Well, here it is folks, my very first fan fiction. Enjoy. Constructive crititcism in your reviews please!

Chapter I: Discoveries

"We must be the great arsenal of democracy."-Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940

"Pioneer Five to citadel, over."

"Citadel here, go ahead, over."

"We have reached checkpoint Yankee, and are proceeding to checkpoint Zulu, over."

"Roger that Pioneer Five, good luck, over and out."

Paladin Gary "hound" Johnson handed the microphone on his squad's portable radio back to his radio operator, Knight Cale Lancaster. Lancaster folded up the antennae and put the heavy radio pack on his back.

"Alright boys and girls, lets move out, single line formation. Higgins you're on point, Penlan, bring up the rear." The ten man Brotherhood of Steel scout-squad formed into a line and began to trudge west from checkpoint Yankee, the top a cliff overlooking SatCom Array NW-07c. The one tower with the dish on the top puzzled Gary, and he wondered what it had been used for before the world had been consumed by atomic fire. The other tower appeared to be broken, for the metal at the top of it was jagged and bent, as if something had been torn off of it. This theory was supported by the fact that another dish was lying upside down in the dirt at the base of the tower. That it was broken didn't surprise Gary; in the post-nuclear world of the Capital Wasteland, what building wasn't at least a bit broken?

However, not everything in the Capital Wasteland was broken. The radio in particular, was a great help. The Capital Wasteland detachment of the Brotherhood of Steel had been without working radios for fifteen years, ever since the last one had been cannibalized for parts. The patrols that were sent through DC were assumed to be able to handle themselves, so it was assumed that radios wouldn't be needed, and the Brotherhood of Steel back in California had abandoned them, so there was no point trying to talk to them, and so the Scribes had been allowed to break them up when parts were needed. In hindsight, this had proved to be a rather grave error.

The patrols were able to handle themselves, but the sheer number of super mutants infesting DC had been underestimated by the Brotherhood's senior officers, so the patrols found themselves having to send runners for supplies through the dangerous ruins of America's capital. To add to that, there was only so much one person in power armour could carry, and if said person was getting supplies for a squad of nine other people, then things became difficult. Sure, more than one person could be sent, but that was one less person to defend outposts that were commonly under near constant attack by super mutants. The problem only worsened when the Enclave reared their ugly, high-tech, Nazi head.

However, after the defeat of the Enclave in the Capital Wasteland, a cache of working, pre-war, mint condition radio sets had been found in an old abandoned military base, by none other than the Lone Wanderer. The base's purpose had been to keep American soldiers and National Guard units supplied in the event of an invasion. It had been part of a whole network of bases that would keep the country's armed forces supplied, organised and fighting in the event that hostile troops set foot on American soil. The base that the Lone Wanderer had found also contained a map with the location of other such bases in what used to be Maryland and Virginia.

The Brotherhood had decided that with the super mutant threat under control due to the Lone Wanderer's cleansing of Vault 87, and with the Enclave pretty much smashed after the destruction of Raven Rock and the Battle of Adams Air Force Base, they could afford to begin to resume their original mission: the acquisition of advanced pre-war technology. So they sent scouts to the locations detailed on the map found by the Lone Wanderer, and it was decided that those squads would be out in the wasteland long enough to warrant being given radios. And so, on the 25th of May 2278, five ten-man squads of Brotherhood scouts set out from the Citadel, each given a weeks worth of supplies and a radio. All the scouts wore the lightweight Recon armour and carried survival gear. The squads consisted of seven regulars, one sniper, one radio operator and a heavy weapons specialist. The regulars carried a silenced R91 5.56mm assault rifle and a silenced N99 10mm pistol. The snipers carried a silenced DKS-501 .308 calibre sniper rifle and a silenced MP5 9mm submachine gun. The heavy weapons specialists carried a Tesla Cannon and a silenced BAR 7.62mm light machine gun.

That had been two days ago. Gary's squad had marched across the Capital Wasteland, checkpoint to checkpoint, on a path chosen by himself prior to setting out. He had been slightly nervous about using the radios. The Enclave was still out there, somewhere. The Lone Wanderer had said that he was still finding the odd isolated patrol or outpost, and he had seen several vertibirds escape the destruction of Raven Rock and Adams Air Force base. He was especially nervous of using the radio here, with the ruins of Raven Rock just a few miles north of checkpoint Yankee.

"Hey, sarge?" asked Knight Colvin.

"Yeah?" answered Gary.

"The place we're scouting is in the hills, right?"

"Yeah."

"So what do we do if we have to climb a cliff or something? Or a landslide covered the target? Or…"

"We find a way around it" Gary said, stopping Colvin mid sentence. "That's what scouts do; we find out how to get to stuff."

"But what if we can't find a way around something sarge?"

"Then we call the Citadel, tell them, and they'll decide what to do. They'll either send a vertibird to pick us up, or send a vertibird with equipment to get round whatever obstacle may be in our way," Gary answered with a touch of irritation.

"So why didn't they just drop us off at the destination in a vertibird?"

"Because we only have two, and the other teams may need them more than us. Now will you stop asking questions, shut the hell up and keep you're eyes out for hostiles!"

Colvin, suitably chastised, fell silent. James Colvin was the son of the famed Knight Captain Daniel Colvin, sniper of the Lyons Pride. His father's skill and discipline had not rubbed off on him however, and he had been constantly been asking questions throughout the whole mission. Gary didn't know how he had been picked to become a scout, as a scout needed to be disciplined and patient, traits which James lacked, to say the least.

They trudged on for hours along the cliff tops. There was a magnificent view of the Capital Wasteland from them. It was a clear afternoon, and Gary was sure that he could just about see the obelisk that was the Washington monument on the horizon. The view almost looked beautiful, but then Gary remembered that it was in fact a radioactive hell on Earth, where everyday survival was a constant struggle for most wastelanders. After a while they passed into the hills. These weren't the verdant, green, rolling hills that you'd go to top of for a picnic. These were labyrinths of rocky crags and steep sided gullies, were stones scraped at their armour, and the only noises were the whistle of the wind and the crunching of their footsteps on the rocky ground.

They continued towards checkpoint Zulu, going as directly as they could towards it. After two hours they came to a road that twisted through the rocky hills eastwards. Westwards, they could see that the road led into a large road tunnel. They advanced along side the road towards the tunnel entrance. When they got there Gary called a halt.

"Defensive perimeter" he ordered. "Lancaster, get the Citadel on the line" he said as the squad formed into a lose circle, guns pointed outwards.

Then he heard it.

The unmistakable sound of helicopter blades.

"Incoming vertibird, take cover! Janson, be ready with the Tesla Cannon!" He yelled to the squad, and they burst into action, running for the rocks that lay on either side of the road. As the squad took cover, the sound of helicopter blades got louder. Gary risked looking over the top of the rock he had hidden behind, scanning the skies for the distinctive shape of the Enclave vertibirds. He saw it coming towards the road tunnel from the south east. It's odd insectoid shape got steadily bigger as it came towards them, and Gary saw that it had a large crate secured to it's underside. Gary got back behind the rock as the vertibird came closer. It hovered above the road at the entrance to the tunnel and dropped the crate, then came into land. Gary felt a tap at his shoulder, and looked round to see Knight Janson, his heavy weapons specialist, also crouching behind the rock. He had his Tesla Cannon braced on his shoulder, and looked ready to use it. Gary nodded and said "do it."

The Vertibird deployed it's landing gear and hovered in to land on the road. The side hatch opened and an Enclave soldier in the Advanced Power Armour MK II stepped out. He dropped to one knee and swept his plasma rifle around the area. Satisfied that there was no one there, he shouted "clear!" into his helmet radio. It was about this time that Janson popped up from behind the rock. The Enclave soldier had barely enough time to open his mouth before Janson aimed the Tesla Cannon, shouted "surprise!" and pulled the trigger. A beam of pure electricity lanced from the weapon's muzzle, and hit the vertibird in the cockpit section. The massive electric shock overloaded the aircraft's electrical systems and caused them to short out. This caused the entire instruments panel in the cockpit to explode, hurling the pilot and co-pilot out of their seats at what was quite literally breakneck speed. The explosion also caused the ammunition in the aircraft's weapons systems to cook off, consuming the aircraft in a miniature nuclear fireball. The heat from the explosion was enough to make the asphalt on the road melt. It was also enough to melt through the armour of the unfortunate soldier that was standing outside the vertibird. He screamed in agony as the white heat from the explosion melted his armour and began to melt his flesh, and then the micro fusion cell in his plasma rifle cooked off from the heat, exploding in his hand and blowing his hand and forearm clean off. His suffering was cut short as the micro fusion cell in his power armour cooked off, immolating him in another, even smaller nuclear explosion.

Gary waited a full minute before coming out from behind the rock. "Squad, regroup on me!" he shouted as he surveyed the carnage. Janson followed him, Tesla Cannon smoking, admiring the destruction he had caused. There was a smoking crater in the road where the vertibird had landed, and it was half filled with molten asphalt. Smouldering and burning wreckage was strewn everywhere. While there was no sign of the Enclave personnel that had been inside the vertibird, there was a smaller crater next to the larger one, where the unfortunate soldier had been incinerated by his own power armour. The rest of the crew must have been vaporised.

"Hooah, that got him!" Janson shouted.

"Good shot Janson," Gary said.

"Damn, those Tesla Cannons are some serious shit," remarked Knight Higgins.

"Yep, and it's all mine baby, all mine," Janson jeered back.

"Pah! I could've taken them all out with my DKS one by one from a mile away!" retorted Knight Jackson, the squad's sniper.

"Alright kids, play nice while I call the Citadel. Lancaster, get the radio over here," Gary ordered. Lancaster hurried over to Gary and took the heavy radio off of his back. He extended the antennae and handed the microphone to Gary. Gary took the microphone and flicked the switch on the side of it.

" Pioneer Five to Citadel, over."

"Citadel copies, go ahead, over."

"We have arrived at an old road tunnel in the hills that I believe leads to checkpoint Zulu. An Enclave vertibird got here and dropped off a crate, then tried to land. We destroyed it as it landed. Please advise, over."

"A vertibird with a team of scribes and an assault team will be on it's way to your current position, E.T.A 10 minutes. Proceed through the tunnel to checkpoint Zulu, then sit tight and wait for the scribes and assault team to get to you, over."

"Wilco Citadel, over and out." Gary handed the microphone back to Lancaster, who put the radio back on his back. "Ok people, orders are to proceed to checkpoint Zulu through this tunnel, so switch to night vision and watch each other's backs! We don't know what might be hiding in there." The squad advanced into the looming darkness of the tunnel, weapons raised in front of them, ready for anything.

Their night vision bathed everything in a ghostly green glow as the squad cautiously moved through the tunnel. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there came a horrible inhuman screech

"Contact front! Ghouls, lots of ghouls!" Higgins frantically shouted. Gary looked and saw about two dozen of the rotting zombies loping towards them from down the tunnel.

"Open fire, open fire! Gary yelled, and there was a chorus of thunks as the squad's silenced weapons opened up on the charging horrors. Jackson was using her submachine gun instead of her sniper rifle, which would have been ineffective against such a charging horde. Janson's BAR was on full automatic now, and was reaping a terrible slaughter on the ghouls. Gary drilled one ghoul's skull with a burst of 5.62mm rounds from his assault rifle, and what was left of the ghoul's face turned into a mess of blood and brains. Janson put a concentrated burst of 7.62mm rounds into a ghouls midsection. A human target's midsection would have been shredded by such a burst, but this ghoul's flesh had been rotted away by radiation for two hundred years, and so the burst tore the ghoul in half, the legs dropping to the floor forwards while the torso flopped backwards in a welter of gore. Penlan fired a burst into a ghoul's neck that tore it's head clean off. The decapitated cranium flew into the air, spinning and hitting another ghoul In the face. Then, as quickly as it had begun, it was over.

"Cease fire, stand down," Gary ordered. The smell coming off the corpses of the ghouls was almost unbearable.

"Christ, that shit stinks," Higgins hissed.

"Suck it up and carry on Knight" Gary ordered. So they set off again, advancing through the tunnel, weapons raised, ready for anything. Gary noticed that this tunnel was very…empty. There were no cars, and apart from the ghouls, no corpses. Not even a skeleton. They began to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Galvanised by this light and the dreary dark tunnel, they advanced quicker, eager to see some sunlight. The squad emerged from the tunnel.

"Holy shit," Lancaster swore.

They had emerged onto what looked like a huge parade ground. There were warehouses running along either side of it, and a large administrative building at the end of the parade ground, directly opposite them. The entire place was built into a massive wide bottomed ravine, so that it would be unnoticeable until you stumbled right onto it.

"What the hell is this place," Penlan breathed.

"Time we found out," Gary said decisively. He led the squad to the nearest warehouse on the right. He pointed to a door on the side of it, and gave the hand signal to form around it. They formed up around the door, with three scouts on either side, the other four pointing weapons at the door. Gary advanced and slowly turned the knob on the door. To his surprise, it opened. He opened it slightly, and pointed his rifle one-handed through the crack. Opening it slowly while still covering the room beyond, he opened it fully and stepped through.

Sitting right in front of him was an M26 Pershing Heavy Tank.