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And for the first time in a long, hard, since she find out about the depleted medical supply, she felt peace and now began to focus on making their own medical supply.
The next morning came quietly.
Not peacefully as Sanctuary never truly had peaceful mornings anymore but quietly, with that muted stillness that settled over the settlement whenever people were too tired to make noise. The sun hadn't fully risen yet, hanging low and hazy over the treeline, turning the mist into a thin silver veil that clung to the ground.
Sico walked through it with his jacket slung over one shoulder, fatigue dragging slightly at the edges of his posture. He had spent most of the night reviewing reports, reorganizing schedules, and making sure all patrol teams knew which areas needed tightening. The war of Brotherhood and Institute front was shifting slowly, and he couldn't afford to ignore it.
But today… today wasn't about war.
Today was about the future.
He reached the hospital just as the early shift synths were moving quietly down the hallways, carrying trays, tools, and paperwork with their usual efficient calm. Some nodded respectfully when they saw him. A few even paused to ask if he needed assistance. He declined each time with a short shake of his head.
Curie's office door was already open.
A warm, soft light spilled out into the hall. Not the bright harsh fluorescence of the hospital, but something gentler—a yellow desk lamp, humming softly over piles of journals, open notebooks, and two steaming mugs of something that definitely wasn't wasteland coffee.
Curie herself sat behind the desk with her hair slightly frizzed, glasses perched crookedly on her nose, and ink smudged along her thumb. She looked like she hadn't slept either, but unlike Sico, she seemed energized by it with vibrating with that kind of intellectual excitement only a scientist could generate after drowning in data for hours.
When she noticed him standing in the doorway, she beamed.
"Sico! Bonjour. You are early."
He stepped inside, glancing around at the chaotic explosion of research that had taken over her entire work table. "Looks like you never went to bed."
Curie waved a hand dismissively. "Sleep is only a suggestion when inspiration is awake, oui?"
Sico sighed. "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that out loud."
She lifted her chin proudly. "I am a doctor. It is different."
"Still not reassuring," he muttered, though the faint amusement tugging at his mouth betrayed him.
Curie motioned him to the chair across from her. "Please, sit. I have tea. It is warm."
He sat, gratefully accepting the mug. The smell hit him first with mint, a little bright, a little earthy. Something grown in Sanctuary's greenhouse. It grounded him.
Curie leaned forward, hands clasped atop a thick binder that looked newly assembled and still warm from the pressure of her grip.
"So," she began, "I assume you are here for more than morning conversation."
Sico nodded slowly. "Yeah. We… need to talk about something important."
Curie's eyes sharpened instantly that not worried, but attentive. "What is it?"
Sico took a breath, steadying himself.
"Yesterday was a gift," he began. "Between the Institute shipment, Magnolia's crates, and what we already had… we've got three and a half years of medical supplies."
Curie nodded. "Oui. It is wonderful."
"It is," he agreed. "But it won't last forever."
Her posture shifted. The enthusiasm dimmed, replaced by a quiet understanding.
"Yes," she said softly. "Eventually, all pre-War medicine will be gone."
Sico set his mug down.
"That's why I want to start now," he continued. "Not after we run out. Not when we're desperate. Not when we're scrambling for ingredients and praying something works."
Curie's breath caught, her interest blooming again. "You want to begin research early."
"Not just research," Sico said, leaning forward. "I want us to start producing our own medical supplies. Here. In Sanctuary. With our own methods, our own materials, and your expertise guiding every step."
Curie stared at him like he had just told her she'd won a something big.
Her hands rose slowly to her mouth. "Mon dieu…"
"We'll start small," Sico continued. "Stimpaks. RadAway. Rad-X. Antibiotics. Anything essential. Prototype versions first. They don't need to be perfect, they just need to work."
Curie was blinking rapidly, overwhelmed but in the brightest, most hopeful way.
"You want me… to build a new pharmaceutics program," she whispered.
"I want you to build a future where the Freemasons Republic doesn't need to rely on the past to survive," Sico corrected gently. "We have the knowledge. We have the tools. And with the Institute's help, we have access to equipment nobody else does."
"And the supplies from Magnolia," Curie added breathlessly. "And the refrigeration units. And the chemical processors. And… and—"
"And," Sico said, cutting softly through her excited spiraling, "we have time. Which is the most valuable resource."
Curie sat back in her chair, staring up toward the ceiling, her brain clearly running faster than her mouth could keep up. She pressed a hand over her heart as if steadying its rhythm.
"Three and a half years…" she murmured again, but the meaning was different now. Not relief. Not security.
Opportunity.
She looked back at Sico with eyes blazing with purpose.
"I will need more space," she said immediately, shifting into planning mode. "A sterile environment. Equipment for distillation, for compound synthesis, for reagent storage. And volunteers. People unafraid to learn chemistry. And oh! We will need to catalog the remaining pre-War medicine to reverse engineer as many formulations as possible."
Sico nodded. "Whatever you need, we'll get it. I'll have Mel look at expanding the lab space. If necessary, we'll convert one of the old place into a secondary workshop."
Curie let out a soft, amazed laugh, shaking her head like she could not believe this was real.
"All my life," she said quietly, "I have wanted to help people on a grand scale. Not only by healing them, but by understanding the systems that keep them alive… and building better ones."
Her gaze softened.
"You trust me with this responsibility?"
"More than anyone," Sico said simply.
Curie swallowed hard.
Then she stood up so fast her chair skidded slightly against the floor.
"I will begin immediately!"
Sico blinked. "Curie—"
But she was already pacing behind her desk, pulling journals from shelves, flipping pages, scribbling notes, muttering excitedly in French and English under her breath.
"This will take time," she said, moving with that frantic, brilliant energy of a mind igniting from within. "Months, maybe more. But if we create a reproducible formula, if we can standardize ingredients and if we can test for efficac… Sico, do you know what this means?"
He allowed himself the smallest smile. "That we won't have to rely on Goodneighbor's black market to get RadAway anymore?"
Curie gasped dramatically. "Non! It means we will have independence. True independence. Medicine is survival. Medicine is power."
Her voice grew soft again, reverent.
"And medicine is hope."
Sico nodded. "Exactly."
Curie leaned both hands against the desk, grounding herself.
"I will begin with Rad-X," she said decisively. "It is simpler than stimpaks. And RadAway will require a more stable purification method. Antibiotics… ah, we must be careful. They must be safe. Effective. Properly cultured."
Sico listened as she spoke, letting her mind roam and build and create. He didn't interrupt. Didn't redirect. Didn't force structure.
This was her world.
Her brilliance.
Her purpose.
He simply gave her the space to breathe life into it.
"…And we will need a testing team," Curie added after a moment. "Not human testing, not yet! Of course not. But chemical analyses, stability trials, controlled reactive tests."
"You'll have whatever you need," Sico assured again.
Curie paused.
Then she looked at him, not with excitement this time, but with something deeper.
Something tender.
"You are thinking ahead," she whispered. "Further ahead than most leaders ever do. This… this is how civilizations survive."
Sico didn't know what to say to that.
So he stood.
Curie mirrored him.
"Start today," he said gently. "Start with the prototypes. Start small. But start."
Curie nodded with such fierce determination it almost startled him.
"I will not let Sanctuary down."
"I know," Sico replied quietly. "That's why I asked you."
Curie inhaled slowly, as if pulling every ounce of resolve into her body.
Then she smiled with a real, bright, warm smile that lit up the entire office.
"Then today," she said, "we begin building our own future."
Curie paused in her frantic note-scribbling only when she finally heard Sico draw in a steady breath behind her as one of those breaths he only took when he was about to shift from planning into something heavier, something more personal. She turned slowly, clutching her journal to her chest, her eyes bright and expectant.
Sico stepped closer, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Curie," he began, "before you bury yourself in all that, there's something I should ask."
She tilted her head slightly. "Oui?"
"Do you want me to ask Virgil to help you with this?" he asked. "He's one of the brightest bio-scientists in the Commonwealth, even after the changin back to human form. If you want him, I'll get a message to him today."
Curie didn't answer right away.
Instead, she lifted her mug again and took a slow sip, her gaze drifting toward the window where the morning light was finally sharpening, thinning the silver mist into streaks of gold. A thoughtful expression softened her features with an expression Sico had seen many times, one he knew meant she was balancing logic and heart in equal measure.
When she finally set the mug down, she shook her head gently.
"Non," she said softly. "Virgil is… busy. He has his own research, his own demons, his own healing to do. What he studies is important, yes, but it is also personal to him. I would not take him away from that." Her voice dipped into a warm, understanding timbre. "And I know he still struggles with his body. With people. With being seen, even thought he already return back to human form. Coming here often, working in a hospital… it might bring him discomfort."
Sico nodded once. He expected that answer, but he wanted to give her the option anyway. "Alright. No Virgil."
Curie moved closer, placing her notebook down long enough to rest both hands on the edge of her desk, leaning slightly forward.
"But what I do want," she said, her eyes locking onto his with a rare gravity, "is full control. Full authority over every step of this project. Full oversight. I want the freedom to design, to test, to build, to fail, to try again, without anyone interfering. Without committees slowing me down. Without anyone who does not understand medicine trying to adjust the process."
Sico didn't even hesitate.
"Done," he said simply.
Curie blinked, surprised by the immediacy and lack of resistance. "Just like that?"
Sico shrugged slightly. "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't be here at sunrise asking you to build the future of our entire medical infrastructure. Curie… this project is your domain. Whatever you need, whatever decisions you make, whatever direction you choose, it's yours."
Curie's lips parted, a soft breath of disbelief escaping her. But beneath it was something deeper: a swell of pride, of gratitude, of responsibility settling into her bones.
Sico wasn't finished.
"And I'll talk to Magnolia later today," he continued. "Anything you request from equipment, materials, personnel, construction as she'll approve the budget. I'll make sure of it."
Curie froze.
"You… you will really do that?" she whispered.
"Yes," he said. "Because if you succeed and I know you wil, Freemasons Republic won't just be self-sustaining in medicine. We can start selling medical supplies to the Commonwealth. Stimpaks, RadAway, antibiotics… once we have stable production lines? The entire region will rely on us. Trade routes, alliances, influence… all of it grows."
Curie pressed a hand over her chest again, her breath trembling that not with fear, but with the sheer weight of what this meant.
"Mon dieu…" she whispered. "Sico… this is bigger than I thought."
"It's supposed to be," he said quietly. "This isn't just survival. It's legacy."
Curie stood very still for a moment, the morning light catching her glasses, her hair, the faint smudge of ink on her cheek. For the first time since he arrived, she seemed almost overwhelmed in a different way that less by excitement, more by the enormity of trust placed in her hands.
Then she inhaled deeply and straightened her back.
"No committees. No second guessing," she murmured. "Full control… full responsibility…"
She nodded slowly.
"I accept."
Sico's mouth curved into the faintest smile. "Good."
Curie's energy shifted again, like a fuse relit. She picked up her notebook, hugging it tight, pacing the room in short circles as her thoughts spilled faster than she could contain them.
"With full authority," she said, pointing toward the far wall, "I can clear out that section and replace it with a sterile bench. The microscopes… no, we need better ones. The Institute ones, the Mark-IV optical array… yes, that would allow more precise cell observation. And the distillation chamber must be separate or completely separate from any reagent storage. We cannot risk cross-contamination."
Sico watched her with a mixture of amusement and admiration.
"You're already planning the whole facility," he said.
"Of course I am!" Curie exclaimed, gesturing wildly with her pen. "You give me freedom, I give you results."
She stopped suddenly, her expression changing yet again—this time becoming softer, more vulnerable.
"May I ask something?" she said quietly.
Sico nodded.
"You are doing this because… because you believe in me, yes?" she asked. "Not because you simply need medicine? Not because you need someone to fill a role?"
Sico stepped closer.
"Curie," he said gently, "I'm doing this because you're the best doctor in the Commonwealth. Because you care about people more than anyone I've ever seen. Because you've dedicated your entire life, before and after gaining humanity to healing."
He paused.
"And because when you look at a problem, you don't see limitations. You see possibilities."
Curie stared at him, her stunning intelligence briefly overshadowed by raw emotion.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Truly."
Sico nodded. "You earned every bit of this."
Curie let out a shaky laugh and wiped at her eyes with the back of her wrist. "It is just… no one has ever trusted me like this. Not even in the Institute. They trusted my data, my calculations, my efficiency. But you… you trust my judgment. My decisions. My soul."
Sico wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he simply placed a hand on her shoulder that firm, steady, sincere.
"I trust you," he said. "All of you."
Curie closed her eyes for a moment, absorbing the weight of those words like sunlight warming her skin.
When she opened them again, that bright fire had returned, stronger than before.
"Then I will not fail you."
Sico shook his head. "It's not about failing. It's about building. Growing. Learning. That's what this is."
Curie smiled softly.
"Even so… I will still not fail you," she said with a playful tilt of her chin. "It is in my programming… ah, my nature… to exceed expectations."
Sico huffed a quiet laugh.
Then he glanced around the cluttered office, taking in the papers, diagrams, scribbled formulas, half-finished sketches of chemical structures. Curie followed his gaze and groaned dramatically.
"Do not look at my mess!" she cried, rushing to gather loose journals. "I was working all night, this is not reflective of my usual organization."
"It's fine," Sico said, amused. "Honestly, it looks like genius."
"It looks like chaos," she muttered.
"Genius and chaos overlap sometimes."
Curie paused mid-stacking and gave him a narrow, playful look. "You are only saying that to ease my embarrassment."
"Maybe," Sico admitted. "But it's still true."
Curie giggled with a small, genuine sound that made the whole room feel warmer.
She moved around her desk, sorting, clearing space, stacking pages in neat piles. Sico watched her, hands still in his pockets, his exhaustion slowly easing under the steady hum of her purpose.
After a few minutes, Curie turned back to him, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"I will need a team," she said decisively. "Perhaps four, maybe five individuals with steady hands and patience. Chemistry can be dangerous. One wrong measurement and boom."
The casual way she mimed an explosion with her fingers made Sico wince. "Let's avoid the 'boom.'"
"Oui. That is the goal," she agreed cheerfully. "I also need someone who can keep inventory accurately. And someone who can monitor long-term stability tests. And someone who can help mix compounds according to precise weight… oh, we will need a new scale. The old one is… how you say… rubbish."
"Mel can get you a new one," Sico said. "A good one."
Curie nodded gratefully.
"And," she added, her voice lowering, "I will need security. Quiet security. Discreet security. We cannot allow anyone to steal formula drafts or unfinished prototypes. Not Raiders, not Gunners, not Brotherhood, not anyone from Diamond City who thinks they can make caps off stolen science."
Sico nodded again. "I'll talk to Sarah. She'll assign guards that blend in with medical staff."
Curie sighed with relief. "Merci. And… Sico?"
"Yeah?"
"Do not let the public know about our prototypes. Not until we have stable, repeatable results. If word gets out too early, expectations become unreasonable."
"Understood."
Curie clasped her hands together, her whole demeanor shifting once more into that sparkling blend of passion and determination.
"Then… we begin today," she said. "I will start the preliminary compounds, run the first filtration tests, and create a detailed list of equipment and materials I require."
Sico nodded. "I'll get Magnolia to approve all of it."
Curie glowed again, almost literally, with how her eyes lit up.
"You are making this possible," she said softly. "I will not forget that."
"You're the one doing the heavy lifting," Sico replied. "I'm just clearing the path."
Curie lifted her chin proudly. "Then let us build something worth clearing a path for."
Sico chuckled. "Agreed."
Silence settled between them then, but not an awkward one. A warm, working silence. The silence between two people who understood each other, trusted each other, and recognized the importance of the moment.
Finally, Curie moved toward a metal cabinet near the wall, pulling out vials, containers, measuring spoons, gloves, goggles as laying them out with meticulous precision.
"Before you go," she said suddenly, glancing over her shoulder, "there is one more thing."
Sico paused mid-step. "What is it?"
Curie hesitated.
Then, with uncharacteristic shyness, she said, "When the time comes… when we are ready to produce medicine for sale… I would like the first batch to go to the families of Sanctuary. Free of charge."
Sico felt a small, tight tug in his chest.
"That's exactly what I hoped you'd say," he replied.
Curie smiled with such gentle warmth it could've melted steel.
"Good," she whispered. "Then we agree."
Sico gave a final nod.
"Alright, Doctor," he said, turning toward the door. "Get to work."
Curie beamed, raising a gloved hand in a playful salute. "Oui, President!"
Sico paused at her choice of title.
"You know I'm not—"
She waved dismissively. "You command the future of medicine now. You have earned it. Shoo, go do leadership things."
He snorted.
"Fine, fine. I'm going."
Curie laughed as he stepped out of the office, her bright amusement following him into the hallway like a warm echo.
The moment the door clicked shut behind him, Curie's voice floated faintly through the wall:
"Where are my notes? Mon dieu, this is so exciting!"
The hallway outside Curie's office was still humming with the afterglow of her excitement when Sico stepped out, pulling the door gently shut behind him. For a second, he simply stood there with letting the muffled clatter from inside wash through the wall, listening to Curie scramble through her notebooks like a child who had just been handed the keys to a candy store.
It made him smile.
She deserved this. All of it.
Then he exhaled, rolled his shoulders, and forced his mind back into the rhythm of the day. There were still things to do. Important things. The kind that required steady conversation, persuasion, and the right kind of pressure in the right places.
He glanced down the hallway toward the exit.
"Alright," he murmured to himself. "Next stop… Magnolia."
The morning in Sanctuary had warmed up quickly. The fog that clung to the settlement earlier was now dissolving, lifting off the rooftops and drifting like ghostly ribbons over the hilltops. The mix of voices from work crews, patrol teams, farmers already tending to the morning crop that blended into a peaceful hum.
Sico walked with his hands tucked into his coat pockets, boots tapping a firm cadence across the cracked concrete path that led from the medical wing toward the central plaza. Every now and then, one of the local settlers waved as he passed. He returned each gesture with that calm nod he'd first learned years ago with a nod that said I see you, and you're safe.
Most didn't know how much work went into earning those simple moments.
He followed the route toward the Freemasons Headquarters at the center of Sanctuary with an municipal building reinforced with metal plating, reclaimed wood, solar panels, and the unmistakable banners of the Republic hanging proudly above the double doors.
Inside, the building carried a warm scent of paper, coffee, metal polish, and the organized chaos of administration. People hustled through the lobby carrying files, road maps, reports from scouts, requisition forms. Sico walked deliberately toward the stairwell leading up to Magnolia's office, and as he climbed, he mentally prepared himself.
Magnolia was brilliant, calculating, and fiercely protective of her own domain. But that was why he trusted her. And why he needed her now.
He reached her door and knocked firmly.
"Come in!" she called.
Magnolia's office was… exactly like Magnolia.
Warm lighting. Neat stacks of paperwork. A faint smell of jasmine tea. A radio in the corner playing a soft melody. And Magnolia herself that sharp-eyed, impeccably composed, leaning over a desk cluttered with supply requisitions and settlement reports.
When she saw Sico enter, she straightened slightly.
"Well, well," she said with a wry lift of her brow. "You usually don't show up here this early unless something either went very right, or very wrong."
He shut the door behind him. "A bit of the first, hopefully none of the second."
"That's rare," Magnolia deadpanned. "Alright, sit. Speak."
Sico didn't sit, not yet. Standing helped him set the tone, and Magnolia knew him well enough not to misread it. Her expression shifted subtly, interest sharpening.
"Curie," he began.
Magnolia's gaze warmed instantly. "What about her?"
"She's starting her research today on a full-scale."
Magnolia straightened fully now, hands hovering above her papers. "You mean… already? On the medical production initiative? I thought she was still in the testing phase."
"She was," Sico replied. "But now she has everything she needs. Direction. Authority. Freedom."
Magnolia blinked. "And what about the budget?"
"That," Sico said, stepping closer to her desk, "is why I'm here."
Magnolia narrowed her eyes. "Sico… what did you promise her?"
"Everything she needs," he said plainly. "Any equipment. Any materials. Any facility upgrades. Anything she requests directly related to research or production."
Magnolia stared at him for a long moment.
Then she leaned back slowly in her chair, resting her elbows on the armrests, fingers steepled under her chin.
"Sico," she said quietly, "you do realize what you're asking me to approve, right?"
"I do."
"You do realize what this could cost us?"
"I do."
"And you also realize the political, logistical, economic, and morale implications that come with developing our own medical supply industry?"
"I do."
She stared another few seconds… then sighed.
"Alright. Fine. I'll bite. Why?"
Sico walked around her desk and placed both hands on the table that not forcefully, but with the decisive weight of someone who'd thought long and hard about this.
"Because if Curie succeeds," he said softly, "the Freemasons Republic won't just survive. We'll become the backbone of medicine in the Commonwealth. Stimpaks, antibiotics, Rad-X, RadAway, antiseptics… everything people desperately need but can hardly get. We'll provide it… not the Brotherhood, not the Traders of Bunker Hill, not Diamond City chem runners."
Magnolia's eyes sharpened.
He continued.
"We'll gain leverage. Influence. Trade power. We'll save lives. And the people will trust us… not because we told them to, but because we showed them we could."
Magnolia sat alarmingly still. The radio in the corner played a soft violin line that seemed almost too gentle for the weight of the room.
Then she exhaled slowly.
"You're talking about reshaping the Commonwealth," she murmured.
"Yes."
"You're talking about becoming irreplaceable."
"Yes."
"You're also talking about giving one doctor as that one was brilliant, slightly chaotic doctor with an essentially unlimited resource access."
"Yes."
Magnolia dropped her face into her hands for a moment, groaning dramatically against her palms.
"…Goddammit, Sico."
He waited.
Finally, she sat upright again.
"Alright," she said firmly. "I'll approve everything she requests. Equipment, personnel, construction, materials, whatever she needs."
Sico nodded once, relief quiet and contained.
"But," Magnolia added sharply, pointing at him, "I'll need to coordinate everything that isn't scientific. She gives the research orders, I handle procurement, logistics, and support. I can't have her running through the HQ shouting about 'reagents' and 'unstable compounds' like the apocalypse is coming."
"Fair," Sico said.
"And if she blows something up in that lab," Magnolia continued, "I expect you to handle the fallout."
"I will."
She sighed again, softer this time. "Alright. If this helps Curie and helps us, then I'm in."
He gave her a grateful nod. "Thank you."
Magnolia waved him off. "Go. I have to restructure half the week's schedule now. And Sico?"
"Yeah?"
"You'd better be right about this," she said, though her tone held more faith than doubt. "Because when Curie gets excited, she's unstoppable. And if I'm approving everything… this could be the biggest project we've ever attempted."
Sico smiled faintly.
"That's the plan."
He left the office, closing the door behind him.
The short walk from the administrative wing to the Army Headquarters carried a different energy that colder, sharper, filled with clanking metal and marching boots. The HQ sat in an old pre-war police station reinforced with concrete, metal barricades, and guard towers overlooking every angle. Training drills echoed off the walls. Sandbags lined the perimeter. Soldiers sharpened weapons, calibrated laser sights, reviewed maps.
The moment Sico stepped inside, the atmosphere shifted. Not out of fear, but out of respect. Soldiers straightened. Patrol leaders nodded. There was a collective awareness that when Sico walked into the Army HQ, something important was happening.
He navigated the corridors until he reached the briefing room.
Preston and Sarah were already there, standing over a wide table covered in maps, deployment lists, and coded grids showing Brotherhood movements. They looked up as he entered.
"Sico," Preston greeted, adjusting his cowboy hat slightly. "You're out early today."
Sarah crossed her arms. "What's going on?"
Sico closed the door behind him.
"I need both of you," he said, walking to the table.
Preston and Sarah exchanged a look with one of those silent communications seasoned commanders developed after years of working together.
Sarah didn't waste time. "Alright. What's the situation?"
"I need increased security at the hospital."
Preston blinked. "Increased… security?" He looked confused. "The hospital isn't under threat, is it?"
"No," Sico said. "Not yet."
Sarah narrowed her eyes slightly, gears already turning. "And I'm guessing you don't want it to look like increased security."
"Exactly."
Preston crossed his arms. "Okay… what's this about?"
Sico leaned forward, planting his hands on the table.
"Curie's starting a major research project for us," he said carefully. "A big one. She's going to try to develop our own medical supplies from Rad-X, antibiotics, stimpak solutions, advanced compounds. Everything the Commonwealth needs."
Preston's eyebrows shot upward. Sarah's did too.
"You're serious?" Preston asked slowly.
"Very."
Sarah exhaled sharply through her nose. "Damn. That's… huge."
"Exactly," Sico said. "Which means we need to protect the research. Quietly. Discreetly. No obvious deployment changes, no sudden platoon relocations. People can't suspect anything. Especially not Raiders, Gunners, Brotherhood spies, or traders who might want to steal formulas."
Preston rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. "So… you want more security, but hidden security."
"Yes."
Sarah gave a decisive nod. "I can pull med-trained scouts. People who can blend in as aides, nurses, record-keepers. They'll look like support staff, but they'll be armed and trained."
"Perfect," Sico said.
Preston added, "And I can reroute patrol rotations. Make it look like normal shifts while actually increasing presence around the exterior of the hospital. Enough to deter threats without raising suspicion."
"Good."
Preston then asked the question Sico knew was coming:
"Sico… why now? Why the sudden concern? What made this so urgent?"
Sico drew in a slow breath.
"Because Curie isn't just treating patients anymore," he said quietly. "She's about to become the most valuable asset in the entire Republic. And if word gets out that we're producing medicine, every faction in the Commonwealth will see us as either competition… or a target."
Silence settled across the room with a sober, heavy silence filled with understanding.
Sarah nodded slowly. "Alright. We'll get it done."
Preston looked from her to Sico, then back to the table with a sense of dawning clarity. "This could change everything."
"It will," Sico replied softly.
Sico let the silence linger for a few seconds longer as Preston and Sarah absorbed everything he had just laid out for them. The briefing room felt tighter now, the air denser, the weight of what Curie was about to embark on hanging over them like thick storm clouds. The lights above buzzed faintly. Outside the door, a troop of soldiers jogged past, boots thudding in unison.
Then Sico straightened, expression sharpening with the gravity of what came next.
"There's one more thing," he said.
Preston and Sarah both looked up immediately.
Sico tapped the corner of the map with one finger, a subtle gesture but one that made both commanders lean in instinctively.
"When you choose the soldiers," he said carefully, "I want you to choose people who can keep their mouths shut. Not a whisper. Not a hint. Not a scrap of gossip floating around Sanctuary."
Sarah's brows drew together, her posture shifting into something more calculated. "You're talking about absolute secrecy."
"Exactly," Sico replied. "And not the kind you can 'remind' them about afterwards. I need people who already know how to stay quiet. People who understand this isn't some patrol shift, or a standard guard rotation. This is bigger than any posted duty."
Preston nodded slowly, folding his arms across his chest. "So you want the ones who don't talk much. The seasoned ones. The ones who've proven they can lock things down."
"Not just that." Sico's voice lowered a notch, adding a new layer of seriousness. "I want soldiers loyal enough to the Freemasons Republic that they won't even think of sharing this with anyone outside the chain of command."
Preston's mouth tightened, but not with resistance and with understanding.
Sarah exhaled, leaning her palms on the table. "That narrows the pool quite a bit."
"I know," Sico said. "That's the point."
He stepped back from the table, gaze sweeping over both of them as though weighing their readiness, or perhaps more accurately, reaffirming his trust in the two commanders he'd chosen to rely on. The brass ceiling lamp cast a faint amber sheen over the maps.
"Look," Sico continued, "once news spreads that we're developing medicine that is a real medicine, not the makeshift chem-lab junk floating around the wasteland, people will come for it. Raiders. Mercenaries. Factions. Spies. Hell, even certain 'friendly' settlements might try something if they think they can take or replicate what Curie develops."
Sarah nodded grimly. "Power always draws attention."
"Exactly," Sico said. "That's why we need people guarding the hospital who understand the stakes. People who won't panic under pressure. People who won't make stupid mistakes because someone batted their eyelashes at them in the bar. People who know why this has to be quiet."
Preston's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I already have a few names in mind."
Sarah smirked, but it wasn't amusement and it was sharp recognition. "So do I."
Sico allowed himself a rare, small grin. "Good. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't trust your judgment."
Sarah pushed back from the table, straightening to her full height. "How soon do you want this done?"
"Immediately," Sico answered. "Handpick your teams today. Speak to them individually. No group briefings. No written orders. Everything verbal, and only between the three of us and them."
Preston lifted an eyebrow. "That serious, huh?"
"The kind of serious," Sico said, "that could decide whether this Republic stays strong… or becomes a target."
Preston didn't joke after that. Sarah didn't either. The gravity settled, deep and unmoving.
Sico wasn't finished.
"And one more thing," he added.
Both commanders leaned forward again.
"When you choose them," he said, "make sure they understand what they're protecting isn't just supplies or research. They're protecting Curie. Her work. Her safety."
Sarah's expression softened around the edges as she respected Curie deeply, even if their personalities sometimes clashed.
Preston nodded as well. "Curie's done more for Sanctuary than half the Commonwealth combined."
"Exactly," Sico said quietly. "She deserves our protection. All of it."
A faint silence followed which is not out of hesitation, but out of commitment. The kind where soldiers weren't just agreeing with words, but filing the instruction into the core of themselves, making it part of their duty.
Preston rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a slow breath. "Alright. You'll have your list by evening."
"And the shifts will be adjusted by tomorrow morning," Sarah added. "Discreetly."
Sico nodded once in approval.
Then he paused, tilting his head slightly as though listening to the faint hum of the building itself, a habit he had developed after years of living in environments where trouble always seemed to come when the world became too quiet.
"Good," he murmured. "This is one of those things we can't afford to get wrong."
Preston smiled faintly. "We won't."
Sarah smirked. "If something goes wrong, it won't be because of us."
Sico returned the smirk with a brief one of his own. Then he straightened again, breathing in the metallic, dusty, paint-tinged scent of the headquarters as he mentally shifted gears.
Sico then turned back toward them.
"Alright," he said. "Let' start the select ion now, as it was urgent."
Sarah nodded. "We'll start selecting our people now."
Preston tipped his hat. "And we'll make damn sure none of them mess this up."
Sico gave them a final approving nod.
Then he turned toward the door.
There was still more to do.
Curie was waiting.
The medical supplies would arrive soon.
And everything the Republic was about to become… hinged on the next few hours.
Sico stepped out into the hallway, his boots echoing through the concrete corridors of the Army HQ, purpose humming through his chest like a second heartbeat.
________________________________________________
• Name: Sico
• Stats :
S: 8,44
P: 7,44
E: 8,44
C: 8,44
I: 9,44
A: 7,45
L: 7
• Skills: advance Mechanic, Science, and Shooting skills, intermediate Medical, Hand to Hand Combat, Lockpicking, Hacking, Persuasion, and Drawing Skills
• Inventory: 53.280 caps, 10mm Pistol, 1500 10mm rounds, 22 mole rats meat, 17 mole rats teeth, 1 fragmentation grenade, 6 stimpak, 1 rad x, 6 fusion core, computer blueprint, modern TV blueprint, camera recorder blueprint, 1 set of combat armor, Automatic Assault Rifle, 1.500 5.56mm rounds, power armor T51 blueprint, Electric Motorcycle blueprint, T-45 power armor, Minigun, 1.000 5mm rounds, Cryolator, 200 cryo cell, Machine Gun Turret Mk1 blueprint, electric car blueprint, Kellogg gun, Righteous Authority, Ashmaker, Furious Power Fist, Full set combat armor blueprint, M240 7.62mm machine guns blueprint, Automatic Assault Rifle blueprint, and Humvee blueprint.
• Active Quest:-