Radiance Ch. 113

Chapter 113: On the Trail.

With the ceasefire in full effect and the conclusion of the peace talks between the Avian people who called themselves the Valkyries and the Brotherhood of Steel not to mention the Free Peoples of the Wastes, there were celebrations aplenty in the capital city of the Avians.

To cement their newfound alliance both sides had sent a permanent envoy/ambassador to represent their party's interests to the other's base of operations.

As the trusted neutral party between the two Raymond facilitated this exchange and more than that he even got the technology exchange underway with groups of Brotherhood Knights now being escorted into the ground-based territory of the Valkyries and true to their word both parties were sharing both the technology and knowledge gained equally.

Oliver was the envoy the Valkyries had assigned to the Brotherhood due to his experience dealing with them while from the Brotherhood a Chief Scribe called Darius Lancaster was brought up to the floating city.

The Valkyries decided that it would be a good idea if they attached a small team of their Featherguard to Raymond's team as the Brotherhood had done in order to not only put a positive face out there for the people to see but to represent their interests among the Free Peoples.

So a team of three Featherguards two males and a female of three different genus arrived the day before Raymond and his people were due to ship out from the floating city, all to be placed under the command of Jewal who thanks to some creative negotiating from both Raymond and an impassioned plea from Kight Hill had now been reinstated to her previous role and her honour restored.

"So what's the deal have you managed to speak to Seven and Wisp?" Jack asked Raymond as he carried his bags down into the little airship that was sitting in the dock ready to drop them off back on Terrafirma.

"Seven yes though I couldn't get hold of Wisp herself Malakai informs me that they are involved in a rather sensitive mission at the moment," Raymond said as he passed bags over to Lia who was standing in the back of the airship helping the team to load up.

"So?" Jack asked sounding almost eager to be heading on to yet another adventure.

"He wants us working on the new Enclave problem, he's concerned about the intel the Brotherhood intercepted about this mass operation they are apparently launching and he wants us on the ground investigating it, he also told us to make sure that we share everything we find openly with our new allies, he's stoked about this budding alliance we have going," Raymond said sound rather proud of himself.

"As are we, this is a tremendous accomplishment Raymond and a massive step forwards for not only the region but quite possibly the whole country, this could very well be the dawning of a new era we are standing upon the precipice of if we can prove without any shadow of a doubt that humans and non-humans can work together for the betterment of one another then there is no reason that this idea cannot be picked up by the other Brotherhood factions and sections countrywide, soon you could have chapters of the Free Peoples partnered with their new Brotherhood allies all over," Paladin Wright said handing her own kit bag over to Lia in what Raymond felt was a distinct show of trust.

"We agree, with peace finally once again reigning over our beautiful lands and skies we can now turn our attention to stepping outside of our lands alongside our new allies and showing the common people of this place that not only do we not bare them any ill will but we stand ready to aid them if we can," Latisha Firetail said in a high-pitched and very singsong voice as she too handed over a large kit bag to Lia to stow for them.

Latisha was one of the new Featherguard soldiers that had been assigned to Raymond's team by the Elders, she was a Condor Geneus and as such was a fair bit larger than her two other new comrades who were of the Golden Eagle Genus and the Raven Genus.

Infact she stood taller than both Raymond and Lia coming in at just about 8ft tall and anyone could see her size wasn't just restricted to height, she had muscles that could make just about any Super Mutant jealous.

She also had a personality to go with her size living up to the name Firetail as she was outspoken and somewhat loud but not bad-natured.

Her massive metal-covered talons clattered on the deck plating as she climbed over the edge of the ship and dropped down to the decking to help Lia with the loading of the gear which the large Claw girl was lifting and moving to hand to some of Jack's Ronin who was in the hold stowing everything.

"So where has our glorious leader told us to start looking?" Cho asked appearing from the hold.

Raymond had already noticed that she seemed to be spending quite a lot of time with Ronin these days and more specifically with Jack and just the simple thought made him smile, the big mutant guy really did deserve to have someone who could make him happy in his life, though if either of them had decided to take that step yet was a bit of a mystery.

"He's placed that in our hands, he told us to work as closely as we could with our new friends and to use our talents wisely, he also told us to be on the lookout to either undo any potential sabotage or damage that the Enclave may have already inflicted on the region as well as to also help anyone we can along our path, but he did advise possibly trying to seek out these Minutemen we keep hearing about as given their nature of being embedded in all the local settlements as a kind of widespread militia they might be able to either aid us or at least point us in the right direction," Raymond said.

"A sound strategy and one I wholeheartedly approve of, I've been trying to get my superiors to sit down with the leaders of the Minutemen since we got here, but until now every attempt has fallen on deaf ears though with what has happened among the Elders I believe I know why, though I do have some knowledge on them which I would be happy to share if it helps," Paladin Wright said dropping down onto the deck with a heavy thud before helping Lia and Latisha with the bags.

"Excellent that will be most useful, well then we have a baseline plan, once we're back on Terrafirma we'll have a sit down to go over what intel you have on the Minutemen and see if between us we can come up with a plan to facilitate an approach that won't result in shooting," Raymond said.

"Sounds good," Paladin Wright said and with that they got the loading finished.

Once the airship had dropped them off on the ground and they'd unloaded everything they waved goodbye to their pilot as the little shit ascended back up into the clouds.

Raymond decided that the warehouse they'd used to host all the meetings was as good a place as any to host the sit down so the team got themselves into the building and set up to plan.

"Ok from what I understand the Minutemen leadership operate out of an old civil war fort they simply refer to as the castle, it's a fair old walk from here but not a hard one as the ground is pretty flat and we can follow the roads, though we may have to pass through some pretty dodgy regions filled with feral Ghouls, not so friendly mutants and everyone's favourite cuntbags the raiders," Paladin Wright said using her armour's headlamp as a projector to project an image of a regional map onto the table they were all gathered around.

"Feral ghouls won't attack us for the most part, if we encounter any area infested with them me and my team can run ahead of the main force and divert them away, which should make passing through a fair bit easier and quieter," Jack said.

"Same thing applies to the mutants?" Latisha asked curiously and both Raymond and Jack shook their heads.

"Nope infact they are more likely to attack us than anyone else, if we don't speak then they won't really do anything to us if they see us at a distance but if they hear us speaking then they'll attack with the fury of the stupid and ignorant," Raymond said.

"They hate you because you can speak better than them?" Paladin Wright asked in surprise and Raymond nodded.

"They see us as defective, that we aren't true mutants because we don't have to use our fingers to count so they see us as just green humans at that point," Raymond explained.

"Ouch intelligence envy, miserable thing that," she said and all of the Ronin and Raymond nodded in agreement.

"So yeah don't count on us to be a screen for those morons, it may work if we can get through an area without speaking but otherwise we're as boned as you," Jack said.

"Well at least the Radiers are straight forwards," Latisha said fixing her large golden eyes on the map and tracing a feathered finger along the route they were going to take as if trying to commit it to memory.

"Yeah SOP with them goombas is simply shoot on sight," Paladin Wright said and all of them nodded in agreement.

"Yeah pretty much, put enough of them in the dirt and most of the weaker ones run for the hills and leave you the fuck alone from that point on, only the truly psychotic or next-level stupid push on from that point, though to be fair most of them turn tail and run for it the moment they set eyes on this big sexy hunk of Claw right here," Raymond said patting Lia's thigh and making her growl purr at him.

"They know they cannot handle this much Claw girl," she said making Raymond and the others laugh.

"I doubt there's few who can," Paladin Wright said with a chuckle.

"In our group, you'd be surprised," Raymond said with a grin.

"Honestly in this group, I'm probably in for more than my fair share of surprises," she said and Raymond nodded.

"You got that right, ok then People let's pack up and get a move on no point dawdling about here, we got more peace talks to broker and Enclave fucks to root out, so let's hop to it!" Raymond said to cheer from the others.

Raymond just couldn't get over the odd sight his team cut as they all walked along the ruined roads that ran along the coastline of Boston, there were humans, humans in power armour, Super Mutants, a Nightstalker girl, a group of Avian Valkyries, a Claw and a little alien all strolling along together as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Though to be fair not all of them we actually walking, Zixxy was riding along on Lia's shoulder and the pair were having an in-depth conversation seemingly about boys, while the Valkyries were taking it in turns to fly high above the main group to act as eyes in the sky for them which helped tremendously as it acted as an early warning system to ambushes in the road ahead.

A strategy that paid dividends rather early on because as they were set to pass through a small town along their road the Raven Valkyrie who was called Mattais Jetclaw swooped down and stopped them.

"What's up, laddie?" Jack asked as the Avain male landed on the road ahead of the group.

"I believe Raiders are hiding in that town, I saw movement in the upper floors of some of the buildings and their positions lead me to believe they have set up a crossfire onto the road below, the road we would have walked," he said in a low caw.

"Around them or straight through?" Raymond asked looking at the rest of the group.

"Straight through," Lia said without a second of hesitation.

"Yup through them," Paladin Wright said.

"Aye laddie through the bastards," Jack said and by the way his Ronin all hoisted their weapons up they agreed wholeheartedly.

"Well then right through it is but let's do this smart shall we? In my experience underestimating your opponents never goes well so let's do this right," Raymond said and that made Lia smile.

"And that my sexy green male is why you are our Alpha," she said.

Raymond asked the Valkyries what they had seen and about the layout of the town and they filled them in by drawing a rough outline in the dirt at the side of the road.

As he studied it a few ideas struck him and he glanced around at the composition of his group and very swiftly possibilities and ideas began to form in his mind as it played through scenarios, that's when it settled on a plan of action and a smile lit his face.

"Alright people listen up this is how we're gonna do this......" he began and with that, he outlined what they were going to do.

It took a little bit of time for the various groups to get themselves into their various positions around the town as they had to move carefully and quietly to avoid being seen by the hidden raiders lying in wait among the various buildings, it was like radspiders setting up a web to catch anything trying to venture through its home.

But to catch a spider first, you had to lure it out into the open where it was most vulnerable.

Before they had made any kind of move Raymond had Zixxy check to make sure that those hiding among the buildings, were indeed raiders and not just some innocent settlers trying to avoid any kind of roaming war band and after reaching out with her mind, she confirmed that they were indeed raiders and part of a much larger group that operated from a location nearby.

So with that green light in place, Raymond sent his people out to take up their positions, this took a little bit of time as trying to sneak power-armoured humans and super mutants not mention Claws about was no easy task, but with patience and care they effectively managed it with Zixxy acting as their early warning system to any detection, she was constantly scanning the minds of the occupants for any sign of detection she was also covering them with false images so when one small group hiding in what appeared to be an old shoe shop very nearly heard Jack's people she sent an image of a wild Brahmin wandering past to settle them down.

That's when Raymond saw two flashes from both the belfry of a small church and a large water tower which indicated that both Runs and Riss were in position having silently taken care of the snipers hiding up there, honestly the pair made him a thing of living breathing ghosts at the best of times but when they did shit like that they were downright scary.

"Alright Zixxy you're up operation groovy man is go," he said and she flashed him a grin.

"Should have called it groovy girl but anyway let's see how they handle this," she said and she closed her eyes holding out her small hands to the sides as she did.

Raymond swore he felt a pulse of energy pass over him as she ramped up his abilities to eleven but the effect was pretty much instantaneous.

The screams began from all over the town as Zixxy began to attack random targets flashing psychedelic images into the minds of random radiers, to one team their leader turned into a snarling Claw right before their eyes which they promptly shot to death in their blind panic.

Another group heard scratching on a door only to find that when they opened it a tidal wave of tarantulas fell out before crawling all over them causing them to run screaming out into the street while tearing their clothes off and clawing at their skin.

Another was surprised when one of their members morphed into an angry Yao guai which proceeded to chase them into the street as the person inhabiting the false body ran screaming with their team from an enemy they had no idea about.

In short in only a few short seconds Zixxy had caused absolute chaos in the small town and now it was the turn of the others to do their bit.

Raymond signalled up to Riss and Runs who instantly signalled down to the other teams who were laid in wait and the trap was sprung.

From one side Lia came rushing out of an alleyway and barreled into the confused and unspecting Radiers tearing into them with her claws and scattering them.

From another side Jack and his Ronin charged out of a couple of different alleyways holding their large metal swords high above their heads and bellowing war cries at the raiders which echoed in the narrow streets adding to the symphony of chaos.

At either end of the two main streets which made up pretty much the entirety of the town two Knights and two Valkyries stood waiting and as soon as those that had enough wits left rounded either of the corners to flee from the carnage taking place in the heart of the town they ran smack into a wall of armour and feathers waiting for them with their weapons at the ready.

"Well, I must say that went superbly! I don't even think those animals actually had the time to fire a single shot at any of us let alone do any kind of damage to us," Paladin Wright said voicing not only her approval but also her awe at how well Raymond's plan had worked.

"Yes, I must say Raymond you do seem to not only have a flair for leadership but also for tactical planning," Latisha said checking her laser rifle's fusion cell before lowering it into a side carry.

"He put all of our strengths to great use and I must say if it isn't too morbid that was thourally enjoyable, it was rather pleasant to go on the offensive against those vile wastes of potential and skin," Zixxy said riding along on Raymond's broad shoulder.

"Aye he did wee lassie, and I must say props to you for whatever you put into their heads, I honestly don't even think those drugged-up robbing fucks even knew we were hitting them before it was too late, they couldn't tell the real from the fake, a part of me kept wondering just what it was they were seeing and another part of me was fucking glad I couldn't see it," Jack said cleaning blood from his massive blade with the help of what looked like a shirt taken from one of the dead Raiders.

"Yeah, I did wonder about that myself, when I came out the two groups in front of me screamed where did all these Deathclaws come from?" Lia said doing the same as Jack with an equally liberated shirt but on her long blood soaked claws.

"Oh in their minds there was a whole pack of you attacking them from all sides, they had no idea which of you was the real Claw because as far as they were concerned you were all real, but thank you both of you your compliments are very much appreciated," the little alien woman said with a beaming smile.

"I get the distinct feeling I'm going to rather enjoy working with this group," Paladin Wright said clapping another of her Knights on the shoulder.

"That makes two of us," Latisha said echoing the sentiment with her own people.

"You said earlier that this group were part of a much larger one Zix, care to elaborate?" Raymond asked and the little alien nodded.

"From what I got from a few of their minds before I scrambled them like runny eggs they belonged to a much larger organisation that calls themselves the Red Eagles, they have lots of little ambush teams like this all over the place set up in towns and places scavengers and settlers not to mention caravans, as well as travellers are likely to pass through, now while I couldn't pull the locations of these other groups as none of them knows where the others are I did manage to pull the location of their main hideout from their leader which I confirmed with a few others," Zixxy said.

"Whatcha thinking laddie?" Jack asked looking at Raymond while he scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"Well I know Seven sent us after the Enclave but he also told us to look out for opportunities to do some good in the area, I get the feeling that we have a real hearts and minds opportunity on our hands here and can any of you think of a better way to impress the Minutemen than to remove what has to be a major thorn in their ass than for us to bust those fuckers up?" he said.

"Oh I'm really beginning to like the way this mutant boy of yours thinks Lia," Paladin Wright said with a chuckle as she hefted her plasma minigun and checked it over.

"Back off tin-plated human this one is mine besides we have plenty of others to go around," Lia said draping her arms around Raymond's shoulders while being careful not to either dislodge or crush Zixxy in the process.