A/N: The purpose of this story is to improve my writing, and I want to play with some of the non-cannon and head-cannon ways. I think the wasteland will be like I want the war with the enclave to be a proper battle fought by the powers of the wastes, so I will be attempting to use the earlier chapters to establish building up the hardened but exhausted Lyons Brotherhood with the support of the much larger Midwestern chapter and the smaller chapters across the U.S. I want the Brotherhood to be more cohesive in its entirety, that even though they have differing views, they are all bound by steel, so while I like the outcasts, they won't become a thing as this intervention before hand negates some of the issues that made them splinter. I will try to keep them as some issues, but they will more so be points of contention between the higher command of the brotherhood and not splinter the faction. I will do something with the pit and some of the other areas of cannon, but I'm not 100% on that yet. My knowledge of the Cannon isn't as advanced as some, as if mostly played Fallout 3, NV, and the smallest amount of 76, and even while I have completed most of their main story's, I don't know every detail, so if I miss something, then just bear with it and remember it's a work of fanfiction. it won't be perfect

A/N2: Updated some spelling and punctuation and changed the entry into DC from Girdershade to Andale as I went to fallout 3 to check the route I had suggested and realised how inhospitable the terrain would be to traverse. Thank you X5wer for the Feedback im always looking to improve my writing.

This will be an OC and Sarah Pairing, but I'm not sure how it's going to go. It's my first time writing a romance, but we will get there eventually. I don't want to do too many time skips, so we should hopefully see lots of progression.

2275:AD

Paladin Lord Alasdair Maxson, a distant relative of the wildly recognised "Last Maxson," hailing from the disavowed Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel born in 2250, finally made his way into the Capital Wastes. The journey was long, and the lack of maintained roads took a toll on some of the newer members of his clandestine team and was not the most direct route. Their start at the Chicago sector in the far eastern reach, miles away from the headquarters in Vault 0 of the Cheyene mountain complex of the 'Empire' the Midwestern Brotherhood controlled, led them through Indianapolis and down to west Virginia to gather provisions and exchange intel with the small chapter still stationed in Appalachia, confirming that they would be able to use their radio transmitters to send messages back to his chapter. Still, the land-based vehicles that the Midwest was known for had made the months-long journey across the wastes little more than a couple of weeks. With the few stops they had taken, the added incentive of the.50cal mounted on the Humvee utilised by the Paladin of the team, as well as the various infantry spread around the convoy, including Alasdair himself in their main supply vehicle, a pre-war canvas-covered top army truck, was able to make any raider or creature of the wasteland keep away or be vaporised under their fire. From the intelligence they had received, their entry point into the capital wasteland was Andale a ruin of a small pre war town on the outskirts of central DC, but it was one of the few direct routes straight to the old pentagon building, which he was told was now named The Citadel due to its defaceable position and strong walls. That was their main aim for this expedition, Miles away from their own chapter.

The convoy progressed along the barely traversable roads until they were nearing the town of Fairfax, where one of the Junior Knights was able to hail someone on one of the frequencies used by Brotherhood chapters all across the wasteland. After a short conversation, we were told to divert our course to Fort Independence, where we would be able to stow our vehicles and rest. We could tell the man on the radio was sceptical about us being who we say we were. Lost Hills had cut contact with the Midwest over half a century ago, but the chapter was not the same as it was then. The problems faced at that time meant that our chapter adapted, and while we were much more in line with our traditional brothers and sisters, now the choices made in a time of dire need have allowed our chapter to be one of the most successful in controlling a large swath of land across the Midwest.

small ambush from some opportunistic raiders attempted to disrupt the convoy but were swiftly taken out. The whole exchange lasted less than two minutes all three raiders splattered against the concrete walls less than half a mile down the road from the fort.

With the convoy halting just outside of Fort Independence, we were met with a retinue of armed knights. While their weapons were lowered, their positions made it clear that if we were a threat, they would do their duty.

"Paladin Sunder, keep that fifty pointed away. Knight Castillo, Knight Harris, make sure the men don't create tension. I will meet with the ranking officer and see if we can get off the street and square away."

"Sir, yes, sir," they affirmed through their helmet comm's

I exited the truck cabin and moved deliberately with my head held high. The slight tensing of the knights showed that they most likely had never seen the advanced technical armour of our chapter, but the large and clear brotherhood insignia placed on the right shoulder at least identified me as friendly. I stopped about 2 metres away from the lead vehicle as one of their knights approached me.

"I am Knight Captain Drew. What is your purpose, and who do I have the honour of speaking with, brother?" He asked, gesturing to himself and to me with his rifle slung to his side.

"Pleasure to meet you, Knight Captain. I am Paladin Lord Alasdair Maxson of the Midwestern Brotherhood. Me and my team are in D.C. for a couple of reasons, some of which are more familiar and others pertain to diplomatic and military matters." I removed my helmet and pulled my Holo tag from under my armour.

"I understand Paladin Lord, we will get your vehicles situated in the garage while we wait for the Sentinel to arrive if you would like to follow me to the command room," he said after checking the tag, and the group of knights relaxed their stances and moved about their business

"Paladin Sunder, get the vehicles inside and the men squared away. I'll see you all shortly." I said to the only other member of the squad in advanced technical armour while I began to follow the knight captain into the OP Centre of Fort Independence.

Sarah Lyons The newly appointed Sentinel was sitting in the bunks of Lyon's Pride, wiping her laser rifle, when a scribe rushed into the room, speaking a mile a minute.

"Sentinel The outpost at Fort Independence has made contact with a team of brothers who claim to have come from the Midwestern chapter. Knight Captain Drew confirmed their leader's identity as a Maxson the Little Squire. Isn't the Last One!" He said it in one breath.

Sarah shot up. She knew her father was currently at the Galaxy News Radio building helping set up with some wastelander called Three Dog so that they could get fresh blood to fight against the super mutants infesting the ruins of downtown DC, so this meeting was up to her until her father got back. She quickly made her way out of the barracks, donning her armour, on her way to meet Star Paladin Cross, whom she rather briefly informed of the situation, and made her way towards the outpost with a small selection of the Pride

After a short few hours of conversing with the Knight Captain, Alasdair had a good understanding of the current issues facing the chapter, from super mutants and raiders to paramilitary threats, not to mention another group of Enclave in the area that no one had currently seen, only heard of through the Eye Bots spouting propaganda. This chapter was in a sorry situation, and while they were currently not on good terms with Lost Hills, the Midwest had its own shaky relationship with the parent chapter. The High Command at Vault 0 would more than likely do what they could to help this chapter cement itself fully in the seat of power of prewar America as it would stabilise the region, and the secrets in the DC Area were most likely a treasure trove to the scribes in the Midwest and in Lost Hills. Being near the Appalachia chapter would make communication a much easier task, as would the supply of logistics. If there were Enclave in the area, it was the Brotherhood's job to stop them at every turn, which would hopefully be critical in the ongoing war with the Chicago enclave.