Set-Up
You.
Easy.
Tech
Fallout - Medicine, Repair, Science, Survival
Star Wars - Weapons, Droids.
Direct Acquisition - Portal Projector
World - Fallout
Perks - Mental Fortress, Clarity, Archive, Immunity, Basic Training.
Drawbacks - Unpowered
Powers
Prescience - He took some Spice Melange.
Pause Mechanic - Cybernetic Implant.
Observe - Artificial Eyes
Hidden Talents - Heightened Awareness
Technological Transdimensional Turbulence
Part 1
Vault 3. New Vegas.
The Fiends lived a good life, at least by the standards of those forced to inhabit the post-apocalyptic hellhole known as the Mojave Wasteland, they had a secure place to call home that had filtered their air and water, plenty of drugs, and all the weapons required to go raiding when they needed something else, or for when they just wanted to cause some mayhem for the sake of it.
Moter-Runner their leader had enough support from his followers that he didn't need to watch his back 24/7. As for the New California Republic (the NCR), they were too busy dealing with the Legion to come after the Fiends and Mr House didn't care about them as long they didn't disrupt his business. Not that the Fiends really cared much for what anyone thought of them.
Mostly they went after the trade caravans sent eastwards by the NCR. The Legion was quite happy about this and had secretly supplied the Fiends with some energy weapons they'd somehow acquired from the Van Graffs. The Legion weren't above supplying raiders with weapons they themselves wouldn't use as long as those raiders were harming the NCR's war effort.
Tonight was a typical night for the raiders. They had the chemicals they needed to have a good time, plenty of booze and some very loud music. Those that weren't content to have fun alone or with another member of the gang could amuse themselves with one of the captives they kept locked up in makeshift jail in the main room.
The raiders were satisfied with what they had and they saw no reason to try to improve their lot or to make any effort to get along with anyone. In their minds, there would no point. The world had gone to hell long before they were born so they might as well try to have some fun before their lights went out.
While the Fiends were not the most organised of gangs, they did have people on guard and between Moter-Runner and any outside hostile forces were a lot of killers with a variety of nasty weapons, so it came as a big surprise when somebody bypassed all of that and attacked him directly.
To be fair it wasn't as if Motor-Runner, his henchmen and henchwomen, could have been prepared for the sudden appearance of a swirling energy vortex that spat out a number of small spheres. Motor-Runner was crazy, yet he was still conversant enough about explosives to realise that he was sitting near what could be some grenades that were about to go off.
He got moving, racing for his hidden escape tunnel, one meant to allow the Vault's Overseer to escape should there be a need. Only he never got very far as a man in the outfit of NCR Ranger appeared out of another portal and shot him in the head. In his last moment of life, Motor-Runner had just enough time to see that the gun which killed was unlike anything he'd ever seen before and he knew his weapons.
The gas that was spreading through the vault was not toxic, at least not to something the size of a human, it wasn't meant to kill anyone just to incapacitate them long enough for the man in the armour to decide their fates. He was aware of the captives and didn't wish to harm them if it could easily be avoided.
"Kill anyone who isn't a prisoner" ordered the figure in the armour "Then gather up the bodies I'll dump them somewhere later".
The robots who came through the portal soon got to work. They would locate and terminate any Fiends before moving the bodies to somewhere they could be disposed of with ease.
"Roger, Roger," said one of the robots.
Protected from the gas by his helmet and with his vision clear, thanks to the same bit of protection, the unknown man in the NCR Ranger armour began to move through Vault 3, taking the time to shoot anyone who moved. Later he would go through the Vault and claim everything of value and get rid of the stuff he had no use for.
Not all of the Fiends went down as quickly, some were more resistant than others and the gas hadn't spread all over the Vault. They tried to fight, using any weapon they could get their hands on. While the cheaply produced robots were not the most sturdy of machines they were totally unaffected by the gas and robust enough that hitting them pool ques was not very effective.
Their leader was far more deadly. He was protected by some sort of personal shield and his pistol (a DL-44 blaster pistol for those who were wondering) did quite a number on the few Fiends who tried to put up a fight, but it was the robots who did most of the work.
They simply followed their programming and while they weren't so effective against Jedi Knights and Clone Troopers, at least not without the weight of numbers, these raiders lacked any real skill and didn't even try to coordinate their efforts. That made them easy prey for the robotic soldiers.
A small group of Fiends managed to find the Vault's limited supply of gas masks and they were trying to escape only to find that there was another group of armed robots securing the entrance. They were able to damage some of the machines before the superior weapons of the droids gunned them down.
Once the base was secure the armoured man sealed the entrance and locked down the Vault so that unless someone knew about the escape tunnel they would be unable to enter the Vault without blasting their way.
The Fiends trapped outside of their base would be easy pickings for other raiders and the NCR troops who would be sent after them once news got around that most of the gang had disappeared.
As for Vault 3 that would soon be forgotten about what with the Legion's upcoming attack on the Hoover Damn and all the other crazy stuff that was going on in this part of a messed up world.
What would soon take place inside the sealed vault was very interesting even if it wasn't noticed by the natives of New Vegas. The man in Ranger's armour would majorly impact many worlds, including this one. The end of the Fiend raider gang was just the beginning.
Vault 3. New Vegas.
Once I was certain that the gas emitted by the grenades had fully dissipated I took off my helmet and then removed a small case from inside the coat that I wore over my armour. Inside the small container was a limited supply of Spice Melange, often referred to as 'The Spice', it was supposed to be a fictional psychedelic drug central to the Dune series of science fiction novels by Frank Herbert.
Only it was real and on me, it had very strange effects. Not only did it extend my life span, give me greater vitality, and boosted my intelligence as well as giving me heightened awareness; but it also gifted me with prescience. A rather useful ability I would retain as long as I had a supply of The Spice.
I felt reasonably certain that it shouldn't have made me into some sort of super genius who could understand science in a way beyond even the most gifted of humans in my world.
No, something else was at work here. I knew this I'd overdosed three times when trying to figure out the right dosage and rather than die as I should have, I'd ended up inventing things well beyond Earth's level of technology as well as my own understanding of tech.
After taking three overdoses I'd gotten the measurements right and the only reason why my eyes weren't glowing blue was that at some point I'd removed my eyes and replaced them with artificial ones while high on the spice. Not that I minded much as my new eyes had this cool feature that involved scanning people if I ordered them to.
My other two great inventions are the Portal Projector and my version of Vats. They were the results of me taking doses that should have outright killed me looking back.
Despite the overdose, I suspected that one of those ROBs I'd read about on the Internet was actually behind the inventions and one of them must be how a sample of The Spice somehow ended up in my possession.
The imaginatively named Portal Projector was a device that as the name suggested, created portals. All I had to do was think about where I wanted to go and push a button on a device attached to my wrist.
Then a portal would appear. I felt fairly certain that I could build more projectors, but I didn't understand how they worked. I felt not unlike one of those Tech Preist from Warhammer 40k presented with some Dark Age of Technology gizmo.
I'd never intended to make a means to traverse the multiverse, not that I was complaining, I'd actually been trying to find a way to use my enhanced mind to invent something simple and useful that no one had ever thought of before, or at least some gimmick that could make me rich.
Now that I had access to other universes the idea of becoming rich in mine didn't seem important anymore. I was seeing the bigger picture. I had the chance the evolve myself and to experience the wonders of the multiverse. To learn the sciences of many worlds and to master their technology.
Compared to that becoming a rich inventor in my world seemed really dull. Besides, I didn't have any formal qualifications that could explain how I was able to invent anything. Anyone looking into my background would suspect that something was up.
That aside my home wasn't exactly an ideal place for storing advanced tech from other worlds. The neighbours had already started complaining about the noise and I must have run one hell of an electric bill before I left.
As for The VATS. That was a device based on the game mechanic in Fallout in which time almost freezes, or seems to, and gives you time to aim, it actually speeds up my mind rather than slowing time. Playing video games while binging The Spice leads to strange things happening.
Despite the impressiveness of these inventions, I was glad that I'd gotten the doses sorted out as while I could break reality when I took enough of The Spice I didn't want it to turn me into one of those mutated monsters I saw in the Dune movie. I liked being a humanoid thank you very much.
Melange is highly addictive, and withdrawal means certain death, so I had to keep taking it to stay alive as well as to maintain this level of intelligence. Even if the withdrawal didn't kill me I didn't think I'd be able to stop because I liked who I was while taking the drug.
I snorted up my Spice like a good little addict and soon got to work setting up my new home. I had to move all the stuff out of my old home before any men in black vans turned up and took it all away.
Before long, the Vault had been cleared of corpses and the CIS droids, left over from the Clones Wars were keeping guard and purchases in Hutt Space, and with the main door locked, this was about as secure as you could get in this world. The vault was meant to house an entire community so I had plenty of room.
For a while now I'd been moving between worlds. Mostly my own and Fallout Earth as the tech was more advanced here than that of my own world in my areas while not being too sophisticated to understand. My world had smartphones, laptops, HD televisions and other miniaturized electronics, this world had power armour, energy weapons, and robots.
Because of this, my new base of operations had laptops set up next to two-hundred-year-old Fallout computers that still worked. All of this was powered by fusion technology that would if introduced into my world could end the need for fossil fuels, and have the oil companies coming after me with everything they had.
The main room was rather large and free of the captives who had been taken by The Fiends. I'd opened up a portal beneath their feet that would dump them in Freeside. Nothing that happened to them there could be worse than what The Fiends would have done to them and they should have woken up before long.
"Clean this place up," I said to the protocol droid I'd brought here from the Stars Wars galaxy.
I did not care for The Fiend's choices in decorations. Who needed to spray paint so much that? They hadn't even spelt the swear words correctly.
"Yes, Master," said the droid.
Star Wars was the other dimension I'd made a few trips to. Unlike many other universes with sci-fi technology, the tech of that galaxy doesn't depend on something like Element Zero or Naqudah. It's not that complex considering what it can do. Plus they do accept gold for trade in Hutt Space for reasons that made sense to the people living on those worlds.
Gold is easy to acquire when you can move between dimensions because there are whole versions of Earth where humanity is just gone and you can loot the gold deposits. I have a lot of gold bars stored in my new home.
Time passed as I worked on setting everything up. I was going to study the technology of the multiverse while in this base and come up with ways to have it while acquiring the resources I desired. Securing this vault was just the start.
Cave. Pylea.
I'd been cautious when opening up portals from one universe to another, to ensure that I didn't enter a reality that had any sort of authority that could prevent me from leaving that dimension, simply erase me from existence, or perhaps follow me to other universes.
This was because so far I'd not been able to get my hands on any tech to shield myself from remote observation involving magic or science by higher powers, be they mystical or more mundane.
My world lacked any superpowerful organisations such as the MCU's TVA, or gods or angelic beings who watch over it as far as I knew; if the Fallout world had any, then they were clearly not doing their job, as that world had become a nightmare.
As for the Star Wars galaxy, it did have higher powers, however, they appeared to be only interested in keeping The Force in balance. I wasn't a threat to that since I only visited that universe to pick up some tech.
Today, I'd decided to break my rule, because I felt it was worth the risk in order to acquire a lab assistant. Now that I have a base of operations and I wasn't simply moving from one place to another via portals I had room for people who could help me. I also wanted a harem, and I'd like to see if that was possible.
One of the women who could be of service to me lived in the hell-dimension of Pylea, although referring to it as hell might be a bit wrong as in terms of environment it was rather pleasant here. Plenty of vegetation, fresh water, and clean air, also no one was trying to stab me in the backside with a pitchfork.
The humans who lived in this world might feel otherwise since they are used as slave labour and even as food. I did feel tempted to go do something about that, but this was a Wolfram and Hart dimension.
Those powerful demonic creatures had their own portals and I didn't want to risk them following me to other universes, nor did I want them to snatch me up and use me for their ends.
Portalling directly into the home of Winifred Burkle, if this could be called a home, was not a great risk as Wolfram and Hart were unlikely to care about an escaped slave. There was an entire rebel force of free humans somewhere around here that would be of much greater concern.
Besides, I'd hardly be the first person to open a portal to this world. Both Cordelia Chase and Winifred Burkle did it without the law firm getting involved, so I figured the risk to me was minimal.
The local priesthood did work for the Senior Partners, the demon lords who owned Wolfram and Hart, but they didn't notice that Cordelia was important until she practically fell into their laps. I didn't think this world really meant much to the higher powers.
As for the PTBs (the gods who were supposed to keep the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in some sort of order) well, if Fred was a part of their plans then they were evil beings in my view. Fred's future was terrible, she was supposed to be stuck in this world for a couple of years more and then end up being the host of a long-dead Old One.
She'd have a better life with me as my sexy lab assistant. This was something I was trying to explain, and while this version of Winifred hadn't been alone for as long as the canon one, she was still having trouble wrapping her head around my offer.
"So you travel to different dimensions using portals?" she asked.
I'd earned her trust by bringing along some Mexican food. I remembered from watching the Angel tv series that she had a love for stuff. Given that she was barely avoiding starving to death it had been a good choice.
"Yep" I replied.
At least it was easy to prove as I'd just opened a portal directly into her cave and she'd ended up in this reality because of a portal so the idea of travelling to other universes wasn't totally alien to her.
"That portal leads to my underground base," I said before I walked through it.
Trying to force her to come with me would be counterproductive, best to let her make up her own mind, if she wanted to stay she could, and I could even make her a portal to the library she used to work at if she wished. There would be other versions of Fred who might make a different choice.
She decided to follow me. To be fair it wasn't much of a choice and I had more food here, something she noted right away as she decided to help herself to my snacks.
"Welcome to Vault 03," I said.
Fred looked around at the main room which I had transformed into a massive workshop. It was a mix of the technology of my world, a lot of salvage from this world, and some Star Wars tech that I was still trying to figure out.
Fred put on the broken remains of her glasses and began to look around as she munched on some sort of snack food.
Even the computers from my world were decades ahead of what she was used to. Despite this, I had every confidence that she would be useful to my work and perhaps in other ways.
While it made me a bit of an asshole, I hoped that by saving her from that demon world she'd become loyal to me as well as willing to spread her legs. If it didn't work out I would just send her back to her world.
It wasn't just the computers that had her attention. I had weapons scattered about, laser, plasma, and blasters, along with more normal guns and grenades of many kinds.
Standing in a corner was a suit of Brotherhood of Steel power armour that I was repairing and intending to wear if I intended to go into combat. I knew someone who could help me with learning to use power armour in a fight. I would just have to convince her to aid me.
"If you agree to come work for me then you'll have the chance to explore the scientific knowledge of many words and to study their technology" I explained to the small woman "I even have plans to improve us with some selective DNA modification and implants".
Fred needed some time to process all of this before she spoke.
"Do you have any more food?" she asked.
I'd stocked up since I knew she'd be hungry. How such a small woman could consume so much food so fast was a mystery. I hoped that she didn't end up throwing most of it back up.
"Yes," I replied, "I have clean clothes for you, and there's a shower room. You can settle in and think about my offer. If you need anything or what to return to your world then just let me know".
The Spice Melange had given me more than a great boost to my intelligence and greater awareness, it had also gifted me with a mild form of prescience meaning that I can sometimes tell where something or someone has been and where they will be. I don't have visions, it's more of a feeling, a sense.
It's great for working with technology because gives me an insight into the purpose of an object.
Because of this ability, I felt that there was a very good chance that Winifred Burkle was going to stick around and be of help to me.
"I really need a shower," said Fred.
She started to leave and then turned to face me.
"You didn't tell me your name" she mentioned.
I'd been thinking about giving myself a cool new name, but I hadn't been able to think of anything.
"Just call me Jim," I said.
I felt sure that I could get her to call me something else once she got used to being in charge. For now, I'd let her get cleaned up and settled in.
188 Trading Post. The Mojave Wasteland.
"So what do people trade for in post-apocalyptic America?" Winifred Burkle asked.
Fred might never really recover from what she went through. Yet, she seemed to be handling things okay and it helped that I'd pulled her out of that demon dimension much earlier in her timeline than Angel would have. A few hot meals, some very long showers, and nights spent in a real bed had done wonders for her.
It also helped that she had someone to talk about science with. Fred had figured out how the portal which had spent her to the Host's dimension actually worked, however, she'd not known about the hotspots that those portals depended on, and as such, she had not known that she'd needed to be a certain spot in order to make a way back to her home.
Between the two of us, I felt sure that we'd be able to figure out how my portal projector worked and then we'd be able to make more. For now, we just need to be very careful with my projector and only make short trips.
"Drugs are always popular and can have a long shelf life" I replied "They do have people in the Wasteland who try to give medical aid and they will buy drugs. Clean clothing can be worth something in trade and can easily be salvaged from a world where humans aren't around anymore".
Since Fred had already taken a portal to an alternate universe before we'd met she had an easier time adjusting to the whole multiverse thing than other people would in her place, or maybe she was just insane enough to accept everything I told her.
"Guns tend to sell well," I said to the Texan "I can get handguns that are in good condition from the zombie world and sell them here. I don't take payment in caps, and that's okay as the traders around here deal in NCR money and Legion coins".
My base of operations had plenty of room for an armoury, places for the storage of tech and my own treasure vault as well, so I was collecting some currency during my trips.
"None of this costs me anything other than time to acquire so I can make a lot of profit on these trading trips," I told my assistant.
Sure I could just take stuff but by trading the merchants stay in business and they might end up with stuff in their inventory that I want to buy.
"And what are we looking for?" Fred asked.
I'd discussed some of this before we'd left Vault 03, but there was no harm in going through it again, no one cared enough to listen into our conversation.
"Spare parts for any technology that we can't get on a more normal Earth" I answered "Parts for robots, sensor modules, ammo for energy weapons, holotapes, bits of computers, that sort of thing. It's doubtful that they have much here, this is just a good place for you to get some experience in trading. They don't barter much where you are from and you can't just write a cheque when you want to buy something".
I had brought Fred to this little remote trading post because it seemed like a good place to come in order to avoid overwhelming her, and I had spotted a person of interest here when scouting.
My thinking had been that once we started inquiring about advanced technology for sale or where such tech could be found it would attract a certain someone's attention.
"Hi, I'm Veronica," the woman said.
My assistant was far too friendly for someone out and about in this world.
"I'm Winifred Burkle" she greeted "But everyone calls me Fred. This is Jim".
The two ladies soon got chatting and the native began to open up. I was impressed by how Fred managed to get her talking. I'd gotten Winifred to wear some basic leather armour and to carry a gun, but she clearly was out of place and the Veronica had picked up on that.
"I'm Journeyman Scribe Veronica Renata Santangelo" she admitted "I'm with the Brotherhood of Steel, sort of".
I knew that Veronica is responsible for acquiring supplies for the Brotherhood Chapter that was working in the Hidden Valley bunker. In theory, she should have other duties as a scribe, but she spent her time out of the Brotherhood's bunker and her peers were glad of this.
Veronica had over time become increasingly frustrated by the Brotherhood of Steel's strict adherence to the Codex, which governs what the Brotherhood can and can't do.
From playing the game, I knew that Veronica thought that this code does more harm than good and that the Brotherhood should change the rules, or at least be more flexible in how they followed the commandments.
The poor woman was caught between her loyalty to the Brotherhood and the desire to go out into the world so to do something meaningful. She wanted to make a difference.
I was certainly capable of offering Veronica Santangelo a view of life outside of the Brotherhood and I knew from playing the game that she would want to be in a position that would allow her to help others.
This was something I could offer her, as with my portal technology I was able to take her to many places and I wouldn't mind gifting some people with some free medical supplies that we could easily salvage if it led to Veronica sharing her knowledge of stuff like power armour with me.
"I couldn't help noticing that you have some decent trading goods" mentioned Veronica "Can I ask where you got it from".
She might be something of an outcast, but she was still Brotherhood and interested in technology. There was a risk that she'd try to take my tech for her Chapter. However, it could also bring her into my team, so I would have to show off and impress her.
I wasn't too worried about her running off to tell her Elder, the man in charge of the local Brotherhood Chapter, all about me. Even if she did by the time they arranged any kind of response to my presence I'd be long gone and I didn't have to pop up my head above ground in New Vegas.
There was still a danger in my plan. This version of Veronica could be different from the version of her in the game and she might pretend to be my friend and then stab me in the back later. It was worth that risk as I really could do with her help
I again had the sense that it would work out. I had to trust in my sense of how things would work out it was all I had to guide me.
"That is something easier to show than tell," I said "If you're willing to take a chance then you and I have a lot to talk about".
I could tell that I had her interest.
