Marshall Flowers' Sentimental Journey Through Post-Apocalyptica and Mutantville

November 12, 2113, continued

Then Rorschach said we’d be detected fairly soon, and told me to cloak the party. I played dumb and told him I didn’t bring any cloaks. He told me to use my psychic powers. I guess the cat’s out of the bag. No idea who told him… maybe Macross knows and told the Couverites. Now recently I’ve been working on shielding us from melty mutants and I think I’ve got it down… but from humans, I can’t do this. So I put everything I had into it. I thought my mind was going to tear itself apart, but it seemed to work. My sense of judgement was seriously messed up. It was like being extremely drunk, but still sober. It’s not something I want to feel ever again.

So then Rorschach leads us down another hall and he takes the keys. Timmy tells me over our mindlink that there’s actually three of them that he takes. Couldn’t see what the third was. Now, that wasn’t the deal, so we considered confronting him then, but decided we’d best get out first, so I just grabbed the Hephaestos key from him. But he isn’t very smart taking them and an alarm goes off. Good work, Rorschach. As we run to leave I feel a psychic presence sweeping the area. It looked right at me, but it didn’t see anything and kept looking somewhere else.

As we leave the room we fought in we see an oncoming party of Couverites. They look a little confused, and don’t see us. We sneak past them, and genius Dole stubs his toe and has to swear about it. They started looking around a little harder and I was afraid they’d see us, so Duff threw a smoke grenade back on the other side of them, and they figure we’re on the other side of it and lay down a base of fire.

Duff hacked one of the heavy doors to stay shut to slow them down if they came after us this way. But pretty soon we were hearing footsteps coming from all directions, and Rorschach said it wasn’t going to work. He said “Plan B,” and took out some electronic device and flipped a switch. He told us to follow him. The other guys were thinking double-cross (double-Macross?) but he seemed alright to me, so we followed. We waited for another group to break the hacked door back open, and followed behind them.

Now there were a ton of them in the room where we had the gunfight, and that was where the elevator was that would take us to the roof. Our cloak held while we were in the room, but the elevator opening was too much. We were all in balaclavas so they couldn’t see who we were. I started shouting orders at us like we’re the elite troops they’ve never seen, and it at least buys us enough time for the doors to close and get us moving to the roof. Once we got to the top Duff had the bright idea to put it on service so they couldn’t get it back.

We got out onto the roof and barricaded the stairs. Rorschach said we were waiting for a helicopter. Timmy said “If it’s a Sea King I’m going back down to face the mutants. I’m not even kidding.” Soon they started banging on the door. There was talk of rigging some C4 or a grenade to go off when it opened, but in a second the banging stopped so we knew they were going to blow it. They busted out and there was another gunfight, and some of them used swords. While we fought Duff planted three pounds of C4 against the stairwell to keep more from coming. He only set a very short fuse, and just as he finished three more soldiers ran through. He managed to stick out his foot and trip one of them, then run and dive around the corner just as the bomb went off. I have never heard an explosion that loud. My ears are still ringing. Anyway, the one he tripped got caught in the explosion. He was proud of it. I guess it’s a better way to go than being shot?

So the chopper shows up and fortunately it’s not a Sea King. Timmy said they were speaking Japanese. They also said they were taking us to their boat. Now, between the extra key, the change of plans, and this, I start getting nervous. Over the mindlink there was chatter about maybe pulling guns on these guys and forcing them to take us to our bikes in the forest outside Couver. I told him I didn’t like the deal changing and I brought up the third key. He said he didn’t know it was going to be there. I asked him what it looked like, and he said a grinning skull. Obviously it was the Hades key. I told him he didn’t want what was inside, and he said he knew what was inside and it could be useful. I told him it wouldn’t, and said “let me see, I’ll show you.” He handed it over and before anyone could react I pulled out my Glock and shot the disc right in half. I gave him one half and kept the other. Nearly shot myself in the hand, too. He didn’t even flinch. He just asked me to keep my gun holstered. This guy is just ice cold, it gives me the creeps. That and his damn mask. It’s always changing just a tiny little bit, like the light reflects a different way and it looks almost like a face, but then not again. It gives me the jibblies.

I’m not too sure why I did it, but then again I am. The kinds of weapons in the Hades Vault are what reduced our world to the nightmare it is now. It’s what I’m working to rebuild, and I’ll die before I see some lunatic nuke it all to hell again. But I didn’t even think before I did it. It was just reflex. Looking back I think it was just the drunk thing, but I’m sure it was the right thing to do. Of course, if anyone can get the case open without the key, they’ll still have the codes, but it’s a good start.

But he reassured me about Melkior and we went with them to the boat. When we got off Rorschach introduced us to a guy named Tom, who had an Australian accent. He said the boat was an old research vessel called the Jack of Spades. I asked him if it was the Jack of Spades, if we were on the bowers of the ship? He didn’t seem to get the joke. Dexter was wondering if anyone even played cards out at sea. He said maybe they didn’t have any decks to play with. I killed myself laughing before I could spit out “But ships have plenty of decks!” Everyone just looked at me funny. I tried to pull myself together and introduce us, but Timmy thought he’d better sedate me. He gave me a shot and the last thing I remember before passing out was him saying something about knowing it’s stress because he’s a surgeon, and Tom said something about a psychiatrist. Anyway, it was kinda lame to fool me like that but it was probably a good idea given the way I was acting like a crazy person. He kept me out for a few days while I recovered from the strain.

So when I was out, the guys learned some stuff and managed not to insult ALL of them Melkior guys. Rorschach admitted that he does actually work for them. They said they thought they had about 95% of the world’s remaining naval power. Someone said “So… two boats?” and Tom just shrugged. They also said they have a nuclear-powered submarine which could reach Poseidon Vault. Dex and Duff were stoked to see it.

They also said there were three USA’s they knew of: one in the northeast, one around Texas, and one around old Seattle. They also asked about ATMA. Apparently before the Drop they predicted it would happen and consolidated enough to survive it. They’re based near Zeus Vault like we thought. They suggested they almost certainly have access to it, which would explain their chopper and Dorn’s high tech pistol, whatever it is. Also the UFO rail gun dude in the Restricted Zone. Most impressively, they added that not only would our LAW have a chance at blowing it up, but that the kind of robotic guy it is probably used a radio frequency emitter to identify friend or foe, and if we could find out what it was we could just waltz into the Restricted Zone. Note to self: get Dex to scan radio frequencies if we run into ATMA hacks again.

They said they could get us home using a train they had. We thought of the Gor-Tech train and asked them more about it, and it was exactly the one we were talking about. Now I don’t know if I was still being silly, but we’re talking about a naval empire here, and I remembered the last thing Dexter wrote to Admin01 when we were in the chemical plant and had another fit. Anyway, they said some stuff was lying around after the war and they hijacked the train and the plant, even though it’s Gor-Tech which was a subsidiary of ATMA. It sounds really suspicious but I’m sure they’re telling the truth. They said ATMA has total superiority on land, but they couldn’t touch the Melkior Alliance at sea, so they had a nice stalemate going.

So they’ve also heard about what we’re trying to do and got some intel from Rorschach, which explains why they wanted to work with us. We also talked about trading for food. They also mentioned a place called the Bazaar south of the old border where we might ask around for the cases. They also gave us a device like Rorschach’s to communicate with them. So after the council meeting, that’s our next stop.

November 13, 2113

Actually I slept pretty well last night... and now that I think about it, when I was messed up I shot and killed two men on the roof in Couver. I don’t know what to think about that. Maybe it’s better if I don’t.

November 21, 2113

So here’s who all showed up for the council meeting:

Representative Philip MacGregor of the Gor-Tech mine (population 200)
Chairmen Anders and Delfino of Trade City (population 200)
Ambassador Macross of Couver (population unknown; he said “several thousand” but that was being evasive)
Mayor Darren Joelson of Newver (population 3000). Also TC was with him, that guy is solid.
Mayor David Sandoval of Blue Lake (population 400)
Champion Damon Slate of Sandoro (population 50 mangy scavengers, if that)
And your awesome Chairman, Chancellor Marshall Flowers of Haven (population 2000).

MacGregor actually only showed up partway through. Apparently he ran into some problems with bandits. That played nicely into my hands.

Macross left partway through, saying “Just tell us what you require from us.” It was weird. He wasn’t committing to anything, and seemed to be there mostly to spy on us. We already know Couver is interested in trade but not much else. Apparently we don’t figure into their insane cult’s plans for human evolution.

We agreed on some broad strokes:

1. Defense. Mutants, bandits, and Mittlewerk were everyone’s problem so we agreed each city would contribute men or arms within their abilities. We also agreed to set up an academy and barracks in Sandoro to train them. Damon knows tactics and is going to do the training. Also, this will provide Sandoro a reason to still exist. Plus there’s that medical facility we saved from being a sploded by ATMA. I also told them that when mutants move into an area, radiation comes with them. I was figuring they spread radiation themselves, like they pooped it or something, but Timmy said that’s not really biologically possible. My conspiracy theory brain started working like maybe ATMA irradiates an area so the mutants can move in? I don’t know. Anyway, Blue Lake wanted help with the mutants around Blue Lake (around 300 in an army when we were at Athena the first time), and we promised it would be the first thing for the militia to do.
2. Basically we agreed to keep the Council going in more or less its present shape, with each city getting one representative, who all elect a Chairman. I won the vote but barely. Macross had left by this point so there were only six representatives. MacGregor, Anders, and Sandoval voted for Anders and me, Darren, and Damon voted for me. MacGregor knew Trade City well and was interested in not much other than trade anyway. Since it was deadlocked 3-3 we had speeches. I told them I was going to restore civilisation to this part of the world, and that Anders was just a businessman interested in making money. It was enough to make Sandoval think I was a better choice, which I am, but he only abstained to give us the 3-2 edge. Delfino challenged Sandoro’s vote, but they’re around the same size as the Gor-Tech mine anyway and I argue better than they do.
3. We agreed that Couverite freaks were people too. I didn’t put it like that, but while Macross was still there we cleared up the whole “mutant” word problem. Couverites with deformities are now called “radiants” and melty mutants are just mutants. It was mainly throwing them a bone, and hopefully everyone will start using these words now to avoid the stupid confusion. I still need to come up with names for the different mutants though.
   Macross said mutants do face some persecution. When I first brought up the subject he said “some are more human than others.” I said “we’re all equally human.” He shrugged. Those bastards and their cult are really starting to get to me. Who do they think they are? Most of them are just funny looking! So they have one psychic there too. Who cares? I may be chosen to restore civilisation, but I’m not more human than anyone else! They are so arrogant!
4. We decided to establish a common currency. Eventually I broke it to them about the economist we have on ice. Trade City insisted we agree to no protective taxes on trade goods, and that we wouldn’t have price controls. I guess that sounds okay to me. I’ll leave that stuff up to the economist when we thaw him out.

Darren said this wasn’t enough. He wanted to unify. I agreed but felt that some other members might not be ready, and we were taking things as fast as we could already. That seemed to go over well with the rest of the council.

Timmy also offered to show the others how to make anti-rad drugs, but the supplies to make them are more of a problem.

Finally, we named our little council the Olympus Confederacy after the vaults, and our next meeting will be in two months. Hopefully by then we’ll have some recruits trained and the economist woken up. Now to the Bazaar.

So Marshall Flowers is now one step closer to world domination! Just kidding. Although the world would be way better off if I ran the place.

November 29, 2113

I got the master builder, Sunborn, to bring some men and construction machines to have the military academy built in Sandoro. We made the manor into the officer’s barracks and began training the first recruits. They’ll be taught to gather shell casings and make their own bullets, as well as fight. Dex also decided to paint the jeeps and Dole’s power armour purple camo to match the OICW.

It’s getting really cold. I liked it better in the colony. We won’t be going back there anytime soon, though.

December 4, 2113

Dole suggested going around Couver to avoid them, but I thought it would seem suspicious, so we just drove through. They seemed agitated and I think I know why. I played dumb and I don’t think they know it was us that took the keys. They just escorted us out of the city the way we were going.

When we went off the road to skirt around the Rock, the biker town, Joe started acting weird. He said he wanted to go to settle some business. I think he’s got some vendetta going on. We can’t go there, though. It’s just an unnecessary risk. There’s just too many of them and with our gear we’d be walking targets. We did run into a gang of six of them outside the city, though. They opened fire and we killed them. Hopefully that will be enough for Joe. Since Moomba made two of them just stop their bikes and get off, we got two Hogs in perfect condition, and four damaged ones. We tied the broken ones to the jeeps to haul them to the Bazaar.

December 5, 2113

We ran into a military patrol near the “US Army” base. They were pretty alright, actually. We told them who we were, although Joe gave a fake name as usual. They’ve heard of me down here too. There’s a tariff of ten percent for anything crossing the border. And they have two light tanks, maybe a few hundred men. It makes me wonder, how they’ve decided to claim the name of an old country. Maybe it could work for us, make us seem more legitimate. But then again I like the sound of the Olympus Confederacy.

December 6, 2113

The outskirts of the Bazaar were pretty rough. The people there are very poor. Dole and I handed out some jerky and rations and got swarmed. They’re more desperate than the poor guys in Newver when they were in trouble.

Joe told us some stuff about the town. Seems it’s owned by this Aberforth family, criminals I think, and they might have something to do with the Rock. I think there’s more here than he’s telling us.

There were two casinos in town. Timmy got a fair amount of chips in exchange for some morphine. I can’t believe they’d risk it but Joe won a ton of chips, enough to get the morphine back and then some.

I was going to use the rest to buy the Hephaestos case. I asked around about where I could find a curio like that and someone directed me to a weapons dealer named Alanson. He set me up with a stogie and showed me his stuff. He’s got another OICW, and a Land Warrior suit to go with it. There was also a couple of high-tech handguns and a “laser rifle,” which is a rifle that shoots a laser. Anyway, I tried to play dumb about the case and buy it with chips, because most merchants take them around here. Unfortunately he seemed to have some idea of what it was worth, because he had had a couple offers for it before. He said he’d trade it to us if we did some work for him. It seems there’s some old military base near here that’s defended with some autoguns, and he wants what’s inside. If we get it to him, we’ll get the case. I also got him to throw in the OICW. That way Dole can use it and I can have Moomba’s Boomstick back.

By the end of the day Joe had taken out two machine guns that were guarding the entrance. Tomorrow we go inside. We’re hoping for no injuries this time.

December 7, 2113

Duff MacGyvered some hammers into a grappling hook and we scaled the wall. We hacked the door into the main compound. It was pretty boring, mostly crates of tools and supplies, nothing even scav-worthy. Then a levitating deathbot came out of the floor and shot at us with its machine guns. It also had missiles, weird shield things, and little repair bots that came out to patch it up. It took some grenades but we took it out.

Looking around we also found a couple maps that are post-Drop but seem really old. Behind some blast doors we found a shuttle. One led to a cryogenics facility, but the computer said there was no one in there. Another led to “Project Walken.” We went to check it out and the ride there was really long, dozens of klicks at least. The project is a mech. It’s nowhere near completion – it needed a power source and all kinds of things. Maybe one day it could be fixed up but not anytime soon. Obviously this is what doofus wanted, but we didn’t like the idea of him getting his hands on it. The last thing we need is Mittlewerk with a mech. So we scav’d some parts, sabotaged the tunnel, collapsing it, and programmed the computer to show there’s nothing special there.

We went to check out the cryo chamber. A really old man was there, Michael Arnie. Long story short, this place was like the Vaults, intended to keep some people alive to rebuild after the Drop (except U.S. military). They were revived 20 years after the Drop. They were doing some good, especially seeing how there were a lot more bandits back then with the amount of ammo around. Then ATMA showed up to help, then betrayed them, and destroyed everything they had built. We told him we were going after ATMA, and he gave us a silver wand-type thing. He said it’ll get us through some of their defenses, like the red walls which have a real name, “nanobarriers.” He also gave us a stack of books, a history he’d written of the base and what happened. We told him Alanson would be coming for the mech, and he said he had a surprise for them.

As it turns out Alanson was just approaching the base as we were leaving. He asked us to escort him inside, which we did. We told him there was a harmless old man still there. I yelled out “Hey crazy old man, don’t hurt us!” like I was making fun of him but really I didn’t want any part of his surprise. Alanson and his men took a quick look around and saw we’d pwned the defenses. Duff said pwned isn’t a real word, but Dex told him that he checked last time he was at Athena Vault, and pwned made it into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2014. Anyway, they let us go and we headed to the Bazaar for our reward.

About halfway there, we saw a flash of light. We turned around and looked back at the base. It was a mushroom cloud. It’s a good thing Michael waited a bit for his surprise. We could barely get back into the Bazaar. The place was going nuts. We got to Alanson’s building and decided to just steal everything, seeing how the guy was dead, and we don’t want his high-tech gear falling into the wrong hands. So I told the guards that Alanson and his men were near the nuke, and they needed anti-rad meds. They let me in. I mindlinked with Dex and Duff, and in the commotion they were able to sneak around back and set up some dynamite on the building. Two guards escorted me in, and when I gave the signal they set off the explosives. One guard ran to investigate, but one stayed with me, so I used the Force to make him tell the guards out front what happened. That left me alone to smash and grab. I threw on the Land Warrior suit, grabbed the OICW, the two Falcon .45s, two HK G36Cs, and the lasrifle. The guards out front were obviously suspicious, so I just told them their boss was dead and they should probably help themselves. We were way better armed and had a guy in power armour and now me in the suit, so they didn’t start anything.

The Land Warrior suit can communicate with Dole’s power armour, so I can see what he sees in my HUD. Mostly we used it to make jokes about Dex behind his back.

December 8, 2113

We went around the “U.S. Army” base. No way are they getting ten percent of this! Then again, the lasrifle has 50 charges, so we could have just shot five of them and called it even.

December 12, 2113

We went to Hephaestos Vault and opened up the case. There were no codes inside, just a note:

Hello Gentlemen,

The "Intrepid GM" here, with Tales from the Wasteland, a collection of short stories based on happenings in the world. They were sent to the group as an interlude during a week when we had to skip game night. These are player, but not character knowledge. Chronologically, they happened within the last month or so, and all occured prior to the explosion at the Black Thorn military base.

Tales from the Wastelands, Part 1

Everett crouched low, behind the bushes. The wind was chilly; though the winter sun was bright, it provided little warmth. Just ahead of him were some of the men who had killed his sister. Big, brazen bullies with guns and knives who sat around a fire, laughing at some joke. They seemed oblivious to anything going on around them, trusting in guns and their grey and red uniforms to keep themselves safe. Everett had a gun too but with only three bullets left, it was unlikely to do much good.

He whirled around at the sudden crunching sound of a branch breaking behind him but it was too late. Another man in grey and red was behind him, pointing a pistol at his head. This one's uniform was different, grander somehow. He was likely an officer of some sort and both his bearing and the look in his cold eyes told Everett that he would not be granting any mercy. "Move, boy" the officer gestured with his weapon towards the camp fire "but drop the gun first".

The officer spent a few minutes berating his men for their inattention to detail but turned soon enough to interrogating Everett.

"You from Haven?"

Everett nodded.

"You got a problem with my men here?"

Another nod.

"See that fort? That's South Fort. Means that his here land belongs to the Mittlewerk empire. That makes you a spy."

Everett glared.

"You stupid, boy? I said you was a SPY! You better talk quick and tell me what Haven is doing spying in Mittlewerk territory before I make you curse the day your bitch of a mother ever laid eyes on your dog of a father."

A quick glance to the right was all it took to convince Everett to act. One of the Mittlewerk men was a step too close and his knife was temptingly close. One quick lunge, and the knife was in his hands. An upwards jerk brought a flash of bright, red blood as the soldier fell backwards, clutching his throat. The rest of the soldiers stumbled backwards, confusion and shock putting them off balance momentarily.

BANG. The officer's first bullet hit Everett in the chest. He slumped backwards a bit, eyes closing, gasping for breath. He looked up at the officer, saw the gun being pointed at his head. It was hopeless, he was already dead. With one final burst of energy, Everett tried to lunge forwards, to stick the knife in the officer.

All he had to do was stick the knife in the officer.

Stick the knife in the middle of the grey-red uniform.

BANG.

Too slow.

Tales from the Wastelands, Part 2

Walking into the interior of the casino was always something of an adjustment. The bright lights of the slot machines, the noise of the different games and the smoky haze from the cigars created a powerful combined assault on the senses. It didn't bother him however, he was used to the place.

He looked around the room and headed for the bar near the back, past the jingling machines and the tables of card players. Someone tossed the dice too vigorously at one of the tables; they bounced off and landed near his feet as he passed. The gambler, perhaps a little tipsy, ran over to grab the dice, laughing something of an apology as he scooped up the dice. It was only when the gambler stood back up that he noticed who he had just thrown dice at. The gambler's face went white and he stammered an apology before backing off.

He continued through the crowds until he reached the table of the men he had come to see. They sat quietly, sipping at drinks. There were three of them, a tall man, a shorter, bulkier man and a young blonde woman. They all wore neatly pressed black suits and ties. He sat at the table, nodding curtly as the tall man began to talk.

"You're late, Aberforth. Now, what was so important that it couldn't wait until after our vacation?"

"I have some information that concerns a certain group of travellers from Haven. One of them is this new "chancellor", this Flowers. He paid a visit to Alanson's, inquiring about the briefcase. Alanson sent them to the old Black Thorn military installation; the man is obsessed with getting in. He thinks they might even succeed, something about a tin can. That important enough for you?"

The tall man pondered a moment before responding. "You're doing an excellent job so far Michael. I think we can all agree that it would be much better if you succeeded instead of your brother Raymond. Continue to be this useful, and you will find yourself with some powerful support when the time comes." The tall man pauses for a moment, extracts a small package wrapped in brown paper from his jacket and passes it over. "This should be enough for now. Now, if you don't mind, we would like to get back to enjoying our vacation."

As soon as Aberforth left, the blonde woman turned to the tall man.

"We should leave immediately, we can catch them before they escape."

"Patience," replied the tall man, "there is a chance that the Black Thorn will do our work for us. If not, we can catch them on their way back. They will be tired and worn out, hopefully low on ammo. Why work harder than we need to?"

"But - " the blonde woman started to reply, before being cut off by the tall man.

"We are on vacation, and you will enjoy the remainder of that vacation, am I understood?"

Tales from the Wastelands, Part 3

The group of robed men moved quickly through the dark tunnels, lit sparsely by electric lights. Beneath the city it was always quiet; their footsteps echoed through the tunnels as they passed by multiple doors and other tunnel branches. Finally they emerged from the deep tunnels into a large, circular room with multiple doors branching off.

The leader, the only one of the robed men to carry no weapons paused and frowned at one of the doors. He remember the recent attack on this very place, one of the holiest in the world. He began to grow angry as he thought of the traitor that had lead the interlopers here. One day, Rorsach would be found and he would pay with his life . . . but not until he revealed who he had lead here and where they had taken the disks.

He shock off his dark thoughts as he turned towards another doorway. He motioned for his guards to wait outside and then keyed in the entry code for the door. With a hiss it snapped open, revealing the room beyond. The leader walked in with two of his followers close behind, the door shutting automatically behind them, and checked to make sure that nothing had happened here.

***

Phil waited despondently in his cell. He knew his time was almost up. He had as his comrades had been slowly tortured and killed by the mutant scum. They had been captured while out on patrol months ago. He looked as the door opened and the one that called himself the prelate entered. Phil was almost relieved when the prelate announced that his time had come. He no longer had any hope of being saved or of managing to escape. Death would be a relief, though likely a long time in coming.

The prelate motioned for his acolytes to bring Phil. He tried to prepare himself to fight but both energy and spirit had long since been gone. He struggled only feebly as he was dragged to a table and strapped down. The prelate approached with a hypodermic needle filled with a green liquid that glowed recently. With a quick stab, the needle was deep inside Phil and his veins were set on fire.

As he screamed the acolytes dragged him to one of the numeros tanks in the rooms. They dropped him in from the top and then sealed the tank. A machine began to rumble and then a tube connected to the tank began to pour a foul liquid inside. Phil still felt as though he was on fire, and the liquid did nothing to help. His screams were finally cut off when the liquid filled his lungs.

***

The leader knew it was a sign, a miracle that had come to help in the aftermath of the intrusion into the temple. This, his last subject, looked as though it would be a success. At least, as much of a success as he could hope for. He entered the inner chamber once more, accompanied by his followers with his guards waiting outside.

The creature filled the tank, its muscles pressed against the glass. It would no longer fit inside and it was to be released today. He glanced at the other tanks in the rooms and at the pitiful corpses that floated within. With the secret he had found the whole world would soon know the one truth and embrace the cause.

A sudden crack drew the leader's attention back to the first tank just in time to see it shatter and a wave of serum flood into the room. He was dimly aware of a roaring noise as the creature lurched into the room, charging towards him. With one might swipe, it threw the leader into the wall where he tumbeld to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Tales from the Wastelands, Part 4

Dorn moved quickly and quietly through the woods. He knew that remaining undetected had to be his priority. His thoughts were in turmoil; he had spent years hiding from ATMA, had changed his name and his appearance. At the beginning he had thought that he could never find a life outside of the compounds, bereft of modern convenience. Slowly he had learned and become accustomed to the life of a wanderer; the desire for freedom replacing the desire for a hot shower.

He had arrived in Haven a few years before Golant and looking back at everything that had happened he wished he had done something to stop him. Golant had done serious harm to the energy and spirit that had been found in Haven. Of course, Marshall, Dex, Damon and Timmy had arrived and managed to oust Golant eventually. Dorn thought he could detect some of that spirit of independance returning but it could be just wishful thinking.

The sudden sight of the wall in front of him brought him out of his reverie. It loomed twenty feet high and was close to indestructible despite being only six inches wide. It was not, however, impassable. For a moment Dorn considered using the wand in his pack but the possibility of discovery was too great. Instead, he went with a more difficult but more stealthy plan.

Quickly unbundling a series of planks, he shoved the first one into the wall at a height of two feet. It took a moment for it to sink in but as soon as it did, Dorn jumped on top of it and shoved in another plank. He was almost at the top when he was a little slow in getting onto the next plank. With a crack, the disolved portion of the plank gave way. Dorn grabbed in desperation at the plank he had just inserted and pulled himself up. No time to put in a plank on the other side of the wall before the one he was standing on gave way.

Dorn jumped.

Tales from the Wastelands, Part 5

The crowd’s roars swept through the square. More than a thousand people had gathered in the Plaza of Triumph, the center of Mittlewerk city. Today was the day when the Emperor would announce his grand new plan to bring prosperity to the empire. A day of rest had been declared, no one was to work and there would be a great feast. Wagons of food and ale had been dispatched to all the outlying army camps a week ago so they too could participate.

An even louder roar announced the arrival of the Emperor on the balcony of his palace, overlooking the Plaza. He was not an imposing figure and was gray haired and stooped with age, though his people loved him in spite of it. His son and daughter flanked him and behind them came the commander of the Mittlewerk army. The emperor raised his arms for silence and in moments no one in the Plaza made as much as a whisper as they for the emperor to speak.

The loud crack that rang out into the silent square confused many people in the crowd for a moment until the emperor slowly fell backwards, blood spurting from the wound in his head. “So much for the easy part,” thought Hexagon Jack as he watched through the scope on his rifle, “and how convenient of them to place one of their flags beside the balcony. Uncertain wind’s ruined a good shot before.”

With practiced ease, Hex stripped his rifle and placed it in it’s case. The crowd had begun to scream and panic as Hex slipped down the stairs of the building he had shot from. He emerged into the pub that was located on the lowest level just in time to join the crowd rushing outside; he blended in with practiced ease. Everything was going well – and he hadn’t even an island shaman as a distraction.

The thought of Marshall caused Hex to reflect on the events that had brought him to this point. He had been in the vicinity of Blue Lake stalking the Sandovals when Dorn had suddenly appeared in his camp one day. Hex had gone for his gun, but Dorn had been faster. Hex had listened as Dorn presented his credentials and explained everything that had happened – the alliance with Blue Lake, the price on his head, the need for Emperor Mittlewerk to die. In the end Hex had agreed to go after Mittlewerk and to leave Sandoval alone, adding privately that afterwards he would drop by to see Marshall.

As the crowd continued to push and shove around him Hex smiled to himself. He and Marshall had a few things that needed to be settled and after that perhaps Sandoval as well. He was looking forward to those meetings.

December 18, 2113

You know, the first two cases we opened, I figured something like that was going to happen. This time I was sure we’d be fine. Figures.

Anyway, we headed to Athena Vault to figure out where that rocket base is. Getting past the mutants is easy now, since I can make myself and my friends invisible to them. We put Harper Rocket Base on our map (Timmy says Harper was remembered as one of the worst Canadian leaders in history) and woke up some frozen people.

Makahito Tsumura was the first to get woken up. I forget what his field was but it was unimportant enough to risk messing up the first time. Apparently he was forcibly frozen by General Miguel Sandoval. He cried when we told him what year it was. His entire family must be dead. Timmy gave him a shot of something to calm him down and we left him alone in another room for a while. “It’s all just a joke, you win… a new car!” I really feel terrible for the guy.

Next up was the economist Greg Hewlett. He was taken by force too, and just told “his skills would be needed in the future.” I guess the General had a sense of humour. At least he took it a lot better. He saw opportunity in the state of things as we described it, but he freaked out a bit when we told him he’d be in charge of organizing trade infrastructure and minting a common currency for the area. Seems economists were mostly eggheads writing books and it was all theoretical. Not anymore, buddy!

Xue Din We was the next to wake up. He was an engineer from China and ran into some trouble with ATMA. He was getting some death threats about some patents he had. We handed him the lasrifle (after removing the power pack) to see what level of tech he was familiar with. He pointed it at me and asked me if I ejected the round in the chamber. That answered our question, because it only draws power when you fire, and no round is ever chambered. Timmy shoved him in back in the cryo chamber until he smartened up.

Long story short, we woke everyone up. Some were willing, some just woke up in the future. We woke up Ferdinand Sandoval, the physicist/philosopher and brother of the General. The willing ones knew him and each other. I managed to calm everyone down about the surprise apocalypse sunrise, and Timmy promptly ruined it by blurting out, “Yeah, and if you’re still sore about it we can stick you back into stasis in case we need to rebuild civilisation again.”

December 19, 2113

We dropped by Blue Lake with the gentlemen and introduced David Sandoval to his long-lost great-uncle. I think he trusts me more now that I made good on the deal. I figure we’re even now – we killed one family member, and rescued another! So it’s a wash. What did David say to him? “You’re looking good for a hundred and twelve.” David is physically older, which is odd. Probably ahead in life experience too.

December 21, 2113

Duff and Dex cooked up some rocket propelled grenade launchers out of TNT and spare parts. Cool. Tomorrow, Melkior is sending us by helicopter to the trap – I mean rocket base – because it’s on a mountain top and totally cut off except by air.

December 22, 2113

When we approached the base there was a big red X painted on the ground, with a briefcase in the middle. There was also a big crater, some ruined buildings, and a helipad in decent shape, so we landed on it. We couldn’t see anybody. We all piled out and the helicopter took off to wait safely out of sight – it’s for transport only, no guns or rockets or tactical nuke mutant laser eye bears.

We ran into the nearest building. The lower floor was clear, but I scanned for thoughts and found a couple of guys waiting on the second floor. Duff got on Dole’s shoulders and set up them the bomb. Then Dex went upstairs, took a potshot from the stairwell before they could react. Then the C4 went off under their feet. It didn’t kill them, but they came crashing through the blowed up floor and we shot them and they died.

We figured there were more mooks but we didn’t know where. We hurried to the next nearest building for cover, and a few of them appeared in the windows and starting shooting. They weren’t great shots, though, especially after our RPGs blew holes in their walls, floors, and faces. At that point we heard a voice on a bullhorn telling us the codes in the briefcase were wired to a bomb and we had five minutes to disarm it. Dex figured it was plenty of time, seeing how we’re never had a fight last a minute. If we ever do I don’t think it’ll be good for us.

When we’ve cleared the second building and approach the last two buildings around the case, a really loud shot rang out and Dex hit the dirt. He took a bullet in the leg and managed to drag himself to cover and apply a tourniquet. I’d say he’s tougher than he looks, but then again it was probably just the nanites. Dole put the shooter on a fifty cal sniper rifle, so we introduced his piece of cover – the second floor of a building – to an RPG and an airburst frag from Moomba’s Boomstick. The yell as he crashed through to the ground floor was satisfying and we figured he was done.

Now I was far behind at this point, seeing how I’m not used to this Land Warrior suit yet. It’s got to weigh ten kilos. But in my visor I can see what Dole sees because it’s linked to his power armour. So he busts in with his sword, ready to clear the place, and the shooter isn’t even injured, just dusty and pissed. It’s the tall guy from ATMA that threatened us from their helicopter. He took out a pair of Falcons and grinned. Just then in the 360 degree vision the fat guy stepped into the room and told him, “You made us look bad.” Then he just punched Damon twice, and even through the armour it seemed to wind him. The rest of us were scattered around and it looked bad. Damon was good but he wasn’t going to last long.

We sprinted to the building. Damon held his ground and cut the fat one bad with his sword. The strength the guy has in that armour is insane. He whips around this six foot sword like it’s nothing. Joe ran in and dove behind some rubble to lay down covering fire on the shooter, who dove for cover and they each wasted a ton of bullets on each other. Dole took a punch in the helmet from the fat one that dazed him. I ran in and got between him and the big guy to make sure he got away. I tried to suggest that they were outnumbered and should surrender, but my power didn’t work and they said something that would have made my grandmother angry. For my trouble I took a bullet through the neck. It sounds bad but at the time it didn’t seem like much of a problem. Plus, I’m writing this so you know I’m not dead.

As soon as Dole got clear I dove for cover while he introduced the big guy to a light anti-tank weapon. He fought the LAW, and the LAW won. All that was left was a grease spot on the floor. Duff caught up then too, and the rest of us surrounded the skinny one and gunned him down. Timmy is making me write that he got the kill.

Pretty soon we hear a helicopter, so Duff disarms the bomb real quick and grabs the codes. Timmy saw to wounds and we radioed our chopper to pick us up on the other side of the plateau. At this point Dexter had crawled over to the helipad and he sees the chopper land. Some guys come out wearing suits, with two in power armour. All of them had proper rifles. Dexter warned us on the radio and I took cover. Duff bravely met midfield with their leader (Asian guy with a ponytail) who said he was there to pick up Reno and Rude. That they were dead seemed alright with him. Duff laughed and said, “So you weren’t here to pick them up, you were here to drop them off?” The guy, Tseng, also asked if Marshall Flowers was there. Duff stalled and the guy admitted he was from ATMA. But Tseng said, “If you see Marshall Flowers, tell him I’m not here to Hexagon Jack him.” I believed him so I came out to talk. Apparently the guy had talked to Dorn. Tseng said certain members of ATMA were shortsighted, and not everyone agreed with the direction they were taking. He gave us another wand for disabling nanobarriers and told us Dorn would have more information.

December 25, 2113

We got into Hephaestos Vault, finally. There were guns. Lots of guns. Enough to supply an army. There were more rockets, grenades, explosives, and other equipment, some military vehicles, two light armoured vehicles, two main battle tanks, and a large supply of diesel.

Dexter noticed some boxes weren’t accounted for in the inventory on the Vault computer. There was a note with them saying they were added at the last minute. We found three more lasrifles, three laser pistols, a contraption marked “plasma rifle, highly experimental,” some weird grenades, and three suits of power armour. There was one Mjolnir, like Dole already has, plus two more: a Jörmungandr, which is basically stronger and tougher; and a Valkyrie which is similar to the Mjolnir but with a jetpack that seems to work for about a minute before it needs to cool down.

Basically we ninja’d a fat loot. The only question is who wants to fight us first. Merry Christmas, ladies! I would have got gifts, but I read everyone’s mind and this is what we all wanted. It would have been nice to have Christmas this year. I know we can’t go back to the colony anytime soon, but it’s been ages since I saw my family. I wonder if they’d even see me.

December 27, 2113

We took some weapons and armour for ourselves, left the rest, and took our Jeeps back to Haven. When we got there Dorn was in a meeting with David Sandoval and Darren Joelson. Dorn said it was time for some decisions.

First, he said it seemed ATMA wasn’t necessarily all bad. The rank and file were cut off from the outside world. If we cut off the leadership, we could keep the organisation and its stuff but make them not jerks. He gave us some details on the territory in the Restricted Zone and said the ATMA base was inside the expanded Zeus Vault. Apparently Tseng was ready to make his move and could get us inside a service entrance to do a little hiring and firing.

Dorn also confirmed, as we suspected, that the mutants were created by ATMA as well as the hive mind we found in the military base. It got out of hand and we did them a favour by destroying it. However, the smart muties with guns are still out there and will be a problem soon enough.

He also suggested that Melkior could become a problem in the vacuum of ATMA’s power. He said that their base was an aircraft carrier nicknamed the Galactica, and they had two destroyers as well. Tseng could provide us with a suitcase nuke we could sneak aboard, and if we destroyed it they would be crippled. Now, it takes a huge crew to man a carrier, and probably with family aboard. Maybe Jack could kill a thousand people, including innocents, if it got the job done, but I don’t think I can do this. Besides, we don’t even know that they would cause us problems. They’ve been relatively straightforward with us up to this point and I don’t understand why we would stab them in the back like that. Dorn said they were factionalised too. But even still, if things work out with ATMA there shouldn’t be any vacuum. We can put Tseng in charge of their resources, and my condition for doing his wet work for him will be that he agree to join the Olympus Confederacy.

For added fun, someone saw smoke coming from Couver and gangs of radiants leaving the city. No idea what that’s about.

January 1, 2114

Happpy New Year!!! (inkblot)

January 18, 2114

We needed time to think about this, so we headed back to the base at Petrie Pond with implants we took from Hephaestos. Timmy got fitted for advanced power armour and managed not to kill himself. We put him in the Valkyrie. That left us with two Mjolnirs. Duff, and Joe weren’t interested. Dex and I were, but the autodoc still said we were unsuitable – him for the nanite infestation, and me for altered brain chemistry. Timmy said that things might work anyway, so Dex decided to give it a shot. Well, there was a complication with his nanites, and Timmy said his intestines got torn up pretty bad. He lived, with Timmy’s help, but he’s even weaker than he was before the nanites got to work on his cardio.

Now you might think that after that, I wouldn’t be willing to get implanted. You would be wrong. It sounds stupid after the fact, but I figured basic implants wouldn’t do anything with my brain, and I didn’t have nanites to worry about. It went fine, and now Dex and I both look freaking sweet.

So we’re up one flying medic, but our engineer is even more of a liability. Hopefully the armour will soak all his hits. And the best part is, the power armour keeps out the winter air nicely.

January 29, 2114

We were attacked on the way back to Haven by some radiants. I was going to ask Dorn what the hell, but as I’m explaining a soldier runs in and said that Mittlewerk troops were massing on the border. Dole said that this was basically a declaration of war, so we left instructions for an envoy to be sent to Couver, because we were on good terms and were waiting for them to ratify or reject inclusion in the Confederacy. So we waited to deal with what Timmy called “nonratified raiding road radiants,” and in the meantime took soldiers to Hephaestos ASAP and took all the guns, trucks, and tanks we needed to equip our entire army out of Sandoro. We quickly figured out how to pilot the tanks and rolled up to the border at South Fort.

The look on their faces was priceless. I parlayed with their general and gave him a choice: either his army joins forces with ours and we march on Mittlewerk, or we fight. He caved right away. He didn’t even have their one horse-drawn tank, and I was talking to him in power armour with four tanks behind me.

Later he told us that someone had assassinated Emperor Mittlewerk, which left his son Theodore to succeed. But Dorn’s guess was right and Marcus Flint, now a general, was staging a coup. He headed for the hills with loyal soldiers and was waging a guerrilla war against Theodore, who was losing. The troops massing at South Fort were actually neutral and just flocking around my new man, General Black.

Timmy mentioned that Napoleon did sort of the same thing when he busted out of prison. I wonder if, hundreds of years from now, people are going to talk about me as one of the great leaders of history.

So then we had about 400 troops total, and 4 tanks. The capital was defended by their one tank. It fired at us and missed. Two shots disabled it, although Dex repaired it in just a few hours. Its armour wasn’t fully repaired but he got it working again. And then there were five tanks.

Soon we got a message from Theodore asking to meet. When we found him, he addressed me as “Marshall Flowers, Conqueror of the Known World.” I answered “Unifier, not Conqueror.” He countered asking what we were doing in Mittlewerk, and I told him the army on our border was an act of war and I was only acting preemptively.

He said to me, “I have only one question. Did you send someone to kill my father?” Obviously I had Dorn send Jack to do exactly that. I figured only Dorn, Jack, Dex, Dole, and Timmy knew, so there was no way Theodore would find out. I lied and said no, and he believed me, because I can manipulate people so easily that sometimes I forget they’re real people too.

I gave him the same offer I gave our general friend. He countered and asked for Black and his troops to fight the war against General Flint. He wasn’t in a position to make a counteroffer, but he was right. It made sense to have him get bogged down in guerrilla warfare when we had ATMA to deal with. I made him agree in writing that once order was restored, the Mittlewerk Empire (redrawn to pre-Artemis Vault borders) would be a member of the Olympus Confederacy. They would not have a vote until they behaved themselves for ten years, and would have to obey any majority vote of the Olympus Council. We threw in their old tank, left him to fight, and stationed fifty men at South Fort with a LAV.

tmart said:

He fought the LAW, and the LAW won.

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You're a bad, bad man.