Before my men could break and scatter like radroaches under a Gatling laser, I stepped forward. The chief had gone visible and was trying to pull his rank but they were ignoring him. I didn't want the chief to get an expedited lobotomy so I stepped forward and made a gamble. I backhanded the old man's chest to signal him to back off after going visible. "No need for that big gun. We're all on the same side here." I spoke.
A massive lie, I was almost certain who we were dealing with. Before I could continue my lies however the giant shook my bones with his booming voice. "Identify yourself intruder!"
I physically flinched back as I spotted the men around him do th same. "Lieutenant Ellery Dornan, United States Secret Service. Now you. I want to know why you could see right through our specialized infiltration suits."
I could feel the giants glare through his helmet as he stared me down. "Sergeant Smith, Enclave research base. You'll get nothing else. Where is your ID. You will be subject to execution by firing squad if you cannot produce it."
I quickly scoffed at him. "I'm secret service. I don't carry any ID. I'd be incredibly idiotic to do so. That's probably why you're a sergeant. To stupid to understand something so simple."
The giants glare became increasingly obvious despite the helmet as he looked down at me. "Why are you here then sergeant? Non personnel are to be executed on sight. You'd better have a good reason for me to allow you to leave living and not a pile of ashes and goo."
I tilted my head like I was questioning is intelligence. "Isn't it obvious sergeant. My men and I are testing the effectiveness of our new infiltration suits. I wasn't even aware this place was one of ours. It had high security, so I decided we'd test the suits here."
"Hmm, I guess that's good enough. I'll make sure to report this to my commanders. I don't think I was aware of the NCR Ranger chief being one of ours. He's given us lots of trouble over the years." Before I could give more lies the chief answered. "I had to make sure my cover was perfect. Additionally, I was only able to give you so much trouble because everything I caught was sloppy."
"Hmmm." The sound this time sounded more like an amused growl of frustration rather than anger. "A good enough excuse as any to prune the idiots. Our success is near and we don't want some fool messing everything up. The plans cannot be hindered. The Enclave will take its rightful place as the government of this country."
This time I answered quickly and almost instinctively. "For the Enclave." An echo erupted from the people surrounding us as my men closed in to me and the chief. "Corporal Brigantine will escort you out. Make sure to inform a superior if you aim to do something like this again lieutenant."
I gave him a short glare before giving a half turn. "Semper Fi, sergeant." I said before completely my turn and following the corporal out. The walk out was short and silent, but the tension was thick enough to cut with a splitting maul. My men, most still invisible, tensed at the last door as an alarm started echoing up the hallway. Suddenly we all heard rhythmic clanging and shouts as the door opened. The chief fist met the corporals throat and he collapsed. The door was yanked open by my men an we flooded out with invisibility cloaking us. The emergency escape order we had set up beforehand was activated by me with the push of a button and we scattered into th city.
The rest of the day passed in a tense jog as everyone silently made their way through the city to the completely other side. We finally met up at midnight and my men began a guard rotation as I started downloading the stolen data to multiple holotapes to be delivered to the Mojave BOS chapter via an expensive and quiet courier service that would be traveling with a large caravan.
The downloads completed after the sun had come up and we all put on our clothes and gear. We made sure to keep our stealth gear on under it all as we would simply have to put the helmets on to slip away from enemies. We slowly and carefully made our way to the courier service, only to find strange metal detector things outside the door with guards. We immediately abandoned the idea of using the service and I took everyone to my place.
From there the chief called in all the rangers he trusted and told got them to set up a large and secure exit route from the city. The rangers quickly set it up as I began getting five transport cars sent to us. It cost a lot of caps and some expert lies, but I eventually got them. As I did that my men made their way to all their families within the city and began gathering them in my factory.
We loaded all the families into th cars alongside my men and prepared to breakout if we had to. As the last car only had a driver, he would pick up all the rangers he could before leaving. We would travel slowly and separately to make sure we didn't draw lots of attention. We'd wait for the rangers outside the city, then tear our way to the Mojave before going to Helios One.
The city had many security checkpoints so we only got out near nightfall. One of the chiefs rangers had joined us and he had increased the tension in the car after the chief told him about the Enclave controlling at least the OSI. I could easily tell what had happened with that. The Enclave scientists had likely been taken in by something like operation paperclip and had pulled a hydra. OSI had fallen to their control from that an they'd expanded while finding more survivors from everything they experienced on this coast.
Our first checkpoint had been incredibly nerve racking but we were all know by the army and such so they let us through without much issue. I hoped that the others would get through just as easily. The rest of the checkpoints went smoothly and we finally left the city. We met up with the other cars and were forced to wait for the last car as it was carrying over fifteen rangers, all packed in like it was a clown car.
Most of them had little to no family, so it was easy for them to leave. As night fell we finally spotted them leave the city. Unfortunately we also saw one of the few vertibirds of the city take off and begin coming towards us. We were forced to wait for the rangers to get to us before quickly redistributing them among th cars and gunning it away for the city. The rangers had taken as much as they could with them which meant they all had heavy weapons like 50 cals and LMGs.
An hour into the drive we finally had trouble. The vertibird crested a hill and shot straight at us with its miniguns hanging out the sides. The small forward guns started firing at my lead car and the rangers started buzzing like angry bees. Almost every one of them crawled out a window, then were handed their weapons. The crack of anti-material rifles shook the air as multiple belts lit up the night as LMGs slung AP rounds.
The enemy bird was quickly forced into retreat as the rangers nearly crippled the aircraft in the first barrage. Unluckily, one door gunner fired his minigun and almost crippled the last car. It was pouring smoke as we stopped to move everyone around before putting a few 50 cal rounds into it. With it scuttled we left and drove till morning.
Some time around midday we finally got to the Mojave Outpost. Most of us bunkered down in the cars while the chief and some rangers went out to get us through. It took them less than ten minutes to exit and for us to drive away. At the 188 trading post our caravan broke as the chief took his rangers and some of my men to set up their families in the city. I gave the chief most of my caps to set things up and to hopefully purchase an old factory near the strip.
It took an hour from there to get to Helios One while avoiding all NCR patrols we could. They were all spread thin, small, and full of newbies as the BOS took care of many of the patrol routes in the area. When we finally arrived we got a cordial reception and I quickly updated the elder and some paladins on what was going on. The elder soon after got a message that the strip and nearby areas were being scrubbed for me and the others. According to the report the securitrons were buzzing like cazadors. After finding that out I asked the elder for some things. The second he agreed to help I started my backup plan.
I hadn't played Fallout 76 much but I knew it had extreme technology that was essentially free to claim. Even if most of it wasn't canonically part of this universe, all the stuff that did exist was powerful. After handing over what I had it was easy enough to get ahold of the information the Mojave chapter had on the Appalachian chapter. There wasn't much about the brotherhood endings I could remember from the game but I knew that the chapter had been taken over by Maxson after he crushed the institute in Boston. The little info the Mojave chapter had on them said they had suffered from multiple bad leaders and a mutation caused by a radioactive material that they had been working on for a long time.
After checking information I began looking for what I could take with me there. A car full of supplies was easy to get and I shoved two Mr.Handys inside with three eyebots in a welded on carrier ontop of the car. Finally I had some more armor added and filled the rest of the space I had available with anything that might be useful. The closest BOS territories knew I'd be driving to them as I obviously couldn't go through legion lands.
I wanted to get to West Virginia as fast as I could so I'd be cutting through the safest and shortest routes the BOS and NCR maps had. I gave a goodbye to the few friends I could and set off to the north. My route would take me north to avoid legion then straight east for the Midwest BOS. The 11 hour drive north would take me to Boise, Idaho where I'd take a road down to skirt legion territory then go up into Wyoming. The only threats I could remember in that area besides the basics was the 80s tribe. I was pretty sure they had motorcycles or such but that was all I could remember.
Past that was Midwest Brotherhood territory. I didn't have much on them besides them being a slightly autonomous chapter that dealt heavily with the splinter Chicago chapter. I knew practically nothing of the Chicago chapter and didn't really need to yet. I'd go into Nebraska from Wyoming. From Nebraska I'd go into Iowa or Missouri. From one of them I'd go south through either one into Kentucky. Then it'd be a straight shot for BOS territory in West Virginia.
It would be a two day trip in good conditions and optimal roads, but that was impossible. The drive would take at least a week of continuous travel with the necessary rest stops. In reality this would be extended by the problems this world presents. I gave a goodbye to the few friends I could and after finishing my planned course I took off to get out of NCR and Legion territories.