A section of the Bailey was dedicated to firearms training. The range instructor and maintenance man was a Knight by the name of Ledson. He was a short but muscular man, he sported a huge handlebar moustache. His hair was as black as the tires that lined the range. Rubber was good at absorbing rounds, or slowing them down either one. A set of targets were lined up at a range of forty yards. A car door with a pained, X in red. There was a piece of scrap wood held up by a pair of posts driven into the hard ground. A hastily painted X adorned the scrap wood, in green. Knight Ledson scolded Initiate Buddy and the Knight Sergeant responsible for him. Green spray paint was valuable, the Brotherhood use it in urban clear outs to denote wether a building is clear of enemies or not cleared properly etc etc. Green C meant it was cleared. Black U meant that there was still danger. And a Black pre war Sergeant rank painted on a wall or a door meant there was something of note within. If a patrol retrieved that tech or cache of ammo then a big green + sign would be painted over the Sergeant rank. Initiate Buddy walked besides Knight Sergeant Jameson with his tail between his legs. The other targets were all set up. Knight Frank and Tag were at the firing zone watching the two walk towards them. Tag was leaning on a makeshift table built with tires and a piece of wood on top of them. She was lazily looking through her Laser Rifles sight, she was saving up for a picatinny rail, Knight Captain Durga sold them for 20 caps. Tag already owned the laser dot sight that she wanted to fix onto the laser rifle. She had found it on a search and destroy mission, a raider gang holed up in DC had injured a patrol team heavily. Reinhardt's team served out the justice that was due, the boss of the gang had a dodgy hunting rifle with the laser sight dangling on a weaver rail on the receiver. Tag had replaced the batteries and fixed the sight up. The sight would be better than the stock iron sights of the AER 9. Knight Frank stood still as a statue besides her, arms crossed.

"10 caps he doesn't even make the vertibird ride to the Prydwen."

Tag chuckled.

"How do you think he will do on the range?"

Frank scrunched his face up, maybe it was the glaring sun or the question.

"Captain Reinhardt said that Gunny gathered he was a good shot from his limited firearms training."

Frank reached for his holster and checked the chamber of his N99 Colt. Tag did the same for her AER 9, checking the MF cell was placed in the chamber properly.

"He can't be as bad as Murphy." It was know in the band that Field Scribe Ainsley Murphy was the worst shot by far. Sure he might hit the target in the shooting range, however when it came to combat situations he would generally find himself some cover and shoot without looking. In all his time in the band Knight Frank had never seen him hit an enemy, however Knight Captain Reinhardt said he had dispatched a target once a long time ago. If Initiate Buddy could hit an enemy as well as he could a car door on the range then he was good in his book.

Knight Sergeant Jameson regarded the weapons on the makeshift table, they had loaned several weapons from the armory, Reinhardt had brought most of the ammunition with his own caps, Jameson threw in some spare MF cells, Frank however had been reluctant to share his ammunition. Frank's weapon of choice was the Heckler and Koch L20 Gatling Laser, it used an Electron Charge Pack to feed ammunition. A large pack filled with technological innovation that Initiate Buddy knew nothing about, all he knew was that it somehow fed energy to the Laser and zap zap the enemy is dead. Frank looked serious about not letting him have a go with it, Buddy didn't think he could even hold the pack let alone fire the laser.

"Alright Initiate select a weapon that suits your style."

Buddy frowned.

"Style? I got plenty of that but what's my gun gotta do with that?"

The three rolled their eyes, Frank crossed his arms.

"Fighting style Initiate. Long range, Heavy, Explosives which we won't let you have anyway, Close quarters, Stealth, whatever you think fits."

Buddy scratched his head, looking at the three Knights.

"Well Frank's got to be Heavy so what are you two?"

Jameson and Tag exchanged a glance.

"Well, although she only has her AER 9, Knight Tag is our sharpshooter so she holds the title of sharpshooter. I'm a close quarters fighter, secondary heavy."

Frank nodded to that, Tag smirked at the AER 9 she cradled in her arms.

"I guess... Hm... I'll try..."

Jameson huffed.

"We haven't got all day, Initiate."

Initiate Buddy grabbed a M-16a3 off of the table, one of the only two assault rifles on the table. Buddy looked through the sights and felt the weight before nodding to Jameson.

"Old and Obsolete by the time of the Old War, plenty civilian and decommissioned military models can be found to the south or west. That was only picked up by a squad due to its uncharacteristically clean look. Interesting choice. It uses standard 5.56 mm rounds. This was the militaries standard issue rifle before being phased out by the R series."

"Yeah I want this one, it's the tops!"

"Alright make that weapon safe. You have thirty seconds."

Buddy scrunched his eyebrows together, he clicked the safety on, smirking over to Tag. He thought that was all he had to do. Jameson waited til the thirty seconds was up and then nodded to Frank. They had done this before with Tag.

"Hey!"

Frank wrestled the weapon away from Buddy's grasp, clicked off the safety and fired a burst down the range.

"Now is the weapon safe?"

Initiate Buddy thought it was unfair.

"Well not if bullets for brains puts the safety off!"

Tag chuckled away behind him. Buddy's face grew red in embarrassment.

"Make it safe Frank."

Frank placed the safety on, removed the magazine, cocked the bolt causing the unfired round to fly out, checked the chamber was empty, cocked the weapon, placed the safety off, dry fired it down range and put the safety back on. Before handing it to Jameson.

"Now Initiate take the weapon and if Frank wrestles it off you, he won't be able to kill you with your own rifle. Will he?"

Buddy looked downtrodden, he muttered an ok before taking back the rifle. The rest of the day was spent firing and zeroing in his new rifle. It was nearing 19:00 when they called it a day. Buddy jumbled over to the mess before going to meet Knight Captain Reinhardt in the G wing of the Citadel.

Buddy walked through to find a lot of offices similar to D wing, the only difference was that the briefing rooms here were converted to classrooms. For children. Buddy sighed, thinking he would get treated like a kid.

"Ahhhh!"

Knight Captain Reinhardt had tapped him on the shoulder, scaring the poor initiate. He grinned at the sight.

"Follow me Initiate, it's back to school day."

Initiate Buddy was apprehensive, who knew what embarrassment would be in store for him today. Buddy followed Reinhardt into a classroom filled with teenagers, they all wore standard fatigues. Reinhardt smiled at the classrooms teacher a middle aged scribe, she was quite the gem, Buddy thought. Reinhardt hugged her, much to the murmurs of the classroom. Exaggerated of course but buddy didn't know that.

"Initiate Buddy this is Scribe Melissah Jackson"

Scribe Jackson extended a hand and said a standard generic nice to meet you. Buddy followed, he couldn't get his mind over the elephant in the room, or his elephant.

"Are you two, like, together?"

Reinhardt and Scribe Jackson shared a look and sighed before laughing as the classroom erupted in raucous laughter. Buddy's cheeks reddened, no need for anyone to embarrass me when I do it so care freely.

"No, leave it for the Knight Captains fantasy."

Jackson laughed along with the teenagers. Reinhardt grinned and chuckled. Buddy could see a change in Reinhardt, he felt at home.

Soon the laughter died down and Jackson enquired as to why the pair interrupted her lesson on pre war conduct in economics.

"I know that Initiate Buddy needs to see the Brotherhood from a different perspective. All he sees is the dogmatic view of most civilians, big power armoured guys with cool weapons who worship technology. That's wrong."

Scribe Jackson dipped her head.

"I understand, continue by all means you will teach the kids as well."

Knight Captain Reinhardt nodded.

"Initiate, why does the Brotherhood preserve technology and keep it from the hands of civilians"

Buddy felt confident in his answer.

"Because that kind of tech is too advanced right?"

"Partially right, we preserve and collect technology so that, one it isn't used in a unjust way, we do not want Super Mutants to have access to Nuclear Weapons Platforms. And two to prevent mankind from destroying itself all together, we had one great war to show us our wrongdoings we do not want another. Understand?"

"Yeah boss, I dig."

Scribe Jackson glared daggers at the Initiate.

"Address the Knight Captain with due respect, Initiate!"

Initiate Buddy ducked his shamefully muttering an apology.

"Initiate what is the role of a scribe?"

Buddy perked up.

"To fix Technology, guns and write stuff down."

"Scribes are the backbone of the Brotherhood, their key role is to document everything. From Promotions, Battles, Deaths, Ammunition stocks and even updating the very codex itself. Without proper documentation and rules we would be nothing more than a loosely tied militia. An Army relies on supply lines, the Scribes and the BOC (Brotherhood Operations Corps) create this supply line."

"It would help to be extra kind to any scribe you come across, Initiate."

Buddy nodded, Reinhardt gestured that one of the students stand with him. She was blonde and had piercing grey eyes.

"Initiate Buddy this is Senior Squire Jennifer Franklin, soon to be Knight Franklin if she continues to amaze her teachers. Initiate why do you think Senior Scribe Franklin is on a fast track to become a Knight?"

"Erm, is she a good shot?" Buddy was under the assumption that being a good prospective soldier she must have very good combat quality.

"First of all, she listens. Even in a somewhat boring class like this, she absorbs information like a sponge, which is an invaluable asset. She shows great leadership qualities, able to take command when others struggle to understand the situation. She has an aptitude for fitness which mostly comes from her genetics, Head Knight Franklin and Head Scribe Franklin are very proud of their child. And most of all, she is very fast. She can run fast, she can fight fast and she can think fast. These are all detrimental in being a member of the Brotherhood of Steel. She could beat you down without you knowing. Trust me, I've seen it."

In all of that praise Senior Scribe Franklin stared stoically at a point behind Knight Captain Reinhardts head, she was very humble indeed.

"I've chosen you Initiate, for one reason only. I see potential where some don't. What you don't know is that despite some of your scores in basic training, Paladin Gunny was ready to send in your resignation to Elder Cross. Now follow me, I think we are done for today."

Buddy was slack jawed as he followed Reinhardt out of the classroom and back to their bunks, he didn't realise he was that close to being booted out, or that his scores were even good, well he knew he was good with a gun. Reinhardt told him to rest, as tomorrow would be a hard day and boy was he not joking!

A/N What can i say? Work and life and no computer...