Chapter 35: Chapter 35

After going through our newly codified law, I set up another structure closer to the road and Vault 81 to serve as a rest stop for any passing traffic and future visitors for either my outpost or the vault. The idea was to hopefully keep their attention on the place and distract from New World 81. It would also allow select vaulters to make safer contact with the outside world, and give them a chance to recruit new blood.

The rest stop, R&R 81 (creative, no?) would be fully staffed by vaulters, though I did put up some wall turrets and the new pop-up turret Calvin finally was able to build. It was basically a cylinder housing safely hidden underground that could quickly push up a gatling laser when hostiles within range were identified, and when it needed to recharge, it simply slid back down to avoid being a vulnerable target.

I could scatter these like seeds all throughout the area and give any invading force a hard time. And so I did, cloning out the parts and assembling them via remote pickup to populate the area around New World, R&R, and Vault 81.

Over the next few days, the compound of this rest stop would be hosting the shooting workshop for the kids and vaulters.

Our joint shooting lessons with Vault 81 turned out to be a big success in terms of participation. Pretty much everyone who could hold a gun in New World 81 took part, while huge interest from the vaulters meant that they had to be more selective in who could participate.

Scott Edwards, the vault’s head of security, led in the basics of gun safety and maintenance, while the more experienced Piper, Cait and even Nat showed how to apply more practical dakka.

Kinda cute watching mature vaulters, even Edwards, hanging onto the words of the three girls as they plinked away at scrapped vehicles I’ve dragged in as targets. Cait was definitely the better shot amongst the trio, but Piper drew more impressed looks with her more showy shooting, while Nat giggling as she braced and fired a hunting rifle almost as tall as her was just plain adorable.

Despite the lightheartedness, everyone still took the lessons seriously, with no mishaps or injuries from either vaulters or kids. By the end of the first day, I watched proudly as my outpost residents were laying down a disciplined hail of fire onto their targets.

I switched to using reinforced eyebots as targets and let Curie dictate their movement patterns. Impromptu leaders were created as some of the more naturally charismatic kids had squads organically formed around them.

The vaulters didn’t do too badly either. Them being adults meant they had the upper hand in handling the weapons, but on average I’d say they lost in terms of speed to the reflexes of their younger counterparts. Not that anyone was treating this as a competition between the two groups. Otherwise I’d just let my girls participate and that’d be the end of that.

With the sky darkening, everyone called it a day and the bots I had around as security escorted each group back. For the next few days, I left Piper and Cait in charge of overseeing things while Curie did whatever she felt was necessary in maintaining New World 81 and I went back to work on Caladan.

This time, I brought in the robots from the Tupile to start constructing the basic infrastructure in the lowest level while I started defining rooms with walls.

It was the fourth and penultimate day of the shooting lessons when Cait came through the teleporter again. She didn’t seem concerned, so it wasn’t another emergency like last time.

“Got people looking for you, Sev,” she said with some amusement. “A bunch of Minutemen. Came in with a white flag and were far more polite than our last group of visitors.”

*****

Joe Becker, General of the Commonwealth Minutemen, fought to keep his calm. It was a novel and disturbing thing to be flanked by an ‘escort’ of sentry bots and assaultrons as he and his men waited in the rest stop. There were also canned foods and bottles of water prepared for them, a not-so-subtle show of wealth and power to go along with the bots guarding them.

How someone had the balls and the lack of brain cells to antagonize this group of people amazed Joe. Rumors from passing caravans had already spread the story of the idiots who made a scene here.

At least the initial assumptions of this place had been wrong. This New World 81 was not some place for an opportunistic pervert to ‘rescue’ children and brainwash them as sex slaves.

Joe and his men watched as the children outside of R&R 81 giggled and happily applied themselves to their lessons by shooting at eyebots targets that weaved in the air. They were severely outdoing the vaulters who practiced with them.

While the general had to admit to gladly admitting in younger volunteers, it was uneasy to watch kids still in the single digits organized into rather disciplined squads and unleashing a respectable amount of firepower down range.

This wasn’t a camp of groomed sex slaves at all. More like a cult or a commune.

It made the decision to meet with the mysterious overlord a lot more palatable now for Joe and his men. There were concerns initially of working with someone who might be collecting child slaves, which was why Joe and his men had come here to have a look for themselves. They did not expect the numerous robot patrols that could clear out entire towns by themselves, nor the sturdy and definitely recent buildings with comfortable furnishings.

You are reading story Uncommon Wealth at novel35.com

And from passing conversations with the people of Vault 81 whenever they took a break in R&R 81, this Sev character was a genuinely decent person. The children of New World 81 avoided the Minutemen completely and never entered the rest stop, only offering silent, uncertain looks their way. After hearing what happened to them a few days ago, Joe really couldn’t blame them. That the lackwits weren’t strung up as a warning showed commendable restraint on Sev’s part at least.

“General Becker, I presume?”

A young man came out from the door the vault dwellers had warned was restricted access. Behind him were two girls, a much younger black-haired girl and a redhead that seemed only slightly younger than the man. He moved hurriedly, as if he had been interrupted from some important task. Still though, a smile was offered and a hand extended.

Despite his men casting doubtful looks, Joe nodded and shook the offered hand, finding a firm grip that was clearly holding back.

“I’m Sev, they’re Piper and Cait.” Sev gave quick introductions before ushering the Minutemen to a smaller, sparsely furnished meeting room.

The general formally introduced his own aides and guards as everyone took their seats. He noted how stiff some of his colonels were, unable to hide their suspicions and doubts. Sev either didn’t notice or just didn’t care.

“So, are you here about my offer?”

Joe nodded. “I have to admit, we were initially doubtful about the seriousness of your deal, but now that we’re here...” His uniform rustled as he shrugged. “It seems it would be foolish not to take you up on it.”

Thankfully, his men didn’t interrupt into protests like they did back when the notion was first discussed, keeping up appearances of disciplined and stoic representatives.

“However, I’d like to know what the price of your assistance would be, before agreeing to anything.”

Sev shrugged, the man (really, he looked barely enough to be called that) acting far more casually than the atmosphere warranted.

“Fair enough. Well, I’ll be planning on setting up shop near your Castle, so maintaining ties as decent neighbours would be a start. Also, since you guys are actively patrolling, would be nice if you could provide us with outside information, especially incoming threats and raider camps that need Dal- I mean, clearing.”

That didn’t sound too costly. In fact, the terms felt a bit too...cheap.

“That’s it?” Joe leaned forward in his seat to confirm.

“Hm, I guess that’s it. I think anything else can be treated as diplomatic exchanges next time?”

Was Sev trying to get on their good side and slowly exert more influence later? Joe hummed softly in thought, but couldn’t deny that regaining the Castle would be a big boon for the Minutemen’s morale and reputation.

“Oh yeah,” Sev suddenly interjected, “the whole recapture and repair will be done my way, so you can send observers, but otherwise the Minutemen will be staying out of the fighting.”

Again, it sounded like a suspiciously easy trade, but in the end, the options were too unbalanced. Joe stood up, his men following suit. “On behalf of the Minutemen, I agree to your terms and your offer for aiding in the recapturing of the Castle.”

Sev smiled as they shook on it to seal the deal. “Thanks, general. I needed to try out my weapons and give my folk some first-hand experience.”

It was hard not to balk at how easy the man made the task sound.

You can find story with these keywords: Uncommon Wealth, Read Uncommon Wealth, Uncommon Wealth novel, Uncommon Wealth book, Uncommon Wealth story, Uncommon Wealth full, Uncommon Wealth Latest Chapter