"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

-Isaac Asimov

Carl sat back in his usual chair located near the stern end of the Hammer as he waited for his fishing pole to jerk. Sure, the warship was docked in the Albany harbor but he learned that if he was patient enough he could hook a fish or two from this spot.

The giant of a man sighed in contentment. After many, many hours of sitting behind a fishing pole, gazing at the gently flowing waters and occasionally watching the sunset, Carl had decided that he had not done quite enough of it, especially considering he enjoyed it so much.

So much time spent Regulating. Carl knew it was important and that it was what made him famous but was it really worth it? The fame certainly was superfluous but the peace Regulating brought? Okay, that was a hard trade he decided but still, in the end it was fighting.

So much different from these calm waters and the sunset.

And fishing? That was peace. He scratched his head a moment, trying to remember an old proverb he heard about fishing. He noticed the rat people had taken to calling Whiskers shuffle about on the deck. The rodent curiously peeked over the railing as if to investigate where the fishing pole's line ended before taking off to leave the ship.

Ah yes, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day but if you teach a man to fish you'll feed him for a lifetime.

Carl was proud of himself for remembering that line when he saw his second in command, Poseidon, walk up to him. The ghoul glanced over the railing for a moment before looking back at Carl.

"I think you caught something's attention. There's a shape heading for the lure." Poseidon said.

"Oh good, we'll let it think about it and then grow used to it." Carl replied.

"How long until you think we found out who snatched Sven and then give them what for?" Poseidon asked seriously. He shifted, as if bracing for a retort. Poseidon knew that this was probably not a topic they wanted to dwell on but it had to be done.

Carl sighed uncomfortably.

"I don't know, buddy, I don't know. All I know is that I'm getting too old for the job." Carl finally replied.

The lure jerked.

Carl immediately started reeling in the bait and felt his large biceps straining harder than usual.

"Got a big fish on the line." Carl grunted.

"More like a lurk. Give me a moment." Poseidon said, looking down the hull.

Before Carl could say anything he saw Poseidon remove his harpoon from his back and heard a snap as the ghoul expertly threw the large spear. The tension on the line immediately slacked and within a few moments Carl reeled in a very dead and very impaled mirelurk.

"Nice catch, boss." Poseidon grinned.

Anthony could feel his heart pounding.

It had taken a day or two of traveling up from the Hudson and then passing into the Hierarchy city of Haven but he had managed to pull it off. He did his best to look like just another citizen of the Hierarchy. He had even shed his Regulator duster before he even began his journey. The only things he had on him that were reminders of his real life was his silence pistol, two daggers, a couple of poisoned darts and three stealthboys for good measure.

And now he was standing in a recruitment line for the Hierarchy armed forces.

Most of the other boys both in front and behind him appeared calm although one or two appeared just as nervous as he assumed he looked. Of course, they had different reasons for their anxiety. Adam's words kept echoing in his ears, blocking out the sounds of men and military recruiters slogging through paperwork.

"No Regulator has done this before…not even myself…"

He felt the tips of his fingers and toes go numb as his heart rate climbed higher.

"Next!" a recruitment officer garbed in the dark blue combat armor of the Hierarchy forces yelled.

Anthony found himself staring wide eyed at empty space between himself and the recruiter.

"Step closer, son." The recruiter barked in a no nonsense tone.

Anthony made a mindless shuffle forward as quickly as possible.

"Name." the recruiter demanded.

Anthony blanked.

"Do I tell them my name or do I make one up? Shoot, if I make one up I'll have to remember it! Adam did not tell me what to do on this! Come on, my real name or a fake name I can remem-"

"I don't have all day, son!" the recruiter snapped irritably.

"A-Anthony!"

"Shoot…"

"You got a last name?" the recruiter demanded.

"…N…no?" Anthony blathered.

The recruiter carried on business as usual.

In the wastes, it was not uncommon for someone to not have a last name.

"Fill these out the step over to the right where a quartermaster will hand you your equipment and instruct you where to go next." The recruiter ordered, shoving some yellowed pages into his hand.

"I…I did it…?"

This was much more difficult than stealthing up and stalking raiders.

Francis and Mark both sat dejectedly in their seats, the silence hanging in the air. Mark had made the trek up the river from his headquarters at the House to visit Francis in his vault. They had exchanged a lengthy and heated discussion over Francis' desk until it had become tiring for both of them.

The real problem wasn't that they were disagreeing with each other. The trouble lay with the issue they were discussing and that it was one of the most difficult ones they had faced in their careers.

"Look, Francis, I know neither of us wants to make him retire but the person calling for him to leave has brought up some very good reasons to do so. You and I both know that he would not have written this letter to us if he hadn't felt so strongly about it." Mark said.

"I know, I know, Mark. You and I have no reason to disbelieve him and even I know not to doubt his judgment on the matter. Still…can we hope that he might be overreacting?" Francis suggested, almost helplessly.

However, Francis knew there was no hope in that.

"Look, several months ago we had a similar discussion and you told me that this very same man was coming to the end of his career. This...well, this is the clincher. One of us is going to have to call him in and talk to him. One of us is going to have to make that call, Francis." Mark pointed out, the pain of the weight on their chests showing in his voice.

Francis simply stared into his dust on his desk as if sulking.

"I'll talk to him. His career began with me…and I'll see that it will end with me." Francis finally said wearily.

"…Neither of us really wants this…" Mark replied quietly after a moment of breathless silence.

"I know…and I know he won't either…" Francis mumbled.

Back at home when Isaac was growing up, it was the norm for people to make their homes on ships. Many had bought a river vessel since it was simply more convenient to live on their ships rather than trying to scrape enough caps together to buy a land based home. Besides, living on their ship also meant that they could also keep an eye on it.

But a whole city based on a former aircraft carrier? That was something he had never seen before.

"Just when I think I've been impressed, this place throws another thing to up the bar." David observed in awe, trying to take in the whole vessel. Indeed, the sight before them was magnificent. The orange of dusk was starting to fade away so that they could see the lights from the portholes starting to twinkle into the creeping night. The glow was a beacon that there was still hope for humanity to make a bastion for itself in the harshness of the wastes.

"Normally I think this is the part where I'm suppose to get impatient and say 'let move' but I'm a little puzzled on how we're actually suppose to get onto the ship." Suda admitted.

Furious, standing at the edge of the causeway, started yapping for no obvious reason.

"Hold on." Joseph said and went to where Furious was. It wasn't long before he found what appeared to be a communication device of some sort. He hit the appropriate button.

"Rivet City security, are you seeking entrance aboard the ship?" a voice came in through the radio.

"Uh, yes." Joseph replied, unused to initial greetings over a radio.

"Wait a moment." The voice replied and suddenly they saw a catwalk starting to rotate into the proper position, promising to act as a bridge between them and into the main entrance of the city of steel.

"Hey, this is exciting." Isaac said with a smile.

"I'm practically giddy." Suda grumbled sarcastically.

The four plus their mascot carefully made their way across the catwalk. All around them they could hear the faint groans of the metal expanding and contracting. They could not help but wonder if some of that contracting and bending was from the weight of all the years. Still, they had to assume that the inhabitants here did their best to make sure that the ship remained in relatively good working condition.

"Alright, a group of Regulators so I suppose I don't have to give you all a speech on how to behave yourself." A middle age man wearing dark combat armor said as they approached the door.

"You are?" Isaac asked.

"Security chief Harkness. Welcome to Rivet City. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that we're on the same side." Harkness said sternly. The man appeared to be in his middle ages and yet there was something off.

His voice seemed a bit…too robust for someone his age.

Almost...artificial?

The Spike Dogs cautiously slinked on by and into the ship.

"Why does everyone have to be so darn skeptical these days?" Isaac grumbled as they made their way to the marketplace.

"Perhaps a better question is why you're still so darn trusting." Suda retorted.

"Right, right, I see where this conversation is going. Still, a little common human courteously isn't too much to ask for in a civilized environment, is it?" Isaac shrugged.

"We just stepped from the wastes and frankly, between Joe and Furious here, I think we would look a bit savage." Suda muttered.

"Were you trying to be subtle or did you just want to take a shot at me?" Joseph grumbled.

"I think we all need to just take a deep breath and calm down." David butted in, not wanting an argument at the moment.

"Oh shoot, I forgot to ask that guy a question." Isaac sputtered, glancing back in the direction of Harkness.

"And what question was that?" David asked.

"Whether or not someone looking like Claire passed by here." Isaac admitted.

"Isaac, she said not to seek her out. Are you trying to get her into trouble?" Suda demanded.

"No, I just wanted to make sure she got here safe. Honest." Isaac asserted.

"Sure, whatever." Suda replied, rolling her eyes.

"So now we start asking around for a Mina Jordan?" David inquired.

"Sounds as good a place to start as any." Joseph shrugged.

"Bark!" Furious yapped excitedly, staring at the food being served Gary's Galley.

"Not yet, Furious." Isaac scolded.

Furious growled impatiently.

"You know what, you three go look for your Regulator friend. I'll stay here and keep an eye on the dog." Suda offered.

"Are you sure?" Isaac asked.

"Sure, I'm feeling outnumbered enough as it is and the last thing we need is an even more irate spike dog on our hands." Suda shrugged passively.

"Alright, suit yourself." David replied.

Delta Sierra crept catlike through the entrance hallways of the vault. For now he was only in the reactor levels. Trusting his suit to provide him a near invisible status, he nonetheless returned his infiltrator rifle to its place and unsheathed his combat knife. He honestly was not sure what he would do if he ran into a mutant down here. He had to hope they would not notice him. The Enclave agent understood that if made the first strike then he would leave a dead and most likely bleeding body. That would immediately alert any other mutants that something was amiss.

He could only strike if they struck out first.

He hated that thought.

"ENCOM, are there any records of such a vault like this? Schematics and floor layouts would be really helpful." Delta Sierra whispered into his communication link.

"We've been working on it agent but either this vault was privately made or was highly classified as we've been searching for hours and still have not pulled up anything. You will be notified the moment we have something. In the meantime, maintain radio silence." ENCOM reported back.

"Great."

His boots falling as silently as possible on the lifeless steel, he passed a door simply marked as REACTOR. He briefly flirted with the idea of playing with the controls and causing the power supply to overheat. That would quickly destroy the whole vault but he was under orders to continue investigation. His career had been over twenty years in the making and never once had he outright disobeyed orders. Sure, he bent them at times but that was the for good of everyone. Well, in all honesty it was mostly for himself, but he liked to think that in the grand scheme everyone benefited.

When Delta Sierra came to what he believed to be the main stairwell, he paused and studied it. Instead of ascending stairs like he had expected, after all that was the design of most vaults, he found descending ones. Apparently, the reactor and entrance was built on the top of the vault while everything else was built deeper into the ground.

Directly the opposite of most other Vault designs.

He did not consider this a good omen.

Staunching the taste of bile in his mouth, Delta Sierra forced his legs, numbed with fear, to continue on.

After some asking around, David, Joseph and Isaac made their way to the Church of St. Monica. Almost immediately they spotted a woman wearing a Regulator duster sitting in one of the pews. She appeared to be meditating. Or praying. The men weren't quite able to decide which it was but they all felt a bit awkward about breaking her reverie.

"Ahem, are you Mina Jordan?" Isaac asked cautiously, coughing to get her attention.

Mina opened one eye to look at them before opening the other.

"Since you three also wear the duster then yes, I am Mina Jordan. Is there something you guys needed?" Mina asked.

Isaac could tell that Mina was a little younger than his parents but she still radiated youthfulness about her. It was apparent that she was tall and held a quiet composure about her. Also striking was that despite numerous scars that crossed her face she still had a countenance that many would call beautiful.

"My name is Isaac. My parents, James and Julia, told me I should seek you out for help around here." Isaac introduced carefully.

His heart pounded, hoping that Mina would not give away the identity everyone else knew his parents by.

Mina squinted her eyes hard at him as if trying to detect any hint of a lie. Standing to her full height, which actually matched his own, she crossed her arms in front of her as she continued her silent investigation.

Joseph and David both exchanged a nervous glance.

Isaac fidgeted.

"Um…mom and dad told me that I should give this to you, just in case you had any doubts." Isaac squeaked, feeling very small under the scrutiny.

Carefully reaching into one of his duster pockets, Isaac pulled out a full blood pack and meekly offered it to Mina.

Mina raised an eyebrow at it before she brought a hand to her mouth to stifle a snicker. Taking the packet of blood, she carefully placed it in her own pack before smiling broadly at Isaac.

"Well, I'll be! Isaac, you've grown so much it's no wonder I didn't recognize you. I used to take care of you when you were little and your mom and dad were off in the line of danger. Haha, I can even remember when that oversized rat sniffed you out in all those ruins!" Mina giggled, giving Isaac a rather strong hug.

"Um…yeah, I obviously do not remember any of that." Isaac admitted sheepishly. He did know his parents mentioned stories about finding him and that Mina was around but he was not too familiar with the details.

"So, who are your friends? How are your parents? And what about Carl, Adam and Sven? Please tell me they're all okay." Mina continued.

Isaac quietly but furiously hoped all those names would mean nothing to Joseph and David.

"They're all doing fine. These guys are David and Joseph, they're with me on a mission that Francis sent us on." Isaac responded.

"Francis? Really? Wow, no offense but I'm surprised that old man hasn't kicked the bucket yet. He wasn't exactly young when I was up there." Mina replied, quietly bemused at Francis' longevity.

"Yeah, he's still alive and kicking. Anyway, we got sent here to-"

Joseph kicked his boot.

"Oh, right, uh…I can't talk about it too much as it's under secrecy, but we're going to be around here for awhile and we were wondering if you could give us a few pointers. Is DC any much different from New York as far as dangers go?" Isaac asked.

"Haha, all right, I understand the secrecy and all. For a moment I was wondering if Francis sent you guys to come and ask me to come back. Hmm, I'll have to think on that question. Here, lets go to the marketplace and get a drink while I try to answer that question." Mina announced excitedly, taking an energetic step into the corridor.

Unsure but not having a better direction, the three men followed behind her, Isaac secretly letting out a relieved sigh that at least for now it looked like his secret was still safe.

Sitting on a stool at the counter, Suda cast an inquisitive glance at Furious who was on the counter messily eating the scraps given to him. This time they were able to get away with getting free scraps for Furious because the waitress practically squealed when he grumpily hauled himself on the counter and declared that he was "cute."

Suda could not understand how anyone could think such an irate and bad tempered creature could be seen as "cute" but at least she didn't have to part with her caps for his scraps.

Furious let out a tiny belch, finishing his plate of food.

"You're such a pig." Suda grumbled.

"Bark!" Furious replied, almost sounding as if he was in agreement.

Then he rolled up into a ball to, presumably, take a quick nap.

"Why did they come here?" a tense voice whispered to Suda from her side.

The mercenary looked over to see another woman, her dark hair allowed to fall freely around her face as if to veil her identity.

"…Claire?" Suda asked curiously.

"Of course, it's me. I thought I told you to tell him not to follow me." Claire hissed.

This time Suda let out an exasperated sigh with yet another roll of her eyes.

"Of course I warned him but they actually had business to conduct here. He claims he is not actively searching you out. Whether or not he's actually keeping to that, I don't know. Look, I'll tell him again if I think he's being fishy but I would also lay low if I were you." Suda replied, a bit of impatience in her voice.

"Fine. Thanks." Claire replied quickly before stealthily slinking away and leaving the marketplace.

Feeling an inexplicable tension, as if something was amiss, Suda nonetheless allowed herself to relax. She glanced over to see that David, Joseph and Isaac had indeed tracked down that other Regulator they had been talking about. Suda did not care to be part of it and it did not appear that they made any effort to include her. The Regulator woman whom Suda could only presume was Mina, seemed to be actively unloading a lot of information on them but Suda couldn't care less.

She honestly was not sure where to go from here. At first she wanted see if there was another mercenary team she could sign up with but she could not find the recruiters she had in mind. There was also the option of signing up with the Rivet City security but something told her that she did not quite want to do that yet.

Why did she have this inexplicable feeling that there was something out there that she was still searching for?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the bar, it looked like Mina was wrapping up her cascade of information.

"…The wildlife seems to be just as ornery over here as I observed it to be over there in New York. However, I will warn you, I don't know how things are over there in New York when it comes time to mercs and raiders but this I do know. In DC, raiders are down but organized thugs, mercs, are up. Talon Company is keeping a persistent and stubborn influence here no matter how many times they take a beating. If you see black on the horizon, shoot first, as questions later." Mina warned them, swigging back a Nuka Cola.

"Sounds good. I think I can remember all of that." Isaac replied with a nod.

"And if you can remember all of that then I think the rest of us are good in adequately recalling it." David jibbed, smiling as he raised a glass of whisky to his lips.

"Har, har." Isaac grumbled.

And quiet suddenly, they heard a mysterious noise starting to rumble all around them. It was dull, almost unnoticeable but the sound reverberated all across the metal walls that contained them. The initial sounding caused more than enough heads to pause and look up but eventually it seemed that the locals all quietly deduced what it was.

That still left David, Joseph and Isaac looking around in confusion. Mina gave a knowing smile.

"Ah, that. That would be the sound of a phenomenon that we just noticed coming back recently." Mina announced.

"What is it? Tell me, is it actually-"

"Yes, Joseph. That's rain." Mina smiled.

"Wow…we got those once in a blue moon. The best and regular precipitation we get is in the form of frost and occasionally snow." Isaac replied, eyes still wide listening to the alien sound of the water tapping on the steel.

"And that means you boys should delay your travel plans. The rain can come down hard and relentless. While most of it is benign here near the basin, there are some areas where it comes down irradiated. Furthermore, if the rain itself isn't irradiated, it may kick up places where radiation has been lying dormant. No one travels in the rain. Trust me. Stay here till the storm passes." Mina said, her countenance set in a stern warning.

"Understood." Joseph replied.

They glanced over to see Suda walking towards them after she decided no one would consider bothering a gently snoring ball of spikes.

"Isaac, could we talk? In private?" Suda asked.

The three Regulators immediately became concerned.

"Uh…sure." Isaac replied albeit reluctantly.

Carefully sliding off the aged stool, Isaac lead Suda off to a more quiet spot.

"What do you think he did this time?" David asked Joseph as they walked off.

"I never once understood the situation. So long as they do not kill each other, I will happily continue in that state." Joseph replied.

Elsewhere, Isaac immediately fell into a defensive state and folded his arms over his chest and sighed in exasperation.

"So what's up?" Isaac asked.

"Your ex bumped into me again. She-"

"Is she al-"

"Yes, Isaac, she's all right. Just shut up and let me finish. Look, your presence here kind of puts her in a less than ideal position. People know you're a Regulator and she does not know who might be an informant for the Talons. It is best that you keep a low profile and pretend not to know her if you do see her. Understood?" Suda asked, eyebrow raised.

"Y…yeah." Isaac replied, starting to slouch.

Suda shook her head in frustration.

"Isaac, I'm not scolding you and I am by no means her friend. I just understand the situation because I'm a merc myself and I know that you mean well. I'm actually just trying to help this time. I hate Talon Company as much as you guys do." Suda explained.

"No. I understand. Thanks. I better go find a room and check in." Isaac muttered quietly, while walking away from Suda.

A couple hours later Isaac was shifting nervously around in his room. Rain drops continued to paint his porthole window with different cascades of obscured images. Sure, he was a bit agitated about the whole situation with Claire but it was the boredom more than anything else that was making him pace his room. There were only so many times he could clean his rifles and sharpen his machete.

He was certain Joseph found something to do while they waited for the rain to stop. He had stopped by and Isaac's coat. Seeing that Joseph already had David's, Isaac asked what Joseph wanted them for. Joseph explained that he wanted to patch them up. Apparently, Joseph was a skilled tailor and their coats had certainly gathered a collection of cuts and holes along the journey.

Becoming fed up with being stuck in his room, Isaac wrenched his door open and decided to venture out on the flight deck. Perhaps the falling water would sooth his restless spirit.

Stepping out onto the sopping wet steel and weathered flight deck, Isaac squinted through the water falling in his eyes and stared out at the gray and restless sea. It was such an odd sensation. He had only seen rain once or twice in his life thus far.

And he was quite surprised to see David sitting cross legged and hunched over on the deck.

"David…what are you doing?" Isaac asked over the rainfall.

"I'm mourning." David replied quietly.

Isaac immediately became alarmed.

"Mourning? Mourning what?" Isaac asked in shock.

David sighed.

"A few years before the Great War, before the bombs fell, there was a limited nuclear weapons exchange in the Holy Land, the ancestral land of my people." David started.

Isaac strained his ears, trying to listen over the sound of the rain pelting the flight deck as David continued.

"…When the dust settled…most of Israel was destroyed. More of my people were killed in those few short moments than during the previous catastrophe called the 'Holocaust.' The Rabbis decided…'Let no one name this day…let no one mention it…may it just be mourned…may it just be remembered…in hopes that it would never happen again…"

And still the rain came down.

Authors Notes: Yes, sorry for the delay, my classwork jumped out and bit me. Also send a thanks to SundayWinterChild for her continued work in the editing.

Mina Jordan is a character from the original work of EasyCompany506. She is not my

Thanks to Forfie for help on this chapter.