Reviews
Carthienes
I went with the Lunar-class because it's part of the CYOA and I'd like to stick to it as much as possible.
Given that he has refuges with him it makes sense to go directly to the Fallout universe. No point risking the Squats with a detour when he can just leave again once the Ad-Mech have set some defences up in the Fallout version of the Sol System.
frankieu
Squats are used to living on the frontier so I'm going to have to go set up on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, or to be more precise within them since they'll be underground.
Morkail
The planet Mars in the Fallout Universe will be able to service the Rogue Trader's ships in the distant future.
edboy4926
The issue with improving the IOM's communications technology or their FTL is that the organisations that run the Imperium wouldn't want those technologies improved upon. The powerful Navigator Houses would stop at nothing to prevent Warp Drives from being replaced and the organisation responsible for FTL communications within the Imperium has a seat at the High Lords table.
So Thrax would end up very dead if he messed with them. Hence why the MC is focused on military technologies as none of the High Lords are going to be worried about there being more guns around.
Rogue Trader CYOA Story 2
"The Emperor is master of the galaxy, but the captain is master of his ship" - Popular naval saying
Part 10
His Glorious Aspirations. Fallout Universe.
Not long after we arrived back in this version of the Sol System and my cruiser began makings it way to Earth, the Ad-Mech commanded frigate peeled off from the fleet and set a course for Mars, no doubt many of the machine loving cyborgs would be sent down the red planet along with a lot of resources in order to begin turning it into something close to a forge-world.
This suited my plans very well because if I ever wanted to operate without the support of the Imperium I would need not just a major Ad-Mech presence in a universe out of the Warhammer 40k but also a shipyard capable of serving a cruiser as well as escort ships. A tall order and it could take a couple of decades for the Ad-Mech in this universe to progress that far while they were also supporting my House's efforts on Fallout Earth.
Which was fine with me since the IOM wasn't going to collapse in that time frame and hopefully I would be able to bring plenty of resources and technology to Mars, actions that would keep the Ad-Mech in this universe both dependent on me and grateful.
Sure they had their own frigate in this dimension, but it couldn't go far since it didn't have my cruiser's advanced warp drive nor was the Emperor's lighthouse visible in these parts. Besides, the cyborgs were unlikely to send their ship anywhere until Mars had a lot more defences.
Due to the vast amount of resources that were going to be required to turn Mars into something close to a forge-world it was a good thing that the Squats had come with us as they'd promised me a fraction of the minerals they dug up in exchange for bringing them here and supporting their new colony during its early stages. Those minerals would be needed to set up vast amounts of infrastructure on the red planet.
From my command throne here on the bridge I received data which informed me that the Squats ships, all of which had managed to make the trip more or less intact were now heading towards the outer planets of this system with the intent of scouting out sites for their colony. They were leaving only some of their population on my cruiser to be picked up later once they had somewhere to house the space dwarves.
Squats were hardy frontier folk with a strong desire for independence so it made sense for them to move that far away from Earth and Mars. I had no intention of withholding support since any investment in the new Squat colony would be paid back in mineral wealth later. The honour of the space dwarves would allow for nothing less.
Another fact that had to be taken into account was that the deal between the Squat Clan, the Ad-Mech and House Thrax gave the cyborgs exclusive rights not only to Mars and its two moons but also the asteroid belt that lay between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The cyborgs had wanted Jupiter's moons as well because of the raw resources there.
Upon hearing that I'd put my foot down as the belt contained more than enough untouched resources and the Squats would need plenty of room to expand as I'd promised to transport more of their people to this system if any of them were at the Forge-World during my stopovers. This was more likely than it sounded since the Squats would have begun spreading word of my ability to get them out of their native galaxy and my stopovers lasted months.
As for Earth the Ad-Mech would maintain a major presence on the planet so as to support my efforts, and so they could get their machine limbs on as much tech as possible, but the planet would be considered under the protection of House Thrax.
Only the Emperor could be Master of Terra or even its sibling world, but since I was The Emperor's representative when outside of the Imperium's borders, having me, or someone empowered by me, to administrate the planet was considered acceptable. Natives would be doing the actual ruling when possible.
Not that I had much in the way of control over what was going on. Assuming all had gone well the Free Economic Zone of New Vegas and the lands controlled by the East Coast Brotherhood, a nation that would need a proper name, should be secure and their infrastructure greatly improved upon. I wouldn't know for sure until my ship got closer to the planet.
"Our allied vessels are clear and it's going to take us over 32 hours to reach Earth,'' my second in command let me know "We're detecting no sign of any xeno presence".
If there was an Eldar Seed ship somewhere around here I knew nothing about it and perhaps that was for the best. They weren't the aliens who concerned me anyway. I was more worried about the aliens with the motherships than what the space elves were up to.
"Very well, Commander" I replied "I have some matters to handle in my office. Let me know if anything needs my attention".
Bringing us here via the warp had been taxing. It was just that it wouldn't do for me to admit such weakness in front of the crew even if they knew I would be tired from my efforts. These people had never even seen Britain, it hadn't existed as a nation for tens of thousands of years, yet even in the grim darkness of the future it was important to keep a stiff upper lip.
(Line Break)
His Glorious Aspirations. Fallout Universe.
"Welcome home Master," said Yara.
I'd just returned to my private quarters after handling some minor matters to find my wife relaxing on my large four poster bed while wearing something that I was sure had cost me far more than a piece of clothing ever should. Not that I was going to complain as the nightgown drew my eyes to all the right places and would be easy enough to remove.
Yara on the other hand wore a very simple outfit that only avoided being called rags because of how clean and comfortable her outfit actually was. She wore an Aquila amulet around her neck and leather armbands. It was a strange look, but I didn't mind and nothing she wore was hard to take off either.
"Good evening, Yara" I replied as she helped me undress.
Not for the first time I considered it a little sad that this powerful young woman had been reduced to the status of slave, even if I did pay her a small stipend, thanks to what the Inquisition had done to her mind. On the other hand it was a testament to my power to have the pirate-princess attending me like this. I felt sure that I'd be able to tame much more impressive women over the next few centuries.
"Max, how long until we reach the planet?" asked Dany.
Since she'd gotten to the stage that she didn't have to be on call 24/7 with baby Rhaegar Thrax, the dark haired and purple eyed boy who was my son and heir, recently she'd begun to let wet nurses to care for him, as such I was going to allow my wife to visit the world of Fallout. This was not something I'd permitted before now as while I was a 21st man under the Rogue Trader guise and didn't really see my wife as a possession, I figured that was okay for a man to put his foot down if his pregnant wife wants to visit a radioactive death world.
"The jump was a smooth one so less than two days" I answered.
Parts of the planet were now much more secure and Dany would enjoy the protection granted by members of my battle harem as much as I did since their duties extended to protecting the whole dynasty even if I was always the most important person for them to protect.
Once I'd gotten my dynasty some proper support, such as Squat mining colonies and something close to a proper forge-complex on Mars I'd be free to leave others in charge of the defence of this system so I could elsewhere. Trips through the warp were not easy so I couldn't just pop off somewhere as such as I'd be gone for weeks at a time, so it was a good thing that operations in this system seemed to be able to go on without me. Perhaps I could risk making some shorter trips to a few places before everything was set up.
"Are you prepared to perform your wifely duties?" I asked Daenerys.
It was something of a running joke between us to refer to sex that way, as if it was something that the mother of my child simply did because it was expected of her. In truth she very much enjoyed fucking and she'd sent other women to my bed, more than once she'd requested that I bring in members of my battle harem to watch as we did it, and they weren't the only ones. She'd even messed about with Yara just to turn me on.
"You should have sex with her right now" Dany urged "I'd like to watch rather be watched. For a change".
I'd chosen well for my wife. She'd become much more confident in these matters and she seemed far more relaxed with the other consorts if her having lesbian fun with Yara in the past was was anything to go by. Perhaps having my child made her feel more secure in her role.
"Come lie down with me" requested Yara as she quickly undressed.
We soon both moved over to the bed.
"You better please my lord husband" ordered Dany "Or I will have to punish you".
The two women kissed as I took my place on the bed. It was an erotic sight.
"My pleasure," Yara said.
Then she turned her attention to me and began by rubbing her wet cunt on my dick without it leading to any penetration. Back and forth she went, slowly and then a little faster making sure that I felt every second of it as Dany watched us.
Then she spun her body around so her back was to me and so I could see her arse, which she knew I liked to look at, she then lowered her hips slowly down and moaned as the tip of my cock penetrated her eager cunt.
"Are you watching, princess?" I heard her ask.
When Dany confirmed that she was indeed watching, Yara dropped the rest of the way down in one swift, sudden movement, taking all of me inside her warm, wet Ironborn cunt. After that she began to ride me, using her pussy in an attempt to quickly milk my seed out of my balls. That she could do this while kissing my wife was a credit to her multitasking ability.
The former pirate princess of the Iron Islands started bouncing on me harder and harder, with her arse slapping against me every time she descended, her backside jiggling as it moved. For a serf she at rather well and so she had some meat on her bones.
She might not like that I spanked her ass, however it was, like the rest of her, mine to do with as I wished so I made the flesh more than a bit red. Maybe she was fine with it, or maybe she just didn't want to interrupt her bouncing. I simply didn't care.
Either way, she just kept going without comment and without slapping my hands away. She understood that I would do whatever I wanted to do to her and there was nothing she could do about it.
"He smacks my backside all the time," Dany commented.
Yara suggested that Dany spank her in front of me sometime soon, and while this might be just a tease it had an effect on me. The pirate princess noticed this and began to encourage me to cum inside her and I wondered for a moment if she would end up being the mother of another bastard son of mine before too long.
"Yeah, give it to me!" Yara shouted, "Give it all to me. Please my lord, my master!".
Since I couldn't refuse such an invitation I did as requested. It felt very really good.
(Line Break)
Camp McCarran. Mojave Wasteland.
Originally founded as the Alamo Airport all the way back in 1942, the airport was renamed to its present name on December 20, 1948, after Senator Pat McCarran, Nevada native, and author of the Civil Aeronautics Act whatever the hell that was.
Once the primary airport of Las Vegas, the McCarran International Airport featured a direct monorail connection to the Strip which had allowed NCR soldiers easy access to the Vegas Strip so that they could piss away their hard earned wages.
Until they'd gotten booted out this had been the largest NCR military base in the New Vegas area and it had served as the headquarters for NCR military operations in the Mojave region. As well as a centre of logistics and information for NCR Army forces operating anywhere in Nevada.
Now it served as the Headquarters for the local PDF as while Mr House had his robot army they had their limits and by agreement I could call upon the local PDF if I needed to. In exchange the Imperium was training local men and women to function without any Imperial support in the long term, as such we didn't have as much of a presence here as we did in the airfield base the Boomers had once called home.
"As you can see my lord the local PDF regiment, although they lack the numbers to be considered a regiment by Imperial standards, have access to a number of support vehicles thanks to work of the priesthood during your absence" reported Magos Thea Maxind "Including two F-108 fighter craft".
Some of Mr House's robots patrolled the edges of the base but on the inside there were locals who had come here for protection at first and now were contributing as citizens of the Free Economic Zone of New Vegas by defending it. Since Mr House didn't need a lot of infantry the Ad-Mech had worked to restore among other machines a pair of F-108 which were known also as Rapiers
This fighter had a bit of history as on October 23rd, 2077, when China unleashed it's last resort so as to avoid the US winning the war. A massive wave of strategic bombers numbering at an ungodly 90,000, flew towards the U.S., only after nuking most U.S. and Soviet forces in Asia. The 6,000 F-108's under American control were tasked with holding off the so-called "Red Tide '' just long enough for the U.S. to release its own nuclear destruction.
The F-108's flew tirelessly, running out of ammo in seconds due to the sheer number of targets, only to go back to base and re-arm. They, along with the Navy, managed to down over 35,000 bombers before a single nuke fell on U.S. soil. However U.S. Air Defence systems were never designed to deter such a large force, and the Chinese managed to deliver their payloads. Most F-108's were destroyed after running out of ammo, being subdued by no less than 30 Chinese Xian-85's each. Others ran out of fuel after flying so many combat missions without refuelling so desperate were their efforts to defend their home.
According to intelligence reports around 20 of these fighters, not counting the ones we had, were operational once more and they had been put back into service as part of the Air Force of the New California Republic Defence Force and have since then only been used by elite members of the air force in order to prevent losses. The NCR Air Force has also found and salvaged more Rapier jets with the intent of making them operational once more in order to add more strength to the NCR Air Force. This advantage of theirs had to be countered in order to prevent the NCR from growing too strong.
"How many do we have operational?" I enquired.
While I had a cruiser in orbit now giving House Thrax the ability to remove any threat, it hadn't always been there and wouldn't be in the future so it would be unwise to let the NCR have air superiority as they might use to bomb New Vegas into submission even with Mr House having access to anti-aircraft weaponry.
"A present only five as we lack the means to build more of the fighting machine and only a few of wrecks were recoverable" I was told "Two more of the F-108s are at the Nellis Airforce base and another has been taken to Mars for safekeeping as a treasured relic. It serves as payment in our services for this project".
Since the Ad-Mech lacked the design for this model of fighter it made sense to preserve an intact copy.
"Our operations in the east coast have no potential enemy air force to counter so they have no need for any F-108s" the tech-priest told me "Instead they have a greater number of Vertibirds to allow for the easier transportation of troops".
That seemed fair since the NCR wasn't going to try bombing DC any time soon but they might try to pound New Vegas into dust so they could retake the Hoover Dam and once more expand their influence. For the sake of my operations in this world they had to be kept in check.
"Shall we tour the rest of the base?" the cyborg offered.
That seemed like a good idea to me.
(Line Break)
Dreamscape.
This time when I saw Farseer Galadeer I was not surprised since I'd been expecting her to make contact and as I looked around I saw that she was no longer in Point Lookout, but rather we stood in the ruins of a city. I had no idea which city, but I figured it had to be an American one since the street signs were in English and the billboards advertised products I'd seen promoted on billboards I'd seen in the ruins of DC.
Most likely this was some major city that had become a radioactive ruin full of raiders, mutants and worse thing, but that would hardly bother the space elves as they were used to much more dangerous enemies and I remembered reading somewhere that the Eldar rarely ever mutate because of how the Old Ones made them.
Since I'd heard no reports of any Eldar sightings and there were no unexplained disappearances within the lands controlled by House Thrax or its allies, it seemed safe to assume that Eldar weren't going to target us, rather they seemed to be taking out targets for us as if trying to smooth our path, to remove threats before we even knew about them.
I doubted that the space elves cared enough about human lives to be doing this out of a sense of kindness, really this was all some form of bribery to get me, and other Imperials I assumed, to turn a blind eye to the fact they were following my cruiser around.
If they'd been able to bring one of their seed ships to this universe I simply didn't know and really it didn't concern me either way. Given the slow pace of the long lived space elves I'd be dead and dust long before they had a proper craftworld in this universe, and they would be moving it away from this version of Earth so as to sail it between the stars.
"Lord Thrax" said the Farseer "I summoned you here because it is time to start repaying a debt".
I had wondered what sort of payment I'd be given for helping out the space elves.
"While I doubt one of your kind will be able to understand how to correctly channel power from the sea of souls, what you call the warp" the arrogant witch was now saying "I shall endeavour to impart some knowledge into what passes for a mind with your species".
Since I didn't trust the space elves I would take everything told to by Galadeer with a pinch of salt, but I did need a teacher of the psyker arts. Some of their methods must be usable by a human so I would carefully listen and learn.
(Line Break)
The Pitt. Fallout Earth.
Lord Gideon Sevomordnen had spent much of his time over the last few months learning everything he could about the world that seemed to be a younger version of Holy Terra and until he'd actually stepped foot on this planet he'd had a hard time imaging that this world could be so devoid of the Emperor's light.
The Rogue Trader expedition had made an attempt to bring some sort of order to this world, but they lacked the will to do what really needed to be done. Let the other Imperials claim the spoils of lost technology and rebuild cities, Gideon would do the work
On their way to the Capital Wasteland, the Brotherhood's forces came across the ruins of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A truly chaotic city, it was full of rape gangs, raiders, slavers, and many other kinds of horrors all freely terrorizing the few innocent survivors. In a single night, the Brotherhood swept through the city from their staging area at Mount Wash, and eliminated any resident who put up a fight.
During the Scourge, Lyons' forces suffered only one casualty: Initiate Ishmael Ashur, who was buried in rubble during the fight and presumed dead. While he had been reported as killed in action by his squad mates after they witnessed a building collapse beneath him, Initiate Ashur actually survived the Scourge. However, while his power armour had protected him from death in the accident, he still sustained severe injuries that left him comatose for several days.
He survived and subsequently established firm control of the Pitt, transforming it into an industrial powerhouse, supported by Brotherhood technological know-how. Having fully abandoned the Brotherhood and its teachings, Ashur recognized the inherent failure of the unsustainable, scavenger nature of the faction's ways and moved forward in his own direction.
This hadn't made life better for those living in what remained of this, if anything things gotten worse what with the slavery and industrial pollution. The whole city needed to be cleansed and since Gideon Sevomordnen agreed with Lord Thrax's ruling about not using any form of orbital bombardment on this planet it would have to be done more directly.
There had been a plan to do this ready for months and now as Gideon Sevomordnen led the Sisters of Battle into The Pitt a second and more brutal purge was about to take place. No one would be spared from this cleansing and once it was done the machines of the Ad-Mech would pave over what remained, crushing rubble along with bones.
"Cleanse this den of mutation and heresy!" ordered the Inquisitor as he raised up his power sword.
Every Sister of Battle in this part of the multiverse began to march into the city with the intent of purging it with fire and faith. There was very little anyone could do to stop them. Gideon Sevomordnen led the way with his plasma pistol and ornate power armour making him easy to pick out even among the sisterhood.
(Line Break)
Tops Casino. New Vegas.
Owning this casino made doing business with different factions much easier than it would be if I was working out of a military base as they didn't tend to be very welcoming. The Tops was a much more comfortable and inviting to strangers. My current visitor was a man called Mr Miguel, although I doubted that was his real name, and he was here on behalf of one of the Mexican based cartels which are the only real organised groups operating out of Mexico and southern parts of the USA.
Like the USA the country of Mexico suffered widespread devastation during the Great War, on October 23, 2077. As the Great War occurred, Mexico was bombarded by nuclear weapons. The capital city was turned into radioactive ruins, although perhaps spared from the destruction seen elsewhere, such as in Washington, D.C. or Bakersfield.
The collapse of society resulted in total chaos, and Mexico City was quickly taken over by looters, who formed the beginning of the raider tribes. To escape the violence, citizens fled, some traveling across the now non-existent American border to locations such as Zion Canyon.
Mexico's environment, like that of the United States, was dramatically altered in the aftermath of the Great War. Radioactive waste released from Control Station Enclave drifted down the coast of California and Mexico, causing irreversible ecological damage. The western beaches were saturated with toxic waste and sea life irradiated by indiscriminate dumping of waste into the ocean.
However Mexico was far from lifeless a report written by a Ranger Chief called Hanlon mentions both night stalkers and bighorners are present in parts of Mexico as well as a number of human settlements, some of which are under the protection of the cartels.
By the 23rd century, the New California Republic had expanded into the former Mexican state of Baja. A small number of settlers attempted to establish a settlement and the inhospitable, arid terrain led to a number of conflicts with the local population, those who were just trying to survive rather than make any sort of profit.
In at least one instance, at Rattletail, five NCR settlers were responsible for killing over two dozen people who tried to gather water at the well they claimed as their own, the only one of which in a radius of fifty miles. The settlement was abandoned after the Ranger leader sent to protect the town from "raider" attacks persuaded them to abandon it with a fake story about a hundred-strong raider army bearing down on the place.
The cartels are much more civilized than raiders in that they seek to profit rather than just fermenting chaos, and because they were more organised that made them more dangerous, only this didn't worry me since I had a warship in orbit with very big guns and entire armies at my command. Besides, dealing with the cartels could save me a lot of hassle.
"So Mr Thrax what can the Sinaloa Cartel do for you?" I was asked.
Mr Miguel did a good job of looking like a proper businessman given his mostly clean suit, neat appearance and polite manner, but I knew him to be part of an organisation that dealt mostly in drugs while also getting involved kidnapping, murder and slavery. Even his bodyguards, who I had allowed into the casino since they would be no match for my battle harem, did a good job of looking civilized.
"I'm sure by now you've heard all about us and what we're interested in" I said to Mr Miguel "We don't have interest in spreading our operations south there are things we're looking for".
Since the USA had been the most technologically developed country in this world when the bombs fell it made sense to focus on efforts here and to spread north into Canada since that had been part of the US at the time and there would be military bases in the country. There was even an Ad-Mech team heading to Alaska to dig around for any weapons tech left behind during the fighting.
We might explore and make contact with other parts of the world but even with our new resources and extra people it wouldn't be wise to spread ourselves too thin by trying to civilize the whole planet. It would just be easier to support the more organised groups while trying to get something back in exchange.
"You Imperials like your technology" said Mr Miguel "So I guess you're after power armour, laser weapons, that sort of thing".
That was the idea, it would be much simpler to trade for that stuff as even with our ability to make our own Fallout Tech it was still easier for the Ad-Mech to repair and recycle the technology rather than produce new stuff. Plus the more of it I had to hand over the Ad-Mech the more I'd get out of them later. My Lunar-class wasn't going to be cheap as I'd need to keep it running after I'd paid for it and gotten all the upgrades.
"Exactly, Mr Miguel" I said as a member of my battle harem, who was playing the role of serving girl, refilled the man's drink "In exchange we're offering goods your cartel will find more practical, such as more basic firearms, body armour, portable light sources, heating units, transportation and so on".
Now that the cyborgs had a lot more people around they had time to focus on restoring stuff like jeeps and trucks that could be converted to work on easily acquired fuel sources as the Ad-Mech were able to modify pre-STC to some extent. They would happily do so if it got them more examples of this world's advanced tech to play with.
"We do have some of that stuff stockpiled" admitted Mr Miguel "There's no real market for it in our part of the world and we don't have the people to fix much of what we find".
A good flak armour vest and an autogun were much easier to maintain. The different cartels also dealt in booze, drugs and sometimes people, and sure it might seem unwise to arm these sort of people, who might have enough firepower to already threaten me, but the Ad-Mech were restoring fighter and bomber aircraft, and while orbital bombardment was forbidden no one would bat an eyelid if the cartel bases were bombed by restored air force equipment.
"House Thrax will pay generously for weapons, power armour, and any bits of rare technology that you've found or will" I promised "And if we want to run a salvage operation for downed aircraft in lands you control we can always pay for the privilege".
Mr Miguel seemed pleased by this.
"We want guns" he said "We have some difficult neighbours".
He wasn't just referring to the cartels, there were raider tribes to worry about, mutated creatures, ghouls and so on, and with the way east somewhat blocked by New Vegas the NCR might be thinking of expanding south.
"Guns are a speciality of House Thrax" I informed my guest "So give me an idea of what you need and then we can find out what you have to offer. I'll also pay well for anything you might find in the future".
Now the real bartering would begin and soon the manufacturing machines on board my ship would be producing a lot of guns for my new business partners.
