Untarnished, She Shines With Honour // Arthur Maxson x F!Sole Survivor

Chapter Five

The Commonwealth below is blanketed in a thick, heavy blanket of fog that turns the already barren, and somewhat foreboding wasteland into something ominous, and mysterious. The fog has already proved to be somewhat of a problem, granting the Brotherhood soldiers more cover, but also reducing sightlines. They have no choice. This mission needs to be completed, and it needs to be completed soon. Hell, Maxson should have made them go through with it yesterday, but he had spent too long at the Castle discussing the intricacies of Ridley's trip to the Glowing Sea to do much else.

Kells hadn't been all too pleased.

Maxson leans against the cold metal railings of the Prydwen's bow, eyes narrowed at the faint outlines of Fort Strong below.

"Elder." While Ridley's tone is as respectful as it usually is, save for the few times he's earned her anger, he notices that she sounds a little more exhausted than she usually does. Her hair is tied back again in a tight knot at the base of her skull, and she's exchanged her Minutemen coat for a simple Brotherhood jacket lined with wool. It's almost strange to see her sporting the crest of a sword against a backdrop of gears, rather than the Minutemen's crossed rifle and bolt surrounded by stars.

"Didn't get enough sleep?" He speaks in jest, but they both know some part of him is concerned for her health.

"I have a hard enough time sleeping as it is, and I'm afraid I got quite the stern talking to about your behaviour yesterday," she mumbles, yawning into the back of her hand. "Nick wasn't all that affected. He's used to worse from the knights that stop in Diamond City's marketplace, but Cait and Piper were damn near livid."

"The knights that stop in Diamond City?" he repeats, narrowing his eyes. Against synths as the Brotherhood is, his men have explicit instructions to avoid conflict with respected synths in public spaces. He dislikes Ridley's synth companion, but as a prominent figure in Diamond City, and protected by the Minutemen, it is unfortunately protected.

"Your men occasionally drop by the city to resupply. Nick's provided an awful lot to Diamond City, you know. More than most of the human residents. He's tracked down kidnapped children, stopped thefts as well as assassination attempts. Hell, he's tracked down synths that were trying to stir chaos. Your men have... not treated him kindly."

Her hesitation to elaborate makes him frown. "In what sense?"

"They've threatened to kill him, physically assaulted him, demanded caps in return for his safety, threatened to turn him over to a courser, said that they were going to take him apart for spare parts..." She blows a strand of hair out of her eyes. "It got to the point where Danse ordered them to stop, and they didn't. It caused... a scene."

He understands that some of his men feel passionately about synths, but they have no right to ignore the orders of a superior officer. "Do you know their names?"

"Knight-Sergeant Lawson, Lancer Chapman, and Initiate Brown, I believe. Danse—er... Paladin Danse, rather, does not hide the fact that he does not get along with Nick, but he has the courtesy of being civil. If it weren't for the crowd, I think he might have dragged Lawson, Chapman, and Brown into the nearby alley, and... reminded them that he outranks them."

Maxson looks back out at Fort Strong. "Thank you, Knight. I'll look into it. If any more of my men cause problems for your allies, please let me know."

"Even if they're synths?"

"Or if they're ghouls, yes. Regardless of whether or not they like it, we are now brothers-in-arms with the Minutemen, and if you have accepted these..." He almost says creatures, but the slight narrowing of her eyes warns him not to. "These people into your fold, then they should be treated with the same respect deserving of any other soldier, provided they do not do anything that would get any other member punished."