I was free! Emphasis on the was. Why had he turned up now of all times? Did he just stumble upon me or did something else draw his attention? I needed more information. Much more. So, if I needed to, I could escape his clutches again. If I was lucky, I could get a paradise world next time!
I glanced over at Joy. She was giving me worried looks. I suppose after Being X had decided to leave my reaction of screaming into the air in rage did seem to come out of nowhere. Thankfully Joy's patience and benefit of the doubt meant she assumed that I was missing something valuable, an accurate assumption.
No! I was not missing anything. I had everything I needed and wanted! I was just upset that some pretender 'god' was back to fucking with my life. If I had known I had escaped his clutches I would have lived things up a bit more.
My seething rage was forgotten as we slowly made our way over a pile of rubble and the waterfront suddenly came into view. Rivet city honestly had to be seen to be understood. The scale of it was incredible. As I looked from bow to stern the ship would have to be something like half a kilometre in length standing tall and defiant of the ruins around it. Its hull was a dazzling mix of colour as centuries of painters fought desperately to prevent corrosion and rust from attacking the great ship.
On its flight deck there were giant cranes perched over the edge and scaffolding clung to the side of the ship. Something sitting in the shadow of the colossal ship that drew my attention. Painted white that had flaked away to show a layer of light rust and steel was a familiar sight. It was a railway gun.
By its side a no doubt decommissioned shell stuck into the ground showed exactly how much firepower the thing once spit out over miles. As we wandered past the thing, I discovered that the shell was bigger than I was. It was clearly a monument to an old war but the thing looked to be in good condition considering it had lived through a nuclear war.
The gun itself formed sort of a centrepiece to the shanty settlement that had set itself up in the shadow of Rivet City. There were perhaps fifty or so people living outside of the aircraft carrier and there could be thousands inside.
There was of course the problem of feeding that many people. A city could only grow based on the logistics of moving goods into it. Canterbury's logistics was dedicated to supplying a large number of traders. This meant that it produced and imported more food than it used to keep up with the supply. It was an almost entirely meat-based diet with large numbers of hunters roaming out into the wastes.
There were also several settlements that exported salt gathered from the sea to Canterbury to feed the small businesses that survived on making rations that could last for a long time and selling them to Traders. Looking at several pre and post war maps I had seen just how isolated Rivet City was. They survived by producing high value technical and luxury goods but I doubted that they could feed thousands of people being this far out of the way. They had to have some means of producing their own food but not enough to produce an excess that could be sold for profit.
When I had been told Rivet City was an old pre-war ship I did not expect something of this scale. Having seen more of it now that Wolfgang was approaching what looked like a main entrance close to a drawbridge attached to one of the many cranes, I could see that part of the ship had been shorn off and had fallen into the water. Likely when the water level went down and the carrier had touched the riverbed. Without the water to support the weight of the back of the ship it had simply fallen away.
The people of Rivet City were lucky that the ship had settled on somewhat even ground to begin with, or the entire thing could be on its side.
Wolfgang pressed an actual buzzer on an intercom system to ask for permission to enter Rivet city, after a few minutes whoever was on the other end decided to allow it. The bridge was swung out and locked in place and Wolfgang decided that the rusty walkway was trustworthy because he started to lead his brahmin across it!
Not wanting to be left behind and resigned that if the bridge did fall, I could survive with my boot I joined them on my bike. The ramp up to the metal walkway proving shallow enough to get the bike and cart over without a problem.
It turned out that the groaning and shifting of metal did not come from the walkway. The thing was well made and did not so much as shift with several brahmin on it. No, the sounds came from the ship itself moaning like a beached leviathan endlessly. As I wondered how they could stand it we entered though a large entrance cut out of the side of the ship into a dense bazaar that bustled with more people than I had seen since I arrived in this world.
Any sounds the ship made drowned out by the thousands of excited conversations taking place before me. The caravan made our way over to water and pens set out for Brahmin as I looked out over the huge chamber that must have once been a hanger but had long ago had the planes cleared out. Close to the back of the room there was still the large elevator in the back and I wondered if it still worked.
I joined Wolfgang in unloading supplies intended to be sold and the things the caravan wanted to keep. Buying a large metal crate with an impressive looking lock from a tired looking woman to store our things before moving out to chat with traders and merchants to get the best deals possible. It seemed that Wolfgang was a known quantity and when he approached with a clipboard listing what he was selling he was given rapt attention. I managed to piggyback off of him in order to make some sales myself offloading the few goods I had carried personally to trade for a nice profit.
With a pink backpack full of caps, I melted into the crowd. When I was younger, I had hated crowds, even being in a shop had given me a headache that my parents had taken note of. I quickly proved myself responsible enough to be left at home for the shopping trips. Once I had come to understand the rule-based society, I had grown less leery of large crowds.
At every corner of the market there were armed guards with 'Rivet City Security' printed on black armour. The people that allowed this bastion of capitalism to exist. The ones who ensured that the people uninterested in a stable society would play fair. To a degree of course. There were always a class of people who could bend the rules but no society could survive someone who could break them at will.
My discordant musings as I absorbed the crowd that paid no mind to a little girl wandering about were cut short when I smelled something that tickled some nostalgia in me. My mouth watering like a dog I rounded a corner to find a little restraint propped up against the corner of the market. I wandered up not quite believing my eyes as I read and re-read the menu.
"Can I help you?" The man behind the counter had the good fortune to be fat and jolly in the wasteland but I was sure there was some rule that said a fat chef was the best kind.
"Can I have a Soya Sauce flavour please? And the pure water." I said clambering onto one of the stools.
"Sure thing. That will be twenty-six caps miss." I dug into my backpack and handed over the money. A few moments later I had a piping hot bowl in front of me that smelled divine. He offered me a fork of all things but I shook my head.
"Some of the chopsticks thank you."
"Ah, these are a bit hard to get used to." He said taking some freshly cleaned steel chopsticks out from a small bucket and handing them over to me. Even with much smaller hands it was like riding a bicycle. You never forgot it once you knew how to use them.
They were real noodles! Cooked to perfection worlds away from my home. I made some rather embarrassing sounds as I quickly filled my belly with a food I had not eaten in well over a decade.
"She likes it!" One of the other patrons laughed as I covered my mouth in hot soy flavoured sauce. It was totally worth the petty embarrassment. I sent a up a little cheer for the capitalism that allowed the spread of great ideas like noodles to cross oceans!
Maybe this world was not so bad after all.
?. Canterbury Commons.
"The device makes no sense sir. Not only does there not seem to be any function to it the gear ratio means that it would take centuries to turn the gears at the end. Some parts of it are unconnected and would not turn at all. There is a gear reduction that would mean you have to turn the first gear at the speed of sound to rotate the last gear fully and it would still take over an hour."
"A clockwork device that can't tell the time… There must be something to this. Could it be a code? The parts of the device corresponding to other things? A gear corresponding to a particular circuit board or device?"
"I don't understand what the point would be in such an arcane code. The notes are already written in German for how little that helps. The notes just describe every component and how they fit together. Some of the notes are even formulated as questions."
"It could be a device he is still experimenting with. Or a toy or something. An experiment in gear ratios is the only thing I can come up with. I don't think this is anything worthwhile. Keep looking for anything relating to synthetics."
"Understood sir."
"At least we know its him. Who else would write notes in German?"
The notebook was placed back into the draw and locked again. Not a single shred of evidence was left to indicate that Tanya's security had been breached.
Rivet City.
"Charges into the darkness firing her gun. None of us could see anything. Saved our lives and killed an entire warband in those tunnels."
"Gone for a week. We come back and she is rich. Made a bunch of bikes from scrap and sold the lot. White Silver Automobiles she calls it, like some pre-war company. Got her own factory and everything."
"She killed dozens of raiders with a pistol. Laughing the entire time like it was easy."
"Fighting a raider in Power armour with a knife. Walked away with a broken arm but you should see the other guy."
"Clears out a giant ant nest on her own."
"Covered in blood with a sweet smile."
"Never seen anything like it."
"Tanya Von Degurechaff. Ever hear of a name like that?"
"Like a Little Deathclaw that girl"
Tanya Von Degurechaff. Rivet City.
I settled myself onto the bed in the room I was sharing with Joy and two other women from the caravan. It turned out that hotels on the carrier were expensive so when I offered to pay, I was actually taken up on it. The men of the caravan wanted to go out to and I quote.
'Get smashed and pick up some sluts'
Joy had instantly covered my ears and shepherded me off and the other girls had followed out of some kind of unified womanhood I was unsure, I was quite happy to go to bed early however. As useful as magic was to keep me going far beyond my body's limit I did need to rest after something like that.
The room looked like it had not changed much since it had been in use for actual sailors. Two bunks with sliding wooden panels for privacy on each wall and a tiny writing desk in the middle, at least the bedding was clean and fresh. There was scarcely enough room for two people to stand so there had been a bit of a que in the hallway for people to get settled in.
I was seated at the little writing desk scratching away at a notebook I picked up at the market for a few caps. The other girls were quietly chatting about suitably girly topics like boys, buying things and dresses. It was remarkable how viciously women rejected war and nuclear weapons changing their culture.
I had to move quickly. With Being X revealing himself it would only be so long before I was thrown into conflict once more. Without any reliable military force in the wasteland. (No, the cult did not count.) I would have to build one myself.
That meant acquiring supplies for equipping and training a more capable security force. With six men at the Factory with a dubious level of training I at least had men who could shoot a gun. Not that I had to worry all that much about that. From the look of things there was no one in the wasteland who was unfamiliar with guns.
Of course, shooting was only a very small part of what made a good soldier let alone what made a good security force. Quality equipment and the training to use that equipment effectively would be vital. I would also have to move on from hiring people with guns to supplying the equipment to my employees.
Rivet city being a sort of manufacturing hub of the region could supply a lot of what I needed. But I had to be careful with how much money I spent. I would need to pay for food, water, bullets, guns, uniforms, armour, tools, housing…
I would have to start small. Moving the security force out of the Factory was also necessary in order to expand the factory workforce and scale up production. That meant I needed to find a building that was intact and unoccupied close to my factory or use tents to house about forty people.
After writing down a bit of a shopping list I considered what to call this new group. I had no experience in dealing with a private military company let alone running one but I did have a successful career in The Empire to lean on. I simply had to apply the education from my first life to produce a competent and loyal armed force that could defend me from whatever insanity Being X had in store. White Silver Security. That was a good enough name and was a natural outgrowth of my first company.
White Silver Security and White Silver Automobiles under the same conglomerate. White Silver Conglomerate? 'WSC' was not exactly the most graceful acronym in English. I could just have 'White Silver' be the name of the parent company. That would cut down on the confusion. Without the Internet or reliable infrastructure for marketing dissemination, having very recognisable names and branding would be vital.
I would also need to train White Silver Security to crack down upon any group attempting to pass themselves off as part of my conglomerate. White Silver the parent with two subsidiaries. Hopefully more to follow.
"So, Tanya you going to pick up something for your boyfriend?" I felt my pencil snap and I snapped my head towards one of the girls who had a truly smug grin on her face.
"What boyfriend!?"
"Aww she is embarrassed. It's okay sweetie he is cute, looks like he is going to grow up to be a big hunk!"
"Tommy is not my boyfriend!" These girls were worse then Visha. My second had always prodded at me asking if I liked any men but had always been content, happy even, when I answered in the negative. These women seemed to delight in my annoyance.
"Come on Tanya he was waiting on you hand and foot with a smile, you have him wrapped around your finger." That was ridiculous. He had just helped me with a bowl of soup when I could only use one arm. Besides, what relationship would someone be interested in where they have to constantly look after an incapable woman? There was also the fact he was a young boy, I did not even know if he thought about that sort of thing. I glared at one of the girls and she seemed to remember something and looked worried for a moment before I relented.
"He is not my boyfriend… But he has been, polite. After we visit the baths tomorrow, I will get something for him and his siblings. If you could help me pick something out." I did have a lot of money right now after all. Spending a small amount on gifts could improve my social standing.
"Sure thing Tanya, we can help you shop for something to give to your BO-." I quickly silenced Joy by tossing the pillow I had been using as a backrest at her and snapped my notebook closed. I was getting tired anyway.
Colonel Augustus Autumn. Raven Rock.
"You have verified the claims of the prisoner?"
"You were right to insist we test everyone Mr President. Several people have managed to make the device activate."
"And the… Spells?"
"Privet Mackeson managed to stop a baseball. Hit the barrier in front of him and bounced off. We have the other spells written down but we are not getting the same results she was claiming."
"How so?"
"Well for one Mackeson's shield struggled to stop that baseball and only managed that after a few dozen tries. I don't see any chance of him stopping a bullet and this flight stuff does not work at all. Other spells are just producing minor effects."
"Continue to practice. This could be the edge we have been looking for."
"Understood Mister President."
"What about replicating and repairing the equipment?"
"The team on her assure me she does not know how. We need to do it ourselves."
"Well then. I suppose we don't need this particular loose end anymore. I trust that you can deal with it."
"Of course, Mister President."
It was a simple job if distasteful, but Colonel Autumn always led by example. He would never order his men to do something he himself was unwilling to do. That was why he was pushing along a metal trolly with a black body bag on top.
The little holding cell they had prepared for the flying women Mary Sioux now had a neat blood splatter on the wall that some poor sanitation officer had to clean up, but that was hardly his problem.
"Sir." Autumn glanced to the scientist to his right. She looked worried so he gave her a confident smile. Despite sticking live electrical cables into a women's ribcage she was 'squeamish' and had stood outside when he had done the deed. "There are reports that this section of the base is going to have a scheduled blackout, we might have to put the cremation on hold."
"Ah. Well, that's fine. We will drop her off and then I will walk you over to the hanger for your deployment." She frowned but did not protest. Likely wondering why Autumn wanted to see her off.
"So, um sir. How did you find my report?"
"Excellent. You are a credit to the Enclave and your Nation. We have already verified the power of the device you know? We are beginning trials over the entire base to find people who can use it. Apparently, I am what you called a 'C class'." Her eyes went wide as they approached the crematorium.
"It's real!? Sir that is… I had no idea!"
"Of course, without knowing how to produce more devices like it or how the flight equipment work we have a long road ahead of us in reverse engineering the equipment. A road where you took the first step."
"That's… It is an honour to serve the President and the Enclave sir."
"Your service to the Enclave will never be forgotten I can promise you that." She seemed giddy they entered the room and found one of the sanitation officers cleaning out a trey of ash. He turned and gave them both a polite greeting as the lights went out. There was an overlong pause before the emergency lights flicked back on.
With a smooth motion the sanitation officer reached up and plucked the hat off of the scientist's head and took a step back while Colonial Autumn drew his pistol and fired twice. In the enclosed room even the sound of a supressed weapon rebounded about the place. As soon as her body hit the ground the officer quickly wrapped her head in a rag and begin to strip her out of her clothes. Autumn knelt down to unzip the body bag and found himself face to face with the steely glare of the Prisoner.
"Told you to trust me." He said with a grin as she got up. Her hand pressed to the bullet wound in her arm. "Get dressed. You are now Specialist Jade Myers on a field operation." She continued to glare at him as she stripped out of the prisoner clothes she had been given during her stay. She could glare all she wanted. She well understood that he was the only one who wanted her alive.
"Here." The sanitation officer gave the woman the change of clothes, turning away to give her some privacy.
"I don't need to tell you to avoid drawing attention to yourself." She continued to glare as she took the hat and settled it down on her head, the clothes fit her like a glove.
"Can you take care of 'Mary Sue' for me?" The sanitations officer nodded and began to load the dead scientist into the cremator as Autumn left with 'Jade' in tow.
"You will be working for a close friend of mine who understands the situation. We are taking a big risk for you." Autumn said. It was the truth after all. Weeks of small gestures of kindness while members of Eden's faction tortured the girl had by Autumn's estimation have made her predisposed to his protection.
'Normally' Autumn thought to himself 'I would be against such underhanded actions. I trusted Eden after all. Even if he was a bit extreme. But this was a unique situation where everything had lined up perfectly. It would be criminal, treason to the United States and the Enclave to not put Mary in my back pocket in case she was useful later on. If things got messy and she was useful I could claim I misunderstood Eden's orders or I wanted him to have plausible deniability.'
The lights flickered back on and with them the many cameras and sensors Eden could use to monitor the base. Considering alarms were not being raised Autumn felt himself relax.
Once she was out of Raven Rock the risks would disappear. Without her device she would be unable to use her 'magic'. A phenomenon the Enclave had encountered before. The Psykers they had delt with in the past had been powerful but a good bolt of plasma quickly shut them down. This woman was weak enough that she required some clockwork device to do anything. He was pleased to learn however that Psykers were being found from genetically pure Enclave stock. It showed that Psykers were not a result of mutation but simply an aspect of humanity that had to be unlocked with science.
With advances in energy weapons, power armour and now an understanding of how to make use of Psykers and find them among Enclave ranks. Autumn felt a grin form on his face. He would make the Brotherhood pay for murdering his people, his family. He had promised his father he would and now it was a certainty.
He was distracted from his thoughts when they entered the hangar. Dozens of Vertibirds and they still had not filled out the place. A bird configured for cargo and troop transport was spinning up as the hanger doors slowly began to open. The pair of them trotted over to the craft where a stern young woman in power armour stood ready for them.
"Sir. This is the one?" Autumn nodded and leaned forward so he only had to shout over the sound of the Vertibird rather than yell.
"Take care of her Sergeant. Make sure she does not wander off." He glanced at the women who was clambering into the aircraft. The sleeve of her right arm was dark and wet from her wound reopening. He hoped that none of that was recorded on the cameras.
"Understood sir! God bless the Enclave!"
"And no one else!" Autumn shouted that familiar song and stepped back. It was well and good that Eden did not agree with his Land Crawler repair project. It meant that Autumn could stack personnel from his own faction there out of the way.
If America was to be reborn it required more than a single plan. It required redundancies. It required compromise. It required sacrifice. If that sacrifice was a scientist firmly in Eden's camp, then it was tragic but necessary.
AN:
Yes, there is actually a railway gun there in real life.
What's with you Americans leaving Railway guns around where children can find them?
I want to give a big thank you to Starstruck91 who helped me out with some proofreading!
Maddax:
I would first like to say that your sentiment is shared with some people who have spoken to me elsewhere. I understand the draw of Tanya putting herself into problems and using her considerable force of personality as the fulcrum of the story. But that simply is not where I intended to take the story from the start. I love Political and Delinquency record. They both do wonderful things with the character and I hope that my story can at least entertain in a slightly different way.
As for the sections with different languages. I am sorry about it making your text to speech listening difficult but I got a few messages from people requesting the translation in the text. I will try to make them as unobtrusive as possible.
Lastly. The magical equipment. Flying boot, fight stabilizer, flying ski equipment in Mary's case. That is from the anime and I liked it so much I stole it like the rogue I am.