It had been two days since their return and Hardin's demotion. He and the rest of those who had gone on the mission, as well as those they had brought back, were taking some well-deserved rest.

Well, maybe rest was the wrong word. In the Brotherhood, there was no such thing. The constant vigilance and burden the wasteland demanded meant that there was always something that needed doing. So 'rest' best translated to doing light duties.

Hefting two stacked trays of supplies, Hardin stepped into the medical tent. After a quick discussion with the scribes about where to put them, Hardin had finished his task.

Deciding to take a moment's rest, Hardin stopped and let his gaze drift about the room. He soon landed on the bed where Walsh had been recovering.

When they returned, Walsh had been up and about, albeit with his leg in a brace. This had pleased Berger to no end, and the two reunited were getting along like a house on fire.

Thinking about his squad naturally made his thoughts turn to the recent changes they'd gone through. Lukas had stepped into the role well. Hardin could see that Sarah wasn't wrong when she said he could learn a thing or two.

Lukas clearly had experience and was getting things done quickly. Initially, Lukas had stumbled a bit around Hardin, but the two had sat and talked. He told Lukas he held nothing against him and that he would be doing as Elder Lyons advised and learn from it.

Lukas had then shared his relief with Hardin. Being among the old guard of the brotherhood meant he had experience from the chapters back west. Lukas told him of the rivalries and jealousies that he had seen tear teams apart. The two then shared a laugh and told more stories to each other.

Hardin wasn't going to lie and say the demotion didn't sting his pride. But he knew this wasn't the end of the road, just one more hurdle to deal with.

"Hey." A voice from his left shook him from his thoughts. "Hey, you."

He turned to see the voice coming from one of the beds, specifically from the one holding the commander of the planetary militia.

"Me?" Hardin gestured to himself.

"Yeah, you." Her voice was filled with a mixture of frustration and tiredness. Hardin approached her bedside, and she pushed herself up to sit straighter. "I recognize you… you were with your group near Wasulta, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm Paladin Hardin."

Salant raised a hand. "Commander Salant Hesp." Hardin shook her hand. "Well, former commander by now. I've no doubt Pomst has appointed someone else by now."

"Is there something you need?"

She turned to face him, a conflicted look on her face. One moment, it looked like she wanted to speak, then she caught herself, then again before she stopped. Her shoulders dipped as she let out a sigh.

"I'm no good at this nuance crap," she muttered to herself. "I've been trying to figure you and your Brotherhood out… I've asked Meandel and the others who've come to see me, but they've got nothing definitive."

"I don't have the subtlety in me to do anything sneaky, so I'll ask you straight out." She stared him dead in the eye. "What is your brotherhood?"

Now, it was Hardin's turn to struggle with what to say. His hesitation was clear on his face as Salant clarified. "I don't want anything classified. It's clear you're better equipped than anyone else on this planet. What I want to know is 'who' you are."

Hardin schooled himself and thought about the question. It didn't have a definitive answer, the response to what and who the Brotherhood would change from person to person. He knew what he wanted the Brotherhood to be, but that idea wasn't universal.

Meeting her gaze, Hardin saw the uncertainty in her eyes, as well as the desire to change that. Hardin steeled himself with all that she'd been through at the very least, she deserved an honest answer.

"We're from a place called Earth, and it's a hellhole." Salant raised an eyebrow. "Nearly two hundred years ago, the people in charge, whoever they were, blew the whole planet up. They died and left the rest of us to starve in the ashes."

"From those ashes, the Brotherhood emerged. From what I've read the early days of the brotherhood involved barely surviving day to day, but Elder Maxson kept us moving. Soon, our purpose moved from surviving to the procurement and protection of the technology of the old world. So that the irresponsibility and wanton greed fueled by that technology didn't happen again."

"The Brotherhood thrived, and as it did, we put down the threats of the wasteland, both mutant and human. Eventually, a branch of the Brotherhood moved east under the guidance of Elder Lyons. He settled in a place known as the capital wasteland in the ruins of what had been the capital of the USA, and he changed our mission."

"He decreed that we would no longer preserve the past but that we would also act as defenders of those who had survived the apocalypse, those few innocents who had clung to life. And so we did for over twenty years we fought the many evils of the capital wasteland."

"Then… then we ended up here." Hardin looked at her like he knew he'd just said something weird. "I don't know how and I don't think anyone does. We've simply been going through the motions of trying to survive."

"That's about it… we're here, we don't know why, but we're here."

The two sat in silence, Salant had an unreadable look on her face. Hardin was sure he sounded pretty damn crazy but just as he was about to excuse himself he heard Salant begin to laugh. It was a mirthless laugh like someone just told a joke so bad it was funny.

"Yeah… sure… why not." Another fit of laughing. "Like something out of a bad sci-fi flick." Salant sighed deeply.

"It is rather unbelievable." Hardin rubbed the back of his head. "I'm still not sure I believe this myself."

"Not the strangest thing I've ever heard… I've worked with Jedi before." She said as if that were an excuse.

Again the two were silent for a moment before Hardin spoke. "So what will you do now?"

Salant rubbed her eyes and laid back. "I have no idea."

It was then the universe's well-timed sense of humour kicked in and a buzzing noise rang out. They both turned to the source, coming from a blood-stained jacket crumpled on the side of her bed.

"Is that my comm?" She questioned and Hardin moved to grab the jacket. "Top pocket." Pulling out the buzzing comlink Hardin fiddled with it for a moment before handing it to Salant.

Pressing the answer button, the two waited for a second before a voice spoke. "H-hello. Commander Hesp?"

—

Despite his initial hope that things would start to work out for him and his family. Drorn had to admit he'd been a fool to hope that.

Things had stayed fairly level at first. The plan former captain Crork laid out had gone smoothly for the first few days. They had been in contact with the larger communities in the city, gauging their reactions and vying for their support.

Then, as they say, shit hit the fan. It was inevitable really, but word got out. Drorn supposed the plan was to get as many people on board with some sort of plan before the word got out, but they'd been too late and any kind of organisation went out of the window when the first protest happened.

The first day was small, only a couple hundred people, the following day when the local paper got it, that's when things got hot.

A commotion outside broke Drorn from his thoughts. He stepped forward to look but was pulled back by a hand on his shoulder. Seeing as he was a key witness to the whole conspiracy, they'd decided to move him and his family again and have someone with them at all times. Bextria, the Zabrak woman from the meeting, was his guard today.

She motioned him to stay where he was as she approached the window. Taking a slow glance so as to not give herself away, she then backed up taking her blaster pistol out of its holster.

She looked at him with a finger on her lips as he too slowly withdrew his sidearm. The noise outside got louder until it stopped just outside the door.

Drorn nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a sharp knock on the door. Bextria had her weapon raised until she heard a predetermined series of knocks. Lowering her blaster, she opened the door, and no sooner than two people rushed in did she shut the door again.

"You couldn't make more noise if you tried Del." Bextria snarked as Delinn took off his coat.

"Hey, if I didn't want you to hear me coming, you wouldn't have heard me." He retorted. "Virk's been showing me that fancy lizard footwork of his."

Both Bextria and Virk rolled their eyes at his grandstanding. "How's downtown?"

Like a flipped switch, Delinn went from jovial to serious at her question. "Not good. Crork's there trying to organise things, but the last we saw, Meez's cronies were moving in on the place."

Neither said anything, simply accepting the information.

"But, it's not all bad news." Delinn looked at Drorn. "Comm towers up again."

Reaching into his pocket, Drorn pulled out his comlink and pressed the call button only to receive static. "I've got nothing."

"With all that's going on, Pomst, bastard that he is, ordered the network be made private, albeit temporary, until 'the unwarranted civil unrest declines'."

"So how the hell are we gonna-" Drorn was cut off as Delinn threw him something which he barely caught. "What's this?"

"One of the perks of growing up on the street. You know all the thieves." Delinn pulled a t'bac stick. "It's the access code for the network. Plug it in."

Taking the small item, he plugged it into the bottom of his comlink. After a few seconds of waiting, a synthetic voice spoke. "Network connection established."

He shared a glance with everyone else in the room. Delinn had a full smirk on his face, Bextria looked surprised that it worked and Virk, well he still couldn't work out the Trandoshan's emotions.

He pressed the call button and waited. It rang once, then twice, then three times. Just when an inkling of doubt trickled into his head the other end picked up. He heard the pickup noise but no one spoke.

"H-hello. Commander Hesp?"

"Who is this?" Drorn's eyes went wide. That was definitely the voice of the commander.

"Lieutenant Drorn 1st company, Ma'am." He hesitated for a second. "I have no idea how to start this but since you're awake I assume you know what's happened."

"Yes, I know lieutenant." Her tone changed from wary to dejected.

"You were one of the militiamen to stay behind, correct." Another voice came through the comlink, one unfamiliar to him. "Have there been any further developments?"

"Yes, that's right… err who are you?" Drorn asked.

"I'm Paladin Hardin of the Brotherhood of Steel. I was in the room when you addressed us at the warehouse."

"Right, well err…" he hesitated again.

"Anything you can report to me, they can hear too. They've been more than hospitable to us. What do you have to tell us, Lieutenant."

"Ok, well, things have been going downhill rather rapidly. A lot of off-duty militia members have been rounded up and arrested. My family and I were lucky a detective picked us up."

"Turns out, Commissioner Taafe did some 'house cleaning' and let go of quite a few officers. Detective Delinn, who's with me now, got curious about the whole thing and that led him to me. I told him what I know and he moved us into hiding."

Drorn motioned the comlink to Delinn. "Good to hear you're still alive commander."

"You're Delinn, I take it." The former detective hummed in agreement. "You have my thanks for protecting one of our own."

"Thank you… as Drorn was saying I brought him somewhere safe. After that, I gathered the few officers who had been fired and who I knew I could trust, and then I had Drorn tell them what he told me. Their reaction wasn't great but we managed to get them on board."

"The plan had been to contact the local communities and get their support. We got Downtown and the unions on our side, hell last I heard we had the support of some of the local merchants, but something went wrong and word got out."

"Yesterday there was a protest of about a hundred and today there was nearly a thousand." Delinn rubbed the back of his head, his eyes downcast. "I say 'was' because the police moved in and dispersed the whole thing. Some people are saying that they were shot at, some say there weren't… with the network down most news is word of mouth."

"I was with Captain Crork… Well, former captain anyway. We were in downtown when it started kicking off. Crork had me and a few others leave while he stayed, as we left we saw that they had the whole place on lockdown. But it's not just that, I don't know what rock Meez pulled them out from but there's a new group of officers. They're armed, they've got badges but I can tell you they definitely don't act like police, my best guess is that he's deputised a bunch of mercs."

Drorn did his best impression of a statue, his eyes wide open. He'd been kept out of harm's way and that also meant he was out of the know. Realising that they'd all been silent for a while, Drorn shook himself to speak.

"That… that's about it, ma'am." There was no reply from the other end but the comlink showed there was still a connection. "What are your orders ma'am."

Again, from the other end of the call came silence before "Okay…" There was a solemn pause before she spoke again. "Have you contacted Lieutenant Commander Tsu."

"No ma'am, you were our first call. The word is that he's still leading the force out in the countryside"

"Alright." Another pause. "Forward my comm the network code, and then… then hold tight, I'll contact Tsu. We'll have news for you soon."

Her voice lacked the confidence and sureness that she usually had. Drorn shook his head, considering all that had happened, a little wavering was to be expected. He was still astonished he was still going.

"Will do, commander. Good luck."

"You too lieutenant."

—

Hardin had left the medical room with haste after the call had ended and made his way directly to Elder Lyons. He had appraised her of the development as best he could.

Sarah's first train of thought was to call the senior members of the Brotherhood to advise her in another of what felt like many meetings these past few days, but she stopped herself. They could easily spend a small eternity discussing their readiness for a fight against this planet.

That's not what she needed right now. This wasn't a question of capability, this was a question of morality. Should the Brotherhood get involved?

Sarah trusted in the ability of the Brotherhood, she firmly believed they could win any altercation with this planet's police force. She wasn't foolhardy enough to ignore Scribe Bowditch's warning for caution, this was a strange unknown they faced. But with everything she'd seen and had heard from the scribe reports, they stood a good chance.

So the question fell between holding their ground and fortifying themselves or taking the fight to the capital. If the commander was to be believed then people were suffering under the governor and the old Sarah Lyons would have been more than ready to bust down the city walls herself.

But she had a lot more to consider now. It wasn't just her and the Lyons Pride. She had the whole brotherhood to think about. An assault in an urban setting would no doubt have casualties.

But how many would die in the defence of their base?

If they didn't attack, the enemy would have time to regroup.

What about civilian casualties?

What about-

'Stop'

Sarah stopped her spiralling train of thought. She'd grown familiar with how her head could enter a death spiral. Steadying herself, she came to a conclusion. She didn't have to make the decision alone.

She sent a runner to fetch Paladin Vargas and Head Scribe Rothschild; she knew they could help her. Both Sarah and Hardin remained in silence, waiting for the two to arrive.

It must have been well-timed because both men arrived at the simultaneously. "Thank you both for arriving so quickly."

"No problem kid-" Rothschild sent Vargas a small glare. "err Elder… sorry still getting used to that."

Sarah suppressed a chuckle. "Don't worry, you're forgiven." She put her serious face back on and the two stood a little straighter. "I called you both here because I need your input on something. Paladin Hardin, if you could debrief them."

Hardin nodded and started explaining. Sarah was only half listening, her mind drifting back to the dilemma they faced.

"Elder." Sarah looked up to hear Vargas speaking, she'd obviously spaced out longer than she thought.

She saw Vargas smirk as she came back to reality and sent him a short glare. "Sorry, but this development has my head in circles, and I'd like your input."

"This might be something you bring to the advisors," Rothschild started. "They would be-"

Sarah cut him off. "It's not their advice I seek. Paladin Gunny and Edwards would tell me that we are ready for an assault, while Knight Commander Rogan will have the base's defence on his mind. Scribe Peabody will want to wait for either them to come to us or for a more opportune scenario and Scribes Jameson and Bowditch will urge caution and say that we don't know enough."

She sighed and slumped her shoulders slightly. "Jameson and Bowditch are right, but I've enough reason to believe that in a straight fight, we stand a very good chance." She sat forward, leaning her elbows on her desk. "I don't want to know 'if' we can do it. I want to know if we should do it."

The three men in front of her stood silent, all of them considering the question. "My heart says I want to help these people but my responsibility to the brotherhood as its Elder urges caution… I'd like the thoughts of those I trust."

She looked between Vargas and Rothschild, both of them had thoughtful looks on their faces. Surprisingly neither of them was the first to speak, that went to Hardin.

"Ma'am… I know you it may be out of turn to speak but may I give my opinion." Sarah stared at him for a moment. He had spent the most time out in the field including in the capital.

"You may speak, Paladin."

"I've been interacting with these people for weeks now, both those in the caravan and the people of the city. It's not like the Wasteland where we have to watch for bandits playing civilian. These are stand-up, decent, innocent people… In some cases, they may not look like us or even speak like us, but they deserve our help." He stopped for a moment. His opinion made it obvious that he was a supporter of her father's ideology.

"It's clear that this place isn't the paradise we thought it was when we arrived here. This place has its evils just as ours did, albeit with less frequency. The fact is that the evil we fought back home is still here, it's just got a different face on it."

Sarah nodded slightly as he finished. She agreed with what he said but leadership was about finding a balance between your goals and those of the people with you. She looked to Vargas next who similarly was nodding his head.

"I know you kid, known you for more than half my life. You've got a good head on your shoulders and a well-rounded set of morals to go with it." It was rare that Vargas ever praised her to her face. She'd been told reliably that he gushed over her in private but never to her face. When asked, he'd say that it was because he thought her ego was healthy enough already.

"Hardin's right that they can use our help and if your gut says to help, then I'll happily be one of the first onboard. But you've gotta listen to your intuition and remember that whatever you choose we're behind you."

The edges of her mouth barely broke into a smile at her mentor's words. Finally, she turned to Rothschild, her father's long-time friend and sometimes critic.

"I must admit I have not always been the biggest supporter of your father's philosophy. That said, I have seen the benefits it has brought as well as the downsides. However, your father balanced his ideas with those of our founding" He paused for a long moment, trying to articulate his words.

"I've spent nights going over this very subject in my head. I've no wish for this to be the end of the Brotherhood and it seems to me that continuing as we once did 'might' keep us safe, but it would mean a long, slow decline for us. The brotherhood became what it is to deal with the end of the world and the wasteland that came after it. We are no longer in that world, so perhaps there is merit to the idea of change."

His expression changed from thoughtful to determined. "Regardless you are our Elder and so long as you act in the Brotherhood's interest I shall follow you."

With nothing more to be said the room was silent. Sarah took her time mulling over all three of their words, and she agreed with a lot of what they had to say. Perhaps it was all stuff she already internally knew, but it settled better in her mind hearing it come from someone else.

The gears in her mind spun for a minute longer before she finally came to a conclusion. "Thank you, all three of you." She sat up straight in her seat. "Hardin, Vargas you're dismissed. Rothschild, gather everyone, inform them of the situation and that I'll make a decision soon."

Each of them gave a clear 'Yes ma'am' and they all exited the tent. Sarah then took in a deep breath before standing up.

There was one more person she needed to speak to.

AN: Thank you all so very much for your patience. These past few weeks have been rough, we've been dealing with a family emergency and this story fell by the way side.

The good news is that I have no plans on killing this fic, so unfortunately you're gonna have to put up with me a bit longer. :) Besides this first story arc is getting to the final showdown, I'm not about to abandon it.

The bad news is that the family emergency, while no longer a pressing matter, is still going on. What this means for the story is that the scheduling is shot so until things settle posting will be sporadic. Nothing I can do about that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway that's all for now so I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. :)