POV Rio
After dealing with the Facility, we left. A somewhat unfun fact is that going up a ladder is much more annoying than going down. There was at least some music. Unfortunately, it was elevator music. At first, it was nice, but after a while, it got annoying.
"Why the hell did they not install an elevator?" Cait asks, annoyed.
"They didn't want anyone to be able to escape the facility if they breached it," I reply.
"Huh? How?" Hancock asks.
"The base is rigged to self-destruct should all the robots be disabled or destroyed. Or if the door is forcibly breached. Or if the servers are compromised. Or if the security system was triggered. They actually put a lot of thought into that," I comment.
"Can't you just fly us up?" Cait asks.
"I suppose. Who wants to be the first test subject to see how far I can throw a person?" I say with an evil grin.
Deacon goes to raise his hand, but then puts it back down. Everyone else avoids eye contact, and we keep climbing. The ladder trip takes over 10 minutes, but eventually we get to the surface.
"Bloody finally! I thought we would never get out of that damned hole," Cait said while flopping onto the ground like a fish.
I chuckle a bit, and we get ready to leave. I decided to make a small trip a bit North of the Castle. I figured we had a working boat, so why not use it to head to that old Chinese Stealth Sub? We did at least make a small stop at the Castle to make sure they were aware that we could now garrison Spectacle Island. I would help build it up later.
After the Castle, we entered the Boston Harbor towards the Yangtze Chinese Stealth Sub. From what I could see, it had only one non-Feral Ghoul crew member. Everyone else had gone feral. It also had a dangerously damaged Nuclear Reactor on board. The ship was easy to board, and once inside, we made our way to the bridge. Inside, we saw the only remaining crew member, which if my memory serves right his name was Captain Zao.
"I watched you drive out here. You appear... able. But not a threat? No. Come in he ping. Ah... peace?" Captain Zao says with some suspicion.
"Not a threat unless you become one first. I am here to help. I noticed your ship has a dangerous leak. I hope to get it fixed so it becomes less of a threat to the Commonwealth," I reply.
"Hmph. Pirate or Raider would have attacked by now. I accept your gu shi as truth. Your arrival is good xingyun for me. I am Zao! Captain of the Chinese Navy! I sail the Yangtze-31. This qianting. Submarine. My beautiful boat. I need help, you see. You know of issue already. But... My Yangtze is not safe. Raiders come. I have fought them. But I fear leaving her alone to get what I need for repair," Zao says.
"Hmm, let me take a look. I will fix it, no problem," I reply.
"Hmm, there is damage to a, um... dampening coil. Bad damage. Need new coil. I have information. Intelligence, from wartime. Dampening coils are at facility called... Saugus Ironworks," Zao offers.
"I already have one," I reply.
"You have dampening coil? Ha! Youxiu. Youxiu. Now to get... nuclear fuel," Zao says.
"I think I have that as well," I comment.
"You... You do? Oh, I was expecting we need Warhead from storage," Zao said.
"No, I only ask that I can use those warheads and launch them from your ship," I request.
"You... You want to launch warheads? If that is what you want, you can do so. Now. here is what you must do. Head down to the reactor. Take dampening coil and fuel with you. First, insert the dampening coil. Carefully. Xiao Xin. Then, put fuel into the reactor. As you do that, I monitor power levels from the control room. Do not put in fuel first! Do that? Si wang. Death, for you and me both," Zao says.
"Okay, what about your crew and anything I find on the ship?" I ask.
"Hmm, little of worth to you. I have old and new money from your America. And oh! You get Hei Gui suit. It old but still work. It hide from enemy. Crew. Crew not themselves. I hope you bring them peace," Zao offers.
"Sounds good to me," I agree.
We head deeper into the sub. We have to kill a few ferals, but it was easy enough. We end up finding the Hei Gui suit on the body of a Crimson Dragoons Agent. The suit was still in good condition, and then it became pristine condition once I put it in my inventory. As for other loot, it was, as Zao said, there was practically nothing of value. We entered the reactor room, and it was easy to find the issues with the reactor. Zao prepared the reactor, and I did as he asked and put the Dampening Coil, and then the fuel. It restored power, and then we were free to do some additional repairs to the ship.
The Yangtze was supplied with 6 High-Yield Nuclear Missiles. In this case, there were 4 400kt bombs and 2 700kt bombs. One of the 400kt bombs created the Crater of Atom. The nuke that remained was a 700kt variety. The sub also had 6 non-nuclear missiles on board. But only 3 remained. They were decent, but they were meant for ship-to-ship combat and didn't fly that far. But they would be useful for me anyway.
"Was not sure my beautiful Yangtze would hold together. But we did it! Here. Payment Zao promised you," Zao says while giving me a suitcase with Prewar Money, Caps, and a device meant for targeting.
"I assume the device is for the non-nuclear warheads," I comment.
"Yes, yes. I not certain what you want to use the warhead for, but if you give me coordinates, I can fire," Zao offers.
"I can do that, but first, let me add some improvements to the missile, as I am not confident it will hit its target. And don't worry, the target is for a good cause. A large horde of creatures that devour the flesh of humans near New York City," I comment.
"Hmm, yes, I think that is better cause. May redeem my guilt," Zao suggests.
Zao didn't mention it, but I could tell he felt extreme guilt for launching the nukes during the Great War. I had calculated the exact power of warhead I would need to wipe out the horde near NYC and determined that I would need a warhead of about 300-400kt to wipe them out with confidence. They were fairly clustered together, so the weapon could wipe them all out. Radiation may heal them, but it doesn't matter if the fireball vaporizes them. I needed to cover an area of around half a mile with the fireball. And that would still be overkill. It wouldn't solve the other horde, but that was fine. I couldn't wait as the horde I had used ARCHIMEDES III and IV on had started spreading themselves out to avoid the same kind of attack. That means it is likely being led by something somewhat smart.
The non-nuclear missiles, on the other hand, were going to be saved for the GNN. With those three short-range missiles, I could be confident to wipe out most higher leadership of the Gunners. I could use the missiles on the Brotherhood, but that was overkill. I could do the same with a few bombs from the inside or artillery from the outside. I could also target Quincy, but that seemed like a bad idea. We needed to recapture it to show the Gunners what we are made of, truly, and to avenge the Quincy massacre. Other than those options, there weren't many valid military targets in range.
Once I had decided what to do, I connected with the Spy Satellite and started getting the coordinates to launch the nuke. I also made sure Zao moved the sub out of the harbor to avoid the Brotherhood interfering. Once everything was set and I was confident the missile would hit its target, I launched the missile.
POV Colonel Winter
I hear alarms blare, and Captain Moore runs into my office.
"SIR! Our radars are picking up a missile launch!" Moore says with shock.
"What!? What's its target!" I reply with some fear in my tone.
"We're tracking now, but it's heading south. We can't be certain what its target!" Moore says with fear.
"Do we know what kind of missile it is?" I ask.
"Mao III Chinese Nuclear Missile. Often launched by a submarine," Moore responds.
"Reinforce our missile defense systems. Full alert status immediately!" I reply.
"All ready done, sir!" Moore responds.
"Good, I will report this to the Grand Admiral," I say while running towards her office.
As I enter the office, I see the Grand Admiral is looking over some reports as calm as ever.
"Take a seat, Colonel. There is no need to panic. The missile is not aiming for us. Most likely it's aiming for New York," the Grand Admiral says calmly.
"But ma'am, Mao III's are 700kt warheads. If they have more or if this is a restarting of the Great War..." I say, but stop talking when she looks at me.
"It is not as you fear. This is a rogue element. Likely an old Chinese Sub either taken over by Pirates, or an old Chinese Naval Officer completing their mission. I am certain that most Nuclear Weapons have been exchanged at this time. With a few exceptions, neither side has the weapons to restart the Great War. Most of the prewar Nuclear Silo's and ICBMs have been exhausted or were dealt with in recent times," the Grand Admiral says.
I get a report and confirm that the missile struck near New York City. Specifically, the area we had reports of a massive Feral Ghouls Horde amassing. I frown at this info.
"Hmm, you are right to be wary of this report. It is... an interesting pattern. First, it was the firing of ARCHIMEDES III and IV, and now the launch of a Nuclear Missile. It seems like someone is getting access to WMDs before we can. And they seem to be using them up, so no one else can," the Grand Admiral says while getting that look like she is in deep thought.
"What should we do, ma'am?" I ask.
"For now, we watch. There are very few remaining weapons they can get. I believe that the user of these weapons is not an enemy. In fact, I believe they are helping us even if they do not realise it," the Grand Admiral says.
"I don't follow," I reply.
"I don't believe the use of ARCHIMEDES III and IV was random. I believe that they were likely striking a similar target to what this recent missile hit," the Grand Admiral says.
"You... You mean there was an even larger horde we weren't aware of?" I say with some fear.
"I think it is highly likely. If that is the case, then we must be more wary of whatever creature or aberration controls such a horde. We might be safe here, but it never hurts to be prepared. I want our agents to focus on investigating these... anomalies. Our work against Rio can be temporarily put aside," the Grand Admiral says.
"Yes, ma'am," I say with some reluctance.
"I understand you're... unwillingness to let it go, but I promise you this will only be a slight delay, nothing more. If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle," the Grand Admiral says.
"Of course, forgive me, ma'am," I reply.
"You are forgiven, Colonel, now. If there is nothing else, you may leave," the Grand Admiral says.
I take my leave and head to complete the mission given to me.
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Author's Note:
I did a lot of math and research for this chapter. I wanted to make sure I knew what kind of warhead Zao would have. As for the non-nuclear missiles, I made this choice, as, according to what Zao said, he should only have one nuclear missile weapon left, and he uses one to restart his reactor. And to be honest, it makes no sense that he would give the Sole Survivor a transpoder that could call in a Nuke that would at least have a yield in the hundreds. It doesn't matter how good a throw you have; it would destroy a decent chunk of Boston if it went off, and definitely kill the person who uses it. I also did some math to figure out how long it would take to climb a 500-meter-long ladder. It might not be too accurate, but you can chop that up to differing climb speeds.
I was thinking of having Zao join the Mintuemen, but instead I decided to let him head back to China. That is not to say he won't come back, but just that he will be gone for some time; if he comes back, no promises. As for who or what is controlling the horde, that will be explained later in the story. I will say they are not happy with losing so much progress. Until next time, Ciao.