Two Birds

The next morning, we were woken up very early by one of the soldiers in black combat armor marked with the E symbol, and a guy in a white radiation suit. The RAD suit guy strapped harnesses around our torsos with little black boxes attached to them that looked much like the voice monitors in the town but slimmer.

The soldier tossed us our packs of confiscated gear and said, "We will be monitoring your movement to the Air Force Base; there is a GPS, microphone, and a small block of extra-volatile C-4 in those devices, so be careful when moving around."

I asked what the C-4 was for, and locking the harnesses behind out backs, he said, "If you reveal any information about your task, or any details about us, they will detonate killing yourselves and anyone within a 10-foot radius. You got it from here, Doc?"

The RAD suit guy handed us each a can of what looked like spray-paint and told us that this was the IR marking. The soldier was kind enough to elaborate on our task, and said we were to make a large X on the boxes containing the aircraft parts when we find them. The mysterious spray was said to emit a flash to the Enclave's satellites, and rapidly upload the coordinates. Finally, the soldier handed Grev a small rolled up paper that labeled the boxes we were looking for as, "VB-02 PTS-08305."

Not more than ten minutes later, we were in the hangar bay where there was one of the giant flying contraptions on a platform, 3 more beat up ones off to the side, and a small team of mechanics idling around. Opening the hatch, I jumped in and sat down with Grev. We were both amazed that we were actually in a vehicle that could fly. The pilots walked through the middle, took their place in the cockpit, and a power armored soldier sat across from us studying our every move through his eye ports with both hands on his glowing green plasma rifle. Before long, there was a loud hydraulic sound like giant doors were opening, the rotors began to spin, and we started moving. I felt us take flight and I couldn't believe it. There were no windows in the cabin, but faint light shown in from the opening to the cabin with the faded purplish and yellow hint of early dawn. The only true light in the cargo cabin was coming off some of the emergency egress panels, and the glowing yellow eyes of the trooper's helmet.

As we flew, the Vertibird gently rocked, and I shouted over the whir of the engines asking the trooper why they needed a couple wastelanders to do this job (opposed to highly trained soldiers).

All the faceless trooper said was, "SHUT UP MUTIE!" With that angry static voice shouting over the whir of engines, I was silent.

Still, I pondered the situation in my head. I wish I would have asked Major Braxton that question, but concluded with an explanation by myself. Maybe they needed us to infiltrate the base because we wouldn't draw a lot of attention approaching their gate. It would seem a bit weird to see a heavily armed Enclave soldiers approach the Army of Glory and ask to look for aircraft parts that were shipped there by mistake almost 200 years ago. Thankfully, my involvement with the Resistance and corresponding business at Luke AFB made me an unlikely perfect candidate for the Enclave's mission. I wondered if they knew that all along, considering the Enclave busted up Grev's radio after he coordinated with Mr. Swilling. Although, that prospect somehow seemed even more coincidental.

After less than 20 minutes of flying, I felt the aircraft begin to land, and the pilot said over the intercom, "Get Out, Muties! Press the button on the left side of the harness module when you are in a safe place to extract… AND DON'T PRESS THE BUTTON ON THE RIGHT SIDE! Unless you wanna turn into a fine red mist."

With that, Grev opened the door and we jumped out. The Vertibird began to fly away, and we stood there in the open desert on the opposite side of the valley. It was still dark out with the sun's glow just barely starting to come up over the Superstitions. Looking at my watch, it said, 5:22am. Just to the north were the faint lights coming from Luke, and far to the east of that was the brighter lights of Phoenix and Scottsdale. To the south of that was the tiny outline of the Capitol hidden in the glowing radiation of the Phoenix crater. Grev and I knew our task, but since I knew I had Resistance business at Luke AFB; I decided I would take the moment to settle my own objective, and pulled out my mission reports to read:

-Ensure the cooperation of the US Army at Luke AFB, and see if they are ready for our runner who will coordinate their forces and detail the logistics of evacuating the people. Inform General McMann that we need extra troops allocated to secure the evacuation site itself.

I read the report, and reminded myself that I had a task alongside the current mission with the Enclave. Stuffing the documents back in my pack, I felt the little block of C-4 locked to my stomach and nearly died of a heart attack when my arm brushed the right-side button on it. Tasks noted, and missions in focus, we started to head north to the Luke AFB gate. We walked for a while until the sun started to cover most of the valley, and after a half hour, we reached the gate surrounded by signs that said, "No Trespassing." Grev was looking for a hole in the fence to slip through, but I insisted that that wasn't necessary considering my business for the Resistance. He was relieved by that, considering our task was made that much easier.

As we walked up to the gate, a guard at the sandbag barricade yelled out, "HALT! What's your business here!?"

I shouted back, "We're Agents from Phoenix! We need your assistance!"

He stopped and talked to some of the other guards. After a few minutes, two power armored soldiers; one in T-51B and one in T-45D painted tan like the desert approached us with weapons drawn.

They towered over us and said, "What do you want? We don't have anyone from Phoenix scheduled to arrive today." I told him that we were with Swilling's Resistance and that we needed speak with the commander about supplies for the evacuation.

With an eye on us, the steel man in T-51 said, "Follow close."

We walked through the worn-down old base and saw people everywhere. Women and children tended to farming plots while the men clad in combat armor patrolled the base or did exercises. We walked through the still fairly maintained roads passing barracks and old administrative buildings. We reached an opening where we could see the runway scattered with the broken down remains of old bombers and fighter jets. Just off the base were 3 large buildings that I figured were the hangars. The guys escorted us to a two-story building marked "HQ" and we entered it past the guards. Inside, there were many people working at desks or wandering about in old military dress uniforms. Minus the cracked walls and bits of debris, it was like we went back in time to a functioning military base before the bombs fell. We approached a set of double doors where our escort knocked and asked permission to enter. Hearing a "come in" from the other side, they opened the doors, and I got a closer look at "General McMann."

He sat there at his desk all ghoulified and in a pristine set of old-world military attire. The power armored man said that we were Resistance members coming on behalf of Jack Swilling. After telling us to sit down, we did, and the power armored men stood behind us.

The General started by saying impatiently, "Well?... What does Mr. Swilling need from us?"

I leaned over to Grev and quietly said, "Let me do the talking."

The old timer nodded, and looking back at the General, I said, "Sir, I'm sure you're preparing for the upcoming battle at Phoenix, but are you aware of the Resistance's plan?"

He said, "Fill me in, son. Wasn't Jack talkin to Mayor Sillen about some sort of evacuation? He ain't still trying to do that, is he? My boys alone can hold off that army of Roman LARPing mud dwellers on our own, let alone with help from all of Phoenix and Scottsdale."

I tried to appease the proud and zombified General by saying, "Yes indeed, Mr. Swilling still plans to carry out the evacuation."

I saw his face twist to confusion and I added, "Now, we are going to hold the city against the Legion thanks to our combined forces, but the fight will most certainly be taken to the streets and homes of the people-"

Interrupting, he asked, "So, what is Jack requesting, exactly?"

I said, "… Well, I was sent here to ask you to allocate some troops to the evacuation staging area. We need an extra reserve force inside the city to secure the evacuation rally point and hold back the Legion from butchering the sick, women, and children caught in the chaos."

He asked in a self-assured way, "Why would we need to help everyone evacuate when you said it yourself that we will hold the city?"

I paused for a minute before saying very sincerely, "General, with all due respect; I have seen what the Legion can do firsthand. I have seen their forces in Sedona, and personally witnessed what happened to the Have-Su last month… They will enter the city."

The ghoul General raised a patchy eyebrow as I went on calmly, "Although we have the strength to win the day; the innocent residents of Phoenix and likely Scottsdale will be in the middle of the fight. All we need is a few of your best men to help keep the town square safe for people who don't have the ability to fight back."

The General sat back in his large chair and twisted the end of his thinning mustache. When he looked back at me, he said, "Alright, sounds good. You can tell Mr. Swilling that we will send an extra squad of our best to secure the rally point."

I sighed, "Thank you sir" but then remembered the Enclave's task, and made up a bullshit lie on the spot. I said, "Oh, there is one other thing…"

The General looked impatient again and said, "Yes?"

I wasn't really sure where the lie came from, but I managed to say, "The Resistance came across an old military storage depot with 10 fresh suits of T-45 and T-51 power armor down south by Fort Huachuca… Problem is, the suits don't have any power. Those suits can really help us prevent some losses during the battle…"

He jumped to where I was going and asked, "You want some Fusion Cores?"

I said, "That would help. We just need enough cores to march the suits back to Phoenix, and then some for a hopefully short combat engagement."

He asked, "How long will it take to get em back to Phoenix?"

I continued the lie, "Under a week if the team moves fast enough. We got some guys waiting out by Phoenix, ready to make the run when they got what they need."

He eyeballed me and thought to himself before saying, "I can do that… I'll have the boys in supply requisition a crate of 30 fusion cores. That should be more than enough. A dry suit can last at least two days of continuous use before needing a fresh one. God knows we have plenty of the damn things. Some of the lighter aircraft here before the bombs ran on FCs so we have more than we'll ever need. Just head to the armory before you go, and they'll know you're coming. Oh, and when this shit is all over; we'll want them back. We got the only working FC recharger system here in probably the whole world, so tell the recovery team not to trash the things when the juice runs out."

I said again, "Thank you sir, this means a lot."

Then I remembered again that we had to locate those aircraft part crates. So, I begrudgingly asked the patience thinning General, "Just one more thing…"

Again, he sighed and said, "What else? Jack want my coat, liquor, or cigars too?"

I gave a false chuckle for the General and said, "Yeah, if you don't mind; could you let us survey your base here?"

He was about to ask why as I continued, "I was also tasked with looking for potential rally points… The evacuation group might have to proceed through here if our eastern route gets cut off.. Hopefully not, but if we have to; we need to mark some potential safe zones…"

Then I tried to comfort the General by staying true to my Resistance orders while attempting to draw the demands to a close, "Someone else should be along within the coming week or so to elaborate (Which was true according to my orders) …. You can even have someone escort us around the base?"

Clearly trying to rapidly end the conversation, he blindly responded with agreement, "Yeah, that should be fine. I'll have one of my best ghouls show you around. He should be here in the HQ, so just look for Staff Sergeant Quinn Andrews' office."

I was a little surprised, and said, "I know that guy! He led the team to recover Master Walker a while back."

He was just about done speaking to me, "Good, you know him. Well, unless there is something else you need, I have work to do."

I said, "No sir, that should about do it. Thanks again, we'll see ourselves out."

Looking down at the papers on his desk he said, "mmhm" and we got up and walked down the hall where we saw a sign on a door that said, "Staff Sergeant Andrews."