Republic of the Capital Wasteland
-Sarah Lyons' Office, The Citadel-
Sarah Lyons sat at her chair as Elder, head held in her hands as her elbows rested on the metal desk itself.
Damned paperwork. Every. Single. Day. But that was what it took to keep things running in this Republic she and the Lyons' Pride Brotherhood had worked to forge. Over two decades of work, blood, sweat, and tears, and finally her father's dream for the Capital Wasteland was rudimentarily achieved in 'well enough' order at least. She'd learned a lot in the past two decades and counting, both on and behind the front lines, all mostly thanks to that kid from Vault 101...well, she was far from a kid these days at least. The 'kid' was 30 years old in her own right, and she herself was 47 by this point and had a kid of her own for pity's sake! It was a hell of a thing to think about in retrospect.
Sarah glanced from her desk at the half-empty bottle of scotch near her, leftover from a 'few sips' the prior night after getting off of work. Ugh. It had taken some meds to get the pain to go down, though she'd refused the use of one of the Senatorial members' own 'homemade hangover cures' at the morning meeting.
But it all still felt worth it to stick it to that damned golden boy of the Brotherhood, though, whose death she still celebrated once a year. Last night had been that night to celebrate, though it was just her and a certain former vault dweller that had been the celebrators. All sitting alone in her dimly-lit office after turning things down. Hell. She could still see the look in the damn fool's eye the last time he saw her face to face, getting her hopes up for a moment that the kid she'd trained to shoot super mutants was in there somewhere. But after Maxson left...
...hell, why did he leave them alone here?! They still had scraps stored from the battle at Adams, and enough defectors that the Elders out West would have made them a damned target for insurrection! So why in the hell did he just leave them alone! He was the golden boy and promised messiah of the Brotherhood of Steel, he'd gone from a child who seemed to tag shyly along and talked to robots to becoming a real monster. Saying one thing and doing another. A fundamentalist that went right back to the roots of what the Brotherhood had done wrong in the past, blasting apart anything that didn't surrender its food and tech and bend the knee!
The damned man had desecrated all her father had stood for, all she had come to stand for, and endangered the Brotherhood...all for what? To go fly his giant-ass blimp over to the Commonwealth and die to the pissed-off locals somehow? Really? What was how the great 'Elder Maxson' had gone down? Blown apart like no-one's business. Dead. Leaving her and the people he left behind in his stupidity to pick up the pieces.
She clenched her right fist, and even beneath the gloves she wore as part of her Elder attire Sarah could
feel her knuckles turning white. Damned Maxson. He haunted her even now, the fool of a boy. To that end, the Elder grabbed up the bottle and took a small chug before slamming it back down onto the metal table with a loud 'clank'.
This time she'd done things right, though, no more foolish youthful notions and idiotic charging into battle to die. She kept on those who would accept her people's viewpoint, kicked out those who didn't want to stay, and kept the former Maxonites out whenever they passed by. Not that they wanted to join. Same general concept was applied when she went to Adams to secure the place, and hell it had been a wreck internally as the leadership was reeling from the loss of the bastard. Most stayed, most took on her viewpoint, and since then she'd secured her power base thoroughly in mindset, tenants, and so forth. They still secured tech, but at least now they used it to help the Capital Wasteland and its people as well to boot. It had taken time, really, but hell all of the efforts and pain and the like were worth it in the end to see things getting genuinely better around the Capital Wasteland itself.
Trees were growing, having expanded a good ways beyond the Oasis by this point. Purified, clean water was being piped to or sent in bottles to local settlements to provide clean hydration for the first time in over two-hundred years. The Super Mutant threat was gone, and what was left was under their purview and training and control. Hell, even Paradise Falls had been blasted clean off of the face of the Wasteland and resettled by the former slaves and had been changed into the processing point for myriad new immigrants that were arriving in the Capital Wasteland.
But that was also the problem, as a number of the papers in front of her had told of so very well.
They had the supplies for the most part right now, but they were working to settle and organize the newcomers and get things laid out safely. Sometimes the errant small group would slip past and try to take over any old spot as their own land, and this could cause local conflict that didn't help matters. Swelling the ranks of the Republic's military to have a non-Brotherhood branch had done wonders for this at times, and combined with brotherhood training and discipline they were properly-controlled and well-managed soldier-police. Didn't solve all the problems, but it allowed them to respond to them more quickly and ensure things didn't spiral out of control.
Any bigger threats, though, and the Brotherhood was there to snuff it out themselves. Migrating Deathclaws, Children of Atom Zealots occasionally trying to force their way in towards Megaton, Raiders trying to prey on the migrants coming their way or attempting to push into the Capital Wasteland again from outside, and even hostile Super Mutants seeking FEV from Vault 87 or just to kill and take over otherwise, all were pains in her ass and the Republic's ass. But at least they were manageable 'exterior' threats. That was the key word there.
Exterior. Not a constant internal thing that was as bad as it once was. Though speaking of possible internal threats the Republic was even now still just 'keeping an eye' on those damned blood-drinkers calling themselves "The Family". Only reason they didn't go in there to wipe them out was since they seemed to be keeping a steady and non-aggressive peace with the locals at Arefu, and so they hadn't become a problem that 'needed fixing' as of yet.
Letting out a defeated sigh, Sarah put her arms down and grabbed a nearby pen. She'd finish signing the last of these resource allocation papers, and then it would be heading out for some fresh air and greenery. Harold had donated some seeds to bring some green to the Citadel as well, at least after they had managed to help him sort some things out and cut a deal with him and the Treeminders, and after enough years it had become a very welcome sight. A happier one, calling back to a better time she'd never known.
At least she had the day off tomorrow to be home with her husband and son.
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