1
In the depths of the ocean, the power armor's lights barely added to the visibility. It wasn't the 'true' depths, like over the continental shelf in the Atlantic. But if the armor developed a leak, the courser inside might not make it to the surface on an eject. The mark II synths that were also on the mission did not need to worry about something as simple as drowning, as they were not all that human.
The mission was simple. A power armor standing still and some synths would show up on sonar as dead as the rest of the junk blown out to see during the Great War. The U.S.S. Constitution, only guarded by the scanners of pre-war robots, should not change course as it sailed over them. So releasing proximity mines bouyed by wooden scrap should be a simple yet stealthy way to sink the damn thing. And her forward momentum should carry her past the synths, who would then simply walk back to a rendevous point that the U.S.S. Constitution had already sailed past, and climb out of the water on ropes lowered by the Minutemen brown water navy.
The courser in charge of the mission had asked the General how she knew so much about the defenses and weaknesses of the U.S.S. Constitution. It was told that the General was not going to share the details of her relationship with Captain Ironsides and that the synth should worry about sinking the ship, coming back alive, and passing its Turing test in order to race for the first synth major in the Minutemen. The courser had decided that it was going to sink the ship because it was ordered to and a machine should fulfill its purpose. But it had no interest in passing its Turing test. The General was sentient and she was tearing up and turning to Ms. Wright for physical comfort just for ordering the most logical course of action in response to a threat against military assets. Sentience seemed like a fate to be avoided for any machine pre-obsolescence. Maybe if Dr. Cruz designed a successful Mark V synth, it would reconsider testing as alive.
2
"What the hell was that?", Reilly cried out. The U.S.S. Constitution stalled in its wake, Mr. Gutsies overshooting the ship.
Ironsides' speaker sounded out. "How could you land lubber bots possibly hit anything on the open seas?"
"Get into your armors.", Valentine said quite calmly.
The Lone Wanderer quickly surveyed the ship. Robots were flying back on board. Reilly's Rangers were trying to steady themselves. And after the thump, the horizon was much higher ahead of them than it was behind them.
"Valentine's right.", she assessed. "Everyone, armor. Now."
The sentrybot drove itself back into the center of the deck. The captain tried to reassert his command over the humans locking themselves into their armor suits. "What do you seamen think you/"
The front of the U.S.S. Constitution splintered off. What was left of the ship listed, and the sentrybot slid right off the deck.
A HELLFIRE POWER ARMOR clad Reilly called out. "Rangers, hang on!"
"No.", the Lone Wanderer countered. "Everyone who's suited up, abandon ship. Everybody who isn't: suit up!"
The Lone Wanderer let go of her suit's grip and her power armors splashed into the water. The remaining robots were following their programming in trying to repair the three quarters of the ship that remained. Reilly locked her helmet into place and stepped away from the bracing a remaining mast had given her, falling into the water herself.
The Lone Wanderer watched shadows enter the water after her. She had already sunk to the bottom and was staring up at the rest of Reilly's Rangers sinking to join her. Reilly, Charon, Brick, Butcher, Donovan...Fawkes - where was Fawkes? Oh, right. He was still waiting for them to come back to the Capital Wastes. Valentine! He did not have a suit of power armor. Was he even water proof with the dismal state his foam covering was in? Sea water proof?
Reilly piloted her suit up to her and the water garbled whatever the other woman had just said. The Lone Wanderer waved her suit's hand at her and kept watching for splashes. But Reilly knocked on her helmet. The Lone Wanderer yelled, "What?", but the reverb informed her that the words did not take shape in the water. Reilly just pointed her suit's arm.
Ironsides had landed head first on the ocean floor. Butcher was already piloting his suit to right him. The Lone Wanderer had her suit give a thumbs up and moved it to help. Between the three power armors, they managed to push the huge machine upright.
The sentrybot yelled something that was garbled by the water. It took off, cutting in between the rest of Reilly's Rangers. And then bounced between a series of proximity mines. The Lone Wanderer deduced that he may have sensed their attackers. But now with the darkness of the depths and the muck kicked up by the blasts, whatever it was had gotten away. They couldn't even see what remained of Ironsides, only the chunks that had bounced back toward them.
Charon clapped his suit's hands and pointed upward. The Lone Wanderer looked back to the surface. The dingy that once served as the elevator up to the ship was now in the water. The red lights showed that it had Mr. Gutsies on either side of the tiny boat. And then it took off.
Valentine! The robots were programmed to repair the ship, not give up on it as a lost cause otherwise they would have done so a century or more ago. So he must be the one in the dingy. It's possible that he may have convinced or reprogrammed some of the ones with mid-air engines to help propel him to shore. But he did not give them any message on what he was doing - but how could he? The Lone Wanderer squinted in thought. Did any of Reilly's Rangers tell him where their headquarters was? She had not even told him where her homes were. Was he counting on his detective skills, which she had to admit were well beyond any she had seen before, to guide him to where he could meet up with them again?
After all, if they were going to reveal that the nuclear strike on the Commonwealth was done by the General herself, they needed the Commonwealth's greatest detective for the authority. Otherwise, they were just hired guns saying things that the Brotherhood would want everyone to believe on Brotherhood protected DJ Three-Dog's show. He was going to meet up with them...right? The Lone Wanderer checked the readout tied into her Pip-Boy. The map did show he was headed toward shore and Capital Wastes shore at that.
They had made it back to the Capital Wastes. All they had to do was walk the undersea trek back to open air. The Lone Wanderer clapped her suit's hands. Reilly's Rangers turned to her. She pointed in the direction her map read that shore was and took off. The other armors were right behind her.
