November 13th, 2288.


Ingram sat straight up in bed, a cold sweat came over him. Ingram looked around, quickly assuming he was alone.

"Fuck... Well... That's never happened before.." Ingram said with a sigh before he looked over to see Kurokawa sat there on the floor, she stared at him, and he at her...

"Uh... Hey." Ingram said.

"Good morning." Kurokawa said with a smile.

"How long have you been here?" Ingram asked.

"Just a few minutes, Second Lieutenant Itami, and everyone else are handling getting the refugees into more, structurally stable housing, he let me come to check on you, and to talk like we arranged yesterday, what's more is that you'll also be getting somewhere more structurally stable." Kurokawa said.

"Ah, alright... Actually, I'd like to head back to Bunker Hill to retrieve everything I'll need if that's alright." Ingram said as he took the wool blanket he laid under off, Kurokawa quickly looked away, a low blush appearing on her face. She looked out of the corner of her left eye and saw Ingram was already wearing pants, to which she let out a sigh of relief.

Ingram just chuckled and put his boots back on, then his tie, uniform tunic, the belt, and his visor cap.

"Well, I'm not sure, I suppose you'll have to get permission from the General." Kurokawa said as Ingram finished getting dressed.

"Alright, I'll go do that then, mind accompanying me?" Ingram asked.

"I suppose." Kurokawa said as she went to get up, she then noticed Ingram's hand, he was offering to help her up.

Kurokawa took Ingram's hand and was pulled to her feet.

"Alright, let's get going." Ingram said as he lead the way out of the tent, Kurokawa followed him out, they were about clear of the refugee area before Itami noticed them and came over.

"Where are you two headed?" Itami asked as he joined the three.

"We're just gonna go check with the General about something, you guys are going through the effort of setting up a place for me, the least I could do is provide my own needed materials and all." Ingram said.

"Oh... How?" Itami asked.

"I'll just get everything I need from Bunker Hill." Ingram said.

"Uh... Alright, and how might you get it here?" Itami asked.

"It might be 210 or so years for me but I still remember how to drive, if not then I'll ask if a Vertibird may come and drop off what I need." Ingram said.

"I don't think the General will allow you to have a Vertibird come here, you'll probably have to drive it." Itami said.

"Either way is fine with me, Second Lieutenant, anyway I couldn't in good conscience take anything another might need when I can get what I need so easily." Ingram said.

"Huh.. Well, alright, good luck I guess." Itami said before he shrugged and went back off to his other tasks.

Ingram and Kurokawa continued on their way to the headquarters, heading into the building Ingram immediately saw Yanagida.

"First Lieutenant." Ingram said as he and Kurokawa approached Yanagida.

Yanagida turned from a conversation he was having, after giving his orders.

"Colonel, what can I do for you?" Yanagida asked.

"I need to see the General." Ingram said.

"Ah, might I ask why?" Yanagida asked.

"Well, your guys are going through the trouble of setting of quarters for me, however I in good conscience couldn't take any furniture or resources that could be used for other refugees that pop up. So I'd like to ask permission to provide my own furniture for my new quarters here. Just the standard stuff, storage containers, a computer terminal, a comms array, bed, table, chairs, my personal equipment and all." Ingram said.

"Hmm... I suppose everything would have to be checked over after it was brought in, given your world is apparently still recovering from a nuclear war, we couldn't risk a contamination outbreak." Yanagida said.

"Fair enough to me, can you arrange the meeting for me to ask?" Ingram asked.

"Alright, come with me." Yanagida said, motioning for Ingram and Kurokawa to follow him.

Ingram and Kurokawa followed of course, through the headquarters.

"So might I ask, why is Sergeant Kurokawa with you?" Yanagida asked.

"Oh, she and I were supposed to be talking about some things, giving me a check up and all since the wasteland in my world is lacking in actual decent medical practitioners." Ingram said.

"Ah, I see, I suppose it would be best to get checked then, to make sure you aren't heavily irradiated." Yanagida said.

"Oh, trust me I'm not, I just need to have some old wounds checked, getting shot with energy weaponry kicks and burns like hell. Especially Plasma weaponry." Ingram said with a shrug.

"...Plasma weaponry?" Yanagida stopped and turned to face Ingram.

"Yeah, plasma weaponry, don't worry you'll see some in your life time, but not pointed at you, like they were at me when I was fighting the Brotherhood of Steel." Ingram said.

"That.. Nevermind." Yanagida said with a sigh before he just continued on. Ingram and Kurokawa followed all the way to General Hazama's office, upon reaching it, Yanagida motioned for them to stop.

"I'll go announce you, Colonel. Sergeant just wait out here." Yanagida said before going in.

Ingram and Kurokawa just waited in silence before Yanagida came back out and held the door open for Ingram who went in, Yanagida shut the door behind Ingram and Ingram saluted General Hazama.

"Sorry to be a bother, General." Ingram said as General Hazama saluted him back.

"No problem, I heard from Yanagida you wanted permission to bring your own equipment on base." General Hazama said.

"Yessir. With your men establishing quarters for me, the least I figured I could do is provide my own furniture and all. All I'm asking is to retrieve a bed, a comms array, a terminal, a table, some chairs, and a few containers for me to stow my gear and all in. I figure that there may be refugees in the future that would need the beds you could provide more than I would." Ingram said.

"Hmm... I'm not sure, I would be more than happy to allow it if you can guarantee the equipment you're bringing isn't irradiated. And more so if our medical personnel could make sure it's not with their own geiger counters." General Hazama said.

"Of course, sir. I completely understand, it would indeed be concerning, though I can assure you, the Enclave doesn't use anything radiated, other than what is necessary for us to use, such as using nuclear waste to power in-field generators and all. As well as with our combat robots..." Ingram said before General Hazama interrupted.

"You.. Didn't mention combat robots before, Colonel." General Hazama said, surprised by this.

"I had assumed that they would be normal over in your world. Your technology appears to be more advanced than our own, the device on my arm here, this pip-boy 2000 is just one of the few pieces of advanced tech we have in the wasteland, only people who were brought up in Vaults have them. Meanwhile from what I've seen on this base, these.. Mobile phones as you call them, with the touch screens and all seem to be commonplace in your world." Ingram said, somewhat surprised with the possibility that on the Japanese side of their gate, they wouldn't have combat robots.

"Would it be possible for you to ask your own commander in chief about allowing us to receive some combat robots?" General Hazama asked.

"I'm not sure, you see, most combat robots run off of atomic energy. You would have to see if they would meet your standards with radioactivity and all, more so with one certain robot series which does have the tendency to... Explode. The same could be said with Power Armour as they're primarily powered by Fusion cores which are essentially nuclear batteries." Ingram said.

General Hazama was, disappointed with this news of course, if the fusion cores Ingram had mentioned were too dangerous for the diet to consider issuing and reverse engineering, then the armours would be useless.

"I see, this news is certainly, disappointing." General Hazama said.

"Perhaps, allowing the best minds of your country, access to just a single fusion core, their own research into reverse engineering might yield results that would allow your government to consider allowance of using such technology. After all, it's just sentry bots that have the greater tendency to explode, we could also allow your scientists access to the medical supplies which we use that are specifically designed to rid a body of radiation and to raise the body's natural immunity to radiation, however temporary it might be." Ingram suggested.

"It might work... Possibly.. Well, back to your request, I'll allow it." General Hazama said.

Ingram smiled and saluted General Hazama.

"Thank you, sir." Ingram said.

"Of course, Colonel." General Hazama said as Ingram started on his way back to the door before stopping.

"Oh, uh one more thing, I realise that there's the possibility that a few items such as the comms tower might not fit on any vehicle we may use, would it be alright to have a vertibird bring it along with a couple technicians to help me get it up and running?" Ingram asked.

"I suppose, but they can't stay afterwards." General Hazama said, this was understandable of course. The JSDF couldn't have too many Enclave personnel running around.

"Of course, sir." Ingram said before he left the office to see just Kurokawa standing there in the hallway.

"So how did it go?" Kurokawa asked.

"Well enough, if we can get the comms tower and all in any vehicle then we'll get a Vertibird to carry it and anything else we might need, in which case might be a box of rations and all." Ingram said.

"Alright." Kurokawa said as she lead the way out of the HQ and back out to the refugee area where apparently the refugees were all sitting down to lunch, provided by the JSDF.

Though on the otherside of the gate, Ingram couldn't be bothered to consider just what may be happening.

The Chinese of course were scheming, they wanted the gate for themselves, as did the Russians, and the US, though back in Japan and soon the wider world, documents were leaked on the JSDF's encounter with the Flame Dragon, and the Enclave.

More specifically how the JSDF repelled the Flame Dragon with Assistance from the Enclave and their technologically advanced weaponry, though of course reporters would flock to the government for answers.

Back in the JSDF's side of their own Gate, Japan.

"We need to know how many civilians died in the battles in the Special Region!" One Reporter yelled.

"Prime Minister, about the reports that say civilians were amongst the dead-" Another yelled before being cut off by another reporter.

"Mister Prime Minister, the SDF appears to be out of control, and they have no intention to try to control the situation, nor does this Enclave appear any better!" Another reporter yelled.

"I can speak on behalf of the SDF and say the problem they faced was unique, though, I might say the same of their situation with this Enclave." The Prime Minister said.

"Sir, is it true another gate opened to another world in the SR, and it's this other world the Enclave is from?" A reporter asked.

"That I am not sure of, though from what I have heard it does seem this is likely." The Prime Minister answered.

"Is it true, the Enclave may have advanced technology and are the SDF being forced to fight not only this, Empire in the SR but this Enclave as well?" Another reporter asked.

"The Enclave and their interactions with the SDF have been far from hostile, they are for all intents and purposes and have been, friendly towards the SDF, working with them as the opportunity arises." The Prime Minister said.

Then another reporter asked the question that most everyone wanted to with the description of the Enclave and one of it's personnel having been leaked amongst other documents.

"Is the Enclave apart of the United States Government?" The reporter asked as all slowly went silent.

"The Enclave as far as we can tell, are remnants from another world of another government, which one however I am not at this time aware of." The Prime Minister just barely dodged that metaphorical bullet


Back in the Special Region at Alnus Hill.


Over the next few days, Ingram would be working hard along with the JSDF to set up a livable area for the refugees that were under the JSDF's care. Looking at the camp, Ingram's quarters stood out plainly from the rest of the refugees, a bed from the Enclave, a couple tables also from the Enclave along with chairs, a locker, a footlocker, at the far wall of the small quarters stood a small tower of cardboard boxes marked with the Enclave insignia, one box laid next to the tower, open and full of Enclave rations.

Outside of the tent stood a comms tower with a couple wires running from it to a computer terminal which hummed. On the outside of his quarters a United States Enclave flag was draped out of the way of the door frame, just right next to it. The room as well had it's own lighting with a small blue light pole clamped to each of his three out of four walls, giving the room a dim blue hue.

On the second table which sat just a little bit away from the table that had the terminal, two chairs were sat with a ration at both places opposite of each other at the table.

This room fascinated both the refugees and the JSDF. But on this day, both were more preoccupied with other matters. The JSDF, with Ingram's help had finished two bathing areas, one for women, another for men.

Ingram himself was busy writing reports as he heard someone nearby sighing happily, he knew the voice, it was Itami. Ingram couldn't help but just shrug it off as he heard a knock at his door, turning back he saw Kurokawa.

"Not too busy?" Kurokawa asked.

"For you? Nah. Come on, sit down." Ingram shifted from his chair at his table with the computer terminal to the table with the couple rations on it.

Kurokawa came in and sat down looking over the ration that was sat at her side of the table.

"So, just burying yourself in paperwork since you got that terminal here, huh?" Kurokawa asked as she opened the box and poured the contents of it out on the table, a wrapped protein bar, some crackers, a couple dried power drink packets, and some utensils.

Ingram poured out the contents of his ration and saw it was much the same.

"Well, yes and no. I am buried in paperwork but not by choice. General Ward wants to know the likelihood of resistance against Enclave forces in the near future since the JSDF basically annihilated the Empire's forces, here." Ingram said before he started in on the protein bar.

"I see... And?" Kurokawa asked before she started, herself.

"I don't see any possibility of it. You, and Second Lieutenant Itami said that 60,000 troops were killed in Ginza, then with recent numbers coming in, about 60,000 again, here in the Empire's counter attack. Then we have about 5,000 killed in Boston when the gate for my world opened, it's not likely to happen, especially with the technological level these people are at, building up a force wouldn't take mere months, but one if they're smart, to take back not only the gate at Bunker Hill, but Alnus, it would take with their weaponry, about one million men in human waves, for each gate." Ingram said.

"Should've been a logistics officer." Kurokawa said, Ingram chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah, the battlefield is my place." Ingram said as he finished his protein bar.

"So what is this... Nuka Cola flavouring?" Kurokawa asked, looking over one of the dried drink packets.

"Nuka Cola, is a drink from back before the war, was created I think about 2044. By about 2077 it was the dominant soft drink manufacturer in the US. But it did have competition from Vim up north, it also if I'm remembering correctly from my brief stay in vegas, was being competed with by Sunset Sarsaparilla, but anyway, it's kind of a mish mash of all different fruity flavours, they also had Nuka Cola Quantum, which had a mild radioactive isotope in it, as did I think, Nuka Cola Victory flavour." Ingram said.

"Wait, your people, back before the nuclear war let this corporation put radioactive isotopes in your drinks?!" Kurokawa asked, shocked by this.

"I mean, remember we are the people that replaced most of our fossil fuel dependencies with atomic power, nobody really thought it was all that dangerous back then." Ingram said, not really surprised Kurokawa was shocked by this.

"How are you not glowing then?" Kurokawa asked.

"Because of Radaway and Rad-x. Two very important meds which are standard in wasteland survival." Ingram said.

"So... Does Radaway and this.. Rad-x, do they do what I think they do?" Kurokawa asked, concerned.

"Radaway helps deal with the radiation, makes it inert I suppose. Rad-x helps build up the body's immunity to radiation but it doesn't last long, I'll be honest." Ingram said.

"..So are you suffering from any radiation sickness?" Kurokawa asked.

"Not for a good damn while I haven't, last time was in 87 when I had to cross the glowing sea to find an institute scientist." Ingram said.

"Ah, I see. ..So other than that, you're fine, right?" Kurokawa asked.

"Yes, I'm fine, don't worry." Ingram said with a smile, Kurokawa's worrying genuinely warmed his heart a bit.

"Would you, want to talk about what happened back in that vault you mentioned?" Kurokawa asked.

Right, Ingram completely forgot about that appointment between himself and Kurokawa. Since he got the terminal he'd just been buried in work, Kurokawa didn't want to bother him, she'd just let Ingram work on until he was done but it'd been a few days, now as as good a time as any.

"Right... I suppose we should." Ingram said, sitting back in his chair.

"Yeah." Kurokawa said with a smile.

"So... Where to even begin..." Ingram asked, wondering.

"How about the Resource war? Work our way from there." Kurokawa asked.

"Alright, so I actually went to the US to avoid going to war." Ingram said.

"Oh? You did? Where did you come from?" Kurokawa asked.

"Yeah, I came from Britain, this was before the US annexed Canada and Mexico." Ingram said. This was somewhat of a shock to Kurokawa, if current US leadership was anything to go by, it wouldn't annex either... Probably.

"So what happened then?" Kurokawa asked

"Oh, I met Nora then." Ingram said.

"Nora? Was that...?" Kurokawa asked.

"My better half, yeah. She was the love of my life." Ingram said, sadly.

"I see... How did you two meet?" Kurokawa asked.

"Oh, she was working part time at this restaurant, I just got called up and joined the military, but getting shipped out was going to take a week, I met her just a day or so before all that happened, got her address and number, we talked as much as we could, at one point I had someone come from the DIA, suspecting we were actually communist spies, but no that got quickly tossed out." Ingram said with a chuckle.

"I see... Must've been love at first sight." Kurokawa said.

"Yeah, it was... Anyway after basic, I got shipped out to Alaska, the Chinese took it over for the oil there, and dug in. Though we managed to get them out, not before their artillery guns and their chimeras were taken out." Ingram said.

"Chimeras?" Kurokawa asked.

"They're weaponised mining rigs the Chinese took from local miners, they were a pain in the ass to deal with." Ingram said.

"I see... What happened after Alaska?" Kurokawa asked.

"I went home. Spent time with Nora, then ten or so months later, the Great War came." Ingram said with a sigh.

"It was on October 23rd... The morning was beautiful, colourful... It was hard to see everything when I came out of Vault 111..." Ingram said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry.." Kurokawa said.

"Don't worry about it.." Ingram said.

"So what about Vault 111?" Kurokawa asked.

"Honestly, looking back I really should've known better. They said the pods we were being put into would depressurize us, and decontaminate us before we went deeper into the vault, but... I was just too much in shock to question it all." Ingram said.

"And it was after you were frozen..." Kurokawa said before Ingram picked up the latter part of the sentence.

"When we were unfrozen. That's when those Institute scientists came with their attack dog, Kellogg." Ingram said.

"I see.." Kurokawa said.

"There is nothing you can do to break a man down more than kill his wife, and take his child. ...The same could be said if her role and mine were reversed. It broke me." Ingram said.

"But you're alive still. And you have a new chance at life, here in the SR." Kurokawa said reassuringly.

"Yeah... I know... Do you want to hear any more?" Ingram asked. It felt oddly good to explain everything, to let everything go.

"If you'd be willing to tell me." Kurokaway said with a smile.

"Alright... I'll skip the parts between the Minutemen to the Enclave, and just get to the part with the institute." Ingram said.

"You said, they kidnapped your son. ...Or Kellogg did." Kurokawa said.

"Yeah... This actually has to do with what I said about the Glowing Sea before. ...I was there to track down an ex-institute scientist named Virgil. He escaped from the institute and fled into the glowing sea." Ingram said.

"So you followed his trail?" Kurokawa asked.

"Yeah, I followed him through that irradiated hell hole with a hazard suit, an R91, and as much ammunition as I could carry as well as Stimpaks, Radaway, and Rad-x." Ingram said.

"Was it hard? I mean, other than dealing with the radiation." Kurokawa asked.

"Oh it was, certainly, giant rad scorpions, deathclaws, stingwings, mole rats, the random pack of feral ghouls here and there... There was a time, where in that place, I wondered if I would survive. Then I found ground zero for the largest of nukes that hit the Commonwealth. It got turned into a holy site by the Children of Atom... Which I'll explain later. But anyway..." Ingram said.

"So what happened when you got there?" Kurokawa asked.

"Doomsday cultists, do what doomsday cultists, do. They were suspicious, they wanted me to leave, but I told them I had only come that far to find Virgil." Ingram said.

"Did they help?" Kurokawa asked.

"In the loosest terms possible of "help". They pointed me in the right direction, so I can't say anything too bad about them." Ingram said.

"So what happened when you found Virgil, you clearly did otherwise you wouldn't have gotten to the Institute." Kurokawa said.

"Yeah, I found him. He turned into a super mutant after apparently being exposed to FEV, which I'll explain what that even is later, he told me the only way to really get on the path of getting into the institute is to kill what they call an Institute courser, which is a third generation synth, or synthetic, which looks like you or me, and bleeds much the same, but it's what's inside of their head, that's what is different." Ingram said.

"May I guess and assume that with them being synthetic, it's not a human brain in their heads, is it?" Kurokawa asked.

"No, it's all robotics in side of the braincase, I had to get a courser chip out of it's head, and I got it decoded." Ingram said.

"So it gave you what you needed then, right?" Kurokawa asked.

"Yeah, I went back to Virgil then and he got me the plans to build what they call, a molecular relay, basically it's a teleporter." Ingram said, Kurokawa sat back in disbelief.

"A teleporter?" Kurokawa asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, don't worry. I know, it's crazy, I didn't believe it myself either." Ingram said with a chuckle.

"So... Go on?" Kurokawa asked, wanting to hear more.

"I built one for myself to get into the Institute, which surprisingly worked... And that's when I got one of the biggest surprises of my life." Ingram said.

"Did you find your son?" Kurokawa asked.

"I did... I did. But not how I imagined.." Ingram said, some sadness was heard in his voice.

"What happened?" Kurokawa asked with some hesitation.

"Well, I learned two things that day. ...The Institute could make third generation synths that appear to be children. ...And I missed sixty years of my son's life." Ingram said as he leaned forward on the table, covering his face with his left hand.

Kurokawa's heart sank, she had hoped this might end up on some sort of happier note. But it didn't, she reached over, taking his right hand, into both of her's.

"It's okay.. I'm sorry everything turned out the way it did for you." Kurokawa said, Ingram let out a sigh and lowered his left hand.

"Kurokawa..." Ingram said, just a slight smile donning on his face.

"You've been through a lot, more than anyone else I could ever imagine.. You could've given up at any time but you didn't, and you're still going." Kurokawa said.

"We all need something to keep us going. In the resource war it was my love of my country, and my love of Nora that kept me going. In the wasteland, it was my hope to find my son, now... Now it's just my love of my country keeping me going, I have nothing else." Ingram said.

"That's no real way to live, and can only keep you going for so long, don't you think? ...You should try dating again, if it's possible." Kurokawa suggested.

"I-... I don't know. It's been a long time." Ingram said.

"You can do it, I know it's possible because of everything you've told me. You need to move on from Nora, and your son. Start anew." Kurokawa said.

"I suppose..." Ingram said as he looked down to his left hand, looking at the wedding ring on it.

"You should." Kurokawa said.

"Alright, I will. But, it's awkward as hell. Considering I'm technically old enough to be everyone here's however many greats, grandfather." Ingram said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I suppose that'll be difficult to explain." Kurokawa laughed.

Ingram felt quite happy, hearing that, and perhaps Kurokawa was right, it was time to move on, to start anew.

"Well, anyway I'm gonna check out the bath, alright?" Ingram said with a smile as he let go of Kurokawa's hands.

"Alright, I'll be here." Kurokawa said with a smile, Ingram went to his locker and took out a change of clothes before heading to the baths.

Walking past the female's bath, he saw the short blue haired girl outside, Kuribayashi was helping her with an NBC(Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) suit, Ingram just shrugged and kept his eyes forward, going to Tomita who stood at the tent next to the female's bath tent.

"This the male's bathing area?" Ingram asked.

"Yes, Colonel." Tomita replied in English.

"Alright, thanks." Ingram said as he went in, seeing Itami was already inside.

"Hey, Second Lieutenant." Ingram said as he went over to the side where all the clothes baskets were, he began to undress.

"Oh, hey Colonel. How's things?" Itami asked.

"Well enough, been busy with reports. Got chewed out by General Ward for using the M42 when that flame dragon showed up." Ingram said.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Itami said.

"Don't be, far too many lives were at stake, I did what had to be done." Ingram said as he got halfway through getting undressed, Itami saw on Ingram's back there was a whole mural of a tattoo, it was a bunch of men infront of what looked like a giant pipeline, all dressed in armour Itami hadn't seen before, one man stood out, one in a trenchcoat infront, flanked on his sides were two soldiers in what Itami could only assume to be power armour, behind them was a strange version of the American flag, draped from a tower.

"Interesting Tattoo, Colonel, I wouldn't let anyone else see it though." Itami said.

"Oh? You mean my keepsake from Anchorage? Yeah I remember, after Anchorage, I was stationed briefly in Japan and heard to keep my tattoos hidden, something to do with criminals and all." Ingram said as he finished getting undressed. He climbed into the bath, on the opposite side of Itami.

"Yeah, usually just criminals have tattoos in Japan." Itami said.

"Ah, alright, then I'll keep it hid." Ingram said.

"So have you spoken with Kurokawa yet? About that therapy stuff?" Itami asked.

"Yeah, she and I had spoken about that before I came here, she's of the opinion with all things considered, if I have time, I should consider dating." Ingram said.

"Because of the whole thing with your wife and all?" Itami asked.

"Yeah, because of that. But really I'm not sure how I would, firstly because it's been a long time, secondly how does it sound to a girl to date someone that's old enough to be one of their descendants?" Ingram asked.

"I wouldn't know gramps, but she does have a point, move on and find someone new." Itami said.

"Knock it off with that gramps crap. I'm still young enough physically to give you a good whipping, son." Ingram chuckled.

"Well you're clearly in a better mood even after talking about all that so why not give it a shot. What's the worse that could happen?" Itami asked.

"Shit, don't even get me started. ...But still I'll admit she does have a point, I'll probably have to give it a go, but really I know for a fact I can't date in the Enclave, so I'm going to have to find someone outside of it." Ingram said.

"Hmm... Why not Kuribayashi? I could use someone to put a leash on her." Itami said.

"I'm not dating one of your subordinates... To... Hmm... No, I couldn't. ...No." Ingram had another thought, not Kuribayashi, but... Maybe.

"If not Kuribayashi..." Itami said.

"No, no, I couldn't. I don't even think it would be possible." Ingram said.

"Maybe not, but it's still in the realm of it." Itami said.

"I... I'm not sure." Ingram said with a sigh. He wouldn't admit it, but problems aside, the obvious ones. It wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Obvious problems aside, even if it were possible, I know she wouldn't do it." Ingram said.

"You don't know until you try." Itami said.

"And if I try, then what? Nevermind what might happen on my part, but what might happen to Kurokawa? She gets sent off to your side of your gate, never to be seen again." Ingram said.

"Not if you keep it secret." Itami said.

"And just how the hell do you propose I do that?" Ingram asked.

"There's a few ways, could meet up at night." Itami suggested.

"Perhaps..." Ingram said, that was true. ...And he knew how he could arrange it.

"Well, Itami. You just had another moment of brilliance." Ingram admitted as he finished washing up and got out, drying himself off.

"Yeah I have a lot of those." Itami said overconfidently.

"Don't let it go to your head, son." Ingram said as he finished drying himself off, he got dressed again in his officer's uniform before he left.

In the tent that housed the female baths, Lelei, Rory, and Tuka would be talking with each other.

"It's surprising the JSDF set these up for us." Rory said, letting out a sigh.

"This is... The first hot bath I've ever had." Lelei said.

"Is that right?" Rory asked.

"I'm from the Lordo tribe, we're nomads constantly moving, so my baths have always been cold... Miss Oracle, is this new to you?" Lelei asked

"Please dear, call me Rory." Rory said.

"Oh.. You can call me Lelei." Lelei said.

"Well, in the temple there was an absolutely gorgeous imperial style bath. But as Emroy's apostles I've bathed in more rivers and streams than I care to count. So, I am enjoying the fact I can take a bath in such a way, it's kind of luxurious. " Rory said.

"They're going to do this every day, that's what Itami said." Lelei said.

"Oh, the Lieutenant?" Rory said before Tuka finally spoke up.

"Wait! That was the man who saved me right?" Tuka asked a brief awkward silence came before Tuka spoke up again.

"Uh.. It's just.. When I was stuck at the bottom of the village well, I wondered if he was the one who pulled me out." Tuka said.

"Yes, it was Itami's team, he was the officer in charge." Lelei confirmed.

"Itami..." Tuka said with a smile.

"You know, I think you may be fully recovered." Rory said.

"Huh?" Tuka wondered

"Losing all your family and friends must've been awful. I'm sure you were in shock from all that, weren't you?" Lelei asked.

"I guess... I was?" Tuka said, not sure if she was or not.

"It seems like people have been taking care of me since that day.. I don't know if I deserve to be in a place like this right now." Tuka said.

"Sure, why not?" Rory said as she moved to the other side of the bath, opposite from Tuka.

"You and all the kids here, anyone out there who has no family to go back to." Rory said.

It would be then the three would get out and start washing the hair of the younger girls that were in the bath.

"So Lelei, it seems like you're picking up on their language quite easily." Rory said.

"There's still a lot of it I have to learn, but I'm starting to get a grasp on their culture, but with my interactions with that one other man, I've only gotten bits and pieces about his own." Lelei said.

"Oh? You mean that man with the strange devices in his sleeping area?" Rory asked.

"Mhmm. I asked about him to the best of my ability. He's not from the same place the JSDF is from, he's from another world, from another gate the Empire had." Lelei said.

"Oh? Where is he from then?" Rory asked.

"He's from somewhere like where the JSDF is but there's a lot of suffering in his world, his country is trying to make their world right but are having a hard time. With something they call... Radiation? I think?" Lelei said.

"Oh, I see... Have you asked about him though?" Rory asked.

"He's from what they call "The Enclave." He's a higher rank than Itami but their forces aren't from the same country, he's a Colonel." Lelei said.

"Oh? So the Enclave and JSDF are allies?" Rory asked.

"Not necessarily, though the Enclave is another version of another country from the JSDF's side of their gate, so they're just working together because they're familiar with each other in some way or another." Lelei said.

"Oh? What's different about the Enclave?" Rory asked.

"They're different in that, they have something called Powered Armour, and something called Energy weaponry." Lelei said.

"Oh. I've never heard of either." Rory said.

"I asked one of the JSDF to translate for me a few questions, we have seen both before." Lelei said.

"Oh? Really?" Rory asked.

"Mhmm. Their Powered Armour is what those tall men that showed up after the flame dragon attack wear, they make them into the human equivalent of walking tortoises, and I saw one the Colonel's energy weapons myself, he saved me from being killed by a horse that went wild, by... I think the term was... Disintegration? He caused the horse to turn to ash." Lelei said.

"Really? That.. Sounds amazing." Rory said.

"Mhmm." Lelei confirmed.

"But back to the JSDF, they're called the Self Defense Force of Japan, and back in their world Japan isn't the only country that exists, but I'm not sure, and they're not sure about the same for the Enclave and their world." Lelei said.

"So, in Japan's world there's more countries?" Tuka asked.

"That sounds exciting." Rory said with a cheeky smirk.

"There's two worlds we have yet to discover, they're bigger than we thought." Lelei said with a smile.

Off elsewhere, Ingram returned to his quarters, Kurokawa was still there, reading an old magazine. Guns and Bullets, it said on the cover.

"Sorry, I couldn't find any actual books on my travels through the wasteland, but that and a few other things are all I could find, from Guns and Bullets to some nonsense about "tomorrow's weapons, today." or something like that." Ingram said with a shrug as he returned to his seat.

"Oh it's fine, I'm just surprised this managed to survive, it seems worse for wear." Kurokawa said as she set the magazine down.

"Yeah, not many books made it through the war, as I said." Ingram said as he sat back in his chair.

"Alright, well, do you want to talk anymore or should I leave you to it?" Kurokawa asked.

"Actually... I wanted to know something." Ingram asked, his throat tightened, some pain could be felt from it, he was nervous as one could be without facing down a deathclaw with just 100 rounds of ammunition.

"Yes? What is it?" Kurokawa asked with a tilt of her head to the side.

"Well... I was wondering, would you be interested in letting me get to know you better?" Ingram asked, plainly nervous.

"Colonel, I'm not sure how that might work." Kurokawa said.

"W-well, actually it could work, I do know of one way it would." Ingram got up and went to his footlocker, taking out a rectangular device in a canvas pouch, he returned and set it on the table.

"This is what we call, a stealth boy. It's an old US version of a Chinese invention, they created suits that could turn a man invisible for as long as he should desire, we created this, you wear it on your person, turn it on, and it turns you invisible. I have about 20 of these I've scavenged in my time." Ingram said.

"I... How do you work this?" Kurokawa asked, looking over the device on the table infront of her, first teleportation, now invisibility? Just how the hell did they manage to make such devices on Ingram's side of his world's gate.

"There's a button you push, I managed to modify these to turn on, and off." Ingram said as he flipped the cover off the top of the pouch and pointed to a red button on the top.

"If I press that will it..?" Kurokawa asked.

"It will turn on and off, yes." Ingram said.

"I see." Kurokawa said.

"As long as we can keep this a secret from our actual superiors, we should be okay. I actually talked about this with Itami, he actually suggested this all... Well not the part with the stealth boy, that was my own idea." Ingram said.

"I see.. I... I'm not sure, Ingram." Kurokawa said.

"Would you think on it?" Ingram asked with a smile.

"I'll think on it." Kurokawa said with a smile.

"Okay, thank you.. Now it's getting late, I should get to sleep here in a bit." Ingram said as he got up and handed the stealth boy to Kurokawa.

"Keep it as a gift from me to you." Ingram said as Kurokawa was just about to refuse but she took it and got up.

"Thank you, Colonel." Kurokawa said as she left, a light blush donned on the top of her cheeks while Ingram closed the door to his quarters and got ready for bed. ...It would be a long couple of days ahead for Ingram the JSDF, and the Enclave.