章 17: The fruits of victory

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The sun was slowly setting on the horizon as I watched my new recruits maneuver with their newly acquired weapons. I couldn't help but feel frustration. I had been promoted to the rank of centurion, but instead of commanding a veteran force, I found myself training a group of poorly equipped and inexperienced young men. It was what was expected of me, and I knew I couldn't fail; the Legion's hierarchy didn't forgive mistakes, and now that I reported directly to Lanius, the pressure was even greater.

As much as I would have liked to be the first to leave the camp and head towards Vault 29, there were many duties expected of me as the new centurion. The first was to adapt to the painful hierarchical system of the Legion. I had become a high-ranking officer, and it was expected that I wouldn't make any mistakes.

The Legion had a strange command structure. Technically, the second-highest rank, centurion, was only supposed to command ten decanus and ninety legionaries, but in reality, this was often broken. Some centurions commanded far more decanus and legionaries, sometimes even other centurions. The primus pilus, or the centurion of the first centuria of the cohort, was one of those who sat at Lanius' table.

Normally, I would report to the most veteran centurion, but Lanius had other plans. He wanted a full cohort of men in power armor, a titanic goal considering how rare they are. Even with the blueprints to make more Vault-Tec power armor, gathering the necessary materials was extremely difficult and, above all, expensive.

That's why I reported directly to Lanius and not to Centurion Nicodemus, who had been recommending me for promotion since the day he himself gave me the rank of decanus.

For now, I had to settle for leading a centuria before forming a full cohort with my future men. After my conversation with Lanius, I was quickly assigned a group of extremely fresh recruits who had arrived as reinforcements for the campaign. As was typical for the Legion, they were incredibly poorly armed but highly motivated to fight for Caesar until the end.

Once again, I found myself using my influence to purchase weapons with hard currency for my soldiers. It was cheaper to buy the scarce weapons than to constantly train new legionaries to reinforce my centuria in case of casualties.

I spent the entire afternoon acquiring rifles and ammunition for my men. I immediately began training them in the use of rifles in combat, burning through valuable ammunition, but I couldn't give them the week of training I would have liked.

Diana had gathered all possible resources for a desperate defense of her temple. If the temple was captured, it would mean the moral defeat of the tribals, and since that had already happened, resistance was likely to be minimal. If we advanced quickly, the war against the tribals could end with the least possible bloodshed, which would increase the future flow of slaves for upcoming projects in these fertile lands Diana had protected for years.

The problem would be raising funds to purchase the land. The Legion could demand the land's surrender to my tribe, but Lanius—he would squeeze every last aureus out of me for equipment to fuel his campaign.

Everything depended on reaching Vault 29 first, so I could be the first to loot it and claim a significant share of the spoils. Now that I was a centurion, I was guaranteed a large percentage of the plunder.

Early in the morning, before the sun had risen, I had a verbal conflict with a decanus in charge of Lanius' cohort logistics. I needed more motorized carriages, as the five we had for my contubernium weren't enough to transport a hundred men. Securing an additional fifteen carriages wasn't easy, as they were a valuable asset for the campaign.

But I managed to secure them for a limited time, so without wasting any more time, I had all my recruits wake up early, and we immediately set off at the maximum speed the carriages could manage.

Luckily, along our entire route, we encountered only defenseless villages with no guards, just as I had predicted. Diana had invested all her resources into stopping us at her temple, and now that she had failed, she couldn't do anything to stop our advance toward Vault 29.

The terrain we passed through was the same fertile land we had seen since invading these lands, with various crops growing abundantly. Many legionaries had already started harvesting the local plants, but we had our sights set on the real prize: the vault and its valuable technology.

With every kilometer we traveled, the environment grew greener and the river clearer. It was obvious from my men's expressions that they were amazed by this place. Most of them had grown up in a desert environment and had become accustomed to living in such conditions.

After traveling for hours, we were nearing our destination. Before I could give orders, my legionaries scattered in all directions. Some jumped to grab apples, others were pulling up local vegetables, and a few ran to the river to get water.

I bit my lip in anger at this insubordination. The risk of an ambush was real since we had penetrated deep into tribal lines. But I also understood my men's fascination with everything they were seeing. The only ones who remained in position and alert were my original contubernium, scanning all around and reacting to every sound while the others continued their attempt to gather whatever they could.

I could see their faces light up with joy as they bit into apples, free from any signs of radiation mutation.

"The fruit... without mutations? Wait, what?"

I approached to examine everything more carefully and noticed that the plants the tribals were cultivating were pre-war varieties. But that would be impossible... almost all seeds were mutated by radiation, and Vault-Tec never considered apples vital for their hydroponic farms.

I took one of the apples and scrutinized it closely. When I split it in half, I determined that the fruit was perfect, with no visible mutations—identical to the Red Delicious apples, one of the most common in America. It was incredibly sweet and juicy, a sensation I had forgotten from consuming pure fructose.

This only made me want to speed up our advance towards Vault 29 even more, to try and reach it before any further armed resistance could be mounted that would require the full presence of the Legion's army, forcing me to share the loot with many others.

"Everyone, back to the vehicles, now!" I shouted, breaking the enchantment of the moment.

The men, still with smiles on their faces, reacted quickly to the order. Although some had shown signs of insubordination by dispersing earlier, they knew they couldn't test me twice. Discipline in the Legion was absolute, and despite how tempting the surroundings were, they understood that well.

We got back into the vehicles, this time with less caution. The machines groaned under the strain of speed, the uneven terrain, and the lack of proper maintenance. But it didn't matter. Every second lost was one less opportunity to loot the Vault, one less chance to gather the vital materials and technology for the power armor.

We continued driving through the green plains until we finally spotted a large settlement where Vault 29 was supposed to be. As we approached, we noticed that the town was undefended, with no guards in sight. We had arrived before they could reorganize their forces.

We immediately dismounted from our vehicles and marched toward the town, spread out in a wide line with the power armor units at the front to provide protection for the more poorly equipped legionaries in my century.

When we saw people emerging from the town, we prepared ourselves. But instead of carrying spears, rifles, or bows as we had seen in our previous battles, the locals came out holding baskets filled with food.

This did not make me lower my guard, and I continued advancing towards the group, alert to any ambush attempts, especially since the town had three-story buildings where a skilled sniper could take out a few of us before we could find cover.

The group that met us extended their arms with the food baskets, though I noticed they were trembling with fear.

"Why do you surrender?" I asked, pointing my rifle at the large crowd that had gathered to greet us.

"The goddess of the harvest commanded it. When the men who serve the Bull appear, we must offer tribute to avoid their wrath," an elderly man with wrinkles all over his face responded.

I knew well that Lanius would destroy every trace of this tribe's culture because they worshipped a goddess not recognized in Caesar's pantheon, making them a threat to stability.

"Your subjugation will be accepted by Legate Lanius when he arrives. In the meantime, I want you to hand over all your weapons—from knives to rifles—and you will not suffer harm from my hand," I responded to the leader of the group.

The locals, their faces pale and trembling, exchanged nervous glances at my words. Some hesitated, but quickly began to comply. Men and women, young and old, emptied their baskets of fruit and began handing over what weapons they had: rusty knives, poorly maintained spears, and a few broken-down rifles. Everything they owned was clearly inferior to our equipment, but even so, a soldier never underestimates a potential enemy.

My men moved through the town. The power armor at the front served as an imposing visual deterrent, while the less armed legionaries kept a safe distance. The locals seemed to have surrendered entirely, but I knew a desperate tribe was capable of anything.

"Centurion, it seems they have no more weapons," Drusus said, pointing to a pile of poorly maintained arms.

Having achieved the most important goal of disarming the inhabitants, I began searching for Vault 29. It wasn't hidden—it was simply a matter of following the electrical wiring supplying the town to locate it.

The Vault was open, and the few tribals inside were tending the hydroponic farms... but there was none of what had excited me. No seeds, no advanced tools, no weapons, no robots. Nothing. Empty.

All that remained in the Vault was the power station supplying electricity to both the Vault and the surrounding town, which, at best, would cover the cost of the vehicles and the newly acquired equipment.

The tribe had to have obtained those pure seeds from somewhere; otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible. I remembered where the data frequencies originated before being sent from Vault 29,the signal was west of this position.

Since there was nothing of much value in the Vault except for some manufacturing machinery we already had, we returned to the vehicles and drove west, leaving the village for the next group to arrive.

"Strange... why do they have so many mutated Brahmin?" Cato remarked, looking to the right.

I turned to observe, noticing the place was full of regular cows, not the horrible mutation of the Brahmin.

After another few hours of travel, we arrived at a canyon and had to continue on foot through the area until we encountered a zone teeming with both animal and plant life.

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章 18: The Nursery I

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As we rounded a bend in the canyon, we encountered something unexpected: a vast facility nestled in a deep valley. The view was breathtaking. The barren, rocky terrain we had been traveling through suddenly gave way to a dense forest that surrounded the entire installation like a natural fortress. The contrast between the harsh environment and the lush vegetation was so striking that some of my men stopped in their tracks, unable to hide their amazement.

"What is this place?" one of the recruits asked, eyes wide, struggling to understand how such an oasis could exist in the midst of such inhospitable terrain.

The question echoed in my own mind. After months of campaigning through dusty, mountainous terrain, we had all come to accept that our journeys would be marked by scarcity and hardship. But here, before our eyes, was something entirely different. We were astonished by the fertility of the valley, home to the Twin Mothers tribe, but this place was the dream of any farmer.

"Centurion, this isn't natural," Drusus said, walking slowly, scanning every direction.

"It isn't, Drusus... That woman who called herself Diana had access to advanced technology, tools for terraforming the land. This must be one of the devices she had in her possession… So there must be plenty of robots around because these installations don't look like they've deteriorated over time. The construction seems old," I replied, taking the lead and moving toward the facility.

Cato eyed everything with suspicion, scanning every corner of the valley, his careful steps echoing through the canyon due to his power armor. He wasn't the only one. My men kept their weapons ready, watching the surroundings more carefully than in any of the barren lands we had crossed. There was something about this place that unsettled everyone, our senses sharpened by battle.

"Centurion, if what you say is true... if Diana had access to that kind of technology, what else could be here? This doesn't seem like just a place for farming," Cato said in a low voice, aiming his anti-material rifle at anything that moved in the thick vegetation.

"As I said, robots—Protectrons or Mr. Handy units, most likely. Those are typically used to maintain facilities due to their ability to swap tools for various tasks, so they shouldn't be too dangerous as long as we keep our flanks secure," I said to my legionaries, who were listening closely.

"What's a Mr. Handy?" Drusus asked, confused.

"A support robot. It has a circular saw that could take off your arm, but it doesn't have much armor, so conventional weapons can take it down relatively easily. So no one better try to get glory with their machete, understood?" I responded to Drusus's question, then looked at my recruits. Though they had rifles, it was likely some of them would seek personal glory in close combat.

There were many herbivores in the area, but I also noticed some wild wolves roaming free. They became perfect targets for my recruits, who shot them down, killing every member of the small pack and simultaneously scaring off all the other animals nearby.

We continued walking through the valley and came across a spillway holding a massive amount of crystal-clear water.

'That's how they avoid droughts. That small stream flows into the main river for the tribals, providing enough water for their crops.'

Noticing no control stations, I assumed everything was controlled remotely.

As we entered the dense forest, I saw clear signs that the area was pruned regularly. All paths led to the main building, and there wasn't a single blade of grass or tree branch obstructing movement.

Following the path, we discovered large greenhouses hidden among the trees, surrounding the main structure. Entering one of the greenhouses, I found exactly what I had expected: a pair of Mr. Handy robots tending to the plants.

The robots, although they detected us, didn't show any signs of recognizing us as enemies, remaining calm in our presence.

"Cato, shoot them. One command is all it takes for them to turn into our butchers," I said, signaling the legionary in power armor to target the pair of robots.

The shot was sharp and precise. The first Mr. Handy hit the ground, its chassis punctured, tools sparking as it tried to maintain its balance in vain. The second robot attempted to turn toward us, its mechanical arms moving automatically, but Cato's second shot was just as lethal. Both robots were down in seconds.

Silence returned to the greenhouse. My recruits eyed the two fallen machines with a mix of relief and caution.

"Well done," I said, stepping closer to the robots' remains. They still sparked faintly, but they no longer posed a threat.

I observed their tools and the immaculate state of the plants they had been tending. The crops were growing with a perfection we hadn't seen since before the war, something we had already begun associating with Diana's advanced technology.

"This place is full of these machines," I said, noticing several more robots in the other greenhouses.

My legionaries moved through the greenhouses, destroying every robot they detected to guarantee our safety in case Diana tried to defend her last stronghold.

We resumed our march and soon came across a fork in the path. The river guided us to a large lake, fed by a waterfall. It was probably the most beautiful sight one could find in the entire region, surrounded by lush vegetation and clear waters. The other path led us to the main building, where a large antenna could be seen.

A metal fence barred the way, which we quickly broke through to enter. Inside, we found a hedge maze, meticulously maintained. We didn't waste time navigating the maze since there was a direct path to the main structure.

As we advanced cautiously, focusing on any sounds, Cato tapped my shoulder and pointed at something.

"Centurion... Look," Cato whispered, pointing ahead.

I turned, and what I saw made my eyes light up with joy.

"A VERTIBIRD!" I shouted in excitement.

But my reaction startled my men, who took defensive positions—some quicker than others.

I looked around, and seeing nothing dangerous, I ran toward the aerial vehicle.

When I reached it, my excitement quickly evaporated. The Vertibird was completely dismantled. There were no weapons, the electronic systems had been removed, and the engines were nowhere to be found. All that remained was the chassis, a hollow shell of what had once been a formidable machine.

"Damn it…" I muttered in frustration, giving the vehicle's chassis a light kick.

"At least I could try to put it back together if I find the parts... But if they disassembled it, it means they needed the components for something else, and they've likely been repurposed."

I put aside the thought of the Vertibird, which would have been the most valuable asset one could find for a military campaign, and we continued toward the main structure.

In front of me, I had two options: a secondary building or the main facility. Without any intelligence on the area, the most prudent course of action was to keep my entire century together in case any problems arose.

"Drusus, you and ten men guard the entrance. I don't want any surprises while we're inside. Shoot anything that moves, understood?" I ordered Drusus, who nodded and, along with a group of legionaries, began taking defensive positions at the entrance.

The rest of us continued toward the main building, which was locked. The door was wooden, and a strong punch to the lock was enough to make it give way under the power of my power armor.

The lights inside were still on, and we began to move through the building in an orderly fashion, checking each room for robots. They were quickly destroyed before they could do anything against us.

After a few minutes, we came across a door labeled "Repository." It was much more resistant than what my power armor could easily handle, and there was no terminal in sight to access the facility's controls.

Suddenly, a sound drew everyone's attention inside the building, emitted from speakers.

"Decanus Gaius… Your arrival, though predictable, was much earlier than I anticipated. It seems your memory is impeccable, but I won't let the last relic left behind to rebuild our planet fall into the hands of brutes like the Legion." The voice was unmistakable—Diana's.

Before I could respond, the armored door began to open, revealing something that made my stomach turn.

Even before it fully opened, I recognized the sentry bot,armed with a laser minigun, a grenade launcher, and a pair of shoulder-mounted missile launchers.

The metallic sound of the sentry powering up filled the room, its servos whirring as its weapons readied to unleash their deadly payload.

"Take cover!" I yelled, diving behind a nearby pillar while the legionaries scrambled into nearby rooms. The sentry's laser minigun roared to life, energy bolts crackling through the air, leaving trails of heat as they slammed into the walls, bouncing off the metal structure.

Cato, always quick on his feet, was the first to react. He aimed his anti-materiel rifle at the sentry, waiting for it to stop focusing on him.

"Hit the joints, Cato! The armor is thinner there!" I shouted at him.

The shot rang out like thunder in the room. The piercing round struck the sentry's front joint, sparking and tearing off metal fragments. The machine didn't stop entirely, but it staggered, its movement now clumsy and erratic.

"It works! Keep shooting the joints!" I yelled to the others.

The legionaries, some still hidden behind shattered columns and walls, opened fire with their rifles, targeting the most exposed parts of the sentry. The bullets pinged off its armored shell, not causing much damage but forcing the machine to shift its fire.

The sentry raised its grenade launcher arm, aiming at a doorway where four of my men had taken shelter.

"Get out of there!" I warned, but it was too late.

A grenade launched, exploding right at the entrance and enveloping the doorway in flames and debris. The explosion echoed throughout the structure, sending chunks of stone and a few limbs flying out of the room.

"Damn it!" I roared.

We couldn't keep this up for long,the sentry was wreaking havoc, and our firepower wasn't enough to stop it effectively. It started using all its weapons simultaneously, raining rockets and grenades all around.

The sentry unleashed its full arsenal, and chaos erupted in the room. Rockets and grenades flew in every direction, shaking the walls and sending debris into the air. The legionaries dove for cover as I huddled behind a column that trembled under the force of the blasts. The roar of the laser minigun filled the air, its scorching heat slicing through the space between us.

"We can't hold out much longer!" one of the legionaries in power armor shouted, his voice barely audible over the mayhem.

Several men were already wounded or dead, some from shrapnel, others from the collapsing walls and ceiling. The sentry seemed unstoppable. Despite the damage we'd inflicted, it continued its relentless assault, its massive metal frame showing few signs of weakness. Energy bolts ricocheted off the walls, and rockets pummeled the ground, sending waves of destruction with every step.

Cato, crouched behind a concrete slab, struggled to maintain his aim under the constant barrage of fire.

"We need to disable its heavy weapons!" I shouted, pointing toward the missile launchers and grenade launcher.

Cato nodded, still panting from the intensity of the battle.

"Got it!" he replied, springing up and aiming his anti-materiel rifle straight at the sentry's grenade launcher.

The shot rang out like thunder. The round struck the grenade launcher dead-on, destabilizing the sentry's arm and causing it to swing wildly. The weapon exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere but leaving the bot with one less weapon. However, the missile launchers remained a threat.

At that moment, the main doors burst open, and Drusus' men arrived, firing their rocket launchers at the robot.

The barrage destroyed nearly everything around it, and soon after, an internal chain reaction of explosions began inside the bot as it overheated. Finally, the sentry exploded, taking a large portion of the building with it.

My hands were still shaking from the massive shockwave that hit us. I surveyed the aftermath: much of the building was in ruins, and many of my legionaries were either crushed or obliterated by the sentry's arsenal. Even three of my men in power armor were injured.

"When we get back... remind me to buy more anti-materiel rifles. We can't just have one. Start counting our losses," I muttered, panting as I made my way toward the now-open armored room.

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