Newton Oberly had never seen the sun, never seen the world above, until almost two years ago. It hadn't been an easy choice to leave behind the facility he had managed for years. Housing and Provisions had been his life within the Institute. Now, that was gone and something else had come up in its place. No longer within the metal and plastic shell of his former home, but now under the heat of the blistering sun, in the cold of nights beneath the Boston moon, and occasionally sheltering from the menace that was the rad storms.
Here, he and those that had escaped from the inferno of the Institute had made a new life for themselves, thanks to the very people who had caused that inferno to begin with. A strange fate, but that seemed to be the way of the Minutemen. Perhaps Father had been wrong after all, not just about them, but about many things.
If he had been told such those two years ago, he would have laughed in the face of whoever had told him, but there he was. From Croup Manor, they had built a community and it joined several others within the Commonwealth. It wasn't a wasteland as so many in the Institute had believed. No, life flourished here, and not just the mutated wretches of the land. It had taken the man some time to consider it but, Newton had to admit, this way was the right one.
Croup Manor also served a purpose in the defense of the Commonwealth. Situated on the coast as it was, it was one of several watchtowers, four in total, that were to watch for any suspicious activity and report in to the Minutemen Radio. In the two years that they had lived in the old Croup Manor, refurbishing it and building an admittedly very impressive irrigation system (even Clayton would have had to have been impressed, God rest him) to grow a surplus of crops to help feed the people of the Commonwealth.
Again, Housing and Provisions.
It was on one of those nights, after another shipment had been sent out through the caravans, that Newton was up on the balcony on the second floor of the Manor. A spyglass found during a scavenging operation into one of the old military bases in the Boston area had been deemed in good working order and had been reproduced as well as possible, giving one to Croup Manor and the other watchposts: the Kingsport Lighthouse, Nordhagen Beach, and Spectacle Island. It was at this spyglass that Newton sat, and he spied something strange in that spyglass. He picked up the microphone for the radio.
"This is Croup 1. Croup 1, transmitting. Does anyone copy? Over?" He asked, then waited for a reply.
"Croup 1, this is Kingsport 1. I read you. What's your 18?" The voice of the Kingsport operator came across.
"Kingsport 1, I'm picking up something Northeast-East of your position. Can you confirm?" Newton transmitted again, then waited for a reply. It looked to be a pair of red lights hovering some distance away. Possibly a vertibird? He certainly hoped it was a vertibird, as anything else that could fly like that was. . .nothing he wanted to think about. "Kingsport 1, do you copy?" The replies had stopped. "Kingsport 1, respond." Newton turned the spyglass to the north, but could not make out any of the lights that normally signified the settlement's existence, in particular the big one at the top now that it had been cleared of the Glowing One that had been locked within.
It was soon after this that he realized he'd made a fatal error - the lights were not north-northeast of Kingsport. They were coming from Kingsport. Two lights became four, then six, and soon he realized a loud chopping sound as soon as it came to his ears.
Vertibirds. He reached over and pressed the Victorium Alarm, a standard-issue warning for the occasional (and increasingly less frequent, thank Heaven) Brotherhood raid. The alarm went out, the alert chiming out across the settlement as Newton was only too happy to hear everyone reacting as they should, some getting to the basement lockdown while others were readying weapons. All very routine and with a minimal causality or injury rate. Something seemed different about this one, however. Newton grabbed up his own plasma rifle and noted the formation of the vertibirds (three in all) was different than the Brotherhood's usual MO.
"Castle 1, Castle 1. This is Croup 1! Do you copy?" Newton quickly called. Static came from the radio. "Castle 1, Castle 1. Do you copy?" The static lingered a bit longer, only to be replaced with a song. Newton turned, staring in confusion at the radio as the hymn continued to play.
"Doctor Oberly! They're landing!" A voice caught Newton's attention and he set the microphone down by the radio.
"Take positions!"
He came down to the first floor, standing at the barricade that had been erected and seeing the trio of vertibirds had indeed touched down down the hill from their settlement. Approaching through the darkness of night, illuminated at the back by their craft and at the front by the line of lights at the front of the Manor.
"Those aren't T-60s..."
"What the hell are those?"
"Steady!" Newton said, gazing upon the strange, insect-like helmets with glowing, yellow eyes. Their feet impacted hard into the soil as they approached, one of them in the lead.
"I am Master Sergeant Roberson, representing the United States Armed Forces addressing the leader of this settlement. Step forward."
A moment of silence followed and then-
"This instruction will not be repeated." Newton gestured for the others to maintain their position. He stood to his full height behind the barricade.
"I am Doctor Newton Oberly, the leader of this settlement."
"Doctor Newton Oberly," The voice of Roberson came through the grillwork of his Power Armor helmet. "You and your men are hereby instructed to lay down your weapons and submit to the authority of the United States Armed Forces."
"With respect, Sergeant, there is no United States Armed Forces. There is no United States to have an armed-"
"My statement stands, Oberly. You are to surrender and submit to the authority of the United States Armed Forces."
"This really isn't necessar-"
"The subjects are belligerent. Begin sterilization procedure six." The armored men began to unshoulder their weapons.
"Take 'em down!" One shot from a laser musket was met with three blasts from three different Laser Rifles. From there, the cacophony of hellfire erupted. Six minutes later, it was over.
Newton found himself put on his knees amid the bodies.
"Sir, we've got lifesigns in the basement. They're in lockdown."
"Plenty of time for that in a bit." Roberson said. "Well, Doctor Oberly. It seems you and your people made the wrong call."
"Why are you doing this?" Newton asked, still in a state of shock. "What is it for?"
"We're winning the war for America, Mr. Newton. It's a new beginning for our great nation." Roberson gestured with his rifle toward Croup Manor. "There are some children in there, I expect? They will be a great asset to that cause."
"After you murdered their parents? How brave." Newton spat bitterly at the man.
"I thought we were clear on this, Doctor." Roberson took aim. "We're with the United States Government."
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