Being among the first to arrive at the waystation, it was Paladin Vargas' job to begin securing it for the rest of the Brotherhood's arrival. The bunker-like building was easily defendable, and while it didn't have enough room to house everyone, there was plenty for the equipment and people better left unexposed to the elements.

He had spent most of his time coordinating with scribes as they arrived throughout the day. It was nearing midday when he first received word of the battle at the warehouse.

Arriving at the makeshift perimeter, he was greeted by the sight of a knight, carrying nothing but his sidearm and the clothes on his back, sitting on the ground drinking heavily from a canteen.

Seeing him approach the knight tried to stand, but his legs gave out. "At ease, knight. What's the problem here?"

"Sorry sir," the knight spoke between pants of breath. "Couldn't reach you on the radio… I'm the fastest in my squad… I ran here… They sent me forward to tell you…"

"Tell me what?"

"The warehouses came under attack… they used tear gas so us knights were the first to evac… Last we heard, Cross was leading the rear guard."

It took Vargas only a moment to process the information before a plan formed in his head. "Duncan, get your squad together, head down the mountain and try to raise them on the radio. I want to know what's happening."

The Paladin nodded and moved to gather his squad. "Is there anything else you can tell us, anything at all?"

"They… they came at us in flying craft."

Again Vargas looked to one of the other soldiers around him. "Go and set up an aerial watch," he ordered, pointing towards the bunker. As the knights around him scrambled to fulfil the order, Vargas knelt down to the knight on the ground. "You just rest son, you did well."

"Thank you, sir." The knight managed to say tiredly.

The next hour was a nail-biting wait for the Paladin. When he finally received word that the evacuation had been successful and they were at most a few hours away, Vargas sighed in relief.

Still, he waited for them, pacing back and forth at the entrance of the bunker. Hearing footsteps behind him he turned to see one of the militiamen they had taken with them.

"Something I can help you with?" He asked, studying the alien.

"No, I just…" Meandel hesitated for a moment. "I heard about what happened."

Vargas hummed in response. His face set into a frown as he looked down the road where he could just about make out figures coming towards them.

"How bad is it?"

"I don't know yet," Vargas answered. The figures got closer and he could finally pick out the power-armoured forms of the brotherhood soldiers. "But I'm about to find out."

—

Salant Hesp couldn't decide whether she was having a dream or a nightmare. All she did know was that she had no control over where her mind wanted to take her.

Training with the militia. Her graduation from the judicial academy. Her childhood in the crystalline caves of Quarzite. Her first deployment with a Jedi. Her court martial. Her sparring sessions with others in the De'shaium.

Her mind never settled on a memory for very long. She would watch as scenes unfold, unable to interfere, an observer. Her triumphs, her failures, her times of happiness and her moments of regret. All laid bare before her.

Eventually, after enough time had passed she came to one of her fondest memories. She was ten, sitting with her head in her mother's lap, watching from afar as Belugan mining trucks rolled by.

"There should be a better world for you, my child." She had said. "Know that I have tried to make the world you now enter a better place… and know it is never a bad thing to try and do the same for others."

Salant didn't know if her mother meant for her to hear those words but she did anyway. She had tried all her life to live like that.

She had tried and tried

And now

Now she opened her eyes.

—

The first sign that anyone in the makeshift infirmary got that Salant Hesp was awake was the low groan she let out.

Seeing one of the people in strange robes approaching her, she weakly moved her hand to confirm that she was indeed awake. The robed man's eyes shot open wide and quickly retreated, calling out something she couldn't make out in her delirious state.

She couldn't remember much. Her memory lasted up until her wallowing in her office, but from there things got cloudy. She assumed from how weak she was and the medical supplies around her, that whatever she had done got her injured and landed her here. Wherever here was.

She had made it a point in her life to avoid the hospital as much as possible. Foolish as that was, she had done well only ending up in Wasulta General Hospital twice in her time on Eulea. Once for a broken collar bone and the other for a nasty case of food poisoning.

She definitely knew what the hospital looked like and she could confidently say that she wasn't in the hospital right now. If the duracrete ceiling and the dark and damp atmosphere weren't dead giveaways, then the strangers in robes definitely were.

The man in robes was back now and he had brought friends. Three other people, all human and all looking to the most elderly looking one of them so Salant assumed him to be in charge.

Most of their discussion was a blur to her senses, but slowly her hearing began to pick up to the point she could make them out.

"Her vital signs are lower than standard." the elderly man spoke. "But given the amount of blood loss she's experienced, that's to be expected."

The older man stroked his chin for a moment before continuing. "Scribe Hayley, Scribe Julian, stay here and run basic checks on her. Maintain her saline drip, monitor her condition alert me of any changes." He turned to the others. "Scribe Dunn, go and find Paladin Vargas and inform him of the situation…"

Scribe Dunn moved to leave them when the senior scribe called out again. "Oh and once you've done that, see if you can find the militiaman with the long tentacles on his head, I didn't catch his name, but I'm sure he would want to know."

Slowly the cogs in her head turned, 'Paladin' she had heard that term before. Any thoughts on her situation were confirmed when the man turned to her.

Taking out a small flashlight, he shone it into her eyes. She recoiled with a blink but kept staring as he flicked from eye to eye.

"Good, that's good." He put the light down. "I'm Senior Scribe Lems with the Brotherhood of Steel, and for now you're under our care. You were pretty banged up, but you're on the road to recovery. I'll let you rest for now but I'll be back with some questions later. Just relax and let us do our job."

Salant, still not in full control of her voice or movements, did her best to hum an affirmative. It must have worked as Lems stepped away and let the other scribes take over.

She lay there for what felt like hours as the scribes milled around her, taking her temperature, checking her vitals and other tedious tasks. All the while her strength slowly trickled back to her one drop at a time.

When an out-of-breath Meandel entered the room, her eyes widened in recognition. The sergeant quickly moved to her side, almost bumping into one of the scribes.

"Commander."

She saw the mixed look of concern and relief on his face. She remembered Meandel, he was part of Breels 1st company. From what the captain had said the twi'lek had a bright future ahead.

Between shaky breaths underneath her oxygen mask, she managed to speak her forest words since waking up. "W-What… h-happened?"

Meandel took a breath to speak but no words would come out. He hesitated, he wanted to tell her everything and then in some brilliant turnaround, she would come up with a plan to wrap up the situation all in a nice bow.

But he couldn't. Taking in the commander's weak form lying on the bed, he knew she was in no condition to learn that everything had gone to hell in a handbasket.

"Alot… A lot has happened." He spoke his words slowly. "You got caught in an explosion and we couldn't take you to a hospital so we took you here."

He looked up at one of the scribes fiddling with a device on his arm. "These guys are the Brotherhood of Steel, the guys we confronted a few days ago… they're helping us now."

Silence fell between the two. Only the ministrations of the scribes and Salant's shallow breathing could be heard.

Salant wasn't stupid, she could tell there was more he wasn't saying, but she didn't have the strength to order it out of him. She remembered the teachings of her mentor, 'Take time to heal, a warrior is of no use when they are wounded'.

She nodded weakly. "Alright."

The ghost of a smile crossed Meandels face. "Focus on getting better ma'am. I'll tell you more once you're in better shape."

—

Things had gotten slightly better after Sarah had that dream. To the outside observer, it simply meant she had stopped growling as much to those who interacted with her.

Internally, however, things were different. Her mind kept spinning over and over. Obsessing over every woulda coulda shoulda, questioning every decision and choice, envisioning every hypothetical. Until finally she would find herself back at the beginning, and doing it all over again.

It was maddening.

So naturally she had taken any time she had and did something with it. Helping move supplies, assisting scribes with weapon tests and she'd even gone to head Scribe Rothschild to learn more about administrative work.

She had come to terms with the fact that she was going to be Elder now. So she had been shadowing him to learn the small intricacies of being an Elder and Rothschild had done his best to instruct her.

Being the action-oriented girl that she was, she'd always been averse to technical and logistical work. While Sarah understood the value of such things, however, it didn't mean she liked doing them. But when the alternative is being consumed by her own thoughts, the choice becomes easier to make.

Right now she was doing maintenance on her power armour, she trusted the scribes with their work but she liked to know her armour inside and out.

Hearing someone outside her tent she turned to the door. "Enter." In walked a knight who snapped a salute. "What do you need, knight?"

"Head Scribe Rothschild requests your presence sentin- Elder Lyons."

Both of them flinched, each for different reasons. The knight likely thought she was about to bite his head off and Sarah had to admit that a week ago she might have.

She moved to grab her new elder robes, they were far too stuffy for her and as soon as she could she'd make a modification to them. "Did he say why?"

"Yes, Ma'am. He said that they've made contact with Paladin Hardin's expedition."

She nodded. "Very well, thank you. You are dismissed."

With her approval given, the knight left the tent so quickly she might have considered it rude had she not understood his reasoning.

Moving through the Brotherhood camp with purpose she soon found herself in the command tent. Inside were many scribes and knights going about their business as well as Head Scribe Rothschild and a few others of high rank standing around a radio set.

"Ah good, Elder Lyons, you're here," Rothschild announced, causing many in the room to salute. Sarah nodded with a neutral face trying to suppress a flinch.

Joining the small group of people, Sarah spoke. "We've made contact with Paladin Hardin and his squad?"

"Yes, but not just him. You are familiar with his mission objectives." Seeing her nod, Rothschild continued. "Then you should know that his task of scouting for Brotherhood remnants was an overwhelming success. Not only did he find a few, he's been in contact with an isolated cell of brotherhood soldiers including Star Paladin Cross and the remaining members of your Pride."

Sarah immediately perked up at the mention of the missing members of her team. "Vargas and Gallows are with them!"

"Rothschild smiled slightly, seeing the relief on her face. "Yes they are." he tapped the top of the radio set. "Hardin managed to reach us a few minutes ago… said he'll contact again once he's got both of them with him."

Beside him stood Knight Captain Rogan, who had been charged with base security. "That's not all though. Paladin Hardin did also mention that a situation was developing."

Sarah frowned but before she could dig any deeper the radio fizzled to life. "Paladin Hardin to HQ… you there HQ."

Rothschild pressed on the microphone. "Indeed we are Paladin Hardin, Elder Lyons is here as requested."

"Good, I've got Star Paladin Cross and Paladin Vargas with me on this end." The radio cut to static for a moment before the voice of one of Sarah's closest friends came through.

"Sorry for the wait ma'am. Paladin Vargas reporting for duty." Vargas paused for a moment. "I'm sorry to hear about Elder Lyons."

The relieved look on her face twitched for a moment. "Thank you, Vargas… It's good to hear your voice again.

"So it's true then." Cross' voice came next. "Owyn really is…" She trailed off taking the silence on the other end of the radio as confirmation.

Sarah knew that if anyone would feel the same about the loss of her father then it would have been Cross. To many in the Brotherhood, Owyn Lyons was a saviour, a paragon of virtue, their leader. To herself and Cross he was a Father and good friend.

Her mind drifted to thoughts of her father. How would he handle this situation, he would already have this place whipped into shape by now. What if-

She cut that train of thought and shook her head slightly. "There will be time to talk about this later when you're back here safe." whether she was telling that to them or herself she didn't know. "In the meantime, Knight Captain Rogan tells me there is something wrong. Is the civilian caravan ok?"

There was a short pause before Hardin answered. "No… no, the caravan is fine, all the trading is done and the Scribes are pleased with what they've retrieved. It's uhhh…"

"It's what, Paladin?"

"I think it's best if you start from the beginning." Vargas chimed in.

"Right… After making contact with Star Paladin Cross and those she had gathered, we made plans to trade in the city using the warehouses as a base. Before we could leave however we were confronted by the local militia."

"Did you engage them?" Rogan questioned.

"No, we didn't." This time Cross answered. "They initiated contact and with help from those chrome the civilian caravan we parted ways with the understanding that we would be departing within a few days."

"The first two days of trading went fine. It was on the third day, things uhhh…" Hardin hesitated for a moment. "The best way I can say is that things went to hell."

"What exactly happened, Paladin?" Beside her, Rothschild asked.

"We'd split up, I lead the village caravan and my second in command, Paladin Lukas. was guarding the Scribes as they worked in the communications centre. Shortly after my team had finished in the city two explosions went off in the city. One in the militia headquarters and one in the communications building."

The group stood silent digesting the information given to them.

"Lukas ordered Knight Captain Jules to lead a retreat while he and Knight Captain Berger remained behind. There were no casualties, only one seriously wounded knight. But unfortunately, Lukas, Berger and a handful of knights got stuck in the city as it went into lockdown."

"Berger had also managed to catch one of those responsible, although we don't have him in custody. During Lukas' attempt to leave the city, he stumbled across a group of militiamen we had seen previously." Again Hardin paused. "This is where it gets complicated so I'll summarise."

"After a standoff, the militia helped Lukas and his team escape the city, in return, we took in the injured militia members including the militia commander. When they arrived we took them in and the commander, a woman called Salant Hesp, went into surgery. It was successful and we've recently got word she has awoken."

"During the night we encountered another group of militiamen and with them information. We found out that the planetary governor might be responsible for the bombing and betraying the militia. We don't know why yet but the evidence we've got suggests that the governor is some sort of con artist."

"It was also then that Star Paladin Cross made the decision to withdraw as soon as possible." Hardin was cut off as Cross spoke.

"Turns out that was the right call to make as the following afternoon the local police forces assaulted the warehouses. We were midway through the retreat so the only personnel present were knights and paladins. We continued the evacuations as we fought off the first two waves and leading the rear guard I authorised the use of fat man."

Both Sarah and those around her stood in silence. She had little doubt they all had a million questions they wanted to ask. She also knew they were probably thinking the same thing as she was.

What the hell had they gotten themselves into?

—

Pomst leaned on his desk, tapping his fingers impatiently. Letting out a long sigh through flared nostrils he kept his glare firm on the Comm-link on his desk.

"It is all detailed in the report if you-"

He let Meez ramble on. The cowardly void-sucking alien had refused to see him face to face. It was nice to know he inspired that cowardice in the fool but it was annoying nonetheless.

"I have read the after-action report." He spat down the comm link, cutting off Meez. "And all I see is a great deal of loss with a distinct lack of gain."

"We were ill prep-"

"I don't care how ready you think you were or were not. Make no mistake, I couldn't care less how you run this pitiful little place once I'm gone, but while I am here you will keep things running smoothly."

Silence greeted him over the comm link. Pomst could only hope the alien had gotten the message.

"I shall brush this over for you. But understand this is the last favour I do for you". He firmly pressed down on the comm link, ending the call.

Pomst stood still, his knuckles white and his eyebrow twitching. He wanted to curse these Mandalorians whoever they were and then curse Salant Hesp for being such a pain in his ass.

'If that bitch had just left to chase pirates in the countryside like she was supposed to, things would have been much easier.' he thought. 'Alas, no plan survives first contact.'

He moved over to his computer to read his recent messages and came across the one he had been looking forward to.

[The Oceans Bloom is due to leave in one week - S.T]

AN: hope you're enjoying so far. :)

Pomst's scheme is not all been revealed yet, and some backstory for Salant.

Also thank you for all the comments. I hadn't thought of it but the people of the fallout universe would be pretty desensitized to nukes where as the star wars galaxy isn't. Definatly something for me to consider moving forward. And yes, for now the fic is going to remain Brotherhood centric don't worry.