Series 1: The Rising of a Wander, Courier, and Commander

Book 1: A lost Father

I grew up in Vault 101, one of many supposed fallout shelters in the continental United States. Educated, ruled, tested, overseen, the Vault was a home to me, a sanctuary; though not always happy, it was safe. It all changed one night and that event set a cascading effect for the rest of my life. This led to the rise of one of the greatest organizations in the history of the mankind. I am the Supreme Commander of the TSC and this is my story.

Part 1:

2274:
Life in the vault was hard. You were always expected to work and live, be around the same people and, with that limitation, have very little friends.
"Everything seems fine, so yes, you have to go to class to take your G.O.A.T. exam," my father said when I wanted to get out of class. My father was the vault's doctor and I was hoping that he would throw me a bone and let me skip class. Unfortunately that was not the case.
"Come on, dad, do I really have to take the stupid test?" I asked.
"Yes you do. It is required by all vault personnel that they take the Generalized Occupational Aptitude Test."
"Fine, I'll go," I replied, moping away.
"Son, it's not that I'm forcing you to. Things might not always seem fair down here in the vault but it is safe and that's all that matters," my father said to me before I left. I walked away, waving goodbye to my father, and I set off to class. I walked through the clinic and saw my father's assistant, Jonas. He wished me luck on the test as I walked by him and I noticed Stanley, the vault's technician, sitting in the corner next to the door, most likely there for his constant headaches.
I walked down the hall and noticed the Tunnel Snakes, the self proclaimed rulers of the vault. They were bullying my friend, Amata, and I walked up to them to ask them to stop. Butch said, "Well if it isn't the doctor's little goody two-shoes" when I walked up to them. I responded, "Nice to see you, too, Butch. How's the hair hobby coming along?"
"Yeah, yeah, what do you want?"
"I was wondering if you would deal with someone who would actually fight back."
"What, you think you can take all three of us, Two-Shoes?"
"Yes."
All three came at me. Luckily, Butch did not take out his switchblade or that could have been trouble. At the time, it was a bit difficult to fight all three, but as I am now, I could have wiped the floor with them. What I planned was let them come at me and systematically lure them into the classroom.
Luckily, it worked and Mr. Brotch's appearance broke up the fight. The Tunnel snakes backed off and Amata approached me. "Thanks for dealing with those guys. I don't know why they bully me. Just because I'm the Overseer's daughter does not make me special."
She walked away and took her seat. Mr. Brotch walked up to me and asked, "Are you alright, son?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just was trying to get those guys to stop bullying my friend, Amata."
"Good to hear that that fight had good intentions and not just you trying to prove you're better than them. Now, are you ready to take the G.O.A.T.?"
"Honestly, I really do not want to take it, Mr. Brotch," I said to him, depressed.
Seeing a hint of acceptance in his eyes he said, "Honestly, the test is not really worth it. Out of respect for your Dad, I'll let you decide what you want to do after class instead of having a test tell you what to do. Just sit down and act like you're taking the test and after everybody has left, I'll let you choose."
So I sat down and started pretending to take the test. Most of the questions were bogus and I thought some were made up while drunk. After that was all done, I waited in the room while everybody turned in their test sheets. I overheard some of the positions my classmates got. Amata got a supervisory position; even though I knew it was right for her, I think her father rigged it. Butch was slated as a hairdresser, to my amusement, while he protested, "I wanted to be a barber!" Paul was slated for an engineering position; Christine Kendall got a maintenance position with a lot of complaining; Susie Mack got teaching, ironically; and Wally Mack just turned in his paper. He already knew what he got (he cheated) and Freddie Gomez was still struggling and was left in the room.
Mr. Brotch gave me the answer sheet and let me choose what I want. I ended up choosing Pip-Boy programmer and jukebox technician. I walked out of the room and Freddie did not even seem to notice that I was given the answers. I think he failed the test.

Part 2:

2277:
Three years after the G.O.A.T., I was suddenly woken by my friend Amata. She was scared out of her mind and was trying to get me alert.
"Wake up. Please, wake up."
"What is it, Amata? I'm trying to sleep."
"I know but this is no time to be sleeping. My father's looking for you. Your father has left the vault."
"Left the vault? That's not possible."
"But it is. My father has gone mad with rage and killed Jonas and now he is coming for you. Please take these and get out of here." She handed me some an N99 10mm pistol and some lock picks. "You will need these if you are going to escape. I'll meets you at the vault door if I can." She ran off and left my room. I decided to grab what supplies I could and ran out the door.
Outside of my door was Officer Kendall. He spotted me and was about to attack me when he was ambushed by some radroaches. Using them as a distraction I was able to disarm him and knock him out. Seeing what was in for me, I took off his body armor, helmet, and collapsible baton. After that, I ran into Butch, who was in a panic. "Please, you've got to help me. My mother is being attacked by radroaches."
"Well, look at this. Butch Deloria is asking me for help. Oh, the irony."
"Yeah, yeah, I am. But please, my mom does not have that much time. She'll die."
"What, are you like afraid of the dark or something?"
"Well, no. It's the roaches. They scare me." Seeing the urgency of the situation and ignoring any prejudice I had against Butch, I said, "Butch, you're a big strong human. You can squash these bugs. Here, take my BB gun. That way you don't have to touch them."
Butch and I went in and saved his mom. He shot them with my BB gun and I smashed them with my bat. "Thank you. Thank you. You're the best person ever. Here, take my jacket. You're part of the gang now," said Butch, who then went over to comfort his mom.
Saving Butch's mother took too long. There were even more roaches around. They may be small but in swarms, they were dangerous and could easily kill a fool. I ran up to the floor above the residential section and ran into another security guard. I was about to strike when I noticed it was Officer Gomez.
"You have to get out of here. The entire security force is looking for you and won't hesitate to kill you," Gomez said frantically. Thanking him, I said that I always liked him and ran off into the atrium.
Upstairs, I noticed vault residents that I was not the familiar with talking about escaping and following my father. I got ahead of them and noticed two security personal guarding it. I walked up and at first they did not shoot because of the security uniform. But then they recognized me, took aim and shot at me. Luckily, because of the lax training of vault security they were not very good shots and missed. I took cover behind the end of the corridor and noticed the two vault residents running for the door. Knowing that they would fire on them, I took out my pistol and took aim. Holding breath and finally letting go, I pulled the trigger.

Part 3:
Taking a life for the first time was one of the hardest things I have ever done. The idea of a person being there one moment and then the next not, it is a feeling that never goes away; more so when you were the one that had done it.
I pulled the trigger and then again at the next guard, not even aiming; just trying to save my life and those of my fellow vault dwellers. I took the life of the first guard and knee-capped the second. He was still alive when I left him but to make sure that he would not chase me I kicked away his pistol and whacked him good with the police baton. Seeing this, the dwellers ran back into the vault trying to escape from me. I gathered whatever ammunition and weapons that were on the guards and ran.
The door to the vault entrance was locked so my next goal was to take on the overseer himself to get the key. I went to the second floor close to his office and I saw him interrogating his own daughter, Amata. I watched and learned that it was about my location. Loyal friend that she was, she refused to tell the overseer anything. He then ordered Officer Mack to beat her. To me, that was the last straw. I rushed in and, using the baton, smacked the overseer on the head and knocked him out. Then came the officer and swung his baton at me. He hit me right on the head and it staggered me. If it were not for the helmet I looted, the blow probably would have cracked my skull.
He came at me again. I had no choice but to use the pistol and this time I made sure not to miss. It hurt but the rush I felt made it easy. He was dead within seconds. I looked through the overseer's unconscious body and found the key to his office. Hopefully, the key to the vault door would be there.
I went to the overseer's room and noticed Amata crying. She said to me, "You killed him! You killed my father!" Shocked, I told her that I had only knocked him out and that he was still alive. At the worst, he would wake up with a bad headache and a kick to his ego. Seeing the humor and the relief that he was still alive, she said to me, "My father has a tunnel under his office that leads to the vault entrance. Use it to escape. I'll meet you there when I come to my senses."
Across the room, I noticed Jonas' body. I closed his eyes before searching his body, where I found a holotape from my father. I waited to listen to it when I had the chance. I then opened the overseer's office and looked through the lockers for a key or pass code and found a holotape that unlocked the terminal. There were several files from summaries on the residents to a former expedition to the outside. I eventually found the command under a shadow file in the terminal and activated it. The desk of the overseer rose and showed a passage to the entrance. I followed the path and eventually made it to the entrance of the vault. Hearing the alarms from me opening the door, Amata followed.
"You did it. You actually opened it. You have to hurry. The rest of the security force is coming."
"Come with me, Amata. Don't stay down here."
"No, my place is here. Even though this is happened I think I can still calm my father. Please leave."
Seeing the truth in her eyes I did one last thing before I left. Grabbing her arm, I brought her next to me and kissed her passionately and then let go. Seeing the shock in her face I said, "Thank you for everything. Goodbye." The door opened in front of me on its mighty gears. As I walked out and took one last look back, I saw her looking at me as the door closed behind me, ending a life that I could have had.