*Contains correction

1

The General, in full uniform, walked out of the back of the APC. She immediately let Preston carry her duffle bag as soon as she saw him. He smiled, "The more things change..."

She looked to him. "Piper enjoy her seven days?"

She turned back to the Castle. "Publick Occurences couldn't endure seven days. Besides, I had owed Cait a number of LAUNDERED DRESSES." She shrugged. "It was a long time coming."

"Is everyone I asked for here?", she digressed.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, then I hope everyone's been busy."

Preston regarded her. "When has Radio Freedom not been busy?"

2

Assembled at her now doubled tables in her own quarters at the Castle were the entirety of her command staff. This not only included Colonel of Personnel Preston Garvey and his attache Doc Anderson, Colonel of Supply Ronnie Shaw and her attache Anne Hargraves, Colonel Brandis of Motorpool, Admiral Zao of the Navy and his attache that ran the Irish Pride dry dock, that had started out this version of the Minutemen. It also contained her two new commanding officers: Colonel call sign Desdemona of the reformed Railroad into Intelligence and Colonel call sign Bridgit of the reformed Gunners into Marine Corps. On top of that Major Robert MacCready of the Special Forces unit and Radio Freedom. Between them on the table were old tour guide pamphlets that held maps too delicate for anyone to really dare touch. In front of the General was a BALLPOINT PEN and a bit of paper.

The General began. "Radio Freedom. Everyone in this room is considered command staff. That's because they either are responsible for wide swaths of the Minutemen or units thereof. There is a need for a Radio Freedom in other territories of the Commonwealth - Far Harbor, Nuka World, Point Outlook, the Pitt, and the Capitol Wastes. I'm promoting you to Major of Communications. And I am ordering you to instruct Colonel Brandis in what equipment a radio operator will need for every one of those regions. Also, I am ordering you to work with Colonel Preston to recruit a currently serving Minuteman, preferably of the particular region, to train so that we can get the service you provide abroad as well. Do you have a problem with that?"

The man who looked uncomfortable sitting at anything other than his console was taken aback. "um...no, ma'am."

"Now that I've praised your work and career in front of everyone, I'm going to tell you the rest. I want you in command meetings because there are things that are not to be broadcasted or hinted about. You need to be able to make a determination about what those are and it must match mine. Am I understood?"

"Like keeping APC schedules on the CB and not broadcasting routes to the public?"

"Like."

"Ok."

The General nodded. "Also, we're government. We are not here to interfere with civilian commerce which in your case means commercial radio stations like Diamond City Radio. Please teach every member of your new unit the same profressionalism with which you serve."

The man nodded in return. "Yes, ma'am."

The General leaned back. "Alright. Who wants to begin?"

Bridget interrupted. "Don't you usually take time to read through the Railroad's reports before a full shindig?"

The General glared at her. "I've gone through those on the ride back from Covenant.

"But thank you for volunteering. What have you done while I was away."

Bridget smiled confidently. "Project Purity secure. There's a few Brotherhood of Steel that are turtling in their power armor, but that power armor has been relocated outside of the building. We'll crack the mirelurks out of their shells yet."

"Those Brotherhood of Steel terrorists are still captured prisoners and will not be tortured, nor summarily executed except upon their attempt to return to the battlefield.", the General stated.

Bridget smiled and nodded.

"Am I understood, Colonel?"

The ex-Gunner was taken aback. "Yes, General. It's not like we're slow roasting the tin cans over an open fire - which was lot of our first idea. We're just laying out food and water to everyone who does come out of their armor, when they come out of their armor - FUSION CORE or not. We know to inspect the suits so we can get them painted in Minutemen colors."

The General continued to glare at her. "And Rivet City? Is water distribution routes reinstated? Has the council accepted our presence?

What about expansions throughout the subway system? Has that been secured as well?"

"Well..."

"I see.", the General surmised. She breathed out. "Look alive - Inspect the captured power armor for traps and dangers, then hand it over to the Admiral's people for shipping back to Atom Cats Garage. We'll have the civilians refurbish the take. Break up any prisoners into small enough groups to be transported to POW camps we have left over from the Civil War. You have Mark Two-And-A-Halfs under your command, have them do the grunt work. It'll give your people more time to breathe. And report into Brandis anything you might need for your Assaultrons.

"I'll be down to inspect when I can." she warned while making a note.

Bridget threw a salute. "Yes, ma'am."

"Zoa?", the General prompted.

"Food shipments from Point Lookout and Far Harbor to the Commonwealth and the Pitt remain on schedule. Recovery efforts for those who were no longer on Spectacle Island after the Rains have ended. Shipments from the Pitt to the Institute's designated recovery spot remain on schedule."

She nodded. "You're prepared to take on the addition of transporting prisoners and Radio Freedom's unit?"

"Shi."

"What about Project Purity's output? Could you relocate that if you needed to?"

"More ships are becoming seaworthy, General."

The General wrote another note.

"Has the navy seen combat since I've been gone?"

"Bu."

"Thank you, Admiral. Get me and Preston a full list of your command and what posts they are currently serving."

"Shaw.", the General continued. "Has starvation been avoided?"

"I believe so, General.", the Colonel began. "You know about Vault 81's surplus. Nuka World, thanks to some intervention from Motorpool, has been returned to productivity and the train's been good for shipping it."

"Who's running the train?", the General interrupted.

"A settlement provisioner serving from NukaWorld to the train station in the Commonwealth. They meet up with provisioners from Commonwealth settlements. There are Minutemen stationed at both stations and an APC on patrol along as much of the tracks as can be."

The General nodded again. "Good. Go on."

Shaw continued. "Between that and 88s revamp into a food producer as their primary mission instead of whatever was 'standard' for a Vault and Point Lookout's surplus, I think we've made it. Warwhick's already showing a return to full farmability."

"Consider Warwhick a long shot far outside the norm, Colonel."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Capitol Wastes marines and Minutemen eating fat?", she continued.

Bridget jumped in. "I've had to had my men run some of it off."

"Thank you, Colonel Shaw.", the General minded. "Have any communities with council seats actually provided?"

"Yes, General.", the woman answered. "Bunker Hill, Diamond City, and Canteburry Commons were the largest in number of caps. Vault 114 put in an amount that they insisted I tell you that I noticed as a condition of them making it. The Slog, the Nucleus, Ark & Dove Cathedral, Nuka-World and the Hubologists also put in a pittance."

"The Slog is not a community. Neither is Nuka-World."

Shaw shrugged. "They wouldn't take no for an answer."

Preston spoke up. "That reminds me." He pulled out a sack of caps and pushed it towards Shaw. "This is from Goodneighbor."

The General looked at them in turn. "Is that it?"

Shaw took the caps. "Yes, ma'am."

"Send Vault 114 an amount equal to their contribution and a bit more, but not enough to make them happy, in payment for the chems. Be fair, but...how did they put it? Let them notice that they're not gouging us."

"Brandis, can you afford Vault 81 some more time at Saugus Ironworks?"

"In exchange for the food?", the old man replied. "Yes, General. We've repaired all the planes we've found so far: the vertibirds, the Stingrays, and the jets from Rivet City. And now that the Institute has cleared out Boston International Airport, our biggest concern is turning biomass into jet fuel and lubricants. The only thing left is something crashed in no man's land out in the Capital Wastes. It doesn't match any configuration that I'm familiar with or we can find record of, and it's not like we landed to check it out with the war on. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a flying saucer."

The General glared at him. "You will spend no time on a flying saucer idea, is that clear, Colonel?", she ordered sternly.

"Yes, ma'am."

"I mean it. You will give me the coordinates of this alleged debris field and no one under my command will speak or investigate such a thing until I give the order to reprioritize.", she continued. The General pointed her pen at Brandis, "Not you.". The General pointed her pen at Desdomona. "Not you.". The General pointed her pen at MacCready, "Not you.". The General pointed her pen at Bridget, "And don't let me hear about any of yours."

"Other than that, Brandis: can you maintain air support, APC crews on the roads, and getting Radio Freedom prepped."

"Yes, ma'am.", Brandis agreed even though he, and really everyone in the room, was suspicious of the General's response to the mention of a saucer.

"I've already read what Desdomona's given me.", the General announced. "Let's quickly go over the remaining threats to neutralize in the Capital Wastes.

"As always, this war is against the Gunners. They should have surrendered the Capital Wastes already but apparently they haven't governed them, only sacked them. They continue to have many strongholds and positions through the territory and are quite capable of a counter strike at any time. I'll announce a decision on a next target. Everyone in the Minutemen is authorized to kill on sight non-surrendering Brotherhood."

Garvey spoke up. "Any protocol on what it means to surrender? Seeing that they have and haven't in the past."

The General turned to him. "That's for the engaging combat unit to decide."

She turned back to Bridget. "Don't expect the same kindness from the terrorists."

"Talon Company is a mercenary unit that is still operating as such despite mercenary work in the Commonwealth is illegal. Treat anything under the color of Talon Company as in lethal breach of the law and treat accordingly. Apparently they are headquartered at Fort Bannister and led by a Commander Jabsco, but they could be encountered anywhere in the Capital Wastes. These mercs do travel. They also make use of pre-war robots like Mr. Gutsys and sentry bots."

"The Regulators are a mercenary unit that is still operating as such despite mercenary work in the Commonwealth is illegal. Their modus operandi is murder for hire style assassination. Unlike Talon Company, they don't seem to be exclusively profit driven. And we've seen what having an ideology can do when dealing with the Brotherhood of Steel. Treat anything under color of the Regulators as in lethal breach of the law, but more dangerous than Talon Company itself. Unlike Talon Company, taking down their commander - one Sanora Cruz - isn't likely to break their operations. We need to find if they have a base of operations and if so, destroy it by whatever means proves convenient."

"Reilly's Rangers are, for now, to be considered an exploratory team. They have specialized in mapping wasteland locations for comparison to pre-war clues. However, the person that has been referred to by many titles including 'Little Miss Bad-Ass' is a known associate of theirs. And turns out to be an honorary knight in the Brotherhood of Steel. Carefully informing the group of their status and responding to their response with immediate force may prove necessary."

"Preston?", the General prompted.

"Recruiting seems to be on pace. Everyone I've talked to understands the threat of the Brotherhood of Steel and the good that the Minutemen have done.

"And Farenheit should be settled down now. Apparently everything in Goodneighbor runs on a careful balance of dominance, and enough people believe that the Minutemen are working for her to avenge John Hancock."

The General narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay."

"MacCready, what do you have?", she continued.

"Big Town's only going to sign on when they're in connected operational territory.

"Arefu's vampires are willing to deal for their entrance.", he replied.

The General's jaw dropped. "I'm sorry. Vampires?"

Admiral Zao nodded.

The Major responded. "Yes, ma'am. Apparently the town of Arefu, which is...about here...", he pointed at a highway on the map of the Capitol on the table. "Their security is the Family. Those are a...whatever you want to call a group of vampires that lair about here, underground in Meresti Metro. They're paid in blood by Arefu and the deal has held for years."

The General put her head in her hands. "Are the ghosts going to want a seat at the table next?", she whispered to herself.

"Ma'am?", Desdomona asked.

The General looked up. "Are there any communities of ghosts? Any where where the Minutemen might encounter them?"

The other colonels looked to the gas masked officer. "Ugh. No communities. There's only unconfirmed rumors that they even exist - and only burned after images of pre-war people at that."

The General turned back to MacCready. "I take it that this Family, if they are to be turned into an internal security force like the Watchmen or the Triggerman, want to be kept in blood despite the lowered duties and lessened liklihood of catching a passing by never-do-well."

"Uh...yeah.", the Major responded.

The General made another note. "Did they give you a deadline?"

"No. Ma'am.", he replied.

"Of course.", she surmised. "What would immortal corpses want with a timeline? What powers did they exhibit?"

"Fortunately, we never came to shots.", MacCready explained. "One did creep up on us, but we couldn't tell if that was 'not making a sound', 'creeping out of the shadows', 'walking unseen', or just general sneakiness."

"Uh, huh.", the General assessed. "I want Doc Anderson and then separately another to look each of you over for bloodloss or bitemarks. Even if you've spent time in the sun since then. And double check your team's personnel records and supply counts. I want to rule out the use of any 'look into my eyes' hypnotism as well.

"Do we know who's running them?"

"The mayor of Arefu is Evan King and a man...vampire, named Vance is the head of the Family."

"Okay.", the General accepted. "I'm going to be deciding policy after I meet with the community representatives. And then we're going to be moving fast."