first as you have to adjust your rhythm and attune your sensors to the almost alien species of plants that had grown up after the bombs, but as you get a better sense of what will give and what won’t, the path becomes easier to find, the other eyebots keeping up well enough, occasionally divining new paths for you as they fan out for recon purposes.

The vault itself shouldn’t have moved, of course, but the world had fundamentally changed. You can tell from the way some of the plants faintly glow in the dark of the canopy and from the wriggling of insectoid legs just out of sight that are far too large for the world that came before. You could swear you spy an ant at one point the size of a dog, but just as suddenly, it disappears, dragged down below the surface in one lunge of some unidentified creature.

Those ‘things’ might be a problem getting out of here, come to think of it, but for now, the smartest move is to try to find a path around them on the way back. As a result, Arya and The Major spread out further, processors working overtime to clock the trends and dens of the forest denizens. However, it’s about then that something was bound to go wrong.

> *Zzzt!*

You get the message as a shock of electric feedback over your channels as Arya’s connection goes haywire.

“-Ooo- -uy’s I… mmm…. n…-elp…” comes the garbled response as she tries to signal back.

> Well, that’s probably not good…
> [] She might be in trouble! Time to literally blaze a trail in her direction.
> [] This might be an ambush by an enemy. Try to approach stealthily.
> [] Other

>>2068640
>> [] She might be in trouble! Time to literally blaze a trail in her direction.
Bad Rover! Eyebots are not chew toys!

>>2068698
> [X] She might be in trouble! Time to literally blaze a trail in her direction.
Go fast!

>>2068640
> [] She might be in trouble! Time to literally blaze a trail in her direction.

If Jeremy doesn’t have the VATS files, does the Major have a copy?
I doubt Mr. House will give us a copy, so our choices are an intact RobCo facility or a Vault.
Maybe Vault 59? Or another Vault?

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>>2068698
>>2068707
>>2068921
>>2068640

You’ve been tracking her coordinates, same as with the Major. At least that means you know where she ceased transmissions, and thus what direction to begin swinging your spike. The length of it at this point is radiant, burning with a red incandescence like a torch, and the actuators in your shoulder are probably halfway cherry as you throw them into overdrive and smash the nearest offending tree in half with a thunderous crack. The same treatment befalls the next, then a log, and a patchwork of other greenery besides as you carve a burning swathe of destruction to pass through.

Fortunately, the winter season has left everything wet enough not to kindle as a result, but anything with ears is bound to have heard you coming. If it’s smart that means that it probably won’t be there when you arrive or bother to take an inedible eyebot with it. Either way, you don’t let those thoughts concern you. You’re American steel and raw fury, and you’re prepared for anythin- Are those raccoons?

A host of furry faces stare back at you as a host of branches fall with a crash and the clearing where Arya fell reveals itself. A mask to each one, a rodent-like face, you could be forgiven for wondering if they had all somehow missed the apocalypse by the lack of third eyes or second heads. They just seem confused.

> *Chick-chick*

It’s then that you notice the guns, one to each pair of tiny, bizarre hands, more or less, and an angry chitter in their mouths that probably warns you that they know how to use them.

> What to do?
> Either way, roll 1d100.
> [] Guns or no guns. They’re just rodents, and one of them is pawing a burnt looking Arya. They die!
> [] Um… Hi?
> [] Other

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>2071145
>[] Um… Hi?
>[x] Other: Alright, which one of you touched my sister? You can't have her, she's already got a boyfriend and he can make power armor with a few scraps of metal and some rocks.
Right. FEV almost always increases an animal's strength and intelligence by 200%, unlike with humans where it's more likely to reduce intelligence.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>2071177
This. Perhaps let Major know what we have here.

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Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>2071177

>>2071177
>her boyfriend is a Starfleet Engineer
I half expect some engineer of a mutated raccoon to take that as some kind of challenge and try to out-engineer Lucius with some ludicrous Orky Rocket Raccoon-esque patched together mechanical monstrosity to try to woo Arya.

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>2071145
> [X] Um… Hi?
Also warn major.

Rolled 10 (1d100)

>>2071145
>> [] Um… Hi?
You don't fuck with squirrels, you don't fuck with armed raccoons. Them's the rules of nature.

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>2071145

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>>2071145
>>2071177
>>2071403
>>2071791
>>2071806
>>2071817
>>2072075
>>2072420

Responses noted, but I have to go to bed asap in order to keep myself awake tomorrow. Apologies folks.

>>2074417

Will try to continue on a new thread in s day or so.