Chapter 1
Elder James Maxson sat in his cabin and read reports about their journey to Europe. It's been three days since they left Boston. James was only a sentinel, but he couldn't stand the way, his father was leading the Brotherhood of Steel. They had a big argument and James realized, that he couldn't convince his father to change, so he took a new airship and went as far as he could. The crew of the airship helped him because that ship was their common project. They called it the New Horizon and themselves a Blacksteel Division. They picked up London as their ending destination. The flight was calm and they were nearly there.
„Bridge to Elder Maxson, please respond." came a voice out of the intercom. Maxson stood up a went to the box next to the doorframe to his cabin and pushed a button.
„Maxson, what have you got?"
„Sir, you should come here. We have something, you should hear." Maxson smiled to himself. Everyone was eager to get to the action, that they couldn't hide it from their voices. He took his coat, which he took from his father and went to the bridge. He greeted people he met along the way and they saluted him. When he entered the bridge, everyone stood up at attention.
"Alright, what have you got for me?" he asked. Paladin Major Miller, captain of the ship, pointed at Joel Marshall, ships radio operator. Maxson went to him and Marshall looked up at him.
"Sir, we detected shortwave broadcast from London, but it's heavily jammed. I'll put it on speakers."
"Respond...re...s...co...d...U...R…"
"Can you clear it out?" Marshall started to play with radio buttons a tried it again.
"Respond. Here is the command of Union Rangers, to unknown ship. If you will not respond, we will be forced to shoot you down. Please, respond!" Maxon reached out for microphone and Marshall switched input.
"To the command of Union Rangers, this is airship New Horizon. We come in peace, we do not have hostile intentions."
"New Horizon, we are glad to hear it. Please, stop and stand by for further instructions." Maxson turned to the pilot of the ship.
"Initiate full stop!" he ordered.
"Understood, initiating full stop."
"Command of the Union Rangers, we initiated full stoop. Now I would like to negotiate a personal meeting."
Malcolm looked at his cards again and looked around the table. He knew he had the best cards and that's why he moved all his caps in the center of the table. Almost everyone folded, but Ashley, who called. They both show their card and Malcolm won. Everyone started to laugh and argue, mostly about if Malcolm plays fair. Malcolm took off his jacket and showed everyone, that he didn't have any card inside his sleeves. He would never cheat on his team. Suddenly they heard noise above their heads. Hatch from their not-so-secret room opened and some squire put his head inside.
"Sentinel Archer, are you there?" the squire asked. Malcolm sighed and everyone started to giggle.
"Sir, Elder Maxson commands you and your team to get ready and go to vertibird one." After those words, everyone got serious. Not every day happened that Maxson gave direct orders to their team.
"Understood," Malcolm said and went up a ladder, everyone following him. They went to the armory to get their gear. They all had bulletproof plate carriers with tactical equipment strapped to it. Malcolm took his M16 with bipod and 1911. Ashley put power cell into her laser rifle. Eric had an M60 machine gun. Mike had Thompson and Amber had and SR-25, special sniper rifle made by Ashley for Amber.
"Everyone ready?" Malcolm asked. Everyone in agreement. They got out of the armory and went to the vertibird. Maxson already waited inside. They got in and vertibird was released.
"Sir, can we know what's going on?" Maxson looked up and smiled for himself. He knew Malcolm for almost ten years since they fought together at Sanctuary Hills, where Malcolm saved his life. Malcolm was also the first one to support his idea to separate from Commonwealth Brotherhood of Steel.
"We found out that London belongs to the Union Rangers, which is a paramilitary armed force that holds the north side of London and Britain. I was able to make a personal appointment and you're my security." Maxson said.
"So we shall die, while you run away?" Malcolm asked jokingly.
"No, apparently they have a lot of soldiers and anti-aircraft weapons, so you'll be more of an avenge unit, than anything else." Vertibird flew over destroyed London. It looked much worse than any city in America. Buildings were mostly destroyed, only a few of them were in half-destroyed state. Big rift stretched through the middle of the city and was nearly 70 meters deep. Only a few bridges were built across the rift. But most astonishing for them was, that all around grew green plants. Not yellowed tufts of grass or blackened trees. Everything was green.
Castle, which they were heading to, wasn't an actual castle. It was a nice old building with a great wall around it. On the northern side of this complex was a small village. In front of the main gate of the castle was a big circular place on which they landed. Black Arrow secured the nearest area. Five men emerged from the gate and went to them. Four of them were heavily armed, the fifth had only light armor and small firearm by his side. Probably it was their leader.
"Which one of you is Elder Maxson?" he asked, tension written in his voice. They probably weren't expecting any visitors.
"I am." Maxson said and got out of the vertibird.
"Our leader requests your presence. But you must go with us alone." the leader said. Malcolm wanted to say something but Maxson stopped him.
"Wait here for forty-five minutes, then return to New Horizon, with or without me." he said to him. Before Malcolm could argue with him, Maxson followed Rangers inside the castle. Malcolm looked around and he saw more Rangers on the battlements and he also saw barrels of some heavy armament. He moved on the other side of vertibird and saw a sniper. He called Amber to himself.
"On the right, behind my shoulder, there is a sniper. Watch him." he said and then inconspicuously separated. She and Malcolm were the only ones who were trained in searching for snipers. He was trained sniper and she was scout and expert on survival. After thirty minutes, Maxson returned.
"I've got good and bad news. Good news, we have a place to sleep. Bad news, we have to fight for it. I'm returning to Horizon and I will send you marines to assist you. Go down this road until you'll get to bridge. Wait for reinforcements there." Then he got into vertibird and flew away. Malcolm and his team set out to that bridge. They ran through a narrow street until they reached their destination. From their side, the bridge was heavily fortified. They stopped in an opening where vertibird could land.
In a moment, vertibird landed and unloaded twenty-four marines. They were called marines because they carried an old Marine Corps Armor found on the island of Far Harbour. Their commander came up to Malcolm.
"Hi Mal, heard you need our help. Guess you should visit the gym more often." He mocked him.
"Yeah, well someone had to do your paperwork since you marines can't read." Malcolm shot back. There was a moment of tense silence. Then they broke laughing.
"Must tell you, it's great to be in action again. Paladin Commander Ryan gave us a plan. We should secure the main gate and leave a small unit there in case we need to escape. Then we should clean the whole place inch by inch."
"Alright, that sounds solid. Let's go." Together they passed watchpoint and proceed to cross the bridge. They walked slowly even when the bridge was stable. Same as all Malcolm looked over the railing. He saw a small river in the rift and two creatures which went to hide. They reached their new base. They pushed the main gate open and went in. Immediately, horrendous creatures attacked them. Their skin was smooth and grey, their teeth and eyes were like obsidian as were their claws. Marines and Black Arrow started shooting. They split up to three groups, left five marines at the gate and move to the complex. More of those grey creatures attacked them. Malcolm was surprised how can those monsters be so fast, yet so silent. Shooting continued and fire group moved further. After a while, he pulled one the marines closer.
"Keep going and clear those buildings, we're gonna clear the tower." Malcolm shouted so the marine could hear him.
"Yes, sir!" Marine answered and took the rest of the fire group and went forward. Eric opened the door, Mike and Amber moved inside first and Malcolm went in last. Fast shots were followed by silent ones and Malcolm only passed dead monster bodies. The went up to the top where they found a ladder leading to the top of the tower. Eric took out his sidearm and climbed it. He opened the hatch and climbed inside. There was a shot and he fell down. Everyone came to him and Amber started to heal him.
"Amber, hand me that flashbang of his." Ashley said. Amber took a grenade from Eric's belt and then Ashley climbed the ladder. She lifted the hatch only a little so she could throw the grenade inside. She waited for an explosion and then took a peek with her gun ready. She saw a man in the corner which was leaning on one of the support pillars. He held his face in his hands with his gun at his feet. Ashley killed him with two shots and entered.
There was nobody besides the man. There were a sleeping bag, his possessions and some supplies. Some food, water and ammo. Malcolm followed and went to inspect the man when he saw that Ashley is looking at his supplies.
"How's Eric?" Ashley asked. Malcolm looked at her.
"It's good, the bullet was stopped by his plate carrier. He is more shaken from the fall."
"I'm not even surprised the bullet didn't hurt him. This pipe gun isn't well made and these homemade rounds have to less gunpowder." She took the pipe gun and took the magazine out. Then she took one round and split it open. It wasn't even half full of gunpowder.
"I don't even wonder why he hid here. With these things, he could only piss those monsters off." Malcolm nodded, climbed down and knelt next to Eric.
"So what?"
"He's unconscious and probably has a concussion. He needs a doctor." Amber said.
"Alright, give me the handset." Malcolm took it and Mike tuned frequency for command of the New Horizon.
"Horizon, this is Bravo Alfa One. We need immediate extraction, we have one wounded, over." he said.
"Bravo Alfa One, this is Horizon. Marines asked for medivac, we're sending the bird, over."
"Roger that Horizon, over and out." Malcolm lifted Eric and carried him down. Outside they saw marines and joined them. Together they brought their wounded to a place that will be a helipad in the future. Vertibird landed and they loaded the wounded and took spare ammo from the cargo hold. They heard quick footsteps and turned around.
"Sir, there are some soldiers at the gate. They want to speak to the commander of this base." Malcolm followed him to the gate. Marines stood there in defensive positions behind the half-closed gate. Malcolm went out and saw a platoon of soldiers. They all had the same weapon and berets, but different uniforms.
"Good day, can I help you?" One of the soldiers stood out from their ranks and went to Malcolm.
"By order of Union Ranger General we shall hold watch on this side of the bridge, but we should do so only with permission of the commander of this base." Malcolm wasn't the appointed commander, but nobody was, at this point.
"Alright, you have your permission." The commander returned to his men an gave them orders. Malcolm returned inside the base and looked at everyone.
"New land, new adventure."