Project Seedling

by ProfessorXLK

Zach (The Lone Wanderer), His father, and the rest of those at Project Purity watch as the dream of one lost is achieved. Zach finally has a realization that he wants to do more do something that his mother and father wanted with Project Purity and so he comes up with his own project with the help of his Father and his friends Zach will work towards his own dream

2. Preparations

Author's Note: Unless noted otherwise, the story should start from this First Person's Point of View from Zach's POV.

Chapter 2: Preparations

The group from the Citadel starts approaching the Jefferson Memorial with 7 members from the Brotherhood of Steel 1 Paladin, 1 Knight Sergeant, 2 Senior Knight, 1 Journeyman Knight, and 2 Scribes. The Paladin and Knights were there for protection for the travels and the Jefferson Memorial. At the same time, the scribes were coming along to the Jefferson Memorial to help with maintenance and help set up defenses such as turrets and locking mechanisms for the doors. On their travels, they encountered a group of stupidly courageous raiders that decided to attack the group even though there were 5 members of the group in power armor along with almost everyone carrying some form of firearm. Now what became of the raiders, well some would call it a meeting of the Ferryman of the Dead. I picked up anything useful to take to Jefferson Memorial which honestly was only some ammo and a couple caps. I look at this and say "I guess the raider hunting fun I had over the past couple of months must have hurt them" I proceed to chuckle at my little statement. My dad looks at me confused and asks "Raider hunting? Zach, what do you mean raider hunting?"

"Oh um about a week after leaving the vault I heard about and then learned the horrors of what Raiders did and I openly looked for either a job that paid to take out Raider camps or I just happened to be in the area and took care of them though I did try to spare some but they went and found themselves a new gang so after a while I stopped sparing them. This is also taking part in starting my Lone Wanderer moniker." I replied to my dad's question.

The group looked at me with either awe, a little bit of fear, shock, or a mix of all three, at least from the ones he could see that weren't wearing power armor. The Paladin whose name if I remember correctly is Emilia Blair was the first to respond "Yeah, we started getting reports about it and to be honest him going after the raiders inadvertently helped us since the raiders slowly stopped trying to fight and when we sent a scouting party to find out they reported finding the usual haunts empty and freshly made graves in the vicinity. Once they did a more thorough search, they found in similar locations they found the armor and weapons with a calling card and note saying 'Take these items and if you use it for evil the one to do this will come back and do it again.' The thing is they said that they only found that specific note with wording at 4 of 15 areas they searched the others were just kind of left in a random spot."

I smiled sheepishly "If I recall correctly those 4 had the most graves out of the 15 and I had the help of my friend Fawkes to dig the graves and move the bodies because they were the last ones that I did." One of the knights whose name I don't know asked "How did you deal with so many raiders by yourself? I looked at them "I'm sorry but I never got your name" "The name is Korbin Hodge, but you can just call me Hodge." After Hodge tells me his name I grin and reply to his earlier question "Well Hodge that's going to be a secret I won't be telling." Hodge didn't try to make me tell even though he may want to know and just kind of nodded and after that, the group just kind of continued in silence.

It took some time, but the group finally made it to the Jefferson Memorial with no more hiccups. Dad waited by the door to let everyone in and told them he would be in, and he pulled me away to talk in private. "Son, you do know people don't normally talk casually about that kind of topic, but did you get upset at all after everything you did?"

I looked him in the eye "Yeah I felt upset cause even though I saw them as monsters they were still human so as my way to deal with my guilt, I dug the graves and buried them to put them to rest and to make so no one can mess with them." Dad nodded and said to me "Well it's good that you still feel guilt when it comes to taking lives." Father and Son then hug before heading inside the memorial. Dad went off to I presume Madison to talk to her about the deal we have with the Brotherhood, while I went to my makeshift quarters to pack up and get my stuff ready to leave. After about 5 to 10 minutes of packing, I go to say goodbye and see that one of the Knights is ready to escort my dad, Madison, Janice, Elliot, and me to the Citadel for Dr. Madison and my dad to work on their thing with the Brotherhood after that, the Knight and the of us from the Restoration Initiative or R.I will be heading to the Springvale School as the starting point for my project.

After the half-hour trip to the Citadel, we stopped outside and said our goodbyes to Madison and my dad. Then the rest of us started our 3-and-a-half-hour trip to Springvale. The trip took an hour longer because of some stupid raiders who think it's still a good idea to attack me to avenge their fallen raider brethren. Then we ran into a Giant Radscorpion, a fucking Giant Radscorpion, the damn thing is bigger than a car and we would have snuck around but we attracted and were spotted by it while fighting the raiders so we ended up having to fight the thing the Knight laid into with laser after laser and I shot after shot with my plasma rifle while the other two were helping with pistols they brought. While it took some time, but we eventually took the damn thing down. "I swear if we get stopped by one more thing, I'm not going to be happy," I said and the other just nodded and we just continued our way to Springvale.

Upon reaching Springvale, I guided the others to the school so we could rest before we started getting to work and getting things cleared out, set up, and ready for us to start our work on finding more help for Project Seedling. After about 2 hours of rest and getting some food, the other 2 and I started by cleaning up two of the rooms of all trash and moving any desks, chairs, and any other furniture that wasn't immediately useful and piled them down in the basement. One of the rooms we cleared out will be our sleeping quarters while the other is where we will be doing our work. In the workroom, I started by writing 'Project Seedling' on the chalkboard, and I found a working terminal that I got moved onto the desk that we moved into a corner and wiped it of any previous data so I could start anew with new entries of our work. After getting the room set up, I set outside to head towards Super Duper Mart to find my friend who will be helpful in this endeavor especially when it comes to rebuilding around Springvale. After about a 10 to 15-minute walk, I see the building where I left my friend, Fawkes and I see him stacking carts up. Once I see him and start running towards him and yell out "Hey Fawkes, how has it been my friend?"

In a deep and coarse voice, Fawkes replies to me "Friend Zach, it's been some time and, in that time, I've been very good. I have stacked carts and machines."

I look over at the stacked carts, Nuka-Cola machines, and cigarette dispensers and then towards Fawkes and nod my head several times and reply "I see that Fawkes and it pretty organized at that better than what I have seen other Super Mutants do and I mean that as a compliment. Oh, and, I need you to come with me to Springvale and help out with something that I have planned."
Fawkes looks at me and smiles "Thanks friend and I would be glad to help. Just head there and I follow"

I look at him nod and smile "Okay follow along Fawkes." I led Fawkes to Springvale, and it took an extra 5 minutes due to him getting distracted a couple of times but eventually, we made it back to the school. I see the Knight get in a battle-ready stance with their laser rifle raised and ready to fire. I see this and then hold my hands up and yell out "It's fine he is a friend and here to help with more of the heavy lifting I already discussed this with Elder Lyons and Sentinel Sarah." After I yell out towards the Knight puts their weapon down and eases up a little. I approach the school and open the door to yell out for Elliot and Janice to come outside. After they came outside, I introduced them to Fawkes, and they took it well since they were in the meeting and already knew about him before now. I look up and see that the sun is about over the horizon and realize it's time to head inside and make sure the others are inside and directed where Fawkes can sleep. After I led Fawkes to where he could sleep, I headed to the sleeping quarters and headed to bed for the night.

After a night's long rest, feeling fully rested and with a busy day ahead of me. But first things first I needed to make sure that the others knew the tasks for the day, which will include clearing out the front entrance room and a couple more rooms. And while they do that I will be going out and getting more help.

End of Chapter notes: I know it's been a while and I apologize work has been a pain I'll try to get the ball rolling on more chapters in the next week or so. I'm going to try to get more of a rhythm down.