Chapter 69: Chapter 66

Once news broke out about the trespassing Children of Atom as well as their esoteric attempt at assassinating Sev, a nervous air settled on Caladan. While the first-gen citizens of the Nexus were all angry on behalf of their ruler and were eager for vengeance, the adults were far more concerned about the looming clash with the notorious religious nutcases.

Piper herself didn’t hold much for the rad lovers and their so-called god. Already the research bots in Tleilax had discovered the genetic markers that made the Children rad resistant enough to endure their loony faith.

Right after that discovery, Curie had worked on it overnight and with Sev’s help on the alien tech, a modified healing arch was installed in the medical center, where Dr Forscythe and the other personnel were awed by the device’s ability to impart the same rad resistance to anyone under it. Curie mentioned something about activating the right genes and so on, but Piper didn’t miss how it required Sev to make it happen. Probably did his weird ‘macro’ magic again.

At least Sev’s magic was clearly superior to the Atom’s magic, assuming it really was the Atom that tried taking Sev out. If it turned out to be some eldritch weapon wielded by the Children of Atom, well Piper was one of the first in a very bloodthirsty line eager to make them pay.

The Nexus had shifted its policy to deal with the rad worshippers under Sev’s orders. Nobody protested the Children of Atom being grouped together with the raiders and super mutants for the robots to purge. Everyone had their share of stories about the lunatics irradiating good farmland or ‘blessing’ travellers in lethal doses of radiation, so there was little sympathy to offer.

Of course, the unarmed and the children of that faith would be taken into the Institute to ascertain their long term hostility, and Sev had worn a dark grin when he gave the order to ensure that every Atom follower sent to the Institute was to have their rad resistant gene deactivated through the modified healing arches.

Piper had never seen Sev so vengeful before, but boy did it make the sex more interesting. Sev had needed to vent and Cait had egged him on, resulting in a bit of an orgy one night as the three girls were joined by the former Vault 81 breeders, as well as some of the lucky 1st Platoon members.

Ms Nannies had to peel and untangle them off the cum-drenched sheets the next morning before carrying each recipient of Sev’s ‘venting’ to the showers and the healing arches. The following nights had Piper, Cait and Curie struggle to keep their minds as they got overwhelmed by raw and rough bliss, filling the room with a choir of orgasmic cries and moans as Sev fucked them to near continous heavy orgasms.

The whole thing had caused a shift in Sev’s focus. Rather than figuring out how to ward off another sudden appearance of the radioactive apparition, he diverted as much resources as he could to being the Children’s worst enemy.

It took just over a week for the radiation cleaning tech to be revealed, specialised Mr Handy bots with spray guns and what seemed to be an emitter from the healing arches. They immediately set to work decontaminating the lands within the Nexus. The transformation was amazing; sickly plant life turned to a vibrant green that matched the plains of Caladan’s seventh floor, the air no longer held that subtle metallic and ashen taste, and even the soil was a healthier tone of brown.

Sev wanted to decontaminate everything, and demonstrated that he could. Only the radstorms blowing east from the Glowing Sea ruined the restoration attempts.

So a meeting was set up with the Minutemen and Diamond City, and Sev declared the Nexus expanding its borders southwest of Station 81 to claim the Glowing Sea. Neither party protested or contested the claim, knowing well enough from the quickly spreading rumors of Sev being far more annoyed than ever.

Nobody wanted to end up on the Nexus’ ruler’s bad side.

The campaign to claim the Glowing Sea had a far more frenetic pace than the methodical manner of the Institute’s downfall. As the Nexus had received more rescued slaves who were utterly grateful to Sev, 1st Platoon became 1st Company, while 2nd Platoon became 2nd Company to manage the eager but not as devoted volunteers.

More and more robots were produced, flying or marching out to the wasteland to enact the Nexus’ mandate. The new Mr Cleaners were exhibited to the citizens of the Nexus as well as tourists and representatives, showing a glimpse of the better world Sev was offering, as well as justifying the need to march southwest to clean up the Glowing Sea and eliminate the main source of the Commonwealth’s radstorms.

As a result of the preparations, the poor raiders became target practice, their wasteland camps used for live training. Other than giving the newer troops a chance to get used to their gear, they also got to try out various military tactics and strategies.

Piper was just as excited as anyone from 1st Company when they implemented the ‘False Hope’ tactic successfully. It was an encirclement that required a lot of communicating, leaving a noticeable, but not too obvious gap for the defenders to try fleeing through, leading into a kill zone or ideal hunting grounds.

And then there was the very fun deployment where Sentinels carried each trooper high up in the sky before dropping them over the target. The power armor and shields kept the landing comfortably survivable, though landing on any structure not made of thick concrete or steel tended to make a mess, to say nothing of landing on a raider.

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Piper wondered at Sev’s amusement and poor attempt at trying not to laugh when he named the tactic ‘Steel Rain’. Everyone else, herself included, thought the name rather fitting.

The only break in the focus of the Children of Atom occurred when the Railroad contacted Sev regarding the synths they were working on freeing. Apparently breaking the invisible chains of deep programming was successful only up to a degree.

Sev frowned as he addressed the Railroad agents. “Just to be sure, you really want me to… store most of your synths?”

A man in a lab coat named Carrington shook his head ruefully. “We can scour the kill-switches and enforcement programming, but for a lot of these synths, particularly the Coursers and the older ones, unshackling their minds still does not address the problem of the mental scarring they have experienced after being oppressed for so long.”

That didn’t sound too good at all. Curie gave a concerned frown. “What are the results of these mental scars?”

Carrington gave a sigh as Deacon and Desdemona beside him had despairing expressions. “A high inclination towards antisocial behaviour, and without their programmed obedience, most chafe almost instinctively against any authority figures.”

That sounded a lot like raiders to Piper. And the Railroad was sitting on how many deactivated synths?

Desdemona looked pained as she spoke. “We stopped reactivating the synths after more than enough of them kept playing along for a while before they tried sabotaging the Depot and making an escape.”

“Yeah, if not for your nuke-proof construction, we’d be buried alive or suffocated at least seven times by now,” Deacon said with a dry chuckle.

Sev frowned in thought. “So, too dangerous to be freed, and near impossible to rehab?”

“Unfortunately so,” Desdemona sighed.

“I’ll see if the bots can figure out a way to filter out which synths are sane enough,” Sev offered. ”So the Nexus will be keeping the rest of the synths in cold storage until a fix is ready.”

The Railroad leaders exchanged looks before Desdemona gave a heavy nod. “I know it’s palming off the dirty work to you, but we’re not equipped to handle so many rescues. Turns out we weren’t ready for the total victory we dreamt for.”

Piper thought there was a lesson in that meeting somewhere, but at the time she was more distracted by the implications of the synths’ damaged freedom.

What would happen to those synths that were irredeemable? Would the Nexus have to euthanize them all?

The thought of it left a bad taste in her mouth. At least the Railroad people were up front with the issue and were just as disturbed by this. To gain your victory but find the prize so poisoned…that must suck.

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