(no subject)

[calmhrtprevails]

The door opens on a vista of rocky landscape punctuated here and there by yellowed, rough-edged grass and low, scrubby brush. There's a hint of coolness on the breeze in the otherwise warming air, and a scent of distant rain. "We are," Fawkes rumbles, "some hours' distance from the Citadel. We're likely to stop at the town of Megaton first, and then make for the Arlington route the rest of the way."

Comments

[calmhrtprevails]

"Very well," says Lyons. "In that case, the sooner this is begun, the better. I'll have the Scribes bring you that map, and the Vertibird will be ready for boarding and travel shortly. You'll be accompanied by three of our Paladins, in the interest of providing surface cover."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"OK."

Another glance to Fawkes. She wasn't counting on too much accompaniment, but Teresa figures it will be OK.

She's getting bored now, though. It'll be nice to get out.

[calmhrtprevails]

"They won't be coming into the Vault with us," Fawkes notes. "Their job will be to ensure we have a clear exit path once the bombs are set."

"Speaking of which," says an armored fellow with dark brown skin and just-barely-past-the-stubble-stage black hair, "the devices've been loaded onto the Vertibird. My name's Kodiak, and I'm going to be flying this mission, so if you don't mind following me I'd like to get started."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Alright."

Teresa turns again to Lyons and honors him with a bow, before turning back to Kodiak. "I'm ready."

[calmhrtprevails]

Lyons returns the bow. Kodiak nods and heads for the stairs, the two former humans and three other Paladins in tow.

"Ever flown before, ma'am?" Kodiak asks over his shoulder. "I know Fawkes has."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"No, never."

Jumping doesn't count, and Teresa never had that ability that some full-yoma have.

"Do I needs to do anything?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"Nope," says Kodiak. "Just get in the Vertibird-"

As they reach the Bailey, he gestures towards a big, metal thing with a vague resemblance to some sort of insect.

"-sit down, and hold on tight. Once we take off, we'll be at the Vault 87 drop zone in about ten minutes."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa keeps her eyes on the strange thing as they approach, working things out silently.

It's a vehicle. A flying device, that she's going to get in and a human is going to use it to fly somewhere, with her in.

It's remarkable.

Still, you wouldn't know it from her lack of expression.

[calmhrtprevails]

Fawkes opens the massive side door of the vehicle, one handed, and looks to the others. "After you," he says with a sweeping gesture. "Mind your head. It's easy to misjudge the size of the door."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa does as he says: minding her head by looking up and focusing on the door as she approaches.

It's not her head that's the issue, of course, but the hilt of her oversized broadsword, for which she bends forward at the waist in order to step through.

Inside, she stands and looks around for a few seconds, waiting for the others before she chooses a place to sit.

[calmhrtprevails]

It's about a big enough space for eight humans to sit, unarmored; it just fits the three armored humans and Teresa and Fawkes. The walls are lined in some stuff Teresa probably won't recognize- padded vinyl- and the seats are covered in material that looks like leather cushions, but isn't. It's all been meticulously cleaned and repaired down to the smallest detail, even the little nicks and dents from the edge of armor-pieces and the grazes in the wall from the butts of guns.

The door closes behind Teresa, and a whup whup whupwhupwhup sound begins, as the whole thing starts to vibrate...

[cantdiequiteyet]

She sits down hard on one of the chairs, and remains in a formal looking upright position as the noise continues.

When the vehicle begins to move and to rise, her smile reappears.

"This is flying?"

[calmhrtprevails]

Fawkes nods. "If you look that way," he suggests, "you can see what our pilot sees."

The Vertibird is a tilt-rotor aircraft, and does not taxi as airplanes do. It rises upward, straight up past the Citadel walls, and then cants forward as the wings slide into position for forward flight. Teresa will briefly have an excellent view of the DC ruins and the river far below before Kodiak guides the vehicle into a half-circle course and steers out into the wilderness.

[cantdiequiteyet]

"That was a big city, once."

It's very nearly almost a question, pitched low for Fawkes' ears only, but not so quiet that the others can't hear her if they pay attention.

"Bigger than Rabona."

[calmhrtprevails]

"A city of millions," Fawkes agrees as quietly as he can- which is not very, but he's trying. "The capital of a nation of hundreds of millions."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Silver eyes widen, but she gives no other external reaction to show quite how significant this is to her.

Her entire continent might have a population in the millions.

"How many live in the Citadel now?"

[calmhrtprevails]

"Several hundred, I believe," says Fawkes. "There used to be more, but battles of the past several months have cut into their numbers."

[cantdiequiteyet]

She nods, and doesn't ask about the battles. That's a number more suited to the towns she's familiar with on her world.

Instead she turns back to the window, and watches the ground move beneath them.

[calmhrtprevails]

It rolls past at a ridiculous speed, during the short time that it's visible- Kodiak evens out the Vertibird's flight, and soon all that can be seen through the windshield is cloud and sky, and the distant horizon.

Some minutes later Kodiak announces, "We're coming up on Vault 87 airspace. I'll be dropping the surface support off just outside the hot zone. Then it'll be your turn- straight in through the front door."

[cantdiequiteyet]

"Straight in through the front door," Teresa repeats, and smiles at Fawkes. "That's my only method of attack anyway."

[calmhrtprevails]

"I'm not much for subtlety myself," Fawkes admits as the armored soldiers line up near the door. "And I have no love at all for those of my kind in this Vault. It's time for them to die."

[cantdiequiteyet]

Her smile remains, though it doesn't get any wider for that sentiment. Instead she places her hands on her knees and stands, joining the other soldiers in their wait to exit.

[calmhrtprevails]

The engine sounds change again as the rotors turn upward, the machine lowering itself slowly. Not all the way to the ground, though. Just far enough that when the door opens, the three paladins can recover from their jumps to the ground below and come up shooting. A keen ear will discern the sounds of gunfire almost the instant the door is open; Kodiak calls, "Get that door closed, fast! We don't have long before they bring out surface-to-air missiles."

The instant the door is closed the Vertibird tilts forward, speeding the remaining distance to a massive rock formation ringed in barbed wire and wrecked metal of all kinds.

[cantdiequiteyet]

Teresa stays standing now, watching the view out of the window in the front, and the approaching barricade.

"Who put up the fortifications?" she asks.

[calmhrtprevails]

"The others of my kind," says Fawkes grimly. "The oldest and the strongest. The younger ones man the barricades, and the older ones wait inside."

He reaches over his shoulder for the business end of the Gatling laser.

"I won't be using the hammer today. Some things call for fire."

"Drop zone in three," calls Kodiak. "Get ready."