Author's Note: Chapter 100? Who'd-a-thunk-it! Even if I take breaks in updates, many more to go. Also: Why are bottlecaps REALLY used as money? - Rethinking Fallout 4 by ShoddyCast on youtube
1
The Director, not uniformed as the General but in the black suit she wore to signify her non-scientist status in the Institute, sat at the head of the Directorate. She was trying to come around to what they were telling her. It was nearly too good to be true. She had not even hoped for it, let alone planned for it.
"You're telling me.", the Director began. "The Institute wants to use its resources to support the war against what I would like to call the insurgent elements in the Capitol Wastes: but everyone knows is just the Brotherhood of Steel ignoring the fact that they had surrendered. I don't have to convince anyone or ask for trust.
"Even the Commonwealth Council needed me to explain how the conflict was going to keep outside of our existing borders before they bought on."
Madison Li spoke first. "I've worked first hand with them...or, I should say tried to. They are obsessed with taking any piece of tech for themselves, whether they know what to do with it or the consequences of having it. James and I created Project Purity - James gave his life to that project. They abandoned it until it was about to reach fruition and then they seized it when he stepped up after raising his daughter."
Dr. Ayo laid on next. "We've already become the Brotherhood's greatest enemy. They've sought to destroy every synth, without the Railroad's imagined sympathy. They would love to take everything we've ever created from us, reducing us to less than even those on the surface.
"We have never been against the Commonwealth. So don't assume that we would somehow abandon good sense out of some misguided spite, refusing to defeat the Brotherhood in some effort to cut off our nose to spite the Commonwealth's face."
"Besides. There's no way we can do what we need to with their existence.", Dr. Cabot spoke.
"How's that?", the Director asked.
"We need an information control that we haven't seen on the planet for some time. Do you understand the Jet Road idea?", Dr. Ayo started. He continued showing his question to be rhetorical. "Bottlecaps are used as currency because traders in the New California Republic backed them in water. So why are they used here? The only thing we've ever gotten from the NCR was Kellog. Well, currencies travel along with the products they buy - and nothing spreads like drugs. Since Jet was invented on the West Coast, obviously it made it's way here and the bottlecap along with it.
"The problem we face is that information travels faster."
Dr. Cabot took over again. "You're right, Director. If we are to have any attempt at creating any defense against the technology that built the alien ship, we're going to have to work surface side. Launch site, infrastructure, monitoring...and all of that staffed and serviced and constructed. Which means that the populace of the Commonwealth will have to be educated back to a functional state. And if we don't, we're all dead anyway.
"But if we make the attempt and the information that not only are there synths but aliens, we'll have problems we can barely envision. The Brotherhood of Steel, the NCR, any other countries that have popped up since the Great War. There's no where that the citizens would allow their governments not to take everything from us, wasting the opportunity the Institute uniquely has. And that's leaving alone the threat of every gang of raiders and mercenary outfit on the planet leaving us under constant attack. There's no way the Minutemen can defend the Commonwealth against that and the usual every day dangers of supermutants and feral ghouls and monsters of the wastes.
"So we have to support the Minutemen in the endeavor to unite the only territories that have reliable information about us."
Dr. Ayo began again. "By my projections, if we are the sole sovereign state within operational reach of ourselves then it will buy us another two decades of non-interference. Maybe as much as four."
"Also, there's the added human capital to consider.", Allie stated. "Creating an alien replica vehicle is going to be the same amount of resources, whatever that turns out to be. Sharing it across more communities will make it less of a burden on any one of them."
The Director smiled. "So what can be done to help."
"Troop production.", Dr. Holdren answered. "Dr...I keep forgetting that she's not achieved that yet. Ms. Cruz has renovated the mark II synth. Without breaking your suspension of creating potentially sentient synths, we can now mass produce drones with the combat effectiveness of an older model wearing T-60 power armor. All the standard size, no additional fueling.
"We're even ready to begin testing a new growth technique which will allow them to observably if not behaviorally pass for human. The process can encase the entire endoskeleton with the same tissues of a Mark III synth instead of the foams we use for the current Mark IIs without decreasing durability or mobility."
The Director held her hands over her face and leaned back in her chair. "That's...that's wonderful. I wonder if I need a new colonel for this or can I integrate the extra robot power into the current chain of command. If I did promote someone, could it be from the Institute itself so I could pass off a successor to the General-ship without making the Commonwealth look like a puppet of the Institute?"
She shook her head. "That's wonderful."
Madison Li added, "There's more. If you come down to Advanced Systems, I can debut the Institute Make Model II LASER MUSKET. We're focusing down the laser for more joules per area. While it's potentially less lethal due to wound width, it will be much more effective penetrating power armor and over the distance from ground to a vertibird."
The Director nodded again. "Thank you. Thank you all.
"But what about the Molecular Relay?"
The council turned to Allie Fillmore. "The Molecular Relay relies on the radio channel we have playing over the Commonwealth. That simply doesn't exist in the Capitol Wastes. We would need to be able to set up an Institute secure, Institute powered transmitter."
"Which would have to be completely separated from any non-Institute communities, and kept completely secret from construction through usage.", the Director understood.
Dr. Ayo contributed. "Due to the Turing testing and the surrender of the Railroad, the coursers are very idle. I'm sure they can be retasked towards the war effort."
"I'll keep that in mind.", the Director stated. "But as things stand, I want to keep the shooting to a minimum. Adding pieces to the board brings us closer to victory. Unleashing coursers brings us into more fire fights. Those are going to happen, in fact one should be happening now."
