Chapter 3 The Second Great War
Council of War
2259 Lost Hills Bunker
Paladin Harry Farnsworth awoke with a start to find himself pinned to his bed. As he gained his senses his fear disappeared when he realised that the person on top of him was his lover Paladin Anne Harris. "Morning" she whispered in a soft tone before leaning forward to kiss him swiftly. "Why did you wake me" Harry spoke in an impatient tone. "General Taylor left a message on your comm." Answered Anne, "thanks babe" answered the paladin before leaning in and holding his lover in a passionate kiss. He rolled out of bed and got dressed, then pulled on his power armour. Just as he was about to leave his quarters Anne called him back "forgetting something" he turned back to see Anne holding his helmet. He took it, gave her a last kiss then hurried out of the room.
Harry hurried down corridors of the lost hills bunker level five. Level five was one of the two newly drilled levels in the bunker, underneath the quarters of the elders. Distinguished paladins got their own quarters on this level. The level below was a heavy weapons armoury, weapons research centre and the location of a large meeting room. Next to the elevator Harry found who he was looking for, General Sydney Taylor was a veteran who fought for the Brotherhood his whole life with courage and was one of the few Brotherhood high command who realised the need to recruit from outside the Brotherhood. "What took you so long I sent a message twenty minutes ago" the General said in a slightly agitated tone. " I was sleeping" the paladin hurriedly answered however, the general was a shrewd man "you know Harry, the Brotherhood doesn't mind romance between members" Sydney explained. "Yeah because they want more pure recruits, which is what we are going to talk to them about, sir". The paladin dropped the hint to his senior officer, "lead on Paladin" the General said gesturing to the elevator.
After a quick elevator ride the two men stepped off to be met by elder Jock Marshall, another veteran who realised the need to recruit. "Gentlemen lets go" the elder said leading the two men into the meeting room, which was filled with elders, generals, scribes plus distinguished paladins as well as knights. High elder Jeremy Maxson stood up and addressed the three of us. "Present your case for why we should recruit outsiders into our ranks". Elder Marshall spoke first, "our war with the new California republic has caused great losses in men and material, we need to recruit outsiders to replenish our ranks before it is too late" the elder let his words sink in to the crowd of people. However elder Williams stood up and spoke in a loud, harsh tone "why should we share our technology with undisciplined savages". Paladin Farnsworth took a step forward before speaking an angry tone "you do not know how many men and women we lose every day while you sit here in the bunker while we fight and die for you elder Williams. Each week every squad on average loses two men, but are lucky to get more than three replacements a month. We need recruits or we will be eliminated." He calmed down and took a step back. The room was deadly silent before elder Theus stood up then said "I for one am convinced that recruiting is the best idea." elder Theus' words carried a lot of weight. Nearly all the others in the room either spoke their agreements out loud or nodded in agreement.
Half an hour later Harry walked into a small armoury to find Anne bent over a table working on repairing a laser rifle. He walked up to her then put his mouth to her neck before whispering "you are in a very compromising position paladin", she turned to him and smiled before saying "we're on duty so keep it in your pants". She turned and went back to repairing the rifle "damn it" she muttered after catching herself on an internal component. "Here let me" Harry said, motioning for her to give him the rifle. She handed the rifle over before taking a step to the right. "You never were any good with small, fiddly things" he muttered. "Well in our time together I haven't had experience with small things" she stated in a seductive tone. "You said it, we're on duty" Harry said turning to her, with a broad smile on his face. He then turned and reassembled the laser rifle before handing it to Anne.