THE LONE SISTER

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this fic.

Note: I read quite a few self-insert or other character stories within the universe of Fallout.

I simply joined the group. This is a classical ROB entry self-insert in the Fallout 4 universe.

Please note that the character is a modified SI and so more of an other character. The character is also someone who knows and played only Fallout 1, 2 & 3. No New Vegas and Fallout 4 knowledge apart from some internet knowledge.

Prologue: "War... War never changes..."

One would be also tempted to say that "A ROB... A ROB never changes..."

Random Omniscient Beings were... random at best. They, on average, delighted in taking authors or their dimensional counterparts and throw them into the series the author likes a lot or that they were about to write a fan-fiction on.

Saying who I was wouldn't be useful since I was now someone else with another set of memories from someone else... Yeah, really useful to know...

My father was born in 2040, my mother one year later. They married pretty young and I was born when my father was 21. Due to economic needs, my father Nate, then joined the US Army serving with the 108th Infantry Regiment while my mother Nora, balanced her time between me and her law studies... One needs to earn money to put bread on the table.

You could say that War was in the blood of my family. My great great great grandfather was actually a soldier during World War 2 and participated in the most bloody battles of that era... for his son that he never even seen born... My father family side kept a few items, almost religiously maintained in good condition. A few trophies from the battlefields of Europe and Asia, remnants of a passed bloody History. As for me, my trans-dimensional memories were of someone who did 2 years in the French Army as a Transmission Officer specialized in NBC instruction.

To understand correctly this world, you must know that it is an Altered History Parallel World. The change was just after America won the war by launching 2 atomic bombs on Japan. Instead of fearing it, this world engaged in an unprecedented research to really master Atomic Energy.

This almost unlimited power source launched up Science into a realm near science-fiction: Robots with functioning AI, fusion-powered vehicles and portable computers (with a very different approach and look than ours). A paradise on Earth...

With a sick and twisted problem. All this mass consummation depleted the natural resources WORLDWIDE. The whole planet then erupted into conflict as countries fought for dwindling resources.

We are now the 23 October 2077, my name is Alice Lindberg and I am the 16 years old elder sister of the young Shaun born almost a year ago. My father recently came back from the ten years long ongoing war... and because of my true origins... I know that soon, very soon, this whole world will be incinerated into the nuclear fires of Total War as the USA locked horns with Communist China and... I'm terrified... for me, my parents and my younger brother...

For if my father did teach me only one important thing is that War... War never changes.

One other thing that never changed was also waiting for the bathroom to be free in the morning.

"Come on! Dad, Mum! Don't hog the bathroom... Every morning, it's the same circus." Inside the room, I could hear my parents chuckled at my whining. My father kept his strict military physical regimen and was always first up every morning. Mum, who couldn't sleep while Dad was doing his calisthenics, followed him closely. They were discussing the Veteran Meeting of tonight in Boston where my father was supposed to deliver a speech.

Finally, they get out and I promptly entered and closed the door before they could change their mind. I could hear Mum laughing when Dad said that I was really like her in character. I wiped the mirror of the accumulated steam and gazed upon a 16 years old teenager with a swimmer build, long black hair that I generally put up into a ponytail and green eyes. I shook my head and rapidly washed myself.

I left the bathroom, feeling a little more human. I was clothed in shorts, t-shirt (Nuka-Girl edition) and slippers with a towel around my neck. I went to our domestic robot, a Mr. Handy unit called Codsworth, to end my morning ritual with a cup of tea and a bottle of Nuka-Cola... Probably the only vice I had in this life was an almost addiction to this particular beverage... At least I was prudent with my consumption of the very rare Quantum Nuka-Cola... I didn't want to have glowing-pee-in-the-dark for more than a week...

Our house was the American standard for a standard family, "The House of Tomorrow": One fusion-powered car, the main room with an open kitchen, a bathroom, two bedrooms (yep, I was currently roommate with my baby brother) and a laundry. Dad projected to have a garage build with my future bedroom on the top.

Speaking of my brother, he was crying and Codsworth went to change his diaper. I sit in front of the TV as Mum commented on her nerves at first to let a robot take care of her baby child especially since I could take care of him. Nothing new on any channels, the same propaganda as always, even the weather report talked about our own troops doing well against the Chinese communists in South-East Asia.

I heard the door bell and went to see who it was. Mum thought it was that creepy salesman who tried to meet Dad for several days now.

"Good morning. Vault-Tec calling..." It was the same creepy guy with a creepy smile, a horrible yellow hat and trench-coat... Talk about fashion disaster.

I began to shut the door. "Sorry, Mister. We need nothing from you."

He waved his hands. "No! No! I'm not here to sell something. I'm here to give you something."

My Dad went behind me. "It's okay, Alice. I'll deal with that."

I raised an eyebrow at him but came back in front of the TV. Apparently, because of Father's services to our country, our entire family has been preselected for entrance into the local Vault numbered 111. My eyes narrowed and my hands grasped for an imaginary big wrench to explain a few things to this human rat. I knew that ALL the Vaults built by Vault-Tec were fucking social experiments on their inhabitants... Of course, saying that I knew that because of a video game... "Great, we can't possibly miss that and wait for the world end..." I blushed when I remarked that I said that sarcasm out loud. My parents and the salesman chuckled although his laugh sounded... forced. Dad wrote a few things on the form presented by the salesman and Mum said that it was more for our peace of mind after the departure of the yellow fellow.

Dad approved as no price from him was too high for our safety. I heard my brother still crying and get up to assist Codsworth. Sometimes a Big Sister's touch was required. I went to his crib. Shaun was a beautiful boy with the blue eyes of my father and the wavy brown hair of my mother. He also had the same birthmark as me: A star right on his inner left forearm. I played peekaboo with him while Dad activated the mobile built in his crib.

Mum and Dad spoke as we played with our little treasure. Dad seemed to think that going to the park with only Mum was a good idea. I gagged. "Get a room, you two."

Dad almost pouted and Mum reminded him that they still had to put out the Halloween decorations. And then Codsworth's voice reached us and asked to come quickly. There was an undercurrent urgency in its tone that I never heard before.

We reached the main room to hear the TV commentator reading from various messages. His voice seemed bewildered as if he couldn't believe what he was reading.

"...followed by... Yes... Flashes, blinding flashes... Sounds of explosions...We are trying to learn more. We just lost contact with some of our other stations... Confirmed reports, I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania... Oh my god..." The image was suddenly cut off and the logo of Please Stand By replaced it and I heard a sound that transformed my blood into ice, the sound of air-raid sirens.

I found myself running outdoors along with my family, Dad was behind us, pushing us along the path. Shaun was in the arms of Mum. I had still my towel around my neck. I could hear the PA urging the inhabitants of Sanctuary hills to immediately go to Vault 111 if... if they were registered... Around me, I could see and hear my neighbors, my friends from school, everyone I have known for 16 years running panicked. Near the bridge over the river was a couple having a dispute about their luggage. We passed the publicity panel of Vault-Tec about preparing for the future...

At the fence of the vault was a military checkpoint with 2 military power armors armed with a mini-gun and a laser rifle. A military officer was preventing people not on his list from entering the premises. I blinked as the yellow Vault-Tec salesman was prevented from entrance, the power armors even pointed their weapons at him... Talk about irony... Still, the officer was plainly saying that only the registered could enter, the others were enjoined to go back to their home... and then what..? Waiting for certain death..?

Our family passed through desperate people. Some were crying, a few couples were embracing, some were sitting on the ground, visibly waiting for death,... They were my neighbors, my friends, people, humans,... They were... They were already dead...

Dad reached the officer and asked for entry as we were registered. The military man checked and let us pass. I felt numb as I could hear the voices of the people I knew pleading to them, to us... A Vault-Tec security guard (recognizable to his blue uniform) escorted us to the entrance of the vault... Mum asked what was going to happen to the others... A vertibird was hovering around us as we reached the entry platform of the vault along with 5 of our neighbors.

Dad hugged us as we stopped and tried to reassure us, that everything will be alright. Mum just said that she loved us.

And then there was a flash of light, I instinctively ducked down and covered my head like I learned to do in the regular training drills at school as my skin felt like I was too close to a sun lamp. I could feel the powerful arms of my father around us and the warmth of my mother nearby, I could hear my baby brother crying and another sound...

I opened my eyes to something that I would carry like a scar in my soul forever. An image that so far I only knew from documentaries from my original world: An atomic mushroom cloud sinisterly developing upon our immediate horizon. The platform under me began to descent as I gazed upon the shock-wave of the explosion rushing towards us. Hurricane-strength winds raged above us as the gates closed and the elevator continued its descent.

As we descended, I recognized Mr. Russel, Mr & Mrs. Whitfield and Mr & Mrs. Able from our little town. We made it, but for the others...

Security guards guided us towards the entry of the vault, I recognized the characteristic shape of the Gear-Door. A guard was noting down the sex and age category of those entering. A woman clad in the famous blue vault jumpsuit was distributing identically packaged jumpsuits to the people entering. Our family took the offered jumpsuits, funnily, even Shaun had a suit for his size and the woman asked us to follow a Vault-Tec doctor and he will show us where to go.

When the doctor had the gall to praise the facility, I momentarily lost control of myself and whirled to him, my hatred, sublimed by the shock of the situation, escaping through my eyes. So much hatred that he faltered and jumped back from me. Only the contact of my Dad's hand and his voice managed to stop me from jumping on this scum and strangled him. When we arrived in another room, I have managed to regain a semblance of control, but I knew... I knew that my family has just jumped from the frying pan into the fire as Vault-Tec couldn't be trusted under no circumstances.

We entered a room with row of... pods? The doctor explained that before we were to go to our new dwelling, a medical exam and decontamination was necessary. The pods were big enough for an adult with place to spare... What was alarming to my eyes were the cold conduits steaming in the warm air on each of them.

The doctors put us under a full medical check-up and then made us put on our jumpsuits before stepping into the "decontamination pod". I hesitated as a bad feeling was intensifying but I couldn't let my family down. The jumpsuits were of an adaptable fiber that was one-size-suit-all They were also supposed to be energy and radiation resistant and of course, I could only have my underwear under it.

I smiled to Dad and Mum and kissed them and Shaun before entering the pod. I could see Dad, Mum and Shaun in two other pods in front of me. Then the computer voice resounded in my pod.

"Occupant vitals... normal. Procedure complete... in 10...9...8...7..." It was then that the cryogenization process seized me and I swore in my head. If anything happened to my family, I will have revenge in the most bloody way I could conceive. As the artificial sleep took me I heard the voice continuing its countdown. "...6...5...4...3...2..." And then everything went white for a fraction of Eternity.

After a few instants, I realized that I was slowly coming back to consciousness. I could see the frozen window of my so-called decontamination pod and the vague shapes of the pods holding my family.

"This is the one." A feminine shape pointed at the pod holding Mum and Shaun... I thought she was clothed in a hazmat suit.

A bald man clothed in leathers..? approached the right of the pod. "Open it."

The woman activated controls on the left of the pod and both the pods holding my family opened. The voice of the man sounded again, with irritation..? "Why is the other pod opening?"

The woman shook her head. "Probably a short-circuit in those old controls."

I could see my parents moving, shaking and coughing. The sound of Shaun crying... Never thought I would find this sound so beautiful.

"Is it over..?" The voice of my mother, so weak...

"Almost," said the man. "Don't worry about it."

The woman seemed to want to take Shaun out of the arms of Mum. Dad said that they could handle it. Mum refused to let go of her child.

"Let the boy go. I'll not repeat myself." The voice of the bald man became abruptly threatening. My heart hammered in my chest as he pointed a weapon at Mum.

"What the hell do you think..?!" Dad moved and reached for the bald man. A shot... two... Blood splattered the interior of two pods. The bald man just shot my parents... HE SHOT THEM! I began to hyperventilate.

The bald man closed the two pods and nodded to the woman who was taking away... SHE WAS TAKING AWAY MY BABY BROTHER! "Take the baby and go to the Center." He approached my pod and I engraved his features in my mind. Bald at the top, short black hair with some gray, black eyes, in his forties-fifties, a scar on his left running from above his eye to his lower cheek and a big handgun looking a lot like a .44 Magnum. He looked straight at me. "At least, we still have the backup."

Then the damned voice of the computer announced the re-initialization of the cryogenic sequence and the white void seized anew my consciousness... But not for long as I awoke, coughing... I had great difficulty breathing.

I punched at the door of my pod and it opened. I heard the computer announcing a critical failure in the general cryogenic unit and that we had to evacuate immediately... Wait until I found your server and a wrench...

I fell on the ground, I was so weak, everything was still blurry. I managed to get up and wobbled to the pods of my parents. I activated the opening controls and regretted it. Up until now, I hoped that they were merely wounded, still alive, but... No hope for that, the two head wounds weren't survivable...

I don't know how long I stayed on my knees before the frozen corpses of my mother and father... Why..? WHY..?! I managed to get up again and slowly reached for the only things I could salvage from them: Their wedding rings, the only things they kept. Before I closed the... coffins of my parents, I made an oath. "I will find the responsible and I will find Shaun, I promise..."

The damn computer still barked about the critical failure of the cryogenic unit and that all the inhabitants of the Vault must evacuate. The inhabitants..?

I checked and saw that all the pods still held my neighbors. I found the computer system and log in... Oh no... no... All the vital signs of the pods read negative... The computer listed the cause of death for all via asphyxia because the life support system has been cut off... There was also an entry about a remote access from an unknown external source...

I walked to the exit door and entered the rest of the vault. Other rooms contained occupied pods but the computer listed all occupants as dead... for the same reason as the pods where I was... Curious... According to what I was reading, my parents and I should also have been dead by asphyxia...

I finally reached the living sections of the vault with the generators... I heard a light screeching sound and thought there was movement behind a reinforced window, but nothing suspect... So far... My nerves..? I hoped so...

It was then that I felt mandibles pinching strongly my calf. My leg kicked out and I splattered on the wall... a giant roach..?! "Rad-roaches..? So early..?!" How could I saw the ubiquitous giant insect of the Fallout series now? They were the product of radiations, of mutations... Oh god... How long was I under the ice..?

I had to fight against two others rad-roaches before I found my first human skeleton. He was clad in a chewed blue vault suit numbered 111 like mine, but... A human doesn't decompose into such a skeleton for a long time... A very long time... "What happened here..? Where are the others..?"

I finally found a weapon: A telescopic baton, standard melee weapon of a security guard and better to deal with the rad-roaches I continued to encounter. Rad-roaches ichor was gross.

Ha! Jackpot! The Overseer office... And he was waiting for me, in the form of his skeleton... I had the creepy feeling that his skull was looking at me... I opened his computer and found what I was dreading about this vault: Instructions from Vault-Tec about the experimentation in Vault 111. We were supposed to be cryogenized and kept under the ice until the overseer received instructions from Vault-Tec... Of course, they never received anything and it seemed that a riot among the staff about a shortage of food killed everyone... At least, I had the secret evacuation tunnel of the Overseer to escape the facility. I also found another weapon: A standard 10 mm pistol which helped me greatly for exterminating the rad-roaches between me and the exit.

Once the Vault was cleaned of the vermin, I checked all corners for everything salvageable. No clean water or food as I feared, but some ammo, cigarette cartons, stimpaks and bobby pins... I had a bittersweet smile at them. If my father could only teach me some of the skills he learned in the Army, my mother taught me how to open a lock with a bobby pin and a screwdriver... The product of a misspent youth, she called it. She also taught me how to hack computers as sometimes, information couldn't be found legally.

It was also from another skeleton that I obtained my most precious possession: An authentic and functional Pip-Boy 3000. The means to use the very useful VATS or Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System. It also was my key for exiting this tomb. I triggered the opening sequence of the main door and rapidly entered the main elevator. Too bad I didn't find the computer server and bashed it as I heard its voice again. "Enjoy your return to the surface and thank you for choosing Vault-Tec."

Name: Alice Lindberg.

Level: 1.

Age: 16.

Hair: Black. Eyes: Green.

S.P.E.C.I.A.L:

Strength: 4. Perception: 4. Endurance: 4. Charisma: 4. Intelligence: 4. Agility: 4. Luck: 4.

Damage resistance: 0. Energy resistance: 5. Radiation resistance: 10.

Notable possessions:

Pip-Boy 3000 mark IV and 2 wedding rings.

Current Apparel:

Vault-Tec jumpsuit.

Current favorite weapons:

10 mm pistol and security baton.

Achievement Unlocked: War never changes.