Chapter 24 – Useful Friends
Nate awoke to a loud thudding noise and a strong wind blowing over his sleeping bag. As he came to, he could see the source of the noise as a Brotherhood of Steel Vertibird began its final approach to land, just the other side of the Finch's farmhouse. These large tiltrotor aircraft had the ability to vertically take off and land, just like a helicopter, and were used extensively by the US Military as a gunship and transport aircraft. Since the end of the war and the breakup of the United States, the large paramilitary group the Brotherhood of Steel, have been the main users of these aircraft. The Commonwealth recently becoming the target of Brotherhood operations with the arrival of their flagship the Prydwen. A huge gas filled airship which had taken up position over at the old Boston International Airport.
The Brotherhood's main mission was to locate and regulate the use of technology, believing free use could lead to further war. They had arrived in Boston to attempt to uncover the Institute and put an end to its creation of synths, who the Brotherhood saw as abominations. This led to the Brotherhood coming up against the Railroad and other settler groups who believed that correct integration of synths into everyday life was the only way to advance civilisation. For the most part, Nate and the girls tried to keep out of the high-end political arguments, keeping quiet the fact that Curie was a synth herself.
Nate felt some of his strength had returned and was quickly out of his sleeping bag and grabbing his gear. Whilst he didn't feel threatened by the Brotherhood, he never wanted to meet any of them without a weapon in his hand. He spotted a familiar looking set of power armour and went over to greet his old friend.
"Danse, how are you doing?" He shouted over to where Cait and Piper were talking to the Brotherhood commander.
"Paladin," The commander nodded back. "The girls were telling me of your close call yesterday, sounds nasty." He continued as he jumped out of his power armour. He then came round to stand in front of Nate, "Are you putting on weight," he laughed, tapping Nate's flat stomach.
"Cheeky fucker," Nate responded grabbing the Brotherhood soldier and enveloping him in a hug.
Paladin Danse had first met Nate and the girls soon after Nate had formed his little team. Danse was part of a small recon team that had taken up position at the old Cambridge Police Station. Nate came to their aid as the place was being attacked by a swarm of ghouls. After that, the team helped Danse locate some pieces of tech that repaired local communications and allowed him to call in the Prydwen. They had remained friends ever since.
"Good morning, Sir, enjoying the lie in," came a voice from behind Danse.
"Ah! Haylen, good to see you again," Nate gave the Brotherhood Scribe a warm smile, "No one taken control of that smart mouth yet, I see." Nate enjoying the resultant blush on Haylen's cheeks.
"I guess not, sir," she responded.
"We were passing and saw the team down here so we thought you might need a lift. Cait was telling me you guys are off up to Parsons." Danse confirmed.
"A lift would be great, thanks." Confirmed Nate, "Will you have room?" he asked.
"Haylen and the team will stay here, I'll drop you off and come back to collect them." Danse turned to his Scribe, she nodded and headed back to the Vertibird. Haylen had met Nate and the girls in Cambridge and had made an impression on the whole of Nate's team. Scribes, in the Brotherhood of Steel were the technical curators of all the Brotherhoods finds, and although often out with forward units they didn't wear armour and were not combat trained. Saying that, Haylen more than held her own when the team first met her, easily outperforming some of the combat initiates that were with her patrol. She had developed a very strong relationship with Cait, Curie and Piper.
"I like her," Cait leant over to Piper, "She would be great in the team, don't you think."
"Ha!" Piper chuckled, "with her sass, she would certainly keep Nate, and that shovel right hand of his very busy, that's for sure."
The team soon loaded onto the Vertibird and the aircraft effortlessly climbed to above the section of the expressway that cast an almost permanent shadow over Finch's farm. Nate looked at the still intact part of the roadway and wondered if it couldn't be put to use as the location for a forward operating base, or similar. The aircraft then tipped forward as it began it journey north. Almost immediately coming under some ineffective small arms fire from the junk yard to the east of the iron works. The Hub City Auto Wreckers had long been known as an outpost, playing host to a number of raiders from the group that called itself the Gunners.
"I'll take the team and clear that out," Paladin Danse's voice came over the intercom and into Nate's headphones he had put on when he first climbed abord the aircraft.
"I saw a bunch of them up on the raised road section, Danse, so do keep your eyes open." Nate warned, pointing to the continuing part of the expressway that ran between the wreckers and the iron works. Sure enough it wasn't long before everyone in the Vertibird could see small figures running about between the rusting vehicles.
The trip north soon took them over the bottom part of the Saugus River and on up to asylum building. Landing a little south of the building, the team saw the compound being patrolled by a number of armed guards.
"Listen," Danse said as he too jumped off the side of the aircraft, "We often have patrols up this neck of the woods, so if you ever need a lift, crack open one of these and if we see you, we'll stop by and pick you up." Danse handed Cait a bundle of twelve small smoke sticks. "Just throw them where you want us to land."
After thanking Danse for the lift, and the signal grenades, the team set off towards the front entrance of the building. It wasn't long before the team encountered one of the guards.
"This place is off limits. You'd best move along." The guard ordered to Nate and the girls.
"Edward Deegan sent me, I'm looking for a missing package." Nate responded.
"Oh," The female guard lowered her weapon. "You're the new team. I'm Maria, I'm the captain up here." She smiled. "So, this … 'package' … pretty sure we know where it is. The guys who shot Ben are holed up in the Parsons Creamery, just north of here."
"Who are these guys," asked Cait, "Raiders?"
"Sure," the Maria answered, "assholes with guns. Although it's weird that they're still hanging around so close. Kind of like they're scouting the place or something. I don't like it. I'm glad you're finally getting rid of them."
"We will try our best," Nate smiled, seeing the doubt in Marias eyes, he added, "We'll be back in a couple of hours."
The Creamery was only about half a mile up from the asylum and a quick scout of the perimeter showed three raiders, seemingly taking no precautions to hide their presence. Nate left Cait and Curie to snipe from a piece of high ground just south of the building and he and Piper moved round to the west to see if they could find a way in. Two shots rang out from where Nate and Piper had left Cait and Curie. There followed a shout of enquiry and a third shot, followed by silence.
"All clear," Cait's voiced crackled over the radio.
Piper and Nate slowly climbed the bank towards the side of the building, not yet trusting that the building was empty.
"Shouting hello about now would earn me a hiding, wouldn't it?" Piper whispered, grinning cheekily at Nate.
"Why don't you give it a go and find out," Nate dared her.
"No way!" she exclaimed back, still whispering.
"HELLOOOOOOO" shouted Nate, "anyone home…." He waited a second and then looked over to Piper, who was wide mouthed. "Chicken…" he laughed. By the silence Cait had obviously been correct and there were no more raiders.
The pair quickly searched the bodies and found the serum they were looking for. When they met back up with the other girls, Nate handed the serum to Curie. "I wonder what this is," she asked, holding the vial up to the light. "I would like to open it and take a little to analyse for ingredients."
"Oh no you don't professor," Nate admonished lightly, "we are returning the package in one piece, thank you very much. We have a reputation to uphold."
Curie continued to examine the thin vial and the odd-looking liquid.
"Those raiders back at the iron works won't be the only thing that will be scorched if you don't put that away, missy." Nate frowned at Curie, breaking her from her daydream.
"Oh, yes, of course, sorry, I was just …" Curie stammered.
"Just putting it away, yes?" Nate confirmed, still standing and looking at Curie.
"Oui, monsieur," Curie responded sheepishly, tucking the vial away in her bag.
"Right, let's get back to the asylum and we can see if we can hitch a ride home, anyone flown over Boston before?" Nate asked cheerily. Delighted he had managed to recover the serum. That would be a happy Jack Cabot and an equally happy Doc McClintock.
"Before we got in that thing at Finch's, I had never flown before," Cait admitted, "when we took off, I nearly peed myself." She was blushing scarlet.
"Never flown before?" Nate was surprised, "I guess not." He realised. None of the girls would have had easy access to that type of transport in their early lives.
"Same for me," Piper said, "the flying bit, not the peeing bit," she quickly added.
"Just after I was manufactured, I was moved here on a transport plane, but I was in a box, so that doesn't really count. I am liking this new way of flying; it is much more exhilarating." Curie said excitedly.
"If you say so," Cait didn't sound as enthusiastic.
"What about the stuff at Finch's and in that old house by Taffington," asked Piper as they set off down the road towards the insane asylum.
"I have asked Abraham to keep an eye on our stuff from the iron works. What I would like to do is bring the Red Wave up to Taffington sometime soon so can collect from there and then up to Finch's. We can moor the boat just the other side of the freeway." Nate confirmed.
The team soon found a piece of flat ground and having told Maria they were calling a ride, Cait popped the smoke and the team sat back and waited. Sure enough, around five minutes later and they could hear the distinctive 'thud thud' sounds from the rotors of a Vertibird. The flight was a wonder for the girls and also fun for Nate, if he cared to admit as much. The day was sunny and clear and seeing Boston form the air was something else, Nate especially enjoying the direct opposite reactions that Curie and Cait had every time the pilot threw the aircraft around a bit.
The Vertibird managed to land in the Boston Police Rationing site and the team were soon back in Home Plate, unpacking and storing their kit. It was around eight by the time they had finished sorting themselves out and Curie headed down to the Kitchen to start making dinner.
"I'll help," Cait offered.
"Well, I am off for a shower," Piper stretched.
"Me to," Nate said absent mindedly.
"Scrubbing my back are you, Blue." Pipier smiled. Piper then looked at Cait and saw a stormy look flash across her face. "I am only joking, little miss, no need to get all Lioness on me." She chuckled. Cait and Nate gave her a puzzled look.
As soon as dinner was ready and the team had all showered and freshened up, they took their seats at the table in basement.
"Brahmin steak and a warm shower, it doesn't get much better than this," Nate closed his eyes in appreciation of the meal Curie had just prepared, "thank you Curie, as always."
The team ate in silence for a while, all aware of the subject that needed to be discussed but no one willing to begin.
Eventually Nate and Piper began speaking at the same time.
"So, Blue," she said.
"Let's get one…" Nate started with simultaneously.
"Sorry." Piper responded.
"No, that's ok, you carry on," Nate nodded.
Now looking as if she would rather be anywhere but around the table, Piper took in a deep breath.
"So, last night, when you were sleeping, we talked about the entry into the iron works." She looked down at her hands and then across the table to Cait.
"And did you come up with any conclusions?" Nate asked, disappointment and anger clear in his voice.
"You said, when we first started this arrangement, that if anyone makes a genuine mistake, we would talk about it and learn from it." Piper almost pleaded.
"Yes," Nate responded flatly, "I also said I would tan your hides if you did something stupid or careless." Nate paused, "especially if it put one of the team at risk."
"Yeah, but this wasn't anything anyone did on purpose," Cait jumped in. "According to them," she pointed to Curie and Piper, "you gave a hand signal. Well, I didn't see it, so whose fault is that? Maybe you should make your signals easier to see."
"Did you see me give a command through a hand signal?" Nate looked at Piper.
She looked awkwardly at Cait and then back down to her hands. "Yes, I saw the second part, where you help up your fingers." Piper mimicked the signal to break into two columns. Her hand raised, two fingers extended, pointing to the ceiling.
Nate turned to Curie, "Did you see me give that signal?" He asked.
"Non monsieur," Curie replied, "I saw you do this," and Curie held her arm out sideways, two fingers open and pointing towards the wall.
"Ok Curie," Nate had relied on Curie to remember the events with crystal clarity, and she didn't disappoint. "What is the hand signal to split a patrol into two columns?" Nate asked. Curie held her arm up, pointing two fingers at the ceiling and opened and closed them slowly, very similar to the signal Piper had just given. "Thank you, and what is the signal to break off and cover an area when closed up, together in a stack, like we were?" he continued the questioning. Curie tapped her head and then pointed with two fingers off to the side. "Excellent, thank you." Nate rested his chin on his hands. "And finally, tell me, were we patrolling in the open or in a stack formation when I gave that hand signal?"
"A stack," Curie answered quietly.
"So, Cait, you didn't see me give a hand signal, although I was less than two feet in front of you and in a stack. The one place you know we must communicate using hand signals. And you, Piper, you saw me give a hand signal that we only use when on the open road in a patrol formation?", Nate looked at his two companions. Cait was about to speak when he held his hand up to silence her, "And you," he looked at Curie, "saw me give the second part of the real hand signal but then followed Piper anyway, even though she wasn't following my command. And what's worse, you didn't stop and question the order even though you knew it was wrong." Nate then looked at Cait, signalling for her to speak.
"Listen, you are sore that you got shot, and my god did you give us a fright," Cait's voice portrayed real relief. "But you were not clear with your signal otherwise there wouldn't have been any confusion. The fact that there is must tell you that." She shrugged.
"Or tell me that you were not paying attention, any of you." Nate took in a breath, "How many times have we practiced being in a stack formation, anyone?" Nate opened his arms.
"Hundreds," Curie responded.
"And how many times have we used hand signals?" Nate looked at Piper.
"Every time," She responded with a disheartened tone.
"Right," Nate's tone softened a little. "I am pretty sure you all realise that you fucked up. I also promise you that I am not mad just because it was me who got shot, I would be feeling exactly the same had any of us got injured. The fact is you all lost your focus and concentration just when it mattered the most and one of us nearly died." Nate looked at the clock. "It is now ten. Tomorrow morning at nine we will deal with this. I want each of you ready to accept the consequences of your omissions and be in the mood to promise me that it will never … ever … happen again." Nate stressing the last four words. "Do I make myself clear." Looking around he saw a mixture of expressions on his companions faces. "I am off to bed now, but tomorrow I will be over at the Bleachers dropping off Barbara's seeds and when I get back at nine, we will deal with this." At that Nate stood, "Thank you for dinner, Curie and sleep well." He stated as he put his plate in the sink.