Vault-113 IC

After scouring the dead for valuables, the group was on the move again. The three men quietly moved down the stairwell, with pointman Ramses pie-ing the corners to make sure the team didn't run into any nasty surprises.

They arrived in a serpentine tunnel, dimly lit with makeshift torches that looked like they were jurry rigged to the walls. Upon further inspection, John noticed what looked like two sets of fresh bootprints on the floor heading away from their current location.

John tapped Markus, pointed to his own eyes, and then to where the footprints were. The cop then tapped Ramses to let him know that they might have company ahead. With a nod of confirmation, the group continued forward.
 
Ramses looked at the footprints, rifle leveled and ready. Once he swept into the room, Ramses set the selector to single fire and weaved into the room.

The bearded raider seemed dazed and not fully aware, but as soon as he realized that the man with the rifle wasn't his own, he didn't have a moment to reach for his shotgun when Ramses squeezed off two shots to the chest and a third to the forehead.

"Clear."
 
Markus sees a dirty female with shaved hair in front of him, while moving forward, to allow Wu to enter the room, he decides to take the shot before the perp could raise her weapon. *CLICK!* *Shit*. The old weapon failed him. Markus looses both hands on the SMG, letting it drop to the floor, and starts going for his pistol, he was a quick draw, but all the perp had to do was raise the SMG had and she could spray at point blank, he only hoped Wu had his back.
 
With smooth precision, Ramses dropped the man with two shots to the chest, one to the head. The raider went down with a meaty thud.

Moving into the room at the end of the tunnel, Markus fired at the female raider. John heard the telltale click of a weapon jam and responded quickly.

POP POP POP

The female raider jerked as the bullets rammed home, then dropped to the floor. John gave her an extra shot to the head for good measure.

'Gotta make sure.'
 
"China-Man Chance." Ramses said, the nostalgia showing in his eyes. John Wu was a Ranger alright. After Alaska, it was common for GIs to do a follow up head shot. Just to be sure. Introduction of the enhanced Dragon Infiltrators had made that necessary. Ramses had a scar on his lower back from a close call with the vanguard of the Chinese.

"Check the weapons. Give me what they got and I will break down what I can and make sure we got working arms. We don't need malfunctioning hardware."
 
The raiders were sloppy, but then again, how would they have known they would be dealing with professionals.

"Must have been a scouting party on their way somewhere. Alright, what do we have here?"

The weapons weren't too bad. The male had found a double barrel shotgun with 10 shells, not including the two in the barrels. The chick had found herself a H&K MP9, something he himself had found to be very useful during the old days where rioting and looting had gone on almost un-checked. It still had a full 30 round clip of 10mm, enough ammo to tear through giant crowds without blinking an eye.

'PLEASE DON'T SHOOT, WE JUST NEED FOOD.'

John pushed the memory back into the dark recesses of his mind. Those were the bad days, a time where he did things he wasn't proud of. Things that........that had to be done.

Before the arrival of powered armor, the fighting in China had seemingly devolved into trench combat. A kind of nightmarish scenario filled with artillery and gas being lobbed almost daily. It surprised him that over a century and a half later, man was still capable of the most terrifying things. Indeed, war, war never changes.

It was no longer a campaign that would be over in months. There would be no troops coming home by christmas. They would be coming home in body bags, by the hundreds, more casualties in a war brought on by overpopulation, fear, anger and other assorted human frailties.

It started with protests that grew exponentially as resources became fewer and fewer. Then the new plagues hit which not only caused a mass scare but also revealed the governments inability to protect its citizenry. Next came the Canadian annexation, where gruesome images of urban combat and atrocities hit television screens all across the commonwealth. Finally, the resource and great wars erupt. That was the straw that broke the proverbial camels back. It was as if some unseen hand had tipped over a single domino, causing a cascading reaction that would eventually engulf humanity in a storm of fire and radiation.
 
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Among the various loot, Markus finds what seems to be a log book in the corpse of the shotgun raider, from what it reads on it, it seems this was the leader of this particular group. One entry in particular catches his eye, it seems to refer to Vault 106, the very vault they were trying to reach, and in that page a written note was wedged in. "Hey, look at this."

Markus reads the message:

"We have hit jackpot guys, some maniac came in to Vault 106 and killed all the psychos that were living here, this means we have an entire vault for ourselves to make a base in. We have power, and even fresh water down here! It makes an ideal base of operation. But I need help setting this thing up, so I'm doing you all a favor and letting you in on the find. If you agree to vow to me now, you can have shelter and fresh water. the Brotherhood isn't giving us any, but now we have our own supply! You better believe it, it's time to stop thinking small, and start to think big!" Signed: Orco.

"Looks like someone has a plan."

Markus reads the last two entries on the log book:

"Orco's proposal looks legit, but we have to join him and help him attack that pathetic settlement called "Big Town" if we want into the Vault. He tired to take it but they kicked his ass and now he needs more people, he bitched about someone having trained them and taught to defend themselves, I think maybe he's not as thought as he thinks, who knows, maybe once we take Big Town we can kick his ass and take the Vault for ourselves. He will wait until tomorrow for anyone who wants to join in."

"We were going to Vault 106 and we got jumped by a fucking deathclaw! We unloaded all we could into the bastard but we had to take refuge in the waste disposal. The bastard chased us in, but we managed to lock him inside the dump yard. We barricaded the door and got ready to make camp for the night until we herd a big explosion. We waited a while and then I went to investigate, apparently someone blew the deathclaw and took his hand as a trophy. We looked around but we couldn't find anyone, apparently whoever did it was happy with his hunt and moved along. No need to barricade the door again, specially if we need to use it ourselves, but I'm leaving someone standing guard there just in case, better not take any chances."

"What do you make of this? It appears the Vault does have a working water chip, and to be honest I wouldn't mind taking it from such wonderful people. We also know they will be planning an attack tomorrow on an nearby settlement, they will be away and most likely leave only minimal security at the vault, this might be our opportunity to sneak into the vault and grab the chip... or... we could help the settlers kill off these creeps and make ourselves some friends at the same time... or it could go wrong and we might loose our chance at the chip." Markus shakes his head and then shrugs "What do you guys think?"
 
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If you ask me, the mission comes first, I thought we would be in agreement on this. The Overseer and everyone else need this chip and we simply cannot risk our, or their lives, for some kind of heroic journey to save the wastes. It is imperative that we take a pragmatic approach on this issue.

Second of all, we have few resources and limited intel on the size and composition of the raider strike force, and or other baddies in the area enroute to join their party. We have no information on their plan of operation or possible contingencies. We ALSO, have no idea on their offensive capabilities. Us and the town militia could hold off infantry sure, but throw technicals into the mix with heavy machine guns or recoilless rifles, we are going to be in for a world of hurt.

Lastly, this is all going to be on our reports and going off task like that isn't going to sit well with command. I don't know about you two but I'm not getting court martialed for a bunch of wastelanders. Or they just might decide to execute us for to serve as examples. There are just too many IFs.

I suggest we make for Vault 106 ASAP, and grab the chip. We head back, complete the mission, and suggest sending out a stronger force to secure the vault, IF, the overseer authorises such an expedition. We can also suggest building some kind of mutually beneficial alliance with the town after 106 is firmly in our posession.
 
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Ramses sat slung the rifle and was playing with a cigarette he finally took from his pack. Finally, he could light up. Removing the silver Zippo lighter with the 5th Group Beret flash on it, he lit up.

It was a clear cut. As much as he wouldn't mind going to help the settlement of Big Town - which oddly sounded like a kiddy television show - but Wu was right. Too many unknowns.

"As much as I would like to ride and save a town that sounds like a Saturday morning cartoon show, I have to agree with Ranger Wu and go straight for the kill. We don't have the weapons, or time to make a run for this town. Straight to Vault 106 and grab the chip seems the best choice." He took a long drag, "I would propose that when we do find the water chip and clear 106, we do check out the Big Town. If anything trade info and let them know we cleared out the hideout." he pitched off the rest and crushed the cigarette beneath his boot heel.
 
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