Calli perused the items in the Brotherhood's lockers. Hawk had destroyed the contaminated clothing she had worn from Arhome and she didn't have anything at all to wear. She sighed. The battle gear wasn't her style but it beat walking the wasteland naked. She picked out one of the smaller women's armor and put it on, snapping the helmet in place. She was hidden once again. She strolled out to where Hawk sat still dressed in the loose garb favored in Arhome. It wasn't really suitable for the wasteland but he hadn't taken the time to don armor after dropping the contaminated radiation suit in the decontamination stream.
"Sorry, big guy" she said, "There's nothing here that would fit you. What you have on will have to do until you can get your armor. At least there're some decent weapons here."
"Then we're going to Arhome?", he asked. She shook her head.
"No, I'm not going to Arhome," she said. "But you are. I have a job for you to do. I'll meet you at Rivet City in 2 days. Then we're going to pay a little call on the Enclave camp behind the Arlington Library before we get back to work. We've been neglecting the vaults lately. I'm sure there's more out there to find."
He picked up his pack to follow her. He rarely argued with Calli when the warrior and scavenger was bent on walking the wasteland. She would just go without him.
Calli slipped up behind the Enclave guard. Before he was even aware she was there, she had him in a headlock, a knife at his throat.
"Don't move if you want to live", she growled. "I have a message for your Commander."
Hawk glided silently out of the darkness and held a small bag in front of the guard.
"Take the bag," she commanded as the guard hesitated. "Give it to your Commander."
The knife left his throat. He hesitated before turning around. His weapons were gone, and so were Calli and Hawk. He looked at the bag for a moment, considering, but she hadn't said not to look in it. He opened it slowly and peered inside. It contained a small pile of dog tags. Enclave tags. He looked up again at the quiet night. He knew what the message was. The soldiers sent to take Arhome weren't coming back.
"How were things at Arhome?" Calli asked ."Did we lose anyone?"
She was sipping her wine aboard the Tradewind ll. They had caught her at the River Port trading post after spending the night there and were now heading north.
"We only lost one person, the Cave Entrance guard. He was dead when they got out to him", Hawk said.
Calli brooded. "If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have had any warning and there would have been a lot more fatalities. The council needs to give him special recognition and help his family."
Hawk agreed. "James wants to know when you're coming back to Arhome. They've got to decide what to do with the Enclave prisoners and Scott", he said.
Calli looked out over the water. "I'm not going back. The council can rule Arhome on its own. They don't need me to help them make decisions anymore."
"What about Nathan?" Hawk asked quietly. "He is your husband. And what about the kids? You can't just abandon them."
Calli rose. "He has Jewel. He doesn't need me. The kids don't either. They're better off with Aileen or Jewell raising them. Now we'd better get some sleep, we have work to do tomorrow." Hawk watched her stalk off to her room. He had never known how to help her when she was hurting. That was why she needed humans.
Nathan made good time to the safe house since he was riding one of the fastest horses in Arhome, but no one answered his calls and he couldn't get in. A careful search of the area showed where they had left the safe house and headed east, toward the river, but he quickly lost their trail. They had ran the wasteland for longer than he had been alive and couldn't be tracked if they didn't want to be. So where would they go? It could be anywhere but he was betting on their hometown of Megaton. They would need to restock before going on a search or mission. He remounted the mare and headed northwest.
They left the Tradewind ll at the Citadel dock. Calli wanted to restock from the items in their rooms and purchase other items from the post. They were greeted with the message that the Elder wanted to see her.
"You wanted to see me, sir?", Calli asked, standing in the doorway. The Elder quirked his eyebrow at the Brotherhood outfit. She caught the look. "I ran into some trouble and had to borrow a suit from a safe house," she said, closing the door behind her and removing the helmet.
"So I heard. I understand you had another run in with the Enclave", he said.
"Yes, sir," she responded.
"I'm glad to see you aren't injured. I have a mission I'd like you to take on", he said.
Calli nodded, her eyes lighting with excitement. It was trading time, and the Elder could drive a hard bargain.
Nathan felt a sense of freedom as he rode through the landscape. He had spent the last 6 years in Arhome, raising his triplets and seeing to the medical needs of Arhome's residents. He remembered the barrenness of the land when he and Scott had walked the trading trails. Now there were farms dotting the landscape, green with crops and large trees green against the skyline. Grasses and flowering plants, trees and bushes covered much of the once barren land. The GECK had spread out, coupled with the freshening water from the Project and the spread of Bob's seeds, bringing back life to the wasteland. The mare he had brought out from Arhome had been conditioned to the wasteland and didn't flinch at the sights and sounds.
The whir of insects and scurrying of small life forms accompanied the sigh of the wind. This didn't make the land less dangerous though and he stayed on alert even as he admired the beauty surrounding him. He was startled by a bird suddenly taking flight from some bushes, and paused a moment to admire its bright colors.
He stopped briefly at Tennpenny tower. Calli now owned the tower and sometimes occupied the main suite. No one at the Tower had seen her or Hawk since the previous week, when he had checked on the books. After a quick lunch he rode on toward Megaton. The guards had taken care of his mare while he ate and she was fresh and ready to go.
Nathan walked into the small house in Megaton and looked around. The Mr. Handy was collapsed in a corner where Calli often left it, turned off to save energy. A layer of dust covering all surfaces attested to the fact that no one had been here in some time. Of course, Calli had been spending more time in Arhome until recently. He checked cupboards and drawers, but found no indication of where they might have gone.
The refrigerator was empty of all foods that would have spoiled quickly but there were some dried and packaged food. Where could she have gone? She had numerous caches scattered throughout the wasteland and there were several posts she traded at. His next best guess was the Citadel. If she was looking for an assignment, that would be the most likely place to go.
He wouldn't make it to the Citadel today, but he could spend the night at the Super Duper Mart trading post. Megaton was further than he had remembered and he was no longer conditioned to the long rides in the wasteland.
Calli left the Elder's office with an uneasy feeling. Something just didn't seem right about the assignment, but the pay was good, and it was just the sort of thing they usually did. They were to rescue a Brotherhood officer being held by the Enclave at a detention camp only two days journey from the Citadel. The Elder had been informed of the capture only the day before. He didn't want to send a squad after the man as a frontal attack would almost guarantee the man's death.
The Elder hadn't been forthcoming with where he had gotten his information, only saying it was a 'reliable source'. This didn't set well with Calli. She would have liked to interrogate the source herself, but there wasn't much to be done about it unless she just refused the assignment. Right at this moment, with the altercation with Nathan still in her mind, she was feeling a bit reckless anyway.
Hawk was checking their inventory when she entered their rooms. She snapped off the helmet that kept her hidden from the Wasteland.
"We have an assignment," she started. Hawk looked up from the suit he was examining and waited. Calli was frowning. She explained the situation, adding that if he didn't feel easy about it he was free to remain here or go his own way. Hawk sighed. Calli should know by now he wasn't going to let her go trotting off into a dangerous situation without him.
He held up the suit. "This one appears to be in full repair, you might want to use it. That one," he pointed to one laying on the bed, " needs to have work done on the environmental unit. I think you wore it a couple months ago when we got stuck in that rad area by an Enclave contingent. You want to take care of it or send it to the Brotherhood craftsman?"
Calli considered. "I'll take it to Harmon later", she said, referring to Arhome's master craftsman.
They chose the armor, weapons, and medical supplies they would need for the rescue. They weren't carrying much food and water as these were more readily available now, and they had plenty of caps to pay for them. They would leave early in the morning. Since they were going in that direction they could stop at the Super Duper Mart trading post to pick up any extra supplies.
Calli felt safe enough in the Citadel to change into a more leisurely outfit, an encompassing gown she had designed to hide her body with a headpiece with a net to cover her face. No one dared to try to lift the net. May as well take it easy for the evening, tomorrow would be the start of a new mission.