POV Urtica
We were currently on a mission to Malden to clear the location of hostiles. And we were even given something from Rio himself. I was presently trying to figure out how he created the truly interesting Computer Virus he gave me. But I was interrupted by Cornicle.
"Hmm, it seems like the Captain is coming back," Cornicle says.
"Got it," I respond.
A few moments later, Captain Pharynx appears, and mere moments later, Sclerite appears out of nowhere.
"The mission is a go. Get your Super Mutant disguises on and prepare for the attack on Vault 75," Pharynx orders.
"Yes, sir!" we all reply.
During our original assessment of Malden, we identified several hostile groups. The first was the Gunners in Vault 75. They had around 120 or so members stationed there. Next were the Raiders from the majority of Malden. There were a few different gangs, but they had a loose alliance. Interestingly enough, the alliance was because of us. We had scared them into an alliance. Next were the Feral Ghouls out of the Med-Tek Research facility. The numbers there were decent but not too crazy, maybe a couple hundred at most.
Next were the Super Mutants, which came from several locations. The first was Medford Memorial Hospital, and the second was West Everett Estates. Pharynx had just come back from convincing the leaders of each group to attack the "bleeders" in Vault 75. They also had a big brother, as they called them, or as everyone else calls them, a Behemoth. In total, they numbered just over 300. The last group, Sclerite, was tasked with watching. The Institute. They were the smallest group, but very dangerous. They were led by a Courser, and following them were around 100 Gen-2 Synths. 24 of which were heavily armed and armored.
The plan was to lead the Super Mutants into an assault on Vault 95. That would make a lot of sound, attracting the Feral Ghouls. The Synths and Raiders would be highly unlikely to get involved, but if they did, then we would slip away during the chaotic melee that ensued. From what Rio told us, the Institute is likely here for the Raiders or perhaps the Railroad; Rio wasn't fully sure himself.
The Super Mutants were easy to lead into the battle. They are dumb, and the Behemoth was even dumber than the normal variety. The first phase worked perfectly. The Gunners were caught completely by surprise, giving the Super Mutants the upper hand. The sounds attracted the Ferals, which the Behemoth started to fight with. As we were starting our attack, the Institute began theirs. It may have been a coincidence, but it worked in our favor.
The Gunners were well defended, which led to the death of many Super Mutants. We just watched as we could alter our disguise randomly, and the Super Mutants were too dumb to notice. The Gunners were losing, and it was clear they wouldn't survive. Which meant it was time for phase two.
Phase Two had us help the leader of this Vault escape. But not before sending a distress call for backup. There was only one remaining Gunner outpost in the Northern Commonwealth, and that was Hub City Auto Wreckers, a few hours away. They had another in the far north, but they abandoned it a few days ago, according to rumors. By ensuring the leader escapes, he can bring word of what happened and give them more reason to try to retake the Vault.
The second phase proceeds smoothly, but we must adjust the plan immediately if we encounter any anomalies. An individual who we were not aware was in the area was running away and was heavily injured. We were ordered to try and help the Railroad if an opportunity comes up and to watch out for a few specific individuals. One of them was currently running towards the Vault. It was Glory.
"Change of plans, recuse the VIP," Pharynx orders.
We all nod and head to the surface to get Glory out of here before this town turns into more of a bloodbath. I notice a device on my wrist alerting me, so I warn the others.
"High energy levels detected. The Institute must have just sent in reinforcements," I say.
"Can you determine how many?" Pharynx asks.
"It's impossible to say for certain, but likely somewhere under 100, as the signal is weaker than the one I detected when they first arrived. But that could be due to some other factors," I caution.
They nod, and we increase our speed as if the Institute has called in reinforcements; it means they are dead set on taking our target. Sclerite vanishes, and we know why. The outside is a mess. The Behemoth has killed all the Ferals, but now Radiers and Synths are fighting in the streets, causing the Behemoth to attack blindly. We would be interfering while Sclerite got Glory to our rendezvous point in the Old Gullet Sinkhole.
Rumble
As we get outside, we move away from the Vault entrance as the Behemoth causes part of the Malden Middle School to collapse. The sound would attract the Super Mutants from below soon. Making the mission more of a mess than we originally planned for. But no plan survives first contact with the enemy.
We see Sclerite complete his job well enough, and we catch up with him as well. The town was becoming too dangerous for us to operate safely in. Our estimates put Gunner reinforcements 2 hours away. Which meant we had to avoid the Courser for 2 more hours.
The chaos lasts for an impressive amount of time. The Behemoth lasted the longest despite its size. The Gunners had reached the outskirts of Malden by the time the fighting had ceased. And the Institute had actually called in 2 more waves of reinforcements. That made us uncertain if we could complete the mission, as the Institute could just keep sending reinforcements. Which would eventually overwhelm us. But I had confidence that if we eliminated the Courser, the reinforcements would cease. Thankfully, that wouldn't be too hard. Coursers were not invincible; they could get tired or run out of ammo. That and I had more confidence dealing with a Courser than a normal Gen-3 Synth. Coursers had many cybernetic implants and mechanical upgrades to make them more lethal. Very expensive and, more importantly, more vulnerable.
To be fair to the Institute, they never thought someone could create a specialized sonic disruptor that would target those hard mechanical parts. So all we had to do was cause the Gunners to fight the remaining Institute forces while leading the Courser away from the fight to track down Glory. It just so happens that we are in a place where the route to get to Glory is a narrow passage. A Deathclaw guarded the other entrance. Coursers are tough, but even they wouldn't be able to kill a Deathclaw unscathed. So the Courser had only one route to Glory, and we could place my trap there.
To cause the Gunners to fight the Synths, all we had to do was have one of us disguised on each side and fire at the other side. Human psychology and synth programming would do the rest. Once that was done, one of us would look like Glory and get spotted by the Courser, leading it into the traps. One trap would be hidden but not hidden enough to escape the Coursers' eyes, which would make it overconfident and more likely to fall into the real trap.
"G7-81, there is no point in running. If you surrender, I promise you will suffer minimally. The Institute is where you belong," stated the Courser.
We mimicked her voice from a few angles.
"You'll never take my freedom. Give me liberty or give me death!" we replied.
The voices seemed to confuse the Courser as he looked around, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice. As he was doing this, he walked into the device I made.
SCEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Sparks flew from the walls and, combined with the sonic emitters, the Courser was disabled temporarily. Which is all we needed. Cornicle cast several spells on the Courser, which put him under our control. Which is what I was hoping for. If it failed, then I wouldn't get to hack into its brain. I stabbed a probe right through the eye and into a circuit, allowing me to start decrypting the Coursers' entire data storage. I started to smile like a maniac.
Everyone took a step away from me, but I ignored them.
"Hehehe, ohohoho, hehehe," I started laughing like a lunatic, and everyone took even more steps away from me.
POV Pharynx
"Uh, Captain? Is she alright?" asked Cornicle.
"Ehem, well, she is just a little excited. I am sure it must be good news," I reply.
"It's better than good news. This Courser was the motherload. The amount of info the Institute just left in his brain is ridiculous. Security codes, protocols, informants, passwords, you name it, and this Courser has it. His name is X5-39. Hah! The idiots even included a list of all Coursers and where they are located. Or at least some of them, as not all of these are permanent assignments," Urtica says with passion.
"Just download everything you can, and then we need to move on to the last phase," I reply.
"Yes, Captain. Just give me another 3 minutes to get the remaining info," Urtica replies.
I nod and we wait. Cornicle checks on Glory again. She was unconscious but alive. We treated her so she wasn't in danger of dying. Once Urtica was done, we killed X5-39 and returned to Malden. The Synths had won, but not by much. Only 2 Heavy Synths remained and 5 normal ones. Finishing them off was easy enough, and Urtica picked out one to leave alive so we could complete the final task of the mission. Urtica hooked a data cable to the damaged Synth and then started overwriting its code. Once that was done, she added some fake data to trick the Institute into hooking it into their computers, and lastly, she uploaded the Computer Virus Rio created. It was called Clippy.
"Okay, it's ready to go," Urtica reported.
I nod, and she activates the Synth.
"Unit 2265-78 requesting emergency recall, authorization code 9AS-9016," the Synth reported.
POV Justin Ayo
I hear the request and find it a bit odd.
"Wasn't that one of the Gen-2s sent with X5-39?" asked one of my team members.
"You're right. Bring him back now. We will get our answers soon," I order, and we approach the platform for the Molecular Relay.
The Synth appears, and it's immediately clear it's in bad condition. Both of its legs are destroyed, and its left arm has been severed, leaving only its right arm intact.
"Unit 2265-78, report what happened?" I order.
"X5-39 destroyed, retreaaaaaaaaaaa..." it starts, but then glitches and shuts down.
"Damn it! Plug it in now and retrieve whatever you can from its data drives!" I order quickly.
We connect it to the computer and start checking its contents. What we don't see is a small executable file activating and then promptly vanishing.
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Author's Note:
Quite a mess in Malden, but it means there is one less place for the Minutemen to deal with in the Northern Commonwealth. It's also, in a sense, the last place other than the Eastern portion that has to be cleared out. As for Clippy, he's a mystery mouseketool that will help us later. Until next time, Ciao.