It's the second day of Elder Blixley's awakening, and Elder Dylan crosses his arms and asks Elder Blixley to read all the records accumulated during this time, which makes her miserable, because of the departure of the Feather Order scribes, and now the records of the events of this Brotherhood of Steel branch are all done by the knights, the original records are boring, and the current records are boring and tiring, because there are so many sick sentences.

"This...."

She rubbed her head, which wasn't quite sober yet.

"I said, Glenn, is there something more important to do today?"

Glen Diesson's gaze looked at Andrea with some mixed emotions.

"Yes, indeed.... We owe today a commendation to the outsider who has been of great help to us, and with regard to the letter of Joseph Dodge, the Governor of the Eastern District of the NcR, you should write a well-worded, properly written reply today, and we should explain to him that we have ceased all offensive behavior since a year ago, and that the attacks of the past year have been carried out by the Ring of Steel that has betrayed us to stand on our own. Or... I fully respect your choice as to whether or not we continue to follow the orders given by the Lost Mountain. ”

Brixley had an irrepressible twitch on his face.

"It's... Why can't we simplify everything? ”

Glendison's face changed, this woman really didn't understand how many times he wiped her ass and dealt with how many tangled chores she had to deal with when she didn't know, without his help, the piled up of papers in the commander's office could completely overwhelm her, and she must have simply started to mess up, choosing not to solve anything, and secretly throwing all the documents into the garbage incinerator.

"Already, it's very simple, Elder Blixley, if you don't think that's simple enough, I have a proposal, now you go back to your room and start sleeping, and then the two of us sneak off to that cliff to the west tonight to see the stars, what do you think?"

Blixley nodded repeatedly.

"Okay, okay, I'm going to bring my camera, and preferably my favorite full-fledged luncheon meat, where I want to sit on the grass and have a picnic while watching the stars, and then I..."

Glen Diesson, the elder finally roared uncontrollably.

"You really take what I said seriously?!!"

Brixley was frightened and leaned back, smiling awkwardly.

Elder Disson, with a dark face, glanced down at his watch, and then solemnly informed Blixley that it was the time he had scheduled for the previous time, and the entire Fort Maxson had gathered in the conference room on Level 2.

She opened her mouth, dazed, and tried to find a mirror, then got up from her chair and spun in circles.

A hand grabbed her hand and forced her into a serious standing position suitable for an elder.

"You don't have to think about anything today, as long as you are alive, Fort Maxson's morale will not collapse, now it is no different from when a few of us went all the way here, no matter when, I am behind you."

The two looked at each other for a moment, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little ambiguous, at least that's what Elder Dyson himself thought, until Blixley opened his mouth to speak.

"Wow! Glenn, you really listen to your words, why don't I give you the position of commander of Fort Maxson, and then I will take people to patrol outside, I think you will be able to do it! ”

Glenn Dyson let out a crush in his heart, and with great difficulty it was a great effort to suppress the impulse, and he asked almost mournfully.

"Andrea, let me ask you, why did you accept the remote appointment from Lost Mountain in the first place?"

Blixley tilted his head in thought.

"I... I thought I wouldn't have to listen to them nagging me here, uh.... Who knew it would turn out like this.... It's a lot harder than when I was a paladin. ”

Glen Dyson clenched his fists, he really wanted to say that he was doing similar things when they were both paladins.

"Are you sure? If you really don't want to continue to be the commander of this thing, then give the command to that bastard of Triciniels, you know what the proposal she and Jerry Cosetti submitted? Bombing the Hoover Dam with a mini-nuclear bomb, if that one really succeeds, may be able to solve the problem once and for all. Now that the scribe is back and the main arsenal is open, if she is allowed to come, she will take people to carry out the plan to bombard the Hoover Dam today, what do you think? ”

Blixley jerked his head up, his face finally changing from the casual expression he had before, and replacing it with a serious expression.

"I will never allow that kind of thing to happen, this is against the law, the use of nuclear weapons to kill innocents indiscriminately, this should be prevented by us, how can we do it with our own hands? As long as I'm here, no one will want to do that. ”

Dyson nodded in satisfaction.

"That's it, keep this momentum, Nils is nothing compared to you, you are the most suitable commander, there is no other possibility.... Now, pack up, everyone is waiting for you. ”

......................

For the first time, the large conference room on Level 2 was full, or the people who were still sitting here, and the seats that would have allowed more people to fit here had become more than people after many of the scribes and members of the Circle of Steel had left.

As Elder Andrea Brixley strode up to the podium in a straight military uniform with a solemn face, the Brotherhood of Steel soldiers burst into cheers. The Iron Brotherhood Elder, who had been unconscious for a long time, had become a little withered, as she had been kept alive by infusions, but fortunately this did not damage her majesty.

"Ladies and gentlemen..."

Blixley glanced at the speech that Dyson handed her, and after reading it for a while, she felt that this was not what she wanted to say, so she simply threw the speech into the corner of the podium, and Deson sighed silently as she saw this happen.

"I'm back."

Elder Billings took the lead, and a round of applause came from below.

Only the triangular-eyed Elder Nils and the calm-faced Elder Cosetti did not applaud with the crowd.

After waiting for the applause to subside, Blixley was embarrassed to find that she was not completely ready to take off the draft, and the progress of her manuscript in this short interval was no progress, only a mess, or just start to play freely.

As soon as she brewed so confidently, Decision at the bottom felt bad.

"I've heard that Quartermaster Devon, a son of a bitch, poisoned me in my favorite canned meat of the Full brand, so that I could only eat canned meat with a long neck this morning, ha! This crumb, but he can't poison me! I'm alive and well! ”

A burst of laughter came from among the soldiers below, and Decon sitting below covered his face speechlessly.

Blixley had a smile on his face, and there was nothing more important than turning into a cold corpse or bringing back a string of bloody holographic dog tags.

"We've been together since you all came to Fort Maxson in 2242, we're a collective, and when the Supreme Elder says: Fight NcR! We'll do it, because that's the chief's decision. But what I do know is that it was in the same year that we joined forces with them to defeat the enclave in Navarro, the anti-human elements and their lackeys, and we were united because we believed that we were a united front defending the common destiny of humanity and that each of us was glorious! We are fighting for our fellow citizens and for the future! ”

The soldiers were silent, everyone knew these things, but they didn't dare to say anything after the Lost Mountain declared war with the NcR.

Blixley looked at Nils in the audience, and the other party stared at her indifferently with those triangular eyes.

"We all know what the reason for what happened later, it was nothing more than about Navarro's trophies, about the distribution of those pre-war technologies, and then NcR sent troops to take control of the Hoover Dam, which has a lot of important military laboratories inside, without consulting us, and they did things very inauthentically, and they have been like this for so many years, and they think that the second two-headed bear on their flag is up, and they don't take us seriously, it's really infuriating."

Another burst of laughter.

Blixley smiled as well, and then she returned to her seriousness.

"Elder Jeremy made us do it, we tried to do it, some brothers died in the process, but I still remember the faces of each and every one of them, and when I look at you today, I feel sad that they can't sit here like us today, they also have relatives, but they can't go back, they are left here, forever."

A sense of sadness spread among the soldiers, and some of the soldiers' eyes moistened at the thought of their dead friends.

Blixley removed the holographic dog tag around his neck, a standard item for Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, which stored more information and even readable audio and video data than the NcR soldiers' simple iron tags that recorded their names, ages, blood types, and home addresses.

"The name of every brother or sister who died will be written into the code, even if we are far from headquarters, they are the pillars of the iron foundation, and their souls are ascribed to our banner of glory. Of course we will remember them, but I am sure they will not want us to go down and meet them so soon, and their things still need to be brought back by us and returned to their families...."

"You've been here for years, I've been here for even longer, it's been more than twenty years since I left Lost Mountain, and when I first came here, I was a young man like you, and now I'm more and more worthy of my title, Elder."

She slammed the holographic dog tag in her hand on the podium.

"Elder Jeremy told me personally at the time that he was relieved that I would be the commander of Fort Maxson, and that the name of the bunker was also chosen by him from the several alternative names I said, and the reason why he chose this name was because he felt that since the NcR had built a Fort Arrashid in the east, we would also have to build a Fort Maxson in the east, and now one of the sisters is in ruins, but we are still here, which is undoubtedly lucky, and it proves that our luck was better than that of the NcR."

"But luck won't last forever, I'll be blunt, I want this war to end, at least with us."

Everyone was silent at first, and after a while, there was some talk of talking back and forth.

Corsetti's body jeopardized to his feet, but when he looked back, he saw that Nils was staring at Blixley's body but did not move, so he had to sit back down.

Billings made no secret of his smile and Dyson closed his eyes, although it meant that they had to compromise on the fact that NcR had taken over the Hoover Dam, but.... At least he felt relieved now.

Blix waited for everyone to be quiet before he continued to speak.

"I read the letter, and the Dodge mayors were very sincere, they were willing to cease war with us and restore normal diplomatic relations, they were willing to actively trade with us and to some extent to engage in joint military defense, and they were willing to sign a series of formal written agreements. Frankly, it's good, it's better than thinking about the situation where we sent someone to make peace with them, and we should take this opportunity. ”

Elder Decon coughed heavily.

Blixley knew that his words had been extinguished, and he hurriedly brushed it off.

"Anyway, we'll be officially reaching a truce with the NcR in the near future, unless we restore contact with headquarters one day, and we'll talk about what happens after that... But I think that sooner or later, the elders at headquarters will find out the stupidity of this war, and we can't hold all the pre-war technology in our own hands. 'Our mission is to be overseers of the use of technology, not hoarders,' Paladin Leon's words may have been controversial at HQ, but I think he has a point. ”

She looked at Jerichosetti, who was sitting below.

"I've heard that a lot of interesting things happened in our little bunker while I was unconscious, and the Ring of Steel seems to think you're a more suitable commander than me, is that happening? Elder Cosetti? ”

Corsetti stood up with some hesitation.

"I'll admit that this did happen, as I had previously been selected as one of the Ring of Steel Instructors, but it was a decision from the Elders, who considered the tactical squad I trained to be valuable and wanted me to use that experience in their training plans. I did as they were told, but I thought their rebellion had broken the Codex chain, so I refused their request, and I'm still here, proving that I'm not of the same mind as them. ”

Blixley stared at him for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Nils' face.

"I've also heard that people have been actively promoting themselves as the best candidates to succeed me when I die, is that true? Elder Nils? ”

Triciniels stood up suddenly, she already had a stomach full of things to say.

"Andrea Blixley, you are a soldier who has sworn eternal allegiance to the Brotherhood of Steel and sworn unconditional obedience to the orders of the High Elder and the Council of Elders! You should understand the seriousness of our organization, we are not playmates who play travel games with you, we are all military too! This war is a sacred war, a counterattack against those who desecrate the Code! I do not support the Circle of Steel because I obey the Codex Chains and respect the official mandate of the High Elder and the Council of Elders, not out of recognition of you! ”

"A soldier should never be afraid of war, no matter how bad the situation is, we must hold on to our weapons and fight the enemy to the end, what about you? How do you do that? ”

Blix waited for her to finish angrily, she looked at the veteran team member, and her mind couldn't help but fly back to the road encounter here decades ago, when she was injured by a mine set by a marauder, and barely crawled out of the power armor but couldn't walk, the strong woman in front of her fled with the others on her back after quickly treating her, shooting back at those marauders as she ran, in that calamitous squad, she was the only maintenance worker and doctor along the way, Also completely a qualified fighter.

She remembered twenty years ago, after a long journey east, when the five of them finally arrived at the gates of Fort Maxson, when Traciniels sat on the ground and yelled, "It's really here" and "It's not a hallucination."

"Tracy."

The expression on Elder Nils' face looked like he felt that the title was a bit numb and diaphragmatic, but in the end he didn't say anything.

"It's true that a soldier shouldn't be afraid of war, but it's not a soldier's job to start a war, let alone to slaughter civilians, and I heard that you're planning to blow up the Hoover Dam with a mini-nuke, do you know what that will lead to? Water would pour upstream of the Hoover Dam, and the burst flood would kill everyone there, and then create another flood downstream. ”

Elder Blixley looked at her and admonished her in a mournful tone.

"The duty of a soldier is to obey orders, and to obey orders is to protect, to protect our loved ones and even to protect humanity, to protect this world from being destroyed by human beings themselves in the same way. We must block war before us and keep peace behind us, this is the purpose of our fear of war, and this is the reason why we are not afraid of war. Therefore, we need to be in awe of war, always wary of aiming our weapons at the wrong people, and always be ready to stop groups or individuals who want to drag the world into ruin again, just as we have defeated super mutants and enclaves in the past. ”

"And not the other way around."

Elder Nils was speechless, and finally sat back in his seat with a cold snort and closed his eyes.

Seeing this, Elder Blixley accepted it, and she looked at Andy.

"Alright, that's all for the heavy talk, and now we need to say thank you to the one who has been running back and forth for us, come on, Andy, and I will present you with a special honor in my capacity as the Supreme Commander of Fort Maxson-Elder Blixley, as a token of appreciation for all your deeds, and I believe you are absolutely worthy of it."

Andy walked up and looked at the elder curiously, what honor did she want to bestow on herself?