Chapter Thirty-Four
The stone walls of the Legislative Building had been holding up exceptionally well in the aftermath of the end of civilization. There might be some cracks and even crumbling in some spots, but fresh coats of white paint in the hallways, electric lights through many spots, and a few torches where they stopped working showed the fact that the massive building had made it this long without a major shift in appearance, on either the exterior or the interior, made the building a landmark in Assiniboia.
The fact that it was occupied by hostile Enclave troops wasn't any great concern to the building, which had seen dictators, patriots, revolution, war, civil war, and nuclear war and lasted through all of it made it a symbol to last the test of time.
But now sandbags and hastily constructed barricades of desks and filing cabinets that were erected through the cavernous hallways, with nervous Enclave soldiers with their laser rifles perched behind them. Patrick and Vince, along with the soldiers that captured them, went by several barricades, then backtracked when the officer got lost in the maze of hallways, until they finally got to the Legislative Chamber, perched behind the Grand Staircase and the massive open hall under the dome of the building.
The room was a circle, with blue carpets and sixty or seventy old wooden desks and chairs in a horseshoe shape that were put in place in 1919 when the building was opened, all on three levels that went down into a bowl at the bottom, where a long table with several chairs and piles of papers, books and binders sat. Another, larger chair sat overlooking it all on a raised platform on the open end of the horseshoe. Fifteen men and six women, with six more Enclave soldiers hovered over them at all times, sat near the throne. Patrick recognized one of them as Prime Minister Richard Hawkson, who looked up, and gave a weary smile when he saw Patrick, as if he knew that Patrick was there to save him. Of course, the smile fell when he realized that Patrick was a prisoner, like he was. He glared at the closest Enclave soldier, hoping he'd drop dead from the result of his thoughts of hatred.
Colonel Granger, in his suit of power armor and standing over the hostages, turned away from them when the door on the far end of the room opened and Patrick and Vince came in. The man in charge of the Enclave's military was tired, exhausted, and confused, but he blinked, his face showing his surprise. He stomped over to Patrick and Vince.
"What the hell are you doing here Patrick?" He demanded. "And who's he?" He said, pointing to Vince.
"This is my companion, Vince. I met him at Grand Forks after you left," Patrick said. "And I'm here to stop this coup."
Colonel Granger growled. "This isn't a coup. This is self-preservation, to make sure the Enclave survives."
"That's only what Speaker Graham wants you to think," Patrick said. "Secretary Hawthorne…"
"Who did you say?" Colonel Granger interrupted.
"Secretary of Defense Creighton Hawthorne," Patrick replied, confused. "You know, the man that's the civilian in charge of the Enclave army?"
Granger paused. "I was told he was dead, executed by Assiniboia as a first step to destroying the Enclave. I thought the radio message was just Assiniboia trying to break us up, using someone that sounded like him."
Patrick shook his head. "Nope, he's very much alive. I just saw him about an hour ago. And who told you?"
"I had it on the highest, most trustworthy authority! It was... Speaker... Graham..." Colonel Granger said, his voice having become quiet, then the growled in anger. "That bastard! He lied to me! To the entire Enclave!" Soldiers all around looked over to the Colonel in surprise.
Patrick wanted to smile as he realized that Colonel Granger realized he had been tricked. "So… will you stop the coup then?"
Colonel Granger turned around to Patrick. "I… I can't."
"Why not?" Vince asked. "After all, if the orders were given on bad faith, wouldn't they be illegal?"
"That's not how the Enclave works," Granger told Vince. "Because no matter the reason, orders are still orders. I was ordered to overthrow the Assiniboian government, and I will do that." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Patrick." Colonel Granger began to turn around.
"What do you mean, orders are orders? What about the time in Minot? Or when we dealt with the super mutants? You disobeyed the orders then, so why are you following them now?" Patrick asked.
"Because I have to," Colonel Granger said. "I… I had to. Speaker Graham found out about how we didn't kill the ghouls in Minot, or for how we failed to convince Vault 53 to join the Enclave. He has given me one more chance to prove my loyalty to the Enclave - to him. He would have kicked me out of my post if I refused to do this. Or thrown into the Vault reactor. Dropped from a Vertibird. Or just shot. And that someone else would have gone in guns blazing, drops bombs and destroying everything." Granger turned to Patrick. "I'm trying to prevent unnecessary collateral damage, which some soldiers in the Enclave don't care about."
"Hundreds of people have died already," Vince barked. "And hundreds more will die before that madman in the Enclave Vault has his way!"
"And you know that he will do that. No amount of reasonableness will stop him." Patrick's fist was clenched tight as he listened to the man that he thought was a reasonable, pragmatic soldier spewing random words that might make sense to him.
"I'm sorry," Colonel Granger said, looking away. "Take them away," he ordered the guards turning around.
One guard began to grab Patrick's arm and lead him away.
"And what happens next?" Patrick shouted, making Colonel Granger stop, and turn around.
"What?"
"What happens after the Enclave takes over Winnipeg, overthrows the Dominion of Assiniboia?" Patrick asked.
"Well, my guess is we declare the United States of America again," Colonel Granger said. "Should be easy enough, move the entire Enclave Army here, do away with the old government, and set up shop. After all, the Enclave has the best trained and best equipped soldiers in the Wasteland. So, holding down Winnipeg shouldn't be a problem. Nothing that 1,000 soldiers, about a quarter of whom are in power armor, couldn't handle. Even with all the mutiniers, which is… a hundred, two hundred people tops? After all, the population of Assiniboia is about… I don't know..."
"Half a million people," Prime Minister Hawkson said from the corner of the room.
"Half a million people," Colonel Granger repeated. "We could easily garrison the main towns across the country with a squad each, and maintain the railways, and maintain peace… and… order…" Colonel Granger's voice trailed off as realization stepped in as the numbers started clicking in his head. "Oh crap."
Patrick raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"This… this would never work. It's mathmatically impossible. We'd be overstretched, open to resistance movements. Even a general strike would cripple the Enclave's abilities if Winnipeg shuts down. Speaker Graham would never agree to arming any Assiniboian to help us either, so that would stretch us further. An uprising in one area could be put down, but two? More? And with the Brotherhood of Steel to the south…"
Patrick wiggled his way out of the grasp of the soldiers holding him, who were coming to the same realization as their commander. "Colonel, let me ask then: Can the Enclave take over Assiniboia, and then hold it?"
"N-no," Colonel Granger whispered. "No, we can't."
"Then I think you know what you need to do. If you want to save your fellow soldiers. Your family. The Enclave as a whole."
Colonel Granger took a couple deep breaths, exhaling as calmly as he could, then stood up. "Okay. Listen up everyone," Colonel Granger ordered, getting the soldiers and hostages attention. "It's become clear that all of us have been mislead by an illegal, impossible and self-destructive order. If we carry throw, and try to do the impossible, it will undoubtedly destroy the Enclave." There was a lot of murmurs and talking, with one person stringing a row of profanities in exasperation and confusion, as Colonel Granger spoke. "Now, as your commanding officer, I'm going to tell you what we are going to do. We are going to calmly and quietly leave. We will ask the Auxiliary here to go out first and to let the Assiniboian Army and the Royal Assiniboian Mounted Police know that we are ending the coup, along with our hostages. Then we will do as we are ordered by Secretary of Defense Hawthorne. Understood?"
Only a few people said anything, most just reluctantly nodded, others were silent.
"Okay, and get everyone else out of the building and assembled in the Grand Staircase, and we march out when we get the signal. Now move out!"
Colonel Granger turned to Patrick, his face still tense and tired, but with a bit of relief. "Thank you, Patrick."
"I did this for my country, not the Enclave," Patrick said.
"I know, but it just happened to line up this time." Colonel Granger looked up and around as the soldiers began to gather their weapons and summon the other soldiers, others already marching out. "Maybe it will in the future as well?" He then walked past, barking more orders.
Patrick, flanked by Vince and the politicians and staffers that had been held hostage, exited the front doors of the Legislative Building and walked down the steps. Prime Minister Richard Hawkson walked beside him, shuffling along like a man who didn't expect to survive.
"I was hoping that I would get the chance to meet you, but on better circumstances than this," the Prime Minister said, looking down Memorial Boulevard, past the statue of Queen Victoria, the War Memorial, the War of 2077 Monument, and to the city beyond. He smiled, as if seeing it all for the first time.
The Prime Minister continued talking about something, but Patrick only listened with half an ear. The Prime Minister had been talking ever since they left the Legislative Chamber, and, frankly, it was starting to get on his nerves. He had a high pitched voice that, when he got excited, would grate on the ears. Of course, he couldn't tell the leader of his country to shut up, so he just let him ramble on. Hawkson wasn't known for his oratorical skills: he usually left that to his ministers. But he has a sharp mind, a master at Realpolitik that was Assiniboia. You needed that if you wanted to the leader of Assiniboia, as it was more a analytical cage match than a popularity contest.
They got to the barricade that had been put across Memorial Avenue. Several soldiers and RAMP officers on sleipnir's were standing by, the eight legged beasts shuffling on their feet, sensing excitement in the air.
"Hey, all of you… what are you…?" One of the soldiers manning the barricades barked, before the he saw the Prime Minister. "Oh, Mr. Prime Minister," the soldier, and all the other's saluted as they realized they were talking to the leader of Assiniboia.
Hawkson saluted back, though his wasn't the machined precision of the soldiers. "At ease. I need to talk to Commissioner Raymond as soon as possible," the Prime Minister ordered one of the RAMP officers.
"What for, sir?" He replied.
"The Enclave soldiers inside are willing to surrender. I need to talk with him about it," the Prime Minister said.
That got everyone's attention. The Sleipnir rider turned his mount around and bolted off to the north up Memorial Avenue. Within half an hour, Commissioner Raymond, with several RAMP officers on Sleipnir back, arrived.
"Mr. Prime Minister," Commissioner Raymond said, saluting Hawkson, before nodded to Patrick. "Auxiliary. What do you need, sir?"
Patrick and the Prime Minister explained everything that had happened. Commissioner Raymond grinned when she heard of Patrick's escapade.
"I'm sure it's not the outcome you had in mind when you infiltrated the building, Auxiliary, but I knew you were the best person to send in to try to talk them out."
The Prime Minister nodded. "Yes. But now the question is: what do we do with them?"
"Them?" Patrick asked.
"The Enclave," the Prime Minister said.
"What? Didn't they just say they would surrender and give up?" Commissioner Raymond asked.
"They may say that, yes. But the fact that the Enclave managed to take over most of Winnipeg and nearly destroyed the Dominion shows that they are not to be trusted," Prime Minister Hawkson said. "How long will it take for them to think of some other idea to try to overthrow us? To destroy Assiniboia? Therefore, we should pull out this weed, right now, before it has a chance to grow even bigger."
Partick stared at the Prime Minister. "You are not actually saying…"
"That's exactly what I'm saying," the Prime Minister said. "I'm giving the Enclave a choice: they either pack up their Vertibirds and go south, deep, deep south, way into the Wasteland, or we will destroy them."
Commissioner Raymond, Vince, and Patrick were both dumbfounded. "What?" the head of the RAMP exclaimed.
"It wasn't the whole Enclave that did this," Patrick said. "You even heard Colonel Granger say that he was mislead."
"If an entire military can be that easily mislead by fanatics, then they have no place in Assiniboia." The Prime Minister's voice was starting to get a bit high pitched. "The Assiniboian Government allowed them to come to Winnipeg on the promise that they wouldn't undermine the Dominion. And what the hell did they just do?"
"Mr. Prime Minister…" Patrick started.
Hawkson whipped his head to face Patrick. "You stay out of this. You aren't even a full member of the RAMP, you're just some poor farming kid that got swept up into the grand scheme of things. I'm the bloody leader of this country, so what I say goes!" The Prime Minister was nearly yelling by now. He stopped, and took a deep breath. "Sorry for snapping like that, but I have to do what I believe is best for Assiniboia. You've had to make that choice a lot, haven't you, Auxiliary?"
Patrick swallowed. "Yes sir."
"Well I have to make many more of those choices than you do, and I know better than anyone else in this country what we are facing," the Prime Minister continued. "The Brotherhood of Steel is on the verge of going to war with us, and they are a much bigger threat to us than some punks in power armor will ever be. This sideshow with the Enclave has done nothing but weaken us in their eyes. After all, what looks worse than seeing a country facing invasion in their own capital city? For all I know, this was all part of the Brotherhood's plan, to use the Enclave as a front to weaken us. You've uncovered many Brotherhood operations to undermine our strength to know that. So I say it's time we cut out this cancer, and say good riddance."
Patrick braced himself against this assault, but his mind began to work, and he took a breath. "Mr. Prime Minister, with all due respect, I think this could be a massive mistake."
"A mistake? How?"
Patrick straightened his shoulders. "Sir, I think if you order the Enclave exiled, it could be a huge blow to Assiniboia. First: they have advanced technology, including flying vehicles and power armor. I'm pretty certain that there are few places in the whole world that would have both. Second: if we exile them, won't they get angry at us, and ally with the Brotherhood? Even if they don't ally with them now, that will be another group, near the districts in North Dakota that have no reason to like us, that will eventually want to see us destroyed. And remember that the Enclave claims to be the true representative of the old United States, so people in North Dakota may try to follow them, causing even more troubles for us in an area that we all know is a powder keg. All we would be doing is making more enemies when you yourself said we don't need more distractions or sideshows. Third: they have hundreds of well trained, well equipped, power armored soldiers. You saw the damage they did here in Winnipeg. What would they be like tearing through Brotherhood Conscripts?"
"The Auxiliary has a good point," Commissioner Raymond said. "The Army is overstretched, the RAMP even worse than that, and we are most likely outgunned down south by at least three to one. Any help we can get to fight the Brotherhood would be greatly appreciated.
Prime Minister Hawkson stared at Patrick, then to Commissioner Raymond, then back to Patrick. He wasn't happy at being countermanded by the head of the Royal Assiniboia Mounted Police and one of the biggest heroes in Assiniboia, but he eventually nodded.
"Fine," the Prime Minister said, his high pitched voice making the one word sound like a squeak from a radgopher. "When the war with the Brotherhood is dealt with, then we will decide on what to do with the Enclave." The Prime Minister didn't stomp away, but he clearly wasn't happy.
Patrick turned to Commissioner Raymond, who shrugged. "Can't do anything about that." She then gestured to the Legislative Building. "So, you going to tell them the good news?"
Patrick gave a nod and a small smile. "Might as well." he took a few steps before he turned around. "By the way: how is Demon?"
Commissioner Raymond thought for a moment. "Oh! Your Sleipnir, right?" Patrick nodded. "I'll send someone to get him for you." He turned to Vince. "And one for your friend here too." She climbed up onto her Sleipnir and turned it around, flanked by the other two mounted, red combat armor clad RAMP officers.
"After all," Patrick said, "What is a member of the RAMP without a mount, eh?"
Colonel Granger and the Enclave soldiers evacuated the Legislative Building with a minimum of fuss. Five vertibirds, their propellers still whirring to create a massive dust cloud that blew up flowers and shrubs meticulously planted in a garden near the building loaded all the Enclave soldiers on, before they lifted off and headed to the northwest to the airport.
Another good thing that Patrick found out was that the hearing he was supposed to have in front of the Defense Committee, since most of the Members of Parliament that were on it had fled when the Enclave arrived, had been canceled in light of recent events. Patrick had no problem with that outcome at all.
Patrick watched the Enclave Vertibirds fly off. When they were out of sight, he turned around and walked up Memorial Avenue toward the RAMP HQ, Vince at his side.
When he got there, he went to the stables that was in the old bus station. Dozens of RAMP officers and stable hands worked on their Sleipnir's, feeding and grooming them. Some of the officers looked tired and dirty, with one or two even bandaged up from the fighting in Winnipeg earlier, but they were taking care of their mounts, brushing their fur and manes, feeding and watering them in their stalls. While Sleipnir's were rugged animals, and were usually quite content if they had food and water, it was part of the code of riding a sleipnir with the RAMP that you always looked after the animal first, and make sure they were comfortable and clean, then you took care of your own needs.
The master of the stables, a rugged old man with a scar cutting through his beard and a slight limp came up to Patrick. "Can I help you?"
"Yeah. I was told that the RAMP would have a Sleipnir for Vince here."
The master of the stables grabbed a clipboard and looked at the papers, mumbling to himself. "You the Auxiliary?"
"Yes, sir," Patrick replied.
He looked down the list. "Okay, yep. I have a mare, Treherne, that I can spare," he said. "She's quiet, calm, and perfect for a first time rider."
"Sounds good to me," Vince said. "I've never been on one of these massive spider things before," he said.
"They ain't spiders!" the master of the stables barked. "They are the most powerful and majestic animals in the world, you got that?"
Patrick nearly recoiled in shock as he was yelled at, but Vince stood his ground. "I'm just saying."
The master grumbled, but flagged down a stable hand to take Vince to his new mount.
"And apparently my Sleipnir is here, apparently. Demon?" Patrick asked the man when he was done dealing with Vince.
"Oh. Him," the master said, not even consulting his clipboard. "He's done nothing but give us trouble since he got here. Hell, even before he got here, he apparently went berserk on the train. Broke the arm of an officer that brought him from the station, and nearly killed a stable hand that tried to currycomb him. I'll be glad when the bastard's gone. He's never been properly broken, and is a danger to himself and whoever else will get near him!"
"He hates strangers," Patrick said, in way of apologizing and explanation. But the master of the stables was already walking away, so Patrick hurried to catch up to him.
Demon had been put in a stall far away from the other Sleipnir's. He snorted, pawing his hooves on the ground impatiently. All the other stable hands and officers stayed far away from Demon. Even the master of the stables, hung back, and let Patrick go up to the black Sleipnir. Demon looked to see Patrick, and calmed down a lot, but he was clearly impatient, though he seemed to maybe be a bit fatter after several weeks of doing little but eating.
"Well buddy, you ready to get back on the road?" Patrick asked, stroking the thick neck of his beast. Demon twisted his ears to face Patrick when he spoke, then snorted after he finished talking. That was going to be about as much of an answer he was going to get from his Sleipnir.
"Well I'll be damned," the master of the stables said. "You seem to have a way with Sleipnir's there, Auxiliary."
"No, just my own."
Patrick took care of Demon as best as he could. He rarely used a currycomb on Demon, as he didn't like it, but he did brush him down as best as he could. As he was taking care of Demon, somebody came up behind him.
"Auxiliary. Have you got a moment?"
Patrick looked over his shoulder to see Secretary Creighton Hawthorne standing there. He looked exhausted, with dark bags under his eyes.
Patrick set down the brush. "What are you doing here?"
"I need to talk to you. Commissioner Raymond told me where I could find you, because this is important."
Patrick brushed the dust and dirt off his hands. "Okay, what's up?"
The Enclave politician shuffled a bit. "I was talking with the Commissioner, and he told me what happened, and how the Prime Minister wanted to exile us from Assiniboia," he said. "I just wanted to say thank you for standing up for us like that."
"Of course. It's Speaker Graham and his followers that caused this mess, not the Enclave as a whole," Patrick said. "You and Colonel Granger at least have an idea of what is going on here, while Graham doesn't."
"Yes," Speaker Graham said. "However, Graham is, and can still be a major threat to Assinoiba, and the rest of the wasteland. He's in control of the Vault, with all the computers, manufacturing facilities and group of fanatic diehards that listen to him, and only him. He may have had a setback here, but that's all it is: a setback. In a few months, a few years, he could try to do this again."
"How? Isn't most of the army loyal to Granger and you?"
"As of now, yes. But we need to remove Graham from the equation. We need to mount an attack on the Vault, capture or kill the Speaker, and try to salvage what we can so that we, the Enclave, can help Assiniboia." The Secretary took a deep breath. "I've been talking with the current acting president, Elizabeth, and she agreed that the Enclave can't survive on it's own in the near future. You know as well as I that we don't have the manpower to go and build our own civilization, especially in the face of both Assiniboia and the Brotherhood, so the best we can do for now is to try to help the people we think are the best. And right now, that answer is Assiniboia."
"Have you talked to the Prime Minister about it?"
"No, not yet," Secretary Hawthorne said. "And I don't want to until we can prove to him that we will not be a threat to him. The best way to do that, in my opinion, is to destroy Graham's cliche, and present the technology we have to Assiniboia." Secretary Graham smiled. "Plus, we have a few weapons that I'm sure can help against the Brotherhood."
"So, why are you talking to me then?" Patrick asked.
"Because I would like you to help me, if you want. If you don't, if you want to be done with me, the Enclave and everything, just say so. But with your help, I know we will have a better chance."
"Why me? I'm only one man," Patrick said.
"One man that had single handedly stopped the Coup dead, along with fighting off Brotherhood assassins after surviving a train crash, wiped out raider bands, destroyed the Syndicate in Brandon… need I go on?" Secretary Hawthorne asked. "You are worth an entire regiment of soldiers, and that's not being facetious. You also know when the fight, when to try to talk, and when something has to be dropped. I know you may not like it, but you know your limits. You know exactly what needs to be done, and how to do it."
Patrick shuffled a bit as Hawthorne pointed out his strengths and weaknesses. He knew them, subconsciously, but he never put it into words. He still didn't like it when people talked about him, even to his face. Praise felt like it was undeserved: criticism seemed like he was a failure.
"And all that, all those battles, all those heroics and bravery… because of your brother," Secretary Hawthorne said.
Patrick froze, and stared at Hawthorne. "How did you…"
"Commissioner Raymond told me," Hawthorne said. "And listen: if you help me here, I will do everything in my power to help you rescue your brother. You know he's with the Brotherhood, right? Well, you've done so much for everyone else in Assiniboia. I think it's time you got a bit of repayment back. Vertibirds? Soldiers? The best weapons in the world? All will be yours."
Patrick's eyes went wide. Zach… All this time he had been fighting, to try to get his brother, and told time and time again that he was missing, gone, out of reach, or that it was impossible to rescue him.
But if he had well trained, well equipped, power armored soldiers to help...
"Okay, I'll do it."
Hawthorne smiled.
"But what will we be facing?" Patrick asked. "I don't want to walk into this without any knowledge at all.
"Robots, power armor, heavy turrets. It won't be easy, I'll give you that," Secretary Hawthorne said. "I was in charge of setting up the defenses in the Vault, so I know it will be tough."
"I think I'm going to need more than a .44 and assault rifle then," Patrick said.
Secretary Hawthorne grinned again. "And I know exactly what to give you to equal the odds."
Pip-Boy 3000 Infotracker Note #0000
CONFIDENTIAL: FOR PRIME MINISTERS EYES ONLY: July 8, 2218
Assiniboian Army Intelligence has picked up radio transmissions between the Brotherhood of Steel Base #9 east of Fargo and Grand Forks and the Enclave Vault. Code breakers have been working on trying to crack the code since we discovered the transmissions. However, it does not correlate at all with any of the Brotherhood codes we know, so we must assume it's an Enclave code, which we've had no experience in hacking or breaking.
This presents a dangerous situation. If both the Enclave and the Brotherhood are working together, it could result in a massive disruption of the capabilities of the Assiniboian Army. Both factions have air power, the Enclave and their Vertibirds, and the Brotherhood and their airships. This would give the enemy total air superiority, as we have no air force, and only a few weapons capable of being used in an anti-air role. This is not to even touch on the fact that both factions have power armor, energy guns, and heavy weapons that outclass our own.
It is imperative that the Enclave continue to work with us, or that they be destroyed. The later option will be incredibly difficult, but the General Staff is secretly working on such a plan right now. I recommend diplomacy, promise the Enclave whatever they want, to ensure we maintain our strength for the fight with the Brotherhood.
-Minister of Defense.