Coming Out of Their Hole (Post Apoc Fluff)

The following is a continuation of the back story about the Hope Island Research Complex in my post apocalyptic world.

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Since the inhabitants of HIRC (link) had opened their hatch a few years ago, the occupants of HIRC had learned a lot about their new world.  It seemed that the wastes had crept in, a lot more than the advancements of HIRC had changed the wastes, and maybe that was to be expected.  

The complex preserved many of the old ways, preserved the values and technology of the Before, with the intent of slowly helping to restore a little of the order and comfort of a nation from an earlier time.  The first step had been to go out and explore, learn about their neighbors, about the world that unknowingly surrounded them.

When the decision was made to go forth, the first steps were tenuous, as almost no one had been under open skies in thirty years.  After testing the air, captain Vega took off his helmet, and felt wind on his face for the first time.  He was immediately overwhelmed by the vast openness of the landscape, uncomfortable, and unprepared for the sensation.  He looked up at the clear blue sky with awe... and ... a surprising and momentarily incapacitating fear.  

And when the projectile hit the armor protecting his chest, he didn't even realize that he had just been shot.  Fortunately, members of his team noticed, and reacted accordingly.  Returning fire on the gang that had happened upon them.

The fight was brief, the dwellers of the bunker, all protected by advanced armor, were relatively impervious to the weapons of the gangers.  They returned fire accurately, methodically even , and killed their new found adversaries in seconds.  The first encounter with the locals had been had, and established what would become a recurring theme.  The wastes were a dangerous place, and as bad as things could be, people were still more than willing to kill one another.

Not every venture outside the comfort of the complex had been so hostile.  The bunker dwellers intent was friendly, and for now, passive.  They were learning, collecting data, with which to better formulate and execute their plan.

They had been collecting data for decades, but extensive first hand contact would still be needed to understand what could be done.  They had established some trade with local small communities, but the region was incredibly volatile.

In addition to the challenges of interacting with the outside world.  A new recurring problem came to be, in the form of bunker inhabitants trying to "escape" the bunker.  Life was very comfortable and safe inside the bunker, but regimented and restricted in many ways.  

Despite it's resources, one shortage that befell HIRC was population.  The bunker inhabitants were few, and particularly after the end of the Before, the bunker experienced a very low birth rate for some years, resulting initially in negative population growth.  

Effort was made to restrict excursions outside the bunker, with all missions supervised by military escort.  There was an increasing sense of bunker inhabitants being "prisoners" in their underground home, as the leadership tried to carefully preserve and slowly grow their numbers.  

In time, HIRC began to establish small outposts with hope of creating a sphere of influence, and also searching for prospective new inhabitants.  Mistakes were made, and as such, these efforts were not always successful.  Still, HIRC did it's best, working with the resources at hand, under circumstances more extreme than anyone in the Before had imagined.