Jack Parsons and the Sticky Situation
Our hero made his way up to the dock house. In the dying light of the evening he saw a man silhouetted against the sky and water. He could make out the outline of the signature trench coat of the Coursers. Jack had seen one out in the Commonwealth before. They used to be a bit scarier. He knew that this one was named X6-88, and was programmed to assist him in his current mission, in whatever way possible. Jack had come alone, and had a plan. He stepped up to the shadowy figure.
"Alright, listen up because we gotta make this quick. The Minutemen think that I'm out on a routine patrol, and I want to be back to the FOB by sunrise," he explained.
"Nice to meet you too," said X6, flatly.
"You and I both know you don't have real feelings," stated Jack. He could not see Synths as anything beyond mere machines. "So shut the hell up and listen."
To Jack's mild surprise, the Courser listened. For some hard-to-explain reason, it made him miss Codsworth.
"In my mind, ducking from boat to boat while dismantling an entire city of Raiders is not even an option. We'll get riddled like swiss cheese out there. So what I propose is that we attack by sea. We can swim under Libertalia until we reach the main boat and with any luck, find a way on board. Then we get to Gabriel, the quieter the better. So my question for you is, how long can you hold your breath? Will getting down there fry your circuitry, or what?"
X6 stared at Jack blankly for a moment, before responding.
"I suppose we'll find out. I'm on you," he replied.
Jack Parsons popped a Rad-X and felt the familiar tingle of the skin on his hands and feet. The water was nearly irreversibly irradiated, and these magic pills would help his body resist its effects. Rad-X went from a specialty drug before the Great War to an absolute necessity for anyone wandering the wasteland. Jack asked his companion if he needed any, but th Synth simply shook his head. Here goes nothing, Jack thought to himself. He felt for his silenced 10mm pistol, which he had placed in a waterproof plastic bag. It wasn't the fanciest measure, but it would have to do.
They went out to the edge of the dock. and swam out. At this point, it was getting very dark. Slowly but surely they swam over to their target destination, pausing and diving if they thought a nearby Raider was going to catch wind of them. Eventually they reached their main destination, a half-submerged ship that Raiders had begun to settle on. Jack Parsons guessed correctly that their target would be on the top level. Raider bosses were nothing if not pompous.
Conveniently, he found a set of stairs leading directly into the water, where he and his companion could climb up. They did so.
"X6 Bot, activate stealth protocols," whispered Jack.
"That's pretty insensitive," X6-88 responded, but he dropped to a crouch nonetheless.
"We're going to keep this quick and quiet. Do not go weapons loud unless I tell you. Is that clear?" Jack asked. X6 nodded.
They made their way up a level into what appeared to be a common living area. Here, they sighted their first enemy operative, a Raider who was smoking a cigarette while looking out at the water. Easy pickings. Jack crept up behind him, jammed the barrel of his pistol into the man's back, and tapped the trigger twice, catching the Raider's body as it fell. He let it down easy and dragged it into a darker corner of the room. So far, so good. No alarm was raised yet. He motioned to X6-88 that they were going to make their way up a level. There, they found two enemies, and simultaneously took them out. This was going easy, almost a little bit too easy. On the next level they found a Raider sitting in an easy chair, clutching a sniper rifle. He scanned the dark horizon, apparently keeping watch. Too bad he was looking for all of the wrong threats. Jack Parsons plugged him from across the room, and he slumped down in his chair.
At this point, the two men could hear the din of conversation a couple floors above them. Apparently there was some kind of party happening upstairs. There was the clink of glasses, laughter at a joke, and one noise that sounded a little bit like a whimper. This gathering could be tactically advantageous, what with the Raiders upstairs having their guard down. Jack and X6 continued to make their way up the boat, at one point entering an indoor section to the ship. Nobody was home. They stopped at a ladder. They could tell from the noise that the party was directly above them.
"Alright, you ready to do this?" Jack asked.
"Well, what's the plan?"
"We bolt up there, drop a couple of Raiders, hopefully force a surrender, I say the recall code, and you zap back to the Institute with Gabriel."
"And if they don't surrender?"
"We drop every last one of the bastards… Except the target of course."
They decided to remain stealthy until they had reached the top level, if possible. Hopefully the ladder opened up into an area in which they could take cover from the party. Jack's heart began racing. He could not tell if it was fear or excitement. It seems as though the only time those two emotions were indistinguishable was when his life was on the line. He briefly thought about sending X6-88 in first, just in case he would be met by a hail of bullets. But no, that was coward thinking. He decided to lead the way.
He slowly crept up the ladder, the Courser close behind him. He slowly and quietly lifted up the hatch and peered up. He noticed a distinct lack of party noises. Looking around, he saw the the legs of Raiders standing stock still. Waiting. Shit.
"You can come up now!" shouted one Raider in particular. Jack stayed still, on the ladder.
"That doesn't seem like a very good idea. How do I know you aren't going to blast me as soon as my head comes up out of this hole?" Jack asked, attempting to buy some time. Now, his mind was racing. He could abandon the op and circle back around to try again later. However, by then the Raiders could either be more prepared or gone. If he failed this op, there was no guarantee that he would ever be allowed back at the Institute. No guarantee he'd see Shaun again. No, he was going to have to go up, and then think fast. It had been awhile since he was in a good old fashioned shootout.
He climbed up the ladder, and his trusty Courser companion quickly followed. They emerged onto the top of the ship, which had been converted into a Raider HQ. Makeshift platforms and dirty mattresses abounded. Standing directly across from them, and flanked by a couple of cronies on each side, was Gabriel, their target. But one thing that had not accounted for: He was holding his pistol to the head of a normal commonwealth woman. They had stumbled into a hostage situation.
"No sudden moves, alright?" commanded Gabriel. The woman was whimpering, and begging to eb let go.
And so Jack Parsons found himself caught between a rock and a hard place. He needed to secure the target so that he could keep ties with the Institute, but he did not want an innocent woman to die. Plus, they were a little bit outnumbered.
"Look, things are not as they seem… screw it, there's no way that I'm going to successfully convince you that you're actually an Institute Synth with false memories who somehow got to be in charge of a Raider gang, am I?" he asked. Gabriel's eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and then anger.
"None of your stupid sciencey mumbo jumbo tricks, alright? I will shoot this bitch right now!" he threatened. Hmm. Jack was running out of options.
"I don't see any way of this ending well for everyone, do you?" he asked to the Courser at his side.
"Nope. To be honest with you, it was a tactical error to climb the ladder at all. Should have thrown some kind of tactical grenade up and disabled the lot of them," X6-88 surmised.
"Well damn, should have thought of that."