Disclaimer: I would like to mention that I do not in any way own anything from the Fallout franchise including characters, plot, and everything else about it. I am only playing in a very big sandbox and having a bit fun. Therefore, please no lawyers or anything for I really don't have the money to pay them at all. Thank you.
Fallout: Wasteland Gazette
An Anthology of short stories and ideas based in the world of Fallout
Written by,
William R. Woods
Deathzealot, or deathzealotzero
Summary: What happens when Doctor James Carter and son when they arrive at the Citadel and join the Brotherhood of Steel instead of being sheltered in Vault 101 after the end of Project Purity. Well a Lone Wanderer who is not only trained by but raised by the Brotherhood of Steel.
Feature One: The Steel Wanderer
Turning Points are key places in time where a person has several choices ahead of them and have to decide on one particular choice that will shape the rest of their future. This is no different in the post-apocalyptic world of the Capital Wasteland…
- Unknown Writer, June of 2250AD
-o-o-o-
Rivet City
Capital Wasteland
September 11, 2258AD
Outside the mammoth hull of the former ship of war that was now known as Rivet City the vastly smaller figure of Doctor James Carter looked up at the towering side of the former aircraft carrier with a sigh imagining for a moment he could see the tiny figure of his friend Madison Lee on the ship's flight deck where he had left her minutes before. With a shake of his head James straightened the shoulder strap keeping his bundled son close to his chest before looking up at the pair of towering figures in T-51 power armor that flanked him.
"Alright then let's go," he mentioned with a jerk of his head towards the distant ruins of downtown Washington DC that surrounded the small port that the former Aircraft Carrier now called home. The powered armored figures could only follow behind the Doctor after looking at each other for a brief moment.
"So Doctor Carter have you decided on where you want to go. The last time I asked you were thinking about one of the two still occupied Vaults?" the shorter of the two power armored figures asked after several moments of silence between the travelling trio as they left the port behind them and the former Jefferson Memorial just past it which had held a dream of a team of scientists that he had once been part of only months before hand. Before the death of his wife and the arguments between the team started which led to the breakup of the team. James sighed at this before looking up at the bare weathered face of the armored woman that had been his silent guard since he left the project months before.
"Yes Paladin Cross I decided to take up your suggestion of heading for the Citadel. Since I don't know if those Vaults would open their doors to me and my son. What will I do when they refused to take us in? Therefore, the Citadel will be the best bet right now," the Doctor mentioned with a shake of his head surprising the two guards, who happened to be members of the newcomers to the Capital Wasteland: The Brotherhood of Steel. They had taken up residence in the former Pentagon and the large underground bunker that was under it which had once been the general headquarters of the United States Military before the war that ended the old world. It had been renamed the Citadel by the new East Coast Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.
"That is quite interesting Doctor. Elder Lyons will be thrilled to take you on since we really do not have that many medically trained personal in the Chapter yet therefore you will be quite welcomed. Also with the orphans we have taken in from both the Pitt and the Capital Wasteland along with the handful of children brought with us from the West your son won't be alone growing up," the second of the armored guards mentioned with a small smile on his lips. This man Knight Sergeant Nathan Hoss had been another member of the Brotherhood of Steel team sent to help guard the project at Jefferson Memorial. The Doctor only nodded at this before turning his attention to his now awoken son while the three continued onwards towards a complete different destiny from others.
-o-o-o-
Former Springvale
Capital Wasteland
2:22PM
June 10, 2277AD
Over nineteen years later after Doctor James Carter and his son Brian arrived at the Citadel to join the Brotherhood of Steel East Coast Chapter a few power armored figures could be seen quietly moving through the ruins of the former suburb of Springvale. One of the figures swept his Laser Rifle around the corner of a demolished house before moving on not before nearly tripping over a mound of bricks which made the figure curse silently.
"I really don't know why we are in this back-end of the Capital when we should be Downtown fighting against those damn Super Mutants," Knight Dillan Church said with a grumble making the others in the small squad of Brotherhood Knights looked over him with some irritation.
"Quit it with your gripping Church for there is a reason for us being here. This group of raiders have been raiding outlying settlements for months and the Regulators are strained trying to deal with them. Therefore, they have asked for our help in hunting them down," the figure of Knight Sergeant Shari Conard whispered back with a frown in her words as she swept her own rifle around a corner on the opposite of the narrow destroyed road that led into the ruins of Springvale. This once again started a small argument between the pair as they swept down the street making the others in the team sigh in irritation. Suddenly the lead figure of the small team held up a closed fist which stopped the arguing pair of Knights and the fourth figure of the small team. The three armored figures crouched down behind as cover as they swept the areas of their reasonability as the lead figure leaned forward around a corner.
"Alright you lot listen up there is someone hiding in the shadow of that old building. Therefore, we move forward towards it and be ready for anything," the figure of Knight Captain Brian Carter whispered back to his team before waving them forward towards the mentioned building which sported a small corner store along with a small section of apartments next to it. As the group of Knights got ever closer to the building they start to hear small pained groans and such from a shadowed figured leaning against the large trash can that was settled against the side of the corner store. The four knights quickly rounded the side of the trash can to find the figure to be an older woman in a blue jump suit and white lab coat holding a hand to her side that was slowly bleeding. The team of Brotherhood Knights stare for a moment before the final member of the team holstered the laser rifle over their shoulder before kneeling down next to the figure.
"What…who…" the figure managed to gasp through her pain as the kneeling Knight eased the woman's hand away from her wound.
"You are okay now ma'am. We are Knights of the Brotherhood of Steel," Knight Captain Carter mentioned as he kneeled next to his squads Field Scribe and Medic Ashlyn who was busy retrieving several pieces of medical equipment from her pack.
"Oh…that's…good…info…Purity" the figure managed to say before she blinked and her eyes rolled back to her head as she lost her battle in staying conscious. The Captain turned to the medic to see her frowning in concern as she checked the woman's pulse before nodding her head in relief.
"She is only unconscious Knight Captain but she won't last for long if we don't get her back to Doc Church in Megaton," the Medic reported retrieving a rolled up stretcher from her pack making the Knight Captain nod before turning to look over the rest of his team.
"Alright you heard Ash we need to get this woman back to Megaton. Therefore, Ash and I will be carrying her which leaves the two of you to cover us while we make our way back," he ordered the two who only nodded in reply to their superior's orders. That done the young Knight Captain turned to help the medic place the injured woman onto the stretcher before with great care lift the stretcher and started towards the distant settlement of Megaton. The two other Knights calmly keeping an eye out for any Raiders or other enemies in their path.
-o-o-o-
Church's Clinic
Megaton
Capital Wasteland
5:47PM
In the tiny clinic that served the walled settlement of Megaton the figure of Doctor Gregory Church pulled off a pair of surgical gloves and walked over to the waiting figure of Knight Captain Carter. With a weary sigh the old Doctor nodded back to the enclosed surgical area of his clinic.
"She is currently stable Knight Captain but I am not sure if she is going to survive the night, but your team did the right thing bringing her here," the doctor mentioned making the Knight Captain silently curse in the convince of his head before nodding to the other man.
"Did she say anything else for she when she woke up at the gates she mentioned something about Purity?" the Brotherhood Knight Captain asked with a frown for that sounded quite familiar to the younger man. The doctor blinked at this before nodding and retrieving a Holodisk from a nearby table.
"Yes she mentioned something about having information for Purity and something about her Pip-Boy therefore I checked the Pip-Boy she had on her arm. I found this disk in the Pip-Boy's Holodisk Player," the aging Doctor mentioned handing over the disk making the younger man frown inspecting the disk for a moment before looking back up at the Doctor.
"So Ashlyn was right she was from a Vault after all?" he asked making the Doctor huff for a moment as he stare out the opened door of the clinic and the busy central square of Megaton right outside the door.
"Correct Knight Captain for the number on the back of her Vault Suit is 101 which makes sense since if I remember right that Vault is somewhere in the hills above this town," the Doctor answered waving his hand at the rolling hills that could be seen in the distance outside the walled settlement. The Knight Captain sighed at this before nodding his head and turned towards the door.
"Thanks Doc I shall see about reporting this to the Citadel and rescuing Sheriff Simms from my team but I will be back after that. I really want to find out what this Purity happens to be since no one else has a Pip-Boy and the handful of terminals in town really don't have the ability to play a datadisk therefore I need to see about having someone at the Citadel looking up that information from our own records," the Knight mentioned with a nod to the aging doctor making the older man wave his hand in return before returning to his work. Brian only smirked in response before stepping out of the clinic and into the late afternoon bustle of the Settlements Central square. After looking around for a moment the young Knight Captain quickly made his towards the Sheriff's office where he had left his team along with the man's radio which he could use to report to the Citadel.
-o-o-o-
Church's Clinic
Megaton
Capital Wasteland
9:17 PM
Several hours later found the young man once again in the Clinic looking down at the know shrouded form of the woman who like Doc Church mentioned did not last through the night and expired only a few hours into the night. However not before that she briefly woke up and noticed him sitting at her bedside before smiling calling him James shocking him. She then started to babble something about Project Purity before falling unconscious once more. He then left the clinic due to his father responding to his earlier radio call. It was from that conversation that he learned all about Project Purity and the woman before him now his godmother Madison Li. He then returned to the clinic to find one of Doc Church's assistants/students covering Madison with a white shroud making him stare in shock. It wasn't the first time he had seen a dead body since it was the Capital Wasteland after all but this is quite different for this woman could have been a member of his family if she had come with his father all those years ago.
With a shake of his head Brian turned away from the body and stared down at the holodisk he now held in hand. He didn't know what was on it but if it was something about finishing Project Purity then he was going to find out and then finish his godmother's mission. For not only her but his mother and father as well since it was their dream after all. With a final glance at the body he nodded and quickly made his way out of the clinic he had a team to gather and a briefing to give them. Then he would go out to start this new mission, one that he was going to complete no matter what. This would lead to the start of a new legend in the Capital Wasteland, one that would see the start of something greater for the people of the Capital.
-o-Fin-o-
Well there is my first Fallout story and I hope the readers enjoyed it! Like mentioned in the summary this story basically has the father of the Lone Wanderer, James, joining the Brotherhood of Steel instead of heading all the way to Vault 101 to see if they will shelter him and his baby. I believe many wonder how Madison Li instead took James spot in the Vault instead, because she had quite a good spot in Rivet City after the end of Project Purity. Well apparently there was some stuff going on with the City's Council a few years after Purity which led Madison to take a spot on the council and the previous member of the council Horace Pinkerton leaving the city. In this case it was Madison who left Rivet City instead and after a couple days of thought decided to head for the sole remaining occupied Vault in the Capital Wasteland. There thanks to hardly any medical personal she was let in by the Overseer. Fast forward several years she leaves the Vault to find James to give him the information she had found in the Vault Computers that may restart Project Purity. However sadly she isn't really prepared for fighting against the Raider Gangs that start taking residence around Megaton. She then ends up getting caught by one of said Gangs and heavily injured by them. Later a patrol from the Brotherhood of Steel arrive and find her before taking her to Megaton where she soon passes away from her injuries. Not before she mistakenly calls Brian Carter, James Carter son, by his father's name. This of course starts the Brotherhood trained Lone Wanderer on a quest to restart Project Purity.
That said there are a few ideas I have that take place following this which introduce Amata and a few other 101 residents to the story along with looking at what James is doing at the Citadel during all of this. It is however only a small amount and I don't know if I should stick with the Fallout 3 main storyline or diverge from there. Hence the reasoning for this only to be a one-shot story I am sorry to say.
One final thing, I do apologize for how short this story is but I didn't want to go any more forward in the storyline because my indecision to follow the main Fallout 3 storyline or diverge entirely. Yes I know the story would already be diverged thanks to the butterflies from James joining the Brotherhood instead of Vault 101, but I believe I still could follow the storyline of the game anyways.
I do believe that is it folks! Time for the next story!