I sat in the bailey of the Citadel watching the initiates and squires train. It was late October, and the weather was feeling brisk. Every now and then a breeze would find it's way down from the surrounding walls and hit my face.
"Are we keeping busy," the familiar voice of Ingram came from behind. She sat down next to me. "This looks exciting… watching the conscripts."
"Aren't you an Elder yet," I asked jokingly.
"Aren't you?" She joked back. "Seriously, what are you doing out here?"
"Bash is going to be one of them soon," my face turned serious. "In the spring."
"His father was younger when he came to the Brotherhood." She tried to comfort me.
"Bash isn't like his father," I said. "He's more of a dreamer than a fighter."
"He'll be fine," she looked out at the squires. "He was born into the Brotherhood. He'll do much better than the ones we find in the wastes."
"I just wish he could stay a kid longer," I said.
"They aren't going to send him into a battle until he is a lot older." She reassured me.
"Yeah, I know." I said. "I'd just rather see him as scribe than a knight."
"You don't know what he will be," she put her arm around to hug me. "He might even be a doctor."
"I think deep down he knows what is expected of hm." I hugged her back. "And a doctor isn't…"
"Head Proctor, Sentinel…" An Elder interrupted. "Your presence is required for a mission briefing."
"A mission," I asked, I looked up at the window where Arthur's office was.
"Elder Maxson's orders," he informed us. "In his office."
"I think it's amazing how you two separate work from your personal life," Ingram said as we walked up the stairs to Arthur's office.
"What do you mean," I asked.
"You switch from wife and mom to officer in a split second."
"Well don't you do the same…." I asked. "With Teagan?"
"Yeah…." She said. "But lately he is getting kind of jealous about my responsibilities with helping Dr. Cade."
"Wait… what?" I stopped on the steps. "You and Cade?"
"There was always some sort of battle of my time with those two." She had a sheepish grin about her. "And before you came along, I was in Arthur's office more than I was in engineering."
"Woah…wait a minute…. What the fuck Ingram?" I was shocked to find this out. "Did I interrupt something between you two?"
"Nooo," she said like I was talking crazy. "I never would consider dating Arthur…. And…. When you came along, I was relieved that that opportunity would never present itself."
I stood there staring at her for a few seconds, thinking about the day in the mass fusion building. Was she trying to play match maker for Artur and me just so she didn't have to be with him?
"You comin' ?" she continued to walk up the stairs.
I collected my thoughts then followed her into his office.
Two head knights in power armor stood tall in Arthur's office. One had a Nuka Cola bottle in her hand that Arthur offered her to make her feel more relaxed.
"Good," Arthur said sitting down at his desk. He motioned to Ingram and me. "We can begin… please sit."
Ingram and I sat in the chairs placed directly in front of his desk.
"Knight Chelsey and Knight Jackson have informed me that the feral activity in the sewers has increased and they are getting closer to our barricades."
"I thought we were looking into architectural plans of the sewers," Ingram inquired.
"The ones we found date back to the 1930's," Arthur said. "Nothing post 21st century. The little scouting our brothers and sisters have done show that more tunnels have been added after those plans were made."
"I think I know what you want from us," Ingram said.
"Please," Arthur mentioned to hear her idea.
"The Sentinel's pipboy can map the tunnels out as she walks through them." Ingram says. "So, she will have a way of finding her way back, without having to leave a trail of bread crumbs."
"Can't you just make a copy of the GPS software on my pipboy and put it on another device?" I ask.
"Oh, like an APP," Arthur said sarcastically. "Sorry Alice we don't have that technology or a device to transfer it to."
"Surely I'm not the only one in the Brotherhood with a pipboy," I mumble.
"What was that Sentinel?" Arthur sounded angry. "Clearly, you have been behind the protection of these walls for too long."
"Not by choice," I contended.
"Good," Arthur said. "Then this will be the perfect opportunity for you lead a team to exterminate the ferals and document the tunnels."
"I volunteer to be a part of that team," Ingram stood up.
"Indeed you will," Arthur said, "But you will not be going into the tunnels."
"Why not, sir?" She sounded puzzled.
"Because I need you here in charge of keeping communications with the team members." Arthur got up and began to walk around. "Radio contact is often lost in those tunnels."
"Understood," She said.
"Good," Arthur seemed pleased. "Knights, I want you to assemble 5 of your best brothers and sisters to go on this mission. And I am not talking about the ones who are just antsy to kill ferals."
"Yes sir." Both knights said in unison.
"Have your team ready by 0600 tomorrow," Arthur said looking at both the knights and Ingram. "Dismissed."
"See you tomorrow," Ingram said to me.
After they left the office, I got up and went to the fridge and got a Nuka Cola and sat down on the couch.
"I wouldn't have volunteered you for this mission…" Arthur started to justify what just happened.
"I know," I interrupted. "If you didn't have the utmost confidence in me."
"You make me sound so cliché," He said. "I thought you would be a little more enthusiastic about going on a mission."
"Oh I am excited about it," I said. "I just wish it wasn't in the sewers… and there weren't ferals involved."
"Well, you'll be in power armor. " He said reassuringly. "So even if a glowing one is down there, you will be protected."
I sipped my Nuka Cola and thought some rum would go nice with it just about now.
"You helped exterminate an island of super mutants," he sat down at his computer and began typing. "A few ferals will be a breeze."
"I better get ready for tomorrow," I said after I finished my Nuka Cola. "I need to get into the warrior mindset."
"Understood," Arthur didn't look up from his computer until I opened the door.
"Oh… uh Alice…"
I turned and looked at him. He blew me a kiss. I smiled back at him.
I went to the armory where my power armor and weapons were kept. I put a fresh fusion core in the suit and made sure I had an abundance of fusion cells for my two guns. I grabbed a few plasma grenades and hung them on a belt to go over the outside of my armor. I didn't know how long we would be in the tunnels for, so I grabbed a few MREs and stuffed them in a compartment in my power armor.
Knights Chelsy and Jackson came into the room and were followed by 5 other knights. They were looking to prepare themselves for tomorrow.
"Room atten-shun" Knight Chelsy yells. The knights all stand in a line against the wall.
I look up surprised.
"Please," I said. "Continue."
The knights walk toward their armor and ready their gear. I watch them as they pack the compartments of their power armor with ammo and other supplies. I wish I had something inspirational to say to them, but I couldn't think of anything. I thought that I was responsible for all of their lives if something goes wrong tomorrow.
Nothing is going to go wrong tomorrow; I think to myself.
After around an hour the knights started joking around with each other.
I walked over and listened to their jokes.
"…so the so the raider that killed that entire family said to me 'I don't think you have what it takes to shoot me in the head.'" One of the knights said. "And I said 'You're right, shooting you would only leave you as a pile of ash.' I holstered my laser gun and punched him… he must have flown 15 feet backwards."
"I would have just shot him," another one said laughing. "A pile of ash is better than a rotting carcass in the wastes."
"A pile of ash is the easy way out," Another one said. "The carcass feeds the rad roaches and the mole rats."
"What do you think Sentinel," another one asks.
"I would have love to known what was going through his head when he was in the air for those 15 feet."
The knight who was telling the story stopped smiling for a second as if suppressing a bad memory.
"You know," he said. "After I saw what him and his gang did to that family…"
"Hey man," another one consoled him. "You brought him to justice. It's a shame we aren't allowed to make them suffer…an eye for an eye and all of that stuff."
"He's never going to hurt another person again," I said.
"Yeah," he sighed and smiled.
"Alright guys listen up," Dr Cade came in carrying a big bottle of RadX. He unscrewed the jar and handed out pills to everyone. "I need you to take one of these now, then one before you leave tomorrow."
"I already had my dose for the day," Chelsey said.
"Then take a second," the doctor said. "The water in those sewers have enough rads to burn your skin off."
"And another thing," he said after all of the pills were distributed. "Under no circumstances do you take your power armor off in the water. There is more than just rads contaminating that water. Understood."
"Yes sir," everyone but me said.
"Understood Sentinel?" Cade looked at me.
"Yes sir," I said. "If it means that you won't make me have to pee in a cup, I'll keep my suit on at all times."
The others chuckled.
"If I find out that you took your suit off," Cade looked me in the eyes. "I'll make you fill up a gallon jug. Understood?"
"Understood," I said as the others snickered.
"Good luck tomorrow," he said walking out the door. "Get some rest."
None of us left the armory when he left. It has become customary for a team going on a special mission to spend the night before with one another.
More stories were exchanged, and we started talking about our education. They asked me to tell them a story about my schooling.
I thought for a few seconds and then I thought about this algebra teacher I had in my first year of college.
"Well, he was from India, and he had a really deep accent," I said. "He was a brilliant teacher, but one day he said, 'the answer is 57 and two thirds' and the whole class started laughing."
All of the knights eyes were on me.
"See when he said it," I continued, "it sounded like he said two turds."
"Two turds," one of them laughed.
"So for the rest of the year," I laughed. "The people in my class would find a way to get him to say two thirds. Someone came up 45 minutes from 1:45…"
"2: turdy…" Jackson laughed.
"And he never caught on?" Another one asked.
"I don't think so," I said. "If he did, he probably played along with it to keep the class engaged."
"I'm gonna use that the next time someone doesn't flush the latrine." Chelsey said. "Hey what's one third plus one third? Two turds asshole, like the ones you left floating."
We all laughed. It was late and we were getting giddy with tiredness.
I looked over my team once more, now feeling more comfortable with them, I was happy to be on this mission.
At some point we all fell asleep only to be woken up by Arthur at 0500.
