Chapter 25: The Rec
The bird needed repairs after the battle, but they were easily made with Brotherhood’s help in the three weeks Jon was out. Right now it was speeding like a bat out of hell over the Northern Commonwealth sky. The pilot was pushing her to her absolute limits to test them, and all the while their General stood with them in the co-pilots seat, facing any danger as well. Jon would be happier in the seat of a black hawk. Sure the thing was fast, but the hawk was half the weight and could preform many of the same duties on a fusion core. The Minutemen had their own fuel issues to contend with trying to keep the bird flying.
They had the designs, but they couldn't be made until the pant was up. In all likelihood he would need Saugus up as well before he could make weapons as complex. After all, the presses could only do so much, however much they could do.
Jon called out, “Adjust heading 1-2-6, reduce airspeed from 3-5-0. Keep us nice and steady joker.”
Joker responded, “Yes sir, adjusting 1-2-6, reducing 2-0-0. Visiting the Brotherhood to brag about being shot in the face?”
Jon smiled, “That’s why were up here Joker. Make your request.”
Joker knew how to fly, but he needed trained in military niceties the Brotherhood would respect. Mutual relations were a constant affair, a garden that needed maintained. Joker opened his radio link, “This is Joker to Brotherhood ATC, requesting friendly approach vector, how copy?”
The radio responded, “Brotherhood ATC to Joker, we read you. Keep your current heading, reduce speed and altitude 1 mile out. We’ll light the way. ATC out.”
“Copy ATC. Joker out, how I’d do?”
Jon sucked his lips in as the other side was no doubt having a good laugh, “You didn’t key your mic off Joker.”
“Oh shit.” He said before he finally keyed the mic.
Jon chuckled, “Otherwise good job.”
Joker said, “Thanks boss. They’re probably laughing right now. You sure about these assholes?”
Jon said, “If by assholes you mean allies, yes.”
Joker said as he reduced speed, “I don’t know boss, I head things about the Brotherhood. That Lyons sheen is just a veneer.”
Jon huffed, “Yes Joker, we know the Brotherhood are fascist assholes but Maxson a nice fascist asshole. He saved our asses.”
Joke scoffed as he followed the flairs, “More like his ass! He was there too. I heard about the Washington brotherhood, they’re like real stuff random people with cybernetics techo-slavers.”
Jon blew a puff of air. Add them to the list of targets, “I serious doubt Maxson condones that, and would probably bomb them back to the stone age if he had the chance.”
Joker replied, “They could be doing Institute shit, what if he’s one of their plants? Anyway, don’t let them implant an ass bomb in you boss.”
Jon shook his head, “I’ll try not to Joker, you keep them from doing the same. That’s an order.”
He got up and Joker said, “Aye aye sir.”
Jon opened the door and made the short hop down. There was a flight crew and a couple Knights there to greet him, which he returned. Maxson of course had to make it a dick measuring contest. He could make out the darker power armor on the flight deck of the Prydwen. Jon smiled as Maxson took a longer hop down. Jon wondered with he would do it. He did do it. He landed and bled the force by taking a knee as he slammed down, and put his fist near though the pavement at the same time. Jon the laughed as those that saw cheered at the feat. Anyone else would be cheered as well, right before being lightly reprimanded. It was good to be king, they both thought at about the same time.
Maxson marched up at said, “Follow me.”
Jon followed, it was his base after hall and he obviously had a plan. They walked into the airport proper, and Maxson dropped his armor off at the parking space set aside for just such things. The plan was obvious. The airport bar was still the airport bar, called The Rec now.
Maxson held up two fingers and the barkeep got two cold post war brews. They clinked their bottles before knocking them back. Jon won that competition, and Maxson ordered two more.
He said, “Good you see you Jon.”
Jon nodded, “Good you see you too Maxson. Thanks for saving our asses.”
Maxson chuckled, “Saving my own ass as much as yours. That was a lot of fucking synths.”
Jon said, “No more attacks? Like your positions?”
Maxson shook his head as he swigged, “No. They were after two things.”
Jon said, “Me and the com-hub.”
Maxson said, “I’m almost insulted, actually.”
Jon smirked, “Like they don’t see you as a threat.”
Maxson said, “Exactly.”
Jon asked, “We get a courser chip from any of them?”
Maxson shook his head, “No, unfortunately. Anyone that had VATS immediately put a crit in their heads if they had them, if they didn’t they still targeted them with everything they did have. Their heads blew apart, every one. That saved us more than anything. Their leadership didn’t last a full minute.”
Jon said, “Sloppy tactics.”
Maxson said, “And poor aim once their numbers thinned.”
Jon prodded, “So I heard about a heart to heart with a courser.”
Maxson grimaced, “Glory. We ended up next to each other in Concorde. We talked after everything was set and done. My request.”
Jon said, “Know thy enemy?”
Maxson scowled, “Shes not our fucking enemy. Neither is the Railroad.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Jon perhaps prodded to much, “Sorry. We don’t have to ta-”
“We should. You were right. What you said to Danse. They manufacture human slaves. Her eyes…”
Jon said, “I wondered about that. The one in Arc Jet had shades, but I totally bought that they deemed irises unnecessary on their purpose made murder machines. Then I saw the one that shot me.”
Maxson kept his scowl, “She was an experiment in compliance, in case recall codes didn’t work. Could they enforce it with pain against an unruly courser they just happened to have on hand? That was the question. They chemically burned her irises out.”
Jon said, “Fucking Christ.”
Maxson said, “Then she took her clothes off. The scars. Everywhere. The ones d-down below…the sexual nature of it...the precise order...a goddamned perverse tally score. I just….I just know….”
Jon said, “Of course her recall code still worked, and no one that went that far isn't going all the way. Fucking savages. I guarantee they think we’re the uncivilized and dirty masses. That they’re some principal of humanity.”
“No one deserves what they do to people. Fucking no one!” He slammed his fist down.
The bar came to a halt, but they quickly went back to what they were doing. Drinking, eating, talking, and ignoring the personal conversation of their Elder and the General. Jon didn’t feel good about his conquest of the Brotherhood. If felt dirty using all of it to his advantage to effect desirable outcomes, like the Brotherhood not genociding a slave race based of fear and lack of understanding. Someone was always going to play the game, Jon thought. A king was just another on a board full of them.
Jon took a swig said, “I don’t know my mother. Well, who carried me. I wasn’t given therapy. I was conceived in a lab. The first of the second generation. Given that I’m not dead or universally reviled as a war criminal, I would say I’m the greatest of all Augments. Khan was the closet thing I had to a father. He made made me, along with his creator.”
Maxson said, “Like the ancient conqueror?”
Jon nodded, “His given name. Only this one had advanced weapons systems and a cult of personality even Kim Jong Il could only dream of. I don’t know anything about my mother except what I read in a file I wasn't supposed to read. She was Japanese, 24, my age, 5 foot 6, 113 pounds. No picture, no name, just a number and record of vitals during her pregnancy. Nothing about what happened to her. I just know…”
Maxson said, “A loose end.”
Jon said, “No one deserves what they did to people. The Augments, the Institute. They dare think themselves superior.”
Maxson said, “That’s why you sympathized with the synths. You were both made in similar ways.”
Jon nodded slowly, “Only they didn’t have my luck. I was an officer, a Prince of an empire, the universe he said. A leader of war and peace.”
Maxson said absentmindedly, “They’re slaves.”
Jon said, “Will this cause issues for you?”
Maxson said, “Any issues were quashed when she left her clothes in my office.”
Jon nodded and changed the subject, “So, that lead I never told you before I got shot in the face.”
Maxson smirked. He would never shut up about that. Many of his people were victim to his antics. He said, “Yes, is it still a state secret?”
Jon scoffed, “Yeah, sorry about that. We were swinging dicks and I didn’t know if you would try to fuck me. That's part of what the ASAM offer was.”
Maxson said, “If we just went ahead and went to the Vault-Tech HQ we already knew the location of from Capital HQ records, you would know you couldn’t trust us. Probably consider it an act of war.”
Jon said, “Yup. The fight would begin, and we would both lose. Brass literally put ‘tactical yield’ in my file to describe my effectiveness in field operations. The internet was new, and had one woman on the conspiracy forums calling me the greatest soldier that ever lived. She of course thought the Augments were lizard people from Zeta Reticulai. I was of course the rebel child choosing my place of birth over a planet far away.”
Maxson chuckled, “She had an imagination.”
Jon smiled warmly, “Who even believes in the moon anymore.”
Maxson prodded, now understanding the other side of it, “What’s the lead?”
Jon lowered his smile to a cocky smirk, “Virgil, Glowing Sea. If he’s still there. Been in the wind a while. But perhaps if he isn't, he left some clues.”
Maxson asked, “Who is he?”
Jon said, “Bio-sicence.”
Maxson’s scarred eye twitched, “FEV.”
Jon nodded, “We need to give him the benefit of the doubt. He left for a reason obviously, and hid the in the Glowing Sea. That says something about how seriously he wanted away from them.”
Maxson calmed a bit, “Yeah. It does. It’s a good shield, they would have hazmat suits, and you killed Kellogg, the guy that would hunt him down. Suggestions for approaching this?”
Jon said, “Start at the interchange. I want to give my people orders to scout further south along the river if they haven't already. Junk us ours, but tech is shared. Preston also said he guaranteed output, and I should probably reaffirm that personally.”
Maxson smirked, “I didn’t doubt it, but thanks. A good plan. The interchange will be perfect for staging. Your people will certainly have long range eyes towards the Sea. There may be people that could help us in there. Children of Atom, and I would bet caps they have a presence in that crater.”
Jon said, “Sounds like a fools bet. I take it they worship nuclear forces?”
Maxson nodded, “Yes. Atom, personified though radiation and material. Achieving division they call it. They started with one man in Megaton. It was build around an un-detonated bomb.”
Jon said, “Holy shit.”
Maxson scoffed, “Yeah. The Lone Wanderer permanently deactivated the bomb. Tempenny wanted him to activate it so he could watch it blow. That kid, fresh out a vault, lied to Tempenny, deactivated the bomb, used his trust to put a bullet in the back of his head as he pressed the button. He used Tempenny’s controller to deactivate their ghoul’s slave collars and they slaughtered the tower residents.”
Jon liked that kid. A man after his own heart. He said, “Ice cold.”
Maxson said, “He single highhandedly destroyed Raven Rock, Enclave HQ. He was taken alone without his power armor. Joined the assault on Jefferson right after in a fucking vault suit. Died to a rad burst removing their FEV sabotage. Fawkes died right outside the room to the last of the Enclave, or I know he would have done it.”
Jon said, “You looked up to him.”
Maxson said, “Fuck yeah I did. His father worked on project purity. He left the vault, and the Lone Wanderer left to find him. He got in the with Brotherhood, and with Sarah. She was practically my big sister.”
Jon asked, “What happened to her?”
Maxson grimaced, “I don’t know. She’s missing presumed dead. I spent my first month as Elder looking for her, personally. Eventually I had to move on, truly restore the Brotherhood that even she failed in doing. I respect them both deeply, they just spent too much on what they did. Not enough in what they should have been doing.”
Jon asked, “Was that airship you?”
Maxson said, “Not all me. The project was started before I became Elder, but I did preside over most of it. I think it was Sarah's scheme to win over the rest of the Brotherhood. The work of her father vindicated and bearing fruit. I can say none of the other chapters could have put something like this together. It’s a hard symbol of Brotherhood might, and Lyons chapter did it.”
Jon said, “Turned you into a goddamned superpower, is what it did. Force projection is the real measure of it.”
Maxson smiled. He liked the sound of that. Wasteland superpower. He looked down at his near empty bottle, “I came here to conquer.”
Jon said, “I know. I wrecked those plans. I wont apologize for it.”
Maxson scoffed, “I wouldn't either. I came to conquer because I needed the resources.”
Jon said, “Me too.”
Maxson said, “For you to get to space, crazy bastard you are. I need to clean house in the West. That will only be done by projecting force.”
Jon nodded, “Isolationist cults.”
Maxson said, “Some not so isolationist. The reports from Washington are literal horror stories. They fucking dare carry our sigil and call themselves Brotherhood.”
Jon slightly rose his eyebrow. Joker apparently knew a lot. He said, “Agreement, principle, yadda yadda.”
Maxson’s grin was downright evil. Somehow he knew if Rodger could see he would be proud. He never meant for the Brotherhood to mean destruction, that was for certain. Never meant for the Brotherhood to hold others back from stability and peace. He said, “If you’re ready, I am.”
Jon took his last swig and said, “let’s go. You’re bird or mine?”
Maxson said, “Your bird is fine. You're pilot is competent, if loose on the mic. You need plate?”
Jon smirked, “No.”
Maxson scoffed, “Somehow I believe that.”
They both got up and walked out to the parking. Maxson donned his armor and said to his guard, “I will be scouting the Glowing Sea with my counterpart. We’ll take his bird. Stay here.”
They shifted, and one asked, “You sure, Elder?”
Maxson said, “We can Trust the SCPG, and he’s my friend.”
Jon said, “And the SCPG trusts the Brotherhood, my friend.”
They hopped on the bird, and Jon gave Joker an eye to keep his fucking mouth shut as it took off towards the now Minutemen interchange post.