I wonder if this is what Bethesda was thinking of when they made the female Sole Survivor a lawyer.

Begin Recording

First Contact

Recording by Scribe Ellison

The Abernathys' cat Maisie had a litter of kittens and the bidding for them was fierce. Molerats are more dramatic but ordinary rats are even more dangerous. Just a few of them can foul your entire grain store and then you have to choose between throwing it out and risking starvation or eating it and risking disease. Your best defense is a cat! Luckily two cats will turn into twenty cats without any prompting. Not sure where Maisie found her tomcat. Must be feral cats around the Commonwealth that we just don't see.

Vadim had won a bid and Piper was up from Diamond City to deliver his caps and collect his cat. So we were hiking over from Sanctuary comparing school experiences with Piper being loudly incredulous about how many years I'd spent in school. We were being louder than we really should have been but there hadn't been raiders this far north in a month and Dogmeat's nose would pick up trouble before we saw it.

And it did. Dogmeat raced back to us, low to the ground and growling. Piper and I instantly went silent and crouched down, pistols out. We weren't exactly invisible, in fact we were in the middle of a flat patch of ground without even many trees for cover.

The wind changed and I heard the unmistakable wobbly growl of, "...human?"

Super mutants. Piper cursed. We were two plus a dog, armed for molerats but not for a real fight. Suddenly she smiled. "Hey Blue, how close are we..?"

I knew exactly how close we were. "That way, we let them see us over there and then run like hell for the farm. Run them right into the turrets."

"You read my mind."

It was a good plan, but it depended on the super mutants not seeing us until the right moment so we had to hustle before they got up out of the streambed. We had to run silently and running silently is hard.

So I was looking down at my feet when the buzz of rotors came up from the south. The Brotherhood vertibird sailed over us, turned in a long curve and hovered and I saw two figures in power armor jump down. Just like soldiers showing off in the veterans day parade, two hundred years ago.

Gunfire began.

We ran to help as two more Brotherhood members dropped down on ropes and joined the fight. Good thing too; there were ten super mutants, all with guns. But two suits of power armor will do a lot to even the odds.

Once the greenskins were all done for and everyone was doing the automatic post-shootout gun checking and reloading thing, I came forward. "Thanks! This would've been a nightmare if you hadn't been here."

One of the suits said, "Move along, wastelander." Not very polite when we just helped them with a fight.

One of the unarmored soldiers, a young woman with pale eager eyes said, "Do you know about the local settlements?"

I didn't say, 'Don't you know who I am?' but it was a close call. Thing is, by then most people north of Diamond City did know who I am. Even ones who hadn't met me knew 'black hair, vault suit, dog, she's the boss of the new Minutemen.' So I said, "The Abernathy family farm is just over the hill, that's where we were headed. Over east is the settlement of Sanctuary. You all looking to trade?"

One of the suits made a short sound, maybe he'd snorted. The young initiate said, "We'll be requisitioning food supplies from the local settlements. We came to inform them."

My eyebrows went up and next to me Piper twitched. I decided to assume the best. "We can pay for protection—sounds great; we don't have flight capability. I'm a bit of a local leader and I'd love to get together and draw up an agreement."

"An… agreement?"

"I used to be a lawyer. Em Mason, and this is Piper Wright."

"I'm Ka—Initiate. Initiate Armstrong. But I don't think you understand. The Brotherhood of Steel is going to be defending the Commonwealth and the settlements will be expected to provide food and resources. It's, uh, not up for debate."

Piper said, "So you're a protection racket."

"No! The Brotherhood..."

"Initiate, can the chatter." Said one of the suits. "Take us to the nearest settlement."

So we all hiked over. Piper tried talking to the two young initiates. "Hey! I just wrote an article about what you all did getting fresh water to the whole Capital Wasteland, I'd love to do a follow-up. What's the Lone Wanderer up to these days? And does he mind being called that?"

Armstrong couldn't resist. "He doesn't mind, I don't think. Everyone calls him that. We didn't see him much at the airport, I think the elders asked him to come along on the Prydwen but he wouldn't. He has a child, you know, so he probably didn't want to leave her."

The other initiate resolutely kept his mouth closed while Armstrong chattered, and the two suits just walked along. Those helmets are great for terrifying raiders but they make conversation hard. I didn't even know if the two of them were male or female under there.

We got to the farm and Lucy was on watch. Wasteland kid: cute as a button and heavily armed. "General! Who's that with you?"

"Hey Lucy. This is my friend Piper and we met these folks along the way. Go get your dad, would you?"

Lucy had gone silent and wide-eyed when she got a good look at the power armor. She sounded a lot more hesitant but she finished her welcome, "Welcome to our farm, protected by the Minutemen so come to trade but don't make any trouble." And she scampered off.

One of the suits said, "Minutemen?"

Armstrong said, "General?"

I gave them a sheepish look. "Me. I'm the General of the Minutemen. Ah, Blake, hi."

There was Blake, shovel over his shoulder and smelling like he'd been mucking out after the brahmin. "Heya General. That is some fine power armor your friends have."

"Blake, these Brotherhood soldiers helped take down a batch of super mutants that somehow got up this far. Can you spare a few pounds of mutfruit for them?"

"Sure, I'll fill up a few sacks." Blake said. We were acquiring an audience, everyone wanted to gawk at the power armor and meet Piper.

Armstrong tried, "The Brotherhood will be collecting a portion of your crops each month to support our efforts in protecting the peaceful citizens of the Commonwealth."

Blake looked at me.

This was the moment and I went for it. "Yes—I'll speak with your leader to draw up a contract stating where and how often we can expect patrols and how often and how much food will be provided, as well as provisions for bad harvests or if your vertibirds are busy elsewhere. That will protect both sides from misunderstandings, and make sure the Brotherhood gets all the food it's due."

There was an instant of silence. Young Armstrong gaped. Piper looked just delighted. The suits didn't look anything, because helmets, but one of them said, "You'll have to talk to Elder Maxson at the Boston airport."

I said, "Thank you." and Connie came over with bags of produce and sincere thanks for saving them from the super mutants. The initiates got stuck carrying the bags and we all heard the vertibird returning. We all rushed out to see it land on a bit of lat ground north of the farm.

They didn't attack us. I'd been worried, talking like a lawyer in the wasteland could have gone really wrong. But it had worked, at least for now.

Once the vertibird was safely aloft with our visitors Piper turned to me, "Damn, Blue! Is that what you did before the war?"

"Pretty much. Well, the actual writing of the contracts is what I did. Blake! We need to sit down with Preston and as many other settlement leaders as we can get up to Sanctuary quick and work out what we can spare and when. If I can give this Elder Maxson an offer on paper he may take it instead of just trying to take… everything. And we'll need to plan what to do if they don't go for it." I looked around at the farm, protected by walls and guard posts and turrets, as safe as the current knowledge and resources of the Minutemen could make it. Not safe at all from an air attack. "Piper, come back and talk this out with us, you can let Diamond City know what's up. I wonder if they'll try this there too."

"On a long established settlement? Bet they won't. But let's go have a council—after I pick up Vadim's cat."

...and that, Scribe, is the first of many reasons Elder Maxson doesn't like me very much.