HELLO AND WELCOME TO MY FALLOUT STORY. TO LET YOU KNOW THIS IS SET BEFORE MY CURRENT STORY WAR NEVER CHANGES AND MY UPCOMING STORY THE RANGER CHRONICLES. ENJOY ANYWAYS!

RATED T FOR VIOLENCE, THREAT, (CENSORED) SWEARING AND SEX REFERENCES.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FALLOUT, IT IS OWNED BY BTHESDA (1,2 AND VEGAS OWNED BY INTERPLAY/BLACK ISLE/OBSIDIAN). I DON'T EVEN OWN THE PROTAGONIST ALL CREDIT GOES TO HERMS FOR THIS GUY. BUT I DO OWN THE OTHER OC.

"Good morning, California!" A man on the radio spoke, "My name is William Hilburg and you are listening to Republic Radio. I hope you fine folks having a very fine day! The date is November 23rd 2271 and the time is 4:35 PM. Now for today's top stories. The conflict with the so called 'Brotherhood of Steel' unfortunately continues after decades of war. Officials advise that you stay away from people wearing power armour with the gear insignia on it."

I was inside the bathroom of the barracks, standing by the mirror, staring at my face. I was in my early 30s during all this time. My military-cut hair was blonde and my eyes were dark hazel, there was a visible scar underneath my left eye too. I added some 'shaving cream' across my lower face the started shaving as the man on the radio continued talking.

"President Wendell Peterson announced that the so called 'Brotherhood' is a menace to the entire nation and he will stop at nothing to defeat them. Multiple military divisions will be sent up north to the former states of Northern California and Southern Oregon. In other news the weather today there will unfortunately be a radiation storm over the Hub, it is best if citizens this week stay inside their homes."

"Figures," I said with my slight Australian accent.

I exited the bathroom and entered the empty barracks. Rows of beds were laid throughout this whole room. On my bed was a set of Veteran Ranger armour, fully equipping it a couple minutes after.

I felt proud to wear it, as if I was bestowed upon by the bear. But it was just a promotion, I'm sure all the other Veterans got used to it at some point. Plus it was only recently introduced to the Ranger Corps after the unification between the NCR and the Desert Rangers, I was lucky enough to be rewarded with it.

Once I exited the building, my eyes adjusted to the wasteland's light along to the smell of the bear's military might. The base of operations used to be a fort with walls 3 stories high, I'm still surprised that they stayed in almost great condition for all those years. Rows of tents along with crates and pre-war vehicles were seen throughout the entire structure, and the banner of the bear could be seen flying proudly over the fort. Propaganda posters were put op almost on all walls.

Another ranger standing at around 5'9 and a combat shotgun on her back greeted me, she was a ghoul judging by her rough voice, "You're Ranger Mcmullen right?"

"Yes. Ranger Bryce Mcmullen," I replied, "And you are?"

"The name's Carrie, follow me. The rest of your squad is this way," she said. I nodded and went with her. "So, where ya from?" Carrie asked as we walked.

"I'm from New Reno."

"If you're from New Reno, then what's up with the accent?"

"Scuse me?"

She looked at me as if I was stupid, "Your accent. It's Australian or New Zealand right?"

"Oh right! I stayed with my parents a lot so I developed this voice."

"Riiigghhtttt," she looked at me weirdly. I could tell she thought I was lying.

We arrived at a vertibird pad, there seemed to be a squad of 3 soldiers by one of the vehicles. I believed it was my platoon.

What caught my eye was a super mutant standing at around 7'8 wearing metal armour but also a Ranger hat which could hardly fit him. Unlike the rest of his kind his mouth was actually shut rather than showing his teeth everywhere. Furthermore he was equipped with a minigun.

Right by the mutant were two other veterans.

One of them was a ruggedly handsome man leaning inside the vertibird standing at around 6'1, his deep brown hair was quit long reach to the bottom of his neck. In his hands was a laser rifle which he constantly inspected.

The other ranger, he was wearing elite riot gear and stood at around 6'3. I assumed he was the leader of the platoon judging by his armour. On his wrist was a pip-boy in which he stared at. He also had a black revolver on his hip.

The super mutant noticed me, he alerted the platoon leader of our presence.

Once we came to the group, the elite veteran greeted me, "You must be the new recruit. My name is Avery Devon, your commanding officer. You already know Ranger Williams, she's our medic. The mutant over there is our support, he doesn't remember his old name so we just call him 'Heavy', trust me you do not want to make him mad. The guy behind me is David Coldfield, our tech expert. Welcome to the 704th," he looked at Coldfield and made a gesture with his head.

David got up and threw a sniper rifle at me, I barely caught it. The long haired ranger gave me a smug look, as if he thought I wasn't good enough for the squad.

Heavy looked at me, he unusually smelled me, he spoke with a deep voice but it was normal nonetheless, "You smell of war. I've seen your military record, you've done much progress for the military. I believe you'll make a fine addition to the team." His breath had the stench of a mole rat's anus, don't ask how I know.

"Uhh thanks... I guess," despite the great uses of super mutants in the military it still bothered me that his kind was part of a cult to convert the whole human race into uglies like him. I understand that he has changed his point of view but thinking about it kinda made me uncomfortable.

"Alright enough smelling the new guy. Come on, we're leaving this place," Devon ordered, "I'll brief you the mission details along the way."

"Wait why along the way?" I questioned, "Usually we're in the briefing room right?"

Devon explained, "Chief Briggs has an awful lot on her hands right now. He thinks it's quicker if units from now on are briefed along the way to their mission, plus there's a better chance we won't forget it."

I nodded and boarded the vertibird.

Along the way we were quickly briefed, we were on a recon mission to southern Oregon. There have been multiple reports of brotherhood soldiers within the area, normally the military would send infantry units but we believed that there was a base of operations up there. Didn't expect my first mission to be recon, I'd have expected more like a SEAL team operation like they did in the old world. Our extraction point would by half a kilometre north of the recon area where Heavy and probably the pilot will guard in case possible Brotherhood soldiers would find themselves the vehicle.

I learned some more about the rest of my squad. Williams was 216 years old and was a medical student living in Toronto before the bombs dropped, she was relatively nice and all but I still saw the trauma of war in her. She wandered the continent for almost 100 years before stumbling inside the NCR during it's expansion. I didn't understand how there were medics in the ranger corps since we were provided with great medical equipment but we needed them nonetheless. Her military history wasn't that interesting but she did tell me she went on 2 tours around California during her 10 year service.

Coldfield wasn't exactly a people person, he didn't talk much at all, only did when he needed to. But I could tell he was an expert with his guns as he always clinged to his rifle. All I got out of him was that he was born in Maxson and 29 years old.

Heavy used to fight in the master's army, he still kept his intelligence from when he was human. But when the vault-dweller defeated the master, he and some other mutants wandered the wastes trying to find some meaning in life. After decades of wandering he was the last one in his group. The mutant became a citizen then soldier of the NCR a few years later and quickly climbed up the ranks. As far as I know he used to be part of a Super Mutant Support division due to his strength, his high intelligence helped him become a ranger. Although I didn't realise that the ranger corps would need muscle for operations.

Devon was interesting, I questioned the pip-boy on his arm and he said it's a family thing that's been passed down for generations as his great grandfather and mother was a vault dweller. He grew up in Shady Sands. Joined the military when he was 16 (now 42) and became a ranger at 24, due to his high experience he was one of the few awarded with the elite riot gear. I'd expect him to have been a chief ranger by now due to all his years of experience, I heard he was almost promoted but declined seeing as his place was on the frontlines. He had a wife and two kids, a 15 year old daughter and an 8 year old son, his wife is a doctor from the followers of the apocalypse ,who had the other pip-boy, and they all lived up in Redding. I questioned why they were living in that mining town on his pay grade, he simply responded the currency inflation made housing expensive and Redding was the best he could afford.

We all ranted to each other sharing war stories and hilarious moments. Turns out Heavy took down an entire raider gang with 'bear' hands which he ripped off from a yao guai, made me question his choice of weaponry and why he actually did it. But it didn't matter, its a hilarious way of dying.

Nothing much happened for the next few hours, we all were sitting ducks.

Once the vertibird landed, Devon opened the door, "Alright troopers. Move out!"

Everybody then dismounted the vehicle with Heavy staying behind. It was already the dark of night even though it was a, we were already inside a dead forest with the stench of radiation surrounding us. Coldfield equipped his helmet and Heavy just embraced the radiation.

"Alright, the recon point is at least half a click from here. Visors on," Devon ordered. We all turned on our night vision making our visors glow red.

We strolled cautiously through the lifeless forest, the wasteland soil crunched as we stepped on it.

"What do we expect to find, commander?" I asked.

"Well most likely a bunker or a pre-war military base. It's usually where the steelies hide out. Nobody knows, it's why we were ordered to investigate it," at that moment he whispered, "Get down!"

We all crouched down behind some dead bushes, I peered over to see what the commander was talking about. All I saw were two bright lights and the sound of clanking footsteps, I could already tell these were brotherhood soldiers. This only confirmed the reports.

We were able to overhear their conversation.

"I heard the Sentinel is putting people on break on harsh drills from now on," one of them said.

"Yeah I heard. Lucky we're on patrol shifts. Why exactly do you think she's doing this?"

"Well it's just in case the NCR does know our location so we must be ready for anything."

"Ready for anything? What if they attack during the drills?! They'll be so tired that they can't fight and we'll be picked off one by one. Something is wrong with the sentinel."

"Yeah, ya don't say. She's been under an awful lot of stress since her son died."

"Her son was George right?"

"Yeah. He was just a kid when NCR soldiers attacked Lost Hills, never survived the battle. Come on, let's get back to the vault."

Her son was dead? I immediately felt bad for her, made a whole lot of sense why she's doing what she's doing. The next few minutes was just ranter, nothing of importance to the mission. The sound of clanking started to fade away, we cautiously emerged from the bushes.

"Wow, her son was dead?" Carrie asked herself feeling bad.

"That doesn't change anything," Devon said, "This only means she's afraid of the NCR if her troops are constantly doing military drills. One of them said that they were heading towards a vault." He looked at his pip-boy's map. "There should be a a vault a walk away from here. Let's move people!"

"Yes sir," the rest of us said in unison.

I already knew that this was no longer a simple recon mission. And that things most likely won't go as expected.

AND DONE! ALL CREDIT GOES TO HERMS FOR THIS CHARACTER, HE'S THE REASON WHY THIS STORY EXISTS. PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK IN THE REVIEWS! IF YOU'RE WONDERING HOW THIS CONNECTS WITH WAR NEVER CHANGES FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO'VE READ THAT, AVERY DEVON IS RYAN'S DAD.

ANYWAYS STAY SAFE, STAY HOME, SAVE LIVES.