There was still a lot that had to be done, the main trench was nearly finished but almost everyone agreed more trenches would be better, it would create more obstacles for the ferals to fall into, in addition, there were a ton of other thoughts on how best to prepare the battlefield, from creating higher vantage points, to having reserve explosives. However Adam had one task today, that was to set up the turrets.
Turret systems actually had an advanced FoF targeting system. In theory, a robotics system expert was not needed to set up the minutiae of the system. It was possible to use several work arounds to ensure a quick and clean upload of all friendly targets in the area and designate anyone who was not marked as friendly as a foe. However this came with obvious drawbacks.
For one, if a random person were to wander into the camp they would be shot at by the turrets, or if the battle creates a screen that makes it hard to identify a friend as such it might fire on them anyway. Relying on factory settings was exactly why pre-war you heard so many stories of workplace accidents happening in businesses all over the US. Adam was not that sloppy. He would rather spend the extra time and account for all variables.
So while the rest of the people worked on other things, Adam worked exclusively on the turret systems. He also set up Buddy, still with exclusively an upper body, along the turret line to turn him into a makeshift turret, after all he was nearly as strong. Luckily Buddy did not need any updating, Adam had spent so much time tinkering with Buddy that he was far more advanced than any other Protectron he had ever seen. Buddy was simply smart enough to know who was a friend and who was an enemy based on the situation on the battlefield. Now all he had to do was make the turrets at least half that smart.
As per usual when programming it was not hard, but it was tedious. It could have been a delicate piece of programming if he didn't do this exact thing in the past with the turret systems in Second Life. So he already had experience. If only he could copy and paste it would have saved him a lot of time but alas.
This took almost the entire day for Adam, aside from breaking for food, he did not leave the computer the entire day. Luckily nothing else of note happened the entire day, no more fights, no more issues, just work. There very nearly was an issue with one of the Demon Klan members intimidating one of the guards from Naper but Salvatore stepped in personally and ended that issue before it became a problem.
By the time the sun was setting Adam was finished with his programming. Now, aside from something excessively outside his expectation range, like the sudden arrival of prewar Chinese survivors turned ghouls that were riding chimera tanks, the turrets would be perfectly functional for his needs. And to be clear that idea was so far fetched Adam might collapse from shock if that were to play out. After all, it's not like any Chinese spies survived the bombs. Right?
In either case, as Adam was turning in for the night Salvatore approached the back of the APC with a serious expression on his face.
"Hey kid, Herman got back, Famine, it will be here sometime late tomorrow." Adam looked at him and then nodded slowly.
"Alright, then we need to move tomorrow." Adam said seriously back to him, sitting up on his bedroll.
"You sure about this, kid? Taking your vehicle to attract the horde? The Vertibird should be enough." Adam shook his head.
"If we want this to go well, we need as much help as we can get. I have a valuable chess piece to play, I don't intend to let it rust." Salvatore sighed.
"It's just… a lot can go wrong, kid… I'm worried about you." He said slightly sheepishly. Adam smiled.
"Thanks, Salvatore, I will be careful, I promise." Salvatore let off a big sigh and shook his head.
"Alright. If you are committed make sure you do it well. I wish I could go with you, but I would probably just get in the way, and I'm needed near the entrance of the parking lot, to give a heads up to our army. Adam nodded.
"That's fine, it's the best place for you to be." Salvatore then glanced up at the big cannon on the APC.
"That being said, there is someone you should ask to come with you. Someone needs to operate those guns after all. She is just waiting for you to ask." He said with a look back at Adam.
"She?" Adam said back, confused. "You mean Eve?" He said with a tilt of his head. "I don't think she knows how to use the weapon systems any better than I do."
"No, you fuckin' idiot." Salvatore said with a are you stupid look at Adam. "Miss pretty green eyes. Mira." He said with a roll of his eyes.
"Mira? Why?" Adam asked, still confused.
"When it comes to Tech, count on the brotherhood, even if they will just try to take it from you." He shrugged. "I doubt she was a scribe but she's plenty handy. Just ask, she will probably surprise you." Adam stared at Salvatore for a few seconds.
"A… scribe?" He asked, confused. Salvatore rolled his eyes again.
"I ain't explaining the brotherhood hierarchy to you, if you are that curious, ask her. But just do as I say and ask, she is the best suited of anyone here to help you." He said firmly. Adam nodded.
"Alright I will." Salvatore nodded, satisfied.
"Alright, good kid." He grinned. "Sleep well, tomorrow is gonna be hell for us all. Better not be fighting our own exhaustion while we are killing ferals."
"Spoken like a true soldier." Adam said back with a grin of his own. Salvatore waved him off and then left him alone to sleep. Adam quickly resolved to ask Mira for her help tomorrow, tonight he would sleep.
Luckily sleep found Adam quickly. It seemed the impending battle did not hamper his ability to sleep any more than anything else. By the time morning came he saw the camp preparing itself for the battle to come, it seemed as though the news had spread that today was the day. Only 6 days after Adam had first heard, this was about as early as it could have been. It was strange, everyone was quoting a week or two, but it had not even been a week yet. Did the feral ghouls speed up? Were they capable of that? He had no way to know, but now was the time so he just accepted his role and instead focused on the task ahead. His first task of the morning, asking Mira if she would join.
"Yes." She said back quickly without any hesitation when Adam asked if she would join him on the dangerous excursion. Adam chuckled nervously.
"You haven't even thought it through, we will be wading into a massive wave of feral ghouls. If we get stuck that might be it, our only hope is to make it back to the firing line and join up with others." Mira nodded at Adam's comment but her resolve remained unchanged.
"You need a gunner right? I am familiar with a variety of weapons, this is no different." Adam stared at her, a mixture of impressed and skeptical and then sighed and nodded.
"Alright, if you are sure, then come with me, I will be leaving shortly. We will need to draw their attention and make a ton of noise, big booms from the cannons will help greatly." She offered a slightly cocky grin.
"Don't worry, I am quite familiar with big booms." Adam chuckled.
"Alright then hop in the APC, we are about to go." She nodded and then turned to head into the APC before a loud shout rang throughout the camp.
"WAAAAARRRR!!!!!" A man in the distance called out from one of the lookout checkpoints at the edge of the camp. There was a lot of confusion and worry that immediately set through the camp as everyone turned to look at the direction where the shout came from. After a few moments an army emerged. An army to match theirs.