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Just the Right Idea

October 26th, 2287

Sanctuary Hills, Boston Massachusetts

Mike Daly

Commonwealth Minutemen

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It was late after midnight when Mike and Preston returned from the Corvega Plant. Mike returned his power armor to the nearby station.

"Thanks for your help today Mike. I didn't think I could do it alone. You and Nate's extra hands definitely gave us the advantage.

"Don't mention it, Preston. It felt good to walk in my old armor again. If anything I should be thanking you, Preston."

"Right well, goodnight Mike." Preston said while retiring to his room.

Mike decided to stay up for a bit. Making his way to the kitchen he picked up a couple of Nukacola's and a pack of Big Boss cigarettes. He went over to the nearby ladder to the roof and have a seat with a good view of the night sky.

If there was one thing to stay alive for, it'd be to look over the stars. As ironic as the last 210 years have been, the night sky has been more clear nowadays.

Mike took a deep inhale of smoke in his lungs and blew out a smoke ring. Took a lot of practice to get those rings well blown. Mike popped a bottle of cola and resumed his gaze at the stars.

"Hey Mike." Preston said from the ladder.

He approached Mike in his casual garments and no hat, "You mind if I sit?"

"Of course." Mike answered.

Preston took his spot next to Mike, offering him his last bottle of Nukacola for Preston. To which he accepted eagerly.

"You know I've seen how the Minutemen work. Over all the years I've seen, the General always held the power of the Minutemen. Sadly that's only as good as the General stays alive."

Preston remained silent to the ghouls bitterly true words.

"If you ask me, once we rebuild the Minutemen, we'll make sure it lasts. But you're also right, Mike. Joe Becker, our last General was able to keep us in check. Until he died."

"First we need the Minutemen to be rebuilt… And I know just the right idea to make that happen." Mike brainstormed like a light bulb, "I'll explain after dawn. Let's go get some sleep."

"Yeah, agreed." Preston followed Mike to the latter.

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A Message in Steel

October 26th, 2287

Cambridge Police Station, Boston Massachusetts

Nathan "Nate" Shaw

Sole Survivor

Brotherhood of Steel

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"Hold on a moment Dave!" The Storyteller ordered, "Don't execute that protocol till I give the order."

"Orders declined. By order of Elder Roger Maxson, Nuntius Ferro Protocol, article 1 must commence the moment Lieutenant Nate has been found."

Nate jumped in the moment he heard his captain's and oldest friends name.

"Mister Gutsy… Er, Dave, I order you to stand down and do not commence protocol till I say so. Robco Override code 626, Alpha 2." Nate said quickly.

"... Orders recieved Lieutenant. By your override I await further orders to resume my objective."

Nate and the rest of the Brotherhood have a moment before Dave could resume.

Rhys aimed his rifle at Nate's head with a stern look of disbelief and anger. "Alright hotshot, what's your game? Who the fuck sent you!"

Nate kept his hands up with Dogmeat and Codsworth defending their friend. Nate's look of irritation was amstarting to crack at this guy, but he did his best to stay composed.

"Rhys cool your jets now!" Danse rushed over to Rhys to smack the rifle away from Nate.

"Alright… Nate, I believe an explanation is in order. You said you were a Vault Dweller, but Dave found records of you from before the great war. This Vault 111, what was it's purpose?" Danse asked sternly and calmly.

Nate felt all eyes on him excluding Codsworth and Dogmeat. Cat's out of the bag now. Might as well let it out some more.

"Vault 111's purpose was to experiment and observe the effects of long-term cryogenic freezing on it's vault residents. Me, my wife and one year old son were one of them. We've been under ice for over 200 years. I woke up on the 22nd this month. My wife was shot by some merc, he and some other guys took my son. So yeah, I've been out in the Commonwealth looking for my infant boy. So does that give you guys some relief?"

Rhys dropped his glare a smidgen as he heard Nate's story. Everyone else took the moment to be silent for their guest.

Danse was the first to speak up, "So that's how you knew, Roger Maxson?"

"Yeah we first met in Officer School. Over in Georgia, of course he got the most out of it as captain. I at least made the cut to pass, by the skin of my teeth… Last time I saw Roger was back in Seattle, around the time US annexed Canada… After that he was sent to some base in California from West-Tek. I was sent to liberate Anchorage."

The Storyteller looked over at his eyebot, "Edna, please tell me your recording this!"

The eyebot responded in patterns of beeps.

"Good work, Edna!"

"Alright…" Was all Danse could mutter from Nate's story.

"Umm, Nate, if this is all true… Then this protocol from Elder Roger...Any ideas what he'd give you?"

"No, but I know one way to find out… Dave, resume Nuntius Ferro Protocol, article 1."

"Yessir Lieutenant! A message from Roger Maxson has been encoded for you in case you, Lieutenant Nathan, survived the nuclear bombs." Dave addressed the entire group.

"Edna, keep recording… this is History in the making!" The Storyteller sounded a little jittery in his words under that stern voice of his.

"Alright Dave, let's hear it." Nate answered.

"Beginning message now." Dave said. The moment after, his voice was replaced by the voice of his old friend and CO.

"Hello, Nate… If you're hearing this, that means the Brotherhood found you or vice versa. I figured in case we linked up long after my death by some chance I'd leave this recording for you. To be honest I doubt you'll ever hear this, but you've been tough as a Sentry Bot for as long as I've known you. So if anyone can make it through this hellish new world it'd be you. Also I've made sure this message would get to you exclusively the moment any of our robots would catch eyes on you. So if this message is being played then my doubts were complete horse shit. So the reason I'm recording this is that I'm hoping you're still able to kick ass. If any brotherhood members are listening to this as well, I ask that you give this man a chance to prove himself. Long before the Brotherhood of Steel, this man was, is and always will be my brother, even after my death. I'd be more than honored to fight beside him as I would with all of you. I mean, FUCK! This man once took a bullet for me long before my time in Mariposa. Food for thought brothers, and sisters. Also assuming Sgt. Platner is still around and hearing this as well. You have my permission to ask him any questions for any stories to come. Consider that an order sergeant. Farewell… Good luck, and steel be with you all."

Suddenly Roger Maxson's recording stopped and the whole vicinity went dead silent.

"So who's this Sergeant Platner?" Haylen was the first to break the silence.

"If memory serves Sgt. Platner was a soldier under Maxson's wing. He was real annoying, always boasting about these stories about history, but he meant well..."

All the brotherhood looked straight at the only soldier in T-49 power armor. Even Edna and Dave.

"What?" The Storyteller looks to the rest of the group, "You think I'm sgt. Platner?"

"We'll worry about that later." Danse finally spoke, "Haylen, take Rhys inside and bind his wounds."

"Yes sir."

"Rhys, once you're on your feet. I want you to make certain that the perimeter is secure."

"I'm on it."

"Storyteller… You and Edna remain out here, watch our backs till Rhys is able to join you."

"You got it " Storyteller responds.

"All right Nate… it's time to prove your worth. Head into the police station and resupply yourself, then let me know when you're ready to begin. Let's move out people!"

Danse, Rhys and Haylen enter the police station. Nate took a moment to sneak a glance at the Storyteller.

"So they call you the Storyteller?"

"Yeah, I'm a data procurement specialist. It gives my life purpose."

"Back when I was in basic, Platner's nickname was 'Storyteller'." Nate looked over him keenly.

Silence was the Storyteller's response. Nate didn't stick around to wait for him to speak. He just went inside to rearm himself. Leaving the Storyteller and Edna alone.

"I haven't heard my old name in so long." The Storyteller whispered under his voice piece.

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"So you gonna patch me up, or what?" Rhys asked while sitting on the floor.

"I don't know, your prognosis looks pretty grim. Might be more humane to just take you out back and shoot ya." Haylen joked rather grimly, but that's given in a military group.

"You're all heart, doc."

"Just quit squirming so I can get these bandages on."

Inside the police station were a few sleeping bags a distress pulser and ammo crates beside the counter.

Haylen finished patching up Rhys and made his way back outside the police station. Before he could exit the building he gave Nate one last scowl.

"Don't think you have an edge on all this! Roger may have trusted you, but you're just hired help, so you're gonna have to earn my trust." Rhys left Nate's sight and resumed his patrol around the perimeter.

Nate finally made his way to the offices or what was supposed to be the offices. Coming from behind him was Codsworth.

"Sir if I may, that uniform of yours seems to be in need of some deep cleaning. Might I recommend you find find a change of clothes soon."

"Hey… Nate." Haylen's voice sprang from behind Codsworth, "If you need a new uniform we have a few spares in the locker room."

"Thanks Haylen."

Nate made his way to the back to find the uniforms Haylen was talking about. All of them were designed with the top half from a power armor jumpsuit and the lower half from standard issue combat fatigues. All red and black designs from head to toe.

Nate removed his pipboy following his old military fatigues and dog tags. Nate noticed both halves of the suit were zipped together so he started off with his new pants. Fitting in the knee pads was easy enough, and tying his boot laces was the last part to adjust down below. Grabbing the jacket he zipped up the front of his suit. To finalize the uniform he zipped both pieces together from his waist. Nate rolled his shoulder blades around to fit in the suit more comfortably. The gloves were no slouch to get in either but he eventually was able to reach full mobility in his hands.

He picked up his pipboy and latched it back on his wrist. Last thing he noticed before leaving was a combat chest piece helmet with the same color design of the uniforms. He looked down at his new suit and figured the Brotherhood wouldn't mind if he slipped on one of their combat chest plates. Before clamping on the helmets chin-guard he checked the helmets flashlight to find a full battery charge. Last but not least we're his dog tags. His backpack was the one thing he took before leaving out the door.

"Excuse me Paladin Danse, I'm ready to go."

"Outstanding! Follow me, and try not to lag behind." Danse reached for his helmet and grabbed his laser rifle.

"Codsworth, you stay here and help the team anyway you can. Dogmeat you're with us." Nate ordered his group.

"Wait, Nate. Here." Haylen handed Nate a bundle of Fusion Cells. "These BLR-4 rifles have a longer cell charge so you'll be able to fire sixty rounds before needing to reload."

Nate took the extra fusion cells and followed quickly to catch up with Danse.

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Over the Valley

October 26th 2287

The Commonwealth, Boston Massachusetts

Identity Unknown

Wastelander

No Affiliation

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A farmer with his Brahmin was hiking through the night heading to the western border, just arriving at the old CIT.

Little did they suspect that a lone figure was tailing them. Across his back was an M72 Gauss Rifle that was just as well worn as his combat armor. He wore a balaclava and goggles underneath his helmet that covered his whole face.

The figure remained steady and we'll distant to the farmer and Brahmin.

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So when I finished playing the Fallout Brotherhood mod I noticed in the story, Sgt. Platner was wounded by something from in the lower levels of the Mariposa base. When I saw the last couple of scenes to that, I thought to myself: Sgt. Platner is wearing the same Power Armor as the Storyteller and he survived some potential FEV injury. It's not too far off to consider Sgt. Platner and the Storyteller as the same person.

Here's to Creativity!