1
The General was addressing the representatives of the communities of the Commonwealth. There was no way to even pretend it was the same without Hancock. The passion for making government seemed drained from the room. People seemed to be there because they were supposed to be there.
Roxxy, her personal style switched completely from vintage skirts to colorful and baggy hoodies obscuring her every feature, sat stoically trying to not let her fear of alienation from the non-ghouled and protected by power armor Atom Cats show. How could she represent her friends when she was now so...different? It used to be that her power armor was not finished (which everyone was scratching and scrimping to rectify). Now... And another thought: ghouls do not age. Was she going to be a cautionary tale for Atom Cats a hundred years from now? Three hundred?
Farenheit sat in her chair like someone had dared her. She was enthusiastic about hearing the General's plans for the war effort in the Capital Wastes. But when they turned out to be actual plans, like how military assets were being relocated and their stores were attempting to compensate for the hopefully temporary loss in production, she became more introspective then unresponsive. The woman had come to hear how the fools who took Hancock were bleeding and burning and preferably dying from it, not tactical considerations.
Vault 81 was simple - they felt like closing their doors. They knew that would cut them off forever unforgiven. So they were here. And still filling Minutemen APCs with harvested crops.
Kessler looked run ragged. The caravans were moving. And with Old Man Stockton in the Capital Wastes, trade was back on. Prices were mismatched across the board with supplies in the Commonwealth being so much lower than they were everywhere else. But the economy still functioned.
Tektus sat quietly behind steepled fingers. From his responses and questions, it was obvious he was paying attention. And his experience as effective pontiff gave him a calm and a presence that could be unnerving. On top of that, while never applauding the Brotherhood, he had not once condemned the spread of radiation across the Commonwealth. Coupled with the Nucleus' extra minimal contribution to the war effort (after all, we are rebuilding from the Minutemen storming our home), there was a certain apprehension surrounding him. His offer of bringing down his people to investigate the method of the radiation rains was put on a rather firm indefinite hold.
Which Avery very much felt. Far Harbor was the point of export from the Minutemen overseen communities on the island. There was not a daylight hour when a boat was not coming into port, getting filled with foodstuffs, or leaving it. And after the acceptance of the Cap...er, the General and being a part of the greater Commonwealth community, the rough customers of her island were getting rougher over the issue of the Brotherhood of Steel. A few recruitment posters and schedules of Admiral Zhao's boats back to the Commonwealth cleared some of that up though.
Trish seemed unaffected. Then again, the life of a ghoul gangster before a holocaustal war but with a stable hidey hole and a good racket and afterwards may not be so different. She made sure to nod and produce receipts signed by Colonel Shaw whenever questioned about the medical supplies the General was forwarding to the front.
The Institute representative seemed to pride herself (itself?) on an unchanging demeanor. She met every one of Trish's promises of Vault 114's chemicals with an equally documented supply of combat droids. The people around the synth inferred a tone of arrogance with every word describing the gift of the synth soldiers, as if the Institute was taking credit for saving the world and they needed to feel like everyone else owed it something. The representative assured them that the Institute was not inflicting a debt and insisted that the Institute was happy to help. As friends.
Other representatives seemed to be happy that their negotiations weren't upended. The Hubologists weren't asked to suspend any of their activities. Point Lookout was still getting access to Kessler's extended network. The Pitt was still having its food supply prioritized (along the river routes that also carried the metal that once went to anyone that was willing to buy around the Brotherhood of Steel's operational territory). Acadia has not been specifically asked for anything.
Bannon sat away from the table under the laser muskets of his two Minutemen escorts. The General had carefully informed him of the consequences of disrupting any Commonwealth business even though she wanted Rivet City to understand the Commonwealth in hopes of accepting becoming a part of it. Before he was flown from Rivet City, Colonel Bridget very carefully informed him of the consequences of stepping out of line and having Colonel Bridget even smell it let alone hear of such behavior. And with the now famous reporter, Piper Wright, sitting beside him taking notes, he was certain that everyone would get word of his actions.
It was only at the end of the meeting did a Minutemen soldier throw the General's quarters door open with the call of "Air contact.". The General immediately rushed out of the room, and this time the council followed.
2
"It appeared from within the Commonwealth?", the General restated. She turned to the Institute representative.
The synth shrugged.
"Where?", the General demanded.
Radio Freedom relayed the message. Colonel Brandis responded, "A bit east of Bunker Hill. Over."
"No way.", the General disbelieved.
"What?", Kessler demanded. "What is it?"
"The U.S.S. Constitution.", the redhead replied.
The mayor of Bunker Hill was aghast. "The ship embedded in the building?"
The General shrugged. "It flew once before. Twice at least, to get up the building I found it in."
Colonel Brandis' voice sounded. "I've scrambled planes. It'll be shot down in/"
"Belay that! Repeat: belay that! Do you copy? Over.", the General countered.
A faint "why" was heard among the representatives. The General held the channel open while she explained. "That rocket propelled warship is filled with combat droids, many of which fly themselves. We are not putting one of the few existing jet aircraft in range of A.I. controlled cannons, missiles, and lasers on the eve of taking out the Brotherhood.
"You hear me, Brandis? Observation only. Over."
"Observation...I mean: yes General, I hear you, General. But observation?", Brandis asked.
The General calmed. "That wooden boat has maintained for four hundred years. Either it crashes and burns this flight or Captain Ironsides got his robots to get them to the water."
"Water?", Faraday asked.
"They're trying to get back to the Atlantic to join the Great War.", the General began. "So if the stress and age put on that boat puts them at the bottom of the sea, problem solved. If it doesn't, then I have the Yangtze - a Chinese warship - in those waters. And if you think I'm not risking a plane, you know that I am not risking a nuclear submarine."
The General turned back to the radio. "Over."
The people around her grew silent. Except for the Institute representative. "General. I believe that I have an idea."
