- Prologue I -

This was it. Almost two months of hard work. But she had finally done it. She had to make questionable decisions, actions that she, by her own metric, would consider evil. But she had done it. She had finally freed Nuka-World. She took a deep breath. She shouldn't have entertained the raiders and their requests for so long. She should've just killed them from the get go. But she knew better. It would've been impossible otherwise. The slaves just had to keep up with it for a little longer until she lulled the raiders into a sense of security before dealing the killing blow. It'd still been hard, but it had been doable. However, she was exhausted now. Finding a small chair, she sat down and looked at the people moving around.

The sun was setting.. The lights were turning on... The corpses of the raiders she had just killed were being looted of any valuables and carried to a rather large body pile to be burned. As the shackles of the former slaves were being unlocked around her, she came to an inevitable conclusion. She was procrastinating. She knew, had known for a while now.

Stopping the Mechanist and her robots, helping Vault 88, the struggle in Far Harbor and now freeing the slaves of Nuka-World. Sure, she helped people, but she'd be lying if she said that was what she set out to do. She just came across these situations and did what she thought was right. She was just... wandering, really. No real aim on what she was doing. Ever since Shawn had told her he was dying, she'd lost focus on what to do with her life. She had to make a choice, she knew that. One that would affect the entirety of the Commonwealth. But she didn't want to. Not because she was scared of the responsibility, but because she didn't know what to choose. Boston was the centerpoint of a three-way war - well, four-way, but the Minuteman mostly kept to themselves and their settlements - and eventually she would have to back one of those factions. She couldn't run. That wasn't her style. But she knew her choice would affect the lives of countless people.

When she stopped to think about these factions individually, she came to the same conclusion: They had good things about them, but they also had terrible things that made them really, really bad. The Brotherhood of Steel was organized, had advanced technologies and a clear purpose of helping mankind. Unfortunately, they were basically fascist fanatics. She couldn't back them in good conscience. The Railroad was better, but their focus was simply on the Synth's struggle. They didn't really have a purpose beyond that, and destroying the others for their cause wouldn't really improve the rest of the Commonwealth that much in the long run. The Minuteman were arguably the better option, but she couldn't see their ragtag gang really doing all that much in a shorter timespan. Sure, they had been a force to reckon with, but that was a century ago. They were less than a shadow of their former self. And then, there was the Institute. Oh how she hated it. When they squandered all their potential to help people, she despised them with all her might. Not because she knew about their sins and all the misery they had brought into this world, but because she hated herself for not being able to stand up to them. Despite all their evil, it was still Shawn's life work. She couldn't bring herself to take it down. Even though she knew deep in her heart that her son had done despicable things for little or no reasonable cause, he was still her son, and by God, she would die for him.

As she reached the Overboss' apartment, overlooking the decrepit amusement park, she sat on a stool and thought about what her late husband would do. She giggled to herself. She had loved that man with all her heart, still did. But good lord, that boy was a soldier, through and through. No creativity for these kinds of things. He would probably wait for Shawn to die - just like herself, she couldn't see him making an enemy out of their only child - pick the least worst choice, that being the Minuteman, and hope for the best. She couldn't do that. Wouldn't do that. She had to find a way to, some way, to get the best of all factions. The future of the Commonwealth, nay, Humanity, deserved no less.

But again, she came to the same conclusion: all factions had good and bad traits. She sighed. If only she could find a way to get all of them to cooperate. All of those people combined had the power to make actual change. To take the human race out of the shadows of what was almost their nuclear grave and into a bright, better future. But she doubted it was possible. There was no way she could make them sit down and have a civil discussion to reach a compromise. There was too much distrust, too much hate, too much blind anger. It was simply impossible...

Now hold on a minute, how could she say that? After everything she went through, everything she did, how on Earth could she say it was impossible?! She was the Sole Survivor of Vault 111, the one who had defeated the Mechanist, the Hero of Far Harbor and now, the Liberator of Nuka-World. She would find a fifth option, a way to make them all cooperate, and with God as her witness, if they wouldn't work together, she would make them do so!

Standing up, she made her way to the bed. She would have a long day tomorrow, and she was exhausted right now. They would see. She would take the Commonwealth and heal it... Even if by force.

- Prologue II - The Conclusion

This was it. Almost two years of hard work. But she had finally done it. She had to make questionable decisions, actions that she, by her own metric, would consider evil. But she had done it. The Institute, the Railroad, the Minuteman representing most settlements and, finally, the Brotherhood. They had all been forced to the negotiating table. It took her months of non-stop production of robots in the Mechanist's Lair, syphoning resources meant for the settlements and their people, but she had finally amassed a large enough force to coerce the others to a meeting. The Institute had to be purged of opposition to her taking over after Shawn's death, but she had them firmly under her control. The Brotherhood had to be culled with a show of force. But that had been simple with a tactical teleportation of a large number of assaultrons to the Boston Airport and their beloved airship in the dead of night. She had them by the balls, and they knew they were hostages. The Railroad should have known better than to stay in the same place after she had turned her back to them. They were pleasantly surprised when the synths teleporting to the basement of the old church didn't immediately slaughter them, but they still weren't happy with it. And the Minuteman... To be fair the Minuteman had been the easiest to bring over. Hell, they'd even offered to host the talks in the Castle. For some reason beyond her understanding, Garvey seemed to trust her implicitly. To be honest, it unnerved her a bit, but hey, she wasn't complaining. And now, here they were. The end of her journey. Or rather, the end of the beginning, The real work would start after this.

She could finally start to heal the Commonwealth, but first, she had to tackle the elephant in the room: The Synth Question. Oh boy... She had known it was going to be complicated, but she hadn't expected it to be this much. Before an agreement could be reached, they had to reach a compromise on what would happen to the Synths. The Brotherhood wanted them destroyed. The Railroad wanted them freed. The Institute wanted them back in their hold. The Minuteman... Well, they just wanted them to stop replacing people. Anyways, it took weeks of debating and innumerable calls for order, but a compromise had finally been reached. She had to kind of force the Institute to accept it, but it had been done. The Synthetic Charter had been signed and it was... good enough, she supposed. The Institute would stop the production of further Generation 3 Synths, effective immediately, all undercover Synths 3 would be recalled to be given new faces and a mind wipe to start new lives, and the list of all names and designations, along with their deactivation codes, would be deleted and burned. The Brotherhood had still advocated for their destruction, but were finally convinced that if the Synths thought of themselves as humans, they wouldn't try to destroy mankind. Well, more were forced to be convinced, but still.

The Railroad was astounded. It was almost everything they wanted, so they happily took the deal. The Minuteman had been alarmed at just how large the number of Synths replacing people had been, but were glad that that nightmare was over. The Institute... well they were outraged, but while she had a way with the carrot, her time in the wasteland had made her way with the stick extremely... Effective... They would complain and grumble and say she was a terrible mother for ruining her son's life work, but they would comply. For now at least. The second issue had been even more controversial.

With the Synth Question resolved, there was no more reason to fight. As much as these groups hated each other, this pseudo war was over, and they were to stand down. As such, she proposed what was the whole point of this charade. The Unification of the Commonwealth. The Minuteman were to be dissolved and reorganized into the Government of the Commonwealth. The Institute would give up their ambitions and return to being an organization for higher learning and development, as they had been pre-war. The Railroad was now pointless and was to be disbanded. Maybe they could become an intelligence agency? An idea for later, surely. And the Brotherhood... Well, they were trickier than the rest. As soon as the proposition had been put forward, Elder Maxson stood up to leave. To him, this didn't concern the BoS, and to be fair, she agreed. The Brotherhood signed a nonaggression pact and were to return immediately to the Capital Wasteland. They'd be back, she was sure, but the Commonwealth would be ready.

Next, came the trials. Or rather, the proposed trials. They wouldn't happen. The Railroad wanted the scientists responsible for the suffering of the Synths to be judged for their crimes. But she put her foot down on that one. No one would be held responsible, that was the price for the Synths' freedom. They were minor complaints, but most of their delegation agreed. The Synth Charter was much too good to be put in jeopardy over this. So they let it go. The Minuteman were trying to play mediators, so they agreed as well. The Brotherhood was no longer involved in the negotiations, so they had no say.

Finally, came the agreement. The signing of the Constitution of the Commonwealth. 500 years ago, in this very same city, a country had been born. And now, half a millennia later, a new one was too. The Commonwealth had been reformed as its own, sovereign nation. And she was the one to lead it. Well, at least until elections could be called. But she was confident she would be elected in those, too. After all... The game had been rigged from the start.

- Prologue III - The Start

This was it. Almost twenty years of hard work. But she had finally done it. She had to make questionable decisions, actions that she, by her own metric, would consider evil. But she had done it. She had finally reached the rank of captain, and now had her very own ship. The CSS Humble was anything but. Boasting cutting edge sensors and the CIT's most recent teleport drive, it was the Commonwealth's Navy most advanced class of exploration ship. And she, Captain Christina Garvey, was the one to command it.

She kept a facade of absolute seriousness, but inside, she was giddy as a schoolgirl talking about her crush. Just thinking about all the things she would discover out there was enough to make her maniacal with eagerness. Ever since the discovery of the Prothean Ruins in the Mars colony, and as such having undeniable proof that they weren't alone in this universe, just about everyone had been infected with the desire to explore. And she had been given the honor of taking the first step! Her name would go down in the history holotapes. If she didn't pinch herself every morning, she would think this was all a dream. But she reigned those emotions in. She had a job to do. And before she could set sail, she had to get that infernal authorization to launch.

"Ensign, what's our status?" she asked one of the bridge's crew members. Adams, or whatever his name was...

"Ma'm, all systems are green. We are readying the Gen 4s while we wait for confirmation from the Lexington"

Ah, yes... the Lexington. That damned station and her commander. God, how she hated the man. Ever since cadet school, he'd been belittling her. Just because she had played a little prank with his Pip-Boy's configurations. Ok, sure, maybe she had done it to embarass him in front of his boyfriend so she could steal him for herself. But come on, all is fair in love and war, and that had happened what...? Almost two decades ago...? Honestly, how bitter could someone be to still hold her in contempt for stealing a fling? She knew that he knew how much she wanted this. And since they were so behind schedule now, he must've been delaying her as much as he possibly could on purpose, she was sure. That infuriating little man must have had such pleasure at ordering her around. Of all possible people, why oh why did she have to be subordinated to him? He must have asked for it, that's the only explanation. Him and his daddy, with all their brahmin e-caps. If only she could prove to his superiors all the shi-

"Ma'm, rear admiral Gunderson gave the go ahea-"

"Fi-nally! Launch this ship! We're burning daylight."

"Yes, ma'm. Undocking now."

This was it... This was IT! The future was now! Her entire life had been for this moment. In the year 2387, the CSS Humble set sail from the orbit of the Moon towards the edge of the solar system. The human race, after almost wiping itself out in nuclear fire 300 years ago, had finally reached the stars. And they would take them by storm.

Author's note:

Yeah, another Fallout-Mass Effect crossover. Just what we all needed. Bear with me, as this is my first fic ever. I had this concept in my head and just had to vent it somewhere. Hopefully I won't get bored of it and this won't die like so many other fics. Maybe I'll post an timeline on what happened between 2287 and 2387, but so far, it's not that important. We going to space now, boys. That's all that matters. And no, this won't be a humanity fuck yea fic. Well, for the most part. Despite its overall primitiveness, there are some techs on the Commonwealth that are far beyond anything in the ME universe. And in 100 years, some other new things have popped up as well. We'll see how the Council reacts to those in due time. Also, if anyone is reading this, don't bother offering suggestion on pairing or such. This won't be set during canon ME, so I won't be using any of the characters in either universe. Maybe a few of those who live ridiculously long, but Shepard and the gang won't be the focus. Or rather, they won't exist. Someone else will have to take up that role. It's the same universe, but a different story. Also, I have a bunch of tests this week, so I don't know if I'll make it, but God willing, I'll post the second chapter until next Sunday. See yall then!

Oh, and yadda yadda yadda, I don't own anything, blah blah blah, the Fallout and Mass Effect franchise belongs to whoever bought the studios behind them this year. Also, any OCs or new ideas in this fic, I don't claim them either. Copy them if you want, or whatever. I don't care.