The day after Caesar's death was busy. T'Preea, Serena, and the others all had important tasks to begin. Force integration and memory scouring were among the top priorities. While the memory scouring would be masked as a medical exam, the force integration could only be presented as pure and simple reorganization. I had scheduled a meeting with the full leadership for that evening to discuss the estimated time the progress would take, as well as how we would begin rebranding the Legion. While in the eastern half of the United States, the Legion was known for its magnanimity, it was known for its brutality in the west. Something would need to be done about those optics, and a name change was first on that list.

I was thinking about that as I walked through the streets with Legate Graham, surrounded by the Praetorian Guard. "We're all extremely busy, Legate. I trust what you have to show me is worth the distraction."

"Joshua is not the type to waste your time, Caesar," Malpaius insisted as he walked beside me, opposite of Graham.

"Malpaius speaks true, Caesar," Graham responded, his gravelly voice crunching through my senses. "I understand you didn't mention how poorly our expansion was compared to yours when your grandfather detailed it on the map, but the circumstances we were under now fall on your shoulders. I believe you should be made aware of them."

I arched my brow and looked up at Graham, "Does this have anything to do with the Enclave?"

The look he gave me was neither reassuring nor rebuking, "I believe they are linked."

"Has the Enclave been harrying you?" I asked, pressing for more information.

"Not as such," he replied. "But we have been actively hindered."

"By whom?"

Graham was silent for several moments, "It's easier to show you. We still don't know exactly who they are. But we do have one of them prisoner. Your grandfather wished to show you this after he… convinced you to step down and become something more of a negotiator."

"And not in any form of further leadership," Malpaius added.

I let out a superior huff, "O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth…"

The two of the men looked at me curiously.

I sighed, "Nevermind. You'd appreciate it more if you knew where he drew all of his inspiration from."

Graham cleared his throat, "As you say, Caesar. In any case, he would have asked for your opinion on the enemy. He assumed that since you were able to tame deathclaws and that scorchbeast that you would have some insight on how to handle these… things."

It took us several minutes to arrive at the building the Legion had set aside for the prisoner. The level of security surprised me. There were dozens of guards outside, in the entrance, and down every hallway we had to walk down. The guards were heavily armed and were some of the few of Caesar's men who had power armor. This caused my curiosity to grow. What could possibly be so dangerous that it warranted such a significant level of security?

We arrived at a steel door that had clearly replaced an older door. The frame around it had been reinforced, and the walls had a series of wood planks hammered four planks deep added to it. My curiosity grew more and more.

"What are you keeping in here, Legate?" I asked curiously. "It can't be a deathclaw. It wouldn't fit through the door. Is it a super mutant?"

"No, Caesar," Graham shook his head. "We're not sure what it is. We know it is otherworldly, and we've found some evidence that they are working with the Enclave. I thought you would want to see it before looking over the correspondence we were able to acquire."

I arched my brow, "Is it aggressive?"

Graham shook his head, "Not any longer. It was dangerous when it had its weapon, but without it, it keeps itself tucked in a corner most of the time unless someone gets too close. Then it will lash out."

I motioned for the guards to open the door.

Eric stepped ahead of me, "I'll ensure it is safe, Caesar." He didn't wait for permission. He and two other Praetorians moved into the room and, after several tense moments, called back that it was safe to enter.

I walked into the room which had a single light in it. The air smelled like old dust and bog water. Eric and the Praetorians stood close to one of the back corners of the room where a thin diminutive figure sat tensely. I moved closer and my eyes widened at the sight before me. The creature was around my height, had a large head with big, black, oval-shaped eyes, green skin, and sharp teeth that it bared at us.

It was a Zetan! An alien that, at least according to the game's lore, manipulated the old world governments into initiating the Great War. I moved to Eric's side and stared at it, seeing myself reflected in its massive eyes. In the third game it was revealed that the Enclave had been working with the Zetans for dominance over the wasteland and to potentially gain space faring technology so that they could leave Earth and populate a new planet.

"Move back," I commanded.

"Caesar, if this creature-" Eric began to protest.

"If this creature wants to attack me then it will burn in nuclear fire," I cut him off as I willed the concrete floor to form into a chair that I sat in. "Move back and do not threaten it."

"As you command…" Eric replied hesitantly, but he obeyed immediately. He and the others moved to the opposite side of the room.

I stared at the creature and smiled, giving it my most empathetic tone, "I am Merida Orodum. I have recently taken control over the men who have imprisoned you. I assume by your accommodations that you have been treated rather poorly."

It simply stared at me contemptuously, not replying but not ignoring me either.

I created another chair for it and motioned for it to sit, "That's likely more comfortable than the floor. Will you sit and speak with me?"

The Zetan remained silent. Not stirring.

I stared at it with a smile for a few moments before placing my hands in my lap, "Has the Enclave told you about me? Is that why your people have been trying to stop the Legion from joining with me?"

Still no reaction.

I nodded softly, "I see you don't believe you need to talk. You're under the assumption that I think you can't speak our language." I leaned forward and smirked, "But I know you can. You work with the Enclave. Which means you can understand our language well enough to coordinate with our enemies. And that implies that you have a strong command over the language, because tactics like harrying and pursuit are too complex for simple drawings or pantomime."

Nuclear fire glowed in my eyes as I stood and touched the closest wall. The wall began to burn beneath my touch, with old wires melting and smoke began filling the room. "I'm not like the other humans who are happy to beat you or cut you to try and get you to talk."

I looked back down at the alien, my smile gone, replaced with a dangerous expression, "I'm the type who prefers to speak openly and fairly, until I find that you won't treat with me in good faith. That's when you'll begin to pray for the beatings to come back. Because I can turn you inside out, spill your guts all over the floor, place you in death's cold embrace… and then reverse it all as if it had never happened."

"You'll have the memory of the pain. You'll still be able to catch the scent of your boiling innards," I sat back down, keeping the nuclear fire raging in my eyes while my face returned to a chipper smile. "And you'll live with the dread that I will do it over, and over, and over again until you decide that speaking to me civilly is the best option. I don't imagine you traveled however many light years to be tortured by a terran god was what you had in mind when you came here."

I sat back in my chair and tilted my head, "So, Zetan… Do you think you might want to consider speaking to me now? Or do you want to see what I'm capable of before making that decision."

The alien silently stared at me for some time. Its facial features, while relatively humanoid, were difficult to read. But with how much time was going by without a reaction, I had to believe that it was thinking things through. Finally, after some time, it stood slowly and sat down in the hair I had created for it.

I smiled wide and allowed the fire in my eyes to diminish, "A wise decision. Now, as I said, my name is Merida Orodum. What may I call you?"

"Gier'uacht," the alien replied in a voice that sounded like a snake slithering over sheet metal.

"Gier'uacht," I repeated to get a handle on the pronunciation. "Why are your people working with the Enclave?"

"For resources," it replied.

I scoffed, "It doesn't matter where you come from, there are countless worlds between here and there with the resources of Earth in one form or another. Be more specific."

It seemed to scowl at me, "We want humans. For resources to experiment on."

"Why?" I pressed. "Why experiment on us?"

"To find your strengths," it answered. "To find your weaknesses."

"You didn't think to simply check the scores of medical books we have on our own physiology?" I asked.

"Your information is lacking," I countered.

"It wasn't when you were watching us before the nuclear war," I shot back. "You were watching us even then. You could have gotten all the information you needed. So why not give me the reason you're looking for our strengths and weaknesses?"

"That is not for you to know," Gier'uacht snarled defensively.

"I know an invading force when I see one, Gier'uacht," I said with a cautionary tone. "You're looking at our biology to find out the easiest way to wipe us out. I'm willing to guess that you thought the nuclear devastation would do the job for you, but didn't account on human hardiness or our ability to adapt to our environment. I'd wager that our biodiversity is so different now between regions that you can't find a singular solution to use on us now. Am I close?"

"You see much," is all it would reply.

"So you don't want us," I nodded. "You want our planet. You're willing to wait out the radiation poisoning so that you can claim the planet itself."

Gier'uacht didn't reply, but that was enough of a response.

"I'm guessing your planet can't sustain life anymore?" I asked. "Or is it close to dying. Close enough that a few thousand years is all it has left and that clock running out is still just enough time for you to wait for the radiation poisoning to dissipate so that you can begin populating Earth?"

Again. No response.

"The Enclave think you're helping them gain control, but you're using them as a puppet army to wipe out most of the biodiversity," I mused as I considered the Encalve's actions. "They work to destroy any mutated gene pools so that only non-mutated humans in the Enclave are left. With no more biodiversity, that leaves the Enclave as the sole human resistance on this continent. You wipe them out, make America your foothold on Earth, then begin to systematically eradicate the rest of the humans across the globe?"

"How do you know this?" it asked, finally seeming intrigued.

I chuckled, "I just put what I knew about you and the Enclave together. It's not in the Enclave's best interest to wipe out other humans since they won't have the numbers to repopulate without watering down the genepool or risk humans going extinct in America. But if they thought they could take humans and go to a new planet to begin repopulation, they might not mind doing a fair bit of culling so long as they can keep the numbers to make that a possibility."

"But once the numbers are small enough, you can wipe out the Enclave with a simple virus, and exterminate any pockets of humans left with martial force," I concluded. "Humans are greedy. Exploiting greed is a powerful tactic. So I can see why you chose to do it."

"It doesn't matter if you know our plan," it replied. "You cannot stop us. Our people surround your planet. We're only waiting."

I paused and looked up as if to contemplate the planet being surrounded by space ships. I looked back at Gier'uacht and chuckled, "Well, at least now I know what I need to do. You're right, of course. I can't stop you right now. My influence with my newfound abilities doesn't quite reach that far. And without knowing the precise location of one of those ships, I can't simply open a portal to get to them."

I stood and smiled dangerously at the alien, "But rest assured that the moment I can reach them with my influence, I will end your entire race in a spectacular display of nuclear fire."

Gier'uacht sneered at me, "You will try."

"I've not failed to achieve my goals so far," I smiled. "I'll speak with you again tomorrow. We'll discuss what you know about the Enclave and where I can find their bases. If you cooperate, maybe we can discuss how we can help your people live with us, instead of trying to wipe us out. Think about that. The enemy of your enemy can be your friend…"

I turned and began to walk out of the room. I was happy to let Gier'uacht think about that over the next day and consider who would be more useful to his people.

Just as I was approaching the door, Eric raised his rifle, "Caesar! Look out!" He fired a quick series of shots.

I turned in time to see Gier'uacht slump down in its chair, blue blood weeping from several bullet wounds in its chest. I turned back to Eric, my expression clearly seeking an explanation.

"Forgive me, Caesar," Eric said as he knelt before me quickly. "It looked like he was going to attack you."

"So you shot it?!" I screamed furiously.

"I acted on instinct," Eric replied as he lowered his gaze to the floor.

I could feel the blood rushing through my cheeks as anger flooded through me, "That was our one opportunity to turn a powerful enemy into an ally and get more information on the Enclave than we could have hoped for conventionally!"

"The mistake is mine, Caesar," Eric answered. His tone was full of understanding about how badly he'd messed up. "I should have warned him first but I didn't want to risk any harm coming to you."

It took me some time to calm down enough to reply. "This was a major miscalculation on your part, Eric. I trust you to have better judgment than that and to handle such situations with the care and diligence befitting your station. I am not some delicate flower that will bruise from the slightest touch. The alien was no threat to me, but it was a valuable resource. Return to your quarters for the rest of the day and reflect on your actions. We'll start anew tomorrow."

"As you command," he replied and stood. He looked down at me regretfully, "I apologize for my actions, Caesar. I will endeavor to never disappoint you again."

As Eric turned and left the room I looked at Malpaius and Graham, "I want every member of the Legion to get a good look at the alien before it starts to rot. Taking one of these creatures captive is among our highest priorities. Do you understand?"

The Legated thumped their fists to their chests, "Yes, Caesar!"

"See it done," I said as I marched out of the room, followed by the Praetorian Guard. I'd had an opportunity to make inroads with the Zetans and had been snatched away by emotional impotence. Now I had to figure out how I was going to handle both the Enclave and the Zetans who seemed to have joined forces to work against the Legion.