Chapter 39: Chapter 39

“General Becker, I hereby pass the ownership of the Castle back to you.”

The handover of the Minutemen’s base was done with some formality, and as assumed, the moment the general accepted, I lost full ownership, and therefore a lot of console access, of the place. Well, deal’s a deal, and I don’t fancy star forts anyway, though maybe I could get them to build a pier for networking with Caladan?

The rather frazzled general gave me a resigned thanks before he turned to his equally stressed out men to issue orders and whatever else generals did once they reclaimed a base.

I noted with some amusement that pretty much every Minutemen, from rank and file up to the colonels, were keeping a wary eye on me and my folks. At least they still offered thanks and grateful handshakes to the kids, but me and Curie got really cautious stares, bordering on fearful.

So Eversor protocols and resetting a fort really made an impact then.

We didn’t stick around after that, I just gave a quick briefing on the potential remaining mirelurks in the fort’s underground bits, as well as the need to reset their sentry bot’s settings. After that I led my troops back on the boat, and we puttered back to Caladan in high spirits.

“Right, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be heading back so y’all can get a quick checkup, take a bath and have dinner.”

I turned my attention to a few couples in particular to stop their rather not-so-subtle groping. ”And hands off each other until we reach back, ok? We still might have people watching us.” I gave a glance to the skies for any signs of crows. There were a few circling in the distance, so I’m guessing the Institute will probably know we have access to the coast now.

All in all, the whole thing couldn’t have gone any better. The first combat exposure was a neat little massacre, with just enough minor injuries to scare the overconfidence off the boys and girls. The Eversor pattern assaultron worked as intended and Curie was happy with her new body, though a few improvements could be made for its shoulder lasers.

We’d get back to talks with the Minutemen after they settled in a bit more. They needed the time to appreciate the deal they’ve gotten, and I frankly needed time to get Caladan up to receive residents and visitors.

The trip back was to Caladan and then New World 81 was rather uneventful, though I’m sure everyone else on the bus was still enjoying their victory. I was driving the Glossu by myself, and despite the lack of hassle for delving in the console too much, I found that I really did miss my girls’ company.

We disembarked and the still excited chattering of everyone echoed through the bare tunnels. A Mr Handy greeted us as we made our way up, apparently there’s been a development. Well, might as well get it over with.

We got to the lobby and I let the away team get their showers and post-victory fucking, while Curie followed me to R&R 81. Cait met me halfway through and gave a quick rundown on the situation.

Apparently some folks at Mall Pass, where ol’ Chucky the wannabe offender came from, were seeking refuge. Thirty four of them overall, mostly adults with some children. Piper and Cait were reluctant to take them in, especially the men, but Gwen had generously offered to set up a deal to accept the refugees.

They basically were waiting for me to return for my approval.

Piper and Cait were right, taking in adults into New World 81 would likely be a problem for the existing residents who were barely ok with the adult vaulters as it was. And since Twin-Clits wasn’t with them, I wouldn’t mind letting them stay in R&R 81 or Vault 81.

I met the refugees who had taken up temporary residence in R&R 81, and Gwen was there with Piper along with some vault personnel as they discussed matters with the immigrants. The low background noise of everyday socializing died to a bated silence as I entered. I recognized some faces from Mall Pass, all of which took on uneasy expressions when they saw me. Curie’s Ms Nannybot programming allowed her to identify potential malnutrition in a bunch of the toddlers and children, but other than that, they all didn’t look too badly off.

“Ah, S-S-Sev, sir. Uhm...” It was Arnold doing the talking again, looking as skittish as before.

Better not waste time. “So, you’ll be joining the vault?” I asked simply..

The refugees gave their pensive nods. “If you would do not mind, sir…” That Arnold really got a talent for sounding like a peasant appealing to the local lord.

Wait, I guess I am kind of a warlord...

I shrugged at that and gave a short wave of one hand. “So long as you don’t cause any more trouble, if Gwen says you can stay, you can stay.” I gave a glance to the overseer and Piper. “They know the rules yet?”

The affirmatives from everyone answered that, and I quickly cut off the reassurances from Arnold and his fellow settlers before the grovelling really got on my nerves. “Right, so since you’re gonna be vaulters, you’ll also be entitled to the same stuff as everyone in Vault 81 is. You gonna run the medical assessments, Gwen?”

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She answered with a confident smile, “It shouldn’t be a big deal, Dr Forscythe is already working on it. We’ll get to you if there’s anything the BSC can’t handle.”

“Cool.” I looked at the gathered refugees with as welcoming a smile as I could manage. “I guess, congratulations on your vault citizenship.”Can’t hate them just because of one absent idiot’s mistake. Besides, they’re not the morally void fuckwits from Cait’s place.

Speaking of, Arnold gave the interesting tidbit that Vinebrook is getting vacated. Guess they couldn’t find any more protectors they could sell their kids to. Cait seemed somewhat satisfied with that, I suppose she’d be happier if she knew what happened to her parents.

We wrapped things up and I let Gwen handle her new immigrants. I had to an arcology to get up and running.

A ping from my Pip Boy signalled an alert from a nearby patrol of bots.

“Curious,” Curie said as she went through the reports before I did. “Another group of people are looking for you, Sev. Three people, more possible refugees.”

Well, I guess it’s a good thing there’s no opening date set for Caladan.

I sent the order to lead them over to R&R 81. The former refugees from Mall Pass had been guided for orientation in Vault 81 by the vault’s security guards, leaving the rest stop occupied only by me, my girls, Gwen and Curie.

After a minute, we could hear the whirring of omnidirectional wheels from sentry bots. I got up to the exit to greet the patrol and their escort, finding a familiar face, or at least familiar sunglasses.

“Hey there,” Deacon said in the same casualness as his game counterpart despite the pair of sentry bots and a small gang of assaultrons around him and his two friends. “You Sev?”

Well, I needed to get contact with the Railroad eventually.

“Yeah, that’s me. And who are you?”

Some smugness showed as he gestured with his hands while he talked. “Just call me D, or Mr D if you want to be formal. I’m just curious to see if the rumors were true.”

“What rumors?” I asked while raising an eyebrow. Might as well play along for now.

The air of amazement Deacon tried to put on was crap, completely overshadowed by his lighthearted confidence. “Well, there’s tales of a guy in a tank razing raider camps and intimidating poorly behaved settlements to free slaves, and being very generous about it too. They’re saying you’ve taken in and offered a home to those that don’t have one to return to.”

I nodded along to his words. “Uh-huh. And…?”

“You see, I’m involved in an abolition group, so we were looking to see if you would be an...ally to the cause. Plus, one of those slaves you rescued was a member of our group.”

So, there was a Railroad agent back then huh, or was it one of their rescued synths?

“Okaaay. So now you’re here, what now?”

Deacon gestured to his two companions, a man and a woman. “Well, my friends here were just freed from rather nasty slavers, but we’re running thin on places to hide them. I was thinking...if you help set them up?”

I blinked, then took a look at the console before giving a look to the girls behind me. “So, how do you gals feel about hosting Railroad synths?”

The “‘Age:2” on the man and “SynthChip:Enabled” on both of them gave them away.

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