1255th Intel. Group E.
HEAVY RECON / SIGNAL CORPS.
CIVIL MANAGEMENT PROJECTS DIV. 9
July, 2198
Looks like there's gonna be a lot of mopping up now that Vault 0 is finally in our possession. But I'm going to cut to the chase. I was snooping around the old data files inside the Calculators recoverable files and found a bunch of pre-war goodies I need you to look into, right away. Take any stragglers from Dagger, and any from Urban Squad that happened to jump aboard. I need you to assemble a twelve man team as soon as possible. All of this is going to be off the books. If you need any APA, I got you covered, don't worry about a thing. Re arm and meet 40 mi. South of Denver at an old Red Rocket station, I'll send you the coordinates. I'll fill you in from there.
Whatever you do don't mention this to anybody! I'm putting this together myself, and if things go right, we should be in the money within a month from now. Vault 0 was a haul alright, but just you wait and see what else is out here in these rocks!
I've had to duck and crawl my fucking hide around here for the past week! I'll be damned if some loud mouth is gonna blow my cover now. So make sure you have some people who know how to keep their lips zipped. Command has me doing the dirty work in their books, of course with this, everything is back in black so no big deal. I'm not sure what they're going to do with all this junk, but we could sure use the help out East.
Twelve guys. Four loaded humvee's would be nice. Or a couple of APC's. Get either, or both! Plan for at least a two week reconnoiter of this area. I know you just scored big, but unfortunately we can't be celebrating too soon. I have all the papers in the works, should be getting orders through in a day or two so rest up. Sorry I can't be there in person, but all this digging though the mainframe is tough work with our raising suspicion. I will be at the rendevouz point south of Denver like I've mentioned.
I know I can trust you. Don't let me down.
-Wolfe
September, 2198
The group stood around waiting for their contact. At 12 30 they arrived. It had taken longer than expected to field the required equipment for the operation, while also disappearing into the night without raising alarms around the base. However, things went smoothly, as they should when professionalism is demanded of a newly formed covert team of specialists. Code Named Demon Squad.
"What happened to twelve?" Wolfe asked over comms as he approached. The heavy footfalls of the APA casually crushing small rocks underfoot. The APA was everything he had hoped for and then some. He wore his blood red cape proudly, something the older vets wore, signifying his status to the newer recruits.
"Eight is the best I could do. I'm not about to risk bringing anyone else I don't trust on board." Came the reply of a friend and comrade of over a decade fighting shoulder to shoulder.
Rhodes was a good sport, and Wolfe wasn't about to give the man any grief over his decisions, which 10 times out of 10 were reliable, and sound.
Wolfe eyed the group of power armored Knights and Paladins cooly, noting the sleek new lines of the enhanced APA. The nickname Devil Armor was gaining favor in the ranks, and rightfully so. The intimidation factor associated with their night time hit-and-run tactics was nothing like the Western chapters and their iconic T51B who were something more like the chivalric knights of myth. This new breed was something else, dark and uncompromising in their mission. It really had their enemies frightened, which made them laugh at the thought of the fear they spread throughout the region. They had even intercepted communications from other chapters in the West, who seemed pissed at how they were conducting their operations, glad to distance themselves even further. Which made them laugh harder.
"Good. Any trouble with procuring any of the equipment?"
"What's it look like to you?"
He knew he had put faith in the right man for the job. One Humvee. One APC. The others loitered around the vehicles, checking their kit in silence.
"So. what's so important that we're out here in the middle of fuck no-where armed and ready?" Rhodes said with a laugh.
"Good stuff my friend. Goooood stuff. Come take a look." Wolfe waved him over, pulling a small holodisk out and loading it into a hand held projector. "You see this here? This big kinda table top formation in this canyon here? Well, supposedly there is a cache buried here from pre-war times. It was off the radar back then, so IF i'M CORRECT, should still be sealed. Found the files under something called Project Sweetwater in the mainframe. It was part of a corrupted collection of nearly fifty separate files. This and one other File was recoverable. It looked like the Calculator was trying to erase all data of its existence but we managed to shut him down before it had time to finish. These are what's left of the recoverable files. Top Secret. Look here, I have the blueprints for the first four levels of the structure, but that's it. No entrance, no exits. Gonna be a little bit of a wild goose chase till we find what we're looking for."
Rhodes smile faded.
"Come on, enough bullshit. What the Hell is it?"
"That's what we're going in to find out Captain. So far, what I can tell is its mostly hangars and garages on the first levels. Must be tons of vehicles and who nows what else. So, we'll split the profits, 50/50."
"You really think we're gonna find anything worth of value? Tech is already over 200 years old."
"Listen, this area was known for housing some real cloak and dagger type shit way back when. I'm hoping this is one of those sites. There could be dozens of Vault 0 like bases hidden around this entire area. I intend to find at least a few."
"What about Barnaky?"
"Didn't you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"Forget it. He wont be a problem."
"What'd you mean?"
"Dekker is in charge now."
"Any scribes on the team?"
"One. Call him Reggie. Been part of my personal cadre for years. I trust him. And his work."
"Call him over."
Rhodes whistled, "Reggie, on the double!" To which the scribe was standing in front of them almost immediately.
"Reggie, this is Wolfe. Needs to have a word with you."
"Sir?"
"What do you know about the area?"
"Mostly Legion territory, they'll be sticking to the main water routes in the area, near the Rio Grande and Colorado. Other than that, mostly just ghost stories. Cannibals, mutants, stuff of that matter. Throw in a few cryptids or skinwalkers, got a full deck."
"Any information on old military bases in the area?"
"I didn't have time to look into it too deeply. A lot of what I could find were locked behind a ton of security, so I didn't want to raise any alarms by snooping around where they'd be watching."
"So, what does that mean? Did you dig anything up or not?"
"Yessir. There were a few large bases dealing with high technology around the turn of the 21st Century. At least on par with what was in Vault 0. This place is crawling with the stuff. Lots of high tech stuff like I mentioned, and it looks like a lot of bio-weapon type stuff too, like F.E.V. and along those lines. So we got to be careful."
Wolfe stood back and looked out over the rugged terrain, the large rocky mountain range slowly falling off into the mysterious high desert of the Southwest. The vast scarring of the past was beginning to heal its wounds. Lush patches of forrest had reclaimed its former territory, the large coniferous trees swaying ever so slightly in the cool breeze of the afternoon. Everything seemed so still under the large sky here. In the aftermath of the Vault 0 incident, it seemed as though even the war was coming to a head. It had taken a lot of their resources to come back West. Resources which now were being replenished covertly and even creating an overflow. They were so close to their original chapter's goals out in the West, but they knew they'd never be fully reunited with them again. No matter the reconciliation efforts made, they stood apart from one another. What was done was done, and it was a sore point of contention to Wolfe, which he took personally. They were better off as they were anyhow. Especially now with the materials of Vault 0, they had little to fear, or be intimidated from other factions, they truly had finally achieved real independence.
"So what's the plan Wolfe?" Rhodes asked, noticing him in deep thought.
"We'll head south, we should be in the area of operations by midday tomorrow." He looked up in the sky. "Then begin our search for some sort of entrance. How hard can it be?"
"Saddle up boys and girls! We're Oscar Mike in five!" Yelled Rhodes to the rest of the team.
They gathered up their gear and began storing it on the outer racks of the vehicles, preparing to move out. The engines roared to life and they looked down the broken road ahead. Just another mission in the Brotherhood of Steel.
WEAPON MANIFEST COPY
REQUEST ARMORY 266, BUNKER GAMMA, ARMORY 12 BUNKER ALPHA
ALL REQUESTED WEAPONS FOR OPERATION BLACK MIRROR TO BE DELIVERED 10/23 Under command of Maj. Wolfe
CO SIGNED BY OPERATIONS CENTER COMMANDER COL. HARDIN UNDER GEN. DEKKER, BATTALION 355, SPEC-OP DET. 12, BROTHERHOOD EASTERN DIV. 2
ALL WEAPONS INSPECTED BY ARMORY SPEC. SSGT LUTHOR "SUDS" AND DELIVERED SUCCESSFULLY 10/23
-x10 14MM Sidearm
-x10 Steyr Aug A3 5.56 Assault Rifles
-x2 M249 SAW 5.56
-x2 Vindicator Minigun 7.62
-x2 .50 cal Anti Material Sniper Rifles w/ x12-24 Magnification Optics w/ NVG mounts
-x1 .50 cal Browning M2
-x2 25MM Grenade Launcher
-x2 450 Flame Units
-x4 12 Gauge Pancor Jackhammer SG auto
-x4 12 Gauge Neostead Combat SG auto
-x8 Ripper
-x2 Chainsaw
-x24 Flash Grenade
-x24 Frag Grenade
SPECIAL REQUEST FROM ARMORY 505 BUNKER PHI
-x1 MEC Gauss mini-gun
-x2 M72 Gauss Rifle
-x4 AER Tri-Beam Laser Carbine
-x1 YK42B Pulse Rifle
-x2 modified Wattz 2K Laser Rifle
-x12 2lb Plastique w/ Remote detonator
-x10 T13 Anti personnel Mine
-x10 T45LE Mine
-x12 Pulse Grenade
-x10 Plasma Grenade
VEHICLE REQUEST FROM BUNKER GAMMA, HANGER 4
-Expanded details
-x1 APC Highly Modified
Max Capacity = 8 Capacity in APA = 5
x2 Automatic Tracking Unmanned side mounted 20mm GAU Gatling gun w. 750 Armor Piercing rounds each w/ extra 1,500 Rounds in Reserve
x1 2.75 in (70mm) Rocket Pod w. 19 Hydra 70 rockets + additional salvo, total 38 rockets Manually Operated
x1 Automatic Tracking Unmanned 40mm Grenade Launcher with 75 rounds of High Explosive Ammunition
External Deployable Anti-Rocket Countermeasure
Hardened Composite Internal / External Armor Plating
Infared Search and Track Radar
Night Vision x24 magnification 360 degree Scan and Track Optics
ELF EW Jammer
24 CH. Encrypt / Decrypt Multi Digital Matrix Scanner
-x1 HUMMER STOCK
Max Capacity = 6 Capacity in APA = 4
.50 cal mounted machine gun w/ 500 rounds DU w/ additional 1,000 rounds
Reinforced Armor Plating
External Deployable Anti-Rocket Countermeasure
360 Degree Night Vision Optic Mounts
ARMOR REQUEST FROM BUNKER GAMMA
-x8 Advance Power Armor Frames
Request is being made by Maj. Wolfe who is personally assuming full responsibility for all (8) frames and materials associated with. He is fully aware of the limitations of the relatively new Advanced Power Armor (designated MK 4 after conceptual technologies have been successfully integrated but have not gone through extensive testing) or the equivalent of a minimum 1,000 hours of testing. This is why a special request is being made, as it is a perfect opportunity for live field testing of its basic systems and functions. The request has been submitted and accepted by Gamma Bunker Commander and co-signed by the armory director as well. Any suits which sustain damage to the point of it becoming non-functioning or fall into enemy hands and cannot be disposed of properly will be fined the adjusted costs plus any additional amount due to the sensitive and top secret systems onboard to be paid in full by Maj. Wolfe, followed by a court-martial and be placed in the brig for up to (2) years with no option for early release with rank and honors stripped. Under these circumstances it is acknowledged by the Elder Council of the Eastern Brotherhood Of Steel Chapter all permissions be granted to Maj. Wolfe as he be subjected to these penalties under penalty of treason.
ANY ITEMS WHICH HAVE BEEN DENIED REQUEST DUE TO SENSITIVITY OF MATERIALS OR OTHER REASONS NOT ADDRESSED
-x8 Prototype Q-25 Urban Plasma Rifle. Multiple Request Made DENIED
-x8 Multiplas Plasma Rifle. Multiple Request Made DENIED
-x2 M.I.R.V. Fat Man Heavy Nuclear Launcher Note from Quartermaster: This is a joke right? What are you planning, starting WW4?
-x2 Gatling Laser Multiple Request Made DENIED
-x2 Bozar LMG 5.56 REPLACEMENT MADE
-x1 25mm Grenade Machine Gun REPLACEMENT MADE DENIED Note from Quartermaster: Are you sure you didn't want more than 1?
-x8 AER 9 Laser Rifle Multiple Requests Made DENIED REPLACEMENT MADE
-x8 Wattz 2K Laser Rifle. Partial Order Filled
-x4 Radium Rifle. RESOURCES
-x8 YK42B Pulse Rifle. Multiple Request Made Partial Order Filled
-x4 Prototype Saturnite Ballistic fist. NONE AVAILABLE
-x2 Super Sledge. NONE AVAILABLE
-x2 CZ57 Personal Avenger Minigun. REPLACEMENT MADE
-x10 12.7mm Pistol. REPLACEMENT MADE
-x10 10mm SMG. RESOURCES
-x4 Tesla Beaton Prototype Cannon Note from Quartermaster: Another joke I presume?
-x4 Prototype Holorifle RESOURCES
VEHICLES DENIED
X3 Modified Scouter
X1 Pre War Tank
X1 Hellion Note From Quartermaster: Your jokes are getting sophisticated, arn't they?
X2 VTOL Vertibird
Note from Quartermaster: I've done the best I could in reaching out to the other bunkers looking for all this. You didn't make it easy. Getting the papers for some of the equipment was hard as hell, and I had to be very careful, like stepping on eggshells with some of this stuff, mostly energy weapon and the 2mm stuff. You owe me big time. Just promise me you'll return everything in good condition. I'm not going to ask out of line, but next time if you want this to stay under the radar, cut the bullcrap. This raised more than a few flags which I had to say were either maintenance related or duplicates which were in processing and unable to be fielded. You should be set, for the duration of the operation, and if anything should go wrong, find another Quartermaster!