A boat was lowered from the smaller of the two carriers and it rowed to shore. Two ghouls stepped out wearing worn-out fatigues the camo pattern was not one any of the Minutemen were familiar with. The ghouls stepped aside, revealing their leader. He was underweight and gaunt but still smiled wearing a worn captain's uniform. Liberator noticed something nonstandard about the uniform. On both arms was a patch with a snake smoking a pipe on it. His jaw fell but was hidden underneath his helmet.

"That's the patch of the Brazilian Expeditionary Force. The Smoking Snakes."

The captain's grin widened. "Nice to meet someone who remembers my country's contribution to the Second World War."

Liberator shook his hand. "Well, I can't call myself a true history buff if I only studied American history so what brings you here?"

The captain introduced himself. "My name is Isaac Leal but just call me Leal. The reason we are here is to rest and repair at Quincy Shipyards we had to evacuate everyone we could our nation was overrun by mutated wildlife from the Amazon most of our people fled into underground bunkers our last leader gave us the order to escape and get outside help to retake Brazil."

Liberator couldn't help but grin. "Well would you look at that more refugees wanting to take their home back see Autumn, I told you outsiders aren't so different."

He took off his helmet to his surprise Leal wasn't bugged one bit by his appearance. "Hey, kid why ain't you staring or screaming?"

Leal laughed long and hard. "I was raised by Ghouls for most of my life specifically the ghoulified remnants of Brazil's armed forces. I helped bring back the Smoking Snakes since well we are an expeditionary force at this point so can you point us to the Shipyards?"

Liberator shook his head. "Believe me I hand it to you, but it's filled to the brim with Mirelurks of all kinds."

Leal shrugged his shoulders. "Shouldn't be a problem many of those I brought with me hunt Mirelurks for a living." He then handed Liberator a pair of binoculars and pointed to the much larger carrier.

Liberator zoomed in dangling from the sides hooked to large chains were massive cooking pots.

Leal smirked. "So, food shortages shouldn't be a problem if the Mirelurks here are as common as they say."

The Smoking Snakes anchored Minas Gerais as close to the shipyards as they could before deploying rowboats. Leal was in the very front leading the attack himself clutching an IMBEL MD-2. As soon as they set foot on the concrete Mirelurks came out of hiding. Underneath the MD-2s appeared to be grenade launchers but instead, they launched electric nets. The Mirelurks hissed in pain before being knocked out. Everyone else continued to observe their methods. They planted more nets and traps using themselves to lure them. Liberator couldn't help but grin seeing them use similar tactics to what he and Cody use.

In half an hour the shipyard was theirs four dozen Mirelurks were now caught in electric nets and chains. The Sao Paulo Minas Gerais and Olinda rested their weary hulls in drydock. The technicians went down deep into the heart of the shipyards restoring power. The automated parts of the shipyard sprung to life making self-repairs and draining the water in the drydocks. The previous inhabitants, being a horde of Ferals then taken over by Mirelurks largely helped in keeping Quincy Shipyards untouched. The warehouses were packed with everything they needed fresh steel plates rolls upon rolls of electric wire crates filled with welding rods and drums filled with dark grey paint and primer. The boarding ramps were rolled in.

Over three thousand people in total most being ghouls disembarked from both carriers and freighter. Liberator palmed his visor Leal interrupted him. "As I said food will not be a problem as for housing leave that to me."

Liberator nodded. "Only if you know what you're doing. Well, Quincy Shipyards are your show now get your ships fixed and we'll discuss trade deals. I need resources and you need industry."

Leal spoke. "Many trees in Brazil have become very mutated as well but they are soaked in their own sap and oil if we can build an advanced gasifier plant you could have all the high-grade wood gas, you'll ever need both for your people and war effort with enough refinement and additives you can even use it to make aviation fuel."

Liberator shook his hand. "You got yourself a deal, Leal. Now I need you to meet my command staff then we'll talk about security matters I need to give you a rundown of what we're up against."

Back at Independence Leal met Autumn and Ronnie Shaw. Shaw shook his hand. "Howdy nice to see a new face."

Autumn was much more suspicious. "You're really going to let anyone new walk in here you even gave them a powerful pre-war shipyard?" He droned on and on but Liberator let him finish.

He stared Autumn down. "We need more allies not enemies and don't think you're so innocent I've been digging up the Enclave's dirty laundry in my free time. So would you rather their guns be pointed at you or the Brotherhood?"

Autumn relented as Liberator filled them in. "The worst enemy we have is the Insitute they can teleport and use synths to kidnap and replace or Coursers to eliminate those they deem a threat. The next most dangerous are the Gunners, an elite group of merciless mercenaries. However, after fighting them for so long, I know them like the back of my hand after that its mainly Raider gangs and other pests. We take out the two big ones and our war will almost be over, but I suspect the Super Mutants and Raider gangs will all put their differences aside in a last-ditch effort to survive but with what I'm planning it won't be enough."

Leal was amazed and confused. "Why are you teaching me this?"

Liberator replied. "Because we need your help, and you can't help if you don't know what you're up against. I have many things, but numbers and resources I do not have. If your Smoking Snakes can be brought up to snuff and in exchange for what we know you help us take back the Commonwealth. Granted still need a way to stop the Insitute's teleportation but I already have seventy percent of my plan figured out. With your resources and my knowledge, I'll be able to restore the Commonwealth's industry and in turn, I can build machines and tooling to restore Brazil's industry."

Leal pondered. "Whatever you need you shall have. Now I got things to do."

Leal got to work organizing the Shipyards. Sao Paulo's hangar deck was cleaned and cleared out the massive pans moved in turning her hangar deck into a massive galley and mess hall. Mirelurks were dropped into the giant pots alive. Their agonized hisses and screams were heard as they banged and clawed inside trying to break out it was no use the pots were too thick and strong. The cooks got to work preparing them. When they were finished Sao Paulo's whistle blew. The people ran starving after being put on reduced rations. The humans ate at the table while their ghoul comrades chatted with them. They still had to eat some of the rations, but the Mirelurks brightened things up and the cooks did a phenomenal job with preparing and seasoning. The next morning, with their energy restored and their spirits renewed, they got to work on Minas Gerais and Sao Paulo.

It took a while to figure out how to control parts of the shipyard but once nailed down progress was swift. The gantry cranes and drydocks had built-in rust removal lasers and started removing the vast amounts of rust covering the hulls. Shiny bare metal lay exposed as workers rushed in with primer. Still much work needed to be done and many leaks were found throughout both Carriers not to mention the massive internal overhauls that were needed. Sao Paulo was going to be a pain due to her faulty engines and frail boilers only being beaten by the Texas whose triple expansion engines were beyond repair along with her shafts and propeller being removed and on top of that her rudder was rusted stuck at fourteen degrees starboard. Her entire stern would have to be cut open and gutted. Her Captain Davis was far from happy with the news, but the ghoul continued pacing around with his tattered trench coat blowing in the breeze.

Both Captains were called in for a meeting with Liberator discussing various topics eventually asking the two how they joined forces.

Leal answered. "We met on the radio most of the crew were busy, so I started messing with a radio. We happened to find each other's frequency. So when everyone else was busy we'd chat. I'd tell him about Brazil's history, and he told me about Texas's well we got a plan underway when I got the carriers running, we'd tow the Texas with us."

Davis told his side. "Well as for my part, the bombs fell when I was visiting the Texas. That visit became a permanent stay. Her armor protected us from the rads enough to keep some of us from not going feral but not enough to not be ghoulified or die of radiation poisoning. Those who died were buried and those who went feral were mercy killed. Well, I took hold. I stayed with Texas gathering resources. I couldn't get her running, but we could fix her guns, so we did, we reactivated some of her secondaries and got her main turrets operational. It took at least twenty years after the bombs till we could start making shells but when her guns roared the Raiders fled. It's only until now she's floating again. Leal and his boys place some explosives in the drydock flooding it and well here we our Texas on the sea and his Carriers in Quincy Shipyards."

Liberator smiled. "You know I got to ask why to stay with Texas why did you not move back home or find someplace else?"

Davis frowned. "What was there to go back to? My home was most likely destroyed. It is now after all this time and well Texas was part of my childhood, I didn't want to leave her to die and fall to ruin like everything else. So, I turned her into a home for me and my crew. Plus, the only things I needed from home I had with me most important being my dogs and before you ask yes, they were ghoulified like me but they're happy all things considered."

Everyone shook hands after the meeting was over. Davis went back to the Texas to further survey the damage and the major refits that would be needed. Leal went back to the shipyards planning schedules for the carriers and figuring out the time frames. Liberator locked himself in the tunnels and activated his communicator.

Fox answered. "Everything ok?"

Liberator shook his head. "Got news both good and bad. The good news is we made some new friends bad news is the institute is going to become very interested. The Quincy Shipyards are now up and running but are filled to the brim with resources. I don't want those people getting killed or kidnapped."

Fox nodded. "Cody has been telling us everything about the Insitute and his experience in fighting them. Slippy is currently almost done with a satellite he's been working on. Once we deploy it all he has to do is find the signal their teleporter uses then he can hack into it from there we can get into their database and unlock every secret they have. Cody also gave us a Courser chip this means when we get in we can track every signal Courser."

Liberator smiled. "Thank you, Fox this means a lot to me and my people we are forever in your dept whatever happens we will be there."

Fox answered. "Well, I got to say it's been a joy working with you a lot more pleasant than dealing with Fredendall. I'm going to have to take you up on your offer, but I need your troops to be heavily trained and well-supplied if they are to stand any chance against the Venomians or any other threat we come across. Also, Cody's flight training has gone very well and he's progressing much faster than I anticipated. You should see the maneuvers he can pull now. I'll call you when we're done Fox out."

The Great Fox exited out of warp space. The satellite was deployed. Slippy got to work. The security the Insitute set up was powerful by wasteland standards even far superior compared to security from the pre-war era but against much more advanced tech and Slippy's skilled mind, it stood no chance. The toad grinned for him it was more a fun videogame than a hacker's nightmare. Each level of security was stronger than the last but for Slippy it was all the more enjoyable. With a final confirmative beep. They were in best of all the Insitute didn't know. Immediately data kept flowing in as the Great Fox's computers decoded it with ease. It would take a week for it to be completely processed due to the sheer amount of data there was to go through. Most wouldn't spend their free time doing more work but for the Star Fox team, it was worth it.

During that week Liberator was hunting Coursers down with a vengeance. Autumn gifted Liberator his own VB-02 Vertibird. Fox would tell them the locations and Liberator would fly in and jump out, sometimes landing on the Courser or catching it by surprise before hacking it to bits with his sword or shoving his M2's barrel down its throat. Another Courser was killed by the Vertibird pilot strafing it with the chin-mounted gatling laser.

Under the C.I.T Ruins...

Father met with the other directors. "This is unacceptable we can't keep having this...Liberator keeps interfering and somehow, it's like he knows every location of our operations."

Justin Ayo of the Synth Retention Bureau spoke up. "Until we get the Gen 3s fully in I'd suggest we reprogram our remaining Gen 1s and 2s to support our Coursers till we can get the new Gen 3 Trooper program in full swing."

Father answered. "Then that is what will do its clear our Coursers cannot work alone anymore."

Liberator was caught by surprise when a Courser escorted by three squads of Gen 1s and 2s jumped him. He brutalized his way through using his armor's weight and his brute strength. The wounds he sustained were minor, especially for a ghoul like himself but he was annoyed. He started taking fresh Minutemen under his wing along with some Enclave soldiers and some of the few Smoking Snakes who knew English. He taught them how to counter Insitute tactics along with the predictable behavior of the older Synth models. Leal and Davis also tagged along on occasion with the two Captains getting their first kills for Liberator's war effort.

As more of the data was processed it was sent back to Corneria the Star Fox team was unsure if they should send Cody back from what they gathered from the data along with the increasing hostile activity from both Minutemen and Insitute they feared for him.

Cody smiled. "Hey, I'll be ok. I've lived in the Commonwealth for most of my life when the war is over, I might stay."

Their ears stood tall eyes full of hope. Cody continued. "Without a war to fight, I'll be obsolete and no use to the rebuilding effort. When the Insitute falls all our other enemies won't be far behind from what Liberator told me the Gunners are on their last legs the Raiders are being starved of resources thanks to the fortification of settlements and Super Mutants are now being hunted to extinction they're massive size makes them an easy target and with Ronnie's training our troops have only gotten more accurate. However, there is still much work to be done and places to be explored both at home and with you."

Cody continued. "For now, let's focus on the week ahead."