"Anne.", the General began. "How can I help?"

The seamstress slash actor looked sheepishly over her coffee. (The General's quarters in the Castle always had the best preserved coffee.) "Um, ma'am?"

The General nodded. "Well, I understand why the Colonels and Admiral Zao are here. I'm holding a meeting of my commanding officers to discuss policy and disseminate wide scale orders for the future of the Minutemen's actions to benefit the Commonwealth. But you're here. So I'm inferring that you must need my assistance with something."

"Oh.", Hargraves sighed in relief. "I'm just here to assist Colonel Shaw."

The General lowered her voice. "This is a command meeting. And while I assure you that your contributions have been immensely helpful, and not just with Shaw but since your time coming to the Castle. But I only have so much space in my office. You see the problem with setting the precedent of having the first person into such a meeting in light of how many others are going to have contributions?"

And as Anne nodded. "Furthermore, as I'm going to discuss later, I'm trying to unflatten our organization. No matter what one thinks of me or my adventures, I'm not infinite. I need people to be able to answer to me through their superior officers. And just as necessary, I need my commanding officers to be able to receive counsel from their subordinates. You see?"

"Yes, ma'am.", she said somewhat but not totally despondently.

The General saluted. "Back to your shop."

Then the woman came to her side of the table, then thought better of it. The General set the antique globe from one end of the table on the floor beside it and dragged a chair to the now head of the table, where a stack of folders lay. She gestured to the empty sides of the table and replaced her WRAPAROUND GOGGLES with EYEGLASSES.

"Gentlemen?"

Colonel Ronnie Shaw and Colonel Preston Garvey sat on the side of the table closest to the door. This left Colonel Brandis and Admiral Zao the other side of the table.

"For pleasantries, I'd like to thank Colonel Brandis and Admiral Zao for sharing our vision of a Commonwealth that allows people to live. To my ears, pre-war that they are, that sounds like a horribly limited goal. But it's where we are. So again, thank you for your future help."

"Shi, General.", Zao said nodding his wrinkled head.

Brandis just nodded.

"But first. I've gone over the reports that Colonel Garvey and Colonel Shaw compiled. To bring Colonel Brandis and Admiral Zao up to speed. We have nearly 30 settlements flying the Minutemen flag. Here are approximate mappings." And with that, the General slid two maps to the newly recruited.

"From my number running, we have about half or possibly a bit more of the settlement population exclusively farming. Yes, even though we could get away with maybe as little as a sixth to provide enough food and cleansed water. An additional sixth are scavengers. And a bit less than a sixth of the settlers have found a merchant craft. This is leaving a bit more than sixth that are actual Minutemen.

"Hence, the following command structure. The most important distinction. You've heard me use the term 'actual Minutemen'. So far I've seen these people say things like 'we're looking out for each other' or 'glad we have each other's back'. This is wrong. If you are not a Minuteman than you are _not_ and you are a civilian, deserving of the protections thereof."

Zao moaned.

"Yes, Admiral?", the General asked.

"It is a citizen's duty to defend his homeland. These people already share a responsibility.", Zao explained.

"Their duty is to be a civilian. With no farmers, no merchants...no people being people and raising children and just watching the sun set...there's no Commonwealth. Except maybe for the radroaches.", the General countered. "Long story short, this is America. Long story long:

"Yes, we have a surplus of farmers. And yes, I am interested in building our forces. That being stated. People are much better at what they want to do. That our entire force is a volunteer force, including the ones that have seen action along side me and even the eight casualties I've personally met, is a force multiplier of the highest order.

"On top of that, we aren't building a dictatorship or an oligarchy or even an empire. The Minutemen's mission statement has always be to help the Commonwealth at a moments notice. While that hasn't always been done to the extent it could, it is the goal we are trying to accomplish. And I've managed to bring the Institute itself in line with that idea. Forced conscription isn't help.

"Furthermore. Any government that's worth defending will have its citizens step up to defend. I don't know a single person in any Minutemen settlement that's going to choose the Mirelurks over picking up a laser musket.

"Understood?"

The group vaguely nodded except for Preston's "Yes, General." and Zao's head bow.

"I asked if that was understood?", the General repeated.

Colonel Brandis looked like he was satisfied for the first time in the meeting. "Yes, General." was chorused.

"Now that being said, I'm going to do nearly everything in our power to swell our ranks.", she assured. "And I'm ordering you to do so as well. I'm sure you're all experienced enough to know that's not to slouch on troop discipline but be the leader that inspires soldiers to want the difference between obeying an order and fulfilling one.

"So while I expect our numbers to grow in the future, we currently have what we have. So Preston: if the following won't work, now is the time to tell me.

"The leader of the Minutemen has traditionally been referred to by the title 'General'. I see no reason to change that. I personally don't have any reason to call myself 'Brigadier High Muckety Muck' and I hope whoever comes after me doesn't either. I'll continue to set policy, decide campaigns and determine responses to threats as the case comes up. Commander in Chief.

"The next rank being you, Colonel. Of which, of course, Admiral is one. Each of you have exclusive duties that I, as General, have entrusted to you with particular duties that affect the entirety of the Minutemen. I expect your orders to be obeyed. I also entrust you to choose attaches when you need them."

"A tash ays?", Zao asked.

"Attache. Right now, there's only one - Anne Hargrave. While Ronnie Shaw has safeguarded more of the assets of the Minutemen than anyone else/"

"That's actually you, General.", Ronnie interrupted. "I didn't get the Castle back, I just dug up what was underneath."

"Don't interrupt.", the General scolded with smile. "Now if I can continue praising Ronnie, Shaw has kept more of our assets secured than anyone else. Hence, her promotion to Colonel of Supplies instead of the many other positions I could use her for. However, she is no tailor. Anne Hargrave, who probably couldn't shoot her way out of a paper bag to save her life given the actors I've seen, is. Hence, Attache Anne Hargrave to Colonel Ronnie Shaw.

"Understand, Zao?"

"Yes, General." Zao stated with a head bow. "Thank you."

"Next come, for lack of a better term, Sheriff.", the woman continued. "I am not using the term 'mayor' for a specific reason, so don't suggest it. All our settlements are protected by local, resident Minutemen...mostly recruited by me. But there is still need for a local leader that includes oversight over the civilian population as well. These people need to understand both: the duties of the Minutemen and the needs of the local population. So some people who may have believed themselves civilians actually aren't. Sheriff is going to be the rank that governs a single settlement.

"Some are obvious like Abraham Finch of Finch Farm or Blake Abernathy of Abernathy Farm."

Preston nodded. "I get it. Roger Warwick is going to run Warwick homestead."

The General hesitated for a sliver of a moment and then tried to cover it up. "Exactly.

"But some aren't so obvious. Like Sturges in my neighborhood, Sanctuary. I'm going to have to cajole some people into stepping up, but they've been looking after places me so far. I'm having a woman named Cait keep things tampered down at Covenant and having Curie run Egret Tours Marina. Both have proven highly capable of surviving the trouble that comes visits places and I'll think they'll do both places well.

"Here's the full listing of Sheriffs. Hopefully they'll be obvious.", the General stated as she slid her next set of papers to everyone.

"At an given settlement there's other Minutemen by necessity settled in. Those cleared to run artillery will be referred to as Grenadiers to keep confusion with the actual term 'gunner' down to a minimum. Other Minutemen will simply be refered to as Minutemen. Everyone in the settlement will answer to their local Sheriff as the Sheriff sees fit."

Ronnie raised her hand. "Oh, please, oh, please, may I be allowed to speak, ma'am."

And then without waiting for a response. "What about particular folk in particular places? Like here at the Castle, you don't have anyone listed as Sheriff. And you don't have a rank for our Radio Freedom announcer."

The General agreed. "There are nearly always going to be exceptions to the rule. And the Castle is probably going to be king of them. We have more Grenadiers...more Minutemen here than anywhere else. When's a time when you aren't going to be here yourself, Shaw? I even was hesitant to promote you because I wanted to make you Sheriff here, but you're needed too badly. But our civilian population here is miniscule, just farmers - even our Doc is signed up. So I'm hoping the Castle has the discipline to run smoothly unlike say, Hangman's Alley."

"That being said - uniforms. From Anne and Shaw's counts, we do actually have a very slightly higher number of MINUTEMEN OUTFITs than Minutemen. All Minutemen are expected to be in said uniform when performing duty. Scheduled shifts at artillery, lookout posts, patrol, etc. And the whole squad the entire time a roaming squad is out on the road. Not to denigrate the men, but I don't want any more squads of Minutemen wandering into settlements looking like your average settler. People need to be able to identify us and see us as professionals. I've already brought two colonels on board due to time losses, I'm not losing a second more to settlers questioning who to approach.

"Adding to that, I managed to build up certain stockpiles on my travels through the Wasteland."

"You can say that again.", Preston commented. "You made me carry so much of it."

The General eyed him. "We ended up with actually enough combat armor to go around. Not everyone's going to be able to get heavily modded armor, but everyone will get a full set and there is a workbench in every settlement. If a roving band wants to make all of theirs lightweight, that's on them and their skill set right now. But I don't need casualties when there's armor, so I expect everyone under the rank of Colonel to consider it a part of their uniform."

"Why not us?", Brandis asked.

"I believe Colonels should be just as easily distinguishable as I am as General." was the answer. "As such, you'll all be issued COLONIAL DUSTERS, yes including you Shaw. See Anne after this meeting."

"How often are you in uniform?", Brandis asked.

Zao slid his chair away from him as quietly as he could.

Brandis tried to assure him. "No disrespect, just asking. Considering your wardrobe."

He had a point. Next to the only bed in the room (covered in COMFORTABLE PILLOWs no less) was a vanity so full that on its shelves were more clean suits and laundered dresses in different colors than the three Colonels had ever seen in one spot in their lives.

"Give her a break.", Preston defended. "She's from before the Great War. In her time, people with out even a place to come back to lived like we think of as the lap of luxury. Think about how much of jump it is for her. I get why she may do things that we can't understand, like have ten different sets of clothes all for herself when she can only wear one at a time. But that's just going to happen."

Ronnie doubled down. "Yeah, like what do you do with all the soap? You don't make any chems or explosives with it."

"My personal habits are not up for discussion.", the General declared. In the silence, she said "But it is true. The world I come from...life now is hard. Harder than I ever imagined having to go through, even when I was stationed on Okinawa during what everyone now calls the Great War.

"But back to the point. Minutemen per soldier supplies. I want everyone below the rank of Colonel also wearing a hat to note their title. SEA CAPTAIN'S HATs for grenadiers, POSTMAN'S HATs for Sherrifs, MILITIA HATs for male Minutemen and because of Shaw's fashion sense and not just the fact that we don't have enough MILITIA HATs for every single body we have out there, MILITARY CAPs for female Minutemen. Don't know how we ended up with enough combat armor but not hats, but there you go.

"Circumstances won't always allow for those to be the best options. So every soldier needs to have a helmet and a gas mask. Those, we don't have enough of to standardize. We do however have enough STIMPACKs to issue everyone two, along with a RAD-X and a RADAWAY. Like I said, I don't want casualties."

Brandis folded his arms. "It's a part of war."

"And the eight souls I've already seen fall in that damn bottomless pit raiders like to repopulate or the time the Castle was hit by super mutants and one woman didn't let any through the gate over her dead body are enough to teach me that.", the General countered. "There will be a time where I'm going to end up ordering people to lay down their life for the Commonwealth. I'm not going to have it be by holding back supplies to prevent it.

"Continuing, we're generating a surplus of PURIFIED WATER and we have an over abundance of farmers. The combat armor comes with a canteen and pockets: have the men use them. I don't want the men consuming RADS.

"Now as for weapons, the laser musket is the most symbolic weapon of the Minutemen. But only one in three are actually armed with a variant. There is a stockpile of weapons and not enough laser muskets to go around yet. I want everyone, particularly the roving bands to have at least one long arm and a sidearm per man. And I want the long arm and the sidearm to not be both energy or both bullet based.

"The roving bands will be getting more equipment. But that'll be when we get Colonel Brandis up and running."

Preston interrupted. "How's the Institute fit in this chain of command?"

The room fell eerily silent.

The General rubbed the bridge of her nose. "That. The Institute doesn't fit in this structure. Like I'm certain I'll tell you in the future: their surrender is both nuanced and difficult. I assure you that they will be placed into a regulated berth in the Commonwealth, suited to not just their needs but the greater tranquility. Right now, they are reorganizing as well. By way of for example, you may have heard less reports of synth presence. That's because they're pulling back those synths."

"I'm sorry, General.", Preston objected. "But people have been telling me that those synths have all been headed in one direction: back to the wreckage of the Prydwen. The Institute sending synths to peruse through high tech wreckage isn't exactly a new policy."

"So that's where that extra chunk of combat armor came from.", Ronnie realized.

"Wait. What?", Preston exclaimed.

"I didn't want Brotherhood weaponry falling into supermutant or raider hands, or the clutches of a host of other problems we have in the Commonwealth.", the General stated. "So when I ordered the Institute to pull back their squads from the Commonwealth to show people like you that they were sincere in this effort, I had them use the Prydwen as a staging area and busy work for their robots. It just so happened to benefit our men with additional protection."

"Oh.", Preston realized.

The General looked around the table. "Any other questions or corrections?"

Zao nodded. "I understand that you have put a lot of thought and...foresight...into these decisions. However, I would feel re...gret? No. Remiss, if I did not comment that the General hasn't considered ranks for her proposed navy."

The General face palmed. "You're right Zao. What do you suggest?"

"You have men guarding my Yangtze at the moment.", Zao informed the colonels. "I believe these to be of the Minutemen rank in the system you have proposed. You have also stated that I will be given people to train into crew so that they may recover and crew their own vessels."

"Therefore, I suggest this. When one is working with me on board the Yangtze, they should be call only the lowest of the low. Something like 'mole' or 'worm'. It will instill in them a drive to become better than what they are. Not calling them 'attache'. When they graduate to a skill where they have earned the right to see the sun again on a vessel of their own, then perhaps 'sailor' to show they have certain expertise like the rank of Grenadier tells.

"But most important to a navy must be the rank of 'captain'. Just as a Sheriff has total authority over his village, a Captain must have total control over his ship. This I cannot be more...forceful...adamant about."

The General nodded. "I agree. The rank of Captain will be filled as personnel and ships become available for it. And Captains will have all the privileges of command on board their own ship as Sheriffs have in their village. Any Minutemen that qualifies and serves on board a ship will be referred to as Sailor. And your submarine is freezing. All seamen will be issued USHANKA HATs. I hope you can work out a compromise between attache and *ahem* 'worm', but I understand you'll need something to separate initiates from people you come to count on."

"I think I should speak up as well then.", Brandis stated.

"Right.", the General nodded. "What are now roving packs of Minutemen are going to be primarily answering to you. What do you suggest?"

Brandis reminded, "Well in the Brotherhood, we were well served by the chivalry system. Pages being trainees becoming squires in the service of knights. Scribes serving as what you're calling attaches."

"I'm not using Brotherhood of Steel rankings in the Minutemen.", the General ordered. "I'd sooner use Institute rankings, and trust me - that's not going to happen."

"Hm.", Brandis considered. "If we're continuing with pre-war military jargon, Sargent for the man running the squad with Corporal for anyone cleared to run an APC. I mean, once we get more than the one the men you left me and I got up and running?"

"What about a woman cleared for power armor duty?", the General asked. "I plan on adding one to every roving squad."

"We have that amount of power armor?", Preston questioned.

Ronnie nodded and shrugged. "The General's been a busy girl."

The General brought the conversation back under her control. "Look people. I am absolutely serious about getting the Commonwealth to be livable. If that means boats, armored personnel carriers and power armor then that will just have to be the order of the day.

"So let's call Minutemen cleared for power armor duty Private on a roving squad and when we can afford it, Ensign on board a ship and we can get on with what to do with these people."