Fallout:Industrial Baron in Caesar's Legion

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"You seem like a profligate with manners. Ave, true to Caesar. I'll only say this once: submit to the son of Mars, and you and your tribe can live under his sturdy yoke. Otherwise, we'll kill and crucify the men and enslave the women and children. I await your response," said the man wearing a mask.

"It's a bit late for that proposal since I'm the only survivor of my... tribe... legate. But, as the only leader left alive, I'm willing to collaborate with you," I said, looking at the leader of this legion.

"What caused the death of your tribe, profligate? The walls and gate of your castra have proven to be very resilient, so whatever caused your tribe's downfall must be a future problem for the legion," said the leader in his characteristic tone of voice.

"The deception of my tribe's former leader failed with me. I discovered that all my training was simply to perform... a sacrifice. And well, like many others, I enjoy living, so I refused to die. Therefore, I had to kill over a thousand inhabitants by myself," I responded to the legate of the legion.

"If what you say is true, your actions are impressive, worthy of one of the legion's veterans. But now you've denied lord Caesar his tribute. Why shouldn't I crucify you to show the other profligates what happens when they tamper with what rightfully belongs to the son of Mars?" replied the legion officer.

"This place still holds great value for our lord Caesar, legate. These facilities... this castra has the capacity to produce food for the legions, along with potable water and electricity," I quickly said, using the words the legate often used to generate sympathy.

"That will be useful but of no value to my cohorts. I highly doubt you can maintain the production of everything you mentioned on your own, so your castra is merely a basic shell, ready to be looted and its parts used to craft swords and spears for the mission lord Caesar has entrusted to me," the legate responded, keeping the same tone of voice.

"But if, instead, you, legate, servant of our great lord Caesar, provide me with workers, I could get everything back up and running by training them. It might not seem like it, but I know everything necessary to keep what's inside my castra operational. I suppose you understand the great benefit this brings to the son of Mars and his mission, legate," I said with a slight smile.

"You have my attention, subject of the legion, but I won't give you slaves for free. Considering that you were once part of a tribe that didn't respect the civilization the legion brings, you don't have the coins to trade goods. However, I will accept weapons, like the one in your hands, and the armor you're wearing as barter in exchange for good slaves from the legion," the legate replied.

"Oh, of course, legate. I have plenty of weapons and armor ready for you to take immediately. I could even pay the tribute expected from my tribe to the legion right now in the form of food and water to celebrate this great day when I wisely joined lord Caesar's legion," I said with a smile, using body language to try to activate his mirror neurons and generate empathy.

"Lead us," the leader replied in the same tone as always.

We re-entered the shelter, followed by the legionaries, and I stopped at the terminal to try to shut down the robots.

But the legate grabbed my forearm tightly.

"What are you planning to do?" the legate asked as he firmly held onto my forearm.

"There are robots here... I used them to kill the sectarians, and they have orders to kill anything that isn't me, or we wouldn't be having this conversation because no one would have opened this door," I replied, staring at the legate.

"This technology is forbidden by lord Caesar; those robots must be destroyed," said the legate, slightly angry this time.

"And so it shall be, legate... May I proceed?" I said, maintaining eye contact.

"Proceed," the legate responded, crossing his arms again.

I shut down all the robots because I wasn't going to destroy machines that could be useful.

"Done, let's move on," I said, getting up from the chair and leading the legionaries through the shelter.

We quickly came across the signs of the massacre that had occurred hours earlier, and although the legionaries said nothing, I could see in their eyes how respect was forming. The more massacred bodies we found, the more respect seemed to grow as we made our way to the armory.

The legate observed everything and occasionally kicked one of the robots, as if expecting it to betray him. I'm not foolish enough to face someone who could probably crack my skull with a single blow.

The armory was open, and all the legionaries, except for the legate, rushed for the pistols.

"10mm pistols, ammunition, and parts to repair weapons, and several full sets of riot armor, legate," I said, pointing to the armory's contents to the legion officer.

"A great tribute, from what I see, but will that armor hold up?" the legate asked, observing the riot armor.

"Of course... May I, legate?" I responded to the legate, pointing to the sword on his waist.

"Be my guest," the legate replied.

I took the sword from his waist and, using the pistol I had previously discarded, shot the armor before stabbing the legate's sword into it with difficulty.

"It's Kevlar with padding and a small steel plate in the middle. It will withstand medium-caliber weaponry and will handle bladed weapon attacks quite well," I said, pointing to the armor I had used as a practice dummy.

The legate examined the armor and took back his sword.

"I'll take half of the weapons and armor as payment for the slaves I'll bring... and I'll take the other half as an advance payment of your tribe's tribute as subjects of lord Caesar. Next year... how much food do you think you can produce?" asked the legate.

"It depends on the number of... well, slaves I can train. If I can keep negotiating with the legion to get some parts, I could condition some levels of the shelter to increase the production of plants and the amount of food to offer as tribute. But the maximum production capacity of my castra is enough food for about fifteen hundred people for an entire year," I replied to the legate as the legionaries began to arrange their tribute.

"As long as you deliver a tenth of what they produce each year in water and food, you will have the protection of the legion. But I also expect you to produce weapons for my cohort. I need four hundred weapons by the end of the year," said the legate.

"Ah... legate... We don't have the facilities to manufacture more weapons. This is all I have. I don't have the lead or gunpowder for bullets, nor the material to create the weapon bodies and springs..." I tried to explain to the legate.

"I only give orders once. If I have to repeat myself, I'd rather kill you and find someone who will follow my orders. I'm not requesting ballistic weapons; I'm asking for swords. If you have the knowledge to run these facilities, you should also know how to craft swords for my cohort," said the legate, maintaining his usual tone.

"Yes, of course. It will take me a few days to get a proper forge up and running, but you will certainly have your swords by the end of the year, legate. I'll just need to find someone to sell me iron and coal. You have my word that those weapons will be in your possession before the deadline," I said with a smile, hiding my nervousness.

"In our main settlement, you'll find everything you need to fulfill my orders," said the legate, picking up some boxes of weapons and helping his men.

"Ah... legate, one question before you go..." I said, following the legate as he headed out of the shelter.

"Speak," said the legate without stopping.

"Is there any chance I could join the legion as a legionary?" I asked the legion officer.

"No. The legion doesn't recruit its subjects, or it would risk losing the tribute we must be given. Especially in your case, without you, this doesn't work. In any case, you would have to be part of an auxiliary cohort, but you don't have the men," the legate replied.

"It will take me a few days, but I'll have everything running perfectly. However, keep in mind that I am the leader of my tribe. You could consider me a barbarian prince who must be Romanized, and what better way than like the ancient Romans who included barbarian leaders in their legions to integrate them into the great legion" I said to the legate, who, after hearing this information, stopped and looked at me.

"You have too much information about the Romans, don't you think? It almost sounds like a message from the god Mars. Perhaps I should enslave you and send you to lord Caesar. He might find great satisfaction in your company," said the legate, staring at me.

"Well, my tribe has a lot of information about the great Roman Empire, and..." I tried to say.

"Give me that information," ordered the legate.

"Right away. I'll make a copy of the information for you, legate." I said, hiding the nervousness in my voice.

The legate followed me to one of the computers, and I made a copy of the information the legion officer had requested.

"Here you go, legate," I said, handing over a holodisk with all the available information.

"A gift worthy of the mighty Caesar," said the legate, looking at the holodisk.

"Yes, consider it a token of my appreciation for our lord Caesar," I said with a slight smile.

"Get this place up and running, and you'll have your place in the legion. But don't expect favoritism; you'll start like everyone else, a simple legionary, and you'll earn your rank through your feats in battle," said the legate, this time taking the items and leaving as quickly as he could.

For the first time, I looked with my own eyes at the wasteland outside the shelter and saw a nearby city and a river.

A few hours later, a large group of legionaries appeared, bringing three hundred slaves in exchange for the weapons. Honestly, I didn't know the value of human life, but a few hundred low-caliber pistols and ammunition allowed me to acquire so many people who had lost the most essential thing about being human: their freedom.

But that didn't matter. Once I brought them inside quickly, we started cleaning the shelter from top to bottom before the smell of rot began to sicken these slaves, who, surprisingly, were incredibly submissive. I expected people who had recently lost their freedom to be much more combative, but it was a surprise that was both good and sad.

After cremating the bodies and cleaning all the rooms, the next day I began putting the learning facilities to good use, placing these slaves in intensive simulations on hydroponic farming and machinery maintenance.

The same machines that had forcibly injected knowledge into me were now helping me get these facilities running again.

It took me five days to get everything in order and functioning as it should. After repairing and activating many of the robots, it was easy to restore normalcy, and I made my first act as a political leader to gain support.

I freed all the slaves from their collars, not because I was a good person, but because they had to stay here anyway, as they had guaranteed food and water. This allowed me to gain the sympathy of many, who cried with joy at being free, but were still trapped in the shelter since I was the only one who could open the doors and controlled all the robots. As long as the legion left me alone, I was the absolute ruler within the shelter.

With everything in order and leaving a robot as a supervisor while I was away, I headed to the city to the south, called Castra Sol Rubrum, to join the legate's cohorts and find someone who could supply me with the resources to fulfill the legate's order.

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