POV Pharynx
As the battle at the Cambridge Police Station had finished up the last of the Super Mutants were being killed. The Brotherhood had managed to survive, but honestly, it was solely thanks to the reinforcements they got at the last minute. The Sentinel had led his men to cause quite a lot of damage to the Super Mutants, weakening the attack on the other forces. He died ensuring victory. It meant Phases 1-3 have been completed. Which meant it was time for Phase 4.
With the mass casualties that they just suffered, they wouldn't notice a few people acting a bit strange. This allows us to send in some of our agents to act on the inside for us. I estimated only 60 or so Brotherhood members survived. And with only one working Vertibird, they were in a bad situation. But now it was time to see how Maxson would respond. Would he commit to his arrogance and strike at the Raiders that wiped out the Cambridge garrison, or would he swallow his pride and retreat from the Commonwealth while they still could?
In either case, we had plans to deal with them. But for now, we had a different mission. Fort Strong was vacant, meaning it was time to loot the place before the Brotherhood tried anything.
POV Elder Maxson
It took us 3 days to clean up the mess and restore things at the Airport. The number of people pushing for us to abandon the Commonwealth was increasing by the day. I look down at the report I just got. It was the complete report of losses during the battles.
Before the battle, we had 1048 members in fighting condition. By dawn the next day, we had 57 members, of which only 30 were still combat capable. 12 were moderately injured and would require around an entire week to be fit for duty again. 9 were severely injured and was unknown if they would make it but at the bare minimum they would need over a month of care to get back to duty if they ever do. The last 6 were maimed but alive. They wouldn't be able to fight unless we gave them suits similar to Proctor Ingram.
The silver lining was that very few leaders died in the battles. But the report I just finished reading said that of the 9 in critical condition, 4 passed away, 2 are stabilized but maimed, and the last 3 are bedridden and will take over a month to get back to service. And now I was faced with a troubling issue. Raiders had stolen Brotherhood property and were now holed up in a prewar genetics facility. We couldn't ignore their presence, as it would greatly increase the chances of us being attacked by others. We haven't had any leaks on what happened at the Airport. Thanks to us keeping everyone away from our base, no one knows how weak we are. We need to keep that facade up, or else we run the risk of losing the Prydwen. The Prydwen is too valuable to lose here.
I was also hiding what happened from the main branch in the West and the Citadel. It is not impossible that I will lose my position from this fiasco unless we find a scapegoat to take the blame. All official reports state that this was an attack by the Institute. Even if it isn't believed, it will not be questioned by too many. And I don't have to keep that many silent to keep up that lie. Which brings me to my current plan. The door opens, and I see exactly who I asked for. All the various leaders who could be spared were here.
"I brought you all here to make it clear. I intend on making a tactical retreat. But before we can do that, we must reclaim the stolen equipment from the Raiders in Cambridge," I say firmly.
"I thought you might have wanted to do that, so I took the liberty of requesting info on the Raiders from Bunker Hill. They gave the info for free. They told my agent that the Raiders have 20-24 men, a single Suit of T-60 Power Armor, RPGs on the roof, High Caliber guns, and they have taken over the Greentech Genetics building, which was scheduled for a retrieval ops in 2 weeks," Proctor Quinlan said.
"With all due respect, we don't have the spare manpower to clear out these Raiders. We don't even have enough to hold the Airport," Kells argues.
"It's exactly why we need to do this. We must appear just as strong as we did a week ago to everyone else. If we don't, our enemies may make a move on our remaining forces. All we need is one last show of force. That should prevent anyone from trying anything as we leave the Commonwealth," I say firmly.
"I got the less capable set up in Power Armor, and most would be glad to help out. I fear that if we don't let them go, they may take their own lives," Ingram says.
"Sigh. If we must do it, then I can organize some troops. I believe the moderate injuries are about to return to duty. If we used the crippled members in Power Armor, we could mobilize a total force of 50, but I would strongly recommend we send no more than 30 for security purposes," Kells says.
"Send the recently recovered and maimed in suits of Power Armor. I will authorize the deployment of 30 troops. 6 However will be stationed at the Cambridge Police Station alongside Scimitar. When we pull out of the Commonwealth, those 6 will use Scimitar to return to the Prydwen," I order.
"Yes, sir," Kells responds.
"Ad Victoriam!" I say, and everyone repeats.
POV Pharynx
After looting Fort Strong, I had been sneaking into the Airport regularly and taking everything I could. The other agents were doing the same. At first, the Brotherhood didn't notice. But as more and more supplies went missing, they launched an investigation. Also during this time, our agent in the Cambridge Raider group had escaped the attack by the Brotherhood. He made sure the Brotherhood paid dearly before that, reducing the 24-man team to only 11. The only Vertibird was working overtime to get all the suits back aboard the Prydwen.
We haven't even started taking those supplies, as the Vertibird that was assigned to the Cambridge Police Station was constantly busy at the Airport loading all the ground supplies back onto the ship. When they were done, we would start taking the supplies from the ship. The reason we were doing all of this was because we were ordered to take anything we could of value from the Prydwen before destroying it.
And there was good loot. The Brotherhood came with 60 Suits of T-60, 20 suits of T-51, and 10 suits of T-45. Not to mention the truly massive stockpile of Fusion Cells, Cores, and other kinds of energy ammo. As well as the many weapons they now have stored in their armory. Some agents were somewhat curious as to why we didn't just capture the Prydwen, but I explained to them that an airship like this was practically worthless. It was a slow, massive target that had minimal defenses and guzzled coolant. It was just far too impractical to use. Better to destroy it and cripple the East Coast Brotherhood than try and use it and weaken ourselves. That, and I was certain His Highness could make something superior.
We had 5 agents in their ranks, which left 26 combat-capable soldiers at the Airport. But if you ignore leadership, then that number shrinks to 19. There were 6 more, but they were stationed at the Cambridge Police Station. With so few members, it was quite easy to sneak around, and it also caused the members stress as they thought someone was a saboteur or traitor.
Even with the investigation, supplies continued to go missing, but they eventually secured everything of value to them on the Prydwen and began the final preparations to leave the Commonwealth. The Scimitar left and returned to the police station to await further orders. Which meant it was time to act.
We flew onto the Prydwen and saw that the troops were all being watched by those deemed trustworthy. 2 Paladins and Proctor Teagan were guarding the Power Armor. 2 Knights and Knight-Captain Cade were guarding the armory. Proctor Ingram and Sentinel Hudson were guarding the main reactor and the storage area for Liberty Prime. Lancer Captain Kells and Elder Maxson were on the bridge, ensuring everything went well. The last group was Senior Scribe Neriah and 2 Knights guarding the other members that were under investigation. For safety, only high leadership was wearing Power Armor; everyone else was given the standard jumpsuit and no weapons.
Unfortunately for the Brotherhood, the people they were guarding were the wrong people. The armory and Power Armor were being guarded by 4 of our agents. As for our last agent, they were Sentinel Hudson. Who was also recently promoted thanks to their excellent service during the attack. Everyone saw him killing enemies, but what they don't know is that the original Hudson died at the hands of a Super Mutant, and our agent took his place.
As we snuck around the Prydwen, our Squad split up. Half was heading to the Armory, and the other went to the Power Armor storage. The other agents would take all the other supplies, and it would all end with us planting explosives.
My half reached the Power Armor station, and I snuck up behind Teagan. The agents, disguised as Knights, stepped away a bit, and one even talked with Teagan. As he turns, I stab into the small gap that is created. He dies instantly, and we start taking all the Power Armor, including the suit Teagan was wearing. I get confirmation that Sclerite completed his task, and the other agents were almost done. Which meant it was time for me to move to the Hydrogen Bags. Sclerite would handle obtaining Liberty Prime.
'I must admit this new ability to transfer items to a C.A.M.P. instantly is super useful.'
The ability is what made this entire operation possible. It was thanks to the C.A.M.P.'s infinite storage and ease of transport, they were lightweight, and anything we stored could be removed freely at any time. I shake my head and refocus on the task at hand. I plant a charge on each Hydrogen bag and then quickly leave. Once we are done, we fly from a small observation deck at the front of the ship. It was rarely used or guarded, which was also why we used it for our infiltration. Once I was certain everyone was out, we got away from the Prydwen and sent word we were away, and Phase 5 could begin.
FWWWWWWWOOOOOOSSSSHHHHH BOOOOOM!
A missile comes from the sky and hits directly in the center of the ship. Urtica had disabled any automated defenses before we left, which meant the Prydwen was a sitting duck. After the missile hit, we detonated the other charges and watched as the Prydwen burst into flames and slowly fell to the ground. Once it hit the ground, the real explosion went off, and much of the old airport was destroyed. I also spot the faint light of the other two missiles striking across the sky towards their other target, GNN. Once we were certain that nothing was happening, we left the area and returned to base.
--------------------
Author's Note:
Well, there goes the massive Blimp. They should have learned their lesson about Hindenburg: never use Hydrogen for an aircraft. With this, the Brotherhood is not gone. The Citadel has many more members, but it might take them a while to figure out that their entire expedition was destroyed. The surviving Vertibird was left for a reason. This section ended up being much longer than anticipated, but that's fine. Until next time, Ciao.