A Danse with the Brotherhood

Paladin Danse marched off taking a side alley out of the town. “We will be taking the side alley, avoid the ghouls still left in the city.” The two trek to Arcjet, taking the low-road. The two easily dispatched anything that came into their way; though the quality of the **** opposing them was… well… raiders and mongrols weren’t exactly a challenge. Danse stopped right before the doors of Arcjet, turning towards Moon, “Alright soldier, we do this by the book. I’ll take the lead, you cover my back; no lone wolfing, no wastelander. I want to avoid destruction of any valuable tech that remains in the building.” “Yes sir.”

Paladin Danse took the lead, entering the decrypted building, of which the interior bore a similar worn out appearances as the outside did. Upon taking in the scenery Danse commeted, “See, it was corporation like these that doom humanity to its current fate; their own self greed doom their descendants for Centuries of perials and misery, all for Billions.” “But… no, these companies were under the government; certainly there were bad people, but the government kept them from going against the best interest of the people. They did more good than harm; they were making technology to win the …” Moon went silent, Moon was hardly the political person, even before she was frozen. She was content to nod her head and let Nate do the talking. However, Nate wasn’t here and now she was a leader-ish; she was going to have to deal with politics now. Her heart felt great unease, she had no experience of dealing with groups of people nor negotiating a compromise. Her mind started to fumble around, to which Danse had snapped her out as they entered an interesting room. Numerous scattered the floor, Protectrons and five of them lay defeated on the floor. “Soldier! That is hardly a good sign.” “Looks to me like we have less to worry about.” “Hardly, look at surrounding: no blood or identifying liquid of beastial origin, no spent gun cases if it wasn’t a beast, no animal tracks if it wasn’t man. Whoever it was, the evidence is clear, they are well organized and well equipped.” “You seem to be a bit paranoid. The droids were probably destroyed when the bombs were dropped or something.” Danse looked Moon in the eyes, “Paranoid maybe, but it kept my team alive.” “Alright I’ll keep my eyes out.” “Roger, we move out.”

The two continued into the building; Danse looked about the area, lingering on some things and on others he kept surveilling. The two found themselves at a dead end, locked by a door. Danse made himself to the closet terminal that looked like it was hooked to the door, trying to hack his way into the computer. “Soldier, search around the area, there must be a password or something; I’ll keep watch over this room.” Moon went over to the terminal, she attempted to try and hack it only to fail miserably; looking up she spotted another terminal. On a whim she checked it out, surprised it was still functioning; with great luck it contained the password of which she imputed it into the terminal and unlocked the next room. The doors opened, before them were two beings of metal and wire. A sick attempt at making a robot version of a human, crude organ like structure hung within the cavity that was the ribcage, and exposed wiring making up the blood vessels for these beings. Moon felt like barfing, sure she heard rumor that the government were making robots to house human brains and such outlandish things; but this went a step too far. The Beings immediately fired, blue lasers nearly connected as Moon ducked under the desk.Their fire dwindled as Danse cut them down. Danse waved his hand giving the signal to follow; heading cautiously the two entered the next couple of rooms dispatching the foe with tactical ease. Finally reaching to the lower levels of the building. “Arcjet Engine rooms; our objective will most likely be in this area.”

The two entered into a launch pad, an inactive rocket, hung suspended in place. Danse looked about the room, “Look at this, it's amazing; the scribes are going to have a field day when they get here… Herphm, seems like the power is out; soldier, reestablish power, we might need that to access more of this facility.” Moon headed down to a small chamber where she found the power generators and a way to start them. Danse had posted himself at the door to the chamber, keeping an eye out for more of those synthetic human things. The power was started, things quickly devolved into a gunfight as Synthetic humans ambushed the duo. Danse took the brunt of the attack as he stood within their line of sight. Moon stayed back behind cover, she didn’t really want to be again a ‘bullet’ sponge; plus Paladin Danse was decked out on power armor, it was meant to soak up ‘bullets’. Though Danse did most of the work in clearing out the beings, Moon did contribute in sniping a few that weren’t in his immediate range. The two searched the area for the transmitter, only to find nothing. “Drat, we’re running out of room to check, Looks like the control room is next.” Using a now powered elevator the two made it up to the control room, quickly dispacting the small group of synthetic beings in there. “Soldier check everywhere, even those bodies; if what you said earlier is true, then this is our best area to find our objective within acceptable parameters.” Moon and Danse searched the room; luckily for Moon after searching the fourth body she found what they were looking for. The two shared an overjoyed look; though Danse ended that quick, since they were still on a mission. He ushered Moon to another elevator allowing them to finally exit this place.

As the two left the building Danse turned to Moon, “Well that could’ve gone smoother.” “Smooth? I thought that went well.” “Heh, don’t dilute yourself, we were caught unprepared on more than one occasion. Unacceptable, however this op would have flounder without your extra gun; it is refreshing to work with a civilian who understands how to take orders.” Moon pulled out the transmitter, handing it to Danse, “Onto to other matters, I know we didn’t discuss payment; and I find it hard that you wouldn’t ask for payment, So here.” Danse handed Moon 47 caps to both parties' displeasure; Moon a bit perplexed she was but speechless. Normally the con thief would have no remorse. “This is all I have at hand, hardly an honorable sum for what you did for us; I will promise though on my honor and on the Brotherhood’s honor that we will pay you back in kind.” “I don’t need the caps, what I do need is knowledge.” “And what is that you seek?” “I want to know how to build a local radio tower from scratch. Preferably with the ability to send out messages.” “And why do you need such knowledge?” “The community I currently live in requires more manpower to keep it safe; though our current area is relatively safe, we can’t spare a man to go recruit people.” Danse looked to himself, conflicted. The Brotherhood wasn’t big on sharing technology; though he was honorbound to repay his debt, and something told him that giving something else would not cut it. “Alright, I’ll have Haylen write up some schematics for a short range, one way transmission device.” “Thank you very much.” Danse's face looked a bit down; there was obviously something else he wanted to ask, though it seems like he already understood the answer. “Well then, Miss, I’d offer you to join the Brotherhood, but it seems you are predisposed of. If you ever wish to join the Brotherhood; you’ll certainly be able to find us.

The two parted ways after Moon had gotten what she needed. The day had passed and she hurried her way back home, taking the shortest route. With only a few skirmishes with some local raiders; she returned to her nice comfy bed. Resting up for whatever would come next.