Squire Lost

Vertibird Down

A dense fog settled over the Mystic River. Spilling out across the river banks, it covered the Commonwealth both to the north and to the south. Visibility was poor at best, as the late morning sun illuminated and magnified the fog, almost making it glow. It was so particularly thick at the confluence of the Malden and Mystic Rivers that it hid Poseidon Energy behind a bright yellow veil. Obscured in the fog, a vertibird traveled to the northwest. Almost invisible to anyone standing on the ground, the only sign that it was nearby was the thumping of the blades that propelled it through the sky.

Aboard the vertibird was Star Paladin Reeves and his team on their way to a clear Bedford Station of ferals. The mission, wasn't expected to be a difficult, so Lancer Captain Kells attached a Squire to the team so that the boy could get more field training. The entire mission was low risk, to both give the lower ranking members some experience, and to ease the Star Paladin back into the field after an unfortunate incident involving a Behemoth and a Mirelurk Razorclaw.

Sitting on the bench beside Aspirant Lyndsey and next where Initiate Samuel Wells knelt on the floor, Squire Declan clutched the seat tightly as he peered into the fog's thick yellow glow. He had occasionally been able to make out the top of a tall building, but now he couldn't see a thing. Leaning forward a bit, he tried to see the instrument panel in the front. Lancer-Initiate Aducci was using the vertibird's instruments to tell where they were going and the Squire wished he knew how to read them.

"Sit back," Sam told him, obviously uneasy by the way he clutched the leg of the bench seat.

"Sorry," he whispered, quickly doing as he was told. He watched the Initiate for a moment. "You're new," he stated. "You're from here in the Commonwealth. What's your name? I'm Declan."

The Initiate regarded him warily before his expression softened and he smiled. "I'm Sam," he introduced himself. "I'm the first in my family to do something besides scavenging." Aspirant Lyndsey made a face, but it went unnoticed.

Declan smiled. "Well welcome to the Brotherhood, brother." He looked down, playing with the edge of an undercoat that stuck out from under his uniform sleeve. He shoved it back underneath with a gloved finger. After a moment of deliberation, he pulled it back out. "See this? It's something my uncle made for me. He used the scrap leather from the Elder's battlecoat. It's got some kind of ballistic weave, but it's not as tough as the Elder's. He said that would make far it too heavy and too bulky to hide under my uniform."

"So is your uncle a tailor for the Brotherhood?" Sam asked.

"He's Proctor Teagan," Declan answered proudly. "He's Proctor for the Order of the Sword."

"You're messin' with me," Sam smiled.

"I'm not! The next time you need ammo, tell him you were on the mission with me. I'll put in a good word for you."

"Will he cut me a deal?"

"He might if I ask. I'll make sure to tell him that you looked out for me on this mission."

"I could use a break. Ammunition prices are steep."

"So I've heard but I wouldn't really know," Declan shrugged. "I could quote you ammunition prices all day long but I've never shot a gun in combat or training to see how fast you use it up. Well, nothing besides my uncle's laser pistol at old Nuka Cola bottles, but they won't give me my own gun yet. I'm not old enough."

A look of astonishment crossed the Initiate's face. "They're sending you in unarmed?"

"I'm not allowed to fight," Declan told him. "I'm here to observe proper extermination techniques and that's it."

"But we're going to a train station full of ferals."

"And it's your job to eliminate them and keep me safe," Declan told him. "But should you fail –" he reached down and pulled a combat knife out of his boot. "The Elder doesn't have a rule against blades. Not one that I've found anyway." He put the knife away and leaned back in his seat. Sitting like this, his toes barely brushed the floor of the vertibird. He caught Paladin Reeves watching him. "I'm not going to fight, Sir," he assured him. "Its my Mother's. She says its lucky." He glanced over at the Initiate, uncomfortable in his inability to read if the Star Paladin was annoyed through the helmet of his power armor. "I've been on half a dozen missions here in the Commonwealth and I've never had to use it, so I think that she's right."

"I'll make certain you don't have to test that luck," Sam assured him.

"Thanks," Declan smiled.

Gunfire pinged against the side and bottom of the vertibird. It wasn't that unusual, and at first Declan didn't notice it over the sound of the vertibird's engines. The vertibird lurched when their pilot, the Lancer-Initiate, was struck. Sam pulled out his rifle, but the fog was too thick to see down to the ground. The gunfire intensified as Aspirant Lyndsey held Declan back in his seat. A few more rounds made their way inside the vertibird, one striking the back of the Lancer-Initiate's seat and the other ricocheting off of the Paladin's armor and striking Lyndsey.

"Bring us around!" Paladin Reeves shouted up to the Lancer. "Light 'em up, Knight!"

"Yes sir!" Knight Sloan replied enthusiastically as the minigun whirled to life.

From his seat, Declan watched the Knight unleash a torrent of bullets with the vertibird's mounted minigun. The vertibird began to list to one side as the Lancer-Initiate continued bringing it about. Declan slid on the bench seat, but the Aspirant took hold of his arm and held him. Her hold on him was weak and Declan attributed that to the blood soaking through her uniform. She was injured. He slid down in his seat to brace himself against the floor and tightly held the metal frame of their bench with his left hand. Pulling his right arm free of hers, he slid it around her waist. "I've got you, Sister," he reassured her as she wrapped her injured arm around his shoulder.

"No, I've got you." She let out a strained chuckle. Her attempt to play down the situation and keep him calm worked. Despite being under attack, Declan wasn't worried so long as he had his team. This wasn't his first battle and it wouldn't be his last.

Sam lost his footing and fell into Declan. Lyndsey held onto the bench as tightly as she could but Sam's added weight pushed her off. Declan lost his grip on her and she fell onto the floor between the bench and the Paladin. Snaking her good arm around the bench supports she held on tightly.

A fiery trail narrowly passed over the cockpit, lighting the fleeting fog in an orange glow.

"They have missiles," the Lancer-Initiate called out, his voice weak.

A second fiery trail erupted from the fog below and made contact with the port engine. Knight Sloan and her minigun were blown off the vertibird in the blast, and Star Paladin Reeves threw himself between the blast and his remaining team members. Declan and Sam were shielded from most of the shrapnel and heat, but Lyndsey wasn't so lucky. The vertibird rolled onto its side and Declan had only a moment to process that he'd just witnessed her death before her body tumbled out and disappeared into the fog.

"Bail!" Paladin Reeves yelled to Sam as he braced himself inside the listing vertibird.

"What?!"

"Jump!" Reeves repeated. "Find any survivors and go back to the Prydwen! That's an order!"

Sam looked panicked, and Declan was certain the look was mirrored on his face as well. The vertibird fell into a downward spiral when the Lancer lost consciousness. Holding onto the edge of the floor with one hand, the Paladin took hold of Declan with the other.

"Head southeast," the Paladin yelled over the vertibird's failing engine. "Be careful sticking too close to the river. The mirelurks will tear you apart. If we don't make it you go straight to the Prydwen. You got that soldier? Southeast along Mystic River."

Declan managed a nod, even if he couldn't imagine how he would ever survive to get to the ground again. His chest tightened in panic. He wasn't like the other Squires—he was afraid to die. This was nothing like sleeping.

"Which way do you go?" Reeves shouted at him.

"Southeast!" Declan answered.

"Ad Victoriam, little brother!" the Paladin shouted as he shoved Declan down through the port-side opening and into the river below.

Declan hit the water and was immediately pulled under by both the force of his impact and the current of the river. While the water wasn't particularly deep, he struggled to swim to the surface. Weighed down by his gear, he tore off everything that removed easily, including his uniform top. He would've removed his custom battlecoat but there were too many buttons. A little less weighed down, he swam as hard as he could to reach the surface, risking burning in the orange glow up above over drowning in the irradiated water that was all around him. When the main body of the vertibird crashed, Declan could hear and feel it under the water.

Making it to the surface, Declan gasped for air as he splashed around trying to get his bearings. All that laid before him was fog and water. He paddled around looking for his team, but he couldn't see anything but a fiery orange glow. The crashed vertibird put off a heat that he could feel on his face but Declan was undeterred. It was important that he checked for survivors. He swam towards the crash site. He swam as hard as he could but he couldn't make any headway against the river's current. Exhausted, he let the current carry him away.

His legs bumped up against the rocks when he entered shallow water, but he struggled to get his footing. He washed up on a muddy river bank underneath a fallen tower of some kind. He laid there for a few minutes, recovering from his exertion, and just stared up at the large beams that disappeared into the fog. There was a muddy, slightly bitter taste in his mouth from swallowing so much river water. His body ached, his muscles burned, and every breath stung. If anyone had survived the crash, they were being very quiet. Were they surrounded? Was he the only survivor? He shoved himself up to a sitting position, his leg and hand sinking into the mud. He tried to remember his training. It was important that he not panic. He needed to take inventory but it was hard to focus on anything besides his head pounding with every heartbeat. Most of his gear was lost in the water, he felt sick to his stomach, his vision was blurred, and he was all alone.

The panic won out and took a firm hold of his chest as he crawled up the rocky bank and away from the water. The Paladin's warning rang fresh in his ears. He collapsed again, this time on scratchy dry grass. His heart was still pounding in his chest, but the sound of weapon fire gave him hope. He knew that gun. That was the vertibird's minigun. Knight Sloan had survived. He crawled a bit closer, following the sound. He came into a partial clearing in the fog, and for the first time all morning, was able to see his surroundings.

Before him was the remnants of some pre-war neighborhood. Someone, or something, had moved pre-war vehicles to build a perimeter fence around it. The smell coming off of the place bothered him, but he couldn't quite place what it was. Not brave enough to go into the reinforced housing compound the shooting was coming from, he stayed low to the ground like a newborn radstag and kept a sharp eye out for any other hostiles. Nervously, he pulled his knife out as he listened to the gunfire. Had the Knight fallen behind enemy lines or had she run in to try and distract them from the vertibird? Declan didn't know, but he was fairly certain the Knight was his hero. An explosion erupted from inside the compound, shaking the ground and everything around him. The minigun quit firing.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"I am Super Mutant! I am unstoppable!"

Declan's heart sunk. Any hope he'd had of finding any of his fellow soldiers died when he saw a pair of super mutants come out of the compound. He stayed low as he tried to move away from them.

"Someone there?" one of the mutants taunted.

"Here human. Here human. I got a treat for you!"

Declan laid down on the ground. Fear had paralyzed him. He closed his eyes and willed himself to breathe slowly. The only thing he could hear was his pounding heart, so he had to force himself to open his eyes so he would know if he needed to run. There was a third super mutant outside the compound now. They were looking for survivors.

His hand brushed across something metal, and he realized with great astonishment that it was a pistol. He had no idea whose it was, but at that moment he didn't care. Grabbing it, he crawled behind a bush and looked around. The clearing he'd been in was a small one, because he was back in the fog again. He couldn't tell which way to go, so he just started running in a direction that was away from the super mutants.

Up on the Prydwen, Lancer-Captain Kells rushed up the stairs to the Command Deck. Maxson didn't look over, his gaze focused on the radiation storm that swirled over the crater that used to be C.I.T. The Institute was gone—not defeated by the Brotherhood but rather by a bunch of farmers and drifters with laser muskets and pipe rifles. While there was certainly enough tech in the Commonwealth to justify the Brotherhood's continued presence, they'd spent so much time and energy and lost so many of their own preparing for a battle that was fought without them—well, it hadn't been fought entirely without the Brotherhood. Paladin Danse and Paladin Brandis had joined Knight Miller and his Minuteman for their attack on the Institute.

While Brandis could be dismissed as disillusioned and delusional due to his traumatic experience in the wasteland, Danse was an exemplary soldier, Maxson was not happy that one of his most esteemed Paladins had left him in the dark about such an important operation. As for the Knight, his stunt with the Minutemen and his refusal to follow orders had proven that he wasn't Brotherhood material. Unfortunately, the popular opinion among the ranks was that all of the men were deserving of promotions. Many of the other soldiers felt that promotions to Star Paladins were in order. A few others believed the rank of Sentinel was appropriate. Maxson disagreed—he'd felt blindsided and betrayed because they worked behind his back and withheld vital Institute information from the Brotherhood, but he couldn't punish them without the possibility of causing outrage.

"Elder," Kells interrupted. "I have urgent news."

Maxson sighed as he rubbed his face. "What is it?"

"One of our vertibirds went down while en route to a mission."

"Were there any survivors?"

"We're uncertain. Their distress message didn't come through. The broadcast was cut off before we could get their coordinates."

"Can you trace the bird's tracker?"

"No sir, it appears to have been destroyed."

"Who was on board?"

"Star Paladin Reeves, Knight Sloan, Lancer-Initiate Adduci, Aspirant Lyndsey, Initiate Wells, and Squire Declan."

"We've lost a Squire?" Maxson asked in a low, serious tone.

"We can't confirm who we've lost until we find that vertibird."

"We've never lost a Squire before."

"And until we find a body, I'm not going to concede that we have," Kells spoke simply. "I've alerted everyone in the general area and have rerouted nearby vertibirds to begin searching for the crash site."

"Does Proctor Teagan know?"

"Of course not, that's why he isn't up here right now demanding a vertibird for his own search."

Maxson frowned as he turned to look out at the Commonwealth. "Inform Teagan and keep me apprised."

"Yes sir."

Author's Notes: This is the first story I've posted in a long time and my first Fallout fic. It's a bit intimidating writing in such an active fandom. I hope you enjoy the story.