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...
And the Republic was now moving toward the airport through the breach.
The Republic did not rush through the breach.
The soldiers who had fought their way through the Brotherhood's outer defenses knew better than to mistake an opening for safety.
The ground beyond the shattered barricades was a maze of ruined structures, abandoned service roads, broken concrete, and scattered wreckage. The airport complex was visible ahead now, its larger buildings rising beyond the lower ruins. Smoke drifted across the approaches, occasionally revealing movement farther inside.
Sico walked several paces behind the leading infantry with Sarah and Preston.
Robert and MacCready moved along the western edge of the advance, their commandos spreading through whatever cover the ruined landscape offered.
Sarah raised her binoculars.
"They've had time to organize."
Preston nodded.
"Look at the vehicles."
Several Brotherhood vehicles were positioned farther ahead, partly concealed behind concrete structures.
"They're not retreating anymore," Preston said.
"No," Sarah replied. "They're waiting."
The radio crackled.
"Sanctuary Actual, First Company reports movement ahead."
"How much?"
"Unknown. Multiple positions."
Sarah lowered the binoculars.
"Hold the advance until we know what we're looking at."
Then the first machine gun opened fire.
The sound seemed to come from nowhere.
Rounds tore across the road, striking the ground around the leading Republic soldiers.
"Contact!"
Infantry immediately scattered toward walls and overturned vehicles.
A second machine gun joined the first.
Then a third.
The Brotherhood had concealed its positions among the airport ruins.
A Humvee swerved sharply as rounds struck the pavement in front of it. The driver accelerated, turning behind a concrete barrier while the soldiers in the back dropped low.
"Armor forward!" Sarah ordered.
Two Sentinel Tanks rolled into view.
Their crews traversed toward the muzzle flashes.
Before they could fire, a Brotherhood vehicle emerged from behind a ruined maintenance building.
Its mounted weapon opened up.
One Sentinel turned toward it.
"Engaging!"
The tank fired.
The Brotherhood vehicle disappeared behind a cloud of dust and debris.
But the attack continued.
Power-armored soldiers emerged from the ruins, advancing behind infantry while another group fired from an elevated structure.
Vertibirds circled above.
"Air One, we have multiple hostile positions," the pilot reported. "Heavy movement near the central approach."
Sico listened from behind a damaged concrete wall.
"Keep eyes on them. Don't chase targets into the complex."
"Copy."
A Republic squad became pinned near a collapsed roadway.
Preston immediately sent another unit around its flank.
"Get them out of there. Keep the line connected."
The reinforcement squad moved through the rubble and brought the pinned soldiers behind cover.
Sarah watched the developing fight.
The Brotherhood had not tried to retake the ground they had lost.
They were trying to seal the breach.
That distinction mattered.
"Sico," she said, "they're attempting to contain us before we reach the inner defenses."
"I see it."
Sico raised his radio.
"All forward companies, hold the ground you've taken. Push them back from the breach, but do not outrun your support. We stabilize first."
The order traveled quickly.
Republic infantry began returning controlled fire.
Sentinel Tanks fired from protected positions rather than charging ahead.
Humvees shifted between pieces of cover, moving ammunition and fresh troops toward threatened areas.
The counterattack became a grinding exchange instead of the sudden collapse the Brotherhood had hoped to create.
A power-armored Brotherhood soldier stepped into an intersection.
A Republic marksman fired.
The figure disappeared behind a wall.
Another Brotherhood unit attempted to advance.
A Sentinel Tank forced it back.
The airport approach remained contested, but the breach stayed open.
Sico glanced toward Sarah.
"Where's your western flank?"
"Held."
"Preston?"
"Eastern side is holding too."
Robert appeared briefly from behind the shell of a building.
"They've got more positions farther ahead."
Sico looked at him.
"How many?"
"Too many to count from here."
MacCready emerged behind him.
"And they aren't all front-line troops. Some are reserves."
Sarah frowned.
"Where?"
MacCready pointed toward the airport.
"Behind those structures. We saw vehicles moving through a service road. Troops were getting off, then disappearing."
Robert added, "They're feeding units into the counterattack without exposing the whole reserve."
Preston looked toward the airport.
"So they've got depth."
"They've got an airport," MacCready said. "Depth comes with it."
A burst of gunfire sounded nearby.
The five commanders moved into a damaged structure whose upper floor had partially collapsed. It provided enough cover to serve as a temporary command position.
A radio operator followed with a field set.
Maps were spread over a broken table.
Sarah marked the western advance.
"Sanctuary has this section."
Preston pointed to the east.
"Cambridge holds here."
Robert added markings farther forward.
"Commandos have identified at least three concealed firing positions. There's another road running behind this line."
MacCready leaned over the map.
"And this structure is being used as a troop-transfer point."
Sico studied it.
"Could we get around it?"
"Possibly," Robert said. "But the approach is exposed."
"Armor?"
"Too open for the tanks without infantry clearing it first."
Sarah traced another route.
"What about here?"
MacCready shook his head.
"Worse. They're watching that approach."
Preston looked toward the battlefield.
"So the outer line was only the beginning."
Sico nodded.
"Exactly."
He looked at the ammunition figures brought in by the radio operator.
The Republic had reached the airport, but the fight had already consumed more ammunition than anyone wanted.
Vehicles had taken damage.
Medics were busy.
Fuel had to be conserved.
The six newly arrived Humvees and two Sentinel Tanks had strengthened the force considerably, but they were not limitless.
Neither were the soldiers.
"We broke the first defensive barrier," Sico said quietly. "That doesn't mean we've captured anything yet."
Sarah looked at him.
"No. We have to get through the airport defenses themselves."
Another explosion shook dust from the ceiling.
Preston glanced upward.
Then something outside caught his attention.
"Wait."
He moved toward a broken window.
Sarah followed.
Sico stepped beside them.
Beyond the ruins, through the smoke and rising morning haze, something enormous stood above the airport structures.
For several seconds, none of them spoke.
The silhouette was impossible to mistake.
Two massive legs.
A towering body.
A head rising far above the surrounding buildings.
Even at this distance, it dwarfed everything around it.
Preston stared.
"What the hell is that?"
Robert slowly lowered his binoculars.
"I don't know."
MacCready looked again.
"Whatever it is, it's not a building."
Sarah studied the shape.
The machine was motionless.
But its size alone was enough to make the airport suddenly seem different.
Sico's expression hardened.
"Liberty Prime."
Sarah turned toward him.
"You know it?"
"I've heard enough."
Preston kept staring.
"What can it do?"
Sico didn't immediately answer.
"I don't know everything."
Robert looked at the giant machine again.
"But if they're keeping something that size inside the airport…"
MacCready finished the thought.
"They didn't build it for decoration."
Sarah looked back toward the map.
The defensive line suddenly made more sense.
The patrols.
The fortifications.
The delay.
The effort to keep the Republic outside.
"They're buying time," she said.
Sico nodded.
"That's what I think."
A radio transmission interrupted them.
"Command, forward sector reports Brotherhood counterattack weakening."
Sarah immediately picked up her handset.
"Hold the line. Don't advance until we reassess."
The fight continued outside.
But inside the ruined command post, the mood had changed.
They had expected defenses.
They had expected heavy weapons.
They had expected the Brotherhood to make Boston Airport difficult to capture.
They had not expected to find a machine towering over the battlefield.
And now Sico understood that whatever happened next would depend partly on how much time the Brotherhood had left.
Far above the airport, aboard the Prydwen, Elder Arthur Maxson stood near the command deck windows.
From that height, the fighting below appeared almost deceptively small.
Smoke rose from several areas around the airport.
Vertibirds moved across the sky.
Republic positions had penetrated farther than the Brotherhood command had wanted.
Maxson's eyes remained fixed on the advancing formations.
"They're inside the outer defenses."
An officer nodded.
"Yes, Elder."
"How long can the inner sectors hold?"
"That depends on the reserve."
Maxson turned away.
He already knew the answer he wanted.
He activated the secure channel.
"Ingram."
Static.
Then Proctor Ingram answered.
"Elder."
"How long?"
There was no need to explain.
Ingram understood.
"Give me a second."
A pause followed.
Maxson waited.
"One hour," Ingram finally said.
Maxson's eyes narrowed.
"Confirm."
"One hour. After that, Liberty Prime should be fully integrated, tested, and ready for operational use."
Maxson looked toward the airport below.
One hour.
Not a day.
Not hours.
One.
"Can you guarantee it?"
"I can guarantee that we're doing everything possible to meet it."
"That wasn't my question."
Ingram sighed.
"If nothing goes wrong, yes."
Maxson ended the transmission.
He looked toward the officers around him.
"One hour."
Nobody misunderstood.
The Brotherhood did not need to win immediately.
It needed to survive.
One hour.
Maxson turned toward Lancer-Captain Kells.
"Kells."
The officer straightened.
"Elder."
"Go to the airport."
Kells paused.
"Personally?"
"Yes."
Maxson pointed toward the battlefield.
"You will take command of the defensive effort there."
Kells nodded.
"Understood."
"Coordinate the forces already engaged. Keep the inner sectors intact. Do not allow the Republic to reach Prime."
"Yes, Elder."
Maxson stepped closer.
"You have one hour."
Kells looked at him.
"And after that?"
Maxson's expression remained cold and certain.
"After that, we change the battlefield."
Kells understood.
He turned immediately.
"Prepare my transport."
Within minutes, he was moving toward the launch area.
Below, the battle around the airport continued.
The Republic had managed to repel the Brotherhood's sudden counterattack, but the ground ahead remained crowded with enemy positions.
Sarah watched the fighting from the damaged structure.
Preston stood beside her.
Robert and MacCready remained near the window, studying movement around the airport.
Sico looked toward the giant silhouette again.
"Keep watching it."
Robert nodded.
"We will."
MacCready adjusted his rifle.
"Hard to miss."
Sarah turned back to the map.
"We need another approach."
Preston agreed.
"Something that gets us closer without feeding everyone into those defenses."
Sico placed a finger against the map.
"We'll find it."
Outside, Republic soldiers were reinforcing the positions they had taken.
The breach remained open.
Sentinel Tanks occupied firing locations behind the forward infantry.
Humvees moved supplies and ammunition.
Medics carried wounded away from the fighting.
Vertibirds circled over the airport, constantly updating the commanders below.
The Republic had stopped the counterattack.
But nobody considered that a victory.
The airport was still ahead.
And now they knew why the Brotherhood had fought so desperately to keep them outside.
The enormous machine stood beyond the defensive lines, silent for the moment.
Inside the Prydwen, Kells prepared to descend into the battle.
Somewhere below him, Brotherhood officers were already receiving the order to hold.
One hour.
The Republic did not know exactly how much time it had.
The Brotherhood did.
And that knowledge gave every minute a weight of its own.
Sico looked toward Sarah and Preston.
"We've broken through the first barrier."
Sarah nodded.
"But the real fight is ahead."
Preston looked once more toward Liberty Prime.
"And they're waiting for something."
Sico's gaze remained fixed on the giant machine.
"Yes."
He lowered his binoculars.
"And whatever they're waiting for, we need to understand it before we commit the army."
Beyond the ruined structures, gunfire continued to echo across Boston Airport.
The Republic held the ground it had won.
The Brotherhood held the defenses beyond it.
Above them, Vertibirds circled.
Within the ruins, commandos watched unseen routes and movements.
And far above the airport, Kells began his descent toward the battlefield.
Kells then arrived at Boston Airport beneath a sky already thick with smoke.
The transport came in low, banking sharply around the outer structures before settling near a Brotherhood staging area behind the main defensive belt. The moment the ramp dropped, Kells stepped into the noise.
Gunfire rolled continuously across the airport approaches.
Orders were being shouted between barricades. Wounded soldiers were being carried toward improvised medical stations. Technicians dragged ammunition crates away from exposed positions while power-armored knights moved toward whichever section appeared closest to giving way.
Kells barely slowed.
"Where's Danse?"
A Knight pointed toward a partially collapsed terminal structure.
"Forward command post, sir."
Kells moved.
Inside, Paladin Danse stood over a tactical map spread across a damaged counter. His armor was marked with dust and several fresh impacts. Around him, radio operators worked through overlapping transmissions while officers reported the condition of their sectors.
Danse looked up.
"Kells."
"Paladin."
Neither wasted time on ceremony.
Kells stepped beside him and studied the map.
"Report."
Danse pointed toward the outer defenses.
"They've lost several forward positions, but the inner perimeter remains intact. Republic armor has advanced to the secondary approaches. Their infantry is using the ruins for cover, and their aircraft are constantly observing our movements."
"How much armor?"
"At least the Sentinel Tanks we identified earlier. Possibly more farther back. Humvees are moving ammunition and personnel between their forward companies."
Kells looked toward the opening.
Through the broken wall, he could see flashes of gunfire between ruined buildings.
"Where are we weakest?"
Danse indicated the eastern approach.
"There."
Then the western sector.
"And here. Both have taken pressure."
Kells looked at him.
"But neither has collapsed."
"No."
"You've done well."
Danse gave a brief nod.
"I've had good people."
Kells studied the map again.
"Then we're going to keep them alive."
He pointed toward the central defensive belt.
"From this moment, I have command of the airport defense."
Danse did not hesitate.
"Understood."
"You remain with me. You know these positions better than I do, and I need someone who understands what each unit can actually accomplish."
Danse straightened.
"Then what are your orders?"
Kells looked toward the battlefield.
"We don't destroy their army today."
Danse's expression hardened.
"We delay it."
"Exactly."
Kells tapped the map.
"Every defensive position buys us time. If a position is threatened, reinforce it. If it becomes untenable, withdraw in order. No isolated units. No heroic charges. No one abandons ammunition or heavy weapons unless they're impossible to recover."
Danse nodded.
"And the objective?"
Kells finally looked directly at him.
"Keep the Republic out of the inner airport sectors."
Danse understood immediately.
"Until Prime is ready."
Kells said nothing more.
He didn't need to.
The information could not remain confined to the command post.
Kells stepped outside and climbed onto the remains of a concrete platform overlooking several defensive positions.
Soldiers nearby turned toward him.
Some were exhausted.
Some had blood on their armor.
One Knight was sitting against a barricade while a medic wrapped his arm. Another soldier was replacing the magazine in a machine gun with hands that trembled slightly from fatigue.
Kells raised his voice.
"Listen up!"
Nearby conversations stopped.
"The Republic has breached our outer defenses. They are going to keep pushing."
No one looked surprised.
"But they are not taking this airport."
A few soldiers exchanged glances.
Kells continued.
"You have one hour."
That caught their attention.
"One hour until Liberty Prime is operational."
For a moment, the battlefield noise seemed strangely distant.
Then whispers spread.
"Prime?"
"They finished him?"
"An hour?"
Kells let the reaction move through the line.
"Yes. One hour."
A wounded Knight laughed quietly.
"Hell."
Another soldier tightened the strap on his rifle.
"Then we just have to hold."
"That's right," Kells said.
He pointed toward the Republic positions.
"You hold your ground. You protect the man beside you. You keep your weapons working. You make them spend every minute trying to reach us."
A young Knight looked toward the distant silhouette of Liberty Prime.
"So when the hour's up…"
Kells allowed himself the smallest smile.
"When the hour's up, they'll have something much bigger to worry about."
The announcement spread almost immediately.
It traveled through radio channels, shouted orders, squad conversations, and whispered remarks behind barricades.
Prime was ready.
One hour.
The effect was visible.
Soldiers who had been preparing to withdraw from battered positions instead began rebuilding them.
A machine-gun team dragged their weapon farther forward.
Ammunition was redistributed.
Two damaged barricades were reinforced with steel plating stripped from an abandoned vehicle.
Technicians worked beneath a Brotherhood transport, repairing its engine while another team replaced a damaged weapon mount.
Power-armored Knights carried heavier ammunition toward the central firing positions.
A soldier checking his rifle glanced at his friend.
"You hear?"
"Yeah."
"Prime's coming."
His friend smiled despite the dirt covering his face.
"Then let's keep these bastards busy."
The confidence wasn't universal.
Many knew exactly how badly the Brotherhood had been hurt.
But hope had returned to the line.
Danse watched it happen.
He understood what Kells had achieved.
Not blind confidence.
Purpose.
He turned toward Kells.
"They'll fight harder now."
"They have to."
"And the Republic?"
Kells looked across the battlefield.
"They'll notice."
He was right.
From the Republic command position, Sarah lowered her binoculars.
"They've changed."
Preston looked up from the map.
"How?"
"They're not giving ground the way they were."
Robert had already noticed.
"Fresh troops are moving toward the center."
MacCready watched a Brotherhood ammunition team disappear behind a ruined structure.
"They're reinforcing everything."
Sico stood near the broken window.
He watched another Brotherhood vehicle move into a defensive position.
Then another.
The defenders weren't behaving like an army trying to survive a collapse.
They were behaving like an army protecting a clock.
"Something happened," Sarah said.
Sico nodded.
"Something very important."
Preston pointed toward the distant machine.
"Prime."
Sico looked at him.
"You think that's why?"
Robert answered before Preston could.
"Look at them."
He gestured toward the airport.
"They've suddenly got a reason to believe they can win."
MacCready studied the giant silhouette.
"And that thing is sitting right behind them."
Sico's eyes narrowed.
"It isn't a coincidence."
He looked at the watch on his wrist.
The realization was no longer theoretical.
"They're buying time for Prime."
Sarah's expression tightened.
"How long?"
"About an hour."
Preston stared at the airport.
"Then we don't have an hour."
"No," Sico said.
He turned toward the radio operator.
"Get every company commander on the net."
The operator reached for the transmitter.
Within seconds, voices began answering.
Sico spoke calmly.
"Change of priority. We increase pressure across the airport perimeter."
Sarah looked toward him.
"Across the whole line?"
"Pressure everywhere. Breakthrough where we can."
He pointed toward the map.
"Sarah, increase pressure on the western sector. Preston, do the same on the eastern side. Keep enough reserve to exploit any collapse."
Both nodded.
"Copy."
Sico continued.
"Sentinels provide sustained fire. No unnecessary exposure. Humvees keep ammunition moving forward and pull casualties back. Vertibirds stay overhead and keep reporting enemy movement."
He looked at Robert and MacCready.
"You two need their network."
MacCready smiled faintly.
"Already working on it."
"Find reinforcement routes. Command posts. Communications. Ammunition. Anything that makes holding this place harder."
Robert nodded.
"We'll make them move carefully."
Sico turned back toward the battlefield.
"Then let's make every minute expensive."
The Republic attack resumed.
Not as one enormous charge.
As pressure.
On the western flank, Sarah's soldiers advanced through a line of shattered buildings, moving from one piece of cover to another. They cleared firing positions methodically, then brought forward ammunition teams.
Brotherhood machine guns answered.
A Republic squad stopped.
Another moved around its flank.
The first squad resumed its advance.
Farther east, Preston's troops pushed across a damaged service road while Humvees delivered fresh ammunition behind them.
One Humvee took fire.
Rounds punched through its side.
The driver kept going until the vehicle reached cover.
Soldiers jumped out and unloaded ammunition crates.
A medic immediately began treating the wounded driver.
"Can you move?"
The driver gritted his teeth.
"Yeah."
"You're bleeding."
"I've noticed."
The medic shook his head.
"Sit down."
The driver reluctantly obeyed.
Above them, Vertibirds circled.
"Enemy movement, central sector," one pilot reported.
"Multiple vehicles moving north."
Sarah answered.
"Send that to command."
The information reached Sico seconds later.
"Preston, they're shifting armor toward you."
"Understood."
Preston looked toward the eastern line.
"Third Company, prepare for increased resistance."
The Brotherhood had begun moving reserves.
And the commandos were already watching them.
Robert crouched behind a broken wall with two commandos.
A Brotherhood transport passed through a narrow service road.
Robert watched it disappear.
"That's the route."
MacCready looked through his scope.
"More vehicles coming."
"How many?"
"Three."
Robert keyed his radio.
"Command, we've identified a major reinforcement route behind the central defensive belt."
Sico responded immediately.
"Can you interfere with it?"
MacCready smiled.
"We can make it inconvenient."
Minutes later, a small explosion tore through debris blocking the road.
The first Brotherhood vehicle stopped.
The others piled up behind it.
Republic fire came from the ruins.
The convoy reversed.
Then tried another route.
Robert watched from cover.
"That's better."
But the delay lasted only minutes.
Kells was already receiving reports.
"Central reinforcement route obstructed."
"How long?"
"Unknown."
Kells looked at Danse.
"Open the secondary route."
Danse pointed to another road.
"Already doing it."
Kells nodded.
The Brotherhood adapted.
The Republic adapted again.
The airport became a moving puzzle of fire, smoke, vehicles, infantry, and radio messages.
At the western sector, a Sentinel Tank fired into a fortified building.
The explosion tore through its lower wall.
"Target suppressed."
Sarah immediately ordered infantry forward.
"Move now."
Republic soldiers crossed the exposed ground.
Machine-gun fire erupted from another structure.
The infantry hit the ground.
The Sentinel fired again.
This time the position fell silent.
The soldiers advanced.
They gained another stretch of road.
But the Brotherhood pulled back only far enough to establish another firing position.
Sarah watched them.
"They're giving us meters."
Preston's voice came through the radio.
"Not much more than that."
Sico answered.
"Keep taking the meters."
Every meter mattered.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then thirty.
The daylight shifted.
Smoke hung lower over the airport, turning the sun into a pale disc.
A Republic ammunition officer reported shortages.
"Command, western forward companies are down to roughly forty percent rifle ammunition."
Sico answered.
"Prioritize them."
Humvees moved forward.
Some returned carrying wounded.
Others came back nearly empty and were immediately reloaded.
Medical stations overflowed.
Men sat against walls while medics worked.
Some soldiers returned to their units with fresh bandages.
Others did not.
The Brotherhood suffered too.
Their defensive line was no longer clean.
Barricades had been smashed.
Machine guns had been moved twice.
Several vehicles burned in the streets.
Yet the inner perimeter remained intact.
Kells checked his watch.
Thirty-seven minutes.
"Report central."
Danse answered.
"Still holding."
"East?"
"Under heavy pressure."
"West?"
"Republic has gained another block."
Kells nodded.
"Send two squads to reinforce west."
Danse looked at him.
"That will weaken central."
"Only temporarily."
Danse gave the order.
Minutes later, Brotherhood troops moved toward the threatened flank.
Sico noticed.
"There."
He pointed.
"They're shifting again."
Sarah studied the map.
"Can we hit the center?"
Sico considered it.
"Not yet."
Preston understood.
"They're using their reserves to prevent a breakthrough."
"And they're doing it well," Sico said.
The next assault came from the east.
Preston's soldiers advanced behind two Humvees that had been fitted with improvised armor plates.
Rounds struck the vehicles.
One windshield shattered.
The Humvee kept moving.
"Get left!" the driver shouted.
The vehicle swung around a crater.
Infantry followed.
A Brotherhood heavy weapon opened fire.
One soldier fell.
Another dragged him behind cover.
Preston saw it.
"Medic forward!"
A medic sprinted through the rubble.
The Humvee stopped.
Its rear doors opened.
Ammunition came out.
Then the vehicle reversed under fire.
The Republic gained ground.
But slowly.
Painfully.
Forty-five minutes.
Kells checked the clock again.
Fifteen minutes.
The announcement spread among the Brotherhood positions.
"Fifteen!"
"Prime in fifteen!"
Soldiers repeated it to one another.
Danse heard it over the radio.
"Sector Seven, hold another fifteen."
A voice answered.
"We're holding."
Kells looked toward the battlefield.
The Republic was closer.
Much closer.
But the airport's core remained protected.
Sico watched another Republic squad establish itself behind a concrete barrier.
"Ten minutes," a radio operator reported.
Sico looked at the time.
He could feel the urgency spreading through the command post.
"Then we make these ten minutes hurt."
He ordered another coordinated push.
Sarah's western units attacked.
Preston's eastern formations moved simultaneously.
Sentinel Tanks fired.
Vertibirds swept across the sky.
Commandos struck another reinforcement route.
The Brotherhood line bent.
For several minutes, it looked dangerously close to breaking.
Danse watched a defensive position disappear beneath dust.
"Kells!"
"I see it."
"West is close."
"Send reserves."
"We don't have many left."
Kells looked toward the clock.
"Then send what we have."
Brotherhood soldiers moved.
Power armor entered the gap.
Machine guns shifted.
A damaged vehicle was driven directly into an exposed lane to provide cover.
The Republic advance slowed.
Five minutes.
Then three.
Then two.
Sico's radio filled with reports.
"Central still engaged."
"East advancing."
"West stalled."
"Enemy armor repositioning."
"Commandos report another reserve movement."
Sico looked toward Liberty Prime.
The machine remained still.
Sarah stood beside him.
"They're almost there."
"I know."
One minute.
The battlefield seemed to hold itself together by force of will.
Brotherhood soldiers clung to their positions.
Republic troops crouched behind cover, weapons ready.
Then the final seconds passed.
A radio operator looked at the clock.
"Time."
Kells heard it.
Danse heard it.
Across the airport, Brotherhood soldiers began looking toward the massive structure behind them.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the ground moved.
Not from artillery.
Not from an explosion.
A deep vibration rolled through the concrete beneath their boots.
Kells slowly turned.
The sound grew.
A low mechanical hum became a roar.
Lights appeared inside the airport complex.
Huge systems came alive.
Generators surged.
Hydraulic mechanisms groaned under unimaginable strain.
Danse stared.
"It's starting."
The vibration intensified.
Across the Republic positions, soldiers stopped what they were doing.
Sarah lowered her weapon.
Preston stepped out from behind cover.
Robert emerged from the ruins.
MacCready slowly lowered his rifle.
"What the hell…"
Sico stared at the airport.
Something moved behind the buildings.
Metal screamed against metal.
A massive foot shifted.
The ground shook.
Then Liberty Prime rose fully into view.
The machine that had been merely a distant silhouette was suddenly alive.
Its enormous body moved with deliberate mechanical force.
Hydraulic systems engaged.
Its legs straightened.
The head turned.
The scale of it was difficult for the human eye to comprehend.
Buildings that had seemed large moments earlier looked insignificant beside it.
Brotherhood soldiers began cheering.
Some raised their weapons.
Others simply stared upward in awe.
Kells stood among them, watching the machine finally fulfill the purpose for which they had sacrificed the last hour.
Danse looked toward the Republic lines.
"They're going to see it."
Kells nodded.
"They already have."
Across the battlefield, Sico remained motionless.
Sarah looked at him.
"Sico…"
He didn't answer immediately.
Liberty Prime took its first step.
The impact shook the airport.
Concrete trembled.
Dust poured from ruined walls.
The machine's enormous foot came down with enough force to make everyone nearby feel it through the ground.
Preston stared upward.
"That thing is actually moving."
Robert's voice was quiet.
"Yeah."
MacCready swallowed.
"And it's coming this way."
Another step.
Another tremendous vibration.
The Brotherhood line erupted with renewed confidence.
Soldiers who had been exhausted moments earlier stood straighter.
Weapons were raised.
Voices shouted across the defensive positions.
Their hour had worked.
Their weapon was awake.
Sico finally lifted his binoculars.
Liberty Prime towered above the airport.
For the first time since the Republic had reached Boston, the objective ahead of them no longer looked like a collection of defensive positions.
It looked like a battlefield dominated by something built for war on an entirely different scale.
Sarah looked toward the advancing machine.
"What do we do now?"
Sico lowered the binoculars.
His expression remained controlled, but the weight of what stood ahead was unmistakable.
"We find out what it can do."
Another enormous step shook Boston Airport as Liberty Prime moved forward, and the war around the airport entered a new phase.
______________________________________________
• Name: Sico
• Stats :
S: 8,44
P: 7,44
E: 8,44
C: 8,44
I: 9,44
A: 7,45
L: 7
• Skills: advance Mechanic, Science, and Shooting skills, intermediate Medical, Hand to Hand Combat, Lockpicking, Hacking, Persuasion, and Drawing Skills
• Inventory: 53.280 caps, 10mm Pistol, 1500 10mm rounds, 22 mole rats meat, 17 mole rats teeth, 1 fragmentation grenade, 6 stimpak, 1 rad x, 6 fusion core, computer blueprint, modern TV blueprint, camera recorder blueprint, 1 set of combat armor, Automatic Assault Rifle, 1.500 5.56mm rounds, power armor T51 blueprint, Electric Motorcycle blueprint, T-45 power armor, Minigun, 1.000 5mm rounds, Cryolator, 200 cryo cell, Machine Gun Turret Mk1 blueprint, electric car blueprint, Kellogg gun, Righteous Authority, Ashmaker, Furious Power Fist, Full set combat armor blueprint, M240 7.62mm machine guns blueprint, Automatic Assault Rifle blueprint, and Humvee blueprint.
• Active Quest:-