1

"Look alive, people!", the General screamed out. The Castle had turned busier than she ever saw it. And it needed to be busier. She had to get everyone into the cellars underneath, with time to spare and much done. The sky had barely begun to have that putrid green leak over the horizon though. They certainly had a few more minutes at least, before Wyath's Wrath came for them as well.

"Harvest in, General.", a Minuteman reported. "It's not a full one, but it'll add to the stores."

Ugh. The replanting and loss of an entire crop cycle...provided this inbound storm did not last so long that they ate through their trades, and their stores, and their replants. Could Wyath have engineered a storm to last that long? It was two hundred years in the future and if any place had radiation to spare it was the Glowing Sea.

"APC 17 reporting in. Blinded on the road, no longer mobile.", Radio Freedom called out.

The General clenched her eyes. "I thought I told you to pack it in."

"The equipment will survive well enough out here, it always has.", the operator replied. "Besides, there's still reports coming in and/"

"You are not going to be the last one underground, do you hear me?", the General cut him off. "You're also not dying up here. You're too valuable to the Minutemen and the Commonwealth. So you better seek shelter before I haul you into it."

"Same to you, General."

She really frowned at that.

Preston came up then. "We've got cots down below. We've got the shelves packed. It's the best we can do really."

"Ammunition.", the General replied.

Preston shifted his head. "Colonel Shaw's got everything in the armory. Her and Hargraves are bringing down the armor steel and shielding from the inside."

"But they'll be cut off from the food stores.", the General objected.

Preston shrugged. "I tried to tell her that. But she said an old woman and a beauty eat like birds. Then she brought down the door. She has rations...but..."

The General was trying not to curse. Wyath had...no, there'll be plenty of time for that later when she was stuck underground with her men, trying to wait this out. If the cellars did not flood with the irradiated acidic rains coming for them. Even then she would have to debrief Radio Freedom on his reports since she was not really paying him any attention. At least it would give them something to do. Wait - Radio Freedom.

"APC 32 is reporting/" The General grabbed him by the armor that was part of his duty uniform. "I told you to get underground." She pushed him towards the Castle's wall, away from the center of the courtyard where his station was. "Now go."

By then the sky was too green for her liking. Which meant it was already storming over everyone west of the Castle. The civilian open roof town of Diamond City. The food production of Abernanthy Farm. Her 'home' of Sanctuary. The numerous APC crews stuck out on the roads. Did Radio Freedom hear anything about the Minutemen brown water boat crews, serving on inland rivers? She knew nothing about how those communities were doing. She did not have any help for the settlements that were technically east of her either.

"We have to go.", Preston reminded her.

It would not do for the men to see her lose it. Particularly in the close quarters they were going to be sharing underneath the Castle. So she saluted Preston and headed to shelter.

2

Day one went as well as could be expected. It turned out that Radio Freedom did not have any actual information, just when people stopped reporting in. That did let them create a timeline of the storm. And it matched completely with a full blowout from the Glowing Sea, just like the radio message threatened.

If she ever saw Wyath again...

3

Day two had adequate chores to allay the restlessness. Counting provisions, projecting needs, going over the timeline they put together the day before, checking for leaks. After traveling all over the wastelands she aged into, this slow and laid back activity was something she was not suited toward.

4

Day three was the same as the day before.

5

Day four was the same as the day before.

6

"Alright, does everyone know the plan?", the General's X-01 speaker's asked. The Minutemen surrounding her, holding Rad-X pills recounted her idea of taking Radio Freedom's direction from a back-up CB radio in order to cable the radio station back down to that CB radio so that they could communicate with what was left of the Commonwealth. Between her power armor and the men only opening the door for long enough to let her through and using the Rad-X, it should be alright.

A woman ran up to her. "General. Radio Freedom said that if he can communicate with you through the CB, it should be possible to set up his station to communicate with the CB. Plus, he'd like to run through it with you, to minimize your exposure to the storm."

"We're geared up now.", said one Minuteman from under his ASSAULT GAS MASK. "We should go while we're ready. We're already missing out on news."

The power armor lifted its hand. "No, Radio Freedom's right. We're betting we can get the cable out without compromising our shelter. And if this storm keeps on, the only news has already happened and won't be changing any time soon.

"Alright. Tell him I'll be down once I'm parked and dismounted."

"Yes, General.", the woman acknowledged. She walked back into the shelter proper to Preston and Radio Freedom. "Good work, soldier.", Preston congratulated.

7

Day six was Radio Freedom trying to teach her how to wire a radio he could only talk about in the abstract. The General went to bed a bit more confused than when she woke up.

8

Day seven was Radio Freedom trying to teach her how to wire a radio he could only talk about in the abstract. The General went to bed a bit more confused than when she woke up.

9

Day eight was Radio Freedom trying to teach her how to wire a radio he could only talk about in the abstract. The General went to bed a bit more confused than when she woke up.

10...11...