1

The Lone Wanderer stared at what was serving to command the Brotherhood of Steel in what was left of the Capitol Wastes. Acting Sentinel Cross. Star Paladin Casadin. Scribe Jameson.

"You do know that the only reason your people are being killed off to the man is because the General announced that she's afraid of vampires, right?", the woman asked them.

Casadin objected. "The only reason the Minutemen took Project Purity/"

"Is because it was the most tactically viable to take.", Cross interrupted. "She took the Washington Memorial because she could. Let me restate that. Three Dog is on the air only because of her own arrogance. She says she's a lawyer from before the Great War, so she's trying to win a war of words against Three Dog. She's put a goddamn vanity project on a battlefield.

"And because we made Wyath a proctor, she has already.", Jameson announced.

"You had to do it.", the Lone Wanderer assured her.

Jameson objected. "No, we did not have to unleash that on civilians no matter who they are ruled by."

"If those people had overthrown the General and scattered the Minutemen, like they should have, then my father's work would still be blessing the Capitol Wastes with water.", the Lone Wanderer replied.

"I don't know what's going on with you. You need to get your heads in the game - no. You need to put your war faces on! This is a war. Not operations. Not cleaning up the muties. Not pushing out the Enclave. Absolutely everything needs to be done to stop her. Whether that's unleashing mercenaries. Whether that's siccing vampires on her. Whether that's poisoning every bit of their precious Commonwealth up north. My father's work must not be allowed to be undone."

Cross furrowed her brow. "Wait a minute. Vampires are real?"

The Lone Wanderer shrugged. "I've met the Family. The head vampire is Vance, probably followed by his wife but they're too small a group to need a true command structure. They used to be cannibals but follow a set of 'laws' that have them drinking blood instead of eating people. I struck a deal between them and Arefu, protection for blood. If Talon Company were to have called themselves Minutemen and destroyed the town when that wasn't given to them, then hopefully Vance would be turning the Family's thirst on the Minutemen. After all, the Brotherhood of Steel is in power armor and it's not like they have storybook powers."

"You're double dealing with Talon Company?", Casadin accused.

"You're turning Talon Company on civilians?", Cross accused.

"Vampires?", Cross still wondered.

The Lone Wanderer questioned them. "Am I the only one trying to stop this woman? Not just my father's legacy, but your very existence depends on it. She has repeatedly stated that her purpose is to end you."

Cross grit her teeth. "Maybe we can find a way to talk to her. She argued with Three Dog."

The Lone Wanderer got up and grabbed a pile of unbound papers from the back of the room. She threw them at Cross but they mostly fluttered in confusion. "She talked to the Triggermen. The Triggermen no longer General talked to the Gunners and they no longer exist. The people she didn't talk to: the Forged? the Rust Devils? The Institute? Now there's only the Minutemen.

"She's broadcasting on your airspace that she talked to you twice already. And now she's killing you. If you don't understand that and quickly, there won't be anyone left to defend my father's dream besides me."

Casadin supposed. "What if we get Reilly's Rangers/"

"Reilly is probably going to abide by being an exploration team rather than a mercenary unit. The General had let everyone we met in the Commonwealth know in no uncertain terms that the only military unit to be left alive was hers. Every cap and piece of food flows through her setup."

Cross snapped her fingers. "Flow. That's it."

2

"You're in front of me.", the General observed, looking up at the man from behind the table kept in her quarters.

"Yes, ma'am.", Radio Freedom.

"And not at your station."

The man scratched the back of his head. "I have a few tunes keyed up."

The General looked from the major to Desdemona. The colonel nodded. "It's that bad."

The woman held her head in her hands. "How many towns did we lose?"

"Well, depending how you look at it...none?", Desdemona tried.

"Or all of them.", the major offered.

"What!", the General screeched.

Desdemona held her hands out. "Calm down, Bullseye. It's just that some of Talon Company has set up on the road to the Commonwealth."

The General hung her head. "And let me guess. While I've been taking vertibirds and shipping the Marine Corps and supplies by boat there's only one safe path for civilian caravans to travel between the two oasises of hospitable planet we're left with."

"I wouldn't call travel for civilians 'safe'.", Desdemona replied. "It's still irradiated monsters and dirty water and feral...ghoul...hordes..."

She stopped talking when the General gestured for her to do so.

"It gets worse.", the major informed.

"How?"

"The other side of the path.", he stated. "On the Capitol Waste side, the Brotherhood of Steel are blockading it. They're telling every merchant that comes up that they're feeding us, er, the Minutemen and um, not to. Then taking everything. The report I got from Radio Freedom Capitol Wastes was to tell you that the Brotherhood of Steel was 'requisitioning Minutemen material' from civilian merchants even it was only for civilian trade. I was told that the merchant was very adamant about telling Radio Freedom Capitol Wastes to tell me to tell you."

The General folded her arms. "And without an advanced enough economy to offer insurance or warehousing or a social safety net, I'm guessing that these poor souls have been bankrupted out of their livelihood with the loss of their entire inventory."

"It gets worse.", Desdemona stated.

The General threw up her arms. "How?!"

"Our man only recognized Talon Company from their faces. They're displaying our colors. Not actual full uniforms mind you. Just enough of our symbols that the merchant that got robbed...and survived accused the first road crew they came across. That didn't go pretty. Your men didn't hurt anyone! Just, it wasn't pretty."

The General reiterated. "Two separate enemy forces are blockading the Commonwealth from the Capitol Wastes. And they're able to do this because there's only one safe...survivable path between the two. And how long did it take for me to hear about it?"

"The caravan survivors had to trek up to where they were stopped, and then make it back to a town without weapons or supplies.", Radio Freedom told her.

The General nodded. "Colonel. I am going to ask this very carefully. Will I destroy this path...will it become unpassable...when I have Brandis bomb the ever living hell out of these people?"

"It's not very missile friendly, especially where they've set up.", Desdemona informed. "Even from the ground."

The General tried to sit back and think. Tried because the roar of engines interrupted her thoughts. "What now?"