They arrive back at the Vault a few hours later. Adam and Mira head inside after Adam let his APC charge again. He had some thinking to do. This was complex, but for the moment he was tired, sweaty, and hungry. So he decided to remedy all of that.
After getting some food he headed to his room and took a nice hot shower and then went right to sleep. It was, of course, not nighttime, so it was really more of a nap but he still needed it. By the time dinner rolled around and he had successfully ruined his circadian rhythm for the night he got up and joined the vault residents for dinner.
Mira still seemed to be mostly keeping to herself but did seem to be engaging in a few conversations here and there with some of the vault residents as they ate.
Pearl, surprisingly, even had a few friends she had made. There was still a lot of suspicion and worry from others in the Vault, but more people were beginning to like her and were making friendly conversation.
Deccanus sat with Adam while he ate, wanting to hear about what he saw while he was gone, which Adam was happy to recount almost everything. The only things he left out were the more personal insights that Mira shared with him. If she wanted to talk about herself or her fears with Deccanus, she could, it was not his place to speak on her behalf. Regardless when Adam finished filling in Deccanus he spoke up.
"So what is the plan?" He asked, curious.
"I… don't know…" Adam admitted, slowly. "We can't just let the cult win, not if they are bent on turning everyone into mutants…" He paused.
"Then why not unite Chicago again? A threat such as this might muster up some forces." He said with a determined tone. Adam however, shook his head.
"We just did that for the battle with Famine. It is one thing to unite all the various factions to work together to end the existential threat that was Famine, after all feral ghouls don't see political divisions, they can't be bribed, there is only death for non ghouls, it was easy for people to fight them. However this is different. The cult are just people. They can be bought, persuaded, or even worked with for those who are willing to sell out their fellow man. People will see a way out. Not to mention the fact they already proved they have spies planted in unexpected places. Besides, the losses from the fight were huge. I doubt anyone is already back in fighting shape…" Adam paused once more, letting his words sit in the air.
"Then what we need is a new army." Deccanus said back. Adam looked at him for a moment before speaking again.
"What army?"
"War." Deccanus said, back, not an ounce of sarcasm in his voice.
"War?" Adam asked back, skeptically. "He just fought with us in the last battle. His forces were hit the hardest, no doubt that is why he is losing to the cult right now. If his forces were on equal footing with Pestilence he might be worth trying to bring on side, but as is he clearly doesn't have the power to win this war." Deccanus slowly shook his head.
"He need not win the war, he only need win one battle." Adam looked at him confused.
"What do you mean?" He said slowly.
"The First Battle of Hoover Damn, the battle that pitted my Legion against the forces of the New California Republic, was unexpected on both sides. Both empires expanding endlessly they were bound to fight, and fight they did. The Second battle, however, was a long time in the making. One, final, decisive battle to determine the controlling party of the Dam. No, the controlling party of the Mojave and all its surrounding territories, from New Vegas to the Divide. That is what we must do, bring our forces to bear in one final battle. To cut the head off the snake." Deccanus explained his plan slowly and precisely. "If War cannot win the war then we must ensure he wins the final battle."
"And you want to orchestrate this final battle?"
"No." Deccanus corrected. "You must." Adam remained silent for a few moments while he thought over Deccanus' words.
"And what if we do this? What if War wins? Wouldn't we still have to deal with War at the end of it?"
"Yes." Deccanus said quickly. "However if they were a force strong enough to still be a threat to Chicago they would not be losing to a mere cult. No, they are hurting, and this battle too, if we get them to join, will weaken them further. What remains will be a shadow of the power they once had. From there it would be no more than cleaning up the remnants." Adam was left speechless for a few moments, considering Deccanus' plan. It was solid. It had a lot of variables, a lot that could go wrong, the least of which is War saying no, but if it worked they could stop the cult and weaken the forces of War enough to the point where the four horsemen of Chicago would finally be dealt with.
"How do we force this battle?" Adam asked Deccanus, fully invested.
"We know where the cult HQ is, you have a mobile fort armed with weapons, if we lead an organized strike onto their main base, kill their top commanders, destroy the Vat of FEV, and eliminate the forces in the immediate area, the rest of the cultists will fall into disarray. Even if they don't, leaderless, and with no FEV to conduct their experiments, they will be forced to leave Chicago to find an easier place to hunt."
"So, a direct attack on the HQ?" Adam said, crossing his arms and leaning back. Deccanus nodded.
"Indeed." Adam remained silent for several minutes after this. He had a lot to consider. Even if he could get War to join with him again, that still might not be enough to handle the thrust into the core controlled area of the cult. They would need more manpower. This might be even harder than the battle with Famine. After all, humans can shoot back. But if he wanted to handle this problem, save for sneaking in again and assassinating the leader or something this might be the best way. Besides, assassination might sound nice and clean but he had no experience with it and assassins were not exactly easy to come by. Besides this was the leader of the largest military force in Chicago, he would be hard to kill. No, a bloody, costly battle was likely for the best, unfortunately.
After some time to sort his thoughts Adam nodded again.
"Alright, then this is what we will do. But before that we will need to head to Midway. We have some things to take care of there."