"Alright," I said, "let's go. Jake, you take Piper to the security post and draw vests and helmets. As much as I like your outfit, you need some more protection. Paul, find Preston and tell him we need backup."

 

"What about you?" he asked.

 

"I need to get into my power suit. I have it stored in my office downtown. We'll all meet up in front of the plutonium well once we've got our gear."

 

Jake cocked his head a little, "don't you need help to get into the power suit?"

 

"Normally, yeah, but I figure I'll only need it for an hour or two, max, so I can skip all the life support connectors and those are most of the work. Come one, chop chop."

 

Suiting up did indeed take considerably less time when I wasn't stuffing every orifice with sensors, probes, and medical devices. I couldn't mount the backpack and that meant that I couldn't count on any help from the drug injection system, but the armored skin should still provide me with much more protection than my Vault Suit. I also grabbed the laser musket Preston had given me; I didn't trust my shotgun in a close quarters fight around hostages - too much risk of hitting a friendly with a stray shot.

 

When we met in front of the plutonium well, I saw that Jake and Piper had been successful in drawing armor from the security stores, and both of them looked ready for a fight.

 

 

"Let's not waste any  time," I said, "we need to get to Ridge as fast as we can."

 

"Agreed," said Jake. "Lead on."

 

We got there without a moment to spare - the raiders looked like they were getting to move their hostages out of town. 

 

"Hold it!" the closest one shouted when he spotted us. "Take one step closer, and I shoot!"

 

I kept my gun ready, but didn't aim it at the raider. Trying for conciliation in my voice, I said, "easy, I just want to talk."

 

 

"Talk? Talk? I'm here to do more than talk!"

 

I considered the raider. He was filthy and looked seriously malnourished. I was pretty sure he hadn't been enjoying a lot of success in his career as an outlaw. 

 

"What do you want?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

 

"You wasted a whole bunch of us at Concord, so now I want you to watch some of your own people die. You like how that sounds? We got a deal?"

 

 

I didn't have any objection to burning him down with my laser musket, but I wasn't confident I could get off a shot before he did. So I tried to appeal to his greed and his probably-empty stomach. "Would a hundred caps change your mind?" I asked.

 

Jake turned to me with a 'what just came out of your mouth?' look on his face, but the raider lowered his weapon.

 

"That's not much," he grumbled, "but... I guess it'll do."

 

 

The raider leaned back to the treeline where his friends were standing. "Alright, boys, I think they learned their lessons."

 

One voice came back, reedy and unsure, "I thought we were going to get payback for what they did to Snakebite?"

 

"Shut up," the apparent leader hissed, "shut up and do what I tell you."

 

That seemed to quiet the dissenter, and after a moment the raiders filed off into the woods. As the skinny one passed by me, he turned to me.

 

"Hey beauty, do you have a moment?" he asked.

 

"What do you want?" I made sure my rifle could get on him fast if he tried something.

 

"You were... you were something hot when you stood up to us like that. How'd you like to, you know, get to know me better?"

 

 

I smirked and patted my musket. "You've got some balls trying to proposition me after pulling a stunt like that. Tell me this... did you run with a girl named Jan Willis?"

 

He looks confused for a second, then a light kind of went off in his head. "You mean Willy Bones? Yeah, I ran with her. Hell of a safecracker. She still alive?"

 

"Indeed she is," I said. "And she's one of us now. Maybe I should take you to see her and find out if you really have what it takes to, um, get to know me better."

 

The raider looked even more confused, but then he tentatively nodded. In a small voice he said, "yeah, I'd like to see her again. That would be nice."

 

"Fine, turn around and hold still. I'm not letting you into Concord without some insurance."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"I'm going to put a collar on you with an explosive charge. If you try to double-cross me, you won't live to regret it."

 

He scrunched up his face like he was thinking, but before he could give me an answer his stomach let out a loud growl.

 

"Oh, OK." he said, turning around. I retrieved a collar from my utility pack and put it around his neck. The scrawny raider was shaking as I clicked it into place.

 

 

"Jesus," I said, "when was the last time you ate?"

 

"I... I don't remember. Couple days ago I think?"

 

Jake approached me then, looking kind of unhappy. "I'm glad that's over," he said, then added, mumbling, "not the way I would have done it though."

 

I shrugged. "Sorry, Jake, it seemed like the only way to save the guy he had his gun on. And it worked, right?"

 

"Fair point. Say, this maybe isn't the most appropriate time, but I wanted to ask you something."

 

"Go ahead," I said. "What's on your mind."

 

Between the tall boots on the power suit and Jake's lack of a Vault Suit, he was looking up at me as he spoke. "This may seem abrupt be... the Commonwealth. You've seen enough of it to form an opinion. What do you think?"

 

 

"The Commonwealth's dying, Jake. Everywhere I look, I see the remains of failed settlements. And the supposedly safe zones, the trade hubs and secure towns? They're all just one big crisis away from collapse. It's amazing they're surviving at all."

 

"Exactly! It's been over two hundred years since the war, and people haven't even finished picking up the pieces."

 

Piper chimed in, "it's not even that. Things are worse - much worse - than they were 50 years ago. I wasn't around for it of course, but everyone says things were looking up in the time of the Commonwealth Provisional Government. Now... well, Blue said it better than I could."

 

"But that's my point," Jake said, "it doesn't have to be that way! There's no reason we can't bring back at least a measure of civilization to this place."

 

I nodded, "it's what I'm trying to do, Jake."

 

"I know, I know, but you need to look bigger. What you did in Concord, kicking out the raiders, making a safe place for people to sleep, building a community... imagine if the whole Commonwealth could do that."

 

 

"It sounds like you have a plan in mind, Jake. Tell me."

 

"You've already seen firsthand what the ASAMs can do. And we were just talking about doing more with them before... this mess happened."

 

"So you can do more with the sensors? Things like Lily was imagining?"

 

"That, and more, but I need a partner. Someone with the skills to get old tech working and the vision to employ it."

 

"Now you're just flattering me."

 

"Yes I am. So, what do you say? You and me working together to rebuild the Commonwealth?"

 

 

"Are you saying you want to put on the Vault Suit? Officially join up?"

 

"Eh... 'want' is maybe too strong a word. Listen, it's nothing personal. I just value my independence, that's all."

 

"I sense a 'but' in there."

 

"Yeah, but I'm willing to sign on with you to get this done. Saving the Commonwealth is too important."

 

"Then you've got a deal, Jake. Consider your ASAM project officially sanctioned by Vault 111."

 

"Ha! Hell yeah!" he hooted, "You are not going to regret this!"

 

While we talked, a light drizzle had started up, and I pointed back towards Sanctuary. "Let's talk more on the way back. We need to check in with Preston and update him on what happened."

 

When we got back to Sanctuary, I peeled out of my armor and then helped get Jake fitted for a Vault Suit. At the same time, I had a runner sent ahead to Concord with instructions to have a punishment suit fabricated - fit for a man. I had a feeling I was going to need it. 

 

In the meanwhile, I had the Sanctuary guards babysit the raider while I filled in Preston on recent events. As you might imagine, he wasn't entirely thrilled.

 

 

"Charley," he insisted, "you can't just go telling people that I'm a Colonel. Even if you just go by the people under my command, I'm a Captain at best. You can't set unrealistic expectations like that."

 

"I'm setting expectations based on what I know you're capable of, Preston," I challenged. "Yes, today you've got a few dozen people under your command, but tomorrow? Next month? This summer? If you're serious about restarting the Minutemen, then you'll have hundreds of men under your command before you know it. Plus, if you're going to deal with Vault 81 from a position of authority, you need a title that matches."

 

Preston still looked uncomfortable. "And while we're at it," he continued, "I'm not sure I like the confrontational stance you've taken with Vault 81. Our priority should be - has to be - an emphasis on cooperation and mutual aid."

 

"Trust me, I know. But this is the best we were going to get from them right now. They're afraid of us, Preston, and fear drives people to bad decisions. This was a huge compromise from them - what they wanted was for us all to disappear and never come back. Now we've got some breathing room to put their fears to rest, and your Minutemen project is critical to that."

 

Preston dropped into his chair with a sigh.

 

"I don't like it," he reiterated, "but I understand. Still, this means we need to make some changes. I can't have the Minutemen wearing 111 colors if that's going to be controversial."

 

"I was thinking the same thing on the way up," I admitted. "I think you need your own uniforms. I met someone from the Nightingales recently, by the way, and the encounter got me thinking of the importance of the Minutemen having a distinct appearance. Something to set your people aside from everyone else. Do you want to take on that project?"

 

He nodded. "I think that's best. Keep it entirely separate from 111."

 

"OK, then I'll keep hands off on the uniforms. What about operations? What have you be planning while I was gone."

 

Piper perked up at this. "Your Minutemen are already on the move? That's amazing news."

 

"Not on the move just yet, but soon. And Ms. Wright, this is not for reporting - not yet. I want to maintain security on these operations. Charley, our perimeter around Concord is holding, but just barely. We've been getting probes by groups of robots that are well armed and extremely hostile, and it's making it hard to maintain supply lines between our outposts. I think we need to push the perimeter out further, maybe establish some purely defensive strongpoints like we did at the quarry. I have two plans I've worked up, and which one I go with really depends on you."

 

"Tell me," I said. 

 

"OK, The first option is what I call the railroad plan. The goal is to interdict hostiles coming in from the Malden, Saugus, and points east at the rail line that runs down near Lexington. We'd start by clearing the ghouls out of Bedford station and turning it into a Minutemen camp, then move north to control the heights west of Route 3 - there's a little farming settlement there called Tenpines Bluff that we'd secure. At the same time, we'd scout south to find a place where we could establish a base north of Lexington. We don't have the manpower to make a move on Lexington itself yet, but we want to contain it. The last part is on you: there's a farm to the south called Graygarden. Its an old, prewar farm, totally automated. Most folks have trouble dealing with the robots there, but you... well, you speak their language. You might have a shot of forming an alliance with them.

 

"Got it, so that's the part that depends on me. If I can't get Graygarden to throw in with us?"

 

"Then we need to shorten our lines and put more resources into defending the south. That's what I call the highway plan. In that plan, we'd delay the attack on Bedford Station and instead take over the abandoned town near Farrar Pond."

 

"The old country club that got turned into a hippie commune?" I asked.

 

Preston shrugged, "you'd know better than me, but its strategically located to protect the south of our control zone. We'd still also want to establish a presence at Tenpines Bluff and set up a forward base near Lexington, but in this plan we'd set up somewhere west of the city instead and supply it from the Drumlin Diner."

 

"What about Olivia?" Jake interjected.

 

"The old Air Force base?" I asked, "I thought we'd already taken care of the raiders that were operating there."

 

Preston shook his head, "afraid not. The ones you ran out of there have been replaced by a new gang. But they're weak and can't threaten Concord. We need to deal with them eventually, but we don't have the resources right now... not without compromising more important operations at least."

 

"Well, Preston? Colonel? Here's the thing. Those raiders up at Olivia have something that Charley needs."

 

"They do?" I asked. "Care to explain?"

 

 

"Remember how I was telling you about doing more things with the ASAMs? The raiders at Olivia have something in their possession that I need to open up more options. It's a control terminal that'll let us reprogram the sensors. Um, like a key to open up blocked off options."

 

I nodded, "digital rights management." 

 

"You obviously know the lingo better than me, but if we can get that terminal, we can do a lot more with the ASAMs."

 

I turned to Preston. 

 

"Just how weak are the raiders at Olivia? Do you think I could lead a small team up there without tying up your resources?"

 

Garvey thought about that and nodded, "normally I'd say no, but with your power suit I think you'd have just the extra bit of shock and surprise you need. You could do it as long as you brought along a few shooters for backup."

 

 

"What do you think, Jake, Piper, up for shooting up some raiders?"

 

Piper smiled, "you know how I feel about raiders."

 

Similarly, Jake agreed, "I figured it would be us going in there from the start."

 

"OK," I said, "then we'll hit Olivia in a day or two. For now, let's get back to Concord and oversee our new friend's reunion."

 

"One more thing," Preston cut in. "If the Minutemen are going to be independent of Vault 111, then we need our own headquarters. No more intermingling our administrative business with the Vault's."

 

"I agree," I responded right away, "that's a smart move. Do you have somewhere in mind?"

 

"The Museum of Freedom in Concord," he said. "It's where we had our baptism of fire, so to speak. Where the Minutemen were reborn."

 

"As far as I know, no one's moved into the Museum yet. Consider it yours."

 

We wrapped up the meeting at that point, with a plan to continue after the Olivia operations and get a solid grip on which one of Preston's operational plans we'd go with. I explained to him that in either event, Graygarden or the country club would be 111 territory, while Bedford Station or the Lexington forward base would be an independent Minutemen holding - though 111 would still supply it. Along with their headquarters in the Museum, this would be a good step towards building up the Minutemens' reputation separate from Vault 111. With that settled, we hit the road, arriving in Concord around 10 o'clock. 

 

The next morning, I asked Carl, the raider that I'd been leading around since the attack on Ridge, if he was ready to see his friend. He nodded enthusiastically.

 

"Yeah, thank you. I was sure she was dead."

 

"Then follow me. Afterwards, we need to have a serious talk about your future, however."

 

He nodded, some nervous tension showing in his features. "Yeah, I know. Like I said, thanks for this chance before... whatever we come to next."

 

 

Jan was just coming down from the rooftop farm, probably due for a break when Carl caught sight of her.

 

"Willy? Is that really you?"

 

The ex-raider turned with a little gasp. "Carl? What are you doing here?"

 

"I... uh... I screwed up, Willy."

 

"You dope," she grunted, "come here."

 

Jan pulled Carl into an embrace, planting a passionate kiss on his face.

 

 

"I never thought I was going to see you again," she said between kisses.

 

"Well... here I am?" he answered tentatively.

 

Once they'd finished their reunion, Jan turned to me. "How'd you end up catching Carl?"

 

"Him and his friends tried to raid the settlement at Ridge. Fortunately, no one got hurt."

 

She breathed a sigh of relief. "So you're not going to execute him then?"

 

"Wait, execute me?" Carl asked, apparently surprised.

 

"You do know that there's a shoot-on-sight policy for raiders, right?" Jake asked.

 

"But... I thought we could make a deal or something. Isn't that what you wanted to talk to me about before?"

 

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to offer you the same deal I offered to Jan... Willy?"

 

She smiled sheepishly, "It's a nickname. But if you don't mind?"

 

"Fine, sure, Willy it is. But yes, there's a catch." I turned to Carl, "you're not off the hook for that stunt you pulled at Ridge. Just like with Willy, you need to pay your debt to society. You put on the punishment suit, you work hard and don't make trouble, and eventually you can become a citizen of Concord, and then your slate's wiped clean. What do you think?"

 

Carl took a step back and looked at Willy's outfit. "Punishment suit, you said?"

 

Willy laughed, "it's not that bad, Carl. Its good for you posture and it teaches you to depend on others in the community."

 

Now it was Jake's turn to laugh. "Willy, that's the most diplomatic way I've ever heard the punishment suit described."

 

"What can I say, in another life I might have been a door to door salesman. Instead, I got to be a safecracker."

 

"Fine, but we're getting off topic," I said. "What'll it be, Carl? You want to pay your debt to the people of Concord?"

 

Carl grimaced but eventually answered sheepishly, "yeah, I'll do it."

 

"Then drop your trousers and we'll get you suited up."

 

Carl complied quickly, and I nodded in appreciation. "Well, you know how to follow directions. That's a good start."

 

 

"Now lean forward and put your hands on that lamp post," I directed. "Lily!" I called across the street to the general store, "can you bring the suit please?"

 

Carl did as I instructed as Lily left her store with a small package under her arm. She opened it up and withdrew a fresh punishment suit along with some wet wipes and a bottle of lubricant. After wiping away the dirt and grime from his backside, Lily first lubed up the suit's indwelling nozzle and then did the same for her own finger.

 

 

Carl gasped and twisted around as the first finger slid into his anus. "What are you doing?"

 

"Just getting you ready for the suit," I said. "Calm down and stay still." 

 

Lily probed and stretched a little more, until she'd loosened the raider's back passage enough that she could slide the long, tapered nozzle up and into him.

 

"Aaah, that's too big," he protested.

 

"You're really not in a position to complain," I pointed out. "From now on, you aren't going to be doing any shitting without the help of a member of the community. And, I'm sure you can imagine, if you run away you're going to be very uncomfortable, very fast. Now let's get you suited up."

 

Lily and I helped Carl in the the arm and leg pieces of the punishment suit, then held the chestplate in place as the screws automatically sunk through his flesh and into the bones of his sternum. I felt a little bad for Carl; he was crying now, clearly handling the pain with a lot less grace than Willy had. 

 

"Shh, it's almost over," I promised. "And besides, you might like this part."

 

Lily started to tighten and adjust the straps of the body harness while I took a firm but gentle grip on his penis. Unlike the female version of the punishment suit, the vibratron module was considerably larger and had a narrow opening in the center. After applying just a little bit of lube, I threaded his fleshy organ through the hole and pulled it out until the vibratron was flush with his pubis.

 

"OK, Lily, can you calibrate the vibratron please?"

 

The slender woman laughed. "I don't know, Willy might get jealous."

 

"No, I want to watch this," she said. "Sounds like it'll be more interesting then when you set it up for me."

 

"Oh, that's for sure. Winter walked me through the process, but this is the first time we've got to do it for real."

 

Winter turned Carl around and then activated the vibratron. The device let out a low rumble and almost immediately the raider's (I suppose now it's officially 'former raider's') cock started to twitch.

 

 

"OK, Carl, try not to make a mess. I'm going to adjust the speed until it's just right."

 

She fiddled with the device, gauging its effect with one hand around his shaft. Winter had told me about this before I went on my vacation - the installer is supposed to monitor the strength of the pulse in the subject's cock. Too slow, and the vibratron won't be effective; too fast and the subject will blow their load and then be into refraction - again, no longer effective. All the while, Carl was grunting and twitching. After a while, Willy started laughing and Carl turned bright red. 

 

"Willy," he whined, "you're making it worse!"

 

Then, with a sudden burst of motion, he grabbed Lily by the hair and pulled her face down onto his cock, thrusting against her face.

 

"Hey, let-" she managed before her mouth was full.

 

 

"Sorry! Sorry!" Carl said plaintively as he bucked. A moment later he regained his self-control and released Lily, who coughed and spat up a thick wad of Carl's cum.

 

"Carl," I said sternly, "that was not appropriate. Somebody go put him in the pillory and give him his first cleaning. He's obviously overflowing."

 

As one of the guards led Carl away, I turned to Lily, "Are you OK?"

 

"Ugh, I'm fine. I'm fine. But next time you're going to have one of the punishment crew handle the calibration." She looked down at the multiple ropes of fresh cum running down her breasts. "Give me one of those wet wipes... then I need a shower."

 

 

Jake looked to me and shook his head, "that was... something."

 

"The suits are all built around positive and negative conditioning. Obviously, the vibratron is geared towards the positive reinforcement side."

 

"So I saw. But isn't it a little, um, morally complicated to use sex as a, what? A teaching tool? A reward?"

 

"Ask me that question again in a couple years, when Willy and Carl have earned their citizenship. Until then, let's give the reconditioning protocol the benefit of the doubt."

 

Jake didn't look completely convinced, and I turned to him with a serious look on my face. 

 

"You didn't have these moral concerns when we used the punishment suit on Willy."

 

I saw a flash of some kind of defensive look in his eyes, like he was getting ready to argue, but then he visibly checked himself.

 

"You're right, I didn't. But somehow this seems different."

 

"He took the suit voluntarily."

 

"To be with his girlfriend, and probably to save his own life. That's not really a free choice."

 

"Maybe, but he did have a choice."

 

"And you made a spectacle out of suiting him up."

 

"I did, but we did Willy in public too. I don't want to hide punishment behind closed doors - the community owns a degree of responsibility for all of the policies we maintain, including how we deal with crime. They need to be comfortable with - or at least exposed to - the execution of those policies."

 

"But it was so... graphic." Jake waved a hand in Lily's general direction.

 

"That much I'll own up to. Next time we, um, enroll a male prisoner in rehabilitation, we're going to need to restrain him so we don't get any, ah, unplanned face fucking."

 

"Unplanned... facefucking. Charley, has anyone told you that you have a real way with words?"

 

"What can I say, I was a lawyer before the war."

 

"Now I understand why they say 'first, kill all the lawyers.' There's something wrong with you people."

 

"The full quote is, 'the first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers,' and it was a popular sentiment in my time. But you're just trying to change the subject. Jake, you're mad because we humiliated a man in the town square and we took away his bodily autonomy. But we did the same thing to a woman. We did her daily cleanings right across the street from your shop. You never complained."

 

"But this time..."

 

"...this time, it was a man getting the treatment. Jake, I want you to understand, in our society, we don't discriminate between men and women, and that includes in the justice system. Can you handle that concept?"

 

 

"Ooh, I'd like to know the answer to that also," Piper chimed in. She'd been following us a few paces back and had clearly been well in earshot for the conversation.

 

Jake looked thoughtful, and didn't answer right away. Then he let out a long sigh. "I don't know, Charley. Maybe I'm just too old fashioned. But I'll try to wrap my head around it. I'll try."

 

I patted my hand on his shoulder. "That's all I'm asking, Jake. You said it yourself that the Commonwealth's in trouble. You also said that I had the potential to make it better. I'm going to do that by trying something new. Just bear with me - if I'm right, the results will speak for themselves. Now come on, let's figure out how we're going to do the Olivia job. And then after - Piper, do you want to see how the power suit works?"

 

"Ooh, would I ever!"

 

"Just no photos, at least, no photos in the paper without clearing them first. This is 'military secret' stuff."

 

Before Piper could answer that demand, a familiar voice called out to me.

 

"Charley, come here!"

 

"Winter?" I asked, turning. "Winter!"

 

I pulled her into a tight hug and we kissed. In the distance I heard Piper mutter, "I am asking once again, Blue, just how many lovers do you have?"

 

 

Winter snorted as I pulled her in for another kiss.

 

"Charley, you're filthy. and you're getting it on me. Jesus, go take a shower. But wait, first, listen. We got something on the radio!"