[Last Hope] 17 – Clearing out the Garbage in the Commonwealth

It had only been a few days since the Specter had contacted Kellogg, but in that time, Kellogg has realized just how intelligent the unknown person was, the upgrades they uploaded into the symths made them into a force that would only continue to grow from each battle as they learned from every mistake, every success, and some of the Synths had even begun employing tactics that Kellogg himself used, as if following by his example and adapting the strategies when suitable.

Not only that, but the Synths seemed not to openly rush headfirst into danger, seemingly having gone through a bit of self-survival as they'd use their bodies, cover, arms, and weapons to protect their vital systems while also using their more redundant areas as a sacrificial lamb to secure victory.

Kellogg watched one synth sacrifice its hand to get close enough to a raider to terminate the threat for minimal damage, while witnessing another that at the last second dodged into cover when a raider filled the corridor with lead from a makeshift minigun. Not only that, but after their first battle, when Kellog returned to Fort Hagen for recharge and repairs, he was surprised to find that the Synths could share data between themselves now as well as perform minor repairs with the right tools and materials.

This worried Kellogg, but when he confronted Specter about what he learned, they quelled his worries.

[The Specter: You noticed that, did ya? Don't worry about it; that little addition is only to make them more efficient at their jobs and to ensure your survival. If one of them gets destroyed, you'd only need to plug it into the network, and the others would be able to dissect the data and determine what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. Essentially, I made them into very basic VIs that can learn from both you and their enemies. They can only learn so much as their memory banks will allow, but they should be at least several times more effective than their previous versions.]

[Kellogg: They are, but are you not worried about giving them too much autonomy?]

[The Specter: Don't be silly, Kellogg. They are basic VI; they can learn and strategize, but that's it. They are nowhere near becoming true AI that can think for themselves. These Synths merely catalog a bunch of data and choose the best 'strategy' for the situation, depending on the orders you give them. Want them to save a hostage? They'll try, and if they fail, they'll try a different strategy next time. Do you want them to storm a fortress? They will, but the next time you order them to attack a fortress, they'll do it using the data they gathered to conquer the fortress with fewer casualties or damage. That's the limit of their programming as Virtual Intelligences; they can't form any consciousness or evolve into AI with the limitations and locks I have put into programming.]

[Kellogg: Understood, and their self-repairs?]

[The Specter: That was already in their programming; it was just blocked by the Father to make you more dependent on the Institute for every lost Synth that would need to be replaced]

[Kellogg: I see...]

[The Specter: Don't worry, Kellogg, once I'm able, I'll get you some more nice toys and better Synths to play with, and before I go, I will warn you. The synths, while capable of performing field repairs for minor damage, cannot address vital damage to their core systems. If those break, you'll need to either replace them or use them as parts to fix the other Synths. My suggestion? Use them as spare parts, else the Father may start asking questions. Oh, and before I forget, I want you to send some caps to a Detective in Diamond City. I want to sponsor his Agency.]

[Kellogg: The Old Prototype Synth?]

After waiting for a few minutes, Kellogg didn't receive an answer, so he shut the terminal off and climbed out of the chair away from the desk.

He headed for the 'command' room of the Fort, just down the hall from his quarters. It was a dusty room filled with old terminals, once the command center of the Fort, but it had long since entered a state of disrepair. Hence, Kellogg had some of the Synths move the desks, terminals, and other furniture out of the way, and now it was acting as more of a storeroom where they stored their gains from wiping out several raider dens.

One of the first places Kellogg attacked was near Fort Hagen. It was the Federal Rations Stockpile, an underground complex used by the US pre-war to store rations, supplies, and weapons for after the war, but nearly everyone high up in Boston at the time died from the nukes that formed the Glowing Sea southwest of the Commonwealth.

It was home to a rather large raider gang who likely destroyed or used most of the supplies inside. Either way, this raider gang was one of the wealthier and powerful gangs in the commonwealth that Kellogg knew of, so they made excellent practice dummies against the improved Synths, and boy, did the Synths wipe the floor with the raiders.

At first, the Synths struggled a bit, but with each raider they killed, they got better and better at fighting against them. Surprisingly, the biggest issue the Synths had was the turrets. Of course, with his rifle, Kellogg easily disabled the turrets, but hopefully the Synths did better against turrets the next time.

The Synths received minimal damage taking on the camp outside the federal stockpile, so Kellogg continued forward with the Synths taking the lead. Half of the Synths were sent into the bunker, and the other half were to remain on the surface and gather the bodies and valuables that could be sold.

The raiders had set traps throughout the bunker, which resulted in two Synths being taken out of commission; however, the rest of the raiders were wiped out. He discovered a secret entrance to the stockpile in an abandoned church located nearby. It took nearly an entire day, but everything of value was boxed up or wrapped up in bags and dragged back to Fort Hagen, where Kellogg began cataloging.

In total, the Synths gathered around six or seven crates of various makeshift guns with a few decent pre-war firearms, one of which was a lever action rifle that Kellogg gladly took for himself, about four boxes of chems and drugs, and a surprisingly large amount of food, water, and pre-war necessities that would likely sell for decent caps. There were a few crates worth of ammo, too, that the raiders hadn't touched, but it would sell for quite a few caps.

There were plenty of pre-war valuables such as iron and steel, as well as plastics, duct tape, and other decent materials that would likely sell well to settlements or general goods vendors in Bunker Hill or Diamond City, but that was all there was. The raiders ended up either trashing anything else of value or discarding it, but it was a good haul nonetheless.

Kellogg just had one more problem: How would he move everything without the synths, let alone get it to Diamond City or Bunker Hill?