After atomic fire burned the Earth in 2077, life begain it's long, slow climb back to normalicy. In Vault 543, located in the once lush forests of north California, our protaginest is born. Life was simple, for a time. You were born in the vault, became educated, and on your 18th birthday were left with a choice: stay or go. That was the way it was when the bombs fell, it's the way things are now. Most people decided to stay in the safty of the Vault rather than brave the irradiated land to attempt to kick-start humanity. And those who left offten never came back. Wither or not they were alive, those that did learn the laws of the Wasteland either were Raiders or starting a civilization.

And there were the rare few that dedicated themselves to a higher standard of living; those who had nothing left to lose. A week after Henry's 17th birthday, Raiders breatched the Vault. Eventually, they were pushed back and the Vault sealed once more, but not after many casualties. Henry's parents being two of them. Devestated by the loss of the two people in the entire world that mattered to him, Henry left the Vault the very morning he turned 18. Unsure of what to do in this unforgiving land, he wandered aimlessly until he stumbled upon and Old World bunker with all the technology of the Old World preserved from the flames and rads.

After proper training and outfitting, Henry became a Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel, loyaling following his Paladin leader out into the Wasteland to recover Old World tech and eleminate groups of Raiders. And this became his life; for a long time. On his 27th birthday, spent on a scavange mission to the Shasta Dam ruins, his Paladin leader was slain by Super muntants that had claimed the Dam for themselves. Using radio tech they had found and replicated a few years ago, Henry was promoted to the rank of Paladin, to replace his fallen leader and friend.

More than happy to accept but grief striken at the loss of one of the few people he considered a friend, Henry then proceeds to secure the Dam and scavenge whatever they could carry. Our story begins the day after the death of Paladin Richard Hues.

***

"Clear!" Henry said as he entered the main control room. He could feel his friends holotages jingle lightly against his own. He would never forget the memory of his leader, his friend. He would carry this to his grave, witch could very well be here if he didn't tread carfully. "Wow, that sure was one helluva fight, huh?" Ned said dryly. Zoe glared at him through her helmet. "Now isn't the time, Ned." She said, hostility dripping from her words. Ned opened his mouth to protest with another smart-ass remark when Henry spoke up. "That's enough, you two. I will not have you bickering like kids while we're on the clock." Henry said with command in his voice.

"Sure thing, captn'." Ned said, earning a knock on the forehead from Zoe. Henry ignored his friend, instead lowering his laser rifle to inspect the computer termanel. Sighing, Henry turned to Ned,"Hey, if you're done making an ass of yourself, get on this computer. We need to find out what this dam has and get back the the Citidale." Ned glanced at the grime covered machine. "Damn, that things a dinosore. And not a clean one, either. I'll see if I can get her to talk." Ned said approching it.

"Zoe, let's make sure there arn't any more assholes that want to try and get their little dam back." Henry said, heading for the exit. "Right." Zoe said, brining her gatling laser to the ready. "Don't be to long. I get lony without anybody to talk to. Or watch my ass while I'm neck deep in computer parts." Ned called after them. "Ned, I swear to God, one more smart-ass response, and the only thing you'll have to watch is my foot in your ass." Zoe said irritated with her squadmates inability to show respect and self-control. "Kinky..." Ned muttered under his breath as the two exited the room.

After sweeping a few office rooms, a storage closet and the finally, dilapitated generator, Henry and Zoe headed back to the main control room to regroup with Ned. "I didn't hear any Super mutant basterds scream for mercy, so I take it we're all alone?" Ned asked when his friends re-entered the room. Zoe shot daggers at him once again, but Henry ignored the comment. "That would be corect. Gicen that your still on your ass, that computer hasn't worked yet, has it?" Henry asked to Ned, currently on his back, helmet off as he messed with some wires under the termanle.

Ned scooted forward to and looked at Henry with dissapointment in his green eyes. "Yup. She's really busted up." Ned sighed. "Nothing I can't fix, though." Ned said, dissapearing under the computer once more. "Yeah, yeah, just get it done Egghead." Zoe said, removing her helmet and letting her long brown hair tumble out. Ned grumbled to himself as he continued re-routing power. Henry removed his own helmet, in need of a rest from yesterdays sleepless night. Zoe walked over to him and sat in an old swivile chair next to Henry, leaning on a termanle well past salvegeing anything from. "Hey, are you ok? From... you know..."

"Yeah, let's focuse on the objective, alright?" Henry looked her in her blue and gold eyes. After a moment, he turned away, looking at Ned continue his repair work. Zoe opened her mouth and closed it, knowing that Henry wouldn't want to talk about Richard's death for now. Silence conquered the room for a long time, with occasional zaps and complaints from Ned, followed by a laugh from Zoe. Henry had turned his gaze to a dirt-covered photo when Ned jumped up in tiumph. "And God said 'Let there be light'! Ha ha haaa!"

"Took you long enough." Zoe said with a smirk. Ned glared at her,"Ha ha, I'd like to see you do this shit, jarhead." Ned said with venom dripping from his voice. "You can bitch to one another AFTER we figure out if anything here is worth our time. Ned, get on it." Henry said. Distracted from their coustomary arguments over who was better, Ned pulled up an old chair and got to work. After a few moments of the clacking of rusty keys, Henry broke the silence again. "Find anything?"

"Welp, do you want the good news or the bad news first?" Ned asked, not looking away from the moniter. "Shit, bad news first. God knows we always need more of that." Henry said, dissapointed with their choices. "Bad news, this computers reactivation triped the encoding firewall and I don't have the skill to get around it without wreaking the manifest data and this office." Ned said, breaking away from the screen to look at Henry. "Huh, a computer you can't hack? That's a first." Zoe said, with another smirk. "Duly noted, good news is that theres something hidden and worthwhile in this pile of rubble. And I know just the person that can get us to it." Ned said, returning to the moniter.

"Really? and who would that be?" Henry asked scepticale at their luck. "I can't remember her name, Twi Lit or something like that. She's a Scribe back in the Citidale. Student of Commander Celestia herself. Really gifted girl." Ned said, powering down the moniter. Zoe had a look of thought on her face, a rare look, but both Henry and Ned knew she would be right about whatever she was going to talk about from past experiance. By the time Henryhad put his power armour helmet back on, and Ned locate his after a small search and place his helmet back on.

"I think I remember that name... Twilight! Yeah, that's her! We used to be bunkmates, back in training." Zoe said, placing her helmet on as well. "Bunkmates in training, huh? Did you, uh, explore th-"

"Is she still there?" Henry asked before the perverted side of Ned could emerge. "Yeah, I haven't seen her in a while, but she should still be there." Zoe responded before Ned could finish his thought. "Good, let's go git her and the noob their going to stick with us and lets get whats hidden here." Henry said. "Move out."

***

After the three day journy back to the Citidale, Henry, Zoe, and Ned report their finding to Commander Celestia herself. A discovery of this magnatude couldn't be risked over open airways, in case the Enclave was listening to radio transmitions. After a long and thourogh debriefing, and a heartfelt apology about Richard Hues death, she orders the three to rest and prepare to meet her student Twilight Sparkle once she returned from a recovery mission to a local library. She also mentioned that their recrute would be out of training the same day Twilight got back. The squad took the days to properly morn for their fallen friend and prepare to meet two people who would be around longer than they knew.