Chapter 9
Nearly a month after the arrival of Sarah Lyons and Codex expert and Judiciant Garret Mitchell, the investigation was finished. Everyone involved was exhausted and ready for everything to be done with. The main delay in prosecution was bringing in the head Judiciant, securing a location and ensuring the appropriate security. Thankfully, the scribes had happened across Starlight Drive-in. The open space, after removing the cars, enabled a sort of courthouse to be built, complete with holding facilities for all three accused parties.
Ivan Griffith, the Brotherhood's Head Judiciant was flown in from the Citadel to preside over the hearing as an impartial third party. It was a long process bringing him up to speed and ensuring everything was file properly, but they were soon ready
With the final touches finished, it was time to prosecute the case. One good thing to come out of the delay was the ability to fully refine the case so that an accurate ruling could be made and a full list of charges could be collected.
As the last of the Vertibirds touched down at Starlight Drive-in, the place was abuzz with activity, Sentinel Burns was leading up the security detail watching the prisoners, while many of the scribes ran around collecting the final bits of evidence for Garret. The entire time, Lawrence sat at the prosecutor's table with his knee bouncing nervously. This was his first time actually attending one of these proceedings, and it was not something he thought he'd enjoy.
Ivan was presiding, on the Elder's name as per the Codex, and at any time Sarah could make her presence known and overrule him. Soon the noise died down as the entirety of the Brotherhood in the Commonwealth began to take their seats.
"Thank you all for coming today. It's not often we have to do one of these. And this is the first in over a century of the Brotherhood's history and the first that concerns an Elder. So do bare with us as we conduct these proceedings. I will begin by reading a full list of charges." Ivan said, standing, a cue to everyone else to also stand.
"Arthur Maxson, former Elder of the Eastern Brotherhood, is charged with Espionage, Treason, Cooperation with the enemy, Collusion, as well as seven counts of murder for the deaths of most of the members of Recon Squad Artemis and accessory to the murder of Paladin Danse. Samuel Kells, former Lancer-Captain and Commanding Officer of the Prydwen is charged with Espionage, Treason, Cooperation with the enemy, Collusion, as well as accessory to the murders of Recon Squad Artemis."
"Noah Quinlan, former Proctor of the Order of the Quill, is charged with Espionage, Treason, Cooperation with the enemy, Collusion, as well as a single count of murder for the death of Paladin Danse." With the charges read, Ivan sat down, and nodded to Nate to let the three accused take their seats at the defense table. With that done, he nodded to Garret to begin. Standing up, Garret handed a copy of a paper to Ivan before also presenting a copy to the three men.
"Can one of you please explain to me what this page is?" He asked, and Quinlan stood to respond.
"This is a page out of the Codex. It specifies procedures to be followed in the event of loss of contact with a Recon Squad." As Quinlan sat down, Garret nodded, looking at Maxson, "and Maxson, could you please read section 4 for the court today."
With a glare, Maxson snatched the paper, standing up. "In the event contact is completely lost with a Recon Squad, one or more members of the Swordsmen are to be dropped into the same area in full combat configuration. No further Recon Squads are to be dropped in the area until a full report is returned by the Swordsmen as to the fate of the lost team."
"Thank you, and if you could read section 5, subsections 2 and 3 for me?" Garret said, simply.
Maxson glared at him again, before continuing. "All reasonable efforts are to be made by an Elder, when selecting drop zone, to prevent placing a team in a zone known to be hostile."
Everyone in the room could hear the anger welling in Maxson's voice as he spoke. "If a team must be placed into a hot zone, the effort must be made to place them as close to a fortifiable location as possible."
"Thank you." Garret said, before turning to Ivan. "If you would listen to the holotapes listed as 'battlefield holotape' 'Knight Astlin's holotape', 'Scribe Faris's holotape', and 'Paladin Brandis's holotape' you will find out that none of these precautions were taken. In fact, the drop zone, which is marked on the map you were provided with, is known to be quite a hostile area."
"Is it not clear in the Codex what is supposed to be done before placing a Recon Squad into a location? Is it not clear what is to be done after the loss of contact? Neither of these were done. Recon Squad Artemis was placed in a zone that Recon Squad Apollo had explicitly named in their initial reports."
Garret turned and grabbed another document off the table, this one about 9 or 10 pages thick. "I present to you a full transcript of Paladin Brandis's report on the recon operation. If you notice, almost as soon as the Vertibirds were out of sight did they get set upon. The area of Malden is very volatile, even the Swordsman Lawrence Carter had trouble surviving the area during his investigation."
Murmurs of surprise from the few who knew of the difficulty of Swordsman training came from the crowd.
Garret next turned his focus to Quinlan, passing a report to Ivan before presenting a copy to Quinlan. "Proctor. Tell me, is this a copy of your findings from the Institute Database brought back by then-Knight Nate Burns."
"Yes, it is."
"Please read the highlighted comment."
Quinlan stood up and glared at him as he began reading. "DNA string is close but not an exact match to Paladin Danse. He recently voiced concern over decisions made by Elder Maxson, this string shouldn't be hard to modify to present the same."
Shocked gasps and murmurs came from the crowd as Garret collected the document and Quinlan sat back down. "This comment was made by Proctor Quinlan in the holotape that Burns brought back. It took time to recover since he tried to wipe the tape afterwards, but the data was recoverable."
Garret continued, turning to face Ivan as he spoke. "This is likely Quinlan's attempt to silence a dissenter before he spread his doubts through the Brotherhood. In fact, the events following Quinlan's presenting of this information to Maxson prove this point even more. The Codex, section 8, subsection 4, paragraph 3 actually states that 'any person within the Brotherhood of Steel suspected to be working for an enemy must be tracked down and questioned by a Swordsman. If a swordsman is unavailable then the highest-ranking non-Elder officer present should be sent in their place.' Meaning that Burns, then merely a Knight, should not have been the one to go out after Paladin Danse."
"Furthermore, even if they had sent Burns out to capture Paladin Danse and return him to the Prydwen, a field execution such as what occurred should not have happened. The direct cause of Danse's death was Quinlan's decision to fake the data and Maxson's decision to violate the Codex."
Garret stopped for a minute to take a drink of water before continuing. "Next I'd like to point out Lancer-Captain Kells's actions involving then-Initiate Clarke." Garret said, presenting a transcript of the holotape to Ivan. "As you can see, the feeding of the ghouls was entirely the idea of Kells, who enlisted Clarke's aid in trying to pacify the feral ghouls living inside the terminal building in the airport."
A few hours later, it was finally time for the trio to present their arguments. Most of their claims were simply their accomplishments in the Brotherhood such as Maxson's reunion of the Outcasts and the Brotherhood. Then it was time for Lawrence to speak.
"As everyone here may or may not know, I was removed from the Brotherhood following a failed operation in which tech schematics for the Tesla power armor fell to the Enclave. I lost two good men and a third was injured in our escape. In order to protect the careers of my living men, I convince Elder Owyn Lyons to remove only me from the Brotherhood and disband the Swordsmen as a unit." Lawrence said, recounting his own history.
"A few years later, I was approached by a then 17-year-old Arthur Maxson asking me to return to the Brotherhood. I would only do so with a signed agreement that said he wouldn't kick me out for simply failing an operation or making a decision that saved more lives. In exchange he made me agree to an undying loyalty to the Brotherhood. I gave up a highly successful trade caravan, a wife, two kids, and a home in Megaton to return to the Brotherhood. It saddens me to see the undying loyalty part did not go both ways."
Garret asked him one simple question. "When you returned to the Brotherhood, what else did Maxson promise you?"
"He promised me to reinstate the Swordsmen as a unit, which he had not done in the entire time he was Elder. He also promised me that my presence on the Prydwen would be limited, as the Swordsmen were supposed to be a clandestine team, known to few within the Brotherhood. We see how that turned out."
The next person to testify was Nate himself, about the events that occurred with Danse. "I was caught completely off-guard by the accusations myself. I'd known Danse only a short time, but in that time, he became more than just a mentor and brother. He became a close friend. One of the few people since I'd left the Vault to not look at me differently for being a Vault Dweller and from before the war. His dedication to the Brotherhood, efficiency in combat, and the way he treated his team were all things that reinforced my decision to join the Brotherhood."
He paused for a moment, before continuing. "He went with me to the literal ends of the earth, accompanying me to the Glowing Sea not once but three separate times, twice to talk with Virgil and once to get the Mark 28 nukes for Liberty Prime. Every single time he fought with valor and distinction in the name of the Brotherhood, and particularly in the name of Elder Maxson."
Nate sighed, glaring at the aforementioned man. "And to think that because he made the comment that 'For you to be sent into the Glowing Sea a third time is shocking, we have others Maxson could send to do that.' I was forced to kill him, still hits hard."
"Thank you, Sentinel." Garret said simply, allowing Nate a few minutes to get back into his power armor and return to his post. "I'd like to call one final witness. Proctor Eric Teagan."
Teagan emerged from the gathered crowd and took his seat, after a couple introductory questions, he told his story.
"When we were told we were heading for the Commonwealth my first question to Elder Maxson was whether or not we'd heard from Lawrence. It struck me as odd that a single radio call that claimed to come from Paladin Danse's team, with no evidence of Lawrence's survival, would draw the majority of the Citadel's forces into the region."
"What do I get in response? 'Return to the supply depot and do not question my orders again, Proctor'. No 'yes we heard from him' or 'we have evidence of his survival' or anything to confirm or deny whether he was alive. I mean, I'm sorry I was concerned for my friend." Teagan said with an eye roll directed at Maxson.
"It wasn't long after that, that one of my scribes placed a recorder in Proctor Quinlan's office. Partly at his request, partly at my urging. Codex, section 4 paragraph 1, states that if it pertains to equipment security I can place a recorder in any location to protect the equipment of the Brotherhood." Teagan had made sure to get the Codex section that allowed him to do that.
"From this, I retrieved a holotape that showed the first concrete evidence of the accused connections to the Enclave."
"And you gave this holotape to Swordsman Carter upon his return to the Prydwen?" Garret asked him in clarification.
"He was the only other person besides myself to listen to it up to that point. That's generally standard procedure."
"Thank you, Proctor. That's all." Ivan said, interrupting proceedings. "I'm ready to make my ruling."