Vol. ll Chapter 33 “Tempest, meet Tornado.” “Maelstrom, Tornado. I’m in.” The stealth suit muffled Rosie’s whisper to nothing as she froze in the shadows of Recon’s home. Rosie felt like she moved through water, as if the very air would betray her presence if she moved too fast. “Solid copy.” Brandon whispered back, despite not needing to. “In your own time.” Rosie took a deep breath and started climb up to a gantry that ran the length of the hangar, creeping like someone trying to steal from thieves. Along the centre of the floor below lay Rosie’s target. A large, scale map model that put hers to shame with its details and coordinates. Alongside briefing boards with precise layouts. Both could be seen wherever you went inside. Be it to the sparse looking bedrooms made from containers. To the dozen, well stocked workbenches, or the weights and punching bags. You had to pass by the map and boards. They would pass it all day, soaking up the photographs, paper maps and scale models almost without knowing. She kept a steady pace and got a good look. Then she felt a vibration in the gantry. Rosie activated the stealth field and span into a nearby bedroom. The door had been left open, which Rosie took to mean empty. It wasn’t. The Recon scout slept through the noise of the hangar. Two more running along the gantry outside, another climbing a rope, live rounds being fired in a small range. His chest moved up and down beneath the covers as Rosie stood still and undetected. Rosie moved. The steel gantry took more power to walk on but the field held. Thirty two and dropping, she thought as it flashed in her eyes. Janey’s core had been at seventy when she got it. The briefing boards drew her attention, one forced her to stop. The card at the top read Jones. She saw pictures of the raiders that came for the drums, all four crossed with red tape. Another photo showed them at the meet, catching the back of Charlie’s head and little else. The last picture had been blown up in two spots. One the creature she’d chased into the Glassedlands, hulking even at a distance. And the other her, although they didn’t know what to make of the black blur against grey rocks. Radscorpion had been scrawled next to it with a question mark. No sign of Brandon or the others, or the lighthouse, hung on any off the boards. They weren't going to have to give up their home. That brought relief to Rosie that she began to look around more. As she looked down at what she thought was a rifle range, Rosie felt a pang of jealousy. Below her walls had been plucked from the wastes, mounted on runners and used for live fire exercises. The walls could be reconfigured after each run to change the floor plan. At the back stood a chalkboard with names and times. Whirlwind still held third place. Rosie wanted to live here. She wanted to run drills and train with her R frame. To climb ropes and plan operations for fifty scouts, not five. She wanted to get the same mohawk haircut they all had and to have a rank. It helped her understand the fondness her new found family had for this place, and why they enjoyed the comfort of the lighthouse. She slipped away from the gantry and out a side door, the noise covered by suppressed gunfire. --- “If it’s so damn important send a runner next time. Order sat on that terminal for twenty minutes.” Proctor Reed seemed annoyed with Sara as he caught up to her. She didn’t know anything about an order. “Assorted rifles, one case off. Heavy weapons crate times two plus ammo. A twin T-60 drop pod and a half a dozen fresh cores. Sign here, on paper.” Proctor Reed thrust a pen and clipboard at her. “It’s just a precaution.” Sara tried to cover the silence. “I didn’t ask and I don’t need telling, Boss.” Proctor Reed liked few people, Sara one of them. “Listen, I don’t have to take my leave today.” “No, it’s fine Jeff, I’m ok.” Sara didn’t feel ok. “I know, but everyone needs help now and then, even me.” He smiled and left Sara walking to the waiting Vertibird. Acheron had prepared the cargo. Sara glanced round, as if that would help her spot Rosie. Her breath caught in her chest as she felt a charged tap on the shoulder. Sara sat in the back of the Bird with the volatile fresh cores strapped tight at her feet. Staring at a shimmer in the opposite seat, it became a person after a minute in the air. Valkyrie flew slow, the pain in her feet leaving her little choice. “Val, whatever happens in the next few seconds, be cool.” Sara spoke over the comm, then covered the headset mic with her hand. “You can fly right?” Rosie nodded, pulling free the wireless connector. The shimmer slid into the left seat, then became a person. Val leapt in her seat, straining against the harness. She cursed as the figure pushed in the visor and pulled down the hood. “Who the fuck are you and where can I get me a suit like that!” Valkyrie regained her cool, her hands never off the stick. “I have control.” Rosie started flying the aircraft she’d only seen today. Val let out a sigh of relief as she no longer had to counter the cargo weight with her injured feet. Sara watched as Val couldn’t help but instruct and offer corrections. Then she saw the pipboy. “Wait, are you…” Val looked back at Sara. “Yeah.” Rosie answered. “I knew you’d be pretty.” Val smiled, then went back to instructing. Sara felt better the further they got from the outpost, but knew she had to get back. Night had fallen by the time Rosie dropped the cargo in a field outside Farmborough, landing with a fine touch that impressed even Val. Brandon and Matt appeared as Sara and Rosie got out. Matt loaded the Bird, after getting dragged into the front seat and mauled by Valkyrie. “We good?” Brandon asked Rosie first, drawing her in close. “Yeah, like it never happened.” Rosie answered. Sara saw the pride her uncle had in his latest recruit. “Help Matt, then fly us to the warhead. Once it’s secure John will be our one and only priority.” He pulled her into a hug but made sure Sara heard the words too. She saw how they looked at each other, like family. “What’s she like?” Sara asked, curious to find out about Rosie as her uncle led her away for a moment. “Smart, capable, dangerous, like you. A force of nature.” He put a hand on her shoulder as they walked. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you first.” “I get it.” Sara didn’t care at this point. “What’s he like?” Her uncle shared her curiosity about John. “Brave and loyal, a true knight.” Sara couldn’t think of a higher compliment. She saw how much it meant to her uncle. Although she saw something else behind the eyes, working in the mind that taught her to think. “The pipboys. That’s why you don’t want the Brotherhood to find Vault X isn’t.” Sara found her first moment of clarity all day. “The things she can do Sara. Saved Charlie’s life, performed surgery on Matt, knocked out Paul with a single punch.” Brandon laughed as Sara’s face dropped. “John, he told me about it. Said it felt like a nightmare, that it showed him things.” Sara felt bad for John and that damn thing on his arm. She couldn’t tell how her uncle felt. “Let me tell you something. If the two of them get together and decide they want to be in charge, no one is going to stop them. If I had twenty of them I could take the east coast in six months.” Sara saw the planning in her uncle’s eyes, and knew that he could do it. More than that, part of him wanted to do it. “Infiltrate, assassinate, destabilise. Then either vanish or ride to the rescue.” “We have time. I’m going to start a redeployment, give you room to manoeuvre, but Recon.” Sara knew she had no authority over her uncle’s former unit. “Leave Recon to me.” “And Dad?” “We’ll talk to him together.” Two hours later they touched down near the Red Rocket station. Matt and Brandon bounded off in the new power armour, securing the area. Val grabbed Rosie’s arm as she left the copilot's seat. “When you see John give him a big kiss and grab that tight ass from me, ok, he’ll know what it means.” Sara thought she might have to break up a fight between Val and someone’s girlfriend, again. “You don’t have anything to worry about.” Sara stepped closer to Rosie as she strode towards the building. “Valkyrie, she’s a good looking girl, and not shy.” Sara laughed to try and ease the tension. “John didn’t give her a second glance.” She saw Rosie flash a knowing smile. “I don’t know what went exactly between you.” Sara knew enough, but it didn’t matter to her point. “That’s right. You don’t.” Rosie tried to keep walking, but Sara stopped her with a touch to the shoulder. “Fair, but I know that he loves you. And I know John, at least well enough to know that nothing you say can make him feel worse.” Sara knew she’d got that right without Rosie staring at her boots. “He’ll stand there and let you tear him to shreds if he thinks that will help you. It won’t, just don’t kick him while he’s down. It’ll only make things worse, trust me.” Sara caught sight of Matt jumping out of his armour, remembering her mistakes. Rosie seemed to take her advice on board. “Whatever happens in the next few seconds be cool.” Sara laughed as Rosie repeated the words she said to Val. She pointed over her shoulder and Sara turned, reaching for her silver sidearm, as if it would do any good. Red light came from behind the building and at eye level, clanking from the shadows. Sara drew even though she thought they were all dead. Then the Assaultron spoke. “Sara, please lower your weapon. The chance of a ricochet injuring Admin Rosie is unacceptable.” “It knows my fucking name!?” Sara felt Rosie push her arm down. “I told you to be cool.” Rosie couldn’t stop smiling. “My designation is Janey, I’m a real bitch.” “She’s actually very sweet when you get to know her.” Sara heard a voice she’d missed. She dropped the pistol and Rosie caught it. “Charlie!” “I’m sorry Sara I couldn’t resist!” Charlie put a hand on her shoulder then made straight for Rosie, cupping her face and making eye contact. “We’re going to find him, I promise.” Rosie broke for just a moment as Charlie hugged her. “Sara here, she trained him, and she’s one of the best. Come on, I want to show you something.” Charlie led them to the back of the Red Rocket station and shined a light on the wall. There, sprayed in Vault blue, a message. ‘Find Lady Luck. J<3R’. Sara helped get Rosie inside, the toll of mission and emotional impact had overwhelmed her. Matt and Brandon left to dig up the warhead. “How does it know my name?” Sara whispered to Charlie as Rosie took time to rest. “Janey, how did you know Sara’s name?” Charlie out right asked the clanker and it’s head turned backwards from the window. “Identification confirmed previously by Brandon. Also Matthew mentions the name Sara every three point eight days on average since I have known him. He wished to be reminded to inform you,” The red light blinked for a fraction of a second. “That he has acquired a copy of ‘The Silver Shroud Versus The Mechanist.’” Charlie laughed at Sara’s shock. “You get used to it.” “So what, she’s like a pet?” Sara didn’t know why Charlie winced. “I am not a pet, I am a travelling companion. I also cook, tell jokes, and am proficient in the use of small arms.” The head whirred back, facing out onto the wastes. “Nearly cut me in half, then Rosie took it down. Been with us ever since.” Charlie smiled warmly at the deadly machine. “This, it, she, lives in the same place as Matthew?” Sara couldn’t believe that. “Yeah, helped Rosie save him. And once you’ve seen her make toast and talk about the weather.” Charlie shrugged, quite happy to trust the machine. “We’re ready for you Rosie.” Brandon left the armour outside, handing the machine a screwdriver and flick knife. The bot clanked out and into the woods, its gait different somehow. “So how’d she do?” Charlie asked. Sara glanced over at Rosie as she stared absently. “Oh she can’t hear us. Right now she’s looking through Janey’s eyes, eye. She could make her dance if she wanted.” “Fuck.” Sara knew the destruction those things could unleash from that red eye. “John didn’t do that I’m guessing.” “Saw him throw a mace ten feet and kill a raider before he threw a grenade. Watched him demolish a building from the inside, but no, nothing like this. Honestly I think he’s afraid of that thing on his arm.” “Funny, she said the same thing.” A few hundred meters away, Rosie saw the hole through Janey’s eye. At the bottom, in a case of loose bullets, a steel conical shape with a one point five megaton yield. Rosie let the idea that this piece of technology could have imprisoned her forever come and go. It left her calm and focused. The system gave her a schematic and removing the priming unit seemed simple enough, and had little chance of going critical. Janey removed the screws in one fluid motion each time, revealing the priming unit. Finely made dials behind thick glass, atop a dormant digital display. The alloy flick knife made short work of the rubber seals and more screws followed. Janey’s triple pronged hands, under Rosie’s direct control, slid the priming unit free. A precise swipe of the knife cut the wires, rendering the weapon of mass destruction inert. Sara almost jumped as Rosie woke up with her eyes already open. “I’m done.” “So you’ve disarmed the atomic bomb then?” Sara made a joke to ease her shock. “Alright Rosie, you’re with me.” Charlie stood and handed Rosie a sword and a cloak that Sara knew Matt made. Rosie threw on the cloak and stopped awkwardly in front of her. “Sara,” Rosie hugged her, surprising even Charlie. “Thank you. I hope we can, I mean, I scrambled your flight logs for you.” Rosie turned and left. “She likes you.” Charlie grabbed her pack then embraced her. “Keep that place running tight, and come visit. Paul would love to see you.” Sara watched, still not quite believing, as the Assaultron loaded a suppressed carbine and took point for Rosie and Charlie. Sara followed Matt and helped him fill in the hole she'd dug a week ago, covering the atomic part of the warhead. “So, Janey.” Sara always liked Matt’s laugh. “She’s something alright. Did she tell you a joke?” “I called her a pet.” He winced. Sara broke a branch from a nearby tree, using it to fan over the top soil like Matt taught her. “Yeah, she doesn't like that.” Matt stepped closer as they walked away. “It gets easier you know, breaking the rules.” Matt had never liked breaking rules, he didn’t even like his books out of order. “It’s not the rules, it’s going to break Dad.” Sara couldn’t bring herself to picture his face. “Maybe that isn’t the worst thing, make him see.” Matt knew her father well, too well to believe that. Sara said goodbye to Matt, and then turned to her uncle. “Listen, we’ve got a plan, we’ve got comms, we’ve got each other.” Brandon filled her with confidence. “There’s nothing we can’t do. And if there is, shit, we’ll send Janey.” Sara laughed. “You’ve got the best instincts of anyone I know Sara, trust them.” “And John?” “I’m not worried about him, he’s been well trained.” He hugged her tight. “I love you.” “I love you too.” A minute later Sara flew left stick for Val, who wouldn’t shut up about the robot. “Where to Boss?” Matt asked, Brandon stopped for a moment to think when his comm crackled to life. “Maelstrom, Hurricane. Eyes on Ronin. How copy?” “Solid copy. Status?” “Safe, for now. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. In pursuit, vector to follow.” “Copy. Maelstrom inbound.”