[u][b]Cherry City - 3:30 am[/b][/u]

"Damn it, Sarge!", Les, the night guard on the docks said exasperatedly, "What has gotten into you?"

Sarge, the battered old Mr Gutsy that was the subject of the man's protests did not reply. It simply stayed put, quietly whirring, looking out into the Lake and ignoring him. Les had never fully trusted the old robot...and neither did the Mayor, which is why he spent his nights patrolling with it, mainly to make sure it didn't open fire on Lakefolk pulling in at night....but Calypso had given it to them, and refusing a gift from her was...[i]well[/i], unwise to say the least. But, old or not, keeping the robot active was probably for the best...given the lack of any news or orders coming from the Island for the last few days, and the stories from Lakemen of pitched battles between the Brotherhood and some sort of Sea Raiders at the north end of the Lake. Bill, the evening watch, had told him when he took over that one of the Brotherhood's Monitors had been sitting at anchor off the mouth of the bay, just off the lighthouse at Old Mission Point, all afternoon and into the evening. That was odd, the Brotherhood never paid them much mind before, though occasionally a ship of theirs would pull in for some shore leave for the crew. But Les wasn't worried about the Brotherhood....he wanted to continue his patrol and the balky robot was delaying him. 

"Come on, you", Les said irritably to the unresponsive robot, grabbing it by the carrying handle on the back if it's some and pulling the still hovering robot along with him, "We need to go to the Academy Pier". 

He got about ten feet when the robot suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled his hand off of the handle. 

"Stop that, Lester", it said in the familiar faux drill sergeant voice that Mr Gutsy's used, and floated back to where it was. 

"Wha...what did you call me?", Les said flabbergasted. In his 49 years no robot had ever talked to him like that before, much less used his name. As the robot had begun ignoring him again, he stomped up to it, grabbed it's dome with both hands and spun it about to face him. "Answer me, you bucket of bolts!".

"Well", the robot replied, "your name [i]is[/i] Lester, isn't it? Lester Nessman, 49, night watch on the riverfront? That's what the files say, anyway....as corrupt as the OS in this thing was, maybe [i]that[/i] got screwed up and you're someone else...though the other guy called you Les."

Les's jaw dropped and he involuntarily took a step back. He hadn't imagined it, the robot was talking to him like it was a person. He knew enough about technology from years of working on Calypso's various projects...from the old Lake freighter tied up at the Academy dock to Cherry City's radio station, where he was engineer....to realize he wasn't talking to a robot, not anymore. Someone was talking to him [i]through[/i] the robot. 

"Relax, Lester", the robot said, "Nobody has to die needlessly....they'll be here any second."

"Who are you really", Les said slowly, "And what do you want from us?"

"Scribe Adam Walker of the Brotherhood of Steel, at your service.", it replied. "You can call me Adam, or Brother Adam if you like. I'm on the Monitor you and Bill were wondering about, the [i]Inexorable[/i]. I hacked this robot to prevent any...[i]well[/i], accidents. Good thing I did as this thing's combat inhibitors are just about shot. As far as what we are doing, and how it affects you and the other good people here, Paladin Wallace will explain it all later this morning, but for now, suffice it to say Calypso ran out on you, and we're intervening to prevent you from being massacred by the really sick people she ran away from....they are about three days march from here, you should know." 

As he tried to formulate a reply, a gray steel hulled open top boat coasted up to the pier....the light from a oil lantern revealing it was packed with people, some of which leaped out onto the pier and tied the boat off. The first ones were sailors, wearing the grey-green rubber hazard suits that Lakemen from clans aligned with the Brotherhood wore, behind them came men in a form of Power Armor he'd never seen before....along with some men in red woolen tunics with the most outlandish armor he'd ever seen over it. Aside from some quizzical gazes, they left him alone and proceeded to form a perimeter as if they were waiting for something else. He thought of doing something, but he knew it would be pointless....and if they had really meant this town harm they would have just killed him.   

"The advance party", Adam said through the robot, "If you think they're something, just wait until you see what's coming up next."

Moments later, the bulk of a large pre-war freighter loomed up out of the dark. Unlike the boat, it slowed but did not stop, and noisily ran itself aground, seemingly on purpose. The reason why became clear when the bow of the ship opened up, and a ramp was lowered, followed by a old Army APC driving down the ramp and onto shore, followed by two more, and behind them a force of more Brotherhood soldiers.

"It'll be OK, Lester", the robot remarked, "There will be some changes but life will go on largely as it has before." It then added, "Look on the bright side, remember that "50 and out" rule Calypso had? Not a problem for you anymore."  

[u][b]Windsor, near the Windsor State House[/b][/u]

Horace Pendergast, the Brotherhood's representative to the Republic, along with his two Knight escort, made his way through the streets towards his goal, the State House, where he was told that the President was awaiting him. For over two weeks, he had gone through every official channel, and even a few unofficial ones, to try to reach her or a Cabinet officer, but he had been stonewalled at every turn. Only now, at the brink of annihilation, did they want to speak with the Brotherhood. So be it, getting their cooperation at this point was better than the alternative....Commodore Hackett forcing the issue when he arrived in about eighteen hours. Hackett certainly knew his business on the deck of a ship, but the man did not suffer fools gladly, and there were fools aplenty here. He had half expected Hackett to simply have them all shot and take over if they tried with him what he had endured for a fortnight. 

He wondered what Barnaky would do when he learned the Cult had overrun Detroit itself and were only tenuously held at bay from it's sister city, Windsor....until Hackett arrived, he didn't even have secure coms with Omaha, he'd had to burn his papers, smash all their electronics and set fire to the quaint little brownstone he'd settled on for a Embassy. Only once he had made sure he left behind nothing but ashes for the Cult, did he flee to Windsor with little more than his trusty laser rifle...a relic of his days in the Army...and the clothes on his back. Probably just tell Hackett to redline his boilers and get here asap. They couldn't afford to let the Cult have the Republic's industrial base....it would make a big problem even bigger. 

Eventually, he reached Windsor's State House. After some squabbling, he was ushered through the defense lines around the building and ushered to the Governor's Office, where a blonde woman was looking out the window pensively at the hellscape across the river. 

The aide that ushered him to the office announced his arrival, then exited, closing the door behind him, and the woman turned to face him. 

"Madam President", Pendergast said, "I am Horace Pendergast, the Midwestern Order's Ambassador to the Republic. I was told you wished to see me?"