1
"Well, General. Simply put, the public wants to know why the war is going so badly.", Piper stated.
Piper was one of the three people stuffed into Diamond City Radio. The others being the General and Travis "Lonely" Miles. After being off the board for three weeks, the public needed to be reassured that the General's firm hand was still at the tiller. Diamond City's radio station reached nearly as many people as the Institutes without the requisite mystery or Radio Freedom's without the obvious Minutemen control. So the press conference was being held to reassure the public.
But Piper seemed out to prove that she was not compromised in the slightest by her relations with the General.
"Ms. Wright.", the General began before a breath. "I simply disagree with that statement. I am certain that if you were to ascertain the assessment done by anyone with significant military experience, they too would disagree with that statement. No communities on the Commonwealth Council have come under direct attack this entire time; not even Atom Cats Garage."
"But the 'March North' as it is being called.", Piper objected.
"Was prevented, by the Minutemen mind you, from becoming anything else.", the General reminded. "At no time did any community face Gunner mercenaries without a Minutemen response separating the two. And due to careful handling of intelligence, a sizable number of would be combatants are now held within the confines of Vault 75 and will not be returning to the battlefield. This so-called march has obviously been a success for the Commonwealth."
The reporter tilted her head and it came through on her tone. "Would you include the loss of WRVR success? And if so, what becomes the measure of success?"
"WRVR was a resource spent.", everyone's favorite Vault dweller replied. "But the actors were rescued and have now been placed in a safer situation where they continue to practice their craft. B-T-dub, I understand that next week there will be more new content for the Silver Shroud fans out there."
"B-T-dub?"
"B-T-W, 'by the way'. Sorry, just a little bit of twenty-first century lingo that slipped out.", the General apologized. "The point is that in the destruction of a single building, the Commonwealth have gained intelligence sources have been gained and no civilians are dead. Sure, we may have been lucky. But luck or no, the Minutemen have still protected and done its duty."
"Does that duty include incarcerating journalists?", Piper asked.
The General glanced at Travis. He shrugged. "I'm sorry?"
"Is the radio broadcaster known as Red-Eye in Minutemen custody?", the reporter continued.
The General rolled her eyes. "Russel is not a journalist by any stretch of the imagination. The man was raider and an agent of slavers that managed to escape the freeing of Nuka-World. His appearance among the Gunners just as they seek to destroy the innocent people of the Commonwealth only serves to speak to his bloodthirstiness. At times, I nearly wish the situation had become dire enough to not house prisoners of war because then the world would finally be rid of the idiot menace. But I'm not that person."
Piper reminded, "Red-Eye was also the only source of information from the other perspective in the ongoing hostilities."
"He was feeding lies as written by Gunners to the populace in order to mislead. Russel, his real name by the way, has never educated anyone. Least of all himself. A propagandist is not a news agent, Ms. Wright. One is an afront to your craft."
"Hm.", the reporter mused. "Let's talk about the effect of your time away. While you were on the front lines, the rate of raider attacks dropped at a lower rate than when you were overseeing operations from the Castle or at one of the communities and settlements."
"But they still dropped.", the General pointed out. "I cannot be the Commonwealth. This has to be able to continue without me. I understand that I have certain...unique qualifications with my regard by the Institute and my personal accomplishments. But our nation has to be able to hold without the linchpin of a single person. I refuse to be Charlemagne."
"Who?"
"The founder of the Holy Roman Empire? Germany and France became separate nations when his grandsons fought over territory after his death?"
Piper shook her head.
"Anyway. The Minutemen's ability to curtail raiders on a permanent basis while still defending the Commonwealth from the threat of the Gunners is a credit to the corps. Even without me, or Colonel Garvey, the people will be able to place their faith in the Minutemen. Just because I'll continue to serve the best I can doesn't mean that everyone should be waiting for the other shoe to drop."
The reporter nodded. "So how long do you expect this war to take? Considering the speed that the campaigns against the Rust Devils and the Forged."
"I refuse to speculate on that in public.", the General pointed out. "First, everyone has an idea in their head on how long they'd like the war to last and my answer is nearly guaranteed to be longer than that which will demoralize. Secondly, even if we had perfect knowledge of the enemy and Colonel Cypress was a careless raider instead of an experienced mercenary leader, any given accident of fate from a Gunner tank blowing a gasket to a stronger than normal rad storm would change the result. Third, I want the Gunners to realize that I will take forever and victory over compromising the Commonwealth to their evil."
2
The two women walked back from Diamond City Radio to Publick Occurences. The General exchanged greetings with the residents as they strolled by.
"Did you really need to be that harsh, Piper?", the General asked.
"Blue.", Piper replied. "You know I've always believed that what serves as government needs to be held accountable to the people. As far as I've been able to determine, the Commonwealth has always been a place to celebrate a government behoven to the people - even before the Great War. And that means pressing hard enough that the truth is certain.
"Besides, are you finally trying to use our relationship to compromise my morals?"
"Of course not.", the General answered. "But understand that the entire war effort is connected. The economic output of the Commonwealth is how we can afford to save it. And how everyone feels about the war is how hard they are going to try to win it. That's why I don't sugar coat how much of a threat the Gunners are: it would have too many people relax, thinking that this was going to be easy. But the country needs to avoid a defeatist attitude as well.
"It would be different if this wasn't something we needed to do. Like say, there was a stash of bottle caps underground somewhere and a pack of ghouls were sitting on it where we just like to win but it wouldn't aid the common man. But Colonel Cypress is actually trying to bring back the bad old days where the only protection a person could count on was what they could pay for in caps."
Piper took her hand. "So now, in private."
"Of the record.", the General corrected.
"Sure, off the record.", Piper agreed. "How long do you think this is going to go on?"
"Depends on how much the Brotherhood of Steel interferes.", the General explained. "The Railroad's reported that news of the war has reached the Capital Wastes. If they're ever going to seek revenge for sinking the Prydwyn, now's the time - when we're divided."
"The Brotherhood of Steel?", Piper exclaimed.
"That was off the record.", the General reminded.
Piper looked her in the eye. She squeezed the woman's hand as she nearly bounced in place.
"Don't you do it.", the General warned.
"I gotta find another source then, one from the caravans.", Piper told her. She kissed her on the cheek. "But it's in the next issue. Sorry, not really."
The reporter rushed off, just as Nick Valentine happened to be walking by. "She certainly has a bee in her bonnet. Everything going alright?"
"According to plan, Nick.", the General replied.
