The Nuke Transfer
The Ironworks was mobilizing. Riots and rebel activity across its territory had pushed the military into a posture of expansion, seeking loyal settlements where it could station troops and find allies. At the same time, the Ironworks was pursuing a weapons program: R.N. Hoover, a Genjian Darwinist who had learned nuclear weapons design from Currie Arand at the Temple of a New Dawn, needed to be transported from the Ironworks to a safe house in the wastelands. Commander Williams was charged with finding the safest route for that transport.
The Uprising learned of the plan. Armistice, the coalition's master tactician and a former Iron Slave who had been personally scarred by Commander Williams, devised a counter-operation. She sent Raymore Diggins, a Quiet Folk Postal Worker, to recruit an outlying settlement into a three-month deception.
In the first month, Diggins arrived and presented the plan: the settlement would feign loyalty to the Ironworks, making itself appear cooperative enough to be chosen as a base. Uprising agents embedded themselves in the town, building relationships and conducting preliminary operations. They sabotaged an Ironworks supply convoy while disguised as raiders, eliminated assassins sent after Diggins, and planted false intelligence to draw the Ironworks in.
The deception worked. In the second month, Commander Williams marched his army into the settlement. Martial law was imposed. Citizens received identification cards and were required to report for work shifts at the Ironworks outpost. Armed patrols checked papers at checkpoints throughout the town. A telegraph station was established for military communications. Williams made public examples of captured dissidents, using torture and execution to enforce compliance.
Behind the facade, the Uprising continued covert operations. Messages were intercepted from the telegraph. Intelligence was stolen from Ironworks couriers. The Iron Forge, a mercenary militia led by General Clarity Ward, conducted a staged sacrifice at their nearby encampment: when the Ironworks discovered the holdout, Ward stayed behind with volunteers to be killed, making it appear the resistance cell was wiped out so the larger plan would hold. R.N. Hoover was transported into the settlement under heavy guard, and the Uprising confirmed that "the Nuke" was not a device but a person carrying the knowledge to build one.
In the third month, at a coordinated signal broadcast by radio from Armistice, the settlement erupted. Multiple objectives were hit simultaneously. One team destroyed the Ironworks' armaments and disarmed traps. Another disabled the telegraph to cut communications. A third team cornered R.N. Hoover, who had strapped himself with explosives and taken a hostage, and neutralized him. The main force overwhelmed Commander Williams and his troops in a hard, sustained fight across the settlement. Iron Forge fighters and Uprising agents fought alongside the inhabitants.
Outside the perimeter, Armistice's forces intercepted fleeing Ironworks soldiers. The operation was complete. Williams was dead. Hoover was dead. The Ironworks' most direct path to a nuclear weapon had been destroyed.
Raymore Diggins thanked the settlement, told them the Uprising was moving on, and severed all contact. General Clarity Ward announced the Iron Forge would continue as an independent company. The Uprising disappeared into the wasteland to continue the fight that would eventually bring the Ironworks to its knees.
The Uprising learned of the plan. Armistice, the coalition's master tactician and a former Iron Slave who had been personally scarred by Commander Williams, devised a counter-operation. She sent Raymore Diggins, a Quiet Folk Postal Worker, to recruit an outlying settlement into a three-month deception.
In the first month, Diggins arrived and presented the plan: the settlement would feign loyalty to the Ironworks, making itself appear cooperative enough to be chosen as a base. Uprising agents embedded themselves in the town, building relationships and conducting preliminary operations. They sabotaged an Ironworks supply convoy while disguised as raiders, eliminated assassins sent after Diggins, and planted false intelligence to draw the Ironworks in.
The deception worked. In the second month, Commander Williams marched his army into the settlement. Martial law was imposed. Citizens received identification cards and were required to report for work shifts at the Ironworks outpost. Armed patrols checked papers at checkpoints throughout the town. A telegraph station was established for military communications. Williams made public examples of captured dissidents, using torture and execution to enforce compliance.
Behind the facade, the Uprising continued covert operations. Messages were intercepted from the telegraph. Intelligence was stolen from Ironworks couriers. The Iron Forge, a mercenary militia led by General Clarity Ward, conducted a staged sacrifice at their nearby encampment: when the Ironworks discovered the holdout, Ward stayed behind with volunteers to be killed, making it appear the resistance cell was wiped out so the larger plan would hold. R.N. Hoover was transported into the settlement under heavy guard, and the Uprising confirmed that "the Nuke" was not a device but a person carrying the knowledge to build one.
In the third month, at a coordinated signal broadcast by radio from Armistice, the settlement erupted. Multiple objectives were hit simultaneously. One team destroyed the Ironworks' armaments and disarmed traps. Another disabled the telegraph to cut communications. A third team cornered R.N. Hoover, who had strapped himself with explosives and taken a hostage, and neutralized him. The main force overwhelmed Commander Williams and his troops in a hard, sustained fight across the settlement. Iron Forge fighters and Uprising agents fought alongside the inhabitants.
Outside the perimeter, Armistice's forces intercepted fleeing Ironworks soldiers. The operation was complete. Williams was dead. Hoover was dead. The Ironworks' most direct path to a nuclear weapon had been destroyed.
Raymore Diggins thanked the settlement, told them the Uprising was moving on, and severed all contact. General Clarity Ward announced the Iron Forge would continue as an independent company. The Uprising disappeared into the wasteland to continue the fight that would eventually bring the Ironworks to its knees.
An Ironworks operation to transport a nuclear weapons designer through occupied settlements, intercepted and destroyed by a three-month Uprising deception. The settlement feigned loyalty, endured occupation, and then rose up on a coordinated signal.
