AN: To clarify, this takes place in the Mid-West, where Fallout Tactics took place, but it is during the Fallout 3 timeline, a little after Broken Steel.

Chapter 1: Vault 39

"So, where is Vault 38, Alexandra?" They were making camp after a few hours of walking since Nick had saved Alexandra's life. They were sitting inside a cave, that Nick had throughly checked for creatures before stopping. They were currently roasting some of those creatures. Nick had removed his armor and was now dressed in jeans and a Tunnel Snakes jacket. Nick had also given Alexandra some new clothes, to replace the vault ones that identified her as being vunerable and useless, though in the Wasteland, that was how women were thought of in general. Had she not managed to survive two weeks in the harsh Mid-West, which was crawling with Deathclaws, Nick would have assumed the same about her also. As it was, he had surmised that she was made of tougher stuff.

"I'm Alexa, and its in Columbus." She wasn't upset by the memory of her old Vault, which to Nick meant that it had been left willingly.

"Ah, was it a nice place?" Nick was trying to figure out what had made the girl leave her Vault.

"Yes..... and no."

"Okay? Want to add to that?"

She sighed, "It's a long story."

Nick was beginning to lose patience, "Where in the middle of nowhere, the nearest civilization is at least two days walk from where we are, we have nothing but time."

"Well..... Fine. Vault 38 was one of the Vaults that wasn't designed to fail. It was to open after a hundred years and everyone would be free to stay or leave as they pleased. Unfortuanately, that didn't really work. The vault door jammed, and we later found out that it had been blocked by the bodies of dead people that had tried to flee into the Vault when it first closed. We counted that there were at least 4000 bodies holding the Vault door closed, at least we think there were.

"My life before we left the Vault isn't really that exciting, its what happened the day we left the Vault that is the real story. Vault 38 was built into what had been a military storage bunker that had been decommissioned, but never emptied. We were loaded down with enough weaponry to fight a small war. Anyway, 1 year ago a massive explosion ripped open our Vault door. Massive armor wearing figures came chrging through the door and began an attack. The Vault still had some of the old military security sytems in place, and the military had planned in case something like this happened. The Vault locked down and there was no way for the 'Enclave', as they called themselves to get in the rest of the Vault. In addition, massive ammounts of weaponry and robots that we hadn't knowned existed turned out of the walls.

"The Vault Dwellers grabbed as much of the weapons as possible and set up a defensive barrier to stop the assualt when it came. When the Enclave finally broke down the barrier they faced a well equiped, though ill-trained army. Losses on both sides were staggering, and most of the time neither side was able to gain any ground. It was mostly trench warfare with few exceptions of charges by one side or another that were systematically cut down by robots and weapons. The Enclave even unleashed Deathclaws into the Vault and those were also cut down in a matter of minutes. Then, just when it seemed like we were going to win the war, the Enclave found the Overseer's secret passge, and suddenly our forces were under attack from two sides. All hope seemed lost.

"I'm going to stop now with that part of the story to give a little background on the city in which the Vault had been built. Columbus was one of the most prosperous towns in what was once Ohio. It contained the prestigous and massive Ohio State University, which had refused to change its name even after the renaming of the land the be the East-Central Commonwealth. Most of Columbus had been spared because it had contained few large factories and that fact that it was the home of one of the U.S.'s most important Air Force bases had been over looked. The univeristy thus had been mostly spared and many of the residents had become sentient and only partially rotted ghouls. They had become one of the most powerfuls groups in the area. Eventually the Mid-Western Brotherhood of Steel had come to exist and they set up a regional base in the University. They helped the powerful ghouls develope and produce new weapons and technologies, and they also protected the city of Columbus which had sprung anew from all of the university students as well as the others who had been able to survive the massive ammounts of radiation which rained down on the land.

"This where my story comes in. The long drawn out battle with the Enclave had attracted the attention of the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood decimated the Enclave forces from the rear and suddenly that battle took a sharp in our favor. The Enclave was defeated and the Deathclwas, some of which had been sentient, were realeased from captivity. During the two hundred years between the great war and our war with the Enclave the Ohio State University had continued teaching and had been one of the prime centers of learning in all of the former United States. After I left the Vault this is where I went to get an education. It was thankfully free and I studied engineering and physics.

"One day, a representative of the Commonwealth came to visit, they were looking for anyone interested in working in a high science, high tech, environment. I accepted the offer and I was given directions on how to reach the Commonwealth from Rivet City in the Capital Wasteland. So I left Columbus and headed towards the Pitt. Everything you said about me atfer that, was true. And now I'm here."

Alexa's story had taken a little over three hours to tell judging by Nick's Pip-Boy 3000 clock.

Nick thought for a few moments on this, he had passed thorugh Columbus a week ago and it had been completely ruined, Ohio State University wasn't even there anymore. But, from there he directed himself towards Chicago, the headquarters of the Mid-Western Brotherhood. This was still where he intended to go.

Finally after a few minutes of intense silence, he lied, "Alexa, that's amazing, that your people were able to fend off and eventually defeat an Enclave force," She blushed even though his praise was not directed at her, then he said, "I'm going to take first watch, get some sleep, tomorrow we head for Chicago."

"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed.

"Yes?" He patiently waited for the anger that was to come.

"You said you would take me to the Capital Wasteland," she hotly accused him.

"I did."

"But-"

He cut her off, " I said that and I meant it, but I'm on a mission to make peace with the Mid-Western Brotherhood Of Steel and that takes priority over you, I'm sorry."

She was stunned, "But... my.... at the..... I need it...... why?"

"The Mid-Western Brotherhood has many forces that are needed in the Capital Wasteland. The California Elders have finally given the go ahead to allow us to make peace with them and allow them to be offically a division of the Brotherhood of Steel. I was chosen to be the ambassador to them but it was determined that the we did not have enough resources to send bodyguards with me. So, I went alone. This mission takes priority over everything else, do you understand?"

She nodded.

"Good. Now get some sleep, long day tomorrow."

She nodded again and went off to go to bed further back in the cave. Nick donned his armor and sniper rifle, and stood motionless at the cave entrance. He reflected on the armor, which had served him well in the past. It was a set of T-51b armor that he had found while searching through a fort in the Capital Wasteland. He had another set that he got from the Anchorage simulation which he planned to give to Alexa after he had trained her in its use. After all, everyone needs a good set of indestructible armor. But first, someone has some explaining to do.