Chapter 3: Land On The Horizon
….
Commonwealth Airspace: May 16 2296
Time: 16:00
The flight back to the Castle was passed mostly in silence but as they got closer to the Castle Garret took out a set of binoculars and looked out towards the ocean and what he saw made his jaw drop. What he was looking at was what looked like a new continent about, though still very far off in the distance, seemed to be the coastline of a new land mass. He then handed the binoculars to Verigl who took them and looked in the same direction that Garret had looked. The man had more or less the same reaction except he dropped the spectacles, which he then had to scramble to grab before they fell out of the Vertibird.
Before either man could say anything the aircraft began its descent. As the vertibird was landing Garret took a quick peek out the door and what he saw the whole base was on high alert. Minutemen were running back and forth from action stations, the Commonwealth Navy had patrol boats running up and down the coast, other vertibirds were bring in more soldiers, and the coastal artillery mortars were all pointing out to sea. As they got closer to the ground he saw Hancock, Ronnie, Danse, and Preston all wait for him. As the bird touched and he got out they approached him.
"Hey?" He said.
"Hey…. The world goes white and new land appears off the coast and your response is HEY." Ronnie yelled as she was clearly annoyed at the whole situation.
"Oh relax Col. Fussy panties." Hancock said with a relaxed tone. "I probably would have said the same thing if I was him."
"I have to agree with Col. Shaw this isn't the time for calm. If anything, we need action." Danse spoke up agreeing with Ronnie Shaw.
"Look I think we can all agree the situation is pretty serious but I think we can all worry about that once we're in the Generals office." Preston said, trying to defuse the situation.
Garret nodded to Preston's point and everyone followed him to his office.
…...
Inside his office he saw a few other people waiting for him. There was Admiral Jeremiah O'brian commander of the Commonwealth Navy, Commander Jenny Long commander of the air force, Deacon of the Railroad Intelligence Agency, Piper Wright who managed to sneak her way in to get a head of the rest of the press, Maj. James Price of the 11th Field Artillery, and few other officers from either active duty or reserved units.
"Alright you may all be seated." Garret said as he, Hancock, and Preston took their seats behind his desk.
The room was silent for a few uncomfortable seconds before someone finally spoke up.
"So General, why don't you tell us why there is a new landmass sitting not too far away in the middle of the ocean?" Piper piped up with her question.
"Well Piper I believe that Doctor Vergil could probably give you a better answer than I could. Doctor if you would?" He asked.
Vergil then stood up and cleared his throat before speaking.
"Ehm…Well earlier today at the Vault 88 lab we were conducting a live test with a newly built teleporter which was supposed to be bringing a visitor from the Mojave to here so we could begin trade relations. However during the test today something went wrong either on our end or their end but whatever it did do. It either sent us to another world or brought that to ours." Vergil finished.
"So this brings up the question." O'Brian spoke up. "When do we go over?"
The room went quiet as everyone turned to look at the Admiral who just shrugged his shoulders. Everyone then turned back to the main desk. Garret just like everyone was just as surprised as everyone else by the Admirals question. Of course they would go over at some point but when was another question.
"That's gonna have to be a question for the General Staff and the Congress to decide." Preston spoke up.
The meeting continued for another couple of hours, till Garret Called it for the evening so that he and the heads of the military could discuss the situation in private.
"So what should we do?" Preston asked. "Because at some point some ones going to go over there and we don't know what will happen."
'Oh course he's right how long before another faction launched their own expedition to claim territory. Or hell, how long before people in general start heading for the new land.' Garret thought. 'No if anyone was going to be going over first it was going to be them.'
"Then we have no choice. We'll have to send an expedition to the new land, a military one." He said allowed to his compatriots.
"Isn't that a little extreme? I mean wouldn't the people and whoever lives there take it the wrong way if we show up with an army?" Preston asked as he was concerned about the Minutemen acting like bullies.
"No, I get what General Madison's saying." Danse spoke in. "If we go over with an army, we'll show the people that we're willing to take great risks for greater rewards. Also if there is anyone already living there it will show them that we're a force to be reckoned with." he then stated.
That got Preston to back down from his argument. However this still left one big question. How big of a force to send and how long would it take to assemble, arm and supply such a force?
"Alright so how many are we sending?" Hancock asked.
Garret thought about it for a moment and came up with a figure though high should be manageable. "A brigade of at least 2,000 men including support and logistics."
Everyone in the room looked like their eyes were going to pop out of their heads at that number. Though the population of the Commonwealth had and was increasing everyday with the influx of new residents and settlements looking to join but still 2,000 was still a lot of people to recruit.
Seeing that everyone was about to lose it he then added. "We can make up a large portion of that force through the use of robots." This seemed to calm them down enough for him to continue. "We'll need the Navy providing a steady stream of supplies to and from Boston. We'll also need the marines guarding both the ships and the new port we'll have to build." Garret finished.
Preston stood up from his seat to speak. "That's gonna require a good portion of our fleet and I like to remind everyone that our most heavily armed vessels are converted tugboats and we only have five of those." he pointed out.
Admiral O'Brian who had remained silent through most of the discussion, finally decided to step in. "Colonel Garvey if I may?" He asked, allowing Preston to give the floor to him. "General I believe it's time we let the other officers and the President in on our little secret."
All eyes in the room slowly turned and were now on Garret. Seeing that the cat was out of the bag he took a deep breath and nodded to the Admiral in agreement.
"For the last four weeks me and General Madison have been in secret talks with a group up in Bath Maine called the ship builders. From what we've learned they have a fully built and still seaworthy pre-war destroyer still sitting in drydock at the old Bath Iron Works facility." (For context imagen a WW2 Allen M. Sumner class destroyer but Fallout style.)
The room was silent with the shocked expressions on their faces. Not only had Madison and O'brian not told anyone in the government but even the rest of the military leadership was in the dark about this as well. For Hancock he didn't know what to think. On one hand he was happy that the Navy would be getting an actual warship, but on the other the two did go behind his back to get it without telling anyone.
"Alright before I decide whether to punish you or congratulate you two on your little scheme. Do you care to tell me why you didn't tell anyone about this?" Hancock asked.
Garret cleared his throat. "Well it largely has to do with the fact we didn't want the Brotherhood to find out." he said, gaining everyone's attention.
"You see Mr. President we feared that if word got out that there was still a functional pre-war destroyer sitting up in Maine and that we were going to use it. Then Elder Maxson would either take it for himself or make sure no one could ever use it." O'brian added.
Hancock paused for a moment to digest the information he had just been told and they were right. Though the UTC and the BoS had a treaty of alliance, the brotherhood was still very reluctant to share technology. Hell it took a lot of convincing and negotiating just to get them to help train and repair the Minutemen's Vertibirds and the only reason they did that was because the Sole Survivor was a member of the Brotherhood.
"Alright I'll talk to the Congress about this and see about getting approval for the new ship and your expedition." Hancock said before leaving to head home.
"So?" Preston started. "How long do you think it will take us to get everything ready for the expedition?" he asked.
"By my best estimate it should take about a year and a half for us to train, arm, and supply the entire army." Danse spoke.
"That's not the only hurdle!" O'Brian spoke up. "We might be getting a functioning destroyer, but that ships gonna need at least two years in port before we can send her into combat."
"He's right even though most of the ship is seaworthy, a lot of her systems are gonna need to be repaired or replaced. Not to mention she has no munitions which means we're gonna have to make it. If we want her to be able to fight whatever we come across out there in this new world." Garret chimed in to the conversation.
The meeting continued till about 10pm when Garret finally called it and decided that they would continue the discussion in the morning. As they all left Garret took one last look out towards the new land with just one thought on his mind. If there are people over there. Who are they?
…
Garan: Dark Citadel
May 20th 2296
It had been three days since Chloe and Olga had been captured by the Black Dogs. It had also been days since Chloe had seen the mystery person in the throne room and yet he hadn't made an attempt to rescue them. She knew he was still in the citadel because every now and then when they were either asleep or when the guards weren't around he would leave them bits of food and fresh water in strange containers that read purified water on them.
As Chloe sat in her cell staring at the wall she heard the noise of the door to her cell being opened. As she turned her head her eyes widened in terror as two massive orcs entered and proceeded to shackle her before dragging her away.
When she entered the throne room she saw it was filled with both orcs and Black dogs and in the center sitting on her queen's throne was Vult grinning smugly at the dark queen's handmaiden as she was dragged before him.
"Ah well if it isn't Chloe." Vult said as he stood up. "You know I have to hand it to you. You put up one hell of a fight too bad it wasn't enough to keep your Bitch Queen safe."
Chloe glared daggers at the man. "Silence you damn human! Once I'm free from these binds I will slay you myself." She roared.
Vult and his men could only laugh at Chloe's empty threat.
"No I don't think that will be happening." he said as he retook his seat. "You see I have other plans for you bitch."
"And what would that be?" She demanded.
"You see me and the monster have come to an agreement. They join me and in return I give them all the women they want to breed. Because you see, today marks the beginning of my new Empire of Sex. Where men will be incharge and women will be put in their place either for sex or in the kitchen."
Chloe's eyes widened in shock at what she was hearing. "I'll never be your slave, you disgusting pig!" she cried out.
Vult could only laugh at her. "Oh no you're not going to be my slave. That right has been reserved for that Queen of yours." He said as the look of fear grew. "No, you're going to be theirs." he said as he pointed at the orcs slowly surrounding her.
Chloe's face morphed into a look of pure terror as one of the orcs came closer as he licked his lips and revealed his fully erect penis ready to violate the poor half elf. Before the orc even had a chance to grab her by the head there was what sounded like a loud clap of thunder. As Chloe looked up she saw that the orc's head had exploded and was now gushing blood out of the stump of where its head used to be. Before the corps could hit the ground another two loud bangs were heard and two more orcs joined their brother on the floor as blood began to pool around.
All eyes now turned to where the sounds had come from. As Chloe turned and looked her eyes widened at the sight before her. Standing at the entrance to the throne room stood
"And the Lord said. When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers." The figure spoke.
"WHO ARE YOU?" Vult screamed.
"Oh Just a mailman with one hell of an arsenal. But most people call me the Courier or Six. But you can call me your worst nightmare." Six said as he leveled his revolver now aimed at Vult.
Vult was silent as he stared in disbelief. The man before him was nothing more than a messenger, and yet he had managed to cut down three large Orcs with a weapon he had never seen before. But he was just one man while he commanded an army of both men and monsters alike. He smiled as the image of the Courier being cut down filled his mind.
"Ahahahah." He laughed. "So what's your plan? You don't honestly believe that you, a lone messenger, can defeat me ..."
A loud bang was heard as the bullet slammed into a magic shield mere inches from Vults face. Vult was taken back as the sudden realization of how close he came to death. Turning his head he saw his head mage Kin was panting and was struggling to stay standing. Thanks to Kins quick thinking he was saved but whatever was propelling the object was strong enough that it forced Kin to use more energy into keeping the shield from breaking from the force.
With everybody still stunned by his shot, Six ran up to Chloe and helped her to her feet.
"Come on darlin we gotta move while they're all distracted." Six shouted as he lifted her to her feet.
Chloe was suddenly snapped back to her senses as soon as she felt the Courier lifting her up. 'Wait did he just call me Darlin?' She thought to herself. She clearly knew he didn't mean anything by it. But in the back of her mind why did it sound nice to hear him say it?
Once he got her up. Six and Chloe began to make a run for the door. He had switched from his revolver to his riot shotgun and began to clear a path through both man and beast. As they got closer to the door he looked back and saw Vult now wielding a comically large sword charging towards him and his rescued new companion.
"STOP THEM! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" Vult shouted.
Thinking quickly, Six pulled a flash bang from his pocket. He then looked over to Chloe. She quickly noticed that he was staring at her, getting her attention.
"What are you thinking, Human?" She asked as theY exit got closer.
Six then held up the flashbang. "I'm gonna drop this and whatever you do. Don't look back! Got it?"
To her surprise she found herself nodding in acknowledgement to his order. Even though she hated humans. She found herself not acting hostile towards him; it was as if the ora this man was giving off was that of an honest soul that somehow put her mind at ease.
As they reached the final stretch Six pulled the pin on the grenade and chucked it back behind them. A second later there was a loud bang along with a bright flash and what followed was the screaming and crying of both men and monster.
As they finally reached the door Chloe looked back to see what the device did. To her surprise she saw Vult down on a knee with his hands furiously rubbing his eyes and he wasn't the only one almost the entire room had the same response. Before she could say something she felt herself get yanked into the hall. She looked to see the Courier taking a couple of spears and sliding them through the door handles as a makeshift lock.
"Woo I haven't fought like that in years. Not since the battle at the Hoover Dam." Six shouted as he took in their daring escape.
Chloe was speechless. No less then a moment ago she was seconds away from being raped to now finding herself being rescued by the stranglie clothed human that her Queen had summoned and he was acting like he just won a great victory.
"Ehem?" She grunted getting his attention. "Pardon me Human but aren't you celebrating a bit prematurely? I doubt your temporary lock will hold them for long." Chloe pointed out to the Courier.
Six turned to face her. "Well you know darlin sometimes its the little victories that matter." He said.
"The little victories. You mean how it took you three days to finally launch your rescue and to do so at the very last minute. Just when I was about to be defiled by those orcs." She stated as she got closer to her savior a look of rage started to work its way onto her face. "And don't call me Darlin. I don't know you that well. If you must call me anything, call me by my name Chloe." She finished her rant.
Six looked down at the girl a little astonished but also a bit amused. She reminded him of an angry child who was mad at their friends for not taking them seriously. Especially since she was chained up in the weirdest cuff he had ever seen and was wearing an outfit that to him reminded him of the girls over at Gomorrah.
"(snorts) Well miss Chloe I guess you have a point." He said as he got behind her.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" She shouted in alarm as she spun around to face Six.
Six then rolled his eyes under his helmet before grabbing her by the shoulders and spinning her back around. "Hold still. I need to get a good look at the lock on these restraints." Six said while pulling out his screwdriver and bobby pin. "I'm Six by the way."
He said as he went to work.
Chloe relented as Six went to work. "(sigh) So your name is a number. What did you get hit in the head or something?" She asked.
"Well you could say that. Except replace, hit in the head with a shot in the head twice, also had my brain removed, heart and spine replaced, as well as numerous implants put in me. As well as blown up, shot, stabbed, set on fire, and bludgeoned." Six said as he made one final turn and the lock released with a click. As he stepped in front of her he saw that she looked horrified by what he just told her.
"Ho … How are you alive?" She asked nervously.
Before Six could reply they heard a loud thud against the door.
Six then looked at Chloe and said. "Run!" The two then took off running in the direction of the dungeon.
The scene then pan downs to the floor were a circular metal disc with a red light glowing on its top glowing.
….
Dark Citadel Dungeon
"SOOO do you think the boss will let us have a turn with the half elf one?" Guard one asked.
"Really man. You know she's gonna be given to the orcs right." Guard two replied.
"Oh yeah I forgot." He then looked in the cell at Olga. "What about her?" Guard 1 asked.
"Oh yeah. Vult said everyone's gonna get a turn with her." Guard 2 replied.
Olga could only remain silent as she sat in her cell listening to the guards and awaiting her fate.
"So which hole do you want?" Guard 2 asked.
"Oh I want her mou…..(Head explodes)" Guard 1 said before dying.
"Whaa….herk!" Was all guard two could say before a blade was shoved into his chest.
Olga looked out of her cell in amazement as her two guards fell to the ground dead, a pool of blood starting to form where they lay. Then like a magic the Courier appeared in front of her cell door along with Chloe behind him.
"Chloe?" Olga shouted in surprise as she jumped to her feet and ran up to the bars. "And you um." Olga tried to guess the newcomer's name.
"Names Six and you're the lady that interrupted a very important science experiment teleporting me here." Six said
Before Olga could respond there was a loud boom back down the hall.
"What was that?" Chloe asked as she unlocked the cell door.
"Oh good, they found the landmines." Six answered.
"Um, what's a landmine sir Six?" Olga asked as she stepped out of her cell.
"An explosive one puts on the ground." He replied.
"WHAT?" Both elves yelled in unison.
…..
Corridor to the dungeon
"MY LEGS!" Shouted an injured Black Dog.
Vult was seething with rage. In one day he was having more problems in one day than he had ever had in his whole mercenary career. As he looked down the corridor he saw another explosion and this time he heard the cries of orcs that he had sent down hoping their tougher hides would protect them but clearly he was wrong.
"How… How is one person causing so much damage?" He shouted.
"Um well boss you know they've cornered themselves in the dungeon. We'll have them in custody as soon as we clear the hall." Hicks said with a nervous grin on his face trying to calm down his leader.
"Shut up Hicks." Vult ordered as he continued to seeth.
…..
Back in the dungeon Six was trying to calm down the two elf women after explaining what a landmine was to them.
"YOUR MAD!" Olga screamed.
"Those things are going to destroy my ladies castle." Chloe added.
Having had enough of their squawking. Six proceeded to grab both of them by their ears and gave them a hard tug.
"OW ow ow ow." both of them cried.
"Alright that's enough." Six began. "First off there's not enough explosives in them to even bring this place down, and second I have a plan to get us out of here."
The two elves glared at him for a second before they calmed down and listened to their rescuer.
"Alright so there is a 50/50 chance this will either teleport us to safety or do absolutely nothing either way we'll either have to fight our way out or we'll be somewhere a hell of a lot safer then this place." Six said as he walked up to the taking out the transportalponder. He then locked his arms around theirs and pulled them in close.
"What are you doing, human?" Olga asked a questioning look on her face.
Chloe seemed to be blushing from the close contact with the Courier.
"We have to be in close proximity if this is even going to come remotely close to working. Also I've never done this with two people so it might also kill us." Six said with a smile behind his helmet.
Both girls looked at him in horror at what he had just said. Just than Vult burst through the door to the dungeon and saw the three of them arms linked and the Courier armed with a strange device in his hand.
"Get Away From My Women!" Vult yelled as he charged down the hall.
"Here goes nothing." Six said as he squeezed the trigger of the transportalponder.
And in a flash of blue light they were gone. All that remained was a scorched mark where they had just been. Vult could only stare, eyes widened in a mix of horror and disbelief. His first prizes of his new Cuntry was gone.
…...
Mojave Wasteland:
May 19 9:00 pm
Outskirts of Goodsprings
The darkness and silence of the desert was suddenly disturbed with a bright blue light and the crackling of lightning. As three figures appeared from it and hit the ground hard. The three made a mixture of painful grunts and moans as their senses came back to them.
The Courier was the first to get to his feet and take a look around once he knew where he was he then helped the two dark elves to their feet.
"Hallelujah we're just outside Goodsprings." He jumped with joy.
"We're in your homeland then?" Chloe asked as she finished dusting herself off.
"Hmm not different from Garan to be honest." Olga added as she took in her surroundings.
"Yup. Ain't it great." Six said as he put his hands on his hips. "This calls for a drink."
"Where are we going to get a drink out here?" Olga asked.
"Over there." Six pointed in the direction of the town. "We'll see if Trudy, still up and if she can hit us up with a couple of rounds."
"But won't we stick out?" Chloe asked.
"Nah you'll be fine. If anyone asks, just say it's a birth defect. Besides, they'll all be too busy staring at your umm." Six took a second to really look them over and it hit like a bighorner at full speed. They looked like whores and he knew if he brought them in there every drunk in the place would be trying to get a piece of them. "Shit." Was all he could say.
"Alright new plan, we'll get you two some new clothes and then we'll get drinks." He said as he turned towards the town and started walking.
"Wait what's wrong with our attire?" Chloe asked as she and Olga began to follow behind him.
"Lets just say people around are a bit more sensitive about people walking around in clothes like that. Also if we're going to make it to New Vegas you're gonna want something with a bit more protection." Six said as he turned on his pip-boys radio and the smooth voice of Frank Sinatra's Blue Moon began to fill the air.
Not wanting to continue the argument or keep asking questions. Both Olga and Chloe choose to stay silent as they follow their rescuer turned guide towards the small town. As Chloe looked into the distance she could see what looked like bright light and the outline of a city in the distance. 'Just what kind of world did my Queen and I find ourselves in?' She asked herself.
…..
A/N:
Alright sorry for the wait I was struggling to write this chapter but hey we're done now and things are happening. Anyway, in the next chapter the Minutemen will finally go to Eostia. Hurray. You what that means, I'll finally get to write big battles. Also a certain princess will learn a valuable lesson. Just a heads up expect a mixture of Civil War, WW1 and WW2 military tactics throughout this story. The way I see it the Minutemen would more than likely use whatever tactic they see as the most useful for the battle. Anyway you all have a good one.