After the defeat of the Enclave, David finally had some time on his hands. The last time that he had so much free time was when he had been sick in Vault 101 and James had locked him in his room to rest. Back then, the freedom was torture, but recently, David had found something else occupying his thoughts. Or rather, someone.
Sentinel Sarah Lyons. Leader of the Lyon's Pride and next in line for position as Elder of the Eastern chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. Over the length of David's campaign to track down his father, he'd met Sarah and they became fast friends. When David and the Project Purity scientists had escaped to the Citadel, Sarah had been the friend that David had gone to, to vent his anger and his sorrows over James' death. When David charged alongside Liberty Prime to reclaim Project Purity, Sarah had handed him a rocket launcher, and before Purity was activated, David kissed Sarah. Sarah was angry at David for his sudden affections, but David defended himself saying that he couldn't die before he told Sarah how he felt. Just as David activated Purity, he turned around and looked at Sarah. Worried lined her face, but David felt euphoric. He felt as though he was dying without any regrets, and it was a nice feeling. David knew he was being selfish to Sarah by dumping all that knowledge on her as she had to watch him die, but he was simply thankful for having the opportunity to tell her.
When Elder Lyons woke him up back in the Citadel, David thanked whatever higher power that had allowed him to see Sarah again. He then proceeded to damn them for putting her in a coma. David talked to Elder Lyons and the wise Elder managed to piece together the message hidden in David's words. Owyn was thankful to have someone looking after Sarah, but as for her affections, he assured David that the only person who could answer that question was Sarah herself. After the destruction of Addam's Air Force Base, Sarah wanted to talk to David. They talked for a while, and Sarah thanked David for all his help as she was unconscious. Sarah told David how she loved him too and together they shared a sweet gentle kiss together. Owyn disrupted the moment and started laughing when David blanched, and his face went pale. Since then, whenever Sarah or David weren't on a mission, they'd spend some of their time together. Now, David was typing out a report for one of the Paladins as he watched Sarah spar with someone out in the ring.
It always surprised David how someone could move so fast in a heavy suit of Power Armour, but Sarah always made it look easy. While David wasn't some rookie when it came to Armour usage and maintenance, he doubted that he could ever get to be as good as Sarah. It was coming up on their first anniversary and David being the hopeless romantic that he was, wanted to do something special. Pouring through the Brotherhood's Archives, David found so many clichéd ideas, such as a dinner date or gifts and the like. David wanted to appeal to Sarah's innate love of adventure and the unknown and couldn't think of anything interesting enough. Thankfully an idea came in the form of a bored squire carrying a comic book.
"Hello Arthur. What are you up to?" David asked. Arthur gave out a long sigh and threw his comic up on David's desk.
"I wanted to go and watch the live weapons tests downstairs but Rothchild wouldn't let me. People tell me that my family was really important in the foundation of the Brotherhood, but everyone acts like I'm made of glass, not Steel!" The young squire whined.
"Believe me, adventuring out in the wasteland isn't something we do for fun. Recently, the Sentinel and I went out to go and clear a Mutie nest, and we got stuck in a clothing store by two cranky Deathclaws." David said. Arthur suddenly leapt up from his seat and stood in front of David, his eyes showing pure awe and curiosity.
"What happened? Did ye kill them? Did ye make them regret ever getting in a fight with one of the best teams in the Brotherhood?" Arthur asked. David laughed.
"One lesson that you must learn Arthur, if you ever want us grunts to like you as an Elder, is that we're not invincible, no matter what the books, and the Scribes try to drill into you. Most of the time, we want to survive the encounter, so that we might come back and finish it another time. In that particular case, the fusion core in the Sentinel's armour was almost gone, so we had to wait until the Deathclaws fell asleep. We then snuck out around them. Once we refuelled and reloaded, we hunted them back to their nest and blew the thing sky high. Just remember that not every fight that arises has to be fought there and then." David explained.
"I guess… but we mustn't ever seem weak to our enemies. The Brotherhood is the strongest thing in this world. We fight to protect the weak. We preserve so that humanity might someday recover. You sound like Rothchild…" Arthur said, sitting beside David.
"I may, but Rothchild does give good council sometimes. Why else would Elder Lyons appreciate his advice so much?" David asked. Arthur nodded his head for a second, but then ducked underneath David's desk as an angry looking scribe stormed into the room.
"Knight?! Have you seen Squire Maxson anywhere? It's time for his studies." The Scribe asked.
"Maxson? Sorry, no I haven't. If I see him, I'll tell him to report in. Ad Victorium, Scribe." David answered.
"See that you do. I swear that boy might make a great Elder someday, but right now, a Centaur would do a better job…" The Scribe said before she left.
"You could have told me that you were on the run. Although I must compliment you on your ability to keep a straight face. I just thought you were travelling." David said as Arthur wormed his way out from underneath the aged pine desk.
"Well, I thought I'd lost her, but Scribe Flaherty is quite adamant that I attend my studies. I've told her to stuff it already quite a few times, but she just gives out saying how that's not how an Elder should act. But you see that's my point. I'm not Elder yet, I should be able to have fun. I stole that comic to try and cheer myself up a bit, but that plan hasn't worked either." Arthur sighed. "I guess I should probably go and let Flaherty know where I am before they think I've been abducted by Zetans or something…"
Arthur was long gone before David realised that his comic was still sitting on his desk. After he had finished his report and submitted it to the scribes, David picked up the comic and went to go and hand it back into the Archives. Looking down at the cover, David saw a Zetan, grinning evilly on the bridge of a space ship and suddenly David had an idea for the perfect date for himself and Sarah.
"Alright then David, can you NOW tell me what the hell we're doing out here in the middle of nowhere? All I'm saying is this better lead to a damn good surprise or this will have been the worst date I've ever been on and I've been on terrible ones." Sarah said, her hands on her hips.
"Fine. I wanted to do something special for our anniversary and I didn't want to do anything boring. I discovered something a few months ago and being the only one with access, I decided that it was something I wanted to share with you. Give you something to remember, hopefully fondly." David explained as he stared at the map on his pip-boy.
"David, the idea is sweet, but I'm trapped inside a half tonne suit of sheet steel almost all day every day. I'm also usually up to my chin in mutated abominations that our ancestors decided would be a swell gift to pass onto their children. If you suggested we sit in our underwear in my quarters, listening to old holotapes, I'd have done it. You didn't need to go so far out of your way." Sarah explained. "How much farther?"
"Not much. Should… be… right… over… here! Found it!"
Sarah stared down at the small mechanical device. There was a small dish rotating on top and a quiet beeping could be heard. Sarah wasn't impressed with her first impression, but David seemed both excited and relieved.
"What the goddamn hell is that thing?! Please for the sake of your survival that we haven't marched all this way for that thing. If you wanted a beacon, we could have gotten one from the Knight Captain Dingham!" Sarah shouted. Sarah was hot, tired, and sweaty. Today was the first day off she'd had in quite a while and if David wanted her to spend it looking at a tiny metal box, then he'd unfortunately suffer from an accident and might possibly die.
"Do you trust me Sarah?" David asked, extending his hand. Sarah slowly took hold.
"Yes… of course I do. Why?"
"Well then hold your breath and sorry in advance."
"What the he- "Sarah said before both she and David were consumed in sharp blue light.
Suddenly Sarah felt a hard surface beneath her again, and her stomach was trying it's best not to spill the brahmin stew that she had for lunch all over the floor. A gentle hand laid on her shoulder and Sarah looked up to see David. He looked apologetic, but Sarah had a growing urge to punch him in the face. Really hard. With a power fist. Once the queasiness passed, Sarah stood up, and punched David in the shoulder. His face was too precious to her.
"Where are we?! What the hell did you do?" Sarah asked. Around her were flashing lights and corridors, and all sorts of other things. It may have been whatever brought them here, but Sarah still didn't feel easy.
"Well you know about a few months back when I came running to you saying that I'd been abducted by aliens? And then you replied by laughing in my face and telling me to go and see the Citadel doctor? Well it was all in fact true and this is the starship that I liberated from the Zetans and took over as my own…" David sheepishly said. David was usually quite a forward character but seeing him so shy was strange.
"Are you seriously telling me that you were abducted. By aliens? Do you seriously think I'm crazy?" Sarah asked. David threw his hands up in defence.
"No really! Here, stand there for a second."
Sarah did as David asked, but she couldn't believe what he was saying. Abducted by Aliens… A mechanical shutter began to laugh and as it got higher, Sarah's jaw fell farther. Pressing her face and hands up against the glass, Sarah stared out at the expanse of space and the earth slowly twisting beneath them. Sarah threw her gun to the ground and grabbed David by the shoulders and shook him.
"You were no shit abducted! Why didn't you tell me! Why didn't you show this to me sooner?" Sarah asked. Once Sarah released him, David put his hand out to steady him. Once his vision stopped spinning, he started explaining himself.
"I did tell you. As I already said, you told me to go and see the doctor. As for telling the Brotherhood… As great as the brotherhood is, I don't think that they'd properly understand what they'd be working with here. I mean, I had a seven-hundred-year-old samurai here and a couple others. Together we stopped a space laser from tearing the earth a new one even worse than the atomic bombs. I wanted to show this to you because I know how much you love a mystery or the stranger things in life. I thought that all this would be perfect… So, what do you think?"
"I… I… I don't really know what I think. I mean part of me wants to tell the Brotherhood about this, as is our duty. Another part wants this to be our own little secret. I mean this is amazing! Definitive proof that lifeforms live outside our own planet. Proof that life isn't just an irradiated stain on the ground of our own planet. I mean… Rothchild would eat his robes to see this. But on the other hand, I agree that the Brotherhood mightn't understand any of this. We've got our hands full with a massive water purifier. Adding a damn space ship on top of that and other forces might become interested in this and then we'd have another war on our hands. Seriously, a samurai?"
"Yeah, couldn't understand a word he said but I watched him wield a sword and cut through the small green freaks like they were nothing. It was crazy. Thanks for keeping my secret, and if there is anytime that you'd like to come back up here, just let me know. I come up here all the time to contemplate and reflect. It's quite nice for pretty much anything. I've some quarters set up in the corner, a place to make weapons downstairs and a range to test them on. The reactor used to power this place, would probably have cracked the earth open like an egg."
"No problem, but this is now our secret. I won't tell anyone, and I know you won't either. Thank you for the nice thoughts on our anniversary."
"I've got some dinner set up in the quarters… thought we could do something romantic after all that adventuring." David suggested, offering Sarah his hand.
"And who said that chivalry was dead… I'd love to." Sarah answered, following David. Together, Sarah and David enjoyed a meal together while they looked out among the stars. Sarah still had a hard time believing her eyes, but she enjoyed herself. Sarah could remember the Scribes talking of other Wastelands and continents in the world but seeing them all dotting the planet beneath her, it was almost like a fairy-tale.
"David, thanks for showing me all this. I must admit that I thought that you'd hit your head quite hard when you started screaming at me about Aliens… I suppose I should pay closer attention to the crazy stuff you seem to find in the Wasteland." Sarah said, as David was preparing the teleporter.
"There's no problem over that. I can barely remember what was going through my head at the time. The realisation that Zetans were real or the fact that I'd taken down a entire ships worth, or maybe it was the fact that I'd been abducted. I suppose that it could have also been my fears that I'd never see you again… It terrified me." David answered, not able to look Sarah in the eyes. Sarah started to laugh and gave David a hard dig in the arm. As the Knight rubbed his wound, he finally looked at Sarah and she looked the happiest that David had ever seen her in a while.
"That line was so cheesy… Please tell me you have other lines in your repertoire then that? I appreciate the sentiment, but my father even has better lines than that…" Sarah said, still laughing.
"Sorry about that. I'll go and ask him for some when we get back, shall I?" David asked. Suddenly Sarah looked at David with a cold seriousness in her eyes.
"If you come after me with lines my father used on my mother, they will never find your body and I mean that in every sense of the word."
David now in fear of his life, quickly saved himself.
"As you wish. Now shall we go back home?" David asked. Holstering her rifle, Sarah walked up and kissed David. David returned her kiss with even more fervour and they lost each other in their embraces for a short while.
"I suppose we should."
And with that, they were swallowed in a blast of blue light. The ship going dormant again until her captain returned.