"Tell me exactly what happened, initiate".
Gareth stood before a pacing High Elder Maxson with Benny in the A-wing of the Citadel. Beads of sweat trickled down the initiate's neck as he tried to keep his composure and recall the events.
"We got to Springvale, then Galford split with the team to enter from a second side. Me and Initiate Thornley entered from the south while Galford came west. We covered him from behind a bus as he moved into the town square, but then…" Gareth's face fell slightly as the sentence trailed.
"But then Knight Galford came under fire from the school," continued Benny from where Gareth ended, "it was an ambush, there was no sign of the patrol we'd been sent to find."
Maxson frowned at the pair of them for a few moments, scratching his bearded chin.
"Then tell me how exactly a knight of the Brotherhood, a trained soldier in his full suit of high-grade power armour, who was under the keen eyes of his subordinates, was ambushed?" he demanded accusingly.
"We couldn't see the shooters, sir. That and they were using weapons that we've never seen before. Their shots left blue streaks in the air-"
"Institute synths? After all this time?" Maxson's eyes had lit up.
"No, sir." said Gareth, "They weren't laser beams. Each shot was strong enough to tear through concrete and metal."
"Gauss rifles?"
Maxson and the initiates turned to see a man in full power armour standing by the door. The armour was standard of the Brotherhood; a T-60 exo-suit painted grey-black rather than the suit's original grey steel. Gareth noticed that the inner plates were painted dark red, and there were two stripes of the same shade around his left forearm, a tell tale sign of higher rank. His eyes widened at the insignia on his left arm.
"Sentinel, I didn't hear you enter…" said Maxson, surprised.
"The door was open, High Elder."
"Very well. Continue, Sentinel."
The Sentinel looked at Gareth, then continued, "As I said, gauss rifles perhaps? You did basically say that you fired at with high powered slugs that left a blue streak in the air?"
Gareth nodded, "Y-yes, sir, but their weapons were automatic."
Maxson furrowed his brow in thought and looked at the Sentinel in inquiry. The Sentinel shook his head and folded his arms, seemingly understanding Maxson's thought process.
Maxson looked down, perplexed, then faced the two initiates again.
"Understood, soldier. We'll look into this further. Sentinel?" he said, turning his head.
The man in power armour was walking out of the room, a plasma rifle slung over his shoulder, "Already moving on it, sir."
"Initiate Thornley, you are dismissed, soldier. Ad Victoriam" he said, saluting. Benny returned the salute and left the briefing room, leaving Maxson alone with Gareth. Gareth met Maxson's eyes. Although the High Elder was by no means old at the age of thirty, his face appeared almost tired. There were wrinkles around his blue eyes and the onset of grey was apparent in his hair, the side effects of being an elder from such a young age.
"Galford spoke to me before your mission" he said in a more gentle tone, "he put forward a request for a promotion. For you."
Gareth looked at the man in surprise. Galford had wanted to promote him of all people? Why didn't he choose the better soldier and promote Benny?
"Elder, there may have been a mistake-"
"There was no mistake, initiate. This was meant for you." he straightened and gazed upon Gareth with a measure of pride.
"Through your several years of service as an initiate to the Brotherhood, you have achieved to a standard that deems you worthy of the title of knight. You will be no longer under such strict tutelage as you were with Galford. You will partake in missions with members of all ranks and learn through experience. Oh and you'll also be granted a suit of power armour, as befits your title. Wear it with pride."
"I...thank you, elder. I'll make good use of it."
"I have no doubt you will, knight. Ad Victoriam." Maxson nodded before turning on his heel and leaving into his private quarters.
Gareth stood alone in the briefing room, his heart racing and mind going ten to a dozen. It had been two years and several months since he had first stepped foot inside the Citadel as an initiate to the Brotherhood of Steel. All of that time had been spent either training, sparring or doing missions with Galford. He'd operated next to many different initiates; some had fallen in combat, been promoted to knight or scribe and moved on or had outright given up and left the Brotherhood. All of this time and finally, it was his turn to take the next step in the ranks. His mother would have been proud.
Gareth shook himself and left the A-wing through a set of stairs that were down a corridor east from the briefing room, taking him down into the laboratory level of the Citadel. The laboratory section was the home of the Brotherhood's scribes; researchers, engineers and scientists that covet technology and its designs to create and improve new technologies for use by the Brotherhood. Gareth made his way through the gantry chamber (the holding area for the Brotherhood's infamous forty-foot anti-communist robot, Liberty Prime) and into the Ironworks. The Ironworks was a new section to the Citadel that also featured a massive cargo lift that reached up to the surface of the wasteland. The area was dedicated to the construction and maintenance of all things mechanical and electrical. It was here where vertibirds were modified and repaired, as well as where the majority of the Brotherhood's supply of power armour was stored, distributed and maintained. The Ironworks also served as a general workshop and as a maintenance area for a wide manner of robots used by the Brotherhood, ranging from protectrons and Mister Gutsy models to sentry bots and assaultrons. In short, the Ironworks was huge in comparison to the other sections of the Citadel. Branching off from Liberty Prime's chamber, it was a huge tunnel that was split into separate sections. The power armoury was the first section of the tunnel, featuring six rooms on either side that had six power armour bays inside along with just about all the tools and materials required for modifications and adjustments. The second section was the bot maintenance hangar, featuring another six rooms with similar bays but for the larger robots, however there was also a small cargo lift in the centre of the tunnel between the six rooms that led down into the main storage level for the many automatons. Finally there was the vertibird repair dock, which was another tunnel running across the main tunnel, forming a 'T' shape with the main cargo lift in the centre. The repair dock was wider than the main tunnel and had enough space for two vertibirds to be locked in at either end, whether that was on a pad or hanging from one of the cranes.
Gareth made his way into the power armoury, passing by the bustle of engineers and the several knights who were here to make repairs.
"You need help with something, soldier?"
Gareth turned at the gruff voice to see a heavily bearded man covered in grime and oil, wearing fatigues and a set of welding goggles.
"I uh, I've just been promoted to kni-"
"Power armour, gotcha. Over here, kid." he interrupted, pushing him through a doorway on the left side of the tunnel marked with a large '5'. The burly man led him in and stopped to check a clipboard mounted on the wall, mumbling as he did so.
"Hm, mhm, right so, bay one is all yours." he pointed to a metal yellow frame that arched over a standing suit of steel. Gareth stood in front of it, marvelling at the thought that he finally owned his own set.
"Pre-modified T-60d mark II suit, painted in Brotherhood style naturally…"
The suit stood slightly hunched over due to its weight. It was large and hulking, around nearly eight feet tall when stood straight. Everything besides the stomach and waist was plated in curved steel plates. The helmet was slightly reminiscent of a gas mask, with two pipes that fed from the rebreather at the front to the back of the helmet. Unlike most armours of the wasteland, the suit also included large pauldrons that were built of two layers for the best combination of ease of movement and protection. The waist (where ease of movement was most imperative) remained largely a mixture of piping, wires and thin plates except for the very front where a small plate was inserted under the main chest guard. The suit also included it's own mechanical hands, due to the fact that the suit was simply larger than a person, so the pilot would always be at an elevated height and therefore their arms also too short.
"I take it by your face that you're impressed? The name is Proctor Grumman by the way." he shook Gareth's hand and lifted up his goggles, revealing a pair of small, beady brown eyes.
"How do I actually get into it?" asked Gareth.
"There's wheel on the back of the armour, like the sort they used to use on ships before the war for doors." replied Grumman, stepping back with his hands on his hips.
Gareth stepped around to the back of the suit and turned the small wheel, stepping back as the back of the suit folded outwards towards him.
"Just step inside, pull yourself up so that your head is in the helmet and then grab hold of the mechanisms in each arm." instructed the proctor.
Gareth put a foot on the elevated pad of the right leg, grabbed the suit's waist and pulled himself into it, settling his left foot and sliding his head into the helmet. He then lifted his arms slightly and reached around for the mechanisms in the arms. Finding one, and then the other, he pulled and the suit folded back up again, encasing the knight in hydraulic suit of steel. Gareth stood in the power armour, moving his arms and flexing the mechanical hands. He then took a few steps back and forth, finding the sensation of hydraulic movement to be quite uncomfortable to begin with.
"Easy now, remember its power armour, a hydraulic suit. Relax yourself and let the armour do most of the work, otherwise you'll over exert your body just by walking." advised Grumman.
"Yeah it just takes a bit of getting used to." said Gareth, suddenly aware of his voice through the helmet being alike to that of a radio.
"The suit's heads-up-display has all the essentials; geiger counter, compass, structural integrity and power level...although I don't see why we still have that last one. The scribes managed to reconfigure the power distribution with a new type of fusion core so that the power lasts longer than a Pip-Boy, so really the power level gauge is pointless." said Grumman as Gareth continued to test out his new power armour.
"I assume I can use this bay again for repairs?" asked Gareth.
"That and modifications, yeah. Which reminds me actually, that particular set of armour is one of about twelve that I've been tinkering with. The shock absorbers in both legs have been calibrated to allow for the suit to compensate for larger weights and the pressure in the bracer hydraulics has also been increased so that you can apply a greater amount of force through the arms." explained the proctor.
There was a few seconds silence as Grumman looked over Gareth's power armour before he finally spoke again.
"Well, soldier, that's about it. Come back any time to mod or repair your armour. Oh and a word of warning, this should be obvious, but no you can't swim in power armour. And no, you can't breathe underwater either."
"Understood, proctor." he nodded.
"Good, just don't break it. So long." he said, returning to his duties after giving Gareth a brief wave goodbye.
After returning to the B-wing and moving his belongings to the knight's living quarters, Gareth walked up onto the bailey, still clad in his power armour. With heavy, hydraulic steps, Gareth walked over to the sparring pits, now filled with initiates hoping to best each other in the midday sun. Scanning across with his eyes, Gareth caught the familiar sight of one of the Bobrov siblings laying waste to the competition, and approached. The new knight stood at the edge of the pit, watching through his helmet as a large, muscular brute of a man was easily beaten by Yuliya Bobrov, the fight finishing with a two hard kicks to the gut, knocking him flat on his face. Yuliya noticed the armoured figure and nodded towards him, spitting in the dirt before approaching.
"What can I do for you, sir?" she asked politely.
Gareth removed his helmet and holding it under his arm, amused by the change of expression on Yuliya's face.
"I believe you wished to speak with me, initiate." he smirked. It was strange to call other people by that rank after so long. Yuliya furrowed her brow and crossed her arms.
"If it weren't for that armour, I'd beat you to hell for that." she said, looking up at Gareth as his smirk turned into a grin. She sighed and relaxed herself.
"But yes, I wanted to talk to you…" said Yuliya, looking down.
"Well, I'm all ears, Yuliya." said Gareth, a face of concern.
"Well, first I just want to say that I'm sorry about what happened to Galford," she noticed Gareth's face darken slightly at his mention, "but this is actually something I was going to discuss with Galford originally. You see, me and Anton are pretty new here and of everyone I've fought so far I've beaten. But you were the most challenging, despite losing. So, in respect to that and being a friend of Anton's…" she let the sentence hang before continuing.
"As you're now a knight, you get a bit more leeway in your team and who's part of it. I would like to request that me and Anton join you and Initiate Thornley on your missions, to learn from you and just to get experience in the field." Yuliya stood looking at him sternly, she was clearly built for a military life.
"Uh, sure. I mean, yeah of course. I would be happy to have you along." he said with an awkward smile.
"Thank you, I really appreci-"
"Gareth!"
Gareth and Yuliya turned to see Benny running towards them. He made eye contact with her and mouthed a 'sorry' before Benny stopped in front of him and looked him up and down.
"So when the hell were you gonna tell me that you made it to knight?" he laughed, looking over his friend's armour in awe, "I'll say this now, you look pretty damn good in that power armour, chum."
His eyes turned to Yuliya, who had been standing rather awkwardly from the moment Benny had appeared.
"Yuliya right? Benjamin Thornley, Benny for short." he said, shaking her hand and winking, to which Gareth simply sighed and rolled his eyes. As good a friend as Benny was, he was also an embarrassment on the very same level.
Yuliya began to walk away when she said "Sorry, but uh, I have things to do...um you know." She then hurried off out of sight away from the two soldiers. Benny looked at Gareth disapprovingly, shaking his head.
"Come on now, what did you to say to her?"
"Wait- what did I say to her? Are you serious?"
"Well it can't have been me that scared her off, I'm a charmer." Benny smirked.
After departing from the bailey, Benny left to head for the B-wing while Gareth entered the A-wing. He found High Elder Maxson waiting for him at the head of the briefing table. Gareth stood before him at the bottom end.
"Ready for orders, elder." said Gareth in a stern tone.
"Very good, knight. You suit the armour well." acknowledged Maxson, "Well, let's get down to it then. This is your first assignment under the rank of knight, so I should let you know that this will be expected to be more dangerous than the majority of your past assignments. Is that understood?" he said, once again pacing the room.
"Fully, sir."
"Good. The mission is as follows; to the far north is a newly established raider group operating out of Paradise Falls. Now I know what you're thinking, this usually isn't our type of mission, but these raiders have brought a quantity of Institute synths into the Capital Wasteland from the Commonwealth and are somehow controlling them. It's bad enough that we have synths still active today, and it's even worse when the technology to control them is being used by unreliable people. You'll take a vertibird with your team and be dropped off a few miles away and you'll move in on foot. Wipe everything out. I don't want a single trace of those abominations. Is that clear, knight?"
"Perfectly, sir."
Maxson nodded, "Ad Victoriam, soldier."
"Ad Victoriam."