Chapter Eighteen

The Group conviended in the old lobby, just after the attack, the group of nearly twenty five was now about fourteen. Everyone was upset and on edge. Elenore did her best to keep the peace as by some extension this was her mission as well as she knew back in the army of the E.C that infighting would only cause more destruction.

"We have to turn back." A merc said. "We lost about five men, and almost six more are wounded. We can't carry on the mission while carrying wounded men."

"I have to agree with the merc." Therion said. "We already spent most of our ammo pushing back against that attack and I'm no physician but even back in my days with the Followers of the Apocalypse-"

"Great, we got a cultist." Jackdaw said aloud.

"The followers were not a cult! They were a humanitarian group."

"Yeah sounds like a cult to me, anyone who helps others and doesn't expect anything in return is a loon to me."

"Point is." Therion was gritting his teeth, as pessimistic as he was, almost like that Arcade guy he knew. He hated it when people spoke ill of the Followers. They were good people in his eyes. Saints amongst men. "I've seen battles like this, these guys are only going to slow us down and bleed us dry. Our two options are to leave them which even ass like me won't go for or we have some people take them back to base and we can wait for reforments to arrive."

"We don't have time." Nichole spoke up. "Remember the Gunners are building up their military force along the border. What Clank didn't tell you was the Gunners pulled out their mechanized units."

"Yeah they got robot, sure a few sentry bots and an assaultron are tough but nothing to worry about when you got power armor." Aisen said aloud.

"No you don't understand. They have their mechanized units, as in hummers mounted with .50 caliber machine guns, and if what rumors I heard are true there's even a few tanks being brought out." Nichole spoke and showed no emotion in her words, just plan of fact. "So no we don't have enough time for enforments."

"Then what do we do?" Asien asked.

"We keep going." Elenore said. "The plan stays the same however I did bring something that might help." Pulling something from her bag everyone nearly jumped back in fear, it was a mini nuke. Even without a Fatman that weapon was easily the most destructive devices in the wasteland. A single barrage from a MIRV was enough to level a small settlement to dust and ruin.

"You have a fucking MINI NUKE in our room!" Nichole yelled.

"Calm down its not armed."

"Still where did you-"

"I've been alive for two hundred years, look long enough and you'll find many strange things in this world."

"So I take it, that's part of the distraction then?" Jackdaw said as he leaned against a wall.

"Yes, I planned on setting it off when we reached the town, the idea at the time was to lure a large group of raiders towards us in a firefight, I was going to use a detonator but there's not enough us for a fire fight, atleast one that would last long enough for someone to steal both the boats."

"Not necessarily." Jackdaw spoke again. "The plan was a simple one but would have worked if all went well but we can still steal these boats and I know how."

"Do tell." Elenore said as she gave the floor to the old raider.

"I won't lie. I used to run with a raider gang for twelve years, called ourselves 'Hounds of Boston.' We weren't anything special, we raided a few settlements and hit a caravan or two, so I'm familiar with how raider gangs work, even familiar with how raider hubs work too. There's always one main gang running the operation, keeping the peace in town. These tend to be the vets, older raiders who've survived and grew larger enough to hold an entire town. However there's also going to multiply other gangs all having a web of beefs, alliances and storied history. Getting them all to turn on each other ain't too hard if you know which buttons to push. Can be literally anything, two large clans killed each other because one guy fucked the bosses sister. There's also one other thing we can expect, slaves. My crew didn't deal with those, we had rules, no rapping and slaves. Didn't mean we didn't deal with other clans who did those things though. Now we get their collars turned off and a whole new can of bloatfly opens up, and if they happen to get their hands on some guns..."

"That can't be enough? Can it?" Helena asked. "We surely can't just trick a couple of raiders and releasing a few slaves is enough to heist two boats can it."

"No. Mixing the ghouls, plan maybe the odds are a bit better but raider hubs, tend to attract its fair share of paterons. We could be looking at anywhere from fifty to two hundred raiders. Small army to be honest." That was when the quiet began and everyone looked between each other. Jackdaw shrugged his shoulders, he told the truth of what he thought, he was having his doubts but no need to show it to anyone. No reason to show your hand.

Walker stood up, the Synth ran more dangerous missions in his life as a course and he knew the danger well but he felt an obligation to try. "I volunteer."

"Wait really." A random merc said.

"Look people, I think what we should do is send a small team into the town, maybe four people, we look around for whatever advantages we could find. I'm not saying we steal the boats but we look at them. Weigh our options. Raider."

"That's Jackdaw boy."

"Jackdaw boy. How easy is it to get into town and not be seen as suspicious." the Synth asked, a little bit of sarcasm as he said the man's name.

"Honestly? Not too hard, hubs don't tend to shoot on site unlike camps, long as you don't wear enemy insignia, or colors most hubs don't care who enters their walls as long as you got caps or something to trade. If you don't cause any trouble and don't piss off anyone, especially a guard, you can get almost anywhere. Now the problem is since most raiders are on some sort of chem they have an odd habit of being paranoid. Now this isn't an issue but if you do come off as even the slightest hint of submission you'll attract guards quickly. So don't ask a lot of questions if you do ask only questions to relative subjects as in, what are you selling. Got any chems and are these girls bug free. Ask too many about the boat or literally anything and they'll sniff a rat. Alright I see your point, add me to the group but follow my lead and if they ask you're with me. I've been around these people. Anyone else wanna join."

"You can count me." Therion said. "I'll take any chance to kill some raiders and free some slaves. Plus I'm pretty good at lockpicking so if do free some slaves I can atleast let them out."

"Same. I ain't got nothing fancy but I'm good with an assault rifle and I got a feel yall need someone laying down covering fire." A random merc said.

"Alright we got our four people." Jackdaw said with a shrug. "Now Elenore, I recommend you take all the men who shoot a gun to a spot somewhere where you can draw the raiders fire. Make sure it's near the river though. If all this goes right, you all need a quick escape and jumping onto a moving boat might do the trick. As for anyone performing medical I'd move further up the river all the same. Spend the night patching up anyone who could use a gun but won't be fast enough for a long drawn out fire fight, that's going to be your guard and they can help you move the more wounded as well. If things go well enough we can probably stop and load everyone up. I can't make any promises though. If you get left behind I'm not going to risk my ass to save yours unless I think you're worth it."

"Agreed." Elenore said once again. "I'd expect no more from myself."

"Alright people get some sleep. Tomorrow we ride."