-A few days ago-

"Here.", Tessa answered.

"I have to take into account both sides' advantages. By the time Egret Tours Marina can call it in, Bridget is already on her way north. Granted she'll be slowed down by that outpost of super mutants on tracks but not for long. On the other hand, the Minutemen's main advantage so far has been logistics. They'll be able to move in at the speed of an APC if not a vertibird.

"They'll engage at this bridge."

-A long day-

The red bridge of train tracks was empty. But not for lack of trying by either side. The road it was suspended above was marked by raised concrete walls on both sides. On the south, Gunners huddled and blasted cover fire at their obstacle. The Minutemen took far fewer but very much more targeted shots at the Gunners.

The General was astoundingly on the line and not in power armor. "We can not let them get past here, people. Brandis: how long until we can get a vertibird here?"

Bridget was hunkered down with the rest of the soon to be ex-Gunners. "Hunker down grunts. I'll think of something! Keep your eyes on the prize."

-A few days ago-

"But she'll have no where to go.", Tessa stated. "It again leads to the conclusion that the General will just kill a lot of Gunners and declare a victory."

"Hm.", Cypress assessed. "No where?"

"Well, she'd have to cut through the force a panicked General would seek to mount to head any further north.", Tessa thought out loud. "Bridget's headed north to escape us to the south. And to the west is the actual highway we've always been camped out on that's kept Fort Hagen from coming south on us. And that comes down to the road that creates the obstacle the bridge seeks to cross. And as you pointed out, there's the supermutants that didn't participate in the siege of Diamond City; so when she's that far north they'll cut off her way overland to the east."

Tessa snapped her fingers. "Over land. You don't think she'd be stupid enough to/"

-A long day-

Bridget started yelling. "Alright, here's what we gotta do. We're going to hold back on shots until I give the order. Then everyone fire a burst of whatever you got and over the wall!"

"Over the wall?", a Gunner that a few minutes ago very much believed in Bridget's ability to get them out of what he viewed as a useless war. "But then we'll just be under a raised Minutemen position. We'll be fish in a barrel."

"No we won't.", Bridget assured. "Because once we're down there, we're headed to the hole." She pointed at the underground tunnel that road led to.

"But isn't that filled with ferals?", the man objected.

"But aren't we just a whole bunch of bad ass mercenaries?", Bridget countered. "We'll mow them down as thick as we're going to be. And it won't matter if the Minutemen have a raised position on us once we're underground. Besides, it's better than staying here and getting wittled down by the colonials, waiting for the fools still loyal to Cypress to come down that highway or up from the south behind us, and I definitely don't want to wait for the super mutants to start smelling wounded humans to eat."

And with that the Minutemen were forced to duck behind either the wall on their side or their APCs as every Gunner popped up at the same time and threw everything they had at them for a split second. Every last one stayed down through a few moments of silence after the volley as well. When they looked up, Gunners had already started sliding down the wall to the low road or even started running for the hole.

Minutemen did open fire on the fleeing Gunners. They even took the uncontested bridge and its advantage as a vantage point. But any Gunner that got hit was immediately robbed for a STIMPACK and stabbed with it, then getting dragged along stumbling as their wound attempted to close.

-A few days ago-

Cypress pointed to another spot on the map. "That tunnel's next stop topside is here. Which means, what?"

Tessa tried to remember what she had heard about downtown. Not many made it back from downtown considering the super mutants set up shop and were only contested by rabid animals and the most fierce of all raiders.

"So, first off - the APCs of the Minutemen aren't going to be able to get into that tunnel. Sure the General will leave people behind to make sure she doesn't get doubled back on. And a tunnel entrance will be easier to defend than it will be to cut through that many rabid ghouls. And the APCs will give a speed advantage for cutting them off...if it wasn't downtown, with all the mess that lives in those ruins.

"It'll probably end up a tie. But the tunnel ends just a single block down from Diamond City itself! Sure, it's got raiders camping out on that end. But if Bridget thinks that the ghouls are no worries then the raiders that couldn't make our cut aren't going to bother her.

"The question is where she's going to go once the Minutemen come down on that tunnel exit like a ton of bricks?"

Colonel Cypress shook his head. "I don't think that will be the case."

-a really long day-

The General rode along with Brandis on the bumpiest ride she ever took in one of these APCs. And she had taken a few through actual Asian jungles before the bombs.

"We've got to get to the end of that tunnel before these Gunners do.", General Brandis told his driver.

"Belay that.", the General countered. "The tunnel exit is under guard by a raider gang that won't stand a chance against competent junta. So we're going to take a left a block before that."

"Where does that go?" Brandis asked.

"The border of Diamond City and her Great Green Wall.", the General answered. "This has to have been their target all along. They never wanted Vault 81, how could they break the door? Vaults can withstand a point blank nuclear blast. It was always a fake out, in order to leave a part of our force guarding a tunnel they aren't going back down while taking all of theirs against Diamond City. And we still can't pull that force, otherwise we leave a retreat option available to them. But by turning left a street early/"

"We'll be able to defend the Jewel of the Commonwealth by being between the Gunners and the city.", Brandis finished.

The APCs and supporting troops on foot took a hard left before the raider camp. Even though there were visible stray laser blasts from the Gunners punching their way out, the Minutemen managed to plug every hole in the street outside the wall from the street over.

Not a single Gunner tried to breach those holes though.

-A few days ago-

"But Diamond City isn't Bridget's goal, is it?", Tessa breathed out. She crossed her arms and glared at the map, as if it was taunting her.

"Well, if that's not her goal and the General isn't pushing her in any given direction except away from where she wasn't going to go anyway, then where will she go?", Colonel Cypress pressed.

Tessa bit her bottom lip. Where, oh, where, oh...

-A really long day-

"Where are these Gunners going?", Brandis wondered aloud.

The General started commanding by gestures, all of which meant 'pursue'. "To rake us over the coals. That street ends with a bridge. They started out heading north and just ran past Egret Tours Marina. We met them before they could hit Vault 81 or their probable target of Oberland Station.

"But let's say they had a plan B. That was the idea to take the tunnel and come around on Diamond City. We thwarted that by not chasing them and therefore getting here first. But if they were smart enough to have a Plan B and it was simple enough to be 'race the Minutemen to the next viable target' then we're screwed."

Brandis winced. "Because the street they're on and we were keeping them on has a bridge to cross the river to the north. Now they have unrestricted access to the Commonwealth north of us with our force chasing them from the south. And the community in danger is whichever one they can reach without us there to defend it. Starting with/"