A/N: The conspiracy side of my story will be coming more to the forefront as things progress, so a lot of this stuff obviously doesn't happen in game, but I wish it did! Some aspects of my story may diverge from the game, so please bear with me and my headcanon :)

Chapter 9: Messages

Knight Nora was largely gone on assignment the next few weeks. This proved to be both a blessing and a curse.

Maxson felt blessed that time could now pass, allowing sanity and logic to reassert themselves in his mind. However, he was cursed by the intimate memory of his actions and the questions they raised at night. Sufficed to say, insomnia and cold showers had almost become a daily routine at this point.

Nora had been busy recruiting and assisting Dr. Li in the reconstruction of Liberty Prime. The curious coincidence that once again a vault dweller would be storming against a Brotherhood of Steel enemy using Liberty Prime had not been lost on the young Elder. Maxson was not usually one to believe in such quaint superstitions as fate, but this particular coincidence did have an air of luck about it.

As the blackness of night engulfed the Prydwyn, Arthur found himself within his quarters, tasked with the tedious job of checking his terminal. He quickly scanned over his messages.

He smirked. For the fifteenth day in a row, the Citadel council had not responded to his 'marriage' communication. He was perfectly fine with that.

A brief knock interrupted his thoughts. Never a moment's peace, he reflected broodily.

"Come," he snappily beckoned. As he rose to address his visitor, Knight Nora stood uncomfortably at the threshold to his room.

There was a brief and awkward still silence, where neither moved nor spoke, like strange chess pieces waiting to be played. Nora finally made a motion to salute, ceremoniously saying, "Knight Nora, reporting in." She was unusually rigid and proper. Apparently, she too had recognized the awkwardness now between them, and decided to fill the gap with Brotherhood of Steel protocol.

Arthur found this change in behavior both relieving and frustrating. While this was how their interactions should be and should have always been, he found himself silently missing Nora's incessant questions, her peer-like attitude, and her bemused banter. He, too, played his stiff and formal part. "At ease, soldier," he said colorlessly.

Nora played off of his stolid attitude with her own. "I was told to tell you when Paladin Danse and I would be heading to the Glowing Sea to secure Liberty Prime's ammo cache. We have a vertibird prepped and ready to depart within minutes, sir."

Maxson crossed his arms behind his back, trying to ignore his guilt and unease. He silently wished they could go back. He considered apologizing, but found that he couldn't bring himself to do so.

I am a coward.

Externally, he merely nodded. "You intend to traverse the Glowing Sea at night?"

A sliver of Nora's personality unburied itself. "We are hoping the cover of darkness will help us blend in with all of the piles of deathclaw shit." She betrayed a small smile. "Actually, we are helping Scribe Haylen set up a communications point at the edge of the sea tonight. We will head in tomorrow."

Arthur's mouth twitched into an almost unnoticeable smirk. "Very well. You are dismissed, knight."

Nora did not leave. Instead, she paused, adding a weary, "Elder…" She looked to the floor, distressed. "There is something else."

Arthur felt cold adrenaline pump into his blood. She wanted to talk about their moment together. About his staggering lapse in judgement.

"That morning in the mess hall when your suitors arrived…There was something I wished to discuss with you before we were interrupted."

Arthur's jaw visibly unclenched. He was wrong about the subject matter, mercifully. He merely responded, "I recall."

Nora nodded and sighed, unsure of what to say. "I thought you should know about the…packages I have been receiving."

Arthur shook his head, unsure that he'd heard her correctly. "What packages?"

Nora seemed to shift uncomfortably. "As you may know, I have been helping the Minutemen establish settlements in the Commonwealth. One such settlement is called Sanctuary. It is where I stay and coordinate Minuteman business when I am not working for the Brotherhood."

Maxson just narrowed his eyes. He should have forced her to choose a faction, instead of letting her divide her loyalties like some dishonorable mercenary.

But if he had forced her, she might well have left.

"Where is this going, knight?" he asked bluntly.

"I'll explain," she quickly insisted. He had never seen her so anxious or edgy before. "Because I spend time in Sanctuary, I have built a house there. I haven't explicitly advertised this fact in the Commonwealth, but if someone were interested in me it wouldn't be difficult to find this out." Her eyes glazed over in thought before refocusing on him. "I am telling you this because, every few weeks, I have been receiving anonymous packages on my doorstep. I have no idea who they are from or why exactly they are being sent." She shook her head.

Arthur began to feel uneasy. Was Nora being threatened? "Are they dangerous?" he asked.

"No," she hastily responded, "though they are…strange. At first I thought someone was donating junk to the Minutemen to scrap for parts, but then I began to realize a pattern. They are Brotherhood of Steel items."

Maxson's brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

Nora frowned. "I don't either, sir. I think it might be some kind of…message, but I don't know what it means."

The vault dweller appeared unusually cagey. It troubled Maxson. "Show me these…items when you get back."

She nodded. "Yes sir." She promptly left.

Maxson sat at has terminal, ill at ease. Why would someone choose Nora as the recipient of some kind of cryptic Brotherhood message? Furthermore, what was the message? He suspected that Nora knew more than she let on. He should have pressed her.

He found his mind stubbornly dwelling on the subject for the next several days. He became increasingly impatient; he needed Nora to return to question her further. But he would not have the chance. For on the very eve that Nora and Danse were set to return, a much clearer, direr message popped onto Maxson's terminal screen.

The subject line simply read: URGENT: PALADIN DANSE.