Warm Greetings
"Don't tell your friends about your indigestion. 'How are you' is a greeting, not a question."
Arthur Guiterman
I told Nage what my mission was, later that morning. I told him the events that happend in the Vault that had casued a crisis that demanded action. Hark, the openig of the Vault, the Invasion...
We continued walking a few hours after we rested. "So that chip thing of yours, is a top priority huh?" said Nage, I nodded yes and said, "I really hope things don't get rough in the Vault." Nage gave a concerned look on his face, "Do you think you can really pull off a mission like that?" I kinda did not want to respond to that question, because that's the very question I ask myself. "I'll have to" was all I said.
Eventually, as we continued walking down the route, we began to hear large booming sounds from a distance. "There's that sound, Paxton ain't so far off now." said Nage. "What is that sound?" I asked, "Those would be the mortar rounds, heavy explosive shells that are bombarding Paxton." said Nage
"Who is shooting them?" I asked. "Everyone" said Nage.
Nage later explained to me about what's going on in Paxton. Apparently, the battle in Paxton is much larger than the small town itself, originally it was a collection of villages made up of many people. Eventually the population in the town greatly exceeded Tersha, up to nearly a thousand people.
The villages, would quarrel with each other, but not to the point where they would completely annihilate each other. It was because of this, the villages never united. A mercenary company known as the "Fangs" suddenly marched into Paxton, and opened fire on the villages.
Despite the mercenaries were vastly outnumbered, the villages never united and so numbers did not matter.
This was around the time, when the Revos Order had more presence in the region. Wanting to carve a path to Boston, they needed to get through Paxton first. So a great battle fought between the Knights of the Revos order, The Fangs, and the people of the villages in the crossfire.
As we reached atop a hill the road was going to. I can finally see Paxton. Smoke risen all over the not so small town, the villagers who had formerly lived here definitely made this town a lot larger than it originally had been. Nage pointed to a road heading east, "That's where the Order's forward operating base is. As a caravan we could check up there, telling them we're not targets to be shot at, but I'm gonna bet they would be willing us out a bit."
We walked on the road heading east toward the forward base, the bombings and the sounds of gunfire are echoed all over the area. "Strap your weapon, they'll shoot us if they see us walking in with guns in our arms." said Nage.
I did as he said, and strapped my shotgun around my shoulder and continued to walk along the road. As we continued, we see a small compound of barns and a house. the compound had a perimeter of a rusty chain linked fence with barbed wire.
Suddenly, from the woods a shot was fired. A screeching bullet hit the concrete road a few feet from us, the bullet was going so fast it gave a very distinctive sight, almost as if it just shot a red laser!
I panicked when I heard the shot, I wanted to reach for my gun but Nage placed his hand on my shoulder. "That was just a warning shot, relax." A voice that sounded as if it was coming from a radio sounded.
HALT!
Two armored knights,that had their heavy steel armor camouflaged, emerged from the woods. They pointed their advanced rifles at us, "Hold on there, we're not enemies of you. We're just here to see who's' in charge."
"State your business here, this is a restricted area."
Restricted area? What has Nage lead us into?! I didn't want to say anything, I was still shaken up by that warning shot, Nage finally gave an explanation as to why we were here.
"We were deployed from... Amherst! Command sent us to aid in Paxton."
"We already have a platoon's worth of soldiers sent in from command, you're not backup. Turn around and walk before we blow your heads off!"
I almost did exactly as the knight ordered, but Nage once again, grabbed my shoulder urging me to stay.
"Alright soldier, you caught me. We'll be leaving just as soon as you can give me your names, ranks, and serial numbers."
"Why do you need to know those for?"
"So I can tell command that the mission has failed because two Knights would not let us see who is in charge here."
"Bullshit. You're not from command. Last warning, tribal. Turn your asses around and walk away before we put holes in your heads."
Nage will only accomplish getting us killed if he keeps this up! I take a step back, but Nage stood his ground and continued to talk.
"If you must know my business, I am delivering very valuable cargo to whoever is in charge here."
"What's the cargo? I see no Bovine anywhere."
Nage pointed his thumb at me
"This guy right here. He is a vault dweller, and commands knows he could be of some aid in Paxton."
W-What?! I'm Cargo!?
"You're kidding me... He's not a Vault Dweller."
"Take a look at his jumpsuit and wrist computer, he is definitely a Vault Dweller. However, if you still believe I am an intruder, I'll just be leaving. This just means you stay in this hell longer, rather than going back to amherst."
Both the Knights looked at each other.
Nage finally turned around and began to walk. I joined along with him, but before we could walk a few feet one of the Knights called out to outs.
"Wait! Hold on there!"
Nage turned his head.
"W-we'll let you through. Don't cause any trouble." Said the Knight. Nage smiled and nodded, we both walked toward the compound. Both of the knights then returned to their posts in the forest, eventually disappearing because of the camouflage armor.
As we walked up to the compound, we walked past more armed Knights straight into the center of the base. A Knight approached us, he was not wearing their helmet, proving to me that these soldiers were actually human. The knight had a large gash across his forehead and several skeletal thumbs as a necklace. A good look at his armor would tell you he's been through several battles, All scratched up and even burnt!
Nage gestured his hand for a handshake, and the Knight shook his hand.
"How ya doin', Sergeant Major Ernam"
"Nage, nice to meet ya'
"You don't look like any backup Amherst would send, what brings you here?"
"We're on a bit of a mission, who is in charge here?"
Instead of answering Nage's question, he turned his head to me and his eyes widened.
"Y-You're a Dweller!"
"He sure is" said Nage
He still glared at me, making me feel uncomfortable, I was too nervous to say anything.
"He's... New. Out here, so uhh he's pretty shaken up."
"Oh of course, I understand." Ernam turned to me.
"It must be tough, to transition yourself into a world like this." He looked back to Nage
"Why would you bring him out here near Paxton?"
"Well, that's between me and your commanding officer." said Nage
"Captain Tarrish is the commanding officer here, He's in a meeting now though. Just. Taking a seat somewhere, I'll come get you when he's ready."
"Much obliged, Sergeant Major"
Ernam nodded, he took one more look at me and walked away.
Nage and I found a table to sit at one of the barn houses that had been converted to a mess hall. Not everyone was wearing armor, which dumbfounded me, all this time I used to think they either never take off their armor or were robots! These Knights are human like me and Nage, all different behind their intimidating helmets. All around the camp, were flagpoles holding the flag of their nation.
The flag shown to have a Blue background with two yellow stripes across and three yellow stars on top of the stripes. "Hey Nage." I called. "Hmm?" "You said the order is the military branch of a society far south. What is the society called?" I asked.
Nage took a second t think and answered. "It's called, The Washington Federation, It's where the Order originated and started a government that maintained peace, whether by force or not."
We waited for almost two hours just watching other people eat and mingle. Since we were outsiders, we did not make any conversations with them, however a few of them did keep staring at me...
Finally, Ernam returned to us "Alright, he's waiting to see you, follow me"
We both got up from our table and followed Ernam into another barn. This barn in particular is protected by several Knights, with Ernam with us, they stepped aside to let us in.
"Captain, they're here." said Ernam. in the room was a large table with a close up map of Paxton, with chairs all around the table. All the chairs were empty with the exception of one chair a man was sitting in. Instead of Power Armor, he wore some kind of uniform that had several medals. The captain looked at us, he had a straight forehead and had a very impressive scar, it looked as though a bullet had skid across his face all the way up to his hairline.
He looked up at us from his maps, and as expected, was shocked by my presence. However he isn't gasping or giving me a strange glare, his eyes widened for only a second then went back into hiding in his deep eye pockets. "Well, I'll be damned." He said. He stepped out of the chair and walked toward me, disregarding Nage and Ernam. "I haven't seen one of you in years..." he grabbed my arm and lifted it to his face, inspecting my PipBoy.
The Captain finally dropped my arm, "Right then. Welcome to the Order's forward operating base." He turned his head to Nage "I know command did not send you here to aid us, but because you have... this Vault dweller with you, I'm quite curious as to why you came here."
The Captain nodded Ernam, who placed a fist where his heart should be and walked away, was that some kind of salute? "Sorry for the strange inspection I gave you. I met a Vault dweller many years ago who served with the Order, name's Tarrish"
I took a step back after he released me, I gave a nervous chuckle "I-Its fine... Ken Mierson..." behind me Nage also stated his name.
"I'm taking him through Paxton to Worcester. He has some business there that needs to be taken care of." said Nage.
"What sort of business?" asked the Captain, Nage looked at me for a moment then back at him. "It's confidential."
"Ah, I see. I understand."
"I actually wanted to know if the Order still does civilian protection in Paxton, like how you did for the caravans"
"We don't do that anymore, we're putting all forces to focus on the Fangs in Paxton."
Nage paused for a moment.
"Can't you make an exception? You don't see a Vault dweller so often, I'm sure you agree with me that he should be protected a bit."
"Are you insisting that he should be of interest to the Order and the Federation of Washington?"
"Maybe, but right now he need's a good escort through Paxton."
Maybe? Am I precious cargo now? I don't like this, I feel like Nage is just trading my existence for an escort through Paxton.
"I'm sorry, I won't spare any more men only to taxi two people across a warzone. I won't help you."
The captain turned around back to his maps.
"But he's a-"
"I think I've heard enough."
Nage looked somewhat frustrated, "Right... I understand. Let's go, Ken" he nudged me to follow him. He looked angry or rather disappointed, was he really expecting the Order to help us?
Before I could set my last foot out the door the Captain yelled out "Wait a minute!."
We both turned around, "Maybe I can help you." he said. Nage and I reentered the room, the captain stood by the table. Standing beside him, we took a look at the maps. He pointed to a metal figurine that resembled a Knight "Ernam's fire team is heading into the southeast quadrant of town, now he won't be able to escort you all the way out of town, but I'll allow you to tag along with his team."
I looked at Nage, his angry and frustrated face is replaced with a sleek smile and a snicker. "Alright, Captain. what do you want in return?"
"I know there is a Vault in Worcester, and I'm gonna take a wild guess that that's where you are going huh? Well. Should that Vault be empty or abandoned, you will report it back to me, granted you even live."
"Will do, Captain." said Nage
"You're not a Knight. Quit calling me that, my name is Tarrish to you two." said the Captain... I mean Tarrish.
"Ernam's team is heading out in two hours, I'd get ready if I were you." Tarrish went back to his maps. "Thanks alot, Tarrish. You may have saved our asses out there."said Nage, then we both walked out the Barn house to the outside courtyard.
"What did he mean by the Vault being empty?" I asked Nage. He didn't answer me.
We met up with Ernam and told him of what Tarrish said. "Well alright, but we're not waiting on you two. You keep up with us and we'll be just fine."
Ernam insisted that we find something to do while we wait for the fire team to deploy. Nage decided to take a nap while sitting up leaving me to myself to wait. After a while I realized something. I had hardly touched my PipBoy's radio frequencies, I remember after leaving the Vault that it had picked up several.
I opened up the module and clicked a tab for "Radio" and found two sources.
One read "Federation Broadcast", the signal of it is really strong, coming assumingly from Amherst. Another frequency I found was called simply called "Local", It's signal is much weaker compared to the Federation's but it was good enough to hear it from where I am.
I tuned into the Federation broadcast first, I wanted to hear what they had to say. The voice that was playing sounded like a man who was enthusiastically preaching.
-ederation is here to HELP you people! The Federation is here to help you not only survive but to thrive! To expand! To finally LIVE again! We ask that you reach out your hand.. embrace the federation, and in return... We shall grab your arms and pick you up on your feet again! I hope you think about that while I play this next song.
A song played, the quality of the song was scratchy but is comprehensible. I changed the frequency to the local signal. The voice in this signal was completely opposite of the Federation's broadcast. The voice in the radio sounded tired, and desperate.
There was radio noise for a while, finally a voice could be heard.
*THZZZ* I don't *THZZZ* If anyone can hear me...
The Fang Mercenaries continue to wipe out everyone in all surrounding villages*THZZZ*
They are *THZZZ* -illing everyone... all women and children alike.
Even with all the villages united, we stand no chanc-*THZZZZ* There is nowhere safe from the Fangs.
Everyone who could leave, has already fled. *THZZZ*
Those who stayed... stay to fight back...
I am Gerro from the village that fell first to the Fangs, reporting in on the community radio.
Something has to change soon.
Or I'm afraid.
There won't be many of us left.
If you hear this... Please help us... This message repeats.
*THZZZ*