My eyebrow rose at that. What the hell was an imortas? Was it why such and old man was still overseer. I was pretty sure a new overseer would be elected at some point in most for the control vaults. They simply had to. That didn't matter though as the old man spoke. "As you can see from the logs of our previous outsider, he was a curious young man. I was a simple maintenance worker back then and only saw him a few times."
I looked down to my pipboy and went to my data tab. In it was a few new selections. In the first one it described a small battle on the surface between the legion, old riot suppression robots, and a group of men in power armor. Only one had survived and he did so by accidentally finding the vault door. The overseer had been a kind old lady and had opened the door for him. The next entry told of who he was and why he had come to this place. Owyn Lyons. I stopped at the name for a bit before continuing. He had come looking for the source of the robots and cyber dogs but lost his team to the overwhelming numbers of enemies. His time in the vault was short.
He'd spent most of it repairing and upgrading his power armor and almost any free moment on the database of the vault. He'd told a bit about the surface and the Brotherhood of Steel. A few of the vault dwellers, mainly those who dealt with technology and security, took some of the brotherhood's beliefs for themselves. That was good. The chance of this vaults dwellers being hostile to me had dramatically dropped from that info.
The rest of the logs were minor things and transcripts of Lyons discussions with the overseer. I ignored most of it except for his statements on where he was going after the vault. He was still young and was already aiming for elder. The logs ended after that with a short send off. The last of the logs mentioned that he was the one who inspired the dwellers to build the bots and begin exploring the surface.
"His knowledge was great and his skill greater. He went toe to toe with our head of security back then in hand to hand and won. He fixed the damage to his power armor with a level of skill and experience that I could only match a few years ago." The old man said as I looked up from the logs. "So this is true? You guys had Elder Lyons, leader of the East Coast Rogue Brotherhood of Steel in your vault when he was probably still just a knight."
"We did not know of him having such a title. Is he important?" I nearly scoffed at the man before schooling myself. "He's probably one of the best leaders of the Brotherhood and one of the few that actively helps wastelanders. His chapter may be rogue but it's still one of the best. His chapter controls the old pentagon and other places in the capital wastes. They even have a massive water purifier that give clean water to most of the capital and surrounding wastes."
"Hmm… we did hear of a large war out there over a massive water purification project but not much else. From what we heard the brotherhood won the war but suffered the loss of their leader and his successor." I squinted at his words. Why hadn't something like that been in the reports I'd read. Not even Maxson would have hidden that from reports.
"Their leader and his successor, what did it say about them?" I asked. The old man raised an eyebrow. "Well we heard that their leader died to assassination and the successor was heavily injured and nearly crippled. The man who took over had sown experimental technology brought in to somehow preserve the successors life." He responded. I sat there silently after that. Part of my plan had hinged on the Lyons still being in control as they'd be the most welcoming group of the brotherhood in the east. With them both out, I'd only have the fanatic of Maxson and whoever was holding out as elder of the Appalachian brotherhood. Maxson would be easy enough to work with and he'd have his sights on subsuming the Appalachian chapter. And with the brotherhood knowing about the NCR being under Enclave control, both chapters would be weakened by sending support to the western chapters to fight the NCR.
"How reliable is this information? My plans change massively if this is true. It however gives a chance to point the brotherhood in the direction of the legion, which would free your vault, as the legion would almost immediately e pushed from this area. The brotherhood also wouldn't be to troubled about y'all. They'd probably try to get y'all to join as a decently strong outside force to work with and eventually take in as their own." I said, hoping they'd be open to such a thing. A vault with this level of tech and knowledge would make substantial location for me and the brotherhood.
However John spoke up. "Why would we allow that. Vee'd just become anozer part of a massive faction. We'd lose all of our individual culture. And with how dey work they'd probably stop all our research."
Before I could give a response the overseer straightened and spoke. "If we do it properly then it will only benefit us. And, if we fall to being consumed by the brotherhood then at least our knowledge will benefit some people via a large group wielding it."
"But zat would destroy us. Ve cannot allow that. I will not allow that." He said, a slight undertone of anger creeping into his voice. The overseer slouched a bit before speaking again. "Our vault, since our founder liberated us from the scientific experiments, has always focused on bettering mankind, no matter what. We have always known that our existence could end by being taken for all of our knowledge. We have always worked to preserve ourselves and continue our work, but perhaps it shall end differently. No sublimation, not by destruction, but by building a new foundation from which our knowledge shall send mankind to the heights we have always aimed for."
I laid there stunned by the old mans sudden passionate speech, John off to the side stood with his mouth slightly agape at the end. Suddenly John gives a weird military like salute and simply nods to the old man, his eyes gleaming with a fervent light. Seems I've been dragged into a vault full of weirdos. "Yes, the day will come when we must rebuild. That day will have to be met by a group that does not follow the laws of the old world or the ideals of a long dead leader. If we must sacrifice ourselves to make that group then we shall do it with a smile upon our faces." John said as he stood still saluting.
They both looked over to me and practically stood me up for a firing squad with the question in their eyes. "What? I'm not going to say you're wrong. That's definitely not the ideal but it's pretty realistic, or slightly nihilistic at least." I said to them.
John looked a bit aggrieved but Howard huffed in amusement. He then turned to a cabinet and opened it. "Well I guess it's time to get you out of bed. Your armors quite mangled and we only recovered a few of your weapons. You'll want to get to work on that and while doing so you can help us make plans for the future. If the outside world is as dangerous as you say, then we will need your help."
Howard said while digging into the cabinet. Finally he pulled out a stimpack and walked over. "I must do my best for the next generation. If that means spending multiple hours a day in talks and discussions with you, then I will gladly do so."
Right before the old overseer stabbed me with the stimpack, I spoke. "So, helping with plans for future development and survival is the price for your aid and assistance to me?" The only response I got was a mhm accompanied by a needle jabbing into my arm.