"And who the fuck are you to be asking us that?" One of the men from the bird claw symbol group shouted back.
"I am Adam Baxter, the man who gathered everyone here today!" He shouted back, not willing to take sass.
"We were hired by The Guild from Midway, we don't answer to you." A man with the human head symbol said back, his arms crossed.
"Ah, so you are that Adam Baxter~" One of the men from the raider group said with an uncomfortably silken tone. His smile was wide but his eyes looked like he might just randomly stab Adam. "I was hoping to meet you, me and my Klan have come for the promise of payment." He grinned. "3000 caps, as I understand" He said as he got close enough to whisper into Adam's ear, keeping the price on the downlow.
Adam turned and looked at him and nodded.
"Yes, as promised I will pay that amount out to everyone from Hell who contributed." The raider smiled widely and menacingly.
"Good, it's nice to know all the murder we committed before getting here was not just for blood rituals. The Demon Klan will get the reward money alone." Adam said nothing about what he had just heard. The man just admitted that he had killed a number of people on the way over here. Possibly in an attempt to monopolize the reward money for his group. Adam had somewhat considered that the raiders from Hell might fight each other for the reward money but this went a bit beyond the pale. Honestly though, he couldn't exactly bring himself to care much, after all the people they killed were all raiders… right? He could only assume and he didn't have time to consider the alternatives.
Adam disengaged from the Demon Klan boss and turned to see that a man in a black suit was whispering in the ear of the leader of the men dressed like the US Army and to see a hunter from The Pier speaking to one of the men in PMC combat armor.
After a moment it seemed like both groups were convinced and a small migration of people began to move towards the restaurant, more or less one person from each group, assumedly the leaders.
"I will… stay out here~" The Demon Klan boss said as he folded his hands over as if in prayer as he spoke with a creepy tone. "No need for us to get involved in the minutiae, just tell us who to kill and we will." He grinned and then did a weird half bow before skulking off. Adam was very creeped out by that man but chose to pay it little mind. After all he had war plans to enact.
With him he brought Grant, who was representing the men from Naper, Salvatore, for his strategic and geographic insight, and Deccanus, who had recently scouted the area. Everyone else he told to get themselves comfortable, and he had Rae set on protection of the APC while he was gone, telling them to not let anyone get too close without his say-so.
Once inside the restaurant he saw a number of people, all waiting for him.
"So, what's the score?" The man with the bird claw on his body armor said as Adam walked in.
"Before that, let's get a short introduction out of the way, just so we know who we are talking to."
The same man sighed deeply and shook his head but didn't argue.
"As you all know my name is Adam Baxter, I am a scaver and former soldier, This here is Grant, the head of security from a community called Naper, this here is Salvatore, a mercenary whom I work with, and this is Deccanus, a former legionnaire who scouted the area recently."
"Colonel Harrison. Gunner's commanding officer of the Chicago detachment." The man with the human head symbol, said succinctly.
"Daven Toss, leader of the Midway guard expeditionary force."
"Jericho, head of Talon company." The man with the bird claw symbol said with a grumpy tone.
"Milla Lorka." The head of the hunters said.
"I have no name to give, but I am representing the Guild's interests in this conflict." The Man in the black suit said.
"Sir Gawain, logistician of the Knights of the Round." He said with a nod to Adam with respect.
This was the whole group for those who entered the room. It seemed the straggling mercenaries such as the samurai had no interest in joining the planning meeting.
"So, what is the score?" Jericho, the commander of Talon company said again, ready to get on with it, evidenced by his impatient tone. Adam gestured to Deccanus and then spoke.
"My friend here will start us off, he has scouted the area and has a decent idea of where the battle should be held." Adam then nodded to Deccanus to begin so he stepped forward.
"One mile from here there is a location, flanked by two skyscrapers, a pile of rubble on either side, and the lake none too far away, there is, what I imagine was once, a parking lot. The open space will make for good firing lines on an advancing enemy.
"Hold on." Colonel Harrison said, interjecting. "That's an awfully bold assumption, how do you even plan to get the ferals to head the direction you want. This isn't going to be as simple as picking a battlefield and hoping for the best." He said as he remained skeptical.
"I have an APC." Adam replied quickly. "Not only that but it has rounds, I plan to drive into the feral's advance and then rile them up to follow me, lead them down a predetermined path and then into our firing line." Adam said with assurance. Devon shook his head.
"One vehicle, no matter how big or loud, isn't enough to get all the feral's attention, it would take a fleet, or… something much louder and easier to spot." Devon added in.
"Me and my men…" Colonel Harrison said with some hesitancy. "Brought with us a Vertibird…" Adam turned to him shocked.
"You have a Vertibird?" He said, quite surprised.
"Yes, we do. Only one though. We used to have more before those Brotherhood assholes walked into the area and…" He then stopped himself, shaking off his annoyance and focusing on the task. "Between your APC and my Vertibird we should be able to get the majority of them to follow us. After all, it's not like the ghouls are great at thinking." Adam nodded slowly.
"So then we shall do that, try to gather as much attention as we can with our vehicles and then bring them into a firing line…." Adam paused. "What resources do we have to deploy?" He asked the room. "Besides my APC and the people I brought along 1 suit of power armor, 3 laser sentry turrets, and a bottomless upgraded protectron."
"We have 3 suits of power armor." The unnamed man in the black suit said with a stoic tone. Adam was surprised but did not let it show on his face. After all, this was The Guild, they had money to throw around like water. Buying 3 suits of power armor probably wasn't out of the question. More than likely, however, they just had them in their part of Midway for whatever might come up.
"We have one." Colonel Harrision said with a nod to the man in the black suit.
"We have brought a number of explosives from the Midway arsenal." Devon said as he sighed, feeling like he didn't bring enough.
"I don't got anything more than you see, men and manpower." Jericho said as he crossed his arms defensively.
"We too only brought those of us from The Pier who could be spared. However we also brought along 5 of our gun turrets" Milla began. "But the big advantage is that the Madam has authorized us to offer this operation 2 of our destroyer's shells."
"That thing still works?" Adam asked, impressed.
"Yes." She confirmed simply with a nod to Adam. "Usually the cannon is used to kill mirelurk queens but in this case the firepower will be directed to the battlefield. The range should be enough to hit wherever we need." She said confidently.
"So then we all good with this plan then?" Adam confirmed.
"I need to see this battlefield you are picking before I agree to the plan but… it sounds reasonable." Jericho said. The rest of the room gave half or full nods.
"Alright, then lets move our basecamp to the soon to be battlefield and get this done."