Fort Hagen
It is 8:00pm, November 4, 2287.
I am seated at a desk in what appears to have been a General's Office at some point. I have sent both Heather and Nick back to Diamond City to wait for me to finish what I need to do. Dog is, again, curled up on my feet.
Conrad Kellog is fastened to a chair with duct tape and rope in the room next to mine.
This morning as we approached Ft. Hagen, I finally came up with a good use for the syringer and the "Knock-Out" ammunition Arturo had given me to try out. I am sure that he will be pleased to know that it works well.
Clearing the building was like going through a combat simulation that fought back. The hardcoded tactics combined with zero attempt to quiet their motion made the synths predictable to anyone with the most basic of military training, and as threatening as a paperweight to an Operator. It was clear to me that Kellog really had no clue as to who it was that he was dealing with. All of his posturing and monologing. His "ominous" tone rattling out of the PA as I got closer to his little hidey hole in the command center was laughable. Maybe it would have worked on one of those raider pukes, but all it did for me was emphasize how pathetically under-informed this guy was. That point was really hammered home when he just let us walk into his headquarters.
I had counted 6 synths in the room with him when I entered. He was standing in the middle of the room, in the open. Seriously? I had two people for back-up as well as Dog. It took me a while convince Heather that I needed Kellog alive. She wasn't happy until I explained to her that death would be too easy on him. I think she understood.
I let him ramble on, pose, and monologue. I was waiting for his synths to shift around long enough to put the majority of them into the line of fire. When Kellog finally finished his pitch, he paused and looked at me, almost irritated that I had not confronted or interrupted him during his little speech. He sneered at me. Seriously, curled lip and everything
"Don't you have anything to say?" He growled at me.
"This isn't going to end the way you think it is." The synths were in place. If they weren't, I would have asked questions til they were.
"Yeah? Are you ready for..." I drew faster than he expected and pumped the two syringes of "Knock-Out" into his chest.
Open mouthed, he dropped to his knees and tried to reach for the projectiles protruding from him chest, but stopped, twitched slightly and fell forward. I think I heard a muffled "Fuck..." when he face planted on the floor. I dropped the syringer and pulled the .44. I managed to drop the synth closest to me before Heather and Nick tore through the rest of them.
I kicked Kellog onto his back to see what his condition was. He was awake, barely. I kneeled next to him and put my face into his field of vision.
"You talk way to much... See you in the morning... Sweet dreams." Were the last words he heard before the drugs took full effect.
Tonight, as I prepare myself for the task ahead, I must divest myself of my humanity. There is a place that exists beyond good and evil, it is a place of necessity. It is there that I must abide.
"There is a stillness between the light and me. Nothing but dreams of decay... and the angel, whose wings are my lamentation, all just melt away." - Carl McCoy
