As they approached the Prydwen, Jackie's anxiety increased. She fidgeted in her seat and a tremor shook her leg. The uneasy, sickly feeling in her gut only intensified the closer they got. A tense, numbness seeped through her skin and settled into her muscles as she ground her teeth together.
Her dishwater blond hair, like the gritty sand on the ocean shore, escaped from her bun and whipped in her face while she tried to focus on the task at hand. As the airship drew closer, Jackie had no way of knowing what awaited her aboard. Geers had been given permission to dock without incident or question, a good sign, but uncertainty was chewing away at her nerves and sound judgement. Scenarios played out in her mind, but all of them ended badly, she didn't know how they would make it out of this unscathed.
The Prydwen loomed ahead as they made their final landing approach. The now rising sun reflected off the steel exterior of the starboard side like a giant, glittering mirror. The intense light blinded her and she rubbed her mismatched eyes. Danse had stared for an entire minute when she had first appeared in the courtyard of the police station. As if she was some anomaly in a roadside freak show. She had been born with blue eyes, but had suffered a rare eye condition in childhood that nearly blinded her and caused the darkening of the brown pigment in her right iris.
At first, when Danse had given Jackie the order that they were to join Maxson on the Prydwen, she had adamantly refused to go. Saying that she wasn't going to fall victim to a massive fireball in the sky. Because the Hindenburg had worked out so well before.
The former Paladin demanded, ordered and made all kinds of threats, even told her she would be tried for desertion if she just up and quit. Jackie respectfully gave him the one finger salute and told him to go fuck himself for all she cared. She wasn't getting on that floating balloon disguised as a ticking hydrogen bomb. Jackie made it about halfway to the door before Danse effortlessly hauled her over his shoulder and dragged her, kicking and screaming and making right scene of herself up to the roof of the police station.
When they made it to the rooftop, Danse tossed her in the vertibird and reprimanded her for her undignified behavior before warning her to watch her mouth and get control of herself before they docked. There would be consequence if she embarrassed him. Jackie just cursed and continued her shouting. What was he going to do? Throw her overboard?
Jackie yelled and cursed and insulted Danse's linage the entire flight. Upon their arrival, her outburst continued, so Danse slung her over his shoulder again and dumped her at Kells' feet, saying she was his problem now before storming off. She shut up real quick when the Lancer-Captin yanked her up by the collar of her jumpsuit and raked her over the coals for her unprofessional conduct. Danse didn't scare her, she had become accustomed to that scowl by now, but she was quite certain that Kells would make good on his promise to toss her over the railing if she didn't straighten up and fall in line.
After careful review of the airship's schematics and blueprints, Jackie had begrudgingly agreed to continue operating from the zeppelin. Against her better judgement, she even made her bed here now and dared to call it home.
The jolt of the vertibird docking knocked Jackie back to reality. She stood and warily slid out of the aircraft, her boots unceremoniously hitting the deck. Docked in the bay across from them, sat the vertibird that ran the shuttle between the Prydwen and airport. The Lancer on duty roamed the decks and Jackie didn't miss the strange look the pilot gave her.
It only fueled the uneasiness and the growing tightness in her chest. She didn't like this.
The clang of metal against metal drew Jackie's attention to the door that held the gateway to the bowels of the ship. Someone had just breached the hull. Slow and steady. One foot in front of the other, she made her way along the deck. The tightly wound knot in her belly urged her run after whoever entered before her, but she forced herself to walk.
Jackie moved with a sense of urgency across the deck and up the stairs towards the door. As she reached for the handle, her heart clenched up when she saw the Knight standing guard do a double take. However, the door was flung open in haste and slammed shut behind her before the Knight could question her.
Air rushed against her from the open door and change in pressure as she stepped on to the bridge. She could see through the open space and slats in the rungs of the ladder, Maxson stood with his back towards her, gazing out through the bay of windows upon the ruins of Boston.
The Commonwealth was but a ghost of the once vibrant city. Ruined buildings jutted into the sky like eerie, hollow specters, reaching their claws to tear a hole in the heavens above. Trying to spill the grit and filth of the crimes of man upon the broken earth below. The soil had been cleansed with nuclear fire, but still the earth wept and mankind burned for the sins of their fathers. There would be no atonement, only hell and fire and blood. Death and the wasteland that devoured the living for unleashing hell's demons upon the earth.
Crossing the threshold of the Command Deck, was an impostor, clad in full Paladin armor.
Jackie cursed under her breath and tried to discreetly move around to the left, hoping to skirt past the Knight on sentry duty. The impostor cleared their throat as they approached the Elder and she pressed herself into the wall separating her from the Command Deck, hoping she wouldn't be seen. Not yet.
However, the discrepancy didn't go unnoticed by the Knight across from her. The soldier glanced from her to the impostor and she signaled for the sentry to hold position.
Movement could be heard, fabric rustling and boots on the ground, as the Elder rounded on the impostor. Each footstep enunciated by the sharp clap of his boots on the steel floor.
"Paladin," Maxson's voice was the calm before the storm, "I heard you were in route."
It made the hairs on the back of Jackie's neck stand on end and she shifted so she could see the exchange but still remain somewhat hidden. The guard across the entry grew restless and luckily Maxson motioned for them to make themselves scarce, but the Knight remained. Even in the armor, Jackie could see the conflict. They knew something wasn't right, but they didn't want to disobey orders from the Paladin or the Elder.
Maxson's face was flat, cold and hard, like the steel that encased his ship. Slowly, methodically he took the last remaining steps to fully confront the impostor. The storm of fury brewed in his eyes and he straightened to his fullest height.
"Where have you been Paladin?" The scathing tone would have made any self-respecting Initiate cower and piss themselves, but the impostor would not be cowed. Maxson pressed his chest against the breastplate of the impostor's armor, ready to unleash his wrath upon supposed Paladin within.
Seconds ticked by agonizingly slow as nothing happened and Maxson waited for a reply. Demanded it with his very presence. As abruptly as the silence began, the impostor jerked into action. In one fluid motion, Danse twisted off his helmet and tossed it to the floor, unholstering his gun and taking stance. He pushed Maxson back with the weight of his body and shoved the muzzle of his rifle against the Elder's chest.
"Elder Maxson," Danse's voice was firm, commanding and Jackie couldn't see his face, but she knew the fierce scowl his brows held. All too often it had been directed at her for her stubbornness, "You have committed crimes against the Brotherhood of Steel and violated the very tenets on which the Brotherhood stands," Despite having no authority here, he spoke with conviction that Jackie had thought long since gone, "I have come to ensure that justice is served for your lawlessness and utter disregard for your fellow man."
Jackie's gut plummeted to the floor and pins and needles, cold as ice, pricked her skin. She pushed out from her hiding place without a second thought, reacting purely on instincts, just like she had at the bunker. Maxson stumbled backwards with wide eyes, having the decency to look genuinely surprised. And... was that fear she saw flash across his features before he could regain control of his steel exterior?
"Danse! No!" Her voice cracked, but her hands were steady as she slung her rifle around and leveled the barrel between Maxson's eyes. For the second time, in recent weeks, she had the scope of her rifle trained on the Elder.
The click of the trigger and the whirl of the barrel of the minigun spinning up echoed like thunder off the steel walls of the ship. Her heart beat violently and her chest heaved as her finger teased the trigger of her own gun. If she was lucky, she could fire off a shot before the Knight could gun her down.
Jackie prepared herself for a hail of bullets and primed herself to pull the trigger, but the hellfire never came. A flash of orange darted passed her… Geers? She threw a glance over her shoulder just in time to see him yank the fusion core out of the Knight's armor. The armored soldier's movements ground to a halt and the minigun crashed to the floor as Geers pulled the release. The armor opened without ceremony and he pulled the Knight out by the scruff of her neck.
The soldier jerked and fought against Geers as she struggled to free herself, catching his face with her nails as she groped for purchase to push away from him. He shoved her to her knees and drew his pistol as blood stained his cheek.
"Make the right decision, Knight!" he growled and pressed the barrel of his gun to the back of her head.
"Alright, alright!" she squeaked and acquiesced, throwing up her hands.
Shuffling and stifled shouting could be heard from below at the helm. The noise and commotion from above drawing the crew's attention. Any moment now Kells would be storming up the stairs-
The singeing sting of laser fire cut the air like static electricity following the hot lightning of a warm summer night's storm. The air crackled and popped; the muffled, muted sounds in the atmosphere disorienting her senses.
"I said on your knees!" Jackie's ears were ringing and she couldn't make out who it was, but it sure as hell wasn't Kells.
Soldiers should be pouring in from above and out on the flight deck, but none came. Jackie's body instinctively tensed at the unmistakable clanking thud of power armor being thrust against the door to the flight deck. Someone was using the sheer weight of their suit as a barricade.
"Don't even think about it!" A voice shouted from the opening to the main decks of the ship above, "Back to your racks," Knight-Sergeant Toben? "Now!" he ordered.
For a second, all Jackie could do was just blink and stare with her mouth strung open catching flies, trying to comprehend what the hell just happened.
"You!" Maxson had collected himself enough to round on Danse again with a finger jabbed into his armored chest. "Abomination-"
"Can it Maxson!" Jackie snapped back to reality and swiveled her head around, rifle held at the ready as she inched closer. Her confidence renewed with the knowledge that she had the upper hand. The look of shock, or fear or whatever it was, that had befallen the Elder's face before, had vanished like gunsmoke and had been replaced with unrestrained fury.
So many things were happening at once, but Jackie couldn't help but think back to the strange radio transmission Geers had sent... Had this been planned? Mutiny? Did Danse stage a coup? And why wasn't she in on it? Questions for another time, but Jackie fully intended to interrogate the lot of them if they even survived.
Jackie drew closer until she flanked Danse from the left, standing just behind his armored left shoulder.
Pale eyes darted from Danse to Jackie as Maxson prepared his attack. His eyes narrowed in on Jackie before flicking back to Danse, "Attempting to hijack my ship will not end well for you synth. I warned you not to mistake my mercy for acceptance." The face of steel was hardening across his features once more, "You will not be pardoned again. By my own hand, I will execute you properly this time," cold eyes snapped back to Jackie, "Both of you."
She stiffened at his words, a chill chasing down her spine. It was no surprise that they had arrived at this outcome, but she still held out hope that the renegades could hold off an affront long enough for them to escape.
"Tell me, why should I show any leniency?" His hands flexed at his side and there was a twitch at his jaw. Jackie had become accustomed to reading him and knew, more than anyone, that a man lurked behind the wall of steel. She recognized the signs, he didn't want to go down this path, but he believe there was no other road to take. He couldn't let the facade slip. He had to put on a show, maintain his authority or else he would lose control of the entire operation. The Brotherhood torn in two. And Maxson would be the one at the helm, the one responsible, so he kept up the pretense. Kept the ship afloat with blood and fear and fury.
"You will be put to death," Maxson paused for effect, "Immediately."
Before Jackie could open her mouth to respond, to defend them both, Danse quickly cut her off.
"You're unarmed," he stood firm in his conviction, "and judging from the lack soldiers mounting a counter attack, it would appear I still have friends in the Brotherhood." Ever so slightly Danse leaned forward, "It would be in your best interest to stand down."
The face of steel contorted under the heat of his fiery temper. Maxson was beyond pissed. Whether it be because he actually hated Danse or because he was being forced into a corner, Jackie didn't know. His jaw tightened and his brows cinched together, obscuring his blue eyes in a sea of darkness. But he choked down Danse's words with the heaving of his chest and he chewed on the gristle left behind. With tight lips, he carefully chose his response, "Alright synth, I'll play the game. What do you want?"
Being given the go ahead, there was no hesitation when Danse spoke, "In the old world and the new, your crimes would be brought before a tribunal and you would be given fair trial for your indiscretions. You are hereby being accused of the following war crimes and shall be tried accordingly; genocide, ordering no quarter, enlisting child soldiers, pillaging, and..." Danse leaned in closer and shoved his rifle a little harder against Maxson's chest, "Rape."
The last word was hissed through gritted teeth. Danse was unsuccessfully trying to keep his cool, rein in his emotions. Jackie had never seen him so angry. Never seen him act on impulse alone. The heat of shame burned through her and crawled along just under her skin because she had caused this. All of this had been her fault. And now here they were, their lives hanging from a thread, because she still hadn't learned how to shut up and take it. Swallow her pride and except her punishment like a good soldier, to keep the ones she loved safe.
If Maxson was a lesser person he would have stumbled, recoiled from the position he was in, but this was Elder Maxson and he firmly stood his ground.
"I see," Maxson's eyes flashed back to Jackie. The pale irises slid up...and down her body before returning their gaze to Danse. The Elder scoffed with a slight curl of his lips, "You lack the authority to make these claims. And what evidence do you have to support your accusations?"
Jackie felt her face burn and she was about to pull down the collar of her uniform, but Geers spoke from behind her.
"This is a joke, right?" he snarled, "You have squires stationed all over the ship. Time and again you order your soldiers to take no prisoners, total annihilation of the enemy."
The Knight he held in his grasp whined and he gave her a firm shake to shut her up before he continued, "Teagan sends squads to get supplies from local settlements and orders them to use any force necessary. Don't leave empty handed. And…" he scowled at very idea of what he was about to say, "You ordered one of your finest Knights to execute your most respected officer without trial or hesitation. Without mercy." He glanced at Jackie, his face awash of anger, "And your Paladin..." his eyes softened towards her, but the harshness remained in his voice and strung across his brow, "The ship echos, Elder."
"This is treason," Maxson eyed them beneath lowered brows, a cool reminder of the treacherous water they were treading in, "There will be no trial, only your deaths."
Geers jerked his head to the quiet, open space in the bridge behind them, "You aren't exactly in a position to make threats."
Maxson held his shield, but Jackie saw the slight twitch at the corn of his mouth, "Do you really think Arthur Maxson, Elder of the east coast division, last of his line, forged from eternal steel, a God amongst men, will stand trial? Or have you forgotten that there was a reason I was put in charge?"
"You are no God, Maxson." Jackie was close enough that her rifle was mere inches from the Elder's face. "You're just a man. A man who likes to think of himself as a king, but lives and breathes and dies. And you will fall, like any other man in this wasteland."
Having heard enough, Danse interceded, "Your crimes are punishable by death," still towering over the Elder with his rifle held at point-blank to his chest.
"Who will carry out the execution?" Narrowed eyes, cold as steel burned up into Danse, "You? A traitor? A machine that thinks it's alive... that thinks it's a man?"
"Danse-" Geers was cut off as Danse nearly shoved Maxson right off his feet.
"Enough!" he roared, "I'm done debating this. Maxson, you will stand trial or I will execute you, now."
"No. You won't." There was that curling of his lips again, a challenge, silently daring Danse to do it, "You're weak. A disgrace. Even at the bunker-"
Jackie only saw red and white hot static as she squeezed the trigger. The crack of her gun discharging split the air, leaving them fumbling in hushed, deathly silence once again. Her thoughts were heavy and slow as her brain struggled to catch up with her body's reaction. The glass of the windows before her creaked and cracked from where the bullet had lodged within the pane.
Slowly the fog dissipated and she came back to her senses and all she saw was crimson. A steady stream of blood seeped from the wound in her Elder's face. It was her. Her gun. Her bullet...
Fuck!
What the had she done?