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Reilly's Story

I'd visited Rivet City plenty, but never known about the room I was now standing in.  Back when RC was a for-real ship, it'd been the Bridge.  Since then, it'd been converted into a high-end apartment suite for someone or another.  The view out the windows was amazing, which was probably why it was currently our 'Command Centre'.

"Tell y'what", said Dave Brannigan, chomping on his pipe as he peered through his field glasses.  "If'n those damn BOSsies are no-shows to this party as well, it's gonna be @#$%^& disappointing."

Jasmine Twotrees, one of Walker's people, just said, "They'll be here."

Brannigan'd been a merc like me and my Da, an occasional buddy / rival in the good old days, and it was WEIRD to now see him in the uniform of Colonel of the Rivet City Marine Corps.  His unit, the Guardians, had taken a real hammering when the Enclave landed on the Jefferson and drove them out.  Rivet City made a solid offer right afterwards, as they needed the extra troops.  It looked rather like Brannigan and his crew would stay - they'd gotten bonuses since, and RC citizenship.

It was like Donovan said over drinks a couple of nights ago.  Small indie merc units worked well when the settlements were small and travel dangerous.  But now, as the settlements got bigger and better connected  ....

Changes.  I was probably a fine one to talk of such, taking a quick look at the troops positioned around RC and Anacostia Crossing.  A lot of troops, a whole Pre-War infantry company's worth - the rest of my Rangers, a couple of squads from TecVault, a couple more squads of RC Marines, and a gaggle of walk-ins from all over, even some youngers from Canterbury Commons keen to see what it was all about.

Hopefully, we now had JUST enough training and firepower to make the right kind of differance.  Then there was the last-minute team Walker sent us - Twotrees, her partner Cutter who was their doc, his weird assistant Gary, a boosted Eyebot that still gave me the willies, and a plus-sized Ghoul who'd said little but carried his gear like a veteran.  Honestly, all that bunch lacked was a talking dog, but they seemed to know their stuff.

And me in charge of all that.  'Commander Reilly' of 'the Potomac Alliance Militia' was what it said on the certificate.  The money was good and given how things were going between us and the Talons, it'd seemed the smart choice then.

Now, the Enclave had overflown us several times, but not made a move except to beef up the Jefferson's defenses.  It would be a slaughter if we tried to move in now.  'Wait for the right time, you'll KNOW when' had been Walker's last words to me, but she had been very cagey otherwise.  Comm security, mainly.  We couldn't be sure if some Clavvie genius had cracked our Scrambler codes or not.  Secrecy had suddenly become all-important.

"Something's happening at the Citadel!", said Twotrees a second or three later.  I switched my view forward, hearing the start of distant weapons fire as I did so.  The fire intensified, and I could see V-Birds howling in from various directions.  If the BOS were just going to march from the Citadel to here on foot ... With all that the Enclave had, I couldn't' see how that could possibly work.

A puzzled grunt from Brannigan.  "They got those big cranes of theirs running.  I'd a thought this aint the time fer renovating ..."

I could see them too.  When the BOS first moved into DC, they'd salvaged a couple of huge construction cranes from You-Tell-Me-Where and rebuilt them over what was left of the old Pentagon.  OK, they were rebuilding the place, but those things had always seemed too big for the alleged job ....

"Something's being lifted out of the Citadel ....  Not a tank or a 'Bird? ....  What the frick IS that thing???"  Twotrees's puzzled tone was a source of some relief to me.  Whatever was happening, she was as in the dark as the rest of us, so maybe Walker was NOT holding out on me personally.

There was a bright flash, as the Citadel's defenses bagged a V-Bird that exploded in mid-air, its debris raining into the river.  I got my glasses back on the mystery object as it was lowered to the ground just outside the Citadel, the cables holding it detached, and then it MOVED.

Like a man.  A man that was all-metal and stood about forty-dang-feet tall!

Over our individual comm-units AND the radio set in that room, we heard a mechanical voice bellow, "... DEATH IS A PREFERABLE ALTERNATIVE TO COMMUNISM ..."  The ... thing, or robot, fired a burst of energy bolts from its head that smashed another V-bird from the sky, and it began striding towards the bridge.  Behind, the main gates of the Citadel were opening, and I could see BOS troops pouring out.

Brannigan seemed to have dropped his pipe, though he hadn't noticed.  "Liberty Prime!?!?  Holy mother of Ghod!  It's REAL?"

Twotrees:  "You know that ... thing?"

"Well, sure.  Popular toy and cartoon from just before th'War.  Me old Mam had one ... But it's real?"

"... CHAIRMAN CHENG WILL FALL.  CHINA WILL FALL ..."

Eh?  Decided that it was time to assert my authority as 'Commander of the Potomac Alliance Miitia, etc.':  "Time to join our troops, people.  I think we all can guess what's coming."

As if to emphasize my words, there was a super-brilliant flash and a following BOO-OOM! from the direction of Liberty Prime.  That had to be a Nuke, then " ... I HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL AMERICANS ARE CREATED ... EQUAL.  AND ARE ENDOWED WITH CERTAIN INALIENABLE RIGHTS ..."

"Damn!" was Brannigan's last comment as we hit the stairs together,  " ... Gotta wonder what else those BOSsies hide in their basement!"

*********
Pic - Just outside the Citadel, as things get interesting.

Mentions made of the Bridge apartment to be found in the latest version of DCI, and of the Rivet City Marine Corps from 'Rivet City Reborn'.