"Arcade, what's the status of the Zeta ship?" James said aloud as he inspected the rebuilt control tower at Addam's Air Force base.
"We've reestablished contact with Major Harkin, now calling himself Commodore Harkin. He insists on speaking to you, sir." Arcade responded as he supervised all of the officer in the control tower. In two weeks, both Arcade and James had revolutionized the Enclave chain of command and modus operandi. Thanks to overriding Eden's old personality matrix, he now consigned himself to step down similar to how Washington did after two terms. James protested but Eden insisted on doing so in order to help plan tactical maneuvers and logistical operations to regain a foothold in the Capital Wasteland.
"Excellent. I'm afraid I won't have time to visit him personally, tell him to send an emissary to Rivet City and I'll meet with him." James responded.
"Why the run-around?" Arcade asked. James immediately thought of Katherine and her quest to find Shaun.
"I need to get back to the Commonwealth as soon as possible. I came back to reorganize the Enclave into a fighting force to find the settlers that were kidnapped from my settlement." James responded. "So I need to get back as soon as possible."
"Understood, I'll send someone to meet with officers from…. The TSC?" He asked.
"Terran Space Command. Their idea, not mine. An organization striving to promote the Enclave's original humanitarian ideals and not Autumn's autocratic ones."
"Oh, ok. Strange that the Enclave would split so soon after splitting from the West."
"It is strange that they would do so. The work the TSC is doing up on Olympus, the Zeta ship, is amazing. But they still harbor a deep distrust of the Enclave. Hopefully, my name will be enough to convince the council of reform."
"Why do you need them?"
"I only need the Enclave now. I would like to the have the TSC backing the Enclave since they already had a foothold here, last I checked."
"Morales, get me whatever records we have on the TSC." Arcade spoke into the radio.
"Of course, sir."
"First I've heard of them." Arcade said.
"They have been quiet as of late. I did not see any of their troops the last time I was here in the Wasteland."
"Hmm, so be it. Would you like to meet your new Squad Sigma?"
"I would. And I would prefer if they kept the name Lyons' Pride."
"Why?"
"Humor me."
"Understood ,sir. Lyons' Pride fall in at Hangar 1 for orders." Arcade said into a loudspeaker. James looked out of the window. Vertibirds flocked in and out of the air force base. Troops trained in the concrete slabs and marched in formation. James thought about the Enclave that had killed his father. What would his father think of him heading that very same organization.
"I thought you traveled with Hale." James said suddenly.
"I beg your pardon?" Arcade asked, looking up from a clipboard.
"I thought you traveled with Hale and his merry band of volunteers."
"Oh, I did. But recently he was deployed north to combat some shady organization known as the Confederacy. After the first attack destroyed the Boneyard…"
"The Boneyard was destroyed?"
"Yes. A huge terrorist attack destroyed the rebuilt city. First Rangers were deployed to recon where the Confederacy could have come from. Their white uniforms suggested an area with lots of snow especially since the attack came in the winter."
"So while our best Ranger Captain, Keely was sent to the North. Hale was sent to investigate the East. He first searched the Sierra Nevadas to no avail. Keely found the organization and Hale was ordered by Kimball to search for an individual known as the Lone Wanderer. That's how we met you."
"Why me?"
"I thought you said the Lone Wanderer didn't exist."
"hmm."
"Anyways, stories of the Lone Wanderer single-handedly cleansing the Capital Wasteland of irradiated water led the births of numerous other tall tales. They eventually made their way West. It didn't help that your book co-authored by a Moira Brown had become so popular as well."
"I only did the research for that book, she wrote it."
"Nevertheless, still extremely popular. Definitely a best-seller in the Mojave. I think the first volume just got printed in the West region a couple months ago."
"Nice to know it's making a difference."
"And that's why Hale was sent to investigate. Kimball understands the status and prestige of a 'name brand' of sorts. You're a Wasteland legend. You hold more sway with the locals than Kimball himself."
"Is there a reason for Hale specifically?"
"He was the Courier."
"The what?"
"The Courier."
"So the glorified mailman."
"Actually that pretty much sums it up."
"And why him?"
"He practically saved the Mojave from the clutches of the Legion. And he enlisted in the NCR to continue steamrolling the Legion to extinction. Now it's barely a threat."
"Legion?"
"Y'know. Like the Romans? Do you know what Romans are?"
"Yes. The type to shout retribution and speak latin phrases and what-not?"
"The very same."
"Hmm." James was reminded of his time at the Citadel before it fell. The very same types of people had attacked and practically destroyed the Citadel.
"Shall we go meet the Pride, then?"
"Of course."
"Commander on deck!" Kodiak's voice rose above the commotion in the hangar.
"At ease." Arcade shot back. James looked carefully at the hangar. It was s giant storage area for all of the T-45 suits of power armor that the Brotherhood used before finding the T-60 units in storage. Scrap metal was strewn all over the floor. A small make-shift staging area had been set up for the Pride. As if the entire hangar was their place to hang out. The had a campfire in the middle with a spit of what looked like Brahmin chunks hanging over the flames. A few field tents were pitched inside with bunk beds from the Citadel moved into them. Probably to give the illusion of privacy. All member of the Pride stood before Arcade and James in attention. James looked at all of them.
"I know you used to be part of the Brotherhood. Now after what I've seen at the Pitt… I don't want to be a part of it any more. I-"
"We know sir." Kodiak interjected. "We saw the refugees swarm in by the hundreds."
"Refugees?" James asked. "People survived that?"
"Yes, sir. The stories…" Kodiak said.
"We tried to accommodate them the best we could." Vargas responded. "We simply ran out of space at the AFB so we began to have Tenpenny Towers, Rivet City, Megaton start construction on refugee housing. Without a unified police force however, I am unsure of the status of such housing."
"What happened to the refugees here?"
"Some of them moved on. Most of them remained, when the Enclave came back we were taken completely by surprise, sir." Paladin Tristan spoke this time.
"But this guy." Dusk gestured at Arcade. "Convinced us to stand down. That they were here under your orders."
"We didn't believe him at first." Glade said. "Then he had Eden tell us with an eyebot."
"You believed Eden?"
"He didn't say anything. He gave us a recording of your conversation with him." Gallows said. "That was all we needed."
"Understood. I've called you all here for a very specific mission." James began. "We're headed to the Commonwealth."
"The Commonwealth, sir?" Glade asked.
"I established a settlement there that was sacked by the Institute and their synths. We're going to get them back, but I couldn't find and save all of the settlers on my own. Even with the new friends I'd made there, I wouldn't have been able to do it. So I recreated this with Eden so I can save them."
"And your original mission, sir?" Gallows asked.
"I believe this is the answer, Gallows." James responded. "So I'm ordering to Pride to follow me back to the Commonwealth. Vertibirds will take us back as far as they can go, and we'll each make our own way back to the Commonwealth. Each of you will take a covert team of operatives to each these locations." James looked at the orange tactical board taken from the Citadel. Instead of a map of the Capital, it displayed a map of the Commonwealth. There were almost forty map markers.
"There are seven of us. Seven squads. I've already divided the Commonwealth into sectors for each squad to search carefully. We'll all rendezvous here at Sanctuay."
"Sir, wouldn't that be risk to bring them back to the same place?" Dusk asked.
"Not if we have some serious security on our side." James responded.
"And what will that be, sir? The Enclave isn't done with training the new recruits. We're going to need some serious firepower." Glade asked.
"Hopefully, if things go right in Olympus. We'll be getting that firepower."