Raven Rock, February 18, 2290, 7:02pm
"You think this is gonna work?" Sarah inquired.
"Do we have a choice? I wouldn't have gone through all that effort if I thought it wouldn't be useful." Abby replies, stringing along the soldier she had taken prisoner just days before. Sarah, Abby, the prisoner, and a good handful of Brotherhood knights start the walk up to Raven Rock, to where they saw their foes retreat into during the day of the invasion. Sarah coughs and begins the negotiation .
"Brotherhood of Steel, this is Sentinel Sarah Lyons. I know you're listening in, so let us please talk this out and maybe we can come to an agreement."
Silence...
"I know you're shocked to hear that I am alive, and I apologize for not coming forward sooner. To be transparent, I didn't report back because of the new leadership under Elder Maxson; my own ward..." Sarah regretfully looks away from no one in particular. "I left because I wasn't comfortable with the direction that he took. Our goal was to help the broken people of the wastelands; fighting for those who couldn't stand up for themselves. I personally and wholeheartedly think that what Maxson did to our Brotherhood was shameful. But I'm standing here now because I know that there's a chance for reconciliation. We simply wish to understand, so please... Let us in."
Silence yet followed once more. Under pressure the prisoner now with them revealed the intel report that led to The Brotherhood shoring up their defenses at Raven Rock in the first place: "Elder Maxson is dead, and because of the Institute, The Prydwen has fallen. We've been wiped out, those of us who survived have done so by blending in with the locals, getting by on the generosity of this NEA. We began to think that we could make new lives for ourselves in Commonwealth City, but that all changed when they sought to blacken The Brotherhood's name by placing that synth pretender with Sarah Lyons' face on a sect with our colors. The Director-General has declared an expedition to the Capital Wasteland; they're coming."
Whoever was in Raven Rock wasn't going to fold, especially not to a pretender designed to win them over.
"I'm not a synth... " Sarah didn't know anything that would convince them otherwise. The prisoner mentioned that they were briefed to be prepared for whatever intelligence they would have fed this 'synth' Sarah. After all, if the Institute specialized in sleeper agents, who's to say that they didn't try to dig up as much as they could on The Brotherhood's history before blowing them to hell.
Abby began to sense her Elder becoming emotional, and put a hand on her shoulder to signal that she would take it from there. Sarah stepped aside and Abby yanked the prisoner forward by the collar.
"Identify yourself."
"Damien... Lane. Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel.."
"How many are garrisoned inside Raven Rock?"
The prisoner hesitated. Abby twisted her hand, tightening his collar. "How many?"
"A cck- hundred n' five were stationed here." Abby loosened her grip.
"And who's your commanding officer?"
At this question, Knight Damien went absolutely silent. "Answer!" Abby slammed Damien against the door, but he remained steadfast, putting on the most resolute face Abby had ever seen him adopt during her time working on him. Abby turned to Sarah. "Gotta be a serious CO in there."
Sarah looked a tad puzzled. Abby previously assured Sarah that he would cooperate with little to no resistance. So yes, there was a serious commanding officer holding the Rock.
"See that?" Damien pointed with his chin towards the upper left corner of the door, prompting Sarah and Abby to look. "That's a pre-war surveillance and speaker system. They hear ya loud and clear, the boys even got a microphone to speak to you from, probably got an attendant there right now."
"Then why won't they negotiate?" Sarah asked.
Damien stayed quiet.
"This is a waste of time." The two women looked behind them to an approaching Preston. "We received a transmission, The southern front sustained a skirmish, thirteen wounded, two dead. The Brotherhood isn't playing around down there."
"Do we have intel on Brotherhood losses?" Sarah asked. Sure, they were her enemy, but a part of her winced whenever one of them fell.
"A total of fifty-nine confirmed dead, and the General killed their paladin, Paladin Casdin." Sarah shut her eyes and rolled her tongue in her mouth. Fucking Casdin . Fifty-nine of a Brotherhood that would be hers dead, all thanks to that purist Casdin.
"The General noted to me that he views the engagement as a loss. They're sitting ducks down there until we start attracting more attention."
"I know, I know," Sarah said, quite exasperated. In truth, this was doing quite a number on her sanity. She didn't know whether the members of The Brotherhood who had fallen were loyal to her father or not, and with each holotag collected, she felt more and more like a traitor.
Preston sighed. He knew what seeing a faction fall apart did to someone, but he dreaded to think about what being the instrument to that demise was like. "I'll give you a moment, Elder, but I'm afraid we don't have forever."
Even Knight Damien was looking on in anticipation as Abby's grip grew unconsciously looser and looser. After a moment that took a moment too long, Elder Lyons broke the silence with a jarring resolve. "Can we relay inside?"
"Doubtful. Relaying indoors is more than possible, but we don't have a strong enough precision signal. Relaying with minimal accuracy in there could get us scattered in a fortified garrison or buried alive in the walls."
"So a single infiltrator."
"Ma'am?"
"If one person relayed inside, they'd stand a better chance of actually getting in there in one piece, right?"
"I... think so- I'm not a scientist, I just pulled the information I needed to let the real scientists relay me back and forth."
"And relaying one at a time results in a more precise spawn point! General, you're a genius!"
Preston just stood in shock as Sarah briskly walked to the main siege camp a little ways back. Abby nodded to one of the Brotherhood members and shoved her prisoner his way before following the two back. "I'm going in," Sarah said.
"Elder Lyons!" Both Preston and Abby exclaimed. "There is no way that that's a good idea," the latter followed up.
"At best we might have an equal hostage situation with inferior leverage. At worst you'd have your own head served back to us on a platter."
"We have orders not to break that door down, and it's cost us a couple days. We underestimated their numbers here, granted, but we can't lie down and let the fact stare us in the face," Sarah said with a sudden turn of her back. "We have to keep moving," she concluded.
"If we have to move, surely there's a better way than moving you right into enemy hands," Abby said with a stern, wide-eyed look. "If not me, then who, Sentinel?"
"I'll go, I can do it."
"Not with a relay announcing your presence, you're not."
The two ladies kept their bickering as Preston waited for a moment to interject.
"Ladies?"
"What?!" They both said in unison with a sharp turn towards the Brigadier General.
"I may have an idea."
Inside Raven Rock, February 19, 2290, 12:00am
Two power armor-clad Brotherhood guards were just about to end their shift in the hallway as their eyes began to betray them. All they had to do was wait for one of the big metal doors to activate and they would be relieved.
A loud sound went off behind them and the two guards sluggishly picked themselves up and turned about face to go to the barracks, but they stopped in their tracks when they realized that it wasn't at all what they expected.
"Could you boys help me out?" A woman with an Irish accent said as she cracked her knuckles. "Me husband doesn't play with me anymore."
Tenpenny Tower, February 19, 2290, 4:14am
X6 knocked on Handy's door. The Director was asleep, but he primed into action. "Come in."
X6 saluted quickly. "You might want to check your Pip-Boy sir, we have confirmation that the north front has begun its advance southward."
Handy sprung towards the desk, where his Pip-Boy was lying with a blinking notification. He picked it up and checked to see that the report was indeed true.
"Whew... about damn time."
Inside Raven Rock, February 19, 2290, 12:25am
The large metal door swung outward to welcome the battle-ready Brotherhood-NEA forces. When it opened, Cait marched proudly out with a suppressed grin on her face straight to Brigadier-General Garvey to deliver a playful salute to the party.
"Thanks for the playdate, handsome. Ladies," she said, curtseying towards the Elder and her Sentinel. The rest of the troops seemed simply flabbergasted that a woman with barely any armor on was able not only to live, but successfully complete a major objective without so much as a stain on her casual dress.
"Pleasure as always, commander," Preston said with a salute after they shook hands.
"So it was that simple, huh?" Sarah said, eyeing Abby with a slightly sour face.
"Uhuh... " Abby replied, not even looking back at the Elder. "Then let's not waste any more time. You coming?" She directs her question to Cait.
"Didn't come all this way 'ere for nothing."
"Alright then, time to negotiate." Abby said smirkingly as she cocked her rifle.
"You'll find 'em a tad more willing I feel," Cait said as she beckoned the group forward playfully.
"Sentinel, to me," Sarah ordered, and Abby whistled to get the other Brotherhood members inside. They had agreed that letting the Brotherhood of Gold take point would reduce the chances of any remaining Brotherhood of Steel members from immediately opening fire. After all, Elder Lyons' primary goal was reintegration, a goal she shared with Director-General Galeone.
Sarah remembered these halls, she remembered walking through them victoriously over a decade and a half ago, and here she was, invading it once more. Except it wasn't The Enclave and the devious President Eden in charge, no. It was the very Brotherhood she had worked with to occupy it in the first place that now stood in her path.
"Stand down! Stand down!" She shouted to some guards that instinctively pointed their rifles towards her. In shock at her presence and unflinching movement as the group marched forward, every guard seemed to follow that order and surrender as they realized they were undoubtedly compromised.
The halls of the Rock were winding and disorienting, tight and claustrophobic in some areas, it was a perfect place for a smaller force who knew the layout to stage a last stand, but the NEA forces moved with such an urgent pace that there was no time to regroup. Even the automated Sentry Bots and turrets seemed too confused to move.
"I took the liberty of shuttin' down the auto-defenses," Cait remarked as she followed closely along behind Sarah with a gauss rifle she picked up now in hand. "Not like they could do much, anyway. Bots in the Commonwealth are a lot bigger."
Preston rolled his eyes a little, but was kind of surprised Cait knew her way around a terminal nowadays. Back before the NEA was formed she stayed way clear of any sort of technological gizmo, but now that she was married to the Director of the Institute, well, she figured she needed a lesson or two. Well look at you, a model convert, Preston thought.
Sarah strode through the halls of Raven Rock, noting some random dings and scuffs on the steel walls, as if she remembered all of them. She actually did. She remembered when she helped the Lone Wanderer rehabilitate the place after it was blown up, her father figured it would serve as a useful Brotherhood stronghold. Well, it did, didn't it?
Finally, she led them to a hallway that looked like a dead end with a door on the left, and pressed a button to enter. Her face was astute, angry almost. She readied her gauss rifle and entered with it half-poised, this was President Eden's office, whoever was running the garrison was sure to be in here.
"Stand down! Stand down... Star... Paladin Cross?"
A dark-skinned woman in full T-50 power armor met the invasion by raising her own rifle, but she brought it down slowly when she realized who it was standing opposite her.
"S-Sarah?"
"Cross!" Sarah dropped her rifle and rushed over to hug her father's most loyal subject and one of her best friends and comrades.
Star Paladin Cross, however, took a step back and raised her rifle once more, and those behind Sarah did the same from the doorway. As was her habit, Abby checked back down the hallway to see that all the Brotherhood of Steel members were disarmed and incapacitated. If things got ugly and a shot was fired, she would be a step ahead of any spritely Brotherhood of Steel member.
"Stay back, synth, you got a lotta nerve stepping in here with Sentinel Lyons' face."
"Cross, you're more machine than any of us here but I don't care about the machine, look at me! "
Cross observed the effects of age on Sarah's face, the tears rolling down her eyes, the way her face contorted when faced with a rush of emotion, all uniquely her qualities. The Paladin was having a hard time keeping it together herself; Sarah was right, if anyone looked more human between the two of them, it was her.
"It's me, Cross... it's me."
Cross paused for a moment, frozen in place. Then finally, she dropped her rifle completely, and in the most composed way she could, she uttered the best thing Sarah heard in months: "Where the fuck have you been?"
Before she could even finish, the two reunited friends hugged each other tight in their power armor with a loud clang. The rest of the soldiers sighed in relief. The battle for Raven Rock was over.
"... and that's all I know," Cross said, leaning back.
"Huh... " Sarah let out.
The commanders of the NEA and both Brotherhood factions were seated at the cafeteria, for lack of a large enough meeting area. A transmission that the group had started moving towards the Citadel was sent out to compensate for the transmission delay that existed. Word got around a lot slower here than in Commonwealth City.
"That's a lot less resistance than we were given the impression. Our forces in the south were hit by an assault, took two deaths to over fifty."
"I'm guessing that was Casdin, he's the head honcho down there since the Elder left for the Commonwealth."
"Funny you should mention that... "
"How are you getting this information so quickly? I don't have a single word on what's going on down there. It's not exactly like old Three Dog gets his news laser-quick either."
Preston chimed in. "That's classified, sorry."
"I understand. Just a little in awe is all. Probably for the best too, I trust my men, but we swore loyalty to The Brotherhood of Steel…" Cross glanced to some of his guards standing dutifully nearby. "Whichever one they stick with... I wouldn't blame 'em."
Cait lent her voice this time for the first time. "You're expecting a mutiny?"
"It's bad for morale I know, but those soldiers out there are loyal, to me, and to the Brotherhood."
"They were willing to starve here under your orders. We tried negotiating, nothing."
"And they surrendered at the first sight of you."
"That makes 'em a bunch o' routers to me," Cait remarked. The rest expected an offended response from Cross, but none came until shortly after.
"I'd be inclined to agree with you," Cross said. "Fear overcame this Brotherhood the moment Elder Lyons passed. The self-serving Outcasts were brought back in and we were back to our old plundering ways. Anyone who served with the Brotherhood had two options: bow to Maxson, or lose your head."
Sarah looked a tad distraught. "That's why Dr. Li fled to the Institute... "
"Dr. Li? Is she alive?"
"She's safe in the Institute Directorate. It was her that engineered the program to override Liberty Prime."
"Huh... how I woulda paid to see that."
"Oh ho, love, it was a sight," Cait remarked once more. Cross looked at her with a curious smile, it wasn't very often (or at all) that she encountered such a casual countenance in a military setting.
"So, Star Paladin," Abby, who was standing apart from the group and leaning against a nearby wall, piqued. "What's your recommended course moving forward?"
"Hit everything standing between us and the Citadel hard. Taking Tenpenny was a stroke of genius by your general, the counter-assault was a scare tactic to get him second-guessing, one that I'm telling you now failed. With Casdin dead, command should be in shambles. And with a third of the southern quadrant dead, so are the rest."
Everyone stayed silent in thought. It went along with their original orders to be sure, but letting the Star Paladin's platoon tag along was a decision that had to made with consideration and deliberatio-
"I say we do it," Sarah said as she looked around at her comrades. "As Elder of the Brotherhood of Gold I grant a pardon and the rank of Star Paladin to Cross, and retain the ranks of the remaining members within her platoon. Ad victoriam, Star Paladin," Sarah brought her fist to her heart.
"Ad victoriam, Elder Lyons," Cross said doing the same with a repressed smile.