[color=004b80][b]High Elder Gladstone – Western Brotherhood of Steel – Santa Fe Conference[/b][/color] "We're arranging transport from Cheyenne, we can move your force directly to Indianapolis by rail. Indianapolis's airport has been secured and is operational, we have plenty of room for your air units there. Grissom AFB has also been taken, but it took a direct hit during the War and the fueling facilities there are a total loss." Gladstone nodded his assent at the plan. His voice a soft rasp as he made his thanks and thoughts known. “That would be most agreeable Brother Martin. I’ll order forward air units to be there hopefully within the next forty eight hours to be aerial reconnaissance and precision strikes in preparation for the full scale campaign. Furthermore, I’ll have a team of scribes and the like sent forth to evaluate Grissom air force base, to see what elements it might be possible to station there, if any.” The conversation then moved to the status of the east coast, at least that which did not lie under the shadow of the cult. "We have a Mission in the Capital Wasteland. Contacting the Children of Atom is one of the priorities of that expedition. Progress is being made, but they take issue with our nuclear non-proliferation efforts...they consider it a form of Iconoclasm though their leader, Confessor Cromwell, has taken a reasonably pragmatic attitude towards it. As for the Cult, they are sworn enemies... they invaded the Capital Wasteland in force, the Children used tactical nuclear weapons to repel them.” An eyebrow, or at least Atticus’ remaining eyebrow, rose to display a visible sign of both surprise and amusement at the thought of a faction utilising tactical nuclear weaponry against the tribal marauders of the east. He’d have to see if covert contact could be made with the Children of the Atom, Maxson had noted the group in his communiques west, dismissing them as religious fanatics, then re-evaluating them later on as a credible threat. And besides it wouldn’t do to allow the Midwest a free hand in the east, even if the only presence his brotherhood could establish would be a fingernail-hold there. “Currently we are not in direct contact with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but I am organizing a diplomatic mission to them. At present, our sources in the IRD and Capital Wasteland indicate the Commonwealth is actively fighting the Cult along its Western border, and we are getting reports they are planning a joint offensive with the Children of Atom in Eastern Maryland." That sounded promising, he’d have to see about establishing relations with the Commonwealth as well. Multiple groups in the east boded well for the Western Brotherhood, and allowing himself a small hum of thoughtfulness, Gladstone nodded his thanks to Brother Martin for a most revealing debrief, the best of which had yet to be revealed. "As far as the Institute, records we've found in the Pentagon, or Citadel as the Eastern Order called it, refer to such an organization, believed to be in or near Boston. We found a survivor of Maxson's Expedition recently, he tells us that they had been there to find this Institute, but had never found any hard evidence it even existed before they were attacked and overwhelmed by the locals. Any information about this group or the Expedition in general you could share that Maxson provided you would be greatly appreciated...Maxson was young for an Elder, but hardly a novice and well advised. It beggars belief that there is nothing at all to his suspicions." Curiouser and curiouser. Gladstone nodded slowly, voicing his agreement with the midwestern assessment of the situation. “Yes, it beggars belief indeed. Maxson thought the Institute an incredibly advanced faction, more advanced than any faction of the Brotherhood. And more advanced than the Enclave at their peak. The reports he made to me were he admitted a mix of rumour, and unsettling evidence. I bid him investigate carefully, however, the boy in his haste seems to have taken to looking at every problem as a nail, and his ascendant order as a hammer. The forces he marshalled for the expedition were formidable, his last report stated that he was moving north with considerable force. And I mean considerable, armour, aerial and robotic elements all. An aerial aircraft carrier, vertibirds, power armoured contingents, and a nearly operational pre-war superweapon, all at the boy’s disposal.” Atticus’ eyes flicked upwards to meet Brother Martins. “Would it be possible to view the report this itinerant eastern survivor made? To make comparisons to my own reports from Maxson himself. Whilst the man was likely not in full possession of the facts, and neither am I, I am however in possession of the thoughts of Maxson himself. Or as close as any of us can come to the boys thoughts following his unfortunate demise.”