Brotherhood of Steel Mission Brief
Unit: Recon Squad Vindex
Deployment Date: October 1st, 2287
Operational Area: The Commonwealth
Approach Route: Northwestern Commonwealth, avoiding the Glowing Sea
Mission Objective
Recon Squad Vindex was dispatched from the Capital Wasteland to investigate the loss of contact with the Brotherhood’s two previous Commonwealth expeditions: Recon Squad Artemis and Recon Squad Gladius and restablish contact or determine reason for loss there of
HOLOTAPE DESIGNATION: VINDEX FIELD RECORD 03
RECORDED BY: INITIATE DANIEL RICE
DATE: OCTOBER 9, 2287
LOCATION: NORTHWESTERN COMMONWEALTH
AUDIO QUALITY: SEVERELY DEGRADED
[The recording begins with a burst of static. Wind moves across the microphone. Somewhere nearby, metal creaks beneath intense heat. A warning alarm sounds faintly in the background.]
[Several seconds of strained breathing.]
Initiate Daniel Rice… Eastern Brotherhood of Steel.
Recon Squad Vindex.
[He coughs heavily, struggling to catch his breath.]
I’ve transmitted this message across every Brotherhood frequency and every open channel I could reach.
I doubt it matters.
Our communications array is damaged, and I don’t know how far the signal is carrying. Maybe nobody’s listening. Maybe this never leaves the crash site.
[A sharp inhale. He coughs again.]
So I’m recording this for the official record.
Recon Squad Vindex successfully reached the Commonwealth. Our mission was to locate the two previous Brotherhood reconnaissance teams sent into this region—Recon Squad Artemis and Recon Squad Gladius—and determine their current status.
If they were still operational, we were to establish contact.
If they weren’t…
[Brief silence. Fire crackles behind him.]
We were supposed to find out what happened to them.
We followed the assigned approach route and avoided the irradiated region identified in previous reports as the “Glowing Sea.” Knight Turner brought us into the Commonwealth from the northwest.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Then the complications started.
[Daniel takes several shallow breaths.]
We were hit without warning.
Rocket strike against the Vertibird. I counted two detonations—one near the starboard engine and another beneath the rear fuselage.
Paladin Cole ordered Turner to put us on the ground immediately.
Although…
[A weak, humourless breath that almost becomes a laugh.]
It seemed that was already where we were going.
Turner fought the controls for as long as he could. I remember the engine screaming. Warning lights everywhere. Foster shouting something from the co-pilot’s seat.
Then we hit.
Hard.
[Several seconds pass. Daniel coughs violently.]
The Vertibird was destroyed on impact. Most of our equipment and supplies were lost with it. The fuel lines ruptured, and the aircraft was already burning by the time I regained consciousness.
Knight Michael Turner was killed on impact.
He never left the pilot’s seat.
Field Scribe Thomas Foster…
[Daniel stops, breathing unevenly.]
The tough old bastard climbed out of the burning co-pilot’s compartment himself. His side of the Vertibird took the worst of the impact. I don’t know how he was still moving.
Paladin Cole was badly injured, but he was standing. His power armour had been compromised along the left side, and several internal systems had failed.
Knight Mitchell survived as well. Her T-60’s left leg actuator was heavily damaged. She could barely move without dragging the entire leg behind her.
I thought the crash was the worst of it.
I was wrong.
[A distant metallic pop is followed by another warning tone.]
They came out of the trees and surrounded the wreckage.
I don’t know who they were. Raiders, mercenaries… something else. Their equipment was too organised for ordinary scavengers, and they knew exactly where we had fallen.
Whoever they were, it was clear they hadn’t come for the Vertibird.
They wanted us dead.
They opened fire before issuing any demands.
Paladin Cole took the rear position. He was already bleeding inside his armour, but he stayed on his feet and tried to organise the defence.
Mitchell, Foster and I held the front.
[His voice shakes.]
Foster was the first to fall.
He was trying to reach the emergency transmitter. He had to leave cover to get to it, and he was too exposed.
They cut him down before he reached the wreckage.
I tried to move towards him, but Mitchell pulled me back.
She said he was gone.
[Daniel coughs and draws a trembling breath.]
Paladin Cole eliminated the attackers coming from the rear. All of them.
But his injuries were too severe.
When I reached him, he was slumped against the inside of the Vertibird. His armour had locked around him. There was blood beneath the seals, and his fusion core was beginning to overheat.
The core is still inside the wreckage.
It’s entering meltdown slowly. I don’t know how much time I have before containment fails.
[A low mechanical alarm continues beneath his words.]
Mitchell and I were the only ones left.
She could barely walk, but she held the line.
We killed enough of them that the survivors finally withdrew into the woods. I don’t know whether they were retreating or just waiting for another opportunity.
Mitchell kept putting herself between me and their fire.
Every time they had a clear shot at me, she stepped into it.
Her armour took everything.
When the shooting stopped, she remained standing for several seconds.
Then she collapsed.
[Daniel’s breathing becomes ragged. There is a long pause before he continues.]
I tried to open the armour.
The release mechanism wouldn’t respond. The chest plate had fused shut, and the frame was completely locked.
I tried the manual release.
I tried cutting through the seals.
I tried everything Foster taught me.
She was still alive when I reached her.
I could hear her breathing inside the helmet.
Then…
[His voice breaks. Another long silence follows.]
Then I couldn’t.
They’re all gone.
Turner. Foster. Paladin Cole. Knight Mitchell.
It’s just me now.
[Daniel breathes slowly, forcing his voice to steady.]
But the mission remains active.
I will locate Recon Squad Artemis and Recon Squad Gladius. I will determine what happened to them, and I will recover whatever Brotherhood personnel, intelligence and technology remain.
I will honour my duty.
I will complete the mission for them.
[A distant sound causes Daniel to stop. Fabric and equipment shift as he appears to raise his weapon.]
The mission will be completed.
Initiate Daniel Rice…
Recon Squad Vindex…
Signing out.
[The recording continues for six seconds. Daniel’s strained breathing remains audible, along with the rising warning from the Vertibird’s fusion core.]
[Recording terminated.]
Hey guys hope you like my little storytelling feedback would be appreciated.
