Fallout Diaries pt.4

February 6^th, 2288

This will be an interesting series of events. There was a loud commotion in the morning and when I awoke I found Heather arguing with Alanya. I had no idea what was going on until I heard Heather shout about going back to Far Harbor. Apparently she was against the idea that Alanya has proposed in going back there to the point that she began to shout. Her main argument was that while we “praddled on” to unimportant tasks, the merchants of Nuka World were still being treated like slaves. It was decided we would go back and help them but, to Heather, Alanya's been dragging her feet on that.

To my surprise, Alanya maintained her composure throughout listening to everything Heather was telling her. In the end, when it came to her turn to speak (something she asked to do) she merely played that holotape of the Kasumi girl who went missing and said “The difference between this woman and the merchants, is we know that the merchants are safe.” Alanya's argument is that those raiders wouldn't kill their meal ticket but we've still no clue about that girl. Heather very reluctantly agreed and...I guess we're going back to Far Harbor to find this woman.

February 9^th, 2288

I really hate the sea. Unlike the ground you never know what it's going to do to you and if you fall into it...at least the ground doesn't just suck you in. In most places. Not to mention I've seen those dead sharks up on shore, I don't need to see what's been pushing them out like that! Luckily enough these trips to Far Harbor aren't that long. Heather's remaining quiet and Piper, well, she's coming with us. I don't miss Cait but I at least can understand why she did those things she did. Thankfully, Alanya was the one making decisions and since curing her she's been a valuable asset. Now she's watching over our beach home. I honestly wished we had left more people there, not too long ago we got attacked by wave after wave of Gunners coming in from this bridge outpost of theirs. While Heather and I worked on those straggling around our home, Alanya and Cait went off to finish off those at the bridge. From what they told me they had sent in so many to try and kill us that the only ones remaining were like the commander and their one aid. It does feel good to know the home will be safe, but there was that fish place close by that the Institute thought held valuable somethings and not to mention the super mutant attack we had prior to the Gunners. I'm assuming the Gunners saw that and figured we were weakened because of that.

I'm rambling and Alanya just asked what I was writing. I'll tell her positive things.

February 13^th, 2288

Our trip into Far Harbor wasn't that long. We found the girl and Alanya was wanting to build something of a foothold for us outside this guys house on a small island, but she was suffering some ill effects from the fog so we needed to head back. Some Gunners appeared to be ready for us, must have been those trying to retake that bridge. One of them must have had a quad rocket launcher because that heavy artillery just kept coming. We all managed to get to land but Alanya was still suffering the effects of the fog and we were quickly overwhelmed by mirelurks. In the end we lost Alanya. Not dead, but gone. Missing. We called out to her but she never answered back. After wandering the beach and following footsteps in the sand we ended up no closer than we were before in locating her. We got word that those Gunners were now attacking our home. We had to go defend it. I won't be writing in this for a while, at least not until there's something to Alanya's location.

March 14^th, 2288

Just opening this back up to make some lists.

Had a meeting at the Vault 88 War Room with Preston and some Minutemen field scouts. We've been looking all month for Alanya and it was difficult to know even where to begin with this meeting. Piper suggested to run through a list of possibilities.

-The first was the most grim. Either devoured by mirelurks, ghouls, or taken by Super Mutants to that broken satellite array. Those ideas were immediately scraped from the list.

-Taken prisoner by Gunners. A possibility, but I asked then why they would immediately attack our home. Besides, they didn't wave her around like a prisoner nor were they using her weapons. Best weapon they were using was that missile launcher from earlier and Alanya had an entire arsenal on her. Preston said they could have attacked to cause a diversion so they could easily transport her. I swear he tripped up on his words and he nearly called me “General” but he said “the General”. That's not even something I want to think about.

-Taken by raiders. There are no raider outposts in the area but apparently there's been a greater deal of activity from them around East City Downs. So much so it's difficult to get a detachment down there to see what's going on. It's either a good lead or a raider jamboree. Either way, with or without Alanya it's something we have to keep an eye on.

-Taken by the Institute. There's no way of knowing for certain whether they did or not. The only clue we have of their innocence is why, after an entire month, there's been no synth sent back in her place. If they did take her then are they trying to build up the suspicions? If so, why? Wouldn't it be easier to take her and replace her for the next day? It would be an entire month of research lost on us if they decided to do it this way. They aren't being ruled out but we know they aren't this slow to take up on opportunities.

(Side note: We're using our connections with the Railroad to try our best in finding out more on this theory. Unfortunately, they have no direct line in but they promised to get what they could from any escaped synth.)

-Taken by the Nuka World raiders. Long shot considering we lost Alanya on the far east side so unless they knew where we'd be. But it makes sense. Those loons consider her their “overboss” so they might want her back to settle disputes or what have you. But this is still an awfully far way to go. Chances of this are unlikely but I'm not suggesting on sending anyone through the gauntlet to find out.

-Taken by Zetans. Heather's theory. Told her I'd put it on the list.

So thus far we have two real standing theories. Either Alanya was taken by Gunners or raiders. I suggested we capture a Gunner alive, preferably a high ranking one, and interrogate them. Cait volunteered for that service. Starting to like her. Goodneighbor seems another good place for information, Piper suggested, she and Nick will look into it. Preston will keep the patrols going but the way he looks at me. I'm not the general, I'll never be the general, I'll never want to be the general.

Because I'll never have to be. I want everyone to realize that.

March 25^th, 2288

Nothing. Not even the fucking Brotherhood will bother to send out someone to help. “She's just a knight” we were told and Danse was forced to agree. Railroad is turning up nothing either. At least Piper and Nick were able to turn up something more on East City Downs. Apparently, aside from robots, they're racing people now too. No physical evidence other than a betting slip with, what I assume, are racing names. None come close to them taunting the general of the Minutemen. This deserves more looking into than before but the raiders are hell bent on keeping others out.

March 30^th, 2288

Lost an entire patrol just trying to spy on the race track. They must have some keen eyed snipers to keep people from ruining their “fun”. Surprised they didn't try and capture any of those we sent. Almost like they specifically didn't want us there. No one else is willing to go in. Keep forgetting this isn't like the NCR, this is a volunteer militia. Not only that but I damn near lost it on a few of them. Overheard a couple of them talking, considering this a waste of manpower and resources. I can't yell at them, that would be disciplining. I'm not the general but they shouldn't lose faith so easily.

April 5^th, 2288

Finally captured a high ranking Gunner alive. Couldn't help but smile as Cait said “Excuse me” when passing me by with a steel bat.

April 8^th, 2288

Damn that Gunner was stubborn. Cait did a wonderful job keeping him alive to get everything. Preston was right, that Gunner assault a while back was a diversion. They took Alanya but there was nothing a the trade off point. Don't even know who the hell she was given to.

April 17th

Curie came to me with something. There might be a way to track Alanya's pipboy. If we can access the computers from her vault then we might be able to get a track on her. I was so hopeful but angry at the same time. I wanted to ask why she hadn't brought this up sooner, but none of that matters. I mean it does, but it's not like we can go back. Either way I'm bringing a couple of techs up to Vault 111 for this.

April 18^th, 2288

Just arrived at the vault. Don't know why I'm still writing in this, should be focused more on the task. It's relaxing, I suppose. Every second I expect one of the techs to come running in saying “we found her” and the next second I'm disappointed. This place is dripping water from the pipes and from far away in this hollow shell it sounds like footsteps. Figure I'll also pay my respects to her late husband tomorrow. Introduce myself as her new lover. It'll be awkward, I'm sure.

April 19^th, 2288

Was rocked with some bad news. The techs spent all day yesterday trying to find Alanya's name on the vault files and all they found was her listed as “occupant”. They couldn't even locate her name in the list of pipboy recipients. That's when we realized that none of those in these cryopods was wearing one. The reason they can't find Alanya on it is because she wasn't issued one. Now they'll have to search each one individually in their tracer. I asked why not trace them all at once, she's the sole survivor after all, but they said the machines were too damaged for such a task. In fact, they might not even be able to track them all down. I told them we'll just have to find each physical pip boy in this vault and cross them off the list. I'm requesting more eyes for this.

April 27^th, 2288

That took way longer than I would have liked. But after one of them found a pip boy on a skeleton in the duct then every duct and pipe large enough to hold a body had to be checked. Trouble was most of them were frozen shut. Though we found all but a few. The techs are now going through them. There's that feeling again. Any second now.

April 28^th, 2288

East City Downs, I knew it.

April 30^th, 2288

That damn place is so heavily fortified, it's impossible to get in. Though we might not have to. Word through the radio is that “111 is being moved”.

I saw her. No mistaking it, it's Alanya! She was pulling a cart of supplies and looks so different. She's bigger and her hair's been shaved into a mohawk. What have those monsters been doing to her? We couldn't even get close to her since there were at least three power armor wearing raiders with her along with a large assortment of others. She's really that important to her. Well, fuckers, she's much more important to me.

May 3^rd , 2288

We've been tailing Alanya and her guards for a while now. Those bastards never let her off her feet. I nearly went in when one of them smacked her across the face but Piper held me back. That's when I heard her speak for the first time in over a month. She called that prick “my glorious raider master” and apologized for whatever wrong doing she had done. I'm going to enjoy murdering every last one of them.

May 5^th, 2288

Libertalia. Never seen such a place like this before. But it's just one fortified location to another. I watched her speaking to the raiders before a small amount of them left her. There were still too many and now there were a lot more. We now know where Alanya's being held. Just a matter of getting it to rescue her.

May 9^th, 2288

Finally saw her again. She was carrying a crate along the big ship in the back. I'd recognize her through a scope any day. It's weird saying that, but true. Saw a raider put his rifle on her crate and smack her ass. Just another fucker to gut.

May 13^th, 2288

Three months now since she's been gone from my side. I can't stand it, I want to rush in and get her but I know I'd be killed in an instant. Then who's going to save her from this hell? Piper and Heather confirm there's no safe way in other than the front entrance. Even to swim up to the boat, there's no way in. If we want to get her out alive we'll have to wait.

May 15^th, 2288

I swear I had my chance this morning. Those raiders who were sent off earlier returned and she was left to unload her goods. There was only one raider in power armor guarding her. But I was halfway across the road from the marina when I heard the whirling. Piper just managed to grab me when a mini nuke landed near my location. Heather said it came from the ship and before we knew it, Alanya was taken back to the large vessel.

May 17^th, 2288

That mistake turned out to be a blessing. Raiders came out after us following the misstep the other day so we were forced to move. This afternoon I saw her again. Stuffed in a cage hanging off the anchor near the back of the ship ready to be dropped in should there be anymore trouble from us. But if I can get to her in the water I can shoot out that lock and she can dive in next to me. There's not much time so we only had a brief go over of the plan. No diversion I'm just going in for her at night. Silenced round or loud round, I don't care. I'm hitting that fucking lock.

May 24^th, 2288

She's finally up and walking about the home. She spent so much time in bed shutting herself from the world. I stayed with her, wanted her to know I was there. Everyone else kept close but knew as well to not be right there. She needed room, she needed time. The things they did to her. I'm categorizing them here so the next time a raider or Gunner begs for their life I'll know they aren't worth saving.

Thankfully, all the Gunners did to Alanya was hand her over to some raiders at the drop off point. Still, they're no better in my eyes for starting this whole thing.

From there Alanya was taken to East City Downs where the raider boss, Eager Ernie, wanted her to work at repairing his racing robots. She refused so he started putting her on the track instead saying if she came in last he would kill her. After each race he'd destroy the last place robot and say that eventually Alanya would come in first AND last. Therefore, she was left with no choice but to start repairing the robots. That's where they cut her hair to make it into a “mane” and drew a circle on her head with a slash through it. Apparently, her racing name was “Zero” and that's how they always referred to her.

Apparently, the sight of the Minutemen general running laps for entertainment was such a lure that raiders from all over the Commonwealth came in to watch. Hence the up in the locations defenses. Some of them even brought their own captured racers to put on the track.

Pretty soon there were all these raider bosses who wanted a piece of Alanya for themselves. So much so that Ernie held an auction for her. Even put Alanya up on this platform in chains. Although the auction was a bust as this raider boss named Wire won with such a pitiful bid of two caps. Alanya didn't know why Ernie took the offer, he looked hesitant to her but the next thing she knew Wire was transporting her to his base at Libertalia.

There, she was told to make ammunition for the raiders weapons. When she refused they began to forcefeed her irradiated water. Gallons of it at a time. They would force her mouth open, dunk buckets in the water, and pour it out in her mouth and command her again after every third bucket. Eventually, Alanya broke down and said she would. By that point, she was made to promise she would because that's apparently what Minutemen do, they promise things.

Things then began small and quickly worked their way up. She would start by making the ammunition for the raiders to pick up. Then she would make the ammunition and deliver it. Then she would make the ammunition, and deliver it to each individual raider. Then began the “leaving ceremony” for when raiders would go out to harass the local populace. She would bless each one with luck and then kiss the barrels. Not the sides, but the fucking fronts of them so any raider with an itchy finger could blow her brains out. If any of these steps were missed, she would be strapped down and fed more water.

She was also transported back and forth between Libertalia and East City Downs to continue racing. Once more, last place meant death. If she didn't get first...strapped down and forcefed more water. Eventually her body just started to become bigger. Unfortunately, that might not be the only reason. Wire wanted more from her and I couldn't bare to hear. But apparently Alanya might be pregnant now. I'm not writing how many times I said it, but I hope Alanya got the message. That fucker is being dropped from the top of that ship. She was silent in response before saying she knew how they were intending on executing her.

It started from hr first few days as a “race horse”. They were going to chop off her head and launch it into the Commonwealth with a fatman. Ernie even made her polish the weapon daily and say things to it like “I can't wait for you to launch my head out”. She said her tone became sweeter as the days went on. When Wire heard about this he had her continue with the addition of her doing stories on the adventures of her head. For instance how a super mutant would find it and take it to their camp. Only for the camp to be overrun by raiders who would carve her head open and use it as an ashtray. The only catch to these stories was she had to use words like “powerful”, “righteous”, “almighty” and so on before the word “raider”. Every time. Apparently over time it just became second nature to her and it seemed “right” to her to use those terms.

I then told her that was enough. I trust she didn't tell them anything. After all, we weren't attacked in any of our settlements. But she began crying, telling me she didn't know what to do and I told her that we're going to kill them. Then she looked up at me, tears still in her eyes, and repeated those words again. “I don't know what to do.”

It took me a while to realize, I thought she was just upset. But no. For over three months straight she was commanded and abused for any signs of disobedience. She looks at herself in the mirror and says she deserved it. I don't know what it's going to take to get her mind back in order, but I feel I have a good starting point. When we corner those men, Ernie, Wire, the men who treated her like an animal...I'm going to give her the gun and she's going to blow their fucking brains out. She's going to take back her strength.