Bolstered by the survival of Liberty Prime, not to mention the sheer awesomeness of seeing a giant battle robot striking a victorious pose like a fictional action hero, the Brotherhood of Steel strike force charged back towards the relay station with renewed vigor.

The hole that Liberty had punched in the station's wall was situated directly above a concrete ledge that ran around the outside of the building, presumably some sort of maintenance access. While out of reach from the valley floor, the ledge was level with and easily accessible from the road above. The members of the strike force that had followed the road reluctantly stopped their headlong charge when they reached the building and waited for those who had taken the valley to catch up.

Metzger was the first to crest the slope. The moment the whole force was gathered she called out to a handful of Knights, ordering them to wait outside with Liberty Prime in case the Enclave sent reinforcements. "The rest of you, get inside and shut this place down before those bastards launch another orbital strike!"

Raising her hammer high, Cross pointed at the hole. "For victory!" The Knights roared and followed as she led the way, thundering recklessly along the narrow ledge in single file.

Sunset and Rarity hung back, waiting for the other Rainbooms to catch up. Both turned as they heard a low, drawn-out hiss from behind. Fluttershy was walking slowly towards them, pinching the bridge of her nose and keeping her gaze fixed on the floor. Adam and Fawkes were walking along behind her, giving her worried looks.

"Are… are you alright, dear?" Rarity asked warily.

Fluttershy shook her head. "Too much. It's all just…" Her Geode glowed brightly, then there was a flash of light as she shifted from her ponied up form to her vampire form. The moment Fluttershy's transformation finished she shoved a hand into her nursing kit and whipped out a blood pack, biting into it and draining it in a heartbeat. Adam cocked his head at her, but the helmet he wore hid his expression.

"Better?" Sunset asked.

Fluttershy nodded as she tossed the empty pack aside and licked her lips. "For now."

A gust of wind announced Rainbow's arrival. "Hey, are you going inside?"

"In a second, we're letting the guys with power armor make the first push," Sunset replied.

"Good idea," Applejack said as she and Pinkie finally reached the group. "Wow, y'all are a mess. Ah hope none of y'all are hurt?"

"We're fine, darling," Rarity replied, though she covered the hole in her armor with a hand as she said it. "Shall we get going?"

Pinkie shook her head. "I'll wait out here. I doubt my Party Cannon will be much use inside," she said in a toneless voice. Sunset couldn't help but notice that Pinkie's eyes were unfocused, staring at something the others couldn't see. Her hair was still poofy, though, which seemed to be a good sign.

"I'll stay out here too, in case the satellite fires again," Rainbow said, looking up into the sky.

Sunset nodded and hefted her plasma rifle. "Alright, we'll see you soon, then. Let's go, girls."

Joining the stream of Knights hurrying into the building, the group carefully made their way across the ledge and into the hole. A featureless corridor greeted the girls, with a single door smashed open at either end of it. The sounds of fierce fighting came from both sides.

Deciding to head through the door on her right, purely because the fighting didn't quite sound so brutal this way, Sunset and the others found themselves in a tall room lined with metal shelving units and kitchen appliances. Two squat machines dominated the far end of the room, while above hung the remains of metal walkways and stairs. Chunks of twisted metal and molten slag in the middle of the room showed what had happened to the rest of the stairways.

A pair of tunnels led out of the room; one to the left, and the other behind the squat machinery. Both were guarded by Enclave soldiers, trading fire with the Knights that had charged into the room.

Adam and Fawkes quickly added their firepower to the fight, while the girls prioritized finding some decent cover first. More Knights were following them into the room, but the Enclave soldiers weren't budging an inch.

"We need to block off one of those tunnels!" Sunset shouted as she crouched behind an old refrigerator.

"Got it!" Rarity rolled out from behind a shelving unit and threw her hands out towards the tunnel on the left. A huge gemstone appeared in front of the tunnel entrance, sealing it up. "That won't hold them for long!"

She hardly needed to have bothered with the warning. The instant the side tunnel was closed, every single Brotherhood Knight in the room turned their weapons on the soldiers in the other tunnel, unleashing a hail of lasers and plasma bolts that not even Enclave power armor could stand against.

The gemstone gave way a heartbeat later, shattering to pieces as an Enclave soldier barged through it like a battering ram, only to be greeted by a punishing fusillade that cut him down before he could even raise his weapon. His fellows lasted only a few seconds longer.

As the last soldier slumped to the ground, Sunset lowered her weapon with a quiet huff. The Knights quickly set to dividing up labor: Selecting squads to take each tunnel and another to tend to the wounded. Sunset looked around, trying to see where her friends had gotten to, when she spotted something drop from above.

The Enclave soldier landed with a crash that shook the floor. His armor was bigger and bulkier than ordinary Enclave suits, and he wielded an immense sledgehammer that crackled with electricity.

Before anyone could react, the soldier lashed out at the nearest Knight. The hammer slammed into the Knight's chest with a hollow boom and a bright flash of light, and suddenly the whole room was plunged into darkness.

Sunset cowered behind the refrigerator as Knights fired blindly, scarlet, emerald and blue strobe flashes throwing nightmarish shadows on the walls as the soldier stalked his prey in the dark. Only the electricity arcing across the head of his hammer gave any clue as to where he was.

Aiming for where he should be in relation to his hammer, Sunset fired as rapidly as she could, sending a stream of plasma bolts at the soldier. The soldier seemed utterly unfazed, but the plasma lit up his silhouette well enough for others to target him.

"Ah got him!" Sunset stopped firing as Applejack leapt out of the shadows, drawing her fist back for a strike. The soldier turned, searching for the source of the shout, but before AJ could get close enough to strike several bolts of plasma struck the soldier in the back, washing over his shoulders like emerald flames.

Applejack skidded to a halt. The light from the shots faded quickly, but it was enough for Sunset to see her expression shift from determination to abject terror. "N-no…" Applejack stepped back as the soldier turned to face her, her voice shaking, "No… get away, get away from me!"

"Look out!" A winged shadow slammed into Applejack just as the hammer swung, missing the pair by inches.

Sunset raised her gun again, but before she could fire someone pounced on the soldier's back. The crackling electricity lit up Rarity's face from beneath, making her look utterly demonic as she pressed her hands to the soldier's armor, and a horrific crunch echoed through the room. Just as darkness fell again, the soldier gurgled wetly and fell to the ground with a loud clang.

An uneasy quiet fell in the wake of the soldier's death, broken only by the moans of the wounded and the hissing of bubbling plasma. Sunset hurriedly switched her Pip-Boy light on just as several Knights activated flashlights built into their helmets, lighting up the room.

Fluttershy was hunched over Applejack, her expression grim as she rubbed her friend's back. Rarity and Sunset hurried over to find Applejack curled up into a ball, hyperventilating.

"What's wrong with her?" Rarity asked urgently.

"Panic attack," Fluttershy replied tightly. "We have to get her out of here."

"N-no," Applejack forced out between breaths.

"You're in no condition to keep going!" Rarity snapped.

Sunset looked down at Applejack with concern. "What set this off? It's not like Applejack to have a panic attack."

"I get the feeling recent events weren't as easy to shake off as we expected," Fluttershy said quietly. She rummaged through her nursing kit and pulled out an empty syringe and a small vial. She filled the syringe using the vial, then gently took Applejack's arm. "Here, this will help." Applejack barely seemed to notice the needle sliding into her arm, but a few seconds later her breathing slowed down to normal and she visibly sagged.

"What did you give her?" Adam asked as he and Fawkes strode up to the girls.

"A sedative," Fluttershy replied. "I was going to use it to slow myself down if the bloodlust got too powerful. I know it's risky, but I put it together with my unenhanced metabolism in mind; Applejack is bigger and heavier than I am, so she should be okay. She's not going to be in any condition to fight for a while, though. As soon as I can get her outside without pushing past a bunch of Knights, I will."

Adam nodded. "Right, I'll stick with these two, the rest of you push on with the other troops."

"I am not leaving Applejack here in this state!" Rarity hissed.

"Rarity and I shall stay," Fawkes cut in as Adam tried to retort. "Her magic will be particularly useful in protecting us, but you, Adam, will be far more useful than I in preventing another orbital strike." He clamped a hand on Adam's shoulder. "I shall protect them with my life, you have my word. Go."

Adam sighed heavily, then nodded again. "Fine. I guess it's just me and you then, Sunset. Flutters, Fawkes, Rare, be careful."

"We should be saying that to you," Fluttershy countered.

"Don't worry, I'll keep this idiot out of trouble." Sunset looked up as a wounded Enclave soldier crawled out of his damaged armor. She glanced around for a medic, spotted one who was closing the eyes of a dead Knight and, swallowing her unease, called him over as she dashed to the wounded soldier's side. Resting a hand on the fallen man's forehead, she quickly used her magic before getting out of the medic's way. "Try and save as many Enclave soldiers as you can, too. The less people who die here the better."

With the information she had stolen from the soldier's memories fixed firmly in her mind, Sunset pointed to the left tunnel and shouted out, "The control room is this way! Let's go!" Without looking back, she charged towards the tunnel. The loud thumping of armored footsteps told her that Adam and the other Knights were following.

"I almost forgot she was a telepath," one of the Knights muttered as Sunset ran past.

Several Brotherhood Knights had already gone down the tunnel. In a small break room off the tunnel Sunset spotted a Knight watching over a pair of captive Enclave soldiers, both kneeling next to their power armor with their hands behind their heads. Hurrying past, it wasn't long until the sounds of combat could be heard from up ahead.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Adam asked as they hurried forward.

Sunset glanced back over her shoulder. She didn't need to ask who he was talking about "They'll be okay. Fluttershy is probably struggling with her mutations right now, but helping Applejack will give her something to focus on, and neither Rarity nor Fawkes will let anyone get near them without a fight." Sunset looked ahead as they drew closer to the battle. "Right now, you should probably be more concerned about what's going to happen to us."

A handful of Knights were clustered around a door at the end of the tunnel, firing upwards at something inside the room beyond. Whatever it was, it fell swiftly, and the Knights ducked through the door in rapid succession.

Sunset took cover behind the door and peeked inside. The room was narrow but incredibly tall, lined by a metal staircase that climbed several storeys into the darkness above. A bitter firefight was being waged between the Knights trying to make their way to the upper levels, and the Enclave soldiers doing their best to hold them back. Power-armored corpses littered the stairway.

"That looks rough," Adam grumbled.

Sunset nodded, then did a double-take as she realized that he had the dead soldier's magic hammer in one hand, and his plasma rifle clutched like an oversized pistol in the other. "What the hell are you bringing that for?!"

Adam shrugged. "I was thinking of giving it to Cross." He glanced into the room and squared his shoulders. "Stay behind me. Use my armor as cover and shoot anyone who targets us."

"Right!" Sunset followed as Adam stepped into the room, raising his rifle and blasting away one-handed. She couldn't help but envy the ease with which he handled the weapon, even with the aid of his power armor.

The two slowly advanced up the steps, Sunset flinching every time a laser or plasma bolt cracked off the walls or Adam's armor. They moved with caution, trying to avoid getting caught in the sights of too many soldiers at once while focusing their fire on one target at a time. The Knights quickly followed suit, and between them the Brotherhood force started making smooth progress up the stairs. A soldier armed with a gatling laser slew two Knights and held the others off at one point, but only until another Knight managed to bring a missile launcher to bear and crack the offending trooper's armor wide open.

Finally, after a more gruelling climb than any Sunset had ever undertaken, the Brotherhood managed to reach the top of the stairs. She supposed she should feel relieved at clearing the hurdle, but the trail of dead and wounded troops from both factions behind them, not to mention the knowledge that the fight was far from done, crushed any enthusiasm she could have felt.

"Which way now, Knight-Sergeant Shimmer?" One of the Knights asked.

Sunset pointed over to a narrow corridor. "That way. Through the corridor, down another stairwell and into another tunnel system."

The Knights moved aside as Adam stepped to the front. "I'll take point. The rest of you keep them off my back, and don't forget to concentrate your fire on one poser at a time. It's the only way we'll be able to penetrate their armor."

No one had any complaints about that, especially given how much more durable Adam's stolen Enclave armor was than the Brotherhood's ancient suits. Moving into the corridor, the team were surprised to find absolutely no opposition. They progressed slowly, checking every nook and cranny, but they didn't encounter anyone or anything until they emerged into another tall room.

A scene of absolute devastation met their eyes. Broken bodies were scattered all over the place, blood and entrails coated from every surface, and the stairway leading down had been shredded like paper. The stench was enough to turn Sunset's stomach, but worse was the cloying sensation of dark magic hanging heavy in the air.

"What the hell happened here?" Adam asked quietly.

A bizarre electronic chuckle made everyone flinch. Looking around for the source, Sunset spotted something glowing in the corner of the room. Cautiously moving closer, she realized that it was a large gun resembling a gatling laser, but with wisps of dark purple, pink and silver magic wafting around the muzzle. It let out another electronic chuckle, and Sunset backed away from it slowly. "I get the feeling we do not want to mess with that thing."

"We'll get a containment unit up here as soon as the site's secure," one of the Knights said. "I've gotta say, I'm not sure whether I'm glad that the Enclave is having trouble with magic too or not."

Sunset shook her head. "As long as it's not trying to kill us, I'm willing to worry about it later. Right now, I'm more concerned about how we're going to get downstairs."

The Knight stomped over to the edge of the stairs and looked over the railings. "It's not a big drop, our power armor can take it. You'll just have to make your way down carefully."

Without another word, the Knight kicked the railings away and hopped over the edge, his fellows following after with loud thuds as they landed below. Adam offered Sunset a shrug before dropping down himself.

"Typical. I should have brought Rarity or Rainbow Dash with me," Sunset grumbled.

Muttering under her breath in an effort to distract herself from the gore dripping from the ceiling, Sunset slung her plasma rifle over her shoulder and carefully made her way down the broken stairs. It was slow going at first, but after the first flight the remaining stairs were undamaged, allowing her to hurry after the others.

The Knights hadn't bothered waiting for her. The sounds of battle echoed through the building before Sunset even reached the first floor. They raged intensely for a moment, then a loud boom knocked a rain of dust from the ceiling, leaving silence in its wake.

"Please tell me that was Adam using that hammer," Sunset whispered to herself as she jumped down the last few steps and sped into the nearby tunnel. She rounded a few corners with no sign of anyone, then finally almost ran head first into the back of a Knight as she sprinted blindly around the last bend.

"Easy there, Knight-Sergeant," one of the Knights said brightly, holding her laser rifle over her shoulder. "We've got this under control.

A couple of Enclave soldiers lay dead on the floor, and a trio more were stepping out of their armor under the supervision of the Knights, their heads bowed and their hands above their heads.

"How much further?" Another Knight asked.

"Not much further," Sunset replied. "We're almost at the heart of the station. Adam?" The boy in question looked around curiously. "You take the lead again, I'll be right behind you."

Leaving a few Knights to watch over the surrendered soldiers, the rest of the team advanced through the tunnels once more. There were only a handful of them left now, including Adam and Sunset, but they were confident that they could handle whatever the Enclave had left to throw at them.

The group soon came to the end of the tunnel. They climbed up yet another short staircase and found themselves in a small room full of old server stacks, all beeping away cheerily. A large metal door at the far end of the room led to another short tunnel, and beyond that lay another large security door.

"That's it," Sunset said quietly. "That's where the satellite uplink terminal is located."

Adam nodded, hefting his plasma rifle in one hand and the hammer in the other while the remaining Knights clutched their weapons tightly.

Sunset pulled her last pulse grenade from her belt, then took cover by the wall next to the door. "Okay, on three. One. Two. Three!"

She pressed the button to open the door, but before the door had even finished rattling open a voice from inside shouted, "Don't shoot! We surrender!"

Surprised, and more than a little relieved, Sunset peeked into the room. Huge computer banks filled the room, red lights twinkling all over them. The biggest computer, the satellite uplink terminal itself, sat right in the middle of the room. A dead Enclave soldier lay on the floor, and a slightly battered-looking officer kneeled next to him with his hands behind his head. Two more soldiers were standing next to their empty armor with their hands raised, while a second officer had a plasma pistol aimed at the base of her kneeling compatriot's skull.

The armed officer, a tall woman with cropped blonde hair, lowered her pistol as the Knights stepped into the room. The Knights raised their weapons as the officer stepped forward, but she ignored them and stopped in front of Sunset, looking her up and down. "I'm Lieutenant Bles. Lieutenant Colonel Strong said you'd arrive at some point. I'm sorry we couldn't stop the orbital strike, but we delayed it for as long as we possibly could. In any case, we've secured the uplink, and made sure that the stored data is safe and decrypted for the Brotherhood's perusal, you'll find everything on these terminals."

Sunset's eyes widened with recognition. "Colonel Strong? That means…"

Bles nodded. "I'm working with the Exodus team. It's an honour to finally meet you, Miss Shimmer."

Apologies for the delay on this chapter, as I mentioned in the blog I had a buffer put together to avoid this exact problem, but I burnt through it a lot faster than expected.

As for the reason for the delay, my wife's grandfather was diagnosed a few months ago with cancer, which took a turn for the worse a few days ago. As such, I prioritized time with family over my writing.

Unfortunately, Cyril passed away in his sleep the night before last. He was surrounded by family, and he was asleep with a morphine drip, so I imagine there aren't many more peaceful ways to go. There is a lot of family drama going on already involving wills, but that's a whole other story.

I'm back to writing now, as much as I can, but I'll be trying to update this story every Sunday now rather than Wednesday, just to give myself some extra time to get the next chapter done. Sorry for the downer, but I felt that you all deserved to know why there was a sudden hitch in the update schedule.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Comments and criticisms are welcome, indeed they're encouraged, and thanks for reading.