Chapter 7
Lawrence opened the left and right curtains on his window, so he could get a good view of arriving and departing vertibirds. As he sat down, he pulled out a notebook and began to detail out his entire investigation, giving Teagan and his scribes the credit they were due. Hopefully the new Elder—whoever it is who's chosen, be it the obvious candidate or someone else—would recognize their contributions.
Signing the report, he stood up just in time to witness a greenish-brown Vertibird that was a lot more armored and had slits for the viewports of the pilots docked with the Prydwen. He quickly rushed out to intercept the occupants before Kells could come out of the Prydwen to do so. He was slightly surprised to see both Garret and Sentinel Sarah Lyons emerge from the Vertibird.
"Well I expected one of you to be arriving today and the other to arrive in a few days." He said bluntly to the duo. "Sarah, since you're likely going to the ranking office not involved with this whole scandal I'm about to reveal, you can attend the Judiciary Review meeting if you wish." He said, gesturing to his quarters as the three of them began to walk that way.
"All Teagan told me was that you have full evidence of several traitors here on the Prydwen itself. I'd like to hear and see all of this evidence." Garret said, getting immediately down to business. As the Brotherhood's currently highest-ranking Codex expert, in events such as this where there was the possibility of a court martial occurring, Garret was obligated to review all the evidence and decide if proceedings should move forward.
"Of course, Scribe." Lawrence said as he entered the room and closed the door, closing the curtains as well. He began to play each holotape, watching the looks on both Sarah and Garret's faces. "My god. For this to have slipped by us…" Sarah said, completely shocked
"For this to have slipped by me." Lawrence stressed. "I dropped the ball after signing the deal with Maxson to return to the Brotherhood. In an instance such as this, the final verdict is to be carried out by the ranking Swordsman. In this case, the only Swordsman."
"We're getting ahead of ourselves, Carter. You need to bring this up publicly before any sort of verdict can even be enacted." She pointed out to him, and Garret held up a hand to silence both of them.
"And the decision to confront one or more responsible parties is that of the Judiciant. In this case, myself, since we're too far to bring in the resident Judiciant." Garret said, as he finished reading the fourth holotape. "I think there's enough evidence here to confront. Gather Proctor Teagan as well, since much of this evidence comes from him, then we'll meet on the command deck."
Lawrence left the room first, followed by Sarah and Garret, and the three were all surprised to see Kells and Teagan standing on the flight deck near the Capital Vertibird. As soon as Kells saw Sarah and Garret his eyes widened. "Swordsman Carter. I see you have met our guests. I wasn't aware we were even having guests."
"And it's good you weren't aware. In the presence of a neutral party, and the two investigative parties I place you under Judicial custody pending a hearing on the charges of Treason, Espionage, and cooperation with the enemy. As of this time, you are released of all duties." Garret said firmly, causing Kells to sputter for a moment before he gathered words.
"So you knew all along, Carter. That's all well and good, but without evidence your hearing won't even get off the ground."
"That's enough, Kells." Garret said, gesturing to a couple of knights who were on watch. "Take Kells here somewhere to hold him in custody until we're ready for the hearing. I don't care where it is."
Both knights nodded, one gesturing with his laser rifle for Kells to get on one of the docked Vertibirds, stating they'd hold him at Cambridge Police Station.
Continuing on, the group entered the command deck of the Prydwen, and Lawrence gave the knights outside of Maxson's observation deck a few orders.
"No one except our group in or out of the observation deck. No matter what is said here, Garret is ranking Judiciant and thusly outranks Maxson in these matters. Maxson has no authority to give orders that supersede his." After getting nods from the pair, Lawrence followed Sarah onto the observation deck to confront Maxson.
"Oh. Sentinel Lyons. I'm glad to see you're alive. What happened to you?"
"That's not important, Maxson." Sarah spat back at him, causing Maxson to look at Lawrence confusedly.
"What is the meaning of this, Swordsman?! Are you trying to play some sort of joke on me?"
"No, Elder. Merely making a point I should've made ages ago." Lawrence responded with a sly smile as Garret spoke up.
"In the presence of both investigative parties, and one neutral party as a witness, I hereby execute my authority as ranking Judiciant to place you in Judicial custody with no rank or positional privileges pending a full Judicial hearing. Charges include Collusion, Treason, Cooperation with the enemy, and Espionage." He held up a hand to silence all of Maxson's arguments. "Now is not the time for arguments or questions. Knights. Take him somewhere secure. I don't care where it is as long as he's apart from Kells."
"Take him to South Boston Police Department headquarters. It's secure." Lawrence said to them as they guided Maxson away and he glared back at Lawrence.
"And then there was one." Teagan said, referring to Quinlan.
"And that's where we have a difficulty." Garret said, "I'd prefer to have less witnesses than we'd likely have walking in there as a group. I can do it outside of his office if we want to send a runner to tell him Maxson wants to see him, as long as we're all present."
"I'll go tell him. He doesn't suspect me to be involved with the investigation, so there'd be less chance of him ignoring the message." Teagan said, vanishing up the ladder. A few minutes later, he reappeared with Quinlan, who had an inquisitive look on his face.
"Where is Elder Maxson, I was told he wanted to speak with me."
"He's currently under Judicial custody. Speaking of which, in the presence of both investigative parties and one neutral party witness, I place you under Judicial custody as the ranking Judiciant in the Commonwealth." Garret sounded frustrated as he gave his speech for the third time. "Charges are Collusion, Treason, Espionage, and Cooperation with the enemy." A hand signal from Teagan brought forth two more Knights who took Quinlan to a facility nearby Diamond City.
"Is there anyone else I need to give that speech to, or is that it?!" Garret said, frustratedly. "No. Those were the only three involved. I think the only thing left is acting Elder privileges. I vote Sarah." Lawrence said with a smile.
"I also vote Sarah." Teagan agreed, leaning against the wall.
"Very well." Garret said, turning to Sarah, and all four parties came to attention. "As ranking Judiciant in the Commonwealth, in absence of an Elder, I take command of the Brotherhood of Steel. In fairness to the Brotherhood and as stated in the Codex, I must assign an acting Elder at my earliest opportunity. I appoint Sentinel Sarah Lyons as acting Elder in the stead of Elder Arthur Maxson's arrest. Ad Victoriam!"
"Ad Victoriam!" Lawrence and Teagan echoed before the four of them broke attention. Turning to Teagan, Lawrence spoke. "Send the order for everyone not currently occupied transporting prisoners or otherwise protecting assets to gather down at the airport. I think it's time we give everyone an explanation."
About an hour later, the last stragglers arrived at the airport seating area. More seats had been constructed, as had a raised platform at the far end. Climbing up onto the platform, Lawrence stepped up to the front, clearing his throat.
"Thank you all for gathering as quickly as you did. I know this is unusual, but I think I owe you all an explanation. A few months back, shortly before I left the Capital Wasteland, I uncovered correspondence between Elder Maxson and Proctor Quinlan detailing goals of theirs given to them by the leader of the Enclave, former President John Henry Eden."
A wave of whispers and mutterings including things like "not Proctor Quinlan" and "no way it was Maxson" shot through the gathered crowd before Lawrence continued.
"Upon my return to the Prydwen when it arrived in the Commonwealth I was slipped another holotape in which both Maxson and Quinlan spoke of the Enclave and bringing Kells into the fold, apparently all three were placed into the Brotherhood, both Maxson and Kells as squires, by President Eden in an attempt to infiltrate—and later usurp control of—us in order to prevent the fall of the Enclave."
"Obviously their attempts failed. However, this did not prevent them from radicalizing the ideals the Eastern Division of the Brotherhood has always stood for. The Codex is clear on our purpose, but our ideals are our own. The Eastern Brotherhood has always been about helping and protecting the civilians we choose to interact with."
"To that end, I present the acting Elder of the Eastern Division, the one and only, Sarah Lyons!" Lawrence said, stepping to one side and turning so Sarah could step forward from behind him.
"Thank you, Swordsman." She said, before addressing the gathered crowd. "When I supposedly died at the battle of Arlington, I was actually trapped by rubble from the former Mama Dolce's plant. When the battle was over shortly thereafter, the Brotherhood left without verifying my status. I dug myself out of the rubble in the next couple hours, and decided to not return, knowing I'd be presumed dead. However, hearing that the next great Elder who succeeded my father was secretly working for the Enclave did not sit right with me, so when our resident Swordsman contacted me with his suspicions, I made my way to the commonwealth, knowing my Brothers and Sisters would need my aid once again."
Sarah turned to look at Garret, and after a small nod from the man, spoke once again. "I will pass your attention to Judiciant Mitchell for a full briefing on what will happen next."
Garret stepped forward, now dressed in full Judiciant apparel, metal armor arm guards, a Heavy Combat Armor chest piece, a full-length battlecoat in the same orange and grey color scheme of the Knight uniforms, a Combination Cap with the Brotherhood logo on the band, and an Officer's uniform. "Thank you, Elder. In the coming days many of you will be interviewed either by myself, Swordsman Carter, or Proctor Teagan, both of which are being temporarily deputized as Judiciants. This is a time we need you to be fully honest and truthful with us about your thoughts and feelings on orders and doings of former Elder Maxson, as well as the deeds and orders of Proctor Quinlan and Lancer-Captain Kells."
"Following those interviews, I will make a final decision on whether charges will be brought against all three men. If they are, then we will have a formal Court Martial for all three, in which many of you may be called to testify. You are not required to, and there's likely enough evidence at the current time to convict. Does anyone have any questions?"
After a tense moment, Knight Lucia raised her hand, before standing up when Garret pointed to her. "Knight Janet Lucia." She said by way of introduction, "I can't help but wonder why this information was withheld until now. This would have been nice to know before, ya know, following Elder Maxson into the Institute."
Sarah grabbed Lawrence's shoulder to prevent him from rushing forward and explaining, in turn letting Garret do his job.
"As per the Codex accusations such as this that involve the standing Elder much be brought before a Judiciant and Codex expert prior to moving on them in any form. Had the accusations turned out to be unfounded, but Swordsman Carter had revealed them publicly before I could review them, the Brotherhood's trust in each other would have been shattered and we would have ended up back where we were during the period between Elder Sarah Lyons's apparent death and Elder Maxson taking over."
Another Knight, this one in power armor, raised his hand. After getting a confirmation point, he spoke. "Knight Eric Mathers. My question stems not from the accusations, but more from a security standpoint. I know we took all three of them to separate facilities. Only one of those was previously manned by the Brotherhood. Do we actually have enough people to maintain a chain of proper security on all three of them."
Garret nodded. "Valid concern. The answer is not promising: I don't know. In an ideal circumstance, yes. But this is neither ideal nor perfect. However, with the Institute mostly destroyed, I will be getting with Elder Lyons to discuss reducing the combat teams being dropped to enable the proper security of all three facilities."
A scribe was the next to raise her hand, and standing up, Scribe Haylen decided to ask her question next. "Scribe Amanda Haylen. Will there be any punishments for those who carried out orders on possibly misguided pretenses provided by Elder Maxson or Proctor Quinlan?" She said, pointedly looking at Nate, who stood in his power armor off to the left.
"I assume you mean the revelations about Paladin Danse?" Garret asked, causing Haylen's eyes to widen as she realized Garret knew of it. "I have plans to review Quinlan's findings on that, as well as several other decisions made by Maxson and Kells. However, at this point in time, punishing those who were just carrying out orders—misguided as those orders may have been—is not on the table. If it is found that Paladin Danse's death—or the deaths of most of Recon Squad Artemis—were the result of trying to silence dissenters then murder and accessory charges may be added to the responsible parties." Paladin Brandis, who had left his power armor back on the Prydwen, smiled from his place in the front row.
"If there's nothing else pressing you're all dismissed. Prepare to potentially be interviewed in the coming days." Garret said, as the group on the platform watched everyone file out to return to the Prydwen.