Author's Note: Absolute Configuration is correct. I was intending to use Colonel Cypress, the Gunner officer that ordered the move on Nuka-World in game. Commander Cruz is the local head of guard at Gunner Plaza, on par with (in this story) a Minutemen Sheriff even of an important place - like Sturges in Sanctuary. From my own personal game play, Gunner ranks flow from top down Colonel - Captain - Commander - Lieutenant - Corporal - Sargent - Private - Recruit. This (but none of the grammar) has been corrected in Chapter 55.

Back to it then.

1

She should have expected this. She did expect this. She just didn't expect so much of it.

The General actually glowered at the council assembled before her. Roxxy was justifiably pensive and she got that. Trish appeared like she could shrug her shoulders but could not care enough to use the energy, and she understood that as well. Hancock's expression, if she could read the ghoul's malformed face, was one of sympathy and she appreciated that. The Institute's clean room suit covered representative would obey her in all things...she thought. But Acting Mayor Geneva, Current Representative Calvin, and Old Man Stockton tried their level best to lose their minds.

"What are you going to do to make peace with the Gunners?", Geneva pressed.

"Whatever you're going to give them isn't coming from us.", Kessler warned.

"Oh my god, a war. I just came to pick up the parts from the foundry. We should have never listened to you.", Calvin worried.

And at that, the General slapped her hand against the table hard enough to silence them all.

"You fools need to remember that it is I who provide you the safety you enjoy with which you are hiding behind to bitch at me now." Hancock had heard her use language like this before, after some crazy times hitting the road with her. But none of the other representatives had, even if they've seen her in combat situations. So the ghoul folded his arms and settled in for a show.

In a bit more toned down manner, Geneva offered, "So you do have a path to peace with the Gunners."

"Is Diamond City going to pay for it?", Kessler accused. "Because Bunker Hill sure as hell isn't."

The General scoffed. "There isn't going to be a path to peace. We're going to war."

"Wait, what?", the table exclaimed. Except Trish. Trish mirrored Hancock as if she too knew the outcome and was just going to be entertained.

"Peace with Gunners is by definition untenable and by fate impossible.", the General began.

"They are a mercenary organization. They're entire existence is the execution of warfare. They are not Diamond City with an economy that pays fees to support Diamond City Security. They are not Minutemen looking to help each other out however they can. They only have one thing: war in exchange for caps.

"Given that the entire purpose of this council, the Commonwealth as a collective and the Minutemen itself is to make the world a peaceful place - what possible spot could the Gunners occupy in it? When there's no mercenary work left for a mercenary?

"They must go to war. They have to show their true colors as overhyped raiders. The war with us is what they are. Their victory condition is fracturing us into the squabbling, in danger, cap generating customers they need to exploit. Peace isn't in their immediate or end goals. That's why any attempt at peace is bound to fail."

Geneva nervously sputtered. "B-b-but that man Red Eye showed that the Gunners and the Minutemen were going to negotiate. Isn't that a pathway to at least stop the fighting."

"It's a stall.", Trish rasped out.

The General turned to her. "Oh, really? Care to explain."

The ghoul...well, not smiled. "The tank attack against a Minuteman settlement, and thanks for taking that on the chin for us instead of us getting hit, was all out of the blue, see? If he could keep up a surprise attack like that he would. Kick a guy when he's down and all that. So he's probably hit some snag and needs some time.

"How'd I do?"

The General shrugged. "You left out that broadcasting a desire to negotiate gets people like them to think I'm somehow the evil overlord that actually wants a war.

"But basically right. A lot of the southern Commonwealth is marsh and mountain. Tanks don't travel well outside of flat land that can support their weight. They need time to set up their next attack if they want it supported by tank fire. And considering that Minutemen settlements are armed with artillery, Colonel Cypress must understand that they need it to be successful."

Calvin tried to think but was simply confused. "So you're just going to wait until you're attacked again. Enjoy a few days peace despite knowing...?"

The General winced and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Nah. I think our General's got a plan cooking right now.", Hancock suggested.

"Of course I have plan.", she followed with some annoyance. "I've gone over the entire map with my colonels already. First, there is only one hole up for Gunners in the north and that should be destroyed in the next few hours. Secondly, we know where those tanks started and the fact that they are slow: so I'm reinforcing our river control so that they turn to Murkwater. Sure, the Minutemen will lose another settlement but without civilian casualties and the Gunners true fighting force will be in the deepest bogs of the Commonwealth with the most obstacles between it and any communities."

"Except us.", Roxxy realized solemnly.

The General took in a breath and sat back down, not even realizing that she had stood. "Except the Atom Cats Garage and another more valuable Minutemen settlement, Warwick Homestead."

"What makes that farm so much more valuable than one of our communities?", Old Man Stockton charged.

The General glared at him. "First, I didn't say more valuable than the Atom Cats garage. Had you kept quiet, I could have explained why Warwick is more valuable than Murkwater. Second, I know what you're doing and you need to quit it.

"The Turing tests were valid. The synths didn't pass. Sheriff Curie did, and that's why she's currently directing Egret Tours Marina on the front lines keeping you safe. So you need to either let your imagined resentment go, bury your desire for some past revenge, or just be quiet and do what I say."

"And what are you saying that we should do?", the Institute rep asked in a potentially feminine voice.

The General side nodded. "I'm ramping up recruitment into the Minutemen. And if you want your communities safe, you'll support me in this."

Calvin objected. "The Minutemen want our people to join up and die in this?"

"I'm trying to avoid casualties, Calvin.", the General admonished. "Remember, not only are all Minutemen my people but so are you. With the success of the campaign of overwhelming force against Hub City Autowreckers, there won't be a Gunner north of a line drawn from Fort Hagen through the communities all the way to the Castle. New recruits will be put either in the north or under Colonel Brandis or Admiral Zao for training until battlefield ready. This will allow me to shift qualified people south for the effort of keeping the communities safe and ending this threat. You know, like I do."

The table slowly turned to a bunch of quiet nods.

"You already got your recruitment posters plastered over my town.", Hancock stated. "If a drifter wants to settle down into a career and a spot, they know where to go."

Calvin agreed. "I'll bring this to Overseer MacNamara, if your office in Vault 81 hasn't already. Maybe even Niel'll turn up as a Minutemen. Wouldn't that be something?"

Stockton interrupted. "Okay. So now what makes Warwick so special."

"The same thing that makes the Atom Cats by location alone so special.", the General stated. "They're beach heads. Even if the Gunners manage to cut off either of those completely, they can still be reinforced and resupplied navally. We can still attack the Gunner stronghold of Quincy out of them. That's why even if the Atom Cats weren't a voting community, we all still can't afford to lose them."

She then turned to Roxxy. "Speaking of that. Can I count on the Atom Cats for power armor repair and the like?"

"Skippilly-dee.", the rep replied. "I mean, I'll have to rap up Zeke. But aside from the bread/"

"I'll see what can be done.", the General assured.

Trish's eyes nearly lit on fire. "Bread? You mean like caps?

"You know, with these heroic Minutemen putting life and limb on the line for us, they're going to need medicines to heal from the injuries they're going to sustain in saving all of you and your homes. We should pass the hat and have ourselves a collection - that we all put in equally so no body's taken advantage of - so the government can afford the life saving, battlefield chems needed."

Geneva nodded. "I can see that."

The General was still staring at Trish licking what was left of her lips over what she felt was going to take weeks to pull off. "Put it to paper, then a majority but preferably all of you sign it. It's the only way to pass a law and we're supposed to be the government. For convenience sake, I'll make the Minutemen offices in your communities available so you won't have to hit the roads. Plus, that'll keep the roads open for reinforcing the front lines."

Trish had already managed to obtain paper and an actual PEN to ensure that all communities were equally responsible for chems. "Maybe that should read 'Minutemen resupply' instead of just 'chems and the occasional shore leave', Trish? Or is there something we're missing?"

Trish nodded absently while frantically rewriting. "Whatever Diamond City wants.", she rasped.

"So everyone's fully on board with this?", the General asked.

The table nodded in response. She continued, "Then I want that on paper as well. A formal declaration of war against the Gunners. But we should date it for two days from now, as the negotiations are tomorrow."

Hancock snapped his fingers and pointed at her. He then proceeded to start writing out that bill.

The Institute representative turned to the General, paused, and then returned to her beginning position. But as if the thought was already in the air, Roxxy asked it aloud. "How's the kaibosh going to be put on those armadillos? Tortoise to hair, they're still the bees knees."

Stockton gaped at her. Calvin stopped his signature. "What did you say?"

"I agree that a slow tank still arrives at is destination and becomes a devastating weapon.", the General replied to Roxxy. "I hope you don't mind me speaking too graphically."

The General went over to her footlocker and pulled out a QUAD BARRELLED MISSILE LAUNCHER. "The most direct way to take a tank off the battlefield is to penetrate it with direct fire and incinerate its crew. This leaves the tank available to be captured and repaired.

"Another method available is by MOLOTOV COCKTAIL. This overheats the tank's systems, burns its filters, seeps burning liquid into any crack and potentially also suffocates or burns its crew. This doesn't leave the vehicle in much of a repairable shape though."

"What about MINI-NUKES?", Geneva proposed. "I know that you've been stockpiling them."

"I've been stockpiling them because I'm making them illegal.", the General stated. "I get...I don't understand or sympathize, but I get that you have no idea of the world I came from. The one before the bombs dropped. But you do understand not to drink contaminated water, how dangerous rad storms are, the new monsters that walk the earth... I'm told that most people have never actually swum anywhere due to the danger from radiation alone, let alone mirelurks.

"Look alive people. I am still not allowing nor will I ever authorize another nuclear blast. Ever. I will sacrifice men's lives marking one of these tanks with smoke for artillery fire before I ever allow another nuclear device to see the light of day. Do you understand me? If so, I never want to hear the idea again.

"If not, there's going to be consequences and reprucussions."