The traders’ rumors about Far Harbor were not only woefully outdated, but also severely downplayed the madness of the Children of Atom. Edward, Sarah and the other members of the Nexus expedition listened closely to the briefing provided by Captain Avery in the morning after. It did not paint a pretty picture at all.
“When I came back here, a few years ago, things were cold but polite with the church of Atom. We had some disputes about the Fog and such, but things didn’t escalate too much. Then about a year or so back, they went quiet. Abandoned all of their outposts and caves to pull back to their main camp.”
The other Harbormen around Olympia Avery grunted and nodded at points throughout her tale, a few looking like they wanted to interrupt, though they held themselves back.
“A couple of our more curious folk decided to take a look, and they came running back after they found the Children pouring out of the hunk of concrete called the Nucleus. They weren’t coming for us, thankfully. ” The locals frowned as the captain paused for a moment, that particular memory etched onto the people of Far Harbor.
“But almost as bad, they hit Acadia. The synth hideout. They were decent people…and they didn’t stand a chance against the rad-suckers. The place was razed, the synths massacred.” Captain Avery took a second, her features falling into sorrow as she recalled that dark day. “Brooks is the only synth left now. Only reason he survived was because he’s working here.”
She gave a heavy sigh before shaking away the despair and returning to face the Nexus soldiers. “You’ve seen what happened to the cultists. Somehow they became…that, and they’ve been marching out every night ever since. First Acadia, and then they killed or chased away the Trappers who used to be a nuisance all through the island. And after a few months, they turned their attention to us.”
Edward and his comrades shared a concerned glance before he posed a question. “So, they’ve been heavily mutated since that first incident?”
The captain and other Harbormen nodded grimly. “Yeah. Tough as shit to kill unless you land really good hits on the head and heart, like you lot found out. We lost a lot of good Harbormen before we realized that. Only good thing is that they’re about as stupid as ghouls now and more cowardly than radstags. Ain’t seen any of them use guns or even sticks anymore, though if you’re not careful they’ll tear off your arms if you let them.”
After getting a general layout of the island and a bit more details on the various landmarks, Edward held a private meeting with his group, along with a live stream with Sev and the others in Caladan. Sev was thoughtfully quiet for a moment after Edward and Sarah relayed what they knew to him, with Desdemona and Dr Li trading whispers.
“The mission priority has not changed,” Sev declared after his moment of silence, “Eradicate the Children of Atom. Cleanse the island thoroughly. On the chance that they’ve crossed into the mainland, we’ll have to reassess whether to send the Sentinels over. Considering we’re dealing with potential radioactive bullshit, securing prisoners is not a high priority. You can call in the bots to carry away the corpses whenever you feel is convenient.”
The expedition members nodded sharply. “Understood Sev,” Edward confidently replied. “We won’t fail you.”
“I’m sure you won’t. Don’t hesitate to call on reinforcements. The mission’s importance does not override your survival out there. And a good commander does not let pride or arrogance cloud their judgment.”
After securing the corpses of the Children in a quiet spot outside Far Harbor, the expedition made a beeline for Acadia while the sun was still up. The Fog was light, and the radiation barely registered by the advanced power armor of the Nexus Sardaukar, though the island’s mutated fauna occasionally appeared and needed to be put down with blades and armored hands.
“Hm, no sign of metaphysical influence on the mutations of the wildlife,” Sarah noted as she nudged the corpse of a gulper, its head lolling loosely after she had twisted its neck violently. The group had so far encountered the mutated amphibians along with fish-like anglers and fog crawler crustaceans, and dispatched them with ease. “So the good news is that whatever’s affecting the Children isn’t transmitted to the environment.”
“And the bad news?” Kyle asked.
“The Fog’s definitely a bit eldritch, so we’ll have to hope purging the Children clears that up. Otherwise….” Sarah gave a light shrug and turned her gaze to the general direction of Far Harbor. “Hope the locals don’t mind moving back to the Nexus. We’d be risking overextension trying to protect them out here.”
With nothing to really slow the expedition, the observatory dome of Acadia soon came into view. Even near a mile out, Edward could feel something dark leaking from the seemingly intact structure, though since the runes were lighting up, it must just be his gut instincts. As they got closer and trekked up the mountain, they found the telltale remains of battle scattered in specific areas. Broken fortifications, triggered traps, a trail of corpses… The defenders definitely sold their land and lives dearly, though the rad cultist’s feral savagery inevitably overran every position.
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Edward felt a great sorrow for the synths, to finally find their haven away from the old Institute, only to end up butchered and literally torn limb from limb by a bunch of maniacs. They died free, but it was still not a good way to go.
If speculation was on point, these Children of the Atom had suffered some sort of backlash when Sev killed their god. The dates lined up, but with the new world of the eldritch only starting to be explored, it was at best an educated guess.
When they finally reached the top of the mountain, the commander found himself frowning at the ruins of Acadia’s grounds. The scrap metal and salvaged wooden walls had all been broken down, some panels barely visible from the carpet of rag-clothed bodies covering them. In fact, there were plenty of the lunatics’ bodies blanketing the place. Most had their head caved in or their bodies completely charred black, though a few were messily impaled or flattened by what seemed like a car’s husk sent tumbling downhill.
It was a brutal fight, and here and there the remains of a synth body could be found, identified only due to the scraps of once better quality attire pasted onto chunks of flesh, or from faces that were not sunken and rad-damaged. Broken rifle stocks and bent barrels showed just how desperate the fighting was that guns became clubs.
If not for the air-filters in their helm, Edward was sure the stench of decay in the air would’ve overwhelmed the team.
Sarah was frowning as she strode through the bodies, squatting down to take a closer look at something every now and then. Edward couldn’t help his curiosity. “Find something?”
Her reply was full of doubt and concern. “I’m not sure… I hope not.”
That did not sound good at all.
They trudged up the stairs and into the busted open entrance of the observatory, and Edward felt his stomach drop as he entered. Even the camps of the most callous slaver gangs he’d raided had a less foreboding atmosphere in them. The interior was either shrouded in darkness or flickered from damaged lighting. With the aid of his helmet’s multi-spectrum optics, he made out more corpses filling the hallway and rooms, again mostly from the Atom cultists. Several rings of corpses told of valiant last stands as the synths fought off the tide of rad-bathed madmen for as long as they could. A few scorch marks and mangled bodies marked the site of grenade clusters being detonated…likely as the last act of the synths before they were overrun.
The observatory’s huge telescope partially blocked the main passageway, the dried bloodstains on it suggesting the kills it racked up as it was dropped and smashed through concrete and cultists. Behind it, under the observatory’s dome, the expedition found far more synth body parts than ever. This was likely where they held their last stand, where they died to the last. A Gen-2 synth was scattered throughout the room just as liberally as the other human synths.
As they went through every hall and room in the building, it became clear that the Children of Atom surged into the site like a flash flood and scoured Acadia of every sign of life. They also irrevocably destroyed most of the more advanced electronics (or they were scuttled by the synths), leaving behind charred husks of data banks and computers.
Save for the corpses for studying, nothing of worth was left in Acadia. The Nexus had arrived too late to aid the liberated synths or learn potentially enlightening information from them. Hopefully futures freed from slavery snuffed out far too soon, and simply because this place was so far out of the Nexus’s zone of influence.
Edward sighed heavily as he stood in the ruined and blood-tainted hydroponics lab, and began to wonder just how many other desolate sites like this littered the wasteland of the world, places too far away for Sev and the Nexus to effectively give aid.
Then he glanced at Sarah Lyons who had come down after conducting a ritual back in the dome. The grim look on her face turned the young commander’s blood cold with trepidation.
“I tried using a rite to get a headcount of bodies,” Sev’s military advisor reported. “I double checked, and got on call with Madison and the other occultists to be sure. Sixty-two synth corpses in total.” There was a pause as the gathered expedition members waited for Sarah to drop the other shoe.
“All of them male. There are no female synths here, dead or alive.”