“Am I hallucinating?” Sunset asked as she stared, awestruck, at what lay ahead.

“I don’t think so?” Sarah replied, though she too was clearly amazed at what she was seeing. “I’d heard the reports, but seeing it in person is… wow.”

Rivet City was almost unrecognizable. Nearly the entirety of the aircraft carrier’s structure had been restored somehow, replacing crumbling rust with gleaming steel, and that was only the beginning of its changes. The metallic trees growing from the city had spread and multiplied to the point that it looked like the ship was slowly turning into a forest, with branches and thickets reaching out from various parts of the hull, and what looked like an entire woodland rising out from the flight deck. Between the occasional pulses of magic in the trees and the reflection of snow on steel, Rivet City literally shone like a beacon, and the constant movement of the cloud of metal debris floating above it all glittered beautifully.

Sunset couldn’t help but marvel about how the city had gone from being a broken down old weapon of war to something that looked like it belonged in a young adult high fantasy novel.

Sarah shook herself and glanced back at the others. Aside from her and Sunset, the only other people present were the Lyons’ Pride, acting as escort. “Alright, enough gawking. We’re not going to get anything done if we just stand around here with our mouths open.”

“Yes ma’am!” Sunset and the Pride followed as Sarah led the way towards the bridge structure.

The weather must have reduced the usual flow of traffic to and from the city to a trickle, but there was evidently enough activity for someone to bother hiring a whole team of people to shovel snow off the road. A squad of security officers was keeping a watchful eye out for any dangers.

The reactions the people had to seeing the Brotherhood Knights was less warm than Sunset had hoped. Some of them nodded respectfully, some gave looks of sympathy or relief, but several of them just completely ignored the group, or even snorted and muttered darkly as they passed. Many of the people giving the Brotherhood the cold shoulder were ones that Sunset recognized as having loudly proclaimed how grateful they were to the Brotherhood in the past. It infuriated her, but she kept her mouth shut.

Thankfully, both the boarding structure and the bridge were clear of snow and ice. There were four security officers guarding the city entrance, two of whom stepped forward as the group approached. “Elder Lyons, we were told to expect you soon.”

Sarah stiffened at the use of her new title, but she kept her composure. “I have an appointment with the Council. May we wait inside?”

“Of course, the waiting room has already been prepared for you,” one of the security officers replied. “As always, I’m afraid your escort will have to wait in a separate waiting room. Refreshments will be provided for them.”

“Yeah, we know the drill. Thanks.” Sarah was first through the door. Once everyone was inside, the Pride split off to find their usual waiting area, while Sarah and Sunset headed upstairs with one of the security officers.

Sunset had forgotten just how many stairs there were in Rivet City, not to mention how cramped the corridors were. Toddling along behind someone in power armor certainly didn’t help with the latter. On the plus side, the interior of the aircraft carrier was somehow even more breathtaking than the exterior.

Almost every metal surface gleamed as if it was fresh out of the factory. Metallic vines wound themselves around the handrails, leafy branches made of steel sprouted from the walls, and every other panel sported intricate crystalline whorls or rainbow-colored etchings. As if that wasn’t enough, there were sparkling butterflies in every possible color flitting around in what could only be described as a lackadaisical manner. There were a few rare patches where the metal walls were still rusted, but they were being tended to by technicians using some odd turquoise paste that was almost certainly magical.

Finally, after more stairs and corridors than Sunset had seen in a while, the pair arrived at the waiting room. “I’ll inform the councilors that you’re here,” the security officer said as he opened the door for the women. “They shouldn’t be long.”

The two nodded their thanks and stepped inside. It was a simple, plain room, with a small table and a few comfy-looking chairs for visitors. A couple of glasses sat on the table next to a jug of water. Sunset relaxed at the sound of the door closing behind her and dropped into one of the chairs. “Why do I get the feeling that some of the people here don’t like us anymore?” She asked irritably as she pulled off her winter gloves and tossed them onto the table.

Sarah just stomped over to one corner, got out of her armor, then shambled over to slump in the chair opposite Sunset. “Some people only like you if you’re powerful, or if you’re useful without directly affecting them.” She poured herself a glass of water and chugged it before continuing, “I suspect that Bannon is going to be one of those people. He agreed to at least hear us out, but anything we ask for will come with a significant price tag.”

“I haven’t dealt with him much before, but yeah, he seems like one of those guys who only cares about profit and influence,” Sunset agreed. “Negotiating with Harkness and Pia will be much easier. I’m pretty good friends with both of them, and they’re both pretty open-minded. Harkness will be interested in anything that’s likely to make life safer for the residents here, and Pia is very grateful for all the help we’ve given in terms of tech and food production. Just don’t mess with her little daughter.”

Confusion flickered across Sarah’s face, but only for a moment. “Oh, yeah, her daughter is the one with the Geode.” She shrugged and shook her head. “I don’t particularly like the idea of leaving something like that unguarded and in the hands of a child, but there isn’t much I can do about it without antagonizing the people of Rivet City. We’ve got bigger issues to deal with at the moment.”

Sunset nodded and leaned back in her chair. She briefly cast about for something to talk about, but it was Sarah who spoke first, “While I’ve got you here, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”

“What is it?” Sunset asked, wondering if this was about her medication.

“Once this meeting is done, I’m promoting you to Paladin,” Sarah said bluntly.

Sunset looked over at her in surprise. “Really?! Why?”

“Because you’ve done more than enough to earn it,” Sarah replied. “I’ll bump the rest of the Rainbooms up a rank, too, and I’m planning on doing the same for Adam and Fawkes as soon as they get back from… wherever the hell they are.”

“I… wow. Okay, thanks.” Sunset was surprised at the sudden promotion, but she wasn’t about to argue about it. “As for Adam and Fawkes; they were heading to a place called Canterbury Commons, but that was several days ago, now. Either way, Fawkes has a good sense of direction, so they should be fine.”

Sarah gave her a curious look, but before she could ask anything there was a polite knock at the door and a security officer poked his head in. “Elder, Knight-Captain, the Council will see you now.”

The two women nodded and followed the officer, leaving Sarah’s power armor behind. Sunset was mildly concerned about leaving it unattended, but Sarah was insistent that no-one would be able to use it but her. A short walk later, the two were at the Council Room.

Sunset felt a little nostalgic as she stepped inside. The walls were shiny and clean instead of rusted and old, but Bannon, Pia, and Harkness all looked much the same as they had been the last time she’d seen them. Bannon was just as polished, Pia was wearing the same stained old lab coat over her overalls, and Harkness still had his well-worn uniform and armor. There was even the same little recorder in the middle of the table. The three of them rose from their seats as Sarah and Sunset entered.

“Elder, Knight-Captain, it’s good to see you both again,” Harkness greeted them, gesturing to two empty chairs opposite. “It’s a shame it’s under such difficult circumstances.”

“Likewise,” Sarah replied as everyone sat down. “I appreciate you agreeing to meet us on such short notice.”

“Of course, we owe the Brotherhood and the Rainbooms a lot!” Pia said earnestly.

Sunset expected Bannon to cut in; Pia’s words were hardly wise from a negotiating standpoint, but he merely gave a noncommittal tilt of the head and glanced at Harkness. “I imagine that our allies are just as busy as we ourselves are, so perhaps we should get this meeting underway as quickly as possible.”

Harkness raised an eyebrow at him, apparently just as surprised as Sunset, but he dutifully pressed a button on the recorder. “This is the third supplementary council meeting regarding yesterday’s incident at the Citadel. In attendance are myself, Chief Harkness, as the security representative, Bannon as the civilian representative, and Pia Nalaar as the science representative. Also present are Elder Sarah Lyons and Knight-Captain Sunset Shimmer as representatives of the Brotherhood of Steel.”

“The message you sent yesterday stated that you were willing to offer temporary accommodation for some of our personnel,” Sarah put in.

“It did, and we are sticking to that,” Harkness assured her. “Having said that, Rivet City has grown considerably over the last couple of months, both in terms of population and economic stability.”

“Food production has gone through the roof since the trees started growing,” Pia explained. “It’s gotten to the point that we’ve had to hire a whole team just to harvest our crop on a daily basis. Our storage rooms are filling up with apples faster than we can eat, sell, and even export the damned things. It’s a good problem to have, but…”

Harkness nodded grimly. “Unfortunately, between that and the amount of people who have moved in, space is at even more of a premium than it was before. We can house some of your personnel, but it won’t be many, and I’m afraid that we’ll need the Brotherhood to assist with maintenance and security duties while they’re here.”

“We’ll help out however we can, that’s perfectly fine, but how many people can you take?” Sarah asked.

“Twenty with armor. Thirty or maybe forty if we don’t need to make room for storing and maintaining their power armor,” Harkness replied.

“We could fit more if we let them stay in the upper decks as well,” Pia added with a sharp look at Bannon.

Bannon just rolled his eyes. “As I’ve said before: The rooms in the upper decks are the most expensive and sought-after in the entire city, and are only available to those who can pay the higher rates. Only the Council itself is exempt from that rule. I have no issue with preparing a room in the upper decks for the esteemed Elder,” he nodded at Sarah, “but I doubt that the Brotherhood has enough resources for more than that.”

“The Brotherhood has done a lot for us,” Pia began.

“And we have done a lot for them,” Bannon countered. “Let’s not forget that most of our science team abandoned us and is still working at Project Purity, and our brave security officers are risking their lives to help distribute the Aqua Pura to the other wasteland settlements. Our resources are increasing, but the amount of space we have is currently not.”

Harkness shook his head and gave the visitors an apologetic look. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think we can just open up the upper decks, either. It would cause too much friction with both the upper deck residents and the lower deck residents.”

The lack of space was a blow, but not an unexpected one. Sarah had come prepared. “I’ll accept any space we can get, but if it’s a matter of payment, I’m more than happy to have some of my Paladins assist with training the security teams, and our Scribes would naturally be willing to accelerate your science team’s research.”

“Not to mention the Rainbooms,” Sunset added. “You already know how much help I can be with studying magic, and Twilight is amazing with physics, robotics, and computers. Hell, I imagine that Fluttershy and our surviving medics would be more than happy to help out in the clinic if it comes down to it.” She fixed Bannon with a look. “We may not be bringing caps in directly, but it’ll save the Council from having to hire extra people for the time being.”

Bannon hummed and stroked his chin thoughtfully. “That seems reasonable enough. Very well, I’ll agree to allow the use of more upper deck rooms on a temporary basis under those terms. Are we all in favor?” Harkness and Pia both nodded and voiced their agreement for the recorder. “Excellent, a unanimous vote. Now that that is out of the way, we have a proposal for the Brotherhood of Steel.”

“A proposal for us?” Sarah asked warily.

“You don’t have to agree to it, but it would help us out a great deal, and we would make it worth your while,” Harkness said reassuringly. “Put simply, we’re looking to expand Rivet City.”

Pia nodded and held up a clipboard. “The bow of the ship would be an obvious first choice for this, but we also want to build up the area around the bridge platform.”

“That’s ambitious, but it sounds like a good idea,” Sunset remarked.

“Definitely,” Pia agreed. “That said, it’s such a massive project that we’re having trouble getting enough resources and manpower together to actually do it. We need construction equipment and materials, heavy machinery for shifting debris, furnishings for whatever we build, laborers to do the work, and supplies for everything on top of all of that.”

“Which is where the Brotherhood comes in,” Sarah noted.

Pia dropped the clipboard and smiled reassuringly. “We’re not expecting miracles. This sort of thing isn’t going to be done overnight, but having power-armored help will get things done a lot quicker and safer.”

“In return, if the Brotherhood helps us, we’re happy for you to use parts of the new expansion for your own purposes,” Harkness added. “A new HQ, training areas, labs, whatever. We’ll even help you build it.”

Sarah glanced sidelong at Sunset, but all she could offer was a shrug. After a few moments’ consideration, Sarah sighed and turned to the others. “Okay. Give us a few days to regroup, then we’ll assist with Rivet City’s expansion.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 151 - Sobering Thoughts Estimated time remaining: 11 Hours, 34 Minutes