Chapter Seventy-Nine

Outcast Outpost. The Capital Wasteland.

As soon as the lift opened I knew that there had been a firefight here even without the dead bodies and marks on the walls or the strange tension in the air, I would have known because it had been reported to me by a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus long before I'd entered this building. Since I'd played the Fallout 3 game I could make a good guess as to what had happened here.

Since this involved former members of the Brotherhood of Steel I'd deemed it wise not to bring Sarah Lyons along with me. While the Outcasts had betrayed her and her father she likely knew them all on a personal level, and as such would not wish to see their corpses. Not that I wanted to see more dead bodies, I just had to.

The Adept in charge here was called Thea Maxanid and while she answered to the Archmagos, and the Ad-mech were my allies not my followers, she'd asked to see me in person as such I figured that the matter she wanted to bring to my attention had to be important. I knew that this Magos was a woman as while her voice was broadcasted via some implant it still seemed female and her augmentation hadn't gotten to the point that it covered up all signs of gender.

"Magos can you tell me what happened here" I requested.

She did so without delay.

"Yes, Lord Captain" she said "My team and I were surveying a location not far from here for recyclable materials when we discovered a call for aid".

The manufacturing devices on board my cruiser were capable of producing a wide range of goods and spare parts that were needed to not only maintain my vessel, they were also required to support our allies on this world. To do this the machines required a large amount of raw materials and while there were mining operations being set up on Mars for now we were focused on recycling as much as possible. Besides if we were going to build a proper Imperial city here a lot of junk needed to be cleared away.

"I assume you thought them to be members of the Brotherhood of Steel" I said.

They had been at some point as these were Brotherhood Outcasts, which were a splinter faction of the Brotherhood of Steel that broke ties with Elder Lyons' group who were working out of the Citadel. The Outcasts attribute their departure to their belief that Elder Lyons had lost sight of the Brotherhood's true mission and the original reason for their presence in the Capital Wasteland which I knew to be the recovery and preservation of advanced pre-War technology.

Dissatisfied with Lyons' focus on aiding the local populace of the Capital Wasteland, a contingent of Brotherhood members led by Henry Casdin absconded from the Citadel in the dead of night, taking weapons and advanced technologies with them. Led by Casdin, the dissidents traveled north and eventually took up residence at Fort Independence, where they pushed back the indigenous raider groups and secured the pre-War installation as their headquarters.

Although denounced as traitors by the East Coast Brotherhood, the Outcasts view themselves as the opposite; in the Outcasts' eyes, they remain true to the Brotherhood of Steel and it was Elder Lyons who betrayed what the Brotherhood stands for. The Outcasts believe that their actions will be vindicated when they reunite with the main Brotherhood forces on the West Coast. Until that day, the Outcasts continue to uphold the Brotherhood's mission and scour the Wasteland, reclaiming pre-War sites in search of valuable technology,

"Yes my Lord" confirmed the Magos "I lead my fellow Tech Priests and Skitarii into battle against the mutant forces who were engaged with what at the time I assumed to be a group of Brotherhood warriors".

I knew the Skitarri were the techguard of the Adeptus Mechanicus they were deadly cyborg warriors, more than a match for the super mutants.

"Only later did I learn that these were the Outcasts that Brotherhood Chapter warned us about" Thea Maxanid let me know "Yet they when they asked for my help in recovering some important lost technology I decided to aid them".

This didn't shock me since offering up lost tech to Adapt is like tempting a starving wolf with fresh meat. Also, while Elder Lyons had warned us about the Outcasts he'd expressed empathy towards them and downplayed how dangerous they could be.

"We were invited here and I discovered that The Outcasts have, or rather had, set up in the remains of this VSS Facility, which is to say a pre-War compound of Virtual Strategic Solutions" I was informed "They hoped to recover the combat gear stored in the VSS Armory and whatever else they could get their hands on. I was offered a share of technology in exchange for my assistance".

That should have been a simple deal and one the real Brotherhood would have honoured.

"While we prepared to remove the barrier to the storeroom with plasma torches one of my fellow tech-priests examined the rest of the base" Thea Maxanid was now telling me "Their previous efforts to open up the storage room involved a native who they tortured into compliance. They tried to reason with him at first to recover his Pip-Boy 3000 but this failed. The Outcasts then proceeded to attempt to remove it forcefully, as can be read in the interrogation log we recovered".

This didn't bother me since I'd done bad things to people in order to get what I wanted.

"I assume that this discovery alerted you to the fact that the these Outcasts might turn on you" I said "It looks as if you dealt with them easily enough".

With me at her the red robed women began to walk with over to storeroom past the dead bodies which were already being stripped off their armour and weapons by servitors. What the Ad-Mech would do with the bodies, if anything, was best not thought about.

"I anticipated a high chance of betrayal and monitored the Outcasts as they talked" the member of the machine cult replied "Just before an argument between the Outcasts turned to violence I had the Skitarri under my command kill them all".

She didn't need to explain to me why this news effected me. On my to do list was a meeting with Protector Casdin over at Fort Independence. I planned to arrange a deal between the Outcasts and the House Thrax to trade a supply of laser weapons, power armour and anything else that I could easily manufacture for them in exchange for useful information or any exotic technology that they might be willing to give up.

The fact that the Imperium and the Outcast would now be hostile to each other meant that I would have order an attack on Fort Independence so that the Outcasts don't become a pain in my ass later on. Since the Outcasts had power armour and some energy weapons they'd be able to put a decent fight and I didn't want to simply level Fort Independence because of the technology they might have inside their little club house. So I'd lose some men during an attack.

"Unfortunate" I said "However you did the right thing. These Outcast types clearly can't be trusted".

By now we'd arrived inside the storeroom so I could see some of goodies on display. There was a Gauss rifle, what I thought of as a shocksword, a set of Chinese stealth armour and the set of Winterized T-51b power armour took most of the room simply by drawing the eye to it.

"Upon speaking with the Archmagos we have decided to offer House Thrax some compensation for the loss of any profits you could have made by allying with the Outcasts" the red robed cyborg let me know "I estimated a high probability that if offered the chance you would take possession of this sword which seems to be an earlier version of what we would call a power sword".

The priest of Mars went on explain that this was the personal weapon of General Jingwei, the military commander of the Chinese forces in Anchorage during the Great War. In appearance it was quite similar in design to a Jian straight sword but with an integrated electric discharge device. Electrodes running across the blade release a powerful electric shock on contact with the target, both organic and synthetic.

"This sword can be altered so that it will be more suited to a Rogue Trader" said the Magos.

Near the hilt was some sort of symbol that would need be replaced with a nice skull or something else more Imperial.

"I'm surprised that the Archmagos would so freely gift me such a find even if it is maintain our profitable alliance" I said.

While Thea Maxanid's face was hidden by some sort of mask I could still tell that she was smirking.

"The Archmagos will most certainly rise higher in the ranks of the Priesthood upon our return" said the red robed cyborg "But only if you keep the expedition here".

What the Adapts recovered while here wasn't my property as they were my allies not my servants. I'd be compensated of course, but it would Del Arx who got most of the credit, so naturally he would want to me to stay here as long as possible and fully support the expedition. Most of the tech I claimed with too much help from the Ad-Mech would end up their property anyway once I traded it in. The machine lovers would no doubt give me lavish rewards.

"Thank you for the sword" I said as a servitor handed it over to one of my battle harem "Now if you'll excuse me I have other matters to attend to".

The rest of the Brotherhood Outcast for starters.

"Lord Captain if you are going to attack the Outcast's base of operations I should come with you" requested Thea Maxanid "They will have automated defences and security measures that I can assist you with. In exchange I only ask that you allow to pick out one or two items for me to examine".

Her request made sense. Having uncovered the technology here will have earned her much respect from her peers and if she found more rare bits of tech her star would rise even further. I didn't mind sharing as keeping the Ad-Mech people who I worked with happy with me was worth the price of losing a few trinkets.

"Very well Magos" I said "I have a shuttle nearby so we can stop off at the base before heading out to Fort Independence. Grab everything of value and load it up".

I wanted this business with the Outcasts dealt with as soon as possible and the cogboys could sort out the tech found here in their own time if they wished to come back.