The Castle Seige

Military action

A two-day long battle between the Minutemen, led by Aubrey Wilson, and Institute forces.

Upon realizing that the Minutemen were regrouping and a good portion of their leadership, including Aubrey Wilson, had dug in at The Castle after the Institute Strike, Dr. Justin Ayo, without consulting Shaun West this time, ordered an attack on The Castle in an attempt to further destabilize the Minutemen by eliminating their leadership and the troublesome Pre-War woman who'd been a thorn in his side since she left her Vault.   The attack started in the late morning of March 3rd, while Aubrey and her two present division heads were attempting to redistribute supplies to settlements that had been hit more severely by the Strike a few days earlier.   A few Minutemen on patrol around the fort's perimeter noticed the engineered crows surveying the area and alerted Colonel Ronnie Shaw, who insisted upon activating some of the dormant automated defenses.   Ayo, realizing that his plan had been discovered, ordered the attack to commence.   The Castle, however, was crawling with Minutemen and refugees from the Jamaica Plain and Warwick Homestead settlements, including children.   Detective Valentine took it upon himself to shelter the younger children in The Castle tunnels along with the wounded, while anyone who was physically able armed themselves and started fighting the horde of Institute synths.   The operator of the Radio Freedom broadcast sent out a wide-band distress call at Aubrey's orders. Despite the strained relations between the Brotherhood of Steel and Minutemen, the Brotherhood sent a Vertibird to assist in the battle for The Castle as Maxson realized that if The Institute gained control of the artillery units there, than the Prydwen would be in immediate danger.   Despite PAM, Carrington and Desdemona's misgivings, Agents Deacon, Glory, and R4-04 of the Railroad quickly mobilized to render assistance to the Minutemen, arriving at the besieged fort at around 1600 that afternoon.   With the added air support and the ground units from the Railroad and cavalry units that trickled in from the southernmost settlements, The Minutemen were just barely able to hold off the Institute forces. Many people were injured in the battle, including Colonel Preston Garvey sustaining a badly broken leg. Many others were killed when the Vertibird was successfully shot down by the Coursers. Most of the team was able to evacuate by jumping from the falling Vertibird while in Power Armor or clinging to a person in Power Armor.   The attack only ended in the early hours of the next morning when Aubrey and a Brotherhood squad managed to dispatch three of the four Coursers leading the charge against the fort. Ayo, knowing that he was losing more Coursers than he could afford to train, called off the attack and recalled all remaining synths back to The Institute.   The leader of the Brotherhood squad happened to be one who did not support former Paladin Danse's exile, and offered to render any assistance his remaining teammates could with the wounded and shoring up defenses. General Wilson, exhausted, wounded, and with only a few remaining able-bodied fighters, accepted.   Due to the Brotherhood presence, Agents Glory and R4-04 returned to the Old North Church under the cover of darkness. Agent Deacon chose to stay behind, playing the part of an off-duty Minuteman who'd responded to the distress call.   The Brotherhood medic was able to treat a good portion of the wounded soldiers, but the death toll of this battle was upwards of 40 men and women, of the 50 or so that had been present at the start of the attack, not including the children and wounded protected in the tunnels.   As dawn broke, Aubrey spoke with Detective Valentine, Agent Deacon, and her Division heads both present and over radio. They needed a plan to take the fight to The Institute.