Chapter 10
The Wall
Nate doubted he'd ever had run as fast as he did to cross the distance to where Haylen said Danse waited with the Scribe matching his speed.
Shortly after crossing the small bridge, Haylen pushed past him and aimed towards the floating raider hell of Libertalia.
Nate spotted her target – a Vertibird with Brotherhood livery and a very familiar figure alongside it. Danse was nonchalantly inspecting the mini-gun while the pilot was stretched out on the sands and enjoying the sun – both at ease with a hefty number of raiders dead in the water and on the flotilla near the shoreline.
"DANSE! You're alive!"
His friend barely had time to turn when Nate barrelled in and caught him in a rib-crushing hug.
"... I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react here," Danse said with his usual monotone.
"Heh!" Nate laughed before lightly punching Danse's arm. "Don't say anything. God, I've never been so relieved. I really thought you were dead."
"It was close but an old friend turned up just in time. And now... I taking you both to her."
Nate frowned. "It's Eve, isn't it."
"Yes. She sends her apologies for what she had to do earlier but she'd like to try and make it up with an invitation to you both to visit the Wall. There's a lot to discuss. More then that, the Brotherhood needs good men and women and I've personally recommended you both." Danse blushed slightly before he added, ".. The word of a Paladin apparently carries weight."
"What?" Haylen asked in surprise.
"I've been reinstated. Full honors restored even though I'm a synth."
Nate grinned. "So... what does this mean, Danse?"
"It's about trust," his friend replied. "The Commonwealth Brotherhood knows a lot more about synths then we do and they've really helped. Come. Let's get moving. The sooner we get there the sooner you'll know what's happening."
Nate and Haylen were squeezed in beside each other as Danse directed the pilot to take off.
"Are we in any danger?" Nate shouted out over the noise of the engines starting to run.
"No. We've robbed a transponder from a downed Vertibird near the Glowing Sea. The Prydwen controllers won't investigate it that intently. Once they spot it as a familiar number they won't care."
Haylen let out a little squeak as she was shoved forward at the sudden rush forward of the Vertibird.
Danse caught her easily enough, locking one arm around her waist while the other held firm to a handhold just above.
Nate laughed to himself as Danse was completely oblivious to Haylen's flushed cheeks and awkwardness while he himself stared out the window. He let her go almost absentmindedly before he started to drag in the mini-gun.
"We need to close the doors before we hit the Glowing Sea," he shouted at Nate who arrived to help.
Once shut, the noise levels decreased sufficiently that they could speak normally.
"What's the Wall?" Nate asked quickly.
"The base of ops in the Glowing Sea. Not an actual wall."
"Why call it that though?"
Danse chuckled. "The Walls of Jericho. Elder Jericho Lyons founded this chapter there after he separated from his brother near the Capital wasteland."
Nate shrugged. "The Walls of Jericho fell in the story. Doesn't seem like a good name to have."
"Yeah but only after the intervention of a god," Danse said back before he glanced out the window.
They were traveling fast Nate suddenly realised. A lot faster than anything he remembered them capable of doing. And now the air was changing. Blue skies were fading, becoming lost behind fog, dust and sparking atmosphere.
"We're getting close," Danse said to Haylen and Nate. "Get strapped in. This will be a bumpy ride from here on in."
Just as he said it, blinding light arced outside the window before being followed by a massive boom that nearly took out their eardrums.
"Paladin!" the pilot shouted. "Get your crew locked in! Descending in ten seconds. The weather's a little too rough even this far out."
"Roger!" Danse replied even as he rushed to make sure his friends were secure before settling himself in.
He caught sight of Nate's confused expression as they all experienced the sudden drop as the pilot dived low.
"Above a certain altitude," he started to explain, "it's extremely difficult to keep both a visual on your location and the Vertibird in the air. There's far too much interference here for anything other than visual confirmation to be reliable in the long term. So to combat that, we're crossing the Glowing Sea environs at an operational height of barely 20 meters."
"Holy shit!" Nate barked out.
"I know. But these pilots are the best and, while I hate to say it, they'd run rings around the Prydwen's crew. They train out here in this!" Danse said as they swerved dangerously around the wreckage of a building half hidden in the thick almost green dust and smog.
The turns being taken was so tight that Nate was having to grip hard to the nearest object he could get a handhold on while Haylen was at the mercy of the forces at play and only still in her seat thanks to the safety straps.
"There's no room for error out here. To be at the controls of one of these Vertibirds means you'd have to survive some of the most rigorous and unforgiving training possible. We're getting close. Brace for a sudden stop," Danse barked out after he glanced outside the window.
"What-"
Nate and Haylen were suddenly jerked forward so hard that only the safety belts saved them from being tossed out the front of the aircraft.
As air slowly started to drift back into Nate's lungs, he could hear the distant chatter of the pilot as he connected to the base.
"-Fox-Zero-Zero. Request docking and decomm."
"We hear you, Scout. Doors open. Descend immediately. Dock number 251. Welcome back."
Nate looked up from where he'd been almost heaving and turned gaze out the window. He briefly caught a glimmer of the ground level disappearing as they sank into darkness.
They could see nothing with only the sound of the Vertibird's engines in their descent mode telling them they were still in a void of some sort.
"Doors locked. Decomm underway. Pilot, please hold position."
"Roger."
The cabin exploded with light. Jets of a strange gaseous mixture coupled with electrical discharges flooded the now visible cavern. It was a large structure, empty with rock walls that held countless tubes and wires that propelled whatever it was currently gushing around them.
Above and below were large blast doors, both closed but Nate could see that they'd clearly descended in through the massive automated upper one. Clearly they were intending on going lower.
Just as suddenly as it started, the jets cut off and they were left in near darkness bar the occasional spark of left over static.
"Decomm complete," the pilot's terminal crackled. "Please complete your descent to the designated dock and inform maintenance of any technical issues that may have occurred during the flight. Debrief for next mission at 17.00."
Nate's stomach rushed back to his throat as they started to drop once more only this time it went on for what seemed like an eternity.
Clearly they were miles below the surface having past through at least five of those heavy bay doors before finally they were nearly blinded entering into an almost sunlight bright chamber.
Nate was stunned. The place was huge with large docking arms raised from floor to crisscross the sides and ceilings that held more than just Vertibirds.
He recognized at least four types of fighter planes from his own era looking almost brand new all while being held in automated magnetic lock arms that kept the lower floor clear. On that lower level the technicians worked in their areas, calling down what they needed to fix and loading the repaired aircraft back on to the arms for storage.
Their Vertibird fly carefully through the myriad docks in various stages of loading or unloading before reaching one arm labelled with an almost faded "251".
Just like the Prydwen's own storage system, a smaller arm with magnetic clamps shot out of the larger before it grabbed the Vertibird and started to retract it into position.
"Right, folks. We're here," the pilot said as he started his shutdown protocols.
"Thanks, solider," Danse remarked. "Let's get this open. I think you guys could use a look around."
He slid open the doorway and glanced down at the substantial drop below him. The arm came to a stop next to a walkway heavily pinned with bolts to the rockface and which led off into a tunnel.
Danse pulled a hidden metal panel out from the Vertibird's floor that connected with the walkway and allowed them to cross.
"Well," Danse said softly with a grin. "Welcome to the Wall."
"Welcome indeed!"
Nate and Haylen both shot surprised looks at Eve who arrived from the walkway tunnel with a cleaner and happier looking Owyn holding her hand.
"Oooooh. Sorry bout that," she said with wince, noticing immediately the bruise discoloring Nate's face. "Come on. We'll get a small tour in before getting down to business."