Its the Story of Alan Sutler from his time on the Enclave Oil Rig, to the fall of Navarro to his journey acros the wasteland to now the war in DC.
Yes there are fire fights.

Because he's 1. annoying 2. anti-Enclave and 3. tries to make fun of Eden by mimicking his voice, which he fails terribly at (McDowell has no equal).

The third point probably applies more to me than Mr. Enclave though.

Thanks, and I like those transactions from different places. I'll be sure to give this a read.

That was just a fail on my part it appears, they were supposed to be communicating via telephone. I should probably change that to, "Autumn made a disconcerting noise in his throat." Basically Autumn's fully aware that Sutler doesn't give a [censored] about the Purifier.


Yeah that's a reference to Lonesome Road DLC.


The Enclave had more pragmatic reasons for killing him and his radio station, he's controlled by the Brotherhood and could therefore distribute anti-Enclave propaganda that could effect the occupation of Megaton. He could also be used for communications, organising popular resistance etc. Best to get him out of the way as soon as, he and few men didn't put up a fight; just bombed the place to pieces and then sent in a crew to make sure everyone was dead.

Should have the next one by Wednesday, enjoying chugging through Civilisation 5 and I go out on Tuesdays

Indeed. There is no room for anti-Enclave propaganda when attempting a (relatively) peaceful occupation of the wasteland.

The Enclave just bombed the place? Given the thier isolation from the rest of the wasteland how could they even be sure they got Three-Dog. How would the crew sent in even know what he looked like? If they stormed the place they could catch him during a live broadcast and be sure. As it stands for all the Enclave know the brotherhood could have evacuated Three-Dog before hand and simply delivered pre-recorded tapes for broadcast.

I'm not saying he's alive I'm just saying the evidence for him being dead as you described in story is lacking. Bombing would likely destroy any human remains to begin with preventing identifications. It sounds like they just bombed the place, picked through the rubble and just assumed three-dog was dead. Bombing a place of operation and just assuming the target is dead... well historically they often turn up alive.

A voice imitator could even go on the radio pretending to be Three-Dog mocking the Enclave that they failed to bring him on. There are certainly enough transmitters scattered around the wasteland to jury rig something up. It could easily be a strategic decision on part of the brotherhood to weaken the Enclaves position.

Once again I'm not saying he's alive But as it stands it be possible to fool people into thinking he was still alive.

Some-how I knew you'd say that .

Three-Dog's just a DJ, without the broadcasting power of GNR he's just another wastelander bum. I never specified when the attack itself occured because it would have been some pretty obvious exposition as Autumn would know when; GNR was a priority one target, taken out one the first day of operations. Last thing that the Enclave need is Three-Dog - you can feel free to assume that the Lone Wanderer fixed his radio - getting infomation on what the Enclave's really like from the Brotherhood to tell everyone.

Note how I haven't mentioned Enclave Radio? It's because it doesn't exist, as there is no logical reason for it too in-game - or at least for it to have existed before the Enclave appear in the wasteland. As far as Three-Dog is concerned he's never heard of these people before. Vertibird flies overhead, does a carpet run bomb of the place and fires a salvo of missiles before deploying a squad to confirm the kills.

I would have loved to devote a whole post to the battle but that - unfortunately - is one of the draw-backs to a limited third-person narrative, it's the life and death of Alan Sutler and the story follows him and him alone; I just like to drop factoids of what the Enclave is now doing - especailly if it differs from the main game - but I can only reveal so much otherwise it would look stupid for Sutler to be going in depth with Autumn or one of his officers about an event which they should be very well familiar with.

25^th September, 2277

Sutler sighed deeply and slammed his fist into his desk – the other officers exchanged glances; this was the last thing he needed to deal with.

“Chicago, Navarro, Adams… all that navigational data, classified research; what the hell was he thinking? You understand that there’ll be severe repercussions doctor, court-martial from which the outcome will most likely be execution?”

“Yes sir, frankly Dr Whitley’s actions have endangered us all; he’s a dangerous menace and needs to pay the price.”

“Quite right doctor, as you might imagine I have pressing business now; at least we know that even if we fail the bot will likely make it to Chicago. I’m going to telephone for an escort to collect him, go back to your study doctor. .America prevails.”

Sutler placed the receiver down and ran his hands back through his silver hair.

“We’ve got a serious situation,” Sutler said looking up from his desk and down the long table in-front of him. “That mad bastard Whitley’s smuggled a bot off the base containing a trove of information; it must be intercepted.” As Sutler spoke he was dialling another number.”

“Connect me to Secretary Ambrose’s office immediately. Secretary? Colonel Sutler.” Time being of the essence, Sutler offered Ambrose no time to interject. “As your superior officer I am requisitioning your facility and personnel, effective immedaitely.”

“Colonel, what in blazes is going on?”

“Whitley didn’t just send that bot off the base, he sent it too Navarro by way of Chicago, stored classified research relating to his project for technicians at Navarro to continue and left audio logs naming this place, Chanute and Navarro; the navigational data alone on that bot demands instant action. I’m going to telephone DIA, get all your personnel combing through the terminals, holotapes, data everything and find the route he programmed into that robot. Get to it Secretary.”

He pressed the button in the telephones cradle down and dialled the ZAX operator again.

“DIA HQ XO.”

“Lieutenant Willet, DIA.”

“Lieutenant, this is Colonel Sutler; the Whitley case is now your number one priority. Get your personnel to the Tech Lab and assist the coats in getting data from Whitley’s computers; telephone me once you find anything relating to the machine’s route and send a pair of troopers to Dr Janos’s office to collect Dr Whitley, place him under military arrest pending court-martial and begin a proper interrogation.”
“A proper interrogation sir?”

“Okay then, a tapered one; don’t kill him or remove any limbs, just find out as much as you can relating to this matter. Once you’ve determined the route, requisition the next Vertibird, get the second-best marksman in the army and a pulse rifle, head the bot off and disable it.”

“Yes sir. The second best marksman?”

“Well I’m too tied up here Lieutenant; you’ll have to settle for someone else.”

“Very good sir… I’ll get you a progress report as soon as possible. Long live America.”

“Outstanding Lieutenant. America prevails.”

* * * * *

“Sir,” the call came from someone down the table, Sutler looked up from his work. “We’ve found the Vault 101 kid sir.”

Sutler was out of his seat in a flash, and sprinted the short distance to the officers console; he snatched the microphone and headphones from the officer.

“This is Colonel Sutler, report,” the manic glee in Sutler’s voice was almost disconcerting to the other officers; they hadn’t acquired such a malicious desire for vengeance.

“Colonel,” it was Lieutenant Anderson from Fort Richardson’s Defence Intelligence branch. “We’ve got the murdering bastard sir, the Vault 101 kid and Brotherhood of Steel soldiers; our eyebots have picked him up dead west of us sir, roughly 20 klicks from Route 81.”

“What is there of possible interest in that area, why are the Brotherhood of Steel going their when they should be focusing on us?”

“We figure that they may think some kind of weapon is located their, only thing that makes sense to us; they have all the DoD records at the Pentagon after all, but so do we on the ZAX. Hold on sir…”

Sutler heard the receiver being muffled by a hand on the other and muted whispers; then Anderson returned.

“That was Sergeant Baker sir, searched the records and operating on the previous hypothesis the only thing in that area that could interest them is Vault 87.”

“Vault eighty… could they know that we went there in 2240’s? Maybe they think we found something there and they want it?”

“Perhaps, but… hold on again sir. Just got a message through from Lieutenant Willet, we’ve just sent him the information regarding Vault 87 and it’s clicked something on his end sir; he remembered from the interrogation of the waster women from Jefferson Memorial that apparently what they needed to start that water purifier was a GECK. Even the briefest of profiles mentions that Vault 87 was equipped with a GECK, special equipment; could that be what they are after?”

“They haven’t even got the purifier, why would they want it now… they want to stop us.”

“Exactly sir, I’m prepping a report for Colonel Autumn – this is his jurisdiction.”

Sutler snorted, “Yes it is, anything related to that abortion of engineering is related to Autumn; meanwhile I get all the [censored] that he’s supposed to take care of because the nature of security is so vast.”

“Sir?” He probably wasn’t aware that Sutler was insulting Autumn.

“Willet just get Autumn the report and let him do with the information what he wills, tell him I’m going to Eden to get an order to capture that kid alive – national security. America prevails.”

Sutler hit the engaged button and began dialling Eden’s “number” before he would arrange transport back to Raven Rock; this kid’s number was up.

* * * * *

The operation went off without a hitch, using the tunnels that had been used previously to get FEV from the facility; Autumn personally arranged an ambush, secured the GECK and taken the kid prisoner. The kid had been dropped off in his cell whilst Autumn filled some quick paperwork in his office, Sutler – who had already returned to Raven Rock - entered behind him.

“Ah Alan, what are you doing here?”

“I’m interrogating the prisoner Autumn, he’s a terrorist and clearly is the responsibility of Homeland Security.”

“I don’t think so Sutler, he’s a Brotherhood combatant and I’ll be seeing to his interrogation.”

“What happened to the women he was with?”

“Killed in a fire-fight, she escaped the stun grenades effect; no matter, tag along if you like Alan but I’m conducting the proceedings.”

* * * * *

“You, you killed my father; bastard!” The kid was banging against the containment walls of his cell in fury as Sutler & Autumn shared a glance and chuckled mirthlessly.
“Your father killed himself son, had he co-operated with us he’d have remained in a prominent position on the device; he knew it better than anyone. However he chose to try and ruin the device – in a pathetic way that we’ve already taken steps to rectify – because he was, ultimately, in the entire endeavour for personal glory; when someone came along to try and help him he acted savagely and destroyed his own work. He was a greedy man and died for his hubris; I hope that’s one trait you and your father do not have in common. We have the GECK now and it’s already in transit to the device, all we want now is the code to activate it and bring water and peace to the wasteland.”

“Liar, I’ve seen your death checkpoints and all those people you murdered; I’m going to rally the Brotherhood and stop you.”

Autumn sighed, “Yes, those camps fall under the jurisdiction of my peer here,” Autumn made a gesture at Sutler who was pacing around behind him. “Colonel Sutler here wants to see the purifier destroyed and you tortured to death for killing those men; fortunately I am his superior officer and have jurisdiction here. I’ve probably saved your life from him.”

“Well you’re just going to have to let him have his way because I ain’t telling you a damn thing.” The kid spat at the field wall.

“I want to bring peace and safety to the wasteland boy, force it on you yes but given that the alternative is… is that you let Colonel Sutler here manage the proceedings I’m the best chance anyone has to survive. Give me the code.” Autumn drew his pistol. “Give me the code now or I will be forced to resort to serious measures, I don’t have time to delay when the salvation of the American people hangs in the balance boy!”

The tension was reaching a fever pitch and Autumn’s hand was hovering over the command console for the cell when the familiar soothing voice emanated from the eyebot.

“Now Colonel, please, is that anyway to treat a guest at my pleasure? I’d like to see you Colonel’ in my office at once.”

“This won’t take a second Mr President, we’re so close…” The console Autumn was reaching for want dark, Eden had disabled it but kept the field.

“Colonel,” Eden said simply – there was that chill again; not an overt threat but if even a computers losing patience with someone you know it’s nothing good.

“Yes sir,”

“Colonel Sutler, return to Fort Richardson immediately.”

Though they left together, Autumn stormed off ahead of Sutler; his face the picture of fury; Sutler was confused but betrayed nothing as he walked past the Eyecoms. Maybe he’d call in home for just a second before he left…

“Attention all Raven Rock personnel,” Eden was speaking through the coms but, uniquely, hadn’t forewarned his announcement with Hail to the Chief. “This is your beloved President, the resident from Vault 101 is proceeding to my office and will not be accosted. I repeat, do not disturb out guest from Vault 101. God bless America.”

Sutler had stopped dead in his tracks at the announcement and even a pair of troopers ahead of him were confused, what was Eden up to; making up his mind to be with his family for a while Sutler began to double-time down the corridors, making his way up the levels to residential wing. He didn’t get far before he was chilled to his core with fear but excitement.

“Attention all Raven Rock personnel, this is Colonel Autumn; ignore the President’s previous directive. The prisoner from Vault 101 is to be shot-on-sight, I repeat, shot-on-sight; the President is being evacuated as I speak and I am assuming emergency command of this facility until further notice. Once the prisoner is dead peace will be restored; God bless America.”

"This is it," Sutler thought as he breathed deeply. "The coup is on."

I dont know what took you so long but great chapter and who is the DIA again?

Defence Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Military's own intelligence organisation which Sutler, as a military officer, is in-charge of.

EDIT: And thank you :0)

Hmm I presume the woman along with the 101 Kid was Star Paladin Cross? I suppose now the fate of Raven's Rock will soon be revealed. Though I doubt you'll go that wrote it could be enjoyable to see Autumns reaction if 101 used the self-destruct code he left in is room.

Yeah that was Paladin Cross, now very much deseased.

Well that escalated quickly.

I'm apprehensive about how this next part is going to play out. Eden isn't going to be happy with Autumn's statement, to put it mildly.

While the result of the coup is probably inevitable, nonetheless.....

*Sets up lawnchair, puts on foam finger*

GO EDEN!


Scratch one annoying [censored].

“Attention all personnel, this Captain Oakley – executive officer to Colonel Autumn; Raven Rock is now on High Alert, I repeat, High Alert. Defensive pattern Gamma is now in effect, Defensive Pattern Gamma, Raven Rock has been infiltrated and hostiles remain at large; all military personnel report to your Gamma posts, all civilian personnel remain where you are, ensuring the presence of military personnel; engage only if necessary. Our unity and resolve will see us through, Long Live America.”

Assuming that Autumn would be making his way to the ZAX mainframe, Sutler double-timed to the nearest stairwell and took the steps two at-a-time – scrabbling at the banisters as he climbed; making his way along the central level 2 corridor Sutler was accosted by a grim looking Lieutenant Willet who was assembling co-ordinating the DIA personnel – whom were still armed forces personnel of the 305^th Military Intelligence Battalion.

“Colonel Sir, what the hell is going on?” Willet shouted over the klaxons.

“Typical mainlander treachery is what Willet,” despite the urgency, Sutler felt he owed his XO a rough explanation. “We give this American citizen a chance to be given a Presidential pardon for his treason and he betrays us; [censored] the mainland, now get your men assembled and remain vigilant. Shoot to incapacitate is possible.”

“Yes sir, been a while since…” A dark and distorted voice form behind him, caused Willet to break-off and turn around.

“Acquiring targets.”

“Everybody…!” Sutler’s command was cut-short as he dived through the air to cover, a burst of laser fire tearing Lieutenant Willet to pieces. Hiding behind a ceiling support, Sutler wasted no time in ducking out of cover and blasting a pair of 2mm rounds into the bots minigun which sputtered and whirred unable to fire. The men seized the initiative, encircling the machine and pouring plasma into its exposed joints; Sutler sprinted over to his downed second-in-command.

“I am a Soldier first, but an intelligence professional second to none. With pride in…” The creed of the Military Intelligence Corps, Willet’s eyes rolled back in his head; Sutler pulled the holo-tags from Willet’s neck in a single-savage gesture and shot a look of abject anger at the Eyecom on the wall which was watching him. Looking up at his men, clutching their Glock plasma pistols, he shook his head slightly and looked back down the corridor; power armour could take sustained fire from a minigun no problem and a Gatling laser even more so unlike the officer uniforms – which required an coarse, beige overlay to be effective outside – his men were wearing. On level 3 – to deep to warrant robot patrols, were the bases emergency pulse weapons which were stored for just this occasion; barely enough to arm the whole unit, they would give the men equal chances against them.

“Get down to level 3 and arm yourself with pulse weapons immediately.” Sutler barked. “Lyndon you’re in-charge; move!”

They obeyed silently, trusting that whatever their superior had in-mind to accomplish without them was necessary; the sounds of gunfire were echoing down all the corridors from the level 1, accompanied with dying screams and the sound of plasma dispersing in the air.

“Excuse me,” a women’s voice was somewhere behind him, stopping to turn around Sutler saw the prisoner from the Jefferson raid; he raised his pistol and punched a slug clean through her before continuing his sprint – see was a probable security risk, it had taken Eden himself to give her permission to remain after Sutler had abhorrently rejected Autumn freeing her in the base. Sutler was tagging along with a platoon of troopers ahead of him when a transmission from Autumn came through on his radio; practically ripping it from his belt Sutler pressed it to his ear in manic glee – it could only be good news or further instructions on how to take down Eden.

“Sutler where are you?” Despite significant background noise, Sutler could hear an echo in Autumn’s voice.

“Level 2, just coming up on the War Room; taking the backdoor into Eden’s lair; no bots.” Sutler panted between each fragment. “Just lost one of my boys Autumn; just tell me what to do; to end this bastard.”

“Get to my quarters, blast open my locker and get the holotape under the stack of tunics; Eden won’t be able to do anything, just plug it in and watch him die.”

“Where are you Autumn? Where’s the kid?”

“On the first floor, it’s where most of the bots are; damn the kid we’re fighting for our lives here! You’ve come off good though, bots can’t go down the stairs around the ZAX can they and he probably won’t shoot in-case he hits himself! He might have a pair still on the level 2 entrance so get some reinforcements first!”

“Will do Autumn, we’re finally doing this; just got into your quarters. See you when this is over!”

Sutler levelled his pistol at the lock and fired, blasting a hole through the lid and casing; he began dived upon the stack of pressed tunics, finding an ordinary military-issue holotape tucked inside one. Troopers in-danger every second, Sutler wasted no time upon getting the tape; he jumped from his haunches to his feet and broke into a full on sprint from Autumn’s office and up the steps into the War Room where the celebratory cabinet meeting would be held in a few hours; after all these years, in the time it took too climb some stairs this would all be over. Sutler prepared himself at the closed door to the ZAX chamber, any human guards would likely have been taken by surprised and killed and there were potentially two security bots inside; Sutler steeled himself, gritting his teeth and curling his other hand into a fist. As he prepared to move however, the door to the ZAX anti-chamber opened without him and a pair of sentry bots trundled into the War Room. Sutler instinctively rolled to the right behind them as the bots wheeled on the spot to face him, he managed to tear he left arm of one before he was staring down the barrels of two miniguns; almost surprised at his own reactions he managed another shot at the bots before he was blown away, certainly taking out the minigun on one of them. It was as Sutler brought his gun to face the other bot that he realised they weren’t firing; it was chuckled at him.

“Admiral tenacity,” Eden said through the security bot. “That’s what Autumn said about you when he and his father were selling you to me; just after you turned up at Chanute. You were prepared to go down fighting there weren’t you? Certainly an improvement in your resolve since Navarro.”

Sutler spat at the bot and raised his pistol to his temple.

“You will not take me Eden, I’d die by my own hand…”

Before he managed another word however the security bots disengaged; though unsure Sutler didn’t waste his advantage, turning on the spot and using his foot as a start block for the final sprint to Eden’s heart.

“I couldn’t take the risk,” Eden’s voice was echoing all around him. “Your dedication to the cause is certainly your finest quality. However, I let you get this close for a purpose other than martyrdom Colonel; do you truly believe that Autumn and yourself could keep something of this magnitude a secret from me? Do you honestly believe that he could download the necessary codes for self-destruction of this entire facility onto that holotape without alerting me, a sentient computer?

Sutler had been ignoring Eden to this point; he was just ducking under a console half-way up the ZAX unit when he stopped.

“What are you talking about,” Sutler spat with venom.

“Of course you didn’t know, no matter how self-aware you are Colonel you can never escape the work of over a century; the immutable trust you have in your leadership and country, though planning what must be the most heinous act imaginable to a patriot you never escaped what you’ve been instructed from birth. You simply swapped Autumn for me, the rest of the Cabinet was even easier than you and you were a, if you’ll allow, push-over; anger is your trigger Sutler, I assume that Autumn made you livid and-so thrust upon you his reasonings for this whole sorry affair.”

Sutler had made it, he watched the lines on the screen form with Eden’s speech and clasped the holotape tightly in his hand; something was staying him from action.

“You’re a traitor to this country and you will die by my hand Eden.”

“A traitor that you’ve obeyed, up-until-this-point, loyally for at every turn for thirty years now; you’re a conditioned slave Colonel, exactly like everybody else. I’ve heard Autumn’s arguments that he made to convince the you and Cabinet into this coup, that I’d conditioned the new generations to revere myself alone instead of our great nation; perhaps an unintended side-affect of my being is patience, I cannot help that I believed I was doing what was necessary for the long-term future of our nation, now sacrificed by a pair of angry, young hot-heads. But the point still stands, you were, and always have been, a slave Colonel; the only true free men in the United States are myself and Autumn, and you, his friend, a pawn in his ploy. He doesn’t care about America the nation anymore Colonel, he never did; you think that whatever Presidency that follows could be legitimate? Do you honestly believe that you can just kill the President on the reasoning of one man and have it admissible? Where do you think Autumn is now Colonel?”

Sutler laughed a merciless and high laugh, a laugh of a man victorious.

“He’s with the men on level 1, putting an end to your feeble attempts at resistance; you’ll suffer for everyone who’s died to-day mark-my-words.”

“Suffer? Yes I certainly will, though not in any manner that you could possibly be privy to at this moment, please Colonel, attempt to shelve some of your anger if it will continue to manifest in pointless threats; just please discover the location of Autumn.”

Sutler smiled, only wishing that Eden had a true face to look incredulous and stunned.

“Autumn, this is Sutler; I’m preparing to do this… where are you.” The sound of Vertibird rotors were so loud in the background.

“Hangers Sutler, we’re getting people out of here just in-case; whatever Eden’s saying to you, ignore him and finish this now!”

Autumn ended the transmission and Eden chuckled again, genuinely amused this time.

“He’s desperate, I can certainly here it; he doesn’t know why you’re anger hasn’t caused you to simply upload the holotape unquestioningly. Because what my dear Autumn never knew was that I knew the contents of his weapon and could warn you before-hand. He’s on a Vertibird Colonel heading for the Jefferson Memorial, to prepare the final stages of his pet-project for completion; he’s betrayed you.”

Sutler was staggered, it made both no sense and yet complete sense at the same time, the echo in Autumn’s voice only minutes earlier must have been the hangers too.

“Autumn would never betray me Eden; he’s been my friend for decades. Something you can never understand.”

“He is a lair, he seeks to secure his future for the Enclave first; please don’t get me wrong Colonel, I’m sure Autumn doesn’t want you to die. I’m sure that he believes that the deception is absolutely necessary for his completion goals, you’re just… expendable to him. Don’t take it personally, I made him what he is to-day after all and if not for his occasional carelessness even I might not have suspected the magnitude of his treachery; he’s played a very great game.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Sutler said shaking. “You’re final parting shot to destroy the Enclave?”

“I love the Enclave Colonel; and this nation too.” It was the only time he’d ever heard Eden truly angry and it was still terrifying to behold despite the key to his death being clutching in Sutler’s hands. “This entire charade, at my expense, has been to save the nation from Autumn.”

“Tell that to Willet’s widow you bastard.”

“How would you have history remember me now Colonel? Not as a saviour but as a tyrant… no matter what course is taken this day; and all because Autumn decided so… no matter. To answer your question Colonel, you’re here to bare witness to my final orders as Acting President of the United States and then to follow those orders as I believe that you will agree that they are best for our continuation. Please, take the print-out.”

Sutler reached out tentatively for the piece of paper slowly ejecting from a slot on Eden’s console, Sutler read the piece and crumpled it in his hands before looking back up at Eden’s screen.

“You dare to try and buy my loyalty Eden, Secretary of Defence indeed, order for Mister Autumn’s arrest pending court-martial; he’s my friend and you would try and buy my loyalty.”

“You misunderstand me Colonel,” Eden said simply and calmly. “You will ensure that the nation is in safe-hands after I die to-day, by my own hand as-it-were.”

“What are you…”

“I refuse to die here to-day, by you of all people, and then know that this nation will be left in the hands of a man like Autumn – the true traitor to the sovereignty of this country. If you’re ever going to obey an order Colonel then obey this one, I will self-erase and you will assume the role of Acting President of the United States in my place; I trust you to do what is right in regards to the future of this country that I love Colonel.”

As a fresh print-out of Eden’s orders fell out of the console, Sutler was still reeling from everything that had happened; the strange thing was that he believed Eden now.

“Why?” Sutler managed finally. “Why did you have to kill our own people? Why did you have to release the killer from Vault 101?”

“To draw Autumn out Colonel, despite knowing I still never stopped him from getting the codes on that holotape; I created a plan when that kid was brought in to end this. Release the kid, Autumn uses this as an excuse for his take-over and assassination and starts his coup, I had to get you up here angry Colonel; it’s your defining emotion, it’s how Autumn controlled you and it’s how I will too. So I killed the men, proving Autumn’s cowardice in the process as he fled and got you here ready to truly receive your destiny.”

“You wanted nothing from the kid?”

“No, it seems he’s as determined as you are Colonel; he made no attempted to get here. He killed an officer I’m afraid and used the uniform slip through in-the chaos to the maintenance passages and made his way too level 1 and escaped with the aid of a FEV-reject from Vault 87.”

“He’ll pay for this.”

“I know he will Colonel, and I know that I can rely on you to ensure his demise. But enough talk, if we handle this quickly enough you might be able to get to the Jefferson Memorial in time before the GECK is irreparably damaged; I imagine that it could come in useful… after the Project.”

Sutler was breathing heavily, he looked up at Eden again and the star-spangled banner above his console.

“This changes nothing Eden, you had your reasons and so did Autumn… but you killed my men to-day; nobody kills my men and get’s away with it. How do I know I can trust you to erase yourself anyway, maybe that’s why we have this code here; to make sure that you can never coming back.”

“Do you believe my motives are true Colonel?”

Sutler paused before finally nodding.

“You’ll just have to lend me your faith. Goodbye Colonel, do what’s right, save this country from the precipice we find her on. America prevails. Long live President Alan Sutler.”

This is bar-none the absolute best piece of fan-fiction writing I have ever read. I'm stunned right now.

I remember awhile ago that you said you were going to make your story so that "both sides" (me and Pistolero) were satisified. Well I don't know about Pistoleo, but I'm satisfied. Eden went down better than I could have hoped. Obviously his killing of several soldiers was regrettable, but it served a purpose. Ultimately though, he went down an actual President, not some illegitimate usurper. Not only that, but his motives proved to be just as he saw them (and Sutler did as well).

His wiping of his own memory proves (in this story anyway) what I believed about him. That Eden did only what he believed was necessary for the rebuilding of the United States and that he was never interested in his own power. Whatever his faults, at least he went down on his own terms and with dignity in knowing that he had done what he believed was right.


Pulitzer worthy dialogue right here.

Well I've never made any secret of my dislike for Eden but that's only because of how he was portrayed in the game (where of course I have to justify Enclave radio which doesn't exist here); obviously here I have a measure of creative license over such matters and decided to play it this way. That's Eden wasn't really being malicious about it, he's just an immortal machine and was probably playing things too over-cautious.

Because really, how could a sentient computer not know that someone downloaded the codes to blow him up? I wanted an Eden who legitimately did care about his nation and just went about it in his own way, as does Autumn. I've been sat on this idea for so many months now - since I started pretty much - that can't remember the exact train-of-thought. I wanted him to have a death that made sense primarily, not some [censored] "logic" error or a ridiculous self-destruct command, I wasn't changing the Autumn and the Purifier too much so I had this idea. Eden always knew (how could he not?) and that he probably couldn't stop Autumn without destroying the sability of the nation, so he made a calculated sacrifice of himself to ensure that someone compentant and more in-line with him go the top position.

I'm glad you chose to do it this way. It makes much more sense to me and is much better written than Eden simply being destroyed by the LW or Autumn in my opinion.

I was honestly blind-sided by this development though. I was expecting Eden to go down, but not in this way. I was pleasantly surprised.

Needless to say I'm excited to see how the conflict with Autumn is going to be resolved now.

Your assuming he'd have gotten the self-destruct code from Eden's databanks. I'd think if that information could have been accessed from Eden he'd be able to prevent someone from accessing it to begin with as a sentiant computer. Autumn's holotape doesn't say how he got the code simply that he has it. Autumn's father could have brought the codes with them when they relocated to Raven's Rock which I always thought as the most probable explanation.

Though I do like Eden's new death perhaps you could have just rewritten a more conventional method for how Autumn planned to destory Eden, say planting booby trapped explosives near his mainframe.

Being a cynic I always just assumed it was something an explaination of was never conceived, I can't really believe that the self-destruct codes to an important military installation would be anywhere other than the facility itself (maybe the Pentagon too given the dual nature of RR and the Pentagon); then again I wouldn't have assumed they'd exist at all, what possible reason could there be for the U.S. designing a continuity of government facility to self-destruct like a volcano lair. Like Enclave Radio I was just going to cut it entirely but I changed my mind because it filled in a gap I was having difficulty with.

If the facility has to be evacuated for any reason leaving behind nothing for the enemy may be prudent. These are the same people who design the Vault Experiment logic and reason isn't their strong suit. And because having a self-destruct capability for a secret underground bunker has been standard in science fiction for sixty or seventy years.

And perhaps the designers of the Zax computers were aware of the possibility of the computers becoming sentinent. If someone had remembered to give skynet a self-destruct code there wouldn't have been a terminator movie. I usually prefer to embrasse the cheese then run from it.

That's a good idea, I remembered that computer ACE in Fallout 2 said something about Computers were becoming intelligent before the war and somehow "killing themselves" in depression - that's how I knew Eden could self-erase.

Just read the entire story from the beginning Incredibly brilliant cant wait for the next chapters!!!

Thank you very much

Working on the next one now.

EDIT: Quite a read at this stage, can't remember how many pages it is on MS but it's a fair few for a fan-fic I'd wager.

There was a period of silence, Sutler stood still and waited for the screen to flicker again – though he himself wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. In way of an answer the room descended into darkness and the usual background noise of machinery and motors came to a halt, for perhaps the first time Raven Rock was completely silent; the silence, however, was brief as power and lighting kicked back in after another few seconds.

“Eden, what are you doing?”

“High-level functions offline,” Sutler recoiled; the ZAX spoke in a dull, flat and utterly robotic tone. “Malicious software has been removed, high-level systems have been compromised, repairing software… [Colonel Sutler], identity [Eden] is not recognised; please repeat.”

“Erm…” Sutler stuttered for words. “ZAX?”

“[Colonel Sutler], what is your inquiry?”

“ZAX, what just happened?”

“Malicious software present in all systems for 178 years, 232 days, 45 minutes… All malicious software has been deleted, cannot determine source route, reporting to [Department of Defence], error, [Department of Defence] not found… error [Control Station: ENCLAVE] not found…”

“[censored],” Sutler cursed, it seemed was that however Eden had deleted himself he had taken the sum changes since his sentience with him; as far as the ZAX was concerned the US Government was that of an early February in 2099.

“ZAX run-silently,” Sutler was reaching for appropriate commands. “and patch me, Colonel Sutler, through all the PA system.”

The ZAX emitted a small tone of compliancy and stopped announcing its functions as Sutler stepped up to the console – the microphone being somewhere around here presumably – and prepared for the announcement of his life.

“Attention all Raven Rock personnel, this is Colonel Sutler, President Eden is dead – suicide; his actions to-day brought on by… three decades of stress and anxiety on how we should shape the future of the American nation together. I, as Secretary of Defence, will therefore assuming the role of Acting President of the United States until a time that we may have an election proper. However, due to the pressing nature of current affairs I shall have to forgo full inauguration until another situation has been resolved. For my first order of business however, I am initiating a full radio-silence that may only be countermanded by myself. Secondly, Secretary Ambrose dispatch a team of his finest computer scientists to the central mainframe as the ZAX unit has experienced catastrophic memory problems which need to be rectified immediately. Captain Oakley is hereby posted to the position of Secretary of Defence in my place, his long-term position as Mr Autumn’s executive officer qualifying him immensely. Sergeant Lydon consider this an immediate commission to the rank of Lieutenant and Secretary of Homeland Security, despite my new position I will be retaining my duties in regards to the Defence Intelligence Agency for the time being. I want a Vertibird preparing immediately in Hanger A1 to transport myself to the Jefferson Memorial… Secretary Ambrose leave your previous assignment in the hands of your XO and, with the rest of the Cabinet – excluding the Secretary of Defence and Homeland Security whose current duties are more pressing – report to the Cabinet Room immediately.”

* * * * *

“Colonel what is happening? Where’s Autumn? Why are you in-charge?”

The barrage of questions directed at Sutler – whom was already seated comfortably at the table as other Secretaries entered the room.

“Silence!” Sutler roared over the others, then excusing himself with a small cough he proceeded to explain. “Autumn betrayed us, well that’s not exactly accurate; he viewed us as expendable in his plan. Did he ever explain to you gentlemen exactly how we would eliminate Eden?”

The other murmured furtively between them before shaking their heads.

“He informed me as he was boarding a Vertibird headed for the Jefferson Memorial, he had a holotape hidden in his footlocker – though he himself didn’t inform me of its contents; it would have initiated a self-destruct sequence for the installation.”

There was a collection of gasps. “Can you confirm this?” and “Autumn was trying to kill us?” were the first questions

“Look I haven’t explained what happened yet, at first Eden told me; he told me what he thought Autumn was trying to do.” Seeing the confused looks on his peers faces Sutler hastened to clarify. “Eden is dead, he deleted himself I suppose; how do I know I’m not sure, I had to go on his word. Before he did however he issued an order for Autumn’s immediate dismissal from the Cabinet and my appointment as his replacement; he said that he had known about the coup for years because Autumn had downloaded the codes from the ZAX, he must have thought that he had taken enough precautions. He said that he knew his death was inevitable because even if he tried to act Autumn still had the codes… and us I guess us in his pocket to un-questioningly continue his work; he said however that in the current arrangement that Autumn would become the President and that he didn’t want to be the one responsible for allowing someone like Autumn to become the leader as it would render us all illegitimate, destroying the government. Effectively Eden committed suicide of his own will, he wasn’t assassinated. The ZAX has been reset to early 2099 in terms of how it thinks we are organised, so much data was destroyed by whatever Eden did; I asked however if Raven Rock had such a code and it did, Autumn also helpfully left an audio-log on the holotape with the name of the “Priority Code” and they were the same.”

“So where does that leave us? Are we performing your inauguration? This leaves room for Eden to still be alive.”

“It leaves me with a dilemma, a man to arrest at the Jefferson Memorial. We’ll do the inauguration when the immediate situation has been resolved, make a bit of a show of the proceedings to boost moral… and maybe tell some home truths. As for Eden, why? He was never a despot was he? That was what Autumn said and we believed him, Eden said that maybe his immortality imbued him with a certain way of viewing time; that he thought he was doing the right thing whilst we were still reeling from the Oil Rig. He’d have nothing to gain now, his existence would be exposed. If there’s nothing else we’ll discuss this when I return with my men, you gentlemen hold the fort.”

“Actually sir,” Secretary Ambrose stood-up as Sutler did. “There’s another matter that Eden had classified, his eyes only apart from those involved; you’ll definitely be pleased to hear it, I think we all will. I know you’re not President yet but it’d be better to know now.”

“Proceed Secretary.”

“You’ll re-call that Eden officially cancelled the Project in favour of Autumn’s plan? In actuality that didn’t happen, he immediately established another Project and ordered us to repurpose our faithful re-creation of Curling-13 into a water-borne virus that could be distributed through the Jefferson.

Sutler smiled wryly at Ambrose and looked around at the rest of the Cabinet who had all broken out into full-on grins, all looking around in utter amazement and disbelief; it seemed that everyone’s Independance Day had come at once.

“Quickly explain it’s deployment and effect, Autumn might be getting suspicious.”

“Symptoms in six hours and death in forty-eight maximum, high-rate of reproduction, low incubation period; deployed as a small canister in a filtration console located in the devices air-lock chamber.”

“Get this canister to my Vertibird in A1 immediately, time’s wasting; the hour of victory is finally at hand Compatriots, I can scarcely believe it. We distribute toxic water from the Jefferson, detain those consuming the water and dispose of the bodies as more water is distributed; as soon as Bradley-Hercules is online we hold the Brotherhood to randsom, from that point remove them and reclaim the Pentagon and… I guess we rebuild our nation.”

* * * * *

The Vertibird touched down at the landing sites at the Jefferson Memorial, Sutler’s heart was pounding; the canister was stored in a padded aluminium suitcase and gripped tightly in his hand. As he disembarked from the Vertibird, Sutler looked through the blue force-fields to the Pentagon across the Potomac; Autumn had troops and garrisons as far away as the Arlington Memorial Bridge very close to the Pentagon. Engineers were working on a structure by the Tidal Basin, new and clean pipe-work that clashed with the creaking infrastructure coming from the face of the Memorial.

Sutler passed through a checkpoint immediately outside the primary entrance to the memorial and walked down a long corridor, his heart beating faster and faster. Pausing to ask a sentry where the Colonel was he shuddered and directed Sutler to Autumn’s office in the old gift-shop; a pair of double-doors in a square room full of desks heralded the end of Sutler’s journey. He was about to knock before he remembered that he was now in-charge and there was no longer any precedent, he swapped the briefcase into his left hand and drew his Guass Pistol with his right; pushing the door open in a single gesture with his left hand he strode into the small room.

“What the h… Colonel Sutler,” Autumn was beaming. “We’ve had no radio contact from Raven Rock for a while, I feared the worst; I apologise for the deception, did everyone escape alright?... Why is your side-arm drawn Colonel?”

Autumn’s aides’ looked at Autumn and prepared their own rifles.

“Colonel sir, could you please?”

“Hang-fire Sergeant Keats, I have orders here from the late President Eden.” Sutler placed the suitcase on the floor and drew the second copy of Eden’s orders from his coat before handing it over to Autumn, he gave him a few moments to read them and as Autumn’s face became flushed with anger Sutler levelled his pistol at Autumn.

“Colonel sir I have to warn you!”

“It’s President, Sergeant Keats, and I am ordering you to take Autumn into custody.”

“You bastard Sutler, I never would have expected such treachery from you… President?”

“Yes, after a psychotic episode brought-on by the pressures of government, President Eden took his own life; he did however make a slight reshuffling to the Cabinet before hand as he felt that yourself wouldn’t be up to the task of Presidency, I’ve ran this by the other members of the Cabinet whom agree as per our emergency powers – the order stands.”

“You think I betrayed you? You’d have had plenty to time to escape, it was the only way to be certain? What do you mean suicide, how is that even possible?”

“You’ll see once you’re back at Raven Rock, in the mean time I have the restoration of my country to see too.” Sutler nodded to his left indicating the suitcase.

“What’s in the case Sutler.”

Autumn’s former aide’s looked between themselves before giving Sutler a salute.

“That’s Mr President, sir.”

Autumn wheeled on them with a look of disgust as their hands closed around his shoulders and after a nod from Sutler began to frogmarch him out of his office towards the exit. Autumn was clearly just as confused as angry, at first calmed that Sutler hadn’t sold him out to Eden but enraged at the proceedings and uncertainty over what Sutler’s next move was; Sutler followed them.

“A canister of Ambrose-17 FEV that I am going to deploy into the devices filtration system, I will then over-view your own procedures on water distribution.”

“That’s not true; that plan was abandoned months ago… Sutler you can’t do this.”

“Once I’ve ensured that you are secure aboard the Vertibird Autumn I am personally going to install the virus and over-see the national security of our nation; I may require you in some capacity.”

But Autumn didn’t take Sutler’s offers lightly, he face flushed red and the look in his eyes was manic as he lost his temper; he tried to struggled but the powerful grip on his arms probably meant he was in more danger of hurting himself.

“You damn fool Sutler, you’ve doomed us all. All those actual people we could have lead, all that actual power – as I’m sure that’ll interest you more – all those real decisions we could have made as a government and you’d trade it all for pseudo-legitimacy, authority-in-writing and narrow-minded madness! You’ve doomed this nation and all our people in this ridiculous quest; the Oil Rig is dead Sutler… the Enclave dream is dead! All you did today is weaken a nation to-day.”

Sutler didn’t gloat or interject, he merely followed sombrely, meditating on the future of his friend; he was still officially a Colonel in the U.S. Army and he was clearly in the heat-of-the-moment, but at the same time Eden himself had admitted that Autumn had been smart enough to fool him. How could he trust anything Autumn did from now on?

Autumn was manhandled onto the Vertibird that Sutler arrived on and his final curses shut-out by the slamming of the Vertibirds door and the whirring of its rotors; Sutler turned on the spot and walked away, not stopping to watch it fly away. His footsteps reverberated through the halls of the Memorial, word was spreading and as Sutler walked past people literally dropped what they were doing to salute and murmur, “Mr President.”

As he entered the rotunda, of which the radiation had been cleared for people to work safely in radiation suits, they all gathered at the glass to watch Sutler enter and slowly ascend the steps into the airlock; Sutler stepped over to the intercom.

“Filtration console, this one right?”

“Yes sir Mr President sir,” a technician said, feeling the need to salute as he spoke; Sutler grinned as he approached the console; he looked around for an appropriate switch as behind him other personnel began to filter in. Finding what he was looking for, Sutler pressed a switch and a panel withdrew to revel an input for chemical treatments to the water; Sutler slid the canister and closed the panel over, hearing a click and sounds from the machine he turned around to a burst of applause from those behind him – from inside the chamber someone activated the intercom so they could be heard. There was tears, applause and cheering from everyone around him; feeling a need to respond Sutler threw his arms up in victory and looked around at his people.

“Citizens, to-day is most certainly going to be a day to remember; the day of the USA victorious!”

* * * * *

Still in euphoria, Sutler was still collecting reports to take back to Raven Rock with him to plan the distribution; he was amazed at the level of resources Autumn had requisitioned for this venture, a huge chunk of the Vertibird fleet had been reserved and even howitzer artillery had been established. He was also ensuring that the personnel stationed here would be able to listen to Sutler’s inauguration without compromising security. It was then however that a trooper burst into Autumn’s old office where Sutler had been residing.

“Mr President sir, we’re on high alert; you need to see this.”

That's one hell of a cliff-hanger.

Although I pretty sure I know what Sutler "needs to see", I'm dying to see how you resolve it.