Chapter Sixty-Seven
His Glorious Aspirations. Fallout Universe.
Like we had before ever setting foot on Planetos the leaders of each faction of the Imperium that supported me in a briefing room, with us standing around a table which could project holograms. Archmagos Del Arx of the Adeptus Mechanicus presented the rest of us with the information he had been able to gather. A lot of which was shocking to those gathered.
Aside from the Archmagos I had with me Palatine Brigicia of the Adepta Sororitas and the newly promoted Colonel Gwynenya Ionael of the Imperial Guard. Black Widow was also here, but as far as I knew no one other than myself knew that she was here on behalf of someone very high up in the Imperium's leadership. I suspected the Inquisition had sent her to keep an eye on me as well as to protect me, assuming that there wasn't an actual Inquisitor hanging around.
Palatine Brigicia wore her normal plain robes as did the Archmagos, by contrast the Colonel and I were overdressed having come here in military uniforms. I'd at least made the effort not to look as if I should be hanging about with Napoléon Bonaparte. I had any desire to ever spend time with any Frenchmen.
The Navigators and astropaths had also sent people to the meeting, but they hung back, showing that while they would observe they had no desire to get too involved in whatever the rest of us would be getting up to in the foreseeable future.
"We appear to be in orbit of Holy Terra" said the red robed cyborg "Or at least some version of mankind's cradle world".
This was met by a stunned silence that wasn't broken for at least thirty seconds.
"Could you repeat that" requested the colonel.
If I hadn't know exactly where I'd brought us I'd have been as shocked as the others and they didn't take it any better when the Archmagos repeated his words exactly.
"Archmagos, I think what the colonel desired was a more detailed explanation of our current situation" I said to the senior Ad-Mech priest.
I felt sure that Del Arx had known this and that sometimes the cogboys were annoying on purpose.
"We are in orbit over what seems to be Holy Terra only a younger version of the planet" he explained a voice too human for one of his rank "There is no Imperial Palace, no orbital defences, and the psykers detect no trace of the Emperor's presence outside of this vessel. The vox traffic we are receiving is primitive and in a variety of pre-Gothic forms of speech, some of which we can translate".
The red robed cyborg did something to the holotable and then filled the air with what I knew to be something transmitted by a radio station.
"Comin' to you taped from my fortified bunker in the middle of a D.C. hellhole".
There was more and when some music started to play the Magos shut it down. I'd understood that as it had been in English, but many others hadn't judging by their confusion.
"After hours spent gathering information we have concluded that we have arrived at some point during a period of human history called The Stellar Exodus" we were all told "This is very poorly-understood period of human history which is generally accepted to cover the majority of Mankind's initial forays into interstellar space and the genesis of most of the oldest human colonies, beginning at some unknown point in the mid-to-late 3rd Millennium. This period is generally understood to lead into the Dark Age of Technology sometime around the 15th Millennium. We believe that we have arrived early in the 3rd Millennium since mankind has little presence in the solar system outside of Terra".
I noticed that he used the word little rather than none.
"Therefore I conclude that we travelled through both space and time, perhaps into another dimension" said the cyborg "One that lacks the Emperor".
Palatine Brigicia didn't not like hearing that.
"The Emperor is eternal" she stated.
If looks could kill the Archmagos would be screaming by now as he burned to death.
"According to the histories the Emperor did not reveal his presence to mankind until the Age of Strife" I said to the nun who thankfully at this time did not carry a gun "Before then he worked behind the scenes to protect mankind".
This was both dogma and the truth. At least back in the 40k galaxy.
"We are not in our own universe" stated the Archmagos "I suspect as much when we travelled to the feudal world and now my investigation confirms it".
He gave some explanation that went way over my head because of all the needless mumbo jumbo the Ad-Mech like to surround any science with.
"So this world we orbit is not Holy Terra of the past, but rather its counterpart in another universe" I summarised.
The colonel made some remark about this sounding like a bad holodrama. I hadn't even known that they knew about alternate dimension even as a theory. Perhaps the humans of 40k weren't as backwards as I'd thought, or at least not all of them.
I knew that The Fallout world existed in an alternate timeline that completely diverged from the timeline of my own dimension after World War II. As a result of these changes they ended up a technologically advanced retrofuturistic atomic age where the 1950s dominated the culture and society of the Fallout world.
"That is a simplified form of what I meant" said the Archmagos.
Palatine Brigicia wasn't accepting of this as easily as Colonel Ionael.
"Is this some trick of the Archenemy?" she asked.
Again the high ranking Magos tried to explain about alternate dimensions and time not functioning in The Warp. Only she didn't get it any more the second time and to be fair the cyborg wasn't doing a very good job of explaining matters.
"Let's keep it simple and go with this world being a sibling of our Holy Terra, one that or some reason lacks to the protection of the Emperor" I decided "Perhaps he sent us here to save this world from those that mean it harm such as the xenos we have already destroyed".
That she could get behind.
"There is a brother of Holy Mars as well" mentioned Del Arx "I require a suitable craft to investigate this world to ensure that the xenos have not contaminated the planet".
That was fine with me and it would keep the Archmagoes busy for a while.
"Let us focus on this Terra for now" I said "What can you tell us about it".
Since I already knew that mankind on this world was living a radioactive hell hole I tuned out most of the briefing that followed knowing that I would have access to written copies and focused on what I wanted to do. During the information dumping session the Ad-Mech leader brought up a hologram of the Fallout world showing us what it looked like from orbit. I felt fairly sure that the seas were not meant to be green.
Europe and the Soviet Union were destroyed by internal collapse, riots over resources and eventual civil wars. The struggle to find resources such as fossil fuels and other essential items was too strong for these countries. South America and Africa were probably destroyed by large countries draining the resources from them. If any nations other than China and the US survived to see 2077 they were certainly destroyed by the resulting weather challenges brought about by the Global Nuclear Apocalypse.
China was destroyed by the United States M.A.D. program. The Mutually Assured Destruction protocol, or M.A.D., is basically an automatic response to a nuclear weapon launch. As soon as an enemy nation launched a nuclear weapon, a large portion of the defenders nuclear arsenal would launch, wiping the enemy nation and their allies off of the face of the earth. As far as I knew this protocol is the main reason why the cold war back in my native universe never turned into a nuclear war.
"Basically put, all life on the planet has been irreparably damaged, or completely destroyed by the Nuclear War" explained the Archmagos "During this period of Earth's history the nation called Merica, which during the Unification War on Terra was massive and powerful techno-barbarian state composed of the hive cities located on the Nord Merican continent, seems to be remarkable intact considering the damage done to it. We can detect energy signatures in and around what would have been Merica's capital in this period of history. We should investigate a group called the Brotherhood of Steel as they seem to defending Merica's capital".
I knew that the Mojave Wasteland was another bastion civilization. This was due in no small part to Robert House's preparations; his secret missile defence systems ensured that Las Vegas and the surrounding desert was hit by fewer bombs than anywhere else in the region, and as time passed, the city was rebuilt through the combined efforts of House and the tribes he brought under his control. There was also the NCR over on the west coast to consider. I couldn't recall much about them since I only recalled playing Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
Once the red robed cyborg was done the colonel wanted to discuss landing troops in order to pacify the world as she'd been informed about Vox transmissions that mentioned a heavy mutant presence as well as information on dangerous animal species.
"We can not invade this sibling of Holy Terra" insisted Palatine Brigicia.
That would really damage my standing with the Church.
"We will not conquer this world" I stated "Instead we will come as liberators. This world belongs to mankind and must remain so. We will lend our brothers and sisters of this world our support, and help them to drive off the mutants, these raiders and any aliens who dare step foot on its surface".
If we could find a part of the planet that was more habitable than the rest we could build a city there. That was something to discuss later.
"Colonel you will find a suitable spot to set up a base" I ordered "We'll need a safe haven to operate from and a place to offer our allies shelter. Once you are set up you can begin training any natives who wish to join us".
I had much more to say.
"Palatine Brigicia" I said while addressing the battle sister "These raiders and mutants are unlikely to be well organised, so you and your warriors can be sent to cleanse enemy bases. This attacks will need to be swift and brutal".
If I had access to Space Marines I'd send them, but thirty battle sisters in power armour and carrying bolters could do a decent impression. Even the super mutants of this world could be killed by normal humans using much less advanced weaponry than what we had.
"Archmagos since we can not conquer this world we must give its human population the means to defend itself" I told the red robed cyborg "For that they will need lasguns, body armour and the other tools of war".
Simple enough given the manufacturing machines on board this vessel.
"I will comply Lord Captain" said the Del Arx "However ensuring the dominance of mankind over this world could be the work of years, and we do not have supplies for more than a few months of operations. We will need to return to the Forge-World for resupply and to gather aid for the full liberation of this world".
And to that I needed something to trade with.
"Making contact with this Brotherhood of Steel that you mentioned during the briefing would seem to be a good first step" I said "I will play the role of diplomat and find out what sort of technology they have that the Ad-Mech will be interested in".
The Archmagos had already informed us of the Brotherhood and how it worked to protect the masses of mankind from dangerous technology. The Ad-Mech no doubt felt that they did the same.
"Their vox transmissions suggest that they are low on resources and manpower" I was told by the red robed cyborg "I would suggest offering weapons and military support in exchange for examples of any advanced technology they have to offer. If this world does predate the creation of standard template constructions it will of great interest to the Forge-World it may have examples of very early Archeotech that the Priesthood of Mars will gladly pay for".
Archeotech is the term in Low Gothic used throughout the Imperium of Man to refer to formerly lost advanced Human scientific knowledge and technology from the Dark Age of Technology, the Age of Strife or even the Imperium's own Golden Age during the Great Crusade, that can be recovered in the present time.
The Adeptus Mechanicus is particularly interested in the recovery of such ancient technology and considers all devices created from recovered Standard Template Construct (STC) databases to be a form of archeotech. However, some archeotech can also be considered forbidden, such as any device that could be considered to possess machine sapience.
So as long as we didn't bring any AI back with us, then the Forge-World should want as much technology as we could grab and they would pay well for it if only so they can keep all the tech for their own private us. In exchange the Ad-Mech would be happy to resupply me and maybe even offer some upgrades, or a bigger ship if I brought a lot back.
"Sounds as if we'll all have a part to play" said the Colonel before she turned to address the tech priest "I'm going to need detailed surface scans before we can set up a base".
Those two moved off and began to discuss possible landing sights as Palatine Brigicia came over to me.
"I wish that I had a full Commandery with me" she remarked.
A Commandery normally comprises several smaller convents or detachments of Orders Militant sisters from a single convent with up to 200 Sisters of Battle, commanded by a canoness-commander in charege. It would be like having a Space Marine company on my side only not as effective since Battle Sister don't have all those extra organs and not as much fire support. Although the Imperial Guard might be make up for the later.
"Couldn't you recruit from the locals?" I questioned.
Normally the Sister of Battle got the majority of recruits from the Schola Progenium, having been identified by the Drill Abbesses of those Imperial orphanages as suitable candidates from an early age. A few may be transferred from outside organisations, but that was rare.
"It is not impossible" said the Palatine "I doubt this world is lacking for orphans, only training them would take years".
That could be an issue if they took heavy losses.
"I will support you if you chose to set up a Commandery on this world" I offered "My good relations with the Faith should smooth things over with your Order".
Hearing this made the battle sister smile.
"Your authority would allow me to create a Commandery" she confirmed "My sister and I are meant to meant to provide you with elite warriors should you need them not to wage war, I humbly request that you only call upon us only for the most dire of needs".
So my idea of using them as a strike force might not be the best course of action. The Guard did have Stormtroopers for that sort of thing, and I had my own battle harem, so perhaps it would be a good idea to let the Palatine focus on recruitment while only going on missions that they were well suited for.
"When we head back to resupply I will try to arrange for more battle sisters to come to our aid" I promised.
I could gone for months just to resupply due to the unreliable nature of The Warp and how long it took for the different Imperial factions to get moving, so those left behind would need to be set up to self-sustaining for at least a few months before I left. Not impossible for a few battle sister, but an issue for the regiment as radioactive hellholes don't tend to have a lot of food. That was something to discuss with the Colonel some time soon.
For now I had a dozen other matters to look into so I dismissed the battle sister and got to work. I needed to get the Brotherhood of Steel on the vox and to ensure that the support craft were ready to fly.