Radiance Chapter 135

Chapter 135: It Only Takes a Minute.

As Fuller jumped down from the winding down Vertibird he saw some of the Minutemen leadership along with Raymond heading right for them and he could already see the smile plastered on Raymond's face.

"We've already had the calls from those settlements you helped, it seems you and your team really kicked some ass out there Fuller," Raymond said grinning from ear to ear.

"Told you we'd get the job done," Fuller said with a nonchalant nod at the Minutemen leadership.

"If you'll excuse me I have customers in a dire state of wardrobe emergency," Malakai said scuttling off into the main courtyard where he was almost instantly accosted by said customers who had eagerly been awaiting his return.

"Saving the wastes one stitch at a time," Fuller said with a grin as a few of his team and the leadership chuckled as they watched the large Archnakai boy pull out his tools.

"Honestly you wouldn't believe how rare a damn good tailor like him is these days," General Redfield said glancing at the Archnakai boy as he parked his large fluffy rear end back at the table he'd set up and got to work.

"Yeah I would, I've been all over and if there is one thing that's a near constant it's people wearing rags, to those people our fluffy jumping tailor there is an absolute godsend," Fuller said smiling softly at the Archnakai as he took a long coat from one of the Minutemen and began to inspect it before rapidly unstitching the entire lining from the thing.

"We've been hearing a plethora of reports coming in from all over the region about your people, we even had one panicked report of an unknown enemy air dropping in attack Claws near their settlement only to get an update five minutes later that it was all ok and that said attack Claw and I quote 'Has kicked a supermutant halfway to the fucking moon' end quote," General Redfield said trying hard to stifle the chuckle from her voice said she said it.

"Honestly that could be Ven or Lia's handiwork, one thing I've learned since joining the Free People's is to never underestimate a sentient Claw and their desire to protect their friends and their loved ones, hell I wouldn't actually want to imagine what would be left of someone foolhardy enough to ever threaten Gregory's life," Fuller said with a chuckle.

"Not a hell of a lot I can tell you that much, I would do a lot more than kick their arse to the moon, I'd slice it off then kick it to the fucking moon," a deep gravely voice said from behind them and Fuller turned to see a very familiar Claw stalking up with his adoring human stood proudly next to him, sniper rifle leaning on his shoulder.

"Yeah that super mutant who is currently in orbit did a kinda stupid thing," Gregory said with a grin on his face.

"Oh? What was that then?" Raymond ask curiously.

Tried to charge me down with a plank of wood with nails in it, my big sexy hunk-o-Claw here showed him how very little he thought of his improvised bat and after he'd broken said bat over its owner's head he did indeed plant a rather large clawed foot up his sizeable green rear end," Gregory said also trying to stifle a chuckle before reaching out and stroking Ven's thigh lovingly.

"No one and I fucking mean no one threatens my human and lives to gloat over it," Ven snarled deeply.

"This team gets crazier by the day, I'm beginning to like these people a whole lot," a heavily accented voice said from their right and Fuller turned to see Sasha sitting atop of a load of recently delivered boxes that looked like they had come from a caravan.

"Sasha here was telling us how Raymond and his team broke into an Enclave stronghold and rescued not only him but a whole village's worth of Scorpian hybrids, quite the story I must say," General Redfield said.

"All part of the good works that the Free Peoples are trying to do all over this region," Raymond said in his best diplomatic voice.

"Is true, I see first hand and second hand how much these people care for others, they owe me nothing and I own them nothing, yet they still take the time to rescue me and return me to my people, they are people of honour and it means something to them, is a rare find these days I can tell you," the grizzled Cossack said jumping down from the box and wandering up to the group.

"Ahh good timing Knight, I had an idea on the way back here that I would like to talk to you about that I do believe might be beneficial to all of us," Paladin Wright said suddenly while walking up from the landing zone with her team in tow.

"Ideas Paladin can be dangerous things in the wrong hands," Sasha said with a bit of a cheeky grin at the younger Paladin but by the way, she smiled at him it was obvious that the soldier's humour was not lost on her.

"True but I do believe you'll like this as will our potential new allies here," Paladin Wright said.

"Da? Sounds intriguing," Sasha said.

"Yeah, I was thinking that, care to elaborate Paladin?" General Redfield asked.

"Well I don't know how much Sasha here told you about his unit the Cossacks but they are considered something of a special forces group within the Brotherhood and I believe it would be very advantageous to all groups involved if we put them on loan to yourselves to aid you with both training and potentially sourcing equipment as I hear from a reliable source that they have quite the knack for not only procuring gear from the most unlikely of places but also for turning it into quite the nasty surprise for their enemies," Paladin Wright said.

"Indeed this is true, we once hit an old communist hideout in DC and find many AKs in crates, we take them and make them even deadlier," Sasha said nodding in agreement.

"What about power armour could you guys help us out with that, that on its own would make a distinct advantage to my guys in the field?" General Redfeild said and Sasha scratched his chin before nodding.

"Da I believe I can help with this, is old storage site for T45 suits meant to be scrapped before end of war, but never happened and suits are still sitting there waiting, if I can have my team we will help you to secure them and will even show you how to make most of them, old does not mean weak!" Sasha said.

"Now we're talking, well it really does seem that this partnership is really starting to pay off," General Redfield said as her face lit up.

"Does that mean.....?" Raymond began but the General cut him off with a smile.

"Yes Raymond, it means I'm willing to sit down with you all and sign this peace and mutual assistance proposal with you, from this day you can consider the Minutemen of America an official partner in this alliance of yours," she said stretching out a hand to him which he happily took and shook.

"Well then let's not waste any more time shall we?" he said gesturing towards the conference room once more and while the leaders all headed in for paperwork and handshakes, Fuller decided to sit down in the courtyard with his team.

"Looks like we did good out there," Yumi said planting her rear atop of a crate to Fuller's right while Glory literally planted her own glorious rear end right down in his lap before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yeah I think Wisp and Desdemona are going to be thrilled with this," he said leaning back and gently stroking Glory's thigh and waist.

"And so they should be, this is a pretty historic day Fuller, this is the day that finally the entire region is going to stand together united, no more skulking in shadows, finally the Railroad can operate out in the open not only without fear of persecution but with the full backing and support of the other groups," Glory said as she watched Malakai hard at work patching up a set of what looked to be woollen long Johns.

"If the Enclave or the Institute get hold of this information there is going to be a royal shitstorm in their headsheds," Fuller said and Yumi nodded.

"Let's hope so, about time someone put the fear of god into those fuckers," she said.

"Exactly, this is the entire of Boston standing up and saying not one step further, I guess this is what they used to mean when they say Boston Strong," Glory said making Fuller chuckle and nod.

"Yeah maybe but don't forget ladies we still have a long road to walk yet, this is just the early days yet, I wonder if they'll call Seven to let him know about this?" Fuller said.

"Oh I don't doubt it and who knows he might even show up in person to sign off on the treaty, be kinda fitting I think," Glory said.

"From what I understand he's kinda got a lot on his plate with what's going on up in Nukaworld, I mean he is trying to organise a rebellion to take on an entire region of Radiers," Yumi said gesturing to the sky with her hand in a kind of dramatic gesture.

"Yeah that's true, I wonder what our next move will be now that we've got this settled here?" Fuller said thoughtfully.

"Probably get back to work on ferreting out either your former colleges or even the Institute or maybe both," Glory said before the trio simply sat there and watched the clouds rolling past, each simply lost in their thoughts.

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It took about an hour for Raymond and the others to knock out the final details of the treaty and during which Paladin Wright had officially managed to get the Cossacks assigned as advisors to the Minutemen as part of the Brotherhood's contribution to the alliance as well as a show of willingness to aid their allies, a move that Sasha was actually in full support of, it would be a nice change of pace.

For their part, the Minutemen had agreed to take in the Scorpian refugees and to give them both safe harbour as well as protection as well as a settlement to call their own deep within the heart of Minutemen territory.

Each of the attendees agreed to have both ambassadors as well as attaches from the other factions at all of their major bases as a show of trust and goodwill, even the Free peoples who now had a joint base set up within an old Vault in the region with the Railroad agreed to this.

Infact some of the Scorpians who wished to remain there as permanent residents were to be allowed which thanks to their natural affinity to being underground suited them just fine.

As he walked out into the courtyard Sasha sighed heavily and smiled to himself, it felt good to be not only needed but useful again, too long had the Cossacks have been on the back burner only called upon when problems got too tough for others to solve, now they would be able to show people what they were truly capable of.

It took him a number of calls to get through to their group and to make the arrangements to have part of the unit sent here, infact it seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to them that he was even still alive.

Though the mood swiftly soured when he informed everyone what had become of their brothers and sisters in arms but as was the Cossack way this did not damper their spirits, it only made them burn brighter as he told the tales of how each of them had died he knew that someone would be hard at work recording their tale to be woven into the great tapestry that they kept at their HQ that told the tale of the fallen.

This was kind of a throwback to olden times when the tales of heroes and villains alike were woven into ornate tapestries for all to see and learn from, he believed that it was in keeping with the traditions of his homeland along with those of his Brothers and Sister of the Brotherhood with their Great Chain.

This way the tales of those who had come before them and would come after them who had served and paid the ultimate price for their belief in the freedom that they fought for would never be forgotten.

The Cossack commander Paladin Lishenyenko had authorised units to be dispatched to Sasha and to be put under his direct command, he also authorised his field promotion to Master Knight which was one rank below Paladin and the highest he could himself bestow without the Elders being directly involved, no small feat in the Cossacks as ranks were not given away like candies like there were in other units, in the Cossacks you earned your stripes through blood and sweat.

As it turned out Sasha and his Cossacks would not be the only ones sending troops to both aid and train the Minutemen.

The Valkyries had also promised a detachment of their elite Featherguards to be sent to assist and work with the Minutemen, apparently, they were a team of arieal scout snipers, they were known as the Silent Eagles.

Sasha found himself quite intrigued by this development as having seen what Jewel and her lot could do he had found himself quite impressed by his new feathery friends and given that they had fought the vastly better armed and equipped Brotherhood to a complete standstill they were not to be taken lightly by any measure.

A couple of hours after the treaty had been signed Sasha had been in the gardens inspecting the tomato plants as he'd always had something of a green thumb and when you can make things grow underground you always appreciated a good plot.

When suddenly he heard the all too familiar chatter of heavy proppelers in the distance and he looked up from the garden just in time to see a very familiar Vertibird fly overhead before setting down just outside of the Fort and Sasha felt himself smile.

As he walked out of the main gate he found three very familiar figures jumping down from the now powered-down Vertibird which he could already tell was the older assault model designed with heavier armour and slower speeds than the newer ones used by the vast majority of the Brotherhood these days.

"Ivan it is good to see you, you rabid old dog!" Sasha called out and the figure at the head of the group who was currently lifting down large crates from the back of the Vertibird turned to look where the voice had come from.

"Sasha you old horse! How is it every time I blink I am told you are still alive? You have more lives than a whole flock of fucking cats!" Ivan said with a grin that cracked his sandpaper-smooth features.

The pair embraced though given Ivan was currently wearing the signature suit of Cossack Power Armour there was a bit of a huge difference between the two veterans.

"We brought you a gift but the Paladin wouldn't let me paint it bright pink or even write the word's shoot me first on it, can you believe?" Ivan said gesturing to the back of the Vertibird where Sasha smiled as he saw a suit of Cossak modified T60 standing there waiting for him.

"Why would I want my armour to look like your bunk room?" Sasha asked making Ivan bark a loud laugh before clapping his old friend on the shoulder.

"So we are here to show these rabble yankies how to fight properly yes?" Ivan said in Russian to Sasha and he gave him a grin.

"Something like that, is a new world this day my Brother, do not be alarmed by what you will see in there as it will shock you, we are to be a part of something much bigger," Sasha said causing Ivan to raise an eyebrow.

'Well, as long as they know good vodka when they see it I'm sure we'll get along fine!" another familiar voice said and Sasha turned to see Malaina the team's signal specialist standing there with a grin on her face and a sparkle in her ice blue eyes.

"It is good to see you again sister," Sasha said embracing his sister and she patted his back.

"And you my brother, I was worried when we lost contact with you and the others," she said and he nodded.

"They fought bravely sister, they earned every word woven about them in the tapestry," he said softly and she nodded.

"As we always knew they would, they were the best of the best and they proved it," she said causing Sasha to nod before freeing himself from her grasp and levering himself into the back of the Vertibird, it was time to suit up again.

Now Cossack armour isn't not like standard Brotherhood Power armour in a lot of ways, like the rear-mounted gimbals that allow them to mount heavy weapons on them to fire over their shoulders, turning the user into a walking tank for one.

The Cossacks truly embraced the ideal of hitting your enemy harder than they can ever hope to hit you in return and this showed in their equipment as they always ensured that every man or woman could lay down the fire of three standard soldiers, this way even a small force of them would be far harder to handle.

Bust just because they tended to carry some seriously heavy firepower didn't mean that they were opposed to getting up close and personal with their foes as was evident by what was hanging on the hip of Sasha's new suit.

Sat in a rather ornate and decorated scabbard was a kindjal which was a type of short sword similar to a Gladius-type blade, only slightly thinner but no less effective and when wielded by someone in power armour, was surprisingly effective against a variety of standard armour types.

Now while being built of the standard T60 frame that was used by the Brotherhood that was where the simularity ended for Cossack armour.

The first and the probably most obvious difference was the helmet, having seen the Enclave's X-01 and X-02 variants as well as a few of the more unique variants the psychological and streamlining work down to them had not been lost on the Cossacks.

So doing away with the large bulky helmet with its dual resperation system and bulky headlamps, the Cossacks had begun pulling the components out and installing them into the heads of captured or destroyed sentry bots to give them a truly unique and very intimidating profile.

This was largely imparted to the eyepiece of the helmet being retrofitted to serve as the headlamps just like those of the Enclave, but rather than spewing bright yellow or white light the Cossacks had opted for red light which worked incredibly well with infrared optics they'd installed while also giving them a very demonic look in the dark.

The second major difference was the thicker plating that the Cossack armour tended to have giving them a much blockier and heavier look but adding additional protection from incoming fire by simply being able to shrug off anything but the heaviest of calibres or armour-piercing rounds.

They'd modified both the servos and shock absorption systems of the frames under the armour to compensate for this and thanks to the increased power draw it was not uncommon to see these suits outfitted with a secondary Fusion battery port to compensate for the increased draw, especially when you took into account the Cossack's love of heavy weapons systems.

Sasha had never really been one for using the gimbaled fired systems himself, the most he'd ever really considered using was one of the anti-air systems which were made up of a cut-down quad-barreled rocket launcher with all of its optic systems routed through the helmet-mounted targeting optics.

But that having been said Sasha was a bit of a fan of heavy weapons, especially the one he found sitting waiting for him in a case next to his armour.

"Ivan, is it my birthday already?" Sasha chuckled as he lifted the tri-barreled rotary .50 Gatling gun out of its case and tested the heft against his armour's servos.

This gun was a true monster of a weapon and had originally been designed for use on assault Vertibirds and armoured vehicles for anti-vehicle and area saturation operations.

But having stumbled across an old underground military transport HUB complete with now useless vehicles awaiting transport to locations unknown, the Cossacks had set to work stripping them of everything useful, including their armaments.

They'd quickly set about repurposing these monstrous guns for man portability using large cases of ammo that the user wore on their back to feed the weapon, they also outfitted these cases with a harness system that allowed the user to mount the weapon barrel up on the side of it for easy transport or to allow them to use another weapon of choice should th very thirsty bitch run herself dry.