Drew awoke and stared up at the ceiling high above. It took a mere few moments for him to remember that he had spent the night with Gemma.

Taking a look around the room, he saw she was gone. He sat up and yawned with a stretch before he slowly climbed off the mattress.

Last night had gone very well, but there had also been quite the shock. He had discovered that he had some trauma from when Charlotte had wanted to eat him. He knew it was something that was going to be with him for a long time. The only positive was that he was now aware of it and he was thankful that it had happened with Gemma and not with any of the others. He knew he could trust her to help him overcome it.

Drew headed out of the room and made his way up to the bathroom where he took a piss and a shit. Ten minutes later, he was stepping into the cafeteria where he found Gemma and Veronica sat talking in their usual corner.

“Morning,” he greeted.

Gemma smiled at him. “Good morning, Drew.”

He made his way into the kitchen and grabbed some mutfruit before returning to the cafeteria where he sat near the two.

“So, how was your morning?” he asked.

Veronica answered. “We caught breakfast, then gave the corpse to Jack.”

“Why?” he asked. “What for?”

“He said he wanted the materials,” Gemma answered.

The doors opened and Amy stepped in with Sarah.

“Morning,” Drew greeted.

“Morning,” the two said together as they made their way inside.

“Either of you two got any plans today?” Drew asked.

Amy answered. “No, but I do have something I need to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“Can we head into town at some point?”

“What for?”

“I wanna grab some more supplies.”

“Like?” Drew asked.

“Like some more food so we can eat something other than mutfruit and radstag.”

Drew looked at Sarah. “How about you?”

“I’ll come, sure.”

“I’ll have to ask Jack to see if he wants to come as well.” Drew looked over at Gemma and Veronica. “Sorry, but you two probably should stay here.”

“It’s for the best,” Veronica said. “I think the townfolk would probably shoot at us.”

Drew made for the door. “I’ll go see Jack and see if he wants to come now.” He paused as he glanced back. “Actually, this gives me an opportunity. We’ll take two Gutsy’s with us and see if we can sell them in town to Devon’s Caravan or maybe to the town.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Amy said.

* * *

Four hours later, Drew, Amy, Sarah, and Jack had arrived at Colville with two Gutsy’s in tow. Normally the walk was just over three hours, but Sarah wasn’t quite as fast on her feet as the rest of them.

Regardless, it had been a pleasant walk, especially now that they knew they didn’t have to worry about being a green deathclaw’s dinner.

“This is Colville,” Drew told Sarah.

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been here once. I spoke to the resident doctor and he was nasty to me for no reason.”

“Maybe saw you as a threat,” Amy said.

Jack agreed. “You are one of those fancy vault doctors after all.”

“Yeah,” Sarah accepted, “you’re probably right about that.”

The group made their way down the main street towards Devon’s Caravan Company building, the biggest caravan in the region. Unlike other caravans which were mostly made up of single traders, DCC, as it was also known, had ten caravans under its belt, all in near constant rotation around the surrounding settlements, and some even moved in and out of the region.

“Wait out here,” Drew said as they stopped in front of the DCC building.

He stepped inside and made his way to the front desk. The receptionist, Janice, looked up at him from her computer screen.

“Oh, hey Drew. Need something?”

“Is the boss in? I have a proposition.”

“Yeah, he’s in. I’ll call you through.”

Drew waited as she pressed down the intercom on her desk.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Mister Devon, sorry to disturb you, but Drew is here.”

“Send him right through.”

“You can go through,” she told him.

“Thanks, Janice.”

Drew stepped through into Devon’s office which lay just off to the right. Devon stood up and gestured to the seat opposite, which Drew promptly took.

“What can I do you for?” Devon asked as he sat back down. “You want a caravan to frequent that Robco plant you’ve taken over, or are you here for another reason?”

“Another reason.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I have two Gutsies outside and I was wondering if you were looking for some robotic caravan guards?”

Devon stroked the stubble on his chin. “Only two?”

“For now, yeah.”

“I’m interested, sure. I could do with phasing out those butler robots. Replacing them with something more formidable against the wildlife would definitely be a boon. Heard rumors of deathclaws in the area and then there’s those Yao Guai.”

“How many robots do you have?”

Devon raised his hand and began to count them off on his fingers. “Well, I have three of those army butler robots, fifteen butler robots and the rest are human guards. The butler robots aren’t nearly as tough as the army ones but I use them because I don’t really have any other choice.”

“So you have fifteen Handies and three Gutsies,” Drew said. “No Protectrons?”

“Nah, walk way too slow. If I had one of them as a caravan guard and it would take fifty years for them to get anywhere.”

“They can walk fast when they need to,” Drew said. “Though they do become a little unstable at higher speeds and bits tend to start falling off.”

Devon checked the clock. “Listen, can I make an exchange?”

“Exchange?”

“I’ll give you a butler robot or two and you give caps-off purchase price of those Gutsies.”

Drew considered his offer. Having access to Handies would be a benefit. He could profile and duplicate their software. They were certainly less irritating than Gutsies, but honestly not by much.

“Okay,” Drew said. “It’s a deal.”

“All the caravans are currently out, but I should have two back here at the depot by the end of the day. Do you think you could come back in let’s say… Five hours?”

Drew checked the time. It was just after one in the afternoon, which meant if he waited it would be dark or at the very least it would be getting dark by the time they got back to the Robco plant. Still, since the Greenclaws had proven to be non-hostile, at least mostly, he wasn’t nearly as worried about his safety. That didn’t mean there weren’t dangers, though, particularly in the dark.

“Sure, I can come back in five hours,” Drew said.

“That’s great,” Devon said standing up and reaching over with his hand.

Drew stood up and shook it. “I’ll see you in five hours, then.”

“Look forward to it. We’ll make the exchange then. Just one more question, though. How much?”

“With the exchange?”

“Yeah.”

“Two thousand caps.”

“Okay, sure. Sounds very reasonable. That for both or separately.”

“That’s the full price. Honestly, I don’t know if I could even carry more caps than that around with me.”

“Well, I’ll inspect the Gutsy robots later when it’s time to make the exchange.”

“I shall see you later,” Drew said.

“Later.”

Drew turned and left the office, giving Janice a wave as he headed out the door.

Jack spoke first. “So, are they buying them?”

“We return in five hours and find out.”

“Five hours?” Amy asked. “Why?”

“He wants to do an exchange. We get two Handies, or ‘butler robots’ as he calls them, and he gets a discount. But we have to wait for one or two of the caravans to get back.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Sarah said. “But five hours is a long time to wait.”

“It is,” Drew agreed. “But I think it will be worth it.”

“So what do we do?” Jack asked.

“First, we go get some lunch from Joey’s stall.”

“Then?” Amy asked.

“Not sure. Might go see if Jarik is in town.”

“He’ll be hanging out at the bar,” Amy said. “I don’t really want to go in there.”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want,” Drew said. “Besides there are a few tables outside. We don’t have to go inside if you don’t want.”

“We do if Jarik is inside.”

“I’ll ask him to come out. Then we can see if he has any updates on our Greenclaw friends.”

Sarah looked around nervously. “You sure you should mention them here?”

“Don’t worry. It was Jarik that named them that. Besides, all he knows is that they’re green deathclaws.” Drew lowered his voice. “He doesn’t know they’re sentient, though I suspect that he suspects.”

Amy looked uncomfortable. “Do you think he knows?”

Drew shrugged. “He is the curious type, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he hadn’t scoped out the Robco plant. Or even saw Sekka and Axa.”

“What if he knows?”

Drew didn’t have an answer for that. It was clear that if he did, he hadn’t gone around telling everyone, but then again that wasn’t his style. Well, Drew didn’t know that for certain. Even though he had lived in Paulson for years, he had always been somewhat mysterious, never letting anyone get too close.

Finally, Drew answered. “I guess we go find out. First, though, let’s go get lunch from Joey’s.”

The group moved away from the caravan depot and made their way further down the street. Joey’s stall was located off a side street in the poorer area of town. It was beyond the concrete wall that had been constructed around the center of town, and was instead protected by a more sporadically built timber wall.

“I stayed in this part of town,” Sarah said as they walked the streets. “A lot bigger than most settlements down south.”

Drew concurred. “Towns like this tend to be dangerous. Filled with ferals, predators and other equally dangerous things. Somehow this place was spared all that horror. Well, not all of it. A lot of people starved after the bombs fell. There were apparently riots, killing, homes being burned to the ground. It was a scary time. A very scary time.

Sarah was intrigued. “How come you know so much about it?”

“It’s part of the town’s history. I read it on a terminal in the library.”

The group turned down a different street and made their way toward the market. It was fairly busy with all different kinds of folks all perusing the wares.

“I thought about buying something from here,” Sarah said. “But I’m kinda fond of my jumpsuit.”

As they got into line at Joey’s stall, Drew looked at the others. “As the one holding the caps, what do you guys want?”

“Meat-Feast burger,” Jack said instantly.

“Same,” Amy said.

“I suppose I’ll have that, too,” Sarah said.

“Then it’s four Meat-Feast burgers. What do you want to drink?”

Jack answered first again. “I would say a Nuka Cola, but they’re rarer up here and pricey. So I guess water.”

“If they don’t have a juice drink then water for me as well,” Amy added.

“Water,” Sarah said. “As long as it’s purified.”

“It’s all purified in Colville,” Jack told her. “All the water runs through the purification plant which is an old converted brewery.”

“I thought so,” Sarah said. “When I stayed here, though, my Pipboy did detect trace amounts of radiation in the water.”

“It ain’t perfect,” Jack said. “But it’s the best we can do.”

Slowly, they moved up the cue until it was their turn to make their order.

“Hey, it’s Drew and the gang,” Joey said, grinning. “And an extra soul, I see.”

“Yeah, that’s Sarah,” Drew said gesturing.

“Nice to meet you,” Joey said.

“Uh, same,” Sarah said.

“What you all having?”

“The Meaty-Feast burger. Four of them and since I see you’re all out of berry juice we’ll have four waters as well.”

“Coming right up,” Joey said as he scooped the meat off of the hotplate with his spatula, placing them in the homemade buns.

After taking the burgers and drinks and paying for them, the group of four, tailed by the Gutsies made their way over to a low brick wall and sat on it while they ate.

Finished, they handed the empty bottles back to Joey for a two-cap return fee per bottle before they made the trip to Kalvin’s bar, though they made a stop at Jarik’s house since it was on the way. As expected, he wasn’t in, so they continued on to Kalvin’s bar, his favorite haunt. Well, it was when he was in town.

As it turned out, he was in town and he was sitting outside at a table sipping a drink.

“Well, well, well,” Jarik said as he laid eyes on them. “Look who it is.” His eyes focused on the two Gutsies then on Sarah. “New companions I see.”

“I built them,” Drew told him as they sat down at his table.

“The two Gutsies are about what I’d expect from your skill level, but the girl…” He whistled. “Now she’s impressive. How long did it take to make her?”

Drew frowned. “That’s Sarah.”

Jarik grinned like an idiot. “Well, it’s nice to meet you Sarah. Where did he find you? You weren’t hiding out in that factory were you?”

She shook her head. “No, I wasn’t.”

Drew explained. “She was chased by one of those Greenclaws. Found her way to the plant.”

Jarik’s brow raised in surprise. “And she managed to get away?”

“Yes, she did,” Drew said. “Pretty impressive.”

“Impressive indeed,” Jarik said, eyeing her up. “You must be quick on your feet.”

Sarah shrugged awkwardly. “Uh, I guess.”

Drew decided to steer the conversation. “So, heard or seen anything lately?”

“Actually, I did. Just a few days ago I saw two Greenclaws carrying crates in the direction of your little Robco plant.”

Jack laughed. “Seriously? They were carrying crates.”

“You’ve not been on the Med-X have you?” Amy added.

Jarik shook his head, looking straight at Drew. “Peculiar, isn’t it?”

“Sounds it,” Drew said wanting to take the conversation in literally any other direction. “Did you see where they went?”

“I told you. Towards your factory.”

“Well, we didn’t see them,” Drew said with a shrug.

“I’m sure you were too busy building your little robots,” Jarik said. “I also heard a rumor in Riverside.”

“Regarding?” Drew asked.

“A scavenger apparently spied a group in power armor along the southern highway. Nasty looking bunch.”

“Where were they headed?”

“West somewhere.”

“You think it’s Brotherhood?” Drew asked him.

“I have no idea. If they are, then you might be in trouble. They don’t like common folk like us to have anything nice, especially not a factory that can build robots.”

Drew knew he was right and he didn’t like it. What made it worse was that if it was Brotherhood, then it was likely they knew of the plant’s existence and it wouldn’t be long until a scouting team scouted them out.

“This isn’t good news,” Drew said after a few moments. “If it is Brotherhood, then it looks like my work is cut out for me.”

“Yeah. Might be,” Jarik agreed. “Though it might be best to gather what you can and leave. Let them have it. There’s no way you can win a war against the Brotherhood of Steel.”

Sarah raised her hand. “Who are the Brotherhood of Steel?”

Drew answered. “They’re a faction from down south. Rumor has it that they were military before the great war. Now they go around taking technology off of normal folk like us, usually by force.”

“Why?”

“Because they think the easier our lives are the more likely we’ll start lobbing nukes at each other again. Or some such shit. They think they’re the only ones that can be trusted with a working toaster because we might burn ourselves with it. Can’t have us making toast. Might end the world.”

“He’s exaggerating a bit,” Jarik told Sarah. “Suffice it to say, if they found out he was trying to restart an old Robco plant, they would burn a hole in his head with a laser rifle and take control themselves.”

Sarah looked nervous. “So we’re in danger?”

“We’re jumping the gun a bit,” Drew said. “We don’t know for certain that it’s Brotherhood or anyone else. Besides, last I heard they weren’t doing so well. The NCR gave them a bit of a bloody nose.”

“We should be cautious, though, right?” Sarah asked. “Just in case?”

Amy agreed. “Yeah, we should definitely be cautious.”

Drew nodded. They were right, they did need to be cautious, but there was also no need to abandon their new lives out of fear.

“We do what we came here to do,” Drew said. “We do the exchange with Devon, buy some supplies, and then head home. Tomorrow, we start working on actually bringing one of the production lines online.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jack said.

“Let me guess; you’ve been slacking?” Jarik said.

“Maybe just a little bit,” Drew said.

Jarik shook his head with a smile. “You are so dead if it does turn out to be Brotherhood.”

Drew disagreed. “Don’t be so sure. That factory is like a fortress and we have plenty of materials to build an army.”

“Given you have time to build it,” Jarik pointed out. “But it’s you’re gig.”

“Yeah, it is my gig. Though I do have a favor to ask.”

“Name it.”

“Can you keep an ear out? I want to know as much about these guys as possible.”

“Don’t worry, I plan on finding out who they are regardless. Folks wandering around in power armor, especially in a group, is bad news. Until we find out what their intentions are they’re a potential threat. Much like those Greenclaws, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Of course,” Drew said. “Just like those Greenclaws.”

Jarik nodded before he stood up. “Say, do you have some time to waste?”

“A few hours, why?”

He gestured inside. “How about a few games of Pool?”

Drew looked at the others. “You all down?”

“Sure,” Amy said.

“Definitely,” Jack added.

“What’s Pool?” Sarah asked. “I don’t have a swimsuit or anything.”

Jarik chuckled. “I like her.”

“Come on, we’ll show you.”

* * *

A few hours later and Drew was stepping back into Devon’s Caravan’s main office. Almost immediately, he was greeted by Janice, though she did look concerned about something.

“Afternoon, Drew. Devon is waiting for you in his office. You may go right through.”

“Thanks.”

He made his way to the left into Devon’s office and the man immediately stood up and gestured to the chair opposite.

“Please, sit down.”

Drew did so, knowing that something was wrong. He could tell with Janice’s expression and now with Devon’s.

“Something the matter?” Drew asked, verbalizing his thoughts.

“A caravan’s gone missing.”

“One of the ones that was meant to come in?”

Devon shook his head. “No, they’re here. But one of them always cross paths either at the rest stop or on the southern highway. They haven’t been seen at Henry Farm which they always stop off at. Neither were they seen at the small settlement along that same highway. Nobody knows where they are.”

“You mean it just vanished?”

“Seems that way. The settlement said they saw a bunch of folk in some kind of heavy armor walking past with a bunch of butler robots, which is what the caravan used as guards. Could be a coincidence.”

“Did they spot any insignias or markings on the guys with power armor?” Drew asked.

“Power armor? You know what they were wearing?”

“Jarik heard something about people in power armor down that way.”

“Think it’s the same folk?”

“Very likely, yeah.”

“Are they dangerous?”

“That’s why I asked about markings.”

“They didn’t mention any. Just that they were covered head to toe in heavy armor and had a kind of wheel valve on the back. Or that’s what it apparently looked like.”

“Definitely power armor, then,” Drew mused unhappily. “Which means if it is Brotherhood of Steel, then those Handies were most likely yours and that caravan is gone. Even so, Brotherhood don’t usually pal around with Handies, they pal around with Sentry bots or Gutsies.”

“You mean they’re dead?”

Drew nodded. “Though they don’t usually go for Handy robots. They’re low down on their list of acquired technology. It’s likely that they need them for spare parts for Gutsies. That, or they’re gonna reprogram and refit them with heavier weapons.”

“What do you think I should do?” Devon asked.

“It’s gonna cost you more in wages, but I suggest human guards only for the time being. No energy weapons either. Ballistic weapons only. They should have no reason to target you, then. Though that isn’t guaranteed.”

“And who do you think they are again? Brotherhood? What’s that?”

“A bunch of assholes is who they are. The Brotherhood of Steel. They take tech they think is useful to them and they don’t usually bother making an exchange other than their lasers in your dead corpse for whatever you have on you.”

“So they are very dangerous?”

“I guess it depends on the Chapter, but yeah. Generally speaking, they are very dangerous. My mom and dad used to talk about them a lot. From what they told me, they’re a nasty bunch.”

“So you’ve never met them yourself?”

Drew shook his head. “Haven’t had the misfortune.”

Devon rubbed his eyes. “I guess this means our deal is off?”

“For now, yeah.”

“And I guess my claim of having the safest caravans in the region is also out the window.”

“Depends on how many guards you hire,” Drew said.

“Not enough to replace the robots. They are easy to maintain and cheap to run and I also didn’t have to pay them a wage.” Devon sighed. “I’ll have to think about all this.”

“I understand.”

“I think I’ll hire Jarik to go search for the missing caravan. Don’t want to leave them out there to rot, even if they are dead.”

“No,” Drew agreed.

“I think that’s everything. Thank you for coming by.”

Drew stood up and shook his hand. “Sorry, we couldn’t make the exchange.”

“Maybe some other time.”

As he left the office, a sense of dread filled his heart. While Drew hadn’t had direct contact with the Brotherhood, he had heard enough about them to know he should be concerned, even worried. They would strip anything and everything from the area that they deemed ‘dangerous’ leaving nothing but scraps.

He had been slacking off for far too long. He needed to get his finger out and bring the Robco plant back online.

If he didn’t, then the Brotherhood, if it was them, would have free reign to do as they pleased in the region.

Drew would not allow that. These people had built a life, one that was far better than in most other regions. He would be damned if he would let anyone take that away.

That was a promise.