"First, I want to hear you say, yourself, that the place you are suggesting, the Federal Rations Stockpile, is a safe and viable location for us to move to." Arden said with a serious, no nonsense tone. Adam paused for a moment, looked him in the eyes and then nodded.
"It will require hard work, but it is safe, secure, and has plenty of space to grow a community." Adam said back with equal seriousness. It was Arden's turn to nod.
"Greg and another are going to go check it out. See if it's safe as you say. Not to say your words aren't trustworthy, mind you, but it's a great piece of mind to have that confirmation."
"I understand completely." Adam said back.
"That uh… vehicle of yours… is it fit to maybe transport us?" He asked, hesitantly. Adam paused again.
"For a price… though full transparency I am pretty sure you have far too many people to transport you all at once."
"That is fine… if this place is a safe place to build a new home we can move in waves."
"I'm going to have to charge for this." Adam said, himself hesitant this time.
"Naturally." Arden said back, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Name your price." Adam stopped and then looked around and then looked at his companions, who were equally unhelpful in giving him an answer. He had to come up with something because this was definitely a part of his life now, business.
He considered the variables. Hiring Salvatore to get to Midway was somewhere between 100 to 150 caps. It was a two day journey and only really accounted for pathfinding and security. The trip from here to the FRS would be a multi-day journey if on foot. However in the APC It would merely take a few hours, half a day at most. So obviously they would need to pay for the expediency. But these folks clearly were not wealthy enough to pay out high amounts of caps for the journey so it has to be balanced.
All of this said Adam came to a conclusion.
"400 caps, per trip." He said seriously. Arden raised an eyebrow.
"That seems… awfully cheap, I'd say." Adam nodded.
"I figured it was the same regardless of how many come on a trip at a time. The APC still will work the same. So if all of you shove yourselves into the back in one trip you can split the cost." Adam shrugged. "I'm not trying to fleece you, figured the iron chariot option that can get you to the other side of the city in a few hours is worth a bit but I'd rather make friends than make money."
"Well in that, you and I are the same." Arden smiled. "I think that we can scrounge together the money to make a few trips. If you want to come back in a few days after we check it out ourselves then we can-"
"Or I can hop on that fancy 6 wheel of yours and ride to the place today." Greg interrupted from behind.
"My car is pretty full of stuff right now. I don't have the room, but… if you are willing to pay me for the trip…" Adam said with a bit of an open stance, offering the idea up.
"For the chance to learn about a better place to call home, somewhere safer, cleaner… I think we'd be willing to pay." Arden continued.
"Well in that case… give me time, I'll return to my home, drop things off and then come back to pick him up." Adam gestured to Greg and his friend who looked ready to leave nearby, also dressed in a mishmash of combat gear. "400 caps, all the same, even if it's just those two."
"Agreed." Arden said with a nod. "We will scrounge together enough caps for you."
"Alright well… I'll be back then." Adam said with a soft laugh before turning around and starting to head down the ramp towards his APC.
"So we will return after we drop off our loot?" Deccanus asked as they walked together.
"Yes, I guess we may be taking up the role of transportation." Deccanus nodded.
"It seems a worthy use of our time."
"I have to say I'm at least a bit surprised to hear you say that." Adam said back.
"Why? Helping settlers find a home is always a worthy endeavor. As Legion we used to settle our people all the time. Warriors are not just meant for war, they are also meant for protection of those who can not protect themselves. To act when others cannot."
"I… well yes I agree." Adam chuckled a bit and then smiled. "We are not just fighters, not just scavers, protecting people is our job too."
"Mine too, sergeant?" Rae said, chipper tone as always and wearing their new hat on their head.
"Yes, Rae, yours too." He then paused and added. "Though getting paid for it helps too."
The group then hopped back into the APC and turned to leave. The trip back was easy as it was coming in. It was strange how many cultists there were now. It felt as if there were far more cultists now than there ever were before. Have they been hiding their strength? It was confusing to say the least. But Adam did his best to pay it no mind. For now the cultists weren't bothering him so he was fine to leave them alone in turn. But it was… disconcerting.
Getting back at the Vault he unloaded everything from the APC with the help of some of the residents. The molerat meat alone was received with joy as, just as Deccanus said Adam was promised a great meal tonight with the meat as the central ingredient.
Once everything was out of the APC, Adam, now that he finally had the concrete available, spent some time programming a set of instructions into the construction protectron on how to build the stairway down the cave to the vault entrance and the wall to surround the entrance above ground. Adam was intending on spending a decent chunk of time putting the work in to ensure the protectron had blueprints. However, Adam was not a structural engineer, sure he could make this stuff if needed but it was not something he was overly confident in. Though he would have figured it out eventually. But, upon learning Adam's intentions, some of the residents decided to take up the task themselves making use of all the gathered materials in the area. Their actions made the project so much easier since Adam didn't have to go out of the way to figure it all out himself. In order to let them go in and out of the Vault as needed, either for rest, food, or whatever else he lent them a communal Pip-boy to be used as a key to open the Vault door, showing his trust in them, not that it was in question.
Leaving it to them he took Deccanus and Salvatore this time, considering ghouls were involved, and headed back out to meet with Greg and his friend so he could transport them.