Enclave Inquiries [1/9]
**This is a small multi-part series based during the events of fallout 2.
Part of a collaborative work with Hecreat after I commissioned the art pieces. https://www.furaffinity.net/user/hecreat/
This specific sketch hasn't been posted until now. But I will reference each sibling piece on his page.**
It was meant to be like any other day. Kate awoke to her bedside alarm as she quickly turned it off. She rolled out of bed with a fluid motion, onto her feet and standing at attention as she saluted the glorious symbol of the enclave situated on her wall.
It was earlier than her usual time to wake up, a solid 4am. But any fatigue was easily banished by her enthusiasm and pride. A Sergeant as of a week ago and assigned to some important project off on the mainland that command wanted to keep under a strictly need-to-know basis. Just the fact she was trusted with this, the fruits of all her hard work, nearly had her jumping for joy!
But of course she didn't.
As her immaculately clean and orderly cabin suggested, she took to her job with the utmost professionalism. Blessed as she was to be born among the remains of the true america in this desolate world. But one the enclave would certainly correct in due time.
She marched to her closet, remaining stiff in her step as she retrieved her uniform. A black undercoat, form-fitting grey tunic and trousers, black leather belt, boots, gloves. And finally the lapel pin and cap emblazoned with the enclave's insignia.
She examined herself in the mirror, adjusting the gloves and boots as they reached forearm and thigh. Carefully tying every knot and clipping every strap to look as sharp and disciplined as physcially possible. It was hard to suppress the smile that crept over her face as she examined the noble figure in front of her. The uniform held tight to her womanly figure, sleek and strong, shaped by her regular excersize. She met her reflection with hazel eyes and fine chesnut hair, carefully groomed to meet the standard shoulder length. Everything she had aspired to be.
She combed her locks until not a strand was out of place, fixed any imaginable crease in her uniform, and stepped out into her new life above the rank and file.
...
"You want me to what?!" Kate asked sharply of the hunched and leering scientist in front of her.
The flight on the vertibird and into the mainland had been a simple affair. Landing at a rather sizeable facility nestled quietly in the shadow of a mountain. The design, landing strip, and exterior all to standard. But the second she entered it's halls something felt off. The shape and structure of the walls, the specific layout of security gates and reinforced doors. This place wasn't designed to keep people out. It was designed to keep something in. The halls specifically designed to herd something to specific lockdown areas with remote access...And as she reported to the scientist in charge of the project, technically her superior, her instincts proved correct.
"I want you to train our new experimental deathclaw recruits" the scientist answered, calmly adjusting his glasses as he met her indignity with utter indifference.
"They..THESE" her practiced composure crumbled as she gestured towards a window. Thier office and lab overlooking a large and reinforced sterile room. At it's center were two massive bipedal reptiles, while it was only at a glance, Kate had them pinned at a bare minimum of 9ft in stature. Broad and powerful figures with fine brown scale over tough leathery skin. Each with a pair of mighty sloped horns that curved and ducked outward to give each a unique crown of ridged and intimidating bone.
"They're MUTANTS!" she almost snarled as the diminutive doctor gave no care nor response to her almost frantic gesticulation. "They are weapons" his stoic retort. "Mutant animals or not, we can utilize them for combat. And you were entrusted with a most critical part in this program's success". "Unless you would rather real americans wastefully die against horrors of the wasteland" a sneer creeping to his lips as Kate felt a shudder creep down her spine.
This went against everything she thought she stood for. The enclave would never tolerate mutants, it was a force for the purity of mankind! And yet...As she looked at the beasts within that lower room. Each with an enormous plasma rifle slung over thier backs. She couldn't deny there was a certain logic to facing the mutagenic horrors of the world with creature adapted to it.
Kate relented, her shoulders slumping for a brief pause as she gave a sigh. "This is not going to be an easy assignment...