Augustus Autumn
February 17th, 2276.
The vibration and sounds of the Vertibird absolutely did not help my growing headache. As the cold wind hit my face, my eyes skimmed over the remains of Washington DC. I could see a lot from here as we flew along the eastern edges of the city. The Capitol Building, Washington Monument and so many more historic buildings.
The dawn brought about a hauntingly beautiful landscape that also evoked dread and despair as I beheld the remains of Washington. The steel and rubble formed a skeletal city and I could see all the destruction the nuclear exchange had brought about.
This was just one of many tests of my resolve to save the wasteland.
I was currently en route to inspect Adams Air Force Base and speak with Lt. Col Johnathan Cade. About a month and a half had passed since I had taken over the Enclave. Since then I had been busy working my new Presidential Cabinet to fill in a skeleton Congress just to get the ball rolling. I felt awkward at making or more accurately reintroducing the State of Emergency Congress.
I acknowledged that I probably counted as a warlord instead of an actual President of the United States. Still, that didn't really matter to me right now. America had to be rebuilt first for Congress to mean anything. Eventually the dummy seats will be replaced with real senators and representatives when there are actual constituents to vote them in but until then the SOE Congress would serve well for designing short and long term plans to reclaim the wasteland.
I looked at the gunner inside the vertibird and felt pleased with the results of my most successful Executive Order to date. There was no E in sight on the trooper's Power Armor. Just a new coat of good old army green and an American flag painted right onto the left shoulder. Instead of using velcro patches the insignias were instead painted onto the right shoulder. The white star was on the left breast and details concerning the soldier's name, rank and regiment were on the right.
Since the identity of the Enclave was so hyper focused on being the last part of the US Government it was easy to convince everyone to switch over. It would certainly make it easier to establish ourselves as the old government; it was already increasing morale among the rank and file, giving them renewed national pride and nostalgia. If we could make the wastelanders feel the same way, there may just yet be hope for America.
I was probably going to scale it up even more and remove our identity as the Enclave entirely. It would be for the best if the remnants of what we were were buried forever.
Quickly, the landscape below shifted from the eastern edge of the city to the suburbs then fields. Eventually we arrived at our destination. The sight of Adams AFB conflicted with older memories of it. It had been cleaned and fixed up and now had a lot more Vertibirds. I could see several laser turrets scanning the skies for anything not related to Enclave IFFs.
As the touchdown sequence completed and we fully landed I stepped off with my guards and stared straight at the greeting party, Lt. Col Johnathan Cade and his officers.
"Welcome to Adams Air Force Base, Mr. President," Cade said with a salute as he quickly presented himself and his officers who were standing at attention.
Lt. Col Cade was a man the ladies would call handsome. Six feet tall with neatly cut brown hair and green eyes. Caucasian with a healthy tan. He wasn't just a pretty face though, he had been my subordinate for the longest time and I knew he had earned his rank through competence.
"It's good to see you, Lt. Col Cade. I hope this base hasn't had any complications with the new equipment I had delivered recently." If the expensive equipment I had had the scientists and engineer personnel design, fabricate and build was broken I might rip my hair out.
The resource expenditure could not be overstated. We had gathered up dozens of old Pre-War cars and turned them into raw materials. There were also the materials we had gotten from Fort Constantine but I hadn't read the latest reports within the last week on that base.
Just more things to talk to Cade about.
I stood upon the raised platform alone with Lt. Col Cade looking over the eastern fields next to Adams AFB. I inspected the troops training and firing the newest pieces of equipment. The M906 155mm Howitzer was a break away from Pre-War designs and had a longer range of 35-45 kilometers thanks to its specialized magnetic rail system. The new design was for the energy based explosives instead of the more typical explosives of the past.
Not that it couldn't shoot typical explosives. They would just need to be designed for this gun specifically.
The plasma based explosives and new artillery gun were designed during the later years of the Sino-American War when Plasma Casters were a hot topic inside the halls of power. They were never implemented because of resource shortages and US High Command before the Great War had felt like they were an unneeded expense when they already had thousands of older towed artillery models and the shells for them that worked just fine.
I eventually found those same schematics buried within our databases. Alongside many other schematics that never saw the light of day till now.
The towed artillery was not the only addition. When you have to tow something you need vehicles to tow it and armor to defend them. I had decided that our ground forces needed more firepower anyways since the Brotherhood had access to the bunker under the Pentagon and we could no longer rely upon the robot hivemind to overwhelm our enemies.
Lt. Col Cade after basking in the sight of new equipment decided to ask, "Will we receive more tanks and support vehicles before the big blitz?"
"Only as they come off the line. Our resources are kinda tight after we produced the three we gave you. Alongside the supply trucks and MRAPs. It might've been better not to design them with newer technology but we can't risk the Brotherhood overwhelming our ground forces when we breach the bunker." It was better that I remain blunt with Cade considering that he didn't enjoy wasting time.
"If you feel unsure of the plan then I will give you access to more Sentry Bots and Assaultrons to send as a vanguard. Just be careful since they have mini-nukes and who knows what else inside there." I tried to mollify him.
Lt. Col Cade looked a little surprised at my answer but I ignored it. Eden had treated those bots with the same importance as human lives and it had shown during resource intake operations. Well Eden was no longer in charge and since we had so many of them we might as well use them as much as possible to deal with the surplus.
"Thank you, Mr. President. Since we are on the topic of manpower I would like to thank you for acquiescing to the… Cabinet's request to use Vault Dwellers before any wastelander recruitment." Cade both thanked me and reminded me of the slight change of my plans.
"It's no issue. I was thinking of delaying wastelander recruitment anyways for more reliable recruits from Vault 101 when we finally open it," I said.
The Vault Dwellers would be the first wave to ever hit training at Adams AFB after we had finished off the Brotherhood of Steel and expanded the base. Both were going to take awhile and were the reasons for this buildup. I had no idea what to expect from Vault 101 and I wanted to avoid a teenaged murderhobo being released into the wild.
The Lone Wanderer could be pretty unhinged depending on how one played the game and I had little desire to see just how unhinged they were until I was prepared for it. If I could recruit them into the US Army, they would make a potent asset, but we had to be ready to train them the moment we opened the Vault and we weren't yet.
"Excuse my forwardness, Mr. President, but why are we proceeding so fast? The cleaning up of Adams is already slowing us down somewhat. Refits and expansions are going to take even longer." There was genuine curiosity in his voice.
I decided to tell him the truth. "Because the Brotherhood of Steel has Liberty Prime."
A solid moment had passed before my statement registered in his mind. His green eyes stared at me in slight panic. "I believed the report on Liberty Prime stated that it lacked a power source, correct? I don't see those terrorists ever powering it up."
"I worry about them activating it, Lt. Col Cade." I made sure to inject urgency in my voice.
"I have some doubts about that. The new Cabinet didn't think they could activate it." Cade's doubt started to annoy me.
With a harsh tone I said. "Because they've been sitting on it for years. I won't take chances when the country is at stake. Last thing I want is for them to use it against us."
Seeing his face twist up a little, I decided to calm down a little. Not a good idea to lambast Cade for this. As long as he remained respectful and obeyed orders.
With far more grace I said. "I understand the worry. As it stands I just want them out of the way. Should they detect our substantial buildup then they are going to begin reacting to us. Our enemies don't behave in a vacuum. We don't know what's laying around in the wasteland waiting to be picked up so it's better to finish them off now instead of later."
After a moment Cade finally said. "Understood, Mr. President."
Happy with his answer, I turned around and looked over the interior of Adams AFB. The large storage facility loomed as the tanks sat stationary next to it. The soldiers, mechanics and maintenance robots buzzed over them like a swarm of bees. I understood the awe.
"They seem excited about them. Have you decided who the tank crews will be? Have the men and women already acquainted themselves with them?" I asked.
"I have, Mr. President. As it stands they understand the basic functions and have a general feel on what they need to do. Personally I would establish a tank school to rebuild our expertise since all we have is paper knowledge and doctrine."
"While I can see the artillery crews training, I do want your personal thoughts on the effectiveness of artillery at this stage." I really hoped I didn't waste material on them.
Cade helpfully put my worries to rest. "The guns will provide enough power to wipe out any heavy force we can see, Mr. President."
"Good."
The hum of engines distracted me for a moment as I saw several new supply trucks, MRAPs and APCs drive through to supply. The green paint and white star remind me of my older life. They closely resembled WW2 and 50s era military equipment in documentaries. Even after so many centuries it seemed this version of America still had odd tastes.
"Talking here isn't really appropriate. To the Command Tower. We have more to discuss. I know you have more questions, Lt. Col Cade."
The map of the entire region was pretty to look at but it was depressing to see how little we actually controlled. On the holographic table I could see all the locations we had marked as hostile. From Eden's eyebot network, our own reconnaissance teams and satellite imaging we had been able to deduce quite a bit of information on the region.
I recognized a lot of these hostile places. Paradise Falls, Evergreen Mills, and ruins upon ruins filled with raiders of varying quality. I felt the itch to glass them but they would have to come later.
On the map I could see locations of Brotherhood activity and locations of interest. Considering all of this I decided to inquire about the latest addition on the map.
"How did the Fort Independence recon go? Did a splinter cell really form?"
"Indeed they have. It seems the hints of disunity were right as a great number split off from their main base. We surmised there might be a schism of some sort happening during November and December but I didn't expect so many of them to break off from the Pentagon group." Lt. Col Cade informed.
"It was expected." My mouth seemed to have escaped my brain for just a moment.
The commander looked at me with respect. "I'm surprised you were able to surmise this, Mr. President. No one guessed it would turn out like this… I thought they were just looting that old military base. No one foresaw an actual split but you."
The respect in his green eyes for my slip up made me sweat a little.
"It's not surprising. They are indeed techno-cultists. Zealots are as predictable as the sun rising. I only guessed it because they seemed split between helping people and hoarding whatever technology they can." I tried explaining myself.
It did not diminish the look of respect in Cade's eyes. It would be better to distract him.
"With this splinter cell formed it's going to be easier to deal with the Brotherhood in the Pentagon. They've divided their forces and it will be fun indeed to capitalize on this mistake." I said, moving on.
Both myself and Lt. Col Cade deliberated on supplies, troops, air support and ground vehicles for about an hour before I realized I had forgotten about the field reports.
"How was the expedition to Fort Constantine?" That base has been on my mind since I merged with Autumn.
The commander's face was bright. "It went exceedingly well. Our IFFs are associated with US Armed Forces so we easily accessed the facility without the Pre-War robots making it a pain. We got access to all its systems within two days of restoring some basic functions and power. Decent portions of the military base were broken down but we accessed what was inside the storage."
Even I couldn't keep the smile off my face. "And?"
"25 atomic warheads and the ICBM Silos are under our control. It was an incredible find." His cheery answer raised my spirits.
Lt. Col Cade's face fell a little. "Though if we ever want to launch anything we are going to need some time and manpower. Maybe two weeks at least. Perhaps longer if we don't want complications as the constant system glitches are aggravating the technicians we brought. They think it would be better to replace some of the computers and systems with newly fabricated ones."
"You'll have whatever you need soon. Though we don't need silos or ICBMs for our purposes right now." I assure him.
He looked at me questioningly. I decided to change the plans up a little bit so as to not waste any more resources for the sideshow.
"Have your team bring a warhead to Raven Rock for modification. I'm going to have them scale it down to something tactical. I see no reason not to remove Fort Independence from the map if it conserves our forces for securing the Pentagon." I ordered.
Lt. Col Cade looked strangely relieved. His shoulders looked less tense and he had a relaxed demeanor now.
"The plans for the Pentagon… and now this. You don't plan on showing them mercy. Some of the grunts were gossiping about you turning soft, Mr. President. I can firmly say this will silence any doubt of your commitment." His words made me proud for some reason.
Couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.
ANs:
Oh boy. I don't like chapters that feel like they have nothing happening in them, especially this one since it's shorter than chapter 1. It's necessary though since the build up for what's to come is needed.
Before anyone asks. Yes, Fort Constantine is a real place in Fallout 3. Are there actually 25 atomic warheads in there? Well I know for a fact there are 20+ after counting with my eyes. Including silos containing what I assume are Minutemen ICBMs.
Some of you might feel this is wild to use nuclear weapons on the BoS but I assure you it will only be tactical loads. If you don't know what that means it's basically if a nuclear bomb was way weaker than normal. MOAB style I guess.
I don't feel like going on a bent on how you should perceive this. Just going to say nobody will be nice in this fic. Even if they are the better side of a conflict.