As had happened before, the Brotherhood members had "requisitioned" some brahmin to use as pack animals... The previous ones had been slaughtered for meat as soon as they reached their destination, a waste from Afton's estimation, but it had to be done due to them living underground and trying to remain hidden.
The journey had started, but no one aside from Elder Elijah and Head Paladin Mcnamara knew exactly where they were going... Afton often caught glimpses of humanoid figures as they walked, but was told to ignore them by his father, as long as they didn't bother the convoy, the Brotherhood wouldn't vaporize them in-kind.
It was around a month of travelling later that they seemed to reach a more populated region... They'd just walked past some sort of abandoned nuclear test sight that was rife with radiation, as well as an old crashed vertibird, Elder Elijah commanded them to stop the convoy so they could get a better look... The place was guarded by a few sentry bots and mister gutsies, Afton and Sandra were told to sit back and watch as getting them killed by a stray shot from the heavily armed robots was not something they wanted.
Zachary commanded a small unit of Paladins and Knights and made his way down there, first throwing a couple pulse grenades to stun the robots before opening fire on them. Elder Elijah was shouting behind them to "not damage the technology", obviously he was referring to the vertibird but it was probably difficult to concentrate with your superior shouting difficult orders in your ear.
Eventually though the robots were disabled, not being a match for the Brotherhoods firepower. Afton got a chance to look closer at the vertibird. In Fallout 3 these things were all too common, used by the Brotherhood and Enclave alike, they are some of the only still functioning vehicles in the wasteland... For what reason? Afton didn't really know.
Almost immediately he could spot something strange with this vertibird, first of all, the Brotherhood insignia wasn't plastered all other it, making it clear it didn't belong to them... The technology it held was slightly more advanced than what Afton had seen their own vertibird posses from the logs.
If you include the pitch-black colour of it probably trying to make it more stealthy, it was obvious this belonged to the Enclave. A faction that, from what Afton could tell, was completely wiped out... Having been caught in the middle of the NCR and BoS.
The convoy would have to get moving eventually, but Elder Elijah couldn't just let this thing sit here... He had the scribe deconstruct it and carry all the valuable or repairable parts with them... It was a bit difficult to find people who weren't already struggling to carry the things given to them, but they managed but allocating some Knight in Power armour for the job.
After that they continued on their journey, there were a few other notable locations they passed, most containing innocent civilians that they fortunately let be. Finally, they seemed to reach a relatively undamaged highway, trudging through the desert sand was exhausting enough, but with the added weight of all the technology they had on their backs? Afton was surprised no-one had passed out yet.
They walked along the road, and it was during this that Afton got his first glimpse into active combat with other humans... They'd passed by a large rocky hill, the scouts had already marked it as clear but it seemed someone had climbed up after they'd finished observing it...
*Bang!*
A bullet shot from a man dressed in ragged clothing atop the rocks, it hit his father in the shoulder but was deflected by the armour with ease, the only thing indicating he'd actually been hit were the sparks it gave off.
Afton and Sandra crouched behind Zachary as the man charged up his Gatling laser to unleash a barrage of light-based hellfire upon the unlucky cunt who'd provoked them. His father wouldn't get the chance though as the sound of a Gauss rifle discharging was followed by the raiders head exploding into red mist.
Afton felt a little bile rise in his throat at the sight, momentarily feeling as if it was his head that'd been hit... Sandra started vomiting off at the side, they were so close that she could've sworn some blood had gotten on her face.
He looked over to see who'd made the shot, and saw someone in Power armour hefting the Gauss rifle on their shoulder... They glanced at him and noticed his troubles, walking over and crouching down. "You okay Afton?" they ask in a distorted yet familiar voice.
"Huh?" is all he could reply with, still feeling faint at having seen someone die in such a brutal fashion.
The person crouching next to him takes their helmet off, and smiles at him.
"Christine?" he mutters, the contrast with how he usually viewed her hitting him in the face... She didn't seem all the bothered about killing the man, so it must've not been the first.
"Deep breaths Afton, remember your training." she says, resting a hand on his shoulder.
Afton nods and starts slowly breathing, closing his eyes and recalling the pattern he was taught in class. It was disconcerting to see someone die, even if they rightfully deserved it... He went through the various reasons why the man had been killed, and why it was just that it happened...
Had his father not been wearing Power armour, he would have been injured... Not only that, but the attack was completely unjustified, it was a single man aswell, meaning he expected to be killed. Had the man been aiming for him or Sandra, they might very well not be standing... A bullet to the head was all it took to kill you, only now had it hit him that he'd almost died...
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Afton and Sandra still hadn't completely recomposed themselves when the convoy was ordered to start moving again, Christine had to follow orders and so left them to rejoin the front, albeit reluctantly.
Zachary did all he could to encourage them, but Sandra was still looking particularly pale when they started walking. Afton himself didn't really know how to feel about the situation, he was still disconcerted at having watched a man's head explode, and he felt some sort of incongruity...
Regardless of his feelings on the matter, the convoy advanced, fortunately it seems one man dying instantly while achieving nothing was enough. It took a couple of days of stopping, making camp and then carrying on again, but this gave Afton the time to rationalise what'd happened.
He'd ended up talking about it to Veronica, Christine, and his mother, it was good that he had, because they all gave good advice... Well, apart from Veronica who just wanted to beat him up for feeling bad about it. Musclehead.
Eventually the convoy was able to see a large mountain with some sort of satellite dish placed atop it, Afton had checked the radio to see if it was broadcasting anything and was surprised to find it was actually inhabited by super mutants.
They seemed to be relatively peaceful, which was completely contrary to what he'd been taught in his classes. He knew from Fallout 3 that super mutants could be intelligent, but hadn't thought it'd be enough to create a peaceful community with.
He relayed what he'd learned to his father who frowned upon hearing the news, "Super mutants? Here?... Didn't think any would've made it into the Mojave... I'll let the others know and we'll decide at a later time how to deal with it, might even be able to bring you along depending on if you get tall enough to wear your Power armour." he says, patting him on the shoulder.
"They're broadcasting to attract any stray super mutants, if we leave it too long their numbers might get too big to handle." Afton explains, not entirely sure it'd be moral to wipe them out.
"You concentrate on your studies and we'll concentrate on keeping you safe, with how you acted after seeing a man die, I don't think you want to enter a war so soon... Trust me." his father explains.
The convoy continued for another few days before they were told to set up a defensive perimeter around a raised position. Their destination was nearby but had apparently attracted unwanted "flies", Afton could see the build Elder Elijah wanted, it was a huge factory looking place.
Behind it was an incredibly tall spire which was for some reason surrounded by mirrors, all pointing at the top of it. He'd like to get a better look as curiosity was killing him, but they'd have to clean out the raiders who'd set up camp first.
Around the facility, the damaged remains of robots that'd previously been defending and keeping the place tidy were littered everywhere. A few corpses of the raiders appeared to be lying around as well, telling the story of a grim battle fought... Unfortunately for them, they were squatting in the Brotherhood's new base.
Head Paladin Mcnamara, Paladin Hardin, and his father all readied their squads before moving in, none of the Initiates were allowed to join this battle, as the hallways would make it far too easy for the raiders to get a lucky shot off. Additionally, the had no idea what traps they could've lain...
Afton kept watch around the convoy as sounds of guns, lasers, and screams travelled out from the building. It only took thirty minutes before ragged-looking people starting fleeing from the building. Some Knights and Initiates in the convoy were taking potshots at them, but all seemed to be missing... Afton wanted to make sure they'd not start spreading information that the Brotherhood of Steel had set up shop here, but when he aimed at the young men and women who were only a few years his senior, he wasn't able to force himself to pull the trigger...
The sounds of death stopped, but it took another hour for the place to be scoured to see if anyone else was hiding, they did apparently find some as the couple discharges of a Gauss rifle could be heard, making it clear that no mercy was tolerated.
Afterwards, the Knight and Paladins slowly streamed out of the facility, all looking no worse for wear. They all gathered below the hill as Elder Elijah went to address everyone, "Brother, sisters, today begins a new opportunity for our Chapter, while the NCR have taken Hoover dam, they do not know how much they have lost in the process... I promise you all taking this facility instead of the dam was the smarter choice by far. Those that doubt me will see their error soon enough, this place is called Helios One, and once it is operational again, I will show you the true meaning of power." his voice travels over them.
Afton had to admit, this singular speech held more emotion than he'd ever seen the man exhibit before, in the past eleven years. The uncomfortable shocked silence from the man's sudden charisma slowly gave way to restrained clapping.
The Elder was clearly pleased with the response he'd gotten, as no on had ever reacted positively to him acting publically before...
Afton turned towards Helios One, from what he could tell, it was a solar array... Sure it was impressive it was able to produce a good amount of energy, but he didn't think it was valuable enough to trump the worth of the Hoover dam...
The Elder was playing a dangerous game, Afton had no doubt that the NCR would soon find their location... The position wasn't an easily defensible one, and would be difficult to fight against multiple angles...
Hope you bois like the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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