Red light bars set into the walls flashed on an instant before "Security report to the Engineering Level, Security report to the Engineering Level" crackled over the mini speaker on Jason Farnan's pip boy. Dammit he cursed, exhaling a cloud of smoke and laying his cards on the cigar lounge's small table. 'Read 'em and weep, boys and girls' was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it and drew his N99, racking the slide while everyone in the room did the same. Many of those who unceremoniously dumped their cards let out small sighs of relief that they were not made to play out their hand. "Lock and load" he shouted, all business, as the team swept down the corridors to the central elevators, pistols raised to high carry. "A security alert, in a vault" questioned several of the startled civilians, as they grabbed whatever they were doing and moved, or failing that, dove out of the way of the heavy booted footsteps and the glint of deadly steel barreling down the corridor. Several vault dwellers asked what the problem is, but the few vault security officers who hesitated for a second to respond answered truthfully "I don't know sir" or "I'll handle it, ma'am" as they sprinted by. Reaching the engineering level, Farnan registered the pop pop pow of untrained pistol fire, an insect-like chittering noise, and several shouts of "Get it off the power lines" as well as a slight hiss of decompression. Shorting electrical cables, the bleeping of a frenzied reactor control computer cabinet, and a choking screen of cordite assaulted his senses as he rounded the corner. A horde of two foot long cockroaches poured in from a roughly chewed hole in the rock wall, leaving a path of devastation, sparking and shorting out electronics, and remains of massacred operators whose only combat experience was in line at the chow hall. "Alright people" Farnan said to his squad, looking over the (mostly) composed men and women who moments before were handing him their life savings in work credits, "you know the drill. If it wasn't born here, it dies here. Let's try to avoid anything or anyone in the room with lead allergies, but other than that clear to engage, hooah?" After a chorus in the affirmative, the officers charged into the fray, guns spitting violent death at their foes.
"Computer specialist Torelli, report to action station" screamed Nadine's pip boy, jolting her out of an uneasy sleep. She pulled on her vault coveralls, grabbed her tool box from under her bunk, and slapped the door control open before sprinting out into the hall, her tangled black hair trailing untouched behind her. This better be important she thinks to herself, checking the time on her pip boy's heads up display for the first time since the alert. Scratch that, this had better be really fucking important. The clock was too painful to look at, so she returned it to the default display setting. She wasn't due back to work for another half a shift. As her level of consciousness continued to rise, she started thinking about what would have made the Overseer wake her up this early, and didn't like any of the possibilities. "They better not have messed up my mainframe" she shouted, balling her fists and raging at nobody in particular. Several scared vault dwellers who happened to be in the corridor retreated back a few steps. Reaching the main elevator, she pressed the call button several times, and swore to herself that every time she pushed the button the elevator moved slightly slower. When the car arrived, she bumped another person out of the way and charged in, flashing her 'don't mess with me' glare and stabbed her finger into the button for the middle level. A small child who happened to be trying to board the car shrieked in fright and jumped behind his mother, saying "she's scary, mommy." Scary, but also scary effective the woman mused. I guess now we know what happens when you get too many electrical shocks from fucking the mainframe instead of doing your duty to the vault and having children. "So sorry we can't all become baby factories like you" Nadine called out as the elevator door started to close. "Some of us do our duty to the future of humanity with something long and hard that isn't attached to a man." Stung by the remark, she pulled her son closer to her and downgraded her opinion of Nadine to just plain scary.
Farnan raised his fist and the squad stopped what they are doing and fell in behind him. He pulled a grenade out of a pouch on his belt, rolled it into a small dark tunnel, and shouted "fire in the hole" before sticking his fingers in his ears and sprinting away from the hole that until recently was vomiting forth a small army of rad roaches. The blast was muffled by the intervening rock, but did result in a satisfying avalanche of chips and rubble that effectively closed the breach. "Not as good as new, but it'll have to do" quipped some would be trench poet as the others rolled their eyes and let out a huge collective sigh, both of relief to be alive and at the corny joke. They had just survived the first real action in vault history and came out of it more or less intact. The mop up operation proceeded quickly, as the guards moved through the work spaces and overturned tables, chairs, and computer equipment. The dead were identified, the living evacuated to the med center, and a final round put through any bits of bug that were still moving. Farnan twirled his pistol on his finger, and blew the remaining smoke off the end of the barrel before engaging the safety and clicking it back into his holster. "That, ladies and gentlemen, is how we do that. Let's get an ammo count, status checks, and someone to shut that god damn siren off." Murmurs of assent were heard throughout the squad.
"Morning sunshine" called out the other mainframe tech in the Vault Information Center as Nadine burst breathlessly through the door of the Vault Information Center. For half a second she considered that a murder charge was not treated as harshly and did not automatically mean the death penalty if it wasn't premeditated, before glancing over at the status board on the opposite wall. Her jaw dropped and the look on her face was an amalgamation of what would happen if someone who permanently canceled Christmas was kicking her puppy and happened to stop by to tell her that the food processors glitched and deleted the Fancy Lads Snack Cakes algorithm. "Mommy's coming" she called out as she rushed up to the main terminal. The glow of the mostly red status board overpowered the overhead lighting fixtures as she set to work. Once inside the network, she swore furiously under her breath, causing the other tech to wince slightly each time another profanity escaped her lips. In the space of minutes, however, many of the red lights had gone out. Not as many were actually green as she would have liked, but things were getting back to the point where automated fail safes could start to effect meaningful change and direct human intervention wasn't as sorely needed. The other tech could only watch in amazement as the entire power distribution network changed shape seemingly by magic before his eyes, much akin to the flipping of the time cards on the schedule board in the videos he had seen of Grand Central Station. Most of the vault dwellers made no secret of how odd they thought Torelli was, some were downright scared of the woman. But his opinion was firmly planted in the worship category. If there was a goddess of the technological universe, she was working her magic on the computer terminal across the room from him. Abruptly she signed off the terminal, closed up the keyboard, and collapsed face down onto the floor next to the mainframe, clearly exhausted and winding down from the adrenaline rush. "Rum and Nuka, hold the Nuka" she mumbled without turning over, snapping her fingers for emphasis. What the hell, she deserves it he thought, and rushed out the door to grant her request.
