Preston walked up the road to what looked like a Rust Devil encampment. Or at least, from a distance. As he got closer to the enormous satellite dishes, he could see more and more Minuteman influence. Not just from the APCs parked at the entrance to the wooden, junk fencing. Several soldiers were on a side of the hill, toiling away at a hole in the ground.

Preston walked up to the nearest uniform. "Where's the General?"

The soldier turned toward the APCs. "ETA until General?!"

A head popped out of the APC and ducked inside. The head popped back out after a moment. "That Colonel Garvey?!"

"Yeah!"

The head ducked back inside the armored personnel carrier. Another moment passed before the head came back into view. "General'll meet him at the current gate!"

The soldier pointed. "Up that hill, sir."

Garvey saluted the soldier. The man was half way back to digging into the hillside but turned on a dime. He and the rest of the diggers saluted as quickly as they could and returned to their work.

Preston walked the rest of the way up the hill to what was once the gate the Rust Devils had set up. By the time he got there, he heard a tone that he hadn't ever before. Spinning and readying his laser musket, he saw his first APC in motion. Then he realized what startled him must have been a car horn.

The APC rolled to a stop in front of him. A whir filled the air, and a power armor suit appeared from behind the APC.

The General's X-01 MK. VI power armor guided him away from the APC. Once Preston was clear, it slapped the APC and the vehicle drove into the camp. The power armor came apart and the General stepped down from her perch inside.

"Sorry for keeping you, Preston.", she greeted.

"No problem, General.", he dismissed. "I came through the northern settlements. Took some extra time, but brought the entrenched Minutemen up to speed."

"Good, good.", the General agreed. "Any news?"

"Thinking about taking an attache.", Garvey admitted. "You know Doc Hargraves?"

"She's a civilian. That's why I gave her a spot up at Abernathy Farm.", the General stated. "Why induct her?"

"Well, I'm supposed to be keeping track of the men. Their health seems to come under that. Considering that I'm not doctor..."

The General nodded. "No, no. You're right.

"It's just keeping track of everything in my head. Once this crew unloads, they have to speed back to Sanctuary and get another load of power armor, now that Sturges knows to hand them over."

Preston considered her. "You never let anyone in your house."

"And they have no reason step inside now.", the General stated. "The armors are lined up outside my home. They just need to take the FUSION COREs from the ones they're walking off back with them."

Preston nodded. And then he readied his laser musket again. But unlike before, everyone else besides the General did as well.

"Stand down people!", she cried out while rubbing her eyes.

The surrounding Minutemen slowly unleveled their weapons. The cause didn't seem to care one way or the other. The twenty five type 2 Synths continued marching up to the General.

"First shipment of Institute make, Minutemen model, production run Mk. 1 LASER MUSKETs delivered.", twenty five identical, mechanical voices overlapped.

"Reduce voice volume temporarily.", the General called out.

At half power, all the machines called out "Yes, mother."

Preston turned to her. "Mother?"

"Yeah, that's creepy.", the General agreed. "Alright, who's in charge?"

Again there was the collective response. "You are."

She waved her hands. "No, I mean which one of you are designated as 'leader'."

"All units present are Strider model.", they simultaneously informed.

"I see.", the General acknowledged. "Alright, look. Rearrange yourselves into a single file line. Go inside, and report to Colonel Brandis. Whichever unit is first, inform Colonel Brandis and any Minutemen that draw on you that the muskets and yourselves are to be issued to roving units much like APCs. Have Brandis arm all Minutemen with the muskets but only one Synth per unit on my orders."

"Yes, ma'am.", the machines agreed. The Synths exchanged call numbers and in a few seconds self-sorted into a single file line. Then they walked into the ex-Rust Devil encampment.

"Again, 'Mother'?", Preston asked.

The General sighed. "Hold on.

"Sargent? Make sure my particular power armor gets back to the Castle. Even if it has to go back on the first unit cleared by Brandis."

The soldier nodded. "Yes, General.

"Um, General?"

"Yes, Sargent?"

"What's a unit going to look like, now? I mean, I've been roving the land with three other people ever since we made a comeback."

The woman nodded. "Now, instead of walking, your Corporal will be driving your APC and your Private will be mounting a power armor on board. And one of those Synths will be issued as equipment to your unit as well. It is a lot more expendable than any living person under your command. You can spread that word."

"Yes, ma'am.", the woman nodded.

"Alright, Preston.", the General resigned herself. "Let's hit the road to Vault 81."

"Now?", the man asked.

"Ye...oh, 'Mother'.", the General realized. "Apparently my son's DNA was crucial to the Synth projects. As such, he was referred to as Father...particularly by the Synths themselves. Recently, they've started using the term 'Mother'. It's just as annoying as when you tried to call me *ahem* 'babe'."

"It sounds like you're pretty deep into the Institute.", Garvey pressed.

She nodded with widen eyes. "That's one way of putting it. I feel it's more like riding a MENTATS addled bear. It's smart as hell, will take you everywhere and everyone gets the hell out of its way. On the other hand, as soon as it's spooked...I'd rather not think about that. I'd rather anticipate my assassination attempt."

"Assassination?", Preston exclaimed.

His commander shrugged. "We're headed to Vault 81 on the first stop of every community outside of our settlements to engender a civilian government. The only reports of the previous attempt at a unified Commonwealth government are rumors. And those rumors state that it only failed because the Institute assassinated all the representatives.

"From the Institute side, their records hold that the only reason that meeting even happened was to come up with a war plan against the Institute.

"So this time...Remember when I stated that Institute was going to be brought in line officially? Well, I'm going to form a Commonwealth government. And I'm including the Institute as a partner. Equal to Diamond City or Bunker Hill. Not us, the Minutemen."

Preston kept pace with her on the way to Vault 81.

"You really think we can pull that off?", Preston stated.

"As long as I'm not assassinated for bringing the Institute into the greater community. But for everyone that might be brought into the idea, how many people aren't going to let go of the Institute having replaced someone in the past?"