[u][b]Switchboard - Head Librarian's Office[/b][/u]

"...the meeting is at 1800", Justin said over the phone, "Our assets in Toronto, or Ronto as people topside call it, sent back some video footage. The Director and I have already seen much of it, it's quite grim. Among other things, there is footage of what happened in Chicago."

"Did they...?", asked Charlotte in a pained tone of voice. 

"Yes", Justin replied tersely. "The Midwestern Brotherhood destroyed their own city with nuclear weapons. As far as I could tell, thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people died....and God knows how many Mutants. Given some of the other footage, I'm not sure I can blame them. I know enough about the Laws of the Brotherhood to know that using strategic nuclear weapons on civilians is the gravest crime of them all....but it seems that after Barnaky's death their defensive lines crumbled and they shifted their focus to the larger picture, stopping an existential threat to Mankind itself at any cost."

"Perhaps", she replied sadly, "I'll try to keep a open mind. I have to say I'm disappointed in them, what they have done is a unprecedented breach of the Codex, the Order was created explicitly to prevent this from happening again."

Her eyes strayed to a picture hanging on the wall. It was from a happier time...of her, she had yet to marry and was still Charlotte Yearling then, receiving her graduation certificate from the hands of Elder Lyons, the day she took her Oath and became a Scribe. Her parents had been so proud. They were gone now, as was the Elder, in fact most everyone she had ever known. Many of them they hadn't even been able to bury, after that bastard Sutler annihilated most of their fighting strength at Adams. They had to abandon the Citadel, collecting everyone they could find and fleeing into West Virginia, the locals were polite but not terribly welcoming. They didn't want any trouble with Sutler, as they had enough problems keeping a lid on the legacy the Old World had left in Appalachia. When the Elder had died a few weeks after their arrival of a broken heart...she herself had held his hand as he died, Sarah's loss on top of the disaster Sutler had wreaked on them, and Abaddon's perfidy (hopefully Sutler rewarded his treachery with a painful death!), had been too much for him and he lost his will to live. After the Elder was interred in a old Pre-War munitions bunker along with the original mainframes that held the Chapter archives, the surviving Proctors took stock and decided that with only a handful of Knights and Paladins left, barely enough equipment to arm them, the Chapter was doomed. A vote was taken, and the motion to formally dissolve the Chapter carried. The survivors made their final goodbyes then went their own separate ways. Rothschild led a Party West, to try and return to Lost Hills. God only knows how far he got, knowing what she knew now. George, Vallaincourt, and her joined Dr Li's party headed North to the Commonwealth...once the Institute realized how formidable an intellect she was, she managed to get them all in as a package deal. A few headed back to the Capital Wasteland, that didn't end well for the ones who fell into Sutler's hands. The rest decided not to join a faction, and scattered to the winds and could likely be found in ones or twos in any civilized faction. She herself know of several who had come to the Commonwealth but did not join the Institute. Those they looked out for best they could, so they could come in from the cold if they chose. 

She was distracted as the door to her office opened. It was Will Jones, he was J6 this month. He was carrying some printouts and was clearly excited about something. 

"One moment, Justin", she said and bade him to enter. "What do you have for me, Will?"

"You need to see this, Mrs Peabody", he said as he thrust the printouts at her, "Intercept from Team Golf...some Raiders in Scranton broadcast this a little over an hour ago."

Charlotte scanned the printouts, and her jaw dropped in astonishment. The July 2077 codes were the last Codebook published, the Last Days were upon them before the usual update. A Raider gang using a old codebook wasn't impossible, but why would they be reporting a imminent threat against Pittsburgh? Who would they be sending it to? And the name of the Brother sending it? Will had been a baby during the Last Days, she nursed him as well as her eldest Wendell when his mother nearly died from dysentery on the trip North, so he had no way of knowing, but she knew for a fact Ashur had been lost during the Scourge and years later James's boy found him ruling Pittsburgh as effectively a King. Something is very wrong with this message. 

"Good catch, Will" she said, firmly pointing at one of the chairs facing her desk. Will got the hint and sat down, clearly excited that he was getting to break important news. "Justin", she said into the phone, "Is it confirmed that Ishmael Ashur is dead?"

"Yes," replied Justin, "Died around two months ago....natural causes, we were told, if you can say that the environment in Pittsburgh is anything like 'natural'. His armies remained loyal and his daughter succeeded him as planned. Why do you ask?"

"We got a decrypt request from Advanced Systems on a message emanating from Scranton," Charlotte explained. "Turns out it was coded in the last set of Brotherhood codes." She then read it aloud to him, then waited for him to check and reply. 

"Charlotte", he said after returning to the phone, "That latitude and longitude corresponds to Ashur's Palace, in the old Cathedral of Learning in the University of Pittsburgh. There is only one logical conclusion....this message was intended for [b]us[/b]. The Pitt Raiders are asking the Institute...us...for help. They suspected, correctly, that members of the Brotherhood had joined the Institute and hoped this would get their...your...attention. There is no other option that makes sense to me."

"You should relay over right away", Justin continued, "We have to bring this before the Director, and ultimately the Directorate. With George in Nuka-World, you wield your Department's vote."

"Agreed", Charlotte replied, "I'll be over as soon as I debrief my people." She then ended the call and turned to Will, picking up a clipboard and handing it to Will. "Start writing, young man...and not your usual chicken-scratches, please..this is going to the top."