This is a prologue to the main story and will help flesh out the world of the peaceful minutemen ending. I treat blind betrayal as an inevitability due to the strong anti-synth presence of the brotherhood and that given enough time Danse might be able to be convinced to help with the commonwealth. I'll be glad to receive your suggestions and comments. Please enjoy!

Narrator:

His back hurt, to be fair, his whole body ached, but today of all days, he would've preferred to lay in bed. He knew Danse, formerly known Paladin Danse, would've talked his ear off about how a general would never slack off when he has work to do. He sometimes reminded him of his drill instructor back in the army. But he was right and couldn't really disagree. Nate found himself walking through downtown Boston on his way to The Castle, Dogmeat trailing somewhere between 5 feet in front and 10 feet behind and never in one spot.

Since the end of the institute, he had hoped that his workload would lower a bit, but the sheer amount of refugees from the institute proved to be more than expected and certainly more than the commonwealth liked. It would take a lot of time for wounds to heal, but it would. He had them working with Virgil, who needed to be coaxed out of the glowing sea to even participate in anything involving former institute scientists on a cure for the FEV. While a fair amount had been cured by this point, with the Brotherhood's 'help,' most strongholds of super mutants had been rooted out and what was left was small roaming packs of them that would hit and disappear into the brush.

God, the Brotherhood of steel, they didn't sit quite right with Nate. They seemed like the old US army but more cult-y, oh! That's it! They're like the Marine Corps! He chuckled to himself and looked off in the direction of the airport. The Brotherhood had moved on to New York, saying a city that size would hold tons of technology. Due to his involvement in both the Minutemen and Brotherhood groups, they settled on a tentative peace, and the Brotherhood went through Diamond city for a recruitment drive. They left a token force, of course, at the police station where he first found Danse. He was technically in charge of a squad of Brotherhood soldiers because they didn't want to leave him alone in "enemy territory" mostly he didn't want to leave the commonwealth after putting so much effort into it, selling Maxon on some BS on keeping an eye on the surviving scientists. Additionally, Paladin Nate didn't sound right to him, so he told his squad to cooperate with other BOS soldiers and only contact him if something significant happened.

The neighborhood around the castle loomed into view; he looked around, he managed to convince Danse to train a force of minutemen soldiers in power armor, they called themselves Boston's Finest, he had built some robots to fill in the ranks of men where he could. They had a small force of assaultrons to back them up. They were training around the area of The Castle; mid-noon run in power armor was how it always was. Date drilled them like the actual BOS training, and the quality showed. The Minutemen, for their part, were taking part in a molting process. The defeat of the institute established the commonwealth's ability to defend itself from threats. It gave the more hesitant settlements to sign on and agree to a second commonwealth provisional government, with Diamond city at its head. Some wanted the up and coming Sanctuary to be the seat of government and wanted Nate to put up more of a fight about it, he didn't think the Minutemen should be a political force, and the General shouldn't be putting a say in politics, so he left the decision up to them. The newly formed New England Republic was a bit Idealistic, but they tried their best with the hand they were dealt. However, this new republic was going to need a more permanent military force to protect it, and he had his hands full, making them a fighting force.

It helped that he thought the minutemen's disorganization during the fight with the institute was borderline criminal.

Preston was hesitant about forming a permanent army to guard the commonwealth. I think he feared a potential brotherhood of steel lording over the settlements.

Nate admired The Castle walls; fixing up the broken walls took time, they looked good, more of a force to reckon with than a sad, broken castle.

Nate:

The walk was long, but he no longer needed to have his weapon out at all times. It didn't stop him from doing it, though, a force of habit more than anything. He was here because he had been coordinating stuff with the new parliament over in Diamond City, they were having a tough time finding a good spot to set up in the ballpark, and the stands were mostly taken up already, they had asked him about the viability of setting up in Sanctuary, and he had answered all the questions he thought he could, and returned back to the castle.

"Hey general," Preston said, "how'd it go in the diamond city?"

"They are thinking of moving to Sanctuary," I responded, stifling a yawn in the process. "I thought that piper would talk their ears off with questions."

Preston gave a small chuckle at that before his face turned serious, turning to business; some settlers wanted to set up in the old vault 95. He had cleared it with Cait a long time ago and didn't really think about it. Who's going to use it? More gunners? Better someone friendly. He assigned an escort for them and put a group together to clear out a raider camp set up in the woods just southwest of Boston.

This is how his days mostly went. Receive report, respond. Set up good lines of communication, and organize the troops into a proper Corps-like structure. Respond to more reports, eat food, train with the soldiers, go to sleep. I was ending my day of news and reports when a Brotherhood Scribe came scrambling in with a relatively young-looking minuteman recruit, maybe 17 if I had to place him.

"Paladin, sir," he gasped out, breathing heavy giving a salute

"What's happening, scribe?" I asked him, leaning forward at my desk

"A patrol found something strange; we wanted your input on it."

He heaved a sigh and got up, pushing the coat of his minuteman general's uniform to the side and whistling to dogmeat, who was ripping apart a teddy bear in the corner amongst a pile of other eviscerated toys.

Hi, I hope you enjoyed the story! Here is a list of the equipment that our protagonist has on them and what they are wearing! I'm having them wear armor that exists in the main game but the colours are different.

Equipment:

Minuteman generals uniform

Minuteman generals hat(not in combat)

Commando Helmet(in combat)(in minuteman blue)

Commando Chest Piece(in minuteman blue with the minuteman insignia)

Combat armor arms and legs (in minuteman blue)

Weapons:

Wazer Wifle

Kellogg's pistol

Combat knife

Fragmentation grenades

Artillery smoke grenades

Other:

Backpack to hold food and ammo

ammo to make the little thing in the bottom right to go 999 for several minutes of continuous fire

Stimpacks

Misc food items

Radaway

Blood packs

Purified Water

Nuka Cola